~*****~

Endless chatter began to echo out from somewhere ahead, and the closer the group got, the slower their tread got in response to the obvious Russian language filtering down the hall. Moving stealthily through the corridors, Juliet felt sweat trickle down her back at the nerves beginning to get to her. "Okay, clear, come on. Let's go-" Steve urged to the group.

"Okay, that was close," Robin mentioned as the group ducked around a hallway.

"Too close." Dustin stated.

"Relax, all right? Relax. Nobody saw..." Steve murmured as he rounded a corner. Juliet peered around his shoulder and gaped. It looked like a hive, workers walking about, vehicles passing by, a lot of lights and flickering buttons as far as the eye could see. "Shit-" Steve gasped as the group ducked behind a container in the hallway.

"Red Dawn!" Dustin exclaimed.

"I saw it." Erica gasped suddenly, tugging on Juliet's arm frantically. "First floor, northwest!"

"Saw what?" Juliet asked.

"The comms room!" Erica hissed.

"You saw the comms room?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Correct!"

"Are you sure?" Dustin asked.

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

"That could be a hundred different things," Dustin retorted.

"I'll take those odds," Juliet shrugged as she peered back at Steve. He stared at her for a moment before sighing, shaking his head.

The group glanced out at the hive once again before slipping back into the shadows. "All right. We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low." Steve ordered. "Okay?"

"Okay..." Robin murmured.

The group slowly followed after Steve. The room in question as easy enough to reach, and as the group stepped in, Juliet took notice to the man sitting at the comms, back turned to them for a moment before he turned in his chair, slipping his headphones off with a confusion expression. Just as he reached for his gun, Robin began spouting out the code they'd deciphered to him, hand held out cautiously. He responded to her, but he remained confused as she continued to repeat the code to him.

Just as he reached for his gun again, Steve let out a battle cry and rushed forward. Juliet watched in horror as the man began to swing at Steve, and for the first time since she's met him, he swung his head back, avoiding the hit like a champ. The two struggled for a bit before Steve grasped a mic from the counter and smacked the guard across the face with it, causing him to fall over and hit his head on the machines and fall unconscious.

Steve stood over him, panting lightly. He ran a hand through his hair and Juliet suddenly felt as if her mouth had dried up. Juliet swallowed thickly as she continued to stare at him. "Dude!" Dustin exclaimed, a wide grin on his face. "You did it! You won a fight!"

Steve glanced back down at the guard before a hesitant smile crept onto his face, eyes instinctively reaching Juliet's for some sort of praise. The look of awe in her eyes and the subtle flush crawling up her neck had Steve preening.

Juliet rushed forward and snatched the keycard off of the guard before sparing a glance at Steve. "What are you doing?" Erica asked.

Juliet held up the card and wiggled it. "It's our ticket out of this hellhole."

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

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

"Have a picnic? We came for the radio!" Erica exclaimed.

"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 commented.

"Dustin," Juliet hissed. "Stop acting like a jerk."

"No, she's being irate, so I guess she's st-"

"Guys-" Robin interrupted the two arguing. "There's something up there." She gestured to the door up the stairs. The group ran upstairs and slowly entered the next room.

Juliet felt her stomach drop at the sight. "Holy shit-" She murmured. Past a high-tech lab, sat another room, housing a gate to the upside down where an advanced looking machine worked to pry it open. And the crack along the wall just grew bigger and bigger.

Juliet and Steve peered at one another, both horrified. "The gate." The two murmur.

The group exited the lab, leaving Robin with more questions. "I don't understand. You've seen this before?" Robin asked.

"Not exactly," Steve retorted.

"Then what, exactly?" Robin pushed.

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

"It's really bad," Steve agreed.

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

"And you know about this, how?" Robin asked irritably.

"Um, Steve? Where's your Russian friend?" Erica asked.

Just as Steve glances at the ground where the Russian use to lay, alarms began to blare out loudly. "Shit-" Steve hissed as he rushed to the door, peering out as he swung it open. Several guards spot him and start running towards the room. "Go, go, go, go!" He urged as he slammed the door shut.

"Shit!" Dustin cried.

