Chapter Thirty-One: Battle Strategy

(The Battle Of Starcourt, Pt. 2)

***

Alistair worried his lip so much he was sure blood was dripping down as he stayed next to Will, as the Party stood and listened to Mike talk about everything that had happened in the past few days, of the Mind Flayer's return, it possessing and melting the Flayed... and now it's latest plan.

"The Mind Flayer. It built this monster in Hawkins to stop El. To kill her and pave a way into our world," Mike recounted, and Alistair flinched, remembering the pain, the agony of melting over and over again. Will put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and Alistair relaxed into it.

"And it almost did—that was just one tiny piece of it," Max pointed out as Cami nodded.

"A second longer and it might have," Cami admitted, saying what everything was thinking, and Alistair looked at El, sitting on a bench next to Hopper, her adoptive father stroking her hair. Her leg had been re-bandaged, the wound cauterised thanks to his sister's lightning. In an ideal world, El would definitely head to a hospital, but this wasn't an ideal world. And the Mind Flayer would be gunning after her soon, once it recovered the strength to do so.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper questioned, voice gruff as he continued stroking his adopted daughter's hair.

"It's big. Thirty feet, at least," Jonathan answered.

"Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry," Lucas revealed, wearing a sheepish look as Hopper stared at Lucas.

"Okay, so just to be clear," Steve said, making all eyes turn to him, "this big fleshy spider... thing that hurt El is some kind of gigantic... weapon?"

"Yes," Nancy confirmed.

"But instead of like screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people."

Alistair flinched again, the memory of the pain and screams flashing in his mind, especially as he thought about the missing ghosts, what the Mind Flayer could have done to them. Hugin cawed comfortingly and Will held him even tighter. As Robin's eyebrows raised and Valerie looked torn between shock and horror and Rowan muttered, "Fuck."

"Yes, exactly," Nancy affirmed, exasperation in her tone.

"Yeah, okay. I... Yeah, I'm just making sure," Steve mumbled, looking sheepish. Rowan put her hand on Steve's shoulder and shot a glare at Nancy, before it faded as she breathed, "Shit, this is bad. This is... fuck."

His sister looked on the verge of panicking, but before Alistair's eyes Steve put a hand on her back, moving in slow circles as she turned to him, before relaxing into it.

Again, Alistair's eyebrows raised, at this new change in the relationship between his sister and Steve.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, is still alive?" Joyce questioned, pulling Alistair's attention back to the Mind Flayer being after El.

"El and Al beat the shit out of it, but yeah, it's still alive," Max replied.

"The Mind Flayer isn't. Can't say the same for the Flayed," Alistair mumbled. He ignored how Robin, Valerie and Erica were the only confused ones at his words.

"And once it's back on its feet, more or less, it's gonna come after her again," Cami said, grim and serious. It was odd, coming from his best friend who was like the personification of sunshine, but Alistair guessed even in this, you couldn't always be sunshine and rainbows.

"But if we close the gate again..." Will started, saying the same plan they used to defeat the Mind Flayer last time and El had closed the gate—except this time, there would be no exorcising.

"We cut the brain off from the body," Max added on.

 "And kill it. Theoretically," Lucas finished off.

"If it worked last time, it will probably fucking work again," Rowan pointed out.

Rowan was right, but Alistair had a feeling that might not be true—because El had closed the gate. And she was in no condition to close the one underneath Starcourt. And even if she was, could she close a gate she didn't open?

It seemed everyone was thinking that, because a grim silence had fallen. That was, until it was broken by a loud, "Yoo-hoo!"

Everyone turned to Murray—for someone who just found out his friend's niece and nephew had superpowers, he was really calm about it—as he waved sheets of paper around, shouting, "Yoo-hoo!" again

Alistair frowned. What in hell was he waving about?

But now that he their attention, Murray headed to one of the food court tables. Aunt Aco and Hopper followed after him, then the rest of them followed suit. Dustin, Lucas, Rowan and Erica stuck near the adults as the rest of them grouped just a bit away. Alistair noticed Cami and Valerie next to each other—and the tension between the sisters. Tension that was forgotten when Murray slammed the papers down on the table, drawing all of their attention back to it again—where Alistair saw they were blueprints for this machine.

Alistair stared at it in shock—how did Murray have blueprints to this machine?

"Okay, this is what Alexei called 'the hub," Murray stated as he pointed to a room on the blueprints as Alistair frowned in confusion. Who the hell is Alexei?

He wasn't alone, as his sister asked, "Who's Alexei?"

"A Russian scientist  Hopper, Joyce and I kidnapped," Aunt Aco explained in a low breath that the rest of them managed to hear—and Alistair could see the tightness in his aunt's shoulders, that this Alexei had become another casualty of Hawkins. Alistair wondered if he would see his ghost or if he moved on. He hoped it would be the latter.

He pushed it down as Murray continued speaking, saying, "Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper demanded.

"It's literally a stairway from their comms room," Rowan answered, which had Murray point to her before pointing back to the blueprints as he explained, "Right here, next to their communications room, like she said. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room. Maybe fifty feet or so."

At hearing that, Rowan snorted, letting Alistair know Murray's guess was wildly incorrect, as Erica Sinclair stepped up and corrected, "More like five hundred."

All eyes turned to her as she snarked, "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's Commie Disneyland or something?"

"Not exactly, kid," Aunt Aco said, the smirk on her face telling Alistair she liked Erica—not that Alistair was surprised.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asked condescendingly.

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?" Erica fired back, and the smirk grew on Aunt Ace's face.

"Murray... Bauman," Murray answered, after a second too long before he said his last name.

"Listen, Mr. Bunman," Erica started with all her usual sass as Rowan snorted again, "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for twenty-four hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die."

