Chapter 10

On the other side of the elevator were a pair of Russians, transporting boxes. They used the keycard to open the door. The group, luckily, had made their one on top of the elevator, managing to avoid being caught. Claudia heard the two men speaking, but didn’t know what they were saying. Robin, on the other hand, couldn’t hide the smirk on her face.

The two finally went away, and the door began to close. Steve put the jar of green liquid under the door to stop it from closing, and everyone very swiftly made their way underneath it and out of the elevator. Steve had narrowly made it out, the the jar cracked, burning a hole in the floor.

“You still wanna drink that?” Robin asked Erica.

“I say we let her,” Claudia said.

“Holy mother of God,” Dustin said, turning around to see a long hallway.

“Well,” Steve said, “Hope you guys are in good shape. Looking at you, roast beef.” He smacked Dustin’s chest as he began to walk away. “Let’s go, come on.”

“Why me?” Dustin asked, as the remaining four began to follow Steve.

——————————

“I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is impressive,” Dustin said.

“What are you talking about?” Steve asked “It’s a total fire hazard. There’s no stairs, there’s no exit, there’s just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell.”

“They’re Commies,” Erica said, “You don’t pay people, they cut corners.”

“To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don’t think this tunnel was designed for walking,” Robin said, “I mean, think about it, they developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo.”

“It all comes into the mall like any old delivery,” Dustin said.

“And then they load it up onto those trucks and nobody’s the wiser.”

“You think they built this whole mall just so they could transport that green poison?” Steve asked:

“I very seriously doubt it’s something as boring as poison,” Dustin said, “It’s gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something.”

“What the fuck is that?” Claudia asked.

“It’s what Victor Stone’s dad used to make Cyborg’s bionic and cybernetic components,” Robin told her. Claudia was still confused.

“Who the fuck is that?”

“You’re all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill,” Erica said.

“No, no, no. No. Don’t lump me and Claudia in with them. We’re not nerds, alright?” Steve said.

“Why so sensitive, you two? Afraid of losing cool points to a ten-year-old child?” Robin asked.

“Hey, I didn’t ask him to defend me,” Claudia said.

“No, I’m just saying we don’t know jack shit about Prometheus,” Steve said.

“Promethium,” Claudia corrected.

“I won’t defend you next time. Nerd.”

“Prometheus is a Greek mythological creature. See, I know something,” Claudia said.

“Anyway,” Dustin said, “All I’m saying is, it’s probably being used to make something.”

“Or power something,” Robin said.

“Like a nuclear weapon?”

“Totally.”

“Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That’s great. That’d be great,” Steve said sarcastically.

“But if they’re building something, why here? I mean, Hawkins. Seriously. Of all places. At the very best, we’re a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland. But maybe that’s it.”

“I mean, it’s a small town, no one would expect it,” Claudia said.

“That’s make sense.”

The three girls continued walking, but Dustin and Steve had fell behind.

“I’m sorry, is there something you two would like to share with the class?” Robin asked, turning around. The two looked at each other, but we’re interrupted by static hissing, and a man speaking Russian over the walkie.

“Walkie,” Dustin said.

Robin listened, relating back what the man said. “It’s the code,” Robin said. Claudia probably should have been focusing on the matter, the danger, at hand, but she couldn’t help but admire Robin. She was so smart. She wished she was as smart as her.

“Wherever that broadcast is coming from-“

“It’s close. And if there’s one thing we know about that signal…”

“It can reach the surface.”

“Let’s go.”

——————————

The three hid behind a corner, until Steve confirmed that it was all clear.

“That was close,” Robin said.

“Too close,” Claudia added.

“Relax. All right? Relax, nobody saw…” Steve began, before coming to a halt. They all looked up into a huge room. A woman’s voice sounded over the radio, and soldiers, and others who seemed to be scientists, walked around.

They all ducked behind a big red box. Claudia grinned onto Robin’s shoulder to steady herself. Robin took Claudia’s hand. At first, she thought she was going to move it. But, instead, she intertwined their fingers, and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Claudia had anxiety. Robin knew that. This situation had to be more stressful for her than the others. So, she wanted to do everything she could to keep her as calm as possible, even thought it was practically impossible to stay calm while trapped in a secret Russian base.

The two girls hearts speed up. Robin blamed it on the Russians, and Claudia blamed it on the fact that she was so close to Steve. They were both wrong.

“Red Dawn,” Dustin said.

“I saw it,” Erica said, “First floor, northwest.”

“Saw what?” Steve asked.

“The comms room.”

“You saw the comms room?”

“Correct.”

“Are you sure?” Dustin asked.

“Positive. The door was open for a second, and I saw a bunch of lights and machine and shit in there.”

“That could be a hundred different things.”

“I’ll take those odds,” Robin said.

The five peaked out from behind the red box. “All right,” Steve said, “We’re gonna move fast, we’re gonna stay low, okay?”

“No, what the hell?!” Claudia said.

Robin turned to her. “You’ll be okay. I’ve got you.”

Claudia gave a hesitant nod. They ran through the room, hiding behind boxes every few seconds, before making it to the comms room. They walked in, thinking they’d be alone. Instead, they were met with a Russian guard.

He looked up at them with an almost scared expression on his face, placing his hand on his gun. Robin stepped forward, letting go of Claudia’s hand. She began to speak Russian, and Claudia just about managed to recognise it as the code.

“Tread lightly! Tread lightly,” Robin said. The man was speaking back, but Claudia didn’t know what he was saying. “Silver cat… Silver cat. China?”

The Russian began to pull out his gun, but Steve let out a yell, running towards him and knocking him down. Steve knocked him out, and Claudia was surprised to know that the first fight Steve Harrington had ever won was against a grown man with a gun, who was probably a trained soldier.

“Dude!” Dustin said, “You did it! You won a fight!” He tan over and took the keycard off of the knocked out soldiers belt.

“What are you doing?” Erica asked.

“Getting us our ticket out of here.”

“You want to walk all the way back?”

“Well, we can hang out for a little bit, relax, have a picnic maybe.”

“Have a picnic? We came here for the radio.”

“Well, this plan is way better. If I knew Steve could notice out a Russian, that would’ve been our plan in the first place.”

Claudia turned around to see Robin walked up the stairs. “Robin? Robin, where are you going?” She asked. She didn’t want to follow her up the stairs, she’d much rather stay near the gun and the keycard.

Robin looked throw the small window, before running back down the stairs. “Guys. There’s something up there,” she said, seeming slightly worried.

They all snuck through the door, another thing Claudia didn’t want to do. Looking through another window, which was on a pair of huge metal doors, Claudia saw something she thought she’d only ever see in movies.

“What the fuck is that?”