Worlds Colliding (Stranger Things) Book Four

chapter 6 - Irony's a Bitch

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Same Night - Day One

Night - On the Road

Cops were driving full speed down the road toward Lover's Lake, sirens blaring and lights flashing.

∰

Lover's Lake

Andy, still in his suit, was sitting, waiting for the cops.

Powell and Callahan got out of their cars, walking toward Andy.

"Where are they?" Powell asked.

Andy stood, running toward the lake to lead the cops over to them.

Ryan and Jason, still in their suits, still soaking wet from the lake, were sitting on the dock, still in shock from what they had seen.

Patrick's body was laying on the ground in front of them.

Ryan looked over his shoulder toward the cops.

∰

House - Kitchen

Ryan and Jason were being questioned, sitting at a table in the kitchen, their suit jackets wrapped around them to warm them up.

"Where was Eddie when that happened?" Powell asked. "Did you see Billy there at all? Or Ruby?"

Ryan frowned, confused, disoriented. "Wha... wait, what?"

"Where was Eddie when you two saw this?" Powell asked. "Was Billy there? Or Ruby? Since she's still a suspect for us as much as she is for the two of you."

"Eddie--he was in the..." Ryan trailed off. "In the boat, like we said. And no, Billy and Ruby weren't there. Neither of them."

Callahan was skeptic. "Right. Right. But then, uh, who lifted Patrick out of the water? The big snake creature that glowed purple and orange and sucked out his soul? And the red energy?"

Ryan rolled his eyes, looking away.

Jason glared between the two cops. "You're not listening to us. Why aren't you listening to us?"

"Ryan, Jason, we are listening," Powell told them.

Ryan scoffed, shaking his head hysterically. "No, you're not. You're not."

"Eddie is a... Eddie is a vessel," Jason told them. "Just a vessel."

"A vessel?" Powell repeated.

Jason nodded. "For Satan. He's made a pact with the devil. Maybe he--he summoned this monster that did these killings. I don't know if Billy and Ruby are apart of it, but they might be."

Powell sat back, exchanging a look with Callahan.

Ryan looked away. "You don't believe us."

"We're just, uh, processing all of this," Powell told them. "That's all. Okay?"

"You think we're crazy or covering something up," Ryan told them. "Believe me, we're not." He looked between the two officers intensely, leaning forward. "How do you expect to stop the devil and monsters if you don't believe they're real?"

∰

Lover's Lake

Several police officers were dredging the water, trying to find any evidence as to what happened, but of course they would find nothing.

The camera shot panned downward into the water of the lake below, down at the bottom of the lake to show a fish swimming along the lake floor, when suddenly a tendril launched out and wrapped around the fish, as it struggled to get free, before pulling it away to be killed.

∰ Worlds Colliding (Stranger Things) ∰

Lenora Hills, California

Warehouse

Agent Wallace was sitting in a chair, tortured and bleeding from intense interrogation by Sullivan and his men.

Sullivan walked closer. "I can make it stop. I can make the pain end. Where are the psionics?"

"I told you," Wallace told him weakly. "I don't... I don't know."

"There are two proposed explanations for what is happening," Sullivan told him. "Explanation one, an invisible boogeyman from another dimension is slaughtering these kids. Explanation two, these superpowered little pets have gone rogue again, and now Sabina and her lackeys are seeking to cover it up. Now, which explanation sounds plausible to you?"

Wallace sobbed. "I don't know."

"There's still a chance to redeem yourself, Mr. Wallace," Sullivan told him. "Where are they?"

Wallace refused to answer, looking away.

Sullivan looked to the two soldiers on either side of Wallace, nodding.

The two soldiers grabbed Wallace and pulled him toward a locker.

Sullivan turned to walk away, uncaring.

Wallace was struggling. "No! No, no!" The two soldiers pushed him into the locker. Wallace yelled. "No!"

The two soldiers slammed the door over him.

A phone on the wall was ringing.

Sullivan walked toward the phone in confusion, picking it up. "Hello?"

Mikhail was on the other line, using a phone on his plane, having changed and cleaned up since the prison fight earlier that night in 4.05. "Colonel Sullivan."

"Yes," Sullivan answered. "Who is this?"

"Take a wild guess," Mikhail told him. "I have a hand in creating a lot of the little... 'pets', as you call them."

Sullivan realized. "Mikhail Ivanov." Mikhail smirked. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up right now."

"I'll give you three," Mikhail told him. "I know you're looking for the same psionics that I'm looking for. And I can tell you where three of them are right now, if you agree to work with me and bring them to where I need them to be. I would do it myself, but I'm currently busy on my way to go after the others."

"And why the hell would I work with you?" Sullivan asked.

"Because I can give you exactly what you want," Mikhail answered. "These psionics under control, and in possession. Unable to do any more damage than they've done. Not to mention how much money there will in it for you. But I need you to capture these three and bring them to me. Not kill them."

"I think I'll pass on your offer, thanks," Sullivan told him.

"Think it over," Mikhail told him. "Because you and I both know that Sabina's soldier that you're currently torturing is never going to break and give up the location of the psionics. And then you'll never find them. But I can tell you exactly where they are. We can work together on this, Sullivan. I can already tell it's going to be a pleasure doing business with you."

Sullivan hung up, refusing to listen to another word.

Mikhail smirked, already knowing that sooner or later, Sullivan would give in to the offer.

∰

City of Corinth

Sabina's Headquarters - Nina Lab

Niko and Eleven were still in their water suits, preparing to go back into Nina so they could continue with their memory-recovery to discover how to stop Vecna and Mirage in the present time, while this was also step one in Sabina's plan to get their powers back.

Will stood with them, worried but supportive even while being concerned, knowing they had to do this to help save their friends. "They could've had a heart attack in there."

"They could have," Sabina agreed. "But they didn't. And once their minds settle down once again, once they go back inside, they will be able to handle it so much better since now they're more prepared for what they have to face. But I will have to warn you, Niko. This is going to delve deep into what happened the night that you, Nadia, Natasha and Nadyr fully escaped from the program."

Niko swallowed, nodding. "I figured. I'm ready to see what happened."

"Are you sure?" Will asked in concern.

Niko nodded. "If it means helping Nadia, Ruby and Hailey save Hawkins."

"Me too," Eleven agreed. She looked at Sabina. "Did you get to talk to Nadia, Ruby and Hailey? Telepathically? Like you did with Natasha, Nadyr and Niko?"

"Sadly, no," Sabina answered. "The same virus that is corrupting both of your systems and making it so hard for me to contact both of you before, and for this to work, is the same virus that it keeping me out of Nadia and Ruby's minds for me to know what's going on in Hawkins right now, and for them to know what's going on here. I was only able to work through it with Niko at a distance the way I did with Natasha and Nadyr is because of our powers being connected."

"What about Hailey?" Will asked.

Sabina frowned. "Hailey is... a different matter. I know from flashes I've seen, that she is in fact being used by these creatures, these monsters that your friends are now facing. They're in her mind, controlling her and her powers for their own uses. It's keeping me out of her head, but there's something different about her too. I don't know if it's what you kids call Dark Hailey, her dark alter ego, or something else, but I've never felt anything like it. And the psionics are the easiest for me to connect to long distance. While I would like to try and continue to contact them, my powers and attention need to be fully focused here, so that we can still help them by getting all of your powers back."

Niko, Eleven and Will nodded in understanding.

Will looked at Niko and Eleven in concern. "Are you two sure you wanna go back in tonight?"

"We have to, Will," Niko told him. "Step two takes place tomorrow, at least for me." He looked at Sabina. "Right?"

"That's right," Sabina answered. "All the memories you need will come rushing back after what you've already seen, but I can keep them from overwhelming you completely. Eleven, you still have a bit more to go."

Eleven nodded in understanding. "I know. Sabina? When I was in there, I saw something. There was blood. So much blood."

Sabina nodded. "That was the memory that we need you to get to. You have demons, Eleven. You have demons in your past. Just as Nadia, Niko, Natasha and Nadyr. That is why we must proceed carefully. One step at a time."

As doctors placed the headsets back onto Niko and Eleven and injected them with a serum that would help them get back into the states they were before, they climbed back into Nina and laid down in the water, watching as the screens above them turned on and played the events they both needed in order to drift to sleep, and begin again.

∰

Niko's Mind Space / Flashbacks

Day - Russian Psionic Program - Lab Room

Young Niko was wearing a headset that would allow him to have an easier time using his telepathic abilities. Niko was experiencing it like it was happening to his present day self.

Andrei sat at his bedside, touching Niko's arm so that Niko could read his mind for this. "I'm going to ask you a series of questions about what I'm thinking. I want you to respond truthfully. What's the color I'm thinking of?"

"Blue," Niko answered.

"Mm-hmm," Andrei answered. "And the number?"

"12," Niko answered. "Like me."

"Very good," Andrei told him.

Niko saw other glimpses of thoughts and memories in Andrei's mind. At this point, he and Nadia were under the impression that they were trained to do good, not to become killers, but Andrei's thoughts and memories showed the brainwashing, the killing that they made Natasha, Nadyr, Valkov and others like them, with or without powers, do.

Young Niko was getting overwhelmed and scared, not knowing what most of this meant, but Niko of the present was calm because he already knew this. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here, Twelve," Andrei answered.

Young Niko saw another memory where Andrei was one of the men behind the smiley mask faces that hurt Young Nadia. "No, no, no!"

Young Niko/Niko snapped out of it, letting go of Andrei, turning his head to look at him. "It's you. You hurt her. Nadia."

Niko was overcome with anger, but had to go through with the memories of who they happened.

∰

Flashback - The Night of the Rostov Escape

Night - Russian Psionic Program - Command Center

Valkov was in the process of breaking into the building to save his family, making his way to find Natasha.

Mikhail was in a command center of some sorts.

Grigori walked toward him. "Mikhail."

"Yes, Grigori?" Mikhail asked.

"Valkov is on the premises," Grigori told him. "His last mission found a mist or a drug that eliminated his brainwashing, and he has more. He plans to use them on Natasha and their children to break them free so they can escape. I think he already used one on Nadyr, too."

"Thank you, soldier," Mikhail told him. "Ready the others. You do not let Valkov walk out of this building alive with my daughter and my grandchildren. I'm sending Natasha to kill him. Can't save his wife if she's the one that has to kill him."

Grigori nodded. "Yes, sir."

∰

Hallway

In the hallway, Valkov was walking, searching, trying to find Natasha and their children.

Natasha, under her brainwashing, walked toward Valkov, ordered to kill him.

Valkov knew that she was brainwashed to kill him, sighing heavily. "Natasha. Natasha, love, I'm here. Don't do this."

Natasha, unable to even recognize her own husband in her brainwashed state, backhand punched Valkov in the face, trying to punch him again. Valkov ducked, raising an arm to block the next move, pushing Natasha back. Natasha drew a knife, slashing at Valkov repeatedly, but Valkov ducked, dodged and spun away to make each swipe of the knife miss. Natasha spun toward Valkov, slashing his leg, making him groan in pain, trying to stab again. Valkov caught Natasha's wrist, twisting, slamming his other hand onto Natasha's hand to make her drop the knife, kicking her leg to make her fall to her knees just to buy him enough time to take out the vial he needed, spraying it into Natasha's face.

Natasha backed away in shock, frowning in confusion. The red mist glowed against Natasha's eyes as it was working to de-brainwash her almost instantly. She was disoriented and out of it, looking at Valkov, recognizing him. "Valkov?"

Valkov sighed in relief now that he had gotten his Natasha back, smiling emotionally. "Natasha." Natasha stood, and Valkov pulled Natasha into his arms as they were nearly crying in each other's arms, but they didn't have time for a big emotional reunion, as the clock was ticking. Valkov pulled away. "We need to find the children. We're taking Nadia and Niko away. Where are they?"

∰

Lab

In these memories, Niko was experiencing it all over again.

Andrei took Young Niko in for so-called testing when in reality he was going to experiment on Niko.

Andrei wheeled a strapped down Niko down the hallway toward a room off limits, wheeling him inside, closing the doors behind him.

"Why are we here?" Niko asked.

Andrei didn't answer. "Do you know snakes are the most underrated animals in the ecosystem?"

"What?" Niko asked, confused.

"You see, snakes are integral role in maintaining balance in the ecosystem," Andrei explained. "In most systems, snakes can be both predator and prey. As predators, snakes keep prey populations in balance and while feared around the world, are also revered and celebrated in many cultures. In some societies, snakes are often viewed as good fortune, and in others, the snake created the world."

"Why are you telling me this?" Niko asked.

"My mother used to tend to animals, so I had a pet snake," Andrei went on. "I named her Irina, meaning peace. Because she was the only reason I got through those years in that awful place, until my father realized I had it, and one day, he cooked it for dinner and made me eat it. My only friend."

Niko frowned in disgust and horror, as his four year old self had reacted. "Why would he do that?"

"You see, when I was young, I didn't have a good childhood," Andrei explained. "My parents abused me since I was a child. And sometimes I wonder what I did to make them hate me so much. And I asked my father once. He looked up and struck me right across the face. I was used to it by that point. I didn't even crazy. But this was different. This time, he told me because they wished I had never been born to begin with."

"So what?" Niko asked. "You get off on hurting innocent kids because your mommy and daddy didn't love you? It's pathetic."

"They were monsters, Nikolai," Andrei told him. "But it did make me wonder what I wished out of life. And I realize that my entire life, the only wish I ever had was to be freed of them. And then I succeeded one day. I decided it was enough and killed them. I still remember that morning. The sound the wind was making through the window. The flickering of the old lights. The sound of the skulls I cracked wide open and watched them bleed out slowly."

"You think that gives you a reason for how you act?" Niko asked. "You're nothing but a monster."

"The point is that I made my wish come true, Nikolai," Andrei told him. "I would ask if you ever wished for something so badly, but I guess that doesn't really matter, now does it?"

"What are we really doing here?" Niko asked.

Andrei prepared a syringe. "This is more of an experiment." He drew some glowing purple psionic energy that he had taken from Nadia into the syringe. "You do know that your powers are a complete contradiction yet compliment with your sister Nadia's powers? She's an empath, and you're a telepath. She conjures psionic energy and molds them into weapons to use. You conjure flame that can be just as deadly mechanism. Imagine the amount of damage that someone could do with the power of both of you." He walked around the table, setting up a breathing mask. "Lift your head." Niko lifted his head so that Andrei could put the strap of the breathing mask behind his head. "Down."

Niko laid his head down, and Andrei put the mask on over Niko's face.

Niko started to scream, just as Young Niko had, following through with how it happened. "Help! Help! Help me!"

Andrei put the needle with Nadia's psychic energy into the IV bag attached to Niko. "It's a shame. Knowing that even while you and Nadia are the keys to everything I'm about to do and create, that you won't join me in elevating it. And yes, I did hurt your sister, but you can see that every time you touch me and read my mind, don't you, Nikolai?"

Andrei injected the needle into Niko, making Niko gasp in absolute pain as the psychic energy of his sister's powers instantly started to flow into his veins. He was shaking and in utter pain as his body was not made for Nadia's power to combine with his, and it was over taking him. Waves of purple glowing psychic energy mixed with his orange flames radiated out of Niko, destroying the room around him, throwing Andrei away from him and to the ground.

Andrei was in awe by the power, using the wall to push himself up, keeping himself standing against the wall, right underneath a vent in the ceiling over his head.

Hearing something in the vents above, Andrei looked up.

Young Nadia crawled through the vents and jumped down onto Andrei's back, using her psychic purple glowing energy to burn his face and head intensely, stabbing him with the energy repeatedly, making him scream in utter agony.

Andrei grabbed a needle from the tray and jabbed it into Young Nadia's arm, injecting her, making her power fade and Young Nadia fall to the floor, running off.

Niko, still barely awake, saw this, worried about his sister. "Nadia!" Young Nadia was slightly out of it given whatever drug Andrei injected her with, swaying slightly on her feet, especially given the waves radiating off of Niko that threw her to the ground. Niko was quickly falling unconscious, his eyes glowing orange, whispering as glowing purple and orange energy sound waves were released from his mouth. "I wish you were all dead."

Young Nadia powered through the waves trying to keep her down, and crawled toward Niko, pushing through the waves. She used the table to pull herself up, taking the needles out of him, holding onto the table tightly so that the waves couldn't send her flying back, taking off the face mask. "Niko? Niko. Niko, wake up!"

When Young Nadia got closer to touching Niko, both of them glowed because of their powers being so combined and whatever drug that Andrei injected them both with. When Young Nadia placed a hand on Niko's arm, it caused a psychic blast that threw Young Nadia to the floor, while Niko remained asleep on the table.

∰

Hallway

Andrei walked into the hallway, trying to find a safe place to hide and take care of his wounds.

Natasha and Valkov had been tracking the destruction that the entire building could feel from the radiating waves, walking toward the room.

Natasha saw Andrei. "Dr. Fedorov! Where the hell are our children?"

Andrei knew that if Nadia and Niko hadn't killed him, Natasha and Valkov would. "Fucking Rostovs."

Andrei turned around, running off.

Natasha and Valkov were about to run after him before they heard Young Nadia calling for help, running in the direction of their daughter instead.

∰

Lab

Natasha and Valkov ran into the lab to find Young Nadia and Young Niko and the radiating waves around them, and did their best to power through the waves to run to their side.

"Nadia!" Valkov said. "Niko!"

"Dr. Fedorov did this," Young Nadia told them. "He was the one that hurt me. He did this to Niko using my powers to combine with his."

Natasha grabbed Young Nadia, picking her up. "We have to--"

Before they could say a word, the amount of power that Niko was radiating, added with the drug coursing through his veins, and the way Nadia and Niko's powers were both unstable, powerful and chaotic and reacting out of the fear and horror of the situation, conjured a monstrous bear out of nothing but pure purple and orange energy, just how Mirage could create mirages of monsters in present time.

The monster bear broke the ceiling and wall down of the room, as Natasha, Valkov and Young Nadia all looked at it in shock, lunging his head toward the Rostovs, making them scream and duck.

Young Niko was still unconscious on the table.

Natasha still held Young Nadia in her arms while Valkov picked up Young Niko, while Natasha formed a shield around Young Niko to try and contain the radiating waves so they could run without getting blown to the ground or seriously hurt in the process, but her shield was already cracking at the seems because of the power pouring out of Young Niko. "Run!"

Natasha and Valkov ran with their children in their arms, out of the room.

∰

Hallway

Natasha and Valkov ran with Young Nadia and Young Niko in their arms down the hall, while the bear continued chasing them, tearing at the wall.

Natasha handed Young Nadia to Valkov in his other arm. "Run, take the children to safety. I can hold him off."

"Natasha, no," Valkov told her. "It's too strong."

Young Nadia glared at the demon bear, jumping down from Valkov's arms. "But not immune. Niko made this with my power mixed with his. I can stop it."

"Nadia, no!" Valkov told her.

Young Nadia ran forward before her parents could stop her, conjuring her glowing purple psychic energy sword as she did, jumping into the air, swinging her glowing sword, slashing it deeply across the face of the bear, burning him and the organs inside, making him roar in absolute agony. From her other hand, Young Nadia shot glowing purple psychic energy out at the bear's head, burning his face and his eyes to blind him and render him unable to attack. Because Nadia's power helped create this, her power was halfway able to destroy it, but they needed Niko's help to finish the job.

The bear swung at Young Nadia, but Valkov raised a long blade to slash through the bear's arm to cut it off and save Young Nadia, pulling her away.

Natasha ran toward the bear with her arms raised, conjuring her shield and using it to push the bear back across the ground toward the wall, but she did not have enough power or strength to push him out of the building, as this had been before her major power up in present time. "Fucking Yogi."

Once they injured the bear enough to buy them time to run, Valkov grabbed Young Nadia and Natasha's arms, leading them back toward the unconscious Young Niko. "Let's go!"

They grabbed Young Niko and ran through the hallway to try and find a way to escape. 

∰

Another Room

The Rostovs tried to take cover in another room, but the bear was able to track them and tear off the ceiling with its teeth, roaring at the Rostovs in the room below him, causing Young Nadia to gasp.

Young Nadia and Natasha continued to fight off the bear, using their powers. Young Nadia spun and fought around the huge bear, slashing her sword to burn and slash and wound him so deeply that he screamed with each hit, and Natasha used her shields to protect them when she could, and used a sword to slash and wound the bear so much they had it completely distracted for now.

Valkov was trying to wake Young Niko since they knew that only Young Niko and Young Nadia could stop it, together. "Niko. Niko, wake up. We need you. Nadia needs you. You're not alone."

The bear grabbed Natasha and threw her across the room toward the window which would have thrown her to her death.

Young Nadia screamed, "Mama!" the same time Valkov screamed, "Natasha!"

Natasha formed a shield outside the window as she slammed into it, using the shield to catch her and make sure she didn't fall from the window, using the shield to let her slide back to the floor to safety.

In Young Niko's mind, Young Niko/Niko was standing alone in the woods, while it was snowing. He was almost imprisoned by the drugs and effects that the experiments had on him, but able to hear and practically see everything that was going on in the outside world. He was trying to get free. "Papa? Papa, where are you?"

Young Nadia used her sword to slash at the bear, making it roar in agony. When the bear swiped at her, Young Nadia backflipped through the air to make him miss, landing on her feet, but the bear had Young Nadia cornered and almost ready to kill.

Natasha and Valkov yelled out. "Nadia!"

Young Nadia used her glowing purple sword to push herself away from the bear, gasping in horror and fear, crying.

Natasha put up a shield in front of Young Nadia to save her from the bear as it slashed toward her face and head, blocking Young Nadia from being hurt, using the shield to pull Young Nadia back toward herself, Valkov and Young Niko.

Valkov was still trying to wake his son. "Nikolai, you have to wake up or we'll all die. Only you and Nadia can stop this, Niko."

In his mind, Young Niko was cowering on the ground, all of this too much for a traumatized toddler to handle. "I can't."

"I know that you think you can't, but you can," Valkov told him. "I know it's big, but the two of you are bigger. The two of you together can do anything. This is proof of that. You created it. Now the two of you can destroy it."

The bear's power was so strong, created out of Nadia and Niko's powers along with the drug from the experiment, that he could easily tear through Natasha's shield and slash into her side and stomach, making her scream in pain.

"Mama!" Young Nadia screamed.

"Natasha!" Valkov yelled.

Valkov raised a sword to slash the bear's claw off, but he still had another, slamming down on Valkov in a way that crushed many bones and almost killed him.

Natasha screamed. "No! Valkov!"

Young Nadia cried in fear and devastation, in denial. "Papa!" The bear grabbed Young Nadia and pulled her toward him, making her scream out for her brother for him to wake up. "Niko!"

Valkov laid weakly next to Young Niko as Natasha, even while injured so gravely, went to help Young Nadia break free, since Valkov was too critical to do much else. "Niko. I know you're afraid. But only you with Nadia can stop this. We need you, son. We need you to live. To survive. To be free."

Young Niko finally found the strength to break free from the nightmare in his own head. He slowly started to wake up, horrified by the state of damage that Young Nadia, Natasha and Valkov were in. 

The image flashed between Niko and Young Niko, as Niko was experiencing it happening to himself all over again.

Niko glared at the bear trying to eat Young Nadia alive. "Stop!" He conjured fire, tinged in purple glow, in his hands, shooting endless streams right at the monster bear with a scream, burning the bear so much that it roared in absolute agony, even more so than it had to Young Nadia's psychic energy, using both his powers combined with Young Nadia's to be able to use telepathy and empathy combined on the monster to get him to stop before he could kill them all. The monster bear roared in protest, but Niko barely flinched. "No!" Getting a control of the radiating waves, he made them start to fade, as Niko slowly stepped toward the bear. "No. I'm in charge now. Control."

Young Nadia placed her hand on the bear, and even though it roared, it didn't do anything to hurt her, as she helped Niko with empathy to calm the bear down so much that he was no longer raging or roaring. "Calm." The bear shimmered down completely, as Natasha and Valkov watched in complete shock but relief. "Good."

Young Nadia and Niko both conjured their powers, psychic glowing purple energy for Nadia, and with Nadia's powers in his veins along with the drug, Niko's fire was tinged with purple glowing psychic energy, as they both shot their power at the bear, destroying it completely, rendering it into ash within seconds.

With the bear gone and destroyed, and all of the family was breathing heavily in agony from their wounds, but still alive.

Valkov pulled Natasha and his children into his arms. "Come on. Let's get the hell out of here."

Young Nadia, Young Niko, Natasha and Valkov pushed themselves up painfully.

Andrei walked closer with a gun aimed at them. "I don't think so."

Andrei fired his gun toward the Rostovs, but Natasha used all of her remaining energy to create a shield that protected them from being shot and killed, bleeding heavily from her nose, just like Young Nadia and Niko were after all the power they had to expend.

Niko glared at Andrei as his eyes glowed orange. "You wanted to know my wish? Well, here it is." The next time he spoke, glowing purple and orange energy soundwaves were released from his mouth. "I wish you to suffer a fate worse than death."

Young Nadia looked at Niko. "We can do anything."

Young Nadia and Niko both said, "Together."

Young Nadia and Niko took each other by the hands. As soon as they did, there was a blast of power once again, their hands glowing with purple and orange, but this time, it didn't throw them away from each other, as they were working harmoniously with their conflicting powers and natures. They both conjured enough glowing purple psychic energy and glowing flickering flames to hurl straight toward Andrei, both screaming with the exertion and strength it took after all the power they had already used. Andrei was screaming in complete agony.

Niko, with all of this power radiating from both him and Young Nadia, was able to make a psychic connection with the shadow in the Upside Down, before it became the Upside Down we knew today. It created a Gate, ripping it open just behind Andrei, as he was burning, searing, screaming, sent flying backward through the Gate and straight into the world that would become known as the Upside Down in a decade.

Andrei flipped through the air repeatedly as he was still burning with pure energy and power from Nadia and Niko, screaming all the while. He became almost shadow, as his body absorbed all the power and the damage the siblings did to him, taking it into himself. The power merged with him and the drug in his system, just like it was in theirs, binding their powers, this power to create demonic illusions and nightmares, to him forever, as Andrei was set to become Mirage, who could create any monster he wished, and could even make himself look like a snake.

