Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

-8-

NOVEMBER 6TH, HAWKINS, INDIANA, 1983

-8-

It was a beautiful night, and the Hawkins National laboratory was shown out in the middle of the woods by the lampposts, surrounded by an electrified fence, only a few miles from the nearby town of Hawkins. The night air was cold but peaceful. The residents of Hawkins all believed that the lab workers who lived there were working on new technologies to defend the United States from enemies, such as the Russians.

It was a story the Department of Energy, the people who ran the scientific institute, were keen to promote.

The reality was the lab was studying psychic power, and they didn't let a little thing like morality get in the way of 'progress.'

Many people who stared at the lab might view it like a prison, especially if they were aware of the scandals of the past. Outwardly, the lab was calm, but on the inside, an experiment was taking place, a highly unusual experiment.

Deep inside the lab, there was a massive room of white painted walls containing a sensory deprivation tank. Some scientists were working on the final preparations for the subject who would be placed within it, while others were monitoring from the control room, using highly sophisticated instruments.

Everyone stopped when the tall, white haired, immaculate form of Dr Martin Brenner stepped into the room. Respected and feared by all, and watched with anticipation and dread, Dr Brenner led a small girl with a shaved head towards the tank.

"It's okay, Eleven, these are friends," Brenner told her when she was wary of the dozens of lab workers. He held her hand. "They're just here to watch. Don't focus on them. Stay in here," He tapped her head. "Like before."

"Yes, papa." She whispered obediently.

Snapped out of their spell, the lab workers carried on with their work, but some of them couldn't help but watch the girl, whose existence was a closely guarded and tightly kept secret, a testament to the United States's obsession with psychic power.

Her name was Eleven; it was the only identity she had grown up with. The girl had been taken from her family as a baby, and great steps had been taken to keep her in the lab, where she had been experimented on for years and years. Only a few lab workers knew the full story behind the girl and her history, and knew the real reason behind these current experiments.

They said nothing while the girl was suited up.

They lowered her into the tank, but before she went in, Brenner told her not to run from whatever she saw, and to remember that it couldn't hurt her in there. Eleven said and did nothing; she had learnt the hard way what happened if she disobeyed Papa, or if she said no.

They shut off the tank, and Eleven found herself back in Void Space.

Void Space was a black nothing containing nothing in all directions, and the ground was wet. As she looked around, Eleven's breathing came out in fearful gasps when she saw the shapeless grey mass in front of her. It was the monster she had seen in the Void Space before, and she hung back, terrified. She could see the monster was eating something.

Eleven slowly approached the monster in Void Space. It was eating something, alright, but Eleven couldn't tell what it was; the sounds it made with its meal made her more frightened.

Very nervously, Eleven reached out to touch it.

The monster roared viciously at her, making her shriek in terror, and she turned and rushed away. Eleven wanted nothing more than to escape the tank, but she couldn't help but look further, completely unaware that outside the Void Space, the psychic backlash of her screams was ripping a hole in the wall.

Eleven wouldn't know about that for the moment, as she desperately looked for something else, a friend in her horrible life…

As she ran, she screamed in shock as she was covered with black goo…

-8-

…..Eleven was still screaming as she came out of the Void space, and she found herself back in the Bath.

"Stop screaming! I'm going to help you!" A voice said in her mind, a growling, menacing voice, but it shocked her into silence.

Eleven stopped screaming, "Who-Who said that?"

"I'll tell you in a moment….Jane," the voice said in her head.

"Jane?" Eleven repeated curiously.

"That is your name. The name your mother gave you before you were taken out of her arms," the voice replied.

"My…mother?" Eleven repeated.

The voice said nothing, and Eleven gasped as black goo spread over her face, and ripped its way through the suit, and she watched through unfamiliar eyes as she smashed her way out of the Bath, startling the monsters that resembled the one that she found in the Void Space.

The monsters were surprised when the tank suddenly shattered, and she stepped out, shaken by what had happened. Eleven watched, wide-eyed as the monsters stopped what they were doing, and they stared at her a moment before their heads peeled back, like a grotesque, flesh, tooth-studded flower, and roared at her, and charged.

Eleven screamed, and she tried to run…only to discover she couldn't move. "Wha-?"

"No, don't worry, let me take care of this!" The voice said.

Eleven gasped as her arms shot up out of her control, black goo covering them, as they shot out, and black tentacles shot out, and the same black goo covered her chest, revealing a massive mouth filled with more teeth than a shark, and the monsters' primal instincts screamed at them they were in the presence of a superior predator.

But it was too late. The tentacles and her arms grabbed the monsters and brought them to her enormous mouth, and they were shoved in, roaring and squealing in terror.

Once they were dead, Eleven looked at her hands in shock.

"What just happened?" She whispered.

"I did," the voice said.

Eleven squeaked in shock as she suddenly leapt into the air, her hands and legs covered in the black goo, and she stuck to the ceiling as if the goo was like glue. Eleven gaped in shock as the goo creature took control over her whole body, and raced all the way while clinging to the ceiling like a huge spider towards the tunnel.

-8-

Elsewhere, things were chaotic; people were dying, the usually strong lights flickered and alarms blared as a man in a lab coat ran through in a hurry, eyes wide with panic as he panted trying to escape from the monsters who'd come out of the hole.

Everything had happened so fast, and so quickly, he hadn't even known he was running until now; the scientist didn't know how many of his friends and colleagues were dead, but quite a few in the tank room were gone, startled by her psychic scream. When he reached the elevator, the scientist let out a ragged sigh of relief as his body, not used to exercise, came to a stop. He clicked the button for the elevator rapidly, looking over his shoulder a few times.

Sweat poured from his face as he hurried inside and clicked the button for it to go down. He was relieved to see that the hallway he came from was empty.

But as the elevator began to close, the man heard growling and slowly looked up.

Something grabbed him and dragged him up to the ceiling out of sight as he screamed.

The elevator closed, and the man was no more.

-8-

Meanwhile, at Mike Wheeler's house, he and the boys were playing D in his basement. Mike and his friends, Dustin, Lucas, and Will, had no idea what had happened at the lab; as far as they were concerned, this was a normal night before school in the morning. They had no idea that, in the years to come, they would look back…

And wonder just how much of their lives would be changed.

But that had yet to come, in just a few hours.

"Something is coming. Something hungry for blood." Mike explained. "A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness. It is almost here."

"What is it?" Will asked excitedly, clearly, deeply invested.

"What if it's the Demogorgon?" Dustin asked nervously.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "It's not the Demogorgon."

"An army of Troglodytes charges into the chamber!" Mike exclaimed as he slammed the piece down on the table.

Dustin looked amused. "Troglodytes?"

"Told you," Lucas smirked.

They all laughed, but Mike suddenly looked nervous. "Wait a minute…did you hear that?" He looked around the room. "That…That sound… Boom, boom, BOOM!"

He slammed his hands on the table to make them all jump.

"That didn't come from the Troglodytes, no, that came from something else." He told them.

He slammed a new piece on the table. "THE DEMOGORGON!" The boys groaned.

"We're in deep shit." Dustin hissed.

"Will, your action," Mike said.

He hesitated. "I don't know!"

"Fireball him!" Lucas insisted.

"I'd have to roll a thirteen or higher!" Will protested.

"Too risky, cast a protection spell." Dustin chimed in.

"Don't be a pussy, fireball him!" Lucas snapped.

"Cast protection!"

Mike slammed his hands on the table again. "THE DEMOGORGON IS SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR SILLY HUMAN BICKERING. IT STOMPS TOWARDS YOU, BOOM!"

"FIREBALL HIM!" Lucas shrieked.

"PROTECTION!"

"IT ROARS IN ANGER!"

Will panicked and threw the dice. "FIREBALL!"

But he threw the dice a little too hard, and they went flying. The boys scrambled to search for them, only for Karen, Mike's mother, to call for Mike. She opened the door and stared down at him from the top of the stairs.

"Mom, we're in the middle of a campaign!" He complained.

"You mean the end? Fifteen after." She snapped and closed the door.

Mike hurried upstairs to talk to her in the kitchen. "Mom, wait, just 20 more minutes."

"It's a school night, Michael." She sighed. "I just put Holly to bed. You can finish next weekend."

"But that'll ruin the flow!" He insisted.

Karen closed her eyes, not in the mood for his son's stubbornness (why her eldest kids had to inherit that trait from her, she didn't know), but she prepared herself for a fight if she had to,

"Michael-..," she began, readying herself.

"I'm serious, Mom. The campaign took two weeks to plan!" Mike groaned. "How was I supposed to know it was gonna take ten hours?"

That took the wind out of her sails, and Karen just froze and looked at him, stunned. "You've been playing down there for ten hours?" Karen's voice squeaked at the end.

Mike paused, exasperated when he saw this wasn't working, and turned to his dad, who was fiddling with the TV, hoping for some support from him. "Dad, don't you think 20 more minutes-?" Mike began hopefully, before he realised just who he was speaking to.

"I think you should listen to your mother," Ted stated simply before turning his attention back to the TV, proving truly he didn't care what his son was even saying, or what he wanted. As long as he stared at the TV and let himself become brain-dead for another hour, Ted Wheeler didn't care.

Mike got frustrated to see that both of his parents had gone back to their own devices, as if he wasn't even in the room anymore.

But he was used to that; while Karen and Ted Wheeler provided for their family, gave their children gifts and money for whatever they needed or wanted, that was as far as they were prepared to go. They didn't care otherwise.

-8-

Back down in the basement, Will found the dice. "Does the seven count?"

"Did Mike see it?" Lucas smirked.

"No."

"Then no."

The boys grabbed their stuff, and Dustin took the rest of the pizza with him.

He went upstairs to see that the door to Nancy's room was open, and she was talking on the phone.

"Hey Nancy, there's a slice left if you want it." He insisted kindly, not realising he was intruding on a private conversation, or even thinking Nancy wouldn't want to speak to him, never mind want a slice of pizza when she was getting ready for bed herself.

Nancy smiled and got up, and then slammed the door right in his face.

When he got outside with the others, he spoke. "There's something wrong with your sister."

"What?" Mike frowned.

"She's got a stick up her butt."

"It's because she's been dating that douchebag Steve Harrington." Lucas huffed. "She's turned into a real jerk."

Mike rolled his eyes. "She's always been a real jerk."

"She used to be cool, like that time she dressed up as an elf for our elder tree campaign." Dustin insisted before riding off on his bike. Lucas followed, but Will held back a moment.

"It was a seven," Will confessed.

"What?" Mike looked at him with confusion.

"The roll was a seven," He explained. "The Demogorgon got me. See you tomorrow."

He rode off, and the lights on Mike's house flickered briefly, but he paid it no mind and went back inside.

The boys rode their bikes together, and Lucas parted off to go to his house. "Race back to my place?" Dustin asked. "Winner gets a comic."

"Any comic?" Will questioned.

"Yeah." They sped off.

Will got ahead of him, though and Dustin stopped at his house, sulking about the comic he was gonna owe him.

-8-

Will continued on his own, but he didn't spot the signs on the metal fence saying the area was Hawkins' lab territory. Like everyone else in Hawkins, Will had heard the rumours, but he'd never paid any attention to them.

