Papa

We get a few outside perspectives of Steve, and then Steve works with his Uncle to get his powers back. Someone comes back from the dead. This covers the time between seasons 3 & 4

Notes:

This was a hard one to finish, and I eventually had to break it into two parts, the second is still being written. There will be 5 parts to this now instead of 4, and maybe a short part 6 for an epilogue.
TW for blood, violence and body horror.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Nancy had never loved Steve. Not really. She thought she did, for a time, but at some point, she realized she was just, pretending to. Maybe because she really wanted to feel normal again, after learning there were other dimensions and that monsters are real. After losing Barb. Maybe because she had lost Barb, and Steve was the only connection she had left to her best friends last day on earth. Maybe because she was trying to punish herself for failing Barb when she'd needed her most. Maybe because she wanted to punish Steve for being the reason Barb was dead.
Not that he was the reason, he was just the easiest person to blame, after herself of course.
Her entire time dating Steve felt like some twisted game of make believe. She was pretty sure Steve felt that way too, because he was always asking her why she stayed with him, at least at first, but then he eventually stopped asking if she really loved him, and just started saying he loved her anyways. Even though she could hardly ever say it back, and the few times she did just felt. So wrong.
When she'd had that fight with Steve and gone off with Jonathan, at first, she figured she would get the justice Barb deserved, and then go back to Steve feeling lighter, feeling better, and would finally be able to tell Steve she loved him, and mean it for the first time. But then.
Jonathan.
She knew what she had done was wrong, cheating on Steve like that, after saying such awful things to him, but Jonathan made her feel again. Feel in a way she hasn't since losing her best friend. Her other half.
When she got back though, she didn't even have the guts to speak to Steve about it. Ever. After that night fighting monsters and exorcising Will, her and Steve never spoke again.
She would see him around. All the time in fact, as he'd seemed to take on the duty of keeping the kids safe. And the kids needed someone there for them. Nancy hadn't even thought to try and fill that role, especially once all the kids just seemed to flock to Steve, like moths to a flame. Even Mike, who always kept everyone but his best friends at a distance.
When she next spoke to Steve, or rather, around him, they were fighting monsters again. He seemed hurt. Really hurt. His face was a mess, and he was drenched in blood. So much blood, you could barely tell the uniform he was wearing was anything but red.
He went off with Dustin, that girl Robin and Lucas's sister Erica, while she and Jonathan tried to get the rest of the kids to safety, but somehow, she'd ended up back at the mall fighting monsters again, this time in the form of a possessed Neil Hargrove and a version of the Mindflayer built from melted human flesh. And they were losing.
Until Steve came back. And suddenly, they weren't losing anymore. But then the Mindflayer died, and Mr. Hargrove was down, but Steve was still hitting him, over and over and over. With such rage, it terrified her.
When Jonathan had pulled Steve away from the man, and Steve looked like he was going to go right back, wearing a face completely devoid of any emotion, she acted on instinct and shot him. Right through the chest. And for a moment, she almost hopped she had killed him. Because the second she felt the gun recoil and saw fresh red blood blooming across Steve's already blood-soaked shirt, she felt a release, one she had only mildly felt when she'd left Steve for Jonathan. These feelings terrified her, but, still, she took aim to shoot a second time, and maybe even a third and a fourth and more and more until there were no bullets left to shoot, just empty chambers.
Thankfully the kids stopped her before she could get off that second shot. But even after she watched Steve being taken away in an ambulance, Nancy still felt like she should have just kept shooting. Finished the job. Finally put her own guilt and loathing to rest. Get that last shred of justice for Barb.

---
Dustin had always wanted siblings, and a big brother especially. He didn’t think it likely he would ever get any, since his father had taken off shortly after Dustin was born, unable to deal with a not perfectly healthy child, and his mother seemed completely uninterested in ever dating again. For a time, he felt like he had something akin to brothers in his best friends, Will, Mike & Dustin, but as time ran on, he realized that while he was certainly a member of the party, he was often the one left behind, the other three having been friends with one another long before Dustin and his mother moved to Hawkins.
Dustin finally had an older brother now though, cause Steve Harrington was not only cooler than anyone had ever thought (and everyone already thought he was pretty cool) but he was also Dustin's best friend, which honestly made him even more awesome, no matter how impossible that was.
At first Dustin thought Steve would just fuck off after he was done helping them save the world, but no, he stuck around. He not only stuck around, but he also basically adopted all of Dustin's friends too. Dustin was still his favorite though.
Sure, Steve also spent a bunch of time with El, but that was mostly to work on superpowers stuff, something he did with Dustin a lot more than he did with El. For some reason, no one ever mentioned him having powers after that night, though Dustin caught Billy and Max sometimes giving Steve intense looks when something would move seemingly on its own, Max looking like she wanted ask, Billy looking like he wanted to eat Steve. Though,

Billy Always looked like he wanted to eat Steve, or more probably, do things Dustin didn’t want to think too hard about. Billy and Steve were NOT subtle…

In any case, Dustin now had a brother of his own, one that was just as weird as him! As time went on though, Dustin noticed that Steve was A LOT weirder than anyone even knew.

It all started with Steve's grades. Apparently, Steve was not the idiot everyone thought he was. Dude had straight fucking A's, but he was always telling people he had C's. Dustin asked him about it once, and apparently Steve's old friends made him say he was getting bad grades to look cool or something. Dustin figured it was probably a jock thing and tried to put it out of his mind.

But then he learned that Steve hadn't seen his parents in years. Hadn't even heard from them aside from the money they sent him every month, and Jesus that was some revelation to learn that Steve had just been, saving that money in a bunch of ammo boxes in his closet. Over the course of 8 years, he'd collected over half a million dollars, and it was just. Sitting there. In his closet. Dustin tried to make him get a new bank account or something to put it in to keep it safe, but that led to the next weird thing about Steve.

He was only 15 years old.

Steve was only 15 years old and hadn’t seen his parents since he was twelve. Could count on one hand how many times he’d seen his parents since he started school.

The day he learned that lovely fact, Dustin cried into his mothers’ arms for the first time since he’d been told Will was dead. When she asked him what was wrong, all he could do was tearfully thank her for being such a good mom, before finally falling asleep in her arms, having completely exhausted himself.

The next day, when he’d calmed down enough to tell her about Steve’s parents, he saw his mother truly angry for the first time in his life. Not at Steve though, at the monsters that would abandon such a “sweet boy”.

After that, his mother had him invite Steve to dinner at their house at least a couple times a week and was constantly encouraging him to sleep over afterwards. Steve took it in stride, thanked her, and after everyone went to sleep, would just. Clean, or fix something, sometimes would make something fancy to eat for breakfast. Like he needed to work to earn his keep or something.

At first, this made Dustin angry. Angry at Steve’s horrible parents for making him feel he would need to earn his keep, and a little angry at Steve for making Dustin feel bad about it, as irrational as that sounded. That was until his mom sat Dustin and Steve down to talk about it. That is when he learned another weird thing about Steve. He actually liked cleaning and fixing things and cooking things, because it helped him to do something to put order to things, it helped to relax him in situations where he had no idea what was going on, and he had apparently Never been invited to sleep overs, or even to have dinner with friends and their families before. That his only experience having family dinners at all was when Nancy would drag him to have dinner with the Hollands once a month after Barb died.

Dustin wasn’t sure when he figured out the absolute weirdest thing about Steve though. He thinks he may have suspected it for a while, but somehow or another, he eventually came to a strange conclusion. For all that Steve was a super popular guy, he seemed to be completely clueless about human emotions. Not that Dustin had much of a handle on them himself, but still, the more he got Steve to talk to him and his mom, describe things about himself to them, the more Dustin realized, Steve was just really good at pretending. Or at least he used to be, because he’d always relied on his old friends, and then Nancy to give him cues on how he should act. Now though, there was just Dustin and his mom.

In the end though, it didn’t matter to him if Steve was extremely weird, he was Dustin’s brother, by choice, and there was nothing that could change that.

When he went off to camp, Dustin worried about leaving Steve behind so much he literally made himself sick, he almost begged his mother to let him back out, but then Steve told him absolutely not. It was an incredible opportunity for Dustin, and Steve didn’t want him to waste his chance to go off and invent something spectacular. Steve went with his mom to drop him off at the airport, and as he was about to board his plane, Steve handed him a box of stationary and a giant book of stamps, so Dustin could write him every day if he wanted, and Steve promised to write back, let him know about everything that was going on here in Hawkins while he was off being the next Nicola Tesla.

