CHAPTER 37
THE KEY

"WHAT even is that?"

Erica's question provoked no response for several minutes. Everyone's eyes were glued to what was lying in front of them. This couldn't be happening. The Russians were trying to open the Upside Down again. Oh, Jesus, Veronica thought, why can't things just stay in the past? Eleven had just closed the Gate last year. Why, oh why, did these dumbasses need access to it again, when she was still just trying to heal from the memories that haunted her at night? She was shaking with anger now, almost unable to hold it in.

"It's the Gate," she finally whispered, "and they want in."

Steve tugged on her hand, pulling the entire group away from the window and down the staircase, where they were safer. "We gotta get out of here," he panicked. "This is not good. This is really not good."

"I don't get it," Erica sighed heavily, hopping down the last step. "You guys have seen all that before?"

"I guess," Veronica shrugged and glanced at Steve. "Well, minus the Russians."

Dustin lifted his cap up a little, allowing air to cool down the sweat on his forehead. He was practically jittering with nerves. "All you need to know is it's bad. Like, end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it kind of bad."

"Then, what do we do, kid?" Veronica whispered loudly and threw up her hands. "You expect a couple of teenagers who scoop ice cream for a living to know how to fight off a pack of Russian spies? Think again!"

"Uh – Steve?"

The three spun around once Erica spoke, eyes flickering to where she was staring at the floor. There was but a tiny spot of blood next to the desk, but besides that, the area was spotless. Erica raised a brow, "Where's your Russian friend?"

Steve looked down. The unconscious man was gone.

"Fuck me gently with a chainsaw," Veronica breathed.

Alarms bounced off the walls around them. Red lights flickered above, threatening to reveal their location. Veronica looked around with wide eyes, wracking her brain on what to do, but she had no answers. Steve approached the exit to the comms room, opening it just a crack to see soldiers congregating on the other side, all wondering where the intruders had gone off to.

But then they turned. They were staring right at Steve.

He slammed the door shut. "Shit, shit, shit," he muttered, slamming his head against the hard material.

"What the fuck are we gonna do now?!" Veronica shrieked.

Steve looked over at her, taking in her distressed expression, before his eyes slid over to the darkened staircase. "Go, go, go!" He shouted, gesturing for them to run forward. Veronica didn't have to think twice about it, but still found herself taking a short second to lace her hand through Steve's, allowing him to pull her to their hopeful escape.

But it wasn't really an escape. You see, that stairwell led them right back to where they started: the control room for the main laboratory. Dustin busted through the doorway without realizing it. Every scientist turned around and glared daggers in their direction. One even took off his glasses, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him. "Shit!" Dustin screamed, heading for another staircase on his left. Soldiers burst through the doorway, shoving the scientists out of the way, as they trailed the group of teenagers.

Dustin almost tripped from running too fast. They traveled across a bridge lining the main laser beam. Dustin screeched and heaved a man in a red lab suit off the bridge, all the while Russians were yelling obscenities at them from behind. The teenagers stopped short, realizing that they were within ten feet of the laser. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit," Dustin panted, voice rising to an unknown octave as he squealed, "HOLY SHIT!"

Veronica's head was reeling, still trying to play catch up, but there really wasn't any time for that now. What she would give to have her hockey stick right now.

Looking over her shoulder, she spotted the soldiers barreling down the staircase. If they stayed here for a second longer, they were toast. She licked her lips and squeezed Steve's hand. "Let's go!" She yelled over the deafening laser, redirecting her group to an ally just below their feet. Veronica slid down the railing of the next staircase and slammed the heel of her boot into a Russian's face, hurling him backward.

I just kicked a Russian in the face, she blinked. Oh, my fucking God, I seriously just kicked a Russian in the face.

Veronica ran through the darkness, using the drifting beam of the laser as her only source of light. She stuck her foot out as another soldier sprinted towards them, and simply tripped him once he got to close. The man fell to the ground with a slam, giving Veronica just enough time to spot another entrance as their captors followed them at an impressive speed. She shoved the door open, pulling everyone inside, before Steve slammed it shut.

The soldiers were pounding at the door then, and Steve had to use all the strength in his spaghetti arms to hold it closed. He hurled himself against the door, pressing his hands onto it as much as he could, but soon found himself screaming, "Ronnie, help!"

