heroes │eddie munson

part seven

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time." Max nodded.

"Four kills. Four gates. End of the world."

"If that's true, he's only one kill away." Dustin pointed out.

"Jesus Christ, oh Jesus Christ." I squeezed Eddie's hand as everyone looked between me and Max.

"Try 'em again." Steve pointed to the phone which Max started typing numbers in, calling Joyce.

"It's okay." I reassured Eddie, though I was also freaking out.

"Everything's not fine. What if-"

"No. No what ifs. We're all gonna be okay."

"Anything?" Dustin asked as Max hung up the phone.

"No. Rang a few times, then went to busy signal."

"Maybe you punched it in wrong. Try it again."

"I didn't punch it in wrong."

"Well, I don't know." Steve groaned.

"I think she knows how to use a phone."

"I'm just saying, she could've typed it in wrong."

"Same shit." Max slammed the phone and let out a frustrated sigh.

"I told you, Joyce has this telemarketer job. She's always on the phone, Mike won't stop whining about it." Dustin informed us.

"Yea, but this phone's been busy, what, three days now? That's not Joyce. No way. Something's wrong."

"We have to go back into the Upside Down." Nancy spoke from across the room.

"What? Nancy, if we go back there, something could happen. To anyone of us. Need I remind you that Max and I are under Vecna's curse?" I felt Eddie's grip on my hand tighten.

"Yea, Cassie's right." Steve stood up to stand in front of Nancy. "We barely made it out of there in one piece."

"Yea, because we weren't prepared. But this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection. We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him." Nancy ranted.

"Or he'll kill us. The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us." Steve argued.

"And for good reason. We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what're we calling him now?"

"Vecna." Erica and I answered while everyone else said One and Henry.

"Right. We've learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. He's a number, like Eleven. Only a sick, evil, male, child murdering version of her with really bad skin. But my point is, he's super powerful. He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."

"Okay, but how do we fight him, then? I mean, you said Eleven doesn't have her powers anymore, right?" I asked from the couch.

"Yes, but it gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven's strengths, and weaknesses. When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna." Dustin explained.

"That would explain what he was doing in that attic."

"Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless."

"Defenseless? Yea, what about the army of bats?" Steve motioned to his bitten up neck.

"True, we'll have to find a way past them. Distract them, somehow."