#about then she can't hurt them or infect them with her poisonous brain

[musical-chick-13]

OCD: We don't know what the qualifications of "being a good person" are, or at what point you stop being one, so we're just going to avoid everyone all the time so we don't hurt them :)

Me: But if. You avoid people. How can you help them. Also what about the people you already know who have a vested interest in continuing to talk to you? Wouldn't this hurt them? This doesn't make any sense.

OCD: No :) It doesn't :)

Me: But then--

OCD: Good luck :) :) :)

[werezmastarbucks]

4. Fix it

part 4 out of 8

word count: 1428

The dust had set, and he collapsed on his knees, chewing on the iron in his mouth. Barry was exhausted, so exhausted that the sky pulsated in his eyes. His energy was so low he could just lay and sleep, but the adrenaline didn't let him stop. He kept scanning around with his eyes, thunder in his head still ringing from the fall. Everything was backwards, it was evil, what happened, he didn't know what to do. All his life, he ran. It was easy. He could run. Now his legs didn't work and his brain stopped communication with him. He felt like a little calf as her hand tried to lift him up.

"Barry", Diana took his forearm and pulled, and he couldn't resist, like a puppet. She forced him on his feet, and he saw her face, smeared with the dust. Dust, it was everywhere, sand like powder, poison, greenish-yellow, it made his throat hurt. Diana's own throat gave a weird sound, like she couldn't swallow something sharp. He watched her eyes intently. No. She was crying.

"Oh, don't tell me..."

"He's dead, Barry. I can't find the others. Help me, let's go".

Paralyzed, his legs were moving automatically.

Superman can't be dead, he thought. He thought he said it out loud, but no, only in his head. Superman can't be dead! he screamed like a boy. And again, no sound left his mouth. His thoughts flew on to all the kinds of consequences and finally, reached home. Oh no. Superman is dead.

_______________

He was sitting, seeing only with one eye because half of his face was covered with a pack of ice. Curious, he thought, he was actually the only one who was hurt constantly and was visibly getting some treatment, because his regeneration went at turtle pace compared with the others. Funny! Diana, she was invincible. Aquaman, equally strong, it took a lot, and really, a lot, to hurt him. Cyborg - well, was a cyborg. Batman never let them see if he was ever injured, thinking it would lower the morale. Superman-

It never occurred to any of them that Superman could be actually killed.

Now they sat there like a bunch of idiots around the table, and Barry blinked with only one eye, thinking, now what?

Bruce took off his mask, and, laying on the table on its side, it looked like the remnants of what was left of his spirit. Barry felt light, almost sedated, because reality wouldn't hit him. No, it was like a tv show or something.

"What happened there?" Wayne asked. Somehow everybody knew that number two was Diana, and that all those grave questions were always addressed to her. She replied, looking at the table,

"He left me to go on and keep the Comers alone. We didn't know they had the stone".

"How would they even get it?" Victor asked. Barry's face was hot, he didn't know why exactly. Maybe he was crying, maybe, it was so swollen and infected that it was about to burst with some alien spiders.

"I should've held him, I should've grabbed him, we ought to know that they weren't coming in such small numbers unprepared", Diana pressed. Bruce rubbed his face really hard, smearing dust, paint and sweat on it. He looked thirty years older, a man with such a heavy, heavy load on his shoulders it was about to crush his spine again.

"Don't beat yourself up, Diana", Arthur responded. "If Bruce had shared the exact plan of the terrain, like was the initial idea, and let us..."

"We didn't have time", Bruce boomed, tiredly, "you've seen yourself, they started coming way before we got ready".

Arthur pointed a finger at him,

"The time, exactly. I told you before, back in April, remeber? The fish were talking..."

Barry drifted. He felt sleepy, disgusted with himself, for some reason. It felt like an exceptionally difficult level to beat, frustrating. The ice started to melt and drip down his face so he put it away on the table, and Bruce burst suddenly,

"Barry! I told you not to put liquid on this desk, time and time again! It's a computer!"

Like he was a ten year old misbehaving boy.

Diana almost slapped him.

"Don't take it out on him! Stop yelling!"

Barry froze, fixated on Bruce's distorted face. A thought came, reinforced by all of them one after another, with one word.

Time.

"I could go back and fix it", he said quielty. His jaw hurt, and he wanted nothing more, he thought with sudden warmth, than to come home and shyly complain to his roommate who always offered uncertain, but big hugs. All his pain was taken away immediately as he held her.

