╭ ╮
━━━━  " 📂 "

𝙋 𝘼 𝙍 𝘼 𝘿 𝙄 𝙎 𝙀

╰ ╯

MAXINE MAYFIELD WAS A RELENTLESS PERSON, it seemed, and Sadie spent around fifteen minutes as they walked away from the junkyard enduring rounds of questions on all sorts of matters, ranging from her theories to Steve to events that took place on the night of Halloween which just coincidentally happened to involve Steve. She was a tricky one and had always worn a smile on her to the very end, which was prompted by Steve getting fed up with whatever conversation was taking place that really didn't involved him, Lucas and Dustin and shouting forward for Sadie to wait up to take over the attention of the Harrington.

They had switched it seemed, in order to return to their original dynamic as they found themselves on the abandoned train tracks once again and a decision made by Sadie to follow that instead of getting lost amongst the  copious amount of trees and woodland surrounding them. There was already a big enough problem on their hands without the addition of losing someone like Max or Lucas in the woods - or even Steve should they be so unlucky.

"I just think that maybe Max saw it too." Dustin's voice, loud with argument, broke through the quiet her and Steve had been walking in, mostly keeping their attention of listening to the night in case of trouble. Which was a little more hard when the group of three behind them didn't seem to hold the same need. "Well, did you?"

"I don't know."

"You're positive that was Dart?" That was Lucas now, voice overriding Max's as they managed to catch up with Sadie and Steve, who stared between them, confused.

"Yes."  Dustin replied, frustrated. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt. It was exactly the same."

"But he was tiny two days ago." Max continued her confusion and Steve and Sadie shared a look; it seemed that their quiet wasn't destined to remain.

"Well, he's molted three times already." Dustin shrugged as if this was nothing as if the sound of a creature such as Dart was shedding its skin that much in such a short time was normal. It wasn't. Not for something like Dart. Not at all.

"Malted?" Steve repeated.

"Molted." Dustin corrected. "Shed his skin to make room for growth - like hornworms."

"Yeah, but that's a type of insect, which means it's kinda typical. A Demogorgon shares similarities to amphibians but is much larger, predatory and dangerous like a mammal, which makes it so odd." Sadie hummed her input.

"So when's he gonna molt again?" Max asked after a small bout of consideration; she did find Sadie far more interesting than she let on and could now join Dustin and Lucas in taking most of what she said as gospel; it was clear she knew what she was saying.

"It's gotta be soon," Dustin answered. "When he does, he'll be fully grown - or close to it.... and so will his friends. So we have that to look forward to."

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cat." Steve scoffed, words not reflective of what that truly meant, because that was far more terrifying than a comment on a cat."

"Wait." Lucas came to a stop, bringing Dustin to a stop and staring at him. "A cat?" The younger Henderson stumbled back, caught. "Dart ate a cat?"

"No, what? No." Dustin shook his head rapidly and Sadie let out a sigh, pinching her eyebrows together.

"What are you talking about?" Steve came to a stop and as did the rest of the group, watching the pair. "He ate Mews."

"Mews?" Max repeated. "Who's Mews?"

"I mentioned her earlier. Mews is... was our cat."

"Sadie!" Dustin hissed.

"I knew it - you kept him!" Lucas erupted, pushing his shoulder.

"No!" The Henderson insisted. "No. No. No, I... No, I...." Dustin stammered out. Sadie could literally count the seconds until he cracked and just as she reached one; "He missed me. He wanted to come home!"

"Bullshit!"

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?"

"Oh, so now you admit it?"

"Guys - who cares?" Max shook her head, far more sensible than them in this case. "We have to go."

"I care!" Lucas insisted. "You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"

"So did you!"

"What?" Lucas blinked.

"You told a stranger the truth!" Dustin's words were emphasised by a flash of his torch into Max's face, the poor girl blinded temporarily.

"A stranger?" She scoffed, clearly upset.

"You wanted to tell her, too!" Lucas insisted.

"But I didn't, Lucas, okay?" Dustin said, but Sadie didn't quite hear what insult or argument it was followed with.

There was a screeching somewhere in the distance and she turned away, flashlight raised as she climbed over the metallic edge of the train tracks and stepped forward towards the break in the forest. She wasn't the only one, though. Besides her, a twig snapped beneath Steve's foot as their eyes narrowed over the sight before them.

"Hey, guys?" Steve spoke first. "Guys!" He added in a shout when there wasn't a cease in conversation. Finally, they shut up and Sadie turned towards them, about to explain what they had heard when the monsters did it for them; a screech rang out yet again.

