Will, Mike, and Lucas pedal on down to the field by Nelson's farm. They toss their bikes in the grass when they arrive and begin their trek up the hill.
"We saw Billy on our way to your house, by the way," Will tells Mike.
Mike stops for a second, his eyebrows furrowing. "You did? Where? What was he doing?"
"Running." Will gestures Mike to keep moving, and the latter rushes forward. "Not too far from the mall."
"I don't think he noticed us," Lucas adds.
Mike holds a hand to his forehead, wrinkling his nose. "Did you see where he was going?"
Will and Lucas both shake their heads. Noticing Mike letting out a harsh breath, Will gives him a half-smile. "I'm sure we'll find him."
"Alright, but then what?"
"We burn the shit out of him and don't let him escape," Lucas says.
"Okay." Mike throws his hands in the air. "Then what?"
"Then we win."
A bitter laugh comes out of Mike's throat. "No, see, that's the problem. We don't. We don't win. We got the Mind Flayer out of Will before, and he just came right back. We don't just have to stop Billy, we have to stop the Mind Flayer."
"How in the hell do we do that?"
"I don't know."
Will comes to a halt, eyeing his friends and wondering how they'd forgotten their previous conversation on the same topic earlier that day. "We close the gate."
Mike and Lucas furrow their eyebrows at him. "We don't even know that it's open. Or where it is," Mike counters.
"Yeah, but we might have an idea." He points up the hill to where they can see Cerebro. "We get in contact with Dustin and the others and find out where they are and what's in those boxes. If it really is a Russian laboratory or some other crap, chances are the reason it's here is because of the Mind Flayer or at least the Upside Down. Didn't we talk about this already?"
Turning away from Mike and Lucas, Will sprints the rest of the way up the hill, kneels down, and grabs the radio. Mike and Lucas collapse beside him as he turns it on and toggles with the controls. When he gets to the right channel, he clears his throat. "Dustin, Robin, Erica, or Steve, do any of you copy? It's Will. I'm with Mike and Lucas. Do you copy? Over."
Radio silence.
"This is Will, Mike, and Lucas. Dustin or anyone, do you copy? Over."
Nothing.
"Maybe you're on the wrong channel?" Lucas suggests.
Checking the channel, Will shakes his head. "No, I'm on the right one. Unless they-"
"Hello? Will?" A voice comes over the radio. "It's Dustin. Are you there? Over."
"Dustin!" Will cries.
"Will!" Dustin's voice is filled with relief. "Holy shit, we thought you died!"
"You thought I died?" Will laughs in disbelief. "What about you? Lucas and I thought you died! What's going on? Over."
"We're in a bit of a dilemma..." Dustin says before another voice cuts in.
"No shit, Henderson!" Steve yells. "Is that Byers you're talking to? Tell him to get us the hell out of here!"
"Calm down, Steve," Dustin shoots back. "Anyways, Will, turns out, the secret room isn't just a room. It's an elevator. Which we're stuck in. So, we kind of need you and Lucas to get us out of here. Over."
"Oh." Will's shoulders slump. "There's a bit of a problem there..."
"What do you mean?" Dustin asks.
"Yeah," Erica jumps in. "What are you talking about, a bit of a problem?"
Will sighs. "So, we're not exactly at the mall right now. We're at the field by Nelson's farm. On Cerebro."
"What?" Dustin says. "Why are you on Cerebro? Over."
"It's the only way we can contact you. The signal's too weak on our Supercoms. Also, we couldn't stay at the mall. Lucas and I got chased down by Russian guards who started shooting at us. Over."
"Seriously?" Dustin lets out a groan. "Well, can you send in some cavalry? Hopper or your mom or someone? Over."
Sitting up, Mike huffs and leans over Will's shoulder to talk into the radio. "And tell them you're stuck in a secret Russian elevator in the mall?"
"Mike?" Dustin asks. "You're there, too?"
"Yeah. Will and Lucas found me as soon as they got out of the mall," Mike explains.
"Is El there?"
"No. Why?"
"I don't know, Mike. Why would I be asking about a girl with superpowers while I'm stuck in a Russian elevator?"
