...
"Livie, wake up!
...
After being caught by the police, Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Liv were taken back to the Wheelers house. They were all seated on the couch as Chief Powell, Officer Callahan, Lucas' parents and Erica, Mike and Nancy's parents, and Dustin's mom were all seated in front of them.
The cops tried to get ahold of Max's mom and Liv's parents but of course they couldn't. Liv's parents couldn't care less if she actually got arrested. And God knows where Max's mom is.
"And what exactly were you all doing at the lake?" Chief Powell interrogated.
Lucas, Dustin, Liv, and Max looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
"Uh... It's comp-"
"We were... We were just going for a walk." Max answered.
"A walk? At 9:00 pm?" Callahan asked.
"To the lake." Liv said.
"We were gonna take a little swim. Little night swim." Dustin squeaked.
"Dusty. Someone was just murdered there." Dustin's mom interrupted.
"Yeah, we... we didn't realize that until we got there." Dustin quickly came up with an excuse.
"That's why we didn't swim." Lucas added.
"And Nancy, was she with you at this night swim?" Karen asked.
"No."
"Yes. Uh..."
Dustin and Max shared a look.
"We're not sure." Lucas said.
"She was there. Then she left. It's all a little confusing." Dustin whispered that last part.
"That's when you guys came." Lucas added as he pointed to Chief Powell and the other cops.
"Right. And then they dared me to say what I said." Liv lied. "You know Max. Always causing trouble."
"Oh, yeah." Max nodded.
"About the killer." Liv specified as Dustin and Lucas just laughed.
"You're lucky you didn't get shot." Ted jumped in.
"Have you had any contact with Eddie?" Chief Powell asked.
"That psycho... freak killer? God, no. Nope. Absolutely not." Dustin insulted, no matter how much it pained him to do so.
"No. We haven't heard from him in ages." Max shook her head.
"We barely know the guy." Lucas added.
"Who?" Liv asked.
"Oh, that's a bunch of bull." Erica shook her head as she stepped forward.
"Erica!" Both of Lucas' parents yelled.
"I mean, you realize they're lying. The whole couch is on fire." Erica ratted them out as she gestured to the four teenagers on the couch.
"Erica." Lucas' parents said again.
"Just the facts." Erica retorted.
"Are you lying to these policemen, Dusty?" Dustins mom softly asked.
"No." Dustin exclaimed in a high pitched voice causing Liv to rub the bridge of her nose.
"Lying to the cops is a crime, son." Lucas' dad told him.
"I'm not lying." Lucas denied.
"The fire is consuming us." Erica said.
"Threaten them with a little jail time. Maybe that'll loosen their lips." Ted suggested.
"Okay-" Liv started but was cut off by Lucas' mom.
"You wanna send our kids to jail?"
"We need to take this seriously." Ted said.
"He didn't mean it like that." Karen defended.
Everyone in the room started to talk over each other and argue about whether sending the four teenagers to jail was a good idea or a bad idea.
"Shut up!" Chief Powell tried to shut everyone up but they all ignored him.
"Oh my God." Max whispered as she threw her head back.
Chief Powell rolled his eyes before standing up from his chair. "Shut up!"
"Jesus." Karen whispered as everyone quieted down and looked at Chief Powell.
"Shh." Callahan shushed her.
"We're gonna try a more civilized approach. One at a time." Chief Powell looked at all the parents before pointing at Max. "You first."
"Wait, what? Why me?" Max asked.
"Follow me." Chief Powell ordered before walking out of the room.
"I'm not even in the Hellfire Club." Max called after him.
"Do I need to cuff you?" Callahan asked.
Max and Liv shared a look before looking back at Callahan.
"Kinky." Liv whispered.
"Up. Chop-chop." Callahan ordered.
Max put her hand on Liv's thigh and gave it a little squeeze, as a way of saying goodbye, before she stood up and let Officer Callahan usher her out of the room.
...
