Chapter 25

Everyone was talking at the same time, in their own languages, as if yelling over each other would be productive. Alexei pulled his legs and arms in, and leaned back against the wall. He was so cold, and so tired. Then he felt warmth next to him. He opened his eyes just a crack. Joyce. He looked away and wished the thing had dissolved him. "I am so sorry," he said.

"It wasn't your fault," Joyce said. She took his hand, then checked his forehead. "You're freezing. Come here." She pulled him close and tried to rub some warmth into his limbs. He didn't deserve this at all, and he felt the tears welling up.

"Hey, what are you two doing?" Andrei demanded. "Come on." He started to pull Joyce up, but she jerked her arm away and stood on her toes to get as close to his face as possible.

"You will not touch me, and you are not going to order us around anymore! You sent your thugs to kidnap me and the kids, you almost killed your own brother, and you've let a monster loose with no idea how to control it! So you are going to sit down, right over there-" She pointed at his desk. "And you are going to stay quiet until you figure out how to be useful! Do you understand?!"

"Do you really want that translated?" Tanya asked.

Andrei shook his head slightly, then looked at Alexei. "Out of every woman in America, that one?" Alexei didn't reply. "You all right? Alyosha?" Andrei touched him. "Shit. Tanya, send someone to get a blanket and some soup. All right, Alyosha, you'll be better in a minute. You better be, because I have no idea what we're dealing with."

When Alexei was wrapped up and managed to get a little broth in his throat, Andrei sat back at his desk. He sighed and leaned forward. "One at a time. What are we dealing with? Start from the beginning."

The Americans explained the first lab and the children. Andrei stopped them. "Your people experimented on kids?"

"You torture people for a living and you're going to act like a self-righteous jackass?" Joyce responded after Tanya translated. Andrei shrugged, and motioned that they should continue.

They quickly covered the Demogorgon, the Mindflayer, how El had closed the gate and his machine had reopened it, and the final showdown with the monster made of melted people.

"All this over a little girl?"

"El's a badass," Mike offered.

Andrei struggled with the literal translation. "A bad ass?" Tanya shrugged. "It doesn't matter. So what happens now?"

"The Mindflayer is probably trying to do the same thing it did before," Nancy said. "Then it'll come for El and finish this off."

"It's not finished den," Alexei said. Everyone looked over at him. "Ven it was – inside me – it said it vanted to build. It said it vas de next stage of – evolyutsiya."

"Evolution," Jonathan said.

"Getting rid of El is just de first step. It wants to rule our vorld too." Alexei paused. "It's going to come for me again too, to do dat."

"Can't she just close the door? It worked for them last time. Or blow up your machine?" Tanya asked.

"My machine isn't what's keeping it open," Alexei said. "There's a crack, somewhere. But I don't think she can close it."

"You'd better think of a way." Andrei turned to the others and pounded his desk. "Someone in this room had better think of something."

"We should bring in the other American too," Alexei said. "He's not the brightest, but we need every mind we have."

Andrei looked like he was about to argue, probably just to prove who was in charge, but he sighed and gave the order. Alexei could hear Hopper yelling at the guards for waking him up in the middle of the night long before they opened the door. Did they never beat him, or did he just not care? The others were looking around, like they didn't dare to hope. Alexei caught Joyce's eye and nodded. "I don't know how," he said.

When the guards opened the door, it set off a wave of shouting, weeping, laughing and everything else as the Americans surrounded Hopper. Alexei stayed in his spot. He had no place there.

Then came the inevitable question of what they were all doing there, and then Hopper charged Andrei, yelling about endangering his daughter. He'd been out of the cell for maybe five minutes, and he was going to get thrown back in. Alexei sighed, but he didn't get involved. Hopper was pushing and threatening. Andrei reached for his pistol and – found himself plastered against the far wall. He dropped to the floor next to Alexei and looked up in shock. "Did that man do that?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Alexei responded, and he looked over at El. A little trickle of blood was running toward her lip.

"I thought you said her powers didn't work."

Alexei smiled. "Maybe she just needed her papa."

"And you're happy about this?"

"I think this will help-"

He didn't get to finish his thought before Mikhail burst in. "Comrade Medvedev-" He stopped when he saw Andrei on the floor.

"Continue, Mikhail." Andrei winced and groaned a bit as he got up. Alexei might have found the reversal a bit satisfying if it had been any of his other interrogators, but his back and arm hurt too, where Andrei had fallen on them.

"Comrade, some villagers were trying to climb the fence to get in. We threatened to shoot them if they didn't go home."

"So shoot them if they don't leave."

"We did, comrade. And then – things got strange."

Alexei buried his face in his hands. Will tapped him on the shoulder. "It's here," Will said, and Alexei knew he was right.

"I have a idea," he said. "But it's going to take all of us."