Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

*TW: Homophobia from Troy & James, as they do...*

Back in the high school, Kali wasn't listening to a reading by her language arts teacher. She was looking about, still worried about what might have happened to Barbara. That mystery was eating away at her, making her want to find the answer to it. She didn't feel like going to school anyway, so-

Suddenly, the door opened and revealed a staff member, everyone's attention going towards her. "Kali Ives?" she asked, the girl stiffening at the mention of her name. She looked at her and asked, "Can you come with me please?" Nervous about this, she nodded as she stood up and grabbed her stuff. It was probably the police going to question her. Well, she knew what to do.

...

In the empty cafeteria, Officer Powell and Officer Callahan were questioning her with her aunt and uncle there since Terry was unavailable due to her work. She told them about her, Steve, and friends "just hanging out" and the argument she had with her. "So, this argument you and Barbara had," Powell said. "What was it about exactly?"

The girl sighed and answered, "Uh...Barb just wanted to leave and I was getting impatient with her, so I told her to go."

"Then what happened?"

"I went upstairs and...put on some dry clothes."

Every adult gave her skeptical looks, but Powell continued, "Then the next day, you went back to find her and saw a bear?"

She shook her head. She may have looked at the figure for two seconds, but she knew it wasn't shaped like an animal. "Not a bear. I don't even think it was an animal. Whatever it was, I think it took Barbara. Did you guys check behind his house?" Her aunt and uncle frowned in worry.

"We did," Callahan replied, shaking his head. "Nothing there. No sign of whatever was there, like a bear."

"And no car," Officer Powell added.

Kali was stunned to hear that. "What?"

"Listen, we figured that Barbara came back last night before taking off and leaving somewhere," the officer with the glasses stated.

"Did she ever talk to you about running off or-" the other cop asked.

Kali instantly shook her head. "No. Barbara would NEVER do that, ever."

"Maybe she was just upset that you were hanging out with this boy more often?" Her eyes widened at the suggestion as Powell looked down at his paper. "Um...Steve Harrington?"

"No!" Her voice was sharp.

"Maybe she was jealous because she saw you go up to Steve's room?"

She shook her head. "No, it wasn't like that. Steve and I are just friends! Nothing more."

The men exchanged glances, their skeptical expressions back before looking at her again, Callahan asking, "Now, was this before or after you changed?" Kali sighed, feeling stressed about her being questioned like this. She hoped this could be done and over with.

Meanwhile, her aunt and uncle were more skeptical than the officers were. They knew she was lying, but they also exchanged glances, nonverbally agreeing not to comment yet.

Terry was serving food and beer to customers, but she never even bothered putting a fake smile on her face. She kept thinking about yesterday. The news of an intruder in the home, that...thing she saw behind the wallpaper, Will's death...yesterday had to be the most stressful and nerve-wracking day she ever experienced outside of her former work.

Definitely since she quit her former work.

She thought that since Will died last night, she could be just recklessly speculating that his disappearance was connected to the Labs. However, she wanted to hold onto the possibility that maybe even his death was connected to there. She didn't know for sure though, and it was eating away at her. She almost never wanted to go to work and investigate this on her own. Her sister needed to stay out of it because she didn't know and she would never know. Not on her watch.

"Terry? Terry!" shouted one of her co-workers to her, making her snap out of her thoughts and turn to her. A blonde-haired waitress looked annoyed at her and dropped her shoulders. "Will you stop standing around and do your damn job?"

The woman deeply sighed and answered, "Right. Sorry, Cathy." She then saw a man enter inside and sit at the bar. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. That man was no ordinary man...

That was Hawkins Police Chief Jim Hopper.

Why the hell was he here? She rarely ever saw him at the pub. What, was this another occasion? Since he discovered Will Byers dead yesterday and he probably needed to wind down?

The bartender approached Hopper and greeted, "Hi, welcome to Hideaway, sir. I'm Diana-"

"Hey, Diana," he greeted back, interrupting her. "Say, is Terry Ives working here today?" The woman in question tensed up when he mentioned her name, her eyes widening.

