Joyce's p.o.v.
I'm nervously tabbing my fingernail on the table, waiting for Steve, Nancy and Robin to get back in the house.
Hopper puts his hand onto mine, calming my hand down and smiles a bit, "They are fine."
"They are late.", I say, looking at the clock and standing up.
After some time of pacing around, the door finally opens.
I sigh and smile, "Thank God."
"Did something happen?", Nancy asks, placing her bag on a wooden chair.
"Joyce was a bit nervous.", Hopper informs them.
"So? Anything new?", I ask, deep down knowing that we are still standing in place.
Nancy presses her lips in a tight line and shakes her head.
"Nada.", Robin tells, sitting down.
"Are we really still hoping that we will find Vecna? Or some other clue that could lead us to solving this mess?", Dustin asks, looking at us.
"We can't give up.", Steve tells, looking at each one of us.
"You're back. Anything new?", El asks, looking at the three.
"Nope.", Robin tells, popping the p.
She sighs, leaning against the wall, "Before he disappeared, he told me that...that we think we won, but we actually already lost. There are times that I think he was right.", she speaks with sadness in her voice.
"Hey! Don't give up.", Hopper tells, gently massaging her arm.
"It's been two years and the only thing we know is that Upside-down is now a part of our world. That's it. And you don't have to be brilliant to figure that out, I mean, it's visible.", she tells, pointing on the window.
"There really isn't anyone that can help us?", Steve asks, looking at Hopper and me.
I take a deep breath and we share a look, knowing exactly what each of us is thinking.
"Is there some kind of a solution?", Robin asks slowly, shifting her eyes from Hopper to me.
"Theoretically, there is but...", I say, stopping mid sentence.
Dustin unfolds his hand and leans towards us, "But?"
"But it was shut down long time ago.", I finish.
"What are you talking about?", Steve asks, sitting beside me.
"Forty years ago, a man named Daniel Deener created a department called Fringe.", Hopper tells.
"Fringe existed?", Nancy asks surprised and Hopper nods.
Steve frowns, looking at Nancy, "You know about that?"
"Before the earthquake, I digged up an old article that wrote about it. Nothing much, just speculations on whether it exists or not. Honestly, I didn't think much of it.", she explains.
"What is Fringe?", Robin asks, looking at us.
"It was a secret department, organization put together by few scientist who believed that paranormal things can be investigated in scientific way. They where working on the Victor Creel case but where shut down not long after. The government shut it down and a few of the people that worked in Fringe where gone missing. Rumor is that Deener escaped with his family but continued with his research regarding Fringe. If they are still active, which I honestly doubt, they are laying low-key and we don't know how to get to them.", I explain.
"Can't you asked the people that helped El?", Dustin asks.
"We did but they don't know anything about it. Or at least that's what they told us.", Hopper tells.
"So they could be lying.", Nancy concludes, looking at us.
"Technically, yes.", I say.
"But, why would they do that? After everything. I mean, they helped a lot.", El tells.
I sigh, "I don't know."
A few days passed by and I was doing laundry when I see a black car park infant of my house.
"Shit!", I say, dropping everything and running out of the bathroom.
"What's going on?", Will asks as he walks down the stairs.
"Where's Eddie?", I ask and he frowns, "In the garage, as always?"
"Go there and make sure he doesn't come out!", I say.
He was about to ask something but I interrupt, "Go! Now!", I yell and he rushes towards the kitchen, where the door that leads into the garage is.
Hiding someone is much harder than I thought. Especially a person that is blamed for everything that has happened.
Taking a few breaths, I do my best to seem calm and walk slowly towards the front door as the bells rings.
"Who is it?", I ask, not opening it.
"Joyce Byers?", a male voice speaks.
"It's me.", I say back.
"Can you open the door? Please?"
I quickly look towards the kitchen, take another breath and open the door.
Here goes nothing.
Helena's p.o.v.
"What's the rush?", I say immediately after opening the front door of Ian's house.
"Data room!", I hear him yells as I place my coat up the hanger.
"Please tell me you have caffeine.", I mumble, turning towards the data room.
"Here you go darling."
