Joyce stopped to pick up the kids early the next morning. No one was ready to leave—in fact, Jonathan told her that he was going to be going for a drive with Nancy, hopefully to go on a hike. Joyce had shrugged, knowing better than to argue with her oldest son when it came to the subject of his girlfriend.
"Why do we have to go?" asked Will. "Couldn't we spend more time with them?"
"Because I'd love to spend some time with my family now," said Joyce. "The hotel was lonely without anyone else there!"
El hadn't argued. She knew that they would be back later, more than likely that very night. And she had gotten to sleep cuddled up next to Mike, and there had been no bad dreams! She was in a great mood and had no desire to start any kind of trouble.
She also noticed that Mrs. Byers was acting… strange. She seemed nervous and excited at the same time, like there was something she wanted to say but couldn't say it in front of everyone. It gave El an uncomfortable feeling. She wasn't sure what to say, so she chose to say nothing. Mrs. Byers would tell them soon enough—if El knew anything about her adopted mother, it was that she was terrible at keeping secrets from the kids.
Actually, Mrs. Byers had asked El to stop calling her Mrs. Byers for a long time. El had tried out "Joyce," but that just didn't seem right. She called her "mom" sometimes, but more often than not, El just didn't call Mrs. Byers anything. They were in an awkward time, El knew. It was a time of transition and a time of sadness.
El thought back to Hopper's funeral. There had been no body to show, the Russian's machine had seen to that. El had cried silently for the first half, until her tears had all run out and she couldn't do anything other than silently heave her shoulders. She had cried until her eyes had burned. She still did not know how to come to terms with the fact she would never see him again. The man who had been so strong, so sure, so safe—gone, forever. The idea of death confused her. What happened when you died? How could someone just no longer exist? She understood the science behind it, of course. But emotionally, she didn't know how to deal with the thought that Hopper would never call her "kid" again, would never make her an Eggo Extravaganza, and would never protect people in the way he was so good at.
El's talk with Mike had made her feel a little better. She was tired of always pretending that she was fine, even when she wasn't. It just felt like everyone else was doing such a good job of processing their trauma, and she was stuck feeling like there was a knife stuck into her ribs. Until Mike had told her how he felt, and the weight of the world slid off her shoulders. It was okay to not be okay.
"Um, Mom?" asked Will. "Where are we going?"
"Hmm," said Joyce. "That's the thing. Nowhere special. Just some awful hotel. I needed to get you guys out of the Wheeler house and back to someone that you really need to talk to."
"Who?" Will asked, confused. "What are you talking about? Where's Jonathan?"
"I didn't want to make a scene. This is supposed to be pretty secret. I'll tell him later."
"What are you talking about?"
Joyce looked back at the two kids in the rearview mirror, her eyes full of worry. "There's something we really need to talk about. And it's going to be confusing at first. But I think it's going to be a good thing overall."
"Why can't you just tell us now?" asked Will.
"I can't say anything, sweetie, I'm sorry. Just wait a little longer and everything will make sense."
El stared out the window and watched the houses rush by. She knew there wouldn't be any other answers for now.
…
"You know what I think is really frustrating?" said Mike, kicking a rock down the road.
"Hit me with it," said Dustin.
"The fact the El had to leave her. I mean, okay, it might be dangerous for her to stay. But then she comes back just a few months later? How does that make any difference?"
Lucas kicked the stone back to Mike. "Stopping by and visiting is a little different than just straight-up living here, though, you know that, right?"
"I know. I'm just thinking. I mean, if Russians were watching the town, they'd have seen her come back in, wouldn't they? And then we'd all be in trouble."
Max scoffed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were trying to get into trouble."
Mike put his hands up. "No, no trouble for me. High school is enough trouble. I just… well, you know. I miss El. And now she's back and Mrs. Byers just whisks them away? You don't see anything weird there?"
"I think you might be grasping at straws here a little," said Dustin. "Not everything has to be a grand conspiracy. We're allowed to be regular kids sometimes."
"Uh, weren't you the one saying you discovered something impossible?" asked Mike.
