𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 : 3.6k

☆゜·。。·゜゜·。。·゜★

𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 plummeting for an eternity, it didn't take long for her to remember that this wasn't an endless elevator shaft. At some point, they were going to reach the bottom and she had a pretty bleak guess about how that was going to go.

Through the group's cacophony of horrified screams, Steve was shouting, "We're going down! We're going down!"

As if that weren't already obvious.

"Yeah, no shit, Harrington!" Robin yelled back.

"Owen, do something!" Dustin ordered as he clung to the wall. Her eyes widened and snapped in his direction, unsure what exactly he was expecting from her. He must've wanted her to do something with her abilities, as they had all seen how her experience with the buttons went.

But Owen wasn't nearly as well-practiced as Eleven was with her powers, so there was really no telling if it would work at all. Nonetheless, one quick glance around at her terrified friends was enough motivation for her to at least try. Owen pulled in a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down as best she could. She was pretty sure that her stomach doing somersaults wasn't going to benefit her powers.

Her hands trembled as they lifted away from her side, her fingertips reaching straight out towards the walls beside her. Owen's eyebrows sloped downwards, furrowing as she focused on threading her energy into every tiny piece of rock she could sense nearby. Once she felt that her mind had reached just far enough, she swiftly tucked her arms in against her chest, fists clenching as she pulled all of those minerals inward.

Loud screeches of metal against concrete tore through everyone's shouting. The friction of the elevator walls against the shrinking outer shaft slowed them down just slightly, bringing their speed from breakneck to... brisk. The shrill noise had no effect on Owen's focus; she was far too absorbed with making sure everyone made it to the bottom alive to even notice the sounds around her.

Thus, she didn't snap out of it until they hit the ground floor, the force still strong enough to rattle the whole room. Owen blinked her eyes open once the room had stopped moving, hurriedly looking around to make sure everyone was okay. Boxes had tumbled to the floor, scattered amongst the fallen members of the group. But the varied groans from around the elevator were a good sign.

"My groin... It fell on my groin," Steve gasped from beneath a box. "Somebody get this off of me!"

"Oh, shit..." Owen hurried over, stepping around the clutter on the floor to get to him. Her fingers wrapped around the edge of the box that had fallen directly on top of him, sliding it off as fast as she could. Once he was finally free, Steve's breath left him in heavy gasps as he stood and attempted to find his footing.

"Is everyone okay?" Robin checked in, her voice wobbly. One of her hands was clasped against the back of her head, clutching where it had knocked against one of the shelves.

"Yeah, I'm great, now that I know that Russians can't design elevators!" Steve bellowed, shoving his way over to the control panel on the wall. He began poking and prodding each of the buttons again, his chest still heaving from the drop.

"I think we've clearly established that those buttons don't work," Robin reminded him as she got to her feet. "But I really don't understand how the elevator slowed down like that."

Owen's hand shot up, wiping any blood from her nose before someone could point it out. "I mean, it's like Steve said. Russians clearly don't know a damn thing about how to build elevators," she instantly explained, forcing a shrug in order to seem nonchalant. The lie made her voice sound all shaky, but Steve redirected the conversation before anyone could question it.

"These are buttons! They've gotta do something!" he huffed, still jabbing away at them.

Robin's eyes rolled. "Yeah, if we had a keycard."

Finally, Steve stopped with the buttons, turning around with a crazed look in his eye. "A what?"

"It's an electronic lock," she pointed out, walking over to the lit-up receiver beside the control panel. "Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate. Which means–"

"We're stuck in here," Dustin interrupted.

Owen's hands dragged across her face, groaning as she did so. "Fucking fantastic," she gritted, sarcastically. She slouched against the wall behind her, really wishing she had at least changed out of the Captain Banana Split Beard outfit before they did all of this. Although, she was still glad didn't have to carry the clunky head around.

"Just so you nerds are aware, I'm supposed to be spending the night at Tina's and Tina always covers for me. But if I'm not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow and my mom finds out you four are responsible, she's gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throat," Erica warned, loudly informing the worn-out team of teens.

"I don't care about Tina! Or Uncle Jack's party!" Steve's palms slammed against one of the many boxes. "Your mom's not gonna be able to find us if we're dead in a Russian elevator!"

Owen's widened eyes pinged between Steve and Erica as they leveled one another with equally defiant looks. They hadn't even been trapped in the elevator for one hour and he was already starting to lose it. Not a good sign.

