Chapter Seven
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The Henderson Team

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            Olivia, Steve, and Dustin gave Robin and Erica the run down of everything that has happened the last two years so they wouldn't be out of the loop. They were rushing back down the stairs as they tried to explain everything as quickly as possible. Robin was grilling questions, understandably not fully grasping what they were explaining. Olivia would be utterly shocked too if all of this new, life threatening information was thrown at her.

            "I don't understand. You've seen this before?" The blonde inquired.

            "Not exactly."

            "Then what, exactly?"

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

            "It's really bad," Steve added.

            "Like end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it-kind-of-bad," Dustin finished.

            "And you know about this how?"

            "Um Steve, where's your Russian friend?" Erica observed, catching everyone's attention. The Russian guard that Steve had knocked out was now no where to be seen. Olivia panicked, but before she could really register what was happening, an ear-piercing alarm filled the building.

            In a flurry, everyone exited the room, only to be met with the swarm of Russians again, who now noticed them and stared intently at them. Dustin screamed unnecessarily as he pushed one of the men in a mask aside. It was almost humorous, and Olivia almost would've laughed at her brother's antics if they weren't on the run. Dustin yelled some curse words when he realized there was no way out. As another group of Russians headed towards them, they sped in another direction. They finally managed to go to another room, but Steve and Robin had to lean on the door to prevent the Russians from barging in.

            "Come on!" Olivia yelled over the Russians banging their fists on the door with fear written in her voice.

            "No!" Steve shouted firmly. "Just go, okay?"

            "I can't just leave you here!" Olivia scoffed at him.

            "No! Just go get some help, okay?" He repeated. Olivia froze, not knowing what to do. She didn't want to leave Steve and Robin behind, but she also didn't want Dustin and Erica left on their own. She made a promise to herself long ago that she would protect Dustin at all costs, no matter what. He was too important to her. "What are you doing?" Steve exclaimed. "You need to go with Dustin! Go!"

            "I won't forget you!" Dustin shouted, not wanting to leave Steve and Robin behind either.

            Olivia wanted to tell Steve so badly. What if this was the last time they ever saw each other again? She could die, and Steve would never know he was the love of her life. "Steve, I-"

             "Go!" Steve and Robin shouted over the ruckus, using all of their strength they had to keep the door closed. Steve couldn't bear the thought of loosing Olivia, and as much as he hated it, they had to part ways, at least for now. Olivia glanced one more time at Steve and she could feel tears starting to stream down her cheeks. Reluctantly, her and Dustin went down the passageway to the air ducts.

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            Some time had past, and Olivia, Dustin, and Erica were sitting down in the air duct. They had to come to a hault after some more walking because their was a fan blowing that was blocking their way. Dustin was tinkering with the connected wires, trying to figure out how to stop the fan from blowing so they could go through it. As they waited, he was finishing explaining to Erica about what happened last year. Olivia was only half listening, not being able to stop thinking about Steve. God only knows if him and Robin were still alive. Her hands were fidgeting and she was trembling slightly.

           "So, when we set fire to the hub, we threw the demo-dogs away, so El could close the gate. But now, for some insane reason, the Russians appear to be trying to reopen it, which just destroys everything we risked our lives for," Dustin concluded. Once Dustin finished explaining everything, Erica looked skeptical. Knowing Erica quite well, Olivia wasn't at all surprised. The small girl was a hard one to convince.

            Erica crossed her arms. "By 'we,' you're including Lucas?"

            "Yes, of course," Dustin answered matter-of-factly.

            "So all that shit you told me, Lucas was there?"

            "Yeah," Dustin nodded.

            Erica wrinkled her nose. "My brother, Lucas Charles Sinclair?"

            "Yes!"

            "I don't believe you," Erica snorted.

            Dustin shifted his eyes to Olivia, who looked quite amused. She was glad that this was distracting her from thinking about Steve, because the chances that Steve was still alive was getting slimmer, and she did not want to think about that. "Wait, so you believe everything about El and the gate, and the mindflayer-"

            "But you question your brother's involvement?" Dustin finished for Olivia.

            "That's correct," Erica nodded with amusement twinkling in her eyes.

            "Makes total sense," Olivia and Dustin chorused sarcastically.

