Mike sat sulkily inside the pizza van with Jonathan, Argyle and Will - he had begun hating the vehicle even if it had gotten them from Lenora, around to Suzie's home where Dustin's genius girlfriend was able to find the coordinates to the NINA lab, getting them there in time to watch as El ripped that helicopter from the sky and sent it crashing down into the ground since it seemed like an eternity since they'd left the Byers' new home - while he watched the soldiers advancing across the open country towards the hills. They were spaced out, but they weren't that far apart.
Overhead were several helicopters, providing aerial recon. The soldiers definitely knew - one hundred percent - what was out there, and they weren't taking any chances or risks.
When the soldiers had arrived, their commanding officer had quickly assessed the situation and called his HQ and his commanding officer immediately, and the CO had given orders to wipe the hill people out once and for all; Mike had seen the weapons brought out here by the soldiers, and realised the soldiers had been looking for an excuse to kill the Hill People for a long time, although why they'd waited for so long was still a question, but while the last kids to be kidnapped had prompted the base to prepare for the attack, what happened to them and El's kidnapping was the last straw.
And now they were going to turn the place into a clusterfuck.
But what Mike was still mystified by was why the soldiers had just….just let the Hill People do whatever they wanted for so long, and he had the feeling the Department of Energy had flexed their muscles for so long.
But if the commanding officer was prepared to do this, were they risking court martial even if they happened to save the victims? Mike flinched as he conjured images of raped young girls, pregnant with the spawn of the Hill People.
Mike shook his head as he tried not to visualise or imagine the results of the pregnancies; would more hill people be born in the same deformed way Fred described the birth of his mutated son? Or would they be pure humans? Or would they appear normal, but they'd later turn into monsters?
Mike had never given much thought about the abortion of infants even if he knew how controversial the whole thing was and caused problems every day…but something told him the girls, if they were still alive, would be demanding abortions and fuck the consequences. The protesters who were outside those clinics wouldn't even know the story of how they'd been kidnapped and brutally raped by a pack of wild men who were mutated monstrosities out of a prehistoric movie.
The soldiers had largely left them alone after that; there were a couple still here to protect them, but the majority of them were gone and were being guided around the landscape with the help of helicopters.
Mike wondered what kind of kit they were using to hunt down the Hill People, but he didn't care. His stomach was in knots. He was both sullen and furious that once more he was useless while his girlfriend, the girl he had fallen in love with so long ago from the moment he, Dustin, and Lucas found her in the woods after Will's disappearance, was out there.
He should be out there, not depending on soldiers to do the job for him.
He should be looking for El, and he had spent a good half an hour slowing down the soldiers, demanding he come with them to find El, before the commander finally lost patience and shoved him away, and told him they would find his girlfriend, but was warned not to get in the way much longer, but the bitterest pill to swallow was how the commander shouted at him like one of those sergeant majors from one of those movies the longer he held them up, sassing them every second, the more likely El was going to die.
That was the only thing that persuaded Mike to stop.
That and the fact Jonathan and Will had both tried to persuade him to leave this all up to the army. They felt as hopeless as he did, but they were both smart enough to know there was nothing else for it. They didn't have any decent enough weapons, and while Jonathan had become better at using weapons over the last few years, he couldn't take on a bunch of feral wild mutations.
But the two Byers boys had told the soldiers El was their adopted sister, and they wanted her back and safe. The sincerity was pure and plain and simple.
"D'you think they'll find her in time?" Argyle's question made Mike jump but the question nearly made him punch the usually stoned teenager. Argyle being lucid enough to speak like a normal human being was a very rare event.
"Oh, I think El will get out on her own. She's survived worse than this," Jonathan said with certainty.
Will nodded, glancing at Mike. And then he sighed. "Mike, you're doing it again; looking out at them is not going to help."
"Yeah, but I can't help it. I feel hopeless. This is the point I was making like from the other day, Will. El can do so many things with her mind. She can open and close gates into the Upside Down. She could move us through space and even time travel, and she can tear the Mind-Flayer and Demogorgons to pieces and she can also remote travel using her mind. But what can we do? Just sit around," Mike looked away from the sight of the soldiers. "This isn't the first time I've been like this when I've hated the fact we don't have powers like hers. I'm just scared she'll think we just take and take and take, and not give something back to her."
Will was just opening his mouth to say something, but Mike spoke again, speaking in absolute disgust, "Why is it, every single time the Upside Down comes out, some of us are held prisoner, threatened, possessed, and we can't do anything about it?"
"It's just the way things are, Mike," Jonathan said grimly. "But don't think we're helpless; Nancy and me did our best to kill the Demogorgon the first time around," he reminded Mike, "and Hopper discovered the tunnels underneath Hawkins while mum and I had to cope with Will's possession."
"And don't forget Dustin was the one who found out about the Russian transmission," Will added while he tried hard not to shiver and shake at the very mention of the Mind Flayer's possession of him; there were too many possible things the thing wanted to find out about, maybe even find El. "Robin then helped crack it while Steve did his best to protect her, and we did discover what happened to Billy, and what was going on with so many others, and mum and Hop did find out more about that fucking machine the Russians built under the mall in the first place. And we know now Nancy and the others came up with a plan to stop Vecna from killing Max."
Argyle looked between them all, bemused and not even trying to hide it. "God, dudes, the lives you lead are pretty cool."
"I wouldn't say something like that to Lucas right now, Argyle," Will sighed as he mentally pictured the reaction his old friend had likely had when he had found out about what was looming over Max.
He might have tried to live in the past and was resentful towards Max and El, and even Suzie even if he had never even met her until recently, but he had gotten over it, especially after he had the chance to get to know El over the last year, and found out what she was like. But he knew Lucas well enough to know he adored Max like Mike adored El. Lucas had probably wanted to throw a fit of rage at hearing what Vecna was trying to do to her.
Jonathan glanced at his little brother curiously for a second, before turning his gaze back towards Mike. "And don't forget, Mike that these soldiers will likely find they're not even needed; you know El's a survivor and she's gotten out of worst situations than this."
Mike flinched as he remembered the way El had fought the Demogorgon the first time despite being so exhausted from using the bath, to then tearing the Mind Flayer to bits at Hop's cabin.
"She escaped the Lab, and she got out of the Upside Down and she made her way alone over the country, and she brought down a military helicopter, for god's sake," Jonathan went on in exasperation as he had to drill into Mike's head what he knew already. "If I know her, she's probably getting out right now."
"But she's only just gotten her powers back," Mike pointed out. "And what about the soldiers? What if she exposes herself to them? What if they report it back to their base, and that dude who's been trying to kill her since Lenora traces her here?"
Will and Jonathan shared a look. The same thought hadn't occurred to them at all.
Now they were worried!