El could feel someone pull at her hood as Mike stepped in front of her. He let his arms stretch out to the side of him as if that would stop anyone from getting to her. She could hear Will in the background, not sure what he was saying as all the kids on the porch surrounded her, bringing her back inside. She slowly stepped back, all the men surrounding the house holding up big guns at them. They came from all directions, and as she heard one scream not to move, she thought of the safety plan Hopper had made for them a year ago.

I distract and you escape.

Hopper stood in front of the door, pulling at Mikes backpack to drag him inside. She watched as everyone in the house backed into their corners, not sure on what action to take. Kali still stood in the kitchen, Axel and Mick glaring at El as they blocked her from view.

"I said don't move," a man yelled from the outside. Mike stumbled towards her, Dustin and Lucas surrounding her as Max went for the Knife that El had dropped on the floor. Hopper slammed the door shut, as if that would keep the bad men out. He locked the door with all its locks, turning to El with raised eyebrows.

"I distract," he said to her before a gun shot was heard. A small hole appeared in the front wall of the cabin, small wood particles flying into the air. "Get down," Hopper yells before more gun shots were heard. Everyone hit the floor, Mike landing on top of El while Lucas screamed next to them.

"Shit," Dustin yelled with his arms over the back of his head, El couldn't breathe as dust fell to the floor, the shots continued to fire through the walls. She could feel a sting on the cut in her chest, her throat closing in with pain as she tried to calm herself. She felt Mike cover her head with his hands as she lay on her stomach on the floor.

And then there was silence.

"Stop!" she heard a man scream from the outside. "We need them alive!" she looked over to Hopper, as he sat up with his gun in his hands. Holes litters the wall and the front door, Joyce cried on the other side of the couch, as Steve stood from where he was with Nancy and Jonathan, grabbing his bat and moving to get the kids furthest from the door.

Mike help El up to her feet, one of his hands covered in blood. She looked down at herself to see where it came from. Max sat huddled in the kitchen with Kali's crew. Axel pulled a hand gun from his pocket jacket; cocking the trigger back ready to fire. Mick and Dottie drag Kali to the bedroom, but Kali fought from their arms to stay up front.

"I can distract them," she said to the group, everyone looking at her with a little bit confusion. "Just let me go out there and I can distract them." Will laughed in the corner, his body covered in small wood chips. A knock came to the door, making everyone jump, their heads flying in the direction of the sound.

"Eleven?" Came a male voice. "Papa's here, there no need to be scared." El looked at Hopper, their eyes meeting for a brief moment. Hopper raised his gun higher, anger dancing on his face. "Don't make me force my way in there." Brenner said with a bight of anger. Kali brushed past El shoulder, walking to stand next to Hopper as they both glared at the door. Will gave a slight whimper. El looked in his direction; Joyce standing over his, the space heaters not yet plugged in but placed around his bed.

"You should go," Will said weakly to his mom. EL could see tears falling from his eyes, a fight of emotion playing on his face. "You should run," El felt a chill run down her body as she got closer to him. Her small steps made no noise; the distant sound of banging on the door didn't disturb her as she watch Will struggle with an internal fight. "It's going to come," he cried, his face stretching as he tried to fight back a smirk. Joyce brushed the hair form his face, glancing over to El with panic in her eye as the door slammed open. She heard Hopper yell with his gun raised as Kali screamed and fell to the floor. There was a gunshot as one of the bad men fell to the floor, another two crowding into the room as they began to fight for Hoppers gun. Axel stood from the kitchen firing his gun three times into the crowd as two men fell to the floor.

She felt someone grab at her arm, pulling her away from Will as she watched men tackle Hopper to the floor; Axel firing more shots before running out of bullets. Brenner slowly took big strides into the cabin as El was pulled to her bedroom door. They locked eyes with one another before he took a gun that sat in his right hand and pointed it at Hoppers head. El stopped in her place from whoever was pulling her back. Her breathe catching as he cocked back his gun staring at her all the while. Men crowded the room, the small space getting even tighter than it was before. Two men picked Kali up from the floor, a dart in her chest as she lay asleep.

