PRETTY SICK!
—  a stolen treasure ☆

By the time the sun started to set and the clouds had cleared from the skies of Hawkins, Indiana, Gen was sweaty, uncomfortable, and she was pretty sure the meat at the bottom of the bucket had gone sour from the amount of time it spent from a fridge. Needless to say, she felt rather annoyed. Especially when Dustin and Steve refused to shut the fuck up for more than five minutes, and even moreso when the only reason they shut up was to stare at Gen once she removed her jacket.

Underneath, her shoulders were covered in scars from training, accidents, or things she just forgot about with time. Which stood out, sure. Though they didn't need to stare.

She rolled her shoulders back uncomfortably when their eyes locked onto her to get them to stop, which they did, and then promptly started again a few moments later. A futile attempt at comfort, really, so she stopped all together once she realized how close they were to the scrapyard.

Gen had gone there a few times whenever Eddie needed to deal drugs somewhere that wasn't the woods next to the school or the old burger joint near the edge of town. Broken down, rusted cars lined the empty, yellowing grass, which gave the area an unpleasantly eerie look to it. Eddie made her hang close-by him while he dealt with grown adults, for his "comfort" or something, not that she complained. Gen sort of liked being a security blanket for people (This would, however, never be verbalized because of how embarrassing it is.). She came up over the low hill after Steve and Dustin.

The former took off his sunglasses and looked around, "Oh yeah. Yeah, this'll do. This will do just fine... Good call, dude."

Dustin beamed at the compliment and Gen took off one of her gloves to clap him on the shoulder briefly, then followed Steve through the scrapyard towards the center where they emptied the last of their meat in a pile.

The sound of bicycle chains alerted Gen to people who approached, and she smacked Steve with her bucket as she stood up straight to look at the source.

"I said medium well!" Lucas Sinclair called out and waved, which she returned and shifted her focus to a redheaded girl beside him.

"Oh, God. A ginger."

"It's a kid, Gen. Play nice. Who is that?" Steve asked, squinting from the harsh sunlight that beat down on them.

"A ginger one," she muttered in reply.

Dustin was too dazed to reply, a slight scowl of disbelief formed on his usually cheerful face — that was the girl, the one he fawned over the entire way there, but she spent time with Lucas instead of him. Was she a two-timer? Or was Dustin delusional? It was probably the latter, but Gen liked to observe the disastrous love lives of others, because unlike them... she was normal.

Well, she was single.

But she imagined that if she were to be in a relationship, she and her partner would be completely normal (Unlike literally everyone else around them.). So she could only experience it through the lives of other people, really. It was especially amusing between a bunch of middle schoolers, solely for the fact that they were all a collective bunch of idiots.

Lucas got tugged away behind a car by Dustin, and the redhead walked up to Gen and offered a soft smile and a hand to shake, "Hi, I'm Max. Lucas told me about you."

"Your hair is orange," she deadpanned and shook her hand firmly. People with red hair were strange to look at. Not to mention Lucas put another person in the face of grave danger when they didn't need to be, and she was a child like them.

Max nodded hesitantly and squinted at Gen with a mildly sarcastic smile on her face as she spoke in a slow tone, "I... didn't notice."

"Gen, be normal for like, five minutes," Steve hollered from the bus that stood near the back of the yard. He had sheets of metal in his hands and his black Ray-Ban sunglasses sat atop his nose again in a way that made him look even douchier than usual.

The girls covered their eyes from the glare that the metal gave off and he directioned it away from them, "Come help me barricade the bus!"

"I need to call Will!" she screamed back.

"What?"

"Will! I'm going to call Will!"

"Wha— I can't hear you!"

"I need to call —! Jesus Christ," Gen cursed the last bit under her breath and stormed over to Steve, "I'm going to call Will and see what the hell is going on with him, Mike, and Hopper. My guess is that there's something else happening."

"Shit, don't be stupid, Volkova," he languished and did a full-body eyeroll, "They've already tr—"

"My head, asshole," she frowned, "I can get to him anywhere and see if they need help — I'm not asking for permission, either, I'm telling you."

"Why did you even come over here, then?"

"To tell you."

"But you aren't asking."

"I know, I'm telling you."

"You could have just done it."

Gen deadpanned. "Noted."

