A/N: Back in our no Doc era...

Warnings: no Doc, sedation, blood, violence, guns, gunshots, child abuse, character death (RIP Bob), mentions of death/dying

Word Count: 4931

The blaring of the alarms throughout the lab caught the attention of Bob and Mike, the former still trying to calm the boy. Mike looked up with a start. "We're too late." He whispered. Bob frowned at him.

"What?"

"We're too late!"

Mike took off down the hall and into Will's room, where Joyce was confusedly walking towards him. "What's going on?"

"We're under attack." He rushed to a counter and picked up a syringe. "We need to make Will sleep."

"What?"

"He's a spy. If he knows where we are, so does the shadow monster."

Will stared at Mike with wide eyes, moving to sit up. "He's lying!"

"He killed those soldiers. He'll kill us, too!"

"He's lying!" Will thrashed about against Joyce and Bob's hands. "He's lying! He's lying! He's lying! He's lying!"

Suddenly, the blast of gunshots could be heard from outside the room.

"Those are gunshots!" Bob warned. They had little time to focus on that when Will was still screaming at the top of his lungs.

"He's lying! He's lying!"

Joyce quickly turned to her son. "Okay, Will, Will, listen, listen. Do you know who I am?"

Will ceased his screaming, staring at her with big, dark eyes that used to glisten in the light. His breathing was labored and he tried to put away his teeth that he was baring. But he hadn't answered the question yet.

"Do you know who I am?!"

"You're..."

Joyce was already beginning to lose hope that Will was still there.

"You're... You're Mom."

The pause was too long, he hesitated too much to be trusted. Joyce turned to Bob with a hardened look. "Hold him down."

Will whimpered out and followed her with his eyes as Bob held him down. "No! No! Let go! No! No!"

His screaming got louder as Joyce filled the syringe and made her way back to the bed. "Let me go! Let me go! No, let me go!"

"I'm sorry," She whispered as she pulled up his sleeve. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."

"Let me go! Let go! Let me go!"

Mike covered his ears as he watched Joyce stick him with the needle.

"No! Let go! Let me go... Let me go..."

Just as his body went limp, Hopper and Dr Owens burst into the room with panting breaths. Hopper took one look at Will and then the syringe in Joyce's hand to know what happened. What had to happen. His attention was pulled back outside where the doors down the hall were being busted open. "We gotta go. We gotta go." Hopper rushed over to Will and picked him up, slinging him over his shoulder and rushing out of the room. Joyce swiped another bottle of anesthesia and followed him out.

The lot of them rushed down a hallway where several scientists were fleeing. They would have been right there behind them had a body not slid across the floor followed by an inhumane snarl. Hopper stopped, forcing everyone behind him to do the same. On their other side, guards were shooting at more of the monsters that invaded the lab. They were directed into a room right in front of them by Dr Owens, locking themselves in. Hopper gently and carefully laid Will on a table.

"Oh, my god."

Everyone turned to Bob, who was facing the screens that showed surveillance of the lab. Around nearly every corner was a small-sized Demogorgon, feasting on unlucky scientists or chasing the ones that were still attempting to flee. Above them, the light began to violently flicker before the screens went dead and the room they were in became pitch black.

"Oh, my god."

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In the Hargrove-Mayfield residence, rock music loudly blasted from the bedroom belonging to the Hargrove teen. Billy lit a cigarette in his mouth and gazed into his mirror, bouncing to his music with a wicked grin as he breathed out the smoke.

Billy applied hairspray to define his curls and dabbed cologne onto his wrists and down his pants. He smiled at himself in satisfaction as he checked how his pants fit snug on his body before he leaned down even closer. He removed the cigarette from his lips and slowly exhaled the smoke onto the glass, sending himself a flirtatious wink.

The knocking on his door tarnished the moment, along with the voice of his stepmother. "Billy?"

"Yeah, I'm a little bit busy in here, Susan."

What tarnished the entire night for him was his father, Neil, booming on the other side. "Open the door! Right now!"

With a silent sigh, Billy lowered his music just a bit and went to his door, taking a deep breath and opening it. Susan, with hair as fiery as her daughter's, stood on the other side of the door with a worried expression. Neil stood beside her very unhappily.