"She isn't lying," Rowan muttered as Alistair looked at Steve and his beat-up face, his gut twisting at the thought of what Russians could do to three American adults when that was what they did to American teenagers.

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray questioned condescendingly as he gestured to Erica.

"Uh, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" Erica fired back.

Alistair gaped at Erica as Hopper's eyebrows raised, Rowan grinned approvingly and Aunt Aco hooted, "Oh, I like you!", and Lucas chided, "Erica!"

"Just the facts!"

"On both accounts," Rowan concurred.

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to," Dustin interjected as he stepped forward, Alistair watching as his friend gestured to the blueprints. "Excuse me. Sorry, may I?"

"Please," Murray said, voice visibly forcefully cheery even from where Alistair was standing.

Dustin, however, ignored it as he took the blueprints and began drawing something on it as now Rowan and Erica made to stand behind him, saying, "Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility. There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon."

"Right to the gate," Rowan interjected and Dustin nodded in agreement as Alistair stared at his sister and best friend, mind trying to wrap around the crazy few days they, Erica, Steve, Robin and Valerie had. Then again, Alistair could guess the Mind Flayer's return had also been a crazy few days...

"It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me, Rowan and Erica, we can show you the way," Dustin finished, Erica nodding as now Rowan stared at him.

"I didn't agree to that, menace," Rowan said pointedly.

"You can show us the way?" Hopper echoed, the strain in his voice clear to Alistair he wasn't letting Rowan, Erica and Dustin navigate. And Alistair found he agreed—the thought of his sister and friend in the apparently secret underground base again had Alistair's skin crawl.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and cool hero shit, and we'll just be your... navigators," Dustin proposed, grinning.

It soon fell when Hopper said, "No. Nope."

That seemed to be the cue for everyone else to leave just as Aunt Aco turned to Rowan, steel in her face—and Alistair had zero guesses on what his aunt was going to say to his sister—as they returned back to the water fountain, Lucas with them, where Robin turned to him and asked, "So, uh, Al... what did you mean about how the... Flayed might not be alive anymore?"

"I felt them die," Alistair deadpanned. "Heads up, being melted alive sucks. Would not recommend. Avoid it at all costs."

"O-oh, okay," Robin said, eyes wide. Valerie looked at Alistair and he tried to ignore it as Cami sent a sharp look at her sister and Mike, Max, Lucas and Will moved closer to him, Hugin croaking protectively, as El delivered her own steely glare to Valerie—she knew too well to be judged for powers terrifying to others. Something that Alistair vastly appreciated.

But neither Robin or Valerie pushed it, which was something Alistair was glad for, as Valerie turned to Cami, grabbing her by the arm and hissing something to her. His best friend frowned, but gave a tight nod as the sisters walked away to an alcove—and Alistair had a feeling what that would be about.

He turned back, finding himself with Will, Mike and Lucas as everyone else seemed to be getting into smaller groups. He looked over to his sister, seeing she'd walked away from the adults and Dustin and Erica, giving her a smile. Rowan returned it before she pulled a face that had Alistair roll his eyes—he wasn't a little kid anymore—but he was still smiling.

That was when Hopper, Aunt Aco and Murray walked away from the table, Dustin and Erica right behind them, and the rest of the group fully split up—Nancy and Jonathan together, Cami and Valerie still in that alcove, Max and El heading somewhere else, and Robin and Steve together before Rowan joined them. Alistair, Will, Mike and Lucas, however, stuck by the fountain.

Dustin and Erica stood on the sidelines as Hopper looted guns from the dead Russians, watching for a few minutes before Erica said, "Well, that settles it. He's gonna die. They're gonna die."

"Yep, most likely," Dustin agreed.

"You guys survived," Lucas pointed out.

The duo turned as Dustin said, "Barely. We could've really used you guys down there."

"Could've used you up here, too," Mike responded.

"Yeah, man. We missed you, dude," Lucas said, smiling.

"Yeah. Big-time," Will concurred, also smiling.

Alistair nodded, a smile on his face as Hugin croaked. "Yeah, wasn't the same without you."

Then they were in a hug, friends reunited, the original Party reunited.

"I missed you guys, too. Big-time," Dustin returned, pulling back as he smiled.

The moment was ruined when Erica snarked, "Please don't cry, nerds."

"Erica," Lucas snapped.

"Keep saying my name, see what happens," Erica retorted.

Alistair smirked. This would make Aunt Aco love Erica even more, maybe even take her on as her prodigy.

... Actually, the thought of Erica Sinclair being his aunt's prodigy was terrifying.

"Hey, heads up!" Hopper exclaimed.

They turned just as Hopper tossed a walkie at Dustin, who caught it, as the chief went on while fiddling with the other walkie in his hand, "You and Aco's kid can navigate, just from someplace safe."

"It's not that simple," Dustin said.

"The signal won't reach," Erica revealed.

"Not with this," Dustin elaborated. "You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians' radio tower. But for that to work, you need someone who has both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower, one preferably already situated at the highest point in Hawkins. Oh, wait. That's me."

Alistair's eyebrows raised as Dustin went on, "If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start."

Dustin hesitated, before he added, "And a car."

Hopper stared at Dustin, exasperation on his face before he sighed. But Alistair knew he'd been convinced. His aunt probably would be too, when she heard about this. And as he stared at his best friend, at how they were going to be split up again to save the world again, he only hoped it would succeed.

And they would all come out okay and alive on the other side.

***

Yeah... totally, Al...

This was just a bit of filler, but I promise it picks up next chapter! Especially when things are now in motion—I'm literally so excited for these next couple of chapters, you won't believe it. Especially next chapter... >;)

Next chapter will be soon!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!