"Well, yeah. Questions?" Fate chirped, switching to address the whole room. "You know what, never mind. Next episode: The Weirdo on Maple Street!"

The intro played.

The boys are crowded around Eleven, who is sitting on the couch with Mike's jacket draped over her shoulders. They are all speaking, words tumbling over each other.

"You took her home with you?" Karen asked, exasperated. "How did I not hear about this?"

The boys exchanged looks.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asks.

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer? Did you run away?" Dustin jumps in.

"Don't be rude," scolded Claudia, causing her son to squirm and blush.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike asks.

Lucas leans forward. "Is that blood?"

Mike glares at him. "Stop it! You're freaking her out!"

Lucas glares right back. "She's freaking me out!"

Dustin speaks up. "I bet she's deaf." He claps his hands in front of her face. She flinches back. "Not deaf."
Mike steps forward. "All right, that's enough, all right? She's just scared and cold."
Mike moves over to a laundry hamper and grabs some clothes, before walking back to Eleven. "Here, these are clean. Okay?"

Eleven takes the clothes and moves to remove the Benny's Burgers shirt.

El, now understanding what that really meant, blushed. "Oops." she whispered.

"Hey, you had no way of knowing." Lucas pointed out. Fortunately, no one overheard that conversation.

"No, no, no!" Lucas yells. Dustin mumbles, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God."

Mike jumps forward, stopping her. He gestures. "See over there? That's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?"
Once she's inside, he moves to shut the door. She stops him. "You don't want it closed?" he asks.

Mike winced a little. "Claustrophobic." he muttered. El gave him a curious look. "What's that?"

"Afraid of small spaces." Mike replied.

Eleven replies. "No."
Mike blinks. "Oh, so you can speak. Okay, well- um, how about we just keep the door just like this." He narrows the door. "Is that better?"

Eleven nods. "Yes."
Dustin is pacing. "This is mental."
Mike shrugs. "At least she can talk."
Lucas frowned at him. "She said 'no' and 'yes.' Your three-year-old sister says more."

Lucas winced. "This is gonna be painful. I'm just going to apologize again."

El shrugged.
Dustin adds his two cents. "She tried to get naked."
Lucas says, "There's something seriously wrong with her. Like, wrong in the head." He gestures. "She just went like-" Dustin gestures, knocking his hat off.

Lucas looks at the other two. "I bet she escaped from Pennhurst."

Lucas winced again.

Mike frowns "From where?"

Lucas looks at him. "The nuthouse in Kerley County."

Dustin grins at him. "You got a lot of family there?"

Lucas glares and spits out, "Bite me." He pauses. "Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."
Dustin nods. "Why she went like-" he gestures again.

Lucas says, "She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho."

Dustin nods again. "Like Michael Myers."
"Exactly! We should've never brought her here."
Mike frowns. "So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?"

Lucas nods. "Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem. I think we should tell your mom."

"I'm sorry." Lucas repeated. El sighed. "You don't have to keep saying it." she smiled at him.

Dustin nods again, energetically. "I second that."
Mike glares. "Who's crazy now?"

"How is that crazy?" Lucas sputters.

"Yes, I'd like to know that as well." Karen crossed her arms.

Mike crosses his arms. "'Cause, we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?"

"So?" Lucas snaps.

"So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom-"

Dustin freezes. "Oh, man."
Lucas shakes his head slowly. "Our houses become Alcatraz."
Mike nods fiercely. "Exactly. We'll never find Will. All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight."
Lucas says, "You're letting a girl-"

Mike cuts him off. "Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear." he pauses. "And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will."

"I'd like to know what happened to that plan." Karen said, looking at her son. Mike looked down.

"Wait-" Ted frowned. "Isn't she that Russian spy?"

Fate groaned. "Another stupid thing- no, she's not a Russian spy. Of all the stupid excuses…"

Mike carries a bundle over to the blanket fort. "Here you go. This is my sleeping bag."
"You really think she's psycho?" Dustin asks Lucas.

"Not anymore, that's for sure." Lucas said.

El smiled at him. "Are you sure?"

The whole Party laughed.

Lucas walks up the basement stairs. "Wouldn't want her in my house."
Dustin shakes his head. "Mental." He walks up the stairs and out.

Mike sits in front of Eleven. "Hey, um, I never asked your name."

She pulls her sleeve up and holds out her arm, showing him her tattoo. He leans forward. "Is that real?"

He reaches forward and she jerks her arm back.

"Sorry, El." Mike said. She blinked at him. "You've already apologized!" she pointed out.

He sits back. "Sorry, I've just never seen a kid with a tattoo before. What's it mean? Eleven?" She points at herself. "That's your name?"

She nods. "Eleven."
Mike shifts. "Okay. Um, well, my name's Mike. Short for Michael." His face brightens. "Maybe we can call you 'El'. Short for Eleven." Eleven nods. "Um, well, okay. 'Night, El." He gets up and moves toward the stairs.
Eleven says, "'Night, Mike." He pauses and looks back, then turns off the light and goes up the stairs.

Fate laughed. "That is just adorable." she cooed. Mike and El both blushed.

The scene cuts to the Byers' house.

Jonathan carries a plate over to the table. "All right, Mom. Breakfast is ready."
Joyce looks up. "What?" She reaches out. "No, be careful of the poster."

"Yeah, okay. All right."
"I can't eat."
"I just need you to eat, Mom."
Joyce lifts her hands. "Listen. Listen, the Xerox place opens in, like, 30 minutes."
Jonathan nods. "Yeah."
Joyce speaks again. "And I don't want you to go alone."

Jonathan looks patiently at his mother. "No, I know. I told you, I got it."

"So I'm gonna have Karen take you, 'cause I should be here."
"Okay."
Joyce looks stressed. "We need to make, what, 200, 300 copies? How much is a copy?"

"Yeah, okay. Okay, Mom. Mom."
Joyce fumbles through her wallet. "Ten cents? If we- Ten cents-"

"Mom. Mom. Mom! You can't get like this, okay?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay."

