Beyond the Battle: Action & Consequence (Steddie, Stranger Things)

Chapter 15: Next Phase

It was coming up to five PM when Robin turned on the TV. They had all been sitting round talking for the last half an hour while Wayne took great delight in regaling them with stories of Eddie when he was younger. At times Steve couldn't help wondering if it was possible to spontaneously combust from embarrassment because Eddie seemed to be trying.

However, now it was time for the promised press conference. 

Given that Steve's dad was a gadget man, of course the TV had a remote, so he flicked through the channels until he found the local area station.

"And now," the presenter was in the middle of saying, "we go live to Hawkins for the latest update from Chief of Police Powell."

"Thank you, Gary," the female reported on the ground said. "Hawkins has been the scene of much tragedy over the past few weeks..."

Steve tuned out as the woman recapped everything that had been going on, in favour of looking at Eddie. The metalhead was sitting on the edge of the couch, all but falling off it as he stared at the TV. Wayne had one hand on Eddie's arm. It looked like the touch was tethering Eddie to the couch, stopping him from vibrating right off it.

Not that Steve couldn't completely understand. It wasn't his life on the line, but his stomach was in knots waiting to hear what Powell had to say. Hopper had been very sure, but, given how the whole situation had been handled so far, the rest of them were clearly in see-it-to-believe-it mode.

"Thank you everyone for coming." Steve focused back on the TV to see Powell standing on the podium in front of the crowd of reporters. "I've called this press conference today to update you all on aspects of the tragedies which had befallen our community of Hawkins, specifically the murders of Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, and Patrick McKinney. New information has come to light in this case, information which completely and positively exonerates Eddie Munson as a suspect."

The crowd erupted with noise and Powell held up his hands for quiet.

"At this time, due to the nature of the information and the ongoing investigation," he continued, controlling the crowd surprisingly well, "we cannot share the details, but there is no doubt Munson did not commit these heinous murders."

"Then who did, Chief Powell?" someone asked.

"We cannot divulge that information at this time," Powell replied.

"What about the satanic connections?" another voice shouted out.

"Thank you, Louise," Powell said, clearly catching the eye of the reporter who had spoken, "that is another thing I would like to clear up. There is no satanic connection." The Chief swung his gaze around everyone in the crowd before going on. "The kids play a game, it has dice and playing pieces. In this game they are heroes. They go on adventures like in fairy tales, they battle monsters, they work together to defeat evil. Does that sound satanic to you? It doesn't to me."

"But their club is called Hellfire," someone pointed out.

"They're teenagers," Powell replied, "they like to be dramatic. I may be older now, but I still remember being a teenager, my mother always called me dramatic as well."

"Well played, Powell," Eddie muttered as a few titters of laughter came from the crowd.

"It's not like fairy tales though," Dustin complained.

"Of course not," Eddie agreed.

"But people aren't afraid of fairy tales," Robin added.

"Is Eddie Munson alive?" the question had everyone looking back at the screen.