"ARE YOU SURE IT'S HIM?" Robin's voice was coated with disbelief as she sent Dustin a befuddled look.

Beside the blonde teen, Steve was vigorously shaking his head. "Nah, it's not him."

Almost believing their doubts, Dustin cast another glance through the window. A wince stretched across his face as he noticed a Russian soldier planting another blow on Eli's gut, causing the frail boy to curl into himself.

Will appeared beside the Henderson, confident. "It's him."

"Seriously?" Steve cried, incredulously following Dustin's eyesight. "Since when did your friend have electric superpowers?"

"A while," Dustin shrugged dumbly. "It's kind of been a secret."

"That doesn't make any sense," Erica muttered sourly, her mood still displeased by their situation.

"None of this makes any sense!" The Henderson's voice croaked, panic beginning to swallow his lungs. "And what's worse? That thing you see in the wall?" He jabbed his thumb at the bright orange slash the machine was shooting into. "That's really fucking bad."

"Yeah," Steve agreed, his own mind traveling back to the events of last fall.

"The gate," Will murmured, his eyes wide with terror.

"Wait, what?" Robin and Erica echoed, following Dustin with bewildered expressions as he retreated back down the stairs.

"You've seen this before?" Robin demanded, her blue eyes glittering at Steve. "All three of you?"

"Not exactly," Steve answered for all of them.

"Then what, exactly?"

"All you need to know is that it's bad," Dustin clarified, a new sense of urgency trailing into his tone. "Like, end-of-the-fucking-world bad."

Robin's eyebrows laced together in immense confusion, a trace of irritation edging into her voice. "And you know about this how?"

"Um, Steve?" Erica's voice broke through the arguing, her eyes laid against the ground with concern. "Where's your Russian friend?"

The Harrington cast a pitiful glance at the ground, the only remains of the unconscious soldier now a blood stain against the metal tiling. "Shit," he grunted, trekking towards the door and opening it to a cautious crack.

Russian soldiers paced in droves, clearly alerted of intruders and beginning their search. A search that was not long-lived, as one of the bulky armor-clad men noticed Steve and began bellowing unknown commands. Either way, they were found. And they were fucked.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Steve exclaimed, launching himself away from the door and shoving the others back up the stairs.

Dustin led the others through the doors, realizing his mistake with a pant as the control room's doctors all craned their heads towards the fleeing teenagers. "Shit, this way!" The Henderson cut a hard left, dashing down a set of stairs and unfortunately moving to the machine.

Chaos erupted as what felt like hundreds of Russian soldiers and doctors began shouting in their foreign language, a storm of feet barreling for them. Dustin raced all the way to the end of the lower deck, until he was mere feet from the wall where the gate was slowly being pried open.

Despite the danger biting at their heels, Dustin dared a glance across the machine's bright blue beam where his friend shakily stood. The hazmat soldiers had reacted quickly, arms already laced around his feeble body and preventing him from running towards the other Americans in the room. Still, Dustin cupped his hands around his mouth and called. "Eli!"

Although his body and face were littered in bruises and cuts, and he could hardly stand, Dustin's voice made the Brooks boy's eyes grow wide. A deadly machine stood between them, and Eli was held back by his Russian captors. But still, across a sea of death, Eli and Dustin made eye contact for a brief moment that sent sparks shooting down the Henderson's spine.

"This way!" Steve screamed, stomping down a second pair of stairs that led to the lowest floor in the room. The teenagers sprinted after him, entering a smaller area that would only protect them for a moment.

"Robin, help me!" Steve hollered, pain sketched into his face as he pressed his entire body against the force of the pounding door. The blonde slammed her own weight against it instantly, the two teenagers fighting the force of a dozen Russian soldiers attempting to push their way inside.

"Here!" Erica exclaimed over the incredible noises of shouting and movement mingled together. Her fingers peeled open a vent large enough to squeeze into and climb down, and Dustin and Will joined her at the opening gratefully.

With horror, the curly-haired boy realized Steve and Robin wouldn't be able to make it after them. The door was almost fully lodged open, both of the Scoops workers' heels sliding as they began to give.

"Go! Just go!" Both teenagers shouted urgently, noticing Dustin's hesitation.

