Take Me Home Again (Eddie Munson X OC)

Chapter 16 - Atlantis

Character death warning****

Darkness graced the land around the young heroes hidden away in the stolen camper, hidden behind the trees near the trailer park. The only sound ringing out currently were the calls of night birds in the distant, being interrupted by the oldest Wheeler girl cutting through what little serenity the group had left. "Okay. I wanna run through it one more time. Phase one." "We meet Erica at the playground." Robin was sitting on the edge of the bench, looking up at their unofficial elected leader. "She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready." 

"Phase two." "Max baits Vecna. He'll go after her, which will put him in his trance." Steve's gruff voice rang out. 

"Phase three?" "Me, Eddie, and Phoenix draw the bats away." Phoenix couldn't help but notice the boy's soft tone, he was scared. It was easy to lose the fact that most of the people dealing with this were kids or had just grown into adulthood. These kids had seen and been through so much, Phoenix often wondered how they coped, if they did. Eddie moved to ruffle Dustin's hair, covered by his hood, shaking his head around instead. 

"Four." "We head into Vecna's hopefully, newly bat-free lair and... flambe." Robin held up one of their molotov cocktails, shaking it around slightly causing the alcohol inside to slosh against the side. "Nobody moves on to the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?" An echo from the other five relieved Nancy little, but they had all resolved to live with the turmoil of feelings until this thing was dead and they didn't have to worry about him anymore. 

Everyone grabbed their weapons and moved off of the camper, out into the dark night. They quickly snuck to Eddie's trailer, picking up the pace as they left the thick tree line. Once inside, Steve flicked the lights on and dropped his bag to the floor. "Be careful." Dustin anxiously told him. "Thanks buddy." Steve pat his shoulder before climbing the rope, muttering, "Here goes nothing," to himself. The rest watched him flip over into the upside down, landing on his feet. Had the fear not held Phoenix in a chokehold, they would've given him a perfect ten. Robin muttered to Nancy, "Woah, what does he want us to do, applaud?" 

He dragged the mattress from the flipped version of Eddie's room, laying it under the gate like Dustin had done previously. "Alright, let's go." Steve called up to the rest, holding the rope still. Nancy shed her bags and nodded a thank you to Robin as she kneeled down to give her a boost, pulling herself through the gate and landing roughly on the mattress. Their bags were dropped next before Eddie, their shields, Robin, her bag, the spears, Dustin, and Phoenix landed on the browned sheets. They geared back up and made their way out of the door. 

Steve stopped, turning back to face the three. "Hey, guys, listen. If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort. Okay? Draw the attention of the bats. Keep 'em busy for a minute or two. We'll take care of Vecna. Don't try to be cute or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys are just-" "Decoys," Steve and Dustin finished in tandem. "Don't worry. You can be the hero, Steve." "Absolutely, I mean, look at us. We are not heroes. Maybe Phoenix, but not us." He winked over at the aforementioned figure beside him. Steve had begun to turn back around when Eddie stepped forward, calling out to him and drawing his attention back. "Make him pay." The two nodded at each other before the three started off in the direction of the Creel house.

 In the meantime, Phoenix and the boys had begun to drill scrap metal to the sides of his trailer, securing the walls, windows, and front porch to ensure that no bats could penetrate it. Their idea was to lure them away and then hide out until the others came. The three stepped back to admire their work. "Not bad." Munson mumbled. "Not bad at all." Dustin agreed. They all smiled at each other before Eddie chuckled, "Now for the fun part." They got back inside, moving into Eddie's room. "Jesus Chr.." His voice trailed into a small whimper, Dustin chuckling beside him. All three had their eyes fixated on the guitar hanging in its usual spot. "It's like... she was destined for an alternate dimension. What do you say, Henderson's?" He picked up the guitar gingerly. "Are you ready for the most metal concert in the history of the world?" He turned back to face the two.