Chapter Six
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Harrington the Hero

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The gang had been walking down the lengthy tunnel for what felt like an eternity. Olivia wiped her eyes from exhaustion and her body was starting to drain. She was walking in between Steve and Erica, and Steve put an arm around her when he noticed that she was starting to slow down a little. Olivia was starting to loose hope if they would ever make it out.

            "I mean you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is impressive," Dustin spoke up.

            Olivia looked passed Erica and Robin at Dustin and tilted her head at him. "Dusty, what are you talking about? I mean, we almost just died in that elevator. And who knows how long 'till we make it out of this tunnel."

            "Exactly," Steve agreed. "There's no stairs, no exit, and as Liv said, there's just an elevator to drop you half way to hell," He said bitterly.

            "They're commies. You don't pay people, they cut corners," Erica chipped in.

            "To be fair to our Russian Conrads, I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking. I mean, think about it. They developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo," Robin pointed out.

            "It all comes into the mall like any old delivery," Dustin added in.

            "And then they load it up onto those trucks and nobody's the wiser," Olivia chimed in, tucking her hair behind her ear.

            "You think they built this whole mall just so they could transport that green poison?" Steve wondered curiously.

            "I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison," Dustin disagreed. "It's gotta be much more valuable. Like promethium or something."

            "What the hell is promethium?" Steve asked cluelessly.

            "It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components," Robin explained.

            "Your all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill," Erica said, putting a hand to her stomach pretending to be sick. Olivia never considered herself a nerd, even though she basically was one. Most of the stuff she knew was because of Dustin and she always learned from him whenever he rambled on about something he learned from Mr. Clarke.

            "No, no, no, don't lump me in with them," Steve said quickly. "I'm not a nerd, all right?"

            "Why so sensitive Harrington?" Robin snickered. "Afraid of loosing points to a 10-year-old child?"

            "No, I'm just saying I don't know jack shit about Prometheus," Steve scoffed. Olivia let out a giggle at the Harrington boy, leaning in closer to his side. Steve was always adorable to Olivia, especially when he was so clueless about something.

            "Promethium," Dustin corrected, causing Olivia to roll her eyes at him. "Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure, but whatever. All I'm saying is, it's probably being used to make something."

            "Or power something," Olivia noted.

            "Like a nuclear weapon," Dustin pondered.

            "Totally," Robin nodded.

            "Walking towards a nuclear weapon? That's great. That'd be great," Steve mumbled 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, maybe it's our very—"

            Robin continued to ramble, but Olivia didn't hear the rest of what she said as Steve tugged her arm, pulling her to the side with Dustin.

            Steve had a worried look on his face and Olivia cocked her head at him with confusion. "You think the Russians know about the—"

            "The Upside Down?" Olivia whispered, as if saying it louder would transport her back there. Steve nodded and she turned to Dustin. "It's possible. Dusty, what do you think?"

            Dustin shrugged his shoulders. "They could."

            Olivia eyes grew wide, wishing she had put the pieces together earlier. "So, it really is connected?"

            "Maybe," Dustin shrugged again.

            "How?" Steve questioned.

            "I don't know, but it's possible," Dustin sighed.

            Noticing that Olivia, Steve, and Dustin were a few feet behind, Robin turned back around with a huff. "I'm sorry, is there something you three like'd to share with the class?" She retorted.

             Steve, Dustin, and Olivia all looked at each other, deciding if they should tell Robin or not about The Upside Down. Suddenly, their ears perked up as they heard the muffled Russian voices coming from Erica's backpack.

            "Walkie," Steve and Dustin chorused, their eyes growing big.

            All of them kneeled down on the floor as Erica fished for the walkie talkie in her backpack and handed it to Robin. Dustin was in the middle of Olivia and Steve , while Robin gave Olivia and Steve a knowing look.

            "What?" The teens harmonized, shifting uncomfortably.

            "This strange child is always in the middle of you guys," Robin pointed to Dustin. "That just makes you look like his Mom and Dad. Especially with Dustin's resemblance to Liv," She snorted.

            "Just translate, Robin!" Steve fired back frustratedly. Olivia blushed and Dustin chuckled.

            Robin shook her head at the Harrington boy, and put the walkie close to her ear so that she could listen to the Russian speak closely. "A trip to China sounds nice, if you tread lightly. It's the code," She said slowly.

            "Wherever that broadcast is coming from-"

            "It's close," Robin confirmed, interrupting Dustin. "And if there's one thing we know about that signal-"

            "It can reach the surface," Dustin concluded, wide eyed.

            "Let's go."

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            The tunnel seemed to finally come to the end, however they were almost caught by a couple of Russian guards. Steve had Olivia behind him protectively, as well as everyone else. They all were behind him, and waited for him to signal when the coast was clear.

            "Okay, clear," Steve informed as he grabbed a hold of Olivia's hand. "Come on, let's go."

            "Okay, that was close," Robin said under her breath.

            "Too close," Olivia and Dustin said simultaneously.

            "Relax, okay? Alright, relax. Nobody saw..." Steve paused. Just ahead of them were not just a few, but a whole swarm of Russians, some in army green and others in white lab coats. The Russian men were intensely looking around and holding massive guns. Olivia's stomach twisted as she watched before her very own eyes. Dustin glanced worriedly at Olivia.

