#girl was so ticked at the fire/ights for getting her benched by

[poisonedpowder]

//The thing is, they tried to rewrite how J/nx deals with pain/sadness and that's where they went wrong. She does sulk, that much is true, but she doesn't JUST do that. She's gets angry. She gets vengeful. She starts finding things to blame. She doesn't wait for things to happen either. She starts to plan.

[screensirenfic]

Black Leather - Chapter 36

“Okay. So he should fit now.” Said Dustin as he chucked another shelfload of food onto the Byers kitchen floor.

Him and Steve had been trying to fit the dead Demodog into the refrigerator for the better part of half an hour, failing more miserably with each consecutive attempt.

The whole process was as you’d imagine, pretty disgusting, with the rapidly heating cold blooded creature smelling worse by the minute.

“Can you guys hurry up. You’re making the place stink.” I complained, covering my nose from the stench as I sat myself on the edge of the countertop.

“You know; this would go a lot faster if you actually helped.” Steve commented, struggling with holding onto the blanket wrapped corpse in his arms.

“Oh no! I wanted to bury it in the backyard; you two were the idiots who thought it would be nice to keep it as a souvenir.” I refused point blank, because I drew the line at acting as body disposal for the whims of thirteen year olds.

Steve wisely gave up on petitioning for my help, and instead focused his efforts on manhandling the thing into the icebox, Dustin offering minimal help with the ordeal.

“Is this really necessary?” Steve asked the kid; his nose wrinkling in disgust at the close quarters to the decomposing monster.

“This is a significant scientific discovery. You can’t just bury it like some common mammal.” The kid argued, attempting to wrestle one of the creature’s claws into the small space.

“Alright; well, you’re explaining this to Mrs Byers.” Steve conceded, finally managing to get the damn thing to fit.

He slammed the fridge door shut; him and Dustin working together to hold it closed in case it tried to burst open from the force.

Lucky for them, it didn’t.

With the dead Demodog bagged and tagged for later analysis, Steve and Dustin sank down against the icebox, resting their backs against it as they sighed in relief that they didn’t have to deal with that god awful smell anymore.

——————————————————

We’d only been waiting for about half an hour, but Jesus Christ; did it feel like longer. Time ticked by like a snail on molasses, and I found myself glancing at the clock only to be convinced it was broken.

I knew being left behind wasn’t gonna feel like no picnic, but I honestly didn’t expect to feel so bored!

“Mike; would you please just stop it already? You’re making it worse.” Complained Lucas to perhaps the only person who was even more tense than I was as he paced up and down the hall in a display that was so frenzied; I couldn’t help but imagine my dad.

“You weren’t in there; okay Lucas?! The lab was swarming with hundreds of those dogs—“ Berated Mike with all the consternation of a worked up parent.

“Demodogs!” Corrected Dustin from the kitchen, cueing a well timed eye roll from Lucas.

“The Chief will take care of her...” Stated Lucas; his faith in my father almost touching.

Of course; I knew better. But I wasn’t about to say that out loud.

“Like she needs protection!” Exclaimed Max; her apparent awe of my little sister still not wearing off.

“Dude- if the coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it—“ Steve agreed, sounding the most like a jock I think he ever had in his life.

“Okay, first of all; this isn’t a stupid sports game, and second, we’re not even in the game; we’re benched...” Mike argued; his rationale making far more sense to me than it probably should.

“I mean; Lola, aren’t you at least a little bit worried about your dad?” He asked; clearly sensing my sympathy to his cause and honing in on it.

“Well; yeah, but it isn’t like there’s anything I can do from here—“ I shrugged, my arms crossed across my chest, because as much as I hated to admit it; I was as useless as anyone else here at the moment.

“The point is...” Steve interrupted, only to lose track of what his fucking point is in the first place.

“The point is... right; we’re benched, yeah?” He finally found his train of thought, nodding at me as if I was somehow in support of his analogy.

