"He calls it the key, and this key emits a great energy."

After calming Murray and Alexei down, Alexei became more talkative about what was going on in Hawkins and what his Russian buddies were doing. Alex chatters in Russian to Murray as everyone finally enjoys their food from Burger King. Scattered all over the cover table were various drawings and formulas of the machines and equipment that Alexei and the other scientists have been building.

"It requires much strength, power." Murray continues to translate for them, "Those houses, like the one you found, they're located near, uh, transformers. They're stealing from your town's power grid."

Amelia frowns with Jim as she picks at her cup, "But...why build this key here? Why Hawkins?"

"Yeah, why are they not doing this in their own backyard? What are they trying to do, blow us to smithereens?" Jim scoffs.

Murray asks in Russian to Alexei. Alexei chuckles lightly and shakes his head to explain why.

"There were many of these, uh, keys before in Russia, but they turned out wrong. They had to come to where the where the, uh..." Murray stutters, trying to understand.

"Where the what?" Jim asks.

Murray frowns at what Alexei was trying to say, but he wasn't familiar with the term. "I don't understand what he's saying."

"I thought you were fluent." Jim scoffs.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are my free translation services not good enough for you? Because you can just go ahead and file your complaint right up my ass!" Murray shouts sarcastically.

Amelia sighs heavily, "Don't let me get Theo again, Murray!" She threatens.

Murray snaps his lips shut, but Jim frowns as Alexei begins to take his fry holder and straw, "What is Smirnoff doing?"

"He's showing me." Murray frowns and Alexei begins to explain, "Oh, okay. Uh, he says the straw, they're using it to penetrate a hole in a box?" Alexei shakes his head when he caught most of his English, "Okay, sorry, sorry. The straw represents the key, which emits a great energy."

Amelia, Joyce, and Jim begin to look at Alexei in dread as they realize what he was saying.

"They're using this energy to break through a barrier, to open a doorway. A doorway between worlds. But it seems this key was only half the equation." Alexei stabs his straw, but it doesn't penetrate the box. "Location...Location was the other half." Murray translates.

Alexei takes his whopper wrapper and spreads it out, holding it up for Amelia to hold. She frowns but holds it up for him while he continues to explain, holding his straw.

"In Hawkins, this door had been opened once. It was still healing." Murray translates.

Alexei stabs his straw through the wrapper, punching a hole.

Jim rubs his face, "Jesus Christ."

"So, this door is open now?" Joyce asks.

Murray asks in Russian, and Alexei's answer had him slowly looking at her in dread, "He says it is...opening."

Amelia falls back against her chair, "What have you done?"

Murray frowns and translates for Alexei who frowns at that question. Amelia rises to her feet and stands over them.

"Alexei, why...why would your people even mess with the Underworld? There are creatures that cannot be controlled behind that door. We have seen them." She points at Joyce and Jim, "We've fought them and lost many of our people. Joyce almost lost her son to a creature!" She points back at Joyce as Murray continues to translate. They watch Alexei's face turn to shock as he continues to listen. "There's a leader of that world...he's called The Mind Flayer."

"Wait, wait...isn't that a Dungeon and Dragon's thing?" Murray snorts.

"It was the only thing we could come up with that was close to describing the creature. It was first called The Shadow Monster." Amelia continues and Murray goes back to translating. She grabs a piece of paper and begins to draw a similar picture that Will drew last year. "It's...over 30 feet tall. Maybe even 50. Made of nothing but black smoke. It possesses people...because it wants to do nothing but control...to conquer. It possessed Will, Joyce's son. A little boy. And nearly killed him." She shakes her head in disbelief. "Murray, remember when you were investigating Barbara Holland's disappearance?"

"Yes. Who do you think released that tape to bring down the lab?" Murray snorts.

"That was you?!" Joyce exclaims.

"Well, I had help. You can thank Nancy and Jonathan for that." Murray shrugs.

"My Jonathan? He helped bring down the Lab?" Joyce says in shock.

"He didn't tell you?"

"No! I...I can't believe it. My son..." She chuckles in disbelief, but scoffs. "Then Eleven was telling the truth. The Mind Flayer is back."

