An unlikely hero steps forward when a deadly development puts the Hawkins Lab on lockdown, trapping Max and several others inside.

Susan and Joyce were still standing by Max's hospital bed, the young redhead a sunken mess and neither of them could figure out why.

The two adults jumped when Bob and Lucas burst through the door and slammed it shut behind them. The young boy grabbed a nearby needle and waved it in front of everyone.

"We need to make Max sleep."

"What?" Susan exclaimed.

"She's a spy!!" Lucas explained, Susan eyeing Max in worry. "If she knows where we are, so does the shadow monster."

"He's lying!" Max interjected, suddenly very angry.

"She killed those soldiers, she'll kill us, too!" Lucas continued.

"He's lying! He's lying!!" Max protested, threatening to jump out of bed, Susan and Joyce trying to calm her down. "He's lying!!! HE'S LYING!!! HE'S LYING!!!!!"

As Max was slowly losing her temper, everyone flinched when they heard rapid loud banging from outside her hospital room.

"Those are gunshots!" Bob announced.

"He's lying!! He's lying!!! HE'S LYING!!!" Max shouted.

"Okay, Maxine!! Max, baby, listen!" Susan called her daughter's name enough to get her attention. "Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?"

"You're..." Max started, her face blank and tone hesitant, much to Susan's dismay. "You're... you're Mom."

Susan knew those words were true.

But they weren't coming out of Max's mouth.

She turned to Joyce and Bob.

"Hold her down."

The two adults did not hesitate to move towards Max.

"What? No... Let go!"

Max's protests were powerless. Joyce and Bob wrapped their arms around Max while Susan took the syringe from Lucas.

"No! No! No, let me go! Let go!!" Max started to kick and scream at the top of her lungs. "NO, LET ME GO!! LET GO!!! LET ME GO!!!!"

"I'm sorry, Max!!" Susan said as she hurried towards her daughter. "If you can hear me, baby, I'm so sorry!!"

Max's head thrashed left and right demanding her freedom. Lucas covered his ears in shock as Susan pricked the needle in Max's arm. Joyce and Bob were keen on not letting go, Max's rabid behavior slowly deteriorating.

"LET ME GO!! LET ME GO!! Let go!!! Let me go! Let me... Let me... go..." Max's voice started to fade as her eyelids drooped and she fell back into her pillow with one last exhale.

Just as Max had passed out, Hopper and Dr. Owens burst through the door. Everyone turned their attention towards the two men in an absolute worrying silence. Hopper quickly observed the needle in Max's arm before he and everyone else whirled around to hear the monsters growling in the halls. The doors were beginning to break down at the wrath of their claws.

"We gotta go. We gotta go," Hopper said quickly as he rushed over to the unconscious Max. He ripped the IV out of her arm and scooped her up bridal style while Joyce grabbed some extra sedatives from the counter just in case. As soon as Max was secure in Hopper's arms, everyone departed the room and started their escape.

They started to run in the opposite direction of the broken doors, but stopped when they saw a guard in front of them get tackled by one of the dogs.

They whirled around at the sound of gunfire behind them, only worsening their odds of survival. Hopper then led everyone into a security room and laid Max down on a table. Owens closed the door and locked it behind everyone, hiding themselves entirely.

"Oh, my God..." Bob silently exclaimed, seeing the massacre that was occurring on the cameras.

The dogs seemed to have invaded the entire lab, taking up every corner of the rooms all the cameras were watching. Bodies lay strewn about in every other surveyed area with pools of blood still fresh and dripping.

The roaring of the monsters echoed throughout every level of the laboratory, bloody and hungry for more victims.

And suddenly, the power went out.

\\0//

Elsewhere, past the junkyard, Steve, Billy, and the boys were all strolling through the woods to search for the location the monsters were heading.

"You're positive that was Dart?" Mike asked.

"Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt," Dustin confirmed.

"He was tiny two days ago," Will thought aloud.

"Well, he's molted three times already," Dustin sighed.

"Malted?" Steve echoed stupidly.

"Molted," Dustin corrected. "Shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

"When's he gonna molt again?" Billy asked.

"It's gotta be soon. When he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends."

"Yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats," Steve sighed heavily.

