(Ep. 8: The Battle of Starcourt)

Hawkins turned out to be more interesting than Robin and Daphne thought.

After Mike explained to them how this whole Upside Down debacle started when Will went missing, when they met El - a girl who escaped from Hawkins Lab and had accidentally opened the gate - all of them were left utterly shocked and terrified the home they once believed to be safe was nothing but a tragedy.

Barbara Holland and Bob Newby didn't die a mysterious death. It was all a consequence due to the lab's experiments and not only did this mess happen twice, but it's happening for a third time now. Seems the Russians opened a gate and it's been the main cause for this monster in the first place, so now they have to find a solution.

Daphne feels relieved to have moved away as she's certain she would have lost her mind. She's still in disbelief on how her friends are taking this with a grain of salt because if anything, they should all be in therapy after everything they've been through.

It's all too much to take in just a few minutes. Robin is just simply nodding and biting her nails as she doesn't know what else to do because she's the least prepared to join any battle that is now involving the asshole of Hawkins High, Billy Hargrove.

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins to stop El," Mike explains as all of them are gathered in a circle. "He wants to kill her and pave a way into our world."

"And it almost did," Nancy adds on. "This was just one piece of it."

"How big is this thing?" Hopper questions, his arm around his daughter as she rests against his chest. Her leg is propped up on Joyce's as she tries blinking the exhaustion from her eyes.

"It's big," Jonathan mumbles, glancing over at Nancy as the image of that thing back in the hospital and Hopper's cabin fills his mind. "Thirty feet, at least."

Gwen leans back against Steve. His arms are wrapped around her as he rests his head on her shoulder. She can feel her heart racing and she's pretty certain he can feel it too from the way he keeps mumbling, It's gonna be okay, repeatedly. But is it, really? They've dealt with this before and it always finds a way back, so what's to say it won't return in a few months?

"It sorta destroyed your cabin," Lucas informs the chief, earning a frustrated glare from him. "Sorry."

Steve narrows his eyes, trying to comprehend everything that's been told. "Okay, so, just to be clear, this... big, fleshy spider thing that hurt El." He takes a brief pause to catch his breath and glances over at Dustin from expecting him to correct him on the name of the creature, "It's some kind of gigantic... weapon?"

"Yes," Nancy immediately says.

"But instead of screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people," Nancy nods agreeingly, too calmly considering the situation. "Yeah, okay. I was just making sure."

"Are you sure it's still out there? That El didn't just kill it?" Gwen questions, her brow furrowed in slight confusion.

"El beat the shit out of it," Max replies, glancing over at her best friend with a proud smirk. "But yeah, it's still alive."

Gwen nods, not even shocked anymore that she just chooses to accept it. "Okay, that's- that's just great."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Daphne's not sure if she even has the right to suggest anything seeing as she's still fairly new to this, but having listened and learned everything about this, she can't just sit and stay quiet. "You guys closed the gate before and it solved the problem, so... what if it closes again?"

Will nods agreeingly at her, "Then the brain will be cut off from the body."

Daphne feels the smallest sense of pride on not having her idea be shut off. For someone who doesn't know much, she feels the need to learn more about everything now that her friends and family are involved in it. She exchanges an assuring smile with Will, who still looks the same as when she last saw him. Only he's taller, his voice is deeper, and he appears to be more sure of himself, except he's still rocking the same haircut.

"And kill it," Lucas continues, "Theoretically."

The group's silence is interrupted when a voice echoes from the furthest corners. Gwen's able to recognize him right away as Murray Bauman, the man who used to visit Hopper's office with insistence on the summer when she was an intern. He makes his way past the food court while waving his arms in the air with crumpled pieces of paper in his hands.

"Who is this?" Steve whispers to her.

"He's the private investigator the Hollands hired to look for Barb, Murray Bauman," she quickly says.

"Come on people! We don't have all day to just sit on our asses and do nothing!" Murray slams the pieces of paper onto one of the tables as everyone makes their way to him. He points to the center of the page before saying, "This is what Alexei called 'The Hub.' Now the hub takes us to the vault room."