Liv and Lucas were waiting in the kitchen while Dustin went into the bathroom to try and get ahold of Robin through the walkie talkie.
"Anything?" Lucas asked as Dustin walked back over to the two.
"Nothing." Dustin replied as he put down his walkie and leaned on the counter next to Liv.
"You don't think they went through..." Liv theorized.
"Through Watergate? Without us? Without a plan? Without weapons? They wouldn't be that stupid." Dustin told her.
Liv nodded. "Yeah."
"They must just be laying low cause the law got us." Dustin thought.
"The law?" Erica repeated as she walked over to the three, sipping on a juice box. "What is this, Gunsmoke? The Stupid and the Ugly? Should I round up the posse? Saddle the horses?"
"Erica. Please, just go away." Lucas ordered.
"Here's the deal. Either you tell me what's happening or I tell Dustin and Liv what I found under your bed." Erica negotiated causing Lucas to go wide eyed.
Dustin and Liv looked at Lucas with wide eyes.
"Please, no." Lucas begged.
"Spill your guts, cowpuncher." Erica said.
"What'd she find under your bed?" Liv smirked as she leaned closer to Lucas.
"Nothing." He quickly responded.
"Is it gross?" Dustin looked at Erica and she nodded. "Scale of one to ten."
"A hundred." Erica said.
"A hundred?" Liv gaped as she looked back at Lucas.
"The serial killers a dark wizard from the Upside Down. And we've been looking for him, but he's in the Upside Down, which we can't reach. At least we thought we couldn't, until we found a gate at Lover's Lake. That was the reason why we were there, but these stupid cops grabbed us. And if you tell anyone about this, that's including Mom and Dad and Tina... especially Tina, I... will smother you in your sleep. Do you understand?"
"Hmm." Erica rested her chin in her hand as she thought about it.
"Erica?" Lucas slid his front half of his body closer to Erica. "Do... you... copy?"
"The smothering in my sleep part, but not much else." Erica told him. "Why would they open up a gate at Lover's Lake?"
"What?" Lucas asked.
"The commies."
"The commies didn't do this." Lucas replied.
"Then who did?" Erica folded her arms.
"Nobody."
"So it just opened up for fun?" Erica sarcastically asked.
"Erica, you have no idea what you're talking about." Lucas told her.
"No, she doesn't, yet she raises an essential question." Dustin spoke up. "How did watergate open up? Only two gates have opened, so far as we know. One by El, one by the commies. But it's not the commies or El this time, so it..." Dustin stopped talking as he realized something. "Holy shit. Wait, wait, wait, wait."
"'Wait, wait, wait.' What?" Liv asked.
"There's one thing we've never understood. Which is why Vecna's killing people." Dustin explained as he started to walk away. "What's his motive? Killing teens? It always just seemed too random. too prosaic. On top of that, how does the Mind Flayer figure into all this? Maybe this is it. This is the answer."
"What is the answer?" Liv wondered as Karen walked into the kitchen with a cop behind her.
"You sure you just want water?" She asked as she opened up the fridge. "We have Coke, Sprite, Dr Pepper."
"Coke works. Thank you." The officer said.
Karen took out a Coke and gave it to him as Dustin motioned for the others to follow him to the stairwell.
"Okay, just hear me out. How did El open the Mothergate?" Dustin asked.
"She contacted the demogorgon." Liv answered.
Dustin pointed to his head. "With psychic contact. Just like..."
"Vecna when he casts his spells." Lucas realized.
"Exactly." Dustin said. "So, what if, with each kill, he's not simply killing them, he's making a powerful psychic connection with his victims? A connection powerful enough to rip a hole in the fabric of time and space."
"Hes opening more gates." Lucas whispered.
"Bingo." Dustin said.
"Copy. We're still at the Wheeler house." A cop said over his radio as he walked by the front door where the teens were standing.
Dustin slowly walked into the dining room and motioned for the others to follow. "Why would he be opening gates?"
"To take over the world." Liv answered.
