How To Make Plans | Step 2: Swallow the Hook | Stranger Things 4.5

“Hargrove... Buckley...”

He grumbled, nodded, sat down first, but then stood up again because it was all taking too long.

“El..? We’re HERE!”

He emphasized it; his voice was loud but not as overwhelming as it had been on the night of the rescue. Jim laid out various maps on the table, maps he’d stolen and maps he’d already possessed as a police officer. These maps showed everything that existed beneath Hawkins: sewers, old bunkers, basement vaults, and abandoned coal and mine tunnels.

“I don’t think everyone will be on time… but that doesn’t mean we have to wait for everyone.”

His gaze fell on Will, and instead of greeting him, he raised an eyebrow.

“Where’s your mom? Is she coming too…? Is she okay?”

A slight undertone of concern was present, yet Will and El still seemed engrossed in a conversation that seemed almost carefree and… uh… funny? It was sometimes unusual when the young adults talked about movies, comics, or their D&D games in a situation like this, and although that was exactly what came to mind for El, it just didn’t seem to fit right now; however, the police officer refrained from commenting, even grinning briefly and shaking his head.

Steve didn’t quite know what to do with himself, so he slipped past Hopper, who growled at him with a quiet grumble..and took a seat next to Billy. Under the tabletop, he briefly stroked Billy’s knee, but then his eyes widened and he pulled his hand away; in that moment, he felt like everyone could see what he was thinking and that everyone had eyes that could see right through the tabletop. Well... he’d actually believe El was capable of that. Just as Harrington was about to explain things to Will, Hopper cut him off.

“So... we have a... situation. Hargrove was accepted into this circle at Steve’s request... Will... you can explain that to your mom later, and preferably to the other guys too, and maybe you should have a word with Dustin as well...”

Steve flinched when he heard his best friend’s name; everything inside him tensed up..pain… there it was again, the pain.

“Could you all finally sit down!”

Hopper was just about to start speaking again when Lucas burst in, knowing full well he was late, slightly embarrassed but with a cool, casual smile on his lips, yet that very smile froze on his lips when he spotted Billy sitting next to Robin and Steve.

“What’s Billy doing here?”

His voice was steeped in disgust.

“Are you kidding me? My girlfriend is in a coma… and he… he’s sitting here among you, even though he’s the one who should be in her place…”

Steve took a deep breath… this same old story again, these same words he’d heard far too often by now. But this time it was Hopper who spoke up again.

“Sit down… don’t make a scene here… Differences can be settled later, and who sits here or not isn’t up to you. Everything happens for a reason… and we’re not going to start wasting our time again on conflicts that can’t be resolved NOW anyway.”

Lucas was trembling; you could tell he was on the verge of leaving, or that he might be mentally planning to lash out at Billy. But after several seconds, he sat down on a chair with his fists clenched, a little way from the table where the others had gathered.

“Fine…”

Jim muttered, briefly repeating for everyone what had happened, what they’d found out, the same things Steve had already told Robin, only in a somewhat drier, more militant manner… and perhaps even a tiny bit more structured and emotionless than Steve. However… Hopper refrained from assigning blame this time; what he didn’t hold back on, though, was mentioning several times that El shouldn’t be put in danger. And… neither should Will’s mother, which gave a clear indication of where his heart had already settled. Lucas tried to protest again… he didn’t care if Billy had to suffer under Kay, but Steve hissed a quiet “pull yourself together” at him, and then everyone seemed to pay attention to what Hopper was saying. The oldest person in the room explained exactly the plan Billy had agreed to, a plan that was pure horror for Steve and even brought on nausea again but Steve pulled himself together too, staring at the maps... remaining silent, not nodding, but sitting rigidly and keeping his mouth shut. After about 30 minutes, Hopper looked from face to face.

“El… Billy…? You have the floor.. you were there… your opinion should be taken into account. Keep it short, no unnecessary filler words… get to the point, describe what you saw…”

Not that there was anything left on his nail beds to bite off, anyway.

Or that he was particularly scared of their guests.

El was kind to him. Will seemed pretty harmless from what he knew. Sure, Hopper made him a little nervous, his cold-faced demeanor and grumpy expressions reminding him of his dad, but that was much more manageable than the fact that Billy was going to be the center of attention here.

Billy usually liked attention. Soft looks, compliments, air kisses — the good kind. But this? This was not the good kind. This was like being presented on a silver platter of humiliation. He was going to be judged by a court with no impartial jury, and Steve and El were his attorneys.

He was a problem to be solved, and he felt it down to his bones.

