•••

EL'S SCREAMS of pain filled the air around them, wiggling in Levi's hold as the boy held her from behind, Five stopping El whenever she tried touching her leg to relieve pain.

"Keep her awake!" Jonathan shouted before running off towards one of the many restaurants.

"You know, it's actually not that bad," Robin said, causing Levi to look at her confused as the older girl nervously rambled. "The goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildefire, this other girl slid into her leg and the bone came out of her knee. Six inches or something, it was insane."

"Robin?" Levi smiled sweetly.

"Yeah?" She swallowed, looking at the boy she barely knew.

"You're not helping," Steve stated, looking between the two.

"S-sorry."

"All right, El." Jonathan came back, with rubber gloves on and a wooden spoon and a knife. "This is gonna hurt like hell, okay? Levi, heat this."

Twelve hesitantly glanced at the boy but complied, heating up the knife until it glowed orange.

"Okay, I need you to stay really still. Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?" Jonathan held the wooden spoon in front of her mouth letting her clamp her teeth onto it with a whimper.

"Jesus Christ." Dustin shook his head, rubbing the scared Levi's back while everyone watched nervously.

Jonathan inhaled deeply, holding the large kitchen knife over Eleven's leg, looking down in disgust as something slithers inside. He hesitates, glancing at Mike who was sitting next to Five, holding El's hand for comfort.

"Do it," Mike said.

Everyone grimaced, letting out sounds of uncomfortableness and disgust as Jonathan slowly stabbed the knife into El's leg.

Levi briefly looked at Dustin, when the boy started exaggeratedly gagging while staring at the girl's leg.

But Levi couldn't blame him, since right when the knife broke the skin, puss and blood bubbled from the wound, the sounds of squelching made the boy sick to his stomach.

El's screams drowned the group's groans as Jonathan finished the incision, looking like he was ready to pass out at the amount of blood, that and the smell wasn't pleasing either.

Jonathan closed his eyes, gulping, slowly sticking his glove covered fingers into the wound making Eleven shout in pain, trying to wiggle out of Levi's and Five's hold.

Everyone exclaimed as Jonathan moved his fingers around in her leg, trying to grab onto the thing inside when Eleven spit out the spoon crying out.

"Stop! Stop!"

Jonathan quickly pulled back, looking at the girl with wide eyes as El continued to sob, slowly sitting up in Levi's embrace. "I can do it."

The group silently watched as Eleven put her hand above her leg, her whimpering getting louder and louder as they watched the thing under her skin slither around frantically.

Eleven's shout echoed as Levi watched the little creature unwillingly crawl out of his sister's leg.

They all yelped as the large glass window shattered to pieces behind them, cowering away from the shards that landed on them.

Twelve winced as some of the glass cut his arm, but he couldn't focus on that as the little monster shrieked as Eleven flung it with her powers.

They all looked to where it landed, watching as it tried to get away when a big boot smashed it.

Twelve grinned widely, hurriedly getting up from the ground, running over to them.

"Hop! Mama Byers!" the boy exclaimed, pulling the two in a hug, before pulling back and looking at the other two men, one who was balding and one holding a big woody woodpecker plushie that made Levi's eyes widen.

"What the hell happened to you?" Five questioned, lightly removing himself from El, walking over to the four adults.

"Nothing, kid. You got a first aid?" Hopper questioned, going over to help Murray hold up Alexei.

Robin hurriedly went to one of the kitchen's coming back with a kit, handing it to Dustin who gave it to Levi, who gave it to Hopper.

"Bullet?" Five asked, watching Hopper and the bald guy set the scared looking man on the ground, his eyes going to the bloody shirt and hole.

"Yup."

"Do you know how to get it out?" Five kneeled down next to Hopper who was getting everything ready, raising a brow when Hopper looked at him with a deadpan expression.

•••

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El and Levi, to kill them and pave a way into our world," Mike explained.

Levi carefully finished bandaging El's leg, smiling at the girl before taking a seat next to her and Hopper on the bench while the others stood around or sat on the water fountain.

