The last time she was arrested was nothing like this time where she sat in a living room with everyone's parents including her grandma staring worriedly at all four of them. Compared to the interrogation room that attempted to masquerade as a minors box with random stuffed animals in the cold grey cell, it was a breeze. The three kids sat on the comfy couch while she was placed on a dining room chair beside Max and still cuffed behind her back.
At least she found out that her dad was always a bad liar under pressure, trying to hold in the snicker at the raise in pitch his voice went at the attempt to convince the police officers that the four of them were out to take a swim.
"And do you have anything to say, Miss Henderson?" Officer Powell asked Joan suspiciously, folding his arms across his chest and narrowing his eyes. "You've been awfully silent."
"It's quite the shame that they don't teach your amendment rights until your sophmore year, Chief Powell." Joan replied innocently but a glint in her eyes. "Free RAPPS, two bear arms, three's a crowd, four car doors closed, and I plead the fifth."
"Agatha!" Her grandmother let out scandalously, holding her hands to her chest as if she were to have a heart attack. "Tone the sass."
"Bite me."
"Joan!" Dustin admonished, looking oner at her in disbelief along with the other two kids on the couch. "Rude!"
"Who do you think you are, my dad?" Joan snarked back, but without any real heat intended behind it. The humor of the statement and the intensity of the situation bringing out the best and worst of her.
"Yeah, Dustin." Max agreed, turning to look at Dustin with an attempt to hide the smirk trying to grow on her face by scratching her chin. "Who do you think you are, her father?"
"Dustin, you need to calm down, man. That's your sister, definitely not your daughter." Lucas played along with a nod and all four sniggered at the inside joke, unable to hold it in much longer.
"I can't believe the four of you are making jokes at a time like this!"
"Someone's been murdered, Dusty..."
"And that's our problem how...?"
"Joan Agatha Henderson!"
"We were just at the lake, how's that a crime!"
"We put the city under curfew, missy."
"And how was I supposed to know that?"
"I guess it would be kinda hard if you were kidnapped and brainwashed by a murderer."
"Mmm, or maybe I just know how to have a good time."
"Holy shit Jo." Dustin exhaled breathlessly as everyone choked on the meaning behind the wagging eye brows and the crude words. He closed his eyes and shook his head, starting to see the 2% crazy mixing with the Henderson curse in the worst, yet best of ways. "You're mad..."
"We're all mad here." Joan shrugged, fidgeting uncomfortable with her arms locked behind her and scowling at the adults in front of her. "I'm still a minor, y'know."
"Potential accomplice." Officer Callahan corrected and Joan rolled her eyes, ignoring the more comments about disrespecting an officer of the law. The guy had bruised her back earlier for no good reason! She didn't resist, she wasn't running, and was already on the ground by the time he had caught up to her. It was basically assault, but no one listened to her.
"Listen, threaten them with a little jail time, that'll loosen their lips--"
"Okay--" Dustin began deadpanned.
"You want to send our kids to jail?"
"We need to take this seriously--"
"He didn't mean it like that--"
And the chaos continued with everyone talking over each other and the familiar electricity that Joan was born with entered her veins like a drug, sending a huge grin over face as she also joined in with random statements just to watch the eye twitch of the original Chief Powell grow increasingly more noticeable along with the incessant tick of a living room clock melting into the perfect shade of bedlam.
"Shut up."
The overlapping arguments started to pick up speed and volume, making Joan speak faster in tandem with the others, reciting the Bill of Rights out of spite and laughing inappropriately to get the adults even more riled up. She heard Max groan from beside her which only furthered her desire to do more.
"Shut up."
Joan switched to repeating the Miranda rights looking over pointedly at Chief Powell who finally reached a boiling point by the time she reached the part about an attorney.
"If you cannot afford an attorney, then-"
"Shut! Up!"
Despite the mood, Joan let out a cackle and ignored the looks, slumping back into her seat feeling almost inebriated from the pandemonium from only seconds before. With only a harrowing look sent her way, Officer Powell instructed that Max get up and be first with the interrogation.
"Repeat after me Max, I invoke my right to remain silent, and I want to see my lawyer!" Joan hollered out at the red head, feeling freer than ever with the metal around her wrists. "Jesus Christ, does anyone else feel like they are in the best high of their fucking life?!"
"Joan..." Dustin moaned out while throwing his head into his hands at the way his mother basically dropped onto a sofa at the words. He needed to remember this moment forever and hopefully he could prevent his future daughter from being a little shit... but if he knew himself, he knew better. "Seriously, man."
Eventually Joan was allowed to go off with the other two into the kitchens, but annoyingly had her hands cuffed in front of her instead. She was sure it was done out of contempt, but she still happily sipped on the coke in her own act of malignancy. Perhaps that's why the Powells held her in such low standards in the future.