Several people shifted uncomfortably at the very personal scene.
The scene cuts to the Byers' living room.

Joyce glares at Hopper. "We've been waiting six hours."
Hopper lifts his hands. "I know. I came as soon as I could."

"Six hours." Joyce hisses.
Hopper tries to placate her. "A little bit of trust here, all right? We've been searching all night. Went all the way to Cartersville."

"That's a long way." Will observed quietly.
Joyce tenses. "And?"

Hopper slumps. "Nothing."
"God." Joyce mutters.
Hopper frowns. "Flo says you got a phone call?"

"Oh, yeah." Joyce leads Hopper to the phone. He picks it up. "Storm barbecued this pretty good."

Joyce scowls. "The storm?"

Hopper looks up. "What else?"

Fate smiled. "The connection fried it."

"WHAT CONNECTION?!" demanded at least six people.

Joyce gestures wildly. "You're saying that that's not weird?"

Hopper shakes his head. "No, it's weird."
Jonathan speaks up now. "Can we, like, trace who made the call? Contact the-"

Hopper shakes his head again. "No, it doesn't work like that. Now, uh, you're sure it was Will? Because Flo said you just heard some breathing."
"No. It was him. It was Will. And he was scared. And then something-" Joyce trails off.

Hopper frowns. "It was probably just a prank call, somebody trying to scare you."

"No." Fate shook his head. "That was no prank call."

Joyce sputters: "Who would do that?"

Hopper paces away. "Well, this thing's been on TV. It brings out all the crazies, you know. False leads, prank calls, uh-"

Joyce shakes her head. "No, Hopper, it was not a prank. It was him." she states firmly.
Hopper stares at her. "Joyce."
Joyce gestures again. "Come on, how about a little trust here? What, you think I'm I'm making this up?"

Hopper again tries to placate the angry mother. "I'm not saying that you're making it up. All I'm saying is it's an emotional time for you."
Joyce snaps, "And you think I don't know my own son's breathing? Wouldn't you know your own daughter's?"

"Okay. Okay." Fate sighed. "I know that was a tough time for you, but that was a low blow, Mrs. Byers."

Joyce flinched a little bit.

Hopper turns away, stiffening. "You hear from, uh, Lonnie yet?" he says finally.

Joyce shakes her head. "No."
Hopper puts on his hat. "It's been long enough. I'm having him checked out."
Joyce exclaims, "Oh, come on! You're wasting your time."

Hopper leaves the house and walks toward his car.
Jonathan follows. "Hey, Hopper. Hopper. Let me go."
Hopper turns toward Jonathan. "I'm sorry?"

Jonathan hesitates only briefly. "To Lonnie's. You know, if Will's there, it means he ran away. And if he sees the cops, he'll think he's in trouble." Jonathan swallows. "He'll- He'll hide. You know, he's good at hiding."

"That probably- no! Definitely saved his life." Fate said.

Hopper frowns again. "Yeah? Well, cops are good at finding." He thumps Jonathan on the chest. "Okay? Stay here with your mom. She needs you."

"He didn't." Fate sighed.

The scene cuts to the Wheeler dining room. Breakfast.

Karen sighs. "Slow down, Mike."
Nancy scowls at him. "That's disgusting."
Mike frowns back. "Do a lot of studying last night?"

Nancy turns away. "Yeah, actually, I did."
"What was your test on again? Human anatomy?" Mike asks, faking innocence.

"Okay, I'm confused." muttered Stacey.

Fate smiled innocently. "I did say I didn't want to get anyone in trouble with non-necessarily-plot-relevant stuff."

Ted speaks, looking between the two. "Hey, what's going on?"

Nancy and Mike speak in unison: "Nothing."

The scene cuts to the Wheeler basement. Mike walks over to Eleven, who is holding his Supercomm.

Mike smiles. "Hey, you found my supercomm. Pretty cool, huh? I talk to my friends with it. Mostly Lucas, 'cause he lives so close. Signal's pretty weak." He pulls out Eggos. "Got you breakfast."

"So I have you to thank for her obsession?" asked Hopper. Mike cringed. "It was small and portable."
He hesitates. "So listen, this is gonna sound a little weird, but I just need you to go out there. Then go to the front door and ring the doorbell. My mom will answer and you'll tell her that you're lost and that you need help. But whatever you do, you can't tell her about last night or that you know me."
She stills.

Karen was now paying close attention.

He speaks again. "Understand? Really, it's no big deal. We'll just pretend to meet each other again. And my mom, she'll know who to call."
Eleven visibly tenses. "No."
Mike blinks. "No?"

"No." Eleven repeats.
Mike frowns. "No, you don't want my mom to get help? You're in trouble, aren't you?" She nods. He hesitates. "Who- Who are you in trouble with?"

"Bad." Eleven replies.

"Bad?" someone asked, confused. "Wait, the people who killed Benny, right?"
Mike leans forward. "Bad? Bad people? They want to hurt you? The bad people?"

Eleven folds her hand into the shape of a gun, then points it at herself. She slowly shifts her hand toward Mike. "Understand?"

More than a few people were shocked both by the gesture and by the entire circumstance.

Max recognized the gesture; the same one they always used to indicate that there were bad men. It was weird seeing the gesture's origin.

Karen's voice echoes down the stairs. "Michael, where are you? We're going to be late. Let's go!"

Mike jumps, then yells back "All right!" He turns to Eleven. "I'll be back. Just stay here, okay? Stay here."
The scene cuts to the Lab, or, more accurately, the room where agents listen in on the town.

Dr. Brenner is listening to one of the sets. "When was this?" he asks.

"When was what?" asked Karen.

"You'll see." replied Fate.

The agent replies. "Last night. Less than two miles away."
Brenner straightens. "And the boy?"

"Still missing."
Joyce's voice comes over the equipment. "It was my son. I know it. And I- I heard something else. Something else? It was like, uh, some kind of animal. I don't know. Just please tell Hop to hurry."

