AMARA AND KEVIN COLLIDED IN AN ALMIGHTY embrace, clinging to each other after days apart. She melted into his familiar warmth, burying her face into his shoulder and blocking out the world for just a few seconds. They weren't alone in their manner of greeting; Joyce had scooped Will and Jonathan into a hug as well while Hopper immediately began fussing over Eleven's wounds (Kevin had to commend him for not glaring at Mike's close proximity to his daughter). Murray was correct – though he had every right to fret over his sister's safety, especially when he'd accurately pinpointed her location, she was alive and nothing counted more.

        "I knew you'd be here," Kevin whispered, tightening his hold around her. "I just knew it. You're too reckless for your own good, you know that?"

        "And you're not?" Amara giggled weakly, pulling away a fraction to look at him. He definitely looked worse for wear, a patchwork of gasoline stains embellishing his shirt and a smudge of dirt on his cheekbone. "You don't look like you've been stocking shelves."

        "You got me there," Kevin conceded, carefully extracting a glass shard from her hair. "I'm just glad you're alive."

        "I killed someone."

        "I don't care, I don't care," Kevin professed, shocking Amara at how quickly he'd glanced over the matter of her taking a human life when she was still struggling to forgive herself for it. "Chances are the bastard deserved it. And I'd hate to think of what Mom and Dad would say if I had to tell them you'd died."

        "They're not back yet, are they?" Amara queried. "I don't even know what day it is... "

        "It's the Fourth of July," Kevin informed Amara. Now that she thought about it, most of the storefronts were adorned with decorations in the colors red, white, and blue, which she hadn't had a chance to look at when she was fleeing for her life from the Russians. "They aren't back yet, but they will be soon."

        They migrated to the fountain at the center of the mall, where everyone disclosed what they'd been through in a much calmer fashion. While Amara and Kevin's respective groups had been caught up in a Russian incursion of Hawkins and the reopening of the gate, Eleven and her companions had been engaged in a war of their own. The fraction the gate had opened had reawakened the fragment of the Mind Flayer that had once inhabited Will's body, which had laid dormant in Hawkins even when the Demodogs had died. It had infected dozens of townspeople, most notably Billy Hargrove, and liquefied their bodies into a gargantuan mass all for the purpose of defeating Eleven. Amara now understood why Max looked so haunted and what Will had meant when he'd hugged her – they'd been MIA for so long that the others feared they'd been infected too.

        "The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world," Mike explained. The fact that the Mind Flayer was active once more undoubtedly posed an obstacle to them closing the gate again, and it pained Amara to think of how many people had lost a loved one in the process – she was beyond grateful that her parents had chosen this week to go on their anniversary trip.

        "And it almost did," Max added, referring to what had embedded itself in Eleven's leg. "That was just one tiny piece of it."

        "How big is this thing?" Hopper questioned. He was sat on the ledge of the topiary plant with an arm wrapped securely around Eleven, who was still pale but overall better now that she had rid the segment of the Mind Flayer from her body. Upon reuniting with his daughter he had broken into one of the stores and returned with an ice pack and a fresh set of bandages, regretful that he'd been away for too long.

        "It's big. Thirty feet, at least," Jonathan answered, earning a mumble of general consensus from those who had seen the monster firsthand.

        "Yeah, it sorta destroyed your cabin," Lucas said sheepishly, attired in the war paint and bandanna he typically wore during these battles. "Sorry," he muttered in response to Hopper's blatant irritation, even if the Mind Flayer's destruction of his cabin wasn't in their control.

        "Okay, so just to be clear," Steve piped up from beside Amara, struggling to envision what the anomaly looked like when he hadn't seen it. "This... this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic... weapon?"

        Nancy nodded. "Yes."

        "But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people," Steve finished. Kevin briefly made eye contact with Amara and tilted his head inquisitively as if to say, that's him? and Amara rolled her eyes, wondering why he was fixated on her love life when they had a monster they needed to exterminate.

        "Yes, exactly," Nancy confirmed, jerking her head again.

        "Yeah, okay," Steve mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief. It was one thing to nearly die multiple times at the hands of Russians who had burrowed their way into Hawkins, but entirely another to comprehend that they were also up against an entity comprised of the bodies of Hawkins residents, of people they'd all likely interacted with at a point. "I – yeah, I'm just making sure."