"Hey..." Dustin started, his voice much softer than Steve's. "What if we climbed out?"

Their eyes all trailed upwards, following his pointed finger towards the ceiling. A sizable vent was positioned just overhead, big enough for all of them to fit. Not just Erica this time.

The idea was just enticing enough to convince them to stack a couple boxes on top of one another, creating a tower just tall enough to reach the edge of the vent. The girls watched as Steve and Dustin climbed the precarious stack of boxes and hauled themselves up onto the top of the elevator. Owen could hear the way Steve's grunt echoed around the elevator shaft as he pulled his legs out of sight.

After a moment's contemplation, she heard Steve speak up. "What were you saying about climbing?" he muttered with only a hint of taunting in his reverberating voice. She hadn't even bothered to look up with a shred of optimism, having grown too familiar with the tones of Steve's voice and their meanings.

She didn't need him to spell it out for her to understand his assessment of the situation.

There was no way in hell they were going to be able to climb out of there.

☆゜·。。·゜゜·。。·゜★

If it weren't for the watch on her wrist, Owen would have lost track of time completely. And while she was grateful for the tiny connection to reality, it just made every second pass even slower. Still, hours passed and Dustin hadn't once come down from the top of the elevator. Owen could hear him pacing from time to time, making it almost impossible to sleep. Well, that and being trapped in a Russian elevator.

Neither were especially sleep-inducing.

She peered over at Robin and Erica intermittently, seeing how they were completely knocked out and running cold with envy each time. Owen had taken a seat on the ground a while back, legs criss-crossed beneath her. She toyed with the cheap striped fabric wrapped around her waist, picking at a loose string to entertain herself.

Eventually, Steve had snuck back down the box-ladder, trying his best not to wake the others. Although his Adidas sneakers still made a pretty loud thump when he hopped down, Owen seemed to be the only one who even noticed. Still, she shushed him, the quiet noise ironically making him jump.

Steve turned to her with a warm grin on his lips, an expression she hadn't seen on him since they entered the elevator. "I didn't know you were still awake," he murmured, ambling over to her. He pressed his back against the wall behind her, carefully sliding down to nestle beside her on the cool floor.

Owen peeked at him from the corner of her eye, her lips pursing slightly. "As surprising as it may sound, I've never really been able to fall asleep on the floor of an elevator," she whispered, bringing a quiet scoff out of him.

"Wow... Y'know, after all this time, I'm still learning new things about you," he said jokingly, nudging her shoulder with his. She shrugged playfully, bringing a smile to both of their faces.

The two of them fell silent then, the room filled with the sounds of heavy breathing and the steady tick of her watch. Owen and Steve sat like that for a while, her arms wrapped around her calves and his legs splayed out in front of him. At some point, her chin had come to rest on top of her knees and a deep breath blew from her nose.

Owen turned to look at Steve, pressing her cheek against the scratchy material of her costume. "How the hell are we gonna get out of this one, Harrington?" She could hear how nervous she sounded and she knew he could, too. But for once, she didn't care about seeming like she had everything figured out.

His gaze met hers, brown eyes holding the same vulnerability that she was feeling. "I don't know," he confessed, his attention momentarily trailing over to where Robin and Erica were snoozing. He shoved his own hopelessness into the back of his mind, replacing it with a determination to make it out of there alive. "But we'll figure something out, okay? We always do."

Steve glanced back at Owen, only to find that her eyes had never left his face. Even after she was caught staring, her lips merely sloped into a gentle, lopsided smile. "We always do," she parroted, still trying to convince herself that he was right about that.

☆゜·。。·゜゜·。。·゜★

Owen awoke the next morning — at least, she was pretty sure it was morning — with an ache rooted deep in her neck. Her head must've lolled over at some point throughout the night, a position that would've been uncomfortable had she not been totally exhausted.

Her eyes blinked open, squinting under the harsh overhead lights in the elevator. She quickly noticed that she felt surprisingly warm despite still being seated on the hard, metal floors. She turned to inspect the source of heat, only to see that it was none other than Steve Harrington, slumped against her in his little sailor uniform.

He was still sound asleep, the back of his head pressed to the wall behind them and his lips dropped open, causing soft snores to resonate through the elevator. Owen took the opportunity to admire him up close. He couldn't catch her staring like this. Her tired eyes studied the moles decorating his face, the strong bridge of his nose, the thick eyelashes pressed to his cheeks. He looked so peaceful, his mind given a momentary reprieve from their horrendous situation.

