CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN:
"You Are Such A Mom."
VIOLET was filled with an immeasurable amount of relief the second Eleven walked past the Byers home threshold. While every bone in her body wanted to rush over and crush the curly haired brunette in a warm hug, her feet stayed planted on the wooden floors. Deep down she knew there was one person who needed a hug more than she did, and so she stood there and watched, a soft smile on her lips as Mike and Eleven finally reunited.
Her heart warmed at the sight of the two of them, for months on end she heard an earful from both parties about how much they missed each other. It felt so good to see them finally back together, standing before eachother with happiness and tears gleaming in their eyes.
"Eleven." Mike breathed softly, curling his arms around her shoulders and holding her tight.
"Mike." Eleven gasped, her eyes fluttering shut blissfully as she sinks in his embrace.
"Is that...?" Max trails off, eyes wide with wonder as she looked between Violet and the other two boys beside them.
Violet nodded, not tearing her eyes away from the two infront of her. "Yeah, that's her."
Mike pulls away, keeping ahold of her shoulders and cradling them in his hands. "I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-"
"353 days." Eleven shook her head, fond smile curled on her lips. "I heard."
"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike asked, frowning in severe confusion. "That you were okay?"
"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper spoke up, snatching the raven-haired boy's attention away from Eleven as he turned to him with wrinkled brows. As the two teen's reunion comes to an end, he walks up to the younger girl and stares her down. "The hell is this?" He asked gruffly, irritation seeping in his words as he took in her appearance. "Where have you been?"
Eleven looks up at him, her gaze fierce and narrowed. "Where have you been?"
Despite the obvious frustration they both have towards eachother, Hopper pulls her towards his arms and she sinks in his embrace. He drops his chin to her scalp of her slicked back and greased hair, and she pushed her face into his chest as she curls her arms around his waist.
As the two of them embraced Violet's gaze slips over to Mike, she nibbles her lip anxiously as she watched the realization slowly hit him. And once it finally clicked, his jaw clenched, his brows furrowed angrily, and his eyes narrowed and hardened.
He was furious.
"You've been hiding her." Mike pieced together, his rage flew off the handle as he rushed forward and shoved Hopper's back. "You've been hiding her this whole time!"
"Hey!" Hopper spun to face him, blue eyes wide with shock from not expecting the shove. He yanks Mike by the front of his shirt, pulling him towards him with a stern look swimming in his hardened gaze. "Let's talk. Alone."
Violet watched the two head down the hall with her lips pressed in a line, she could hear Mike screaming before the sound was muffled by Will's bedroom door being closed behind them. She had to admit, she was a little bit on edge. After seeing how Mike reacted to Hopper knowing where El was the whole time, she really didn't want her head bitten off by him later.
But, now that Mike was... otherwise occupied, she could get that hug she'd been dying for.
The second she and El locked eyes, a wide smile curved on her lips and she wasted no time in crossing the room and throwing her arms around the brunette girl. El's arms curled around her middle back, holding her just as tight to her as they embraced.
"I was so worried, El." Violet tells her, sniffling softly as tears form in her eyes. "Hopper was gone and he wasn't with you, I thought that something bad happened to you."
Eleven shook her head, "No, I'm fine." She assured her, pulling away to look her in the eyes as a hesitant look resided in them. "I... I left."
"I mean, I figured." She peered over her shoulder at the others, then she turned back to her and leaned forward to her ear. "Was it you... that day at the school?"
Eleven nodded, with a sheepish look covering her features. "Red hair." She shot a narrowed eyed look towards Max over Violet's shoulder. "With Mike."
Violet snorts softly, "Eleven...." She drawled teasingly, "Were you jealous?"
El 's face goes blank, she blinks once. "What's... jealous?"
The raven-haired girl shook her head, an amused grin on her lips. "I'll tell you later." She pulls El into her arms again for good measure, giving her a good squeeze. "I'm just happy you're okay." They pulled back and she holds onto her shoulders, "But you are telling me where you went, and why the hell you like a punk band gave you makeover."
El chuckles softly, "I will, promise."
Violet nodded, happy with that response. "Now, let's go see the boys. They miss you and have been dying to see you." El nods wordlessly and the two girls walk over to where Dustin and Lucas are stood waiting, "Go on, give her a hug."
The two boys rush forward with giddy smiles, El smiles just as big as she wraps her arms around both of their shoulders.
"We missed you." Lucas expressed warmly.
"I missed you, too." El replies fondly.
"We talked about you pretty much every day." Dustin remarks. As their trio hug comes to an end, El reached towards his mouth, he immediately reels back from her palm.
"Teeth." El mutters, her brows furrowed in confusion.
Dustin frowned, "What?"
"You have teeth." El elaborates, her head tilting like a puppy.
"Oh." Dustin grinned giddily, "You like these pearls?"
Once the question left his lips, the purring sound that she hates so much comes tumbling out. Violet had half a mind to outstretch her hand and send him flying across the Living Room.