Mike and Will halted Dustin and stood in front of him as soon as Steve let those words slip.

"Wait, a cat?" Will repeated.

"Dart ate a cat?" Mike asked.

"No, what? No," Dustin stuttered immediately.

"What are you talking about? He ate Mews," Steve said, oblivious to Dustin's wide-eyed stare.

"Mews? Who the hell's Mews?" Billy asked.

"It's Dustin's cat," Steve answered.

"Steve!" Dustin exclaimed.

"He ate your cat?!" Will gasped.

"I knew it! You kept him!" Mike accused Dustin as he shoved him.

"No! No. No, I... No, I..." Dustin stuttered, Mike and Will's wide stares not helping his case. "He missed me! He wanted to come home!"

"Bullshit!"

"I didn't know he was a Demogorgon, okay?"

"So you admit it?"

"Guys, who cares about your middle school drama bullshit? We have to go," Billy interjected.

"I care! You broke the rule of law, not just once, but twice!" Mike angrily informed Dustin.

"What?" Dustin asked, wondering where the second broken rule came from.

"You put the party in jeopardy and you told a stranger the truth!" Mike explained angrily, shining his flashlight towards Billy.

"A stranger? Really, Wheeler?" Billy scoffed, but still kept his distance from the ugly dispute between the boys.

While the boys were arguing, a loud dangerous sound in the distance caught Steve's attention. He waved his flashlight in the direction it was coming from and tried to listen over the sound of the constant arguing behind him.

"Mike, come on! He's Max's brother! He deserved to know!" Dustin argued.

"I don't care! You're putting more people in danger with every stunt you pull!"

"Well... Lucas told Max, too! She's technically a stranger! It's like you said, he broke the rule of law, too!"

"Don't drag Lucas into this! He did nothing wrong! He was out taking care of a friend while you were hoarding your stupid pet!" Mike denied.

"And Max isn't a stranger, Dustin! You know that!" Will objected.

"Well, she was a stranger before!" Dustin pointed out.

"She'd already seen the Upside Down before Lucas even told her about it! He had every right to tell her the truth!" Will explained angrily.

"Okay, fine! I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. So now, we're good. We're good," Dustin held his hands up in defense.

"No, no! We're not good. Don't even try that. Dart could have killed us all!" Mike jumped in.

"That was not my fault!" Dustin argued back.

"Guys?" Steve called to the arguing kids, who didn't listen. Billy didn't either, as he was somewhat amused to watch this scene unfold before him.

"He wasn't gonna kill us!" Dustin argued.

"Oh, so he was just crawling to come say hello?" Mike mocked back.

"Guys!" Steve shouted, grabbing everyone's attention.

They all fell silent as they heard distant screeching again. Steve raised his bat and headed towards the sound, Billy and the kids following behind him. They eventually reached an edge of an open field that showed a large overview of the woods below. A couple of buildings were in sight, but there were almost no lights anywhere. Will shuddered when he recognized the area.

"I don't see him," Dustin sighed.

"It's the lab."

Everyone turned to Will, who was staring in a certain direction at an unlit building down nearby. He turned to them slowly with a panicked expression and wide eyes.

"They were going back home."

\\0//

Jonathan and Nancy drove up to the entrance of Hawkins Lab, a place they knew was dangerous, to find the front gates were closed and all the lights were out.

"Why are the lights off?" Jonathan asked.

"Maybe it's closed? Security took the night off?" Nancy thought aloud.

"I don't think so," Jonathan shook his head, walking over to the control panel and flipping the switch to open the gate.

But nothing happened.

"It's not working?" Nancy asked.

"No! The power's off," Jonathan shook his head.

Nancy turned to the nearby woods when she heard some branches rustling around. "Jonathan?"

"What?" Jonathan replied as he took Nancy's side.

"I think there's something in the woods."

Right when she said that, the rustling got louder. Closer.

Jonathan stood in front of Nancy. "Nancy, stay back."

The older Byers brother then stepped towards the woods and called out.

"Hello? Who's there? Who's there?"

The last thing the two were expecting to see were two teenage boys with three younger kids strolling right through the branches.

Especially ones they recognized.

"Steve?" Jonathan and Nancy exclaimed in unison.

"Nancy?" Steve asked.

