Chapter 10

“The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world. And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it” Mike finishes his explanation. He told everything that happened since the beginning, since November 6th of 1983.

Sofia’s head is resting on Robin’s shoulder, as the two girls listen to Mike. They were both shocked, to say the least, but Sofia was particularly impressed by not only not knowing about this, but also by not knowing the danger her brother had been in.

Sofia couldn’t believe all these things happened and she didn’t notice. She thought she was a people watcher but, apparently, she sucks at that. All these events were so overwhelming to even hear about, and now she was caught up in the middle of it.

All because she wanted to impress Robin by translating Russian.

“How big is this thing?” Hopper asks. Sofia was impressed by how normal talking about an interdimensional monster was for them.

“It’s big. Thirty feet, at least” Jonathan says.

“Yeah. It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry” Lucas apologizes.

“Okay, so, just to be clear, this… this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it’s some kind of gigantic… weapon?” Steve says.

“Yes” Nancy says.

“But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon… with melted people” Steve says, confused.

“Yes, exactly” Nancy says. “Yeah, okay. I… Yeah, I’m just making sure” Steve says.

“Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?” Joyce asks.

“El beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it’s still alive” Max says.

“But if we close the gate again…” Wills says.

“We cut the brain off from the body” Max says.

“And kill it. Theoretically” Lucas says.

“Yoo-hoo!” they hear from afar, seeing a man frantically shaking some papers.

“Okay, this is what Alexei called the hub.” the man says, placing the papers on a table. “Now, the hub takes us to the vault room”

“Okay, where’s the gate?” Hopper asks. Hearing the conversation, Sofia gets up and walks to the table.

“Right here” the man points. “I don’t know the scale on this, but I think it’s fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so”

“More like 500. What, you’re just gonna waltz in there like it’s commie Disneyland or something?” Erica asks.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” the man asks, confused.

“Erica Sinclair. Who are you?” Erica asks with her usual sassy tone.

“Murray… Bauman” the man says.

“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 says.

“I’m sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?” Murray asks.

“Um, she’s ten, you bald bastard!” Sofia replies, shocked that such response came out of her mouth. “… And she is right, that’s a shit plan”.

“She’s right. You’re all gonna die, but you don’t have to. Excuse me. Sorry, may I?” Dustin asks, grabbing the pen.

“Please” Murray says.

“Okay, 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 explains.

Losing interest in the conversation, Sofia walks over to the younger group to check on them. “Hey guys” Sofia says, sitting in a chair by their table.

“Hi” they all reply.

“So, you’ve been fighting monsters this whole time and I didn’t know? That makes me a terrible baby-sitter” Sofia jokes, making them smile.

“No, you’re a great baby-sitter” Lucas says.

“What happened to you?” Max asks, now looking at the girl with attention.

“Got beat up by Russians” Sofia says, with a smile.

“You’re crazy” Mike says.

Sofia opens her mouth to talk, but Robin calls her name. God, even Robin calling her name made her nervous. Sofia gets up and says, looking at the group, “Don’t die”.

“Yeah, you too” Will says. Sofia walks over to the counter where Robin and Steve are.

“Hi” Sofia says, looking at Robin.

“Hi” Robin says, looking at Sofia like she wasn’t looking at her the whole time she was talking with the kids.

“What’s up?” Sofia asks, feeling nervous about Robin looking at her.

“Not much, almost got killed by some Russians” Robin jokes. “What about you? What’s up?”

“Meh, the same” Sofia jokes and they both laugh. God, how Sofia loved Robin’s smile; and God, how Robin loved Sofia’s smile. It was really something out of this world.

“Look, I was thinking-“

“You look cold, you’re shaking” Sofia says, interrupting Robin.

“Oh, yeah, I get cold when I’m nervous” Robin says, with an embarrassed smile.

“Here, take my jacket” Sofia says, putting her denim jacket over Robin’s shoulders.

Robin holds the jacket like it’s the most precious thing in her life. God, it smells like Sofia. “Thanks” Robin says, with a soft smile.

After a quick pause, caused by them getting lost in each other’s eyes, Sofia speaks up. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“W-What?” Robin says, getting snapped back to reality.

“You were gonna tell me something before I gave you my jacket” Sofia smiles at Robin.

