Starcourt mall was very obviously closed by the time Joan made it over to the location, but perhaps Max and Mike weren't lying because there in fact was Steve's car still parked in the parking lot. Joan drove around to the back of the theater because, well, word had already gotten around that if you jiggle the door just right... it would open and that was the new make out spot for the basketball team.

Joan was going to be in and out with her brat of a brother and possibly her ex and her ex's possible new girl friend after giving a drug dealer a ride and rocking out... What a night.

The door trick worked and Joan hurried inside, hoping no one would see her as she snuck in to grab the idiots inside. Joan turned the corner, but ran back as one of the security guards walked by her vision.

That would definitely be a trespassing charge, Joan shuddered. But maybe if she just calmly explained what was going they'd understand. Plus, Steve worked here and they probably already know that the three were in there. Her shoulders relaxed and she stepped out from the corner, mouth opened to ask for help.

"H- mmph!"Joan barely got air out before a hand clamped fiercely down over her mouth and was yanked behind the wall and into a small storage room. She was already freaked out from Billy's assault and this only made it worse, as she tried get out of the grip she was in and scream for him.

"S-shit, Henderson! It's me Steve! Fuck!" Steve whispered harshly into Joan's ear, hissing as she bit his hand. "Dustin, tell your sister to calm down!"

Joan pushed herself free from Steve, racing forward and turning around with a racing heart towards four faces who looked at her like a live wire. "Steve? Dustin?! What the fuck are y'all-"

"Shhhh!" Steve leapt forward, hands over Joan's mouth and accidentally shoving her against the wall. Joan's eyes widened in shock and fear, Steve nervously looking around them. "L-look I know... I know this is going to seem crazy, okay. B-but hear us out..."

"Russians have infiltrated Hawkins through a super secret base underneath the mall and plan on killing us all with super powerful weapons and monsters!" Dustin blurted out quickly, heading over to stand beside Steve and looking at his sister seriously. "Those men in black are not on our side and if they catch us-"

"-They gon' kill us." Erica interrupted. Dustin pointed at her and nodded frantically.

"Yes, that."

"I-I'm going to remove my hands - and back away." Steve said slowly like she was a dog ready to run. "Y-you're going to be quiet... yeah?" Joan nodded slowly, both of them holding their breaths while Steve took a step back. Steve's eyes immediately landed on the bruise on her neck and his eyes widened in shock. "Holy shit, Ags. What the hell happened?!"

Self-conscious, Joan's hand tried to cover the bruise, but that just showed the bruises on her wrists and Dustin grabbed her hands to look at them. "Oh my God, did you get captured by Russians too?!"

"N-no..." Joan took her hands back, rubbing her wrists and tried to appear smaller. She frowned in thought, could... could the Russians be controlling Billy somehow or could Billy be a Russian? It seemed all too coincidental for this to be happening at the same time. "I don't know... maybe?"

"You don't know-?!"

"Hey, as much as I love this weird tender family and ex-lovers meeting," Robin interrupted with a shaky grin and nearly bouncing on her feet from nerves. "But we got to move, like, now."

"W-well, ignoring the fact that you guys look like Freddy Kreuger wanted to have some fun, the way I came in is blocked by a, uh, Russian." Joan thought about what she said and whispered under her breath. "Never thought I'd say that..."

"yeah, yeah, Russians, crazy, we're over that now." Dustin snapped out and looked at Joan. "We can go left once they pass by and head over to the food court, hide there before the coast is clear to make an escape."

"Right, Steve's car is there and we can-"

Steve let out a hiss and looked away in physical and mental pain. "Yeah, can't do that sorry."

"it's fine I can drive-"

"No, the Russians took my keys."

"...The Russians took your keys."

"...Yep."

Joan nodded a few times and looked at all three faces who had already accepted what was happening. "Right, cool, great." Joan swallowed and played with the gold ring on her finger nervously. "W-we'll just have to make a run for it to my car. That's that."

What a dumb stupid shitty plan. There was no plan actually, Joan screamed in her brain from behind one of the food counters. They had gotten so close, but the foursome ducked behind the cookie counters and Joan had made the bright idea to hide alone behind the Taco Bell.

There was no fucking plan, she reiterated, closing her eyes tightly and shaking. There was just a vague outline created by a 14 year old and expected to be executed by a 12 year old, a graduate who scoops ice cream, and two 17 year olds.

Holy shit, she kind of wished Billy had killed her after seeing Steve's face.

When she opened her eyes, she watched through the reflection of the metal walls as the Russian's got closer to them and her heart stopped as one looked her way.

Joan forgot that mirrors worked two ways.

With one hand curled around a serrated knife she had found, Joan prepared herself to give the fight of her life and pray that the other four would have enough time to run away. She'd throw her keys at them, scream something heroine like, and-and-and totally not cry!

They were steps away, and Joan took a deep breath before shooting up with a battle cry and leaping over the counter to-

Boom.

Joan's breath left her as a fucking car took out the Russians. She must have been staring in shock for a while because Steve had come over with his hands outstretched, wide and ready to defend if needed. "Ags? It's me, Steve..."

"I-I know who the fuck you are Harrington." Joan didn't mean to let out a sob, but the past 24 hours had really started to take a toll on her mental, physical, and emotional health after she just watched a car randomly fly into the fuck air and murder a bunch of Russians trying to kill her. "Holy fuck."

