"The gate." Dustin and Steve say simultaneously, as we continue to watch the Russians open it.
"This isn't good." I say stepping away from the window. "This is not good." I say turning around and going back into the comms room.
"I don't understand, You've seen this before?" Robin says as her, Steve, Dustin, and Erica descend down the stairs.
"Not exactly." Steve says.
"Then what, exactly?" Robin asks Steve and Dustin.
"All you need to know is it's bad." Dustin says.
"Really bad." Steve says.
"Like, end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it kind of bad." Dustin says as they enter the room with me.
"And you know about this how?" Robin asks.
"I've seen it." I state, causing everyone's eyes to fall on me.
"You've seen this before?" Robin asks me.
"Yes." I say to robin before turning my attention to Steve and Dustin. "You guys have to go. All of you."
"What are you talking about?" Steve asks me.
"You guys need to lea-"
"Wait, Dani." Dustin cuts me off.
"I can't let them open it again."
"Again? What are you talk-" Robin goes to say but I cut her off.
"Leave. Find Hopper,"
"Hopper? What's the Chief of Police going to do?" Robin asks
"-have him call in back up, tell him what's happen-"
"Daniel-" Steve starts to say, shaking his head.
"Tell Hopper what's happening." I speak over him. "I can keep them from opening the gate."
"No! No one is splitting up here!" Steve yells, walking up to me. "You're not staying here, alone. We're all going to leave and then we can tell Hopper... together." He says, now holding both of my hands.
"Would someone please explain to me, what the hell is going on?" Robin yells
"Um, Steve? Where's your Russian friend?" Erica says.
Steve looks away from me and to the floor, where the Russian was. Alarms begin to blare through the building.
"Shit." Steve says, letting go of my hands, running over to the door. He opens it, just to slam it shut again. "Shit."
"Go. Go, go, go, go!" He yells, running back up the stairs.
"Shit." Dustin says and I push him forward, following everyone up the stairs.
Russian guards bust through the door and quickly find us climbing up the stairs. Robin is up top, holding the door open as we run up. Once everyone is through, I turn around and throw my hand up, blasting the guards back down the stairs.
"Holy shit. How did you do that?" Robin asks as I rush through the door.
"Tell you later. Run!" I shout as we run after Dustin, Steve, and Erica.
Dustin leads us through a door, which is the room where the scientist are. Their chairs squeak as they turn to look at us.
"Go! Shit! Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" Steve yells as we break into a sprint, running out of the room and into the opening with the laser.
Dustin screams, pushing past a scientist, as we run on the metal walkway. "Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!" He screams as we come to the edge of the walkway, right next to the laser.
"Guards! Go!" Erica screams, noticing the guards closing us in.
"This way!" Steve shouts, pushing past me.
I quickly follow, with the others behind me, I blast the guards back, and follow Steve down the stairs.
"How is she doing that!?" Robin screams.
"Go!" Erica and Dustin scream
He shoves a scientist off of the stairs and makes a break for it. Guards begin to swarm in from every entrance. Steve pushes himself into some barrels, knocking them over into the guards, making them fall.
"Come on! Go, go, go, go, go!" Steve shouts as the five of us run, avoiding more guards.
"This way!" Robin yells, opening a door as the Russians chase after us. "Come on, quick!"
"Hold the door!" Steve yells as him and I rush inside.
Once inside, he slams the door shut, and we lean on it to keep it closed as the others find a way out. The guards continue to bang and push against the door.
"Shit!" Dustin screams.
The door starts to nudge open from the other side. With my back against the door, I lay my palms flat on it, emitting my powers to keep it closed.
"Help us, Robin! Come on!" Steve yells and Robin joins us in keeping the door closed.
"Here!" Erica yells, pulling open a vent. "Come on, let's go!"
"Come on!" Dustin yells once Erica is inside the vent.
"Go! Just get out of here!" Steve yells at Dustin.
"Go, come on, now!" Dustin yells getting in the vent.
"No! Just go get some help, okay?"
Dustin stops and looks at us before getting completely inside.
"What are you doing?!" Steve yells.
"Go!" We shout at him as more guards pile against the door.
"I won't forget you! I love you Dani!" Dustin yells at us.
"Go!" We scream and Dustin closes the vent.