        "Are we sure this thing is out there, still alive?" Joyce queried next, though she was already suspecting the answer.

        "El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive," Max relayed, smiling weakly.

        "But if we close the gate again – "

        " – We cut the brain off from the body," Max finished for Will.

        "And kill it," Lucas concluded. "Theoretically," he added, knowing that nothing was ever a given, especially concerning an alternate dimension that wouldn't go away no matter how many times they fought against it.

        "Is there any way to kill it so it's gone completely?" Amara spoke up for the first time, shifting on her heels. "I'm just saying, if the Mind Flayer was dormant here all these months it could just come right back if the gate opens again."

        "We don't know," Nancy shook her head in defeat, recognizing that while Eleven had weakened the Mind Flayer substantially she wasn't capable of defeating it on her own. "We just have to make sure the gate stays closed for good this time. Hopefully that's enough."

        "Yoo-hoo!" the man who had accompanied Joyce, Hopper, and Kevin, who the latter revealed to be named Murray Bauman, hollered from the food court, brandishing papers in his hands. "Yoo-hoo!" Once they'd journeyed over to him, he set the papers on one of the tables for everyone, or specifically the four oldest members of the group to view. Peering over her brother's shoulder, Amara found that the top one portrayed a rough outline of the Russian bunker.

        "Okay, this is what Alexei called 'the hub,'" Murray explained, jabbing a finger at one of the rooms Amara hadn't encountered, seeing as it was a distance away from the main tunnel she and her friends had traversed. "Now the hub takes us to the vault room."

        "Who's Alexei?" Amara inquired of Kevin while Hopper was interrogating Murray about the location of the gate, which she had already identified to be in the same enclosure as the machine.

        "He's a Russian scientist. He told us about what they were building down there," Kevin answered, his face downcast at the memory of the man who had given them so much and paid the price with his life. "He's gone now."

        "I'm so sorry," Amara gasped, having seen and heard of too much death in one week. The past two escapades of monster fighting had produced minimal casualties that were still casualties nonetheless, but the others had stated that the Mind Flayer had infected a good chunk of the town and they still needed to put an end to everything. Sensing his sister's worry, Kevin drew her into his arms and she instantly untensed.

        "More like 500," Erica remarked in reference to Murray's estimation of the scale of Alexei's drawing, sauntering up to the group congregating around the table. Amara had to hand it to her for not faltering under Murray's judgmental gaze, but then again she supposed Erica thrived off of being underestimated. "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

        Murray furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

        "Erica Sinclair," the girl replied, not missing a beat. "Who are you?"

        "Murray... Bauman," his response came uncharacteristically slow.

        "Listen, Mr. Bunman," Erica retorted, shocking everyone around her with her bluntness, "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours." Out of the corner of her eye, Amara witnessed Lucas's eyes widen at just how long his sister had been trapped and like clockwork, she blamed herself for it, even if Erica had emerged relatively unscathed. "And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die."

        "I'm sorry," Murray huffed, embarrassed that a literal child was questioning his strategy, which he had convinced himself was well-thought-out. "Why is this four-year-old speaking to me?"

        "Um, I'm ten you bald bastard!" Erica shot back at Murray, whose eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

        "Erica!" Lucas stammered, narrowing his eyes at her sister's brashness, and yet Amara found herself agreeing with her. They had moved heaven and earth just to break out of the fortress beneath their feet and the Russians were likely guarding it more heavily than ever now that word about their operation had leaked. They were expecting an intrusion, and as much as the adults had familiarized themselves with the base they hadn't been there to know what to expect.

        Erica redirected her animosity to Lucas. "Just the facts!"

        "She's right. You're all gonna die but you don't have to," Dustin agreed, stepping forward until he was in line with Hopper and Kevin. "Excuse me. Sorry, may I?"

        "Please," Murray yielded, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. Dustin seated himself and extracted a pencil from his vest pocket, scrutinizing the blueprint until he found the location he was looking for and circled it.

        "Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility. There's a hatch down here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon." He sketched an approximate route to the electrical compartment where Robin and Steve had surrendered themselves. "It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me, Amara, and Erica, we can show you the way."

