the gate

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"Eleven."

"Mike."

The two young lovers collapsed in eachothers arms, gasps of relief escaping their lips and tears falling down their cheeks.

"Is that.." Max stood between Lucas and Dustin, wondering if this was the famous El these boys had spoken of. Nodding from each of them was her confirmation.

Mike was the first to pull away from the embrace, holding her within arms length. "I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-"

"353 days. I heard." Eleven finished for him, noticing his smile fade as confusion grew.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike sniffed, staring at the girl with furrowed brows.

"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper spoke up, shocking the latter. "The hell is this? Where you been?" He asked the girl, approaching her.

"Where have you been?" She fired back, but he pulled her into a tight hug to which she returned, wrapping her arms around him.

"You've been hiding her." Mike turned to him. Everyone stared at the scene that was just about ready to unfold, not quite knowing what to say. But Scarlett knew one thing for sure, Hopper was hiding the girl. But it had to be for a good reason, or else he would've let them know. She was in danger with the government, and they only way to evade them was for someone to take her in and hide her from the world. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike said angrily, lunging at Hopper's arm.

"Hey!" The Chief grabbed ahold of Mike's shoulder. "Let's talk. Alone." And with that, they were gone.

Immediately after they left, El and Scarlett's eyes met, and they launched into each others arms. "I missed you like crazy." Scarlett grinned, giving her a squeeze.

"I missed you too. Like crazy." Eleven repeated, seemingly learning a new phrase within the sentence and reciprocating the squeeze.

She pulled away from the hug, holding her in arms length just as Mike had a few minutes ago. She took in Eleven's makeup and hair. "I love the new look. It suits you. You look super cool." Scarlett complimented, patting her cheek. "We'll catch up later, and trust me, we have a lot to catch up on!"

She waved and pulled away, moving to the side just as Lucas and Dustin lunged towards her, wrapping their arms around her. "We missed you." Lucas said, although they had a rocky start, he was truly glad she was back.

"I missed you, too." Eleven responded calmly, a smile on her face.

"We talked about you pretty every day." Dustin chuckled. The three pulled apart and Eleven took in Dustin's features for a moment after noticing something was off. She poked at his mouth, "Teeth."

"What?"

"You have teeth." Eleven stated.

"Oh." Dustin laughed, looking at Lucas then back at El. "You like these pearls?" He purred, shocking El. Scarlett and Ben grimaced, glancing at each other as they tried to hold back their laughter.

"Eleven?" Max approached Eleven with a smile. "Hey. Um, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you." Max offered out her hand for a shake, but El just glared at her and pushed by, running into Joyce's arms.

As Scarlett the two leave, Max stood with her head hung, wondering what she did to El. Scar turned towards Max, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Hey. Don't worry about it. I'm sure she means nothing by it, she's got other things on her mind. A mission."

"But she said hi to you." Max replied solemnly, her eyes only flickering to Scarlett's.

"Well, she knows me. She doesn't know you yet, but she will. And she's gonna love you." Scarlett smiled as she watched Max's face light up.

Soon, they were all gathered around the table, Joyce arguing with Hopper over Eleven's choice. "It's not like it was before. It's grown, a lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs." Dustin corrected with pride.

Hopper sighed, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, uh, Demo-dogs." Dustin shifted around. "Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-"

"How is this important right now?" Hopper interrupted in a stern tone.

"It's not. I'm sorry." Dustin shriveled back, sitting down.

"I can do it." El said.

"You're not hearing me-"

"I'm hearing you. I can do it." Eleven cut off the Chief, speaking assertively.

"Even if El can, there's still another problem." Mike stated from beside Hopper. Scarlett looked over at them, glad to see they sorted out their differences. But as soon as Mike locked eyes with Scarlett, she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Kill the brain, kill the body." She exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"I thought that was the whole point." Max shook her head, confused.

"It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army.." Mike answers.

"Will's apart of that army." Lucas said, finally putting two and two together even after Scarlett had explained it a few hours ago. She mentally face palmed.

"Closing the gate will kill him." Scarlett finished with seriousness in her tone. Everyone's eyes fell on Joyce, who understandably looked panicked as she got up and walked to the room Will laid in. "He likes it cold." The older woman said, looking at the open window.

