꧁The Upside Down꧂

꧁003꧂

"Steve!" 003 screams, causing the vines and everything around her to explode. She jumps to her feet as Robin, Nancy, and Eddie come running towards her and Steve. Steve. 003 spins around and runs the last few feet towards him grabbing one the bats by its head and tail, ripping it in half with the help of her powers. She hear a screech coming from behind so she spins around, letting Nancy and Robin help Steve, to see a swarm of bats flying towards the group. Before they can get too close, 003 throws her hands out and creates a "wall". She uses her powers to connect to each of the bats. She starts to slice them in half with her powers, it's a long process, 003 starts by slicing their skin open right down the middle then slice through their bones and organs. She snaps them in half the rest of the way, bending her elbows and bringing her arms closer to her chest. The bats fall dead, split cleanly down the middle.

"Jesus Christ. Jesus H. Christ." Eddie drops his oar and looks at the hundred dead bats 003 just killed in under a minute. 003 walks over to Steve and checks his wounds.

"Are you okay?" She asks, looking up at him.

"I think I lost a pound of flesh, but other than that? Yeah never better." Steve says and 003 nods.

"That's good." 003 says, trying not show how relived she actually is.

"You think they carry rabies?" Robin asks looking at the dead bats.

"What?"

"It's just that rabies are my number one fear because by the time symptoms set in, you can't do anything, you're already dead. I just think we should get checked out by a doctor sooner rather than later is all I'm saying." Robin rambles.

"Oh really? 'Cause I was thinking we should stick around a little longer, see the sights." Steve says looking around.

"Yeah well, we may not have a choice in that matter. They seem to, uh, be blocking the door." Eddie says looking towards the gate. The rest of the group all steps next to him and looks at the gate to see six bats sitting next to it.

"Alright, uh, we can take them, it's not that
many-" Steve is cut off by hundreds of more bats flying towards the group.

"You were saying?" Robin asks.

"I can take 'em" 003 says, stepping in front of everyone else.

"Yeah not a chance," Eddie says grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "Even with that slicing thing you did there's too many of them." 003 sighs and crosses her arms.

"You got a better idea?" She asks, annoyed that she can't just do what she's trained her whole life for.

"Yeah, we can take cover in the woods. Come on!" Nancy says running towards the wood behind us. The rest of us following after her.

"More running- awesome." Robin says as she trials behind.

꧁✯꧂

The group of teens finally settle under skull rock- well the creepier, vine covered skull rock. They hear more bats flying over head.

"Okay, that was close," 003 nods.

"Yeah, too close," Eddie says. Out of the corner of 003's eye she can see Steve slump against the rock behind him.

"Steve? Jesus." Nancy says looking at him.

"Боже мой," 003 says, getting a closer look herself.

"I-I'm fine," Steve says and 003 shakes her head.

"No, you're not. You're losing too much blood. Sit down." 003 says and glares at him when he doesn't move. "Now, Steven." He sits down and 003 kneels in front of him. She rips the bottom of her shirt, using a little bit of her power to do so.

"Y'know that's not my name right?" Steve asks 003 and she rolls her eyes.

"How about we talk about this when you're not dying." 003 mutters quietly.

"So the good news is I'm pretty sure wooziness is not like a common rabies symptom but if you start to have muscle spasms or like hallucinations or if you suddenly feel super aggressive like you want to punch me or something then you would totally let us know-" Robin says and Steve cuts off her rambling.

"I... kinda want to punch you." Steve says to Robin and 003 snorts.

"That's not rabies, that's just annoyance." She retorts.

"Okay, so you have your sense of humor that's good."  Robin says optimistically.

"This is gonna hurt like hell," 003 says. Steve nods puts his hands behind his head looking up at the sky. She wraps the strip of her shredded shirt around his waist tying it as tight as possible.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, well, I couldn't just let you bleed out and die." The two teens lock eyes for a few seconds before 003 looks away. "Can you turn around? I need to make sure it's tight enough." Steve turns around and 003 secures the cloth and pats his shoulder slightly. "You're good to go."

"So this place, it's just like Hawkins except with monsters and nasty shit?" Eddie asks.

"Pretty much."

"So I've been told," 003 says, nodding her head.

"Hey, watch out for those vines. It's all a hive mind." Nancy warns when Eddie nearly steps on a vine.

"What?" Eddie asks.

