"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 group huddled around the fountain in the middle of Star Court.

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it." Nancy spoke alongside her brother.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper looked at the teens in questioning.

"It's big." Jonathan nodded his head. "Thirty feet, at least."

"Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin." Lucas frowned over at Hopper, an apologetic look across his face. "Sorry."

Peter rubbed El's back, giving her the pretzel bites he stole.

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this big fleshy spider thing that hut El, it's some kind of gigantic...weapon?" Steve gave an odd, questionable look.

"Yes." Nancy nodded.

"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people." Steve confirmed, the odd tone in his words still there.

"Exactly." Nancy agreed.

"Yeah, okay. Yeah, i'm just making sure." Steve nodded his head in confirmation.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce asked, confusion across her face with deeply frowned eyebrows.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." Max shrugged from in the middle of Steve and Lucas.

"But if we close the gate again-" Will began.

"We cut the brain off from the body." Max rose an eyebrow with a nod of her head.

"And kill it." Lucas grinned. "Theoretically."

El's face pressed against Peters shoulder, wincing when he accidentally touch a cut in her arm, earning an apology in a whisper.

"Yoo-hoo !" Murray called, running their way and flapping the papers in his hands. He slapped them down infront of them. "Okay, this is what Alexei called the hub. Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper leaned over him.

"Right here. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty feet or so." he explained, circling his finger around the small map.

"More like 500." Erica added in, getting a weird look. "What? You're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

Peter gave a snort at her words, trying to hide it with a cough.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray looked down at her.

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?" she gave him a sassy look.

"Murray...Balman." he hesitated, staring at the young girl.

"Listen, Mr.Bunmam, i'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but i've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." Erica looked around at the group with a point of her finger.

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray stood up straight with a wave of his hand.

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" she snapped upwards to him.

"Erica!" Lucas scolded her with a look of disbelief.

"Just the facts!" she yelled back at her brother.

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me." Dustin nodded his head, looking down at the map. "Sorry, may I?"

"Please." Murray gave a dramatic nod, scooting away sarcastically.

Wesley looked over Dustin's shoulder, point down at it. "Yeah, look, the feet are way off."

"See this room here? This is a storage facility." Dustin pointed down to one of the boxed off areas. "There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze down there but between me, Wesley, and Erica, we can show you the way."

"You can show us the way?" Hopper rose his eyebrows.

"In the most respectable way, of course." Wesley gave the older man a shy smile. "I have never been arrested."

"Where did that even come from?" Erica asked with a weird look.

"I don't want him to think me and Peter are the same." Wesley gave her a crazy look, pointing at himself.

"Dude." Peter threw his hands up. "I've never been arrested."

Hopper took a good look at him. "Oh god, not you."

"What?" Max gave a weird look.

"It was one time." Peter rose his hands in defense.

El sat up with a weird look. "What happened?"

"Your friend here had Old Man Walter call us on him because he lit one of his pumpkins on fire and nearly set the entire garden on fire." Hopper crossed his arms when he finally realized where he'd seen Peter from. "Then ran."

"Peter." Max gapped in his direction.

"It was one time." he rose his hands in defeat. "Almost a year ago."

"Why did you even set a pumpkin on fire in the first place?" Lucas gave him a stupid look.

"It was halloween and I was trying to put a candle in the pumpkin to bring to Melanie's house-" Peter began before he was cut off.

"This was after he snuck out, by the way." Wesley nodded his head.

"And it tipped over and the yard was dry so it caught the garden on fire." Peter flushed slightly when he told the store, giving a tight lipped smile. "Don't worry, I stay away from pumpkins now."

"Why did we never hear about this?" Will asked with a questionable look.

"Because his dad had his record whipped before anyone could know." Hopper rose his eyebrows in Peters direction. "I still know, though."

El laid her head back on Peters shoulder and gave Hop a look.

"You can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit." Dustin went back to his original plan, nodding at the sheriff. "We'll just be your navigators."

He stared at the trio a second. "No. Nope."

"Just be carful, all right? Come back with all your arms and all your legs." Peter spoke to Wesley moments later when everyone began to prepare. "And don't say anything bad about me, I want Hopper to like me."

"Is El your girlfriend now? Are you guys a thing?" Wesley asked, zipping up his backpack after Peter loaded it with snacks incase they got hungry or light headed up there.

"No." Peter flushed, looking over at El as she sat on the fountain. "I don't know, not really, not yet."

"She's pretty." Wesley nodded, pulling his backpack on tightly. "Mom and Dad are gonna kill us."

"I know, i'm trying not to think about it too much." Peter said honestly, standing infront of his brother. "At least we actually got to do something for once."

"This wasn't what I had in mind at all but i'm glad we did." Wesley smiled at Peter patted his back. "Wish me luck while I put all of my faith in Dustin and his robot he made to talk to his girlfriend."

"Peter." Will spoke up, slowly walking up to him, standing behind him against slightly. Peter reached back to pull him around, so he stood by his side. "I was just gonna tell your brother that the car is ready."

Peter looked at Wesley with a grin. "Did you get that?"

"I think so." Wesley cracked a grin. "Anything else?"

Peter looked at Will, his eyes flicking back and forth. "And that we don't even know if the robot works."

Wesley hummed. "Thank you, Will."

He nodded as Wesley turned, walking away. Peter patted Wills back. "I told you you guys would get along well."

When Joyce approached, Peter backed off. He looked toward El, sitting with her dad. He kept his distance, letting them have their moment. He tried not to stare, rocking on his heels and making it look like he was picking at his nails.

"Hey, we should probably go." Mike spoke up toward the pair. Max grabbed Peters arm, pulling him toward the group. El hugged Hopper tightly before they let go.

Mike faced Peter. "She probably wants you to help her."

Peter blinked at him. "What?"

"El. You can help her walk." the Wheeler boy spoke back to him. "She told me. In the store. It's okay."

Peter felt a rush of pure guilt. "I'd never-"

"I know." Mike cut him off. "I was wrong."

Peter didn't know what to say after that, giving a tight lipped smile as he walked toward El. She reached up, wrapping her arm around Peters shoulders as he helped her stand. Peter looked down at Hopper with a clear of his throat. "I'm really sorry about the pumpkin thing. It was stupid of me."

Hopper sighed. "It was, but you haven't gotten into trouble since then."

"I won't either, ever again." Peter promised with a shake of his head. "I promise."

He gave a nod, glancing at El. "Be carful with her."

"Of course." he nodded, helping her walk toward the group.

•

kylie speaks

the one time i felt bad
for mike. but i wanna give
a "flashback" from the store
so you guys can know what
el said to mike!!!

if any of you want an insight
to peters fashion you can go on
my pinterest and find his name
to see his style! @/wheelerblossom60