The seven of them walked through the hallway that seemed to never end. It was a good thing Beverly and Alicia were both cheerleaders, meaning they were used to standing for hours to go over their routines, so their feet didn't hurt that bad. However, for Chris, since he had quit basketball and resorted to being lazy all year, his feet were killing him.

The others seemed to be doing fine and, in fact, Dustin seemed to be admiring the place. "I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is impressive," Dustin pointed out.

"What are you talking about? It's a total fire hazard. There's no stairs, there's no exit, there's just an elevator that drops you halfway to Hell," Steve argued.

"Are you sure we aren't already in Hell?" Beverly queried with joking tone in her words. Steve shrugged and nodded, letting out a soft chuckle.

"They're Commies. You don't pay people, they cut corners," Erica brought up and Steve gave her a look.

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

"Oh, yeah, they had the trucks," Alicia realized, waving a finger.

"It all comes into the mall like an old delivery," Dustin added.

"And then they load it up onto those trucks, like Alicia said, and nobody's the wiser," Robin finished and Alicia nodded.

"You think they built this whole mall just so they could transport that green poison?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, that seems a bit far-fetched," Chris said with a shrug.

"I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison. It's gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something," Dustin voiced.

"What the hell is promethium?" Steve questioned.

"Oh, isn't that the stuff in weed or something?" Chris guessed, tilting his head to the side.

Alicia gave him a look, not knowing where he got that from. "Not even close," she breathed out and he made an 'O' shape with his mouth.

"It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components," Robin explained and Alicia nodded, pointing at her since she knew the DC Comics reference from Lucas's comics.

"How do you guys even know that?" Beverly questioned, her eyes wide. Although Beverly had always gotten good grades, she wasn't genetically smart like the two of them seemed to be. She just knew what she needed to know.

Alicia and Robin both shrugged simultaneously. "It's basic information," they said, also at the same time, and they sent each other a smile as they walked.

"You're all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill," Erica said, pretending to gag. "Except for Chris, he's just dumb."

"Hey!" Chris exclaimed, getting offended even though he was the probably the dumbest one out of all of them. Even compared to Steve sometimes.

Erica shrugged. "Just the facts," she replied.

"No, no, no. No, don't lump me in with them. I'm not a nerd, all right?" Steve quickly told her, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I don't think I am either," Beverly added, shaking her head. She was used to be calling a nerd way back when and she finally thought she outran it, but a ten-year-old had to ruin it she supposed.

"Why so sensitive, Harrington, Crawford? Afraid of losing your cool points to a ten-year-old child?" Robin teased with an arched brow.

"No, I'm just saying I don't know jack shit about Prometheus," Steve responded and Beverly nodded.

"Promethium," Dustin corrected. "Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure, but whatever. All I'm saying is, it's probably being used to make something."

"Or power something," Robin said.

"Like a nuclear weapon?" Alicia asked.

"Totally."

"Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great. That'd be great," Steve said sarcastically.

"Not how I wanted to die," Chris said and they all gave him a look. "What? Oh, come on, you guys don't want to die from a nuclear weapon either, do you?"

Robin sighed and continued, "But if they're building something, why here? I mean, Hawkins. Seriously. Of all places. At the very best, we're a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland, but maybe that's it. Maybe it's our very..."

As Robin kept on talking, Dustin, Steve, Beverly, Alicia, and Chris stopped in their tracks at Robin's words. It seemed like they had all realized the exact same thing, and it wasn't something they wanted to realize.

"You think the Russians know?" Dustin asked no one in particular, his eyes wide, since he was referring to the Upside Down shit.

"About the..." Steve trailed off.

"They could," Dustin said.

"So it's connected?" Steve asked, furrowing his brows.

"Maybe."

"How?" Chris asked. "I mean, I was there when we got the Mind Flayer, or whatever, out of Will. It's gone."

"Yeah, and Eleven closed the gate," Beverly brought up and Alicia nodded.

Dustin shook his head. "I don't know, but it's..."

