Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
*This is a more Terry-centric chapter, just so you know!*
Finally in the lab area, Terry and Hopper hid in the dark while they saw two of the scientists leave the building. The woman concealed a smirk, remembering those two workers. She and the chief then snuck into the building without the two workers noticing them.
Once they entered in, Hopper let Terry lead the way, since he knew she had a better grasp at the building than him. After all, she used to work here. Terry peeked into another hallway, seeing nobody there. She turned to Hopper and gestured him to follow her. He did so as they both began walking through it quietly. Suddenly, they heard some indistinct chatter. They both froze, the woman looking at an empty room and quickly dragging him and herself in there. They hid away from the open doorway as the chatter came, then faded by the second. The two looked out to see if the doctors were gone, then went back to the hallway and began walking through it again.
Hopper whispered to Terry, "Any idea where Will might be?"
"I got a few," she answered back in a whisper.
...
Through hiding quietly at times, the two adults looked at some patient rooms used for...the subjects of...that experiment. However, they found nothing, stressing out the both of them. Where the hell might Will be?
...
As they walked through yet another hallway, Terry stopped when she saw flap-doors with the bio-hazard sign on it. Hopper stopped as well as they both got a good look at it. He pointed at it. "There, probably?" he asked quietly.
She sighed. "Well, some of the scientists and subjects go there sometimes," she answered quietly. "No way Will would be there though." Unless it turned out that he was dangerous in some way...but she came to her conclusion-
Suddenly, she saw Hopper unzip the flaps and enter through it, surprising her and making her follow. "Hopper, what the hell are you doing?" He didn't answer, making her feel more worried. "Hopper!" she whisper-shouted. She then saw him try to open the door to the bunker, the woman sighing and crossing her arms. "Can't get in without an ID."
The man sighed and turned to her. "You happen to have yours, by any chance?"
She shook her head. "It got confiscated when I quit. No way I can get it back."
All of a sudden, they both heard guns cocking, making the two of them tense up. "That's right, Teresa. Now you and that man, hands up!" one man said from behind her. Her eyes widened as she turned to see an agent and a guard pointing guns at not only her, but also at Hopper. She instantly had her hands up, feeling every fiber of her freeze in horror.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Hopper exclaimed as he approached the man. "Let's all try be civil here-"
The agent scoffed. "She shouldn't be here. She promised that she wouldn't step foot anywhere around here, alright, bud?" The police chief looked at the woman in a bit of surprise, wondering the story behind that.
"Hey, she's with me now, alright? I mean, Dr. Brenner asked for me specifically, but I got her because I don't know my way around this place." He chuckled a little, still approaching them as they backed away, guns still pointed at him. "I promise ya, she won't do any harm."
The agent scoffed again in disbelief. "Really?" He then got out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it, "Yeah, I got a suspicious man with Teresa-" In a flash, Hopper gave him a hard punch at the face and knocked him out. He then pinned the guard against the wall and disarmed him, startling Terry. He put the guard's gun in his pocket.
"Come again?" said the man on the radio.
Hopper saw the ID the man had and snatched it away from him, asking, "Can I borrow this one?" He then went to the ID handler and swiped the card in there, opening the door. He gestured Terry to follow him in, so she did as it closed. God, she never felt so terrified since...this work.
Hopper then shot the handle to lock them inside. She tensed up and glared at him. "Hopper!" she exclaimed.
He put his gun back in his other pocket, got out and turned on his flashlight, and replied to her, "Let's go." He then began to leave to find Will. She sighed and followed him. "Will?"
"Do you know what deep shit you got us in?!" she asked him in quiet fury.
He sighed as he looked into a room for the boy. "Listen, I'd be in deep shit already if I went here alone. It's inevitable."
"You could have knocked that other man unconscious."
He hated that she brought an otherwise good idea to his attention. He sighed once again. "I could've."
She sighed deeply this time, crossing her arms. "Besides, there's a very small chance that Will might be here. Unless he has proven to be super dangerous this early, there is no way in hell that he would be here."
"And I'm taking that chance right now, am I?" She huffed. Was he always like this? Difficult and impulsive to work with? Oh well, at least she was trying to get an answer with him.
He entered into another room, Terry following suit as they both looked around it. Hopper shone his light at the bed in the room, seeing a stuffed animal on it. He then flashed it towards a drawing taped above the bed. It was like a little kid's drawing, having two stick figures, a poorly-drawn table with an animal on it, a hanging light bulb, and a piece of a ceiling. One stick figure had some hair and glasses, labeled as "Dad" in poor writing, another had some hair too but the fill was empty, labeled as "Doctor", and the last on had no hair, was smaller than the other two, and was labelled as "M11". Terry's eyes widened once more as she took a closer look with the photo.
