↣ 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘈

"Nancy, just stay with me. Stay with me, okay? Whatever you guys are doing, hurry up!" Steve shouted through the gate.  Bailey gazed down at him, while Erica rushed into Eddie's room and shouted something in their direction.  Bailey was supervising to ensure Nancy's well-being.

He went to stay with them until Nancy awakened.  He exhaled and gradually composed himself.  Nancy was resolute.  She was satisfactory.  They assisted Nancy in ascending, and she immediately embraced Bailey, who reciprocated the gesture.

They proceeded to Max's trailer, where Nancy took a seat in the chair as the others gathered around her to discuss the events that transpired during her experience in Vecan's head.

"He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this...giant creature with... a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then...he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they...they were all..."

"Okay, but... he's just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean...I mean, it's not real." Steve says as he tried to reassure her.

"Not yet. But there... there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer, but... they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home." Nancy continued to explain.

"Four chimes." Max stated that a moment of realization struck her. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time."

"Four kills. Four gates. End of the world." Lucas said.

"If that's true...He's only one kill away." Dustin said.

"Oh Jesus Christ" Eddie muttered while rubbing his face.

"Try 'em again. Try 'em again."Steve implored, indicating the phone. 

Max approached, retrieved it, only to encounter a busy signal once more. She declined with a shake of her head.

"Maybe you punched it wrong. Try again."

"I didn't punch it in wrong." Max contended.  Steve emitted a sigh in reply. "Well, I don't know."

"I think she knows how to use a phone." Dustin replied.

Max rolled her eyes, she picked up the phone once again. "Same shit."

"How is that possible?" Lucas asked. "Joyce has this telemarketer job. Always on the phone. Mike won't stop whining about it."

"Yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now?" Max questioned. "That's not Joyce. No way. Something's wrong."

"She's right. It can't be just coincidence. It can't be." Nancy stated that she directed her attention to the group with a plan already taking shape. "We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down."

"Nancy, no." Bailey states while rising and gazing at her.

"Let's think this through." Steve said.

"What is there to think through?"

"Yeah, because we weren't prepared. 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" Nancy reasoned.

"Or he'll kill us." Steve reminded her.

"And for good reason. We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?" Robin asked.  "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. But my... my point is, he's super powerful. Could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."

"Then why fight fair?" Dustin responded. "You're right. You're right. He's like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven's strengths. And weaknesses."

"Weakness." Erica commented.

"When El remote-travels,she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna."

"That would explain what he was doing in that attic." Lucas agreed.

"Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless." Dustin responds.

"Defenseless? What about the army of bats?" Steve inquired.

"True. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow."

"And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" Eddie asked.

"No idea." Dustin replied honestly. "But once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin."

"That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna's killings. Not one that I can decipher. We don't know when he's going to attack next. Don't even know who he's going to attack." Robin said.

"Yeah, we do." Max responded, all eyes landed on her "I can still feel him. I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me."

"Max. You can't. He'll kill you." Lucas argued.

"I survived before. I can survive again." Max said.

"I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic."Max looked at everyone. "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."

"Check this out. The War Zone. I've been there once. It's huge. They got everything you need for, uh...Well, killing things, basically." Eddie declared, striking the newspaper onto the table they encircled.

"You think fake Rambo has enough guns there?" Robin inquired, glancing at the advertising on the page. "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?"

"Well, lucky for us it is, so... This... This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads, we ought a be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks." Eddie smiled.

"If we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called the War Zone." Erica said.

"Normally, I'd agree, but we need the weapons. So I think it's worth the risk." Nancy shrugged.

"But is it worth the time? It'll take all day to bike there and back." Dustin asked.

"Who said anything about bikes?" Eddie questioned with a grin.

"You got some car we don't know about?" Steve inquired, staring at Eddie, who had brought himself up to eye level.

"It's not exactly a car, Steve." Eddie said, turning his head to one side. "And it's not exactly mine, but, uh... it'll do." he smirks, before turning around to Max. "Hey, Red, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?"

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𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀

- we are getting towards the end, we just got 3-4 chapters left

To all the people that have supported me closely- Tags: @norasnetflix @wrensofvizla @KleeAlise11 @kiesluverr

𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵e