A/N: One more chapter after this <3

Warnings: blood, guns, violence, sedation, racism (Billy towards Lucas), mentions of death/dying

Word Count: 7721

There wasn't anything in the world keeping Mike and Eleven from moving closer to each other. All he had to do was whisper her name before he was wrapped in her arms. In a gasp, she whispered his name back. Everyone else sweetly watched from the side as the two silently cried into their embrace. After awhile, Mike pulled away with a smile. "I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-"

"353 days." El shook her head happily. "I heard."

Mike's smile fell. "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"

"Because I wouldn't let her."

He turned away to face Hopper, who was staring at El with such a gentleness that was too pure for a Chief to give some random girl. It told a deeper story of a cop finding a lost little girl, taking her in, caring for her, losing her and then getting her back again. He wasn't sure what happened between the losing and getting back, but he was so glad to know that she was fine.

But she still broke the rules.

"The hell is this?" He asked as he moved closer to her. "Where have you been?"

"Where have you been?"

In response, he pulled her into a hug. That was enough for Mike to piece everything together. "You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!" He lunged forward, shoving Hopper in his back.

"Hey!" The Chief stumbled and grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt. "Let's talk. Alone."

As soon as Hopper led Mike away to Jonathan's bedroom, Nancy rushed up to her sister and wrapped her in her arms. Doc grinned and reciprocated the hug. "Don't you ever do that again! No one knew where you were and we just thought... W-We thought..."

"I know. I'm sorry," Doc whispered, running a hand up and down her back. "I'm sorry, Nance."

Doc received a kiss on the cheek before Nancy pulled away with a smile, wiping away some of her relieved tears. Jonathan stepped up to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pressing her to his side. "Hey. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." She sniffled, becoming choked up at the knowledge that even Jonathan was worried about her. She had truly underestimated the love people had for her. She turned to see Steve smiling, stretching an arm out. With a chuckle, she pulled away from Jonathan and went up to him, wrapping her arms around his middle. "You miss me?"

Steve set one hand on her shoulder and the other utop her beanie-clad head. "Yeah, I missed you, you little shit. You have any idea how worried we were?"

"I think I have some idea."

Her friends were her next stop. Lucas and Dustin waited expectantly for a hug. Letting out a breath, she wrapped her arms around the both of them and pulled them in tight. Lucas's hand rubbed her back with Dustin's arm wrapped around her shoulders. "Now before you two start-"

"Where in the hell have you been?!"

"Where did you get those clothes?!"

"You know I had to call both your friends to ask about you? You know that, right? Don't ever make me do that again!"

"Next time, don't tell everyone ten different things before you run away for a few days."

Doc pulled away with a playful frown on her face. "Next time? Alright, fine, I'll tell you all the same thing next time," Her face softened. "I missed you weirdos."

"We missed you, too, Doc."

A head of fiery hair caught her eye, Dustin and Lucas moving out of the way for Max to walk between them. The Mayfield girl looked a bit hesitant to try and greet Doc, for she had just been coldly turned down for a handshake by Eleven. But Doc knew Max, she cared for her, so she pulled her in for a hug. "Hey, Mad Max."

"Wheeler." Max hugged back with a smile.

"You probably have some questions right about now."

"Not as many as you think."

Doc felt a hand on her shoulder, so she pulled away from Max to find El staring at her. She nodded her head towards Joyce, who stood off to the side with a warm smile. "We're going to see Will." El informed. Doc nodded before the two of them approached Joyce.

"Hey, honey," She wrapped an arm around Doc's shoulders as she led the girls to Will's room. "Are you okay? I was so worried about you."

"I'm okay, Mrs Byers. Actually, I think I'm the best I've been in months. As crazy as that sounds."

"You're right. That does sound crazy."

Entering Will's room, Doc's chest tightened at the sight of the boy unconscious in his bed. She thought back to how harsh he was with her before she left and wondered if his behavior had worsened since then. If he had to be held back and sedated, then the work of this monster had deeply infected the poor boy worse than she thought. This didn't help Doc's guilt for leaving him to deal with this alone, but now wasn't the time for self-blame. Will needed her help. She promised him she would fix this, and that's exactly what she was going to do.

"He's not doing well." Joyce whispered as the three sat beside Will. El rested a hand on his shoulder with pursed lips.

"I know. I saw."

Joyce widened her eyes. "What else did you see?"

