twenty one

-

"THE MIND FLAYER, it built this monster in hawkins," mike explains to hopper and joyce. "to stop el, to kill her, and pave a way into our world."

"and it almost did." y/n speaks up. "that was just one tiny piece of it."

"how big is this thing?" hopper asks.

"it's big." jonathan muttered. "thirty feet, at least."

"yeah." lucas agreed,

then y/n turned to hopper. "it sorta destroyed your cabin. sorry."

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

"yes." nancy replied.

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

"yes, exactly." nancy confirms.

"yeah, okay." steve says. "i'm just making sure."

"are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" joyce asks.

"el beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." max confirms.

"but if we close the gate again—" will speaks.

"we cut the brain off from the body." max finishes off his sentence.

"and kill it." lucas adds. "theoretically."

"yoo-hoo!" they heard murray call from behind them.

they all turned around to see murray, waving a paper in both of his hands.

-

"okay, this is what alexei called 'the hub." murray explained. "now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"okay, where's the gate?" hopper asks.

"right here." murray replied. "i don't know the scale on this, but i think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so."

"more like 500." erica intervenes as she walked closer. "what, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie disneyland or something?"

"i'm sorry, who are you?" murray asks.

"erica sinclair." erica replies. "who are you?"

"murray.. bauman."

"listen, mr. bunman," erica insults. "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."

"i'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" murray asks.

"um, um ten, you bald bastard." erica corrected.

"erica!" lucas warned.

"just the facts!" erica says.

"she's right." dustin admits. "you're all gonna die, but you don't have to." then dustin takes the papers. "excuse me. sorry, may i?"

"please." murray replied with a sarcastic, fake grin.

"okay, see this room here?" dustin explains. "this is a storage facility. there's a hatch in here that feeds to 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 repeated.

"don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit," dustin reminds hopper. "and we'll just be your.. navigators."

"no." hopper disagrees, then shrugged. "nope."

-

dustin, mike, y/n, lucas, and will stood near the fountain, watching as hopper and murray prepared to leave.

el and max sat on the fountain, right behind them.

"well, that settles it. he's gonna die, they're gonna die." erica tells dustin as she walks up to him.

"yep, most likely." dustin agrees.

"you guys survived." lucas reminds them.

dustin turns to them. "barely. we could've really used you guys down there."

"could've used you up here, too." mike says, with a small smile.

"yeah, man. we missed you dude." lucas joins in.

"yeah. big time." will adds.

they pulled each other in for a group hug, wrapping their arms around each other.

"i missed you guys, too." dustin smiles. "big time."

"please don't cry, nerds." erica insults.

"erica!" lucas warns again.

"keep saying my name, see what happens." erica threatens.

"hey," hopper calls, then hands a walkie to dustin. "you can navigate, just from someplace safe."

"it's not that simple." dustin reminds hopper.

"the signal won't reach." erica added.

"not with this. you need something with a high enough frequency band to relay the itch the russians' radio tower." dustin explained. "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."

"if you want us to navigate, you got us." dustin tells hopper. "but we need a head start. and a car."

-

after steve, robin, erica, dustin, hopper, joyce, and murray left too, the rest of them started going to nancy's car.

el went into the very back, since she could rest her leg there.

nancy tried starting the car, but it wouldn't work.

"what's wrong?" jonathan asks nancy.

"i don't know." nancy replies. "you can't be serious, come on!"

"didnt your mom just buy this car?" lucas asks.

"yes. i'm sure it's fine." nancy assured them.

"did you leave the lights on?" will asks.

"no."

"do we have gas?" lucas asks.

"yes!"

nancy tried frustratingly starting the car again, but jonathan stopped her.

"woah, woah, woah! just stop, stop." jonathan tells her, then opened his side of the car door. "pop the hood."

max and y/n were sitting next to each other, but they heard a car engine approaching them.

there was a car heading straight towards them, revealing billy in there.

max immediately got startled, and she grabbed onto y/n's hand, feeling comfort whenever she did that.

"back in the mall!" nancy yells to them as she came up to their windows.

everyone gets out, and mike and y/n help el run back into the mall, since her leg was injured.

-

"-scoops troop, i repeat, do you copy?" mike kept repeating into the walkie, as he paced around the mall. "we're trapped in the mall and in need of emergency transportation."

el watched in confusion as lucas was practicing his aim for his slingshot.

will, max, and y/n watched as nancy got her gun, and started loading it.

"you're gonna kill him, aren't you?" max asks nancy, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"this is just a precaution, okay?" nancy responds.

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

nancy looked at the car, that el flung earlier.

"no chance that thing will drive, right?" nancy sarcastically asks.

"we don't need it to drive." jonathan realizes. "we just need the ignition cable."

-

everybody, except will, and el tried pushing the car over, but it was too heavy for them.

"let me try." el speaks up.

"el.." mike exhaustedly said.

"i can do it." el cuts him off.

el tried concentrating on the car, trying to flip it over again, but it was to no avail, all she got was a bloody nose.

-

everyone, except will and el, once again tried pushing the car over.

but this time, with mike's idea, they used stools.

after they used stools to push over the car, eventually, it flipped over.

"told you." mike remarks as he panted. "physics."

nancy and jonathan tried opening the hood, but it wouldn't budge.

