Warnings: violence, kidnapping and Brenda being gay

Word Count: 6499

Starcourt Mall was more than Eleven could have ever imagined. Much more. The colors that filled every inch of the building, the high ceilings that twinkled with the myriad of lights, the sounds of overlapping conversations between the many, many people walking by or sitting off to the side. It would have been overwhelming if it wasn't so beautiful.

"So, what should we do first?" Max asked, grinning widely at the girl's awestruck expression. When El's wide eyes found their way back to her with no other response, she lightly laughed. "You've never been shopping before, have you?"

She shook her head, eyes returning to... well, everything around her.

"Well, then I guess we're just gonna have to try everything." As soon as Max caught sight of a certain store, she grabbed El by the hand and rushed her towards it. "Ooh. Come on."

El couldn't take her eyes off of anything she passed by and yet, she never actually had time to focus her sights on one particular thing. It was all so new to her, but a very good kind of new. The kind of new she could get used to. All she knew was just to follow Max's lead. The first wonder of Starcourt for exploration was The Gap.

Just as the girls ran into the store, the boys passed by, Mike getting more aggravated by the second. "I just... I don't understand what we're looking for."

"Something pretty and shiny that says 'I'm sorry'." Lucas explained.

"What, just something that literally says 'I'm sorry'?"

"No!"

At the center of it all, Doc sat at the food court with Sheriece and Brenda, the three sharing a plate of fries. They would've bought an actual meal, but Sheriece insisted they not get too full in order to properly fit into clothing when trying them on. Currently, the duo was trying to sympathize with their friend in her current crisis.

"Listen, (Y/N), I know you're worried about how things are gonna end with you and Will-"

"But you need to focus on yourself, girl!"

"I mean... that's what the break was for, right? To figure yourself out?"

"Stop thinking so much about what Will thinks of you. What do you think about yourself?"

Doc took a bite of her fry and hummed. "Uh... I'm not following. What do you mean, what do I think about myself? What kind of question is that-"

"Okay, okay," Brenda stopped her. "You're complicating it. As my wise big sister says, there's nothing that'll bring out self-actualization more than shopping."

"But we've been shopping!"

"Obviously not enough!" Sheriece stood to her feet, snatching the plate away from her friend. "So, let's get back to it!"

Groaning, Doc allowed each friend to pull a hand and drag her back to her feet. At The Gap, El's hands ran across every single article of clothing she laid eyes on. For so long, she had been wearing hand-me-downs and the occasional custom-made shirt or sweater made by Doc. She never truly had any options laid out before her. So, to see them in so many different colors and sizes, and knowing that there was so much more of this in the rest of the mall, was thrilling for her.

When her eyes found a certain blue shirt, Max smiled at her wonder. "Do you like that?"

El turned to her. "How do I know... what I like?"

"You just try things on." She gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Until you find something that feels like you."

"Like... me?"

"Yeah. Not Hopper. Not Mike. You."

El glanced back at the shirt with a smile. Maybe this could be like her.

At the Driscoll residence, as Jonathan tried with all his might to get a decent picture of the squirming rat in the basement, Nancy was back upstairs, calling local hardware stores and asking them about reports they may have received.

"Hi, yes, um, this is Nancy Wheeler from The Hawkins Post." She greeted for the umpteenth time. "Yeah, um... I have a bit of a weird question for you. I was wondering if you guys had gotten any recent calls about, um... rabid rats? ... No, uh, rabid rats. Rats with rabies? ... Okay, um... What about just rats... in general? ... Uh-uh... Okay. Thank you."

As she hung up the phone, Mrs Driscoll approached her with a glass. "You're a regular little detective, aren't ya?" She smiled, stretching the glass out to her. "Lemonade? It's fresh-squeezed."

"Sure, thanks," She smiled back, gently taking the glass from her. "Um... Do you mind if I make just a few more calls?"

"Not at all. I enjoy the company."

