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WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE.
ISADORA PACED BACK AND FORTH.
The group had been explaining the events that had taken place over the last few days to Hopper and Joyce, but Isadora was trying to come to terms with the fact that the people whom she considered not only her best friends but her family had lied to her.
"That looks like it hurts," Ellie commented, as she watched Isadora pace back and forth, the blonde clearly trying to hide the fact she was limping. Ellie also noticed the bruises on Isadora's neck and the blonde quickly attempted to hide them before shrugging.
"I'm fine," Isadora said, before she returned to pacing, as she listened to her friends explaining all the events that had taken place, struggling to make sense of any of it.
"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world," Mike said.
"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it."
"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked, as the group sat down around the water fountain and explained to Hopper and Joyce what they'd seen.
"It's big, thirty feet, at least."
"Yeah, it sorta destroyed your cabin, sorry," Lucas said.
"Sorry, Dad," Hazel nodded.
"What do you mean the cabin was destroyed? Where are we supposed to live now?" Ellie asked.
"I think right now that is the least of our problems," Hazel replied.
"Okay, so just to be clear, this ... this big, fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic ... weapon?" Steve asked them.
"Yes."
"But instead of like screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon with melted people."
"Yes, exactly."
"Yeah, okay. I — yeah, I'm just making sure," Steve said.
"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce asked the group.
"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive," Max said.
"But if we close the gate again —"
"We cut the brain off from the body."
"And kill it, theoretically," Lucas said.
"Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!" Murray called, as he hurried into the mall with papers in his hands. Isadora turned to look at him and soon the group gathered around as he pointed things out on the map that had been drawn on papers, "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 50 feet or so," Murray said.
"More like 500. What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"
"I'm sorry, who are you?"
"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."
"I'm sorry, why is this four year old speaking to me?" Murray asked.
"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" Erica snapped at him, making Isadora bite her lip as she tried to suppress her laughter.
"Erica!"
"Just the facts!"
"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me, sorry, may I?" Dustin asked.
"Please," Murray said, and Dustin sat down, grabbed the map and started drawing on it.
"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, Ellie and Erica, we can show you the way," Dustin told them.
"You can show us the way?" Hopper asked them.
"We can, Dad," Ellie nodded.
"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your navigators."
"No, nope," Hopper told them. Isadora looked over at them before she got up and limped over to where Steve, Kendra and Hazel were sitting and hesitated before sitting down beside Kendra. No-one said anything at first before Hazel finally decided to try and break the ice.
"Isadora —" Hazel started, but as Isadora looked over to where her friend was sitting, Hazel trailed off and Isadora looked away, making Hazel frown, "I know you're mad, but —"
"But what? You knew the truth about what happened to my Mum, you all knew the truth about what really happened to mum. Steve was there when it happened and still chose to lie to me about what happened! You have all been lying to me for almost two years! Not one of you bothered to tell me the truth. How am I supposed to feel about that?" Isadora asked them. Her friends looked down and Isadora nodded, "Exactly, I have every right to be upset about the fact that the three people who are supposed to be my best friends knew the truth and yet lied to me about what happened."
"Is, come on, we couldn't tell you. We wanted to, we just couldn't," Steve told her.
"Oh, yeah, that's bullshit, Harrington. You made the choice to lie to me," Isadora snapped, scoffing as she rubbed her neck and Steve watched her.
"Are those bruises on your neck because of Billy?" Steve asked her. Isadora didn't respond as she got up and walked away, and Hazel sighed softly as she watched her go.
"Isadora has been mad ever since she realised we knew about the Mind Flayer and the truth about what happened to her Mum but I don't know what we're supposed to tell her. It wasn't like we could tell her the truth," Hazel said.
"I know. She's upset and she has every right to be, but I hope she'll come around and understand why we couldn't tell her the truth," Kendra said.
"What happened to her neck? Those bruises look worse than when I last saw her," Steve said.
"Isadora was trying to protect Will, Max, Mike, Eleven, Lucas and myself from Billy while he was under the Mind Flayer's control and he choked her," Hazel explained.