She glared at the Henderson boy, her brows pulled together. "Didn't I tell you to stop doing that shit?" She snaps at him, receiving an eyeroll in return.
Max steps forward, timidly making her way to Eleven. "Hi, I'm Max." She offers her palm for her to shake, "I've heard a lot about you."
Eleven doesn't shake Max's hand, in-fact she doesn't so much as look at her as she walked past them and headed over to Joyce and the others. Violet visibly grimaced, irritation flared in her veins as she watched the brunette with the slicked back hair walk away. She understood that El was jealous of Mike and Max because of what she saw, but brushing past and ignoring her was rude and uncalled for.
She was sick of everyone treating Max like shit, it wasn't fair.
She rips her gaze from Eleven and turns around to Max, her heart squeezed in her chest when she saw the dejected and confused look etched on the ginger's features. The least she could do was explain to her why the hell El had reacted to her that way. So, she grabs Max by her wrist and tugs her into the kitchen away from the boys and everyone else in the house.
"Okay, so I know that you're confused and probably a little hurt." Violet begins to say.
Max scoffs weakly, folding her arms over her chest. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." The frown set on her lips deepens as her brows crease, "Why does she hate me?"
Violet sighs, pinching between her brows with her fingers. "She doesn't hate you. She just... she's jealous of you, I guess."
Max's brows raise to her hairline, "Jealous? Of me?"
Violet nodded, "You see, remember that day at school when you were on your skateboard?" Max nods her head, "Okay, well, when you fell, it wasn't... your doing."
"Wasn't my doing?" Max inquired. "What do you mean-" It takes a second or two as she trails off, her eyes slowly grew as the realization finally hits. "Oh. She did it... she knocked my board right from under me." Her brows knit together, "But... why? What did I do?"
"She didn't really say much, but I got the gist. She said she saw you with Mike, I guess it was when he was laughing with you." Violet shakes her head, her eyes rolling skyward. "Honestly, it was just really stupid. So, that's why she's acting like that."
"Huh." Max murmurs thoughtfully, her features smoothing out. "Well, atleast I know she doesn't actually hate me. I just wish she knew that she doesn't have to worry about me and Mike. He's not the one I like."
"Oh." Violet's eyes grew wide, she felt like her heart was lodged in her throat. "So... you like someone?"
Max nodded, a hint of a smile grows on her lips. "I do."
Violet seals her lips tight, tiptoeing on what she says next. "Uh, okay. Well, am I allowed to ask who?"
Max's eyes twinkle with mischief, a grin tugs the corners of her lips. "Wouldn't you like to know."
Violet just about chokes, her eyes are the size of saucers as Max grins at her. She feels like she's being teased right now, and not in the bad way, but in the way that makes her cheeks flame a bright crimson, and her words die on her tongue.
And before she could begin to gain the courage to say anything, she hears movement of the others nearby making their way into the kitchen. She shuffled back from the table as Joyce came over and sat down in one of the chairs, the others soon followed until they were all stood around the Kitchen table.
"It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot." Hopper explains, describing the state of the lab and horrors that lied in the basement. "And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."
Dustin peers back at him, "Demo-dogs." He corrects.
Hopper sighs in exasperation, "I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, uh, Demo-dogs." Dustin repeats, going to explain as he turns fully towards him. "Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-"
"How is this important right now?" Hopper asked tersely.
"It's not, I'm sorry." Dustin apologized sheepishly, turning around with his head hung.
Violet felt for her best friend, so she placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a light squeeze as she sent a sympathetic smile his way.
"I can do it." Eleven declared, her tone hardened with confidence.
Hopper shook his head, his gaze shifting to her. "You're not hearing me."
"I'm hearing you." Eleven insists, looking him dead in the eye. "I can do it."
"Even if El can, there's still another problem." Mike raised the question, "If the brain dies, the body dies."
Max's brows pull together, "I thought that was the whole point?"
"It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..." Mike trails off, coffee brown eyes widening in fear.
"Will's apart of that army." Lucas says, wide eyed as he finished his trailed off thought.
Mike nodded, swallowing thickly. "Closing the gate will kill him."
Violet's lips pursed, her raven brows furrowed in concentration. "So, we need to find another way to close the gate and save Will."
"Precisely." Mike nodded, "But the question is... how?"
Joyce raises up from the chair she's sitting in, her deep brown eyes are peeled wide open and her lips are parted as she stood there frozen. Then suddenly, she makes her way out of the kitchen, leaving everyone still in the room confused as she exits Looks are exchanged around the table, then Hopper leads the way as they follow Joyce down the hall and into Will's bedroom where he's unconscious on the bed.
"He likes it cold." Joyce mutters, intent in her words as she crossed the room to the cracked open window.
"What?" Hopper questioned, not understanding what she meant.
"It's what Will kept saying to me." Joyce replied, sounding as if she may be onto something. "He likes it cold." She walks to the window and closes it shut, the cool draft in the room disappears in almost an instant as she turns to them. "We keep giving it what it wants."
