Lily peered out the window of the Winnebago as it sat off the side of the road at the edge of the woods leading to Forest Hills Trailer Park. The night was quiet, casting an eerie shadow around them as the woods seemed too still for her liking. She knew they had to be quick, allowing them enough time to get the Upside Down's version of the Munsons' trailer ready for the distraction, as well as giving, Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Debbie a chance to get to the Creel House, where Vecna would hopefully be waiting in his catatonic state.

"Okay, I want to run through it one more time." Nancy said, pulling Lily's attention away from the back window, to where the rest of them all gathered around the mobile home's small dining area. "Phase one,"

"We meet Erica at the playground." Robin spoke up. "She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready."

"Phase two," Nancy said.

"Max baits Vecna." Steve said. "He'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance."

"Phase three?" Nancy asked.

"Eddie, Nick, Lily, and I draw the bats away." Dustin added, and Eddie reached down from where he stood behind Dustin, playfully pushing the boy's head down with a smile.

"Four." Nancy said.

"We head into Vecna's newly bat-free lair and..." Debbie trailed off, picking up one of the Molotov cocktail bottles and giving it a slight shake. "flambe."

"Nobody moves onto the next phase until we've all copied." Nancy said adamantly, "Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?"

"Got it," they all chorused, and Lily reached behind her, grabbing her shield and spear from where they rested on the couch in the back of the vehicle, holding them close to her as she followed the others outside.

Nancy led the group as they jogged through the woods towards the trailer park, keeping their eyes peeled for anyone moving outside. Lily kept a close eye on the windows of each trailer they passed, ready to cover Eddie at a moment's notice if they were caught, but the park remained deserted that night, devoid of any passersby or peeping toms.

Steve pulled the door open to the trailer, and everyone followed his lead, piling inside until Lily shut the door behind them. It remained untouched since they had last been inside, Wayne's tapes still littering the floor from where Eddie had rummaged through them the night before in an attempt to save Nancy and the bedsheet rope hanging from the ceiling, bridging the gap through the gate to the Upside Down.

"Be careful," Dustin said, nodding in Steve's direction as the older boy stared at the gate above them.

"Thanks buddy," Steve said, giving Dustin a pat on the shoulder before reaching for the rope. "Here goes nothing."

Steve grabbed the rope, jumping up and catching his feet on one of the knots as he began to climb. He moved carefully, not wanting to risk getting hurt without the safety net of a mattress waiting on the other side, and when the gravity shift came he held on tight, flipping and landing onto his feet on the floor below. As he steadied himself, he looked back up at the others with a satisfied grin, shrugging at his own impressive landing.

"Whoa, what does he want us to do, applaud?" Robin asked sarcastically, causing Nick to chuckle as she watched Steve with a smile.

Steve disappeared as he moved further into the trailer, returning a moment later lugging a version of Eddie's mattress that was darker and even more stained than the one beneath their feet. He set it down directly below the gate, freeing the rope from where it had gotten caught underneath the mattress and looking back up at the group above him.

"Alright," Steve said. "Let's go,"

Nancy shrugged off her backpack and Robin got down on one knee, helping to boost the girl up onto the rope. She climbed up until she fell through the gate and onto the floor below, and as soon as Steve helped her up, Eddie tossed their backpacks through, with their respective weapons sticking out.

"I'll go," Nick offered, setting down her shield and spear and leaping up onto the rope.

As Nick reached the mattress on the other end of the gate, being helped up by Steve and Nancy, the rest of them worked to send through the spears and shields, making sure they weren't leaving anything behind in the real world. Lily sent through the last spear, looking back at her friends as Steve, Nancy, and Nick moved to clear them off the mattress.

"You're up, sweetheart." Eddie said, grabbing the rope and handing it to her.

"Alright," she said, looking up at where her three friends waited for her on the other side of the gate, and she jumped up onto the rope, beginning to climb.