"Who do we know that wants to take over the world?" Dustin questioned.
"The Mind Flayer." Liv put together.
"So if the Demogorgon was just his foot soldier, Vecna's his five star general. A five star general with the power to open gates." Dustin explained.
"Holy shit." Lucas said as he put his hands on his head.
"Holy shit." Liv ran her fingers through her hair.
"Holy shit." Dustin nodded.
"Holy shit. That was incomprehensible. You lost me at Mothergate. Please be kind. Rewind." Erica ordered.
...
"That brings us to the question you first raised. How and why is there a gate at Lover's Lake? Let's analyze. What do Eleven and Vecna have in common?" Dustin explained to Erica who sat at the Wheelers kitchen table next to Liv. "To open a tear in time and space, just like the Mothergate. Are these like the Mothergate? But a gate nonetheless. So our working theory is that Vecna makes remote contact from his attic. We don't know why. We assume he can do it from anywhere." Dustin looked at Erica who was staring at something. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Yeah, I'm listening." Erica stood up from her chair and walked into the kitchen. "It's just.... You said you followed Vecna through lights, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Dustin asked.
"Because I think he's here." Erica said.
Liv, Lucas, and Dustin looked at what Erica was looking at. The light in the kitchen was flickering in morse code.
"S.O.S." Dustin whispered. "Hey, uh, remember when I said they wouldn't be stupid enough to go through watergate?"
"Yeah?"
Dustin turned to look at Liv and Lucas. "I underestimated them.
...
Liv, Lucas, Dustin, and Erica ran into the living room where Holly was playing with her lightbright. Lucas hopped over the couch and unplugged with from the wall.
"Hey!" Holly shouted.
Liv went over to Holly and picked up the lightbright while Dustin picked up the pieces.
"I'm sorry!" Liv shouted as she ran away with Lucas and Dustin.
Erica went over to Holly and handed her a cookie. "For your understanding."
The four of them ran upstairs into Nancys bedroom and placed the light bright on the bed along with the pieces. Once they put in all the pieces Dustin told Lucas to go plug it in, which he did.
"Okay, you guys seeing this?" Dustin yelled.
The lightbright started to get brighter, indicating that their idea worked.
"Holy shit!" Erica yelled as Dustin laughed.
"We're not moving it, but we're gonna unplug it. Stand by." Liv yelled and turned to Lucas. "Yank it."
Lucas unplugged the lightbright and kneeled down next to Liv.
"Okay, try it now." Liv shouted.
The light bright started to light up causing them all to smile in shock and amazement.
"H... I..."
"Hi!"
"Hey!"
"That worked!" Dustin yelled.
It took a few seconds but the light bright started to light up with a new message.
"S... T... U..."
"Stu..."
"Stupid?"
Those letters disappeared and then new ones started to appear.
"C... K..."
"Stuck."
"Okay. They're stuck in the upside down." Lucas put together.
"Uh, you can't get back through watergate?" Dustin yelled.
More letters started to appear.
"That's a six?"
"G?"
"No, G."
"Yeah."
"U... A... R..."
"Guar?"
"Guar...ded. Guarded. Okay. Uh, watergates guarded." Dustin said. "Okay, we think we have a theory that can help with that. We think watergate isn't the only gate. That there's a gate at every murder site."
A question mark appeared.
"Okay. Seriously?" Dustin asked. "How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?"
"Go to Eddie's trailer!" Liv yelled.
A few seconds later 'ok' appeared on the lightbright.
"How are we gonna escape without the cops seeing us?" Erica asked.
"We can escape through the window. Liv you go down and get Max and then meet us outside." Dustin ordered.
"Okay." Liv said before getting up and running out of the room.
Liv went back downstairs and saw the cops talking to all the parents. Max was standing behind Chief Powell with her headphones on. Max looked around the room before her eyes landed on Liv who was standing near the stairwell and waving Max over. Max looked at the cops before quickly walking over to Liv.
