039 The Troublesome Lab
During the day and night Richard was unconscious, the situation developed as rapidly as a runaway freight train.
Whether it was the news that Dr. Brenner, who had been shot once by a shotgun and once by friendly fire, had died from excessive blood loss, or that the Federal Government was sending a new director to take over The Lab, or that the Department of Defense had already learned the inside story of the experiments and begun to pay attention to The Lab, things were changing fast.
All in all, keeping The Lab open for now was much better than shutting it down immediately.
Since Richard had deleted almost all the data related to Eleven in The Lab, The Lab and the DoD only knew from surviving personnel that there was an escaped test subject, but had no idea where the child was now. Both sides were secretly watching for Eleven.
The difference was that The Lab didn't want Eleven to be exposed. Because they had caused such a huge mess this time, many watchdog groups across America had noticed the oddities in Hawkins. The new director was there to clean up Dr. Brenner's mess, and he was more than willing to cooperate with the townspeople who knew about the incident to hide Eleven's existence.
The military's goals were more varied. They wanted to first see if Eleven actually existed; if she did, they would choose to eliminate her directly. Why?
This involves internal Federal Government politics that aren't easy to discuss. In short, not all members of Congress are on The Lab's side; some stand directly against them. They have good relations with the Pentagon and don't want to see The Lab's faction produce successful experiments. Furthermore, the military representative, General Sullivan, is said to be an extreme human purist. He firmly believes that supernatural beings like Eleven cannot exist in American society as they threaten national security and must be eradicated.
So, while The Lab's word couldn't be fully trusted, everyone wanting to protect Eleven shared a common interest with them. Moreover, The Lab could provide a certain level of cover for Eleven's existence. At least until the military was convinced Eleven was 'dead' or 'gone,' it was necessary to maintain a cooperative relationship with The Lab.
Richard understood the gist of what Hopper was saying. It was almost exactly what he had guessed, though he hadn't expected the DoD to get involved.
"Sullivan, huh..." Richard murmured to himself. Hopper had just mentioned the name, and it was very familiar because it had appeared in the system messages regarding the collection of plot points.
Clearly, the military was likely interested in more than just the secrets of Hawkins Lab. They had already gathered enough intelligence that Sullivan had marked Richard as a primary target for observation; otherwise, the skill panel wouldn't have been able to collect plot points from General Sullivan.
"I need to keep a low profile for a while," Richard thought. Hearing that General Sullivan was an extreme human purist—whether the man was targeting him to find Eleven or because Richard had inadvertently shown extraordinary abilities during the incident and was labeled a "suspected psychic"—he had to act as normally as possible for a while. Otherwise, he, Eleven, and even the others would face unnecessary trouble because of him.
Richard was never one to drag others into his problems. If he did, he certainly had a plan for making it right. In short, he didn't want to cause trouble or owe favors—a belief he had held since growing up in foster care.
The conversation with Chief Hopper fell into a moment of silence. Richard looked at the fire in the hearth and suddenly remembered something, asking, "By the way, Chief, was the gate to The Upside Down properly closed after everything?"
Chief Hopper's expression was troubled. "Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time. Eleven didn't wake up from the sedative until three yesterday afternoon, and by then, the Feds had already stationed new management in The Lab. To protect Eleven, we didn't choose to close the gate to The Upside Down immediately."
Richard saw guilt on Chief Hopper's face. This Chief, who used to be somewhat cynical, was actually a man who loved the town and possessed a real sense of justice. Faced with the dilemma of exposing Eleven or leaving the town in danger, he ultimately chose Eleven. He became a good father but compromised his principles.
Richard glanced at the owner of the eyes peeking through the crack in the door. The moment their eyes met, the owner of the eyes flinched back behind the door like a startled kitten. With a slight smile, he said, "It was the right choice. At least until we know what kind of person the new Lab director is, we can't let them know Eleven exists. We can't risk losing Eleven, and we can't risk being in danger after losing her."
"In the coming weeks, strange things will inevitably happen in town. If the gate isn't closed in time, The Upside Down will keep encroaching on the real world. You'll need to keep an eye on that, Chief. When Eleven's awake, remember to tell her to monitor The Upside Down from time to time. At least until we find the right time for her to come forward, we must maintain the peace of the town," Richard said, sharing his views.
Chief Hopper nodded and sighed softly, "I was thinking the same thing."
He then patted Richard's sturdy shoulder. "We won't ask too much about your situation. This whole thing was thanks to you. Because of you, we have leverage over The Lab's dirty secrets and have perfectly hidden Eleven's psychic data. This gives us some initiative in our cooperation with The Lab. Even if Eleven is accidentally exposed one day, we have bargaining chips."
"Leave the rest to me. You're still a student, so just keep playing your role. Robin, Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy all like you as a friend. And Eleven sees you as a brother. If possible, I don't want you stepping into danger again."
After Richard successfully returned to the real world with the Byers and the missing boy Troy, he had shown various incredible abilities. His extraordinary self-healing and his hyper-efficient absorption of glucose and saline IV drips were noticed by everyone. However, they all tacitly kept Richard's uniqueness to themselves, deciding to keep it a lifelong secret.
Even the severely injured Dr. Brenner had been shocked by Richard, saying that a psychic like Richard, who wasn't a product of experiments, was a rare natural-born talent—as precious as Eleven.
From that moment, Dr. Brenner, who looked like he might die of blood loss at any second, suddenly seemed to rally. He looked at Richard as if he were discovering gold. Especially when he discovered Richard's ability was a type of self-healing, that fanatical gaze remained fresh and disturbing in Hopper's memory. This was why Hopper didn't trust The Lab's story; at the very least, he felt The Lab was deliberately hiding Dr. Brenner's true status.
The lack of transparency from the new Lab was naturally why Hopper was unwilling to trust the new director.
Furthermore, while protecting Eleven, he also wanted to do his best to protect Richard.
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