As the day dragged out, Jenna got more and more anxious with this plan. There was a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that was telling her something was going to go wrong. She had no idea what exact part of the plan that would happen, but she couldn't shake the feeling, no matter how much she wanted to. While she was growing nervous, she looked over at Eleven and saw her expression remained blank for the rest of the ride. When they stopped at a drive-thru, getting dinner with the stolen money from the gas station, all Jenna could stomach was a small order of fries, worried that she'd vomit if she tried to eat a hamburger like everyone else.

After everyone was done eating, their next destination was Ray Carroll's apartment. On the way there, Dottie and Funshine helped pick out a mask for Jenna to wear, with the two of them deciding on Jason Voorhees' hockey mask from Friday the 13th. Kali picked out a baby face mask for Eleven, and she laughed at how ridiculous it was as she put it on. Kali grinned alongside her, and it almost broke Jenna's heart to see them so happy when she knew what would soon follow after dealing with Ray. No one was going to like it, but they couldn't stay here. This wasn't the lifestyle for them.

By the time they pulled up in front of Ray's apartment, the sky had gone dark. Jenna had a hard time hiding how nervous she was when Mick stopped the van in the middle of the parking lot, signaling that they had arrived and the plan was about to be set in motion.

"All right, we should case the place, stick to the routine," Mick stated. "We have time."

"We also have her." Kali glanced towards Eleven. "Can you look?"

Jenna wanted to roll her eyes at the way she referred to Eleven as some kind of tool, and she bit her tongue to avoid starting any arguments right before they were about to kill a man. Tensions were already high, so she didn't want to make things worse.

Eleven nodded her head and closed her eyes for a few seconds, then quickly opened them back up, the blood already coming down. "He's watching television," she said.

"Is he alone?" Mick asked.

"I saw him. No one else."

"Good enough for me," Kali said.

"Me, too," Dottie added, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Val, you good?" Kali asked me.

Reluctantly, Jenna turned her head. "I'm fine," she lied, knowing that was all she could say to please them. There was no point in convincing them to forget this plan and head back to the warehouse for the night.

"Let's do this," Funshine added, putting on his Care Bear mask, which everyone followed suit.

"Keep the van running," Kali told Mick.

"Meet you around back," she replied.

It was when the others piled out of the van, followed by Mick driving away, that Jenna let the reality of all this happening sink in, knowing it was too late to turn back now. She tried to keep it together, to not get even more nervous so that her powers wouldn't flare up at the wrong time. Then again, if that were to happen, maybe it would be a blessing in disguise, seeing if no one got seriously hurt or killed.

When they approached the front door, Eleven used her powers to slowly unlock it, taking no time to do so. One by one, they entered the apartment, finding Ray messing with the knobs on the TV.

"Hello, Ray," Kali spoke up.

Ray turned around, his eyes going wide and a fearful expression plastered on his face. "Jesus Christ!" He made a race towards the door, but Funshine was there to block his way.

"Sit down. Please." Funshine backed him into the living room again. "I said, sit." He took Ray and shoved him into the recliner, the rest of us surrounding him.

"Just, please,...just take what you want!" Ray said.

"Oh, we will," Axel said.

"Where's your wallet?" Dottie asked.

"Bedroom. My bedroom. My jeans."

Dottie nodded her head, grabbing Axel's arm and skipping down the hall with him. "Come on."

With those two out of the room and Funshine guarding the door, it was just Jenna, Kali, and Eleven facing Ray. They took a moment to stare at a confused and scared Ray before finally taking off their masks and revealing their faces to him. His expression hardly changed once he stared at them.

"Do you remember us?" Kali asked him.

He shook his head no, just as Jenna had expected he would do. Suddenly, the lights all over the apartment began to flicker on and off, seeing flashes of Ray almost shaking in his seat. Before he could try and get up, Kali hit him across the face, letting him fall to the floor.

"Please, please," he begged, his voice filled with desperation.

"You hurt Mama," Eleven said angrily. She then let out a scream and used her powers to fling Ray across the room, slamming him against the wall.

With blood running down the side of head, Ray let out a groan. "Wait," he stated shakily. "Please. Listen...I just did what he told me to do. He said she was sick."

Kali shook her head. "You had a choice, Ray, and you chose to follow a man you knew was evil."

"No, wait! No, wait! Wait!" he cried before Eleven could use her powers on him again. "I can help. I can help you find him."

