Christine was quick to rush out from behind the counter, the girl practically running towards her friends. She loved Steve and Dustin, but it was nice to see somebody else.

"You flung that thing like a hot wheel!" Dustin exclaimed, the boy running into El and Mikes arms. Christine hurried towards Nancy, pulling the younger girl into a hug and surprising most of the people in the room by doing so. Nancy was surprised as well, the girl still hugging her back, her eyes briefly closing as she pushed her chin onto her cousins shoulder.

"I've never been so happy to see you." Christine said, truly meaning her words. She pulled back, Nancy gasping at the state of her cousins face. Before she could ask about it Christine was already pushing into an embrace with Max, a brief one because the younger girl didn't like hugs that much. Max laughed as they reunited, Will standing beside the girl and looking at her with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Who beat you up?"  Will asked, his eyes wide as they all took in the state of her bruised and battered face.

"Russians."

"Russians?" Max and Lucas asked at the same time, the two of them looking at the girl in complete confusion as she said it. She nodded, shrugging her shoulders and then rejoining the group.

"Erica! What are you doing here?!"

"Ask them. It's their fault." Erica said, gesturing towards where Steve and Robin were standing.

"True yeah. Totally true. It's absolutely our fault." Steve admitted, the boy putting his hands on his hips as he looked at Nancy and Jonathan.

"I don't understand what happened to that car." Robin exclaimed, Christine realizing she had no idea about El.

"El has superpowers."  Dustin spit out the truth, Christine nodding her head as he said it, Robin furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"I'm sorry?" She asked, not quite understand what they were saying.

"Superpowers. She threw it with her mind. C'mon catch up." Steve chastised her, Christine pushing his shoulder he said it

"That's El?" Erica asked, pointing to El who was being halfway held up by Mike.

"Whos El?" Robin  asked, now truly lost in the conversation.

"I'm sorry who are you?" Nancy asked Robin, confused as to who this stranger was that was part of their group now.

"I'm Robin. I work with Steve." Robin introduced, gesturing towards Steve.

"She cracked the top secret code." Dustin said nonchalantly, most of them not knowing what he was talking about.

"Yeah which is how we found out about the Russians." Steve added, everyone shaking their heads in confusion at the two.

"Russians? Wait, what Russians?" Jonathan asked, looking at Steve.

"The Russians!" Steve said, gesturing to the bodies of the men that were after them.

"Those were Russians?" Max butt in, her eyes wide as she asked about it.

"Some of them." Erica answered.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas said, looking down at his sister like she was a maniac.

"Did you hear our code red?" Dustin asked, Christine quickly reciting his words.

"Code red. Code red. I repeat this is a code red. The Russians have infiltrated Hawkins and if they catch us they will torture and kill us." She recalled from the elevator, remembering how very soothing those words were when she was already afraid.

"Yeah. And I couldn't understand half of what you were saying." Mike said, looking between Dustin and Christine.

"Goddamn low battery." Dustin said, shaking his head.

"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?!" Steve scolded, Dustin getting closer to him and yelling back.

"Okay well everything worked out didn't it Steve?"

"Worked out? We almost died." Erica said, looking at Dustin with wide eyes and a pissed expression.

"Yeah but we didn't." Dustin said matter of factly , prompting Christine to speak this time.

"No, some of us just got brutally beaten first but I won't make any comments about timing on these things. That's usually how it works." Christine said, her lips tightening into a straight line as she gave Steve a glance and then looked to Dustin again.

El staggered away from the group, all of them continuing in their conversation of trying to understand each other's stories. She heard a deafening noise in her ears, her knees swaying and then giving out, the girl dropping to the floor and  catching the attention of the others.

"El!" Christine said, the girl running over with everyone else. Mike pulled her onto her back, calling her name a few times as Erica spoke.

"What's wrong with her?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Mike asked frantically, his eyes wide and nervous as he looked her over.

"My leg. My leg." She cried out, Jonathan and Nancy quickly looking at her legs s she said it. They pulled the bandage off of her leg, everyone groaning at the gruesome sight of her terribly infected and open wound.

"What the fuck." Christine groaned out, covering her mouth so she didn't hurl as something moved under her skin. She turned her head to hide it behind Steve's shoulder, the boys entire face scrunching up in disgust at the sight. She started to groan,  Mike calling her name and asking if she was okay. Christine gripped Steve's hand but was still unable to look, knowing that she would probably puke again if she saw what was going on with her leg.

El let out an intense scream, the girl wailing as the pain in her leg overtook her. Christine felt tears spring to her eyes as she finally looked at her, her stomach dropping as she saw the extreme pain on her face.

"What is that?"

"There's something in there!"

"Jesus Christ."

"Keep her talking. Keep her awake okay?" Jonathan said to Max, the boy running off to grab something.  Steve let go of Christines hand, the boy crouching down to  help El the best he could.

"Hey, hey, hey. Stay awake, stay awake.  Let's get her on this side, this side."

"Easy, easy,easy, easy." Steve said as he listened to Mike, Nancy and Steve turning her.

"It's uh...you know, it's not actually that bad. There was a...the goalie in my soccer team, Beth Wildfire,this other girl slid into her leg and the bone came out of her knee. Six inches or something it was insane." Robin rambled out, everyone looking at her with open mouths, wondering how exactly that was helping at all.

"Robin." Steve said, getting the girls attention.

"Yeah?"

"You're not helping."  He said, shaking his head at her. Robin clearly was a nervous talker, the girl realizing maybe she should just stay quiet.

"I'm sorry." Jonathan ran back, the boy holding a few things in his hands and immediately starting to talk.

"Okay. Alright El? This is gonna hurt like hell  okay?"

"Okay." She sobbed out, Jonathan looking down at her leg.

"I need you to stay real still. Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?" Mike took the wooden spoon from Jonathan's hand, putting it in Els  mouth as Dustin exclaimed in shock.

"Jesus Christ."

Jonathan finally pulled the knife out, all of them holding their breaths as he positioned it over her leg.

"Do it." Mike said, holding Els shoulders and giving Jonathan a nod.

"Okay." Jonathan pressed the knife into her skin, slicing open the wound and making everyone groan in disgust. El screamed, the girl in immense and terrible pain as Jonathan gathered up the courage to do what he had to go next. He collected himself, pushing his fingers into her open cut, the girl screaming out in absolute agony. Everyone gasped, Christine not being able to peel her eyes away from it now as she gripped Wills hand. 

"Jonathan!"

"Stop talking! Goddamn it!"

"No! Stop it! Stop! Stop!" El screamed, the girl pushing the spoon out for her mouth and flailing her arms so  that Jonathan would stop.  "I can do it. I can do it."

El pushed herself up, everyone slightly backing away as she did so. She held her hand over her leg, the skin squelching as she used her powers on it. She cried out as she tried to pull it from her body, all of them watching anxiously as he happened. She let out a painful scream, the window behind them shattering, Christine pushing Wills head into her chest as the glass broke against her back.  She pulled it out, whatever it was squishing and  moving on its own away from them. A boot came down on the creature, everyone looking up at the new arrivals. Hopper, Joyce, and someone Christine hadn't seen in a long time, Murray Bauman.

They hurried over to the group,  Joyce hugging Will and Jonathan, Hopper dropping to Els side and checking on her. Christine made a side step towards the hardly familiar Murray Bauman, a man she had only been in proximity with one time, but one who she had conversed with Hopper about a number of times.

"Guess you were right about those Russians huh?" She asked, referencing the first time they had ever met, and the only time she had seen him. He gave her a raised eyebrow and a knowing look, his lips tightening into a line as he spoke.

"Told you."