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˚ ₊ ♡ ❰  CRUEL SUMMER ❱
*✧ ─── ❝ ❪ THE CROSSROAD ! ❫ ❞
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˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ SEASON THREE ☀️ ⁺⑅

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SUPER FREAKS SERIES ⋆ 🚲.
♯ ❝ SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH MILO ! ❞
CHAPTER ELEVEN ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
˚ ₊ ♡ 1985, july 3rd ─── episode five
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MILO HOPPER DID NOT EXPECT TO BE STANDING INSIDE A HIDDEN STORAGE LOCKER AT STARCOURT MALL, ONE WHERE SUPPOSEDLY DANGEROUS RUSSIAN gunmen were patrolling around with rather large automatic rifles. How no one had seen any of them yet was beyond the blonde boy. Juno, who had been standing next to him, didn't look much happier with the turn of events, but after their conversation earlier, the air around them seemed more comfortable, and the young girl, despite the fact of getting shot at, felt particularly safe standing next to the tall blonde.

Like thieves in the night, Juno, Milo, Steve, Dustin and Robin had snuck inside the dark small room after Erika managed to open it for them, but while Milo hadn't expected anything extraordinary strange, he also didn't expect to find cardboard boxes from the Imperial Panda.

"This feels very ant-climatic." Juno murmured as the group stared at the sight in disbelief.

"Well, I don't expect them to just have weapons of mass destruction laying around for everyone to see." Dustin countered cheekily, motioning for Steve to open one of the boxes.

"This feels like a spy movie." Milo added in a chipper—borderline excited tone as he stepped towards Steve to look over his shoulder. The group watched with anticipation as Steve cut the tape, securing the box away to reveal a metal container.

"That's definitely not Chinese food." Steve uttered.

Reluctantly, Steve reached out to twist the cap of the metal box open, a hissing sound erupted as the air released. "Really?" Juno mocked. "a box in a box in a box?"

"What, they are very thorough." Dustin shrugged, nudging Steve to lift one of the containers up.

"Uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stand back?" He waved his hands.

Milo, Juno, Erika and Robin did so without much protest, but Dustin eagerly stayed rooted next to Steve. "Step back." The older teen repeated.

"No."

"Step back. Seriously." He pushed against Dustin's chest.

"If you die! I die!" Dustin declared and Milo's eyes widened.

"Wait? Are we going to die?" He asked worriedly.

"What? No of course not!" Juno stammered.

"But he feels like he is dying! He's dead scared!" Milo pointed at Steve.

"I'm not scared!" Steve voice rose an octave higher as he regarded Milo.

"Yes you are." Milo replied matter-of-factly. "I can feel your emotions. You're kinda shouting them actually."

"How...wait never mind. You're a weird antenna thingy." Steve muttered to himself. "Couldn't you get like I don't know, laser eyes or something. That be more useful."

Milo frowned, not picking up on Steve's sarcastic tone. "We couldn't pick them."

"Don't listen to him Milo." Juno grabbed his upper arm, "He's just jealous. Most teenage boys can't even recognise their own feelings, let alone the feelings of others."

"Shut it." Steve snapped, and Milo felt more waves of fear and anxiety coming from the boy who slowly reached down to grabbed one of the cylinders.  Air hissed as it was it was lifted up and everyone watched with wide eyes as a green, iridescent-like substance was revealed.

"What the hell?"

"What is that?" Robin breathed out.

   Mechanic rumbling echoed.

"What was that?" Juno gasped.

"Was that just me, or did the room move?" Dustin wondered nervously.

"Booby traps." Erika whispered.

The mechanical whirring grew louder and Robin quickly reached out to grab the cylinder from Steve's hand. "Let's just grab that and go."

"I like that plan!" Juno nodded, hurrying after Robin and pulling Milo with her.

"Which one do I press Erika!" Dustin anxiously asked as he kept pressing the button and nothing happened.

"Just press the damn button, nerd." Erika rolled her eyes.

"I'm pressing the button okay!"

"Press open door."

"I am pressing open door!"

Milo could feel everyone's fear ripple around him in waves, the feeling exponentially growing with every second that passed and he started to feel lightheaded. "Milo?"

Juno appeared in front of him, her hazel eyes gazing down at him with worry. "Are you alright?"

Milo grasped his head, "Too much. Too much."

"Guys?" Juno called out as she watched Milo become paler by the second. "I think something is wrong with Milo." No one responded as everyone continued to argue about the damn button.

"Guys!" Juno thundered. "I think something is wrong with—"

Clang

She spun around just in time to see Milo fall backwards against a stack of boxes. "Milo!"

There was no time to react as suddenly, it felt like the floor dropped from beneath them and the descended rapidly downward.

"We're going down! We're going down!" Steve screamed in panic.

"Yeah no shit Harrington!" Robin grumbled.

"Well, Milo is down already!" Juno cried out, as she held the boy's head in her lap. "You guys overwhelmed him with your panic!" she accused.

"I wasn't afraid!" Dustin and Steve chorused together and Juno glared at them.

"Liars!"

The crashed into the ground, boxes toppling over as everyone screamed.