        "You can show us the way?" Hopper repeated, thoroughly unconvinced.

        "We'd stay out of sight, they've probably put a target on our backs," Amara reassured Hopper even if she was well aware of how futile of an effort it was. "We'd only be there to help you... navigate."

        "No," Hopper shook his head immediately. Even when he was met with downcast expressions from Erica, Amara, and Dustin, he was steadfast in his decision. "Nope."

        "Oh, get over yourself," Kevin snapped. Unlike Amara, he wasn't ready to give up hope that he could finally sway Hopper on something after his decisions left everyone in the wrong. "How many times do you have to screw up before you realize it doesn't always have to be your plan we follow? How much time could we have saved if you listened to Joyce earlier, or believed me when I told you the kids were at the mall and not the fair? How many people could we have saved?"

        "If you're blaming me for Alexei it was your choice to leave the car if I remember correctly, not mine," Hopper fired back, his temper flaring. "You're just as at fault here as I am, Reid."

        "We shouldn't have even been at the fair in the first place!" Kevin disputed, begging Hopper to understand his point of view as well as those who had almost perished in the Russian bunker. Making an effort to lower the temperature he continued, "And I don't blame you for Alexei, I blame that Arnold Schwarzenegger thug who shot him. But it could be one of us next time if we don't think this through."

        Upon noticing that everyone was staring at Hopper and Kevin expectantly, the former waved his hand dismissively. "Can you guys, er... give us a minute?" he requested. They did as he asked, vacating the premises and fanning out to other locations throughout the lower level of the mall. Amara sought out Robin, who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout their discussion, and found her perched on the counter of the pretzel bar. She made her way over there, wanting to check in with her best friend after they hadn't had a chance to talk one-on-one recently.

        Amara wordlessly joined Robin to sit on the counter, observing the mismatch of fighters illuminated by the neon lights; Hopper and Kevin reaching a concession on how Dustin, Erica, and Amara could navigate while remaining out of harm's way, Murray and Joyce advising Nancy and Jonathan on a safe location for everyone else to remain until they closed the gate, Mike, Lucas, and Will catching up with Dustin, Eleven and Max chatting quietly by the fountain, and Steve inspecting his reflection in the water, trying to clean the blood off of his face.

        "How are you feeling?" Amara broke the silence with a quiet whisper. They were far enough away that no one would overhear them.

        "Still processing everything," Robin mumbled, fidgeting with the silver bracelet that matched Amara's, something she commonly did when she was anxious. "It's one thing to hear about alternate dimensions and girls with superpowers from you, but another to actually experience it. It's just so trippy, y'know?"

        "It's definitely a lot," Amara sighed, crossing one leg over the other. The last thing she wanted was for Robin to become acquainted with the trauma that had followed her in the aftermath of her battles against the Upside Down, and she hoped they could get through it together just as she had before alongside her friends. And yet it wasn't the only reason she wanted to talk with her best friend. "But I don't just mean that. You seemed... tense earlier. Back when we were trying to get that thing out of El's leg... "

        "You mean when I totally ran my mouth about Beth Wildfire's accident?" Robin clarified, to which Amara nodded. She was still kicking herself over it, wondering why she had to be so awkward around individuals she was meeting for the first time when she was far more relaxed around her fellow Russian bunker intruders. "I don't know, I just... panicked. I figured maybe if I said something it would make things better but it didn't. I should've just kept my mouth shut, it would've done everyone a favor."

        "You were doing what you thought was helpful," Amara insisted, facing Robin fully. "It's natural to say something you'll later regret when you're in a situation like that. It's the type of thing I'd do."

        "Yeah... " Robin murmured, focusing on that last sentence specifically. She'd always known she was unordinary, the first indicator being her blatant lack of interest in boys. But it was more than just that; her tendency to talk too much, her specific skill set, her distinctive interest in fields such as band and foreign languages, and most recently how similarly her and Amara's brains operated... Sure, Robin hadn't been unable to speak at a young age or had been expelled from four schools, but she couldn't keep ignoring how alike they were when the other factors came into play.

