PART 3: The lab
Earlier that morning around 5:45am
Eleven, Will and Mike silently creep down the steps of Mike's home. His houseguests stealthily climb into the backseat of his car. Once they are safely a block and a half down the street, the two pop their heads up extremely proud of themselves.
"WOOHOO!" Mike hollers. "I told you it would work."
"That was amazing! Absolutely amazing!"
"I was so nervous," Eleven says breathlessly and puts her hand on Mike's neck. He grips it and kisses it.
"Hopefully the others will make it out fine. Will, can you check the radio?"
Will's bag is stuffed with radios—covertly silenced for the mission. He turns them all and passes one to each of them.
"This is Mike. I am en route to base with Eleven and Will. What is everyone's ETA? Over."
Lucas woke up at the crack of dawn. Although no one else in town might consider leaving a practical option, the party was not prepared for them to endanger themselves by stupidly staying in Hawkins when the next earthquake struck. Lucas's mission was to head to The Hawkins Post distribution factory to print 200 pages of an additional notice for each distributed copy of The Hawkins Post released. He was in and out like a ghost.
When every parent opened their newspaper that morning, the first thing they would read was about the dangers of staying in Hawkins and the likelihood of another more dangerous earthquake. If they weren't possessed to leave already, then hopefully this would help them the rest of the way.
"Working on Operation Paper Delivery! Over," Lucas pants breathily into his walkie talkie in response to Mike. He is sweating intensely as he makes extreme speeds, cruising down the quiet streets of Hawkins.
Meanwhile, Dustin, who had woken up early to pack snacks for his friends and his mother, took it easy, biking lazily down to Mirkwood. When he arrived, he was surprised by the black government vans that seemed to be lingering in the area. He could only imagine what they were up to. He found a good hiding spot in front of the house in the bushes and took out his binoculars. As far as he could tell, no one was in any of the vans.
"We may have a problem, or we may have confirmation of what we feared—government vans spotted near Mirkwood and the Lab. Over," Dustin responds.
The present around 8am
Mike, having gotten the okay from his parents, sets off in his old jalopy for the second time that morning. He picks up the walkie talkie he keeps on his passenger seat. "I am en route for the second time. Is everyone there? Over." It's staticky for a moment before he gets a response from Dustin.
"Lucas and I have been here for over an hour! Get your slow butt down here," he teases. Mike laughs happily. Somehow, they did it. Unfortunately, Eleven breaks onto the line with some news that wipes the smile from his face.
"Mike, Max never showed up. I'm worried. She hasn't radioed anyone this morning."
"I'll drop by and look into it," he says resolutely.
After last night, the last thing he wants to do is make eye contact with her stepdad. He doesn't park out front. He learned his lesson already. Mike exits the car a half block away. Their garage is closed and there's no car directly parked out front. He walks around the back. He knows from Lucas that Max has an accessible window. When he gets there, the curtain is mostly drawn besides a slim opening. He can see Max crying on her bed. He looks around quickly before he taps a finger to the glass. Max looks up shakily and her eyes widen. Mike motions for her to open the window, but she shakes her head. She grabs a notepad.
It's locked
He raises his hands not knowing what that means.
From the outside
Max points to where the lock is. A brand-new padlock has been added to the window. Mike lifts it and sees it requires a key to open. He looks at her confused. Max sighs as if to say, This is my life. Mike doesn't need to ask about the key; he already knows who has it. He wonders what happened when she said she wanted to ride along with her friends, who just happened to be all boys, on top of the fact that she was spotted sneaking out with the same boys last night. Mike takes some of the responsibility for letting this happen.
He walks away from the window, ducking along the side of the house to find something big. He comes back to her window with a large rock. He gestures for her to back away. She closes her eyes terrified by the possible sound. She slides her nightstand to cover her bedroom door just in case. Mike counts down wordlessly and hits the lock. It makes a sharp noise with bright sparks. It isn't busted yet. He reangles the rock learning from the last time. He smashes down on the lock even harder and it busts. Max looks terrified; she is pretty sure she heard a shout from inside her house. Mike quickly works to shove open the window just wide enough for her to get out.
"We need to run now!" Max says as Mike grabs her hand yanking her out. They run to the car just as her stepdad heads around to the front of the house, just missing which direction they sped off in.
~A.N. Sorry for the delay- I started school again. Hope you enjoy this chapter which includes just a little Mike and Max bonding! Next chapter make sure to look out for LUMAX!