Back in the basement, Jonathan had run out of film when taking photos of the squirming and squealing rat. He walked over to his bag and took the camera from off of his neck, opening the back of the device and taking out the film roll.

That was when he realized the basement had gone silent for the first time in the forty-five minutes that they'd been at the house. Frowning, he turned his head to the cage, hearing the almost-silent sounds of pained squeals from the rat. "You alright, little bud?" He mumbled once he got close to it, watching it writhe in the middle of the cage. Its squeals crescendoed into pained screeches just when Nancy appeared at the staircase.

"Jonathan!" She called. "I have a lead."

"Uh... Yeah, okay, but, uh..." He slowly turned back to the cage. "I just think there's something really wrong with this rat."

"Yeah, no shit. Come on."

"No, I-"

He sighed when she headed back upstairs, having no choice but to swipe up his belongings and hurry up the stairs behind her. Just when he left, the dim lights within the basement flickered as the rat's screeches got even louder. It rolled and squirmed and writhed in pain, its screeching ear-splitting just before it exploded. All that was left of it was a pile of its blood and organs, a long tail trailing behind it.

Then it began to move. The goo-like creature scooted its way out of the spaces of the cage, onto the dryer, and off the edge and onto the floor. Only it didn't stop there. The creature snarled as four legs formed, allowing it to crawl and then walk and then run out of the basement.

-------------------------------------------------

    "I said, what do you want?!"

Billy watched in horror as his double walked closer to him. "To build." A voice that wasn't his, deep and slightly distorted, spoke to him. "I want you to build."

"To build what...?"

"What you see."

"I don't understand..."

With another red thunderclap, Billy was back outside. His surroundings were back to normal and yet, he wasn't. "I don't understand!" He shouted, twisting this way and that for the group of people, for his double. "What do you mean? I don't understand!"

Billy jolted out of his sleep and back to where he was. The pool. He was on watch duty at the pool. Blinking hard, he tried to register everything around him, but it was all still so distorted. He groaned at a sudden and horrible pain somewhere in his body. Moving his arm, he noticed that his elbow had been exposed to the sun. Once he lifted it, he realized the skin had been burnt and now an open wound glared right at him with an angry red around it. That's what the pain was.

His breathing became labored as he climbed down from the chair, stumbling worse than before towards the shed. He was barely able to weave around people, accidentally bumping into someone and sending his cooler and the contents within spilled on the ground.

    "Hey, man!" He complained, but Billy hadn't even heard him.

"Billy, are you okay?"

He ignored Heather and practically ran to the pool shed, finding himself in one of the showers. His hand turned the knob to the coldest setting and he sighed out in relief as the water pelted his scorching skin. From his wound, he noticed a vein-like blackness spreading through his arm, similar to how Doc's skin reacted to her powers.

A sudden flash of a shadow monster silhouetted by red lightning scared Billy so badly, but he didn't have time to process it, for a high-pitched screeching sang in his ears. He covered his ears and yelled out in agony, but it wouldn't go away. It was within him, something he couldn't escape. He slid down the wall of the shower until he was sitting on the floor, screaming louder when the screeching returned.

"Billy?"

Heather appeared before him, her face unusually blank. He watched through his wet curls as she slowly lowered herself to her knees in front of him. He waited for her to speak, disturbed by her unfazed nature.

"Take me to him."

He frowned at her distorted voice. "What...?"

"I said, are you hurt?" Her normal voice responded. "What's going on? I heard screaming. Should I call an ambulance?"

The look he was giving her didn't sit right with her. His face was scrunched up in pain, but he seemed so angry, and she didn't miss the way his fingers dug into the skin of his legs. As if he were restraining himself.

"Billy?"

Every instinct in her screamed for her to leave. Leave now. But before she could move, Billy pounced.

-------------------------------------------------

El hopped in front of a mirror, wearing the shirt she had been eyeing, matched with a pair of jeans, suspenders and a beret. She tilted her chin up as she fixed the hat to go over her eyes, but Max shook her head and adjusted it properly, the girl's eyes widening. Curiously, she pulled at the suspenders so they stretched out far. When she let them go, they snapped back against her body. She laughed out of giddy shock, Max shaking her head playfully at her.

