"I g-" Rocky stared as he opened the door. Eddie screamed, Rocky screamed. "Dude!"

"You scared the piss out of me!" Eddie yelled, dripping the broken bottle. "Make yourself aware. You need a bell."

"I'll be sure to knock next time." he said back with a crazy look, holding up some bags. "Hungry?"

Max pushed Rockys back so he'd walk into the shed, giving Eddie the bags as the others followed. Dustin cleared his throat. "So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?"

"Bad news first, always." Eddie said in return with his mouth full.

"Man of culture." Rocky nodded his head from next to Max, her shoulder pressed into his.

"All right. Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." Dustin broke the news to him as Eddie stopped eating. "Also, they're pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, 100% kind of convinced." Max agreed, a blue jacket on today. Rocky wondered if she realized it was the one he gave her back at the hospital last year.

"Hence why they're looking for you." the Byers boy confirmed.

"And the good news?" Eddie looked to Dustin as he held his honey combs.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet." Robin nodded her head. "But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

"Good news, Robin. We were attempting good news." Rocky looked back at her knowingly.

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie asked bitterly.

"Exactly." she confirmed.

"Shit." Eddie panicked.

"Don't worry, man." Rocky shook his head, holding his arms up. "Laugh and Love are here to protect you. Always."

"Rocky, enough of the Laugh and Love." Max grabbed both arms to pull them down, he held back a grin when he felt her hands tightened before letting go.

"So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." Dustin nodded his head quickly as he laid out the plan.

"That's all, Dustin? That's all?" Eddie gave a sarcastic smile.

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." Dustin nodded his head.

"Piece of angel cake." Rocky winked his way.

"Rocky." Max smacked his arm.

"Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before." Robin looked down at him with a nod of her head. "I mean, they have a few times, and...and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we for this."

"I punched the last one we had and the one before that, and things turned out pretty decently." Rocky nodded to Eddie as he nudged Max. "Tell him."

"He did. Hit in right in the face." the redhead nodded.

"He also hit Steve in the face." Dustin agreed. "Me too."

"Dustin's was accidentally though!" Rocky reassured him. "Not Steve's though. His was 100% on purpose."

"Yeah, that's true. I deserved it." Steve nodded with a scratch to the back of his neck. "We usually rely on this girl who has superpowers. But, uh, those went bye-bye so.."

"So we're technically in more of the-"

"Kinda..."

"You know..."

"Brainstorming phase." Max confirmed for the trio.

"Brainstorming." Steve nodded with a point in her direction.

"What she said." Rocky tossed his thumb toward Max's face. "She's usually right. Trust Max. Don't let her red hair throw you off, she's not so bad."

"There's-There's- Theres nothing to worry about." Dustin shook his head in Eddie's direction.

"Zilch." Rocky pursed his lips with a nod. The sound of sirens wailing in the distance made them all panic.

"Tarp." Robin spoke fast as Eddie jumped in the boat, Rocky tucked him in before they hurried to the window, seeing the police cars passing the house and going off into the distance.

"We should go." Rocky spoke up. "What if it's a clue?"

"A clue, Sherlock?" Max gave him a look.

"Yes, Watson, clues." Rocky grabbed her arm to pull her with him.

"Here, Nance, hydrate." Rocky gave her a gatorade after Dustin explained the news to her.

"So you're saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it's from the Upside Down?" Nancy asked, getting the story straight. Max moved over for Rocky to sit next to her, their arms and legs pressed together.

"If the shoe fits." Steve nodded.

"Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell of a curse." Dustin squinted from the sun, looking across the table at her. "How, weather or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know."

"All we know is this is something different." Max summed it up quickly. "Something new."

"Doesn't make sense." Nancy shook her head.

"Neither did the Mindflayer or Demogorgan but look at us now." Rocky shrugged his shoulders.

"No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense." Nancy met Rocky's eye. "I mean, why them?"

"Maybe they were just in the wrong place?" Dustin suggested.

"Like the kids that were taken into the upside down. Barb, Will. There was no reason, it just was." Rocky explained his own theory.

"Chrissy and Fred were both at the game." Dustin pointed out.

"And near the trailer park." Max agreed with him.

"We're at the trailer park." Steve looked around hesitantly. "Uh, should we maybe not be here?"

"For once, I agree with Steve The Hair Harrington." Rocky mocked as he adjusted, causing him to bump into Max some more.

"There is something about this place." Nancy had to agree with the pair. "Fred started acting weird the second we got here."

"Acting weird as in...?" Robin trialed off in questioning.

"Scared." Nancy shook her head. "On edge. Upset."

"Max said Chrissy was upset too." Dustin recalled his memory.

"She wasn't here. She seemed happy that she-" Rocky dropped his voice to a whispered. "-was with Eddie."

"She was crying in the bathroom at school." Max nodded alongside his statement.

"Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?" Robin got their attention again. "So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman-"

"Vecna." Dustin corrected.

"Dunno about you guys, but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone." Steve rubbed the side of his face.

"Unless they thought they were going crazy. Like it wasn't real." Rocky had to pointed out. "A figment to their imagination."

"Or they might have and were convinced it was in their head." Max agreed with him. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms.Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you...you wouldn't go to the police. They'd never believe you. But you might got to your-"

"Your shrink." Robin cut her off in realization.

"Can we go now then?" Rocky suggested as he stood up.

