Saying that Andrea Harrington was currently way too calm would be a complete lie. Poor Andrea was freaking out like no one else. Steve was hurt and bleeding, her hands had his blood on them, and there was nothing she could do besides keep pressure and hold the bats off.

Blood was dripping down her nose as she tried to keep Steve calm, that was the main thing that she needed to do. If he were to freak out he might lose more blood and Andrea was not letting him get any worse. 

The screeches of the bats continued, their cries of pain as Andrea focused on them as they circled above, her eyes never leaving Steve. The world around them flashed with red lightning. Steve's hands grabbed at Andrea's arms before placing one hand on his neck as he felt the bruise. 

"I need you to breathe slowly, okay?" Andrea stuttered out as she looked at him, "Steve, darling, please. Breathe slowly. Deep breaths."

Andrea watched as another bat came flying at them, managing to get passed Andrea but she caused it to stop. Glaring at it before throwing it over to the ground once again.

Nancy, Robin, and Eddie appeared as they stood watching the two. Nancy holding an oar ready to help, as if Andrea could not keep the two safe on her own.

The thing was, Andrea could hold her own. She was just too scared of what could come of her actions but if Nancy Wheeler was the one who got the repercussions then she'd do anything in a skinny minute. 

"Hey there," Nancy muttered out before Robin and Nancy took down a few of the bats that were fighting against Andrea as the woman helped Steve to his feet. 

And Andrea was beyond worried. Steve was hurt, that was the only thing on her mind and if she wanted to use her powers and hold something off for a while she needed to think of a powerful memory. A memory that made her feel so much emotion.

But she couldn't find it in her mind to not fall back on the worry she held for her husband, Steve Harrington. 

"Shit!" Eddie yelled as he looked into the sky, everyone now fighting the bats, "Come on!"

They were coming from every direction. Flying out of the skies as it lit up, screeching and slapping around with their unusually long tails. They reminded Andrea of flying stingrays. Andrea wondered if they were the Upside Down version in some weird family.

"Come on! Please!" Robin yelled before a bat went straight for Nancy.

And Andrea wasn't going to stop it.

It was mean of her to let it get the Wheeler woman but she truly couldn't stop it even if she wanted to at the moment. Her focus was on Steve and Nancy happened to just be a small problem in Andrea's life that needed to be fixed anyway. 

"Nancy! Behind you!" Eddie yelled causing the woman to turn and hit it with a loud grunt, but it got ahold of her.

Nancy started to struggle as the bat whipped her around, Nancy and Robin began to scream as they fought against these things, "Robin, get it off me!" Nancy yelled as she was whipped around.

"Got it! Got it! Got it! God damn it! Shit!" Eddie began yelling as he fought a few of these things. 

"Let go!" Robin yelled while another bat came at the group.

The bats managed to get out of Andrea's hold causing the entire group to go wild.

"Come here!" Steve got out of Andrea's grip as he grabbed the tail of one of the bats.

But Andrea barely noticed that none of the bats had come after her, or Steve now, for that matter. Steve was too focused on protecting Andrea and the other people around them while Andrea was too worried about protecting Steve in the condition that he happened to be in. 

"No!" Eddie yelled.

"COME HERE YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Andrea yelled as she stopped one before hitting it harshly against the floor, "LITTLE FUCKERS!"

If you expected Andrea's language to be kid-friendly, you were wrong. She was in yet another life-threatening situation in a dimension that she had absolutely no clue about, she had absolutely no filter. 

"Get it!" Robin yelled as Nancy got down on the ground while she held onto the bat. 

Robin slung the bat harshly into the ground and held it there as it continued to struggle, the woman managing to yell a quick, "Nancy!"

"Go to hell!" Nancy yelled as she held something up before hitting it harshly as it shrieked while Robin grunted.

Steve began to sling bats against the ground while Eddie fought against them, "Come on, come on, come on you son of a bitch!" Eddie yelled loudly, "I said come on! Let's go!" Eddie continued to yell.

"LITTLE FUCKERS!" Andrea yelled as they went into the air before coming back down, one hitting Eddie's weapon of choice before dying on the ground.

Steve continued to beat one against the ground back and forth as he grunted. Andrea's head turned as she watched him worriedly before he ripped the body apart. Panting as he spit out blood.

Andrea was quick to rejoin his side as he began to lean into her.

"Steve!" The other woman quickly noticed his condition and became worried.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Eddie yelled as he looked at the group, his head shaking back and forth as his emotions were quick to the surface.

The oar clattered against the ground while Nancy looked worried, "Are you okay?"

"Clearly not!" Andrea shot as she looked at the woman, Andrea looked down at his wounds as she began to untuck her shirt as Steve's hand gripped her shoulder.

"Well, they took about a pound of flesh," Steve looked down as he looked at his wounds while balancing on Andrea, Nancy moving around him worriedly, "But other than that, yeah, never better."

