freaks of nature - stenbrough

-18-

"What's the plan?" Mike asked.
"I'll go in there with Ben. We'll get him out, bring him back to yours. We'll try wake him up, assuming he's unresponsive and Betty will remove whatever they're using to track him. You guys wait out here," Eddie said, "keep watch."
"Wait, I can turn into Stryker and pretend to escort you guys," Richie suggested.
"That's not a bad idea, okay we'll do that."

Richie nodded and he slowly turned into William Stryker.

"How do I look?" He grinned.
"Hideous," Beverly smirked.
"Does anyone have any handcuffs?"
"Yeah," Betty pulled some out of her backpack.
"What kind of kinky shit are you and Stan into?"
"Beep beep, Richie," Beverly rolled her eyes.

Richie took the hand cuffs.

"Alright Eds, turn around."
"Smack my ass and I'll kick you."
"Calm down, I wouldn't do that in front of everyone."
"In front of everyone?" Mike exclaimed, "what do you two get up to?"

Richie just winked. Eddie put his hands behind his back and Richie cuffed him.

"Aren't I going in there too?" Ben asked.
"You can go invisible," Eddie answered.
"Oh yeah, forgot."
"You guys ready for this?"
"You two know where Bill's room is, right?" Richie asked.
"Yeah."
"Let's go."

The three boys left. Betty sat still holding her knees. She stared at the ground, completely zoned out. Beverly sat next to her.

"Hey," Beverly said quietly, "you okay?"
"No...what if this doesn't work and Stan doesn't wake up?"
"He'll be okay. If what Eddie said is true, then the odds are that he'll be fine."
"I know it's been a few months, but I feel like I just got him back...I can't lose him."
"Stan's a fighter," Mike said, sitting on the opposite side of Betty, "he always has been. He'll be okay."
"You're right...it's just seeing him like that was too much. I don't really want the MHA taking Stan away too."
"We're here for you, Betty," Beverly smiled.
"Thank you, both of you. Oh, have I ever told you guys about the time we first met?"
"Um no," they said at the time time.
"Tell us," Beverly said.
"Okay well when we first met, we were in eighth grade..."

Betty walked inside the movie theatre with Josh. Josh had her arm around Betty's shoulder. Betty had been caught up with petty drama with some of the girls at school and needed a break, so Josh took her to the movies.

"Don't tell mom I'm taking you to see this movie, okay?" He told her.
"I won't. My lips are sealed."
"Good, go get some snacks, I'll buy the tickets."
"Okay," she hurried off towards the snacks bar.
"Go easy on the gummy bears!"
"Whatever!"

Josh rolled his eyes lovingly and headed to go buy the tickets. Betty was looking through the different lollies when she noticed a boy with dirty blonde curly hair struggling to work the sour coke bottle dispenser. He wore a pale blue polo tucked into stone coloured khaki shorts paired with white socks and sneakers. Betty watched for a few moments before she walked over.

"Hey, do you need help?"
"Um...yes please."

Betty pushed the handle back in and then pulled it back towards her and the unknown boy. It got stuck and she tried again. The second time, it came out completely and the handle broke off. They turned to each other and laughed.

"Just take the coke bottles and run away, they'll never suspect us."
"Good thinking."

The boy grabbed a handful and shoved them in his cup before they ran away from it together, still in a fit of laughter. They hid behind the popcorn machine and watched the staff realise the machine was broken.

"I'm Betty," she smiled.
"Stanley, but you can call me Stan."

"After that we found out we were in most of each other's classes and became practically inseparable. We started dating a few months later and made it official a month before they took me."
"And who would've thought that four years down the track you guys still love each other," Mike said.
"I don't think he loves me...I love him, but I think he's still hung up on Bill."
"I've seen the way he looks at you," Beverly admitted, "he never looked at Bill like that."

Betty turned and buried her face in Beverly's shoulder. Beverly hugged her back and Betty quietly cried into her shoulder. Mike put an arm around both Beverly and Betty. He hugged them both and Betty sobbed even harder.

"I'm so scared that he's not going to be okay and he's not going to wake up," she choked out.
"Everything will be okay," Mike comforted.
"He's going to be fine."

——

Richie scanned his eye at the entrance and the doors opened for him. He walked through the large building with handcuffed Eddie in his hands.

"You've gotta lead the way because I have no fucking idea where I'm going," he whispered.

Eddie only nodded. Ben was next to him, but invisible of course.

"You have to act up, make it look like you don't want to be imprisoned here."
"There's no one around, idiot."

They weaved their way through the building. A group of agents approached. Eddie began kicking and fighting against Richie.

"Stop that you little shit," Richie scowled in Stryker's voice and he pulled on the cuffs.

Once the agents passed a smirk spread across Eddie's face.

"You know, if this goes well then maybe we could ask Betty if we could borrow these handcuffs."
"Oh yeah?" He answered in his normal
voice.
"Mhm, I wouldn't mind you being a little rough."
"Guys I am literally right here," Ben said.
"Sorry, forgot," Eddie grinned.

They carried on walking and fake fighting to make the act seem more authentic. They made it to Bill's room.

"Fuck we don't have a key," Richie muttered, "Ben pick the lock."
"Or I could just."

Ben ran up towards the door and fell through it.

"How did you do that?"
"Doesn't matter, get Bill."

The three ran in the room and saw Bill curled up on the bed. His chest wasn't rising or falling and he wasn't even blinking. He showed no signs of life causing Eddie's lip to tremble as he held back a sob.

"How are we going to get him out?" Eddie asked.

The shake in his voice was obvious and Ben rubbed his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"I can try make him invisible. I can't guarantee that it'll work, but I can try."

Ben walked over and put his hand on Bill's shoulder. He focused and they both faded into the air.

"Can you carry him?" Richie asked.
"Yeah. Let's go."

Ben picked Bill up and they walked out the room going unseen by everyone. Richie and Eddie followed.

"The security here really isn't great," Eddie muttered.