Chapter 7

A/N: Wow, this chapter gave me just the worst case of writer's block I've had for this story. Partly because we're returning to Stranger Things characters after so long with the Heretics only, and partly because we're going back from a simple rescue mission/monster hunt plot to a more complicated mystery/intrigue plot with lots of actors. Plus, I always feel horribly awkward writing any sort of romance, but it's impossible to write Nancy and Steve without some of it, especially when they woke up in the same bed. I hope it comes across in-character and isn't too cringe-worthy (except in the good way that all romance is).

One of my favorite things to compare in these two stories is the protagonists' attitudes towards sharing information. Flick makes a point to share information as much as she safely can (although she has to work at it at times), while a lot of the tension in Stranger Things came from the fact that all the information was known by somebody, but the various groups of heroes weren't talking to each other until the end.

As Nancy Wheeler awoke for what felt like the hundredth time that night, the first thing she noticed was that she was uncomfortably warm. She moved to brush her quilt off her shoulders so she could cool off and try to go back to sleep again, but she stopped suddenly when she felt something quite different from a quilt. A soft snore confirmed what she was only just then remembering—Steve Harrington was in her bed.

Nancy opened her eyes. The room was still well-lit from all the lights she had left on when she went to sleep. Faint hints of the dawn's light peeked through the drapes shut over the window at the head of her bed. She carefully removed Steve's arm from her shoulder and reached up to pull the drapes open. To her relief, the sun had barely risen—it was still early. Still, the sun was up, which meant she no longer had to try to ignore the image of the monster she saw every time she closed her eyes. She hadn't slept much, but she was tired of trying. She turned back to Steve and gently shook him awake.

When Steve had blinked the sleep from his eyes and realized where he was, a smile spread across his face. "Good morning, beautiful," he murmured, sitting up and giving Nancy a kiss. They pulled apart, and Nancy couldn't help but smile.

"Good morning," Nancy said softly. Before she could say more, Steve leaned forward and caught her lips with a quick peck, and then another. This last kiss deepened for a couple of seconds before Nancy pulled away, put her hands between them, and pushed Steve back slightly. Refusing to let herself be distracted by Steve's bare chest on her hands, Nancy said firmly, "You need to go. You can't be here when my mom wakes up."

Steve started to object, but Nancy caught her eyes with his, and he could see in her gaze just how serious she was. "Yeah, okay." He pulled away, stepped out of bed, and retrieved his clothes from the floor. As he pulled his pants on over his boxers, he said, "So, I can come back in a couple of hours once breakfast is over. I'll pick you up. We can go for a drive?"

"No, I…I'm not feeling up to going out right now, with everything that's going on."

Steve pulled his shirt over his head and sat down with his legs hanging off the side of Nancy's bed. "Nancy, don't shut me out!" He said quietly, but emphatically. "I get it, you didn't want to talk last night. You were worn out and didn't want to do anything to sleep. Whatever. Fine. But now it's the next day, and I think I deserve some answers. What's going on with you?"

Nancy considered what to say. A big part of her wanted to trust Steve and just tell him what was going on, but then she remembered that Jonathan hadn't even believed his own mother when she told him she had seen a monster. How could she expect her boyfriend to believe her? The thing that had finally convinced Jonathan was Nancy's independent account, but trying to use something Jonathan Byers had said to back up her story would not go over well with Steve. She could show him the picture Jonathan had gotten of the monster, but it wasn't a very good picture, really, and the questionable circumstances in which he had taken the picture were what had caused the problem between Jonathan and Steve in the first place! No, the only good solution was to leave Steve out of it.

"I just need more time to deal with everything."

"That's not fair! I come over here to check on you and stay the night just to make sure you're comfortable, and you won't even talk to me!"

"I'm glad you were here last night, but I didn't ask you to come here."

"No, you just asked me to stay!" They glared at each other for a few seconds until, finally, Steve backed down. "Fine! I've got better things to do than listen to you mope all day anyway," he spat out bitterly. He made one final check to make sure he had all his things before starting to climb out the window. "I'll see you at school on Monday. Maybe then you'll be willing to talk to your boyfriend."

"Steve…" Nancy called after him, but he pointedly ignored her as he lowered himself to the ground and then headed off down the street at a jog. She stared after him for a minute, replaying the conversation in her head and trying to figure out how it could have gone better. Finally, she gave it up as a waste of time and grabbed a book on animals. She flipped to the predator section, an idea forming in her brain. She and Jonathan had encountered the monster when it had come to eat a deer that had been hit by a car, but it had gone after live humans, not recently dead ones, so it was more of a predator than a scavenger. It seemed to hunt at night, and alone. The book confirmed a fact Nancy vaguely remembered—sharks were attracted to blood. They could detect it in one part per million and smell it from a quarter mile away. Barb had cut herself before she was attacked, and the deer had been bleeding heavily when the monster found it—maybe the monster was attracted to blood as well. And if it was, they could lay a trap for it. She couldn't deny that she was terrified of encountering it again, but she refused to leave Barb and Will, her friend and Jonathan's brother, trapped in that place. At least if they prepared ahead of time, they could be ready for it. And maybe they wouldn't be totally unprepared—hadn't Scout had a massive rifle last night? Sands had given her the address, phone number, and directions to the motel where they were spending the night, so she'd have to go ask the girl for help.

