Happier With You
Author's Note - Brace yourselves! Things are going to take a turn.
Chapter 10 – In The Shadows
El stirred and turned her alarm clock off, but for once in her life she wasn't annoyed at being awoken from her slumber because she was having breakfast with Mike in an hour.
She turned so she was laying on her back and looked up at the ceiling with a foolish grin on her face. Her stomach was full with vibrant butterflies, she felt nervous and excited when she looked into his dark eyes, her heart was jittering at merely the thought of him and her blood boiled with apprehension. El felt like she was falling in love all over again.
With a dreamy sigh El got out of bed and pondered what to wear. It was only breakfast but she still wanted to look nice.
After years of being in the lab with barely any clothing, El had become obsessed with pretty dresses and skirts in particular. They made her feel feminine, which was something Max had always teased her about.
El decided on a pink skirt and a white tank top, pretty but casual. She brushed her hair and put a bit of mascara and lip gloss on once she had brushed her teeth.
The house was in its usual normal havoc. Joyce and Hopper were both getting ready for work, her dad having lost his hat and Joyce having lost her keys again. Will was heading out to meet up with Dustin and Hunter was showering.
El patiently searched for the keys, finding them under a couch cushion. "Thank you sweetie," Joyce sighed in relief giving El a kiss on the cheek. She smiled at her step mom not wanting to remind her that she lost her keys every day and they were nearly always in the same place.
"Aha!" her dad said as he found his hat under the coats that were hung up. El smiled at him, "all ready for work now dad?" Hopper exhaled, "yeah kid. Now you be good okay? What are you doing again?"
El bit her lip not knowing how her dad was going to take this news. "I'm going for breakfast with Mike…he's picking me up at 8."
Her dad paused what he was doing and looked up at her. "Well it's about damn time…I thought that boy would have been attached to your hip the moment you got home. I was ready with my shot gun."
She didn't know whether to cringe or smile. Her dad didn't know everything that had happened between her and Mike, and she preferred to keep it that way. If her dad knew what Mike had done whilst they were separated, it was highly likely he would have murdered him.
"We were apart two years dad…a lot can happen in that time."
Hopper shrugged and side smiled, "that's true…but the few times I saw him after you left, he was very clearly still love sick over you. The day he stops being in love with you is the day I admit to him that he's actually a good kid and I like him. It's never gonna happen."
El laughed gently and hugged him, "I love you dad." She clutched to him, realising how much she had truly missed him over the years they had been separated. His bear paw hands held her protectively. "I love you too kid."
They broke out of the embrace and Hopper cleared his thick throat, averting his eyes but El could see they were misty. "Right well I best get to work kid. See you tonight…"
"See you tonight," El said before hugging Joyce when she left a little while later. Once Will was gone too, El hung out on the couch watching the television and watching the clock every few minutes.
Hunter came out of the bathroom dressed and towel drying his blonde hair. He looked around to see there was only El in the house and he laughed. "Woah…how long was I in there for?"
El laughed, "only like 15 minutes but the morning is always crazy, everyone rushing to get out quick." She said smiling.
Hunter went to drop the wet towel into the laundry basket when the phone right next to him rang. He looked to El and she nodded to him that it was okay to pick up the phone.
"Hello Hopper residence?"
El watched as Hunter frowned slightly, "Sam? Sam it's Hunter. You okay buddy?" he said in surprise. She also felt shocked at the unexpected call from their fellow subject.
El hesitantly stood up from the couch wondering what it was Sam wanted.
"What do you mean she's in trouble?" Hunter asked anxiously making El feel extremely nervous.
At that moment there was a gentle knock at the front door and she knew immediately who it was. Feeling distracted by whatever was going on in the phone call, El opened the door and looked at Mike for a brief moment.
He looked incredibly handsome in a fitted short sleeved light blue shirt and cargo shorts. "Hey…" Mike said breathlessly, his eyes lighting up as he took in her appearance. "You ready to go?"
El bit her lip looking back at Hunter who was in deep conversation with Sam and looking troubled, really troubled.
She turned back to Mike who was now looking apprehensive from her silence. "Just a bit minute…come in Mike." El said with distraction as she walked back into the house and stood watching Hunter on the phone.
El felt Mike's presence next to her and he looked between her and Hunter. "El what's going on?" She didn't answer him and continued to watch Hunter.
"Indianapolis? Are you sure she's there? Right okay…yeah that makes sense. Well…we'll do what we can okay? Yeah of course I will. Speak soon buddy." Hunter put the phone down and turned back to El, his eyes widening for a moment as he realised Mike was stood there too, looking uneasy.
"What's happened?" El asked him immediately.
"It's Emma. She's rang Sam from Indianapolis. Apparently she was laying low in Chicago but felt like she was being followed. She was on her way to us for help…but she's hiding in Indianapolis because she's sure someone's on to her." Hunter said quickly, his eyes turned on Mike a few times and El knew what he was thinking, he didn't think this concerned him.
There was silence before Hunter continued, "Sam would go himself but he's in New York. He wanted to see if you could find her in the void, to see if she is safe enough until we can all get to her."