            "Um, you need help with that?" Erica offered, gesturing towards the wires.

            "No," Dustin shook his head.

            "Well, I mean, it's taking a while so—"

            "Yeah, no shit, Sherlock!" Dustin spatted.

            "Alright, so if we don't find a more efficient way to stop these fans, we're never gonna find help, and your ice cream buddies are screwed," Erica retorted.

            "Geez, have a better attitude, will you? Liv is sensitive right now and doesn't need to hear that," Dustin shook his head at the Sinclair girl. "You alright, Liv?"

            "I'm okay," Olivia croaked.

            "Hey, we're gonna get out of here, all right? We're gonna get help and you'll see Steve again, I promise," Dustin comforted, embracing his sister in a warm hug.

             "I'm sorry Liv," Erica responded. "But I'm just being realistic. I mean we've made it about point three miles in nine hours? Then we have to walk three hours down that tunnel, so I'd estimate ten miles back to the elevator, which should take us approximately twelve-and-a-half days."

             "Did you just do all of that in your head?" Olivia asked in amazement.

            "I'm good with numbers," Erica shrugged.

            "Holy shit!" Dustin widened his eyes in realization. "You're a nerd!"

            "I knew it!" Olivia said excitedly, pumping her fist in the air. Her and Dustin clapped each other's hands, proud of themselves for confirming that Erica was in fact, a nerd. That was something the Henderson siblings always did when they got excited about something.

            "Come again?" Erica scoffed, completely bewildered at even just the thought of being a nerd.

            "You. Are. A. Nerd," Dustin chuckled, emphasizing each word.

            "Okay, you guys better take that back, nerds," Erica scolded, rolling her eyes at the two siblings in front of her.

            "Can't put the truth back in the box," Dustin teased, poking fun at her.

            "That's right," Olivia played along, still giggling.

            "But it's not the truth," Erica protested, heaving a sigh of frustration.

            "There's nothing wrong about being a nerd, Erica," Olivia expressed. "Nerds are the best."

            "Let's examine the truth, shall we Liv?" Dustin said playfully.

            "We shall," Olivia giggled. "Fact one: you're a math whiz, appearently."

            "That was a pretty straightforward equation," Erica said, folding her arms.

            "Fact number two, your a political junkie," Dustin added.

            "Just because I don't agree with communism as an ideology—"

            "Fact number three, you love My Love Pony," Olivia sang while pointing to her backpack, which had My Little Pony characters on it.

            "And what does My Little Pony have to do with this?"

            "Ah, let's recall the ponies latest adventure, shall we?" Olivia began to say, pretending to think for a moment. "The evil centaur team and Tirek turns Applejack into a dragon at Midnight Castle, and that Megan and the other ponies have to use Moonchick's magic to defeat his rainbow of darkness saving them from a lifetime of enslavement."

            "All the pink in the world can't disguise the irrefutable fact that centaurs and castles and dragons and magic are all standard nerd tropes," Dustin interjected. "Ergo, My Little Pony is nerdy. Ergo, you Erica, are a nerd," He finished smugly. Erica was left utterly speechless at Olivia and Dustin's little rant.

            "Wait, you watch My Little Pony, Dusty?" Olivia giggled at the boy at just learning this new information. "How did I not know this?"

            Dustin glared at her. "Aren't you a little too old for My Little Pony?"

            "What? It's my favorite show," Olivia admitted whole heartedly. That was the truth, she did love My Little Pony, even though she was 17-years-old, and should've grown out of it by now. But it was her biggest guilty pleasure. Dustin was the only person who knew about this secret of hers, other than her mom of course, and well, now Erica knows too.

            "I can't believe the both of you know this much about My Little Pony," Erica laughed.

            "Because we're nerds," Dustin confirmed, successfully pulling out the wires.

            The fan stopped swiftly and Olivia patted Dustin's shoulder with a wide smile. "Nice job, Dusty," She cheered, genuinely proud of him.

            Dustin grinned, and faced Erica with another smug look. "Let's go, nerd."

            "Hendersons," Erica mumbled under her breath, before they ducked their heads to go through the fan.