The light on his bike flickered, and Will spotted a strange figure up ahead that startled him badly. He made a sharp turn off the road and fell off his bike.

The creature growled and began to chase after him, leaving him no choice but to run and leave his bike behind.

He managed to get back home and screamed for his mom and brother, but the only one there was his dog.

He tried to use the phone, but it wasn't working, and he soon spotted the large figure outside the house. He paled as it seemed to force the lock open.

Will ran outside for the shed and grabbed the rifle, hurrying to fill it with ammo.

But as he waited for whatever it was to open the door to the shed, something appeared behind him.

Will didn't even have time to scream before the monster grabbed him, and he vanished from the world.

-8-

The next morning, at Chief Jim Hopper's house, the chief of Hawkins' police was about to wake up. In his house, there was a little drawing of a girl and her parents was hung up on the wall. But the house was a mess; Beer cans littered the house, and the TV was on, talking about a strange power outage that had happened the previous night. Passed out on the couch was Jim Hopper, who was awoken by a dog barking outside. He checked his watch and groaned, already bored to tears about the day he was about to have.

He had a cigarette, took a shower and put himself together before leaving the house to go to work. All the time, he did his best to avoid looking at the drawing his daughter had made.

-8-

Meanwhile, at Joyce's house, she was trying to find her keys. "Where the hell are they? Jonathan?" Joyce yelled.

Jonathan was cooking breakfast. "Check the couch."

"Ugh, I did," But she complied anyway and paused when she found them. "Got them," Joyce added sheepishly.

Jonathan rolled his eyes.

"Sweetie, I'll see you tonight." She told him as she hurried to leave.

"See ya."

"Where's Will?" She paused when she realised her youngest son wasn't there having his own breakfast; usually, he would have had a quick wash, put on some clean clothes and would be here, either drawing or reading a comic before he had to go to school.

He shrugged. "I didn't get him up yet, so he's probably still sleeping." Joyce groaned.

"Jonathan, you have to make sure he's up!"

"I'm making breakfast!" He snapped.

Joyce sighed and went to his room. "Will, honey, it's time to get up-," She froze when she realised he wasn't there, and she trailed off, staring around the room for a moment, seeing that her son's school things were still here, and she realised with a shock his bed hadn't been slept in.

She went back to Jonathan. "He came home last night, right?"

"He's not in his room?" Jonathan frowned.

"Did he come home or not?"

"I don't know." Jonathan sighed.

"You don't know?" Joyce snapped, starting to get angry and worried now. Jonathan froze when he picked up on her tone and mood, knowing better than to try her when she was like this. He had to tell her the truth.

He set the breakfast down. "I-I got home late, I was working. Eric asked me to cover, I said Yeah. I thought we could use the extra cash."

And they did need the cash. Ever since his bastard deadbeat father had cleaned them out and ran away, like he always did, when he was chasing after get rich quick schemes which did more harm than good whenever he wasn't working and acting like a hippie without a care in the world, proving he didn't care about responsibility, Jonathan and Joyce had both had to seize every single job they could get.

Joyce had often talked about how she would like nothing more than to get out of Hawkins, look for somewhere else so that they could have a better life, and Jonathan was all for that.

"Jonathan, we talked about this!" Joyce snapped. "You can't take shifts while I'm working!"

"Mom, it's not a big deal, he was at the Wheelers' all day." Jonathan insisted. "I'm sure he just stayed over."

But Joyce wasn't having it and hurried to call Karen.

-8-

At Mike's, Mike was pouring syrup on his eggs, which made Nancy gag. "That's disgusting."

"You're disgusting." He replied without missing a beat.

Nancy rolled her eyes and decided to just ignore her immature brother.

Karen grabbed the ringing phone while holding Holly. "Hello?"

"Hi Karen, it's Joyce."

Mike poured syrup on Nancy's eggs, making her scowl. "What the hell, Mike!?" Nancy yelped, wishing her brother weren't so petty and childish.

"Language," Ted warned her absentmindedly, nose in the paper. Of course, heaven forbid Ted even try to find out what pissed off his eldest daughter, or investigate what Mike had just done.

"Quiet!" Karen snapped at all of them as Mike cackled.

"Was that Will I heard back there?"

"No, just Mike." Karen sighed.

"Will didn't spend the night?"

"No, he left a little bit after 8. Why, he's not home?" Karen asked with concern.

"Um, you know I think he just left early for school. Thank you so much, bye."Joyce hung up.

-8-

Back at the Byers, Jonathan and Joyce exchanged worried glances.

Something was obviously wrong.

Chapter Text

At school, the boys had just arrived and were confused to see that Will wasn't around. After getting off the phone call she'd had with Joyce, Karen had turned to her son and asked him when he'd last seen Will. Mike had been confused at first before Karen told him Will was missing, and neither Joyce nor Jonathan knew where he was.

That had caught the attention of the whole family, even Ted. Mike was startled, and he told her the truth without blustering; Will had ridden off with Lucas and Dustin on his bike after a day with them. Nancy had been intrigued, asking whether he could have run away, but Mike had argued back, saying Will would never do that.

It was a troubled Mike who'd met up with Dustin and Lucas - when he got there, he was even more worried, because Will wasn't with them. The Party always met up at the same spot, before they headed for school together at the same time. At first, Lucas and Dustin assumed Will was just late, before Mike filled them in and told them about the phone call.

Dustin and Lucas were both concerned, of course, but they just assumed Will had left home earlier, something Mike argued against. Since when had Will Byers ever left without saying goodbye? Why would he just leave his family when they were close-knit?

But deep down, Mike had hoped his friends were right, and Will was here.

"He probably just went to class early again." Lucas reasoned.

"Yeah, he's always paranoid of pop quizzes," Dustin added.

Mike knew they were right there, but before he could argue, the boys had found a new problem.

That's when Troy and James got their attention. "Step right up, ladies and gentlemen," The boys groaned and turned to face them. Mike rolled his eyes, cursing the fact that neither of them had the physical or mental strength needed to fight these mouth breathers, who'd been bullying them all for so long. "Step right up and get your tickets to the freak show," Troy smirked, unaware that many of the other kids were bored by this lack of originality. "Who do you think would make more money in a freak show?" He asked James.

He hit each of the boys in the chest. "Midnight, Frogface, or Toothless?" They flinched at the impacts.

James pretended to think. "I'd go with Toothless," he smirked in Dustin's direction.

Dustin, typically, rose to the bait.

"I told you a million times, my teeth are coming in," He snapped. "It's called Cleidocranial Dysplasia."

Mike and Lucas cursed Dustin inwardly. Why couldn't Dustin see he was just making things worse?

"I told you a million times." James mocked his voice.

Troy grinned. "Do the arm thing."

Dustin huffed and took off his backpack before cracking his bones, making the two gag obnoxiously.

"Gets me every time." Troy cackled before shoving his way through them and walking off with James.

"Assholes." Lucas hissed, glaring after the boys hatefully.

Mike and Dustin agreed.

"I think it's kinda cool." Mike insisted to Dustin, trying to make him feel better. "It's like superpowers or something."

"Yeah, except I can't fight evil with it," Dustin complained.

-8-

Meanwhile, at the high school, Nancy had just walked in, and her best friend Barbara walked up to talk with her.

"So? Did he call?" She asked excitedly.

"Keep your voice down," Nancy told her quickly.

"Did he?"

She sighed. "I told you, it's not like that. I mean, yes, he likes me, but not like that."

She opened her locker. "We just…made out a couple times." She grinned sheepishly, but inwardly remembered how much she enjoyed those moments.

"Nance, seriously, you're gonna be so cool now it's ridiculous," Barb told her.

"No I'm not." Nancy sighed.

She didn't want to be cool.

That was the last thing she wanted.

While being cool came with dozens of benefits, it also came with downsides. Nothing lasted forever, and those who were cool, constantly had to keep on track with the latest trends, say the right things…it just went on and on. It didn't suit her. Nancy, like Barb, was a great student with a bright future.

She had seen popular, cool kids before. She had seen what happened to them over the years; they didn't last forever, and they never would. Nancy had far too much in her life to worry about things like that.

"You'd better still hang out with me, is all I'm saying." Barb teased.

Nancy rolled her eyes fondly at her best friend. The two of them had been friends for years, much like Mike had been with Will when they had first met (she made a mental note to try to speak to Jonathan, find out what was happening).

But right now she had to focus on the conversation, "If you become friends with Tommy H or Carol-," Barb was saying teasingly.

Okay, that was going too far.

Tommy and Carol were Steve's friends. Tommy was a jerk, and Carol was the opposite of the person Nancy desperately wanted to become. Carol didn't care about school; she barely scraped by. She was more interested in the types of things Barb and Nancy didn't like or just tolerated.

"Gross. I'm telling you it was a one-time…," Nancy paused at Barb's look. "Two time, thing." She conceded.

That's when she spotted a note in her locker from Steve, asking to meet in the bathroom.

"You were saying?" Barb smirked.

The scene changed to Nancy and Steve making out in the bathroom. "Steve-," She started between kisses, even though she wanted to keep going. "I have to go."

He kissed her neck. "In a minute."

The bell rang.

"Steve- Seriously- I have to go-," Nancy tried to say to him between kisses.

Steve grabbed her bag before she could. "Wait, wait, wait. Let's do something tonight, yeah?"

"I can't, I have to study for a test." Nancy sighed, taking her bag from him.

"Let me help."

She smirked. "You failed chem."

"C-." He corrected. "So I'll be over around 8?"

Nancy scoffed. "My mom would never-," she tried.

"I'll go through the window." He shrugged. "Or we could chill in my car, find a nice quiet place to park and…"

"Steve, I have to study." She chuckled. "I'm not kidding." She gave him the firm, Wheeler gaze.

He grinned. "Well, why do you think I want it to be nice and quiet?"

Nancy couldn't hide her smile. "You're an idiot, Steve Harrington."

She went to leave, but paused at the door. "Meet me at Dearborn and Maple at 8. To study." Steve nodded.

-8-

Hopper arrived at work, but even after hearing that Joyce couldn't find Will that morning, he didn't seem interested in anything but coffee, contemplation and doughnuts.

But Joyce was waiting in his office, determined to make it his problem whether he wanted it or not. When he saw his old girlfriend, Hopper couldn't help but study her sadly and longingly. He had always loved Joyce; they'd dated a lot in the day, but their paths had diverged, and he had gotten married to Diane, had Sara, who… And then she had married Lonnie Byers, of all people.

While the years of stress of dealing with Lonnie's lack of responsibility had aged her, she still looked beautiful.

"He's probably just playing hooky." Hopper insisted on being professional.

"No, not my Will. Look, he's not like you, Hopper, he's not like me, he's not like…" Joyce hesitated, confusing Hopper, wondering what she was talking about. "Most."

She continued when he seemed doubtful. "Look, he has a few friends, but the kids, they're mean. They call him names, they laugh at him, his clothes-," she rambled without realising what she was saying.

"What's wrong with his clothes?" He questioned in confusion. What did Will's clothes have to do with his being missing?

Joyce realised her mistake.

"I don't know, does that matter?!" She snapped.

"Maybe." He shrugged.

