Steve
Mayor Kline stood at the podium, grinning like politician sensing photo opportunity.
"Today marks new page for Hawkins! Starcourt Mall will bring economic growth, jobs, and prosperity to our community!"
Applause from the crowd. Businessn, reporters, curious citizens watching the ceremony.
I stood at the back with Robin, Eddie, and Chrissy. Watching dirt get symbolically turned, knowing what would be built beneath that dirt in six months.
Russian base. Drilling operation. Gate beneath the food court. Season 3's entire catastrophe.
"You're tense," Robin observed. "It's a mall."
"A lot can go wrong with construction."
"Like what? Faulty wiring? Zoning disputes?"
Like foreign intelligence drilling to another dinsion, unleashing Mind Flayer possession, and getting people killed.
"Sothing like that."
Eddie
Steve's intensity about the mall made no sense. It was shopping center, not dinsional threat.
Unless...
"You know sothing," I said. "About this place. About what happens here."
"I know construction projects can be complicated."
"That's not an answer."
"It's all you're getting."
He photographed the site from multiple angles. Marked positions on his map. Calculated sight lines and access points.
Planning. Always planning.
"This is Season 3, isn't it?" I whispered. "Whatever cos next after we beat the Mind Flayer. This place is important."
Steve's corruption pulsed. "Yeah. In about a year, this becos ground zero for next crisis."
"What kind of crisis?"
"The kind that kills people if I don't prepare properly." He finished photographing. "Co on. I need to make a purchase."
Steve
The warehouse sat adjacent to the construction site. Old building, mostly abandoned, structurally sound.
Perfect.
The owner was elderly, tired of property taxes, willing to sell cheap.
"Fifty thousand cash," I offered.
"For this dump? Son, it's not worth—"
"It is to . Access to the mall site, potential business location, strategic value." I wrote the check—investnt money, carefully saved. "Take it or I walk."
He took it.
Robin watched the transaction with confusion. "What are you planning?"
"Insurance. When next crisis hits this location, I'll need underground access. This building provides it."
"Underground access to a mall?"
"To what's beneath the mall." I pocketed the property deed. "Russians are going to dig under it. Open another gate. I need ability to sabotage their operation."
"How do you know Russians—" She stopped. "Right. You just know."
"I just know."
Billy
Photographed the two Russian agents from my car. They watched the groundbreaking ceremony, took notes, asured distances.
Professional surveillance. Military precision.
Called Steve imdiately. "Your foreign friends are very interested in the mall."
"Expected. They're planning long-term operation. Won't start drilling for six months, maybe more."
"How do you know when they'll start?"
"Tiline projections. Strategic analysis. Educated guessing."
"Or you actually know the future and won't admit it."
Steve's pause confird it. "Billy, can you keep watching them? Docunt their presence, track movents?"
"Yeah. Gives sothing useful to do besides anger managent." I zood in on the agents. "Steve? Thanks. For giving purpose beyond being Neil's punching bag."
"You're welco. Just... stay safe. Russians are dangerous."
"So am I."
"That's what worries ."
Chrissy
Found Steve at the construction site after everyone left. He stood alone, staring at the empty field.
"What are you seeing?" I asked.
"Next year. Fire. Possession. People dying because I won't be fast enough." His corruption pulsed. "I'm changing events, but the threats keep coming. Barb lived, Bob's surviving, Dart's contained. But Season 3 still looms. Russians still build their base. Mind Flayer still cos back."
"Because you can't prevent everything."
"I should try."
"You are trying. Too hard. It's killing you." I took his hand. "One apocalypse at a ti, rember?"
"They overlap. While fighting this one, next one's already building." He gestured at the empty construction site. "In eleven months, this becos battlefield. People will die here. Maybe people I love."
"Then we prepare. Like you always do." I squeezed his corrupted fingers. "But right now? Focus on beating Mind Flayer. Survive that first."
He pulled close, held tight. "What happens when I run out of preparations? When ta-knowledge isn't enough?"
"Then we adapt. Survive together."
"Together."
But his eyes held doubt—the weight of seeing too many futures, preventing so tragedies while watching others approach.
Steve
Night fell over the construction site. I stood alone with my new property deed, my knowledge of coming disasters, my desperate preparations.
Starcourt Mall would open July 4th, 1985. Russians would activate their drill days before. Mind Flayer would possess Billy and thirty others. The Spider Monster would erge. Battle would rage through the mall.
And in the original tiline? Billy died. Hopper died. El lost her powers.
Can I prevent that? Save everyone again? Or am I just delaying inevitable tragedies?
The Mind Flayer whispered: You cannot save them all, traveler. Each victory costs pieces of yourself. By the ti Season 3 arrives, how much of you will remain? Will you even survive this season's finale?
"One apocalypse at a ti," I said aloud.
But they kept coming. Overlapping. Building. Cascading.
I walked back to my car, property deed in corrupted hands, knowing I'd bought strategic advantage for battle I'd have to survive this one to reach.
Keep moving forward. Keep preparing. Keep saving who I can.
The corruption agreed, pulsing darker in the cold November air.
343 days until Season 3.
But first, I had to survive the next three days.
The assault on the Mind Flayer's hub was coming.
And I had no guarantee I'd survive it.
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