"Find who?" Kali asked.

"Brenner!" he shouted. "I can take you to him."

"Papa is gone," Eleven told him, the pain settling in her eyes.

"No, he is alive," Ray replied.

Jenna shook her head in disbelief. "That's not possible. He died about a year ago."

"Do not lie to us, Ray," Kali warned him.

"I'm not lying!" he protested, starting to cry. "I swear...He trusts me." He paused, taking a moment to compose himself, then continued. "I'll take you to him."

"If he's alive, Jane will find him, just as she found you." Kali turned her head towards Eleven. "Do it, Jane."

Jenna looked at Eleven and saw the pain and anger in her eyes. There was some reluctance in what Kali wanted her to do, and she didn't want her to go through with it.

"Do it," Kali repeated in a more demanding tone.

"El, just hold on a sec--"

But Eleven had already started strangling him with her powers before Jenna could finish her sentence. The girls followed him as he slid along the floor, trying to get away from them.

"Not too quick," Kali told her. "He wasn't so generous with your mother."

"Eleven, stop it right now," Jenna interjected. "This isn't you."

Eleven ignored her and continued to let Ray choke, and Kali kept her eyes on Eleven to make sure she stayed focused. Jenna could feel the rage inside her build up, but she resisted the urge to intervene with her powers, not wanting to hurt anyone in the process.

However, just as Ray's face was turning a bright red, Jenna and Eleven spotted the broken picture frame with a photo of Ray and his two daughters beside him. Before Jenna tried to tell her to stop while she was at it, Eleven's face softened, slowly setting her shaky hand down and releasing Ray from her grasp, coughing and gasping for air.

"What's wrong?" Kali questioned, not a hint of concern for her. "What's wrong?!"

"There's kids in the house, Kali," Jenna said. "His kids."

"What?"

"We got a problem," Axel spoke up, coming out of a room.

"Kids in the apartment," Dottie added when she followed him out.

"Please..." Ray muttered once he had the voice to do so.

Kali turned back towards Eleven, her eyes cold. "Did he show your mother mercy? No."

"Please. No. I'm sorry."

"He took her from you without hesitation."

"Please don't. Please."

"We gotta go, K! They called the cops!" Axel shouted.

Kali darted her eyes at Axel. "We finish this first!" she retorted, facing Eleven once again. "Jane, now!"

"That's enough!" Jenna finally intervened. "We're leaving now."

"No, we're not." Kali then pulled out her gun, cocking and pointing it towards Ray.

With no hesitation, Jenna stared at the gun and used her powers to make the weapon hot to the touch, causing Kali to let out a grunt of pain as she dropped it. When she attempted to pick it up, Eleven flung the weapon out the back patio door, shattering the glass. Kali could only give them looks of shock and betrayal, unable to say anything when they heard police sirens coming their way. Much to Kali's dismay, everyone left Ray alive and dashed out the door and down the stairs, running around to the back of the apartment building, where Mick was waiting for them as the others jumped in the van, speeding off once everyone was accounted for. Once they were able to catch our breaths, Jenna looked over at Eleven.

"You okay?" Jenna asked.

"I'm fine," Eleven muttered.

"What the hell was that?" Kali spoke up. "We had him right there and you just let him live?"

"He had children," Jenna reminded her. "It's called showing mercy."

"If you wanted to show mercy, that is your choice," she retorted. "But don't you ever take away mine. Ever. Do you understand?" When Jenna didn't respond, Kali moved her eyes towards a distressed Eleven. "Do you understand?!"

"Yes, we understand," Jenna snapped. "So you can quit your bitching."

Kali let out a scoff. "Like you're one to talk."

Jenna raised her eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that's all you've done since you got here," she said annoyingly. "You bitch about how we do things around here, about how I'm trying to help Jane--"

"By what, using anger to channel her powers? That's how you think she'll become stronger?"

"It worked for me, and I know it can work for both of you, too, if you would just trust me."

"How can we trust you when we hardly know you?"

"Then get to know me and let me help you. Maybe then you can finally see who you truly are."

"I know who I am and it's not Valerie!"

"That's bullshit!"

Jenna rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "I'll never become the girl you want me to be."

"And no one back home will truly accept you,"

"They already hav--"

"No, they're all liars!" Kali cut her off. "It doesn't matter if they told you otherwise. They'll always be afraid of you, no matter what." She paused for a moment. "Especially that boy Jane mentioned yesterday. What was his name? Steve?"

