𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛, 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨

→ 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙

Red swirled in his eyes, Dustin gulping. "she's gonna-" "Stop." Dustin assured, Erica flipping him off as Seb glared at her. "one by one, and slit your throat." Erica finished, Dustin looking to Seb. "No one cares about Uncle Jack or Tina!" Seb yelled, Erica looking to him quickly. Dustin just looked down. "Your Mother is never going to slit out throats because we're stuck in here!" Erica tilted her head challengingly at Seb, him leaning over the boxes to get closer to the girl's face. "Stop calling me dumb and listen for once!" Seb continued, Steve pinching the bridge of his nose as Robin flinched. "Hey," Dustin started, Erica glaring at Seb. "What if we climbed out?" Dustin spoke quietly, everyone looking to him. Seb followed Dustin up above the elevator, Steve following too. The older teen winced as he looked up, Seb doing the same. "What were you saying about climbing?" Steve asked Dustin, the three looking to see that they had dropped far down.

very far down.

––––––☆––––––

"GO!" HOPPER URGED, JOYCE STARTING THE CAR QUICKLY. The two were on their own quest of finding out what made magnets not stick to fridges anymore. It had led them to a house, Hopper finding a small lab underneath. Managing to find a guy that had been fighting Hopper earlier, the two fought again, Hopper having to run off. He had handcuffed himself to a scientist they found, him bound to give them answers. Joyce screamed as the man stood in the doorway of the home, shooting a large gun at the two as they drove away. The two men in the back ducked as he shot the back window, glass smashing. "Oh, God!" Hopper let out, terrified. "Hang on!" Joyce yelled, drifting the car quickly and speeding away. The man's gun ran out of bullets, Hopper and the scientist looking back. "Still think it was our government?" Hopper asked Joyce, the woman panting.

☆

"OKAY, A MAGNET? MAGNETS?" JOYCE HELD UP THE OBJECT TOWARDS THE SCIENTIST. He, himself was handcuffed to a tree, it being the morning and Hopper was trying to fix his police van. "Do you know 'Magnet'?" Joyce asked. Given the scientist was Russian, she had to explain everything as if he was an alien, given he didn't speak a word of English. "Magnit." The man spoke in Russian, Joyce nodding quickly. "Yes, magnit. Okay," The scientist nodded, "So, magnit... on my- my fridge, my icebox and they..." The scientist watched as she dropped the magnets, turning back to him. "They fell. They demagnetized, stopped working." Joyce spoke, looking at the man. "Do you understand?" Joyce assured, the man nodding. "Da." He assured back, Joyce humming. "Okay, so is that because of the machine's that you're working on?" She asked slowly to make sure he understood.

"Machina." He spoke, Joyce nodding. "Machina, machina, yes." Imitating an engine, the man nodded quickly. "Da, Da. Machina." He assured, pointing to the car. "Yes, machina-" "Vroom, vroom." The man imitated himself, Joyce shaking her head. "Oh, not- not the car. The machines at Hess Farm where- where we kidnapped you-" "Joyce, please!" The two turned to Hopper, him scowling. "You're givin' me a headache, both of you!" He yelled, Joyce looking to the man for a split second. "Just give me one moment, please." She politely spoke to the scientist, him watching as Joyce sped after Hopper. "I am making progress." Joyce started, Hopper sighing. "Progress." He repeated, Joyce nodding as if he were stupid. "Yes-" "What have you learned, huh? You learned that Smirnoff over there-" "Alexei." Joyce reminded Hopper of the scientist's name, Alexei fixing his glasses.

"Smirnoff is Russian and works for Starcourt, two things we already know." Hopper ignored Joyce's correction, the woman sighing herself. "Thought we knew. But now we know-know, because I've confirmed them." Joyce spoke, "You're welcome." She let out, Hopper pointing to the open car engine. "Yeah? Why don't you confirm whether this baby'll start, huh?" Alexei watched Hopper chuck the car keys into Joyce's hands, his head tilting. "Keep it in park, please." Hopper spoke as Joyce sat in the drivers seat.