EPISODE EIGHT
the battle of starcourt.

NOVA WAVED awkwardly at jim hopper who was holding eleven, and an ice pack against her head. he smiled briefly at her, ruffling her hair as joyce side hugged her whilst the bald man in a vest had walked away.

"the mind flayer...it built this monster in hawkins, to stop el, to kill her and pave a way into our world." mike continued to explain to the adults. "and it almost did. that was just one tiny piece of it."

"how big is this thing?" hopper asked as nova went back to sitting next to max and lucas.

"it's big. thirty feet, at least."

"yeah...it sorta destroyed your cabin...sorry." lucas smiled awkwardly as hoppers face dropped and he sighed, not looking impressed.

"okay, so just to be clear. this...big fleshy spider thing that hurt el, it's some kind of gigantic...weapon?" steve asked,

"yes." nancy nodded, sighing. "but instead of, like, screws and metal, it made its weapon...with melted people." he finished as they all nodded. "yes, exactly."

"okay, yeah. just making sure." steve nodded.

"are we sure this thing is still out there? still alive?" joyce spoke up with a frown.

"el beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." max nodded.

"but if we close the gate again—" will began, "we cut the brain off the body." max nodded, seeing what he was saying. "and kill it...theoretically." lucas finished.

"yoo-hoo!" the bald man came running back, papers in his hand as nova let out a yelp, not expecting a sudden loud noise before covering her mouth as lucas laughed at her as she shoved him into the fountain, luckily the water had been drained overnight.

he slammed the papers down, and it was a map. "okay. this is what alexei called 'the hub'." he began, "now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"okay, where's the gate?" hopper asked as the bald man looked at him.

"right here. i don't know the scale on this, but i think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty feet or so."

"more like five hundred." erica spoke up as the man raised his brows at her. "what, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie disneyland or something?"

"i'm sorry, who are you?" the man said as hopper raised his brows at erica.

"erica sinclair, who are you?" she crossed her arms.

"murray...bauman." he said awkwardly.

"listen, mr. bumman. i'm not tryna tell you how to do things, but i've been down in that shit hole for twenty four hours. and with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, and you're all gonna die." she put her hand on her hip.

"i'm sorry, why is this four year old speaking to me?" murray raised his brows.

"uh, i'm ten, you bald bastard!" erica exclaimed as everyone's jaws dropped.

"erica!" lucas stuttered, in shock.

"just the facts!" erica snapped back as nova laughed at the girl, high fiving her behind her back.

"she is right. you're all gonna die. but you don't have to. excuse me, may i?" dustin asked as murray smiled in annoyance. "please."

dustin sat down and took the pen, "okay. see this room here? this is a storage facility. there's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. 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." dustin smiled.

"you can show us the way?" hopper repeated as dustin and erica nodded.

"don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your navigators."

"no." hopper shook his head, smiling. "nope."

EVERYONE DID their own thing as nova fiddled with the small light green piece of string around her wrist. it was tacky and old now, but had a lot of meaning.

she had found it in her room a few days before, and had been shocked that she still had it. billy had the same one as her before, she didn't know if he still had it or not, but there was a high chance he had thrown it away years ago.

billy had made it for them the first time their parents ever fought, a six year old, crying nova came into his room late at night and got into his bed as they tried to block out the sounds of their parents arguing.

he had tried to distract her with many things, colouring, playing games, but the only things that had worked was listening to the radio and when she watched him make the bracelets. he found the two strings from in his room and wrapped it around her wrist, nova doing the same as they promised to never take it off. unfortunately, the two kids had both broke that promise. and now, after so many years, she had found it, and although she knew there would be no point wearing it, it still meant a lot to her.

the sound of hopper chucking a walkie at dustin made her look up, getting up and walking over to them. "you can navigate, just from someplace safe." he told them.

"it's not that simple. the signal won't reach." erica said. "not with this. you need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the russian's 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 preferable already situated at the highest point in hawkins. oh, wait. that's me." dustin smile as hopper stared blankly at him.

"if you want us to navigate, you got us. but we need a head start...and a car."

hopper sighed.

EVERYONE SAID their goodbyes and murray explained to nancy and jonathan about the keys since they were going to murray's place, and nova sat on the floor with max.

"do you think...billy's going to...make it?" max asked suddenly and nova looked at her.

"well, will did. didn't he? so...there's hope." she shrugged.

"and when he gets it out of him, maybe he'll go back to the old billy." nova began, before sighing, realising how stupid she sounded.

"i swear my opinion changes every day. one minute, i believe that billy's still in there, and the next i hate him so much i cant even look at him, and any ounce of hope i had before is gone. i suppose when i say that he's still in there, i do know that deep down, billy is gone, and, i guess i'm starting to accept it...but, it's hard. that day at the sauna, i told him i'd never give up. and i almost have. it's stupid." she shook her head. "i guess, even after everything he's done, i really don't want him to die." she blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek.

max wrapped an arm around her. "hey, neither do i. but...i just..." max sighed, what she wanted to say, wouldn't help either of their feelings. so instead, she rested her head against her sisters shoulder and they both sat there for a few moments until they were called by the group.

lucas smiled at her as she returned it and they helped eleven up, "bye, mr. hop. stay safe." nova saluted to the chief who smiled at her, returning the salute. she smiled at joyce who smiled back and will came over to them.

hopper called mike back as max, lucas and nova continued to help her walk as the others joined them and they made their way outside.

they got to the car, mike and eleven in the boot so she had more room for her leg as nancy attempted to start it up, but it wouldn't go. "what's wrong?" jonathan asked.

"i...i don't know." nancy mumbled.

"didn't your mom just buy this car?" lucas raised a brow.

"yes. i'm sure it's fine."

"did you leave the lights on?" will asked, "no." nancy snapped, getting irritated.

"do we have gas?" lucas asked, "yes!" nancy exclaimed as nova chuckled quietly.

"come on!" nancy exclaimed as jonathan gasped, "woah! woah! stop!" he shouted, sighing. "pop the hood." he got out the car and nancy followed as they looked to see what the problem was.

a loud car engine roared from at the end of the parking lot, and nova didn't need to look to see who it was. she sighed, closing her eyes as the group looked over to see billy, tearful eyes and revving the engine.

nancy jumped out at them and opened the doors as they all ran inside, mike helping eleven in as they did what nancy said.

i ❤️ putting my ocs in pain