“There’s nothing we can do.” He stated; clearly expecting that would be the final word on it.

“Well.... that’s not strictly true...” Corrected Dustin, forcing all eyes to fall upon him.

The boy had a plan. I could already see it on his smarmy face, and now we were gonna hear it.

“I mean; the demodogs have a hive mind. They ran from the bus because they were called away...” He explained; his rationally reminding me of his status as a child genius, rather than the annoying thirteen year old I’d had to put up with for the past five hours.

“So if we get their attention—“ Continued Lucas, already picking up on his train of thought.

“Maybe we can draw their attention away from the lab—“ Added Max; already proving how she earned her place amongst a gang of ultra intelligent preteen boys and a super powered girl.

“And clear a path to the Gate.” Finished Mike; the simplicity of the plan almost beautiful when said out loud.

“That’s— actually not a half bad plan.” I admitted, trying and failing to find a hole in their logic.

“Yeah — except you forgot the part where we all die!” Exclaimed Steve; clearly not on the same page as the rest of us at all.

“Well, that’s one point of view...” Shrugged Dustin, looking disturbingly casual about the conclusion.

“No; that’s not a point of view. That’s a fact.” Objected Steve; clearly having chosen his hill to stand on.

But the kids weren’t going to listen. They’d already begun putting their little heads together, hurrying over the primitive map drawn out across the Byers’ walls.

“This is where The Chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnels...” Stated Mike, already pointing at a large cross drawn onto the map.

“And look; right here...” He continued, dragging his finger along a tunnel to a large chamber of some sort.

“This is like... a hub. See how all the tunnels feed into it?” He asked, cueing a series of nods from all the kids.

“So maybe if we set this on fire—“

“Okay— yeah; that’s a NO!” Objected Steve, standing as a barricade at every step of the way.

“The Mind Flayer would call away his army...” Theorised Dustin; not put off by Steve in the slightest.

“They’d all come to stop us...” Continued Lucas, and already I could sense this plan coming together.

“And we’d circle back to the exit here.” Mike further explained; clearly having quite the head for battle strategy.

My dad would be proud. Angry, but proud.

“By the time they realised we were gone—“

“El and my dad would already be at The Gate.” I finished; seriously impressed with this kid’s planning.

“Guys!! HEY!! HEY!!” Yelled Steve; outraged and frustrated with the clear lack of concern we had for our own safety.

“This—“ Steve lectured, pointing at the map angrily.

“This is not happening.”

“And I can’t believe you’d even consider this!” Steve turned to me; a strange blend of accusation and disappointment in his voice that I wasn’t used to hearing.

“Come on, Steve—“ I whined, hoping I could win him over.

“No—“

“But—“

“No. No Buts!” He refused point blank; his adamant stance really surprising me.

“I promised to keep you shitheads safe and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” He stated, turning his attention back to the kids just in case they decided to jump in on out little couple’s argument.

“And as for you...” He said; turning a sweeping finger back in my direction like a smoking gun.

“I told your dad I’d look after you, and I’m pretty sure if I don’t; he’ll wear my skin as a suit. So; just NO!”

“We’re sitting here, on the bench, and we’re waiting for the starting team to do their job.” Instructed Steve; returning to his coach persona with renewed dedication.

“Does everyone understand?”

“This isn’t a sports game—“ Muttered Mike under his breath; clearly not buying into the whole Coach Harrington thing.

“I said; does everyone understand?” He repeated himself; basically yelling now as if he could force his point across.

“Jesus; Steve—“ I sighed, rolling my eyes, because for a people person; Steve really needed to work on his inspirational speeches.

“I need a yes...” Steve demanded, but really; he had to stop with this.

“Steve; come on...” I said, walking up to him to take his arm and lead him away.

“No; I’m not done yet.” He argued, pulling back against me as he snatched his wrist from my grip.

“Come on; Steve. Let’s go talk.” I tried again, taking his arm, and this time he came without protest.