American Heroes: A Stranger Things 3 Fic

Family Discussion

Everyone is waiting around the cabin while El searches for the Flayed in her bedroom. Will sits on a chair by the kitchen counter across from Jonathan, Steve and Robin sitting at the dining table beside him while Nancy is glued to the phone, trying to get more information on the Flayed. Dustin, Lucas, and Erica are gathered on the couch, and Max is in the armchair next to them, frowning as Mike paces back-and-forth in front of El's bedroom door.

"It can't be good for her to be in there for this long," Mike says. A tinge of jealousy hits Will which annoys him.

In the armchair, Max sighs. "Mike, you need to relax."

"What if she gets brain damage or something?"

"Oh, shit-" Lucas looks from Max to Mike. "Is that, like, a real thing?"

"No, it's not," Max says. "He made it up. Mike doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."

Halting, Mike turns to furrow his eyebrows at Max. "Oh, and you do?"

"No, I..." As Max goes on to say something else, Will diverts his attention to Nancy on the phone, sick of listening to his friends bickering.

"Yes, from The Hawkins Post," Nancy says. "I – I called a couple days ago about the ... yeah, yes, um... I was just... following up to see if anything else had gone missing, or if – Okay. Um, sorry to bother -" The line cuts off before she can finish. She hangs up the phone and goes to where Jonathan and Will are. Looking at the phone book on the counter, she sighs. "Who's next?"

"There is no next," Jonathan says, scratching off an ad in the phone book. "Unless you want to start calling random people's homes."

"It doesn't make sense."

"What part of any of this makes sense?"

"There's a pattern, okay? A consistency to their behavior. They've been feeding on these chemicals since this started, and – and, what, they just stop, out of the blue?"

"Maybe they have all the chemicals they need," Will says. "Maybe they've all turned into those... things."

From the dining table, Steve turns to face them. "I don't get what you're looking for. Don't we already know what's going on? That monster you guys saw in the hospital, isn't that what's happening to everyone who gets infected? What else is there to know?"

"But what about the source?" Nancy asks. "I mean, did the Mind Flayer just suddenly stop infecting people? And even if the Flayed are monsters now, why can't El find them?"

Steve opens his mouth to respond, but Max marches up to them with Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Erica trailing behind her. "Okay, can you guys settle an argument for us?" she asks. "Who do you think should decide El's limits? Mike or Eleven?"

Mike's face scrunches up. "The way that you frame that is such bullshit."

"It's not bullshit, Mike. This is your whole problem. And it's also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass."

"El dumped you?" Nancy asks her brother.

"Yeah," Mike says, gesturing to Max, "because she is conspiring against me. She's corrupting her."

"No, enlightening her," Max counters. Will and Lucas glance to each other as both Mike and Max's faces grow red with frustration. "The fact is, she's not yours. She's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions."

"She's risking her life for no reason."

Nancy furrows her eyebrows at Mike. "For no reason? Mike, the Flayed are out there doing God knows what."

"Killing, flaying," Lucas says.

"Transforming into monsters," Will adds.

"And El's not stupid," Nancy continues as Mike rolls his eyes. "She knows her abilities better than any of us."

"Exactly, thank you," Max says.

"And she is her own person."

"Exactly."

"With her own free will."

"Exactly. El has saved the world twice, and Mike still doesn't trust her."

Mike focuses on Max. "You wanna talk about trust, really? After you made Eleven spy on us?"

Squinting, Lucas straightens up. "Wait, what?"

"Oh, she didn't tell you this?"

He shakes his head, eyes wide. "No."

"Your girlfriend used El's powers to spy on us."

"No, no, no, I did not make her," Max says. "It was her idea. And why are we even talking about this, seriously?"

"Yeah," Will adds, "who cares?"

Lucas turns to him. "I care."

"Yeah." Mike turns towards Max again. "I guess girlfriends don't lie, they spy."

"We were just joking around," Max insists.

"Wouldn't it've been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something?"

Max rolls her eyes. "You weren't."

"But what if I was?"

"Then gross!"

"Seriously, Mike?" Nancy says.

"I'm just trying to demonstrate how careless Max is with Eleven's powers. In fact, how careless all of you are. You're treating her like some kind of machine when she's not a machine, and I don't want her to die looking for the Flayed when they've obviously vanished off the face of the Earth. So can we please just come up with a new plan because I love her and I can't lose her again." Mike freezes as the words leave his mouth. The words stab into Will's chest like a dagger. Dead silent, Will realizes far too many eyes are on him rather than Mike. Max seems to be giving him a sympathetic look which he understands and can't help feeling grateful for. A lump forms in his throat when he realizes Erica, Dustin, and Lucas all staring at him as well. The only ones who aren't looking at him are Mike, Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Jonathan, and Jonathan's eyes are burning holes at Mike's head.

Floorboards creak as El exits her bedroom, and everyone looks to her. "What's going on?" she asks.

"Nothing," Mike says. "Nothing."

"Just a family discussion," Lucas adds.

"Oh..." Glancing about, El takes a breath. "I found him."

"Found who?" Nancy asks.

"Billy."