chapter twenty-seven
all along the watchtower

🖤

RUBY CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW ANGRY she is.

This monster thinks it can possess her body, and she won't put up a fight? She keeps on thinking about the few days she's been stuck in her own mind — before they left, the kids told her it's the Fourth of July. It was, what, late June, the last she remembered? She lost that many days, imprisoned by the Mind Flayer? Everything sucks.

She gives up dialling her dad's landline, and instead, goes straight for 911. He isn't picking up, so she presumes — she hopes — he's at work. Unless something else is going wrong... Fuck, something has, hasn't it? It always goes wrong at the same time. Now is not the time for more things to be going wrong for her.

"Hello, you've dialled 911—"

"Police! Police!"

"Putting you through—"

Jesus, hurry up! she thinks.

"Hello, police—"

"I'm Ruby Brenner, I need to get a hold of my dad! He's Jim Hopper, he's chief in Hawkins. Is this—is this the local line? Can you get me through to him?"

There's a pause, before the woman on the other line says:

"He's not here right now. I can put you through to a deputy?"

Ruby looks at the clock. She's already spent ten minutes calling. What about Steve? She needs to go, now. If she takes any longer, she might miss her chance to save him.

"Can you help me? Can you—Can you tell all of the police out on duty, that if they see my dad, he needs to go to the mall, now.

"Uh, OK—?"

"Thank you, bye!"

Ruby hangs up the phone. She has to catch her breath; she didn't realise she was getting herself so worked up, trying to get through to her dad. She prays that the woman she spoke to will help her out. Ruby needs her dad.

She finally leaves the swimming pool's office, running towards her car. There's a massive dent in it from when she was flayed, but someone fixed the tyre, which is a win for her. She unlocks her car, and before the radio has even whirred into life, she's zooming down the street, straight towards the mall—

Hang on, the radio? Ruby doesn't listen to the radio! Ruby checks the passenger seat, where she normally dumps all of her mixtapes. It's empty. Ruby's mouth opens, shocked. Did the Mind Flayer seriously destroy her mixtapes, so she couldn't use them against him anymore? What a dick!

She keeps on getting whispers from the Mind Flayer, trying to infect her mind again, but she turns up the music. This isn't happening again. The image of Steve, needing her help, keeps her firmly within this reality. She isn't letting the love of her life die, and some monster from another reality is not getting in her way.

Ruby skids to a halt in the mall's parking lot. She glares at her passenger seat, mourning the mixtapes that she spent hours making — and her Walkman! That was a Christmas present!

She presumes he got rid of the bat in her trunk, too, but she checks anyway (he fucking did.) Ruby grimaces. The Mind Flayer deserves everything that's coming to him.

She walks into the mall, holding onto her car keys because she's got no bag anymore and her outfit has no pockets (fuck the Mind Flayer). She walks past all of the closed stores, and as she checks the clock, she realises it's 7PM. So the movie theatre's still open — that closes at midnight, Ruby remembers this from that date her and Steve went on the other week, to watch Back to the Future. But if no one's around...

Ruby looks at the JCPenney. Her eyes narrow, and the doors unlock.

Look. If the Mind Flayer's going to steal her shit, then she thinks it's perfectly within her right to go to a massive corporation and take some of their shit. Will they even notice? Ruby doubts it. And, anyway, she's gonna put their bags to much better use than a suburban mom.

Saying that, the bags are ugly, so maybe Ruby's doing them a favour.

Ruby grumbles. Her bag was so cute. She looks around — the JCPenney near the entrance is mens-only, whilst the one near the good toilets is womens and kids. Fuck's sakes. She redirects, grabbing the closest bomber jacket, and shoving her keys into the inside pocket.

She can't even shoplift in style.

She goes next door to the music store, picking up the most expensive headphones, batteries, and scans the cassettes for the best ones. God, she already misses her mixtapes. This is so evil of the Mind Flayer.

She grabs Derek and the Dominoes, the one with Layla on. She doesn't know the other songs, that's why she only put Layla on a mixtape! For fuck's sakes! Thanks to the Mind Flayer, she's going to have to rewind the same song, over and over! Ruby grabs another one of that cassette, then a couple Billy Idol, because she sees it first. That'll do.

Ruby has no idea how to get into this Russian fortress, which she realises as she leaves the music store. She closes her eyes, her head stinging as she forces her powers to figure out where the fuck Steve is. Please, she thinks, desperately, how do I get to him?