Liv took off Max's headphones and wrapped her arms around Max's neck. "Hi."
"Hi." Max said as she wrapped her arms around Liv's waist and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
"So we need to go rescue Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Eddie because they are stuck in the Upside Down." Liv told her.
Max rolled her eyes. "You serious?"
"Mhm." Liv nodded.
"Alright, let's go." Max said before taking Liv's hand and starting to pull her towards the front door.
"Wait." Liv stopped her. "We need to go through Nancy's window."
Liv pulled Max all the way upstairs and into Nancy's bedroom. Max stepped out of the window and held her hand out for Liv. Liv took Max's hand and stepped out the window. Max helped Liv off the roof before the two girls went over to the others who were standing there by their bikes.
They all started to wheel their bikes up the driveway. Liv stumbled a little as she tripped over a tiny rock.
"Careful." Max whispered.
"Let's go." Lucas ushered.
"Hey!" Callahan shouted as he peaked his head out of Nancy's window. "Excuse me! No, get back here!"
"Go!" Liv whispered as she hopped on her bike and started pedaling away.
"Let's go! Let's go!" Dustin shouted as he and the others did the same as Liv.
"I guess it's just a minor misdemeanor." Erica said before slashing the tires on the cop car and getting on Nancy's old bike.
"Hey! No!" Callahan yelled.
Nancy's parents, Lucas' parents, and Dustin's mom ran out of the house with Chief Powell and the other officers following behind.
"Lucas!"
"Dusty!"
"Lucas, Erica! Get back here!"
They all ignored the parents and continued biking to Eddie's trailer. Liv, Lucas, Max, and Dustin's bike lights lit up meaning that the others were following them in the Upside Down.
...
As soon as they all got to Eddies trailer they dropped their bikes on the grass and ran inside.
"Holy shit." Dustin cursed as he saw the gate on the ceiling.
"So how do we get them out?" Erica asked as she noticed all the vines covering the entrance of the gate.
Liv turned her head and noticed a broomstick. "I have a way.
Liv went to pick up the broomstick and then walked over to the gate. She stabbed through the gate with the broomstick and got all the vines out of the way. She leaned on the broomstick as Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Erica stood next to her. They all looked through the gate and saw Steve, Robin, Nancy and Eddie staring back at them but they were upside down.
"Hi there." Dustin laughed as he and the others waved.
"Hi." The four on the other side of the gate awkwardly said.
"Holy shit, this is trippy." Robin said.
"Bada-Bada-Boom!" Dustin yelled.
"Alright, Wonder Woman." Max looked at Liv with a smirk. "You removed the vines so now how do you plan on getting them out?"
"Uh..." Liv said and looked at Dustin.
"Erica, Lucas, and I will tie sheets together to make a rope while you and Max go get Eddies mattress." Dustin instructed.
They all split up and did the things that Dustin told them to do. Max and Liv went into Eddie's bedroom and stood by his bed. They ripped off the sheets and each of them stood on one side of the bed.
"Okay, on three, lift." Max ordered.
"Yes, ma'am." Liv said.
"Don't be a dork." Max smiled. "One... two... three."
They both lifted up the mattress and got it on its side. Max pushed one side of the mattress while Liv pulled on the other side. They got it out of the bedroom and laid it on the floor right under the gate.
"Those stains are, uh..." Eddie tried to think of something. "I don't know what those stains are."
Dustin walked over and stood under the gate with his sheet rope. "Not quite sure how these physics are gonna work. But, uh... here goes nothing." Dustin threw the rope through the gate. "There we go. And if my theory is correct..." Dustin let go of the rope and it stayed in place. "Huh. Abracadabra."
"Holy shit." Max whispered.
"All right, pull on it! See if it holds!" Dustin yelled.
Robin grunted as she pulled on the rope and it stayed up. Dustin laughed in amazement as Max slightly pulled on the rope.
"This is the craziest shit I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen some crazy shit." Erica said before she and Dustin high fived.
