I do not own Stranger Things or any of the characters.
School
"Lando," Dustin said as they hid from the three men in suits that had pulled into the junk yard.
"You think they saw us?" Lucas asked.
"Both of you, shut up!" Mike snapped.
"They'll have tranquilizer guns," Thirteen said under his breath, all four of the others looking at him. "They can't risk hurting me or Eleven."
"At least we won't be killed yet!" Lucas hissed.
"You won't be at all," Thirteen said. "If it comes down to it, I have enough power left and recharged to kill them, as long as I'm quick and careful about it."
"Kill them!?" Dustin asked, eyes practically falling out of his head.
"In this case, it's them or us, Dustin!" Thirteen hissed. "And you'll be innocent either way!"
Dustin didn't respond, and a moment later, one of the men stopped as he spotted their bikes stashed under the bus. He pushed the door open, only for a hand holding a revolver to crack him over the back of the head, knocking him out instantly. A moment later, by the sound of it, both of the others were unconscious as well. Then, a heavy-set man with a mustache, a stubble beard, and a brown coat over his police uniform climbed onto the bus, stooping so that his hat wouldn't be crushed. He paused for a moment, staring at Thirteen, who still had dried blood below his nose from having been unconscious while Lucas was giving him a ride.
"Alright, let's go," the chief said, only for no one but Thirteen to move, Thirteen grunting in effort as he dragged himself to his feet. "Let's go!"
Lucas helped Thirteen up and they all grabbed their backpacks, running off the bus. They all climbed into his truck and he left the junkyard, driving for a long while before slowing to a stop at Will's house, if Thirteen remembered following Mike and the others properly. Once they had all been properly introduced to each other, they headed inside so that Will could explain where Will, and apparently Nancy's friend Barbara, were.
"So, could you track a dead body?" Lucas asked.
Thirteen sighed, shaking his head. Eleven had tried to find Will and Barbara, but had been unable to, so while she was in the bathroom trying to calm herself down at her own disappointment at herself, Thirteen had explained his own abilities to everyone who hadn't heard it yet.
"I track people based off of the electrical signals in their body," Thirteen said. "When a person dies, those electrical signals stop, so there's nothing for me to track. Ellie could probably find a dead body, but I can't."
"But, wait, if she can find dead bodies, then what does it mean that she can't find them now?" Joyce asked. "I thought she could find them even in the Upside Down."
"She can," Thirteen said. "However, she's used up a lot of energy today, so her powers will be weakened, and focusing will be hard."
"So, what, we have to wait for her to recharge?" Dustin asked.
"Recharge, what is she, a battery?" Nancy asked.
"She needs rest," Thirteen said. "That's all."
"How long?" Nancy asked.
"Tomorrow would be best," Thirteen said. "She threw a van, so it'll be hours, at least."
"The bath," Eleven said, everyone turning to her.
"What?" Joyce asked.
"I can find them," Eleven said. "In the bath."
Thirteen's eyes widened. "Are you sure? You always hated that thing."
Eleven nodded.
"What's she talking about?" the police chief, Jim Hopper, asked.
"A sensory deprivation tank," Thirteen said. "It'll block out the world around her and let her focus. The man who's trying to catch us, Dr. Brenner, forced her to use one to find more difficult or distant targets."
"Targets?" Hopper asked.
"Spy shit," Thirteen said simply. "We're meant to be weapons."
Hopper sighed, nodding. "Figures. Alright, so how do we make one?"
Everyone glanced around before Dustin jumped to his feet.
"Mr. Clark!" Dustin grinned, running to the phone.
Thirteen raised an eyebrow, his face slowly splitting into a grin as Dustin basically manipulated Mr. Clark into telling him exactly how to make a sensory deprivation tank.
"Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?" Dustin asked Joyce as soon as he was finished on the phone.
"I...think so, yeah," Joyce said.
"Good, then we just need salt," Dustin said. "Lots of it."
