They had returned to the kitchen after Maddie had managed to calm herself and Steve was able to think without rage clouding his vision. Hopper was angrily speaking on the phone, his tone making it obvious that the person on the other line didn't quite believe him. He hung up, slamming the phone into the hook before running a hand over his face.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin asked, his tone grim.

Hopper turned to them. "We'll see."

"We'll see? We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike said, his voice laced with disbelief as he threw his hands up.

"We stay here, and we wait for help," Hopper replied firmly, making it clear that his decision was final. He turned down the hall and started in the direction of where Joyce was.

"What are we going to do?" Maddie whispered, tossing a glance over her shoulder towards the kids. "We can't stay here forever."

Steve sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I know, we just don't have a better plan than that right now. We might as well wait to see if Hopper's back up shows up or not."

Mike had started talking, going on a tangent about Bob starting the AV club. He put something on the table and Maddie glanced back at the table before returning her gaze to the window. She turned her head to Steve as the kids started arguing over "demodogs".

"Hopper's back up isn't coming, Steve," she said lowly, aware of just how cynical she sounded.

He nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. "We need to get the kids out. Will needs somewhere safe. Hell, we all need somewhere safe."

"His army," she heard Mike say.

The two turned towards the table when a silence fell over the kitchen.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"His army. Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too," Mike said, looking dazed before running out of the kitchen and down the hall towards Will's room. He was shuffling papers around as the rest of the group caught up with him before thrusting a drawing into Max's hands.

"The shadow monster," Dustin said, confusion evident in his tone.

"It got Will that day on the field. The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him," Mike explained.

"And so, this virus, it's connecting him to the tunnels?" Maddie asked, trying to make sense of what Mike was trying to say.

"To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything," he replied, his pitch getting higher and the words spilling out quicker the more he tried to tell the group what he was thinking.

"Whoa. Slow down, slow down," Steve said, holding a hand up to get Mike to explain himself in a clear voice.

"Okay, so, the shadow monster's inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will," Mike said, turning to Lucas and Max.

"And so, does Dart," Lucas responded, realization dawning on his face.

"Yeah, like what Mr. Clarke taught us. The hive mind," Mike said, nodding excitedly now that someone was catching on.

"Hive mind?"

"A collective consciousness," Dustin and Maddie chorused. "It's a super-organism," Maddie finished for her brother.

"And this is the thing that controls everything. It's the brain," Mike said, waving the picture in his hand.

"Like the mind flayer," Dustin said softly, making the other boys nod in agreement.

"The what?"

Dustin tossed the manual for Dungeons and Dragons onto the table, pointing at an illustration of an odd-looking monster. "This is the mind flayer."

"What the hell is that?" Hopper asked, his tone indicating he knew that he would regret asking this question.

"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home," Dustin explained, obviously a little excited that his area of expertise was coming into play at last. "Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."

"Oh, my God, none of this is real," Hopper said, pinching the bridge of his nose exasperatedly. "This is a kids' game."

"No, it's a manual," Dustin clarified, sounding offended. "And it's not for kids. And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor-"

"Analogy," Lucas corrected.

"Analogy? That's what you're worried about? Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is," Dustin said, obviously incredulous at Lucas for correcting his grammar.

"Okay, so this mind flamer-" Nancy began.

"Flayer. Mind flayer," Dustin said, making Nancy roll her eyes.

"What does it want?" she continued.

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

"Like the Germans?" Steve interjected, making Maddie smirk next to him.

"You mean the Nazis?" she said softly and Steve looked embarrassed.

"Yeah, the Nazis," he repeated, looking at her a beat longer than was necessary before returning his focus to Dustin.

"If the Nazis were from another dimension, then yeah, totally. Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself," Dustin continued, his tone finally calmer.

"It wants to spread, take over other dimensions," Mike added.

"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it," Lucas said, oblivious to the looks of panic that spread around the table at his words.

"That's great. That's great. That's really great," Steve said, pulling the ends of his hair. "Jesus!" he breathed, turning away from the table. Maddie reached a hand out to his back, feeling him tense before relaxing into her touch.

"Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then what happens if we kill it?" Maddie said, her attention turning to the book that was still open in front of her brother.

"We kill everything it controls," Mike answered.

"We win," Dustin said, realizing what Maddie was insinuating.

"Theoretically," Lucas reminded them, obviously still cautious about the whole idea.

"Great. So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireballs or something?" Hopper asked, taking the book from Maddie.

Dustin chuckled. "No. No, fireballs," he said, his smile dropping when he saw the look on Hopper's face.

"You summon an undead army because zombies, y'know… They don't have brains and the mind flayer, it likes brains," Dustin stammered, trailing off as he realized how ridiculous he sounded. "It's just a game."

Hopper threw the manual down in frustration, turning away from the group. "What the hell are we even doing here?"

"I thought we were waiting for your military backup," Dustin retorted.

Maddie sighed and pinched the bridge of her noise as the kitchen devolved into a shouting match about what to do and what they knew. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder that she knew to be Steve's as a headache began to form.