"Excuse me?" Victor asked.

"The kid banged his head so hard, he's glitching now", Arthur complained. Barry met Diana's piercing eyes.

"I could theoretically outrun the light. I've nearly done it once or twice. It's possible".

He licked his lips, thinking. To help, he wiped the pack of almost melted ice form the desk and started rubbing it dry. Then, he activated the computer and opened himself a note app.

He started doodling, solely to help him speak.

"When I move too fast, I break the barrier, and then the light gets left behind, which means the time is no longer fixed for me. If I can keep up long enough - say, ten or twelve seconds, - I can create quantum paradox. I'll develop such speed, above eight million miles, that it gets very hard to stop, and the momentum wil throw me further. I can go back before he shook you off, Diana, and save Superman".

He looked up. Diana's face had the horror expression he didn't expect.

"No", she shook her head. "No, no, Barry, you can't go back to the past. You... no".

The others were not so certain; Arthur was still contemplating the mechanics of it, it seemed, and Victor was piercing him with his red eye, as if checking if he had balls enough.

"How do you know it'll work?" asked Wayne.

"It might. I mean, what are we losing, right?"

"Everything!" Diana exclaimed. "Barry, you can make everything even worse. You don't mess with time, what's done is done".

"We just saw two countries wiped out in an hour", he said, surprisingly calm. The moment it came to him everything became so clear. He didn't feel like a boy deserving of lecture anymore. He felt... himself.

"And they're not stopping. We barely got away, and how many Comers are hurt? Three? They are probably moving towards Britain at the moment, and we don't have Superman".

"But we're still alive. We can do it. We regroup, we think, and we stop them", she pressed.

Wayne sat there like he was struck on the head.

"Bruce, tell him".

"Are you sure about it, Barry?" he asked instead.

Barry stood up to feel if his body still belonged to him. Oh how he would like a bath, a very hot bath, and to steal one of Y/N's bath bombs, and a smoothie, and a face mask (also hers), the one that smells like ginseng. He would love that so much. Instead, this grim decision made his spine crack and position itself correctly, supporting him whole.

"Yeah. We can definitely try. And if something goes south, I'll go back again".

"That's insane", Diana sank her face into her hands.

"Wait, you can really bring Kent back?" Arthur asked.

"I can go back, that's for sure. And if I go back, and think again, I can find a way to save him".

"What if you meet yourself?" Victor wondered. "Won't that create a paradox?"

Barry dismissed it with a wave of a hand.

"There won't be the other Barry, I'm coming back into my own body".

"Not sure", Victor reasoned. Already getting high on energy, Barry made a face.

They stood around him, watching him intensely as if they expected him to explode on the spot.

"Oh, if I die, or don't return", Barry said, "please tell Y/N that I was in love with her?"

"What for, to make her suffer?" Wayne shook his head, "go on, and don't die. You got one shot, Barry, then come back. Don't risk it".

He put on his mask, looked at the light in the distant ceiling. Looked at the sour faces of his beaten down colleagues.

"Hey, why the long faces!" he quipped.

"Have you eaten, Barry?" Diana asked, but he was already accelerating. Diana didn't know that he had eaten, he had eaten all of her energy bars, and a huge loaf of delicious bread.

[auxiliarydetective]

sticking with varsha and henry ( because you know how much i love them ), from number six in the ask extravaganza, could i please ask for questions two, five, six, and nine ?

i am always excited to hear about these lovely darlings, so i look forward to seeing the answers !! <3

Hi again! I originally wanted to answer all of these asks in the order that I got them, but my two mobile devices currently can't get into the wifi for some reason, and my answers to the ask before this one are typed out on my tablet, so... 🙃

Anyways, thanks so much for your ask! Let's get into this!

2. Who is the one who gets hurt and who takes care of the other when they're injured?

Well, Varsha literally cannot get hurt, at least not really. Her wounds heal quickly, don't get infected, she can't be poisoned... She could technically dislocate or break a bone, but that pretty much never happens. So, it's almost always Henry (or Edward) who gets hurt, mainly because of Henry Jekyll transforming into Edward Hyde to wreck things at usually not getting away completely unscathed. It's hard to hurt Hyde because he's very durable, and even if you do manage to hurt him, he's more or less resistant to pain. When he transforms back into Jekyll, however... Poor Henry Jekyll is sore and everything hurts, it basically feels like he's been dragged behind a speeding carriage. He can mostly take care of himself, of course, being a doctor and all, but it's just a lot sweeter when Varsha does it, and he swears it actually helps him get better faster.

