Chapter Nine: The Gate

chapter forty ,

a/n : we're almost done with season two!

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The Hopper family get out of the truck and look at The Lab in front of them. Gus feels her chest tighten as her mind goes back to when she was last in the lab. She and Eleven were forced to fight each other and Gus almost killed her. Gus wasn't hat same little girl anymore who would do anything for Dr. Brenner's attention. God, she hopes she wasn't that same girl.

Gus looks at her little sister and sees a look of fear across her face. The short-haired brunette lightly touches Eleven's hand. "Hey."

Eleven blinks and looks up at Gus. The teenager gnaws on her lower lip. She crouches in front of Eleven and keeps her eyes on hers. "Listen, you know you can talk to me about anything and everything, right?" She softly speaks. "You don't need to get into a stranger's truck. Even if he was a nice man. You have me. I will always be here for you."

Tears form in Eleven's eyes. She never knew what it was like to genuinely have someone on her side that actually cared about her. Now, she had a whole group of people who cared. But now, she also had a big sister that'll do anything for her. And Eleven would do anything for Gus. Eleven wipes her tears and nods her head. "Thank you, August." She wraps her arms around Gus' neck.

Gus chuckles softly and hugs Eleven back. "No need to thank me, squirt. That's what big sisters are for."

Hopper watches as the two girls hug and he smiles softly. "You two ready?"

Gus and Eleven look at Hopper. The teenager stands up and nods. "Yeah."

"All right. You two let me do the heavy lifting up front, all right?" Hopper looks from Eleven to Gus. "Then when we down there. I'll let you guys do your things."

Gus looks at Eleven and just from one glance, Gus could tell that Eleven was nervous. Eleven walks toward the building and Hopper and Gus follow.

...

Fallon manages to convince the kids to have Steve tag along. She was sitting in the back with Mike, Sofía, Dustin. Steve's head was laying in Fallon's lap. She reluctantly had to take care of Steve, making sure he was still breathing. Every now and then, she would feel nauseous by the way Max was driving. This whole thing was a shit show. But, one thing that made her feel better was Sofía putting cartoon bandaids on Steve's face. It made Fallon laugh.

Steve groans quietly and stirs. Fallon looks down at the boy and his swollen eyes meet hers. "August?"

Fallon rolls her eyes, "Gus and I look nothing alike."

Steve reaches for his face and Fallon lightly smacks his hand. "Don't touch it." Fallon orders.

Steve quietly whines and pulls his hand back. He looks over at Dustin.

"Hey, buddy..." Dustin softly gushes the teenage boy. "It's okay. You put up a good fight."

"Steve got his ass kicked." Fallon laughs. "Then I saved his ass. And Max threatened Billy's ass. But..." she looks down at the bloodied boy. "...you put up a good fight."

Steve groans softly and Fallon huffs. He looks forward at the two kids in the front seat.

"What's going on?"

Fallon presses her lips together, "Here it goes..."

"Oh, My God!" Steve's breathing picks up.

"Steve, just relax. She's driven before." Sofía says.

"Yeah, in a parking lot." Mike replies.

"That counts." Lucas speaks.

Fallon looks at Steve, "Look, they were gonna ditch your ass. But I managed to convince them not to."

"Oh My God—No..." Steve starts to freak out.

"I promised that you'd be cool, okay?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on?!" Steve shouts.

"Why are you yelling?!" Fallon shouts at Steve.

"You let that little shit drive?!" Steve shouts at Fallon.

"Stop with the yelling and name calling!" Sofía points at Steve.

The car speeds up and Fallon's eyes widen. "Okay! Maybe we're going a little too fast!"

"Stop the car. Slow down." Steve speaks.

"I told you he'd freak out." Mike looks at Fallon.

"Stop the car!"

"Everybody shut up! I'm trying to focus!" Max shouts.

"Oh, wait, that's Mount Sinai. Make a left."

Max looks at Lucas, "What?"

"Make a left!"

Max yanks the steering wheel to the side and the car swerved to the left. Everyone starts to scream and is flung around the car. Fallon squeezes her eyes shut, "It's over—oh, god—we're gonna die!"