Nodding towards Hopper rather awkwardly and sitting back down right away, Billy heaved a sigh. When Hopper called out to El, he flinched a little. Not because the man was loud or scared him, but because Billy’s ears were suddenly so sensitive that he could hear the pumping of his own blood. Keeping his eyes locked on his bottle, he watched the first corner of the label disappear under his picking, papery flakes hovering to the floor.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Robin whispered to him. Billy only bit his lip and sighed, hopelessly waiting for her reassuring words to take effect.

Meanwhile, El greeted Will outside and waited for him to lock up his bike. He probably didn’t need to protect it from being stolen by any strangers tonight, but safe habits were usually better than none. Afterwards, they hugged, and El briefly filled him in on what was happening, told him that Billy had joined them. The moment Hopper yelled for them to come in already, she just rolled her eyes and gently dragged Will inside with her.

The second Will looked at Steve's face, he froze, widening his eyes. 

"Oh my god, Steve! What happened to your face?! Are you okay?"

El frowned with him. "Long story..."

Billy looked at them over the backrest of the couch. Especially at Will. Holy shit, the kid had grown… He barely recognized him. He had only seen him a couple of times before, but Billy was pretty sure that the kid was much shorter than him just nine months ago. Now, Will was taller than El and probably reaching Billy’s height as well. His voice was deeper, too.

What hadn’t changed, however, was that god-awful hairstyle. Perhaps he could give him some advice, or better yet, make him get rid of that bowl cut.

Will briefly looked at Billy with a somewhat awkward smile, then turned to Hopper.

“Oh, Mom is okay, she’d just promised Mrs. Wheeler to help her with house chores,” he answered. “She probably won’t come but she’s gonna try.”

Mrs. Wheeler.

Billy held his breath. Just the mention of her name was enough to make him swallow a lump down his throat. But at least, this was good news. Karen was not going to show up. She didn’t seem to be part of this.

Will sat down with Robin, while El took her place right next to Billy on the small couch. She gave him a soft smile and asked if he was okay, to which he nodded reluctantly.

“Are you? Did you get some sleep?”

“Plenty,” El said.

Billy nodded once more, this time in bland acknowledgment — not because he didn’t care, but because more and more weight was settling on his chest.

El wanted to speak. Her mouth opened, ready and willing to tell him that everything would be fine. That she was there with him and for him. That she wouldn’t leave his side when it mattered. But she sensed that Hopper was getting impatient, so she decided to save it for later.

When Steve finally sat down, Billy felt a brief sense of relief washing over him. That soft touch on his knee grounded him once more, and he promptly felt safer, even after Steve quickly pulled his hand away again. He looked at him with the faintest of smiles to let him know that he appreciated his presence, wishing he could keep his hand right there, but understanding why he couldn’t. Not here… Not right now.

None of the others, except for Robin of course, noticed that little mishap.

And then, Billy braced himself. Took another breath. Looked at Hopper expectantly… only to have the discussion delayed for what felt like the tenth time.

Again, Billy looked over the couch to check who was bursting in.

He froze. Immediately. His limbs stiffened like it would keep him from being discovered. Of course it had to be him.

It had to be Lucas fucking Sinclair.

Shit.

Shit shit shit shit shit—

Billy’s heart sank into the pit of his stomach. And then even deeper, right into the ground below his feet.

He didn’t miss the disapproval on Lucas’ face. The kid was not holding back with the disgust in his tone. It was like he could sense the nausea rising while they stared at each other.

He barely had a moment to take in how much Sinclair had changed as well, but he noticed right away that his voice was even deeper than Will’s at this point, and he looked like a proper man now. Not like the random black kid that upset his sister on the school parking lot once. Not like the little boy he had pushed against a shelf and threatened into obedience. Or tried to.

What he saw now was the boy who’d kicked him in the groin without fear. The boy who’d shot a stone right at his face with his slingshot to protect his sister. The kid who stood beside Max when he couldn’t. Who had protected her, fought for her, and believed in her long before Billy even acknowledged her existence. There was not an ounce of hesitation in this kid. Lucas was strong, outspoken, not afraid to show how he felt about a load of bullshit.

And his words… Ouf… They landed. Deeply. Billy turned back around to face the table, not willing to dignify them with a response. Or with an expression that actually showed how much that hurt.

He’s sitting here among you, even though he’s the one who should be in her place.

The same thoughts that Billy had struggled with, laid out in front of him like a noose. If someone else thought the same, did that not make it more true? Was that not evidence enough that Billy had been right to feel this way?

He closed his eyes. Breathed. His leg started bouncing against Steve’s. And he found himself completely incapable of speaking at all, like someone tied a belt around his throat and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed…

Thank god Hopper had control of the situation. Billy hadn’t thought he would be thankful for him so soon.

