DAMN. Apparently, it really had been some grand government scheme after all. Ana accepted she'd have to apologize to Hopper at some point for calling him a crazed conspiracy theorist, even if it had only been in her mind.
Once Hopper's Blazer skidded to a halt outside the mayor's office, the pair swiftly exited the vehicle. Ana followed suit as the police chief lumbered up the walkway, his gait filled with barely contained rage and purpose. This tough demeanor was somewhat diminished by his harsh breathing and pained grumbles, though. He was making an outward show of strength, even if his physical being was anything but at the moment.
Barging into Kline's office without invitation, Hopper asked the receptionist, "hey, is he in?" But, allowed no time for the woman behind the desk to formulate a succinct response, before forcing the mayor's door open. The sound of a lock clicking into place behind him was a subtle warning of the events preparing to unfold.
Ana remained outside the locked door, with a suddenly highly agitated Candice. The two women appraised one another from behind squinted eyes, each standing stoutly at opposite ends of the large wooden desk. Ana was confident she could take on the secretary if necessary, and the thought brought with it a cocky smile.
For a mayor's office, the walls were surprisingly thin, which allowed Ana to eavesdrop on the conversation happening in the next room. It was all pretty mundane, Hopper asking about the motorcycle man, Kline deflecting, albeit poorly. That is, until accusations started to fly between the two men like sparks from a welding arc. Apparently, the mayor had a penchant for nose candy and banging his assistant, how very cliche of him. In response to Hopper's scathing indictments, Larry began sarcastically commenting on the law enforcement officer's prescription drug habit and previous predilection for drinking on the job. The conversation took a turn from bad to worse, though, when Kline uttered the phrase, "oh, and please, don't give me that dead daughter sob story, 'cause I just don't care."
"Oh shit!" Ana audibly muttered from behind the closed door. Dead daughter was a no tread territory, everyone with half a brain knew that. Although, it seemed Kline was woefully lacking in the common sense department.
What followed the mayor's tone-deaf remark was a bombardment of bangs and shouts from within the locked office. Ana leaned her hip on the reception desk and watched on in mild amusement as Candice tried, frivolously, to open the door to no avail. From the sound of it, Hopper had broken Larry's nose, and Ana couldn't have been prouder.
Candice, after seemingly accepting that she couldn't force the door open, returned to her desk and picked the phone up from where it sat on the off-white plastic receiver. Not today, bitch, Ana thought as she grabbed the whole set and ripped it entirely from the wall. Throwing the contraption to the floor, she stomped on it a few times for good measure, watching bits of plastic fly here and there. The secretary wasn't getting any more use out of that particular phone that today, that much was sure.
The chaos in the next room hadn't settled, per se, but the intensity must have reached its pinnacle because less banging and screaming were coming from the two men inside then. Ana took that as a good sign, it had to mean Hopper had gotten somewhere in his questioning, right? "You should just sit the fuck down," Ana order Candice, growing irritated by her anxious hovering. "It'll all be over soon," she added ominously.
Candice seemed to mull over the directive for a moment before easing into her office chair with a huff. "Good girl," Ana muttered tauntingly, same as she would to one of her meddling students, and watched on passively as the other woman began wringing her hands in unease. This was way more entertaining than teaching, Ana mused to herself. Maybe she'd give law enforcement a try if the whole education thing didn't work out.
Suddenly, Kline's door flew open, and the man himself was thrown out into the hallway. He stumbled from the forward momentum, attempting to catch himself on an adjacent wall, but Hopper forcibly grabbed Larry with one hand under the arm, and another around the base of his neck, before Larry could fully right himself. The mayor was bleeding profusely from the nose, his face reddened and ruined from the wound, as Hopper marched him past Candice. "He just bumped his head," Hopper announced to the assistant as Ana opened the door to aid in their swift exit. "Just a little boo-boo, right, Lar?"
Even while they retreated, Candice kept screaming Larry's name as the trio, two willing and one not so much, vacated the office, the door slamming harshly behind them.
After throwing Larry unceremoniously in the bed of the Blazer, not the backseat, Hopper drove the group to the mayor's mansion. Ana would be lying if she said she hadn't chuckled at Kline's pained groans each time Hopper took a turn too quickly, or stopped too short at a stoplight, resulting in their hostage jostling around in the back of the vehicle like a pinball.
Larry was limping and grasping his left side as they entered his home, but he remained decidedly mute as the group ushered themselves inside. To add insult to his already numerous injuries, Hopper mockingly stated, "wow, I love the place, Lar," upon inspecting his lavish home. Then, indicating towards the gaudy zebra skin encompassing the foyer floor, he asked, "hey, you shoot that fella yourself?"
The disgraced mayor audibly winced as they began ascending the staircase. "That's-That's not real," he murmured in obvious agony.
"No shit!" Hopper remarked snidely as he and Ana trailed after the beaten politician, approaching the mansion's second story. God, the decor in this home was ostentatious. What was it people said about the rich having terrible taste?