"What's wrong?" Billy asked his father.

"Why don't you tell us?"

"Because I don't know."

Susan answered his question, a lot more gentle than Neil. "We can't find Maxine."

"And her window's open."

Billy looked away, inwardly cursing his stupid, stupid stepsister. She just couldn't stay in one place. Seeing the look of realization on his son's face, Neil widened his eyes. "Where is she?"

"I don't know." Billy quietly replied.

"You don't know?" He scoffed.

"Look, I'm sure she just, I don't know, went to the arcade or something. I'm sure she's fine."

Billy walked away and over to his closet. Neil ran a hand over his mouth and followed him in, watching as he plucked a jacket off one of the hangers. "You were supposed to watch her."

"I know, Dad. I was." Billy sighed and slung the jacket on. "It's just you guys were three hours late, and, well, I have a date." He turned to him and fluffed his hair out from under the jacket. "I'm sorry."

Neil crossed his arms. "So, that's why you've been staring at yourself in the mirror like some faggot instead of watching your sister?"

And that was when Billy snapped. "I have been looking after her all week, Dad! Okay?! She wants to run off, then that's her problem, alright?! She's 13 years old, she shouldn't need a full-time babysitter. And she's not my sister!"

Just as Billy shut his music off, Neil grabbed him and harshly slammed him against the wall. Billy grunted, his face falling into what he hoped was a neutral expression. Neil tried to steady his breathing and keep the rest of his anger at bay. "What did we talk about?"

No response. Billy received a harsh slap across the face that made even Susan wince. Neil grabbed his son's face and turned him to look at him. "What. Did. We. Talk about?"

Billy squared his jaw, the only part of his face twitching being his eyebrows. "Respect and responsibility."

"That is right. Now, apologize to Susan."

He stared his father in the eyes as he inhaled deeply, fighting the urge to cry right then and there. "I'm sorry, Susan."

Susan shook her head at the scene, now feeling guilty about bringing anything up to her husband. "It's okay, Neil, really-"

"No, it's not okay! Nothing about his behavior is okay! But he's gonna make up for it," He turned to his wife, who couldn't even meet his eyes. "He's gonna call whatever whore he's seeing tonight and cancel their date. And then he's gonna go find his sister," He turned back to his son. "Like the good, kind, respecting brother that he is. Isn't that right, Billy?"

Billy was too frightened to even answer, one tear on the verge of falling from his eye.

"Isn't that right?!"

He stared his father in the eyes with a look of terror and humiliation on his face. "Yes, sir." He quietly responded. Neil deeply sighed and stepped closer to him.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you."

"Yes. Sir." He repeated louder this time. Neil's deadly eyes stayed locked on his.

"Find Max."

He didn't need to give an "or else". Billy knew the threat, the promise behind that demand. He watched his father walk out of his room, Susan wordlessly moving out of his way. Billy didn't even wait for her to close the door to let his tears fall, but he did wait to angrily slam his cologne bottle to the ground, covering his face as the glass shattered.

-------------------------------------------------

Max was beginning to grow tired of the boys' consistent talking. She was currently walking beside Lucas, behind Steve and Dustin. They had been walking the train tracks for some time now, shining their flashlights around the area for anything that looked out of the ordinary.

"You're positive that was Dart?" Lucas asked.

"Yes," Dustin quietly replied. "He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."

Max shook her head. "He was tiny two days ago."

"Well, he's molted three times already."

"Malted?" Steve furrowed his brows.

"Molted." Dustin corrected. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

A short silence settled before Max broke it. "When's he gonna molt again?"

"It's gotta be soon. When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."

Steve scoffed. "Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats."

"Wait," Lucas held Dustin by the shoulder, stopping him in his tracks, which caused everyone else to do the same. "A cat? Dart ate a cat?"

"No, what?" Dustin lied through his nonexistent teeth. "No."

"What are you talking about?" Steve continued. "He ate Mews."

"Mews?" Max looked between them. "Who's Mews?"

"It's Dustin's cat."

Dustin widened his eyes. "Steve!"

Lucas shoved Dustin in the shoulder. "I knew it! You kept him!"

