003 ➳ stranger things [1]

Chapter 8: Lab Rats

Max kicked down a door, the door slammed against the door and swung back, closing straight in her face. 

"Dammit this is what I get for being cool?" Max yelled. 

She opened the door, this time normally, revealing a girl that shared features with Erin. Max recognized her as Cassidy.

Although Max could function normally, Cassidy could not. She was practically outside of her body.

"Cassidy?" Max approached the girl lying on the bed. "Shit Cassidy please be alive." 

Max ran to the side, shaking Cassidy's body. She yelled her name, Cassidy didn't respond. Max threw the bat down on the bed, scraping Cassidy's skin. Max shook Cassidy's body, still no response.

"Erin needs you!" Max yelled, suddenly responses came.

Cassidy launched up, screaming.

"Who the hell are you?" Cassidy asked, after screaming.

"I'm Max, I know your sister," Max paused. "Erin."

"I knew she would come." Cassidy grinned, getting off the bed.

"They're downstairs. Fighting guards," Max paused. "I need you to help me rescue everyone else."

"Firstly, we should get Three. She can sense people when they come and stuff." Cassidy explained. 

"What number do you have?" Max narrowed her eyebrows.

"Eleven. Why?" Cassidy asked.

"My friend has Eleven. We call her El." Max started to panic.

"They're restarting the trials," Cassidy nodded. "It's complicated and I need you to listen," Cassidy paused, Max nodded. "Dr. Brenner restarted the trials. He forced us to have powers, I have telekinesis, and I know Kali can make people see stuff. Eight here does too. We each have the same exact powers as the last group. We all might be in the state that I was, we have to figure out everyone's weakness and call them out on it. It pushes them. Mine is obviously Erin. Okay? We have to work as a team. Is there anyone else helping you?" 

"No just me. Besides Hopper who has a gun pointed at Brenner's head." Max explained.

"Okay that gives us time before we have to find Dr. Owens." Cassidy nodded.

"Owens?" Max asked.

"You know him?" Cassidy asked.

"He let Hopper adopt El." Max shrugged.

"Okay, well lets go get three. She can help us." Cassidy smiled.

--

"Someone get Erin upstairs she needs to get her sister!" Joyce yelled while getting the boys to safety.

"I don't need to see her I need to save you guys!" Erin shouted, grabbing hands with Kali and El.

Will slipped in between them, holding Erin and El's hand. They all focused, and soon enough, every guard dropped to the ground, lifeless. Joyce, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan, all stood in shock.

"Now I can see my sister." Erin sighed with relief.

Joyce hugged Will, Mike and El hugged. Dustin and Erin hugged out of relief, Nancy first hugged Steve, then hugged Jonathan. Kali and her gang all hugged before going over and introducing themselves.

"I'm going to go up. I'm sure Hopper and Max need all the help getting the rest of the people down." Erin smiled.

"We'll come." Dustin smiled back, Mike and Lucas nodded.

"We'll stay back with everyone else." Nancy spoke for Steve and Jonathan.

"Same with us." Kali smiled.

The six all walked over the bodies and made their way to the elevators, all jumping into one. The elevator music chimed.

"At least their classy." Dustin smiled, Erin chuckled.

The elevator dinged open, the first thing they saw was Dr. Brenner and a gun to his head. On the other side, Hopper was holding the gun. The five stood there in shock, before Erin stepped forward, looking down the hall. 

"Erin?" A voice chimed from down the hall, a voice Erin recognized.

"Oh thank god." Erin sighed, before running down the hall and hugging her sister. Max ran up to Lucas and hugged him, pulling away and kissing him.

"I'm glad you guys are okay." Erin stated, pulling away.

--

"How do we know all of these guards even work for the lab?" Nancy asked, inspecting a body.

"They should have name tags."  Kali answered.

"None of them do," Jonathan paused. "They're basically civilians that were handed a gun."

"That doesn't make sense," Joyce shook her head. "Why would people do that?"

"She has a point." Steve spoke up.

"Yeah but they must have a reason." Mick suggested.

"What if they didn't." Kali spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Nancy asked.

"The reason why Jane has the powers is because her mom participated in a project called MKUltra. It was a government operation led by Dr. Brenner." Kali explained. 

"This is crazy." Steve said under his breath.

"Wasn't it so they can start mind controlling?" Jonathan asked.

"Exactly." Kali nodded.

"Is this thing still going on or what?" Joyce asked.

"As far as I know, yeah." Kali answered.

"What if they mastered mind controlling." Nancy stated.

"Holy shit this is crazy." Steve shook his head.

"Maybe it's not," Nancy shook her head."What if only Brenner knows how to do it?"

"Then if we kill him, it wouldn't be a thing anymore." Jonathan answered.

--

"Hopper," Erin paused, being cautious. "Put down the gun."

"No." Hopper firmly stayed his ground.

"Erin," Cassidy softly said, getting her attention. Cassidy motioned with her head that Will had a gun. Erin nodded.

Cassidy swiftly took the gun from Will, before he could react, and shot Brenner. He collapsed onto the floor.

"So badass." Dustin smiled.

"Dude." Lucas said.

"What?" Dustin asked.

"Shut up." Lucas shook his head, Dustin shrugged.

"Lets go kids." Hopper nodded. 

The group split up into the elevators. The numbers, plus Erin, got into the left elevator. While everyone else got in the elevator with Hopper. El hugged Hopper, and sighed with relief. 

"Guys," Nancy paused as everyone filled into the lobby. "We have some news."

"Brenner knows how to mind control people." Kali sighed.

"Wait what?" Mike asked.

"We were waiting here for all of you, and we got to thinking. How could so many people work for the lab? And we checked for ID's, but there was none," Nancy explained. "And then we realized they were all basically civilians armed with guns. And then Kali explained all of MKUltra, and she said that she doesn't remember Brenner stopping it."

"So you're saying that Brenner can mind control people?" Erin asked.

"Yeah." Kali nodded.

"They're all like lab rats," Cassidy paused. "And this is the first time he ever used mind controlling."