Max continues to speed down the road. She makes another turn and ends up in grass. She continues towards where Hopper made the hole. As soon as they get to hole, Max skids to a stop.

"Hello!" Steve yells.

Sofía looks at her hand and sees that she was holding hands with Dustin. They both look at each other and their faces heats up. "Oh, uh...Hi." Sofía forces out.

Dustin nervously chuckles, "Hi."

They hesitantly pull their hands away from each other.

"Incredible," Mike says.

"Told you, Zoomer," Max shrugs.

Everyone gets out of the car. Fallon places her hands against her knees and dry heaves for a second time. Nothing comes out and she sighs. "Okay, I'm still here...good."

Fallon stands up straight and Sofía tosses her, goggles, a scarf to cover her mouth, and gloves. She puts them on and Steve looks at all of them. Fallon wrinkles her nose, "You couldn't have gotten something with a good color scheme?"

All the kids look at the girl and she holds her hands up. "I'll make it work."

Sofía presses her lips together. She walks over to Fallon and holds the dark red scarf out to her. "This would look good on you."

Fallon looks down at her gray sweater then looks at the dark red scarf. She smirks, "Out of all the kids here. You're my favorite."

Sofía smiles.

Everyone ignores Steve's yells. He moves to the trunk, "This ends right now!" He throws the bag back into the trunk. Fallon rolls her eyes. She walks over to him, "Steve, you're upset, I get it."

"But the bottom line is, a party member requires assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance," Dustin speaks. "I know you promised Gus that you would keep us safe. So keep us safe." Dustin holds the bag with Steve's bat towards the teen.

Steve rolls his eyes and looks at Fallon with a glare. Fallon bunches her shoulders and moves her head to one side. "They were going to leave with or without us. And I would rather have us going down there to watch them."

Fallon sighs, "Besides, I couldn't leave you on the floor unconscious." She crosses her arms and scoffs. "It wouldn't have been...cool."

Steve tilts his head to the sky. "Yeah, I...appreciate it or whatever. Thanks."

Fallon shrugs, "Gus likes you a lot. I'm not gonna let her lose you." She scoffs. "Also, you have potential to be a good friend."

Steve wrinkles his nose and looks at Fallon. Her eyes widen, "Forget I said that." She grabs her axe and makes her way over to the hole.

☆

The three walk down the long hallway of Hawkins Lab. They approach the door to a stairway and Hopper turns to the two kids. "Stay here, all right?"

Gus nods her head. Hopper makes his way through the door. He trots down the stairs with his light shining and his shotgun ready to be fired. He gets to the middle of the stairwell and sees Dr. Owen's slumped against the wall with an injured leg.

Hopper lowers his gun, "Oh, shit..." he makes his way over to Dr. Owens. "Hey, doc."

Hopper looks at the man's leg. "Those suckers got you pretty good, huh?"

Dr. Owen's opens his mouth, trying to talk, but it just comes out as pain-filled breaths.

"That's okay, don't talk." Hopper takes his belt off. "I got you. I got you. I got you..." he buckles the belt above Owens' gash. Dr. Owen's looks behind Hopper and sees two girls walking towards them. He pulls his brows together at the younger girl, recognizing her. But the teenager wasn't ringing any bells to him.

Hopper slightly turns his head and he raises his brows at the girls. "Oh, yeah, I've been meaning to tell you. This is Eleven. Eleven, Doc Owens. Doc Owens, Eleven. She's been staying with Gus and I for about a year."

"And she's gonna save our asses." Gus nudges Eleven with a small smile on her lips. Eleven softly smiles. Hopper nods, "Yeah, she is. And right next to her is Gus. Been looking after her for 6 years going on 7." He informs Owens. "She was also one of the kids that were experimented on in the past. You might recognize her as number 5."

Gus raises her hand and pulls her sleeve down, revealing the '005' tattoo on her wrist. Dr. Owen's shakes his head, "B-But—"

"I'm the original five." Gus says. "Kind of became a psycho and almost brought the whole building down. Then Brenner got rid of me and replaced with another child." She scrunches her nose. "I'm that Five."