Joyce huffed. "Look, he's…sensitive." She teared up. "Lonnie…Lonnie used to say he was queer, call him a fag." She whispered the word under her breath.

"Is he?" Hopper blinked, trying to mask his concern and his disgust. He wasn't disgusted with the news that Will was gay. He truly didn't care about things like that. During his time in the army, Hopper had met dozens of homosexuals, and while many had the presence of mind to keep their thoughts to themselves, he had found it pointless and wasteful when it was discovered who they were. More than that, he had made friends with them until many were killed in 'Nam.

But what didn't surprise him was how Lonnie Byers, a man who loved putting people down and having fun without caring what it did to others, bullied his youngest son with that homophobic shit. What surprised him was how Joyce seemed..ashamed, like some of Lonnie's poison had infected her.

Joyce scowled. "HE'S MISSING IS WHAT HE IS!" He shouted in frustration.

Hopper sighed under his breath, seeing that his question had done more harm than good. He decided just to get this over with.

"When's the last time you heard from Lonnie?" Hopper questioned.

"Uh, last I heard, he was in Indianapolis a year ago. But he has nothing to do with this."

Hopper hummed. "Why don't you give me his number?" He suggested. Personally, he doubted either of the boys wanted anything to do with their bastard father; he didn't want to even look Lonnie Byers in the eye. But he had to follow procedure.

"Hopper-," Joyce began.

"Look, 99 out of a hundred kids that go missing are usually with a parent or relative." He explained before she had the chance to lose her temper.

Joyce frowned. "Fine, I'll call Lonnie then, he's more likely to talk to me than a cop. Just find my son!"

As she left, Hopper couldn't help but follow her movements. Nobody got mad like Joyce, that was for sure. But he had to follow this up, but he was still confused. He wasn't certain if Will had run away, but it was a possibility. He left his office; he had to get everything arranged for the search.

-8-

Meanwhile, at the lab, a group of men got out of their cars to greet Dr. Brenner. Outwardly, Brenner's expression was its usual calm and cool manner, but inwardly he was far from calm. He was partly furious and partly excited, furious that the experiment had gone out of control and annoyed that his only subject had escaped.

But he was excited because the experiment was a success from a certain point of view. After all, a part of the lab was under quarantine. The men - Brenner himself, and some of his assistants - geared up and went down to investigate it. The quarantined area was dark, all electrical lighting was gone, and even through their suits, the men could feel the chill. Ashes floated around the hallway. Strange goop and marks littered the walls.

They found a large, almost bubble-like thing at the end of it, with vines around, and they spread like black mould on the walls of a damp house. It seemed to be the heart of the issue.

"Any sign of the girl?" Brenner asked, cutting through the report.

"Not yet."

"Keep monitoring the phone lines. She has never been outside before; she is bound to be seen sooner or later, and when that happens, I want to be ready."

-8-

Outside the lab, having just emerged from a tunnel, was the subject of Brenner's orders and the source of some of his trouble. If anyone saw her, they would see the young girl with a buzzcut in a hospital gown, covered in dirt and grime. But she was looking around curiously, as was the strange being which had bonded with her body and mind.

But if there was anyone else nearby, they would have seen that the girl was talking to herself.

"What is this place?" The girl asked quietly.

"This is the outside," the voice replied in its deep growl.

"Outside…the bad place?" The girl whispered timidly.

"Yes."

The girl swallowed. She had gotten the impression that this being, which had merged with her, didn't mean her harm, but that didn't mean she couldn't be intimidated by it.

"Aww, there's no need to be scared of me. Others should be scared of me, like that Papa of yours," the voice said, knowing where her mind had gone.

The girl swallowed again. She was becoming more frightened. "W-Who are you?" She asked quietly. She rarely spoke more than a few sentences, but there was something about the presence in her mind which made her ask more questions.

The girl jumped in shock and terror when an oozing black tentacle emerged from her chest, creating a face with two massive sightless white eyes and a mouth full of large, jagged teeth.

"I am Venom," the tentacle said.

"Venom?" The girl said.

"Yes. And I know who you are….Eleven. Jane."

The girl blinked. "Who….Jane?"

Venom's tentacle head tilted. "You," he said.

Eleven blinked again…before she clapped her hands to the sides of her head…

Surgeons are rushing her to the operating room.

They performed a C-section. But one of the doctors turned out to be Dr. Brenner.

"Jane…," a pretty woman smiled…

"What was that?" Eleven asked breathlessly.

"Keep watching."

Sunflowers were kept in a vase by her bed. Another woman tried to tell her she miscarried, but she was confused because she heard Jane crying.

She…she was playing a game with an older girl with dark hair, both wearing identical white dresses, when the same woman came in, holding a gun.

"Jane," she tried to say, only she was quickly grabbed and taken out.

"Who…who was that?" Eleven demanded.

"That was your mother," Venom replied.

"My…mother? My….mama?" Eleven had asked Papa about her family once, but he hadn't told her anything except that she had died, making her.

"Yes. She didn't die making you after all. Brenner," Venom's growl became worse, and Eleven tensed when she realised he was becoming angry, although it would be a long time before she learnt he was angry on her behalf, "lied to you."

"How did you do that? Show me my mama?" Eleven demanded, feeling angry herself about what could have happened to her mother, thinking back on the memory, especially that part with the older girl who was playing with her in the Rainbow room.

Venom was quiet for a moment. "I am a Klyntar," he replied, "I am…an alien."

"An alien?" Eleven didn't understand the term.

"Yes. I am from beyond Earth. I came through because of you," Venom's tentacle head grinned at her.

Eleven was unsure how to take all of that, so the Klyntar opened his connection with the girl and showed her. Eleven gasped, her hands going to her head as information slowly poured into her mind. Venom's tentacle head watched her closely, unsurprised by the look of wonder on Eleven's face as she assimilated what he was showing her. He wasn't going to overload her mind, especially since there was a void in her mind, he was sure was where all the memories of her childhood were currently. Venom decided to leave it alone for the time being; he had other things he wanted to do, but he promised himself to bring it up with Eleven at a later date.

Venom had been bonded to the girl long enough to recognise it was going to take a very detailed explanation of who and what he was before she understood him and his awesome, powerfulness.

When he had first joined with her, Venom had learned about the human anatomy, and he saw how weak this girl was compared to the others around her before those monsters appeared. But while her body was weak, it was a different matter entirely when you looked at her abilities. She was a powerful psychokinetic; she could move things with her mind, and even search for people in her mind and read their thoughts, but there was plenty of room for improvement.

The Klyntar had spent many thousands of years exploring the universe, bonding with aliens and using them for their own ends, and passing that knowledge to the next generations, and they had learnt many secrets since the dawn of time. Venom could have bonded with anyone, but the emotions coming from this girl had created a pure symbiosis. He could sense pain, grief, love, loss, in so many quantities. But she was his responsibility as well. He had to protect and nurture her, and he was sure he could help her become exceptionally powerful. But Venom knew something was wrong, that space in her mind, something did not make any sense. But he would deal with it in time. He had to help the girl become stronger physically, and he also knew he had to keep her safe.

From what he could see from her memories, Brenner and his people wouldn't stop until he got her back, and he planned to be ready for them.

"How do you feel?" Venom asked.

Eleven had a look of wonder on her face, at least he assumed it was, considering he could feel it. Feeling emotions and seeing them play out was a phenomenon he wasn't used to.

"I saw so much," she whispered, biting her lip as she tried to process what she saw.

"Don't do it right now," Venom quickly advised. "You need time to process what you saw. In the meantime, you need food. Lots of food."

"Food?"

"Yeah, I can help you, but you need food," Venom explained patiently, "those things I ate won't be enough."

Eleven caught a whiff of something cooking - she had often smelt cooked food at the Bad Place, the lab, but this wasn't like any of the meals she'd ever had before. Eleven sniffed again, and she walked in the direction of the cooking food. She came to a building in the distance, where she saw a large bald man carrying a black bag, which he dumped in a bin.

"We can get some food there," Eleven said to Venom.

"It won't be enough, but it's a start," Venom conceded.

"What do you like to eat, anyway?" Eleven asked as she walked towards the building.

"Everything; lungs, hearts, pancreas, brains mostly," Venom replied.

Eleven had grown increasingly queasy hearing the list - she might not have known what any of those things were before Venom bonded with her, but now she knew what they were - and she had an idea what the alien wanted.

"No, you're not eating him," she said decisively.

"Why not?" Venom asked, scandalised.

"You'll only hurt bad people," Eleven said, her mind going to what she'd just learnt about her mother, while she didn't know her mother personally which hurt, she had the feeling her mother, who had risked her life and paid for it, who'd burst into the lab after her, wouldn't want her to hurt anyone unless they deserved it.

"Fine," Venom huffed.

Eleven smiled a little smugly, pleased at getting her way. The door wasn't an obstacle to her; she just opened it silently, and she slipped in when he'd already gone back in. He was serving customers, and El went to the kitchen.

She found a thing of fries and instantly went to town on them as her life depended on it.

'Mm, it's not enough,' Venom told her, sounding disappointed.

Eleven was too busy eating to reply, but she shovelled the fries into her mouth. But it didn't take long for the diner's owner to turn his head and spot her. "HEY!"

She whipped her head up, and she snatched the fries and bolted. "COME HERE!" The man bellowed, red in the face.

'Wait!' Venom said in her mind. 'Let him catch you.'

'What, why?' Eleven discovered she was slowing down.

'He might feed us,' Venom told her.

Eleven realised she was slowing down, and the man managed to grab her before she could leave, sending the fries flying out of her hands. "THINK YOU CAN STEAL FROM ME, BOY!?"

But then he got a good look at her and froze when he realised he had grabbed a girl, a very scared girl with a buzzed head. "What in the hell?"

But the man didn't know about the furious conversation in her head, which was one of the reasons why she was so scared.

'Why did you make me stop running?' Eleven demanded in her head, scared. 'We could've gotten away.'

'Yes, but we need food, and I'm still weak from coming through the Gate,' Venom admitted. 'We need time to regather our strength, and I need time to begin work on your body.'

While the man loosened his grip enough to lead her away from the door, saying he wasn't going to hurt her, Eleven wondered what Venom meant.

-8-

Barb glanced at her friend at lunch. "You okay?"

Nancy lifted her head from her sandwich. "I was just thinking…"

"About Steve?" Barb asked teasingly.

"No! I was thinking about Will Byers."

Barb blinked in surprise. "Little Will Byers? Jonathan's brother? What about him?"

Nancy wondered how much she could tell her friend, then she decided to just say it. "Joyce called my mom, but he wasn't at home."

Barb frowned. "Couldn't he have gone to school by himself?"

"Yeah," Nancy conceded, feeling a little foolish for bringing it up. "But it's still there, at the back of my mind. It doesn't sound anything like Will," she went on. "He always struck me as the type of kid who'd tell his friends and family he was going. Sorry, Barb," she went on, realising this seemed pointless, "I didn't mean to drop this on you."

"Nancy, you've got nothing to be sorry about." Barb smiled at her, but her smile disappeared as she became more thoughtful. "You really do wanna become a journalist, don't you?"

Nancy chortled. "How d'you guess?"

"Well, like, you always become interested in things like this," Barb gestured around her, like she was encompassing the whole world, "have you spoken to Jonathan about any of this?"

