{The Spy, Part III}

Steve and Dustin followed Alice the rest of the way to the junkyard, watching how she angrily threw down beef and wondering if they should tell her about the dead leaves.

"She must be corrupted," Dustin whispered, stepping over a piece of semi-frozen meat. "When Will became unconscious at school, she tried to heal him and he zapped her. Maybe he's still connected to the Upside Down, and because of that her powers got turned all dark and scary. And deadly!"

"That would explain why she's so angry all of a sudden," Steve replied. "But wasn't she starting to get more irritable before that stuff happened with Will?"

Dustin nodded.

"This isn't good at all," he said darkly. "We need her powers to go back to normal in case Dart doesn't recognize me and goes postal."

"Maybe she can freeze him in an ice cube," Steve pointed out. "This might work in our favor."

Alice, consumed by her own emotions, couldn't hear this conversation. All she could do was play the past few days—weeks—months!—over and over in her mind, thinking of people to be angry at: her mom, her brother, Nancy, Steve, Jonathan, Hopper, Dr. Owens, the rest of the people at Hawkins Lab...

The more she ruminated, the colder she got. The icier her hands felt. The more her nose bled before freezing on her pale skin. When she finally ran out of beef, she threw her bucket down and ripped off her gloves.

"Hey!" Dustin said, picking up the bucket after her. "Don't be a litterbug!"

Alice grumbled something unintelligible as her nose continued to bleed, this time from both nostrils.

"C'mon," Steve said, ignoring the almost feral look in his friend's eyes. "We're almost to the junkyard."

❄️ ❄️ ❄️ 

When the trio made it to the Hawkins junkyard, Dustin and Steve dumped out their remaining beef.

"This'll do just fine," Steve said, tossing his bucket aside.

"I said medium well!"

The group turned to see Lucas entering the junkyard with Max Mayfield by his side.

"Who's that?" Steve muttered to Alice, clueless. Alice didn't respond, and instead tried to rub the frozen blood off her lip.

"You told her?!" Dustin said, eyes narrowed.

"So what?" Lucas said with a shrug. "You wanted to tell her, too."

"But I didn't!" Dustin said. "We agreed not to tell her and to look for Dart."

Lucas gave Dustin a once-over.

"Who you conveniently found," he said, voice dripping with suspicion.

"Are you suggesting I'm lying?" Dustin asked.

The boys continued bickering, and Steve, Alice, and Max jumped into action. They began collecting things to fortify the old school bus and make it a demogorgon-free zone.

Steve watched out of the corner of his eye as Alice dug through a pile of old PVC pipes.

"You still pissed at me?" he asked quietly.

Alice grunted in reply. She started to step away, but Steve reached for her hand. He continued to hold it, even when the cold of her scar burned his skin.

"Listen," he said softly, "I don't know what's going on with you, but I want to let you know I'm by your side. Even if you try to push me away. You can't get rid of me that easily."

Alice tore her eyes away from the pipes and glanced at Steve. The angry voice in her mind told her to not trust him—he was King Steve, after all! King of the Assholes, Basketball Star, Big Time Jerk. But another, quieter voice reminded Alice of all the good things about Steve, and how much he'd changed in a year. He'd grown up a lot.

Maybe I'm being too hard on him, Alice thought. I did kind of blow up for no reason...

Before she could apologize for her overreaction from before, her palm burned cold. It was excruciating. She inhaled sharply, pulling her hand from Steve's grip and holding it to her chest.

"You okay?" Steve asked, brow furrowed.

"Honestly?" Alice said. "No. But I'm working on it."

"You should rest," Steve said, eyeing the leaves at Alice's feet. They began to curl up around the edges. "We can work while you try to practice your powers and see what's going on."

Alice nodded, going to sit by the school bus. Steve went over to Lucas and Dustin and chastised them for slacking as she picked at her scar.

🧊🧊🧊

Later that night, the trap was set.

The giant pile of beef sat in the middle of the junkyard while flies buzzed around it. The teens sat in the abandoned bus, waiting for Dart to arrive. When he actually made it there, they didn't have much of a plan—except try not to die or let him get away. The ideal situation would be Dart got so full of beef that he collapsed in the grass.

Lucas crouched on top of the bus, using his binoculars to look out for Dart. Everyone else waited inside.

"So," Max said, breaking a tense silence. "You've fought this thing before?"

Alice and Steve shared a look and nodded wordlessly.

