Again, they were trudging through the woods. It was a lot more unsettling in the dark, and the bickering going on between Dustin and Lucas wasn't helping the mood.
"Hey!" Toni snapped, and the two stopped to look at her. "Shut up! Both of you! Who cares who broke what rule?! Those things would still be out there and we'd still be in danger no matter who did, or didn't do what?! So both of you better pipe down or I'm gonna administer some beatings! Do you understand?!"
"Sorry."
"Good." She breathed. "Now walk."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Hey, look." Steve said, looking off into the distance. From where they were, they got a good view of Hawkins Lab. It looked like it was having a meltdown. "You think that's where they're headed?"
"Maybe."
-----
Upon approaching the gate, they came across two figures.
"Nancy?" Toni spoke.
"Toni?" Nancy returned.
"Johnathan- what is going on?"
"We think Will's in there." Johnathan explained. "But we can't get the gate to-" Just as he said this, the gate slid open. "Nevermind."
"Go quick." Toni urged. "Go get them out." Nancy and Johnathan jumped into the car and drove in through the gate and towards the lab. "God, this is bad. This is so bad."
"Relax." Steve soothed, taking her hand. "We're gonna figure something out, we always do."
"What if we can't this time?" A few minutes after Nancy and Johnathan had left, they were driving past them once again, but this time away from the lab. Officer Hopper pulled up after them, throwing open the passenger door.
"Get in."
-----
Back at the Byers house, Antionette couldn't help but pace. She was growing more and more frustrated. With basic information simply going missing from her mind and no explanation as to why or how she was able to stop it, she simply couldn't be still. Hopper was calling around, but concluded they could only really sit and wait. Will was unconscious, laid down in his bedroom, sweating more than a young boy could. She walked into the kitchen, and found all eyes were suddenly on her.
"You okay, Toni?" Joyce asked her.
"Dustin." She spoke, her eyes searching the room. "Dustin... you." She then said, looking to her brother.
"You okay, Ant?" He said.
"Yeah, I just.. wanted to remember before I forgot again." She told him.
"What the hell is going on?" Nancy spoke, being amongst the confused people in the room.
"I keep forgetting stuff." She shrugged. "Like... really basic stuff."
"The vines." Mike then said. "They set them on fire."
"Yeah, and?" Hopper shrugged.
"Toni's linked to the upside down, it... she is the upside down, it makes sense that burning those vines would make a problem. Maybe burning them made her loose some of her memory."
"No, I-" She began. "It's still in there, just... out of order, y'know, like putting a completed jigsaw into a box and shaking it up... and I know you're frustrated with me, and I know it's kinda upsetting for some of you, but I'm trying my hardest, I swear to god."
"Nobody is blaming you, sweetheart." Joyce smiled. "We'll figure it out." She nodded, looking to the floor. As she did, she noticed a dice wedged between the floorboards, and reached down for it, holding it between her fingers as she examined it. She then gasped, taking off out of the room momentarily, before reappearing with Will's rule book in her arms, quickly flicking through the pages. "What are you doing?"
"I need a professionals opinion on this... boys, tell me what you think about this theory." She placed the book down on the table, and the boys gathered around.
"Literal genius." Dustin spoke. "This is such a great analogy, why didn't I think of this?"
"What?"
"The mind flayer."
"It's a being from another dimension that enslaves species with its psychic powers because of its own perceived superiority. So, theoretically Will is like the spy so it knows where we are and where to attack us."
"Can we get that in English?" Hopper sighed. "This is just game stuff."
"You have a better idea?" She sassed, and he gave her a look.
"Watch the attitude when talking to an officer of the law, Henderson."
"An officer of the law? Really? Yeah, why don't you go, and arrest the shadow monster- oh, that's right... you can't! Because it'll kill you, and probably Will, before you get close! So how about, you keep your greivences against me to yourself because we don't need it right now, officer."
"I swear to god, Kid-"
"What are you gonna do? You gonna arrest me too? Do it then."
