Raising Hel | a Stranger Things fanfiction

Chapter 12

Timeline check: sets during ST4 episode 5, on Tuesday 25th of March 1986

_

Hellen closes her car booth with a sigh. That's the second day she spends walking around Hawkins lab without getting anything, even though she went as far as the main door since the security checkpoint was open. She could have tried inside but the idea of being alone in an abandoned facility was too frightening. Maybe if Fergusson was here...

Starting the car, she contemplates stopping by his parent's, decides to just try and call him again when she comes back to the hotel. She's thinking of the perfect sentence to convince him to talk to her when she notices her compass. She hits the brakes and parks on the side of the road. She fumbles to open the map and flattens it on the wheel. Her pulse races. The compass is pointing north-east!

She throws the map on the passenger seat and starts the car to drive toward the direction her compass mistakes for north.

She misses it the first time she passes by and has to make a U-turn. It looks like a large crack in the concrete, right on the line in the middle of the road. The magnetometer sings the second she turns it on and she lets out a cry of excitement. She grabs her notepad to start writing down the readings, looking for familiar patterns. She's so overwhelmed her hands are shaking. She won't get anywhere like this!

She forces herself to come up with an experimental plan: Four points of measurements, 10 minutes of recording each time. Or maybe 20? Then she'll set up the heavier devices.

She's halfway through the second recording when she hears a car. She steps back to her car and crosses the data from her page with a note saying 'interrupted'. She'd rather start again if the traffic allows it.

The car slows down and comes to a stop next to her. Hellen freezes as two men and a woman in a light-gray suit get out and surround her. She can tell they noticed the magnetometer, but her brain is unable to come up with a cover story. All she can think about is the FBI wants to silence her. The woman greets her politely, flashing a card with the infamous three letters, but quickly gets to the point.

– I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to interrupt your recordings and seize all your data.

In a heartbeat, Hellen is deprived of her notes, her device, her ID and what was left of her ability to speak coherently.

*

Wayne takes the key card and thanks the receptionist. As he walks toward the stairs, he feels foolish. When that government lady asked if he had any preferences in picking a hotel to move in for a few days – as long as necessary, she said – it had felt like a good idea. Staying at the same hotel as that Hellen girl so they could talk about Eddie again. But now he's not sure she'll be thrilled to find him knocking on the door of her room...

He sits on the bed with a long sigh and lights a cigarette. There's still a fews hours to wait before his shift and he doesn't know what to do with himself. On a normal day, Eddie would be coming home from school and plugging his guitar. It wasn't really the type of music Wayne liked to listen to, but he'd grown fond of it. He was so proud of his nephew. Is. He is proud of him. Until proven otherwise, Eddie is still alive somewhere. Alive and innocent.

Restless, Wayne goes down to the tiny bar of the hotel and orders a beer. He glances around the almost empty room, the corner of his mouth twitches.

– Gimme another coke for the lady.

Just like every other time, Hellen is so lost in her thoughts she jumps when he greets her. He holds out the glass of coca cola.

– Rough day?

Since she seems more terrified than relieved to see him here, he quickly explains the relocating situation.

– I think we met the same person, she mumbles.

He takes it as an invitation and sits in front of her.

– What did they want with you, he asks. Did they say anything about Eddie?

She pinches her lips and shakes her head. She then looks around before leaning over the table and whispers:

– There are some strange things happening in Hawkins, and I don't think they want us to know.

She looks around again. Wayne frowns.

– It could be related to those murders...

*

Eddie peaks at the window as he hears a car. From the way Nancy hung up on in this morning when he asked for a food delivery, he wasn't expecting to see anyone. He wasn't wrong: this ain't Nancy coming out of the car... Carver and two of his teammates are walking toward Rick's house. He swears, ducks and fetches for the walkie-talkie.

He calls for Dustin and Wheeler several times, dares a new glance at the house – there's movement inside – and calls again. He lifts a hand to his head.

– Come on, man, pick up! Dustin!

Out of despair, he adds:

– Harrington?

*

Dustin shakes his head as he hears Steve trying to use his own Sherlock line on Nancy. For some reason, his friend's ability to impress women seems to vanish in the presence of Nance! Once they're done dealing with Vecna, he's going to have to do something about it. But for now, there are still rooms to explore in that creepy house...

*

It's the genuine look of interest on Wayne's face that pushes Hellen to open up. She explains everything from the first time she heard about some odd physical manifestations from a former classmate to her own investigations this week.

– I found something on a road and I think it's where that second kid died. If it's the same disturbance that on the ceiling of your trailer, it could mean it's linked to those murders. I mean...

She pauses, looks around yet another time.

– Those FBI agents wouldn't try so hard to keep us away from it if it wasn't, right? They only allowed me to keep my equipment once they were sure they had gathered all my data and cleared the logs.

– That crack on my ceiling, it ain't no leak, is it?

– No. I don't know what it is though, just that it's something powerful enough to generate its own magnetic field.

– Is it... dangerous?

– The magnetic field? No. But there could be radiation.

– Radiation?

– Yes. They're not necessarily harmful for human beings but it might be a good thing they moved you.

Wayne rubs his hand on his face and takes a long sip of his beer. Hellen hesitates before pulling a card out of her pocket.

– They're something else... That woman told me to give her a call if I was looking for job opportunities. She made it clear I wasn't going to get any information about Hawkins now but... I don't know... What if it can help Eddie?

– You think they know where he is?

– I mean... if he witnessed what happened, they could be keeping him for interrogation.

– And not tell the police?

– Well, if they don't want anybody to know about the real deal, satanic murders–

– Are the perfect cover story.

He lights a cigarette, she finishes her coke. They remain silent until Wayne notices the time and gets off to work. Hellen call after him for one last question:

– Do you know where Eddie usually plays on Tuesday nights?