The next day, after the group fell asleep once again in the Wheeler basement, Susie was awoken to the sound of Eddie on Dustin's walkie talkie.
She slowly opened her eyes, confused for a moment by her surroundings. She had fallen asleep sitting up against the wall. She lifted her head off of someone's shoulder. Beside her, was Steve, who was also passed out. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulder.
She sighed, pushing off his arm and standing up, nearly losing her balance. She stumbled her way over to the table, where the walkie talkie was set. She rubbed her eyes in hopes that it would wake her up. Everyone else was still asleep.
"Dustin, can you hear me?" Eddie asked over the walkie talkie. "Dustin? Earth to Dustin."
Susie picked up the walkie talkie with a tired yawn. "Hey, it's Susie."
"Wheeler! Hey." Eddie greeted loudly. Susie grimaced at the sudden loud noise.
"Um, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world." Stated Eddie. Susie sighed. "No. No, no, no. Don't do that." She responded. "Just stay where you are, and we'll be there as soon as we can."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Eddie continued. "Listen, um...can you pick me up a six-pack? I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves." He requested.
Susie turned around to look at the couch where Max had fallen asleep. She noticed that Max was no longer there. Her eyes widened. "Uh--Hey, I'm gonna have to call you back." Said Susie quickly. She set down the walkie talkie.
"No, don't you da-- Wheeler? Wheeler?" Eddie called out.
Susie rushed over to Nancy. "Nancy!" She shouted, causing the girl to immediately sit up from the floor, where she had fallen asleep.
"Yeah. I'm up." Nancy squinted her eyes at the light.
"Max is gone." Susie explained, before making her way over to Dustin. "Dustin!" She shook the boy. He hummed.
"Wake up!"
"What?" He leant his head back, hitting it against the TV behind him. He groaned. He had drool running down from his mouth.
"Aren't you supposed to be on Max watch?" Susie reminded.
"Yep. Yep, yep, yep." Dustin remembered. He rubbed his eyes. "Sorry."
"Okay, then, where is she?" Nancy commented.
"She's right there." Dustin pointed at the couch, then noticed that there was no one on it. "A second ago." He furrowed his eyebrows. "I swear, I just dozed off for..." He glanced at his watch. "...an hour."
In a rush, Susie, Dustin, and Nancy made their way upstairs. Once they reached the kitchen, they found Max sitting at the table with Holly. They were relieved.
"Jesus." Susie exhaled, placing her palm on her forehead.
"Morning, guys." Mrs. Wheeler greeted as she made eggs on the stove. Mr. Wheeler was sitting, reading the newspaper.
"Everything okay?" Wondered the woman.
"Yeah." Replied Nancy. "Yeah, everything's okay." She sighed, staring ahead at Max. Max looked back at the three of them.
"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this." Karen smiled.
"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change." Mumbled Ted, looking up from his newspaper. Nancy ignored his comment and made her way over to Max. Karen sighed, then turned to Dustin and Susie. "Dustin, you know you're welcome here anytime." She assured.
"Totally. You're like family." Dustin nodded. "May I?" He approached the table, pointing at a plate of pancakes.
"Absolutely." Karen replied, handing him a plate.
"Get one for me too, Dustin." Susie requested as she filled up a glass of water. "I'll be back up soon. I gotta check up on Steve."
"Check up on Steve?" Dustin furrowed his eyebrows.
"I said check up on everyone else." Susie denied.
"No, you didn't. You said check up on Steve." Dustin shook his head.
"No...I didn't." Susie chuckled.
"I'm...pretty sure you did." Dustin pursed his lips.
"You said Steve, honey." Ted commented.
"Dad--" Susie paused. She had no clue what to say. Instead, she left and made her way down anyway.
"Don't forget to get me a pancake!" She called out.
"Okay! But just so you know, you said Steve!"
Susie rolled her eyes on the way down the stairs. "I didn't say Steve." She mumbled angrily to herself. "Why on Earth would I say Steve?"
