𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 ✯ steve harrington¹

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 : mystery road trip

WORD COUNT : 3.2k

Owen was still confused about their mystery destination when Hopper came to a halt a street over from the Wheelers' house. He had pulled into a random driveway before plucking a pair of binoculars from the floor of the car. Everyone quickly flung open their doors and hauled themselves out of the car, hoping to understand why they were here of all places. Silently, Hopper had pointed through the trees and various backyards towards the Wheelers' house. The group didn't even need Hopper's binoculars to see all of the unusual foot traffic on and around Nancy's cul-de-sac.

"What the hell are they doing," Owen breathed, sliding out of the car and coming to stand behind Nancy. The Wheelers lived in a quiet, settled neighborhood that was probably only this busy at Halloween. But Halloween had come and gone, and the people filing in and out of the Wheelers' house were certainly not trick-or-treaters. Instead, men and women in suits were transporting boxes of the family's things out to a bunch of nondescript, important-looking black cars. It all looked very serious and very odd.

As Owen continued to study the scene, her eyes were soon drawn to Gordon's car parked amongst all of the craziness. She let out a sigh of relief that she didn't know she was holding, so thankful nobody had gotten it towed.

"I have to go home," Nancy decided, her eyes wide and fixed on the scene in front of her.

"I have to go get my brother's car," Owen said with a sigh of irritation. She was really starting to regret not driving herself to the military surplus store.

"No, you can't," Hopper muttered, hands still holding the binoculars firmly in place.

"My brother will kill me if something happens to his car," Owen argued, brows furrowing in a stubborn frown.

"My mom... my dad are there," Nancy spluttered, not believing what she was hearing. Her house was getting invaded by these people who looked like they worked for the CIA, but Owen was worried about her brother's car, of all things. To make matters worse, Chief Hopper wasn't even letting her go and see her family. To Nancy, it all just seemed horribly unreasonable.

"They'll be okay," Hopper attempted to reassure the brunette. Clearly, his words didn't help much, as Nancy circled around her car door and began to march directly towards her house. She didn't make it very far before Hopper quickly snagged her by the upper arm.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey..." The older man muttered, trying to pull her back towards the group. Nancy fruitlessly struggled against him, wiggling her arm to loosen his grip.

"Let go!" Nancy snapped, scowling at him.

"Hey! Listen to me. Listen to me," Hopper ordered, lowering himself to meet her eyes. "The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in all this. Both of you," he said with determination, making sure to look back and make pointed eye contact with Owen too.

"Mike is over there-" Nancy started, her voice still delirious and panicky.

"They haven't found him. Not yet, at least," Hopper informed her, slowly turning and pointing towards the sky. Owen almost couldn't believe her eyes. The entire group peered up to see a dark green helicopter in the distance, whirring over the nearby woods.

"For Mike," Nancy gasped, distracted just long enough for Hopper to begin to drag her back towards the vehicle.

"They've got helicopters out looking for your little brother," Owen gawked, gaze still fixed on the aircraft zipping through the air. They had to be in some pretty deep shit for a helicopter to have been brought out like that.

"Come on, get in the car," Hopper muttered, hand reaching out to tuck Owen's head back into the safety of Jonathan's car, not letting her forget that he was still a cop. Nancy swiftly slid into the back seat next to her before the chief was slamming the door behind her. Once Hopper was back in his own seat, he and Joyce spun around to stare expectantly at the teenagers.