Downside Up [W.Byers]

031

They arrive back at the Byers residence, along with Dustin, Max, Lucas, and Steve. Ruby, Dustin, Max, And Lucas sit at the kitchen table, exchanging worried looks. "We were really worried about you, Ruby." Dustin says sadly.

"I'm fine." She replies shakily. "They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin asks, turning to face Hopper, who had just hung up the phone.

"We'll see." He responds. "'We'll see'? We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike argues. "We stay here, and wait for help." Hopper orders, walking away.

Ruby gets up from her seat, walking up to Dustin, and wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry I worried you guys." She sobs quietly. Dustin hugs back, silently cooing.

"It's not your fault, Rube." He adds. "We love you, Ruby." Max joins in. Lucas and Mike come too, until Ruby pulls out of the hug.

"Thanks, guys." She smiles, sniffling. She walks back down to her seat, plopping herself back down in her seat. "We're here for you." Dustin nods at her.

After about an hour of sitting silently at the table, Mike gets up, walking towards a Rubix cube placed on a stack of books in the living room. "Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" Mike asks.

"Really?" Lucas replies. "He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fund-raiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?" He smiles, setting down the cube. "Yeah." Dustin nods.

"We can't let him die in vain." Mike states. "What do you want to do, Mike?" Dustin asks. "The chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own."

"Demo-dogs?" Ruby and Max asks in chorus. Dustin turns to them. "Demogorgon dogs. Demo-dogs." He explains. "It's like a compound. It's like a play on words you know—"

"Okay." Max cuts him off. Dustin sighs. "I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe..." Dustin begins. "But there's any army now." Lucas adds. "precisely." The curly headed boy nods.

"His army." Mike mutters. "What do you mean?" Steve questions. "His army. Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too." Mike runs out of the room, leaving everyone confused.

He runs to the side, grabbing Will's drawing and bringing it back to them. "The shadow monster." Dustin states. "It got Will that day on the field. The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him." Mike explains.

"And So this virus, it's connection him to the tunnels?" Max asks. "To the tunnels, monsters, Upside Down, everything." Mike replies. "Whoa. Slow down. Slow down." Steve speaks up.

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

"And so does Dart." Ruby adds. "Yeah. Like what Mr. Clarke taught us. The hive mind." Mike nods. "Hive mind?" Steve shakes his head. "A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism" Dustin explains.

"And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain." Mike ponts at the drawing. "Like the mind flayer." Dustin realizes. "The what?" Max and Steve ask together. "Isn't that a D&D character?" Ruby questions.

"The mind flayer." Dustin states as he holds open a book. By now, Hopper, Joyce, Johnathan, and Nancy have joined. "What the hell is that?" Hopper asks.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home. Okay, it enslaved 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 argues. "No, it's a manual. And it's not for kids. And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor—"

"Analogy." Lucas cuts Dustin off. "Lucas, not now." Ruby whispers. "Analogy? That's what your worried about? Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is." Dustin corrects himself.

"Okay, So this mind flamer thing—" Nancy begins. "Flayer. Mind flayer." Dustin corrects. Nancy sighs. "What does it want?"

"To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race." Dustin replies. "Like the Germans." Steve stammers. "Uh, the Nazis?" Dustin asks. "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, the nazis." Steve nods.

"Uh.. if the Nazis were from another dimension, totally. Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."

"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions." Mike adds. "We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." Lucas says.

"That's great. That's great. That's really great. Jesus!" Steve comments nervously. "Okay, So if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it..." Nancy trails off.

"We kill everything it controls." Ruby finishes. "We win." Dustin states. "Theoretically." Lucas adds. "Great, how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireball or something?" Hopper asks.

"No. No, no Fire— no Fireballs." Dustin chuckles. "Uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because...because zombies, you know, they don't have brains, and the mind flayer, it... it.. it likes brains. It's just a game. It's a game." He stammers.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper sighs, slamming the book onto the table. "I thought we were waiting for your military backup." Dustin snaps back.

"We are!" He shouts. "But even if they come, how are they gonna stop this?" Mike asks. "You can't just shoot this with guns."

"You don't know that! We don't know anything!" Hopper argues. "We know it's already killed everybody in that lab." Mike states.

"And we know the monsters are gonna molt again." Lucas speaks up.

"And we know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town." Dustin adds. "And we know that.. wait, I was gonna say that." Ruby turns to look at Dustin.

"They're right." Joyce comments. "We have to kill it. I want to kill it."

"Me, too." Hopper says, approaching her. "Me, too, Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."

"No. But he does." Ruby motions towards Will. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will."

"Ruby's right. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness." Mike adds. "I thought we couldn't trust him anymore." Max speaks. "That he's a spy for the mind flayer now."

"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."