Within a Zales, Mike followed the glass display cases containing various jeweled trinkets. He needed to find something perfect for Eleven. Something that he knew she would love. When his eyes caught a small, golden bear, he slowly crouched down with dazzled eyes. He remembered the stuffed bear in her room that she had gotten from her aunt Becky back in November. She would love this. It was perfect.

"Excuse me, sir." He smiled up at the well-dressed man behind the counter. "How much for this little teddy bear right here?"

Not too long afterwards, the three were speeding out of the store.

"Three hundred?!" Lucas shook his head. "Three hundred!"

Mike was right next to him, eyes wide with anger. "I should've shoved that teddy bear right up his-"

One of the registers at a nearby perfume stand dinged as Doc and her friends walked away. "See, (Y/N)? Didn't shopping for new scents make you feel a little better?" Brenda cheesed.

"I mean, sure." She glanced into her little bag to see two bottles of perfume carefully placed inside. "Even if they were a bit expensive."

"Well, Ms Moneybags, you have a business for a reason." Sheriece rolled her eyes jokingly. "Doesn't it feel nice to splurge a bit?"

Doc shrugged. "I feel guilty, a bit."

"Guilty?!" Brenda dropped her jaw. "For spending your hard-earned money?! No. No, no, no. This won't do."

She shrieked when she felt two pairs of hands shoving her forward. "Uh... Girls, where are we going?"

"To The Gap!"

"You are gonna spoil yourself!"

At said store, El hopped in front of the mirror again, this time in a matching shirt and skirt. Max approached her with a red belt in one hand and a yellow one in the other. El hummed and looked between them for a few seconds before picking the yellow one. Max then fastened the belt around her waist so her outfit looked like a dress.

"Alright, give a spin."

El did as she was told, but her excitement got the best of her and before Max could stop her, she was spinning in circles until she lost her balance. The two laughed aloud when Max caught her before she could fall. It wasn't long before Max sent her back to the fitting room with another outfit to try. And while she did that, Max decided to do some fitting of her own.

The black sunglasses she first tried on were no good. A nice fit, but too basic. And Max was not basic.

Next, she tried on a pair of red, white and blue sunglasses, but she took them off with a frown almost as soon as she put them on.

But the third pair was a winner. They were red with black lenses and fit perfectly atop her cheekbones when she smiled into the mirror, tilting the glasses down to give herself a smile.

"Max?"

She quickly turned to see Doc, Brenda and Sheriece walking towards her, the former grinning at her. "I didn't know you were gonna be here. We could've gone together!"

"Yeah," Max took off the sunglasses with a nervous smile to the other two girls. "I didn't think I'd be here, either. I'm here with-"

"This does not feel like me."

The four turned to see Eleven step out of the changing room in a t-shirt tucked into a long, floral skirt. When she noticed the extra set of people, her facial expression morphed from uncomfortable to fearful. That was, until she noticed her sister. "Doc?"

"El!"

The two embraced each other with bright smiles, swaying side to side with quiet chuckles. Sheriece and Brenda glanced at each other in confusion before looking back at the two. "El? I thought her name was Jane?"

Max, Doc and El all froze at their mistake, glancing at each other as one of them tried to come up with a save. "El... I-Is short for... Elanor." She remembered the lie everyone had agreed on once the girl's birth certificate had been finalized. "Which is Jane's middle name. We just always call her El."

"Huh..."

"Yeah..."

"Cool." Brenda nodded before her eyes slowly and nervously making their way to Max, as they usually did. "Well, we wouldn't wanna intrude."

Doc furrowed her brows. "Wait," She turned to El and lowered her voice. "Are you allowed out now?"

She shook her head. "Max wanted to have fun. We're looking for something that is... like me."