"Possible," they all said at the same time, concern filled in their voices.

"I'm sorry, is there something you'd all like to share with the class?" Robin called out once she and Erica noticed they had all stopped behind them.

The five of them glanced at each other before subtly nodding. They looked back at Robin and Erica, going to open the mouths and say something before someone started to speak Russian over the walkie-talkie in Erica's bag.

"Walkie," Steve and Dustin said at the same time before they all rushed over to it.

Erica quickly took off her backpack and took the walkie-talkie out so they could listen to it clearer. Robin took it and pulled up the antenna, making the connection better. As the man spoke, Robin followed along in Russian. "It's the code," Robin confirmed.

"Wherever that broadcast is coming from—"

"It's close. And if there's one thing we know about that signal..."

"It can reach the surface," Dustin finished for Robin.

"Let's go."

✦ ✧ ✦

The group hid behind a bunch of locker looking things, almost being seen by some Russians down further since they seemed to be getting closer to the main area. Steve slowly looked out, checking to make sure no one else was there. "Okay, clear," he whispered, stepping out. "Clear, come, let's go."

"Okay, that was close," Robin pointed out and Alicia nodded, swallowing hard.

"Too close," Dustin added.

"Relax. All right? Relax. Nobody saw..." Steve trailed off once they had turned a corner, seeing a main room filled with Russians carrying large guns and equipment. "Shit," Steve breathed before they all rushed to hide behind a container, praying they weren't seen by anyone since they had been standing there far too long in shock. "Jesus."

"Red Dawn," Dustin said, referring to the movie.

"You think they saw us?" Beverly whispered from next to Steve and he quickly shook his head, although he wasn't too sure.

"I saw it. First floor, northwest," Erica spoke up.

"Saw what?" Steve asked.

"The comms room," Erica clarified.

"You saw the comms room?"

"Correct!"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. The door was open for a second, and I saw a bunch of lights and machines and shit in there," Erica described.

"Language," Alicia scolded her sister, but Erica just rolled her eyes.

"That could be a hundred different things," Dustin told her.

"I'll take those odds," Robin admitted.

"What if she's wrong, though?" Chris questioned Robin, his eyes wide.

"Oh, please, I'm never wrong. If anything, you're wrong for saying that," Erica sassed and Chris gave her a wide-eyed look. "Just the—"

"Just the facts, we know," Alicia cut her sister off and Erica rolled her eyes once again. "Robin, are you sure?" she asked her and Robin nodded, a determined look on her face.

They all slowly peered around the container they were hiding behind to see that the comms room needed a key card to get into. "All right. We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low. Okay?"

"Okay."

Steve got up and they all followed him like a trail of ducks behind their mother, waddling over to a different place to hide behind. Steve then started moving again once the coast was clear. "Shh! Move it," he said quietly, waving over for all of them to follow him again.

They hid behind another piece of equipment before someone in a lab coat opened the door to the comms room. "Let's go," Steve instructed and they all quickly rushed over before the door fully shut. Steve grabbed the door and held it open, getting inside. "Shh-shh, come on." They all then made it inside, Steve trying to carefully shut the door without making any noise.

Beverly breathed out in relief before she turned around, seeing a guy sitting at a desk. He then turned around and took his headphones off, standing up in confusion.

Steve was hunched over, still trying to shut the door without making any noise, but it was no use now since they were already caught. The man then tried to reach for his gun but Robin stepped forward, speaking Russian. They all looked over at her in shock, too scared to even move.

The man spoke back in Russian, a puzzled look on his face. Robin continued speaking, gesturing to the group behind her. The man shook his his head and spoke again, so Robin continued trying to convince him of something. The others didn't really understand apart from Alicia, who grasped that she was using words from the secret code.

The man then scoffed and went to take his gun out before Steve started yelling. He ran towards the man and tackled him against the table, making them all gasp. The man pushed Steve off of him and went to go punch him before Steve dodged, stumbling backwards.

The man grabbed his shirt and threw him against the other table, making his head slam into it. "Steve!" Beverly shouted, not knowing what to do.