Dustin had a ton of fun, and he did write Steve almost every day, and got dozens of letters back, telling him what Steve was doing, what his friends were doing, how his mom still had Steve over to dinner at least three times a week. He also sent Dustin care packages with home made cookies and muffins that he shared with his bunkmates, and later with his Suzie-poo once they started dating. He sent tapes of songs he recorded playing for Dustin on his violin too, which Dustin only shared with Suzie, because both Steve and Suzie were special to him.

When Dustin got back, and his friends left him on beacon hill with Cerebro, Dustin never missed his brother more, so when he accidentally recorded some secret Russian code, Steve was the first person he took it to.

When Dustin saw Steve vaporizing Russian soldier after Russian soldier Dustin was terrified. Not of Steve, never of Steve, but FOR Steve. He knew, deep in his bones, that it was only going to lead to trouble, to Steve being captured, being forced into being a weapon for the bad guys. So, when Steve finally woke from his coma, unable to move things with his mind anymore, Dustin was almost unreasonably happy, despite his inner scientist lamenting the lost research opportunities.

---

Steve was just about to start his new job when he got a call back from his Uncle. The only reason he hadn’t started his new job yet is he needed one final clearance from the doctors before he was allowed to go back to work. The bullet had hit a little too close to his heart, and the surgery he’d gone under to repair the damage had left him with a small heart murmur, something the doctors said would likely fade over time and healing, but they wanted him to avoid as much stress as possible in the mean time.

After hearing his Uncle’s voice on the phone, he was a little confused, he hadn’t left a message after all, and he’d called a few months ago. His Uncle explained it though. He saw he had a missed call, and the only person who had this number was Steve. He’d been working on a breakthrough in his big project, and hadn’t checked the phone in a while, or he would have called sooner.

When Steve told him why he’d called in the first place, his Uncle Martin booked him a flight to New Mexico right away to come see him. Steve felt a little special about that. No one besides Dustin, Mrs. Henderson, and now maybe Robin, had ever showed such concern for him. He didn’t think to even refuse, so, he pushed back his start date an extra week, and early the next morning, Mrs. Henderson gave him a ride to the airport.

Dustin was sad to see him go but understood. He’d told them that he’d gotten really sick as a baby, and his Uncle who was a doctor always wanted to make sure himself that Steve was well. Mrs. Henderson baked an extra batch of cookies for Steve to give his Uncle in thanks for taking such good care of Steve. They were Snickerdoodles, Steve’s favorites. He hoped his Uncle liked them too because they were always so good. Mrs. Henderson said it’s because she baked them with love. Steve liked that. He may never be able to feel Love, but at least he could taste it, and share it with his Uncle who always took such good care of Steve whenever he went for doctors’ visits.

When his plane disembarked, he was surprised to be greeted by Doctor Owens, who was the head of Hawkins Lab after his Uncle left, until the Lab shut down thanks to Nancy and Jonathan. Steve guessed it only made sense that Dr. Owens would be working on his Uncle’s big project though, since they presumably worked on the same things at the lab, at least until the Upside-Down came around.

He had a moment to wonder if his Uncle knew El from the lab, since that is where she grew up. Steve felt bad for her growing up in the lab, but she was happy now, living with Mrs. Byers, even if she was still sad Hopper was gone.

Steve saw Hopper sometimes in his dreams, though he looked different, and was always someplace really cold. Sometimes he was really hurt, like Steve had been after Starcourt. Dustin said it was his subconscious blending his own memories of being hurt with his memories of Hopper.

Steve still didn’t understand dreams. He’d never really had any before Starcourt. Sometimes he would dream of the dark place with water for a floor as a kid, but nothing ever really happened in those dreams, though sometimes there was a grandfather clock filled with spiders, and a blurry man who would tell him stories Steve could never remember. Other than that, Steve had never really dreamed. Now he dreamed a lot. He dreamed about Billy in California, looking angry while having sex with different people Steve could hear, but not see. Or Hopper in that cold place. And sometimes he dreamed of Dustin or Robin sleeping, which was just kinda weird.

Occasionally he had dreams that were more like memories, but they weren’t of anything Steve ever remembered ever happening to him, and he always looked different in them, not a lot different, but just enough that it almost felt like he wasn’t really himself. Dustin said that was normal too though, with dreams.

They drove for a long time, first on a road, and then through the desert. Steve spent his time watching the scenery pass by. It was very different than anything he’d ever seen in Hawkins, and it was kind of fascinating.

They finally stopped in front of some concrete door leading into the ground. Steve hoped it wasn’t an elevator, he wasn’t a big fan of those these days, they tended to make him buzzy with anxiety. Whenever he went to the hospital for a checkup, he always took the stairs, no matter how much it hurt to climb up and down them. The few times he’d had to ride the elevator because his legs were too weak to make it up and down the stairs, he’d had to pull his shroud of blankness over him. Not all the way, cause there were no monsters to fight, but far enough that he couldn’t feel any emotions until he got out of the elevator.

Unfortunately, it was an elevator, but his Uncle was nice enough to meet them at the door up top and ride down with Steve to his new lab. Having his Uncle there made Steve feel a little calmer, so he only had to tuck the shroud over his shoulders a little tighter to quiet the buzzing.

When he stepped out of the elevator though, his Uncle’s lab looked just a little too much like the lab under the mall, and Steve had to pull his shroud further. His Uncle must have noticed, because he asked Steve what was wrong. Steve managed to tell him in a faraway mechanical voice about the Russian base, and his Uncle offered to sedate Steve to make him more comfortable, maybe have a rest before they started testing to make sure Steve was okay.

Steve agreed. He trusted his Uncle. He’d always treated Steve kindly, no matter how weird Steve was being. So, his Uncle had a wheelchair brought over, and asked Steve to sit in it. When Steve saw the needle, his Uncle was moving towards his neck, he nearly lept right out of the chair, but his Uncle stopped, seeing his distress, and asked him what was wrong again. He then explained that the Russians had used a needle to put glowing blue drugs in his neck. His Uncle then promised to be quick, and to use the needle somewhere Steve couldn’t see if it would make him feel better. Steve didn’t think it would, but he told him to anyway, and just pulled the blankness almost all the way over him to stop feeling.

He felt the prick in the back of his neck, and moments later he was asleep.

Steve was 6 years old, and his sister was turning 9 today. Mother had planned a birthday party for her with some of her classmates. Steve wanted to stay in his room, but mother was making him sit nicely in the den with Alice and the other children. Steve was bored and didn’t want to play tea party with sister and her friends. Why did sister need to have friends? They were so noisy. The one with the ugly green bow in her hair kept pushing Steve and calling him stupid. Steve was getting angry, so the next time she moved to push him, he made her fall down and hurt her arm. The party ended after that, and Steve was allowed to go play in his room.

Mother and Father were taking Steve to the petting zoo today for his 8th birthday. He was wearing his new Sunday clothes mother had bought for his birthday. They looked very nice but were kind of itchy. He was trying to stand still and not fidget when a goat came up to Henry. He reached his hand out to pet it, but it snapped it teeth, scaring him, so he scared it back, making its back leg crunch. The goat let out a loud bleating wail. Henry didn’t like that much, so he made it stop making sounds. He couldn’t do it for very long though, because his nose started bleeding onto his new shirt, and Mother got upset. They had to go home after that, and Henry was angry because he didn’t even get to pet the bunnies.

Papa brought One a bunny to play with today. At first One sat there quietly petting his bunny, but then the doctor went away for a while and One got bored, so he decided to take his bunny apart. He wanted to see its insides, maybe take its soft fur off to keep and pet whenever he wanted. The doctor came back and yelled at One for taking the bunny apart and making a mess, but then Papa came and told One he did very good using his powers so creatively and promised One could keep the fur to pet once it had been cleaned so it wouldn’t make a bad smell.

One was getting older. Old enough to help Papa and the other white coats make brothers and sisters for One to play with. Now, One wasn’t stupid, even though the white coats would sometimes put One in the Lightning Room when he did something Bad to try and make him Stupid, but One would just retreat to the dark place with the water, so he wouldn’t forget too much. One knew these new brothers and sisters would really be his babies. One wasn’t sure he wanted babies, but maybe they would be better than having brothers and sisters. One asked Papa if he could play with the babies, and Papa said he could when they got older.

