'Nothing scares me anymore.'
In which Hopper's daughter returns for the summer, but everything goes wrong.
Max Mayfield x fem!oc
season 3 - season 4
completed until season 5
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I wish we had a longer loop." Lucas said as Max rewinded the loop. "Forty-six minutes isn't bad." Lexi chuckled. "I think there are bigger concerns. Like... What if, by listening to this over and over, I get sick of it, and suddenly it's not my favorite anymore? Will it still work? Or will Kate Bush, like, lose her magic power or something?"
"Kate Bush? Never." Lexi scoffed. "You're a Kate Bush fan?" Max raised her brows. "Yeah, we both are." Lexi nodded and poked Lucas so he would start nodding two. "Yeah, mega-fans. She... She saved your life." Max chuckled at them. "Besides, we're hot on this creep's trail. We're gonna find Vecna and kill him before he even thinks about messing with you again. All right?"
"In fact, I bet if we hit these suckers in the right combo, we might just open a door to his secret lair. Voilà." Lexi cringed at the false tone. "You're such a dork." Lexi laughed at him. "I thought you were, like, one of the cool kids now."
"I'm not cool?" He pretended to be offended. "I've really missed that." He admitted. "Missed what?" Lexi smiled. "You two." The loop rewinded and Max looked down at it. "All done. Work your magic, Kate."
They walked a little more, until Max stopped. "I promise I'm gonna stop asking this, but...you're seeing that, right?" They both nodded. "Yeah." Lexi watched the flicking lights for a while, until she ran to find Nancy.
"It's like the Christmas lights." Nancy said as soon as Lexi found her. "The Christmas lights?" The blonde furrowed her brows. "Yeah, when Will was in the Upside Down, the lights... came to life." She explained. "Vecna's here. In this house. Just on the other side."
"I think he just left the room." Lucas said. "Did he hear us?" Dustin asked. "Can he see us?" Steve asked. "Headphones." Lexi pointed at Max. "Wait, wait. Everyone, turn off your flashlights and spread out."
"We're not gonna be able to see if we turn off our flash... lights. Jesus Christ." Steve complained. Lexi took Max's hand in her own and walked away.
They kept walking, until Robin's voice took their attention. "I got him! Got him! I got him. I... I had him." Her flashlight stopped shining. "Oh, whoa. Oh, I think he's moving. He's moving. He's moving. Shit. I lost him."
"No, you didn't." Max chuckled and led them to the attic. "It's an attic. Of course it's an attic." They kept walking up the stairs. "Hold up, guys. What if he's leading us into a trap? Guys, guys. Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit."
They circled around a shining light. Their flashligts were shining. "Flashlights." They turned them off and they started shinign even more. "Okay, what's happening?" One by one, their flashlights started to bust.
"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car? 'Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck." Robin complained. "It'll be fine." Nancy tried to calm the girl down. "I can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't."
"At least he can drink himself into feeling better." Steve showed the six pack of beer. "That's what my mom does." Max muttered. "Why don't we give it a trial? Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah, and we found Vecna. Bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. He's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed."
"Wait. Maybe we don't put it like that. We're one step closer to finding Vecna. That's what we say. That's what's important." Nancy said. "See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Robin hummed in response. "Oh shit." Nancy said as she stopped the car.
"Nothing to see. Just step back a little. All right? As many of you know, the Roane County line received a call a little after midnight reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney. His limbs, his body, it was disfigured... There was an eyewitness on the scene... We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."
"Oh shit." Lexi cussed. "This is not good. Really not good." Steve shook his head. "You've got a lot of questions, and I'm going to answer as many as I can. Two o'clock at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now, I've got work to do, and I appreciate your understanding."
The reporters kept shouting questions and Lexi rubbed her temples, trying to come up with some solution. "Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler?" Eddie's voice broke the silence between the group. "Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?"
"Nah, man. Pretty... Pretty goddamn far from okay." He whispered. "Where is he?" Robin asked. "Where are you?" Dustin repeated her question. "Skull Rock. Do you know it?" He answered. "Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and..."
"Garrett, yeah. I know where that is." Steve added. "Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming."
"Okay, so apparently we're going this way now? I swear to God, if they get us lost..." Max said after Steve and Dustin made another turn. "Hey. You okay?" Lexi asked Lucas. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just... Thinking about Patrick. You know? I mean, it's... it's like, why him? But then, I remember this one day, he... he came to practice with a black eye. He said he fell, but clearly he was lying. It's like everyone Vecna targets has something in their life. Something that's..."
"Hurting them." Lexi realized. "Haunting them." Max added. "Yeah. I... I didn't really know Patrick, so it was easy to just look the other way, I guess. But I did know you. And I'm sorry we wasn't there." He apologized. "It's not your fault. I disappeared. But Lexi always found me."
"No, no, you didn't. I just didn't look hard enough like Lexi did. Okay? But I see you now. I see you."
They kept walking and talking, until they finally made it to Skull Rock. "I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a...Total butthead." Dustin sighed. "Jesus, we thought you were a goner." He hugged him. "Yeah, me too, man. Me too."