"Joan, analyze with me. What do Eleven and Vecna have in common?"
"They both have similar powers." Joan responded jittery as her high started to wear off in waves with every sip of coke. "They have their own mind scapes, they can talk to others nonverbally, uh, move things with their minds-"
"And they can both create gates." Dustin finished as he paced around and Joan nodded along, following his words and movements. "Eleven created the Mothergate-"
"-and Vecna created all the other gates-"
"-like Watergate-"
"-and the other smaller, snack gates-"
"-but a gate nonetheless." Dustin pointed out and Joan slumped in her chair, scratching out her hooked together arms and cracking her shoulders. "Furthermore-"
At that point, Dustin had begun talking to himself and Joan resigned to resting her head on the table, her almost-father no longer needing her to bounce ideas off of. It was a common occurrence for her dad to use her as a sounding board, only to finish it with himself and leaving Joan to blink owlishly as he kept diving deeper and deeper into whatever complicated problem he was having.
Like where to take her mom out for an anniversary trip.
She should have told him he was the main reason humans had a photo of a black hole in the future.
Movement brought her out of her stupor, finding herself entranced with the familiar morse code blinking on the lights and shaking her head warily with a whispered unbelievable as it clicked who was behind the lights, her heart clenching in worry.
"Remember when I said they weren't stupid enough to go into Watergate..." Dustin said slowly looking back towards them and making eye contact with wary Joan in similar disbelief. "I overestimated them."
"You know they can hear you, right?"
"I damn sure hope they do." Dustin replied hurriedly, pushing past the three to race over to the youngest Wheeler and stealing the light up toy hastily, Erica dropping a Skittles packet to keep her quiet. "The idiots!"
Joan hurried the best she could, but stumbled from the lack of balance and scowled over at the kids when she finally made it into Nancy's bedroom where the kids knelt beside a filled up LiteBright that Lucas unplugged at Dustin's command.
"You buttheads! Did you forget that I'm handcuffed and that running around is a little difficult for me?!" She snapped out, plopping down next Lucas angrily who had the nerve to apologize sheepishly. "Have we made contact with aliens yet or what?"
"Hawkins to Control, we have made contact." Dustin responded enthusiastically, showing off the screen with a hand, and Joan watched in awe as hi magically appeared before them. "Hi!"
"S...T...U.."
"Stupid. Stupid."
"Why would they write stupid, stupid?!" Joan asked crankily to Dustin who ignored her, sparking only an evil side eye across Lucas' lap. She watched with morbid fascination at the way the three kids' eyes lit up at each letter and couldn't help but let out a snort. "Think this is crazy? Wait till you little shits see laptops, smartphones, and iPads."
"Joan, shut up!" Dustin snapped loudly over Lucas' head, gesturing to the litebrite frigidly. "This is a literal life or death conversation so I need you to shut up and pay attention-"
"There's a gate at every murder site, which means there's one in the safety of the Munson trailer." Joan drawled and rolled her eyes, shaking her hands in an attempted jazz hand fashion around her face. "I literally saw her body, remember? It was still a little warm when I got there, but rather gruesome and not as blood as you'd expect--"
The litebite suddenly went active with more letters spelling out her name followed by the words shut and up. Joan scowled and flipped it off. "Fuck you, you bastard! I-I'll tear your pretty curly hair right off your scalp, braid it, and wear it as battle crown! I'll shove your own tongue down your throat and watch you choke! And--!" Joan froze as the words rushed over her and she slowly looked down at the kids beside her, looking over at her with wide and fearful eyes.
"I-I--" She said nothing else as she sat down quietly and covered her mouth with her cuffed hand, allowing Dustin to take over and lead the conversation after a few heartbeats of heavy silence.
It had been so long since she last had such a violent outburst and after playing who she thought was Agatha-Joan for so long, she had truly forgotten how bad they could be. The memories of her friends and even family members looking at her with those wide eyes trying to hide their unease at her alarming words.
It was suffocating.
And she remain silent as she hobbled out of the window and onto the half roof, jumping into a squat on the grass and ignoring the attempts to help her down. Joan was used to this kind of thing and she hated that she enjoyed it.
With the thrill still running threw her veins, she smirked over her shoulder at the screaming officer and showed off the pocket knife she had nabbed, thrusting it into the wheels of the cop cars on her way, Lucas helping her onto the back of his bike as the rode off as fast they could with only the sounds of chains looping and parents shrieking as their background music.
————
A/N: I don't know why but that last season of Cobra Kai totally killed my vibe for Ck...
Zombies? I'm at a major writers block because I wanted Zed x Josephine endgoal but I wrote Zed toooo toxic and I hate them, but Alan is I'm kinda