A/N: Content Warnings: Fear, Language, Disturbing Content, Death.
"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" Dustin continued to cry out as Mike pedaled faster than he ever had before. They broke onto the street behind Mike's home and pulled their bikes into the road. Houses began to fly by them as they sped away from the intimating, white-haired man.
"Dustin!" Lucas called over the radio. "Dustin, do you copy?"
"Yes, Lucas, they're on us!" Dustin replied into his headset.
"Where are you?"
Mike spared a quick look behind them to check as Dustin answered, "Cornwallis!"
"Meet me at Elm and Cherry!"
"Copy. Elm and Cherry!"
"Okay!" Mike replied.
Elm and Cherry was a couple streets from where they were, and they didn't have time to get there the long way. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly twirled his handlebars, redirecting his bike onto a nearby lawn to shortcut down the driveway onto the next street over. No sooner had they switched roads, two vans suddenly appeared at the end of the street behind them.
"Shit!" Dustin cried, glancing back at the vehicles.
If only they had been a few years older, then Mike could have been driving them to safety in a car instead of pedaling for his life on a bike. "This way, come on!" He called out to his curly-haired friend, maneuvering said bike across another driveway and rolling downhill into someone's backyard.
Dustin began to overtake him, ringing the bell on his own bike in warning as the rapidly approached a couple of girls playing patty cake. "Out of the way! Out of the way!" The girls leapt to the side and watched, appalled, as they sped past.
They slowed to a stop in the middle of the next street over just as Lucas pulled behind them. "Lucas!" Mike yelled, relieved to see that their other friend was okay.
"Where are they?" Lucas asked, panting as he looked around.
"I-I don't know," Mike replied. He had lost sight of their pursuers on the way through the last yard.
"I think we lost them," Dustin said hopefully.
The screech of tires behind them revealed that they hadn't been so lucky. Mike looked back to see that three more vans had appeared around the corner and were fast approaching. "Go, go, go, go, go!" He screamed as Dustin yelped in fright. They were totally going to die. "Go, go, go, go, go! Faster, faster!"
The vans tired squealed as they slowly gained on them. Mike felt Eleven grip him tightly and he pushed himself harder, feeling his calves begin to burn. They couldn't go out like this. They had been through to much.
Dustin's eyes widened as soon another van appeared around the street corner where they were headed, effectively trapping them. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" He yelled again when the van did not slow down. Mike and Lucas both gasped, out of breath. They needed a miracle to save them.
Mike flinched when, suddenly, the van seemed to hit an invisible wall before lifting into the air. He, Dustin, and Lucas followed it with their eyes as the vehicle flipped over their head and landed with a deafening crash onto its roof. Mike glanced over his shoulder to see that the crash had effectively blocked the road to the rest of their pursuers, leaving them to escape without interruption. He turned to see similar expression of shock and awe on his friend's faces as they pedaled away from the scene. A screech from the intersection on their left drew His attention and he glanced over and furrowed his brows, swearing he recognized Nancy's boyfriend's car.
But that didn't matter.
"To the junkyard!" Mike shook his head and called out to his friends. "They won't find us there!"
A trio of bikes zoomed by in front of Steve's car as he skidded to a stop at the intersection of Elm and Cherry. The screeching of his BMW's tires attracted the rider in front's focus, causing Steve to frown when he recognized their face.
He blinked, watching Nancy's little brother and... he was pretty sure a boy in a dress, bike away to the left and down the street, flanked by the two other kids on bikes of their own. He shifted his gaze in the opposite direction, doing a double take.
"Woah," Steve whistled lowly. "Holy shit." The sight in front of him sent his eyebrows rocketing toward his forehead, and he heard Valentin let out a deep sigh.
About ten yards down the street on the right lay an overturned van with a Hawkins Power and Light logo on the side of it. There were a number of men in uniform gathered around the van, trying to flip the vehicle right-side up.
Steve snuck a quick look at the passenger seat of his car, noticing the tension dissipate in Valentin's body. That only made him even more suspicious. How had he known that would be there? Deciding that they couldn't just sit at the scene of an accident, he took a sharp left and drove aimlessly.
"Hey, uh, Valentin…" He began, pausing for a moment. He knew the guy was different, but this was on a whole other level.
