When Mary and El stepped off the bus, El shut her eyes, then opened them.
"Come." El says as she grasps her sisters hand, rushing into the night. When they arrived at a small house in the woods, Mary heard a growl.
"Stay behind me." Mary says as she sees her sister's slightly weak state. "Mary-" "Stay behind me." Mary says, much more stern this time.
Mary raised her hand towards where she heard the growl, seeing a creature similar to those she saw in the upside down, but it was on all fours.
Mary glared at the creature as she summoned her strength, the creature howling as it's bones began breaking, protruding from it's skin.
Mary then raised her hand as her nose bled, then throwing it causing it to crash through the window. Mary turned to her sister. "Oops." Mary says with a small smile.
Hopper looked at the creature on the ground, it was practically disfigured with all of it's bones protruding from its slimy skin.
"What could've done that?" Dustin questions just as the front door began to creak. One lock, then the next. But finally...the door was open.
El walked in with Mary, the older girl looking at everyone. When a boy with raven hair stepped forward, and El's eyes softened, Mary just knew.
"Eleven." Mike says, El smiling softly. "Mike." El says as they embrace. Mary wipes her nose with the back o her hand, looking to everyone in the room.
The older man with the gun walked over to her. "Who are you?" He questions, Mary lifting her sleeve revealing her tattoo.
"Mary Ives." Mary says, this caused for Hopper's eyes to widen. "You're her-" "Sister? Yeah, no biggie." Mary says as she shrugs.
"I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for..." "353 days. I heard." El says, interrupting the boy in front of her.
Mary frowns a bit as she looks at her sister. "Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike questions, his tone holding shock.
"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper says from next to Mary, everyone turning to him.
"The hell is this? Where you been?" Hopper questions as he walks over to El, the younger girl looking up at him. "Where have you been?" She questions just before Hopper brings her into a hug.
"You've been hiding her." Mike says in realization. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike exclaims as he shoves Hopper, Mary's eyes widening.
"Hey! Let's talk. Alone." Hopper says as he drags Mike away.
Mary turns to everyone as a boy with black hair and a boy with brown curly hair hugs El. Mary looked around, the atmosphere felt awkward, considering she didn't know anyone.
When a girl with red hair walked over, she smiled at her. "You new here too?" Mary questions, Max smiling sheepishly. "Is it that obvious?" Max questions.
Mary chuckles as Max walks over to El. "Eleven? Hey. Um, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you." Max says, but El simply walked past her. "Awkward." Mary says under her breath.
"Hey. Hey, sweetheart." Joyce says as El cries in her arms. Mary smiled softly at the interaction between them.
"Hey." Joyce says as she holds El's face in her hands. "Can I see him?" El questions, Joyce sighs as she leads El away.
The curly haired boy walked up to Mary and stared at her. "Uh, hello." Mary says as she looks at him. "Do you have powers too?" Dustin questions.
"You'll just have to wait and see." Mary says as she pats his head, Dusti swats her hand causing her to laugh.
But when El walks back out with Joyce, Mary walked over. "You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce questioned, Mary turned to her sister who nodded.
"Yes." El says. "Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?" Joyce questions. "I need my sister." El says as she holds her hand out, Mary smiling and holding her hand.
"We can do it. Together." El says as she sends a soft smile to Joyce.
"It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs." Hopper says as he looks at the group around the table.
"Demo-dogs." Dustin corrects, Mary turning to him with a deadpan expression. "I'm sorry, what?" Hopper questions.
"I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-" "How is this important right now?" Hopper questions the younger boy.
"It's not. I'm sorry." Dustin says, Mary patting his shoulder lightly. "We can do it." El says causing everyone to turn to the sisters.
"You're not hearing me." Hopper says. "She's hearing you. We can do it." Mary says, this caused Hopper to sigh.
"Even if they can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies." Mike says. "I thought that was the whole point." Max says, her brows furrowed.
"It is, but if we're really right about this...I mean, if El and Mary close the gate and kills the mind flayer's army-" "Will's a part of that army." Lucas says, cutting Mike off.
"Closing the gate will kill him." Mike confirms, Mary looking at Joyce sadly.
Joyce walked away, everyone beginning to follow as they walk into Will's room. "He likes it cold." Joyce says as she stands there.
"What?" Hopper questions. "It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold." Joyce says as she shuts the open window.
"We keep giving it what it wants." Joyce says as she faces them all. "If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then-" "Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan says, finishing Nancy's thought.
"So if he likes it cold." Nancy starts. "We need to burn it out of him." Joyce says with determination.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike brings up from next to El. "Yeah, somewhere far away." Dustin says.
Mary sat on the porch, watching as Hopper and Jonathan placed Will in Jonathan's car. Her legs were shaky as she stared into the night ahead of her.
"Hey." Hopper says as he walks over and sits with her. "Hi." She says, trying to calm herself down.
"You nervous?" Hopper questions, Mary chuckling. "Not about the whole saving the world thing. I haven't been in the lab since I was 10, just a little." Mary says, using her fingers as an indicator.
Hopper wraps an arm around her shoulder as they walk towards the truck, Mary looking up at him. "Thank you for taking care of El." Mary says as they look at Mike and El.
"El... Come on, let's go. It's time." Hopper calls for her, Mary smiling as they stepped into the truck.
Mary sat in the backseat as she stared out into the night. But when she looked down at her hands they were covered in blood.
"What the hell." She stops as she looks back up, no longer being in the truck but in her room back in the lab.
When she looked down she saw blood on her hands and hospital gown. "What have you done?" She hears, Mary looking up and seeing Brenner looking down at her.
Suddenly Brenner's face morphs into one with crevices, his eyes hollowed out. "What have you done!" Brenner shouts causing Mary to snap out of it, gathering her breath as they parked in front of the lab.
"You girls ready?" Hopper questions as they got out, Mary staring up at the lab, then down at her clothes. "Yeah." Mary says as El interlocks her fingers with hers, El and Mary nodding to each other.