Young Nadia and Niko let the power fade as they fell to their knees weakly.

Natasha and Valkov grabbed Young Nadia and Young Niko, knowing that they were too drained to run or walk, carrying them even in their injured states so they could try to escape.

"We have to run as fast as we can!" Natasha told them. "Don't let go of us!"

∰

Outside

The Rostovs ran onto the balcony outside, trying to make a break for it, as the building behind them exploded into flames due to all of the power that it had just experienced.

Even while they jumped and ducked, and Natasha raised her shield to protect them from the explosion, they had to keep running.

Soldiers started to run closer, led by Grigori.

Natasha and Valkov both looked at Grigori in shock, pain and betrayal, as he had been Natasha's ex and Valkov's best friend while they grew up in the spy system together.

"What's happening?" Niko asked.

"Why is Grigori here?" Young Nadia asked.

Valkov knew that his family was in no shape to fight after all they had to do already, taking them around the corner to have them hide in cover. "Here, hide here."

Natasha reached out to stop him weakly, knowing what he was going to do. "Valkov, no! Don't you leave us. They'll kill you."

Valkov looked at his family in utter pain, not wanting to leave but knowing that it was the best plan that he had in order to save them. "You take them and go, Natasha. No matter what happens to me. You save Nadia and Niko. That's all I care about. You three being safe."

Young Nadia and Niko reached for Valkov's hands. "Papa."

"Please don't leave us alone," Niko told him.

Valkov held them close for a moment, all four of them crying, before pulling away and drawing his rifle. "Go, Natasha! Run!"

Valkov turned and ran toward the oncoming group of soldiers with his rifle, prepared to fight to the end to save his family.

Natasha, Young Nadia and Niko could barely see the fighting given their weakened states, their drained minds and bodies and their blurred visions, but they could see Valkov fighting for them with all he had.

Valkov was suddenly shot in the neck, gasping, dropping his weapons.

Natasha, Young Nadia and Niko screamed in horror and devastation, knowing that there was no way he could survive that. "No!" Valkov stumbled back weakly toward the edge of the balcony and the cliff they were on, his hands pressed over his wound in his neck as he turned his head to look at his family, blood gushing from his neck over his hands and down the rest of his body. He could no longer stay standing and fell backward over the railing, flipping through the air and falling straight into the water below (miles to fall), with a drop so far that it would kill him instantly even while landing on the water, the three screaming as they watched him fall. "No!"

All they could see from where they were, looking over the cliff's edge, was every bone in Valkov's body breaking, and blood floating through the water.

While horrible and tragic, it did distract the soldiers long enough to buy the three remaining Rostovs time. Natasha was able to escape with her children, all devastated by everything that had happened.

∰

Sabina's Infirmary (Sabina's Memory, not Niko's)

Natasha had to take her children to Sabina, knowing that no matter what happened, she would help them escape if it was serious enough though she was part of the reason they were there in the first place. They needed a place to heal and recover and Sabina was the only one that could help them with that.

Sabina tended to Natasha's wounds first since they were the most severe from the bear. She used telepathy to ease her mind, and then did the same for Young Niko. Not only easing their minds but rewriting their memories to be something less traumatic so that they could still try and live on with their lives.

Young Nadia was next to be treated and cared for, but she had been trashing in her sleep the entire night, conjuring weapons of energy that could hurt everyone around her, and herself, to the point that they had to restrain her arms so that she didn't accidentally hurt or kill anyone, even herself.

Young Nadia woke up restrained to her bed, trying to get out. She couldn't break free, so she stood and walked toward the bars over the windows, pulling the bed with her by her restraints. She walked up to the door, pulling her bed with her. "Hello? Hello? Let me out of here!"

Sabina spoke to her through the speakers. "Relax, Nadia. I'm on my way to you."

Sabina walked up to the doors outside the room.

Young Nadia banged on the door. "Where's my family?"

"I know you're scared, but you're safe now," Sabina told her. "If I could come in, I could explain. Will that be all right?" Young Nadia moved away from the door. Sabina used a key card to open the door and walk in, closing the door. "Hi, Nadia. If you take a seat, I'll free your hands." Young Nadia sat down, tense and glaring. Sabina undid her restraints. "Nadia, what I'm about to tell you is going to be very difficult. Your father is dead."

Young Nadia frowned, shaking her head. "No. No. Papa." She remembered everything that happened and started to cry. "No. Andrei... what he did. What we did..."

Sabina rested a hand on Young Nadia's cheek. "I know."

"Why didn't I die with him?" Young Nadia asked. "With Papa?"

"Survivor's guilt is a common reaction to trauma," Sabina told her. "We look for reasons. Most of the time, we find none. The reason why you, Niko and Natasha survived is because all of you are extraordinary." She let her eyes glow a bright blue, pink and purple color to use her powers of telepathy, as she also caused Young Nadia's eyes to glow with the same colors, able to change her memories. "Trauma of how it happened will only shatter your mind, Nadia. And the minds of Natasha and Niko."

Young Nadia was unable to pull away with Sabina in her head. "What are you doing?"

"I'm rewriting your memories, for your sake as well as theirs," Sabina answered. "You won't remember most of what happened last night. Without these memories, eventually, you and your brother and mother will reach your true destiny, without this trauma hold you back."

"What about the rest of the trauma?" Young Nadia asked.

"That you will need," Sabina answered.

"What's our true destiny?" Young Nadia asked.

"That you'll have to figure out for yourselves," Sabina told her. "But one way or another, I'll be there to help you three whenever you need me to be. You won't be alone. I promise, Nadia."

∰

Reality

Night - Sabina's Headquarters - Nina Lab

When Niko woke up, he was no longer in the Nina tank, but on a stretcher like bed, gasping awake.

Will and Sabina were standing with Niko.

"Hey," Will told him. "Hey, you're okay. Niko, it's okay."

"Deep breaths," Sabina advised, showing him. "Take deep breaths."

Niko took several deep breaths, rattled to the core with the memories that he had to see. Although Valkov's death was a memory that Nadia, Natasha and Niko all had to live with, the events leading up to that had changed.

Even so, Niko was incredibly emotional from having to see Valkov die in a memory so real like that, even though the memory was nothing new. "Oh, my God. Papa..."

Will looked at Niko worriedly in concern, wrapping his arms around him. "You're okay. You're okay." Niko held onto Will tightly as a form of anchor and comfort. "It's gonna be okay."

Sabina looked at Niko sympathetically. "Do you see now why I rewrote your memories leading up to Valkov's death? And Nadia and Natasha's memories?"

"Yes," Niko answered.

"Do you see why I had to show you now?" Sabina asked.

Niko nodded. "Andrei. He's one of the monsters that everyone's facing. He... absorbed my power. And Nadia's."

"So your powers and Nadia's?" Will asked. "It's how he is able to make the nightmares come to life."

"Not just that," Sabina answered.

Niko frowned. "The wishes. I made two that night, and they came true. How?"

Sabina took a breath to explain. "I always had a theory that if a psionic manages to reach enough power of pure psychic energy, that they could warp reality. But it's a frightening anomaly in the field of psychic powers that suddenly they can start to exhibit increasingly disturbing feats that go beyond telepathy and telekinesis while retaining aspects of both a natural and an unnatural psionic, and they might actually be able to warp the very fabric of reality."

"So when Andrei tried to combine Nadia's and my energies..." Niko trailed off.

"It generated enough energy to allow the warping of reality," Will finished.

Sabina nodded. "And since Andrei brought up the wish talk, the ability itself focuses on that. Which is why Andrei now has to rely on wishes to consume the souls of his victims."

Will frowned. "But there was a Gate."

Niko nodded in agreement. "When we blast him through a portal. Did I... did I open that?"

"Yes, you did," Sabina answered.

"How?" Niko asked.

"Eleven was able to open two Gates in her life, not because of her telekinesis, because that has nothing to do it with it," Sabina explained. "It had everything to do with telepathy. She was able to somehow telepathically connect with creatures in what you kids call the Upside Down, before it really became the way it is now."

"She connected with the Demogorgon," Will realized. "That's how she opened the Gates both times. Because they can open Gates whenever they want, when they pass back and forth."

Sabina nodded. "Niko, when you were four years old, with all that power running through your body, added with Nadia's... I believe that you reached the shadow itself to open the Gate."

"The Mind Flayer shadow?" Niko asked.

"Before it became that, but yes," Sabina answered. "And yes, Andrei is one of the monsters that Hailey, Nadia, Ruby and the rest of your friends have to fight. But like you that night, he has the power to create nightmares into reality."

"That bear that I saw, that I created?" Niko asked.

Sabina nodded. "Nothing compared to what Andrei has been able to do after so long of practicing his power. He can create almost anything he wants and make wishes and dreams and nightmares come true. In his own twisted, psychotic way."

"So how do we stop him?" Will asked.

Niko already knew because of what he saw in the past. "Me and Nadia. And Hailey. You said that her powers could act like a lifeline to reality, right?" Sabina nodded. "That's probably the reason why the monsters are using her as a pawn. Because they know she can stop them. Andrei or whatever he is now, he would be able to absorb more of my power and Nadia's if we used it against him, but if Hailey was there with us..."

"You could kill the son of a bitch," Sabina finished.

Niko and Will nodded in understanding.

"And I will," Niko told them. "He's a main reason why Papa is dead. Him, Mikhail, Grigori. And Andrei hurt and abused Nadia. We're gonna kill that motherfucker."

"First we need your powers, and Nadia's back," Will pointed out. "And Ruby and El's. We know that Hailey can't do it alone."

Niko looked at Sabina. "So what's step two in getting our powers back?"

Sabina had a slight smile at Niko's determination to finish it all.

∰

Hawkins, Indiana

Day Two

Morning - Construction Site

The construction workers on the site were working.

A man walked past his boss. "Hey, Eric. I'm taking five."

"You just took five," Eric told him.

"Yeah, well, tell Milo to take it easy on the onions next time," the man replied, placing his belt with his walkie on a table as he went to use the bathroom.

Eddie was hiding behind the table, reaching for the walkie to steal it, running away.

∰

Alibi

The Hawkins group were talking about what to do next.

Dustin and Hailey were trying to use a walkie to get into contact with Eddie, but since Eddie had lost his last walkie and just got himself a new one and had to find a hiding place, of course he wasn't answering.

Ruby, Billy and Max were wearing their headphones right off their ears, still listening to their songs, but also able to talk with the others.

"So, Hailey, what you saw with Patrick, it happened at Lover's Lake?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah," Hailey answered. "I saw it, but I couldn't do anything to stop it."

"That's not your fault," Dustin pointed out. "Vecna had you distracted so you couldn't sense what was about to happen until it was too late to dreamwalk and try to save Patrick."

"And in any case, it was a Mirage kill, in reality," Nadia added. "Not a Vecna kill in the victim's heads like how you saved Ruby, Billy and Max."

Steve pointed to Nadia in agreement. "To save Patrick, we would've had to be there in person. So there's no way any of us could've known."

Ruby looked over to Hailey. "In other words, you do not get to feel guilty for this."

Hailey had a barely noticeable smile at the reassurance, but they all still felt bad.

"But Eddie was there, wasn't he?" Lucas asked. "That place should be swarming with cops."

"Yeah, which is why we can't go back there, with me being on the run and Ruby being a suspect and all," Billy pointed out.

"We just gotta find out if Eddie got away and where to find him," Max told them.

"Even if we find him, we have to tell him some bad news anyway, more than just what happened last night," Nancy pointed out.

Robin looked away sadly. "Speaking of, not to be a wimp, but can I sit that part out? I just can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't."

Billy held up a six pack of beer. "Well, Eddie can do what I'm doing and drink himself into feeling better."

"That's what my mom does," Max quipped.

Billy nodded in agreement.

Ruby and Lucas looked at Billy and Max.

"Why don't we just give it a trial run?" Robin asked. "'Hey, Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh, yeah, and we found Vecna, only the bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about, and the Gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him or Mirage. Like they're entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And no, I know you and Billy were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed.'"

Billy looked away, overwhelmed, as Max and Ruby both gave Robin a look.

"Robin, not helping," Ruby told her.

Robin looked at Billy. "Sorry."

"Wait," Lucas told them. "Maybe we don't put it like that."

"We're one step closer to finding Vecna and Mirage," Nadia told them. "That's what we say. That's what's important."

"See, Robin?" Steve asked, eating from a can of Pringles. "Positive spin can make all the difference."

"Yeah, is that why Nadia and Hailey had to knock out two jocks so that they didn't see Ruby and Billy coming back to the Alibi last night?" Dustin asked. "Positive spins?"

"Dustin's right," Hailey agreed. "Until the jocks back off, we can't keep coming here and staying here so much. And we've gotta find Eddie."

Nancy looked up at the TV to see the news playing. "Oh, shit."

Powell was on the news. "The Roane County line received a call a little after midnight reporting a homicide here on the lake."

∰

Wheeler House - Living Room

Karen and Ted were watching the news.

Powell: (on news) "Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene."

∰

Sinclair House - Living Room

Charles and Sue (Lucas and Erica's parents) and Erica were watching the news.

Powell: (on news) "We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18 year old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney. Police have searched his home and found that his parents and sister also have been brutally murdered."

∰

Wheeler House - Living Room

Karen and Ted were watching the news.

Karen was in shock. "Oh, my God."

Powell: (on news) "There were two eyewitnesses at the lake..."

"What are we even doing?" Ted asked. "I mean, where is the FBI? That's what I want to know. We got a serial killer on the loose."

∰

Henderson House - Living Room

Claudia was watching the news.

Powell: (on news) "We have also identified two people of interest."

∰

Alibi

The Hawkins group was watching the news.

On the TV, Powell raised two pictures of Billy and Eddie. "Billy Hargrove and Eddie Munson."

Billy looked away in frustration. "Fuck's sake."

Powell held up a picture of Ruby. "And a suspect associated, Ruby Charlize."

Ruby closed her eyes, shaking her head. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Max looked at Billy and Ruby in intense worry, while the others were deeply concerned as well.

∰

Sinclair House - Living Room

Erica frowned in confusion while watching the news, not buying any of this, but having no idea what was really going on.

Powell: (on news) "We encourage anyone with information to please come forward."

∰

Alibi

The rest of the group were looking at Ruby and Billy in concern, knowing that they didn't just have Ryan and the jocks and the cops to worry about, but the rest of the town now too.

"Oh, man," Steve whispered. "This is not good. Really not good."

"Yeah, no shit, Steve," Hailey told him.

"We really need to get out of here," Nadia told them. "Now."

Powell: (on news) "I'm going to answer as many questions as I can, two o'clock at town hall, where anyone from the Hawkins community is welcome. But right now, I've got work to do, and I appreciate your understanding."

∰

Outside

The group walked outside toward Hailey, Nadia and Billy's cars and Ruby's bike, not knowing what to do right off the bat.

"Okay, so Ruby and Billy can't use their bike and car because the cops will immediately recognize them," Max told them. "So will pretty much anyone that knows you two."

"Your bike and car are pretty attention-grabbing and anybody would recognize them," Dustin agreed.

"And Nadia has to be careful about using her car because of Sullivan and others like him," Max added.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Plus, Ruby's like the only girl in town that has a motorcycle so that's gonna call a lot of attention," Lucas pointed out.

"Well, Hailey can't use her car either since the cops know that she's involved in all this," Steve added. "My car's right here though."

"That's only one car, though," Nancy pointed out.

"We're gonna have to stash my, Nadia and Hailey's cars and Ruby's bike somewhere, aren't we?" Billy asked. They nodded. "Damn it. Just when I thought this couldn't get any worse."

Hailey crossed her arms, frowning. "No kidding. No offense, Steve, but I deeply prefer my ride to yours."

"Well, looks like we don't have a choice right now," Steve replied.

"But we still need another car for all of us," Robin pointed out.

Billy looked away toward a car across the street, sighing in frustration. "It's not like Ruby and I aren't already on the run from the cops, and like she, Nadia and Hailey aren't already on the run from the government. What's one more charge?"

"You're seriously talking about stealing a car?" Nancy asked.

"Do you see another option right now?" Nadia replied.

No one answered.

Ruby shook her head. "Didn't think so."

As they had to leave behind Ruby, Billy, Nadia and Hailey rides, Steve went to start his car, and Nadia went to hotwire the car so they could use it.

They finally heard Eddie make contact on Dustin's walkie. "Dustin, can you hear me? Hailey? Ruby?"

They all looked at each other in relief but worry.

Dustin pulled out the walkie. "Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?"

Eddie was in hiding, making a fist and a frustrated face, placing his fingers over his eyes as he shook his head. "Nah, man. Pretty--pretty goddamn far from okay."

"Where is he?" Robin asked.

Hailey spoke into the walkie. "Where are you?"

"Skull Rock," Eddie answered. "Do you know it?"

"Uh, yeah," Dustin answered. "That's near Cornwallis and--"

"Garret, yeah," Steve finished. "I know where that is."

Nadia spoke into the walkie. "Hold tight. We're coming, we're coming."

Steve, Hailey, Dustin, Lucas and Max got into Steve's car, and Nadia, Ruby, Billy, Nancy and Robin got into the stolen car, all of them ready to drive away.

Eddie nodded in relief, freaking out silently.

∰

Salt Lake City, Utah

Suzie's House - Outside

The California group had been driving all night to get to Utah, getting out of Argyle's van.

Argyle groaned, stretching. "I can't feel my butt. Can't feel my butt. Can you guys feel your butts."

"I can feel my butt," Mike replied.

"Everyone needs to be on their best behavior, okay?" Jonathan asked, glancing at Calliope. "And maybe you should stay outside."

"Why?" Calliope asked.

"Because your clothes are destroyed and covered in your own blood," Mike answered. "No offense."

"Yeah, we just don't wanna freak them out," Jonathan pointed out.

"They're afraid of a little blood?" Calliope asked.

"You mean a lot of blood, and I think anybody would be," Mike answered. "Plus, they're just really religious."

"I'm super spiritual, dude," Argyle told him.

"Yeah, I think they're spiritual too," Mike sighed. "Just in a different way. We can maybe ask Suzie or one of her siblings for a pair of clothes that you can use, because you definitely need to change, Calliope."

Calliope rolled her eyes, giving in. "Fine, but if any of you say one word about it after this, I'll kick all of your asses. Don't think that being shot and nearly killed will stop me."

"We never thought that it would," Jonathan replied, knocking on the door to Suzie's home, as the boys stood in front of Calliope to keep her blood stained mission outfit mostly out of view.

The door opened, revealing a little boy with black tribe/war markings over his chest and face, as he was holding a toy bow with arrows. His name was Cornelius.

"Oh, hey," Mike told him. "Is Suzie here?" Cornelius shrieked, firing a suction toy arrow at Mike's head, hitting him right in the forehead between the eyes. "Ow!"

Calliope snickered.

Cornelius shrieked again before running away.

∰

Suzie's House - Living Room

Mike, Jonathan and Argyle walked in, looking around to see that the house was utter chaos with kids running all over and clamoring over each other.

Calliope walked in, looking around, smirking. "You were saying?"

They saw a boy named Tanner and girl named Tatum standing on a table wearing helmets and other fake armor pieces, as they were using two swords to fight. Tatum's sword was purple and she had a shield. Tanner had an orange sword.

Tatum threw her shield into Tanner like a disk.

"Ow," Tanner said. "I think that actually cut me. Fire power!"

Tanner acted like he could conjure fire to throw at Tatum.

Tatum ducked for cover. "My dark half will get you for this! She can destroy the world!"

Argyle smiled. "This is my kind of party."

A girl named Tabitha, wearing a princess costume fell to the floor, clutching her neck like she was choking. "I've been bitten. Help. Help!"

Meanwhile, behind Tabitha, two boys (Malcolm and Mickey) were wrestling, screaming, "To the death!"

A boy was filming them on a camera, named Silas. "Beautiful performance!"

"Excuse me?" Jonathan asked. "Uh, hey, we're looking for Suzie."

Silas snapped his fingers angrily, turning his head to look at them, speaking slowly. "Can you not see that we are filming?"

Calliope smirked, shaking her head. "Yeah, they're too chaotic to even notice our chaos."

Jonathan, Mike and Argyle knew she was right, as the four of them walked into the next room.

Silas continued to film Tabitha. "All right, stay in it, Tabitha. Stay in it."

∰

Kitchen

A boy and a girl (Peter and Abby) were in the kitchen, chopping up food with a big knife, cooking.

Mike, Jonathan and Argyle walked in, while Calliope stood behind them.

"Hi, we're looking for Suzie," Mike told them.

"Don't know, don't care," Abby told them sassily, taking the salt from Peter. "That's too much salt, Peter. Father's kidneys! Father's kidneys!"

Through the doorway just beyond the kitchen, Cornelius was standing at the breaker box, turning off all the power.

A teenager named Eden walked up to him. "Cornelius!" She turned the power back on. "How many times do I have to tell you? That is not a toy." She led Cornelius into the kitchen, as he was growling. "Come on." She led Cornelius past Mike, Jonathan, Argyle and Calliope, as they moved out of her way, looking back at them, her eyes landing on Argyle as she led Cornelius to sit down in time out. "You make another escape, I'm getting Father." Cornelius hissed in response like a snake. Eden set up a timer, turning around to face Mike, Jonathan, Argyle and Calliope. "Who the hell are you?"

"Argyle," Argyle answered nervously. "Uh, and you are?"

"Eden," Eden answered, a little nervous herself.

"Like the garden," Argyle whispered.

Jonathan shook his head. "Wow. Hey, we're looking for Suzie."

"Do you know where she is?" Mike asked.

"Third floor, second door on your left," Eden answered. "You see her, you make sure to give that selfish four-eyed shit a nice little shove for me."

Mike immediately ran off upstairs.

Argyle stammered nervously as he watched Eden walk around them toward the stairs. "Absolutely. Eden, I... I will shove her for you. I will..." He started to turn away. "I will do anything for you."

Jonathan and Calliope rolled their eyes.

Argyle followed Mike upstairs.

Eden noticed Calliope's outfit. "What exactly is that? And why are you covered in blood?"

"I was shot," Calliope answered like it was no big deal.

Eden frowned in confusion.

"Hey, Eden, is it okay if Calliope here borrows some clothes?" Jonathan asked. "We don't have any with us."

Eden looked between them, tilting her head, confused.

∰

Suzie's Room

Mike and Argyle walked into Suzie's room.

Jonathan followed them in. "Well, great, she's not here."

Mike heard a creaking from out on the roof, looking toward the window, seeing that it was open, and that a wire was going out through the window, realizing why Eden said what she said, and where Suzie was. "'Give her a shove'." The three boys looked out of the windows, out toward Suzie on the roof. "Suzie!"

Suzie was standing on the roof, fixing an antenna, wearing a yellow hard hat, looking back at them. "Yeah? Who the heck are you? And what are you doing in my room?"

"Sorry, that--that's fair," Mike told her. "Listen, we're Dustin and Hailey's friends. We really need your help."

∰

Russia

Safe House - Living Room

Natasha and Apollo had both gotten the chance to shower and change.

Apollo was sitting boredly at the piano, playing some keys.

Nadyr walked downstairs, seeing Apollo, clearly not knowing how to act, but trying to be natural. "Hey. I thought you would be sleeping."

Apollo looked up at Nadyr. "Yeah, you would think a suicide attempt and being put into a death machine by your psycho father would tire you out, but guess not."

Nadyr walked closer. "Mind if I sit?"

"Yes," Apollo answered.

Nadyr sat down next to Apollo at the piano anyway. "I don't care."

Apollo rolled his eyes. "Why even ask?"

Nadyr shrugged. "So you're not tired?"

"Oh, I am," Apollo answered. "But also, I'm just waking up from a year of cryo-sleep."

Nadyr nodded in understanding. "So you can't sleep."

Apollo snapped his fingers, pointing at Nadyr. "Bingo."

Nadyr nodded, looking at the piano. "You play?"

"Nope," Apollo answered. "Wish I did, but never managed to get focused enough to learn all the notes and all." He turned his head to look at Nadyr. "Do you?"

"Yeah," Nadyr answered. "I mostly learned to piss off my father, but I like it."

"Why do you do that?" Apollo asked.

"What?" Nadyr asked.

"Call Mikhail your father or papa or whatever," Apollo answered. "I mean, I might be the last person to talk about a father 'cause I have none, but..." Nadyr looked down. "But he ruined your life. Even if he is your real father, he's not a real dad to you in that sense."

"I suppose that's right," Nadyr answered. "But he's done damage only a father could do. And he is father by blood, so..." He looked down somberly. Apollo punched him in the shoulder to lighten him up. Nadyr looked at him weirdly. "What was that for?"

"You're getting all weepy on me, dude," Apollo told him.

Nadyr scoffed. "Fuck no, I wasn't."

"Fuck yeah you were," Apollo replied.

"Hey, language," Nadyr chided mockingly. "You little shithead."

Apollo gave Nadyr a look. "Who the fuck--"

"Language," Nadyr repeated, giving Apollo a teasing glare.

Apollo returned the glare, knowing what he meant, but corrected otherwise just to mock Nadyr back. "Whom the fuck--"

Nadyr rolled his eyes. "Fuck this." He turned his head to yell upstairs. "Natasha, he's bothering me!"

They both heard Natasha's reply directed at both of them from upstairs. "Grow up!"

Nadyr and Apollo rolled their eyes, turning to look at each other, before starting to laugh.

"Okay, we're not gonna sit here and argue like we're five," Nadyr told him.

"Because I would win," Apollo quipped.

"Because we're not," Nadyr replied. "Also, because I would win."

"Right," Apollo said sarcastically, moving his hand slightly, accidently touching Nadyr's hand that was on the piano keys.

When their hands touched, it shocked them both, causing Nadyr and Apollo both to say this. "What the fuck?"

"Did we do that?" Apollo asked.

Nadyr frowned. "I'm not sure. My powers don't work like that."

"How do they work?" Apollo asked.

"I absorb the energy in the air and transform it into plasma," Nadyr answered. "That's when I start to glow and the plasma light blasts shoot out and cause severe damage."