Surprisingly, he wanted to actually try and make the fresh friendship work. So the last thing he needed was to accuse his new friend of something crazy, like being psychic. But the idea that his new friend had freaky superpowers? That was a bit too scary, even for him.
"Mind telling me what that was about?" Steve finished his question. He turned and witnessed Valentin purse his mouth. For some reason he had a quick vision of his new friend replying 'I sensed a disturbance in the force'. He didn't know if the guy liked Star Wars though, and that wouldn't be an appropriate response anyway.
Valentin suddenly hummed softly to himself, tilting his head at him. "I experienced this sudden sensation... and feared something bad was going to happen."
Steve didn't buy that for one second.
"And that feeling came with a specific location?" He deadpanned, before turning away and mentally slapping himself. That had sounded very accusatory. He really hoped that he hadn't offended his new seemingly psychic, and probably dangerous, friend. He glanced over at Valentin's face again, seeing that he appeared to be lost in thought.
Now, Steve knew he wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch. He struggled academically, and really only excelled in areas of school that required athleticism or charisma. He also knew that Valentin was extremely smart. Nancy had complained constantly about how the guy always got higher grades than her in the classes that they shared. Not that she called Valentin by his name.
Nobody did, which was something he really still wanted to get to the bottom off. But, point was, he wasn't exactly surprised when he heard the answer. He was, however, very confused.
"I walked by here this morning when I was looking for you and observed that there existed a sizable pothole in the street. When you accelerated your vehicle earlier I came to the realization that if another vehicle were to drive down the road at that same velocity, then the sudden recoil from it's descent would initiate a lifting effect similar to a trebuchet and launch said vehicle into the air at such an angle that the vehicle would undoubtedly deposit into an inverted position."
Steve's eyes widened as he listened to his new friend ramble in a monotonous voice that betrayed complete disinterest in what he was saying.
"I also recalled that there was scheduled maintenance in this vicinity due to the electrical fluctuations that occurred this previous weekend. Hawkins Post just recently printed an exposé on alcoholism in the industrial repair industry and I am afraid that my mind simply postulated the most perilous outcome."
He was certain that if one were to look at him in that moment, they would have seen smoke coming out of his ears, because his brain had just short-circuited.
"W-w-wha-" Steve sputtered wildly. "I don't even know the meaning of half those long words. And I don't believe you do either!" Valentin remained silent, offering nothing but very small smile at the accusation.
He didn't even know how to unpack all of the things that his new friend had said. He also didn't know that Valentin even knew enough English to say all of that! Steve was willing to bet that he had heard the guy say more in that long winded explanation than he had ever said in his entire life. But he still tried his best to decipher it.
"I think I get it," Steve said. He totally didn't but he wanted to seem smart. He turned to look at his passenger and saw that Valentin was now frowning, probably doubting his abilities. "It's like when I have a dream that I'm going to fail a test. When I actually do fail, it's not because I'm psychic." Valentin let out a deep breath as Steve continued to try and translate what he had just heard into simple terms. "I failed because I didn't study. My mind knows I'm going to fail, so I dream I'm going to fail. My brain just puts together the most likely outcome."
"Yes," Valentin replied flatly. "That is exactly what happened,"
He was pretty sure he hadn't been completely accurate, but he felt proud nonetheless. "You're kind of a total nerd, aren't you?" Valentin frowned once more and he rushed to add, "I mean that like super cool and not weird at all. Friends don't judge, yeah?" He watched the frown transform into a small smile before the blond turned to look out the windshield again.
"So…" Steve glanced down at the time on his wrist watch. "Still plenty of daylight left. Got any exciting ideas?"
Jonathan should've seen it coming. He was underage, so of course they would call his mom to come down to the station. But he was still surprised when he looked up to see her and Chief Hopper walk through the station door together.
"Hey. Jonathan?" He tried to keep a straight face as his mom approached him . "Jesus, what...what happened?"
"Ma'am…" Officer Callahan tried to interrupt.
"I'm fine," Jonathan replied, staring down at his lap. He was very embarrassed and his hand hurt, but other than that it was mostly true.
"Why is he wearing handcuffs?" Joyce asked Callahan, turning a nasty glare on the man.
"Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That's why."
That was a bit of a stretch. He had accidentally elbowed a police officer in the face while trying to commit manslaughter in a blind rage. Two very different things.
