𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

xx. SMALL WOMAN.

     

     AFTER some more driving, Charles had gotten up at some point and went to sit more in the front, between Jonathan and Argyle. "Should be up on our right." Mike tells their driver. "There's nothing out here." He said and Charles glanced at him. "Maybe the building's invisible." He said then the vehicle jolted over what seemed like a bump.

"Mm. Are we there already?" Argyle woke up quickly. "Already? It's been nine hours." Will said as the older boy turned around in his seat. "It's gotta be around here somewhere." Mike said and Charles let out a soft sigh. "I wish I was deaf." He whispers quietly. "What exactly are we looking for, my dudes?" Argyle asked the two in the back, glancing at Charles.

"Some sort of facility."

"A fence. A building." Mike says and Charles just rolled his eyes. "Or any signs of life would be nice." Jonathan spoke up. "Since when did we decide Nina was a physical building and not a small woman?" Argyle looked at the two in the back again as Charles looks at him. "Sounds like a small woman to me."

"It's not a small woman." Mike says and Charles looks over at him, squinting his eyes. "Small woman out in this desert would be hard to see." Argyle says as Will looks at Mike. "How is he still high?" He asked and Jonathan glanced back. "Are you sure you got your measurements right?" He asked Mike.

"Yes, they're right."

"You're 100%, right?" Jonathan glanced back and Charles reached over, snatching the map from Mike's hands. "Maybe the latitude and longitude are wrong." He says. "Are you really questioning Suzie right now?" Mike says with a pointed look at Charles.

"She's a genius, Charles." Will says and Charles raised his brows. "Not blaming Suzie, Will. I'm saying Mike got the shit wrong." He said in a harsh tone, looking at Mike who's brows furrow together in confusion. "Well, I didn't." The Wheeler says. "If that small woman is small enough, she could fit behind a small tree." Argyle whispers to Jonathan who looks at him. "Stop! Just..." He said then pressed on the breaks, one arm between him and Argyle to keep Charles from falling back and hitting his head on something.

"Ouch." Argyle said as he had hit his forehead. "What are you doing?" Mike asked and Jonathan looks back as Charles sat up straight, glancing at him. "I am stopping us before we get more lost." He said, parking the van. The five gather at the back of the van again, Jonathan setting down the map. "Alright, give me the coordinates." He tells Will.

"Um, okay... longitude is 116 degrees, five minutes and 17--" "slow down. Slow down." He says quickly as Charles noticed Argyle walkimg off in the distance so he walked away. Not like any of the other three would notice. "Argyle, what are you doing?" He approached the older who just shouted out, "Nina!"

He looks at Charles, "looking for Nina." He said like it was obvious. "Nina." He walked off so Charles follows him, sighing as he looked all around. "Nina?" He says and Charles looks at where Argyle is looking. "Nina!" He then shouted and Charles grabs his arm. "Argyle, think about it... some serious bad guys, who locked up El her whole life, and they just have a small woman named Nina in the desert? It just makes no sense." He looks up at Argyle who just shrugs. "You never know." He says.

"Nina!" He shouted once more and Charles sighed, looking away as he gave up. Suddenly, Argyle chuckles, "holy macaroni. Charles, look." He pointed to the ground where Charles glanced down and saw the tire tracks. "Woah." He whispered then smacks Argyle's arm. "Let's get the others." He tells him.

"Yo, dudes!" Argyle shouted. "My dudes!" He shouts again. "Come check this shit out!" He waved his hand to themselves. "Charles, you better not be getting high with Argyle again!" Will shouted. "It's not that! Come here!" Charles waved his arms. "What is it?" Mike shouted out next. "You gotta see it to believe it, my dudes." Argyle waves them over.

"Come on! Hurry! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Pronto!" The three run over to where they're standing over the tire tracks. "Okay. So no small woman named Nina." Argyle tells them. "But you said any signs of life, am I right?" He asked Jonathan. "Right." The Byers replied. "Well," Argyle kneeled down, the other three following as Charles just stood there with his arms crossed, "these are no regular tire tracks, brochachos." He pointed.

"I mean, look at the tread on these monsters. They're fatties. And you know what that means." Argyle looks in the direction of where the tires lead to. "Military." Mike looks at Jonathan. "We gotta go." The older says before they all quickly stood up to run to the van.

Jonathan drove along the tire tracks, driving fast as Will, Charles and Mike sat directly behind the passenger and driver seat. Jonathan stared honking the horn, "there she is! There she is!" Mike pointed. "Where?" Jonathan exclaimed. "On the ground!" Mike tells the oldest Byers. "What are those dudes doing on the ground?! Is that blood, man?" Argyle asked as Jonathan drove faster.

El had gotten up and was standing with her hand raised at the helicopter. Shots came at her from a sniper in the helicopter but they kept missing as it swayed side to side, the spinning around, going higher and higher before it crash landed, an explosion errupting. Charles gasped softly as they watched, "shit! Shit! Shit!" Jonathan exclaimed as they finally arrived to where El was standing.

Jonathan parked the car and Mike quickly rushed out as Will followed. "Eleven!" Mike snapped her back to reality as she embraced him and Charles climbed out of the van. "Oh, Mike." She says softly as she hugs him, her hand over his head. She pulled back and then leaned her forehead to his, smiling as Charles just rolls his eyes, glancing over at Will who's watching the pair, smiling.

"I'm here. Everyone's here." Mike glanced over at Argyle, Charles and Jonathan then over at Will. El looked at Will, smiling before Mike helped her up, she waved at Charles over to them as she pulls Will into a hug so Charles walked over to the two siblings, wrapping his arms around them both.

She put a hand over both of their heads as they hugged her tightly and she hugged back just as tightly. El's hug with the two boys last longer than it did with Mike before Charles finally pulled back, then so did Will. "Are you okay?" He asked her worriedly, holding onto the collar around her neck gently.

"I'm okay." She smiles then glanced at Charles, smiling wider. "Hey, guys. We gotta go." Jonathan says, making them look over at him. "We gotta get you outta here." He added and Charles looks at El just as the collar shut off so she reached up, taking it off before looking over to the body nearby.

Charles lookee over and immediately recognized it was Dr. Brenner. El walks over to the man, dropping the collar as she did, Will slowly reaching for Charles' hand which is pulled away suddenly because Charles crossed his arms, watching Eleven.

After El said her goodbyes with Dr. Brenner, a man she knew as her papa for all 12 years of her life, the group of now six compile into the van. "Are you okay?" Charles asked as Will, El and Mike sat together and he sat on the floor in front of them. "Yes." She replies. "Are you?" She asked quietly and he nodded. "Yeah." He glanced away from her.

It's like she saw right through him sometimes.

 

 

 

  

 

  

  

   

 

  

 

  

 

authors note the way papa was laying was so goofy LMFAOOO

+ i don't have chapters for my other 2 fics so i'll just update this for now <33