Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Once breakfast was done and everyone cleaned up, Jane, now wearing a new cool-colored, multi-patterned shirt, blue jean overalls, and multi-colored sneakers, looked at Andrew, then at her mom. Her aunt, uncle, and cousin weren't here, so she asked, "Okay, seriously, Mama, why is he still here?"

Terry got close to her, saying, "He knows about the Mind Flayer as well." She looked shocked to hear about this, looking at him again.

"How?"

Andrew sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "My...friends..." he said, looking down sadly. "I think...they might be possessed by him." Jane's eyes widened more. Terry frowned at him, sincerely hoping that wasn't the case.

...

When they went downstairs, the kids were sitting on either the couch or the the chairs down there. They looked confused to see Andrew with them. "Wait, Mrs. Ives, why's your friend-" Max asked before the woman in question interrupted her.

"Andrew knows," she answered.

"He told me that..." Jane said, taking a deep breath. "His friends might be possessed by him." Their eyes were as wide as plates. Andrew looked nervous, but Terry squeezed his shoulder for comfort.

...

"At first, I thought this feeling I have was nothing," Will explained, the adults now sitting on the floor and everyone listening to him closely. "The more I felt it, the more confused I became. But last night...I finally pieced it all together."

"Tell me, Will," Terry said. "When did have this...feeling?"

He took a deep breath. "I first felt it when we were watching Day of-" He stopped when he realized Terry didn't know they snuck into an R-rated movie. "When we went to the movies, after it came back on." She and Andrew nodded.

"The power went out that night..." Jane stated.

"Then the next day, on the hill when we were trying to get up there and set up Dustin's project. Then three times yesterday: when we went to Max's and got into the bathroom, when we left Heather's house-" Andrew looked surprised at this as well as Terry. "And when we all met in my house and started talking about what was going on."

"So, you get goosebumps on the back of your neck?" Max asked.

He nodded at her. "Yeah, and suddenly, I couldn't breathe and..." He paused, trying to find the right word. "Do you know that feeling when you're about to drop on a roller coaster?"

"Sure," Jane answered.

"Yeah," Max also answered.

"No," Mike answered as well, puzzled.

"It's like...everything in your body is just sinking all at once, but worse: you feel cold all around as well." The freckled boy looked terrified by this.

"Jesus..." the long-haired man muttered.

"I've felt it...every time 'he' was near." He then remembered last year...all those horrible moments last year...

"By 'he', you mean the Mind Flayer."

He nodded at the man. "Yeah."

"But..." Mike spoke up. "I closed the gate."

"I know, but..." He looked down at his feet. "What if he never left?" He looked straight into his friend's eyes. "What if we locked him out here with us?" Mike looked even more terrified at the thought...and so did the rest of the group, especially the adults.

...

With a piece of paper and a bit of charcoal, everyone gathered around the table as Will began drawing the Mind Flayer quickly. "This is him," he said. "All of him. But on that day on the field, a part of him attached itself to me." Unfortunately, the group, save for Andrew, remembered that day all too well. He then used his hand to swipe the drawing, holding up his charcoal-collected hand. "My mom got it out of me and Mike closed the gate." The boy mentioned took a deep breath, remembering that moment.

He then flipped the paper over, continuing, "But...what if the part that was still inside me...is still in our world?" He planted his hand on the paper, making a partial hand mark. He looked around at everyone. "In Hawkins?"

Max looked puzzled, as well as Terry and Lucas. "That doesn't make sense to me," Max said, looking at Mike. "When Mike closed the gate, the Demo-dogs died."

Andrew also looked puzzled, but for a different reason. He leaned towards the dirty-blonde-haired woman and whispered, "Demo-dogs?"

"Later," she whispered back.

"If the brain dies, the body dies," Lucas added. "So...?"

"But we can't take any chances," Jane replied to them both. "We have to assume the worst..." She frowned. "The Mind Flayer is back."

The auburn-haired boy nodded at her. "Yeah...and if he is, he'll wanna attach himself to somebody again."

Now everyone looked solemn. "A new host," Lucas said.

"Like Billy and Heather," Andrew muttered, looking down.

Mike looked at him, frowning, then at Will. "But...how can we tell that someone's a host?"