"I won't forget you!"

"Go!"

With one last sorrowful look, Dustin crouched into the vent and pulled the lid back over his head. As he, Erica, and Will began to crawl away, he tried his best to ignore the boom of the door opening, and guns clicking. Terror gnawed at his stomach, and he silently hoped with everything in him that wouldn't be the last time he saw the two of them.

~

"This is it," Mike huffed breathlessly, ignoring the sweat dripping down his neck as the group finally reached the top of the hill where Celebro lied. "It should be strong enough to reach wherever Dustin is."

"God, what a fucking hike!" Brandy moaned, wiping at her drenched forehead with her knuckles. "Is Dustin trying to lose weight or something? Fuck!"

Mike ignored the teen's humorless jab, lowering himself to his knees to stare inquisitively at the radio. "Luckily Dustin and the others already built everything for us," he commented, still struggling to regain lost oxygen.

"You sure it'll work?" Martha questioned, lifting her chin to study the radio's wired tendrils reaching like claws toward the skyline.

"It has to," Mike muttered, picking up the speaker. No time to waste, he thought to himself. "Dustin, come in. Do you copy? It's Mike. Over."

Mike wasn't sure what he expected, but he knew it wasn't the dragging silence that followed. With a grimace, he spoke into the receptor again. "Dustin, it's Mike. We need to talk. Come in. Over."

"No fucking way," Brandy growled after another long pause, hands clasped against her knees in exhaustion and frustration.

"Dustin, do you copy?" Panic began to creep into Mike's tone. "It's me, Mike. Will? Are you there? We need your help. Please, come in. Over."

The horrified look Eve was sending the raven-haired boy felt heavier than the quiet that followed. He gripped the radio tighter, his throat beginning to tremble.

"Dustin, Will, please! It's Mike. Answer the fucking radio!"

"Alright, dude, we heard ya!" Dustin's dismayed voice barked back, shocking Mike and the others into a silence of their own momentarily. "Heard you the first time, actually. Little busy here though!"

"Why? What's going on?" Mike demanded, picking up a fear in Dustin's tone that made his own worsen.

"God, I'm so glad to hear from you dude," Dustin gasped, sounding almost as out of breath as Mike had minutes ago. "You have no idea what the hell we've been dealing with."

"What's happening, Dustin!" Mike's voice grew sharper with impatience.

"We got trapped in an underground Russian base, that's what!" Another voice, higher and more irritated, called.

Mike blinked, his eyes narrowing into slits. "Erica?"

"Yeah, man. It's a long story." Dustin butted in again. "But she's right. We've been down here for hours. How the hell did you reach our signal anyway?"

"Cerebro," Mike replied flatly, ready to skip the questions. "Listen, we think Eli might've been taken by Russians."

There was a noticeable pause that made Mike's blood shift to ice. "Yeah, about that..." Dustin trailed off, and Mike could almost chuck the radio down the hill with his angry impatience.

"We found him." It was another voice. Will's.

Mike nearly flinched away from the radio, his gaze growing huge as he exchanged looks with all three of his companions. Shock littered all their faces, the color draining from each. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah. How'd you know the Russians had him?" Dustin beckoned.

"You..." Mike gripped the radio with both hands, bringing it closer to his lips as his eyes turned moist again. "You saw Eli?"

"Yeah," Dustin's voice softened, as if he now remembered the special relationship between the two. "We did. But it's bad, Mike."

Now Brandy had flattened herself against the grass, leaning over to mumble into the receptor. "Bad how? What are they doing to him?"

"They're..." Mike thought the sky was going to crack open at any moment and devour him. "They're torturing him. He's hurting badly. And they're using him...to...to, uh—"

"To what?" Brandy hissed, speaking when Mike had lost the words.

"It's the gate." Will interjected. "They're trying to reopen the gate down here. And they're using Eli to power this machine. It's using electricity to force the gate open again." He explained, each word transforming into another weight crushing Mike's heart.

"Can—" He faltered, readjusting his grip on the radio as he noticed his palm growing sweaty. "Can you get to him?"

"Yeah, yeah we'll find him," the reassurance in Dustin's speech only lifted a small portion of the agony lining his chest. "They got Steve and Robin too so we gotta get them."