"No, it might be like you said; Will left home early or something, so he'll probably be back at his house, or at mine, and my brother and his friends will play one of their games, or catch a movie," Nancy replied.

-8-

The bell rang at school as class was dismissed. Everyone was leaving as fast as possible except for Mike, Dustin and Lucas, who looked at Mr. Clarke eagerly.

"Did it come?" Dustin asked excitedly.

Mr. Clarke grinned and took them to the AV club room where the new radio had been installed.

"The Heathkit Hamshack," Mr. Clarke started as the boys fiddled with it. "Ain't she a beaut?"

"How far can it go?" Dustin asked.

"All the way to Australia." Mr Clarke grinned.

Lucas beamed. "When Will sees this, he's gonna blow his shit!"

"Lucas." Mr. Clarke scolded him for his language.

But inwardly, Mr Clarke was concerned for Will. The day had largely gone by, and when he had checked the receptionist's office, there was no sign of Will Byers. And when he checked, the Byers hadn't seen him.

Mr Clarke had heard teachers were never meant to have favourites as students came and went, and while that was true, he didn't want to be a man who looked back on his life when he was fully retired from teaching, and thinking all the kids who came and went through his classes over the years were nameless faces, he didn't want that, he wanted to remember his students fondly.

At the same time, he had always wanted to be a teacher who pushed the boundaries of what normal teachers taught. That was why he went out of his way to teach them things like wormholes, space travel, robotics, cybernetics, stuff like that. He wanted his kids to think.

That was one of the reasons why he liked the boys in front of him, they were like him in many ways. Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, and Will Byers, they all liked sci fi and horror, and fantasy, and they took his lessons and thought about what was possible, and while his classes were always popular, these boys were always keen, and he was thankful his plans to make his classes fun and exciting as he refused to just teach them the same old crap other teachers taught.

They kept messing with it, but soon the principal showed up and asked to speak with them. Hopper wanted to ask them questions about Will since he disappeared.

He brought them to the principal's office, and the boys started talking all at once.

"Okay, okay, okay, one at a time," Hopper huffed. "You," He pointed to Mike. "You said he takes what?"

"Mirkwood," Mike explained.

"Mirkwood?" Hopper was lost.

"It's from Lord of the Rings," Lucas explained.

Dustin corrected him. "The Hobbit."

Mike sometimes wished Dustin didn't feel the need to be so precise and correct everyone. What did it matter in the long run if they chose a name out of one book over another?

Lucas looked at him with irritation. "It doesn't matter!"

They started arguing again, so Hopper chimed in. "I said one at a damn time. You." He gestured to Mike again.

"Mirkwood, it's a real road, just the name is made up." He explained. "It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet."

Hopper looked thoughtful. "I think I know that place."

"We can help look." Mike insisted.

That was the last thing Hopper wanted; while he was sure these kids meant well and wanted to help find their friend, they would just get in his way.

"No. After school, you are all to go home immediately. No biking, looking for your friend or investigating. Do I make myself clear?" He snapped.

When they didn't respond, he stood up and towered over them, looking strict. "Do I make myself…clear?"

Mike nodded timidly while the others gave weak replies of yes.

-8-

Joyce went out to Castle Byers to see if Will was there. She knew he wasn't here, of course. She and Jonathan had checked everywhere near their house; he was unlikely to be here. She smiled fondly, remembering one of the last times she had come out here…

She clicked the makeshift doorbell. "Ring a ding ding, anybody home?"

"Password?" Will asked.

"Uh…Rada…Radagast?" She tried, hoping she had it right.

Joyce slipped inside to see Will reading a comic. "So listen, I got off work early and…" She revealed movie tickets. "Poltergeist!"

Will beamed. "I thought I wasn't allowed to see it?"

"I changed my mind." She grinned. "As long as you don't have nightmares for a week."

"I won't. I don't get scared like that anymore." He insisted.

The scene changed back to the present to show that Will wasn't in Castle Byers.

"WILL!" Jonathan called out. "WILL!"

"WILL!" Joyce added her own shout, despite knowing it was futile.

They didn't notice the intense wind that seemed to come from inside Castle Byers.

-8-

Meanwhile, Benny was cooking up a burger for Eleven at the diner. As she sat and waited for her meal, she was running her hand over the yellow material of the shirt he'd given her. It was quite large, bigger for her frame, and she guessed it was one of his. The diner sold food, not clothes, but she wasn't bothered; she quite liked the change of colours, even if the shirt wasn't that dissimilar to her old hospital gown.

'Are you sure this is a good idea, Venom?' Eleven asked the alien bonded to her.

'Yes, and besides, we're not going to stay here for long,' Venom replied, sounding extremely relaxed and even happy.

Venom, as a Klyntar, was a symbiote, a species that fed off of emotions, among other things. The stronger the emotion, the better. As far as Venom was concerned, Eleven was an all-you-can-eat buffet, with the emotions which came out of her, and there was a wealth of other emotions within her mind which the alien enjoyed.

And seeing her power for himself made her more attractive to him as well, and when he had sensed the anger in her mind after he had shown her that deep-rooted memory in her mind with her mother, Venom had been more attracted to her. But at the same time, he found himself liking the girl. Since bonding with her, the alien had learnt about her and her powers, and she was the best host he'd had. Her emotions were plentiful, and her memories held a potential he would make sure the girl reached. His new host, Eleven, had survived things so many of her kind would struggle to deal with. The alien could see the intelligence and strength within the girl, deep within her.

However, she wasn't without her faults. The girl's body, for a start, was severely malnourished as far as the alien could tell. Although Eleven was fed and reasonably healthy, it wasn't enough, and she wasn't as strong or as fit as she could have been, but that was far from a problem since the alien could deal with it in time. Venom knew it would take a while before work could begin on repairing the girl's body and making her physically stronger.

Eleven's personality needed work as well; she had been used all her life as a test subject, manipulated and patted on the head by Dr Martin Brenner (one thing the alien symbiote definitely wanted to do was to eradicate her habit of calling the man 'Papa,' as he didn't deserve it).

'Mm, maybe I can persuade her to kill Brenner later,' the symbiote considered, 'I'd be doing the world a favour.'

But he kept that thought to himself for the time being.

'But why are we still here?' Eleven's question snapped the alien out of his thoughts.

'You need food, the more food you eat, the more I have something to work with to help repair your body. This relationship benefits both of us.'

'How?'

'Fair question,' Venom conceded. 'I need a host to survive. I'd die without one. In return, I feed on your emotions. You become physically stronger, faster, and I can look through your mind and show you your past. Perhaps my being with you will help boost your powers.'

Eleven was about to say something more when a shadow crossed over her, and she looked up skittishly as Benny stood over her, holding a plate. Benny didn't seem to really notice her distracted mood as he held the plate and set it down in front of her. Eleven studied the meal in front of her. She didn't recognise the food, but she didn't care what it was. Guided by the alien symbiote in her, Eleven grabbed the burger, and within seconds, she had eaten a third of it like no tomorrow.

"Sheesh, parents forget to feed you?" Benny questioned, stunned by how quickly the girl had eaten so much of the burger. "That why you ran away?"

She didn't reply, she was too focused on filling her stomach. She had already eaten a large chunk of the burger, but she knew one thing.

She loved it.

She wanted more.

"They uh, they hurt you?" Benny asked.

'He's persistent,' Venom noted while he felt the nutrients being pumped out of the burger inside Eleven's stomach.

Still nothing.

"You went to the hospital, you got scared, you ran off, wound up here, is that it?" He guessed.

'Actually, he's not far off,' Venom commented.

'Yes,' Eleven replied mentally, 'except I was kept in the bad place my whole life, my mother tried to get me out, and I never saw her again. Do you think I should tell him that?'

'It's up to you,' Venom replied. 'I don't think it's a good idea. We're not going to stay here too long, and the longer we stay here, the easier it will be for the lab to find us. But they won't harm you again. I'll make sure of that,' Venom added darkly.

Eleven still didn't answer him, but she did pause and look at him.

Benny sighed, deciding he'd had enough, and snatched the burger from her, pulling the food away. That got her attention. "Alright, that's it. I'll give this back, and you can have as much as you want. But you gotta answer my questions, alright? We can start easily. My name's Benny Hammond. What's your name?" He grabbed her hand to have her shake his and spotted the tattoo.

Eleven yanked her hand back instantly, looking at him cautiously and more than a little angrily.

"Eleven? What's that mean?"

She frowned. "…No."

"Well, I'll be damned. She speaks." Benny teased lightly. "No, what?"

No answer.

"Alright, no more food then." He got up with the food.

"Eleven." She spoke quickly, desperate to get her meal back, making him pause. She slowly pointed to herself. "Eleven."

Benny nodded, but the observant alien could see the human was concerned and wary that a child would have a number instead of a name, and handed her back her meal, which she continued to eat in an instant. "Alright then."

"Wait,' Eleven stopped him again. "C-Can I have another burger, please?"

"Another?" Benny asked in surprise.

"I'm hungry, and I liked it," Eleven said sweetly.

'Good, Jane, very good,' Venom purred in her mind. 'The more food we have, the better.'

With that, Benny went back to the kitchen and after he'd put on another burger…actually, he put on a second in the pan, he called child services while she was eating what she had left. But as he dialled the number, he wondered what he would tell them when they came, and he was also planning on calling the police and ask for Hopper to come. Benny trusted Jim Hopper more than the other cops, mostly because he was thorough when he got going.

"All I know is that she's scared to death. I think maybe she's been abused or kidnapped or something. Yeah, it'd be great if someone could come by." He gave them the address of his diner.

While El was eating, the metal fan kept making noise and started to get on her nerves, so she forced it to a stop.

'Nice,' Venom complimented her.

'Are we leaving?' Eleven asked him innocently with more than a little worry. Thanks to the alien, although the alien wasn't really needed, she could hear every single word Benny was saying.

'Once we've had more food. It will take time, but one plate of these things isn't enough to help you,' Venom replied.

'But who is he talking too?'

'I think he's calling for others to take you away from here,' Venom replied.

Eleven began to panic. 'I don't want to go back to the lab!'

'And you won't,' Venom promised quickly. 'I'll make sure of that. But something tells me when these people come, we leave quickly.'

Eleven went tense. She had a good idea without the symbiote telling her what that meant. She knew Papa and the Bad Men wouldn't rest until they got her back at the lab. Once her second round of burgers came, Eleven ate as quickly as her body could take the food. She needed to be ready.

Chapter Text

The police went out to search for Will and discovered his bike. When Hopper found it, examining the make, he became even more confused and alarmed. This model was quite pricey, but it was a good make, and it looked like the possibility on Will leaving for Lonnie made little sense. If Lonnie were living further away, the only ways for Will to get to him would be on a bus or on foot, and he doubted Will would go for that option.

Still, he made the note to get Florence to look into it with the bus company later, but as he examined the scene, Hopper couldn't help but wonder, what else could've happened to Will Byers?

-8-

Meanwhile, at the lab, people were listening in on every conversation everyone in town was having on their phones. Brenner had ordered everyone there to pay close attention to the growing situation; before their priority had been about the missing test subject, but as time passed, even Brenner had to pay close attention to the disappearance of Will Byers.