Apollo smiled. "Get out. My cells absorb light, and well..." He held out his hand, letting it glow with his glowing green mist, which surrounded and wafted away from his hand, as he conjured a small hard light rock, before letting it fade, his hand still glowing. "That happens."

As Apollo's hand was still glowing green, Nadyr held out his hand, letting it glow red with plasma light on top of Apollo's hand, almost touching. When they were close, it made their powers combine, making electricity strikes like lighting flash and flare outward in every direction, the strikes glowing red and green.

Nadyr and Apollo smiled in awe. "Holy shit."

"Do your powers do this with anybody else?" Nadyr asked.

"Nope," Apollo answered.

"Same," Nadyr agreed.

The glowing red and green strikes faded, making Apollo and Nadyr pull their hands away, and wipe away the tiny bit of blood that trailed down from their noses.

Apollo turned to the piano. "Do you mind playing for me?"

Nadyr raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You want me to play?"

"Well, I think you're gonna suck, and I wanna laugh," Apollo quipped.

Nadyr scoffed, managing to smile. "Prepare to be blown away then."

Apollo nodded mockingly. "Oh."

Nadyr started to play a beautiful and delicate song on the piano, making Apollo smile and sway his head to the tune. As Nadyr was playing, he was so lost in the music, so into the beauty of it, while Apollo's eyes fluttered closed, and his head started to rest on Nadyr's shoulder.

After a while, Nadyr finished playing. "So I guess I'm not awful, huh?"

Nadyr turned to look at Apollo, but once he did, he saw that Apollo had finally managed to fall asleep on Nadyr's shoulder while Nadyr was too into playing to realize, making him smile. Nadyr carefully picked Apollo up in a cradle, standing. Apollo, out of reflex even while sleeping, wrapped his arm around Nadyr. Nadyr carried Apollo out of the room.

∰

Room

Nadyr carried Apollo upstairs carefully, walking into a room, laying him on the bed, putting the covers over him, instinctively reaching up to brush a piece of Apollo's hair out of his eyes, hand resting on his cheek as he looked at who he knew to be his son with such confusion and conflict, but the moment still so cute and sweet, whispering. "You know you're one heavy little badass."

Natasha walked into the hallway, seeing them, walking closer. "Finally fell asleep, huh?"

Nadyr turned to look at Natasha, his hand still on Apollo's cheek. "Yeah, finally."

Apollo was clearly dreaming, leaning into the touch, mumbling in his sleep. "Thanks, Appa. [Dad/Papa in Korean.]"

Nadyr turned to look at him in surprise, even while knowing he was dreaming, and not actually calling him dad. He looked a little emotional, standing, walking out of the room, past Natasha.

∰

Lounge

Nadyr walked into the small lounge of the safe house, pouring himself a drink.

Natasha walked in. "Well, you look good."

Nadyr turned to face her. "You heard that? He called me Dad."

"Did he?" Natasha teased. "I didn't hear."

"He did," Nadyr said, excitedly rambling. "I mean, he was sleeping, but it was clear. And it wasn't like a sarcastic dad. It was like a real 'thanks, Dad'." Natasha raised her eyebrows in amusement. Nadyr realized how he was sounding, snapping out of it, shaking his head. "What the fuck am I saying? Shit, who am I right now?"

Natasha smiled. "You're a dad, apparently."

Nadyr took a drink, passing a hand through his hair, sighing. "What am I gonna do?"

"We'll figure it out," Natasha told him.

Joyce and Murray walked into the lounge.

Joyce walked toward Natasha. "Now that I can actually hug you..."

Natasha smiled, as she and Joyce embraced tightly. "I missed you, Joyce."

Joyce had tears in her eyes as they pulled away. "I'm sorry. I turned the key, and..."

"You didn't hurt me or Hopper the way we could've been," Natasha pointed out. "We're fine, Joyce. You didn't do anything wrong. We both knew what had to be done and you did it to save everyone. There wasn't another choice."

Joyce nodded barely, chuckling lightly in relief. "Still. I missed you so much, Natasha. And even Hopper. Everyone misses you so much."

Natasha nodded. "Yeah. Well, I missed everyone too."

Murray stood, walking over to Natasha, as the two shook hands. "Glad to know that you're not dead."

Natasha chuckled. "Thanks for that, Murray."

Natasha and Nadyr sat down.

Natasha held a hand to her side, still in pain, but trying to work through it.

"So," Nadyr sighed. "Papa's alive."

"Yeah," Natasha answered.

"I'm guessing he's the one that gave you those sick upgrades," Nadyr answered.

"Yep," Natasha answered.

Nadyr scoffed. "Papa's supposed to be dead. We killed him."

"We thought we did," Natasha corrected.

"It took almost destroying the entire city just to get to him," Nadyr told her.

"What happened?" Joyce asked. "Tell us exactly."

Natasha sighed. "We rigged bombs."

"Simple as that?" Murray asked.

Nadyr scoffed. "Yeah, sure, 'simple'. That's what I'd call imploding a five story building and then shooting it out with both of our powers combined to completely take the place down. Took 10 days in hiding before we could even get out of Russia with Nadia and Niko."

"And you checked the body?" Murray asked. "Confirmed the kill?"

"We thought there were no bodies to confirm the kill because there would be no way in hell that someone could survive that," Natasha told them. "Obviously we were wrong."

Nadyr sat back. "Not unless we were too late with the kid."

"What kid?" Joyce asked.

Natasha and Nadyr both swallowed in guilt.

"You know that I wasn't a good person back then by any means," Natasha told her. "Neither was Nadyr. Not after our father turned us into monsters and used us for his own advantage."

"We had to kill," Nadyr told them. "And we killed so much."

"We know that," Joyce told them. "And that wasn't your fault. I..."

"This part was," Nadyr told them, swallowing, sighing. "Mikhail had another child. Not with Sabina. Our half-brother Nazary. He was a child then. These days, he'd be the same age as Niko and his friends now."

"We wanted to finish off Mikhail because he was the reason for all of what happened to us, to my children, to Valkov," Natasha stated. "But we couldn't get to him on our own. So we used Nazary as bait."

"He was already going through experiments to become more powerful than either of us, more powerful than anyone in the program," Nadyr explained. "They were turning him into something else. We're not sure what. But we knew that our father was turning him into a monster. Not metaphorically like he did with us. But literally. Physically. Nazary would have been the perfect hunter. The perfect killer. And he would never have let us go if he survived too."

"You were going to kill him too," Murray realized.

Natasha looked down in guilt and shame. Nadyr took a deep breath.

∰

Flashback 2

Day - Mikhail's Building - Outside

Natasha was in a car outside the building, speaking to Nadyr through a radio.

"We need confirmation Mikhail's in the building," Nadyr told her.

Natasha watched as Mikhail's black car drove up to the building. "His car's pulling up now." Nazary, so young in age, got out of the car, walking inside. "Nadyr, I'm not sure I can do this."

"You have to, Natasha," Nadyr told her. "Nazary is turning into a literal monster because of our father, and he will hunt us until we're all dead. He'll hunt Nadia and Niko. Nazary is collateral damage. We need him to be sure that we can kill Mikhail. For Valkov." Natasha closed her eyes. "Are we clear?"

Natasha hesitated but followed through. "All clear."

Once the bombs went off with Nazary and Mikhail inside, Natasha and Nadyr got out of their cars. Natasha formed her shield to push the flames bursting out back inside to try and make sure that everyone inside was dead, using all of her power to do so, even while she was trying not to cry. Nadyr absorbed the energy around him and processed it into plasma before it started to emanate from his own body, shooting a long, endless stream of plasma from his chest and hands out at the building, through Natasha's shield and the fiery explosion, and shot all of his power into it, making the building explode even more dangerously in a red glowing energy eruption, screaming to do so.

∰

Now

Day - Safe House - Lounge

Joyce and Murray were processing what Natasha and Nadyr told them, both in shock, not knowing how to react or how to feel about this.

"Nazary is the only explanation for why either of them would survive," Natasha told them. "I don't know where he is now, but he saved Mikhail. And if he was almost killed in the blast that we did... then Mikhail would have done many more experiments just to save him."

"Then why wouldn't Nazary have come after you?" Joyce asked.

Nadyr let out a deep breath. "I don't know. But we're going to find out if he's really alive or not. And I swear, we will kill our father once and for all." He looked at Natasha. "But first, let's go save Hopper."

Natasha nodded. "Um, did the hard drive that Nadia and Niko get have Hopper's coordinates too?"

"Yeah, it did," Nadyr answered. "But we have to be smart and careful about this. We just lost another plane because of Mikhail."

"And we lost the first one because of Nadyr," Joyce pointed out. "Well, the first one was us being kidnapped and Nadyr took everyone on it down to save us, but took the plane down in the process."

"What do you Ivanovs-Rostovs have against planes?" Murray asked. "Next I'll be hearing that Natasha, Nadia and Niko all took one down too."

"Well, not a plane," Natasha answered. "But does a helicopter count? Because I did that in Karachi."

Nadyr smirked in amusement. "Of course you did."

Joyce raised her eyebrows in surprise and amusement.

Murray shook his head, unsurprised, but exasperated, looking away.

Natasha smirked at their reactions. "Mm."

"But like I said," Nadyr stated. "Gotta be smart about this. We can't just go charging into the Kamchatka prison right now. Not without an exit strategy to get us out of Russia. We've gotta find a plane and stash it and then break in, which will be difficult since Natasha, Apollo and I are all drained right now, but recovering fast. And Nat's got the gunshot wound."

"I'll be fine enough to go save Jim," Natasha replied. "I can't do nothing, Nadyr. He needs our help if he's going to survive after everything that's happened. I won't let anything happen to him."

Joyce smiled a small smile, knowing.

Murray smirked smugly, like saying 'I knew it', after calling out Natasha and Hopper on their feelings for each other in 3.07.

Nadyr nodded in understanding. "I get that. And I'll help you do whatever it is we need to do. We just need to get the plane to be able to get out as soon as we do, because after two prison breaks, every gun in Russia will be pointed at us." They all knew that he was right, sighing heavily. Nadyr looked at Natasha. "And you know how hard it was to get a plane and get us out of Russia ten years ago. Even though we had already gotten the plane and stashed it, we couldn't use it for ten days after what we did with Mikhail and Nazary. And we still ran into trouble then. Especially before we even got to the plane, at the safehouse. Where we all thought Sabina died."

Natasha nodded barely in agreement, remembering.

∰

Flashback 3 - 10 Days after Flashback 2

Night - Safe House - Outside

Nadyr was waiting outside of the safehouse.

Sabina ran closer. "They're here."

Sabina let her eyes glow bright purple-blue-pink as she thrust out her hand, easily using her power to open a portal midair. The portal was a mixture of bright blue, purple and pink, glowing.

Sabina and Nadyr jumped through the portal.

∰

Inside - Basement

Natasha was getting ready to get Young Nadia and Young Niko out of the country.

"Where are we going, Mama?" Young Niko asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Natasha admitted. "All I know is that your uncle Nadyr and grandma Sabina are going to be here any second. It's going to be okay. They're going to help us get out of here."

Sabina and Nadyr jumped through the portal to join Natasha, Young Nadia and Young Niko inside.

Nadyr sighed in relief to see them there. "There you three are. You made it."

Natasha looked haunted and devastated. "Not all of us made it out."

Nadyr looked at them sadly. "I'm so sorry about Valkov, Natasha."

Sabina swallowed. "So am I."

"Grigori will pay for betraying both of you, Nat," Nadyr told her. "I promise you that. Mikhail already did."

Young Nadia and Young Niko ran closer to embrace their uncle. "Uncle Nadyr!"

Nadyr wrapped his arms around his niece and nephew. "Hey, Nadia. Hey, Niko."

"Where have you been?" Young Nadia asked.

"I just got done with a mission with your mama," Nadyr answered. "Before that, I had my own mission to deal with. Valkov found me and used the same chemical that he used to free Natasha to free me after my last mission."

"But now, all four of you will get out of this, together," Sabina told them. "And we have to go now. They found us. Time's up."

"Get ready to go," Nadyr told them.

Sabina, Natasha, Young Nadia, Young Niko and Nadyr were all ready to use their powers when they had to.

"Let's go," Natasha told them.

The five of them started to run, but knowing that there wasn't much of a place they could run to while being surrounded by Mikhail's soldiers.

Several soldiers ran toward them from ahead.

Young Niko conjured a humongous fireball, sending it out flying toward the soldiers with a yell to burn them alive and take them down.

Young Nadia flung out her arm, conjuring her glowing purple psychic energy whip, lashing it around the throat of another soldier, pulling him to the ground, strangling him with the whip as it was burning his skin intensely.

Nadyr absorbed the energy in the air around him, processing it into plasma, emanating with a glowing red light, shooting a stream of red glowing plasma out at the soldiers ahead of him with a yell.

Sabina let her eyes glow bright purple-blue-pink as she thrust out her hand, using her power to open a portal midair. "Natasha!"

Natasha jumped through the portal in front of her, which opened a portal behind the soldiers, allowing Natasha to appear behind them, as she formed her molecular shield, and threw it at all the soldiers, throwing them all to the ground.

Young Nadia turned her whip into a sword so that she could use it to stab and kill the soldier at her feet with a yell.

Natasha jumped toward Soldier 1, kicking the gun out of his hands, kicking him in the shoulder, punching him in the face, grabbing his shoulders, kneeing him in the gut, pushing him against the door, making the door fall through and making them slide across the floor. Natasha stood, grabbing Soldier 1, throwing him into the wall, making him fall to the ground.

Nadyr picked up an object, throwing it into Soldier 2's stomach to make him fall back into the wall. Soldier 2 pushed the table between them toward Nadyr. Nadyr grabbed the table, kicking up against the wall, flipping over the table to kick Soldier 2 in the head, making him fall to the floor, landing on his feet, kicking the soldier in the side to make him fall again when he tried to get back up, shooting a blast of plasma through the soldier's head to kill him.

Soldier 3 tried to punch Sabina repeatedly. Sabina raised both arms to block the moves, punching Soldier 3 in the face. Soldier 3 tried to punch her. Sabina ducked, spinning around him, turning to face him, cartwheeling to kick Soldier 3 in the head, making him fall to the floor, landing in a crouching position, spinning into a standing position, kicking Soldier 3 in the face in the process, making him fall again, grabbing a plank from nearby, ramming it into Soldier 3's stomach, using it to flip him to the floor, slamming the plank over his head to knock him out.

As soldiers ran closer, Sabina let her eyes glow bright purple-blue-pink as she thrust out her hand, easily using her power to open a portal midair, so that she, Natasha, Young Nadia, Young Niko and Nadyr could run through it.

∰

Outside

The portal outside allowed the five Rostov-Ivanovs to run outside.

Several more soldiers were outside.

Nadyr shot plasma blast after blast after at all of them.

Young Niko sent a never ending stream of fire at the soldiers to burn them alive, yelling in exertion and anger.

Young Nadia formed her psychic energy glowing purple whip to lash out at them all.

Natasha formed several shields to send flying into the soldiers and send them falling through the air.

Sabina held out her hands, her eyes glowing, as she used her power to open several portals in the air behind the soldiers that Natasha threw with her shields, mother and daughter sending the soldiers through the portals and out to an unknown destination that would likely lead to their deaths, closing the portals.

Sabina turned toward Natasha, Nadyr, Young Nadia and Young Niko, opening a portal nearby. "Go. It'll take you to your plane. You don't have a lot of time before those soldiers find the plane and try to keep you from getting away."

Natasha and Nadyr both picked up Young Nadia and Young Niko in their arms so they could go.

"What about you?" Natasha asked.

"Go without me," Sabina told them. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

"Sabina..." Young Nadia trailed off. She saw a soldier behind her. "Sabina!"

Just as Natasha and Nadyr stepped through the portal with Young Nadia and Young Niko in their arms, and Sabina had created another portal for herself to go a different way, a soldier left almost dead on the ground shot Sabina in the back twice.

Natasha, Nadyr, Young Nadia and Young Niko all reacted in absolute shock, horror and denial.

Sabina lost her footing. She was shot once again, falling to her knees.

Natasha and Nadyr screamed. "No!"

Young Nadia and Young Niko cried out in shock and horror. "Sabina!"

Before they could do anything, Sabina was pulled right through the portal behind her, and the portal closed, swirling violently with blue, purple and pink, looking almost like a wormhole, before it disappeared entirely.

The portal in front of Natasha, Nadyr, Young Nadia and Young Niko closed, taking them to their plane, leaving them unable to do anything to stop what had just happened.

∰

Landing Strip

Natasha and Nadyr were left standing on the landing strip with Young Nadia and Young Niko in their arms as the portal in front of them closed, all in shock and devastated.

"Oh, my God," Young Nadia said. "Sabina..."

Nadyr swallowed. "We have to go. Mama said that she needed us to be free. So that's what we're gonna be. Let's get going."

"But will you stay with us?" Young Nadia asked.

"What about the men in the program?" Young Niko asked. "The ones that hurt Nadia? Dr. Fedorov wasn't the only one that hurt the girls."

Natasha and Nadyr were both overcome with anger about what those men had done.

"I will go back and deal with them," Nadyr answered. "But first, I'm getting us out of here. Can't risk going after them right now."

"You can't go back, Uncle Nadyr," Young Nadia told him. "They'll kill you. Like they just killed Sabina. Can't you just stay with us?"

"Sadly, I cannot," Nadyr answered. "After I deal with them, I will lure everyone away from you so they can never find us. But I will meet you again in America, no matter how long it takes. Do you understand?" Natasha, Young Nadia and Young Niko nodded sadly. Nadyr gave them one last hug. "Good. Now up you go, get in the plane. We don't have long before they find us again."

Natasha, Young Nadia and Young Niko ran to get into the plane.

Natasha closed the door to the plane. "Okay, seat belts."

Young Nadia and Young Niko put their seat belts on.

Natasha started up the plane.

"Why isn't Uncle Nadyr in the plane?" Young Nadia asked.

"He's coming," Natasha told them. "He's coming, darling. He's coming."

Nadyr saw an obstacle too heavy to move in front of the plane's way of escape, absorbing the energy around him and processed it into plasma before it started to emanate from his own body, and he swirled his hips around to create rings from the plasma energy, before thrusting them forward to destroy the obstacle in the way with a burst of red energy exploding. "Yeah!"

Young Nadia and Young Niko watched in awe.

Natasha barely managed a shook as she shook her head. "Show off."

Nadyr smirked as he watched the red explosion fade, turning around, grabbing his rifle from his bag, knowing that he would likely need it, before turning toward the plane.

Before Nadyr could even walk toward the plane, they heard sirens signaling that people from the program were coming for them.

A car drove right toward Nadyr. Nadyr aimed his rifle and fired a shot into the car, nearly hitting the driver, who narrowly ducked the shot to avoid being killed. losing his hold on the steering wheel in the process, the car almost tipping over and crashing, but the driver got the car back under control.

Nadyr started to run toward the plane. "Natasha, go, go!"

Natasha started to drive the plane, as Nadyr ran right alongside it.

Nadyr was still running as he turned toward the car chasing them, firing his rifle twice.

The car drove around the field to find cover to avoid being shot by bullets or Nadyr's power, which he couldn't use while running since it took too much energy and time to form. The driver fired his own gun toward Nadyr and the plane.

"Uncle Nadyr!" Young Nadia called.

Nadyr jumped onto the wing of the plane, holding onto it for dear life.

The car came into their view again, chasing them.

Nadyr turned onto his back, aiming his rifle back at the car, firing.

The car and the people inside were firing too.

Natasha saw this while driving the plane, and held out her other hand, forming her shield around the cabin of the plane and around Nadyr so that the men in the car couldn't shoot them, since they had gotten very close to killing them.

Nadyr tilted his head. "Always was good on time, sister."

Natasha, since she had to have one hand raised to keep the shield up around the Rostov-Ivanovs to keep them safe and alive, couldn't use both hands to drive the plane, looking back at Young Nadia. "I need you up here."

Young Nadia unbuckled her seat belt, climbing up into the front seat next to Natasha. "Okay. Okay."

Natasha showed her the lever in front of her. "I need you to pull right."

Young Nadia followed directions instantly without problem, helping Natasha maintain the plane.

Given that Natasha had the shield up around them against the gunfire to protect them, Nadyr had enough time to charge and release his own power while he was still laying on his back on the wing of the plane. Nadyr absorbed the energy around him, processing it into plasma before shooting it from his chest and out at the car chasing them, making it glow red before it exploded into red plasma energy with the driver and the shooter inside, the car flung back through the air with the force of Nadyr's powerful stream of plasma, making it crash brutally on the ground far away.

Two cars started to drive head on right for the plane, causing Young Nadia and Young Niko to gasp when they saw them.

Young Niko raised his hand.

"Niko, no!" Young Nadia told him. "You'll burn us all up before you even hit them."

Young Niko knew that she was right and reluctantly lowered his hand.

Natasha still held a hand up, this time to swirl her shield around the plane so now that it wasn't behind them to protect them, but in front of them as the two cars were driving from right ahead of them.

Young Nadia had to reset the plane upright when they tilted because of the power that Natasha was using.

Nadyr was thrown around on the wing of the plane because of it, but he managed to hold on tightly to the wing to keep from falling and getting hurt.

As the men in the two cars started to fire, they could not penetrate Natasha's shield in front of them, which protected her and the kids in the plane, and Nadyr on the wing of it.

Nadyr was now on his stomach, looking forward as he aimed his rifle and fired at the two cars.

Natasha looked at Young Nadia. "Hit the accelerator." Young Nadia followed direction. "Hold it steady, hold it steady. You're gonna pull back at 55 knots. Let's count together."

Young Nadia and Natasha counted. "45, 50."

As they got closer to the cars shooting them, Nadyr absorbed the energy around him and processed it into plasma before emanating it from his own body, creating a ring of plasma energy, throwing it into the first car in front of them, creating an explosion of red energy as soon as it hit the car, making it spin out of control and crash into the second car in a violent display that made them both flip through the air and land on the ground, burning with red plasma energy and orange fire. The cars were still flipping down the way toward the plane.

Natasha pushed her shield out toward the cars to block them from getting any closer to the plane so that they would be safe, bleeding heavily from her nose for keeping this shield up for as long as she did. "Come on, you can do it. Pull back on the lever, Nadia. Pull back. All your strength."

Young Nadia pulled the lever back with all her strength, taking the plane into flight. Once they were in flight, Natasha could finally drop her shield, breathing heavily from the power expended.

Natasha, Young Nadia and Young Niko looked out of the window to make sure that Nadyr was still on the wing of the plane, sighing in relief to see that he was. Nadyr looked at them through the window, giving them a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

∰

Now

Day - Safe House - Outside

Natasha was sitting on the porch, having a drink.

Nadyr walked outside, sitting down next to her. "All stitched back up?"

"Yeah, but don't think that you get out of me kicking your ass completely," Natasha told him. "I need to save as much energy I have for saving Hopper and fighting against who knows how many people, which means I need this heal. But don't think that I won't kick your ass as soon as I heal, Nadyr. Wish it could be sooner."

Nadyr smirked in amusement. "If this is your way of telling me you miss me, I missed you too, Nat."

"If I had known that being taken by Mikhail would make you come back, would have done that a long time ago," Natasha told him.

"Really?" Nadyr asked.

"With a thought out plan to kill him, but yes," Natasha answered.

"If you killed him without me, I would've been so pissed," Nadyr told her.

Natasha smiled, turning her head to see Apollo in the living room inside. "Do you believe him?"

Nadyr turned to follow her gaze. "Mikhail?" Natasha nodded. "We always knew that I had to have fathered a psionic, Natasha. With the way things went."

"I know," Natasha answered. "But Apollo?"

"I think he was telling the truth," Nadyr answered. "It's just hard to believe that Apollo, the boy that is the son of the former leader of the Clandestines, and the half-brother to Calliope who has found Mike, Will, Jonathan, Niko and Eleven in her search for him, and the boy that you have spent so long trying to protect, is my son. Your nephew."

"Yeah," Natasha agreed. "Well, irony's a bitch."

Nadyr nodded in agreement. "Irony's a bitch."

"I think he was telling the truth too," Natasha admitted. "There's no way Apollo would be as powerful as he is without our bloodline."

"Agreed," Nadyr stated.

"Are you going to tell him?" Natasha asked.

Nadyr had to think about that himself. "If I tell him now, it will distract him, and me, and likely get us both killed, since we still have to go save Hopper. And find a way to get through all of this without dying and get back to everyone you love. And I still need time to process this myself and figure out what the hell I need to do about this. It's not like we have the time to figure this out right now."

"But after?" Natasha asked. "After you figure it out? What then?"

"I don't know," Nadyr admitted. "That's part of what I need to figure out." 

"You should talk to him," Natasha told him.

Nadyr shook his head. "He's just gonna annoy me."

"Maybe, but you should still talk to him," Natasha replied.

"If he does, I'm just gonna call you," Nadyr told her.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "And I will tell you to grow up."

Nadyr tilted his head. "Oh, come on."

Natasha chuckled. "You're a father, dude."

Nadyr tilted his head. "Let's not go that far."

"No other way to call it," Natasha replied.

Nadyr chuckled. "You know, I did miss your smartassness."

"You have a funny way of showing that," Natasha quipped.

Nadyr sighed. "Nat."

"Why didn't you come back?" Natasha asked. "And don't give me that 'keeping us safe' bullshit."

"I did," Nadyr admitted.

"Did what?" Natasha asked.

"Come back," Nadyr answered. "I did come back, three years ago. I tracked you down and went to Hawkins because I just missed my family."

"You did?" Natasha asked, slightly surprised.

Nadyr nodded. "I did, but then when I was outside, I just froze."

∰

Flashback 4 - 3 Years Ago

December 25, 1983 (1.08 ending scenes timeline)

Nadyr was standing outside the old Reed house, seeing the Christmas decorations, about to knock, but stopped, nervously preparing himself. "Come on, Nadyr. This is your family. You battled an entire government force with them." He shook his head. "Why the fuck am I talking to myself?"

