Erica and Robin joined us on top of the elevator, where we silently watched from the grates as the door opened and two men came in, communicating in Russian and grabbing boxes to haul away. Steve held a finger to his lips, his eyes falling on the green cylinder that was still in Erica's hands. The second the men left and the door began to close, Steve jumped down through the hatch and slid across the floor, putting the cylinder underneath the door to prop it open.
"Let's go!" Erica tossed Steve her backpack and he tossed ti through the small gap before Erica jumped down and slid through it. "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go."
"I'm going!"
"Henderson, go, go!" Dustin slid through as the cylinder began to crack. Robin slid through next as quickly as possible, and then Steve pushed me through, sliding under himself just mere seconds before the cylinder shattered and sent the door clattering down, sending up a puff of smoke as the green substance inside sizzled against the surfaces, melting through it almost instantly.
"Geez!" Steve exclaimed.
"You still wanna drink that?" Robin asked Erica.
"Holy Mother of God." Dustin said, causing us all to turn around to face an extremely long corridor just behind us.
"Well...hope you guys are in good shape." Steve stated. He walked past to lead the way, patting Dustin's chest as he went. "I'm lookin' at you Roast Beef." I looked at his shirt, saying that it said 'Roast Beef' on it.
"Oh, ok, got it." I said, slightly jogging to fall into step beside Steve. "You know, what you did back there...very Indiana Jones."
"Right?" He asked, smiling at me.
"Seriously Steve, the way you take charge...its unbelievable. Its really incredible to watch, I could see you being an awesome manager or something some day." I said. "Not to mention the fact that its insanely attractive." He chuckled.
"Well I figured I had to try and catch up. When your girlfriend is basically an action hero, you've gotta earn some street cred when you can." I smiled, shaking my head.
"I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is impressive." Dustin stated.
"What are you talking about?" Steve questioned. "Its a total fire hazard. There's no stairs, there's no exit, its just an elevator that drops you halfway to Hell."
"Well, I guess when you're evil Russians hiding from the American government, a fire isn't really on the top of your priority list." I said.
"They're commies," Erica chimed in, "You don't pay people, they cut corners." Steve furrowed his eyebrows, looking at the little girl in confusion.
"To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking," Robin cut in, "I mean think about it, they developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo."
"It all comes into the mall like any old delivery." Dustin said.
"And then they load them onto those trucks and nobody's the wiser."
"You think they built this whole mall just so they could transport that green poison?" Steve questioned.
"No. You don't build an entire secret headquarters for transporting one thing. They're using that stuff for something." I replied.
"And I very seriously doubt its something as boring as poison," Dustin threw in, "Its gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something."
"What the heck is Promethium?" Steve asked.
"ITs what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components." Robin told him.
"You're all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill." Erica said.
"No, no, no. No, don't lump us in with them. We're not nerds, alright?" Steve replied defensively.
"Why so sensitive, Harrington? Afraid of losing cool-points to a ten year old child?"
"No, I'm just saying I don't know jack about Prometheus."
"Promethium. Prometheus is a Greek Mythological figure." I said. "Oh, would you look at that, I'm a nerd too. Sorry, HAIRington, I think that makes you a nerd by association." I said, smirking at him.
"Whatever, all I'm saying is like Riley said, its probably being used to make something."
"Or power something?" Robin suggested.
"Like a nuclear weapon?"
"Totally."
"Yeah, but its not as simple as that though. They chose Hawkins, they had to have chosen Hawkins for a reason..." I trailed off.
"Yeah, if they're building something, why here? I mean, Hawkins. Seriously, of all places. At the very best, we're a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland," Erica and Robin kept walking and Steve, Dustin, and I all stopped.
"You think the Russians know?" Dustin asked.
"About the..."
"They could." I said.
"So its connected?" Steve questioned.
"Maybe."
"How?"
"Maybe...whatever they're powering is so they can open the gate again." I suggested. "I mean, imagine what that would do for the war if they had an army of Demogorgon's on their side?"
