ᵖᵃʳᵗ ²² - ʀᴜssɪᴀɴ ɢᴜᴀʀᴅs
❛ ɪ ᴡᴀs ʀɪɢʜᴛ ❜
"Code red. I repeat, this is code red."
They had been stuck in the elevator for the whole night, at least that's what Dustin said after checking his watch, stating the mall just opened for the day.
Climbing back to safety wasn't an option anymore after Steve and Dustin revealed that they were hundreds of feet underground.
Imogen stared into space, sitting on an unopened box as Dustin tried contacting someone on his walkie-talkie.
But no matter how hard he tried, he got no response, too far underground to get a signal, for a little radio like his.
"He knows no one's gonna answer, right?" Imogen stared up at Steve pacing in front of her, running a hand through his hair.
Steve sighed, climbing through the hatch to the elevator shaft, the boy's voices echoing as they spoke.
"Hey! Gotta take it easy on that thing, you're gonna drain the battery," Steve raised a brow at the nervous wreck of a boy in front of him.
Imogen, being closer to the hatch, heard the whispered conversation.
She tried to ignore it, her heart aching when Dustin kept insisting on Steve dating Robin, though the older boy denied every advance.
She tried to ignore it when Robin looked over her shoulder, smiling at Imogen before going back to what she was doing, oblivious to the conversation.
"What are you doing?" Dustin's voice echoed.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking a leak, don't look." Steve replied.
Imogen groaned in disgust when she saw the drizzle of liquid coming from the open crevice in the corner of the room.
"Can you redirect your stream please?" Robin scoffed.
Robin rolled her eyes when she saw the dark stream move more to the corner, leaving a jagged streak in its wake. "Ugh!"
Robin went back to poking at the buttons on the wall, her focus breaking once again when she heard Erica banging the tube of green fluid against the table.
"Careful, careful. Careful!" Robin snatched the tube out of Erica's hands, holding it out of her reach. "We don't even know what this is."
"Exactly, it could be useful," Erica stated, eyeing the tube in Robin's hand before sending the older girl a glare.
Imogen huffed out a laugh, squinting at the young girl in disbelief. "Useful how?"
"We could survive a long time down here without food, but if the human body doesn't get water, it will die." Erica looked between them, determination on her face.
"I hate to break it to you, but this... is not water," Robin warned, shaking the bright green liquid, making it bubble up.
"No... but it's a liquid. And If it comes down to me drinking that shit--"
"Language." Imogen interrupted Erica, Erica sending her an unimpressed look.
"--or dying of thirst. I drink."
Robin rolled her eyes, handing the tube to Erica, who grasped in her hands tightly.
She and Imogen watched Robin walk up the doors when an electrical sound was heard.
Robin put her ear to the door, her eyes widening when she heard men speaking outside, their voices getting closer and closer. "We got company."
They scrambled around the room, putting things back into place before climbing up into the shaft, alerting the boys of what was happening.
The five sat around the large vent, peering through the holes, seeing two men conversing in Russian, grabbing some of the boxes and loading them onto their small truck
Steve rose his finger to his lips, sharing a nervous look with them all.
His eyes stopped when he saw the large tube in Erica's hands, the girl looking down at the object when she saw the look on Steve's face.
When he heard the elevator door shutting, he grabbed the tube and jumped down from the hatch, standing the tube under the door so it would stop.
Steve caught Erica's backpack and helmet sliding them under the small space between the floor and the door, Erica crawling after.
Steve shouted encouragement, letting his sister go next then, Robin, then Dustin.
Steve panicked when he heard the tube straining, seeing it starting to crack, he quickly climbed out, just in time before the bottle broke.
The door slammed shut onto the bottle, the green liquid sizzling as it burnt through the concrete ground, leaving a slight hole.
"Holy shit," Steve said as the group rose from the floor, their eyes wide.
"You still want to drink that?" Robin smirked towards Erica, who gave her a sarcastic smile.
"Holy mother of god."
They all turned at Dustin's words, seeing a long hallway, as far as the eye can see, being lit by the small light bulbs on the walls.
"Well, hopefully, you guys are in good shape," Steve stated, raising a judging brow.
