Hey, everyone!

Thank you so much for all your "m"s and kind reviews on the last chapter! Wow, I had no idea so many people were still reading this xD Anyway, clearly I didn't give up, as the next chapter is here only ten days later (yeah I have no idea how I managed to do this) - But I wanted to post this, right now, at exactly 1AM because this is precisely the story's two-year anniversary! And like I said about a year ago, I'm seeing this story through to the end x)

So, this chapter is a lot longer than the others, and there's a chance the next one will be a little shorter, cuz y'know... gotta balance out those cliffhangers! But hey, guess who finally makes an appearance in this one?

Alright, please enjoy and review :)) I love u all!

"You won't get away with this!" the guard snarled, as Hopper and Joyce followed him through the lab, their guns still trained on him. "When Doctor Brenner finds you, you'll be sorry-"

"Alright shut it, smeghead," Hopper snapped. "Just keep walking. Are we almost there?"

"It's just down the stairs."

A sharp left showed them the stairs, and after reaching the bottom, they entered a small room. A room that was dingy and damp, a failure from the immaculate presentation that the rest of the lab held. No windows, and just one barely working lightbulb. They were surrounded by groaning and churning machines, accompanied by a desktop computer in the middle, currently flashing.

Hopper turned his attention back to their captive. "You. Sit down. Get this damn thing working. I need to see the layout of the building." The solider compliantly sat down, and he eyed the exit. Hopper caught his gaze. "Try and run, and I'll blow your brains out. Understand?"

The man apparently did so, because he began sweating a little more. He nervously clenched and unclenched his hands for a few seconds, until Hopper grew impatient. "Why don't you just tell me how to do it? Whatever gets it done faster."

The guard sighed and began typing in keys. "You can't speak BASIC."

"What?"

"Doesn't matter." The screen flashed on, unveiling a sequence of code. Another click and the floor plan came up in blueprint form.

"We're looking for Room 011," Joyce offered.

The solider marked it out for them. "Here it is, okay? Will you please let me go now?"

Hopper scoffed. "I don't think so. For a start, you need to unlock it."

While he did this, Joyce noticed the room was on the top floor and glanced at Hopper. "Tell them," she said. "They'll be able to get there faster."

"This is pointless," Nancy sighed, as they reached the end of yet another corridor and found a staircase leading both up and down. "The place is way too big, we could be caught at any moment and Mike could literally be anywhere!" It frustrated her that she was so close to her brother yet wasn't able to find him. She hated every moment he had to spend thinking he was alone.

Jonathan sighed. "Look, we know he's in Room 011."

"And we don't know where that is." She softened her voice a little, partly because they were trying to keep a low profile and partly because she knew this wasn't Jonathan's fault. "I've lost track of which floor we're on. And none of these doors even have numbers."

"Eleven said hers did, remember?" He took a hold of her arms. "We wouldn't have missed it, don't worry. We've got other people searching for him too. Not all is lost yet."

She smiled sadly up at him. "I'm sorry by the way… for dragging your entire family into this place. After everything you've all been through."

He shook his head. "Don't be. We're all gonna be fine. I know it."

"Nancy!"

They jumped apart as the police radio spurted to life.

"Jonathan! It's Hopper. Pick up!"

Nancy hurriedly freed it from her backpack. "Hopper? Are you okay? How did you escape?"

"Is my mom with you?" Jonathan quickly added.

"It's not important. But yeah, we're both fine," the Chief reassured them. "We have the map to the Lab in front of us. Where are you?"

Nancy glanced at the sign above the stairway. "Uh, third floor, left stairway."

"Alright." There was a slight pause on his end. "You need to go up a floor, follow the corridor to the very end and turn right. Room 011 should be somewhere around there."

Nancy breathed a sign of relief. "Thank you. I-"

The sound of creaking footsteps coming up the stairs made them both freeze. They seemed to be a distance away, but Nancy didn't want to risk her chances. She snapped off the radio and whispered "Let's go! Now!"

"Wait." Jonathan grabbed her wrist. "They're way too close, you need more time. You go and I'll give you a head-start." He gestured at his gun.

Nancy spun round to look at him. "What? No! Are you crazy? We-"

"I'm serious, Nancy, go!"

She froze, one hand on the banister, her stride mid-step, eyes darting between his face and her escape. She knew he was right. She just hated the idea of splitting up in this place. The footsteps from below rang louder in her ears, getting closer to where they were standing. She had to act fast.

