[ 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚐𝚜 & 𝙳𝚒𝚛𝚝 ] ~ 𝙳𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚡 𝙾𝚌

XXXI - Machines

"Okay clear. Clear, come on, let's go." Steve whispered, waving the rest of the group to follow behind him. They'd made it down the hall and were now walking around what Lucy could only assume was the main base of the operation. 

"Okay, that was close." Robin huffed, referring to the commies who had just been a head turn away from seeing them. 

"Too close!" Dustin blurt from his spot next to Lucy. She was holding his hand, no longer on Steve's back.

"Relax." Steve shook his head. "Alright? Relax. Nobody saw. . ." He trailed off, his mouth gaping as he looked at the room in front of him. Lucy ran into his side, not expecting him to stop, before turning and looking at what her older brother was seeing. A two floor room full of Russians. Scientists, military, that car thing that carried the boxes before. 

Lucy couldn't tell what they were saying with all the overlapping voices, but there was a woman over the intercom system who kept saying the same thing over and over. One of the men with guns turned to the direction the group was in. "Shit-" Steve breathed out, ducking behind a toolbox with the other five behind him. "God- Jesus-" 

"Red Dawn." Dustin breathed out. 

"I saw it." Erica told them. "First floor, northwest." 

"Saw what?" Steve asked. 

"The comm room." Russell murmured. 

"You saw the comms room?" Steve said in disbelief. 

"Correct." Erica nodded. 

"Are you sure? " Dustin looked down at her.

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

"That could be a hundred different things." Dustin groaned.

"No, no, I saw it too." Russell whispered. 

"I'll take those odds." Robin nodded. Steve scoffed, shaking his head. The six of them peeked out from behind the red box they were standing behind, waiting for it to be clear. They ducked back behind it after just a moment, scared of getting seen.

"Alright. We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low. Okay?" Steve asked, looking at his clumsy little sister. "Lu, take someone's hand."

"Why?" 

"Because I don't trust you not to fall on your face."

"How is that fai-" 

"Lucy." Steve seethed.

"Fine, fine." She huffed, grabbing Dustin's hand. Steve gave a sharp nod and then led them to walk forward behind a set of large containers. Once the coast was clear, they moved from there to stand behind another box cart. "Move it." Steve hissed out. They waited for someone to go out of the sealed room before Steve made a run for it, still staying low to the ground. "Let's go." He whispered. Lucy tripped, only catching herself because she had Dustin pulling her along. "Shh, shh, come on." Steve whispered as they all ran into the room. Lucy's eyes widened when she saw a man sitting at a desk with a lot of buttons. He had a set of headphones on, when he swiveled in his chair he took them off. 

Robin stepped forward when the man reached for something on his belt, starting to recite the code that they'd recorded. Lucy slapped herself in the face. How the hell would that work? 

"Who are you?" The man asked in Russian

"Silver cat. . .Silver cat." Robin pointed at herself and then waved her hand behind her at the other five of them.

"I don't understand." He shook his head.

"Мы привезли пакеты. Мы возьмем на себя радиовещание для вас. . .ah." Lucy hesitated, looking over his uniform. She didn't know his rank. . .so she went for it. "Генерал?"

The man scoffed as Robin stepped forward and said "Китай."  

He reached for the thing on his belt again and Steve yelled, running at him. Steve wrapped his arms around the man's torso and rammed him back into the desk with a grunt. The Russian threw Steve off of him before launching his fist at the brunet's face. Steve dodged, getting grabbed once again by the man and forced into a desk. The man smiled, pulling Steve up by his shoulder and going to land a punch in his face. Steve threw his elbow back instead, landing a hit right in his stomach. Steve grabbed the microphone off the desk and slammed it into the Russian's face, causing him to fall back into a desk and then hit the floor. 

Lucy sat there with wide eyes, impressed by her brother and also slightly annoyed at Robin for ruining what she was doing; finally putting her Russian skills to the test. "Is he. . ." She trailed off. 

"Unconscious." Russell chuckled, biting her bottom lip as Steve ran a hand through his hair. 

"Dude!" Dustin called with a chuckle. "You did it! You won a fight!" 

"Geez-" Steve breathed out before laughing slightly. Dustin ran over to the unconscious man, grabbing his keycard off his belt. 

"What are you doing?" Erica scoffed.

"Getting us our ticket out of here." 

"You want to walk all the way back?"

"What other choice do we have?" Russell sighed. 

"Ah, well we could hang out for a little bit, relax, have a picnic maybe." Dustin sassed. 

"Have a picnic? We came here for the radio!" Erica yelled, causing Lucy to shrink into Dustin's side. 

"Well this plan is way better. If I knew Steve could knock out a Russian, that would've been our plan in the first place. Why not go back? But I guess you're just scared-" 

"Guys." Robin came running in from. . .who knows where. "There's something up there." She pointed to a set of stairs behind her. They all followed her all the way to the top where Robin pushed a door open. She stayed crouched as she walked into the room and held the door open for everyone else. Lucy walked into the room, making her way to the wall made of windows and down. 

"Shit." She breathed out, tears pricking the corner of her eyes as she saw what it was. A beam of blue light, breaking into the wall of rock, opening up another portal to the Upside Down. 

"Holy Shit." Dustin breathed out. 

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Word Count - 1,024

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Published - January 31, 2024

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