Sorry that the last chapter seemed so rushed, I'm trying to wrap this story up by chapter 25 and I had some reviews saying how I was dragging out the climax too much! Trying to find happy medium in this chapter, though. Enjoy!
Mike was only comforted by Jane's hand that was on his during the car ride. Jane and Kali were picking out a mask for Mike to wear, which only heightened Mike's anxiety. Dottie and Axel were dancing to the radio, which was playing punk music he'd never heard. Jane decided she liked the ghost mask for Mike and he begrudgingly tried it on.
"Lookin good!" Dottie commented. Mike took the mask off and smiled shyly.
Nancy got home from school and went up to put her backpack in her room. She saw a note on her pillow and opened it.
Sorry, I don't know when I'll be home. Cover for me! -M
"What an asshole," Nancy muttered. He must be doing something dumb, she thought. Now she'd have to whip up some kind of lie that her mom would believe when Mike didn't come home from Will's. "Jonathon?" Nancy called coming down the stairs.
"Yeah?" he replied from the couch.
"Do you think Will would know where Mike is? He left a note asking me to cover for him."
"He might. Do you wanna stop by my house and ask him? I think the other boys and Max are over too. And Jane," Jonathon said.
"Yeah. Let's ask them," Nancy responded. She knew Mike could be an ass sometimes, but he didn't usually sneak around… The gears in Nancy's head started grinding. Something was definitely up.
When they reached the city, Jane went into the void again to get a better location. She saw Papa in the distance surrounded by the blackness of her mind. Jane tried not to think too hard about the fact that very shortly she would be seeing that man again for the first time in two years. As she moved forward, she started to see that Papa was leaning on a desk, reading some type of file. Jane continued moving forward until she saw a piece of mail on the desk with an address.
"8134 Thirty Seventh Street," Jane said, pulling the blindfold off.
"You heard her," Kali said as Mick nodded and turned. "Funshine, get the supplies ready."
"Sure thing," he replied. Funshine began opening duffel bags. Mike's heart dropped when he saw how many guns were inside. Funshine started loading them and handed one to Dottie and Axel. Kali caught Mike's eye and seemed to notice his discomfort.
"We'll only need them to get inside. Places like that are hard to get inside of." Mike swallowed and nodded. Jane gave his hand a reassuring rub.
"Okay people, we're not far," Mick announced. Dottie jumped excitedly in her seat.
"What's the plan, Kali?" Axel asked.
"We'll wait for a car to go through the gate and I'll conceal us so we won't be seen," Kali started. "Once we're inside… Well I was hoping Jane could lead us to him. Depending on whether he's alone or not, we might have you guys watch the door. Jane and I might want to do this privately." Kali's eyes glistened and she looked down at Jane who nodded solemnly.
"Sounds good to me," Funshine said. Mike got the impression that everyone in this car, with the exception of himself and Jane, would do almost anything Kali asked them to. Like they were indebted to her.
"Where do you want me to meet you?" Mick asked as she pulled into a parking lot. Everyone glanced across the street at a large building surrounded by ten feet tall fences.
"Just do circles around the building. I'm not sure where the exit will be," Kali said.
"Don't you think this is kind of a rush?" Axel asked. "I mean, I know this guy is the big one we've all been waiting for, but shouldn't we at least scope out possible exits first?"
Everyone looked around expectantly.
"Fine. We'll wait until we have our plan down. Jane, do you think you can find an exit route?" Kali asked.
"I'll try," she replied, throwing her blindfold on again.
"Spill," Nancy said, looking right at Dustin, who she figured would tattle sooner than the others.
"I-I don't know anything!" Dustin denied.
"Will, come on," Jonathon tried. "This isn't funny. Where are Jane and Mike? The Chief is going to flip if he doesn't know where she is."
"Maybe we should just tell them, guys," Will said.
"NO," everyone else called out, causing Will to slump his shoulders in defeat.
"Okay, fine," Dustin said. "They went to go help Jane's sister, Eight."
"Dustin!" Lucas reprimanded.
"They were going to find out anyway," Dustin argued.
"What?" Nancy questioned. "He went where?"
"They made some kind of deal when Kali helped save me," Will said, embarrassed. "Now Jane has to help Kali with something."
"What something?" Jonathon asked.
"I don't know," Will lied. "Just finding where someone is or something."
"Yeah, she wouldn't tell us," Max chimed in. "Mike didn't want her to go alone." The others nodded frantically, trying not to sell out their friends completely.
Nancy stood up and started walking out the door.