Nadyr heard laughter and conversation noises from inside, walking around the house to see through the window behind the trees.

Inside, he saw the Byers and Reeds having Christmas dinner, smiling and chatting, as Nadyr's gaze settled on Natasha, Nadia and Niko, tears in his eyes, smiling sadly.

∰

Inside

During Christmas dinner, Natasha seemed to sense someone watching, and she seemed to sense that it was her brother, turning her head to look at the window, looking outside, but didn't see Nadyr. She shook her head, thinking it was impossible.

Joyce saw this, leaning closer to Natasha to whisper. "Everything okay?"

Natasha nodded, whispering. "Yeah. Just thought I felt something."

Joyce nodded.

∰

Outside

Nadyr had hidden behind the bushes so that Natasha wouldn't see him, stepping out to see into the house again, happy to know they were okay and happy, managing a small smile, looking down for a moment, thinking they were better off without him,  taking a deep breath, turning around, walking away, without looking back, since he knew if he did, he would go in.

∰

Now

Day - Safe House - Outside

Natasha and Nadyr were still sitting on the porch.

Natasha looked at Nadyr in surprise. "You really came back."

Nadyr nodded. "I should've knocked. Shouted. Just did something. I should've stayed. I don't know why I thought I would be better alone, or that you, Nadia and Niko would be better off without me. That I would be bringing dangerous shit into your lives. If only I knew you were dealing with your own special kind of shit."

"Nadyr..." Natasha trailed off.

"I'm sorry I didn't stay," Nadyr apologized sincerely.

They were both emotional.

Natasha chuckled lightly. "Well, now you're making my wanting to fight you levels go down."

Nadyr chuckled. "Really?"

Natasha nodded a bit. "Like a ten percent."

Nadyr smiled. "That much?"

"That still leaves 90," Natasha replied. They smiled, before Natasha let hers fade. "Can I ask you something?"

"What?" Nadyr asked.

"Do you think what makes an Ivanov an Ivanov is the fact that we're destined to lose and be alone?" Natasha asked.

Nadyr gazed off as if those words hit deep, shaking his head. "No."

"Really?" Natasha asked. "Look at us, Nadyr. Years have past, and we're right back to where we started. In the place that created us, hiding from our father's forces, and alone."

Nadyr shook his head. "No, we might lose sometimes, painfully, but we're not alone. You know that, right? The only thing I ever had to hold on to, what kept me going, is knowing I have a family that loves me. I wouldn't have gotten that without all the bad. Just like you and everyone back in Hawkins, according to Joyce."

Natasha realized that he was right, managing a small smile at the hope that he was giving her. "And we survive."

Nadyr nodded in agreement. "Damn right we do. And if we lose, at least we do that together. Okay, you have me. It's you and me. Always has been."

Natasha nodded. "Last passenger on the never ending sinking ship."

"Until the bloody fucking end," Nadyr finished.

Natasha and Nadyr smiled emotionally. Nadyr wrapped his arms around Natasha, kissing her head, making Natasha chuckle as she returned the embrace.

∰

Kamchatka, Russia

Prison - Fighting Ring Cells

The guard Ivan opened the cells for the the prisoners set to die, speaking in Russian. "Everyone out." Ivan and the guard behind him both had guns, cocking them. "Let's go! Move it!"

The prisoners, including Hopper and Dmitri, stood. The guards led them downstairs into the fighting ring.

"This is it, American," Dmitri told him. "I hope you're ready."

As they faced the doors at the side of the ring, Dmitri made the sign of the cross over his chest.

Ivan noticed that the prisoners had stopped, speaking in Russian. "What are you all waiting for? Move! Let's go! Move!"

The prisoners saw that the guards were leading them inside, following them.

∰

Inside - Dining Hall

(Song:) The Snow Maiden, Op 12 (Chorus of the People and the Courtiers) - Russian State Chorus

As the guards led the prisoners into the dining hall, Ivan stopped to smoke a cigarette.

The prisoners were shocked to find a grandiose dinner waiting for them.

"Am I dreaming, American?" Dmitri asked. "Or is this real?"

The prisoners started to laugh and take their seats to start their feast, not yet knowing that it was going to be their last, but Hopper knew, as he was not celebrating like everyone else.

The prisoner that had wanted Hopper to finish Dmitri off spoke to Dmitri in Russian. "What's wrong with your American friend?"

"He has lost his spirit to live," Dmitri replied. "And he is not my friend." He spoke to Hopper in English. "Isn't that right, Cursed One? You have lost your spirit to live."

Hopper finished his drink in one sip, giving a sarcastic smile. "Yeah. Yeah, something like that." He was floored by the Russian alcohol and how strong it was, dropping his cup, which clattered on the floor loudly. He looked at the label on the bottle. "No wonder Natasha's always talking about this shit."

Hopper fell off his seat to the floor, causing the prisoners to laugh.

Dmitri smirked, speaking in Russian. "He is American after all. Big talk, but weak inside."

"Tell him to eat," the prisoner told him in Russian. "Or he endangers us all. We have a big fight ahead of us."

"What are you talking about?" Dmitri asked. "Fight?"

"I've been in this place one week," the prisoner admitted. "My first night, I saw six men enter this room. Six. Just like us. They came out, happy and fat, faces smothered in grease. But when night fell, they were thrown into that pit out there. But not alone. You heard those roars, yes? That is a monster. Not from this world." Hopper pulled himself up, sitting back down in his seat. "Thirty seconds it took! Thirty seconds... and all six men..."

The prisoner slit his thumb along his neck to show that they were dead.

"You speak no sense," another man told him. "If they plan to kill us tonight, why waste the food on us?"

"They want us strong," the prisoner explained his theory. "So we can fight it. To test its strength. To train this monster for war." Hopper was listening while taking another drink. "But last week, the men got their weapons... then scattered like fools. We stick together, perhaps we stand a chance. Perhaps we live to see another day."

Everyone but Hopper nodded in agreement and put their hands together over the table, speaking in Russian just like before. "Till tomorrow!"

Hopper finished his drink, speaking in English. "Let me guess. This... monster, it's about nine feet tall? Thin, white skin? No face? No eyes?"

Dmitri frowned in confusion.

The prisoner looked at Dmitri, speaking in Russian as he didn't know English. "Come on, come on, come on. Translate!"

Over the rest of the conversation, Dmitri translated everything Hopper said in Russian for the other prisoners to understand every word.

The prisoner turned to look at Hopper, nodding. "How do you know this?"

"'Cause I've seen one," Hopper answered. "And I've fought one. And all your theories about it, they're all wrong. You know why they feed captive predators live prey? Because if they don't, the predator gets bored and it stops eating. It needs the thrill of the hunt. We're not here to train this monster with swords and axes. We're here to entertain it. And this food..." He picked up a walnut, placing it onto the table, before picking up a weapon. "This food isn't to make us strong. It's to, uh, make us plump." He slammed the weapon down on the walnut, crushing it, making the others jump. "So we're full of the nutrients and protein that a growing monster might need. So eat up, boys. Enjoy. This is your last meal."

Dmitri finished translating, as every man in the room was grim with the fate of their deaths looming over their heads.

∰

On the Road - Car

Nadyr was driving. Natasha was in the passenger seat. Joyce, Murray and Apollo were in the backseat.

As they were driving past the city lights, a rare Russian city where even when it was snowing and cold and dreadful, it could still be kind of fun, Apollo was looking out of the window and out at everything in awe.

Even Joyce and Murray were taking everything in curiously.

"So not everywhere in Russia is a nightmare, apparently," Apollo quipped. "What is this place?"

"Just the place where I did my last hurrah before going into hiding for ten years," Nadyr answered. "These people are the best gangsters Russia has to offer. I used to be apart of them."

Joyce looked at Nadyr in amusement through the rear view mirror in front of them. "You're a gangster?"

Nadyr smirked, returning Joyce's look through the mirror. "Used to be. Key word there, Joyce."

"What are we doing here, Nadyr?" Natasha asked.

"We're going to pay a visit to one of the gangsters that helped me go on the run with a new life," Nadyr answered. "He's one of those types that would have a layout or blueprint plans to the prison where Hopper is, which we already know where he is thanks to the coordinates on the hard drive that Nadia and Niko got for us, which I luckily could be able to hack to find both you and him, Natasha."

"Do you want applause?" Natasha asked sarcastically, smirking to show that she was teasing.

Nadyr smirked a slight smile in return. "He'll also know where we can get a plane, which we can stash until we get out of the prison, and then get the hell out of Russia as soon as we can."

"And this contact of yours?" Natasha asked. "His name?"

"Aleksander Konstantin," Nadyr answered. "Though he prefers to just go by Konstantin."

The others nodded in understanding.

∰

Fight Club - Outside

Nadyr pulled the car up outside of the fight club, pulling over.

Nadyr, Natasha, Joyce, Murray and Apollo got out of the car.

Apollo was even more intrigued, in awe like he was at an amusement park with more and more things to discover. "That's a big ass skyscraper. Do you think we could survive if we jump?"

Natasha tilted her head. "Not even surprised that's the first place your mind went."

Apollo shrugged.

"What is this place?" Joyce asked.

"Konstantin's fight club," Nadyr answered. "The Gold Daggers Club. If there's anywhere he'll be, he'll be in there. All right, Natasha, Apollo, I assume that you both want to go in."

"Obviously," Natasha answered, the same time Apollo answered, 'Duh!"

"I wouldn't waste a chance to go in there," Apollo admitted. "A real life Russian gangster fight club? Count me in!"

Nadyr smiled. "That's basically what I said 10 years ago." Natasha raised an eyebrow knowingly as she looked from Apollo to Nadyr, seeing how similar they were. "Joyce? Murray?"

Joyce looked at the Russian fight club in front of them, cautious but curious. "None of these people in here would want to capture us for your father?"

"No," Natasha answered. "Even I know that."

"No, this place is for people like us, on the run from the law, especially if it's from Mikhail," Nadyr agreed. "Why do you think I trusted this place enough 10 years ago after escaping the program?"

Joyce shrugged. "Fair enough. Sure, I'll go in."

"I should stay outside," Murray pointed out. "Even if, like you said, these people wouldn't want to capture us for Mikhail, his men could still be looking for us, and could find us. I'll be in the car ready as the getaway driver."

"Good thinking," Apollo told him.

Natasha, Nadyr and Joyce nodded in agreement.

"All right, Nadyr," Joyce said. "Lead the way."

Nadyr smirked, raising his eyebrows, winking, walking up to the door, knocking in a rhythm.

When the partition opened, Nadyr spoke in Russian. "Nadyr Ivanov here for Aleksander Konstantin."

"Passcode?" the guard asked in Russian.

"Ten Rings," Nadyr answered in Russian.

The guard closed the partition and opened the door, letting Nadyr in.

Nadyr turned to look at Natasha, Apollo and Joyce behind him with a smirk, shrugging, walking in. Natasha and Apollo smirked, following. Joyce walked in with them.

∰

Inside

The guard led the group to an elevator, handing a pen to Nadyr, while he held a clipboard toward him. "Sign here to get in."

Nadyr signed the paper on the clipboard.

"Is Konstantin here?" Natasha asked. The guard didn't answer. "Okay."

Apollo smiled sarcastically. "He seems like a nice fella."

Joyce looked around the metal elevator nervously. "And this elevator is definitely not up to code. There's definitely no chance of it falling off the side of the building or--"

The elevator came to an abrupt stop, jostling the group inside.

The guard lifted the elevator door, leading them inside.

Konstantin walked closer from the side, seeing Natasha, Nadyr and Apollo, as they were standing in front of Joyce, smirking. "With one look, I can tell. Ivanovs."

Nadyr smiled. "Did you miss me that much?"

Konstantin smiled. "Is that a real question?" 

Nadyr and Konstantin did a handshake, to the surprise and amusement of Natasha, Apollo and Joyce.

"Hey, Konstantin," Nadyr greeted.

"Nadyr," Konstantin replied. He pointed to Natasha. "Ah, and you must be the famous sister, Natasha Rostova."

"That's me," Natasha answered.

Konstantin turned to Joyce and Apollo in confusion. "And these are..."

"Apollo Pierce, and Joyce Byers," Nadyr answered.

"Hello," Joyce greeted.

Apollo waved. "How do you do?"

Konstantin chuckled, shaking the hands of Natasha, Apollo and Joyce in turn. "Great to meet you three. Any friend of Nadyr's is a friend of mine. Come on in." He led the four of them into the club. "Welcome to the Golden Daggers Club." He patted Nadyr on the shoulder. "Okay, let's get you ready to fight."

"Wait, what?" Joyce asked.

"It's the price to pay whenever one needs a favor from Mr. Konstantin himself," Nadyr explained. "Entering the fight ring and entertaining the crowd for a round."

Konstantin laughed, patting Nadyr on the shoulder. "And what a fight it will be with Nadyr Ivanov in the ring. Who do you wanna face?"

Natasha saw her chance and took it. "He'll fight me."

Nadyr tilted his head. "Natasha..."

Natasha took off her jacket. "No arguments."

Joyce and Apollo smirked slightly.

"Should've seen that coming, Nadyr," Apollo told him.

Nadyr tilted his head in acknowledgement, sighing. "Fuck's sake, Nat."

Natasha shrugged, smirking. "You can take it easy on me all you want, but after the last ten years, I'm not taking it easy on you."

"Why exactly?" Joyce asked.

"Because Nadia blamed herself so much for Nadyr's so-called death, because we were only separated when he went back to the program to kill the men that were hurting her and the girls like her," Natasha answered. "He knew that there was a chance that he would die for real, and we really thought that he did die. And you wouldn't believe how that destroyed Nadia, Nadyr. How much she carried that guilt because you went back to avenge her."

Nadyr sighed heavily in regret. "I'm sorry, Natasha. And I will explain everything to Nadia when we get back to her. And Niko. But you know I had to stay away."

"You could've let us know," Natasha replied.

Konstantin couldn't help but be intrigued. "Ooh, some family drama. Perfect setting for the fight tonight. Let the games begin."

Nadyr tilted his head slightly, letting out a breath, clicking his tongue, looking away. "Great."

Nadyr looked at Joyce and Apollo for help.

Joyce shook her head. "Don't look at me. She's your sister."

Apollo shrugged. "You reap what you sow, buddy."

"Oh, thanks," Nadyr told them sarcastically.

Natasha smirked smugly.

Apollo looked away, seeing a man with a spiky mask on around his whole face. "Hey, I like your spike mask!"

"Thanks," the man replied.

Konstantin clapped his hands. "Okay. We just lost the main match tonight, so you two are right on time. You get the next slot."

They walked past a row of small fighting glass cages, where several people were fighting.

"Are they gonna be fighting in one of these?" Joyce asked.

"Oh, no, no, no," Konstantin answered. "These are the low-level fights." He put an arm around both Natasha and Nadyr, nodding up above them. "You two are gonna be fighting up there."

They looked up to a big fighting ring that was suspended from the ceiling, on display for everyone to see as they walked around and below the fighting ring, where two people were fighting now, but the match was over quickly, and the crowd chanted the name of the winner.

Apollo looked in awe by this entire thing. "Oh, my God. Holy shit." He turned to Natasha and Nadyr in excitement. "Since we're here, can I go up there?"

"Totally," Nadyr said the same time Natasha said, "Of course not."

Natasha and Joyce both gave Nadyr a look.

Nadyr cleared his throat awkwardly, sheepishly, shrugging. "Right, of course you totally can... not."

Apollo tilted his head in disappointment, rolling his eyes. "Well, that's just cruel."

Natasha rolled her eyes.

Joyce smirked in amusement, shaking her head.

Konstantin laughed, looking at Natasha and Nadyr. "The bets are already piling in for the two of you."

"I literally just agreed to fight," Natasha told him.

Konstantin shrugged. "I had a feeling you would from the stories that have been told about you, so I already told everyone." Natasha and Nadyr nodded sarcastically, but not surprised or bothered. Joyce and Apollo smiled. "And the bets? Whoo."

"Really?" Apollo asked. "What's our cut?"

"Oh, it's huge," Konstantin replied.

Nadyr tilted his head at Apollo. "Does that matter?"

"It matters," Apollo answered.

"After you win, I'll give you your cut, for whoever wins," Konstantin explained. "And then I'll get you the prison plans that you need, and tell you where you can find my plane that you can use to escape back to America after doing another prison break... in how short of time is it now?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Nadyr replied. "Not surprised the news of our shenanigans are already out."

"Out?" Konstantin repeated in amusement, laughing. "No, Nadyr, they're spreading like wildfire. Mikhail already has half the country looking for you two by now." He looked at Apollo, frowning, tilting his head. "Or three. Not sure if he's the kid that he's after or not."

"Does it matter?" Apollo asked.

Konstantin shook his head. "Not to me. Mikhail can rot in hell for all I care. You're safe here."

"Unless they find us here," Joyce pointed out.

"Maybe," Konstantin agreed. "But everyone in this place can protect themselves. As can all of you. Whenever you two are ready, we'll begin."

Apollo looked at Natasha and Nadyr. "Come on, you got this."

"You got this," Joyce repeated.

Apollo and Joyce were clearly taking incredible amusement out of the fact that Natasha and Nadyr were about to fight, and Nadyr was in big trouble with Natasha given everything.

Nadyr nodded sarcastically, knowing they were teasing him. "Yes, thank you for that."

Natasha smirked. "Let's do this."

Nadyr sighed heavily, knowing that this was not going to end well for him, shaking his head.

∰

Moments Later (Fight Ring)

Nadyr stepped into the fighting ring, shirtless.

"Ladies and gentleman!" Konstantin called. "The fight we've all been waiting for! The incredible sensation originally from right here in Russia..." Joyce looked up at Nadyr, tilting her head, glancing over his shirtless form, clearly checking him out, though she tried not to. Apollo was standing next to her, noticing Joyce checking out Nadyr, shaking his head, but smirked in amusement. "It's Nadyr Ivanov!"

Nadyr looked around at the cheering crowd with a smirk, glancing down toward Joyce and Apollo.

"What happened to your shirt?" Joyce asked.

Nadyr raised his arms in a shrug, smirking.

Apollo rolled his eyes in amusement, taking a drink from the bar underneath the ring, holding it up to show Nadyr, excited. "Look, there's alcohol."

Nadyr pointed at him. "Hey." Apollo stopped before drinking. Nadyr smiled. "Save me one of those."

Apollo smiled. "Totally."

Joyce raised her eyebrows at Nadyr, tilting her head, giving him a look. "Nadyr, seriously?"

Nadyr realized what she meant, shaking his head. "Right, shit." He gave Apollo another look, trying to be responsible. "Stop it."

Apollo tilted his head in complaint. "Oh, come on."

Joyce took the drink from Apollo, putting it back on the bar.

Apollo rolled his eyes.

Nadyr smirked, shaking his head.

Natasha walked through the red fog at the other side of the ring.

Konstantin went on to announce her. "And his opponent for tonight, it's Russia's own fearsome killer... Natasha Rostova!"

When the bell rang to start the match, Natasha didn't waste a second. She instantly ran toward Nadyr, jumping up into the air, kneeing Nadyr in the face, snapping him backward, landing on the floor behind him. As Nadyr swung himself up to a standing position, Natasha spun around to try and kick him in the head. Nadyr ducked to make her miss. Natasha kicked Nadyr in the leg, making him kneel down to the floor. Nadyr stood. Natasha jumped up and brought down her elbow to try and elbow him in the face, but Nadyr raised both arms to block the move. Natasha punched Nadyr in the face, spinning to try and kick him. Nadyr ducked back to the floor as Natasha tried to kick him again, propelling himself to stand up on his feet by his arms, as both siblings spun to face the other. Natasha jumped up and kicked both feet into Nadyr's chest, making him fall to the ground as she flipped back through the air and landed on her feet.

Nadyr sat up, clearly holding back some because of Natasha's wounded state, but clearly that wasn't holding her back, sighing, tilting his head. "All right, I'll let you have this one. Guess I kinda deserve it after the last ten years."

Natasha held her fists high and ready. "You think? Don't you dare hold back on me."

Apollo turned his head away, toward the man in charge of the bets. "Hey, can I still bet?"

Joyce grabbed Apollo's shoulder. "Do you have any money?"

Apollo shrugged, smirking, taking out some cash. "I didn't, but the guy I pickpocketed on our way in did."

Joyce scoffed, shaking her head in amusement.

As Apollo went to make a bet on the fight, both he and Joyce continued to watch the fight in the ring above.

Nadyr stood. Natasha ran at him to tackle him around the waist, sending her leg back and over her head to kick Nadyr in the face, spinning around to kick his feet out from underneath him. Nadyr managed to flip out of the hold and land on his feet. Natasha swung a punch at him, which Nadyr ducked. Natasha went to backhand punch him. Nadyr caught her arm and flipped her over his shoulder to the floor. Natasha twisted the hold around on his arm so that now she was restraining his arm, kicking him in the leg, making him kneel down so she could try and kick him in the face. Nadyr raised his free arm to block the move. Natasha wrapped her leg around his neck and flipped them both over the floor. As Nadyr was standing, Natasha kicked him in the crotch, making him groan in pain and lean over.

The rest of the crowd groaned as well.

Apollo and Joyce both groaned too when they saw this.

"That's gotta hurt," Apollo quipped.

Natasha stood, grabbing Nadyr around the head in a head lock, bringing her leg up to knee him in the chest. Nadyr held his hands together over his chest to block the move, grabbing Natasha and flipping her around him to try and break the head lock she had on him, which didn't work, but Natasha followed through on the flip to flip them both to the floor, punching Nadyr in the face, letting him go, now above him as she punched him in the face. When Natasha tried to again, Nadyr brought his arms together to block the move, grabbing Natasha, throwing her over his head to the floor. Natasha landed right over his head, turning toward Nadyr and trying to kick him. Nadyr spun over the floor to make her miss, sitting up, facing her. Natasha flipped upward to her feet, kicking Nadyr in the face as she did, landing on her feet, while Nadyr fell to the floor, bleeding from the mouth, nearly knocked out, clearly winning the fight.

The crowd cheered Natasha's name. "Natasha! Natasha! Natasha!"

Nadyr was looking down at Apollo and Joyce, who both smiled awkwardly and gave him a thumbs up.

Apollo was soon collecting the money from the bet that he won now that Natasha won the fight, smirking as he gathered up the money.

∰

Eleven's Mind Space

Day - Hawkins Lab - Rainbow Room

Eleven was sitting in front of a white board with pegs and a glass case over it, dropping a red disk into the case, watching it hit every peg on the way down to bottom, as it landed in a slot numbered five. She sighed, trying again, seeing the next one land in four.

Henry walked closer. "Which number are you aiming for?"

Eleven glanced back at him nervously before looking away. "Three."

Henry walked closer, sitting next to her. "You know, sometimes, it's helpful to take a step away for a moment. Let the mind clear." Eleven dropped another disk down the board, as it landed in number 6. "Determined, aren't we? You know, you remind me of someone. Someone I used to know really well. Can you guess who that is?"

Henry took a red disk from Eleven, placing it in the 1 slot.

Eleven frowned in confusion. "One? Papa and Mama said that One, Two and Three don't--"

"Exist?" Henry finished. "I know." They both glanced up at the camera on the wall. Henry whispered to Eleven. "But can I tell you a secret? Sometimes, Papa and Mama don't tell the truth. I spent years with One, Two and Three. Right here. In this very room."

"Where are they?" Eleven asked.

Henry looked down. "Maybe we'll save that story for another day." He turned his head to look at Eleven. "It doesn't have a happy ending, I'm afraid. But One was a lot like you. Everything was hard for him. Then out of nowhere, he walked in here and it was like... something had changed. And I asked him what's different, and he said... he said he had figured it out. He had found his strength in a memory from his past. Something that made him sad, but also angry. Do you maybe have a memory like that? Do you remember the day a strange woman came to see you? This would've been when Eight was still here. The woman, she was calling a name to you."

Eleven looked away; present day knew that he was talking about her mother Terry, but young Eleven was very confused.

In a flash of the memory, Eleven remembered Terry had been so close to getting to her. "Jane." She was pulled away from her daughter and dragged down the hallway. "No. No! No! Jane!"

Henry looked at Eleven. "That was your mother. Your real mother. Not Sabina."

Eleven spoke the words that Young Eleven had said. "My real mama is dead. She died making me."

"And who told you that?" Henry asked.

"Papa and Mama," Eleven answered. Henry gave her a pointed look, raising his eyebrows. "Who don't always tell the truth."

Eleven looked away.

"This place... and the people here... are not what you think," Henry told her.

Sabina and Brenner walked into the room.

"Good morning, children," Sabina greeted.

The children all went to line up, including Young Apollo and Eleven, speaking together. "Good morning, Papa. Good morning, Mama."

Sabina noticed that Henry had been speaking to Eleven, giving him a look.

Henry stood, returning the gaze, clearly not caring as he glared at Sabina.

Brenner spoke to the children. "We've got something very special planned for you today. Are you ready?"

The children all spoke. "Yes, Papa."

"Good," Sabina told them, turning to the younger ones. "Seventeen, would you open the door?"

"Yes, Mama," 17 answered, opening the door.

Sabina waved for the children to walk out of the room. "Off you go."

The children all spoke together. "Yes, Mama."

They all walked out of the room.

Henry stood by the board, hands behind his back, watching the children go.

Sabina and Brenner both gave a look to Henry, walking out of the room with the children.

Henry glared after them.

∰

Reality

City of Corinth

Sabina's Headquarters - Nina Lab

Eleven was still in the Nina tank, having to get all of her memories back, which was taking much slower than it did with Niko.

Owens and Will were mostly staying with Eleven to make sure that she was okay while in Nina, while Sabina had to step away to help Niko.

∰

Outside

Niko and Sabina were now working on the step two part of the plan to get Niko's powers back.

"So, what, you're still keeping your powers helping El inside while still helping me now with my powers?" Niko asked.

"Yes," Sabina answered. "I've been able to telepathically mind control people from a distance, and contact Nadyr in Missouri, and Natasha in Russia, from California. And you in Chicago the first time, while keeping Natasha free from Mikhail's mind control. Does the fact that I can multitask with helping you get your powers back and help make sure that Eleven doesn't get lost in the darkness of her own mind surprise you?"

