in my head // eddie munson

chapter nine

"You have protection in Steve's nightstand." Olivia spoke, biting her lip to keep herself from laughing.

Steve sighed and ran his hand down his face while the others looked at her.

"We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair and we'll kill him." Nancy continued.

"Yeah, or he'll kill us." Steve told her. "The only reason he didn't kill Olivia was because he didn't want to. He's not scared of us."

"And for good reason." Robin got up. "We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what do we call him?"

"Henry."

"Vecna."

"One."

"Vecna."

"Vecna."

"Squid." Olivia spoke, looking at the wall.

"Okay- We've learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. He's a number, just like Eleven. Only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But my point is, he's super powerful. So it's not fair fight."

"So why fight fair?" Dustin asked. "If he's like Eleven then that gives us an upper hand. Now we know his strengths and weaknesses."

"Weaknesses?" Erica asked.

"When El remote-travels she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same goes for Vecna." Dustin explained.

"That would explain what he was doing in the attic." Lucas nodded.

"Exactly. So I bet when he tries to kill his next victim he's in the attic. Physical body defenceless." Dustin spoke.

"Defenceless? What about the army of bats?" Steve pointed at his wounds.

"True. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow." Dustin agreed with Steve.

"And how do we do that, exactly?" Eddie started getting up but sat back down when Dustin responded.

"No idea. But once they're gone he doesn't stand a chance. It will be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin."

"Yeah, that's all good in theory but we have no idea when he's gonna attack. We don't even know who he's gonna attack." Robin reminded the group.

"Yeah, we do." Max spoke. "I can still feel him. I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush. I drive his focus on me."

"No way." Olivia immediately spoke. "You are not being the bait. If someone is to be a bait it should be me."

"I survived before." Max argued.

"Yeah and so did I. Like three times."

"I can survive again." Max assured her.

"I will not let you do that." Olivia pointed her finger at Max like an angry parent would do.

"Liv please. I will be careful. Plus Lucas can be there, he will protect me." Max looked at Lucas who nodded.

Olivia stood there just looking at Max.