▸ Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley

E P L U R I B U S U N U M

Steve and I had urged everyone to go back down the stairs. Erica and Robin were confused at first when they had heard us talking about the Gate. It wasn't until we left the room and headed back down stairs when they started asking questions.

"You okay, Dawn? You're looking a bit pale." Robin glanced at me with worry.

"I'm fine." I licked my lips. "Can we just get out of here already?"

"I don't understand. You've seen this before?" Robin asked.

"Not exactly." Steve answered.

"Then what, exactly?"

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

"Horrific, terrible, dire, whatever word you want to call it." I ran a shaking hand through my curls. "It's not good."

"It's really bad." Steve placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Like end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it bad." Dustin went to

"And you know this how?" Robin questioned.

"Well...uh, you see-"

"Um, Steve?" Erica interrupted me, glancing at the floor. "Where's your Russian friend?"

We followed Erica's gaze. The unconscious Russian wasn't on the floor. In fact, he wasn't in the room. A red light turned on in the room followed by an alarm.

"Oh, for crying out loud." I groaned out.

"Shit." Steve went to the door.

He opened the door slightly to check what was going on. There was yelling from the other side. Steve quickly closed the door.

"Shit." Steve waved for us to move. We ran up the stairs. "Go, go, go, go, go!"

"Shit." Dustin cursed under his breath.

Dustin led the way and opened the door. We took a turn and another door came into view. I quickly opened it, rushing everyone to go in without checking into the room. Dustin froze. Looking up, I saw people in lab coats stare back at us.

"Go!" Steve ordered, placing a hand on my back and urging me to move. Dustin and the others ran to another door on the left. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Go, go, go!"

We had entered the area where the Russians were trying to break through the Gate. People were yelling behind us in the foreign language. We ran onto the bridge near the weapons, shoving passed the people. Dustin let out a shriek as someone neared him. He quickly shoved them away.

"Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!" Dustin slid to a stop at the end. Just ahead of us was the Gate. "Holy shit! Holy shit! Shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!"

"We gotta head back!" I looked at Steve with wide eyes.

"Guards!" Erica warned. "Go!"

"This way!" Steve lead the way in another direction. We quickly climbed down some more stairs. Steve had pushed a guard aside. More Russians started to come toward us. "Oh, shit! Oh, shit!"

"Woah!"

Steve knocked over some barrels into some incoming guards.

"Come on!" Steve sprinted forward. I pushed Dustin and Erica in front of me, looking over my shoulder to see a guard trying to knock the barrel away from him. I kicked the guy in the gut and then his head with a shriek before running back to the group. "Go, go, go, go, go!"

"Come on! Dawn, hurry it up!" Robin called over her shoulder.

"I'm going!" I yelled back.

"Shit!" Steve glanced behind me. He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me with him as he ran. "Run, damn it!"

"I'm fucking running!" I shouted.

"This way!" Robin pushed open a door.

We all ran inside the room. Steve let go of my hand. He slammed the door behind us and pressed his weight against it. The others scrambled around the room to look for an exit. I saw the door move. Without a second thought, I went to go help Steve. He looked up at me with fear.

"Shit!"

The Russians on the other side of the door kept pounding on it. I dug my heels into the ground and pressed my back against the door.

"Here!" Erica called out. "Come on, let's go!"

I saw Erica remove a vent from the air duct. It was pretty low on the wall and big enough for each of us to fit. They could easily crawl through it. Robin and Dustin jogged over to her.

"Come on!" Dustin told Steve and I.

"Go! Just get out of here!" Steve yelled.

"Come on." Dustin waved us over.

"No!" Steve strained as he pushed harder against the door. "Just go get some help, okay?"

"What!? No!" Dustin shook his head and looked at me with wide eyes. "Dawn, come on. You guys can make it. Dawn."

"Dustin. You've got to go." My throat tightened as I saw his eyes water.

"No! You've got to come with us. The both of you. Dawn, please." Dustin's voice cracked.

"I'll be fine as long as you're safe." I tried my best to keep my voice steady. "Go get help, check up on Danny. We'll be fine."

"Dawn..." Tears streamed down Dustin's cheeks.

I silently begged for Robin to take him. She frowned and gave me a nod. Licking her lips, she grabbed Dustin's arm and started to pull him towards the air duct.

"No, no! I'm not leaving you here, Dawn!" Dustin fought against Robin. Erica climbed into the air duct. "You can-you can-"

"I'll be fine, go!" I ordered him.