5. Who's more physically affectionate?

Oh boy. In public? Neither. PDA is not really a socially acceptable thing for them. With the League, society's rules sort of stop existing at some point, but they still have them stuck in their brains, so their touchiness in public is kept to "justifiable" touches, like taking the other's hands while talking to them or gently cupping their face when they find them after a tough battle. In private though, they're both so touchy. I already talked about Varsha coiling around people for warmth in another ask and the one currently being held hostage by the missing wifi has something on their sleeping arrangement, so I won't talk about that here either, but it's so sweet. They're absolute cuddlebugs. While Henry maybe initiates more hand-holding, Varsha is the one who initiates all the big cuddles. She would cling to him like a koala if she could (and sometimes she does, in snake form).

6. Who's the better cook?

Oh boy XD Their tastes differ a lot, mostly where spice is concerned, so they probably can't agree on this either. But I'd say, Henry is the better cook when it comes to making things for both of them, because you can always add spices - removing them is hard. At least that's where making actualy meals is concerned. Varsha makes the better treats :)

9. Who removes the spiders/bugs?

I honestly don't know. I feel like they both wouldn't be too bothered by spiders or bugs and sort of remove them themselves? But I also feel like they might be scared of some spiders. Simply because it would be funny. The man who knows how to turn himself into a superhuman and the literal semi-divine being, scared of a puny little spider.

I do have a clear answer when it comes to snakes though, and that is: Varsha removes them. Henry probably wouldn't be scared of snakes, at least not as much, because... well... obvious reason, his girlfriend is pretty much a snake. So, whenever he comes across a snake somewhere where it shouldn't be, he calls for Varsha. Varsha comes along, as a lovely little conversation with the creature, and then relocates it to somewhere safe.

Thanks so much for your ask!!!

▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄✼▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

Taglist: @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene - let me know if you’d like to be added or removed!

[review-anon]

Honestly, Kokoro, keeping that fucking goop of negativity in the ship is an absolutely stupid idea.

With the fact that I'm familiar with magic that enhances negative feelings, and I've seen people suffer and die thanks to, I don't know, throw a cursed doll into a kid's room to make them have violent nightmares that makes them sleep-write self-deprecating things about them, I'm saying that we need to get rid of the purple stuff and find another way to stop the infection.

Still, I'm not surprised that you can't think of what your actions would do to others. After all, you clearly sold your childhood compassion a long time ago in exchange of more brain space for your disgusting experiments...

-✨🌌✨ Anon

These Anons have very good points. Whatever "research potential" you could gain from the purple liquid is overshadowed by the fact it has the capability to hurt people in massive ways.

Nikei...Aliza...that Pokemon that Anon summoned...ate some of the nightmares that Inori and Tsumiki were having and we got to see what their dreams were like. And...no normal poison could result in nightmares as horrific and twisted as what me, Hajime and Koroko saw. They were clearly suffering, and you know all Koroko could think of?

"What a magnificent power this creature has! It can show the dreams and nightmares of others! If I could harness this power, it would aid in my research greatly!"

Inori and Tsumiki were having some of the worst dreams they ever had, and needed help desperately and all YOU could think of Koroko was how this could benefit you and your research!

I don't think I need to listen to someone who terminated my Utsuroshima avatar because she couldn't control her-

THAT'S ENOUGH!

*Even Aqua look shocked at Aliza's outburst*

You know...I was shocked when I heard from Emma you were coming over...especially given how you are as a person...but I thought, that perhaps maybe just perhaps you learnt to be a decent human being and decided to help us from the goodness of your heart.

But no, it turns out the ONLY and I repeat ONLY reason you even helped us out, was because you think this purple liquid is interesting and good research data for you. You don't care that its almost killed several people. You don't care that its caused massive mental damage on people. You don't care that this stuff could get much, much worse. None of that matters to you, as long as you get that precious, precious research data from the purple liquid.

And you know why this makes me so angry? Because all of this...is what CANONICAL Mitsume can do! You know from the mind of LINUJ who believes humans can never change and that we are either born good or evil and remain that for the rest of our lives? But other universe variants of you can change, they can grow. And even your YOUNGER self is better.