"What?" Hopper questioned from behind Joyce. Everyone in the house now surrounded the bed, waiting for whatever Joyce said next.

"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold." Joyce rushed to the window, shutting it. "We keep giving it what it wants."

"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." Nancy began.

"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan finished her sentence.

"So if he likes it cold.."

"We need to burn it out of him." Joyce stated fiercely, simply just wanting her son to be out of harms way for once.

"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike noted. It was a valid point.

"Yeah, somewhere far away."

﹌﹌﹌

Hopper and Jonathan had run to the cars, placing Will inside and preparing to take him to Hoppers hidden cabin in the woods. The plan was to burn the thing out of Will, then proceed with closing the gate. Everyone who wasn't Will's family or Hopper and El was to stay at the house, out of harms way.

While Nancy and Steve were gathering any objects that provided any sort of heat, and having a talk, everyone else was with Mike, who was with Eleven, saying their goodbyes. As the two cars drove away, the real gut wrenching panic set in, and a moment later they filed inside. Dustin curiously wandered over to the Demodog, nudging it with his foot, "Steve."

Steve walked over, standing beside Dustin. "Yeah?" His face contorted as he observed the Demodog.

"Pick it up." Dustin said bluntly, motioning to the creature.

"What?"

"You heard me, pick it up."

"I'm not picking it up, you pick it up." Steve argued, crossing his arms.

"Fine. Ben!" Dustin called, and soon Ben came to they boys side. "Steve's being a little bitch, can you pick it up?"

"Pick it up?" Ben laughed as if it were the most ridiculous thing Dustin had every said.

"Yes." Dustin's tone was serious, and the smile that was on Benjamin's face had disappeared even quicker than it appeared.

"You're funny if you think i'm putting my head anywhere near that thing." Ben scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest just as Steve did. "Why can't you pick it up?"

"Um," He scoffed, twisting his arm. "Newsflash, no bones. You need bones to pick things up."

"Um, newsflash. You have bones, or you wouldn't be functioning right now. You have no collarbones." Ben corrected.

"They're fragile! I have fragile bones!" Dustin said, offended. "One of you just pick the damn thing up!"

"I'm not touching it with my bare hands! I could contract like.. a disease, or something." Steve complained, holding his hands up in surrender.

Scarlett had thought the conversation had gone on for long enough. Standing up, she marched over to the boys with a quilt in her hands. "First of all Steve, you're not touching it with your bare hands. And second, that was the most stupid and useless argument of the year." She shook her head, squatting down to the Demodogs level and wrapping it successfully, careful not to touch it. "It was funny though."

Dustin grinned triumphantly as Steve picked up the creature, and he made his way over to refrigerator. Dustin began tearing everything out of the refrigerator as the three teens watched him in disappointment. "Alright. It should fit now." Dustin announced, turning to Steve.

"Is this really necessary?" Steve glanced down at the face of the Demodog with a look of disgust.

"Yes, it is, okay? This is a groundbreaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal. It's not a dog!" Dustin explained sternly, fed up with Steve's questions.

"Um, It kind of is a dog. I mean, you said it yourself.." Scarlett trailed off.

"Shut up!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Don't tell me to shut up." Scarlett's eyes narrowed as she jabbed a finger at Dustin.

"Sorry.. sorry.." Dustin said quietly.

"You're explaining this to Mrs. Byers, alright?" Steve announced to Dustin before trying to shove the creature into the fridge. The head wouldn't fit into the fridge without the door opening a bit. "Christ. Help me out." Steve managed to say between struggles.

"What am I supposed to do?" Dustin shrugged, watching the boy struggle.

"Get the door, man. The door."

"Alright, I got the door." Dustin approached, pulling the door back a little. Steve was able to fit the creature in the fridge, but not without getting a little bit of Demodog slime on his sleeves. Slamming the fridge door shut, they had to catch their breath for a moment. 

The four tore their eyes off the fridge and walked towards the living room. "You weren't in there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs."

"Demo-dogs!" Dustin yelled as he entered, sick of having to correct them every single time.

"The chief will take care of her." Lucas affirmed, nodding his head.

"Like she needs protection." Max mumbled, a sigh escaping her lips.

"Listen dude, if a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. Alright?" Steve explained, wiping his hands with a towel.