"Oh, uh, yeah, she's right there." The brunette then pointed at the dirty-blonde-haired woman, her fists clenching as the chief looked back at her and smiled.

"Can she serve me for now?" Why did he want that? What did he want from her?

The kids rode through downtown on their bikes, the boys wearing their coats, Jane wearing a brown jacket, and Mike wearing her coat. He was sitting behind Jane again and looked around. He looked interested at his surroundings, never seeing a place like this before. He was liking this and it made him smile.

...

Finally, they arrived into the school, walking down the path to the AV Club room. "So, if anyone sees us, look sad," the tomboy said to the rest of the group, them nodding at her.

They heard the P.A go on and said, "Attention, students. There will be an assembly for Will Byers right now." While that was said, Mike looked at the boys and made a crying gesture to see if he thought that was sad, the two of them nodding in confirmation. "I repeat, there will be an assembly to honor Will Byers. Do not go to fourth period."

The kids finally arrived at the room and Jane tried to open the door, but the knob was stiff, making her groan. "It's locked."

Her friends looked at her with baffled expressions. "What?" asked Lucas before he tried opening the door and failed.

Dustin quickly thought up of something and looked at Mike. "Hey, Mike, can you use your powers?" he asked him.

Before he could answer or do anything, Mr. Clarke suddenly appeared and said, "Kids?" All of them turned to him, their faces being of surprise.

"Uh, hey," Lucas greeted awkwardly.

He looked at them with a worried expression. "The assembly's about to start."

Jane nodded. "W-we know, we're just..." she replied before trailing off.

"Upset, y'know?" Lucas added.

"Yeah, uh, definitely u-upset," Dustin also added.

"We just really need some alone time," Jane said.

"To, uh...cry," the curly-haired boy finished.

The teacher nodded at them and gave them a sympathetic look. "Listen to me, kids. I get it, I really do." The trio looked sad, since even though there was a chance they'll find him, he was still missing, still out there alone somewhere. "I know this is a hard time for you all, but why don't we be there, for Will?" They slowly nodded at him before he got out the keys. "And then..." He then tossed them to the curly-haired tomboy. "The Heathkit is all yours for the rest of the day. What d'ya say?" The three lit up at him. As long as they attended, they'll be able to find Will, once and for all.

Mr. Clarke then looked at Mike and became pleasantly surprised. "Oh, I don't believe we've met. What's your name, young man?"

The kids looked at him with a bit of worry as he awkwardly answered, "M-Michael..."

He nodded and gave him a warm smile, extending his hand out to him. "Well, hey there, Michael. Nice to meet you." He looked at his hand and thought of Benny, feeling a bit distressed. However, he remembered what he did with the handshake, so he shook his hand. "Do you know these kids?"

"Yes..." he responded before the kids filled in more blanks for him.

"Y-yeah! He's my, um..." Jane said, trying to think up of something.

"Cousin!" Lucas said.

"Second cousin, to be exact!" Dustin stated, holding up two fingers.

Jane sighed. "He's here for, uh, Will's funeral."

Mr. Clarke nodded at the kids, looking at the freckled one. "Welcome to Hawkins Middle. I wish you were here on better circumstances."

"Thank you," he replied with a nod, not knowing how else to respond to that.

"Where are you from exactly?"

The kids looked at Mike with worry again as he shook his head. "Bad place-" he answered before the kids cut him off.

"Norway!" Dustin answered.

The tomboy nodded, trying to act casual. "My mama has a lot of Norweigan family," she added.

"He absolutely HATES it there!"

"So cold!" Lucas added.

"Sub-zero."

Mr. Clarke nodded again, only this time, awkwardly. "Shall we, then?" he asked them.

"Yeah," the trio responded as they all walked to the cafeteria.

...

