Six Months Later...
in Hawkins, Indiana
Since its grand opening last summer, Starcourt Mall had been a popular hangout spot for children, families, and young adults alike. Whether it was to see a movie, grab a burger, get some ice cream, or shop for the latest fashion trends, it was everything the residents of Hawkins needed. That much was certain with Christmas fast approaching. It was the busiest time of the year for the shopping center.
Sitting at one of the booths in Scoops Ahoy, an ice cream parlor located in the Food Court, Maureen and Alicia were thankful they weren't among the frantic consumers in a mad dash for last-minute Christmas shopping. They were merely two women, dressed in style appropriate to the 1984 setting, enjoying their favorite flavors – Mint Chocolate sprinkled with Skittles and Oreo crumbles with M&M's – while waiting for a friend.
As they waited, one of Scoops Ahoy's frequent employees, Steve Harrington, approached in his uniform – a cartoonish sailor suit. "Ladies," he checked in on Alicia and Maureen. "Anything else I can get ya?"
Alicia swallowed the bits of Oreo and M&M in her mouth before she answered, "No, thanks. You're doing a fantastic job, Steve."
"Keep 'em comin', mate," Maureen said, shoving in scoop-after-scoop like there was no tomorrow.
Harrington gave a thumb up before returning to the checkout counter. His co-worker and former classmate at Hawkins High School, Robin Buckley, stood there with the whiteboard she'd used to keep tally on him. Along one column was labeled "You Rule" with zero tallies, while the other was labeled "You Suck" with a total of six so far.
"I'm gonna go ahead and add two to the 'Suck' column, before you strike-out with those girls, too," she told Steve.
Steve snickered at her frivolous belittling. "Don't even bother. They're way too old for me."
"Wow!" Robin scoffed. "You'll definitely strike out with that line." She set the whiteboard down behind the counter. "How 'bout this? Tell the one girl with the Oreo/M&M combo that she looks like Tina Turner. If she goes for it, I'll give you two marks on the 'Rule' column. If she throws her cup down your pants, it's another one for the 'Suck' column."
Steve humored himself even considering Robin's ultimatum. "O.K. What about the girl with the Mint and Skittles?"
"Tell her she looks like Madonna and I'll give you four marks on the 'Rule' column. Same relegation if she throws her cup down your pants."
Harrington couldn't resist a good challenge, especially since Robin had no idea how well he already knew Alicia and Maureen. Considering that they saved the multiverse together, six months ago, it was fair to say that they'd be willing to play along and help him make a complete fool out of his co-worker. "You're on," he accepted.
Robin didn't think he'd actually go for it, but she was nonetheless excited to see him crash and burn. She pulled the tally board back out and kept her marker ready, while Steve made his way for Alicia and Maureen's booth. Just as he was prepared to talk the Time Ladies into his ruse, Si walked into the parlor, looking more radiant than the last time he saw her.
She waved at Steve on her way in, although Steve was too frozen to wave back.
Immediately, he aborted his master plan, retrieving back to the counter where Robin – grinning ear-to-ear – made five marks on the "Suck" column, bringing the total to a whopping eleven tallies.
From Alicia and Maureen's booth, Si caught a fleeting glimpse of Robin's board while sitting down. "Any clue what that's all about?" she asked her predecessors.
Maureen shrugged. "I was too lost in this ice cream to care, luv."
Moving past it, Si continued, "Thanks for agreeing to meet here. After all that happened at Hogwarts, I figured it only made sense to keep each other updated on the Hierarchy situation."
"Should we have invited the other Gladiators?" Alicia pondered. "They have just as much right to be here."
"Can't attract too much attention in one dimension," Maureen said. "Besides, they all know what's goin' on – who and what we're dealing with and how to deal with it. Some of them are doin' the same bit we are this very second."
"Excellent point," Si acknowledged. "How is everyone at Hogwarts, by the way?"
Maureen casually scooped up the last few bits of Skittles at the bottom of her cup. "Well, nineteen years have passed on since the Cthulhu squabble, and we've just welcomed the First-Years, including Harry and Ginny's kids – James, Albus, and Lily. They're gonna have one helluva time with Professor Snape."
"How's Dumbledore?" Si asked.
"He passed two years prior," Alicia answered. "Newt, Ben, and I were there for the funeral."
"Minerva McGonagall's the new headmaster," Maureen added, "although everyone heavily campaigned for yours truly to take the job."
Si and Alicia smiled. These were events that had already taken place from their perspective; and there Maureen was, catching them up. It was the topsy-turvy life of a Time Lord. Sometimes, it helped to be reminded of the past, so that the present could move on to the future.
Now it was Alicia's turn. Rightfully, Maureen (who had yet to live Alicia's life) asked, "What about our mates from 1929 Louisiana? How're they fairin' in their new surroundings?" She asked because Alicia was the one responsible for taking the Louisiana survivors to the existing reality where the Black Wall Street massacre never happened.