“Lucas, I know you’re really angry and that’s okay, we understand, but—” Will Byers cut in, “he can help us! He’s part of this whole thing and we can’t just leave him out. But you’re part of us, too, so… Please stay and help us.”

Billy broke free from his frozen state, gazing at him in awe. He’d already had a feeling that Will was more on the soft and sensitive side, but he surely hadn’t expected him to be so welcoming without even really trying. It seemed so natural. Not at all self-serving. In the same moment, El put her hand on Billy’s shoulder from the side, giving him an affirmative and reassuring nod. He looked at her, too. Shit. He could speak even less now, but none of them seemed to mind.

It certainly helped that Hopper continued to take the stage to explain what happened, the deal Billy was forced to agree with, and the current plan. It gave him enough time to breathe through his nausea and focus on calming down again, even though Lucas’ piercing glares and protests made it more than a little difficult.

Steve was right next to him… His warmth, his body, his knee against his. That helped. The touch was innocent enough, given how small the couch was. Billy wanted to take his hand to steady himself more, but knew that he couldn’t, so he imagined it instead.

When it was his turn to speak, Billy needed a moment to get his voice back and cleared his throat in discomfort. He hated being stared at by everyone, so he just avoided to look at them alltogether.

“Right. So… Where do I start…”

Billy rubbed his forehead. Hopper’s request to not use unnecessary filler words got ignored with his very first sentence, and he could feel the man’s glare on him already. Looking up at last, Billy gazed at every single face in the room, if only briefly.

At Hopper’s impatiently arched eyebrows.
At Robin’s affirmative nod.
At Lucas’ sour glare.
Will’s curious big eyes.
El’s warm smile.

And finally, he looked at Steve again, whose expression was surely tense, but his brown eyes filled with patient warmth and reassurance.

A final deep breath… And he began.

“This Dr. Kay… is not to be messed with,” he started lowly, insecure words accompanied by a bite on his lip.

“She, um… She seems to be in charge of the whole thing. At least I didn’t hear anyone give her any orders. I heard someone address her as ‘General Major’ and she has twin stars on her shoulder boards, so… I guess that’s what she is. But she’s also a medical doctor of some sort. Even a surgeon, I think. Or at least a scientist.”

Billy paused briefly while his teeth worked on his lip so hard it stung.

“She… showed up at my hospital bed just a day or so after I woke up. I was still completely out of it, couldn’t even speak yet, let alone move or see much… It’s mostly a blur, really, but… I remember she examined me. Not like a real doctor would with a stethoscope or checking reflexes. She had these weird, dunno, devices she would hover over my body and she put a bunch of electrodes on my head and everything, and then she took some blood. She barely even spoke to me. She approached me again when I was released from hospital, told me she would observe my recovery and take over my medical exams from now on. Had to meet with her at the MAC-Z every two weeks for exams. Steve and Hopper said… there could be something left in me. From that… thing. That monster. That must be why she’s examining me.”

“No,” Will Byers immediately cut in, shaking his head. “I would feel that.”

Billy stared at him. “Are you sure?”

“Well… it’s more difficult when Vecna was hiding, but… I feel way more sensitive to it now. And around you, I don’t feel anything different.”

A glimpse of relief flickered behind Billy’s eyes, but it didn’t settle. He wasn’t ready to let go of that horrifying theory just yet, even if he wanted nothing more than for Will to be right.

“I don’t know, Byers… I really don’t.”

He didn't know what else to say, feeling the silence tighten around his neck. His gaze hovered over the maps on the table in front of them, leaning over as he grabbed one of Hop’s felt pens. Desperate to distract himself and keep this going, Billy chose a map of Hawkins that showed the center of the town and started to draw some lines around it.

“So... MAC-Z... The entire thing goes around the center of town and has two zones. First zone has only two gates, right there, at the corners of 2nd Ave.”

He drew two circles along the outer lines to show where those gates were located.

“I think they only use that first zone for storage and to keep the public as far away from the center as possible… because that’s where the real shit’s going down. The center zone is right around the library. That’s where the second, more guarded gates are.”

Billy added more lines to show the central border, then two more circles for the gates on it. Then, he switched the black pen for a dark red one.

“The library’s where that gate to the Upside Down is…”

He drew a red circle right at the north side of the building.

“And it’s… massive. The building’s surrounded by protective barriers or something. There is absolutely no way in there, except from the front where the gate is. It’s secured, but big enough for their humvees to pass through. Didn’t see it in action, though it looks awfully convenient for those fatties if you ask me…”

“How much did you see of the second zone? The central one?” Will asked.

“A lot but not everything. Hold on…”

There was no appropriate map for that, so he turned the one he’d already drawn on around to sketch it out on the back.

He made sure to include the security gates again, the library, and the big gate to the Upside Down in red.