Owen was so entranced by him that she didn't even notice the way her own lips had curved into a soft smile. Still, an unexpected voice from above broke through her Harrington-induced haze, making her jolt and jostle the boy next to her. She glanced up towards the ceiling, listening to Dustin's voice and pacing footsteps.

"Does anyone copy? This is a code red, I repeat, a code red. We are innocent children and we are trapped under Starcourt Mall."

His voice echoed as he repeated the message over and over. All of the noise and Owen's sudden movement must've woken Steve, his shoulder nudging hers as he stirred beside her. But as he groaned and dragged his hands through his hair, easing himself into the day, Owen sat very still, reveling in the last few moments before he pulled away from her.

Although, Steve didn't immediately jerk away like she anticipated. Instead, he turned to look at her with those big, sleepy brown eyes and asked, "What time is it?" His voice was raspy and deep in a way that almost made her shiver. She was quick to check her watch, though, directing her attention elsewhere before she could embarrass herself.

"It's just after 10 AM."

His lips pursed, not sure what to do with that information now that he had it. After all, it's not like any passage of time would magically change their situation. Slowly, Steve's eyes dragged away from her, shifting towards the sound of Dustin's voice overhead. He was still going, loud enough to have woken the entire team by that point.

"What the hell is he doing, anyway?" Steve pondered.

Owen gazed upwards and shrugged, acutely aware that he could feel the movement against his own arm. "Probably trying to get in contact with someone. But I'm not sure it's working."

Steve rolled his eyes, gently dropping his head back against the wall as he did so. "Of course, it's not working," he sighed, mustering up enough energy to finally push off of the wall and stand up. He took a moment to stretch his achy limbs, wincing after a long night on a hard floor. "No one's coming down here to save us. I'm pretty sure we're the only ones who even know that this place exists, anyway."

As much as Owen wanted to be able to counter Steve's bleak outlook, she knew that he was probably right. Their only chance of not wasting away in the elevator relied on a good-natured Russian soldier finding them down there, but Owen wasn't going to hold her breath on that one.

Her lack of response caused Steve to wander off, hoisting himself up and onto the roof of the elevator. Since being awakened, Erica and Robin had taken it upon themselves to explore everything within reach. Erica was sifting through boxes while Robin closely examined the control panel and the key card reader.

In hopes of helping find a way out, Owen finally rose to her feet, wobbling slightly when she realized her legs were still asleep. She eventually trudged over to Robin, peering over her shoulder at the various buttons. "Not sure if I ever apologized for smacking the huge green button that sent us plummeting into the depths of Hell, but... I'll, uh, I'll take the blame for that one," Owen said, offering up an awkward, toothy smile when Robin turned to look at her incredulously.

But before she could utter a snarky reply, the sound of... running water distracted them both. "Do you hear that?" Owen asked, face scrunching in confusion. They both peered around the room, looking for what could be causing such a noise.

Simultaneously, the girls spotted liquid trickling down the wall of the elevator shaft from overhead. A very pressurized, precise, easily recognizable trickle. Robin released a sigh. "Can you redirect your stream, please?" she requested in a chiding tone.

Owen watched the stream of liquid travel across the wall, staining the concrete as it went. Her lip curled in disgust as she averted her eyes. "Gross..." she muttered.

Robin glanced sideways at her, nodding in agreement. But just as she opened her mouth to respond, the girls were cut off by loud banging behind them. They both spun around, their eyes landing on Erica smacking one of the containers full of green sludge against the edge of a table. "Hey, hey! Be careful!" Robin was the first to rush over and snatch the canister out of her hands. "We don't even know what that is."

"Exactly. It could be useful," Erica insisted.

"Useful how?" Robin countered, her eyes narrowing. Owen propped her hands on her hips, suddenly very interested in hearing Erica's explanation.

"We can survive down here a long time without food, but if the human body doesn't get water, it will die," Erica informed them.

Owen huffed, rolling her eyes. "You think we haven't thought about that?"

"Yeah, and I hate to break it to you, but this is not water," Robin said, motioning to the green substance.

"No, but it is a liquid. And if it comes down to me drinking that shit or dying of thirst, I drink," Erica retorted with a taunting smile.

A distant whirring sound caught Owen and Robin's attention, giving Erica just enough time to try and grab the canister back. But even when she was distracted, Owen was faster. She plucked it out of Robin's hand right before the little girl got to it, keeping the forbidden drink out of her grasp. "Yeah, I don't think so, Sinclair," she scolded, giving her a stern look.