"Where are you going?" Lucas asked.
"The station. Hopper's gonna kill them."
Steve was at work, doing the usual, which was listening to a townswoman complain that her son's bike was missing from their backyard. It was a pretty normal day at the station. That is, until Nancy and Jonathon walked in.
"Yeah, we'll keep our eye out Ma'am," Steve told the woman, standing up to see why Nancy and Jonathon were there. "Hi," Steve said to the pair.
"We have a problem," Nancy said urgently, walking past him into Hopper's office. Jonathon and Steve shared an awkward glance as they followed her inside.
"What are you two doing in here?" Hopper asked when Nancy barged into his office, followed by Jonathon and Steve. Steve gave the Chief an apologetic glance that said, I don't really know either.
"Jane and Mike… they ditched school," Jonathon chimed in. That certainly got Hopper's attention.
"What?" Steve asked.
"Where the hell are they, then?" Hopper questioned.
"That's what we're trying to figure out. Apparently they went to go help Jane's sister," Nancy explained.
"Shit," Steve and Hopper said at the same time.
"I knew there was something she wasn't telling me," Hopper said, standing up angrily. He started pacing and muttering curse words under his breath.
"So, what are we going to do? The kids don't know where they went," Jonathon asked.
Hopper lifted his head suddenly, as if a lightbulb had just turned on inside his head. He grabbed his hat and coat and walked out the door.
"Wait- where are you?" Nancy asked.
"We're going to Joyce's."
The masked group walked up to the gate silently, since the guard couldn't see them. Kali had them follow a car inside and kept them invisible as they made it to the front door. The building looked a lot like Hawkins lab, except maybe ten years newer, and a lot smaller since it was just outside of the city. They all silently walked up to the door and waited for someone to swipe in. Kali grabbed the door and waved everyone to run inside quickly before it became suspicious for the door not to have closed yet. Mike stayed by Jane's side, trying not to think very hard about the fact that he was carrying an automatic weapon. He knew he wouldn't use it, but Mike needed it for protection. At least, that's what Kali told him.
Kali was quickly becoming tired and they ducked into an uninhabited hallway, where she finally unveiled them.
"Jane," Kali said exhaustedly, reaching behind her mask to wipe her nose. Jane nodded and began leading them in the direction of the room where Papa was. She felt like a magnet, being pulled in the direction of who she was looking for. The group had to keep ducking into rooms or corridors to avoid being seen, but luckily, they hadn't been spotted yet.
"There," Jane said, pointing at a door at the end of a hallway. They could hear voices so they scrambled out of view as two men in lab coats walked by with clipboards. They went into a different room than the one Dr. Brenner was in, so once the coast was clear, the group headed cautiously down the hallway. Mike grabbed Jane's hand as she and Kali led the group towards the room. Slipping inside quietly, Kali motioned for the others the stay in the doorway while they slowly shut the door. Jane and Kali continued walking into the room, where Mike followed a pace behind. Once they entered the room, they could see the familiar tall man with white hair, now sitting at the desk going through files.
"Pretty risky showing up here, isn't it?" Brenner said, turning to face them. He gestured to a wall of TV's behind his desk. "Watching the children you made appear out of nowhere in the middle of the hallway was a pleasant surprise though." Brenner's voice was as dry as they remembered it.
"Okay folks, this is the address of the motel we think Kali's gang has been crashing this past week," Hopper said, pointing at a map he had sprawled on the Byers' kitchen table.
"You think they're still there?" Joyce asked, looking up at Hopper.
"They might. I mean, if all they needed Jane to do was find someone's location, then she could do it from anywhere," Steve said. Dustin looked away guiltily. "What?" Steve asked Dustin, reading his face. "What aren't you telling us?"
"Ugh, we might as well," Will said. Everyone looked at him expectantly. "Jane told us what they were doing. They didn't want us to tell you, but I don't think we have a choice anymore."
"Well, where are they?" Joyce asked.
"They're going to find Dr. Brenner. Apparently he survived the Demogorgon," Lucas explained.
"Wait a minute…I'M GOING TO KILL HER," Hopper exclaimed. "Why in HELL would she….?"
"Why would they want to find him?" Joyce asked, confused.
"They're going to kill him, like Kali does to every lab worker she tracks down. It's revenge," Max explained.
"Shit," Steve said. "What do we do? We have no way of knowing where they could be."
"We can check out the motel. See if there's any clues," Jonathon suggested.
"And they'll have to come back eventually," Hopper said. "Hopefully, they'll make it back."