Fireworks in the Sky.
By TimeTraveller-1900.
"What the hell's that?" Hopper demanded when the relative silence, broken only by the occasional car driving past or the sounds coming from the TV, was broken for good by the sounds of explosions in the distance. Against the night sky, and the current damage the Upside Down was still inflicting on the world as its cracks opened more and more, leaking purple-red-hued light above the town which was making everyone cower in fear, even more so after they had seen Vecna and the Demogorgons, the sight of something incongruous was unexpected.
"Fireworks?" Robin questioned as she peered out of the curtains.
"What's going on?" Joyce stared up at the display in surprise, and she glanced at Hopper, but he was as befuddled as she was.
"Fireworks, why would someone light fireworks when everything is going to hell?" Dustin said. Curious Will walked out of the house and into the open. It didn't take long for him to see where the fireworks were coming from. In the distance, the flashes of multicoloured light were coming from the woods. Will had lived in Hawkins his entire life and while he had spent a year in California to get away from the bad memories he had being here, he knew this place well. He knew where the fireworks were coming from, he just had problems working out why.
Someone came to stand next to him, and he turned and saw Steve and Jonathan. "The fireworks are coming from the Lab," he pointed out, knowing they'd either worked it out themselves or hadn't joined the dots.
"But the Lab's been abandoned for two years," Jonathan said.
"That's where they're coming from," Will said.
Hopper had come out as well, holding his shotgun in his arms, looking over in the direction the fireworks were coming from, and realising where they were coming from. "It could be a trap to lure El out of hiding."
"Nah, I can't see it working out. El hated and feared the Lab. I don't think she'd care if a two-mile crater in the ground replaced it," Lucas said.
"I think we should check it out; look, we don't know if that soldier who's got it in for El is here or not, and he might be using the Lab as bait for her to come out to him. The sooner we find out where he is and what he's doing, the better," Nancy pointed out.
The young woman didn't voice the fact she was bored just sitting in some abandoned house. They all were. And besides while Ted and Karen and Holly were as new to this as Argyle was, the others knew anything to do with the Lab was automatically bad news. And they knew while it was a good idea to avoid the place despite it being deserted for years, anything new was better investigated…or the repercussions would be severe.
"She's right," Jonathan replied. "I think we should take the risk."
"Well, I don't," Karen interrupted.
Hopper nodded slowly in thought as he considered. He privately didn't like being stuck in the house even one so close to the Lab, but a way away from the town itself despite whatever barrier Vecna had thrown up around the town still being there, but he was curious about all of this. "Okay, Nancy, if you want to go, then do it. But go armed," he added.
"I wouldn't be going out there if we weren't," Nancy smirked. "Besides, I'll go and check out the Lab from a distance; if there's anything too dangerous, then we'll come back."
"Who's we?" Steve asked suspiciously.
"Well, I was hoping you, Jonathan, and Robin could come with me while the others stay here, and keep an eye on El and my family," Nancy replied, looking the three of them in the eye to get an idea of where they stood. Jonathan turned to Steve, who shrugged. Personally, the two young men were getting bored. Meanwhile, Robin shrugged. "Sure, it might be cool to discover a relatively easy-to-unravel mystery," she said. "But will it be okay?"
"Should be, as long as we're careful," Nancy said, turning to the others. "Look, mum, we'll be careful."
Hopper turned to Steve, who gazed back at him. Hopper chuckled and slapped his shoulder, ignoring the flinch. "Good luck, Steve."
Joyce quickly wrapped her eldest son up in a hug, and they watched them get into Argyle's pizza van, and head out before they walked back inside the house.
-8-
The journey to the Lab was quiet. The van's atmosphere, was fraught with tension as the quartet prepared themselves for a fight. In the distance the fireworks were still going off; they could see and hear the flashes in the air.
