Notes:

This chapter was exciting for so many reasons. "Papa" is one of those episodes that gets you super hyped up for the ending that you can't help but smile.

Writing this was so much fun because I couldn't wait for the next chapter.

Pleas enjoy!

"Music! Get her music!" Steve called from above.

The group wasted no time sprinting into Eddie's room, desperately searching for tapes.

Max tried her best, but there wasn't any music that wasn't rock. Jesus, Eddie.

Erica ran into the room. "Steve says you need to hurry!"

"Yeah! No shit!" Dustin yelled.

Max turned around. "We're trying! We can't find anything!"

"Seriously, what is all this shit?" Robin cried.

Eddie asked, "What are you even looking for?"

"Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!"

"This is music!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

As Erica ran back, Dustin cursed, "Shit, shit, shit!"

Max felt hopeless. Eddie had literally nothing besides shitty music.

A few minutes passed when…

Erica walked into the bedroom. "Guys, she's awake."

What?

Max watched from below the gate as the group quickly ventured back into the living room.

Steve cradled Nancy in his arms, doing his best to reassure her. "Deep breaths, alright. In and out."

From what Max could see, Nancy looked terrified, but only muffled cries slipped out her mouth. Her body was limp as if she couldn't hold herself up.

Steve gently lifted her into his arms and called to the others, "Catch her when I push her through."

Nodding, Eddie, Robin, and Dustin crowded under the portal as Steve grabbed Nancy's waist and shoved her into the gate. As the other three grabbed her, they cleared the mattress so Steve could crawl through.

Steve quickly jumped off and scooped Nancy out of their arms. She seemed to be getting exhausted from her encounter. Max remembered how the same thing happened to her.

"We need a safer place than this," Dustin said.

Moving to the window, Max peeked out it's curtains.

"Guys, my mom's car is gone. So we can crash at my place."

Steve shrugged. "Works for me."

"You sure no one will see me?" Eddie asked.

"It's the dead of night. Nobody's going to see you," Robin said.

Heading out the door, they dashed to Max's trailer. Once inside, Steve glanced around.

"Anywhere I can lay her down?"

"Yeah, my bedroom. Follow me," Max instructed, and he hurried after her.

Opening the door, Max threw her blanket off the bed. Steve carefully rested Nancy on the soft mattress. Her eyes struggled to stay focused.

Steve grabbed the blanket off the ground and pulled it over Nancy.

Max watched Nancy try and fight off sleep, but it was no match. Within a minute of laying on the bed, she was out like a light, her mouth hanging slightly open.

"Vecna's trance's," Max commented, "they're utterly exhausting. I don't know what Vecna showed her, but she seemed-"

"Terrified. I know," Steve replied. "I guess she'll explain once she wakes up. But… this wasn't like your trance. She never started floating and she just kinda… snapped awake."

"Do you think Vecna's plagued her?"

"No, I don't buy it. I mean, her eyes were rolled back as yours did, and she was unresponsive like you. But- I don't know. Something just felt off. Maybe Vecna let her escape."

"But why?"

"I don't know…" Steve paused. "You need to get some sleep too. I know for a fact how bad you've been resting."

Max rolled her eyes. "No duh."

"I'm serious, Mayfield. We can't have you passing out on us."

Sighing, she replied, "Alright, I'll take my mom's room."

Before leaving, Max turned around to say, "You need sleep too, you know."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

Max didn't feel like changing clothes. But, it's true; she was beyond tired.

Just before creeping into her mom's room, she was stopped by Lucas.

"You still need someone to watch you…"

Max was still annoyed with the whole 'Max Watch' thing, but at least it was Lucas.

"Fine."

Climbing into bed, Max gazed into his eyes. "Lucas, what happened at the graveyard… I mean, I know you guys have told me, but… I don't know… I just…"

Sitting beside her on the blanket, Lucas sighed. "I guess... I mean, you know, Steve found you first and yelled at us to run over. When I saw you, I just… I freaked out. I mean, I couldn't bare the thought of losing you. And when you started floating, I thought you were going to die," he whispered. "I thought I'd lost you."

"I'd thought I'd lost you too. But I just ran. I ran toward the portal. I knew it wasn't my time to go; I had so much more to do."

"I cried when I realized that MadMax wasn't dead."

