✓ | DAMAGED GOODS, steve harrington

eighteen - the battle of starcourt

Mike turned to El," What do you mean?"

Eleven gulped leaning on Hopper for support," When I...last saw Billy—I heard Imogen for a moment— She was talking to him"

Imogen nodded," Yeah, I was—

Steve tensed up as he spoke," Earlier in the theatre, you told me you had a dream—that something took over your body, and you gestured that you vanished"

The Older Henderson closed her eyes," Yeah, that's where it gets strange" She reopened her eyes face El," When you saw me talking to Billy, it was the real him—not the flayed him"

"So, he's still very much still in there" Max let out a breath in relief

"Yeah, he is" Imogen smiled," the flayer finds me as a threat...that much I know"

Will then spoke up "But, If we close the gate again—

Max continued "We cut the brain off from the body"

"And kill it...Theoretically" Lucas stated

"We can" Imogen leaned on Steve feeling her energy slowly restoring," But—You need to make Billy fight it, or else he'll die with the creature"

"How do you know that for sure?" Joyce turned to her

"Because unlike the time it possessed Will the year prior—it grown in strength with what you all said. It's manifested from" She made a face trying not to gag," Melted flesh, and it's latched part of itself on me—but I think Billy is stopping it from transferring to me"

"Yoo-hoo!!" Bauman suddenly yelled waving a stack of paper's," Yoo-hoo" They all made faces as his voice echoed around the mall. He walked over and put the papers on the table," Okay, this is what Alexei called "the hub". Now, the hub takes us to the vault room"

"Okay, where's the gate?" Jim asked

"Right here. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vaults room, maybe 50 feet or so" Bauman ran his hand around the paper unsure.

"More like 500" Erica stepped forward," What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

Bauman raised his eyebrow," I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?"

"Murray...Bauman" He said slowly

"Listen, Mr Bunman, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I 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"

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Bauman said with attitude as he stepped back

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

"Erica!" Lucas scolded here

She snapped at him glaring," Just the facts!"

"She is right" Imogen stepped forward," We dropped down a god damn horribly made elevator and were trapped in it for maybe 8 to 9 hours. But Erica is right, it's not something that" She looked down at the map," That a map like this can help you"

"You're all gonna die, but you don't have to" Dustin walked forward," Excuse me"

He leaned forward," Sorry, may I?"

"Please," Bauman said sarcastically making Imogen step forward glaring," Careful with that tone Bald man—my brother and Erica might not seem like much, but they know more than what you do. From experience"

Dustin sat down on the chair," Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility" He drew a circle on the paper," There's a hatch in here that feeds int their underground ventilation system"