[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗧]

ELEVEN SOBS LOUDLY, WAILING IN pain as the teens around her stare at her in worry. the flesh sizzles inside her leg.

"what is that?" erica asks, looking at eleven's leg.

"there's something in there," mike said. "jesus christ," dustin commented. "keep her talking. keep her awake, okay?" johnathan said before running off to the food court kitchen.

johnathan jumps over the counter, opening drawers and grabbing a wooden spoon along with a knife. he grabs some gloves then turns on the stove, putting the metal knife over it, heating it.

"hey, hey, hey. stay awake, stay awake." mike told eleven. "let's get her on this side,"

the teens move the hopper teen carefully, trying not to hurt her.

"easy, easy, easy, easy."

"it's, uh . . . you know, it's not actually that bad. there was a . . . a goalie on my soccer team, beth wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg and the whole bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane." robin explained to her friends. "robin," steve said. "yeah?"

"you're not helping,"

"i'm sorry,"

johnathan comes running back with the stuff, kneeling in front of el's leg.

"okay. all right, el? this is gonna hurt like hell, okay?" johnathan informs the teen. "okay," el replies, sobbing. "i need you to stay real still. here, you're gonna wanna bite down on this, okay?" the older byers teen passes mike the wooden spoon, and the wheeled twin puts it in el's mouth allowing her to bite down.

johnathan lowers the knife to eleven's leg and sage covers her eyes, but opens her fingers to take a small peek.

"do it," mike said.

johnathan takes a deep breath before slowly cutting into eleven's leg. the hopper teen screams in pain as everyone lets out different reactions.

"oh, shit," sage mumbles as eleven screams while sobbing loudly.

johnathan then reaches his hand into eleven's wound making her screech in pain. everyone groans in disgust as johnathan moves his hand around, trying to get whatever is in eleven's leg out of her.

"johnathan!" nancy exclaims. "stop talking!" he tells her as eleven screams louder. "goddamn it!" eleven spits the spoon out of her mouth.

"no! stop it! stop!"

"hey, stop!" sage shouts and puts a hand on johnathans shoulder, stopping him. "i can do it," eleven sobs as she sits up. "i can do it,"

the hopper teen pants out of breath before putting her hand out to her leg, using her telekinesis to try and take out the creature in her leg. eleven wails in pain as everyone watches.

sage looks at eleven in worry as the teenager continues. a creature critters as it very slowly comes out of eleven's leg. eleven screams loudly causing the glass to break behind them.

sage uses her arms to protect max from glass hitting her, eleven still screaming. the hopper teen manages to get the creature out of her leg, holding it in front of her as she screams before throwing it far away from the group.

the creature chitters painfully as it crawls away, but a foot stomps on the creature, killing it.

the teenagers look up to see three adults standing a distance away from the teenagers.

hopper, joyce, and murray.

   EVERYONE SITS AROUND THE WATER fountain inside the mall as mike explains what's going on.

"the mind flayer, it built this monster in hawkins, to stop el and sage, to kill them and pave a way into our world." mike explained. "and it almost did. that was just one tiny piece of it." max said.

"how big is this thing?" hopper asks. "it's big," johnathan replies. "thirty feet, at least," sage added in, holding max's hand tightly.

"yeah. it sorta destroyed your cabin." lucas told the chief. "sorry," he whispered when he saw the look on hopper's face.

"okay, so, just to be clear, this . . . this big fleshy spider thing that hurt el and sage, it's some kind of gigantic . . . weapon?" steve asks.

"yes," nancy answers.

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

"yes, exactly,"

"yeah, okay. i — yeah, i'm just making sure."

"are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" joyce asks. "the girls beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive," max answers.

"but if we close the gate again —" will begins. "cut the brain off from the body," max adds in. "and kill it," lucas finishes off. "theoretically,"

max lets out a sigh then sits down on the fountain, pulling sage to sit down next to her by the waist.

"yoo-hoo!" murray calls out, waving papers in the air as he walks in. "yoo-hoo!"

murray slams the papers on a table as he begins to explain. "okay, this is what alexei called "the hub". now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"okay, where's the gate?" hopper asks. "right here. i don't know the scale on this, but i think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so." murray replies.

"more like 500," erica cuts in. murray looks up at the girl. "what, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie disney land or something?"

"i'm sorry, who are you?"

"erica sinclair. who are you?"

"murray . . . bauman."

"listen, mister bunman, i'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but i've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. and with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." erica tells the adult.

"i'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" murray questions. "um, i'm ten, you bald bastard!" erica shoots at him.

"erica!" lucas warns. "just the facts!"

"she's right. you're all gonna die, but you don't have to. excuse me." dustin says then looks at murray. "sorry, may i?"

"please,"

dustin sits down and looks at the papers. "okay, see this room here? this is a storage facility." dustin begins to explain as he circles a part of the drawing. "there's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. that will lead you to the base of the weapon. it's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and erica, we can show you the way."