She remembers last year, when she sensed her dad was in danger, and she tries to manifest that into working again — but the thing is, that was an accident. She just kept on feeling something was wrong, she kept on having strong ideas about where he was... She can't bring back an ability she has no idea to use!

God. Come on, come on—

Her insides start to cramp up.

"I can't believe," She hears Robin's voice. For the first time ever, Ruby's grateful to hear her stupid voice "I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. It's just too trippy, man."

"We're not gonna die," Steve tells her, and Ruby overhears. "We're gonna get out of here, okay? Just... You gotta let me just think for a second."

Ruby stays still for a moment, her mind racing to figure out what it's picked up on. She can feel her skin stinging and cold metal on her neck; she hears her boyfriend's voice, trying to reassure Robin, who's laughing in disbelief, telling him about a class they all had together. Ruby grimaces, her insides still hurting, until finally, the answer comes to her — and she starts running for the back-entrance to the mall.

How is she going to get past scary Russian guards? Well... with hope. That's her plan. She can make people not-see her (this is the technical term) so, surely that'll work now? She has no clue. All she knows is that her boyfriend needs her, and quick.

Ruby finds the back-entrance, where the deliveries arrive. She pauses for a second, watching two men dressed in black load a truck with cardboard boxes. She focuses on herself for a second, picturing herself as invisible to them. The issue with this ability is the fact that she never knows if it's working, she just has to trial it out. So, she starts to walk toward the elevator, where her mind's telling her to go. Ruby keeps on glancing over at them, where they look straight past her. She slips into the elevator, and closes the exterior door with her mind. It's just, like, the wind, right, closing the door? The scary Russians won't think anything more.

She looks at the elevator buttons, and the key card. Ruby frowns, extends her hand, and makes the elevator start descending. She puts her headphones on, the floor shaking as it rattles down into the fortress.

Ruby senses she's almost at the end, when she puts on her new headphones. The opening riff of Layla starts to play as the elevator doors open, the guards outside dumbfounded. At least she's invisible.

She moves past them, anxiously eyeing the guns they're all holding. She prays she can make the rest of them invisible, too — that is, whoever's even here? She knows Robin's here, but Dustin was helping them with the code, so is he here, too? Ruby doesn't know.

She also has no clue where her boyfriend even is. She wishes she could just shout out, but then the scary Russians will hear her and she, too, will be in trouble. Like, maybe she could take them — she's pissed off enough — but that's a big presumption. What if the Mind Flayer takes advantage of her, if she gets too tired?

"It didn't matter that you were an ass," she hears Robin say. "I was still... obsessed with you."

Ruby stops walking for a second.

Robin continues, unaware of his girlfriend listening in,"Even though all of us losers pretend to be above it all, we still just wanna be popular... accepted, normal."

Ruby starts to walk again, a frown etched into her face. This better not be what Ruby thinks it is. She's never normally jealous — she's only been jealous about Robin... Actually, no, Ruby was also jealous about Nancy... But, like, that was more of a Ruby-thing than a Steve-thing, you know?

The matter is, she didn't care when girls flirted with Billy when they were dating, and when girls tried it with Steve, Ruby rolled her eyes, because she knew they didn't stand a chance. Is that it? Ruby thinks Robin could be a contender for Steve? Ruby feels annoyed, hearing Robin say she wants to be normal. She is normal! Ruby, the least normal person out here, cannot stand when normal people call themselves freaks. Like, get a fucking grip, some people are freaks. Like Ruby, who's walking around a Russian base undetected, because her mind has powers—

"If it makes you feel any better, having those things isn't all that great," her boyfriend tells Robin. "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?"

Ruby, as she turns the corner, her mind telling her she's going the right way, hears another voice. A deeper voice — the voice she's running from.

"You can't hide from me, Ruby..."

She can sure fight him, though.

She picks up her pace. Once she gets Steve and leaves this place, she can kill the Mind Flayer. She doesn't know how she'll kill it — she presumes she'll use fire and see what happens — but she knows she's going to. She's got to. If she doesn't...

See, this is why she's so scared. Because Ruby knows that if she doesn't kill the Mind Flayer, it's going to possess her body forever, and kill everyone else. She needs to kill it to keep her sister safe. Her dad safe. Her aunt safe. Her friends safe. Her boyfriend safe. She hates that this is her job, that this has been her responsibility since the day she got these powers, but there's nothing she can do now, apart from accept her fate.

