Plots are brought to a mutual crossroads in penultimate seventh chapter, "The Bathtub." Dustin, Eleven, Lucas, and Mike hide in the junkyard while armed government officials hunt them nearby. When Hopper, Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan track them down a meeting of the mind will at last take place.
Eleven realizes it will take another portal to reach Barb and Will, so they fill up a kiddie pool with salt water. She settles herself back into that dark netherworld and things get disturbing. Quickly.
Everything is at stake when an E.T. chase scene culminates within the first ten minutes. Parents get involved and kids are on the run. Friends make up. There are helicopters, more telekinetic powers, and a startling encounter with Barb.