"Holy shit. Do they-." River started to panic, as she watched Lucas jump down. He was already panicking.
"Let's go! Let's go!" Lucas yelled out, before River sent a nod and jumped down as well, she didn't land like Lucas did, she kind of fell, and it would've been funny if they weren't in that certain situation. But she got up, quickly, and the two started to bike extremely fast.
"Mike!" She yelled into her walkie talkie that she taped to her bike, just as Lucas showed her to. "Mike!" She yelled once again, waiting for a response, her voice cracked as she yelled louder.
"Son of a bitch!" Lucas yelled, in between pants as the two friends both glanced at each other, both with worried expressions across their faces.
"Mike, can you hear me?!" She shouted, keeping her eyes on the road, and she got a quick response that was barely understandable over the static, Mike was breaking up.
"Lucas thinks they know about El! Something about the bad men, I think they're going to get her. The bad men are going to get her!" River continued to shout as she tried to keep up with Lucas, who was ahead and he turned back, gesturing forward, before yelling out.
"Tell them to meet us on Elm and Cherry!" He instructed, while River nodded, closing her eyes slightly because of the pressure from the wind.
"Elm and Cherry!" She shouted into the walkie one last time before continuing to bike, and finally she had caught up to Lucas.
After a few minutes of biking as fast as they could, making them both feel like their legs would easily fall off after this, they had met up with the other three again, and Mike's eyes had widened.
"Go! Go!" River yelled, glancing back to see that they were pretty close, the vans.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Dustin panicked, as Mike looked around frantically, yet continued to bike as fast as he could, while El held onto him.
"Faster!" Mike screamed out, as River felt herself growing more and more worried by the second. It was like nothing could get worse than this, she was confused, super confused, she wasn't even in in half of the discussing so hell knows the actual reason all of this is happening.
But the whole nothing could get worse than this statement was clearly wrong, when yet another white had had pulled in front of them.
And it didn't stop, that was the craziest part, the van continued to drive towards the kids, who continued to bike. Who the hell would intentionally drive towards a group of kids in hopes of running them all over.
"Shit, I think i'm gonna scream. I'm gonna scream. I'm gonna scream!" She spoke up in a worry, growing louder with each sentence as Dustin glanced towards her, his face completely worried.
"YOU ALREADY ARE DAMN IT." He had yelled out, causing River to shut her mouth and only look forward at the van, before seeing it flip.
"What the hell!?" River muttered, in shock as she turned to see that El was the one who had flipped it.
Yes, El had flipped the van. It was crazy, it didn't even feel real, but the relief was huge. Though they were all in very much shock, that didn't stop them from biking, to find themselves heading to the junkyard.
˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗
"This is Randolph road, right here." Lucas drew a line, next to a stick he had placed to help the three that hadn't seen the lab understand. "It goes all the way around, and this is the lab, right here. The gates gotta be there, it's gotta be." he explained, placing down a van in the middle of them, before sending everyone looks.
"Well, who owns Hawkins lab?" Dustin questioned, glancing at River to see if she knew, which he only earned a shrug from her.
"Something about Department of Energy, right?"she quickly checked with Lucas who gave a firm nod.
"Department of Energy, what do you think that means?" Dustin went on questioning, before Mike had spoken up, with a small gesture of his hand.
"It means government, Military."
"But it- it Says energy." River furrowed her eyebrows, quickly looking back down at the can.
"Just trust me, alright? It's military my dads told me before." Mike reassured, before earning another nod from Lucas.
This whole time El had been listening in, and she was most likely just as confused as River.
"Mikes right, there's soldiers out front." Lucas reminded the young girl who sat beside him as she gave a nod, in realization.
"They make like lightbulbs or something?"
"No weapons, to fight the Russians and commies and stuff."
River had glanced up after this and exchanged a quick look with Lucas before they both turned to El, causing Mike and Dustin to switch their attention to her as well.
"Oh Jesus, this is bad." Dustin shook his head, as he muttered this in an obvious panic.
"Yeah, really bad. The place is like a fortress." Lucas added in, causing River to rub her eyes, growing even more worried than she already is.
"Whatever we do, we can't go home. We're fugitives now." Mike explained, making River groan before looking up at him in a panic.
"This is so stupid, this is so stupid." She muttered, shaking her head as she placed her hands in her lap, causing the boys to look at her.
"Well, we are." Mike spoke up with an obvious look of annoyance as River returned the expression gladly.
"Yeah, well you don't think I know that? This just sucks." She mumbled, taking short breaths as Mike gave her a shrug.
"Well, you're gonna have to deal with it, just like us." He sassed, causing River to glance at him once again, with a look of disbelief.