"Take them off," Joyce ordered.
"I am afraid I cannot do that."
"Take them off!" His mom demanded with wide eyes. Jonathan flinched, waiting for her to lose her cool. Not on him, of course, but his mom was very protective.
To his surprise, Hopper intervened first. "You heard her. Take 'em off!" He definitely hadn't expected the Chief of Police to side with him.
"Chief, I get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see," Officer Powell told the larger man.
Jonathan felt his stomach drop as the officers led Hopper into the parking lot. What could they have to show him? He glanced over at his mother to see her looking as though she had the same thought. He debated trying to talk to her, but decided against it. Instead he just sat in silence with Nancy as they waited for the shoe to drop. Minutes later, and instead of a shoe, Hopper dropped a box of hunting supplies on the desk in front of him.
He gazed up at the man, overcome with irritation. How dare he go through his car!
"What is this?" Joyce asked, reaching forward to sift through the box.
"Why don't you ask your son? We found it in his car," Hopper nodded at him.
"What?"
Jonathan ignored the puzzled look she shot him, slowly seeing red. They had no right to search his vehicle. He knew his rights. "Why are you going through my car?" He felt violated. And also worried, because it definitely looked like he was plotting a murder.
"Is that really the question you should be asking right now?" Hopper leaned down over the desk, attempting to intimidate him. "I wanna see you in my office."
For what? They clearly already decided he was guilty of a crime. "You won't believe me," Jonathan replied as Hopper started to head away from the desk.
The chief turned and leaned back down again, whispering, "Why don't you give me a try?"
"Mike? Mike?" Karen Wheeler called, carefully descending the steps into the basement.
She quickly scanned the room once she reached the bottom of the stairs, sighing when she realized he wasn't there. She paused as her eyes landed on a small pile near the door made of various bedding and chairs. Confused, she slowly approached the area to investigate. On a pillow underneath a sheet, she spotted several strands of long, blonde hair. Before she could give it much thought, the front doorbell rang out from upstairs.
"Yeah, just a minute, please." Ted Wheeler idled toward the front door to see whoever it was that continued to ring the bell incessantly. He muttered under his breath, "Jiminy Christmas. Hold your horses." The man opened the door to reveal several men and a woman clad in business attire waiting in his front yard. Behind them he could see countless black cars parked along the cul-de-sac.
"Mr. Wheeler?" The blonde woman on his porch asked.
"Yes?" Ted looked her up and down. Karen came in from the foyer as the woman pulled out a government badge and displayed it to them. They both stared wide-eyed at the apparent government agents in front of their home.
Several minutes later various men searched through every item of the house, carrying away boxes full of evidence out of their basement. Karen cradled her youngest daughter Holly in her arms and carefully watched the agents. She moved to stand beside Ted next to the kitchen island as another man headed downstairs. In the basement, Dr. Martin Brenner searched through a laundry basket on top of the dryer and pulled out a large, bright, yellow t-shirt.
"I-I-I don't understand. You think my son is hiding this girl?" Karen gripped the file lying before her on the dining table with one hand and gestured to a photo of a young girl with shaved head using the other.
"What happened to her hair?" Ted asked, using his right arm to hold the back of his wife's chair in a show of comfort.
The blonde woman, Connie Frazier, flashed a sympathetic look at Karen. "We just need to know if you've seen her in the past week."
"No, no," Karen shook her head.
"Absolutely not. Our son with a girl?" Ted chuckled and shifted in his seat. "I mean, believe me, if he had a girl sleeping in this house, we'd know about it." He and his wife locked eyes. "Wouldn't we?"
Connie did not respond to the man, choosing to instead wait for Karen's answer. "This girl...what has she done?" She asked, staring down at the photo.
"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Connie replied.
Ted took another look at the picture and frowned. "Oh, my God, is she Russian?"
"You can't treat us like this!" Karen snapped.
Connie's face remained passive, the woman blinking at the outburst. "I need you to stay calm."
"You come into my house, and you tell me that my son is hiding some girl." Karen picked up the file and tossed it back down, voice breaking. "And that he's in danger, but you can't tell us why? And you, what, you expect me to remain, what, calm?"
Connie glanced at something behind Karen and nodded softly before rising from her seat. Dr. Brenner lowered himself into the vacated chair and sighed, nodding his head at the two parents.
