Mike quotes from Stranger Things

Mike

Let's hope One is dead and rotting.

Will

He's not. Now that I'm here, in Hawkins, I can feel him. And he's hurt. He's hurting. But he's still alive. It's strange, knowing now who it was this whole time, but... I can still remember what he thinks, and how he thinks. And he's not going to stop. Ever. Not until he's taken everything. And everyone. We have to kill him.

Mike

And we will. We will.

Jonathan

Have you forgotten what he showed Nancy? Hawkins on fire. Karen, Holly, everyone -- dead!

Steve

Yeah, man, he also showed Max her brother walking around with a big hole in his chest. That's what he does; he gets in your head and he tries to scare you.

Nancy

Yeah, well he did a good job, because I am scared! And you should be scared too, because if he's still out there, he's planning to end our world, so...

Mike

...we don't stop looking, even if it takes a hundred more crawls -- a thousand! We don't stop until we're goddamn sure that wrinkled, rotting, noseless bastard is dead and gone and never coming back. [He holds out his hand.] Everyone in?

Dustin

I wanna see Vecna's heart on a platter. Just wish I could do it myself. For Eddie.

For Eddie!

Lucas

On three, "Kill Vecna". One, two, three...

Kill Vecna!

Mike

We find Vecna and we end this once and for all.

Eleven

And then what happens?

Mike

You mean after you totally demolish Vecna? In my campaigns if the party wins, then they all live happily ever after.

Eleven

Happily how?

Mike

Well, usually what happens is, the party doesn't return to their local village because too much has happened. They've seen too much, so they travel to a far-away land -- a peaceful land, somewhere beautiful with, like, three waterfalls or something and they all start again, together.

Eleven

Do you think that could be real, for us?

Mike

Yeah, of course! I mean, not the three waterfalls part, but the other stuff, yeah! Of course. If Vecna's gone, then what's stopping us?

Nancy

This is our fault. This is all our fault.

Mike

We got there as fast as we could.

Nancy

I’m not talking about tonight. We could have acted yesterday, last week, last fall. We could have tried to get them out of Hawkins or… or at least told them the truth! We could have done something, anything!

Mike

We couldn’t have known any of this would happen.

Nancy

Do you really believe that, Mike?

Mike

After all this time, it comes for Holly? Holly, who has nothing to do with any of this. It makes no goddamn sense.

Nancy

It makes perfect goddamn sense. Vecna told me this would happen. He showed me. And not just the four gates. Holly, Mom, Dad dead. And we just chose not to believe him. But now it’s all coming true. Like, don’t you get it, Mike? Vecna’s come back to realize his vision, to punish us. He did it with Fred and Chrissy and Max and now it’s our turn. And he’s not gonna stop. He’s not gonna stop until we’re drained of every last ounce of suffering.

Mike

This isn't about saving Derek. It's about saving Holly. Vecna took her. And yeah, now he's after Dipshit Derek. But we have a plan. A plan to both save Dipshit Derek and find Holly. But the plan is... It's a bit insane. But after it's over, I don't think Tina's gonna wanna talk to you ever again.

Erica

Well, why the hell didn't you just start with that?

Mike

Are you positive you didn't?

Will

Didn't what?

Mike

Turn off the scary movie. Protect your mom, not the other way around. I mean, no offense, I know she's badass and everything but, you know.

Will

Yeah, she's five foot three.

Mike

Yeah. And Vecna likes to control the hive mind like a puppet master. So maybe when you tap into the hive, you can pull the strings too.

Will

Except, I'm not Vecna.

Mike

You sorta are.

Will

You're trying to say that I'm evil and hell-bent on destroying the world?

Mike

[sarcastic] Totally. No, I'm just saying that, you know, you're like a wizard like him.

Will

[smiling] In D&D Mike, not real life.

Mike

True. In real life, you're more like a sorcerer, because your powers don't come from a book of spells. They're innate.

Will

Oh. [still smiling]

Mike

Listen, as far as crazy theories go, I've had crazier. And with Eleven in the Upside Down, we really need some magic up here. [Will playfully shoves him, and Mike walks away. Robin watches meaningfully]

Will

I… I… I haven’t told any of you this because… Because I… I don’t… I don’t want you to see me differently. But the truth is… The… The truth is I am. I am different. I just… I just pretended like I wasn’t because… because I didn’t want to be. I wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to be like my friends and… And I am like you. I’m like you in… in almost every way. We… We like playing D&D late into the night. And we like that old-person smell in Mike’s basement. And we… we like biking to Melvald’s for malted milkshakes. And we like getting lost in the woods, and getting lost in Family Video and arguing about what to rent and settling on Holy Grail for the millionth time. And… And we like Milk Duds in our popcorn with extra butter. And we like drinking Coke with Pop Rocks. And we like bike races and trading comics and NASA and Steve Martin and Lucky Charms and… Literally all the same things. I just… I just… I… I just… I… I… I… I don’t like girls. I mean… I mean I do. Just… Just not like you guys do. And I, uh, I had this… this crush on someone, even though I know… I know they’re not like me. But… But then I realized he’s just my Tammy. And by Tammy, I mean it was never about him. It was… It was about me. And I thought I was finally okay with myself, but… but then today… Today Vecna showed me what would happen if I did this, if I told you guys the truth. He showed me a future, and in this future, some of you are just… are just worried for me. Worried that things will be harder for me. And it just makes me feel like something’s wrong with me. So I… So I push you away. And for the rest of us, we just drift apart more and more and more and more and more until I’m alone. And I know none of that has happened, and Vecna can’t see into the future. But he can see into our minds, and he knows things. And it just felt so real. It felt so real.

Joyce

Will. You gotta listen to me. That will never ever happen. You’ll never lose me. Ever.

Will

Okay. Okay.

Jonathan

And you’ll never lose me. [goes to hug him]

Lucas

Or me. [goes to hug him]

Dustin

Or me. [goes to hug him]

Mike

Or me. [goes to hug him]

Eleven

Or me. [goes to hug him]

Robin

Or me.

Robin

Guess you didn’t need truth serum, huh?

Max

Sorry. This sucks, but you’re gonna have to hug me.

Will

Oh, Max. [goes to hug her]

Max

Just imagine I’m hugging you really tight, okay?

Will

Okay. [lets go of hug] El. I know you’re strong enough to defeat Vecna. But he can retreat to the physical world, and we need to be ready to fight him there too. We have bullets and fire, but none of that helped those soldiers. I need to be there. And I’m ready. I’m ready to show him I’m not afraid anymore.

Mike

You... You have to get out of there! You have to get out!

Eleven

None of this will ever end, not if I'm still here.

Mike

No, no, no. We'll figure something out. We'll figure something out, we'll fight back. We always do.

Eleven

I need you to talk to the others.

Mike

No. No, no!

Eleven

I need you to thank them for me. For being so kind to me. And teaching me what it means to be a friend.

Mike

No! Please don't do this. Please don't do this!

Eleven

Mike, I need you to help them understand my choice.

Mike

But I don't-- I don't understand!

Eleven

I know. But you will. One day, you will. You understand me. Better than anyone. You always have. From the day we met... you've seen me.

Mike

Please don't leave me, El. Please don't do this.

Eleven

I will always be with you. I love you.

Eleven

Goodbye, Mike.