Dustin was adamant. "That's because I did. It wasn't speculation—I saw it! Or, felt it, I guess, but still…" His voice trailed off when he realized that he wasn't doing himself any favors by continuing to speak.
Lucas was the one who jumped in to defend Dustin, which came as a surprise, though it might have been due to the fact that Lucas still felt guilty after snapping at Dustin last night. "No one is saying anyone is wrong. Just maybe that Mrs. Byers wanted to spend some time with her kids. She's probably under a lot of stress, with Hopper being… you know. And El living with her now."
Mike relented. He supposed that they were right, that nothing was out of the ordinary. It was just so hard to adjust to the idea that the world might not end at any given moment. "Yeah, you might be right. Still though, I hope they come back soon. It's not like El can come to school with us on Monday."
"Why not?" asked Max. "Just say she's visiting."
Dustin and Lucas looked at each other. "We kinda already did that…" said Lucas.
"Yeah? So?" asked Max.
Dustin mumbled, "We sorta said she was Mike's cousin? So that's weird."
Max bust out laughing. "And then I guess it'd be strange if they were sucking face in the hallway, yeah."
Mike was fire-engine red and defensive. "Hold on! She had a wig on and there's no way anyone remembers that! We even went to the Snow Ball together and no one said anything, remember?"
"You took your cousin to the Snow Ball?" teased Max.
Mike groaned. The sooner they got to Family Video to return Blade Runner, the better. He couldn't take much more of this.
…
As soon as the Byers family had reentered the town, the Russians had known about it. Because they were dedicated to cracking the mystery of what had happened in Hawkins, and a minor setback like the complete destruction of all their work was not going to hold them back.
Unfortunately for the Russians, none of them were terribly competent or knowledgeable in the area of surveillance of American targets. In the utter chaos that had ensued when Starcourt had been destroyed, every single Russian soldier and scientist had either died or been taken into captivity. That meant there was no one to accurately report on what had happened or to pick up the pieces. The top military R&D brass had sent over what amounted to a skeleton crew: a group of soldiers who had nothing better to do than conduct undercover surveillance from disgusting safe houses and unfortunate hidden bunkers, much like the one in Starcourt.
Before, it had been hugely helpful to have the Mayor of Hawkins on their payroll, meaning that they could operate with free reign. Now, things were different. All they knew was that they were watching out for a girl that had seemingly vanished, a girl who was all but a ghost—no records, no paperwork, nothing.
"Hawkins is a small town," their bored commander had said. "Watch the roads in or out. Any teenage girls coming in, do a follow-up."
It kept them busy. It kept them miserable. The unit that was still in Hawkins wanted desperately to find the girl. Not out of patriotism and not because they had any great scientific curiosity. They didn't even know who the girl was. No, the only reason they were so motivated to find this mysterious girl with the name "Eleven" was because they wanted to go home.
The system they had was simple. A spotter on every road into Hawkins, and a small team of men driving or loitering throughout. The spotters would check the passengers of the vehicles and relay any relevant cars to the men who were circulating the town. It was an imperfect system, and it was not guaranteed to work, since sometimes the spotters fell asleep or just didn't look very hard, but the arrival of the Byers vehicle had been noted immediately. The spotter who had seen it recognized the face of every person in the car—they were all persons of interest in the Starcourt case.
The team didn't know where this info had come from. Hadn't all the Russian survivors gone missing? But they didn't question the intel. This was the first break they had received in the torturous months of watching. And they weren't about to waste their opportunity. It was time to go home.
…
Joyce, Will, and El got out of Mrs. Byers' car in front of an incredibly seedy looking hotel. El hadn't even thought that it was a hotel at first. It looked more like an abandoned apartment building. And it was a pretty good distance out of town.
"Why are we here, mom?" asked Will. "This isn't actually where we're staying, is it?"
Mrs. Byers shook her head. "No, this is where someone else is staying. Someone you both are going to want to talk to."
They walked across the parking lot. Will and El exchanged a look of doubt and confusion. El couldn't imagine wanting to meet whatever person was willingly staying here. It looked like barely a step up from living in the woods. Something she had experience with.
