the sauna test pt. 2

♛

"Erica, do you copy?" Robin's voice rang through the walkie talkie, Erica with an immediate response back, confirming the question.

"You nerds in position or what?" Erica asked, clipping her helmet as she prepared herself for the treacherous climb into the vents.

"Yeah, we're in position. It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light." Robin affirmed, the five friends sitting on the roof of the mall, looking out for Erica and any obstacles that may be in the way.

"Green light, Roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment." The little girl on the other end began her journey. "See you on the other side, nerds."

Scarlett sat in between Steve and Robin, nervously playing with her hair. "I'm still not too on board with the whole idea of my cousin crawling through vents that could potentially lead to a secret Russian base."

Dustin's eyes stayed glued to his binoculars, "Well actually, we know it leads to a secret Russian base. There's probably explosives down there too.." Scarlett covered her mouth to assure the gasp that was threatening to escape her lips, didn't. Steve noticed, placing a comforting hand on her back while silently telling Dustin to cut it out. "..But nothing will go wrong. It's a foolproof plan." Dustin attempted to save himself.

On the other end of the line, Erica had finally reached the vent. "Alright nerds, I'm there." Her voice sounded through the device.

"Do you- see anything?" Robin grinned, their plan slowly falling into place. Steve noticed another change in Scarlett's demeanor, bringing her closer to him with a comforting arm. She felt her cheeks heat up and thanked God it was dark outside.

"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about." Erica's voice was unamused, as she was simply staring at brown cardboard boxes.

"Any guards?"

"Negative."

"Booby traps?"

"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?"

"Thank you for that." Robin said sarcastically, shaking her head.

Scarlett couldn't help but let out a laugh. "She obviously gets that from you." Steve whispered with a grin, poking the girls side. Her smile only lasted a moment, as it wiped right off her face when Erica reported she was now in the room. The nerves came flowing back to her, as they did to everyone else.

"She'll be fine, right?" Ben asked, quite worried for the little girl whom he had known forever. Steve nodded slowly, not knowing for sure himself.

Suddenly, Erica stepped through the doors, and the five on the roof let go of the breath they'd been holding since she'd been in the room. "Free ice cream, for life." Erica yelled up to them, but they were too ecstatic to even argue with her.

♛

At the Hawkins Public Pool, the rest of the party had conjured up a genius plan to get Billy to confess to what they suspected him to be doing. Billy stormed around the locker room, hungry for blood. Spotting something in the sauna, stopped for a moment, stunned. "Scarlett..?" He blinked, only seeing the girl in the sauna, but how could she be there?

"Come on, Billy, you piece of shit." She taunted him, angering the boy. "Come and get me." He stomped towards the sauna, swinging open the door. But instead of seeing Scarlett standing there, he was met with a mannequin. Whispers echoed in his head, and he grabbed the mannequin by the throat. "Get out of my head, you bitch!" He screamed, slamming the prop into the ceiling.

"Hey," Billy's eyes were drawn to to the radio duct taped to the mannequins shirt. His eyes widened in confusion. "Behind you."

He whipped his head around, his eyes meeting those of El's. "Hi." She said, flinging him back into a wall as he attempted to storm towards her. The other kids emerged, swinging the door shut and barricading it. Billy pounded on the door, his brain overriding as his eyes flickered every which way. He pointed next to Lucas, a grimace on his face. "You. I will get you for this, you bitch." He panted, staring at nothing as he continued to pound on the door.

Lucas glanced to his left to see no one, "Nah. No way he's this delusional." He shook his head, everyone else agreeing with him. As the pounding continued, they prepared themselves for him to break through their barricade, when suddenly he stopped.

His eyes widened as he saw his little sister. "Max." He gasped. Max stared at him for a moment before giving Will the cue to activate the sauna test. "Max, let me of here! Let me out. You kids. You think this is funny? You think this is some kind of sick prank, huh? You little shits think this is funny? What is this? Open the door. Open the door!" He rammed his body into the door, startling the kids. "Open the goddamn door!" He then collapsed, screaming.

"We're at 220." Will announced after he checked the thermometer. Soon, Billy's faint sobs were heard from the sauna, "It's not my fault. All of this. I promise you, it's not my fault."

"What's not your fault, Billy?" Max was now staring at a crying Billy through the sauna door.

"I've done things, Max. Really... bad things. I didn't mean to. He made me do it. He keeps making me do more and more." Billy cried, his hands shaking as he stared up at the foggy image of his sister.

"Who made you do it?"