"No!" He tried as Lucas raised his brows, waiting on a lousy excuse. "No. No, I... No, I... He missed me. He wanted to come home."

"Bullshit!"

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?!"

"Oh, so now you admit it?!"

Max tried to intervene. "Guys, who cares? We have to go."

"I care!" Lucas turned back to Dustin. "You put the Party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!"

"So did you!" Dustin fired back.

"What?!"

Dustin shone his light in Max's face, causing her to rear back. "You told a stranger the truth!"

Max scoffed with a sarcastic smile. "A stranger?!"

"You wanted to tell her, too!" Lucas continued.

"But I didn't, Lucas, okay?! I didn't tell her!"

Screeching in the distance caught Steve's attention.

"We both broke the rule of law, okay? So we're even. We're even!"

"No, no! We're not even! Don't even try that! Your stupid pet could have ate us for dinner!"

"That was not my fault!"

"Guys?" Steve called out.

"He wasn't gonna eat us!"

"He was crawling to come say hello?!"

"Guys!"

The kids stopped their arguing and turned to the teen in charge, who was staring out into the distance. He said not another word to them, but didn't need to when they heard the screeching. Steve wordlessly walked in the direction of the sound with Dustin and Lucas following behind.

"No, no, no. Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?" Max stayed rooted in her spot. "Hello? Hello?!" She cursed under her breath and hurried to catch up to them. They followed the screeching until they came upon a hill with a view of Hawkins. There wasn't much to see besides tall trees and the fog that blanketed them.

"I don't see him." Dustin spoke.

Lucas held his binoculars up to his eyes and scanned the area until he spotted a darkened building, a pit forming in his stomach. "It's the lab," He lowered his binoculars. "They were going back home."

-------------------------------------------------

From within the lab, little Demogorgons still patrolled the halls that were littered with dead bodies and blood. But in the surveillance room, Dr Owens was marking a map of the lab. "Look, this is us, and this is the nearest exit," He circled a few spots. "But even if we somehow make it there, there's no way out."

"What do you mean?" Hopper asked, shining his light down on the paper to allow Owens to see in the dark.

"The locks are fail secure."

"Fail secure?" Joyce asked.

"If there's a power outage, the building goes on lockdown."

"Can it be unlocked remotely?" Bob asked.

"With a computer, sure, but somebody's gotta reset the breakers."

"Where are the breakers?" Hopper determinedly asked.

"Breakers are in the basement, three floors down."

With that, Hopper headed towards the door. Bob quickly followed.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Hopper turned to him. "To reset the breakers."

"Okay, then what?"

"Then we get out of here."

"No, then the power comes back on. If you wanna unlock the doors, you have to reboot the computer system, and then override the security codes with a manual input."

Hopper fell silent for a second. "Fine, how do I do that?"

"You can't. Not unless you know BASIC."

"I don't know what that means."

It was Mike's turn to speak, "It's a computer programming language."

"Teach it to me." Hopper inched closer to Bob, who scoffed right in his face.

"Shall I teach you French while I'm at it, Jim? How about a little German?" He turned to Owens. "How about you, doc? You speak BASIC?"

Dr Owens sighed. "No."

Bob nodded, already knowing what the solution was and what had to be done. "Okay, I got this," He turned to Hopper. "I got this."

"No, Bob." Joyce slowly shook her head, bringing her boyfriend into a hug.

"It's okay," He hugged back before pulling away and looking into her eyes with a smile that was either encouraging her or himself, he wasn't entirely sure. "It's gonna be okay. Remember, Bob Newby, superhero."

She chuckled lightly with a trying smile, ever charmed by his geeky nature. Bob and Hopper made their escape from the room and to the stairwell. Hopper carefully opened the door that led to another hallway and dragged the corpse of a guard toward them.

"Okay, grab his walkie."

Bob did as he was told, placing the walkie in his pocket and plugging in the earpiece. Hopper nodded and took the gun from the guard's holster. "Alright, you know how to use one of these?"

"No." Bob panted.

Hopper clicked the safety on and off. "Safety on. Safety off," He aimed the gun in an area away from the two of them. "Point. Squeeze." He then handed the gun to Bob, who shakily held it in his hand.

