[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗗]

"WE FOUND HIM," SAGE SAID TO THE party as her and eleven were seated on the couch down in the wheeler's basement.

"where is he?" max asked her. "woods," eleven replied to the red-head. "woods?" lucas repeats as a question. "he's with . . . will's mom."

"my — my mom?"

"and some random dude,"

"what are they doing?"

"ill . . . annoy." eleven said slowly. "they're going to Illinois," sage said for the hopper teen.

"mike! sage! breakfast!" karen said from upstairs, knocking on the door. "not now, mom!"

"illinois? illinois, like the state? the state of illinois?" mike asks the girls as they take off their blindfolds. "mike, what else is called illinois?" sage asked her twin, ignoring the pain on her throat that billy had caused from yesterday.

the older wheeler twin rolled his eyes before his sister got up and went to the bathroom, max and eleven following behind her. sage turns on the water and grabs a cloth, but max takes the cloth from her before she could soak it.

"i'll do it,"

sage sighs and nods. max reaches over and does eleven first, wiping the blood of her nose. when she was done with her, sage was next.

the red-head wipes the blood of the brunette's nose before noticing her neck. sage see's the bruise on her neck and lightly touches it.

"does it still hurt?" max asks her. "only when i talk," sage responses, looking at her. "well, it's a good thing you're not mike, then. "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." and you'd be in constant pain." max said making the three chuckle.

the mayfield teen wipes more blood off of her nose as eleven watches them. the three girls listened to the conversation the boys were having and it seemed like they thought the girls couldn't hear, but they hear everything.

"it wasn't!" max said. "you guys do realize we can hear everything you're saying, right?"

eleven giggles making sage smile softly.

"you have no idea what you're capable of,"

sage's smile fell at the voice in her head. the wheeler teen sighs and rubs her face, trying to get billy's voice out of her head. though, billy was right. sage didn't have any idea what she was capable of. yeah, she read the comics and saw how powerful the phoenix force was, but she didn't know if she could be as powerful.

the three girls walked out of the bathroom then walked back into the basement where johnathan and nancy were.

"nancy?" sage asked. "what's wrong?"

"we need to talk,"

"IT WAS THE SAME THING, THE EXACT same thing that happened to will last year. and look at this. look at the body temperatures." nancy said then put papers down in front of the teens.

"he likes it cold," will said. "okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer —" mike began to talk. "mrs. driscoll," nancy corrected him.

"right, yeah, mrs. driscoll. what time was this attack?"

"last night,"

"right, but what time last night?" sage asked her older sister. "around 9:00." nancy replied.

"you waited all night to call?" johnathan asked the older wheeler teen. "i was waiting for the doctors to run some tests." nancy quickly said.

"you weren't there?" will asked his brother. "well, i'm here now, aren't i?"

"hallelujah!"

"ooh," lucas winced, knowing what was going on with the couple. "um, so, wha — what time was your . . . sauna test?" nancy then asked.

"around nine," all the younger teens replied in unison. "well, that proves it. that proves my theory." nancy declares.

"she's flayed —" mike said.

"just like billy," sage finished off.

"flayed?" the older byers teen asks. "the mind flayer. he flays people. takes over their mind." mike explained. "once they do that, they basically become him."

"if there are two flayed —" lucas began. "we have to assume there are more."

"heather," eleven said. "billy was doing something to her."

"she was scared," sage added in and let out a shaky sigh. "she was screaming."

"bad screams." el told them. "what's a good scream?" lucas asked her. "max said —"

"doesn't matter." max cut in and shook her head at the sinclair teenager. "i'm sorry, i'm lost. who is heather?" nancy asked the teens.

"she's a lifeguard at the pool," max answered.

"heather holloway?"

the girls nodded.

nancy and johnathan look at each other. "tom,"

"okay, let's go," the eldest child of the wheeler's says then walks back up the basement stairs.

everyone follows after her then head's outside to the car. sage, max, and eleven get in the back while the three boys stand together.

"seriously?" mike asks in disbelief. "welcome to my world," will tells him before walking to the very back. the wheeler teen and sinclair teen follow him, getting in the very back.

