2. Opening moves in shadow.

Hawkins, Wheeler Home

Everyone had helped move Will up to the living room to recover while grappling with the fact that their three month period of 'peace' was finally over.

"Are you ok now honey?" Joyce had passed Will a drink while barely resisting the temptation to hug him tight again. After the last few years she was getting perilously close to breakdown. She'd nearly lost her son several times, rebuilt ties with Hopper only to have them snatched away again and then her attempt to start afresh in California had been an unmitigated disaster.

"Mom, I'm fine, trust me!" Will replied a little sharper than he'd have liked but the last thing he wanted to do was appear weak again, especially with Mike watching him.

"No one's fine after having him in their head," El joined in the comfort.

"And right now that might be the least of our worries," Hopper started to lay out Jonathan's photographs.

"Oh man..." Nancy looked decidedly ill as she saw these and had to use all of her willpower not to run for the bathroom. Most of the room was in the same state soon after.

"Who are...were these guys?" Dustin finally managed.

"Remember that Christian militia group? The one who thought they were coming in to save us from Satan and all that bullshit?" Hopper wasn't mincing words. "Turns out God wasn't on their side as much they thought."

That earned a small chuckle around the room, especially from Steve. "I remember Flo nearly having a fit because you nearly blew that reporter's head off!"

"Well it earned me a lot of points with the army at the time...that and he had it coming though someone beat me to it." Hopper sighed. "I've been staring at these all day and I'm still no closer to any answers."

"How come no one saw the guys who did this?" Joyce had to look away from the pics to stop herself being physically ill.

Hopper shrugged. "Army coroners put the time of death between midnight and 2am last night. They tried following the tracks but lost them at the south road between there and the junkyard."

"How'd they get past the blockade in the first place?" Robin ventured.

"Inside job," Steve revealed as he passed over another photo of one of the victims. This one wore a Hawkins basketball team jacket. It was a good thing it had the name Andy on the front or else identification would have been very difficult. His face was gone; punctured by a load of what looked like bone spikes. Dustin raised his eyebrows when he saw this and quietly checked out the footprint photos again.

Hopper shook his head as he saw that himself. He'd had a quiet talk with a tearful Lucas at the hospital about Jason Carver's end and assured him it would go no further. Lucas was a good kid that was for certain. Most others wouldn't be feeling any guilt for Carver's death and, as far as Hopper was concerned, that arrogant little punk had brought his own end on himself. Vecna, aka Henry Creel, had much to answer for. Still, if Hopper's current theory was right, someone had beat him to that as well. He looked over at his adopted daughter.

"I've not felt anything from him, Dad," El saw his look and preempted the question. "I don't think this was him."

Mike was still worried about Will. "You didn't feel anything else from him? That it was all an act he was putting on?"

Will shook his head admantly. "No way. I could feel his fear and it was very real."

"I'm not feeling any pity for that bastard Vecna if he's gone," Steve was adamant about that.

Dustin was all with that as he still painfully felt Eddie's loss. "Me neither but I'm scared about one thing. If he has gone...who's badass enough to take him out?"

"Not sure," Hopper replied coldly. "But there's 2 things I'm sure of. One: they're not friends that's for sure. Okay they took out no one we cared about but we can't bank on that next time. Two: I'm betting there will be a next time because it's obvious whatever bastards did this got off on it. They found 2 more bodies back there, one was hung with his own whip and the other impaled on a tree, it took him all night to bleed out. We are dealing with some seriously twisted people."

While everyone else was wincing in disgust Dustin was deep in thought again. "If we're dealing with people at all. I need to talk to Mr Clarke!"

"You've got an idea kid?" Hopper had long ago learned not to dismiss the party's insights.

Dustin shrugged. "Maybe. If it gets anywhere I'll tell you about it!"

Hawkins Lab

Cy'rac Sedriss was feeling rather pleased with himself as he studied the portal in the lab basement. He and his fellow Drow were safely based in the abandoned lab now and, with the portal in the basement reopened, had a safe route through to the Upside Down and back home. Now they had a secure base and no one at all had any clue that they were here, the previous night's incident notwithstanding.

