American Heroes: A Stranger Things 3 Fic

Look-out

"This is a bad idea," Lucas says, leaning back on the counter with his arms crossed. Will and Mike are beside him, watching Dustin, Robin, and Steve talking to Erica at a table covered in bowls of ice cream, while Max and El are in the back room of Scoops.

Will shrugs his shoulders. "She's the only one who can fit."

"It's still a bad idea. My parents will kill me if they find out I let her crawl around the mall's air ducts to find out if there are Russians hiding out here."

"Then don't let them find out," Mike says.

Steve trudges past them and gets behind the counter to scoop out another bowl of ice cream.

"What are we even doing once she gets into the room?" Lucas goes on. "We can't all just go in there."

"I think we should be focusing on the Mind Flayer." Mike looks at Will. "Billy could be killing people right now for all we know. Is getting into this room really worth it?"

"We won't know until we see it," Will says. "What if the Russians reopened the gate? That could be the whole reason they're in Hawkins. If we close the gate, we kill the Mind Flayer."

"We don't know that the gate's even open."

Lucas sticks up his hand. "That would explain why the Mind Flayer's back though, wouldn't it? I mean, think about it... if the Russians opened the gate, that could be what brought the Mind Flayer back to life here."

"Okay," Mike says, "but even if the gate is open, what are we supposed to do about it? We don't even know where it is."

"If we figure out what the Russians are doing," Will says, "and if they really did reopen the gate, then we just have to find out where it is. That shouldn't be too hard. Plus, we have El. Once we find the gate, she can close it."

Mike taps the pads of his fingers on his bottom lip. "We still have to deal with Billy."

"I know."

"I just really think we should deal with him as soon as possible."

"I know, Mike."

"I think we should split up."

Will and Lucas both turn their heads at this. "What?"

"If we wait around to get into the room, we're risking people's lives by not figuring out if Billy's the host or not. He could kill people while we're just sitting around, doing nothing!"

"We're not doing nothing," Will insists. "This could be bigger than just Billy. This-"

"You said to wait for Robin to get back, and then we would figure out what to do. Well, she's back, and you still haven't told us what you want to do."

"I want to figure out what the Russians have to do with this. And yes, I know we have to get to Billy, but-"

"That's why we should split up!" Mike points to Dustin, Robin, and Erica. "They can check out the secret room or whatever while we get the Mind Flayer out of Billy, if it's even in him at all which we won't know unless we do something about it."

Lucas frowns. "Mike, calm down. It's only, like, four thirty. The pool doesn't close for another four-five hours, so we still have time to make a plan for both getting into that room and getting Billy into the sauna."

Mike huffs, staring at Will. "I thought the Mind Flayer was your number one priority."

"It is." The weight of Mike's stare makes Will want to curl up inside himself. "That's the reason why I think we need to investigate the Russians as well as getting Billy into the sauna. If the gate has been reopened, closing it is the way to get rid of the Mind Flayer, and I know we don't know for sure whether or not the gate's been opened, but that's why we need to check it out. So that we do know. And we will go after Billy, too, because if he's the new host, we'll have to get the Mind Flayer out of him anyway. But for now, I just need you to wait until we secure our plan for getting into the room."