Chapter 20: The Integration
Eleven fell asleep around midnight, curled in the corner I'd prepared with the Eggo box clutched like a teddy bear.
Mike insisted on taking first watch—sitting guard with protective intensity that would've been cute if the circumstances weren't so dire. I let him. Kid needed to feel useful.
The rest of us retreated upstairs to my kitchen.
"So," Dustin said, voice carefully neutral. "That happened."
"That happened," I agreed, making coffee. Needed the caffeine. Had maybe slept six hours total in the past three days.
Lucas slumped in a chair. "We're harboring a fugitive from a government facility. This could get us arrested. Or worse."
"Only if they find her. Which they won't, because this house isn't connected to any of you. My parents are gone, nobody monitors me, and I've been preparing safe spaces for months."
"For this?" Dustin asked. "You knew she was coming?"
Yes. I've known about Eleven since I arrived in this world. Knew she'd escape, knew she'd meet you, knew everything.
"I knew someone might need shelter from the lab," I said carefully. "Didn't know who or when. But I prepared anyway."
"She has powers." Dustin's voice dropped to excited whisper. "Did you see her tense when you came downstairs? She was ready to defend herself with her mind. That's telekinesis, psychokinesis, maybe even pyrokinesis—"
"She's a scared kid first," I interrupted. "Powers second. We treat her like a person, not a weapon."
"But she can help find Will," Lucas said. "That's why we're doing this. Right?"
"Yeah. That's why."
We finished the coffee in silence, each processing our new reality. Lab escapee with supernatural abilities sleeping in my basement. Government probably mobilizing search. Will and Barb missing in another dimension. The Demogorgon hunting.
Just like the show. Except it's real now. Real kids in real danger.
"Get some sleep," I told them. "I'll take next watch. We'll figure out next steps in the morning."
They left reluctantly—Lucas and Dustin biking home, Mike refusing to leave Eleven. I let him stay, set him up in the guest room with blankets and a stern warning to wake me if anything happened.
Then I sat in my basement, watching Eleven sleep, and wondered how the hell I was supposed to protect everyone.
Morning - November 8, 1983
Eleven woke at dawn, immediately on guard. Saw me across the basement, tensed.
"Just me," I said, not moving from my chair. "Morning. You sleep okay?"
She studied me for a long moment. Then nodded cautiously.
"Hungry? I can make more Eggos."
"Eggos." The word came out reverent.
I made her breakfast—four toasted Eggos with too much syrup, the way kids seemed to prefer. Watched her eat with mechanical efficiency, like someone used to limited food access.
"The bad men from the lab," I said gently. "They hurt you?"
Nod.
"Did things to you? Experiments?"
Another nod, smaller. Her hand went to her shaved head unconsciously.
"You don't have to go back there. I won't let them take you."
"Promise?" Whisper-quiet.
"Promise."
She searched my face for lies, found none. Relaxed fractionally.
Mike thundered down the stairs, still in yesterday's clothes. "El! You're awake! Did Steve take care of you? Are you okay?"
El. He's already giving her a nickname. The attachment is forming fast.
"I'm fine," Eleven—El—said slowly. "Steve... safe."
Mike beamed like I'd personally hung the moon. "See? I told you he was cool. Steve's been helping us prepare for weird stuff for months. He's like... our coach. Or general. Or—"
"Mike," I interrupted. "Let her eat."
Lucas and Dustin arrived at 8 AM with fresh clothes stolen from Lucas's little sister's closet. El changed in the bathroom, emerged wearing jeans and a sweater that fit better than the hospital gown.
Almost looked like a normal twelve-year-old girl. Except for the shaved head and the haunted eyes and the way she kept checking corners for threats.
"Okay," I said, gathering everyone in the basement. "We need information. El, you said you know where Will is. Can you explain?"
She hesitated. Then: "I opened the gate. I didn't mean to. Papa made me. The monster came through."
Dustin's notebook materialized. "Monster. Singular? How many are there?"
"One." Pause. "I think."
"You think?"
"The gate... open. Things can come through. Go through. Between."
I filed that away. Confirmed the gate was still active, still permeable. "Will is on the other side. In the dark place."
"The Upside Down," El corrected. "That's what Papa called it."
"Upside Down," I repeated, letting the name cement itself. "And you can find Will in there? Locate him somehow?"
