Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In Mike’s bedroom

“Come on, come on, come on, pick up. Pick up.” Mike whispers into the ringing phone then smiles when the phone clicks as Will’’s sleepy voice mumbles through the other of the phone

“Mike.” Will was sleeping peacefully when his phone began buzzing after tossing and turning he rolled over and answered the phone smiling as Mike’s voice comes through the end

“So how do you feel about London?” Mike asks the grin in his voice evident

“Why would we go to London?” Will asks

“Cause I got ten first class plane tickets to London and you’re the only one who didn’t say yes yet.” Mike explains

“So everyone huh?” Will asks

“Yep, Max said yeah before I could even finish explaining, Dustin said he’s always wanted to got to London, Lucas’ was excited too and Jane was pretty excited too.” Mike explains

“How’s you even get these?” Will asks sitting up in bed now

“My parents are fighting again and they gave me these like it’ll make it go away.” Mike sighs

“I’ll ask my mom.” Will says

“Tell her your mom that one of the tickets is Jonathan’s to chaperone.” Mike adds

“Okay, I’ll text you bye, Mike.” Will smiles

“Bye, Will.” Mike smiles hanging up the phone

In Joyce’s room

“Hey, mom, can I go to London with my friends?” Will asks sitting at the foot of Joyce’s bed

“That depends on who’s going?” Joyce asks sleepily

“Max, Mike, El, Dustin, Lucas and four chaperones, and Mike said that Jonathan had one of the tickets.” Will says

“All right then. You’d better get packing then.” Joyce says sitting up

“On it.” Will smiles leaping off the bed

“Jonathan, you're going to London!” Joyce yells her voice slightly hoarse

“Okay.” Jonathan’s voice shouts back

At Steve and Robin’s apartment

“Hey, dingus, get packing we’re going to London!” Robin shouts as Nancy mumbles something into the comforter

“Sorry, what’s you say baby?” Robin asks kissing Nancy’s shoulders

“I said too early for shouting.” Nancy mumbles a little louder

“I’m sorry baby.” Robin smirks

Outside WIll’s house

Will and Jonathan wait outside their house waiting for Mike and the others Hopper had rented a bus to drive them all to the airport Will smiles as sips more of the tea in his flask as Jonthan ruffles his hair under the grey beanie attached to his head then there was a goran as the buss lumbers up the drive with a hiss the door open and Hooper steps with Steve to load the bags into the back Will looks around and sees the Jane has fallen asleep on Max’s shoulder and Max looks like she’s gonna die but Will does dig the new short slightly choppy look Max has, after looking around Will chooses to sit next to Mike cause he has a crush on Mike but Mike’s straight so it could never happen. “All right seat belts on, kids.” Hopper says from the front seat as the bus roars into life again after collecting Lucas and waiting for Dustin to find his Beats they were in for an intermindly long drive to Indianapolis airport

Outside the airport

“Have a good time kid. And try talking to Max about how you feel, huh?” Hopper suggests leaning his head and one arm out of the window

“I will Hop.” Jane smiles slinging her backpack on

Inside the airport

“So we should get checked in and go through security and then get some breakfast.” Steve suggests

“I could eat.” Robin shrugs

“Yeah.” The Party agree

In security

“What’s gonna happen?” Jane asks clinging to Max the clinical look to the security reminds her of all the times she end up in the hospital when her horrid father used to beat her

“They’re just gonna check your back to make sure you don’t have anything dangerous in there and then you’re gonna through that gate there.” Max points to the metal detector arch. “And then we can have some breakfast, okay?”