-8-

"Can you please put Lonnie on?" Joyce snapped over the phone, unaware her phone line had been tapped and people were listening.

"Lonnie's not here," a young-sounding voice replied.

Joyce scowled. "Who is this?" She demanded.

It was typical of Lonnie, she reflected, to go for a girl who sounded young enough to be his daughter. She sounded young enough to be Jonathan's age, for Christ's sake!

"Cynthia, his girlfriend."

While Joyce argued with the girl on the phone, Jonathan was making missing person posters for Will. He was paying half of his attention to the argument, but he guessed Lonnie had gotten the little slut on the other end to take the calls. More than likely a few of them were from people who'd loaned Lonnie money, and he needed someone to throw them off while he ran away like the coward he was.

Eventually, Cynthia hung up on her.

"BITCH!" Joyce hissed and slammed the phone down.

"Mom, you have to stay calm." Jonathan insisted quietly.

Of course, this did nothing to actually calm Joyce down, and she called Lonnie again, leaving a message about how Will had gone missing.

Hopper showed up outside, giving them hope for a moment when they saw the police car pull in, and when the chief got out. But the hope was quickly destroyed when they realised all Hopper had was Will's bike. The moment she saw the bike, Joyce's heart rate shot up, and she cursed herself for not only her life choices but the fact that she'd gotten home and drank wine instead of checking to see if her baby boy was at home or not.

But she was confused; if Will's bike was here, then where had he gone? Surely this reduced the chances of him running off, right?

But Hopper didn't answer Jonathan or Joyce's questions.

He went inside and started to investigate, doing his best to ignore Joyce and Jonathan's constant questions as he looked for evidence.

"Has this always been there?" He asked, spotting the dent in the wall that was caused by the door handle being slammed too hard against it.

"I don't know, I have two boys, have you seen this place?" She snapped; her nerves couldn't take this much longer.

He ignored her and went outside to the backyard, where the dog was barking strangely at the shed.

Joyce took him inside to feed him while Hopper looked in the shed.

He found the open ammo, but realised the gun was missing.

That's when the lightbulb went out for some bizarre reason. He grabbed a flashlight and realised he could hear a weird squishing noise. He looked around for the source but found nothing.

Then the light flicked on. "Hey."

Hopper jumped out of his skin as Callahan spoke. "Jesus!" Hopper growled, cursing Callahan all the way to hell.

"Are you deaf? I've been calling you." He explained.

Hopper stormed out with a huff and told his buddies to start a search party for Will and to get as many volunteers as possible.

He still wasn't sure if Will had run away, but something just wasn't right here, and after seeing the missing gun and the open ammo, Hopper was slowly starting to wonder….

-8-

At the Wheeler Household, the family was home, and they were eating dinner. Mike was tense throughout the meal, even as he enjoyed his mother's cooking, but he was eating mechanically. His mind was fixed on Will, and he couldn't believe his family were just, eating, like nothing was happening when Will could be hurt.

"We should be out there looking for him!" Mike snapped.

"We've been over this Mike, the chief said-," Karen started reasonably, privately wondering whether they could do anything to help.

"I don't care what the chief says!" Mike argued back.

"Michael." Karen scolded, although she understood the root cause of his argument.

But he persisted. "We have to do something, Will could be in danger!"

"More reason to stay put." Karen snapped. The last thing she wanted was her son to go missing, as well. And besides, what good could he do? Yes, he knew Hawkins like everyone in this room, but that didn't mean he should put his life in danger.

"Mom!"

She slammed her hand down on the table. "End of discussion." As far as she was concerned, this discussion was over.

Nancy looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Nancy had known Will Byers for a long time. She couldn't understand why he would run away. She had wanted to talk to Jonathan, but she hadn't seen him today.

Karen looked towards Ted for support but he was completely checked out of their conversation, merely enjoying his dinner. Her hopeful look morphed into a disgusted glare, cursing him for his ability to exist in a bubble.

"So…me and Barbara are gonna study at her house tonight." Nancy brought up awkwardly.

Karen sent her a look. Did she really think that was going to work on her?

Karen had been a teenager herself; she knew what study was a euphemism for.

"No." Karen snapped. "Am I speaking Chinese in this house? Nobody leaves until Will is safe."

"This is such bullshit!" Nancy snapped, her own temper bubbling.

"Language." Ted chided lightly.

Karen glared at him. Was that all he could fucking do?

Nancy scowled. "So were under house arrest just cause Mike's friend got lost-," she began.

"Wait this is Will's fault!?" Mike hissed dangerously at her before Karen could say anything.

"Nancy, take that back," Karen told her, voice dangerous.

"No," Nancy told her angrily.

"You're just pissed off cause you wanna hang out with Steve." Mike snapped.

Nancy's eyes widened as she gave him a look to stop talking. If he went on….but it was too late. The name Steve had brought the attention she had wanted to avoid.

"Steve?" Ted questioned, at last taking note.

"Who is Steve?" Karen asked.

"Her new boyfriend," Mike told them out of spite.

Nancy growled. "You are such a douchebag, Mike!"

"LANGUAGE!" Ted snapped as Mike looked impossibly smug. Nancy wanted nothing more than to slap him in the face, hard. It was more than past time her brother grew up and faced reality.

But she'd had enough.

She'd had enough of all of this.

Yes, she had wanted to hang out with Steve, and now she knew she had made a grave mistake in telling her family. She had thought if she brought Barb into this, telling her parents she just wanted to study, they would make an exception as she was older than Mike. But now, because of how her brother hadn't gotten his way, she suffered.

Nancy angrily got up and left the table, storming off to her room. It was hardly mature, but she was just tired of these stupid tantrums from Mike.

Holly looked around worriedly, but Karen quickly turned her attention to her. "It's okay, Holly, just drink your juice…"

"You see, Michael? You see what happens?" Ted asked, but Karen stiffened with anger at his word choice, as if he had had anything to do with this. All he'd done was sit there, eating like nothing was happening, and she was the one fighting the battle. They went through this every single week. Why couldn't Ted just act like a husband for a fucking change?

Mike scowled. "What happens when what? I'm the only one here acting normal. I'm the only one who cares about Will!"

"That's really unfair, son," Ted told him simply, eating some chicken. "We care."

Karen closed her eyes. Why did she have to marry a man who was so out of touch that he just made things worse?

Mike didn't even know how to respond to his deadpanned reply, and finally just got up and left the table like his sister, ignoring Karen's calls for him.

She glared at her husband.

"I hope you're enjoying your chicken, Ted," Karen snapped at him in disgust.

With that, she grabbed Holly and left the table. Ted blinked in confusion.

"What'd I do?"

-8-

Meanwhile, Hopper and many volunteers were out searching for Will. They'd been at this for a few hours already, covering the area close to where the Byers lived.

"He's a good student," Mr. Clarke brought up as he walked with Hopper. He had volunteered to come because of how deeply worried he was about his student's safety. "Will I mean. I don't think we've met. Scott Clarke. I teach Earth and Biology at the middle school."

"I always had a distaste for science," Hopper admitted.

"Maybe you had a bad teacher." Mr. Clarke smiled.

"Yeah, Mr. Ratliff was a piece of work." Hopper nodded, memories filling his mind. His teacher had put him off science for life. It had almost been a joy to get out of the subject when he'd left school. Actually, he wasn't the only one.

Mr. Clarke chuckled. "He's still kicking around, believe it or not."

"Oh, I believe it," Hopper replied, "Mummies never die, or so they told me." Why couldn't people just die when they had the chance? "Sarah, my daughter, galaxies, the universe and whatnot, she always understood that stuff. I always figured there was enough going on down here. Never needed to look elsewhere." Hopper explained.

"Your daughter, what grade is she in?" Clarke asked. "Maybe I'll get her in my class."

Hopper hesitated, wishing now he had not brought up his daughter. "No, she uh, lives with her mother in the city." He walked ahead after that, not wanting to talk anymore.

But a woman nearby spoke up. "She died a few years back; his kid." Mr Clarke's eyes widened as he realised the can of worms he'd just opened.

But before he could apologise properly, Hopper had already walked off.

-8-

Mike sat down in the basement, looking at the D figures still sitting on the table. He spoke into the walkie. "Lucas, do you copy?"

"Hey, it's Lucas."

"I know it's you, and say over when you're done talking so I know when you're done. Over." Mike told him.

Sitting in his bedroom, Lucas cursed. Why was it Mike had to be so precise when it came to talking over the radio? Did they really have to say over in real life?

"I'm done, over."Lucas mocked.

Mike ignored his sass. "I was thinking, Will could've casted protection last night but he didn't. He cast fireball. Over."

Lucas frowned on his end of the line.

"…What's your point? Over." Lucas questioned.

"My point is, he could've played it safe, but he didn't. He put himself in danger to help the Party. Over."

Lucas seemed to get where he was going with it and sighed. Personally he had considered just going out as well, and see if they could find Will."Meet me in ten, over and out."

Mike packed his bag and headed out on his bike, pausing at the bizarre sight in front of him.

Steve was trying to climb his house to get to Nancy's window. When Steve realised he was being watched, he stopped, and turned. The two made very awkward eye contact, and Steve could only shrug weakly. Rolling his eyes, Mike headed off, really not interested in whatever sordid activities Steve and Nancy were going to get up to. He had bigger things on his mind right now.

-8-

Nancy, who was going over her cards in her room, jumped in surprise at the tapping on her window. Her eyes widened when she saw Steve and she quickly hurried to open it. She was tempted to double-check her door, to make sure nobody was around, considering how nosy her mother was.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed. "I told you I'm on house arrest over the phone."

"I figured we'd just study here." He shrugged.

Nancy blinked at this in surprise, stunned by how far he was willing to go.

"No. No way." She protested, but it was fairly weak; she knew if her parents caught them together, that was it.

But Steve didn't seem to care, and she cursed his pushy attitude.

"Oh, come on, I can't have you failing this test, so just bear with me." He came inside, much to her annoyance and secret delight.

-8-

At Benny's, Eleven was eating ice cream while Benny washed dishes. "You like that ice cream, huh?"

She smiled back. She certainly liked it; she had never had ice cream before, and she'd been overjoyed by the taste despite how cold it was, and Venom had definitely approved of the sugar rush.

"Smile looks good on you." He insisted, but it made her confused. "Smile?" Benny added another thing to the list he was going to share with CPS. He did one to show her. She got the idea and smiled again, but much brighter than before.

That's when there was a knock on the door, putting Eleven on alert. She looked at Benny tensely.

'Venom?'

'Be ready, just in case,' the alien growled.

"Whoever it is, I'll tell them to go away real quick, alright? Just sit tight." Benny insisted kindly before leaving to go to the door.

He opened the door to see a woman. "Hi, you must be Benny Hammond."

'Eleven, that woman's emotions are all wrong,' Venom growled.

'What do you mean? You can read emotions…from where we are?' Eleven asked.

'Yes. Her emotions are wrong. Get up!'

Eleven did as she was told, and she stood shakily.

"I am, but we're closed," Benny's voice replied.

"Connie Frazer, social services." She explained.

"Oh, social services. I didn't expect you so soon. Listen, I haven't told her you were coming yet; she's a tad skittish. Please come in, I'll introduce you."

