(2) Love You to Hell and Back (Max Mayfield / (Fem) You)

-Chapter 16: Wounds and Preparations-

"You're insane." Mike says, scoffing. "So, you prefer the original "Thing"?" Lucas asks. "What? No, I'm not talking about "The Thing", I'm talking about New Coke." Mike replies. "It's the same concept, dude." Lucas argues. "Uh, actually, it's not the same concept." Mike argues back. "It is the same concept."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is!" Lucas yells.

"Hey!" El shouts, ripping her blindfold off.

"Sorry." Mike and Lucas say. "Did you find Dustin?" I ask the girl, ignoring the two guilty boys. El sighs before turning to me instead of the boys. "Yes." She says, getting up, the rest of us following. We start pushing things out of the store. "He is at the movies." She says. "The movies? Dustin's so freaked out about the gate, he decides to watch a movie? Yeah, makes total sense." Lucas mutters. Max rolls her eyes, turning to Mike. "You're positive he said "gate" and not "great"?" She asks. "Yeah, like, "This movie I'm watching is great."" Will adds. "It sounded like "gate."" El says as we round a corner. I'm holding Max's hand as we watch, Mike helping El, Nancy and Jonathan at the back and Will is with Lucas pushing the cart of fireworks.

"Which would explain how the Mind Flayer's still alive." Mike says. "Yeah, we just have to shut it again." Nancy says from the back. "Then the monster dies." Will finishes the sentence. Lucas and Will lift the cart through the broken glass door and out. "But if not, we always have Lucas' fireworks." Max mutters sarcastically, following the two boys through the door and waiting for me to go through too. "Keep mocking my plan, Max. Keep mocking it. I wanna hear you say it again, because you keep doubting me. You keep doubting me!" Lucas says. "Ridiculous." Max mutters, rolling her eyes. "Will? We're gonna prove 'em wrong, right?" He asks the boy who nods in response.

We pile into Nancy's car again, speeding off to where we know Dustin is.

Starcourt Mall

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We park in the parking lot as we see people exit the Mall. By the time we enter, the Mall is empty. "Crap, where are they?" Lucas asks, looking around. I hear soft muttering from the floor below and look over the edge to see a few men holding up guns. They mutter to each other, looking around. "Do you think they're down there?" I ask, nodding. The others look down to see the men before Max gasps. "There." She says, pointing to a shop where a small, curly haired head pokes out before ducking back in.

The men mutter something before slowly advancing on the shop. "Shit, shit, shit. We have to do something." Mike says. I turn, running to another side, behind the men so they can't see us.. "El." I say, turning to the girl. She nods, closing her eyes as the ringing starts in my head. At this point, it is familiar and doesn't bother me...too much.

A nearby car's alarm starts blaring and I grin. The men look at it, confused. He speaks in another language before the car shakes wildly. They slowly look up to the second floor where we stand, together, glaring at them. El throws the car forward, hitting every single one of the men, making the car fly across the food court. It flips, smashing into the men and chairs before it crashes to a stop in front of "New York Pizza & Wings". I look at the shop the others are at and see four heads poke up. They don't notice us, only looking towards the car before looking at where the car used to be.

Then, their gazes lift, finally seeing us on the second floor. I recognise Steve, Dustin, Robin and...Erica Sinclair?

Dustin grins, his teeth slowing as we go down the escalator to their floor. A soon as we do, we all run to them, hugging them in a tight hug. Dustin turns to El, smiling wildly. "You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!" He says. I laugh, shaking my head before turning and seeing Robin. I run towards her, engulfing her in a big hug. "Robin!" I say. She grins, hugging me back. "Y/N!" She says before we let go. "Lucas?" I hear before I turn around to see Erica. "What are you doing here?" Lucas asks. "Ask them, it's their fault." Erica says, nodding to Steve, Robin and Dustin. "True, yeah. Totally true. It's absolutely our fault." Steve says, nodding. Robin looks behind her where the car lies. "I don't understand what happened to that car." She says. I laugh, shaking my head. "Robin, welcome to the other side of my life." I say. "What?" She questions. "El has superpowers." Dustin butts in. "I'm sorry?" Robin says, confused,

"Superpowers. She has telekinesis. El can move things with her mind, therefore, she threw the car with her mind." I explain. "Come on, catch up." Steve says. "That's El?" Erica asks. "Who's El?" Robin asks. I never told her about El. It was a part of my life I didn't share with her. "I'm sorry, who are you?" Nancy asks Robin. Robin turns to Nancy. "I'm Robin. I work with Steve and grew up with Y/N." She says. Nancy nods slowly.

"She cracked the top secret code." Dustin says. "Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians." Steve adds. "Russians? What, what Russians?" Jonathan asks. "The Russians!" Steve says, annoyed. "Those were Russians?" Max asks. "Some of them." Erica replies. "What are you talking about?" Lucas asks. "Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin asks him, confused. "Yeah. Couldn't understand what you were saying." Mike says. Dustin groans, shaking his head. "Goddamn low battery!" He says.

"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?" Steve asks. "Well, everything worked out, didn't it?" Dustin responds. "Worked out? We almost died!" Erica shouts. "Yeah, but we didn't, did we? Dustin adds. "It was pretty damn close." Steve responds. "Okay, Russians? As in, they're working for the Russian government?" Lucas asks. Dustin groans, looking at the boy. "What are you not comprehending? Am I not speaking English? We have a full-blown Red Dawn situation." Dustin says.

A figure breaks away from the group, causing me to turn to look at it. It's El. A high pitched ringing goes into my ear, which confuses me. El's not using her powers....

"So this has nothing to do with the gate?" Max asks. "It has everything to do with the gate..." Dustin replies. I watch El as she plugs her ears, wincing, like I do when the ringing gets bad. But mine isn't bad, so why is hers? I look at Mike, who looks at me as I nod to El. That's when she collapses onto the floor and Mike rushes over, followed by me. He kneels beside her and rolls her onto her back. "El! El!" He shouts, shaking her lightly. "What's wrong with her?" Erica asks. "What's wrong?" Mike asks her. "My leg. My leg." El mutters.

Jonathan peels away the gauze which reveals the wound, stinking, swollen, oozing more than before. Way worse than before. Then, something moves INSIDE the wound. El wails in pain and Mike looks away, sick. He turns back to El furrowing his eyebrows. "El! El, are you okay?" He asks. She shouts again, in pain.

Oh god, I'm gonna be sick.

Word Count: 1993