But first, Nancy wanted to meet up with Jonathan. Not for the first time, she wished Hawkins would get with the times and install cell towers, but until it did, she was stuck using landline phones. Unfortunately, the Byers's home phone had been blown up, apparently by Will or the monster messing with the light and power to the house from that other place. With distance communication not an option, Nancy would have to walk. She dressed in practical clothes, and, careful she didn't wake anyone, headed downstairs. There, she grabbed a quick bite to eat, intentionally leaving a mess at her seat on the table to make it clear that she had, in fact, gotten home that night and eaten breakfast in the morning, and headed out to the Byers house.

Jonathan Byers woke to the sound of voices in the kitchen. He walked blearily in there to find his mom and Jim Hopper, the police chief of their small town, cleaning up their breakfasts and finishing their cups of coffee. They were clearly dressed and ready to head out as soon as they were finished.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Jonathan…" his mom started in a placating tone.

"What are you doing? Where are you going?"

"Don't go sticking your head in where it doesn't belong," Hopper said, his voice gruff.

"Like hell it doesn't belong!" Jonathan burst out. "Will's my brother, and if you're doing something to get him back, I should be a part of it!"

Joyce Byers put down her coffee, took a step closer, and gripped Jonathan's hand in both of hers. "Jonathan, honey, this is all really dangerous, and I don't want you to get mixed up in it. Will's already missing; I couldn't stand if something happened to you too."

Jonathan could barely contain his frustration. This was why he hadn't said anything about his adventure last night. His mom would freak out if she knew what kind of danger he'd been in, and he didn't want her to worry. But still… "If whatever you're doing is so dangerous, at least tell me where you're going so I know what happened to you if you don't come back."

A complicated range of facial expressions ran over Joyce's face. Then, she abruptly took Jonathan's face between her hands. "I need you to promise me that you're not going to run off and do something stupid."

"Okay, okay! I promise, I won't do anything stupid because of whatever you tell me! I promise."

"Joyce, I don't think this is a good idea," Hopper said.

"He's right. He deserves to know," she said firmly. They stared each other down for a few seconds before Hopper nodded his acceptance of her decision.

"He's your son," he said softly.

"So what is it?" Jonathan asked. "Where are you going? What did you find out about whatever took Will?"

"We still don't know where Will is, but we do know who faked the body," Joyce started to say before Hopper interrupted.

"You said 'what,' not 'who.' I thought you didn't believe your mom. What changed your mind?"

Jonathan threw him a pained look, ashamed of himself for not believing his mom. As he did, he thought of how to answer the question. This would be the perfect opening to bring up his and Nancy's encounters with the monster, but he was afraid it would convince his mom the situation was too dangerous and make her stop talking, so he kept quiet on that topic for now. "I didn't, but after finding out the body in Will's grave wasn't…wasn't Will, I thought maybe she was right about everything." He turned his head slightly to face his mom again. "Who faked the body?"

"It was the government. And yes, I know how that sounds, but a state trooper 'found' the…the thing they said was Will, and someone from the state took over for the autopsy."

"I talked to the trooper who said he found the body," Hopper said. "He said he found it on his usual patrol route, but the quarry is private property; he had no reason to be there. I went and checked the body, found out it was fake. So I broke into the lab to look for him, but they caught me and knocked me out."

"Hold on. The lab?"

"Yeah, Hawkins National Laboratory? The Department of Energy lab not too far from here?"

"No, I know what it is. Why did you break in? Do you think they have Will?"

"I thought they might. We found some clothing scraps by a pipe leading into the lab when the search party was looking for Will, so me and the boys went down to the lab to have a look around, look at the security footage, but I could tell they were lying to us. They showed us footage from the wrong day. I knew the government was faking Will's death, so it was the obvious place to look, but they weren't going to stop lying if I went back, so I broke in. I didn't find Will, but I did find a huge…hole. Gate. Opening. They had the room quarantined, and there were seeds floating in the air and unnatural vines growing over the walls."

"Wherever Will is, that is how we can get there! I saw him in the wall, which was like…was like a window, and Hopper found the door!" Joyce said, gesticulating to emphasize her points.

"But before I could go through, they knocked me out," Hopper said. "Next thing I knew, I was on my bed at home. They poured beer on my shirt, tried to convince me it was all a drunken hallucination. But I looked around and found a mike. They bugged my home. They bugged your home too. There was a microphone in the lights!"

"So that's why the Christmas lights are all unscrewed," Jonathan realized aloud.

