Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Placed in an isolated room and cuffed to a chair, Joyce kept yelling, begging to be let free. She kept fearing for her life, thinking about what Terry said before about their shock torture. It wasn't until Dr. Wheeler entered into the room alone that the fear amplified. But with it was pure anger. Just seeing his face made her feel the need to break out of these handcuffs and punch him in the face, just for the shit he's done.
"Your son," he said to her, facing her without sitting down. "We know that you came in contact with him. Can you tell me when and how you did so?" He then took off his dress jacket and draped it over his chair before sitting on it.
"What...?" she asked in a faint voice.
"When and how did you come in contact with your son, Joyce Byers?" He laced his fingers together, waiting for an answer. She didn't answer, just looking fearful and angry at him. He sighed and kept his calm. "Listen, Joyce." Just hearing him call her by her first name left a sickening feeling to her stomach. "There are a total of six people being taken this week. Six. This thing that took your son, the thing Teresa Ives described to you over the phone..." Her eyes widened when he said that. How did he know? "We don't truly understand it. We don't know of its motives, why it takes people. However, its behavior is predictable. Like any predatory animal, it eats and never stops to get more to eat. That means it will take more sons, more daughters. Dr. Brenner and I, we both want to save them. We both want to save your son." Her fearful yet angry expression came back. He was treating her as if she was a goddamn idiot. "However, without your help, we can't do that. So, can you please-"
"Stop," she replied in a cold voice, causing him to actually stop and look a bit taken aback. "I know who you are, I know who is Dr. Brenner is too. You two are the most maniacal bastards I've ever heard of." Now his face turned stone-cold. "You two took my boy away from me! You both left him there to die! You both faked his death! We had a funeral for him, we BURIED him! You both even sent my friend there to die looking for him! So why the HELL should I help you?!" He kept his cold expression, not answering. "Go to hell, you and your pal Brenner. Go. To. Hell."
His lips drew into a line in defeat. Really, he thought this could work, thinking that she had little to not involved much with Terry and Hopper. Boy, was he sorely mistaken...
...
In another isolated room in the building, an agent tasered Hopper, making him scream and sink to the ground. The blonde woman and Dr. Brenner were there, watching him suffer as they needed answers, especially Brenner. "Now, Jim Hopper, what do you know?" the doctor asked him.
The man heavily breathed and answered, "Did I stutter? Sorry, but I told you...I know everything." He got tasered again, feeling sharp pain course through his body as he threw up a little, wiping his mouth.
"What do you know?" the woman asked him.
He caught his breath and answered again, "Let's see, you guys do experiments on these kidnapped little kids, then treat their parents to shock therapy." All of their faces turned cold. "I also know you guys went a little too far this time and messed up in a big way. I mean, really messed up, big time. Trying to cover your tracks by killing Benny Hammond, faking Will Byers's death, making it look like a little boy just ran away..." He paused to scoff, the two agents looked guilty while the doctor didn't even flinch. "Even with that attempt at trying to kill off your ex by sending her in that hole, you messed up on that too." That caused him to be tasered again, grunting at the excruciating pain.
"Who do you work for?" Brenner asked in a voice as sharp as nails. "Teresa?"
He shook his head. "She's pretty much my partner-in-crime. She was curious, I was curious, put two-and-two together..." The doctor just knew Terry would spill the secrets after her near death in the world of that hole. It was only natural, since she was going to be dead, nonetheless. She just knew she was going to be hunted down and neutralized. "Also got this friend in the Times that can blow this case wide-open." He chuckled, but stopped as he was tasered for the fourth time. The two agents then hauled him over to a chair, making him sit in it.
One of the agents prepared a needle as he said, "You're just a small town cop that's had a really bad week. One too many pills left you feeling like hell."
The woman and the doctor stared at him with sharp glares, the doctor saying, "You have made a mistake coming back here. Do you know what can happen to you?"
He did, and he still went anyway. "I do. I think it goes like this..." He looked up at him. "You and Ted are going to let me and Joyce go, then give us anything we need, and finally let us find her son. We'll forget any of this ever happened."
The woman looked amused. "Is that so?" She then looked at Brenner for support. He didn't move a muscle at all, but felt very annoyed. He hoped Ted's plan will go well.
"Yeah...that's so."
Back in the middle school, Terry, walkie-talkie in hand to communicate with Jane and the boys, was roaming through the hallways to make sure no trouble is about. She looked very intently in every room, just to make sure those agents from the lab don't get in in any way. She had told the kids that she was doing this and that they should stay put in the gym. They could go to the cafeteria if they were hungry, but need to go back to the gym and eat there.
Funny thing, she never saw Kali and Jonathan. She did look outside and saw that Jonathan's car was gone. She figured they would depart, probably to test out that blood theory. God, she hoped they will be alright, especially since it was night and stakes were high tonight...
...
The kids were sitting on the bleachers of the gym, Mike sitting next to Jane, Lucas sitting one bench behind them, and Dustin the last bench. Feeling impatient, Jane looked down at her watch. It's been half an hour, where were Jonathan and Kali? She sighed and decided to take out her walkie-talkie to talk to her mom. "Hey, Mama," she said. "Where's Kali and Jonathan? Have you seen them?"
...
The woman heard her through the walkie-talkie and answered through it, "I looked outside a few minutes ago. His car is gone."
...
"They could be going after the monster." Jane looked a bit puzzled at first, but like the rest of the boys, looked shocked. Now she knew about the...
"Demogorgon..." Mike muttered. Jane hoped her sister will be alright...
Jonathan and Kali finally arrived at his home with the traps and supplies in the back. They got out of the car and opened the trunk to get their supplies. Kali got the gasoline and the fire extinguisher while Jonathan grabbed the whole box. The Indian girl closed it as they both went inside and placed them on the ground. They looked at each other, knowing what to do next.
...
They've done numerous things to prepare:
They put the light bulbs back on the Christmas lights so they can act as a warning that it was coming.
Jonathan nailed down the bear trap while Kali loaded her gun with ammo. She knew the gun was useless to kill it, but she and Jonathan thought that bullets can slow it down. Better to test that than nothing.
Kali poured gasoline across the hallway so that the matches could be useful to kill it.
Jonathan hammered nails into a bat at the warehouse so that he could attack and possibly kill the monster with that.
He also checked to make sure the lighter was working so that the gasoline wasn't poured down for nothing.
Kali helped Jonathan set up the bear trap, keeping her foot on the spring lever so that his arm couldn't be caught in it. He finally put the tongue of the trap down to keep it in place.
Jonathan set a yo-yo as a substitute for a tripwire and tied it to the bear trap carefully.
They were finally done. They were armed and the traps have been set. All they needed to do was bleed...
In the isolated room with Hopper, Dr. Wheeler came in and asked his comrade, "How is it going?"
"The man's stubborn," Brenner answered.
"Yeah, that's one way to put it," Hopper added in a sarcastic voice. "How about we make a deal? We forget all of this ever happened. And those three kids, those two boys and that girl..." He paused to point and look at Brenner. "Your daughter..." He didn't even blink when he said that with much emphasis. "You leave them alone. And Terry, your ex and an ex-employee here?" He felt a bit hurt when he decided to say, "Deal with her quietly. Don't traumatize the kids." He had hoped that she could live, but this was a life-and-death situation in reality, not in a James Bond movie. "All that I'm asking is that you two let me and Joyce do what Terry failed to do: find her son. Is that too much to ask?" He scoffed and chuckled a little. "I could really use a smoke right now. You two got any on ya?"
Brenner looked at Wheeler since he was the one with the plan. Hopper wasn't as resistant as he first thought he would be. Hell, if they didn't know where Terry and M11 were, he'd give up the location. Now the plan can go as expected...
...
Joyce was still sitting the room cuffed. She began to worry for Hopper and even Terry. She hoped to God they were going to be alright.
Suddenly, the door opened and not only an officer that will uncuff her came to sight, but also the police chief himself, smoking a cigarette giving to him by Brenner. She looked surprised and relieved that he was alright. When she was getting uncuffed, however, she became curious.
...
"What's happening?" she asked Hopper as they were arriving to the bio-hazard zone.
"We came to an agreement," he answered. "It was strangely easy." Joyce looked baffled. Easy? How can making a deal with dangerous people be easy?
He was thinking of that very same thing. They didn't even ask him for the location of Mike or Terry. That made him awfully suspicious, but he and Joyce were doing this now, so he couldn't back out.
He continued, "Everything that's happened now and gonna happen soon, we don't talk about to anybody. If you want Will back, this place had nothing to do with it. That's the agreement, understood?"
She slowly nodded, then another question popped up. "Wh-what about Terry?"
His reply was a whisper. "Hopefully, she'll be fine."