It's just a pretty shitty one.

As she continues walking, she finds another corner. Her mind tells her to turn it, and as she does, she finds glass cases all lined up, dead demogorgons floating inside like lab experiments. Ruby stops, and, weirdly enough, an awful sense of guilt washes over her.

She walks up to the cases, slowly taking her headphones off. Her heart begins to sink. She thinks back to Hawkins lab, where El and all of those other children were locked away for years. Isn't this the same? These things are monsters, sure, but...

"... but your kind invaded our home."

Ruby's eyes widen. What?

Was that... was that a fucking demogorgon talking to her?

She doesn't know how to react. She stares at the one in front of her in shock. Does she talk back? Will it even understand her? Should she just, like, think it? Because it must've heard her the first time? Or—Or is this the Mind Flayer playing tricks on her?

She blinks, and in her mind, she sees the image of the Upside Down — only, there's no lightning in the sky, and the entire energy feels different. It feels nicer. She sees a crack of thunder, something falling from the sky—

"Ruby?"

Ruby jumps, almost screaming. Apparently she got distracted and the invisibility wore off.

Dustin looks at her, eyes wide.

"What are you doing?" he says.

Ruby looks at the demogorgon. Then Dustin. Then Lucas' sister... Wait—?

"What is she doing here?" says Ruby.

Lucas' sister gives Ruby a dirty look. "Just 'cause I don't have powers, doesn't mean I'm not useful."

Ruby raises an eyebrow. "Do you even have a name?"

"Yeah, it's Erica," says Erica.

"Sounds like a made-up name," says Ruby, and she turns to Dustin. "Where's Steve?"

"He was taken hostage by the Russians," says Dustin.

Ruby pauses. She glances at the demogorgon, as if it's moral support.

"I... I know that," says Ruby. "Why else would I be here?"

"You might like Russia," says Dustin.

Ruby pauses.

"Let's... find Steve... And Robin, I guess."

She walks past all of the contained demogorgons, trying to ignore the fact that they might have spoken to her (this day just gets weirder and weirder) towards Dustin and Erica. They're standing next to a badly-made golf cart, and Erica's holding a long metal stick.

Ruby raises an eyebrow, and before she asks, Erica explains:

"I found a deadly weapon." (Erica says this with immense pride.)

"And I've just found the keys to this cart," says Dustin. "Do you have any idea where they'll be? Like, using your mind-powers?"

Ruby winces. Her insides are still cramping, and she worries that this means Steve's been in pain this entire time. What are they doing to him?

She looks at Dustin. "Can you drive?"

"I mean, if you can, I can, surely?" he says.

Ruby gives him a dirty look.

"I miss when you were scared of me," says Ruby.

She sits in the passenger side, but Erica raises an eyebrow, so Ruby moves up, sitting awkwardly between the two children. Dustin starts driving, and Ruby speaks her mind's directions, barely paying attention to what's coming out of her mouth.

"I can't believe you've got powers," says Erica.

"Yeah, well, if you tell anyone, I'll kill you," says Ruby.

Erica continues, unbothered. "And that my brother knew! That's the coolest thing about him, and it's got nothing to do about him! How did you get your powers? Dustin didn't explain it very well—"

"The world just revolves around me."

"I doubt that—"

"Hey!" says Ruby, putting her hand out in front of Dustin, her mind screaming at her to stop. "This is it."

She climbs over Dustin to get out, hearing her boyfriend's voice from inside the room. Her eyes lock on the door, and she raises her hand.

The door flies off of its hinges.

Steve and Robin are tied to chairs, their backs pressed against each other. There's four men in there, standing around the two. One general (he has a fancy hat so Ruby presumes), two soldiers (less fancy hats), and a doctor (is dressed like he's gotten the Halloween costume version, called 'murderous doctor' or something else uncreative). Ruby steps in, her eyes narrowing.

"That's my girl!" Steve lets out, laughing. Ruby notices his face — he's got a black eye, and blood all over. She feels sick, seeing him like that, but she watches him turn to the general, and laugh. "You're fucked now, mister!"

Ruby loves him so much.

"Get her—!"

