It took a few tries as Steve did his best to split his healing instincts between El and Will. It wasn't that it was too much for him, more that if he wasn't careful one or the other would grab his attention and he'd find himself focusing on one, rather than both. However, no one could accuse any of them of being quitters. 

Eventually he found the balance. He wasn't really sure what changed, but something shifted in his awareness and it suddenly made sense.

"You did it," El said, beaming at him as he blinked open his eyes.

He smiled back. It was a small victory, but he'd take what he could get.

"One more try?" he asked as he dabbed his nose.

He wanted to be sure it wasn't a fluke.

"One more try," El said with a nod.

If there was one thing they shared, it was a need to be sure. Once he had this down, he could worry about what would happen when El and Will needed to use a lot more force.

They set up again and he reached for the balance point.

"Okay," he said and waited for El and Will to slip into the Void.

Their combined power tickled down his spine and he couldn't help smiling to himself as his own abilities answered as they were needed. It was almost peaceful for a while, and then something happened.

Steve felt Will's power spike. He reacted without thinking about it, smashing through that invisible barrier and curling his own energy around the injury forming before it could become anything serious. However, the moment it was done he opened his eyes.

"What was that?" he demanded as Will blinked at him and they dropped hands.

It only took him a second to realise Will seemed as confused as he was.

"Are you okay?" he asked, much more gently as his momentary panic passed.

"I ... yes," Will said, glancing at El.

"What happened?" Joyce asked from where she had clearly been watching them closely.

"I wasn't trying to do anything," Will told his mom in an obvious attempt to stop her worrying.

"But something happened anyway?" El asked, although Steve was pretty sure she had to have felt something going on, just not quite in the way he had.

"Whatever it was, I had to heal you directly," he added, "so I guess at least we know that will work."

As Steve grabbed a Kleenex for his nose, Will's hand went to the back of his neck.

"Mindflayer?" El asked, eyes going wide with alarm.

Will quickly shook his head.

"No," the kid said firmly, "just it kind of felt the same, except for, y'know, the existential dread."

"Can you tell me what happened?" El asked her forehead crinkling as she tried to understand.

"I'll try," Will replied. "When we were in the Void, I felt something and I kind of reached for it before I thought about it, like it was instinct."

"Like me and healing?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, maybe," Will said with a nod as he thought about it. "It felt natural."

Steve gave him a nod, that was how he experienced what he did best. Everything else took far more thought and direction.

"And what happened then?" El asked.

"I think I saw the house, only it was like a monochrome echo, but everyone in it was a bright spot," Will did his best to explain. "Like I was looking through walls to the people, even though I knew the wall was there."

"You saw everyone?" El said, sounding surprised.

"Kind of," Will replied. "It only lasted a moment because I was so shocked it threw me out, but it was like I scanned the area or something."

"Like radar?" that question came from Wayne, who Steve had had no idea was paying attention to what they were doing.

Hopper had most people fortifying the house as well as they could, just in case.

"Yes," Will said as that description seemed to click.

"Did you see the whole house?" Steve asked.

"I think so," Will said with a nod, "most of it anyway. Everywhere there are people. I think I could draw it."

Steve stood up and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from the dining room table and the discarded DnD game. He handed it to Will who leaned on the coffee table and began drawing away immediately. It only took him a few minutes before Will pushed the paper away and let everyone see it. Steve was amazed to see a perfect plan of his home, including parts he knew Will had never been into, with dots for everyone with their initials next to them.

"That's amazing," Steve said.

"I cannot do that," El said, "I must focus on who I wish to find. It is good, Will."

She gave Will a big smile.

"There's one thing you're not seeing," Will said.

"What's that, Will?" Joyce asked.

"I wasn't trying," Will replied, looking over at his mother. "That was just what happened. What if I could scan further?"

"You'd be able to tell us how many men the colonel has outside and where they are," Steve caught on immediately.

Will nodded.

"There might be a way out," Joyce said, eyes lighting up with hope.

"And it'll give us more of an idea of what we're up against," Steve added, because he wasn't sure going outside would be a good idea, not with snipers in the equation.

If their resident geniuses couldn't get a message out there might be no choice, but he was hoping the cavalry would come rescue them. It was a faint hope, but he was trying to look on the bright side. He really was fed up of those who were supposed to be the experts in these things arriving too late to be of any use.

"We don't have much time," Will pointed out, glancing at his watch, "let's try. El if you watch, you might be able to do it too."