Owens' eyes widen, finally recognizing the teenage girl. She was one of the people that struck terror in everyone with just the mention of her name. Dr. Brenner never wanted '005' to be mentioned again, but everyone still knew that she was out there and the power that she held. It absolutely terrified them. But now here she is, about to save the whole town. The town that treated her as disposable.

She was a completely different person.

"Maybe when this is all said and done, maybe you could help these out, you know? Maybe you could help El lead, like, a normal life." Hopper suggests.

Gus tilts her head, "One where she's not poked and prodded and hunted. That would be nice." She looks at her little sister. "Make sure she's not treated like a fucking lab rat, you know?"

Hopper shrugs a shoulder, "I don't know, just a thought." He tourniquets Dr. Owen's leg and the doctor lets out pain-filled groan. He touches Owens leg, "But, uh...think about it."

Hopper hands Owens a walkie, "Don't go anywhere."

Owens chuckles softly.

Hopper walks down the stairs and Eleven follows. Gus goes to follow after the two, but she stops. The girl bites her lower lip and crouches beside Dr. Owens. The doctor tenses from how close the girl was and how she was staring at him with intimidating eyes. Then Gus smiles which causes the man to pull his brows together.

"Maybe if we all survive this you could give me a little something too." Gus chuckles softly. "I've been using my powers recently and my wrists are starting to hurt like hell. So, I don't know, maybe you could make something for me to ease that pain. My bones feel like their turning into fucking dust, man—"

"Gus, let's get moving!"

Gus looks down the stairs and slightly opens her mouth. She then looks at Dr. Owens. "Please don't die and...we'll be back for you." She sends Owens a thumbs up and runs down the stairs after her father and sister.

...

"God."

"What is this place?" Max looks around the tunnel.

"Guys, come on. Keep moving." Steve continues leading the group from the front. Fallon was in the far back, making sure none of the kids were left behind. Sofía and Dustin were walking beside each other. Dustin looks up at the ceiling, he stops in his tracks which causes Sofía and Fallon to stop.

"What the hell?"

Fallon and Sofía look up at what Dustin was seeing. The curly-haired teen wrinkles her nose at the moving hole at the top of the tunnel. She tilts her head, "It kinda..." she giggles. "...it kind of looks like an asshole."

Sofía snaps her eyes over to the Fallon. "Gross!"

Fallon looks at Sofía and her smile drops. "Sorry"

A gust of wind hits Dustin in the face and he starts to shriek. Fallon's eyes widen as Dustin collapses to the ground. "Did the asshole get you?!"

"Dustin!" Sofía crouches beside Dustin with her breathing quick. "What happened?!"

Fallon looks over at the group that was still walking away from them. "Guys, get over here!"

The group runs over to Fallon and the others. "Dustin?!"

"What happened—what happened?!"

"It's in my mouth! Some got in my mouth!" Dustin pulls his mask off his face and starts to spit. "Shit!" He coughs aggressively. He then looks up at everyone. "I'm okay."

Everyone looks at the boy annoyed and walks away.

"Are you serious?"

"Very funny, man."

"What an idiot."

"Oh, thank god!"

Dustin turns and meets Sofía's relieved expression. Sofía wraps her arms around Dustin's neck and his face gets hot. "I thought you were hurt." She whispers. She pulls away from the hug. "It's still pretty gross that the asshole got you, though."

Fallon snaps her fingers. "I told you it was an asshole!" She laughs triumphantly. She then exhales sharply. "All right, we should catch up with everyone else." She motions the kids to walk forward.

The three catch up to the rest of the group. Everyone ends up in an area with multiple tunnel openings surrounding the middle of the underground.

"All right, Wheeler. I think we found your hub." Steve speaks.

"Let's drench it."

Everyone takes a canister and a spray bottle. They all soak the hub in gasoline. Once everyone's bottles and cans were empty, they got out the middle of the hub.

"All right, you guys ready?"

Everyone sounds off a small 'yeah'. Steve grabs his lighter. "Light her up." Dustin speaks.

"We're waiting, Harrington." Fallon looks at the boy.

Steve huffs, "I am in such deep shit." He flicks the lighter on. He throws the lighter into the middle of the hub. The vines start to flail around and shrill screeches come from them. Fallon's ear starts to throb as the hub engulfs in flames.

"Go, Go, Go!" Fallon shouts.