One had met one of his babies today. It was a wrinkly ugly thing. He wanted to squish it, but Papa had put that Wrong-Wrong-Wrong thing in his neck, so he couldn’t use his powers to do it anymore, instead One picked the baby up by the blanket that was wrapped tightly around it, and then dashed it against the wall. Except the baby didn’t hit the wall, it stopped moving just before it got to the wall, so instead One put his hand over the Baby’s nose and mouth until it stopped breathing. Then a woman that looked like Papa was screaming at him, and Papa was taking his baby away. Some of the doctors dragged One away and put him in the quiet room. He stayed in the quiet room for a long time before Papa came back. He was very angry with One and told him he wasn’t allowed to play with that baby ever again. One told him he could play with it if he wanted, it was his baby, he helped make it, so it was his to play with. Papa then told him that baby was his nephew, and since he was One’s Papa, he could tell him not to play with it. He did tell One that he would soon have more babies to play with, but he had to promise not to play roughly because he needed them to reach their potential.

One saw his baby again today, except it was older now and less gross looking. He wanted to play with it, and he asked Papa nicely, Papa told him no, but said One could watch his testing if he was really quiet. One promised to be good and watched as his baby, Steve was given different tests. Steve didn’t seem to know what to do with any of it and was failing all his tests. One didn’t want his baby to be stupid, so when Papa was talking to the doctor in the room behind the glass, One told Steve how to do the tests right. When Papa came back and started testing Steve again, he got every test right that One had helped him with. One was happy his baby wasn’t Stupid.

One saw his Steve-baby every fourteen days. Now whenever his Steve-baby came to the lab, One was allowed to help him with his tests. His Steve-baby was very smart and could do all kinds of things on the first try, but only if One showed him how to do it first. His Steve-baby was the best out of all One’s sibling/babies, and he hardly ever wanted to play roughly with him. Sometimes he did do something to hurt his Steve-baby though, but his Steve-baby was very good and never cried, he just sat quietly letting One play with him. Papa would get angry and put One in the quiet place or the Lightening Room whenever he caught One playing roughly with his Steve-baby, but he still let One be there whenever his Steve-baby came for testing.

One hadn’t seen his Steve-baby in a long time, it had been 214 days since One last saw his Steve-baby, and he missed him, he was One’s smartest baby and the best to play with because he never cried. Sometimes when One was asleep and in the dark place, he could see his Steve-baby. He was older now and starting to get very skinny. One thought if he got any skinnier, he would die, and One would never be able to play with his Steve-baby again, so on day 226 one told Papa he thought his Steve-baby was sick, and could he please go see him. Papa told him he couldn’t go Outside, but he would call Steve-baby’s Mama to go take care of him. The next time he saw his Steve-baby in the dark place he looked much better, so he figured Steve-baby’s Mama had come to help him after all. He still missed playing with his Steve-baby, but maybe he could get one of his other sibling-babies to play with him.

One still saw his Steve-baby sometimes in the dark place, but now he also saw his Eleven-sister-baby in the rainbow room. She was his other favorite besides his Steve-baby. She was clever, and very angry. He thought maybe he could get her to make the Wrong-Wrong-Wrong thing in his neck go away. Maybe after she does, he will take her to see his Steve-baby on the Outside. He thinks she would like his Steve-baby. Then he could play with both of his babies, and since they are Outside, Papa wouldn’t be able to stop him from making a mess.

One (henry) has been in the other place for so long. He was bored. He’d made a lot of new playthings, but they were boring to take apart, so instead he made playthings that would be good at taking things apart for him. He was still trying to find a way to the other Outside, the one Papa never let him go to before his Eleven-sister-baby sent him to this place. Sometimes he would see his Eleven-sister-baby in the dark place, but she always ran away from him and his new friends. Sometimes he would see his Steve-baby too. He looked older now. His hair was brown like One (henry)’s used to be, the rest of him was starting to look like One (henry)’s father though, and One (henry) did not like that. One (henry) did not like his father, he was boring and never let One (henry) take his toys apart. One (henry) hoped he was able to visit his babies soon, he was getting impatient.

One (henry)’s Eleven-sister-baby had made a hole he could send his playthings through. One (henry) couldn’t go through it yet though, it led straight to the lab. One (henry) had also changed so much since being in this place he didn’t think he would be able to breathe or do other things very well on the Outside. So, One (henry) made a plan so he could go Outside and play with his babies.

His Eleven-sister-baby and Steve-baby kept taking his playthings apart. He wanted to be proud of them for being so much like him, but he needed his friends to help him with his plan. One (henry) wanted to play with his babies himself, but he might just have to make his friends play with his babies instead.

One (henry)’s babies had closed the gate AGAIN. He was starting to get VERY angry with his babies. Didn’t they understand, he just wanted to play with them. Take them apart. See what is inside. They are HIS babies. He should be allowed to play with his babies if he wanted to!

One (henry) has made a new plan. This time, his babies won’t be able to stop him. One (henry) is going to win this time, and when he does, he’s going to retrieve his babies and put them on display in his house. They will be with him forever. They will have no choice.

Steve woke up floating in the tank. He’d always liked the tank, it was quiet. It almost felt like his shroud of blankness, but in a way that was tangible. He had only been allowed in the tank a few times when he was really young, usually only after his friend Henry would play too rough and hurt Steve. Steve didn’t care about those kinds of things though, being hurt never really bothered him.

Steve floated in the tank for some time, contemplating his friend Henry, mostly that Steve had somehow forgotten Henry for years and years. The last time he remembered, well, remembering Henry was before Anna left. Now that Steve remembered Henry though, he started remembering other things, like how he used to come to the lab to do special tests with his Uncle and Henry, and sometimes his tutors as well. He also remembered seeing other kids with him sometimes, most of them with shaved heads, like Steve used to have. He remembered seeing these kids, doing things he didn’t understand. Things with the Ripples, but also, things that weren’t the Ripples, but felt kind of like them.

Steve must have fallen asleep remembering, because when he next opened his eyes, he was in a small concrete room, laying on a hospital bed. When he went to sit up, he found himself hooked up to an IV, with electrodes all over his chest, which was shaved. For a moment he worried and reached up with the hand that didn’t have an IV in it to make sure his hair was still there. Thankfully, it was. Steve wasn’t vain, not understanding such a sentiment really, but for some reason, being able to do whatever he wanted with his hair always made him feel good, or at least comfortably neutral.

Shortly after waking, his Uncle Martin came into the room. They visited for a while, his Uncle telling him that the heart murmur had been repaired, and that Steve had been here for a week already. He said they would have to do a little more testing, and then Steve could go home to start his new job.

Steve thanked his Uncle, and told him about the cookies Mrs. Henderson made for him. His uncle stayed with him for a few hours while they talked about all the things Steve had been doing for the last couple of years. Steve was a little reluctant to tell him about the Upside-Down stuff at first, because he’d had to sign a bunch of papers agreeing he wouldn’t tell anyone about it, but Uncle Martin shared that he already knew about some of it and had signed similar agreements, so Steve told him everything. Well, almost everything. He didn’t tell him about Eleven, at least not until his Uncle brought her up.

Steve started feeling a little bit of the !!!PROTECT!!! hearing that his Uncle Martin was Eleven’s Papa, but his Uncle put his fears to rest. He told Steve about one of the people who used to take care of Eleven and the other children, who one day hurt and killed a lot of the kids, and it was Eleven who had stopped him. After that Eleven was the only kid left, so Uncle Martin had worked her really hard, probably too hard, but he was worried this attendant would come back and try to hurt more people, and he had powers like Eleven did.

Uncle Martin told him that he’d been hurt really bad when the Demogorgon had first appeared, and had to go away for a while to recover. Told him that once he was better he decided to let Eleven stay with Chief Hopper, try and give her a normal life while his Uncle worked on a project to make her stronger, in case the bad man ever came back.

Steve listened intently and made two decisions when his uncle was done talking. One thing that had never been mentioned while they were talking, was Steve being able to use the Ripples like Eleven could. So Steve decided to tell his Uncle Martin. Before he did though, he had to test it, make sure he still could. He’d tried only once after getting out of the hospital, and could barely move something, but it made his chest hurt in a way that prompted Steve to stop. The doctor had told him not to stress himself too much or his heart could stop, and Steve didn’t want that. Uncle martin had said they had fixed the murmur though, so Steve decided to try.

Steve asked his uncle to bring him a tray of small objects, and looking at him confused, did so. Steve looked very closely at the first object, a paper cup for water, or maybe pills. He asked his Uncle to watch, and concentrated on the cup until he could see the ripples moving around it, then with a flick of his finger to help guide the ripple, he knocked the cup off the tray.

His Uncle startled and stood. He looked like he was going to say something, but Steve just held up a hand, asking him to wait. The heart monitor that Steve was attached to hadn’t made any bad noises, so Steve tried for something a little bigger, and focused on the ripples around the three other objects on the tray, another cup, a little larger for water, a half-empty pitcher of water and a tongue depressor. Steve didn’t bother using his hand this time, just made them float a few inches above the tray, and when he didn’t feel any worse for the wear, he lifted the cup he’d knocked off the tray, and then the tray as well. He then led them in a little dance around the room, before bringing them back to the bed. His uncle moved to speak, but Steve stopped him one more time, this time making the ripple cause friction, enough that the paper cup lit on fire. He let it burn for a moment, floating above the tray, before dropping it into the water pitcher.