There was a sting in Jenna's chest at her words. "No...no, you don't know what you're talking about. Steve would never--"

"He will once he sees the real you. Just give it time and you'll see that I'm right."

Jenna didn't respond after that, letting Kali turn away from her.

For the rest of the hour-long ride, no one said a word, the radio playing some hard rock that filled the van. It was the best option for drowning out the tension between Jenna and Kali. Looking over at Eleven, she saw a few tears fall down her face, a guilty expression still in her eyes. Jenna wanted to ask if she was okay, but with her head pressed against the window, she figured now wasn't a good time to say anything to her. She couldn't imagine the position she was put in by Kali when it came down to killing Ray, and Jenna didn't want to see that happening to her ever again.

Once everyone made it back to the warehouse, Kali and the rest of her friends occupied themselves in the main part of the building on the upper floor, while Jenna and Eleven were upstairs. Eleven was in the bedroom, swaying side to side in the chair, and Jenna was outside with a cigarette that Mick gave her. She stared out at the city below her, huffing a sigh as she thought more about what Kali was saying in the van. She didn't want to believe that no one would truly accept her for who she was, especially when she had the reassurance from everyone that knew about her past. But thinking back to the events a year ago and up until her night with Steve, were they really just saying that to ease her worries? Were they really afraid of her?

"You know, all of that overthinking is gonna make your head explode."

Startled, Jenna turned around and dropped her cigarette in shock when she saw who was standing there. "Steve?"

"The one and only," he said, chuckling.

She scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. "This isn't...this isn't possible. You're..." Trailing off for a moment, it finally hit her. "You're not real."

"You sure about that?" he asked, leaning against the railing. "Because all those thoughts and feelings you've had about me seem pretty real."

"Like you know what I've been thinking," she retorted, rolling her eyes.

"So you're not confused about our friendship, then."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me, Jenna. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

She didn't prepare to have this conversation with the real Steve yet, much less an illusion of him. "There's nothing to say. It was a mistake."

"Do you really believe that? Or is there something inside of you that was glad it happened?"

Trying to hold it together, she let out a laugh. "Why does it matter? You're still in love with Nancy."

He was silent for a few seconds, then sighed. "Because she's nothing like you."

She shot him a hurt expression. "What?"

"Oh, come on. Nancy is a decent person, unlike you." His voice started to get cold.

"Steve, you know me. I'm not a bad person."

"Even after all the things you've done?" he retorted. "I've seen what you can do, and maybe once you realize how dangerous you actually are, then you'll be able to see it."

"See what?"

"That you've always been the girl from the lab."

Jenna felt herself getting angry at him, even though he was just in her head. She spun around, not wanting to look at this version of Steve, the version that hated her because of my past catching up with her.

"I'm not her anymore," she said. "I'm not a monster."

"You almost killed Tina," he pointed out.

"I wasn't trying to. It was an accident."

"Just like when you did the same to Craig?"

Tears formed in her eyes as she turned around to face him again. "I...I didn't mean to--"

"Whether you meant to or not, it doesn't matter," he cut her off. "You're out of control. Your anger is out of control."

"Well, you don't know how it feels to be this way!" Jenna shouted. "You have no idea what it's like to always be on edge, always worrying about another episode at the wrong time." She paused, feeling a lump forming in her throat. "Do you really think I want to be like this?"

Steve let out a scoff. "Isn't that what all monsters say?"

Jenna closed her eyes. "No."

"Don't deny it anymore, Jenna. Or should I say Valerie?"

"Stop it." her hands began to shake as they started to get hot.

"No. Not until you admit it." He took a step closer. "You're nothing but a monster."

"I said, sto--" But as Jenna opened her eyes, she saw that Steve was no longer there. Instead, Kali took his place, staring at her with a blank expression.

"Now do you understand what I was talking about earlier?" she questioned.

"That wasn't the Steve that I know," Jenna replied.

"Yet you were thinking about that version of him," she pointed out. "If you didn't have your doubts about him, then I wouldn't have been able to see it in your head."

"So you invaded my mind just to prove a point?"

"I needed you to confront what was holding you back," she said. "But I think it's a lot deeper than I initially realized."

"Oh, really?"

"You like this boy, don't you?"