"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." Nancy trails off, realization flooding her features.
"Then we need to make the host unhabitable." Jonathan says, the realization hitting him too.
Nancy continues, putting the pieces together. "So if he likes it cold..."
"We need to burn it out of him." Joyce proclaimed.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike suggests.
"Yeah, somewhere far away." Dustin agreed.
Violet's eyes widened slightly, her gaze shifts from the boys to Hopper who's leant back against the wall near the door. She raised a brow at the man, "The cabin?" She mouths to him, to which he gives a sharp nod in rely.
It's the perfect place.
Within the next two minutes he's helping Joyce curl Will's small frame in a blanket, carrying him in his arms, and walking out of the Byers residence with Joyce as he gives Jonathan directions to his cabin hidden in the woods. Once the front door closes her brother and Nancy head out the door to the backyard, hoping to find some thrown out items that will help with... burning the mind flayer out of Will.
She didn't like this idea, not one bit, but they were running out of time. If they didn't get that gate closed, then those dogs were gonna get out and they were gonna be everywhere. Hawkins would be infested with them, and by morning half the town would be dead for sure. So, they had to work with what they had. And if things went according to plan, Will would be his old self again and they could save Hawkins...
Again.
When Nancy and Steve came back in, she saw the slight forlorn look on her brother's face. She knew that something had to have happened between the two of them, possibly a break up even? The concerned little sister in her was itching to ask, but she knew that now was not the time nor the place to question him about his status with Nancy.
So for now, she'll put a pin in it. But when everything is said and done, she was prepared for a movie night with cartons of ice cream, lots of cuddling, and giving him a shoulder to cry on if he needs it when he eventually does spill guts and tell her everything.
All in due time.
Shortly after they walked back in, Mike and Eleven were headed for the front door, Violet and the others trailed after the two accordingly. They all stood by at the porch infront of the door, the two lovesick teens standing at the top of the small set of steps.
"Just be careful, all right? I can't lose you again." Mike expressed, fear hanging in his voice.
El shook her head, "You won't lose me."
"Do you promise?" Mike asked, emotion draining in his voice.
El nods once, "Promise."
In that moment it looked as if they were gonna kiss as they leaned in slowly, but then Hopper's voice interrupted, of course. "El... come on, let's go." He calls her, waiting at the drivers side of the truck with a lit cigarette between his fingers. He inhales deeply, letting out a slow exhale as the clouds of smoke escape his lips. "It's time."
Ever the protective guardian, she expects no less.
What she doesn't expect is her traitorous brain, annoyingly reminding her of the almost kiss that she had with Max tonight in a flash like memory. She grimaces visibly as her skin heats up, the very tips of her ears burn as she shook her head to force the memory away.
Nancy and El make their way down the porch and head to the separate cars in the drive way, El climbing into the passenger side seat of Hopper's truck, and Nancy climbing into the passenger side of Jonathan's car. Her brows knit together as she began to realize what may have happened between her and Steve.
The fact that she wasn't home when her brother came to see her was already weird, but her popping up at the lab with Jonathan was even weirder. Then finding out that they had been working together out of town to take down Hawkins Lab? Not surprising, and definitely a huge power move, but it was no less strange.
And now, she's leaving with him and his mom to help save Will?
She couldn't help but wonder... did Nancy break up with her brother because she's more into Jonathan now? Once again she remembers this isn't the time nor the place, and she puts a pin in that thought and saves it for her future movie night with Steve.
Shortly after the two girls leave, the car engines roar to life and they pull out of the driveway. Violet and the others stand at the porch, her brother leaning on the threshold behind them, watching as they drive away and make their way to execute their part of the plan.
THE second they get back in the house and the door is shut, Violet feels her arm being pulled by a familiar head of raven-hair that matched her own. She nibbled her lip anxiously as Mike pulls her into the Kitchen, then he released her arm as he stood infront of her. She shifts on her feet as he folds his arms across his chest, she can't tell if he's pissed off or not, and she really isn't in the mood to be yelled at.
"Okay, before you yell at me, I-"
"Vi, I'm not gonna yell at you." Mike makes clear, shaking his head. "I mean, earlier when Hopper told me you knew where El was the whole time, maybe. But now..." He sighs softly, his features smoothening out. "I get it."
Violet's lips parted, she blinks in shock. "You... you do?"
"Yeah." He nodded, "You wanted to keep her safe, both of you. And really..." His shoulders lift in a small shrug, "That's all that I wanted her to be, safe. And you guys did that. Of course you hid this huge secret for all of us, but you took care of her. So... thank you."
Violet was stunned, what happened to the emo little shit who treated everyone like garbage all year because he was sad? He's just... gone.
"I- Uh, you're welcome." She tries to smile softly, still a bit shocked. "She's... she's my family. I love her like a sister, I'd do... absolutely anything for her." A small frown tugs at the corners of her lips, her eyes lowering to her Chucks. "I never wanted to lie to you guys, but I couldn't risk the government catching wind of her still being out there. I know I said no more secrets, and I really am sorry, Mike. Do you think you could ever forgive me?"