Joyce blinked, surprised and angered.

Fate nodded slowly. "He knew how- he had the ability to get into the Upside Down. He waited."

Joyce was now scowling- the whole PartyPlus were. Others remained confused. "The Upside Down?" questioned Mr. Clarke.
The scene cuts to the edge of the woods. People range over the edge of the trees, shouting. "Will!"

"Will Byers!"

"Will Byers!"

"Will!"

"Will!"

"Hey!"

Hopper walks over to Powell and Callahan. "Anything?"

Powell shakes his head. "You?"

"No, nothing but a dead phone."
"Joyce?" Powell asks.

Hopper sighs. "About one step from falling off the edge."
Callahan shrugs. "She's been a few steps for a while now, hasn't she?"

Joyce looked offended.

Hopper's face hardens. "Kid's missing, man. Show a little class." He addresses the search party. "All right. Come on, let's go! We got a lot of ground to cover."
Callahan glances over at Powell. "The chief and her, they've screwed before, huh?"

"Gross!" Will and El chorused, causing Joyce and Hopper to reluctantly smile- it was nice seeing the two act like kids. For once.

Powell smirks and walks down the hill. "Will!"

Callahan follows. "That a "yeah" or did they…"

"Will!"

"Will!"

The scene cuts to the high school.

Barb is reading off of a stack of flash cards. "When alpha particles go through gold foil, they become..."

Nancy winced at the first sight of her dead friend.

Nancy inhales. "Unoccupied space."
Barb reads off the next one. "'A molecule that can' Hey!"

Steve snags the cards out of her hands. "I don't know, I think you've studied enough, Nance."
Nancy sighs. "Steve-"

Steve smirks, pausing. Tommy and Carol catch up and the whole group stands. "I'm telling you, you know, you got this. Don't worry. Now, on to more important matters. My dad has left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him, - 'cause, you know, she doesn't trust him."

The Harringtons scowled at their son. He ignored them.
Tommy snickers. "Good call."

Now the Harringtons glared at Tommy/
Steve smiles. "So are you in?"

Nancy looks confused. "In for what?"

Carol leans forward. "No parents? Big house?"

"A party?" Nancy frowns.

Tommy grins. "Ding, ding, ding!"

Nancy says, "It's Tuesday."
Carol laughs. "It's Tuesday! Oh, my God."
"Come on. It'll be low key. It'll just be us." Steve wheedles.
Carol raised an eyebrow. "What do you say?"

Tommy nods. "Are you in or are you out?"

Nancy hesitates. "Um…"

"The answer should be NO NO NO NO NO HELL NO!" Fate piped, startling the entire auditorium with her sudden, ear-piercing, bloodcurdling shrieks.

Carol becomes distracted, looking over at the bulletin board- or, more specifically, at Jonathan putting up a MISSING poster. "Oh, God. Look."

"Great." Jonathan sighed to himself.
"Oh, God, that's depressing." Steve says.

"By which I meant, that Will was missing, but also, I was an asshole, so sorry." Steve rambled awkwardly, not looking at Jonathan.
Nancy looks concerned. "Should we say something?"

Carol rolls her eyes. "I don't think he speaks."
Tommy grins rather ghoulishly. "How much you want to bet he killed him?"

"Oh my God, jerk." Fate spat. "You are such a jerk."

Tommy looked shocked- and he wasn't the only surprised one.

"Shut up." Steve snaps.

This also was surprising.
Nancy walks over. "Hey."
Jonathan looks up, startled. "Oh, hey."
Nancy inhales. "I just I wanted to say, you know, um, I'm sorry about everything." she hesitates. "Everyone's thinking about you." A pause, then, abruptly. "It sucks."
Jonathan lowers his hands from the poster briefly. "Yeah."
Nancy blinks, nervous. "I'm sure he's fine. He's a smart kid." The bell rings. "I have to go. Chemistry test."
"Yeah." Jonathan replies.
Nancy hesitates, then: "Good luck." She hurries away.
"Thanks." Jonathan says quietly.

"Heh." Fate chuckled quietly. "That reminds me of- me! When I'm trying to do this little thing called socializing. It's surprisingly difficult."

More than a few people gave the bubbly goddess a surprised look. She laughed.

"You have, like, no idea how awkward I am in real life."
The PA system turns on "Attention, faculty and students. At 8:00 p.m. tonight, there will be an assembly on the football field in support of Will Byers and his family. All are encouraged to attend. Volunteer sign-ups for search parties are still available in the office." As the announcement goes on, Jonathan leaves the school.

"Wait, what?" Joyce turned to stare at Jonathan, who grimaced awkwardly.
The scene cuts to the middle school, specifically the science classroom.

"Oh, this is weird." Lucas says, looking at one of two empty seats beside him.
Dustin agrees. "He's never this late."
Lucas scowls. "I'm telling you, his stupid plan failed."
Dustin looks at him. "I thought you liked his plan."

"Yeah, but obviously it was stupid, or he'd be here." Lucas snaps.
Dustin shakes his head. "If his mom found out a girl spent the night…"

Lucas frowns at the empty seat. "He's in deep shit right about now."
Dustin jumps. "Hey, what if she slept naked?"

"What is it with you and that?" asked Fate curiously. "Are you just, like, curious about it?"

Dustin squirmed and shrugged.

"Oh, my God, she didn't."
"Oh, if Mrs. Wheeler tells my parents-"

"No way. Mike would never rat us out."
"I don't know."
Lucas smacks his fist into his palm. "All that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on what really matters- finding Will."

El flinched, even though she'd been expecting the mean words. Lucas turned toward her, nervous, and apologized again. She smiled faintly, but didn't reply.

The scene cuts to the Wheelers' kitchen.

Mike leads Eleven into the room. "You want anything to drink? We have OJ, skim milk… What else? Um, we have-" he cuts off as she walks into the living room. He follows.