"Now," Brenner said looking at her. "You will come with me Eleven, do you understand?" Her stomach dropped at his words. She felt a hand grip hard on her arm, she slowly looked back to see Mike behind her. Nancy stood close to him, her eyes trained on the men with guns. "What is it going to be," Brenner yelled looking around the room. "All these people dead, or you walking out of that door with me?" El looked at all her friends, Lucas holding Max behind him, Dustin standing with Steve close to the kitchen table. She looked to her closed bedroom door; Tory sleeping on the other side. She could feel a tingle in her brain as she began to think, as she began to concentrate.

She looked at all the men with guns; her eyes slightly glazing over with red, as she felt anger build inside of her. She could feel her energy fly from her body, gliding in the air as she wish them to stop breathing. Brenner looking around him as his men started to choke on the air, he watched as one fell to the floor, and then another. He raised his gun at her, her mind still concentrated on the bad men around the room. She wanted to leave Brenner for last, but before she could really kill any of them she heard a quiet shot and a tingle in her chest. She looked down; a dart hanging out of her skin as black liquid fell into her blood stream. She looked back up at Brenner, as the tingle in her brain began to disappear, and each man gasped another breath.

…

Mike felt a pain in his bicep, but he ignored the feeling as he caught El before she fell to the floor. He pulled the dart from her chest before it could be fully drained into her. Hopper yelled, busting the back of his head on one of the guys that held him down. All the men with guns began to back everyone against the wall; Mike could hear them scream at his friends as they pointed guns to their heads. He held El in his arms; his breathes becoming irregular as he tried to concentrate on El. He could Hear Nancy behind him of say his name in fear before he saw Brenner in his view bending down in front of him.

"Looks like you were hit kid," Brenner said hovering his hand over Mikes arm. Mike looked down at the damage, finally realizing why his arm hurt so bad, why he felt so weak. Blood oozed from his jacket sleeve, his upper arm was grazed by a bullet. Brenner went to grab El from his hands, and even if the motion pained Mike into a scream he held her with as much strength as he could.

"Don't touch her," Mike growled through his teeth. Brenner gave him a small smirk before placing his arm over Mikes wound and giving it a small squeeze. Mike saw white as the pain ran through his body. He could hear Nancy scream as men surrounded her. Dustin yelled at the top of his lungs, but all Mike could focus on was not vomiting from the pain as Brenner let go of his arm and snatched El away from him. Mike bent over in pain, letting his forehead touch the wooden floor as he held his right elbow for support.

"I'm going to kill you," Hopper yelled, the sound of scuffing made Mike think that Hopper was fighting back. He tried to open his eyes but could only concern himself with breathing. He heard Will laugh from the corner as someone cut him from his restraints.

"Put him to sleep," He heard Brenner say from far away as Will began to scream.

"Don't touch him," Joyce yelled. Mike slowly raised his head from the floor to look over to his friend on the bed. One of the men produced a needle, filling it was something clear and stabbing it into Will. The boy screamed as Jonathan tried to fight one of the men off from his brother. Jonathan was pushed to the ground, one of the guys punching him a few times in the face. Mike watched with tears in his eyes as his family struggled, Hopper by the door yelling as a man began to beat him. Steve pushed two men off of him as he went for his bat, but was pulled back and pushed into the kitchen table. Men carried Will out of the door as Joyce cried over Jonathan. Nancy hovered over Mike as he began to go pale from blood loss. Max yelled from her spot behind Lucas men continued to beat Steve and Hopper up, before being satisfied with their work and walking out the front door. Mike could hear their car start up from a distance as the entire cabin remained in silence. He could feel tears warm his face as Dustin rushed to Steve's side, the cries of Joyce on the other side of the couch leaving a chill in his body.

Mike sat on top of the kitchen table as the bigger man from the group of punks cleaned his bullet wound. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain as Nancy stood on the other side of him holding his shoulder with tears in her eyes. Dustin helped Steve with the cuts on his face, Hopper stood next to them in the kitchen with a raw piece of meat on his eye. Mrs. Byers sat on the couch with Jonathan, even with his face beat up he took care of his crying mother. Refusing to get help until his mother was okay.