"I cried when I realized Stalker was still there for me."

Max's heart skipped a beat. This was getting too intimate. And she couldn't break his heart, not again. Not if the worst happened…

"I need to rest…" Max said.

"Right, yeah…"

Lucas got up to move away, but Max stopped him. "Wait," she cried a little too loudly. "Could you, uh… could you stay on the bed…" God, this was so awkward.

But she was so lucky to have him.

"Of course," Lucas said sweetly. Then, crawling back on top of the sheets, he turned the light off, using the moon to see her.

"Goodnight, Stalker…."

"Goodnight, MadMax."

By the time Max woke up, it was already sunny. Next to her, Lucas was fast asleep. He must've accidentally passed out at some point. She realized she had been cuddled next to Lucas the entire night, and, slightly embarrassed; Max wondered if anyone had seen them.

Quickly removing herself, Max shook him awake. "Lucas, come on."

As he squinted his eyes, he remembered that he was supposed to be watching her. "Shit, shit, shit-"

"It's okay- you needed rest," Max said, cutting him off. She sniffed the air and smelled fresh eggs. "You hungry?"

"A bit, yeah."

Nodding her head, Lucas helped her out of bed.

In the kitchen, Max watched as Dustin, Robin, and Erica cooked breakfast.

Robin turned around. "Morning, sleepyheads. We took some of your food," Robin told Max, "Sorry if you didn't want us to do that."

"It's fine."

"Robin somehow managed to burn the eggs," Erica complained.

Eddie scoffed. "How the hell do you burn eggs?"

"I find a way."

Robin always did. "Steve tried to call California last night, but nobody picked up."

That was unusual. They'd done that for days now.

Max plopped down on the couch next to Lucas with her food as they finished with the french toast. God, it felt like an eternity since she last ate, even if it was only yesterday.

Stuffing it in her mouth, everyone spun their heads as Steve and Nancy entered the living room.

"You doing better?" Max asked.

Nancy nodded. "Yeah," she whispered.

"You want any food?" Robin asked.

"I'm good."

They sat in silence as they finished their breakfast as they cleaned their plates; everyone gathered together. Max ended up standing next to the telephone with Lucas.

Nancy sat on a chair across from the group.

"So, what did you see, "Max questioned bluntly.

Nancy sighed. "Vecna… he showed me his past…" she replied dryly. "He wasn't originally from the upside-down. He's… Henry-"

Robin seemed dumbfounded. Everyone did. " Henry Creel? Like, Victor's son?"

Nancy nodded. "He had powers. He was the one who killed his family… he slipped into a coma after and became Brenner's first test subject; 001."

The room went silent before Steve whispered, "Holy shit…"

"Years later, he became an orderly for the lab before…" Nancy whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "Before he killed everyone in the lab. Including the children. Everyone except Eleven. She was the one who sent him to the upside-down. Eventually, I ran away, but Henry got to me and pinned me to a chair and told me to tell Eleven what I saw," she said hoarsely. "He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this… giant creature with… a gaping mouth."

Nancy paused, trying to collect herself. "And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. And then… he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they… they were all…"

Her breath shook.

"Okay, but… he's just trying to scare you, Nance," Steve reassured her. "Right? I mean… I mean, it's not real."

"Not yet. But there… there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but… they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."

"Four chimes," Max commented. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."

"I heard them too."

Everyone stared at the two of them.

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time."

"Four kills," Lucas murmured. "Four gates. End of the world."

"If that's true…" Dustin muttered, "he's only one kill away."

"Oh Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ," Eddie said, his palms covering his face.

"Try 'em again. Try 'em again," Steve ordered. Max dialed the California number, but no one picked up.

"Anything?" Dustin asked.

Max shook her head. "No. Rang a few times, then went to a busy signal."

"Maybe you punched it wrong. Try again," Steve responded.

"I didn't punch it in wrong," she retorted.

"Well, I don't know," he scoffed.

"I think she knows how to use a phone," Dustin defended.

"I'm just saying; she could've typed it in wrong."

Trying once more, she had no luck. "Same shit," Max said.

Lucas shook his head. "How is that possible?

"Joyce has this telemarketer job. She's always on the phone. Mike won't stop whining about it," Dustin said.