Steve looked over to his Uncle then, who stared stunned for a moment, and then handed Steve a tissue.

“How long have you been able to do that?”

“Since I fist saw Eleven doing it. I could see the Ripples, and just, did what she did to make things move. I figured out the fire thing on my own. Eleven can’t do that one, she can’t see the Ripples, but she could do other things though, and since I can’t see how she does it, I haven’t been able to figure out how to do it myself.”

“What do you mean could?”

“After Starcourt, she hasn’t been able to use her powers. She was bitten by the Mindflayer, and it put something in her, she managed to get it out, but after that she hasn’t been able to use her powers.”

“If we could bring her here, we could probably get her powers working again.”

“No.”

“Steve-“

“No. She deserves to be a child, to live as normal a life as she can. You have me. I can do most of what she could do, and some other things she can’t. Also, I remember some of the other children from before using the Ripples. I didn’t know what they were then, but now that I do, I could try and do those things too.”

“Steve, you deserve to have a normal life too.”

“I know, but I won’t, never have. I can’t feel things the way other people do. Can’t think like other people do either. You said this man was bad, hurt people, killed a couple dozen of them. I killed hundreds, in the space of minutes, and have not once felt anything but glad I did so, because they could have hurt my friends. This bad man, he could hurt my friends too. I will kill him for you, and he won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again. I am not saying never help Eleven get her powers back, I am just saying, don’t do it right now. She is grieving Hopper, and she has just started school for the first time. Let her be a kid for a while, and maybe after I have learned all I can, I could help her get her powers back, just in case, but for now. Let her be.”

“I will have to think about this Steve.”

“Then think about it. You have always treated me good. Even better than I can ever remember my parents treating me. Let me repay your kindness, and also help Eleven live a normal life.”

“I will think about it. For now, why don’t you get some sleep.”

Uncle Martin left the room then, and Steve hoped he’d done the right thing. He was going to miss all his friends and was sad to leave Dustin and Mrs. Henderson and Robin behind, but he felt like this was the right thing to do. With those thoughts in mind, he listened to his Uncle, and went to sleep.

Hopper was sitting on a concrete floor. It was very cold, so cold that the blood on his face looked frosted, and crackled when he moved. He gave out a grunt and tried to reach a plate with some kind of mush that was sitting about ten feet away, but gave up after a minute, looking like it hurt too much to move. Steve moved from the corner he was standing in, over to the tray and tried to pick it up. When he touched it though, his hand moved right through. He tried one more time, before giving up. He instead went and sat next to Hopper. It was really cold, so Steve started moving the ripples around, making it warmer around the two of them. That seemed to work, because Hopper gave a sigh and stopped shivering so much. Getting an idea, Steve let the ripples still for a moment, and then reached them out to the tray of food and made the ripples move the tray. It moved a few inches closer, but it was harder than it normally would be. Steve let himself rest for a moment, before trying again, this time, vibrating the ripples behind the tray, since that seemed to be easier to do, the tray moved slowly and erratically closer, until it was resting in between him and Hopper.

Steve looked up at Hopper, his concentration no longer needed on the tray, and noticed him staring at the tray in wonder, but his lips were going blue again, so Steve made the ripples move gain to heat him up.

“El?”

Steve tried to speak, but his voice was coming out in distorted static. He tried a few more times, before giving up. He got an idea though and used the ripple to move some of the goop off the tray. It took him several minutes, but he finally made it move in a way that spelled out ‘STV’.

“Steve?”

Instead of trying to spell out mor words with food, steve made the tray move up and down a little, like a nod.

“Did the Russians get you too?”

Steve was confused, did Hopper mean at Starcourt? Or did he mean right now. Steve decided to answer the second option and moved the tray side to side like shaking his head no.

Are you still in Hawkins?”

Steve shook the tray side to side.

“Are you dead?”

Steve shook the tray side to side.

“Am I dead?”

Steve moved the tray up and down, but then stopped, was Hopper dead? Dustin told him that dreams could be weird, but this was, not right. It felt too real. He could feel the cold, and the ripples and the blood flowing down his face, so instead Steve moved the tray back and forth.

“Is…Is El safe?”

Steve moved the tray up and down.

“Does, they think I’m dead, don’t they?”

Steve moved the tray up and down.

“No ones coming then.”

Steve didn’t move the tray. If Hopper was really alive, maybe he could ask his Uncle to help him. Making a decision, Steve took some more of the goo and spelled out ‘where?’

“Where am I?”

Steve moved the tray up and down.

“Russia. Some place called Kamchatka I think.”

Instead of taking more of the goo off the tray, Steve moved the stuff he’d already used, it was messy, but he managed to spell out ‘Owens’ with it. He hoped Hopper knew what he was trying to say. Hopper knew Owens, and that Owens worked for the government. If he could get Hopper to understand, then maybe he could get more information to give his Uncle and maybe, just maybe, save Hopper. Bring him back for Eleven.

“You are with Owens?”

Feeling a buzzing, different that the anxiety one, more positive? Steve moved the tray up and down enough to slosh a little of the goo off.

“Alright kid, I got it. Do you think. Do you think you could give him a message?”

Steve moved the tray up and down.

“Tell him the Russians had a Demogorgon, they are experimenting on it. They are trying to open another gate.”

Well shit. Steve definitely needed to get his Uncle to help now. The last thing they needed was another gate opening, this time in some far corner of the world where they wouldn’t be able to get to in time to close it. Using the last of the goo on the tray, hoping Hopper wouldn’t have to go too long without food after this, Steve spelled out ‘map, coordinates, send owens.’

“I’ll do what I can kid. Take care of El for me please?”

Steve just moved the tray up and down in response. He was getting tired, and the blood coming out of his nose was getting really bad. Hopper’s breathing slowed though, and soon he was giving out small snores, so Steve took his lead and let himself relax into sleep as well.

Steve next woke to find his Uncle back in his room, cleaning blood off Steve’s face.

“Where were you, Steve?”

Figuring what his uncle was asking, Steve replied.

“Kamchatka. Chief Hopper is not dead. He is in a concrete cell. He says they have a Demogorgon and are trying to open another gate.”

His Uncle’s hand stilled, before he set the bloodied cloth on a tray next to a bowl of bloody water.

“Are you sure about this?”

“As sure as I can be. I spoke with him. It did not feel like a dream. I asked him to find a map or get coordinates, told him I would tell Doctor Owens.”

“You were able to speak to him?”

“No, I had to use the Ripples to move a tray and spell out words with the goo that was on the tray. I think it was supposed to be his food.”

“Alright. I suppose you want to see if we can rescue him?”

“I would like to, yes. It would make El and Mrs. Byers very happy.”

“Do you think she would agree to getting her powers back if we helped save him?”

“I think she might, but it would probably be better to not do it in a lab, or cut her hair off again, and let Dr. Owens do it instead of you. She’s very scared of you Uncle Martin.”

His Uncle sighed and sat back in the chair he’d pulled next to Steve’s bed.

“I have had some time to think about what you offered. I will agree to training you, and when I feel you are strong enough, I will let you and Owens help Eleven get her powers back. I will speak with my associates about rescuing Hopper and capturing the Demogorgon and stopping the new gate being opened in Russia. I want you to stay here for the next week and we will do testing, see where your powers are at, then you will go back to Hawkins, start your new job. Once a month I want you to come here for a few days where we will do further testing. In a few months’ time, I would like you and Owens to speak to Eleven, and convince her to get her powers back.”

“I will be allowed to leave?”

“Of course, Steve, I wouldn’t keep you here. You have a life in Hawkins, and it would look too suspicious if you did not go back. You can’t tell anyone what we are doing though.”

“I would like to be able to tell Dustin. He is my best friend, and was the one to help me figure out the ripples before, he could help me practice while I am in Hawkins, and he could also help me talk to El. He knows her better that I do and is one of her friends.”

“I see. I will have to think about this, and he will have to sign a new NDA. I am also going to ask that you do not tell him I am heading this project, tell him Dr. Owens is the one who asked for your help.”

“I do not like lying to him. May I ask why you want me to?”

“If he is as clever as you seem to think, he will figure out that I am the one who made Eleven so scared, and he might not want to help. You mentioned you called me your Uncle Martin, have you told your friends my last name?”

“No, I have only ever called you Uncle Martin.”

