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The Case of the Secret Starcourt Base… (Part 1)

Summary: The very first jump into official canon! Bea gets roped into a new adventure, Eddie and Wayne get worried, and we begin to discover the Secret Starcourt Base…Part 1 of 2!

Part 3 of The Case Of…series.

One Shot Warnings: Mentions of drugs, Mentions of Alcohol, Original Character is stated to be female.

”You want me to crawl through there?”

Bea wasn’t entirely sure how she had gotten into this situation, standing below a ventilation shaft in the back of Scoop’s Ahoy. One moment she had made a last minute decision to get some ice cream before meeting up with Eddie later that afternoon, the next Steve Harrington was dragging her into the back room with his co-worker, Dustin Henderson and Erica Sinclair.

“Can I ask why?” Bea asked, “Did you lose something or…”

The four other people turned to one another in a huddle, whispering amongst each other.

Bea crossed her arms, she hated feeling like the odd man out. And it’s not like she asked to be dragged back here.

After a few moments, the group separated once more.

”We picked up on a secret Russian Communication, and we have reason to believe that they have a base somewheres in Starcourt.” Dustin said, “I’m telling you this because I believe we can trust you.”

Bea blinked- once, twice.

She wasn’t quite sure how else to react to a statement like that, but she knew Dustin from school and he didn’t seem the type to joke about something like this, especially when he looked so serious.

“Erica can fit through the vents, but she wants someone to go along with her- I remember you from school, your one of the good ones.” Dustin explained.

One of the good ones- a loose term for staying out of peoples business and not being a bully. Bea preferred to stay quiet, too much attention and you’d attract bullies like flies. Dustin and his group of friends were some of the good ones too…Before, she didn’t have anyone to help her face bullies, but with Eddie she found herself opening up more than she ever had- look where that got her now.

“It’s a contingency plan.” The younger girl interrupted. “If something happens to me, you can still crawl back through the vents for help.”

“Which won’t happen because we’ll be talking to you guys through the radio the entire time. All you have to do is crawl through the vents and open the transportation door.” Robin huffed.

“Sorry- but I’m still trying to get over the whole Russian base thing, can I have a minute?” Bea gaped, taking a seat at one of the tables.

“I know it seems scary-“

”Seems!?” Bea gasped. “Sorry, sorry…its just.”

“A lot?” Dustin finished. “That’s why we have to do something, if we don’t, they could hurt a lot of people, people that we care about.”

Bea’s mind flickered, thinking of Eddie and Wayne back home at the trailer park…not just her house, but a physical place that she felt at home at. Walking through the door and Wayne greeting her if he wasn’t at work, or Eddie driving around playing his obnoxiously loud music.

She understood for once, what it felt like to want to protect someone other than herself.

A year or two back, Bea wouldn’t have thought twice about it. She would have walked out the door to Scoops and probably wouldn’t have came back, back then she would have thought them to be crazy.

But then Will Byers disappeared for a week, they had a funeral for him, and then he comes back from the dead with little explanation. Barbara Hollands gets caught up in some sort of Laboratory leak, and Bea’s own father, a doctor who worked at a supposed Energy Lap quits his job abruptly and started drinking away any memory of the place.

There was something strange happening in Hawkins, and Bea finally had a chance to figure out what may be the cause of it.

Sure her palms were sweaty and her heart was racing…but…

“Ok. Ok I’ll do it- but I need to make a quick phone call!”

…

Eddie Munson’s day had been going perfectly fine. He finished a few deals he’d put off while driving Bea back and forth to the library, not wanting the kid to be around while he did the drug deals, and he had plans to meet up with Bea later for movie night. Wayne even had the night off and after much pleading from both Bea and himself, they’d managed to convince Wayne to watch a movie with them.

Bea had peddled off that morning, on the hunt for yet another ice cream cone from Scoops Ahoy and he’d thought about driving over to the mall to pick her up once he finished at the school, but he figured she’d probably already be back at the Trailer Park.

Instead, he walked into his Uncle’s trailer to find Wayne hanging up the phone.

“We’re going to have to postpone movie night tonight.” Wayne announced. “Bea called, apparently she’s been invited to a sleepover with some girls from school, last minute thing but she said it was important. Told me to tell you that she should be free tomorrow night.”

Eddie felt his heart drop for a moment, before confusion clouded his mind.

“Is that all she said?” Eddie asked. “Didn’t say who it was with?”

Bea had told him multiple times that she didn’t get along with many people in her grade, so it seemed out of character for her to randomly drop movie night to go join a gaggle of them. She wasn’t like the other girls, she didn’t like her nails painted or swapping weird romance stories or whatever else girls do at silly little sleepovers.

Bea liked music, books, and she had a newfound love for D&D, she’d even gotten a Hellfire T-shirt just a couple of days ago. Eddie hadn’t ever seen the girl smile so wide when she threw it on over her t-shirt. She was officially part of his crew now.

Maybe he was just jealous, jealous that she’d ditched him so quickly for something more ‘normal’ in the eyes of Hawkins.

