"Whatever you guys are doing up there, hurry up!" Steve's yells echoed around Eddie's trailer.
"Steve says you need to hurry!" Erica came toward the room.
"No shit!" Dustin hollered.
"We're trying. We can't find anything." Max panicked.
"Positively failing miserably!" Cassie began throwing a bunch of stuff over her shoulders, not noticing they were hitting each of her friends every time.
"Seriously, what is all this shit!" Robin panicked.
"What are you even looking for?" Eddie asked quickly, wincing as Cassie accidentally tossed an old set of headphones at him.
"Beatles, Blondie, Bowie. Music! We need music!" Robin yelled up at him.
"This is music!" Eddie shouted loudly.
"Eddie, relax your senses and help me search!" Cassie grabbed his arm and drug him to her.
"Hey!" Steve's yells caught their attention. "She's okay!"
They all went running, Lucas and Cassie bumping into each other as they made it to the gate, looking up at Nancy's panicked eyes.
"It's okay." Steve comforted her. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here."
Cassie knew that Jonathan Byers was her favorite person. She'd always loved Jonathan, maybe because they were similar in a very different way. So, when he got with Nancy, she was the first to know. That being said, it developed a bond with Nancy and Cassie as well. Meaning, when Nancy was in desperate need of comfort, Cassie was there to put an arm around her and hold her cup. "He showed me things that haven't happened yet. The most awful things. I saw...a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this...this giant creature with a gapping mouth. And this creature wasn't alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then...he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they... they were all..."
"Okay, but...he's just trying to scare you, Nance." Steve looked over at the pair. He was the one to comfort Nancy at first but was soon shoved away and Cassie took over. "It's not real."
"Not yet." her eyes shifted his way slightly. "But there...there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie's trailer but...they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home."
"Four chimes." Max spoke up, Cassie turned her head to her. "Vecna's clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly."
"I heard them too." Nancy agreed, her voice louder to Cassie considering they were so close.
Cassie and Lucas shared a look as she inhaled. "No one voice what their suffocating thoughts are trying to s-"
Max cut her off. "He's been telling us his plan this whole time."
"Four kills." Lucas went on, Cassie exhaled. She didn't want to hear it. "Four gates. End of the world."
"If that's true, He's only one kill away." Dustin winced.
"Jesus Christ." Eddie cupped his face.
"We're going to die a soul crushing, painfully ending, death." Cassie panicked, standing up and hoping Nancy wouldn't mind. Lucas stood up to follow her to the kitchen, listening to Steve encourage Max to try the Byers again.
"Cas." Lucas followed her as she opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle. "Try to just stay calm."
"I am trying with each and every one of my senses, Lucas." Cassie took a large gulp. "But, absolutely nothing is working for me right now. Max could get hurt, Nancy, even one of us if Vecna digs deep enough within our every thought. And half of our friends aren't even here, and they aren't answering the phone."
"I'm worried about them too." Lucas walked closer as they both leaned on the counter. "But, knowing El, she's probably saving their asses if this all is connected to Lenora."
Cassie cracked a smile. "I wish she was here."
"Me too." Lucas put his hand over hers. "But, for now, what if we figure out how to chop Vecna's head off?"
Cassie smiled at him. "Let me rack my thoughts really quick."
"Yeah, of course." Lucas nodded with a clear of his throat, watching Cassie think. "Whats your head saying?"
"Humm." Cassie tapped her chin. "Seems as though I am perfectly capable of figuring out how to chop Vecna's head off with you."
"That's what I like to hear." he smiled, holding his hand out as she latched onto it. Walking back into the living room, hell seemed to be breaking loose.
"Whoa, whoa, no, no, no." Steve shook his head.
"Nope." Eddie confirmed. "Nope."
"Let's think this through." Steve stood up quickly.
"What's happening?" Cassie looked around with a questionable look.
"Oh, Nancy just wants to go back into the Upside Down." Eddie shrugged.
"What!" the couple to be shouted on sync.
"We barley made it out of there in one piece." Steve seemed to agree.
"Yeah, because we weren't prepared." Nancy's eyes got bigger by the second. "But this time, we will be. We'll get weapons and protection."
"We'll go through the gate, we'll find his lair, and we'll kill him." Nancy went on, paying him no mind. Cassie and Lucas were shaking their heads at her.
"Or he'll kill us." Steve pointed out. "The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He's not scared of us."
"And for good reason." Robin got to her feet. "We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?"
"One."
"Vecna."
"One."
"Henry."
"We're learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One." Robin shook her head. "He's a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But my-my point is, he's super powerful and no amount of weapons is gonna take him out. He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It's not a fair fight."
Cassie looked to Dustin. "Do you and I share the same genius thoughts right now?"
"I think we do." he agreed. "Why fight fair?"
"Meaning..." Eddie looked between the two in questioning.
"Vecna is like El, correct?" Cassie looked over. "Meaning we could brainstorm how to use his weaknesses to our advantage."
"Weaknesses?" Erica gave a dumb look.
