0 0 1 ━ [ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 ]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟺𝟹: 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝙸𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕

"He did what?" One stammered. She was still processing what she had just heard.

"I'm sorry, I walked in just as Hopper pulled the trigger," James rushed out. He had a bewildered look in his eye and he was breathing hard, like he had just run a mile.

"Why? What happened? Why are you here?" One asked in quick-fire succession. She wasn't concerned about Dr. Brenner's death so much as she was worried about why Hopper would kill him. She hated Brenner with every bone in her body and she had often fantasized about killing him herself but she couldn't do it and she didn't think Hopper was capable of doing it either. Sure, Hopper had made a lot of cracks about ending Brenner's life, but he wasn't a cold-blooded killer, he was her dad.

"I followed Hopper from the cabin," James began to explain. "I heard him mumbling something about the Lab and then he grabbed his gun and I just had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. I didn't see what happened before but I was able to lock him in the cage afterwards."

"I-I need to see him." One took a step towards the room that Hopper was locked in but James moved to block her way.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go in there. It's not safe. There's something different about him, I don't think he's himself," James said.

He looked into One's eyes and for a moment One could almost see the old James she knew; the one that had watched James Bond with her and helped her dye her hair red. The one that she had gotten lost in a bottle of vodka with and adventured throughout the Upside Down alongside. She had loved him at one point.

"What do you mean he's not himself?"

"I-I don't know..." James said. "It's like someone, or something, is controlling him."

"Controlling him?" One asked suspiciously. "James, what's going on?"

"I just think it would be best to get out of here for your safety," James explained. "If whatever has taken over Hopper made him shoot Brenner, he could shoot you too."