You said your younger self took Emma's call first and then you took charge. I bet if she was to find out how far you are willing to go to keep the purple liquid around, she would be horrified who she would become.

And do you know what happens to you canonically...what happens if you keep going down this path? You end up freezing alone in a fridge by Emma because you provoked a traumatic response from her and she reacted aggressively. That could have been avoided...if you learn to consider other people for once!

Furthermore...Review Anon doesn't know any of this...how do you think she would react if she found out a dangerous substance got onto the Voidship and the main reason it kept doing so much damage was because YOU wanted to study it for your own personal pleasure regardless how it would affect others?! I bet she will react extremely poorly.

So you have a choice Mitsume. You could double down and keeping acting like your canon self, which I will guarantee will result in bloodshed and you facing the literal void, or you could learn to have some empathy for once in your life and agree that this stuff needs to be destroyed!

Well, what's gonna be Mitsume?!

.....

[phoebeyates-archive]

Phoebe desperately craved to live in Leila's world. Where everything could be solved so simply by setting it on fire and forgetting about it. And whilst it was a thought that crossed her mind, she just couldn't. Untethering the bond between her and her mom was so much easier back when Phoebe knew her mother's priorities. The box represented some sort of request or goal, and it intrigued and worried Phoebe all the same that she couldn't get a read on Lisa's intentions anymore. "Jesus, Leila. I'm starting to think you're a little pyro. No, we can't set it on fire either."

What if you were fully aware of the bad things but couldn't change them? What if it was some self-fulfilling prophecy bullshit? Phoebe didn't vocalise these thoughts out of worry she'd seem like she was spiralling, flopping back on the couch instead, watching the box for a moment, before shifting her gaze to the floor. "What if it's too late?" She asked instead, voice barely above a whisper, because she felt like the bad had latched onto her like a parasite, slowly infecting her brain with its poison, tears welling in her eyes. A wet laugh bubbled from her, the image of Leila using her toolbox on Foster with all her focus and might, once again wishing she could crawl into her friend's head and just stay there. "It's not the type of thing your tools could fix," She explained. "I had a...thing with someone. And we had a big fight, and I hurt his feelings and broke my own heart in the process." It was the condensed version of events, but she couldn't bear getting into the details. "I love him, Lei. I love him so much and I really hurt him. I hurt someone I love. I..." She trailed off with a choking sound. "I'm the worst part of them both." Phoebe thought back to both of her parents, how it always seemed like their love for their daughter was outweighed by the resentment they felt in the decision to keep her.

@leilabarak

The fun part about a closed box, if you asked Leila, was that you simply didn't know what was in it. There could be any number of exciting things in the box, you just had to open it and find out. However, she was willing to accept Phoebe's choice on the matter, as it was entirely hers to make. "Well. If we can't open it, then I think the next best option is to set it on fire. Then we know it's gone, gone," she advised with a solemn nod. Throwing it away or just getting rid of it didn't have the same sense of finality to it.

Her lips twisted again in thought, pondering the question before offering a slow shrug. "I think...maybe at least if you recognize the bad things, it's probably easier to change them?" Better to know and be able to make changes than to just be oblivious to any potential faults. Not that she felt Phoebe had any, since obviously her best friend was the best no matter what. Her attention perked up at the mention of needing to fix something, that being what Leila considered her specialty. "Oh! I have my toolbox, should I go get it? What did you break? I can teach you to fix it."

@phoebeyates

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S3:E4; Chapter Four, The Sauna Test - [Pt. 3]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘌𝘭, 𝘔𝘢𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘠/𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯, 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘺𝘯𝘹.

📝: ERICAAA!!! FRICKIN FINALLY!! Less important note, but when writing about Y/n, El and Max, I wrote "the three friends" and autocorrect literally changed "friends" to "fruits". Yelmax confirmed 💀

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"It is fascinating what twenty bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office," Robin reports, unfurling what looked to be a familiar layout on the break room table. "Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints."

"Not bad," Dustin smirks from her left.

"So this is us," she points to a familiar-looking room before gesturing across the map. "Scoops, and this is where we wanna get."

"Yeah, I don't really see a way in," Steve mumbles from his seat at the table.

"There's not. If,"

She rips away a layer of the blueprint, revealing a vastly complicated map of air ducts, pipelines, and detailing that made up Starcourt.

"you're talking exclusively about doors."

Dustin looks at her with excitement growing in his eyes. "Air ducts!"