The fact they were here at all was sheer coincidence and bad luck. Sedriss, Chiara Avalach and Jaelryn Nirnath, the lead Drow sage, had been tasked by the Valshar to create a stable long range portal from the Underdark to the surface of Toril. They'd succeeded at that after months of failure and disaster, managing to link the Underdark with a mountainous plateau east of Waterdeep. However instead of repeating their failed attack on the city the Drow had simply used the route for easier infiltration onto the surface.

While that was going on the Valshar had ordered the construction of another portal at the plateau. The idea was to build a route to somewhere remote like Cormanthor or even Evermeet. The Drow could then smash their surface cousins in revenge for their exile and start the invasion of the surface in secret. Not the way it had worked out. The sage had blundered somewhat and made the portal too powerful. Instead of just crossing land and sea it had crossed a whole world boundary and, in almost insane concidence, occurred when Vecna had finished his preparations to merge the Upside Down into Hawkins. Vecna was so set on his revenge that he had no idea of the consequences his actions would have outside of Earth and the Upside Down, namely acting as a magnet of sorts to pull the Drow's experimental portal straight to the Upside Down.

As Vecna and the party had fought their final battle, Drow scouts had been exploring the Upside Down and had initially taken heavy losses from the Demogorgons and Demodogs that had initially met them. Being Drow however they'd adapted fast, bringing fire wielding wizards and magic users along on the second incursion along with flame enchanted weapons and elven respirator helmets, normally used for tomb security but they found they were just as useful here. They were successful enough to make a beachhead camp in the Upside Down on that occasion. On the third they found a way through one of the portals to Earth which, ironically, was one of the ones in the southern woods so they came in undetected. On the fourth one party discovered the abandoned Hawkins lab...and another had captured a still recovering Vecna in the Upside Down. At his full strength he'd likely have overcome his elven assailants easily but El and the party had shattered his strength and he was not used to countering Drow binding magic. Now he was, ironically, back in the cells of the lab still magically bound, bleeding and in constant agony.

Given they were not supposed to be here at all Sedriss would be normally ordering a withdrawal back home but he had decided to stay put for the moment. In the first place a new world to explore wasn't an opportunity that came up everyday. In the second place going back empty handed would not be healthy for any of them. Despite the fact that he and Chiara were considered 'right hands' of the new Valshar, Sedriss knew that any hint of failure and they'd be dispatched with no more ceremony than putting a rabid animal out of its misery. Such was the way of the Drow.

It could be argued that they'd achieved some massive feats already. A portal to another world, a stable two wayportal at that, both of those things were unheard of up until now. The problem was the Valshar wouldn't see either of those things as useful on their own.

Hence Sedriss was sticking around Hawkins trying to see what he could salvage from their ill fated experiment... and seeing if he could indulge one or two of his own whims at the same time.

"The portal here is reopened, stable and ready for use!" Jaelryn joined him on the viewing platform. She was a tall darker skinned Drow; in fact her skin was almost black as night which starkly contrasted with the ornate red robe she wore. "Now we can come and go through the poison realm as we like! We laid down waymarkers to get us back to the portal home."

"Good work!" Sedriss nodded in approval. "The detection crystals too?"

"They came in last night with Chiara's group that..well you know. At least with this working now that won't happen again. Now we've got this whole area to ourselves and I can get back to what I am good at!"
Sedriss smirked. "You mean you're looking forward to getting back to your little 'experiments' on the rivvils!"

"Well naturally one must be able to practice one's art!" Jaelryn chuckled. "You must be the same. How long since you used your closest friend after all?"

Sedriss nodded as he put a hand to the hilt of his personal katana, aka the Desolator. It had indeed been too long since he'd used it. "Soon we'll get the chance Jaelryn, very soon. You'd better focus on perfecting your research. Word is the Valshar was getting very close to an agreement with the Elder Brain back home. If that's true he'll want to see some progress from you not exploded rivvil brains, amusing though that was."

