~In the Man Cave~

The weather that night in Swellview was dreadful, to say the least. There was a freak thunderstorm blowing over the city and everyone was on edge because of its intensity, especially Schwoz and (y/n). They were both worried that the rogue electricity in the air would circuit the equipment and technology in the Man Cave, so they were carefully monitoring everything. The tubes were the main problem; their delicate circuitry was particularly sensitive to lightning and it made them go haywire.

"Hey, are Charlotte and Henry back? Did they get the Hawkins tickets from Henry's awful sister?" Ray asked his friends as he jogged down from the sprocket, feeling anxious at how long the kids were taking in the terrible weather. Piper had recently won some concert tickets in a contest and all her friends were eager to get one. 'the band was pretty cool.

"First of all, Piper isn't awful. Prickly, yes, awful, no. And secondly, they're trying to come down but this freaky storm is making the tubes all weird." (y/n) told him as Schwoz fiddled with the tube controls. They'd been trying to get them to work for over ten minutes, and they still had no luck.

"Maybe press that button," Ray suggested to Schwoz, making the genius slap his hand away before he could make a mess of the programming.

"I know!" He said and pressed the indicated button and finally, both tubes came down with Henry and Charlotte inside them. Only something wasn't right; the tubes were glowing and spitting with some kind of energy and the control panel was indicating that something was interfering with the tubes.

"What the hell's happening?" (y/n) asked in concern, but before anyone could do anything, the tubes went back up, lifting the kids out of the main room again. The storm raged on outside and little did anyone know, things were about to get weird.

~The opposite universe~

Henry and Charlotte landed again in the Man Cave, only things weren't the same. It felt familiar but also completely different like the essence was there but the soul and nature of the place had been altered. For starters, the whole place was flipped, so everything that should've been on the left side of the room was now on the right and vice versa. And that wasn't the only freaky thing.

In front of them stood Ray and Schwoz, but not the Ray and Schwoz they both knew and loved. They had beards and funny clothes and they seemed darker, more sinister...like the complete opposite of themselves.

"Man, that was a rough ride down the tubes..." Henry trailed off when he saw how everything had changed, especially the two adults, who were giving him evil stares. Not to mention their clothes, they were darker, stranger and definitely not what they were wearing before.

They looked for help from Ray and Schwoz, but they only confused them further by doing some weird salute. They hit their foreheads, the heel of their shoe, and finally, stuck their fists out at a ninety-degree angle. What was going on?

Deciding that it would be best to follow along, the teens copied their greeting, clumsily repeating what they had just seen. It seemed to satisfy the new adults and they slowly lowered their arms.

"Now, Schwoz, I wanna know why it took you so long to bring Henry and Charlotte back down the tubes." Dark Ray asked his fearing handyman, his voice low and joyless.

"It was this crazy storm outside, it's effecting—" Dark Schwoz tried to give his boss his honest excuse, but this Ray was mean and unforgiving, there were no exceptions.

"No excuses." The large man hissed, making Schwoz gulp in fear.

"I promise it wasn't my fault, ugh!" He begged, but was taken by surprise when Ray grabbed him by his beard and yanked him closer to his angry face.

"Carelessness with the equipment will not be tolerated." He growled, causing the little guy's face to pale.

"Please, tolerate it, please!" His pleading fell on deaf ears, this Ray didn't allow insubordination or random acts of kindness so easily.

"Okay, what is going on?" Charlotte whispered to Henry as she pulled him to one side.

"I think Ray's mad at Schwoz," Henry replied quietly as the two observed the arguing pair, frowning when they saw how harsh Ray was being.

"I know that! I mean, why's this place so different and them and our clothes? And where's (y/n)?" Charlotte asked, noting all of the differences that she could spot, the biggest one being that the young woman's cheery welcoming presence was prominently absent from this Man Cave.

"Okay, just don't say anything until we can get alone and talk," Henry told her, wanting to assess the situation first before they blabbed their mouths and landed themselves in bother.

"No, no, no, no..." Schwoz begged his boss once he had learnt his punishment.

"Give me your nostrilator," Ray instructed him in a dark voice, his begging having no effect on his stone-cold heart.

"Can't I just get a warning?" The genius tried to wiggle out of the trouble he had landed himself in, but it was no use.

