What Are You Hiding? | Henry Creel / Peter Ballard / 001

Part 8 - Desperate Times Call for...

Third-person POV

"Shit shit shit!" Dustin yells as he kicks a pillow in Mike's basement.

"Dustin, hurry up!" Lucas shouts as he grabs some papers that they had been writing plans on. "We need to pack it the hell up and take off!"

Mike runs down the stairs, quickly snatching the papers off of Lucas. "This the last of it?"

"Yes, now go!"

Mike sprints back up the stairs, running to throw the papers in the fireplace. "Okay, everyone have their bags?" Lucas asks.

Dustin hurriedly slings his backpack over his shoulder. "I just don't get why the hell Jules is being held hostage right now and we're running. I mean, we have a girl with superpowers to help get her back!"

Mike's quick footsteps appear back at the top of the stairs as he runs back down to the boys. "Okay, let's get the hell out of here."

As Mike, Lucas, and El run out the door, Dustin follows in annoyance. "Are you guys not listening to me?"

"We are," Lucas retorts. "We've just explained it twenty times; we need to clear out Mike's basement because their first stop will be Mike's house since Jule's address is listed on her record. Then we're going to go get help."

"From who?" Dustin asks. "Hate to break it to you, but nobody's going to believe us if we just show up and say 'Hey, Hawkins Laboratory is holding Mike's older sister hostage because they want this girl who has superpowers. Oh, and we think they're torturing her and/or intend to kill her but have no evidence besides what we heard on the Supercom.'"

"Dustin, shut up!" Mike snaps. "We're going to go to Hopper. Jules seemed to trust him, so he's our best bet. Now can you please stop arguing and hurry up? Every extra minute we take, they're doing god knows what to Jules!"

Dustin sighs as he starts pedaling on his bike, now trying to catch up to Mike, El, and Lucas. "You guys had better be right about Hopper."

......

"And you say the lab is holding your sister hostage until you bring this girl who is our only key to closing the portal?" Hopper asks as he motions to El.

The four kids look between each other on Will's bed before turning to face Hopper and Joyce. Apparently Hopper took Jule's note to heart and checked Will's body, then went straight to Joyce's house to tell her that Will wasn't dead. The boys and El went to the station while Hopper was out, and after the sympathetic assistant told them where he was, they went straight to Joyce's.

"Yes," Mike nods. "But we can't give her to them!  I don't think we can trust them to actually close the portal.  God knows what they'll do to her once we hand her over."

Hopper nods with a scoff. "Obviously. We can't trust them.  So, we'll have to break into the lab and close the portal ourselves."

"And get Will before we close the portal," Joyce adds on.

"And get Jules," Mike adds as well.

Hopper clasps his hands together. "Not a very tall order or anything," he sighs sarcastically. Upon seeing the worried looks on the boys' faces, he adds, "But don't worry, we will make it happen. Now, does Jules have anybody working in the lab with her that she trusts that can possibly help us?"

Dustin and Lucas look at each other and shrug cluelessly, but Mike quickly speaks up. "Peter! Well, actually, his real name is Henry I think."

Hopper shakes his head in confusion. "What?"