/ "and i have to speculate that god himself did make us into corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces from the clay" /
Michelle "Mickey" Hopper has a lot of problems. An alcoholic father ignoring the loss of his youngest daughter, her sister, Sarah...
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...Thursday, July 4, 1985...
candle in the wind - elton john
"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins," Mike explained once they all gathered around the fountain at the center of Starcourt Mall. "To stop El, to kill her, and pave a way into our world."
"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it," Max said.
"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked.
"It's big," Jonathan said. "Thirty feet at least."
Lucas nodded solemnly. "Yeah, it kinda destroyed your cabin. Sorry."
Hopper moved his gaze over to Mickey, a grief-stricken expression passing over both of their faces. "It's just a place, right?" Mickey looked down at the small girl across her father's lap and said, "I've got all I need." Hopper smiled, keeping a good hold of the cold rag pressed to Eleven's forehead as she leaned back on him.
Steve took up Mickey's side, finding some small way to touch her since watching Eleven pull the slug from her leg. For now, that left his hand resting carefully on her lower back as her arms were draped over Max's shoulders, partially leaning on the small girl. "Okay, so just to be clear," Steve said, "This big, fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic... weapon?"
"Yes," Nancy said.
"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people."
"Yes, exactly!"
"Y-Yeah. Okay. Just making sure..." Steve sputtered. Mickey reached one hand out and rubbed his arm reassuringly.
"Are we sure this thing's still out there? Still alive?" Mickey questioned.
Max looked over her shoulder at Mickey. "El beat the shit out of it, but... yeah. It's still alive."
"But if we close the gate again," Will began.
"We cut the brain off from the body," Max continued, remembering the lesson they'd learned six months prior.
"And kill it," Lucas concluded. "Theoretically."
Suddenly, they were interrupted by Murray, who was moving towards them, shaking handfuls of legal paper at them. "Yoo hoo! Yoo hoo!" he exclaimed.
Mickey's eyebrows drew together as she only then processed the presence of Joyce and Hopper's scantily-clad companion, recognizing him as the man who used to pester her father on his way into work every morning. She hadn't seen him since the time they met when he had been building his theories on Eleven's presence in Hawkins before he knew any of what was going on in the small town. She was aware that, since then, he'd helped Nancy and Jonathan expose Hawkins' Lab and had a big hand in taking the horrible institution down, but she was still hesitant to trust his involvement.
