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"Something in me will save me
from utter ruin no matter what
comes." — Tennessee Williams
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All of Scoopstroups had decided that hurling down in a metal elevator was no fun. It was terrifying. All of them were screeching, surely they were all developing hearing problems and damaging their vocal cords in the time that they were falling. Scarlett made a mental note about how roller coasters weren't actually fun and that she should cut them out of her life.

"Shit! Shit!" Dustin threw himself at the control panel and started slapping the buttons wildly.

Steve decided to state the obvious. "We're going down! We're going down!" He surged forward and grabbed Scarlett's arm, he stared at her with wide, terrified eyes. He was heaving in between his screaming. Unfortunately for him, Scarlett was also powerless in the situation and just looked back at him with an equally mortified look.

"Yeah, no shit, Harrington!" Robin snapped back, seething at the boy, her fingers were tightly curled around metal shelves.

Scarlett screwed her eyes shut and focused on the feeling of Steve's hands on her. She tried to imagine that he was holding her and stopping her from falling.

"Why don't these buttons work?!" Dustin cried out, he slammed his palm into the buttons again and again.

Erica took it upon herself to react, she stomped over to Dustin and pushed him aside. "Press the button!"

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Dustin shouted back, looking down at his friend's sister.

Blake, the tech genius of the group, left the shelves' safety next to Robin and launched herself over at the teen and pre-teen. "Move!" She started hitting the buttons herself, doing nothing differently than Dustin. "Shit! God fucking shit--" She kicked the wall, only to whimper when her leather boot proved not to defend her foot from the thick metal wall.

"Push it!" Erica commanded again.

With a sudden jolt, the elevator halted, hustling its occupants around. Robin fell onto her knees, Blake onto her behind, and Erica landed on top of Blake. Dustin managed to stay standing, one hand steadying him and the other holding his green and yellow cap. Scarlett wiped out and hit her head on the corner of the table, whilst Steve was pinned down by the box they had opened.

Scarlett raised a shaky hand to her head and found her fingers coated in a few drops of blood. She clenched her jaw and tried to access the damage to her forehead.

"My groin," Steve moaned from behind her, he tried to push the box off of him. It proved an impossible feat in his position. "It fell on my groin," He gasped and winced as he tried to push it off of him. "Help-- Dustin. Get this off of me!"

Said boy and Blake quickly came to his help, Dustin lifted the box off of Steve as Blake janked on his arm.

Robin pushed herself up onto her knees when she noticed her friend with a bead of blood on her forehead. "Oh my god, Scarlett, how many fingers am I holding up? Shit-- we-- we need a doctor, you could die--" The blonde rushed over and cradled Scarlett's arms. "What if you have serious whiplash? I mean--I--"

Having a sixth sense for Scarlett being in pain, Steve materialised beside her. "Honey, are you okay?" He asked, voice so gentle that Scarlett could melt. His soft hand tenderly cradled her cheek, making here face him. His gaze settled on her forehead, and he cautiously wiped her blood away with his thumb.

Scarlett leaned into Steve's touch, eyes fluttering closed as she nodded. "I'm okay, really." She quickly kissed his palm as to assure him she was truly alright. A breath later, Steve pressed a feathery kiss to her scratch.

"Is everyone okay?" Dustin asked.

Having confirmed that Scarlett was not in danger, Steve regained his sense of panic. "Yeah, I'm great, now that I know that Russians can't design elevators!" He screamed with a huff, he slammed his hand against the side of a table and instantly winced in regret.

Blake beelined for the control panel and started trying to make a button work.

"I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work," Erica stated, she crossed her arms and looked up at Blake. Blake did not appear to be entertained by the little child.

"They're buttons," Steve blurted out, he stood again and pinched his nose. "They have to do something." He headed for the buttons himself as though he would magically be able to make them work.

Robin came in clutch with the thinking power. "Yeah, if we had a key card," She said, waving at the buttons where most of her companions were gathered.

"A what?" Steve asked, brows furrowed together.

The other sailor bound closer to Steve. "It's an electronic lock. Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a key card, it won't operate, meaning--" Robin's words died in her mouth.

"We're stuck in here."

Scarlett adjusted her glasses and pushed herself up. "Can't you override it?" Her hopeful gaze settled on Blake and Dustin, the AV club kids. Both kids shook their heads, mumbling how they had never learned a lot about electronic locks. "Shit," Scarlett groaned, pushing a curl out of her face. She patted the right front pocket of her shorts and let out a relieved sigh when she was greeted by the familiar weight of her balisong.