Regardless, Larry led them to a safe in his bedroom, inserting the combination and pulling out several folders which undoubtedly held the questionable land deeds he'd previously copped to helping secure. Hopper took them from Kline's outstretched hands, then knocked several items off a nearby desk in order to perch on its ledge. It was a childish move, but one she would grant him since Hopper was still sporting a gnarly cut and bruise over his temple.
Ana watched on quietly while he inspected the paperwork as Larry sat defeated in a neighboring chair. The mayor seemed to have accepted his unfortunate circumstances, given his slumped shoulders and downturned lips, but wasn't altogether pleased as he answered the police chief's endless inquiries. "Alright, so...what exactly are we looking at?" Hopper prodded, mindlessly shuffling through the documents.
"Land deeds, transfers of property," Larry confessed while gently prodding his broken nose. It looked crooked, slightly askew on his face, but it was hard to tell with all the dried blood coating the rapidly bruising skin.
Hopper's mind had clearly switched into detective mode, as he continued his line of questioning without pause and without remorse. "So, your buddies at Starcourt, they suddenly start buying up all this property. They tell you why?"
When Larry simply offered, "I already told you, they don't tell me anything," the glare he received in response was seething.
The tinge of indignation in the mayor's voice as he proclaimed utter ignorance didn't go unnoticed by the duo, but Hopper proceeded without comment. "They're just using you. I get it. What I don't get is why you have a bunch of land deeds in a safe in your bedroom."
Handing the stack of papers over to Ana, she flipped through them compulsively despite having zero experience with land deeds. She could read, and at least that was something, even if the concept of numbers spaced her. Meanwhile, with the absence of documents, Hopper's fingers occupied themselves by fiddling with the rubber band that had previously been holding the files together.
Staring at a fixed point on the floor, Larry ominously told the pair that, "these people, they're bad news." Like they needed that clarification, Hopper's busted face was enough proof of just how dangerous these people could be.
Twirling the rubber around his finger in contemplation, Hopper concluded, "so, what, this is blackmail?"
Finally, Larry's eyes shifted up to look at the pair, leaving the safety of the floor, and he whispered, "protection."
"The smartest thing I've heard you say today, Lar," Ana quipped while her eyes stayed trained on the documents. Honestly, it just looked like a bunch of names and payments to her, but the information had to contain something useful. "Where are all these properties located, though?" The only response Ana received was an incredulous look from both men, clearly implying 'you have the paperwork right in your hands.' Rolling her eyes at the pair, she amended the inquiry. "Alright, where are they geographically speaking?"
Hopper seemed to deem this version of the question warranted, if the pensive downturn of his lips and bob of the head were anything to go by. While he considered her train of thought, Larry shifted forward in his seat slightly and offered, "there's a map of Hawkins in the hallway." Now, that suggestion would have appeared helpful, if it weren't for the mischievous glint shining behind the mayor's pupils, and, well...the fact that Hopper had beaten the shit out of him in the hours prior.
"Great," Ana announced as she began heading in the indicated direction, while Hopper remained perched on the edge of the desk, appraising the mayor warily. His rubber band missile trained on Larry's forehead.
Ana halted in the doorway, peering over her shoulder and suggesting, "you should probably tie him up, Hop. He definitely looks like a runner." It seemed the police chief took her recommendation under advisement because Larry Kline did not converge with the couple in the hallway.
"Okay, so it looks like all of these properties are in Southeast Hawkins, right near Jordan Lake," Ana concluded, based on the names listed. "What else is in Southeast Hawkins, near Jordan Lake?" Ana asked because she honestly has no idea, she hadn't been in Hawkins long enough to get a complete lay of the land.
However, the question seemed to stir some sort of recognition in Hopper. "The power plant," he answered with a sense of realization drawing across his features.
"The power plant," Ana repeated. "Well, we know there was a power outage four days ago-"
Her line of reasoning was cut short by Hopper's assertion, "and then Joyce's magnets fell."
Ana chuckled at the notion. "Those damn magnets. Shit, maybe Joyce and Scott Clarke were right. Maybe there really is some giant machine hidden at one of these properties." Still an absurd thought, yes, but now one that appeared to hold water.
Hopper lingered for a second, considering the information, considering the paperwork, and, finally, his eyes rose to appraise Ana. Strutting toward her, Hopper's face held a smug grin. "I think you've earned that deputization, Ms. Thompson."
"Oh yeah?" She challenged him in return. The day had been so charged with emotions and it finally felt like they could relax, at least for a brief moment. Watching Hopper being assertive, the danger and excitement of it all had every nerve ending in Ana's body buzzing like a live wire. Teaching could never provide the same rush as hunting down a perpetrator.
Taking a step closer to Hopper, Ana asked if he'd made sure to tie the mayor up so he couldn't get loose. "Yeah..." Hopper's answer was drawn out in confusion while he eyed the woman in front of him uncertainly.
"Good," Ana chirped before prying the folders out of his grip. "Then, let's go find out how many bedrooms this place has. We've only been able to explore the one."
The teasing gleam suddenly present behind her eyes, and the mischievous smirk upon her face, told Hopper she was interested in anything but the floorplan of Larry's extravagant home.
Thus, he willfully followed his girlfriend as she took off down the hallway, giving chase like a predator would prey.