        "This might sound... odd," Robin began, praying that she was right about her suspicions. It wasn't nearly as daunting as coming out, but she didn't want to give Amara the wrong impression. "But I've been, well, thinking these last few days. We were both able to crack the code, and we both figured out better ways to break into the storage room than fighting anyone – basically, we both came up with ideas nobody else did. And you already know how I don't make friends easily, and how once I start talking how I can't stop, and shit, I'm doing that right now, aren't I?"

        She paused momentarily to catch her breath; meanwhile, Amara was struck by just how much Robin's attributes aligned with hers. She'd been able to pick up on factors such as Robin covering her ears when Dustin and Erica were arguing in addition to how she had been the one to unearth the gate while Dustin and Erica were squabbling once again, but she hadn't had enough time to think on it when they were concentrating on not getting killed. "I guess what I'm getting at here is I've noticed lately how similar that is to you... "

        "So you're saying," Amara inferred, taking extra care to lower her voice even if everyone else was preoccupied with their respective conversations, "you think you have autism?"

        "I'm not completely sure. It's a possibility," Robin answered, grateful that Amara knew her as well as she did. She could already feel her confidence returning now that she had expressed her introspections coherently. "But it would answer some things. It's not like I've been ostracized my whole life for it, but maybe me... liking who I like, so to speak, has prevented people from noticing that as well."

        It made sense, and not just because Robin and Amara both saw solutions where others didn't and had distinct strengths and weaknesses. Amara's endeavor to hide within the crowd of Hawkins High had worked so well because people assumed that someone who buried herself within the pages of a book and the melody of her favorite songs wanted to stay that way. It was Robin who had noticed subtle indications that Amara yearned for connections of her own because she wanted that herself. It was Robin who had immediately accepted Amara because she wasn't normal herself, and not just because of who she was attracted to.

        "Well, you're still Robin to me," Amara assured her best friend, smiling brightly in spite of their current circumstances. Robin did too, relieved that Amara grasped her thought process even if she wasn't completely sure of her finding. "It doesn't change anything. It shouldn't change anything. You're still you."

        "I'm glad Steve knows about you. It'll only make telling him easier," Robin pointed out with a grin, and Amara couldn't help but catch another thing they had in common, of their tendency to deviate from one topic to another. "He's stuck with both of us now."

        "That he is."

IT HAD TAKEN PERSUASION, but Hopper eventually agreed to let Erica, Amara, and Dustin navigate, albeit from a safe distance. Dustin had an idea of a place in mind, namely the radio tower where he'd first picked up the Russian transmission. Steve and Robin would be joining as well since they were also knowledgeable of the Russian base even if they hadn't been through the vents, and Nancy, Jonathan, and the rest of the Party would be setting off to Murray's warehouse in Illinois. As Amara had suspected, Kevin would be accompanying Hopper, Joyce, and Murray to close the gate, but she knew there was little she could do to stop him.

        Everyone was gearing up to embark on their separate missions; Hopper had armed himself with one of the Russian's rifles and was bidding Eleven goodbye, Murray was detailing the corresponding keys to his place from his endless collection to Jonathan and Nancy, Joyce was holding Will so tightly he was struggling to breathe, vowing to return alive, and Lucas was making Erica promise to remain safe even if she wasn't all that worried about what she'd signed up for. Outside the padlocked Scoops Ahoy, Amara and Kevin exchanged their goodbyes less than an hour after they'd reunited, reluctant to part even with time running out.

        "Y'know," Amara murmured, peering up at her brother through her eyelashes, "I preferred it when you weren't involved, and all you'd do was keep Mom and Dad off my tail."

        "Yeah, and I preferred it when the world wasn't ending at all," Kevin shot back. His face softened at how terrified Amara was for his safety; he was venturing into the very location she and her friends had nearly lost their lives, and she rightfully feared he wouldn't be so fortunate when the Russians were likely better equipped than beforehand. "Hey, I'm gonna be fine," he pledged.

        "I know you will," Amara smiled, though her lip was quivering. "Just... don't get caught, okay? Dealing with Steve and Robin drugged was bad enough."

        "Can't imagine that was any fun," Kevin grinned, thinking back to everything he'd experienced in the last few days. If it weren't for Alexei's death maybe he would've looked back on it with a smile one day. "But I'll be okay. Between being chased by some Terminator rip-off and dealing with Joyce and Hopper's sexual tension I've been through a lot."

