Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Seven: Hawkins National Labratory

"We don't give tours." He said.

"Ok...a quick look around."

"You have to get clearance for that. You can contact, uh...Rick Shaeffer at the Department of Energy."

"Maybe you've seen on TV, we've got a local kid that's missing. We have reason to believe he might have snuck in here." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Like I said, you have to speak to Mr. Shaeffer." Dad turned the car off, throwing his hat on the dash. 

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Patrick."

"Patrick, I got a panicked mayor, and I got reporters breathing down my neck, and I got a very upset mother. Now I know the kid's not in there, but I gotta check off this box." I raised my eyebrows, slightly surprised by the sincerity in his voice. "Patrick, would you do me a favor,would you speak to your boss and see what you can swing for us? I'd really appreciate it. I'm talking ten minute tops." The man looked up, clearly already regretting this decision. But he nodded and walked back into the booth to call his boss. Dad looked over at me and I nodded, looking out the window. "You can hold your applause."

"Oh yeah, you talked to a man calmly and rationally instead of getting all bent out of shape, good for you. Quite an accomplishment that most human beings should be capable of." I shot back.

"Ooh!"

"Dang, Chief!' Dad shot them a look, and then me. I shot him a look of my own, looking out the window again.

"Look, I know you don't wanna be here-"

"No. What gave it away?" I asked.

"But I could really use your help here, ok?" He said. "I really need you to drop the attitude because if you know what happened to Will I need you to tell me, or I'm gonna have to interrogate you by the book, and I don't want to have to do that."

"You're gonna arrest me?" I asked.

"If I have to," He said, glancing out the windshield before looking at me again, "Do I?" I sighed, sinking down in my seat.

"I don't know. Jury's still out on that one."

~~~

"And you think the missing boy may have crawled through there?" The security directory asked. He was standing behind us, while Dad and I were crouched down in front of a storm drain, shining a flashlight through it.

"Well, that was the idea." Dad answered skeptically.

"Yeah, I just don't see how that'd be possible, we've got over 100 cameras. Every Square inch covered, plus all my guys. Nobody breaks in here, especially not some kid." I turned to face my Dad, looking away from the man and whispering so only he could hear me.

"That's a lot of security for a laboratory in the middle of nowhere, in Hicktown USA, don't you think?" I asked, looking around nonchalantly. He nodded in agreement.

"Those cameras, you keep the tapes?" He asked.

~~~

We followed him inside, and were met by a slew of people, some Military Police, some in lab coats. I furrowed my eyebrows as we passed by a section that was separated by plastic with Hazmat logos on it.

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you guys do in here?" Dad asked.

"You're asking the wrong guy."

"Staying one step ahead of the Russians?"

"I expect. Something like that."

"In Hawkins, Indianna?" I questioned, leaning over Dad to look at him. He shrugged.

"Hey, don't ask me kid. Its not my job to ask questions."

"Who's in charge here?"

"That'd be Dr. Brenner."

"And he builds the space lasers?" Callaghan asked.

"Space lasers?"

"Ignore him." Dad and I said in unison. We walked into the monitor room, where he told the operators to pull up the tapes for the night of the 6th and 7th. They pulled up the footage showing the drainpipe and only played a short clip, that was staticky, and barely visible. 

"Is that it?" Dad asked skeptically. The director looked at us.

"Like I said. We would have seen him."

~~~

"The night of the 6th and 7th we had a search party out for Will. Anything you remember about that night?" Dad asked.

"Mm, not much to remember. Called it off."

" 'Cause of the storm." Powell clarified.

"A lot of rain," I said, "Rain that most definitely did not show up int he security footage."

"What are you thinking?" Powell asked, looking between us.

"I don't know," Dad said, looking back at the building, "But they're lying."

And I have a bad feeling I know why...

"Hey Dad, can we go to the library?" I asked. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why do you want to go there?" I pulled the door open, looking up at the lab again.

"They have newspapers," I said, meeting his eyes again, "I want to see every article that's ever been published about Hawkins National Laboratory."