CHAPTER SEVEN: the bathtub

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PERSEUS WARD GENTY TOUCHED THE BLACK EYE; BEFORE, IT HADN'T BEEN NOTICEABLE. But as the hours grew, it was clear that he was wounded. Luckily, Mike and Eleven were out of the room. And Dustin seemed distracted by trying to contact Lucas.

And when he had finally gotten into contact with him, or, well, when Lucas got in touch with Dustin, he started saying he needed help. Dustin ran to get Eleven and Mike. "Guys, it's Lucas; I think he's in trouble."

"Do you remember how he said he was looking for the gate?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah," Mike replied.

"What if he finds it?" And then Lucas starts to shout.

"What's he saying?" Mike questioned, removing the radio from Dustin's hands.

"I don't know; he's way out of range," Dustin answered.

"...son of a bitch!" Lucas cursed.

"Lucas, if you can year us, slow down. We can't understand you," Mike spoke into the radio.

Lucas was screaming, but it kept cutting off on my catching part of whatever the boy was yelling.

"Mad hen?" Persues questioned. "What the fuck? Is that some code you guys use?"

"The bad men are coming!" Lucas yelled.

"Bad men," Mike whispered. "Bad men!" He turned to Eleven. "Stay here." before he and Dustin ran up the stairs.

Persues stayed with Eleven.
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"Come on, come on," Perseus had searched the room for any weapons.

"What happened?" Eleven asked, gesturing to the black eye she had seen him checking on when he thought no one was looking, when Dustin and Mike ran up the stairs.

"Nothing." Perseus quickly dismissed.

When Dustin and Mike came running down the stairs, yelling and demanding for the two to go outside and get their bikes, they did, running alongside to get to solid, even ground.

They pause, bodies filled with fear at seeing the men walking toward them.

"Go! Go! Go!" Dustin yelled.

All of them peddled on their bikes, Dustin muttering 'Oh, my God,' repeatedly.

"Dustin!" Lucas yelled over the radio. "Dustin, do you copy?"

"Yes, Lucas, they're on us," Dustin replied.

"Where are you?" Lucas asked back.

"Cornwallis."

"Meet Me at Elm and Cherry!"

"Copy. Elm and Cherry," Dustin repeated.

"Okay!" Mike turned. But, the large white vans were still following the kids.

"Shit!" Dustin cursed.
"Aren't they worried about how they look chasing after kids?" Perseus questioned, annoyed.

"Come on, this way," Mike ordered before turning.

There had been two girls playing; Dustin screamed for them to get out of the way. They turned back in the street, ending up in meeting Lucas.

"Lucas!"

"Where are they?" Lucas asked back.

"I don't know,"  Mike replied.

"I think we lost them," Dustin breathes out.

They hear screeching tires and turn their heads to see the white vans appear down the street. They take off again, yelling and cursing. Another white van drives in front of them. And it doesn't stop driving.

"Fucking hell!" Perseus cursed as the van was flipped over thier heads. And landed with a crash in front of the other vans.
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"Holy, holy shit! Did...did you see what she did to that van?" Dustin questioned when they came to a stop.

Mike gently helped Eleven to sit on a crate. "No, Dustin, we missed it," Mike sarcastically replied.

"I mean, that was..." Dustin looked back, as though he could see the vans.

"Awesome," Lucas breathed out. "It was awesome." Before he walked up to her, kneeling to sit next to her. "Everything I said about you being a traitor and and stuff... I was wrong. I'm sorry." he placed a hand on the girls's back.

"Friends... friends don't lie. I'm sorry, too." Eleven whispered back.

"Me, too," Mil said, holding out his hand. Lucas shakes his hand this time.
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All five sat on the ground, having sticks lined up to map out the space. "This is Randolph Road, right here.  The fence starts here and goes all the way around. And this is the lab right here," Lucas placed a soda bottle in the middle of the sticks. "That gate's gotta be in there somewhere. It's gotta be."

"Well, who owns Hawkins Lab?" Dustin questioned.

"The sign says 'Department of Energy.'"