His face pinched into an odd look that made Gen think he was about to ask a question, then he pushed his sunglasses up onto his head and scratched the back of his neck. "Hey, uh, have you checked in on Angie recently?"

"No... why?" asked Gen pointedly, her eyes narrowed at him. Steve probably already lady-hopped to the next available woman that gave him attention, for all—

"I just... uh... she was acting weird. Not uh, not just normal Angie weird — weird, weird. Like, she wasn't all there?" he replied, and her face softened slightly. "I don't know... it's probably nothing. But you should check."

"Yeah," she paused. "Yeah, I will. After I talk to Will."

"Thanks." His eyes darted to the ground awkwardly and Gen shoved him a little bit for being stupid. Steve scoffed, "What the hell was that for?"

"Being stupid. Look me in the eye if you want to talk to me," she murmured and brushed past him to go sit down where they weren't building.

Gen tossed her jacket to the side and crossed her legs, shutting her eyes as she steadied her breaths. In through her nose, out through her mouth.

Unlike Eleven, she rathered music to help her focus and go where she needed to go, she understood that their abilities were more different than similar, but Gen liked hers more than El's, so it never mattered.

It felt calming to let all of her surroundings melt away with her thoughts when she imagined a smooth bassline, one she or Eddie could play, and then drums... not Gareth's. His were too loud.

Her mind frayed like a piece of yarn, each stray string looked for someone to latch onto, she didn't know the technical name for it, but she called it her 'connection' — it connected to Steve's head, which unsurprisingly, was filled with nothing besides a few anxious worries when the sun went down. Then Dustin, who felt just positively heartbroken by Max; each of them sounded like faint whispers at the base of her neck, she nearly missed them if she hadn't been focused. Gen grumbled in annoyance and forced it to move along as she zeroed in on Will and only Will.

Gen and Will spent many sleepless nights speaking to each other through her power, when Will couldn't find the pager, or it was too late for them to hang out. Normally, his brain was calm enough that she didn't mind it, either. Some people were just way too loud to spend more than a few minutes with, though, like Angie Bell. A non-stop hamster wheel was the only way she could describe it.

She furrowed her brows at how long it was taking and how it started to strain her, she dug deeper into the minds of the people of Hawkins, they passed by her like wind, ghosts of who they actually were until she felt the piece of yarn that connected to Will. Gen opened her eyes and expected him to be inside of his room, or in the living room or something — just like every other time. Instead, the ground beneath her gave way and she fell.

Gen's voice echoed through the empty void when she yelped out in surprise, and a sharp pain ignited from her back once it hit the ground, which had a layer of shallow water on it.

What the fuck? She shot up into a standing position.

Normally, when she would connect to someone, it'd be like she stood wherever they were in real life, or close enough to it for her to see them. Dead air replied when she stared out into the abyss, deep and menacing. It looked like the depths of the quarry at night, when the water would go black and have a sort of bone chill which ignited a hollow feeling along her nerves. Gen grimaced and shuffled around, tempted to attempt to leave before anything went South, but the sound of meek footsteps from behind her caused her to spin around.

"Will? Will, Christ... are you okay?" she asked and walked up to him, instead of staring blankly at the general direction her voice came from, Will looked up at her. His eyes were ringed with red, and he looked sickly pale, even more so in the dark. A hospital gown hung from his shoulders. "Where the hell are you? It's... it's really dark here, little man."

Tearfully, he started to push her away from his shaking frame, his lips quivering. "You have to go!" Will cried out, "Get out, Gen! Before he... he..."

Gen stumbled out of pure shock of being physically there for him, staying in place once she caught her balance. "He? Will, talk to me. I'm right here," she insisted, her voice echoed throughout the empty space.

"He's... he's everywhere! Run, get away from me, please!" The small boy screamed with a might that Gen barely knew he had in him.

Her mouth fell agape for a second and her hand reached out for him, "Will?" The silence smothered both of them, even through his choked sobs — she realized that she couldn't hear his thoughts, much less understood what he meant.

As her fingers grazed his shoulder, Gen flew back with a force she forgot some (supernatural) beings were capable of; she landed in a heap and sheltered her head from hitting against the ground. Grunting in pain, she rolled onto her side, pushing herself up into a sitting position to catch the wind that knocked out of her lungs. She winced at the familiar frigid coolness of the air and her eyes snapped open, darting around her surroundings, familiarity smothered her. Was she having an episode?