"She faced down Billy while he was being controlled by the Mind Flayer?" Kendra asked.
"Yes," Hazel nodded. Kendra and Steve looked at each other before looking over to where the blonde was standing, her arms folded across her chest as she talked to Laura, Ellie and Max. The three prayed that their best friend would eventually come to understand why they had lied to her as they walked over to rejoin the group and listened as it was decided that Dustin was going to go to his radio tower so that he could navigate for Hopper and Murray, and Robin, Erica, Ellie, Steve and Kendra were going to go with him, while the others were to head to Murray's, where they would be safe but Isadora was adamant that she wanted to stay behind at the mall so she could help stop the Mind Flayer and save Billy.
"I don't understand why I can't stay," Isadora said.
"I'm sorry, Isadora, but it's really not safe for you to be here," Joyce told her.
"I-I know, but I —"
"We'll close the gate," Joyce told her gently. Isadora nodded before walking away so that Joyce could talk to Will, Jonathan and Hazel, and as Isadora joined Max, the young red-haired girl looked towards her.
"You're worried about Billy, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I am," Isadora shrugged, as she looked down at her hands.
"Hey, we should probably go," Mike said, as he looked towards Eleven and Hopper, who hugged before Mike and Max helped Eleven up, and Isadora followed behind them, trying her best to hide her limp from everyone.
"Mike, be careful," Hopper said before the group made their way towards the car together so that they could head to Murray's. As they made their way out to the car, Max looked towards Eleven and frowned.
"El, you're bleeding."
"Are you okay?" Mike asked her.
"Yeah."
"Here," Isadora said, as she limped forward and helped Eleven into the car. Soon, the group were all seated in the car, waiting as Nancy tried to start the car, but it spluttered.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't — I don't know. You can't be serious, come on!" Nancy yelled, as the car spluttered again.
"Didn't your Mum just buy this car?" Lucas asked Nancy.
"Yes, I'm sure it's fine."
"Did you leave the lights on?"
"No."
"Do we have gas?"
"Yes! Come on," Nancy shouted, as she tried once again to turn the car on.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just stop, stop," Jonathan told her, before getting out of the car, "Pop the hood."
"What's going on?" Isadora asked, as she leant forward to try and see what Jonathan was doing before the sound of a revving engine caught her attention and Isadora looked out the window before she spotted the Camaro on the other side of the carpark and she gulped, "Billy."
"Back in the mall! Back in the mall!" Nancy yelled at them. The group helped Eleven out of the car and hurried back into the mall, but Isadora momentarily stopped and looked back towards the Camaro, making eye contact with Billy, who was watching the group carefully.
"Issi, come on!" Laura cried. Isadora pulled her attention away from Billy and hurried back into the mall with her friends, not allowing her injuried leg to slow her down, as she hid her limp and ran into the mall. Once they were back in the mall, Mike grabbed his radio and Isadora listened as he tried to radio their friends for help.
"Scoops Troop, do you copy? Scoops Troop, I repeat, do you copy? We're trapped in the mall and in need or emergency transportation. Scoops Troop, do you copy? Billy has found us," Mike said.
"I don't want to believe that he'll hurt us, that he would hurt me, but —" Isadora trailed off as she looked down at her hands.
"He's under the control of the Mind Flayer right now, so there's no telling what Billy will do," Hazel said. Nearby, Nancy was preparing a gun and Isadora looked over to where she was, as Max and Will watched her.
"P-Please, Nancy, please, you can't kill him," Isadora begged her.
"This is just a precaution, okay?" Nancy said, as Max touched Isadora's arm reassuringly.
"We're going to try and save him, Issi. This is just a precaution against the Mind Flayer too."
"Once the gate is closed, we will be able to free Billy from the Mind Flayer's control. Besides, if Billy know we're here then the Mind Flayer does too," Will told her. Isadora nodded and looked down as they heard Mike again.
"Scoops Troop, I repeat, we're in need of emergency transportation. Do you copy?"