"Uh, do you guys think that these bats have rabies?" Robin questioned as she looked over at the group, watching as they turned to her.

"What?" Steve questioned as if caught off guard by her words.

"Well, it's just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should get you a doctor like really soon," Robin's hair was soaked from the water that they had traveled through, the slight reflection of the darkness covered her face, "Because once the symptoms set in, it's too late. You're already dead."

"Robin!" Andrea shrieked while everyone else looked at her weirdly as the sky began to light up again.

The chitter of the creatures returned and they watched as they flew around. The group fell in a line, Andrea watched as they landed on the portal.

"Okay, there's not that many," Steve spoke as he held his arms out watching as they screamed at the group, "We can take 'em. Right?"

"Let me try something," Andrea mumbled to the others as she looked at them, "Give me a second."

The woman closed her eyes as she tried her best to focus on what they could see and what they could sense, she was trying to cover their asses from these... creatures. Even if she wanted the creatures to get ahold of a certain someone.

Could she make a deal with Vecna for him to take Nancy and not Max?

"You? Didn't they get ahold of Steve in your view?" Nancy retorted causing Andrea to flick her wrist and cause Nancy to fall.

The swarm began to chitter and Robin found herself retorting, "You were saying?" 

"The woods, come on!" Nancy yelled as she looked behind before taking off running.

"Great, more running," Robin sighed as she followed after everyone else.

They ran as the lightning above them cackled and screamed. The sky lit up red causing fear to strike through a few of them. They were not safe as long as they resided within the Upside Down. A place that was linked to the cause of absolutely everything wrong that had happened within Hawkins, Indiana. 

"Do you think they have our scent?!" Eddie yelled as he tried to come up with some sort of reason.

"It's all fucking connected!" Andrea yelled as blood continued to slip down her nose, "Somehow it can tell our every move!"

"AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING!?" Nancy yelled out of pure exasperation.

"I AM DOING SOMETHING YOU KNIT TWIT!" Andrea yelled back. 

The group continued to run and hide in the woods under the rocks. Everyone looked at the sky above as the creatures swarmed and screamed from the air. Causing worry to fill everyone's body. 

Andrea's eyes were holding a dangerous stare off with the sky as blood continued to pour down her nose. The bats flew above, their screams and screeches catching everyone's ears causing them to stay low and to stay quiet until they passed.

"Oh... okay," Robin slowly began to walk out from under the rocks, "Good thinking, Andrea. That was close," Robin sighed in relief.

"Yeah," Eddie's voice wavered as it went a few pitches higher, "Too close," Eddie finished as he looked around.

Andrea wiped her nose before catching Steve as he began to fall over, "Oh, sh... shit."

"Hey, I got you," Andrea whispered as she helped him lean against the rock.

"Steve? Jesus," Nancy went to get closer but halted upon seeing Andrea.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," Steve repeated while trying to keep everyone calm, "Are you okay?" Steve looked concerned as his eyes slid over Andrea's face.

Andrea shook her head as she looked at the blood on her side from Steve, "You're losing a lot of blood. Too much. I've got to stop the bleeding. I'm fine, have you taken a look at yourself?"

"Andy, I'm fine," Steve lied poorly, Andrea remained unconvinced. 

"Sit your ass down, now," Andrea snapped her fingers as she gave him a stern look, falling to her knees as he slid down the rock with a grunt and a look of pure pain.

Steve removed his hands from his wounds while Andrea began to rip a line of fabric from her shirt to wrap around the man, Steve continued to grunt as he leaned back, "See? Fine."

"Totally," Andrea slowly began to place the fabric around him.

"Oh... okay so the good news is I'm pretty sure the wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling really aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know," Robin began to stutter out as she looked at the couple, "Andrea... you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah," Andrea muttered as she tried to get the woman quiet.

"Robin..." Steve mumbled out as he removed his eyes from Andrea.

"Yeah?" Robin questioned quickly as she watched him carefully.

Steve began to pant once again, before he spoke, "I kinda wanna punch you."

Robin let out a nervous laugh as a small grin appeared on her lips as she watched the man in worry, "Sense of humor's still intact. That's a good sign."

"Very good," Andrea agreed before ripping another piece of cloth, now holding two long strips.

"Andrea?" Steve mumbled.

"Yeah?" She questioned as she looked at him briefly.

"I can see the bottom part of your bra," He breathed out as he managed the ghost of a smirk causing Andrea to shake her head at his words.

"Eyes are up here, Harrington," She teased before putting a hand on Steve's back, "Lift yourself on your knees, please."

"Since you asked so politely," Steve grunted as he did as told causing Andrea to snicker.

"Ready?" Andrea questioned as she held up the first piece of cloth, looking slightly up at the man, eyes filled with worry.

"Yeah. Just do it," Steve held his arms up as he looked down at her with a look that Andrea could tell was pain.

Andrea slowly nodded before wrapping up the first piece of cloth around his waist, causing a wet noise from his wound which nearly made the woman sick before she grabbed the second piece and put it on top after making sure the other one did not fall.

