Chapter Text
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Let’s Blow Shit Up
“It’s just the middle of the woods.” Jonathan said, shrugging. “I don’t think we’ll be in that much trouble.”
“Could be.” Kali said. “Especially if you’re spotted.”
The teens watched as the adults argued back-and-forth. They’d been helping Jonathan make his bombs- disguised as plastic bottles, apparently- all night, taking shifts for sleep. And they’d finished all the ones they could, but Jonathan wanted to test the first few before they finished planning for the Attack.
“If they don’t work, we’ll have to start over.” Steve said, on Jonathan’s side of the argument. “We just need to blow some stuff up and then leave. Not too dangerous. Might not even be seen from far away.”
“They won’t be, I don’t think.” Jonathan said.
“Look,” Bev piped up, as the others turned to her, “If we’re gonna go, can we go? I’d like to get my friends out of the Lab before they die, thanks.”
“Okay, here’s what we’ll do.” Nancy said, directing everyone’s attention towards her. “Some of us will go with Jonathan, the rest of us will stay here. If any of you get into trouble, text me- you all have my number?”
“We don’t have phones.” Hanlon said, while the Party members nodded and the Losers shook their heads.
“Then stick close to someone who does.” Nancy said. “Who’s going with Jonathan?”
El raised her hand, earning her a glare from Kali. Will and Bev also had their hands in the air. After a second Lucas said, “I’ll go, too.”
“Alright, the rest of us will plan.” Nancy said. “Though, I think you should have one more adult-”
“We can take care of ourselves, Nancy, Christ.” Lucas rolled his eyes.
“I’ll go.” Kali volunteered, though she still looked wary.
“Alright.” Nancy said. “Okay, everyone, get the blueprints.”
As people started filtering out, El noticed Richie stop by Bev. “Do you want to come, too?” Bev asked quietly, barely audible above the talking from the rest of the crowd.
Richie hesitated. “Kinda.”
“Then come on!”
“But what about… about the…”
“Oh. Oh, shit, you’re right.” Bev said. After a second, she passed him something, and whispered, “Light these on the roof, nobody will see you. I’ll meet you for more when we get back.”
“Where’d you get these?”
“Found em in a coat pocket. Now go.”
After Richie left, El approached Bev. “What’s wrong with Richie?”
Bev jumped, before saying quickly, “Nothing. Just… bad eyesight, you know? Anyway, should we transform or something?”
El hesitated, glancing after Richie, before saying, “No. We’re just… blowing things up. Not anything dangerous.”
“God, our lives are weird.”
Up on the roof, Richie took out the pack of cigarettes, slowly pulling one out. After a second, he held out his finger, and a flame burst out, lighting it. Nancy hadn’t even noticed him brushing by her as he ran up, hadn’t noticed his eyes flash that dark orange color as he raced past.
He knew he was going to feel like shit as soon as the flames went away- that was just how it worked. Why he couldn’t go out with Bev, in case he had to use his powers; he felt like shit after every power transfer.
But, well… he liked using Nancy’s powers.
And, plus, now he didn’t have to carry a lighter around with him in order to smoke.
There was a loud noise, a crash, and then the group stared ahead at the crevice in the ground.
“Fuck yeah!” Lucas cheered.
“Whoo!” Will shouted, as Bev started whooping.
El looked ahead at the crater, as Kali said, “You think that’ll take down the fence?”
“Well, I should hope that I don’t accidentally cause a bigger explosion by combining this with the electricity of the fence.” Jonathan said. “But so long as Dustin is nearby, he may be able to-”
“Is that a possibility?” Kali asked. “A bigger explosion?”
“We’ll stand at a distance.” Jonathan said.
“Sorry, what?”
As the adults started arguing, Bev slowly moved over to El. “Hey, you okay?”
El nodded, still staring at the crater.
“Anyway, I want to test two more. Make sure this isn’t just an isolated incident.” Jonathan said. “Come on, let’s find another clearing.”
As they followed him- with Kali muttering under her breath- El slowly turned, staring into the trees. She thought she heard the bush rustle, thought she heard some kind of disturbance behind them. She looked closely, a small panic clutching her.
Were they being watched?
“Jane, are you coming?”
El hesitated, staring after the bushes. She felt like she should say something, but at the same time… at the same time, they should hurry and finish up. If she made everybody paranoid now, they’d just go back to the house, and she knew Jonathan would still want to test, and that would just be more time they’d spend preparing instead of saving Mike.
So she said, “Yeah. Yeah, coming.”
And she turned and left.
After the third explosion, Kali said, “Okay. Okay, that’s good. The bombs work. Let’s go home.”
“Come on, Kal, it’s not that bad.” Lucas said.
“Not that bad?” Kali asked, glaring at him. “We’re basically playing in the Lab’s backyard right about now.”
“It’s okay, it’s a big forest.” Will said quietly, though he did avert his eyes, staring at the grass.
“I think I agree with Kali.” Bev said. “The boys and I haven’t been out of the hideout since the attack. We don’t want to get spotted agai-”
“Everyone shut up!” El yelled, and everyone turned to her, shocked.
“El?” Will asked, confused. “What’s up?”
El turned, staring into the trees. She definitely heard something this time. She slowly turned towards the bush, and then she threw out her hand, letting out a scream.
As soon as her hand was raised, they all saw someone thrown from the bushes, hitting against a tree and falling to the ground. Before he could, however, they all caught a glimpse of his uniform, and knew instantly who it was.
“Run!” Kali shouted, moving herself to the back of the group as she pushed the rest of them into a run.
And the group ran, rushing as far as they could. They didn’t even focus on where they were going, only that they had to get themselves far, far away.
