Cold white light. A hallway that hums like a dying machine. Metal doors. Breathing vents. Distant screaming. And in the center of it all—
Moon.
Not older than eleven. Bare feet on polished linoleum, hair tangled, wrists trembling in restraints that hum with electricity.
Dr. Brenner circles her slowly, like studying a wildfire contained in a glass jar.
"Look at me," he orders.
She doesn't.
Her eyes stay locked on the wall — calm, controlled, unreadable.
"Your power," Brenner murmurs, "is beyond anything this place has ever seen."He kneels to her height. "Beyond Eleven. Beyond One. You were supposed to be perfect."
Moon finally lifts her gaze.
A storm lives inside those eyes. Bright violet — like lightning caught behind glass.
Brenner smiles.
Then—
THE LIGHTS EXPLODE.
Glass shatters. Alarms scream. Electricity bursts from Moon's skin as she levitates rapidly, energy swirling violently around her.
Brenner stumbles back, shielding his face.Moon's voice is soft, trembling, but certain:
"I don't belong here."
She blasts the room apart.
The world turns white—
CUT TO BLACK. THEN STATIC.
HENRY'S MEMORY SPACE — THE ECHO VOID
Floating dust.Frozen clocks.Red lightning across a sky that doesn't exist.
Moon stands in the center of it — older now, maybe sixteen — confused, barefoot, wearing the same thin gown. Her breath fogs the air.
A voice echoes:
"You ran far.""Yet here you are."
Moon turns.
Henry Creel — Vecna's human form — steps from the shadows as if peeled from darkness.
He circles her the same way Brenner once did.Studying. Calculating.
"You're stronger," he says quietly."Stronger than her. Stronger than all of them."
Moon doesn't speak.
He tilts his head."So calm.""So controlled.""So unreadable."
She says one thing:
"Where am I?"
Henry smiles with soft cruelty.
"In my mind.""And you'll be here… until I decide you're useful."
A CRACK OF LIGHT — MOON BLINKS—
And suddenly—
WOODS. DAYLIGHT. FREEDOM.
Moon gasps awake on damp earth.
Birds scatter.The sunlight hurts her eyes.
She sits up slowly, touching the grass as if it's unreal.Her gown is torn.Her hair soaked with dew.
She's confused.Disoriented.
But alive.
She stands, shaky, looking around the quiet forest.
For the first time in years—
Moon is free.
MIKE'S BASEMENT
ARGYLE: "Bro, that plan would get us murdered."
ERICA: "Your IQ is, like, negative three."
DUSTIN throws his hands up."This is why democracy doesn't work!"
The PARTY surrounds a big map of Hawkins, including the Creel House, the lab, and known Upside Down rifts.
NANCY: "Vecna's rebuilding. He's not dead. He's reorganizing."
LUCAS: "So… we hit him first?"
MAX snorts. "Yeah. Before he hits us harder."
JONATHAN shakes his head. "We need something more. Something he's not expecting."
Dustin sighs dramatically."We need someone stronger than El."
Everyone freezes.
El looks down.
Mike opens his mouth to defend her—
Will beats him to it.
"No," Will says quietly. "We need… something different."
A strange shiver crawls up the back of his neck.
Will touches the spot under his ear — the scar that's never stopped hurting.
Something is coming.
Something close.
MIKE'S ROOM
Morning light pours through the curtains.
Mike sleeps on his stomach, hair in every direction.
Will sits on the edge of the bed, shaking him.
"Mike. Mike. Wake up—"
Mike jolts awake, breathing hard like he'd been running.
"Dude—you okay?" Will asks softly.
Mike grabs his sketchbook from the nightstand, flipping pages desperately.
"Mike?" Will repeats.
Mike stops on a page.
A drawing of a girl.Wet hair.Hospital gown.Eyes glowing violent violet.
"Who's that?" Will whispers.
Mike swallows."I—I saw her. In my dream. No—more like a vision."
Will's breath stops.
Because he's seen her too.
Will (quietly, terrified):"Mike… I think she's real."
And between them, in the quiet—
Something electric flickers.
Mike looks at Will.Really looks.
Will looks away fast, cheeks flushed.
Mike's breathing hitches.
Something unsaid hangs heavy in the room.
HOPPER TRAINING ELEVEN
A remote field outside town.
Joyce watches anxiously from a distance as Hopper stands, arms crossed.
"Again," Hopper says.
Eleven, sweaty and frustrated, lifts her hand.
A metal barrel rattles… then flips.She pants for breath.
"You're getting stronger," Joyce says proudly.
El shakes her head. "Not enough."
"Kid," Hopper sighs, "nobody expects you to take Vecna alone."
El looks toward the treeline.
For no reason—
She feels watched.
SCOOPS AHOY: STEVE & ROBIN
Robin is reorganizing VHS tapes alphabetically.Steve eats ice cream out of the tub with a spoon.
ROBIN: "You know you can't just survive the apocalypse by flirting your way out of it."
STEVE: "Why not? Worked so far."
ROBIN: "Steve, your best skill is your hair. This is a problem."
Steve rolls his eyes but something whispers in his chest — a tension, a pressure.
A sense.
Like something is changing.
THE VISION TALK
The gang gathers around Will as he explains:
"I saw her. A girl. In Vecna's memory. She was trapped… like he owned her."
Max stiffens. "Like me?"
Will nods."It felt like she was screaming but couldn't move. And then… I think she escaped."
Dustin: "So she's in Hawkins?"
Will nods again.
Lucas: "Is she one of them? Like El?"
El listens, frowning, shaken.
Will: "She didn't feel evil. She felt…"He struggles."Lost."
A raindrop hits the basement window.
Then another.
Storm starting.
And Will's chest burns—
Something is near.
WILL RIDING HOME
Rain pours like a curtain.Will pedals hard, soaked.
Lightning cracks purple.
He skids, nearly falling off his bike.
And there—
Standing in the road—
Moon.
Barefoot.Hair dripping.Gown torn.Brown eyes confused and tired.
No glow. No threat.
Just a girl.
Will's breath catches.
His voice is barely air:
"…you."
She tilts her head.
The storm intensifies — WIND HOWLING around them.
Will drops his bike and takes a single step forward.
Moon whispers, shaking:
"He found me."
Lightning strikes the road behind her.
CUT —TO —BLACK.
Thunder rolls.
End of Episode 1.