THE OVERCOMING
⇾lonely by justin biever & benny blanco
and everything is not the same now. it feels like all our lives have changed
⸺THE group was huddled near the fountain and El was still pretty tired from having a parasite ripped out of her. Everyone was standing, but El was resting against Hopper who were both sitting on the fountain with Joyce next to them. Cory and Tiffany were sitting on the opposite side of the fountain and they were washing the blood off their hands and forehead from when they were being tortured by Russians. Nancy, Jonathan and the other kids were letting everyone know about the new Mind Flayer and what it looked like and discussing whether it's alive or what they could do to make it not. Cory and Tiffany were not paying attention.
Tiffany had something floating in the back of her head and since Cory knew her so well, he could tell something was bothering her so he lowered his voice. "What's wrong?"
Tiffany sighed. "I know we have to close the gate. Cut the brain off from the body. But the Mind Flayer is taking over me now. We're switching rolls, so if we cut the brain off from the body, won't I die? I'm technically apart of the body."
"We've been through this before. You came back to life last time, you're fine."
"That's only because the Mind Flayer kept me alive, but it can't do that if it's cut off." Cory sighed and wiped his wet hands on his shorts and Tiffany did the same with her shorts. Cory saw Tiffany's hands shaking. They only shook when she was insanely nervous. Cory put his hand over hers and squeezed it. "You're gonna be okay. I promise. I'm going to make sure you don't die, even if I have to sacrifice my own life."
Cory gave her a sweet smile and she smiled back, but her hands were still shaking. Cory looked up at Tiffany and she suddenly had this look of anger and nervousness. "You good?"
"I don't want Steve to get hurt."
"Then why do you look like you wanna kill someone?"
"'Cause that fucking monster is going to cause him pain and that ticks me off." Cory and Tiffany stood up and joined the group as Murray was running back with paper in his hand. They all gathered around a table where Murray had a drawing of the Russian base that was accurate, but his information was not. He started pointing to different parts of the map as he explained, "Okay, this is what Alexei called the hub. Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."
"Okay, where's the gate?"
"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." Tiffany corrected him. "Actually it's more like five hundred."
Erica backed her up. Murray now had the sassiest person on the planet and Tiffany who is in a bad mood arguing him. He isn't going to win this fight. "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"
"I'm sorry, who are you two?"
"Erica Sinclair and she's Tiffany Henderson. Who are you?"
"Murray...Bauman." Tiffany then took the rope with her and Erica bouncing off each other. "Listen, Mr. I Look Like I Live With My Mother, we're not trying to tell you how to do things, but we've been down in that shithole for twenty four hours."
"With all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." Murray was done with their shit, but Tiffany was not in the mood to be insulted. "I'm sorry, why is this whore and four year old speaking to me?"
"Um, she's ten you bald bastard! And better to be a whore than a forty year old virgin!" Steve quickly shut her up before she could say anything else. "Tiff!"
"Am I wrong?!" Dustin agreed with Tiffany and Erica since he was there too and knew that they weren't over exaggerating. "They're right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me."
Dustin took the pencil out of Murray's hand and sat down at the table. He started drawing a different passage way as he explained, "Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility. There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way."
Dustin and Erica had proud looks on their faces as Tiffany's shifted with more anger. She wasn't going to let a kid she's responsible for and her brother go back down into an armed Russian base. Hopper wasn't going to let that slide either.
"You can show us the way?" Hopper sarcastically asked, but Dustin took it seriously. "Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your navigators."
"No." Hopper and Tiffany said at the same time. Dustin looked at Tiffany with confusion and Erica looked at Hopper with confusion. To get their point across, they said again, "Nope."
Hopper and Tiffany weren't going to let them go back down there, so they made a plan that worked for everyone. Erica, Steve, Tiffany, Robin and Dustin were going to get somewhere higher so they could contact Hopper, Joyce and Murray while they were in the Russian base and everyone else was going to get to Murray's house for safety. They had spread out everyone who could protect people without dying instantly. Cory was with Nancy, Jonathan, Lucas, El, Mike, Max and Will so if the Mind Flayer or Billy went near them, Cory could fight them off. Tiffany was with Steve, Erica, Robin and Dustin for the same reason and Hopper was with Joyce and Murray to fight off Russians if necessary.
Cory was with El and he was talking her through her pain. He was always really good at that. Everyone else was waiting for the time to go while Tiffany was with Will. They were sitting on the fountain edge and Tiffany really had to say something to him. "You do know that it's possible someone could get hurt, right? Me specifically."
"You could die. You are going to die. It isn't fair-" Will was getting worked up about Tiffany getting hurt because really, she was like his older sister. "Look, I know it's more likely that I won't be here at the end of this and I just want you to know, you are the greatest kid on the planet, you are so smart, and funny, and generous and one day you are going to make some guy so happy."
