"What about the Greyhound?" Andrea Bauman asked her uncle Murray as she lifted a coffee mug to her lips, taking a sip and studying the scene before her. "Did anybody talk to the drivers about seeing her on board?"

Upon every inch of the wall's surface were countless photos detailing a missing person's case, of Barbara Holland from Hawkins, Indiana. A native of the next town over, Cartersville, Drew had been quick to hop in her car and drive to her uncle's warehouse in Sesser, Illinois as soon as she'd gotten a visit from the man himself about the case. Murray had been hired by Barbara's parents after she'd vanished over a year before without a trace, simply written off as a runaway teen by the Hawkins Police Department. However, with a disappearance happening during the vanishing of a young boy by the name of Will Byers, two incidents so close together in such a sleepy town was too much to ignore.

If anybody could solve the case of where the Hawkins teen had run off to that night, there was no better than the Bauman family.

"It's too obvious," Murray reminded her, his eyes tracing over a set of notecards detailing a timeline from that night, of when Barbara had joined a friend by the name of Nancy Wheeler at a party at Steve Harrington's house, the last place she was seen. "You're thinking small. Where else might she have gone directly after the Harrington boy's house?"

A pounding against the metal door upstairs pulled both of their attentions away from the wall, a confused expression crossing Drew's face as she looked back at her uncle.

"Are you expecting company?" she asked as he shook his head, gesturing for her to follow him out of the office so he could slide the door shut behind them.

"Not anyone I usually want to see," Murray muttered under his breath as he led her upstairs, to where a small television screen showed video footage from a security camera he'd planted outside. "Now who could that be?" he asked, reaching for the microphone next to the television. "Look at the camera," Murray spoke into the microphone, startling the three figures waiting outside, who began to look at one another with confused expressions. "The camera," he repeated as the boy curiously knelt down in the direction of the microphone outside. Murray sighed, shaking his head. "Not the loudspeaker. Above you, to the right."

Murray took his hand off the speaker as the three of them instead turned to face the camera above the door, revealing their faces, all of which Drew quickly recognized from the map downstairs, studying them over and over as she committed them to memory. "Well this is an unexpected surprise," he muttered, unlatching the lock on the door and pulling it open to reveal the three now staring back at them. "Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan and Teresa Byers. You three are a long way from home." he said, gesturing for them to follow the two inside.

Nancy stepped inside the building first, followed by Teresa and a hesitant Jonathan. As soon as the three newcomers were safely inside, Murray's eyes darted around the yard, making sure they hadn't been followed before pushing the door shut and relatching the lock.

"Follow me," he instructed the teenagers, before briefly nodding in Drew's direction. "This is my brother's spawn, Andrea," he introduced.

"Drew," she corrected quickly as they walked down the stairs to the bunker and towards the yellow grated double doors leading to the living room, and Murray pushed them open.

"Well," Murray said, leading them through the room as their eyes instantly began to scan the space around them, filled with small TVs and other knick knacks her father never quite understood her uncle's fascination with but Murray claimed he needed, anyways. "I hope you didn't come all this way to tell me about the bear in the Harrington kid's backyard. I've heard that one already."

Murray turned around without another word, pulling open the sliding door that revealed his workspace beyond, the cups of coffee Drew had placed down earlier already beginning to grow cold in their brief absence. Nancy, Jonathan, and Teresa slowly stepped inside the room, studying the wall on the other side of the room, detailing everything Drew and Murray knew about Barbara's disappearance.

"Take a look." Murray said, nodding in the direction of the wall. "Go ahead, don't be shy." At his words, Nancy instantly stepped forward while Jonathan and Teresa stood behind, the latter seeming far less interested than the other two. "I followed up on two hundred tips, most bogus, but that's how these things always go, okay? I know every last step Barbara took that day, every last person she talked to. The answer to what happened to your friend, it's up here somewhere, I assure you that. I just gotta connect the right dots."

"Timeline's wrong," Nancy spoke up, eyeing the board as Jonathan stepped up behind her.

"I'm sorry?" Murray asked, exchanging a brief glance with Drew before looking back at the Wheeler girl.

"Wrong?" Drew asked.

"Your timeline is wrong." Nancy repeated, before pointing to a drawing on the right side of the board, a quick sketch of a young girl with a newspaper clipping next to it detailing the story of a girl accused of robbing a grocery store with psychic powers. "And the girl with the buzzed hair, she's not Russian. She's from Hawkins Lab. Her name was Eleven."

"You might want to sit down for this." Jonathan added.

Murray glanced at Drew once more before taking a seat on the couch closest to the doorway, and Drew followed, taking a seat next to him. As they sat, the other three all stood near the maps, looking back at them.

"Barb wasn't attacked by some bear in Steve Harrington's backyard that night, or ran off at the bus station after the party. She was taken into another world underneath ours by a monster, and it killed her." Nancy explained, causing Drew's eyebrows to furrow together in confusion.

"I'm sorry?" Drew asked. "A different... world?"

"It all started when our brother Will went missing." Jonathan added. "Hawkins Lab was running experiments on this other world, using Eleven to open a gate to it, and Will was taken by the monster, too. Only, he somehow managed to get away and hide until we were able to find him and bring him home."