Mike rolls his eyes, a smile lighting up his face. "Of course, I can forgive you. C'mere, Vi." He holds his arms out and she falls into them, curling her arms around his scrawny frame and tucking her face into his shirt. "I mean it this time though, no more secrets, okay?"
Violet seals her lips tight, a knot forms in her stomach as she nods into his chest. "Of course, no more secrets. I promise."
"Woah, what's with the hugging?" The all too familiar voice of Dustin Henderson asked, "Are we having an emotional moment or something? You guys crying?"
Violet snorts as she pulls back from Mike, "You wish."
"Shut up, Dustin." Mike shot back, with no bite in his words as his lips twitched in a smile.
'Well, if you two are done in here, I need to get to the fridge." Dustin says, walking past the two and swinging the refrigerator door open. "So much shit in here, sorry Mrs. Byers."
Violet frowned as she watched Dustin begin to yank items out of the fridge, tossing them to the floor at his feet. "What the hell are you doing?"
Dustin peered over his shoulder, "Well, we need to put that dead Demo-dog somewhere."
Violet's eyes grew wide, "In the Byer's fridge?"
Mike gapes, his lips falling open. "Dustin, have you lost your mind?"
Dustin spins to face him, "Where else do you wanna put it, Mike?"
"I don't know, maybe in a grave!" He exclaimed.
"We're not burying a scientific discovery, end of story!" Dustin turns back to the fridge, continuing to rip food items out as Mike facepalms.
"I'm surrounded by idiots." The Wheeler boy mumbles, making his way out of kitchen.
"Hey, Vi?" Dustin calls, grabbing her attention as he peers over his shoulder at her. "Go help Steve, he's bringing the Demo-dog."
Violet sighs heavily, "Fine." She makes her leave from the kitchen and wanders to the Living Room, the second she enters the room she sees her brother struggling to bundle the limp Demo-dog in a comforter he got from the Byer's hallways closet.
It's filled extra blankets, sheets, pillows and pillow cases, and other sleepover at the Byers house items the kids needed growing up.
Steve glanced up from the limp Demo-dog in his arms, when he noticed her he heaves a breath of relief as he brushed his hands on his jeans. "A little help?"
Violet snickers softly, "Well, clearly you're being a big baby about it, so sure."
Steve scowls, "I'm not being a baby, who knows how many fucking diseases this thing carries."
Violet lips pursed, "You know, you're very right." She shakes her head, holding out her hand. "I got this, stand back." He hops up from the ground as told, and she wills her power to manifest as she focused her intent on the blanket and the Demo-dog. Her fingers twitch and twirl according to what she wants, and soon the limp Demo-dog is wrapped nicely in the blanket. "There, now you can pick it up and not worry about touching it." She wipes her nose with her jacket sleeve, shooting him a smile. "You're welcome, Stevie."
Steve tips his head in appreciation, "Thanks, Tink." He drops back down to the ground, easily slipping his arms around the swaddled Demo-dog as he stands to his feet. Violet follows in tow as he makes his way to the kitchen, she stands next to him as she watched Dustin finish up with destroying the Byers refrigerator.
"All right." Dustin drops a refrigerator shelf to the ground, "That should be enough room."
Steve shoots him a deadpanned look, "Is this really necessary?"
"I agree, I don't think this is a good id-"
"Yes, it is." Dustin interjects, Violet falls silent as her eyes rolled skyward. "This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog."
"Says the one who calls them Demo-dogs." Violet murmured, receiving a glare from Dustin.
Exasperation crossed Steve's face, nonetheless he does what Dustin requests of him. "All right, all right, all right." He walks over to the fridge, stepping on the many items of food that Dustin carelessly left there. "But you're explaining this to Mrs. Byers, all right?"
Violet snorts, glancing at her chipped purple nails. "That'll be a fun conversation, I'm sure." She watched with her brows inched high as her brother attempts to shove the Demo-dog into the fridge, he struggles and fights as he tries not to touch it, and in the end Dustin helps him out with door once he gets it inside, closing it shut so it doesn't come tumbling out. "Well, that's done. I'm leaving now."
She spins on her heel as Steve ruffles the top of Dustin's hat, she makes her way into the Living Room where Lucas is scooping up the shattered glass from the window. Max is helping him as she picks up some of the pieces with her hands, and meanwhile, Mike is pacing.
Honestly, when is Mike Wheeler not pacing?
"Mike, would you just stop already?" Lucas spits out, having enough of his anxious movements.
"Seriously, Wheeler." Violet agrees, folding her arms over her chest. "You're gonna pace holes into the floor at this rate."
"You weren't in there, okay, guys?" Mike replies in a panic-stricken voice, "I know that you guys fought two Demo-dogs tonight, but that is nothing compared to what is happening at that lab right now. It's swarming with hundreds of those dogs."