The knife dropped to the floor and Joan threw her hands over her face. "First, Heather is weird. Then Billy is weird -almost tried to kill me-"

"-Billy Hargrove tried to kill you?!"

"-Then I get saved by da-Dustin's friends, sent away. Talk to a drug dealer, come here and now they're evil Russians?!" Joan cried out, looking up in horror at a wide array of faces. "And now you guys are here too?!"

It was silent before Joan let out a shaky breath, stepping over to her brother and pulling him into the tightest hug she had ever given. "Fuck, Dustin. I'm so glad you're okay." Dustin returned the hugh quickly before pulling away and facing the new group.

"What are you guys doing here?!" And from there descended chaos that Joan couldn't keep up with as everyone pitched in new information that didn't seem to match up at all until Max looked over at Joan quickly.

"W-when we heard the distress call, we tried to call a code Tennant, but you didn't answer. We were worried we were too late."

Joan frowned, remembering how she ignored it in favor of spending time with Eddie Munson and metal music and instantly felt like shit. "O-oh, well, I'm fine besides Billy Hargrove choking the shit out of me, gagging and tying me up, before shoving me in a locker for like five hours."

"Again, Billy Hargrove did what?!" Steve asked incredulously, looking at Joan. "What were you doing with him?!"

"Now's not the time to crush on my sister, Steve." Dustin snapped out. "This is a very serious- oh shit."

Chaos just kept getting worse and worse, Joan groaned to herself after El's fall and scream. "Move, move. I've got CPR and First Aid Training." Joan snapped, shoving everyone away and looking at El. Well, she did, but she wasn't sure if Agatha was. But when she looked at what was causing El pain, Joan's stomach flipped. "H-holy shit, what the fuck is that?!"

"Oh God, another person to explain everything to." Dustin moaned out while Joan was shoved away by Jonathan and Nancy. The kid looked at his sister in what could only be called sadness while they... helped El? "I-I didn't want you apart of this..."

"Apart of this... what?" Joan blinked at her little brother with an open mouth and waved a hand to not really anything in particular. "There's a this?!"

"Well, remember when Will went missing a couple of years ago and then the whole lights flickering a-and-!"

"Hendersons!" Steve snapped, both heads flying towards him. "Now is not the time!"

"R-right.." Dustin said kneeling down while Joan watched quietly from beside Robin. There wasn't much she could do besides sit and watch as a new thing caused more questions as El magically threw a slug from her ankle.

And then Mike's mom and the Chief Police and Dungeons and Dragons.

"H-hold on, DnD?" Joan asked her brother next to her in disbelief. "Why DnD?"

"Uh, because it's the best game to ever exist and somehow all the monsters are all relative to real the ones we deal with in our dimension."

"I-I-I can't." Joan decided shaking her head and hands towards everything with a shiver. "Russians? Sure. Being almost murdered? Why not! B-but this... I'm out, bye. Dustin, let's go"

"...No."

"No?! Mom will kill me if I let you die here?" Joan exclaimed in disbelief, her arms flailing wildly, and trying not to think about what would happen to her if he died now. "I'm in charge - let's go!"

"They need me, Joan." Dustin said earnestly, looking at his sister with eyes that reminded her of her dad. Joan swallowed thickly, the on-set mania and tears hitting hard. "If you need to go, go. But they need me. Hawkins needs me."

Joan licked het lips and looked around at the people around her looking at her expectantly. Joan nodded a few times and wiped her face, her throat feeling hoarse and her body aching more than it ever has. "Okay... but I... I can't do this." Joan watched Dustin's shoulders drop and she felt like a coward with each step she took. She dodged Steve's hand towards her wrist and started walking off, stopping to steal a handgun off a dead body. "I-I'm taking this."

"Ags, wait, stop-!"

But Joan had already unlocked the mall doors and ran out, not stopping until she got to her car and shakily got in and locked the doors. Part of her hoped that Eddie Munson's face would scare her again, but perhaps it was for the best that Joan tore out of the parking lot with no interruptions.

She headed home, because underneath her blankets none of this existed. None of anything that just happened happened and she'd be able to call Heather and laugh about the crazy dream she just had and-!

pause.

Since when did Brynnyn get replaced with Heather?

Joan stared at the opened red door in front of her and walked on autopilot into the home, already feeling weak at the already rotting food from the night she had dinner with the Holloways and Billy, and the blood staining the floor.

Heather was fine, she had to be fine. Everything was fine. Nothing was wrong. Joan chanted in her head as she started her car to go home and zoomed down the road to go home and wake up.

"...co...ant...od ennant..." Joan froze and slowed her car to a stop at the familiar radio buzz coming from her trunk and stared down the dark road path home. Her brain was silent as she parked the car and slowly walked around her car, opened the trunk, and grabbed the walkie talkie. "...code tennant...code tennnant!...code tennant!..."

Does she answer? Joan wondered, listening to the frantic repetition coming through the speaker grow more and more anxious. The two on the screen glared at her angirly, accusing her of abandoning her family, of running away too soon when they needed her. She swallowed thickly, pushing the talk button down firmly.

"..I-I'm here." Joan spoke softly into the receiver, gripping the metal so harshly she thought she might break it. "...I'm here."