'Now she's closer, I know. She's here to kill you!'

Eleven gasped.

"It's funny, you sound different from-," Benny said, but he never got to finish his sentence, because the woman took out a gun and shot him.

Eleven jumped at the sight and bolted out the back, only for men with guns to come in through the door. But before they could act, or Eleven even had the chance to do anything herself, the alien himself took action. The alien symbiote shot out two tentacles towards the men.

-8-

Dr. Brenner had stepped inside to search for her, and he gazed down coldly at the body of Benny Hammond with an inward sigh. He had wanted to do this as quietly as he could, but now, thanks to that stupid fool, she had panicked, not that he could blame her.

The sound of screams and gunshots made him run through the diner.

"BACK OFF!" A deep growling voice bellowed, but there was another sound there, a sound Brenner couldn't begin to describe. "She belongs to me!"

There was the loud squelching sound, then the sound of something smashing, and then silence. By the time Brenner got to the back room, it was too late.

When he got to the back room, he stopped in shock when he saw the men were dead. Or rather, what was left of them both. They looked like they had both been ripped in half with their heads and upper torsos…just torn apart, blood pouring everywhere. Brenner quickly realised that the smashing sound had come from the door, which had been violently knocked down. He stepped outside to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Brenner closed his eyes, and he walked back inside sadly.

Once he was back inside the room, he knelt down next to the two men, his eyes studying the fatal injuries they'd taken. He had spent more time with Eleven than anyone in the organisation, and he knew what she could do. While he was sure she could do more than she could and had pushed her to achieve such power, he knew she couldn't do this. No, and what was that voice, saying she belonged to someone or something else?

A shadow fell over him, and he looked up into Connie's face.

"She did this?"

Brenner said nothing because he truly didn't have a clue.

"I'll get the teams to keep watch out for her."

"Connie, we had her," Brenner's voice was ice cold with disappointment. A wiser person would have realised they'd made a mistake, but Connie wasn't part of the team he worked with on occasion.

"I know, and we'll get her again," Connie promised.

"How, with a bullet to the head?" Suddenly, he was disgusted with her. "Go and wait in the car. Don't get out. I'll deal with you later."

Chapter Text

"She has somehow killed several agents; it was a complete disaster that was unnecessary," Brenner was saying into the radio to the Lab as he passed on his instructions, "but something was wrong. There was…something else there."

"Sir?"

"Something was with her," Brenner replied calmly, his tone making it clear his words were to be taken extremely seriously. "But I didn't see what happened."

Silence on the other end. "What are your orders, Doctor?"

"Send a clean-up crew to the diner. When they get here, they're to clean the kitchen area and remove the corpses. We cannot afford to leave any blood splatters; the Hawkins police might detect it and realise something else happened. Continue with the search," Brenner replied, "that girl is important for my plans, and for my research." Indeed, for the last few hours, before he had learnt the girl was at this cheap, tacky diner, Brenner had been busily investigating the strange entrance to the other world he had been planning on using to help bring Henry back, and he couldn't do this without the girl's help.

He already had some ideas of what the girl had created, back in the Lab, but there were so many things which made no sense to him, and he knew the best way to understand it would be if he had the girl's help. But the best chance of getting her back had just been ruined because of the heavy-handedness of this mess. And what was that voice?

"But be careful; nobody is to approach the girl unless they alert me. Nobody is to go in alone." Brenner's plan was simple enough; he planned to spend time observing the girl in whatever part of Hawkins she was in and find out more about the thing with her. "Whatever's with her is lethal," and that was a strange word to put in with her.

He knew the girl. He knew what the girl was capable of. She wouldn't…rip people apart like that.

When he was finished with his instructions, Brenner turned towards the car, and he walked towards it, ducking his head and saw the frigid form of Connie waiting for him in the back. He got in.

"Take us back to the lab," Brenner instructed the driver. He didn't speak until they were driving away from the diner. "I gave specific instructions; the girl was not to be harmed. This was a simple order, and an even simpler scenario; the owner of the diner specifically asked for CPS. You were supposed to go in, pose as a compassionate woman, and you weren't to reveal who you were until you were in the car, and you would have given her a shot to knock her out. But no, you came up with an even cleverer strategy I would never have guessed. You greeted the man, you went in, and before you even saw the girl, you shot the man while being fully aware the girl was nearby, and you didn't stop her from running off, fully expecting other agents to handle the problem like she's a conventional human being. Instead, she escapes. Clever Connie, very clever. I wanted that girl back at the Lab, where she belongs."

Connie's voice was ice cold. "We will find her, Doctor."

Brenner turned to her, his expression just as cold. "And then what? You'll shoot her?" Brenner challenged angrily before he shook his head. He hadn't wanted to use trigger-happy operatives of the D.O.E, but sadly, he didn't have much alternative. "That girl is vital to my research. I know I sound like a…a narrow-minded scientist to you, but I don't care what you believe. That girl is responsible for something….amazing, and I will not let you kill her. If you do, then you will not have time to regret it. I'm not like other scientists," he added, and he decided to show her what he did to those who got in his way.

Connie said nothing, but as she stared into Brenner's cold eyes, she knew he meant it. And she was afraid.

-8-

Cocooned within the alien goo that was Venom, Eleven watched in awe as the alien leapt from tree to tree faster than she could actually process what she was seeing. When they'd escaped from the diner, Venom had completely covered her and slowly crawled up one of the trees, and with the alien's enhanced senses, she'd watched as the tall figure of Papa emerged out of the door she'd just left, trying hard not to vomit after what Venom had done to those Bad Men.

They had watched silently as he stood there and then turned back inside. Venom then waited a moment before they started moving through the woods, travelling faster and faster in a bid to escape.

-8-

Mike and the others arrived at the place where Will's bike was found.

"Guys, you feel that?" Dustin asked as water smacked him in the face as they examined the area, not that they expected to actually find anything worth noting down, as the Hawkins Police had likely gone over the place with a fine-toothed comb. "I think we should turn back." It was starting to rain, and the last thing he wanted to do was walk around in the dark while it was raining.

"No. We're not going back." Mike snapped, too stubborn to give up now that they were here, and Lucas fully agreed with him. "Just stay close."

Lucas and Mike kept walking, and Dustin very reluctantly followed them as rain poured down.

-8-

Back at the Wheeler House, Nancy and Steve were still studying. Fortunately for Nancy, her mother hadn't come in and caught Steve in her room. Steve read one of the questions out loud. "Which polymers occur naturally?" He asked.

"Starch and cellulose," Nancy answered with only a moment of hesitation. Nancy smiled to herself. They had been working like this for the last hour, with them taking it in turns to ask each other questions. But Nancy sometimes felt a bit like a tutor, helping Steve fill in the blanks; at the same time, it was a good way for her to be tested.

"In a molecule of CH4, the hydrogen atoms are spatially oriented towards the centres of-," Steve read off from a new card.

"Tetrahedrons." Nancy finished before he had the chance to finish.

Steve huffed. "Jesus, how many of these did you make?"

She smirked. "You said you wanted to help," she teased him.

"How about this, how about every time you get something right, I have to take off a piece of clothing?" He offered with a grin. "But every time you get something wrong-," he trailed off.

"Pass." She cut him off.

It wasn't that his offer didn't have any kind of appeal. It did. But she wasn't comfortable with going that far just yet. She was content to move slowly for the time being. Sadly, it only made Steve become more impatient.

But of course, their back-and-forth banter ended up with his lips on hers as the science questions were forgotten, and it wasn't long before Steve started to fiddle with the buttons of her blouse when she stopped him. "Steve, are you crazy?" She whispered. "My parents are home."

"That's weird, I don't see them." He answered cheekily. He tried to kiss her again.

But she got annoyed and pushed him off, sitting up. "Was this your plan all along? To get into my room and get another notch on your belt?" She hissed, fixing her shirt.

"No." He insisted, worried because the mood had shifted. "That's not it, Nancy."

"I'm not like those other girls. I'm not-," She started.

"A slut?"

"Shut up." But she was smiling, even though the slur pissed her off.

Steve grabbed the teddy bear off her bed. "Bad Steve?" He pouted.

"You're an idiot, Steve Harrington." She grinned.

He smiled softly. "You're beautiful, Nancy Wheeler."

And with that, they returned to actually studying.

-8-

'Venom,' Eleven said to her new friend hesitantly, deciding that she'd had enough of racing through the tree tops. 'I think that's enough for now. We're far from that place.'

'No, it's not, Eleven.'

'Yes, it is. Please, stop. I want to walk again,' Eleven insisted.

Venom huffed. 'Okay, fine.'

When they dropped to the ground, Eleven gasped from within the goo, and she watched in awe as she slowly reduced in height and bulk, until she was touching the ground in her bare feet again. As she did, she felt something splatter over her face. Startled, the girl looked up.

"What is that? Is that water?" Eleven asked Venom.

'It's raining, Eleven. It's a component in the water cycle, which helps keep this planet green and moist. Venom knew the science was more complex, but he sensed the girl would just become more confused, so he decided to leave it like that.

Silently, the alien covered her body again to keep her warm after sensing how cold she was, and Eleven blinked in surprise when she found herself wearing a strangely textured jacket with a hood, and matching pants and shoes.

"T-Thank you," Eleven suddenly felt much warmer.

"You're my host, of course, I'd keep you safe."

"Host?"

"Yes, I am sharing your body, I am keeping you safe, and after that snack in the diner, fuel in the tank to make you stronger."

Eleven closed her eyes when she recalled what Venom had done to those men.

-8-

Joyce stared at the missing person poster sadly; while she was in awe at the photos Jonathan had taken with his camera before, seeing them for the posters was breaking her heart, because it was actually acknowledging her son was missing.

"These are great." She teared up against her will, but she honestly couldn't help it. "I know I haven't been there for you- I just- I'm working so hard, and I feel bad because I don't even know what's going on with you… I'm sorry about that." She told him softly.

Jonathan swallowed hard, trying not to cry. Neither he nor his brother actually blamed their mother for working so hard and being so distant. They knew her reasons, and besides, he wished he had been here to make sure Will was safe.

But his guilt stopped him from trying her hardest not to cry.

"What is it?" Joyce asked gently.

"It's just…" He sniffed. "I should've been there for him…" He croaked, cursing the fact that he'd decided to take on extra work, and for what, a few more measly dollars.

"No, oh no, you can't do that to yourself." Joyce cried. "This was not your fault, you hear me? He is close, I know it."

They picked a nice photo of Will smiling, instantly agreeing that it was the one they should use for the posters when the phone rang and Joyce hurried to answer, hoping that it was Hopper, but was shocked to hear only static. "Hello? Lonnie? Hopper? Who is this?" She heard muffled breathing. For a moment, Joyce was confused, but when she paid it closer attention, her heart nearly stopped in her chest.

It was breathing she knew.

"Will!?" She gasped. "WILL!?"

Jonathan hurried over.

She heard strange growling. "WHO IS THIS? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BOY!?" Joyce shrieked, half expecting some sick bastard to take the receiver away from her son's mouth and make some kind of sick demand. "GIVE ME BACK MY SON-!"

The phone shocked her and was completely broken, forcing her to drop it, and she stared down at the smoking, blackening plastic in shock. What the hell was that?