"Department of Energy? What do you think the means?"

"It means government. Military," Mike told him.

"Then why does it say 'Energy'?" Dustin questioned.

"Just trust me, all right. It's military. My dad told me before."

"Wha could you two have possibly been talking about for him to say that?" Perseus asked.

"Mike's right." Lucas stopped Mike from answering. "There's soldiers out front."

"Do they make, like, lightbulbs or something?" Dustin inquired.

"No, weapons. To fight the Russians, and commies and stuff." Mike spoke again.

"Weapons." Lucas says, but looks at Eleven.

Dustin gasps. "Oh, Jesus, this is bad."

"Really bad. The place is like a fortress."

"Okay, so what's the plan? What are we going to do?" Perseus questioned.

"I don't know, but we can't go home," Mike replied. "We're fugitives now."

And then they hear the sound of a helicopter in the air.

"Guys?" Dustin questioned, looking up to the sky. "Do you hear that?"

They shoved their bikes under the old red bus that was there, yelling and rushing each other into the bus. "Get down!" Lucas yelled as they dived behind the seats.
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The pre-teens sat in the bus, quiet as they heard the helicopter outside.  When the radio had turned on, a female voice coming through. "Mike, are you there? Mike?"

"You guys hear that?" Dustin questioned.

"Mike, it's me, Nancy," the girl spoke again. Which had Mike stumbling and scrambling to get to the radio. "Mike, are you there? Answer. Mike, we need you to answer."

"Is that your sister?" Lucas questions.

"This is an emergency, Mike," Nancy says. "Do you copy? Mike, do you copy?"

"Okay, this is really weird," Dustin comments.

Lucas snatches the radio from Mike's hand. "Don't answer." Mike says,and quickly took it back.

"She said it was an emergency." Lucas replied.

"What is it's a trick?"

"It's your sister!"

"What if the bad people kidnapped her? What if they're forcing her to say this?"

"I need you to answer."  Nancy says, desperately.

"Just try to get her to say something in code," Perseus suggested.

"It's like Lando Calrissian. Don't answer." Dustin spoke.

"We need to know that you're there, Mike." Nancy repeats.

Suddenly, another voice is filling the radio. "Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you're there, pick up.We know you're in trouble and we know about the girl."

"Why is she with the chief?" Lucas asked.
"How the hell does he know about..." Dustin trailed off, looking at Eleven.

"We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up." Hopper speaks again. "Are you there? Do you copy? Over."

"Yeah, I copy," Mike admitted after a second. "It's Mike. I'm here. We're here."
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Dustin paced back and forth; who is breathing heavily.

"Will you stop pacing?" Mike asked his friend.

"It's been way too long," Dustin replied. "Do you know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe this is all a trap and the bad men are coming to her us right now!"

Perseus reached up, taking Dustin's hand and pulling him to sit next to him. "Calm down. If anything happens, El could use her powers to throw one of these seats at their heads."

"It's not a trap! Why would the chief set us up?" Lucas asked. "Nancy, maybe, but the chief?"

"Lando Calrissian," Dustin answered back.

"Would you shut up about Lando?"

"I don't feel good about this. I don't feel good about this!" Dustin gets up, yelling in Lucas's face.

"When do you feel good about anything?"

They hear vehicles approaching, making them turn and walk towards the window to look out it. Only to see two cars come from take different ways.

"Shit!" Dustin cursed.

"Go, go, go, go." Mike rushed them, which had all of them dunking under seats.

"Lando."

"You think they saw us?" Lucas asked.

"Both of you, shut up." Mike whispered to Dustin and Lucas.

A minute later, the door opened. But, no one came in. Instead, hearing a grunt and sounds of impact. The door opened again; there stood Hopper. "All right, let's go." all kids stared at him for a moment. "Let's go!"

They all ran.
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Jim Hopper had driven the five kids to the Wheeler house, glancing back at Persues, who had a bruised eye and split lip. He noticed that the boy wouldn't look at him. A girl ran out, one that Perseus recognized as Nancy Wheeler.