El nodded numbly. She and Emma had never particularly got on, but she was still part of her family. A family she would protect no matter what.
"Of course I'll look for her." El said with determination. She felt Mike hesitate next to her, she knew what he was thinking. He was worried this was dangerous.
El turned to Mike, "I have to do this." He stared at her for a long moment and then begrudgingly nodded.
Having practised her power over the years, El no longer needed the blind fold or the static noise to help her to locate someone. She sat on the couch, took a breath and closed her eyes. Hunter and Mike were stood in front of her, both of them giving each other uncomfortable glances.
El was immediately whooshed into the void and turned in surprise to see Emma was running before hiding behind a dumpster to catch her breath. She didn't look menacing or threatening at all, in fact she looked terrified. Her green eyes wild and her black hair dishevelled.
Emma took another shaky breath before getting up and continuing to run. Another noise captured El and she turned with a shock to see a man she recognised walking quickly to where Emma had just ran from.
El approached him with shock, she looked at his bald head, his large body and the hard-exterior look he had from years of torturing. It was Ray Carroll.
El opened her eyes with a gasp. Mike immediately dropped to his knees in front of her, his eyes panicked. "What happened? What did you see?"
She exhaled a shaky breath and looked between him and Hunter. "She's…she's running from one of the scientists. He's after her."
Hunter's blue eyes went wide, "w-what do you mean? We got them all…didn't we?"
El rubbed a hand over her pale face and shook her head. "There were others…ones who left before Hawkins lab was exposed. Kali would…Kali would kill them. I know this man chasing her…his name is Ray Carroll." She said in an unsteady breath.
Mike looked at her with his mouth gaped open as if a memory had stunned him for a moment. "Wasn't he the one…"
"The one Kali asked me to find and kill. And…I couldn't kill him." El said immediately, guilt riddling her as she realised that if she had killed him as planned, he wouldn't be terrorising Emma now.
"Well then we need to help her." Hunter said suddenly, a determined look appearing on his face.
"Yes." El agreed getting up from the couch as Mike hesitantly stood up too. She turned to look at him with a sigh of regret, "Mike you need to go home. I can't have you involved in this."
Mike's eyes bypassed hurt straight to annoyance. "No. El that's bullshit, I'm coming."
"You should listen to her." Hunter said irritated, causing Mike to look at him, both of them staring at each other with deepest loathing.
"Mike I'm just trying to protect you…" El said trying to reason with him, trying to get him to understand. She couldn't put him in danger.
Mike sighed and looked at her sadly. He reached for both of her hands and held them tightly with his own. "El I know you want to protect me…but I want to protect you too. I can't bear to think of you leaving again. I…I can't bear to be apart from you again. I'm coming."
El looked at him in conflict. Her heart yearned for him, wanted him by her side whilst she finished off the last of the evil that corrupted her life and the lives of the other subjects. But she wanted him to be safe.
"It wouldn't be safe…" El said sniffing through tears she didn't realise had fallen.
Mike looked at her with love, determination and courage. "I'm not safe without you El. I'm not me. I can't do another two years. I want to come with you…no matter what that means."
El's thin resolve broke and she found herself nodding. "Okay." She whispered.
"Jane are you sure about this? It's not like he's got any powers to protect anyone." Came Hunter's sceptical voice.
"Why don't you butt out?" Mike said glaring at him.
"Stop it. Both of you. We're no use to Emma if we're all fighting. Mike is coming…and you're both going to get along. Okay?" She warned them in the most threatening voice she could muster.
Mike relented first. "Fine…" he said sullenly.
Hunter eyed him up and finally sighed, "okay."
Both boys looked at one another and had a very awkward hand shake, broken within seconds but enough to make El breathe a sigh of relief. "Right let's go then." She said with purpose.
Mike immediately insisted on being the one to drive them to Indianapolis. If El or Hunter needed to use their powers they'd be exhausted afterwards, at least he could be their getaway driver.
He took a deep breath as he started the engine, El was sat next to him and Hunter was reluctantly in the back.
Mike felt the adrenaline pump through his body as he sped off, not doing the limit but not too far over it so that they hopefully wouldn't be stopped by anyone.
He quickly glanced over at El, he could see she was going in and out of the void by the small drop of blood at the corner of her nose. She was continuously trying to track Emma.
Mike gulped nervously wondering what they were going to find when they got to Indianapolis. He could barely remember Emma from the day El was taken from him. He was much more preoccupied with the fact his girlfriend was leaving to worry about recognising the subjects.
He could hardly believe El had actually allowed him to come and he made a pact with himself in that moment that he would try and be as useful as he could possibly be.
El came out of the void and started to give Mike some directions. He nodded and took a turn onto the high way.
The journey was mainly in silence whilst El concentrated on finding Emma's location. It took them 20 minutes to get to the city and El quickly told him a location that she was sure Emma was now station at.
Mike nodded and sped up, driving down quieter roads. It was like they were just coming out of the main city when El told him to turn left. He found himself down a dirt track and they came across a large warehouse that looked like it stored crates.
