The Bathtub
Cat looked up as Joyce and Hopper walked into the police station.
"Hey." Joyce said, sounding annoyed. "Jonathan? Catherine? Jesus, what... what happened?"
"I'm fine." Jonathan told her, not answering his mom's question.
Cat let out a breathy laugh, holding her ribcage. Her broken leg was propped up on a chair. "If you call a possible broken rib fine, then I'm just peachy."
"Why are they wearing handcuffs?" Joyce asked Callahan.
"Well your boy and Miss Henderson here assaulted police officers. She," He pointed an accusing finger at Cat, "broke my nose, kicked me in the balls and, like I told you Chief, stole my gun a few weeks ago. That's why."
Catherine tilted her head back and laughed, for some reason finding this all very ridiculous. She was slightly loopy due to the pain medication she had been given. Both Hopper and her friends gave her weird looks.
"Take them off." Joyce demanded.
"I am afraid I cannot do that." Callahan told her.
"Take them off!" Joyce yelled at him.
"You heard her. Take 'em off." Hopper said to Callahan.
"Chief, I get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see." Powell spoke up, leading him out of the room.
The Chief and the two police officers came back into the room, placing the large box of bear traps, boxes of bullets, lighter fluid and all the other things the teens had bought onto the table in front of them.
"What is this?" Joyce asked, going through the box.
"Why don't you ask your son? We found it in his car." Hopper told her.
"What?" Joyce's head snapped towards her son.
"Why are you going through my car?" Jonathan asked them.
"Yeah, dipshits, why are you going through a car that's not yours." Cat argued.
"You're one to talk." Callahan told her. "The amount of times we've caught you for stealing..." He trailed off as Hopper told him to cut it out.
"Is that really the question you should be asking right now?" Hopper asked Jonathan, leaning forward on the desk. "I wanna see you in my office."
"Ooh, someone's in trouble." Cat giggled. "I don't know why I'm laughing, I'm also in trouble."
"You won't believe me." Jonathan told him.
"Why don't you give me a try?"
***
Cat, Nancy and Jonathan were sat in Hopper's office, watching as he and Joyce looked at the photo of the monster they had encountered.
"You say blood draws this thing?" Hopper asked the teens who sat looking nervously at the adults.
"We don't know." Jonathan admitted.
"It's just a theory." Nancy added and Cat nodded.
"Oh and I might have ruined your black dress and lost your shoes in the woods, so I'm sorry." Joyce sent the girl a small smile, telling her that it was fine before she walked into the hallway to speak to Jonathan.
***
Cat sat on the hood of the car while Hopper looked through the binoculars, watching the men who were after Eleven and The Party. "I have to go home." Nancy told Hopper while leaning on the car door.
"No, you can't." He told her simply.
"My mom... my dad are there."
"They're gonna be okay." Hopper tried to reassure her, not moving away from the binoculars.
Cat squinted and saw one of the men carrying a box with the Dungeons and Dragons game inside. She groaned. "Oh, man! Not the D&D game." She pouted. Nancy walked round the car towards her house.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." Hopper grabbed her arm, stopping her from going any further.
"Let go." Nancy demanded. "Let go!" She tried to shake him off of her.
"Hey! Listen to me. Listen to me." Hopper bent down slightly so he was eye level with her. "The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in all this."
"Mike is over there-" She yelled, getting emotional.
"They haven't found him." Hopper told her, his voice loud. "Not yet at least." He pointed to a helicopter that was flying overhead.
"For Mike?" Nancy questioned as Hopper started dragging her towards the car.
"Come on, get in the car." Hopper told her as Joyce helped Catherine into the backseat.
Once they were all in the car- Nancy, Jonathan and Cat all squished together in the backseat- Hopper and Joyce turned in their seats to face them. "Look, we need to find them before they do." Hopper stated. "Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" He asked Nancy, but also Catherine, knowing she usually had an idea where they went.
"No, I don't."
"I need you to think. Cat, what about you? Do you know anywhere they could've gone?"
"Well, I'm not 100% in their Party so they don't tell me everything. I'm just.... I'm like their mom. I make sure they don't do anything too stupid." Hopper sighed. "I'm sorry that wasn't more helpful." Cat apologised, feeling bad.
Hopper turned back to Nancy. "Is there anywhere Mike might've gone?"
"I don't know. We haven't talked a lot." Nancy told him. "I mean, lately..." She sighed.
"Is there any place that your... your parents don't know about that he might go?" Joyce asked Nancy, knowing that Cat was still a bit loopy from the pain medication and so wouldn't give any helpful answers.
"I don't know." Nancy stuttered.
"I might." Jonathan spoke, everyone turning their heads towards him.
"What?" Hopper asked him.
"I don't know where he is, but I think I know how to ask him."
***
The car pulled up outside the Byers's house and everyone climbed out, racing inside. Joyce and Jonathan helped Cat as her crutches had been left in the alleyway. Once inside the house they headed straight for Will's room. Nancy stopped in the living room for a moment, looking at the mess before following behind Hopper. Jonathan opened Will's door, sitting Cat on the bed before starting to look for the walkie-talkie in the drawers on Will's desk. Joyce dove under the bed, calling out an "I got it." She grabbed the walkie-talkie and pulled herself out from under the bed. She handed it to Nancy who spoke into the walkie-talkie to Mike and the others while taking a seat next to Cat.
"Mike, are you there? Mike?" She asked, not getting a response. "Mike, it's me, Nancy. Mike, are you there?"
Hopper shook his head. "He's not picking up."
Cat grabbed the walkie-talkie from her friend and spoke into. "All right you little shits, listen up. It's Catherine. I might be slightly high from my pain medication but it's still me so you dipshits better listen up." She took a painful breath, placing one hand on her ribcage. "We need to know where you are. It's an emergency guys. A code fucking red! I swear to God if you don't fucking answer I'm gonna kill you myself instead of those people who are after you. Like, they took the D&D game and everything. Please just fucking pick up-" She was cut off as Hopper took the walkie-talkie from her hand.
"Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up." He spoke. "We know you're in trouble and we know about the girl. We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over." Cat sighed, running a hand down her face. They weren't getting an answer. Hopper sighed, placing the walkie-talkie down on the shelf. "Anybody got any other ideas?"
"Yeah, I copy." Mike's voice came through the walkie-talkie. "It's Mike. I'm here. We're here."
"Oh, my God!" Cat cried, grabbing the object from Hopper's hands once he picked it back up from the shelf. "You're alive!" She cried into it. "Jesus, you had us scared halfway to hell. What have I told you guys about picking up when I need you to?"
"Sorry Cat, we weren't sure it was you guys."
"Wait. Did she say she was high on pain medication? What the hell happened now?" Lucas' voice was heard, although distant.
"Doesn't matter. I'll explain later. Just tell me where the fuck you are!"
The three teens and two adults learned that the kids were hiding in a rundown school bus in the junkyard. "Do you know where that is?" Hopper asked Cat.
"Oh, yeah." She nodded. "I could take you there with my eyes closed." She thought for a moment. "But not really because I'd probably fall and break my leg, again."
***
Edited: 6/4/2020
Edit 2: 9/9/2021