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“Go to Hell,” Mike responded before realizing he was talking to someone who could kill him. Henry stood shocked at first, as who in their right mind would yell that at someone who has your life in their hands.
“Well, you're a little shit.” Henry looked him up and down. “Should've taken the tiny blonde one.”
“Or don't kidnap my friends and family? That could be a very reasonable action,” Mike shrugged.
“Do you want me to kill you?” Henry’s brows raised.
“Well, clearly you brought me here for a reason; if you wanted to kill me, you already would've done it.” Mike laughed to himself. “I read a ton of comics, dude, I know how this will play out.” He clears his throat. “You bring me here, have me ‘captured’, explain your long-winded evil plan that runs just a second too long, and the heroes come in, flip it around, and win.”
“This isn't a comic book, Michael, this is real life.”
“Dude, you're an evil dark wizard that steals kids and has magical powers that you then give to a bunch of other kids...But you want me to draw the line at whatever the hell this is?” Mike tilted his head slightly to the side to give a ‘really, dude’ look.
“Well, I- Who said I was a wizard?” Henry looks at the boy, confused.
“You can cast spells, which means you're a wizard,” Mike shrugged. “So do you have like a house you're going to bring me to because it's kind of sunny out here, and as you can tell, I'm not an outside guy.”
“I mean, yeah, I guess, it's just down there.” Henry tilts his head in an unclear direction.
“So that's not a Goddamn answer, you got a compass? A map? Even a description would work:” Mike hopped up onto his feet.
“Just- Follow me,” Henry looked down, almost embarrassed as he walked towards his home.
“Interdimensional Demons must not be the smartest,” Mike whispered to himself.
“I heard that,” Henry turned. “And I'm not a Demon, where are you getting this stuff from?”
“You tried to kill my best friend, my ex-girlfriend, my sister, and my mom.” Mike looked over at the guy.
“But, I killed Billy.”
“I mean, asshole, yeah, but you didn't really kill him; he did that to himself.”
“No, I definitely did that.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night… Demon”
Once the two finally got inside the big blue house, Mike was stunned.
“You had all this and chose to kill people? Kids really aren't pleased with anything,” Mike remembers all the times his mom nagged the same line.
“I didn't choose, and I didn't always live here; it was like a month before Papa-” Henry paused. “Why am I explaining myself to you?”
“Papa as in Brenner?” Mike asked; he didn't look at Henry, but he knew.
“I- Did Eleven-”
“El called him the bad man,” Mike started. “He actually tried to kill me and my friends while we were looking for Will, you know, my best friend that you tried to kill, and use as a vessel for your sick twisted shit?”
“He's- Is he? Will he? I thought she-” Henry couldn't finish a thought. Mike could see the panic flowing through, and for a second, he didn't see him as Vecna; he saw Henry.
“Hey, He's dead, he died, he can't- he can't hurt you.” If someone told Mike he'd be comforting a random guy he didn't know, he wouldn't bat an eye. If you told him that random guy was the same murderous freak who turned everyone's lives upside down literally when he was 12, he would've called bullshit. He didn't touch him or anything, but he could see Henry start to calm down.
“Are you okay?” Mike asked cautiously.
“I'm sorry, I just- I don't know what happened.” Henry looked down in shame.
“It's fine,” Mike shifted his weight from one foot to another. “What's exactly happening here?” Mike questioned, more confused than ever.
“Well, my plan was to kidnap you and lure Will and Eleven to me so I could kill them and take over Hawkins.”
“Hawkins is a shitty ass town to take over,” Mike looked confused. “You're doing all of this to take over a town that's about 4 years from getting taken off the map, shit, even our population is low, there's like 8,000 of us.”
“Yeah, but you know.”
“I really don't,” Mike scratched his chin in hopes of thinking better. “Personally, if I were a wizard, I'd use my powers for good,” He thought for a bit. “Like in-depth therapy, or to be a cop, or breaking vending machines so I could get a free snack because sometimes it gets stuck and it's the most annoying thing you can ever-”
“I get it.” Henry uses his powers to shut Mike’s mouth. “It's not me you know, it's him,” Henry points towards his head. “I can not control him, I can only tell you this because of where we are,” Henry quickly says. “He will come back, though, once he finds out, and when he does,s you must run, Michael.” Henry looks directly at him.
“Run, Michael.” His tone dropped lower.
Mike took that as his sign to go. He gave a pitiful look at Henry before he ran out the door and into the forest. He could see Henry inside, twitching with what sounded like pleas of ‘Stop’ and ‘please it hurts.’ Mike didn't have time to sit and watch, though; he ran as fast as he could until he ran out of breath. He turned to see that the house was still in sight; he hadn't even run the length of a football field.
“God, I shouldn't have skipped gym,” He wheezed as he started to run again. He ran until he reached a log in the middle of the forest. He chose to sit as he had gone a good way from the house.
“You've got to be shitting me,” A familiar voice groaned in the distance.
“Max?” Mike turned around to see his friend, who was supposed to be in a coma.
“The hell are you doing here?” Max questioned as she walked closer.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“We're in Vecna’s mind, but I'm in here because he killed me.” She walked even closer with a slightly worried expression. “How are you here?”
“I woke up somewhere in the grass, talked with Vecna for a bit, watched him have a panic attack, he told me to run because ‘he’ not Vecna but like some other thing I was thinking the Mindflayer cause he pointed towards his head, and then I ran here and yeah” Mike rambled off.
“Whoa, you talked to Vecna? Better question: Did he have a panic attack? Better better question, there's a he and the he is the Mindflayer?” Max paced back and forth.
“Yup,” Mike nodded.
“How does that even happen?”
“Not sure,” Mike shrugged, “But I don't think he's as bad as we think he is.”
“He tried to kill me, not even try he did.” Max crossed her arms with a slight look of sadness.
“What if Vec- Henry didn't, but the Mindflayer?” Mike bit his lip. “Think about it, remember Billy?” He stood up. “He was possessed, and he ended up…killing, but he didn't do it; the Mindflayer inside him did.” Mike closed his eyes slightly, scared of how Max would react.
“I'm just saying, what if there was a way to take out the Mindflayer without taking out Henry?” Mike felt like he was pleading his case in a court.
“Okay, let's say that theory is correct, how'd we even sever that tie?” Max’s brow raised.
“I don't know. We need to know more about him, his past. Mike tapped his foot in hopes of avoiding his usual pacing.
“I know a way,” Max says quietly, “But you're not gonna like it.” She gave a shy smile.
“I mean, I'll do anything if it saves the world.” Mike chuckles, because what could be so bad that he wouldn't-
“We have to go through all your memories,” She blurted.
“One more time,” Mike shut his eyes tight, squeezing his lips into a thin line.
“We have to go through your memories.”
“No,” Mike shook his head rapidly.
“It's only memories he has of you,” Max tried and failed to make it sound any better.
“I don't think I want you stomping around my mind,” He rolled his eyes.
“Mike, the world could end tomorrow.” Max shook the boy’s shoulders.
“Fine,” He took a deep breath in and out through his nose. “But Max, I swear if you make one joke about anything in there-”
“Dude, I won't, I swear… At least not until a few months from now.” The two walked around for some time until they found something out of the ordinary. It was a basement door.
“I assume it's that,” Mike pointed out.
“Yeah,” She waited for Mike to open the door and walk down. It was Mike’s basement, but in the year 1984