        "Bet you have," Amara cracked a smile, her apprehension lessening as it always did when Kevin said the right thing, which he often did. No matter the situation, he always had a way of making her feel better. "To think this whole thing started with a bunch of magnets falling... "

        "Well when you're dealing with alternate dimensions and monsters, magnets falling can mean anything," Kevin pointed out wryly. They were distracting themselves from what they both needed to do for as long as time would allow them, a strategy their parents had learned early on helped Amara when she was on the brink of an emotional spiral. "I'm sure we'll have time to pick them up before Mom yells at us for not keeping the place clean."

        "Even if we don't, we'll be doing her and Dad a favor if that's their biggest worry," Amara reasoned. Their companions were beginning to split up, conveying last-minute farewells and promises of returning. "But seriously, don't go anywhere near the machine, especially if you're planning on exploding it."

        "Yeah, it's powered by some weird green goo... promethazine, right?" another voice cut in, prompting the Reid siblings to make eye contact with its owner. Steve stood several feet away from them, his contusions themselves art in the tinted lighting of the mall. He'd come over to collect Amara for their task of navigating only to make a fool of himself in front of Kevin, far from the good first impression he'd been hoping for. His nerves just had to get in the way and the brother Amara thought so highly of now likely regarded him as a blundering idiot. "Yeah... it's like, super dangerous."

        "Ah, you must be Steve. The one who knows nothing about science." The reply was undoubtedly a blow to his ego but accompanied by a genial smile and an extended hand. Steve hesitated before accepting it, hating how clammy his palm was at that moment, but he relaxed upon detecting no judgment from Kevin, only amusement. "Pleasure finally meeting you."

        "Uhh... you too," Steve stuttered in response before turning to face Amara, reminded of the reason he'd approached her in the first place. "Hey, we should probably head out soon."

        "Okay, I'll be there in a sec," Amara said, unable to stop herself from smiling at how cute he was; Steve took it as a cue to give her and Kevin space, moving away until he was out of earshot. When she turned to look at her brother once more he was grinning wickedly, beyond amused at his ability to turn Steve Harrington into a bumbling mess.

        "For a former heartthrob, he really is a dork," Kevin remarked, his eyes sparkling with mischief. He gathered that something had transpired between Steve and his sister based on how he had introduced himself so eagerly. "I see why you like him."

        "Is this really the time?"

        "Look at you telling me that. I'm so proud of you," Kevin gushed, referring to Amara's history of offhand comments, specifically at times in which they were uncalled for. She really had grown so much in her ability to read social cues and realize when she was overstepping a situation, and he wanted anyone who had once doubted her capabilities to witness how far she had come. "Now c'mere."

        Amara wasted no second in lurching forward and hugging Kevin a final time before they went their separate ways, reaching on her tiptoes to slot her head in the crook of his neck. It was brief but conveyed everything they couldn't articulate in words, a silent promise that they would make it back to one another after fulfilling their missions. Kevin drew back first, brushing his lips against Amara's forehead chastely as he acknowledged that it was time.

        "Go save the world," Amara murmured, fighting back tears. "Don't do anything rash."

        "Same goes for you," Kevin responded, but the gravity of their situation meant that it lacked any snark. Looking to where Hopper, Joyce, and Murray were waiting on him, Kevin affirmed, "I'll stay in contact, I promise."

        With a final wave, Amara mustered the strength to walk in the other direction, to where Dustin, Robin, Erica, and Steve were lingering by the escalator. They had been watching her and Kevin's exchange, their sympathetic countenances indicating that they hoped he and the others would survive just as much as she did. Before the five of them could depart completely Kevin called, "Steve."

        "Yeah?" the boy pivoted around, confusion evident in his features.

        Kevin's face shone with somberness as he gazed at his sister for what could potentially be the last time, for even though he had pledged to return nothing was ever a guarantee. "Look after her."

        "I will," Steve nodded, meaning it entirely.

        As Kevin had stated earlier, Amara was adept at taking care of herself, but that didn't mean there weren't moments when she needed someone to lean on. It had been him for most of her life, but now that she had dependable individuals at her side he could step back even if he would probably still worry about her occasionally. Murray was delighted that Kevin had utilized his advice, also noting that the Steve he had entrusted was likely the same person Nancy had never been compatible with. In addition to the fact that she and Jonathan were still going strong months later, Murray was pleased to see that Steve had found someone too.