"Okay, Dustin. Well, she's not here, but we can get her. Thing is, we basically just got beaten down by Billy who is, by the way, the new host for the Mind Flayer. Don't think she's feeling up for much right now. Over."
"How else do you think we're supposed to get out of here?" Dustin asks.
"We can get Hopper," Will says before Mike can get another word in, "but there's something more pressing we need to discuss. Over."
"What is it? Over."
"The boxes. The metal containers. What's in them? Is it Mind Flayer related? Weapons of some sort? Over."
Erica's voice takes over. "The only thing in those boxes was some dumbass green liquid. Over."
Will turns to Mike and Lucas, mouthing green liquid? with a raised eyebrow. The two boys shrug. "Is there anything else? Clues as to what they're doing in Hawkins? Over."
Dustin sighs. "Just boxes. Over."
Will taps his fingers against the radio. Green liquid? That didn't ring any bells. What could green liquid have to do with the Upside Down?
Mike leans over to Will and says quietly, "If we're going to get Hopper, we should go now. The sooner, the better, right?"
"What about Dustin and the others? We can't just leave them hanging."
"What else are we supposed to do? The sooner we get Hopper, the sooner we get them out. Right?"
Tracing his thumb over the radio, Will drew in a long breath before lifting his shoulder. "Right. Okay, Dustin, we're getting Hopper which means we won't be in contact with you anymore until we can get you out. Over."
"Okay, but hurry up. Over."
"We will. Over and out."
The three of them get to their feet and race down the hill, their arms flinging out in front of them to avoid falling. Hopping on their bikes, they speed down the street with determination.
"How do you know Hopper won't think we're crazy?" Mike pants.
"With all the shit that goes on in this town," Lucas says, "he'd be crazy not to believe us."
They get to the cabin and pound rapidly on the door, all of them shouting for Hopper. When there's no response, Will presses his ear up to the door and listens for any sounds. It's eerily silent. "No one's home."
Mike paces across the porch. "Well, now what?"
"Where could he be?" Lucas asks.
"We could check out the station," Will says.
Mike glances at his watch. "It's past midnight. You really think he'd be there?"
"I don't know where else to check."
All three boys jump at the shout emanating from Mike's walkie-talkie. "Hey, asshole!" Max grumbles. "Where the hell are you?"
Mike answers frantically. "Hey, Max, sorry, we're trying to find Hopper, but he's not at the cabin. Over."
"Huh? Why are you trying to find Hopper? And who are you with? Will and everyone?"
"I'm with Will and Lucas. Dustin and the others are stuck in the mall, and we can't get them out ourselves, so we're trying to get Hopper. Over."
"Come back here then. El can probably find him."
Mike looks to Will and Lucas for confirmation. They both shrug. "Okay, fine. We'll be there in ten. Over and out."
The boys get back on their bikes and head to Mike's house again. When they get there, they rush inside to see Max and El glowering at them, their faces cut and bruised. Will's eyes fall on the dark purple bruise on El's neck. Max glares at each of them individually. "Were you going to tell us before you left?"
"I'm sorry," Will says, "but we had to get in contact with Dustin and thought you should get some rest."
She crosses her arms. "What happened in the mall anyway?"
"They went to check out the boxes in that room," Lucas explains, "but then the doors shut. Turns out, the room was an elevator, and it brought them down below the mall where we couldn't reach them over our Supercom. Will and I tried to get in touch with you guys, but we got chased by some Russian guards and had to get out of there."
"Where are the others now?" El asks.
"We got in contact with them over Cerebro," Will says. "They're still stuck in that room, which is why we're looking for Hopper."
"What's Hopper gonna do?" Max asks.
"He's the Chief of police," Mike says. "He's got a gun and back-up. They can storm the Russian lab or whatever it is they're hiding under the mall."
Will catches El's eye and gives her a nod. "Can you find him for us?"
Ignoring Max's eye roll, El obliges. She gets a blind fold, turns on the TV to static, and sits on the couch. Everyone else gathers around her. They go quiet as she puts on the blindfold, the static being the only noise filling the basement.
It takes less than a minute for El to murmur, "I found him."
Max leans forward. "Where is he?"
"Driving."
"Where?" Lucas asks.