"And he's got a new host." Jim adds.

"A bigger and stronger host." Amelia sighs and slumps back into her chair, "We're so fucked." Meow... Amelia looks over towards Theo, "What?" Meow... "I don't know, let me ask." She looks over towards Murray and Alexei, "Theo wants to know, if the gate is opening, has there been any sightings?"

Murray turns and asks Alexei in Russian. Alexei frowns and asks a question back, "He doesn't understand your question. Sightings of what?"

Amelia goes back for her piece of paper and grabs a pencil, she begins to draw, "Translate for me. There was no name for it at first." She says as she draws and hears Murray translate, "It came before the Flayer. It was taller than a man. No face. Where blood was spilled, it would come."

Alexei frowns as he watches her draw a creature that was almost similar to Theo, but the only difference was its face. She gave it a Venus fly trap face with sharp teeth. When she slaps the pencil down, there before them all was a picture of the demon that escaped into their world two years ago.

Amelia looks up at Alexei, who looks at the picture in pure fear, "We named it the Demogorgon." She says and hears Murray translates. "These creatures are the soldiers of the Flayer. And they stop at nothing." She sighs and looks at Murray, "They're the ones who killed Barbara Holland and all those missing people."

Meow...

Amelia frowns at Theo, "What?"

Meow....

"What did he say?" Jim asks.

"Last year, Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Max were trapped in the junkyard. The demo-dogs where there."

Murray stutters, "Demo-dogs?"

"Dog size versions of these things." Amelia says as she points at the creature.

Meow..."Theo says he fought them. Protected the kids. His friends." Meow... "But after killing one, he thought he scared them with his power. His strength." Meow... "But it wasn't that. The creatures acted like they heard something." Meow.... Amelia looks up at all of them, "As if something was calling out to them."

Jim and Joyce perk up, "That night at the lab, when those things came." Joyce gasps.

"The flayer was calling them."

"It summoned his attack dogs to protect him. Their master." Amelia sighs out.

"And made them fetch..." Joyce stutters as she gestures at Amelia.

Amelia inhales sharply, "...Me."

"Woah, woah, woah! Slow down there. What do you mean fetch you?" Murray asks with a confused look.

Amelia gives him a scared look and Jim reaches and holds her trembling hand as the past invades her memories. Her own screams echoing as the demo-dog held her down and slashed her arm in the process to drag her off towards the gate.

"We figured out what the creature wants." Joyce says.

"I thought you said it just wants to rule and conquer?" Murray frowns.

"It does. But the only way to do that...is to breed." Joyce stammers, uncomfortable with the image.

"To breed? Wha...?" Murray frowns, but slowly, it becomes clear. His frown becomes a look of shock. "Oh, my god. Oh, my god! You mean...it wants you to..." He makes an 'O' with one hand and brings his finger towards it.

Jim and Amelia, both stop him, stammering awkwardly, "Yeah, Muray. We get the picture."

Murray's face becomes twisted in disgust and Alexei frowns as he asks Murray a question in Russian. Murray looks at him and replies, explaining to him what they just talked about. Alexei looks at Amelia in surprise and asks a question.

"'But why'?" Murray translates.

"Because of my inheritance. In my family, when two powerful bloodlines combine, it creates a big bang. His heir would just get bigger and stronger till they wipe out the whole world." Amelia says. "Your friends just reopened what we fought to keep closed. You just reopened the Apocalypse."

Murray repeats in Russian with a very shocked look, making Alexei speechless. Murray suddenly gets up and heads to the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim gets up and scouts the cabinets, looking for anything that was pure alcohol. After learning all of this, he needed a drink. Murray frowns as he watches him go through his kitchen.

"Can I help you with something?" Murray asks sarcastically.

Jim sighs heavily, "Whiskey. You have whiskey?"

Murray shakes his head, "No, but I do have vodka." He says and grabs a bottle of vodka from the fridge. He pours himself and Jim a glass.