In unison, Doc and her friends all gasped with hands over their mouths, momentarily startling Max and El. "Do you mean to tell me..." Brenda quietly started. "That you two are spirit shopping?"

"Spirit shopping?"

"Oh, my goodness, why didn't you two tell me?" Doc grinned so wide, her cheeks could have split. "I wanted to be here for this day! You have to let us help you, El. Please?"

"Don't worry, girl, we won't make you uncomfortable," Sherice spoke. "We just have a sort of... knack for these things. It's like our skillset."

El silently looked to Max, who shrugged. "It's your choice."

"Anything you want," Doc placed her hands on her sister's shoulders. "I'll buy it."

Of course, she couldn't turn down that offer. "Okay." She smiled, Sheriece and Brenda cheering. "But I don't like this."

Doc looked down at the outfit El wore. "Really? You don't like it?"

"No."

"Hm. I'll take it, then."

As soon as the boys stepped into the next store, they were bathed in a fluorescent pink. They had rushed in so fast with their heads first that they didn't realize what they led themselves to until it was too late. The lacy stockings, the thin-strapped bras, the silky underwear.

They were in a lingerie store.

With looks of horror, the three rushed out before they could be exposed to any more of the intimates.

At The Gap, Brenda, Sheriece and Max were waiting outside the fitting rooms as Doc helped El into the last of many styles the four had tried on the latter. They found some winners that El thought looked good and Brenda prided herself in picking out most of them.

As they waited for the two, Sheriece went to purchase a pair of sandals she fancied as Max and Brenda looked at hats. Brenda fixed a hot pink beret on her head, but sighed when it kept slipping off. Max walked closer and stood in front of her, adjusting the hat so it stayed on. "There."

"Thanks," Brenda nervously cleared her throat at their closeness. "Is- Does it look good?"

"Yeah. This is definitely your color."

"Thanks... again." She bashfully lowered her head. "My mom says I own it."

Max laughed. "I can see why (Y/N) likes you and Sheriece so much. You guys are just like her."

"Is that a good thing?" She lifted her head.

"Oh, definitely. You're awesome."

Brenda couldn't stop the blush that spread to the tips of her ears. In the fitting room, Doc helped El into the outfit the girl had picked herself and was very excited to try on. Doc noticed that most of the outfits El picked out were patterned, but not in a striped or plaid way, in a way that was jagged and unpredictable. It wasn't tacky at all, either. It made sense for her.

The romper El chose was black with a multicolored geometric print. It wasn't something that Doc herself would have worn, since she liked order in her patterns, but as said before, it worked really well for Eleven. "Oh, my god." She grinned.

"What? Is it bad?" El worried frowned.

"No. You need to go look at this. Now."

El couldn't believe it. She had never felt this good in clothing. The romper fit her just right and the patterns looked even better on her than it did on the mannequin. She flipped her hair back before taking some time to move her loose curls to the side in a new style she had never tried. The other four girls stared at her with giant smiles.

Max and Doc were so proud of their friend. After battling with her past of isolation and fear, they were so happy to see her find a new version of herself. For now, they didn't care about the consequences they may have to face for letting her go against Hopper's rules because at the end of the day, it was her choice. And nothing but good came out of it.

Doc turned her head when she noticed Sheriece at her side, holding up a pair of yellow hoops she knew she would want. Quietly gasping, Doc thankfully took the earrings into her hand. A few seconds later of styling her hair, El turned to the two with a wide and giddy grin on her face, grabbing their hands and pulling them towards the register.

The five stepped back out and into the mall with a newfound confidence. El wore her new romper, her hair bouncing with the pep in her step. On either of her sides was Max, wearing her new sunglasses, and Doc, her new yellow hoops dangling from her ears. On Max's other side was Brenda, her pink beret sitting snugly in her hair, and on Doc's other side was Sheriece, her new white and blue sneakers on her feet.

