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Fury

"Shut the damn alarms off!" Brenner ordered. He hated not knowing what was happening, first reports coming in said that a fire had broken out in a junction room and was in danger of spreading and compromising the lab. The last thing he wanted was to have the actual fire service and other officials snooping around, luckily the sprinkler system had kicked in in the junction room and the fire was now being contained and gradually put out. He took a deep breath, he knew his guards and orderlies were well trained and would have this sorted out quickly but he couldn't help but feel nervous, he didn't like people being away from their stations.

"Dr Brenner" he heard from behind him. Turning, he came face-to-face with a guard whose name he couldn't place in the moment.

"Yes?"

"The fire is under control sir, we estimate just a few more minutes" the guard informed him.

Brenner nodded his head in understanding, "I need everyone back to their stations asap and checking in by radio, you all know the drill."

"Yes sir" he replied before walking off.

Brenner sighed and ran his hand through his grey hair. "Carr" he summoned the small weaselly scientist from across the control room, "stay here, monitor everyone checking in, and keep me informed" he ordered him, "I'm going to check on Eleven."

"Yes sir" Dr Carr replied, grabbing a radio and sitting on the chair, eagerly waiting for security system to reboot and the monitors to come back to life.

Brenner walked down the flight of stairs, not wanting to risk the elevator during a fire as the power to everything, not just the security system, could go out. Now that the alarm was off, this section was eerily quiet as everyone was finishing up with the fire. As he made his way towards El's room, two guards caught up with him. "Dr Brenner, Sir, the fire is pretty much out, Jones and Cortez are making sure and will secure the room, everyone else is returning to their stations."

"Ok, follow me" he replied, satisfied things were in hand.

As they rounded the corner, he slowed almost to a halt, the two guards following him doing the same. The door of El's room was clearly ajar. Clenching his jaw, he rushed forwards and flung it open, revealing the unoccupied room within. He was stunned. How could they lose her again?

The two guards glanced at each other in panic, their eyes wide in shock.

"Find her" Brenner said strangely calmly before losing his cool, "FIND HER!"

The guards raced off as he lifted his radio to his mouth, "This is Brenner, subject Eleven has escaped, find her, find her now. Out."

As he stalked back towards the control room his radio crackled and he heard a familiar voice, "Sir, it's Billy, Max has gone too. Over."

"Received...report to the control room asap. Out."

He hastened his walk back to the control room. As he stormed through the door, he said "the monitors...are they back on?" as he surveyed the blank screens, already knowing the answer.

"They're working on it now" Carr replied, "should be any minute now" he informed just as they blinked back to life.

As they did so, both men scoured the screens, but all they saw were guards and orderlies searching the building, smoke dissipating from the affected floor of the lab, upstairs 'office' workers returning to the building, no sight of either girl. As they searched the screens more people entered the room; chief of security Mark Levin, Billy, various scientists, and finally Dr Holtz.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"Oh, sorry" Billy apologized as he bumped into Holtz.

Brenner looked up upon hearing his voice.

"No, don't worry" she replied, "I think we have more important things to worry about" she continued. Billy nodded in agreement just as Brenner spoke.

"Billy, my office, now" he commanded, "Holtz, you too."

Everyone in the room briefly turned and looked at them with unenvious eyes before returning to their conversations.

"Mr Levin, give me 10 minutes, then my office" Brenner added as he and Billy left the room.

Levin nodded impassively, already planning the investigation in his head.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

They walked in silence. As they reached the office, Brenner turned to them "Dr Holtz, please give us 5 minutes" he said, nodding towards a leather chair situated outside the office. She nodded her understanding and sat, watching as they disappeared into his office.

Billy was terrified but masked it well, he'd learned over many years with his dad, Neil, who would flip at the slightest provocation and who hated his 'perfect' son to show any weakness else it be punished accordingly. He watched as Brenner stood impassively behind his desk, realizing that he'd actually prefer ranting and raving as he'd at least understand where he stood, but in his current state of silence Brenner looked downright dangerous.

"You need to go home, Billy. I need you to be my eyes and ears, report anything of note back to me" he said quietly, his voice controlled, "but tread carefully, they mustn't know...we're playing the long game now."

Billy frowned at that last statement, prompting Brenner to explain further, his misguided trust in Billy clouding his usually excellent judgement. "As long as we know where they are, and they won't leave Hawkins, not yet anyway, we can wait."

Nodding, Billy replied "ok, I'll get going then...how and when should I contact you?"

He watched as Brenner reached into his desk and retrieved a pager, "we'll message you, just ring the number with 24 hours of receipt."

Billy nodded his understanding again.

"Go now and send Dr Holtz in on your way out" Brenner ordered him.

"Ok...uh, yeah." He turned and walked to the door, feeling as though he were walking through treacle, like his limbs weren't responding properly, the weight of what he'd done pressing down on him. "Uh, Brenner said to go in" he told the waiting Holtz, noting the unease in her eyes. He gave her a small, but reassuring smile and as they passed each other their hands brushed and they let their fingers linger for an almost imperceptibly extra moment of time.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Holtz carefully shut the door behind her and took a deep breath before turning to face Brenner. "What the hell happened?"

"She's gone...they both are" he stated quietly.

Holtz was terrified, she could see the fury barely concealed, bubbling beneath the cool, calm façade Brenner was currently sporting. She pitied whoever he would unleash it on and prayed that it wouldn't be her.

"Someone helped them, helped her escape" he continued.

"But who?" Holtz asked.

He didn't answer and she watched every expression that passed over his face in a split second and realized that he didn't know. Eventually he shook his head, "I don't know" he said, "yet" he added with the utter surety that he would find out. "Levin is already starting his investigation, in the meantime this place is on lock-down, no-one in or out, no calls, nothing."

She swallowed thickly, "even me?" she asked before she could stop, berating herself silently.

He looked at her with piercing eyes for a moment before softening his demeanor, "for now. We need to show solidarity, some of the other scientists can be...weak" he chose his words carefully, "they might be more receptive talking to you, more open."

She reluctantly nodded her compliance. "Ok, let me know what you need" she offered with a strong voice, one that belied how she really felt.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*