“Okay.” Jane nods gripping Max’s hand making Max’s heart sing

‘Christ I’m gay.’ Max thinks as she puts her backpack onto the conveyor belt

In the terminal

“Oh, that was a good breakfast.” Steve sighs sitting back in his seat

“Hey, hey dingus watch this.” Robin belches loudly making Nancy recoil in disgust and the Party giggle like children

“Pssh, that’s nothing.” Steve scoffs before opening his mouth and belching just as loudly as Robin but for significantly longer

“That was disgusting.” Jonathan cringes kissing Steve on the cheek

“Flight 1269 will be boarding at gate 32 in 15 minutes. Those with priority boarding, first class or in our frequent flyers club please make your way to the gate now.” The tannoy announces

“Great all the way at the end.” Nancy sighs

“I’ll give you a piggyback.” Robin promises

“Okay.” Nancy hops up onto Robin’s back while holding her handbag and with Robin’s backpack on her back

“All right, get on.” Steve sighs as Jonathan gets onto Steve’s back both backpacks on his back

“Maxie?” Jane stares at Max with big eyes

“Fine.” Max sighs

“Yay!” Jane cheers clambering onto Max’s back with both hers and Max’s backpack on her back

“Fine.” Mike sighs at Will’s eyes as Will climbs on Mike’s back his bookbag with his art supplies swinging into Mike’s thigh while Mike’s backpack is on Will’s back

“Get on.” Lucas sighs as Dustin gets onto his back taking both backpacks onto Dustin’s back

By the gate

“All right you guys are all good to go.” The woman at the desk says handing the group their passports back as the younger members of group charge down the tunnel laughing as they go

On the plane

“Can I draw you?” Will asks

“Sure, as long as I can have it when you’re done.” Mike smiles

Later once Will had finished Mike he’d fallen asleep the drawing safely nestled in his backpack Max couldn’t help but to notice Will’s staring. “Your gay is showing again.” Max smirks

“Is it obvious?” Will asks doodling the group as heir D&D characters, Max’s satyr zoomer which Mike had created for her with Will’s help, Dustin’s dwarven bard, Jane’s Leonin mage, Lucas’ Elven ranger, Mike’s Goliath paladin and his Gith cleric

“It is, unfortunately.” Max nods with a smile

“I hate the feeling of being invisible.” Will says as soon as the word ‘invisible’ passes his lips his skin disappears leaving his clothes floating in his seat

“What the hell?” Max says

“What’s wrong?” Will asks

“Will, there’s no nice way to say this but you’re invisible.” Max whispers to the other boy

“Ah!” Will yelps as his skin shimmers back into existence

“No one can know.” Max says

“Agreed.” Will nods. As the plane lands with a bump and thump the 6 friends and four chaperones stay until everyone else had left and they made their way off the plane collected their luggage and made their way to their hotel what they didn't see was two men in hats and sunglasses take photos of the group as they left Heathrow airport and then converse in Russian.

“There they are.” He raises the camera and begins snapping more photos of the Party as they walk out talking

“What? Dreykov’s projects?”

“Da.”

“And what of Daniel Petrov?”

“The Widow? He has not been seen in years. I heard that he was set upon by the Taskmaster.” As the group begins looking for taxi Max’s head begins to spin and then the world slows down for everyone except for her the feeling was stranger but felt almost natural like she’d done it before

“Max? You okay?” Jane asks

“Yeah, sorry I spaced out.” Max says shaking her choppy red hair

“Come on, we gotta go to the hotel.” Jane says grabbing Max’s hand

Chapter Text

In the lobby

“Here you go, sir, your room keys.” The receptionist says pushing the keys to steve across his desk

“Thank you.” Steve says taking the keys into his hand

“Okay so what’s the rooming arrangement?” Jane asks

“Well me and Jonathan, Jane you’re with Max, Will you’re with Mike, Lucas you’re with Dustin and Robin and Nancy you’re together too.” Steve says winking to some of his children about spending two weeks in a hotel room with their crushes

“Come on, let’s get unpacked, Maxie.” Jane grabs Max by the hand and grabbing one of the keys of Steve

In Max and Jane’s bedroom

“This place is awesome.” Jane says flopping onto one of the beds her short curly hair splaying out onto the white pillow of the bed

‘Ah, crap, one bed.’ Max thinks to herself

“Come on, Maxie, the bed’s really comfy.” Jane says sitting up slightly to looking at Max

“Okay.” Max gets onto the bed looking into Jane’s hazel eyes giggling when the brunettes tongue flicks out and licks her nose

On the balcony

“It’s a nice view.” Max says looking out of their 15th floor balcony

“I suppose.” Jane shrugs flashing back to the time when her Papa dangled her out of her bedroom window by her ankles till her nose bled slightly but mostly the memory was fuzzy her therapist told her and Hop that it would be fuzzy because her mind was repressing the abuse of her Papa

