Nyctophilia 🌪 Reddie

xxiv

Though they were in a secure room, Eddie stayed as far away from the vents as possible. That was the only way beside the door for anything to get in, and Richie thought it was hilarious that Eddie was purposely hiding in the one space in the room that the vents were far away from.

"Get away from there, Richie!" Eddie yelled from the other side of the room, holding his knees to his chest.

"Oh no, Eds! The evil monster is going to infiltrate the super secure French palace and get me!" Richie called dramatically, laying on the ground vent with his hand over his heart.

Stan rolled his eyes. "Can you two stop acting like five year olds?" he snapped, running his hands through Bill's hair, who was laying in Stan's lap.

The others had shown up thirty minutes before, all confused but following Lina's simple commands. Everyone seemed annoyed with Richie except for Georgie, who was giggling every time he made a joke about the creatures.

Richie stood up and walked over to Eddie, sitting down next to him and wrapping an arm around his waist. "Thank god they didn't make giant beetles as their evil monsters, right Eds?" he asked, eyes sparkling with silent laughter.

Eddie glared at Richie, but that time Bill and Ben both laughed from across the room.

"What?" Eddie snapped, glaring at his other two friends.

"Y-your greatest fear is be-beetles," Bill said with a snarky laugh.

"Wait, you've almost been killed on numerous occasions and you're scared of beetles?" Henry asked, smirking.

"Fuck off," Eddie hissed, punching Richie in the arm for bringing up his fear.

"Do they even have teeth?" Georgie added, sitting on the table in the center of the room.

"Some do!"

"None that we've encountered," Richie said, snickering when Eddie punched him again. "Don't worry, Spaghetti. I'll protect you from the big bad beetles."

"Dick."

"I do have a big dick, yes. You seem to like that."

Eddie groaned in irritation, leaning his head back on the wall and closing his eyes. Richie smiled softly, pressing a gentle kiss to Eddie's neck and hugging him tighter.

They all continued quiet conversation for a while before the door opened. Everyone inside jumped up, ready to fight if it should be someone or something dangerous after them. A man walked inside, followed by several fully concerned masked soldiers.

"General Carlin," Stan said, his arms crossed as he glared at the man.

"Isn't that the asshole who made us run laps the day that Eddie and I took off?" Richie asked, still sitting with Eddie now settled in his lap.

"Nice to see you again, Mr Tozier," the General spat, though he didn't look pleased at all.

"You're the reason we were on the news, weren't you?" Eddie asked, eyes narrow.

"Yes, I was. Yet, you two still escaped, followed by the rest of your team, then," he looked over to Henry and Butch. "It appears you joined the Scorpions once again."

"We don't belong to the Scorpions, sir," Henry said. "We're part of a team that is here to protect people with abilities from people who want them for their powers."

"Is that why you assisted in the deaths of over two thousand people?"

Henry looked like he was about to fight back, but was stopped by Butch. They sat back at the table and the General turned to the rest of the group.

"We should lock you all in a federal prison. People want you all dead, as well as Test Subject Eleven," he said, walking to the front of the room.

"Yeah, you didn't help us with that broadcast," Eddie snapped. "You told them we're killers, which couldn't be further from the truth."

The General sighed, putting his hands on the table and bowing his head. "Mistakes were made. We did think you had an involvement that we hadn't been told about. When we received word about the creatures and saw the footage of them attacking you, we realized that you aren't involved."

"If you came here to just apologize after all of the shit we've been through-" Bev started, clenching her jaw when she was cut off.

"We need your help."

Everyone stood in silence. They all exchanged confused glances, the ex-Hive members looking to Stan and Eddie, who usually led their team.

"What do you need?" Stan finally said, after exchanging eye contact with Eddie, who gave him the go-ahead to talk.

"We are working to narrow down the base. You know the Hive better than anyone, and you know Test Subject Eleven. We need you to get her out and help us identify how many of those creatures are in existence. We know that there's two for sure, but there's no telling how many more there could be."

Eddie and Stan narrowed their eyes, walking to the other side of the room to talk in silence. Butch joined them, and Georgie tried before Mike Hanlon picked him up and quite literally carried him away from the group.

"What are you thinking?" Butch asked the pair. The three hadn't worked together much, but Butch trusted their judgement.

"It's a dangerous mission, but if there's a chance it will result in our names being cleared and the end of the Hive, I want to take it," Eddie said, despite Stan's scoff.

"It's a suicide mission. They don't care if we get killed!" Stan argued, glaring at the General who stood patiently in front of the room.

"I say we take it. We can save El and finally live normal lives, Stan. Do you really want Georgie growing up dealing with the shit we had to?" Eddie asked.

Stan had a soft spot for Georgie, since he had known him his whole life. That, and Georgie was the little brother of his boyfriend, so he felt the need to protect him.

"Of course I don't!"

"Then we should do our part," Eddie said, before looking at Butch. "What do you think?"

"I may not have known her long, but El's a good kid. She needs us to help her. I'm with you, Kaspbrack," Butch said with confidence.

Eddie gave a small nod, before turning to Stan. Stan's jaw was clenched, his eyes narrow. He stayed like that for a few more seconds until he glanced at Georgie who was sitting with Bill, looking a little confused, and his expression softened. Stan gave Eddie a reluctant nod, before the three turned to face the General again.

"We'll do our part, but we have conditions," Eddie said, leaning back as Richie moved to stand behind him.

"What are they," General Carlin asked. He didn't seem annoyed or upset; he seemed eager to start and figure out their plan.

"When we finally finish this, our names our cleared. We don't want to be living in underground bases. We want to be put into the real world, be allowed to go to college, maybe feel like we haven't grown up as killers," Stan said, smiling when he saw Bill grin excitedly.

"Second, we want El to be freed. Cover name, new identity, whatever. She is not going to be a test subject for you or anyone else," Eddie added.

The General nodded, having one of his men write down their demands. "What else?"

"Compensation for our assistance, as well as protection and counseling. All of us have been traumatized and we're going to need help," Stan said, ignoring Eddie's eye roll at the mention of counseling. "And protection for the town of Hawkins. We've had assistance from some of their citizens, and they need protection as well."

"Very well. We can make that work," the General said, standing as one of his men opened the door to the room. "Are there any last requests?"

"Yeah, some tickets to Hawaii and a beach house," Richie said.

Everyone rolled their eyes, until they realized Richie was serious. The General shrugged and wrote it down, before leaving the room.