defensive - mike wheeler

thirty

"how is that possible?" lucas asked.

"i told you. joyce has this telemarketer job. always on the phone." dustin spoke up.

"yeah, but this phones been busy for, what, three days now?" max reminded them.

"that's not joyce. no way. something's wrong." y/n told them.

el watched them talk, through the void, seeing how shaken up nancy was.

"she's right." nancy admitted. "it can't be just a coincidence. it can't be. whatever's happening in lenora is connected to all of this. i'm sure of it. but vecna can't hurt them. not if he's dead."

nancy then turns around to them, facing everyone else.

"we have to go back in there. back to the upside down." nancy tells them.

steve and eddie started arguing against it, not agreeing with nancy.

"let's think this through." steve says.

"what is there to think through?" nancy argues.

"we barely made it out of there in one piece." steve reminds her.

"yeah, because we weren't prepared." nancy responds. "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."

"or he'll kill us." steve argues. "the only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. he's not scared of us."

"and for good reason." robin stands up. "we were wrong about vecna. henry. one. sorry, what are we calling him now?"

"one." dustin and lucas reply.

"vecna." erica corrects.

"one." lucas argues.

"henry." nancy decides.

"right." robin gets back on track. "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.. 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."

"so, then why fight fair?" dustin asks. "you're right. he's like eleven. but that gives us an upper hand. we know eleven's strengths. and weaknesses."

"weaknesses?" erica asks.

"when el remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state." dustin explains. "i bet the same is true with vecna."

"that would explain what he was doing in that attic." lucas says.

"exactly." dustin agrees. "when he attacks his next victim, i'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless."

"defenseless?" steve asks. "what about the army of bats?"

"true." mike admitted. "we'll have to find a way past them. distract them somehow."

"and, uh, how do we do that, exactly?" eddie asks.

"no idea." mike replied. "but once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. it'll be like slaying sleeping dracula in his coffin."

"that all sounds good in theory." robin admits. "but there is no pattern to vecna's killings. i mean, at least not one that i can decipher. we don't know when he's going to attack next. we don't even know who he's going to attack."

"yeah, we do." y/n spoke up. "i can still feel him. i'm still marked. cursed. i ditch kate bush, i draw his focus back to me."

"i can help." max stepped up. "i'll draw his focus to me too, since i'm cursed, he might take the bait."