"When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state." Dustin explained the best he could. "I bet the same is true with Vecna."
"That would explain what he was doing in that attic." Lucas looked over at Cassie, she nodded in agreement.
"Exactly." Dustin pointed out. "When he attacks his next victim, i'll bet you he's back in that attic, physical body defenseless."
"Defenseless? Yeah, what about the army of bats?" Steve rose his brows.
"True. We'll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow." Dustin rocked back and forth.
"We'll figure out how to handle them, though. No worries needed in our brains." Cassie waved Steve off.
"And, uh, how do we do that, exactly, Cas?" Eddie looked up at her
"Not yet figured out." she tapped on the side of her head.
"But once they're gone, he doesn't stand a chance. It'll be like staking sleeping Dracula in his coffin!" Dustin went along with her words.
"That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna's killings." Robin stared over as him. "At least not one that I can decipher."
"No?" Cassie frowned her eyebrows.
"We don't know when he's going to attack next." Robin went on. "We don't even know who he's going to attack."
"People that accompany trauma." the Park girl tilted her head.
"Cassies right." Max looked over. "I can still feel him. I'm still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, it draws his attention back to me."
"That is not at all what I was suggesting." Cassie shook her head.
"He'll kill you." Lucas gave her an insane look.
"I can survived again." Max took a breath with a shake of her head. "I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly really don't care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just...whatever it is...whatever you do...try not to miss."
"Max." Cassie walked over as Eddie hurried through his house. "I'm not one to hate on your plans, but this one is painfully, burning my soul, terrible."
"I know it'll work, Cas." Max stared at her with a nod of her head. "All i'm worried about are those bats."
Cassie hesitated, looking back at Dustin. "I'll take care of the bats."
Max gave her a look. "That's not at all what I was suggesting."
"Don't steal my line." she smiled softly, making Max do the same. "Just promise me, with every cell in your body, that every past and future you will try your hardest to determine Vecna dead rather then you."
"I promise." Max nodded her head.
"Check this out. The War Zone. I've been there once. It's huge. They got everything you need for, uh...well, killing things, basically." Eddie explained, waving Cassie and Max over as they all looked down. "Better then a dictionary, right?"
"Right." Cassie reached over his shoulder to flip the page.
"Do you think fake Rambo had enough guns there?" Robin leaned over Cassie to look at the page. "Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?"
"Well, lucky for us it is, so..." Eddie trialed off. "This-this place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of the main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks."
"If we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to some store called the War Zone." Erica scoffed.
"Normally, i'd agree, but we need the weapons." Nancy looked at Cassie. "So, I think it's worth the risk."
"Nancys voice is correct." Cassie inhaled. "I also need a team."
"A team?" Steve gave her an odd look.
"I'm going to the bats, to keep them away from Max and destroying our plan on ending Vecna." Cassie explained, looking around. "I can't do it alone."
"I'll go." Lucas spoke up nearly immediately.
"No, you accompany Max at the Crill house. It makes the most logical sense considering the remaining of the group will act without scanning their thoughts or are team set Vecna on fire." Cassie looked around at everyone. "No offense, family."
"Non taken." Robin shook her head.
"Okay, i'll go with Cassie." Eddie spoke up as he looked up at her. "A little payback for when she protected me in the twelve hour campaign."
"I knew she was helping you." Dustin gave a look of disbelief. "I'm in too. I didn't get to see you beat the shit out of the claw last year."
"It was badass." Lucas smiled.
"Are we even gonna be able to time this right? Biking there, then back, it'll take all day." Dustin shook his head.
"Who said anything about bikes?" Eddie looked in his direction.
"You got some car we don't know about?" Steve looked down at him curiously.
"It's not exactly a car, Steve." Eddie inhaled as he stood up. "It's not exactly mine but, uh, it'll do."
Cassie pulled a dictionary from Max's counter. "Just incase."
"Hey, Red." Eddie turned to Max. "You got a ski mask or a bandanna, something like that?"
Cassie was half of Eddie's shield as he ducked behind her, the Michael Myers mask the other half of his disguise. She ran as he lead her toward an RV. Lucas winced as Eddie opened the window before hoisting Cassie into the window, she rolled across the seat before Eddie did the same. "That was suffocating."
"A hand?" Steve called, making the two pull him in. Lucas grabbed hold of Cassie next, rolling as the others did the same. Robin and Steve hurried after Eddie toward the wheel while Cassie got the window shut.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lucas looked over at Cassie as she used a screw driver to get the nails secured.
"Stealing an RV?" she frowned her eyebrows.
"No, being separated." he corrected.
Cassie stopped messing with the window. "It'll only be this one time. You don't want to go without me?"
"Are you joking? No." Lucas gave her an insane look. "I want us to be together, always."
Cassie blinked. "As in...when disaster strikes our town or as in...always always?"
Lucas turned to her fully. "Always always."
"Everyone hold onto something!" Steve shouted suddenly, hitting the gas and causing Lucas and Cassie both to smack into each other and fall into the seats.
•
kylie speaks
always always