Third Person POV:
Y/n's been missing and everyone's going crazy. The last person to see her was Wanda and no one knows where she is either. Pepper tried tracking both their phones but their locations glitch every time, popping up in different places and disappearing. Ned and Peter decided to try to track y/n's phone themselves and Ned figured out how to stop the glitch and get a more accurate location. They discovered that she's somewhere in New Jersey. Now Peter needs a ride but can't ask May because she's got work and he doesn't want to worry her even more. Pepper has Morgan to worry about and he'd like to be the one to bring her daughter home to her. There's only one other person he could think of that wants y/n back as much as he does and would probably be willing to give him a ride.
Peter knocks on the door and impatiently waits. A few seconds later, it's opened by Jonathan Byers. He looks at the teen quizzically. "Peter? Uh, what are you doing here, is there an update on y/n?"
"I think I know where she is."
Jonathan's eyes widen. "Really? Well, where?" he eagerly inquires.
"Well, I have a vague idea but New Jersey... and I thought you'd want to come to check it out," Peter answers. Jonathan gives him a knowing look.
"You need a ride," he assumes. Peter goes awkward for a moment and nods his head.
"...Yeah."
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll go with you," Jonathan sighs.
"Great, let's go," Peter urges, starting to walk to the car. Jonathan is taken aback. He didn't think he meant right now but he's not complaining. He wants to find y/n too.
"Yeah, let me just get my keys," Jonathan says, running inside. He tells Nancy where he's going and says goodbye before grabbing his keys and exiting the house.
•~•~•~•
Most of the ride consists of awkward silence, with the exception of Jonathan asking how much time is left until they arrive. The last time he asks this, Peter lets him know that they're close. Something has been on Jonathan's mind the entire ride but he didn't dare bring it up until now. "So, uh, you and y/n are close, huh?" he asks. Peter nods in confirmation.
"Yeah, we're best friends," he responds. There's a few seconds of silence until Jonathan speaks up again.
"Just best friends?"
Peter turns to him confused. "What do you mean?"
Jonathan slightly shrugs and answers, "well, I can't help but notice the connection you guys have... you like her, don't you?" Peter is taken aback by this. Damn, it's that obvious, he thinks.
"Uh... I, uh..." he clears his throat, making Jonathan chuckle.
"I thought so," he replies. The look in Peter's eyes when talking about y/n and the fear he portrays for her reminds him of himself. It reminds him of when he was secretly in love with her all those years ago. "Does she like you back?" he questions again.
Peter thinks about their first and only date. "I think so," he claims. Jonathan just nods. This is so weird to him but he knew it would happen eventually.
"Good," he finally says. Peter glances at him in surprise. He expected Jonathan to react more negatively.
"Good?" Peter repeats.
"Yeah. I told her to not stay stuck in the past, to move on. To be honest with you, I thought it'd take way longer but this is good. I just want her to be happy," Jonathan replies. It's going to take some getting used to but he only wants to see her happy. Now they just have to bring her home so that can happen. Peter ponders on his words. He never knew that Jonathan encouraged her to move on from him. If anything, he thought that he wouldn't let her move on. His phone beeps, making him look down at it.
"I think we're here... or nearby," he pipes up.
"So is she here or close by?" Jonathan questions.
The dot on the map suddenly disappears, alarming Peter. "Wait, what? No, no, no, come on," he panics, shaking and hitting his phone in hopes that it'll help.
"What? What's wrong?" Jonathan asks.
"I lost her."
Jonathan begins to panic as well. "What do you mean you lost her?"
"I-I don't know. The dot just disappeared," Peter responds. "Pull over," he orders. Jonathan sighs but complies, pulling to the side of the road. Peter studies his phone screen, and the dot starts glitching on and off of the screen. He gets out of the car, holding his phone up and looking around. Jonathan hops out too and follows, looking over his shoulder at the screen. They look up and see a sign that reads: Welcome to Westview. When they near the sign, the dot disappears. The two stand there in bewilderment and look past the sign.
"So she's in Westview," Jonathan questions. Something about this place gives him the creeps. He has a feeling that this town isn't fond of outsiders.
Peter curiously walks further down the road. He stops when the hairs on his arms stand up. There's danger present. He glances around when he hears a sound. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Jonathan asks.
"Like a buzzing sound," Peter responds. Jonathan shakes his head.
"I don't hear anything."
Peter slowly turns his head to the front, realizing that it's coming from in front of him. The noise gets louder as he steps closer and the sensation of danger grows. He stops when he feels and hears the buzzing right in front of him, almost as if it's touching the tip of his nose. "Woah," he breathes out when he notices subtle swirls of color.
"What?" Jonathan questions.
"There's a barrier here... like an energy field," Peter answers. He brings his hand up to touch it.
"Be careful," Jonathan cautions. Peter ignores him and touches the barrier, gasping when colorful swirls form in the area he touched. He retracts his hand before sticking his hand into the energy field. "Careful, Peter," Jonathan warns again. The buzzing intensifies and Peter is sucked into the energy field, yelping as he's pulled in. Jonathan jumps in surprise as he stares with wide eyes. "What the hell??" he exclaims.
