A/n: lots of flashbacks my dudes, sorry. Kinda messy since it happens at the same time as the back to back moment with reader so apologies if it's funky.

||3rd Person POV||

"It's me."

The world is black, but the familiar voice rings out like a beacon in the void. She can't remember entering, so she wonders why she is here. In the distance, Jane can see the all too familiar wooden table and the ham radio that sits atop the adjoining stack of trunks. The tiny lamp that rests on the wooden table provides a soft homey light that blankets the otherwise dark and cold void.

"I know that I've been gone too long, and uh..." It's Hopper, her policeman. "I just want you to know that it's not because of you. And it's not because of our fight."

Jane finds herself being pulled towards the machine, the soft pitter-patter of her feet against the pool of water provides white noise other than Hopper's shaky voice echoing through the radio. It's garbled, and it has the usual static form the machine, but she can sense his emotion. The lump in his throat.

"Something came up, and, uh, I'll explain everything soon. I just, um... I want you to know that I'm not-- I'm not mad at you. I..."

She can feel a lump of her own forming in her throat as she waits for the words, they are almost here and she stands patiently. She is breathing heavily, trying not to cry and that is when the words come.

"I'm just sorry."

She feels a hand grab her shoulder and her eyes rip open.

"It's okay." Kali soothes. "It's only me."

Jane sighs, and sits up slightly.

"Bad dream?"

Jane only closes her eyes, trying to will away the sleep plaguing them. Her gaze wanders to the empty spot next to her, and she looks to Kali who caught her gaze.

"It seems your friend has left."

Jane only stews at the spot Y/n once was and huffs, before banishing her from her mind.

"What time is it?"

Kali smiles at her response.

"It's late. You slept well. Come. It's time you meet my friends. Properly this time."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Jane follows Kali eagerly throughout the warehouse, she had slept in her overalls and having gotten used to the temperature she had slipped on her jacket. She was being led to a new area she hadn't seen yet when the man with the crazy hair stepped into view with a small folded white box and two wooden sticks.

"We need more money, Kal," he says. "I can't keep eating this garbage."

"This is Axel," Kali states, leading into the room full of her friends.

"The spider hater?" Jane asks, eliciting several chuckles around the room.

"Yes," Kali says with a smile. "The spider hater."

She gestures to the crazy looking girl that with the large bow in her hair, she smiled as she twisted a lock of her oddly colored hair.

"This is Dottie, our newest. Like you, she just left home."

"You mean the loony bin." Axel shot, taking a swig from a white can.

"Mick," Kali gestures, to the woman in green with dark cloud-like hair. "our eyes, our protector."

She then looks to the large, seeming bald man with one long braid trailing from the back of his head. He smiles, stepping forward.

"This is Funshine, our warrior," Kali informs as Jane steps forward to greet him. "Don't let his size frighten you. Like I said, Fun's a teddy bear."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Jane." He says, holding out his hand.

Jane takes his hand, turning it over to find a blank wrist.

"If you're looking for a number, you won't find one," Kali informs, crossing over and taking a seat at the table.

"They're not like us," Jane says, in realization.

She releases the man's hand and goes to stand at the head of the table.

"No, not in that way." Kali answers. "But like us, they're outcasts."

"Outcasts?"

"Freaks," Axel says shortly.

Dottie scoffs. "Speak for yourself."

"Society left them behind, hurt them, discarded them," Kali explains.

Funshine speaks out, his voice is somber as he fiddles with his hands.

"We were dead, all of us. Kali saved us. Here," He pointed to his mind, and then to his heart. "And here."

"Don't get all mushy on us now, Fun."

"No, not mushy. True."

"Now we help her," Mick says.

Axel leans forward, his beer can in hand.

"In this life, kid, you roll over or you fight back."

"We're all fighters here." Mick finished.

"Fight who?" Jane asks, intrigued.

||Reader's POV||

I wince as the bus hits yet another bump, my head resting against the glass bumps against the windowpane yet again. I tear my eyes away from the blurry green scenery of the trees we pass to check my watch for the umpteenth time, twelve twenty-five. We just left Illinois, but I still have a way to go. I'm thankful El still had money left over from Becky's, of course, I curse myself at the memory.