Lily shut her eyes as she reached the juncture connecting the two sides of the gate, waiting for the shifting gravity to swallow her as she began to cross over to the other side. As her shoulders passed through the gate, her feet began to tumble out from above her, sending her toppling onto the mattress below.

"That was definitely not as fun this time around." Lily said, reaching for the hand Nick extended out to her and allowing the girl to pull her to her feet.

As soon as Lily had cleared off the mattress, Eddie followed suit behind her, dropping down onto it. Lily held a hand out for the boy, pulling him up as he shot her a smile and she reached up to adjust where his bandana now lay crooked on top of his head.

"Thanks," he said, grinning in her direction, but her eyes moved back to the stained mattress below him.

"First order of business when we get back home." she said, finally looking back at him. "We're washing your fucking sheets."

"Oh, come on, mine aren't as bad as this one." he pointed out, gesturing to the mattress on the floor. "My sheets look pristine compared to this."

"That's not the accomplishment you think it is, honey," Lily said, patting the boy's shoulder as Robin fell through the gate with a small shriek, and they both turned to help her up.

"Is that everything?" Nick asked, looking up to where Dustin was sending through the last of the spears.

"That's it," he confirmed, and as soon as it hit the ground Steve snatched it up, setting it down by the others on a much damper, dirtier version of the Munson family's couch.

"Alright, then let's go, Henderson, we don't have all night." Steve said, and Dustin grabbed the rope, nervously beginning to climb through.

The young boy toppled through the gate, falling to the mattress below where he quickly sat up, panting. As soon as he was up, Robin and Eddie both leaned down, grabbing a handful of his sweatshirt and hauling the boy up onto his feet as he began to look around. While Dustin had known about the Upside Down longer than anybody in the group, this was his first time in the alternate dimension, causing him to study the vines lining the walls and the particles floating in the air with a horrified fascination.

"Come on," Nancy said, pushing the trailer door open to reveal Forest Hills waiting beyond them, thunder booming through the air with a red flash of lightning as they all piled out of the mobile home.

"Hey guys, listen," Steve said as soon as they were outside, turning around to face where Lily, Eddie, Dustin, and Nick stood in front of the trailer. "If things here start to go south, I mean at all, you abort. Okay? Draw the attention of the bats, keep 'em busy for a minute or two, and we'll take care of Vecna. Don't try to be cute or be a hero, or something, okay? You guys are just-"

"Decoys." Dustin finished. "Don't worry. You can be the hero, Steve."

"Absolutely," Eddie agreed. "I mean look at us. We are not heroes."

Lily stepped away from the group, pulling Debbie into a tight hug. "Be careful, okay?" she asked, before looking back at the rest of the group heading to the Creel House. "All of you. I don't care what it takes, you're all making it back in one piece, do you hear me?"

"We'll do our best," Debbie said, hugging Lily back tightly.

"Lily's right," Nick added, stepping forward to hug Steve, and the boy leaned down, kissing her forehead softly as he hugged her back. "You can be a hero, but don't be an idiot, Harrington."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he said as she finally released him from her hold, turning back to join the rest of his group.

"Hey, Steve?" Eddie spoke up, stopping the boy in his tracks as he turned back to face him, and Eddie was silent for a moment before he continued. "Make him pay."

Steve nodded back at Eddie, the two of them sharing a glance before the groups finally split apart, Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Debbie beginning their trek through Forest Hills to reach the Creel House just outside town. Lily watched with the others as they rounded the corner around another trailer, vanishing from view before she turned back to the Munsons', studying the home briefly before turning back to them.

"Well," she said, "it looks like we've got work to do. Shall we?"

"We shall," Dustin said, clapping his hands together. "Alright, so here's the plan: we need this place to be a fortress, so the bats can't come after us once Eddie's done playing. We'll cover it in any sort of metal we can find, cover any entrances so they can't get through, and all of Eddie's equipment needs to get up onto the roof. Once we start phase three, I'll stay by the amps and keep track of the equipment, and Lily and Nick, you two guard us with your weapons, in case any of the bats get too close."