"seatbelts," nancy informs them as she puts her hair up.

everyone puts their seatbelts on and nancy reverses out of the driveway, hitting the teens bike's, and then drives off to the hospital.

"I MEAN, YOU HAVE TO ADMIT, AS A feat of engineering alone, this is impressive," dustin says as he walks with robin, erica, and steve through the long hallway.

"what are you talking about? it's a total fire hazard. there's no stairs, there's no exit, there's just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell." steve tells him. "they're commies. you don't pay people, they cut corners." erica informs steve.

"to be fair to our russian comrades. i don't think this tunnel was designed for walking." robin said to her friends. "think about it, they developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo."

"it all comes into the mall like any old delivery." dustin says. "and then they load it up onto those old trucks and nobody's the wiser." robin added.

"you think they built this whole mall just so they could transport that green poison?" steve asks.

"i very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison," dustin informs him. "it's gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something."

"what the hell is promethium?"

"it's what victor stone's dad used to make cyborg's bionic cybernetic components." robin replied. "you're all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill," erica commented.

"no, no, no. no, don't lump me in with them." steve tells the younger sinclair. "i'm not a nerd, all right?"

"why so sensitive, harrington? afraid of losing cool points to a ten-year-old child?" robin questions the harrington teen. "no, i'm just saying i don't jack shit about prometheus."

"promethium." dustin corrected. "prometheus is a greek mythological figure, but whatever. all i'm saying is, it's probably being used to make something."

"or power something,"

"like a nuclear weapon?"

"totally."

"walking towards a nuclear weapon. that's great. that'd be great." steve said sarcastically. "but what if they're building something, why here?" robin questioned. "i mean, hawkins. seriously. of all places. at the very best, we're a toilet stop on your way to disneyland, but maybe that's it. maybe it's our very . . ."

dustin and steve slowed down their steps then looked at each other.

"you think the russians know?"

"about —"

"they could."

"so it's connected?"

"maybe," dustin replies. "how?" steve asks him.

"i don't know, but it's . . ."

"possible," the two whisper in unison.

"i'm sorry, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" robin asks, turning around to face the two male's. the two boys go to speak but the walkie suddenly turns on.

"walkie,"

dustin and steve rush over to the girls as erica takes off her backpack, handing the walkie to robin. robin takes the antenna out and listens to the man speak.

a trip to china sounds nice. if you tread lightly

"it's the code,"

"wherever that broadcast is coming from —"

"it's close. and if there's one thing we know about that signal . . ."

"it can reach the surface." dustin finishes. "let's go," robin says then stands up again.

everyone stands up and follows her.

   NANCY, JOHNATHAN, AND THE TEENS made it to the holloway's house and got out of the car, heading to the door.

nancy rings the door, but no one answers. the wheeler teen rings the bell again and when nothing happens her and johnathan turn around to face her sister, and eleven.

eleven looks between the two before simply opening the door.

nancy walks in and everyone follows in after her.

"tom?" nancy calls out. "heather?"

"jesus, it's freezing," max comments before everyone walks into the living room. "do you all smell that?" nancy asks.

sage smells the air before slowly walking over to the kitchen, seeing chemicals.

"oh, god," nancy winced, looking at the chemicals. "more chemicals."

all the teens walk into the kitchen as johnathan grabs a box. "you think they're guzzling this shit?" the older byers teen asks. "yeah, either that or they just went on a hell of a cleaning spree." nancy replied and gave him a look.

"but last year, will didn't eat chemicals." max pointed out. "did you?"

"no," will answers. "this is something new,"

"mister. clark, fifth grade. posit. what happens when you mix chemicals together?" mike asks his friends. "you create a new substance," will, sage, and lucas replied in unison.

"what if they're making something?"

"in themselves?" max asks the eldest wheeler twin. "i mean, come on, if you drink this crap, it'll kill you."

"yeah, if you're human," lucas said.

nancy then turned around and began to walk to the dining room of the house. everyone followed behind her. the dining table still had leftover food on the table. nancy walked further then saw a wine bottle laying on the carpet along with dried up blood being stained on the carpet.

