(      darkest before dawn      /      act three    )
episode six & seven   |   stranger things

❛  DRUGGED  ❜

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     "THIS IS YOUR PLAN?" Dustin's yelled to Aurora who was out of her seat, having remembered what she needed before Dustin had run her over.

      "Well, we're going to need a distraction to save Steve and Robin." Aurora shrugged, shoving more green acid bottles into her bag.

Erica nodded, taking the bag from her as carefully as she could before placing it in the metal container on the back of the cart. "I don't see you finding a better plan Dustin."

Dustin muttered something under his breath as the three of them took off from the lab area. Surprisingly the golf cart was quiet, which meant that they could speed down the halls. As they got closer to the center of the building, Aurora stopped the cart. Shushing Dustin as he tried to voice any questions.

"Listen," she motioned around them, and slowly, screams from down the hall filled their ears.

The three all spoke at the same time, "Steve."

They left the golf cart where they had stopped it, storing it to be more hidden from plain sight. They slowly began to walk towards the sounds, the bag of Acids held tightly in Auroras hands.

"Okay, here's the plan," Dustin stopped them, "Rory, you're on acid duty, and then you can get the cart and meet us in front of the room. Erica, we're are going to save Steve and Robin."

      For once, the youngest didn't make any remarks or stupid comments, Erica just nodded. Aurora left the two with the acid bottles in hand. She didn't know exactly where they were going to drop them but it had to be far enough away from the room where Steve and Robin were.

      Once she was out of breath, Aurora deemed that spot god enough, and so she threw the bag of acid down and took off running. Only a few seconds later was a loud alarm sounded through the facility. She couldn't stop running in fear of being caught, but she managed to get to the cart fast enough that she had enough time to take one more breath.

      The cart skid around the corner Aurora slamming in the breaks in front of the room. "Hey guys!"

      A doctor was lying on the floor in the back of the room, as Dustin and Erica both helped Steve — who's face was all bloodied and marred — to the cart first and Aurora couldn't help but make a comment, "lose another fight Steve?"

      Steve laughed mockingly, ruffling Auroras hair. "You look funny."

      Aurora turned to Dustin and Erica who were trying not to laugh as they placed him in the back of the cart.

      Aurora jumped from the cart and helped carry Robin into the cart, placing her in the back with Steve before the three kids floored it away from the room.

      Steve hit the back to the metal grate, after Dustin hit a particularly large bump, "jesus', slow down man!"

      "Yeah what is this, the Indi-500?" Robin retorted.

      "It's the Indi-300."

      "No Dingus!" Robin shouted, "it's the Indi-500!"

      "It's three-hundred!"

      Robin pressed her lips together and laughed, "let's say a million!"

      Her remark sent the two into a fit of laughter, causing Aurora and Erica to roll their eyes up at the front. "Oh my god, what's wrong with them?"

      "I have no idea, but best guess is they were drugged." Aurora added, shrugging as the elevator came into view.

      Dustin didn't slow down, so Erica screamed and the boy swerved, slamming into multiple barrels on the side before hitting the wall and rendering the cart useless. The two adults slammed into the metal, groaning loudly.

      "You guys alright back there?" Dustin asked before groaning himself as Aurora slapped his head. "What was that for!"

      Aurora looked at him for a moment, glaring, "you are never driving again."

      "They're fine, let's go losers," Erica scoffed before the three climbed out from the front seat and opened the back gate. "Come on!"

      The three all back shouting for the two drugged adults to hurry up and get out, Aurora glancing behind them every so often to make sure that the guards weren't close yet. Dustin walked to the keypad as Aurora and Erica both helped their friends down, cheering as the elevator opened with the stolen keycard.

      Aurora never wanted to step foot in another elevator as this one shot the five of them into the air extremely fast. Steve was standing on a cart as Robin held onto him. Both of them laughing at the fact that he looked like he was surfing.

      "They seem drunk." Erica scoffed.

      Dustin laughed, "why would they be drunk? And how?"

