☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

°•. ┊ Daylight┊.•°
✧ ˚ ━ don't wanna keep secrets, act two

CHAPTER SIX — e pluribus unum

✧

"The gate." Steve repeats Dustin and we all share a look. We instruct everyone to move. Trying our best to explain why this is bad.

"I don't understand. You've seen this before?" Robin questions, as we're making our way down the steps.

"Not exactly." Steve says.

"Then what, exactly?" Gen asks.

"All you need to know is it's bad." I state, glancing over at her.

"It's really bad." Steve adds.

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

"And you know about this how?" Robin asks, as we reach the control room.

"Um, Steve? Where's your Russian friend?" Erica questions, causing us to look for him and find nothing. An alarm sounds and we know we're screwed.

"Shit." Steve huffs, running over to the door and opening it, staring out at the Russians. He slams the door shut and ushers all of us to run. We go through a couple doors, following Dustin's lead and find ourselves in a room full of more Russians. Of the scientist profession not carrying guns. We run to our left towards the device and the gate, Steve leading us down a set of steps and through another door. Steve holds the door shut, but there's too many of them, so Robin and I help him. It's not working all that well and we're definitely gonna get caught. Dustin tells us to come on, but we all look at one another, knowing that's not gonna happen. "Go! Just get out of here!"

"Go, come on, now!" Gen yells."

"No! Just go get some help, okay?" Steve fires back.

"What are you doing?!" She questions.

"Go!" This time it's me shouting.

"I won't forget you!" Dustin says.

"Go!" All three of us say simultaneously, as the other three make their way out of the room. Just as they disappear from sight, we all get shoved back, and the Russian comrades enter, holding us at gunpoint. Robin and I are dragged into a separate room than Steve and tied to a set of chairs. We're left alone so I take that as an opportunity to tell the story of last year to Robin and whatever I can remember about what Steve and Lila told me about the year prior.

"So, we're all fucking doomed and all of their hard work over the past two years to stop this shit, is going to waste. Because of some Russian morons" I shout the last part. Four commies come in and remove us from the chairs.

"Nice going, Sam." Robin huffs.

"It's not my fault that they can't handle the facts." I state, glaring at the men. We get dragged from point A to point freaking B, both of us struggling and shouting the entire time. They toss us to the ground and I wince, rolling on my side, finding Steve, bloody and unconscious. Shit. "Steve? Steve? Come on, Steve. Wake up."

"What did you do to him?" Robin shouts. "What did you do?" They lift us up once again and tie us each to a chair, Steve and Robin back to back, while my chair sits against a wall, facing Robin. "Steve. Steve, wake up."

"Don't touch him." I command, as the short man walks over and lifts Steve's head up. "Steve. Steve, can you hear me?" He rounds the pair and looks between Robin and I.

"I think your friend need a doctor." He says with choppy English, his accent thick. "Good thing...we have the very best." He gets eye level with Robin and she spits in his face. I laugh loudly, earning a back hand from one of the guards next to me. Assholes. "You are going to regret that." They all exit the room, leaving the three of us alone.

"Bastards." Robin mutters. "Let us out of here! Bastards! Let us out!" I join her shouting, seeing as there isn't much either of us can do. Both of us are yelling for help and getting absolutely nowhere. A noise emits from the other side of the room.

"Hey, would the two of you stop yelling?" Steve groans. The blonde and I release a sigh of relief. Robin asks if he's 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, they're calling you a doctor. So, maybe he'll fix that." I say.

"Is this his place of work? I love the vibe. Charming." He jokes, trying to lighten the mood. I smile softly.

"Yeah, tell me about it." I breathe.

"So, okay, do you see that table over there to your right?" Robin questions, as Steve turns his head the wrong way. "No, your other right." Steve turns the other way and locates what she's talking about. "And do you see those scissors?"

"Uh-huh."

"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." Robin explains her genius plan.

"And I could cut the binds." Steve says.

"Yeah, and we could all get out of here." The Buckley girl states.

"You know, I could try and get to them." I offer. "I mean, I don't have another person tied to me and I might be able to stand up. It would be a deeply uncomfortable position, but worth a shot."

"Yeah, but we're closer" She argues. I shrug, not fighting her on it because I kinda want to see where this goes.

"Those morons. They left scissors in here?" Steve laughs.

"Yeah, morons." Robin adds.

"Total morons." I chuckle. Robin tells him that they'll hop on three and Steve repeats her to let her know that he got it. The girl counts to three and the pair hop to the right.

"Okay, that worked." Robin breathes. "Alright. Uh, let's try again." Another count of three and they move again. On the third count, their chairs tip over and they're both on the ground now. Robin starts laughing or crying or both. I'm not really sure which.

"It's okay, it's okay." Steve tries to calm her down. "Don't cry. Robin...are you laughing?"

"Yeah." She smiles.

