I guess this is kind of an intermission, but just, not in the middle. Anyway the point here is to set up some plot points that would not make sense at all if I stuck with my normal pattern. A lot of stuff is gonna happen at once and you need to know what the heck is going on.

Best Wishes,

-Amateur Critic

Chief Hopper had a lot on his plate. Three missing people. Four if he counted that kid Benny talked about before he disappeared. Now Joyce Byers was calling, ranting about hearing her kid on T.V. That didn't even account for the influx of calls he'd been getting about break-ins. He had bigger things to worry about.

~

Steve's search was difficult, to say the least. He'd had to avoid several townspeople so far. He was blindly guessing, at this point. He didn't even know where a little girl would hide. He shook his head and wished he had his hand. Next stop to look for the little twerp was the middle school. He'd checked every garbage can, snuck into every house and climbed every tree. She had to be around somewhere.

~

Ted Wheeler was a man who worked hard for his family. He put food on the table. Shingles on the roof. Not literally, but he paid for them.

Sure he might not be all that close with his kids, he still loved them and wanted them to live a good life.

His arrival at work was greeted with grunts of acknowledgment. He didn't reply. Ted didn't get excited often, but today, he smiled. He carried a tupperware container with what he hoped to be grounds for promotion.

He'd spent two days puzzling over the implications of a scab the size of his eyeball in his recliner and came to a conclusion. One of those girls that Dr. Brenner was looking for, had been hiding in or near his house.

He wasn't sure when or how this happened, but he felt it in his bones.

He strolled into Martin Brenner's office without knocking. Confidence rolled off the little man. He wasn't the tallest in the room, but he was definitely the most smug.

"Dr. Brenner." Doctor Martin Brenner had watched Wheeler come in and was planning to fire him if he didn't give a darn good explanation for his impudence.

"What do you need, Mr. Wheeler." It wasn't a question. It was a warning.

"I have something for you." He replied smugly, placing a plastic box on his desk. Dr. Brenner quirked an eyebrow and opened it.

"Is this a joke?" The whoosh as Ted deflated was almost audible.

"N-no?" It was a question because Ted would quickly change his answer if Dr. Brenner didn't like it.

"Why exactly did you think bringing me a ball was worth my time?"

"Uh,it-it's blood sir."

"..." The scientist looked at the ball, then at Mr. Wheeler, connecting several dots. "Where did you find this?"

"My living room, sir."

"I see." He pressed a button on his desk phone and spoke clearly. "Charlotte, please send in security and a boy from the lab." He released the button and Ted gently raised his hand.

"Er. Why are you getting security?" The door swung open. Two meaty men seized the bespectacled accountant. "Ah! What?! Why?!"

"Because I need you out of the way when your house is searched."

"Wait! Wait! Wait..." Security had dragged him away before he could come up with an argument.

~

Meanwhile deep, beneath them, the lab assistant who was supposed to be monitoring the interdimensional hole over the security cameras was fast asleep. Dreaming. This wasn't bad on its own, as no monsters took the opportunity to walk through and this particular lab assistant hadn't gotten much sleep lately anyway. However, just because monsters weren't invading didn't mean something wasn't coming through.

It didn't eat the lab assistant. It saw weakness, but didn't violently attack her. Opting to sink into the nearest host. Her computer.

~

The Thin Man breathed deeply. There it was. The way through. The Signal Tower lurched.

"No. Not yet."

"Huh?" Asked the toddler. He looked down.

" I apologize. Please, go faster if you can."

" I can't go faster. I don't even know what I'm throwing!" She had been kidnapped and told to throw something she couldn't see or feel at a patch of air that was 'weaker' than the rest. She could barely grasp the concept, much less accomplish it.

"It's very large and...tingly." The child's hands reached around in the empty air as her thoughts focused on the idea and kind of, slightly, only for a second, grasped something that was significantly bigger than she was.

"I-I think, I might've got it."

"Yes, you did. Keep trying. I'll help you." The Thin Man helped by thinking about the Tower. Manipulating it and the Transmission.

The Signal Tower was like a plant. It was alive in a technical sense. Sometimes it almost showed actual intelligence, but even then, everything was instinctual.

Plants automatically harvested the sun's energy. They naturally spread out as far as they could. It was normal for plants to search for more sun if they were covered by shade.

The Tower automatically harvested people. It naturally spread the Transmission as far as it could. And when there weren't any people available, it would search for more.

If the Signal Tower was a plant and people were sunlight and/or water, he could be considered its personal gardener. The Thin Man almost smiled.

"I have it!" The toddler shouted triumphantly.

"Throw it, now."

She obliged, despite not knowing where to aim. The Transmission, as he called it, was also much bigger than she was. She ended up launching herself into the air, similar to how pushing against a wall in roller-skates is more likely to move the skater than the wall. The Thin Man caught her. "Find the weak point." He ordered. She quietly nodded and he gently placed her on the ground again. "It's on that wall." He gestured to their left and shuffled away to provide the space she needed to work.

~

Poor Benny Hammond wondered what he'd ever done to deserve this. He was a good guy, generally speaking. He had a business, friends, a decent house. He was happy. But, that kid needed help.

As he ran from the government, he realized that some of the signs that meant they were chasing him, had vanished. There was no sound of looming helicopters. No black vans that needed avoiding. He was starting to suspect they knew she wasn't with him. He'd continue his fake trail for a few more miles. If they stayed away, he'd assume they figured out his trick and circle back around to Hawkins.

~

The night was a convenient time for Ghost. He had a bad habit of being swept off his metaphorical feet.

He had no control over when it happened, but was thankful when it happened at night. Maybe thankfulwas a generous term, he thought as his stomach turned . He was thrust out of his numb state, into familiar, but not normal at all, surroundings.

The floor was water he could walk on and the sky...well, the sky wasn't there. Just empty space. Sometimes if he looked down, through the water, he could see himself. Standing there, intangible.

Today he wasn't looking down. Because today there was someone else there waiting for him.

She bolted.

"Wait!" He yelled, giving chase. The girl slipped and splashed on the ground, hard. The boy under the sheet offered his hand to the girl in a white dress.

She took it. "Wh-what're you doing here?" He asked. She looked just as confused as he was. "I. Come here sometimes. Accidentally." She nodded and gestured to herself.

The pair found they got along really well, and although she didn't talk much, Ghost learned that her name was Eleven and that she needed a friend. A position he volunteered to fill. Apparently she already had a friend, but they didn't really keep in touch. He told her about his life and she briefly mentioned hers.

Eventually, the time came for him to leave and he left her with a smile.