The Monster and the Superhero
Cat pushed open the door to the boat house, a large carrier bag balancing in her arms. The door opened with a loud bang, causing Cat to grimace and Eddie to jump back in shock as he cursed. "Sorry." Catherine frowned softly at him. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"Delivery service." Dustin grinned, stepping in behind her, holding up his own bags. Eddie sighed, taking one of the bags from Cat and sitting down in the boat. Cat gestured for the others to set the bags down on one of the work benches while Eddie tore into a cereal box. "So, we got, uh, some good news and some bad news." Dustin told him. The group all sat around near the open wall next to the entrance to the lake, facing Eddie. "How do you prefer it?"
"Bad news first, always." Eddie answered, eating a handful of dry cereal straight from the box.
Dustin nodded his head slightly. "All right. Bad news. Um-"
"We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with Dusty's Cerebro," Cat said as she shoved her hands into her pockets. "And unfortunately, they are definitely looking for you. They're pretty convinced that you, um... that you're the one who killed Chrissy."
Max nodded her head. "Like, 100% kind of convinced."
"And the good news?" Eddie asked, looking between each of them.
"Your name hasn't gone public." Robin spoke up from where she was leaning against a shelving unit. "But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."
"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie said, looking up at her.
Cat nodded her head slightly. "Yeah." Eddie cursed, looking down at the ground.
"So," Dustin interjected. "Before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."
"That's all, Dustin?" Eddie asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That's all?"
"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it."
Eddie turned to Robin as she began to speak again. "Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin and Cathy are saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before." Eddie stared at her with a quizzical look on his face. Cat couldn't blame him for being so confused by all this, it wasn't the easiest information to take in. "I mean, they have a... a few times, and... and I have once." She gestured to the others. "Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we got this."
Eddie didn't say anything as he stared around at the other teenagers in shock. "Yeah, see we usually rely on this girl who has superpowers." Steve explained. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so..."
"Didn't you guys say something about Catherine having superpowers?" Eddie asked, looking up at the girl in question. "Last night when you were trying to find me. I could hear you talking about it. Or did I completely mis-hear the whole thing?"
Cat nodded her head, bringing her hand out of her pocket. "Yeah, no. You heard correctly." She held up her hand, closing her eyes while she conjured a fireball in the palm of her hand. Opening her eyes, she threw the fireball in the direction of the lake to extinguish it. "But I don't have total control over it. And alone, I'm not strong enough to defeat this Vecna dude. We really would need El's help." She raised her hand, wiping away the blood that always appeared whenever she used her powers.
Eddie blinked as he tried to process what he just saw her do. "El? Who's El?"
"She's the girl Steve mentioned. The other girl with superpowers." Max answered.
"She's sort of like my sister." Cat added at the confused look on Eddie's face. "Look, it's sort of a long story and I don't know half of it myself. I was some sort of lab experiment as a baby or something." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Anyway," Robin spoke up. "We're technically in more of the-"
"Brainstorming phase." Max nodded her head.
"There... There's nothing to worry about." Dustin stuttered. Steve scoffed as he nodded his head in agreement. Eddie looked like he was going to say something in response- Cat guessed whatever it was would have been sarcastic- but the sounds of sirens wailing cut him off.
"Tarp." Robin reminded the boy as the sirens grew louder. "Tarp." She pointed to the boat and Eddie didn't hesitate to dive under the plastic sheet. Steve grabbed Cat's hand as the group raced to the windows. Cat's heart race picked up, the sirens beginning to sound too close to Eddie's hiding spot. Had they figured out where to find him? She wondered. What would happen if the police found them with Eddie? How much trouble would that put them all in?
The group watched, wide eyed, as several police cars and an ambulance sped past. Cat blew out a sigh of relief. They weren't stopping, which meant they weren't on their way to arrest Eddie. The older teens all shared a worried look as they came to the sudden same realisation- someone else must have died. Steve led them all to his car, driving them to the scene.
They reached the scene not too long after the police cars did, and Steve pulled to a stop just behind a car owned by one of the reporters. Cat held her hand over her mouth as she took in the scene. There were police barriers blocking off the road with the police cars stopped halfway across the road. Cat's eyes fell on the bed covered with a white sheet, watching it be wheeled into the back of the ambulance. Slowly, the group climbed out of the car and their eyes scanned over the many people until they fell on Nancy. She was being interviewed by the police, the look on her face one of distress. The brunette lifted her hand slightly and waved at her friends. Cat sent her a small smile in return while the others sent her small waves.
