The Battle of Starcourt
El continued to scream and sob in pain as the others desperately tried to calm her down. The thing in her leg seemed to be moving and when Cat finally took a look at it, she felt like she might vomit. "What is that?" Erica asked as the thing beneath El's leg kept moving.
"There's something in there." Mike said.
"Way to state the obvious." Cat snapped as she ran her fingers through El's hair.
"Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan instructed, standing up.
"Where the fuck are you going?" Catherine asked him. She didn't get a reply as Jonathan raced off to grab the supplies he needed for the improvised operation. She and the others helped El to sit up, the younger girl's head resting on Catherine's chest.
"You know, it's not actually that bad. There was a... The goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane." Robin rambled, the whole group just staring at her.
"Robin." Steve said.
"Yeah?"
"You're not helping."
"I'm sorry."
Jonathan came running back over, holding a knife and a wooden spoon. "Okay. All right, El?" He crouched down by her leg. "This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"
El sobbed and nodded her head. "Okay."
"Need you to stay real still." Jonathan added as he put on a pair of clear plastic gloves. "Hey, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?" He handed a wooden spoon to Mike, who was sat by El's head. The younger boy placed the spoon in between El's teeth.
Jonathan hesitated as he hovered the knife above El's leg. "Do it." Mike said firmly.
Jonathan began the operation to remove the thing living under El's skin. Cat screwed her eyes shut, unable to look. After a few minutes of El screaming in pain, she told them that she could do it. Catherine helped her sit up straighter. They all watched as El used her telekinesis to pull the thing from inside her leg. She was screaming intensely as she did so. The glass wall behind them shattered and Cat was quick to protect El from the small pieces of glass that flew everywhere, not caring if herself became injured. El continued screaming as she pulled the slimy creature from her leg and hovered it in mid-air for a few moments before throwing it across the mall.
The creature tried to scuttle away. But it only got a few centimetres before a boot stepped on it, crushing the creature completely.
Cat moved her gaze up the body of the new arrival, her eyes eventually landing on their face. They had reinforcements. Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers had arrived, along with some nearly bald man whom Catherine didn't recognise.
"Holy shit." Cat mumbled as she stared at the three adults.
***
The group, finally all together, gathered in the middle of Starcourt Mall and listened as Mike told them about the Mind Flayer. Catherine was sat on the edge of the fountain, Steve next to her with his arm around her shoulder. Cat was holding onto El's hand, the younger girl sat the other side of her with Hopper.
"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to stop Catherine, to kill them and pave a way into our world." Mike said.
"Wait," Cat sat up straighter, "kill me? Why?"
"We think it's linked to when you tried to help Will, that day on the field." Lucas explained.
"Then why the fuck hasn't it killed me already?" Cat asked. "Or at least tried."
"Maybe it's because it couldn't find you." Max suggested. "It couldn't get to you because you were trapped underground with the Russians." Catherine nodded.
"It almost did." Nancy added. "It nearly did kill El, while you were fighting the Russians." She gestured to Catherine, Steve and Robin. "That was just one tiny piece of it."
"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked.
"It's big." Jonathan answered.
"No shit." Cat muttered. "But how big, exactly?"
"Thirty feet, at least." Jonathan told them.
"Jesus Christ." Catherine muttered.
"Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin." Lucas told Hopper. "Sorry." He added, his voice quieter.
"Okay, so, just to be clear, this... this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, and wants to kill my girlfriend, it's some kind of gigantic... weapon?" Steve asked.
"Yes." Nancy clarified.
"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, running his fingers through Catherine's hair.
"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce asked from where she sat on the other side of Hopper.
"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." Max told her.
"But, if we close the gate again-" Will started.
"We cut the brain off from the body." Max continued.
"And kill it." Lucas added. "Theoretically."
"Yoo-hoo!" The bald man, Cat had learnt was called Murray, yelled, running through the mall towards them. "Yoo-hoo!" He waved the pieces of paper he held at them. When he reached them, he placed the papers on one of the tables. The group gathered around him as he explained. "Okay, this is what Alexei called 'the hub'." He pointed to part of the map. "Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."
"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asked, leaning over Murray's shoulder.
"Right here." Murray pointed to another part of the map. "I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty feet or so." He pointed back and forth between the two locations.
"Wrong." Cat called. She'd moved across the room and was now sitting in a chair, leaning back as she rested her feet on a nearby table.