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it." Nancy sighed, crossing her arms, swaying back and forth, smiling faintly when she watched Hopper hold El against his chest, letting Levi sit on his open lap, closing his eyes.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked, looking around the group.

"Big," Levi said, glancing up at Hopper, who sighed and kissed the boys forehead.

"Thirty feet, at least," Jonathan stated.

Lucas winced, "Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry."

Hopper closed his eyes, silently cursing but faintly smiling when Levi grabbed his hand.

"Okay, so, Just to be clear, this...this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic...weapon." Steve looked at Nancy and Jonathan in confusion.

Nancy nodded, "Yes."

"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the mind flayer made its weapon with melted people."

"Yes, exactly." Nancy grinned as Robin and Steve share a look.

"Y-yeah, okay. I-i'm just making sure." Steve pursed his lips.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce exclaimed.

"El and Lee beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." Max sighed, throwing away the bloody gauze Five used to help Alexei, the man that was still grasping the giant woody woodpecker plush that Levi was slightly jealous about.

"But if we close the gate again--" Will started.

"We cut the brain off from the body."

"And kill it, theoretically," Lucas said.

"Yoo-hoo!" Everyone turned when the shout was followed by papers rustling, seeing Murray walking towards them his arms in the air, waving his hands that were full of paper. "Yoo-hoo!"

Everyone glanced at each other with furrowed brows before going over to the table where Murray slammed the papers on, where they could see was drawing off the mall mapped out.

"Okay, this is what Alexei called the hub. The hub takes us to the vault room." the balding man said.

Twelve ignored what they were saying and grasped onto Dustin's hand, pulling the boy closer to him, missing the smile on Robin's face as he did this.

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?"

Levi snapped out of his thoughts, looking confused as he watched Murray and Erica argue.

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" Erica shouted as Levi bit his lip to stop himself from laughing at the offended look Murray gave.

"Erica!" Lucas yelled, scolding his sister who just glared at him.

"Just the facts!"

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me." Dustin stated, squeezing his Levi's hand before letting go and walking closer to the old man, gesturing to the paper. "Sorry, may I?"

Murray looked at the boy with a forced smile. "Please."

Dustin took a seat on one of the chairs, Levi moving to stand behind it, not liking the fact that he had to be away from the boy.

While Dustin talked to the group about the plan, Levi's eyes trailed to the man sitting on the chair groaning.

Hopper had introduced the man as Alexei and that he was Russian, which Levi could only understand a little bit of since Papa used to speak it around the lab sometimes.

Twelve was concerned about the man's health since Five said he was shot, he knew Five was able to get the bullet out and stitch up the man but he could tell Alexei was still in pain and that made Levi sad.

"No, you aren't coming with us." Hopper's stern voice caught Levi's attention.

"What?! Why?!" Dustin whined.

"One, because you're young and it's dangerous. Two, you're basically my son's boyfriend and Levi wouldn't let you go anyway." Hopper listed off.

Dustin looked at Levi ready to say that Levi would let him but he saw Twelve already shaking his head, reaching out for his hand making Dustin sigh and nod.

•••

Levi stood with crossed arms, watching Hopper cock his assault rifle. The young teen didn't have a good feeling about the situation, and hearing Dustin ramble about how the adults were gonna die, didn't really help the uneasy feeling rising in the boy's stomach.

Twelve smiled lightly as Hopper glances at him over the man's shoulder. Flinching when a hand slammed onto his shoulder, turning to see Five giving him a reassuring smile, making the boy's nerves ease, only a little bit.

Levi followed the older boy, spinning around to see Lucas, Will, Mike, and Dustin hugging with content smiles on their faces when Erica decided to break it up.

"Please don't cry, nerds." the little girl said snarkily, placing a hand on her hip.

Lucas rolled his eyes, breaking up the hug to glare at his sister. "Erica."

"Keep saying my name, see what happens!"

"Hey, heads up!" The group turns to see Hopper walking towards them. Hopper tossed a walkie talkie towards Dustin who hurriedly caught it as Hopper pulled another one out of his back pocket. "You can navigate, just from someplace safe."

"It's not that simple," Dustin stated.