Curious, Hopper asked, "Can ya tell what this is?"
"A room of some kind..." she answered, her eyes fixed on the drawing. She looked at the labels, then the stick figures. The two tall ones, she figured those were the two doctors. She then looked at the smaller one and its label. She gasped and backed away from it.
"What? What's that?"
She recognized the label. M11...the last subject she was acquainted with before she quit. She shook her head. "Will wouldn't be in here, but..." She pointed at M11 in the picture. "I know that kid..." It was bringing up a painful memory to her. She...she witnessed something awful, heart-wrenching, to be exact. It strengthened her need to quit this goddamn place.
"M11?" he murmured to himself as he looked at the picture closely. "Could he be connected to Will?"
She shrugged. "I don't know." Now this got deeper than they two were expecting this to be.
In Jane's basement, Mike, still dressed in his disguise, laid on the couch, resting and looking up at the ceiling. The trio were talking amongst themselves. "Do you guys know what Will was saying there?" the tomboy asked. "'It's like home, but...it's dark?'"
"And empty..." Lucas added.
"Empty and cold," Dustin also added. "He said 'cold', right?"
The black-haired boy shrugged. "I don't know. The radio kept going in and out."
The curly-haired boy groaned. "Like riddles in the dark..."
Jane stood up from the chair she was sitting in, pacing around and thinking, "Like home...like his house?"
"Maybe Hawkins?" Lucas suggested.
Mike finally thought up of a word to describe where Will was, saying, "Upside down." The kids looked at him, Jane's face lighting up when she realized what he meant.
"Wait, what did he say?"
"Upside down..." the curly-haired girl replied.
"What?"
She approached the game board on the the table and flipped it right-side up, the two boys sitting with her. "When Mike showed us where Will was, he flipped the board upside down, like this." She then flipped it back upside down. "This is dark and empty, right?"
The boys looked puzzled at each other, Lucas asking Dustin, "Do you even know what she's talking about?"
He shook his head. "No," he replied.
She sighed. "Guys, listen to me." The two looked back at her. "When he took us to find Will, he brought us to his house."
"Yeah," Lucas replied. "And he wasn't there."
"But...what if he was and...we couldn't see him somehow? Like he's on the other side?" The two boys thought about that, Lucas being more disbelieving about this. "What if..." She flipped the board right-side up again. "This is Hawkins..." She flipped it back upside down again. "And this is where Will is? The Upside Down?"
Dustin's eyes widened, realizing what she was saying. "Like the Vale of Shadows..."
"Exactly!"
Lucas still looked confused, not knowing what to believe anymore...
The two got out of the room, Terry leading the way as they both called out Will's name. The alarm from the building began ringing faintly. They both were walking fast, looking around and going to the hallway closest to them. "Will?!" Terry called out.
"Will?!" Hopper also called out. They both then approached the elevator, the woman pressing it a few times as they both waited for it to come.
"Come on..." she muttered before turning when she and the man heard some indistinct sounds from not too far. Just when they saw the men, the elevator door opened, cuing for the two to run in there and press a button to the lowest level of the bunker.
The men ran to them, shouting, "Hey! Stop!" Before they could reach them, the elevator door closed and they both began going down to the level they were about to go into.
...
While the two were waiting to get to the floor, Hopper looked down at Terry, who looked really scared, but really brave too. Curious of what was said before they went inside the bunker, the man asked, "So you promised not to be here again?" She only had a heavy sigh as a reply, the man frowning. "That what you promised Brenner?"
"And..." she began to answer. "That I wouldn't disclose any information about anything that happens in this building. That includes our divorce."
Now he was very curious. "Why?" She gave him a confused look. "Why did you two divorce?" She felt heavy, since to her, that was a touchy subject.
Before she could answer though, the elevator stopped and the door opened, revealing the lowest level and seeing the large particles floating around everywhere. They forgot that they were even having a conversation, going into in the hallway and looking around with the flashlight.
Dustin got Jane's D&D manual and began flipping through it until he found the pages the Vale of Shadows was described in. "'The Vale of Shadows...'" he read out loud. "'...is a dimension that is a dark reflection of our world. It is a place of decay...and death.'"
Terry wondered what the hell happened here. "Will?!" both her and Hopper called out.
"'A plane out of phase and a place for monsters...it is right next to you and you don't even see it.'" The kids looked at each other with wide eyes, now absolutely horrified of the possibility that Will was in a place like that.
