Chapter Thirty-Four: Candid Conversation

(E Pluribus Unum, Pt. 5)

***

"HELP! HELP!"

Valerie's ears rang with Robin's screams for help. Her crush had been calling for help for what felt like hours, only for nobody to respond back, while Valerie tried to figure out a way to at least loosen the binds and make it easier to use the scissors, to no avail. She also tried to listen for any Russians—where she told Robin that she couldn't give any sign to the Russians Valerie could speak and understand English after all, something Valerie was also telling Steve when he woke up.

If he woke up.

No, Valerie couldn't think that. Steve had to wake up, he had to. Valerie couldn't cope with a situation where he wouldn't wake up—because as much as he had annoyed her, Steve was her co-worker and someone who might be a friend to her, and Valerie couldn't bear the thought of him dying.

She wished she had her hands free or Steve's were behind his back so she could check his pulse, just in case.

But instead, Valerie substituted for trying to loosen the tight binds or figure out a way out of here as Robin kept screaming for help even though logically, only Russians would hear—but one had to hope help would come, right?

"HELP! HELP! HELP!" Robin screamed as Valerie gritted her teeth, trying to wriggle at least her hands free through the bonds and bear through the pain chafing at her at the action, because if her hands were free it could mean a way out, and—

"Hey, would you stop yelling?"

Valerie's heart nearly stopped in relief when she heard Steve's voice, albeit slurred, relief clear in Robin's voice as she exclaimed, "Steve! Oh my God!"

"Gracias a Dios," Valerie muttered, a relieved smile stretching on her face that Steve was awake.

"Steve, are... are you okay?" Robin asked, making Valerie remember the damage to his face.

"My ears are ringing, and I can't really breathe, my eye feels like it's about to pop out of my skull. But, you know, apart from that, I'm doing pretty good," Steve answered.

Valerie breathed out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Okay. That's totally not worrying at all."

"Hey, what about you? Are you guys okay?" Steve asked, his voice still sounding slurred.

"I'm okay, but Val..." Robin started, to which Valerie finished off with, "The Russians kinda punched me in the gut and backhanded me. Three times."

"Why? Did they not believe you about working for Scoops as well?"

"I... may have implemented my plan of not understanding a single word of English and just kept talking in Spanish," Valerie revealed. "The cabróns didn't really like that."

"Oh," Steve mumbled. "Wait, your plan was just to speak in Spanish?"

"Yep. Worked so far—and Steve, you gotta remember that I don't understand a single word of English when the Russians come back," Valerie told him.

"Got it. I will," Steve promised.

"And... you're gonna be okay, okay? We're gonna be okay," Valerie assured.

"Yeah, the good news is that they're calling you a doctor," Robin revealed.

Steve looked around them, before he asked sarcastically, "Is this his place of work? I love the vibe."

Valerie grinned. "Yeah, nothing's more cozy than stainless steel walls."

"Yep. Charming."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Robin concurred. She paused before she asked, "So, Steve, okay, do you see that table over there to your right?"

When Steve looked the wrong way, Robin and Valerie clarified, "No, your other right."

"Oh," Steve mumbled when he finally saw it.

"Yeah. Okay. And do you see those scissors?" Robin questioned.

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah, well, I think that if we move at the same time, we could get over there, and then maybe Val and I can kick the table and knock them into your lap," Robin explained.

"Without accidentally stabbing you in the process," Valerie added.

"And I could cut the binds," Steve finished, getting the plan now.

"Yeah, and we could get out of here," Robin said.

"Gotcha. Okay, yeah, we can totally do that."

"Yeah."

Valerie nodded and suggested, "Or, once we're free, we can find Rowan, Dustin and Erica and we can all get out of here."

Steve froze. "Rowan. She isn't... have you guys seen her? She hasn't been captured, right?"

"No, it's just us, Steve. Neither me or Robin have seen her, Dustin or Erica since the Russians got us," Valerie informed.

"Yeah, she's probably long gone from here by now," Robin assured, and Valerie caught the note of relief in Robin's voice, as Valerie felt her own relief at Rowan having escaped—their friend getting out of here and finding help along with Dustin and Erica.

But Steve felt relief the most out of them all as he breathed, "She got away. Thank God. She's safe. She's safe."

"Why are you so worried about her?" Robin asked.

"Yeah. I mean, she's our friend too, and we're worried about her and Dustin and Erica, but you wanted her to get out of here the most," Valerie noted.

Robin nodded. "Yeah, and I remember you saying we can be caught, but she can't. Why did you say that, Steve?"

Steve froze, before he said, "I... I was just worried about her. She... I can't tell you."

"Why?" Robin and Valerie question.

"Because it's her secret, not mine," Steve returned with such anger it took Valerie aback and she was certain Robin was the same, as Steve continued, "And... and you guys just can't know, okay? It's already bad enough that I could tell the Russians, so you guys can't know as well."

