(      darkest before dawn      /      act three    )
episode five   |   stranger things

❛  DONT BE A HERO   ❜

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THE HALLWAYS SEEMED TO never end. The group didn't know how long they had been walking for, but after a few more turns down more never ending halls, Auroras vision had gone dark. The group had paused in a small corner that was slightly hidden from the rest of the hall to let her wait it out.

"Does this happen a lot?" It was Robin who had asked the question, wiping her sweating palms on her work outfit.

"It used to happen a lot more, but after we found out about her pow—" Dustin started before abruptly, cutting himself off.

"What?" Erica looked at him questionably.

"Nothing," the boy shook his head, "it's nothing. She has narcolepsy. End of sentence."

      Robin looked at Dustin with curiosity, "but what about what happened outside the room? She made that guy totally fall asleep, without even being near him!"

      Dustin looked at Steve in a panic, "nothing! Nothing happened."

      Aurora groaned, grabbing at her head as she pulled herself out of another spell. Her head hurt worse than before and everything was spinning as she blinked slowly, trying to make sense of the figures in front of her.

      Robin rubbed Auroras back before whispering to the two boys, "I will find out."

      It took a few more minutes, but finally the group had made sure Aurora was able enough to continue walking. The group seemed to have a conversation in front of Aurora and Robin who was walking at a slower pace to stay with her. Steve, Dustin and Erica's voice echoed through the halls in a way that made Auroras skin crawl.

      Robin added in her two cents every so often to the trios conversation, but Auroras was busy trying not to make the world spin harder on its axis that she wasn't paying attention.

      "If they're building something," Robin added, "why here of all places."

      It was a great question, one Aurora had been trying to figure out ( that and trying not to pass out more that she should ) as they walked. Obviously it was a good choice because no one would question builders during the construction of Starcourt, but what was the importance of this specific location. And why were they so far down to the ground. It was obvious that the Russians had a separate entrance because the elevator was not made for humans, so where was that? And where in Starcourt could they find it?

      Unless... Aurora almost laughed out loud at her thoughts, the Russians wouldn't be trying to open the gate again? But then she thought back to the lab, and how deep they had to go that night, and slowly she began to think that her idea might not just be an idea.

      Steve and Dustin glanced at each other before slowing their pace enough to fall behind the three girls. As soon as they were about fifteen feet from them, the two paused for a moment, whispering to each other.

"You think the Russians know?" Dustin asked.

"About the..."

"They could." Dustin nodded, before shooting a look in front of them to see the three girl had paused to glance behind them.

"So it's connected? How? I thought Eleven closed the gate?"

"I don't know, but it's..." Dustin trailed off.

"Possible." The two finished together.

      "Hey nerds," the thrilling voice of Erica cut their conversation off quickly. The two turned to find Erica with her hands on her hips, and Robin watching them with suspicion. Auroras face was pale, seemingly having put together the exact thought the boys had, and the slight tremble in her hands told Dustin she had.

      "Is there something you two would like to share with the class?" Robin questioned the two before nodding, "perfect. Then let's keep going."

      The five almost started walking again, only to stop when Erica's back crackled. A man speaking Russian began to be broadcasted loudly from the walkie-talkie. Dustin scrambled to get to the three and the backpack, and when Erica pulled the walkie out of her bag, Dustin grabbed it and turned the volume up louder.

      "A trip to China sounds nice. If you tread lightly." Robin translated, before looking up, "it's the code."

      "So where ever the broadcast is coming from..." Dustin added.

      "It's got to be close," Robin finished before nodded. "And if there's one thing we know about that signal."

      "It can reach the surface," Dustin nodded, before the group scrambled to get to walking again. This time the five were determined, walking even faster — or as fast as Aurora could walk without almost passing out.

      As they got closer to where they suspected the broadcast to be coming, the more people the group saw and had to hide from. Steve was leading them.