"For once I agreed with him." Steve hummed as they stood up, all heading toward the car. Nancy took a turn and was walking off. "Woah, Nance. Nance! Where you going?"

"Oh, there's just something I wanna check on first." she shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Something you maybe wanna share with the rest of us?" Dustin held his arms out in disbelief.

"I don't wanna waste your time. It's a real shot in the dark." she explained with a shake to her head.

"Nancy, are you insane?" Rocky looked over the car.

"Flying solo with this Vecna on the loose?" Steve asked in disbelief. "No, it's too dangerous. You need..you need someone to..."

"Oh my god, kill me now." Rocky gagged as Max hid a grin.

"Here. I'll stick with Nance." Steve tossed the keys toward Robin. "You take the car, check out the shrink."

"I don't think you want me driving your car." Robin said honestly.

"Why?" he gave a questionable look.

"I don't have a license." Robin shook her head.

"Why don't you have a license?" he repeated in annoyance.

"I'm poor." she shrugged.

"Ah, tell it how it is." Rocky hummed. "I have a license, also a little poor though."

"Absolutely not." Steve shook his head.

"I can drive." Max shrugged.

"No, never again. Please." Steve begged in a panic.

"I thought you did okay." Rocky sneaked a grin back to her.

Dustin shrugged as Steve shook his head. "No chance."

"Come on." he huffed.

"All right, okay. This is stupid." Robin walked over, dripping Steve's keys in his hand once again. "Us ladies will stick together. Unless you think we need you to protect us."

"They forgot you were a girl." Rocky mocked Max with a snort, pulling the door open.

"You're a freaking genius, California." Rocky gasped when Max came from the councilors house with a set of keys. "A freaking genius."

"About time you noticed." she rolled her eyes.

"Dustin." a new voice rung from a speaker. "Dustin, do you copy?"

"Is that Lucas?" Rocky sat up more.

"Lucas? Where the hell have you been?" Dustin huffed in annoyance and disbelief.

"Just listen." he called from the other end. "Are you guys looking for Eddie?"

"Yeah and we found him, no thanks to you." he said in return, holding his walkie closer to his face and nearly taking Steve's eye out with the antenna.

"You found him?" Lucas questioned in shock.

"He's at a boathouse on Coal Mill Road." Dustin shrugged in return. "Don't worry. He's safe."

"You guys know he killed Chrissy, right?" Lucas panicked from the other line.

"Poor thing is so out of the loop." Rocky shook his head as he adjusted in Steve's painfully waxed leather seats.

"That's bullshit!" Dustin rose his voice. "Eddie tried to save Chrissy."

"Then why do all the cops say he did it?" Lucas voiced his confusion. Max leaned over the seat, Rocky cleared his throat loudly and looked out the window.

"Lucas, you're so behind it's ridiculous, okay?" Max took the walkie. "Just meet us at the school. We'll explain later."

"I can't." Lucas inhaled. "I think some real bad shits about to go down."

The line fell.

"Oh what a tease!" Rocky huffed from the back.

"What bad shit?" Max asked, getting nothing in return. "Lucas? Lucas?"

"Dustin, do you copy?" Robins voice rung over the walkie as the small group walked through the hallways. Rocky and Max taking the lead, side by side.

"Yeah, I copy." he exhaled.

"So, Nancy's a genius." Robin gushed in return. "Vecn's first victims dates back all the way to 1959. Her shot in the dark was a bull's-eye."

"Hey, Max. If your scared, i'll protect you." Rocky flashed a side smirk.

"Boo!" Steve yelled, making Rocky scream. "Oh, yeah."

"Such a good protector, tough guy." Max gave a snort as she walked before him. Rocky gave Steve a look of betrayal as he held his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now." Dustin informed the girls.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Breaking and entering into school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files." Dustin said back casually.

"Every day things." Rocky agreed, pushing the door open. "I do not miss this place."

"You came to the school councilor?" Max looked back at him.

"Yeah, my teachers use to make me come and talk about my Dad to 'resolve my anger' or whatever that means." he shrugged, taking the stress ball from the desk.

"They're bullshit." Max pointed out.

"Very." Rocky agreed, chunking the stress ball at her shoulder and catching it when it came back.

"Can you repeat that?"

"Just get your ass over here, stat. We'll explain everything."

"It's like a mini-Watergate or something." Dustin spoke, looking around the office. "Hawkinsgate."

"Wait a second. Didn't those guys get caught?" Steve looked at a file on the desk.

"Here." Max handed Rocky his file. "What's W stand for?"

"Walter." he hummed.

"Rocky Walter Byers." she gave a snort. "That's terrible."

"I know right?" he agreed.

She went back to looking. "Holy shit."

"You found it?" Dustin walked closer.

"Yeah, and not just Chrissy's file. Fred was seeing Ms.Kelley too." Max pulled out two files as Rocky got off the desk and looked over her shoulder. She looked through Chrissy's while Rocky took Fred's, looking for anything that might lead them to Vecna. "Rocky, can I see Fred's file for a second?"

"Yeah." he passed it her way. Max was quiet. "What is it?"

She was quiet. Rocky kneeled down on her level. "Max's, what's the matter? What is it?"

"Max?"

"Max."

"Max."

•

kylie speaks

i can't be the only one who
thinks ms kelley has a bigger
part in the whole vecna story,
right?