"Not in the slightest," Niko answered. "How do we start?"

"I'm going to let out my full psionic telepath energy to make you do the same, to allow you to connect to your powers and be able to heal from the psionic poison poisoning your system completely," Sabina answered.

"Okay, how?" Niko asked.

Sabina held out her hands. "Let me show you." She let her eyes glow bright blue-pink-purple, as her chest glowed the same color, letting out her full psionic telepath energy. The glow pulsed in her chest. "Can you hear it?"

"I hear the wind," Niko answered.

Sabina shook her head. "No. Deeper than that. Beneath the wind. Every living thing has an energy wave. A sound of its own. Telepathically or otherwise. Concentrate. I want you to hear it."

Niko tried to focus, hearing the energy coming from Sabina resonating through the air. "I hear it." As Sabina's glowing powers expanded from her body and became closer to Niko, creating a dome around them, healing him, and with Niko connecting to her powers and healing himself, Niko's powers finally started to come to the surface. His eyes glowed fiery orange, as did his chest. As the energy dome closed around them, Niko held his head in his hands, wincing in pain, groaning. "It--it's hurting!"

Sabina's dome glowed and swirled with blue, pink and purple colors.

"You need to relax," Sabina told him. "Let it in."

Niko stood straight, relaxing his form, lowering his arms. A wave of energy burst from Sabina and into Niko, right into his chest, through his body, healing him even more from the poison in his system.

Will walked into the room, seeing what was going on, walking closer worriedly. "Niko? Niko."

Niko gasped from the power. "I'm okay. I can take it. It's working."

"Listen harder, Nikolai," Sabina told him. "You have to listen."

Niko was straining, but was able to do it. "I can... hear it."

"Focus on it," Sabina told him. "Let it flow through your body."

Niko focused with all he had, letting the energy flow through him, accepting it, healing himself, but it was going to take at least another attempt at this for him to get his powers back.

Will watched worriedly. "Niko..."

"It's okay, Will," Niko told him. "We have to do this. I can handle it. I'll be okay."

Will was still worried, but knowing that he was right.

∰

Hawkins, Indiana

Woods

Steve's car was parked next to the stolen car by the woods.

The Hawkins group was walking through the woods to try and find Skull Rock.

Dustin was leading the way with a map and a compass. Hailey, Steve and Nadia were walking with him at the front of the group.

"Dustin, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way," Hailey told him.

"It's north," Dustin told them. "I'm positive. I checked the map."

"You do realize Skull Rock is a super popular make-out spot?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Nadia answered. "So?"

"Yeah, well, it wasn't popular until I made it popular," Steve answered. "All right? I practically invented it."

Nadia smirked, nodding sarcastically. "Of course you did."

"In freshman year, okay?" Steve asked. "Can't hold it against me now. We're heading in the wrong direction."

Steve started to walk away.

"Steve," Hailey said. "Where are you going? Steve!"

Steve gestured for them to follow him. "Let's go. Trust me."

"Steve!" Dustin complained as they started to follow him.

Nadia and Hailey both sighed.

"For the love of God," Nadia said. She walked after Steve. "Wait up, would you?"

"Sorry," Steve apologized. "Just been on edge. Especially since Ruby and Billy didn't wanna listen about going into hiding already, because they don't wanna leave Max, and they can't leave us anyway because they're cursed by Vecna, and Mirage could come after them, and now they wanna make sure Eddie's okay. And every time I try and say something to everyone about protecting or the smart way to do things, I get outnumbered and we just go with..."

"Whatever we have to do so we survive," Nadia told him. Steve sighed, knowing she was right. "I know you're worried about everybody and that you're trying to keep everyone safe, Steve. But sometimes we have to do the dangerous thing in order to keep everyone safe. Or save whoever we have to save."

Steve knew that was a good point, sighing. "I know. It's just..."

"You're the overprotective mom," Nadia told him teasingly.

Steve couldn't help but smile, nodding sarcastically. "Oh ha ha." They both smiled slightly. "Is it too much to ask for to be normal just once? No worries?"

"At this point, I think normal is definitely too much to ask for," Nadia answered.

Steve frowned slightly, tilting his head in thought. "Yeah."

"What are you thinking about?" Nadia asked.

"Oh, uh, just a memory that popped up for some reason," Steve answered. "Well, not really no reason since we're talking about 'normal', but..."

"What memory?" Nadia asked.

"Actually, it was with you in your house," Steve answered. "It was after you told Ruby about her powers, and she had accidentally effected madness in your head, and you were taking out your anger all on a punching bag and your powers lashed out and destroyed the bag."

Nadia chuckled. "Right. Back when we found out the damage that Ruby's madness manipulation could do."

"Yep," Steve agreed. "But I was more focused on what we talked about after. It was ironically about how angry you were about what Ryan did to you, or tried to do to you."

Nadia nodded knowingly, realizing why Steve thought of this and where he was going with it. "I said that part of me just wanted to be a normal teenage girl who was happy that someone seemed to have an interest in me. I was really stupid for thinking he did, though."

"Not stupid, because it's not your fault he's a dick," Steve pointed out, using his words from two years ago, causing Nadia to chuckle. "But you said that you just wanted to have somebody who was a person for you who knows every little detail and the truth about you. A perfect partner in game night."

"Blah blah blah," Nadia said, since she had said that right after she told him that. "That the normal you were talking about, huh, Steve? Where those are the things that we have to worry about instead of having to worry about monsters and trying to clear our friends names or being on the run from pretty much everyone?"

"Yeah, basically," Steve answered. "I mean, it's a dream, but it's not a very realistic one. And you know how bad it is that our reality is more realistic for us than the dream of just pure normalcy?"

Nadia chuckled. "Honestly." She bit her lip in thought. "You told me that I would find that perfect partner for game night and who knows all the little details about me."

"But that he would have to be so brave because you're you," Steve finished.

Nadia gave Steve a push in the shoulder, making them both smile and chuckle. "And I told you that you would find a girl beyond lucky and patient to have you and everything that comes with that. Even if having to deal with a psionic with a dark alter ego as a little sister with Hailey. Plus now gotta worry about the rest of the kids."

Steve chuckled. "Yeah. You know last year, I thought we both found that, before everything happened."

Nadia looked at Steve, nodding slightly in agreement. "Who knows? Maybe we did. Maybe it just wasn't the right time."

Steve smiled slightly, pressing his lips together, looking down, nodding. "Yeah. I thought that too. Neither of us know if we could live that long though. For the right time, or a real chance."

"True," Nadia agreed. "But doesn't mean that we won't. And I don't know what's gonna happen after this. Whether I have to run again or not. I really hope not. I don't want to keep running. And I don't want to keep being closed off to everyone again."

"Closed off with everybody but me, apparently," Steve quipped.

"Well, like I said two years ago, apparently I'm a bleeding heart with you," Nadia replied. Steve chuckled. "It's weird, because I've been closed off to feeling anything for anyone."

"Well, somebody has to have a key to the ice queen's heart," Steve stated teasingly, trying to cheer her up.

Nadia couldn't help a smile, playfully giving him a push in return. "Shut up." Steve and Nadia laughed lightly. "It's just... like you said, I spent so long living for and protecting everyone else. I'm not really sure how else to... be. I guess."

"Maybe you should start living for yourself," Steve pointed out. "Do what's in your heart."

Nadia had a slight smile, nodding. "I can't believe I'm saying this. I think you're right."

Steve smiled, the two looking at each other before looking away.

Further behind them, Hailey took Dustin by the arm, pulling him along. "Come on. Since I know Steve is serious about 'inventing' that place, he's right."

"You're supposed to say I'm right," Dustin told her.

"And normally you are," Hailey pointed out. "And I thought it was north too. But apparently we're heading the wrong way. And you can't tell me to choose sides over my brother and my boyfriend. Okay? You can't. That's not fair for me."

Dustin sighed, tilting his head, but went along with them. "I know, I'm sorry." Hailey was gazing off at nothing. Dustin knew what was wrong, looking at her in concern. "It's not your fault, Hailey. Last night. Patrick and his family."

"If I hadn't been trying to follow Vecna..." Hailey trailed off. "If I had just been dreamwalking, I could've seen what Mirage was doing and tried to do something."

"Like we said earlier, we would've had to be there in person, since it was living nightmares in reality," Dustin pointed out. "There's no way we could've known or made it in time."

Hailey tilted her head, shaking it. "Doesn't make it easier."

"I know it doesn't," Dustin agreed. "But you can't blame yourself for what these guys are doing to everyone, including you."

Hailey looked at Dustin. "And you. I almost lost you to them the first night they started this shit. And I'll be damned if I let them hurt anybody else I love again." She looked from Steve and Nadia, to Max, Lucas, Ruby, Billy, Robin and Nancy behind them to prove her point. "We've all already been on their list. I'm not gonna let them take any of you."

Dustin put an arm around Hailey so she looked at him. "And we're not gonna let them do whatever they want with you either. Not again. We protect each other, right?"

Hailey smiled slightly, nodding. "Right. I'm just glad that you're better off than most of us right now. That you're okay."

"I'm not okay," Dustin admitted. "Because you're not okay. Hailey, you've been to hell and back since this all started happening. And you haven't stopped for a second, taken a moment for yourself."

"I did when Nadia helped me the night she got back," Hailey pointed out, brushing back some of her blue-purple hair to prove a point.

"That's because you had no choice but to because Sullivan was in town," Dustin replied. "If he hadn't been, then you would've kept going. Like you're doing now."

"Dustin, we're in the middle of a war against Vecna and Mirage," Hailey told him.

"There will always be a war against the Upside Down," Dustin pointed out. "And against whoever else tries to come for us. A mission. A--a problem to solve. If we don't make time for the things we care about, we'll forget why we're even fighting at all."

"Well, we can't take the time to make time right now," Hailey pointed out. "Hopefully after this is all over. Why? What'd you have in mind?"

"I'm trying to figure that part out," Dustin admitted. "But I definitely will, trust me."

Hailey smiled in amusement. "I'm sure you will. And I'm sure whatever you figure out will be a blast. I think we all deserve fun after all this shit. Count me in."

They both smiled. Dustin gave Hailey a kiss on the head, which caused her smile to get a bit bigger, before letting his arm drop from around her, as they continued walking after Steve and Nadia.

Max and Lucas were a little ways behind them, following slowly.

"Okay, so apparently we're going this way now?" Max asked. "I swear to God, if they get us lost..." She noticed Lucas was distracted. "Hey. You okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Lucas said. "I'm fine. Just... thinking about Patrick, you know?"

"Yeah," Max answered.

"I mean, it's--it's like, why him?" Lucas asked. "But then I remember this one day, he--he came to practice with a black eye. He said he fell, but clearly he was lying." They stopped walking for a moment, looking at each other. "It's like everyone Vecna and Mirage target have something in their life. Something that's--"

"Hurting them," Max finished. "Haunting them."

"Yeah," Lucas answered. "Definitely for Vecna. Mirage too, to an extent. But he targets those..."

"He knows will make a wish, or tries to make them make a wish," Max finished. "With me, he tried to make me wish that Ruby and Billy were okay. With Dustin, he tried to make him wish that Hailey didn't have to deal with her dark side anymore because it was hurting her, and technically Dustin too."

Lucas nodded. "So Patrick might've wished that his abuser, if it was his dad like rumors were saying... to be gone."

"And in Mirage's twisted trickster way, he killed his entire family for the price before killing Patrick," Max finished. "Since the news said that his entire family was found dead at home too."

"Yeah," Lucas answered. "I--I didn't really know Patrick, so it was easy to just look the other way, I guess. But I did know you. And I'm sorry I wasn't there."

Max shook her head. "It's not your fault." Lucas shook his head. "I disappeared."

"No, no, no," Lucas told her. "You didn't. I just didn't look hard enough. Okay? But I see you now. I see you."

Max didn't know what to say, but clearly she was appreciative, giving a slight smile, as the two continued to walk after the others.

Ruby and Billy were a little ways behind them.

Ruby was distracted when she saw something, of her own mind's making, a little ways away against a tree.

It looked like a sunlight butterfly, floating and flying closer, glowing with the power of the sun like Ruby's powers before losing them, like the music notes and other hallucinations she had seen over the course of the book.

Ruby frowned as she watched the sunlight glowing butterfly, knowing that it couldn't have been real, but still intrigued, reaching out to touch it.

Billy looked over at Ruby, noticing her reaching out at the air in front of her. "Ruby?"

Ruby looked at him. "Hmm?"

"What's up?" Billy asked.

Ruby looked in front of her to see the hallucination had vanished. "Nothing."

Billy tilted his head. "Ruby." Ruby looked at him again. "You said you weren't gonna lie anymore."

Ruby sighed, tilting her head sheepishly. "I know. I'm sorry. Force of habit. Just my chaotic mind playing tricks again. We have now left Sanity and Reason Junction. Next stop, Looneyville. Flirting with madness is one thing; when madness starts flirting back, it's time to call the whole thing off."

Billy knew that she was making jokes to try and make him not worried, which he knew that it wasn't as big of a deal as usual because of how she was acting, but the joking and deflection still wasn't working. "You didn't ask for help before when you knew you were spiraling down the rabbit hole again, even when we could've helped you."

"You and Max already help enough," Ruby replied.

Billy tilted his head, raising his eyebrows. "Not the point and you know it."

Ruby sighed. "I'm just... so used to having to deal with my mind and my drama all on my own. And I just... last year, even with you and me so fucked up... I tried to deal with it on my own too, but the kids wouldn't let me. Even when I was losing control and I could've killed them or turned them insane, which I nearly did so much... they didn't let me deal with it alone. No matter how hard I tried to push them away."

"Isolate yourself," Billy finished. "That's what he wanted you to do. The Mind Flayer. He knew you would do it."

Ruby sighed. "Yeah."

"And we already said that you don't have to do that anymore," Billy pointed out. "Last night."

"I know," Ruby agreed. "In my mind, I know that, but I just... I feel like I need to. Isolate myself. Do it alone. Like I've always done."

"You don't deserve to," Billy told her.

Ruby shrugged slightly, looking down. "Feels like it. I feel like I deserve to be hurt. Hurt both physically and mentally. I guess that's because that's all I've ever known. From my parents. From my foster families. All these fucking monsters trying to destroy us."

Billy looked down. "Me. Last year."

Ruby gave him a look, shaking her head. "That wasn't you. And you know that."

"I know," Billy agreed. "But you thought that you deserved to be hurt by me. Didn't you?"

Ruby looked down. "You were taken because of me."

"We're not doing the blame thing, Ruby," Billy told her. "And you didn't deserve this shit. Neither did I."

"I know you didn't," Ruby agreed. "But in a disgusting and fucked up way, I thought that I did, and I can't shake that feeling. That I deserved to be ruined. To lose my will, to feel empty, to get what I deserve. I don't know what I did to deserve it, but my brain tells me I do. I deserve to be punished, to be destroyed. It's disgusting. I know that. Disgusting that I thought I deserved someone hurting me in every way they want. To treat me like some animal. I sometimes even miss my parents. The way they used to treat me. Hurt me. How they would take their anger out on me and how people would take advantage of every moment we were alone so they could ruin me. Just like my parents do in my fucking hallucinations. And I don't hate the hallucinations that do that, because I miss them in reality. I don't know why. I hate it and it's gross and fucked up."

Billy wasn't sure of what to say, swallowing. "I kinda get it." Ruby nodded barely, looking down, knowing that if anyone did, he would have. "But you don't. You know that Susan and the court ordered that I had to see somebody for help after everything that happened last year, and they don't even know the half of it." Ruby nodded. "And I hate all that fucking therapy shit, but one thing that did make sense. Our minds create illusions to help cope with things we've gone through. I think this is what that is. It's not coping but... it might be trying to reason with everything that happened."

"Becoming a delinquent therapist now?" Ruby asked sarcastically.

Billy snorted, knowing she was just joking, smirking. "Fuck you." Ruby smirked. "Do you think in your mind, this, the abuse, it's love?"

"I used to," Ruby answered. "But now.... no."

"Are you scared to be happy, Ruby?" Billy asked.

Ruby swallowed dryly. "Yeah. I'm scared of what I'll become if I get better. I'm scared of being alone. Of being happy. What if I lose myself? What if I don't even know myself?"

Billy shook his head. "You won't. You might feel like you don't, but you know yourself. When you get better, you just learn to appreciate it. It's scary, but it's worth it."

"Yeah, therapy taught you that?" Ruby asked sarcastically.

"No, smartass," Billy answered. "You did. When you helped me get better before." Ruby looked at Billy, managing a small smile. Billy put an arm around Ruby and the two embraced. "I'm not gonna let anything like that happen to you again."

"Same from me to you," Ruby told him. "I refuse to let what happened last year happen again. I love you."

Billy chuckled lightly against her head. "I love you too."

They let each other go to continue walking, but Ruby's mind was definitely set more at ease and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders after admitting something she hadn't wanted to admit before but felt so much better after having done so, which Billy could tell, chuckling lightly in relief that the talk did work and there was a lot more understanding between the two.

Robin and Nancy were at the back of the group, giving the couples (ex or potential or together alike) their space while they were walking for Skull Rock.

Robin hung onto a tree with her hand before jumping down and continuing on. "Oh, my God, they're all so adorable. I just wanna squeeze 'em, you know?" Nancy had a slight smile, but was tense given her situation with Jonathan at the moment. "If I'm permitted to see a silver lining in this end-of-the-world doom and gloom, it would be the case of lovers keeping each other sane and safe and basically being each other's anchors and clarity like Dustin is for Hailey, and Ruby and Billy are for each other, or the rekindling of old flames that never should've been snuffed out like Lucas and Max, and technically Steve and Nadia, if they actually had the chance to be together."

"Robin..." Nancy asked.

"What?" Robin asked. "Is it so terrible for me to wish for happiness for my friends?"

"No," Nancy answered. "Just... do it from more of a distance where they can't see you staring."

Robin smiled. "Right. Are you happy, Nancy?"

"What makes you think that I wouldn't be?" Nancy asked.

"It's just, Ruby, Nadia and I sort of mentioned Jonathan the other day in the library, and you flinched or winced or something like--" Robin started.

Nancy gave her a look. "I didn't flinch or wince."

"Okay," Robin agreed.

"Jonathan and I are fine," Nancy told her.

"Got it," Robin said.

"We're good," Nancy told her.

Robin nodded. "Right."

Nancy sighed as they continued to walk after the others. "It's just... he was supposed to be here for the break, and then he backed out at the last minute for some vague, mumbly Jonathan reason. And you know, to be honest, I'm not even that surprised because I've been feeling him pulling away lately. And I don't know if it's because we're 2,000 miles away or if he met someone new or what. And now I can't find out why because apparently he's blown up his family's house phone or something. Nadia said that Niko was called to California, which Will would only use in case there was an emergency, and Mike and Jonathan and El are all there too obviously, so I have no idea what's going on or if they're all are okay or not. So yeah, if--if the mention of Jonathan's name caused a slight muscle spasm on my face, that's probably why."

"Seems like a perfectly reasonable reason to flinch, wince or something," Robin told her. "But Ruby and Nadia both agreed that you and Jonathan are perfect together. And I know I don't know you well, or Jonathan very much at all, but from what I've seen in the brief time I did see you two together, I agree with them. And I think that you two can figure it out once all of this is over."

Nancy smiled slightly for the reassurance. "You said, 'the happiness of your friends'. So does that make us friends? As in, officially?"

"Uh, yeah," Robin answered. "I--I mean, right? "

Nancy nodded. "Right."

∰

Skull Rock

Steve and Nadia broke through the rest of the woods, finding Skull Rock.

Steve looked behind them. "Whoo! Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face."

Nadia smirked. "Aren't you supposed to be the adult out of you two?"

Steve gave Nadia a sarcastic look and smile.

Dustin and Hailey walked through the bushes to join them, both looking confused.

"Doesn't make sense," Dustin said.

Steve made a talking motion with his hand, placing his hands on his hips. "Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. Just can't admit you're wrong, you little butthead."

Eddie jumped down from the rock, making the four of them turn around to face him. "I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a... total butthead."

Dustin and Eddie embraced.

Lucas, Max, Ruby, Billy, Nancy and Robin made their way through the bushes to join them.

Ruby sighed in relief at seeing Eddie. "Jesus, we thought you were a goner."

Ruby and Eddie hugged.

Eddie patted Ruby on the back, looking from Ruby to Billy and Max. "Yeah, me too." They pulled away. "Me too. I could say the same thing about you three."

"More like all of us," Billy corrected.

Eddie and Billy did a slight handshake.

Hailey sighed heavily. "What now?"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing the answer just yet.

∰

Town Hall

Most residents of the town were in the town hall, chaotic and clamoring to get answers from Powell.

Powell was standing at a podium on a stage in front of everyone.

"How long have you known Billy Hargrove and Eddie Munson were killing these people?" a woman asked. "That Ruby Charlize was a suspected accomplice? It was at the trailer park where they all lived, either now or in the past, where Chrissy and Aaron were killed, and you expect us to believe they were made suspects just this morning?"

"The truth is we've been following several leads," Powell told them. "And yes, Billy Hargrove and Eddie Munson were the main two. Ruby Charlize was also a main suspect, at least for accomplice. At least. And we are now doing everything in our power to find them." Karen, Ted, Holly, Claudia, Sue, Charles and Erica were all in the crowd. "In the meantime, for your safety, we will be enforcing a strict curfew."

The crowd roared in outrage. "What?"

"That's your solution?" the woman asked incredulously. "Hide from them?"

"We're already doing that," another woman called out.

"It's been days," a man stated. "Days! So you tell me why they're not behind bars right now."

"I understand you all are upset, but I promise you, we will find them," Powell told them.

"No!" Jason's voice carried through the crowd, causing everyone to look behind them at the doors. Jason, Ryan, Andy and three more jocks were standing in front of the double doors in a V shape, Jason and Ryan front and center. "You won't."

"Ryan, Jason, how about we talk about this in private?" Powell asked.

"Why?" Ryan asked, walking down the middle of the aisle of seats toward Powell. "So you can keep us quiet? So you can keep the truth from coming out?" Callahan sighed, hanging his head. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't bear to listen to any more excuses and lies."

"That's enough," Powell warned.

Ryan pointed from Powell to himself. "I agree, I've had enough! In fact, I think we've all had enough."

Ryan was easily rallying the crowd, as everyone started to clap and cheer in agreement, except for the Wheelers, the Sinclairs and Claudia.

Jason walked down to the stage, taking the mic that was used for the townspeople to ask questions, turning to look at everyone. "Last night... last night, Ryan and I saw things. Things we can't explain. Things the police don't wanna believe. And things that we don't wanna believe ourselves."

"But we know what we saw," Ryan told them. "We know."

Jason nodded, both of them with a crazy look in their eyes. "And I've come to accept an awful truth. These murders are ritualistic sacrifices." The crowd gasped. "We've all heard about how satanic cults are spreading through our country like some... some disease. And Eddie Munson is the leader of one of these cults. A cult that operates here in Hawkins. All of whom are friends with Ruby Charlize and Billy Hargrove. Eddie and his band, three other people from his cult, play at their bar, the Alibi."

"And I know, I know, Ruby and Billy are survivors of the mall fire last year," Ryan said. "Along with Hailey Harrington, who is helping hide them and Eddie with their other friends. We think that the Hellfire Club corrupted all three of them after the fire. Maybe they were even apart of it." He turned toward Powell and Callahan. "Didn't you two think that Ruby was the one setting fires last year, before the mall fire? Before the government shut those cases down. What if it was Ruby behind those fires, including the fire that almost killed her, Billy and Hailey, and killed all those people last year? What if they've been apart of it all along?"

Erica shook her head, frowning in confusion. "What the fuck is he going on about?"

"Shh," Sue told her, stopping Erica before she said anymore or got attention drawn to them.

"All those unexplained deaths over the years," Jason went on. "Some people say our town is cursed. They just don't know why. Now... now we do. Now we know." He held up a poster with the picture of the Hellfire Club. "They call themselves Hellfire."

Erica had had enough, jumping up to her feet. "This is all bullshit!" Everyone looked at her. "The Hellfire isn't a cult. It's a club for nerds. Ruby, Billy and Hailey were victims that night. Survivors."

Sue made Erica sit down. "Erica!"

"Just the facts," Erica told her.

Ryan pointed to Erica, looking around everyone. "That's what they want you to think." Andy and the other three jocks started to hand out flyers with the Hellfire picture to everyone. "But it's a lie." Holly passed the flyers to Ted and Karen. "A lie designed to conceal the truth." When Ted, Karen, Claudia, Sue and Charles all looked at the flyers, they were concerned to find their kids, Mike, Dustin and Lucas, in the photo. "And now this cult and Hailey are protecting Eddie, Ruby and Billy."

"And it's no coincidence that all of the people in this cult have ties to Ruby and Billy, whether it's Eddie and his bandmates, who are in this photo, play at the Alibi, or Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair and Mike Wheeler seen being around town with Ruby off and on for two years, and now Billy," Jason stated. "And Hailey Harrington's part of it too. Victims in the mall fire or the arsonists, as Ryan pointed out, the police were questioning where Ruby was because they thought she was setting fires before that night. They're hiding them. Allowing them to--to continue their rampage." In the crowd, Claudia, Sue, Charles, Karen and Ted looked at each other worriedly. "Last night, I became overcome with this feeling of--of hopelessness. Then I remembered Romans 12:21. 'Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good'. And God knows there's good in this town. So much good. It's in this room! It's in this room, right here, right now." The crowd aside from the families of Mike, Dustin and Lucas were nodding. "So we came here today, humbly, to ask for your help. To join us in this fight. Let us cast out this evil and save Hawkins together."

Everything fell so silent for a long moment, everyone uneasy.

A man stood, walking toward the back of the room to the doors, looking at everyone. "What are y'all just sitting around for? You heard the kids."

The man walked out of the room, followed by many others.

"Hey," Powell called. "I want you all to hear me loud and clear on this. Anyone interfering with this investigation will be arrested."