After a minute, Bev stopped everyone, looking at a fallen tree, and said, “I know where we are. We need to split up, there’ll be less of us to track. Jonathan, take some back to the hideout, and I’ll take everyone else to a hiding spot.”
Too panicky to argue, they nodded. Will gripped onto his brother’s arm, and they rushed off. El hesitated, looking between her sister and the others, and Kali said, “El, go with them. If they catch one group, they shouldn’t be able to get a hold of both of us.”
El nodded, gave her sister a quick hug, and then rushed after the Byers.
“Alright, now, follow me. There’s a good place they won’t check.” Bev said, and she rushed off, with Kali and Lucas following after her.
“Alright, here.” Bev said, standing over a spot between some trees that seemed to be covered by leaves.
“What are we doing?” Lucas asked.
Bev dropped to the ground, reaching through the leaves. Finally, she found something, and pulled up, and the leaves fell, revealing a trapdoor. “Get in!” she said, and Kali and Lucas shared a brief glance before leaping down. Bev pulled a cigarette out of her pocket, then dropped it on the ground, before she followed the others, and the wind blew the leaves back over the trapdoor, hiding it, as the cigarette rolled against a tree.
The two Party members glanced around, a little impressed. The room wasn’t too big, but it definitely wasn’t crowded, and it was furnished with a little table, several lamps, and a nice carpet- or, well, a carpet that was probably nice once upon a time, before it was placed underground.
“This is the Underground Clubhouse.” Bev said, smiling a little. “Pretty cool, huh? We dug it ourselves before we discovered our powers, but after we did, Bill and I figured out how to channel our energy clouds to dig up some more, so it’s a lot bigger now.”
“And the Lab doesn’t know where it is?” Lucas asked.
Bev shook her head. “They only caught us here because we were playing outside. If they found this place, we wouldn’t know about it.”
“Because that makes me feel better.” Lucas muttered.
Bev sat down on the carpet, and after a second, Kali and Lucas joined in.
“We should probably be quiet.” Bev said. “In case they come near. Lucas, text Nancy and ask her to send Max after the first group, then us. Tell her I left a cigarette above our position.”
“She can track our phones, it’ll be fine.” Lucas said, as he pulled out his. “Hope to God the wifi isn’t too shitty.”
“She can-”
“Nobody else can track them, just us.” Kali explained quickly. “Will and Jonathan’s Mom and my… and Hopper figured out how to block out the government and any other trackers that aren’t ours.”
After that, they fell silent, waiting for someone to come.
After another minute, Bev said, “This is boring. Let’s talk about something.”
“This isn’t supposed to be fun.” Kali said, a hint of anger in her voice. “I told them this was a bad idea. I told them we’d get caught! Now the Lab knows we’re here and…”
She stopped for a moment, taking deep breaths, and it suddenly became clear to the other kids that she was struggling not to cry. “I’ve been out of that Lab for four fucking years. And even longer before then. And now they know I’m here and they know that my sister is here and if they get to her… if they… fucking hell, I just…”
They fell silent. Finally, Lucas said, “Just texted Max. We should have a few minutes.”
“Oh, well, isn’t that wonderful.” Kali muttered.
Bev turned to her, and, quietly, said, “Are… are you gonna help us break into the Lab?”
Kali started. “What?”
“I mean, it’s… it’s fine if you want to stay in the hideout.” Bev stumbled over her words. “I get that… that the Lab is probably bad for you. But if you’re gonna stay there, we should probably… I mean, you guys probably planned that already, I just want to… to know…”
“Whether or not I’ll help your friends?”
Bev jumped, looking up guiltily at Kali. Lucas looked, too, not entirely sure what to say.
“Of course I will.” Kali said. “And of course I’m going into that Lab. They don’t get to ruin my entire childhood and the childhoods of God knows how many other kids only to get away with it, not if I can help. And besides,” Kali shrugged, “If there’s anybody in that Lab I recognize, it might be fun to show them exactly who’s in control now.”
Bev smiled a little weakly at her, as Lucas stared at the carpet, suddenly fascinated by the pattern. After a second, he said, “Kali?”
“Yeah?”
“Mike’s not gonna be okay, is he?”
Kali stared at him for a second, before saying, “Oh, Lucas…”
“El and you… you guys got hurt every time you did… you did something they didn’t want.” Lucas said. “And… and Mike’s never held back. Everyone thinks he’s a pushover, but… but he’s not . He always says what he wants, does what he needs, he’s stubborn and… and they’re gonna fuck him up. Even his shields can’t last forever, they’re gonna hurt him because he won’t do shit for them, and even if he does … if he does, those people seem fucking psychotic enough to hurt him anyway. And… and if they try to get information on El out of him, he won’t tell them, even if they kill him- are they gonna kill him?”
“Lucas…” Kali started.
“And what happens if they get to us?” Lucas asked, looking up at Kali, tears in his eyes. “We won’t do shit for them, but how long will that last? How long until they break us or kill us or-”
Kali suddenly leaned forwards, throwing her arms around the teenager. Lucas started, surprised. “Don’t think about that.” Kali said. “Don’t think about that because it’s not going to happen. We’re getting him out, and we’re getting him out soon, and none of us are getting trapped there ever again.”
Lucas nodded a little, and glanced at Bev, who had turned to stare at the wall.
They fell silent after that, not daring to speak. In only a few minutes, they heard a tapping on the trapdoor.
“Are you down there?” they heard Max’s voice, sounding a bit panicky.
“Here!” Bev called.
“Alright, get up.” Max said. “We’re getting back to the house, now.”