This is all too familiar. The same huddling around pieces of paper, discussing a possible way to enter all just reminds her of the days of planning on how to get into the Russian headquarters. This is not good.

"Okay, so where's the gate?" Hopper calmly asks like it's no big deal.

"Right here," Murray circles the designated location, slowly moving his finger to another. "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 pipes up as she walks over to them with her hands on her hips. "What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?"

The group turns silent and just waits for the scene to unfold. Slowly, Murray looks up and gawks at the young girl in utter confusion and annoyance. Not understanding how a small child has the nerve to interrupt his planning with the adults. "And who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair, who are you?" she snaps and folds her arms across her chest in exasperation.

"Murray... Bauman."

Erica scoffs, rolling her eyes as she shakes her head disapprovingly, "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." She glances over at the group, more specifically to those who involved her in this mess, "With all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die."

Murray glares at the girl, his eyes narrowing in complete disbelief, "I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?"

"I'm ten, you bald bastard!" Erica seethes, raising her chin as irritation laces her expression. Gwen has to bite the inside of her cheek to refrain from laughing, only it's of no use as Steve lets out a soft chuckle.

"Erica!" Lucas exclaims at his sister's attitude.

"Just the facts!"

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to," Dustin takes over one of the seats and plops down, ignoring the displeased glare from Murray as he just reaches for one of his pencils and begins his explanation. "This room right here is a storage facility. There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system." A long line is drawn across the paper, "That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way."

"You can show us the way?" Hopper repeats more in a sarcastic and judgy way.

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit," Dustin waves him off, ignoring the tone of his voice, "We'll just be your navigators."

The chief shakes his head, not wanting to include children in this mission, especially one with an inflated ego. He peers behind his shoulder at Gwen, who appears calmer considering her brother just volunteered for this, "Are you going to let him do this?"

She shrugs and nods her head, "He's not going to listen to me regardless of what I say, and I'm onboard with his plan anyway. You guys are dead meat if you listen to Murray."

The already irritated man loses the smallest bit of patience. He springs up from his detailed drawing and finally recognizes who's speaking. "You," he points his finger at her and walks over. "You're the specimen who didn't hand Jim my very important letter!"

Gwen's mouth is slightly agape. She knows she did wrong in keeping the letter for a day, but she did hand it back so there's no need for another scolding. "For your information, I did give it to him," Murray frowns at her and folds his arms. "Okay, maybe a day late, but I did deliver it."

"Lies! He never responded-"

She takes a step closer, now growing annoyed at this man, "I'm not in charge of what he does so if he didn't answer you, that's on him! I'm not his wife, I'm not Joyce!"

"Woah! You are way off, little missy!" The Byers' mom responds as she leaves her spot to join the arguing pair.

Hopper just stares blankly at them, shaking his head disapprovingly as he thinks of all the time they're wasting. He feels slightly offended at how quick Joyce reacted, almost like she didn't want to be associated in any way to him.

"Okay, enough!" he shouts, bringing the arguing trio to stop their bickering and look up at him. "You can fight later, but right now, we have more important things to do!"

"Exactly," Dustin agrees as he nods his head at him, "As your navigators, we have to-"

"No," Hopper interrupts, his lips curving downward into a frown. "Nope, we're not doing this."

Gwen walks back to stand next to Steve and Robin, noticing the beam in her brother's eyes that means he's not about to take 'no' for an answer.

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As the group dispersed to have separate conversations, Gwen took advantage to head over to Scoops Ahoy to prepare some treats and finally make herself a strawberry shake. If they were going to fight this monster, it's better to fuel up for the impending battle.

"Make me one too?" Max jumps over the counter, catching her by surprise that led her to drop a few strawberries to the floor. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Gwen lightly scoffs and starts gathering the now ruined berries, "I don't get scared, little red."

The girls were silent for a few minutes as they prepared the milkshakes. On a few occasions, Gwen would look over at the food court to check on the others. Dustin was still trying to convince Hopper to let them help him, but it seems the chief's reluctance isn't going anywhere. She sees Steve conversing with Jonathan, only making her smile as they've come a long way.

"Did Nancy tell you that..." Max trails off, uncertain if she should even mention Billy as she's not sure if Gwen would even care after all he did.