"I can hold the door, go!" I shout at Steve and Robin, as I feel blood begin to drip from my nose.
"I'm not leaving you!" Steve shouts at me.
The door becomes harder to hold and a hard push from the other side slams against it, breaking my concentration. The push knocks, Steve, Robin, and I down and Russians quickly file into the room, pointing their guns at us.
"Freeze! Show us your hands!" They all yell as Steve, Robin, and I surrender.
**
Steve's POV
"That one stung." I gasp as the Russian lands another punch to my face.
"Who do you work for?" The Russian leader asks once again.
"For the millionth time, I work at Scoops Ahoy!" I yell, trying to catch my breath. "Scoops Ahoy." I let out before the Russian punches me in my gut, knocking the remainder of air, out of my lungs.
"What the hell?!" I choke out. "Look at my outfit!" I plead for them to understand. "Look at my outfit! You think I just wear this?! Think I'm a spy in a sailor's uniform?" I ask sarcastically, earning another punch to my gut.
"How did you get in?"
"I already told you." I say hunched over, gasping for air. "I told you before. My delivery didn't come, and my friends and I, we thought that it was left in the loading dock, so we went in the room, and then it turned into an elevator, and then..."
I try to remember, but this guy had punched me so many times, my memory is mush.
"And then we dropped and then, next thing we know, I open my eyes, and we're in this... wonderfully facility." I try to win them over. "But I swear to God, nobody knows about us, nobody saw us." I let out and the leader faces me. "You could just let us go, all right? And I'm not gonna tell anybody about this, okay?" I say fast.
"Shit happens, life goes on." I laugh, nervously. "And, uh... ice-ice cream. Ice cream, okay? You guys know what ice cream is. Everybody loves ice cream. I don't know if you have Russian ice cream or if that's considered gelato. I don't know what's what, but whatever you guys want, seriously." I speak out of my ass as the leader stares me down. "USS Butterscotch, I mean you gotta try it. It is out of this world, I'm telling ya!" I say trying to sound excited.
The Russians laugh. They literally start to laugh as they torture me. Confused, I begin to laugh, nervously, with them.
"I like this guy!" The leader laughs to the guard.
All I can do is keep laughing instead of crying.
Where's Danielle and Robin?
"USS... Butterscotch." The leader laughs before bending down, putting his hands on his knees, becoming serious again.
"Who do you work for?" He asks once again.
"Oh, come on." I beg, looking up at the big guy as he walks closer to me. "No, no! No, seriously-" I am met with darkness once the guard lands another punch to my face.
**
Robin's POV
"Get your hands off me!" I shout as the guards drag me into another room. They throw me to the floor, right next to a passed out Steve.
"Steve?" I say sitting up as best as I could as a person with their hands tied. "Steve?" I ask as I begin to shake him and he doesn't wake up. "Steve? Steve? Steve?" I repeat, trying to get him to wake up.
The door buzzes and the Russian leader walks in the room. "What did you do to him? What did you do?" I yell at him. He raises his hand and backhands me across the face, knocking me down.
"Ugh!" I groan out in pain.
One of the guards grabs me by the arms. "Don't touch me!" I shout as they sit me down on a chair. Back to back with Steve, before tying us up.
"Steve, wake up. Steve?" I call to him as I struggle against the Russian guards. "Ah!" I yell in pain because of how tight they make the straps. "What did you do?" I yell when Steve doesn't respond.
"Don't touch him!" I yell at the guard, as I look over my shoulder at Steve. He's holding Steve's head up by his hair. The leader clicks his tongue and drops Steve's head. "Steve?" I ask, leaning back on his back. "Steve, can you hear me?"
"I think your friend need a doctor." The Russian leader says to me as he stands before me. "Good thing..." He smirks, shrugging his shoulders, squatting down to me. "We have the very best." He laughs, causing the guards to laugh along with him.
I spit in his face, shutting him up. The Russian leader wipes his face with a handkerchief and I stare him down, holding my head high. "You're going to regret that, little bitch." He points at me.
"Time to visit your special friend." He smirks at me.
Danielle.
"What did you do with her?!" I scream after him as he leaves with the guards. "What did you do!? Don't hurt her!" I scream before the door is slammed shut.
**
Steve's POV
"Help! Help!" I'm woken up by Robin screaming.