"I don't know, it's like a shadow. Like a giant shadow. He keeps making me see things. People that aren't there. And nightmares. Oh, god the nightmares." He wailed, falling over on the bench. "It's not my fault, okay? Max, please. Please believe me, Max, it's not my fault. I tried to stop him, okay? I did. Please believe me.. M-"

He looked up, trying to see his sister through the glass, but instead of red he saw brown. He saw the Sinclair girl who caused him this pain. The girl who haunted his nightmares. A storm swelled up in his eyes as he saw the inhuman grin on the girls face.

Will shivered, reaching a hand to his neck. "I feel him." Mike looked over at the boy, a realization hitting him. "He's activated." Will held eye contact with Mike, worry on both of their faces.

Max was still trying to talk to Billy, but he couldn't hear her, he was tunnel visioned on someone who wasn't even there. "Max, get away from the door." Mike called to her.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"Get away from the door!" He screamed right as Max dodged Billy's makeshift knife which he plowed through the window.

"Billy screamed, flailing the piece of tile towards the girl, which he did not see was his sister anymore. "Let me out, you bitch! Let me out! I'll fucking gut you!" He continued to scream, pulling the rod out from their barricade.

Lucas acted quickly, his slingshot already loaded with the rock he would then use to knock Billy out, sending him to the floor.

♛

"What the hell is that?" Ben asked in disbelief as Steve revealed the silver safe, which sat inside the brown Imperial Panda box. "Because that is most definitely not Chinese food." The five now joined Erica in the mysterious room, rummaging through boxes.

Steve prepared himself as he took the cover off of the safe, four capsules sitting inside of it. "Oh, that is definitely not Chinese food." Steve agreed with Ben, letting his curiosity run wild as he reached for the capsule. "Maybe you guys should step back." Everyone but Dustin obeyed, the boy refusing to step away. "Step back, seriously."

"No!" Dustin cried out. "If you die, I die." Dustin's statement was very anticlimactic, as Steve just stared at him for a minute before speaking up. "Okay."

The safe clicked, and the capsule emerged out of the box. It was filled with green goo, which bubbled and looked like it was going to explode any minute. "What the hell?" Steve's brows furrowed, shaking it a little.

"Don't shake it!" Scarlett warned, clearing her throat as she noticed all eyes on her. "It might like.. I don't know.. explode."

Suddenly, the room shook, causing everyone too look around in panic. "Was that just me, or did the room move?"

"Booby traps." Erica whispered as a whirring noise became apparent.

"Okay, you know what? Let's just grab that and go." Robin grabbed the capsule as Dustin pressed the open door button.

"Which one do I press, Erica?" He spammed the button, noticing it was not working.

"Just press the damn button, nerd." Erica demanded. Arguments filled with panic erupted in the room as the whirring continued.

It all happened to quick to process. A button was pressed. The roof slammed shut. The whirring stopped. The room dropped. Everyone started screaming, Scarlett grabbed Erica and held her close, as Steve kept a secure grip on Scarlett's waist. "Shit." He was the first to notice the room was actually falling, considering he was the only one not panicking.

The room jolted to a stop, throwing them every which way. Scarlett wasn't sure if her newfound headache was from the fall, or from something much worse.

And considering they were in Hawkins, she was going to go with the worst.

Suddenly her eyes went wide and she couldn't breathe. It felt as though she was being choked. She grabbed for her throat as she gasped for air. Everyone immediately rushed to her side as her hands continued to scratch at her throat.

Unbeknownst to them, at that exact moment, Eleven was at the Hawkins Public Pool, Billy's hand wrapped around her throat as he raised her to the roof the same way he did to the mannequin. Except all he could see was Scarlett.

"What's happening? Why can't she breathe?" Erica cried, holding onto Robin.

"I don't know! I don't know!" Steve held her flailing body in her arms, trying everything he could to get her to stop.

"What the fuck is happening, Steve?" Ben panicked as his best friend was quickly losing oxygen, her face turning purple and her eyes fluttering shut.

Then she could breathe again. She gasped for air, coughing and sputtering as she held onto Steve for dear life as she slowly regained her vision. "What the.. What the hell just happened." She breathed out, letting out a sob.

Steve held her close to him, brushing his hand over her head comfortingly, a tear slipping down his cheek. "I don't know, Scar. But it was terrifying." Steve whispered into her hair.

"There's something wrong. Something so.. so wrong." Scarlett shook her head slowly, looking at everyone in the room with a shaken expression.

But everyone already knew that.

♛

things may or may not go downhill