lovers rock

chapter 18

-y/n's pov-
brenner led me up another creaky staircase until we reached a room with a tv and two seats.
"take a seat," brenner spoke whilst gesturing to the seat, I followed his instructions and sat. he inserted the tape into the player and the screen came to life.
the video was in black and white due to it being a cctv recording but it showed me killing the prisoners. I felt another trigger in my head flicking as if it was trying to set off that memory again but that feeling was put to bed when brenner spoke up.
"so, as you can see this footage is from may 6th 1979," brenner said as he took the tape out of the player before inserting the other tape, "and this tape here has the same date too."
the screen buzzed on again, this time showing a room, from the looks of it designed as a children's playroom. discarded around the room were toys like building blocks and colouring pencils but they weren't the only things left on the floor. along with them were dead bodies of children, the bodies were all incredibly deformed. it made me want to gag. blood poured from the bodies, creating a small crimson pool of blood which appeared even darker due to the black and white screen. the children's bones had been snapped in every way possible. a man who looked to be in his late 20s stood on the left side of the room, opposite a young girl with a shaved head. the girl reminded me of someone.

"is that-" I stuttered.
"eleven, yes." brenner finished for me.

I watched carefully as the two raised out their arms, they glared at their opponent. the lights began to flicker at an insanely fast pace, eleven started to skid away from the man as they fought. her shoes screeched against the flooring until she suddenly went flying back into the doors with a thud. when her body met the floor it began to slide around, colliding into the forgotten toys and walls. as the man raised his hand up again, el went up with it, her back arched. slowly, she began to twist around until she was eye to eye with death itself.
"it wasn't supposed to end like this" the man spoke, his voice being crackly and glitchy due to the cctv.
she let out blood-curdling screams as her bones started to twist and shrivel, blood pouring from her eyes.

everything just froze for a moment, the man remained still just like eleven, it was as if her own life was flashing before her eyes but then her body showed signs of movement again and to my relief she fought through the force that the man held on her. she recollected her strength before shooting her arms out in front her whilst another one of her screams echoed throughout the room. the man was sent backwards and he smashed into the mirror which shattered into thousands of tiny little shards. his body clashed with the wall as el fell to the ground, landing in a heroic pose. she stood up again, still pinning the man to the wall. after having walked over even closer to him, she lifted out her right arm and another screech escaped her lips. an indescribable miracle appeared before her eyes, an almost portal-like thing spread over the man starting from his stomach. he yelled in pain as he slowly faded away, an incredibly bright light shining from him as he 'died' an agonising death.

the screen turned blank.

I finally managed to drag my eyes away from the screen to look at brenner who was giving me some strange look that I couldn't decipher.
"and they were on the same exact day?" I questioned.
"the same day, year, even the same exact time," he answered, "that's why I believe there's something in common with the two of you."
"like what?" I asked.
"owens and I believe that when you use your powers at the same time, your powers will grow stronger and work better," he said whilst collecting the tape from the player, "but in order to test our theory we need eleven to regain her powers, so do us all a favour and don't play up, could you that for us? for el?"
I looked away to the ground with a sulk, "fine whatever, for el."
"good" brenner nodded, "she's almost done with the first stage of NINA so you can see her soon"
my lips perked up into a warm smile.

—————

I swayed happily on the heels of my feet as I waited for el. everything was going okay until a loud alarm began to ring.
"what's happening?" demanded owens.
"she's going into a cardiac arrest" a doctor replied.
"well get her out of there then!" I shouted, suddenly growing annoyed.
Brenner just crossed his arms and stared at the water tank as if it was going to get up and do a dance.
"I SAID GET HER OUT!" I yelled whilst flicking brenner to the side of the room with my powers and jamming my fingers on multiple control buttons, "SOMEONE HELP ME! SHE IS GOING TO DROWN IN THERE!"
luckily, owens came to my side and pressed the correct button, the chamber-like lid to the tank opened and guards lifted el out.
she was placed on a stretcher and pushed to a place where they could hook her up on some machines.
"el? el are you okay?" I asked, concerned whilst cautiously looking down at her.
I placed a hand on her arm and suddenly her eyes burst open and her whole body jolted up.
"EL!" I exclaimed, thrilled to see she was okay.
"air!" owens ordered, "give her some air for christ sake!"
a doctor strapped a plastic gas mask to her face which helped her breathe.
"don't worry, you're safe now" brenner assured.
but el's response surprised me, she grabbed a defibrillator and smashed it into brenner's chest.
"woah badass!" I said in awe.
brenner fell to the cabinet as el leapt up, causing all the wires attached to her to rip.
"QUICK Y/N!" She shrieked whilst grabbing my hand.
together, we sprinted off down the corridors, just like yesterday.
this time we didn't dare to look back.
the pattering of feet was heard until we both slammed into the elevator, el repeatedly smashed her finger onto the button. the same men from yesterday appeared behind us.
"Giving us quite the workout, you girls really wanna do this again?" One of them asked.
they grabbed us both by our shoulders and tugged us backwards.
"LET GO OF ME!" I yelled in their faces.
a recognisable scream was heard from beside me. el let out a huge screech and the guards that were holding onto us were sent flying away and their bodies clashed into the metal corridors. yellow, electrical sparks fell from the sky like snow.
"okay, wow, that was super badass" I applauded now the awe feeling 10x stronger.
"remarkable" brenner's voice echoed from behind us, we both twisted our heads around to find him slowly approaching us.
"stay away" el warned whilst we both stood up, she barged a defensive shoulder in front of me.
"I SAID STAY AWAY!" el threw out her arm but nothing happened, brenner still walked closer.
"you heard her" I snarled, "she said stay away." with the jerk of my head a ring of fire now surrounded us, protecting us from brenner.
"you didn't think it would be that easy?" brenner questioned referring to el's powers, "did you?"
"I don't understand.." el shook her head.
"I do." replied brenner.
the elevator door behind us opened with a mechanical noise.
as el turned to look, I set the fire behind us down just in case she wanted to make a sudden run to the lift but she turned to face brenner again.
"Papa?"
"Daughters."
I felt queasy at this name. daughters. the man who took me away from my real father was now calling me his daughter.
el gave me a look.
I let out a sigh before killing out the fire, el reached out her left hand to hold brenner's. he then offered me his other hand, I glared down at it for a moment before taking his hand in mine. and with that, he lead us back up the corridor in an eery silence.