In an instant, Nancy flung her arms around his shoulders and kissed him fiercely. It wasn't very long-lasting, nor was it intense. But she had to do it, just in case. Just in case there was never another opportunity. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, breathing heavily with adrenaline.

"Go!" Jonathan blurted out.

Nancy only hesitated for a split second, before she turned and bolted up the stairs without a backwards glance.

After an uncertain but definitely long amount of time, the kids finally reached the end of the 'passageway'. El nervously glanced through the thin lines of the vent cover, although it was hard to see if the cost was clear or not due to the amount of light shining back at her. She'd have no choice but to open it. She stayed still for a moment, listening for any sound of movement (the boys following suit), wondering if her pounding heart would give her away. But she eventually deemed it safe. As she had done with the previous cover, she concentrated on dropping the screws one by one until it was loose enough, and she could push the cover away with her hand.

El gasped as what felt like much fresher air from what was in that suffocating tunnel soared into her face. The vent cover loudly thudded to the ground and she winced at the noise it made, realizing she probably should have set it down carefully. She peered out at the empty corridor, hardly daring to breathe as she checked that nobody had come running over to investigate the crash. Luckily, no one did and everything except the buzzing lights stayed silent. She began to maneuverer herself out of the vent, soon deciding getting out was a lot harder than getting in.

She leaned her palm against the cold floor and shuddered as something rushed through her. Somehow, she could feel… everything through it. This floor was attached to the rest of this Lab, and El was articulated to it all. It was woven in and out of who she was – her home for twelve years. She could feel the memories she had from this place, memories she would never be able to forget. She could feel the hatred and the evil and the hurt. It was so vivid it was almost burning. It made her see red.

"You okay, El?" Dustin asked, concerned when she didn't move for a long time.

His voice snapped her back to the present and she blinked back tears, the memories leaving as quickly as they'd come. What was she doing? This building had only ever spread pain. From what they had done to her. From what they were doing to Mike. She wasn't quick enough to save him, but this time? This time, she would be. Lucas, Dustin, Will. They were her friends. And she couldn't let this happen to them too.

"Yes, I…" She scrambled the rest of the way out of the tunnel and shakily got to her feet. "I… I'm sorry."

Dustin moved to follow her out but she roughly pushed him backwards. "Um, El-" He gave her a puzzled look, and watched as she hurriedly picked up the vent cover from the floor and shoved it back over the entrance, entrapping the three boys inside.

Unsure how to fix it properly, she used her powers to partially weld it into the wall, causing the plaster around it to crack. Just enough to know it would hold.

Dustin furiously pushed on it. "El! What the hell?" The other two boys had started frantically questioning her too.

El stared at them through the vent cracks, eyes shining. "I'm sorry, I can't let you come!"

"What?" Lucas protested. "No, we're supposed to stick together!"

El shook her head, tears finally spilling over. "It's me they want." She let her hands fall from the vent. "Not you. You'll be okay. I… I promise."

She stood up fully and turned away, running. The shouts of "El, come back!" and "Don't do this, El!" thudded in her ears, but she ignored them. She focused solely on the feeling – the good one. The feeling pulling her closer and closer to where she needed to be.

It was all that mattered right now. The one who really needed her. She knew she had to run, because she was sick of wasting time. It was probably a good thing that no one crossed by her as she fled through the white halls. Anyone who tried to prevent her might've found themselves wishing they were never born.

I'm coming, she tried again to reach out with little success. But she did it all the same. I'm coming.

Follow the corridor to the very end and turn right. Nancy repeated his words again and again in her head as she sped down the corridor. Getting it wrong was not an option. She had not yet managed to figure out the next part of the plan – how to escape. She just knew she had to get to Mike. It's all she could think of.

And turn right and- oh here it is. Okay, and the room should be somewhere around here… Room 011, room 011, room-

Her eyes fixated on it. The door, identical to every other door on this corridor with the exception of its "011". And the fact that her brother was behind it.

She reached it, opened it, stepped through it. She saw him straight away. Lying on the floor. But he didn't react to her coming in. Her first thought was that he must be asleep, but as she moved closer, she saw his eyes were open.

"Hey," Nancy knelt down beside him, and shook his shoulders, trying to keep her voice stable. "Hey, Mike? Mike, it's me. I…" The bruises on his face told her someone had hurt him, but there was nothing to indicate that he couldn't respond. But he didn't even look at her or acknowledge she was there. He stayed vacantly staring straight ahead.

For a horrific second, she thought it was dead. But no… He couldn't be. His eyes had too much life. But life was the wrong word. It was the opposite of life. It scared her.

