YOUR POWER | Max Mayfield

CHAPTER TEN: starcourt.

When they got to Starcourt, they had to go upstairs as they saw some men with guns searching through the area. They got up and watched. Kate went in the front and saw a car. She started shaking it, which made the alarm turn on. The men looked towards it and then at Kate. When they made eye contact with Kate, she threw the car at them, probably killing them.

"You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!" Dustin exclaimed as he hugged Kate. "Lucas?" Some girl looked at Lucas. "What are you doing here?" He asked her. "Ask them. It's their fault." She pointed at Dustin, Steve and some girl. "True, yeah. Totally true. It's absolutely our fault."

"I don't understand what happened to that car." The girl said. "Kate has superpowers. El does too." Dustin answered her. "I'm sorry?" She furrowed her brows. "Superpowers. She threw it with her mind. C'mon, catch up." Steve shrugged. "That're Kate and El?" The other girl pointed at them. "Who are Kate and El?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Nancy spoke up. "I'm Robin. I work with Steve." She said. "She cracked the top secret code." Dustin grinned. "Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians." Steve shrugged. "Russians? Wait, what Russians?" Jonathan butted in. "The Russians!" He pointed at them. "Those were Russians?" Max asked.  "Some of them."

"What are you talking about?" Mike raised his brows. "Didn't you hear our code red?" Mike nodded. "Yeah. Couldn't understand what you were saying." He shrugged. "Goddamn low battery." He sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?"

"Well, everything worked out, didn't it?" Dustin said. "Worked out? We almost died." Steve scoffed. "Yeah, but we didn't, did we?" Dustin shot back. "It was pretty damn close." Erica sassed. "Okay, Russians? As in, they're working for the Russian government?"

"What are you not comprehending? Am I not speaking English? We have a full-blown Red Dawn situation." Dustin raised his voice. "So this has nothing to do with the gate?" Kate asked. |It has everything to do with the gate..." Dustin said, but they heard a thud.

When Kate turned around, she saw El on the floor. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. El! El!" Everyone rushed over to her. "What's wrong with her?" Erica looked at them. "What's wrong?" Kate and Mike kept asking her. "My leg. My leg."

"Her leg, her leg. Okay." Jonathan pulled the bandage off and everyone grimaced as El kept crying. "El! El! El! El, are you okay? El! El! El!" Mike kept shouting. "What is that?" Kate asked Jonathan. "There's something in there." He announced. "Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" 

"Jesus Christ. Hey, hey, hey. Stay awake, stay awake. Let's get her on this side, on this side.Easy, easy, easy, easy." Mike and Kate helped El as she kept whimpering. "It's, uh... You know, it's not actually that bad. There was a... The goalie on my soccer team Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane."

"Robin." Steve broke the silence. "Yeah?" She turned to him. "You're not helping." She nodded. "I'm sorry." Jonathan came back running with a knife and a wooden spoon. "Okay. All right, El? This is gonna hurt like hell, okay? Need you to stay real still. Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay? Jesus Christ. Holy shit. Holy shit." 

"Do it." Mike said and Kate nodded along. "Okay. Oh, shit." He sliced her leg open. "Jonathan!" Nancy shouted as he put his fingers in El's leg. "Stop talking! Goddamn it!" He kept trying to catch the thing. "No! Stop it! Stop! Stop! I can do it. I can do it." She sat up. "Are you sure?" Kate asked and El nodded. 

She started screaming as she took the thing out of her leg. After a second a glass broke next to them and Kate acted quickly. She caught the pieces with her powers and layed them down, so they wouldn't hurt anyone. Then a boot stepped on the thing that came out of El's leg. Kate looked up and saw Hopper.

After they hugged, they sat El down in between of Hopper and Mike. Kate layed her head on Max's lap as she tried to get some rest.  "The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El and Kate, to kill her and pave a way into our world."

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it." Lucas added. "How big is this thing?" Hop asked. "It's big. Thirty feet, at least." Hopper nodded at Jonathan's response. "It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry."

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this... this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic... weapon?" Nancy nodded. "But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people."

"Yes, exactly." Nancy nodded once again. "Yeah, okay. I... Yeah, I'm just making sure." Steve looked down. "Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce broke the silence. "Kate beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." Max confirmed.  "But if we close the gate again... We cut the brain off from the body. And kill it. Theoretically."

"Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo! Okay, this is what Alexei called "the hub." Now, the hub takes us to the vault room." Some bald man said as Kate tried to fall asleep. Max played with her hair and Kate felt safe after a long time. "Okay, where's the gate?"

"Right here. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so." The bald man kept explaining. "More like 500. What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?" Kate started to fall asleep and the voices slowly dissapeared. 

After some time, Max started to lightly shake her and place kisses on her head. "Wake up, darling." Kate's eyes fluttered open. "What's going on?" Kate furrowed her brows. "Hopper, Joyce and Murray are leaving to close the gate and Hopper wants to tell you something." Kate nodded and walked over to him. 

"Hi." Hop looked up. "Hey. C'mere." Kate sat next to Hopper and wrapped her arms around him. "Be careful, okay? This thing is after you and your sister. I need you both safe, okay?" Kate nodded. "Of course, but you need to be careful too and come back to us. And then we can watch a movie." Hop nodded and after a moment, Kate walked over to the group and El went to Hoppper. 

After everyone said their goodbyes, Kate and Mike helped El into the car. "El, you're bleeding. Are you okay?" Kate noticed. "Yeah." She nodded. "Here. Lay down." Mike sat down next to El and Kate sat down in between of Will and Max. "What's wrong?"

"I don't... I don't know. You can't be serious. Come on!" Nancy tried to start the car, but failed multiple times. "Didn't your mom just buy this car?" Lucas asked the girl. "Yes. I'm sure it's fine." Nancy stressed. "Did you leave the lights on?"

"No." The girl denied. "Do we have gas?" Will asked. "Yes!" Nancy shouted as she tried to start the car again. "Come on!" She hit the steering wheel. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just stop, stop! Pop the hood." Jonathan exited the car. 

They waited for  some time, until Nancy banged on a window. "Back in the mall! Back in the mall! Go! Go, go, go!" They helped El up and ran to the mall. 

"Scoops Troop, do you copy? Scoops Troop, do you copy? Scoops Troop, do you copy? Scoops Troop, I repeat, do you copy? We're trapped in the mall and in need of emergency transportation. Scoops Troop, do you copy? Billy has found us. He has disabled our car and we are trapped in the mall. Repeat: Billy has disabled our car and we are trapped in the mall."

Kate was sick of his shouting, so she walked over to her girlfriend and hugged her from behind. Max placed her hands on Kate's and smiled softly. "You're gonna kill him, aren't you?" Max asked as Nancy took a gun. "This is just a precaution, okay?"

"And not just against Billy. If he knows we're here, so does the Mind Flayer." Will calmed the girl down. "No chance that thing'll drive, right?" Nancy pointed at the car, Kate threw before. "We don't need it to drive. We just need the ignition cable." Jonathan realized. 

The group, minus Will, El and Kate tried to turn the car, but were failing. "Push!" Mike shouted. "Will you let me do it already?" Kate told them. "Kate, you need to save your energy, we might need it." Nancy told her. "Yeah, but if you don't let me do it, this is gonna take forever and Billy will find us sooner, then we'll have the ignition cable."

After that, they let Kate do it. Kate grunted as she lifted the car with her powers and then dropped it. Jonathan immediately rushed over to the car and took the cable.  Kate turned around and saw El rumaging through trash. "What's she doing?" Max asked as she saw the same thing. "El. Are you okay?" Mike asked as he saw the defeated look on her face.