"They're right," a rough voice said. Maddie looked up to see Joyce huddled in the corner with the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. "We have to kill it," she continued, looking at Hopper. The blanket slipped from her shoulders as the look on her face grew determined.

"I want to kill it," she said, clenching her fists at her side.

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

"No, but he does," Mike said, turning towards the living room. He took a few steps towards where Will was still sleeping. "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it, so he'll know its weaknesses."

"I thought we couldn't trust him anymore, that he's a spy for the mind flayer," Maddie said, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Yeah, but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is," Mike said quietly, catching Hopper's attention.

"How do you mean?"

Thirty minutes later, Maddie found herself carrying boxes of old toys, tools, and just general junk away from the front of the Byers's storage shed. Hopper had assigned everyone tasks to set up the shed as an "interrogation space", his face grim at the term. She set one particularly heavy box down with a grunt, wiping grime from her hands onto her already filthy jeans. Her next job was to sort through the boxes to find anything that might be useful to them. She glanced up at the crashing of metal to see Dustin and Lucas sorting through a trash can.

Maddie was glad the boys had stopped arguing; she hated seeing any of them fight. The brunette gave a small smile at the scene before carrying an assortment of cloths towards the shed. She paused at the sight of Nancy and Steve talking, the latter smirking as he responded to the other girl. Maddie felt her heart drop ever so slightly at the sight, though if someone had asked she wouldn't have been able to explain why. A frown tugged at the edge of her mouth as she watched the two interact. She cleared her throat to announce her presence, making Steve wobble dangerously on the stepladder as he turned to see her.

"I brought these," she said, holding up the strips of cloth in her arms. "I thought they might help or whatever," she mumbled, dumping the pile out onto the table next to her before leaving.

She returned to the pile of boxes, blinking rapidly as inexplicable tears threatened to gather in the corner of her eyes. "Get over yourself, Mads," she berated herself quietly, furious that she was letting herself be this affected by it.

Maddie sniffed before squatting to sort through another box of junk, pausing for a moment when a tall shadow fell over her. She looked up to see Jonathan standing over her, his hands in his pockets. They sat in silence for a moment before he kneeled next to her and helped her sort things into piles.

"You okay?" she asked, her voice slightly hoarse after the day's events.

Jonathan shrugged. "I mean, is anybody? Are you?"

Maddie shrugged back. "Could be better, could also be in a demogorgon's stomach," she said, a humorless smile not quite reaching her face.

Jonathan nodded solemnly and the two continued to pick through the boxes.

"But really Jon, I mean, you think nobody noticed when you and Nance disappeared from school for a few days? And then when you do come back, it's to this mess. I mean really, are you alright? If you want someone to talk to, you know I'm always-"

"I kissed Nancy," he suddenly blurted.

Maddie froze. Jonathan stared at her, waiting anxiously for a response.

"Oookayyy," she said slowly, trying to formulate a response to his sudden confession. "Um, when?"

"The other night. We were at this conspiracy theorist's house, which is a long story by the way, and we were drunk, like really drunk, and one thing led to another, and I-I kissed her," he said, slightly pink in the face.

He watched carefully for her expression as Maddie sat back on her heels. "Okay. Uh, have you guys talked about it?"

Jonathan blushed even deeper and stammered. "We-Well, we- It kind of- We might have-"

Maddie raised an eyebrow and Jonathan sighed. "We went a little further than just kissing."

"And how much farther is that?" Maddie asked cautiously.

"Like, all the way," Jonathan said.

"WHAT!?" Maddie yelped, making Jonathan hold his hands up and look around wildly.

Maddie regained her composure before swatting his arm. "You did what?" she hissed.

"I know, I know," he said, running a hand through his hair. "And now it's kind of awkward but I want to know how she feels, because I know how I feel, but it's just weird now, and being at war with the Mind Flayer while Will is caught in the middle isn't exactly an ideal time to talk about it but I needed to get it out."

She just nodded in response. "I mean, I'm happy for you if that's what both of you want, it's just a big leap from not being able to tell her how you feel to… that."

Jonathan dipped his head. "Can you just keep it between us for now though? I don't want Steve to find out and him feel weird about all this, especially since they just broke up-"

"Wait, they're broken up broken up?" Maddie asked, feeling stupid even as the question tumbled from her mouth. Of course they were; Steve had been at the Wheeler's with roses, Nancy had disappeared after the Halloween party, and Blaire had mentioned it to her at lunch. She had just thought they were rumors or that it was a split for a few days before they got back together at the end of the week.

"Yeah, Nancy ended it the day after the Halloween party. The whole school was talking about it, how have you not heard?" Jonathan asked. Maddie shook her head, chuckling softly.

"You know me Jon, I'm oblivious. But if they were broken up before you and her, y'know, then I don't see what the problem is. I think it's a little fast personally, but as long as you're happy."

Jonathan sent a small grin; the first one Maddie had seen in a long time. "Thanks, Maddie. You're a good friend, you know that?"

