010 / Billy Hargrove

Prologue.

January 3rd, 1977
Hawkins, Indiana.

Ten threw the raggedy doll towards her sister, they had been playing with the few toys the lab bought for the kids. Eleven and Ten had a bombardment of restrictions set out, play time was a rare but happy occupancy for the girls. Eleven focused her powers on the doll, and it suddenly flew across the room, she wiped the small trickle of blood coming from her nose. They both looked at each other giggling as they continued their game of no name. Suddenly their playtime had been interrupted, the door swung open revealing Dr. Brenner, he walked into the girls' room with a rainbow sticker outside. The girls stiffened, knowing that their time together had come to an end, fearing the worse.
"Eleven, I want you to stay here sweet girl, Ten, come with me" Brenner demanded.
Eleven looked over at her sister and swallowed a lump down her throat.
This couldn't be good.
Ten stood up slowly and walked towards Papa, she felt fear and sadness hit her heart as she left her sister in the room.
Little did she know that would be the last time she would see her in years.
Dr. Brenner grabbed her hand and exited the room, the door shutting behind them as they began walking. "Do you know why you're here?" He questioned the nervous child. She shook her head slowly, words had abandoned her, not that she knew many anyway. The only person that's ever heard her speak was Eleven and sometimes Doctor Brenner.

"Well I have good news Ten," he started. They reached the end of the hallway and entered a room with a table and two chairs. "You're getting a treat." Brenner said as he grabbed the chair for Ten, she sat down and he slid her close to the table and sat across from her. He buried his hand into one of the pockets he had, pulling out a small, wrapped packaged and placing it in front of the curious girl. She reached out to get the item, opening It hesitantly. She tore the paper up, revealing a bar of chocolate. Brenner smiled at her, "Eat it, go ahead. You deserve it after all you've been through lately." The child reluctantly held the bar up to her mouth and bit it slowly, she'd never eaten a sweet before. She chewed it with patience at first, but the savory taste quickly grew on her, and she rapidly began eating the rest of the bar. Brenner chuckled as he watched her enjoy the bar, before he knew it it was all gone; Ten licked her fingers to try and hold on to the last bits of the taste.
"Your powers... they don't seem to react to- well anything we attempt to do. Hawkins Lab just isn't the place for you to be..." he trailed off. This grabbed her attention, Ten suddenly felt tired and dizzy.
"So your special surprise wasn't this chocolate, it's a new home." Brenner grinned at Ten. She couldn't think straight, she looked down at the wrapper and tried to stand, but failed. Her legs had given out and she'd fallen to the floor. Brenner stood up and called for the guards waiting outside. One had scooped up her body and threw her over his shoulder as if she were weightless.

January 3rd, 1978, one year later
Area 51, Nevada.

A terrified man stood in front of Ten, his eyes started to form tears and his hands were shaking. She didn't wanna do this, she wanted to go back to the Hawkins Lab, at least she had Eleven there. Eleven was the only one who showed kindness to her in a long time.

"Alright 0-1-0, just do what we practiced earlier." demanded General Cooper over the microphone. Ten had metal wires connected to her head "to enhance focus" she heard one of the scientist explain. The man in front of her began whimpering. She took a deep breath, 'heart loud," she thought to herself. She couldn't focus with all of the heartbeats in the room, her powers barely worked when she had complete silence, but the sound of the man's heart racing was giving her a headache. She couldn't think, she couldn't concentrate, but she was scared too. She didn't want to go back to the room, but the damn noise was driving her insane. She looked at the man with intensity, attempting to infiltrate his mind. She tried her hardest with no avail, she knew Cooper was watching and adrenaline started to kick into her system, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get into this man's head.
"You've done nothing but waste my time," Cooper sighed, "put him back into the cells and take her to her room." Cooper directed to the soldiers. The four men entered the room, two grabbing the prisoner and two grabbing the child. The prisoner said no words but accepted that he would be thrown back into the cold cell. Ten on the other hand showed her fear as the gruesome men grabbed her. "No! No!" She yelled. They dragged her out of the room and took her three doors down, the room. They shoved her into the empty room without a second thought, and slammed the door shut. Cooper appeared at the window that provided the only light into the room.
"3 months this time in isolation, I hope you understand that the longer you put off on your powers, the more time you'll spend in here." He smirked, and walked off.
Ten cowered in the corner and began crying, she felt powerless, weak, she hated it. She barely made it with 1 month of isolation, how would she make it through three? Truth be told she hurt herself in the room. She'd slowly succumb to the negative aspects of isolation and felt herself going insane.
She remembered one of her last sisters at the base, 006 being thrown into isolation for 6 months, but she never came out. Halfway through she was found burning alive, she'd been driven by madness and set herself in flames, she escaped the isolation room at the cost of her own life. The soldiers that attempted to put her out were killed, Six had thrown fireballs and shocked them with bolts of lightning before they had a chance.
Anything was better than isolation.
Anything.

By now, Ten would have figured that they would have learned from this, but General Cooper deemed Six as weak. And had forgotten that occurrence.

One month later.

She couldn't take it anymore, the only interaction she had with humans was when they would bring her food and water. Ten looked down at the cuts and bruises across her arms, her powers had gotten the best of her and she had no idea how to control them, they played with her mind and ultimately she harmed herself.
It was too much.
She heard the small hole in the door open to give her food, and she knew what she had to do. She stood up on her feet, and concentrated on the person behind the door. She suddenly felt herself invading the man's life, his thoughts, the secrets contained in the back of his mind.
'Open door." She thought into his mind, he obliged without a second thought and opened it wide. The guards behind him hurriedly took out their guns, but before they could take action she invaded both of their minds at the same time, blood trickling down her nose.
"Die."
The men looked at each other and pulled their triggers at one another, instantly dying. Ten smiled, 'free,' she thought to herself. She walked out of the room and was greeted to a shocked General Cooper.
"I see you've learned." He snickered. Ten focused her mind into his, but ultimately failed as she dropped to the floor; her powers were still weak.
"No, no, no, no" she began panting.
"Don't worry, we won't bring you back into the isolation room anymore, we have a new room for you."