"Demo-dogs!" Dustin shouts from the Kitchen.
"The chief will take care of her." Lucas tries to assure him.
Violet nodded, "Yeah, Hopper has been protecting her the whole time. He won't let anything happen to her, I promise."
"Like she needs protection." Max murmurs, glancing over at Violet. "If Vi doesn't, then I'm sure El doesn't either."
Violet's cheeks burn just a smidge as she glanced down at her Chucks, "You're not... wrong."
Steve walks over, joining the room with the rest of the kids with Dustin by his side. "Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?"
Violet's brow furrowed, "Why are we talking about sports right now?"
"Because we-"
"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game." Mike interjects, interrupting Steve. "And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench."
"R-Right." Steve stammers, "So my point is..." He pauses, trying to find the right words to say. However, he fails and his face drops. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so uh, there's nothing we can do."
"That's not entirely true." Dustin mentions, gaining everyone's attention. "I mean, these Demo-dogs they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."
"So if we get their attention..." Lucas trails off.
"Maybe we can draw them away from the lab." Max suggests, picking up where he left off.
Violet nodded, catching onto the plan being formulated. "We can help Hopper and El get through the lab safely."
"Clearing a path to the gate." Mike agreed.
"Yeah, and then we all die." Steve prompts, his voice slightly strained with frustration.
"Well, that's one point of view." Dustin comments, shooting Steve a look.
"No, that's not a point of view, man." Steve replies, "That's a fact."
"I got it!" Mike said suddenly, walking off and heading to the other room. The others quickly follow, curious to what exactly is it that he's "got". He drops down to a crouch, pointing at the drawings of a map against the wall. "This is where the chief dug his hole. This is out way into the tunnel. So..." He shoots back up quick, making his way towards the blue drawings of Will's spread out on the ground. "This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeing in here. Maybe if we set this on fire-"
"Oh, yeah? That's a no." Steve abruptly says, turning down that idea.
"The mind flayer would call away his army." Dustin states.
"They'd all come to stop us." Lucas affirmed.
"Hey." Steve called, his words falling on deaf ears.
"We circle back to the exit." Mike declared.
"Guys." Steve attempts to grab their attention, only to be ignored once more.
"By the time they realize we're gone-"
Max cuts into Mike's words, "El would be at the gate."
Violet grins smugly, loving the plan that's coming together. "They'd all be dead before they could get back in time to stop her."
"Hey! Hey!" Steve claps and yells loudly, finally getting their attention as they turn to him. "This is not happening."
"But-"
"No, no, no!" Steve interjects, cutting Mike off as he placed his hands on his hips. God, he looks like a tv mom. "No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?"
Wow, now he looks and sounds like a tv mom.
"This isn't a stupid sports game." Mike argued.
"I said does everybody understand that?" Steve grabs the dish towel that's been resting on his shoulder and points it to Mike, "I need a yes."
Violet snickers, shaking her head as she holds in her giggles. "You are such a mom."
Steve's face twists as an affronted look crossed his features, he goes to open his mouth to speak but the sound of a loud car engine and rock music blasting from the stereo sliced through the air like an airborne dagger. Violet noticed as Max's freckled features paled, the ginger girl quickly rushed into the Living Room.
As a worry knot formed in her stomach, she wastes no time as she ran after Max, dropping to her knees onto the couch alongside her and looking out the window. Her eyes widened as she saw who the loud ass engine and radio belonged to, that damned Blue Camaro.
Her brother was pulling up.
"It's my brother." Max swallowed thickly, her eyes growing wide. "He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us."
Violet's jaw clenched, her gaze hardening as she glares at the blue Camaro. "If he tries anything, I'll stop him."
"Who is that?" Steve asked, Violet and Max turned to him.
"Max's douchebag brother." Violet answers, her tone laced with venom.
"Billy." Max replied, with fear lingering in her voice.
"Billy?" Steve's eyes grew wide with realization, "Billy Hargrove?"
"Yeah." Max frowns, clearly puzzled to how he would know her brother's last name. "You know him?"
Steve scoffs bitterly, "I wish I didn't. But yeah." His brows knit together, "What the hell is he doing here?"
"He probably wants to finish the job." Violet snarks, feeling her blood boil as the Camaro pulls up. "He tried to run us over on Halloween."
"With me in the car." Max admits meekly, her eyes lowered.
"He what?!" Steve flips out, his skin flames red as anger quickly washed over his features. "Violet, why didn't you tell me this?"
Violet's eyes grew, guilt curling in her stomach. "I uh... I guess it slipped my mind." She shrinks under her brother's hardened gaze, "My bad. I should've told you."
Steve groans in frustration, dragging his palms down his face. "I swear to god, I'm gonna kick his ass." He huffs a breath and turns to Violet and the others, "I'll handle Billy, you guys stay here, do not come outside. And for the love of god, stay away from the window. Do you dipshits understand that?" He shoots them an expectant look, "I really need a yes this time."