    CLOSEGATE

El and Doc approached the kitchen table with the decoded message written on the piece of cardboard. Doc narrowed her eyes as she heard the room begin to fill with the others. "Gate... Like the one you opened?" She looked to her sister, who silently nodded.

"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" Joyce asked from her other side.

El glanced at her before turning forward, taking a very, very deep breath. This was what she came back for. This was how she was going to save her friends. She felt Doc's hand slip in hers, her nerves already soothed at the presence of her sister. From somewhere else in the house, a door opened and closed before Mike walked into the kitchen, followed by Hopper.

Mike didn't even speak a word before his arm was around Doc's shoulders and pulling her into an embrace. That was all it took for the dam to break and for her tears to flood her eyes, cascading down her face and some soaking Mike's shoulder.

She didn't know if she should hug him back. She didn't know if she deserved to hug her brother after taking off the way she did with only a note with less than half an explanation on the where and why of her sudden disappearance.

Mike was becoming sick of his sister being in danger at this point, but whatever happened, happened. He couldn't stop it, but she was here now. She was okay and that was what mattered.

Doc decided to give her brother a squeeze before she turned to the Chief. Hopper lightly smiled at her and placed a hand on her head. "I take my eyes off you for a second and you run away."

She wrapped a hand around his wrist gently, smiling back at him. "Hey, she made me." She jokingly pointed at El, who rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Thanks for looking out for her, kid."

"We looked out for each other."

A few minutes later, the team was gathered around the kitchen table, listening to Hopper explain what he had seen when Dr Owens had taken him under the lab. The tunnels, the gate, how it had expanded within a year. Doc, wanting to rest her still aching leg, sat in a chair between Nancy and Dustin.

"It's not like before. It's grown," Hopper continued with a sigh. "A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demodogs." Dustin turned to him.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, uh, Demodogs," He proudly repeated, everyone else sighing out and rolling their eyes. "Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-"

"How is this important right now?"

"It's not. I'm sorry."

El looked up at Hopper. "I can do it."

The room stilled as he shook his head. "You're not hearing me."

"I'm hearing you. I can do it."

Mike interjected. "Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies."

"I thought that was the whole point?" Max narrowed her eyes.

"It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the Mind Flayer's army..."

"Will's a part of that army." Lucas finished.

"Closing the gate will kill him."

Doc looked around at all the faces that fell in horror. She, herself, was worried for Will, but everything she had learned in the past couple of days resurfaced in her mind. And suddenly, she knew what she had to do.

"So, we remove the Mind Flayer."

Everyone turned to her in confusion, so she enlightened them.

"I don't know how or why, but I am connected to the Upside Down. The Mind Flayer is intimidated by me. It's why Will has been distant from me. They're connected with me somehow. The night I left, I entered Will's mind. We had been holding hands, I think that's how it works."

"What happened in his mind?" Hopper asked.

"I came face-to-face with the Mind Flayer."

She watched everyone's eyes widen.

"And I was right. It's threatened by me. I took one step close to it and it moved away from me. It was dead-set on killing me before I made the first move. So, I just have to keep making the first move. I can enter Will's mind and I can remove the Mind Flayer from him without him getting hurt. Then, El closing the gate will kill it. Will would be in the clear."

Mike stepped closer to the table with a stare that could've scared Doc if she wasn't so determined. "No, Doc."

"Mike, I can do this."

"Even if you could, you learned about this within a few days. You don't know everything. You could be throwing yourself in front of this thing with not enough strength or knowledge to fight it. We don't know everything about it and that could get you killed."

Doc sighed and rubbed her forehead with her palm. "Mike, I get that you're worried and that this plan is very dangerous, but I'm fine. I've practiced my power. I've learned more than I've ever known and I know that my power is very strong. I can't heal Will with it, but I can eliminate what is causing harm to him," Her eyes roamed over everyone. "I just have to be careful. Last time I tried to fight it, I woke up to Will choking me to death."

Mike, along with everyone else, gawked at her. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! You can't do this alone, Doc! I believe that you're strong, but this thing got to Will even with you right in front of him."

"That was different. I was too late then."

"You're gonna get yourself killed if you're alone."

Joyce looked up, a look of realization on her face. "Wait a minute," She stood and hurried out of the room, everyone quickly following her into Will's room. She turned to his open window, the night wind blowing his curtain to the side. "He likes it cold."

"What?" Hopper wondered.

"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold," She went over to the window and closed it. "We keep giving it what it wants."