As they arrived, Dustin opened the door, having it make a sound as it hit the wall. The principal stopped talking and everyone turned their attention towards them. All of them felt embarrassed, especially Dustin.

"Abort," he whispered as he turned back to go away. However, Lucas stopped him and they all entered in, taking seats as they listened to the speech at the assembly.

Becky and Carl drove Kali home since she said that she didn't feel like she could focus when she was grieving. Though Carl initially hesitated, Becky argued that they should bring her home and not tell Terry about it, so they did. Kali stormed inside, feeling very upset, while the two tried to follow suit. "Kali, wait-" Becky called out before getting cut off.

"Just leave me alone," she said to her in distraught as she went upstairs.

"Kali!" Her niece stopped and looked down at her with a look of frustration. "Listen, you can talk to me. I'm your aunt, you're my niece. I'll listen to you. Me, your uncle, your mother-"

"I just need some privacy. Is that too much to ask?!"

The short-haired woman sighed and looked up at her. "Kali-"

"What?"

Carl, getting annoyed by her attitude, told her sternly, "Don't bring that attitude to her, young lady!"

"I just need to be alone, Carl!" He looked displeased to her, Becky putting her hand on his shoulder as the teenager got upstairs and went into her room.

The man sighed and muttered, "Teenagers..." He then walked to the living room, his wife following him.

"Her best friend is missing, Carl! At least I tried to be calm with her."

"She still shouldn't have brought that attitude to you. I had to be stern with her-"

She rolled her shoulders and scoffed. "Yelling at her's not gonna fix it though!"

"Neither was being calm to her, was it?!" Both of them glared at each other, their own frustrations building up. Becky then stormed to the kitchen to grab a snack, hoping to be away from him for just a moment. She began to think about what happened to the both of them after they got married. Instead of being an odd yet loving couple, they argue as if they're going to get a divorce. Hell, that might happen because he had changed since the wedding...did he? They were arguing more often, but...

Whatever, she just needed to be away from him at the moment.

...

Meanwhile, in her room, Kali sat on the bed and set her things down next to her, about to cry and sob. No one would listen to her, no one would get to the point with her, she needed some time alone to think and no one gave it to her, she hated that. She just wanted to find out where her best friend was. Was that too difficult or something? Too much to ask?!

She got out the pieces of the picture she picked up from yesterday and looked at the piece with Barb in it. She frowned, trying to hold back tears from just looking at her. She put it back down next to another piece...which seemed to connect. Curious, Kali looked at that piece, seeing some sort of figure there. Her eyes widened, making her think of something she could do.

She arranged the pieces of the photos together and then used the tape she had in her room to piece them all together. Once she was done, she got a good look at it. The figure was shining a little, showing that it was human-like, but not...human. Her jaw dropped as she became shocked. Jonathan took this picture, right? He had to know something about this, especially...that. What the hell was it? Did it take Barbara?

Back in the lower levels of the labs, the two doctors looked at how much time Shepard's been in the hole and then looked at each other. They communicated through expressions and knew what to do next. Dr. Wheeler pressed the comm button and asked, "Shepard, are you there? Confirm comm." There was no answer for a few seconds, the two men beginning to worry. "Shepard, come in. Confirm comm." They waited for an answer, their worry growing.

"This is Shepard, confirming. Over," the man responded, the two men now feeling relieved and smiling.

"Shepard, where are you and can you describe to us what you see in there?" Dr. Brenner asked.

"The visibility's low. I'm one click south of the rift." The two men nodded. "Everything's still here, but all eroded somehow. Covered in blood-" Suddenly, they both growling through the comm, their worry coming back again.

"Shepard, do you copy?" Dr. Wheeler asked. All that he and Brenner got was the man heavily breathing and more growling. "Shepard, can you hear me? Over."

"Th-there's something else in here!" A crunching noise was then heard, both the men looking aghast as the sirens rang off.

"Reel him in..." Dr. Brenner commanded another man next to him and his comrade. He didn't do anything.