Max stared at the group. "Yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now? That's not Joyce. No way. Something's wrong."

"She's right," Nancy replied. She stood up out of her chair and looked out the window. "It can't be just coincidence. It can't be. Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I'm sure of it. But Vecna can't hurt them. Not if he's dead. We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down."

Steve quickly got up. "Whoa, no, no, no. What?"

"Nope," he responded. "Nope."

"Let's think this through."

"What is there to think through?"

"We barely made it out of there in one piece."

"Yeah, because we weren't prepared," Nancy argued. "But this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him."

"Or he'll kill us! The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us."

"And for good reason," Robin added. "We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?"

"One."

"Vecna."

"Henry."

"Right," she continued. "We've learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. He's a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But my… my point is, he's super powerful. Could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."

"Then why fight fair?" Dustin said. 'You're right. He's like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven's strengths. And weaknesses."

"Weaknesses?" Erica asked. She sounded genuinely confused.

"When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna."

"That would explain what he was doing in that attic," Lucas realized.

"Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "Defenseless? What about the army of bats?"

"Right, true. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow."

"And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" Eddie questioned, standing up.

"No idea." Eddie sat back down. "But once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin."

Robin stared at him. "That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna's killings. Not one that I can decipher. We don't know when he's going to attack next. Don't even know who he's going to attack."

Max finally spoke up. "Yeah, we do. I can still feel him. I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me."

Lucas gazed at her with worry. "Max. You can't. He'll kill you. "

"I survived before. I can survive again," she muttered. "I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly don't care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just… whatever you do… try not to miss."

Steve sighed. "Alright… alright. This is possibly the worst idea I've ever heard but-"

"It could work," Nancy finished off his sentence.

Eddie glanced around. "Do you have a book of places in and around Hawkins?"

Max thought to herself. She remembered a large book like that under her bed. "Yeah, let me grab it."

Spinning around, she sprinted into her room and slid under her bed. Sure enough, there it was.

She placed it on the dining room table and stood behind the group as Eddie flipped through the pages. What he was looking for, she didn't know.

Suddenly he stops to point at the book.

"Check this out. The War Zone. I've been there once. It's huge. They got everything you need for, uh… well, killing things, basically."

"You think fake Rambo has enough guns there?" Robin pipped up. "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?"

"Well, lucky for us it is, so… This… This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks."

Erica rolled her eyes. "If we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called the War Zone."

"Normally, I'd agree, but we need the weapons," Nancy said. "So I think it's worth the risk."

"Me too," Lucas agreed.

"But is it worth the time? It'll take all day to bike there and back," Dustin pointed out.

"Who said anything about bikes?"

"You got some car we don't know about?"

"It's not exactly a car, Steve. And it's not exactly mine, but, uh… it'll do." He looked at Max. "Hey, Red, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?"

Max nodded and searched through her closet. Voila.

Returning, she handed him a Micheal Myers mask.

"Oh, you've got to be shitting me."

Reluctantly, Eddie forced it on his head, and the group ran out the front door. Hiding behind trailers, Eddie led them into the back of an RV, sneaking in through the window. Max didn't listen to his conversation with Steve and Robin, but she did jump when the car suddenly reeved up.

"Everybody, hang on to something!" Steve screamed.

Max held onto the back couch for her life while the others yelled at him to drive.

"Oh my God! Let's go! Let's go!" Lucas cried.

Dustin shrieked, "Drive, Steve! Drive!"

Max nearly got whiplash as the car shoved her backward, and Steve sped away as if his life depended on it.

Eventually, once they were out of sight, Steve was able to slow down. Holy shit.

As Max's heart slowed, she quickly turned her headphones on. Maybe Kate Bush could distract her.

Max had been staring out the window for about fifteen minutes when Lucas approached her. She'd been sitting alone on the couch.

Turning her head to the left, Max pulled her headphones off and paused the music.

"So I've been thinking, two of the three of Vecna's victims were seeing Ms. Kelley, right?"

"Yeah?" Max responded. She wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"Okay. So I figure there's a good chance Vecna cursed another one of her students. We go back to her office. We read all of her files. Look for mentions of headaches, nosebleeds, nightmares. We identify his most likely next victim."

"Lucas," she tried to stop him. Lucas didn't seem to notice.