"I understand how upsetting this is," Brenner said in a calm and quiet, but authoritative, voice. "I wish we could tell you more...but I can tell you that your son, Michael, is in real danger."
Karen looked away from the man and pursed her lip, attempting to stop the tears pooling in her eyes.
"We want to help him. We will help him. I give you my word. But in order for me to do that...you have to trust me. Will you trust me?" Brenner asked. Karen stared at him and slowly nodded her head. "Good. Now… Do you have any idea where your son might have gone?"
Outside of the town's limits, Mike and Eleven arrived at the junkyard where he and Lucas had fought the day before. He climbed off his bike before turning to help Eleven to the ground as Dustin and Lucas coasted to a stop near them.
Lucas dropped his bike, weary from his frantic ride, while Dustin gasped, "Holy - holy shit! Did - did you see what she did to that van?"
"No, Dustin, we missed it," Mike deadpanned. They had all been there, of course they had seen it.
"I mean that was...that was, uh…" Dustin searched for a word to describe the spectacle.
"Awesome," Lucas replied. Mike turned with Dustin and peered at him, the boy standing on wobbly legs and gazing down at Eleven with an awestruck expression. "It was awesome. Everything I said about you being a traitor and stuff...I was wrong. I'm sorry."
Lucas gave Eleven an apologetic look and placed his hand reassuringly on her shoulder as Mike celebrated in his mind. The Party was together again! Well... minus Will.
"Friends...friends don't lie," Eleven repeated Mike's lesson quietly. "I'm sorry, too."
"Me, too," Mike smiled, admitting his own mistake. Apologies would mean a fresh start. Looking up, Lucas caught his eye. He stuck out his hand and the bushy-browed boy got to his feet. Glancing at his outstretched hand, his friend took hold of it in a firm shake of brotherhood. Mike didn't point out that they both had forgotten the spit.
"I have to show you guys something." Lucas motioned for them to follow him as he walked over to a patch of dirt. "Wait here, real quick."
Mike and the others did as they were asked while Lucas quickly stepped away. He turned his gaze onto Dustin, seeing him staring at Eleven with amazement. "Dustin, cut it out."
"Sorry, Mike!" Dustin grinned at him. "I just can't believe our friend has super powers. El was like-" He turned away as Dustin began to dramatically reenact the flipping van and spotted Lucas walking back up to them with sticks in his hands.
"Okay, so while you guys were getting Eleven, I followed my compass," Lucas said as he dropped the sticks to the ground and started to form a distorted sort of trapezoid. "It took me to Hawkins Lab and... I think I found the gate."
"What?!" Mike asked, brows raising. He joined Eleven and Dustin in kneeling down next to their friend.
Lucas carved a line into the dirt beside one of the sticks. "This is Randolph Road, right here." He pointed his drawing stick at one corner of the trapezoid nearest Eleven. "The fence starts here, and goes all the way around," he circled around the sticks, then placed an old soda can into the center of the shape. "And this is the lab right here. The gate's gotta be in there somewhere. It's gotta be."
"Well, who owns Hawkins' lab?" Dustin asked.
"The sign says 'Department of Energy'."
"'Department of Energy'?"
"What do you think that means?"
"It means government. Military," Mike replied, trying not to shit himself. This was bad. That meant the vans had been military in disguise. El hadn't been joking about the danger. The military wouldn't hesitate to kill him or his friends.
Dustin flashed him a look of incredulousness. "Then why does it say 'energy'?"
"Just trust me, all right? It's military. My dad's told me before." All his dad ever did was talk about America and the Commies and government. Mike never really paid attention, but he remembered that much.
"Mike's right," Lucas nodded. "There's soldiers out front."
"Do they make, like, lightbulbs or something?" Dustin asked, clearly struggling to move past the fake name.
Mike scoffed before correcting him, "No, weapons...to fight the Russians, and commies, and stuff."
"Weapons," Lucas whispered and gestured at Eleven.
Dustin gasped as the realization finally hit him. "Oh, Jesus, this is bad"
"Really bad. The place is like a fortress."
"Well, what do we do?" Dustin began to panic.
Mike caught Eleven's eye, seeing that she looked scared. He was scared too. "I don't know, but we can't go home. We're fugitives now," he replied. He hoped his parents wouldn't miss him too much. His mom definitely would but Nancy and his dad were questionable.