"you can show us the way?" hopper asks. "don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your . . . navigators." dustin tells the adult.

"no."

dustin's face falls.

"nope."

EVERYONE GETS PREPARED FOR THE final battle. hopper grabs a gun and loads it while the teens do their own thing.

"it's settled. he's gonna die. they're gonna die." erica says as she walks over to dustin. "yep, most likely," dustin agrees with the girl.

"you guys survived," lucas points out making the henderson teen turn around. "barley. we could've really used you guys down there." dustin says.

"could've used you up here, too," mike tells him with a small smile. "yeah, man. we missed you, dude." lucas says to dustin. "yeah. big-time." will adds in making erica make a face.

the four teen boys wrap their arms around each other, smiling.

"i missed you guys, too," dustin says with a soft smile. "big-time."

"please don't cry, nerds," erica says, cringing.

"erica."

"keep saying my name, see what happens."

"i like her," sage says to max with a smile. "yeah, me too," max agrees with a chuckle.

"hey, heads up. you can navigate, just from someplace safe." hopper says and tosses dustin a walkie. "it's not that simple." dustin says.

"the signal won't reach." erica adds in. "not with this. you need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the russians' radio tower. 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 explains to the adult.

"show off," sage mumbles making max laugh a little.

"if you want us to navigate, you got us. but we need a start off." dustin continues, ignoring the two girls. "and a car."

steve, robin, erica, and dustin take the keys from hopper and walk away.

murray takes out his keys and begins to explain to johnathan and nancy the locks.

"hey, sage," max speaks up. "yes?" sage asks, looking at the red-head. "can i tell you something?"

"yeah, of course,"

max lets out a deep breath before grabbing sage's hand, taking her away from the group. sage holds her hand tightly, following her, confused.

the two stop near the escalators. max lets go of sage's hand, rubbing her hands. the mayfield teen looks over at lucas, and the sinclair teen gives the red-head a thumbs up.

"max, what's wrong?" sage asks, beginning to get worried. "nothing is wrong, sage." max assured the wheeler twin before sighing. "remember when i asked you if you had your first kiss yet?"

sage nodded, beginning to get nervous now. "yeah, why?"

"you still haven't had your first kiss?"

the brunette shakes her head. "can i be your first kiss? . . . and possibly your girlfriend?"

sage stares at the mayfield teen with a shocked look. "what?"

max gives her a small smile. "i know you feel the same way about me. you remember asking me why i broke up with lucas? it was because i've always had feelings for you, but i just denied it." max explained to the wheeler twin. "i also had feelings for lucas, but i guess i was just —"

"scared?"

max nods, "yeah . . ."

sage lets out a small laugh and cups max's face, leaning in, and kissing her lips softly. the mayfield teen puts her hands over sage's, feeling her heart beating rapidly. max felt extremely happy in the moment she was in right now. she knew that as long as she had sage, everything would be perfectly fine.

max knew that she didn't have to be scared anymore.

the wheeler twin slowly pulls away and connects her forehead to max's. the two girls let out giggles before hugging each other tightly.

lucas clapped for the two teen girls making them let go of each other, and look at lucas. they walked over to him with smiles on their faces.

"hey," mike said to the father and daughter. "we should probably go."

hopper sighs and nods at the older wheeler twin. eleven leans over and hugs her father tightly making the adult smile softly. the two release each other from the hug, hopper nodding at his daughter making eleven smile.

mike walks over to eleven, wrapping his arm around her, helping her up. lucas walks over and helps mike while max holds sage.

"mike?" hopper calls the teen. the wheeler twin turns around to face the adult. "be careful."

mike nods then walks back over to lucas and eleven.

the group walks outside of the starcourt mall. eleven grunts in pain as she limps.

"el, you're bleeding," lucas says, looking over at the hopper teen. "are you okay?" mike asks his girlfriend. "yeah," eleven replies.

max and sage look back at the three before going to the backseat. max helps her girlfriend inside, hearing sage grunt in pain as she steps inside.

"you okay?" max asks. "yeah, just stepped down too hard," sage replied.

mike and lucas go to the very back with eleven, getting inside. sage lets out a sigh and leans her head on will's shoulder.

nancy takes her car keys and puts the key in, turning the key to turn on the car. the engine sputters, the car not turning on.

"what's wrong?" johnathan asks nancy. "i don't . . . i don't know." nancy replies, trying to turn on the car again.

the engine sputters again. "you can't be serious. come on!"

"didn't mom just buy this car?" sage asks her sister. "yes. i'm sure it's fine." nancy replies to her sibling. "did you leave the lights on?" will asks.

"no."

"do we have gas?"

"yes!"

nancy attempts to turn on the vehicle again, but nothing happens. "come on!"

"woah, woah, woah! just stop, stop!" johnathan tells his girlfriend. "pop the hood." the older byers teen takes off his seatbelt and gets out of the car, going to the front of the vehicle.

nancy pops the hood and johnathan lifts it up. nancy gets out of the car, walking over to where johnathan was at.