"I'm confident I have the precise calibrations now," Jaelryn assured him. "Soon we can make a strong army and then, thanks to our new partners, we can have a strong slave army of fodder for whenever we need it! Besides the Valshar will give us the time. We can stay here for a long time given no one knows of us here!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," A concerned Chiara approached. "One of my Red messengers just arrived from home. Two guards were killed at the initial portal site...and five of our protection helmets are missing!"

At that news Sedriss lost his sense of humor instantly. Jaelryn tried to make light of it. "I wouldn't worry, think of all the trouble we had when we first went into that poison realm, how many men we lost. I bet whatever fools did that got themselves eaten in there, I'm convinced of it."

"Oh you're convinced of it, are you? Well we can all rest easy now I suppose? How in the vith are you supposed to be sure of that? Blind trust or something? Jal khaless zhah waela!" Chiara wasn't impressed and showed her habit of slipping into pure Drow Elvish language whenever she got agitated.

"Chiara is right," Sedriss glowered at Jaelryn. "Shows you're no warrior, Jaelryn. Assuming your enemy is dead without seeing their corpse? If they were just lowly city guards or wandering thieves you might be correct but we don't know who or what they are and until we find out we have to assume we are compromised here."

"Shall I send for reinforcements?" Chiara asked.

Sedriss nodded. It was better to be safe than sorry. He was more than a little mad at Jaelryn. Odds were good she was the reason for this breach in their security with her series of 'experiments' conducted at remote locations near Daggerford, Neverwinter, Luskan and others before they'd come over here. While he applauded her zeal she'd been a little careless and 2 of the locations, along with the assorted victims, had been discovered.

Jaelryn could read Sedriss's anger and rightly guessed the reason behind it. "I'm certain nothing was left behind to implicate us!"

"For your sake...I hope so!" Sedriss wasn't mincing words. "If any city's intelligence network found us out or worse, the Harpers, it's not just me you have to fear! Now go and power up the detector crystals and the rest of the devices, we need them all ready by tonight now."

"Yes dread lord!" Jaelyn fled back to the safety of her fellow mages.

Chiara returned after dispatching a messenger group back through the portal. "Well she left with her head still attached I see."

"I'm not going to end someone as valuable as her on a whim," Sedriss retorted. "Besides part of it is my fault too, I gave her more freedom than she could safely handle. You know how excited she gets over her work."

"If the group I sent moves quickly we'll have more forces here by tomorrow morning. Until then we'll just have to proceed with our plan and hope she was right, that whoever found our portal did perish in the poison realm."

Sedriss nodded to her but he highly doubted that. Still...he allowed himself a little smile. Whoever had discovered them could be highly capable. He hoped that was the case, getting bored was one of his chief hates.

Downtown Hawkins

Although the portals in the middle of Hawkins had closed the heavy damage was still more than evident with the massive craters where roads and, in some cases, buildings used to be. Jonathan had to park his car a block out and walk in with Will.

"Why are we down here at all?" Will was sensing something was off when Jonathan sneaked him away from the rest on a flimsy excuse of getting more supplies.

"Because I should have been there for you more the last year or so," Jonathan said as he got out of the car. "And I'm thinking you might need me more now...especially after what went down coming home."

Will swallowed hard. Normally he was more than happy to be around Jonathan. His big brother had always been his guardian and a safety net for him.

"I don't know what..."

Jonathan gave Will a knowing look and cut him off. "I think we both do. I heard everything you said to Mike when you gave him that painting that you worked on for months. Mike may have missed it but I know you were in tears after, I couldn't work out why at the time but I think I have now."
Will had to stop himself hard from shaking as he knew what was coming.
"You weren't talking about El when you were giving Mike advice were you? We both know who you really meant."

Will was starting to tear up at this point. Noticing this Jonathan pulled him over next to a still intact shop window and into a one armed hug. "Hey, it's ok. I'm never going to judge you. Remember what I said on the way home? That's always going to be. You're my brother and I'll never...what the?"