Mom is probably freaking out right now, I'm sure by now she's gotten word from Chief Hopper. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know how I'll possibly explain this.

Maybe I can say I was looking for Mews? No, that wouldn't work. For several reasons. I already told Dustin that I was at Will's and besides, I was reported as a possible runaway while on a secret trip with El. And no one was supposed to know about her.

Yeah, Mom's gonna flip.

And my fight with El keeps playing over and over in my mind, twisting my chest and stomach into uncomfortable knots. Everything about it left a sour taste on my tongue.

How could she say those things? How could she not see that I was looking out for her? Part of me wishes I could have just left in the middle of the night and never told her. Left without a word. Like she probably would have done to me.

The trees begin to slow, and an odd popping elicits from the back of the bus. It turns many heads including my own, and I spot the driver near the front. I see his face from the wide mirror overhead and it's clouded with worry and frustration.

Just as I feared, the bus grew slower and eventually pulled off to the side. Murmurs broke out all along the bus after the driver announces the issues with the bus. I wish I had taken a seat closer to the front as all the people around me have burst into angry complaints and I can't hear a word the driver is saying.

"Four hours? I need to get home to feed my dog!"

"My babysitter is off the clock soon, I can't wait that long!"

Four hours until we're back on the road? I can't wait that long either. I'm far too restless and I don't care if I have to walk. I am surprisingly restless given the amount I have exerted myself in the past twenty-four hours, and there is no way to tell if it is from some cleansing after effect or my fight with El but I need to move. I take a moment to kneel on my seat, and I glance out along the street studying my surroundings. Lucky for me, I recognize this spot, I'm not far from Becky's house. Which means I'm just on the edge of Hawkins.

I can walk that far.

And I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be able to afford a ride that went any further. Instead, I rose from my seat and slipped out the front. For all I know, it just might take me four hours to get home, but at least I'll be home by then.

||3rd Person POV||

Kali empties the box's contents onto the counter, dozens of badges, ID's and various records of previous or current employees at Hawkins Lab.

"Everyone you see here was in some way responsible for what happened to us," Kali informs, her team standing behind her.

Jane stands across the table from her, she picks a laminated card from the bunch to examine. She looks to her counterpart and raises a brow, her interest peaked.

"You hurt the bad men?"

Dottie makes a face, shaking her head.

"No," she says, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "We just give 'em a pat on the back."

[FLASHBACK]

A van screeches to a stop outside an undisclosed apartment building. Five masked figures exit the vehicle and storm the building. There is a knock on one apartment door, a confused man opens it only to be met with a bullet to the head.

[END OF FLASHBACK]

"You kill them?" Jane asks.

"They're criminals." Kali days simply, shrugging. "We simply make them pay for their crimes."

《•••》

Kali is seated in the passenger seat, her eyes closed and her hand raises to eye level. The van is racing at tops speeds as the police ride their tail as they enter a tunnel. With her full attention, and a sly smirk she whispers.

"Boom."

The cement ceiling of the tunnel explodes, debris falling and blocking the tunnel. The police cars swerve to miss the avalanche of rock.

《•••》

Jane examines the badge further, and it isn't until this has been explained does she realize the badge is sprinkled in splattered of blood.

"Damn, Shirley," says Axel teasingly. "What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Jane tears her eyes away to glare at the spider hater with the crazy hair. She notices that each of Kali's companions are smirking at her in a similar matter. Dottie merely shifts her weight to one foot and tilts her head, speaking sluggishly.

"We can't all be fighters, I guess." She sighs.

"I'm a fighter." Jane corrects. "I've killed."

《•••》

The second man spared a second to look before turning to her to try and restrain her.

Before he could even step foot in the room, he was dead on the floor, his neck snapped. All with the flick of her head.

•••

El stands at attention, she gravitates towards the front protectively in front of her four friends. The bad men surrounding them freeze and she tilts her head, her attention laser-focused on each and every one of the soldiers. They begin to twitch and squirm, and as her nose begins to bleed so do their eyes. A horrible squelching sound echoes throughout the hallway as the lights flicker violently and they each drop like flies, blood pouring out of their eyes, nose, ears, and mouths. Eleven had squeezed their brains like grapes.