"I can... hear him. If I go quiet. If I focus." Her eyes distant. "He's scared. Hiding. Singing."
Mike grabbed her hand. "We need to get him out. Can you open a gate? Let us through?"
"No." Firm. "Too dangerous. The monster hunts there. More things there. Bad place."
"But Will's alive," Lucas pressed. "You're sure?"
"Alive. For now."
For now. Because in the original timeline, he survives a week before they extract him. But Barb's already missing, the timeline's different, I don't know how long he has.
"We need proof," I said. "Something to show Hopper and Joyce. So they believe us and focus the search correctly."
Dustin snapped his fingers. "Communication! If El can hear Will, can she make a connection? Like a radio frequency?"
"Show me radio," El said.
I grabbed the ham radio from my emergency supplies, set it up on the workbench. "This broadcasts on different frequencies. Can you...?"
El approached the radio cautiously. Placed her hand on it. Her eyes unfocused, nose beginning to bleed.
The radio crackled to life.
Not normal static. Not conventional signals. Sounds that didn't belong—wind that howled wrong, distant growls, and underneath it all, a voice.
"Mom? Mom, are you there? Can anyone hear me? I'm at... I'm hiding in Castle Byers. Please. Please find me."
Will's voice. Distant, terrified, but unmistakably Will Byers.
Mike lunged for the radio. "Will! It's Mike! Where are you? What's Castle Byers?"
Static. The connection wavered.
Will's voice cut through again: "Mike? Mike, is that you? I can't—the monster is—please hurry—"
Then silence. The radio went dead.
El collapsed backward, nose streaming blood. I caught her before she hit the floor, grabbed napkins from the workbench.
"Easy. You did good. Just breathe."
She blinked up at me, exhausted. "Will... alive."
"We heard him. You proved it." I helped her to the couch. "But that took a lot out of you. Rest now."
Mike hovered anxiously. "Is she okay? Should we call a doctor?"
"No doctors. No adults who might report her." I checked El's pulse—elevated but steady. "She'll be fine. Just needs rest and food."
Dustin was already transcribing everything in his notebook. "Castle Byers. That's Will's fort in the woods behind his house. His hiding spot. He's there—or the Upside Down version of there."
"Which means he's maintaining consciousness, using strategy, surviving." I felt relief flood through me. "He's okay for now."
"For now," Lucas echoed. "But how long can he last there?"
In the original timeline, a week. But this timeline's already different.
"Don't know. Which means we move fast. First priority: figure out how to reach him."
"The gate's at the lab," El said quietly. "Papa guards it. Bad men everywhere."
"Can you open another gate? Smaller one, away from the lab?"
She shook her head. "Too hard. Too dangerous. I opened the big one and..." Her hand went to her head. "Hurt. Don't want to hurt again."
Fair enough. Couldn't ask a traumatized twelve-year-old to rip reality open.
"Then we use the existing gate," I said. "Which means infiltrating Hawkins Lab. Getting past Brenner's people. Reaching the gate and figuring out how to cross over safely."
"That's impossible," Lucas said flatly.
"No. It's just difficult." I pulled out my maps. "I've been scouting the lab for months. Mapped entry points, security patterns, shift changes. It's not impossible—just needs precise timing and good intel."
"And what about the monster?" Mike asked. "The Demogorgon—that's what Dustin's been calling it. If we go through the gate, we're in its hunting ground."
Where I need weapons that can actually hurt it. Where Fight Master and preparation might not be enough.
"One problem at a time. First, we establish communication with Will. Let him know rescue is coming. Second, we gather more intel on the Upside Down—what it is, how it works, what threats exist there. Third, we plan the extraction."
El spoke up: "Barb."
Everyone turned.
"Barb?" I prompted.
"Other girl. Missing. She's there too. In the water place."
Nancy's friend. The Demogorgon took her to Lover's Lake somehow—or the Upside Down version of it.
"She's alive?" I demanded.
El concentrated. Nose bleeding again but less severe. "Alive. Hurt. Hiding. Scared like Will. But alive."
Both alive. I can save both of them.
"Then we extract both," I said firmly. "Will and Barb. Nobody gets left behind."
The Party nodded agreement. El looked at me with something approaching trust.
"You're different," she observed quietly. "Not like Papa. Not like the bad men. Why?"
Because I know what happens if good people don't act. Because I've watched too many people die and I'm trying to prevent it. Because I'm not from here and I have the burden of knowledge.
