"The mind flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world." Mike said, addressing the group.

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it." Nancy said,  remembering the giant monster from the  hospital.

"How big is this thing?" Hopper asked, El laid across his lap but still listening. Christine was standing between Max and Steve, the girl chewing on her bottom lip, the part of it that wasn't split open, as she listened.

"It's big. Thirty feet at least." The news was not the best to hear,  Christine feeling fear in her bones at the thought of a 30 foot monster.

"Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry." Lucas said, Hopper giving him a frown as he said it.

"Okay so just to be clear, this...big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some kind of gigantic...weapon?" Steve inquired, gesturing towards the super powered girl.

"Yes."

"But instead of like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon...with melted people." Steve said, the words out of his mouth sounding way to crazy to believe.

"Yes, exactly." Nancy confirmed, Christine shaking her head at this information as Steve spoke again.

"Yeah, okay. I—yeah I was just making sure."

"Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?" Joyce asked, Christine looking to Will and speaking this time.

"Do you feel it Will?" She asked, the boy shaking his head to show her that he didn't know.

"El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah it's still alive." Max said, looking between  Christine and Joyce.

"But if we close the gate again—" Will began,  Max cutting him off to finish the sentence.

"We cut the brain off from the body."

"And kill it. Theoretically." Lucas said, Christine remembering a conversation like this one from the last time they were up against the Mind Flayer.

"Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!" Murray yelled, the man rushing in and waving handfuls of paper around in the air. He put them down on the table, quickly springing into a plan. "Okay. This is what Alexei called 'The Hub'. Now the Hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay where's the gate?"

"Right here. I don't know the scale in this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room maybe 50 feet or so."

"More like 500."

"Try something bigger Murray. I got my ass dragged all over The Hub and not once was any important room 50 feet from the other." Christine backed Erica up, Murray looking to Christine and then to Erica.

"What you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?" Erica said, Christine chuckling slightly at her sass.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asked, looking at the difficult little girl with a dumbfounded look.

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?"

"Murray...Bauman."

"Listen Mr. Bunman, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." Erica said, the girl pointing to all of them to get her point across.

"I'm sorry,  why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray said, lifting his arms towards the girl who was always quick to retaliate.

"Um I'm ten you bald bastard!"

"Erica!" Lucas said, trying to get her to calm down.

"Just the facts!"

"Shes right. You're all gonna die but you don't have to. Excuse me. Sorry, may I?" Dustin defended the girl, knowing the truth behind her words.

"Please." Murray said in a pretty sarcastic tone.

"Okay, so see this room here? This is a storage facility. There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica we can show you the way." Dustin explained, the boy drawing the route in the blue prints and nodding up at Hopper.

"You can show us the way?"

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and  the dangerous  hero shit, and we'll just be your...navigators." Dustin proposed, Hopper looking down at him with a frown.

"No."  Hopper said, shaking his head down at the literal children. "Nope."

Robin sulked away from the group, Christine  noticing this and slipping away herself. She followed Robin  over to where she pushed herself up onto the countertop of Hotdog on a Stick, Christine  approaching her with crossed arms and a concerned look.

"So how you doing with all this?" Christine said, using her head to gesture towards where Dustin and Hopper were arguing about him going with them.  Robin let out a short sigh, the girl shaking her head and then managing a chuckle.

"Honestly...it's kinda hard to grasp." She said, Christine nodding at her reply. "I mean I thought the Russians was bonkers but...monsters from alternate dimensions, girl with superpowers, a bald guy named Murray? It's all a little hard to wrap my head around."

Christine chuckled lightly at the Murray comment, making her way towards the countertop and pushing herself up beside Robin. She bumped the girls shoulders, a small smile gracing her lips as she looked down at the floor.

"It looks pretty bleak right now...and the futures not looking too hot...but it's nice to be back together. And it's nice to have you here too." Christine said, looking over at Robin with slightly raised eyebrows. Robin took the words to heart, feeling rather accepted after hearing those words from Christine,  a girl who had never really seemed to put too much effort into being her friend. "Besides...Steve's a lot to handle. I'm glad we can share him."

Robin lightly laughed at that, knowing that she was aware of something Christine wasn't.  They were sharing Steve as a friend, but in no way were they sharing Steve romantically.

"I don't know. I think Romeo has a thing for you." Robin said, giving Christine a sideways glance, trying to see what her reaction would be to that. Christine let out a breathy laugh, her eyes glued to the boy in question who was standing by Dustin with his hands on his hips, his eyebrows furrows with concentration at whatever they were saying. Christine lifted her hand, dropping it on top of Robins and giving her a nod. "He's never gonna admit it. And you know that." 

"I know. Trust me."  Christine admitted,  the girl looking down at her shoes and then back to Robin, bumping their shoulders again and then breaking into another grin. "It's nice talking to a girl my own age."

"Yeah I-"

"Hey you two...let's go!" Steve said, walking up to the two girls and getting their attention.  He looked curiously between them and then at their conjoined hands, Steve looking at Robin who  pulled her hand out from under Christines and jumped off the countertop.

"Alright let's go." Robin said, walking in front of Steve. Christine hopped down, raising her eyebrows at Steve who was looking at her with narrowed eyes, the girl pushing her head out slightly at him.

"What? Let's go then. Damn." She said, Steve rolling his eyes and leading the way. He held the keys in his hand, the boy jingling them as he caught sight of the car he was going to get, his eyes slightly widening as he pushed through the doors.

"Oh, man, now this...this is what I'm talking about!" Steve exclaimed as he walked towards the car, the boy tossing the keys in the air and catching them as he rounded the side of it.

"Toddfather?"

"Oh, screw Todd! Steve's her daddy now!" Steve said, jumping over the door and into the drivers seat. Christine laughed at that comment, the girl pushing herself into the passenger seat as Robin spoke.

"Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?"

"Did he just call himself daddy?" Erica chimed in, Christine laughing once more as she nodded back at the girl.

"All right. Where are we going?" Steve asked, the boy sticking the keys in the ignition and looking over at Christine who was buckling her seatbelt.

"Weathertop."

"Weathe-what?"

"Just drive." Dustin whined, Steve revving the engine and taking off. He sped out of the parking lot, Christine whooping as she felt the wind blew through her hair.

"Christine check out the wind velocity on this car! Remind me to get this car when I go through my midlife crisis!" Steve said, Christine looking never stop him and watching the wind whip through his hair with a smile. Steve smiled back, everyone in the back seating internally groaning at the exchange.

"Steve do you know what wind velocity means?!" Christine called back, Steve looking over at her like she was an idiot for even asking and then answering.

"No." He reached for the stereo, the girl slapping this hand away and looking through the stations herself, the three in the back conversing about the Cerebro as she heard a familiar tune.

"Oh Steve! Steve listen! I heard this song the other day I wanted you to hear it! It reminded me of you!" Christine shouted, the sound of Madonnas 'Crazy for You' coming over the radio and making the three in the back groan at the obviousness of it all. Steve looking over at Christine with an endearing look, the boys heart pounding at the lyrics of the song, even him noticing how on the nose it was for her to say that about a love song.