people are strange ♔ steve harrington x oc

• 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕 •

Mike snatched a drawing Will made from his desk, handing it to the others for them to observe as they crowded into Will's room.

The drawing depicted a shadowy, long limbed figure of black and red, looming over powerlines. Jenny was puzzled. She knew of Will's 'true sight', and now she also knew that somehow he had been infected by an Upside-Down creature, but this figure was like nothing they had encountered thus far.

"The shadow monster," Dustin said allowed.

"It got Will that day on the field," Mike explained. "The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him."

"And so this thing, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Jenny asked.

"To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. Slow down," Steve said, bringing his hands up to stop them.

Mike nodded, "Okay, so, the shadow monster's inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will."

"And so does Dart," Lucas added.

"Yeah. Like what Mr. Clarke taught us. The hive mind."

"Hive mind?" Steve mumbled under his breath.

"A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism," Jenny whispered up towards his ear. He nodded like he understood, though she wasn't sure he actually did.

"This is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain..."

"Like the mind flayer," Dustin said.

"The what?" Steve, Max and Jenny collectively asked, looking at each other for any sign of understanding.

"Get the others back here right now!" Mike said, and Lucas bolted out of Will's room. Dustin snatched Will's copy of the DnD manual from the floor as the rest of the gang headed back out into the dining room.

Hopper, Fred, Jonathan and Nancy burst back into the room, crowding around the table as Dustin dropped the heavy manual down, open on a page with The Mind Flayer.

"What the hell is that?" Hopper said.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home, okay? It enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."

"Oh, my God, none of this is real. This is a kids' game," Hopper said defeated, lolling his head back.

"Uh- no, i-it's a manual," Dustin told him pointing his finger at him accusatorially, "and it's not for kids. Unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor–"

"Analogy," Jenny corrected.

"Analogy?" Dustin said, smacking his hands against the table, "That's what you're worried about? Fine! Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."

Nancy pushed his expressive hands away from her, "Okay, so this mind flare thing–"

"Flayer. Mind flayer."

She sighed, clearly done with Dustin, "What does it want?"

"To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race."

"Oh like- uh, like the Germans," Steve piped up over Dustin's shoulder, clearly wanting to feel smart and involved. Everyone looked at him with puzzled expressions. Jenny had to hide her snickers.

"Uh– the Nazis?" Dustin spat, turning himself to face Steve directly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis," Steve pressed. Jenny cleared her throat, hoping to steer him off the topic.