"Exactly," she smirks, making her way to the whiteboard to retrieve the magic marker. "Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room and these air ducts lead all the way" she circles the secret room in question, drawing one, interrupted line right back to, "here."

Dustin and Steve finally tear their eyes away from the map and follow Robin's mischievous eye. All the way to the air duct tucked away in the far corner of the Scoops Ahoy break room.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

To their surprise, a screwdriver had been harder to find than a ladder but soon enough Steve had managed to reach the air vent and unscrew it from the wall. But as he stood here now, peering down into the vent he quickly realized they were now facing yet another obstacle.

"Flath'ligh'?" Steve asked, finally removing the screwdriver from his mouth and shaping it for the small torchlight Dustin had waiting. "Thank you,"

The flashlight turns on with a tiny click and a soft yellow light bounces down the narrow metal tunnel, enunciation the frown on Steve's face.

"Yeah, I don't know man, I don't know if you can fit in here, it's like... super tight."

"I'll fit," Dustin smirks. "Trust me. No collarbones, remember?"

"Uh, excuse me?" Robin asks.

Steve jumps down from the ladder, turning to Robin as Dustin begins the climb and gives her a nod.

"Oh, he's uh, he's got so disease," he frowns thoughtfully, racking his brain as he tries to recall the word. "It's chrydo... um... something, yeah I don't know. He's missing bones and stuff, he can bend like Gumbo."

"You mean... Gumby?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo," he snorts.

"Just shut up and push me!" Comes Dustin's muffled voice from the vents.

By now he had wormed himself halfway in, his bottom half sticking out of the wall and still propped up on the latter while they had been talking.

"Okay,"  Steve huffed, motioning knowingly to the kid's feet and turned away from Robin.

She watched with a tired, lazily bemused expression as Steve grabbed a less than sturdy hold of the kid's feet and attempted to push.

"Not my feet, dumbass, push my ass!"

"Uh, what?"

"TOUCH MY BUTT! I DON'T CARE!" Came Dustin's impatient scream from the walls.

With a heavy grimace, Steve hesitantly began pushing against Dustin's rear end and his muffled anger grew louder.

"I'm pushing!" Steve argued.

"PUSH HARDER!" Dustin shrieks as he attempts to inch further into the metal vents. "You're playing with my legs!"

"I'm not playing, I have terrible footing!"

"Come on!"

Steve finally makes it to the top of the latter, Dustin's legs bunched together over his shoulders and locked under his arm as their voice continued to shout over one another.

"I'm gonna just shove you, ready?"

"Just shove me?"

"One, two..."

"Shit!"

"That work?"

"One more time,"

Robin rolls her eyes, finally turning away when she hears the sudden rapid chimes of the customer bell out front and all too familiar patron.

"Ahoy, sailors! All hands on deck!"

Through the partition window, Robin meets eyes with none other than Erica Sinclair who flashes her an exaggerated salute and rings the bell knowingly.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Laughter and joyful screams filled the chlorine-soaked air, the smell of the pool lingering with sunblock was strong enough it wafted all the way to the parking lot where the majority of the Party now stood at the Hawkins pool. It looked quite different than it had the day before when Y/n, Max, and El had last been, but the tension weighing down the atmosphere seemed just as heavy and ever-present.

The storm had of course long since lifted, and the sun was now beating down heavily on their backs as they took shelter behind a Rust Red AMC Hornet, all eyes across the lot on the occupant in the lifeguard chair.

Billy.

He was squished underneath the bright red beach umbrella, hidden underneath a baseball cap, thick shades, a long-sleeved sweater, and a white beach towel draped over his legs where they poked out into the sun. He was completely covered.

"I don't know," Max begins, peering through the group's binoculars. "He looks pretty normal to me,"

"Normal?" Lucas scoffs. "How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?"

Y/n smiles weakly from where she stands in between him and Will. Max lowers the binoculars, conceding a wince.

"I mean, it's a little weird,"

"More than a little," Mike nods. "He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything El saw—"

"But he's lounging at the pool," Max argues, doubtfully. "Which is like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever,"

"Not necessarily," Will says, pulling everyone's attention. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like... like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you,"

All eyes return to Billy.

"...you're activated."

Y/n gulps, shifting on her feet from where she had previously stood rooted to the spot. Ever since that dreaded Halloween night the previous year, nothing seemed to have been the same. The Mind Flayer had set his sights on Will, and in turn, her. Slowly but surely, he had infected all of their lives as he had the town of Hawkins; spreading his rot and poison, and his hate. She could still feel it sometimes; the pain of Will's nails raking into her face and leaving behind the faded scar that had already long since disappeared.