“Then just don’t mention I am part of this project, at least until you have a chance to speak to Eleven.”

“I still don’t understand, but I will do as you ask. Will. Will I have to shave my head?”

“It would make things easier, but it would probably be suspicious, so for now, no, you don’t need to.”

“Good. I like my hair.”

Uncle Martin pointed out a tray of food for Steve to eat and left him alone again.

The testing Steve had to do for the rest of the week was pretty simple. It was a lot of things he remembered doing when he was a little kid, now that he had those memories back. He kept meaning to ask his Uncle about Henry, but got distracted with how busy he was. He saw Hopper two more times, and each time Steve would make the air warmer for him, and would listen to him talk. He’d been unable to find a map or get coordinates, but said they were moving him to a different part of the facility soon to put him on a work detail, he hoped he would be able to get more information once he was outside.

Finally, the day came for Steve to go back to Hawkins, and Dr. Owens surprised him by going with. They flew first class back, which was nice, they had better food than the ride to New Mexico. When they arrived in Chicago, they were driven to Hawkins in a sleek black car. They went to Steve’s house first, and Steve called Dustin to let him know he was back, and ask if Dustin could come by that night. Dustin was extra excited, and agreed to let Steve pick him up in a half an hour.

The meeting with Owens and Dustin did not go quite as well as Steve had hoped, at least until Steve took the reins.

“Why are you against this bud? I thought you liked studying the Ripples?”

“Steve, they just want to use you as a weapon, you can’t let them!”

Steve cut Dr. Owens off when he opened his mouth to speak. He knew Dustin, Owens didn’t.

“Yes and no bud. Look, there are a lot of things going on here, and one of the things they didn’t ant me to tell you, well, I know it will make you agree in a heartbeat, but before I tell you, I need to promise not to say anything to Anyone.”

“Steve, we can’t just tell him classified information.”

“Uh, yeah, he can. Even if there is nothing he could say that would ever make me want him to subject himself to you turning him into a weapon.”

“I Need You To Promise Dustin.”

“Fine, yes, I promise.”

“Hopper is alive.”

“WHAT?!?”

“He is alive and in some kind of Soviet Prison, where they are trying to open a new gate. In Russia.”

“Shit. SHIT! What the fuck?! They knew, and they were just going to leave him there?!”

“No buddy, they didn’t. I just figured it out. You know those dreams I’ve been having about Hopper being in a cold place?”

“No way. No fucking way. Seriously?!”

“Yeah, after they fixed my heart, I saw him clearly and was able to communicate with him. He’s trying to get a map or something so we can figure out exactly where he is, so they can go rescue him, and stop them from trying to open another gate. They also have a Demogorgon, and that’s part of the reason I need to get stronger, better with my powers. While they are rescuing Hopper and taking out the gate, I need to use the Ripples remotely, to get rid of the Demogorgon. Not all of the people going on the rescue mission are a high enough clearance to know about the Upside-Down, and they need someone to take care of it on their own. My…Dr. Owens, he doesn’t want me going in person, it is too dangerous, not just for my safety, but also for reasons of national security. And yeah, I may be working as a weapon for the government, but I decide how I am going to do that. I need you to help me with that. You know how bad I am at doing the people stuff. I know it’s a lot, but I need you there to tell me when something is wrong. If you want that is. I understand if it is too much.”

“I don’t like this. I don’t like them using you like this.”

“If they use me, they won’t need El.”

“What?”

“If they use me, they don’t need El. She will still be given the option of getting her powers back, after I have gotten strong enough to help her, and you could help with that too, but by agreeing to help them, El gets to live a normal life if she chooses, and if everything goes well, she gets her dad back too.”

Dustin was quiet for a long time, but since he had his thinking face on, Steve didn’t try to break the silence, just got up and renewed everyone’s drinks, and grabbed some snacks.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. I’ll help. But I want to go with you to this place in New Mexico, and I want to be there when you are fighting the Demogorgon, even if I won’t be able to help with that, I want to make sure you are okay. I also want to be there when you talk to El, and if she chooses to get her powers back, I want to be there for that too.”

“You won’t be able to go every time bud, you still have school.”

“Then I want to be there as much as possible, when I don’t have school.”

“We can arrange for you to be there the next time Steve comes in for testing, and I will see about getting you clearance to be there for the rescue mission, though I will warn you, you can’t be in the same room as Steve, he will have to be in the tank for that, so you will have to remain with the rest of us egg heads in the other room. Steve had already asked if you could be there when talking to El, and if you sign you will be allowed to take part in those discussions as well as help her is she decides she wants to get her powers back. Additionally, since you are working on a government project, you will be given a research grant that can be put towards the project or utilized as a college fund if you choose that instead.”

“No need to buy me off, I’m doing this for Steve and El and Hopper.”

“Take the money kid, never know when it will come in handy.”

“Fine, but I want you to give the rest of us college funds too. Will, Mike, Lucas, Max, Robin, Nancy and Jonathan too. I assume Steve is already getting paid for this, you are getting paid for this aren’t you?”

“Uh.. I didn’t ask. See, this is why I need your help man!”

With that, they moved onto reading through the documents they wanted Dustin to sign. He balked a little when they said he couldn’t tell the rest of the Party, but Steve said it was to keep them protected, at least until Hopper was rescued and El made her decision. Dustin finally agreed to everything, and then nearly fainted when he saw the size of his research grant/college fund. Owens looked a little too smug at the flabbergasted look on Dustin’s face. Steve didn’t have the heart to tell him it was less than a quarter the size of Steve’s trust fund that he’d learned he had after Billy brought it up last spring.

After all that things settled into a new routine. Steve started his job, but told Keith he would need to take a weekend off every month. He’d told everyone that it was to monitor his heart condition, which everyone seemed to accept, even Robin, who had apparently taken to glaring at nancy whenever she saw her around school.

Dustin came over to Steves house two days a week to work on their project, and Steve went back to having dinner with Dustin and Mrs. Henderson at least twice a week. Dustin joined the D&D club at school with Mike and Lucas, so was unavailable on Monday and Thursday nights for club meetings.

Steve also started spending more time with Max. Mrs. Hargrove had taken a new job so was gone most of the time, so Steve spent at least two evenings a week with Max, either at her trailer or Steve’s house. She had pulled away from the rest of the Party some, after breaking up with lucas who kept trying to tell her it was a good thing Billy had left. She didn’t pull away completely though, getting a little closer to Dustin these days, even joining them for dinner at the Henderson house any time Steve was there.

Any days not spent hanging out with the kids, Steve spent with Robin, who had glued herself to Steve’s side, even putting up with the rest of the kids if they all happened to drop in. Her and Max got close too, occasionally having a “Girl’s Day” where they took over Steve’s house to watch movies and paint nails and whatever else they decided to do, often going so far as to kick Steve out to spend the night at Dustins house. He let them, it was kind of funny, and he liked that Max had a support system and a badass female figure to look up to.

Dustin went with Steve on his first trip back to New Mexico. He looked just as uncomfortable as Steve did the first time seeing the elevator and then the lab, but Steve had gotten used to the place in those weeks he’d spent there the first time, and Steve not being bothered by it seemed to help Dustin adjust quickly, especially after he was given a tour and explanations on how all the equipment worked and what it was used for. Uncle Martin wasn’t there for that visit, and none of the scientists or guards mentioned his name, so Steve didn’t ask where he was.

Every few days Steve would check in on Hopper. His visits seemed to help the man, especially because Steve would always use the ripples to make the area warmer. He wasn’t as hurt anymore, at least most of the time, he was losing weight though, which had Steve a little worried, so one of the times Steve visited and Hopper was asleep, Steve decided to wander around. He got Hugely lost, but after a few more times of doing this, he managed to map the place out enough to find his way around.

In late January he struck gold. He’d been making his way to the kitchens to hopefully steal Hopper some food, when he heard some soldier talking about going home to visit family. He couldn’t see the soldier, could only ever see Hopper when in this place, but he could sometimes hear other people walking or speaking a little. He followed the sound of the voices and heard the man talking about a town that was a few kilometers to the north of the prison. It was more information that Hopper had been able to figure out in his time there, not understanding Russian like Steve, so Steve was excited, maybe this would be enough to help them find the prison and get Hopper out of there, however, the voices led him to a room, and on the far wall of the room, was a map. A map of the area.

The writing on it was Russian, and Steve had never learned to read Russian, but he figured he would be able to copy it down and get it to Owens to get translated, so he spent the rest of his time staring at the map, memorizing as many details as he could. There was a pin pushed into the map, and Steve was really hoping that was where the Prison was located, because that would be perfect.