She looked skeptical. "'Hopefully?'" She didn't like the sound of that...
"Just trust me." She just wanted to find her son, so she nodded again. She still hoped her best friend was going to be alright...
Swear to God, she hoped she will.
...
After putting on the hazmat suits and getting flashlights, Hopper and Joyce finally departed into the hole, hoping to find Will however they can. The doctors and the rest of the agents and soldiers were outside, walking to their respective vehicles. Martin gave a skeptical look to his fellow doctor. "Trapping them in the hole?" he asked him. "I thought you told me that was a mistake."
He nodded. "Yes, but you were trapping Terry," he answered. "I may not know her as much as you do, but one thing I know about her is that she's smarter than those two. Unlike her, they'll never make it out alive. They lack the cleverness and intelligence." Martin thought he had a good point. Terry was indeed smart. Joyce and Hopper, not so much. Now it made sense to him why they trapped them in the hole.
The soldiers got into their army trucks while the agents were in black-sheeted cars, including the doctors. Before the doctors signaled the driver to go, Dr. Wheeler had the walkie-talkie on him and said into it, "Dr. Wheeler here. Dr. Brenner and I are going to depart with the rest of the soldiers and crew."
"Send in the agents in your van and tell them to be discreet, not giving themselves away. Tell them to find and capture M11 and Teresa Ives. Do not harm or kill them, however, just hold them until we get there. Is that clear?"
The man nodded and answered into it, "Yes, sir." He then exited the van and went around to open the back doors of the agents waiting.
When he was done, Dr. Brenner gestured the driver to go to the middle school. He did, making all the other vehicles follow them to capture M11 and Teresa Ives.
The man said to the agents, "Listen up. The doctors, soldiers, and agents are on their way to here. Dr. Wheeler says you all can go inside and look for M11 and Teresa. However, they said not to harm or kill them, even Teresa. Just to hold them captive until they arrive. Is that understood?" The agents nodded as the man gestured them to go. They got out of the van and began to discreetly approach and enter into the school, being armed and hoping no one would see them.
With knives in their hands, Kali and Jonathan looked at each other, the blades on their palms. "Remember..." Jonathan said.
"Straight into Will's room when it comes," Kali stated.
"Don't step into the trap."
"Wait for it to touch the yo-yo string."
"Then we light it up." He lit up his lighter, then capped it and put it in his pocket, letting out a deep sigh. "Alright, ready?" She nodded as they both looked down at their exposed palms touching the blade. "On three...one...two..." He looked at her determined face. He guessed she didn't want to back out at all. Why would she? He wouldn't do it. "Three." They finally cut their palms, fresh blood leaking out of their cuts.
"Th-this is crazy, you guys!" Jane said to her friends, now the three of them standing up while Mike still sat on the bleachers, looking at them. "We can't just wait around here!"
"Jane, we're still fugitives," Lucas rebutted. "The bad men are still looking for us and your mom."
"And we don't know where exactly your sister is either," Dustin added.
"Well, Mike can find her."
He shook his head and pointed at him. "Jane, look at him." She looked back to see him looking at them. He did look pretty tired from finding Will and a dead Barbara. "We should still stick with the chief's plan."
Lucas nodded. "Exactly. We stay here, keep Mike outta sight, and keep him safe. Remember, that's the most important thing." She didn't want to argue with that, looking away and crossing her arms. "Besides, I'm sure Kali's safe. She's with Jonathan."
"And she's a bit badass now, so..." the curly-haired boy added before walking away.
Now the tomboy looked puzzled. "Wait, where are you going?"
"To the cafeteria to get some pudding. I swear, Lunch Lady Phyllis hoards that shit like the end of the world's coming."
She now looked baffled. "You're kidding me."
"Mike needs to be recharged!" Lucas decided to join him, much to Jane's annoyance. Oh well, at least they were considerate of him.
She looked at the freckled boy and said with a gesture, "Come on. We're going to eat." He nodded and got off of the bleachers to follow her out. She got out of her walkie-talkie and said through it, "Mama, we're going to the cafeteria now...to get some food."
...
"Okay, sweetie," she replied into the walkie-talkie. "Be careful." She then gave a science lab room a look. She saw nothing. She closed the door and suddenly heard something shuffling. She froze and looked back. She didn't hear that noise for the next few seconds, so she shrugged it off and continued looking around.