Violet, Max, and the boys nodded their heads. "Yes." They all echoed simultaneously.
With that being said Steve walks to the front door, with a quick tug of the handle he pulls it open and slips between the crack before closing shut behind him. Funnily enough, the second he's out the door Max and the boys are crawling back to the couch, peeking out the window.
Violet facepalms, "Steve just said to stay away from the windows."
Dustin waves her off, "Billy probably won't even notice us."
"Yeah." Lucas agreed, nodding his head. "He'll be too occupied with Steve."
About a minute of standing at the door away from the window, like Steve said, Violet watched as the four boys and Max ducked down from the glass pane. Each pair of their eyes were wide as saucers, they looked like they'd just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Violet huffs in annoyance, "Let me guess, Billy saw you guys, huh?"
Before either of them could say a word the front door flies open, it slams into the wall and leaves a doorknob sized hole. Violet's eyes grew huge as she jolts back, she stumbles towards Max and the boys in the Kitchen as the blonde mullet asshole stands before them.
Just behind him she could see her brother, he's sprawled on the pavement outside, clearly in pain. Anger flairs in her veins as she glares at the older boy, she wants to go and check to make sure that Steve is okay, but she does not trust this psychopath to be alone with her friends.
Especially, not Max.
"Lucas Sinclair." Billy drawls sinisterly, making his way towards the group. "What a surprise."
Violet's brows furrowed, she didn't understand. What the hell did he want with Lucas?
"I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max." Billy reprimands her, staring down at her with a ruthless glare
Max nearly cowers under his gaze, but she stands her ground, holding his stare. "Billy, go away."
"You disobeyed me." Billy says a little too calmly, it's the kind of tone where you know that person is about to lose it. It sends chills rolling down Violet's spine, was this what Max had to deal with all the time? "And you know what happens when you disobey me."
"Billy..." Max whispers, shaking her head. Her eyes practically pleading, begging him to not do whatever the hell he was planning to do.
"I break things." Billy declared.
Once those words leave his lips, everything happens entirely too fast to even realize what's happening. One second Billy's in Max's face, scaring the living daylights out her, then the next he's grabbing her best friend and slamming him into the Kitchen cabinets? Just who the fuck does this guy think he is? And why is he going after Lucas?
Violet is absolutely livid.
She could practically feel the anger flooding right through her veins. She pushed past her friends and made her way to the Kitchen, her fist clenching at her sides, forming crescents in her palms. But just as she lifts her hand to lay waste to the asshole that's hurting her best friend, she feels a strong hand placing itself on her shoulder.
She frowns as she looks up, finding her brother giving her a stern look. "Don't." He tells her, shaking his head and shooting her a knowing look. "You can't."
Violet's shoulders slump, her frown deepens. "But—"
"No, Tink." Steve stood firm, giving her a pointed look. "I've got this." His hand drops from her shoulder and he swiftly makes his way to the Kitchen, he gets there just in time for Lucas to have escaped from Billy's clutches after kneeing him in the balls.
"You are so dead, Sinclair!" Billy roars angrily, "You're dead."
Steve rushed over, yanking Billy by his arm and taking his attention off of Lucas. "No. You are." He reels his fist back and slams it into Billy's face, getting a solid hit on him.
"Steve!" Max warns him fearfully, as if she knows exactly how this is gonna end.
While Billy is... momentarily distracted, Violet quickly rushed forward and snatched Lucas by his wrist. She brings him back to the rest of the group outside of the Kitchen, and they hug him as a unit as they watch the impending fight with her brother VS Max's brother.
Instead of groaning in pain or falling to the floor like, say, a normal human being, Billy laughs, like a godamn maniac. Violet can't lie, she is a little bit nervous for Steve right now. She knows that her brother can hold his own, but this guy almost ran them over with his sister in the car with him, there was a good chance that Steve could be in real trouble tonight.
And though he told her not to use her powers, she might have to if the time calls for it.
"Looks like you you got some fire in you after all, huh?" Billy taunts him, his voice loud and over-dramatic. "I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody's been telling me so much about."
Steve placed two fingers to his chest, pushing him back. "Get out."
A silence fell in the house as a long pause hung between the two teens, and then, Billy took his chance and swung at her brother. Luckily, Steve ducks just in time and lands yet another hit on him.
Beside her the boys scream and cheer for Steve, but all she can do is watch with rapt attention, making sure her brother is okay. While Billy reels from the second punch, leaning back on the dining table, Steve serves him another one, right in the jaw. And then, another as he leans back on the edge of the sink.
But just when it looks like he might land a fourth punch, Billy pulls a fast one and grabs a ceramic plate. Before she can realize what he's doing, the plate has already smashed over her brother's skull.
"Steve!" Violet screams, not caring if Billy was right there as she skids to her knees and drops down next to him. "Steve, holy shit!" She panics, seeing the crimson beginning to pool from his scalp from the impact.