Jim and Joyce had gotten into city hall to meet with Larry. Joyce stayed with the secretary in case things went south while Jim actually meets with Larry. Jim had tried his damndest to be calm while talking to him about the thug, because he did see him come out of his office a couple days ago. However, the second he brought up Sara...and said that he didn't care...something in him snapped. He didn't want to do this...

But disrespecting his daughter like that...at the moment, he didn't give a shit.

The second his boss stood up and went for the door, he did and slammed his face against it.

That caught the attention of both Joyce and the secretary. The secretary had gotten to the door, trying to open it, but it was locked. "Larry?" she asked, trying to open it faster along with knocking repeatedly. "Larry?! Larry!" They could hear their muffled voices through the door, but it was clear no one was going to answer her.

The secretary went back to her desk to go to her phone, but Joyce exclaimed, "Don't!" She stopped, looking at the brunette woman with wide eyes. "I can handle this." She then went to the door and used slams as knocks. "Hopper! Stop!"

...

As he threw the mayor to his desk, he actually did, looking back at the door. "If you can't talk him into confessing, let me!" she continued. He huffed and rubbed his face.

He could hear Larry chuckle as he slowly straightened up. "I'd listen to your new sex doll if I were you." He then went and punched him in the face again.

"AH! SHIT!"

...

Joyce heard that. "JIM!"

...

He stopped again, realizing what he's done. He huffed again before going to the door and unlocking it, letting her in. She looked shocked at how the mayor looked. "Jesus, Jim!"

The ash-blonde-haired man closed the door and locked it again. "He brought up Sara, and then insulted you-"

"That doesn't mean you should beat him into a pulp!" Larry just nodded, wiping the blood from his broken nose. She then went closer to him, making Jim feel uneasy, and said, "Okay, Mayor Kline, listen to me." He looked down at her. "Jim knows that you know this guy. I caught a glimpse of him too. We just wanna know what you know about him." He chuckled again, looking away from her. She then backed away. "If you don't do this for us..." She then stood next to the police chief. "I won't stop him from beating you up some more." Now the mayor looked conflicted. She then covered her mouth and whispered to Jim, "Which I hope you don't." Jim took a deep breath before they both glared at him. He let out a heavy sigh.

...

"I don't know his name, really," Larry said, sitting on his desk and the two of them sitting in front of him. "But he gives me things sometimes."

"What kind of things?" Joyce asked.

"Money, presents...gifts."

Jim scoffed. "Who is this guy, Santa Claus?" he sarcastically questioned.

Larry scoffed as well. "He works for Starcourt."

They both looked curious, leaning towards him. "Wait, the MALL?"

He nodded. "Yes. They own the mall." The two looked at each other with puzzled faces before looking back at him. "They wanted to...expand into East Hawkins, so they needed some property, some land. Some people weren't budging to sell, so I had to lean on them a little."

"Why do they want the land?" Joyce asked.

He shrugged, lacing his fingers together. "I don't know, honestly." He looked at them with a genuine expression, something that has never seen before.

"That means you must have records of these purchases," Jim stated.

Larry sighed again and looked at them both. "Listen, take it from me, but you two shouldn't mess with these people."

Jim raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're worried about US, Larry, and not yourself?"

He gave him the side eye. "I'm not the one poking my nose into their business."

"Then how about this? You show us the records, we'll keep quiet about everything that's happened here and...won't bother you any longer." He stood up, keeping his eyes locked on his boss.

It only took a few seconds for the mayor to smirk. "For the first time, Jim..." He stood up as well...extending a hand towards him. "We've come to an agreement." Although he still hated him and Larry felt the same way, he was right. He shook his hand, Larry's smirk turning into a smile. Joyce smiled as well, glad that this came to a nonviolent solution.

At the side of the Hawkins Post building, Kali and Jonathan were talking, the girl looking less hurt about losing her job than the guy. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms while he was pacing around. "Mrs. Driscoll being a schizophrenic and the rat acting the way it was couldn't be a coincidence," she said, confident yet not smiling. "I made the calls, I KNOW something's up." Jonathan buried his face in his hands, trying to cover his glassy eyes as he sighed. "And by the way, did you see how Tom was sweating?"

He looked at her, baffled and confused. "What?"

"Didn't you see him? His palms were clammy, you could see the stains on his pits, he looked real weird." She snapped her fingers. "And that bandage on his forehead? What is he, on drugs?" She laughed, but Jonathan didn't, him looking at her sternly. Her smile dropped. "What?"

"Is this funny to you?" he asked sharply.