Nancy tilted her head. "If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..."

"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan finished her thought from where he sat beside his brother.

"So, if he likes it cold..."

"We need to burn it out of him," Joyce seethed. "And it'll be easier for (Y/N) to fight."

Mike glanced at his sister, who was nodding at Joyce. He had no choice but to go along with this plan, as much as it worried the hell out of him. "We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time."

"Yeah, somewhere far away." Dustin agreed.

Hopper knew exactly where to do it.

Jonathan now led the Chief to his car, who was carrying Will in his arms once again as he instructed the Byers teen on how to get to his cabin. "Take Danfield, then you'll see a large oak tree," Joyce closed the door behind her as she and Doc followed him out. "You're gonna swing a right. That road is gonna dead-end. And it's about a five-minute walk from there."

"Okay," Jonathan nodded and opened the back door for Hopper to lay Will down. "Danfield to oak tree. Swing a right. That's it. But it's channel ten, right?"

"It's channel ten. Listen," Hopper closed the door and placed a hand on Jonathan's shoulder. "You let me know when that thing is out of him." He patted his shoulder and approached Doc, who stood in front of the car with wide eyes. "Be careful, kid, alright? I need you back in one piece."

Doc sharply exhaled and wringed her hands together. "I-Is it lame to say I'm just a little scared out of my mind?" She tried a smile. Hopper shook his head and placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently.

"No. You're gonna be fine. Just remember that this thing is scared of you. That's your advantage, okay?" He nodded with her. "Okay. I'll see you in a bit."

"See you." She whispered as he walked away. Behind her, she felt a presence, so she turned around to see Mike nervously staring at her. There were a lot of things left unsaid between the two of them and now felt like the best time to lay it all out.

"Doc," Mike sighed, glancing down at his shoes. "Before you go, I-I just wanna say... I wanna say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ignoring your pain and for treating you badly... I didn't mean any of it, especially what I said to you about you not caring about Eleven. About... your power. You did what no one else could and it haunted you... and I used that against you. A-And this apology may seem a little late but... I just- I love you, okay? I don't say it enough, but I do."

Doc softly smiled as tears sprung in the corners of her eyes. "I love you, too, booger-breath," The two of them chuckled with Mike playfully rolling his eyes in mock offense. "Don't worry, Mike. I'm coming home. I will not let that thing kill me."

Mike admired her confident scoff. "It better not. Because then it'd have to deal with me," He hesitated before stretching his hand out to shake, a bashful smile on his face. "I-I drew first blood. On Halloween."

In the storm of everything else, she had almost forgotten about that. The promise broken between the two of them. She was afraid he would never apologize for that, that he would go against their own Party rules, but his attempt of reconciliation was a step to something new. Something good. Something beautiful. So, she grabbed hold of his hand and shook it firmly.

Mike went to pull his hand away, but Doc tugged him into a hug. She shakily exhaled as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm scared, Mike..."

"I know," He nodded into her shoulder. "I'm scared, too. I'm on your side, though, so you don't have to worry." He pulled back just enough to kiss her forehead before letting go of her. "Good luck."

"Thanks." She smiled and watched him walk back to the house. El crossed paths with him as she made her way to Doc. "You ready?" She asked as El came to a stop in front of her, digging into the pocket of her pants.

"I... I wanted to give you this," She took out the two bracelets given to her by Becky and pressed the one labeled 'Jane' into Doc's hand. "Mama wanted us to have these. But I want you to have mine. And I can have yours."

Doc stared down at the multicolored bracelet in her palm with teary eyes, her heart warming. "So, we'll be with each other the whole time."

El nodded. "I got you and I love you."

"I got you and I love you, too."

The two sisters, not by blood, but by trauma and broken souls, pressed their foreheads together. They slipped each other's names onto their wrists and held hands. After everything they had gone through together, this was the scariest so far. There was no telling if either of them would walk back to this house. And if they did, there was no telling whether or not the both of them would. This could very well be the last time they would see each other and that scared them to death.

"Please, be careful." Doc whispered with a sniffle, shutting her eyes tight.

"You be careful." El replied, Doc smiling wide and rapidly nodding her head against hers as a way to convince herself that everything would turn out fine for everyone.

Meanwhile, Nancy and Steve teamed up to rummage through the pile of what was in the shed, searching for heaters for the cabin group. Steve had picked up the first space heater he saw when he decided to say something. "You should go with him."

Nancy looked up. "What?"

