─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
july 4th
hopper&el's cabin - russian underground base
early the next day, the group was back in hopper's cabin. el was sat in her room, searching for the source via, the holloway's, mrs driscoll, bruce lowe and billy.
the rest were in the main room. will had been eating a snack with tilly, both sat on the kitchen island. mike was pacing back and forth around the room, while max argued with him. lucas was resting, watching the two quarrel as if it was entertainment. nancy was on the phone and jonathan scanned through the phone book.
"it can't be good for her to be in there for this long." mike walked.
"mike, you need to relax." max reassured him him.
"what if she gets brain damage or something?" mike suggested.
"oh, shit." lucas looked up in shock, "is that, like, a real thing?"
"no, it's not." max rolled her eyes, "he made it up. right, tilly?"
"i wouldn't know." tilly shrugged before stuffing her mouth with dry cornflakes, "you'll have to ask el."
"see, mike doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."
"oh, and you do?" mike sassed.
"no, i...."
"yes, from the hawkins post. i-i called a couple days ago about the..." nancy spoke on the phone, "um i was just... following up to see if anything else had gone missing, or if... okay. um, sorry to bother..."
nancy put the phone down with a sigh, "who's next?"
jonathan began crossing out a picture on the phone book, "there is no next. unless you want to start calling random people's homes."
"it doesn't make sense." nancy sighed.
"what part of any of this makes sense?" jonathan challenged.
will and tilly shared a glimpse before proceeding to listen to them squabble.
"there's a pattern, okay?" nancy explained, "a consistency to their behaviour. they've been feeding on these chemicals since this started, and-and, what, they just stop, out of the blue?"
"maybe they have all the chemicals they need." will suggested, "maybe they've all turned into those... things."
"that's the most logical explanation." tilly explained as food particles escaped her mouth.
"mattie... gross." will grimaced as he wiped the crumbs off his shorts, "you've been hanging out with mike too much," he muttered.
"have not." tilly beamed at her boyfriend, she knew how easily he got disgusted.
"you have, you're both so messy." he clarified as he dusted her short shorts.
"but what about the source? i mean, did the mind flayer just suddenly stop infecting people?" nancy questioned, "and even if the flayed are monsters now, why can't el find them?"
"okay, can you guys settle an argument for us?" max queried as she and the two boys hurried towards nancy, will, jonathan and tilly.
"sure."
"who do you think should decide el's limits?" max quizzed, "mike or eleven?"
"the way that you frame that is such bullshit." mike snapped at her.
"it's not bullshit, mike." max fired back, "this is your whole problem. and it's also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass."
"el dumped you?" nancy inquired in shock, she had certainly missed a lot.
"yeah, because she is conspiring against me." mike accused, "she's corrupting her."
"no, enlightening her." max corrected him.
lucas and will glanced at each other before redirecting to tilly in sync, expecting her to do something about the arguing. matilda stuck her tongue out at them before turning to max, clearly enjoying the debate.
"the fact is, she's not yours. she's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions."
"she's risking her life for no reason." mike stated.
"for no reason?" tilly chimed in confusion at his words.
"mike, the flayed are out there doing God knows what." nancy continued.
"killing, flaying..." will told him.
"transforming into monsters," lucas added.
"and el's not stupid." nancy informed him, "she knows her abilities better than any of us."
"excluding tilly."
"exactly, thank you." max nodded.
"and she is her own person." nancy continued.
"exactly."
"with her own free will."
"exactly."
"equal rights." tilly nodded with a grin.
"exactly, el has saved the world twice, but mike still doesn't trust her." max said.
"you wanna talk about trust, really?" mike raised his eyebrow, "after you made eleven spy on us?"
"excuse me?" tilly nearly dropped her box of cereal in astonishment at the latest news.
"careful." will stretched over and caught it from her hands.
"wait, what?" lucas demanded.
"oh, she didn't tell you guys this?" mike sneered.
"no."
"tell us what?" tilly gazed up at them.
"your girlfriend." he faced lucas before turning to tilly, "and your best friend used el's powers to spy on us."
"no, no, no, i did not make her." max defended herself, "it was her idea. and why are we even talking about this, seriously?"
"yeah, who cares?" will shrugged.
"i care." lucas spoke up.
"so do i!" tilly added, "i like my privacy." she crossed her arms.
"liar." will muttered.
"shush."
"yeah, i guess girlfriends don't lie, they spy." mike rolled his eyes.
"mattie doesn't spy." will defended her, "right?"
"no." tilly confessed, "i've only been in that void thingy once - when i was floating in the middle pool on ice water with-."
"we get it."
"okay, but were just joking around." max explained.
"wouldn't have been so funny if i was taking a massive shit or something?" mike gave an example.
"ew." tilly glared at him.
"you weren't."
"but what if i was?"
"then... gross!"
"seriously, mike?" nancy grimaced at her younger brother's words.
"i'm just trying to demonstrate how careless max is with eleven's powers." mike ranted, "in fact, how careless all of you are. you're treating her like some kind of machine when she's not a machine, and i don't want her to die looking for the flayed when they've obviously vanished off the face of the earth. so can we please just come up with a new plan because i love her and i can't lose her again!"
lucas softly laughed, tilly smirked and turned to will, who had wide eyes and the rest looked at him in surprise.
el opened the door, coincidently at the right time, "what's going on?"
"nothing. nothing." mike denied.
"just a family discussion." lucas grinned.
"oh." el shrugged it off, "i found him."