“You okay, Jane?” Max asks exhaling

“Not a fan of heights. Papa.” Jane explains thinly

“What did he do?” Max asks sitting next Jane gripping the brunette’s hand

“He…” Jane’s chest begins to stutter

“Take your time.” Max says brushing her thumb across Jane’s knuckle

“Papa, he hung me out of the window, cause I knocked over a vase, I don’t remember what happened next, Hop tells me I might never either.” Jane explains a tear running down her cheek

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, he can’t hurt you anymore.” Max comforts wiping away a tear from underneath Jane’s eye

In Will and Mike’s bathroom

Will looks at his skinny pale body in the mirror closing his eyes for a moment he feels the strange shimmering run across his body opening his eyes again he sees that there’s nothing looking back at him in the mirror looking down he sees his jeans are floating as his feet have disappeared too. “This is strange.” Will says his voice sounds slightly echoey and distant even in his own ears then once his contraction broke his skin shimmered again and his pale body returned to view in the mirror with slight sheen of sweat on his brow

In the bedroom

Mike opens his eyes and sees that the entire room is encased in a whirling shimmering darkness with a scream the darkness recedes into his fists panting he closes his fist again as the darkness whatever it was swirled around his hands with a small amount of concentration he fires whatever darkness he was harnesses smashes into a vase on the desk opposite his bed with a gasp he scrambles out of bed and begins picking up the pieces of the broken vase cutting up his arm rather badly taking out a bandage from the first aid kit he knew his mom had snuck in as he wound it around his injury he feels the anxiety welling up in chest, his dad was going to kill him when the bill came. “Dammit, dammit, dammit!” He curses banging his uninjured hand against the carpet

In Dustin and Lucas’ room

When the alarm goes off Dustin groans and rolls over and picks up his phone blinking blearly as a zap goes through his phone which fizzes and turns off putting his phone down he sees that the back of his phone is charred slightly. “That’s weird.” Dustin shrugs getting out of the bed shaking his hair as he goes

In the lobby

“So we’re doing Harry Potter today, yes?” Will asks excited internally

“Yes, you excited?” Jane asks watching as Steve comes out of the elevator in his bomber jacket and his black Rayban sunglasses

“Uh, Steve it’s raining.” Dustin points out the window

“Shit!” Steve curses

“Hurry up, we’re gonna miss the next train.” Mike says looking impaitly at his watch

“Sod it we’ll run.” Robin shrugs

On the streets

“Hurry up!” Will shouts looking at Green Park underground station

On platform four

“Fuck me, missed that by seconds.” Lucas groans looking at the Tube train thundering away from platform four

On the Tube train

“How many stops?” Dustin asks

“One, two, three.” Steve counts the stops

“Okay.” Lucas says

“You okay?” Max asks holding Jane’s shaking hand

“Don’t like the dark, Papa put me in the stairs once and locked me in there for a long time.” Jane confesses

“He caon’t hurt you, remember? I’ll always be here for you.” Max promises

At Watford underground station

“Okay so a walk to Euston then an over ground train right?” Dustin asks

“Yep.” Steve says looking at his pocket map

At Euston station

“Okay so we want a train to Milton Keyes central.” Robin says

On the train

“Going up, she lights me up, she breaks me up, she lifts me up.” Max writes in her notebook as Jane’s head rests on her shoulder

“Your lesbain is showing.” Will smirks looking at Max’s song in her pocket notebook

“Shut up.” Max says pushing Will as the world slows down again the countryside which used to be ripping past was moving past like Max was walking past it getting up Max looks around and sees that everyone else on the train are barely moving then whatever was making Max perceive the world in this way was broken forturaly everyone except Will was asleep so only the boy who could disappear saw Max move from one end of the carriage to the other in a matter of moments a blur of red and black from her hair and leather jacket

“How the hell did you do that?” Will asks in a low whisper

“Do what?” Max asks walking back to her seat

“You went from one end of the carriage to the other like that!” WIll snaps his finger to show what Max did in the time she did it