It was completely chilling, the echoed sound causing a barrage of goosebumps to run up and down their arms and none of them - except Max, apparently - darted forward to try and locate anything to help them find the creatures that had retreated so far from the junkyard.

" No, no, no." Max shouted. "Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?" She yelled. "Hello? Hello?" But finally, their lack of response propelled her forward as well.

Their view was bathed in cool moonlight as they came to a stop at the edge of the woods, peering down over the valley in front of them. Another sound, and then another, the same chittering edge to it as before. There was absolutely no sight of anything living in front of them, just masses and masses of trees, thick with the darkness of the night.

"I don't see him," Dustin stated.

"Nobody sees anything, dumbass," Sadie muttered, suddenly much less serious as Dustin elbowed her.

Lucas raised his binoculars and peered out of them. "It's the lab. Sadie was right - they were going to the lab. It appeared that the darkness had distorted Sadie's perception of direction and they had gone a little too far down the tracks and Lucas held out the binoculars to her. She peered through them, landing on the building in the distance. The lights were flickering haphazardly and random

"What did I tell you." Sadie sounded supercilious for only a moment before turning to them. "Something is happening at the lab... something big is happening at the lab. We have to go - now."

And that seemed to spark their movement forward, a sense of urgency to their movements now as they descended rapidly down into the valley and towards the lab.

✧

At some point, they hit the land which belonged to Hawkins Laboratory, marked off by tall metal fencing that they had no option other than to follow around. Sadie was leading the way, as usual, her compass having been used to find the entrance of the lab - she seemed to know some odd fact about it facing north which probably didn't have anything to do with it but happened to add up.

Steve, also as usual, found himself walking alongside her, their eyes remaining on the building that emerged from the sparse wildlife within the confines of the government building. It made him feel somewhat a little calmer because he wholeheartedly believed that she knew exactly what she was talking about - and she most likely did whether he believed it or not.

He still didn't know what to do, but there was a thud in his stomach every time she met his eyes with an anticipatory smile, or every time she said something remotely intelligent, or when he made that sarcastic comment to Dustin. Everything seemed to point to him having deeper feelings than he initially expected, and whether Sadie knew that or not, Steve was beginning to understand that in its completion. Not that he could act on it, certainly not with Dustin glaring at him every time that he glanced back and the younger boy deemed he was standing a little too close to him.

Sadie was confused too, but completely about something else and her gaze landed on the slowly approaching entrance to the building, which couldn't exactly be seen under the shadow of the concrete room stretched above it and remained on it, following it as they walked. The lights continued to flash far too eerily for her liking and she shivered. "What are we going to do when we get there?" She asked, turning towards him. "I mean, we can't take the kids in, they'll have to stay out, meaning someone will have to watch them..."

"I'll go in." Steve didn't hesitate to thrust himself into danger in the place of everyone else - it seemed to have become his thing now, without any question to what it was or what needed doing."

Sadie frowned. "No - you can't. You shouldn't. I'll go." She swallowed, not ready to give up a chance to enter the lab despite it clearly being in a state of trouble. Sadie had waited to do just that, and now she had the option to she wasn't just going to give it up. "You watch Dustin and Max and Lucas and I'll go in."

A flare of panic returned to Steve's mind, swirling around his stomach sickeningly. "No you can't go - what, since when was that an option?" He frowned, shaking his head rapidly. "I'll go in. I have the bat." There was a grim look on Sadie's face and he backtracked. "Not that I don't think you could go in or anything I just... I don't want you to, and with the bat and everything-"

"I've played softball before, I know how to use a bat." Sadie swallowed, her voice hard with want and concoction. "You saw me use the bat. And softball's the only sport I actually managed to do something in. And swimming. I'm a great swimmer."

"Remind me to take you to Lover's Lake in the summer, " Steve commented, distracted and not entirely sure what he was saying. Although, the heart-shaped lake was an incredibly pretty scene when the weather got warmer. "I just... you can't go in - I can't let you get hurt."

Sadie's rather forceful tone took a backseat, a gentle smile breaking through as she looked up at him. "Why should I let you get hurt?"

"I - I don't know." Laughter etched into their words despite the seriousness. It was stupid really; they were fighting wholeheartedly over who would go into the dangerous death lab.

"Well, there you go." Sadie smiled, although it faded. "In all seriousness, I can't let you go in because it would be selfish. It's a lab, they'll be using stuff I know - like BASIC to control the main system and I always have stuff with me to get me in and out of situations."

"What the hell is BASIC - never mind, I have a bat. Sadie - you can't go. I can't... I don't..."

"Steve, it's okay."