"You got lucky," the big man said to Mike. Mike stared into the distance, not feeling lucky at all. "It just grazed your arm. It's going to hurt using it for a while, you might have a nasty scare, but over all you got lucky." Mike listened to Nancy let out a big breath of air. Mike looked straight ahead to Hopper, who stared at him through one good eye as he kept his beef bandage over his other.

"Don't you think we should get out of here?" he heard Max say softly to Lucas. They stood against the small wall by El bedroom door. "Will said-"

"Will probably said a lot of things," Hopper interrupted. "We need to gather ourselves up. We need to eat, sleep, and then figure things out." Mike felt anger build up inside of him.

"We should already be out there," Mike said with bitterness in his voice. "They could be anywhere by now." Mike instinctively moved his right arm in protest, wincing as his muscle clamped down in protest.

"Yeah," Hopper said to him, putting the meat he was holding down on the counter. "And what are you going to do when you find them? Fight them off with one arm? Use a slingshot to blind them with pebbles?"

"At least I would be doing something?" Mike yelled back.

"Oh yeah," Hopper breathed stepping closer to him. "You think I don't want to go out there and shoot every one of those assholes in the head, because I do. But we can't just rush out there without a plan." Silence filled the cabin again. Mike listened to the man attending his arm, feeling the pressure build as he tied a piece of a torn shirt around the gash.

"My names Ray," the man said to him, extending his hand out to Mike's good hand. "I didn't know Jane well," he continued. "But from what I have seen she has good values, and Kali really trusted her, even when they had differences." Mike took the man's hand weakly, not really knowing how to react to the exchange. He looked to the bedroom door, where the rest of his crew sat with Tory.

"Why didn't they take her?" Mike asked looking back at Ray. "I mean, she's one of them isn't she." Ray looked over to the closed door and then back to Mike. He shrugged his shoulders in silence before picking up the bloody towels and bringing them to the sink. Mike looked up at his sister, her eyes locking on Jonathan.

"I do think we should pack up and head somewhere else," Hopper said walking over to the front facing wall. He pulled at small wood strips from the bullet holes, slowly rubbing his head. Mike could see the dark circle under his good eye, the stress in his shoulders as Hopper looked around the cabin. "Looks like I need a new house," he said under his breathe.

Mike jumped from his spot on the table, regretting the decision as his arm shot up in pain. He cradled his arm to his chest and Lucas stuck his arm out to him to bring him into a little hug. Dustin came behind him, sharing in the small hug exchange, Max rolling her eye before she step in with them.

"Now you're the coolest one in the party," Max said as they broke apart. "You literally got shot and lived to tell the tale. That's badass." Mike let a shy smile play on his face. He looked over to El's room, his heart falling slightly. He felt like he failed her. It reminded him of the time at the school a little over a year ago. When Brenner held her in his arms, she cried Mike's name, too weak to move. He couldn't think of a plan, all he could think was just finding her, of just taking her back before anything else could happen to her.

"We're going to pack up," he heard Hopper say softly behind him. He saw the man bent down eye level with Mrs. Byers, his hands on her knees. She had stopped crying a little while ago, her face glazed over as she stared at the bed that Will had occupied. The wires that tied him down hanging loosely from the corners of the metal frame, the heaters spread around not even plugged in. Mike looked to the floor beside of. Some of his blood stained the wood from where he had stood with El, the dart that flew into her chest lying almost under the sofa. He bent down, picking it up. Through the glass he could see black liquid, not all of it had gotten into her before he had taken it out of her.

"What do you think it is," Lucas said from behind him.

"It looks like some X-Men shit, like something out of a comic book," Dustin said, taking a few steps and grabbing the dart out of Mikes hand.

"He shot her with it at the quarry," Mike said. "She was opening the gate, rocks were floating and she was screaming. It made her fall asleep, it made her powers stop working." They all stared at the black liquid. Mike tried to think of what kind of medicines made people sleep, what components go into a liquid that could make someone so weak.

"Well," Dustin said looking up at his friends. "The liquid must affect her brain waves, since her telekinetic powers have to do with the energy that from in her brain."