"Guess I'm the guinea pig." Robin said before jumping on the rope.
"All right, let's clear the landing pad." Dustin said.
Everyone stepped off the mattress. As Robin made her way through the gate.
"Oh my God!" Robin exclaimed as she fell the rest of the way down once she got back in the real world. "Oh, thank God. That was fun."
Liv held her hand out for Robin to take. Robin took her hand and pulled herself up.
"All right, guess I'll go." Eddie said before he jumped on the rope and pulled himself through the gate. "That was fun. Shit."
Dustin held his hand out for Eddie. Eddie took his hand and stood up from the mattress.
"See you on the other side." Steve said to Nancy.
"On the other side." Nancy said before she grabbed onto the rope and pulled herself through the gate.
Robin helped her up off the mattress and then Steve came through shortly after.
"All right, what now?" Steve asked.
"Livie?" Max suddenly said.
Everyone looked at Liv to see her standing in the middle of the room with her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
...
Liv looked around Eddies trailer to find that she was now alone.
"Max?" Liv said but got no answer since she was alone. "Max!"
She heard thunder rumble from outside. She opened the trailer door to see that she was in the Upside Down. Liv stepped outside the trailer but instead of her foot landing on solid ground she started to fall into darkness. She yelled before she hit the ground.
Liv groaned as she stood up from the ground and looked around at her surroundings. She was on the street where her and her old friend Marissa had their first appearance with the demogorgon.
...
"Livie. Hey! Hey!" Max yelled as she shook Liv's shoulders. "Livie, wake up! Wake up! Livie!"
"Vecna." Robin said.
...
Liv continued to spin around in a circle as tears came down her face. She saw something in the middle of the road and as she got closer to it she notice that it was Marissa's dead body. Liv gasped as she took a few steps back.
"Do you remember what you did, Liv?" Vecna's voice came from all around her. "Or have you already forgotten? When I kill someone... I never forget."
Liv started to run away but the more she ran, the ground beneath her started to squelch. She looked around and noticed that she was now in Vecna's red mind lair. She started to walk around as a clock chimed.
"I see you've been looking for me, Liv. You were so close. So close to the truth."
Liv turned her head and saw Chrissy's dead body hung up by vines. Like it was on display just like Max said. Liv looked next to Chrissy's body and saw the stained glass window door.
The redness around her faded away and she was now in the Creel house. But it was all new and clean. The front door opened and a guy and woman walked in with their two kids. Liv assumed that it was Victor Creel and his kids, Henry and Alice. She remembered reading about them in the news letter Nancy gave her.
"What'd I tell ya?" Victor said.
"Wow." His wife, Virginia, smiled as she looked around.
"This is amazing." Alice said as she walked around. "It looks like a fairy tale. A dream."
Liv watched as Alice ran up the stairs while her mother scolded her for doing so.
"Alice, no running."
"It's so big!" Alice beamed as she continued running up the stairs.
Liv looked back at the family as Victor put his arm around his wife.
"This is nice." Victor smiled.
Liv looked behind them and noticed Henry behind them looking down at the ground.
Henry looked up and walked upstairs. Liv followed him. She followed him as he walked into the bathroom and removed the air vent from the floor. Liv leaned on the doorway as she watched him stick his hand into the vent. He took his hand back out and on his hand was a black widow spider.
Liv turned around with a gasp as someone ran by her. She noticed Henry run into the attic. She followed him up there and saw him sitting in front of a bunch of candles and a bunch of jars, each one filled with black widow spiders. She looked over his shoulder as he started to draw a picture of a black widow spider.
Liv walked back down to the main floor of the house and watched as Henry stared at a grandfather clock. She watched as he closed his eyes and the hands on the clock started spinning at a rapid paste.
She heard a shriek that caused her to turn around and suddenly she was outside. She saw a rabbit that was tied to a stick try and run away. Henry sat down next to it and held out his hand. Liv watched in horror as the rabbits bones broke. Now there was no doubt that Henry was Vecna as a kid.