They were nearing the entrance now; the hill was beginning to decline and through the thinning trees a small structure was visible, clearly a security booth to guard the gates. But yet, their argument didn't wane and instead continued thoroughly.

"No, it's not." Steve gulped back a pack of nerves, unable to believe what his brain was churning out what he was to say next. And it was even more strange - he didn't get  like this around girls, but here he was in front of intelligent, pretty Sadie Henderson, ready to announce it all. "It's not okay, because this is a shit time to tell you and all but I've been thinking a lot and I realised that I must have kissed you for something and it's like I have a clear mind now because I like you, like quite a bit and... and-"

"Hold on."

Steve's heart plummeted, already accepting that he had been turned down. "What? You can pretend I didn't say anything I just thought you maybe liked me too and-"

"It's not that." Sadie waved him away, only half aware of what he had said in the first place, too distracted by everything else to focus on him entirely. "Although you might want to keep your voice down... and it's a bad time. And I think there are people over there."

"What?"

"There's a car - look." Sadie spun the plastic of her flashlight over her fingers and shone it out of the trees. "Car. Over there. People too - hey, assholes, get behind us."

"We're already behind you, genius," Dustin muttered, but saw the look on his sister's face and didn't exactly hesitate to continue forward, beckoning Lucas and Max to follow him.

The beam of headlights was visible through the trees, a car parked in front of the booth in which Sadie had been guiding them towards. Caution rose and nerves wracked through their bodies, but they didn't stop walking out of the thinning trees; it would most likely be someone who could help them, or at least Sadie hoped so.

Voices were audible but muffled - and as they emerged further out of the trees they became more and more recognisable. "Hello?" A voice called out - they had been spotted. "Who's there? Who's there?"

She knew that voice, but instead, she rose the flashlight and sent it out over the two silhouettes, lowering it as she recognised them completely: Nancy and Jonathan - thank god - and it seemed that the two of them were just as surprised to see her and Steve... although the Henderson girl suspected this might have been the first time the once couple had seen each other since the morning after Halloween.

And a fresh wave of guilt settled in Sadie's stomach and a purposeful step was taken away from Steve. The reality was, despite the fact that Steve and Nancy were no longer together, and Steve had just professed the fact he had feelings for her - feelings that had certainly been underlying during their relationship, at least in the end anyway. She had to speak to Nancy before anything else happened, confess everything and hope that somehow it would be okay and they would still be friends. Nancy could easily be hurt by it, but the proximity of Nancy to Jonathan and the fact they had been missing from Hawkins for several days appeared that, like Steve, Nancy had moved on.

Not that it was an excuse at all... Sadie just hoped new circumstances would lead to a little more compassion on her behalf.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy exclaimed, a raw edge to her voice as she saw her ex for the first time. There was a brief moment where she reached forward and slung an arm around Sadie's shoulders and squeezed before setting her back.

Steve swallowed, glancing at the gap between himself and Sadie before stepping forward. "What are you doing here?" He repeated the question back to them.

"We're looking for Mike and Will." Nancy replied.

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin pointed towards the lab as he slipped between his older sister and Steve. "Wouldn't want them to be in there." On one side of him, Sadie met Jonathan's eyes and offered her friend a tired smile, averting her stare across to the large building beside them and examining the flickering lights with her arms crossed over her chest.

"We're not sure." Nancy looked more nervous now.

"Why?" Jonathan added.

But the answer was made a whole lot clear by the noise of the monsters screeching so loud that it could be heard from outside of the government confines, and horrified gazes landed on the building. A look of terrified recognition overcame the two newest additions to the group and Sadie, feeling the need to do something, anything, drew in a deep breath.

"Okay. So, it's like this." She began, eyes drawn to her. "On the night of Halloween, Dustin finds an odd creature in our trash. He keeps this creature - which is thought to be some kind of pollywog - despite it continuously moulting its skin and doubling in size in less than twenty-four hours and Will saying it felt like it was from the Upside Down. Either way, Dustin keeps it. In his room, where I find it on Friday, where it's eaten our cat. Dustin sleeps in my room, we send our mother on a wild goose chase after Mews, we bury Mews, we trap this creature, who Dustin called Dart, in our storm cellar. Everyone got it so far?"

Jonathan and Nancy nodded.

"Nobody's around on Saturday, Mike's not answering his radio, neither's Lucas, we called several houses and think that Will is either sick or at the Lab. You two skipped town on Wednesday, which leaves us with one option." Sadie jerks her thumb towards Steve. "He comes over to help us kill Dart because let's be honest, he was too much of a risk, considering I theorised he was a miniature Demogorgon, which is now confirmed. However, we found that Dart had tunnelled out of our cellar and grown again. So, this morning we set off to lure Dart to the junkyard with raw meat. It works, but not only Dart turns up, but several." Sadie took another pause before speaking quickly once more; it was quite a talent of hers. "Oh, and at this point Lucas and Max... that's Max, redhead, Billy Hargrove's step-sister." She added.