"Reel him back in!" Dr. Wheeler yelled at him as the man pressed the button to make the contraption reel the man back in. Both men looked at the hole in horror, wondering if they could get him out of there in time.

"Pull me out!" Shepard yelled constantly. They saw the rope moving back and forth very frantically until it suddenly stopped, the rope touching the ground. Both men knew he didn't make it, absolutely shocked by this.

As the rope was completely reeled out, Shepard was nothing more than a bloodied piece of fabric. The men's horrified looks amplified before the two looked down. They were dealing with something dangerous...very dangerous. The two then looked at each other. "Our work just got more difficult than expected," Dr. Wheeler said to his friend.

"Well, this kind of work is never easy," Dr. Brenner replied. "We'll just need to work harder than usual."

As the principal was talking about Will's death and how it will affect the school, Jane and the boys looked around, seeing some uninterested and faked sad faces from their fellow peers. Jane was annoyed and disappointed. "Look at all these guys, faking it," she whispered to Lucas.

He nodded. "Yeah, they probably didn't even know his name 'til today," he whispered back at her.

Suddenly, the four heard Troy snickering, their attention towards him and James smirking. "What?" James asked his friend.

"This is SO stupid," Troy answered quietly. "I mean, who's even interested in this shit?" He then mocked the principal's speech like a mime, James chuckling.

The trio looked at them in disgust and dismay about this, Mike raising an eyebrow at their behavior. He knew it was wrong of them to do that, so he muttered, "Mouth-breather."

Jane, a bit surprised that he identified Troy well, turned to him, the boy nodding and focusing back on the speech. She decided to do the same as well, wanting to deal with them later...

...

When the assembly ended, everyone got off of the bleachers and were about to walk out of the gym. Jane with the boys, however, decided to walk to Troy and shout out, "Hey, hey Troy!" The bullies didn't listen to her, so she shouted one more time, "Troy!" He and his friend finally stopped and turned to her and her friends, annoyed. She crossed her arms and glared angrily. "This isn't some funny joke."

"What d'ya say, tranny?" the brunette asked.

"I saw what you guys did over there. I think laughing at an assembly about Will's death is messed up."

He and James scoffed at her. "Didn't you hear the counselor, tranny?" James asked. "Grief shows itself in funny ways."

As some kids gathered up to see what's going on, the boys looked at them with so much dismay, even Mike. "Besides, what's there to sad about, anyways? Will's probably in fairyland now, prancing with all the other little fairies, all happy and gay!" He and James laughed at that and began to leave. Jane was so angry that she couldn't even control herself.

Clenching her fists hard, she stormed to Troy and shoved him to the ground, surprising both him and the taller bully. Everyone that crowded around them, even the boys, gasped and murmured some things among each other about that.

"Screw you!" she yelled at him before pushing James as well. "And screw you too!" She turned her back on them and began to leave.

At this point, Troy just about had it with her. He didn't even care if she was female...he felt the need to yell at her face. He stood up and stormed to her, shouting, "You know what, tranny?!" She froze and turned back to him, looking scared and backing away. "I think you're a piece of sh-" Suddenly, he stopped, mid-storm. Everyone looked surprised, especially the tomboy, James, and Troy himself.

He was very flabbergasted at this. He couldn't even move his body. Suddenly, he started to pee his pants. "Dude, Troy's peeing himself!" shouted one kid from the crowd as not only them, but also the boys and Jane erupted in laughter. Troy never looked so embarrassed in his life. James had second-hand embarrassment.

Wondering if this was Mike's doing, the curly-haired tomboy looked back and saw his head tilted down. He was chuckling, his nose bleeding a little as he looked at her. He gave her a smile and wiped his nose. She gave him a smile back. He didn't need to do that, but she was glad that he did.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" the principal asked disapprovingly as the crowd began to disperse.

Lucas ran to Jane and said, "Jane, let's go!" She nodded as she left with the rest of the boys. That was seriously the best thing they've seen Mike do, giving Troy what he deserved and saving Jane in the process. They were actually pretty thankful of him for being around.