"Hey, would you stop yelling?" I mumble out.
My head hurts so bad.
"Steve! Oh, my God! Are- Are you okay?" Robin says as she leans against me.
"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." I tell her, finally opening my eyes.
"Well good news is that they're calling you a doctor." Robin chuckles.
Wait a minute, why is it only her voice?
"Robin?"
"Yeah, Steve?"
"Where's Danielle?"
"Uh-um."
"Where is she Robin?" I ask becoming irritated.
"I-I don't know?! They have her in a different room somewhere! I don't know where she is."
"Oh, no." I mumble. "Robin, that's not good, we need to find her." I begin to panic.
"Wait! Wait. They said that they were going to see our "special friend", what does that mean?" Robin asks. "Steve, what does that mean? She asks again when I don't respond. "Steve, wh-"
"She has powers! Okay, Robin. My girlfriend has mind powers." I cut her off.
Robin laughs, "You're serious?"
"I'm serious, Robin."
"So, that's how she knocked those guards down the stairs? And on the walkway?"
"Yup. And the evil Russians definitely know, if they're keeping her in a separate room."
"Holy shit." Is all she says.
"We need to get out of here and find her before something bad happens to her." I say.
"Okay, do you see that table over there to your right?" She asks and I turn my head to her right. "No, your other right."
"Oh." I realize and turn my head the other way, spotting the table.
"Yeah, okay. And do you see those scissors?"
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah, well, I think that if we move at the same time, we could get over there, and then maybe I could kick the table and knock them into your lap."
"And I could cut the binds." I say, catching on.
"Yeah, and we could get out of here and save Dani."
"Gotcha." I nod my head in understanding. "Yeah, yeah we can do that."
"Yeah."
"Those morons. They left scissors in here?" I joke.
"Yeah, morons." She chuckles
"Total morons."
"Okay, so, on the count of three, we're gonna hop."
"Okay, good, hop on three. I gotcha." I nod my head.
"All right. One, two, three." Robin counts and we hop.
"Oh!" I say realizing that we moved closer to the table.
"Okay, that worked."
"Okay." I nod my head, believing this will work.
"All right. Uh, let's try again. One, two, three."
On three we hop again, moving even more closer to the table.
"Holy shit, this is gonna work." Robin laughs.
"We're close. Ready?" I say, keeping us going.
"Okay."
"One, two, three." We count together.
This time we slip, causing us to fall on our side. Robin begins to cry.
"It's okay, it's okay." I reassure her. "Don't cry, Robin." I try to look over my shoulder at her.
Robin lets out a giggle.
"Are you laughing?" I ask, shockingly.
"Yeah." She cackles.
"Jesus!" I say in relief and lay my head back down on the floor.
"I'm sorry!" She laughs. "I'm so sorry. It's just... I can't believe... I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve "The Hair" Harrington. It's just too trippy, man." She laughs.
"We're not gonna die. We're gonna get out of here, okay? We're gonna get out of here and we're gonna find Danielle. And then the three of us will find a way to escape, okay? You gotta let me just think for a second." I say, closing my eyes.
"Do you remember, um, Mrs. Click's sophomore history class?" Robin speaks up.
"What?" I ask her confused.
"Mrs. Clickity-Clackity. That's what us band dweebs called her."
Oh, God.
"It was first period, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you were always late." She says as I close my eyes and just listen. "And you always had the same breakfast. Bacon, egg, and cheese on a sesame bagel."
The things I would do for that bagel right about now. Oh wait, I'm still tied up.
"I sat behind you." She continues. "Two days a week for a year."
I open my eyes, realizing what she's trying to say.
"Mister Funny. Mister cool. The king of Hawkins High himself. Do you even remember me from that class?"
No.
"Of course you don't. You were a real asshole, you know that?"
Yes.
"Yeah, I know." I mumble out to her.
"But it didn't even matter. It didn't matter that you were an ass. I was still... obsessed with you." Robin says as I continue to listen to her.
"Even all of us losers pretend to be above it all, we still just want to be popular... accepted, normal."
"If it makes you feel any better, having those things isn't all that great." I say, learning that from Dustin. "Seriously." I sigh. "It just baffles me. Everything that people tell you is important, everything that people say you should care about, it's all just... bullshit." I chuckle, dryly.
