Two of a kind...... A Billy Hargrove story

Chapter 33: Starcourt part 1

When they arrived at the mall they quickly made their way inside, desperate to find Dustin. Kali's eyes scanned the room, looking for any sign of the young boy, her eyes widened when she saw him peaking from behind a counter, she followed his gaze and saw three men in some kind of uniform walking towards them, guns in hand "I found them" she whispered over to El as she pointed over to the counter they were hidden behind. El looked between the counter and the men before spotting a car out of the corner of her eye, she raised her hand and without a second thought she flung the car towards the men, killing them in the process "you flung that thing like a hot wheel!" Lucas laughed as he watched El wipe the blood from her nose. Dustin's head quickly appeared from behind the counter at the familiar voice, he let out a groan as three other heads appeared beside him "Lucas?" A young girl who Kali had never seen before asked as she climbed over the counter "what are you doing here?" Lucas asked the young girl "ask them, it's their fault" she pointed over to the three people behind her. Kali could feel the tears prick her eyes as she ran over to a familiar face "Steve!" She shouted as she jumped into his arms "Kali? What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Steve asked as he pulled her back and checked her over "am I okay? What about you?" Kali asked as she held her hands on either side of his face "what happened to you?"

"We were drugged and beaten" Robin said nervously as she poked out from behind Steve, Kali quickly pulled her in for a hug, the tears were now streaming down her face as Robin held her tight. After a couple of minutes they both pulled away from the hug, Robin looked her up and down before smiling at her "you've changed a lot since I last saw you" Kali realised that she hadn't seen Robin since that night at the hideout so she didn't know about the pregnancy "yeah well" Kali smiled as she placed Robins hands over her stomach "looks like Hargroves stuck with me now" she grinned as Robin looked at her shocked "you mean.. this is..." Kali smiled at her friend and nodded her head "those were Russians?!" Kali and Robin looked over at the rest of the group "didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin asked as he looked over to Mike "couldn't understand what you were saying"

"Goddamn low battery" Dustin muttered as he threw his hands up in defeat "how many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?" Steve rested his hands on his hips as he spoke causing Dustin to scowl at him. The group continued talking about the Russians, and how they were trying to open the gate but they were all pulled from their conversation when El collapsed "El! El!" Mike screamed as he ran to her side "what's wrong with her?!" He looked around at everyone in panic. Jonathon sat on the floor in front of her "what's wrong?" He asked her calmly "my leg. My leg" she groaned in pain as Jonathon lifted the bandage away from her leg causing everyone to groan in disgust as they looked at the wound. Even after they had cleaned and disinfected it, the wound looked worse and was glowing in the centre. El was slowly loosing consciousness from the excruciating pain she felt but Mike tried his best to keep her awake by calling her name over and over again.

Kali looked down at the wound "there's something in there" she muttered to Jonathon who watched as El's wound started to move "Jonathon where are you going?!" Nancy screamed as she watched him run off to a nearby store. El continued to scream in pain, Mike was now sat behind her as she rested her body against his, whatever this thing in her leg was, it was draining her. Jonathon quickly made his way back over, throwing a bunch of items on the floor as he sat back in front of El, breathing heavily "okay. All right, El?" The young girl looked up at him "this is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

"Okay" she mumbled, barely staying conscious as he handed her a wooden spoon "you're gonna want to bite down on this okay?" El nodded at him as she placed the spoon in her mouth. Jonathon took a deep breath as he held the knife over El's wound, he looked up at her and she nodded at him, he took another deep breath as he sliced the wound open, El muffled a scream as everyone around her squinted their eyes. Jonathon looked over at Mike as he held his hand above El's leg "do it" Mike said, Jonathon nodded back at him before plunging his hand inside El's leg, trying to grab whatever was moving around in there. El's screams didn't let up and Kali had to close her eyes, she couldn't watch her friend go through this "stop! Stop!" El screamed, Kali's eyes shot open as she grabbed Jonathan's arm, he looked up at her before removing his hand, El shifted up slightly "I can do it" she whimpered as she lifted her hand up above her leg. Everyone watched in anticipation as the creature wriggled under El's grasp, she managed to pull it out and fling it across the room before collapsing back into Mikes arms. The group all looked to where the creature had landed, watching as it tried to wriggle away, all of them letting out a gasp when a boot landed on top of the creature, squashing it.

