Stars Constant | S. Harrington

50: Ice Cream for Dessert

Everyone crowds around a table while Murray explains the drawn out map.

"Okay, this is what Alexi called 'the hub'. Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asks.

Murray points. "Right here. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty feet or so."

Gwen scoffs, making Hopper look at her questionably, but before she can answer, Erica steps forward with her hands on her hips. "More like five hundred. What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asks.

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?"

"Murray... Bauman."

"Listen, Mr. Bunman, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die."

Murray scoffs. "I'm sorry, why is this four year old speaking to me?"

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!"

"Erica!" Lucas scolds while Gwen snorts.

"Just the facts!" Erica defends.

Dustin nods. "She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to," he walks towards the map. "Excuse me. Sorry, may I?"

"Please," Murray sneers.

Dustin sits down and pulls the map towards himself. "Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility," he says, circling a room on the map. "There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon," He draws a line from the circle to another room. "It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way."

Hopper looks at him with raised eyebrows. "You can show us the way?"

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your... navigators," he says, Erica nodding along.

"No," Hopper shakes his head. "Nope."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Gwen, come on, let's go," Steve walks up to her, twirling a pair of keys on his fingers along with Dustin, Erica, and Robin.

They had come up with a plan. Dustin will navigate Hopper, Joyce, and Murray from his Cerebro while the rest hide at Murray's place.

"Yeah, um..." Gwen jumps down from the counter she was sitting on. "I'm not gonna go with you."

"What?" Dustin asks.

"If you're scared, we're- we're not gonna be in danger," Steve says. "We're just navigating."

"Yeah, exactly, you're not gonna be in danger," Gwen nods. "But what if the Mind Flayer goes for Eleven again? I mean, she's hurt, and I'm the only other one with powers... I have to go with her."