American Heroes: A Stranger Things 3 Fic

A Feeling

When Will, Dustin, Robin, and Steve go to the roof, it's pouring rain. Steve barely catches himself from slipping. The four of them crouch by the edge of the building where they can see the loading dock. Several guys armed with guns are standing guard around it. Dustin takes out his binoculars.

"What are we looking for again?" Will whispers.

"Imperial Panda and Kaufman shoes," Robin says.

Dustin looks around before pointing at someone rolling a cart of boxes. "They're with that whistling guy, ten o'clock."

"What do you think's in there?" Steve asks.

"Guns, bombs?"

"Chemical weapons?" Robin says.

"Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth."

"Great." Steve wipes rain out of his eyes. "That's great."

Down by the loading dock, a door opens to a room that the guy with the boxes goes into. Robin leans forward. "Hey, what do you think's in there?"

"It's just more boxes," Dustin says.

Will squints through the rain, trying to see into the room, but it's useless without binoculars.

"Let me check it out," Steve says, reaching over Will to grab Dustin's binoculars.

"No, I'm still looking." Dustin hangs onto the binoculars tightly.

"Lemme see it."

Will frowns as Steve and Dustin wrestle with the binoculars. "Be quiet. They'll hear us."

"Hang on!" Dustin yanks the binoculars from Steve, hitting them on the metal of the roof, a loud clang echoing through the air. Robin gasps, and the four of them duck quickly behind the wall. Below, they hear someone yell in Russian.

"We have to get out of here," Will says.

Robin nods, motioning towards a stairwell different than the one they'd come up. She leads the way as they all rush down it. When they're back inside a hallway of the mall, panting and dripping wet, Robin looks at the boys. "Well, I think we found your Russians."

No one says anything else until they're out in the parking lot, Steve offering to drive all of them home. They all hop in his car and start towards Robin's house, Dustin in the passenger seat and Will and Robin in the back. "Now that we know where the Russians are, what do we do?" Will asks.

"We have to get into that room," Dustin says. "Then we can see what's in those boxes."

"But how do we do that?"

Robin bites her lip. "Exactly. Those guards are going to be impossible to get past unless we have a distraction or find another way in."

"We can scope out the loading dock again tomorrow morning," Dustin says. "Maybe then we'll see something we didn't before."

"You and Will can, but Steve and I have jobs," Robin reminds him.

Dustin rolls his eyes. "I know that. We'll report back to you what we see. That way, we can-"

Will misses what Dustin says next because a wave of fear and dread falls over him. He's frozen, his stomach drops, and his heart pounds in his chest. Will tries to steady his breath, but it's like the terror has taken over him, swallowing him up. In the distance, he hears voices calling his name, but it's not until a hand grabs his shoulder that he's jerked back to reality.

"Will? Are you okay?" Dustin and Robin are staring at him, Robin's hand on his shoulder.

Steve keeps glancing back at him. "What's going on, Byers?"

Will shakes away the feeling. "I-"

"Steve, watch out!" Dustin cries. The car swerves to the side, barely missing two girls riding a bike down the road, and stops with a screech. Dustin rolls down the window. "Are you okay?" He shouts to the girls.

The girls look towards the car, and Will sees that it's Max and Eleven. "Dustin?" Max says. "Yeah, we're fine other than the fact that you guys nearly ran us over."

"Sorry," Steve says. "Do you need a ride home?"

Eleven shakes her head. "We're almost to Max's house."

"Alright, just be careful."

Max gives him a thumbs up. "Right back at you."

Will watches the girls ride off while they drive away. What are they doing out this late in the rain and did it have anything to do with the feeling Will got? He can't help thinking it did.

Dustin is bickering with Steve about always keeping his eyes on the road. Robin nudges Will and says in a low voice, "Hey, are you alright? You had a bit of a moment there."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just thought... never mind." Will turns away and stares out the window.

"Wait." Robin takes Will's shoulder, turning him towards herself. "What is it?"

Will sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know. I just got a weird feeling. It was nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Robin doesn't look like she believes him, but she takes her hand off his shoulder anyway. "If you say so."

After dropping Robin and Dustin off, Will hops up to the passenger seat, and they head to his house. Steve cranks up the music, and, instead of talking, they bop their heads to the beat. When they pull into Will's driveway, they're laughing and pretend drumming on the dash.

Steve goes quiet when he looks towards the Byers' house. "Look who it is," he says. Will peers through the windshield and sees Mike and Lucas slumped by his front door. They're squinting at the car, unable to see who's inside.

"What do I do?" Will says.

"Talk to them. They obviously have something to say."

Nervous, Will looks to Steve who motions him to go. Taking a deep breath, Will steps out of the car. Mike and Lucas hop to their feet when they see him.

"Good luck," Steve says before driving off.