"Sir, yes sir," Nick said, giving Dustin a mock salute.

"Alright, the tools are in my bag." Eddie said, shrugging the backpack off his shoulders and unzipping it, handing Lily a pair of wire cutters. "Lily and Nick, you two get as much fencing as you can find. Henderson, you stay with me and we'll get some metal and wood to board up the place."

"Let's go," Lily said, and Nick nodded, following after the girl as they hurried across the field to the Mayfields' next door neighbors, where the pen for their dog sat empty next to the trailer. Lily made quick work of cutting the wire holding the fence to the posts, with Nick grabbing the metal of the chain link and beginning to pile the sections onto the ground. "So," she said, giving the girl a knowing look as soon as Eddie and Dustin were out of eyesight. "You and Steve seemed pretty cozy before they left. It's about time."

"You're telling me," Nick said with a dramatic sigh, and Lily chuckled, beginning to move on to the next section of the fence. "I mean, if we're about to die tonight, it's better late than never, right? But, if by some miracle we all survive this, maybe we can all go out sometime, you, me, Steve, Eddie, maybe even Jonathan and Nancy, like a triple date or something."

"Yeah," Lily said, nodding with a smile as the conversation finally began to flow easily between the two girls, allowing them to pick up where they'd left off all those months ago. "Yeah, I'd really like that."

"We just need to convince the town my brother's not a murderer first." Nick said, "Though, that seems to be a lot easier said than done."

"Well, Powell may be an idiot, but hopefully he's smart enough to take me into account as an eyewitness about the other night with Jason and Patrick." she said. "Eddie never touched Patrick, we were in the boat and they were in the water, and I will make sure Powell knows that he's innocent."

Nick smiled, nodding at Lily encouragingly. "I know we may all just be trailer trash to them," she said, "but maybe you becoming a Hawkins cheerleader and somebody people actually listen to wound up being a good thing after all."

Lily smiled softly as she cut the last of the wire fence, and Eddie and Dustin approached with a makeshift tarp to drag the fence across the field to where a pile of scrap metal waited for them. "Do you think this is enough?" she asked them as they began to load the fence onto the tarp.

"We just need it to cover the porch." Dustin explained. "If we can get through there and lock them out, they shouldn't be able to get to the front windows. They'll be boarded up just in case, but this will be our first line of defense."

Each of them grabbed a corner of the tarp, dragging the metal across the field back to the trailer. As soon as the tarp was placed down in front of the mobile home, they got to work, Eddie and Lily picking up the fencing while Dustin and Nick got to work boarding up the trailer with metal and wood.

"Are you ready for this?" Lily asked as Eddie got to work attaching the first section of the fence to the edge of the porch, tongue poking between his teeth as he concentrated on the metal.

"Oh, you know, pre-show jitters as usual." Eddie said as Lily held the fencing in place for him. "It's a special show, though. Corroded Coffin's first ever groupie even came back for it, so the pressure's on."

"Well, then it better be a good show." she said nonchalantly, fighting off the smile that threatened to turn up the corners of her mouth.

"Oh, I'm not worried about that." he said with a confident grin. "Trust me, it'll be the most metal ever."

Lily smiled as they continued to attach the fencing, covering up the porch before moving onto help Dustin and Nick with boarding up the rest of the trailer. As soon as every entrance was boarded up and covered, they finally stepped back, admiring their work. The place no longer looked like the Munsons' rickety old trailer where they used to spend their summer days out on the porch in the shade to get away from the home's lack of air conditioning, but instead was a homemade fortress, ready to keep even the most vicious of Demobats at bay.

"Not bad," Eddie mused.

"Not bad at all," Dustin added with a satisfied smile, and Eddie began to chuckle.

"Now for the fun part," he said with a grin. "Come on,"