Hawkins 1996, 10 years after being torn to shreds the small American town still struggles to get back on it's feet. Not because of Vecna or the Mindflayer, they were all taken care of by the UN, but the memories, nobody can recover from the memories. There's no enemy like the past.
"You know Steve I really don't think this new job of yours is all it's cracked up to be." Nancy said to Steve as she was helping him empty the dishwasher.
"I know Nance, but there's 10 people living in this house and me and Robin are the only two with jobs!" Steve exclaimed a bit more aggressively than he intended.
"That's not our fault!" Nancy argued. "You know there's a lack of jobs around here, every time a new business opens here some assholes have to wreck the place."
"I know I know, I didn't mean it like that. But we're already thousands of dollars in debt and if I lose this job then all of us are going homeless, and it's not like we can just go live somewhere else because everywhere surrounding us in a 200-mile radius is filled to the brim with Hawkins refugees, even 10 years after the damage." Steve sighed.
"He's right Nancy." Jonathan said as he walked into the kitchen. "Me, you, Steve and Robin are the only people left to take care of the others, it's our responsibility to make sure they're safe. Even if they're not kids anymore, they still need us." He looks over to a picture of him and his little brother stuck to the fridge. "I'm joining with you." He said.
"You don't need to do that Jonathan." Steve said "This job it's, it's not safe."
"What job?" Max asked as she walked into the kitchen with her white cane. She'd been listening in to the whole conversation.
"It's nothing." Steve told her turning his head back to the dishwasher.
"Steve I'm disabled not fucking stupid." She snapped. There was an awkward silence after that.
"Steve's joined an organised crime group." Nancy told her hesitantly. Max was lost for words.
"He's joined the mobsters?" Max exclaimed with her jaw dropped. "You know you're just gonna get us all kidnapped?"
"At least you'll have a house to be kidnapped from." Steve argued, unaware how bad that really sounded.
"I can't believe this." Max said as she left the room.
Later that night Mike, Eleven, Lucas, Max, Dustin and will all lie in the living room eagerly waiting for The Simpsons to hit their television screen. It was the highlight of their day.
"God damn it!" Dustin yelled. "The satellite's acting up again."
"Just kick it." Will told him.
"Oh yeah, thanks man I'll just climb on top of the roof and smash the antenna with my foot." Dustin joked.
"The TV smartass, kick the TV." Will said.
"Oh yeah that'll work." Dustin kicked the TV with all his might and the Fox Network flashed to the screen.
"Now we're talking." Lucas laughed.
The fun was short lived however, for the evening news flashed on and it was anything but. 2 young adults, 25 and 24 had been killed in gang violence just a few blocks away from where the group were staying now. Gang violence had become common in Hawkins, it'd still send chills down your spine when you'd hear about the ways people had been mangled in combat though.
"Wow, that's horrible." Eleven said.
"Think it's always gonna be like this?" Dustin asked the others.
"No way! Things have only been getting better since the UN defeated the monsters from the Upside-Down, sure the world isn't perfect yet, but at least we still have a nice house, nice friends and food on our plates." Lucas answered.
"Lucas, I love you, but you can be so naive sometimes, Hawkins has been like this for the past ten years why the hell would things suddenly just change?" Max asked him.
"Why do you always have to be so miserable all the time?" Mike snapped. "Every time someone tries to be say something nice you're always bringing us all down with your depressing life!"
"Because clearly I'm the only one with a sense of reality, you guys always go on about how "Oh it's going to be ok!" and "Oh we all have each other so we should be grateful!" well guess what, life's a bitch, and it doesn't get better." She shouted.
"Come on guys, don't be like this." Eleven said to them.
"You know I'm right though!" Mike shouted.
"Both of you shut up it's starting!" Dustin butted in before Max could say anything else. The episode playing was "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" The group were deeply invested.
"Do you really think Mr. Burns is going to die?" Eleven asked the others.
"Like hell! He's the plot behind nearly every episodes, maybe even the most important character in Springfield. There's no way they'll kill him off!" Will exclaimed.
"Never say never." Dustin said.
Nobody said anything for a while after that, as they were all paying attention to the show, when all of a sudden there was a loud "BANG!" Mike grabbed Eleven and dived under the sofa, he was absolutely terrified.
"Jesus Mike it was only the TV." Max told him.
"Oh man, so it was. Sorry El." He laughed nervously.
