Chapter Text
On a fine and gloomy day, Nancy Wheeler is standing in an empty field cocking her AK-47. The grass rustles from side to side, as a red pustulent gash forms from the earth. A loud blood curdling screech comes from the ground as a Demogorgon ravenously crawls from the ground to the real world, standing on the ground and standing in front of Nancy.
“Fine morning today Ms. Wheeler,” The Demogorgon says in a chipper British voice
“Oh my goddd!” Nancy exclaims at the familiar voice, strapping the Ak-47 to her back as she continues, “Terry is that you!”
“It is,” says Demogorgon Terry, “And I have brought Dairy Queen for the gang.”
Almost as if a sleeper agent was activated, six more demogorgons pop out of the ground, making an even formation as they begin dancing, all singing, “Gang. gang, gang, gang ,gang, gang, GNARLY”
All of a sudden there is a loud roar of a car engine and tires on dirt breaking the songful reunion between Terry and Nancy. A Stationwagon drifts to a stop just a few meters away from Nancy as the window lowers at an excruciatingly slow pace, eventually the smug face of Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington appears with Reba McEntire’s I’m a Survivor blasting from the stereo.
“Oh my gosh,” Nancy exclaims, “You sold that shitbox and got yourself a wagon???”
Steve sighs in content as he nods, “yeah, I’m just turning a new leaf, really leaning into my motherhood.”
Three heads pop into view, Will Byers, Dustin Henderson, and Lucas Sinclair, they hop out of the car to greet Nancy.
“Aww, hey guys,” Nancy says as she waves at the group, “I’m really proud of you Steve, this is so good,”
Steve Harrington cooks up a goofy smirk, "As a single mom I must make good choices for the sake of the kids."
Nancy nods, “yeah.” an awkward beat if silence passes before she comes to a realization, “wait, why are you here?”
“I’m here to pick you up. What else?”
Nancy stares at Steve for a long moment, “Oh! Yeah, to the radio station right?”
“Yes, I am here to take you on a noble quest in my valiant steed. A quest Will asked me to give you.”
Nancy nods and struts onto the top of Steve’s Stationwagen, “lets go boys,”
“Yes, let’s hit the road.” Steve stomps on the gas pedal, the car drifting as he speeds away to the radio station he and his best friend Robin Buckley work at.
At the radio station Robin pulls out a dusty record and puts it into the record player. “Good morning, Hawkins! This is WSQK the Squawk. I hope you brought your radios with you because we have an amazing track for you today,” Robin says into her mic as she begins to press play on the record player, “this is, Radio Gaga by Queen.” Robin hears tires screech to a halt, as she looks out of the window she sees a red station wagon. “Steve!” she exclaims before looking just a few feet up at Nancy atop the car, “Nance!”
“Robin!” Steve says as he opens his arms wide with pride only mother can have.
It takes a good three minutes for Robin to run down the stairs of her radio station to get outside before she hugs Steve. They hug and then Steve gestures to the kids to meet their auntie Robin. “Aunt Robin!” all the kids exclaim as they run up and tackle Robin into a hug. Robin extends her arms and gives them each a good knucklehead. The group all laughs as they begin to clamor into the radio station. There is a large table and table top gaming set, Dungeons and Dragons.
“Wait, Steve,” Nancy starts as she looks at him, “what was the quest Will had for me?”
Will turns on a spinny chair and clasps his hands, revealing a purple wizard hat. He puts his hands together like a scheming villain, “well, well, well… the quest…” he pauses for an unnecessarily long moment, “we are to complete a dungeon crawl my dear pupils,”
“Where exactly?” Lucas asks, on the brink of sarcasm.
“Up your butt,” Will says sarcastically -he’d been spending too much time with Max recently-, “In D&D obviously,” he says as he gestures down to the mountain of D&D supplies laid out on the table.
“I almost feel like we are missing something though,” Steve says looking for any missing thing not on the table.
“Is THIS your card?” Robin says with a smirk as she pulls a family size bag of Chex Mix from behind her ear.
“Oh yeah!” Says Will, “But we're actually missing someone…” The whole group lets out a collective hmmmmmmm, as they think for whomever they may be missing. All of a sudden as if the person were Pennywise the Clown, Vecna bursts from the floor, does a triple backflip, and lands on a chair. He pops a hip as he puts a hand on his hip, three inch long radioactive pink looking stiletto nails adorning his fingers and a pair of dainty heels at his feet. Everyone in the radio station cheers and the audience -yes you the audience- cheers out of sheer excitement. “Bestie!” Will squeals, “You made it!”
“You know I would never miss any dungeon crawls bestie!” Vecna says. The group all collectively smiles together as they begin to sit down at the table to begin their D&D session.
“So. I’ll set the scene. You’re in a tavern, having a pint. A mysterious stranger shows up. What do you do?”
Meanwhile…five miles away in the Wheeler house.