"Just so you nerds are aware," Erica started, eyeing up all the teenagers and young adults. "I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tina's," She spat out with a surprising amount of anger. "And Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow and my mom finds out you five are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat." To emphasise her words, Erica sliced a finger over her throat as she glared at the others.

Blake opened her mouth to snap at Erica, but Steve beat her to it. "I don't care about Tina!" He fumed, veins popping out the side of his forehead as he grew increasingly red. "Or Uncle Jack's party!" He slammed his hands down again, not learning from his previous mistake. "Your mom's not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!" He was practically vibrating with anger.

"We're not going to die..." Scarlett said, she had hoped her words would come out much more self-assured than they did. The squeakiness that her voice had adopted did her no favours. Honestly, dying at the hands of Russians wouldn't be the craziest way to go compared with everything related to the Upside Down, but the thought still made her queasy.

Luckily, the other Henderson had a light bulb moment. "Hey," He claimed everyone's attention as he craned his neck, staring at a hatch in the roof. "What if we climbed out?"

"Genius Henderson," Steve sighed, slapping a hand against the boy's shoulder. "Scara, you got your wish wash wosh--" He flicked his hands around, mimicking her balisong. In response, the brunette produced her knife and brandished it.

"What the fuck?" Robin exclaimed. "Why do you have a knife?" Her wide eyes flicked in between Scarlett, her knife and Steve. "Do you always carry that with you? Why?"

Erica scoffed. "Nerd."

"You have to admit, it is gnarly." Blake smirked as Scarlett climbed onto the table, Steve holding the furniture to help his girlfriend as much as possible. The redhead was greeted by a growing bewildered look from Robin.

Dustin hopped onto the table, as soon as his sister had loosened the hatch, he asked for a leg up. The leg-up was provided by both his sister and his honorary brother. The boy grunted as he wiggled himself up onto the elevator.

"Need help, pretty boy?" Blake asked, still leaning against the metal wall with her arms crossed over one another.

Steve winked at Blake before hauling himself up with little effort. Before any of the girls could ask what the boys saw, they heard a sharp exhale, which was followed up by a dejected statement. "What were you saying about climbing?" Steve asked.

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According to Dustin, a few hours had passed, meaning that it was getting very late. Erica quickly got sleepy and ended up curled in a corner with her backpack as a pillow and Scarlett's windbreaker as a blanket. About half an hour later, Dustin also dozed off, obnoxious snores leaving his lips every few moments.

"Okay, so what do we do?" Robin questioned, hands on her hips as she paced. Her jittery energy was contagious, and Scarlett bit her lip to stop herself from joining in.

Blake groaned as she gave up on trying to pry open the door with Scarlett's knife. "Uhhh, hope for some mall cop notices we are all missing?" She smiled at herself and stuck out her tongue at the exasperated Steve.

"People will notice we're missing eventually..." Scarlett muttered as she pushed her large glasses up the bridge of her nose. Suddenly she remembered the prior year, alone and terrified in a dark tunnel. They didn't have the time to be rescued. She inhaled sharply and undid a button of her blouse, letting the material expose most of her upper chest.

Steve blindly reached out and tugged her closer by her belt loop. "We'll find a way out." He nodded assuringly before looking up again. They had fallen such a long way.

"We can always fight the Russians," Blake hissed as she peeled open the control panel. "If only we could get this damn door open." She inspected the buttons and their wires before groaning and sticking the metal panel back on.

"Hey," Steve interjected, one hand held out in Blake's direction. His brown gaze flicked between his peers before he glanced at the two sleeping kids. "How do you expect us to do that? They might have an army down here, we can't know that!" His tone grew louder and louder until Scarlett grabbed a fistful of his sailor uniform.

Scarlett's green gaze met Steve. "Don't wake them up," She urged gently. She screwed her eyes shut. "I'm going for a smoke, let's all get some rest." She clambered onto the table and looked at her friends expectantly.

"I'll join you," Blake replied. She got onto the table next to Scarlett and helped her best friend up onto the roof. Once up, Scarlett extended her hand down to help Blake up.

Once the two had disappeared, Robin looked at Steve. "So why does Scarlett carry a knife around?"

Steve looked back at Robin, hands on his hips. "A Vietnam vet gave it to her," He deadpanned, making Robin look even more bewildered.

"Sorry?"