"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you. I don't know how obvious it is, but I care a lot about what you think of me. And just so you know, I think Steve's perfect for you." Tiffany's eyes started watering. She was starting to see how mature Will was getting. Tiffany opened her arms and engulfed Will in a hug. He rubbed her back and she did the same. After pulling away they stood up and Tiffany wiped away her tears. "God, you're getting so tall. I don't like it."
"Tiff." Steve yelled from the front doors. She looked behind her and back at Will. "Stay safe."
"You too." Tiffany walked over to Steve, Robin, Erica and Dustin. Steve saw that her eyes were a little red and put a hand on the small of her back. "You okay?"
"I'm fine. Let's just go." Steve was taken back by her bluntness, but they all just walked out of the door. Steve had car keys in his hand and when he saw the car that Hopper, Joyce and Murray had come in, he was very happy. "Oh man! Now this...this is what I'm talking about!"
"Todfather?" Tiffany questioned as she read the license plate. "Oh screw Todd! Steve's her daddy now!"
"Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?" Tiffany said as her and Steve got in the front.
"Did he just call himself daddy?" Dustin then questioned as him, Erica and Robin got in the back seat. With Dustin's directions, Steve was driving in the night. The entire time, Tiffany was resting her head against the edge of the door. Steve was getting restless. "Jesus, how far is this place, man?"
"Relax, we're almost there." There was a few seconds of silence until Robin broke it. "Suzie must be pretty special, huh? I mean, if you built this thing and lugged it all the way to the middle of nowhere just to talk to her."
"I mean, nobody's scientifically perfect."
"Tiff is." Steve said under his breath and Dustin rolled his eyes. Tiffany didn't even seem to hear him. "But Suzie's about as close to being perfect as any human could possibly be."
"She sounds made up to me." Erica said, saying what everyone else was thinking. "She sound made up to you?" Erica asked Steve and Tiffany.
Tiffany didn't hear her since she was focused on the passing road, but Steve hesitated. Dustin's eyes widened at the hesitation. "Why are you hesitating, Steve?"
"I-I'm not! I'm not! I think she sounds real. You know, totally, absolutely real." Dustin huffed and rolled his eyes. Steve looked next to him at Tiffany who seemed to be oddly focused on the road. Steve could practically feel her anger and nervousness radiating off her. "Tiffany, are you okay? You seem stressed."
"Once the body gets cut off from the brain, it'll die which means I'll die, so I think I'm allowed to be a little stressed!" Tiffany snapped.
"Sorry." Before Steve could say anything, Dustin said. "Left. Turn Left."
"There's not a road here."
"Turn left now!" Steve turned left quickly and the car hit a fence, but went right through. They started driving up a huge hill, but the car stopped dead in the middle. While Steve was trying to get it to keep going, Tiffany just took the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. Everyone shared concerned looks, but got out too and started walking up the hill with Tiffany. Dustin started setting things up with the help of Robin and Erica as Tiffany fiddled with the keys and was looking out at the forest beneath them. Steve walked up beside her and took her hand. "Hey. What was the whole 'you're gonna die' thing?"
"Steve...I don't know what's happening to me, but the Mind Flayer seems to be taking over me and controlling me instead of me controlling it. I'm apart of the body. That means I'm not gonna be here at the end of this." Steve couldn't say anything. His heart felt like it was sinking and breaking at the same time. Steve suddenly wrapped his arms around Tiffany's waist and pulled her into a hug. Tiffany wrapped her arms around his neck and tears fell down her face. She moved her hands to his jaw and they brought their lips together for a passionate kiss. Their foreheads were rested against each other when they pulled apart. "I can't lose you."
"I know, but you are going to find someone so much better than me. She'll be talented and have a great job and she'll never let you down and she'll just be perfect in every way."
"I already have someone like that." Tiffany and Steve kissed one last time before Tiffany heard the high pitch noise again that sounded like a flat line. She took a step away from Steve and turned around. She saw the Mind Flayer on top of the mall and she felt something take over her. Not her babysitting instincts, but something darker. It wasn't the Mind Flayer. It wasn't her powers. It was Tiffany's subconscious. But she wanted blood. She wanted the Mind Flayer's blood and nothing was going to stop her from getting it.
Without even a second thought, Tiffany ran back to the car with Robin and Steve following after her. She got into the driver's seat and as soon as she heard the other doors close, she started the engine and started backing up.
"Tiffany, what the hell are you doing?!" Robin frantically questioned since it was more terrifying that Tiffany was driving a car. "Driving. What the hell does it look like?"
A/N
Just to let you know, I will have to cut the fight scene into multiple parts because it's a very huge fight and I had an insane idea which will make it an even longer fight, so yeah. It's going to take me a while to write it, but don't worry, I promise you'll love it. Well, hopefully at least. I tried my best.