Mrs. Byers knocked on one of the hotel room doors and waited. It was the kind of place where the rooms face the parking lot, adding to the general unpleasant ambiance. The door opened a crack, still restrained by the chain on the other side.
El and Will recognized the face, even though it was half-obscured by the partially shut door. "Bald Eagle?" asked El.
Murray Bauman sighed and let them in. "I cannot believe the fate of the world has come down to literal children so many times. Please, come in."
"Why did you pick here?" Will asked, looking around. The inside of the hotel room was no better than the outside. It may have been worse.
"Because no one would willingly come here, which decreased the chance of surveillance!" he snapped. "Something that apparently no one besides me bothers to think about. Please. Sit."
They sat at the tiny table in the dingy motel room. Joyce sat on the bed, as there were only three seats.
"Why are we here?" asked El. "Why are you here?" The only time this man had ever been part of their lives was when there was either trouble occurring or about to be occurring. It made her nervous.
Mrs. Byers put a hand on El's shoulder. "Because Mr. Bauman figured out something very important that you need to hear. It's a huge secret and no one else knows it yet. Your friends will know soon too, but for right now, the only people who know are the ones who are in this room."
"What is it?" asked El.
"Yeah," said Will, looking suspicious. "What's going on?"
Bauman sighed loudly. "For the record, I didn't want to tell anyone. I didn't want to tell you kids and I didn't want to risk the secret getting out. But this woman—" He indicated Joyce. "—convinced me that you needed to know. I wanted to know why, seeing as you aren't a superhuman anymore, and her only answer was that you deserved to know, which I thought was a pretty BS excuse."
"What. Is. It." said El, now annoyed.
"Sweetie," said Joyce. "We think Hopper might still be alive."
El's world came to a standstill. The room seemed to expand around her. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her eyes were filling up with tears. Words came out of her mouth, but she couldn't tell what she was saying.
"El…"
She was shaking, the tears pouring down her face now, stunned into some strange mix between anger and fear and helplessness. Angry at Bauman for not telling her earlier. Angry at the world for taking Hopper away from her. And angry at herself for not being able to do anything about it.
"El, you have to listen…"
"I don't want to!" she screamed, standing up so fast the chair topped to the ground. She found herself trying to throw things in the room with nothing but her mind, wondering why nothing was crashing or shattering and then she remembered that she was no less helpless than Bauman or Joyce or Will. Just a person. "He was my dad!"
Bauman's face was impassive. He had known she would react like this.
Joyce looked heartbroken. She wanted to take El's pain away, but there was nothing—
"Where is he?" heaved El. "Is he in the Upside Down?"
Bauman raised a hand. "I'm still looking into it. But if my intel is right, he's in Russia."
"Russia?" How were they supposed to get him back from there?
"It's the best I can do. There's no guarantee, either. But it's a start. It's hope."
El felt her rage and frustration threatening to bubble over. She delivered a searing glare at Bauman, one that she wasn't even sure he deserved, then she ran out of the room into the parking lot, tears pouring down her face.
Will got up, his face pale from the shock, but a good deal calmer than he adopted sister. "I'll go talk to her."
Joyce nodded her approval. "Just be kind."
She knew she didn't need to say it. Her son was nothing if not kind. He had developed a bond with El over their shared experiences and she knew that right now, he had a better chance of getting through to her than maybe even Mike Wheeler.
…
Outside, El was sitting on the curb by the rarely traveled road that led to the hotel. She was sobbing, her shoulders heaving. Will came over and sat next to her. He didn't put an arm around her and he didn't say anything. He just waited for her to talk.
"It's not fair," she gasped out finally. "Why can't any of us be allowed to be happy? Why can't it be over?"
"I don't know," Will said. "I don't know if anyone does."
"Well, it needs to change!"
Will didn't respond.
"Good people shouldn't have bad things happen to them! Not like this!"
Will lowered his head. "Yeah. It's not fair, is it?"
"No!"