“Up top, there are the abandoned shops. That furniture store, Melvald’s, the hairdresser… I’m pretty sure there were two watch towers for each gate, but I can’t remember if there are more in the back... Next to the library are four huge barracks, probably for the soldiers. And behind it — that’s where she takes me for exams. One barrack as a hospital-type thing, and another for an office, I think…”

He added some rectangles here and there and filled them in with a green crayon he found somewhere in the mess of maps.

“There are… cabins everywhere. Like those containers you see on construction sites. Don’t know what those are for, but… I’ve seen soldiers up on top of them for better view of the zone, too. They’re not as high as the watch towers, though. And on the other side of the library, yeah… I don’t know, a bunch of cramped up shit, tons of boxes, tanks, everything. Storage, maybe? Not sure. I don’t remember it all, I’ve only been there three times.”

“And the tears to the Upside Down?” El asked.

Billy nodded. “All covered up by huge metal slabs, everywhere. They’re still working on that, holding their guns to welders’ necks cause it kept leaking…”

“The tears went through the whole town…” Will added thoughtfully. “Mike and I saw the military cover those up with metal, too, and they’re heavily guarded all the way into the areas outside of town. No one can accidentally end up in the Upside Down…”

“Only the military can,” El said sternly. “They must be looking for Henry.”

“They’re looking for you, too, El,” Billy remarked. “Facts are… If I don’t play along, they will come and get you all… even Max.”

He gave Lucas a long, considerate glance at that part before looking back down at his hands.

“And I don’t know how to stop it. I suck at lying, especially to Kay. It’s like she knows what I’m thinking and it makes me sick. I don’t know what to do.”

For a while, it was silent.

Then, Will chimed in again.

“What if we hack them?”

Everyone looked at him, confused.

“And how will you do that?” Billy asked.

“Not me. Dustin! He can break into their system, hack everything, open all the gates and when there’s total chaos everywhere—“
“No I mean— How?”

“Okay, so first we need a computer…”

Robin sighed. “Will, they have more computers than Dustin.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “But do they have Dustin?”

Robin blinked. “That’s… never gonna work. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m pretty sure the military can’t just be… hacked like that. And how would that even help?”

Will huffed, defeated.

“Unless…” Robin continued and got up from her seat, standing still in front of everyone like she’s about to hold a really exciting presentation.

“If we hack them and mix it up with absolute and complete bureaucratic chaos — fake Demogorgon reports, conflicting Upside Down timey wimey data stuff, constant rescheduling of plans and shifts, false sightings of El and Hop and everything — until we drown her in paperwork and distract her from Billy! And she will hate her own system so much that she just gives up!”

Silence. Billy raised an eyebrow at her.

“Dr. Kay doesn’t get overwhelmed by the system, Buckley. She is the system.”

Robin huffed. “Yeah, I… kinda had the same thought while I was rattling through all of that. Sorry…”

“Appeal to her humanity,” Will suggested. “Can’t we just… talk to her? Reason with her? Tell her what she’s doing so she realizes how wrong it is to control Billy like that?”

Billy just looked at him. “She threatened to disappear my sister. Pretty sure that tells us plenty of who she is.”
“What if I prove to her that there’s nothing left in you?”
“Not unless you want her to turn you into a lab rat, too,” Hargrove replied dryly.

“Send someone else instead of Billy!” Robin chanted.

Silence. Again.

“… Robin, she knows what I fucking look like. And also: No. Absolutely not.”

The fact that Billy was now sitting between them and everyone was hanging on his every word, that Will and El were even looking at him with pity, that Hopper was talking to him as if he were already a full-fledged member.. it all made him seethe. And since he was sitting a little further away, he had also seen how Harrington had placed his hand on the blond boy’s knee. It was incredibly hard for him to keep his composure;..this was beyond anything... it was draining his mental strength while rage and despair raged inside him... much like with Dustin, only he rarely showed it. He remained silent the whole time, listening with only half an ear at first... but eventually focused on what Hargrove was saying because it was important to him to learn everything. It was for Max... it was for Eleven and Will... and only then did he slowly calm down, feeling the anger turn into interest. He showed no pity... he didn’t feel it either, but at least he wasn’t escalating anymore.

Steve was also quite calm, keeping an eye on everyone, moving a little closer to Billy to let him feel his presence. He was there, he was beside him... he would intervene at any moment if things got too much.

“But Will... you’ve only ever sensed it when it was active... or not? When Vecna accessed it. Maybe something is slumbering inside Billy that doesn’t give off a signal as long as it’s… inactive. El saw something when she was with him… didn’t she?”

Lucas muttered quietly to himself and cleared his throat; his voice penetrated only softly, very softly, through the babble of the others.