"The signal won't reach." Erica shook her head.

"Yeah, not with this. You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians' radio tower." Dustin rambled, making Hopper sigh and glance at a grinning Levi. "But for that to work, you need someone who has both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower, one preferably already situated at the highest point in Hawkins...oh wait... that's me."

Dustin grinned sarcastically, as Hopper rolled his eyes at the kid. "But we need a head start. And a car."

Hopper playfully glared at Twelve, "Why did you have to choose the second most annoying one?"

Twelve shrugged.

"Just wait here a minute," Hopper mumbled.

Levi looked at Dustin, feeling dread filling his stomach knowing Dustin will have to leave, and as much as Levi wanted to go he knew he had to stay and make sure the mind flayer was taken down.

Dustin, as if reading the boy's mind, smiled at him and pulled him into a tight hug, whispering. "It will be okay."

Levi squeezed the boy tighter, breathing shakily, "I'm scared."

Dustin pulled back, cupping the boy's face, "Hey, everything will be fine, okay?"

"Really?" Levi asked, looking at the boy through his lashes.

"Yes! And after all of this, we could eat all the pudding we can, and I could take you to the tower and you can talk to Suzie." Dustin smiled, knowing the boy wanted to meet her.

Twelve tried to keep his smile tamed but fails and grinned pulling the boy into a quick hug before letting go. "I'll miss you."

Dustin chuckled, "I'll miss you too, Lev."

Twelve watched sadly as Dustin went with Erica to Robin and Steve, who was now holding the keys to the car Hopper and Joyce came in with.

"Bye..." he whispered, swallowing thickly just as Five came up behind him, pulling the younger boy into a hug.

"It's gonna be fine." Five stated, looking at his best friend with soft eyes.

Twelve glanced at the boy, no matter how many times anyone told him it would be okay, the sinking feeling in his stomach said otherwise.

•••

"My battery's low, but...it will recharge," Eleven stated.

They sat on a bench, Hopper's hand was grasping Eleven's and his other arm was around Five and Levi who huddled together.

"I know that kid," Hopper said.

"I can fight."

"Better than any of us." the man smiled at the three in his grasp. "But right now, I need you guys safe. This thing is after you and your brother, it's not after me. Do you understand?"

Eleven bit her lip, glancing towards Twelve and Five before looking back at Hopper nodding her head.

Hopper squeezed her hand before turning his attention to his two boys, smiling softly at them. "I need you guys to take care of each other, okay?"

The two best friends look at each other smiling before turning to the man. "Be careful." Five sternly said.

Hopper smirked at the boy, ruffling the boy's slicked hair, making Five roll his eyes.

Eleven gave Hopper a hug before walking over to Mike, who called for her. When she left Levi turned to Hopper with a teary smile, "Please come back." he whispered.

Hopper chuckled, wiping a tear that fell onto Levi's cheek, "I promise you, I'm not leaving you like that."

Twelve sniffled, wiping the rest of the tears that followed, before staring up at the man. "I love you...dad."

Hopper blinked back tears, feeling his heart swarm with warmth at the name, bringing Levi into a hug, wanting to protect the boy who was his son. "I love you too."

Five watched them with longing eyes, wishing he could tell Hopper those three words but he just wasn't ready. He didn't think he would ever really be ready.

The moment was ruined when Mike said they had to go so Hopper pulled his kids into a group hug, kissing the three's foreheads before ushering them towards Mike, Max, Will, and Lucas who were waiting.

"El, you're bleeding," Max said, looking at the blood falling from the girl's nose as she helped the girl walk.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked.

"Yeah." the girl in question grunted as Max and Five helped her into the car.

Everyone squished in, waiting for Nancy to turn on the car. When she put the key in, the engine started sputtering before dying out.

"What's wrong?" Jonathan questioned, looking at the key slot with wide eyes.

Nancy shook her head, stuttering. "I-i don't know."

The girl tried again and again but to no avail, the engine kept dying out, making a clattering noise as everyone in the car shared a glance.

"Didn't your mom just buy this car?" Lucas asked from his place on Five's lap.

