𝟎𝟏𝟎 ᵐⁱᵏᵉ ʷʰᵉᵉˡᵉʳ ˣ ᵒᶜ

023

"And Del's not stupid. She knows her abilities
better than any of us with the exception of maybe Eleven" Nancy agreed.

"Exactly, thank you" Max sighed.

"And she is her own person" Nancy agreed "With her own free will".

"Del has known her powers for two years. She shut the gate and Mike still doesn't trust her" Max frowned.

"You wanna talk about trust, really? After you made Eleven spy on us?" Mike argued with Max.

"Wait, what?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, she didn't tell you this?"

"No"

"Your girlfriend used El's powers to spy on us"

"No, no, no, I did not make her. It was her idea. And why are we even talking about this,
seriously?" Max frowned.

"Yeah, who cares?" Will asked.

"I care" Lucas added.

"Yeah. I guess girlfriends don't lie, they spy" Mike crossed his arms.

"We were just joking around" Max defended.

"Wouldn't it've been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something?" Mike asked.

"You weren't" Max argued

"But what if I was?"

"Then gross!"

"Seriously, Mike?" Nancy asked.

"I'm just trying to demonstrate how careless Max is with Del and Eleven's powers. In fact, how careless all of you are. You're treating Del like some kind of machine when she's not a machine, and I don't want her to die from exhaustion. So can we please just come up with a new plan because I love her and I can't lose her" Mike ranted.

El joined the room with everyone else, Delilah walking slowly behind her.

"What's going on?" Delilah asked, her voice quieter than usual.

"Nothing. Nothing" Mike told her.

"Just a family discussion" Lucas smirked.

"I found him" El spoke.

El channeled her powers again, everyone sat around her as she focused on the tv static. She panted and ripped the blindfold off.

"What's he doing now?" Max asked.

"And that's not normal, right?" Nancy asked.

"Billy staying in his room on the Fourth of July? No, that's not normal" Max confirmed.

"He wants us to find him" Will realised.

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. If we go to Billy, then the rest of the flayed know where we are" Nancy nodded.

"It's a trap, I agree. We'll be ambushed" Mike agreed.

"We won't be surprised" Lucas shrugged. We'll know that they're coming, and we will kick their flayed butts".

"You mean Del and Eleven will kick their butts" Max corrected.

"It's too risky" Mike told them.

"Yeah, and unnecessary, killing the flayed
won't stop the Mind Flayer. We have to find out where it's spreading from. We have to find the source" Nancy agreed.

"Billy and Hallie knows it. They've been there.
To the source" El told them.

"Yeah, but..." Delilah tried.

"It's a trap. I know. We can't go to Billy or Hallie, but I think there's another way. A way for me to see where he's been" El walked into another room and turned the tv on static again.

"El, you don't have to do this.  It's just,
you've only done this before once. And your mom, she loved you, and wanted you to know what happened. And Billy's mind is diseased.
The Mind Flayer is in him" Delilah explained.

"He can't hurt me. Not in there" El told her.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Del. I need you to trust me" Eleven wrapped her arms around the girl.

"I trust you. I trust you so much  Just... be careful" Delilah told El, wresting her head on the girls.

El tied the blindfold tightly.

"I see Hallie" El told them.

"Tell her I'm sorry, I'm so sorry and i will fix this" Delilah felt tears drip down her cheeks, feeling responsible for the girl.

El whimpered and hyperventilated before telling them "I'm... on a beach".

"Okay, I may be dense, but the last I checked,
there weren't any beaches in Hawkins" Lucas blinked in confusion.

"What else do you see?" Delilah asked.

"A man, he's happy. I... I think he's looking at me. There's...a little girl, she's swimming." El told them "it's Hallie".

"It's Florida. It's a memory" Delilah explained.

"I think I see it. The source" El spoke softly. El began to see all of Hallie's bad memories, her sitting next to her dad in his hospital bed as he died, the nurses having to drag her out because she refused to leave, the way she lashed out when she had to have therapy.

"I think I found it. The source" El nodded.

"Where, El? Where are you?" Max asked her.

"Brimborn... Steelworks" she told her.

Jonathan got up and grabbed an address book
"Here. Okay, uh, steelworks, steelworks...Uh...
Here, steel.Found it. 6522 Cherry Oak Drive".

"That's close" Nancy told him.

"El, El, we found it. Get out of there. Get out" Delilah told her but El stayed with the blindfold on.

She screamed suddenly, ripping the blindfold off and crying. Delilah wrapped her arms around her "You're okay. It's okay. I won't let anyone hurt you".