        Amara's spirits rose ever so slightly as she and her companions exited the mall, the notion that she would be in radio contact with Kevin motivating her to complete the journey to Dustin's Cerebro. As they made their way across the parking lot, Steve couldn't help but take notice of the yellow Cadillac parked adjacent to Nancy's station wagon; while he had always treasured his trusty BMW, curse the Russians who had pilfered the keys to it, he couldn't stop himself from gaping at the convertible in awe.

        "You look like you've got a drool coming, Popeye," Robin drawled, once again relaxed now that she was among only those who had been with her in the Russian fortress.

        "Come on, I know a good car when I see one!" Steve retorted, though he refocused his gaze before he could collide with Dustin. "I've always wanted to drive one of those."

        "Lucky for you, you won't be driving," Amara brought up, unlocking the door to her battered but reliable Honda – Robin practically dove into the passenger seat before Steve got the chance, claiming that she had front seat privileges as Amara's best friend, leaving Steve sandwiched in the back with Dustin and Erica before he could dispute that he and Amara were... whatever they were now. Not that where any of them were sitting mattered as long as Amara, the sole member of their crew who had a license and hadn't been drugged was driving.

        The engine sparked to life with a twist of Amara's keys. "Where to?" she queried Dustin.

        "Weathertop," came the response, vague and providing no indication of where it was other than its relative height above ground level.

        "Okay... " Amara was accustomed to how the Party would designate various points around Hawkins after parallel sites from the Lord of the Rings, but she was in no position to wander aimlessly when they were on a clock. "Where is Weathertop?"

        "Just drive!" Dustin urged, prompting Steve to swat his shoulder with a scowl.

        "I could really use a location – "

        "Go west!" Dustin capitulated. While he was hardly more specific this time around, that Amara knew the direction she needed to go was sufficient enough. Backing out of her parking spot, she pressed her foot on the gas pedal and vacated the parking lot, keen to save the world before the rest of Hawkins realized it had even been ending.

SWERVING INTO A FENCE AND PRACTICALLY burying her car beneath a mound of grass hadn't been Amara's intention, but in her defense Dustin had directed her to make a left so abruptly that she didn't have much of a choice. She'd barely made it halfway up the anointed Weathertop before her Honda could no longer fight the combined incline of the hill and the friction of the ground, and they had to hike the rest of the way on foot. As she fought against her own fatigue, Amara reflexively peeked at her watch; it was a quarter to eleven, a little over two hours until her parents returned.

        "The only way this day could get worse is if one of us is stabbed by a Morgul knife," Amara remarked, collapsing onto the ground once they'd reached the apex of the hill. Cerebro stood proudly there, a handcrafted work of genius that had enabled them to unearth that the Russians were in Hawkins at all.

        "A what?" Erica questioned, joining Amara and Dustin by the radio. Despite what Dustin had argued about her being a nerd, she didn't understand half of the popular culture references they made.

        "It's a poisonous knife that dissolves in your body, and once it reaches your heart you become an undead spirit," Dustin explained dramatically, brandishing his arms in front of Erica's face for effect. She merely scowled in response, completely unfazed.

        "Get out of my face, nerd," she retorted, wondering how she'd managed to go this long without murdering Dustin in his sleep. "Aren't we supposed to be navigating?"

"Patience youngling, I was getting to that," Dustin claimed, reaching for the intercom and pissing off Erica more if that was even possible. Bringing it to his lips, he forced himself to stifle a laugh when reciting the code name he'd coined Murray, "Bald Eagle, do you copy? Bald Eagle, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop, do you copy?"

        "Yes, I copy," came Murray's less than enthusiastic reply, a telltale sign that he didn't approve of his call sign in the slightest. Even Amara in all her difficulties with interpreting people's tones could grasp that.

        "Call sign?"

        "Bald Eagle."