"I'm sorry, is there something you three would like to share with the class?" Robin asked, stopping and turning to face us. We all exchanged a look, and Steve opened his mouth to talk when suddenly Russian began echoing through the radio.
"Walkie." Steve and Dustin said in Unison, all of us running over as Erica took it out of her backpack and handed it to Robin. Robin began talking along with the Russian man, saying his exact words.
"Its the code." She said.
"Whatever that broadcast is coming from-" Dustin started.
"Its close." She continued, "And if there's one thing we know about that signal..."
"It can reach the surface." I said.
"Let's go." We all stood up and continued down the tunnel, set out to find that radio and hopefully get a message back to someone up above.
Hopefully, my Dad, who's probably the only person who can get us out of this mess.
~~~
The further we got down the tunnel the more people we began to run into on the way, so we had to time our movements very carefully.
"Ok, clear." Steve whispered. "Clear, come on, let's go." We stepped out from behind the giant metal boxes we'd hidden behind and turned the corner, continuing down the corrider.
"Ok, that was close." Robin stated.
"Too close."
"Relax," Steve told them, "Alright, Relax, nobody saw..." We turned the corner to see a big doorway entering what looked like the hub of the corridors, crawling with scientists and Russian soldiers. We all ducked behind yet another red box, Steve and I practically on top of each other to make room for all of us.
"Red Dawn." Dustin noted.
"I saw it." Erica whispered. "First floor, Northwest."
"Saw what?"
"The comms room."
"You saw the comms room?" Steve questioned.
"Correct."
"Are you sure?" Dustin asked.
"Positive. The door was open for a second and I saw a bunch of lights and machines and stuff in there."
"That could be a hundred different things."
"Yeah well, it sounds to me like that's the only lead we've got at this moment." I stated.
"I'll take those odds." Robin agreed. Steve sighed, shaking his head, and we all peeked around the box, identifying the door that Erica was talking about.
"Alright, we're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low, ok?" Steve prompted.
"Ok." We did just that, creeping from one box to the next, until we were in front of the door. We peered around the corner just as a scientist walked out of the door, and then we ran over to it and rushed inside before the door could shut.
"Shh, shh, come on." Steve shut the door behind us and we turned around to come face-to-face with a Russian soldier. He reached for his gun in its holster, when Robin rushed forward and began speaking to him in Russian. He replied in Russian, and she replied back, but I knew for a fact that the only Russian she knew was what she'd learned from the code, so I suspected she was just repeating those phrases. She said something, which prompted him to flick open his holster, which then prompted Steve to let out a scream and charge at him, tackling him onto the table. The man easily threw him off, into the next table. He swung on him, which Steve narrowly dodged before grabbing his shirt and pulling him up, throwing him down onto the table on his stomach. He grabbed the back of Steve's shirt, but Steve elbowed him in the stomach, grabbing one of the radios and tossing it smoothly from one hand to the other before bringing it across the soldier's face as he charged again. The man fell, hitting his head on the corner of the table before falling to the floor, unconscious. Steve pushed his hair back out of his face, panting heavily.
"Dude!" Dustin exclaimed. "You did it! You won a fight!" He chuckled and I walked over, grabbing his necktie and pulling him to me, pressing a short but passionate kiss to his lips as Dustin crouched down and grabbed the keycard from his belt.
"What are you doing?" Erica asked.
"Getting us our ticket out of here." He replied.
"You want to walk all the way back?"
"Oh no, we can hang out for a little bit, relax, have a picnic maybe." Robin walked over to a staircase, inspecting it, and I put my hands on Steve's shoulders, inspecting him.
"You ok?" I asked. He nodded, grabbing my hips and pulling me against him.
"I'm good, yeah. I did win a fight." I smiled.
"Yeah, you did. You did good HAIRington."
"Guys," Robin said, running back down to us, "There's something up there."
We followed her up the stairs, sneaking through the door and into the room, only to be met with two large windows, opening into an observation deck, which looked at what appeared to be some kind of giant laser gun, and sure enough, it was aimed right at a giant orange crack in the wall that could only be the gate into the Upside Down.
"I knew it." I whispered. "They're trying to open the gate."