"With Jonathan."

"No, I'm..." She scoffed. "I'm not just gonna leave Mike."

Steve paused his searching and stood up straight. "No one's leaving anyone. I think (Y/N)'s gonna need you with her," He picked up another heater and inspected it when Nancy lifted the object it was buried under. "I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend, but... turns out I'm actually a pretty damn good babysitter."

Nancy stared up at him sadly, watching his somber, but content expression stare right back as she took the heater he handed over. "Steve..."

"It's okay, Nance," He softly reassured her. "It's okay."

"I..."

Steve smiled and walked away, leaving Nancy to play his words over again and again. At the house, Mike and El had just watched Doc get into the backseat of Jonathan's car with Joyce before he turned to her. Just when he got her back, he felt like she was being pulled away again. "Are you sure about this?"

"I have to be."

He sighed. "Just be careful, okay? I can't lose you again."

She shook her head. "You won't lose me."

"Do you promise?"

"Promise."

They slowly moved closer to each other, lips almost grazing before Hopper's voice sounded.

"El... Come on, let's go. It's time."

Their eyes moved away from him and back to each other. El drew in a deep breath as Mike nodded at her, silently telling her that he would wait for her. She nodded back to say that she would come back to him.

Steve and the kids watched as Nancy got into Jonathan's car and El into Hopper's. Out of everyone, Mike was the most distressed. He watched with glossed eyes, deep uncontrolled breaths and a heavy heart as two of his favorite people headed straight into something that could become their demise.

-------------------------------------------------

"So, where did you go?"

Nancy had broken the silence within the car. Doc looked up at her sister from her gaze on Will, who laid across her and Joyce's laps. Nancy had been craning her neck to look at her. Doc swallowed.

"I went to find answers. About myself, my mom... what the lab wanted with me," She clutched the necklace she wore around her neck. The one Kali had given her. "I found a family who understood me. They understood my pain. They taught me things I'd never thought of before."

There was another silence as Nancy glanced down in thought. She wondered if Doc had only come back because Eleven did. Not because she wanted to come home. Not because she loved them. She wondered if once all this is over, she would leave again to be with her new-found family.

"If you found all of that, why did you come back?"

Doc smiled at her sister. "Because this is my home. My true home. Because you're my true family," She moved her eyes over to Will. "And because I promised Will I would help him."

Nancy smiled back, reaching her hand out to hold her sister's hand. Doc gripped her hand in hers. "Well, I'm happy you decided to come back... I love you, sis."

"I love you, too."

On another road, Hopper drove his truck in a tense silence. El hadn't spoken a word to him since they left, opting to stare out of the window just to avoid looking at him. The two of them hadn't left each other on good terms at all, but they were both too stubborn to start that conversation. Instead, Hopper brought up a different topic.

"So, what, we're just not gonna talk about it, huh?"

El rolled her head to look at him. "About what?"

"Oh, I don't know. I'm just curious, you know, why all of a sudden you and (Y/N) look like some MTV punks," He tried to be more gentle when she turned away again. "I'm not mad, kid. I just want to know where you've been. Why you took her with you. That's all."

She stared forward. "To see Mama."

Hopper's eyes fearfully flew back to the road. He had told her that her mother passed away just to save her the heartbreak of Terry's true fate. That turned out to not be such a wise decision. He should have known better than to lie to her.

"Okay," He started, racking his mind for anything to say or ask. "And what about (Y/N)?"

"She wanted to know where Carrie was."

"Did she find out?"

El briefly glanced at him. "She's gone. Really gone."

Hopper nodded, having already known that information. Carrie's file was in his cabin, after all. "I should've told her..."

"She looks just like her," El softly smiled, but dropped it when she remembered she wasn't happy with Hopper. "Doc was sad. She was angry."

"I'll talk to her about it when I see her again," He sighed. "So... how'd you get there?"

"A truck."

"A truck?"

"A big truck."

He blinked at her in disbelief. "A big truck? Whose truck was it?"

"A man's."

"A man's?"

El turned forward again. "A nice man."

He turned back and forth from her and the road. "Okay. So, let me just get this straight in my head. So, a nice man in a big truck, he drove you to your mama's and then what? Your Aunt Becky gave you those clothes and that makeup?"

"I..." Hearing the worry in his tone, she hesitated to retort. "I shouldn't have left."

