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Even after Steve entered the same number Max did — there was still a busy signal. "Joyce has this telemarketer job. Always on the phone. Mike won't stop whining about it." Dustin explained but Max shook her head, "Yeah but, this phone's been busy for what? Three days now? That's not Joyce. No, way, something's wrong." Nancy nodded at the girls words, "She's right. It can't be a coincidence. It can't be. Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I'm sure of it. But Vecna can't hurt them, not if he's dead. We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down." Now that made Steve shake his head, "Whoa, no, no, no. What?" Nancy cut him off, "Nope."

"Let's think this through." Steve tried to reason but Nancy huffed, "What is there to think through?" Pauley looked between the two ex's, "Nancy, we barely made it out of there this time." Looking at the brunette, Nancy spoke quickly, "Yeah, because we weren't prepared." She looked around at everyone — standing tall — "But this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair... and we'll kill him... or he'll kill us." Steve sighed, "The only reason he survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us." Nancy scoffed, "And for good reason. We were wrong about Vecna, Henry, One."

Eddie furrowed his brows — as did Pauley — "Sorry, what are we calling him now?" He asked from his spot next to Pauley. Dustin and Lucas spoke simultaneously, "One." Steve was the next to speak, "Vecna." Nancy spoke after him, "Henry." Eddie and Pauley looked at each other — more confused than before. Robin shook her head — an exasperated look on her face as she spoke, "We've learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. He's a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin." Everyone looked at her with confused glances. She held her hand up, "But, but, my point is, he's super powerful. Could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight." Dustin shook his head, "Then, why fight fair? You're right, he's like Eleven. But that gives us the upper hand. We know Eleven's strengths and weaknesses."

Robin quirked her brow, "Weaknesses?" Dustin nodded. "When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna." Lucas came to a realization, "That would explain what he was doing in that attic." Dustin smiled. "Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless." Steve quirked his brow, "Defenseless? What about the army of bats?" Dustin sighed, "True. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow." Eddie spoke up, "And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?"  Dustin looked at him, "No idea," he shrugged, "but once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin."

Pauley cleared her throat. "That all sounds good in theory Dustin, but, there's no pattern to Vecna's killings." Dustin nodded with a sigh, "Not one I can decipher. We don't know when he's going to attack next." Steve nodded in agreement, "Don't even know who he's going to attack." Max — who had been off to the side, standing quietly — spoke up, "Yeah we do. I can still feel him. I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me." Lucas shook his head, "Max. You can't. He'll kill you." Max avoided eye contact with the boy, instead looked down as she spoke, "I survived before. I can survive again. I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up.

I honestly don't care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just... whatever it is... whatever you do... try not to miss."

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Waking up that morning, Andrew was still miserable. Pauley wasn't home which meant he didn't have his sister and best friend with him. He was worried about what could have happened to her — with the murders of three kids from her school and the missing Eddie Munson kid — he didn't know what would happen to her. Honestly, Andrew didn't want to even think of what would happen to her. Getting out of bed, he stayed in his pajamas, no point in changing when he wasn't going anywhere. His job had let him take a few days off because of Pauley's disappearance and Andrew couldn't believe the fact he missed the smell of grease in the morning.

Going down to the kitchen — he glanced at his sisters door, knowing there was no one behind it — he made himself a cup of coffee and didn't make it how he usually did and drank it plain. Nothing like a cup of black coffee in the morning. The bitter taste made him cringe before he swallowed the liquid — walking over to the couch, he sat down and stared at the television. Andrew knew better than to turn it on, so he just looked at his reflection.

As he was close to finishing his cup of coffee — a knock came from the door. Andrew couldn't help but jump, slightly startled from the sound. The person had a heavy hand from how hard they pounded on the door, "I'm going, jeez." Andrew called as he approached the door before he opened it — seeing a teen in a letterman jacket, "Is Pauley Barrymore here?" Andrew blinked slowly at his words, "Uh.. no... she's missing.. who's asking?" Andrew knew Pauley enough that she wasn't friends with any jocks. "Jason Carver, I go to the same school as her and I was wondering if she was home... she's associated with the Hellfire Club... you know that? Right?" Andrew nodded his head slowly, "Yes, I do... I'm sorry but, why are you asking me these questions right now?"

Jason was clearly getting frustrated and just gave Andrew a tight lipped smile, "Her association with Eddie Munson is worrying — and the fact that the two of them are missing is strange—"

"Your point?" Andrew cut him off and looked him dead in the eyes. Jason let out the breath he was holding and shook his head with a smile, "Nothing sir, have a good day."

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"Check this out. The War Zone."

Eddie had slammed down a pamphlet of this said War Zone on the dining table in front of the group. Pauley looking down at the pamphlet — her arms around one of his, holding him close as he spoke — "I've been there once. It's huge. They got everything you need for, uh.. well, killing things, basically." Steve looked down at the pamphlet and pointed at something, "You think fake Rambo has enough guns there?" Nancy furrowed her brows, "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?" Eddie shrugged, "Well, lucky for us, it is so... This.. this place is just far outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and uh, angry rednecks." Robin rolled her eyes, "If we're trying to avoid angry rednecks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called the War Zone."

Pauley nodded, "Usually, I'd agree with that but — if we're gonna do this, we need the weapons... so I think that's worth the risk." Everyone agreed with her except for Steve, "It'll take all day to bike there and back." Eddie looked at him, "Who said anything about bikes?" Steve quirked his brow, "You got some car we don't know about?" Eddie sighed with a slight grin, "It's not exactly a car, Steve. And it's not exactly mine, but uh... it'll do." Looking over at Max, Eddie quickly asked her, "Hey, Red, uh.. you got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?" Max couldn't help but smirk as she thought of the perfect mask for him to use.

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