"How much is 'lots?'" Hopper asked.
Dustin looked down at his notes. "Fifteen hundred pounds."
"Well, where are we going to get that much salt?" Nancy asked.
"The school," Hopper said. "The salt we use on the roads is kept there."
"Then we'll have to set the pool up there," Thirteen said.
"Alright, let's go!" Joyce said.
Everyone nodded and left to the vehicles, heading for the school. One long, annoying process of Dustin, Lucas, and Thirteen carrying and rolling the pool into the gymnasium, Thirteen used his powers to get it set up before Mike brought in a pair of hoses, beginning to fill the tub, Lucas shouting instructions to Nancy, who was at the faucet, to either make it warmer or colder. Finally, after over an hour, everything was ready, and Eleven climbed in, using a set of goggles with duct tape over them to shut out the light. Almost as soon as she was floating in the pool, the lights began to flicker.
"Barbara," Eleven murmured after a moment.
Then, the lights went out as Eleven began to breathe heavily.
"What's going on?" Nancy asked.
"I don't know!" Mike said.
"Is Barb okay?" Nancy asked. "Is she okay!?"
"Gone," Eleven muttered. "Gone. Gone."
Thirteen reached forward, wrapping his hand around Eleven's and focusing on her thoughts. A moment later, he was standing in a pitch black void. The ground seemed to be water, or else had a thin layer of it, but that wasn't his concern. Eleven was panicking, shrieking, "Gone!" over and over. He tugged her hand, pulling her into a hug and shushing her quietly, sinking to his knees with her. He glanced past her to Barbara and grimaced. She was lying in some kind of goo, the goo encasing her, and her body was beginning to decompose, making her skin look a sickly green, and there was some kind of slug inching its way out of her mouth, the thing black with yellowish spots.
"It's okay," Ellie," Thirteen shushed her. "It's okay. Nothing can hurt you."
"It's okay," Joyce's voice echoed from around them. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm right here with you."
"We're all here, Ellie," Thirteen said. "You're safe." Ellie sniffed, nodding, and pushed herself up, looking around. "I'm okay."
Thirteen nodded and pulled back from her mind, opening his eyes in the real world.
"What'd you just do?" Mike asked.
"I had a theory that I might be able to follow her in if I read her mind while she was there," Thirteen said. "It worked."
"Castle Byers," Eleven said.
Joyce glanced at Jonathan.
"Will?" Eleven asked.
"You tell him...tell him I'm coming," Joyce said. "Mom is coming."
"Your mom...she's coming for you," Eleven said softly.
"Hurry," Will's voice crackled from the radio.
"Okay, listen," Joyce said. "Tell him to...to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey!"
"Just...just hold on a little longer," Eleven murmured.
Suddenly, she yelled his name before beginning to whimper. Then, she sat up, fast, and threw the goggles off, Joyce tugging her into a hug instantly. After a moment of regaining her bearings and calming her breathing, Thirteen helped her out of the pool, passing her the first of several towels to use to dry herself. She dried her hair and her dress as much as she could before walking over to the bleachers with the other children, using a second towel to dry her dress more, before Mike wrapped the last towel around her shoulders, then a blanket over it. She leaned on his shoulder and Thirteen sat a little behind them, leaning back against the bleacher behind himself and wiping the half-dried blood from his nose. Following her in had been more exhausting than he'd wanted to admit. Whatever energy he'd managed to recover from his skateboard ride, he'd used most of it. He sighed, closing his eyes, and what felt like seconds later, Lucas was slapping him awake.
"Hey, we're going to the kitchen," Lucas said. "There's chocolate pudding there, so you and El can recharge."
Thirteen nodded exhaustedly, pushing himself up and half-stumbling down the bleachers before following Lucas through the school to the cafeteria. As soon as he was there, he dropped into a seat beside Eleven, folded forward over the table, and he was out again. Less than a second later, Thirteen jerked awake to Eleven shaking him violently.
"Papa!" she gasped out.
He shoved himself to his feet instantly and followed the others into the hallways. "How did they find us?"
"I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym!" Mike said.
"Lando," Dusty said.
Just then, the door they were running for burst open, a pair of soldiers stepping through it, the flashlights on their submachine guns finding them instantly.
"Got 'em," one of the two said.
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Mike shouted as they turned and began to run.
Thirteen shoved his hand toward them, sending both flying backward out through the door, only for two more to sweep in to replace them as Thirteen stumbled after the others. They turned a corner and two men in suits rounded, aiming pistols at them. They spun, retreating back to the last hallway and continued the only clear direction. Except, a woman who Thirteen recognized as Brenner's right hand assistant, a man in a suit, and two soldiers stepped into the way. Thirteen stepped out front instantly, raising his hands. Instantly, there was a sound like a soft, muffled hiss, and something transparent spread outward from a spot in the air before them, filling the hallway. The woman narrowed her eyes and fired two shots, which bounced off of the barrier, one of the shots grazing the calf of the soldier to her left, making him yelp in pain and drop to the ground.
"You've improved," she said coldly, Mike grimacing and holding a hand to his head as blood ran steadily from his nose.
"Let it go," Eleven said, setting a hand on his shoulder.
He let the barrier fade, the barrier shattering like glass, and as soon as it was out of the way, a tranquilizer dart stuck into his thigh. His legs buckled instantly and his head swam. People were shouting, but his brain was too fogged to understand. Lights flashed, something heavy hit the ground, and then more shouting and flashing lights reached him. He looked up, seeing Brenner, he was pretty sure, and reached up toward him, only for Brenner to brush his hand off easily. He stopped suddenly, feeling terror flood him, drawing him back to his senses slightly, though his body was still made of lead and barely responding. Gunfire began to echo from a distance away, or, at least, that was what it felt like with his consciousness still swimming back and forth from oblivion. He felt someone lift him and begin to run down the hallway. After the next time his brain tried to do a hard reset, he found himself lying on a table, the lights above him still flashing.
"Is...Is it here?" Thirteen croaked.
"Yeah," Lucas nodded, just before the creature, which the three of the normal children called a Demogorgon, let out a deafening shriek of pain and rage.
Gunfire echoed outside the classroom they were in, then went silent.
"Is-Is it...I-I-Is it dead?" Dustin stammered.
"No," Thirteen rasped, rolling until his feet hit the floor, leaning heavily on a table as he forced himself upright.
Then, it exploded into the door, tackling it off its hinges and into the room. Dustin began to shriek for Lucas to get a wrist rocket, whatever that was, only for Thirteen to push off the table. Blood gushed from his nose instantly as a barrier formed beside him before expanding, growing forward and back until it had formed a spear, which hovered over his right shoulder.
"Whoa!" Dustin breathed.
The Demogorgon stood upright, walking around the table beside it into the aisle the two lines of tables formed. It had pale, slimy grey skin, deformed arms that almost reached the ground and ended in clawed hands, clawed, digitigrade legs, and a faceless head that opened like a flower to reveal the maw of pointed, fang-like teeth inside.
"Watch over Eleven, Mike," Thirteen said, swaying on his feet, his vision blurring and darkening around the edges. "Be good to her."
Then, he shoved with all his might, sending the spear streaking forward. He saw it impact the Demogorgon in a spray of thick, dark blood, dragging it back until it hit the wall, but then his entire body gave out. He landed heavily, and remained upright just long enough to see the spear fade and allow the still-living Demogorgon to fall to the ground, shrieking and roaring in pain. He'd failed. He tried to move, but his vision was darkening rapidly, sounds growing more and more distant. Finally, as his sight was nothing but a pinprick like the end of a tunnel, it shone blindingly for a moment before fading entirely.
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