She looked really surprised that he was acting this way. "I mean, I don't work for that asshole anymore, so I can make fun of him all I wa-"

"WE JUST LOST OUR JOBS, KALI!" She tensed up at his outburst, his hands clawed and tense. "And you're out here, making fun of our former boss like nothing's happened."

She sighed. "Listen, I know you wanted to keep this job, but you still came with me-"

"Because that's what friends are for, but now I wish I hadn't!" Her jaw dropped a little. "I keep telling you over and over again to drop the story and that it was a bad idea-" She scoffed and looked away from him. "But you refused and now I'm screwed!"

"It's a dumb summer job, calm down-"

He looked more mad. "Oh, I'm sorry. I don't live in a two-story house on Maple Street, where your mom gets checks from the government so she won't lose it!"

She glared at him, raising an eyebrow. "Jonathan-"

He counted with his fingers. "Mortgage, college tuition. These are things I really care about, Kali, but you don't have to because of the money your mom gets every month."

She chuckled ironically when she stopped leaning against the wall. "Are you saying that I live in a bubble?"

"YES, KALI! I AM!" Now she was pissed, grabbing the sides of her arms tightly. "You want everything handed to you on a silver platter, even though you were living in the same situation as me! We were INTERNS, Kal, INTERNS!" She sighed heavily and looked down, shaking her head. "What did you expect from those racist assholes? That you'd be star reporter in a month?! Crack the BIG case?!"

"I was trying to show them how GREAT someone unlike them could be!"

"And that got blown right back into your face, just as I expected!"

She scoffed once more. "Christ, Jonathan, you sound just like them."

He looked even more mad, shaking his head. "I am NOTHING like them, Kal! You know that!" She huffed, the two giving dagger-like glares at one another. "And yet, you don't know how much this affects me!"

"YOU don't know how much working with THEM-" She pointed at the building, then at herself. "-affects ME!" He huffed as she continued, "You're white AND a man! You get it easy while I, an Indian-American woman, get treated like a second-class citizen, a novelty, a little special slave they can order around!"

"Kal-"

"Hell, that internship didn't even FEEL like an internship! It feels more like indentured servitude!"

He shrugged. "Well, that's the real world for you-"

Now she was absolutely mad. "NO WOMAN LIKE ME SHOULD EVER, EVER, GO THROUGH WHAT I HAVE WENT THROUGH IN THE REAL WORLD!" They continued to glare at each other sharply, the air tainted with anger.

Then Kali backed away from him, getting to her car. "I thought we could understand each other."

Jonathan made way to his car as well. "I thought so too." He shrugged. "I guess not anymore." He then went in and started his car. She did the same in her car, absolutely furious at him. How dare he...

Terry was working at the Gap as usual, but Stacey didn't come in. Andrew had already assumed the worst, so did she. She did have to get her due for her family, despite still getting the checks, so she had to go there while Andrew, as kind as he was, look after the children as they go to the pool after stopping by his home. It was to check on Billy and possibly Heather and find out what they can do. She's got a walkie-talkie and Jane's got one too, just to report on what was going on.

She needed to use the bathroom, so she had asked a coworker to cover for her while she was gone. When she got out of the store, however, she bumped into a woman. "Oh, excuse me," she said automatically.

"Terry?" asked...Stacey's voice. The dirty-blonde-haired woman took a look at her and was surprised. Her curly hair was in a mid-ponytail, her face was trying to cover her scars and bruises with the natural makeup she had, and she wore a black, multi-patterned shirt, Gap jeans, and multi-colored sneakers.

Terry looked relieved to see her, holding her shoulders. "I'm glad you're alright."

Stacey just nodded at her. "Yeah..."

She looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

She looked away from her, letting her friend's hands get off her shoulders. "It's Dave...he...didn't make it."

The dirty-blonde-haired woman looked really shocked and forlorn to hear that, her squeezing her friend's shoulder. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault-"

"Where's Andrew?" Her stare bored into her.

Terry became a little stiff, then answered honestly, "He didn't want to sleep alone at your house, so he decided to stay at mine for the night."

Stacey just nodded. "Is he still there?"

She shook her head. "No, he went back to yours-" She stopped herself, knowing she couldn't lie to her. "I mean..." She sighed. "I'll tell you when I get back, okay? I need to go to the bathroom."