“I did not, I walked from one end of the carriage to the other.” Max insists

“Was it weird in any way did you feel a sensation or did something happen?” Will asks

“Well everything slowed down but I thought it was just me.” Max says

“That’s not normal and it’s certainly not you.” Will says as the train begins to slow down. “No one can know until we’re sure

At Milton Keynes Central

“So what bus do we need?” Max asks still holding Jane’s hand and loving it while Mike and Will were holding hand too alongside Dustin and Lucas

“Uh, a Number Eight or a Number Ten.” Nancy answers looking at her phone

At the bus stop

“There’s a Number Eight coming in two minutes.” Nancy says looking at her phone again

“Okay, everybody on kids.” Jonathan says as the bus squeals to a stop at the stop

Outside The Making of Harry Potter

“All right guys, let’s do this.” Will practically squeals

“I knew he’d be excited.” Mike says. “Whoa!” He exclaims as Will’s hand drags him towards the large warehouse with the Harry Potter logo on the front

Outside the Privet Drive set

“I love the kids but they’re letting their Butterbeers go flat.” Robin says taking another sip of her Butterbeer

“Just let them take selfies. It’s a good rest break.” Jonathan sighs as Nancy is reading The Deathly Hallows and Steve is taking photos with the kids

Outside the gift shop

“So what did you guys get?” Steve asks

“I got Harry Potter’s wand and the Sword of Gryffindor.” Mike says

“I got Ginny Weasely’s wand, cause she’s a redhead, and the Dragon Bag from the First Task.” Max says

“I got Dumbledore's wand and Ravenclaw's Diadem.” Jane says

“I got Newt Scamander's wand and his copy of Fantastic beasts.” Will says

“I got Lucius Malfoy's wand and the Locket of Slytherin.” Dustin says

“I got Fleur Delacuor’s wand and a small trunk.” Robin says

“I got Narcissa Malfoy’s wand, cause she’s a really hot MILF, and Salazar Slytherin’s ring.” Nancy says

“I got Thesus Scamander’s wand and Tom Riddle’s diary, which I can write in.” Jonathan says

“I got Draco Malfoy’s wand and Hufflepuff’s cup.” Lucas says

“I got Molly Weasely’s wand and Harry’s First Task robes.” Steve says

“Right then train home.” Jonanthan says

In Dustin and Lucas’ hotel room

“That’s really weird.” Dustin says turning his phone over to look at the scorch mark on the back

“What’s weird?” Lucas asks coming out of the bathroom rubbing a towel through his hair

“Nothing.” Dustin says shoving his phone into his pocket

“Whatever dude.” Lucas shrugs

“Night, dude.” Dustin says as the pair turn in for the night

In the middle of the night

Dustin wakes up in the middle of the night to see that every light in the room is blink and his fingers are crackling with tiny bolts of electricity. “What the hell?” He whispers to himself and then as his concentration is broken the room is bathed in darkness again

“Dude, you’re doing that thing again.” Lucas mumbles in his sleep as Dustin turns over and begins gasping as he attempts to fall back to sleep

In Max and Jane’s room

Jane turns over to look at Max hearing her voice echoing in her head. “Max, you're talking in your sleep again.” She whispers

“I’m not talking in my sleep.” Max’s voice echoes in Jane’s head

“What’s wrong?” Jane asks as Max’s whimpering fills her head

“Neil, fuck off!” Max’s voice says

“Max wake up, you’re having a bad dream, wake up.” Jane says shaking Max’s shoulder

“Ah!” Max yelps sitting up in bed gripping her throat as sweat beads down her body

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe here.” Jane says pulling Max into a comforting hug

Chapter Text

In the lobby

“So where are we going today?” Max asks adjusting her leather jacket

“I thought we’d start with the Tower of London and then ride the London Eye.” Mike says

“Okay.” Jane says

On the streets

“We’ll catch you guys up.” Max says

“Where are you going?” Dustin asks

“We wanna have a look at St. Pauls.” Max answers

“Okay we’ll meet you guys at the Tower.” Steve says

In an alley

Max and Jane grip their hands as a bunch of chavs come out of both ends of the alley. “It’s a bunch of freak dykes.” One of them says as Jane tenses up and hides behind Max who tenses up for a fight