Veronica sprinted forward and launched her whole body against the thin door. She could hardly hear anything else besides Russians screeching on the other side. She met Steve's gaze, and it was like she was asking with her eyes if they'd actually be okay. At the moment, that was seeming pretty unlikely, but Steve nodded. He promised they'd get out of this. Steve Harrington wasn't one to break a promise.

"I found a way out!" Dustin exclaimed, climbing a small ledge in the basement they had crawled into. He pointed to a latch within the ground, one that Veronica could only guess led to an escape, but she wasn't sure if that would be possible for all of them. "We need to get in here now!"

"Little busy here," Steve heaved.

Erica pushed Dustin out of the way and popped herself into the escape tunnel. "C'mon, let's go!"

Steve fought against the fists pounding on the door, reverberating onto his back. "Go, just get out of here!"

"No, you gotta come now!" Dustin argued, sliding himself into the hole. "C'mon, both of you!"

"Listen to him! Go find Robin! You hear me? Find Robin!" Veronica repeated for emphasis, losing her breath as she screamed higher and higher. Dustin hesitated, chewing on his bottom lip. "What are you doing, kid?! Move!"

Tears gathered in Dustin's eyes. "I won't forget you!" He shouted, before finally making his escape.

The Russians got through the door seconds later, sending both Veronica and Steve tumbling to the dirty floor. Veronica knocked her head on a cement wall and sat up, taking a moment to get used to her surroundings again. She rubbed at the back of her head, finding a circle of guns pointed in her direction once she opened her eyes. They both raised their hands in surrender.

Steve clenched his jaw. "You might have to put in a raincheck for that BYOB party."

•••

Edward never wanted to willingly be in the presence of Murray Bauman, nor did he once think he'd ever have to step foot in the guy's home, but stranger things have happened.

They hiked all the way to Illinois – much to Edward's despair – because for some reason, Murray Bauman was the closest Russian translator they had, and if they were going to get some answers from this scientist that didn't know a word of English, they needed someone who could speak his language. Edward wondered why it had to be Murray as he sat on the yellow couch in their translator's living room, watching the Russian in front of them suck down a cherry slushie.

That reminded him of his daughter. He hadn't heard from Veronica in days. Granted, neither of them were near a payphone, but he prayed that she was okay and hidden from the truth that he was uncovering as the days went on. Little did he know just how involved she was in it.

Edward felt like they were wasting time at this point. He still didn't know the identity of the man who beat them up at Hawkins Lab, and he still hadn't gotten a third chance to give him two black eyes. He rubbed at his own, which were healing but not fast enough for his liking. Edward really needed to figure out what was going on and fast.

A rerun of Woody Woodpecker hummed softly through the TV speakers. Their Russian scientist – also known as Alexei, but Hopper took to calling him, Smirnoff – giggled while chewing through the second Whopper that Hopper had picked up for him. Edward looked to his partner through his bruised eyes, realizing that Hopper was growing restless as the minutes went on. They already had a fight once about Alexei's slushie actually being strawberry flavored, rather than cherry, which resulted in Hopper kicking him out of the house and almost risking Alexei's escape. But just like Hopper predicted, he came back. They were the best chance he had.

It took Alexei only ten minutes to draw out the weapon that he had been working on for years. Well, Edward wasn't sure if it was exactly a weapon, or more like an accessory. It didn't sound like Alexei planned to hurt anybody; he was just curious about what lied beneath the surface, and that answer became more clear as Murray translated his explanation.

"He calls it the key," Murray said over Alexei's mother tongue, "and this key emits a great energy. It requires much strength, power. Those houses, like the one you found – they're located near transformers. They're stealing from your town's power grid."

Hopper took a drag from his cigarette. Edward waved the smoke away with a frustrated expression. "Why build this key here? Why are they not doing this in their own backyard? What are they trying to do? Blow us to smithereens?"

Alexei laughed once Murray translated Hopper's response. He continued his speech while Murray clarified, "There were many of these keys before in Russia, but they turned out wrong. They had to come to where the – where the what? I don't understand what he's saying."

"I thought you were the closest Russian translator we got," Edward quipped.

"Are my free translation services not good enough for you, Edwardo?" Murray huffed dramatically. "Because you can just go ahead and file your complaint right up my ass!"