Two men with very large guns passed them as Steve pressed a finger against his lips as the five of them hid behind what seemed like an AC unit. When the two men passed, Steve whispered: "All clear," before leading them across the hallway to the other side.

"Okay that was close," Robin suggested.

"Way too close!" Dustin agreed.

"Relax," Steve boated, "alright? Relax. Nobody saw..."

He stuttered on his words as they rounded a corner to find a living facility. Golf carts and humans all wandered through this corridor; at the center was a large control panel. Men in soldier uniforms, men in lab coats and men in radiation suits all walked around as the five stood and stared.

Steve cursed before grabbed Aurora and pulling her behind a box, the rest of the group following suit.

"Red dawn," Dustin muttered, the group ignored another one of his movie references.

"I saw it," Erica muttered, "first floor, northwest!"

"Saw what?" Aurora questioned.

"The comms room!"

"The comms room?" Steve whispered.

"Duh," Erica rolled her eyes before slapping Auroras hand away from her as she pinched her arm.

"Are you sure?" Dustin questioned.

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

Dustin scoffed, "that could be a hundred different things!"

Robin glanced at Aurora for a moment before locking eyes with Steve, "I'll take those odds."

Steve just sighed, shaking his head softly. He turned to glance around the box one more time, before making his decision. "We move fast. We stay low. Okay?"

"What if," Aurora spoke up, "hypothetically, obviously, one of us gets caught?"

Steve huffed, "then you run like a bat outta hell the other way. No being the hero, Aurora." She blushed a dark shade of pink as she was called out but nodded softly.

"Okay," Robin whispered before Steve glanced at the other side once more before motioning the group forward.

They all crouched low as they moved into the large room, ducking behind a cluster of crates as the Russian got louder. Auroras hands shook as they moved behind another large crate. They watched as a scientist opened the door to the suspected comms room, as soon as the scientist was out of the way, Steve glanced behind him once before motioning them forward.

Steve caught the door just before it closed, before shushing the group as the crept inside. Steve made sure the door closed quietly, and was the last to turn around, just as the guard in the chair spun around. He ripped his headphones off before standing and reaching for his gun.

Robin was the first to think, jumping forward with her hand raised, "tread lightly!" She kept repeating in Russian.

"Who are you?" The man questioned as he furrowed his brows at the group of five.

Aurora stepped forward, summoning her best Russian accent, "silver cat...silver cat."

The man shook his head, "I don't understand."

Aurora glanced at Robin with panic as she could feel Erica tugging her backwards by her skirt. Robin spoke up again, only for her words to sound more like a question, "China?"

The man shook his head as he slowly began to unholster his gun, before Steve began yelling as he charged him. The Russian quickly overpowered the boy, as he threw him to the side. Aurora glanced at Dustin before mouthing, "three to zero," with a grin. Dustin laughed before Steve managed one punch to him before Aurora summoned her powers as knocked the man out.

Steve shouted proudly, "see! See look at that, I won!"

"Aurora won the fight," Dustin scoffed, "she took him out Steve."

"Well," Steve ran a hand through his hair, "I would've won. I had a plan!"

Robin hummed with a grin as Dustin ran towards the man as quickly grabbed his keycard from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Erica scoffed.

Dustin stood up, holding the keyring with a grin, "getting out ticket out of here."

Erica laughed, "you want to walk all the way back?"

"Oh no!" Dustin mocked, " we can hang out for a little bit, relax, maybe even have a picnic with the RUSSIANS TRYING TO KILL US?"

"We came here for the radio!" Erica scoffed, ignoring the blunt sarcasm from the boy.

Aurora glanced around them, before finding a set of stairs that led upwards and began climbing them. A glowing blue light was admitting from a window on a door as Aurora stepped up to it. Her breath was coming out in short pants as glanced through the window only to not find anything.

She rushed down the stairs to interrupt the argument between the other four, "there's something up here."