      "I'm a natural, check it out!" Steve shouted before Robin pulled the cart a little too fast and the boy went flying into the floor. Aurora had to stifle her laugh as Robin cheered.

      Dustin walked over to the boy, placing a hand on his forehead. "He's burning up."

      Steve smacked his hand, "you're burning up."

      Dustin brought his hand down and began pulling at his eye to open it as wide as it could go. Ignoring Steve as he groaned in pain. "His pupils are super dilated."

      "Maybe he's drugged," Erica answered as Steve reached up and booped Dustin on the nose.

      "Couldn't we have concluded that by the actions, come on guys," Aurora rolled her eyes, "and I also already said that."

      "Steve, Steve," Dustin ignored her, "were you drugged?"

      "How many times dad, I don't do drugs," Steve mocked, "only marijuana."

      Dustin scoffed, clearly not finding his actions funny, "I need to know what they did to you. Are you going to die on us?"

      Robin spoke up then, "we all die my strange little child friend, it's just a matter of how and when."

      Aurora laughed loudly, slamming a hand over her mouth as Dustin glared at her. "They're going to be looking for us up there, can you tell me where you parked your car?"

      Steve sat up some, "can we make a pit stop at the food court first?"

      "I would kill for a hotdog-on-a-stick right now!"

      "Yeah, sure. Food, you guys can have as much food as you want as long as you tell me where you parked your car." Dustin scoffed.

      "Uh oh," Steve spoke, "the cars off the board. They took the keys."

      Aurora groaned obnoxiously, pulling at her hair in frustration. She was ready to go home, she wanted to talk to Mike, she wanted a hug from her aunts. She wanted a shower. Thankfully, the elevator slowed to a stop after Steve's comment, and the five all left the elevator all of them extremely happy to feel fresh air on their skin.

      The peace was ruined when two Russians stood just behind the opening gate, yelling. Their guns poised in their hands. Dustin was screaming for them to run but Aurora was so tired. "Fuck you." She spoke, reaching for her powers before tethering them to the two men quickly, the power moving like a second limb.

      The two men dropped where they were standing, asleep, not dead, as Aurora wiped off the blood from her nose.

      "Cool!" Robin screeched, "she's like superwoman."

      "She's like Eleven! Eleven had cool powers too," Steve added, throwing his hands around Aurora in a hug.

      "Let's go," Aurora turned around. The five walked calmly to the other roof, climbing down the steps before making it to the wall away from workers. Also known as, the friend groups way to sneak into movies without paying.

Dustin was leading them five of them, as he tossed the door open and the five walked into Back To The Future screening. Dustin led Steve and Robin to a seat at the front of the theater, making them sit before instructing them not to move. Steve eating from a popcorn bag he had pulled from the trash.

"I'll sit one row up," Aurora whispered, before claiming a seat where she could see Steve and Robin the entire time. Her hair had fallen flat, the curls basically gone but Aurora kept twirling one strand around her finger. Trying to calm down.

      The movie was entertaining, except for the fact that she had no idea what was going on and Back To The Future wasn't Auroras first choice of movie, they also had dropped in almost an hour into the movie.

      "Where the fuck are they?" Dustin whisper-shouted, causing Aurora to jump.

      She glanced at the seats in front of her, eyes growing wide as she realized that Steve and Robin were gone, "shit!"

      She jumped from her seat, following Dustin and Erica out of the theater. The mall was basically empty, Steve and Robin were no where to be found. "Bathroom!" Dustin pointed towards the cracked bathroom door, the three of them throwing open the door.

      The two missing friends were sitting across from each other laughing about something. "Okay, what the hell!" Dustin shouted. Steve and Robin couldn't stop laughing.

      "Okay guys," Aurora spoke, "you're on the floor of the women's bathroom, stand up before you get diseased more than usual." Her words just made the two of them laugh even harder.

      "What are we going to do?" Erica asked.

      "We wait until the movie gets out, and then just blend in with the crowd and hope we don't get caught until Mike gets here."