"I am." She muttered, causing him to scowl as Lucas and El exchanged looks.
"G-Guys." Dustin started, grabbing their attention. "Do you hear that?"
Of course they heard it, they heard the helicopters approaching and once they looked up, they surely saw it as well.
"Go, Go, Go!" Mike rushed and they all quickly grabbed their bikes, before attempting to stuff it under a bus.
"It's stuck!" Dustin yelled out, pushing his bike various times, causing Lucas to run over in a hurry and push it in for him.
"Let's go, Let's go, hurry, come on!" He muttered before running into the van, and River had followed quickly behind, getting down immediately.
"Mental." Dustin stated simply, with a shake of his head and a look of disbelief, all while the kids frantically looked around, taking deep breaths.
˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗
After a short amount of time, staying in the bus and continuing to look around, in a panic, Nancy's voice was heard from Mike's walkie talkie.
"Mike, are you there? Answer."
"Mike, we need you to answer."
"Is that your sister?" Lucas question in a quiet tone, as Mike sent him an nod in response.
"This is an emergency, Mike. Do you copy? Mike do you copy?"
"Answer it." River muttered while Lucas grabbed it and Mike snatched it back, causing her to give him a look of confusion.
"No! What if she's kidnapped, what if it's a trick." He stated, keeping a precaution, but only River had shook her head, reaching for the walkie talkie.
"I need you to answer."
Mike backed up, holding the walkie out of her reach and Dustin had ended up agreeing with him, sadly.
"Yeah don't pick up." Dustin warned, causing everyone in the van to glance at him..
"We need to know that you're there, Mike"
"Listen kid, this is the chief if you're there, pick up."
"Answer!" River urged after giving Mike a clear look of disbelief, before he shook his head.
"We know you're in trouble, and we know about the girl."
"Are you there, do you copy? Over!"
"Yeah, I copy." He muttered into the device. "It's Mike. I'm here." He finished off, as he looked over at everyone. "We're here."
˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗
"Will you stop pacing?" Mike groaned, sitting up as Dustin shook his head, and continued to do so.
"It's been way too long, do you know what? Maybe you're right, maybe this is all a trap, and the bad men are coming to get us right now-"
"It's not a trap, why would the chief set us up? Nancy, maybe, but the chief?" Lucas shrugged, as Mike gave him a look of disbelief, with a scoff.
"Lando Calrissian."
"Would you shut up about Lando?"
"I don't feel good about this. I don't feel good about this!" Dustin yelled, as River remained at the front of the bus, looking around with a worried expression plastered on her face.
"When do you feel good about anything?!"
"Hey- Shut up!" River had ordered, turning quickly, and pointing to the window. "Cars." She simply stated, and they all ran over.
Whoever it was, it wasn't Hopper, there were multiple cars as well."Shit." River let out before exchanging looks with everyone else.
"Alright, Shut up! And Don't let them see you." She commanded while getting down, and watching the others do the same.
Everyone was super anxious, how could they not be?Hearing the car stop had made all of their hearts stop, everyone had given each other looks of confusion, as they heard two men fighting, before the door swung open, startling them all.
"Let's go." Hoppers voice was heard, causing them to all sigh in relief.
Hopper had ended up taking them to the Byer's residence, and River got out of the car to see Nancy engulfing Mike in a hug.
She looked around in hopes that Steve would be there, but he of course wasn't, which wasn't much of a surprise, so she only stood there and looked around as did Dustin and Lucas.
It was an odd feeling. The girl had been reluctant to let him make such a change in their bond. But as she thought about it, she realized how his attempting over and over again was working, otherwise she wouldn't wish for him to be there now.
˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗
Mike explained The Flea and the Acrobat to the rest as they listened closely, and River slightly paced thinking of every single thing that could go wrong from here.
But after that, El tried to channel Will and Barb, with the walkie talkie, and as she was trying the room was silent. No one made any noise and when she opened her eyes, they all let their breaths that they were holding in out.
"I'm sorry." El apologized, her voice breaking as she shook her head.
"What, what? What happened." Joyce said as El continued to shake her head before glancing at River who thinned her lips, and spoke up.
"She can't find them." She explained softly, as Joyce's expression changed into a worried one immediately.
"But she will, I know she will, because Will's alive." River nodded, assuring Joyce as she leaned forward, and Joyce had looked back at her.
"Her batteries just drained.." She explained once again, with a small and sympathetic shrug.
"Battery?"
"Yeah." Mike said.
"It's like..she can do badass things, like she flipped a van today," River stated as an example, while she leaned against the table, and stood next to Mike, while the boys nodded.