"what the hell," johnathan says. "what?" nancy asks him. "the ignition cable's gone,"

a car engine roars from a distance causing the couple to turn to the sound. the teens inside the car look over at the sound, panting in fear.

it was billy.

nancy hits the car window causing the teens to jump in surprise. "back in the mall! back in the mall!" nancy shouts.

sage opens the door and gets out of the car, almost falling forward due to her injured leg. will catches her and helps her stand right. the wheeler twin looks back to check if her twin and eleven where following. they were.

all the teenagers run back inside the starcourt mall to get away from the hargrove teenager.

"SCOOPS TROOP, I REPEAT, DO YOU copy?" mike asks in the walkie as he paces. "we're trapped in the mall and in need of emergency transportation."

"scoops troop, do you copy? billy has found us. he has disabled our car and we are trapped in the mall." mike repeats. "repeat: billy has disabled our car and we are trapped in the mall."

lucas stretches back his wrist rocket as eleven stands near him with sage. the younger wheeler twin walks to another table, sitting down on it, and reaching her hands out.

the brunette lights her hands on fire, smiling softly. sage brings her hands closer to her face before putting the fire out. eleven looks over at the brunette, walking over to her and sitting down next to her.

"you're gonna kill him, aren't you?" max asks nancy as she loads a gun. "this is just a precaution, okay?" nancy assures the red-head.

"and not just against billy. if he knows we're here, so does the mind flayer." will informs max.

"scoops troop, i repeat, we are in need of emergency transportation. do you copy?" mike talks into the walkie again.

nancy watches her younger brother walk past the red car eleven threw at the russians.

"scoops troop, do you copy?"

"no chance that thing'll drive, right?" nancy asks, smiling at johnathan. "we don't need it to drive." johnathan replies. "we just need the ignition cable," he adds in before staring at the car.

all the teenagers rush over to the red vehicle and get behind it, trying to push it back. sage, el, and will stand back, watching the teenagers do their work on trying to move the car.

"uh, guys?" sage asks. "not now, sage," mike tells his sister.

sage rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. the teens pull back causing the car to go back down, leaning on the counter.

"let us try," eleven says. "el . . ." mike tries speaking, panting out of breath. "we can do it, mike," sage says as her and eleven limp forward to lift the vehicle.

mike sighs at his girlfriend and sister. the teens move away from the car, standing behind the two girls. eleven and sage raise their hands at the car, attempting to move the car.

metal squeals as the girls pant, blood falling from their nose. sage and eleven let out small yells, continuing to try and move the large vehicle.

nothing happens and eleven gives up, but sage keeps her hand up. the wheeler twin lifts her other hand up, breathing heavily as she lets out a small yell. sage brings her hands back, the car slowly standing up on its side.

the brunette puts her hands down to her side, sighing out.

"thanks, sage," mike tells his sister, patting her shoulder then rubbing her back, handing her and eleven napkins. "you're welcome,"

the two girls wipe their noses as the teenagers, besides will, grab stands and go behind the car again. they stand on the counter.

"all right, now, all the way. ready?"

the teenagers press the stands against the car.

"three, two, one . . . push!"

all the teens use all their strength and successfully push the car to the floor.

"told you," mike spoke up. "physics."

johnathan jumps off the counter, helping nancy off before going to the front of the vehicle. the two try opening the hood but it wouldn't open.

"how do we open it?"

"uh, there should be a latch. check under the wheel."

nancy walks over to the wheel and looks under it for the latch.

"you see it?" johnathan asks. "i don't know, hold on," nancy replies.

"what are they doing?" max asks as she stares at sage and eleven. mike turns around to see eleven digging through the trash, sage standing next to her. max and mike look at each other before walking over to the girls.

eleven finds an empty coke can and puts it on a stand, sage following her and standing next to her. the wheeler twin rubs eleven's back as the hopper teen begins to focus on the can.

el attempts to crush the can with her mind, but nothing happens.

"el." mike says as he walks over with max. "are you okay?"

the hopper teen looks back at the two before looking at sage, shaking her head. the younger wheeler twin sighs and opens her arms, hugging eleven tightly.

johnathan and nancy finally get the hood open to the car and look for the cable.

"do you see it?" nancy asks. "i don't know. it should be right here. distributor, distributor . . ." johnathan replies and searches for the cable.

"you'll get them back, i promise," sage whispers to eleven.

a distance rumbling was heard and max slowly turns around, looking up at the ceiling. the mind flayer was on the roof of starcourt mall.

"mike," max whispers.

the wheeler teen turns around and looks up at where max is looking. he gasps, his eyes widened in shock.

"nancy!" mike shouts to his sister and point at the ceiling that was cracking.

sage and eleven look up at the ceiling to see the mind flayer. the creature snarls and sage gasps. mike grabs his sister and lover, running off with max following them.

the mind flayer falls through the roof and lands perfectly. the creature then roars loudly.

the battle has just begun.

AUTHORS NOTE //

double update !!

bee <3