“Oh, right” Robin smiles. “I was thinking that maybe… we could go to the movies… after all this”

“Yeah, I would like that” Sofia smiles and looks at the ground, swinging her legs happily. Did she just get asked out? After hearing about another dimension? After getting beat up by Russians? She needed to get some sleep as soon as possible.

Robin looks back and sees Steve looking at them. He gives her a quick thumbs up and she blushes.

Sofia’s mostly trying not to explode with happiness. But it’s really hard. Especially since her crush of almost a year just asked her out on a date.  At least she’s 30% sure it’s a date.

It’s a date, right? Robin likes girls so it’s a date. But she doesn’t know I like girls. So maybe it’s not a date. But there is a high chance of it being a date. It is, right? Maybe not. Maybe- 

“The signal won’t reach” Sofia hears her brother say, so she shoots her head up to look at him. “Not with this. You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians’ radio tower. But for that to work, you need someone who has both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower, one preferably already situated at the highest point in Hawkins. Oh, wait. That’s me. If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start. And a car”

Steve, Erica, Robin, Dustin and Sofia get out of the mall, on their way to a car. 

“Oh, man, now this… this is what I’m talkin’ about!” Steve says, as they finally see the car.

“Toddfather?” Robin asks, reading the car’s plate.

“Oh, screw Todd! Steve’s her daddy now” Steve says.

“Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?” Robin asks, with a disgusted face.

“He called himself daddy, that’s worse” Sofia says, as they enter the car. Sofia climbs to the middle seat on the back since Steve really wanted to drive.

“Are you sure you’re sober enough to drive, Steve?” Sofia asks, worried about their safety.

“Don’t worry Sofy, I puked it all out” Steve responded, adjusting the rear-view mirror. “All right, where are we going?”

“Weathertop” Dustin responds.

“Weather-what?” Steve asks.

“Just drive!” Sofia says, being too tired to deal with Steve’s ocasional nonsense.

“Okay. Jesus!” Steve says, as he turns the car on and starts driving.

The drive is bumpy, and they don’t talk much, as Dustin gives directions every now and then. Sofia fights the urge to fall asleep. They hear the radio and enjoy the fresh air, the wind in their hair, the smell of smoke and look at the trees around them. That is, until Steve starts to shout.

“Jesus, how far is this place, man?” Steve asks, loudly.

“Relax, we’re almost there” Dustin says.

“Suzie must be pretty special, huh? I mean, if you built this thing and lugged it all the way to the middle of nowhere just to talk to her?” Robin asks, switching her gaze between Dustin and Sofia.

“I mean, nobody’s scientifically perfect, but Suzie’s about as close to being perfect as any human could possibly be” Dustin says, making his sister smile proudly.

“She sound made-up to me. She sound made-up to you?” Erica asks Steve, who hesitates.

“Why are you hesitating, Steve?” Dustin asks him.

“I’m… I’m… I’m not! I’m not! I think she sounds real. You know, totally, absolutely real” Steve says, clearly lying.

“Well, I think she’s real” Sofia says.

“Of course you do, he’s your brother” Erica says.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Sofia asks Erica, who shrugs.

“Left. Turn left” Dustin says.

“There’s not a road here” Steve says, confused.

“Turn left now!” Dustin yells.

“Jesus! Hang on!” Steve yells back, making a risky turn. “Whoa! Henderson, where are we going?!”

“Up!” Dustin yells in response, as the car takes a bumpy rise.

“We’re not gonna make it!” Robin yells.

“Yes, we are. Come on, baby. Come on, baby!” Steve says. The car’s engine starts straining and eventually the car turns off.

“Guess Toddfather didn’t father” Sofia jokes. They get out of the car and start walking up the hill.

After a bit of walking, Sofia gets tired and starts slowing down. She catches up with Steve, who also started walking slower. “Has Dustin talked to you about this place?” she asks him.

“What?” Steve asks.

“This place. It isn’t just Hawkins’ highest point” Sofia tells the boy.

“It isn’t?” Steve asks her, still clueless of the point of this conversation.

“No. Our father used to take us here to watch the sunset. He would piggyback Dustin, and sometimes fake drop him. And he would laugh so much. I’m just telling you this because I think it’s important for you to know” Sofia smiles.

“Why?” Steve asks.

