My hero ☆ Steve Harrington

chapter 33

Everyone gathered in the center if the food court as Mike began talking.

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world." Mike started.

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it." Nancy continued.

"How big is this thing?" Hopped asked, his hand swiping across his forehead.

"Its big. Thirty feet at least." Jonathan answered.

"Yeah. It sort've destroyed your cabin. Sorry." Lucas mumbled.

"Okay so just to be clear, this... this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic... weapon?" Steve asked, his arm thrown around Julia's shoulder who was pressing ice to get split lip.

"Yes."

"But instead of like, screws and metal, the mind flayer made its weapon with melted people."

"Yes, exactly." Nancy confirmed once again.

"Yeah okay. I'm just making sure."

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce asked.

"El beat the shit out if it, but yeah, it's still alive." Max said to the mother.

"But if we close the gate again-" Will started, "we cut the brain off from the body," continued Max, "and kill it. Theoretically." Lucas finished.

The harsh tension was cut when a voice echoed from the other half of the mall. "Yoo-hoo!" The unknown man in a white tank top came strutting over with papers stuffed in his hands.

They moved to the tables where the man known as Murray explained everything.

"Okay. This is what Alexi called 'the hub.' Now the hub takes us to the vault room." Murray explained.

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asked the man with the glasses.

"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."

"More like 500." Erica spoke up, all eyes on her. "What you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?" Hopper's face fell in shock at the young girls sass.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asked.

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?"

"Murray... Bauman."

"Listen Mr. Bunman, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all dye respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." Erica eyed the people around Murray.

"I'm sorry why is this four year old speaking to me?" Murray asked, clearly agitated.

"Um I'm ten, you bald bastard!"

"Erica!" Lucas choked on his words from shock.

"Just the facts!"

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. excuse me, sorry may I?" Dustin asked.

"Please."

Julia suddenly got a random burst of pain in her head. She placed her palm on the side of her head, gently rubbing it. Steve shuffled over to her, "you okay princess?" He whispered to her as the others spoke.

"Yeah I guess I just hit my head really hard earlier." She sighed. Steve took her hand away from her head and pressed a soft kiss to her temple.

"You know if we didn't vomit an hour ago I would totally kiss you." She breathed into his chest as he wrapped her into a hug. "You and me both, my love." Julia went behind one of the counters to see if there was anything to get the taste out of her mouth, and to her luck she found a pack of mint gum with a few pieces left. She tossed a piece to her friends as they sighed in relief.

Everyone broke out to do their own thing. Julia took this time to check in on the kids. She walked up to kids sitting at the fountain. She did a tight group hug with them all.

"You never said what happened to your face." Max mentioned, Julia's hand instinctively reaching up to her scratches. She sat down next to El who rested her head against her sisters shoulder.

"Story time! So I was strapped down in a chair in the secret Russian laboratory and this guy comes in and he touched me uncomfortably and he put his hand on my shoulder. So I bit his hand right between his thumb and finger which earned me this bruise." She used her index finger to point to the blackish blue mark.

"The Sargent came in. I spit in his face and then head butted him which got me these." She pointed to her busted lip and scratches. The kids stared at the girl in awe.

"That's hot." Mike whispered to Will who nodded his head, earning an elbow to the ribs from El.

El sat up right as Mike took the spot where Julia sat. She walked over to Johnathan and Julia, awkwardly waving at them. The three stood there for a few seconds before Julia pulled them into a hug as well.

"I know that was completely random and we haven't spoken in a while but after all this shit that's been going on I'm glad you guys are alive." Julia rambled as Nancy chuckled at the girl. "Were glad you're alive too."

Julia walked back to a counter to join Steve and Robin. Hopper walked to the teens and tossed Steve a pair of car keys. "What am I supposed to do with these?" He asked as Hopper walked away. Dustin ran up to them to describe what was gonna happen.

"You're gonna take us somewhere where Hopper and Joyce will be able to hear us on the radio." Dustin and Robin hopped off the counter as Julia remained.

"Jules come on, let's go." Steve said, swinging the keys around his finger.

"I'm actually gonna stay with the kids. Help out Nancy and Jonathan with things." Julia said, her hand pulling a loose piece of hair away from her face. He tossed the keys to Robin and simply said, "meet you at the car." She nodded and headed off with Erica and Dustin.

"Jules are you sure?" He asked.

"Yeah. I wanna help them out, especially take care of El." She nodded her head.

Steve took a deep breath but mentally agreed with her. "Okay. Be safe. I can't lose you." He tucked yet another loose piece of hair behind her ear.

"You won't. Now go help save the world." She winked at him. He held her head with both of his hands, they leaned in and met in the middle. Both of them relaxed into the kiss, smiling as Julia held onto Steve's hand.

They broke away and Julia lightly pushed his chest. "Now go. I'll see you when you come back."