"I'm really sorry, El. No one has been through more than you. And sure, you have Mike and you have my family, but that doesn't make up for everything that you've lost. I don't know how we're going to get Hopper back. And it didn't sound like they do either. But we will. Whether he's in Russia, or a desert, or the North Pole. Even if he's in the Upside Down. I don't care where he is or what we have to do. If there's a chance of getting you your dad back, we're going to do it." Will's words were calm, spoken quietly. He wasn't punctuating his words by waving his arms, he wasn't even raising his voice. He spoke in a soft, slow cadence that was full of belief and patience.
El sniffled. "I'm afraid to hope."
"Me too. But El, just think. Think of everything we've done and everything we've survived. And we're just kids. If I could make it out of the upside down, Hopper is smart enough to survive Starcourt too."
"Your mom told me that she saw him die…"
Will didn't have any response to that. He didn't want to call his mother a liar, but he didn't want to get El's hopes too high either. He had to admit, the chance of Hopper still being alive was almost nonexistent.
"I have an idea," he said finally. "Let's go along with the adults. Sometimes they're useful, right? But who were the ones who really saved the day? Who were the people who had to face the worst of it all?"
"Us kids," El said with the beginnings of a smile.
"Us kids," said Will. "Maybe Hopper is still alive, maybe not. We'll do our own investigation. We'll find out what we need to know. Together. Because you're family now, and I'm not about to let my sister do something like that on her own."
El smiled through her tears. "Thank you, Will."
Will sighed. "You don't need to thank me. If it wasn't for you, we'd all have died so many times. I'll always have your back."
"Even though I like Blade Runner?" asked El, her tone going from sad to mischievous.
"Hey, I like that movie," said Will. "Lucas and Mike don't know what they're talking about."
…
In Russia, the American bided his time. Things were beginning to happen, he knew that. He heard whispers, and they told him exactly what he needed to do. Right now, he needed to wait. The Russians were not any closer to making any relevant discoveries, he could tell that much. That meant that he held all the power, and they didn't even know it. They thought he could help them—little did they know just how right they were.
At night, the American dreamed. His dreams were hazy and indistinct, but he could make out enough. He could see that things were moving quickly. That soon, he would be required to act. What that meant, he wasn't sure yet, but when the time came, he would.
There was a part of him that knew he should be afraid, but for some reason, he didn't feel any fear at all. He wondered why that was. Was it because he was far stronger than all these pathetic Russian soldiers? Was it because he knew so much more than they did? He couldn't say. Nevertheless, he rested easy and waited for his time to come, as it must.
Everything would work out. There was no question about it. It was only a matter of time.
…
"Steve, please," said El. "We really need you to do us this favor."
Steve looked at the kids with suspicion. "You want me to drive you to Hopper's cabin, but it has to be a secret? And you can't tell me why? I don't know about this one, guys. Why can't you just have your parents take you? That place got destroyed, right? Can't be too safe."
"Please?" El said again, her eyes wide and pleading. She knew Steve couldn't resist helping out someone in trouble.
"Fine," he said. "But if anything happens, this is all on you, you hear me? I had nothing to do with it!"
Mike was confused and concerned. He hoped that this crazy plan of El's had nothing to do with their conversation about hurting. He wasn't an expert on grief, but this didn't seem like the best way to go about dealing with things. What was even stranger was that Will had gone right along with it, had backed El up, every step of the way. It had only been yesterday that Joyce had picked them up from the Wheeler house. What was going on? What had they talked about when they had been together? And why wouldn't she tell him?
The rest of the party was there with them too. None of them seemed to have as big a problem with the whole set up as Mike did. It wasn't that he didn't trust El, because he did. It was because he was just concerned as to where this whole thing was going.
They piled into Steve's car (it was a tight fit) and pulled out of the Harrington driveway. "I'd feel a lot better if you guys would just tell me," he said. "I can't help you out if I don't know what's going on."
"What makes you think we need help?" asked Dustin.
Steve scoffed. "Are you kidding? You guys always need help. You're a mess."
Dustin shrugged. "That's fair."