"Mike…" she tried again. "Mike! It's me. It's Nancy. Please, we need to go!" She looked up and saw the camera staring at her from the corner of the room. There was no El around to break this one. They were watching her, no doubt about that. The faster they both got out of here, the better.

"Mike!" she cried. What the hell did they do to him? "Please, we…"

But he couldn't hear her properly. Her voice was distant, faded, like he was listening from underwater. However, he could see her. She was blurry but yes, he could see it was Nancy. His sister.

But it didn't matter. It was just his mind playing tricks on him, trying to give him artificial hope. She was a phantom, a ghost, a figment of his imagination. Or maybe a memory. Whatever she was, it couldn't he real.

The truth was, he didn't know what was real anymore: everything real must have died with El… along with everyone he loved. The only ones who were left were those who wanted to hurt him.

Something was pulling on his coat, dragging him across the room. Had they not done enough already?

"GET OFF ME!" he screamed, writhing out of her grasp. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Nancy gasped and sat backwards. "Mike? Mike, it's me!"

He pulled himself away from her, eyes never leaving her, his expression full of resentment. "What do you want from me?" he demanded.

"Mike, it's Nancy!" she held her palm up as a gesture of peace. "We've come to get you out of here! Me and El and Joyce and-"

Mike's back hit the metal bed – preventing him from getting any further – and he stopped struggling, breathing heavily.

Suddenly, he was looking at her. At her, not through her. "El?" His voice was small, questioning.

Nancy quickly went along with this. "Yes! El, sh-she's here too."

He looked confused. "But… El's dead."

"What? No! No, Mike, she's not." Nancy's blood boiled. She wanted to kill whoever told him that, and she had a pretty good idea of who it was. "She's right here in this building."

Nancy saw what she could only describe as light come back into his eyes. Followed by realization.

"Nancy?"

She let out a choked sob. "Yeah. It's me. Oh God, Mike." She crawled forward and pulled him into a tight hug. When he flinched, she loosened it slightly. "I'm so glad you're okay."

His reply was muffled by her coat and she didn't quite hear it. But it was probably something similar.

"We're getting you of here, okay?" She pulled away and took him by the shoulders. "And we'll find El. Just stay close to me." He nodded and let her help him up. He thought of El having to come back to this awful place. But of course, he knew why she had. And he knew why everyone had let her.

Walking felt strange, as he hadn't done it for several hours. Stumbling slightly, he followed Nancy to the door. The wide-open door. He hadn't seen it like that in so long.

Keeping a firm hold of his arm, Nancy checked round the door and down the corridor. Entirely empty. Satisfied with this, she began running. Unfortunately, she didn't get very far.

"Where do you think you're going?" a man's voice barked. Mike's arm was abruptly jerked from her grasp, followed by screaming.

Nancy spun around in shock. A man with white hair was trying to keep a hold on Mike as he struggled to get away. Despite never having seen him in person before, she recognized him instantly.

"HEY!" she yelled. No way was anyone going to mess this up for her now. "Let him go, you bastard!" She didn't want to use a gun in case she hit Mike, so she had to get resourceful. Running at them, she jumped on Brenner's back and held on for dear life. She knew she wasn't strong, but she just had to distract him long enough to let her brother escape.

Luckily it worked. Brenner's grip on him slipped and Mike managed to stagger away. He witnessed the scene with wide eyes, wishing there was a way he could help.

"RUN, MIKE!" Nancy hollered.

But Mike only froze. Just like last time, in the upside down. The freeze which had cost him his freedom. Which had caused all of this chaos. But this time, it wasn't fear for himself. He couldn't leave her. Not with Brenner. He just couldn't. "Nancy-"

"RUN!"

Run. He had to. Mike forced himself to turn away, to do the right thing. He'd find help, he thought as he sprinted down the corridor. He wouldn't leave this building without her.

Now, looking at this out of context, watching a skinny girl cling to a man's back while he angrily flailed around trying to throw her off, might have been laughable. But let it be known, this wasn't going to end well.

Furiously, Brenner managed to grab one of her arms and he roughly pulled her off of him. Nancy fell against the wall to her left and let out a pained groan, sliding down to the floor.

He pulled out his gun at lightning speed, steadily aiming it at her head. "You stupid girl," he sneered. "You should have known better."

"No..." Nancy felt at the wall behind her with her arms, praying for there to be a weapon or an escape. But of course, there was nothing. Tears leaked down her face as she stared into the gaping black hole of the gun's mouth that would surely end her life. "Please don't..."

Bang!