007(ST-Steve Harrington)(On Hold)

31: Master of Puppets

March 27th, 1986

When Steve made it to Eddie's trailer, we didn't all just run inside and get the show on the road, we stopped and made sure that the plan was well thought out. I was shaking as I sat in the RV next to Steve, listening to Nancy who looked apprehensive.

"Okay. I wanna run through it one more time. Phase one," she said and turned to Robin.

"We meet Erica at the playground. She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready."

"Phase two," Nancy continued and turned to Steve.

"Max baits Vecna. He'll go after her which will put him in his trance."

"Phase three?" Nancy asked and looked over at Dustin.

"Me and Eddie draw the bats away."

"Four?"

"We head into Vecna's newly bat free lair and flambe the shit out of him," I said and grinned as Steve did the same, wrapping an arm around me.

"Nobody moves onto the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?"

"Got it," we all said together and headed out of the RV and over to the trailer.

We headed in and wandered over to the gate which still had the rope made of bed sheets sticking out of it. Since Steve's arguably the strongest he went first and grabbed the rope with a sigh.

"Be careful," Dustin said and Steve nodded before grabbing it.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered and climbed up the rope before holding on as gravity dropped him into the Upside Down.

Steve stood and smiled at the the lot of us, waiting for something as Robin raised a brow.

"What does he want us to do, applaud?" She inquired and I chuckled.

"Most likely," I muttered and grabbed the rope before following Steve's lead and dropping into the Upside Down.

I faltered for a second and placed a hand on my head as it began to pulse with energy from being in the same realm as Vecna.

"You good?" Steve inquired and I nodded before shaking my head in order to clear it.

"Yeah...just getting used to the extra power. I'll be fine, don't worry," I assured and Steve and I grabbed the mattress off Eddie's bed before putting it in position.

"All right, let's go," Steve said and the others all began to climb through.

Nancy climbed through the first and then the supplies followed by Robin, Dustin and Eddie. We all headed outside and Steve stopped, turning back to Eddie and Dustin before we headed off.

"Hey guys listen. If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort. Okay?" Steve said and they both nodded. "Draw the attention of the bats. Keep em busy for a minute or two. We'll take care of Vecna. Don't try to be cute or be a hero or something. Okay...you guys are just..."

"Decoys. Don't worry. You can be the hero Steve," Dustin assured and rolled his eyes.

"Absolutely, I mean, look at us. We are not heroes," Eddie said and sighed as I rolled my eyes.

"Exactly...you're badasses. Keep safe," I told him and squeezed his shoulder before Steve and I turned. We were about to walk off when Eddie stopped us. "Hey Steve, Ren? Make him pay."

"We'll do it for Chrissy, I promise," I told him and wrapped Eddie in a tight hug before following Steve and the others.

Since my powers were kicked into high gear in the Upside Down I could hear Eddie's thoughts pretty clearly and didn't like them one bit. He kept muttering about sacrificing himself and guaranteeing that Dustin was safe even if he didn't make it. I trusted Eddie to make the right decision and guarantee that they were both safe but a part of was worried. I was worried that Eddie was going to try and be the hero at the expense of his own life and really hoped I was dead wrong.