Once Susie was downstairs, she made her way towards Steve. She glanced down at her glass of water, then smirked. Without any hesitation, she splashed the water onto Steve's face, causing him to wake up right away.
He screamed, jumping up. Susie even jumped at his sudden yelling. The scream caused Robin and Lucas to wake up as well.
"What the hell, Steve?" Robin whined.
"What the hell, Steve?" Steve repeated in disbelief. "What the hell, Susie! She just poured water all over my face." He complained.
"I needed to wake you up." Susie shrugged, grabbing a towel from the bathroom and throwing it over to the boy.
"A simple 'Steve, wake up' would have sufficed." Steve sighed as he caught the towel, rubbing it on his face.
"Right. I'll try that next time." Susie responded, trying to hide her smile. Steve looked up at her and couldn't help but smile as well, but only when she wasn't looking.
"Hey where's Max?" Lucas wondered.
"And Dustin and Nancy." Robin added groggily.
"Oh, great. You guys are already awake." Nancy spoke as she made her way halfway down the stairs. She noticed Steve and furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are you wet?" She questioned.
"I decided to take a self care day out by the swimming pool, is that so wrong?" Steve responded sarcastically. Susie chuckled. Nancy stared at him, confused for a moment, before she noticed the empty glass of water in Susie's hand. Nancy sighed.
Dustin rushed down the stairs and stopped beside Nancy. Everyone turned to look at him. "You guys are gonna wanna see this." He stated.
Everyone who was on the floor got up and tiredly followed him up the stairs.
When they reached the kitchen, they all gathered around Max's drawing of what she had seen in her vision.
"A house?" Robin furrowed her eyebrows as she examined the drawing.
"Victor Creel's house." Dustin responded, raising his eyebrows.
The group decided to set out to Victor Creels' old, abandoned house to see if they could find anything. They weren't quite sure what they were really looking for, though.
As they made their way up the steps to the large house, they began to feel chills running up their spines. Steve and Susie, who both walked behind everybody, turned to look at each other with skeptical expressions.
"Yeah, that's not creepy." Commented Steve sarcastically as they all stopped walking to stare at the ominous mansion.
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Agreed Susie.
"It's barred shut. How are we gonna get in?" Lucas inquired.
Steve showed Lucas the hammer that he had taken with him. "Easy." He made his way forward and stopped in front of the wood that barred the front door. He stuck the edge of the hammer under the screws, and pushed them out. Nancy did the same thing on the opposite side.
"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Questioned Steve as he turned around to face the group. They shrugged.
"We're not sure." Admitted Nancy. "We just know this house is important to Vecna."
"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve responded doubtfully.
"Basically." Confirmed Nancy.
"Great." Muttered Steve.
"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels." Dustin suggested. "And how to stop him before he comes back for max."
"We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas worried.
"Guess we'll find out." Max exhaled.
"That's just...That's lovely." Susie forced a smile. "You know, the beginning of Spring is really shaping up to be a wonderful time." She added sarcastically.
"Ready?" Steve asked Nancy, referring to the door. She hummed in response. The two of them pulled on the wood plank, allowing it to fall loudly to the floor. It blew a gush of wind and dust towards the others, who flinched.
Max stared fearfully at the door.
Steve rattled the doorknob, but was unable to open it. "It's locked." He sighed. "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"
"No need." Robin spoke up, holding up a brick that she had found on the ground beside her. "I found a key." She smirked. She took a step back, followed by Steve and Nancy stepping aside as well. Robin threw the brick straight into the window on the door.
It shattered loudly. Steve slowly approached and peered inside the dark house. He carefully stuck his hand in the window and opened the door from the inside. The door creaked as it was slowly pushed back.
Steve whistled. Everyone followed wearily behind him. They curiously examined their surroundings, taking notice of all the antiques that were covered in dust.
"Wow...super vintage." Susie commented in attempt to lighten the mood.
"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill." Added Lucas. Everyone turned on their flashlights, except for Steve, who didn't have one.