"You okay man?" Lucas asked him.
"Yeah all good, I guess all those gunshots and bombs from the UN's war if the Upside-Down kind of stuck with me, just a natural reaction I guess." The group went silent. "Come on guys it was nothing." He said before giving his attention back to the TV.
Meanwhile, Robin sits in her bedroom making blueprints for her bizarre weapon ideas.
"Can't wait 'til the guys see this." She mumbled to herself after she'd just finished her mercury injection dart blueprint. "As soon as you realise this baby's pierced your skin you're already stuffed." She hears a knock at her door. "Come in!" she said.
"Hey Robin." It was Jonathan.
"Oh hey Johnny." She said.
"I just came in to say thanks for teaching Will algebraic equations, it's the only thing keeping him busy, now that he's too old for school. I brought you this to say thanks." Jonathan thanked her as he handed over a copy of Oasis' Definitely Maybe.
"Oh you didn't need to do that!" Robin smiled as she had a look at the box. "It was really fun teaching him, and algebraic equations was the only type of maths I was good at so I'm glad it didn't go to waste." Jonathan laughed.
"It's hard to believe they're all grown up now, it still feels like they're just kids trying to find their way through the world." Robin smiled.
"Yeah, It's really sad that they missed so much of their childhoods, I hope they can get out there one day." She said. Jonathan gave a weak smile.
"Yeah they've had it rough." He sighed. "There's also something else I want to talk to you about." Robin looked at him and smiled. "So you know Steve's new job? I've just gotten off the phone with his boss. He's letting me join the mob. We're robbing the bank this Saturday night."
"Jesus Jonathan." Robin was shocked. "He's really trusting you with a heist and when you haven't even met?"
"Yeah that's the thing." Jonathan spoke. "He's not very optimistic about the mission, so he's just using his expendable mobsters, so I probably won't come home."
"You have to be joking." Robin said to him. "Just say no!"
"And have a fucking Mafia Boss after me? No thanks." Jonathan said while slightly shaking. "Promise me you won't tell Will." Robin was hesitant. "Promise me."
"Okay, I promise." Robin wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say. "Just be careful."
"I'll try." Jonathan told her as he left the room. "I can't believe this." Jonathan said to himself, rubbing the sweat off his face. Despite his fear though, he still had no regrets. Ever since both his Mother and Hopper died fighting in the war with the Upside-Down he's felt so much responsibility left on his shoulders. It didn't feel like Will was just his little brother anymore, it felt as if we were his son, and it was Jonathans job to guide him through the changing world. It was no different for Steve, Nancy and Robin, although the little guys weren't so little anymore, they still felt like the same kids they always were, and in a way they were. They never had the chance to go out and live through the things everyone else their age would, first job, first car, night out, that kind of thing. Sure they had a whole town right outside, nothing was stopping them from leaving the house, but they had nothing worth leaving for. You'd rarely see people in town who weren't total stoners, and those who were sober were miserable little dicks. And I'm sure you can imagine how much being stuck in a house for multiple years with about 9 other people would suck, hell with the coronavirus some of you might have been a few years ago, so you can bet there was a lot of quarrelling among them. It usually began with Max and Mike arguing over something small, then it would just become bigger and bigger, before you knew it the whole group was divided and wouldn't talk for days.
Saturday night came and Steve was beginning to have second thoughts about the job. "You still want to do this?" He asked an emotionless Jonathan.
"Yep." He responded.
"You know one way or another we're gonna die tonight, we either get shot by the police or we manage to escape the police and the mob has us killed."
"Yep."
"Well I guess this'll be my last chance to say this, I'm sorry for the camera, and everything else."
"No, I'm glad you did that."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but it really doesn't matter right now, we need to head to the others."
"Yeah, right." The two left the house, and drove their half broken Ford Econoline to an abandoned warehouse 20 minutes away from where they stayed. When they arrived they had to crawl through 25 metres of bushes and litter just to get in. The warehouse was a state. Smashed bottles and glasses were everywhere, power cords were hanging from the ceiling, the walls were covered in graffiti, it's the kind of place some kids would use as their secret hideout in an 80's film. Ate the far end they could see two other men smoking cigars and laughing. "Hey, are you the guys?" Steve yelled.
"Ah Steven my boy, right on time." One man said.