"More like five-hundred." Erica said, stepping forward. Murray stared at her, not knowing what to say. "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"
"She's right." Cat mouthed at the adults.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asked them.
"Catherine Henderson, at your service." Cat answered, complete with a salute.
"Erica Sinclair." Erica told him. "Who are you?"
"Murray... Bauman."
"Listen, Mr. Bunman," Erica said, seeming to speak with every sarcastic bone in her body, "I'm not trying to tell you how do to things, but I've been down in that shithole for twenty-four hours. And with all due respect," she turned to Hopper, "you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die."
"Correct." Catherine called, her face sporting a grin.
"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?"
"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!"
"Erica!" Lucas chided.
"Just the facts!"
"She's right." Dustin spoke up from where he stood behind Erica. "You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me. Sorry, may I?" He asked, gesturing to the map.
"Please." Murray said, annoyed that a couple of kids were telling him what to do.
Both Dustin and Erica took a seat at the table, the former pulling the papers towards him. "Okay, see this room here?" Dustin asked, pointing on the map. "This is a storage facility." He circled it with a pencil. "There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system." He drew a line across the paper. "That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way."
"No." Cat said. "I'm not letting you go down there again." She said, folding her arms over her chest.
"Don't worry." Dustin told her. "They can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be their... navigators."
"No." Hopper said. "I agree with Catherine." He gestured to the girl. "Neither of you are going down there."
***
The group had moved since coming up with a plan. The adults were preparing to venture underground and shut off the gate. Catherine sat with El, telling the younger girl about her adventure. "So, what happened?" El asked.
"Well, we were interrogated in separate rooms. The General fucked me up pretty bad, I guess. He threatened to kill me and then my powers went haywire and from then on everything's blurry. I think we were drugged?..."
"Haywire?" El asked, unsure of the word.
"Crazy. I managed to heal a knife wound and a broken leg but my nose is still broken. And, apparently, I can make snow and ice." Cat smiled. "Wanna see?" El nodded. Catherine closed her eyes and concentrated. When her eyes opened again, there were snowflakes swirling around her.
"That's so cool." Robin said, coming over and sitting next to the two. "I still can't believe you can do that."
Cat laughed. "I can't believe I can do that."
"Hey, heads up." Hopper called, walking towards the party and throwing Dustin a walkie-talkie. "You can navigate, just from someplace safe."
"Now, that's an idea I can get on board with." Cat grinned, standing up and walking with El over to the others.
"It's not that simple." Dustin said, sending an eyeroll to his sister.
"The signal won't reach." Erica added.
"Not with this." Dustin said, talking about the radios they were holding. "You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians' radio tower. But for that to work, you need someone who has both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower, one preferably already situated at the highest point in Hawkins. Oh, wait. That's me."
"Look at you, picking up on the sarcasm." Cat grinned. "Proud of ya, Dusty."
"Don't call me that." He turned away from his sister and back to Hopper. "If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start." He shared a quick look with Erica. "And a car."
Hopper handed a pair of car keys to Steve. "Fine."
Cat and El shared a hug, with promises to stay safe and see each other soon. Then Catherine bounded over to Hopper, forgetting that she had a small hole in her leg. She wrapped her arms around Hopper. "See ya 'round, Chief." As she walked away, backwards, she sent a salute and a wave in his direction.
***
Steve pushed open the main doors to the mall and Catherine smiled as she felt the fresh air. "Oh, man, now this..." Steve said as they caught sight of the car. He tossed the keys in the air and caught them before the could hit the floor, "this is what I'm talking about!"
"'Toddfather'?" Robin asked, reading the number plate.
"Oh, screw Todd! Steve's her daddy now."
"Oh, ew. Gross, babe." Cat cringed as she climbed in the middle front seat. Steve jumped in after her, seating himself behind the wheel as he was the only one with a licence.
"Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?" Robin asked him as she climbed in next to Cat.
"Did he just call himself daddy?" Erica asked as she and Dustin climbed into the backseats.
"All right, where are we going?" Steve asked Dustin as he inserted the keys into the ignition and started the engine.
"Weathertop."
"Weather-what?"
"Name's not important, babe. Just drive." Cat said as she patted his shoulder. Steve backed the car away from the mall and sped away from the carpark. Nervous, Cat began to drum her fingernails against the dashboard to the beat of the music playing on the radio, which just happened to be 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' by The Clash.
***
Edited: 04/08/2020
Edit 2: 21/10/2021