Hopper hummed and shook his head. "No. No, this isn't on you, kid. I should've been there. I should never have lied to you about your mom. Or about when you could leave. A lot of things I shouldn't have done," He tried to fight off the breaking of his voice as he continued. "Sometimes I feel like I'm... Like I'm just some kind of black hole or something."

She turned to him again. "A black hole?"

"Yeah, it's a... You know, it's this thing in outer space. It's like, it sucks everything towards it and destroys it. Sara had a picture book about outer space. She loved it."

El frowned at the unfamiliar name. "Who's Sara?"

"Sara?" Hopper turned to her in shock, forgetting that he had never mentioned the person to her. Had he done that, there might have been a better understanding between them. "Sara's my girl. She's my little girl."

"Where is she?"

"Well, that's kind of the thing, kid," He grunted. "She, uh... She left us."

El swallowed the lump in her throat. "Gone."

"Yeah. The black hole. It got her," He nodded. "And somehow... I've just been scared, you know? I've just been scared that it would take you, too. I think that's why I get... so mad."

His eyes shone with tears that threatened to fall as El gave him a sympathetic stare, fighting tears of her own.

"I'm so sorry. For everything. I could be so... so..."

"Stupid?"

They broke out into chuckles.

"Yeah. Stupid. Just really stupid."

This time, El couldn't fight anymore, letting her tears fall as she leaned over, intertwining her fingers with his. "I've been stupid, too."

"I guess we broke our rule," He softly smiled. "I don't hate it, by the way. This whole... look." He gestured to her attire and smirked. "It's kinda cool."

She smirked as well as she turned forward. "Bitchin'."

Hopper couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "Okay. Sure," He looked to her, testing the word on his tongue. "Bitchin'."

El laughed at the sound of the word coming from him, wiping the tear from her eye. The car settled into a far more comfortable silence as they continued toward the lab, the roar of the Demodogs echoing through the area.

Back at the Byers home, Dustin was tutting and sighing in discontent as he and Steve cleaned up the remains of the Demodog that Doc and El had killed. "Why'd she have to explode it?" He muttered.

"Seriously, dude, what are you so upset about? I know it's gross, but at least it's dead."

"Yeah, dead with pieces of it scattered everywhere. A ground-breaking scientific discovery, splattered on the floor. At least if it were in one piece, we could've stored it in the fridge or something."

Steve scoffed. "And who was gonna help you with that? Not me."

Lucas paused his sweeping of the glass to watch Mike pace the same spot he'd been pacing since everyone left. He understood his friend's worry, but it was becoming increasingly annoying. Max looked up as well when she noticed Lucas wasn't sweeping into the dustpan she held for him. "Mike, would you stop pacing?"

Mike immediately turned to him. "You weren't there, okay, Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs."

"Demodogs." Dustin corrected.

Mike glared at him. "Whatever. And (Y/N) is heading straight for the Mind Flayer when it has it out for her. It tried to get rid of her by choking her in her sleep!"

Lucas sighed. "The Chief will take care of El, and Doc has multiple people looking out for her."

"Like either of them need protection." Max muttered.

Steve walked over to them after disposing of the rag he used to clean. "Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. Alright?"

"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game," Mike narrowed his eyes. "And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench."

"Right- Ye- So my point is..." He stammered. The kids watched and waited for him to continue with expectant gazes. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do."

"That's not entirely true." Dustin shook his head. "I mean, these Demodogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

"So, if we get their attention..." Lucas started.

"Maybe we can draw them from the lab." Max finished.

"And clear a path to the gate." Mike added.

"Yeah, and then we all die!" Steve exclaimed.

Dustin shrugged. "Well, that's one point of view."

"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact."

Mike moved between the two to get into the kitchen. "I got it!" He crouched in front of the fridge to point at the drawing with the 'X' marked, everyone else following him in. "This is where the Chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel. So..." He moved to the beginning of the living room where several drawings gathered. "So, you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire-"

"Oh, yeah? That's a no." Steve cut in.

"The Mind Flayer would call away his army."

"They'd all come to stop us."

"We circle back to the exit."

"Guys." He tried to stop their brainstorming.

"By the time they realize we're gone-"

"El would be at the gate."

"And the fire could help Doc!"

Steve firmly clapped his hands to get their attention. "Hey. Hey! Hey! This is not happening."

"But-"

"No, no, no, no, no. No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand that?"

"This isn't a stupid sports game!" Mike argued.

"I said, does everybody understand that?! I need a yes."