“Gonna chef ‘em up.” One of boys says his voice echoing in Jane’s head

“Max, look out!” Jane screams as flash of silver appears in one of chavs hands but with a flash suddenly all of them are lying on their backs with Max standing on the wrist of the knife wielding chav

“How did you do that?” The chav asks

“Shh! No one will ever believe you.” Max smirks getting off the chavs wrist

“How did you do that?” Jane asks as Max grabs her hand running out of alley as the white cathedral come into view

“I don’t know, I just can.” Max says

“It’s weird.” Jane giggles

“How did you know that chav was gonna attack?” Max asks

“I could hear his thoughts, I heard your last night too.” Jane confesses sheepishly

“What did you hear?” Max asks

“Neil was hurting you, you told him to “fuck off” and then you woke up.” Jane recounts

“So you were listening to my thoughts?” Max asks

“I didn’t mean to.” Jane says rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly

Outside the Tower of London

“Okay have a good time guys, and make sure you don’t run into the Ghost of the Tower of London.” The cashier says

Inside the Crown Jewels room

“And honey, you should see me in a crown.” Jonathan quotes Moriaty before kissing Steve

“Quote Moriaty one more time Jonathan and I will scream rather loudly.” Mike says

“I did tell you, but did you listen?” Jonathan quotes Moriaty’s final problem

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they, Maxie?” Jane asks looking at the Crown Jewels in their glass cases

“They are.” Max says to Jane. “But there are much more beautiful things in this vault.” She mutters to herself

“You guys wanna check out the gift shop next?” Lucas asks

“Sure.” Dustin shrugs

In the gift shop

“This is cool right, Maxie?” Eleven asks holding up a pin which was a Tudor Rose

“Really cool. It is.” Max nods looking the Tudor rose pendant necklace

“You are no match for my swordman skills.” Dustin says twirling his templar sword which he had bought along with Lucas so they could play being knights

“No chance, I am the superior swordsman, Sir Henderson.” Lucas smirks

“Is that a challenge, Sir Sinclair?” Dustin asks with a smirk as their blunt swords dance between them while their bodies twist around each other in a sort of strange dance then there was a clang as Lucas’ sword bounces off of Dustin’s shield then Dustin falls on his ass as Lucas’ shield collides with his chest. “Ow, that really hurt, have you been working out?” Dustin asks getting his feet feeling the bruises forming on his chest in the shape of the shield

“No, that’s weird, I don’t understand how I did that.” Lucas says

“Well just don’t do that again.” Dustin wheezily laughs getting back into position as the pair begin clashing again

“I got you something.” Robin says taking the diamond pendant from the box that it’d been place by the cashier

“What is it?” Nancy asks attempting to turn around to look at her girlfriend

“Close your eyes.” Robin requests

“Why?” Nancy asks

“Just do it.” Robin giggles

“Okay, fine.” Nancy sighs closing her eyes as Robin places the pendant around Nancy’s neck

“What do you think?” Robin asks

“It’s gorgeous.” Nancy says

“What’d you get?” Mike asks

“A pair of bookends.” Will answers opening the bag to show a pair of bookends which had knights stood on stones with swords and shields

“Nice.” Mike says

“What about you?” Will asks

“Bunch of Knight pens for writing campaigns.” Mike says

“Now arise, Sir Henderson, Sir Sinclair, Knights of the Realm.” Steve says while Dustin and Lucas kneel in front of him as he touches each of the boys shoulders and then their scalps before they arise taking up their swords and shields again while Steve twirls his Richard of Lionheard sword and raises his Richard of Lionheart shield so he can join the game

“So back to the hotel, cause I’m pretty sure they won’t let those three onto the London Eye with those.” Max says pointing the three children playing with their swords in the square

“Ah, whatever.” Nancy shrugs as the group grab the three children by the ears towards the river and the London Eye

Down by the Thames

“I have found them.” A ravenette says into her jacket walking behind the Party as they laugh and joke with each other

“Robin? You okay?” Nancy asks noting that her girlfriend is looking around at the ravenette who has disappeared

“Nothing, just it’s a little bright all of a sudden.” Robin lies putting her sunglasses on