The five girls were the light of Starcourt, not a single other group stood out as confidently as they did. And to seal their alliance, Max hooked arms with El and Brenda. The former grinned widely before hooking her other arm with Doc, the girl doing the same with Sherice on her other arm. The lot of them shared smiles and giggles as they continued their strut through the mall.

Unfortunately, the boys were not so confident in what they wanted to buy. They currently stood at the glass counter of the same perfume stand Doc had been at, each of them testing different scents. Lucas sprayed one of the four bottles he had and sniffled the air in front of him, smiling in delight.

"Hey, Mike." He tapped his friend's arm. Just as Mike turned to him, he got an eyeful of fumes, the poor boy crying out in pain.

As soon as Brenda caught sight of the neon Flash Studios sign, she squealed and pulled Max and the rest of the girls with her. "Ooh! Ooh! We need to do this!" She hopped and skipped all the way there.

"That's it, girls!"

The photographer was just as elated with the experience as the girls were, flashing away as the five posed in the costumes and accessories provided. "Okay, here we go." He grinned, taking a photo of them cradling the side of their faces. Then, he took one of them in a line and leaning against each other.

"Wardrobe change, please!" He announced as they laughed amongst themselves. "Wardrobe change, thank you!"

In new costumes, they posed as if they were on the cover of a fashion magazine with fake gasps and feigned shy glances.

"Beautiful!"

Then they each thoughtfully looked into a different direction with their chins in their palms.

"Natural-born models!"

And then they all blew a kiss and winked to the camera.

"Shake it." The photographer shook his hair out, the girls copying with giggles. "Shake it out for me." He grinned and snapped another photo.

Their next wonder of Starcourt was a shoe store. Max and Sheriece were holding El's hands as she stumbled in a pair of high heels, the three attempting to hold in their laughter. It was impossible to do so when El took a wrong step and fell to the ground, the other four girls hovering over her with gut-busting laughter. Doc helped her up to her feet and stabled her body before they all went silent.

A group of girls had turned their heads to watch them, rolling their eyes in annoyance and looking away. When the five looked to each other again, they burst back into laughter. Though, out of all the girls, Sheriece's laughter wasn't so hard, for her glare was fixed on one particular head of curls.

At the food court, El's head peeked out from behind a pillar, then Doc's, then Sheriece's, then Max's and then Brenda's. They carefully watched the four girls from the shoe store group together at the Orange Julius, a boy who worked the counter flirting with them.

"Ugh, I can't stand Stacy." Doc mumbled and rolled her eyes.

"She told me that my hair looked like a rat's nest." Brenda scowled.

"She made Dustin cry at the Snow Ball." Sheriece growled. "She was so rude to him for no reason."

Just hearing that Doc didn't like Stacy was enough for El not to like her, but to know that she bullied Brenda and Dustin only influenced her even more to let her intrusive thoughts win. Her glare zeroed in on Stacy's orange cup that held her fruit drink. Her smile was bright and flirtatious as she talked to the employee, her friends twirling their hair and batting their lashes at him as well.

Had Doc still had her powers, she would have been able to feel the vibration and the high frequency ringing El gave off. But she had no idea what El had in store for Stacy and her posse. In the next second, the girl's cup exploded, sending her orange smoothie all over her face and clothes as well as on her friends. Even the employee got a bit on his shirt. They all stood around in shock, Stacy looking around in embarrassment.

The five gasped and nearly choked on laughter as El backed away from the pillar. Max grabbed El and Doc by the hands before sprinting away with Brenda and Sheriece behind them. "Whoa! What the hell was that?!" Sheriece shrieked as they continued to run. Doc looked at her over her shoulder.

"Uh... who knows?" She shrugged. "Guess that's karma."

"See? What'd I tell you?" Max beamed at El. "There's more to life than-"

"-stupid boys!" They finished together.

On a nearby bench, none of the boys noticed their girlfriends speeding past them, Mike and Lucas sitting in misery while Will impatiently tapped his foot. "Can we please play D&D now?"

"No!"