El nodded and reached out to them both again. Steve took her and Will's hands and let his consciousness fall into what he was beginning to think of as healing mode. First came the crackle and the warmth of slipping into the Void and he reacted automatically to smooth over whatever that caused within both El and Will. He had a moment to regroup, before he felt Will squeeze his hand. In sync with his younger friend, he matched Will's power with his own, healing as Will pushed and did what he needed to do.

Steve had no idea how long it lasted as Will's fiery energy flared through his awareness. His focus was not time, or what Will was doing. His only aim was to keep Will fit and healthy as Will did it. He was so intent it took him a second to realise he was no longer needed, only coming back to himself when Will dropped his hand.

He opened his eyes to find Joyce had already placed more paper around the first piece on the coffee table and Will had picked up the pen. Not wanting to interrupt, he watched as Will started to draw quickly. The more he saw, the more his suspicions were correct as Will placed dots all around the house while filling in familiar features like the pool, the edge of the woods, the drive and more.

"I couldn't see them clearly," Will said when he finally sat back, "but I think this one and this one might be snipers."

He ringed two of the dots.

Steve counted, there were twelve other dots.

"And I think this is the colonel," Will added and drew a cross over one of the marks somewhere behind the armoured car.

"We cannot get out without them seeing us," El concluded out loud exactly what Steve had been thinking.

"What's that?" Hopper asked as he walked back into the room with Steve's mom close behind him.

"The position of the men outside," Joyce replied.

Hopper looked at El.

"Will has discovered a new part of his abilities," El said.

"We're surrounded," Hopper said, looking at Will's drawing.

None of them could disagree.

"The deadline is almost up," Will pointed out. "What do we do?"

"We sit tight."

Steve was surprised when his mom spoke up. He along with everyone else looked over to where she was standing.

"They want us playing their game," his mom said, hands on her hips in an all too familiar gesture, "so we don't play. They have no way of knowing what weapons we may have, or what El is capable of. All they know is less than two weeks ago, El took down an interdimensional threat with the help of a good number of those in this house. If I was this colonel, I'd be sweating no matter how many guns were on my side."

"He tried to take out El so she wouldn't be a threat," Hopper agreed, nodding.

"So, you think he won't do anything even when his deadline runs out?" Steve checked.

Hopper and his mom both nodded.

"If we do nothing," his mom said, "the standoff will likely hold, at least for a while."

"Give us time to get that message out," Hopper said.

"And I can keep an eye on what they're doing," Will added. "In case they try a sneak attack."

It was all tenuous, but Steve prayed it would work because he really didn't know how it would go if the agents outside broke in. They had El and they had Will, but they were powerful kids, not machines. He mentally cursed his own inability to be as proactive as they were. Moving a ball bearing less than an inch wasn't exactly useful in this scenario.

"Right," he said, standing up and walking over to the snack table at the other end of the room.

He picked up all the candy bars and brought them back to where El and Will were sitting.

"Fuel," he said and sat back down again.

It was his job to keep them going, and by God he was going to do it. Both El and Will dutifully picked their candy bar of choice.

"You too," El said as she unwrapped her Milky Way.

He gave her a small smile and grabbed a kit-kat, hoping that he didn't look as anxious as he felt.

The twenty-minute deadline came quickly and was marked by the high-pitched sound again.

"Your time is up," the cold announcement came, "send out the girl."

Will and Steve had been sitting opposite each other, hands joined, waiting for the deadline for the last thirty seconds. The moment the message came, Steve closed his eyes and focused completely on Will. They had decided El would remain on alert just in case anything did happen, while Will scanned the outside. If it became an attack, they would change tactics.

"No one is moving," Will said after thirty seconds of so.

"Send out the girl."

The announcement came again.

"I'd like to show him 'send out the girl'," he heard Hopper say, even as he concentrated on his task and Will continued to keep an eye on those outside.

"Okay, that's enough," Hopper finally decided some time later. "We called their bluff, let's hope it lasts."

Steve opened his eyes as he felt Will slip back into the real world.

"Can you manage a new scan every fifteen minutes?" Hopper asked.

Will shared a look with Steve and he gave a small nod.

"Yes, we can," Will replied.

"Good," Hopper said, clearly thinking things through. "Right, let's get everyone in here in case the stalemate doesn't last. We'll have a better chance if we're all in the same place."

No one chose to argue with that logic.