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THE CRYING came to a stop eventually, when Steve grew embarrassed or just flat-out exhausted and sagged against her, face buried into her shoulder as Jackie soothed him quietly. Hand caught in his hair, rubbing sympathetic circles into his scalp as he stained her sweater with tears. Until finally, Steve lifted his head and stared forward at the wall, not looking at her, he broke the silence.
"Was I too harsh?"
"Maybe," Jackie murmured, lifting her sleeve to wipe a stray tear on his cheek. "Or maybe you both needed a reality check."
Steve sniffled. "Okay. Yeah. I like that answer."
"Yeah?"
"Yep."
She peered at him. "Steve," Jackie whispered. He didn't look up, but she could see the tension in his body leave at the softness of her voice. "It's okay."
He nodded once, then again as if to himself. He squeezed her thigh, rose to his feet, then offered her his hand.
Jackie didn't get the chance to take it, Dustin burst through the doors, screaming for Jonathan and Nancy on his broken radio, and suddenly the room lurched. With a yelp, Jackie slammed into the wall along with the others, tossed like a ragdoll and barely managing to catch herself.
Steve yanked her up by the waist, lugging her over to where Dustin was clutching his head and groaning. "What the hell was that?!" he demanded. "Dustin, Dustin- was that the shield generator?! Did they find it?!"
"I was wrong," Dustin said, lowly.
Jackie cocked her head to the side. "I'm sorry. What did you just say?"
He turned to look at them, eyes wide. "I was terribly, catastrophically wrong."
"What?"
"After you left, and Jackie followed, I found a journal. Brenner's journal. The key to destroying that wall is in this lab, but it is not a shield generator. It isn't dark magic. Vecna didn't make it. Science did."
"Wh-what?" Jackie frowned, shaking her head. "Science made the same wall of flesh, the same flesh that Vecna is covered in? How do you figure?"
"Theoretical physicists call it exotic matter. A single source of energy that is holding that ball together, and I think Nancy just shot it."
"How is any of that bad? That's why we're here, to get through this wall."
"You are not listening!"
"We are," Jackie assured him. "But cmon, Dustin, you gotta give us a little more than just a ball and exotic matter. I mean.. what exactly are you talking about?"
