tw: drugs and physical abuse

KAT

SHE WAS SCREWED. The Russians had left for a bit, and left her in the room. Kat's hands were tied behind her back, her ankles were wrapped in a duct tape ish wrapping, and she was hungry. A bit of blood dribbled across her lip, and she held her tongue a bit out of her mouth so she could taste it. It felt like salt, the typical bleeding on somebody's mouth. Except this time it was revolting. For this was her own blood she was losing, flowing from the lips that had kissed the sun not half a day ago. Her ear piercing was bleeding, too, from when the Russians dragged her into the room and her earring caught on a guy's shiny gold shirt button. 

Kat tried to straighten her spine as her back pain became overwhelming, but the binds caught on her skin, and she slouched once more. A long sigh escaped her throat, as she tried to overcome the feeling of helplessness. Dustin and Erica are getting help. For a second she wondered how they were doing, and if they were making progress. That was before she remembered that they were only kids and it was alright if they took a while. Kat would've sulked about how no one had listened to her, or complain about her bleeding, except she'd already done that and she'd gotten a kiss from Steve in return. Now she wondered what Steve was doing.

The door buzzed, and the same douches from earlier walked in. Except this time, there was a lab coat guy following them, wheeling a metal tray inside.

"Whoa, uh, what's that?" Kat said, panic rising in her narrow throat and clenching it from the sides.

They didn't respond, the doctor dude taking out a pair of silver pliers that glinted menacingly in the room's lighting. 

"Hey! Stop, stop, stop, what's that?" Kat asked again frantically as the guy flexed a gun-like thing at the end of his hand, a small blue bottle implanted into it. Are they gonna inject me with that?! The doctor grinned like the Joker, coming up right in front of her. The gun was dark silver, a long, thick needed glistening against the lights and threatening to escape into her skin.

Two Russian guards came in front of her, one of them grabbing her neck and hands, holding them behind her back, and another crouched down to hold her ankles steady. Their grip was tight and sweaty, and Kat tried to thrash against their hands, but Jazzercise had failed her muscles.

"Something.... to loosen your tongue," the doctor snickered, before grabbing her hair and yanking it to the right. The pain buzzed through her scalp, making her scream, before the needle entered her neck.

Was it possible that a thin piece of metal could cause so much pain? Or was that just the liquid inside? Kat didn't know, but her mind fixated on solving the mystery through a sheer haze of pain. The needle broke through the layers of her skin, shredding every shield of dignity alongside it. With every shell broken, Kat was reduced to her core, freezing with the cold and dancing on silver strings attached to the needletips. Just a little girl with bullet holes in her lungs and a heart of gold.

The needle pried open her veins, the foreign drug clashing with her bloodstream in a waterfall of wicked chaos and oozing poison, as she screamed over it all. This was no song for summer children, but a shattering symphony that threatened to break nothing else but her.

Was it worth it? Eighteen years of survival, a thousand kisses, all for Kat to die in a bright cold room at the hands of captors. All this time, had she just been performing for them to watch, like a marionette at the hands of her puppetmasters? Was it her, truly, that had given years of beaten bones, crumbled words and fleeting glances at all she had supposedly loved? Or was it the tragedy in her blood, the stains by her name on whatever books it was that foretold her downfall?

The doctor yanked the needle out, and it was the first time she touched the real darkness.

"That wasn't too hard, wasn't it?" the officer sneered in her face. Kat only glared up at him with watery eyes that threatened to spill over. The officer gave her another dirty look, before nodding to his comrades.

All the grief and desperation did bottle over, as the rush of newly found anger chilled her entire body. The tsunami that had always been inside her inched a step higher, before finally, finally collapsing. It sent fireworks of pain shooting through her skull, but the sound of the waves crashing against stone, of a wall of water slicing through pure wind, fueled her to an extent she had never known of, as she broke out of the guards' grip with one shove.