"Move! Let's move!" Steve barked. They slipped into the lab, grabbing the attention of the scientists, and backpedaling to run down the hall and into the room where the gate stood. It became a mad dash until they closed themselves into a room with pipes. Steve pressed himself into the door as Juliet looked around madly. "Help me, come on!" Steve urged to Robin.

"Here! Come on, let's go!" Erica called out. Juliet rushed up the stairs with Dustin at her heels. She popped open the hatch with a shout and urged Erica in first.

"Come on!" Juliet shouted back at Steve and Robin as Dustin squeezed in.

"Go! Just go! Get them out of here!" Steve barked back.

"No! Steve, Robin, let's go! Now!" Juliet urged as she moved to run down the stairs.

"No!" Steve shouted at her. "Just go get some help, okay?!"

Juliet felt panic swarm in her gut. She couldn't help the feeling. On one hand, she could get her brother to safety, but if that meant leaving behind her friends, it was almost enough to make her scream in frustration. Juliet gave a shout of anger before leaping into the pipe, seemingly making her mind. "I'll get you guys out; I promise!" She called out before ducking in and slamming the grate behind her. The sound of the door bursting open echoed out so loudly, Juliet feared they might've been hurt by the crash.

~*****~

What Juliet originally thought was piping turned out to be the ventilation system for the complex. She sat at a fuse box irritably, peering at the wires and fiddling with them as Dustin explained to Erica the previous events that had happened. "So, when we set fire to the hub, we drew the Demodogs away so El could close the gate. But now, for some insane reason, the Russians appear to be trying to reopen it, which just destroys everything we risked our lives for." Dustin explained to Erica.

"By we, you're including Lucas?" Erica asked skeptically.

"Yes, of course," Dustin retorted.

"So, all that shit you told me, Lucas was there?" Erica repeated.

"Yeah?" Dustin hummed, sharing a confused glance with Juliet.

"My brother, Lucas Charles Sinclair?" Erica asked again.

"Yes!" Dustin snapped.

"I don't believe you," Erica hummed.

"Wait, so you believe everything about El and the gate and the Demodogs and the Mind Flayer, but you question your brother's involvement?" Juliet asked, pushing her palms on her thighs to readjust her aching legs.

Erica nodded. "That's correct."

"Makes total sense," Juliet sighed as she went back to fiddling with the wires of the box.

"Um, you need help with that?" Erica asked.

"No," Juliet retorted.

"Well, I mean, it's taking a while, so-"

"No shit," Juliet snapped.

"All right, so if we don't find a more efficient method to stop these fans, we're never gonna find help, and your ice cream buddies are screwed." Erica commented.

"Yeah, with that attitude they are," Dustin mentioned. "Jee-zus."

"I'm just being realistic," Erica shrugged. "I mean, we've made it about point-three miles in nine hours. Then we had to walk three hours down that tunnel, so I'd estimate ten miles back to the elevator, which should take us approximately twelve and a half days."

Juliet and Dustin stared at Erica for a while, glancing at one another for confirmation before Dustin spoke. "Did you just do all of that in your head?" Dustin asked.

"I'm good with numbers," Erica shrugged.

"Holy shit-" Juliet hummed. "You're a nerd!"

Erica sputtered. "Come again?"

"You- are- a- nerd." Juliet repeated.

"Okay, you better take that back, nerd!" Erica snapped.

"Can't put the truth back in the box," Dustin beamed.

"But it's not the truth," Erica shot back.

"Let's examine the facts, Dust," Juliet commented teasingly as she peered back at Dustin. "Fact one: You're a math whiz, apparently."

"That was a pretty straight forward equation." Erica hummed.

"Fact number two: You're a political junkie," Dustin added.

"Just because I don't agree with Communism as an ideology-"

"Fact number three: You love My Little Pony." Juliet continued as she brandished Erica's pink backpack.

"And what does My Little Pony have to do with this?" Erica immediately snapped in offence.

