Chapter 1: Chapter One:
A faint hum resonated in the air, soft at first, growing louder with each passing second. Eleven floated in the abyss, her limbs weightless, her mind drifting between fractured memories and an unfamiliar present. She could see flickers of her life in Hawkins—the face of her mother, the friends she once called her family, the shadowy, twisting landscape of the Upside Down. Each memory hovered around her like shattered pieces of glass, reflecting a life she wasn't sure was still hers.
And then, she fell.
Her body crashed into the ground with a force that knocked the breath from her lungs. Eyes snapping open, Eleven pushed herself up, blinking against the glaring sunlight. Her hands trembled as they met cold, hard stone. She wasn't in Hawkins. She wasn't in the lab. She wasn't in the Upside Down.
She was in New York City.
But not the New York she recognized from Hopper's books and TV shows. The streets were oddly clean, bustling with people who looked far too calm given the chaos that churned inside her. Towering above her was a sleek building of glass and metal: the Stark Tower, its gleaming "A" catching the sunlight.
Eleven staggered to her feet, her bare soles scraping against the asphalt. Her hospital gown fluttered in the breeze, a stark reminder of her vulnerability. Yet her instincts screamed at her to move. She wasn't safe.
Before she could take another step, a flash of red light streaked through the air, slamming into the pavement just inches from her feet. She froze.
Hovering above her was a man in an iron suit, his face obscured behind a sleek metal mask. He lowered himself to the ground with calculated precision, his hands glowing faintly with repulsor energy.
"Alright, kid," said Iron Man, his voice crackling through the speakers. "You're not exactly blending in. Mind explaining what's going on before I have to bring in the big guns?"
Eleven's breath quickened. The words were sharp, unfamiliar. But the tone—the tone was all too similar to the interrogations she'd endured in Hawkins Lab. She took a step back, her fists clenching.
"Hey, easy," Stark said, his voice softening. "No one's here to hurt you. But you're glowing like a Christmas light on the energy scanner, and that usually means trouble."
Glowing? Eleven glanced at her hands, and for the first time, she noticed faint crackles of blue energy coursing over her skin, a residual echo of her last encounter with the Upside Down. Her stomach churned. She didn't understand what was happening, but she knew she needed to get away.
Before Stark could react, Eleven's eyes darkened, and with a sharp inhale, she unleashed a wave of telekinetic force. The repulsors in Stark's suit flared as he was thrown back, slamming into the side of a parked car. Alarms blared, and people screamed as they scattered in every direction.
Iron Man groaned, pushing himself up. "Alright, definitely big guns."
But before Eleven could make her escape, the air around her warped, a shimmering golden ring forming at her feet. She felt her body pulled upward, weightless once more, and then the world twisted violently.
When the spinning stopped, she was in another place entirely.
The room was dimly lit, lined with shelves of ancient tomes and artifacts that seemed to whisper secrets as she passed. A large circular window dominated the space, its intricate pattern casting shadows that danced like flames. Eleven stumbled forward, disoriented, as a man in a flowing red cape approached her, his expression calm but unyielding.
"Welcome to the Sanctum Sanctorum," said Doctor Stephen Strange. His voice carried authority, yet there was an undercurrent of curiosity in his tone. "I'd suggest you don't try any more outbursts here. The consequences might be… unpredictable."
Eleven looked around, her breathing shallow. She didn't trust him. She didn't trust any of them. Her instincts screamed at her to fight, to defend herself. But when her power flared within her, Strange raised his hand, and the energy dissipated as quickly as it had come.
"Impressive," he said, more to himself than to her. "You're not drawing from the usual sources. It's almost… dimensional in nature."
"What… what do you want?" Eleven finally managed to ask, her voice trembling but defiant.
Strange's gaze softened. "Answers. Same as you, I imagine."
The sound of footsteps broke the moment, and Eleven turned to see another figure entering the room. Wanda Maximoff, her crimson aura shimmering faintly, studied Eleven with a mixture of caution and empathy.
"She's the one," Wanda said, her voice quiet but certain. "The energy signature matches the disturbances I've been feeling. She's connected to whatever's been tearing through the dimensions."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Eleven snapped, her voice rising. The panic was building inside her again, threatening to spill over.
"Calm down," Wanda said, stepping closer. "We're not your enemies."
"Then why am I here?" Eleven demanded.
Strange exchanged a glance with Wanda before replying. "Because the boundaries between worlds are collapsing, and you might be the key to stopping it."
The words hung in the air, heavy and incomprehensible. Eleven's mind raced as she tried to piece together what was happening. She didn't belong here. She didn't belong anywhere.
Before she could respond, the ground beneath her feet began to tremble. Strange's expression darkened as he raised his hands, conjuring glowing sigils that spun and pulsed with energy.
"They found her," he muttered.
"Who?" Wanda asked, stepping into a defensive stance.
Strange didn't answer. Instead, he turned to Eleven. "Whatever happens, stay close. You're not ready to face them alone."
The walls of the Sanctum groaned, and a jagged tear appeared in the air, oozing shadows that twisted and writhed as they spilled into the room. From the tear emerged a hulking creature, its body a grotesque fusion of organic matter and darkness. Eleven's blood ran cold. She knew this creature. She had faced others like it in the Upside Down.
Her fear melted into anger, and without hesitation, she stepped forward, her eyes darkening as she summoned her power.
"Stay back!" Wanda called, but Eleven ignored her.
With a scream that echoed through the chamber, Eleven unleashed a telekinetic blast, slamming the creature into the wall. But it wasn't enough. The shadows reformed, advancing once more.
Strange and Wanda moved to her side, their powers flaring to life as they prepared to fight. Together, the three of them faced the darkness, the air crackling with magic and fury.
As the battle began, Eleven couldn't shake the feeling that this was only the beginning—that the answers she sought lay not in this room, but in the shattered fragments of the worlds she had left behind.