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They all looked at the... whatever it is. They had no idea.

"The gate," Dustin and Steve said in unison.

"I don't understand. You guys have seen this before?" Robin asked as they all got ready to leave.

"Not exactly."

"Then what exactly? And since you guys are friends with my sister, has she seen it before?" Kristen asked worriedly.

"All you need to know is it's bad."

"It's really bad."

"Like, end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it kind of bad."

"And you know about this how?"

"Um, Steve? Where's your Russian friend?" Erica suddenly spoke, not seeing the man Steve knocked out earlier.

An alarm started blaring, panic shooting through Kristen.

"Shit," Steve cursed. He went to the door and opened it. There was a bunch of Russian men looking at him, immediately running over. "Shit. Go, go, go, go, go!"

They ran back up the stairs, busting open through the door. They then opened the other door as Steve told them to hurry up. Scientists gave them weird looks, but Dustin just shouted more profanities and ran. Russian guards were yelling in Russian as they followed the five.

"Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!" Dustin gasped for air. "Holy shit!"

"Guards! Go!"
"This way!"

Steve led the group away, shoving people out of the way. He threw barrels at some guards as everyone continued to run. They found a door, opening it and getting in. Steve held the door closed as Kristen, Erica, and Dustin went to the vent inside.

"Robin! Kristen! Help!" Steve shouted. "Help me, come on!"

Kristen and Robin ran over, helping Steve barricade the door.

"Here! Come on, let's go!"

"Come on!"

"Go! Just get out of here!"

"Go, come on, now!"

"No! Just get some help, okay? What are you doing?!" Steve yelled as Dustin stood there, looking at the three. "Go!"

"I won't forget you!"

"Go!"

The guards busted open the door, making the three fly back. They pointed their guns at them as they all held their hands up.

-

Kristen most likely had bruised ribs and a broken nose by now.

The guards have been asking her who she works for and who she's with. Stuff like that.

"Who do you work for?" he asked again as Kristen looked up at him with a pounding head.

"For the last time... I work at Scoops Ahoy in Starcourt Mall. That's all."

Another blow landed directly on her jaw, making her cry out in pain. She spit out blood, breathing heavily.

"Please. I work at Scoops Ahoy. Why would I lie? Am I in any position to lie?"

"What about the others?"

"Leave them alone," Kristen breathed. "It was my idea. I found out about this place. I made them go along with it. Please, leave them alone."

"No," the guards smiled as the other landed a hard blow across her face. Kristen fell on her side, off of the bench. The guard who punched her bent down to her, checking her pulse. He looked up at his boss, his fingers still on her neck.

-

They dragged Steve and Robin into a room, but not Kristen.

"Get your hands off me!" Robin struggled. "Hey... Steve? Steve? Steve? Steve? What did you do to him? What did you do?"

The guard slapped Robin across her face, her falling down on her back.

"Посадите их на стулья."

"Don't touch me!" Robin struggled again as they picked her and Steve up and set them in chairs.

"Steve, wake up. Steve?" Robin said as the guards strapped her and Steve together. "What did you do? Don't touch him. Steve? Steve, can you hear me?"

"I think your friend need a doctor. Good thing... We have the very best," he laughed as the others did too. He turned back around, looking at Robin.

"Where's Kristen?" She asked. "Where is she?"

"Kristen? Your little friend?" He taunted. "She's dead."

Robin's face fell immediately, wanting to believe it was a joke. But these are Russians. They most likely weren't joking. She spit in his face, him wiping off the saliva with a handkerchief.

"You are going to regret that, сука," he put the note Kristen wrote Amber in Robin's shirt, letting her have it. "From your little friend," he smiled.

"Bastards. Let us outta here!" Robin shouted as the guards left. "Bastards! Let us out! Let us out!"

-

It was a miracle how Robin hadn't lost her voice yet.

"Help! Help! Help!"

"Hey," Steve finally spoke, "would you stop yelling?"

"Steve!" Robin breathed. "Oh, my God! Steve. Are—Are you okay?"

"My ears are ringing, and I can't really breathe, my eye feels like it's about to pop out of my skull, but, you know, apart from that, I'm doing pretty good."

"Well, the good news is that they're calling you a doctor."

"Is this his place of work?" Steve asked as he raised his head. "I love the vibe. Charming."

Robin chuckled. "Yeah, tell me about it. So, okay, do you see that table over there to your right? No, your other right. Yeah, okay. And do you see those scissors? Yeah, well, I think that if we move at the same time, we could get over there, and then maybe I could kick the table and knock them into your lap."

"And I could cut the binds."

"Yeah, and we could get out of here."

"Gotcha. Okay, yeah, we can do that."
"Yeah."

"Those morons. They left scissors in here?"
"Yeah, morons."
"Totally morons."

"Okay, so, on the count of three, we're gonna hop."
"Okay, good, hop on three. I gotcha."

"All right. One, two, three," she counted. They managed to move closer to the scissors as the legs of the chair scraped against the floor. "Okay, that worked."
"Okay."

"All right. Uh, let's try again."
"Right."