"Where'd everyone get those?" Questioned Steve. Dustin turned around in disbelief, glanced down at the flashlight, then back up at Steve. "Do you need to be told everything?" He asked in annoyance. "You're not a child."
"Thank you." Steve responded in confusion. Dustin rolled his eyes, then put down his backpack. "Back pocket." He handed the backpack to Steve, then followed after the others.
Susie chuckled, then walked towards Steve. She shined her flashlight directly on his face.
"Will you-- Will you stop that?" He squinted his eyes. "I can't see shit." He complained. Susie chuckled again, then put down the flashlight, smiling at the boy. After finding a flashlight, Steve dropped Dustin's bag on the ground.
"I thought you were all mature now." Steve commented, shining his flashlight briefly in Susie's eyes as he walked past her. Susie huffed and stood in place for a moment. She followed him.
"What makes you say that?" She asked quietly with a slight smile.
"I don't know. You're less...of a bully. No offence." Steve explained, hesitantly. He continued to shine his flashlight at the walls.
"None taken." Susie stifled a laugh. "I grew up, Steve. It happens." She shrugged.
"Hey, guys?" Max spoke up. She pointed her flashlight at a grandfather clock that stood up against the wall. "You all see that, right?"
"Yeah."
"Is this what you saw?" Asked Nancy. "In your visions?"
Max nodded.
Robin stepped forward. "I mean, it's...just a clock. Right?" She moved past Max to get even closer to the clock. She ran her hand along the front, clearing up the dust. She turned around. "Like a normal old clock."
"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Wondered Steve. "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"
"I think you cracked the case, Steve." Commented Dustin sarcastically. Steve gave Dustin an unimpressed look.
"I think all of my meanness got transferred into this little guy." Susie whispered to Steve, who nodded.
"All I know is the answers are here." Nancy started. "Somewhere." She sighed. "Okay, Dustin, you can go with Steve and Susie and everyone else go in groups of two. Robin, upstairs." Nancy instructed.
Everyone split up. Dustin gave Steve a fake smile.Steve sighed heavily and walked past the boy.
"Was that a sigh?" Dustin questioned.
"No, I did not sigh." Denied Steve.
Dustin looked at Susie. "He so sighed." He whispered. Susie shrugged and followed after Steve, who started his way up the stairs.
"Why'd you sigh?" Dustin asked as he followed them as well.
"I didn't sigh. Just come on, dude." Steve rolled his eyes.
"I heard you." Dustin continued.
Susie sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"See? Now Susie sighed!" Dustin added.
"I didn't sigh." Susie shook her head.
"You two are such liars." Complained the curly haired boy.
"W...We're just always partners, okay?" Steve explained.
"What, you have a problem with that?" Dustin interrogated.
"Yeah, Steve, you got a problem with that?" Copied Susie, crossing her arms.
"No, Susie. Not you." Steve exhaled. "It'd just be nice to, I don't know, mix it up a bit."
"So, what, I'm boring you? Is that it?" Dustin argued.
"No, the opposite--"
"Oh, I see what this is..." Dustin nodded slowly. "I see it very clearly." He squinted his eyes at Steve. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Steve turned around.
"What?" He looked skeptically at Dustin.
"Steve, a word?" Dustin pulled Steve by the wrist into one of the rooms, leaving Susie alone in the dark and dusty hallway.
"Great. Split into groups, they said." Susie muttered to herself as she stood in place, unsure of where else to go.
Meanwhile, Dustin and Steve spoke inside a rather empty room, apart from large cobwebs.
"What are you doing? Susie's alone." Steve motioned towards the closed door that led out into the hallway.
"You wanted to be alone with her, is that it?" Dustin raised his eyebrows.
"What? No. That is not it at all." Steve denied angrily, as if the assumption offended him.
"I am sick of your lies, Steve. I have seen you staring at her wherever we go, but do you say anything? No! Because you are a coward!" Continued Dustin.
"Shh! She'll hear you!" Steve whispered, holding up his finger. Dustin hit down Steve's hand, then glared at him. "Coward." He repeated.