The ride to Hopper's cabin passed without incident. As they pulled up, El felt a wave of nostalgia and emotion wash over her. She had spent so much time here, being kept safe at the risk of Hopper's life. At the time, she hadn't appreciated what he was risking for her. Now, looking back, she couldn't believe someone could be that selfless. He had been a hero, whether the world recognized it or not.
He is a hero, she corrected herself in her head. He might still be alive somehow.
Steve parked and turned the car off. "Everybody out!" he shouted. "I'll… wait here, I guess? Or am I allowed to come in with you?"
"Could you please wait?" asked El, her voice sweet again. "In case someone dangerous comes. You could keep us safe."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "You must think I'm stupid if you think I'm going to fall for that obvious attempt at flattery. …but then again, these woods are pretty dangerous, so maybe I will wait here. My prowess might come in handy."
Lucas and Dustin looked at each other, rolling their eyes.
"Yeah, whatever, Harrington," said Max. "C'mon, let's go."
They got out and approached the cabin. El instinctively went to avoid the tripwires that Hopper had put up, but then remembered that they weren't there anymore. She felt a twinge in her chest, the telltale feeling of oncoming sadness, and she grabbed Mike's hand.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mike asked. "We really don't have to."
But I do, thought El. And soon he would understand why they needed to.
There had been no real repairs done to the cabin, and most of it had been left the way it had been. Stepping inside sent El's mind spiraling back to all those days spent hiding inside, and her breath caught in her throat.
"You okay?" asked Max.
El nodded, swallowing hard. Will gave her an encouraging look and she crossed the threshold, into the cabin itself.
Once the party was inside, those of them that had no idea what was going on looked around expectantly. "Well?" said Lucas. "What is it?"
Will looked at El. She shook her head. "You tell," she said.
Will took a deep breath and began to relay to the rest of the party the same information that Joyce and Bauman had told them yesterday.
…
"And so that's why we're here," Will concluded. "To see if there was any sign of something Hopper might have left behind. Or maybe evidence that someone came through here, looking at his stuff. Someone who shouldn't have been here. Oh, and you have to keep it a secret. Because we weren't even supposed to tell you. And that bald guy is terrifying, if I'm being honest."
The party was stunned. No one knew what to say. Mike put his arm around El, pulling her close. The idea that Hopper might still be alive and in Russian captivity was just too huge to fully comprehend. Luckily, Max was there to take charge.
"Well, you heard him," she said. "It might be a long shot, but it's all we've got. Get looking. Split up. This place isn't that big, but we want to be as thorough as possible. Think you mouth-breathers can handle that?"
Lucas put his hands up in defense. "Take it easy, Max! We're doing the best we can here! That's a lot of info to just have suddenly dropped on your head like that." He looked to Will and El. "No offense."
El nodded. He wasn't wrong.
They began to look. Mike stayed with El, though neither of them said anything to each other. Mike wasn't sure how he felt about this. Part of it seemed too good to be true. The other part seemed like it was just what El needed—if Hopper really was alive, this would answer all their prayers. But if it was false hope… how could she ever come back from that? Mike just wanted her to be happy, whatever that meant for her.
There wasn't much left in the apartment. They went through every file, every floorboard. Every hole that the Mind Flayer's creation had thrashed in the structure, looking for something, anything, that might have indicated something out of the ordinary.
The longer they looked, the more Mike began to conclude that there was nothing to find. It was nothing more than the ruins of Hopper's cabin.
Two hours went by, the party swapping positions throughout the cabin more than once. It was only then that Mike put his hand on El's shoulder and said, "El…maybe there isn't anything—"
"No!" she shouted, before realizing that she was shouting. "No," she said again, quieter this time. "There has to be something. There's always a clue. There's always a way out."
Max bit her lip.
Mike's eyes were pleading with El. "Remember what we talked about? Sometimes the only way out is to face what's right in front of you. If he is alive, we're not going to find anything here."
Everyone in the room was holding their breath. No one wanted to speak. El looked like she was torn between bursting into tears and screaming at the top of her lungs. She did neither. Instead, she glared at Mike for one moment longer, then stormed past him, out the ruined front door. Mike stood in her wake, watching her go, frozen in his spot. Then his brain seemed to reengage, and he charged out the door after her.