“Didn’t someone claim recently that they’re already holding Henry captive there? If that were true… then it could mean that he’s actually only semi-active right now, which is why we’re barely picking up any so-called signals. But if that’s the case… what do they plan to do with him? And… how does that bring Max back?”

Hopper raised an eyebrow and furrowed his brow; he was completely focused on the maps Billy had drawn and narrowed his eyes.

“If they really have Henry, then they probably wouldn’t just let Billy walk out again… the area would be even better protected. From a purely military standpoint, things would run a little differently there, and even if there are many guards… everything is being checked, it seems to me to be insufficiently secured for a monster like Vecna.” He tapped his finger on the marked gates. “This… this isn’t a dead end. It’s a hub, a transition to research. Maybe even… control.”

A quick glance at El, it was softer, but at the same time imbued with that typical, steely determination.

“And that’s exactly why El and Will aren’t going in there, understand? They’re looking for you. Not just because you’ve slipped past them… but because you’re the only ones who can truly pose a threat to them. If you walk in there, you’re handing yourselves over on a silver platter.”

He furrowed his brow.

“We have to force them to make mistakes. Not the other way around.”

Lucas leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees, hands loosely clasped. His voice was calmer than before.

“Then let’s stop thinking about how we get in… and instead figure out how to force them out.”

He nodded slightly toward the map.

“If this really is just a hub, then there’s more to it. Supplies. Communication. Maybe even other locations.”

His gaze briefly shifted to Billy, definitely not friendly, but not quite as dismissive as before.

“You say they bring you in and out regularly. That means there are set procedures. Routes and time slots, and from the sound of it, you’ve already analyzed that a bit. Anything that has a system… can be disrupted.”

Dustin wasn’t there that evening, but his idea was clearly inspired by him.

“Not hacking in the traditional sense… but we could send false signals. Force movements. If we get them to redirect their forces… then a gap will open up somewhere. And that’s exactly where we strike. Quickly. Without any of us having to stay inside for long. And without putting Max at even greater risk.”

Steve let Lucas’s words sink in for a moment, his gaze was fixed on the map as well, but you could tell he’d long since stopped just listening. There was something inside him that had been building up, and not just since today. He sat up a little, ran his hand over the back of his neck, and exhaled audibly.

“Okay… fine. Disrupt procedures, find gaps, cause chaos… But who’s going to do it? Well… it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? ME!!”

A few glances turned to him. Steve pursed his lips slightly, as if he’d expected exactly that, and rolled his eyes.

“I mean it...”

he added, this time without that usual half-joking grin he usually put on.

 “I don’t want to just stand on the sidelines again and make sure nobody dies while everyone else does the important shit.”

His gaze drifted briefly to El, then to Will, and finally lingered a split second too long on Billy before he continued speaking.

“I’m not just the damn babysitter. I can fight. I’ve proven it often enough. I can take a hit, I can improvise, and I don’t fall apart immediately if something goes wrong. What if I’m the one who exploits that opening? In, out, and all that?”

He crossed his arms, almost defiantly.

“Give me a task that actually matters for once.”

Hopper raised an eyebrow slightly. For a brief moment, there was a barely suppressed smirk on his face. As if he were recalling every single situation in which Steve had stumbled through something with more luck than sense. He said nothing about it; that would only lead to more arguments, and they’d had enough of those already. Instead, he let his gaze drift over Steve. Then he grew serious again. His fingers tapped thoughtfully on the map.

“Hm.”

That was all for now. But you could tell he wasn’t just brushing it off, that he was actually thinking about it. Steve narrowed his eyes and sank back onto the bench with a sigh.

“So the fact is, Billy is the only one who can get in there without any problems right now, because he… has to… I don’t like that, I don’t think I need to mention that… But there’s a lot I don’t like. I don’t like that Dustin isn’t here… that Mike is missing… that kids have to sit here without their parents, some of whom don’t even know what’s going on here or are worried and certainly don’t agree with everything. But it seems like we have to put that aside for a bit…”

Hopper cleared his throat, because he certainly wasn’t going to be sidelined.

“We can’t send anyone but Billy. Period. We can only try to actually lure them out… and we need a lot, a lot of support from Murray… so write down everything you need… and be very specific… because we might need several attempts, and Murray can be a little stubborn or forgetful at times. But he’s our only connection to the outside world.”

Steve took a deep breath and let his head droop. He wasn’t really satisfied; his gaze drifted briefly to Robin, who always seemed understanding in moments like this, then to Eleven, who embodied goodness anyway. He couldn’t look at Billy right then; he knew it would hurt and might trigger more stupid remarks.

