Wrapped Around Your Finger - Eddie Munson

Chapter Twenty One: The Meetup

"You failed me. You did not kill them." Henry growled.

"You commanded me to stop them. I stopped them. You need to be more specific with your words."

"Then I shall. The next time they enter my domain, you will kill them. I will not allow the insolence to continue." He commanded.

It was nighttime. I spent most of the day after returning to Henry training as punishment, being forced to push myself well beyond my limits. I was exhausted and in pain. Limping on swollen feet, I collapsed onto Eddie's Upside Down bed.

"Hannah... Are you ok?" Chrissy worried.

"I'm not ready, Chrissy. I could have killed them if Eddie wasn't there." I sniffed.

"But you didn't. You held it together and got away from them." Chrissy argued. "If you need more time, that's ok."

"It's not ok, Chrissy! As soon as Henry's in my head, I can't remember anything! I can't be sure if I'll ever break free of it as long as..." I was ranting until I felt the lightbulb go off in my head.

"As long as what?" Chrissy questioned.

"As long as Henry's alive..." I whispered.

I immediately began formulating my plan. I would trick Henry into letting me go into the real world to "spy" for him. I wrote out a note explaining how I had to kill Henry in order to free myself and that I'll need there help. I'll need backup and I'll definitely need a distraction. If the gang can draw the attention of the bats and other monsters, I could face Henry head on. It was a dangerous idea, but I had no others.

"If you want those idiots to stay out of here, then why not get the upper hand?" I argued to Henry.

"It would be a waste if you died."

"You wasted enough bats and monsters to train me, waste any more and you'll deplete your whole army. Put me to the test." I challenged. He thought for a moment before speaking again.

"Fine, I will give you this chance to prove yourself, but be warned. If you disappoint or disobey me again, I will not hesitate to replace you and you won't like my next target. Your previous Eddie." He snarled. The threats meant nothing to me, they only fueled my anger more.

I climbed my way out of the Upside Down, ripping through the barrier to Eddie's trailer. I crashed to the ground unceremoniously, letting out a loud groan. I'd dropped Chrissy during the fall, knocking her under the couch. I heard objects rattling as someone came running out to the living room.

"Hannah..." Eddie gasped, staring at me splayed out in his floor. I waved and smiled, pulling myself up off the floor. I swiped Chrissy out from under the couch, clipping her to my belt.

"What? How- How the hell did you get here?" He was staring in shock, half laughing and half frozen in place.

I opened my mouth to speak before catching myself. I held up my hand to signal him to wait while I dug around in my pockets. I pulled out the crinkled paper and handed it to him. He read it over quickly before nodding and rushing to the phone on the wall.

"Harrington, yeah. Look, I need everyone over here right now. It's an emergency!" He spoke rapidly into the phone. He turned to me, still wide eyed with shock. I looked at him sadly, wishing I could speak to him without alerting Henry.

"Hey, whats the- holy shit!" Robin exclaimed upon seeing me.

"Hannah?" Mike asked, looking around confused.

"We thought you died." Lucas whispered. A handful of faces I didn't recognize walked in.

"Oh, Hannah, these are some of the friends we told you about." Steve explained. "Jonathan, Hopper, Joyce, Murray, Will and El."

"And Argyle." Argyle interjected.

"Yeah, and Argyle." Steve sighed, "El is our friend with the superpowers and Will is our friend who got stuck in the Upside Down first."

"Ok. So, Hannah can't speak. Well she can speak, but if she does it'll alert Vecna. She's not dead, technically she's undead. Those bats in the Upside Down killed her..." He had to paused to collect himself, "But Vecna resurrected her. Now he's trying to use her as some sort of general for his armies, but he's not as strong as he thinks. His influence isn't control, it's manipulation. He manipulates you into following his commands by messing with your memories, but it can be beat."

"Kind of like with the music?" Lucas asked.

"Exactly like with the music. Music and memories, focusing on those helps break you free from his manipulation. That's why Hannah was able to get here and why she needs our help. She can't take Vecna head on without help, she needs backup and a distraction." Eddie finished explaining.

"Ok, so kind of like a repeat of last time? Only this time, we have a vampire and a girl with superpowers." Dustin asked.

"Wait, so I was right about the Vampires? I told you I was right about Vampires, Jim." Murray said.

"We could reuse our old plan." Nancy added, ignoring Murray.

"I could help you break Vecna's curse, but it will be hard." El said, her calm voice nearly shocking me. 

"Can you really?" Eddie pleaded.

"Maybe. I'll need to be able to get in her head." She explained.

"What if we made another isolation tank?" Mike suggested, "You could do the same thing to Hannah that you did to Billy."

"Billy was Max's brother." Steve explained to me.

"That would work." El answered, looking at me. I smiled at her, nodding up and down anxiously.

"So what do we need to build this... isolation tank?" Eddie asked, looking to Dustin.

"Oh, man it's so easy. We just need a big tub of ice water and some salt. Then you slap some funky looking glasses on the kid and she's good." Argyle explained, which everyone seemed confused by.

"Are we absolutely sure this isn't going to be dangerous?" Hopper questioned.

"Dad, I'll be fine." El argued.

"Hop, she's not a baby." Joyce insisted.

I stayed with Eddie, Steve, Robin, and the younger teens while the rest went out to get supplies. Mike was talking to El, making sure she'd put her safety first. Robin and Steve talked about heading back to the army supply store for more weapons. I sat anxiously on the couch, listening to everyone speak.

Eddie tried to reach out and touch me, but I flinched away. He looked hurt as he stared at me, but I shook my head and pointed up at the gate in the ceiling. It's not the I didn't want to touch him, but I was part of the hive mind now. I could only do so much to keep Henry out of my mind. I wasn't going to risk it.