Dustin stopped fighting Robin and just stared at me with such heart break, that I felt a strong pinch in my heart. Robin managed to push him into the air duct. She gave Steve and I a sorrowful glance before crawling in after the kids. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt another shove from the door. Tears welled up in my eyes.

Suddenly, the door busted open. Steve and I were pushed to the ground from the sudden force. I groaned as my head hit the wall. Russians flooded into the room and aimed their guns at us. We quickly held our hands in the air.

▷

It's been about an hour since the Russians separated Steve and I. I was locked in a separate room with two Russians questioning me. My hands were tied in front of me as I sat in a chair.

"Who are you working for?" The man spoke in a thick accent.

"I've told you already. No one. No one knows we are down here." I held up my chin.

"How did you find us?"

"How many times am I going to have to repeat myself?" I shot back.

It happened too quickly. The Russian had raised his hand and the next thing I knew, my head snapped to the. Pain blossomed around my jaw and cheek. I moved my jaw to try and ease the pain.

"Answer the questions!"

"I have been, dumbass!" I spat on his shoe. The Russian glared at me and clenched his hands. "What are you going to do? Kill me? Hurt me? I've seen worse things than you and people will know that I'm missing. My mom is a hell of a worrier if one of us doesn't get in contact with her within five hours. You all are gonna get your asses handed to you when the chief of police comes."

"And who are these people?" The Russian took a step closer to me.

I wasn't going to crack under the pressure. I refuse to...even if the guys in front of me scared the hell out of me.

"Victor Stone." I sniffed.

"Who...is this Victor Stone?" The other Russian finally asked a question.

"Someone who can kick your ass."

"This isn't working." The man sighed and looked to the other Russian.

"I know something that will." A sinister grin spread across his lips.

The two grabbed a hold of my arms. Fear swelled in my chest. I quickly started to squirm away from them.

"W-What are you doing?" I started to kick at them. The two yanked me to my feet. "Hey! Let me go!"

I was dragged out of the room. They ignored me. I fired questions at them, left and right, but not a single peep was uttered on their behalf. It was like that the entire way to the next room. As soon as the door was opened, they shoved me to the floor.

I yelped at the unexpected movement, my back hitting the ground. Groaning, I turned to my side to see Steve on the ground. I blinked away the pain and placed a hand on Steve's back.

"Steve? Hey, Steve." I lightly shook him.

He wouldn't move. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I realized he was unconscious. Biting my lip, I moved Steve to face me. My heart stopped as I took in his injuries. Blood was smeared all over his face and neck. His eye was swelling shut and bruises were starting to appear. His face was starting to turn red.

"Oh, God, Steve." I gently cupped his face. The sound of a door opening caught my attention. A man in a different uniform walked in. I sent a glare at the Russians behind me. "What the hell? What did you assholes do to him?!"

The man slapped me. Hard. I cried out in pain, cradling my cheek. The force made me fall back to the ground.  The Russian ordered the other men to do something. Two men grabbed a hold of me.

"No, no, let me go!" I kicked and screamed. They carried and forced me to sit on a chair. The same thing happened to Steve. "Steve? Steve, wake up, you gotta wake up. Steve!"

They tied something around us. I yelled in frustration and kicked the person who tied us. He mumbled something in Russian and limped away. From the corner of my eye, I saw the man in charge grab a fistful of Steve's hair and lifted his head to face him.

"Hey! Don't touch him, asshole!" I hissed. The man only clicked his tongue and shook his head. He let go of Steve and walked away from him. "Steve? Steve, can you hear me?"

"I think your friend need a doctor." The man in charge started to walk around us.

I followed him with narrowed eyes, wiggling beneath the bonds in hopes of breaking free. He stopped in front of me.

"Good thing..." He leaned his face towards mine, "we have the very best."

I glared at him. He laughed, looking at his workers. They laughed along with him. Out of anger, I kicked his shin. He stopped laughing and turned to face me.

"You're going to regret that." He shook his head and spoke a word in Russian.

I nervously swallowed back tears. He told the rest of the men something in their native language. I eyed them, terrified of what they were going to do to us. The men left the room. It was just me and an unconscious Steve.

▷

I lost track of the time in the room. My throat hurt from all the yelling I did to try and get help. Don't really know why I did it when I knew the people that were listening weren't going to. Desperation makes you do stupid stuff I suppose. I sighed and threw my head back. Pain bloomed at the back of my head as it collided against Steve's.