"Point and squeeze. Okay. Easy-peasy."

Hopper moved Bob's accidental aim away from him. "If anything happens down there, I want you to come right back up."

Bob nodded, a sudden dread crashing down onto him. "Right back here. Listen. Don't wait for me. As soon as I get those doors open..."

"I'm gonna get them out."

"Yeah?"

"I promise."

"Okay, well..." Bob nervously glanced down. "I'll be in touch."

Hopper watched as he descended the stairs. Outside the lab, behind the closed gate, a car pulled up to the empty security booth. Jonathan and Nancy exited the car and stared up at the dark building.

"Why are the lights off?" Jonathan wondered aloud.

"Maybe it's closed?" Nancy offered.

"Security took the night off? I don't think so." He headed inside the booth, clicking the button marked 'OPEN', but to no avail. He tried again and again, Nancy walking to his side when hearing the insistent clicking of the button.

"It's not working?"

"No! The power's off."

Nancy's attention was brought to the trees off to the side, rustling sounding from them. "Jonathan?"

"What?"

"I think there's something in the woods."

Jonathan tried to hold Nancy back, but she was heading straight for potential danger within the woods. "Hello? Who's there?" He called out to the light behind the trees, but it only moved further towards them. "Who's there?!"

What they didn't expect to see was Steve Harrington stepping out of the woods with Dustin, Lucas and Max right behind him, and they voiced their surprise in unison,

"Steve?!"

"Nancy?" Steve moved towards them.

"Jonathan." Dustin did the same.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy incredulously asked.

"What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for Mike and Will."

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asked.

"We're not sure."

"What about (Y/N)?"

Lucas stepped forward. "Mike said she went home because she was upset about something."

Nancy frowned. "Well... I was told she was at Sheriece Jacobi's house for a sleepover."

Dustin rolled his eyes. "I called Sheriece and Brenda and they both said she never came to either of their houses. She never spoke to anyone?" He looked around at the group, who shook their heads. "So, basically, no one knows where (Y/N) is in a serious time of a crisis?!"

"Crisis?" Jonathan shook his head. "What crisis?"

From within the lab, the screeching sounded again. Bob had made it into the basement lit eerily by the glow of the yellow light. "Keep it together, Bob." He muttered to himself after jumping at the hissing air from a pipe he was passing by. He tried to swallow his nerves and bile, but the bloodied bodies he shone his light on didn't necessarily help calm him down. Luckily, after stepping around them, he had found the breakers labeled 'MAIN POWER' on the other side of the room. With a breath of relief, he hurried over.

Lever after lever was pulled upwards, casting light onto the once dim lab. In the surveillance room, the group perked up when the lights above flicked on. Mike turned to the screens once they had turned back on to see what was going on outside the room. A smile crept onto his face as the others gathered beside him.

"He made it."

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"Wait, so (Y/N)'s just out there? With those things running around?!"

"Well, she had to have some agenda since she lied to everyone."

"Maybe Will and Mike know where she actually is."

"Okay, so let's find them and ask them!"

Nancy pushed her way through the overlapping voices currently worrying about the whereabouts of her younger sister. She was terrified, herself, but the sudden glow of the lab had distracted her for a moment's time. "The power's back." She announced, hushing the group.

They immediately ran back to Jonathan's car and to the security booth. Jonathan lunged himself inside and clicked the 'OPEN' button, but the gate didn't budge. He continued to click the button in hopes that it would eventually work when Dustin joined his side.

"Let me try."

"Hang on-"

"Let me try, Jonathan!" Dustin pushed him back and began to do the exact same thing. He glanced up at the gate to see if he had made any sort of difference, but he had not. "Son a bitch! You know what..." He slammed his palm onto the button repeatedly.

Inside the lab, Dr Owens sat himself in front of the radio setup in order to communicate with Bob, who he could see on the screens was sitting in front of a computer in a different room. "Okay, Bob, can you hear us?"

    "Loud and clear, doc. Can you hear me back?"

"We hear you."

    "Alright, give me a minute."