"All the creepy crawlies around here are like one, or something. Step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on Vecna." Steve explains.

"Oh, shit."

"But everything from our world is here right? Except like, people, obviously?" Robin asks.

"As far as I understand, yes." Nancy says, nodding her head.

"How much do we actually know about this place?" 003 asks.

"Not nearly enough," Nancy says looking in 003's direction.

"So then theoretically we could, like, just go to the police station or whatever, grab some guns and grenades or whatever we need, and blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate." Robin says explaining her plan.

"I kinda doubt the Hawkins police have grenades but guns, sure." Steve says.

"Yeah well, we don't have to all the way downtown for guns. I have guns, in my bedroom." Nancy says and 003 raises her eyebrows at Nancy while Eddie jumps off of the rock he was standing on.

"You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns plural in your bedroom?" Eddie asks.

"Full of surprises isn't she?" Robin asks and 003 nods her head.

"A Russian makarov and Lonnie Byers' revolver." Nancy says and Steve finally stands up.

"You almost shot me with that one." Steve says.

"And you almost deserved it."

"I'm sorry did you say you have a makarov?" 003 asks incredulously. Nancy nods her head.

"Yep."

"That's one of the greatest weapons my country has ever made. And you have one?" 003 asks happily.

"Uh huh." Nancy says and 003 smiles.

"Can I use it?" 003 asks.

"I mean, yeah. It'll be good to have someone else that knows how to shoot a gun." Nancy says, nodding and 003's smile widens. 003 has to stop herself from rambling on about her favorite weapons. If they didn't think she was crazy before they definitely do now and for some reason that bothers 003. Eddie throws Steve his denim vest.

"For your modesty dude." Suddenly the ground begins to violently shake and 003 throws her hands out to the side, using her powers to stabilize everyone else completely forgetting to connect her mind to her own feet. She starts falling forwards but someone wraps their arms around 003's waist bringing her to an upright position before she can fall forward. 003 glances backwards at Eddie and nods her head once at him. She redistributes her power some of it going to herself to keep her stabilized as the ground continues to shake. The shaking subsides a few seconds later only to be followed by the screaming of the weird ass creatures that live in the upside down. The noise dies down but everyone stays silent and 003 stretches her consciousness out to see if any creatures are near by. When she decides it's clear, she steps out of Eddie's grip.

"Thanks." 003 says.

"Yep." He speaks again after a pause. "Hey yeah so guns sound like a pretty good idea to me." 003 nods her head and wipes the small drop of blood from under her nose. 003 realizes that she might be using too much of her power. After they get Nancy's guns she should be able to take a break from using her power; if she uses too much of her power she won't have anything left in an emergency. Especially since they're in the motherland of all monsters.

"Me too." Robin says and 003's brought out of her thoughts by Robin's voice. She needs to be focusing on their surroundings not her own problems.

"So what are we waiting for?" Steve pulls on the vest and Robin stares at him. "Whatever you're about to say- don't." Steve starts to walk off and the rest of the group all shares a look before following behind him, 003 at the back of the group.

꧁✯꧂

003 had been following behind the rest of the group to make sure everyone is within eyesight. It's her responsibility to keep everyone safe and if anything happens to anyone here, it'll be her fault. Suddenly the ground begins to shake again and 003 throws her hands towards the four other teens and uses her power to stabilize their feet, forgetting about herself again. She stumbles for a second and Steve glances over his shoulder at her.

"Three! Catch yourself! We're fine!" Steve yells over his shoulder at her. 003 grunts under the weight of protecting everyone else as Nancy takes off further into the woods ahead of the group.

"Nancy where are you going? Nancy!" Robin yells after her. The shaking subsides and Steve spins around to see 003 kneeling on the ground seeming to catch her breath. Steve carefully makes his way over to the superhero, Eddie right behind him.

"You okay?" Steve asks and 003 nods, slowly rising to her feet.

"'M fine. My power's just low." 003 says and Steve uses the bottom of Eddie's vest to wipe the blood running from her nose. She starts walking after the girls and the boys follow after her.

"I thought you'd be bleeding more if your battery was getting low?" Steve says, remembering what Dustin's told him about Eleven's powers.

"My father made me train until I was so good at using my powers that I only bleed when I'm running low on energy. It's like my bodies warning sign that I need a break or I'm going to completely run out of energy. And considering how much I've used my powers today- even for little stuff- it eventually starts to add up." 003 explains and Steve nods his head and they continue to walk towards where the girls ran off to.

