building off of a story idea on my pinned post
through the eighteen month time skip, not just holly was getting visited by mr whatsit, but mike was too. at first he shows up in a mixture of public/private places. where a man might approach you but somewhere no one would notice mike starting to talk to himself. and mike, that poor repressed guy, was just waiting for someone to vent to, and look! someone to do just that(hm. wonder why)
and slowly, henry starts sinking his claws into mike’s thoughts and ideas and memories and dreams until mike trusted him with every ounce of his being, because all his memories of the events of s4 were altered in some way or another. and now when henry appears to tell him to do something, only as a ‘favor’, mike obeys like a servant at henry’s beck and call. when holly confides in him in that school hallway, he tells her she had nothing to worry about and mr whatsit was here to help(maybe some religious savior shit in there too… mike calling henry their savior)
when holly gets kidnapped, mike knows it was for the best, but agrees to pretend to be on the others side until henry could finish his plan. henry’s claws were sunk so far into his brain that he couldnt even find it in himself to be concerned for his mother in the hospital. maybe he has a scene with his mother where hes spitballing and reveals how he was henry’s secret agent but karen knows something must have happened because theres no way her sweet boy would be acting like this— so emotionless and distant, speaking about a man nancy just warned her about. but karen cant move or speak, so she has no way of warning the others
but after the MAC-Z battle, henry starts getting sloppy. he begins altering mike’s brain too far. people start noticing his strange behavior. the hyonosis is trying to warp mike’s entire person into someone else and its taking its toll on him. he’s spacing out for long periods of time. he’s saying things that aren’t like him. and people notice
maybe nancy goes to talk to her mother again and karen panics the moment nancy enters the room. once nancy calmed her mom down, she helps karen write things down again. nancy gets told about mike and she runs to tell the others
when the group confronts mike, hes unable to pretend any longer. instead, he tries convince him to join henry’s side(more of that saviorism maybe). but when that doesnt work and they tie him up, henry rushes to sink his claws deeper in mike’s skull and squashes his brains to putty. all his thoughts, all his memories, all his emotions and everything that even makes him human is torn from him. hes tied to a chair and when hopper starts questioning him, people immediately notice there’s nothing behind his eyes. nancy and will try to reach him but its almost like theres nothing to reach
jane searches his mind and finds nothing. nothing, for a long time, until she finally falls into a hazy memory of mike, five or six, flipping through comics on his bed. the memory lasts for about ten seconds, just enough to show the door opening and mike turning to smile at the person who enters, before the memory resets. jane tries to see whos through the door and falls into another blurry memory, this one of mike, on the swingsets, smiling at the person swinging beside him. but no matter how hard jane tries, her eyes cant focus on the hazy, dreamy blur of the memory
this continues through more and more memories. dream like and too fuzzy to make out most of the details. jane finds some she recognizes from her own experience, like the moment the two of them were in her bedroom that summer of starcourt— the five seconds they were readjng comics as hopper barges in. but in his destroyed memory, she cant make out the details of her own face, or any detail of hopper’s appearance. like they were wiped from mike’s thoughts
she rips herself out of mike’s thoughts and starts sobbing at mike’s blank expression, causing will to hold her in his arms. once she tells them what she saw, they devise a plan
continue on, max and holly fall into mike’s ruined memories during their escape— the same swingset memory jane found. without hesitation, holly grabs five year old mike’s hand and pulls him along. toddler mike was half created, eyes fuzzy and thoughts all over the place. he gets confused and falls asleep at one point so max has to carry him with her to find the exit. as they run, he starts to grow, and by the time theyre in the tunnel, he’s the correct age, but his mind still isn’t there. max gets holly out(she doesnt need that huge monologue from canon omfg) and sits with mike and talks to him(using a modified version of the shitty holly the heroic monologue!!) until mike’s eyes spark with life and hes able to find his passage out
he gasps to life, still tied up in the chair, looking around in confusion. he was dazed and confused and dizzy and stringing words together in sentences that dont make sense. but with the help of will and nancy and the party and all his loved ones, he starts regaining self. yay!!!!
then instead of joyce chopping vecna’s head off for an extended period of time, they all take turns!!