But he was only met with four very unimpressed looks. Outside, an engine could be heard violently revving. Max knew the sound all too well and rushed over to the couch, leaning over it to look out of the window. Lucas joined her side to see what she was so frantic about. Billy's blue Camaro pulling up to the house had her stomach twisting in knots.

"It's my brother. H-He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us."

But that just didn't sit right with Steve, so he marched outside, closing the door behind him, standing in front of it with his hands on his hips. Billy parked his car and climbed out, removing his cigarette from his mouth. "Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?" He smirked, the smoke trailing out of his mouth behind his words. Steve rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants."

Billy shrugged off his jacket before the two of them met in the middle. "What are you doing here, amigo?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Amigo."

"Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here." He spoke through the cigarette between his teeth.

"Huh, that's weird. I don't know her."

"Small? Redhead? Bit of a bitch."

Steve shoved down his rising anger. "Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, buddy."

Billy nodded, taking out the cig again with a sigh. "You know, I don't know this..." He clicked his tongue and waved his hand. "This whole situation, Harrington, I don't know. It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

He took a hit from his cig before speaking. "My 13-year-old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you in a stranger's house. And you lie to me about it."

Steve chuckled, shaking his head at the dirty-blond. "Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what?" He insulted, growing tired of the sickening smile spread across Billy's face, his tongue poking out to run over his lips. "I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here."

Billy took a step forward, pointing with his cigarette past Steve. "Then who is that?"

The kids quickly ducked away from the window when they saw the two teens turned to them. "Shit!" Dustin exclaimed as they all pressed themselves into the couch. "Did he see us?"

Quickly, they bolted away from the couch to stand as far away from the door as they could. Within a few short seconds, Billy threw the door open, blue eyes zeroing on Lucas. Standing dangerously close to Max.

"Well, well, well," He shut the door and strode over to the kids. "Lucas Sinclair. What a surprise." When he reached them, he turned to Max. "I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max."

"Billy, go away." She quietly spoke.

"You disobeyed me. And you know what happens when you disobey me."

"Billy-"

"I break things."

In a swift movement, Billy grabbed Lucas by his jacket and dragged him into the next room, pushing him against the wall. Just like his father had done to him. He chose to ignore Max and the other two boys that were screaming at him to stop. Lucas could do little to push him off, he was much bigger and stronger.

"Get off of me, you-"

"Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will," Billy leaned closer. "You stay away from her." He slammed Lucas harder against the wall. "Stay away from her! You hear me?"

Lucas stared him in the eyes. "I said get off me!" He screamed and kicked Billy in his groin, resulting in him being dropped to the ground. Billy backed away with an animalistic growl.

"You are so dead, Sinclair! You're dead."

Billy was swung around by Steve.

"No. You are." He threw a punch to Billy's face, Dustin proudly smiling at him. Billy reared back at the force, but came back maniacally laughing with blood leaking from his nose. Lucas quickly found sanctuary in the arms of his friends.

"Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?!" Billy grinned. "I've been wanting to meet this 'King Steve' everybody's been telling me so much about."

Steve pushed Billy back a bit. "Get out."

But Billy made no move to do so. Instead, he swung. Steve dodged his fist and sent his own right into Billy's face.

"Yes! Kick his ass, Steve!"

"Get him!"

Steve thought Billy was absolutely crazy. No matter how many times he punched him, no matter how much he bled, Billy was grinning with his bloodied teeth on display.

"Murder the son of a bitch!"

"Kick the shit out of him!"

"Now! Now!"

"Get that shithead!"

Billy crashed into the counter with another laugh, discreetly reaching for a plate that was drying beside the sink.

"Kill the son of a bitch! Kick his ass, Steve!"

Steve nearly fell over when the plate was smashed onto his head. He stumbled around a bit, trying to straighten his vision as Billy walked up to him. Dustin screamed out in warning, but he was too late. Billy punched Steve so hard that it did a number on both of them. Billy had to lean against a shelf as Steve stumbled into the living room. All the while, the kids were still cheering Steve on, Max screaming for her stepbrother to stop.

Billy entered the living room and grabbed Steve by his jacket. "No one tells me what to do." He hissed before headbutting Steve and sending him sliding to the ground. "Whoo! Get up!" He cried out as he moved closer to him.

"No! Stop!"

"Hey! Get off him!"

"You're gonna kill him!"