꧁✯꧂

We all walk into Nancy's house and look around.

"When's the last time you got a maid, Wheeler?" Robin asks the girl.

"You got any knives? One that would be specifically good for throwing?" 003 asks Nancy.

"I don't know but check the kitchen." She says pointing towards the back of the house. 003 nods and starts walking in that direction. "Come on, I don't wanna stay in here longer than we have to." 003 looks around Nancy's kitchen trying to think of the best place to start looking for some knives when she hears feet shuffling behind her. She looks behind her and sees... Steve inspecting the walls? Whatever. His dumbass isn't 003's main priority right now. She starts opening draws that aren't covered in vines when she notices some sort of knife holder but of course all the knives that look like they might be useful are covered in vines. Thanks Vecna. All of a sudden 003 hears Steve screaming Dustin's name. She sighs throwing her head back to look at the ceiling and runs a hand over her face before walking out to the dining area.

"What the hell are you doing Steve Harrington?" 003 asks and he turns to look at her.

"You don't hear Dustin?" He says and goes back to yelling at the fucking walls. 003 crosses one arm over her mid section and rests her elbow against it, resting her hand against her mouth and watches him in bewilderment for a few seconds.

"What the hell is he doing?" Eddie asks and 003 nods her head at him throwing her hand resting under her chin up.

"Your guess is as good as mine. My professional opinion? The rabies are setting in." 003 says and Steve turns to the rest of the group.

"The little shits here, he's like in the walls! Listen, listen!" 003 nods her head as if that explanation makes sense.

"It's definitely the rabies." 003 says as she watches Steve spin around looking at the walls and listening for something.

"Shhhh!" Steve says, throwing a hand up in 003's direction. She raises her eyebrows and crosses her arms. I'm about to make this man wish he was never born, she thinks and then sure enough, 003 can faintly hear Dustin talking.

"And this finally brings us to the question you first raised." All of a sudden now they're all screaming at the walls. What the hell have I gotten myself into?!

"Yeah that's not going to work." 003 says looking at them as if they're crazy- which they are.

"Will found a way." Nancy says.

"Who the hell is Will?" 003 asks as Steve says.

"What?"

"Will. He found a way. To talk to Joyce." Nancy explains to Steve ignoring 003's question.

"Oh yeah. 'Cause that clears everything right up." 003 says sarcastically, rolling her eyes and finding a corner of the table not covered in vines to lean against, while she lets the people who know everything figure this out. They all start hitting the nearest light switches and 003 just stands there and watches. At least this is better than being tortured.

"Everything's dead." Robin says.

"Hold up. Back up, back up." Steve shines his flashlight at the light Robin was trying- and failing- to turn on. "You guys see that?"

"The light? Steve I know you're not the brightest but could you at least try to use the brain God gave you?"  003 says and he turns towards her.

"No, seriously come look." He says and 003 rolls my eyes and stands all the way up. She turns around towards the table look at the light. 003 throughly inspects the light just to humor the child-brained adult and finds that there's some sort of sparkles around the lamp. Nancy puts her hand into the sparkles.

"Whoa.." She says and 003 nods. The sparkles are glowing now and when Nancy removes her hand they suddenly stop. Now it's Steve turn to move his hand around in the sparkles.

"It tickles." Now Robin and Eddie have their hands in the sparkles.

"Kinda... feels good.." they all look at 003 expectantly and she shakes her head.

"No. I'm not eight. I'm not playing with the sparkles." 003 retorts and Steve rolls his eyes and grabs her wrist putting both of their hands in the sparkles and 003 glares at him before focusing back on the sparkles. He lets go of her and she moves her fingers around in the sparkles.

"Anyone know Morse code?" Nancy asks as 003 takes her hand out of the sparkles.

"No." Steve and Robin both say.

"Does S. O. S. Count?" Eddie asks and 003 gives him a look. "Does it?"

"Just put your hand in the damn sparkles and do the thing." 003 says. Eddie shrugs and does as 003 instructed.

"It's working!" Robin says.

꧁✯꧂

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And that's chapter five!! Three's a little sassy in the chapter and I love it!! I feel like her true personality is coming out more and we love to see it!!!

♥︎Bayler♥︎