Escape ~ S.Harrington

73} The Showdown

"Okay, the lovebirds have copied," Erica's voice echoed, "Max is moving into phase two: distracting Vecna."
"So far, so smooth," Robin let out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, we're not even at the hard part yet," Steve chuckled in disbelief.
Nancy stared at the Creel house, waiting for a sign, "Take the bait, you son of a bitch. Take the bait."

"We really need to get in there," Jenna started pacing, "I don't want Max to die because she didn't have help."
"We'll be there soon, I promise," Steve pulled her into a side hug.
"Why not just do it out here?" Alice asked.
"I need to be right next to Vecna for this to work best. Trust me."
"Okay, she's in," Erica told them, relieving Jenna of her stress, "Initiate phase three."
"She's in, move on to phase three," Jenna told Dustin through the walkie.
"Copy that. Initiating phase three," Dustin replied.
"Be careful," Jenna whispered, "and tell me how the concert is."
"Will do, sis. See you on the other side."

A minute after they both hung up, the sound of Eddie playing his guitar could be heard echoing throughout the entire Upside Down and definitely caught the attention of the bats who were now flying towards the sound and away from the Creel House.
"Master of Puppets," Jenna shook her head, "of course it's Metallica."
"How the hell would you know that?" Robin asked, "You were down here when the song came out."
"I wasn't just checking in on you guys, I was checking in on him, too."

"Since it's working, let's go," Nancy commanded.
The five swiftly marched into the Creel House with Jenna leading the way, as always. As they opened the door, they were met with hundreds of vines wriggling across the floor and much more densely compacted than in the forest.
"That's not good," Steve sighed.
"Just step carefully," Jenna warned.
She then started to hop into the empty spaces between them. She'd done it a couple times before and had thus gotten the hang of it. Steve followed, then Alice, then Robin, and Nancy in the back. Jenna made her way to and up the stairs.
"I'm going it," Jenna whispered to Steve, who then passed it down the line like telephone.
She was met with a sea of nods.
Now or never.

Jenna carefully hopped the rest of the way through the house to Vecna's lair. And there he stood, floating in the air thanks to his vines. Jenna slowly approached him and grabbed his shoulder.
Knock, knock.

Jenna's mind immediately flooded into his dream world with Max. Little did she know, the same moment she did that, Robin stepped on a vine when the house started to shake, from Jenna entering his mind, triggering Vecna to capture all of them with his vines and pin them either against the wall or the floor. Also, as soon as she entered his world, so did another little science experiment. Jenna was immediately taken to a place all too familiar; The Hawkins Middle Snow Ball.
"Jenna!" Max yelled and ran to her.
"Hey," Jenna embraced her in a hug, "I'm here now. I'm here. I love what you've done with the place, by the way. The chair stack at the door adds to the ambiance."

As Max and Jenna let go of their hug and tried to look back at the stack, it was gone and replaced with the front door of the Creel House.
"You can't hide from me, Max," Vecna announced, slowly creeping open the door.
Max closed her eyes, trying to think of a happy memory while Jenna stood defensively in front of her.
"You think I don't see what you're doing? You think I don't see everything? You thought you could trick me?"
"Leave her alone, Henry," Jenna pleaded, but he continued to taunt Max.

"You thought your friends could stop me? I see them. I see your friends. Just as clearly as I see you. I can feel them. I can feel them dying. It's time, Max."
"Leave her alone!" Jenna screamed, "Take me. Not her."
"Oh, but Jenna," He started talking to her, "What if I want you both?"
Jenna turned around and was met with his face right next to her own. He pushed Max against the back wall and pulled Jenna up in the air. Vecna slowly approached Max while carrying Jenna in the air next to him.
"You are brave, Maxine. Much braver than your brother. But in the end... you are weak and fragile... just like him. Like all the rest of them. And you will break. Jenna," He turned his head to her, "You always try to be the hero when we both know you were made to be a villain, just like me. Now, you will watch your friend be a part of something bigger than you could ever imagine. I will break you both."