"I do now that you've told me," she responded, winking at him before straightening. "Alright, I'm gonna take this stuff to the shed. Can you take the rest to the burn pile?"

"Yeah, I got it," Jonathan replied, gathering the discarded items in his arm and heading towards the growing pile of junk in the backyard. Maddie took the much smaller number of items they had saved and started in the direction of the shed.

She nodded in approval as she stepped inside. The windows were blacked out with old curtains and sheets, the floor had been covered in tattered blankets, and the walls were currently being covered with cardboard that was being stapled in place by Steve.

"Love what you've done with the place," she said dryly, making Steve turn in her direction. He smirked.

"Thanks. I've been meaning to redecorate for a while now, but you know, I never have the time," he quipped, stepping off his stool to take a step towards her.

Maddie lifted her armful of supplies. "I come bearing gifts."

"I see that. Mind if I take them off your hands?"

She transferred the cardboard and rags into his hands and he set them onto the table behind him. Steve picked up a piece of cardboard and held it out towards her. "Mind lending me a hand?"

She took the cardboard and followed him to his previous position, holding the cardboard in place so he could staple it. The thick silence was broken only by the sound of the staple gun and crinkling of cardboard.

"Want to switch?" Maddie asked after the right wall had been entirely covered. Steve nodded.

"Sure. If you're tall enough to reach," he said, dodging Maddie's punch as he laughed at her.

She pouted at him, sticking her lip out. "Be nice to me," she whined, making Steve's smile grow wider.

"But messing with you is so much more fun," he said, giving her a shit-eating grin as he held a piece of cardboard up on the wall.

They fell back into silence, though it was much lighter now. Maddie pressed the staple gun to the wall and squeezed the trigger, nodding in satisfaction as it stuck in place. They continued down the wall until Maddie decided to break the silence again.

"I'm sorry."

Steve paused from aligning the cardboard. "For what?" he asked, his expression puzzled.

"I took it out on you," she responded quietly, focusing on the staples again. "It's not your fault, what happened. But I blamed you for it, and it wasn't fair of me. You needed me and I shut you out. So, I'm sorry."

"Maddie, you don't have to apologize to me for that. You were going through something, I understand that now. You can't blame yourself for anything. The only person at fault here is him. I just want you to be happy again," Steve said softly, dropping the cardboard so he could turn to her.

Maddie smiled at him, wiping at her eyes for the second time that night. "Ugh, I hate crying like this," she said, trying to lighten the situation. She laughed. "I probably look a mess."

Steve grinned. "I think you look like a million bucks," he said, making her reach down to shove his shoulder.

"Oh, shut up, Harrington," she said, pressing the staples into the wall once again.

"You first, Henderson," he replied in a mocking tone, making her roll her eyes as she leaned out to staple the corner.

"Why don't you-" she started before she was cut off by her own scream as she toppled off the stool.

Maddie screwed her eyes shut, bracing herself for a fall that never came. Instead, she felt two arms wrapped around her waist and under her knees. Cautiously, she opened her eyes to see Steve's mahogany ones staring back at her. She swallowed hard at their proximity, noting that Steve did nothing to loosen his grip. They stayed in that position for what seemed like eons until Dustin's voice carried through the doorway.

"I'm gonna see if Steve needs any help!"

Steve hastily put her down and Maddie straightened her ponytail, both of them awkwardly stepping away from each other. Dustin appeared at the door several moments later.

"Oh, hey Mads. I didn't know you were in here. D'you guys need any help?" he asked, obviously oblivious to the incident that had just occurred.

The two babbled over each other before falling silent, Steve clearing his throat. "Yeah, you can hold the cardboard while I staple."

Dustin gave him a grin. "Sweet."

Maddie handed him a piece of cardboard to hold and he frowned at her. "Maddie why is your face all pink?"

A/N: SURPRISE! I'm not dead! Hey guys! I've missed you! How are you? How are your lives going?

I'm honestly so, so sorry for taking so long to update (4 months!) Truth be told, I wasn't particularly motivated to write for it, but then inspiration struck a while ago and I almost finished this chapter in one go. And then it got deleted. So, I had to start all over. Which sucks a lot. Anywho, I hope this chapter was worth the wait! I know it's a lot of dialogue but there were things that needed to get worked out and I felt like characters talking through them was the best way to go about it, plus I had to tie in the dialogue from the show.

Also, I just want to recognize a very special review that pretty much motivated me to get off my lazy butt and write something – SkyFl0w3r, your review and kind words helped me want to write! I was feeling down about this story and that I wasn't writing it as well as my other one and your review made me feel like I was doing good, so thank you!

Please fave/follow if you haven't already guys and leave a review telling me what you liked/didn't like/want me to know since I left/angry words that you want to say since I disappeared. Guest reviews!

Lisa – I'm glad they're back together too! Luckily everyone is happier in a few chapters : )

Shawny – I'm sorry if I killed you with anticipation! Hopefully this will revive you!

Guest – I'm glad you're enjoying it! I hope you see this chapter : )