"One, two, three," they both counted. They scooted closer to the table, getting excited that they got this far.

"Holy shit, this is gonna work!"
"We're close. Ready?"

"Okay, one, two, three," they counted. They did it again, but instead of getting closer, they fell down on their sides this time.

"It's okay, it's okay," Steve comforted Robin as he heard light cries. "Don't cry. Robin," he furrowed his eyebrows as he heard Robin laugh. "Are you laughing? Jesus!"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. It's just... I can't believe... I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base just like Kristen with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. It's just too trippy, man."

"We're not gonna die. Kristen's not gonna die. We're gonna get out of here, okay? Just— You gotta let me think for a second."

"Do you remember, um, Mrs. Click's sophomore history class?"
"What?"

"Mrs. Clickity-Clackity. That's what us band dweebs called her. It was first period, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you were always late. And you had the same breakfast. Bacon, egg, and cheese on a sesame bagel. I sat behind you two days a week for a year. Mister Funny. Mister Cool. The King of Hawkins High himself. Do you even remember me from that class?" Steve stayed silent.

Robin chuckled. "Of course you don't. You were a real asshole, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know."

"But it didn't even matter. It didn't matter that you were an ass. I was still... obsessed with you. Even though all of us losers pretend to be above it all, we still just wanna be popular... accepted, normal."

"If it makes you feel any better, having those things isn't all that great. Seriously. It just baffles me. Everything that people tell you is important, everything that people say you should care about, it's all just... bullshit. But I guess you gotta mess up to figure things out, right?"

"I hope so. I feel like my whole life has been... one big error," they both chuckled.
"Yep."

"At least it can't get any more messed up that this."

"You know, I wish I'd known you in Click's class."
"Yeah?"

"Really, I do. Maybe you could've helped me pass the class. Maybe instead of being here, I'd be on my way to college right now."

"And I would have no idea that there were evil Russians beneath our feet, and I would be happily slinging ice cream with Kristen and some other schmuck."

"Gotta say, though. I liked being your schmuck. It was fun while it lasted."
"It was."

A buzzer buzzed, and in came the guards. The main one looked at them as they lifted their heads and looked at him.

"Where were you two going?"

They brought in a doctor as the other guards put them back on the ground.

"Try telling the truth this time, yes? It will make your visit with Dr. Zharkov less painful."

The doctor came forward with a shot.

"Wait a second. Wait. Hold on. Okay! Wait, wait! What is that thing?"

"It will help you talk."

"Did you even clean that thing?!" Steve screamed as the doctor put the shot in his neck.

-

"Honestly, I don't really feel anything," Steve spoke, his words slurring slightly. "Do you?"

"I mean, I... I feel fine. I feel normal."

"Yeah, I feel— I feel fine. I kinda feel good," they both chuckled.

"Wanna know a secret?"
"What?"
"I like it, too! I feel good."

"Morons. They messed up the drug."

"They messed it up! Morons. Hey, morons!"
"Morons!"
"Morons! Mor— Oh, no. There's definitely something wrong with us."
"Somethings wrong."

The door buzzed and opened, the same guards came in the room again. Dr. Zharkov started taking out tools as the two watched.

"A would now be a good time to tell you that I don't like doctors?"

"Let's try this again, yes? Who do you work for?"

"Scoops. Scoops Ahoy," Steve said, making both of them chuckle.

"How did you find us?"

"Totally by accident."

"Больше лжи."

The doctor grabbed a tool, walking over to Steve.

"What is that shiny little toy?"

"Where you going with that, doc?"

"Whoa, whoa, hey, hey. Wait! No! Wait! Wait!" Steve screamed as the doctor used the tool and set it on his fingernail.

"There was a code! There was a code! We heard a code!"

"Code. What code?"

"'The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west.' Blah, blah, blah. You broadcast that stupid spy shit all over town, and we picked it up on our Cerebro, and we cracked it in a day. A day! You think you're so smart, but a couple of kids who scoop ice cream for a living cracked your code in a day, and now, people know you're here."

"Who knows we are here, cука?"

"Uh, well, Dustin knows."
"Hey, Steve?"
"Yeah, Dustin Henderson, he knows."
"Steve!"

"Dustin Henderson. It is your small, curly-haired friend?"

"Oh, curly-haired. Great hair. Small. Kind of like a 'fro. Yeah."
"Where is he?"

"He's long gone, you big asshole. And he's probably calling Hopper, and Hopper is calling the US cavalry. They are going to come in here, commando-style, guns a-blazin', and kick your sorry asses back to Russia. You're gonna be two pieces of toast."

"Is that so?"
"Yeah."

The alarms started blaring as Steve gave the guard a look. They all left the doctor in there with the teens. Dustin rushed in, using some sort of weapon, and used it on the doctor.

"Hey! Henderson! That's crazy, I was just talking about you," Steve smiled as he undid the binds.
"Oh, my God!"

"Get ready to run. Wait, where's Kristen?"

The two stayed silent, not wanting to say it out loud. Dustin and Erica shared a look of worry but a look that confirmed what they were thinking.

Kristen was dead.