Her eyes dart back through the fence at the suspicious-looking lifeguard and her insides twisted further into a sickening knot. The thought of the Mind Flayer's possible return was enough to drain the color from her face and leave a chill in the humid, sticky summer air. Her mind was running rapid with fear but the sound of Max's voice was enough to return her to earth.

"Okay, so we just..." she shrugs, looking back over towards her brother. "wait until he gets activated."

"No," Mike says with the shake of his head. "What if he hurts someone?"

"Or kills someone?" Will counters, and the Wheeler boy nods.

"We can't take that chance. We need to find out if he's the host,"

"Well, how do we do that?" Lucas asks.

The Party falls silent. The weight of the air growing heavier and heavier as it dawns on them. And one by one, each pair of eyes trickle over to the only present Henderson sibling in the Party. Her head is hung, propped-up against the hood and when she senses the eyes on her she straightens, breathing a sigh. But Will was already shaking his head.

"What? No, no way," he says to Mike and the others, Y/n already turning to him. "No, Y/n, I don't think it's a good idea,"

"I don't like it either," Y/n fretted. "but it's our best chance. The Mind Flayer hates me, and I can push his limits. It's the fastest way."

"And if, by some random chance, Billy isn't the host?" Will countered gently. "He'd find out about you,"

Y/n didn't have a reply for that. Truthfully, she didn't know whether to be relieved or angered he had cornered her. She just stood there, frowning at the concrete sidewalk biting her lip thoughtfully. She tried to think of a way to use her abilities subtly, but all her experience with heat came from seismic blasts or concentrated bursts from her hands. If she attempted that on Billy, he would surely know it.

"There's gotta be another way," Mike cuts in. "I mean, a safe way that doesn't risk you getting hurt or discovered."

Y/n and Will - even El - shoot him a funny look and he shifts under the sudden attention, guiltily.

"What about the sauna?" Lucas says, lighting up.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, it's perfect!" He grins, stepping out from around the car and motioning for Will and Mike. "Come on,"

Seemingly catching onto Lucas's idea, Mike wastes no time in following. And Will hesitantly steps away, sending Y/n and his friends an apologetic shrug.

"Where are you going?" El called after them, exasperated.

"Sorry! Boys only!" Mike throws over his shoulder.

Max scowls after them. "Seriously?!"

"Just trust us!" Lucas cries.

"We'll be back," Will shrugs again. "... I guess."

The three friends sigh, throwing less than impressed looks at the retreating boys. Privately, Y/n wondered if Mike stood any chance of harm just from her glaring at him in this moment. She hadn't shared these feelings with anyone, but since reuniting with Will something had been troubled Ling him and he wouldn't say what. She could spot it right away, the shift in demeanor but she knew it was something different from the return of the Mind Flayer somehow. And she believed it had something to do with Mike.

He was acting differently around him. He had been for some time now, as she had with Max and even El but this was different. Something had happened, and because Will was, well, Will, he was clearly trying to put aside for the sake of everyone's safety. Y/n couldn't really blame him there, but she wished he would open up to her. Tell her what was wrong.

And she wished more than anything she could fix whatever Mike had clearly broken.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"All we gotta do is wait until the pool closes and everyone leaves," Lucas begins, guiding his friends through the first layer of the men's locker rooms. "And then get him from here..."

He steps forward, quickly ripping open the secondary door. The three boys scurry inside, and Lucas's friends quickly seem to catch on to his plan and a small smile grows on Will's face.

"And get him into here," Lucas eagerly rips open the sauna door, expecting to see nothing but steam but his luck had run out.

Five sweaty adult men in towels sat packed in the sauna like sardines, scowls on their faces for the three party members who interrupted their steam. "Hey! Shut the door!"

-"Come on, kid!"

-"Shut it!"

Lucas finally broke from his stupor and slammed the door shut, shuddering.

"I think I just threw up in my mouth,"

Will nodded with a grimace, but shook it off when his eyes landed on the wall beside the door.

"The controls!"

Mike's still bulging, haunted eyes finally broke away from their zoning out and jumped to the wall where Will was pointing. His face lit up.

"We can control from the outside, it's perfect!"

"Do you think it'll get hot enough?" Will asks, feeling more and more relieved by the second. "Like, "Y/n" hot?"