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            After more miles of walking, Dustin slid open one of the tiles on the ceiling. "Jackpot," Dustin said with a grin. The room they entered more vials of green liquid  floating around them in tall glass cases. Dustin's blue eyes twinkled as they flickered over to a red vehicle. He beamed, dashing towards it.

            "Dusty, you don't even know how to drive," Olivia pointed out, putting her hands on her hips.

            "How hard can it be? Max did it," Dustin replied sheepishly, hopping in the vehicle.

            Olivia shivered as she thought back to last year, when she was in the car as Max drove. "You know I love that girl to pieces, but she was a terrible driver," Olivia exhaled.

            "You're the one that let her drive," Dustin claimed. "Can I please drive this, Liv?" He begged. "No one's around, it can't be that hard to drive."

            Dustin looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "Alright fine," Olivia sighed in defeat.

            He smiled and began to rummage for the keys only with no luck.

            "You seriously thought they'd just leave keys in there?" Erica sighed.

            "There's gotta be a spare."

            Olivia helped Dustin search for the keys, while Erica went off, taking in her strange surroundings.

            "Hey Liv, Dustin? How big did you guys say that demogorgon was?"

            "Big. 9 feet or so," Olivia answered. "Why?" She asked curiously.

            "Found 'em," Dustin announced, satisfied with himself. Erica disappeared for a minute, making Olivia and Dustin worry. "Erica?" But before they even had the chance to worry more, Erica came up from behind them, holding what reminded Olivia of a lightsaber that shot out blue lasers.

            "What the hell is that?" Dustin shouted, startled by the lasers.

            "A deadly weapon," Erica shrugged simply, as if she wasn't holding something dangerous. "Could be useful."

            "For what?" Dustin asked in annoyance.

            "What do you think? Taking down commies, saving your friends."

            "Thought you were more realistic than that, nerd."

            "Oh relax Dusty," Olivia interjected, studying the weapon. "It's like a lightsaber! But look, we don't even know where they are, and even if we did, there are a million guards up there with weapons way deadlier than that. The best thing we can do for them is get out of here and find help- easy with that," She told Erica gently, who was climbing in the front seat. "Our chances of surviving, and theirs, rises substantially. Just trust us on this, please?" 

            Olivia settled in the back, just glad to have a break from walking. Dustin locked the keys in the engine and grasped his hands on the wheel with determination laced in his eyes.

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            A while later, they were back where the swarm of Russians were. Everything happened in a blur. Olivia found the button that made the ear piercing alarm and pushed it so that the Russians could be distracted. Olivia barged into a room where Steve and Robin were tied in a chair. A wide smile spread across her features and happiness filled her body, knowing that they were okay. She had been worried sick about them, and almost thought she lost them. But they were alive.

            They were alive.

            She had never been so happy in her entire life.

            A man in a white lab coat was standing in front of them. With determination washing over her, Olivia snatched the laser from Erica and jabbed the man in the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground. Everyone stared at her with awe.

            Olivia rushed over to Steve and knelt in front of him. Her heart ached at the sight of him. While he was thankfully alive, he had been beaten up pretty badly. His faze was oozing with blood. Olivia cupped his face, checking over him. "Oh my gosh, Steve, are you okay? What happened? What did they do to you?"

            Steve ignored her questions though, and smiled widely at her. Something about him seemed... off, and Olivia couldn't quite figure out why. "Hey Liv!" He grinned. "That's crazy, I was just talking about you. And how cute you are."

            Olivia blushed before she started to cut the rope that tied them. Dustin went to Robin to check if she was okay.

            "Yeah," Robin chuckled, who also seemed off. They almost seemed... drunk? "He called you the future mother of his children!"

            "Hey! Don't expose me like that!" Steve slurred, before him and Robin started cackling. "It's true though! I did say that!"

            Yeah, something was definitely off about them. What did the Russians do to them?

            "Get ready to run," Dustin announced. Steve leaned into Olivia and kissed her cheek after her and Dustin freed them. She grabbed a hold of his hand, and they began to run for their life.

            "Oooh, where are we going? Are we going on an adventure?" Steve quizzed, almost like he was a little kid.

            "Oh, I love adventures!" Robin squealed.

            "Uh, yeah, sure, an adventure," Olivia told them, quirking her eyebrows at them. "Come on, let's go!"