Risky Business.

012. close the gate

chapter 012,
close the gate

                                AS MAX LOOKED TO LUCAS AND WHISPERED "Is that..?", Lucy couldn't help but answer the question in her own mind. It had to have been the girl Leo had told her about—what was her name again? Twelve? Some sort of number, Lucy remembered. But, for a girl with unlimited superpowers, she looked... young. In fact, she couldn't have been older than eleven.

     Oh. Right. That was her name.

     She had a weak stream of blood trickling down from her nose, but no other visible injuries that attested to the fact that she had just fought off all of the Demo-dogs and won. She hadn't even broken a sweat.

Mike had burst forward the moment Eleven entered the Byers house, tearful and welcoming as he spread his arms to bombard her with a hug. She smiled up at him when they broke away from the hug, her eyes glossy.

     "I never gave up on you," Mike told her, still holding her shoulders. "I called you every night. Every night for—"

     "353 days," Eleven finished. She sniffed, beaming up at him. "I heard."

     "Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike asked, looking like the human equivalent of puppy-dog eyes. Lucy would have felt bad for him, but she had absolutely no idea what was going on. She could only assume Mike and this supergirl were.. what, dating? But they only knew each other for barely a week before Eleven supposedly "died," right?

     Lucy felt a pair of eyes on her and shifted her gaze to meet Leo's fervid stare. He raised his eyebrows, widening his eyes in the slightest and giving her a faint nod as if to say he agreed with the expression on her face.

     "Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper interrupted, and all heads turned to his tall frame. He took slow steps forward until he was only a few inches from Eleven. "The hell is this? Where you been?"

"Where have you been?" Eleven shot back, but there was no hostility in her voice. All of a sudden, she burst forward, and Hopper caught her in a tight hug. He rested his chin on her head, placing a quiet kiss to her hair.

     "You've been hiding her," Mike accused. "You've been hiding her this whole time!"

     "Mike.." Leo started, taking a step forward, but he fell back into the group as Mike began hitting Hopper's back with frustration.

     "Hey!" Hopper said, spinning around. He grabbed Mike's hands to stop the punches (that Lucy was sure felt like light taps to Hopper). "Let's talk. Alone."

     And they shuffled back into Jonathan's bedroom, the slammed door muffling the majority of their words but unable to hide the fact that they were shouting at the tops of their lungs. Everyone else stood in silence, trying to ignore the fighting coming from the back of the house.

     Slowly, the other party members began to trickle towards Eleven, glancing at her like they were tentative to give her a hug. She acquiesced happily, and Lucas, Dustin, and Leo threw their arms around her in a group hug. Lucy hung back with Steve, watching ruefully.

     "Should I introduce myself?" she asked, voice a whisper.

     "Maybe wait 'til things die down a bit," he suggested.

"Eleven?" came Max's voice, and she started forward, a welcoming smile on her face. She held out a hand. "Um, I'm Max."

Eleven stared at the redhead for a moment, before tensing up and brushing right past her extended hand. She instead met Joyce in a hug. Max stood behind, her hand falling limply to her side, eyes downcast.