"Is everyone okay?"

"I'm great, now that I know the Russians can't design elevators!" Steve bellowed.

"I think we have clearly establish that those buttons don't work." Robin sighed as Steve continued to press the same buttons over and over again.

"They're buttons, they have to do something."

"Yeah, if we had a keycard."

"A what?"

"It's an electronic lock." Robin elaborated, "Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a keycard, it won't operate, meaning we're stuck in here."

"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 am not home for Uncle Jack's party tomorrow—"

"Oh will you guys give it a rest!" Juno cut in worriedly, still clinging on to Milo. "Milo is hurt, and we are stuck and I don't know what to do!"

Everyone turned to look at the pair on the ground, silence surrounding him. "Has this ever happened before?" Juno continued, looking at Steve and Dustin for an answer.

"The last time he went out like that, the Mind Flayer was inside his body." Dustin whispered.

"The what now?" Robin furrowed her eyebrows.

"You think that is this?" Juno ignored the girl.

"We killed it," Dustin shook his head. "He was still connected to that thing and didn't say anything at the time. He almost died."

"He can't die!"

"He's not dying alright!" Steve shook his head, "Look he said our emotions were too much for him, right? He probably just fainted. He'll be up any second now brand new and shiny."

"I don't know..."Juno muttered as she pushed a couple of stray blonde whisps of hair out of his eyes. "He looks pale."

"It's Milo, he always looks pale." Steve dissuaded her with a wave of his hand. "Let's just focus on getting out here and then we can bring him back to the chief. He'll know what to do with him."

"What if we climbed out?" Dustin offered after a moment.

"How do you suppose Milo will do that—you know unconscious an all?

"Right..." Dustin mutterd, "But it can't hurt to look? And someone else could always go up to get help right?"

Juno bit the inside of her cheek, glancing down at a clammy looking Milo. "Right. You're right." Carefully, the brunette placed Milo's head on the ground. "I went rock climbing with my mum every summer since I was ten. I should be able to scale up."

Steve nodded, gesturing for the brunette the climb up. Placing her feet on the boy's clasped hands, he pushed her upwards and she crawled through the tiny opening.

"You think it's possible?" Steve called out.

Juno glanced upwards, a frown pulling on her face. "no." She admitted sadly, "I can't even see the ending."

"Alright." Steve sighed, "Let's get you down."

Carefully, Juno made her way back down again, and immediately went to sit next to a shivering Milo, and pulled his head back on her lap. "We're gonna be alright." She whispered.

"Code red. I repeat this is a code red." Dustin held his walky-talky up. "Does anyone copy? We are innocent children and we are trapped under Starcourt Mall. The Red Army has infiltrated Hawkins, and if we are found, they will torture and kill us."

"Hey how is he doing?" Robin scooted over to sit next to Juno. "Still no sign of waking up?"

"No..." Juno mumbled, "What if it is something else? What if it wasn't our emotions? He told me how that Mind Flayer thing could take control over him, it did that when Milo found out it was possessing Will. What if it is something like that?"

"Hey." Robin grasped her hand in hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Let's not worry about interdimensional monsters right now. A group of Red Army Russians is enough."

"Maybe he's in the Upside Down." Steve offered whilst Dustin continued to send out alerts. "He can do that right? Like Eleven?"

"He told me it was a bit different for him. Eleven can see a specific person inside the Upside Down, the rest is just blank, but Milo, he can bring himself there, truly."

"Kid got a crazy mind." Steve shrugged unsurely.

"This is all my father's fault." Juno replied bitterly.

"Hey we can't chose our relatives."

"Hey, hey, hey! We don't even know what that is!" Robin shouted, jumping up from her seat on the ground to rush to Erika's side. The dark skinned girl was slamming the cylinder against a metal table.

"Exactly." Erika sassed, "It could be useful."

"Useful? How?" Robin breathed out tiredly.

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

"I hate to break it to you, but this—" she shook the cylinder, "Is not water."

"No, but it's a liquid, and if it comes down to me drinking that shit or dying of thirst—I drink."

Robin just scoffed, but when once again mechanical whirring echoed beyond the elevator doors, she pushed the thing back in Erika's hands.

"What is that?" Juno spoke up worriedly as Robin placed her ear against the wall.

"We've got company!" Robin rushed out. "We can hide up there!"

"We can't get him up!" Juno stated in a rushed voice, fear creeping up her spine. "we can't get him up!" she repeated, voice cracking.

"Juno." Robin pulled on her sleeve. "Juno please, we got to go. We can get him back. But we can't get him back if we all stay here and get captured!'

"What?" Dustin cried out. "we can't just leave him! He's part of the party! We don't leave party members behind!"

"We have to." Robin held back her own sob as she hauled Dustin upwards.

"But the Russians will get him! What if they freeze him in carbonite!"

"This isn't Star Wars Dustin!" Juno cried out! "they could kill him!"

"There is no time!" Robin denied, "I'm sorry but we can't. we'll go back for him I promise!"

Juno felt the tears streaming down her face as he hauled herself upwards through the small metal panel, catching one last glimpse at the blonde boy before Steve closed the panel.

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