"And you're totally, 100% sure it wasn't a bear?" Max asked, resisting the urge to scoff.

"Don't be an idiot!" Dustin said, voice dripping with malice. "It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home!"

Alice cringed seeing Dustin treat Max the way she had treated Steve earlier. It wasn't pretty...

"Someone's cranky," Max said, eyes blazing. "Past your bedtime?"

She turned on her heel and climbed the ladder to keep watch with Lucas.

Dustin scowled as she retreated. Steve—sweet, idiotic Steve—drastically misread the situation.

"That's good," he said like a proud dad. "Show her you don't care."

"I don't," Dustin said, sticking his nose in the air.

Steve winked, which only irritated Dustin more.

"Why are you winking, Steve?!" Dustin snapped. "Stop!"

Steve blanched, then cleared his throat and went back to fidgeting with his lighter.

He watched as Alice opened and closed her palms, squeezing them tightly.

For just a second, her palms began to glow. The bus warmed a few degrees, making the chilly twilight feel like an early-spring evening.

However, before long, the glowing stopped. The temperature drastically dropped. Alice's scar stung as a thin layer of frost darted out from around her and covered the inside of the bus.

"Shit!" she said, smacking the ground. The place of impact now held the outline of a frosty handprint. "I almost had it."

Steve tried not to show it as he slid slightly away from Alice, worried if he got too close to the frost he'd hold the same fate as the dead leaves in the woods.

"Don't give up yet," he said, eyeing the frost as it slowly inched toward him. "Maybe try again. But over there."

Alice looked at him, eyes glistening.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

Steve paled and gulped.

"Like what?" he said innocently.

"Like you're afraid of me," she said, voice cracking.

Steve and Dustin shared a look.

"What?" she said, desperation thick in her voice. "What is it?"

"Nothing!" Steve said, voice in a falsetto.

Alice glared.

"I'll quote you, Steve," Alice said. "You're a terrible liar. Tell me the truth."

"You killed those leaves," Dustin interrupted before Steve could chicken out.

"What?"

"When we were in the woods, and your powers went haywire and started freezing that stuff—you killed the leaves you were sitting on." Dustin cleared his throat. "Sorry we didn't tell you before. We were kind of freaked out."

Alice didn't quite believe it. She shook her head and said, "That—no, that's not what I do. That's the opposite of what I do! I heal, I don't kill!"

"What if your interaction with Will changed you?" Dustin said, kneeling in front of Alice (careful to avoid the frost). "Like, flipped them. Maybe this could help us with Dart!"

"I don't want to kill people!"

"Not people," Dustin said. "Just demogorgons!"

"But what if I can't control it!" Alice crowed, sticking her head in her hands. "Why is this happening to me?!"

"Hey, it's okay," Steve said. Although he was afraid of turning to a Hairsicle, he gently placed a hand on her arm. "You're not going to hurt anyone."

Steve's hand was warm to the touch. Alice finally understood what it felt like when she healed other people. It was comforting. It was nice. It reminded her of simpler, happier times.

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. The frost melted from her palms. "Okay."

"I've got eyes!" Lucas shouted from the top of the bus. "Ten o'clock! Ten o'clock!"

Dustin, Steve, and Alice raced to the windows of the bus. They peered out, watching Dart creep into the junkyard.

"Shit," Alice said. "He's way, way bigger now."

"What's he doing?" Dustin asked as Dart walked around, sniffing the meat but not indulging.

"I don't know," Steve murmured.

"Are you sure that's not a dog?" Max asked, voice cracking.

"He's not taking the bait!" Dustin said. "Why is he not taking the bait?"

"Maybe he's not hungry," Alice said. Adrenaline pumped through her veins.

"Maybe he's sick of cow," Steve said.

His words didn't register to the others until he jumped away from the bus window and grabbed his bat, heading toward the doors.

"Steve, what are you doing?!" Dustin said.

"Steve!" Alice cried out. "You can't go fight that thing alone!"

"Just get ready!" Steve said, tossing his lighter into Alice's hand. His eyes glinted with steely determination as he opened the door and stepped into the junkyard.

"What's he doing?!" Max hissed as she hopped off the bus's ladder.

"Expanding the menu," Dustin replied.

They watched as Steve slowly stepped toward Dart, swinging his bat and saying, "Come on, buddy. Dinner time. Human tastes better than cat, I promise."

The fog rolled through the junkyard, adding to the ominous energy.

"He's insane," Max said, jaw dropped.