"Oh, this is my living room. It's mostly just for watching TV. Nice, right?" He pats it. "It's a 22-inch. That's, like, ten times bigger than Dustin's."

"I am not good at math, so maybe that's why I can't figure it out, but how exactly does that work?" Fate asked Mike, who reddened and didn't respond.
Eleven wanders over to the fireplace and looks at the pictures on the mantel. She touches a picture of Nancy, smiling. "Pretty."

Nancy smiled over at El. "Thank you."

El smiled back.
Mike blinks. "I guess."

Fate laughed. "That is known in the fandom as the biggest burn- well, one of two- in the whole show."

"What's the other one?" asked Jennifer, her curiosity overcoming her fear.

"Season Two. I suppose I could tell you, but… that would ruin the fun." Fate grinned.

He moves forward. "That's my sister Nancy. And that's baby Holly. And those are my parents." The camera pans over the collection of pictures.
Mike asks, "What are your parents like? Do they live close?"

"Actually, they do." Fate chirped.

"Who are they?" asked Mr. Clarke.

"Spoil-ers!" Fate singsonged.

Eleven doesn't answer, instead regarding the La-Z-Boy in the corner. Mike walks over to it. "That's our La-Z-Boy. It's where my dad sleeps. You can try it if you want." He sits her in it.

"That does make me question your marriage." Fate remarked, suddenly solemn. Karen scowled, looking at Ted.

"Yeah. It's fun. Just trust me, okay?" He pulls the lever, tilting the chair back. She tenses, then smiles. Mike grins back. "See? Fun, right? Now you try." He sits back and watches as she pulls the lever herself, and both kids laugh.

That was nice to see, mused the teenaged and adult members of the PartyPlus. The six kids rarely acted like the thirteen(or twelve, in the past)-year-olds they were, so any moments like that were generally treasured.

The scene cuts to Jonathan's car. A song comes on, the lyrics ringing out.

"Darling, you got to let me know, Should I stay or should I go?" A flashback occurs. Jonathan and Will are sitting on Jonathan's bed, listening to the song.

Jonathan and Will glanced at each other, not sure what day this was.

Jonathan glances at Will. "You like it?"

Will nods. "Yeah, it's cool."

Oh. The day Jonathan had first introduced Will to The Clash.

"What, exactly," Powell asked, "is so important about the music children listen to?"

Fate rolled her eyes. "Just wait. This song is important."

Several people gave her doubtful looks, but she ignored them, instead saying, "You know, Stranger Things introduced my generation to eighties music. You know how often I hear the Clash outside of my parents? A lot."
Jonathan grins. "All right, you can keep the mix if you want."
"Really?" Will asks, brightening.

Jonathan nods. "Yeah, really. All the best stuff's on there. Joy Division, Bowie, Television, The Smiths… It'll totally change your life."
Will smiles. "Yeah, totally." He turns as Joyce's voice sounds in the background. "Where the hell are you, Lonnie? I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. This is ridiculous! I'm so sick of your excuses."

The whole Byers family winced. Minus Lonnie, who was scowling at Fate. He had a suspicion he would be introduced soon, and given how Fate had acted in the past, he suspected he would not be portrayed well.

Jonathan gets up and shuts his bedroom door.
The Clash sings, "One day is fine and next is black,"

Will looks at Jonathan. "He's not coming, is he?"

Jonathan sits down. "Do you even like baseball?"

Will hesitates. "No, but… I don't know. It's fun to go with him sometimes."
Jonathan sighs. "Come on. Has he ever done anything with you that you actually like? You know, like the arcade or something?"

"I don't know."
"No, all right? He hasn't. He's trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed to. Okay? Especially not him."

Will nods.

Jonathan smiles. "But you like The Clash? For real?"

"For real. Definitely." Will says.

"It's a nice lesson. A lot of people quote it." remarked Fate, startling Jonathan more than a little bit.

The flashback ends, showing Jonathan gripping the steering wheel tightly. The song ends. "Should I cool it or should I blow? So you gotta let me know, Should I stay or should I go?"

"Are flashbacks gonna be a regular thing?" Callahan wanted to know.

"Oh, yeah. They'll make the emotional stakes higher- more people root for Will because of the flashbacks with him. They also tell the full story, before Eleven- uh, oops. Spoilers. The bad men, let's leave it at that." Fate slumped in her chair, turning her attention back to the screen.

The scene cuts to the general store.

Donald intercepts Joyce as she enters. "Joyce, I wasn't expecting you today. I brought Jeffrey in to cover."
Joyce keeps walking, then spins to face him. "I'm not here to work. I- The storm last night, I- I need a new phone."

Donald rings her up.
"Okay, that looks like $22.56."
"Uh, yeah, you know, uh I gave Jonathan all my money for- for the copies, for the posters. Uh, I need an advance." Joyce says.
Donald hesitates. "Yes, well, of course. Of course." He starts writing.

"Soooo reluctant." sneered Fate quietly.

Joyce leans forward. "Thank you. Yeah, uh, I was thinking, two weeks?"

Donald hesitates again. "Um. Yes, I understand, but, you know, I have to pay Jeffrey for covering-"

Joyce glares. "Donald. I've been here ten years, right? Have I ever called in sick or missed a shift once? I've worked, uh, Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving. I don't know where my boy is. He's gone. I don't know if I'm gonna ever see him again, if he's hurt I, uh I need this phone and two weeks' advance."

"Good for you… standing up for yourself." Fate said.

He starts writing. She inhales. "And a pack of Camels."
The scene cuts to the Byers house.

An agent knocks on the front door, wearing workmen clothes. No one answers, so he speaks into a radio: "We're all clear."

"What's going on there?" asked Powell.
A second agent responds. "Copy that."

Agents spread around the property, dressed in protective clothing. Brenner approaches the shed and enters. He finds the smashed boxes, and, more accurately, the slime. "Extraordinary."

"What's so extraordinary about slime?" sneered Carol.

"Hey, you're actually paying attention!" applauded Fate, quietly avoiding the question.