"Ow, God, why did you have to be so hard headed?" I groaned in pain.

"I'm not that hard headed." A low and gruff voice came from behind me.

"Steve? Babe, are you okay?" I quickly blurted out.

"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." Steve informed me. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"My pride." I lied through my teeth.

"Dawn..."

"I'm fine, Steve." I breathed out. "They really got you good. They did say that they were going to bring a doctor...uh, but I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

"Is this the place he works?" Steve chuckled out to try and lighten the mood. "I love the vibe."

"It's very charming." I finally inspected the room.

For a doctor's office, there wasn't much in here. There was a chair that dentists used for their patients and a small table that held surgical supplies. An idea popped into my head.

"Yeah, tell me about it. So, okay, do you see that table over there to your left?" I asked my boyfriend. He looked to his left and nodded. "Okay, see the scissors?"

"Uh-huh."

"If we can move, hop, whatever, at the same time to reach it," I explained, "one of us can kick the table and hope that's the scissors lands in one of our laps. Then, we can get the scissors to cut ourselves free."

"Gotcha. Okay, yeah, we can do that." Steve agreed.

"Great." I grinned.

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

"What dumbasses." I giggled, placing my head on Steve's shoulder.

"Total dumbasses. You ready?" Steve asked.

"On three we hop?" I lifted my head up.

"Yeah, okay. One."

"Two."

"Three."

We both hopped towards the table. The chairs moved a little bit closer to it.

"It worked! Okay, okay, let's do it again." I bit my lip to help calm down my excitement.

"One, two, three." Steve counted off. We managed another successful hop. "We're close. Ready?"

"Yeah, yeah, one more time?" I eagerly nodded.

"One, two, three." The both of us said at the same time.

We hopped only to fall to the ground. Pain shot up my shoulder. I groaned and closed my eyes.

"Maybe we are the morons." I huffed.

"It's okay, it's okay." Steve assured me. "We're going to get out of here. Dustin, Robin, and Erica are on their way to get us help, okay?"

"I know." I sighed. "I know."

"We're gonna get outta here. Just let me think for a second."

"If...if we don't make it out of here-"

"Hey, don't talk like that." Steve sternly cut me off. "We are getting out of here. We are."

"I know...but if we don't. Just-just know that I love you, okay?" I stumbled over my words

"What?" Steve breathed out.

"I love you." I repeated.

"I love you, too." Steve told me.

I suddenly bursted into laughter.

"Why is that funny? Dawn, how in the hell is that funny?"

"We-we're declaring our love for each other in a secret Russian base," I went into another fit of laughter before continuing, "hidden under the mall where you work at as they try and break open the Gate."

"Our life is so screwed up." Steve sighed.

"Yeah, it really is."

"If we survive this...I promise I'll try my best to get along with Billy. I know the two of you are friends and that it means a lot to you." Steve said.

"Thank you." I smiled. "I know you guys don't see it, but he really isn't that bad. He-he just has the wall around him. Sure he can be an asshole most of the time, but he's a good person."

"Deep, deep, deep down." Steve uttered under his breath.

"Steve."

"Sorry, yeah, starting now."

There was a buzzing sound. I angled my head to see the door swung open. The Russians entered the room. They noticed that we were on the floor and near the table. They stopped in front of us. The leader chuckled.

"Where were you two going?" He clicked his tongue and shook his head.

The other Russians grabbed a hold of us and sat us up. A man walked passed him and went to the table we were trying to reach. The man in charge stood in front of Steve. I couldn't angle my head to see what he was doing.

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

Steve let out a small yelp of pain. The doctor walked passed me and stood next to the leader. I saw that he was holding something, but I didn't see what it was.

"Wait a second. Wait. Hold on." Steve rushed out. Whatever it was the doctor was holding was scaring him. "Okay! Wait, wait, wait! What is that thing?"

"It will help you talk." The doctor answered, grabbing a hold of Steve's head.

"Hey!"

"Did you even clean that thing?!" Steve yelled in pain as the doctor injected him with something.

"Steve?! Steve, are you okay?" My heart raced as he continued to scream. "Steve!"

The doctor pulled something out of Steve's neck. Shivers ran down my spine as I noted the long silver needle that was connected to a gun looking device with a blue bottle attached at the top. Steve groaned in pain. The doctor grabbed my head and forced me to stay still. I tried to pull my head away, but the doctor painfully tightened his grip on me.