She ran forward, worryingly calling her brother's name. "Mike," she wraps him in a hug, as Jocey and Jonathan stay on the porch.

Hopper turns to Persues, pretending as though he had just noticed the bruises. "How'd you get that back eye, kid?" The man questioned.

Perseus startles, jumping back before he fakes a smile. "School fight," Perseus replied.

Dustin, who had been watching and paying attention to the other boy the entire trip, turns and looks at him with a confused look. "But, you didn't fight Troy or James this week."

Which, since it was silent, everyone had heard. Everyone turned to the young boy, who had forced himself to keep the fake smile. "Not with Troy or James. Some other kid."

Hopper didn't look like he bought it. And Perseus was slightly surprised to see that even Ms. Byers was looking at him with worry. Of course, Dustin speaks again. "No, everyone knows when you get into a school fight."

"How'd you get the black eye?" Hopper repeated the question, looking down at the pre-teen boy. But he sounded angrier.

Perseus stepped back, reaching out to grab Dustin and Lucas before pulling them back. Then he froze, realizing what he had done. The others trusted Hopper, the man who had just said them,  not twenty minutes ago.

But, Hopper knew. And Perseus hadn't trusted the man who shared some similarities with his father. Hopper was the same height as his father, also seeming to have the same body type, and of course, the two were close in age.

Perseus had to direct the conversation, instead walking past the man. Hopper, unsure of what to do at the moment, but knowing it was a bad idea to stay within distance of the boy, stepped back, off to the side.

"Wait, a minute," Lucas spoke aloud, realizing what sad happening. "your dad did that?"

Perseus clenched his jaw. "Doesn't matter. We need to find Will, right?"
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Hopper stood far from Perseus, realizing that whenever he was near the boy, he seemed jumpy, ready to run at a moment's notice. Before they entered the house, Dustin had told Hopper Perseus's full name and what the boy's father's name was.

But, now, they all sat around a table. Mike held up a piece of paper that had been drawn on. "Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat.
Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space."

"A gate," Dustin spoke.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab." Lucas said.

"With our compasses. Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle." Dustin explained.

"Is this gate underground?" Hopper questioned.

"Yes."  Eleven answered.

"Near a large water tank?"

"Yes."

For a moment, Dustin stutters, shocked at how the man knew so much. "How do you know all that?"

"He's seen it." Perseus said. "Clearly," he muttered sarcastically.

"Is there any way that you could...
that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this—" Joyce hesitated.

"The Upside Down." Eleven supplied.

Joyce whispered the next words. "Down. Yeah."

Eleven nods

"And my friend Barbara? Can you find her, too?" Nancy speaks, which receives a nod from the girl again.
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They had gathered photographs of the two, a radio placed on the table as Eleven was sitting in front of it. They wait and watch as Eleven focuses on the task at hand. The lights quickly flicker before Eleven opens her eyes again, face taking in a horrified and saddened look. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"What? What's wrong?" Joyce stuttered, fearing the most. "What happened?"

"I can't find them," Eleven's voice cracks.

Perseus leans over, placing a hand on the girl's and gently squeezing it.
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Hopper was on the phone, once again. Not that the others knew what he was doing. The man had called the police department before, asking for information on Perseus's father.

Although, Hopper was keeping an est on the kids' conversation, explaining Eleven's powers. "Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." Mike informed.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets." Dustin continued.

"Like, she flipped the van earlier," Lucas recalled.

"It was awesome." Dustin quickly adds.

"I thought we were about to get crushed," Perseus speaks.

"But she's drained."

"Like a bad battery."

"Well...h-How do we make her better?" Joyce questioned.

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again." Mike replied.

"Well, how long?" Nancy asked.

"I don't know."

"The bath." Eleven suddenly says, which had everyone turning to her.

Joyce turned around, facing Eleven. "What?"

"I can find them. In the bath."
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Dustin had called Mr. Clarke. "Mr. Clarke? It's Dustin."

They were unable to hear what Mr. Clarke had replied back.

"Yeah, yeah. I just, I... I have a science question." Dustin rushed out, pausing as he let the teacher speak for a moment. "Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?" Once again, a pause. "Fun."

