Angelica "Freak Two" Munson

Chapter 44

"Steve!" Robin yells, piercing their ears, "What did you do?"

She thrashes around in her binds as they lift Steve up to inspect him, "Don't touch him."

He clicks his tongue at the boy.

"Steve?" Robin calls for him, "Steve, can you hear me?" She turns to the other chair where Angie is beaten and out cold. Her smart mouth probably got her into a bit of trouble.

"I think your friends need a doctor." The general taunts them, "Good thing... we have the very best."

The men laugh maniacally until Robin spits in the Russian's face.

He wipes it away with distain as she stares him down strong, "You are going to regret that, little bitch."

The general signals for the men to follow him out.

Robin continues to throw herself around in the chair, "Let us out of here! Bastards! Let us out!"

Her voice echoes throughout the tunnels of the facility as she yells for any chance at salvation, "Help! Help!"

She repeats it restlessly until Steve struggles awake, "Hey, would you stop yelling?"

"Steve!" She shudders with relief, "Oh, my God! Steve... Are– Are you okay?"

He sighs, "My ears are ringing, and I can't really breathe, my eye feels like it's about to pop out of my skull, but, you know, apart from that, I'm doing pretty good."

"Well, the good news is that they're calling you a doctor." Robin chuckles.

"Shit! Where's Angie?" He throws his head to look around, which he instantly regrets as pain floods his entire beaten body, "Angie!"

He reaches for her on his left, but his binds make it difficult, "Angie!"

"She hasn't said a word since they threw us in here." Robin hangs her head low, "She hasn't even moved an inch."

Steve turns his head as far as he can to get a look at her. As he spots her from the corner of his eyes, he's overwhelmed with more pain than the Russians could've caused him.

She's beaten almost as badly as he is, and her t-shirt is torn at the collar; it looks as if someone tried to rip it from her body.

He could see her tears still dried to her cheeks, mixed in with the blood running from her temple.

"Oh God, Angie." The ties carve into his wrist as he reaches for her with all his might, "Is she breathing?"

"I don't know. I haven't been able to reach her."

Steve struggles, ignoring the searing pain of the zipties, and reaches for her wrist to check her pulse, "Oh God, Angie." He mumbles solemnly, "Please be okay... I can't lose you."

Robin holds in her tears, staying silent so Steve can focus on checking her pulse when he grabs her wrist.

He pauses, not even breathing, which builds the suspension even more.

She opens her mouth to question him when he sighs loudly, "What?"

He shakes his head as tears build in his eyes.

"Steve! What? Is she okay? Is she breathing?!"

Angie whimpers with her head hanging low, "Can you guys please stop yelling?" She weakly grasps Steve's hand that's holding her wrist, "My headache is bad enough as it is."

They both allow themselves to laugh lightly in relief.

"Yeah, she's breathing."

Robin mumbles a sorry to the poor girl as she lets her laughter die out.

Steve holds her hand a little firmer, careful not to hurt her in her frail state, "I never thought I'd be so happy to have you be upset with me."

She slowly lifts her head to meet his gaze with a weak smile, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

They sit, now in a softer tone, as they wait for the Russians to return to them.

Robin tilts her head as she considers something, "You know, you two are like the same person."

Angie laughs lightly, "What?"

"You and Steve." She reiterates.

"Well, I gathered that much."

"Right, sorry." Robin pauses to explain again, "When Steve woke up, the first thing he said was, 'Hey, would you stop yelling?' And when you woke up,   the first thing you said was, 'Can you guys please stop yelling?'" She laughs a little at her observation, "You guys basically said the same thing, and– you know– this isn't the only time I've noticed it."

"Really?" Steve eggs her on sarcastically.

"Yeah," Robin continues to ramble, "and they say that when you spend a lot of time with somebody, you pick up on their social cues— like you pick up their habits and sometimes you do things in sync because you're subconsciously paying attention to them." She stops to intake deeply before ranting once more, "You guys could probably read each other's emotions and match them without even realizing it. Isn't that weird?"

"Yeah–"

"You also start saying the same words or phrases that the other person uses; you just get so used to hearing it that it merges into your own vocabulary. Eventually, you guys would basically merge into one person. That's why people tend to say that couples look more and more like each other as they spend more time together. I don't know if you've ever noticed that, but it's something that I read once last year in the library, and I guess my brain kinda ran with it."

"Robin," Steve turns to his right to face her, "Are you doing alright over there?"

"Am I doing alright? Hmm, let me see... No, I'm not doing alright!" She snaps, which causes Angie to groan as pain slices through her head.

"Look, we're stuck down here with these Russians, and Dustin and Erica might not make it back in time to save us, or they might get caught too!" Robin tries to move her arms, as she often does when speaking enthusiastically, but fails because of the binding, "I'm absolutely terrified that I'm gonna die down here!"

"Robin—" Angie tries to interject and maybe soothe her friend, but she's interrupted again.

"No!" Robin takes a shallow breath, "I don't want you comforting me right now! I just want to pretend that this isn't happening—At least until the Russians come back for us, let me pretend that we're just three friends hanging out and having a normal conversation, okay? Just let me have five minutes of normalcy."

Steve and Angie find each other's gaze and silently converse about Robin's outburst.

He sighs a little before nodding, "Okay, Robin," He squeezes Angie's hand a little tighter for support, "Tell us more about our subconscious minds and how we're eventually going to merge into one person."

Angie gives him a comforting smile, knowing this is hard for all of them.

Hopefully, this moment will last long enough for them to enjoy it...