Royal Pain || Stranger Things

thirty-three || spy kids

"It can't be good for her to be in there for this long."

Tatum let out a sigh of relief as she climbed off her motorcycle just shy of Nancy's car where the road ended in the middle of the woods. With how much of a little shit Mike had been, she was surprised to be so happy to hear his voice.

"Relax, Mike," Max prodded.

"What if she gets brain damage or something?" he rebuffed.

Tate wandered through the well-known path, stepping over the tripwire without fail.

"Oh, shit," Lucas said. "Is that like, a real thing?"

Unlocking the door without effort, Tatum walked over the threshold. "No, it's not. He made it up."

An unruly line of cheers sounded from within the house, suddenly not thinking about keeping the peace so El could spy.

Max, Lucas, Will and Mike surrounded Tate without a beat, hugging her tight over one another. Their voices thrummed over each other, recounting the horrific night in the hospital and that the Mind Flayer was only growing stronger.

Nancy, phone pinned to her hear, blew Tate a kiss before speaking into the receiver about anymore missing town members.

Tatum slid off her bag, earning a hug from Jonathan as she went deeper into the kitchen. "Where is she?"

"She's spying," Will replied, hopping back up onto the stool. "She's been in there for a long time."

"But where have you been?" inquired Lucas. "And what about Dustin and Steve? Where have they been?"

Tatum laughed to herself mildly, sitting on the second barstool next to Will as Nancy hung up the phone, turned down about her search for missing persons. "You guys will love this. I think it'll explain a lot of things for you."

With everyone's attention, she explained not only heeding Nina's warning through the wall, but everything she knew about the Russians and where they were. She covered retrieving the Scoops Ahoy bunch and that Steve had yet to win a fight, as well as Ben hiding out at the house while the USSR signed his death certificate.

"And this Alexei dude, he's with Hopper and Mom?" Will asked, balanced on his elbows with his chin rested in his palms.

Tatum nodded. "I haven't been in contact with them since the night they escaped with him, but hopefully they'll turn up soon. Murray speaks Russian, so they'll be able to work out a plan with him."

Nancy's brows drew in. "Murray? Murray Bauman?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We have his phone number," Jonathan told her, retrieving his wallet and searching for a familiar business card that had been tucked away since the year before.

Tate's eyes grew wide. "Good! Good, that's great!" She hopped off the chair and grabbed the kitchen phone, happily taking the outstretched business card.

As the room settled in on Tatum, their curious eyes doubled in size as she began spouting Russian, unable to even decipher at what speed she was speaking as the language fell on deaf ears.

Lucas wedged an elbow into Mike's side, grinning wide as he mouthed 'bad ass' to him.

Although they all tried to pick out words that sounded familiar, they were still staring in perplexity by the time Tate hung up the phone.

Tate cleared her throat slightly as she handed back the business card to Jonathan. "I speak Russian, by the way. Okay, so Alexei took them through a map of the Key. They're going to come back and destroy it. They're going to call Doc Owens for backup. We just have to take care of...the rest."