Back in the Byers home, both teens had their cut hands bandaged thanks to the first-aid kit in the bathroom. They both sat on the couch, waiting for the monster to come. They both heard a faint creak, stiffening up a little. "You hear that?" Kali asked.
"I-I think it's just the wind," Jonathan replied. She sighed and kept looking around, feeling anxious about the monster coming. At least this night, tonight, she will kill it.
Breaking the minute-long silence between them, the auburn-haired guy said to the Indian girl, "I'm sorry." She looked at him with a puzzled look. "About Barbara." Her blood ran cold. Right...Barbara...she looked away from him. "I always see you two together. I guess...you guys were close."
She nodded slightly. "We were, since kindergarten. When my mum's not around, she was so supportive of me, through some hard times I had, some tough decisions I had to make. We always had fun together and I've always helped her when she was having a hard time. You know, we have our arguments, but what pair of friends don't?" Jonathan nodded, liking to hear about what it was like having a friend. She then turned to him. "You went to Hawkins Elementary, right?"
He nodded again. "Yeah."
"You went on the field trip to the Indianapolis Zoo?"
He nodded yet again. "Yeah, I remember that."
She then smirked a little. "You ever heard of that one girl that accidentally fell in the water where the elephants were?"
He suddenly knew where she was getting at. "Wait, were you...?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I was the girl."
He chuckled. "Now I have to hear the full story. How can someone fall right into the Elephant exhibit like that?"
She chuckled as well. "I can't remember how, but I think some arsehole pushed me over and I got into the water. I go up for some air and then I see an elephant about to go into the water. I just felt panicked, you know? Like I feel like I was going to die that very day."
He looked a bit skeptical, but kept his grin. "Elephants are friendly giants, y'know."
She looked at him, grinning as well. "Yeah, tell that to 11-year-old me." He laughed and she continued, "And then, I see Barbara's hand reach out to me, so I swam to it the best I could, since I couldn't swim, and grabbed it. She pulled me up with some help from our chaperones and she asked if I was alright, if I was hurt, you probably know the rest. She even snatched a blanket one of the chaperones had for a picnic and draped it over me. She saved me from getting trampled by a goddamn elephant. She's been pretty protective of me ever since."
Jonathan's grin disappeared when he said, "That was why she looked sour at you at that party, right?"
Frowning, she nodded again. "Yeah..." She sighed. "I was an idiot. You didn't see it, but we argued about Steve before she decided to go back to the pool and..."
His face turned serious, his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, at least you're avenging her now." She looked at him. "You're going to kill the thing that murdered her. She'd probably be thankful."
Smiling a little, she nodded. "Yeah...she would." She couldn't believe she just talked about Barbara with the school loner. Oh well, they were getting along. Why the hell not?
He removed his hand from her shoulder and looked down. "I never had any friends," he stated.
She held back a scoff. "I mean, you were always known as the school loner, even in elementary and middle school."
He nodded. "Right."
"You'd rather observe everyone else than speak with them?"
He shrugged, nervously smiling a little. "Pretty much."
"Why, exactly?"
He shrugged again. "Just...didn't feel the need to be social. I always liked to observe people and...analyze what they're doing and probably thinking. Always been in my DNA, I guess." He then scoffed, thinking he sounded stupid. "God, here I go, rambling about how weird I am."
She chuckled a little. "You're not weird, just different."
He grinned at her. "You say different, I say weird."
She shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Suddenly, there was a pounding at the door, breaking the friendly air between the teens and making them look at it. They definitely didn't see the lights blinking...who the hell was it?
"Jonathan?!" yelled out...Steve, much to their utter shock and confusion. "Are you there, man?! It's Steve!" They both looked at each other with such baffled faces. "I just wanna talk to you, man! Just open up!" He continued banging on the door. Both had no idea what to do at the moment...answer or not answer...
Needing this to be over with, Kali stood up and mouthed, "I'll get him away." He nodded as she approached the door, unlocked it, and opened it. Yup, it was Steve Harrington, but with a bloodied-scraped half of his face thanks to Jonathan earlier. "What do you want?"
He looked surprised to see her there. "Kali? What the hell-"
"You need to leave." There was a sharpness to her voice and her serious look towards him. However, he wasn't going to go away that easily.
"I'm not trying to start anything, I'm trying to-"
"I don't care, now leave."
