11. the mind flayer

THE MIND FLAYER

✧･ﾟ: * Nora stands beside Steve as she just watches the rest of group argue about when they last saw Mike and Will. Her arms crossed, she tries ignore the uneasy feeling in the back of her mind.

"The power's back," Nancy speaks up, interrupting the conversation.

Jonathan instantly walks over to the white control booth to the side and presses the button that should've opened the gates. He does it a few times, confused when it doesn't open.

"Let me try," Dustin pushes over and walks in with Jonathan.

"Hang on-"

"Let my try, Jonathan!" Dustin pushes him away. He presses that same buttons Jonathan did - with more power - but the gate still didn't budge. "Son of a bitch! You know what-" He starts punching random buttons aggressively.

"Dustin, that won't work. You're gonna break-" Nora is cut off when the gate suddenly opened, slowly, but surely.

Dustin shoots her a smug look. "You were saying?"

Her response gets caught in her throat as sudden gunshots were heard from the building. There was screaming from animals and humans alike, and Nora takes a step back.

"Guys?" Max asks, facing the opening of the gate where a car's headlights start shining on her face. Nora is about to pull her away, but Lucas got there first and grabs Max's hand quickly.

As the car pulls forward, Nora notices the Hawkins Police Department part on the side and sighs as Hopper's face appears. "Let's go!"

Everyone piles in, Steve waiting until all the kids were in. Everyone smushes together, and Nora has to hold in her gasp at the sight of an unconscious Will in Joyce's arms. She's wearing bloody nurse scrubs and Will's in a hospital gown. Nora is about to speak up, but Joyce just places a hand on her leg. "We gave him a sedative. He's okay."

"Why were you there?" Lucas asks. "What happened to Will?"

"It's. . . it's a long story," Hopper says frowning at Joyce's pale face. "We'll explain when we get to Joyce's."

No one says anything as the car races through the dark streets of Hawkins.

—

✧･ﾟ: * As they get to the Byers' house, Hopper puts Will gently on a couch and Nancy and Jonathan are kneeling beside him. Hopper is down the hall, arguing frustratedly with someone over the phone about what happened in the lab. Everything had been explained to them as they entered, and Nora is sitting in the kitchen with the rest of the group, Max next to her. Steve's leaning against the counter, infamous bat next to him.

Eventually Hopper slams the phone against the receiver, letting everyone know the lack of belief in his experience.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin asks, the only one of the party who stands up, along with Steve who starts pacing.

"We'll see."

"We'll see?" Nora jumps slightly as Mike slams his hands on the table. "We can't just sit here while those things are lose!"

"We stay here," Hopper says sternly. "And we wait for help." He leaves the room for Joyce who Nora assumes is grieving for Bob, who had died in the lab.

Nora only met him once when he dropped Will off at school, but he seemed nice. She can't really wrap her head around the idea of someone actually dying. That just. . . just wasn't possible. . .

Nora just shifts in her seat and starts looking at the drawings Will had done sprawled across the house. It makes her nervous think he knows all of this because of the thing inside him.

Mike stands up and Nora watches as he brings a blue box over to the counter. "Did you guys know Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV? He petitioned the school to start it and everything. And then, he had a fundraiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?"

"Yeah," Dustin and Lucas smile bittersweetly.

Nora just looks down. "We can't let him die in vain."

"What do you want to do, Nora?" Dustin raises his voice. "The chief is right, we can't stop those Demodogs on our own."

Nora looks up to face him as Max furrows her brows. "Demodogs?"

Dustin pauses before explaining, "Demogorgon. Dogs," he did some hand motions, "Demodogs."

"Okay. . ." Everyone looks at him confused, but Nora just shakes her head.

"I mean," Dustin starts, looking at Nora. "when it was just Dart, maybe."

"But there's an army now," Lucas says, agreeing,

"Precisely."

"His army," Mike mutters, everyone looking to him.

"What do you mean?" Steve speaks up for the first time.

"His army," Mike repeats. "Maybe, if stop him, we can stop his army too." He looks down the hallway then races out of the kitchen. "Come on!"

They all run into Will's bedroom and Mike is holding a drawing, spinning around in the room.

"The Shadow Monster," Dustin takes the drawing from Will's hands.