-------------------------------------------------

"Yesli deystvovat' ostorozhno... nedelya dlinnaya, serebryanyy-"

Dustin stopped the recorder, looking up at Robin expectantly. She paced a bit before turning back to him. "Wait, that last part, just one more time."

"Okay." He rewound the recording and played it again.

"Yesli deystvovat' ostorozhno... nedelya-"

"Okay, that word." She held up her hand, Dustin stopping the recording again. "Um... It's pronounced... 'dly-nna-ya'."

"'Dly-nna-ya'..." Dustin repeated.

"Which is spelled..." She pointed to the whiteboard, Dustin jumping to his feet and rushing over to it.

"D... D, D, D." His eyes raked over the board as Robin stationed herself at the dictionary. "The- The chair. The chair-looking thingy."

"Yeah, okay." She wrote it down on a piece of paper. Awhile of translating later and she went to report it to Steve, sliding open the glass door. "We've got our first sentence."

He turned away from the counter and walked up to her, each hand holding a cone. "Oh, seriously?"

"Yeah," She leaned forward and spoke with a Russian accent, "'The week is long'."

Steve looked unimpressed. "Well, that's thrilling."

"I know, but progress." She hopefully smiled and slid the door closed.

"Okay," Steve turned back around, handing off the two cones to the awaiting customers. "Here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream."

"Thanks." Max and Eleven took the cones from him. Steve watched the five girls snack on their frozen treats before he realized something.

"Wait a second," He narrowed his eyes at El. "Are you even allowed to be here?"

Doc, Max and El all shared a look before snorting out laughter, the five of them rushing out of the ice cream parlor, leaving Steve confused. Just as the girls neared the exit of the mall, Sheriece stopped in her tracks. "Hey, girls, this is where we break off."

"Huh?" Doc turned, the others doing the same.

"Anna's gonna pick us up and bring us to my house for a sleepover. Unless... Jane, Max, you two are free to join."

"I have a curfew," El looked between Sherice and Doc. "But thank you."

Sheriece nodded. "Thanks for letting us make you over. (Y/N), you coming?"

"Uh..." She looked to her sister and then back to her friend. "I think I'll stay. I haven't hung out with El in awhile."

With parting words and embraces, the three girls of the Party continued their way towards the exit. "They were nice." El sweetly smiled.

"Yeah," Max agreed. "They're really cool. You should bring them around more."

Doc hummed, furrowing her brows in thought. "Yeah..." She quietly spoke. "I guess it would be a bit healthier to combine my friend groups..."

The double doors to Starcourt burst open and out walked the three girls with pleased smiles on their faces, bags hanging from their arms. "Wanna trade?" Max asked, holding up her ice cream. With even brighter smiles, the three passed around their cones until they had someone else's to try. And, as if the day couldn't get any better, Max turned to a very familiar voice speaking from a distance.

"That's ridiculous. Why can't I just..."

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me."

El and Doc followed Max's stare to find Mike, Will and Lucas picking their bikes up from the racks. Doc silently groaned at her brother's idiocy. Not only had he lied to his girlfriend about what he was doing for the day, but he was also out in the most populated spot in town, where literally anyone would know where he was. An awful feeling settled in her stomach as Max led them to the boys, her eyes avoiding Will at all costs.

"Isn't this a nice surprise?" Max sarcastically greeted.

Mike's bike fell from his hands and to the ground as soon as he set his sights on El. "What... are you doing here?"

"Shopping." El answered flatly.

"This is her new style." Max motioned to the romper. "What do you think?"

"What's wrong with you?" He hissed at her. "You know she's not allowed to be here."

"What, is she your little pet?"

"Yeah," El echoed. "Am I your pet?"

Mike gaped at her. "What?! No!"

"Mike," Doc sighed. "She chose to be here. She wanted to be here. You should've seen her, she was badass!"

"That doesn't matter, Doc! I at least thought you would be the sensible one here! You just let this happen? You know how dangerous this is!"

"What do you mean, 'let this happen'? El can do whatever the hell she wants and I don't have to stop her from doing shit!"

