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The Russian guards took the three teens and separated them into different rooms for questioning. In Steve's room, Ozerov the Russian Colonel, sat him on a bench and interrogated him for information. Steve came up with a story and told the man, however, Ozerov didn't believe him. So, he assigned another guard to beat and punch him senseless until he gave up the truth.
"Who do you work for?" He questioned him once more, with his thick accent.
"For the millionth time, I work at Scoops Ahoy!" Steve exclaimed, as blood dripped from his swollen and bruised face. Another punch was delivered to his gut, making the boy grunt in pain. "What the hell?! Look at my outfit! You think I just wear this?! Think I'm a spy in a sailor's uniform?" He shouted, only causing the man to hit him again.
"How did you get in?"
"I already told you before." Steve gasped for air, trying to manage the extreme amount of pain that he was feeling. "My delivery didn't come," He lied. "And my friends and I, we thought that it was left at the loading dock, so we went in the room, and then it turned into an elevator, and then...and then we dropped and then, next thing we know, I open my eyes and we're in this...wonderful facility." He ranted. "But I swear to God, nobody knows about us, nobody saw us. You could just let us go, alright? And I'm not gonna tell anybody about this, okay?"
The colonel looked at him skeptically, as he continued.
"Shit happens, life goes on. 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. USS Butterscotch, I mean, you gotta try it. It is out of this world, I'm telling ya!"
Once he finally concluded his nervous rant, both soldiers immediately bursted out in laughter and began mocking him. Steve joined in, although his was definitely more of a nervous kind of laughter.
"I like this guy!" Ozerov chuckled, before his expression turned stone-cold once more. "Who. Do you. Work for?"
"Oh, come on!" Steve groaned, as the other soldier walked closer to him to throw another punch. "No, no! No, seriously-" His pleads were instantly cut off when the soldier connected his fist to Steve's face, knocking him out.
After that, Steve was immediately dragged into a different room, where they tossed him carelessly on the floor. At this point, Robin was hauled into the room as well, and she rushed over to his side to see if he was alright.
"Steve?" She tried calling for him, shaking his shoulder, but he wouldn't wake up.
Ozerov entered the room where the two sailors were, and Robin instantly questioned him. "What did you do to him? What did you do? And where the hell is Valerie?! So help me God, if you put your hands on her I-"
"Ah," The man smiled, cutting her off from her threats. "She will be with you shortly. Apparently, the little suka knows Russian, so we have more questions for her." He then slapped the sailor girl, causing her to hit the floor.
Robin whimpered in pain, before the soldiers were ordered to tie both of them up. "Don't touch me!" She grunted, while trying to fight out of their grip. Unfortunately, she was too weak for the men, and so the soldiers succeeded in forcing the teens to sit on chairs while they restrained them.
"Steve, wake up!" Robin tried calling out to her friend, and coworker, however, he wouldn't budge. Ozerov then grabbed Steve by his luxurious hair, and lifted his head up to inspect his face. "Don't you touch him!"
The colonel clicked his tongue in fake concern, as he observed the bruising on his bloody face. "I think your friend needs a doctor." He stated the obvious. "Good thing...we have the very best." He smirked, menacingly, as he leaned down in Robin's face. He and his men began laughing evilly, but it was soon cut sort when the girl spit on him. He instantly frowned and wiped his face with a handkerchief, before glaring at her. "You are going to regret that, suka." He told her, causing her brief confidence to falter.
At that, Valerie was finally dragged into the room and tied up next to them, before all of the soldiers exited the room. Val groaned in pain, and Robin quickly glanced at her. Because of the angle, and the fact that their hands were tied, she could only get a small look at the girl's side profile, but her eyes immediately landed on the bruise that was forming on her cheekbone.
"Val, are you okay?" Robin asked her, worriedly.
"Oh, yeah." She tried smiling through the pain. "I'm just peachy."
"What did they do to you?"
"They began with asking me who I was and stuff. But then, once they realized that I knew Russian, and that I was understanding all of the secret comments that they were making to each other, they sort of got a little pissed."
"Let me guess, that's how you got that shiner on your cheek?"
"Bingo." Val sighed, before attempting to glance over at her. "So, what do we do now?"
Robin shrugged, although the other girl couldn't see her. She then caught Valerie off guard when she started screaming for help, like someone would come in and rescue them any minute. Even though she knew nothing would happen, Val decided to join her anyway.
"HELP!"
"SOMEBODY HELPS US!"
"Hey, would you stop yelling?" Steve mumbled, stirring as he woke up.
"Steve! Oh, my God!" Robin sighed in relief.
"Are you okay, sailor man?" Valerie asked him, already knowing the answer.
Steve groaned. "My ears are ringing, and I can't really breath, 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 informed him, chuckling at the thought.
"Is this his place of work? I love the vibe. Charming."
Valerie laughed at his sarcasm, before she turned her head and noticed a pair of scissors lying on a tray just a few feet away from them. "Guys. Do you see that table over there in the far corner?" The other two turned their heads, and nodded once they saw it. "Good. Okay, so, there's scissors on that tray. I think if we move at the same time, we could get over there."