"Not my preferred description," Max muttered.

"Saves time, they know who Billy is." Sadie shrugged. "She's actually pretty cool and skateboards, apparently, so I'm not holding unfortunate relatives against her, and neither should you."

"That's better." The girl sounded happier at that, and with a grin, Sadie felt as though she could perhaps continue with her new blessing.

"Anyway, we obviously can't fight several of these mini-Demogorgons - which, now grown again, want to eat humans - and then something makes them retreat," Sadie said. "Quick thinking and theorising brings us here. And it's my belief that they are a few hours away from growing into Demogorgons... and they're sort of taking over the lab and killing everyone inside."

She finished with a deep breath in, watching as Nancy and Jonathan nodded slowly, taking it all in. "Right. So..." Nancy paused, thinking it through. "You think Will and Mrs Byers is in there... and you think it's overrun with baby Demogorgons?"

"I mean... we haven't seen Will since Thursday. Mike neither." Dustin added. They had grouped together now, too overcome with worry to remain civil amongst the revelations.

Voices began to overlap when trying to decide what to do and Sadie kept track of everything conversation and argument. From Jonathan desperately wanting to know more about these miniature Demogorgon creatures to Dustin trying to pinpoint exactly when Will would have gone to the lab and using previous appointment times to determine when he went in and if he got out before everything got messed up and herself trying to avoid eye contact with Steve at whatever cost - and he knew it too.

But it didn't seem to matter, amongst all the arguing and the collective lack of ability to agree upon anything and everything, the lights had turned back on. And when Nancy pointed it out, it finally stunned them back into silence.

"The power's back." She announced, their gazes torn back towards the building to see the rectangular windows that covered every wall had lit back up in cool, fluorescent white.

"The gates," Sadie muttered, and it was a sudden mad dash to the security booth, Jonathan reaching it first with both of the Hendersons stumbling in after him, watching as he jabbed at the big red button, but to no avail.

Nothing happened. Fingers overlapped as Sadie took over but still, nothing. The gates didn't budge, and it seemed like they had no choice but to find another way in; it was obviously connected to the main building instead of having its own low-maintenance generator (which Sadie thought was quite important for this particular laboratory, considering what often occurred within it), and nothing would move until the full system within the property had been restored.

"Let me try.' Dustin insisted. "Let me try, Jonathan!" He managed to push them both out of the way and began his own attack on the button, pressing it so quickly that the springs behind it creaked under the pressure. "You know what - son of a bitch-"

He stumbled into incoherent, explicit filled rambling that Sadie diligently ignored as an older sister and instead kept her concentration on somehow finding a way past the barbed wire gates. There really wasn't much they could do, which was why she felt practically overwhelmed with relief when, all of a sudden, the button clicked into place and the gates opened slowly.

"Hey!" Dustin sounded much more lighthearted then. "I got it!" Sadie reached over to ruffle his hair, knocking off his reclaimed baseball cap as Jonathan passed by them.

"You guys stay here. We can't take everyone in." Nancy glanced around. "Watch the kids, Steve, Sadie."

"You got it." Sadie nodded, feeling rather unnerved at the idea of Nancy and Jonathan travelling into the gates and leaving them there, but all they could do was sit in wait for them and try to ensure that they made it out alive. They did have a car after all, and she wouldn't be surprised if Nancy had a gun or several on her. She was particularly steady-handed and had a very good aim, which made it an easy choice of weapon for her.

She and Steve stood in silence as they watched the car drive in, ignoring the protests of Dustin and Lucas, with a small hint of Max as they complained over not being able to help get them out.

✧

"Listen, if that place is crawling with them then we need to stay here." Sadie had rationalised it in her mind and kept repeating it to herself like a mantra. "If they're in there and those.. those dogs eat them all... then we're the only ones left."

"And that's a really cheerful thought," Steve muttered, his bat still in hand and swinging it from side to side, resting against the wall of the security booth. "What would we do then?"

"Well..." Sadie's voice wavered, the eyes of the four focused on her only. "Well... I have no idea. I just... I guess we would have to go in there ourselves. We have the bat, gasoline, I can code and know BASIC so, if it's like all other government departments of a similar nature then I would be fine."

"You're awfully confident," Dustin commented. He sounded oddly like Max, and although Sadie would usually chalk something like that up to them spending time together, but that would only occur should the pair have known each other for longer than a week. Which Max and Dustin hadn't, which led Sadie to believe that it was yet another tactic he was attempting to use to impress her.