"Jesus!"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. It's just...I can't believe...I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve "The Hair" Harrington. It's just too trippy, man." She starts laughing like crazy. "And add to the mix his super hot, California girlfriend. This is weird."

"We're not gonna die." I state.

"We're gonna get out of here, okay?" Steve starts. "Just... You gotta let me just think for a second."

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

"What?" Steve asks.

"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 always 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?" The boy responds with silence. "Of course you don't. You were a real asshole, you know that?" The girl says.

"Yeah, I know." The boy speaks, somberly.

"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." A sad smile finds its way onto my face, as I gaze at the girl. She's one of the best people I know and the fact that she wants to be some stupid high standard of normal, really bugs me. She's amazing. I wish that I had been around longer or even known her last year because she's become one of the best people I know.

"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." Steve huffs. "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." Robin breathes. "At least it can't get any more messed up than this."

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

"Yeah?" I can tell that Robin doesn't believe him.

"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." He explains.

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

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

"It was." Robin sighs.

"And Sammy." Steve starts, gaining my attention. "I can't see you right now, but I'm just gonna assume that you're listening to me. I really wish that you had moved to Hawkins sooner. Maybe I would have made fewer mistakes with you kicking my ass every day."

"Me too, Stevie." I sigh. "Me too."

"Where were you two going?" The man comes back into the room "Try telling the truth this time, yes? It will make your visit with Dr. Zharkov less painful." My friends get lifted up and a man with a lab coat pulls out a syringe with a huge needle. What the fuck.

"Wait a second. Wait. Hold on." I protest as he approaches me first.

"Okay! Wait, wait, wait! What is that thing?" Steve shouts and the man turns to him.

"It will help you talk." He states.

"Did you even clean that thing?!" I shout, trying to move away from him, only for someone else to grab my head and give him access to my neck. He injects me with whatever the hell is in that syringe and moves onto my friends. I feel woozy and like the room is spinning. It kinda feels good.

"Honestly, I don't really feel anything. Do you?" Steve is the first to speak up after our appointment with the doctor.

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

"How about you, Firefly? How you doing over there?" Steve calls out, while Robin looks at me.

"Yeah, I feel... I feel fine." I breathe, staring at the ceiling. "Honestly, I kinda feel good." I start to laugh, both Scoops workers joining me.

"Wanna know a secret?" Robin asks.

"What?" I question, still laughing.

"I like it, too!" She nearly giggles and we all burst out laughing.

"I feel good." Steve laughs. "Morons. They messed up the drug."

"They messed it up!" Robin laughs.

"Morons. Hey, morons!" I call out. And pretty soon we're all shouting 'morons.'

"Oh, no. There's definitely something wrong with us." Robin gasps.

"Something's wrong." Steve and I laugh. The door opens and the men re-enter. The doctor setting up mideval torture devices on one of the metal tables. "Would now be a good time to tell you that I don't like doctors?"

"Let's try this again, yes?" The short Russian asks a rhetorical question. "Who do you work for?"

"Scoops." Steve states, sending Robin and I into a silent fit of laughter. "Scoops Ahoy."

"How did you find us?"

"Totally by accident." Steve answers, Robin and I continue to laugh. The man says something in Russian to the doctor.

"What is that shiny little toy?" I inquire, a smile present on my face. The doctor walks over to Steve and is about to remove one of his finger nails, when Robin yells out about the 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." Robin explains.

"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." I add.

"Who knows we are here?" The man is now facing me and I shrug, while smirking.

"Uh, well, Dustin knows." Steve responds. Idiot. Drugged or not. Always an idiot.

"Hey, Steve?" Robin tries to get the boy's attention.

"Yeah, Dustin Henderson, he knows."

"Steve!" I shout, even though he's already given them more than enough information.

"Dustin Henderson." The man repeats the name. "Is it your small, curly-haired friend?"

"Oh, curly-haired. Great hair. Small. Kind of like a 'fro. Yeah." Steve says.

"Where is he?"

"He's long gone, you big asshole. And he's probably calling Hopper, and Hopper's calling the US cavalry. They're gonna come in here, commando-style, guns a-blazin', and kick your sorry asses back to Russia. You're gonna be two pieces of toast." Steve explains, causing Robin and I to start laughing again. I want to know what they gave us because it's a real good time.

"Is that so?" The man asks in a creepy voice. The three of us are just laughing our asses off, when an alarm sounds, causing our heads to snap towards the door and everyone to fall silent. The door right next to me, busts open and in runs Dustin with some taser deluxe and he takes out the doctor. Erica comes over to me and frees me from my ties, before moving onto Robin. I start to stand and stumble, grabbing Gen's shoulders to steady myself.

"Hey! Henderson! That's crazy, I was just talking about you." Steve tells the boy.

"Get ready to run." The Henderson boy commands.

[word count: 2307]

lexi's letters; henderson for the win