nine

The pain had only gotten worse since Jonathan took the bandage off, and it seemed to be exponentially getting worse by the second. Whatever was in El's leg was was moving more and more-making her leg bruise and swell.

"There's something in there." Mike said, trying his best to comfort El-even though no one knew what to do.

"Keep here talking! Keep her awake, okay?" Jonathan said before standing up and running off.

"Here, help me sit her up." Mike said, and everyone pitched in. Mike moved to he was sitting behind her, and the rest of them moved El up so she was leaned against Mike. She grabbed at his arms, still crying and groaning. Jonathan came running back with a wooden spoon, gloves and a knife.

"Okay. Alright, El?" He said, and she nodded. "This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded, sobbing.

"I need you to stay real still." Jonathan said, putting on the gloves. "Here, you're gonna wanna but down on this, okay?" Jonathan gave Mike the wooden spoon and he put it in El's mouth. Jonathan took the knife, cutting open the wound on El's leg while she screamed and everyone else tried their best not to throw up. PJ was standing next to Robin, and felt herself involuntarily putting her head into Robin's shoulder. Robin responded by wrapping her arms around PJ, pulling her closer. PJ looked back just in time to see Jonathan reaching into El's leg-trying to pull out whatever was in there while she screamed against the wooden spoon.

"No! Stop it!" El began to scream, letting go of the spoon. "Stop! Stop!" Nancy pushed Jonathan back. "I can do it." She said through cries, trying to push herself up farther. "I can do it." Mike and Dustin were at her sides and helped her sit up. They all sat in silence, watching. El sat up, catching her breath before reaching out her hand and beginning to use her powers to try and pull it out. She wailed and screamed, doing it as hard as she could. The glass window behind them shattered, but she kept going. Soon, the slug like creature emerged from her leg. Holding it up in the air, everyone got a look at it before she threw it past them all. It began to chitter and move across the ground before it was crushed by a boot. Looking up, they saw Hopper, Joyce, and Murray Bauman-the investigator who Jonathan and Nancy when to see the previous year-all standing there.

••••••••••••••

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster to stop El, to kill her, and pave a way into our world." Mike explained.

"And it almost did." Nancy said. "That was just one tiny piece of it."

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked.

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

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

"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." Nancy nodded.

"But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon...with melted people." Steve said.

"Yes, exactly." Nancy confirmed.

"Yeah, okay." He nodded. "Yeah, I just-I'm making sure."

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

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

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

"We cut the brain off from the body." Max continued.

"And kill it." Lucas finished. "Theoretically."

"Yoo-hoo!" Murray yelled, making everyone turn to look at where he was coming from. "Yoo-hoo!" He was waving his papers around wildly. He slammed the papers down on the table and everyone gathered to look at them. While everyone was distracted, PJ slipped away to catch a breath. She sat down on the staircase she'd originally come down, letting herself slump in on itself out of exhaustion.

"Hey." She heard Robin's voice so she looked up and sure enough, there she was. "You good?"

"Yeah I just...needed a second." PJ nodded. Robin moved over sitting down next to her.

"I think I was the only one who saw you slip away." She said. "And no one saw me so..."

"We're alone." PJ smiled, just to hear Murray's booming voice echo. "Kinda."

"As close as we're gonna get for now." Robin chuckled. They sat back in silence for a moment. "Hey, when this is all over and we're like, not dead. Do you wanna go out sometime?" She asked. PJ looked over to clarify but Robin was ahead of her. "Like, a date."

"A date?" PJ asked, and Robin nodded. PJ's face flushed and she tried hard to contain a smile. "Yeah. Yeah, a date sounds nice."

"Cool." Robin said, smiling over at her.

"Hey, maybe we can go see that new movie-Back to the Future?" PJ suggested.

"Nah, it's too weird." Robin shook her head. "The son goes back in time and his mom tries to bang him."

"Wow, spoilers." PJ laughed, causing Robin to laugh, too.

"I'm just trying to save your money." Robin defended.

"Well, I say we go see it anyway." PJ said. "Wether or not there's weird incest in it-I wouldn't wanna watch it with anyone else."

"Wow, are you saying you would only watch incest shit with me?" Robin snorted. "I'm honored."

"Shut up! I was trying to be romantic." PJ laughed. They devolved into a fit of giggles-drawing the attention of Steve and Dustin, who split up to find them. "For real though, Robin." PJ said, quieting down. "I am excited to go on a date with you."

"I am too." Robin smiled. They both became extremely aware of how close they were to each other. If Robin made all the first moves, that wouldn't've been fair, so PJ was the one to close the gap between them-connecting their lips. Both their lips were slightly chapped-though PJ's less so since she had been crying ten minutes ago. Dustin was the first of the pair to round the corner, seeing Robin and PJ kissing. He couldn't help himself, so he yelled out.

"Hey Steve!" The girls jumped apart, looking at him as Steve flew around the corner.

"Oh, hey, there you guys are." Steve smiled. "What were you two doin over here?"

"They we're making out." Dustin snorted.

"We were not!" Robin said.

"Yeah. We were kissing, Dustin. There is a difference." PJ said, standing up.

"Oh, trust me, I know all about the difference." Dustin smirked.

"How?" PJ's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, wait!" She slung an arm around Dustin's shoulders. "Your girlfriend, Suzie."

"You remembered!" Dustin smiled as they walked back towards the group-PJ shooting a smile back at Robin as Dustin began to blab on about his girlfriend that no one thought was real.

"So, you went for it, huh?" Steve smirked as Robin stood up.

"Don't expect me to ask for your blessing, Harrington." She snorted. "Besides, all I did was ask her out-she kissed me."

"You asked her out?!" Steve exclaimed, a little loud.

"Shh! Don't shout it to the fucking world, Steve." She hissed.

"Oh who cares? Everyone here's family." He shrugged. "They'll get it."

"Yeah, and if they don't?" She asked.

"I'll, uh...I'll kick their ass."

"Oh really?"

"Uh-huh."

"You're gonna kick everyone's ass?"

"Yep. Just like the Russian guard."

"Oh, you mean the Russian guard who alerted his comrades who tortured and drugged us and were probably going to kill us."

"Well, that's all after I kicked his ass. So, I still kicked his ass." She sighed, rolling her eyes and speeding up. "Hey! It counts!"