His friends immediately stopped, looking to him with a deadpan expression. Will scoffed at them. "You know what I mean" he snarked, not in the mood though he was trying to ignore the hint of a blush creeping up on his skin.

"Nevermind that," Lucas says. "Look right, here, 220 degrees. That's definitely enough."

"Okay, so we just need to figure out how to get him into here," Will nods towards the sauna door.

"Precisely."

"Then we lock him in," Mike says.

Lucas nods. "-heat him up,"

And Will manages another somewhat relieved smile. "-and no matter what happens, we'll know for sure."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Erica descends from the latter, the flashlight in her hands flicking off with a loud click as she strides up to the break room table where her recruits stood waiting. The group had taken a calculated risk I confiding in the young girl, but she was smart and demanded the information and why they needed to know if she could fit into the air duct in the back room. So here they stood, waiting with anxious breath for her verdict.

"Yeah, I don't know," she says, propping herself up on the edge of the table rather unimpressed.

"You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asks.

"Oh, I can fit. I just don't know if I want to,"

"Are you claustrophobic?" Robin tries.

Amused, Erica gives the young woman a pitiful laugh. "I don't have phobias."

"Okay, well," Steve begins with a shrug. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica,"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Steve slides another banana boat ice cream float across the table, joining the already plentiful dairy banquet laid out for the Sinclair girl. She merely gave it a single, disinterested glance and slid it back.

"More fudge please,"

Nobody said anything. And Steve just stared back at the table with tired, glazed-over eyes before Erica sent him a dismissive wave.

"Go on,"

He gave a sigh, and left the booth with the Banana boat in hand, and retreated to the counter. Robin took that as her cue and pulled out the marked-up blueprints she had at her side.

"Alright, you see this?" She points from the circle marked Scoops Ahoy and trail connecting over the flipped map. "This is the route you're gonna take. Then we just wait until the last delivery goes out tonight then you knock out the grate. Jump down. Open the door."

"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" She asks.

"Exactly,"

"And you say this guard is armed?"

"Yes," Dustin quickly nods. "But he won't be there,"

"And booby traps?"

"Booby traps?" Robin echoed.

"Lazers, spikes in the wall,"

Robin couldn't help but give a small laugh, but Erica was all too serious. She turned to the two with a serious look.

"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment."

"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time-"

"Uh! Uh! Uh!" Erica stops her. "Child. Endangerment."

Robin sighs, ignoring the knot wanting to twist in her stomach. She knew she was right, and Robin supposed she just didn't want to admit to herself what they were asking not only of themselves but the young girl.

"Erica?" Dustin began. "Hi, uh... We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?"

"You can't spell America without Erica," she shrugs, taking a long and loud sip from her complimentary Scoops Shake.

Dustin just blinks at her response and concedes with a nod. "Uh... yeah. Oddly, that's uh... weirdly true, so... so! Don't do this for us! Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man. Do this for America, Erica."

Erica, who had been slurping her drink through her straw throughout his entire speech, finally finished it off and shivered, sending him a smirk. "Ooh! I just got the chills."

Dustin smiled proudly.

"Oh, yeah," she quickly corrects, her smile falling. "From this float. Not your speech."

His smile falls right off his face.

"You know what I love most about this country?" Erica began. "Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?"

Both Robin and Dustin mumble a 'yeah'.

"It means this is a free market system, which means people get paid for their services depending on how valuable their contributions are. And this seems to me that my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So-"

Robin and Dustin share a worried look.

"-you want my help? This U.S.S. Butterscotch better be the first of many. And I'm talking free ice cream for life,"

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[shadysadie]

The level of how fast and loose corporations blatantly disregard human life is staggering to me.

The planet is on fire, the coral reef is dead, and we have garbage patches in the oceans that are quickly becoming the size of continents. But really, to me though things have always kind of difficult to fully comprehend. Maybe because there are so many players involved so its harder to point fingers, maybe it's because that scale is so big I can't wrap my head around it, or maybe it's just too far away.

But I live in Superior, WI. Last year the oil refinery in town started on fire.

The first explosion happened around 10 in the morning and since the daycare I work at was so less than half a mile away our whole building shook like a semi landed on the roof. Bookshelves fell over, toddlers fell over, things fell off tables, one of the dramatic pre-schoolers yelled, "We're all going to die!"