"Violet, run!" Max yelps in horror, blue eyes growing huge as her gaze lands on her brother. "Billy, get away from her!"
But Violet doesn't listen, she glares up at the dirty blonde with fire behind her gaze. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
"Violet, don't." Steve grinds out, teeth clenched in pain. "Get out of here."
Violet shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes. "No. I'm not going any—" She yelps as she feels strong arms grip her waist tightly, lifting her from the ground before tossing her aside. She hits the floor with a grunt of pain, the back of her head colliding with the wood panels and leaving her skull rattling as it throbbed.
"Not your fight, kid." Billy smirked down at her wickedly, with a crazed look in his eyes. "Stay out of my way, or else."
As soon as he disappears from her sight the next face she sees is Max, her features are etched with worry and there's a deep frown set on her rosy pink lips. "Vi, are you okay?"
She winces as the throb of pain rushed through her head, but she nods her head despite it. "I'm fine." She goes to sit up and Max gives her hand, once she's sat upright a shocked gasp left her lips as she turns her head, her brother is being absolutely wailed on by Billy. The dirty blonde is relentless, sending punch after punch to her brother. "Oh, my god."
Max's gaze lowers to the floor, guilt crossing her features. "I tried to warn him, Billy is crazy."
Her head hurts, her skin is flushed red, her blood is boiling, and all she wants to do is use her powers on this lunatic and put him in his place. But there's two problems, 1. Steve strictly told her not to use them, and 2. She could not expose them. God knows who this asshole would fucking tell if he caught onto her abilities.
But this was her fucking brother, Billy could kill him, she had to do something.
She wiped a tear that slipped from her eye with her sleeve, then she pushed herself up from the ground and stood to her feet. If she couldn't use her powers, she'd have to try something that he wouldn't expect. Her eyes quickly scanned the house as she looked for something, that syringe from the lab that Joyce used to knock out Will in the shed.
After a moment or two her eyes landed on it, it's sitting right on the side table.
Bingo.
"Max." She called to the ginger girl, gesturing to the syringe sat on the table. "I'm gonna go after Billy, and I need you to use that, okay?"
"You're gonna what?" Max's eyes grew the size of saucers, her head shook vehemently. "Violet, no—"
"Max." Violet cuts in, her sharp tone making the ginger's lips clamp shut as her eyes grow just slightly. "Just be ready." She looks like she wants to argue, but she seals her lips tight and nodded her head once.
The raven-haired girl nods at her, then she moves her gaze to Billy who's fist are still flying as he lands hit after hit on her brother. It was time to put a stop to this, once and for all. She stormed over towards the dirty blonde who was too distracted to notice her coming, and without a second thought she hops onto his back and tugs as hard as she can on the greasy strands of his mullet.
"Ow!" Billy screams in pain, quickly realizing there's someone on his back. "What the— get the hell off me, you little shit!"
"And let you try to kill my brother?" Violet scoffed bitterly, locking her legs around his waist tightly. "No fucking shot, jackass!"
"Swear to god, I'll kill you!" Billy roars, attempting to throw her off as he thrashed and writhed.
"You can try, but I'm not letting go!" Violet screamed, wrapping her arms around his neck as he attempts to choke him from behind. "I can do this all night!"
"Violet!" Lucas shouts, she looks over her shoulder and he's got what looks to be wire cord in his grip. She grins smugly as he tossed it to her, keeping her hold on Billy she caught the cord with her mind, then with a curl of her fingers she wills the cord to do what she wanted, which was tie itself around Billy's neck.
She promised Steve she wouldn't use her power due to the risk of exposure, but Billy can't see that it's her since she's on his back.
Gotta love loopholes.
With rapt concentration she willed the cord to squeeze his windpipe, making the dirty blonde choke as he reached up to pry it off. Her nose dripped crimson as she curled her fingers, making the cord squeeze just a little more, and the second Billy crashed to his knees from the lack of oxygen, she tossed a knowing look over her shoulder to Max.
The ginger girl had a hellbent look covering her features, and the moment Violet hopped off Billy's back she was making her way over and stabbing the syringe right into the side of his throat. The boys gasped audibly behind them, but she and Max ignored them as they stood side by side.
The second Billy realized the needle was stuck in his flesh, he tried to stand to his feet, but Violet wasn't having that. Her fingers twitched at her side as she tightened the cord around his neck, keeping him down on his knees as the affects of the medicine kicked in. He fell to the floor in a heap on his back, laughing to himself as she let the cord loose.
He looked like a raging lunatic, laughing as if any of this was funny.
Max placed the syringe in Violet's hand, she watched with raised brows as the ginger walked over to her brother's nail-bat. She took it into her hands and walked back over, she held it up as she stood before her douchebag brother.
"From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone." Max demands, her gaze fierce and tone razor-sharp. "Do you understand?"
"Screw you." Billy muttered.