Dustin suddenly went still and turned to look off into the distance. "G-guys? Do you hear that?" Mike joined Lucas and Eleven in looking up with Dustin and squinting at the sky. A helicopter came into view over the trees.
The military was looking for them! "Go, go, go, go!" Mike urged as he jumped up and ran over to his bike, his friends close behind. They hurriedly made their way to the nearby abandoned bus and stuffed their bikes underneath, trying to hide them from view. Dustin's bike wasn't very cooperative, refusing to slide beneath the bus.
"Come on, come on! It's stuck!" Dustin whined helplessly against his bike.
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Lucas chanted behind him, whipping his hands in circles.
"Hurry up! Hurry, come on!" Mike's eyes widened as the helicopter grew closer. "Come on!"
Dustin finally succeeded in getting his bike under the bus before turning back to the others and gesturing to the door. "Go, go, go, go, go, go!" They all climbed into the broken down bus behind Eleven, Mike running to the back and crouching low on the floor, careful to keep out of sight from the windows.
The blades of the helicopter grew louder.
"Get down!" Mike yelled at his friends as they too ducked behind the seats at the back of the bus. He listened closely to the sky above while the others panted. After a moment the sound of the aircraft started to fade away.
"Mental," Dustin whispered. Mike couldn't agree more.
Jonathan chewed his fingernails as his mom sighed and passed the photo of the monster he had enlarged to Hopper. When they had sat down in the man's office, true to his word, Hopper had listened while he and Nancy explained everything they had discovered. He was surprised when the Chief didn't accuse them of being crazy. Apparently, Hopper and his mom had discovered a lot of things of interest themselves, but wouldn't tell him or Nancy what exactly that was.
He had just finished describing their theory on the monster's behavior when Hopper asked, "You say blood draws this thing?"
"We don't know," Jonathan replied honestly. They didn't know anything about it. Just what they had experienced and what his mom had experienced. Which admittedly wasn't much.
"It's just a theory," Nancy added.
His mom gave him a look of deep disappointment as she shook her head. Jonathan turned his gaze down to his feet, cheeks burning. He knew how upset she was. He had let her believe she was crazy.
"I'm sorry, Mom," Jonathan told her outside of Hopper's office after the meeting drew to a close.
"What, you're sorry? You're ...you're sorry," Joyce repeated, throwing her hands in the air. "That is not good enough, Jonathan."
"I know."
His mom continued to wave her hands for emphasis as she added, "That's not even close. That's not even in the…in the ballpark."
"I wanted to tell you, I just-" Jonathan chickened out, going silent. He had gotten so caught up in everything, and after Lonnie had demanded he not involve her he had decided she didn't need to know. Not until it was over. But it wasn't over. They had underestimated the creature - hell, the entire situation.
"What if this thing took you, too?" Joyce's voice trembled with emotion, making him widen his eyes. He thought she would be mad that he had hid everything from her, not that he had tried to find the monster. "You risked your life...and Nancy's."
"I thought I could save Will...I still do," Jonathan replied. He didn't know how much time they had left, but he knew it wasn't much.
"This is not yours to fix alone. You - you act like you're all alone out there in the world, but you're not. You're not alone."
Jonathan couldn't meet her eyes as he thought that over. She was right. He had her, and now Hopper, and Nancy. And maybe even that weird guy in a way. Like a light switch being flicked on, the boy's name suddenly appeared in his mind. Valentin… Valentin Pierrot. He didn't know why he remembered it after all these years, but that guy might be in his corner too. Not that he had asked for that last addition.
"I know," he muttered.
"God damn it, Jonathan." His mom gave him a small push.
"I know."
"Damn it," Joyce cried and went to push him again, but her anger at realizing the danger he had placed himself in faded into frustrated relief and she instead pulled him into a tight hug. Jonathan nestled his cheek against her shoulder, having missed the feel of his mother's embrace.
"I want an apology!"
Jonathan lifted his head and looked toward the front of the station as he and his mom registered the sound of an outraged voice.
"An apology for what, exactly?" He heard Callahan respond. He turned as Hopper's office door opened and the chief stepped out to see what was going on.
"Where is the Chief? I want to speak to him right this instant," demanded the angry voice of an adult woman.