Her heart almost stopped at the question. For the first time since yesterday, Jenna had thought about the incident that night, then the following day, and now she was going back and forth on how she felt towards him. As much as she wanted to disagree with Kali about her feelings for Steve, there was a part of her that had a hard time doing so. Maybe that was the case because the affection for him was there this entire time and she chose to ignore it.

"It's hard to have feelings for someone who will never reciprocate them to you," she stated.

"You don't know him like I do. He wouldn't just cut me off like that."

"He will eventually, and that's something you need to accept." She paused, letting out a sigh. "I just don't want to see you get hurt or make the same mistakes that I made. Like I told Jane, once you free yourself from what's causing you all of this pain, you can move on and accept who you are." There was another pause before she continued. "Look, I'm not saying that you two can't go back to Hawkins, but if you decide to stay, we can heal our wounds together."

Jenna looked down at the ground below them, unsure of what to say to all of what Kali said, spotting a group of men that looked like police officers walking near the warehouse at a fast pace. She began to grow worried.

"Are those...?" Jenna started to ask, but she knew what the answer was already.

"Police officers," Kali stated. "Shit."

There wasn't much time to process what they saw when Eleven came rushing outside, panting. "Trouble," she managed to say.

"Yeah, we just saw the cops," Jenna told her.

"No," she responded, shaking her head. "Trouble with Hopper and Mike."

"What?" she asked, a bad feeling forming in her stomach. "Eleven, what are you--"

"Let's go. We don't have much time." Kali led them back inside, where they heard loud banging noises coming from the lower floor. Before they knew it, cops barged inside, flashlights and guns in hand as they scattered. The three headed up a flight of stairs before any of the cops could stop us, but Jenna knew it'd only be a matter of time before they would find a way to surround the place and trap everyone inside.

"The hell's going on?" Axel asked frantically.

"They found us!" Kali answered.

"Jesus Christ!" he hissed, getting his gun ready to shoot.

"No, no, no!" Kali protested, getting everyone to stay still as they huddled around each other.

When the noise faded, they saw a group of police officers coming up the stairs to their floor, hearts racing the closer they got to us. Despite their lights and guns pointing their way, eyes looking in the same direction as they moved past the group to the next room, none of them saw the others standing right there in front of them. Eleven was clinging onto Jenna, gripping her arm as tight as she could. Once the room was clear, Kali put down her illusion, with everyone taking off running down the stairs and out the back door, heading for the van. But more cops were waiting for them, which made everyone run faster.

"Hey!" one of them shouted.

Axel started shooting at them until the group made it around the side of the van. The sound of bullets hitting the van echoed in their ears as the yelling from the police got closer to them.

"Do something, Kal!" Axel yelled.

With her eyes closed and fist up, Kali took a moment to focus on her powers, a little bit of blood already running out her nose. She quickly opened her eyes again, and the firing of guns and shouting of police officers had stopped. The door of the van slid open as everyone piled inside, with the exception of Jenna and Eleven.

"Jane, Valerie, get in," Kali told them.

Eleven was hesitant to say anything at first, but then she shook her head. "We're sorry. We're sorry, but we have to go back."

"What?" Dottie spoke up, sounding sad.

"Our friends are in danger."

Axel poked his head from behind Kali. "This isn't time for a talk! We gotta go right now!"

Kali's eyes went wide. "Your mother sent you two here for a reason, remember? We belong together."

Jenna gave her a sad look. "No, we don't. Eleven and I can't live like this. We have people who care about us back in Hawkins."

"There's nothing for you two back there," Kali replied. "They cannot save either one of you."

"No," Eleven stated, shaking her head. "But we can save them."

Kali then darted her eyes towards Jenna, about to tear up. "You know I'm right, Valerie," she said. "And you know Steve will just see you as a monster."

"Maybe he'll see Valerie Murphy that way," she responded, holding her head a little higher. "But not Jenna Howard."

After one final look, Jenna and Eleven took off running down an alley before the police started to shoot again, and the sound of Kali calling out for them faded the farther away they got. The two didn't stop until they got to a safe place near some apartments. They leaned against the wall, panting after their wild chase.

"You okay?" Jenna spoke up.

Eleven nodded. "Yeah. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she assured her. "So, we're going back to Hawkins?"

"Yes," she replied. "We're going home."

Jenna sighed, giving her a small smile. "Yeah, we're going home," she repeated. "Right back where we belong."

~~~~~~~

A/N: Back to Hawkins we go!

Comment, vote, more to come soon!

-A