Jim sighs and takes his glass. He shares a drink with Murray as they down their drink together. He grunts and grimaces at the strength, inhaling sharply. "Oh!" He grunts and sighs as he holds his glass out for more. Murray refills it for him. "If there's a way to start this key, there's gotta be a way to stop it, yeah? Turn it off?" He asks.

Murray grunts at the strength of the vodka and sighs, nodding.

"Right."

"Right?" Jim asks with hope.

Both men rush to talk to Alexei again. Joyce rushed to call the kids to let them know that it was the Russians who let the Mind Flayer out. Amelia moves and sits in a chair, watching the men talk to Alexei.

"The key, is there a way to turn it off?" Murray asks in Russian and Alexei scoffs, "'He could turn it off. Could Edison not turn off a lamp, could Bell not hang up a phone?' Cocky bastard." He scoffs and perks up when Alexei hesitated. "But...'"

"But what?" Amelia asks.

"But he is now...'naked'." Murray frowns with Jim but stutters to correct himself, "Sorry, 'exposed'. Compromised."

Jim reaches and grips Alexei by her shirt and gives him a determined look, "Hey, I will get you there. I will get you to your key."

Murray translates and points at Jim. Alexei was quiet, but soon he bursts into laughter. Jim slowly lets him go, becoming annoyed, "You wanna ask him what the hell's so funny about that?"

Murray asks in Russian and whatever Alexei said made Murray stifle a laugh. He was struggling to hold it in. He clears his throat and turns towards Jim, "He says he likes your courage. You remind him of a...fat Rambo." Jim's face drops from annoyance to anger, but lets Alexei continue and Murray translates. He rubs his face, feeling his headache coming back, "But he says that even thin Rambo couldn't get there. This key, it is in an underground fortress designed by the greatest Russian minds, guarded by their greatest warriors. Breaking in is impossible."

Amelia sighs, "I need to see this place." She says and gets up to head to the kitchen to grab a sharp knife.

Jim perks up in alert, "Whoa, what are you doing, Babe?"

She holds up the knife, testing its sharpness, "I need to look into Alexei's memories." She says and walks towards a cabinet to get a bowl and the vodka.

"Uh, that's my good stuff." Murray stutters as he watches her walk back towards the coffee table. Placing the vodka down with the bowl. She begins to sterilize the knife with the vodka.

"Jim, hold him down."

Jim sighs and moves to make a grab for Alexei. Alexei begins to shout in Russian, struggling in his grip.

"I'm sorry. I need to do this. I need to see." She says in Latin and makes a long slash over Alexei's palm, making him shout in pain. She grips his hand and forces his blood to spill into the bowl. She sighs and lets him go. "Ok, that's all I needed. Let him go and help him."

Jim moves away, letting him go so Murray could press a cloth over his palm. Alexei begins to shout in Russian, she suspected various obscene names.

Amelia gets on her knees, getting comfortable and sterilizes the knife again.

"What exactly are you doing" Murray asks, stopping Alexei's hand from bleeding.

"It's a witch thing." She says and slices her own hand, mixing it with Alexei's blood. She places the knife down and sighs, taking in several deep breaths. She closes her eyes and welcomes the Goddess to come to her aid. "Divine Goddess." Her voice begins to distort, making Alexei and Murray watch her in caution. They gasp as her eyes snap open and all they could see was blackness. "Open my eyes and shine your vision light." She dips her fingers into the bowl full of blood, smearing the blood around her eyelids, and trailing the blood down her cheeks, "A mortal's view be mine tonight."

Breathing heavily, Amelia shouts in pain as her back arches with force, the crack of her bones were so loud, Jim rushed to her side on instinct and held her body so she wouldn't hurt herself. Murray and Alexei jumped to their feet in alert.

"Jesus!" Murray exclaims as Alexei shouts in Russian.

Gasping, Amelia could see everything. Her mind traveled through the Russian country, seeing the building and laboratory. Hearing several voices speak in Russian. A man...pointed a gun at a scientist and shot him in front of Alexei. He spoke to him. Gritting her teeth, she tries to hold on to see more. But it was so painful. She gasps loudly as her eyes go wide at the sight of the gate and a machine was shooting....a laser...opening it. It was so bright, it glowed in her eyes. She grunts as she feels her body being jerked back. At first, she thought it was Jim trying to bring her out of the vision but...