"Nothing about this makes any sense," Jonathan commented as he guided the van down the empty roads; ordinarily an empty road would be a good thing, but with the whole world aware of El and some of them being aware of her past, it was more ominous than that. "The road's empty. Why is it empty?"
"Yeah," Steve nodded. "I was expecting there to be tanks or trucks. But this is just too quiet. Do you think anyone in the town saw or heard those fireworks, after what El did with her mind?"
"Oh, they must have seen them," Jonathan replied.
"This all screams trap to me," Robin commented as she gazed uneasily around them.
"Of course it's a trap," Nancy said as Jonathan successfully guided the van down the roads before they arrived at the Lab, and as the van pulled in down the road leading to the Lab the quartet saw that the fireworks were coming from the grounds in front of the main building.
"Oh, my," Robin whispered when they arrived at the Lab's main building and got a good look at the front. The four of them had been expecting something, but not what they were seeing as they slowly drew the van towards the main admin block and shone their headlights at it.
The ground floor of the Lab building had been smashed by three large trucks, the types used for construction. They had smashed into the building with enormous force before just being left behind.
"I dunno what I was expecting, guys, but this wasn't it," Steve mumbled.
"Something doesn't feel right here, I can understand dozens of residents wanting to destroy the Lab for all the damage the place and the scientists who were here caused, but surely they would still be here," Robin commented and she looked around slowly and fearfully, half expecting angry crowds to start running towards their van, and rip open the doors while cutting off their only route of escape just to get to Eleven.
But no.
There was nobody here.
Nancy was quiet and she picked up the gun she'd brought with her. "We're not gonna get any answers in the van," she said and she opened the door, but Robin stopped her. "Robin-."
"No, Nancy, we don't know what's out there," Robin hissed, turning to Jonathan and Steve begging for their help.
Ordinarily, she would be jumping up and down on the spot, hoping to investigate weird shit like this, but right now there were so many things that had not made sense. And it made her nervous.
"Robin, nothing about this makes any sense. Those fireworks…they were seen all over the town, and yet it looks like we're completely alone," Nancy said, "There are so many things that make no sense. Why were the roads empty and quiet? Why are we the only ones here? Who smashed the Lab? It was not the town; they would still be here if it was them. The army doesn't have any reason to be here, never mind smash it. No, someone else did this, and I wanna know who it was. I don't want to go back to the house and tell the others we were drawn here on a wild goose chase. Look, I'm not going to go too far. I'll just have a quick look around, and then we can go."
"I've gotta say, I don't like this any more than Robin does, but we might as well take a look," Steve said.
Robin rolled her eyes. "Oh, thanks, but," she trailed off and turned to her best friend, "I'd like to know, too," she said. She'd had enough time to muster up her curiosity.
Nancy shared a grin with her and then turned to Jonathan and Steve. "What about you, guys?"
Jonathan and Steve shared a look before they turned back.
"I think this is a weird trap, but I would like to know what's going on," Steve replied. "I'm in."
"Me too. And I'd like to know why nobody else is here," Jonathan said. "So what's the plan? We don't want to all go, and I don't feel comfortable about leaving the van."
"Do you want to stay in the van, and keep in touch with one of the walkie talkies?" Robin pointed at one of the portable radios they'd brought with them.
"Yeah, and that way you can stay in case we need to make a quick getaway," Nancy didn't like the words coming out of her mouth since she and Jonathan had proven to make a really good team. But it made sense that such measures were needed.
Jonathan looked like he didn't want to say yes, but he had asked for it. "Okay, I'll keep an eye out my end," he said.
As they left the van with Jonathan inside, Nancy couldn't help but shiver as she looked up at the building. Like the Creel house, the Lab, once a neutral scientific institution, now seemed to ooze evil. The things Brenner, Vecna, and to a lesser degree, El, had left a bad taste in her mouth whenever she saw this place. She could and would never forgive them for their threats after Barb's death was cleared up.