"Is he using basketball analogy?" Scarlett whispered to Ben, his nod causing her to have to stifle her laughter.

"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." Mike made his statements clear, even leaving Steve speechless.

"Right. So my point is.." He stammered, looking around at everyone who was staring at him, waiting for him to speak. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so uh, there's nothing we can do."

"That's not entirely true," Dustin spoke up, causing everyone to turn to him. "I mean, these Demodogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

"So if we get their attention.."

"Maybe we can draw them away from the lab." Max finished Lucas' sentence, looking up at him as she did so.

"Clear a path to the gate." Mike realized.

"Yeah," Steve began. "And then we all die!" His voice grew to a yell as he threw his hands in the air.

"Well, that's one point of view."

"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact." Steve shot back at Dustin, shaking his head.

"Steve's right. We can't just throw ourselves into this without a solid, well thought out plan. I mean, there's like twenty of them and seven of us. And guns don't kill them." Scarlett explained, tapping her gun against the floor.

Mike gasped, rushing over to the fridge. "I got it!" Everyone gathered around him, their eyes locking onto where his finger had jabbed. The boy pointed at a piece of paper Will had drawn on, "This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel, so.." Mike got up, making his way back into the living room, "Here, right here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire.."

Steve was quick to shut Mike and his idea down, "Oh, yeah? That's a no."

"The mind flayer would call away his army." Dustin noted, ignoring Steve.

"They'd all come to stop us." Lucas exclaimed.

"Then we circle back to the exit, and by the time they realize we're gone-" Mike continued, ignoring Steve trying to gain their attention.

"El would be at the gate." Max put two and two together, a grin forming on her face.

"Hey. Hey! Hey!" Steve clapped in front of their faces. "This is not happening."

"But-"

"No, no, no, no, no. No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. And now with Scarlett and Ben here, we're enforcing safety for all of us. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the staring team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?" Steve spilled on, looking between the four middle schoolers for an answer.

"This isn't a stupid sports game." Mike exclaimed, anger bubbling in his chest.

"I said does everybody understand that?" Steve shook the towel at them. "I need a yes."

Before they could give their answer, a cars engine revving was heard outside. Max was the first to react, launching towards the window and peering out it, Lucas close by her side. "It's my brother." She panicked. "He can't know I'm here, he'll kill me. He'll kill us."

The tires screeched to a stop. "Stay here." Steve said, holding his arm out to stop both Scarlett and Ben from going any further. "We don't want to kill him, I'll be quick."

As he left the house, the teens crossed their arms over their chests. "We wouldn't kill him." Ben scowled.

"Uh, yes we would." Scarlett corrected him, putting a finger to his lips to shush him. "Guys, get away from the window."

"He makes one wrong move, and I'm out there. Guns a blazing." Ben whispered, quickly flexing his arm and pointing to his bicep.

"Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?" Billy grinned as he stepped out of his car, amused at the sight.

"Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants." Steve replied in a bored tone, his hands on his hips.

"What're you doing here, amigo?" Billy asked, tearing off his jacket before approached Steve.

"I could ask you the same... amigo." Steve walked up to Billy as well, already pissed off.

"Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here." Billy said with a cigarette in between his lips.

"Huh, that's weird. I don't know her." Steve played dumb, acting as if Max wasn't sitting right in the house behind him.

"Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch." The mullet boy described his stepsister, awaiting Steve's response.

"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, buddy."

Billy nodded curtly, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and sighing, "You know, I don't know, this.. This whole situation, Harrington. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" Steve asked, masking his panic as well as he could.

"My thirteen year old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you in a stranger's house. And you lie to me about it." Billy said with fake sadness.

"Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what?" Steve shook his head. "I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here."

"Then who is that." Billy pointed to the window where four heads peered over the couch, visible to Billy and Steve.

They jumped down as quickly as they could, "Shit! Did he see us?" Dustin asked, though the answer was obvious.

"Are you kidding me? I told you to get away from the windows!" Scarlett groaned, shooing the kids off the couch.

"Oh, shit.. Listen-" Just as Steve had turned around, he ended up on the ground.

"I told you to plant your feet." Billy spat before stomping on his chest.