"Mom, who was it? Who was it!?" Jonathan pleaded for an answer but Joyce couldn't stop sobbing. "Mom, what did he say? Was it Will!?"

"He just breathed, he just breathed!" Joyce wailed, reaching for the phone, but it wasn't working anymore.

-8-

As the Byers continued to break down, unknown to them, the others were still out in the storm searching for Will. Mike had brought with them a bag of bright pieces of plastic to use as landmarks, knowing they might get lost.

"Will!" Mike called. He had a flashlight out, and he was casting it all around

"Byers!" Lucas called.

Dustin sighed. "Guys, I really think we should turn back." The rain was just getting worse and worse.

"Seriously, Dustin? You wanna be a baby? Go home already." Lucas snapped.

"I'M JUST BEING REALISTIC, LUCAS!"

"No, you're just being a bit pussy!"

Mike's eyebrows furrowed as he heard something. "Guys, shut up." He barely heard Dustin's reply, too focused on what he'd heard. "Shut up. Shut up. Don't-," he trailed off when he realised he hadn't been imagining anything. There was something, or someone, nearby.

They heard rustling and looked around, before quickly turning around completely, casting the light about before their flashlights pointed directly at the face of a girl, a girl wearing a wet black jacket and pants. She squinted to try to look back at them.

Mike couldn't help freezing on the spot. He couldn't stop staring at the girl before him with wonder and mild awe.

This wasn't Will…but it was someone who was going to change their lives forever. If only they knew just how much…and the fact she was not alone…

Chapter Text

Thanks to it being night, it was easy for the boys to bring the girl with them, and she had ridden on the back of Mike's bike. They brought her back to Mike's house and quickly took her into the basement. She was sitting down on the couch in the basement, shivering from the cold despite the clothes she was wearing.

Mike stood over her, Dustin and Lucas standing on either side of him, staring down curiously at the girl. All three boys were confused. They had never seen this girl before, and they were pretty familiar with all the people in Hawkins, but that didn't discount the possibility that the girl was from out of town. That didn't explain her haircut - it was cut so close to her skull, and it reminded them of a military haircut in this light.

Everything about her was strange, and Mike was struggling to work out what he should do - he and his friends had never been in a situation like this before, and they had so many questions.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asked kindly.

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin asked in awe.

'No, you don't; I'll make sure of that,' Venom said to her, making her jump slightly.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked.

"Did you run away?" Lucas asked before she could say anything at all.

She just looked back and forth between all of them, growing anxious. 'What should I say to them, Venom?' Eleven asked anxiously.

'You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but I don't think they mean to hurt you.'

'A-are you sure?' Eleven asked.

'Positive.' Venom then added, 'If they do, they'll be my next snack.'

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike asked.

Eleven licked her lips and nodded slowly.

"You are?" Mike blinked in surprise. "What kind of trouble?"

Eleven hadn't planned on saying anything about the Bad Men hunting her down, never mind what she had done in the Lab, but her alien friend had improved her confidence greatly. "I ran away," she began, but Lucas jumped in quickly.

"You ran away? From where?"

Stunned by the rapid-fire questions, she lost her confidence.

Venom growled angrily, unheard by the human boys. 'If he does that again, I'll eat him!'

'No, you won't.'

'Then what can I eat? I need food.'

'You are not eating them. You can only eat the Bad Men, Venom.'

'But they're not here, are they?'

"Stop it! You're freaking her out!" Mike snapped as he smacked Lucas gently.

"She's freaking me out!" Lucas protested.

Mike rolled his eyes. "Alright, that's enough. She's just scared and cold." He ran to grab her some clean clothes.

Eleven flinched at the thunderstrike, letting out a soft cry, but fortunately, it wasn't loud enough to draw the attention of everyone else in the house, much to the relief of the boys.

"Here, these are clean, okay?" Mike handed over the blue sweater and grey sweats.

She hesitantly took them, and after deciding they felt nice, she held them up to her cheek, rubbing her face against them lightly in contentment.

'You don't have to wear those, I can create clothes for you.'

'I want to wear these,' she said to Venom stubbornly.

'Why, because your boyfriend offered them?' Venom asked sarcastically.

'What's a boyfriend?' Eleven blinked in surprise; it didn't go unnoticed by the boys, who also noticed her quizzical expression, and it made them both even more certain this girl was insane.

'Okay, you'd better put them on, it would look suspicious if you didn't,' Venom smoothly pushed aside her question. The alien symbiote had realised these boys would be surprised and suspicious if Eleven didn't take or need the clothes. That wouldn't be a problem later when Eleven was on her own.

Mike took a deep breath and gently held out his hand for her to take. "See over there? That's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?"

Eleven was hesitant. Privacy was a concept she didn't understand, as she had never really encountered it once in the lab, as the scientists and nurses watched her, but complied and snatched the clothes, walking towards the bathroom.

Mike went to shut the door behind her, but she grabbed it and stared at him intensely.

"You don't want it closed?" He questioned.

She hesitated. "…No."

Eleven, despite having Venom with her, wasn't ready yet to let go of her fears of closed and confined spaces. She remembered only too well the last time she was punished by Papa for failing to do one of his many tests.

Mike was doing his best to be as nice and as polite as possible towards this girl. But he noticed the way she looked around the small bathroom. She clearly did not like being alone, and she definitely did not like being in confined spaces. Wherever she'd run away from, she'd clearly experienced it.

"Okay, well, how about we keep the door…" He closed it very slowly, leaving only a few inches. "Like this? Is that better?"

"Yes." She told him softly, nodding at him.

He nodded and walked away from the door to give her some privacy. Eleven looked around the small space while the boys talked in the other room.

'I want to hear what they're saying,' Venom told her.

'Why?'

'Because I think they're talking about you.'

Eleven frowned, and she stood close to the gap to listen while she put on her new clothes.

Mike went back to Lucas and Dustin, and they instantly began voicing their concerns to him.

"There's something seriously wrong with her," Lucas said.

"What are you talking about?" Mike asked.

"Mike, she said she ran away. But where did she run away from?"

"This is mental," Dustin commented.

"At least she can talk." Mike shrugged.

"She said no and yes, your three-year-old sister says more." Lucas deadpanned before he huffed. "There's something seriously wrong with her. Like wrong in the head."

'He said that before,' Venom said to Eleven.

Eleven frowned, but she said nothing, knowing Venom was right. She wasn't sure why she was upset, as she didn't have any desire to stay near the Lab, so why was she so desperate to prove something to these boys? She didn't know why, but she…wanted to stay with them.

'Why do I want to stay with them, Venom?'

'I don't know. But if they endanger you, I won't hesitate to hurt them,' there was sheer danger in the alien's voice.

"Yeah, and what about that haircut?" Dustin asked.

Mike and Eleven both frowned, with Eleven reaching up and running a hand over her too-short hair, it wasn't her fault her hair was short, and why was it such a big deal?

"I bet she escaped from Pennhurst," Lucas commented.

'Penn-hurst?' Eleven blinked.

'I don't know,' Venom's voice seemed to shrug.

"From where?" Mike did not look impressed.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "The nuthouse in Kerley County. Think about it, Mike; it would explain a lot. Like her shaved head, and why she's crazy. We should never have brought her here"

"You got a lot of family there?" Dustin joked before Mike, who was frowning heavily and looking angrier than ever, could speak.

"Bite me." Lucas snapped. "Seriously, though, think about it. Can you think of any other way to explain her shaved head and why she's crazy?"

'Why does he keep saying I'm crazy?' Eleven asked Venom indignantly.

'You're not crazy,' Venom assured her. 'You never were. Clearly, he doesn't have any empathy inside of him. I think you should leave, even if you want to stay with them. They clearly don't want you here.'

Eleven looked down. 'Venom, they're the only people my age I've met,' she replied sadly.

'Then find others,' the alien insisted.

Eleven considered it. She knew she shouldn't say here, even if she wanted to stay here with Mike, but she knew the truth. Venom was right there. She knew Papa would do everything in his power to hunt her down, and he would never stop until he had found her again. What happened at the diner when Benny was murdered was proof of that. She had endangered Benny's life just by staying there too long. She didn't want to make the same mistake again, not with these boys. She didn't want Papa to hurt them.

'They won't be hurt, and if Papa,' Eleven started a little at the vicious way Venom spat the name, 'comes for them, then I'll eat both of his arms and then rip his face right off his head before he has the chance to work out what I'm doing.'

Eleven was stunned when she felt the sheer pleasure and anticipation from her alien friend, and brutal images of Brenner being ripped apart and eaten filled her mind. She had to close her eyes from the vision.

'You-,' she began.

Venom's voice turned gentle - Eleven noticed something strange about her alien friend's voice; the growl was transforming into a voice similar to a girl, but she didn't know what it meant - but the threat aimed towards Papa, and the Bad Men, was still there. 'You are my host, and I will protect you in ways these humans have never done before. All I want is you; you need me more than I need you. You are not going back to Brenner. You are never going back to the Lab. Jane, you are a psychokinetic - you can move things with your mind, you can read and view other people from a distance - but you're capable of so much war, and it's you against the world. Wouldn't it be better if I were there, with you?'

Eleven was silent for a moment, thinking, although she knew Venom would know what she was thinking easily. She had been 'protected' in the Lab, but at the same time, she was locked up and hurt whenever she didn't do whatever Papa wanted, or when she did something wrong, but this felt different.

Papa would never let her go, but Venom…she felt…safe with the alien. Truly protected, and more than that, she felt…strong when she was with the alien.

She didn't need to reply to Venom's question; the alien knew.

'Let's stay here for a few days,' she said at last. 'We can rest up, I can learn more about the world, and then we can leave.'

The alien was silent for a moment before replying, 'Okay, but if they try to hurt you, I will eat them.'

Lucas sighed. "She's an escapee, that is the point. She's a psycho."

"Like Michael Myers." Dustin breathed.

'Michael who?' Eleven whispered, feeling hurt, these boys were discussing her and didn't know her at all.

'I don't know,' Venom shrugged mentally.

"Exactly." Lucas nodded. Mike rolled his eyes. "We never should've brought her here."

Mike scowled. "So you just wanted to leave her out in the storm?" He asked carefully.

"Yes, we went out to find Will, not another problem." Lucas snapped.

Eleven bit her lip, feeling hurt. Mike was disgusted with Lucas's lack of compassion or concern.

"I think we should tell your mom." Dustin reasoned.

Mike gaped at them in shock. He couldn't believe Dustin was this stupid.

"Second it," Lucas said.

"Who's crazy now!?" Mike exclaimed, didn't they even realise what they were saying?

Lucas did a double-take. "How is that crazy?"

Mike took a deep breath. "Cause we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember? If I tell my mom, she'll tell your guys' mom, and then we'll never be able to search for Will." Mike explained.

Lucas seemed hesitant to argue. Dustin was stunned.

Mike had had enough of this. It was late. But he had no intention of turning the girl away, but he also didn't plan on getting grounded. An idea started to form in his mind.

"Alright, here's the plan, she sleeps here tonight-," Mike started to voice his idea, but instantly his friends protested.

"You're letting a girl-?" Dustin's jaw dropped.

