"Aunt Joyce!" The boys stood by her as I ran to her. I gave her the hug.

"What happened to you?" She cried into my shoulder.

"Im okay now." I looked at her. "I told him." She looks at me. "I told Steve I like him."

"And you said that you wanted to wait." We chuckled.

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world." Mike started to say.

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it."

"How big is this thing?" Aunt Joyce asked as we joined the conversation.

"It's big. Thirty feet, at least." My eyes widen.

"It sorta destroyed your cabin." Lucas said as he looked at Hooper. Hopper sighed. "Sorry."

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic weapon?" Steve asked.

"Yes."

"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon with melted people."

"Yes, exactly." My mouth dropped. Im sorry melted people?

"Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'm just making sure." Steve nodded.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Aunt Joyce pointed out.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." Max said as she hugged my side.

"But if we close the gate again-"

"We cut the brain off from the body."

"And kill it. Theoretically."

"Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!" We saw the bald man waving some papers in the air as he ran to us. "Okay, this is what Alexei called "the hub"." He puts the map on the table and showed us. "Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gate?"

"Right here. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so."

"More like 500." Erica steps in. The Hop and the bald guy looked at her crazy. "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" The bald man asked.

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?" She pointed at him.

"Murray Bauman." He introduces himself.

"Listen, Mr. Bunman, 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."

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray points at her.

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" We all stunned by the way Erica spoke to him. I mean it wasn't news for us, Robin, Steve, Dustin and I.

"Erica!" Lucas yells at her.

"Just the facts!"

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to." Dustin told them. He sits down and grabs the paper. "Excuse me. Sorry, may I?" He asked as he was going to write something on the paper.

"Please." Murray smiles.

"Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility." Dustin starts to draw. "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 and Erica, we can show you the way."

"You can show us the way?" Hop crosses his arms.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your navigators." Dustin smiles at him.

"No." Hop said to him as he shook his head. "Nope." I saw a restaurant and i checked if theres any food. I went to the back and guess what, there was some leftover hot dogs.

"Food!" I yelled. Steve and Robin came running in.

"Oh my god finally! Im so hungry!" Robin said as she shoved a whole hot dog into her mouth.

"Give me that!" Steve whined as I grabbed the mustard. "Sharing is caring!

"I haven't eaten in days!" I moaned as I took a bite. As i rolled my eyes back, from a delicious but cold hot dog, Hopper signals me to him. The three of us walked out of the restaurant. "Hop? What's going on?"

"You guys are going to wherever Dustin say yourregoing." As he pointed to erica, robin, Steve, dustin and I. "Promise me something?"

"Anything Hop." He puts his hands on my shoulder and bent down to my height.

"If anything happens, and I mean anything. Promise me you'll take care of El, please." I hated how that sounded like he was going to die.

"Promise." I nodded my head. He pulled me into a hug. "You Promise me youll be okay."

"Okay kid." I cried into his chest. He patted my back. As I pulled out from the hug, Hop gave his car keys to Steve. "Hey." Steves eyes widen. "Take care of her okay."

"Always." We ran outside to start the plan. Soon as we walked out Steve was in shock. "Oh, man, now this this is what I'm talkin' about!" It was just a convertible.

"Toddfather"?" Robin said as we walked.

"Oh, screw Todd! Steve's her daddy now." Steve claps as we got in the car.

"Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?" I told him as i sat in the middle of Erica and Dustin.

"Steves is already Wendys daddy." Everyone looked at Erica.

"Erica!" I laughed nervously.

"Cant you see? They're are crazy in love, of course hes-"

"Enough! Just go!" Steve steps on it and drove off. We drove quite a while.

"All right, where are we going?" Steve asked Dustin.

"Weathertop." Dustin said.

"Weather-what?"

"Just drive." We drove even more, nothing yet. Nothing was in sight. "Jesus, how far is this place, man?"

"Relax, we're almost there."

"Suzie must be pretty special, huh? I mean, if you built this thing and lugged it all the way to the middle of nowhere just to talk to her?" Robin turns to Dustin.

"I mean, nobody's scientifically perfect, but Suzie's about as close to being perfect as any human could possibly be."

"She sound made-up to me." Erica said. "She sound made-up to you?" She looked at me. I didn't say anything. I mean she can be. Steve didn't say a word either.

"Why are you hesitating, Steve?" He turned to me. "Wendy?" I looked outside, pretending nothing was said.

"I-uh- uh." Steve stutters. "I'm I'm I'm not! I'm not! I think she sounds real. You know, totally, absolutely real."

"100 percent real." I followed.

"Left." Dustin pointed.  "Turn left."

"There's not a road here." Steve told him.

"Turn left now!" Dustin yelled at him.

"Jesus! Hang on!" Steve takes a sharp left turn, making Dustin fall on top of me, me on top of Erica.

"Henderson, where are we going?!" I yelled at him.

"Up!"

"Oh, Jesus!" We went on a hill and the car started to slow down.

"We're not gonna make it!" Robin said.

"Yes, we are." Steve said as he steps on the gas. "Come on, baby. Come on, baby! Come on! Come on.
Come on!" The car didnt budge. Steve sighs.

"Guess the Toddfather has its limitations." Robin said as we got out the car. Steve grabbed my hand as we ran up the hill. Dustin sets up the radio to talk to everyone.

"We need a name for Murray."

"How about Bald Eagle?" I giggled as i was the one that recommended it. They laughed.

"Bald Eagle, do you copy? Bald Eagle, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop, do you copy?" Dustin said in the radio.

"Yes, I copy." We all laughed.

"Call sign?" There was a long pause.

"Bald Eagle."

"Please repeat." Dustin messed around.

"Bald Eagle. This is Bald Eagle!"

"Copy that. Good to hear your voice, Bald Eagle. What's your 20?"

"We reached the vent. I'll contact you when I need you. Until then, silence." Murray sighs.

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