Both of the adults began to cough due to the spores in the air, Hopper shouting, "Will?!"
"An alternate dimension..." Jane muttered.
"But...how do you get there?" Lucas asked.
"We cast Shadow Walk," Dustin answered.
The black-haired boy gave him a look that told him he was stupid. "I mean in real life."
The curly-haired boy sighed. "We can't shadow walk, but...maybe he can." The kids then looked at Mike, who was looking at them.
"Do you know how we can get there? To the Upside Down?" Jane asked him. He shook his head, worrying her and Dustin while making Lucas scoff.
"Oh my God..." he muttered under his breath. Now how will they reach Will?
The two were still coughing as they entered into the room where the hole was. When they turned to see it due to the growling noise, both of their eyes enlarged in both awe and horror. "What the hell...?" Hopper muttered under his breath.
"What is that...?" Terry asked.
"You're asking me?" They both then began to approach it, seeing the center glowing.
"I have never seen anything like this before..." She wondered what the hell were they doing since she was gone.
When they were close to it, they stopped. Both decided to place their hands on the webs that covered the middle of the hole. They felt both slimy and rough. Seriously, both of them wondered what the hell was going on.
Suddenly, they heard sudden footsteps towards them, the two quickly turning to the direction they came from. Hopper got out his gun and gave the other to Terry. "You know how to shoot?" he asked her.
She did know how to use a gun, despite not using one for years. "I'll try," she replied as she unlocked the safety and pointed the gun with Hopper. They both looked around, then saw a man in a hazmat suit approach them.
"Hey!" Hopper shouted to him. "HEY!" Suddenly, Terry saw a hand go over his mouth. Another man in a hazmat suit was behind him, injecting his neck with a needle and knocking him out. She gasped, quickly backing away before the first man caught her and disarmed her, grabbing her wrists tightly.
"Hey, let me go!" she yelled at him.
As the other man carried Hopper, he gestured the other man to bring her up back to ground floor. They proceeded to do so. Terry decided not to struggle because it was too late for her to get away. She was caught, she will see him again...and his friend...
Now in an isolated room, Terry sat on a chair with her hands tied behind her back. She let out a heavy sigh and looked into the camera in the room. She knew the risk and she took it. Now, she wondered if that was a good idea.
...
Both Dr. Brenner and Dr. Wheeler watched her from the camera, both frowning. "Speak of the devil," the man with the glasses said to his fellow doctor. "What should we do with her, Martin?"
He knew this was coming, he knew she would break the promise they made all those years ago. "I'll speak to her," he answered.
"You need me?"
He shook his head. "Not necessary." He then exited the room to talk to Terry, Ted looking at him with a worried expression. He wondered what he will talk to her about...
...
The door opened and the woman looked to see her ex-husband himself, Martin Brenner. She felt more heavy than before. That was him, after so many years...she saw him again. "Terry," he greeted as he closed the door and sat across from her. She didn't greet him back since she had a large distaste from him, but he didn't mind that. "How are you?" She didn't answer again, looking at him scornfully. He let out a sigh, knowing she would act like this.
He laced his hands together on the table and continued, "I see that you were with that police officer. He has been a bit of a nuisance lately, poking his nose where it doesn't belong. Just like you." She furrowed her brows down, looking at him angrily. "Why were you with him? What were you two doing here?" She didn't answer once again, thinking that he probably knew the answer. Getting impatient, he shifted himself and said, "Come on, Terry. I need to know what makes you so eager to come back here, despite our promise."
She knew what kind of power he had and she knew what he would do if she stayed silent for any longer. She finally answered, "Will. Will Byers."
He nodded. "You two were looking for him?"
"Where is he?" The man didn't answer, making her more angry. "Tell me, Martin."
"We do not know where he is. We do not have him. He's dead."
"Then why was his body a fake?" His expression turned into one of disdain, feeling a bit surprised that she knew.
"How do you know that?" he asked her in a now cold tone.
"Hopper and I went to the morgue and dissected the body. Usually, you and Ted wouldn't use wax dummies unless you guys kidnapped someone." She paused, seeing the look of disdain on his face. "Now where is he? Is he down there, in that...what is that? Is he there? With...whatever the hell that is?"
Dr. Brenner exhaled deeply. Now that she saw that, there was no way for him to let her go so easily. She should have known the consequences of breaking the promise to pursue her curiosity. Now...now...
He began to think of a solution to this, him smirking. She felt her stomach flop at that look. "Perhaps he is," he replied, shocking her to her core. "But we didn't kidnap him."