"Doc, do you hear yourself right now? Am I the only one who cares about her well-being?"

El stepped closer. "If you care, then why do you treat me like garbage?"

"What?"

"You said Nana was sick."

"She is!" He turned to Lucas for assistance. "She is! She is sick!"

"Y-Yeah, sick- She's sick." He chimed in.

"She's sick."

"She's super sick. That's why we're here, actually."

"Yeah, we're shopping."

El and Max watched their boyfriends with raised brows, Doc and Will watching the whole thing unfold, all while awkwardly avoiding each other.

"Not for us, but for her, for Nana."

"For Nana."

"Also, we're here to get a gift... for you." Mike hoped the sentiment would melt El's hardened expression, but it didn't. "Just, we couldn't find anything that suited you and I only have, like, three dollars and fifty cents, so it's hard."

"Super hard," Lucas shook his head. "It's- It's expensive..."

A sense of sadness came over El's expression. "You lie." She stated, Mike's shameful eyes finding hers. "Why do you lie?"

Mike opened and closed his mouth, trying to find yet another lie that would dig his hole even deeper. Doc shook her head at him, her expression angered. She knew when her brother was hiding the truth, it's not like he was a good liar.

Behind the girls, the sound of bus brakes squealing could be heard. El turned to look at it, her face set in anger and determination. She used the last bit of Max's advice as she thought over all the false words Mike tried to put into her head. If he doesn't explain himself...

Very slowly, she walked closer to Mike. His eyes widened, a part of him hoping for a kiss, but another part of him waiting for a slap.

"I dump your ass."

Everyone's jaw dropped at the proclamation as El spun around and stormed off. Max let a small smile curl the edges of her lips as she followed her, dragging Doc behind her by the hand. Doc sent an apologetic look across her shoulder to her brother. For half a second, her eyes locked with Will's. She couldn't bear it if their relationship had ended up like that. She did feel for her brother, but then again, he had it coming.

El led them onto the bus, letting Max take the window seat and taking the one beside her. Doc sat in the seat behind them, resting her chin where the two seats connected between them. They were silent for a few seconds, but as soon as they all looked at each other, they erupted into laughter. Mike hurried over to the bus, but by the time he reached it, the vehicle was already pulling off. He let out a deep breath as his friends came up to his side.

"Now can we play D&D?"

"No."

By the time the sun had set, the mall was completely vacant. At least, it was almost completely vacant. It was the only time of day when it wasn't being brought to life by its light and the citizens of Hawkins. The only people left within the mall were Robin, Steve and Dustin, still locked away in the breakroom of Scoops Ahoy. They finally managed to decode the entirety of Dustin's recorded message and had it written on the whiteboard. Tilting their heads, they read the message aloud in unison.

"'The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west'."

It wasn't at all what they expected, but it's what they resulted in. Once they had accepted it, Steve and Robin closed up shop. "I mean, it just..." Steve sighed, locking up the gate he pulled down in front of the parlor. "It just can't be right."

The trio began their slow trail to the exit of Starcourt. "It's right." Robin claimed.

"Honestly, I think it's great news." Dustin shrugged.

"How is this great news?" Steve sighed. "I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's nonsense."

"It's not nonsense. It's too specific. It's obviously a code."

"What do you mean, a code?"

"Like a super secret spy code."

"That's a total sketch."

Robin shrugged. "I don't know, is it?"

"You're buying into this?"

"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, 'Fire the warhead at noon'?"

"Exactly." Dustin agreed.

"And my translation is correct. I know that for sure, so... 'The silver cat feeds'. Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the meaning of their message?"

"Exactly."

"Why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"

"Exactly."

Steve raised his shoulder, silently mocking them.

"So, I guess that confirms your suspicion." Robin raised her brows at Dustin.

"Evil Russians." He grinned, pulling one from her as well.

"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil Russians."

"So, how exactly do we crack it?"

"Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges."