But Eddie knew better then that, and he’d gotten to know Bea quickly over the past couple weeks of summer vacation…there was a underlying feeling, a bad feeling that was creeping up.

Something was wrong.

…

Time passed quickly, and night fell over Starcourt in a blink of an eye. Erica stood beside Bea, kitted out in elbow pads, a backpack and a bike helmet fitted with two flashlights.

Bea was pretty sure her single flashlight and one of Robin's sweaters to keep from getting ventilation shaft gunk on her new Hellfire shirt would suffice her just fine, but if all of that made Erica feel safer than who was she to say anything?

With word from Robin and the others topside, the operation was a go. Erica climbed up the ladder first and crawled into the shaft and after a few moments she called back to Bea to tell her to follow.

For once her shorter size paid an advantage, and without the clunky elbow guards she was able pull herself through the shaft with ease. Erica’s flashlights led the way as they followed the route that they had spent the afternoon memorizing.

“We’re here-“ Erica called back, “The storage rooms empty, no guards in sight.”

Bea heard the faint buzz of the radio and Robins voice confirming and they enacted part two of the plan. Erica kicked out the panel and threw her backpack down and Bea shuffled forwards to follow.

The storage room didn’t look like a secret Russian base, if anything it just looked like any other storage unit, full of boxes belonging to that Chinese place in the mall. Maybe they were full of fortune cookies or something.

Bea pulled herself a little closer to the edge, maneuvering her feet around and sliding out into the room. Erica was already one step ahead opening the control panel to unlock the doors.

Glancing around the room, nothing seemed out of place, she didnt see any sort of security camera’s or big signs alerting anyone to a secret Russian base.

She probably should have been concerned about that-

…

Eddie paced around the trailer- there was something off about this entire thing and the more time that went by, the worst he felt about it. Wayne had laughed it off, making a joke that Eddie was acting like a mother hen-

He’d gone over to Bea’s, just to see if she’d come home…but her bike was still missing and the lights were off. Her father most likely at the bar yet again, and wouldn’t be back until the early morning if he wasn’t back by now.

He’d tried to think of some of the kids in her year, but names eluded him and he didn’t want to seem crazy calling a bunch of her classmates looking for her. Even worse would be talking to any of the kid’s parents and trying to explain that he wasn’t family, but she was basically his little sister and she was missing.

Finally in desperation he’d gone out to the van and drove into town, Bea’s newly renovated bike wasn’t hard to miss now that it was ‘sunset orange’ as she still loved to call it. Eddie was fairly sure she was the only kid in town with the colorful bike…and he was pretty sure no one else would be caught dead with a bike that color anyways.

The bike made her happy though- so Eddie kept those thoughts to himself.

Unsuccessful, Eddie turned back around to head home, it was starting to get really late. However, one final idea crossed his mind and he turned down the next road heading towards Starcourt Mall.

The Mall lights were still on, they’d never shut off once since they’d turned on except for that power outage the day before. But he could see through the windows that the shops were closed up for the night, all of the employees already headed home for the night.

Pulling up to the curb, Eddie hopped out of the drivers seat leaving his van on.

Very few bikes were left at the bike racks, but there was one down by the end was the one he was searching for. Sunset orange dulled by the neon lighting of Starcourt, but recognizable to Eddie from seeing it so much.

Eddie pulled the bike free noticing that there was no bike lock to be found-

That was the first warning sign.

Ever since renovating the bike with Wayne, Bea had resorted to chaining it to the bike racks, not wanting it to be stolen by anyone after the time and effort they’d put into it. Usually she only left it unchained if she was planning to be in and out somewheres.

The second warning sign was that Bea was nowhere in sight.

If she’d truly left with a classmate for a sleepover she would have figured out some way to bring the bike, either biking to whoever’s house or having someone pick it up and take it with them. She would have needed it to get back home in the morning as well. But here it was, unchained and alone.

Throwing the bike in the back of the van, Eddie ran back to the driver's seat and floored the gas peddle, tires squealing as he sped off.

This time he took the road towards the Hideaway.

…

“What is that!?” Bea stood on her tiptoes trying to peer around the group huddled around the boxes.

Getting fed up enough she shoved her way in between Dustin and Robin looking inside the box before them.

Steve was the bravest of them reaching inside to grab one of the handle’s of the weird storage container. Robin and Erica backed away with his orders, but Dustin stood his ground as did Bea.

“Back off kid- we don’t know what this is.” Steve told her sharply.

Bea however, having spent the past weeks with Eddie Munson had developed a tolerance to orders- and she didn’t take kindly to them anymore.

“And? If that is something highly dangerous, standing a few feet behind you isn’t going to save our lives.” Bea fixed her words with a classic stare that she used against Eddie.

Steves eyebrows furrowed for a moment before shrugging. Twisting the handle, there was a click, a hiss and he was able to pull a capsule up out of the box. Inside, swirling green liquid gleamed by the overhead lighting, a weird glow cast a green haze over Steve and Dustin’s faces, and Bea assumed her own face was hued with the odd color.

