Home ||~~Elax/Elmax~~||

A rude awakening

"Sit up slowly" a man's voice said.

Max couldn't identify who it had come from as she had only looked at El and was now transfixed by the gun. She did as she was told and lifted herself slowly until she was sitting upright.

"Good, now you will sit there and wait while we set the scene for your departure" the voice said.

"Departure?" Max couldn't help but say, her eyes now locked with El's.

For that she reached a blow from the gun.

"Careful!" the voice commanded, "she mustn't be hurt."

She sat up again, her hand at her temple feeling a slight trickle of blood from a cut that had been opened.

"Eleven, stand up and come here" Max heard the voice say. She watched as El, trembling all over, got to her feet and walked slowly to the corner of the room that was still shrouded in somewhat darkness from the lack of full sunlight. There was a man sitting on her desk, but he stood and took a step into the light as El approached. He was tall, slim, with grey hair and supported by a cane. She recognized him immediately from the time they'd run into him in town over a year ago.

"Hello Eleven, it's good to see you" he said with an expression of triumph and satisfaction, tinged with awe, on his face. When she didn't reply, he glanced at Max and said "it's very rude to ignore someone when they greet you, poor manners are punished, you know that."

El also glanced over at Max, gun still pointing at her head. "H...hello, Papa" she stuttered.

"That's better" he said, stroking her cheek and smiling. Turning to Max, he walked over and said "we haven't been properly introduced, I'm Eleven's papa, you can call me Dr Brenner."

Max felt sick. "I know who you are" she spat back, her hatred of this man evident in her voice.

He smiled at her response and looked at her closely for a minute. Finally, he said "I know what you're thinking, Max, why doesn't El just kill us all." She couldn't help but nod. "Before you woke up, El and I had a little chat. Pointed at your head is a very unique weapon; most firearms operate when you pull a trigger, this one operates when you let go...so you see, if anything happens to this man, then the bullet will automatically fire at your head. You're also being tracked by 2 snipers, so even if El can stop this bullet, I doubt she could do the same with 2 more."

Max took in a very ragged breath and looked at El, she was looking at Max with such fear. "So, what will you do with me?" Max asked him, knowing full well that she wasn't who they came for and was therefore surplus to requirements.

Brenner smiled again, Max thought it was creepy the way he did so given what he was doing, psycho she thought to herself.

"Don't worry, Max, nothing bad will happen to you. You'll be going on a trip with Eleven."

She frowned, "you don't think people will notice that we've disappeared?"

"What, 2 young lovers who are about to be parted, the pressures of time becoming all too much, so you decide to run away together...I think the note left in both your handwriting will explain everything to anyone who might question it."

Max felt even more sick than before, but also angry, furious that this man was ruining everything again. "You're a fucking monster, you know that!?"

He didn't reply, again just smiled his infuriating smile.

Max locked eyes again with El who couldn't hold her gaze and looked down after a few seconds. Max willed her to look back up at her, recognizing the guilt that had washed over her face before she looked away. El looked up again, but only when another of Brenner's team came into the room, a surprisingly gentle looking woman in her 30's, "bags are packed, sir" she stated.

"And the letter?"

"Here, written and signed" she said, handing it over for his inspection.

He took a minute to read it, "excellent work" he praised her, "put it on Eleven's desk." He put his hands on El's shoulders and made her face him, "time to go home, Eleven."

Max watched her take a deep, ragged breath and look up at him, "this is my home" she said quietly but defiantly.

Brenner's face became more serious, "no, Eleven, this is not your reality, not how your life is meant to be, this is a distraction from your real purpose. You're coming home to continue your work."

Max watched her shoulders slump, watched as she collapsed to her knees in front of her, head in her hands, and her heart broke that she couldn't move, couldn't comfort her, couldn't make it all go away.

Brenner clenched his jaw, for once not quite sure how to progress. He didn't want to hurt her, or force her physically. He looked over at Max, glanced at her guard briefly, then nodded at her towards El.

Max gingerly moved, keeping a sideways eye on her guard. When she realized he wasn't going to stop her, she scrambled forward to envelop El in her arms. After only a minute they heard "time to go" in a voice that in no uncertain terms implied they had no choice.

Max helped El to her feet and they were both led out of the house, still in their pjs, to a van waiting outside. There were 2 more vans, one who's occupants had stayed behind to make sure everything was set up correctly and to ensure no trace of Brenner's team was left behind. Sitting next to each other in the back of the van, they sat in silence, holding hands the entire journey. It didn't take long.

"Where are we?" Max asked the guards sitting in the back with them.

No answer. Instead the silence was broken by the door opening and they were shoved outside, each stumbling slightly as they hit the ground. Standing up straight together, they looked ahead, seeing scaffolding, building works, heavy machinery all around. They followed the wall of the building up till they saw the sign, 'Hawkins National Laboratory'. It had been repaired, rebuilt.

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