"The nostrilator!" Evil Ray yelled at him, so he reluctantly handed the two-pronged weapon over, fearing the pain he was about to receive.

"No..." Schwoz gulped as the large man illuminated the device and squealed when he shoved it up his nose. Charlotte looked away in horror and Henry was nearly sick as he watched his boss torture the poor little man, Schwoz yelling in agony as he felt like his brain was melting.

Ray finally released him after a few more seconds and the kids looked on as a fried Schwoz fell to the floor, twitching and quivering from the trauma. This new Ray seemed to enjoy the fact that he had just inflicted pain onto another person so cruelly and he looked at his helpers for their opinions.

"What do you think of that?" He asked them in a crazed, husky voice.

"G—g—good one." Henry stuttered as he recovered from the shock, as did Schwoz, who continued to quiver when Ray chucked the nostrilator down next to him since the punishment was over.

"Now, the tickets, did your sister agree to give your four tickets to the Hawkins concert?" Ray asked them in his low, villain voice.

"Uh, no, no. She's still refusing to give us any." Henry answered honestly as Piper hadn't given them any, but it struck a chord with the kids when Ray said four. They had asked for five since it was them, Ray, Schwoz and (y/n) going together, so why was she missing from his count?

"Then I guess we'll have to go with plan B." Ray chuckled manically, which then turned into a full-on evil villain laugh, so the kids nervously laughed along too. They didn't want to get on the wrong side of this guy, he was crazy.

"Everything all right with you two? It was a rough trip down the tubes." Ray asked them slowly, a minuscule shred of his original kindness poking through the bars of the cage he had put on his heart. His life had been dark ever since that fateful day, the day when Ray Manchester turned from a path of good and walked down one of evil instead.

"Uhhh..." Charlotte struggled to find something to say, so it was up to Henry to say something believable.

"Uh, no. We—we—we got a real bad headache." The boy lied, trying to think of anything that would let them go upstairs.

"Yeah, we need to go upstairs to Junk-N-Stuff." Charlotte joined in, wanting to supplement the lie.

"We need to get some headache medication." Henry gulped, hoping Ray would take the bait. Charlotte even clutched for forehead and moaned in pain to convince him.

"All right, but don't even think about touching her first aid kit." The man said in a low, ominous tone and the kids didn't even want to question why Ray wouldn't let them rifle through (y/n)'s med-kit for some paracetamol. This place was getting weird and more mysterious by the second.

"Let's go," Henry said, pushing Charlotte into the elevator so they could find some time to discuss everything.

"Ray, can you please hand me my glass of water?" Schwoz asked weakly from his place lying on the floor, so Ray went and got it and held it in front of his face. The poor guy reached out for the glass and it had barely grazed against his fingertips when Ray brought it to his own lips and drank it all himself. Ray gasped in satisfaction once he had finished the water, smirking at how Schwoz was groaning for help. He just didn't have in his heart to be kind anymore.

~Upstairs~

"Oh my god, look!" Charlotte gasped to Henry, both of them looking around the evil version of Junk-N-Stuff. It was seriously creepy, with a large clown doll and rattlesnake record player.

"Even Junk-N-Stuff is all different," Charlotte said a little too loudly for Henry's liking.

"Shhhhhh!" He tried to quieten her as he feared that someone would be listening to them and would realise that they weren't in the right place.

"I wanna know what's going on and I wanna know right now!" The teen girl snapped, causing Henry to drag her over the counter so they could talk quietly.

"You just yanked me over the counter!" She hissed, not realising that they were in deep shit.

"Listen, Ray might be watching us on the security cameras, hearing everything we say so just...be cool," Henry told her, looking around the store subtly to see if he could spot any of the cameras moving.

"It's not cool to yank a friend over a counter!" Charlotte scolded him, making Henry sigh. They didn't have time for this.

"I'm sorry, just act normal." He directed her and they both stood up again. Walking around the store, Henry started the conversation, hoping that if someone was watching, they'd think nothing was wrong.

"So, uh, tell me about your brownie recipe." Henry prompted Charlotte, who looked at him in bewilderment.

"My what?" She asked, knowing that she had no clue how to make brownies, but Henry didn't care.

Just make something up and I'll pretend to write it down." Henry told her, quickly grabbing a sheet of paper and a pen so it would look believable.