            "You were saying?" Olivia whispered. When one of the Russians almost spotted them, they huddled in a line and crouched on the floor, hiding behind some silver bars.

            "Red Dawn," The curly haired boy whispered.

            "I saw it," Erica spoke in a hushed voice. "First floor, northwest."

            "Saw what?" Steve questioned.

            "The comms room!" Erica answered swiftly.

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

            "Correct!"

            "Are you sure?" Dustin queried.

            "Positive," Erica responded confidently. "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 retorted with a groan.

            "I'll take those odds," Robin said with determination spreading across her features. Steve and Olivia looked at each other worriedly and scoffed at the freckled faced girl, though Olivia did envy her bravery, which was something Olivia never had.

            "All right," Steve whispered. "We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low. Okay?"

            "Okay," Robin nodded.

            Steve continued to lead the way as they quietly shuffled towards the door, while staying low at the same time. Thankfully, the Russians were busy enough that they didn't seem to notice them. When they got close to the door of the comms room, everyone huddled again until one of the scientists exited the room. They took that as their cue to sneak in. Steve got hold of the door just in time before it could close.

            The gang tiptoed in one by one as Steve led them inside. The room was quite plain other than a large table with a machine that had a bunch of different buttons. To their dismay, they were not alone like they'd thought they'd be. On the chair of the table sat a middle aged Russian man who turned around in his chair at the commotion. His eyes widened and Olivia thought he almost looked afraid of them, just as afraid as they were of him. In fact, Olivia almost felt bad for frightening the man. Key word: almost. Everyone froze in their positions, too startled to move. Steve slowly shoved Olivia behind him as Robin went up to distract the Russian. She started making gestures and speaking in Russian, which Olivia recognized as the code.

            Olivia managed to get out of Steve's grasp to help Robin distract the guard. "Silver cat, silver cat," She spoke in Russian, as the man looked at her with pure confusion.

            "China?" Robin added in. The man shook his head, still not understanding. Just as he was starting to pull out a gun out of his pocket, Steve yelled and pushed Olivia out of the way, making his way over to the man. Olivia winced as Steve was thrown to the table. She tried to step in to help, but Dustin tugged her back.

            As they watched Steve fight the man, Olivia was scared out of her mind. She put her head on Dustin's shoulder, not being able to bear watching the love of her life get beat up. She wanted to help Steve desperately, but Dustin kept pulling her back. However, before she knew it, Steve snatched a microphone from the table, banging the man's head with it, causing him to fall to the ground.

            Steve, who was now out of breath and panting, looked up at Olivia who was smiling widely at him. She walked up to him, wrapping her arms around him. "You scared me," She breathed. "But you saved my life. Thank you."

            "Who knew little Stevie could be a hero?" Robin teased.

            "Well, he's always been my hero," Olivia smiled softly at Steve, kissing him on the cheek. Dustin, Robin, and Erica gave each other knowing looks.

            "Dude!" Dustin yelled proudly, while Erica quirked her eyebrows at him. "You did it! You won a fight!" He walked over to the man who was know laying unconscious on the ground, and grabbed something from his pocket.

            "Dusty, what are you doing?" Olivia questioned, her arms still wrapped around Steve's torso.

            "Getting us our ticket out of here," Dustin explained.

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

            "Well, we can hang out here for a little bit, relax, have a picnic maybe," Dustin said sarcastically in a high pitched voice.

            "Have a picnic?" Erica scrunched her nose. "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," Dustin trailed off. As the two continued to bicker, Steve and Olivia laughed softly. Dustin always seemed to have someone to bicker with, even when they were in life or death situations.

            Olivia blocked Dustin and Erica's voices as she looked up at Steve lovingly, the both of them in their own little world. Steve had just saved her life, and that was pretty much all she could think about. More than anything, she wanted to tell Steve what she felt for him. Little did she know, Steve was thinking the same thing. It was very possible that they could die, what if this was the only chance Steve had the chance to tell her? He didn't want to die, not without letting Olivia know how he felt.

            "Guys!" Robin spoke up from the bottom of the stairs, catching everybody's attention. Dustin and Erica abruptly stopped talking, and Steve and Olivia were snapped out of their loving gaze. Steve let out a frustrated sigh. Once again, he was being interrupted of course when he finally had a boost of confidence with Olivia. "There's something up there," Robin informed, pointing up the stairs.

            At Robin's observation, Steve led everyone upstairs to see what was going on. When Steve opened the door at the top of the stairs, they crept inside the room when Steve signaled that it was safe to go in. Olivia let out a small gasp when she walked inside, not expecting to see what she was seeing. They walked over towards the big glass doors to peek closer at it. It was a large room of scientists. There were more giant machines with buttons and blinding lights were flashing. Olivia felt all too familiar fear rise in her— that same kind of fear that night Will went missing two years ago.

            Steve's suspicions were right. These Russians know about everything. They were working on opening the gate that El closed last year, using giant machines that had bright orange and blue streaks of electricity shoot out of it. Olivia had never seen anything quite like it before, it was like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. The giant machine seemed to be working, because the gate was already a few inches open.

            Olivia looked at the Steve and Dustin, who had the same uneasy expressions. "The gate," They said simultaneously.

            The gate was opening again. They were in danger.