The three of them rushed out of the car and looked around at the vast warehouse and smaller lock ups around it. El honed in on the warehouse, "she's in there. I can feel it." She muttered. Mike followed behind El as she rushed to the building, Hunter just a little ahead of her.
El focused on the large entrance and it opened with a loud echoing creak, showing an enormous open space which was plunged into darkness. The only light switched on was making a spot light in the centre of the room. Mike gasped as he saw a dark haired woman lying unconscious in the middle.
"Emma!" Hunter cried, immediately running to her in an attempt to heal her Mike could only assume. Something was more than off to Mike, he looked around into the vast darkness and felt his heart pounding.
"Wait guys…I don't think this is –" There was a shot and El and Mike gasped as Hunter slumped to the ground beside Emma.
"Don't worry, it was only a sedative dart…we can't have him healing anyone now can we?" came a deep voice from the darkness.
Mike was now breathing heavily as around 20 men walked out of the shadows, all of them forming a circle which El, Mike, Hunter and Emma were now forced into.
"Any sudden movements from you subject Eleven and we will kill the boy immediately." Another voice called.
El looked at them all in a glare, "who…who are you all?"
Another man laughed, "we're the ones who got away. The ones you and subject Eight have been trying to track down and kill."
"We heard about what happened in Texas…we couldn't just sit around and let you pick us off." Added another man nervously.
"And then low and behold I see subject Nine in Chicago and I knew it meant you would be coming for us." Came the voice of an overweight man who was also holding a gun and sweating.
Mike watched anxiously as El stared him down. "You are Ray Carroll…I should have killed you back then."
"Well we are going to kill you first…" came another deep and angry voice.
Everything happened incredibly quickly in only a matter of seconds. El seeing the men raise the guns, flung her hands out making them scatter. Shouting and the sounds of guns followed.
An immediate feeling to protect El washed over Mike and he rushed to her, his heart screaming to keep her safe. Ray Carroll pointed his gun at El and Mike pushed her to the ground and out of the line of bullets, keeping his body weight over her, desperate to keep her alive no matter what.
El gasped as she was forced to the ground, hearing the sound of a bullet so close that she heard the crunch of it hitting something but she couldn't focus on it. All she could focus on was destroying these men before they destroyed her, Mike, Hunter and Emma.
El freed her hand from under Mike and screamed out, making the men shout out in pain. She could feel Mike moving slowly on top of her but her eyes narrowed and her teeth gritted as she concentrated on squishing the brains of the men, the men who had all been involved in the abduction of children, the men who had tortured them all, the men who refused for them, to be able to lead normal lives.
She could feel the blood rushing down her nose, but with a satisfied snarl El watched as all of the men fell to the floor in unison, blood rushing from their heads.
El gasped, trying to keep conscious and trying to get her breath back. "They're…they're gone." She assured Mike so he would get off her body and allow her to sit up.
Mike very slowly leaned out of his hold of El and she looked over to Emma and Hunter. "How do we wake them up?" she asked exhausted, not sure how long the sedation was for.
When she realised Mike hadn't said a word, El turned to him with a frown. "Mi-"
Her eyes widened with the greatest terror she had ever known. Nothing was worse than this moment.
Mike was breathing shallowly, his shaking hands covered in bright blood as he looked down at his abdomen.
El's eyes terrified and wide, slowly looked down to his stomach, the shirt no longer light blue but a deep red, it seeped over the material quicker and quicker. The floor was already covered and El barely realised she too was coated in Mike's blood from the impact of the bullet.
With his face as white as a sheet, Mike tried to reach out to her with his hand but his arm weakened and he collapsed to the floor.
Reality came back to El as quick as if she had been hit by the bullet and she screamed out and rushed to him. She pressed her trembling hands into the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
"El…" Mike struggled to say weakly, his eyes filled with tears as he looked up at her.
"It's f-fine…it's f-fine. You're g-going to be o-okay." El cried, her voice breaking with every word. She looked up and saw Hunter was still knocked out.
"HUNTER! HUNTER! Wake up!" she screamed with all her might, sobbing as she looked back down at Mike.
"He…he can't w-wake up." Mike said trembling from his blood loss.
"HUNTER! HUNTER! PLEASE!" El shrieked her heart almost ripping out of her chest in hopelessness.
"El…" Mike struggled to say, coughing as a trail of blood came out of his mouth.
El was howling in panic and in fear. "You're g-going to be okay! You're g-going to be o-okay!" she cried to him, her tears falling rapidly onto his body.
Mike's terrified eyes stared up at her as his shuddering hand reached for El's face. His fingers barely brushed her cheek as she stared down at him, sobbing out fresh tears.
"I…I l-love y-you…" he said weakly gasping for breath as he looked at her through watering eyes.
El leaned into him, her forehead against his as she wept. "I love you t-too…p-please don't leave me."
She felt his breath catch on her cheek and El quickly pulled away to look at him. His eyes had closed, his face was so unbelievably pale and his body had stopped shaking violently.
He was still.
Authors Note - Ah! Please don't hate me! Chapter 11 will be out today I promise!