"blood," nancy said and put her hand over the carpet. "yesterday, tom had a bandage on his forehead." nancy informed johnathan.

the eldest wheeler teen reached over for the whine bottle and noticed there was blood on it. she picks it up and slowly stands up.

"he was attacked."

sage stares at the bottle before looking to her left, seeing a carpet was all messy near a door. the younger wheeler twin walks off to the door, her sister and friends following behind her.

nancy walks in front of her sister then opens the door, seeing another door and opens that one. the brunette walks in the room, which so happened to be the garage. the younger teens walk in behind the two older teens just to see a rope in the middle of the room. johnathan kneels down and touches a piece of the rope.

"they must of tied them." johnathan said before standing up. "they must of taken them somewhere,"

"mrs. driscoll," nancy spoke up. "she kept saying . . . "i have to go back." what if the flaying, it's taking place somewhere else? there must be a place where all this started, right? a source."

"somewhere he didn't want me and sage to see," eleven said. "if we can find the source, then maybe we can stop him. or at least stop it from spreading or doing whatever the hell he's doing with those chemicals." nancy informed.

"how do we find it?" sage asked her sister. "mrs. driscoll. if she wants to go back so badly, why don't we let her?" will suggests his friends.

sage looks over at nancy and the eldest wheeler teen looks at will, nodding at him.

NANCY, JOHNATHAN, AND THE TEENS walk into the hospital together to see driscoll.

"no, that is not mean. that is honest." a woman says while on the phone. "she won't find out."

nancy walks past the desk with everyone, hoping she wouldn't get caught, but she did.

"see, you're the only one who gon' tel — woah, woah, woah! excuse me!" the woman stops them. "where do you think you're going?"

nancy turns to face the woman, "oh, um . . . i was just going to visit my grandma again. and — and this . . . this is my family."

"extended," lucas added in, smiling. "i don't care who they are. you know the rules. two visitors at a time." the woman said.

"yeah, but —"

"two!"

the woman picks up the phone and continues the conversation she had going on. "girl, this child has lost her mind. she brought a whole zoo in here." she said.

nancy and johnathan walk away leaving the teens to stay in the lobby. mike goes over to the snack machine and inserts his money in, putting in the number. the vending machine whirring was heard as it slowly releases his candy, but it gets stuck. mike glares at the machine.

"oh, come on, you piece of shit!" mike whines before hitting the machine. lucas hits the snack machine as well until all the candies fall out.

the two boys move back before looking over to see eleven wiping the blood off her nose. sage looks over before focusing her mind on the candy. she lifts candy bars into the air and makes them smack mike and lucas in the chest.

"thanks," mike says making the two girls nod at him, sage wiping the blood off her nose.

the wheeler twin then stands next to max, sighing out.

"dude, i think that was it." lucas tells mike. "that was what?" the wheeler teen asks. "the olive branch." lucas whispers in reply. " . . . the what?"

lucas slowly turns his head to look at mike. "oh, my god. you're hopeless." lucas says. "okay, i'll try to distract max, get you an opening. and then talk to her. all right?"

mike nods before glancing over at eleven.

once the two boys get their candy — lucas walks over to max and asks her if she wants to try and throw candy in each other's mouths.

the mayfield teen looks at him before glancing at sage. the wheeler girl nods and max follows lucas to the vending machine.

sage watches her then sees will walking over to her making her smile softly.

"hey," she says. "hey. you still haven't told her yet?" will asks making sage shake her head. "she seems to be looking like she'll run back to him," sage replies then looks over at max and lucas.

"i wouldn't be too sure," will says and grins at sage. ". . . what do you mean?"

"max has told me a few things . . ."

"really?"

"yeah! you might have a chance with her."

sage smiles at will and leans over, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. will smiles and hugs his friend back before noticing the lights.

"you see that, right?" will whispers and slowly pulls away. "yeah, i see that," sage replies and looks up at the lights with will.

"holy shit,"

AUTHORS NOTE //

here's an update !!

bee <3