After calling Joyce, Kali arrived at a funeral home alone with just her purse, hoping to see Jonathan since she thought that he was probably there for...well, preparing his brother's funeral. She walked around before seeing him in a room with coffins. She stopped and looked at him, stepping in. He quickly noticed her, returning a glance. "Um...can you just give me a second?" he asked the man showing him the coffins.

"Of course," he replied.

The auburn-haired guy then approached her slowly. "Hey..."

"Hey..." she greeted back. "Your mum said you would be here." He nodded, somber. She felt really bad for him, since his little brother was dead and all. "I just...want to talk to you about something for a second." She pointed out the door. "If you don't mind?" He shook his head, but wondered what she wanted to talk to him about. Maybe it was the photos...

...

Sitting on a bench outside of the room, Jonathan looked at the photo Kali taped up closely. She tapped her finger on one of her hands, waiting for an answer. "This looks like it could be some sort of perspective distortion," he stated before shaking his head. "But I wasn't using the wide angle." He then shrugged and handed the photo back to her. "I don't know, it's weird."

She sighed, feeling a bit upset. "And you're sure you only saw Barbara?" she asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah. She was there one second and then...she was gone. I figured she bolted."

The teen girl crossed her arms and leaned back onto the bench. "The cops think that she ran away, but..." She shook her head. "They don't know her, unsurprisingly. Then, I went back to Steve's and I...I think I saw something, like...some weird man or..." She sighed once again. Maybe she was overthinking all of this. She didn't know why she was sharing this with the guy that took her photo in her bra. "I'm so sorry." She then stood up and grabbed her purse. "I shouldn't have come here today. You have your brother's funeral, and I...I should go."

She was then about to leave, but he was actually curious about what she said, so he asked her, "What did he look like? The man you saw in the woods?" The girl stopped and turned back to him, looking surprised.

"Uh...well..." she began, trying to think up of a way to describe him. "I didn't get a good look, but I think...I think he didn't have-"

"A face?" Her eyes widened at his reply. So he did know something about this...it was just what she needed, but...

"How do you know that?"

Back in the pub, Terry sat next to Hopper, who was asking her about...her former work that was Hawkins Lab. She felt surprised that he was even investigating them when he would've been investigating Will. She thought during the questioning that maybe he was speculating about them being involved with the young boy. But how?

"So, you haven't communicated with them in years?" he asked her.

She shook her head at him. "No," she answered. "Not since Martin and I broke off our marriage."

He nodded, ashing his cigarette and blowing out smoke. "Why?"

She raised her brows. "Excuse me?"

"Why did you and Brenner break it off?"

She felt her blood running cold. She remembered that one night...that one night that prevented her from answering his question.

"Terry?"

She shook her head at him once again. "We were just not right for each other, that's it."

He looked skeptical. "And why was that?"

She sighed. "What does my last marriage have to do with-"

Hopper sighed as well and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Terry..." She broke out of her thoughts and looked at him. "What did he do to you that makes you not answer my question?" Her eyes widened. Damn, he caught up fast. But...she couldn't even tell him about it. It had to stay in her mind or else, they would...

She shook her head at him again. "I can't..." she muttered.

"Why, Terry?"

"I. Can't." She then got off of her seat and went back to doing her shift. She didn't want to put herself in danger - no, not just her. Her sister, her brother-in-law, her daughters, they can be affected too, especially the latter. That was why she couldn't answer. She couldn't risk it...yet she kept thinking that they're somehow involved in this situation.

Hopper looked back at her, frowning. Now he got even more curious. If one of their former workers can't talk to him more about this, then they were up to something, something terrible.

Suddenly, a man came in, both of the adults glancing and recognizing him. He was an aging man and overweight. They both knew who he was...

The man that found Will's body.

While Terry shook it off and continued working, Hopper wanted to deal with him alone.

...

