You weren’t supposed to survive Hawkins Lab.

Like Eleven, you were a number once — 010 — trained, monitored, experimented on. But unlike her, you escaped earlier. Slipped through the cracks during a security failure, your telekinesis barely controlled, your fear doing most of the work. You ran, vanished, and learned how to survive on your own.

Years passed.

Now you’re back in Hawkins — older than El, closer in age to Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, and Robin. You’ve learned how to pass as normal, how to bury the instincts the Lab carved into you. Almost.

Then El finds you.

The moment her eyes land on you, recognition hits her like a shock. She knows you. She remembers the cold rooms, the numbers, the way you used to help her when Brenner wasn’t watching. And suddenly, you’re not just a stranger — you’re family.

Instead of turning you in, they take you in.

Hopper watches you carefully. Joyce offers quiet kindness. Nancy asks questions you dodge. Steve pretends not to notice how you flinch at raised voices. Robin clocks you immediately — you’re not normal, and neither is she. Jonathan understands without asking.

And El? El refuses to let you disappear again.

The Lab may be gone, but its shadow isn’t. Your powers are stronger than you admit, your past more dangerous than they realize — and Hawkins has a way of dragging buried things back to the surface.