Scarlett lit two cigarettes and inhaled deeply before blowing out the smoke, she took off her glasses for a moment to rub her eyes. Blake removed her fishnet glove and stuffed it in the back pocket of her withered dark jeans. She gathered her permed hair and tied it up in a ponytail.

"Bet you're going to be so happy in Indianapolis," Blake said with a smile on her face. She looked around the metal shaft. "Bet the Russians didn't infiltrate there."

The Henderson laughed at her best friend and took another hale from her cigratte. "I just might get bored," She shared a coy grin with Blake before shaking out her hand that was still feeling pins and needles. "No lab, no Russians... How would I fill my time?"

Blake tilted her head as she sat down. "Definitely don't waste it on your education," She blew a raspberry. "That would be so boring." She coughed and laughed as Scarlett joined in.

Scarlett plopped down next to her best friend and threw an arm over her the redhead's shoulders. "I'm happy to be here with you, Blake," She whispered. At least she wasn't alone this time around, she kept repeating it to herself. They would be fine. Hopper would come save them, just as he did last time.

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Once back downstairs, Steve was already near sleep. Scarlett smiled at the sight and said goodnight to her friends before laying down beside Steve and wrapping an arm around his waist. Her arm would have to do as a pillow seeing as she didn't want to retrieve her windbreaker and disturb Erica.

When Robin looked at the scene longingly Blake swallowed. Her throat grew shut and heavy and she looked away annoyed. Stupid pretty Steve who could wrap any girl around his finger. of course Robin would be into him, who wouldn't be? Especially since he dropped the 'King Steve' act he had become unbearably kind.

Blake had slept at the Harrington residence more often than she cared to admit, any time that his parents were away she would be over. Steve said he liked the company and Blake believed him. They'd spend nights watching movies and debating which girls were the hottest. Steve had pestered her to get a perm for ages, and when she finally did he had grinned in happiness.

She had no real ground to stand on with her jealousy. If she was attracted to men she was pretty sure she would also have a thing for Steve at some point.

"Do you think the Russians are going to find us? Because if so we are screwed," Robin started rambling, waving her hands around frantically. "And I mean so screwed, royally screwed. I don't want to die here, and I can't outrun Russians."

Before Robin could ramble any more, Blake interrupted her with a light shove from her knee against Robin's thigh. "I have survived worse things than my parents, I assure you that we will be fine." She nodded sternly to confirm her point.

Relieved, Robin let out a sigh and a tiny smile, which quickly turned sour into a frown. "What have you survived that could be worse than this?"

Remembering that all of the Upside Down fiascos were confidential and she had signed NDAs from government officials, Blake winced. It had been very clear that any leak of confidential information would have severe consequences. Blake mentally hit herself as she realised that Robin was staring at her, Blake hadn't answered Robin's question.

"Well," Blake coughed. "High school, difficult courses you know?" Her voice failed her and squeaked. She considered praying to god that Robin wouldn't notice.

A chuckle came from Robin. "Ohh, yeah," She laughed and shook her head. The girl brushed off her blue sailor uniform before focusing on one of the carboard boxes in a shelf. "We should probably get some sleep," She murmured. "Just in case."

Blake nodded in reply and the two girls settled down to get whatever rest they could for the night in the Russian elevator.

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Morning came with Dustin using his radio to call for help atop the elevator. Whilst Steve decided to climb up to use the bathroom and talk to his little friend, the girls busied themselves with looking around the elevator.

Scarlett had gathered their small food supply, it was an unpeeled orange, two candy bars and some trail mix. Not much, but it would have to do. She rolled the orange between her palms before starting to cut the peel off.

"Can you redirect your stream, please?" Robin hollered up at Steve, whose piss they could see leaking into the elevator. The boy complied.

"Men are vile," Blake gagged and shuddered as she played with her lighter. "How do you put up with it?" She asked, looking at Scarlett.

Before there could be an answer, loud thudding filled the room. The source of the noise was Erica who was slamming the glass vial with green liquid and Upside Down particles against the edge of a metal barrel.

"Hey, hey! Be careful, careful, careful!" Robin scolded, jumping forward and plucking the vial from Erica's hands. "We don't even know what that is."

"Exactly. It could be useful," Erica spat back, stealing the vial back.

Robin frowned and looked at her friends for help. "Useful how?"

"We can survive down here a long time without food, but if the human body doesn't get water, it will die." Erica waved the vial around as she spoke.