"Yeah..." Robin caught on. "And then maybe I could kick the table and knock them into Steve's lap."
"And I could cut our binds." Steve added.
"Then we could get out of here."
"Okay, let's do it." Val stated. "On the count of three, we're gonna hop. Alright, one...two...three!"
Together, the three teens hopped in their chairs, and moved a bit closer towards the table.
"It worked!" Robin cheered. "Alright. Uh, let's try again."
The trio did just that, and cheered again once they moved even closer. However, on the third try, they messed up the footing and their chairs gave out from underneath them, causing all three to tilt over and fall to the ground. Valerie and Steve groaned in both pain and frustration, but they stopped as soon as they heard muffled sounds coming from Robin.
"It's okay, Robin." Val assured her. "We'll find another way. Please, don't cry."
But Robin wasn't crying at all. In fact, she was actually giggling to herself, which soon turned into a fit of laughter at their current predicament.
"Are you laughing?" Steve questioned her.
"Yeah." She chuckled. "I'm sorry. It's just I can't believe I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington, and Valerie Rivers, 'Little Sister Of Hawkins' Most Wanted.' It's just too trippy, man!" She continued to laugh.
"We're not gonna die." Steve said. "You just gotta let me think for a second."
"Do you remember, um, Mrs. Click's sophomore history class?" Robin randomly asked the sailor. "Mrs. Clickity-Clackity. That's what us band dweebs called her. It was first period, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you were always late. And you always had the same breakfast. Bacon, egg, and cheese on a sesame bagel."
Valerie frowned upon hearing all of this information. Did the girl really remember his whole breakfast order? She thought.
"I sat behind you," Robin continued. "Two days a week for a year. Mister Funny. Mister cool. The King of Hawkins High himself. Do you even remember me from that class?"
Steve hesitated, before sighing. "...No." He admitted, shamefully.
"Of course you don't." She chuckled, sarcastically. "You were a real asshole, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know."
Valerie grew quiet as she listened to them talk. The truth was, she remembered Robin. I mean, how could she not? That year in Mrs. Click's history class was what made Valerie fall for the sailor girl in the first place. The only problem was that she didn't think Robin ever noticed her, though.
"But it didn't even matter." Robin stated. "It didn't matter that you were an ass. I was still...obsessed with you. Even though all of us losers pretend to be above it all, we still just wanna be popular...accepted...normal."
"If it makes you feel any better, having those things isn't all that great." Steve replied. "Seriously. It just baffles me. Everything that people tell you is important, everything that people say you should care about, it's all just...bullshit." He chuckled, dryly. "But I guess you gotta mess up to figure things out, right?"
"I hope so." Robin replied. "I feel like my whole life has been one big error."
"Tell me about it." Val chuckled sarcastically, speaking for the first time in a while because of not wanting to ruin the other two's moment. "When my parents died, I had thought that life couldn't get any worse for me at that time. But then I was outed at school and my brothers formed a gang. Oh yeah, and I found out that my crush had eyes for somebody else. But honestly I don't really blame her. It was my goal to go unnoticed at school, and I guess I succeeded." She laughed at herself.
Robin chuckled with her, even though she really had so much things she wanted to say to her at that moment. "At least it can't get any more messed up than this."
"You know, I wish I'd known you in Click's class." Steve commented. "You too, Valerie. Maybe you both could've helped me pass the class." He teased. "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," Robin smiled. "I would be happily slinging ice cream with some other schmuck."
"Gotta say, though, I liked being your schmuck. It was fun while it lasted."
"Well, if we're discussing the 'What Ifs', then I would love to go back in time to last year." Valerie stated. "Maybe then I would have decided not to take Mrs. Ivanov's junior Russian class. Then I wouldn't have gotten mixed up with you, nerds." She teased, quoting the nickname that Erica gave them all.
"Did you really just quote the kid?" Steve asked her, mockingly.
"It appears so." She sighed. "Not gonna lie, I'm gonna miss those kids when we're dead. They made me feel young again."
"You say that as if you weren't turning seventeen this weekend." Robin laughed, although she quickly stopped once she realized what she had said.
"How do you know my birthday's coming up?" Valerie questioned her, but the sailor girl grew quiet. "Wait, is that why you keep calling me Birthday Girl? I thought it was just because of my choice in ice cream flavor but maybe it-"
The girl was quickly cut off by Ozerov entering the room once again, and bringing an evil looking doctor in with him.
"Where were you three going?" He chuckled, as he saw their current position of laying on the floor. The other soldiers grabbed them roughly, and sat them upright on the chairs. The colonel then leaned down in front of Steve's face once more. "Try telling the truth this time, yes? It will make your visit with Dr. Zharkov less painful." He then nodded his head, and allowed the doctor to approach the three with an injection in his hands.
"Wait, wait, wait! What is that thing!?" Valerie shouted as doctor approached her first with the blue liquid.
"It will help you talk." Dr. Zharkov informed her, before plunging it into her neck and making her scream.
He did the same thing with the other two, before all of the soldiers finally left them alone in the room, wondering what the hell was just put into their bodies.
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