We told the kids a dragon had landed on our roof, what else were we going to say? We had twenty panicking pre-schoolers and no idea what had just happened. We figured it out pretty quickly, a coworker and I went outside to see what happened and already there was a giant mushroom cloud.

We all spent most of that morning watching the news on our phones because surely there was going to be directions to tell schools and childcare facilities what to do right? Nope. Well, okay, technically there was, but the directions were, 'don't panic, don't evacuate, everything is under control.'

Surprise, things were not under control. By 1pm here were 3 more explosions, all way bigger and louder than the first. FINALLY, we get word that yeah, maybe we should evacuate after all. A mandatory evacuation zone is established in a 3 mile radius of the refinery. At this point they inform the public, by the way, the fire is right now only burning oil, but its right next to a tank full of hydroflouric acid and if that catches fire it will completely wipe out everything within a 10 mile radius. Comforting to know when your stuck in a building less than a mile away full of small children.

Obviously staff couldn't leave until kids left because we didn't have any way to transport them anywhere safer, but my boss made sure to send the staff members with children of their own off right away. My wife was picking up our girls from their school's evac site, so I stayed with my boss and one other coworker until we were down.

The roads became gridlocked really fast so it took about two hours for most parents to arrive (Superior is small, so it usually takes 15 mins or less to get from one side to another) But after two hours we were still left with 3 brothers, a baby, a toddler, and a pre-schooler. At that point my boss decided we NEEDED to leave, the parking lot was covered in thick, black smoke and it became clear if we stayed we would not be able to escape at all. So we packed the kids into her car, (figuring it didn't matter that she didn't have car seats, traffic was going 2mph anyways) and headed out. I found out later that the boys' single mother couldn't get off work to get them. She worked at Wal-Mart, and even though it was inside the evac zone the employees couldn't leave without permission from corporate. Corporate did not grant permission at any point. Employees who left during this were fired and blacklisted, same with people who didn't show up to their shifts. In one case that meant a mother had to choose between leaving her kids in a cloud of poisonous gas or not being able to feed them, but luckily my boss is not a monster.

I eventually make it to my wife and kids and we head out of town, here's a picture from the top of the hill in the next town over, about 15 miles away.

We went to my friends farm in the country to stay and watch the news coverage. The fire went into the night and got to the point fire fighters couldn't even get close enough to combat it. There were fire balls, literal fire balls the size of cars, shooting out of it. We were safe, but we still knew a lot of people who couldn't get out. Like our elderly neighbors who we had to leave behind because Ma was too sick to get from the bed to the car. It was the longest, scariest day of my life.

Eventually the national guard showed up and got the fire out, they did manage to keep the hydroflouric from combusting, so after a couple of days we could go home. They told us everything was fine, but we knew they weren't being completely honest. The tap water tasted weird after that, it still does. It leaves a strange filmly feeling in your mouth and somehow makes your mouth feel drier after drinking it, but so far it hasn't killed us so I still drink it. Lung problems were rampant that year, particularly with children. All the babies and toddlers had constant chest infections all through the rest of spring and summer. Pre-schoolers did a little better but they still all sounded like a group of 80-year-old chainsmokers. A year and a half on and that's pretty much cleared up, though there's a huge spike in kids with asthma. Doctor's assure us its probably unrelated. Rashes are another thing that increased in prevalence. Big tough, splotchy, dry patches. But they don't hurt, they're just ugly.

We found out the fire started because a bunch of safety protocols had recently been abolished to make the plant more efficient. Husky Oil paid us for lost wages during the evac as well as money spent on hotels, gas, and food but so far they've refused to acknowledge any responsiblity for the strange health conditions nor have they put any money into studying the long term health affects of the fire on the citizens.

Today I found out that the plant is reopening and they still plan on using hydroflouric acid in their operations. I can not express how deeply disgusted I am by this. That day felt like being in Hell (truly, fire and brimstone Hell) and now I find out the company learned nothing from it. They are 100% okay with sacrificing our town (which by the way is named Superior because it is on the tip of Lake Superior, the biggest source of fresh water in North America, and connected directly with the other four Great Lakes, so NOT a lake we want to fuck up) to make a profit.

I might not be able to fathom the severity of global climate change, mass extinction, or garbage continents because my brain is unable to comprehend a scale that large. But I can share with you an example of one very dramatic event with a very clear culprit to highlight the complete lack of responsiblity and human decency that corporate America has. That we allow them to have.