Imogen matched his judgmental look while staring at him.
"Looking at you roast beef." Steve slapped Dustin's stomach making the boy frown, looking at Imogen in confirmation.
Steve began walking, Robin putting a hand on Erica's back to start to follow.
Imogen put her hand on Dustin's back, the boy looking up at her, feeling insecure.
"Why me?" he whispered, dumbfounded.
Imogen kissed Dustin's forehead, rolling her eyes. "You're fine."
Dustin sent Imogen a gummy smile before the two began to walk.
A while later, the group was still walking, not even close to the end of the hall when they've already walked so far.
Imogen whined, her legs beginning to hurt.
Robin stopped, pulling the girl to stand behind her. "Get on my back."
Imogen frowned, "No. I'll hurt you."
Robin rolled her eyes, crouching down in front of the girl. "You're not gonna hurt me. Get on."
Imogen hesitates before jumping on Robin's back.
Robin grabbed the back of Imogen's legs, giving the girl a piggyback ride as she walked alongside Steve, Imogen trying to ignore the smirk Steve sent her.
"You have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone this is impressive." Dustin complimented.
Steve scoffed, looking at the boy as if he was crazy. "What are you talking about? It's a total fire hazard. There are no stairs. There's no exit. There's just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell."
"They're commies." Erica looked up at the older teen. "You don't pay people, they cut corners."
"To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking," Robin stated.
The Buckley girl blushed when Imogen put her head in the red girl's neck before continuing.
"Think about it, they develop the perfect system for transporting that cargo--"
"It comes in the mall like any old delivery." Dustin nodded.
"-- And they load it up onto those trucks and nobody's the wiser."
Steve rose a brow, understanding what they were saying. "You think they built this mall just so they could transport that green poison?"
"I very seriously doubt that's just something like a boring poison." Dustin rolled his eyes. "It's gotta be more powerful--"
"They could be using it to power something?" Imogen suggested, lifting her head from Robin's neck.
"Like a nuclear weapon?" Dustin questioned.
"Totally." Robin and Imogen say in unison.
"Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great." Steve flung his hands in the air, scoffing.
"But if they were building something, why here? I mean, Hawkins of all places?" Robin wondered.
Dustin turned to look at Imogen and Steve, their faces sharing fear and confusion, their minds on one thought.
Was this all connected to the Upside Down?
Imogen jumped from Robin's back, the Buckley girl walking ahead with Erica not questioning Imogen.
"You think the Russian's know?" Dustin whispered to the siblings.
Steve put his hands on his hips. "About--"
"They could." Imogen nodded, her stomach twisting at the thought.
"So it's connected?" Steve furrowed his brows, his cheeks puffing out.
"Guys, El closed the gate," Imogen spoke up, making the boy's turn to her, "What if that green stuff is powering something to open it back up?"
"I'm sorry, is there something you would like to share with the class?" Robin spoke up, her and Erica standing a few yards away, her eyes trailing the three.
Robin's brows furrowed when she saw the nervous look on Imogen's face, wanting to ask what was wrong.
Imogen shared a look with Dustin and went to speak but before she could, static echoed through the tunnel, her eyes latching onto Erica's backpack.
"Walkie."
Erica scrambled for her backpack, taking the walkie-talkie out when they heard a man speaking Russian through it.
Robin took the radio, holding it up to her ear, slowly speaking simultaneously with the man in Russian. "It's the code."
"Wherever that's broadcasting from--" Dustin got cut off by Imogen.
"It's close."
"And if there's one thing we know about that signal..." Robin trailed off.
Dustin grinned, "It can reach the surface."
"Let's go."
──
"That was too close," Robin and Imogen held Erica's hands while Imogen's other hand was on Dustin's back.
"Relax, nobody saw." Steve walked out of their hiding spot, the two Russian men they were hiding from were gone now.
Steve turned the corner, gaping at what he saw, the others following.
There was a big room, Russian soldiers in rows walking past, scientists writing stuff down in their notepads, oblivious to the group of kids.
There were two levels of the room, people waltzing around on both, some in hazmat suits, and breathing masks, and tactical gear, and others in business suits.
