CHAPTER TEN
the key

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*･✧

"Okay, clear." Steve told them, standing from a crouch and rounding the corner, "Clear, come on, let's go."

After the endless empty hallway, the group had come upon a more spacious area. But, it also seemed to be closer to the Russians, red carts of supplies driving by, and their likelihood of being caught was rising.

"Okay, that was close." Robin said sighing deeply.

"Too close." Azalea added, breath quickening. They needed to get out of there. The sooner they found the comms room, the sooner they could buy their ticket out.

"Relax." Steve rubbed Azalea's arm as he pushed past her, "All right? Relax. Nobody saw..."

His voice trailed off, and Azalea stood next to him seeing why.

The hallway peeled off into a giant circular room filled to the brim with Russian soldiers, men in lab coats, and some in hazmat suits. And many armed with guns.

"Shit." Steve gulped.

Azalea felt Robin pull her to the ground beside her and they all crouched behind some boxes to hide.

"Red Dawn." Dustin muttered, turning to Azalea.

She grimaced. They saw that movie in theaters together, "Oh, God."

"I saw it." Erica whispered harshly, "First floor, northwest."

Steve turned to her, whispering back, "Saw what?"

She raised her brows, "The comms room."

"You saw the comms room?"

"Correct."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Erica assured, "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 warned. Azalea nodded. Not that she didn't trust Erica, but it was so risky.

"I'll take those odds." Robin stated.

"All right." Steve complied, listening to Robin, "We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low. Okay?"

Azalea swallowed her nerves and nodded.

The group all stayed in a huddle, Steve and Robin in front. Azalea pulled to the back to keep Erica and Dustin in front of her protectively.

They crawled from side to side of the room, staying low, silent, and behind metal boxes and walls.

Finally reaching the door to the comms room, with baited breath, Steve held the door for the group to all run in.

"Move it." Steve hissed at Azalea, being at the tail end of the group, "Let's go."

Everyone was sighing in relief as Steve shut the door, but Azalea stood like a deer in headlights.

She whispered to Steve beside her, "We've got company."

The group all turned slowly and stared worriedly at the man at the comms table. He soon became aware of their presence, swiveling around in his chair, sharing their look of shock.

Azalea had the passing thought of how confused he must be—especially because of how ridiculous they all looked. Two of them were clad in sailors uniforms, one had a 'My Little Pony' backpack, and they were all just teens and kids.

The Russian man started to reach for the gun in his belt holster.

"действовать осторожно!" Robin suddenly spouted, walking towards the man, a protective arm in front of the group, "действовать осторожно!"

Azalea realized she was saying 'tread lightly', regurgitating some of the code she remembered.

She was insane. In a stupidly brave way.

The man responded in confusion, though no one knew what he said.

Robin continued, stepping closer still, "серебряный кот."

Silver cat.

It wasn't working. The man only got more agitated as his confusion grew, and he reached for his gun again.

Azalea pulled Robin away by the hand from the man quickly by the hand, scared of what was going to happen next.

Steve surprised them all and burst in anger, roaring towards the man. He took him down before he could reach his weapon.

The group all watched helplessly as the Russian man swung, Steve barely dodging it. Azalea winced as the man slammed him into a control desk, and then grabbed him by the back of his Scoops uniform.

Steve then grasped onto a speaker from the desk, and in a single hard blow, he knocked the Russian over the head with it. The man melted to the ground unconscious.

Gasping for air, Steve fixed his hair while the rest of the group gaped in awe.

"Dude!" Dustin yelled, a grin spreading across his face, "You did it! You won a fight!"

The group all pulled in deep breaths of calm, finally being safe for the time being.

"Thanks, by the way," Robin told Azalea, referring to pulling her away from the armed Russian earlier, "I don't know what I was thinking."

That's when she realized they were still holding hands. Heart rate rising fast, Azalea's cheeks flushed slightly as she dropped Robin's hand, "Sorry."

Robin looked as if she was going to say something, but she was cut off by Erica and Dustin bickering.

"What are you doing?" Erica asked condescendingly.

Dustin grabbed a key card from the unconscious Russian, "Getting us our ticket out of here."

"You want to walk all the way back?" Erica glared.

"Well, we can hang out for a little bit, relax, have a picnic maybe." Dustin retorted sarcastically.

"Have a picnic? We came here for the radio."

"This plan is way better. If I knew Steve could knock out a Russian, that would've been our plan in the first place."

"I'm with Dustin," Azalea added standing beside them, "It's not ideal, but it's better than sitting and waiting like sitting ducks for someone to possibly hear our broadcast for help."

"What about being American heroes?" Erica raised her brows, "I wanted the US Military in here busting some Commie ass."

"We can tell them when we're safe on the surface," Dustin argued back shaking the keycard.

Or not. Azalea thought.

She hoped against all hopes that they would get out of there safely, and then somehow convince them to pretend they saw nothing. But that seemed less and less likely the more they saw.

After what she saw, could she even pretend to she saw nothing? Or did she have a bigger moral obligation to tell someone to stop the Russians?

Maybe she could warn her dad before they tell the US Military—save her dad, save America.

Everything could still work out, right?

"Guys," Robin's voice echoed from a side hallway, "There's something up there."

