lovers rock

chapter 16

-march 24th 1986-
-y/n's pov-
in pure exhaustion from the events of the previous day, my head drooped on what I thought was a car seat as I slept. but when my eyes fluttered open to be met with the glistening sun and a hot temperature, I realised my head had been on el's lap the whole time. I quickly lifted myself off, feeling very flustered as a crimson blush crept up my neck onto my cheeks. I gazed out the window to find we were speeding through a rocky desert which was occupied with many cactuses. there were large mountains on the horizon that met with the light blue colour of the sky where fluffy, cream-coloured clouds were dotted around.
"apologies for the bumpy ride guys" owens spoke, snapping me from my reverie of thoughts, "I would've paved a road but it kinda ruins the whole top secret location thing" he gestured with his hands, "did you get some rest?"
"A little" El replied whilst I nodded.
"Good" owens smiled, "I have a feeling you're gonna need it" he turned his eyes back to the front of the car.

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twelve whole hours of driving through the complete middle of nowhere had passed but still, the landscape hadn't changed. the car finally pulled to a stop with a screech from the brakes, outside a small metallic shed with a door. I looked at it with unease, unsure of what to expect to be on the other side. el opened the car door and clambered out, me copying her actions right after. slowly, we both stalked forward towards the unfamiliar door. owens tapped away at a few of the buttons on a control panel until the door opened with a buzz.
with each step I took down the flimsy staircase, a creaking noise occurred, owens pressed another button and a chained door opened. we all stepped inside and I inspected my surroundings. the elevator looked like a cage, one you would find at an abandoned mine but it's cage-like appearance reminded me of my past trauma and how the russians would lock me away like I was some wild animal. I shuddered at the thought but owens must've noticed because he then placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
"don't worry" he assured me, I smiled weakly trying to fight through the pain of wanting to break down at cry.
he then removed his hand and shut the chained doors, the doors making a clunking noise when they met.
"you didn't really think we were working out of a shed, did you?" owens asked, rhetorically.
the elevator rumbled as it went far down into the ground, once it reached the bottom the doors opened. my eyes searched around, we were in an underground base, the corridors in the shapes of tubes where guards stood at every turn.
"you built all this?" el pondered as we walked further into the tube-like hallway.
"well, more gave it a face lift," owens answered, "do you know what an ICBM is?"
"yeah," I said, "a missile, the russians talked about it a lot."
"that's right" owens chuckled, "we used to store them here, underground so they were far away from any people to discover them but there's no more bombs here, not anymore, so don't worry about that" owens informed, "we repurposed it to hold something much more powerful than some ol' missile.. we repurposed it to hold you two."
hope flickered inside of me briefly, hope that these scientists and people were different from the russians. the russians who would treat me completely as some dog to be trained, as some weapon. maybe these people were different and they understood the term 'human rights.'
owens greeted a group of scientists who were staring at us but as we passed them in the hall one of them caught my eye.
"dad?!" I exclaimed.
"y/n!" my adoptive father grinned whilst sprinting up to me before engulfing me in a hug.
"what are you doing here?" I asked, completely baffled as he let go of me.
"right.. that's a long story but I can tell you later, alright? I'm very busy right now as you can see but I promise I will tell you" he spoke.
I nodded hesitantly before speaking, "alright.. see you later.."
I joined back with owens and el who were waiting for me.
"what's my dad doing here?" I asked owens.
"I'm sure he'll tell you himself" owens smiled to which I nodded, "but yeah, you'll have to forgive the staring, you two are like celebrities down here."
"we are?" me and el asked in sync.
"oh yeah, you kidding? you- you're bigger than tears for fears to them, y'know who tears for fears are, right? those two boys-"
"yeah, we know" el and I replied in unison as all the happy memories of us singing to 'everybody wants to rule the world' and 'head over heels' flooded our minds, we both turned and gave the same smile to eachother, both knowing what the other was thinking.
"they've all given up their lives, their jobs, their families.." owens continued, "just to come work on this program, because they believe in the cause, they believe in you guys."
the door in front of us opened with a mechanical noise and we headed through to be met with some sort of large water tank.
"we call her nina" owens informed as he pointed to the writing on the side which read 'NINA'
"what is it?" asked el as she gazed at her surroundings.
"if we told you, it would ruin the surprise" a voice unfamiliar to me responded but that voice wasn't unfamiliar to el. her face turned pale and her blood ran cold, I began to grow worried due to her reaction. at the same exact time our eyes traveled up until they met with a tall man with white hair and an evil looking grin spread across his face, combining smoothly with the large scratch that his face wore.
"Hello Eleven" he spoke, El's breathing quickened as fear started to overcome her, "and how could I forget, the infamous... 012."
a chilling shiver rattled my spine as he spoke the word 'twelve.'
"I know, you're frightened of me," the man began to walk down the steps, "perhaps in our time apart you may have grown to hate me. But all I've ever wanted to do is help you, and right now I think you very much need my help. Your gifts have been stolen, eleven. and I believe I know why and I believe I know how to get them back." the man now stood at the same level as us, I stepped forward slightly, putting a protective shoulder in front of el.
"let us walk together again" the man was now almost too close for comfort, "you and I, with the help of her." he prodded my shoulder with his index finger, my eyebrows furrowed as I glared up at him with angry eyes,
"daughters.." he placed one hand on my left shoulder and the other hand on el's right shoulder, "and papa."
suddenly, el turned heel and ran like the wind, I quickly copied her actions and followed after her, running as fast as I could. the adrenaline kicking in fairly fast causing my speed to increase as I bolted down the halls along side el.
an alarm began to ring through the building, "y/n!" my dad called out as he watched me run down the isle.
just as we reached the elevator we skidded to a stop, a group of guards blocked our way.
"why don't you go back inside, play nice with the doctor, hm?" one of them spoke as if we were some little kids not wanting to go to a dentist appointment.
el charged forward but the men grabbed her.
"NO!" I yelled, raising out an arm causing the men holding her to fling backwards like flies. almost instantly after using my powers I felt the tip of a needle slice through the flesh in my neck. my eyes widened as the chemicals entered my veins, knowing what was about to happen next I collected up the rest of my fading consciousness and knelt to the floor so it wouldn't hurt as much as falling from a standing position. the cries of el as more security got ahold of her rang through my ears.
"el!" I called out before fading away into unconsciousness.