The shift was subtle, but Billy caught it instantly. At the word California, his attention sharpened — quiet, focused, deliberate. Not that he hadn’t been listening before, but now it felt different. Intentional.

Same first name.
Same thing inside them once.
Same stretch of time on the other side of the country.

Too many coincidences to sit right.

Will exhaled slowly. "Now it's like... there's always something there that I can feel. Maybe it's the air. Those spores were everywhere when the gates opened."

"Yeah..." Robin muttered, squirming as a shiver ran through her. "I can still see them some days, especially when it's cold." She glanced at Will. "What does it feel like to you?"

Will hesitated, searching for something precise enough to hold onto. "It’s hard to explain. When Vecna was active, I'd get this... really sharp shiver. Right here." He brushed the back of his neck. "Like something was watching me. Like it knew where I was."

Billy went very still.

"…Yeah," he said quietly. "I felt that too. Last year. When he—" 

He stopped himself, jaw tightening. 

"When he took me. And every time he… used me." A moment passed. Billy grinded his teeth. "Last time I felt it was when I woke up." 

Will nodded, understanding without needing more. "Now it's different. Fainter. Like it's... very far away, but not gone. Sometimes, I forget it's even there, kind of like a clock ticking in another room, you stop hearing if after a while."

His gaze shifted, unfocused. "But then it gets stronger near the gates, especially when I'm near the MAC-Z. Feels like... pressure. Like something pushing back."

"And there's nothing different when you're... near me?" Billy asked again.

Will looked at him, really looked, slow and thorough, as if he might miss something if he rushed it. Then he sighed and shook his head. 

"No. Nothing."

Billy looked away. It still didn't feel any more reassuring than before, and he tensed up when El's involvement was brought up.

"I did see something, yes," she confirmed and turned to Billy, holding his gaze — not pushing, just asking for permission. For a moment, he said nothing. Then he swallowed hard and gave a small nod. El's expression softened. She squeezed his arm again before continuing.

"I looked for his conscious. When he was with Dr. Kay. She took... a bone picture of him."
"X-ray," Billy corrected softly.
"Yes. X-ray." She kept forgetting what it was called, but didn't let any frustration show. "When she made the picture, it hurt him. A lot. He was screaming, and... he fell."

Billy's eyes shut. The memory came back too fast, too vivid. Heat crawling under his skin, his body turning against itself. His throat tightened as if the pain might follow.

"What did it feel like...?" Will asked, quieter now. Careful.

Billy's breathing turned shallow, uneven. He bit down on his lip hard to keep himself grounded, from slipping too far back into it. His hand tightened around his beer bottle until the knuckles turned white. He couldn't look at any of them.

"It felt like I was... burning alive. Never happened before. It was... everywhere. My head, my chest, my stomach... Only lasted for like half a minute, but it... it was..."

Billy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, leaning his bouncing leg against Steve's again. El's grip on his arm tightened once more, just slightly.

"It's okay," she whispered, only for him to hear. Billy kept his eyes closed. Nodded to help the words get into his head. 

He heard Lucas mumbling something to himself before he spoke, but didn't comment on it. Not yet. What he and Hopper said about the MAC-Z made perfect sense. Even though the zone was heavily guarded and protected, it still seemed insufficient if they were keeping a powerful being such as Henry in there. Especially with that open gate directly in the middle of it. All it would take was one mishap. One slip. And Henry would be gone through the gate and lost.

And then, Lucas said something that got him thinking.

If this really is just a hub, then there’s more to it. Supplies. Communication. Maybe even other locations.

"There is something in the Upside Down from the military," he cut in. "There has to be. That gate is more than big enough for their humvees and one of those soldiers mentioned something about a facility in there. Maybe that's where Henry is. The security at that gate is insane and they bitched at me every time I so much as looked at it."

He felt like they were getting somewhere, but also not quite. It all still felt way too insecure to build upon. And when Steve suggested— no, demanded that he be given a task that mattered instead of being sent to the bench like usual, Billy looked at him.

Not with a frown. Not with disapproval, either. But with something softer underneath. Understanding. Consideration. Worry.

"So, what now? You just wanna get in there and do what exactly? Steve... There's nothing you gotta prove to anyone and that's way too dangerous. We don't even have a real plan yet."

"He's right, Dingus..." Robin agreed. "Look, we get it. You wanna do something that's important, but I don't think that's it. You dove to the bottom of a damn lake just to find answers and that nearly got you killed... You bombed Vecna with Nancy and I. That was badass and really risky. Wasn't that enough? You've done so much already... Just... be patient, King Harrington. We'll find something awesome for you to do."

She smiled a little at him, trying her best to be encouraging. Still, there was some pity in it.