"Yes,' Joyce confirmed. "But you see, this is why I don't want you getting involved in this! The government is covering it up, and I can't let them hurt you!"
Jonathan stood up and started to pace in agitation. "That's where you're going, isn't it? You're going back to the lab to go through the door and look for Will! You know they've got to be watching out for you to break in again. That's insane! And you were worried about me doing something stupid!"

"Sit down," Hopper said. Jonathan ignored him and continued to pace, trying to think of a way to stop his mom and Hopper from getting themselves arrested by the shadowy government conspiracy. He realized he'd have to tell them what he and Nancy had found. It wasn't safe, with the monster nearby, and the hole in the tree wasn't even open anymore, but it had to be a better option than getting arrested by the government.

"Sit down!" Hopper said more authoritatively. This time, Jonathan did as he said, taking his seat at the table. "No, we're not going back to the lab. Not yet at least. I found something else in the lab: a kid's room. There was a drawing in it, and your mom tells me that Will's a good artist."

"Yeah, he's pretty great," Jonathan agreed.

"Well, she showed me one of his drawings, and it's much better than the one I found in the lab. Somebody else drew it. Which means they had another kid locked up in there.

"The day after Will disappeared, Benny Hammond killed himself. He was seen that day with a kid, about Will's size, but the witnesses didn't think it was Will. They also thought it didn't make sense that Benny had killed himself. Suicides can take people by surprise, but given the circumstances, it's suspicious. I think this kid snuck out of the lab, tore some of their clothes on the pipe on the way out, then went to Benny's diner for some food. The government was following the kid, and they probably killed Benny, tried to pass it off as a suicide."

"Okay, that sucks, but what are we going to do? It's not like we have any proof. You don't know where the kid is now, do you? Does this just add another missing kid on top of Will and Barbara?"

"You aren't going to do anything. You are going to stay safe," Joyce said.

"Oh, alright," Jonathan said in the kind of sardonic tone only a teenager can summon. "What are you and Mom going to do?"

"I found in the old newspaper records that the laboratory was probably doing some shady experiments a little over ten years ago. Project MKUltra, the CIA's mind control experiments, were rumored to have continued long past when they were officially supposed to end. The rumors say Hawkins National Laboratory was involved. Terry Ives claims that she was part of these experiments and that the government stole her daughter. We're going to go talk to her, see what she knows."

Jonathan didn't hesitate. "I want to come with."

"Jonathan…" Joyce started in a pained voice.

"I want to come with."

"The only reason we told you all this was so you'd know how dangerous it is and stay out of it," Hopper growled.

"I still want to come with. I'm not going to go break into the lab looking for Will, but going to talk to this woman sounds a lot safer than that! Hell, she's told her story publicly, and they haven't done anything to her! I should get to help figure out what's going on!"

"Jonathan…" Joyce said again, her voice exasperated.

"He's got a point," Hopper said gruffly. "They seem to be leaving her alone. At worst, they'll be watching her and see us talking to her, but if they left her alone when they went public…"

"Maybe they left her alone because she went public," Jonathan realized. "Too many people had heard of her, so they could just throw her in jail forever or something without people finding out what they were doing. As long as they left her alone, she just sounded crazy."

"You're right," Hopper said. "They tried to convince me I was crazy instead of just throwing me in solitary or killing me like Benny. Probably because I'm the sheriff, and it would be extra suspicious if I disappeared. But you'd be just another kid disappearing. The pattern's already getting suspicious, but covering up the last few disappearances hasn't drawn attention, so they'll do it again. It's still not safe for you."

Jonathan wanted to protest that his mom was in just as much danger as him, but he could tell that line of argument wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he didn't voice the thought. But the talk of publicity reminded him of something. "If going public worked for Terry Ives, maybe we should do the same thing."

"Already thought of that, kid. Wouldn't work," Hopper said. "Well, maybe your mom could pull it off. She's already got half the town convinced she's…well, you know…"

"Crazy?" Joyce spat.

"Yeah. So she might be safe like Ives, but it also means nobody will listen to her if she tries talking to a reporter or something. Now, they might listen to me, but I think it's more likely they'd think I'm crazy too, and there goes all my credibility as police chief. That and we don't know who's trustworthy or not in the media. We could try to go public and end up telling one of their stooges how much we know."

"What if I already knew a trustworthy reporter? I met some last night, and they already believed everything I told them so far. The only issue is, they're working for a high school newspaper, not a real company. But still, they heard about what was going on out here, so they're obviously well-connected, and it's gotta be better than nothing, right?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Joyce said. "We're not bringing more kids into this!"

"We're not bringing them in! They came here all on their own, and if we don't tell them more, they're going to keep searching until they stumble on the danger themselves!" The argument went back and forth a few more times, but in the end, Joyce and Hopper had to agree that Jonathan had a point. Since the Byers's telephone was still broken, they got into Hopper's truck and set out.