"I don't know. He's with Will's mom."
Will's breath quickens. "My – my mom?"
"Can you tell where they're driving to?" Max asks.
El is silent for a moment. Then, she says, "He said something about Ill... Illa-noy?"
"Illinois?" Mike frowns. "Like the state? The state of Illinois?"
El pulls off the blindfold, knits her eyebrows together, and shrugs. "Ill – Illinois."
Max takes El to the bathroom to clean the blood off her face. Will watches Mike closely when he stands up and begins pacing in front of the couch. "This makes no sense." Mike pinches the bridge of his nose. "I couldn't get Hopper off my back all summer, and now he's driving to Illinois with Will's mom? What the hell is in Illinois?"
"What does it matter?" Lucas lets out a yawn. "The bottom line is, they're not here. It's up to us."
"Up to us to save Dustin and the others from the Russians and do something about the Mind Flayer? How do we do that?"
"If the only way into the Russian lab is through the elevator," Will says, "then we need to find a way in there."
"Isn't that the problem?" Lucas says. "We don't have anyone else who can fit in the air ducts. Plus, we don't want to get trapped in there as well."
Will taps his foot on the floor. "We need a key card."
"Where do we get that?"
"One of the guards."
Mike shakes his head. "That's too risky. How are we supposed to get it when they have guns? We already know they're not afraid to shoot us."
"Eleven could knock them out," Lucas suggests.
Will nods in agreement, but Mike holds up a finger. "Wait a second. The whole reason you were checking out the room was to see if there was anything Mind Flayer related in there, right?"
"Yeah," Will says, "but all they found in those boxes were metal containers with green liquid."
"But they have to be using that for something."
Will leans back, taking in the thought. All he'd been focusing on since Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica went into the room was getting them back out. Yes, he dismissed the green liquid when Dustin mentioned it, but maybe Mike is right. "Since we know that room is an elevator, that means we know it goes down somewhere. Laboratory was what we were thinking. So, what if that's where the gate is?"
"We could kill two birds with one stone," Mike says.
"What are you guys going on about?" Max asks as she and El return from the bathroom and plop themselves down beside Will on the couch. El rubs her eyes, blinking as she looks at the boys.
"We need to figure out if the gate is underneath Starcourt," Mike says.
El furrows her eyebrows. "The gate?"
"We think the Russians reopened the gate," Will explains, "and that's why the Mind Flayer's back."
"We were thinking of getting a key card from one of the guards to get Dustin, Erica, and the others out," Lucas says.
Mike holds his hand up. "But that might not be the best plan now."
Lucas's eyebrows knit together, and Will frowns. "Then what is the best plan?" Lucas asks.
"I just mean that maybe since there's a large chance the Russians could be behind the Mind Flayer's return, we shouldn't just get Dustin and the others out of the elevator. We should see what the Russians are hiding."
"You want to go down there?" Will says.
"And you don't? You were the one saying if the gate's open again, we have to close it to kill the Mind Flayer. If the gate's under the mall, we can find it and close it before things get out of hand."
Will shrugs, suppressing a yawn. "Yeah, you're right. I wasn't disagreeing; I was just surprised you wanted to."
"Really?" Lucas raises an eyebrow at Will.
"Isn't he? I mean, what would we do anyway? Even if we get the others out of the elevator, we'll still have to deal with Billy, and even if we burn the Mind Flayer out of him, it'll come back if the gate's not closed. The earlier we find out where the gate is, the better."
Shutting his eyes and rubbing his temples, Lucas takes a deep breath. "Yeah, alright."
"Okay," Max says, "but were you planning on doing this now?"
Will and Mike glance at each other before looking back to Max. "The sooner, the better," Will tells her.
Max huffs. "Yeah, but not if we have to find Billy, too. The brain dies, the body dies, right? If we don't get the Mind Flayer out of Billy before we close the gate, he'll die."
"Then we find Billy and burn it out of him," Mike says.
Throwing him a glare, she turns to El. "You think you can find him?"
El widens her eyes, but nods anyway. "Okay."
Mike takes a seat on the floor beside her. "Are you sure?"
She nods. Max hands her the blindfold, and they turn on the TV to static.