Nancy cocked her gun, the sound making her flinch a little but it made her feel safer as she walked slowly around. The first thing she, Robin, and Steve checked out were the trucks. They came from one of the large construction firms. Local. The doors were open, but as she looked inside them they were empty.
"Did you see anything?" Steve asked.
"No," Nancy replied. "Have you seen anything?"
"No," Steve said. "I just don't get this."
Robin was examining the walls. "Looks like whoever did this was furious," she commented.
Nancy turned to her, "What do you mean?"
"Just that, look at the way the trucks smashed into the walls. It's like the drivers were in a frenzy," Robin said. "And look at the ground."
Nancy frowned as she looked at the damage and she saw her friend was right. There were tyre marks on the road, showing that the drivers had reversed the trucks dozens of times and smashed them into the building and they didn't care about the damage the trucks took. "This is getting weirder by the minute," she said and she turned to the admin block. "Do you think there's anyone inside?" She asked.
"I'm not going in there," Steve said instantly, "No chance."
To make sure she understood he wasn't going to go in, Steve walked around the two girls and walked around the trucks. A moment later Jonathan called over on the walkie-talkie.
"Nancy, Robin, come in," he said.
"What is it, Jonathan?"
"I've been looking around, but it's so quiet. How is it your end?" Jonathan asked.
"Well, we haven't found anything that makes sense. I looked into one of the trucks," Nancy said.
"I saw from the van. What did you find?"
"Nothing," Nancy said. "I couldn't see a thing that could give us a clue."
"Nancy was thinking of looking inside the Lab," Robin interrupted.
"Oh, thanks a lot, Robin," Nancy rolled her eyes.
Jonathan was instantly against that. "NO, don't even think about it, Nancy. We don't know what's in the Lab, or who."
"Hey, guys! You'd better take a look at this!" Steve's voice yelled out from behind the trucks.
"Hold on, Jonathan," Nancy raised her voice, "What is it?"
"It's best if you see it yourself. It looks like we're really not alone here," Steve shouted.
Nancy stiffened and she quickly called Jonathan, "Jonathan, did you hear what Steve said?"
"No. What is it?"
"It looks like we're not alone. Follow us around the trucks, we might need a quick getaway, after all," Nancy said.
"Okay, over and out," Jonathan signed off, and a second later they heard the van's engine and the girls walked around the trucks towards where Steve was, with Jonathan following in Argyle's van. The moment their torch beams and van headlights picked out what Steve had found, they knew some of the mystery had been answered.
There was a van there. It looked identical to the one they'd used to get here, but this one's windows were blanked out.
Steve came over to them, "I tried to open the doors, but it's been locked. And I couldn't see any signs of anyone being inside," he said.
Nancy was staring at the van, completely befuddled. And then she looked in all directions, shining her torch in all directions as this latest bit of proof this was a trap became clearer. But this made no sense. "Hello?" She called. "Where are you?"
"Nancy, what are you doing?" Steve hissed.
"Why would they leave the van here?" Nancy asked.
"She's right, if this was a trap then they'd have hidden this van out of sight, but they didn't."
"You're right, we didn't."
Nancy wasn't able to stop herself in time. She yelped in shock and panic when a young woman their age was suddenly right in front of them. What made it so bizarre was the woman was close to Nancy, Robin, and Steve and she had just appeared out of nowhere. Nancy studied her closely. She had dark skin, but Nancy guessed she was of Indian descent, with her dark hair in a poofed-up punk style, and her eye makeup she looked like she belonged to a punk band.
"Oh, my god," she whispered when she saw something that caught her eye.
There was blood trickling down from her nostril.
Exactly like El…
Nancy's eyes shot open. She knew who this was. The answers were right there; the empty roads, the fireworks, the way the trucks were smashed into the Lab building in a frenzy. They had never met, but Nancy knew this woman, and it looked like the feeling was mutual since there was a knowing smirk on the other woman's face.
"Hello, Kali," Nancy said.