"Okay, let's not." Joyce fumed. "Just relax, both of you." She then looked to back to Antionette. "What's going on with you? You're never like this."
"I'm scared! I'm so fucking scared! And you better tell him to get out of my face because, officer or not, I'm about to swing for him."
"Come on, let's go for a sit down, hmm." Joyce smiled, taking her hand.
"Make sure you lose the attitude before you come back out here!" Hopper called.
"Why don't you lose weight before I come back out here!" She snapped back.
"Is she always like this?" Hopper groaned, looking to Dustin.
"Yeah." The whole cohort agreed.
-----
After a few minutes of silence, mostly spent trying to listen to the conversation going on next door, Joyce and Antionette reappeared, looking a lot calmer.
"Everything okay?" Hopper asked, looking between the two.
"Toni has something to say to you." Joyce prompted, nudging her with her elbow.
"I... am sorry." She muttered. "I'm stressed, and shouldn't be talking to people like that so... I apologise for my behaviour."
"And?"
"And my really bad attitude."
"And?"
"And!... my blatant lack of respect for... for..."
"Authority."
"Yes, authority." She nodded, lacing her fingers together. "But I still think you need to take into account that this is the best theory we have, and you laughing at it isn't helping anything-"
"Toni."
"Sorry." She breathed.
"Alright, let's just say, for arguments sake, that Will is a spy..." Hopper began. "How do we stop the... mind flayer finding us?"
"Can't spy if he doesn't know where he is." She smiled.
"What about you?" Johnathan then said. "If you're linked to the upside down, shouldn't we assume you're a spy too?"
"He can't control me." She sighed. "And he can't kill me either. That's why he attacked me, why he's making me forget. He's tormenting me because he knows he can't hurt me."
-----
After blacking out the windows and covering the walls to the shed out back, an unconscious Will was moved in there. He woke up angry, and disoriented, yelling to be let go. And all while this was going on, Hopper managed to pick up on him tapping his finger against the underside of the chair, almost in a rhythm. Or morse code, even. Eventually, they managed to make out words.
"Close gate." Mike mumbled, looking over the words. "What gate?"
"The gate." Toni prompted, only to receive funny looks. "Oh my g- the gate! The gate into the upside down!"
"We can't close the gate, only El could."
"We've gotta try something." Nancy spoke.
"If we close the gate while that thing is inside Will, it might take him with it. It might kill him."
"Maybe you could coax it out." Johnathan spoke hopefully, and Toni shrugged.
"I don't know that it would work, and I could just make it more violent. Its clear it doesn't like me very much."
"There has to be something you can do, Toni!" He snapped. "It's your fault were in this mess anyway-"
"How is it my fault?!"
"You're the one linked to that place, that thing that has my brother!"
"You say that as if I asked for this!"
"Oh, please, of course, it had to be you. Antionette Henderson, always the problem!"
"It's not her fault, Johnathan." Nancy spoke in her defence.
"Funny you should jump to her rescue, when you're the one that hates her guts, even though we both know she did nothing to you!"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Toni scoffed.
"Shut up, Henderson, this doesn't concern you!" He snapped, shoving a finger in her face.
"Alright, that's enough, Byers." Steve stepped in. "Don't talk to the girls like that."
"Look, I get that you're frustrated, but antagonising this thing isn't gonna help us get Will out of the other end if this alive." Toni spoke. He made to answer, when the phone started to ring. She picked it up, quickly sending it to voicemail, hoping Will hadn't heard it. It then started ringing again, and this time she tore the wire out of the wall.
"You don't think he heard that, do you?" Nancy wondered, as the four exchanged glances. A silence settled for a moment, followed by bang against the window. "What was that?"
"Demodogs." Toni grimaced. "They found us."
"Any of you kids know how to use one of these?" Hopper asked, entering the room, a shotgun in either hand.
"Pff, of course I do." She said, taking it from him, and pointing it towards the windows in anticipation of them breaking. However, a whimper sounded, and then it dropped quiet once more.
"What did you do?" Hopper said accusingly.
"I didn't do anything." The door then swung open, and in walked- "El?"