"The movies?" Lucas asked in disbelief when El told them where Dustin had been, the group walking down the isle with a cart of fireworks. Cassie was hanging on the front, he was pushing and having to look around her to see where he'd been going. "Dustin's so freaked out about the gate, he decides to go watch a movie?"

"Yeah, like, 'this movie i'm watching is great.' " Will explained in questioning.

"Painfully amazing, shakes my soul and warms my heart type of great." Cassie hummed, bobbing her head as music played in her head.

"Sounded like gate." El said from under Mikes arm.

"Which would explain how the Mind Flayers still alive." Mike agreed with El's words.

"Yeah, we just have to shut it again." Nancy sighed as they headed out of the store.

"Then the monster dies." Will agreed.

"But if not, we always have Lucas' fireworks." Max spoke sarcastically as she helped him roll his basket of fireworks out of the store.

"Keep mocking it, Max." he looked in disbelief. "Guess what else we have?"

"What?" she hummed.

Cassie looked confused as Lucas pulled her, raising her hands above her head. "We have a Claw Killer."

"Very true." Mike pointed out as he tossed Cassie her book, making her face light up.

"That was bodily shocking cool!" Cassie yelled when El flipped the car, taking out the russians in the middle of the food court. They ran down the stairs.

"Cas!" Dustin yelled as he hugged her tightly. "I was missing your words!"

"I missed you too." she hugged him tightly as he swung her around. "I beat up a claw!"

"A claw?" he gapped.

"A claw!" she confirmed as Mike and El hugged him next.

"You flung that thing like a Hot Wheels!" Dustin pulled away from his hug on El and Mike.

Lucas then found Erica. "What are you doing here?"

"Ask them. It's their fault." Erica threw a thumb toward Robin and Steve.

"True, yeah. Totally true. It's absolutely our fault." Steve nodded with his hands on his hips.

"I don't understand what happened to that car?" Robin spoke up, looking back at the, now crashed, red convertible.

"El has superpowers." Dustin threw a thumb her way.

"And she's scientifically one of the, well to put it lightly, badass woman in the entire world." Cassie nodded from next to Lucas.

"I'm sorry?" Robin looked in disbelief.

"Superpowers . She threw it with her mind. Come on, catch up." Steve rolled his eyes at her.

"That's El?" Erica gapped.

"Who's El?" Robin spoke up.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Nancy questioned the new girl.

"I'm Robin. I work with Steve." she nodded her way.

"She cracked the top secret code." Dustin grinned, slapping Lucas.

"Which is how we found out about the Russians." Steve slapped Robins shoulder slightly.

"Russians? Wait, what Russians?" Jonathan gave an alarming look.

"The Russians!" Steve yelled, motioning toward the car.

"Those were Russians?" Max gapped.

"Some of them." Erica nodded.

"Oh my god, it's always the Russians." Cassie shook her head as she looked at Lucas. "With their perfect noses. Knew we couldn't trust them."

"What are you talking about?" Lucas gave a wide eyed look down to his sister.

"They always have very spectacularly stunning n-" Cassie started.

"No, no, i'm listening to you, Cas." Lucas shook his head. "I know what you're talking about."

"Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin looked toward Mike.

"Yeah. I couldn't understand what you were saying." Mike huffed with wide eyes.

"Goddam low battery." Dustin sighed.

"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?" Steve yelled over in Dustin's direction.

"Well, everything worked out, didn't it, Steve?" Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Worked out? We almost died!" Erica gave him a look of disbelief.

"Yeah, but we didn't, did we?" Dustin gave a point her way.

"If you had left this earth so unexpectedly, do you believe you would have given your life over for a greatly appreciated act for the universe?" Cassie blinked, in complete seriousness.

"I really can not tell if you're being serious." Steve spoke honestly.

"She is." Lucas hummed, rubbing her back.

A thump had made them realize El was gone, fallen over a few feet away. Cassie hurried over. "El."

They rushed to her side, Mike kneeled next to her in worry. "What? What is it?"

"My leg." she cried softly.

"Her leg, her leg. Okay." Jonathan nodded, rolling up El's pant leg.

"That is terribly painful appearing." Cassie shook her head quickly with a scrunch of her nose.

El let out a loud, painful yell, moving uncomfortably. They all looked closer at the wound, Mike shook his head. "There's something in there."

"Jesus christ." Dustin gapped.

"Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan spoke quickly as he hurried away.

"Cassie!" Mike loooed to her quickly. "Do your thing!"

"My thing?" she gapped.

"Your talking thing." he encouraged.

Lucas shook his head, realizing she wasn't aware she did it. "What happened in that tragic romance you read?"

"Oh!" Cassie shook her head with an exhale. "Talk about heart shredding. It was as if the pages had grabbed onto my soul and heartstrings, pulling them from my chest and leaving me in unbearable, excruciating pain."

Jonathan ran back over, a knife, a wooden spoon, and gloves already on his hands. "Okay. All right. El? This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

"Okay." El sobbed, Cassie reached over and took her hand. Lucas held onto Cassies shoulders to avoid either of them falling over.

"Need you to stay real still. Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?." Jonathan nodded, passing her the wooden spoon.

"Holy shit. Holy shit." Dustin ranted as Jonathan rose the knife.

"Do it." Mike insisted.

Jonathan took a deep breath, cutting into the wound as El threw her head back in pain, crying and screaming from behind the spoon. Cassie winced as El squeezed her hand tightly. Another yell left her lips as Jonathan dug his hand into the wound, searching for the moving creature buried in El's leg.

"No! Stop it! Stop! Stop!" El yelled loudly, dropping the spoon from her mouth. Nancy hit Jonathan's shoulder quickly as he retreated his hands. "I can do it."

El looked to Cassie, taking her hand that she wasn't gonna use. She held her free hand out toward her leg, whimpering and yelling all at once as her leg moved in odd directions and ways. El began to scream, the traveling movement in her legs getting closer and closer to the open wound.

The glass behind them shattered everywhere. Lucas leaned over Cassie, his face on her shoulder to protect her, but also his eyes. El removed the part of the Mind Flayer out of her leg, yelling as she held it mid air before chunking it across the room. She fell back as Mike caught her, loosing her hold on Cassies hand as she stumbled back slightly. But, Lucas kept her up right. Looking over, the thing began to try and move away before the foot of Jim Hopper smooshed it.

•

kylie speaks

el and cas are so sweet.
the fact that they were
each other's first actual
girl friend is so sweet to
me