A//N: I would like to take a couple of seconds to rant about my awesome parents Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper. What amazing folks they are!

|| 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Joyce fought tooth and nail against the cold restraints securing her in place. She had quickly grown tired with the sight around her, the isolation of the interrogation room in Hawkins Lab. After leaving the children in the care of Jonathan and Nancy, she and Hopper had unsuccessfully attempted to break into Hawkins Lab to enter the gate and find her missing boy. And now she found herself here, waiting around for someone to show as if she had all the time in the world.

As if Will did.

For fucks sake, she needed to get out of here! She needed to save her baby.

"SOMEBODY, PLEASE!" She winced against the sharp metal threatening to cut her skin at her attempts to pry herself free. "LET ME OUT!"

Finally, after far too long the sound of the door unlocking pulls her attention to the entryway. She caught the figure of an older man slinking through the crack in the door and into the shadows where he remains, his back turned to her.

Leisurely, he strides to the far corner of the room, still lurking in the dark when he turns to face her. Moments pass and even in the dark Joyce can make out his glistening, beady eyes locked on her when he finally speaks.

His voice was hollow and dark as if this man had never seen or been capable of anything other than darkness.

"Your son." He says, turning up the dial and boiling her blood with just two words. "We know you've been in contact with him."

The temptation to give in to the blind fury for this man for his foolish gall of acting as if she didn't have the right to save her son, was strong.

"You have to let me—"

"When," he cuts her off, inching towards the edge of the shadows. "and how did you make contact with him?"

A million thoughts race through her mind, each demanding priority. But the only thing she could pull from the masses was,

"What?"

He hums thoughtfully.

"Six."

Once again, she is blindsided.

"What?"

"Six," he states again, coming to stand before the chair opposite her and sheds his coat. "Six people have been taken this week."

He drapes his coat on the back of the empty chair.

"This... thing that took your son... we don't really understand it. But its behavior is unpredictable." With a small smile, he thinks again of his children that have escaped his grip. He pulls out the chair and lowers himself into the light as he takes a seat, continuing. "Like all animals... it eats."

Joyce cast her head down to her lap and shakes her head wearing a sour, disbelieving look as she faces the man before her. She knew all too well who this man was. She had so from Hopper, she had heard so from Becky Ives.

But she knew him as the man responsible for the horror unleashed upon Hawkins. The man responsible for her son's "death."

Dr. Martin Brenner.

But he didn't seem to believe himself responsible. And if he did, he didn't mind lying to her about it.

"It will take more sons." He says. "More daughters. I want to save them."

His lips stretch into an odd, unsettled line that was meant to be a smile but it never once reached his eyes.

"I want to save your son."

More lies.

"But I can't do that. Not without your help."

Joyce had enough of the bullshit. She had had enough of him. She leaned forward with an eery calm that had washed over her.

"Stop."

His calculated eyes never once closed, never once blinked. He just sat frozen, watching her. Joyce almost had to laugh.

"I know who you are. I know what you've done." She shook her head, disgusted. "You took my boy from me! You left him in that place to die! You faked his death!"

He remains unblinking. Unfazed. It was revolting to Joyce, he revolted her.

"We had a funeral. We buried him. And now you're asking for my help?"

The fleeting urge to laugh returned.

It was laughable. The thought that anything — anything — including an alternate dimension, a freakish monster, or! the beast that took her son would stop her from getting her boy back was laughable.

And it was Joyce Byers's greatest pleasure to look this freakish monster in the eyes and give him the only answer she had for him.

"Go to hell."

And Joyce meant it. Every word. She knew she had the upper hand, even in cuffs, cause she was willing to do whatever she needed to to make that happen.

Even if that meant dragging him down there herself.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Hopper's body collapsed on the concrete floors of the interrogation room. He had been met with yet another surge of electricity from the taser gun.

A groan escaped Jim Hopper's lips as he sat huddled into the corner of the room, three agents surrounding him - a woman with short blonde hair and a stern frown stood towering over him. As did an equally intimidating man standing beside her, and a third, balding man who held the taser gun firmly in his hand. Hopper couldn't help but wince from the pain and the foul metallic taste on his tongue that he couldn't shake.

His breaths were ragged and he looked between the three agents - the second man spoke.

"Okay, now what do you know?"

"I'm sorry." Hopper panted. "Did I stutter?"

The man and woman shared a firm look, and Hopper continued to speak. Confidence rose with every word he spoke.

"Everything."

Hopper felt his entire body suddenly convulse when he felt the searing pain of the taser gun stab his upper back.

