In My Blood

Episode 10 - The Junkyard

"Won't we need weapons?" Diana asked him, much to his surprise.

"You both can just drive away when it's time, we'll handle it from here."

"We're not deserters, Harrington," Charity scoffed, taking Diana's arm in her own. "We'll find our own weapons, or we'll make them. You'd be surprised at the strength you can have if you're not a flier." The blonde gave me a wink before she and her friend turned away, going off to fulfill Steve's orders. The boy looked down at me, his brow slowly raising.

"So what all have you not told them?" he asked me, crossing his arms against his chest. I glanced back at my two friends, both dragging large scraps of metal and laughing at something another had said. I hadn't expected them to be so... compliant. Sure, there was the occasional comment from Charity, but they actually wanted to help. Maybe there was more than what you saw.

"They don't know about Eleven or Anya," I told Steve, giving a little sigh as I looked back to him. "And they don't know anything about me. If possible, I want to keep it that way."

"You can try," Steve said, and I looked at him in confusion. He rolled his eyes and gave a shake of his head. "We're talking about a Demogorgon, Rachel. If anything goes south, there's no way you can try to save the day without your powers and not feel guilty if someone gets hurt."

"You know me so well."

"Well, it would be hard for me not to," he smiled back. We both stood there for a moment as the expression faded. "Nancy and I... that's done." I stood there curiously, wondering where he was going. Steve cleared his throat uncomfortably, rubbing the side of his nose twice with the bend of his pointer finger. "I wanted to confirm that with her, but... I think she already knows."

"How are you holding up?" I asked him, and he shrugged.

"Well, you know..." he said honestly, "it's hard to really think about stuff like that when you've got a hell creature on the loose. I don't know, I guess... I guess I had already grieved enough."

"Well, I'm here for you," I said, and Steve smiled at me. There was a loud groan of metal that caught my attention, and my head turned in the direction of Billy's step-sister. Max was struggling to pull a piece of scrap almost the size of her, her arms shaking as all of her strength was being used. "Hang on!" I called out to her, running to the girl and picking up the other side. She seemed shocked at the fact I had offered help, her blue eyes narrowing suspiciously at me. "Didn't want you to hurt yourself. I'm-"

"Rachel," she finished my introduction for me, walking backward as we led the scrap over to a pile. "Billy and Lucas told me about you. Really different things about you, but it's nice to actually meet you." I chuckled at her response, and she seemed to loosen up at that. "I'm Max."

"Nice to officially meet you, too," I smiled. "Just curious... what has Lucas said about me?"

"Oh, nothing much," she assured me as we dropped the scrap metal down. Max dusted her hands against each other before pulling her fiery red hair out of her face. "You can actually move stuff with your mind?" I quickly looked up at Diana and Charity, the two girls too far away to have heard me. A curse word was ringing in my head toward the younger boy.

"Yeah, but not everyone knows about that here, so let's keep it on the down-low," I told her, and she gave me a quick nod.

"Gotcha," Max agreed, giving a small smile. "That's... that's really cool."

"I think so too," I told her truthfully with a chuckle. "Only issue is that if I do it, it's not undercover. We're talking a decently bloody nose."