"Peter? Peter?!" he yells, hoping the boy will reappear. "Oh, shit!" he breathes out, running back to his car to retrieve his phone. He quickly opens his contacts and taps on Lucas's contact. He panics, desperately waiting for him to pick up. When he finally does, he begins rambling. "Lucas! I think I know where y/n is... but we have a problem."
•~•~•~•
Mike and Will ride in a van with four other people. They were called in by SWORD to help respond to a threat. "Hey," a young woman mutters to the man across from her. "What's your field?"
"We're not supposed to talk to each other," the man states.
"Hmm. Boy Scout leader. Got it. And, uh, you?" she addresses the woman next to him.
"Nuclear biology," she answers. The young woman looks at Mike next.
"Nuclear physics," he responds. The woman nods and looks to the man beside her.
"Artificial intelligence," he says before they all turn to Will.
"Astrophysics," he answers.
"Oh, me too," the woman comments before smacking her lips. "We got the full clown car. It means whatever the threat is, SWORD clearly has no idea what they're dealing with."
The man who refused to speak earlier suddenly pipes up, "I'm a chemical engineer."
"No one cares," the woman quickly shuts him down.
"Alright, grab your gear," the driver instructs as the van comes to a stop. They're let out of the van, and Will and Mike walk behind the woman as they look around.
"Ms. Lewis! Mr. Byers! Mr. Wheeler!" a man calls, making the three turn to him.
"Dr. Lewis," the woman answers.
"Yeah, Dr. Wheeler," Mike chimes in.
"Dr. Byers," Will says at the same time.
"We have your gear set up inside," the agent informs them. They all follow him into the building.
"Those drones you're sending in, what kind of data are you getting?" the woman asks.
"I'm afraid that's highly classified."
"You can't see anything?" she claps back, making Will and Mike snort. The agent just gives them an annoyed look. The woman chatters as she starts to set up and Will is about to set up too until a voice captures his attention.
"Will? Mike?"
The two turn around and see Dustin and Lucas. "Dustin?" Will asks.
"Lucas?" Mike pipes up.
"What are you guys doing here?" Dustin questions.
"We were called in yesterday... what are you guys doing here?" Will returns.
"Well, we... sort of got ourselves invited aboard... to find y/n," Lucas responds. Mike and Will become confused.
"Wait, y/n? Are you saying all of this has to do with her?" Mike inquires.
"Well, as far as we know, an agent disappeared into whatever that is yesterday. The night before that, Jonathan and y/n's friend were out there looking for her when the same thing happened to him," Lucas explains. Will's face drops.
"What- is Jonathan in there??"
"No, no, not Jonathan, he's fine. Y/n's friend," Dustin clarifies, causing Will to relax.
"A colossal amount of CMBR," the woman's voice catches their interest and they turn around.
"CM-"
"Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation," the woman speaks. The friends walk toward her and the agent.
"We've been told the radiation is within a safe limit," the agent notes.
"Uh, it is... for now."
"Wait, what do you mean-"
"Shh!" she shushes him. Will comes up behind her and peers at her device.
"There are longer wavelengths superimposed over the noise here," he adds. The woman turns around startled. "Sorry," Will apologizes. She just nods before standing up and bending over to pick something up. She groans as she strains herself to pull it up. "Let me help you," Will insists as he helps her place it on the table.
The woman gazes at him and sticks her hand out. "Dr. Darcy Lewis."
"Dr. Will Byers," Will responds, shaking her hand. The other three introduce themselves as well as they gather around WIll and Darcy to view the machine on the table. Darcy turns a knob, making a blurry image of a woman appear.
"I need a tv. An old one. Like, not flat," Darcy tells the agent.
•~•~•~•
"Will someone get me a useful visual, damn it?" Director Hayward demands. As if on cue, a laugh track sounds throughout the room. "What is that? Who's doing that?" Hayward asks. Everyone turns to see Darcy, Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Mike watching tv. Hayward and a few others gather around behind them.
"Is that?" Agent Woo questions when he notices Wanda.
"Yeah, it looks like her," Darcy slightly stammers. "Wait, isn't that the girl who was frozen in the 80s?" she asks when she spots y/n.
"Yup. She's my sister," Lucas answers. Jonathan was right, she is here. Darcy and Jimmy give him a sympathetic look.
"Look, I know it's been a crazy few years on this planet, but they're dead, right? Not blipped, dead," Darcy comments about Vision and Tony.
"What am I looking at? You. What is this? Where's this coming from?" Hayward asks Darcy.
"Out there," she replies. They watch as Wanda closes the door on Agnes on the tv.
"Is it authentic?"
Darcy and Will exchange a look. "We don't have the answer to that," he responds.
"Is it happening in real-time? Is it recorded, fabricated?"
"We don't know any of that," Mike answers.
"What do you know?" Hayward questions.
"My equipment registered an extremely high level of CMBR. That's-" Darcy commences.
"Relic radiation dating back to the Big Bang," Hayward finishes.
"Yeah, entwined was a broadcast frequency. So I had your goons pick me up a sweet vintage tv and when I plug this bad boy in, voilà, sound and picture," Darcy concludes.
"Dinner is served," tv Wanda says.
"Ah!" Vision voices.
"So you're saying the universe created a sitcom starring three Avengers and Tony Stark's adoptive daughter?" Jimmy inquires.
"It's a working theory," Dustin answers. Lucas sighs as he watches his sister on tv. Oh, y/n, who did this to you? he wonders.