"He's awesome," Dustin corrected with a grin.

"He's the biggest dumbass on the face of the planet," Alice deadpanned.

They watched, transfixed, as Dart stepped out from the fog. They could see him clearer now. He was about as long as the demogorgon they had fought last year—perhaps the size of a demo-teenager?

"I can't watch," Alice murmured, "but I can't look away."

Lucas's shout rang through the junkyard: "STEVE! Watch out!"

"A little busy here!" Steve yelled, focused on Dart and not realizing the danger he was in.

"Three o'clock! Three o'clock!" Lucas yelled.

Steve turned, noticing the company. More demogorgons had entered the junkyard, ready and waiting to tear Steve to pieces.

"Steve!" Dustin and Alice shouted. "Steve! Abort! Abort!"

A demogorgon snarled, and Steve snapped back to look at it as it raced toward him. He dove out of the way, rolling across the hood of a car. He swung his bat just as a demogorgon charged.

"Get out of there!" Alice screamed.

Steve raced back toward the open door of the bus where the kids and Alice were waiting. He slipped in, Alice slamming the door shut just as one of Dart's cronies tried to bust in.

Steve and Alice grabbed a piece of sheet metal, pushing it against the door. Steve used his legs to push all his weight against the door, and Alice used her shoulder.

"Are they rabid or something?!" Max shouted.

"They can't get in!" Lucas screamed. "They just can't!"

They all exclaimed in fright as the bus shook, rocked by the demogorgon gang.

A clawed paw scratched its way through the metal against the door, grazing Alice's shoulder.

"AGH!" she cried out, gripping her arm in pain.

Steve's head whipped toward Alice. He yelped when he noticed the bleeding wound.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he hollered, pulling Alice away from the door and to relative safety. He grabbed his bat and hammering it against the demogorgon's arm. The kids ran to the other side of the bus, Alice right on their heels.

They sat on the bus seats and crouched down, shaking with fear.

"Alice! Can you do something?" Lucas asked.

"Not with this, I can't!" she said, gesturing to the gash on her shoulder. "Even if my powers were working right, I'd only be able to heal myself!"

Dustin, in a desperate attempt to get some kind of help, began screaming into his headset.

"Is anyone there?!" he yelled. "Mike? Will? God! Anyone?!"

The four of them jumped and screamed when claw marks appeared on the side of the bus near were they were sitting.

"Get away from that!" Alice said, forcing the kids to stand in the aisle. "Away from the sides!"

The kids rushed to the back of the bus, and Alice lifted her arms, trying to send a blast of heat in the demogorgon's direction. Her hands glowed and sparked, her nose bled like a faucet, but nothing happened. The demogorgon scratch on her shoulder began to frost over and burn cold like the scar on her palm, and she doubled over in pain.

"We're at the old junkyard," Dustin yelled into his headset, "and we're all going to die!"

Alice tried to stand, but dizziness overtook her. She collapsed to the ground, surrounded by the sounds of Steve's bat hitting a demogorgon, Dustin's yelling, and a mysterious thunk...thunk...on the bus's roof.

She realized what was happening too late.

"Max!" she wheezed. "Get away from the ladder!"

She crawled toward the kids as they stood frozen in fear, looking upward at the roof. A demogorgon, perhaps the biggest and meanest of them all, appeared in the emergency exit. Max screamed as he stared at her, ready to strike.

"Out of the way!" Steve shouted, leaping over Alice and pushing Max back. He waved his bat at the creature.

"You want some?!" he yelled as the demogorgon opened his flower-shaped mouth. "Come get this!"

Suddenly, a roar in the distance distracted the beast. He turned away from Steve and roared, running off the bus and out of the junkyard.

Steve stood there, shell-shocked, still holding his bat in position.

"Is it gone?!" Alice said, grabbing a bus seat to pull herself into a semi-standing position. "Did we do it?"

Before anyone could respond, she promptly fell down unconscious.

{Posted November 16, 2019}

{Edited August 26, 2021; Republished January 8, 2025}

A/N L[from 2019] MAO I've discovered I don't know how to end chapters rip.

I hate to make Alice fall unconscious again (I did that same move Season 1) but idk man I think if you'd been scratched by a demogorgon and your corrupted powers were turning you into a popsicle inside-out you'd probably have trouble staying awake...

Vote, comment, and see ya next time!

QOTD: Which Avenger would fight a demogorgon best?

My answer? Captain Marvel, no contest.