0 0 1 ━ [ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 ]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟹𝟹: 𝙱𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚗 𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎𝚜

"Ooh, we could stake it down like a tent!" Max suggested. "Each of us could grab a corner and hammer the net into the ground so he can't get up."

"And then I shoot him in the face," Hopper added, patting the gun at his side.

"Don't get too excited, Hop," Joyce cautioned him. "What if he's got James hidden somewhere? If he's dead we won't be able to find him."

Hopper wanted to argue but her point was too valid. "Fine, I don't shoot him...yet."

"We need to be careful," One advised the party. "Something tells me that Pa--Brenner is controlling James. I think he was the reason that James forced Will to choke me."

"But why would Brenner want you dead?" Steve asked. "He said he wanted you to join him."

"I don't know..." One sighed. "There's still a lot of this that isn't adding up, but either way we need to be prepared."

The rest of the party agreed by nodding their heads in unison.

"So we lure Brenner out...trap him with a net...and then what?" Lucas asked, recapping the plan.

One glanced around the group before confidently saying, "And then we rescue James."

"Oh geez, that means going into the Upside Down, doesn't it?" Dustin asked, picking up on where One was going with her plan.

"I'll go in," One responded determinedly. She couldn't deny that the idea of revisiting that hellscape terrified her, but she would do anything to save James. She had already broken a promise to find James once, she wouldn't make the same mistake again. "I spent eight years in there, I can handle another couple minutes."

"Me too," Eleven joined. She caught One's eye and gave her a confident smile.

"Well if you two are going, then I'm going," Hopper announced. "I've gotta protect my girls." Eleven and One both moved over to embrace him in a side hug. He pulled them in close as they leaned their heads against his shoulders.

"Count me in," Steve added. He made a move to join the team hug by One's side but Hopper gave him a glare that sent him backwards.

"Are you guys sure you're willing to do this? It's going to be dangerous. People could die." One pulled away from Hopper's side to address the room. Worry sewed itself into her features as she took another look at each and every person standing before her. She couldn't imagine losing a single one of them.

"That's an average Tuesday for us," Joyce said with a comforting smile, speaking for the party.

☆ ★ ☆

After the party dispersed and everyone departed for their respective homes, it was just the Hopper family left. Their guests left behind a weight in the air that sat on One's, Hopper's, and Eleven's shoulders. Something big was coming, and while they should be utilizing what time they had left to rest, Hopper and One found themselves wide awake at the kitchen table with a bottle of bourbon between them.

Despite Eleven's protests, Hopper had sent her to bed so that he could have some time alone with One. He needed to figure out where she was at with everything and whether she was okay. He also felt like they hadn't been able to fully comprehend their newfound relationship and that this would present an opportune time to do so.

One sloshed the golden liquid around in her whiskey glass as Hopper poured one for himself. She lifted it to her nose and took a sniff, recoiling slightly from the sharp smell. It elicited a flashback of her sitting alone in the Upside Down, a bottle similar to what was in Hopper's hand at her hip, empty.