𝘿𝙍𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 - Max Mayfield

22. The Tunnels

"Hello!" Steve yelled as the car finally stopped.

"Told you" Max smirked at Aiden who was holding his chest, trying to recover from her rough driving. "zoomer"

"Why didn't Aiden just teleport us here?" Steve complained.

"Because taking more things or people with me would drain more of my Chakra" Aiden briefly explained as they all got out of the car.

"And we need him to save enough of that for the tunnels" Melanie added as she and Dustin opened the trunk, tossing masks and goggles to everyone.

"What did I tell you?" Steve asked as he started to fully regain himself. "we're not doing this"

"Well,okay but yeah we are" Aiden shrugged as he put on his goggles.

"Aiden, I'm serious," Steve said. "this ends now!"

"Dustin," Aiden rolled his eyes. "Come handle your mother!"

Dustin had to come over and calm Steve down while the others got ready. Aiden shook the gallon in his hand to make sure there was gas in it. He'd made two more clones and left them behind at the Byers' house to gather more nature energy. He'd of course kept them at different spots so Billy wouldn't lose his mind if he woke up and happened to see them. He couldn't believe how much had happened in just a few hours... He didn't think he'd ever completely get used to all this craziness essentially being his life now.

"Hey.."

Aiden looked up and saw Mike, though he wasn't looking up at him.

"Hey" Aiden responded. He was annoyed,but he wouldn't be rude to the kid who'd offered him a place to stay when he had none.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier" Mike said quietly. "The Chief told me everything. You really did want to tell me, but you couldn't risk anyone else finding out about her... I remember what happened that night after she left,all the interrogations. You just didn't want us to go through all that again"

"It's fine," Aiden sighed. "I just didn't know what was going on with you. Sorry I socked you in the face. You just got so different so quickly... It hurt,and it was pretty annoying to watch... I guess I just snapped"

"I understand," Mike said. "I hope you know I didn't mean anything I said back there... I'm glad you're with us"

"Thanks,man" Aiden gave a small smile. "And hey,If we get out of this alive, we got plenty of time to hit each other"

"Yeah" Mike laughed as both boys stood up. "you ready?"

"Almost" Aiden lifted his index and middle fingers, dispelling the clones back at the house as the pigmentation of Sage Mode once again appeared around his eyes. "Alright, I'm ready"

"I will never get over how cool that looks," Dustin smiled.

"Right?" Melanie added as they started to go down the hole and into the tunnels one by one.

Max stared at the light-skin boy as he went down,a pang of worry in her chest for his safety. To her, he'd taken enough hits in one night already... She hoped they all made it out of this.

___________________________

Steve was the last to go into the hole as everyone looked around at the tunnels, pointing flashlights at the walls as white particles floating everywhere. "Holy shit..."

"I'm pretty sure it's this way," Mike said as he held the map and headed forward.

"You're pretty sure or you're certain?" Dustin asked.

"I'm 100% sure," Mike replied. "Just follow me"

"Woah woah woah," Steve stopped Mike and grabbed the map.