《•••》

"Did these men you killed," Kali asks. "did they deserve it?"

Jane nods confidently.

"They hurt me."

《•••》

Eleven struggles to break free from the men's hold as they carry her by her arms down, back into the room.

Sobs track her body as she uses all her strength to turn and look back at Papa.

"Papa!" He steps out into the hallway and remains standing, doing nothing to help her, yet she still calls for him.

《•••》

"And they still want to hurt you," Kali presses. "To hurt us. We're just making the first move."

Kali nods her head, gesturing to the doors.

"Come."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Kali and Jane break off from the others as Kali shows her outside. They walk for a short while, Jane once again finds herself taking in her surroundings as her friend explains. By now they had found themselves a great fair distance from the warehouse and they wander through a scrapyard of boxes, abandoned shelves, and steel shipment containers.

"I was just like you once," Kali says. "I kept my anger inside. I tried to hide from it, but then that pain festered."

"Festered?"

Kali comes to a stop and looks sadly to Jane unable to meet her eye immediately as she is forced to relive the memories.

"It spread. Until finally I confronted my pain, and I began to heal." She said, her voice growing excited before she continued on through the scrapyard.

Jane did not follow immediately, she almost felt stuck as those words echoed in her mind. She knew what Kali spoke of all too well.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Y/n ducks under yet another low hanging branch, her hand gently pushing it away. The pads of her heels had begun to sting but she presses on. Despite the long trek behind, and before her, she has yet to regret her decision to go on foot. Much to her great delight and surprise, she finds that she is not as tired as she typically might have been. Only minutes after her departure, when she was safely out of sight of the bus and its impatient passengers did she drift off into the woods where she would not be as easily seen.

And though she is hidden well within the trees, the wind manages to snake within the trunks and whips against her clothes and the exposed skin on her neck and hands. She feels the damp earth sink beneath her shoes and she is thankful her shoes were able to dry faster than her clothes - the one thing she successfully managed to dry with the aid of her abilities.

She realizes with a dry laugh that she has once again left without her clothes but she does not care anymore. Once again her mind drifts to her last conversation with El.

Jane, she reminds herself bitterly.

Y/n has given it much thought and she had admitted to herself she had assumed that El had used that name do draw less suspicion. It hadn't quite dawned on Y/n that she truly did want to assume that part of her identity and she feels a twinge of guilt. But she can't ignore the itch of it all, something nagging at her that something about that was off. It just didn't seem like the same person, but Y/n dismissed the thought and was able to admit to herself that she was in the wrong on that front.

But that didn't mean her feelings weren't still hurt. El- Jane, had completely tossed her aside the minute she laid eyes on Kali. Y/n could still hear - and see - that exchange all took well.

Sister.

It brought another pang of jealousy to her heart as she so desperately longed for such a connection. Y/n, of course, loved her bother and friends with all her heart, but her whole life she had longed for such an iron-clad bond with another girl. And she supposed she had that with Jane. But it seems it was one-sided.

Quickly, Y/n shakes the thought from her head. She was not partial to thinking about that night, that night had hurt her deeply and it would only exhaust her.

She focuses her eyes on the ground before her, watching her step as she navigates the uneven terrain hidden under layers fallen leaves when she noticed something. A very simple thing that would most likely go unnoticed by any other being, or even her if it were any other given moment. Y/n saw a flurry of leaves swept up in the wind, moving across the landscape like a wave crashing in the ocean. And much like many other times in her life, something so simple triggers a memory in her brain like a feeling triggers the memory of a forgotten dream.

The details, not only what it looked like but what it felt like, of the phenomenon of what she had experienced the night before. Not her fight with her friend, or the scary adventure that led her to the other side of Hawkins and all the way to Chicago, but the explosion in the old train yard. And while it had not quite been forgotten, merely set aside in the unfurling events of her split with Jane, remembering the event felt silly. What a catastrophic thing to have forgotten.

Perhaps it wouldn't be the worst idea to practice, she thought.

She was all alone after all, she was out of sight and far away enough from the road where she couldn't be caught. She knew not to strain herself of course, given the long walk ahead of her. But she was rather bored and she figured she'd never really get another opportunity like this. After all, she couldn't quite practice this in her room.