The group waited in unsettling silence after Bob stopped talking. Will was still unconscious on the table and Joyce was by his side. Hopper and Mike stood together in front of the screens to monitor what was going on in the halls.

    "Open sesame."

A beep sounded throughout the building, gaining Owens's attention. "It's open." He breathed. Outside, the gate opened and granted the group access to the lab. Jonathan brushed past Dustin, who was proudly smiling. "Hey! I got it!" The Henderson boy chuckled as everyone gathered in front of the opening gate.

Inside, Hopper grinned at the footage displayed on the screens. "Son of a bitch did it."

    "Right, I'll meet you outside."

"Nice job." Owens smiled, watching Bob start to exit the room. When his gaze drifted to another screen, his smile dropped. "Hold on a second, Chief."

Hopper paused from where he was headed out of the room and turned to the doctor. "What's wrong?"

"West stairwell's not clear anymore."

The sight of a small Demogorgon climbing down the stairs could be seen, sending a strike of fear through Joyce at the knowledge that Bob was still out there.

    "What's going on?"

"We've got some company."

    "Where?"

"The west stairwell."

    "I got an idea."

They watched the screen that monitored Bob as he came into view and sat himself at the computer again. They watched in another unsettling silence as he typed away on the keyboard.

    "Okay. And... splash."

On one screen, they could see the sprinklers from the ceilings spray on in a hallway above the creature. On another screen, it perked its head up at the noise and bolted up the stairs with a chitter, stepping on a corpse on the stairs as it went. Owens stared in pleased disbelief. "Okay. Okay, that worked. Now get out of there. Go! Go!"

Hopper picked Will up and carefully slung him over his shoulder. He, Joyce and Mike headed towards the door to leave when Owens quickly stood. "Wait a second, Chief." He handed Hopper his walkie. "Take this."

"What are you doing?" He asked as he took the device into his hand.

"Any more surprises, I'll let you know. Go. Go!"

Hopper sighed and did as he was told, leading them out of the room. Everyone had been so distracted from the screens that no one had noticed Bob hastily leaving the room without the gun.

Mike and Joyce were led through the dead silent lab with Hopper in front of them, gun at the ready. They had successfully made their way to the unlocked exit. Hopper and Mike burst through the doors, but Joyce stopped herself and turned around, heart beating down in her stomach. "Come on, Bob. Come on."

Bob rounded the corner into a silent and empty hallway when Dr Owens contacted him again.

    "Hey, Bob?"

"Yeah?"

    "I'm gonna guide you, okay?"

"Is there a problem?"

    "No, it's just... it's, uh, getting a little crowded up here, so we're gonna have to take this slow."

Bob let out a shaky exhale. "Okay."

    "Alright, just start walking."

He turned forward and cautiously did as he was told, making his way towards the end of the hall.

    "Okay, good."

Bob slowly turned the corner, hoping to god nothing lurked in that hall, but he trusted Dr Owens. He wouldn't lead him to his own demise.

    "Okay, now, your next right."

He followed his instructions and turned down his right, continuing on with his pace picking up the more frightened he became, his light casting on the bloodied bodies lying limp on the floors.

    "Now, keep going, keep going, keep going... Stop!"

Bob skidded to a stop, raising the walkie to his mouth. "What? What?"

    "Bob, there's a door on your left, do you see that?"

He turned to the closed door on his left. "Yeah?"

    "That's a closet."

"Okay?"

    "Yeah, I need you to get in it."

"What?"

    "Now! Right now. Get in the closet."

His light frantically moved every which way and he backed himself into the closet and shut the door, pressing his body against the shelf behind him with a quiet clatter. He flicked off his light to keep from being seen by whatever was outside, his slow breaths stuttering into panted huffs.

From outside the door, he could hear growling before the shadow of the creature casted by the light in the hall bled into the closet. Bob shut his eyes and held his breath as it growled again. His silence must have proven enough for it, for it had stalked away after a few short moments. Bob quietly gasped for air as his heart returned to his chest.

    "How you holding up there, Bob? You alright?"

Bob shakily raised the walkie to his mouth. "Y-Yeah. Yeah."

    "You got a pretty clear shot to the front door."

He nodded as tears of fear and relief built up behind his eyelids. "Okay."