"Just listen!" Mike snapped, and when they were both quiet, she continued, cutting him off. "In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings the doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she came from, and we'll be totally in the clear, and tomorrow night we go back out. We go out, and we find Will. We'll be in the clear."

In the bathroom, Eleven felt hurt. 'I won't go back, Venom. I can't!'

'You won't…even if I have to eat everyone in this place,' the alien vowed.

It was a gruesome promise, but one Eleven appreciated.

The boys were clearly sceptical, but they had no better plan. Besides, they knew when Mike had made up his mind. With nothing else to do and appeased by his promise to try to find Will again, they decided that was it and headed upstairs while Mike tended to the girl.

"Here you go, this is my sleeping bag." Mike handed it to her. He'd set up a little fort for her out of blankets. But as he worked, Mike noticed that she seemed more reluctant to interact with him.

"You really think she's psycho?" Dustin asked Lucas in concern.

Lucas said nothing for a second as they both watched Mike unroll the red carpet, giving the weird girl a sleeping carpet, and building a little fort for her. He was becoming attached to her.

Lucas scoffed, shaking his head. "Wouldn't want her in my house," he snapped, frustrated.

With that, the two left the basement, leaving Mike and Eleven alone. Mike was just handing her some pillows when he realised something important.

"Hey, um, I never got your name," Mike told her.

Eleven lifted her gaze and stared at him curiously for a moment, as if considering…and then she hesitantly showed him her wrist, showing off the tattoo.

"Is that real?" Mike asked in awe, going to touch it. Eleven jumped and pulled her arm back, looking at him with caution.

He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I've never seen a kid with a real tattoo before."

The girl looked away from it; she was clearly sensitive about it.

"What's it mean? Eleven?" Mike asked.

The girl pointed to herself.

"That's your name?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yes. It's all I've known."

Mike was silent for a moment as he absorbed that little fact. This girl's name was Eleven. It was all she'd known. What kind of life had she had before? But at the same time…was it really his problem? Mike silenced the thought instantly, wondering if there was some way he could help. But

"Eleven. Okay. Well, my name's Mike, short for Michael. Maybe we can call you El, short for Eleven." He suggested, deciding to think and worry about it all in the morning.

She gave another nod.

"Okay, night, El." He got up from the floor and went to leave the basement.

"Night, Mike," Eleven whispered to him, making him smile. He covered the opening of the fort with a blanket and went upstairs. He didn't stop to look back, but if he had, he might have reconsidered his plans.

El lay down on the blankets, but as she listened to the thunder rumble outside she couldn't help quietly breaking down into tears. As she lay there, the alien symbiote appeared, black goo spreading over Eleven's petite, frail form, wrapping around her like a blanket. Eleven fell asleep, listening to the sounds of songs never sung before by humans.

-8-

The next morning at the Byers household, Jonathan was making breakfast while Joyce looked lost at the table.

"Mom, breakfast is ready." He set the plate down in front of her. She was still working on the poster for Will.

"I can't eat," She sniffed.

Jonathan studied her with concern, knowing she hadn't gotten any sleep last night, but then he could hardly say he hadn't gotten a full night's sleep, especially after that phone call.

"You have to eat mom." Jonathan insisted gently.

But Joyce wouldn't listen. "Listen, the Xerox place opens in like 30 minutes, we need to make like what, 200, 300 copies? How much is a copy?" She rambled as Jonathan tried to calm her down.

There was a knock on the door, and Joyce hurried to let Hopper in. "We've been waiting six hours!"

Hopper closed his eyes. He honestly wished he had something to tell Jonathan and Joyce, but after a whole night of searching, he didn't have anything. The storm hadn't helped.

"I got here as soon as I could." He sighed. "We searched all night, all the way to Cartersville. We couldn't find anything."

"God…" Joyce sobbed, covering her mouth with her hand. Hopper's heart broke; he hated to see her like this. What hurt the most was how he knew only too well what kind of pain she was in, but there was nothing he could actually do about it.

Hopper took a deep breath. "Flo said you got a phone call?"

He truly didn't know if he could help her there, but if he could get some details, perhaps it would help. Hopper had learnt Joyce had called the station in a panic, someone had called, and she claimed to hear her son's breathing on the other end. There was some kind of static, and then she heard the breathing.

"Yeah." She sniffed.

He went to check it out, seeing that it was fried. "Storm got it pretty good," Hopper said when he saw the black marks scorched into it. That would definitely explain the static she was hearing.

Joyce's jaw dropped as she stared at him in shock.

"The storm!?" Joyce exclaimed angrily. "You're saying that's not weird?"

"What else?" He asked in confusion.

"You're saying that's not weird!?"

"No, it's weird." He conceded.

Jonathan spoke up. "Can we like trace the call or-?" He trailed off as he made his suggestion.

"No, it doesn't work like that," Hopper sighed regretfully, although he would like to know who had made the call, because if it was a prankster, then he would gleefully teach them what happened to the last bastard who thought it would be fun to hurt someone whom he cared about. "So you're sure it was Will? Flo said you just heard some breathing."

Joyce glared tearfully. "It was him. H-He was scared and then something-," she trailed off as she struggled to find a way to describe it.

Hopper could see in her eyes that she genuinely believed it. He desperately tried to make some kind of sense of it, something the police academy trained him to do.

"It was probably just a prank call, someone trying to scare you. This was on TV, brings out all the crazies." Hopper reasoned.

"Who would do that?" Jonathan demanded, seeing what Hopper was doing. Couldn't he see this wasn't what his mother needed?

Joyce sniffed, trembling. "No, it was him, Hopper, it was Will." She didn't know where her son was, but she knew he was trying to get in touch with her. But as she stared at her old boyfriend, Joyce was upset when she saw the disbelief. 'Yeah, sure,' his face seemed to say.

When she saw that, Joyce's temper began to bubble.

"Listen, it's an emotional time for you-," Hopper began, though he was unsure of how to word this.

That was it.

Joyce was tired; she hadn't slept, not that she could, and she was tired of her old friend's dismissive attitude. She didn't care if she hurt him. She wanted him to wake up.

"YOU THINK I WOULD MAKE THIS UP?!" Joyce screamed at him. "YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW MY OWN SON'S BREATHING!? WOULDN'T YOU KNOW YOUR OWN DAUGHTERS!?"

Hopper froze at those words, stunned that she would throw his daughter's death in his face like that. He didn't like thinking or talking about Sarah, and while Joyce did look guilty, she didn't take it back.

"…Heard from Lonnie yet?" Hopper asked softly. Again, he was falling into police work, trying to exorcise the guilt he felt that he hadn't taken Will's disappearance as seriously as he should have, and to make sure Lonnie wasn't involved.

"No." She sniffed.

"It's been long enough, I'm having him checked out." Hopper decided and went to leave, and the fact that Joyce couldn't get through to him was suspicious enough.

Joyce groaned. "You're wasting your time!" But he left anyway.

Jonathan ran after him. "Hopper, let me go to Lonnie's. If Will's there, it means he ran away. If he sees cops, he'll think he's in trouble and hide. He's good at hiding."

"Well, cops are good at finding, okay?" Hopper gripped his shoulders tightly. "Stay here with your mom," He hit his chest. "She needs you." With that, he got in his car and left. Hopper truly hoped Jonathan didn't go after his father. He already had one missing Byers kid; the last thing he needed was another to vanish.

-8-

Meanwhile, at the Wheelers' household, Eggo's just popped out of the toaster. Mike slipped them into his jacket pocket before going to eat with his family. Fortunately, everyone was too distracted to notice what he was doing.

He shovelled down his own Eggo's, much to Nancy's disgust.

"Slow down, Mike, that's disgusting," Nancy complained.

Mike stared at her. "Do a lot of studying last night?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Yeah. As a matter of fact, I did."

"What was your test on again?" He asked innocently. "Human anatomy?"

Nancy glared at him, and then she kicked him under the table, making him kick back.

"What's going on?" Karen questioned them suspiciously.

The siblings paused.

"Nothing."

Down in the basement, Eleven was fiddling with Mike's walkie.

'We have company, it's Mike,' Venom said to her.

Eleven lifted her head.

Mike lifted the blanket and smiled at her. "Hey, you found my supercomm. I talk to my friends with it, mostly Lucas cause he lives so close. Signal's pretty weak."

She stared at him silently.

Mike was a little unnerved by her unreadable expression. "I brought you breakfast." He took out the Eggo and handed it to her. She took it and started eating without hesitation. She seemed to enjoy it.

'Mm, that's acceptable, but you're going to need something more than that,' Venom told her.

'Like what?' Eleven asked.

Venom sensed 'You'll find out.'

But Eleven had a feeling she knew. 'You want to eat people? Those monsters?'

'Hey, I need flesh. I prefer meat.'

"So listen, this is gonna sound a little weird, but I need you to go out there, go to the front door and ring the doorbell. My mom will answer, and you'll tell her that you're lost and that you need help, but whatever you do, you cannot tell her about last night or that you know me. Understand?" Mike asked hopefully, unaware of the silent conversation between Eleven and her symbiote.

Eleven pulled out of the conversation, just to focus on what Mike was saying.

She stared him down, still chewing. 'What do you think, Venom?'

'I don't know, but I think you should tell him what will happen if you are found,' Venom replied, aware she had already planned on telling him.

Mike stared back at her. Why was she staring at him? Was she thinking it over?

"It's no big deal, we'll just pretend to meet each other again. And my mom will know who to call," Mike smiled, hoping this would help her decide.

"No," Eleven drew on her connection with Venom, and her voice came out with a snap.

He froze in shock at the way she snapped "…No?"

She shook her head.

"No…you don't want my mom to get help?"

Another stare, and then her expression slowly turned dangerous, and Mike suddenly felt a thrill of fear. Some dormant instinct in his DNA, which kept his ancestors alive, warned him this girl was dangerous, but there was also a desperation in her eyes.

Mike hesitated. "…You're in trouble, aren't you?"

El looked down briefly before meeting his eyes again.

"…Who are you in trouble with?" He asked softly, looking at her with completely new eyes.

She wouldn't look at him for a moment. "…Bad." She whispered.

"Bad?" Mike frowned. "Bad people?"

She nodded.

"They want to hurt you?" He asked. "The bad people?"

El held up two fingers to her own head like a gun, and then pointed at him, making him tense. "Understand?" She asked. "They will kill me. And they will kill you."

Mike was left stunned.

Just then, Karen called from upstairs. "Michael, where are you? We're gonna be late! Let's go!"

"Alright, I'll be right back," Mike told her quickly. "Just stay here." He lowered the blanket.

"Mike," El said, her voice slightly louder than before, and there was something else there that, when Mike looked back at it later, he would realise was more forceful than her usual quiet tone.

Mike turned to her, and he shuddered at the look in her eyes.

Drawing upon her connection with Venom for courage, El took a deep breath, "Last night, before you, Dustin, and Lucas found me, they murdered a man. Benny. He did nothing except give me a shirt and food. I am not going back to where I came from."

Mike's breath caught in his throat when he heard the certainty in her voice. Now he knew this whole mess had become far more complicated, and worse, than he'd expected. El was not just a runaway. El was being hunted.

But by whom?

Was Will involved somehow?