"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter One-Hundred-And-Fifty-Nine: The Last Moments Before The Fight
(Papa, Pt. 5)
***
The sound of nails being hammered into garbage can lids rang through the empty quiet. It was accompanied by the sound of sawing, as Rowan watched Nancy saw off most of the barrel of the shotgun with a hacksaw that had been in the RV—to ensure that when she delivered that blow to Vecna, there would be no fucking way she missed.
"Is this legal?" Max questioned as she and Cami sat next to Nancy, watching her.
"Actually, I think it's a felony," Nancy said over the sawing.
"Right," Max said, smirking.
"I bet Aco's probably feeling a sense of pride right now," Cami remarked dryly.
"But, it guarantees one thing," Nancy went on gravely. "I won't miss."
She stopped sawing and, using the butt of the saw, slammed the end off—making the shotgun barrel shorter, but still impressive. And definitely ensuring for certain that Nancy, who was already a damn good shot, would not miss.
Rowan looked away as she finished tying one of the bandanas around the belt and her sword's sheath, securing it. After that was done, Rowan stood from her position next to Nancy, Cami and Max, taking off her battle jacket and slinging on her makeshift sword carrier and walked over to where Eddie, Alistair and Dustin were hammering in nails into the garbage can lids for makeshift shields with the nails adding an extra deadliness against the bats—they were the group meant purely for distraction. Hugin was holding nails in his beak for Alistair, her brother giving a grateful smile every time he took one to hammer into his garbage lid shield.
By the time she arrived, Eddie had finished, swinging it into the air as Dustin asked, "How's she feeling?"
"Light. But durable," Eddie answered, giving it another experimental swing. "Deadly. But reliable."
"That's good to hear," Alistair said, hammering in one last nail before stopping as Rowan stood on the sidelines, arms crossed and a fond smirk on her face as Eddie stood on the crate he'd used to hammer in the nails as he declared as dramatically as possible, "Hear me now. There will be no more retreating... from Eddie the Banished."
"Hey, you're really ready for bat-tle," Dustin joked.
As one Eddie, Alistair, Rowan and Hugin looked at Dustin as he grinned and chuckled, before elaborating, "You get it? 'Bat-tle'. B-A-T."
At seeing the looks on their faces, Dustin's smile fell as he said, "No? I thought I had a good one."
Alistair gave a "so-so" gesture while Hugin ruffled his wings, somehow having his human's deadpan expression, and Rowan just gave him a look and said, "Yeah, not one of your best, menace. Better luck next time."
