Author's Note: I'm sorry this update took so long! Real life has been busy lately, but things are slowing down a little, so I should be able to update a little more often now. Now without further ado, chapter ten!
The ride to the lab was long and quiet. There was no rock music blasting on the car stereo this time, nor was anyone was talking.
Will, Lucas, Max, Dustin and Steve were squeezed together in the far back of the van, and though none of them said anything, it was clear that the children were all worried about the older teenager. Dustin hadn't looked away from Steve's face since they'd entered the van, which was starting to make the older of the two a little uncomfortable. He knew the kids were worried, but he also knew that there was nothing he could say to ease their concerns -- especially with his voice sounding like it had been through a blender -- so he didn't try. Instead he sat quietly; except for the painful coughs that occasionally escaped his lungs despite his best efforts to suppress them.
El and Mike were sitting in the middle part of the van with Kali, Dottie and Funshine. They sat in silence, and El could feel her anxiety growing as she realized what she was going to have to do to get the rest of her family back. Mike noticed this and took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and whispering, "It's gonna be okay." The girl nodded slightly, though she didn't seem very convinced.
By the time they reached the lab it was nightfall, and as Mick pulled into the large, empty parking lot everyone looked through the windows of the van, staring up at the tall building.
There was a string of hushed profanities from inside the vehicle, both from Kali's gang and the children.
"Jesus, Kal."
"Holy shit."
"Jesus..."
Kali hesitated for a moment, not sure if she was ready to face this particular demon from her past after all, but then she looked at El and knew that she couldn't let her sister down. She'd promised to get back the policeman and the woman who seemed to now be a mother figure to El, and she couldn't go back on that promise. Not now.
She slid open the door, slowly stepping out. "Leave the masks," she said, earning a few confused outcries from her friends.
"What?!"
"Are you insane!?"
"We will get caught immediately."
"This is different, than the others," Kali said in reply to their concerns, "We won't need to hide -- he already knows who we are. And when I'm done with him, we won't need to worry about him telling anyone else about us."
El swallowed hard at that. She wanted the man out of her life as much as Kali did, but when the time came, she wasn't sure she'd be able to go through with it.
Mike, of course, noticed this and have her a small nod of reassurance. She gave him a small smile of thanks and squeezed his hand back, then followed her sister out of the van, with Mike following right behind her. The others quickly followed suit, and they all soon entered the intimidating building.
They were met by two guards who barely had the chance to register what was going on before Eleven threw out her arm, forcing the two men across the room and knocking them out against the wall.
Dottie giggled, "I never get sick of that."
Steve sighed and muttered, "Jesus... Let's get this over with..."
They made their way through the many long and winding hallways of the lab, which was suspiciously quiet and empty.
"...This is a setup," Max said as they made their way through the many long and winding hallways of the lab, which was suspiciously quiet and empty, and Lucas nodded in agreement.
"I think she's right," he said.
"If it is, it doesn't change anything," Kali said, "If this is a setup, he'll stay to see his handiwork."
"And we want him here?" Steve asked. It was a loaded question for both Kali and El. On the one hand, yes, they wanted -- or needed, at least in Kali's case -- to face him, but on the other, of course they never wanted to see him again. Neither girl responded and Steve sighed, but didn't press the matter.
They reached a long hallway filled with heavy doors, only one of which was open. This hallway struck a shockingly similar resemblance to the rooms that Kali and Eleven were held in when they were children, and they both stopped in their tracks as they realized this.
"Hey," Mike said softly, taking El's hand in his own, "It's gonna be okay. ...You're not alone this time." El smiled and nodded slightly.
Kali stared at the two children, tears involuntarily springing to her eyes before suddenly feeling a gentle, protective arm wrap around her shoulders.
"You okay?" Steve whispered and she roughly wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Fine," she said, taking a step forward into the hallway.
They walked for several minutes, everyone unsettled by the quiet moaning, crying, and muttering behind the heavy closed doors, before they heard footsteps coming towards them.
There was a chorus of whispered profanities from the group, and a moment of scrambling to find a place to hide before Kali threw open one of the doors that she'd noticed had been left somewhat ajar and ushered everyone inside.
It was small -- far too small for them all to properly fit -- and they had to huddle together, barely breathing so as not to make noise and attract attention.
"...Wait," Max whispered, "If they find us, they might take us to wherever their keeping Mrs. Byers and the chief."
"That's a good point," Lucas said, smiling at Max.
"Yeah," said Mike, "or they'll take us somewhere else and make it even harder for us to find them -- or even escape."
"That's also a good point," Dustin said.
The footsteps sounded as though they were right outside the door now, and Steve shushed the children.
"No. We're not just handing ourselves in to them. That'll just put us--" he was cut off by a brief coughing fit here and internally cursed himself when he heard the footsteps stop on the other side of the door.