"Listen! I-I-I-I messed up, alright?! I messed up and I'm sorry!" His face was begging for her to forgive him, making her look sad and have conflicting feelings. "You're right, I'm an idiot. Idiot Steve Harrington. My idiocy caused unwanted bullshit to happen and I'm sorry. Please, Kal." She really, really wanted to forgive him since everything he was saying sounded very genuine, but...
In a few seconds, he realized her bandaged hand and looked worried. "Wait, what happened to your hand?" he asked as he grabbed it, eyes widened at the sight of blood. "Holy shit-"
She instantly yanked it out of his hold and instantly answered, "N-nothing, Steve. It was an accident."
"An accident?" He sounded skeptical. "What's going on?"
"Nothing."
His eyes then widened when he thought of something. "Did he do this to you?!"
She gave him a shocked look. "What?! No!"
Suddenly, he was pushing to get in out of protection. "Let me in!"
She tried to push back. "No, Steve! Go!"
"Let me in, Kali!" He finally got inside and saw not only Jonathan just standing up, but also the Christmas lights, the nailed bat, and the gun. He was absolutely dumbfounded. What the hell was going on?! "Wh-what the hell-"
The auburn-haired guy stormed to him and tried to push him back out. "You need to get out of here," he told him sternly and coldly.
"W-wait, but what's with all this shit?!"
"I'm not asking! I'm demanding you to get out!"
As the two began to argue, Kali's patience was running thin. God, she just wanted this to be over with! So, she grabbed her gun, released the safety, and pointed it at her boyfriend. The two guys separated from each other, looking stunned to see her with a gun, especially Steve since it was pointed at him. "Steve, get the hell out of here," she demanded in a rather cold voice, colder than before.
He raised his arms up and looked terrified. "W-w-w-w-wait! Kal?! What the hell?!" he exclaimed.
"I'm not joking around. You have five seconds."
"J-j-just put the gun down!"
"I'm doing this for your own good."
"WHAT?! How the hell is it for my own good?!"
Suddenly, the lights began flickering, but only Jonathan noticed, him saying, "Kali."
Both didn't notice or hear him though. Kali started counting down, "Five..." Steve kept crying out "no" in fear, backing away a little. "Four...three..."
The lights continued flickering. "Kali!"
"Two..."
"KALI!" Jonathan's loud voice got her attention. "Look at the lights!" She looked up, her eyes becoming wide.
"Shit..." she muttered under her breath. "It's here!"
"W-wait, what's here?!" Steve asked. Jonathan then got his bat and both were back-to-back, looking around.
"Where is it?!"
"WHERE IS WHAT?!" the jock exclaimed.
"I-I don't know!" Jonathan responded to the teen girl.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" The two other teens didn't reply to him, making his irritation and confusion amplify even more. "WILL SOMEONE EXPLAIN ALL THIS SHIT TO-"
He got cut off by the ceiling breaking and revealing the monster. All of the teens backed away in horror. "Oh God..." Kali muttered, feeling the need to shoot it even though it was immune to bullets. "Go, go, go!" Jonathan was running and Kali grabbed Steve's hand to get him away.
They ran in the hallway, Jonathan jumping over the trap and yelling to Steve, "JUMP!"
He and Kali did, though he was constantly shouting, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod..." They went into Will's room and slammed the door shut. While Kali and Jonathan got ready, the brown-haired guy kept shouting, "Wh-WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! HOW DID IT GET HERE?!"
Both of them turned to him and yelled, "SHUT UP!" He did so, feeling intimidated, not by them, but the situation he got himself into. All of them tried to keep quiet, Jonathan's light out and lit up as they heard the monster screech. They heard it moving towards them. Just a flick of the yo-yo and it was done. They waited, waited for that cue.
It never came, since the lights stopped flickering and went back to normal. The two teens were flabbergasted by this. "Y-you hear anything?" the Indian girl asked the auburn-haired guy.
He slowly shook his head. "No..." he replied as he capped his lighter. He slowly opened the door and slowly walked out with his bat out. Kali followed, then Steve. All of them saw the trap still in place like it was before. They couldn't believe it. How can it avoid it like that?! How the hell...?
Stopping here! How was this chapter? Any typos or mistakes I might've missed?
I hope you guys don't mind me not writing Hopper and Joyce going to save Will. Like I said in the first chapter, I only write scenes I feel are necessary to write. Writing them finding Will is not necessary because there would be no changes in those scenes.
I also hoped I wrote the scene with Kali, Jonathan, and Steve well. I don't write action often...
Keep supporting this fanfic and I'll see you in the next chapter!