      Aurora turned around, "you called Mike?"

      "What's wrong with that?" Erica asked.

"I don't want to talk to him right now, Dustin..." Aurora mumbled. Yes, she did want to talk to him but the wound was still fresh and maybe right now wasn't the best time. She had time.

"Well he's probably not coming, Dustin's walkie died half way through their conversation." Erica butted in, "so bus with the rest of those nerds it is."

Dustin shrugged before the bathroom fell silent as he peaked out, watching as the theater began to empty out, "now!" The five of them stumbled from the bathroom, trying to look as normal as possible.

"Okay, just look normal, and then we can get on the bus and go home," Aurora spoke, rubbing her hands over her uncovered arms.

"Um...actually you probably don't want to go to your house Rory." Steve added.

"Why?"

"Well, I might've told them your full name and about your, um..."

"What!" Aurora stopped, turning to face Steve, "you've got to be shitting me right now Steve."

Dustin pulled her forward, as Steve tried to explain himself, "I was drugged!"

"And that means it's totally okay you put me and my aunts in danger!" Aurora scoffed. "You resist!"

"Guys," Robin cut in, her eyes wide as she watched ahead of them as Russians were checking the ID's of everyone leaving.

"Abort. Abort!" Dustin spoke as the Russian glanced at them, taking note of the Scoops uniform as the five took off running the other way.

The five of them made it to the escalator, Steve sliding down the middle section first with the rest of them following afterwards. Aurora led them to the food court counter, the five huddling down with the hands over their mouths.

They could only hear the loud echos of the boots as the Russians began to search for them. They didn't know how many there were, but their hearts all stopped when the footsteps stopped right before the counter and Russian filled their ears. And then more footsteps followed, echoing in tandem as they neared their hiding spot.

The five of them jumped as the display car alarm sounded, filling their ears and distracting the Russians for a second. And then the car lifted, slamming across the food court and knocking down all four Russians.

Looking up, the five of them watched as Eleven and the rest of their friends stood on top of the edge.

"Oh my god!" Dustin cheered running to the escalator where the other half of their friends had climbed down. He hugged Eleven tightly, "you flung that thing like a hot wheel!"

"Lucas?" Erica asked.

"What are you doing here!" He scoffed, throwing his hands up.

"Ask them," Erica gestured behind her to the two adults, "it's their fault."

"True, yeah totally true. It's our fault," Steve answered.

"I don't understand what happened to that car." Robin spoke up, shocked and a bit scared.

"El has superpowers. So does Aurora." Dustin added.

"I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, child experiments here," Auroras hands smiled as she piled Eleven into a hug. "What happened?"

"What happened to you?" Eleven asked, motioning to the cut on her forehead and slight limp in her leg.

"Long story..."

"That's El!" Erica almost screamed, it was like she was meeting a superhero.

"I'm sorry, who's El?"

"Who are you?" Nancy pointed to Robin.

"I'm Robin, I work with Steve."

Dustin grinned, "she cracked the top secret code."

"Hey I did that too!" Aurora cut in.

"They're how we found out about the Russians in the first place."

Jonathan cut in with another question as Aurora walked over to Max, hugging her tightly.

"Those were Russians?"

"Most of them?" Aurora shrugged, answering Max's question.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked.

"Didn't you hear our code red?" Dustin asked, glancing around confused.

"Yeah, and we couldn't understand half of it!" Mike shouted.

Aurora began to drown out the rest of the conversation that was quickly turning into an argument. She glanced around, watching Eleven as she crumpled to the ground. Everyone rushing to surround her.

Mike placed her hand in his lap, "El! El!" Jealously churned through Auroras gut as she watched the interaction.

"My leg, my leg," Eleven managed through the pain.

Jonathan pulled up her pant leg and pealed away the bandages to reveal the large wound in her calf. A second later, something inside her leg moved.

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(      LET ME SPEAK    :      )

idk guys, i actually hate this chapter
but we are all reunited and next chapter is
where shit hits the fan!

credit goes to fivehxrgreeves