Azalea went with the rest of the group towards her. Robin was perched a couple steps up the hall, the door at the end of the hall glowing blue.

Wordlessly, they all climbed the stairs, the blue glow lighting up their faces as they got closer and closer. Robin held the door open for the crew as they snuck into the room.

Azalea slowly walked behind Dustin to the door where the light was emitting from.

Her heart sank and breath caught.

Behind another glass full of scientists and Russians was a giant machine whirring and screeching, blue light blasting out the front with electricity crackling around it.

It was the 'Key' from her dad's booklet.

Even more terrifying was what it was shooting at. The wall had a large tear in it, vines hanging between it and large particles emitting from it. A deep red hue came from behind the tear. The wall looked like it was breathing, like it was alive.

The vines, the particles, the cold feeling in the room. She'd seen this before.

They were re-opening the gate to the Upside-Down.

"Holy shit." Dustin muttered in front of her, echoing her sentiments exactly.

"The gate," Dustin and Steve gulped.

"No, no, no, no, no," Azalea cried, cursing under her breath.

This is what her dad was working on?

"We have to go," Azalea said wide-eyed to Dustin and Steve, "Now."

Steve and Dustin pulled Robin and Erica away from the door and out of the room back into the comms center, follow Azalea who was racing down the stairs in a spiraling panic.

"I don't understand." Robin called after them, "You've seen this before?"

"Not exactly." Steve answered.

"Then what, exactly?"

Dustin licked his lips nervously, "All you need to know is it's bad."

"It's really bad." Azalea added, hands pressed on her face in fear.

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

Robin eyed Azalea in worry, "And you know about this how?"

"Um, Steve?" Erica piped up, "Where's your Russian friend?"

The group all looked around the room. The Russian man was gone.

Just then an alarm started blaring, a light in the room flashing red. Azalea felt her chest tightening. They were dead. They were so dead.

"Shit." Steve cursed, running to open the door. Which turned out to be a very bad move as the Russian soldiers were right outside.

They saw them.

"Halt!" They called out as Steve slammed the door, "Halt!"

"Shit."

Nowhere else to run, the group sprinted through the doors, straight into the the room full of scientist and men studying the gate.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Steve called, pushing to the front of the group, knocking Russians out of their way.

Azalea pushed everyone else in front of her as they ran, rather herself getting caught than any of them.

They continued to outrun the guards until they found themselves head on with the giant machine, and a giant fall.

Dustin cursed loudly over the crackling hum of the Key, the force of the blaring electricity causing their hair to blow, "Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!"

Azalea shouted, noticing an emergency exit stairway beside her, "This way!"

She tried to hold off the guards, letting the group all start down the stairs. Robin warned, "Guards! Let's go!"

Spotting a door a few feet away, Robin sprinted towards it, leading the two younger kids with her.

Steve and Azalea tried to hold off the guards, pushing over barrels and boxes in their way.

"Come on!" Robin yelled from the other side of the door, the other two already inside.

Steve grabbed Azalea's hand, pulled her into a sprint, "Go, go, go, go, go! Come on, quick!"

Azalea was the last person inside and immediately slammed the door behind her.

The guards were hot on their trail though, already at the door trying to break through.

Azalea slid to the floor, trying to hold the door with her body weight as the rest of the crew spread around the room, searching for a way out.

More and more guards seemed to pile outside the door, the force knocking Azalea forward.

She couldn't hold it alone. She yelped, "A little help?"

Robin and Steve both came to her aid, flanking either side of her, backs pressed against the metal door. Still, it wasn't enough.

They were going to break through.

But Erica and Dustin had found a way out.

Erica threw her backpack in the vent and then crawled in herself. Dustin jumped down after her and shouted to the older teens, "Here! Come on, let's go!"

Steve knew they wouldn't make it, "Go! Just get out of here!"

"Go, come on, now!"

"No! Just go get some help, okay?"

"What are you doing?!" Dustin cried back, staring helplessly. His eyes fell on Azalea, "Please! I need you!"

Azalea's heart ached. She needed Dustin to be safe, "Go!"

"I won't forget you!"

Robin and Steve joined her in yelling at him, time running out, "Go!"

With a forlorn look, Dustin ducked under the vent and disappeared from sight.

The force outside the door grew stronger and the teens grew more tired. They gave in and let the door swing open, throwing them against the concrete wall on the other side of the room.

The room flooded with Russian guards, guns blazing aimed towards them.

The three raised their hands in surrender, fearing what was coming next.

With great force, the guards seized the three, cuffing them, and pulling them to their feet.

Azalea watched Robin and Steve dejectedly, feeling immense guilt pool in her system.

She could have stopped this. If she had been more clever, maybe she could have thrown them off the Russian's scent. Maybe she could have convinced them to drop it altogether.

Sure, she didn't know that looking in those boxes would have brought them here, but she knew enough. She should have stopped them.

They didn't deserve this.

Azalea's eyes glossed over, tears flowing now as she was torn away from her friends, being dragged far away everyone.

She heard Steve and Robin cry out for help. Calling out to the other. Screaming her name.

She just cried helplessly as she was dragged into some sort of holding room, tied to a chair, and left alone.

Azalea shut her eyes, sobs wracking her chest, making her throat raw. Her cries echoed in the cold, empty room.

There was only one thought left in her mind: This was all her fault.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*･✧