Robin had already forgotten all about the little spat with Erica, having focused all of her attention on the nearby sound. Her ear was pressed to the elevator door, doing her best to listen out. "Someone's coming," she breathed after a moment of observation. "Up to the top... now."

Despite their initial shock over the news, Owen and Erica allowed themselves to be ushered onto the top of the elevator by Robin. The threat of capture and torture by the Red Army was enough of a motivator, anyway.

"We've got company," Robin announced to the boys after her head poked through the vent. Once the vent's grille was back in place, the entire group huddled around the edges of the elevator, barely even breathing to avoid being detected.

Owen felt like her own heartbeat was being broadcast through a boombox when she heard the heavy metal door opening below them. Then, the room they had been trapped in for hours was suddenly filled with the smell of cigarette smoke and the sound of a couple men speaking Russian.

She watched as Steve peered through the slats in the elevator's ceiling, examining the men below. Once he had finished assessing the situation, he slowly leaned back onto the balls of his feet and pressed a finger to his lips, motioning for the group to remain silent.

Still, he couldn't help the way that his gaze stuttered to a stop when he spotted the tube of green sludge still in Owen's clammy grasp. The sight was enough to get the cogs in his head moving, hoping to find them a way out like he had promised.

After getting her attention and a few moments' worth of silent explanation, Owen understood Steve's impromptu plan. With her insane reflexes, it was clear that she had to be the one to do it, though.

So, as soon as the Russians left, Owen lowered herself from the vent, her Converse hitting the familiar metal floors. Then, she hurried towards the rapidly closing exit, dropping to her knees and tucking the tube of sludge right between the door and the ground beneath it just in time. This left only a small gap to escape from, but it was their only chance.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," she whisper-yelled, not sure how long the canister would hold. One by one, the group dropped themselves back into the elevator, worming beneath the door as fast as they could.

Of course, Steve was last, bringing up the rear and sliding Erica's backpack through the gap. "After you," he urged. And for once, Owen didn't fight him on it. With a curt nod, she swung her legs under the edge of the door, then pulled herself through on her back. Steve followed along, scooting past the cracking container of fluorescent slime.

He had barely made it through when the tube finally shattered, sending the substance splattering in every direction. Steve, still on the ground, scrambled backwards as the sludge sizzled and sent steam billowing upwards. As soon as he got to his feet, Steve joined the group as they leaned over the acidic puddle, trying to get a better look as it ate away at the ground below.

"Jesus Christ..." Steve murmured in astonishment.

"You still wanna drink that?" Robin teased, looking over her shoulder at Erica.

While the others were still watching the chemical reaction happening in front of them, Dustin's focus had shifted elsewhere. "Holy mother of God..." he sighed, effectively redirecting the group's attention.

They all turned around, coming face-to-face with what appeared to be an endless hallway. As far as the eye could see, there were just walls with exposed pipes and wires running along the length of them. No doors, no exit signs, no way out.

"I'm not sure if I prefer this or the death-trap elevator," Owen confessed, still feeling pretty claustrophobic despite having finally escaped the tiny room they were in previously.

"Well... Hope you guys are in good shape," Steve muttered, shoving his way to the front. He took the opportunity to playfully pat Dustin on the chest as he went. "Lookin' at you, roast beef."

Steve began wandering into the tunnel alone, but stopped once he realized there were no footsteps following along. He turned back around, eyeing the group frantically. "Let's go. C'mon."

It took only a moment of consideration before Owen and Robin guided the younger kids forward, gently pushing them further into the hallway. After all, they were at a bonafide dead end, their backs against a locked elevator door. Walking through the infinite tunnel seemed to be their only option.

"And I'm really not sure that I like you as our Fearless Leader," Owen pointed out, having flashbacks to her and Steve's experience in the demodog tunnels the year prior.

"Well, that's too bad. 'Cause I'm not letting you wander headfirst into this one, Owen," Steve fired back, keeping his stare straight ahead.

"But what if I just-"

"Nope. No way."

"How about-"

"Don't even bother finishing that sentence."

Much to her dismay, Owen trudged down the eternal tunnel behind Steve. Her jaw was clenched as she did so, her brain running through all of the dangerous scenarios they could be walking right into. But hey, at least Steve Harrington would be leading the way when they did.