Hopper closed the door to his office and turned to Jonathan and his mom. "Stay here," he said. As the man walked away, Jonathan caught his mom's eye. Clearly on the same page, they both followed after him.
"Ma'am, I need you to calm down." Officer Callahan was talking to a middle-aged woman with short hair flanked by that young bully that picked on Will and his friends.
"What is your name, Deputy?" The woman asked.
"Well, I'm an officer," Callahan chucked awkwardly, "Okay?"
"Name and badge number, both of you!" She pointed at both Callahan and Officer Powell.
"What the hell is going on?" Hopper yelled over the bickering voices. Jonathan was happy at the turn of events, honestly. Anything to get the other officers' attention off of the stuff in his car. Less questions asked about that, the better.
"Chief-" began Powell.
"These men are humiliating my son," the woman interrupted, turning to Hopper. She clutched her son close to her and motioned back to the men.
"No, no, no. Okay, that's not true," Callahan shook his head.
Honestly, even if it was true, the brat deserved it in Jonathan's opinion. Countless times Will had come home and told him about Troy picking on him or threatening him or calling him names. If he wasn't twelve, he would have already kicked the bully's ass.
Troy's mother turned angrily back to Callahan. "Yes-"
"There was some kind of fight, Chief-" Powell began again.
Troy's mother spoke over him once more and pulled her son even closer to her. "A psychotic child broke his arm!" Jonathan snorted, causing his mom to raise an eyebrow at him.
Served the kid right.
Callahan stretched out his arm and lowered his palm down to demonstrate the height of the suspect. "A little girl, Chief. A little one." Jonathan snorted again. A little girl had broken Troy's arm? That was even better.
Once more, the furious mother spun around and pointed at Callahan. "That tone! Do you hear that tone?"
"Honestly, I'm just trying to state a fact," Callahan held his hands up in defense. And he was right, it wasn't his fault a little girl had beat up Troy.
"I don't have time for this," Hopper groaned loudly. Jonathan agreed, the monster and his missing brother were way more important than an unhappy suburban housewife.
"It was a little girl," Callahan replied.
"Will you please take a statement," Hopper said. When the woman had turned her back to him, he mouthed 'and get her out' while pointing to the exit.
"Yes," Callahan nodded as Hopper turned to come back towards them in the hallway. The man narrowed his eyes when he spotted Jonathan and his mom standing at the entrance to the room, both now acting nonchalant.
"So what'd this girl look like?" Powell asked Troy.
"She had no hair and she was bleeding from her nose," Troy spat. "Like a freak."
Joyce gasped and Hopper came to a halt, spinning back around to stare at the kid. "What'd you just say?" Jonathan looked between his mom and Hopper and furrowed his brows, seeing that they both had grown quite tense.
"I said she's a freak!" Troy repeated vehemently.
"No, her hair. What'd you say about her hair?" Hopper paced back toward the boy and his mother.
What did her hair have to do with anything? Why were they both acting like they knew this girl? Jonathan was growing more confused by the second.
"Her head's shaved. She doesn't even look like a girl. And…" The bully stared down at the station's floor, as if too embarrassed to continue.
"And what?" Hopper asked.
"Tell the man, Troy," Troy's mother urged him gently.
Troy looked first to her then to Hopper. "She can...do things."
"What kind of things," Hopper asked. Jonathan's mom began to fidget next to him. He turned to her with a questioning look and she avoided his gaze. Something was going on here, something they weren't telling him.
"Like...make you fly. And piss yourself," Troy whispered.
"What?" Powell's eyes widened. Jonathan couldn't have heard that right either.
Hopper held up his hand to silence the other Officer. "Was she alone?" So they did know who he was talking about! What exactly had they discovered while they had been off galavanting around?
Troy shook his head. "She always hangs out with those losers."
"'Losers'? What losers?"
Jonathan frowned as his mom's gaze suddenly met his own. Losers could only mean one thing. Troy was talking about Will's friends. About Mike. He heard a sharp intake of breath and turned around to see Nancy standing there with her fists clenched, clearly having eavesdropped as well.
Everything after that happened in a blur. Hopper rushed back to them and exchanged some words with his mom. Before Jonathan knew it they had been packed into his mom's car and Hopper had driven them over to Nancy's house. But something wasn't right. He took in the sight of a large number of black cars as Hopper pulled over a couple of blocks away.