"Shit. That's it." Scarlett shot up from her seat on the floors and stepped out the front door, leaning against the pillar that held up the porch. "Funny seeing you around here Billy, thought you would be with someone's mother right now, but I guess it's just one surprise after another. I really am getting real sick of you."

"Ohh, so that's who you were doing here, huh Harrington?" Billy sneered, amused. "The Sinclair Slut."

"What'd you just call me?" Scarlett laughed, tilting her head.

"A slut." Billy repeated with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"That's bold. Especially since you're the one talking." Scarlett stated confidently. And next thing Billy knew, Scarlett's foot had kicked his chest, sending him back into the dirt from his spot on the porch. "Why the sudden switch up?" She shrugged before turning around, but his next choice of words stopped her from entering the house.

"It's people like you Sinclair's that make Hawkins the way it is." Billy bellowed, grimacing as he stood up and approached her.

"It's people like us, huh?" Scarlett laughed, turning around. She hadn't expected him to be standing there though, or expected him to swing his fist at the center of her face. She stumbled back, holding her nose as she reached for the bench for support. "Fuck you, Billy." She hissed.

He laughed and reached for the doorknob. As he did, the door swung open and hit him in the face, causing him to lurch to the side. "Hi, Billy." Ben stood in the doorway with a grin on his face.

Billy recovered much quicker than Ben thought, and unbeknownst to Ben, he grabbed a pole that leaned against the hidden side of the door and stood up, swinging it at Ben's side, knocking his head against the wall. "Where do you guys keep coming from?" Billy said to a groaning Ben, he finished him off with a kick and punch to his face, knocking him out. He turned his attention to the boy straight ahead of him, "The other one. Lucas Sinclair. What a surprise. I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max."

"Billy, go away." Max said timidly, trying to stand her ground the best she could.

"You disobeyed me. And you know what happens when you disobey me. I break things." Billy grabbed the collar of Lucas' jacket, pushing him towards a wall where he pinned him, ignoring all of the kids cries for him to stop. "Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will. You stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?" Billy slammed his back into the wall.

"I said get off of me!" Lucas yelled, slamming his knee between Billy's legs, causing him to release the young boy from his grip.

"You are so dead, Sinclair! You're dead." Billy belted, beginning to stand up straight again.

A tap to the shoulder caused Billy to turn around, his face meeting Steve's. "No. You are." Steve used all his force to swing at the boy, knocking him to the ground.

Billy got up, cackling like a maniac. "Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh? I've been waiting to meet this 'King Steve' everybody's been telling me so much about."

"Get out." Steve simply replied, gently pushing Billy back. Billy attempted to swing at Steve again, but he ducked just in time, sending three punches back himself. Billy hit the sink, laughing as he grabbed a plate and smashed it over Steve's head.

Maybe it was the blood pouring from Scarlett's nose that made her dizzy, or maybe it was just the sheer force of the punch. Wiping her nose the best she could, she tried to regain her composure and walked into the house, grabbing her gun from beside the door and swinging the butt end at Billy head, who was mercilessly beating Steve to a pulp. As he stood up and tried to swing at her, she dodged it and kicked him swiftly between the legs, then hitting him with the gun again and sending him to the floor. Standing between his legs, she pulled the forestock, placing her finger on the trigger and aiming it at his head as a threat. "Fuck with me, or anyone here again and I will end you, and next time your future bloodline. Don't underestimate me." She motioned down to where her foot had landed earlier, then turned to Max, who stood with a needle in her hand.

Nodding, Scarlett backed away and let Max lunge at Billy, jabbing the needle into his neck just as he began to get up. Billy's vision began blurring, and pulling the needle out of his neck he discovered why. "The hell is this? You little shit, what did you do?" He took a step towards the two girls and fell, laughing maniacally.

Max looked around for something threatening, and settled on Steve's bat. She held it above him, ready to swing. "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"

"Screw you." Billy managed to spit out.

Max swung the bat between his legs, causing him to look in case it was no longer there and he couldn't feel it. "Say you understand! Say it! Say it!" Max demanded furiously.

"I understand." Billy mumbled.

"What?"

"I understand." Billy slipped away, falling into a slumber.

The three boys stared at them in shock, even more intimidated than they were before. Max pulled the car keys from her step-brothers pocket, swinging them in her hand. "Let's get out of here."

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