"I agree," Eleven added. "What you did helped me save Max. You are just as important. You protected us all the time."
"I heard you saved Nancy and Jonathan from certain death when this all started," Robin added with a little grin.

And this time? If only Steve knew that he was already doing something that mattered. Just his presence kept Billy relatively calm and grounded and if it weren't for him, he wouldn't even be able to exist in the same room as these people. He kept him breathing, kept him alive. Just because he was there. 

Billy remembered what he'd promised himself last night. He would stand with Steve whatever choice he made, even if he thought it was stupid or dangerous. He knew it would be hard, but not that it would be that hard. He did not like the idea of Steve getting in harm's way. At all. 

Suddenly—

"The tunnels," said Will. He had been quiet for a while, brewing on his thoughts. The others looked at him. 

"What tunnels?" Billy asked.

"Vecna has built tunnels underneath all of Hawkins as part of the hive mind. He wanted to, I guess, infiltrate our world with the Upside Down. You guys burnt it down while El and Hopper went to close the gate in the lab, remember? Maybe we can... map it all out. It's still in my memory. Maybe we can use the tunnels to get into the zone unnoticed. It's an escape route in case things go wrong, and... it can help Billy, too, if things go really, really wrong, while he's at the MAC-Z."

El and Robin's faces were lighting up. Something was beginning to take shape here. Billy, however, seemed a little overwhelmed.

"Okay, now I'm lost..."

He heaved the deepest sigh, putting down the bottle and rubbing his eyes.

"Can we take a break? I can't even focus on anything right now."

Lucas was calming down more and more.. he wasn’t turning into a cheerful teenager… but he participated, didn’t interrupt Billy… he did give him a skeptical glare, but the hatred no longer seemed to shine through him entirely. Lucas was concerned about Max, Hopper was fixated on Eleven… Steve wanted to know Billy was safe, and generally, they all wanted to support one another… look out for each other, save one another, even if everyone had their own priorities. For Steve, it might not have been just Billy who triggered his protective instinct so intensely... he sensed that it was the bigger picture that weighed heavily on him, that pulled the rug out from under his feet, because his instinct was simply to protect everyone, and when Robin and Eleven said exactly that, he breathed a sigh of relief... but he still couldn’t quite feel it.

“Mhm...”

He replied quietly and nodded as if he understood and accepted it.

“Yeah... I know just walking in would be stupid... that’s not really what I meant. I’m pretty good at being a distraction... stuff like that kind of happens to me... as a decoy and all.”

Desperately, he raised his hands and then placed them on the table in front of him.

“I couldn’t save Eddie.”

he finally whispered to himself, barely audible. Because he clung to the thought that if Eddie were still alive, things would be much easier; then Dustin would be better off… then the kid would still have a mentor and friend, while Steve apparently couldn’t fill that role right now. Hopper cleared his throat, and even though it was hard for him, he held back a little as the younger ones exchanged experiences.

“Maybe they have something else there... are holding something else captive. We agree that Kay and her team are militarily trained, and in a very insidious way... they’ve taken over this place as if it belongs to them; we need to find out what they know… which means we’ll have to get our hands on relevant data sooner or later, because I strongly suspect that everything happening here has an origin so far back in time that we can’t possibly gather that much information on our own. The Russians were involved… I could try to find Enzo. He’s considered a traitor in Russia… he couldn’t go back there. He must have gone into hiding somewhere in the States. The Russians had a similar objective… and I saw how tenaciously they clung to all of this. Maybe he still has some information I couldn’t get out of him while we were on the run. I’ll have to use Murray for that… because any attempt from here would be intercepted, and I don’t want to put Enzo in even more danger.”

Hopper had built a deep, loyal bond with Dmitri Antonov, he trusted him, but the sergeant of the Soviet internal security forces had vanished without a trace. Steve frowned, finally stood up, and paced around the room; he could no longer sit still, and he, too, found it hard to concentrate. When Will mentioned the tunnels, he flinched and cleared his throat, caught off guard. Hopper pointed his finger at the boy, and nodded in agreement.

“I remember… that’s a good idea, Will… try to draw a map.. I think… that might help us.”

Jim knew how Will did things like this and that it took a lot of energy, Joyce wouldn’t like it, but it was necessary. When Billy asked for a break, the police officer grumbled, but none of those present objected.

“Let’s take a break!”

Hopper agreed, and the small group dispersed; everyone tried in their own way to process everything that had been said. Hopper jotted down what had been discussed, while Lucas joined Will and Eleven, clearly turning his back on Billy and striking up a conversation with his friends. The talk was about Dustin, about Mike... and of course about Max, though Lucas grew quieter and more cautious on that subject.

“We’ll have to wake her up eventually.”

He whispered, but then it was hard to hear anything from that corner anymore.