"What's going on?" Nancy asked, looking at the man with an alarmed expression.
"That's what I'm here to find out, kid." Hopper jumped out of the vehicle and pulled out a pair of binoculars to investigate. Nancy, Jonathan, and his mom all followed, standing next to their open car doors. From their vantage point they could see numerous men carrying boxes of belongings out of Nancy's home and loading them into their cars.
"I have to go home," Nancy said suddenly.
"No, you can't," Hopper replied.
Jonathan had to agree. They needed to stick together. Besides, what the hell did Nancy think she could do? The men were clearly government, meaning that she would be detained the moment she got too close.
"My mom...my dad are there."
"They're gonna be okay," Hopper started to say, but Nancy stepped around him and marched off toward her house. Jonathan watched as Hopper chased after her. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." The man caught hold of her arm and pulled her back.
"Let me go," Nancy screamed. "Let go!"
"Hey! Listen to me. Listen to me," Hopper replied. "The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in all this." Not only that, but her yelling might give them away too. Jonathan doubted the suits would take kindly to being spied upon. They couldn't exactly find Will from the inside of a jail cell.
"Mike is over there-!" Nancy gestured wildly at her house.
"They haven't found him. Not yet at least," Hopper said before he pointed at the helicopter flying in the distance.
"For Mike?" Nancy's mouth dropped in shock as the man pulled her back to the car.
"If they find them..." Jonathan slid into the backseat behind his mom, choosing to not finish his sentence.
"Come on, get in the car." Hopper pushed Nancy into the back beside Jonathan and closed the door. Hopper and his mom entered the vehicle too, the man turning to look back at them. "Look, we need to find them before they do," he said seriously. "Do you have any idea where they might have gone?"
"No, I don't," Nancy shook her head.
"I need you to think."
Jonathan began to rack his brain for possibilities. Will always talked about his adventures with his friends. That meant he would have mentioned the possible places they could be hiding.
'I don't know. We haven't talked a lot." Nancy hit the seat. "I mean, lately…"
Jonathan chewed his lip and stared out the window. Damn it, nothing was ringing a bell. They couldn't be at Castle Byers. Nancy's house was already commandeered. That left...
"Is there any place that your...your parents don't know about that he might go?" Joyce asked, leaning over the front passenger seat to stare at them.
For the second time that day, Jonathan felt a light switch turn on in his mind. The radio… Will said the Party always had a radio on them in case of emergencies.
"I-I-I don't know," Nancy replied.
"I might," Jonathan interrupted them.
"What?" Hopper turned to him, brows drawn together.
Jonathan looked between the two intently. "I don't know where he is, but I think I know how to ask him." Hopper threw the car into drive as he explained his plan. On the drive back to their house his mom and Hopper finally opened up about what they had found out.
It was all crazy! Government labs, some woman named Terry Ives, experiments, and a girl with psychic powers. It was straight out of a Stephen King book. But... he and Nancy had just narrowly escaped a large monster who could travel dimensions. So maybe crazy was no longer that crazy.
Jonathan shook his head and tried to calm his brain as they continued to drive. Several minutes later they pulled up in front of his house. Exiting the car, they ran towards the front door. He stormed in and went straight to Will's bedroom, hearing Nancy stop behind him and gasp at the state of his living room; Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling, furniture overturned, and a half-boarded up hole in the wall.
"Whoa," Nancy whispered as Hopper and his mom bypassed her and followed Jonathan into the hall.
In Will's bedroom, he dashed past the bed and through the many lamps his mother had used to speak to his brother. He started rummaging through Will's drawers. It wasn't there... Where was it?
"I got it!" Jonathan turned to see his mother standing up from where she had looked under the bed, radio in hand. Jonathan sighed, relaxing slightly.
Now, they just had to hope Mike had another one.
A/N: I'm not saying Steve is dumb. I actually think he's very smart with people. But I do think he would easily lose track of a conversation that was overly stuffed with complicated words.
I kept the scene with Brenner with the Wheelers in to show how manipulative he can be. Also, did anyone else wonder why the adults all piled into Joyce's car instead of taking both her car and Jonathan's? It was right there at the station too!
Until our stars next align.