"It got Will that day on the field," Mike explains and Nora tries to push away the flashbacks of when she just stood there, unable to help him. "The doctor said it was like a virus. It infected him."

"So, this virus," Max starts to connect the dots. "it's connecting him to the tunnels?"

"To the tunnels, to the monster, to the Upside Down, to everything!"

"Woah, woah, woah," Steve stops him. "Slow down."

"Okay, so," Mike begins. "The shadow monster's inside everything, and if the vines feel something like pain, them so does Will."

"And so does Dart," Lucas adds.

"Yeah. It's like what Mr. Clarke taught us: the Hive-Mind."

"Hive-mind?" Steve questions.

Dustin looks up. "A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism."

Mike taps the paper. "And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain."

"Like the Mind Flayer," Dustin's eyes widen with Lucas and Mike's.

Nora knows what they're talking about, but she's trying to convince herself she just mixed the D&D characters up, and it isn't what she thinks it is.

Max and Steve watch in confusion as the other four scramble around the room for Will's D&D books.

Steve goes to get Hopper, Jonathan, and Nancy while the kids look for what they need. They all meet at the table, crowding around it a few minutes later.

Dustin slams a heavy book down and starts going through the pages. "The Mind Flayer," he referred to a drawn, black and white image of a weird alien creature. It has a large head with tentacles coming out of it's mouth in a gross way.

"What the hell is that?" Hopper questions, ever the kindest.

"It's a monster from another dimension. It's so ancient it doesn't even know it's true home. It enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using it's highly developed psionic powers."

"Oh, my God," Hopper sighs. "None of this is real. This is a kid's game."

"No, it's- it's a manual. . ." Dustin explains, annoyed no one is taking him seriously. "And it's not for kids. And, unless you know something we don't, this is the best metaphor-"

"Analogy," Lucas corrects in the middle of Dustin's rant.

Dustin snaps his head towards him and glared. "Analogy? That's what you're worried about? Fine! An analogy for understanding what this is!"

Nora sighs.

"Okay, so," Nancy tries understanding. "This Mind. . . Flamer. . . thing-"

"Flayer," Dustin corrects quickly. "Mind Flayer."

Nancy just shoots him a look. "What does it want?"

"To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race."

"Li- like the Germans," Steve adds, only making the rest of group look at him in confusion.

"Uh. . . the Nazis?" Dustin asks.

"Ye- yeah. The Nazis," Steve get a little embarrassed.

Nora just pats his back. "At least you're pretty," she whispers.

He shrugs her off.

"If the Nazis were from a different dimension, totally," Dustin agrees sarcastically before continuing. "Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."

"It wants to spread and take over other dimensions," Mike adds as Dustin nods.

"We are talking about the destruction of our world, as we know it," Lucas also includes.

"That's great. That's great. That's really great. Jesus!" Steve leaves the table in a panic, pushing a hand through his hair. Nora couldn't blame him.

She zones out a little as Nancy asks a question and the boys answer after another. Dustin starts stuttering after Hopper says something and Nora just sighs at the interaction.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Hopper trudges out of the room after dropping the book on the table.

She comes back to reality when Dustin snaps, "I thought we were waiting for your military backup," with a flail of his arms.

Hopper spins to face him, "We are!"

"And even if they come, how are they gonna stop this?" Mike yells. "You can't stop this thing with guns!"

"You don't know that!" Hopper argues. "We don't know anything!"

"We know it's killed everybody in that lab!" Mike responds.

"We know the monsters are gonna molt again!" Lucas adds.

"And we know it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town," Dustin includes.

"And we know it has Will, and he only has so much time until all that's left of him is the monster!" Nora finishes, the four staring at Hopper for a reaction.

"They're right," Joyce's voice says from the hallway. "We have to kill it," Hopper walks slowly to her. "I want to kill it."

"Me too, me too, Joyce," he assures. "But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here."

"No," Mike turns to the unconscious Will on the couch. "But he does." He slowly makes his way over as he talks. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He knows it's weakness."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore," Max says. "That he's a spy for the Mind Flayer now."

"Yeah, but. . ." Nora can see the lightbulb go off in Mike's head. "He can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

a/n:

long(er) chapter 😁