Steve walked over to Robin and patted her on the back, then looked at Billy, visibly torn about whom to support. Billy seemed stressed but not aggressiv, Robin was her usual self, smiling faintly, trying to stay calm.

“Rocks… we should focus on making sure this radio station reaches even more people than before… expand the signal. That we become professional... cover all of Hawkins...”

Then he kept glancing at Billy, and a strange nervousness slowly crept up on him, he was nervous because he didn’t know how to act around everyone else, and he was nervous that it might show. Steve wasn’t exactly good at putting on a front for others... you could tell pretty quickly what he was thinking or feeling. Eventually, he pulled himself together, nodded to Robin, and joined Billy, tapping him on the shoulder and motioning for him to go outside... as a gesture, he mimed smoking. Let’s go for a smoke, and the gesture felt a bit over the top, but he didn’t care. When they stepped into the cold outside, he sighed softly.

“Are you okay, Billy boy?”

Dustin was starting to get there. Slowly. Billy had seen it earlier, after their talk. But this wasn't something that unraveled in a few hours, let alone with some comforting words.

"Steve," Billy whispered. Looked at him, frowned softly, and shook his head. He didn't know if the message landed at all since they couldn't talk freely here, but he couldn't leave it in the air like that. 

They'd think of something important for him to do, he was sure, even if a part of him still wanted to keep Steve as far away from all of it as possible. But they'd already been over that. Steve wasn't someone you could sideline. He was a fighter, old enough to make his own calls. Strong enough to live with them. 

That just... didn't make it easier. Because every one of those choices felt like it might end up with Steve dead. And if that happened... if that happened for him... 

Billy didn't let himself finish that thought, swallowed it with a heavy lump instead.

Billy was starting to zone out already, finding it harder and harder to grasp what Hopper was explaining. He had no idea who the hell Enzo was, and at this point the Russians barely even registered as surprising anymore. Steve had told him something about those last night, and it fucked with his head enough already.

Meanwhile, El, Will, and Robin followed along with sharp attention, nodding here and there, even if they seemed just as clueless for the most part. 

"Break sounds good," Robin announced, stretching like she'd just come off a twelve-hour shft instead of forty minutes on a couch.

As soon as Steve spoke to her, she was off, words tumbling over themselves. "Yes, I was already thinking about that, like... We can't exactly force people to tune in on us, right? And we don't have regular broadcasting yet, so— Marketing! More posters, the van, billboards, everything. And the show itself has to be even more fun. Oh my god, this is gonna be great!"

She cut herself off mid-spiral, catching Steve's attention flicking back to Billy again. And again. And again. Every five to ten seconds. The guy hadn't moved. Just sat there, rigid, staring at the floor like he'd forgotten how to blink.

Robin sighed, nudged Steve with her elbow, and tilted her head towards Billy. Go.

Once Steve got on his way, she slipped toward the kitchen, already hunting for snacks.

Billy flinched when Steve touched him, the contact pulling him back way too fast. He nodded at whatever Steve had suggested, and pushed himself to his feet with a quiet exhale, leaving his beer behind on the table. Outside, he lit a cigarette in silence. The lighter shook badly in his hand, flame stuttering until he forced it steady. He didn't answer Steve's question right away. Couldn't. His throat felt too tight to speak. The first drag made him cough, and he leaned back against the brick wall.

[...]

He had heard about Enzo… Joyce had spoken quite highly of him, but he had never come up again, probably because Hopper wanted to protect him. What must that have been like? You get to know someone who saves your life… you survive an almost impossible mission together with that person. Steve could hardly imagine how terrible that time in the Russians’ clutches must have been for Hopper… it seemed only now that he could see the ordeal in Hopper’s eyes, what was left of it, the shock they had all lived through in their own ways, endless traumas.

They all needed a break... you could tell the kids were grateful that they had to ground themselves in that moment... that they were helping each other, there for one another, and tackling their own things. Robin seemed to be all fired up about Steve’s idea… although she apparently had had this idea even before he did, well… okay, he’d let her have it and not pretend he’d been incredibly clever.

“I agree… we’ll have fun doing it and we’ll reach so many people. You can do the talking… and I’ll make sure everything works. And the music… Music heals, and music can convey so much. We can use songs as codes... we have tons of possibilities.”

Steve grinned to himself, that sounded like a very, very good idea... a plan that was easier to implement, even if it took some effort, but it would be worth it. Then, however, he grew nervous... and of course, Robin didn’t miss that. Nodding, he crept over to Billy. He didn’t want to leave him alone, even if he might supposedly need it right now. It was easier to talk outside… no one was listening to them there, the fresh air would do them good, and maybe Billy could sort out his thoughts a little there.

[...]