The group were all sat around a table as Hopper, Joyce and a man named Murray joined them. Mike filled them in on what had happened "how big is this thing?" Hopper questioned as he looked over to El "it's big, at least 30 feet" Jonathon exclaimed, the rest of the group nodding in response "it sorta destroyed your cabin, sorry" Kali spoke as she turned her gaze to the floor, Hopper placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her "are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce spoke as she looked around the group "El beat the shit out of it but yeah, it's still alive" Mike responded "but if we close the gate again, we cut the brain off from the body" he continued but was interrupted by Murray who was waving a piece of paper around.

As everyone gathered around, Murray explained about a hub that would take them to the vault room. Whatever that means. The young girl that Kali now knew to be Lucas' younger sister Erica spoke up "what, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?" Murray furrowed his brows at the girl "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair, who are you?" She questioned as she looked Murray up and down "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 due respect, you do what this man tells you" the young girl looked at Hopper while pointing at Murray "you're all gonna die"

"She's right, you're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me, may I?" Dustin spoke as he stepped forward and gestured down towards the map, Murray stepped aside and let Dustin get a proper look. Dustin went on to explain how he and Erica could show them the way to the base of the weapon but Hopper out right refused to take them along "you can navigate, just from someplace safe" Hopper tried to compromise with the young boy "if you want us to navigate then you got us, but we need a head start and a car" Hopper shook the young boys hand as he handed him the keys to a car he had acquired earlier in the day.

Steve, Robin, Dustin and Erica all climbed into the car and made their way to Dustin's high-powered radio. The plan was that they were going to use Dustin's radio to help Hopper, Joyce and Murray navigate their way through the Russian base while Nancy, Kali, Jonathon and the rest of the kids were to get away from the mall to safety and to protect El at all costs. Kali looked around as she watched Joyce talk to Will and Jonathon while Hopper sat and spoke with El, it warmed her heart to see that they cared about the kids so much but it also broke her heart to know that she never received that kind of love from her parents. One thing she did know though was that she was going to love the crap out of her own kid. After everyone had said their goodbyes, the adults gathered their weapons "okay we should probably go" Hopper said as he turned to face Joyce and Murray, they both nodded in response "Mike?" Hopper looked over his shoulder at the young boy "be careful" Mike smiled and nodded to him as he watched them all walk away.

After the adults had left, the remaining group made their way over to Nancys car. Kali sat alongside Jonathon in the front passenger seat while Mike, El, Max and Lucas all squeezed into the back. Nancy looked over to the back of the car to make sure everyone was buckled in before turning her key in the ignition, but instead of turning over, it sputtered. She looked at it confused before trying again and once again it sputtered "what's wrong?" Kali asked as she leaned forward to peer round Jonathon "I don't know" Nancy replied as she tried to turn her key again "didn't your mom just buy you this car?" Jonathon questioned as Nancy continued to try and turn the engine over. Kali rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car "pop the hood" she said as she made her way round to the front. Jonathon and Nancy stood beside her as she looked around for the problem "where did you learn how to do this?" Jonathon asked, he didn't really know much about Kali and found it strange that she knew about cars "my grandfather and I built a car together, my impala, and he taught me everything I needed to know" she smiled over at him before returning her gaze back to the car "what the hell" she mumbled under her breath "what?" Jonathon and Nancy asked in unison "the ignition cables gone" she said confused. How the hell does an ignition cable just go missing. Everyone's heads soon turned to the side when they heard the roar of a familiar engine.