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

SEVENTY EIGHT

The Piggyback

"Okay, the lovebirds have copied." Erica spoke into the walkie-talkie after Lucas had responded to her signal with a few brief flashes of his torch. "Max is moving into phase two: distracting Vecna."

"So far, so smooth." Robin commented, turning to face the others.

Steve nodded, looking across the road to Creel House. "Yeah, we're not even at the hard part yet."

Thunder boomed overhead as the demo-bats continued to swarm around the boarded-up building. Cat balled her hands up into fists as she stared at them, her nails digging into her palms. All she could think about was the plan, and how she couldn't protect the kids if something went wrong. Vecna had taken her powers which meant that if someone got badly injured, she wasn't able to help heal them. Hell, Steve had been attacked by the bats and she couldn't do anything to help his awful injuries let alone her own. If there was ever a time that she wished for her powers back, it was now.

"Take the bait, you son of a bitch." Nancy whispered to herself, eyes fixed to the house before them. "Take the bait."

Neither of them knew how long it was until Erica's voice sounded through the walkie-talkie again, this time telling them that Max was under Vecna's curse again and that it was time for the next phase.

Cat picked up her own walkie-talkie, pressing down on the button and speaking into it to relay the information to her brother and Eddie. "Max is in." She winced at her own words, hating that Max had volunteered herself as the bait for their plan. "Move on to phase three but be careful! Eddie, I really hope your guitar skills are as good as you say they are."

"Copy that." Dustin's voice echoed. "Initiating phase three."

Cat moved to place her walkie-talkie back in her bag when Eddie's voice echoed through the small device. "Don't worry Cat, my guitar skills are definitely better than they used to be."

Steve sent a quizzical look to his girlfriend. "What does he mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing." Cat told him as she pushed the antenna down on the walkie-talkie before placing it in the side pocket of her bag. "I was there for the early days of Corroded Coffin, and they weren't nearly as good as they are now. Eddie's guitar playing, though good, was a little off."

Slightly drowned out by the rumbling thunder and screeching of demo-bats, the sound of Eddie shredding away at his guitar made its way to their ears. Cat hummed to herself, impressed that he'd managed to learn how to play Master of Puppets so well during all the recent chaos. Eyes fixed on the bats as they slowly began to fly away from Creel House, her worry began to increase at the thought of the creatures heading straight for her younger brother.

"Okay, it's working." Nancy spoke, beginning to lead the group away from their hiding spot under the slide. "Let's go."

The group made their way across the road, the adrenaline and worry slowly growing. Steve was the one to push open the door, revealing the most horrendous sight. The entire interior was covered in a mix of vines and tentacles, leaving hardly any sight of the floor. Getting to Vecna was proving to a harder task than any of them previously thought. "Ugh, gross." Cat muttered to herself.