"They're living better lives in a new 1929 than they were in the old one," Alicia updated, nearly brought to tears. "If only every dimension could be like that one – no bigotry, no violence, no fear. Every one of every race just living peacefully, helping to build a better tomorrow."
Maureen herself choked up. "Gotta remember to bring lil' Samuel there sometime. He's havin' too much fun with Billy, especially when he's Shazam."
Good as it was to talk about so much happiness, the three Gladiators couldn't belay the real topic they were there for. "The Hierarchy," Si brought it up. "What do we know about them?"
"Other than they're a bunch of dirty arseholes?" Maureen said. "Nothin' much."
"We do know who their leader is: the Twilight Phantom," Alicia noted.
"Yeah, but that ain't much to go on, when we've never seen his bloody face!"
"Is it even a 'he'? It could be a 'she'. And what do they want from us?"
"Whoever they are, they'll regret messing with us," Si declared, a sentiment that Alicia and Maureen firmly agreed on.
"Welp," Maureen scarfed down the rest of her dessert. "Unless Harrington brings along more of this bloody astounding ice cream, I'm headin' off. I promised the boys I'd take them to Middle Earth. We're due to have second breakfast with Bilbo Baggins."
"Same here – not the Middle Earth thing, of course," Alicia said. "Newt, Ben, and I are looking into a situation with the Morphin Grid. It seems to be out of flux again."
"What about you, luv?" Maureen asked Si. "You and H.B. leavin' soon?"
Si shook her head. "There's still a lot of unfinished business to take care of here in Hawkins." She smirked once she brought herself to admit, "And this place's starting to grow on me." Shortly after Maureen and Alicia departed, Si looked over to the checkout counter and called, "Hey, Steve! Got any plans this Saturday night?"
Harrington had been dismally wiping down the counter when Si called for him. He glimpsed over to Robin, who could barely believe her ears. Did a beautiful girl really ask Steve Harrington out?!
Smiling, Steve took Robin's marker and drew one tally on the "Rule" column.
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Held on December 15th of 1984, the Snow Ball was a festive school dance held annually at Hawkins Middle School. Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce, and Hopper were chaperones. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will attended in formal attire and, in the case of Dustin, with a fresh new hairstyle – a disastrous attempt to style his hair like Steve's.
"Dude, I think I'm getting cancer from all that hairspray," Lucas griped. "How much of that stuff did you use?!"
"You know you don't have to stand next to me all night!" Dustin refuted.
The four boys stood awkwardly along the side of the dance floor. All the other boys there were dancing with most of the girls to the tune of Olivia Newton-John's "Magic." Mike never once took his eyes off the gym entrance or his wristwatch, checking the time every few seconds. Seeing him check it for the twentieth time in the last half hour, Will reassured him, "She'll be here. She promised you. And you know how she is about promises."
The "she" he referred to was Eleven. "I know," Mike snapped, the impatience obvious in his tone.
Again, his eyes searched the entrance, just as Steve and Si walked in.
Harrington was adorned in quite the spiffy tuxedo, his hair styled in the fashion Dustin meant for his to be. Si, who had her arms wrapped around Steve's right bicep, wore the same fancy black dress that she had in 1929, the one with the skirt that stopped mid-thigh.
"You gotta be shitting me!" Mike blurted.
Dustin, Will, and Lucas looked to him and noticed the same scene with Si and Steve. "Holy shit! When did they become a thing?!"
"Oh, c'mon," Lucas said, as if he already caught on. "Steve's had his sights set on Si, ever since he broke up with Nancy. Even Stevie Wonder saw that happening!"
Dustin didn't buy into his awareness. "Oh, and you did?"
"Of course," Lucas side-eyed, clearly lying.
The boys watched Si and Steve take to the dance floor. Dustin, Will, and Mike couldn't help but to feel a little jealous of Harrington, who had been striking out with girls left and right in the past year, yet still managed to get the most beautiful girl in Hawkins – an alien, no less – for a date to the Snow Ball.
It only got worse when one girl walked up to Will and said, "Hey. Do you wanna dance?" Will had no idea who she was, but he nonetheless accepted her invite to the dance floor.
Getting angry, Lucas began to storm off. "Where're you going?" Mike asked him.
"To call Max," Lucas stopped long enough to answer. "She said she was going to be here."
"Dude, give her some space," Dustin pleaded. "It's only been six months."
Lucas wasn't hearing it. He continued on his way to the nearest payphone, failing to notice another alluring guest who showed up to the dance. The jaws of Mike and Dustin dropped when they saw it to be Liberty Belle, a.k.a. Debbie Eagan. Of course, she didn't come in her wrestling attire but a more appropriate white puff sleeve dress.
Debbie didn't walk in alone. By her side was Eleven, who herself looked the prettiest Mike had ever seen her in a blue dress and a new hairstyle. Both ladies approached their dates for the evening: Mike and Dustin. Debbie drew a multitude of stares from all the boys on the dance floor, recognizing the GLOW wrestler, despite being out of costume.