The five of them rushed back up the stairs, opening the door and entering the room quietly. A loud buzzing filled her ears when the door opened, and Aurora had to raise her hand to block her eyes from the blinding blue glow.

The five got up to sliding door, pressing their faces to the glass as they peered in front of the scientists sitting at a panel of some sort. In front of another wall of windows were at least six people in red and white hazmat suits, working with a large machine — the same machine that was admitting the glowing blue light. They watched at it slowly began to power up, before firing directly into the gate.

Bile rose up in Auroras mouth as she watched as the gate began to open again. She felt a hand grab at her and when she glanced down she found Dustin look at her with worry.

"That's the gate?" He whispered to her, Aurora could only manage a nod in response. Aurora and Eleven had been the only two to have seen the gate, and her confirmation sent a chill down their spine.

The creature inside the gate seemed to growl, a sound familiar to Aurora from the events almost a year ago. Aurora took in a shaky breath as she watched the vines crack away, opening the gate even more.

"They're opening the fucking gate, Dustin!" Aurora turned to the boy only to find him already watching her with wide eyes.

"Yeah! I can see that!" Dustin's voice cracked as he spoke before pushed away from the glass, as he and Steve began to walk back down the stairs. Aurora following close behind as Robin continued to question them.

"I don't understand," Robin asked, "you've seen this before?"

"Yes."

"Not exactly."

Aurora and Steve answered at the same time, glancing at each other with a grin.

"What?"

Aurora sighed, ready to confess everything but Dustin cut her off, "long, long story, all you need to know is that it's bad."

"Really bad." Steve added as they all took a much needed deep breath in the better lit room.

"Like, end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it kind of bad." Aurora added in ominously.

"And you guys know this how?" Robin asked.

"Um, Steve?" Erica interrupted, "where's your Russian friend?" Aurora would've sighed in relief — not ready to go over the events that happened to her and her friends for at least a few more years — that is if the revelation that the Russian was now missing was good. It was not.

Just as she finished, an alarm began blaring through the facility. Steve rushed through the group to look out the window on the door, cursing. He watched as the man that Aurora had knocked out sat in the middle of the room shouting in Russian, pointing towards the room they were all in.

Steve slammed his hand on the door, before shooing the group up the stairs into the room they had just been watching. The five of them burst into the other control room, Dustin and Erica leading them as the scientists watched them with concern. Dustin cussed as Aurora pointed out a door that they were all quickly piling through just as the guards followed them.

Dustin screamed as they got close to the gate and beam of light shooting into it. The familiar prickle from last year covered Auroras spine as Dustin continued to yell profanities. Steve glanced around, before pushing through more people as they climbed down the stairs. Steve shoved a stack of barrels on the guards coming from one side before the group piled into a room.

Steve held the door shut as Dustin and Erica climbed into an air duct before shouting for the other two.

"Where's Aurora!" Steve yelled, glancing around trying to find the girl.

The air rushed out of the lungs of every person in the room, piecing together that Aurora hadn't made it into the room with them.

      Steve's hands trembled as him and Robin held the door shut, his eyes wet as he spoke to Dustin, "go."

      Dustin's hands trembled but Erica nodded once before pulling the hatch down to conceal them.

Just as the two disappeared from sight, the Russians overpowered the door. The air rushed out of their lungs as they slammed to the ground painfully. Guns were pointed at the two within seconds, and one glance had both of them knowing they wouldn't make it a few steps with a bullet in them. But, one glance at the guards gave them no sign of Aurora, almost a millisecond of relief to flow through Steve's veins. With a sigh, the two raised their hands in surrender.

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( LET ME SPEAK : )

swear that if your confused everything will
come together soon!! i just made my plan
for the rest of the season and i love love
it!!!!!

also idk if it makes sense, but the italics are russian
bc i don't really know russian...but like with reason
bc when dustin's shouting his words are italicized
and he's obviously not speaking russian just use good
judgement :)

credit goes to fivehxrgreeves