𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐄 | 𝐬.𝐡.

𝟐𝟑. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠

Besides Lucas and the people who had been stuck underground with her for the past day, everyone else seemed shocked by her attitude and confidence - especially Hopper and Murray, who both looked like they were on the verge of a collective stroke.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asked her.

"Erica Sinclair," she replied. "Who are you?"

"Murray... Bauman," his voice seemed to draw out from the shock that was visibly apparent.

"Listen, Mr. Bunman," Erica raised her hand up. Lorelei snorted in a laugh beside Steve, who was also having an apparent hard time holding his laughter back. "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours."

Lorelei grinned at Erica's words, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she giggled. She felt Steve's shoulder bumping into hers and looked up to see that his cheeks were red from the effort it was taking him not to laugh.

"And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die," she finalized her little speech.

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray asked. It seemed as though she had managed to insult him.

"Um- I'm ten you bald bastard!"

Lorelei heard Steve letting out a low laugh beside her. "Personally, I'm enjoying this," he whispered to her, and she nodded back at him.

"Erica!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Just the facts!"

"She's right," Dustin's voice then rang out. "You're all gonna die, but you don't have to. Excuse me-" he walked over to the drawings. "Sorry, may I?"

"Please," Murray smiled sarcastically.

"Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility," he circled with the pencil. "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 Erica, Lorelei, and I, we can lead you."

"Me?" Lorelei pointed to herself.

"Her?" Steve said at the same time before he shook his head adamantly. "No - not happening."

"Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit-" Dustin said, more so to Hopper. "And we'll just be your... navigators."

"No," Hopper said with a shake of the head. "Nope."

Steve stepped out from beside Lorelei. "I could go," he offered hand raised as he called everyone's attention.

Lorelei furrowed her brows at that. "Are you insane?"

"What?" He shrugged. "You can go, but I can't?"

"You just said that you don't want me to go," Lorelei argued.

"That- that's completely beside the point," Steve fumbled with his words.

"Why the fuck would that be beside the point?" she countered. "You don't even know how the vents work - you were too busy self-sacrificing to escape with us-" she pointed an accusatory finger at his chest.