"Uh, right, right. My brownie recipe, so uh...first, I buy a box of brownie mix." Charlotte said slowly, thinking of a basic recipe that would work.

"Buy box of brownie mix. Hey, did I spell brownie right?" Henry asked so he had an excuse to pull Charlotte closer to him.

"Okay, I think I know why everything's so crazy around here," Henry whispered to her, making it look like they were working on the recipe.

"Why?" Charlotte looked at him contented, eager to hear his explanation.

"I think this really weird storm, right, with lots of lightning and stuff..." Henry started, as Charlotte nodded along.

"I think the storm created some kind of electrical interference with the tubes and somehow we ended up here, in this opposite universe," Henry explained, making Charlotte blanch at the news. Was he crazy?

"Opposite universe?" She asked in shock.

"Yeah, but talk about brownies, talk about brownies." Henry reminded her when he remembered that they were meant to be discussing the "recipe".

"Uh, so then, you open the box of brownie mix and pour it into a bowl." Charlotte stepped away from him and spoke loudly so she'd be heard on the cameras.

"Uh, into a bowl." Henry scribbled something down as Charlotte yanked him back to her.

"What's an opposite universe?" She asked him in a hushed tone, feeling confused by the sci-fi concept.

"It's like our universe but different. It's sort of backwards like the good people are bad and everything's kind of the same but opposite." Henry told her in a grave voice, thinking it would be tricky to get them back to their universe.

"Wait, if we somehow got transported to this evil, opposite universe, does that mean there are evil versions of you and me that got sent to our universe?" Charlotte questioned, making Henry gulp as he realised that she was right.

"Oh my god." He quivered, thinking about the chaos that was probably going on in their world.

~Normal Universe~

"I order you! Let me go! I mean it, traitors! Ray, Schwoz what's wrong with you? And how can she be here? Get off me!" Evil Henry screamed as Schwoz and Ray wrestled him into a cell as (y/n) nervously followed behind them. The evil teens had come down the tube after the lightning had gone crazy and had tried to attack them once they realised that something was wrong. Everything was too nice and bright and to their bafflement, (y/n) was there smiling at them, something that they hadn't seen in a long time.

"You traitorous pig!" Henry spat at Ray as (y/n) came up behind the large man and put her hand in his. She was beyond worried and needed to reassure herself that she wasn't alone, her friend and protector were there to help sort this out.

"Grrrrrr!" Evil Charlotte growled, making Ray frown at them as he shielded his girl behind his back. He could tell that she was terrified after her favourite kids tried to kill her for surprising them. Thank god she could heal super quickly otherwise she'd be having bruises and cuts for days.

"Have you gone insane? Why is she here?" Henry hissed, making Ray puff out his chest protectively as (y/n) nervously peeked out from over his shoulder.

"Look, I don't know who you two are, but you're not the real Henry and Charlotte." The large man told them calmly, which enraged Evil Charlotte.

"I'll stab your face and bite your throat!" She threatened, her voice slurred from the fact that she had metal teeth. She definitely looked scary and (y/n) knew that she would bite them if she got the chance.

"She's not joking y'know, she bit me when she grabbed my hair," She whimpered in Ray's ear as she shivered from the murderous look that the young girl was giving them.

"It's okay, that's just a weird thing to say." Ray joked, smiling at his girl so she'd stay calm. It worked, his happy face always made even the worst things seem all right.

"You both stay here, locked inside, whilst we figure out how to send you back to where you belong," Schwoz told them sternly, wanting to get to work straight away since the new kids gave him the heebie-jeebies.

"Okay, Ray. We'll play your game. What do you want? Money? Gold? Chicken wings?" Henry offered him anything could've desired, but Ray wasn't tempted, he was intrigued.

"Fascinating." He turned around and commented to his best friend he giggled at his deadpan reaction. She squeezed his hand and began to lead him away from the captive teens.

"Ray! No matter what you do, we know the truth! We know she's dead, stop lying to yourself!" Evil Henry yelled after them, making the adults stop as they heard their words.

"What do they mean, "she's dead"?" (y/n) looked up at Ray in worry, but he was just as puzzled and concerned as she was. He didn't know who or what they meant, but he had a pretty good suspicion and it made his heart break.