Vines snaked themselves along any surface they could, and a light ash substance floated throughout the air, at a glance it looked like snow. A childlike wonder came over her the first time she watched the white powder float from an unknown source, but the first time had been a long time ago. Unmistakably, she sat in the place she merely dreamed of over the past few months. — Gen only ever heard of these kinds of episodes, the ones where you were sure you were actually there. Back in the Upside Down. Hers usually consisted of nightmares and flashbacks that clouded her vision whenever she felt something that reminded her of her time in the opposite dimension.

She looked around the scrapyard and frowned, hoping she could just wait it out or something. Her arms tucked themselves under her armpits and she jolted back from the thunder that cracked in the sky; Gen squinted towards the bright red light that illuminated the dark clouds.

The unknown terrified even the strongest brutes.

Her breath found itself lodged in her chest, an unpleasant, round pocket of air held an unbelievable amount of pressure. Gen tried to breathe.

A silhouette remained whenever the red lighting crossed a certain area. It had a long head, thin body, and several large tentacle-like arms that reached to, what she imagined, was the ground. She sucked in a small breath involuntarily and ignored the pounding headache that crept into her temples — Gen couldn't let fear dictate how she acted, not again. Not when it looked like the creature in the sky hurdled towards her.

She began to run, but what it lacked in overall speed, it made up for in mass.

𓆩♡𓆪

"Shit!" Dustin squealed, followed by the sound of bursting metal, "Shit! Shit! Shit!

"What the hell is that!" Max cried out and bolted away from the source of the noise, her brows furrowed furiously as she looked at Dustin and Lucas for answers. Neither of them responded as their gaze landed on Gen's body, she convulsed on the grass, a pained look on her normally neutral face, "Holy shit, is she having a seizure?"

The answer was: no, obviously. No seizure made the objects in the area burst at random, the shrapnel shooting dangerously close to them.

"Alright, back up! Get back," Steve demanded, swinging his arm in the direction of where he wanted them to go. "I said back up! Unless you want your head blown off by a piece of scrap metal."

The children obliged, for the most part, but Dustin stood a little bit too close for Steve's comfort despite his directions. "Is she trying to kill us?" Lucas hissed — they couldn't die while they still had to take care of Dart.

"I don't think it's voluntary," muttered Dustin, his hat fell lopsided on his head from the material that nearly took his head off of his torso a few moments prior.

Max looked between them, an incredulous look on her face, "How is she doing this? We need to get her to like... a hospital! Or something!"

"No, this has to be her power," Dustin shot back, his eyes narrowed at the red-haired girl. "Her cerebro must be acting up — hey, Steve! Shit, what are you doing, man! Get back here!"

The man ran over to her once he realized the flying chunks of metal had ceased for the time being and started to shake her violently, "Hey! Volkova!" Steve called out to her, his brows furrowed in concern, "Gen! Wake up, this isn't funny!"

"Her what?"

"Jesus, just don't say anything if you don't know," Dustin snapped in response, which made Lucas smack him on the chest and let out an exclamation of protest.

"Dude!" he scolded him and glanced at Max, "It's a mind thing, from X-Men. She can read people's minds from, like, really far away."

She nodded in acknowledgment and watched Steve on her tiptoes, peering over the remains of a car. The man in question hesitated for a moment before he slapped her across the face in a final attempt to wake her from her catatonic seizing state.

A tire exploded, sending pieces of hot rubber all around its previous location, and Gen awoke with a gasp of air. Her eyes shot open, bloodshot and dry as she heaved for the sweet taste of fresh oxygen on her tongue. Steve grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her, "Cool it! Cool it... don't blow my head off."

Gen's eyes refocused and stared up into the darkening sky, and she muttered something under her breath, then stammered, "It — it... it stole... it... my mind — the monster... it took my — my power."

—————
——— AUTHOR'S NOTE
sorry for the long ass wait 😭 i have
nearly all of act 1 prewritten, i just
forgot to kept posting because of
personal stuff and feeling a bit
inadequate in regards to my
writing as a whole 😝 but its whtever

whomp whomp whomp this
chapter

PRETTY SICK!
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