On the London Eye

“Smile.” Max says to Jane who’s stood by the window of the pod before pressing the button on her phone

“How’d it look?” Jane asks walking over to Max

“Lovely.” Max says looking at the photo of Jane with the Tower of London and other monuments of London behind her too

“Thanks.” Jane says kissing Max on the cheek causing Max’s cheeks to heat up and go red

Off the London Eye

“What do you wanna do now?” Jonathan asks

“Trafalgar square?” Steve suggests

“Yeah, why not.” Nancy shrugs

“They’re headed to Trafalgar square.” The ravenette from earlier says into her jacket

In Trafalgar Square

“This place is beautiful.” Jane says sat on one of the lions around Nelson’s Column

“It is.” Max nods, sitting next to Jane who’s shivering slightly. “Are you cold?”

“Little bit.” Jane shivers

Max puts her beanie onto Jane’s head tucking a few strands of Jane’s curly hair under the beanie behind her ear then there was crack and a bang as the square exploded with gunfire and smoke from the dozen smoke grenades in the square running for cover the Party watches as a bunch of tight black suited girls come through the smoke armed with various assault rifles then from the other end comes a dirty blonde haired boy armed with a Glock 26 and a pair of tinted motorcycles goggles on his face raising his Glock he fires with almost perfect accuracy taking down three of the armed woman, then a fourth woman runs at the dirty haired boy with a knife twisting his body round throwing her to the ground she groans as her knife clatters across the paving stones then the girls suddenly seem to freeze up as a man in a mask which looks like a skull steps out of the smoke. “Oh shit.” The dirty blonde hair boy curses raising his gun again and fires three more shots all of which ping off of the round metal shield tossing the gun with a clatter the dirty blonde boy twist his body round his footed coming round to collide with the mask which the skull mask counters with perfect timing grabbing the dirty blonde boys leg pushing it back causing him to stumble before performing the move himself the booted foot knocking the dirty haired blonde boy to ground kicking out with his left foot the blonde knocks the skull mask to the ground with a flip both fighters return a slight crouched position one hand hovering a few inches above the floor with a twist the blonde flips backwards his hands spring off the smooth slabs pushing him through the air a trio of small knives twist through the air towards the skull mask who’s rolled back and onto his feet drawing a curved blade batting all three knives with the flat of the blade inches from landing on his feet he tosses a fourth knife with a smirk the skull mask goes to bat it away again only for it to explode against the flat of his blade throwing him back. “Come with me if you wanna live.” The dirty blonde haired boy says drawing a second gun firing back three more shots at the attackers

“I’m good with being saved.” Mike says

“Saved.” The others nod

“In the alley, there’s two cars, get in them, I'll catch up.” The blonde says as the sound of whooping sirens can be heard after running to the alley the party and their chaperones find two BMW SUV’s and a Yamaha motorcycle sitting there when the blonde appears the sound of ripping engines roar as the group roars out of the city centre before the police can close it down

In the dirty blondes cabin

“So who was that? Who are you? Why was he trying to kill us?” Max asks

“The guy from the square? That was Taskmaster. A very poor second attempt.” The dirty blonde haired boy says sitting in one of the chairs around the room opening a bottle of IPA sitting on the table

“A second poor attempt at what?” Steve asks

“At us.” Robin answers, shaking her dirty blonde hair sitting in the chair next to the boy. “Brother.” She says in Russian

“Sister.” The boy replies

“He wasn’t like us. He wasn’t an attempt at making another one of us, he was something different, the Taskmaster, you saw him, he moved exactly like you did, copied your moves like he’d been training to do them his whole life.” Robin says

“I saw I was the one who got a face full of his boot.”