Max did not like that answer. She lifts up the bat as if going to swing, then she sends it slamming to the ground, right between Billy's legs. Mere centimeters from... yeah. He takes a look down at the bat, his eyes widen in horror as he realized just how close the weapon is.
It's as if in that very moment he realized, she is not fucking around.
She lifts up the bat, threatening to swing again. "Say you understand!" She screams loudly, growing angrier by the second. "Say! Say it!"
"I understand." Billy mumbles reluctantly.
"What?" Max taunts, wanting to hear him say it louder.
"I understand." Billy repeats, speaking more clearly.
Max drops the bat to the floor and it hits the wood with a resounding clank from the nails hitting the ground. She crossed over to her brother's slumped frame and yanks at the keys hooked around his belt loops, once she has them she stands up straight and holds them up, the keys jingle as she shoots them all an expectant and raised brow look. "Let's get out here."
"Wait." Violet drops to her knees infront of Steve, she rolled up her sleeve and holds two fingers to her brother's pulse point. She sighs in relief when she feels it thumping against her digits. "He's good, just unconscious. I'm not leaving him here, guys." She looks up at her friends, they've all crowded around Steve's senseless state. "We have to bring him with us."
Mike sighs heavily, "Seriously, Vi? We'd have to carry his body all the way out of the house."
Violet frowns, "I'd rather carry his unconscious body out of here than leave him here, Mike! God knows what will happen when Billy comes out of his sedation."
She glanced down at her brother, taking in his injuries and wincing sympathetically when she sees the damage Billy's done. Steve's face is nearly unrecognizable. His eyes are a good mix of black and purple, his nose is swelling up and is most likely broken as crimson stains beneath both of his nostrils, there's a split in his lip, welts and bruises are already forming on his skin, and there's blood crusting in his hair.
Max was right, Billy is crazy.
"I'll patch him up as best I can, you guys get the supplies to go down to the tunnels." The boys exchange nervous glances with each other, Violet's eyes rolled skyward as she shook her head. "What the hell are you waiting for? Will, El, and Hopper need our help, go!"
The boys scrambled to gather the supplies they would need, and as Violet gets up to grab her backpack by the couch she realized that Max is still stood in the Living Room with her. When she walks back over with her bag hung in her shoulder, she noticed the frown on her lips.
"Hey." Violet gently calls, grabbing her attention as her ocean eyes flitter upon her. "What's wrong?"
Max hangs her head, "I did this. It's my fault that this happened to Steve. He only came here because he was looking for me." She sniffles sofly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "This is what he does. He ruins things for me, he hurts the people that I care for."
Violet's heart ached from the words that Max said, then the appendage squeezed painfully as she saw the lone tear escaping her eye. Her bag falls from her shoulder, she takes a step towards Max and grabbed ahold of her hand.
"Listen to me, this is not your fault, okay?" She reassured, giving her palm a gentle squeeze as she looks her dead in her tear filled eyes. "Your brother... there's something wrong with him, okay? I don't want to be a bitch but he's insane, like, there's a few screws loose in his brain." She shook her head, "My point is, don't blame yourself for the shit that he does. It's not on you, it's all on him. He's the bad guy here. Not you."
Max nods slowly, holding onto her hand while the other wipes at her teary eyes. "Thanks, Violet. I'm still really sorry about Steve, though."
Violet shrugs, "It's all right. He's still alive and honestly, he's been beaten half to hell by Jonathan Byers, so this... it's nothing."
Max's brows knitted, "Jonathan? That scrawny guy? Will's older brother, he beat up Steve?"
Violet snorts, "Shocking, I know. My brother doesn't have the best track record when it comes to fights. But... he tries, we saw that tonight."
"Yeah, well, Billy cheated." Max glares down at her unconscious step-brother. "Steve was fighting fair, he grabbed a plate and escalated it."
Violet sighs heavily, dropping to her knees and grabbing her backpack. "Well, like I said, your brother's got a few screws loose."
"Yeah." Max chuckles weakly, she drops to her knees across from her. "You're right about that." Violet unzips her bag and starts dumping out her first aid supply, the ginger girl leans forward and raised a brow when Violet's gaze shifts over to her. "So, how can I help?"
—micaela speaks
Yo.
These chapters are getting so fucking long, I'm just trying to get through the rest of this season as quickly as humanly possible.
I can't wait to start writing season 3, I've never written it from the other party's side before, it's always been Steve, Robin, Dustin and Erica underneath Starcourt. So next season will be different for me.
Did I tweak this fight between Steve and Billy so Violet could easily come in?
Yes, yes I did.
She's a total badass, jumping on his back and refusing to let go so he can't go after Steve.
Then Lucas giving her assistance with the wire cord, telekinetically using the cord to choke Billy, and Max coming in with the final syringe stab to the neck?
Love it, teamwork makes the dreamwork.
If you couldn't tell by now, Violet, Lucas, and Max are the pretty best friends. They're gonna be SO close in the next season, I'm EXCITED.
But anywhoosie, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all in the next one!
Byeeee xx