Thirty-two: Use Your Brain, Man!
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Dustin's words just made them laugh even harder.
Dustin, Max and Erica ushered Steve, Robin and Y/n out of the bathroom, Dustin saying he had a plan, which was to blend in with the crowd. So Dustin was peering out from beside a wall, looking at the wave of people. "And... Blend." He whispered, bringing the rest of the group with him as they walked with the crowd.
"Well, shit, that worked." Erica said.
"Of course it worked." Dustin replied.
"Okay, relax. Don't speak too soon." Y/n told them. And as if on cue, they saw two men at the mall doors, getting people's IDs. "Shit."
Dustin led them back, not knowing where to go as the men caught on and followed after them.
Everyone had left the mall by now, and it was just them as they tried to find where to go. They saw a counter and figured it was their best bet, so they sat behind it, having nothing left to do but hope they wouldn't be seen.
Max and Y/n's hands clung to each other, both finding a bit of comfort from the contact. Everything went dead silent until one of the men muttered something in Russian. A few seconds after the man spoke, the alarm on the display car in the mall went off, and they all jumped, flinching as it startled them.
The car alarm was followed a few seconds after by another mutter in Russian, a loud crash and the stop of the blaring. At that, the six turned to peer over the counter, their eyes first catching the presumably dead men who were previously looking for them, then the single pot lid spinning, and then abruptly stopping. Then, they all moved their gazes to the car, which was crashed against a counter, smoking.
They all slowly looked up to see a sight that relieved all of them. Well, it relieved Dustin, Max, Y/n and Steve. Robin and Erica didn't know who she was.
Eleven.
Y/n immediately hopped to her feet, dropping Max's hand and bolting to El, who made her way down the escalator with the help of Mike.
"El!" Y/n shouted, immediately wrapping the girl in a tight hug. "Are you okay!? What happened!?" She asked as she pulled away. El opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Dustin, who moved Y/n out of the way and hugged El. "You flung that thing like a hot wheel!"
When Dustin and El broke away, Max wrapped her arms around the brunette.
"Lucas?" Erica said, surprised and confused.
"What are you doing here?" Lucas asked the youngest Sinclair. She pointed to Robin and Steve. "Ask them It's their fault."
"Yeah, true. Totally true. It's absolutely our fault." Steve nodded.
"I don't understand what happened to that car." Robin said, visibly freaked out. Dustin just pointed to El. "El has superpowers."
"I'm sorry?"
"Superpowers. She threw it with her mind. C'mon, catch up." Steve casually told the girl. Erica pointed to Eleven. "That's El?"
"Who's El?" Robin asked, still confused. "It's short for Eleven." Y/n told her, still not helping Robin find out who El even is.
"Eleven?" Robin seemed even more confused, and Y/n grabbed El's arm, holding up her wrist to show Robin the '011' tattoo.
"I'm sorry," Nancy looked at Robin. "Who are you?"
"I'm Robin. I work with Steve."
"She cracked the top secret code." Dustin informed, leading Robin to smile a bit.
"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place." Steve said.
"Russians? Wait, what Russians?" Jonathan piped up.
Steve gestured with his arm to the bodies on the ground. "The Russians!"
"Those were Russians?" Nancy asked incredulously. Y/n shrugged. "Yeah."
"Some of them." Erica added.
"What are you talking about?" Lucas wondered.
"Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin asked. "Yeah, and I couldn't understand half of what you were saying." Mike told him.
"Damn low battery!" Dustin cursed. "How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery!?" Steve scolded, clapping with the last two words.
"Well, everything worked out, didn't it, Steve?"
"I wouldn't say 'Worked out'..." Y/n said.
"I would say some things worked out." Max said, quiet enough so the only other person to hear besides her was Y/n, and the two looked at each other.
"Exactly. We almost died!" Erica pointed out.
"Yeah, but we didn't. Okay?"
"It was pretty damn close." Steve muttered.
"Okay, Russians? As in, they're working for the Russian government?" Lucas asked.
"No, they're working for fucking China." Y/n retorted. "Use your brain, man!"
"So, has nothing to do with the gate?" Max asked.
That's when Y/n's eyes caught El, who was wandering away from the group. "Max." She whispered, tapping the redhead's shoulder. When Max looked at her, she beckoned to the brunette, tilting her head.
"El?" Y/n called out, grabbing everyone's attention. Eleven didn't answer, her hands were now over her ears and she collapsed, falling to the ground with a thud.
"El!" Mike called, running to El's side, the others following close behind. "El, what's wrong?" Mike frantically asked, worried and panicked.
"My leg. My leg." The girl whined.
"Her leg, okay, okay, her leg." Mike said, moving his gaze to the girl's shin, which was wrapped in a bandage, and had blood seeping through.
"What happened?" Y/n worriedly asked as they unwrapped the bandage.
No one answered her question as they all looked at El's leg. They finished unwrapping her wound, and Y/n widened her eyes, cringing as she winced, the sound jumbling with the other reactions. They all varied from winces, to 'Ew's, to gasps, and exedra.
Instinctively, Y/n reached for Max's hand, taking it in hers and squeezing it, to which the redhead squeezed back.
As they all looked at the gash, something squirmed under El's skin, and the brunette cried out in pain.
"What's wrong with her?"
No one answered Erica. When they saw something squirm under El's skin again, Erica asked another question.
"What is that?"
"There's something in there."
Jonathan seemed to have an idea. "Keep her talking, keep her awake, okay?" He told them before running off.
"Hey. Hey, El? You gotta stay awake for us, okay? C'mon, please." Y/n begged the girl, who struggled to keep her eyes open.
"You know, i- 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, like, six inches of something, it was insane." Robin said, trying to help and failing.
"Robin." Steve said.
"Yeah?"
"You're not helping."
"I'm sorry."
The group continued to try and keep her awake until Jonathan came back, gloves on and knife in hand.
"Oh, shit." Y/n breathed out, a mix of a worried whine and a whisper.
Jonathan handed Mike a wooden spoon, and Mike held it up to El's mouth, prompting the girl to bite down.
"Alright. Okay, El? This is gonna hurt like hell, alright?"
"Okay." El cried before biting down on the spoon. Everyone watched in horror as Jonathan cut into the poor girl's skin, and El screamed in agony. Y/n felt a bit queasy, but shook it off.
Jonathan dropped the knife onto the floor, and it fell with a clatter. He hesitated for a moment before digging his fingers into El's wound, and the girl wailed in even more pain, if that was even possible.
"Jonathan!" Nancy called, despite the fact that she was right next to the boy.
"Jonathan, stop!" Y/n cried.
"Shut up!" Jonathan shouted, stressed as he moved his hand around faster, just wanting to get this over with. El screamed more intensely before spitting the spoon out. "Stop! Stop!"
Everyone heard the girl's demands, and Nancy stopped Jonathan.
"I can do it." El cried. "I can do it."
Everyone watched as El held her hand or to her leg. The thing inside her skin squirmed and fought against it, but El kept trying.
El started to scream, and the glass behind all of them shattered. They all yelped and Y/n covered Max, getting cut by the glass instead of the redhead.
A slug-parasite type thing slowly arose from El's leg, and she stared at it for a second before launching it across the room.
Everyone was so focused on the creature, they hadn't noticed Hopper, Joyce and some partially-bald man enter the mall until Hopper stomped on the creature. It squelched as it squished under his shoe.
The adults being there made Y/n feel so much safer.
Little did she know, things would only get worse.
a/n:
I can't wait! So close to season 4!!!!
Where are my Ronance shippers?
What did you think of this chapter?
I hope you enjoyed!
1502 words.