***
"So, you're saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it's from the Upside Down?" Nancy asked. Once the police had finished interviewing her, the group had moved Steve's car to the trailer park. Cat rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder as they sat at the picnic table in the middle of the run-down area. She pulled her jacket closer to her for comfort, as well as to shield her from the cold breeze.
"If the shoe fits." Steve said.
Dustin nodded his head. "Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell or a curse." He shrugged his shoulders. "Now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know."
"All we know is this is something different." Max added. "Something new."
Nancy shook her head. "It doesn't make sense."
"It's only a theory." Cat said to her, tapping her foot against her friends in attempt to bring her some comfort.
"No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense." Nancy elaborated. "I mean, why them?"
"Maybe it's a wrong place, wrong time scenario?" Cat suggested.
Dustin nodded. "They were both at the game."
"And near the trailer park." Max added.
"We're at the trailer park." Steve pointed out, sounding wary. "Uh, should we maybe not be here?" He questioned, wrapping his arm around Cat and hugging her close to his side.
The group all looked around at their surroundings, the park strangely quiet. "There is something about this place." Nancy agreed. "Fred started acting weird the second we got here."
"Weird, how?" Cat asked her.
"Scared, on edge, upset." Nancy answered, looking down at her hands.
"Max said Chrissy was upset too." Dustin said, looking across to the girl.
The red head nodded. "Yeah, but not here. She was crying in the bathroom at school."
The group were quiet for a moment as they thought, the only sound being the wind blowing through the trees and their hair. "Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?" Robin spoke after a few moments, an idea popping into her head. "So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman-"
"Vecna." Dustin interrupted, correcting her.
"Dunno about you guys," Steve spoke. "But if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone."
Cat nodded her head in agreement. "Same here."
"Maybe they did." Max said, her eyebrows furrowing together as she thought back to the last time she'd seen Chrissy at school. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you... you wouldn't go to the police. They'd never believe you."
"But you might go to your shrink." Cat's eyes were wide as she spoke, catching on to what Max was getting at. They all stood up from the picnic bench, walking back over to Steve's car. Standing on her tiptoes, Cat leaned her arms against the roof or the car. "Hey, Nance." She called, watching as the brunette started to walk away towards her own car. "Where are you going?"
She spun around to face the others as they all looked at her, confused. "Oh, there's just something I wanna check on first."
"Something you maybe wanna share with the rest of us?" Dustin called to her.
"I don't wanna waste your time." Nancy told them. "It's a real shot in the dark."
Cat tilted her head to the side. "Nance, more often than not your shots in the dark turn out to be right. We find out highly useful information from your so-called shots in the dark." She pointed out. "If you have a theory about something connected to all this, it's worth telling us. You're probably gonna be right anyway."
"Cat's right. It won't be a waste of our time." Steve agreed. "But, are you out of your mind? Flying solo with this Vecna creep on the loose? No, it's too dangerous. You need... You need someone to..." Both Nancy and Catherine raised their eyebrows at him, sharing a look over Steve's shoulder. He turned around, throwing his car keys to Robin. "Here, Cat and I'll stick with Nance. You guys take the car, check out the shrink." Steve waved Cat over to him, and she walked around the car to stand next to him.
"I don't think you want me driving your car." Robin stated.
Steve tilted his head at her. "Why?"
"I don't have a license."
"Why don't you have a license?" Steve asked.
Robin shrugged her shoulders. "I'm poor."
"I can drive." Max suggested.
"No!" Both Cat and Steve yelled, turning quickly to face the red-head. "No, never again. Please." Steve shook his head at her. "Anybody but you. No." Dustin sent him a look, beginning to suggest that he could drive the older boy's car. "No chance." Steve said immediately, pointing his finger at Dustin.
"Come on." Dustin groaned.
Cat shook her head at her brother. "No way, Dusty. Sorry."
"All right, okay. This is stupid." Robin sighed. She leaned forward, grabbing the spare walkie-talkie from the side of Dustin's backpack. She walked forward, placing the car keys in Steve's hand. "Us ladies will stick together." Robin linked her arm with Cat's, the two walking over to Nancy. "Unless you think we need you to protect us."