"But I guess you gotta mess up to figure things out, right?" I ask.
"I hope so. I feel like my whole life has been... one big error."
"Yep." I laugh.
"At least it can't get any more messed up than this." Robin laughs.
"You know, I wish I'd known you in Click's class." I admit.
"Yeah?"
"Really, I do." I assure her. "Maybe you could've helped me pass the class. Maybe instead of being here, I'd be on my way to college right now."
"And I would have no idea that there were evil Russians beneath our feet and I would be happily slinging ice cream with some other schmuck." Robin says, causing me to laugh.
"Gotta say, though. I liked being your schmuck. It was fun while it lasted."
"It was."
Suddenly, the door buzzes and the evil Russians walk back into the room. The leader stands over us and chuckles, "Where were you two going?" He says before shaking his head.
Other guards pick us up off of the floor, sitting us up to where I'm now facing the door. The leader bends down, getting in my face. "Try telling the truth this time, yes? It will make your visit with Dr. Zharkov less painful." He says as he, sickly, caresses my face, before pressing his thumb down on my busted lip, making me wince.
"If you don't comply... your special friend will suffer." He says, making my eyes go wide.
Danielle.
"Look over there." The leader chuckles as he points to my right.
I follow his finger and see a two-way-mirror. "Danielle." I gasp quietly.
"Oh, my God. Dani! What did you do to her?!" Robin shouts as she looks left at the mirror. "Dani! Danielle!" She shouts again.
Danielle is in another room, on the other side of the mirror. She's strapped down to an electric chair, facing us. She's limp.
"She can't hear you, suka." The leader says to Robin. "Your friend is very dangerous to my men." He says, now standing up right. "She has... how you say... special abilities, no?" He says walking over to the table, in front of the mirror. "She will make a fine weapon." He says before bending to speak into the microphone. The leader shouts out something in Russian, before stepping away.
Danielle's screams fill our room, through the speakers, as she gets electrocuted.
"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!" Robin and I shout as we watch Danielle writhe in pain.
Eventually, they stop. Dani, somehow, stays conscious as she leans back in the chair, staring numbly into the window.
"You bastards!" Robin shouts.
"You sick pieces of shit!" I yell out. "I swear to God, when I get out of here, I will-"
"You'll what?" The leader says, getting in my face again. "You'll... kill us, hmm?"
"Yeah..." I nod my head. "Yeah, I'll kill you. I'll kill all of you!" I yell.
The leader laughs before nodding his head, calling someone over. He walks away and the "doctor" walks into view. The giant needle in his hand catches my attention. "Wait a second." I begin to plead. "Wait. Hold on. I didn't mean any of that. I won't kill you guys." I say nervously and the doctor stands over me. "Okay! Wait, wait, wait! What is that thing?"
"It will help you talk." He says menacingly before grabbing the top of my head, turning it.
"Did you even clean that thing?!" I shout before a searing pain is felt in my neck, making me scream.
**
Danielle's POV
I can faintly hear screams come from the room across from me.
It's... Steve? He's screaming. Is... Robin?... In there too?
I can't see them, only my reflection.
I'm so numb.
Suddenly, a figure blocks the view of my reflection.
"Are you going to talk now?" A man's voice says, in Russian. "I know you can understand me, bitch." He says, causing me to look up at him. It's the leader. "If you don't talk, your friends are going to get hurt."
I'm so numb, I can't bring myself to speak.
"Two hundred." The leader says to the other Russian in the room, before grabbing my face, forcing a mouthpiece inside my mouth.
The other Russian turns up the dial on the machine and I am, once again, electrocuted.
Pain surges through my body and I begin to lose focus on the man in front of me. I try to stay awake, blinking away the urge to fall asleep. Every time I blink, the brown uniform is replaced with a white lab coat. The electricity stops and the lab coat stays.
"Papa?" I mumble.
"Oh, my sweet, sweet Josephine." He says, his face more visible as he bends down, face-to-face. "What have they done to you?" He says caressing my cheek.
"Papa." I whimper.
"Darling, don't be afraid." He says in a soothing voice. "Josephine." He says sternly as my eyes begin to droop. "Don't fall asleep, darling."
"But I'm tired, Papa. So, tired." I mumble, closing my eyes.