Liv ran back inside the house. She heard a baby crying from the living room. She walked in the living room and saw Victor Creel sitting in an armchair as he watched a baby crib burn in a fire.
Liv turned around and walked into the dining room. In the dining room all of the Creels were sitting at a table eating dinner. Victor stood up from his chair and went over to the radio as it started to distort.
Liv watched as Henry closed his eyes and the lights started to flicker. Virginia screamed as her body lifted into the air and all of her bones snapped and then her eyes got sucked into her head. Her body fell from the sky and landed on the table all lifeless.
Henry wiped his nose as his father ushered him and Alice Creel to the front door. Liv watched as Alice's body lifted up into the air and all her bones snapped. After Alice's body fell to the ground, Henry passed out right next to her. His father knelt down next to him to see if he was okay.
The next thing Liv knew was that she was in the lab, watching as Dr Brenner tattooed the number 001 on Henry's wrist. Dr Brenner wiped his wrist with a wet towel as he finished the tattoo.
"All done. Not so bad, was it? See? There's nothing to be afraid of. Is there, Liv?"
Liv widened her eyes as Dr Brenner looked at her.
"Why don't you take a seat?" He asked as his voice distorted back into Vecna's.
Liv ran out of the tattoo room. There was blood on the walls all around her and dead kids. She ignored it though and ran away.
...
"Livie, just stay with us. Stay with us, okay?" Max yelled as she put her hands on Liv's face.
"Whatever you guys are doing, hurry up!" Steve yelled at everyone.
"Steve and Max say you need to hurry!" Erica shouted as she ran down the hallway to the others.
"Yeah? No shit!" Dustin yelled as he and Lucas looked through a box of tapes.
"We're trying. We can't find anything. What is all this shit?" Robin yelled at Eddie as she held a bunch of tapes.
"What are you even looking for?" Eddie yelled back.
"Max said she likes Tears for Fear. We just need music!" Robin yelled at him.
Eddie took the tape from her hand. "This is music!"
...
Liv continued to run through the halls of the lab until she got to a boarded up door. She struggled to rip off the pieces of wood.
"Son of a..." She whispered before she finally got one off and went back for another one. "God!"
"Liv."
Liv stopped pulling on the wood and turned around to see Vecna walking towards her.
"What are you doing?" Vecna asked as he walked closer to her. "It's not time for you to leave."
Liv gasped before turning back to the door and continuing to rip off the pieces of wood.
"Now that you've seen where I've been... I would like very much to show you where I am going." Vecna told her.
It took Liv a few seconds but she finally got the last plank off the door. She ran through the door just to see that she was back in the tattoo room. She saw Dr Brenner standing next to the chair with his hands behind his back.
"Take a seat, Liv." He told her.
The light above Liv turned off. When it turned back on she was sitting in the tattoo chair. There were vines keeping her legs and wrists in place and there was a strap that kept her from getting up.
Vecna walked over to her and stood uncomfortably close to her face. Tears started to come down her face as she thought this was the end. She was about to die.
"I... want you to tell Eleven." Vecna started. "I want you to tell her everything you see."
Liv gasped as Vecna brought his monster claw up to her face and she had visions of gates opening up all around Hawkins.
"No!"
"Tell her..."
"No!"
"Everything..."
"No!"
...
Liv gasped and opened her eyes as she fell back into Max's arms. She looked at Max to make sure that it was really her and that Vecna wasn't messing with her.
She stared deeply into Max's ocean blue eyes. You couldn't recreate those eyes. This was really Max.
"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." Max said as Liv hyperventilated. "It's okay. I'm here."
"Max." Liv cried before she wrapped her arms around Max.
"I'm right here." Max whispered as she hugged Liv back.
The others ran back into the room and watched in sorrow as Max tried to calm Liv down. Soon enough Steve and Robin joined in on the hug.