Steve smiled sarcastically at Robin. "Okay, fine. You two can follow after Nance's theory. But-"
"You want me to stay with you?" Cat guessed, dropping her arm from Robin's. "Fine, fine. I'll stay." She walked back over to her boyfriend, leaning up and placing a kiss on his cheek. "But only 'cause I love you and I'll do anything for you." She smiled at him before looking back to Robin and Nancy. She sent the girls a wave as they made their way to Nancy's car.
"Be careful." Steve yelled to the girls as they walked away.
"C'mon." Cat spoke quietly, grabbing Steve's arm. She lead him closer to the car, letting go so she could climb in the front passenger seat.
"Wipe your feet." Steve instructed the younger Henderson as he opened the door behind his sister. He did as instructed, wiping his feet against the floor of the car as he jumped into his seat. "On the outside, not the inside." Steve groaned.
Cat couldn't help but laugh at how Dustin was clearly trying to wind Steve up. "Babysitters again, I see." She whispered with a chuckle, looking over to Steve as he started the engine.
Steve sighed as he nodded his head, starting to drive the car out of the trailer park. "Always the babysitter. Always the goddamn babysitter!"
***
After Max's visit to her councillor's house, the group of four found themselves on the road again- this time to the high school. The drive was quiet, the teenagers not really sure what to talk about, until a voice from Dustin's walkie-talkie caught their attention. "Dustin. It's Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin."
Cat swivelled in her seat to look at her younger brother. Concern covered her features. Lucas sounded really worried. "Lucas?" Dustin spoke into the radio. "Where the hell have you been?"
"Just listen." Lucas stressed to them. "Are you guys looking for Eddie?"
Cat reached forward and grabbed the device from Dustin's hand, pressing down on the button so she could speak to Lucas. "Yeah, no. We found him already. Why? What's going on?"
"You found him?"
Dustin took the walkie-talkie back from his sister. "Yeah, he's at a boathouse on Coal Mill Road. Don't worry. He's safe."
"You guys know he killed Chrissy, right?"
"No, he didn't. Actually." Cat told him, leaning over the back of the seat so the radio could pick up her voice. "Eddie tried to save Chrissy. He didn't murder her."
"Then why do all the cops say he did it?" Lucas asked.
"Because they're idiots." Cat muttered, turning so she was once again sitting in her seat properly.
Dustin opened his mouth to reply to his friend, when Max leaned across and snatched the walkie-talkie out of his hand. "Lucas, you're so behind it's ridiculous, okay?" She spoke into the device. "Just meet us at school. We'll explain later."
"I.. I can't."
Cat leaned over the back of her seat again, Max passing her the walkie-talkie. "Why not? Lucas, you're not in danger are you?"
Lucas shook his head as he replied to her. "No, I'm not in danger Cat. I just- I think some real bad shit's about to go down."
Cat handed the radio back to Max. "What are you talking about?" She asked. "What bad shit?" There was no answer from Lucas this time, the only sound from the walkie-talkie being static. "Lucas? Lucas?" Max asked into the device. Cat held her head in her hands as she swivelled back around in the front passenger seat- she was now really worried that the boy was in danger.
***
"Dustin, Cathy, do you copy?" Robin's voice sounded through the walkie-talkie.
"Yeah, we copy." Dustin answered. The teens were walking down the halls of the high school, using their torches to light up their path. Cat had managed to conjure a small ball of light, letting it hover just above her hand and was using that as her light source instead of a torch.
"So, like Cathy said earlier, Nancy's a genius. Her theory checks out." Robin told the others, beginning to catch them up with the new information they had learnt. "Vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959. Cathy was completely right about Nancy's shot in the dark being right- it was a bull's-eye."
"Okay, that's totally bonkers, but we can't really talk right now." Dustin replied.
"Wait. What are you doing?"
Cat held out her hand for the walkie-talkie, and Dustin handed it to her non-glowing hand. "So, we might be breaking and entering the school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files. The usual, ya know?" She joked.
"Can you repeat that?" Robin asked, not believing the words her friend had just told her.
Dustin took the walkie-talkie back from his sister. "Just get your ass over here, stat. We'll explain everything." He pushed the antenna down on the device, putting it back into his bag. Ahead of them, Max had reached the office they needed and was unlocking it with the key she had stolen earlier that day. "It's like a mini-Watergate or something." Dustin breathed out as the group stepped into the room. They shone their lights over the contents of the room while Max headed straight to the filing cabinet. "Hawkinsgate." Dustin added.