Max watched as Billy straddled Steve, landing blow after blow after blow straight to his face. The boys were still screaming at him, but that wouldn't stop this. Someone had to do something, and she was the reason Billy was here in the first place.

Glancing over at Joyce's thread table, she spotted the bottle of anesthesia and the syringe. Without a second thought, Max picked it up and pushed past Mike and Lucas to get to Billy. He was in such a rage-filled daze that he didn't hear her coming up behind him.

But he did feel the sting of the needle in his neck. Billy grunted and paused what he was doing, clumsily standing to his feet. His vision began to blur and tilt as he stared down at Max. He pulled the syringe out of his neck and glanced at it before taking a few steps closer. "The hell is this?" He slurred. "You little shit, what did you do?"

The kids flinched when he fell to the floor with a loud thud followed by his dizzy laughter. Ending this, Max picked up Steve's bat and walked up to Billy, holding it up to swing. "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"

"Screw you."

She swung the bat down, wedging in the space right between his legs. He looked up in surprise before she ripped it from the ground with a crack and held it up again.

"Say you understand!!! Say it! Say it!!!"

"I understand..."

"What?"

"I understand." He repeated before his eyes fluttered closed. The bat clattered to the ground before Max stepped around him, fishing out his car keys from his pocket. She turned to the boys staring at her in shock as she held up the keys.

"Let's get out of here."

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One five-minute walk later and the team of five entered Hopper's cabin. Doc helped Nancy carry in the heaters as Jonathan placed Will on the couch and Joyce moved around the area to start.

"It's actually... kinda nice." Nancy stated, her sister humming in agreement. Doc was glad that El had found a home in a place so nice with someone who cared.

Joyce spotted the mattress Hopper slept on in the lounge area and turned to them. "We'll do it here. (Y/N), get some food in you."

"Yes, ma'am." Doc whispered and set the heaters on the floor, hurrying into the kitchen. She took her skates off and set them by the dining table before going through Hopper's fridge. She hadn't eaten since the night before, but even then, she hadn't refueled enough after straining herself with Ray Carrol. That, and she had lost a significant amount of blood after being wounded. So, she needed to eat well.

She found the pre-made meals in the fridge and heated up a couple of them. Her body already began to feel a lot more refreshed as she ate as fast as she could. As she did so, she watched the two teens and Joyce bind Will to the mattress, place logs of wood into the fireplace, set the heaters up beside him and plug them up.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jonathan asked. Joyce, unlike her son, felt no sympathy for what she was looking at. That wasn't Will. This was a demon that had done far too much damage and needed to be put down.

"This thing has had Will long enough," She hissed. "Let's kill this son of a bitch."

With that, Nancy struck a match and threw it into the fireplace, watching as orange flames sprouted and danced on the wood inside. Joyce and Jonathan cranked up the heat by turning on the heaters until they glowed that same fiery orange.

The closer they got to waking Will, the more Doc's skin began to crawl. The only other time she had done something like this was in her dream, and even then, she didn't even fight this thing. Doc had no idea what she was getting herself into.

She just knew that if she was going down, she was taking the Mind Flayer with her.

Elsewhere, Hopper's truck pulled into the parking lot of Hawkins Lab. He turned off his vehicle and hopped out with El following suit. The growling of the Demodogs could be heard from the inside as Hopper retrieved his gun from the trunk of his car. When he joined her side, his worry worsened at the haunted look she watched the building with. He cocked the gun and stopped beside her.

"Alright. You let me do the heavy lifting up front, alright? You save your strength 'til we're below... You okay?"

She didn't verbally answer, but her face hardened and set into a look of determination. She silently marched towards the lab, and Hopper had no choice or any other agenda other than to follow her.

-------------------------------------------------

Everything was still spinning when Steve opened his eyes. His face hurt like hell and the way his body jerked every other second wasn't helping. Beside him, he heard some sort of liquid sloshing around, so he turned in that direction. A can of gasoline sat in the lap of whoever sat next to him. His bleary eyes traveled up to a very blurry figure. "Nancy?" He mumbled.

As his vision cleared, he saw that it was Mike, who turned to him with a frown. Steve groaned and went to wipe at his eyes, but a hand on his other side stopped him from doing so.

"No, don't touch it," An echoing voice quietly cooed. He looked up to find Dustin softly smiling at him. "Hey, buddy..." He gently shushed. "It's okay, you put up a good fight. He kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight, but you're okay."

Steve groaned again and reached up to the coldness on his head, feeling an ice pack held by Dustin. His attention was brought to a voice in front of him.