Dustin sighed. "Let's recall the ponies' latest adventure, shall we?" Dustin hummed to his sister with a nudge of his elbow. "The evil centaur team and Tirek turns Applejack into a dragon at Midnight Castle, and then Megan and the other ponies have to use Moochick's magic to defeat his rainbow of darkness, saving them from a lifetime of enslavement. All the pink in the world can't disguise the irrefutable fact that centaurs and castles and dragons and magic are all standard nerd tropes. Ergo, My Little Pony is nerdy. Ergo, you, Erica, are a nerd."

"And how do you know so much about My Little Pony?" Erica asked tauntingly.

"Because, I'm a nerd." Dustin retorted.

Juliet shoved her hand into the bundle of wires and snapped them out. The fan besides them slowed to a stop. "Let's go, nerds." Juliet hummed. Erica's face was warped with loathing as the group ventured on, muttering a threat under her breath.

~*****~

The group happened upon a room filled with tubes leading to the ceiling, all filled with the containers of green goo. "Jackpot," Juliet murmured as she pulled herself out of the grate. Dustin began swatting at her arm with an excited chuckle. Juliet followed after him.

"Do you even know how to drive?" Erica asked Dustin.

"No, but she does," Dustin motioned to his sister. He peered into the cab and groaned.

"You seriously thought they'd just leave keys?" Erica asked.

"There's gotta be a spare." Dustin snapped as Juliet rounded the car.

"Hey, guys?" Erica called out. The two hummed in unison. "How big did you say that Demogorgon was?"

"Big. Nine feet or so, why?" Dustin retorted.

Juliet pried at a box on the wall and pulled out one of her bobby pins, shoving it into the tumbler and jostling it around before it popped open. "Found 'em." Juliet chirped as she snatched the set of keys inside. She peered around and furrowed her brows when Erica was no where to be found. "Erica?" A loud zapping noise echoed out behind her and she nearly kicked back with all her strength. Whirling around, she stared at Erica, who held a very long stun baton.

"What the hell is that?!" Dustin cried.

"A deadly weapon," Erica beamed. "Could be useful."

She zapped it again. "For what?" Dustin snapped.

"What do you think?" Erica asked. "Takin' down Commie, saving your friends?"

"Thought you were more realistic than that, nerd," Juliet commented. "We don't even know where they are, and even if we did, there's millions of guards with guns!"

"Yeah, the best thing we can do for them is to get out of here and find help." Dustin hummed.

Juliet hopped into the truck and shoved the key into the ignition. "Yeah, what he said," Juliet murmured, eyes scanning the hallways carefully. Dustin was going to give her uber shit for purposely putting them in danger.

~*****~

With the careful use of the goo on the elevator, the team managed to create a successful diversion and rerouted themselves towards the detention center. Barging in, Juliet gave a battle cry as she swung the stun baton at the doctor's face, knocking him unconscious. "Hey! Henderson!" Steve cheered as Juliet whirled around to the two tied up in the chairs. There was a strange lilt to Steve's tone as he beamed and stared up at her. "That's crazy, I was just talking about you-"

"Shut up, Steve," Juliet pressed as she started fiddling with the ropes.

"Oh, my god!" Robin chirped in the same lilted tone.

"Get ready to run," Dustin expressed. Snapping the ropes off, Juliet grasped at their arms and started dragging them along while the alarms continued to blare overhead. Juliet rushed Steve and Robin into the back compartment of the car and hopped in the front, shoved the key into the ignition when she felt fingers tickling at the back of her neck from the grate. She swatted at them irritably before slamming her foot down onto the gas pedal.

"Jesus, slow down!" Steve suddenly cried from the back.

"Yeah, what is this, like, the Indy Five Hundred?" Robin chirped.

"It's the Indy Three Hundred," Steve corrected her. Juliet finally took notice to the slurring in their tone.

"No, dingus, it's five hundred!" Robin shot back.

"It's three hundred!" Steve shouted.

"Let's say a million," She retorted.

Steve began to cackle loudly in a tone she'd only heard when he'd invited her over to smoke at his house during the summer. "What is wrong with them?" Erica asked.

"I don't know," Dustin retorted.

"Hey, watch out!" Erica snapped at Juliet.

"YOU CAN COMMENT ON MY DRIVING LATER!" She snapped as she slammed into the metal barrels near the elevator. Robin and Steven groaned after a loud thud echoed out.