She tilts her head, and the two are thrown against the wall, knocked unconscious. The doctor grabs the nearest sharp object — an oversized scalpel by the looks of it — but she lifts her hand. Blood runs down her nose as she tilts her head, the rest of the medical instruments pinning the doctor against the wall. The general steps backwards, unsure what to do, and before he can call for help, Ruby slams him backwards, hitting his head.

"Hey, sailors," says Ruby, wiping her nose.

Robin looks at her, panicking. "How—How—?"

"I'm the coolest, duh," says Ruby, moving her hand, the belts tying the two up cutting into two.

Dustin and Erica run into the room, as Steve and Robin get to their feet. They sloppily stand up, bumping into nothing, and Ruby frowns. Were they drugged?

"OK, we're gonna get out of here," says Dustin. "But you guys need to be ready to run."

"OK, Dad," says Steve, giggling. He picks Ruby up, holding her tightly. "I missed you so much, where did you go?"

Ruby pats him, trying to get him to put her down. "Steve. We need to go."

Robin, still not over Ruby's powers (like, surely they're on the same wavelength as this hidden Russian fortress?), continues back to the matter, "No, seriously, how did you—?"

"We need to go!" Ruby snaps.

Steve and Robin stare at her, dumbfounded, before they both start giggling.

"You're so hot when you're angry," says Steve. "... You're always hot."

"Yeah, I know, let's go," says Ruby, and she grabs both Steve and Robin's hands, pulling them out of the room, towards the cart.

She's almost forced to sit in the back of the cart, in the cage designed for cargo, but Ruby argues her navigational skills. So, she sits wedged between Dustin and Erica again, trying to give out directions. She says trying, because behind her, she can hear Steve and Robin going, "Weeeee!" every time they turn a corner.

The things Ruby does for love.

The cart screeches to a halt as they reach the elevator. Ruby's mind unlocks the cage, and she tilts her head, the elevator granting access to them. Steve runs up to her, pulling her into the elevator before she can say otherwise. Robin stumbles in alongside her; Dustin and Erica, alarmed, follow cautiously.

Dustin presses the button to go upwards. There's shouts as the elevator door slides closed, and Ruby can make out soldiers running towards them. She raises her hand, forcing the elevator doors shut, and starts pushing the elevator button, like pushing it repeatedly will make it move any faster.

It starts to move, and Ruby loses her footing for a second, the floor racing up to the mall.

"Hey! You look like you're surfing!"

Ruby looks back at Steve and Robin. Her boyfriend is now standing on a trolley, pretending he's surfing. Ruby watches in disbelief.

"Surfing! Wooo!"

"They seem drunk," says Erica, confused.

"Why would they be drunk?" says Dustin.

"Maybe they were drugged?" says Ruby. "This is how he acts when he's—"

"Wipeout!"

Steve flies across the elevator, hitting the floor on the either side to the trolley.

Ruby glances at Dustin and Erica. "—high."

Robin's giggling still, leaning against the other wall. Ruby kneels down, putting her hands on Steve's face. But his skin is burning hot — she looks up at Dustin, beginning to panic. What drug did they even give them? What if this is what kills him—?

"He's burning up, Dus," says Ruby, her heart starting to race.

The Mind Flayer whispers to her, "You could never save him—"

"Steve!" says Ruby, panicking. "Did they inject you with anything? Were you drugged?"

"Did you tell your ugly boyfriend that we kissed at your Halloween party, Rubes?" says Steve. "What did Hargrove think about that, huh?"

Ruby's eyes widen. Why is he talking about the Halloween party?

She goes quiet for a second. No one else knew about that kiss. They kept it secret — it would be weird, sure, for them to go about talking about it, but back then, Ruby wasn't single, and Steve only just. Billy would kill Steve if he found out. So she stays quiet, praying that no one questions what Steve's just said.

"He's definitely drugged," she tells Dustin, finally.

"I can't believe Ruby Brenner has superpowers," says Robin.

"Yeah, and she has a douchebag boyfriend," says Steve. "Billy Hargrove, what an asshole—"

"Steve?" says Ruby, still holding his head.

He looks up, his eyes bloodshot. "Yeah?"

"You're my boyfriend," she tells him.

"I think I'd remember that," he scoffs.

Ruby looks up again at Dustin and Erica, the three stunned.

This is going to take longer than four hours.

this wasn't just gonna be this... but i get carried away writing dialogue for this lol. i love writing interactions for this hehe. so i hope u enjoyed!! lmk what you thought! not long now until season 4 xxx