"No. No, no, no." I cried out as the needle neared my neck. "Stop it, no!"

Pain erupted in my neck as the needle broke through my skin. I screamed bloody murder at the pain. A cold burning sensation started in the area before it travelled throughout my body.

The injection was fast. Next thing I knew, the doctor had pulled it out. The Russians had left, staring they would be back in a couple of minutes when the drug would start to work. It was silent in the room as the time passed. All I did was stare blankly at the wall ahead of me.

"Honestly, I don't feel anything." Steve spoke up. "Do you?"

"I feel fine." I leaned my head against his. "Nothing feels strange."

"Yeah. I feel fine, too." Steve nodded. "I kinda feel good."

"It does!" I giggled. "I feel good, too."

"Morons. They messed up the drug." Steve laughed, leaning his head forward.

"They messed it up big time!" I snorted. "What big morons."

"Morons!"

"Hey! Hey, morons! It didn't work!"

We broke out into another fit of giggles.

"Woah-oh!"

"There's definitely something wrong with us." I shook with laughter.

"Somethings wrong." Steve agreed.

The door buzzed open. We turned to see the Russians come back into the room. The doctor went straight to the table and started to place surgical instruments on it. I nervously started to chuckle when I saw a shiny butcher knife.

"Let's try this again, yes?" The man in charge started. "Who do you work for?"

"Scoops." Steve chuckled. I pressed my lips together to stop myself from giggling. "Scoops Ahoy."

"How did you find us?"

"Totally by accident." Steve replied.

A chuckle slipped passed my lips. The Russian looked at the doctor and said something to him. I stopped chuckling when I saw the doctor grab something.

"What is that shiny toy?" Steve asked.

"What are you going to do with that?" I eyed the pliers as the doctor made his way to us.

"Woah, woah, hey, hey." Steve started to squirm when the doctor went in front of him. "Wait! No! Wait! Wait! Whoa!"

Fear flooded through my veins at the thought of them hurting Steve again.

"There was a code! There was a code!" I quickly spilled.

"Code?" The man repeated as he walked towards me with his hands behind his back. "What code?"

"The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. Something, something, blah, blah." I blinked up at him. "You broadcasted that stupid spy shit all over town, and we picked it up on Cerebro and we cracked it in a day. Morons. You think you're so smart, but a couple of kids cracked your code in a day, and now, people know you're here."

"Who knows we are here?" Spittle flew out of his mouth after he said a sword in Russian.

"Jeez, say it don't spray it." I scrunched my nose in disgust.

"Oh, well, Dustin knows." Steve said.

"Steve." I turned to look at him with wide eyes. "Stop."

"Yeah, Dustin Henderson, her brother, knows." Steve continued.

"Steve!" I exasperated, leaning my head back against his shoulder.

"Dustin Henderson." The man repeated. I glared at the man. "It is your small, curly-haired friend?"

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

"Steve, shut up." I hissed.

"Where is he?"

"He's long gone, you big asshole." I snorted at Steve's comment. "And he's probably calling Hopper and Danny, and Hopper's calling the U.S. calvary. They're gonna come in here, commando-style, buns a-blazin', and kick your sorry asses back to Russia. You're gonna be two pieces of toast."

Steve and I both snickered.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. You guys are toast, burnt toast!" I laughed.

Everyone in the room joined in with my laughter. Alarms started to blare, ceasing our laughs. I looked towards the door. Everyone but the doctor ran out of the room.

"Bye morons!" I tried to wave at them, but the binds restricted me from doing so.

A few minutes later, the door was kicked open. Dustin came in yelling and holding a rod with the electricity crackling at the tip. He took large strides towards the doctor and stabbed him with the rod. The man shook with pain before collapsing to the ground.

"Hey, now he really is burnt toast!" I wheezed with laughter, doubling over.

Steve cackled at my statement. Robin and Erica ran into the room. They stared at us with confusion.

"Hey, hey Steve, look, Dustin came back for us!"

"Hey, Henderson!" Steve greeted my brother. The three of them started to unbind us. "That's crazy, we were just talking about you."

"Oh, my God!" I gasped in realization. "Do you have powers, too?"

"Get ready to run."

Why do they always have Steve getting beat up?

I actually enjoyed writing this chapter. What do y'all think about it?