Escape ~ S.Harrington

99} Beanstalks and Death Threats

Hopper started drawing on the glass with his plan, "At the base, in the Upside Down, there's a chopper ready for the taking. We fly up to the Abyss, kill the freak, rescue the kids, fly back down."
"Who exactly do you expect to fly this thing?" Dustin asked.
"It's a helicopter," Hopper leaned against the window, "They've got pilots."
"Right," Murray rolled his eyes.
"We force one to fly."
"Another kidnapping plot," Robin cheered, "Love it."
"How's this pilot gonna fly a chopper into the rift?" Mike logically questioned.
"What do you mean?" Hopper looked at him like he had two heads, "We just fly through it."
"What?"
"Idiot," Murray mumbled.
"Just fly through it?" Lucas repeated.

"These rotors are like 40 feet wide," Dustin added, "It's too big. It's not gonna fit."
"Steve hears that all the time and goes in anyway," Robin giggled, "Don't you, Steve?"
"What is wrong with you!?" He gaped at her.
"Jenna?" She eyed her with a smirk.
Jenna stared back blankly, looking like she was ready to strangle her.
"It's funny," Murray chuckled.
"Everybody shut up!" Hopper snapped, "Look, if somebody else has some magic bean that I don't know about, I'm all ears."
"I mean, I can go up by myself," Jenna suggested, "I can harness the lightning. in the Upside Down and pull myself up there."
"No," Hop and Steve replied at the same time.
"What? It keeps all of you safe," Jenna shot back, "I know Henry and his mind the best at this point. I can do it."

Hop knelt down in front of her, "Not fucking happening," He stood back up, "If we can't come up with something else, this is a risk we've gotta take," He tapped the drawing with the marker, "We fly, or we die."
"Fly or die," Murray repeated back.
"Well, then I guess we die," Dustin groaned.
"Not if we commit to a plan!" Hopper fought.
"Can we weigh out a few more options before..."
"Yes, we die, I guess."
"You said we have to get up to 2,000 feet..."
"Don't take that shit, Jim," Murray added.
"You're not even listening to each other," Alice rolled her eyes.
"You guys!" Mike yelled, but it was no use.
"How are you gonna do it?" Hopper continued to argue with Dustin.
"Jen..." Steve whispered in her ear, "I think I have an idea."
"Yeah?" She kissed his cheek.
"Uh huh," He nodded, leaning into her touch, "Let's stand up."
"Sure," She stood up with him, reassuringly holding his hand.

"We don't need a magic bean to climb," He muttered to himself and his fiancé.
Everyone else continued to bicker over top of his voice.
"Shut the fuck up!" Jenna screamed, finally gaining everyone's attention, "Steve has something to say about not needing a magic beam, so fucking shut your mouths and listen to him before I electrocute all of you!" Everyone stared at her in shock, "Glad to know that worked. Do your thing, Stevie."
"Thank you," He quickly kissed the top of her head, "Like she said, we don't need a magic bean. We have a beanstalk right here. Jen, go grab my Slinky please?"
She ran into the sound booth and quickly snagged it, handing it back to him.
He propped up a flashlight on a table, "Okay, this flashlight is the Squawk radio tower, and this Slinky..." He plopped it down over top of it, stretching it upward, "Is the bridge. We'll never reach the Abyss from the tower, right? But Jen and Max said Vecna is drawing our worlds together. So, we let him. And we wait and wait as he draws it closer and closer," He lowered the Slinky so it was just above the top of the flashlight, "When it's close enough, and the radio tower is poking through one of the rifts, bam! El makes her move, she does her meditation thingy, enters Vecna's sick mind, and ambushes him. In your face, dickhead. And then, stopping the spell, halting the worlds from moving," He dropped the Slinky to the table, "Wham, voilà! We've got a beanstalk. It's perfect!"

Jenna grabbed the side of his face with one of her hands, gently kissing his cheek, "Wonderful plan, babe. I love it."
He smiled widely, "All we gotta do is climb up into the Abyss."
"Which I can help with," Jenna nodded, "And I should be able to use my powers to physically stop the Abyss from squishing us if anything misfires with El."
"I like it," Erica bit back a smile.
"It's not totally insane," Mike looked around at everyone else to make sure they were on the same page as him.
"Thank you," Steve interlocked his fingers with Jenna's.
"But there's a problem," Mike pointed out, "A big one."
"I can't reach in Vecna's mind," El finished for him, "He's too far away."
"Can't you just try?" Steve reasoned, "I don't know, load up on some of your junk food or something?"
"There's a bath," Jenna's eyes lit up in realization, "In the Upside Down. The lab is frozen in time, so there's for sure the tank we used back in the day. I know there isn't supposed to be any water down there, but knowing Brenner, he probably filled up the water reservoir when he was fucking around. It should work perfectly for you, El."