Valerie frowned, as she tried to share a glance with Robin. What secret did Rowan have that Steve was so panicked about the Russians knowing that combined with his natural worry over Rowan? And yeah, he had a fair point that it was Rowan's secret, not Steve's—Valerie was pretty certain she'd feel the same way with her little secret. It didn't stop her from wondering what it was, though—and especially why the Russians couldn't know about it as well.

"Okay, yeah. So, back to the escape—we were up to the scissors. The scissors that Steve can use to cut the binds," Valerie said, changing the subject back to the matter of their escape.

"Yeah," Robin affirmed.

Valerie didn't miss how she could feel Steve relaxing slightly that she and Robin had given up asking why Rowan had to escape, as he realised, "Those morons. They left scissors in here?"

"Yeah, morons," Robin agreed.

"Utter morons," Valerie concurred.

"Total morons," Steve agreed.

"Okay. Okay, so, on the count of three, we're gonna hop," Robin revealed.

"Okay, good, hop on three. I gotcha," Steve said.

Valerie just nodded.

"Alright. One, two, three," Robin counted down.

On three, they hopped. And it worked.

A breathless laugh slipped out of Valerie's mouth at that, as Robin said, "Okay, that worked."

"Okay," Steve said as Valerie remained silent, a grin on her face as Robin told them, "Alright. Uh, let's try again."

"Okay," Steve and Valerie siad in unison.

"Right. One, two, three," Robin counted and they hopped again—and got another spot closer to the table with the scissors.

"¡Puta madre!" Valerie gasped out, a grin on her face.

"Holy shit, this is gonna work!" Robin exclaimed.

"We're close. Ready?" Steve asked Robin and Valerie, as they nodded and Robin counted, "Okay, one, two, three!"

At the mark of three, they hopped again—but instead of arriving at the table and knocking the scissors down and cutting the binds loose, they fell to the ground with a crash. Valerie twisted her head so that only the side of it met the ground instead of the front of it, hissing out in pain as her face collided with the ground.

"Shit, are you okay, Val?" Steve asked.

"No," Valerie gasped out.

But Valerie's pain disappeared when she heard crying—when she heard Robin crying.

"It's okay, it's okay. Don't cry, Robin," Steve soothed as Valerie tried to twist around, whispering, "It's gonna be okay, Robin. We're gonna find a way out. It's gonna be okay."

However, the more the both of them listened to Robin, the more it sounded liker her crying was her... laughing?

"Are you laughing?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Rubin confirmed between giggles.

"Jesus!" Steve hissed.

"Holy shit, Robin. I got worried," Valerie said, a look of irritation crossing her face that masked her fear and worry of Robin crying.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry," Robin apologised. "It's just... I can't believe Val and I are gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve 'the Hair' Harrington. It's just too trippy, man."

Valerie felt brief confusion over what Robin said, as Steve told her determinedly, "We're not gonna die. We're gonna get out of here, okay? Just... you gotta let me just think for a second."

"Steve's right. We'll find a way out of here, okay? We won't die here—none of us are gonna die here," Valerie assured. "We just need to think of another way out."

"Hey, Steve, do you remember, um, Mrs. Click's sophomore History class?' Robin asked abruptly, confusing both Steve and Valerie for different reasons.

"What?" Steve asked as Valerie remained silent, since this was obviously a moment before she moved to Hawkins.

"Mrs. Clickity-Clackity," Robin said, her head moving slightly on the floor, hair fanning out around her face. "That's what us band dweebs plus Rowan called her. It was first period, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you were always late. And you always had the same breakfast. Bacon, egg, and cheese on a sesame bagel. I sat behind you two days a week for a year while Rowan sat in front of you. Mr. Funny. Mr. Cool. The King of Hawkins High himself. I know you remember Rowan, for obvious reasons, but do you even remember me from that class?"

Steve was quiet—enough to tell Valerie that he hadn't, and showing why he had been the prick she'd heard of before he'd changed—before he and Rowan became friends.

"Of course you don't," Robin scoffed, twisting over to say, "You were a real asshole, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," Steve murmured, so quiet Valerie had to strain to hear.

"But it didn't even matter. It didn't even matter that you were an ass. I was still obsessed with you." Robin confessed, and something about it made something sharp and fearful stab at Valerie—the fear that maybe she had fallen for a straight girl after all—as Robin went on, "Even though all of us losers pretend to be above it all, we still just want be popular. Accepted. Normal."

"If it makes you feel any better, having those things isn't all that great," Steve consoled as Valerie nodded, murmuring, "It really doesn't, Robin. Trust me on that."

"Seriously. It just baffles me. Everything that people tell you is important, everything that people say you should care about, it's all just... bullshit," Steve mumbled, and Valerie's heart lurched, as she remembered the Halloween party last year—how that had beeb the scene where Nancy Wheeler had ripped Steve's heart out and crushed it. Though, she had a feeling a certain dark-haired girl was healing it...

"But I guess you gotta mess up and get a good thump on the head a couple years ago to figure things out, right?" Steve finished off with.