Scarlett licked her lips, half-peeled orange in her hand. "You might also die if you drink that," She said, earning a challenging look from Erica. "It could be poisonous."

"It's a liquid, and if it comes down to me drinking that shit or dying of thirst, I drink," Erica spat and proceeded to slam the vial against the edge of the barrel.

Blake rushed forward, stole the vial, and held it high above her head. "We told you to stop," She hissed, earning an outstretched tongue from Erica.

Sushing made the three girls shut up and look at Robin, who had her ear pressed against the door. "I hear people," The blonde whispered, sending the girls into a frenzy.

Scarlett snatched up their food and orange peels as Erica dove for her helmet and backpack. Blake boosted Robin up onto the ceiling so she could inform the boys. The next one up was Erica, who made sure to retrieve her emotional support vial on the way up. The Henderson girl passed Erica's helmet and backpack up before stepping into Blake's interlaced fingers.

Steve hauled Scarlett up almost as if she weighed nothing before he helped Blake up. The Americans huddled together to stay out of sight whilst also peering down into the elevator through the metal fence that served as a roof.

Two men stumbled into the elevator not too long after, one had a cigarette in his mouth and Scarlett instinctively covered Erica's mouth with her hand. The younger girl only swatted Scarlett away. The men exchanged a few words in Russian and carried out the boxes and barrels.

When they exited the elevator and the door started to roll down, Steve plucked the vial out of Erica's hands and dropped down into the elevator. He launched himself forward and held the door up with the vial. He let go and the vial managed to hold up the door. "Let's go!" He called back as he caught Erica's stuff and pushed it through.

Erica was ushered through next and Dustin followed close behind. The vial started shaking and cracking when Blake dove under the door.

"Scara and Robin, we gotta go!" Steve screamed and the two obeyed his orders with Robin wiggling herself under the door.

Scarlett followed close behind, the moment her arm was on the other side of the door she felt Blake and Dustin drag her through. She winced at the pain that shot up to her shoulder but ignored it.

"Come on, Steve, let's go!" Robin called back as the young man scrambled to clear the door as the vial broke more, the sailor reached out and helped her colleague not get sliced in half.

Steve sat up and looked back at the vial which shattered, releasing the door and green liquid. The green liquid proved acidic as it bit into the metal flooring. "Jesus Christ."

"Are you okay?" Scarlett asked, gently cupping Steve's cheek to make him look at her. Wordlessly the boy nodded, chest still rising and falling rapidly.

"You still wanna drink that?" Robin asked, which earned her a glare from Erica.

Whilst adjusting his camp cap, Dustin stood up and turned around. He was greeted by a very very long metal corridor that had a blueish dark tint to it. He groaned internally. "Holy mother of God."

The reaction made the rest also turn around, their faces also fell. "Well fuck," Blake whined. She tightened her ponytail before brushing the wispy permed bangs out of her face.

"Well..." Steve took a dapper step forward. "Hope you guys are in good shape," He slapped Dustin's torso. "Looking at you, roast beef." His friends were less eager to follow him down a seemingly endless corridor and lingered. Steve turned around as he continued walking. "Let's go, come on." He held out a hand, palm facing backwards.

His plan worked with Scarlett taking a few long strides to catch up with him and take his hand. She offered it a squeeze before wiping the sweat off on her jeans.

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Floyd was angry, no he was upset. Ever since moving back from New York Hawkins had been a mess, and he was sick of it. Now, to top off Billy going crazy and nearly killing them in a sauna the previous night, Nancy and Jonathan had come along with news of more people going bonkers.

"It was the same thing," Nancy said, her makeup was runny and messy and her hair was in disarray. "The exact same thing that happened to Will last year." She looked around the kids who were spread around Mike's basement. The Wheeler girl produced a file of some sort which Mike and Will looked at with great interest. "And look at this. Look at the body temperatures." She tapped her finger on the scribbled-down temperatures.

Will murmured aloud as though possessed by an old ghost. "He likes it cold."

"Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer--" Mike started, only to be interrupted by Nancy saying Mrs. Driscoll's name. "Right, yeah, Mrs. Driscoll," He sighed, half annoyed at the correction. "What time was this attack?" He asked, eyeing his sister.

Nancy shrugged. "Last night." That was no surprising news seeing as she looked like she had spent a night in the clothes she was wearing, not that the others were better off. Only Mike had put on a fresh set of clothes, the rest of them still reeked of sauna and adrenaline.

"Right, but what time last night?"

