My love- Byler

Twenty seven- A plan

GENERAL
"The Mindflayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world..." Mike said, worried.

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it." Mike admitted, holding Will as his hand wrapped around Will's waist, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked.

"It's big. Thirty feet, at least." Jonathan spoke.

"Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry." Lucas spoke.

"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..."Dustin spoke.

"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mindflayer made its weapon...with melted people..." Steve asked, just being sure.

"Yes, exactly." Lucas nodded.

"Yeah, okay. I-Yeah, I'm just making sure." Steve said, still a little confused.

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Nancy asked.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive..." Will spoke

"But if we close the gate again-" Max started.

"-we cut the brain off from the body." Lucas continued.

"And kill it. Theoretically." Dustin finished.

"Yoo-hoo!" Murray yelled as he walked over, the paper in his hands rustling around.

"Yoo-hoo! Okay, this is what Alexei called "the hub." Now, the hub takes us to the vault room." Murray explained.

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asked.

"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." Murray spoke, pointing to the paper.

"More like 500. What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?" Erica asked, confused.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asked, looking at the girl.

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?" She asked, being sassy.

"Murray...Bauman." Murray stammered, shocked.

"Listen, Mr Bum-man, 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." Erica said, trying her best to be a little bit sassier.

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray asked, confused.

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" Erica stated, upset.

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me. Sorry, may I?" Dustin asked politely.

"Please..." Murray said, passing the paper to Dustin.

"Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility. 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." Dustin spoke, having a lot of knowledge of the secret Russian base.

"You can show us the way?" Hopper asked.

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

"No. Nope..." Hopper said, shaking his head.

"Well, that settles it. He's gonna die. They're gonna die." Erica said, laughing maniacally.

"You guys survived..." Lucas spoke.

"Barely. We could've really used you guys down there."Dustin spoke, looking at his friends.

"Could've used you up here, too..." Mike spoke, will holding Will by his side, Will scared about everything.

"Yeah, man. We missed you, dude." Lucas said.

"I missed you guys, too. Big-time." Dustin hugged his friends, finally a proper hug to reunite the group.

"Hey, heads up. You can navigate, just from someplace safe." Hopper said, chucking Dustin a radio.

"It's not that simple..." Dustin said, looking back at Hopper.

"The signal won't reach..." Erica said, snaking her head.

"Not with this. You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians' radio tower. But for that to work, you need someone who has both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower, one preferably already situated at the highest point in Hawkins. Oh, wait. That's me. If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start and a car." Dustin said, being technical.

"Oh, man, now this...this is what I'm talkin' about!" Steve spoke. He walked out of the mall followed by Robin, Erica and Dustin.

"Toddfather?" Robin asked, confused.

"Oh, screw Todd! Steve's her daddy now." Steve said, jumping into the car.

"Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?" Robin asked.

"Did he just call himself daddy?" Erica asked, disgusted.

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

"Weathertop..." Dustin said, knowing full well that Steve would have no idea.

"Weather-what?" Steve asked, confused.

"Just drive..." Dustin said, ushering Steve to go.

"Okay. Jesus!" Steve said, turning on the ignition before leaving.

Back at Starcourt, Murray was showing Nancy which keys did which things.

"Bottom lock, second-to-top lock, third-to-top lock, top lock..." Murray said, hoping Nancy would remember.

"My battery's low, but...it will recharge...." El said, looking down at her hands.

"I know it will, kid. I know." Hopper nodded.

"I can fight...." El said, smiling slightly

"Better than any of us. But right now, I need you safe. This thing is after you. It's not after me. Do you understand? Hey...I need you to understand. Okay?" Hopper spoke, trying to hold El closer.

"Hey. We should probably go." Max said, lifting El off the edge of the fountain.

"Max? Be careful." Hopper spoke, knowing that there was something going on between El and Max.