You Lie All The Time [S.Harrington]

chapter nine

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper inquired. 

"Right here. I don't know the scale on this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room, maybe 50 feet or so." Murray estimated.

"More like 500." Erica commented. Murray looked up to her with an angry and confused expression. 

"What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?" Erica crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" The man questioned. 

"Erica Sinclair. Who are you?" She sassed.

 "Murray....Bauman." He trailed off.

"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." The girl stated confidently.

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray looked to Susie and Steve. They shrugged.

"Um, I'm ten, you bald bastard!" Erica shouted. 

"Erica!" Lucas scolded. 

"Just the facts!" Erica defended. 

"She's right. You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me." Dustin stepped in front of Murray. "Sorry, may I?"

"Please." Murray smiled, containing his frustration. Dustin took a seat. "Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility." He explained. "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 concluded.

"Those lunatics wanna go back?" Susie turned to Steve in shock. 

"They're living that crazy lifestyle. Respect." Steve nodded. 

"Yeah, I'll be paying my respects when they're dead." Susie mumbled.

"You can show us the way?" Hopper raised his eyebrows. 

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your... navigators." Dustin added.

"No." Hopper refused. Dustin and Erica went silent. He shook his head. "Nope."

The group began to gather things for the mission. Meanwhile, Susie sat next to Mike, staring at him.

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

 "You look ugly." She grinned. 

"You look uglier." Mike raised his eyebrows. 

"You look ugliest." Susie countered.

"Well— you look— ugliest times a million." Mike stammered. 

"You look ugliest times infinity." Susie smirked.

 "Nancy! She's doing it again!" Mike called.

Nancy turned to them, but did nothing. She returned back to her conversation with Johnathan. 

"Nancy's not coming, you little shit. She's too busy with her boyfriend." Susie laughed. Mike stared at her with a straight face. 

"Aww, you sad your girlfriend dumped you?" Susie frowned teasingly. Mike rolled his eyes.

Just then, Steve made his way over, wrapping his arm around Susie's shoulder. "Hey, Michael." He smiled.

"Hi..." Mike looked to Susie, confused. Susie glanced at Steve for a moment, then back at Mike. Even she was confused.

"Hey, Steven. What's up?" She forced a smile, pushing his arm away. 

"Nothing much.. nothing much. Just fearing for my life. Nothing out of the ordinary." Steve responded through a smile.

"Excuse me, Mike. Steve's having a crisis, I think I better help him." Susie whispered. Mike stared at them for a moment, analyzing their expressions. "Uh.. yeah."

Steve pulled Susie aside. "So..." he grinned. 

"Steve, you look clinically insane. Please calm down." Susie commented. Steve relaxed his face. "Sorry." He mumbled. They made their way back to the others.

"Hey, heads up." Hopper tossed Dustin a walkie talkie. "You can navigate, just from someplace safe."

"It's not that simple." Dustin shook his head. 

"The signal won't reach." Erica added.

 "Not with this. You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians' radio tower." Dustin stated. "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."

Hopper sighed. "If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start." Dustin concluded. "And a car."