Steve, Fallon, and the kids stand up and sprint down the tunnel. "Let's go! Let's go!"

Steve looks at the map and directs the group through the tunnels. "This way!"

Mike then trips and a vine wraps around his leg. "Help! Help! Help! Help!"

Fallon quickly stops in her tracks and turns to the screaming boy. "Guys!" She calls out, which catches everyone's attention. Fallon's runs over to Mike and pulls her axe from back sheath. Fallon raises the axe above her head and Mike's eyes widen. "Hold on—"

"Hold still!" Fallon brings the axe down on the vines. They vine-like creatures let's out shrilling shrieks as they fall away from Mike's leg. Fallon puts the axe back in its sheathe and helps Mike up.

"Are you okay?!"

The group all checks on Mike's well-being. Mike looks at each person and reassures he's okay.

A screech comes from behind them. The group all turns to the creature in front of them. Sofía's eyes widen, "Holy crap!"

"Dart."

Dustin takes a step forward and everyone starts to speak worriedly. "No, Dustin!" Sofía harshly whispers.

"Dustin get back here!"

Dustin shushes everyone and hods a hand out to them. "Trust me, please." He walks closer to Dart.

Dustin pulls his mask and goggles off. "Hey, it's me, it's me. It's just your friend, it's Dustin." He softly smiles. "You remember me?"

"Will you let us pass?"

Dart opens his face and roars, which causes everyone to flinch. Dustin holds his hands up. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the storm cellar." He apologizes. "That was a pretty douchey thing to do."

"You hungry? Yeah." Dustin takes his bag off and opens it.

"He's insane—"

Sofía hushes Lucas, "He's got this." She says, even thought she was just as worried as everyone else.

"I've got our favorite." Dustin pulls the chocolate from his bag. "See? Nougat." He unwraps the candy and places it in front of Dart. "Look at that. Yummy. Here, all right? Eat up, buddy." Dart starts to eat the chocolate.

Dustin motions his hand forward, telling everyone to walk past the Demo-dog. Everyone quickly walks past dart and Dustin. The curly-haired boy lays more Nougat down and Dart eats it. Dustin stands up pulls his goggles back over his eyes. He looks back at Dart and his gaze saddens, knowing what was next for his friend.

"Goodbye, buddy."

Gus and Eleven follow close behind Hopper as they creep down the hall. A small sound causes them all to stop in their tracks. "Stay here." Hopper tells his kids.

Eleven holds Gus' hand as Hopper walks down the hall. He makes it to a door and sees a lot of Demo-dogs littered around the room. "Shit..." Hopper enters the room with his gun raised. Before he could shoot any of the Demo-dogs, they all screech and run into the tunnel leading to the underground.

Gus pulls her brows together from the chills running across her arms. She peaks into the room and sees Hopper staring through the glass at the blood-red rift. Gus and Eleven walk into the room and look at the Demo-dogs running away.

"Chief, do you copy?" Hopper's walkie goes off.

Hopper grabs the walkie and speaks into it. "Yeah, I copy."

"Close it."

Eleven and Gus look at each other, then look at Hopper. The three all get onto the platform and Hopper lowers the platform deeper into the black void, which meant closer to the gate. Gus felt her heart start to pound through her ears. Eleven told her all about the Gate and how horrifying it looked. Gus' imagination couldn't have done this wretched rift any Justice.

The black void that they were lowered down to soon flowed a blood-red due to The Gate. Eleven was standing between Hopper and Gus, she then takes both of their hands.

Hopper switches off the power, which stops the Platform from moving anymore. Eleven keeps her eyes on the gate for a moment. She looks up at Hopper then Gus. Eleven takes her hands from them and looks back at the gate. She holds her hand out toward the gate. Gus' stomach violently turns when she sees a large monster-like shadow appear from behind the red rift. The Bob-haired girl's eyes widen as the shadow monster look a closer.

Eleven closes her eyes and thinks back to her training with Kali. Even though, their meeting ended on a bad note; Eleven learned some valuable lessons from Kali. She thinks back to all of the anger and pain from her past, and she channels it into the gate. Eleven opens her eyes and the gate slowly starts to close over the rift. Gus' mouth slightly opens and she softly chuckles.

