MKUltra Reawakens// Stranger Things

Chapter 2

Denise's POV

We walked back to my car and sat there for a few minutes, in silence. Kali was looking through all the photos she took while I was trying to recollect all the memories from Hawkins.

I didn't remember much about Hawkins. It was a blur, I only remembered fragments of what happened. However, when I saw the demodogs just now, it triggered a small flashback. I remembered the gate and the demodogs surrounding us. Gun fire, a glowing light, and Eleven.

However, I didn't remember how we defeated the Mind Flayer or closed the gate. I had to look back further.

I turned to my side mirror, put my fingers on the side of my head and looked into my mind. I went to the back of my mind, where I pushed some memories aside. Those included my memories of Hawkins and High School. I quickly went through them and relived the times I was in Hawkins and fighting the Mind Flayer. There were so many things that happened. So many people I left behind. So many names. Eleven, Hopper, Mike, Lucas, Will, Jordan, Leah, Sabrina, Harry, Dr Brenner, Tyler and a bunch more. And then, a vivid memory of fighting the Mind Flayer entered my mind. We have to do it all over again.

"What are we going to tell the boss?", Kali asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"We need to report to the boss. What do we tell him?", Kali asked again, holding her phone.

I didn't reply her. I felt something wasn't right. Something didn't want me to tell the boss about the gate.

"Um, hold on," I said.

I looked at the mirror again and searched deeper into my memories. I went as far back as I could. There was something there, I could feel it. Just then, I saw it, a memory of me talking to Dr Brenner. It was blurry but I think it was good enough. In my imaginary body, I touched the memory orb and was transported back in time.

I watched my past self sitting across Dr Brenner.

"I want to know more about the MKUltra project, our powers and the Upside Down. I've never been able to understand or unlock all of Hawkins Lab's secrets. Plus, I think I'm entitled to know since I am tied up with this stuff," I asked Dr Brenner.

The vision was blurry and the voices were kind of muffled, especially Dr Brenner's. I couldn't really hear his reply but I don't think it was anything important.

"I understand. But can we get to the questions. Like why did you start the project? And why kidnap children? Why open the Upside Down? And where do our powers come from? How does it work?," I asked.

"All good questions. I'll start with how the MKUltra project came to be," Dr Brenner said, finally his voice sounding less muffled.

"It was started in 1953 by the CIA, but was stopped in 1973 for legal reasons," he started.

Wait. The CIA was involved?

Then the rest of it was muffled.

His voice became distinguishable again after a few seconds, "A few years before the MKUltra project was supposedly terminated, the CIA and government officials had approached me again to collaborate with them. They had given me the aims for the project as well as some samples of the drugs they were testing. CIA had planned that we did experiments on children."

And the rest was a blur. Just before I exited the memory, I had a short flashback of myself writing whatever Dr Brenner had said in a book. That was probably why I hadn't committed the entire meeting to memory.

Snapping back to reality, I quickly looked back at Kali who was still waiting for my reply.

"Did you know the CIA was involved in the MKUltra project?", I asked.

"What?", she asked back, confused.

"I had a flashback. Dr Brenner said something about the CIA being involved."

"But the MKUltra project has been terminated for years. Plus, what does the Upside Down have to do with the MKUltra project? If I'd remember correctly, it was a seperate project."

"Well, I'm not so sure myself. Even past me didn't remember. We need to make a stop at home for answers," I said, starting the car.

"Wait," Kali stopped me.

"What about the boss? What do we tell him? That the Upside Down is back?", she asked.

I sighed and tried to think of a good excuse.

"Tell him that all of the agents were killed, though the causes are unknown. The location is unsafe and that we will take care of the case," I told her.

Kali nodded and made the call. I started the car and drove back towards the town. When Kali finished the call, we were only a few minutes away from town.

"He'll talk to us when we get back to the office," Kali told me, putting down her phone.

"Are we going to tell him that we are going to do this alone?", I asked.

"He would definitely want the rest of the CIA involved if we told him what we saw. He wouldn't want us working alone," Kali said.

"So I'm going to use my powers?", I asked.

"Yeah."

I sighed as we continued on the drive back. Kali was busy doing something on her laptop, probably uploading her photos. I silently concentrated on the road.

"You remembered how we closed the gate the last time right?", Kali suddenly asked.

"Yeah," I replied, without thinking.

"You know what this means right? That we have to back them back together again," Kali said, hinting something.

"Yeah," I repeated.

I heard Kali exhale loudly before saying, "Why are you not- why are you like this? This is family we're talking about. Family we've left behind many years ago. Why are you feeling anything? Don't you miss them? Any of them?"

Just then, I felt my foot lift off the accelerator for half a second. The pressure on my foot then became lighter, and the car moved slower. Part of me felt guilty and disturbed for not feeling any remorse for what I did years ago, and another part of me felt empty for letting them go. And a small part of me felt like it was going back in time, to when I was a teenager.

After graduating from Hawkins High School, I had returned back to New York to continue my studies at a Sports college, and to train to become an athlete. I had promised Dustin and the others that we would contact each other as frequently as possible but I knew it would not work out in the end.

Two years before that, I made that same promise to a group of friends, the numbers. But in a few months, it proved to be difficult. We'd promise to meet every week in the void and talk. But school and other activities got in the way, a week turned to two weeks, which turned to a month, which turned into two months, which turned to four, which turn to a year, which eventually stopped all together.

Just like the numbers, I couldn't keep up the habit of contacting the Party due to studies and training. It was difficult to squeeze in even a few minutes to write letters and go down to the post office. And in the end, I decided that school and training was more important than them and had repressed memories of them in order to concentrate.

Looking back, it was probably not the nicest thing to do but I knew I was constantly distracted but them. They've probably moved on by now, just like how I have. Its been 20 years. No one has contacted me, even after all the technological advancement over the years. I never received letters or calls from the numbers or the Party since my last years in sports school. They're probably busy with their own lives anyways. Any emotional attachment to them would have rotted away over the years.

"Denise? Are you okay?", Kali asked, more concerned this time.

I noticed that I was spacing out, not really concentrating on the road. Luckily I wasn't in the town yet.

"L-let's talk at home," I stuttered, snapping back to concentration.

I pushed harder on the accelerator and quickly drove back to Kali's and my apartment.