The rest of the party heard Steve, yelling after the two. "Hey! What the hell, guys? Where are you going? Seriously, what the hell?"
…
El crashed through the trees. She knew Mike was right, knew that there had been little to no chance of finding anything in the cabin to begin with, but that didn't change how she felt. Just because he was right didn't mean she was wrong. She wanted to keep looking! She couldn't just give up on the man who had saved her life in so many ways.
"El!" Mike called after her. "C'mon, wait up!"
She ran for only a moment longer before realizing she had no idea where she was going. She could barely see past the veil of tears that had shrouded her eyes and her chest was burning with anger and frustration.
Mike caught up to her in a second. "Hey," he said. "I'm sorry. I know."
He didn't know. He might have thought he did. He might even have a little bit of an idea. But he didn't know. How could he? He had lived a relatively normal life with a normal family. He had never needed to rely on the kindness and generosity of a stranger, a stranger who would later give up everything.
"It's not fair!" said El. "He deserves better!"
"And we're going to give it to him," said Mike. "We just can't do that here. You see that, right? We should get back to town and start thinking about what comes next."
"If I had my powers, this would be so easy," sniffed El. "It's my fault we can't save him."
Mike shook his head firmly. "It has nothing to do with you. You saved us all. It was over. The Russians were the ones who opened the gate again. It's their fault. You know that, right?"
She did. Deep inside, she did, but it didn't make it any easier. It was just so—
There was a noise. It was coming from behind Mike. Quietly, softly, but it was there.
"Did you hear that?" asked El, looking over Mike's shoulder.
Mike turned around. "Hear what? What happened?"
The noise had stopped, but El knew that it had been there only a moment ago. "Sounded like… someone walking."
Mike peered into the trees. "Maybe it was Steve coming after us?" He cupped his hands to his mouth. "Steve? You there?"
There was no response. Mike turned back to El. "Come back with me, okay? We're going to figure this out."
El nodded slowly and took Mike's hand. She loved his optimism; she loved how much he cared about her. Still though, this time she was worried that they weren't going to figure it out. That there was nothing that could do.
But we have to try.
As Mike turned to lead her back to the cabin, the trees around them exploded into activity.
Men rushed out at the couple, shouting words at them that El didn't understand. The men were dressed in camouflage and carried guns that looked like they would tear the kids to shreds in an instant. El didn't understand why she couldn't make out what the men were saying until she realized that they weren't speaking English. They were speaking Russian.
"Put your hands behind head," said one of the men, a tall blonde brute wearing black, opaque circular sunglasses. "No moves."
El put her arm in front of Mike, preparing to scatter the men with one blast. Then she remembered that she couldn't do that anymore.
"You are the girl, yes?" said another man, gesturing with his gun.
El looked around them. There were at least ten armed soldiers that she could see. That must have been the noise that she had heard.
"Stay away from her!" Mike shouted. "Don't even—"
"Shut up, boy," said the sunglasses-wearing man. His voice was heavily accented. The men surrounding them moved in a little closer, their guns all trained on El. "We have no wish to hurt you."
"You can't do this!" shouted Mike. "The police will—"
The man sighed. "Do nothing. They will never believe. Russian army? In Hawkins. No."
El's heart was pounding. Her arm was still across Mike's chest, though for all the good she could, she might as well have not bothered.
The man in the sunglasses raised a hand. "You come with us now." And then he barked something in Russian. The surrounding armed men all closed in on El. Their intent was clear—to take her with them.
Mike pushed El's arm aside. "Stay back!"
"Shut it, kid."
Mike snapped. He charged at the man in the sunglasses, all his frustration and helplessness coming out of him at once. Mike drew back his fist to throw a punch at the much taller man's face.
The soldier swung his gun, striking Mike in the side of the head, sending him crashing to the ground. El gasped and stepped forward, but the soldiers who were closing in all lifted their guns and aimed them at her in unison.
"If you hurt him…" Her voice trailed off. She had nothing to threaten them with.