Callahan ran up to Powell at the podium, grabbing the mic. "Hey, hey! We will be implementing a curfew. So if you are not in your house after sunset with the doors locked, you'll be written up."

Everyone was still leaving, ignoring the two officers.

Ryan turned to look at Powell and Callahan, smirking slightly, walking away to leave with everyone else. Jason, Andy and the other jocks followed.

Claudia, the Sinclairs and Wheelers were still in the room, all worried for the safety of their children, looking at each other in concern.

∰

Salt Lake City, Utah

Suzie's House - Eden's Room

Calliope had gotten changed into some of Eden's black clothing. "Thanks, Eden."

"No problem," Eden told her. "You wanna explain how you got shot?"

"Not really," Calliope answered, looking out of the room, seeing a wheelchair in the hallway. "Who's the wheelchair for?"

"My mother," Eden answered. "She's quadriplegic. She's in treatment right now, but..."

"Oh," Calliope said in surprise. "Sorry."

Eden shook her head. "It's okay. You didn't know."

Calliope nodded awkwardly. "I should go."

"Back to your boyfriends?" Eden asked.

Calliope scoffed. "Yeah, trust me, none of them are my boyfriends. Not my type."

"What is your type?" Eden asked curiously.

"Feminine," Calliope answered, turning around, walking out of the room.

Eden frowned, not knowing if that was meant literally or not.

∰

Suzie's Room

Calliope walked into Suzie's room to find that the boys had already explained what they could to Suzie without telling her too much.

"Okay, that is a lot to process," Suzie stated. "I mean, that might be seriously the craziest thing I've ever heard."

Mike had his arms crossed over his chest. "I know, it's hard to believe."

"But it's true," Jonathan told her. "All true."

Suzie looked at the number in her hand. "I dial in to this computer and find a location, and at this location is the Nina Project?"

"Exactly," Calliope answered.

"And the Nina Project is the code name for a video game?" Suzie asked.

Calliope frowned, looking to Argyle, Mike and Jonathan.

"Well, no, it's not just a video game," Mike told her. "It's a video game console. It's basically America's answer to Nintendo."

"Americantendo," Argyle said.

Mike, Jonathan and Calliope gave him a weird look.

Suzie also had a weird look. "That's a stupid name."

"You're right, it is a stupid name," Mike agreed. "But, Suzie, it's a 16-bit."

"16 bit?" Suzie repeated in surprise. "Why have I never heard of it?"

"Because it's top secret," Mike told her.

Jonathan leaned forward in his seat. "That's why we're doing this."

Mike nodded in agreement. "Yeah, right, it's for the promotion. The first people to find the secret location receive a--"

"Americantendo," Argyle interceded.

Mike nodded, rolling his eyes. "Uh, an Americantendo."

Jonathan closed his eyes, shaking his head, looking away.

Calliope had a slight smirk, rolling her eyes, looking down. She noticed that she had black veins creeping underneath her skin on her hand, looking worried, turning away.

Jonathan noticed and frowned in confusion.

"So you drove 3,000 miles over your spring break so I can help you get a new video game console no one has ever heard of?" Suzie asked.

"It was just under 700 miles, but..." Calliope trailed off.

"Yes," Calliope, Jonathan, Mike and Argyle answered.

Suzie sighed.

"But it's not for us," Mike told her. "It's for Dustin. For Dustin's birthday actually, which is in May, but we're getting a headstart on it."

Eden walked in. "Suzie, I don't know what you're doing, but I am not spending my entire day babysitting. Pull your damn weight."

"Language," Suzie chided.

Eden put a hand to her chest mockingly. "Oh, no, am I gonna burn in hell now?"

Argyle was completely dazzled by her. "Oh, you tell her, Eden."

Calliope rolled her eyes.

Suzie walked over to push Eden out of her room lightly. "Out of my room."

"Don't touch me, you little shit," Eden told her.

Suzie closed the door.

"Okay, so can you help or not?" Calliope asked. "We don't have time for your chaos when we're dealing with ours."

Mike and Jonathan gave Calliope a look, but Calliope was on edge and agitated, more than she would be normally, looking away.

Suzie turned to face them. "Dustin is my friend and I would love to help out, but I'm afraid there's been an unfortunate development. After changing Dustin's grade, I was wracked with the most awful guilt. Father could see my soul was tortured and he wrenched a confession out of me. Not only was I breaking the law, I was doing it out of friendship with an agnostic. An agnostic! I've never seen Father so angry. Naturally, after learning the terrible truth, he confiscated my computer. And Father is not one to change his mind."

"Where is it?" Jonathan asked.

"His study," Suzie answered. "He uses it for work now. And Father's always working, and his door is, like, permanently locked." Calliope scoffed. "I'm really sorry. Truly. But it looks like you came all the way here for nothing."

Calliope shook her head, looking like she could snap just from this, but quickly realizing that would be an overreaction, barely stopping herself in time, confused and shaken.

Suddenly, they heard the breaker powering down as the power in the house was shut off once again.

"Cornelius!" Eden yelled.

They heard Cornelius shrieking from downstairs, and Eden turning the breaker back on, as the power in the house was restored.

This gave Suzie an idea. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" Calliope asked.

"There might be a way," Suzie answered. "But we're gonna need help. And I mean a lot of help."

They all nodded.

Argyle looked over to Calliope. "By the way, Calliope, you dressed in Eden's clothes--"

"I said one word and I would kick all three of your asses," Calliope reminded him. "I'll sure as hell love kicking yours if you don't shut up."

Argyle held up his hands harmlessly, shutting up.

Jonathan stood, walking toward Calliope. "Okay, I need to talk to you."

Calliope let out almost a growl of annoyance.

Calliope and Jonathan walked out of the room.

Mike, Suzie and Argyle exchanged a look.

∰

Hawkins, Indiana

Wheeler House - Outside

The Wheeler, Sinclair and Henderson cars pulled up to the Wheeler house, parking, and immediately they ran inside.

∰

Inside - Living Room

Karen, Ted, Holly, Erica, Sue, Charles and Claudia all walked in, looking around.

∰

Basement

Karen walked into the basement, knowing that normally, the usual hang out was down here. "Guys? Are you down here? Guys?"

∰

Living Room

Karen walked upstairs to join the others, breathing heavily in worry. "They should've been back by now. They should be back."

"What time was the movie?" Sue asked.

"Uh, four hours ago," Karen replied.

"Hate to break it to you, Mrs. Wheeler, but they lied to you," Erica told her.

Holly sang teasingly. "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

"Holly," Ted warned.

"We don't think they're actually involved with Ruby, Billy and Eddie, do we?" Claudia asked.

"I think at this point, anything's possible," Ted answered.

"Our children are not murderers, Ted," Karen told him.

"Don't put words in my mouth," Ted responded. "See, she does that, twists my words. Karen, you know that Nancy is Ruby's friend. They've been working on the yearbook together. Who knows about the rest of the kids."

Karen walked away toward the phone on the wall, breath erratic.

"You're calling the theater?" Erica asked.

Karen shook her head. "The police."

∰

Woods - Skull Rock

Eddie was sitting down, eating the food that they brought, while both Eddie and Billy were drinking a can of beer.

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh... my walkie was busted, man," Eddie told them. "Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently." He had a hysterical smile on his face. "I ran."

Dustin was pacing, looking at his compass intensely.

"Well, we're one step closer," Robin told them. "We know how Vecna attacks."

"And where he attacks from," Lucas added.

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart," Max told them. "We'd have to find and do the same to Mirage, but one monster at a time, hopefully."

"If they even have a heart," Nancy remarked.

"A stake?" Steve asked. "Are they like vamps? Are they vampires?"

Nadia and Hailey tilted their heads at Steve.

Max shook her head. "It was a metaphor."

"Wait," Nadia said. "Hailey could sense Vecna through the barrier of our side and theirs. Right? She tracked him right to the attic when she was close enough to sense him."

"Yeah," Billy agreed. "So?"

Ruby knew where Nadia was going with this. "So, Hailey should be able to do the same to Mirage since they're both the ones doing this to her. Or could just track him through the Maze of Mirrors while dreamwalking."

Hailey looked between them, knowing they were right, but not liking the thought of it, sighing.

"So Hailey the monster tracker?" Billy asked.

Steve immediately hated the idea, shaking his head. "Yeah, nope. Uh-uh."

"You see another way, Steve?" Hailey asked. "Didn't think so. So shh. But even if I could find Mirage, we don't know how to kill him or Vecna."

"A bullet should work on them, right?" Eddie asked.

Lucas had his hands on his hips. "I say we chop their heads off."

"I'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that till we find a way into the Upside Down," Nancy pointed out.

"Hailey has the power to do some serious damage to these guys, but this would be so much easier if Nadia, Ruby, Niko and El got their powers back too," Max stated.

"Yeah, it would be a lot easier and a lot safer for everybody, including Hailey," Steve agreed. "At least Nadia, Ruby and Niko's powers are literally heat based and could do the most damage."

"Yeah, since heat is the Upside Down's weakness, while they like it cold," Robin agreed. "And Hailey's powers are cold to the touch, so we're not sure how well her powers are gonna work in a fight against them, but..."

"Still pretty damn well if I can use them to rip them apart like I've done to the Russians who did this to me, and the monster that tried to kill Dustin," Hailey pointed out.

The others nodded in agreement.

Eddie looked behind them, seeing that Dustin was still pacing in thought. "Hey, uh, speaking of, uh, Henderson's not cursed, is he?"

"Cursed?" Steve asked. "No, no, he's fine. Mental? Absolutely."

"Dustin?" Hailey asked.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ruby asked.

"Hey!" Nadia told him. "We're talking to you."

Dustin realized what was happening, turning to face the others, arms raised in a cheer before he threw his arms down. "Boom!" The others jumped, looking at Dustin. Dustin pointed at Steve. "Bada... bada... boom. I was right." Steve rolled his eyes, tilting his head back. Nadia rolled her eyes, looking down. Hailey frowned. "Skull Rock was north."

"Seriously?" Nadia asked. "You're serious?"

Dustin nodded with a grin. "Mm-hmm."

Steve held his hands up to the rock behind him. "This is Skull Rock, okay?" Dustin nodded with another hum. "You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now."

Dustin leaned forward. "Yes. And no."

Steve shook his head in exasperation, putting his hands to his head, turning away. "Oh, my God."

Nadia smirked slightly in amusement. "What are you talking about?"

Dustin held up his compass. "This compass worked correctly when we left the Alibi." Steve turned back to face them, hands on his hips, licking his lips, nodding sarcastically. "It was correct when we got out of the cars on Curly, but it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was."

"So you're using faulty equipment," Steve told him. "You're still wrong."

Dustin held up a hand. "Except it isn't faulty. Hailey, Lucas, you remember what can affect a compass?"

Hailey and Lucas both realized where Dustin was going with this. "An electromagnetic field."

Dustin grinned, looking to the older teens while pointing to Hailey and Lucas. "Yep."

Robin frowned in confusion. "Sorry. I must've skipped that class."

"I probably just didn't care enough to attend it," Billy remarked, taking a drink.

Ruby smirked. "Same."

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power," Dustin explained.

"In English, dude," Ruby told him.

Hailey nodded. "Either there's some super big magnet around here, or..."

"There's a Gate," Lucas finished.

Hailey and Dustin pointed to Lucas.

Dustin grinned at Hailey and Lucas for helping him with his theory and explaining to the others.

"But we're nowhere near the lab," Nancy pointed out.

Nadia tilted her head, knowing that the kids were onto something. "What if somehow there's another Gate? A Gate that we don't know about."

Dustin pointed to Nadia. "It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful."

"Snack size Gate," Ruby agreed.

"How?" Billy asked. "Why?"

Dustin shook his head. "No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a Gate. And I hope it is, because then we'd have a way to Vecna and Mirage, and a shot at freeing Ruby, Max and Billy from this curse, and clearing Ruby, Billy and Eddie's names."

Dustin and Hailey started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked. "Hey, hey, hey, hey. Billy and Eddie are still the head suspects and Ruby's suspected as an accomplice. We can't just go for a hike in the woods."

Dustin and Hailey turned back.

"Didn't we just do that to get here?" Billy replied.

Steve pointed at Ruby and Billy. "Yeah, only because you two wouldn't listen to me and go hide."

"Yeah, well, I may be the crazy one, but you're the one that's delusional if you think you can tell us what to do," Ruby replied. "The difference between the beer and your opinion on what we should do is that we only asked for beer." She held up an empty beer can. "And this is our can of care." She tilted the can over to show that it was empty, tossing it over her shoulder. "Oh, look, it's empty."

Billy smirked, pointing to Ruby in agreement, raising his eyebrows at Steve.

Steve sighed. "Bite me, Charlize."

"No, I'll leave that for Nadia," Ruby replied. Billy scoffed a laugh with a smirk. Steve and Nadia both gave Ruby a look. Eddie, Hailey and Max smirked. Robin and Nancy suppressed amused smiles, while Dustin and Lucas tried not to laugh. "These are my friends too, Steve. I wasn't gonna go hide and do nothing."

"And I wasn't gonna leave Ruby and Max, and we can't be alone right now anyway because of Vecna and Mirage and us being cursed," Billy added.

Max nodded in agreement. "Right. But Dustin, Hailey, seriously, what are you doing?"

Hailey held up Dustin's compass. "This little steel capsule might be the key to saving Ruby, Billy, Max and Eddie."

"Okay, but we need a plan," Nadia told them.

"We'll make one on the way," Lucas pointed out.

Nadia tilted her head. "A better plan than a last minute one."

"So we don't go through the Gate yet," Hailey stated. "We just make sure that it's there."

Steve and Nadia both knew that they weren't going to win this one, sighing.

"Fine," Nadia agreed. "We need to make sure, yeah. But before we do anything like going into the Upside Down, we need a plan to figure out what to do. All of you know how dangerous it is."

Steve pointed to Nadia in agreement.

"Agreed," Ruby stated.

"What say you, Eddie the Banished?" Dustin asked.

They all looked to Eddie.

Eddie was thinking. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think it's a really bad idea." Steve nodded. "But like Nadia said, if you have a plan before going through, then at least you have more of a chance." Nadia nodded. "But, uh, the Shire... the Shire is burning." Lucas smiled, while Dustin started to bounce excitedly in place, but none of the others knew what Eddie was saying, frowning in confusion. Eddie stood, tilting his head slightly. "So Mordor it is."

Billy stood, tossing his empty can down. "Let's get this over with."

Dustin and Hailey exchanged a smile, turning around, walking away.

Everyone started to follow Dustin and Hailey.

Steve muttered to himself. "What is Mordor?"

Nadia smirked, pulling Steve along. "Come on."

Eddie had to run back for a canteen of water and the walkie that he had stolen.

"Get your stuff, dude," Billy told him. "Let's go."

The group walked away from Skull Rock.

∰

Eleven's Mind Space

Day - Hawkins Lab - Training Room

Brenner used chalk on a stick to draw two circles on the floor.

The psionic children were lined up, wearing sweats.

Sabina was pacing in front of them, hands clasped behind her back as she looked over each one. "Today, we are going to play a game. The rules of the game are quite simple. Stay in your circle. If you leave your circle, you lose. The last person standing in their circle will get to spend an extra hour of free time in the rainbow room."

Brenner paced along the room. "Now, even though we are going to be competing against one another, we don't want to approach this any differently than one of our tests. Yeah? Now, this is very important. If you allow anger or emotion to invade your thoughts, you will fail. I promise. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Papa," the kids spoke.

Brenner nodded. "Good. Sabina, when you're ready."

"Four," Sabina called. "Six."

Four and Six walked to stand in the middle of the two circles, facing each other.

An orderly stood behind Four, tying a blindfold on around his head.

Henry stood behind Six, tying a blindfold on around his head.

Henry and the orderly backed away, standing on either side of Sabina and Brenner, each adult a few feet apart.

Brenner spoke to Four and Six. "Begin."

Six raised his hand toward Four, trying to use his power to throw him out of his circle, but Four was able to use his power to stay within the circle, focusing all of his energy into pushing Six back, making his feet slide across the floor, before he thrusted his head forward, sending out a burst of telekinetic power that sent Six flying into the wall and falling to the ground.

Six sat up, taking off his blindfold.

"Very good, Four," Sabina told him. "Six, please, take a seat by the door." Six stood, walking toward the door, sitting down against the wall. "Five."

(Song:) Cutthroat - S U R V I V E

Five walked over to the other circle.

One by one, all of the kids stood to face off with Four, blindfolds tied on around their heads by Henry.

Each one was taken down by Four and went to go sit down by the door.

Four was not gentle with winning either, quite brutal, constantly throwing his opponents against the wall with two much strength and making them crash down on the floor.

Now, Young Apollo and Eleven were the only ones left, set to go next.

"Ten," Sabina called.

Eleven looked at Young Apollo worriedly, as he was the only psionic kid that was nice to her.

Young Apollo nodded. "I'll be okay."

Young Apollo walked to stand in the other circle, facing Four, looking at Sabina.

Sabina nodded to Young Apollo reassuringly, having complete faith that Young Apollo could take Four down.

Henry stood behind Young Apollo and tied the blindfold around his head, walking away.

"Begin," Sabina told them.

Young Apollo held up his hands, letting a glowing green light mist waft away from his hand, conjuring it out to create a glowing green light crystalline construct of sphere, throwing it into Four before he could use telekinesis against him, with enough force to throw Four out of the circle and into the mirror behind him, making the mirror crack with how much force he used, before Four fell to the floor.

The psionic kids gasped in shock and awe.

Four was furious, taking off his blindfold, sitting up, glaring at Young Apollo, who of course didn't see his glare while his blindfold was on.

"Four, take a seat by the door," Brenner told him.

Sabina smiled in pride. "Very good, Ten. Very good." Young Apollo smiled. Four stood, storming away to sit with the others. "Eleven."

Eleven walked to the other circle, which Four had just been thrown out of.

Henry stood behind Eleven, tying the blindfold around her head, whispering to her. "Good luck."

Henry walked away.

Sabina and Brenner gave Henry a suspicious look.

"Begin," Brenner stated.

Eleven and Young Apollo both took a deep breath.

Young Apollo  once again let a glowing green light mist waft away from his hand as he started to conjure a glowing green light crystalline construct of another sphere that he knew could take down an opponent without much pain, since he didn't want to hurt Eleven, throwing the hard light construct toward Eleven.

Eleven managed to sense it coming, holding up her hand, able to use telekinesis to catch the sphere construct midair, making it stop just before it hit her.

The kids watching all gasped in shock.

Eleven tried to telekinetically push Young Apollo out of the circle, as both of their noses started to bleed, but Young Apollo stayed within the circle, just barely, his feet sliding on the floor.

Eleven remembered what Henry told her. "He'd found his strength in a memory from his past. Something that made him sad, but also angry."

Eleven used the memory of her mother coming to look for her but being torn away from her as the memory to empower her. "Jane. No! No! Jane!"

Eleven thrust her hand that was telekinetically holding off the sphere construct, toward Young Apollo, which hit him and threw him back a little through the air, but as she wasn't trying to hurt her friend either, when he landed on the floor, he wasn't hurt.

Eleven quickly took off her blindfold to make sure that Young Apollo was okay.

Young Apollo sat up with a slight groan, taking off his blindfold, giving Eleven a small smile.

Eleven returned the smile.

Sabina smiled slightly. "Well, well. Looks like we have a new winner. And a very close call for this round, wouldn't you say, Ten?"

Young Apollo nodded, looking at Eleven (who was shown as Young Eleven), as both smiled at each other.

(Song Ends)

∰

Reality

City of Corinth

Sabina's Headquarters - Outside

Niko was sitting on a beach, trying to get clear-headed to go back and try to get his powers back again.

Will walked outside toward Niko. "Hey."

"Did she send you here to talk to me?" Niko asked.

Will sat down next to him. "Actually, I came on my own."

Niko sighed. "Look, I know what you're gonna say. And trust me, I'm not trying to waste any time. I don't get why it's not working."

"You know you need to have a clear mind," Will told him.

"I do," Niko said.

"You just remembered how your father really died," Will pointed out. "How can you have a clear mind?"

Niko shook his head. "It's not that."

"Really?" Will asked.

Niko stood. "You don't understand, okay?"

Will stood. "Well, then explain it to me."

Niko shook his head in pure guilt. "It wasn't Andrei that did that. That was me, okay? I made those wishes. It caused the fear monster to appear, and it got Andrei to survive the blast of both my and Nadia's powers combined. Because I wished he suffered something worse than death."

Will sighed worriedly. "Nikolai..."

"I am responsible for what's happening," Niko told him. "If I hadn't let him into my head with all that stupid wish talk, what happened back then and him being back now wouldn't happen. This is all my fault."

"You were a kid," Will told him. "You had no idea what was happening."

Niko looked down. "This entire time, we've been talking about how these monsters are ruining our lives." He looked up with tears in his eyes. "But in this case, it's me."

Will took Niko's hand. "You didn't do any of that."

"I ruined my Mama because thanks to me not going back for her, she ended up with Mikhail," Niko told him. "I ruined Nadia because one of my wishes is half the reason our Papa died, and the other reason is because I'm the reason that the guy who got off on torturing her and tormenting her is alive. The reason why Andrei is alive to torment Hailey and control her with Henry is because of me. All their victims so far are dead because of me. So yeah, maybe I do ruin people's lives. Who knows what other lives I ruined. I could have ruined yours and not even know it."

Will shook his head in concern. "Hey, hey, don't say that. Don't ever say that. You didn't ruin my life. You could never."

"How do you know that?" Niko asked.

Will took a deep, nervous breath, just as emotional as Niko was. "Because before I met you, I thought I was never gonna be able to find someone that could understand me, but you came and show me that I was wrong. You changed my life."

Niko was stunned for a moment, looking away emotionally. "Will."

"So, no, you didn't ruin my life," Will told him. "You could never ruin my life. When we met, I always felt like I was so different from other people, and I thought there was something wrong with me. Like I was a mistake. But you made me feel like I was okay and better for being me. You inspire people, okay? You inspire me."

They looked at each other with tears in their eyes, embracing, holding each other close, before pulling away, managing small, sad smiles.

"You know, you're getting really good at this whole speech thing," Niko teased.

Will pushed Niko away teasingly. "Shut up."

Niko chuckled. "What? It's true. Though it could use a little more work."

Will scoffed, tilting his head. "Well, how about this? You're Nikolai fucking Rostov. Suck it up and go save the world."

Niko smiled, sighing. "Okay, that's better."

Niko and Will smiled.

∰

Inside - Training Center

Sabina was sitting in the training center, waiting.

Niko walked in with newfound determination. "All right, let's do this."

Sabina turned her head to look toward Niko. "You came back."

Niko shrugged. "Yeah, well, who is gonna save the world if we don't, right? Now are we doing this, or do you need another five?"

Sabina smirked, standing. "Let's do it."

∰

Russia

Gold Daggers Club - Outside

Murray was still in the car, on lookout and ready as the getaway driver like he said he would be, when he saw a black van with many soldiers arrive. Even without seeing the soldiers at first, Murray knew exactly what was going down, ducking out of sight. "Shit!" He grabbed his walkie, trying to contact the others inside. "Natasha! Nadyr! Do you copy? Mikhail's men invading the club as we speak? Joyce? Apollo?"

When no one answered, Murray groaned in frustration.

∰

Inside - Konstantin's Office

Nadyr, Natasha and Joyce were sitting in the office, waiting for Konstantin and Apollo.

"Where the hell is Apollo?" Nadyr asked. Konstantin and Apollo walked in. Konstantin had rolls of blueprints in his hands. Apollo had a bunch of money in his hand. "Apollo, where did you get all that money?" Apollo looked up, busted. "Did you bet against me?"

"No," Apollo lied sheepishly.

"Yes," Joyce answered.

Apollo gave Joyce a look. "Not fair." He looked at Nadyr. "I've seen the way Natasha fights a lot more than you, and she had anger and pent up frustration with you, and you were gonna hold back on her because she was hurt, even though you didn't hold back much at all. Of course she was gonna win."

Natasha smirked.

Nadyr waved Apollo off, looking away. "Whatever you say."

"In my defense..." Apollo trailed off, sitting next to Nadyr, showing him the money in his hand. "Look at all the money."

"Shit, that is a lot," Nadyr stated.

Natasha cleared her throat, making Nadyr look at her, tilting her head at him. "Seriously?"

Nadyr looked at Apollo. "I mean, betting is wrong, and you shouldn't do it."

"Hey, I didn't make capitalism," Apollo defended himself.

Nadyr leaned closer to Natasha, whispering. "Betting is wrong? That's lame as fuck. I wanna kick my own ass."

Natasha rolled her eyes, giving Nadyr a look. "Suck it up."

Joyce chuckled in amusement, smiling a bit.

"What?" Apollo asked. "All I say is that both of you are badass and everything you do is like so cool."

"That's better," Nadyr told him.

Natasha scoffed a laugh, shaking her head.

Konstantin smirked in amusement. "As amusing as all this is." He placed the blueprints on the desk to show them. "Here's the blueprints you need for the Kamchatka prison. Everything you need and more is right in these."

"Thank you, Konstantin," Nadyr told him.

"Anything for an old friend," Konstantin replied.

"For a gangster, you're sure as hell a lot nicer than I thought you would be," Apollo remarked.

Joyce chuckled in agreement.

Konstantin smiled, shrugging. "Some of us can be. Just look at Nadyr."

"And the plane?" Nadyr asked.

Konstantin wrote down the address on the blueprints. "It's in the warehouse at this address. I'm sure one of your powers could find a way to open the place even without a key, but please, try not to destroy my plane or the warehouse it's in. Destruction tends to follow your family around, but still. I like to have my nice things still nice when they're returned to me."

Nadyr smirked. "You've got it. I'll get the plane back to you as soon as I can, but first we have to get us out of Russia and back to the States. I'll bring it back in a week or two."

"Or I could send one of my men to get it," Konstantin replied. "Either way works for me."

Natasha, Nadyr, Apollo and Joyce nodded in understanding.

"Is that it?" Natasha asked.

"That is it," Konstantin answered.