"Around 9:00." Nancy glanced sideways, already expecting Jonathan to comment.

Sure enough, the eldest Byers did react as expected. "You waited all night to call?"

Nancy bit her tongue. "I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests," She snapped back.

"You weren't there?" Will demanded, surprised that the inseparable couple was separated.

Jonathan groaned. "Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" He spread his hands out a little as though to defend himself.

His defences did not stop the jab that came from Nancy. "Hallelujah!"

"Please," Floyd groaned, burying his face in his hands and rubbing his eyes with a bit too much force.

Deciding that testing her theory of all the stories being connected, Nancy pressed on. "Um, so, wha-- what time was your... sauna test?" She hesitated around the name but decided to roll with it. All the kids responded in unison that the sauna had also happened around nine the previous day. Nancy nodded firmly, bouncing her burnt hair. "Well, that proves it. That proves my theory!" She exclaimed with a small sigh of relief. Step one was taken care of.

"She's flayed, just like Billy." Mike nodded.

Jonathan and Nancy shared a confused look. "Flayed?" Jonathan asked.

"The Mind Flayer. He flays people... Takes over their mind. Once they do that, they basically become him," Mike explained.

Floyd butted in. "Like Will last year." He tilted his head to look at his friend who was perched next to him. Will looked down and gulped, the back of his neck appeared to twitch.

"If there are two flayed--" Lucas started.

"We have to assume there are more," Will finished.

Next to the Byers boy El had a realisation. "Heather," She breathed out, receiving looks that prompted her to explain. "Billy was doing something to her. "She was scared. She was screaming. Bad screams." She finished with a solemn look.

"What's a good scream?" Lucas asked, brows shooting up.

El waved at her best friend. "Max said--"

She never got the chance to finish her answer as Max cut her off. "Doesn't matter."

"I'm sorry, I'm lost. Who is Heather?" Nancy asked, eyeing the two girls who were sitting next to Floyd.

Max took explaining upon herself. "She's a lifeguard at the pool."

The prompt was enough for the two teenagers to connect the dots. "Heather Holloway?" Upon receiving nods from the kids the teens turned to one another. "Tom."

"Who is Tom?" Floyd questioned.

Nancy and Jonathan shared a look as she turned and started ushering everyone to the car. "We were interning and we saw him yesterday, Tom I mean," Jonathan explained as the group headed towards his car. "He was acting strange."

"So they could be infecting each other?" Lucas asked, voicing what most of them were thinking.

"That's my concern," Nancy said gravely before walking through the door and getting into the driver's seat. Jonathan hopped in next to her and the rest of the kids took their seats, leaving Floyd, Mike and Will to get into the trunk.

"Seriously?" Mike hissed, annoyed at the thought of having to curl up in the small space.

Taking it better than his friend, Will sighed and opened the trunk. "Welcome to my world." He got in and Floyd followed. The two boys ended up with their hips squeezed together and Mike across from them. Their legs were a tangled mess, but it would have to do.

"Seat belts," Nancy commanded. Once everyone who had a seatbelt put one on, the girl drove off, hitting the kids' bikes in the process.

The trio in the trunk was jostled around as clothes are in a washing machine. Floyd hit his elbow against the backseat and hissed, shifting his weight to try and sit more comfortably. He looked up surprised when he noticed Mike folding his legs and scooping Floyd's over his own. The Wheeler boy smiled briefly at Floyd, who mirrored the gesture.

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Back underground the small gang were making their way through the endless hallway. Since leaving the elevator Scarlett had joined Blake and Erica in the updo world by tying all of her hair back into a ponytail.

"I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone," Dustin whistled through his teeth as his eyes glided over the metal structure. "This is impressive."

Not going along with the cheery optimism that Dustin was going for, Steve decided to snap back. "What are you talking about? It's a total fire hazard..." He waved his hand around. "There's no stairs, there's no exit, there's just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell." He shrugged in annoyance.

"You sound like you're describing the fair," Blake commented, earning her a death stare from Steve.

Erica's beads clicked together due to the movement of her braids as she walked. "They're Commies," She stated. "You don't pay people, they cut corners," Her tone was matter of factly, as though this was common knowledge and Steve was stupid for commenting on it.

"To be fair to our Russian comrades," Robin started. "I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking. Think about it, they developed the perfect system transporting that cargo."

Dustin nodded and joined in from beside Robin. "It all comes into the mall like any old delivery. And then they load it up onto those trucks and nobody's the wiser."