“Because… you’re the closest to a father figure Dustin has. You’re so important to him, truly. I just wanted you to know that. And clearly you know more about him than me, so…” Sofia says, resentful of not knowing of Dustin’s evolvement in this until now.

“Hey, hey, you know that isn’t true. He thought of telling you, especially after you met Eleven, but it wasn’t safe. There’s a lot of military and police involved in this…” Steve says, trying to comfort the girl.

Before Sofia can reply, they reach the rest of the group, so she just gives Steve a thankful smile. They walk to the cerebro and start contacting the others.

“Bald Eagle, do you copy? Bald Eagle, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop, do you copy?” Dustin says.

“Yes, I copy” they hear Murray say over the walkie-talkie, making them chuckle in relief.

“Call sign?” Dustin asks with a smile.

“Bald Eagle” Murray scoffs.

“Please repeat” Dustin says.

“Bald Eagle. This is Bald Eagle!” Murray says louder.

“Copy that. Good to hear your voice, Bald Eagle. What’s your 20?” Dustin asks, as everyone chuckles.

“We reached the vent. I’ll contact you when I need you. Until then, silence” Murray orders.

“Roger that, Bald Eagle” Dustin says. “This is Scoops Troop, going radio silent. 10-10, over” Dustin says.

As they wait for Murray to need directions, they make small talk. They were all nervous, to say the least, but making jokes and laughing was better than thinking of all the things that were happening.

Sofia lays down on the grass, looking at the stars. She feels someone sitting next to her and knows it’s Robin by the red converse full of drawings.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Robin asks, looking at the stars.

“Thanks, you too” Sofia says.

“What?” Robin asks with a chuckle.

Realizing what she said, Sofia blushes and wishes she had a pit to put her head in. “T-the stars. They’re beautiful” 

“Scoops Troop, this is… Hm. Bald Eagle. I’ve reached another junction” they hear Murray say through cerebro.

“This is what?” Dustin asks Erica.

“The fourth junction” Erica tells him.

“All right, so if memory serves, this is right after the My Little Pony thesis. We went left, so he has to go right” Dustin thinks out loud. “Fly right, Bald Eagle”

“Fly right. Roger that, flying right” Murray says, turning his walkie-talkie off.

“What’s the My Little Pony thesis?” Robin asks.

“Don’t get him started” Erica says.

“Get him started? Just tell me-” Robin starts saying.

“Hey, guys?” Steve shouts, making the four get up and walk over to Steve. They look at the mall and see what looked like the mind-flayer. Shit.

“Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop! Do you copy? Over!” Dustin screams at the microphone, over and over again, but they get no response. Instead, they only hear the mind-flayer shrieking.

Steve gets up and starts walking fast. “Where are you going?!” Erica asks him, shouting.

“To get them the hell outta there!” Steve yells back. “Stay here, contact the others!”

Sofia looks at Dustin and starts running after Steve. She knew he would be safe there and she really needed to help the others as much as she could.

“Shit” Robin says, running after Steve and Sofia.

“Wait, Robin!” Dustin yells. “Stay in touch” he throws her a walkie-talkie.

“Got it” she says, catching it and running to the car.

In the meanwhile, Lucas, Will, Nancy and Jonathan finally get to the car. As they try to put the ignition cable back on, they hear Billy’s car engine revving.

“Get the car started. Go!” Nancy orders Jonathan.

Jonathan enters the car and starts trying to get the car started, but it isn’t working. With the tires screeching, Billy’s car starts going in their direction at full speed. Nancy starts shooting it, but it does nothing.

When the car gets too close, Nancy ducks, getting ready to get crashed, but Steve hits Billy’s car just in time. Steve, Robin and Sofia look at Billy’s car in flames, panting.

“Are you guys okay?” he asks.

“Ask me tomorrow?” Robin responds.

Robin and Sofia gasp as they hear a creature snarling. They get up from the car, seeing the mind-flayer close for the first time. “Holy shit” Sofia whispers.

They get in Nancy’s car trunk, the two girls still horrified by the monster. Nancy starts driving away, as the creature follows them. Robin holds Sofia’s hand and, for the first time, she acknowledges it and gives Robin a soft smile, making her feel butterflies in her stomach.

Even in scary times they could make each other feel wonderful things.

 “Dusty-bun, you copy?” they hear over the walkie-talkie, making everyone impressed, but not Sofia.