Dustin was so shocked that he hardly heard Debbie ask him, "Wanna dance?"
Was he dreaming? His favorite wrestler in GLOW just walked into the Snow Ball and asked him – Dustin Henderson – to dance. No words came out, just a wheeze.
"I'll, uh, take that as a 'yes'." Debbie guided him to the dance floor, where they were practically the center of attention. Mike and Eleven joined them soon thereafter, neither having any dance skills, opting to figure it out as they went along.
From the payphone, Lucas saw all his friends now dancing with girls and a GLOW wrestler. He had zero success in reaching Max, which only fueled his decision to leave the Snow Ball altogether and go home. As he hung up the phone, Bryan Adams' "Heaven" played on the loudspeakers.
"Love this song," he heard a familiar voice say.
To his surprise, he saw Max. He wouldn't have recognized her, if he hadn't seen her face. She didn't look like the same skateboarding, arcade-playing tomboy that he was used to. While she wasn't in a formal dress like the other girls in attendance, she still looked amazing in her black sweater and red jeans, with her hair clipped and one strand braided – her mother's handiwork.
Glad as he was to see her, Lucas couldn't help but to feel neglected. "I've been calling you."
"Yeah, my phone's been ringin' off the hook all week," she scoffed. Her tone still had that usual sarcasm, only it was more melancholic. "I know this dance means a lot to you, Lucas, and it's the only reason I'm here."
"Is it really the only reason?" Lucas suspected there was more she wasn't telling.
Max struggled to confess. "And I want to forget...even if it's just this one night."
Lucas understood. "Just this one night."
Max gave him an appreciative smile. Together, they went to the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around him as they swayed to Bryan Adams, lost in the song...lost in the moment...lost in their first kiss.
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Amid the cold, dark, and foggy atmosphere that made up the mysterious alternate dimension known to some of its discoverers as "The Upside Down," there materialized a golden pillar...a TARDIS...or a fabrication of one. Operated by the silver-haired Ethos, he brought it to one specific area – the front of a two-story residential home, the condition of which was just as poor in the world parallel to this one.
Ethos disembarked with his predecessors: Pathos – a captivating, malicious brunette in a red corset and leather pants; and Logos – a haughty blonde. Out of the three of them, Pathos was the only one dressed in her own design. Ethos and Logos bore attire similar to their alternates: the eleventh and twelfth incarnations of Neas, the Gladiator of Gallifrey. This, however, was due to an infiltration mission that had been put on hold, due to the loss of Cthulhu.
Two common traits they shared were their red eyes and the sentient eye genetically fused on the palms of their right hands.
Accompanying them was a spoiled child named Xavier, who came from the same dimension as his worst enemy, Craig Williams. "It stinks here!" he griped on his way out of Ethos's TARDIS.
"Well, deal with it, Your Majesty," Logos mocked Xavier's "king" title that he carried in his world...at least from the "Other Side of the Creek."
It drove Ethos and Logos insane, although Pathos seemed to take a lot of joy in it.
"Tell us why we brought him here again?" Ethos asked.
"Because he's useful," Pathos spoke in Xavier's defense.
"More like useless," Logos jeered. This nearly incited a fight between them.
"ENOUGH!" Ethos roared, his red eyes flaring. "I'm leaving you three out here while I consult with Creel. I expect to come back to see you both alive and not maimed!"
"Why do we bother with these assholes, Ethos?" Logos protested. "They've been one failure after the next. Cthulhu, Voldemort, Thanos, Brainiac, half of the freakin' Hierarchy..."
"Is there a point to all this whining, Logos?!" Ethos retorted.
"My point is that we need an endgame – a real one! I'm sick and tired of losing!"
Pathos jumped in. "Much as I hate to admit it, she's right. I had my own taste of failure with Beetlejuice."
"Your first mistake was going to Beetlejuice, Pathos," Ethos ridiculed. "I assure you, my sisters. Our time of losing will end very soon. Let us not forget the invasion – that's still our ace in the hole. Now, let's not speak of this anymore. I have business to attend."
He headed inside the Creel house, making his way up to the attic.
There, he found Henry Creel, or the disfigured, skeletal creature that used to be Henry Creel, suspended by vines connected to his back. He was entered in a meditative state that he remained in, even at the moment Ethos arrived. "I've failed you," he said, his voice chilling enough to terrify any mortal being.
"No, my friend. It was Voldemort and Cthulhu who've failed me. Your work has only begun."
"You wish to end the girl...the one named Si."
"Yes. And she's no girl. She's a weapon bred from a maniac – no offense."
"None taken. She and her allies will die, just as you wish. I will not fail you."
"Good." Ethos was about to leave, before curiosity got the best of him and he told Creel, "You know what they call you, in other realities where you exist? Vecna – a character from a children's game."
Creel's eyes snapped open, focused on Ethos. "And what do they call you?"
Ethos laughed and answered, "The Twilight Phantom."