There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

SIXTY EIGHT

The Monster and the Superhero

Cat pushed open the door to the boat house, a large carrier bag balancing in her arms. The door opened with a loud bang, causing Cat to grimace and Eddie to jump back in shock as he cursed. "Sorry." Catherine frowned softly at him. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Delivery service." Dustin grinned, stepping in behind her, holding up his own bags. Eddie sighed, taking one of the bags from Cat and sitting down in the boat. Cat gestured for the others to set the bags down on one of the work benches while Eddie tore into a cereal box. "So, we got, uh, some good news and some bad news." Dustin told him. The group all sat around near the open wall next to the entrance to the lake, facing Eddie. "How do you prefer it?"

"Bad news first, always." Eddie answered, eating a handful of dry cereal straight from the box.

Dustin nodded his head slightly. "All right. Bad news. Um-"

"We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with Dusty's Cerebro," Cat said as she shoved her hands into her pockets. "And unfortunately, they are definitely looking for you. They're pretty convinced that you, um... that you're the one who killed Chrissy."

Max nodded her head. "Like, 100% kind of convinced."

"And the good news?" Eddie asked, looking between each of them.

"Your name hasn't gone public." Robin spoke up from where she was leaning against a shelving unit. "But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie said, looking up at her.

Cat nodded her head slightly. "Yeah." Eddie cursed, looking down at the ground.

"So," Dustin interjected. "Before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."

"That's all, Dustin?" Eddie asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That's all?"

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it."

Eddie turned to Robin as she began to speak again. "Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin and Cathy are saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before." Eddie stared at her with a quizzical look on his face. Cat couldn't blame him for being so confused by all this, it wasn't the easiest information to take in. "I mean, they have a... a few times, and... and I have once." She gestured to the others. "Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we got this."

Eddie didn't say anything as he stared around at the other teenagers in shock. "Yeah, see we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers." Steve explained. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so..."

"Didn't you guys say something about Catherine having superpowers?" Eddie asked, looking up at the girl in question. "Last night when you were trying to find me. I could hear you talking about it. Or did I completely mis-hear the whole thing?"