“Robin what is going on? Why are you speaking Russian? And who is this?” Steve asks

“You didn’t tell them about me?” The boy asks

“Guys this is my brother, Daniel.” Robin introduces

“What do you mean? Brother?” Steve asks

“He’s my brother. I was Russian trained in a place called the Red Room before I defected to the US when I was seventeen and I’ve been hiding in Hawkins ever since.” Robin explains quickly

“So why was Taskmaster trying to kill us?” Mike asks

“Taskmaster wasn’t trying to kill you, he was trying to kill me, he was sent to recover you, for Dreykov.” Daniel explains

“Who is Dreykov?” Jane asks

“This is Dreykov.” Daniel shows the group a picture of Dreykov with Martin Brenner

“He worked with Papa?” Jane asks

“You mean Brenner? Cause yes Dreykov and Brenner shared knowledge to create all of you. All of us. Dreykov created the Widows and Brenner had his MK’s. Dreykov created us.” Daniel points to himself and Robin. “And Brenner created all of you.” Daniel gestures to six members of the Party

“We need your help to help them disappear.” Robin says

“I can’t help you there, try Rick Fable.” Daniel says taking a backpack out of his kitchen cupboard

“You don’t think I tried that, Fable’s gone, the Red Room executed him.” Robin says

“You know I can’t help you, I’ve gotta disappear again, you won’t hear from me again now for a long time.” Daniel says pulling Robin into a hug

“You’re seriously gonna leave these kids to be hunted by Taskmaster?” Robin asks

“Like I said, it's not my problem.” Daniel says putting provisions into the backpack

“They’re Dreykov’s lab rats too, that makes them family too. And you don’t turn your back on your family.” Robin hisses as Daniel walks into the makeshift armory putting ammo and SMG into the backpack before grabbing a tank of gasoline and a lighter

“No they’re Brenner’s lab rats, big difference.” Daniel says playing with the lighter

“Look Dreykov, Brenner, what's the difference? They both turned us into weapons, you turn your back on them, you're no better than those bastards.” Robin says

“Fine, I’ll get them out of the country but first we need to torch this place, load up some of the weapons. There's two jeeps out back with MB radios. Get the kids in them.” Daniel says

“Done.” Robin grabs a couple of handguns and an AK-47 off the shelf putting them into the duffel bag

Outside the cabin

“Oh, shit!” Robin curses as a group Widows come out the treeline dropping low she sprints back towards the cabin

Inside the cabin

“We have a problem.” Robin pants bursting into cabin

“How many? How far out? Which direction?” Daniel asks

“Ten Widows, fifteen metres out, coming from the west.” Robin says

“Shit! Kids get in the armory. It’s reinforced.” Daniel says taking out two Glock 26 and throws one to Robin. “You still know how to shoot?”

“That’s shits ingrained into me.” Robin says pulling back on the top of Glock

“We shoot with accuracy, we don’t have bullet’s to waste especially if we’re going on the run.” Daniel says hiding behind the low wall in the back west facing garden

“Five metres and closing.” Robin says peeking through a missing stone in the wall

“Three, two, one.” Daniel counts before he pops up and fires three times after a couple of minutes of shooting the siblings realise they can’t shoot their way out

“We’re not gonna last here.” Robin says firing three off three more shots

“Get the kids, I’ll deal with the Widows, meet me at the end of the track.” Daniel tucks his Glock into the waistband of his pants and hops over the low wall with a high pitch and piercing whistle the Widows turn to see Daniel standing in a tree nest with a sniper rifle raising the rifle Daniel fires but not at the Widow’s he fires at the rope holding together the bundle of logs which falls and come rumbling towards the Widows taking out his short pocket knife Daniel wraps his hand around the long length of rope which extends high into the tree above with a twang Daniel swings through the air and comes to landing at the end of track just as Robin pulls up in the first Jeep with Max, Jane and Lucas in the rear three seats and Nancy sat in the back while Steve pulls up behind them with Dustin in the front set next to him with Mike, Jonathan and Will sat next to each other in the back seat. “Go, go, go!” Daniel yells slamming his hands against the dash looking in the wing mirror he sees Taskmaster coming out of the tree line

“Where to?” Robin asks once they’re clear of Daniel’s cabin watching it burn from the mirrors

“Hinton-in-the-Hedges airfield.” Daniel replies opening the glove compartment and removing two ball caps from there

“Steve, follow me.” Robin says into the radio

“Where are we going?” Jane asks

“Somewhere safe Jane.” Robin answers

"But first we need to get the essentials, clothes from your hotel and other things." Daneil says

"When will we see Hop again?" Jane asks Max

"I don't know, Jane, I don't know." Max sighs