        "Please repeat," Dustin prodded, seemingly relishing in Murray's aggravation. Amara had to cover her mouth so Murray wouldn't detect her giggle over the airwaves, Erica was beaming triumphantly at having bullied adults into submission, and Steve and Robin were fighting back grins as well. Daunting though their circumstances were, the five of them still found a way to have fun through it all. It was no less than they deserved after everything they'd been through.

        "Bald Eagle. This is Bald Eagle!" Murray snapped, and this time Amara caught laughter on his end emanating from a voice she could recognize anywhere. Satisfied with the response, Dustin handed the intercom to Amara.

        "Bacon, do you copy?" she inquired. That was Kevin's call sign, after actor Kevin Bacon. Sensing her nerves, Steve – the person her brother was counting on looking out for her – sat down beside her and entangled their hands. It was grounding, and it helped Amara focus on the task at hand; she smiled gratefully at him and squeezed it in return, and Robin couldn't help but beam. They really were good for one another.

        "Indeed I do," Kevin declared. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he liked his call sign far more than Murray's. It was a relief to hear his voice, to have confirmation that he was alive and breathing. "I can't believe you survived down here for two days – it hasn't even been an hour and I already miss hiking through the woods in a hundred-degree heat."

        "Copy that. Good to hear your voices, Bald Eagle and Bacon," Dustin had taken the mouthpiece back from Amara. "What's your 20?"

        "We've reached the vent. We'll contact you if we need you," Murray relayed. "Until then, silence."

        "Don't worry, we'll probably need you in like a minute," Kevin piped up before Murray could cut off contact completely. He spoke to all of them, but Amara knew it was really intended for her. None of the others had a family member risking their life in the same bunker where they'd nearly perished. "Okay, here goes nothing."

        "Roger that, Bald Eagle and Bacon," Dustin confirmed. "This is Scoops Troop, going radio silent. 10-10, over."

        From there, they had nothing to do but wait. Every few minutes Murray or Kevin would ask for directions, which the three navigators would provide. Amara was surprised at how much of the route she remembered, but she had always been good with directions, opting to stare out the window rather than shoot paper planes or goof around with nonexistent friends back when she rode the bus to school in Cleveland. It certainly came in handy now, just as other positive components of her autism such as her memory and attention to detail had before.

        It was an oddly peaceful night, the velvety sky adrift with clouds and the wind blowing in a manner that signaled a storm was imminent. Amara chewed on her lip as nothing but static poured from the radio, subconsciously leaning into Steve; Dustin watched the whole affair with a shit-eating grin, proud of the role he'd played in getting them together.

        "Stop staring Henderson, you'll catch flies," Steve chided, rolling his eyes. It wasn't as if he and Amara were being mushy; if he was being honest, he didn't really see them being that way in the future, and he had a feeling that she didn't either. They weren't required to meet any standards.

        "I'm sorry, am I not allowed to appreciate the result of months of hard work?" Dustin exclaimed, feigning anger. "You two had me scared shitless, you realize that? Any later than today and I would've had to pay off Max – "

        "You bet on them?" Robin questioned at the same time that Erica grumbled, "You could've just told me they're now dating, I'm not an idiot." Amara let out a chuckle at their antics, her worry for Kevin dissipating momentarily as her friends clamored over the subject of her and Steve. It was the perfect distraction, something she very much needed.

        "As I was saying," Dustin resumed once Erica and Robin had quieted down, "before all of this happened my whole plan for when we saw Back to the Future together was to leave for the bathroom so you guys could... make out or whatever, but you did that all on your own, didn't you?"

        "Dustin, I swear to God – "

        "Henderson, if you don't shut your trap – "

        "Scoops Troop," Murray's voice cut across Amara and Steve's protests, reminding them of their task. "This is... Bald Eagle."

        "And Bacon," Kevin added on, proof that he was also there. "We've reached another junction."

        "Which one is this?" Amara asked her fellow navigators, peering over the map Dustin had sketched. It was far from as accurate as the Starcourt blueprints that had aided Erica in getting from Scoops Ahoy to the storage room, but there was no way the Russians had designed a map of the base they wanted to keep covert.

        "The fourth junction," Erica recalled. Amara was impressed that Kevin and Murray were already approximately halfway to the electrical compartment when it had taken her, Erica, and Dustin half a day to travel in the opposite direction. Maybe the urgency of the mission or the three of them powering down the ventilation fans had something to do with it.