It hurt her more than anything, as her heart cried out from the inside, threatening to give under the power of her mind. Billy stalking towards her in the darkness, the only light reflecting on his skin. She felt the blow on her head before it came, her eyes flickering between the Russian guard's arm and Billy's clenched fist. And it came, the rising sand that drowned her once more, as the guards took her under their binds once more, Kat's sobs echoing nowhere.

The men left, the bang of the door furthering her hopelessness. Except this time, when she attempted to wallow in her grief, she felt different. Tired. Extremely, extremely tired. Like she was sleeping, except her eyes were awake. Her limbs weren't numb, but they struggled to hold her torso up as Kat swam wonderously in the urge to fall asleep. Did the drug make me tired?

Yet her confusion was broken with a battle cry from outside. A bleeeep sound filled the room under the doorcracks, and somehow, Kat found the strength to smile. "Wonder what that is," she murmured in exhaustion, looking at the men with a smile that spoke of an apocalypse. And a roast beef t-shirt charged in, holding a lighting rod or something. And followed by that was a bumbling Steve.

"Katie," Steve exclaimed, his hands up wide. "I was just thinking about you,"

"Steve?" Kat's eyes grew wide as she stared at his black eye, bleeding nose and bruised face. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Wait...you're bleeding," Steve said, his voice clouded and slow, as if his brain capacity was already full. He toddled over to her and cupped her face with his two hands. "You're crying,"

"Stop it, you two, we gotta go!" Dustin yelled, as he sliced the bands off her ankles and hands.

"Whoa," Kat said. Her mind was blurry with whatever they'd injected her with. "Slow down a sec,"

Her stomach kept churning, and she felt like she was gonna throw up.

"Dustin- I feel really sick," Kat said as she stood up. Everyone's faces were all a mess. "I'm really tired and I'm sick,"

"Okay, okay," Dustin wrung his hands, looking at her hazy state with worry and panic. "Uh, just hold on a moment, we're gonna get outta here,"

"Wait- if Katie's sick then she should see a doctor, like, as A-S-A-P as possible," Robin frowned. It was only then that Kat noticed her red eye whites and disheveled hair. 

"Yeah- there was a doctor earlier, maybe he can help," Steve said loudly, patting the top of Kat's hair.

"Steve, what is wrong with you?" Kat asked, confused.

"No time, we dunno either," Erica interrupted, grabbing Kat's wrist. "Come on!"

They made their way through the halls, through neverending doors and corridors, while the shouting of Russians seemed to fill the distance everywhere. Erica was gripping onto Kat's hand so hard both their skin was white, and Dustin's repeated swearing made the situation all very confusing and too foggy for Kat's brain to process. They passed the bodies of two Russians, their tongues lolling out in unconciousness.

"Whoa- Dustin, did you do that?" Kat said. It felt like there were obstructions to her speech, but whenever she tried to comprehend anything else, there were a billion walls between her ears and her mind.

"Yes. Now move!" Dustin said impatiently, shoving their bodies through a thin door with surprising strength.

"Okay," Kat said. It was like all her emotions were half-blocked, that she wasn't able to feel happy, or sad, or anything besides tired. Though she guessed adrenaline wasn't an emotion, as it was the only thing fueling her body from collapsing.

"Did they beat you up?" Robin slurred from Kat's right. "They beat me up, too. But I guess I'm not showing it as much, I'm built better, y'know?"

"What?"

Robin rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to repeat myself, Kit Kat? I said I'm built different,"

Steve laughed loudly.

"Riiight," Kat said, a little scared. "What happened to you guys?"

"Uh oh," Steve mumbled. "We got beaten up,"

"We can see that, why are you talking like that?" Kat said, though she was struggling to keep her eyes open and her legs moving.

"Why aren't you?" Robin said, giggling.

"Wha'd ya mean? Didn't they give you the thing too?" Steve asked in confusion as his feet padded against the floor.

"What thing?!"

"Guys, just keep moving!" Dustin yelled, and Robin rolled her eyes again.

"Okay, mini dingus, we'll move," she sighed dramatically, walking like a ragdoll. Kat had to admit it looked pretty funny, and she let out a giggle.

