Wow guys! The overwhelming amount of amazing reviews you guys gave me last chapter just fueled me to update again :) I have so many ideas for this story and can't wait to go on this ride with you guys. Thanks for being awesome. As a thank you, please enjoy this update :D love you guys! Stay awesome!
Chapter 2:
Hopper was a little surprised to see Mike Wheeler in his office the next morning. He hadn't had much interaction with the kid since the incident with the monster a few years prior. Mike had been the one hiding the girl in his basement.
He knew well enough how Mike felt about Eleven, but they were kids. When he found her, lost and injured in the woods, he held up his end of the bargain by taking her back to Brenner. It wasn't what he wanted, and he thought about hiding her.
The only reason they were able to save Will was the deal he made with the devil. Hopper exchanged Eleven for the safety of everyone involved, Joyce, Will, and all of the kids that knew about Eleven. They were loose ends, and their lives would have been put at risk had he not made that deal. As villainous as it was, it was the only way to protect everyone.
The look on Mike's face told Hopper exactly what this surprise meeting was about. Joyce had found out, and Will likely overheard their screaming match. Of course Will would tell Mike. Nothing stayed secret in that godforsaken town for very long.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" Hopper sighed, moving around Mike and the desk to flop down in his chair. He rolled back a little so he could prop up his feet on the corder of his beat up old oak desk. He fished his cigarettes from his pocket. He was going to need them.
"You're a real son of a bitch, Hopper," Mike said, a frown etched into his features. He braced his hands against the edge of the wooden desk, trying to remain as calm as possible. Nothing would be solved by yelling at the sheriff.
"How would you know, you've never met my mother."
"I'm not here to bullshit, Hop," Mike said angrily, hands slamming down onto the desk in frustration. "You knew. You knew all along, and you let us all think she was dead. I thought..." He sucked in a deep breath, standing up straight. "She can't stay there."
"She has to," Hopper argued with a shrug and an expressionless face. He couldnt get emotional, not in front of the kid. Mike sat back in the chair across from him.
"I'm not letting her rot away in there. She deserves better, she always did. That man doesn't care about her. He uses her. He makes her do things she doesn't like. They're murderers, Hopper! You're the goddamn sheriff! Why do you just let them do whatever they want?"
"You don't know what you're talking about, kid."
"Oh, really? I don't?" Mike scoffed. "I knew her for a hell of a lot longer than you did. I was the one who kept her hidden! She was afraid of him, and you sold her out to them. Why? Why would you do that, Hopper?!"
"Because if I didn't, Will would be dead!" Hopper snapped, sitting upright to look Mike in his eyes. "They were going to kill Joyce, you, your sister, Johnathan, Lucas, Dustin, whoever they had to kill to hide what they're doing out there. Will would have died in that place, and I sold her out to save everyone else! Hate me all you want, but you wouldn't want the alternative, kid, believe me."
Hopper stood, pulling the cigarette from his teeth that he had bit down on and ruined. He tossed it into the tiny, overflowing trash can under his desk and took a deep breath. After running a hand through his thinning hair, he turned his attention back to Mike.
"I did the only thing I could do. I go there once a week to check on her, to make sure she's alive and well. I didn't abandon her." He glanced up at the door as one of his deputies knocked lightly. "Go to class. This doesn't concern you."
"How do I get her out?" Mike asked desperately. "How do I save her?"
"You don't. Now get out of here," Hopper ordered. Mike pushed off the desk furiously and stormed out of his office. No, he couldnt just give up, knowing she was out there, within reach, and all that was between them were fences and guns. Mike had to do something. No one was going to be able to convince him to let it go. Not now. Not after finding out she was alive.
Mike could have skipped the whole day, but his mother would be less angry if he was "late," than if he had avoided school altogether that day. Besides, it was his senior year and most classes were easy. He could breeze through the day and avoid the drama at home.
At the end of the day, as Mike headed to his locker to grab his things, he noticed Lilly waiting there patiently. He paused for a moment, wondering if he should just turn around and head home without his books. He didn't know what to say to her. In the end, he decided to man up and handle it.
"Hey," she said, perking up a little when she saw him approaching. "Where were you this morning?"
"I had a quick errand to run, nothing major," he lied with a phony smile. She noticed his odd expression, but didn't say anything. If there was something he wanted to talk about, he would talk. Mike had always been relatively open with her, excluding a few things about his childhood that he'd alluded to vaguely in the past. She learned not to pry.
"I was a little worried. Usually if you're going to skip, you call me, and we do it together. I thought maybe you were sick or something." She stood there patiently as he collected his things from his locker. "But you're okay?"
"I'm fine," he lied again, effortlessly. "Are you riding home with me today?"
"If you're not busy. If you have more errands, I can take the bus." She rocked back and forth on her heels, a little anxious. She hadn't seen him with that distant look in his eyes in quite some time. It worried her.
"I actually do have something to do. For my mom. Are you sure you don't mind taking the bus?" He asked her, closing his locker and stuffing his books into his bag. Her eyebrows furrowed momentarily, but she nodded.
"I'm sure. Take care of whatever it is you have to take care of."
"Alright, I'll call you later." When he finally looked up at her face, a pang of guilt rippled through him. He could see the worry in her eyes, and he couldn't help but suddenly feel bad about lying to her. She'd never lied to him, or kept any secrets from him. He tried to smile genuinely to soothe her. "I love you. I'll see you in the morning." He kissed her head gently, then started towards the parking lot.
"I love you," he heard her sigh behind him.
Mike stayed up all night coming up with a plan. It wasn't foolproof, and it was dangerous, but it was the best he could do. Lucas and Will were usually the ones that were good at coming up with plans, but he didn't want to involve them if he didn't have to. That way, they wouldnt be the ones that the men from the lab came after. Mike was only willing to risk himself.
Part of his plan required him to write a long, detailed account of everything he knew about the lab and their experiments, leaving out the less believable details like Eleven's powers and the monsters they brought into their dimension.
He wrote about how they were experimenting on Eleven, and how they faked Will's death. There was evidence to support that much at least, which would be enough to convince reporters and newspapers to start investigating. If it went public, the outcry would bring the feds to Hawkins, and the lab would be shut down.
That paper, the story of what happened, would be hidden safely away as insurance, along with a letter giving someone instructions to take it to a reporter who would publish the story. It was the only way he could think to keep them from killing him outright and faking his body like they did Will's.
The harder part to figure out was how to actually get Eleven out of the lab. It wasn't as if he could just waltz right in. He had to figure out how to get in without suspicion, and how he planned to sneak her out. With that, he also had to figure out how to get a gun, a handgun he could hide in his waistband and use to get out of the lab.
Once he got to Eleven, he knew that she would help him get her out. She didn't want to be there back then, and he was sure she hated it even more after tasting freedom and eggos. If he could get to her, the two of them would be able to get out.
As he pieced together this flimsy plan, and wrote out this expose, he wondered what she looked like, how she had grown. What did eighteen year old Eleven look like? He was excited and frightened all at once, but he was sure of one thing, he wouldn't leave her in there any longer than he had to. He didn't know how Hopper could stand it, knowing she was trapped and miserable.
He was going to do something, and he wasn't going to let anyone or anything get in his way.