"What's wrong?" Will blinked away tears as he saw Jonathan's expression turn into a mix of concern and alarm.

"See those two in the reflection?" Jonathan had spotted two men across the street reflected in the shop window. "Don't look straight at them!"
Will was starting to think his brother had lost it as he spotted them. They were dressed in hunting jackets and outdoor gear but didn't look special. "What? They just look like two normal guys."
"Yeah...except I took a photo of their corpses this morning!"

"What?!" Will almost choked. "Are you serious?"

"Definitely," Jonathan was good for remembering faces. "Not only that they seem real interested in us too."

"What do you want to do?"

"An old trick I used hiding from bullies back in the day," Jonathan half smiled at Will. "I just hope the ladder on this shop is still there. On three we run into that alley, turn left and climb up, got it?"

Will nodded. He'd had a little practice with moves like this given he'd had to live with Troy and James, aka the morons, during his childhood.

It worked like a charm. Their pursuers had no idea they'd been made and were taken aback when Jonathan and Will ran away into the alley. By the time they jerked into action and had run in there their prey was already up the ladder and were lying on the roof.

Will was about to ask Jonathan what to do next when they heard cold male voices below.
"How did they know?"
"I don't know how but we'd best get back. This camouflage will soon wear off and I don't want to risk it failing before dark."

"Feh, not our day. We miss out on the fun this morning and now we lose the one we're looking for!"

"We'll get our chance. Are you sure that was the one we want?"
"I'm positive. Here, see for yourself."
Will and Jonathan risked a look over the rooftop to see one of the men produce a red crystal which he waved his hand over. Both had to stop themselves gasping when the crystal produced a perfect image of Will!

The other man chafed. "Oh well, there's always next time. Would have been good bringing his head to Mistress Chiara. I haven't gotten to gut any rivvil for weeks!"

"As you said, next time. I bet we'll get that chance! Come on let's go back and keep to the shadows!"

"Damn..." Jonathan watched open mouthed as they left before pulling a quietly sobbing Will into another hug. He had no doubt he had just seen two of the killers...and they were after his brother. Was this madness ever going to end? Was poor Will's suffering ever going to end?

Chafing at the unfairness and insanity of it all, Jonathan helped Will back down and started cautiously back to the car. The shopping was abandoned, they needed to check back in with Hopper and the others.

Hawkins Police Station

While this was going on Hopper and Steve were checking in at the station for the last time. This was one place where things hadn't changed too much. Powell and Callahan hadn't run into any trouble on their patrols and Flo was still fussing over everyone like a mother hen. They were about to call it a day and head out when Flo stopped Hopper again.

"A call from Colonel Gilroy. He says it's urgent and I don't think it's going to wait."

Hopper sighed and went back to his office.

"Are you settling in alright?" Flo asked Steve as he got himself a coffee while they waited.

"Not bad considering what I had on the first day. I think I can stick with this, but you haven't got a Russian base under the floor have you?"

"WHAT?!" Hopper's shout derailed the conversation brutally causing them to look in on him in worry. "Didn't you tell them what happened this morning? Ok...I understand. Thanks for the heads up Colonel."

"What was that about?" Steve had the courage to ask two minutes after he slammed the phone down. Hopper was very agitated and beyond mad.

"The Colonel just informed me that he'll soon be getting orders to lift the blockade."

Steve nearly choked on the coffee he was sipping. "Wha...did I hear that right?"

Are they out of their minds?!"

"The Colonel isn't, he thinks the order is coming from 'somewhere up high'," Hopper said grimly.

Steve checked around to see if anyone else was listening in. "Does that mean someone is making another run..."

"...If they are, they'll regret it!" Hopper's voice had turned black as night and he meant that most sincerely. If Sullivan or any other assassin turned up here for his adopted daughter or any of their group all bets were off as far as he was concerned. He had no way of knowing that all bets were off already and that things were about to go from bad to worse...