She just nodded again. "Okay." They then departed from each other. Stacey was acting weird...but after what happened last night, she couldn't blame her. Poor Dave though...how was Andrew going to react to that?

Meanwhile, the curly-haired woman had visions of when Mike closed the gate. Two others were with him, killing the denizens of the Upside Down: a man and a woman. The woman was Terry Ives...she helped him.

For a second, the veins in her eyes turned black and her pupils dilated. After that, they turned to normal as she finally went into the store.

Andrew, who now wore yet another tye-dye shirt, jean shorts, and brown strapped sandals, decided to drive the kids to the pool in his van, the kids sitting in the back. This was a real hippy van to them, with the cushions, blanket, bed, curtains, and decorations all around looking like stuff a hippy would have. He did tell them that he had this van for a LONG time. Still, this was surprisingly really comfy for them.

Suddenly, Will felt the goosebumps on his neck rise and he felt out of breath. He touched the back of it again and looked out of the back window. He felt "him"...but not close...far. He couldn't tell if it was because of Billy...or Heather...or either of Andrew's friends.

Finally, Andrew entered into the pool's parking lot and parked, saying, "We're here." The kids stood up, their legs a little wobbly due to them sitting for a bit. In a single file, they opened one of the side doors of the van and got out. Andrew got out through the driver's door.

...

None of them entered into the pool, instead, they circled around and with a pair of binoculars Andrew had in his van, each of them looked at Billy. He wore an entire white robe, seemingly drinking from an ICE cup. "Other than the robe, he looks pretty normal to me," Max stated, being the one with the binoculars now.

"Yeah, but so did Heather," Lucas replied, making her stop looking through the binoculars and look at him.

"And she acted anything but normal," Will added.

The girls looked up at Andrew. "Since you and your friends were at Heather's last night..." Jane began. "Can you confirm that?"

He looked at her, then the rest of the kids, nodding. "We saw them knocking out Heather's parents when we came in."

Lucas scoffed. "Hell of a dinner, then..."

"Then what? You abandoned your friends and went to Mrs. Ives?" Max asked.

He looked at her a bit sternly. "They wanted me to go. Otherwise..." He looked away from them and frowned, making Max feel a bit bad.

"Changing the subject..." Jane said, all of them looking back at the mullet-haired teen. "Why would he still be lounging at the pool? It IS hot out."

"Well..." Will began, getting everyone's attention. He gulped and looked serious. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me." He took a deep breath, remembering what happened six months ago. "It's like...you're dormant before he uses you. When he does..." He looked straight at Billy. "You're activated."

"So...we'd have to wait until he's 'activated'?" Andrew asked.

The brown-haired tomboy shook her head. "No. Because what if he hurts someone?"

"Or kills them?" the auburn-haired boy added. "Which means we need to find out if he's the host."

Andrew then thought of something, eyebrows raised. "I have an idea." He moved two of his fingers to gesture some of the kids to follow. "Boys, come with me."

The girls looked at him with narrow eyes. "'Boys?'" Max asked, a bit baffled.

He looked at them apologetically. "I apologize, but this is something specific for us." With that, the boys followed him around to get into the pool.

The redhead sighed and rolled her eyes, her friend frowning. "Typical." She then looked at her. "Did you even know your mom had a guy friend?"

The brown-haired girl shook her head. "No." She wondered WHY she had a guy friend though. Yes, there was Hopper, but that's it. For her mom to be friends with a hippy...

The two then saw them go into the bathroom, making the redhead chuckle. "What, are they gonna force Billy to take a hot shower?" she joked.

Jane giggled at that before she realized what they were doing, looking a bit serious. "Not take a hot shower..." Max looked at her curiously.

...

When the boys and man got into the men's bathroom, Andrew said to them, "We could wait until the pool closes and everyone leaves." They went to another part of the men's bathroom, the locker room. "Then we somehow get Billy from here..." He looked around, finding a blue door. Hoping it could lead to the room he was thinking of, he opened it and got in, the boys following. They were now in the workout room, him pointing at the other blue door and them approaching it. "To here."

Lucas snapped his fingers, his eyes wide. "The sauna, of course!" He then went to open the door, which had a bunch of old men in towel.

"Hey, shut the door, you dumb kid!" one of them shouted, annoyed.

"Yeah, shut the door now!" shouted another one.

And he did, the kids looking terrified and Andrew a bit disgusted, rubbing his face. "Ew..." Mike muttered.