The signal on Natasha's walkie finally went through, and they heard Murray's voice repeating what he had said before. "Natasha! Nadyr! Do you copy? Mikhail's men invading the club as we speak? Joyce? Apollo?"

Natasha, Nadyr, Joyce, Apollo and Konstantin all exchanged an alarmed look.

Konstantin hit a button for intercoms to warn everyone. "Mikhail Ivanov's men infiltrating the building. Initiate evacuation and defense."

They looked out the window/doors of the office to see Konstantin's fighters all take defense against the soldiers running in, while also evacuating the guests as much as they could. Most of the guests were freaking out, but Konstantin's men were getting them mostly out before the soldiers got in and started to attack the place.

"Is there a back exit to this place?" Natasha asked.

Konstantin loaded a gun. "Not from here, but the window. There's scaffolding and an elevator on the way down to the next floor. Get out through there."

"You're joking," Joyce told him. Konstantin ran off before they could stop him, out to fight with the rest of his men. "What are you doing?"

"Konstantin's not one to back down from a fight," Nadyr explained. "He'll honor his word while we keep ours."

Apollo was getting excited. "Does that mean we get to fight at the ring?"

"No," Natasha, Nadyr and Joyce all answered.

Apollo pouted. "Man, this sucks."

"What do we do?" Joyce asked, knowing that they weren't at best fighting shape. "What do we do?"

Mikhail's soldiers looked into the office to see Natasha, Nadyr, Apollo and Joyce.

Natasha formed a shield saw and threw it at the wall of windows behind them, shattering the windows completely. "What Konstantin told us to do."

∰

Outside - On Scaffolding

Natasha, Nadyr and Apollo ran out onto the scaffolding on the outside of the building, having to stand on the bars, balancing themselves, hanging onto the bars next to them.

Nadyr turned back for Joyce, holding out a hand for her. "Come on!"

Joyce stepped closer, looking out of the window, seeing that it was a very far drop to the ground, one that would definitely kill any of them if they fell. "Oh, no, no, no. I'm not doing this."

"If we can make it to the elevator, we can hop in on the next floor," Natasha pointed out. "Joyce, we don't have a choice. Come on."

"We're out of options," Nadyr told her. "We have to go now."

Joyce hesitated, looking at Nadyr nervously as she took his hand that he still held out for her, letting Nadyr help her onto the bars of the scaffolding. When Joyce nearly fell and lost her balance, Nadyr caught her with an arm around her waist, keeping her steadily standing, safe in his hold, as the two exchanged an intense look.

Apollo looked behind them at all the bars in front of them of the scaffolding, letting his glowing green light shine through his body before conjuring it out from his hands to create a glowing green light crystalline construct of a bridge, leading right toward the elevator. "Just head straight for that elevator. You got this."

Nadyr let Joyce go and helped her onto the bridge.

Joyce nodded, stepping onto the bridge, starting to walk across it, more at ease now that there was a bridge to walk across safely.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at Nadyr.

"What?" Nadyr asked.

Natasha shook her head.

Before Natasha, Nadyr and Apollo could step onto the bridge, they heard a shattering sound over their heads, looking up to see more of Mikhail's men over their heads, looking down at the three of them.

Natasha looked at Joyce worriedly. "We'll buy you some time. Just keep going. We'll lead them after us and distract them. You get to Murray and meet us behind the building."

"Run!" Apollo told her.

Joyce started to run across the bridge.

Soldier 1 flipped down from the window above to swing toward Natasha, trying to kick her off the scaffolding, but Natasha instantly formed a shield saw and threw it through his body starting at the crotch and up toward his head, cutting him completely in half, watching the two halves fall down to the ground below, several meters down.

Nadyr and Apollo were both grossed out but impressed. "Awesome."

Soldier 2 swung down to kick Nadyr off the scaffolding, but Nadyr held onto the pipe and spun around it, landing on the bar below him. Soldier 2 and 3 jumped down onto the bars next to him, trying to taser him from either side, but Nadyr held them both off with either arm, elbowing and punching in a fast blur of motion, holding out his hands with emanated with red glow before he shot plasma blasts at the soldiers on either side of him, throwing them off of the scaffolding while setting them on fire, and letting them fall all the way to the ground as they screamed in pain.

Soldier 4 jumped toward Apollo, trying to taser him. Apollo blocked the move and kicked Soldier 4 in the stomach, making him double over so he could grab his head and slam it onto the pipe next to them, then into the window behind them, shattering the window, and throwing Soldier 4 off the scaffolding to the ground below with a fall so far that it would kill him definitely.

As Soldier 5 and 6 jumped down toward Natasha, Natasha grabbed onto the pipe next to her and spun herself around it so she could kick both of them off the scaffolding to the ground below to kill them with such a height of the fall.

Soldier 7 ran toward Nadyr, but Nadyr jumped down to the level below on the scaffolding and ripped up a board that he threw into Soldier 7 to knock him down off the bars of the scaffolding, before jumping up back to that level, grabbing onto a bar over his head to swing himself forward, kicking both feet into Soldier 7's chest to make him fall back off the bars, but Soldier 7 caught himself between two boards, trying to keep himself up. Nadyr landed on the board in front of him, and walked across the body of Soldier 7 jumping on him to make him lose his grip of the scaffolding boards and fall to his death, reaching the other board on the other side.

Soldier 8 tried to strike Apollo with a taser, but Apollo ducked, making the taser hit the glass behind him, which cracked, before spinning around on the board beneath his feet to backhand punch Soldier 8 in the face, grabbing his taser and turning it around on him to make the soldier taser himself, pushing him to the ground to kill him from the height of the fall.

Soldier 9 swung toward Natasha to kick her off the bars of the scaffolding she was standing on. Natasha held out her hands to conjure her gold-glow tint shield to catch her fall so she didn't fall to her death, turning onto her back on her shield, flipping up to her feet to land on the scaffolding again, this time on a board, spinning around and thrusting her arms toward Soldier 9 to send her shield flying into him, sending him flying off the scaffolding and into the air several feet away, making him scream as he started to fall to his death.

On the hard light bridge that led the elevator, Joyce saw the fighting and looked back at Nadyr, Natasha and Apollo worriedly, but knowing she had to keep going for them to get to be able to escape as planned.

Unfortunately, Soldier 10 shot a taser at the hard light bridge, and made it shatter, making Joyce start to fall.

Joyce gasped as she ducked another shot of a taser, but started to fall from the bridge no longer helping her to safety, so she grabbed onto a wooden beam of the scaffolding to try and stay up, which started to break and dangle her dangerously high in the air, which would obviously kill her if she fell, making her scream. "Natasha! Nadyr!"

Natasha and Apollo were both in the middle of fighting.

Nadyr had just finished shoving his current opponet off the scaffolding when he saw Joyce about to fall, starting to run across the pipes and boards, flipping and doing parkour through each piece of scaffolding to get closer to Joyce, dead set on saving her. "Joyce! I'm coming!" As the wooden beam broke in half, Joyce fell again with a scream, but Nadyr dove down over the board in front of him to keep up his weight, while reaching one hand down to catch Joyce's hand, holding onto the beam over his head to keep them both up. "Gotcha!"

Joyce looked up at Soldier 10 behind him as he started to attack. "Nadyr!"

Soldier 10 was about to taser Nadyr, but Nadyr let go of the bar over his head just briefly, his hand emanating with red glowing light as he shot a plasma blast at Soldier 10 with enough force to send him flying off the scaffolding, burning him instantly as he fell to the ground, screaming in agony, and instantly rolled himself upward as he still had hold of Joyce's hand and pulled her up into his hold to save her, putting her back on solid ground on the board beneath their feet, both breathing heavily.

Nadyr opened the elevator behind him, getting Joyce inside. "Go, go, go!"

Joyce hit the button on the elevator as she instantly started to go down.

Away from them, Natasha and Apollo were taking down Soldiers 11 and 12 with a gold-glow tint and a glowing green crystalline construct shield, using the shields to throw the soldiers off the scaffolding to the ground to their deaths.

Natasha climbed up toward Soldier 13 on the next level of the scaffolding. Soldier 13 tried to strike her with a taser, but Natasha spun away on the bars, jumping into the air and spinning around him, as he circled around to face her to try and taser her again when she landed behind him. Natasha instantly held up a shield to block the taser, thrusting the shield into him to send him flying to the ground to his death.

Apollo kicked Soldier 14 off the scaffolding to the ground, to his death, as he spun around to face Soldier 15 behind him, kicking him down, making him land on a board behind him. He ran toward him, jumping up to grab a bar over his head to swing himself toward Soldier 15 as he was getting up, kicking him in the face and sending him flying off the scaffolding, watching him fall to his death, as he finished the swing on the bar to spin himself around it, and kick Soldier 16 behind him as he came to attack, immediately creating a hard light sphere of glowing crystalline light, thrusting it toward Soldier 16 to send him flying off the scaffolding and falling to his death.

Once all the soldiers on the scaffolding were gone, Natasha and Apollo immediately made their way toward Nadyr.

Nadyr was holding Soldier 17 over the edge of the scaffolding to threaten to drop him. "What's Mikhail's goal and how do we--"

Before he could finish, Apollo pushed Soldier 17 off the scaffolding and to the ground below to his death.

Nadyr and Natasha both looked at Apollo, raising their eyebrows.

Apollo shrugged. "Whoops."

A grenade was suddenly shot into the glass behind Nadyr, Apollo and Natasha, making all three look at it. Apollo and Natasha had little to no warning to make shields of their own powers to protect them, as the grenade went off, throwing Nadyr, Apollo and Natasha off the bars they stood on, but before they could fall to their deaths, Natasha created a gold-glow tint shield to catch their fall and push them into the building behind them.

∰

Inside

When Natasha used her shield to throw herself, Nadyr and Apollo into the building, they crashed through the wall of windows, shattering the glass, as they landed inside on the floor, all three of them groaning in pain.

"Ow," Nadyr complained. "That hurt."

∰

Outside

Joyce's elevator reached the ground, the doors opening, and as soon as they did, Joyce ran out of the elevator toward the car which Murray was still in, running to get into the passenger seat.

"What the hell is taking so long?" Murray asked.

"All of us dodging death, again, thank you very much," Joyce replied. "Get behind the building."

"What?" Murray asked.

"Get behind the building!" Joyce repeated.

Murray threw the car into drive. "Okay!"

Murray sped the car around the building.

∰

Inside

Nadyr, Apollo and Natasha were pushing themselves up, making their way into a hallway, seeing most of the other soldiers had been inside, having to fight against Konstantin and his men.

"Damn," Natasha said. "Another army, and at least we have your friend's to back us up, Nadyr."

"Yep," Nadyr agreed. "Who would have thought there's more honor among gangsters, right?"

Apollo looked behind them toward the windows on the other side of the hallway toward another wall of windows, that led to the back of the building, facing another skyscraper behind them at the back of this building, getting an idea, smirking excitedly. "Guys, I got an idea."

"Is it safe?" Natasha asked.

Apollo tilted his head. "I said an idea, not a miracle."

"What is it?" Nadyr asked.

"We're gonna fucking jump out of a skyscraper," Apollo answered with a smile.

Nadyr smirked, which turned into a smile. "Fuck yeah."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Oh, God." They saw more soldiers about to burst into the room when they saw the three. "Fuck it, let's do it."

As Mikhail's men started to run into the hallway, Natasha, Apollo and Nadyr turned around and ran down the hallway down the way toward the wall of windows leading outside, jumping out of the windows.

∰

Outside

As Natasha, Apollo and Nadyr jumped out of the windows, they shattered them completely, and as they jumped, Apollo let his glowing green light shine through his body before conjuring it out from his hands to create a glowing green light crystalline construct of a bridge, that Natasha, Apollo and Nadyr all landed on, and they instantly ran across it midair to get to the next skyscraper over. Natasha conjured a gold-glow tint shield behind them to keep them safe from being shot by Mikhail's men.

Apollo tilted the bridge into a slide so that Natasha, Apollo and Nadyr were now sliding fast toward the ground below, but not in a way that could severely hurt them or kill them, as Natasha kept the shield up behind them for protection.

When they reached the ground, Murray and Joyce pulled up in the car.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Joyce urged.

Natasha, Nadyr and Apollo stood and instantly ran for the car, all getting into the backseat, yelling at Murray. "Drive!"

Murray threw the car into drive and took off down the street away from the building.

∰

On the Road

As the Russian group (Natasha, Nadyr, Apollo, Joyce and Murray) was speeding down the street, a soldier's truck drove after them in a car chase.

"Shit!" Nadyr snapped.

The soldier's truck crashed through any obstacle in its way, including other cars, to chase after the Russian group's car.

Apollo looked at Murray. "You might wanna go faster."

"You see this thing?" Murray replied. "This is as fast as it goes."

The soldier's truck grazed the back of their car, making them jostle within the car as it spun around, the side of the car now to the front of the soldier's truck, making them all gasp as the soldier's truck continued driving, pushing their car along the street.

"Do something!" Joyce said worriedly.

Natasha got an idea. "Apollo, shields against the truck." Natasha and Apollo both formed their gold-glow tint and glowing green crystalline hard light shields against the truck behind them. "Push, now!"

Natasha and Apollo used their shields to push their car away from the truck, allowing the car to spin away from the truck, so that Murray could get the car back in control.

Apollo turned toward the truck behind them, thrusting out his hand, glowing with green mist, to conjure hard light out of his hand and out in front of the truck to create a huge crystalline construct of a ramp (tilted sideways) that the truck had no choice but to drive up, but since it was tilted sideways, the truck tilted downward and started to spiral through the air, falling to the ground in a huge crash.

Nadyr was incredibly impressed by what both Natasha and Apollo did, looking up to Murray. "Go, go, go!"

Seeing as no one else was around to stop them, they got away to safety, all of them cheering in relief.

Apollo and Nadyr smiled, high fiving. "Yeah!"

Natasha pulled out the roll of blueprints that she had gotten from Konstantin, smiling in relief that they still got what they needed and got away clean from the battle. "Hopper, here we come."

∰

Kamchatka, Russia

Russian Prison - Dining Hall

All of the prisoners had finished eating.

Hopper glanced over at Ivan, who was lighting another cigarette to smoke, getting an idea.

∰

Fighting Ring / The Pit

The guards led the prisoners out back through the fighting ring, or as the prisoner called it earlier, the pit, leading them back to their cells.

Dmitri looked at Hopper behind him. "You want to make a fool of yourself, go ahead. But to bring down these men, leaving them with no hope, what is the purpose of that?"

"I tell them truth," Hopper replied. "You feed their delusion."

Dmitri turned to face Hopper. "Not delusions. Hope. I believe we can fight. I believe we can win. I have a son. I cannot leave this world with him believing his father is a traitor. I need to get back to him, and I will get back to him."

Hopper smirked, trying to pick a fight with him. "Is he slow?"

"What?" Dmitri asked.

"Your son," Hopper answered. "Is--is he slow? Is he stupid?"

Ivan walked closer, speaking in Russian. "Stop talking."

"No, he's very smart," Dmitri answered. "Top of his class."

"Be silent!" Ivan snapped in Russian.

Hopper laughed. "Then you're not his father."

They continued to ignore the orders Ivan snapped at them.

Dmitri glared at Hopper. "You are drunk, American. I would stop speaking unless you wish to die sooner."

Hopper shrugged, shaking his head. "I can. It doesn't really matter. I know I'm gonna die today. But guess what? I know who I am and what I've done, unlike you and these men, who can't face the truth. That you're the reason why we're in here. You're gonna die today. Your son is not your son, and your wife--"

Dmitri lost his patience, punching Hopper in the face, continuing to punch him. Hopper fought back just as hard, punching repeatedly.

The other prisoners were cheering in Russian. "Come on, come on!"

Ivan and another guard ran closer to pull Hopper and Dmitri apart.

Hopper grabbed Ivan when Ivan grabbed him, flipping him to the floor, elbowing him in the face, knocking his hat off, reaching into Ivan's jacket.

Another guard used the butt of his gun to hit Hopper in the face, knocking him down.

As the men were brought back to their cells, Hopper was dragged in by two guards, who then closed and locked the door behind them before leaving.

Ivan walked up to the cell, glaring at Hopper through the bars, speaking in Russian. "You do that again... we shoot you on the spot. Fools."

Ivan turned around, walking away.

Dmitri was sitting on the bench, groaning in pain, breathing heavily from the fight. "You happy now, American?" Hopper sat up, groaning in pain. "Was that worth it?" Hopper turned to face him, still sitting down. "Was that worth it?"

Hopper leaned back against the bars behind him. "We call it a Demogorgon. I don't know how they got it here, or what they're doing with it, but... everything I said about it is true. Except it has one weakness. Fire. Hates fire, anything to do with heat." He took a bottle of alcohol he had smuggled from the dining hall to show Dmitri. "So I figure, if we want a shot at killing this thing, we need some fuel." He took out Ivan's lighter that he had swiped during the fight. "And I need something to light it with." He lit the lighter. "So you asked me if it was worth it? To answer your question..." He blew out the flame. "Yeah, I think it was worth it."

Realizing this was why Hopper started the fight, to get Ivan's lighter, Dmitri smiled, chuckling. "You son of a bitch." Hopper laughed. "You son of a bitch."

Hopper groaned in pain. "Don't make me laugh. My ribs are broken. Don't make me laugh."

Dmitri let out raucous laughter.

∰

Salt Lake City, Utah

Suzie's House - Outside

Calliope was sitting on the porch, gazing off.

Jonathan walked toward her, sitting down on the porch. "You okay?"

Calliope bit her lip. "Sorry about that. Back there."

"What's going on?" Jonathan asked.

Calliope sighed heavily, rolling up her jacket sleeve, showing Jonathan the black veins on her wrists and hands. "This is happening."

Jonathan frowned in confusion. "That happened at the hospital, before you passed out."

"Yeah," Calliope answered. "You wanted to know what happened? Here's what happened. One of the times I got shot... whether it was when I was saving you from the college, or at the safe house, or both... I got infected with a virus. One that I've seen before on one of the missions I did to try and save my brother. My friend Daniel got it. From the Clandestines."

Jonathan frowned in concern. "What does it do?"

"It's like rabies," Calliope answered. "First comes anger. Then violence. Then insanity. Until there's nothing left of you, right up to the point that it kills you."

Jonathan looked disconcerted, worried. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't think it would make any difference," Calliope answered. "It doesn't change the mission. We still get to El, Niko, Will and Apollo. We still save them and the rest of your friends back in Hawkins. I don't care what happens to me as long as I save Apollo. And it's not like any of you know me enough to care about what happens to me, so..."

"You're wrong," Jonathan told her. "I do care. Okay? We can fix this, Calliope. Mikhail did this to you, right?"

"Yeah," Calliope answered.

"Okay, so we're literally going to look for Will, Niko, El and Apollo," Jonathan stated. "And they're with Sabina. Sabina's responsible for creating everything else, right?"

"What does Sabina have to do with this?" Calliope asked.

"Well, Sabina's so against Mikhail that she should have a cure for this too, right?" Jonathan asked.

Calliope frowned in thought. "Maybe, actually. But we don't know that for sure, Jonathan. If Sabina has the cure or if she even knows about this virus."

"I don't care," Jonathan replied. "We'll figure it out. And if she doesn't know about it yet, then maybe she'll figure out a cure once we get there. We're not gonna let you die."

Calliope shook her head. "Don't worry about me. This is about El, Niko, Will and Apollo and your friends back home. They need us. So if there is even the slightest chance that we can save them, all of them, we can get them out of there, then we have to take that. No matter what the cost."

Jonathan frowned in concern, not sure what else to say or do.

∰

Inside - Mr. Bingham's Study

Suzie's father was sitting in his study, typing away on her computer.

The breaker powered down as the power was shut off.

Mr. Bingham groaned, standing. "Cornelius?"

∰

Hallway

Suzie and Mike were hiding in the hallway behind walls.

Mr. Bingham walked to the edge of the stairs, looking over the railing. "Cornelius?" Cornelius shrieked, running away. Mr. Bingham ran downstairs. "Cornelius!"

As soon as he was downstairs, Mike and Suzie ran for the study.

∰

Study

Mike and Suzie ran into the study.

Suzie ran right for the computer, sitting down at the desk.

Mike closed the door, locking it, before looking around. "Wait, where's Calliope, Jonathan and Argyle? Shit."

Suzie checked the time on her watch. "And three, two..."

Downstairs, Cornelius ran up to the breaker box, turning the power back on.

Mike looked up, relieved that this was working. "Oh, my God. Way to go, Cornelius."

Suzie powered up the computer and typed in the Nina number into the dial pad.

∰

Foyer

As Mr. Bingham walked downstairs, Tanner and Tatum  aimed their orange and purple swords at Mr. Bingham. They also had strainers over their heads, which had holes in them in the shapes of stars.

"Away, you mouldy rogue!" Tatum said. "Away!"

∰

Study

Suzie was already working her hacker skills. "And we're in."

Mike raised his eyebrows in shock. "Holy sh..." Remembering that Suzie didn't like cursing, Mike corrected himself. "Heck. Oh, holy heck. You did it."

Suzie was typing very fast. "Hold your applause. I don't see an address."

Mike pointed to the screen. "Office. Try office."

Suzie did, as it unfurled a long computer code. "What is all this?"

∰

Foyer

Mr. Bingham yelled at the two kids with the swords. "Tanner, Tatum, out of the way!"

Tanner and Tatum ran away, giggling as they did.

∰

Kitchen

Mr. Bingham ran toward the breaker box, just as it sparked slightly.

Cornelius shot his father in the back with his toy bow and arrows.

Mr. Bingham turned to face him. "Cornelius." Cornelius hissed like a snake, running off. At the stove, a fire was crackling over the food, causing Mr. Bingham to cry out, calling out for the two kids that were supposed to be cooking. "Abby! Peter!"

∰

Study

Suzie and Mike were still watching the code unfurl.

"Maybe it's hidden in the code?" Mike suggested.

"What you just said makes no sense," Suzie told him. "Hold your butt. I'll trace the IP."

"The what?" Mike asked.

"The internet protocol address," Suzie answered. "It's a unique numerical label given to all information technology connected to the Internet."

"What's the Internet?" Mike asked.

Suzie shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's just gonna change the world."

Mike watched in complete confusion.

∰

Kitchen

Mr. Bingham ran to get a fire extinguisher, using it to put out the flames on the stove.

∰

Study

Suzie was still typing.

"What's happening now?" Mike asked.

"I'm running the IP through a geolocation software," Suzie answered. "Basically a form of data mining."

∰

Dining Room

Tabitha was laying on the floor, shaking, pretending to be choking, her gloves stained in red like she covered her neck, which she was holding, in ketchup or something else red.

Mr. Bingham walked into the room, seeing Tabitha like this, kneeling next to her in terror. "Tabitha! Tabitha? Tabitha. Oh, no."

Silas was filming on his camera. "And cut." Tabitha dropped the act, giving Mr. Bingham a smile. "Incredible. Just incredible. And Father, your terror." Silas gave a chef's kiss. "It looked genuine."

Mr. Bingham sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

∰

Study

Suzie finished getting the location of Nina in Corinth, getting the coordinates. "Bingo."

"That's in the middle of the ocean," Mike stated. Suzie shrugged. "Okay, fine. Can you print this?"

"No, my skills end at IP geolocation," Suzie told him sarcastically.

Mike frowned in confusion.

Suzie hit a button on the printer to print the coordinates.

Mike realized. "You were being sarcastic."

"Yeah," Suzie answered.

Mike nodded slightly.

∰

Foyer

Mr. Bingham was starting to walk for the stairs.

Malcolm and Mickey, the boys that had been play fighting for Silas earlier, were playing around on Mrs. Bingham's wheelchair, trying to ride it down the stairs, but of course it wouldn't fit down the stairs.

"Malcolm, Mickey, no!" Mr. Bingham told them. "You put your mother's wheelchair back. She's going to be home soon from treatment." Malcolm and Mickey went to put the wheelchair back, as they had already helped distract  their father. "These kids are gonna drive me to the looney bin."

Suzie and Mike were running down the stairs past him.

"Hi, Father," Suzie told him. "You look like you need a nap."

They ran downstairs.

Mr. Bingham was incredibly confused as to who Mike was, but he had learned by now not to ask questions in this house, looking over the railing. "Slow down!"

∰

Outside

Jonathan and Calliope were still sitting outside.

Mike and Suzie ran outside.

"There you two are," Mike told them.

Jonathan and Calliope stood.

"Did you get it?" Jonathan asked.

Suzie waved the printed paper with the coordinates. "I got it."

Suzie handed the paper to Mike.

Mike smiled. "Dustin and Hailey are right. You're a certified genius."

Suzie smiled.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Calliope stated as the four of them walked toward the drive way.

Suzie made a face when she smelled something. "I think we just spooked a skunk."

(Song:) Pass the Dutchie - Musical Youth

They looked toward the van, seeing that weed smoke was wafting away from the van.

Jonathan opened the back of the van.

Argyle and Eden were lounging about on the floor of the van, getting high.

Argyle smiled. "Yo, my dudes. Any luck?"

Suzie looked shocked.

Calliope, Mike and Jonathan were definitely not even surprised, rolling their eyes.

(Song Ends)

∰

Hawkins, Indiana

Night - On the Road

Powell and Callahan were driving in their cop car, seeing many people out and looking for the supposed murderers.

A truck drove right past them, with loud rock music playing, while the people in the truck were cheering and laughing mockingly at the cops before driving away.

"You see that, Chief?" Callahan asked. "Openly mocking us."

"Stay calm," Powell advised. "Stay calm."

"A bunch of angry, armed vigilantes are out hunting kids, openly defying us," Callahan pointed out. "And you want me to stay calm?"

Powell nodded. "Stay calm. Yeah."

Callahan looked away in disbelief.

Officer Daniels: (on radio) "Hey, Chief, you copy?"

"Hey, I copy," Powell answered.

"Found Steve Harrington's car and the car that was reported stolen nearby the Alibi today hidden up by Skull Rock," Daniels explained from the woods. "No sign of the kids though."

"Skull Rock?" Callahan repeated.