"Sorry darling," Andrea apologized as she made a face, "But I think I'm gonna throw up after this," Andrea tied it off which caused his hands to go onto his face as he groaned.

"It's okay, won't be the first time you've been sick near me," Steve managed to strain out as Andrea tightened it.

"Sorry, it's gotta be tight to stop the bleeding," Andrea kept apologizing because she felt as if she were causing Steve this pain.

"Don't worry about it," Steve shook his head before grunting once Andrea finished tying it off. 

Andrea looked worried as she looked at Steve, the two sitting in silence for a moment before Steve whispered out, "Thanks."

Andrea gave him some sort of smile as she nodded, "I'm not doing that again."

Steve let out a small laugh as he gave a soft nod of his head before groaning, "I wouldn't expect you to."

Please, literally hurt anyone but him, Andrea thought to herself wondering if Vecna could even hear her. Hoping that he had at least a little shred of humanity left. 

Andrea felt purely responsible for this entire situation. She had been the first one to touch the gate. She had been the first one dragged under. She hadn't got to Steve quick enough and she struggled to hold the bats off, what kind of bullshit was going on with her? Why couldn't she do one thing right?

She held herself purely responsible for everything that had happened, to Steve and to the other teenagers who had gone to Hawkins High that had been murdered by her father. It was just like that fateful day in 1979 all over again, but this time it was much... much worse.

Thunder continued to rumble from ahead as everyone moved around to get a view of the world around them, "So, uh, this place is like Hawkins but with monsters and nasty shit?" Eddie called out to the group.

Andrea's head turned in the man's direction as a hand fell on Steve's leg, her eyebrow raising, "Yeah."

"Pretty much," Nancy walked over to him as she ran a hand through her curls. 

Andrea snapped her fingers, "The vines. They're part of the hivemind. That's how we are detected."

"So watch out for the vines," Nancy followed after Andrea's words, the woman looked over at Andrea who looked astounded she actually listened to her, "It's all a hive mind."

"It's all a what?" Eddie asked as he looked at everyone confused.

Andrea felt as Steve tried to lift up from the ground, she immediately began to help him to his feet as he spoke, "All the creepy crawlies around her, dude. They're like one or something. Step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on Vecna," Steve elaborated as he move his hand.

"Shit," Eddie looked alarmed by that statement as he tried to step around the vines that surrounded him.

"But everything from our world is still here, right? Except for people?" Robin questioned as she looked around, the trees lighting up red every few minutes, "Obviously?"

"As far as I understand it, yeah," Nancy looked over at the other woman as she confirmed.

"For the most part that is how it works, this place holds the creatures that kill people," Andrea further explained before she made a face as Steve's hand swiped under her nose.

"You had blood," Steve explained shortly as he took a deep breath.

Andrea gave a soft nod, "Thanks," She whispered.

"So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate," Robin waved her hands as she began to try to come up with some sort of plan.

Steve sighed as he looked over at his co-worker and best friend, "Yeah. Robin, I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin," Steve seemed tired of all this, "But guns, yeah, sure."

"Well, we don't have to go all the way downtown for guns," Nancy began to speak as she fell deep into her own thoughts, her eyes moving momentarily before she turned to look back at the couple as she spoke, "I have guns in my bedroom."

Eddie finally managed to get off one of the rocks he had been stuck on due to the mass amount of vines that covered it, he looked surprised, looking skeptical at the Wheeler woman, "You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" Eddie asked as if he did not believe it.

Robin held up her arm as she pointed to Eddie a look of understanding on her face as she spoke, "Full of surprises, isn't she?" Andrea wondered what Robin had smoked in the air, she seemed a bit off.

Andrea moved and began to play with the bracelet on her wrist. Her eyes scanned over the people around her as she tried to come up with some sort of joke to cool down the atmosphere. Though, she would always end up being the person who needed to be cooled down.

After all, Eddie was being shoved around by everyone else's orders and it was clear he was scared. Nancy wanted all the control and was just being so much of a bitch that Andrea understood why people committed murder, not going as far as her father though, and why people were just downright mean.

Then there was Robin who kept spitting out whatever words came to her mind. Her newfound friendship with the Wheeler woman clouded her judgment as she followed her everywhere. Then there was Steve who was caught between groups but in the end, he followed Andrea no matter what everyone else said.

"A Russian Makarov and a revolver," Nancy spoke as she leaned on one of her sides 

"Yeah, you almost shot me with that one," Steve muttered bitterly as he looked at Andrea, placing a hand over the hand of Andrea's that filled with the bracelet, causing her to pause.

Nancy looked back at Steve as she tried not to smirk, "You almost deserved it."

Andrea sent a nasty glare at Nancy, "Hmm, Steve isn't a mirror. You're the one that deserves it."

"I hate to admit, that was good," Robin muttered after a moment in the tense atmosphere.