"It was awesome." They all said in Unison, nodding as they looked at each other.
"But that drained her battery. We need to wait." She finished off, now speaking directly to Joyce who sighed.
"How long?" Nancy questioned as River shrugged, and Mike gave her an uneasy look.
"I don't know.." He simply stated in a quiet tone, that was barely audible.
"The bath.." El walked in back in from the restroom, pointing back.
"What?" Joyce turned, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion before El pointed back once again.
"I can find them..in the bath." El explained as Rivers Eyes widened, nudging the boys, as Dustin sent her a nod, before running over to the phone.
˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗
Lucas, Dustin, and River all stood in the middle of the gym, attempting to set up the kiddie pool.
"Alright you guys deal with this, i'm going to get the hose, it's been a while." River muttered, running out as her sneakers squeaking against the gym floor was soon the only sound in the room, other than Lucas and Dustin bickering.
Once she ran out, she looked down as she walked over to the storage room, but stopped to see Nancy and Mike, they were talking to each other, and as much as she didn't want to interrupt, they needed the hoses.
"We Kind of need the Water now." She muttered, causing them to look towards her and nod, and Nancy started to walk inside.
"Hey, can you help me with these?" Mike asked softly, gesturing to the hoses he held, earning a quick nod from River, who had walked over and took one.
She stayed quiet and decided it was best if she just didn't say anything, she didn't really want to anyways. Though, Mike had decided to break the extremely awkward silence.
"Nice shoes." He said with a small smile, as River gave him a stare, keeping a straight face.
"Mike, I wear these-"
"I know, I know." He interrupted, shrugging awkwardly, causing River to nod, and continue to walk.
"So, do you like Eleven?" She asked, it was as if she didn't really think before speaking, because as soon as she asked she really wished she didn't.
"Gosh, no why does everyone keep asking me that" Mike groaned as River sent him a small look of disbelief, shaking her head.
"Because we all know you like her." She stated simply, with a shrug, trying to brush it off as if she didn't really care, but of course she did.
"Well I don't. Trust me.." Mike assured looking up at her, and making quick eye contact before walking forward again.
"Okay." River nodded, letting it go, as she put her hands up.
˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗
After getting everything done, and settle with the pool, El put a foot into the water as everyone watched her. And soon, her whole body was in.
She was floating, and the lights had shut off quickly, causing everyone to look up, calmly. It was going alright, they all sat there and waited as El floated there.
"Barbara?" Was heard, causing everyone to sit up, and send each other glances.
El's breaths grew heavier as the lights started to mess around again, "What's going on?" Nancy asked, looking to River who was sitting by her.
The young girl sent her a sympathetic shrug, "I don't know." She responded, before Mike sent her a worried look.
"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?"
"Gone! Gone! Gone." El had started screaming, referring to Barb. River watched as Nancy started to cry, but she looked away quickly, feeling extremely worried for Will now.
"Castle Byers."
Castle Byers. River perked up, and glanced at Joyce before observing El, who was calmer by now.
"Will?"
The sound of his name grabbed everyone's attention, of course. River looked to her friends who were focusing on El.
"Y-You tell him i'm coming, Mom is coming!" Joyce ordered, frantically, as her voice shook.
"Hurry." Was heard through the walkie talkie, and everyone looked towards it. It was Will's voice again.
River and the boys exchanged looks, looks mixed with hope and shock. El found Will, and he was surely still alive.
"We're coming, We're coming, okay? We're coming, Honey" Joyce cried, she found herself reaching for El slightly.
And then El had shot up, quickly, throwing her goggles off, startling everyone as she whimpered, backing up towards Joyce who opened her arms to hold her.
"I've got you. It's okay, I've got you, honey." She reassured as River slumped down again, looking down in shock. She didn't know whether to be extremely happy, or scared.
Yet, after everything, they all stood up, and pulled El out of the pool.
Joyce handed her to River, and River placed an arm around her, helping her, as she looked up to the three boys.
"Get her a towel. Something to warm her up, please." She ordered as they nodded, walking off.
River lead the girl to the familiar school bleachers and sat down along with her, allowing her to lean against her as Lucas brought over a towel, handing it to River who threw it over Eleven.
Now all of the four kids sat together, huddled up, and they didn't speak. They just sat there, and comforted Eleven, with the company of each other, the party.
But El still found Will, and Joyce and Hop were off to find him.
River watched as the two adults left the gym, and she glanced back at Mike who sat right by her, with a worried expression across her face.
Mike only sent her a nod in reassurance that every thing would be fine soon, and she sighed before looking away, and leaning onto El just as El leaned onto her.