There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

FIFTY EIGHT

E Pluribus Unum

"Honestly, I don't really feel anything." Steve said, sometime after the Russians had left. "Do you?"

"Oh, I do believe it is my unbirthday too." Cat chirpily spoke up, grinning from ear to ear. The drug had made her go even more delusional and now she could see a March Hare, a mouse, a talking white rabbit and a Mad Hatter all sitting around her.

"I mean, I... I feel fine." Robin answered. "I feel normal."

"Yeah, I feel- I feel fine. I kinda feel good."

"I feel topsy-turvy." Cat frowned. "Everything has been so queer today. Oh, good morning to you, White Rabbit."

They all chuckled. "Wanna know a secret?" Robin grinned.

"What?"

"I like it, too!" She laughed. "I feel good."

"Morons. They messed up the drug."

"They messed it up! Morons." She yelled. "Hey, morons!"

"Morons!" Steve called, joining in.

"Oh, no. There's definitely something wrong with us."

"Something's wrong." Steve laughed. The buzzer sounded and the Russian soldiers re-entered the room. The General stood in front of Steve, waiting for the doctor to prepare his equipment.

"Oh, Cheshire, I've got to go. The Queen really wants my head and I shan't give it to her." Cat mumbled apologetically to no one in particular.

"Would now be a good time to tell you that I don't like doctors?" Robin asked as the doctor picked up a couple of sharp tools.

"Let's try this again, yes?" The General asked Steve. "Who do you work for?"

"Scoops." Steve chuckled. "Scoops Ahoy." Robin giggled.

"How did you find us?" The Russian asked.

"Totally by accident." Steve answered, chuckling.

"Больше лжи." {More lies}. He said to his comrades.

The doctor picked up one of his shiny, sharp tools. "What is that shiny little toy?"

"Where are you going with that, doc?" The doctor ignored them, crossing the room towards Catherine.

"So, if I eat this, I'll grow taller, and if I eat that, I'll shrink to the size of an ant?" She mumbled, lost in her own head. When the doctor reached Catherine and began to attach the device to her fingers, the other two started to protest.

"There was a code!" Robin yelled, not wanting her friend to be tortured. "We heard a code!"

"Code." The General stated, walking around the pair to face her. "What code?"

"'The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west'. Blah, blah, blah. You broadcast that stupid spy shit all over town, and we picked it up on our Cerebro, and we cracked it in a day. A day! You think you're so smart, but a couple of kids who scoop ice-cream for a living and teach children cracked your code in a day, and now, people know you're here."

"Who knows we are here, little suka?" The Russian spat.

"Uh, well, Dustin knows." Steve told them.

"Hey, Steve?" Robin tried to warn him.

"Yeah, Dustin Henderson, he knows." He continued, ignoring Robin.

"Steve!" Robin groaned as the teen laughed.

"Dustin Henderson." The General stated, pacing back around towards Steve. "Is this your small, curly-haired friend?"

"Oh, curly-haired. Great hair. Small. Kind of like a 'fro. Yeah." Steve grinned.

"Where is he?"

"He's long gone, you big asshole. And he's probably calling Hopper, and Hopper's calling the US cavalry." He laughed. "They're gonna come in here, commando-style, guns a-blazin', and kick your sorry asses back to Russia. You're gonna be two pieces of toast." He snickered.

The General leaned down in Steve's face, a menacing looking washing over his features. "Is that so?"

"Yeah." Steve answered, him and Robin bursting into laughter. An alarm started blaring and Steve shrugged his shoulders at the soldiers, as if to say 'I told you so.' Not a moment after the General had left to inspect the problem, Dustin and Erica charged in, the former zapping the doctor with some long electrical weapon. "Hey! Henderson!" Steve cheered while Erica untied him and Robin, the boy in question helping his sister out of her binds. "That's crazy, I was just talking about you."

Dustin helped Catherine stand from her chair and ran over to help untie the other two. Cat immediately started swaying, muttering more nonsense to herself. "But I can't have afternoon tea. Why, it's barely eleven o'clock. That's far too early." She mumbled.

"What the hell is up with her?" Erica asked. "She's all loopy."

"Get ready to run." Dustin instructed, sending a glance in his sister's direction. She looked like she was talking to someone, someone invisible and perched on the small table.

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A/N:

Rather short chapter, sorry. Isolation and social distancing is messing up the brain cell a bit.

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(Edited: 27/07/2020)

(Edit 2: 15/09/2021)