I smile as he hands me a cup of coffee and sit beside him, in front of a big screen that had a map on it. He looks from me, to the map and then back to me. I frown, realizing he expects me to get the hint, which I don't. It's early.
"You will need to explain.", I say, taking a sip.
"Hawkins city.", he states proudly.
"Oookay.", I say, still nod getting it.
"Seriously? You're that bad in the morning?", he asks, looking at me.
I just shrug.
"Hawkins was hit by an earthquake.", he tells and I nod, "I know that. The area is completely demolished and you can't enter the town nor come near it because of the frequent tremors.", I say.
"Yes and no. Look at this.", he tells, putting a picture of the area on the screen.
"What the hell?", I say, standing up a bit and leaning closer to the screen.
"What in the apocalypse is this?", I ask, looking at the red clouds surrounding the sky around he city.
"It's Upside Down.", he tells and I frown, tilting my head to the left.
"Are you for real?", he asks, lifting his eyebrows and I look at him, now completely confused.
"The picture is not upside down, in the picture is Upside Down!"
I stand up straight, "Is this one of your moronic jokes that no one understands except you?"
He frowns, "First off, my jokes ARE NOT moronic, yours are. Second, no, it's not a joke. This what you see in the picture, is a part of an alternate dimension existing in parallel to the human world, named Upside Down.", he explains.
"An alternate dimension has collided with ours? That can't be good.", I say, sitting back down.
"Just Hawkins.", he states.
"Hawkins is in our dimension so, technically, it collided with our, regardless of the magnitude it physically took. If Hawkins is captured first, that means that there was a crack in the intermediate dimension that separated the two dimensions, located somewhere in the city.", I say, looking at the picture.
"Welcome back Helena. It's nice to see your brain on a working temperature."
"If the government is trying to hide those informations from us, that means that...we got a call?", I ask, looking at Ian, who smiles and nods.
"Yesterday.", he informs me.
"From?", I ask, knowing what the answer will be.
"We're finding that out when we come there.", he tells.
Just as I thought. Everyone wants us to do the dirty work but no one wants to get exposed. But they are okay with trowing us in the fire.
"What else do you know?", I ask, looking at the photo again.
"Umm, that's it.", he tells and I look at him, "Seriously?"
"They dropped some informations and datas at the train station. Adrien went to pick that up.", he tells.
"It's always nice to know for who you're working for.", I say with a sigh.
"Our job is a bitch.", he tells.
"Well, at least the money is good.", I say and we both look at each other, bursting into a loud laugh.
It's not. The paycheck is jack shit.
"So...will someone grow a pair of balls and meet us there or are we alone risking our lives, per usual?", I ask.
"This time, balls have grown. We are not alone."
"Impressive.", I say, not impressed at all, placing my hair behind my ear.
"I'm back! And alive!", we hear Adrien entering the house.
"What have you got?", Ian asks, turning his chair towards the door.
"Here ya go. Hey doll face.", he greets me and I make a face, showing him how much I dislike the nickname he gave me.
Ian opens the envelope and pulls out three sheets of paper.
"Wow. So many informations I don't know where to begin.", I say, taking one sheet in my hand.
"Erik Hefman.", Adrien says suddenly.
"Who dat?", Ian asks, looking over Adriens shoulder.
"The cop that is suppose to let us in Hawkins.", Adrien tells.
"And I will know which one is by telepathically communicating with him?", I ask, lifting my eyebrow.
"No dummy. We have his phone number.", he tells, handing me the sheet.
"Here's a map to Hawkins. They marked which way we go and enter the secured area. And we need to be at the entrance by exactly 5:30.", he tells.
I look at the clock, "That's in like nine hours! We have a seven hour drive, if we are lucky, just to get to the area. When the hell are we supposed to pack our stuff?"
I already don't like this.
"Already did that.", Ian tells proudly.
"I knew they will give us some ridiculous time so I made sure that everything is ready."
"Great! Well then boys, time to pack some clothes and off we go!", I say, standing up.
"What about the rest of the info?" Adrien asks.
"We will read that when we pass security.", I say and we both nod.