"You really wanna pick a fight with me, Bauman –"

Alexei waved his hands around, gaining the group's attention once again. He brought forward a Burger King fry box and the straw he used to suck down his slushie. Murray nodded his head slowly as Alexei tried to show them visuals. "Oh, okay. He says the straw represents the key. They're ... using it to penetrate a hole in a box?" Alexei sighed, repeating the answer over again. "Never mind. My bad. They're using this energy to break through a barrier ... to open a doorway." Murray blinked. "A doorway between worlds."

With a flick of his wrist, Alexei slammed the plastic straw into the box.

Edward smacked a hand onto his forehead and muttered, "Oh, fuck." Joyce shook his shoulder for comfort.

"But it seems this key was only half the equation," Murray continued, watching Alexei unravel the wrapping paper to his burger. "Location was the other half."

Alexei handed the thin paper over to Joyce, instructing her to hold it horizontally to him. Murray went on to say, "In Hawkins, this door had been opened once. But it was still ... healing."

This time, the straw went right through the paper, hanging onto the other side. Joyce bit the end of her tongue.

"So this door is open now?" She interrogated further.

Murray turned to Alexei for clarification, and with a grim look in his eye, he replied, "It is opening."

Edward rubbed at his eyes, allowing memories of the Gate dance across his vision, taunting him as they did in his dreams almost every night. His nightmares were coming to life. He really thought he'd never have to be near that level of Hell again, but maybe that was just wishful thinking. Maybe he was just ignorant to think that it was all over. It would never be over.

They had to go back to the Gate and turn off that key.

•••

Back in Hawkins, Veronica was pretty sure the room was spinning. I mean, how could it not be? Stars clouded her eyes, waltzing around as a steady pounding began in her temples. She was in a room, but she wasn't sure where. All she could remember was seeing an array of guns before she completely blacked out. The blow she made to the back of her head had really done some damage.

Her ears were ringing, but she could still hear the Russian officer before them screaming loudly over the constant chime. She wiggled her arms a little. They were handcuffed behind her back. Releasing a sleepy groan, Veronica leaned her head back and opened her eyes, just in time to catch a soldier landing a punch to Steve's nose. She blinked, shaking off the slumber that still stuck to the corners of her eyes, and sat up. Judging from the other wounds that trickled down Steve's face, she guessed this wasn't the first time he was hit.

"What –" Veronica yawned, doing whatever she could to keep herself from blacking out again. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Steve hung his head low. "Agh – ah – it's okay, Ron – Ronnie," he coughed, and Veronica was pretty sure that she spotted blood coming out of his mouth. "That one did sting, though."

The chief officer didn't flinch. "Who do you work for?" He spoke almost perfect English.

"For the millionth time, we work at Scoops Ahoy!" Steve sighed. Sweat dripped down his forehead, coating the top of his hair. "Look at my outfit! You think I just wear this?! Think I'm a spy in a sailor's uniform?"

That earned him another punch to the gut. Steve heaved and leaned his body forward.

"STOP IT!" Veronica's shriek bounced off the walls. She fought against the metal cuffs, but they continued to dig into her skin. "PLEASE! DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!"

The officer cocked his head to the side, eyeing Veronica for a moment longer than she liked. "How did you get in?"

"I told you before," Steve wheezed, tears stinging at his eyes. The officer began to pace before them. "My delivery didn't come, 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 we dropped. Next thing we know, we're in this wonderful facility."

Veronica nodded, trying her best to follow along with his lie. "Nobody saw us," she interjected, and the officer's burning stare was on her again. "I swear. I'm not a liar. If you let us go, we won't tell anyone about this. Not a soul. Shit happens, right?"

"We'll give you all the ice cream you want!" Steve blurted, causing Veronica's eyes went widen. She elbowed him in the side, but nothing could stop the next words from tumbling out of his big mouth. "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's out of this world!"

The two Russians stood silently, drowning their prisoners in a deadly stare. Veronica swallowed hard. But then their captors started laughing, filling the room with a kind of giggle that made her feel both scared and relieved. That might be the ignorance talking.

"I like these two!" The officer chuckled, leaning down to talk with them face to face. His smile slowly morphed into a frown. He stared daggers at them. "Who do you work for?"

Steve exhaled, "Oh, come on."

The gruff officer approached again, and before Veronica could shout a rebuttal, he landed a hard punch to her ex-boyfriend's temple. Steve slumped down, falling onto her lap with a thud.

Veronica had never screamed his name louder than in that moment.

•••

A/N: WHY must Steve always be beat up!!!!! WHY is it always the pretty ones!!!!!!!!!! 😔😔

( made by JustSav )