"Jonathan!" Will exclaimed his brother's name as he ran into his arms.

"Will!" Jonathan squeezed his brother tight.

"Mike!"

"Nancy?" Mike asked as his sister wrapped her arms tight around him.

"What are you doing here?" Nancy asked.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mike asked back.

"This is a nice surprise," Billy chimed in, Nancy and Jonathan meeting his gaze.

"Billy? Billy Hargrove?" Nancy asked.

"The one and only."

"What're you guys doing out here?" Will asked as he pulled away from Jonathan.

"We were looking for you guys!" Nancy answered as Mike took his friend's side.

"Have you seen Lucas and Max anywhere?" Dustin asked.

"Lucas and who?" Jonathan asked.

"Max. She's my sister. Small. Redheaded. Bit of a bitch," Billy explained. "She's with this Sinclair kid. Have you seen them anywhere?"

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asked when he gestured to the lab.

"We're not sure," Nancy shrugged.

"Why?" Jonathan asked.

As soon as Jonathan asked, several loud roars emerged from the inside of the lab. All the teens and kids looked out onto the darkened building with fear when they realized monsters lurked inside. With their friends and family trapped with them.

Now knowing the situation inside, the kids and teens were anxiously discussing the last time they saw Lucas and caught them up with what's been happening with Max lately. Billy, having had enough, ran back to the junkyard to get his car to try and ram the gate, which everyone hoped would be already open by the time he got back. Nancy then noticed the lights inside the lab flickered on and the gate was powered again.

"The power's back," she announced to the others. Jonathan then rushed over to the control panel to open the gate. But nothing happened. He pressed the button over and over again waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

"Let me try," Dustin offered.

"Hang on—" Jonathan started.

"Let me try, Jonathan!" Dustin insisted as he shoved away the teen and began pressing the button faster. "Son of a bitch! You know what..."

\\0//

Back in the lab, the captors inside were making their escape once Bob had finished his task to unlock the doors and confirm their safety by leading the dogs away from their area. Dr. Owens had stayed behind to let Hopper know about any more dangers in case they came back to finish the monsters off.

Hopper walked out of the surveillance room with Max hanging limply over his shoulder and his gun raised in the opposite hand as he searched for any nearby threats. He motioned for everyone to follow him once he confirmed it was safe.

Once they heard nothing but silence for a while, they picked up the pace and jogged towards the door. Hopper, Susan, and Lucas headed outside with Max, But Joyce stayed behind and anxiously awaited Bob's return.

"Here, I got her," Susan said as Hopper slowly slipped Max into her mother's arms. Lucas took her side and helped shift Max around in a more comfortable place.

Susan was about to thank both of them before they heard screaming from inside the lab.

Joyce and Bob's screaming.

"Stay here!" Hopper ordered Lucas and Susan as he rushed back inside with his gun raised. Susan covered Lucas' ears and turned him away when gunshots began to rattle the entrance from the inside.

Susan was trying her best to keep it together as she held both children close, one terrified at the sound of the gunshots and the other peacefully asleep in her arms, comatose throughout the whole situation. The gunshots eventually ceased and the two could still hear Joyce and Bob screaming inside.

Suddenly the front doors burst open and Lucas and Susan saw Hopper barrel through with Joyce struggling in his arms, but Bob was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?!" Lucas asked when he saw Hopper practically dragging Joyce away from the lab. The woman was calling out in anguish as the little demogorgons pounded against the glass.

"Where's Bob?" Susan asked, trying to hold back her tears. "Jim, where's Bob?!!"

Jim couldn't answer her properly over Joyce's cries and the monsters' screeching, but he shouted the same thing over and over to Joyce to confirm Susan and Lucas' worry.

"He's gone! He's gone!"

Susan was just about to shed her tears when she and Lucas turned at the sudden sound of a car horn honking. They heard tires screech and saw a blue Chevrolet Camaro swerve up to the lab entrance.

"Susan!!"

"Billy!" Susan exclaimed with relief when she saw her stepson as the driver.

"Get in the car! Come on! Let's go!" Billy ordered quickly. Everyone did as they were told and rushed away from the lab, the monsters instead banging angrily against the doors at their remaining prey.