The man in the sunglasses aimed his gun down at Mike. "I told him to stay back. Should have listened."
The world slowed to a crawl. A thousand memories came rushing back to El… Mike saving her life, letting her live in his basement. Mike, moving heaven and earth to get her everything she needed to do what needed to be done. Mike, kissing her for the first time. Mike and her at the Snow Ball, happy and carefree, for once.
This doesn't end like this.
Inside her, something changed. It felt like water, raging behind a damn, pushing against a barrier so massive, that nothing on earth could move it. And then, in an instant, with no warning or explanation, the barrier was gone, and the water came torrenting out in an overwhelming, explosive rush.
"NO!"
Her voice was louder, deeper, amplified by something inside of her. In that moment, she felt her powers come pouring back into her body as the dam shattered. El thrust her arms out, letting the power flow out of her. The soldiers went careening across the forest, some slamming into trees, some skidding along the ground. One accidentally fired his gun, bullets discharging into the air at an earsplitting volume.
The man in sunglasses scrambled on the ground, first sliding his glasses back onto his face and then picking up his gun. There was fear on his face—he knew what El had done to the men working in Hawkins lab. He knew what the girl was capable of. She wasn't supposed to have her powers! This wasn't part of the plan!
El looked at the man with disgust. There were no identifying markers on his uniform, nothing to indicate who he was or where he was from. She knew that she should kill him; she knew that to keep him alive would be a mistake. Yet she couldn't bring herself to do it. Something had changed after becoming a member of the party.
"Go," she said, her hands trembling. "Go. And if you come back… I will not let you go again."
The soldiers were unsteadily rising to their feet. Some of them were picking their guns back up. All of them were looking at their leader, who had backed up into a tree. His mouth was set, his shoulder hunched. He didn't say anything, just rose to his feet and motioned for his men to follow him. One by one, they began to vanish into the forest.
As the last one disappeared, the sound of crunching sticks and leaves drew close. El looked around in alarm, only to see Steve sprinting up to them.
"Guys, I heard a gun! We've gotta get out of here!"
El wiped a trickle of blood away from her nose and smiled.
…
Steve took them all back to Mike's house, accepting no arguments or excusing. He had no desire to get them killed by gunfire and then have to answer to Nancy. He was done dealing with that forever.
"You didn't kill them?" asked Max. "But… why? They're going to just try again now."
El shook her head. "Not if they're smart."
"But they know you're here now!" said Dustin. "Of course they'll try again!"
Mike jumped in. "Guys, she didn't want to kill anyone. It's that simple. Let her go. And so what if they know she's here? We know they're here now. And more importantly, El—"
"I have my powers back," El said with a smile.
Her powers returning had come as a huge relief. She had worried they would never come back, despite Mike's arguments that she had just drained her batteries. It wasn't that she thought her powers defined her. It was just that in the world they lived in, she knew they would need every ounce of strength they could find. And now, with Russian soldiers breathing down their necks, they would need to be especially well prepared.
Lucas was pacing back and forth. "They didn't see anyone else, right? Did they say why they were there? I mean, besides for El, obviously. And you! Where the hell were you?" He glared at Steve.
Steve threw up his hands. "Seriously, Sinclair? Where were you? I'm the one who came running in! And will someone please tell me what's going on now?"
El looked at Mike. "Can I have a blindfold? And a radio?"
Mike looked around the basement for a minute to find the requested items, already knowing what they were going to be used for. In the corner of the room, Will hung up the phone. "Mom is okay," he said to El. "I guess they really were just after you. It's like they don't know what happened in Starcourt at all."
"Why would they?" asked Lucas. "All those guys died. Or the military took them, but then I think they probably died anyway."
"What's she doing?" asked Steve, watching El tie the bandana around her eyes and tune the radio to a static channel.
"I'm looking for my dad," said El, as she sat very still and closed her eyes. The static reached out and swallowed her whole and she felt herself sinking deep into the blackness, diving after the only man she would ever consider her father.
…
In his cell, the American stood up. The girl was opening up her mind once again. It was time to begin.