She glared at him angrily again. "Don't lie to me."
"I'm not. He is just a normal boy that suddenly steered into our little problem, which you and that police officer saw down there." She gulped, still shocked to hear all this. "We don't know how he got in there. We checked our security cameras and hadn't seen him. But he got records of his voice in that very opening. We were trying to get him out, but we have not succeeded. We're continuing to try and I was thinking..."
She knew where he was getting to, so she filled in the blanks. "I should go in there and find him?"
He nodded. "Correct."
She let out a sigh. "Might as well kill me now. I don't know what's in there, but I don't trust it, just like how I don't trust you."
His smirk dropping, he gave her a bit of a scornful look. "Terry, what is Will to you?" She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why break the promise to go find him?"
She huffed, not wanting to answer him, but doing so anyway. "He's...my friend's son...and my daughter's friend."
His smirk came back. "I'm going to guess Joyce and Jane?" She nodded reluctantly, the man sighing. "No wonder. You really do care about those close to you."
She felt goosebumps rising from her skin, fearing about what he might be implying. "I swear, if you do anything to my friend and family-"
"I will not. It would be a waste of my time and our resources." He paused for a bit, seeing his ex-wife ease a little. "What I'm trying to get at, Terry, is that if you care about them so much to go find that boy, why not finish the job? You were always the type to want to do that, correct?"
The woman looked down at the table in thought. He...he was right. She started now and she wanted to finish, with or without Hopper's help, the poor man. For a few seconds, she wondered what they would do with him. Maybe once, just this once, maybe she'll trust Martin. She still held much contempt and disbelief towards him, but if he was willing to help her find Will and bring him back...
She'll take it.
In a different room, Terry was uncuffed and on the phone with Becky, practically lying to her about being gone. From afar, Dr. Brenner and Dr. Wheeler watched her. "I'm taking extra hours with this shift," she stated. "I need a little more of that money, you know?"
"You sure you wanna do that?" Becky asked her. "I mean, we did settle down to relieve some of the stress we both had, but extra hours? It might bring it right back."
She sighed, knowing how her sister must be feeling. "I know you're worried, but I'll be fine. I think it'll be worth it. A little extra money doesn't hurt anybody."
She heard her sister sigh on the phone. "I'll tell the girls that you'll be gone. When will you be back?"
"In the morning," she lied, knowing that time wasn't possible to come back.
"Alright. See ya then, sis."
"Bye, Becky." She then hung up and turned to the two doctors. "Let's go. We're wasting time." She then walked past them, Dr. Wheeler shooting a concerned glance at his comrade. He gave him a look that told him to stick with it for now, so he and the other doctor began following her down to the bunker.
Dressed in a hazmat suit and armed with the gun the staff gave back to her, Terry approached the mysterious hole on the wall, feeling very anxious about what's on the other side. She looked at the two doctors, who gave her a nod of approval to cross it. She then looked at the contraption of rope. The doctors had told her it was jammed...how convenient, so she had to go in there without help. If it was to save Will, she would deal with it.
She faced the hole again and took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. It would cause more problems for her if she went in there completely scared. She was anxious about what she will see inside of it, but she needed to keep a level head if she was ever to get back alive.
Slowly and surely, she walked into the hole, getting through the goo and into the cold, dark abyss that was behind it all.
As they saw her go inside the hole, Dr. Wheeler asked Dr. Brenner, "Do you think she'll really find him?"
"No," he answered in an instant. "This is just removing one problem." The other doctor smiled at him, thinking that practically trapping his ex-wife into a dangerous and unknown place was pretty clever. That was one obstacle taken care of...
Stopping here. What do you guys think of this chapter? How did I do with Terry's scene with Brenner? Any typos or mistakes?
Now, before I do, I must say something. In case you guys didn't visit my profile page, I live in the United States. I'm sure it's been heard around the world that the FCC might repeal net neutrality here in a few days. I did all I can about this, but...I don't know. I'm scared, honestly. I don't know what's going to happen. Maybe my updates will be slower or I might not even be able to come here at all. I sorta, kinda hope that maybe there might be little changes and I can still access here, but that's just my hope. I don't know what the hell is really going to happen.
That's why after publishing this chapter, I'll be working on the next chapters pertaining to this episode and publishing them Monday and Tuesday. If I'm lucky, I'll even work on the chapters to the next episode and publish them until the 14th. I don't know though. They may be longer than usual, so I hope you guys don't mind that.
Now, with that aside, keep supporting this fanfic and I'll see you in the next chapter. :)
*EDIT of 12/18/22: That net neutrality rant aged like milk...*