"Yes. I'm sure it's fine." Nancy sighed, trying again.

"Did you leave the lights on?" Will leaned forwards from his place in the middle.

"No."

"Do we have gas?" Lucas questioned.

"Yes!" Nancy shouted, trying to turn it again, groaning in frustration.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just stop, stop!" Jonathan yelled, reaching over to stop Nancy from turning the key farther than it should. "Pop the hood."

Twelve watched as the two oldest teens get out of the car, snapping his head when he heard an engine revving, one that wasn't theirs. The boy saw a car ways away from them, the car lights staring right at them as it revved loudly.

Max glanced out the window before curling more into Levi's embrace as she realized that was Billy's car.

All the young teen's jump as Nancy banged on Lucas' window, shouting for them to get out.

Nancy opened Lucas' door helping all the kids get out frantically and all of them ran into the mall again.

•••

Levi sat at a table across from Five, tapping on the surface, not knowing what to do since Mike was screaming into the walkie talkie trying to get a hold of Dustin's group and Nancy was plucking a gun from one of the dead Russian bodies as everyone else just sat around also.

Will walked up and took a seat next to Levi, handing the boy a chocolate icecream cone he stole from Scoops Ahoy while eating his vanilla ice cream.

"You're gonna kill him aren't you?" Max mumbled, grabbing onto Five's hand as the boy walked to her, watching as Nancy checked how many bullets there are.

"This is just for precaution, okay?" Nancy softly stated, feeling bad about the whole thing since it was Max's brother.

"If Billy knows we're here, so does the mind flayer." Five said, squeezing the girl's hand as she looks at him with a sad expression.

"No chance that thing will drive right?" Nancy questioned, glancing towards the model car that was still on its side, the words came out playfully but they all knew it was serious.

"We don't need it to drive," Jonathan said, making everyone turn to him. "We just need the ignition cable."

•••

Five and Levi both raised their brows while watching everyone try and flip the car back over. Everyone was grunting and looked like they were gonna pop every vein in their body as they pushed.

Levi cringed at the sound of the metal squealing, glancing at El.

"Let me try," Eleven said, sick of watching everyone try but them not getting anywhere. The girl sighed at the unimpressed looks she got. "I could do it."

Everyone backed away from the car, raising their hands and moving to stand behind El who wasted no time with trying to use her powers.

Twelve noticed the blood running from the girl's nose, and the tears filling her eyes and placed a hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of the concentrated trance she was in, noticing her frown when she couldn't help.

"It's okay." Five reassured her when she apologized, softly rubbing the tired girls back.

Levi focused, conjuring El's powers, which became familiar to him and didn't hurt the more he used it. He sighed when the car flipped over, making everyone smile at him but he noticed the lost look on El's face as she darted to the trash can.

"What is she doing?" Max questioned, watching the girl dig through the trash frantically, stopping when she grabbed a coke can.

Five shook his head, grabbing Levi's hand and dragging him to Eleven, watching the girl as she concentrated on the can, trying to crush it as she did years ago.

"El, you okay?" Mike asked, coming up behind the boys with a concerned-looking Max.

Eleven turned to the group with a panicked look before turning to Five, whispering. "I'm losing them."

Twelve flinched as a chill went down his spine, snapping his head up to the ceiling as Max looked too confused as to what he was looking at.

"Guys?!" Max breathed out, looking out the glass roof seeing a tall outline of the monster they are running from, feeling the ground slightly shake at the thunderous footsteps.

Mike looked at the ceiling with wide eyes as the loud steps cracked the roof, "Nancy!"

Nancy, Jonathan, Lucas, and Will all looked toward where Mike was gazing towards, gasping when the glass shatters.

Max, Mike, and El ran away trying to find a place to hide, Five hurridly grabbed Levi's hand when he saw the boy freeze, dragging the boy behind the scoops ahoy counter, ducking down just as the monster slammed into the floor, roaring, taking the ceiling down with it.

Over the roaring and labored breathing, Levi could faintly hear Dustin's voice coming from an abandoned walkie talkie.

Five stopped the boy from