"And you must be the little friend the boss told us about. Consider yourself lucky, joining the family after only one short phone call. I remember when I joined the fellas I had to go through about 5 meetings just to be allowed to rob Target. Anyway, glad to have you with us." The other said to Jonathan. Jonathan gave him a fake smile.
"The van's just outside. we'll drive you to the bank, you guys run in and grab the cash, and we'll meet you at the old mall just a few minutes away and we'll drive you back to base." The first man said.
"You're not coming with us?" Jonathan asked aggressively.
"No of course not, in any good heist you need someone on the outside." Jonathan and Steve were less than pleased. And so, the four entered the van, and they were driven to the bank. Once they were there Jonathan and Steve jumped out the van.
"Here, take these." One man said, handing the two a pair of large Assault Rifles.
"And these." The other man said, handing them both Freddy Kruger masks.
"Jesus Christ." Steve said under his breath. The two men wished them luck and drove away. All of a sudden the two men's hearts dropped, not because anything happened, but seeing that car driving away, and the idea that they were about to walk into a bank armed with two assault rifles felt horrible, but they knew what they had to do. They entered the building, rifles clutched in their arms and began to shoot the ceiling. They had absolutely no intention of killing anyone, and the rifles were just to intimidate. Immediately two cops who were acting as security took aim at them, at them, so they ran out the building in fear.
"Shit man! What are we supposed to do now?" Jonathan yelled to Steve while sprinting round the building with him.
"I don't know, lets try the back way." Steve said to him.
"Oh yeah I'm sure they always make sure to keep that unlocked in case some robbers ever want to grab a few thousand dollars." Jonathan said sarcastically.
"Well, it's worth a shot."
"No it's fucking not!"
"Jesus man cool it."
"We're in the middle of a fucking shootout with the fucking cops in the centre of Hawkins, don't tell me to cool it."
"Alright we can shoot the cops to disable, then we'll run in, grab the crash and bolt." Jonathan hated the idea, but it's all they had. The two took cover behind a wall nearby, and once the cops ran into sight they opened fire, blowing their legs to pieces.
"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Jonathan was on the verge of having a panic attack.
"Come on!" Steve yelled, signalling his hand to the entrance of the bank. They ran past the counter and into the back, seeing a large safe with a keypad on it. "It needs a code." Steve said.
"Hold on." Jonathan told Steve as he ran back to the counter. He aimed his gun at the banker, who was on the floor crying with his hands on the back of his head. "I won't hurt you if you tell me the safe code."
"It's, It's, 59, it's 5, it's 5943." The banker stuttered.
"Thanks man." Jonathan ran back over to Steve. "It's 5943." He told him.
"Got it." Steve said as he was entering the pin, but before he could finish putting it in they heard a loud "Stop right there!" from out the front. Some community police had arrived at the scene, after the banker out front had called 911.
"Shit." Jonathan grunted before being ever so slightly missed by a bullet that nearly blew his brains out. Without even thinking he aimed his gun at the community cops, and opened fire on all of them, injuring them severely. His heart dropped, and the feeling was much worse than last time. "Oh my God." he said as he ran over to them, checking if they were ok. "Steve, we gotta go." He yelled.
"But we still need to fill the sacks they gave us!" Steve yelled back.
"Screw the sacks, we need to go now!" Steve looked over and once he'd seen what had happened, the only thing he could get out his mouth was "What did you do?" Jonathan was holding back tears.
"Just come on." He said. The men dropped their weapons and sprinted out the building, covered in blood. They could hear sirens blaring in the distance, and they were drowning in guilt. After running about a mile, they stopped to catch some breath.
"Why did you do that?" Steve asked Jonathan.
"What was I supposed to do?"
"Shoot to disable."
"It's not as easy as it sounds, especially when you only have a split second to decide what to do."
"Jonathan you just murdered four men!"
"We don't know they're dead!"
"They're dead Jonathan, you murdered them. You're a murderer." They both fell silent. "Don't come to my house again, don't call me ever again, and don't come near my friends ever again." Jonathan was lost for words.
"What about Will?"
"Especially not Will."
Alright that's chapter 1, if you liked it it'd be great if you could leave a review. Sorry for all the F-Bombs by the way, they just felt really fitting wherever I put them, I promise the future chapters won't be like that. Also if you've noticed any mistakes don't be afraid to send me a DM, I'll always be happy to make some edits. That's all for tonight, thanks :)