"Josephine!" Papa says grabbing my face, shaking it. "Wake up!"
"Uh." I groan opening my eyes.
"That's it, my sweet girl. That's it." Papa says, comfortingly before his voice grows stern again. "Listen to me, Josephine. Are you listening?"
"Mm-hmm."
"The bad men are going to come back. They are going to give you a shot."
"A shot?" I ask a little worried.
"Yes, my darling." He confirms. "It will make you stronger and then you and your friends can escape. It's going to be very painful, but you must stay awake. Can you do that for Papa?"
"Yes, Papa." I say.
"That's my girl." He says, dropping his hands from my face, causing my head to drop.
"Papa." I call out.
No response.
"Papa..."
The door opens with a bang.
"Let the flames begin." I hear the Russian leader say through the speakers.
I hear footsteps get closer to me. Keeping my head down, my body senses someone standing in front of me. I slowly open my eyes and see brown pants and black boots. The Russian turns my chair, now facing the door.
"This may hurt... Bitch." He says menacingly and lowers a needle to my arm. I watch him inject the yellow liquid into my arm. Once he's done, I quickly left my head up at the man, smirking.
"Big mistake." I say before nodding my head at the man, causing him to fly back, crashing into the door, dead.
"Get in there! Get in there!" I hear the leader say from the other side of the glass.
Before I can get myself free, my body begins to warm up. The heat continues to grow, making me groan in agony, as I feel myself begin to sweat. I take deep breaths, trying to keep myself calm as the heat begins to burn me on the inside. I scream, feeling the pain drift down to my hands.
"It's working." One of the Russians say, now in the room with me.
My body begins to convulse and smoke emits from the skin on my arms. Flames engulf my hands, working its way up my arms, stopping at my elbows. The straps burn off my wrists, breaking my arms free. I continue to scream as fire projects from my hands, killing the two Russians at the door.
I have to get out of here!
I lift my hands of fire to the strap around my chest, burning it off. Bending over, I burn the straps holding down my legs.
"Sedate her!" The leader yells through the speakers as three more Russians run in the room.
Once I'm free from the straps, the alarm goes off, catching the guards off guard. I blast my fire at them, no longer in pain. They catch fire and fall to the ground, dead. I run out of the room, no other guards are in sight.
"Dani." I hear a voice call out from behind me.
I quickly turn around, my hands are still ablaze. "Dustin." I say spotting him along side Robin, Erica, and Steve.
He walks up to me, causing me to step back. "No, stay back!" I cry out to him. "I don't want to hurt you!" I step back even more, keeping my hands down.
"You won't." He says confidently, taking more steps towards me.
"Dustin, stop!" I cry out.
"You can't hurt me, Danielle." He says shaking his head.
He's right. I could never hurt my little brother.
I put my head down as tears continue to stream down my face. I can feel the fire begin to die out as he keeps stepping closer.
"It's alright. Everything is going to be okay." He says soothingly.
The flames go out completely and Dustin engulfs me in a hug, wrapping his arms around my waist. I immediately wrap my arms around his neck, laying my head against his.
"I've got you. You're okay. You're safe." Dustin says comfortingly as he rubs my back.
I nod my head against his as tears continue to fall.
"Okay." Dustin says, breaking from our hug. "Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Shh." He says grabbing my face between his hands, causing me to open my eyes and look at him. "Hey, Dani-o." He smiles.
"I'm sorry." I whimper.
"There's nothing to be sorry for." He says, wiping my tears. "Hey, what do you say we get out of here? Huh? Yeah? Does that sound good?
"Yeah." I sniffle, nodding my head.
"Okay, good. We're gonna have to run, okay. Can you do that?" Dustin says, dropping his hands.
"Yeah." I repeat, collecting myself.
"Yeah, okay. Let's go." He says taking ahold of my hand, dragging me back to the group.
"Hey, sexy." Steve slurs once we reach him, Erica, and Robin.
"What's wrong with him?" I ask Dustin.
"I don't know." He says.
"Come on, let's go!" Erica shouts breaking into a sprint.
We all follow as she leads us to a red, driving cart. Dustin lets go of my hand as he gets in the front with Erica. Robin, Steve, and I jump into the back, shutting the door..
"What are you waiting for? Drive!" Erica shouts at Dustin.