"We stake out his house-"

" Lucas, stop ," she said more forcefully. "We don't have time for any of that, okay? And even if we did, even if your plan did work, we'd be putting a total stranger at risk. A stranger who has no idea what they're up against," Max whispered. "I do. He uses my memories against me. But… only my darkest memories. Same with Chrissy and Fred, right?"

"Right."

"It's like he only sees the darkness in us. So, I'll just run in the opposite direction. Run to the light. And maybe he won't be able to find me there."

"Now, how exactly do you plan on doing this?"

Max shook her head. "I'm not sure. But it's my mind. Not his, right? So I should be able to control where I am. I just need to… push him away. Find a happy memory and hide there. Hide in the light."

"You got a memory in mind?"

Max smiled. "Yeah. It was a time when I was the happiest."

"Was I there?" Lucas asked hesitantly.

"That's presumptuous of you," Max chuckled. "But yeah. You might've been there."

"Okay, but the second you start to lift, I'm calling in Kate Bush. All right?"

Max blushed, laughing. "Okay."

"Deal?"

"Deal."

Slipping her headphones back on, she and Lucas silently watched the road. Not awkward silence; wishful silence.

Once they arrived at the War Zone, Max, Erica, Steve, Robin, and Nancy left the RV, which was parked in the back.

"This will only take a few minutes. Everyone needs to stay in the car. Got it?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"Got it."

As they headed inside, Max grabbed a basket, aimlessly grabbing knives.

Nails, rope, and a saw lined line the shelves. Yeah, that works.

Suddenly, Erica, Steve, and Robin quickly hurried toward her.

"Jason and his friends; they're here," Erica said.

"Shit…"

"Come on, we need to find Nancy," Steve muttered.

"Last time I saw her, she was going to buy a gun," Max responded.

Steve nearly ran to find Nancy, and the other three struggled to keep up. When they found her, Jason was holding the end of her gun as his basketball team surrounded him. He looked as if he were trying to intimidate her. That or he and his friends were going to kidnap her out of the store to find out any information.

Max had never seen Steve run so fast before, but he reached Nancy within seconds. She couldn't hear there conversation, but he managed to rescue Nancy in time.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm… I'm fine. Let's just get out of here as fast as we can. We'll take the side door out."

Hurrying to check out their items, they snuck out the back and nearly tripped over each other as the opened the door.

"What happened?" Lucas asked.

Steve threw his bag on the ground. "We gotta go."

"Your old friends are here!" Erica replied.

"Shit!"

Dustin yelled, "Let's go! Let's go!"

"I'm going! I'm going! Sit down!"

Max scrambled to grab onto Lucas's chair.

Speeding away, she caught a glimpse of Jason staring at her through the window. Goddamnit.

They eventually stopped at a field, designing their tools for battle.

Max held down the gun as Max sawed it off. Apparently, Jason had given her some actual advice. If she saw the longer part off, it would make it harder for your target to garb it. Ergo, you have a much better chance of winning.

"Is this legal?" Max asked.

"Actually, I think it's a felony." Oh, damn.

"Right."

"But it guarantees one thing. I won't miss."

Raising her saw, Nancy took a blow to it and the rest of the metal fell on the grass.

Standing up, Max watched Nancy practice aiming her gun. She had to admit, the older girl was scary accurate when it came to shooting. It was almost like an art form.

By sunset, the group was ready. Max couldn't deny how terrified she was. At least this time, Max had an actual plan. If everything went according to plan, she could do this. She could win.

Max could send this son-of-a-bitch to hell.

The car ride was deadly silent until they arrived at the Creel House. Only then did they speak. Steve was the first to speak up.

"Listen, stick exactly to plan. This could go South very quickly."

"Got it," they replied.

"Go get him, Mayfield."

In any other circumstances, Max wouldn't let multiple people hug her, but this was different.

It was true. This could be her last goodbye.

Steve was the first to wrap her in a tight hug. "Be safe, alright. I can't lose any of you shitheads."

Next was Nancy, then Robin, Dustin, and Eddie.

Grabbing their supplies (lantern, paper, and a pen), she, Erica, and Lucas hopped out of the RV. As the RV drove away, they stopped to stare at the eerie old house.

Here goes nothing.

Together, they headed inside.