Suddenly, she was in a dark place. It felt so cold and smelled like death. It felt like upside down but it wasn't. Then, she could see Billy before her. His back was facing her, but he turns fast with wide eyes, full of confusion, fear, but soon, a creepy feeling stabs through her as a familiar grin forms on his face.

"Amelia...I see...you."

Amelia begins to whimper in terror as the cold chill of evil fills her heart, squeezing it tightly till she couldn't breathe. She grunts as she feels as if she was held in a tight grip. But it wasn't Jim. It was Billy. She looks down and sees his hand wrapped around her wrist in a tight bound. Jim frowns as he hears Amelia whimpering, tears trailing down her face from the corner of her eyes.

"I have waited...so long to taste such power as yours. And...such beauty you carry." He grins wickedly, "I can feel the power rushing through your veins. When we become one, you will be a queen to our world. These...pathetic people will bend to your will. Our will. And..." His voice begins to distort into a darker, deeper tone. "Once everyone you've ever loved gone at last....you...will...be...mine."

Amelia shouts in ancient Latin, banishing Billy from her vision. Sending him flying across the room, his own room while she snaps back into reality.

Amelia screams and falls backwards, but Jim catches her before she could hurt herself. She sobs and scoots back till her back hits the couch. She sobs hysterically, bringing her knees to her chest. Jim moves and pulls her into his arms, trying to calm her down.

"Easy. Easy. It's okay, Babe. I got you. Calm down. You're okay." He says as he holds her tight, but she continues to sob in terror.

"He saw me. He saw me." She sobs, holding on to him tightly.

"Who? Who saw you?" He asks.

"The Mind Flayer. Billy. He invaded my vision. I don't know how. Oh, god..." She whimpers in terror. "Jim...don't let him get me. Please. Please!" She sobs. The feeling that Billy carried inside him was so dark...so evil.

Jim holds her tight, "Never, baby. I'll never let him touch you." He whispers in her ear. "I promise."

"I saw the laboratory, too. The one under Starcourt." She swallows and sniffles as she tries to calm herself. "The machines is keeping the gate open. But, it didn't free the Mind Flayer...it powered him. He was always in Hawkins. Just...sleeping. Then they woke him up." She buries her face in Jim's chest, she didn't want to let go.

Jim sighs, holding on her still. What did she see? Did he speak to her? Did he do something to her? He couldn't ask. Not yet, at least. One thing for sure...there was no way in hell he'll ever let that thing get her. Not the woman he loves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After calming Amelia down the best way Jim could and cleaning her up, he gets up and goes for the phone. Amelia, Joyce, and Murray stood close by while Alexei was distracted by cartoons. Only one person could help them all right now.

"Two minutes, Jim. It's a secure line, but any longer than that and they could trace you." Murray warns while Jim was dialing.

"Yeah, I want 'em to trace me." Jim mutters.

Murray flinches at his words, "What?"

Jim clears his throat as he hears the line ringing and a voice finally answers. To fool civilians, they announce themselves as 'Philadelphia Public Library'.

Freezing like an idiot, "Uhhhhh...This is Jim Hopper. Uhhhh, police chief, Hawkins." Jim frowns but continues on, "I got this number from Dr. Sam Owens." He says and then frowns in confusion, "Identification code?" He repeats.

Joyce sighs and rolls her eyes, "You don't know it?" She covers her head in exasperation. Calling him so many names in her mind.

"You must be joking." Murray scoffs.

"Oh, no, no, I got it, I got it." Jim protests and grabs his wallet. Chuckling, he grins , "I got it."

Murray looks at him in disbelief, "You wrote it down and kept it in your wallet?"

Jim grits his teeth at him, silently telling him to shut the hell up, "'Antique Chariot'." Jim says as he reads the small piece of paper he kept.

Amelia clears her throat, trying to suppress her giggle. Jim catches her sniggering and gives her an unamused look.