"Okay. Okay..." Mike nodded, the reality beginning to dawn on him. "Guys, there's something else. El found out the Mind Flayer is back. It's flaying people."

"What the fuck? Seriously?"

"Yeah. She and the others are trying to take care of it right now," Mike met Brandy's worried gaze, his stomach churning. "It sounds like you're gonna need her down there though."

"I dunno. We might be able to get the others back on our own," Dustin replied with obvious uncertainty.

Although he probably could use the help of El's powers, Mike shook his head. "I'm talking about the gate. She'll need to close it."

"Oh, right." A pause. "Look, we're gonna need some time, man."

"Yeah. Yeah, us too," Mike raised his head to meet the eyes of the others. They were all going to have to place their faith in Dustin to get Eli back. It was out of their hands now. "Look, we gotta go catch up with the others. Just...be safe, okay?" His nails dug into the plastic coating of the radio. "Get him back, please," he added a little quieter.

"I will, man. Stay safe. See you soon."

"See you," Mike murmured glumly, not flinching when he felt Brandy's hand graze his shoulder as he lowered the radio.

"Now what?" Eve whimpered, and only then did Mike notice she was crying.

Brandy sent her sister the most determined, fearless look she could offer. "We kick some Mind Flayer ass."

~

Exhaustion grasping his limbs, Dustin tried his best to steer the small Russian vehicle through the seemingly endless corridors. The three had been crawling through vents for hours, and they had finally procured a ride to help with faster travel.

"So this friend of yours," Erica muttered, breaking the tired and apprehensive silence. "He really has electrical powers?"

"Yeah," Will responded tersely.

"And then there's this El you told me about..." she tapped gingerly at her chin with furrowed eyebrows. "How many friends with superpowers you got?"

"Just two," Dustin sighed, readjusting his grip on the wheel. "Which is really fucking insane, I know."

"Yeah," Will mumbled sadly.

"Clearly." Erica shook her head, expressing a disappointment he couldn't really comprehend. "So how will we know where to find any of them?"

At that moment, a bloodcurdling scream sliced through the air that made chills rattle his bones. Dustin's toe slammed the break and the teens were sent sprawling forward with shock.

"That was Eli," Will realized.

Another pained cry shook the walls, and Dustin shot his hand out towards Erica, where she wielded an electric Russian weapon she'd stolen earlier. "Give it to me."

The three crept warily to the door they'd heard the noise from, Dustin braving a peek into the window. Eli was tired to a chair, his hands bound tightly behind his back and away from his body. A Russian soldier towered over him with a clenched fist, and Dustin assumed he had just landed a fresh blow.

Another Russian, a doctor in a white lab coat, wielded a sickly colored needle about a finger-length in size. They were going to inject Eli with it, Dustin registered with horror. Without thinking, he shoved the door open and stormed into the room with a war cry escaping his lips.

The soldier didn't have time to face the Henderson boy as he planted the weapon against his lower back and ignited the electric sparks. He watched as the soldier's body seized violently against the weapon's white light before collapsing to the ground. Dustin didn't have time to celebrate his victory, however, as Erica's dismayed yell caught his attention.

The doctor grappled her and Will's wrists viciously, aiming the tendril of the needle toward Erica's neck. Dustin was there a half-second, plunging the weapon into the doctor's side and causing him the same wreathing pain. "Nice find," he offered a nod of approval towards Erica.

"Dustin..." a soft voice murmured, and the Henderson's head snapped towards Eli's direction. He could finally see how badly hurt the boy was, with blackened bruises matting his skin and fresh blood pouring from a swollen lip. One of his eyes had been swollen shut and it looked like every movement caused him intense pain.

"Oh my God," Dustin fell to his knees, ignoring the thudding pain from them as he began furiously untying his friend's constrained hands. "Holy shit. Are you okay?"

"What are you doing down here?" Eli hissed, wincing as Dustin peeled the restraints off his battered skin. His eyes expanded as they hovered over another nearby figure. "Will? What? You guys can't be here."

"Neither can you," Will replied defiantly.

Dustin circled an arm around the boy's lower back to help him up. "You can barely walk," he realized with a mortified stutter as Eli swayed on his feet.