"Are you like them?" Erica asked, alarmed, at the fact that Kat looked like she was half acting like her and half acting like Steve and Robin.

"What?" Kat asked, confused as she rubbed her bloody eyes.

"Whatever, guys, c'mon!" Dustin yelled again, pointing at a red golf cart that looked like the one the Russians rode. As they came closer, Kat made out the lines of it, and remarked that it looked like Mike's old toys. Unfortunately, she was forced to sit at the back of it with the other two teens.

"Let's drive!" Steve yelled as Dustin piled into the front. 

"I don't think you should be driving, Dustin," Kat said slowly, as her vision fogged up further with sleepiness. 

"And you should?" Dustin bit, staring at her messy hair, bleeding mouth, and tired posture.

"Mmm," Kat said, before turning back as Dustin started driving. "Go faster, man, we're being chased!"

"Yeah!" Robin yelled above the vroom of the car. "Go faster!"

"Robin, what happened?" Kat asked in astonishment at her antics.

Robin scrunched up her lips in an expressionless frown. "He injected his needle into me,"

Steve laughed.

"Shut up, dingus!" Robin gave Steve a harsh shoulder shove. "It hurt, the needle,"

"I had a needle too," Kat frowned, leaning back. Steve put both his arms around her neck, sighing as he dangled his head on her shoulder. Kat was too tired to respond with words, but a dopey smile made its way onto her face.

"You two are so cute, it's making me wanna barf," Robin moaned, holding her stomach. Steve opened his mouth to argue, but Dustin pressed the accelerator, making the trio thud uncomfortable around.

"Jesus, slow down!" Steve complained, rewrapping himself around Kat.

"Yeah, what is this, the Indy 500?" Robin asked.

"What's that?" Kat said quizzically, closing her eyes.

"It's... the Indy 300," Steve slurred.

"No, dingus, it's the Indy 500!"

"It's 300!"

"Let's say...a million!" Robin giggled. The cart crashed, making Kat's eyelids fly open and her body crash right into Steve's, probably right where he was punched earlier by his pained hiss.

"Sorry," Kat muttered as she got up, nursing a spot on her elbow.

"I'm alive," Steve murmured as a response, patting his chest, relieved.

"Come on, do we have to do more walking?" Robin complained as the doors opened and Dustin and Erica looked upon them confusingly.

"No, now hurry up!" Dustin exclaimed, before hoarding them in a direction like sheep once more.

The theater house smelled musty, like 30-year-old carpet and ripped leather. Yet Kat could not be more thankful for the uncomfy chairs and the smell of popcorn as she plunked into a seat next to Steve.

"Dude, these seats blow," Steve protested, a handful of caramel popcorn dangling near his mouth.

"Then don't watch the movie," Dustin said dangerously.

"We wanna watch it!" Robin protested.

"Then watch it!" Dustin hissed, and a guy behind them told them to shush, before being faced with an angry Steve, Kat, and Robin, telling him to shush instead. "Whatever you do. Don't. Go. Anywhere,"

"We won't, Dustin," Kat yawned, and at the same time, Steve said; "Fine, Dad," enticing a giggle from Robin.

A few moments into the movie and the adrenaline had worn off. Kat's eyes felt like they could shut themselves, and she was slouched comfortable against the back of the seat. The scene in front of them was at nighttime, so she felt alright just sitting there for a while.

"Steve?" Kat murmured as she felt herself drifting off to sleep.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna take a nap,"

"Okay," Steve mumbled back, and she felt his hand against her hair briefly before she fully shut her eyelids and was carried away into darkness. She was screwed....

━━author's note ━━

poor bb kat, also the drug didnt affect kat the same way as steve and robin, its the same drug though, and it just made kat really tired. and for those wanting more stathryn moments after the elevator scene, there's gonna be more, but i hope yall understand that theres no way i was gonna write a 10k words love scene when theyre kidnapped in an underground base lmaoo