Steve grabbed onto Dustin's shirt tightly, pulling him close. "Listen, I know you like to butt in on my love life, but Susie and I are over, alright? It's been over since, like, August. Done. Got it?" He spoke quietly, then let go of the boy.
"Right." Dustin walked past him out the door.
"Dude." Susie stared at him angrily. She hadn't heard their conversation. "What the fuck?" She threw up her hands.
Steve shoved past Dustin to stand beside Susie. "Sorry, Suz. This little shit has gone out of his mind." He sighed. Dustin rolled his eyes.
"Come on. Let's just go." Susie ignored the two of them, and made her way into the next room over.
Steve and Dustin didn't move for a moment. Steve stared at Susie while Dustin watched Steve do so. When Steve took notice of the fact that Dustin was sill standing next to him, he turned to face the boy.
Quietly, Dustin urged Steve to keep walking. Steve scoffed, and followed after Susie.
The next room they entered looked like a bedroom. They carefully studied the room.
"Hey, uh, Henderson?" Steve spoke up as he walked into the room.
"Yeah?" Dustin turned around.
"Could you maybe, uh, clarify what sort of clues we're supposed to be looking for here?" Steve requested.
"Thank you. Someone said it." Susie sighed in relief.
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." Dustin quoted in a British accent. Susie and Steve furrowed their eyebrows. After an awkward silence, Dustin spoke up. "Sherlock Holmes." He stated in his regular voice. Susie and Steve gave him no reaction. He scoffed and walked away.
"That's great." Mumbled Steve. "Thanks. That's great." He repeated aloud so that Dustin would hear. "Really helpful."
"Sherlock.." He muttered once again. Susie smiled slightly, then noticed that Steve had stopped in front of a vent on the floor. He was very focused on it.
Susie turned to the side to look at Dustin, who also appeared to be distracted. With a determined, smirk, Susie slowly and quietly crept up behind Steve. When she was close enough, she suddenly pounced at him, grabbing his shoulders.
Steve yelled, quickly turning around to face Susie. He shined his flashlight at her face. She shut her eyes tight. Once he calmed down and noticed it was her, he put down his flashlight and sighed deeply.
Dustin turned to them for a moment, alarmed, but then ignored it when he realized what had happened.
"Seriously?" He shook his head. "What is wrong with you? 'I grew up' my ass." He ran a hand through his hair. "And Dustin called me a child." He muttered under his breath.
"Heard that." Susie set her hand in Steve's hair and pushed his head down. Meanwhile, she walked around him to lift up the vent that he was staring at.
Steve stayed looking at the floor for a moment, smiling to himself, before turning around and bending down to see what was inside the vent.
There seemed to be some jars hidden inside. Susie and Steve shared a curious look. Steve reached inside and pulled out a jar. There was a dead spider inside of it.
"Gross." Susie grimaced.
Suddenly, Steve noticed a black spider crawling on his shoulder. Panicked, he tried to hit it off, but he stood up and backed out into the hallway. Susie followed after him.
"Whoa, whoa. Steve, calm down. It's a spider. You're fine. It's gone. It's not there anymore." Susie assured, setting her hands down on Steve's shoulders and staring directly into his eyes.
"It's a black widow. You would've reacted the same." Steve panted. Susie smiled at him sadly in hopes that it would reassure him. "Yeah, you're right." She sighed. Steve turned around and shut the door behind them.
"Not going back in there." He shook his head quickly. He turned around. Susie noticed a spiderweb in his hair. "Oh, Steve. Hold on." She reached out her hand.
"What is it?" Steve worried, rushing to the old mirror nearby. Susie followed after him, struggling to reach for the web. "Steve, just--just stop moving." She requested. When Steve finally listened, she began to pull out the pieces.
Steve stood silently for a moment. Susie heard him sigh, but she chose to not say anything.