"The point is, now they're covering up Barbara's murder by saying she ran away." Nancy continued. "They even took her car down to the bus station and planted it as proof. We didn't have any evidence to prove what they did to her, until we were able to get this."

Nancy reached into her backpack, pulling out a black tape recorder and hitting play. "What if they try to replicate that?" a voice sounded from the speaker. "The more attention we bring to ourselves, the more people like the Hollands who know the truth, the more likely that scenario becomes. You see why I have to stop the truth from spreading, too. Just the same as those weeds there. By any means necessary."

Nancy clicked off the tape as it came to an end. "So, is it enough?" she asked.

Drew watched in awe as they spoke, her eyes darting back and forth between the three of them and the board on the wall, the puzzle pieces in her head shifting until an entirely new puzzle began to form. It was crazy, sure, with things that she'd known for a fact weren't scientifically possible, but she hated to admit, it did connect a few of the dots that seemed to be missing.

"The tape recording, is it enough?" Nancy repeated, watching the two Baumans intently as they sat in silence. "Is it incriminating?"

Murray slowly rose soundlessly from the couch, leaving the four teenagers in the workroom without another word. Drew rose to her feet after him, with Jonathan, Nancy, and Teresa all looking at her with confused expressions.

"Where's he going?" Jonathan asked as the sounds of glass thudding against the countertop came from the other room.

"Kitchen," Drew said simply. "Follow me."

"This place is freaky," Drew could hear Teresa whisper to Jonathan as Drew led them in the direction of the kitchen. "I can't believe I gave up a date with Jason to be here."

"You could've stayed home, Tessa," Jonathan reminded her, and Drew rounded the corner to see a bottle of Russian vodka in the center of the counter, with Murray rummaging through the cabinets to find a cup.

"What are you doing?" Nancy asked as Murray began to pour the clear liquid into a shaker filled with ice.

"Thinking," Murray said simply.

"With vodka?" Nancy asked skeptically.

"It's a central nervous system depressant, so yes, with vodka." Murray explained, closing the shaker and beginning to shake its contents together before pouring it into the cup and grabbing a vinyl record to place in the player.

"Is he always like this?" Tessa whispered to Drew.

"Pretty much," she whispered back.

"Music?" Nancy asked. "Really?"

"Yes." Murray said. "It helps me..."

"What, think?" Jonathan asked.

Murray nodded, placing the record onto the player and closing the lid over the needle as jazz music began to softly pour through the speaker. Once he was satisfied, he picked up the glass full of vodka and began to slowly pace the room.

"How long is this going to take?" Nancy asked impatiently.

"Longer if you keep talking." Murray said.

"Is the tape incriminating or not?" Nancy asked. "It's a simple question." she said as Murray began to laugh in response.

"There's nothing simple about it." Murray retorted. "Nothing simple about anything you've told me."

"You don't believe us, do you?" Jonathan asked.

"Why would he, Jonathan?" Tessa reminded him. "It sounds crazy. I wouldn't believe us either, given the choice. We knew this was a waste of time."

"Oh, I believe you, but that's not the problem." Murray reassured them. "You don't need us to believe you, you need them to believe you."

"Them?" Jonathan asked.

"Them," Murray repeated. "With a capital T. Your priest, your postman, your teacher, the world at large." he scoffed. "They won't believe any of this."

"That's why we made the tape." Nancy pointed out.

"Oh, that's easy to bury." Murray said. "Easy."

"He admits it, you heard it." Nancy insisted. "He admits culpability."

"You're being naive, Nancy." Murray retorted. "Those people, they're not wired like me and you, okay? They don't spend their lives trying to get a look at what's behind the curtain." he chuckled. "They like the curtain. It provides them stability, comfort, definition. This... this would open the curtain, and open the curtain behind that curtain, okay? So the minute someone with an ounce of authority calls bullshit, everyone will nod their heads and say 'See? Ha! I knew it! It was bullshit.' That is, if you even get their attention at all."

"So you're saying we did all of this for nothing?" Nancy asked.

"I'm saying I'm thinking." Murray said, taking a sip of vodka before beginning to grimace from the burn and walking back to the kitchen.

"This is ridiculous," Jonathan murmured, his eyes looking back in Drew's direction. "I'm sorry we wasted your time."

"Don't worry about it," Drew said, looking back at where her uncle now held a bottle of club soda, staring down at him intently. "This is pretty standard for him."

"That's it," Murray said, still studying the bottle. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Nancy asked, stalking back into the kitchen.

"It's just too strong," Murray explained, beginning to pour club soda into the vodka glass. "Too strong." he took a sip, nodding. "Better," he said, pouring in more club soda and taking a longer drink. "Perfect."

Nancy stared at him for a moment before a look of understanding crossed her face. "We water it down." she concluded.

"Precisely," Murray agreed.

"Wait, what?" Jonathan asked.

"Your story," Murray explained, "We moderate it." he reached into the cabinet, pulling out four more glasses. "Just like this drink here. We make it more tolerable." As he spoke, he began to pour club soda into the first glass, mixing the four drinks together until they matched his own. "Perhaps Barbara was exposed to some dangerous toxins."