~Opposite universe~

"All right, activate eliminator." Evil Ray told Evil Schwoz as they watched Piper on the supercomputer. They didn't care that she was a child, they were bad and they liked it that way.

"Activating eliminator." Schwoz complied, opening the case of the eliminator button, but his finger stopped before it could press it when Henry and Charlotte walked out of the elevator.

"Just play along and act like you fit in here. We don't them to think that we're some kind of—" Henry whispered to Charlotte, but she butted in when she noticed what Ray and Schwoz were looking at.

"Hey, hey, hey." She pointed to the monitor and they saw that Piper was sitting at home, smiling happily and that Ray and Schwoz were targeting her for death. Oh, shit.

"Target acquired and locked in." The genius reported, making the teens panic.

"Target?" Charlotte spluttered, hoping that they weren't doing what she thought they were doing.

"Uhhhh, Ray? Hey, Ray. That's my little sister." Henry pointed out, feeling sick to the stomach that they were targeting Piper. Yeah, she was annoying and bratty, but Henry couldn't bear to see her get hurt.

"Yeah. Schwoz set the eliminator to one point four-kay megawatts." Ray instructed, and Schwoz followed his orders, cranking up the intensity of the eliminator.

"Wait, what are you gonna do to her?" Henry asked his not-boss in an afraid voice.

"I'm gonna eliminate her. So we can take her concert tickets and go see the Hawkins." Ray explained to them in a flat voice.

"Uh, but what if the storm damaged the eliminator's circuits?" Charlotte questioned, hoping that she could stall them so she wouldn't have to see the little girl killed.

"Okay, we'll test it on someone else," Ray told them all, not wanting his evil scheme to go wrong.

"Acquiring new target." Schwoz moved the focus to Henry's dad, who looked so dark and scruffy and was carrying a really cute dog, but he seemed to hate it.

"Look at my dad." Henry paled when he saw how evil his family was in this universe, everyone in his family apart from Piper, who seemed to be sweet and loving in this world.

"Target acquired and locked in." Schwoz pressed the controls so the laser would focus on Mr Hart.

"Set for temporary elimination." Ray directed him, causing Henry to panic. He didn't want to see his dad zapped either.

"Wait, wait—" He tried to stop them from firing, but Ray gave the order anyway and in seconds, Mr Hart disappeared in a flash of bright light, making Henry's heart stop.

"He just eliminated your dad!" Charlotte pointed out as tears sprang to her eyes. She hated this, it was so cruel and nasty, nothing like the universe she was so well-accustomed to.

"I know." Henry breathed out in a strained voice.

"And re-materialise." Ray gave the order and Mr Hart was blinked back into existence, dazed, but unhurt. Henry and Charlotte sighed in relief as he was returned to reality, but their worries weren't over.

"And now, we'll eliminate Henry's little sister. Permanently." Ray smirked at his sidekick and Schwoz happily reprogrammed the machine. He loved it when they played God like this, it gave him such an evil thrill.

"Wait! Wait, wait." Henry jumped in, unable to keep his nerve at the thought of his sister dying.

"Yeah?" Ray asked expectantly, hoping that they had interrupted for a good reason.

"Uh, uh, Charlotte has a really good brownie recipe she'd like to share with you and (y/n)." Henry gulped, as Ray took in what he said. The boy had hoped that the mention of the sweet woman would soften Ray up a bit, but it made his face twist into a furious scowl and his eyes were dark and pained.

"What did you say?" He growled at Henry, grabbing the boy by his shirt collar and lifting him to his face. Schwoz cringed at the sound of her name, knowing that its use was banned from the Man Cave. It was just too painful for Ray to hear.

"Um, brownies?" Henry swallowed nervously, looking to Charlotte for help, but she too was petrified with fear. This Ray was merciless and too scarred to care about anyone else. He had lost his love long ago...

"You don't say her name! She's dead, all right? DEAD! I lost her, so don't say her name!" Ray screamed in his face, making the kid's hearts leap to their throats. Oh, god. So that's why (y/n) wasn't around, she didn't exist anymore in this universe and perhaps that could explain why Ray was so bad here. They had often worried about what would happen if Ray lost his sweet girl either to someone else or in more extreme ways, but they could have never imagined this.

Ray slowly put the boy down as he calmed down slightly and turned back to the screen where Piper was still sat smiling and giggling