Again, Valerie nodded as she confessed, "Being popular... it sucks. It's like... you have to hide parts of yourself just so you can be accepted and it gets so... exhausting. I was lucky, my squad, my friends... I could be mostly myself around them, especially since New York... it's so much different from Hawkins. But I still had to hide some pieces of myself, because... because it's not really something a normal, popular cheerleader should be. Which, I guess is why I was so... relieved I failed tryouts. I didn't need to hide pieces of me to have the parts of me fit in with the popular crowd, even though I still... feel like I have to hide because again, this is Hawkins. So yeah, popularity isn't it and it's better to just... try and be yourself."

Valerie laughed and admitted, "I say that, and yet I know I'm jealous of Rowan, how she's so... unapologetically herself."

"Don't worry, I agree. I don't think she's ever not been herself or hide one single part of her, like you said," Robin agreed.

"You'd be surprised," Steve muttered, but neither Robin or Valerie pointed it out as Robin murmured, "I hope so. I feel like my whole life has been one big... error."

That incited a round of laughter as Steve muttered, "Yep."

"Definitely," Valerie agreed.

"At least it can't get any more messed up than this," Robin pointed out.

"That's one silver lining," Valerie mumbled.

"You know, I wish I'd known you in Click's class," Steve muttered.

"Yeah?" Robin asked.

"Really, I do. Maybe you could have helped me pass the class. Maybe instead of being here, I'd be on my way to college right now," Steve mused.

"And Val and I would have no idea that there were evil Russians beneath our feet, and we would be happily slinging ice cream with some other schmuck," Robin returned back.

Valerie nodded with a grin. "Yeah. And I wished I moved here sooner, and we could be friends sooner, Robin, and we'd be slinging that ice cream together with that schmuck."

"Me too," Robin murmured, grinning.

"Gotta say, though. I liked being you guys' schmuck. It was fun while it lasted," Steve murmured.

"It was," Robin agreed.

"It really was," Valerie concurred, a rueful smile on her face.

But whatever else they could say, it was silenced when the door cracked open. Valerie didn't get a chance to whisper a reminder to Robin and Steve that she didn't understand English before the Russians walked into the room—and immediately noted their failed escape attempt.

"Where were you three going?" the high-ranking Russian questioned, laughing. Valerie resisted the urge to glare daggers at him.

The chairs were lifted up and set on the floor, letting Valerie see a man in a leather apron at one of the tables, a vial filled with a blue liquid in one hand and a contraption with a needle in the other. Valerie gulped as she saw the needle—she'd never been good with needles.

"Try telling the truth this time, yes?" the Russian said as he touched Steve's face, looking at Valerie as he added, "And try not to be so deceiving. It will make your visit with Dr. Zharkov less painful."

Valerie's heart constricted with fear even as it burned in anger at how the Russian was touching Steve's face and inciting a wince of pain from him, as the Russian with the needle contraption—Dr. Zharkov—screwed the vial of liquid it before he headed over to them, stopping next to Steve as he looked at the doctor, panic in his voice as he yelled, "Wait a second. Wait. Hold on! Okay! Wait, wait, wait! What is that thing?"

"It will help you talk," Dr. Zharkov answered, and Valerie felt her panic rise up—shit, that could undo her plan, and if by the way she felt Steve tense behind her, it could loosen Steve's lips on whatever secret he was keeping for Rowan.

"Did you even clean that thing!?" Steve shouted before the "doctor" plunged the needle into his neck and Steve screamed. Valerie was certain that scream would haunt her nightmares forever.

When the liquid had been injected into Steve, Dr. Zharkov pulled it out and moved to Robin, and Valerie wanted to scream, to lunge, but she felt frozen, her heart beating with fear as Robin let out an agonised scream as the needle plunged into her neck before she fell silent. The doctor wiped the needle before he filled it up again, and Valerie could only stare, her voice frozen in her throat.

The high-ranking Russian leaned down, grinning as he said, "This will make you break whatever training you had, suka."

Valerie wanted to yell she didn't have any training, that Spanish was her first language, but she didn't get the chance as she felt the sting of the needle plunge into her neck before something fiery and and sharp was injected into her bloodstream.

Valerie screamed as whatever was being injected into her coursed through her, further and further as it was plunged in deeper until—

Blackness.

***

I'm sorry

Yeah, Steve's awake! And the trio tried to escape—also, yeah, Valerie knows she has her own secrets (Robin too), but that doesn't stop them from wondering what secrets Rowan has that Steve was so worried about the Russians knowing (though she does agree with Steve about how it's Rowan's secret, not Steve's)

Listen, the part where they fell... I literally had to reenact that to ensure that it was kinda right for Valerie XD

But yeah, this moment... this really struck to me as the shift between Robin and Steve becoming friends even before the bathroom scene, and I wanted that to be a shift with Valerie and Steve becoming friends as well and Valerie and Robin also growing closer

And the Russians are back—and have drugged Valerie, Steve and Robin! Who's ready for them being high?

Spanish translations:

Gracias a Dios: Oh thank God

Cabróns: Bastards

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!