"Hey, uh, maybe after we find Vecna, kill him, you know, save the world and stuff, you and I can go out or something." Steve turned his head to the side. "I mean--with Robin, or something, like--like not like a date or anything because I know that's...that's over, so..." Steve rambled. Susie smiled, but didn't answer.
"Okay. All out." She assured once she finished taking out the webs. Steve turned around slowly. "Great. Thanks." He took a step closer to her. "Well. Great. Um..." He trailed off. They stared at each other in silence for a moment.
"Guess we should, uh, get back to the investigation." Steve said quietly. Susie smiled kindly and nodded. "Yeah." She replied in almost a whisper.
"The obvious things are not what people observe." Steve quoted. "Or...Do...Don't observe. Or.." He trailed off.
"Yeah, I got it." Susie laughed, nodding at the boy.
"Yeah, you're smart. You get it." Steve nodded quickly as well, then awkwardly speeded past the girl. Susie stood in place, processing what had just happened. She smiled to herself, letting out an intrigued breath.
Meanwhile, Steve scrunched up his face in embarrassment as he walked in the other direction.
"What?" Susie heard a voice whisper. She turned to the side, noticing Nancy and Robin peering out from one of the doors. They had been listening in the whole time. Susie looked at them for a moment, then shrugged. She turned around and followed after where Steve went.
When Susie caught up to Steve, she took his hand to get his attention. He turned to her confusedly, then looked down at their hands.
"Where's Dustin?" Susie inquired. Steve remained silent for a moment, then sighed. "Yeah, let's go find him." He pulled away his hand, and continued walking. Just as he started walking, he was stopped by a flashing lamp ahead of him. He turned around.
"You see that?" He pointed at the lamp. Susie nodded.
Eventually all the flickering lights led the whole group to a chandelier on the first floor. They all stood around it.
"It's like the Christmas lights." Nancy commented.
"The Christmas lights?" Robin puzzled. They both spoke in whispers.
"Yeah, when--when Will was in the Upside Down, the lights... came to life." Explained Nancy.
"Vecna's here." Lucas spoke. "In this house. Just on the other side."
Suddenly, the light went out.
"I think he just left the room." Said Robin.
"Did he hear us?" Worried Max.
"Can he see us?" Steve also asked.
"Headphones." Lucas turned to Max. She quickly put on her headphones and started playing her music.
"Wait, wait. Everybody, turn off your flashlights and spread out." Nancy instructed. Everybody did as she said with no questions, except for Steve.
"Well, we're not gonna be able to see if we turn off our flash...lights." He trailed off, noticing that everybody already walked away except for Susie. He turned to look at Susie. "Jesus christ." Hesitantly, he turned off his flashlight. They began to wander the halls.
Suddenly, Robin called out, "I got him! Got him!"
Everybody followed after her voice. They found her in another room, pointing her flashlight up. "I got him." She repeated. Suddenly, the flashlight went out. "I...I had him." She turned to the rest of the group.
Steve's flashlight turned on. "Oh, whoa." He commented in shock. "Oh, I think he's moving." The flashlight continued to flicker as Steve walked. "He's moving. He's moving." Everyone followed Steve out into the hallway and up the stairs.
Once they reached the first floor, the flashlight went out. "Shit." Steve sighed. "I lost him."
"No, you didn't." Max stepped forward. She walked up a few more steps and opened the door in front of them. The door led to another flight of stairs. The light above them flickered. Slowly, they made their way up.
"It's an attic." Noticed Robin. "Of course it's an attic." She mumbled shakily.
"Hold up, guys. What if he's leading us into a trap?" Worried Dustin at the bottom of the stairs. Nobody responded. They kept going p.
"Guys." Dustin repeated. "Guys!" There was still no answer. "Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit."
Once they made it into the attic, they noticed the light started flickering on the ceiling. Their flashlights began to do the same as they pointed them upwards.
"Okay, what's happening?" Questioned Steve. Nobody knew the answer. They all stared down at their flashlights, and looked up at the ceiling.
It was as if Vecna was just standing there, motionless. As if he was sleeping.