"found who?" nancy asked.
"maybe... i don't know. the person we've been looking for this whole time. tilly shrugged at her silly question.
"thank you, joane." nancy nodded.
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dustin pushed up the vent opening, making a way for them to climb out. he pulled himself out and scanned the room, slater and erica popping up moments after. the room was filled with containers that held multiple cylinders with the toxic green liquid.
"jackpot." dustin grinned.
"gringo." slater smirked.
dustin looked around and spotted a red, two-seater transport vehicle just outside the room, "oh-ho-ho!" he ran over to it, the two following.
"do you even know how to drive?" erica asked him.
"how hard can it be?" dustin shrugged, "max did it."
"the same max who practised in an empty parking lot?" slater questioned as he leaned on the vehicle, "keyword: practised."
"yeah, yeah." dustin rolled his eyes and entered it, peering about as if there would be a key present, "awh, come on."
"you seriously thought they'd just leave keys in there?" erica shook her head.
"from what we've seen, i think it's safe to say those russian's are very smart." slater sighed.
"there's gotta be a spare." dustin spoke.
erica sighed and began searching around, finding a large metal cage, "hey, guys?"
"yeah?"
"what's up?"
"how big did you say that demogorgon was?"
"big. nine feet or so." dustin guessed, "why?"
her interest in the cage was thwarted by something far more interesting so, she walked off. slater spotted a metal lockbox and tapped it to gain his friend's attention.
"ooo." dustin walked over to unscrew the box. once it was open, the vehicle's keys were in front of their eyes.
"not as smart as i thought." slater hummed.
"we found em." dustin called out, "erica?"
a loud zapping noise startled the boys and erica was stood behind them with an electrified stun cane.
"erica?!"
"what the hell is that?!"
"a deadly weapon." erica stated in a 'duh' tone, "could be useful."
she zapped it again, making them step back in sync.
"for what?" dustin queried.
"obviously defence." slater explained.
erica nodded, "what do you think? taking down commies, saving your friends."
"have you got another?" slater asked, the fear in his eyes replaced wit excitement.
"no..." erica shook her head, "but, i found this." she threw a metal crowbar at him.
he caught it, "thanks."
"thought you were more realistic than that, nerds. we don't even know where they are, and even if we did, there are a million guards up there with weapons way deadlier than that." dustin reasoned, "the best thing we can do for them is to get out of here and find help."
"hold on. two seats, three of us." slater pointed out.
"enjoy sitting in the back, stapler." erica grinned as she hopped into the passenger's seat.
slater groaned as he crawled into the back, "you know it's slater."
"weird name either way."
"easy with that." dustin pushed the weapon out his face, "our chance of surviving, and theirs, rises substantially. just trust me on this. please?"
"okay, okay."
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
they watched el as she gasped and panted in the void, after a while, she took the blindfold off.
"what's he doing now?" max asked her.
el turned around and explained how he was doing nothing, then she got up and went to the kitchen, claiming she was thirsty.
"and that's not normal, right?" nancy questioned.
"billy staying in his room on the fourth of july?" max repeated what el said, "no, that's not normal."
"he wants us to find him." will told them.
"yeah, that's what i'm afraid of." nancy spoke up, "if we go to billy, then the rest of the flayed know where we are."
"it's a trap, i agree." mike nodded, "we'll be ambushed."
"we won't be surprised." lucas added, "we'll know that they're coming, and we will kick their flayed butts."
"you mean tilly and el will kick their butts." max corrected him.
"you mean el will kick their butts and i'll try to keep up with her." tilly interrupted.
"it's too risky." mike sighed.
"yeah, and unnecessary." nancy agreed, "killing the flayed won't stop the mind flayer. we have to find out where it's spreading from. we have to find the source."
"billy knows it." tilly announced, "he's obviously been to the source."
"yeah, but..."
"it's a trap." tilly remembered, "i know."
"we can't go to billy, but i think there's another way." el walked in, "a way for me to see where he's been."
"the way you're talking about is the most dangerous." tilly told her.
"you can help me." el turned the tv static on and sat down in front of it.
"after two years, i still don't know how." tilly muttered as will sat next to her.
"i'll support you."
"el, i know you think you have to do this, but you don't." mike crouched down next to her, "it's just, you've only done this before once. and your mom, she loved you, and wanted you to know what happened. and billy's mind is-is sick, diseased. the mind flayer is in him."
"he can't hurt me or matilda joane." el reassured him, "not in there."
"we don't know that." mike frowned.
"mike." el looked at him and took his hand, "i need you to trust me."
"yeah." mike nodded, "just... be careful."
el tied the blindfold and they all observed as she searched for billy in her own mind. but after a while of waiting, she began stirring and looking uncomfortable.
"something's wrong." mike panicked.
"wait!" tilly stopped him before he could do anything, "just wait."
"el, are you okay?" mike asked her, "are you okay?"
she sighed, "i'm okay."
"what's going on?"
"i'm... on a beach." el told them.
"okay, i may be dense, but the last i checked," lucas explained, "there weren't any beaches in hawkins."
"what else do you see?" max quizzed.
"a woman." el stated, "she's... pretty. i-i think she's looking at me. there's... a boy. it's billy."
"it's california." max commented, "it's a memory."
"i think i see it." el informed them, "the source."
they waited a long period of time for eleven to speak up again and tell them what she discovered.
"i think i found it." she panted, "the source."
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
i'm obsessed with tilly and will & slater, erica and dustin, if you cant tell