The scene cuts to Mike's room.

Mike is holding his Yoda figurine. "'Ready are you? What knows you of ready?' His name's Yoda. He can use the Force to move things with his mind, like this. Whoosh! Oh, this is my dinosaur, Rory. Look, he has a speaker in his mouth so he can roar." He presses the button, then notices Eleven having crossed over to a shelf of trophies. He follows.

Mike now looked a little embarrassed, and Troy and James started laughing.

"Hey," Fate snapped. "You should see me and my sister playing with our toys. Seriously, we get waaay into it. We've broken three fashion dolls playing war. With the fashion dolls. We have different voices for every single doll." She settled back and hit play again, having paused it for her little rant.
"Oh, these are all my science fair trophies. We got first every year. Except for last year when we got third. Mr. Clarke said it was totally political."

The camera focuses on a picture of the four boys with their volcano, then shows Eleven focusing on it. Mike comes closer, confused. Eleven carefully places a finger on Will's image.

"What the heck?" asked Callahan. Fate smiled mysteriously.
Mike stiffens. "You know Will? Did you see him? Last night? On the road?"

"Nooo," El murmurs. "Different."

Karen arrives home.

Mike freezes. "We gotta go." He drags Eleven down the stairs.

Karen raised an eyebrow at her son. He reddened, turning away.

Karen shuts the front door, beginning to turn. Mike races back up into his room, pulling Eleven after him.
Karen looks around. "Ted? Is that you?"

Mike shuts his door. "Just me, Mom!" He pulls open the closet, gesturing Eleven over.

Mike flinched. "I shouldn't have done that."

El placed a hand on his arm. "Okay. No choice." She smiled at him. He hesitantly smiled back. Fate put a hand over her mouth, a repressed squeal barely audible.

Karen calls, "Mike? What are you doing home?"

"Not being sick, I take it." Karen said, still looking at her son.

Mike calls back, "One second!" He turns to Eleven, gesturing into the closet. "In here. I'll be right back, okay?" She hesitates. He gestures again. "Please, you have to get in, or my mom, she'll find you. Do you understand? I won't tell her about you. I promise."
Eleven shuffles into the closet, asking: "Promise?"

"She doesn't even know what a promise is?" sneered Troy. Fate gave him a reproving look.

"Watch it, or I'll remove your mouth."

"You can do that?!" asked Dustin. "Do it!"

She laughed. "No, not yet. Unless he keeps saying stuff like that. He's not the only one at risk, either."

Mike blinks. "It means something that you can't break. Ever." He shuts the door.
Karen calls, "Michael?"

A flashback begins.

Eleven is shrieking as two men haul her down a hall. "Please? Pop! Papa! Papa! No! Papa!" They toss her into a room. "No! No! No!" She scrambles to the door, but it slams. She hurls herself against it, screaming: "Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa." She staggers away, collapsing against one wall. The flashback ends, with her backing away from the door and sliding down the wall.

Multiple people were gasping in shock, having seen Dr. Brenner at the end of the hallway, watching. El was shaking, and the Party had moved to curl around her protectively.

The scene cuts to the living room. Karen and Mike are seated on the couch.

Mike is speaking. "I just- I don't feel good. I woke up and my head, it really hurt bad, and my throat was all scratchy, and I wanted to tell you, but the last time I told you I was sick - you made me go to school anyway, and-"

Karen cuts him off. "Michael."
Mike hesitates. "Yeah?"

Karen smiles at him. "I'm not mad at you."
"No?"

"No, of course not. All this that's been going on with Will, I can't imagine what it's been like for you. I just- I want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me. I'm here for you. Okay?"

A thump sounds upstairs. Karen looks up. "Is there someone else here?"

Mike hesitates, then: "No."

Karen sighed. Fate chirped, "It's actually better that he didn't tell you, remember Benny."
The scene cuts back to Mike's room.

Mike rips open the closet door. "Eleven? Is everything okay? El?"

Eleven looks up at him, face tear-streaked. "Mike."
Mike crouches. "Is everything okay?" Eleven nods. He looks at her, worried. "Are you sure?"

"Promise." Eleven smiles.

"Aaw, it's so sweet!" Fate squealed. "I'm gonna get a toothache!"

Mike and El both blushed, looking down.

"That's sweet?" demanded Carol, sneering.

"Heck yeah! It's frigging adorable. I know everyone talks about that scene in Trick or Treat, Freak with the Void and the Supercomm and everything, and don't get me wrong, that scene is absolutely heartbreakingly adorable, but this scene is cute too!" Fate was waving her hands around, flailing with excitement. "Then again the whole ship is adorable!"

She cleared her throat. "Every ship has those scenes where you just can't- I can't even- Aaaaah!" she slid out of her seat, wiggling. Everyone stared at her, blinking as she slowly made her way back into her seat, now blushing. "Oops. Fangirl fit. Sorry."

The scene cuts to Sattler's Quarry.
Callahan and Hopper are standing on the edge. Callahan yells, "Will Byers! Will!"

Hopper holds out a hand. "Whoa, whoa. Careful, careful. I need you alive for the next few days, at least."
Callahan looks down over the edge. "Oh, hell, I could survive that." Hopper gives him a look. He waves a hand. "What? George Burness made the jump. And he was drunk as a skunk. He did it on a $10 bet."
Hopper smirks. "George is a liar. You make that jump from this height, that water turns into cement. Hits you like a ton of bricks. Break every damn bone in your body."

"Oooh, foreshadowing!" Fate piped, grinning. She abruptly slumped. "Sort of…"
Callahan stares at him. "Nah."

Hopper's radio crackles. Flo speaks: "Chief, you copy?"

Hopper grabs his radio. "Yeah, Flo, talk to me."
Flo speaks again. "Hey, Chief, we got a call from over at Benny's. I think you need to get there right away."

The scene cuts to Benny's. Benny is slumped in a chair, blood on his head, gun in his hand. Flies buzz around as Hopper, Powell, and Callahan make their way over.
Powell grimaces. "Ugh, Jesus! Suicide?"