"A pattern. Right, like maybe 'silver cat' is a meeting place?"

"Or a person."

"Or a weapon."

"It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but... Where's Steve?"

The two turned around to see that Steve was a few feet behind them, standing before an electric horse ride. "Hey, Steve!" Robin called out. "What are you doing?"

"Uh, it's a quarter. I need-" He motioned for them to come over. "Do you have a quarter?"

Robin and Dustin shared a chuckle as they jogged over to him. "Sure you're tall enough for that ride?"

"Quarter!" He shouted at Robin before catching the coin she tossed his way. Quickly, he dropped to his knee in front of the horse and slipped the quarter into the slot. He remained on the ground as the horse was brought to life, moving back and forth as the cheery tune of "Daisy Bell" played. Robin tilted her head at him.

"You need help getting up, Little Stevie?"

Steve shushed her words and Dustin's chuckling and looked up at them. "Would you two just shut up and listen?"

Gradually, Dustin's smile faded from his face as he recalled where he had heard the song before. "Holy shit." He pointed, slipping his backpack off. "The music."

Robin watched him in confusion as he knelt to the ground and unzipped his bag, riffling through for his recorder. At her expression, Dustin raised his brows. "The music!" He emphasized and took out his recorder, pressing the play button. Just as he suspected (and as Steve tried to tell him), the exact same music played behind the Russian voice.

"I don't understand." She shrugged.

"It's the exact same song on the recording."

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia."

Steve shook his head and motioned to the name on the coin slot. "'Indiana Flyer'? I don't... I don't think so. This code, it... didn't come from Russia," He looked up at her. "It came from here."

-------------------------------------------------

Heather awoke with her wrists and ankles bound and duct tape over her mouth.

She couldn't tell at first, for when she woke up, she had to adjust her vision to the utter darkness surrounding her. The side of her head throbbed and she wondered if she had knocked herself out. Quietly groaning, she rolled onto her back, freezing in place at who knelt above her.

Billy.

Suddenly, everything came back to her in a whirlwind of memories. Billy wasn't right, stumbling into the pool shed. She followed him out of concern. He was in the showers, he was screaming, he was in pain, she asked if she should call an ambulance, but he only stared at her.

Then he grabbed her by the throat, those cold blues of his, swimming in anger and pain and maybe something else, stared into her very soul as he curtained them away from prying eyes. She fought and she thrashed, but she was no match against him. He was naturally stronger than her, yes, but there was something so different, so inhumane about him that made him even stronger than usual. Dissatisfied with her fighting, he rammed her head against the wall with brute force.

Her whole world tilted off its axis, her vision blurred and a distant thought of who would pick up Brenda tomorrow drifted in her mind before everything went dark.

But now she was here, deep in an abandoned warehouse. The concrete below her was cold and uncomfortable against her bare skin. But nothing could have been as startlingly chilling as the emptiness in Billy's eyes. He wasn't himself. Or perhaps he truly was being himself and she had fallen for his charm. Either way, she was in grave danger.

Her whimpers were muffled as she squirmed and pulled against her binds. Silently, Billy grabbed hold of her shoulders and slammed her back onto the ground, silencing her effectively. He lowered himself until his lips were beside her ear, breathing into her skin.

"Don't be afraid." He rumbled. "It'll be over soon. Just stay very still."

He moved away only enough to slowly pull the duct tape from her lips. She didn't dare speak a word, a tear falling from her eye and across her temple as she stared at him, her head running through every horrible thing he could do to her in this barren place. But when he stood up and took a step back, those thoughts faded.

Turning her head to the side, her eyes widened at the disfigured silhouette across the room. A low, roaring noise crept up to her, its size only growing the closer it got. She couldn't quite make out what it was and that terrified her to her very core. The dark, shadowed curtains rose as the beastly creature stepped into the moonlight, its screeching volumes louder than Heather's blood-curdling screaming.

Billy watched with a neutral expression, that something else flickering in his eyes as the monster took its next victim.