"Wait a second. Didn't those guys get caught?" Steve asked.
Cat looked over to Max, watching the younger girl look through the rows of files. "Holy shit." Max muttered.
"What? Have you found it?" Cat asked as the boys turned to look at Max.
Max nodded her head, pulling out one of the files. "Yeah, and not just Chrissy's file. Fred was seeing Ms. Kelley too." Cat's mouth parted in the shape of an 'o' at the new information. Max pulled out Fred's file, handing it to Steve. She took a seat at the desk, reading through the file Ms. Kelley had put together for Chrissy. "Can I see Fred's file?" The red head asked after a few minutes.
"Yeah." Steve nodded, handing it to her.
Cat leant her back against the wall, her eyes blurred over as she stared into space. She didn't notice as Max fell into a trance of her own, her eyes fixed to the words on the paper. Cat jumped as she heard the loud chime of a clock and then a vaguely familiar voice calling her name. "Catherine." It sounded almost as if it was taunting her. She looked around, her eyes fixing on Steve thinking he might be the one talking to her. But he was leaning over the desk, reading the file over Max's shoulder. And it wasn't her brother, either. He, too, was stood next to Max's chair and was reading Ms. Kelley's notes.
"Catherine." There it was again, the same taunting voice. "Oh, c'mon. Don't ignore me. I know you can hear me." Cat, having finally figured out where the voice was coming from, looked over to the top of the filing cabinet. "Ah, finally." The dishevelled rabbit sighed. "I thought I'd never get your attention."
Cat blinked, looking from the rabbit to the other people in the room and then back to the rabbit again. "What are you doing here?"
Hugo tilted his head to the side as he looked at her. Cat recoiled slightly under his gaze, feeling uneasy. Usually, she felt fine whenever Hugo appeared, but something was off today. She wanted him to leave. "Oh, just my usual check-ins. Nothing to worry about." Cat raised her eyebrow at the rabbit's words, not quite believing him.
Cat suddenly looked behind her as the loud chime of a clock sounded once again. Her eyes scanned the room, not seeing where the noise was coming from. "Steve? Do you hear that?" She asked, looking over to him. The boy didn't answer, not moving from where he was still leaning over the desk, holding the torch over the papers he was reading. "Steve?" Catherine called. When she received no answer, she walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Steve? C'mon Stevie, talk to me. Please." Her face fell as she was met with silence once again.
She turned to Hugo, her eyebrows furrowing when she realised, she was the only one who was concerned. "What's wrong with me? Why can't they hear me?" She walked around the table, tapping her brother and Max on the shoulder. As she predicted, nothing happened.
The rabbit didn't answer, only watched with what seemed slight amusement on his face as Cat began to panic. Suddenly she felt herself freeze, unable to move.
Pain consumed her entire body and out of the corners of her eyes she could see a glowing aura emit from her body. It wasn't the first time she'd seen her body begin to glow like this- it happened when the Russians tried to torture her underneath Starcourt Mall during the beginning of the summer. At the time- Cat had come to realise- her body had done that in self-defence. But this felt different. Her body wasn't defending itself; some sort of force was doing whatever it was to her.
The glow around her body grew brighter and as it did so, Cat felt her feet lift off the ground. She gritted her teeth as she screamed, using what strength she had left to fight against the invisible force. Blue light encased her body, forming a barrier. Cat's hands formed into tight fists, and she screwed her eyes shut tight, focusing on pushing the other force away. Exhaustion flooded her body as the mystery force disappeared. Her body floated back down to the floor, and as soon as her feet touched the ground, Cat crumpled into a ball on the floor. Tears began to roll down her cheeks, and through glossy eyes she glanced up to Hugo the rabbit. The damn rabbit. The small creature had what Cat could only describe as a look of pure annoyance on its face.
Before Cat had time to piece anything together, her eyes rolled back, and she passed out on the floor.
***
A/N:
I'm gonna start doing questions of the week, but in these little author notes at the end of each chapter- if you guys would like that?
Anyway, do we think Hugo is sus or not?
And when will Cat get her more than deserved break?
(Edited: 13/06/2022)
(Edit 2: 27/02/2023)