"No chance that thing'll drive, right?" Nancy asked, as she looked towards the car that Eleven had flipped earlier.
"We don't need it to drive, we just need the ignition cable," Jonathan told them and soon the group were trying to lift the car that Eleven had flipped, but to no avail.
"Push!" Jonathan ordered.
"This isn't working!" Isadora cried, as she strained herself and the group struggled to lift or even move the car.
"Shit!"
"Let me try," Eleven said.
"El ..." Mike started.
"I can do it," Eleven told him. The group nodded and moved away from the car as Eleven tried to lift it with the group standing behind her, watching as she strained to move the car but nothing happened and Isadora let out a frustrated sigh. Eleven attempted a few more times to move the car but it was to no avail and the group returned to trying to push the car again, until they finally managed to get the car sitting halfway up.
"All right, great. All right, now all the way. Ready?" Jonathan called. The group nodded and pushed again until they had the car sitting the right way up and the group looked at each other, before Jonathan and Nancy hurried to find the ignition cable.
"How do we get it open?" Nancy asked.
"Uh, there should be a latch. Check under the wheel. You see it?" Jonathan asked her.
"I don't know, hold on," Nancy said. Nearby, Eleven was searching through a bin and as Isadora noticed, she frowned as she watched Eleven.
"What is she doing?" Max asked.
"Let's go see," Isadora said, and Max, Laura, Mike and Isadora all made their way over to Eleven and watched as she focused her attention on the coca-cola can.
"El, are you okay?" Mike asked, and Eleven turned to look at them. Suddenly, the sound of a distance rumbling caught their attention and Isadora turned to see the skylight glass above them was beginning to crack.
"Shit," Isadora said.
"Nancy!" Mike yelled, making Nancy look over at the group. At that moment, Max grabbed Isadora's hand and the group ran as fast as they could before crouching behind a bin, as the Mind Flayer came smashing through the roof and into the mall, and Isadora covered her mouth with her hand so that she wouldn't scream. Isadora, Max, Mike, Laura and Eleven all stayed pressed close together, as they huddled behind a bin and tried to stay hidden so that the Mind Flayer wouldn't see them. Through the walkie talkie, they could hear the sound of Dustin's voice trying to get the group to confirm their safety, but suddenly, the Mind Flayer grabbed the radio and screeched into it before throwing it, causing it to break. As the Mind Flayer roared and searched through the mall for the group, Dustin's distorted voice filled the mall, and as the Mind Flayer moved closer to where the group was hiding, Isadora moved back a little more, pressing her body closer to Max's.
"We're gonna die here, aren't we?" Isadora whispered.
"No, it's turned away. If we go up the stairs now, we'll make it," Mike whispered to them.
"No way, not with El or Issi's legs," Max said.
"We have to try."
"My leg is fine, I can still somewhat run on it," Isadora protested. Max frowned at her and Isadora shrugged, "I can carry El on my back. We'll make it."
"There's another way to get out," Eleven told them.
"What?" Isadora asked.
"She's right, we can get out through The Gap," Laura said.
"Okay, now," Mike said, as he grabbed Eleven's hand and the group sprinted as fast as they could towards The Gap. Suddenly, Isadora collided with something as she made her way into the store and it crashed to the ground loudly, and Isadora grimaced before running faster and crouching down where it was safe, as the Mind Flayer grabbed one of the store's mannequins that was wearing an outfit similar to Eleven's, and Isadora heard the creature snarl at the mannequin.
"Shit, I'm so sorry," Isadora whispered quietly, as the Mind Flayer's tentacles weaved through the store, trying to locate the group.
"Come on," Max whispered, and the group nodded before moving again so that the Mind Flayer wouldn't locate them, all of them holding their breath again as they stayed hidden. Suddenly, the Mind Flayer disappeared and the group took their chance as they got up and sprinted out of The Gap and into a stairwell, with Mike helping Eleven as the group ran as fast as they could, hoping to escape before the Mind Flayer found them again.
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Enjoy! Xo
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