"Okay, you're gonna keep straight for half a mile, then make a left on Mount Sinai."

Lucas. He was reading off of a map. They were in a car. So, if he was in the back, then who was driving? He quickly looked to the driver's seat as his heart leapt in his throat. "What's going on?" He slurred to the back of the redhead in front of him. His suspicions were proven correct when Max turned to him. "Oh, my god!" He laughed out.

"Steve, just relax," Dustin soothed. "She's driven before."

"Yeah, in a parking lot." Mike argued.

"That counts." Lucas defended.

"Oh, my god..." Steve pushed the ice pack off his head.

"They were gonna leave you behind." Dustin tried to explain.

"Oh, my god."

"I promised that you'd be cool, okay?"

Steve began to panic as he felt the car speed up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on?! Oh, my god! No! Whoa! Stop the car! Slow down!"

"I told you he'd freak out!" Mike complained.

"Stop the car!"

Max's voice rose above everyone else's. "Everybody shut up!!! I'm trying to focus!"

Lucas quickly looked up from the map in his lap. "Oh, wait! That's Mount Sinai! Make a left!"

"What?"

"Make a- Turn left!"

The car filled with screams as Max sharply turned, running over a mailbox before she straightened herself on the road again, but not without scaring Steve to death and leaving him a quivering mess in the backseat.

At the cabin, Will awoke with a gasp. Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy all looked up at him. Because of the heat, they had been left in their undershirts. Doc felt the Mind Flayer's presence and downed the rest of her water, hurrying into the lounge room. She cursed to herself at the increase in heat and swiped off her beanie and shrugged off her flannel.

Will's breathing became labored as he confusedly looked around, pulling at his restraints. "What's happening?" He grunted. "It hurts. Aah! Oh, it hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"

Jonathan stood up with his face scrunched up in pain. Doc clutched the front of her shirt in her hand as she watched Will thrash around on the bed, her heart breaking in two. But Joyce wasn't so easily broken.

"Let me go! Let me go! It hurts!"

She just remembered her sweet Bob. He never did anything to anyone. He was such an innocent soul, he didn't deserve what he got. She couldn't let him die in vain.

"It hurts! Let me go! Let me go! It hurts!"

With a growl, she went to each heater and cranked them up. "Mom!" Jonathan cried out.

"No!" She argued. "(Y/N), let's do this!"

Doc choked at the scratchiness of her throat. She didn't want to back out, but with Will's screams increasing in volume and pitch, it was becoming harder and harder for her to even want to be close.

"Oh, it hurts! Let me go! Let me go! It hurts!"

Jonathan couldn't take it anymore and turned around, burying his face into Nancy's shoulder. She placed a hand on the back of the head as she watched her sister.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Doc cried as she neared his side. When he caught sight of her, his eyes widened and he moved faster and more violently. Her hands quickly moved to free themselves of the bandages, her healed but scarred skin revealing itself to everyone.

"No! Get back! Go away! Get out! Get out! Get out!!!"

She inched a bare, shaky hand out towards him. "I-I'm sorry."

-------------------------------------------------

The revving of the Camaro's engine sounded throughout the field as Max directed the car onto the grass, driving over the sign Joyce had hit days ago. The car came to an abrupt start, jerking everyone forward.

"Hello!" Steve yelled, bracing himself on the back of Max's seat.

"Whoa!" Dustin grinned.

"Incredible." Mike breathed.

"Told you," She took the key out of the ignition. "Zoomer."

The kids fled out of the car and went to the trunk, pulling out gear and equipment. Steve rolled out of the car with a groan, pulling himself up and leaning against it.

"Guys..." He tiredly sighed, watching them pull bandanas and rags over their mouths and goggles over their eyes. "Oh, no... Guys..."

Mike picked up some equipment and moved past Steve.

"Hey, where do you think you're going? What, are you deaf? Hello?!" He continued to yell as the kids all went about their business. "We are not going down there right now! I made myself clear! Hey, there's no chance we're going down to that hole, alright?! This ends right now!"

"Steve!" Dustin stopped him. "You're upset, I get it. But the bottom line is, a Party member requires assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance. Now, I know you promised Nance that you would keep us safe. So, keep us safe." He held out a bag of equipment that included Steve's bat. The teen watched as the other kids already began to descend down the hole. There was no way to stop them now.

With no other choice, Steve shook his head and grabbed the bag.