"Listen. Um, tell Owens that the Russkies are opening the gate. Now, he'll know what that means. Not about the Russkies, but about the gate. Tell him that there's an entrance at Starcourt Mall. I know how to get in, but I need backup, a lot of backup. Have him call me back here at 618-625-8313."

Murray exclaims in disbelief and tries to stop him from giving the government his number, but it was too late.

Jim hangs up and sighs while Joyce stands near with an impatient look, "So, now what?"

"Now, we, uh we wait." Jim sighs and begins to light up a smoke, but grunts as Amelia snatches it out of his mouth.

"You already had one today." She breakers it in half and tosses it away, placing her hands on her hips with a scoff, "'Wait'?" She repeats, making sure she heard him right.

"You compromised me, Jim. You do realize that, don't you? I'm gonna have to relocate." Murray says furiously and slumps in a chair. After so many years of being off the grid, Jim just ruined that for him.

"How long do we wait?" Joyce asks, completely appalled that Jim actually says they had to 'wait'...after what's going on right now, expecially when it's their kids involved.

"As long as it takes." Jim states, moving to sit on the couch.

"We can't wait, Jim. This is Starshine we're talking about. Our daughter. Our kids." Amelia exclaims, gesturing at herself, him, and Joyce. "How can you just sit there being calm?"

He sighs heavily and scoffs at her, "I am not calm!" Internally, he was a mess, but he had to be strong for them all.

"Our kids are in danger!" Joyce exclaims.

"You said they were at the festival!" Jim says, his voice rising.

"Which is, like, ten minutes from the gate!" Joyce exclaims.

Jim just realizes how right she was, like a snap of a light switch in his head. But he had to have faith.

"They're not at the festival." Amelia speaks up, making them both snap their heads towards her. "We know our Starshine too well, Jim. She wouldn't hide. She'll fight. And you know her friends will fight side by side with her. We can't just sit here while they fight for us."

"She's right." Joyce states and stomps towards the phone and redials the number to call those people back.

"What are you doing? Joyce? What are you doing?!" Jim exclaims in disbelief.

"Yes, hello. Uh, this is, uh, Antique Chariot's partner Wheelbarrow. I don't think Antique Chariot properly conveyed the urgency of our situation." Joyce states.

Jim shoots to his feet and paces towards her, "What are you doing?!" He whispers furiously.

Joyce covers the phone, "Can't just sit around and wait for a call." She grits her teeth and continues to give those people a piece of her mind. "No. Don't you dare patronize me! I don't know who you are, if you're some glorified secretary or what, but if you don't wanna lose your job, here's what's gonna happen. When I hang up, you're gonna get up off your ass, and you're gonna go find Owens and tell him what's going on. We don't have time to talk about it and neither does he. He's gotta get to Hawkins, and he's gotta bring his men right now! Do you understand me?" She demands. "Thank you."

Amelia takes the phone from her, "And tell Owens that the 'Crystal Ball' says that the dark cloud has returned, and it's bigger than before. He'll know what I'm talking about." She slams the phone down on the receiver.

"It's been exactly one minute, Joyce." Jim exclaims.

"That's one minute too long, Babe." Amelia rubs her head and looks towards Joyce, "We can't stay here." She says and moves over towards Alexei, who passed out on the other couch. "Alexei." She gently wakes him up. He gasps in alert but sits up as he sees Amelia. He frowns in confusion why he was being awaken.

"What's going on?" He mutters.

"Theo, a little help here?" Amelia looks over towards him, "How do I say we gotta go back to Hawkins?" Meow....meow.... "Okay." Amelia nods, "We gotta go." She stutters her Russian, but it seems she got it right as Alexei perks up. "Back to Hawkins...Da?"

"Da. Very good." Alexei nods, smiling as he looks at her as if he was impressed.

Joyce stutters and pretends she's driving a car, "Come on. Vroom, vroom." She says.

Joyce and Amelia both head towards the Cadillac with Jim following them. Murray scrambles to get all the drawings and formulas, rushing to follow. If those people were coming, he didn't wanna be here.

"Wait up!"