The Babysitters: Steve Harrington x Reader

Chapter 29

"It feels like we've been walking forever," Erica complained.

Dustin looked down at his watch. "It's been 20 minutes."

"Who decided to make this hallway so long," I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is pretty impressive," Dustin says.

"What are you talking about? It's a total fire hazard," Steve disagreed. "There's no stairs, no exit, just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell."

"They're commies," Erica shrugged. "If you don't pay people, they cut corners."

"To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don't thing this hallway was meant for walking," Robin pointed out.

I nodded. "That's right, those two guys went to the elevator in a cart."

"They developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo," Robin continued, "It all comes in through the mall like any other delivery, and then they load everything up on those carts, and nobody's the wiser."

"You think they built this whole mall just to transport that green poison?" Steve asked.

"I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison," Dustin said.

"Again: Chemical Warfare," I chimed in.

"Maybe it's like, promethium or something," Dustin suggested.

"What the hell is promethium?" Steve asked.

"It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components," Robin explained.

"You're all so nerdy it's making me physically ill," Erica groaned.

"No, no, no, don't lump me in with them," Steve interjected. "I'm not a nerd, alright?"

"Why so sensitive, Stevie?" I asked. Steve grinned and Robin narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Afraid of loosing cool points to a 10 year old?"

"No, I'm just saying I don't know shit about Prometheus," He said, bumping into me playfully as we continued to walk endlessly.

"Promethium," Robin corrected. "Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure."

"He was the dude who gets his liver eaten every day by a massive bird, right?" I recalled.

"What?" Steve turned to me with wide eyes.

"Doesn't matter," Dustin waved him off, "All I'm saying is that green shit is probably being used to make something."

"Or power something," Robin said.

"A nuclear weapon?" I suggested.

Dustin shrugged and nodded. "Definitely maybe."

Steve pressed his lips in a thin line the way he did when he was sarcastic, "We're walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great."

"But if they're building something, why here?" Robin asked. The same question we had wondered back at the surface. As she began to ramble, the boys held back. I slowed with them. "I mean, Hawkins? Seriously? Of all places? At the very best, it's a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland..."

I looked at the boys' dumbfounded faces as they processed the reason that Russians might be in Hawkins, like Robin suggested. "Are you guys ready to apologize for telling me I was overreacting about the possibility of the Russian's involvement in the Upside Down?" I asked in a harsh whisper, crossing my arms.

"Listen, it could be plausible-" Dustin began quietly, setting his hands on his hips in a way he's seen Steve do a million times before.

"How?" Steve couldn't help from asking.