Hopper looks down at Benny. "Mmm-hmm."

"Mmm-mmm." Fate chirped, sounding distinctly like a small child in the midst of an argument.
Callahan shakes his head. "Missing kid, suicide… You must feel like a big city cop again, huh, Chief?"

Hopper sighs. "Well, I mostly dealt with strangers back then. Benny was my friend."
The scene cuts to a rainy Indianapolis street. Jonathan gets out of his car. He approaches one house and knocks. "Hello?"

Cynthia peers through the door. "Yeah. Can I help you?"

"Yeah, is Lonnie around?"

"Yeah, he's out back. What do you want?"

The scene cuts to black, then shows Jonathan inside, with Lonnie pinning him. "Get off!" Jonathan spits, shoving Lonnie.

"Wait, how did he get in?" asked Tommy, shaking his head.

Fate rolled her eyes. "Not important."

"Damn, you've gotten stronger." Lonnie steps back.

"That's right." hissed Joyce in a dangerous tone. "Step the hell away."

Several people eyed her nervously.
Cynthia comes into the hallway. "Will someone please explain what the hell is going on?"

Lonnie casually says, "Jonathan, Cynthia. Cynthia, this is Jonathan. My oldest. Come here." He moves to hug Jonathan, who jerks away. "Get off me, man."

"What the- he just slammed you into the wall? And he's acting like you should hug him?" Nancy fumed.
The scene cuts to Mike's room. Lucas, Mike, and Dustin are standing near the door. Eleven is sitting on Mike's bed.

Lucas glares at Mike. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Just listen to me." Mike says.
Lucas steps back. "You are out of your mind!"

Mike blurts, "She knows about Will."
Lucas blinks. "What do you mean she knows about Will?"

Mike gestures at the picture. "She pointed at him, at his picture. She knew he was missing. I could tell."
"You could tell." Lucas repeats sarcastically.

"I suppose it's a little strange." Fate paused. "Then again, it's right in the name!" she cackled.

Mike inhales. "Just think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where Will disappeared?"

"Actually, it is." Fate said with a shrug.

Dustin speaks up. "That is weird."
Mike continues. "And she said bad people are after her. I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will. I think she knows what happened to him."

"Well… she knew what happened to it, but it wasn't the bad men." Fate shrugged. "But this show certainly leaves you guessing… and yelling at the screen… because you have more pieces than the characters do." she sighed.

Lucas glares. "Then why doesn't she tell us?" He turns to Eleven, stomping over. "Do you know where he is? Do you know where Will is?"

"Stop it, you're scaring her!" Mike yells.

Lucas winced.

Lucas whips around. "She should be scared! If you know where he is, tell us!"

Dustin shakes his head. "This is nuts."
Lucas straightens. "We have to take her to your mom."
Mike shakes his head hard. "No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger."
Dustin tenses. "What kind of danger?"

"Good." Claudia was very, very tense. "Good. Focus on what might happen if you told someone." She looked at her son severely. "I am not encouraging keeping secrets, Dusty, but things like that…"

Dustin nodded obediently.

Lucas scowls. "Her name is Eleven?"

"That is weird." Powell mused. "And the tattoo and everything…"

Mike nods. "El for short."
Dustin steps forward. "Mike! What kind of danger?"

"Danger danger." Mike folds his hand into a gun shape, then points it… first at Dustin, who tenses, then at Lucas… who slaps Mike's wrist.

"Sorry." Lucas apologized. Mike shrugged. "It's okay, you were just scared."
Lucas storms to the door. "No, no, no! We're going back to plan A. We're telling your mom." He grabs the knob and opens the door. It slams. He freezes, then opens it again. It slams and locks. The boys turn slowly toward Eleven, sitting on the bed with blood trickling out of her nose.

"Wait…" voiced Mr. Clarke. "That shouldn't be possible…"

"Did she do that?" questioned Callahan, looking incredulous.

Fate smiled peaceably.
She speaks. "No."
The scene cuts to Lonnie's backyard.

Lonnie paces over to a car. "Take a look at this beaut. Should've seen it when I got it. Took me a year, but it's almost done."

Jonathan opens the trunk, then slams it.
Lonnie sighs. "Really? You want to check up my ass, too? I told you the same thing as I told those cops, he's not here and he never has been."
Jonathan glares at him. "Then why didn't you call Mom back?"

"The million-dollar question." sighed Fate. "Why?"

Lonnie shrugs. "I don't know, I just I assumed she just… forgot where he was. You know, he was lost or something. That boy never was very good at taking care of himself."

The Party all glared over at the real Lonnie.
Jonathan steps toward Lonnie. "This isn't some joke, all right? There are search parties, reporters-"

Lonnie smirks. "Hopper's not still chief, is he?"

"Why is that relevant?" demanded Hopper. Lonnie glowered at him. Fate smirked slightly, watching the interaction.

Jonathan doesn't reply. Lonnie looks around. "Tell your mother she's gotta get you out of that hellhole. Come out here to the city. People are more real here, you know? And then I could see you more."

Jonathan grimaces.
"What, you think I don't want to see you?" Lonnie demands.

Jonathan glares at him. "I know you don't."
Lonnie sighs again. "See, that's your mother talkin' right there. She even know you're here?" Jonathan hesitates. Lonnie grimaces. "Oh, great. So one kid goes missing, the other one runs wild? Some real fine parenting right there."

Jonathan glares at him again. It's clear how much he hates Lonnie.

"You're only there looking for Will, right?" Steve checked. Jonathan nodded, grimacing, his expression quite similar to his on-screen counterpart's.
Lonnie waves a hand. "Look, all I'm saying is, maybe I'm not the asshole, all right?"

"Riiiiight." drawled Fate.

Jonathan seethes and walks back toward the street, slapping a poster into Lonnie's chest. He spits out, "In case you forgot what he looks like."