"A leak from the lab." Nancy added. "Like Three Mile Island or something."

"Something scary but familiar." Murray continued, placing the glasses in front of them. "Close enough that it hits the man right where it hurts."

"And those assholes that killed Barb..." Nancy trailed off, picking up one of the glasses.

Murray smiled. "They'll go down," he said as she raised her glass, the other teenagers all following suit as they took a drink.

Drew braced herself for the burn of the vodka as she drank hers, but was relieved to find the club soda killing most of the burn, confirming that it did, in fact, make the drink more tolerable, as Murray elected to do with the story. She locked eyes with her uncle as she lowered the glass, nodding in agreement.

"It'll work," Drew agreed.

"Here's what we have to do." Murray explained, leading the kids back into the workspace. "Andrea and Jonathan, address an envelope to every news outlet in the area. We'll record the evidence onto a tape for each one of them, and Nancy and Teresa, you'll stuff the envelopes and get them ready to ship."

Drew moved quickly to a bin where she knew Murray kept his supplies, pulling out a stack of envelopes and two markers, handing one to Jonathan before the two of them took seats at the table. They continued to work into the evening and late into the night, checking off news outlets as they went and continuing to drink glass after glass of the vodka and club soda, which allowed them to fall into an easy rhythm.

It was long after dark when the final tape was addressed to a news outlet in northern Minnesota, and the group had wrapped up their work, instead moving to the couches to continue drinking, this time in celebration at their efforts to take down those in charge at the Hawkins National Laboratory, and their crimes in covering up Barbara's murder at the hands of the monsters.

"Woohoo!" Murray cheered, pouring himself another glass and raising it in their directions as the teenagers all smiled proudly. "To taking down the man."

"To taking down the man." they all chorused, taking a celebratory drink, the vodka already beginning to turn the edges of Drew's brain fuzzy.

Murray sighed, looking fondly down at the bottle of vodka. "Commie bastards sure know how to make a spirit, am I right?" he asked, reaching forward to top off Nancy's glass.

"Oh no no no, we can't." Nancy said quickly.

"Yeah, no, no I've gotta drive." Jonathan protested.

"Drive?" Murray echoed. "What, tonight?"

"Our parents..." Tessa began.

"Would be proud if they knew what you were up to." Murray finished for them. "Just tell 'em you're at Tammy's, or Dawn's, or whoever's, and take my guest room."

"I mean, do you want to stay?" Jonathan asked the girls, and Nancy quickly glanced down at her watch.

"I mean, it is pretty late." Nancy agreed.

"Okay," Jonathan said. "Could I use the sofa? The girls can have the bed, it's probably more comfortable." he offered.

"There's a pull-out sofa in my study if you want it." Murray offered, grabbing the vodka bottle and heading for the stairs. "Goodnight, kids."

Drew watched as Murray disappeared up the stairs, and Tessa began to yawn, stretching out in the chair she sat in. "I should get to bed, too." she said. "It's been a long day."

"Yeah, I'm gonna turn in, too." Nancy said, following Tessa up towards the guest room. "See you guys in the morning."

Drew watched as the guest door shut behind the two girls, leaving her alone with Jonathan on the couch. The two sat in silence for a moment, as Drew reached up to finish her glass.

"So do you do this often?" Jonathan asked. "Help him solve his cases?"

"From time to time." she said. "When I get a chance to make the trip. I'm from Cartersville, so this one was a lot closer to home than some of his more local cases out this way."

"What makes you believe us so easily?" he asked. "About everything with Will and the lab. It sounds absolutely crazy, why didn't we have to water it down for you to believe us?"

"I actually snuck out of my house one night to join a search party when your brother went missing." Drew admitted. "Local boy from the next town went missing, I thought I could try to solve the case, and actually get known as a young detective. When they reported that his body had been found a few days later, but then a week after that he was found alive and well, I couldn't figure out how he did it. It's crazy, sure, but I don't know, something about it just seems to make sense."

"None of this still makes sense," Jonathan said with a slight chuckle. "If anything, this is the tamest of anything we faced last year."

"Well, someday I'd love to hear the story." Drew said.

Jonathan smiled. "Someday," he agreed. "But all the same, thank you for helping us."

"Hey, anything to stick it to the man, right?" Drew asked with a smile, a comfortable silence passing between the two of them for a moment. "On that note, I should probably get to bed." she said, rising from the couch.

"I'll walk you," Jonathan offered, and she nodded, allowing him to follow her up the stairs from the bunker into the rest of Murray's home, where her bedroom waited at the back of the hallway, across from her uncle's.

Drew held tight to the railing, trying not to let the cloudiness in her brain trip her as she walked up the stairs with the boy right behind her. He followed her down the hall until she paused in the doorway, her hand resting on the handle.

"This is me," she said quietly, not wanting to wake her uncle as she smiled back up at the brunette boy. "Thanks for walking me."

"Anytime," he said. "Goodnight, Drew Bauman."

"Goodnight, Jonathan Byers."