"If I'm not confident about things I'm good at, then what else do I have?" Sadie replied in an almost muttered tone, turning away from the group and disappearing inside the security booth without another word.

Dustin watched his sister crouch down in front of the only contents - the small control panel that held several buttons - before turning to Steve. "What did you do?" His eyes narrowed, eyes full of accusation.

"What?" Steve blinked. "What did I do? I - I didn't do anything!" He protested. "You're the one who said about confidence and shit."

"Is it really a good idea to argue?" Max, despite being new to the group, was able to deal with the throwing around of blame and perpetual bickering that occurred semi-often between Dustin and Steve. She had noticed that it happened mostly over the topic of Sadie or Dustin's legitimateness in his stories of Dart. And Maxine Mayfield might be particularly relentless herself, but that didn't mean that she could deal with the similar properties in another person. Humans were fickle like that.

"Yeah, Max is right." And unsurprisingly, Lucas was agreeing with her. "We just have to-"

But before the inevitable words could fall from his mouth, the sounds of cars screeching on the tarmac echoed into the night. "Guys." Max brought their attention to it, the three kids skirting out of the way as Nancy and Jonathan's car came hurtling around the corner and straight by them as they moved. Behind them came the familiar vehicle belonging to none other than Chief Hopper, who stopped in front of them and pushed open the passenger door for them to climb in.

Sadie, still stood within the security booth hurriedly pressed the button to close the gates behind the police car, leaving the small building behind as Steve climbed into the front seat and held out a hand, dragging her in with him as the metal gates closed and Hopper pulled away alarmingly quick. He froze as he realised where she had sat, but Sadie only adjusted a little and held onto the handle above her head, chest rising and falling with the exhilaration.

"Shit." She breathed out, her head turning to watch the lab disappear into the night behind them before facing the man to her left. "Hi, Chief." Sadie grinned, despite situations at hand.

Hopper, someone with considerable anger issues and usually didn't have the time or patience for dealing with busybodies, didn't quite mind Sadie Henderson, especially not with the level of help her infinite amount of knowledge gave him. "Hi there Sadie." He replied in the manner of a man who hadn't just seen the things he did. "How you doing?"

Nobody else spoke, instead listening to the conversation at hand between the two in front, Steve still feeling the need to hold his breath and be incredibly careful as to where he put his hands. "I know you're being sarcastic but considering you're all out of there alive, pretty well." She smiled, genuine.

And Hopper had to break her that. "Not all of us." He muttered.

Sadie's breath caught in her throat. Her hand dropped from the handle above her head without even thinking "...What?" Her voice was quiet now, confused. "I - I saw Joyce and Will and Mike so-"

"The Doc is still in there, trying to get out." Hopper began.

"Doctor Owens?"

It surprised absolutely nobody in that truck that Sadie knew exactly who was in charge of the lab at present without Hopper even needing to explain. But despite the admiration of her knowledge, Jim was left to do a rather unfortunate job.

He swallowed harshly, glancing at her instead of looking each way before turning out onto the road, hot on the trail of Jonathan. "And... and Bob." He finished.

Sadie stilled. Steve felt her hand brush over his wrist and stop there. "Bob?" She repeated, horror in her words. "Bob as in Mrs Byer's Bob... as in Bob Newby. As in Bob Newby who works at Radio Shack and is... and is... my friend. He was in there?"

Steve no longer felt particularly cautious in holding her, and arm snaking around her waist and knotting their fingers together, tight. If he could figure out what was going on, then Sadie had several moments before him. And this? This was going to hurt.

"Yeah." Hopper nodded. "Er... Bob... Bob died, Sadie. The dogs got him."

It was silent for a moment, the reality setting in. Sadie wasn't the only one to have known him; this came as a shock to both Lucas and Dustin as well who sat quietly in the back.

"Oh." Her chin wobbled and Steve, still clutching her hand like a lifeline, was thrown back to the night before when he had promised her that it wouldn't get bad again. But it had. It had gotten bad again and amongst the guilt he already felt for the stilted awkwardness between them that originated from being confronted quite randomly by Nancy - right in the midst of Steve's perhaps most successful flirting-argument attempt - came a new sense of duty. He had promised her, and that promise had been unintentionally broken.

But he would happily comfort her despite this, tightening his grip around her even further and pulling her against him, chin resting on her shoulder as she stared out of the window, chin jutting out and gaze blitzed with the blur of tears, hand gripping the one wrapped around her waist so tightly her knuckles strained white.

"