"You always say we should never stop being curious." Dustin speaks again. "To always open any curiosity door we find."

"Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" Dustin asked.

Perseus covered his mouth to stop from laughing.
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Dustin had taken a notepad, listening as his teacher lists of the needed items. "How much?" He questioned before he went back to humming. "Yep, all right. Yeah, we'll be careful. Definitely. All right, Mr. Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke. Bye." He turned to Joyce. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?"

Joyce turned to Jonathan. "I think so. Yeah. Yeah."

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it."

"How much is "lots"?" Hopper questioned.

"1,500 pounds."

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asked.
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Perseus helped in unfolding the kiddie pool.

"This damn thing is heavy."

"It's upside down," Perseus told them, flipping it over.

"No, this way." Lucas argued.

"How does this even work?" Dustin questioned.

"Try that side," Lucas spoke.

Dustin moved to the opposite side, closer to Perseus. But, the let that he was previously at had fallen. "Son of a bitch."

"Is this supposed to be inflated? Like do we have to blow air into it?" Perseus questioned, looking for the part.

"I don't know..."

"Ms. Byers!" Perseus calls out.
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Nancy and Mike had returned with the hose, putting it into the faucet. Nancy was at the faucet, putting it at whatever temperature the kids told her to. "Colder!" Lucas called out, Nancy did that. But, soon Lucas had called out that the water had to be warmer. Before he looked back. "Right there!"

Hopper and Jonathan, and Perseus-although Hopper wanted to questioned why the kid had a pocket knife, he didn't- started to cut into the bags of salt, pouring it into the water. Dustin, later, placed a egg onto the water, but it sunk.

So, they had put in more salt, and this time the egg had floated. They set up a radio. And El removed her socks, handing them to Mike.
Joyce handed the duck taped goggles to her.
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Eleven walked into the pool, settling down and floating. The lights flickered.

For a moment, it was complete silence. But, then the lights flickered again, rapidly this time. And Eleven's breathing started to be quicker. The lights turned off completely.

"What's going on?" Nancy questioned.

"I don't know," Mike replied.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asked Eleven.

"Gone! Gone! Gone! Gone! Gone! Gone. Gone." Eleven repeated. Before she started to yell. "Gone."

Joyce rubbed her arm, trying to comfort her. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay."

"Gone. Gone! -"

"It's okay. It's okay."

"Gone!"

"Hey. It's okay.It's okay, we're right here. We're right here, honey. It's okay. I got you. Don't be afraid. I'm right here with you. I'm right here with you. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay, you're safe. You're okay, honey."

"Will." Eleven suddenly says.

Joyce gasped. "Will?You... you tell him... tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming."

"Your mom... she's coming for you."  Eleven tells the boy.

A voice comes over the radio. "Hurry."

"Okay. Listen, you tell him to...to stay where he is. We're coming. We're coming, okay? We're coming, honey." Joyce says.

"Just... just hold on a little longer. Will. Will." Eleven says. "Will? Will!" The girl whimpers before shooting up right in the pool.

"Oh, okay, okay." Joyce pulled Eleven to her as Perseus grabs one of the towels he had taken. "I've got you. It's okay. I got you. I got you. I got you, honey. You did so good. Are you okay?"
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Perseus rubbed the towel on Eleven's arms, trying to help dry the girl.

"So this fort. Where is it?" Hopped asked.

"Uh, it's in the woods behind our house. Yeah, he used to go there to hide." Joyce says

Hopper walks out, being followed by the two Byers. Dustin looks at Perseus, wanting to say something to the other boy, but not knowing what to. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" He asked, not meaning to.

Perseus turns, pulling a face. "About my father?" He questioned, before shrugging. "Figured no one would believe me. He didn't act like that in public. He'd pretend he cared. Pretend that he didn't hate me."

"How could he hate you?" Dustin asks, as if he was confused about the idea of anyone hating Perseus.

"Apparently, I killed my mother. And also, I'm gay." Perseus glanced around, worried. No one said anything about it.
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