When he woke, he immediately launched out of bed, ignoring the blood training down his face and neck, soaking into the collar of his sleep shirt. He ran to his desk and pulled out a notebook of paper, and starting from where the pin was placed he started drawing out the map and carefully replicating the writing on it. He worked on it for nearly an hour, getting every detail down exactly as he remembered it, using nine sheets of paper he eventually taped together to draw the whole thing out.

When he was finally finished, it was all he could do to go clean up and use the restroom, eager to call Owens as soon as possible. He got an answering machine, so using the code they had agreed on, Steve left a message and then got ready for work. Thankfully it was Saturday, so he didn’t need to pick up anyone for school, and his shift at work didn’t start until 10am.

Steve went to work, and was on pins and needles for the first three hours. Robin didn’t work that day, having a band thing to do, so Steve was working with Keith, who had stopped being so antagonistic with Steve after he’d managed to attract a plethora of girls to the store for Keith to attempt to woo. Steve had been asked out by most of those girls, but he didn’t really have time to go on dates these days, so he politely declined each time. They still came back to the store and talked with him all the time. Robin said they were flirting, and he supposed they were? He didn’t really know, and honestly didn’t care. Sure they were pretty, but none of them made Steve feel the way Billy, and even Nancy had, so he just tried not to flirt back.

Around 2pm Keith answered a call, and then handed the phone to Steve.

“Steve?”

“Dr. Owens?”

“Yes, you called?”

“Yes, I did. My chest hurt when I woke this morning, my heart was hopping all over the place, but I finally got it calmed down to where it was supposed to be.”

“I see, do you need to come in for an appointment?”

“It would be for the best if I did, so you could map out the murmur, make sure it is taken care of as quick as possible.”

“I will schedule you an appointment for tomorrow, will you need a ride?”

“Yes please. I will let my boss know I will be missing a few days of work.”

“Very well, I will see you tomorrow.”

Owens hung up, and Steve turned to a concerned looking Keith.

“Why are you here if your heart is having problems?”

“It calmed down, but my doctor told me to call if anything was ever different, he has made me an appointment for tomorrow, and will probably keep me a few days for testing, I will need a few days off.”

“Take the week, and make sure you get a doctors note to come back, our insurance won’t cover you dying on the job Harrington. Go ahead and go home, don’t come back without that note.”

Maybe Steve had oversold the heart issue thing? It was nice to know the guy cared though, even if it was for practical reasons. He decided to do something nice for the guy.

“Thanks man, also, I heard Brittany Peirce talking about how much she liked your movie recommendations the other day. She likes the milkshakes at Gerties, if you want to maybe talk to her about the movies some time.”

Keith thanked him and shoved him out the door.

Steve stopped by Dustin’s on his way home. He knew Dustin wasn’t there since he had some impromptu club meeting at the school, something about a one-shot module one of the club members wanted to run. Steve knocked on the door and let Mrs. Henderson know he was leaving that night for a doctor’s appointment. He told her it was nothing to worry about and asked if he could leave Dustin a note so he wouldn’t worry either. She agreed, so Steve left a coded note on Dustin’s bed and left.

One home he packed a bag to stay for a week and decided he didn’t want to have the map anywhere someone could see when he got on the plane, so he folded it up as small as it would go, and then slid it into a sandwich bag to hide in his clothing.

A car came by to pick him up that night around 8, and they drove up to Chicago. Steve took a red-eye out, and when he stepped off the plane, he was greeted by Owens. As soon as they got in their government issued car, he asked Steve what happened. Steve told him about following the Russians and finding the map. He pulled the map out of his pocket and unfolded it.

“I never learned how to read Russian, so I don’t know what it says, but I made sure to memorize how everything looked and copied it down as soon as I woke.”

“I am just impressed you understand Russian, did you learn it recently?”

“No, I learned it when I was a kid, one of my nannies was a Russian Expat, she didn’t speak much English, so I had to learn in order to understand her.”

“Even more impressive, and handy being bilingual!”

“Multilingual. I know 7 languages. I had a lot of nannies, most of them didn’t speak English. One of them was from England though, she was always calling the English we spoke here American though, so maybe I speak 8 languages?”

“I, I see. That’s interesting. How many nannies?”

“14 that I can remember.”

“Right. Well, lets just get this map to the lab and see about getting it translated.”

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. A few hours later, they pulled up to the entrance, and Steve was nearly vibrating in genuine Excitement, stronger than he had ever felt before.

His Uncle met him in the elevator, something he did every time Steve came, except for the one time with Dustin. He gave Steve a pat on the back and asked after all his friends. Steve updated him on what had been going on in his life since he last saw him a few weeks ago, and his Uncle laughed when Steve apologized for not bringing cookies with him this time, since Mrs. Henderson sent him with a fresh batch od snickerdoodles whenever he saw his uncle for his “appointments.” His Uncle shared them with Steve each time he brought them, had even let some of the other scientists have a few. Owens had lamented that he needed to watch his sugar intake each time he was offered any, but he always took one and split it with Steve because they were just too good not to try. Steve was working on a sugar free recipe so Owens could have his own cookies, but so far, they all tasted awful, so it was an ongoing project.

Once in the lab, Steve took out his map again, and after explaining what had transpired the night before, his Uncle made a call for a translator. A few hours later had the map translated into English, and they began planning. They wanted to try infiltrating the base first with small team, to map the place out. Steve drew them up a map of every part he’d been in, but he wasn’t able to see walls all the time, and he didn’t always need to use doors, so he didn’t have the clearest picture of the place. The idea was to send in their team, and Steve, who would be using the Tank, would follow along behind them, and if there was any trouble, he would use the Ripples to extract them. If they were able to find Hopper, they would try and get him out, before sending in a larger team to take care of the gate, and Steve would deal with the Demogorgon at that time.

It had taken some doing, but Steve had managed to convince his uncle that the Demogorgon would need to be killed, it was too dangerous to keep alive. Instead, Steve would try to kill it in a way that would keep it intact fo them to study, but if they couldn’t get the corpse out, Steve would make sure to burn it to ash, leaving nothing behind for the Russians to study later.

Steve did bring up their promise that Dustin could be there for the rescue, but Owens said this was just a recon mission, If it looked like they could get boots on the ground sooner rather than later to take the prison down right now, they would figure out a way to get Dustin there, but for now, it wasn’t much different than Steve going there while he slept, so Steve agreed to wait to call Dustin.

It would be at least 12 hours before their infiltration team could get into position, so Steve was told to get some rest, and if he could, let Hopper know to maybe be ready.

Steve was still so Excited, it was hard to sleep, so his Uncle gave him a mild sedative to help. Steve fell asleep not long after.

Everything was cold. The light was wrong too. The lab was always so well lit, but now it was grey and cold. Steve looked around for his Eleven-sister-baby but couldn’t find her. Couldn’t find anyone. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn’t move. It didn’t hurt though; it was just numb. Everything was numb. He tried moving his hands, but he couldn’t feel them either. He moved his head to look at the but found he could only move his eyes. Trying not to panic, he reached out with his power and used it to move his body upright. When he was able to get a better look at himself, he realized he was looking at his back, not his front. For the first time he could remember, One started crying. He could see the tears dripping onto the back of his shirt.

He let himself panic for a few minutes, and then let a blanket of nothing settle over him, just the way he taught his Steve-baby when he didn’t want to hurt the rabbit during is last test before he went away and never came back. The nothingness settled into place, and One used his powers to slowly move his head back to where it should be facing. He passed out soon after.

One (henry) wrapped the vines he’d grown out of his flesh around his right arm. He made them move his arm, and it was hard, but after a few tries he was able to make a loose fist. He got to work growing more vines to wrap around the rest of his body. It took a long time, but it didn’t hurt, he still couldn’t feel anything. After what felt like week, he finally had his entire body ensconced in fleshy pulsing vines and relearned how to move using them to propel his body.

One (henry) had made it Outside, but it wasn’t right. Everything was bathed in grey, there was no sun or moon or stars in the sky. There were also particles floating in the air, and when he breathed them in, they made him cough at first. After a while though, he grew used to them, and he felt the fleshy vines he’d grown fuse further to his body. He could also feel things again, not very well, but enough to notice his feet getting cut up walking around barefoot. He grew a few more vines and used those to move around after that.

One (henry) was bored. He missed having things to play with. The only things here to play with were the vines he’d made, and a giant particle cloud that looked like a spider, or maybe a jellyfish. It would float around aimlessly. One (henry) had tried to communicate with it, but it didn’t even notice him. He didn’t like that, so One (henry) started growing more and more vines from his new/old home and let them slowly grow to reach across the town. What the vines felt, One (henry) felt, what they saw, he saw, and when he wanted to interact with something he could tell the vines to do it for him.