"We just need to think about what part of her brain she uses when she uses her power" Lucas said. "Maybe that can help us figure out what kind of chemicals they used to put stoppers on whichever part of her brain they are trying to shut down." He grabbed the dart from Dustin's hands holding it up to the light to get a better look at it. Mike turned to Mrs. Byers. They had worked on the brain before. He pictured Will's first place science fair trophy in the Byers living room.

"Did Will keep our old science fair project," Mike asked walking over to her.

"What," she asked confused.

"The brain we made for out last science fair. The one we won first place on?" Hopper looked up at him in confusion.

"Yeah," Mrs. Byers said. "I made him keep it. I have a memory box for both of the boys, in my closet." Mike looked over to his friends; both Lucas and Dustin nodded their heads.

"You guys are nerds," Max said under her breathe.

Hopper stood from his spot in front of Mrs. Byers. He walked around the cabin grabbing his gun, and the old wooden one from the floor.

"Let's move out I guess," he said to everyone, moving to El's bedroom. "No one's getting left behind," He said walking into the room. Dustin opened Mikes backpack, throwing the dart inside and handing the bag over to Mike.

"If we find out what in that thing," Dustin said, "Maybe we can figure out how to help El out when we find her." Mike nodded his head, he swung the bag with his good arm over his shoulder; ready to get moving.

…

There were no lights, just a slight ray of sun that came through the front window of the van. El moved her hand to place over her eyes. The sun beam was perfect on her face and the bright light was hurting her eyes, but her hand was stopped by cold metal placed around her wrist. She bunched her eye brows in confusion as she squeezed her eyes shut, her head was hurting, and her body felt like jell-o. The last thing she could remember was Brenner's face.

Her eye shot open again. I'm in a van, she thought looking around herself to figure out what was happening. She moved her hands again; the metal of handcuffs scrapping against the medical bed bars rang into her ears. She couldn't see anyone around her, just two heads in the front seat. She could see a few tree pass in the front window, they were moving really fast.

I distract you escape.

What happened to the escape part? She thought she would rather help than run. She didn't want to leave her family behind. She thought about the gun fire, the wooden dust covering their bodies, Mike's bloodied hand. Her breathing began to pick up, her heart was racing, and to make things worse her neck was in so much pain it was causing the air to get stuck in her throat.

"She's awake," she heard the driver say from the front. She moved her eyes forward, watching as the man that sat in the passenger seat turned around. Brenner smiled at her, his gray hair falling slightly flat, his eyes tired. He unbuckled his seat belt, moving to get closer to her. El could feel a cry build up in her throat, the pain of her injury not allowing her to make much noise.

"It amazes me," Brenner began to say as he hunched his back, walking to sit next to her head. "You look so much older with long hair." He touch a stray curl, El jerked her head away with anger. "You had such long blonde hair when you were younger. I didn't think you hair would come out so dark if it ever grew back out." He rested his back against the van wall. She moved her head away from his direction, looking at her left hand shackled to the bed.

"You have to understand," he said to her slowly. "They would have gotten you killed." There was a pause; El felt her chin wobble as she let a tear fall from her eye. "You would have gotten them killed. They have no idea what kind of threats lie out there in the world. They don't know how much this country needs you." El shook her head, opening her mouth with a silent cry. "Your work isn't done here, and even though you have caused some sort of," Brenner moved his hands in the air, looking for the right word. "Let's just say you have made the scientific community question life as we know it."

El thought back to Will. You should run. It was coming, it was going to destroy them and she wouldn't be there to help. She opened the gate again, she let the monsters out. She was a monster, not a hero.

"Our new lab is a little warmer," Brenner continued. "You'll have your own room, and your own bed; just like before." El yanked her right arm from the side of the bed, the hand cuffs stopping her from more movement. She kicked her legs, letting a scream build in her lungs. She was a monster, nothing more or nothing less. She didn't want to be here, she didn't want to go back. She needed to move, she needed to stand, and she needed to run.