“I copy, Suzie-poo. It sounds much better now, thanks” Dustin says.

“Suzie” Steve and Robin whisper.

“My future sister-in-law” Sofia says with a smile.

“Okay, so, listen, do you know Planck’s constant?” Dustin asks his girlfriend.

“Do you know the Earth orbits the sun?” Suzie says to which Dustin laughs. 

“Okay, so I know it starts with two sixes, and then a… W-What is it?” Dustin asks.

“Okay, let me just be clear on this. I haven’t heard from you in a week, and now you want a mathematical equation that you should know so you can… save the world?”

“Suzie-poo, I promise, I will make it up to you as soon as possible” Dustin says. I’ve taught him well– Sofia thinks.

“You can make it up to me now” Suzie says, to which they all furrow their eyebrows.

“What?” Dustin asks, nervously.

“I want to hear it” she says.

“Not right now”

“Yes, now, Dusty-bun”

“Suzie-poo, this is urgent”

“Yes, yes, you’re saving the world, I heard you the first time, but Ged is also saving Earthsea and he’s about to confront the shadow, so this is Suzie, signing off” Suzie says.

“Wait, wait, wait! Okay” Dustin says. “Shit”

Dustin starts singing Never Ending Story, making everyone confused. Sofia laughs, thinking that this was the most Dustin thing ever. 

After a minute and a half, they finish singing and she gives him Planck’s constant. As Dustin starts saying his goodbyes, Sofia grabs the walkie-talkie.

“Hey future sister-in-law. This is Dustin’s sister-” Sofia starts saying, but Steve takes the walkie-talkie from her hands. 

“Not cool” Steve says.

Everyone in the car starts laughing, not only about Sofia’s little stunt, but for the whole situation. It was basically a free musical right there.

After a few more minutes, the monster starts turning around.

“It’s turning around” Steve says.

“What?” Nancy asks,

“It’s turning around!” Sofia says.

“Maybe we wore it out” Lucas says.

“I don’t think so. Hold on” Jonathan says, making a risky turn and driving back to the mall.

“Where’s Max?” Sofia asks, and tension builds in the car.

They made the plan in the car, so when they got to the mall it was easy to do. Everyone was in groups: Lucas with Will, Nancy with Jonathan, and Steve with Robin and Sofia.

“Flay this you ugly piece of shit!” Lucas yells, throwing a firework, which everyone took as the signal and started throwing fireworks too.

The whole thing was crazy. And also loud. Especially loud. Sofia thought she wouldn’t be able to hear again. Sometimes she even forgot what she was doing. After all, she was doing the usual 4th of July thing.

She wasn’t really feeling scared, until they ran out of fireworks. And then everyone ran out of fireworks. And then they simply got to watch Billy sacrifice himself. 

Sofia thought about the times she talked to Billy, which was once. She never really liked him, probably for the same reasons as to why she didn’t use to like Steve. But she remembered their convo.

“Hey” Billy says. Sofia, who’s at the library reading, looks up from her book and is surprised when she sees Billy.

“Hi?” Sofia says, confused.

“You’re Henderson’s sister, right?” He asks her.

“Uh, yeah, how do you know him?”  Sofia asks.

“He’s friends with my sister, Max” Billy bluntly replies.

“Oh, yeah, I know her. She’s nice” Sofia says, smiling.

“I’d say otherwise. Anyway, since you’re always in the library, I thought that maybe you could help me”

“With what?” Sofia asks. She wanted to be mean to him but couldn’t. And she definitely didn’t want to help him.

“I need to present a book to my class. Do you have any suggestions?”

“What type of books do you like?”

“I don’t know, I don’t read, that’s why I’m asking you” he says, with a very mean tone.

After thinking for a bit, she told him to read The Dead Zone by Stephen King. He never even thanked her. However, she did hear he got a B on his presentation, so he must’ve liked the book.

The whole thing went by very fast. Sofia remembers how sorry she felt for Max and how glad she was that her brother wasn’t there.

Now, she was sitting in an ambulance in the middle of Max and Robin. Sofia held Robin’s hand, not caring about what it could seem like. They both needed some comfort. 

With blankets around their cold bodies, Sofia placed her arm around Max’s shoulder, hoping to give the girl some comfort too.

A/N: last chapter of season 3! get ready for lots of fluff.