"Because nobody deserves to be hurt or abandoned," I said instead. "You, Will, Barb—you're all worth saving. So that's what we're going to do."
She studied me for another long moment. Then reached out and touched my hand—brief contact, testing.
"Safe," she said definitively. "You're safe."
"Yeah. I'm safe."
Mike pulled me aside while Lucas and Dustin helped El to the bathroom.
"She trusts you," he said. "Already. That was fast."
"I'm not a threat. She can sense that."
"It's more than that. She's been around bad people her whole life. Now she meets someone who just... helps. Without wanting anything. It's new for her."
I want plenty. I want to save everyone. I want to prevent tragedy. I want to change the timeline. But he's right—I'm not asking anything from her.
"Keep her comfortable," I said. "Make sure she knows she's part of the group. Not a tool—a friend. Can you do that?"
"Already doing it."
Smart kid. They all were.
I pulled out my phone, called Hopper. "Chief. Steve Harrington. I have information about Will Byers. You need to come to my house. Alone. And you need to trust me."
"What kind of information?"
"The kind that proves he's alive. And the kind that proves you were right to be suspicious of the lab."
Silence. Then: "I'll be there in twenty minutes."
I hung up and looked at El, who'd returned from the bathroom looking slightly more human.
"There's a police chief coming. His name is Hopper. He's investigating Will's disappearance. I trust him, but you need to show him your powers. Prove Will's alive. Can you do that?"
She nodded slowly. "If it helps Will."
"It does."
Twenty minutes later, Jim Hopper sat in my basement watching a twelve-year-old girl with a shaved head make dice float three feet above the table.
His expression cycled through disbelief, shock, acceptance, and grim determination.
"Jesus Christ," he breathed. "The lab did this. Made her into... whatever this is."
"They did experiments," I confirmed. "Created abilities. She escaped two days ago. And she can locate Will Byers—heard him through radio frequencies, confirmed he's alive and hiding."
"Where?"
"Another dimension. The Upside Down. Parallel version of Hawkins that's decayed and hostile. The lab opened a gate to it. Something came through—the thing that took Will. But he's surviving. Hiding in the Upside Down version of his backyard fort."
Hopper processed this with the expression of a man whose worldview had just shattered. "You're telling me parallel dimensions are real. Monsters are real. And this kid—"
"El," she supplied.
"—El can find Will by listening between worlds."
"That's exactly what I'm telling you."
"And you know this how?"
Because I watched the show. Because I'm from another reality myself. Because I've known this was coming for three years.
"Research. Preparation. Paying attention when others wouldn't." I met his eyes. "Does it matter how I know? Or does it matter that I'm right?"
Hopper rubbed his face. "We need to get into that lab. Reach the gate. Extract Will before—"
"Before the Demogorgon kills him. Yeah."
"Demogorgon?"
"What we're calling the monster. Doesn't have a face, hunts by blood and sound. Currently between dimensions."
"Of course it is." Hopper stood. "I'll coordinate with Joyce. She deserves to know her son's alive. And then we're planning a raid on Hawkins Lab. I don't care about government authority or jurisdiction—they took my town's kids and opened gates to hell. Time to shut them down."
He left. El watched him go.
"Good man," she observed.
"Yeah. He is."
Mike sat beside El on the couch. "We're going to save Will. And Barb. Steve's going to make sure of it."
She looked at me. "You promise? Save them both?"
I'll try. I'll do everything I possibly can. But I can't guarantee success.
"I promise," I said anyway. Because sometimes promises are the only thing keeping people going.
El nodded. Then, unexpectedly, smiled. First smile I'd seen from her.
"Friends," she said. "We're friends now."
"Yeah, kid. We're friends."
The Party had expanded. Eleven was integrated. Hopper was an ally. And we had confirmation that both Will and Barb were alive—traumatized, hunted, but alive.
Phase One complete: Locate targets. Phase Two: Plan extraction. Phase Three: Execute rescue without getting everyone killed.
I looked at the kids in my basement—Mike hovering protectively near El, Lucas and Dustin pouring over maps, El herself exhausted but trusting—and felt the weight of responsibility settle deeper.
This is real. These are real kids depending on me. No retries. No save points. Just one chance to get this right.
"Alright," I said. "Let's get to work. We have a rescue to plan."
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