One (henry) had made a plaything to help with the boredom. He made it look like his Steve-baby and spent hours breaking and then remaking it. It wasn’t right though, it only made the noises he told it to, only moved where he told it to, it just, it wasn’t right. He tried making a plaything to look like Eleven-sister-baby, but it was the same. It made him angry; it wasn’t any fun to break his playthings if they were going to scream and beg him to stop.

One (henry)’s new playthings were a little better than the last batch, he made them like the bunnies Papa used to give him to play with, the only thing is, if he wanted them to react correctly, he needed to make them do it himself, and he didn’t want to play both parts of the game, he wanted to do the hurting, not be the one hurt. He had an idea though. The shadow spider. It wandered on its own, but he was pretty sure it didn’t have a mind or conscious thought. If One (henry) could figure out a way to overtake it, he could plant some of his own mind into it, enough to give instructions and let it direct the bunnies, and then One (henry) could have his fun.

The shadow spider had a mind of sorts, but it was so phenomenally immense and different than any other mind that One (henry) had ever met, it was hardly any work to take over a small corner of its expanse and implant his own instruction into it. Every now and then One (henry) would feel a nudge from the shadow spider’s consciousness but was able to wrestle it back under his control. Once the shadow spider was his to command, he gave it control over his new playthings. He could still feel the echoes of their pain in the back of his mind though, so it wasn’t perfect.

One (henry) was getting bored of the game. His playthings were good at hunting and running and ripping and dying, but it still wasn’t right. Sometimes he would see his Eleven-sister-baby in the dark place, but she couldn’t see him for some reason, would just look through him. One time though, she saw one of his playthings. The next time she approached one, he sent it after her, and it ended up in the lab. Good. Now he had more playthings.

Hopper was sleeping, it must be night where he was. He was alone in his concrete room, so Steve made the ripples shake Hoppers arm. He came awake right away, sitting up immediately and throwing a fist. Steve was glad he wasn’t actually in the room, he was sure Hopper could hit really hard, and Steve didn’t mind getting hurt, never had, but he needed to be awake now, not passed out.

Hopper looked around and didn’t see anything, so he took out the little rock they had been using to communicate and sat it on the floor.

“That you kid?”

Steve tapped the rock once for yes.

“What’s going on?”

Steve tapped out a short message in morse code, something they had been using to communicate for a few months now after Steve learned it.

‘Found map. Small team coming. Just looking, will evac if possible. Be ready in case.

“Shit, okay. I am on work detail in the morning. Don’t know if I will be able to get away.”

‘Big team coming later. Will get you then if can’t now.’

“I’ll keep an eye out.”

Hopper took the rock back and laid back down. Steve watched him try and sleep for a few minutes before he felt the tug of consciousness. Steve sent a Ripple to nudge Hopper, let him know he was leaving, in time to wake back in his room in the lab.

Dr. Owens was in the room with him, nudging Steve awake.

“Our agents are almost in position. It’s time to get you in the tank.”

Steve changed and followed Owens into the room with the tank. They gave him photos of the three men on the team infiltrating the base, and Steve memorized them as best he could. It was something they had been trying to teach him, he’d had a little success so far, but it always worked best if he had met the subject in person. Thankfully, one of them was one of the guards at the lab, along specifically for this reason, James Belby, ex-Navy Seal, birthday March 31st, had two kids, 12-year-old twins Wendy and Kurt, they lived with his ex-wife and her parents in Lower Canaan Ohio. Steve would do his best to make sure James came back.

Steve climbed into the tank, and Owens hooked him up to a few machines to monitor his vitals and brain activity. The lid came down, and Steve focused on the image of James in his mind. Moments later he saw him dressed in a Soviet uniform. He was with two other men, blurry at first, but Steve focused on remembering the photo’s Owens gave him, and their images gradually became clearer.

The three must have received some sort of signal, because they started towards a large building in the distance. Steve followed along silently, spreading his awareness as far as it would go. He found that he was able to sense more people nearby, could see some fuzzy forms too, though nothing was clear, they were more like staticky clouds, he could hear them though, they were speaking in Russian, saying everything was quiet.

James’ team moved closer to the fuzzy people, so Steve readied the ripples, in case he needed to protect their team, or create a distraction, they managed to get past without Steve needing to interfere though.

Steve followed after the team for the next few hours, while they navigated the prison. They moved past Hopper’s cell, but when Steve looked in, he wasn’t there, he must have been on the work detail already. Steve wanted to go check on him but decided to stick to the plan and stay with the team.

Nearly five hours later the team left the prison and stole back to their original position in the woods. Steve didn’t like that Hopper had been left behind, but if everything went well, they would be able to get him out of there soon.

The mission was successful, we were able to map out the prison, we found the cells where they keep the prisoners, and another area that was covered in blood, presumably where they are housing the subject. We were unable to locate the device, but there was an area that required clearance that we were unable to infiltrate without raising the alarm, we will include a demolitions team if we cant infiltrate it the next time, and just blow the place sky high.

Good work Belby. We will update you once we have the rest of our people organized.

Uncle Martin turned to Steve once the transmission ended and asked Steve to report.

“I was able to see where other people were, and I did feel a different sort of presence when they were near the courtyard with blood. I didn’t want to leave them alone though, so I didn’t investigate. I will try to take a look the next time I visit Hopper, now that I know where it is.”

“Good job Steve. I’m proud of the progress you have made. With more work you will surely reach your full potential.”

“Thank you, Papa.”

“…Of course, now get some sleep Steven.”

The next few days were incredibly busy. Steve spent every day in the tank, visiting Hopper and wandering through the base. Steve was able to see the other people there clearer every time he went. He also found the Demogorgon, he didn’t visit it more than the once though, since it could apparently see Steve too, and tried to grab him. Steve left as soon as he could, and when he woke he saw a healed over claw mark where it had caught him before he could phase through a wall. Uncle Martin got really excited about that. Dr. Owens however only looked worried.

Steve called into work and told Keith they were keeping him for an extra week or two, Keith told him not to come back until he was cleared, and then told Steve all about his date with Brittany. They were going on a second date that weekend. Steve liked that it had worked out, Brittany was nice, and after the first time she had asked Steve out, she hadn’t tried flirting again, and instead would only come in when Keith was working.

Another thing Steve had started thinking about sometimes was Billy. When Steve had thought he was just dreaming about Hopper and Billy and Robin and Dustin, he hadn’t thought too much about seeing Billy having sex with other people, but now, Steve was feeling… Sad. Kind of the way he felt when he thought Nancy was cheating on him, but without the Anger. Steve didn’t understand that. Billy had left, so obviously they weren’t secret boyfriends anymore, but seeing Billy with other people, even if he could only hear the other people, it still hurt.

After a while Steve decided it was because the other people were all men. When Billy had been dating girls to make his dad happy, Steve hadn’t minded, had only made sure Billy wasn’t cheating on them by telling Billy he wouldn’t have sex with him, but Billy was something called Gay, and didn’t really like girls that way. Every time he’d seen Billy in his not dreams though, it had been with men, and it hurt. Steve was pretty sure Billy had moved on. Maybe, once Hopper was rescued, Steve should move on too. Maybe agree to date some of those girls that were always flirting with him. Maybe it would make him feel better.

Dustin had arrived last night, and the two were currently being briefed by Owens. Uncle Martin was in Russia, working with the team there. He wouldn’t being going on the mission, but he would be running the operation from their camp a few miles into the woods.

Finally the time came and Steve was put into the tank. The first thing he did was find Hopper and wake him, let him know they were coming. Hopper had come up with the plan to get someone to break his ankles so he could get out of the manacles they always kept him in, but Steve had cuffed him over the head with the ripples and showed how he could unlock them. He did that and then ran to where the rest of the team was waiting.

He was going to follow them in, take out any guards that might find them before they could raise the alarm until each group got to their area, one to the cells to release the inmates in a staged prison break, one team to where they thought the machine was and one team to where they were keeping the Demogorgon. Steve was to stay with that team, kill the Demogorgon and then help get the corpse into the transport, before moving between the tree teams and taking any guard out of commission that he could.

Everything started off well, steve had only needed to take out one guard before they could raise the alarm. He was now in position to confront the Demogorgon. He was with the James Belby and the other two that had going in with him the first time. The other two know about the Demogorgon, but thought it an experiment, they didn’t know about Steve though, so Steve did his best to not make his presence known.