"Yup," Will also muttered.

"I almost threw up in my mouth," Lucas stated.

...

"The sauna?" Max asked Jane. "Like the one in the women's bathroom?"

She nodded at her. "Yeah, that'd be the perfect way to test if Billy IS the host. But if only they can find the controls..."

...

Will then spotted the controls and went to them, the rest following. "I think these are the controls," he said.

"I'd be surprised if they weren't," Andrew added.

"Would it be hot enough, though?" Lucas asked.

All checked the temperature, the long-haired man saying, "I think 220 degrees should be enough." They then looked at the door. "Since he doesn't like it hot, we could set this as a trap."

The boys nodded. "So, we find some way to lure him in..." Will said.

"Then lock it..." Lucas added.

"Make it hotter in there..." Mike also added.

"Then whatever happens, we would know, right?" Andrew asked, the boys nodding at him again. He smiled at them.

"For someone new to this shit," Lucas stated. "You know this pretty well."

He chuckled a little. "I'm a friend of Ter-Ms. Ives. I got the gist of all of this." They were all surprised he was...

...

"Jane? Are you there? Over?" asked Terry through the walkie-talkie, which Jane kept behind her back pocket.

She got it out, pressed a button, and spoke into it, "I'm here, Mama, but the boys went to the bathroom, over."

Standing near the bathroom after she did her business in it, the dirty-blonde-haired woman replied, "Could you tell Andrew that Stacey, one of his friends, went to work, over?"

Both her and Max looked puzzled. "She did? Is she alright, over?"

She sighed. "She's acting a little strange, but tell him to talk to me about it, over."

"Okay, Mama, over."

"Other than that, you guys are alright, over?"

The girls just saw the guys get out of the bathroom. "Yeah, we are. I think Andrew's coming back, over."

"Okay, then just hand him this, over."

"Got it, Mama, over and out."

Max looked a little weirded-out. "His friend's name is Stacey?"

Jane chuckled a little. "I know, it's weird."

Finally, the guys went back to the girls, Jane approaching Andrew and handing him the walkie-talkie. "Mama wants to talk to you about...Stacey," she stated. He looked shocked to hear that and grabbed the walkie-talkie from her, gesturing the boys to tell them the plan.

When the kids gathered to talk, he got away from them and asked into it, "Terry, you there, over?"

She smiled. "Yes, I'm here, over."

"Is Stacey alright, over?"

She sighed deeply. "She looks fine, but...she's acting strange, over."

He looked very worried. "Strange how, over?"

"I think it's just the fact that Dave's...well..." She trailed off before letting go of the talk button, knowing Andrew would get what she was going to say.

He did, his eyes widening and looking down at the ground. He put his hand on his temple, clearly looking distressed to hear about his childhood friend. On one hand, it would seem like him to give his life if it meant protecting others. On the other...

Damn it, he lost his best friend when he ran away.

She knew he was being torn up about this, so she said solemnly, "I'm sorry, Andrew...over."

He wiped the tears that escaped from his eyes and sniffled, replying, "Thanks, Terry..." He took a deep breath. "Over."

"I'm sure Stacey's taking it just as hard, over."

He nodded. "Yeah...please keep a close eye on her, over."

"I will, over."

He smiled a little. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He took another deep breath. "Gotta get back to the kids. We're going to initiate a plan."

She looked curious. "What kind of plan?"

Stopping right here. What do you guys think of this chapter? Any typos or mistakes I might've missed?

Oh wow, Joyce actually stepped in to stop Hopper from being the psychopath he was in the canon scene! And everything's resolved peacefully! Seriously though, when I first saw this scene, I was like, "Okay, that's DEFINITELY NOT Hopper." I swear, him threatening to chop off the mayor's finger to get information was more terrifying than funny...

Poor Jonathan and Kali. I hope I handled their argument well. The privilege of class vs. the privilege of gender and race...I figured that would be the central topic of their argument because it does apply to the both of them.

And now Stacey's flayed. Wonder what's going to happen with her job...

Poor Andrew...his best friend died and his lady friend is now flayed. But he doesn't know now...

Y'know, this pandemic is really doing a number on my need to write. It's getting better now though, so no worries about this fanfic going on hiatus halfway through the new season! I'll make sure to provide the best chapters for you guys as we're all in quarantine now.

Review, follow, favorite, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!