    "You can do this, okay? You're almost home free, alright, Bob?"

As terrified as he was, outside this door may have been those creatures, but past them was the Chief, carrying the young boy he had grown close with, who he hoped to call his son one day. Outside this room was Joyce. She was counting on him. They all were. All he had to do was make it to them. He had to be their superhero. Her superhero.

Creaking the door open, Bob quietly made his way out of the closet. Dr Owens had a view of the entire lab. He was safe. He just had to make it out as quickly and as quietly as possible. As long as he had his strength and Dr Owen's eyes, he was safe. He could do this. He knew it.

And then the mop fell.

It had brushed past his arm too fast for him to catch it, thudding to the floor with a loud smack. His heart slammed against his ribcage in shattering thumps as he slowly turned to his right. The creature hadn't turned the corner yet. It was still at the end of the hall. Slowly turning to Bob. Spotting its next target.

    "Run!"

He needed to hear nothing more for him to start sprinting down the hall. The hell-bent screeches of the creature sounded behind him as he turned the corner. He glanced over his shoulder to see the creature smack against the wall and push itself off of it, surging towards Bob. He let out a scream as he slammed his way through a set of double doors. Down the hall was nothing but his escape, the doors that led to the lobby, that led to the front door, that led to Joyce.

The monster's growling intensified as he reached the door, fiddling with the handle for a second before flinging it open. He slipped through the door and shut it behind him. He backed away from the doors as he watched it budge with the force of the creature throwing itself against it. But he was safe now. He was safe. Exhaling, he bent over and braced his hands on his knees.

"Bob!"

He turned around to find Joyce smiling at him. God, he loved that smile. It was so contagious that he couldn't help but return it. He slowly rose to stand up straight, the world falling peaceful for one second.

Only for it to crumble in the next, when one of the monsters came seemingly from nowhere, tackling Bob to the ground with a screech. Joyce's screams could be heard as he tried to wrestle with it, but it was no use. It was much stronger.

It raised one of its arms and swung down, piercing its nails into Bob's side, the man letting out a blood-curdling scream.

"No!" Joyce cried. "No!"

Just as Bob was faced with the rows and rows of teeth the monster had opened its face to reveal, it reared back a bit when hit with a round of bullets. Hopper had appeared at the sobbing Joyce's side, firing his gun off at the creature. He quickly turned his gun to the two other creatures that had just broken down the door Bob had shut. Three more joined behind them. He couldn't take all of them.

"Go!" He screamed to Joyce. But she didn't listen, not when Bob was being ripped apart by those things. Hopper had no choice but to grab her, no matter how much she struggled.

"No! Bob!" She reached her hand out, a sob escaping her throat when he shakily reached back. She could do nothing but squirm in Hopper's hold as he dragged her to the door, pressing the button to allow them access outside. "Bob! No!"

"What happened?!" Mike screamed when the two were out, the boy holding up the unconscious Will as best he could.

"No!" Joyce screamed as the monsters who weren't feasting on Bob threw themselves at the glass doors. "No!"

"He's gone!" Hopper turned her towards him. "He's gone!"

The sound of a horn honking could be heard, grabbing Mike and Hopper's attention. Jonathan pulled up in his car with Nancy in the passenger seat, his breath hitching at his limp brother and distressed mother. "Come on! Get in!"

Hopper took Will into his arms once again as Mike helped Joyce to the car. At the security booth, Steve was left with the kids. Lucas nervously shifted in his spot as Dustin paced back and forth. Max, at the sound of a car in the distance, took a few steps forward. "Guys?"

Two pairs of headlights shone on them as Jonathan's car sped forwards, Hopper's truck following behind. Jonathan honked to urge everyone out of the way. The four flew back to avoid being run over before he sped past them. Hopper screeched to a stop and put the truck in park. "Let's go!"

Steve sprung into action and opened the door, ushering the kids into the vehicle before climbing in and shutting the door, the car speeding off behind Jonathan once again.

And in the lab, Bob's lifeless eyes were glued to the ceiling, his body jolted this way and that as creature after creature after creature joined in on the feasting of his organs.

Bob Newby. Superhero.