Once in position, James gave Steve the signal, and Steve moved into the room where the Demogorgon was being kept. It immediately went after Steve, and it was all Steve could do to dodge it. He threw out a wave of the Ripples to push it back, but they just washed right over it. Steve didn’t panic though, and instead made a new force of Ripples, honed like blades. He managed to spear half of then through the Demogorgon, but it was still advancing on Steve, and it was hard to dodge out of the way in such a small place. Steve felt claws rip into his arm as the beast grabbed onto him, but Steve spun out of its grasp. He took a chance and running to the other end of the room as fast as he could, he lept up onto the wall, willing himself not to phase through, and used his momentum to twist around and leap onto the Demogorgon’s back.

The Demogorgon tried to reach back and grab Steve, but Steve twisted out of the way, and with a furious push, created a blade and speared it right into the creatures unfurled mouth, using the Ripple Blade to spear it to the floor. Steve lept off its back and watched it try and struggle off the blade that Steve held in place and forced parts of it to spear out in other directions. The more the Demogorgon struggled, the more it shredded itself, until it was finally still. Steve sent a few more blades into it just to make sure it was dead, and then let the ripples fall.

His nose was streaming blood by then, but Steve didn’t give himself any time to slow, he simply directed the ripples at the door to the Demogorgon’s room and crushed it before tossing it out of the way, only to reveal James and the two agents engaging in a furious gunfight. One of the agents was on the ground and not moving, blood pouring from a head wound. James was bleeding from a gut wound, and the third agent’s right arm was dangling by a thread.

Steve lept into action immediately, pulling James and the other still standing agent into the Demogorgon’s room, and then turning his attention to the people shooting at the, He couldn’t see all of them, but going partly by sight, and partly by sound, Steve sent a wave of bladed ripples at them. He let the ripples tear through them until he couldn’t hear anymore gunfire. He then ran back to the room where the agents were. The one with the dangling arm was now passed out on the floor. James was taking his pulse and shook his head.

“Dead. You here kid?”

Steve tapped out ‘yes’ in Morse code.

“You know what to do. Don’t leave anything behind for the ruskies to find.”

Steve looked at the man before pulling the other agent into the room while James limped out and leaned against a wall outside, gun pointed at the floor in one hand, the other clutching his side. Steve pulled the Russian soldiers into the room that he’d killed and then using the ripples, he lit the entire room on fire. He kept the friction up long enough to make sure the blaze would not be going out, making sure to pay the closest attention to the Demogorgon and their two agents to make sure those three burned completely, leaving no evidence behind.

When Steve was sure they were gone, and that the blaze would not be going out any time soon, he left the room and tapped James on the shoulder with the ripples. Blood was still flowing out of his nose, and he could feel a tickle whaere it was trickling out if his ears as well, but he wasn’t done yet, he needed to get their people out, and make sure Hopper got out as well.

Steve followed James out to his extraction point, checking, he didn’t see Hopper, so leaving James with the evac team, Steve ran back into the prison. He didn’t stop until he made it to the cells. The team they sent in was pinned down by more Russian soldiers trying to gun them down. Steve made quick work of spearing any through he could find, and soon the gunfire stopped. There were several dead prisoners, and a few of their agents were dead too. Thankfully Hopper was alive, holed up with some of their agents in one of the cells, holding a stolen machine gun. He was bleeding from one shoulder, but looked unharmed otherwise.

“Steve tapped Hopper on the shoulder with the Ripples to get his attention. Hopper pulled out his rock and Steve tapped out ‘clear’ against hoppers gun. Hopper told the Agents it was clear and they could move out. They looked like they didn’t want to listen to him, but eventually did as he said. Steve followed them out, and once they were clear, he lit the bodies of their fallen agents on fire to eliminate the evidence. The few prisoners that were left to see it screamed and ran off in the opposite direction of Steve’s group.

He managed to get the rest of them to the extraction point, and then went back in for the last team. All he found was carnage. Half a dozen dead agents, the entire demo team, as well as at least ten dead Russians. Steve didn’t know what to do, so he improvised. He saw that some of the explosives had already been set up near the door, so hoping it would work, he used the Ripples to light them on fire, and ran. He was rewarded with the room exploding. He nearly woke himself with the force of the blast, but willed himself to stay and make sure the job was done.

He entered the room, now on fire, and ran straight to the hole in the wall where the door used to be. Behind the door he saw a room similar to the one that had been under the mall. There were a few soldiers and scientists still standing, mostly those that were on the other side of the room from the door. Steve wasted no time spearing them through and leaving them dead, he then moved to the machine trying to punch open a gate. He could see a small crack, the glowing fleshy substance lining the crack.

Steve moved over to the machine and deciding it would be best to just take out the machine trying to open the gate, since it had worked the last time. Steve focused the Ripples on the moving parts, making them still, and lanced spikes through the canisters of green glowing stuff, letting it spill out and melt the metal around it. He let the Ripples go that were holding everything in place and tried to run. He didn’t make it all the way out though, and the next thing Steve knew was blackness.

Drifting.

They floated through this space.

There was nothing that came before, and nothing that would come after.

But something came after.

There was a presence. A parasite.

They ignored the parasite. It did not matter. It was weak. They were strong. They were strong, and they were all.

The Parasite did not ignore them. It made facsimiles of food things. It destroyed its facsimiles without eating them though. They did not understand.

They were being attacked. They did not like this. They let the Parasite think it had succeeded. They needed to study it.

They did not like the parasite, but it was so small They could not find it. Instead, They found another small thing, another Parasite, and They gave it some of itself, to get rid of the other Parasite.

Steve slept for nearly two weeks after the mission. When he finally woke, he was informed Hopper had been rescued and was still recovering there in the lab. Steve went to see him as soon as Dr. Owens would let him out of bed.

Hopper had needed surgery on his arm rm to repair the damage and was also on a special diet to help him gain some weight back.

James Belby had survived after his own surgery and was happily back at the lab. Steve promised to bring him chocolate cookies the next time he came by.

Dustin had been sent back home but had come back once Steve woke. The two of them and Owens explained to Hopper about wanting to give El a choice to get her powers back. Hopper was not happy and wanted to say no, but then Owens told Hopper about the Man that had killed the other kids and how he might come back and might even target El if he did. Hopper agreed to let it be El’s choice.

The four of them went to California together before Steve and Dustin went back to Hawkins. It was a very teary reunion.

Hopper decided to stay in California with El for now to finish out the school year, before deciding if they wanted to move back to Hawkins.

El decided to work with Steve and Dustin and Doctor Owens to get her powers back, and Steve flew down once a month to help her with it, they didn’t make any progress though. Uncle Martin thought they would have more progress if El would go to the lab, but Hopper said No.

Steve went back to Hawkins after being away for nearly a month. He told Keith that there were complications and Steve had needed surgery which put him in a coma. Keith let Steve keep his job, but made sure to only schedule him when Robin was working after that, since she had a light schedule still being in school.

Dustin started spending more time with his new friends, and Steve only ever saw him on dinner nights anymore, since he was also getting rides from his new friend Eddie a lot. Steve was a little sad about that, but figured it was just part of Dustin growing up.

Steve did start spending a lot more time with Max and Robin though, the three of them often spending weekends together when Steve wasn’t in New Mexico or California.

Billy still called Max once a month, and Max asked Steve to be there when he did. Steve wasn’t sure why though, because every time Max asked him if he wanted to speak to Steve he would just hang up.

Mr. Hargrove was still in a coma, and Mrs. Hargrove didn’t want them to pull the plug, so he stayed in the hospital, the government was paying his hospital bills anyways.

Steve started going out on dates with the girls that would flirt with him at work, they went well, and he would date a gril a few times before they would decide they wanted to try something new, usually after he gave them a nice birthday gift or took them to a concert or someplace fancy though.

Things were starting to get back to a new normal.

Notes:

That was a journey & a half!
Hope y'all aren't too annoyed by me jumping the shark too much. I know it seems like Steve is going the way of OP, but trust me, he's totally not. I think...
I planned Steve's parentage as soon as I realized Cypher was going to go so long and only cover the first two seasons. I have end game story-wise pretty much figured out here, but it might change a little, I'm not sure.
For those of you who originally clocked in for the Harringrove, don't worry, Billy will be making an appearance next chapter, so you will at least get to see where he's at. Not sure what pairing I am going to make end game here yet, or if there will be one for that matter, so sorry about that.
Don't worry too much about Dustin pulling away, he's not like, icing Steve out, he's just getting into being a High Schooler, he still see's Steve as his brother.
If you like, feel free to leaf kudos or comment, if you did not like, PLEASE do not read. i know there are a lot of heavy themes in this one, and you have to take care of your mental health lovelies.
Till next time!

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Papa

Marieluc

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