Lonnie unfolds the poster. Cynthia comes over and rests her chin on his shoulder, looking at the poster, then at Lonnie. She smirks.
"He's kinda cute, hmm? Maybe I'll trade you in for the younger model?"

Will flinched, not sure whether she meant him or Jonathan. The rest of the Party curled protectively around him, glaring over at Lonnie and Cynthia.

Lonnie looks offended.

The scene cuts to the police station.

Earl is sitting, fumbling with a lighter and a cigarette. Hopper holds out a working lighter, and Earl nods his thanks. "Just doesn't make any sense, Chief."

Hopper shifts. "You, uh, notice anything odd about him the last few weeks?"

Earl shakes his head. "No, we're fixin' to go fishing down the Etowah next Sunday. I mean, he was lookin' forward to it. I know that."

"No one made it to that trip." muttered Fate darkly. "Stupid Brenner."
Hopper says, "He got any enemies you might know about? I mean, people who might not want him around?"

"Guess he made enemies by helping El…" Lucas murmured uneasily. El winced.

Earl shakes his head again. "The exes didn't like him much. That's for sure, but nah."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Hopper asks.

"Yesterday. Lunch, same as always."
Hopper nods slowly. "Just you and the boys?"

"Yep. Me and Henry and- Well, there was this, uh, this kid."
Callahan shakes his head. "No kid did this."

Hopper leans forward. "Kid? What are you talking about?"

Earl nods. "Yeah. At lunch, uh, there was this boy that, uh I mean, he was trying to steal food out of Benny's kitchen. Can you imagine that?"

El huffed. "Not a boy!"

Several people looked at her, confused as to her immediate reaction. After all, she was Jane Hopper, not Eleven… right?

Hopper nods over at Callahan, who gets up and walks away. "This kid. What'd he look like?"

"Well, he was about yea high." Earl holds his hand out.

El looked offended.

"You know, tiny like. I didn't get a good look at him, though. He was back in the kitchen."

Callahan returns with a copy of Will's MISSING poster.
Hopper takes it and holds it out to Earl. "He look like this?"

Earl shakes his head. "Oh, no, that's- That's Lonnie's missin' kid. No. This was a different kid. This one had really short hair. I mean, it was buzzed nearly down to the scalp." He gestures.
Hopper sighs. "Yeah, well, let's- You know, let's forget about the haircut. I mean, if this kid had a buzz cut could it be Lonnie's kid?"

Earl hesitates. "Well, I- I didn't get a good look at him. About the right height, though. I mean, could've been. Yeah, that's- Could've been."

Will shook his head. "Nope, I didn't cut my hair."

Max grinned at him, leaning forward and ruffling his soft brown bowl cut. "Have you cut it at all since?"

He squeaked, ducking away, and she laughed lightly.

Again, the teens and adults of the PartyPlus watched with pleasure.

The scene cuts to Nancy's room. Nancy is lying on her bed, talking on the phone.

Uh-oh, Nancy thought.

"Because I don't want to go by myself. Barb- Barb, it's not rocket science. You just tell your parents you're gonna stay at my place afterwards. No, tell them we're studying."

Karen just shook her head.
Karen calls, "Nancy! Dinner!"

"Coming!" Nancy shouts. She returns to the phone. "Look, I gotta go. I'll see you in an hour." She hangs up.

The scene cuts to the Wheeler dining room. Lucas and Dustin have, it appears, stayed for dinner. The three boys pick at their food.
Karen eyes them. "Something wrong with the meatloaf?"

Dustin smiles at her nervously. "Oh, no, I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch. I don't know why." he trails off.

"You need to work on your excuses." sighed Fate, shaking her head. "It was especially suspicious when Lucas agreed." She paused. "Well, the worst was 'Cousin Eleanor', geez."

Mike, Lucas, and Dustin cringed.
Lucas stiffly states, "Me, too."
Nancy smiles sweetly at Karen. "It's delicious, Mommy."

"Aah, the process of sucking up to parents." sighed Fate dramatically. "I know it well, alas. Since I'm failing a double class right now." she rubbed her face. "And I dooon't knoooow hoooow to fix it… aaah…"

Several students winced in sympathy.

Karen smiles at her daughter. "Thank you, sweetie."
Nancy twirls her fork. "So, there's this special assembly thing tonight for Will at the school field. Barb's driving."

"Liar…" murmured Fate softly.
Karen frowns, now mildly suspicious. "Why am I just hearing about this?"

Nancy fakes surprise. "I thought you knew."
Karen sighs. "I told you, I don't want you out after dark until Will is found."
Nancy nods. "I know, I know, but it'd be super weird if I'm not there. I mean, everyone's going."
Karen finally agrees. "Just be back by 10:00." Her eyes fall on the boys. "Why don't you take the boys, too?"

"No!" Mike blurts.

"Mmm-mmm." Dustin shakes his head.

"And that reaction doesn't at all scream 'up to something'." Fate rolled her eyes.
Karen frowns at them. "Don't you think you should be there? For Will?"

Mike sees Eleven coming down the stairs and chokes on his milk. Karen starts to turn. Dustin hits the table and Karen turns back around. He looks embarrassed. "Sorry. Spasm."

Dustin gave his mother a nervous grin when she gave him a look.
Karen moves to soothe Holly. "Oh it's okay, Holly. It's just a loud noise."

The scene cuts to the outside of Benny's Burgers.

Hopper walks out of the restaurant. "Will! Better come out, buddy."

"I wish I could've." Will muttered.
Callahan follows. "Will, where are ya?" He glances at Hopper as they move into the dark woods. "Hey, you think Earl really saw Will? I mean, what's he doin' with a shaved head? And stealing food from Benny?"

Hopper whacks Callahan's chest. "Tell you what, when we find him, we'll ask." He moves away.
Callahan shakes his head. "Can't ask a corpse questions."

"Well, he's not dead." Dustin said cheerfully.
Mr. Clarke calls out, "Hold up!"

