-8-

Reactions and Resolutions.

After the Party escaped from the scene, the news crews and the military went mad; several people tried to chase after the pizza van, but they lost it fairly quickly, and they couldn't pick it up again. The news crews were speaking quickly into their microphones, giving the stories and making promises to interview the new hero of the hour, the girl called Eleven.

At the same time, other news crews were interviewing people who called for journalists, and they had different things to say.

Colonel Sullivan was having a great time speaking to the journalists. He didn't have any permission from his superiors to give this press conference, but he didn't care.

"This girl is dangerous! For the last few years, she has been responsible for the deaths of many people in Hawkins, and she has the potential for so many more deaths. I have it on good authority that this girl smashed a roller skate into the face of a girl in Lenora, and then killed some people working at a top-secret facility. Just because it appears she's saved lives, doesn't mean that she won't turn on everyone else.

-8-

Dr Owens growled to himself and his wife glanced at him. "I don't believe him," Cathy pointed out.

Owens grinned at her. "Why's that, because you don't like listening to authority figures?"

"No," Cathy grinned, "because I have faith in you. What do you think has happened to that girl?"

Owens sighed. They had been watching the whole battle, he had told his wife about the history of Henry Creel, aka Vecna, and a few basic points about Eleven.

"She's tired," he said, "she'll need time to rest. I only hope she gets it. Hawkins is a big town. But nowhere is too big."

"I didn't like that militaristic moron; he's whipping them up into a frenzy. It's like he wants them to become a mob," Cathy said.

"They were a mob before that, didn't you see how many of those people tried to get close before that van picked them up?"

-8-

In Lenora, Angela and her friends were watching the conference Colonel Sullivan was hosting.

"I hope they kill that Jane." Stacy grinned.

"Me too. She's a psycho." Jake agreed, wrapping his arms around her shoulder.

Angela was keeping quiet, while she tried hard to stop herself from feeling unnerved with how that Colonel even knew about the attack in the skating rink. How had he known about it? The only way he could have known was if he'd known where Jane was, and had simply watched her all this time, but at the same time, he could have simply been watching for her and learnt where she was after the attack. She had been thinking a lot since she had first seen the devastation going on in Hawkins. She had seen how Jane had wiped out those monsters and saved that little girl.

Would a monster like that have saved the life of a child?

Angela had bullied the girl all year, and she knew now that Jane, this 'Eleven' (what the fuck did 'Eleven' mean?), and in all that time the girl had never hurt her. It took a moment for Angela to remember what that demonic monster was saying about her being powerless, was that true? And then she remembered how he had hinted her friends and family viewed her as nothing more than a tool, and she had seen even over the large distances that Jane had been thinking about everything he'd said, and even though Angela didn't have a clue about half of the things he'd been saying, even she could understand the concept of logic.

And then there was everything Jane had said to that monster. She had called him Henry Creel, she knew him? They did know each other. He was insane, if he murdered his whole family, as Jane pointed out. And she had mentioned some kind of lab.

But one thing was for sure, there was more to Jane Hopper than what met the eye.

"Angela, you're very quiet," Chad commented.

Angela sighed and bit her lip. She wasn't entirely sure what to say about that. "I don't like how that colonel knew about what happened to me, I don't like being spied on."

"But does it matter? They're gonna kill that freak."

Angela bit her lip harder. "I wouldn't call her a freak, Stacy. And….I don't think she's a monster."

-8-

Becky Ives was shaking in rage after hearing what the militaristic moron on the screen of her TV was saying about her niece. She might not know Jane that well, but still she was family and she had never given the vibe she was a murderous monster. Her mind went back to how she had sobbed when she'd discovered Terry's fate, would a monster do that? Would a monster want to live a normal life?

Becky took Terry's hands, knowing full well her sister would have thrown a fit had she been listening to such a diatribe. "That bastard won't hurt our Jane, sis," she knew she didn't have the right to call Jane that, not after what she'd done, but she wanted redemption.

-8-

Marsha and Aaron Holland returned to their home, shaken by what they'd heard and seen in the town square. They had been gathering supplies at the time that demon had appeared in the middle of the town.

Marsha reached out for a chair, but she almost collapsed. "Aaron…," she whimpered.

"That girl…she knows what happened to Barb; how much were we told…were lies?" Aaron whispered, horrified as he sat in a daze.

"I don't know," Marsha looked down at her hands, barely able to see them through the haze of her tears. "We…we need to speak to that girl."

Aaron nodded weakly, too shaken by everything they had just seen, stunned by the fight. "But where did she go?"

Marsha lifted her gaze and rubbed her eyes. "I think I saw Karen and Ted Wheeler get in that pizza van with Holly," she said, remembering the scene.

"Surely that's the first place anyone looking for her would go to?"

Marsha shrugged. "Well, I dunno, but I want some closure; Aaron, I never understood what happened with Barb, and all of that covering up was bad enough, only to find out something worse happened. I want to know."