As Billy was the only one to drive up, everyone else stayed back at the now open, and thankfully not crashed, main gate, waiting for him to return. The kids paced back and forth as the teens waited by the control panels.

Will's pacing had come to a stop, however, when he heard some tires screeching in the distance.

"Guys?"

Just as he had caught everyone's attention, Billy's car along with a police car swerved around the corner, Billy honking his horn like crazy to get everyone to move out of the way.

Once Billy's car zoomed past everyone, the police car stopped by the kids and teens, the driver being Hopper himself as he opened the door for them to climb in.

"Let's go," he ordered.

No one second guessed the chief as they all scrambled inside his car in a panicked rush. Steve was the last to pile in and slammed the door behind him, Hopper immediately driving away as soon as he made sure everyone was in the car and accounted for.

\\0//

After the escape from the lab, everyone went to the next safest place; the Mayfield/Hargrove residence. Everything had calmed down, but worry still spiked in everyone's hearts. They were all attending to their own things at the moment to cope, Billy kneeling next to Max as she slept on the couch, Susan behind him rubbing his shoulder.

"Hey, shitbird," Billy whispered as he stroked Max's forehead. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I should have stayed with you."

Susan gave a solemn look at the two step-siblings and let them be when she retreated to her room. She passed by everyone else in the kitchen, who were sitting at the table anxiously while Hopper had an angry conversation over the phone.

"Sam Owens. Dr. Sam Owens," he repeated. "I don't know how many people are there! I don't know how many people are left alive... I am the police! Chief Jim Hopper... Yes, the number that I gave you, yes. 6767... I will be here."

He hung up the phone with a heavy sigh and turned back to the kids.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Lucas sighed.

"We'll see," Hopper said as he turned to the kids.

"'We'll see?' We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Lucas exclaimed.

"We stay here, and we wait for help," Hopper ordered as he left the kitchen, heading in Susan's direction.

He found her with Joyce in her bathroom, the brunette woman wrapped in a blanket while the redhead sat next to her, one arm over her friend's shoulder. Joyce's face was wet from her tears as Susan rested her head atop of hers.

Hopper took a seat across from the women on the floor and lamented with them over Bob's death.

A hero gone too soon.

Back in the kitchen, the kids were thinking of Bob as well. Lucas stood from his seat and picked up one of the puzzles Bob brought in for Max the other day and held it up. A nice thought clicked into his head.

"Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?"

Everyone turned to Lucas.

"Really?" Will asked, not knowing that himself.

"Yeah. He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fund-raiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him," Lucas explained as he walked back over to them and put the puzzle down on the table. "Pretty awesome, right?"

"Yeah," the boys agreed, still sad about Bob's death.

"We can't let him die in vain," Lucas declared.

"What do you want to do, Lucas?" Dustin groaned. "The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own."

"Did you just say Demo-dogs?" Mike asked.

"Yeah... Demogorgon dogs. Demo-dogs," Dustin explained, making Mike and Will roll their eyes. Dustin cleared his throat. "I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe we could've..."

"But there's an army now," Will said.

"Precisely."

"His army," Lucas gasped.

"What do you mean?" Jonathan asked.

"His army," Lucas repeated. "Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too."

Everyone in the room then followed Lucas to Max's bedroom, where he picked up the storm drawing and showed it to the others.

"The shadow monster," Dustin observed.

"It got Max that day on the field," Lucas explained. "Dr. Owens said it was like a virus, it infected her."

"And this virus, it's connecting her to the tunnels?" Nancy asked.

"To the tunnels, the monsters, the Upside Down, everything."

"Whoa. Slow down. Slow down," Steve warned, not entirely catching on.

"Okay, so, the shadow monster's inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Max," Lucas explained.

"And so does Dart," Will realized.

"Yeah. Like what Mr. Clarke taught us. It's like the hive mind."

"Hive mind?" Jonathan queried.

"A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism," Dustin explained.

"And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain," Lucas stated, pointing to the drawing.

"Like the Mind Flayer."

Everyone turned to Dustin, Will snapping his fingers in realization.

"The what?" Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan asked in unison.

Everyone gathered around in the kitchen as Dustin slammed down a D & D manual and opened a page to the said villain.

"The Mind