The sound of scattering is heard and Gus' ears perk. She turns her head to the wall, but nothing was there. The platform the three were on shakes, and a Demo-dog roars in Gus' face. Gus holds her hand out to the creature and a visible wave hits the creature and knocks it off the platform. It falls down the hole and she inhales a small breath. More creatures jump onto the platform. Hopper shoots at them while Gus uses her powers and quakes them off the platform.

Gus' nose starts to bleed and the bones in her wrists start to ache more than before. She looks back at Eleven and sees her still fighting. If Eleven was still fighting. There was no way in hell Gus was going to stop. Gus forms a circle with both her hands and the walls around everyone starts to shake, the platform starts to sway back and forth. Hopper snaps his eyes over to Gus as she forms a large orb of energy. A scream comes from Eleven's mouth. Hopper turns to see Eleven elevating off the ground.

Gus' vision begins to darken as she continues to pour all her strength into this one last surge of energy. Her ears begin to ring as the Demo-dogs surround the platform. Gus' breathing falls ragged as her bones start to shake with pain. She lets out a hoarse scream and holds both hands out to the dark void. A massive wave of vibrations swallow the Demo-dogs surrounding the platform. The Demo-dogs fly back and explode, leaving nothing but blood and guts.

As soon as the last Demo-dog exploded, Gus collapses to the floor of the platform, with her entire body shaking and her vision blurry. Gus' breathing was ragged. Hopper rushes to her side and wraps his arms around her. Gus hugs Hopper back and lets out a tired sigh. "You did awesome." He whispers and kisses her temple. Gus and Hopper look over at Eleven as she seals the gate shut. The dark red light is shut off and they were all left in the dark. Eleven let's out an exhausted cry and falls to her knees. Gus quickly wraps her arms around Eleven and sniffles as Eleven cries into the crook of her neck.

"Hey, you're okay." Gus whispers, tears blurry her eyes.

Hopper smiles at the two girl's with proud. He engulfs the two girls in a comforting embrace, not wanting to let them go. "You two did good." Hopper let's out a shaky breath, he was on the verge of tears just watching them risk their lives. "You guys did so good."

☆

Gus was sitting on the hospital bed with her eyes on the wall. After, she, Hopper, Eleven, and Owens got out of the lab; they rushed Dr. Owens to the hospital. Hopper caught a glimpse of the gash on Gus' arms and forced her to be checked in with the doctor. Gus didn't mind having her cuts get checked out. She wanted to make sure those Demo-dogs didn't infect her with anything.

The doctors didn't pick up on anything from her cuts, so she was clean. The cut on her leg had to be cleaned and bandaged, while they had to stitch the cut on her arm shut. And Gus' right wrist managed to get sprained due to her over using her powers during last fight with the Demo-dogs. Gus couldn't even get mad at the injuries she got. She was just so relieved that everything went well. Will wasn't possessed anymore and the gate was closed.

"All done."

Gus looks over at the nurse as she places her hands on her knees. She shifts her eyes to the stitches on Gus' arm and the girl examines it. "Make sure you keep them clean and dry. And if your wrist hurts anymore over-the-counter painkillers oughta help." The nurse advises.

Gus softly smiles, "Thank you, ma'am—"

The door flies open. Gus and the nurse look over at the boy.

"Steve?" Gus cranes her neck forward.

Steve's eyes shift over to Gus' wrapped hand and his eyes widen. "Oh, shit, are you okay?"

"Are you?" Gus hops off the table, her eyes glued to the cuts and bruises across his face.

"I'll leave you two alone." The nurse walks out of the room and closes the door behind her.

Simultaneously, Gus and Steve walk toward one another. They both stop once the tips of their shoes are touching. Gus tilts her head up at Steve and reaches for his face, but she stops. The girl winces, "What happened? You and Fallon throw hands?"

"Oh, no, no." Steve chuckles. "Uh, Billy tracked Max down to the Byers' house and well...he beat the shit out of me."

Gus' eyes widen, "What?! Is he here right now? I will be the ever living shit out of him!" She goes to walk out of the room, but Steve gently grabs her left wrist.

"He's not here, August." Steve says.

Gus turns to him, "Then where is he?"