“That’s definitely radioactive gook-“ Bea announced. “Nothing that color is anything that’s safe.”

Everyone glanced between her and the capsule before the floor shook beneath their feet.

Bea’s heart dropped into her stomach and suddenly- she didn’t feel very good, like she’d ridden to many roller coasters.

“You know what- I’m going to wait outside.” She announced quickly, rounding the table and over to the control panel.

“Bea’s right, lets just grab that and go.” Robin followed.

Eyeing the panel before her, Bea pressed the ‘Open Door’ button once.

Waiting a few seconds she tapped her foot before pressing it twice.

“Are these button backwards?” Bea asked her voice raising, her heart skipped a beat and she gave a nervous giggle. “Like is it Opposite Day or something?”

Dustin pushed her out of the way and jammed the button a few more times.

“Just press the damn button nerds-“ Erica scoffed, “Just press ‘Open Doors!?”

“We’re pressing it!” Bea screamed.

Her heart was pounding in her chest and she willed herself to hold the ice cream bowl Robin had made for her, down in her stomach. However, as the seconds passed…that was getting to be more and more difficult.

Steve entered the fray, pushing Dustin over, Dustin pushing Bea over and the three of them began to bicker about the door, Steve slamming his hands all around onto the different buttons.

From the ceiling there came a click and walls descended down over the door’s.

Stepping away, Bea found a spot against the wall as her breathing hitched.

We’re the walls caving in too or was that just her?

For a moment there was only silence except for the ragged breaths erupting out of her chest.

The lights flickered once-twice-thrice-

And it felt like the floor dropped beneath her feet.

Like a rock, Bea sunk to the floor, hands rising to cover her ears as the storage unit- or…elevator? Began its descent to wherever the hell it was going. Unlike Eddie’s shitty driving, or the roller coasters that Bea used to ride on at the fair when she was a kid, this was a speed unlike anything she ever felt making her dizzy and nauseous atop her hysteria.

The others screamed around her, none of them knowing what was happening or where they were going-

As soon as they started going down- the elevator came to an abrupt halt. The boxes around them falling off shelves and the table, Bea’s head snapped back to the wall and she whimpered at the pain. However, the pain was enough to break through her haze and she sucked in air greedily.

“Everyone ok?” Robin groaned, rubbing the back of her own head.

“Everything’s just great!” Steve exclaimed. “Even better now that we know that Russian’s can’t design elevators!”

“Just so you nerds are aware- I’m supposed to be spending the nights at Tina’s, and Tina always covers for me. But if I’m not home for Uncle Jack’s party tomorrow, and my mom finds out you guys are responsible- she’s going to hunt you down one by one and slit. Your. Throats.” Erica snapped.

Bea thought about Eddie and Wayne, Wayne no doubt had accepted her lousy excuse that she was having a sleepover with a classmate- but Eddie? She was pretty sure Eddie wouldn’t fall for it, and could picture him arguing with Wayne over it- but the fact of the matter was she hadn’t told anyone truthfully where she was going. If she went missing, there would be no place to look for her…would Eddie or Wayne look for her anyways?

She wondered silently to herself if she’d ever see them again-

…

By mid afternoon even Wayne was beginning to be unsettled by the silence from Bea. His days off had been filled with the younger girls questions and laughter since Eddie had befriended her. She’d been a good thing. Eddie had been more responsible in these past few weeks then he’d ever been, acting as the younger girls pseudo-big brother. Hell, Eddie and him hadn’t even been this close in years.

By evening he began to question the truth to her story- she’d never mentioned any other friends her age before and stuck to Eddie like glue. The only other friends she’d talked about were friends she’d met through Eddie and his club.

When Eddie had arrived home with Bea’s bike in the back of his van, and reporting a trip to the Hideaway and finding Bea’s father drunker than a skunk along with his friends, Eddie was panicking. Wayne assured him that Bea was fine, she’d sounded fine on the phone, she was probably just trying to fit in…but even Wayne began to doubt his reassurances.

When no phone call came in requesting a ride home in the morning, Eddie headed back out, this time to the Hawkins Library, Bea had an early morning shift and at the very least he could swing in and make sure she was fine.

If he was worried before, Eddie’s anxiety skyrocketed when the librarian reported that Bea hadn’t shown up for her shift that morning, lamenting about how she’d had to report her a no-call, no-show for the first time.

Eddie didn’t stick around to talk and using the pay phone outside he called his Uncle to report his findings, together they decided the next best step was to head on down to the Hawkins Police Station together, something was clearly wrong .

Eddie just hoped this wasn’t anything like the Byer’s incident.

Tag List: @kik51199 @hardysbitch @kaelyn-lobrutto24 @mirkwoodshewolf @maddwich @kastainkniver

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #eddie munson x original character #eddie munson x reader #joseph quinn #joseph quinn x original character #st 4 #strangerthings #stranger things x reader #platonic eddie munson

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