In the end, temptation - and boredom - won, and she gave a quick sweep of the area before she settled in one spot. Worried of the potential exhaustion she was in fact risking, she figured she could rest for ten or twenty minutes or so. This also allowed her feet a small break. She found a small gap in the trees, a long stretch of open space where she wouldn't risk a fire hazard on any of the tree trunks.

Y/n finds her focus driven on the path of damp leaves before her. Her hands outstretched and with all her might she pictures the path before her blown away into a small ditch in between the long stretching gap between the trees. The forest still smelled of rain and even the trunks around her were still a bit damp, though she did want to risk it. The wet sludge of fallen leaves before her was her goal and she planted her feet preparing herself.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Kali's heels hit the pavement as she jumps off the platform, Jane's sneaker-clad feet soon follow. Kali strides across the damp pavement and she turns to face the clearing as Jane joins her side.

"You see that train?" She asks, gesturing towards the large abandoned car.

"Yes."

"I want you to draw it towards us,"

Jane looks at Kali with unease, and Kali gives her a sly smirk. Jane takes a breath but looks back at the train. She raises her hand, her mind focusing on the train and the surface around it. She can feel her mind strain and her hand trembles violently and all that comes to show for her efforts is the faint sound of metal creaking, and slight separation of the cart from its wheels.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

The wind had died down but still few leaves moved under her control. The signature blur emits from Y/n's hand, it reminded her of heat reflecting off concrete on a hot summer day. She felt herself smiling over the feat, but it quickly died out as her ability did. It quickly fizzled out and she felt a great strain on her body, and she sighed collecting her breath.

Something wasn't right. This wasn't how it went.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"I can't," Jane pants, hands on her knees collecting her breath.

"Last night you told me you lifted a van once."

《•••》

Her vision locks onto the van barreling towards her and her friends, and she scowls. With one flick of her head, the van flies through the air and over their heads.

《•••》

"Yes."

"The bad men were trying to take you away again, and that made you angry."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Y/n's mind flips through her memories, every experience she has had with her powers and her mind lands on the scene from the night she always chose to forget. The night they almost took her.

《•••》

A violent scream erupted from the young girl's throat, a scream that pierced even her own ears and ripped her throat raw.

A powerful force of energy exploded off of Y/n. It swept across the hallway, mowing down everyone in it's path, including the man holding who had been holding her hostage. Most of the men were knocked into the concrete walls and slid down to the floor unconscious, blood dripping from their heads.

Y/n landed on her knees, Eleven only about a foot away who had miraculously avoided the line of energy while on the ground.

Panting, she looks up to the man several feet away, laying on his back slowly coming to, and with all the remaining courage and energy she can muster, she slowly rises to her feet, breathing harder, her fists clenched and eyes filled with rage.

《•••》

Anger. Anger was the common factor of every incident she realizes suddenly. This had been the first time she had allowed herself to dwell on the memories of that night. Ever since it had been much too painful to revisit and she never bothered. And yet all this time she had wasted, trying to figure out her powers, figure out herself, and she had been ignoring the answer.

And for the first time, she thinks not of the people she's hurt. But the ones who have hurt her.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"Good. So, find that anger, focus on that, not the train, not its weight."

She raises her hand once more, and with a deep breath preparing herself for the task at hand. Not the boundaries she is preparing to test, but unlocking her heart and mind to the floodgates of bitter memories and untapped anger waiting to be unleashed.

"I want you to find something from your life. Something that angers you."

《•••》

The friend Y/n trusted most in the entire world, turned on her. Undeniable hatred and disgust in eyes instead of a loving gaze.

"Get out," Will seethes.

"What-?"

"I said, get out!" He hissed.

Y/n flinches at his tone, and backs away fighting tears and struggling to hide the hurt in her eyes.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

《•••》

"Now channel it."

The girl's hand trembles and the ground begins to shake as she unlocks this side of herself. The gates are opening, the gates to her full potential. She is strained but unwavering as she watches in glee as she moves the world around her.

"Dig deeper. Your whole life you've been lied to..."

《•••》

'THE MISSING EXPERIMENT'

Y/n gazed at the folder in shock, looking to her sleeping friend with fire in her eyes.