"I know the Mind Flayer took over Billy," she starts pouring the shake into the cups, slightly looking up when noticing the fear in the redhead's eyes. "I'm sorry about that. I really am."

"Yeah, sure," the young girl places straws into the lids, shrugging off her sympathy as she's certain no one actually cares for her brother, because why would they? Billy's been nothing but an asshole so how can she expect anyone to care.

Gwen's come to realize that even if Billy had been a complete jackass to his sister, Max is still worried for him. It doesn't take a genius to know this since with just one look, it's easy to tell.

"Hey," she sighs deeply, taking a sip of her shake as she rests her elbows on the counter. "Your brother and I might not have ended on the best terms, but just because we didn't, I'd never wish this on him. So believe me when I say that I'm truly sorry for what's happening."

She doesn't want Max to feel alone in this, especially since no one has done anything to try and offer some reassurance that they're going to try and help her brother. And yes, it might not be possible to save him, but that doesn't mean they can't try.

"Do you... hate him?" Max's voice is barely a whisper.

"Truth?" the young girl nods, bringing a shaky exhale to come out from Gwen. "I did hate him, but as time went on, I guess I just... stopped."

"After everything he did?" Max questions.

Part of Gwen doesn't know what to say. She's not the best at giving advice and quite frankly, she might have stopped hating Billy for what he did, but it doesn't mean she's forgiven him.

"After everything he did," she simply repeats, hoping it's enough for an answer.

Max sits on top of the counter, playing with the straw as she flails her legs all nervously. "You're much better than I am. Even with all the shit he's going through, I still can't find it in me to not hate him."

She joins her on the spot beside the counter, gently placing her arm around her that brings both their heads to lean against each other's.

"Maybe someday you'll be able to."

Max hesitates, the doubt of whether or not she'll be able to feel anything other than hatred for him circulates her mind. She longs for the day when she feels anything other than resentment, to feel any positive emotion for him, but now it seems impossible to do so. "Maybe I can try after everything is over. If he makes it out of this."

Gwen places the cup beside her, ignoring the mess they made when making the drinks. "If Will made it out of this, Billy can too." At least that's what she hoped.

A long sigh escapes Max, "You think so?"

Gwen's brows press together, unsure if she should offer some hope even though she's not certain if he'll make it out of this. But she can see just how much Max needs some reassurance, even if it's false, she can't leave her hanging. "I know so."

"You don't know that," Max dismisses her words too quickly, not ready to get her hopes up that everything will be alright because every time she allows herself to aspire for something good, she ends up with disappointment. "I mean, I didn't even know about the existence of these things until last fall. It hasn't even been a year and this is all happening again. I thought everything was going to return back to normal and now look at where we are. I just- I don't want to set myself up for disappointment."

"Look, Max... we might not know what happens," Gwen turns in her direction, trying her best not to mess things up. "Having hope isn't the end of the world. Sure it feels like hell when things don't go the way you wished, but that's life, and we can't change that."

"Even if we want to," Max adds on.

She nods agreeingly, "Even if we want to."

Max is silent for a moment as she stares at Gwen, her eyes filling with fondness for the girl she never envisioned considering a friend. Especially since she dated her asshole brother. "Did you have to pick such a far away college?"

Gwen lets out a laugh and pulls her into a hug, "Don't tell me you're going to miss me."

Max's never been the type to be affectionate and it's not because she doesn't appreciate her loved ones. Maybe it's the fact that her mother isn't great with voicing her feelings that only taught Max to become that way.

But as she's held in such a comforting and warm embrace, she can't help herself to cave into this emotion. She's never felt more at peace and safe than right now - even if the Mind Flayer is on their way to them. Max always wanted a sister and had begged her mom for one, but when that didn't happen, she settled in being alone. Only now, she doesn't feel lonely as she's certain of having found one.

Gwen is the first to pull away, gently smiling at the redhead as they both jump off the counter. "You know, I'll only be just a phone call away. If you want to talk about anything, call me and I'll be right there."

Max nods, "Okay, but don't get annoyed when I start calling you all the time."

She playfully rolls her eyes and ruffles her hair, "Is that a promise?"

"It's a promise."