"Yeah," Powell answered.

"Isn't that a make out spot?" Callahan asked.

Powell nodded. "And a stone's throw from Lover's Lake."

"The hell they wanna go back there for?" Callahan asked.

Powell shrugged. "One way to find out. Hold tight. On our way."

Powell turned on the lights and sirens, turning the car around and driving off.

∰

Woods

Hailey was running through the woods.

Dustin was right behind her and looked at the compass, which was going nuts in his hand. "I can't tell which way to go anymore, this thing's going haywire."

Hailey looked dizzy. "Something's happening."

"What?" Dustin asked.

"Just got really dizzy," Hailey answered. "I think I feel something. We don't need the compass anymore."

Hailey took off running again in the direction of the Gate. Dustin followed her just as fast.

Eddie called after them. "Hailey? Dustin? Can you slow down? Hailey! Dustin!"

The others chased after them.

∰

Lover's Lake

Hailey ran out onto the lake bank over Lover's Lake, followed by Dustin. The others ran out behind them.

Steve held out a hand to keep Hailey and Dustin from stepping right into the lake with how fast they were running. "Watch your step, guys."

They realized where they were.

"Oh, man," Ruby complained. "You gotta be shitting me."

"Yeah, I thought these woods were familiar," Eddie admitted.

"Lover's Lake?" Robin asked.

"This is confounding," Dustin said excitedly.

"There's a Gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asked.

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening," Nadia recalled.

"Maybe Vecna and Mirage are the same way?" Nancy asked.

Lucas shook his head. "If they were, why didn't they leave Gates when they attacked at Krug Park? Or Dustin in the library. Or Nadia, Ruby, Nancy and Robin on the bridge?"

"Lucas' right," Nadia answered, before realizing. "Not whenever they attack. Whenever they kill."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, only one way to find out." They found the boat Eddie tried to use in 4.05, taking the tarp off of it. Eddie, Billy and Steve moved the boat into the water. "Easy. I--I said easy, guys."

"Sorry, dude," Eddie apologized.

Billy waved it off. "Yeah, yeah."

Robin put her hands on Steve and Billy's heads to climb into the boat. "Here you go. Yeah, I'm just gonna do that. Thank you."

Once she was in the boat, Billy shrugged her hand off. "Yeah, that works too."

Nancy and Eddie climbed into the boat.

Billy stepped into the boat.

Ruby reached for Billy's hand to step safely into the boat so they could both sit down. "Let's see about this."

Nadia stepped closer, as both Ruby and Nadia had their weapons with them, making sure they did.

Steve offered Nadia a hand so she could take it and step carefully into the boat. "Yeah, you got her."

Eddie gestured to the open seat next to him. "Reed. Rostova. Whatever."

Nadia chuckled, sitting down. "Thank you. Can't remember the last time someone called me Reed. Guess we basically dropped that, didn't we?"

Dustin tried to step into the boat.

Billy stopped him. "Hey, hey, hey. You trying to sink us? This thing holds six people tops, okay?"

"It's better this way, okay?" Nadia asked. "You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble."

"You keep an eye out," Dustin replied. Nadia gave him a look. "It's my goddamn theory."

"You heard Nadia," Robin told them.

"Who put her in charge?" Dustin asked.

"I did," Robin replied.

"And isn't she the dad of all you kids?" Ruby asked mockingly, using their joke against them to get Dustin to stop arguing.

Billy smirked. "So literally, all of you put her in charge."

Nadia gestured to Ruby and Billy in agreement, tilting her head at the kids.

Lucas and Max were just enjoying this silently.

Dustin groaned.

"Yeah, like that ever stopped us from not listening to Steve or Nadia before," Hailey replied.

"Yeah, well, you need to listen this time," Nancy responded. "Not everyone can go."

Nadia held out her hand toward Dustin. "Compass." Dustin groaned, handing the compass to Nadia, pouting. Nadia smirked. "Thank you."

Steve took a bag out of the boat to make room for him, tossing the bag to Dustin. "Hey, there you go."

Steve pushed the boat away from shore, climbing into the boat in between Ruby and Nadia, causing both of them to smirk.

Hailey was not surprised by this, nodding sarcastically. "Classic."

Dustin's eyes widened in outrage. "You said six!"

Steve looked back at Hailey, Dustin, Max and Lucas. "Sorry."

Billy and Eddie started to row the boat out onto the lake.

"Bedtime at nine, kiddos," Robin called teasingly.

Dustin flipped the older teens off.

Hailey smirked, rolling her eyes, tilting her head slightly.

Max and Lucas exchanged an amused look.

Ruby called over to the kids teasingly/tauntingly. "Miss you already!"

∰

Eleven's Mind Space

Hawkins Lab - Rainbow Room

Eleven was sitting at the peg board again, dropping a red disk, making it land in number four, sighing.

When she heard a scream, Eleven jumped and turned around, standing, walking to the door.

∰

Hallway

Eleven walked into the hallway.

Young Apollo had been going to the bathroom when he heard the screaming, walking along. "Eleven? Did you hear it too?"

Eleven nodded.

They heard distant struggling and screaming from another room, both slowly walking toward it, looking through the door in the window.

In the room, Henry was being tortured by electricity, groaning in agony. "Please, please..."

Two orderlies were shocking him over and over as Sabina and Brenner watched.

Sabina sensed someone watching, turning her head to the door behind her, but Young Apollo and Eleven ducked to either side of the door before she could see them.

When the door opened, Eleven grabbed Young Apollo by the wrist and pulled him around the corner of the hallway into hiding.

The two orderlies dragged Henry out of the room, down the hallway.

Sabina and Brenner walked out of the hallway.

Brenner closed and locked the room behind them, walking away.

Sabina turned her head toward the corner of the hallway which Young Apollo and Eleven were hiding behind, able to sense who was there telepathically. "Ten? Eleven?" They both tensed in fear that they would get in trouble. "Come on out."

They stepped out of hiding.

"I'm sorry," Young Apollo said. "Are we in trouble?"

Sabina shook her head, walking closer. "No, you're not in trouble."

"We--we didn't see anything," Eleven told her.

Sabina tilted her head. "I think we all know that's not true. I will explain it all to you both later, though. For now, why don't you two go play in the rainbow room? Keep yourselves busy? You both did really well in the game earlier. I'm proud of you both."

"Thank you, Mama," Young Apollo and Eleven replied.

Sabina placed a hand on both of their shoulders, giving them a little nudge toward the rainbow room. "Go on in."

Sabina turned around, walking away down the hallway, leaving them alone.

∰

Rainbow Room

Eleven and Young Apollo backed into the rainbow room.

Four was waiting in the room with three of his friends; Five, Six and Seven. "You shouldn't be wandering the halls."

"It's against the rules," Five told them.

"And not safe," Four added. Young Apollo and Eleven looked around nervously as the four of them surrounded them. Four glared at Young Apollo. "You shamed me today."

Young Apollo let out a shaky breath. "I'm sorry."

"You did that before everyone," Four told him. "Before Papa and Mama." He looked at Eleven. "And you're weak yet you beat him, while I didn't? No." He thrust his head forward, using telekinesis to throw Eleven and Young Apollo to the floor before they knew what was going to happen. The four older ones walked around the very young Apollo and Eleven, smirking. "How'd that feel? Did you like that?" Young Apollo and Eleven started to get up, looking at the camera in the corner of the room, but it was clearly turned off as its red light was not on. Four followed their gaze, looking at them. "See a light? I don't."

Six smiled mockingly. "Something must've happened to the power."

Before Young Apollo or Eleven could fight back, as they stood, all four of the older teens started to throw them around with telekinesis, making them scream, throwing them back and forth to each other, hurting them.

"Stop it!" Eleven screamed. "No!"

Four thrust his hands forward, sending Young Apollo and Eleven flying back into the wall so hard he made the wall crack, making them fall to the floor, walking closer, his nose bleeding, kneeling in front of them. "Tell Papa and Mama we did this, we will kill you."

Four stood, smiling viciously, as were his three friends, as they all smirked and walked to the door.

Young Apollo and Eleven were both groaning in pain, looking at each other sadly with tears in their eyes, sobbing, unsteadily pushing themselves up to their feet.

"Aw, feeling a little dizzy there?" Seven asked mockingly. "Poor babies."

The four older teens walked out of the room.

Suddenly, Apollo disappeared.

Eleven looked around, confused.

When she heard a scream, Eleven turned around, looking at the mirror, slowly walking toward it. In the reflection, Young Eleven was covered in blood, and blood stained the floor of the room behind her, along with some blood on the walls and furniture. Eleven looked down at her gown, seeing that it was now covered in blood.

The lights around her started to flicker, as Eleven saw more flashes of the traumatic memory, but couldn't decipher much of it at all, other than Young Eleven having blood dripping down from her eyes and nose while she screamed, and bodies everywhere.

Along with Sabina's words. "What have you done? What have you done?"

∰

Reality

City of Corinth

Night - Sabina's Headquarters - Outside

Niko focused with all he had, letting the energy flow through him, trying to accept it but there was something blocking it; blood was starting to come out of his nose and eyes, making him scream.

Sabina looked at him worriedly in horror. "Nikolai."

Will watched in horrified worry. "Sabina, stop. It's not working."

"No, don't stop," Niko told them. "We have to do this. I can handle it. I'll be okay."

Sabina knew it wasn't working, stopping the healing process, letting the dome fade, absorbing the energy back into herself. "No."

Niko fell to his knees, looking up at Sabina. "Why did you stop?"

"Because it's not working," Sabina answered. "Something is blocking it. If I kept going, you would have died."

Will went to Niko's side, offering his hand to help him up. "Come on."

Niko shook his head, standing up on his own, ignoring Will's hand, walking past him to walk away to clear his head, knowing that they needed to try again.

∰

Hawkins, Indiana

Lover's Lake

The older teens rowed the boat over the lake, right to the middle of it, where Patrick had been killed and Hailey's powers had dove right into the water.

Nancy noticed the compass going even more nuts. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, guys."

They watched as the compass was going nuts.

"Whoa," Ruby said. "Cool."

At the shore, Dustin, Hailey, Max and Lucas were waiting.

Lucas was watching the older teens with binoculars. "Wait, wait, wait. They're stopping. What are they stopping for?"

Dustin pulled out his walkie. "Guys, what's going on? Come on, guys. Talk to me. What's going on?"

Robin picked up their walkie. "Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah!'"

Hailey realized. "They're right above it."

On the boat, Steve took off his shoes and socks.

"Steve, what are you doing?" Nadia asked.

"Somebody's gotta go down there and check this out," Steve pointed out. "Unless one of you guys can top being a  Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then..."

Billy shrugged. "Surfer since I was a kid, but go for it."

Steve nodded, standing. "No complaints, all right?"

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Eddie replied. "I do not wanna go down there."

Eddie took a baggie out of his pocket.

Steve took his shirt off.

Nadia glanced over Steve's shirtless form before looking down.

Robin, Ruby and Nancy noticed Nadia's reaction and exchanged a knowing smirk.

Billy smirked, rolling his eyes.

At the shore, Lucas groaned, still using the binoculars. "Ugh. When'd Steve get so hairy?"

Hailey snorted, looking away.

"Right?" Dustin asked. "I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims the ladies dig it."

Max stepped forward to take the binoculars from Lucas. "Let me see."

Max looked through the binoculars toward the boat out at Steve.

Dustin, Hailey and Lucas thought that she would say something to mock it, but when she didn't, they exchanged a weird look.

Lucas frowned slightly.

Dustin looked from Max to Hailey, frowning.

Hailey shook her head, looking away. "Don't look at me. I don't know."

Dustin shrugged.

Out on the boat, Eddie wrapped the baggie around a flashlight to protect it from the water of the lake, handing it to Steve. "Hey."

Steve looked over his shoulder, the light shining on him, as he reached out to take the flashlight.

"Good luck," Ruby told him.

"Thanks," Steve replied.

Billy took out a cigarette and a lighter, about to smoke.

Robin took the cigarette from Billy, tossing it down. "Gross."

Billy rolled his eyes. "Seriously?"

Ruby smirked slightly.

Nancy chuckled lightly.

Nadia looked up at Steve. "Steve?" Steve looked at her. "Be careful. And don't you dare go through."

Steve nodded in understanding, diving into the water, swimming straight down to the floor of the lake, shining his flashlight through the darkness.

Nancy was keeping time.

At the shore, Lucas, Max, Hailey and Dustin were waiting.

"You guys realize, if there's a Gate down there, it's technically a Watergate," Dustin pointed out. Lucas, Max and Hailey just looked away, not amused. "Watergate."

Dustin laughed at his joke.

Hailey reached for the binoculars. "Let me see."

Max handed them over. "Here."

Hailey looked through the binoculars toward the older teens at the boat, waiting anxiously for her brother to resurface. "Come on, Steve."

Underwater, Steve swam down to the floor of the lake, shining his flashlight around, turning around, seeing a red glowing light behind the water wildlife, just like Hailey's aura, frowning in surprise, swimming toward the Gate.

On the boat, the older teens were waiting, getting anxious.

"Where we at, Wheeler?" Robin asked.

"Closing in on a minute," Nancy answered.

Nadia sighed, nodding. "Okay."

Ruby looked into the water.

At the shore, Hailey was still using the binoculars. "Come on, Steve. Come on."

Dustin held the walkie, which was picking up indistinct radio chatter.

Lucas, Max, Hailey and Dustin heard something, turning to look in the distance, seeing flashlights searching for them, and an officer yelling, "Down by the water!"

Lucas ducked. "Shit. Down!" Max, Hailey and Dustin ducked. "Shit. Shit."

Underwater, Steve swam closer to the glowing red Gate, the red light reflected on him through the water, shining his flashlight.

The Gate was almost in the shape of a star, the tell-tale sign of a Gate with the entrance of the Gate being a red goo-like substance. This Gate was a lot smaller than the ones shown before, but definitely more unique and different, as it was glowing brightly with red aura in the shape of a star.

Steve reached out to place his hand against the middle of the Gate, but thought better of it and stopped just before.

A tendril of some kind slammed against from the other side of the Gate, seen through the glowing red goo.

Steve jumped and dropped his flashlight, starting to swim up to the surface.

The tendril started to pierce through the Gate.

∰

City of Corinth

Sabina's Headquarters - Outside

Niko and Sabina were trying for the second time to get Niko's powers back.

"Do you remember how you used your powers before?" Sabina asked. "Your telepathy? With a touch, you could listen to the thoughts around you. Through your ears it almost seemed, yes?"

"Yeah," Niko answered, confused about where this was going.

"You're still using the sounds that you can hear," Sabina told him. "Like the rain, or the wind or the sound of your own breathing. You have to learn to use the sounds that you can't."

"Yeah, how am I supposed to do that?" Niko asked in annoyance.

Sabina put it in a way that she knew he would understand. "When I was your age, with this power, I was just like you. I could only use telepathy through touch. But I realized that over time, if I focused on everything around me instead of what was just in front of me, I could became as powerful at it as I am now. I could reach beyond just a touch and do something really good with it. Really powerful like I can do now. Reaching out to contact others over great distance, mind control, just to name a few. This power, I could feel it inside of me and searching for the sounds that I couldn't feel right in front of me, but that I could still hear. I called it marigold."

"Like the flower?" Niko asked.

Sabina nodded. "You know how bees found pollen?" Niko shook his head. "Bees have a positive charge, flowers have a negative one. The bees use the hairs on their body to detect the interaction between the fields. They can hear the pollen over a great distance."

Niko was getting frustrated, exasperated. "Okay, what--what are you saying?"

"You need to stop listening with your ears," Sabina answered. "Listen with your marigold and find mine."

Sabina and Niko took each other by the hands, closing their eyes. They let their eyes glow, along with their chests, the color of their powers (blue-pink-purple for Sabina, and fiery orange for Niko). Their energy resonated together and separately, pulsing around them. Electricity started to crackle out of Niko's energy like fiery strikes of lightning, little by little. It caused Sabina and Niko to levitate off the ground, as their power circled around them like an aura. Energy zapped powerfully as Niko's powers were unlocking in full, and making him become stronger than ever, making Niko let out an echoing scream as a fiery orange burst of power burst out of him, throwing everything around into chaos, and shattering all of the glass.

Niko started to glow with flickering flames and energy which swirled around him powerfully and chaotically. He held his hands in fists clenched, closing his glowing eyes. "I can't control it."

"Yes, you can," Sabina told him. "You don't just have this power, Nikolai. You are this power. It doesn't control you. You control it. It comes from within. You are the storm, so you can stop it. Pull the energy back into you."

Niko took several deep breaths, calming down, focusing all his mental energy into pulling the power back inside of him, making the flames fade.

The aura of power created by both of their powers combined started to fade, as Sabina and Niko slowly levitated back down to the ground, both with heavily bleeding noses, as they collapsed on the ground.

Will had run outside when he heard this going on, and saw Niko on the ground, running closer worriedly. "Niko!" He knelt next to Niko, making sure that he was okay. "Hey. Hey." Will held Niko's head propped up by cradling it with his hand, helping him sit up. "Hey. Come on, come on, come on." Sabina started to sit up, watching Will and Niko. "Hey, hey. You okay? Hey."

Even though the healed seemed to have worked, Niko wasn't waking up.

Sabina frowned in concern. "Something's wrong."

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"This shouldn't be happening," Sabina answered.

Niko's unconscious body started to glow as a shimmer of orange energy passed through him, over his body, flickering out like electricity for a moment, before fading away, like he was flickering in and out of existence.

The energy burned Will, forcing him to let go of Niko.

Will groaned in pain. "What the hell?"

Sabina shook her head worriedly. "Oh, no."

Will looked up at Sabina. "What's happening to him?"

"I don't know," Sabina admitted.

Thunder and lightning could be heard from the sky as orange and purple glowing energy passed through the sky.

∰

Hawkins, Indiana

Lover's Lake

On the boat, the other older teens were waiting.

Steve burst through the surface of the water with a loud splashing sound, making them all jump.

"Oh, Christ!" Nancy said.

"Fuck's sake, Harrington," Billy complained.

"I found it," Steve told them.

"You found it?" Nadia repeated.

Steve nodded. "I found it, yeah. I found it."

Steve held onto the edge of the boat.

Robin spoke through the walkie. "Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein."

On the shore, Hailey, Dustin, Lucas and Max were still in hiding from the cops.

"Steve found the Gate--" Robin started.

Dustin hurriedly turned off the walkie.

Max watched the officers walk through the woods searching for them. "Cops."

"Shit, shit, shit," Hailey whispered.

"We can't let them find Ruby, Billy and Eddie," Lucas whispered.

Max thought quickly, willing to do anything to protect Ruby and Billy, along with Eddie. "Stay with me." She stood, calling out. "Hey, officers!"

Hailey, Dustin and Lucas looked at her in surprise. "Max!"

"Over here!" Max called. "The killers! This way!"

"Oh, shit," Hailey said. "Go!"

Hailey, Dustin and Lucas stood, as they and Max all took off running, leading the cops away from the lake before they could see Ruby, Billy and Eddie out on the lake.

On the boat, the older teens were gathered.

"It's pretty wild," Steve told them. "It's more a snack-size Gate than the mama Gate, but still, it's pretty damn big."

Steve was suddenly pulled underwater, before pulling himself back up by the boat edge. He had the time to give one last look to the older teens, before he was dragged right to the bottom of the lake.

Nadia, Ruby, Nancy, Robin, Billy and Eddie started yelling in shock and worry. "Steve! Steve! Steve!"

"No, no!" Eddie yelled.

"What the hell was that?" Billy demanded.

"Nadia, Ruby, really, what happened?" Robin asked.

"Jesus!" Nancy said.

Nadia didn't waste a second, immediately standing, pulling off her jacket, tossing it down, picking up her sword and sheath.

"Wait, wait, wait," Eddie told her. "You're not going in there, are you?"

"Just wait here," Nadia told them, diving right into the water.

Despite the fact that Ruby, Billy, Robin, Nancy and Eddie yelled out for her. "Nadia!"

Nadia swam right for the Gate at the bottom of the lake.

Ruby took off her headphones, tossing her Walkman aside to the boat floor. "Goddamn it."

∰

Upside Down

Lover's Lake

Steve was pulled through the Gate by a huge tendril, pulling him along the floor of what would have been the lake, but in the Upside Down was just a large clearing of rough ground, covered in tendrils. Steve was struggling the entire time but could not break free.

∰

Hawkins

Woods

Hailey, Dustin, Lucas and Max took off running toward the direction that they had hidden Steve's car along with the stolen car.

Callahan ran after them. "Stop! Get back here, you little rats!"

∰

Lover's Lake

Underwater, Nadia reached the Gate with her sword, and reached out to touch the Gate, before starting to swim through it, obviously having a little difficulty, but was very determined to get through as fast as she could.

Up on the boat, Ruby took off her jacket, tossing it down, picking up her bow and arrows, standing.

Billy already knew what Ruby was gonna do without even having to look at her. "Don't you even think about it. You're already cursed, Ruby. Without the Walkman--"

Ruby shrugged. "Then at least I'll die saving a friend or two."

Nancy nodded in agreement. "Let's go."

Ruby and Nancy dove right into the water and started to swim down.

As Ruby swam, her hand was clamped around her quiver so that none of her arrows fell out.

Billy, Robin and Eddie yelled after them. "Ruby! Nancy!"

Billy stood, taking off his headphones, tossing his Walkman down next to Ruby's, taking off his leather jacket in frustration. "Son of a bitch. Fuck's sake."

Billy tossed his jacket to the ground, diving into to the water.

Robin and Eddie were left on the boat. "Billy!"

∰

City of Corinth

Sabina's Headquarters - Lab

Sabina and Will managed to move Niko inside.

Niko was laying down, unconscious, a shimmer of orange energy passing through him, over his body, flickering out like electricity for a moment before fading away. This continued on in short pulses of energy every few seconds, as his body was still appearing and disappearing from existence.

"What the hell?" Will asked worriedly.

Sabina shook her head in concern. "It's nothing like I've ever seen before."

"But you can figure it out, right?" Will asked. "You can help him."

"I'm gonna do everything I can," Sabina answered.

Meanwhile, outside, there was an orange and purple thunderstorm going on, thunder cracking and lightning flashing in time with the pulses of energy passing over Niko.

"What the hell is going on?" Will asked.

"It's complicated, William," Sabina told him.

"Simplify it for me," Will replied.

"Those orange and purple skies are kicking off massive amounts of Psionic energy, the same ones that Nikolai's powers radiated when his powers combined with Nadia's and created the fear monster," Sabina explained.

"And the same ones Andrei uses to create monsters," Will realized. "But that means Andrei's powers are effecting Corinth right now, which shouldn't be possible. There's no Gate here."

"Yes, but Nikolai's psychic energy is the one that was made to turn Andrei into the monster he is now," Sabina told him.

"Which means they share it," Will finished. "And once his powers are back..."

Sabina nodded. "It left him vulnerable, which shouldn't be possible, but it's happening."

"It's the infection," Will realized. "Think about it. Normal Niko would be able to fight him, but he hasn't had his powers fully in a year, and with all the extra energy around the storm..."

Sabina nodded. "And since Nikolai's powers are now evolving and converting his cells into pure energy..."

"He's more susceptible to the effects," Will finished in realization. "So you're saying he's literally in two places at once?"

Sabina nodded. "He is both trapped in his own mind and in Andrei's."

Will looked at Niko worriedly in horror.

∰

Upside Down (Hawkins)

Lover's Lake

The same orange and purple thunderstorm was going on in the Upside Down due to Mirage-Niko's connection and Mirage's attack on Niko.

Steve was dragged across the ground, screaming all the while, slammed right into a pile of tendrils before the tendril around his ankle finally let go, groaning a yell of pain.

∰

Hawkins

Woods

Dustin tripped and fell while running, hitting a tree on the side when he did, groaning in pain.

Callahan was right behind Dustin, grabbing him.

Hailey instantly turned back. "Dustin!"

Lucas and Max hadn't realized what happened until they heard Hailey say that.

Lucas instantly turned back. "Dustin. Hailey. Shit."

Max turned back.

Powell ran up to them, looking between the four teens. "Hey, there."

Hailey, Dustin, Lucas and Max sighed in frustration.

∰

Lover's Lake

Robin and Eddie were still on the boat.

Robin lifted herself up to sit on the edge of the boat, about to go in.

Eddie reached out to stop her. "No, no, no, no, no, no. Nadia said to wait. Ruby, Billy and Nancy might not have listened, but..."

"Yeah, we heard her," Robin told him.

"She's in charge," Eddie told her.

"Are you kidding me?" Robin asked. "I made that shit up."

Robin plugged her nose and let herself fall back into the water.

"Don't you go," Eddie told her. "Don't--" Robin landed in the water and began to swim down. Eddie was freaking out on the boat, standing, pacing. "Goddamn it! Why--son of a bitch! Oh, this is so stupid. This is so stupid. This is so stupid. Shit, shit, shit!"

Eddie stood on the edge of the boat and dove into the water.

∰

Upside Down

Lover's Lake

Steve was resting against the tendrils after being slammed into them, breathing heavily, pushing himself away from the tendrils quickly, standing.

In the distance, he could hear creatures roaring.

Steve looked around nervously.

Hearing another creature roar behind him, Steve spun around, looking off into the distance.

A bat flew through the air toward Steve, shrieking.

Realizing what it was, Steve started to back away.

Another bat flew closer, shrieking. Then another, and another.

Steve, realizing that he was surrounded by these bats, ran toward a boat nearby, picking up an oar, swinging it at a bat as it flew at him, taking the bat down. A bat flew right for his head, but Steve ducked, and used the oar to swing at another bat, knocking it back. The bat behind him wrapped its tail around Steve's neck and yanked hard, pulling Steve to the ground with his tendril-y tail wrapped tightly around his neck, starting to strangle him, making him drop the oar. As the bats flew closer, Steve tried to knock them back with his hands, while also trying to keep the tail from strangling him to death, struggling as much as he could. The bats started to bite Steve in the stomach and sides, making him scream in pain, unable to break free and unable to breathe, his scream echoing through the Upside Down.