"Probably still unconscious on the floor of Mrs. Byers' house." Steve sheepishly smiles.

Gus' mouth hangs open. "I-I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, turns out Fallon and Max? Hate him as much as I do." Steve shrugs.

Gus raises her brows and laughs, "Holy shit! They beat him to hell."

"That's what I heard." Steve raises his hands.

Gus places her hands on her hips, "Fallon saved your ass."

Steve nods, "Fallon did save my ass. And...I think she called me her friend."

"Shut up!" Gus lightly shoves Steve. He stumbles back and laughs. "No, I'm serious. She probably didn't want me to tell you that, but..."

Gus shakes her head and laughs. "Fallon Price and Steve Harrington. Friends." She purses her lips. "Who knew?"

"I sure as shit didn't." Steve sputters. "Now, tell me. What happened to you?" He looks at her right wrist that was bandaged.

Gus raises her brows and looks down at her sprained. "Oh, well, it turns out, my powers are too strong for my body." She snorts. "When I was using my powers against the Demo-dogs, the bones in my arms started hurting."

"Your powers sprained your wrist?" Steve cranes his neck.

Gus presses her lips together and nods. "Sucks." She rotates her wrist and groans. "Looks like I can't use them a lot."

"Hopefully, you won't have to. I mean, Eleven closed the gate." Steve shrugs. "Maybe this can all be over."

Gus frowns, "Yeah, but...it also seems like you and I get along when the worlds ending." She looks at him. Steve raises his brows and his eyes soften. "August, I don't want us to only get along when the world's ending."

Gus bites her lower lip and softly smiles. "Okay...then what do you want?"

Steve tilts his head with a deadpanned expression. "I already told you what I want." He lightly touches the back of her hand. "What do you want?"

Gus' heart starts increase with speed and her stomach flutters. She opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. She then closes her mouth and clears her throat. Gus looks around the hospital room with an idea. Steve pulls his brows together as the gears in Gus' head turns.

"What's going on? What are you do—"

"Shhhhhh!!!!!" Gus places a finger against his lips, silencing him. She darts out of the room and Steve's brows shoot up.

Gus runs down the hall and peaks into each hospital room. She stops in one room and her eyes fly over to the base of flowers. "Hi!" Gus rushes into the room and grabs the vase of flowers. She looks at the lady in bed. "I'll bring these back—promise!"

Gus runs out of the room and back to hers. Steve snaps his eyes back over to the door and sees Gus standing in the doorway with her hands gripping the vase of flowers. Her fluffy brown hair was all over the place and she had a timid smile across her lips. Gus' face was hot but she managed to walk back into the like everything was normal. She kicks the door shut and stands close to Steve again.

"Uh, Steve Harrington?"

Gus blows some of her hair out of her face which causes Steve to laugh. "Would you, uh, do me the honors of..." she taps her chipped painted black nails against the glass vase. Gus practically shoves the flowers in his face, unaware of how to even start this.

"...going on a date with me?"

Steve looks at the flowers and raises his brows. Gus keeps her hazel green eyes on his. "I...I was gonna ask you to be my boyfriend, but I realized that would probably be a lot and...we should start small. Because we have time, right?"

Steve's expression softens and a smile forms on his lips which causes Gus' heart to jump into her throat. "August Castillo-Hopper..." he grabs the flowers and sets them on the examination table. "...I would love to go on a date with you."

Gus slumps her shoulders. "Awesome." She chuckles nervously. Steve cups her face and pulls her into a kiss. Gus inhales and kisses him back, her hands grasp at the shirt on his waist. Steve's breathing starts to quicken as the kiss becomes more intense by the second. Gus slightly pulls her lips away from his with her eyes still closed. She inhales a breath and flutters her eyes open. "Also..." she whispers on his lips. "...it's just August Hopper now."

Steve opens his eyes and meets Gus' bright ones. A smile spreads across his lips. "Okay, August Hopper."

Gus let's out a small giggle. She stands on her toes, touches the back of Steve's neck, and kisses him passionately.

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author's note.

August finally letting go of her past and being excited about her future is heartwarming 🫶

Also her being awkward and just shoving flowers into Steve's face is so cute and funny

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