She had this with her the entire trip. And not once did she share it with her. Every file, every news clipping, every theory on her life that almost was. On her. And she was the last to see it.

《•••》

Anger rises to the surface, it is now all the girl can feel. At this moment in time, all she knows is white-hot rage and it is powerful enough to break the world. She is powerful enough.

"...imprisoned."

《•••》

Y/n loses the ability to speak when the man's eyes meet the agent holding her back. With one simple gesture, she is torn away from her brother and friends and straight into the man's clutches.

"What- what are you doing?" She cries, continuing to fight and kick against the steel hold.

An overwhelming storm of panic and frustration takes over and she begins to hyperventilate.

Instinctively, she struggles to turn in the agent's grasp to meet her brother's anxious and fearful eye and cries out to him.

"Dustin? Dustin!" She shrieks.

Her brother's desperate calls for her break her heart, but it turns to fire when she hears the man's voice.

"Y/n, don't fight it. You belong with us. We are your true home. Come home to us, Nine"

《•••》

She can feel her jaw clench, her muscles tense as she focuses all her energy - all her anger on the target before her.

"The bad men took away your home, you're mother,"

《•••》

"She was pretty." She began, smiling sadly. "She had [h/l] [h/t] [h/c] hair. And [s/c] skin. She was [y/h]."

•••

"She disappeared... Bang" El said slowly, a saddened frown forming on her face. "Gone."

•••

"So, my mom? She's...?" Y/n took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in her throat and El nodded.

《•••》

Her whole body began to shake, a raw and forceful screaming tearing from her throat and piercing the cold autumn air. It was only a small fraction of her emotions, only a mere glimpse of a wild hurricane bursting forth from within her as her powers unleashed.

"They took everything from you."

《•••》

But then she saw it. The small, lifeless body. He was wearing the same red vest he wore on that night. She was speechless. Hot tears streaked down her cheeks and she forgot how to breathe. She collapsed into Lucas's arms, his own grip weak and shaky, and she buried her wet face in his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her tightly, a lifeline of his own as he witnessed the horrible sight.

"It's Will. It's really Will." Lucas croaked, unable to speak above a harsh whisper.

Y/n felt tears fall on her head, telling her that Lucas had started crying as well.

The noise she made was incoherent. She let out a painful wail and tore herself away from Lucas's embrace when she gathered enough strength.

"Will? Will!" She cried.

Lucas and Dustin pulled her back. She fought and screamed, her throat aching from the strain. All previous worries of being spotted were forgotten, wanting nothing more than to be by his side. She wanted to be with him. To see if it was really true. But she was too weak. Defeat set in and she went limp, collapsing onto the ground and hugged her knees. She buried her tear-stained cheeks in her knees and hid from the cruel world that took such a loving soul from her. She rocked back and forth trying desperately to convince herself that this was a nightmare.

•••

And it had been. Not even a week later had she learned his body was a fake. The bad men lied. To her. To his family. To everyone. They stole him away and they didn't care who they hurt.

《•••》

Blood dripped from her nose, spidery veins spread across her face and hands. The violent force of power overtook the world and her body but it felt fantastic. She felt truly free for the first time in her life.

"They stole your life,"

The final and most forceful burst of anger comes forth, the final push she had been waiting for. The scream echoes and rings throughout the air long after she silences, and she collapses to the ground as exhaustion overtakes her.

She had done it.

Before her, a long deep trench stretches on for several feet. Y/n had uncovered not only the thick layer of damped leaves but several layers of earth creating a lengthy ditch where the earth had been carved. Discarded leaves rained down from the heavens like bright golden confetti celebrating her accomplishment. Y/n smiled despite her exhaustion, her hands on knees the palm of her hands still hot to the touch.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Jane collapses to her knees, gasping for breath and gazes at the train before her in disbelief. Distant cheers erupted in the distance and she looked to find Mick, Fusnshine, Dottie and Axel jumping, hooting and hollering.

"WAY TO GO JANE!"

She doesn't fight the smile that sneaks up on her and Kali kneels beside her, smirking.

"How do you feel?"

Jane nods, her smirk turning sly and confident.

"Good."