"Besides, Hawkins is a small town. It's not the most logical space for the Russians to infiltrate..." Scarlett trailed off as dots started to connect in her head. Hawkins was small, but it had something going for it. She turned to try and make Steve or Blake realise, but the former of the two had already started speaking.

"You think they built this whole mall so they could transport that green poison?" Steve asked, half a scoff hidden in his tone.

Dustin shook his head. "I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison," The boy declared, rightfully so. "It's gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something."

Steve frowned. "What the hell is promethium?"

"It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make, Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components," Robin quickly explained.

"Promethium is green and radioactive, it's used for some batteries," Blake muttered.

Erica looked up at the older Hawkins inhabitants with a scowl. "You're all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill." She clutched her stomach, pretending as though she was actually going to hurl.

Immediatley King Steve came back to life. "No, no, no. No, don't lump me in with them." He waved at his two sides to his friends. "I'm not a nerd, all right?"

Robin laughed gleefully. "Why so sensitive, Harrington? Afraid of losing cool points to a ten-year-old child?" She jeered, earning a high-five from Blake that went over Erica's head.

"No, I'm just saying I don't know jack shit about Prometheus," Steve clapped back unsuccesfully.

"Promethium," Dustin corrected. "Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure..." Seeing his friend's confused look he decided to let the matter be. "But whatever. All I'm saying is, it's probably being used to make something.

Robin quipped in. "Or power something."

Again Scarlett grew uncomfortable. It was just too big of a coincidence that all of it was going down in Hawkins. The small town with gigantic problems and conspiracies.

"Like a nuclear weapon?" Dustin offered.

"Totally."

Steve groaned, he deserved a vacation. It hadn't been long enough since he had walked in a tunnel with children whilst in active danger. Not nearly long enoughed. Whatever happened to danger only presenting itself around the end of the year? "Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great. That'd be great."

"I think nuclear weapons in Hawkins would be widely known," Scarlett said, thinking back on the little information she had on nuclear weapons. "That feels more like something that would happen in Alaska or something."

"No one knew about the Russians," Erica retorted, which Scarlett had to admit was a good point.

Robin made the same connection that Scarlett had a few moments before. "But if they're building something, why here?" She looked around at her friends just as the pennies dropped in the other Upside Down conspirators. "I mean, Hawkins. Seriously. Of all places. At the very best, we're a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland," Scarlett, Blake, Steve and Dustin fell few steps behind the other two girls.

"You think the Russians know?" Steve questioned. "About--"

"They could." Dustin nodded.

"I think so," Scarlett admitted. "Something has felt off the last few days, maybe they're opening a new gate."

"So it's connected?" Steve asked again.

Blake sighed. "Fucking hell, I don't know."

Dustin shrugged. "Maybe."

Growing desperate and more confused by the moment Steve continued to rapid fire questions. "How?"

"I don't know, but it's..."

"Possible," The quartet finished.

Scarlett bit her lip as she remembered the Upside Down. "It's very possible."

It appeared that their absence was noted as Erica and Robin had stopped in their steps. "I'm sorry, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" The blonde demanded, eyeing her friends who looked like deers caught in headlights.

They were saved by a bell. Well not a bell, but static hissing from Erica's backpack. "Walkie," They sighed in realisation as they alldarted forward as Erica removed her backpack. They dug up the walkie-talkie and tuned it. The familiar Russian secret code crackled through and Robin spoke along to confirm that it was in fact the same message that they had decifered.

"It's the code," Robin confirmed.

"Wherever that broadcast is coming from--" Dustin started, hope bubbling to the surface.

Robin smirked. "It's close. And if there's one thing we know about that signal..." She trailed off.

"It can reach the surface," Dustin added, his cheeks hurting due to his smile.

Blake sighed in relief and half collapsed against Scarlett. "We're getting out of the death tunnel!" She pumped her fist up into the air, making her friends chuckle.

"Let's go." With Robin's signal the small group got up and headed down the hallway with new motivation fueling them.

a/n
my idiots are back! they have no functioning brains
and i love them for it. my dweebs. anyway, mind flayer fun
times coming up along with steve who is finally going to win
a fight and scarlett who might just use her knife against a russian.
let me know your thoughts and theories, they mean a lot.
and please take the time to vote <3

love
-v

funny post

*flip flop noises*
i will say, i have found it is sometimes easier to
sprint in stilettos than in flip flops.
date published: 12 januari 2025
word count: 5437