"I think you'll be surprised," Brenner said a little louder trying to talk over El's banging as she moved. "To know that we aren't going to kill any of those friends of yours. Unless they give us probable cause." El let out a pained cry. "You know what that means right?" She couldn't breathe because the walls were caving in, and she couldn't think because the only thing she could see was her imprisonment. "That Jim Hopper, what a guy." Brenner patted her shoulder, moving back up to the front and putting his seat belt back on. El stopped her movement. She was giving up, just for now.

…

He was going to call the only person he could think of, and that was Sam Owens. He didn't want to talk to the man over the phone. He knew they were listening, they were always listening. He looked out the front windows of the Byers house. He could hear the boys in Joyce's room as they went through her closet. Someone was in the shower, and he could hear Joyce as she moved pots around in the kitchen like she was doing something.

The sun was slowly rising, and Hopper pulled a cigarette from his pocket, not caring that he was inside. He lit the end while holding it in his mouth. Inhaling the strong nicotine; the ash warming him slightly as he breathed out. He hadn't had a smoke in a while, he told her that he would stop and he had, but he couldn't help himself in this one moment. He saw the gun that Brenner held, he thought it was a real gun, and as he shot El he thought it was a real bullet, but it wasn't.

Hopper turned around to see Max sitting against the wall in the corner. She played with her hands looking off into the distance. Hopper let out a deep breath, looking at the small girl debating on if he should say something.

"I'm okay," she said before he could open his mouth. "I was just thinking about how nice it would be in California right now." Hooper took a drag of his cigarette, nodding his head with a little chuckle.

"I'm sure it's nice and warm there right now," he said letting the smoke fall out of his mouth. "I took my wife to California once, well Ex-wife. She liked the east coast better; less hippies I guess." Max let a smile play on her face. She slowly stood from her spot walking towards the kitchen.

"I think I like it here more," she said walking past him. He raised his eyebrows, watching as she turned down the hall to the boy's voices. He turned and looked back out the window, looking down at his cigarette; half of it left. Joyce's hand came into view, taking it out of his hand before taking a big long drag from it.

"We need to ask her some questions." Hopper looked over to Joyce, not quite sure what she meant. "That Tory girl. I'm sure if we ask, she would be able to find them. I mean El said before, that she saw here in that place." Joyce moved her hand in the air creating a space with the lit cigarette sitting in-between two of her fingers.

"She hasn't woken up in a while," Hopper said. "But she was able to stop Will for a minute; maybe she can do more than we know." He stole the cigarette back from Joyce, taking in a gulp of smoke as she slightly smiled at him.

"Remember when we would hide cigarettes in biology." Hopper gave a slight laugh, coughing slightly as smoke came out of his mouth. "Ms. Fisher always said we smelled like cigarettes but it was only because we were smoking them in the back of class."

"How we got away with that I'll never know. Although, Ms. Fisher was blind as a bat." Joyce gave a slight giggle, looking out to the rising sun. Her face quickly turned upside down in a frown.

"These poor kids," She said. "They'll never be care free." Hopper listened to Mike, his voice building from down the hall. He thought about how he would bully people like them in high school; how he would laugh at any kid who would raise their hands with the answer. He regrets it now; not taking the time to learn. "You ready?" Joyce pulled him from his thoughts. "Let's wake the girl up, let's find out where our kids are." Joyce lifted up her window, throwing the cigarette out, truing around to move down the hall.

Hopper took one last look out the window, watching as the sun slowly rose in the sky. He pictured El, smiling as she looked at her birth certificate. The feeling he had when he handed her the blue bracelet. He turned away from the window; he was going to find her.

If anyone follows me on Archive I am so sorry it has been so long since I have updated. I just got a new teaching position and my life has been insane for the past two weeks, plus my car broke down in the middle of all the craziness so I haven't had time to update. I promise it will come out soon.

For the rest of you all thank you for reading! I have been having a great time working with these characters in my writing and I hope to keep going. I have started a small Instagram blog if anyone is interested. I am posting every day for a year, mostly to see how far I come and what happens in within this next year. You can find it under the name samvblog. If I get enough followers I would love to have small video of not only stranger things topics, but also anything to do with writing. Come check it out!