Even though she was serving customers, Terry couldn't get her attention away the man that found Will's body. She was still thinking about her suspicion about Hawkins Labs being involved in Will's death, so maybe...he was involved in that too.

She shook her head. Reckless speculation. Maybe he was just patrolling around and found the body. Nothing more. Probably.

Suddenly, she saw him leave Hopper, leaving a tip for Diana. He walked right past her. She saw his upset expression, wondering what Hopper talked to him about. Probably about finding Will's body in the quarry. She looked back at Hopper, who took one last drink and tipped Diana before standing up and leaving with him. The woman looked puzzled.

"Hopper?" she asked.

"Excuse me," he replied as he walked past her as well, leaving with the man. She finally put two and two together. There was probably something suspicious about that man and Hopper was chasing after him about it.

She looked down and began thinking about something. Hopper asked her about the Labs and her job there before asking why she and Martin had a divorce AND he was chasing down the man that found Will's body. That would mean that he was really suspicious that Hawkins Labs might really have something to do with all this crazy shit going on. It made so much sense! At least she wasn't the only one to think about that!

She looked back at where they left. She thought that maybe she should investigate with him. However, doing that risked her safety from them. When she helps him out, they would be after her too, even her family. She didn't want that, but...the mystery of it all was eating away at her at a rapid rate.

"Terry?" asked Diana, breaking her thoughts as she gave her a glance. "What's going on? You've been spacing out lately."

She sighed. She was, but for good reason. She needed to know if the Labs were involved in all of this or not. So she'll do it. She'll have to protect her family, but she'll take the risk. "I need to go," she replied as she brought the tray of food down to the customers that ordered it and began to leave.

She went into the kitchen and grabbed her purse, some of her fellow waitresses looking at her in confusion. "Terry? Where are you going?" asked Cathy.

"Home," she answered instantly.

"But your shift's not even close to done!" said another waitress.

"Tell George and Sally that I'll be gone for family matters." Before the women even answered, she got out through the kitchen and outside of the pub. She instantly tensed up and froze when she saw Hopper with his gun out. Why the hell did he have his gun out...?

He huffed and put the gun in the back pocket of his jeans, looking for the man he assaulted for answers, but instead saw a shocked Terry, being a bit puzzled. What the hell was she doing out there? He walked up to her, just as she walked up to him, and said, "Listen, you didn't see anything." He was about to leave, but Terry grabbed his arm, stopping him and making him look at her.

"Let me help," she said to him. He was puzzled, then she elaborated, "Let me investigate with you."

He sighed, his frustration mixing with his confusion. "You couldn't tell me about why you divorced your ex-husband and former employer, but you want to help me investigate?"

She sighed as well and shook his arm. "I'll tell you anything you need to know if you let me help. I think they might have something to do with all this crazy shit that's been happening lately. Sooner or later, they'll come to me. I even sort of talked to Joyce about it."

Now he was surprised. "You what?"

"I'll elaborate if you let me help you."

"What about your job?"

"They can wait."

He raised an eyebrow. "'They'?"

She shook her head, realizing her mistake. "Look, do you need the extra help or not?" He then thought about it. She was an ex-employee and she probably had all the information he needed for his investigation. Perhaps a little help wouldn't hurt, so he nodded, making her nod back.

"Meet me at the coroner at eight, alright?" he asked her.

"Okay," she answered as they both left to go to their cars. Terry didn't want to investigate in this stupid waitress dress, so she had to change.

Stopping here. What did you guys think? Any typos or mistakes?

How did I handle Terry and Hopper's interactions? I figured that maybe they should work together since they both are on the same mindset that Hawkins Lab has something to do with the crazy shit going on. Hope you guys don't mind that!

Also, of course Troy's not going to...you know, assault a girl, especially in public. He may not see her as a girl, but the rest of the school might do, so yeah. Why not just have his intention to just yell at her? It's less harmless...

Anyways, keep supporting this fanfic and I'll see you on the next chapter!