"You guys all right back there?" Dustin asked. They continued to groan in pain. Erica and Juliet stared at him for a moment. "They're fine." Dustin shrugged.

The three hopped out of the front of the cart and popped open the cage in the back, releasing the two from their confinement. "Come on, we gotta go, now!" Juliet urged, waving her hand at them.

"Come on!" Erica shouted. "Get out!"

"Let's go!" Dustin snapped, clapping his hands as the two stared in confusion.

"Oh, for the love of-" Juliet growled before stomping in and grasping at their hair. Shouts of pain echoed out.

"All right, all right!" Steve complained. "Watch it!"

"Easy, it's hard enough to grow hair!" Robin whined.

They yelped in pain as Juliet finally wrangled them out and was suddenly swamped in a tight, mushy hug as Steve curled his arms around her waist. "Hey, come here often?" He chirped lazily, lips brushing against her temple.

"Jesus Christ, Steve, move!" Juliet urged, shoving him towards the elevator.

Once on, the two began to play around like little kids, shouting and laughing gleefully as the elevator roared up the shaft. Steve tried to balance on a cart while Robin pushed it back and forth. "You look like you're surfing!" Robin chirped.

"Surfing, yeah!" Steve shouted excitedly.

"They seem drunk," Erica mentioned.

"Why would they be drunk?" Dustin asked.

"I'm a natural! Check it out!" Steve cheered before tumbling forward and rolling onto the ground, hitting the boxes and groaning.

Robin laughed gleefully. "Wipe out!" They both continued to laugh excitedly with one another.

Juliet knelt down to Steve and grasped at his face. "He's burning up," Juliet mentioned as she glanced back at Dustin.

"You're burning up," Steve retorted as he feebly swatted at her hands. His eyes locked onto her chest and stopped fighting her for a moment, dumb thoughts still swirling in his head. All this drugged up mind could comprehend was how good that shirt looked so tightly pressed against her chest. Sure, they weren't that big, but they were enough for a handful of fun. "Cause you're hot." Juliet ignored him and began trying to pry his eye open more. "God, no!" He complained, grasping at her wrists to stop her. "Ow!" He whined.

"His pupils are dilated," Juliet mentioned.

"Maybe he's drugged?" Erica asked.

Juliet snapped back to Steve, eyes wide and face stuck in shock as Steve grasped her breasts. "Honk!" He chirped with a giggle, hands idly squeezing her chest. He was right, Steve thought, more than fun. His mind went on one track and it involved his obsession with Juliet.

She snatched his hands off of her chest and started snapping in his face. "Steve, were you drugged?"

"How many times, Dad? I don't do drugs. It's only marijuana." Steve retorted with a slur before cupping at Juliet's chest again.

"This isn't funny, Steve," Juliet snapped as she once again pried his hands off of her chest. "I need to know what they did to you. Are you gonna die on us?"

Steve grasped her breasts again, grinning from ear to ear. "We all die, my hot angry friend." Robin chirped. "It's just a matter of how... and when."

"They're gonna be looking for us up there," Dustin mentioned as he peered over Juliet's shoulder. "So, I need you to tell me where you parked your car."

"Oh, can we make a pit stop at the food court?" Steve asked, mind snapping to food.

"I would kill for a hot dog on a stick." Robin cooed in agreement.

"Ooh!" Steve cooed.

"All right, yeah, food," Juliet groaned. "Yes, you can have as much food as you want, but only if you tell me where your car is parked!"

"Uh-oh." Steve whimpered. Juliet echoed in confusion. "The car's off the board."

"I'm sorry- what?" Juliet asked.

"They took the keys," Steve shrugged sheepishly. He began digging in his pockets, pulling out the lining. "The Russians, they took the keys!" Robin began cackling. "Like, forever ago." The two began to laugh at the situation. "That's a bummer, right?"

Juliet pressed her palms to her face for a moment. "Only for you Steve, I know how to hot wire a car, so your beloved car is about to be torn open." Juliet mentioned. Steve and Robin continued to giggle. She swatted at his hands as they recouped her breasts, stopping him from idly squeezing them.