        "All right, so if memory serves, this is right after the My Little Pony thesis," Dustin determined. Recollections of his and Erica's squabbling over whether or not the latter was a nerd and the realization that Erica mirrored her in multiple ways rose to the forefront of Amara's mind – It was odd how such a memorable event could be born from a terrifying stretch of time.

        "We went left, so they have to go – "

        " – Right," Dustin, Amara, and Erica came to the same conclusion all at once. "Bear right, Bald Eagle, Bacon. Bear right." Dustin spoke into the intercom.

        "Roger that, bearing right," Murray mimicked, once again not bothering to conceal how much he despised his code name. The radio fell silent once more.

        "What's the My Little Pony Thesis?" Robin inquired of Amara. Unlike with Steve, the two of them hadn't had time to catch each other up on everything that had occurred while they'd been apart.

        "Don't get him started," Erica snapped before Amara could say anything, glaring daggers at Dustin and compelling him not to mention a word of the first and only argument she'd ever lost; meanwhile, Steve had caught sight of flashing in the direction of the mall.

        "Get him started?" Robin persisted, looking to Amara for support. But the aforementioned girl had followed Steve's line of sight and stood up alongside him, inching closer to the edge of the hill. The neon makeup of Starcourt was discernible from a mile away, but the horrific part was how erratically the lights were pulsating. It was all too similar to the flickering of the Christmas lights two years ago from the Demogorgon's presence. "Just tell me – "

        "Hey, guys?" Steve drew the others' attention to the anomaly he'd unearthed, and they sprung to their feet to join him and Amara. They'd been too preoccupied with assisting the adults in navigating to question whether their other companions were on their way to Murray's residence as planned, and the factor they'd all failed to consider, the Mind Flayer, had likely cornered them inside the mall if the surge of electricity was any indication. Not wasting another second, the five of them bolted back to the radio to confirm if their friends were indeed trapped.

        "Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop! Do you copy? Over!" Dustin yelled frantically into the intercom. He hesitated for barely a second before attempting once again, "Griswold Family, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop. Do you – "

        An inhuman screech resounded in response, and Amara's blood ran cold. Dustin pleaded for someone to answer, prompting a roar from what they had all gathered to be the Mind Flayer. Either their friends had fled the mall but had forgotten their mode of communication... or they couldn't risk contact without giving away their presence to the monster that had it out for them. Amara had a strong feeling it was the latter.

        Murray and Kevin were still counting on her, Erica, and Dustin to navigate them through the air ducts, but the knowledge that the friends who had saved them earlier were now in danger had her considering going back to them – sharing a glance with Steve and Robin, she knew that they were as well. The adults had made all of them pledge to remain safe while they did the dirty work, but promises could be broken if necessary, and Amara couldn't think of a better reason than to go against orders if it meant rescuing the others.

        "Griswold Family, do you copy? Do you copy?" When Dustin was once again met with nothing but growling from the Mind Flayer, Amara made her decision and sprinted down the hill.

        "Where are you going?" Erica interrogated, bemused as to why their designated driver was leaving her and Dustin stranded.

        "They're stuck down there. We can't just sit here and do nothing," Amara reasoned, halting momentarily and giving Steve and Robin an opportunity to catch up to her. They knew better than to let her go it alone. "You'll be safe here, they need you to finish navigating."

        "Okay, just remember to come back," Dustin nodded in understanding, tossing Robin his spare walkie. Erica too conceded after considering the jeopardy her brother was in; as annoying as she found him, she couldn't stand the thought of him dying.

        With a promise to stay in contact, Steve, Robin, and Amara practically flew down the hill to the latter's car. None of them had been stabbed by a Morgul knife, but their friends were in peril of dying at the hands of the Mind Flayer and they couldn't stand by when there was something they could do to help – not that Amara had figured out a plan yet, but there was always time on the way back to the mall. Because if she'd learned anything over the last few years, her best plans were the ones she formulated at the last minute.

published to quotev: 3/27/23
published to wattpad: 12/7/24

AUTHOR'S NOTE

only three more chapters of season 3! in the meantime check out this phenomenal edit my friend inspirationqueen made of amara, it's so amazing i can't stop watching it imgur.com/HRsycH6