AN: Blake's outfit is up top. Finally, a new one!

♚

The minute everyone stepped into the house it was silent. Nobody had anything to say to each other so Blake locked herself in Johnny's room after using the restroom for several reasons. One, she needed to change. Two, she needed to process what was happening and what had just happened. Third, after processing she was most likely going to loose it.

After changing into a spare shirt she had in Jonathan's dresser, she laid down on his bed, thinking about what occurred. Blake was silent for a few moments, hearing both Bob's and Joyce's screams in her head when there was a knock on the door. She sat up, looking at the door, "Come in."

The door opened, revealing Steve who quickly made his way to the bed and sat next to the girl. "I know it's a dumb question, but how are you feeling?"

"I didn't know him that well," Blake whispered, looking down at the ground. Steve put a hand on her knee, ignoring the feeling in his stomach when he did so, "You were with him when it happened though."

The girl nodded, "Yeah, I saw it."

The boy sighed, shifting closer to her so their legs were touching, "You can be real with me. Are you okay?"

Blake snorted, looking over at him to see that their faces were close, "Is anyone really okay after seeing this shit happen?"

Steve stared in her green eyes, shaking his head and unconsciously leaning in. Blake's heart was pounding against her rib cage as she closed her eyes. Their noses brushed together, lips almost touching when the door whipped open causing them to jump apart. Mike stood in the doorway, shocked before speaking, "We need to talk."

The pair got up, meeting Mike at the door who said, "I like you guys together," before walking away leaving Steve blushing as Blake snorted. They made their way out of Jonathan's room and into the kitchen where Hopper was talking to the kids, "We'll see."

"We'll see? We can't just sit here while those things are loose." Hopper rose a brow, "We stay here and we wait for help."

With that, he walked out, leaving everyone in the room to huff in annoyance. The silence continued throughout the whole house as Blake walked over to the coffee machine and quickly put the grounds in, starting a new brew. She tensed feeling a body behind her before the hand rested on her shoulder making her relax.

Normally, Blake would have nothing to do with human interaction besides with El or the boys but she couldn't help but relax when Steve touched her. The boy ran his hands up and down her arms as she rested her head on his chest. The two stayed like this for a few moments, Blake almost falling asleep in his arms before the coffee machine beeped.She went over to the cupboard, grabbing a cup for them both and poured the coffee.

"Can't drink black coffee, huh?" Blake questioned when she saw Steve grimace after taking a sip. "No and honestly, I don't know how you do it."

"Years of practice," She smirked, drinking the whole thing before pouring herself a new one. After about two and a half cups, Blake could feel herself waking up more, feeling better. She and Steve were sitting on the counter when Mike got up from the table and picked something up in the living room, "Did you know Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?"

"Really?" Lucas asked as everyone else was quiet. Mike turned around, walking back into the room, "He petitioned the school to start it and everything. And then, he had a fundraiser to fund everything. Mr. Clarke learner everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?"

"Yeah," Blake whispered, gulping down the rest of her third cup as Mike set down one of the puzzles Bob had brought over two days ago. "We can't let him die in vain."

"Well, what do you want to do, Mike? The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demodogs on our own." Max made a look, "Demodogs?"

"Demogorgon. Dog. Demodogs," Dustin explained with his hands, "It's like a compound. A play on words-"

The redhead cut him off, "-Okay."

"I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe." Lucas, who was across the table sighed, "But there's an army now."

"His army," Mike and Blake spoke at the same time. They shared a look, Blake hopping off the counter and going into the living room with Mike.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, following the girl.

"His army. Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too." Everyone looked confused and Blake rolled her eyes, "Basically, that day on the field, Will was infected. The shadow thing he was seeing? Yeah, now it's in him."

The boys and girl nodded, now understanding as Mike left the room, everyone following behind him. He picked up Wills drawing, Dustin taking it from him, "So this virus is connecting him to the tunnels?"

"To the tunnels, to the monsters, to the Upside Down, everything." Steve put a hand out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down."

"Okay, so the shadow monsters inside of Will. And if it is in pain? So is Will-"

"-And so does Dart," Lucas concludes. Mike nodded at him, "It's like Mr. Clarke taught us-"

"The hive mind," Blake interrupted and they all turned to her, raising a brow. "You forget I was in Clarke's class when I was your age."

"A hive mind?" Steve questioned as Blake leaned on him. "A hive mind, it's a collective consciousness. A super organism."

"And this is the thing that controls everything," Mike points to the paper, "It's the brain."

"Like the Mind Flayer," Dustin says making Lucas snap at him.

♚

"The Mind Flayer." Hopper, who was across the room sighed, "What the hell is that?"

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient, that is doesn't even know it's true home. It enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using it's highly developed syontic powers-"

"-Oh my God, this isn't real, it's a kids game-"

"-Shut up, Dad," Blake groaned, leaning her head on Steve's shoulder. "It's a manual and it's not for kids. So, unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor-"

"-Analogy," Lucas cut in making Blake and Dustin give him a look, "Analogy? That what your problem is? Fine, analogy. This is the best analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."

"Okay, so this Mind Flaymer thing-" The two closest to her cut her off, "Mind Flayer."

Nancy sucked in a breath, "What does it want?"

"Basically it wants to conquer us. It believes it's the Master Race."

"Like the Germans," Steve pointed out causing Blake to lift her head and look at him funny. "Do you mean what I think you mean, Harrington?"
The boy shyly nodded as the girl chuckled, setting her head back on him.

"Sure, if they were from another dimension, totally. It uses other races, like us as inferior to itself." Mike nodded, "It's spread, takes over other dimensions-"

"-We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." Steve ran a hand through his hair, muttering, "That's great."

Blake grabbed his hand, entwining it with hers to keep him calm. The boy turned bright red, relaxing in her hand as Nancy spoke, "Okay, so if this thing is like the brain and controlling everything, then if we kill it..."

"Then we kill everything it controls." Lucas scoffed, "Yeah, theoretically." Hopper walked over to Nancy, taking the book from her hand, "Okay, so how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireballs or something."

Blake snorted, covering it with a cough as Dustin spoke, "No, no, no fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army uh, because... zombies you know? They- they don't have brains and the Mind Flayer it- it likes brains... it's just a game."

Hopper started muttering incoherently and Dustin scoffed, "I thought we were waiting for your military backup?"

"We are!" Mike laughed, "Even if they come, how are they going to stop this? You can't just shoot this with guns."

"You don't know that. We don't know anything-" The pale boy stopped him, "We know it's already killed everyone in that lab."

"And we know the monsters are going to mult again," Lucas told before Dustin, "And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town."

"They're right." A voice croaked from the living room. Everyone turned to see Joyce standing there. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."

"Me too, Joyce. Me too, but we don't know exactly what we are dealing with."

"That's not true," Mike and Blake spoke. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know it's weakness."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore? That he's a spy for the Mind Flayer now?" Max asked. "Yeah but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."