"how do i get it open?" nancy frustratedly asks.

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

y/n looked at el scrounging through the trash can in confusion.

"what's she doing?" max curiously asks y/n, referring to el.

mike turns to el, and then max and y/n share a glance, and y/n, max, and mike walk up to el.

el finds a coke can, and starts concentrating on it.

she keeps trying to crush it with her powers, but to no avail.

"el." mike called. "are you okay?"

el turns to them and silently, and slowly nods her head.

max starts to hear something, and so does y/n.

they both look above them on the roof, to find the mind flayer on the roof.

"y/n.." max called.

y/n walked up close next to max, and looked up to the roof too.

mike saw it too, and gasped in fear.

"nancy!" mike yells.

max immediately grabbed y/n's hand, and started running with everyone else.

-

y/n, max, el, and mike hid behind a counter.

y/n gripped onto max's hand tighter, max felt herself getting a fluttery feeling from this.

"it's turned away." mike tells y/n. "if we go up the stairs now, we'll make it."

"no way, not with el's leg." y/n refuses.

"we have to try." mike suggests.

"there's another way." el speaks up. "to get out. through the gap."

"okay." mike gave in. "now."

they started running towards the gap, but el tripped over something as mike tried to hold her up.

they hid behind a counter, and there was a mannequin with el's exact outfit.

the mind flayer immediately grabbed the mannequin, but once it turned out to not be el, the mind flayer immediately tossed it.

lucas shot a balloon with the slingshot eventually on purpose, to get the mind flayer's attention.

mike, el, y/n, and max immediately used that opportunity to leave.

the four of them started running, mike once again helping.

they made it outside, and almost made it out, but then they saw billy.

"oh, shit." max mumbled.

"go!" mike tells them.

the four of them turned, and started running back the other direction.

max immediately clicked the button to close the gate.

they made it to an elevator, but it took awhile for it to go on.

billy immediately started following them, and max went up to him, preparing herself.

"billy.." max begins. "billy, you don't have to do this. billy. your names billy hargrove. you live in 4819 cherry lane. billy, please. i'm max, i'm your—"

billy immediately swung his fist right into max's face as she cried out in pain.

"max!" y/n screamed.

but y/n got cut off by billy walking up to her and knocking her unconscious too.

y/n fell to the floor, right next to max, and her vision faded to darkness.

billy took el, and started walking off.

-

"y/n, y/n, please wake up.." max practically begged, as she kneeled down next to y/n.

y/n slowly opened her eyes, to see max's face in front of her, a few inches away from hers.

max immediately sighed in relief, once she saw that y/n was up.

"oh, thank god." max says in relief.

max starts to get up, then she sticks her hand out, to help up y/n.

y/n takes max's hand, and max pulls up y/n.

"are you okay?" max concernedly asked y/n, as max cupped y/n's cheek.

y/n gently grabbed onto max's wrist, as max continued to cup y/n's cheek.

"yeah, yeah, i'm fine." y/n responded, feeling a little dizzy.

y/n looked next to her, to see mike out cold on the floor.

y/n immediately went over to mike, and kneeled down aside him.

"mike, mike, get up." y/n says as she shakes him.

mike's eyes started to flutter open, as he sat up.

"are you okay?" y/n asks mike, as she helped him up.

max felt a little jealousy wash over her, crossing her arms, as she saw y/n with mike.

mike glanced around the room, searching for el. "where's el?" mike asked.

mike, max, and y/n started running over to the main part of the mall.

"we're out!" y/n heard will yell.

mike, max, and y/n ran up, stopping their tracks once they saw the mind flayer, el, and billy.

billy stood up, went over to the mind flayer, as el backed up in fear.

the mind flayer reached a tentacle, and billy stopped it.

"no!" billy shouted as he yelled out in pain.

max looked at billy in shock.

the tentacles started to impale billy, as billy started to cough up blood.

max stared in shock at what was going on in front of her, her jaw dropping, and her eyes watering.

"billy!" max yelled, starting to cry.

the mind flayer took its tentacles out of billy, making him collapse to the floor.

billy started to cough up blood, feeling himself go weak.

over at the russian base, joyce closed the gate, which killed the mind flayer, causing it to completely fall on the ground, not moving.

max started to walk over to billy, tears flowing down her face.

max started to shake billy, as she kneeled down in front of him.

"billy, get up, please, please, get up billy!" max begged, as she shaked him.

"i'm sorry.." billy weakly apologized.

"billy.." max said, with complete sadness.

billy stopped breathing, and his body went limp, pronouncing him dead.

"billy.." max called again, in between sobs. "billy."

y/n was knelt down on the ground, next to max, and pulled max closer to her.

max started sobbing hard, she rested her head on y/n's chest, as she continued to cry, and y/n had her hands on the back of max's head.

y/n rested her head on top of max's head, as max continued to cry, with her arms wrapped around y/n.

it pained y/n to see max like this.

-

lucas, max and y/n were sitting in the fire truck together.

max had her head rested on y/n's shoulder, as she silently cried.

max and y/n had a shared blanket over them.

"i don't think i can go home for a little." max sadly said to y/n.

"that's fine." y/n assured her. "you can spend the night at my place whenever you want."

-