The man then grabbed him again but Steve was able to elbow him in the gut, buying him some time to grab the phone connected to the table and slam it into the man's face. The man fell backwards and hit his head, falling unconscious onto the floor.

Steve breathed out, running a hand through his hair as he looked down at the man. Beverly and Alicia looked towards each other, the both of them wearing the same, shocked expression on their face.

"Dude!" Dustin began. "You did it! You won a fight!" he exclaimed.

"Jeez..." Steve whispered, realizing that he really did just win his first fight, a relieved smile making its way onto his face.

Beverly went over to him, examining his face to make sure the man hadn't hit him too hard. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly, moving his hair away from his face so she could get a better look at it.

"I'm...I'm fine," he told her, not used to her touch against his skin. "I won."

Beverly started to smile. "You did," she replied with a nod. Honestly, she found it spectacularly attractive that he won against the Russian guy since he hadn't really won any fights prior to that.

Dustin then rushed over to the unconscious man. "What are you doing?" Erica questioned.

"Getting this is our ticket out of here," Dustin answered.

"You want us to walk all the way back?" Erica asked.

"Well, we can hang out for a little bit, relax, have a picnic maybe," Dustin listed.

"Have a picnic? We came here for the radio!" Erica pointed out.

"Well, this plan is way better. If I knew Steve could knock out a Russian, that would've been our plan in the first place," Dustin responded.

"Okay, let's not jump to conclusions here. That was obviously just luck," Chris spoke up, although he was kind of still in awe that Steve had beat him.

"Hey, why are you trying to rain on my parade?" Steve asked him, raising his brows as he moved next to Beverly. Chris just shrugged, rolling his eyes.

"I think someone's just jealous," Alicia pointed out, crossing her arms at the Wheeler boy.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous of him when he almost got his teeth knocked out?" Chris questioned, holding his arms out.

"I don't know, jealousy has just seemed to be your mood lately," Alicia replied, glancing over at Beverly and Steve subconsciously.

Chris noticed where her gaze had traveled to and he scoffed. "What are you trying to imply, Alicia? That I'm jealous of Beverly and Steve?" he said. Beverly and Steve looked at each other, not wanting to be brought into this argument. "I don't give a fuck if the two want to get into each others' pants!"

"Okay, hold on!" Beverly spoke up , holding her hand up.

"You are so wrong there, buddy!" Steve took an intimidating step towards the boy, his brows furrowed together. "And that is highly inappropriate in front of the children!" he pointed at Dustin and Erica, who were just watching the heated interaction.

"You gawking at each other every five seconds is highly inappropriate in front of the children!" Chris countered, not backing down.

"Oh, like you're not doing that with Robin," Beverly spoke up, making Chris look at her with wide eyes. "What, am I wrong?" she questioned, severely annoyed with his words.

"Yes, y-you're very wrong!" Chris responded, looking around to see if Robin was listening to the conversation before he realized she wasn't there. "Wait, where's — where's Robin?"

Beverly scoffed. "That's exactly what I'm talking about," she muttered under her breath, shaking her head.

"No, but where is—"

"Guys," Robin cut Chris off, coming from out of nowhere. "There's something up there." She pointed to the staircase behind her. They all furrowed their brows and she said, "Come on, follow me."

They all quickly followed her, not wanting to continue the argument from before. It had kind of just came out of nowhere, but it showcased everyone's true feelings about what had been going on within the group romance wise.

And all of them were pretty embarrassed.

"Let's go," Steve said, slowly opening the door once they reached the top of the staircase. He let everyone go out first before he went out, looking through the tiny windows that had light shining through them.

They all squinted from the light as they all looked out, seeing what the Russians were doing. "Holy shit," Dustin breathed out.

It seemed that were all staring at an intricate device created to open another gate to the Upside Down.

Dustin and Steve looked at each other and said, "The gate."

authors note
it seems like some...
words were exchanged there
for a hot minute hahaha...
but alicia is right once again, chris
is jellyyyyyyy