ACE OF HEARTS ( mike wheeler! )

CHAPTER FOURTY-SIX

From just below, the alarm from the model car began to blare loudly. The sound immediately echoed off the walls and completely took the soldiers off guard. 

The eyes of the men then traveled upward, and as soon as they noticed Eleven, their breath halted. It was the last thing they were able to see before Eleven sent the car barreling towards them, crashing into their bodies and sent them flying backwards. 

"You think they survived?" Lucas spoke from behind Eleven.

Staring down at the motionless bodies, Mike Wheeler gulped and shook his head, "I wouldn't put your money it."

It was then four heads rose from behind the counter, revealing the faces of Dustin, Erica, Robin, and...

Cassie's body froze as her voice softly croaked out, "Steve?"

Surely enough, Steve Harrington's face appeared from the shadows, features split between grief, shock, and joy. Seconds pass, Cassie's brain taking him in, struggling to comprehend that he is right in front of her, that he is real. After everything that was going on, she almost thought that she would never see him again. 

How the ground is erased between the two of them, they'll never recall, but one moment they are apart and the next they are morphed into one. The warmth of her brothers body meets Cassie's, giving her hope like he always did. One of his hands grasps her torso and the other strokes her hair in reassurance.

"I was so worried about you!" Cassie exclaimed. "You could have at least called!"

"I was stuck in an underground Russian base for 48 hours." Steve defended. "How exactly did you expect me to do that?"

Pushing past the two siblings, Dustin laughed as he raced over to Mike and Eleven, engulfing them into a hug, "You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!"

"Lucas?" Erica shouted in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" Lucas questioned the young girl.

Erica crossed her arms over her chest and replied, "Ask them it's their fault."

Steve let go of his little sister and turned to the group, "True, yeah. Totally true. It's absolutely our fault."

"I don't understand what happened to that car!" Robin exclaimed.

"El has superpowers." Dustin quickly replied like it was nothing.

"I'm sorry?" Robin asked.

"Superpowers." Steve repeated. "She threw it with her mind. C'mon catch up."

"That's El?" questioned Erica.

"Who's El?" questioned Robin.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" questioned Nancy.

"Okay!" Cassie yelled over everyone. "I think it's time for an introduction. I'll try to make this as quick as possible."

Starting from the beginning of the circle, Cassie spoke, "These are my friends Mike, Dustin, Will, Lucas, Max, and Eleven. Max is Billy's sister, Mike is Nancy's brother, Will is Jonathan's brother, and I am Steve's sister. We met Eleven a couple years ago after she escaped from Hawkins lab. She has superpowers, and to be more specific she can move shit with her mind. Finally, that over there is Robin, she works with Steve. Oh! And that's Erica, Lucas' little sister. Any questions?"

The group stared blankly at the girl, merely shocked and impressed. 

Dustin cleared his throat and continued, "Anyway, Robin is the one who cracked the secret code." 

"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians." Steve continued.

"Russians?" Max asked. "So this has nothing to do with the gate?"

Taking a step back, Cassie placed a hand on her forehead, doing her best to process the situation. It was then she noticed that Eleven had retreated from the group, stepping away and collapsing to the ground. 

"El?" Cassie panicked, racing over to the girls side. "Whats happening to her?!"

"My leg..." El cried. "My leg..."

Jonathan and Nancy raced to unwrap the bandage around her calf, revealing the most disturbing wound they had ever seen. It was moving inside of her, a creature. Whatever the monster had put inside her, it was still alive. 

"We need to get that thing out of her!" Cassie shouted. "Jonathan, go find something sharp."

"On it." The boy replied, quickly standing up. "Keep her awake!"

As the group tried their best to relax El, Robin began to panic, "You know, it's actually not that bad. There was a...the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg and  the whole bone came out of her knee, six inches or something it was insane!"

"Robin." Steve called.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping."

Robin shook her head, "I'm sorry."

It was then Jonathan returned, and in his gloved hands he held a sharp knife.

"Okay, okay." Jonathan spoke, his breaths deepening. "El, this is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

Sobbing, Eleven nodded, "Okay." 

The scene that took place next was utterly and completely horrifying. The moment Jonathan cut inside Eleven and dug his hands into her leg, the girl screamed for him to stop. There was only one way this would work, and she knew what she had to do. 

Raising her arm, the girl began to use her powers to force the creature out. Her painful screams sounded throughout the mall, and eventually, the glass window behind the group shattered completely. Cassie almost couldn't bare to watch. 

Finally, Eleven was able to pull the disgusting creature out of her, throwing it as far away as she could. As it began to crawl away, it was immediately crushed under another's boot. As their eyes shifted upwards, the group sat in shock. 

Standing before them was Murray Bowman, Mrs. Byers, and Hopper.