The group panicked and hid when they saw a guard with a large gun look their way with a threatening face.
"Red Dawn," Dustin stated.
"I saw it. First floor, northwest." Erica whispered.
"Saw what?" Steve furrowed his brows, staring back at the girl.
Erica rolled her eyes, "The comms room."
'You saw the comms room?" Steve doubted the young girl.
"Are you sure?" Imogen rose a brow.
Erica's voice softened, her brows furrowed as she watched a scientist walk past their hideout. "Positive. The door was open for a second, and I saw a bunch of lights and machines, and shit in there."
Dustin shook his head, scoffing at the girl. "That could be a hundred different things."
"I'll take those odds." Robin nodded.
Imogen hummed in agreement, Steve looking between the two, giving a nervous sigh.
The group peeked around the corner, staring towards the door before Steve exhales turning to the others, "Okay...we're gonna move fast and stay low, okay?"
"Okay." they chorused.
One by one they all ran out of their hiding spot past oblivious Russian's, stopping behind a huge stack of boxes waiting for two scientists to walk out the room.
Before the door closed, the group all rushed through, quietly closing the door behind them.
Imogen turned around, her eyes landing on a man with headphones on at the table with a big radio and a microphone in front of him.
She nudged Dustin and Robin, the rest turning to see what she was staring at.
The man took his headphones off, turning around to see them awkwardly standing there.
The man stood, his hand reaching for his gun.
Robin panicked, shouting in Russian, her hand out in front of her as she stood in front of the group.
"Tread lightly!"
The man faltered, his hand grazing the gun on his hip.
Robin began speaking all that she knew in Russian, the man growing more and more confused, Imogen sharing a look with her brother.
The man got frustrated, his hand on his gun when Steve yelled charging at the man.
Imogen winced when the man punched Steve, throwing him onto a table, pens and paper clattering to the floor as Steve grunted.
Close to losing the fight, Imogen worried for her brother.
She ran over, grabbing the microphone off the table, and hit the Russian over the head with all her force.
The man fell to the ground unconscious, a trail of blood falling from his head, Imogen dropping the mic on the ground as she stared at the sleeping man.
Steve panted, holding his side that was aching. "I had it."
"Sure, you did." Imogen sarcastically smiled, her eyes trailing to the blood on the man's head.
She snapped out of it when Dustin placed a hand on her back giving her a reassuring smile, knowing she was bad with blood.
Imogen sent the boy a smile before watching Dustin walk up to the body on the floor, grabbing the keycard off the man's belt.
"What are you doing?" Erica gave him a weirded-out look.
"Getting our ticket out of here." Dustin stood, waving the card for the girl to see.
"You want to walk back?" Erica rose a brow, her hip jutted out to the side, wondering why the hell he would want to go through that long walk again.
"Well, maybe we can hang out a bit, relax, have a picnic." Dustin scoffed, taking a step towards the small girl, who wore a glare on her face.
"A picnic? We came for the radio!" Erica shouted, making Imogen shush the girl but was ignored.
Imogen facepalmed when the kids began arguing, her attention going to Robin, who was walking up a long case of stairs.
Imogen followed her, walking up the stairs that lead towards a door, a small square window glowing blue on it. "What is it?"
Robin went to get the others, Imogen looking out the small window, her stomach-churning.
She slowly opened the door, not noticing the group behind her as she stared in horror at the scene before her, her mind spiraling.
Scientists and people in hazard suits were walking around, some working on a large whirring machine.
Men in breathing masks and safety gear were standing by the contraption, putting tubes of the green bubbling fluid in it, confirming that whatever it was, was powering it.
What scared Imogen the most was the large machine being pointed right at what looked like 'the gate', or at least how Hopper and El explained it looked like.
A big red glowing rib in the world, something straight out of a movie.
"I was right." her words were a whisper, lingering in the tense air around them.
Steve and Dustin shared a worried look at her words.
Robin stared at the girl, who had tears in her eyes, with a look of confusion and fear.
Imogen swallowed, watching a blue streak of light coming from the machine, hitting the large glowing red rip in the world, a familiar shriek is heard.
Her mind going over the thought; with this much power, it was only a matter of time until something gets through if it hadn't already.