"I'm fine," Eli croaked, and Dustin peered alarmingly into the boy's hazel eyes upon hearing the agony laced in his tone. Tears stung the boy's eyes, and Dustin found himself tightening his grip around his friend's waist. There was an unspoken awkwardness filtering the air, as he had never been that close with Eli. But their impending, possible deaths erased this.

"You're clearly not," Will muttered, softer this time with a hint of assurance. He joined the boys at Eli's other side, offering another arm for support. There was clear conflict straggling in the Byers's gaze, but he knew to put it aside for now. "C'mon. We're getting you out of here. We just gotta get Steve and Robin."

Eli blinked. "What happened to them?"

"They got captured so Erica, Will, and I could escape. We gotta get them before they're killed," Dustin explained sternly, the two boys moving to help Eli into the car. His body slumped against the seat, unable to hide his exhaustion despite his clear desire to.

Eli stared off down the gray corridor, and Dustin watched a single tear dribble down his bruised cheeks. "Is Mike down here?"

Dustin felt his own chest ache, his first instinct to look at Will. There was a pang of sympathy there for both Eli and the Byers as he watched jealousy flash in the latter's expression. "No. He's safe." It was partially a lie, considering Mike was well on his way towards a fight with the flayed, but he figured he was with El.

Eli nodded, seeming to go limp after hearing this reassurance. "Okay." A pause. "Do you know where my sisters are?"

Dustin began driving again once Erica had safely climbed into the back of the vehicle, the Sinclair girl remaining quiet during the boys' exchange. He hesitated, knowing if he replied honestly he'd have to explain the Mind Flayer situation. "No, but, I'm sure they're okay."

Eli could only answer with a grunt, and Dustin resisted the urge to tear his eyes away from the path and offer the boy another coaxing look.

"How did you end up here anyway?" Will wondered.

A strangled breath left the boy's lips, his eyelids fluttering with the threat of unconsciousness. "I was...at the mall. They grabbed me. Knocked me out cold."

"Jesus," Dustin cursed under his breath.

"I didn't..." Eli winced audibly, adjusting his shoulder so that it rest more comfortably against the cushioned seat. Dustin realized only then his shirt was barely sewn together still, presumably shredded by the soldiers. "I didn't realize who they were until I woke up. And why they wanted me."

"To power the gate," Will noted, earning a feeble nod from Eli.

"How the hell did they know about...you know?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know," Eli's voice was weak, merely a whisper. "I'm so tired." The Henderson ascertained that he had probably been working endlessly to power their machine, under the force of their hand. It wasn't a surprise all of his energy had been swept away from him.

It didn't take long for the four of them to stumble upon their Scoops friends, Robin's taunting jeers heard from the end of the hall. "I have an idea," Erica proposed, clambering out of the vehicle and jabbing her thumb at a room nearby. It contained shelves of the same acidic burning liquid they'd found earlier in the elevator that brought them down here.

"Alright," Dustin agreed, already seeing her plan.

The alarm sounded almost immediately after they set loose several containers on a floor panel, the substance burning straight through and revealed exposed wires underneath. Russians fell into the open room, shouting at one another with panic and bewilderment etched into their tone.

Dustin, Erica, and Will waited until the soldiers filtered out of Steve and Robin's room before racing inside, the Henderson shocking the Russian left inside with the weapon before he could argue.

"Henderson! Hey!" Steve called in a slurred voice, causing worry to shoot up Dustin's throat.

"Come on, we're getting you out of here."

A belligerent cry thundered from the door, and Dustin realized with terror that the Russian soldiers had returned. "Shit!" He screamed, his hands flying desperately to Steve's restraints as Erica and Will worked on Robin's.

The largest soldier lumbered forwards him, and it was when his hand was mere inches from his face did Dustin think it was over. Until the room was suddenly glowing in blue light, a buzzing noise making his teeth clamp down in fear as he felt heat swarm his body.

The sound of several bodies thudding against the ground made him open his eyes again, and Dustin's jaw latched open at the dead bodies surrounding him. His eyes followed out the door to the source, and he met the chilling gaze of Eli Brooks, awake and angry.