Hopper instantly moves over. "You got something? Hey, what do you got?" He crouches next to Mr. Clarke. Mr. Clarke replies, "Not sure. Maybe nothing. I found this." He holds up a scrap of white cloth with a flower pattern. "In there." He points at the tunnel.
Callahan shakes his head. "No way a kid crawls through there."
Hopper frowns. "I don't know, a scared enough one might. His brother said he was good at hiding."

"It wasn't me." Will murmured, taking El's hand. She smiled at him.
The scene cuts to the Wheeler basement, where the boys are coming down the stairs. Eleven is back in the blanket fort.

Mike carries a silver tray over. "El? No adults. Just us and some meatloaf." She looks at Dustin and Lucas. Mike notices. "Don't worry. They won't tell anyone about you. They promise. Right?"

Dustin nods. "We never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers." Mike hits him. Dustin yelps. "Ow!"

"Dusty." scolded his mother. Dustin winced.

Mike rolls his eyes. "What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared earlier. That's all."

Dustin and Lucas nod.
"We just wanted to find our friend." Lucas says.
Eleven blinks hesitantly. "'Friend'?"

Lucas frowns. "Yeah, friend. Will?"

Eleven leans forward. "What is "friend"?"

"She doesn't know what a friend is?" laughed Troy.

Lucas looks at the others. "Is she serious?"

Mike looks at Eleven. "Um, a friend Is someone that you'd do anything for."

"Most of the time." Fate corrected solemnly. "Some friends aren't willing to go that far." A beat, then she smiled. "You guys would, though… and have."

Some people shot the Party concerned looks.
Dustin nods. "You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards."
Mike says solemnly, "And they never break a promise."
Lucas nods. "Especially when there's spit."
"Spit?" Eleven frowns a little.

Lucas nods again. "A spit swear means-" he spat into his hand- "you never break your word." He grabs Dustin's hand and shakes. "It's a bond."

Dustin wipes his hand on his shirt, looking disgusted.

"Eew." Max muttered. "I agree with Dustin's expression there."
Mike looks at Eleven intently. "That's super important, because friends they tell each other things. Things that parents don't know."

The scene cuts to blackness for several minutes, then Hopper's voice narrates. "You ever feel cursed? You know, the last person to go missing here was in, uh the summer of '23. The last suicide was the fall of '61."

"Why the long pause?"

"Not plot relev- never mind, it is plot relevant, but you'll understand fine without it." Fate said dismissively.

The scene brightens to show the Wheeler basement. Eleven is sitting in front of the DnD board. The boys watch as she stretches her hands out and places them on the edge of the board.

Lucas scowls. "What's the weirdo doing?"

Mike leans forward. "El?"

Eleven opens her eyes and picks up a piece- a wizard. "Will."

"Wha?" someone asked.

"That's my piece." Will said softly.

Several people shivered.
"Superpowers." Dustin whispers.
Mike looks intently at El. "Did you see him? On Mirkwood?"

She shook her head.

"Do you know where he is?" Mike asks. Eleven sweeps all of the pieces off of the DnD board, then flips it over. She places Will's wizard on the board.

"I don't understand." said Mr. Sinclair. Fate laughed, then noticed his expression. "Oh, sorry, it's just… you'll see."

"I don't understand." Mike says.

"Oh," Mr. Sinclair mutters.

Eleven tilts her head. "Hiding."
Mike frowns. "Will is hiding? From the bad men?" Eleven shakes her head. He leans forward. "Then from who?" he asks.

She delicately takes a piece from among the scattered figurines. Then places it on the board, gently. The camera focuses. It's the Demogorgon. The boys gasp.

"The Demogorgon?" asked Karen, frowning.

The scene cuts to the police barricade. Jonathan's car pulls to a stop there, and he gets out. He goes around to the trunk and gets out his camera, then ducks under the police barricade. He starts taking pictures. "Where are you?" he asks the empty forest.

The scene again fades to black for several minutes.

"Okay, what the hell?" demanded Carol, looking angry. "You're cutting out a lot!"

"There should be less and less as the episodes go on." Fate responded.

Then it comes up on Joyce, asleep in a chair. Phone on her lap. It rings, startling her awake.

Joyce picks up the phone. "Hello? Hello. Who is this?"

Breathing. She gasps. "Will? Will, it's me. Talk to me. I'm here. Just tell me where you are, honey. I can hear you. Please."
Will voice sounds from the receiver. "Mom?"

Several people who had dismissed the earlier call gasped.

Joyce inhales sharply. "Will! Yes, it's me. It's me. Where are you? Where are you? Just talk to me-" the phone short-circuits.

"I did say more…" Will mumbled. "It didn't get across I guess…"

Joyce leaned forward, hugged him.

The scene fades to black, then fades back in to show Joyce, walking down the hallway, following the lights as they turn on. She walks into Will's room, and over to a light. The lamp glows brighter and she cups it, confused, and murmurs, "Will?" Will's stereo flips on, and she turns, startled, as Should I Stay or Should I Go? plays. Then it turns off, just as abruptly.

"What the heck? How is that happening?" someone demanded.

"Oh boy does it get weirder." Fate smiled. "You know, the amount of fanart with the lights…"

The wall bulges out, and she turns, eyes widening, as a huge, clawed hand presses through the wall. She screams silently, backing out of the room, then runs to her car. There she hesitates, looking back at the house. Lights flip on, Will's stereo starts playing again- she runs back inside.

"What the hell… what happened to the wall?" demanded Mr. Sinclair.

The scene cuts to Barb, at Steve's house by the pool. Her hand bleeds into the water and she looks down at it. Then the pool lights go out. The credits roll.

"What!" gasped Mr. Holland. "What happened?"

"That's the end?" asked Karen.

"For now… next episode!" Fate chirped.

"The blood…" mumbled Nancy, gripping Steve's hand tightly. He squeezed her hand.

AN: Do not expect daily posting. I've posted this on AO3 as well, and have actually written through The Spy. Please review, I'd love to hear your opinions!