He cried out in pain, doubling over and spitting up.

"What do you know?" The woman asked coldly.

Hopper panted once more, making eye contact with the woman.

"I know you do experiments on kidnapped little kids, whose parents' brains you've turned to mush. And I know you went a little too far this time and you messed up in a big way."

He never broke eye contact with the woman, who had huffed out in annoyance once or twice as he continued to ramble on.

"I mean, you really messed up, didn't you? Big time? That's why you're trying to cover your tracks."

The two agents suddenly avoided eye contact as Hopper proceeded to list several of the horrible offenses they had committed.

"You killed Benny Hammond, you faked Will Byers' death. You made it look like that little girl just ran away. See, I told you. I know everything."

"All right, who are you working with?" The man asked, anger showing through his clenched jaw.

"Nobody. But I did give all this over to my friend at the Times. He's gonna blow this thing wide open." Hopper's chuckles were quickly replaced with groans of agony when he felt the searing pain of the taser yet again.

Taking advantage of his weakened state, the two men grabbed Hopper by the arms and pulled him into the chair.

The balding man with the taser bent over and got close in Hopper's face.

"You're just a junkie. A small town cop who had a bad week."

The other man grabbed a syringe off of a metal tray as the balding man spoke.

"Took one too many pills this time." The man stepped aside and the woman stepped into view, arms crossed.

"You made a mistake coming back here."

"No, I didn't." Hopper muttered. "Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna let me and Joyce Byers go... you're gonna give us anything we need, and we're gonna find her son. And then we're gonna forget that any of this ever happened."

"Oh, is that right?" The woman asked.

Hopper held his cold gaze, never wavering.

"Yeah. That's right."

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

We were all sat on the bleachers. Mike had a very exhausted and cold El leaning against his shoulder, a towel wrapped around her shoulders. Dustin sat next to Mike and Lucas and I occupied the other bench behind them.

After getting El out of the bath, Joyce and the chief left us with Jonathan and Nancy to go find the gate to get Will.

Meanwhile, we were all still sitting here growing impatient and a little worried as to why Jonathan and Nancy stepped out and haven't come back yet. Mike seemed as worried as I did.

His leg bounced up and down in worry and I sat and stared as I wrung my hands together in a nervous habit.

My attention was ripped away to Mike when, without warning, he jumped to his feet and left the gym calling for his sister and Jonathan.

Moments later, he came back, walking fairly quickly towards us.

"They're gone."

"What?"

"Nancy and Jonathan. His car's gone."

I stand up quickly at the news.

"So, they just up and left us?" I ask angrily.

"They're probably just sucking face somewhere."

My face scrunched up in disgust at the comment and look to my brother incredulously.

"They would never leave us alone for anything like that knowing we are in danger."

"Y/n's right. They would never do that. No way!"

"Did they go with the Chief?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know!" Mike said defensively.

"No." El said quietly.

"What? Did you see them? Do you know where they went?"

We all looked to her hopefully.

"Yes."

"Well, where did they go?" I asked frantically.

There was a small pause before she spoke, making my stomach plunge.

"Demogorgon."

|| 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

Hopper's attention was brought to the door when it slowly opened. A man with white hair, who he had recognized to be Martin Brenner, stepped in. His feet scraping against the floor lazily, indicating his lack of urgency, and he turned to lock the door behind him.

He took one look at Hopper before reaching into his jacket pocket, grabbing a pack of smokes and walked over to the man handing him the cigarettes. Hopper gladly accepted them and took a cigarette out and placed it between his lips. Brenner stood off to the side, hand in his pockets as Hopper lit the small stick of nicotine.

"Where are the children?"

Hopper took a deep elongated breath before speaking.

"You gotta give me your word." He muttered staring ahead at the brick wall in front of him. "Nobody's ever gonna find out about this. And those other four kids, those boys — all of them — your gonna leave them alone. I don’t care if you think he's yours, he's not. He's a got a family, he's a registered citizen. You can't touch him. You can't get away with it, legally at least, but you know know don't you?"

There was a pause as Hopper drew in another breath of the cigarette. He never bothered to look up at Brenner but he didn't need to to know his words angered him.

"Then I'll tell you," he continued. "Tell you where your other little science experiment is."

Brenner watched the man from behind, prepared to negotiate. He found a bitter taste on his tongue at the mention of the demands regarding the second Henderson boy. A small scowl etched his face before it slowly melted away, the gears began turning in his brain. He circled Hopper, knowing he had to choose his words carefully.

"If you give me what I want, I assure you, the children will be safe." He said with a twinkle in his eye.