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As the alarm started blaring, the scoops troop ran to a room that looked like it was filled with boilers and batteries that powered the machine they just ran past. Steve positioned himself to hold the door closed while the Russians started banging to get in. Dustin noticing that Steve couldn’t hold the door for long, ran to help, putting his body weight against it too. Erica found a grate on the floor and determined their way of escape. The banging was getting louder as Erica shuffled her way into the vents Robin found herself dangling half in and half out looking at Steve and Dustin.
“Henderson go, I’ll hold them off!” Steve yelled over the clanging behind them.
“No” Dustin responded matter of factly.
“No? Henderson, you need to get out of here man!”
“No. As soon as I move from this door those Russians will come running in, it’s pointless for me to go with the girls now, we’ll all get caught. Plus, if you die, I die, remember? Robin, go with Erica, radio my friends or call Hopper, they can help!”
Robin looked at Steve desperately, waiting for his instruction, but seeing no other option Steve defeatedly shrugged and told her Robin to go. She lowered herself fully into the vents, and put the grate back on.
“Dammit Henderson, I thought you were kidding with that whole ‘if I die, you die’ crap!” Steve whined just as the soldiers succeeded in pushing open the door with guns trained on the two boys.
“Shit” they said in unison.
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The next thing Steve knew he was being shuffled into an empty room, while Dustin was being dragged further down the hall. Both boys protested against being separated, but it was in vain.
“Shit” Steve thought to himself. It was bad enough Dustin was here with Steve, who was most likely about to be tortured by these commies, but now he was all on his own. Steve couldn’t protect him this time. The thoughts were pushed from Steve’s head however as the ‘interrogation’ began.
“Who do you work for?” A heavily accented man questioned Steve once more while the other landed a right hook to Steve’s jaw.
“I told you. I sling ice cream at scoops ahoy in the mall. My friends and I noticed that a shipment was late, and wandered to try to find it. That’s when we stumbled on the elevator, and we found all these tunnels down here. We were only wandering around trying to find our way back!” Steve spilled out his excuses with raspy breath as another blow came to his ribs. He could only hope that Dustin was better off, sitting untouched in another part of this hellhole.
“Enough with the lies!” Oserov shouted. “Tell me the truth, who do you work for?”
“I told you, man! I work for Scoops Ahoy! It’s the truth, now where is my friend? What are you doing to him?!” Steve begged, worried about Dustin.
Oserov mumbled something to the other man in Russian and another blow came. Then everything went black as Steve passed out.
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Dustin finally heard the lock on the door open after what it felt like hours of sitting alone in the empty room. Two men with guns came in and dragged him to another part of the hall. He was thrown in to see an unconscious and bloodied Steve on the ground, Dustin immediately ran to him.
“Steve! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! What did you do to him?!”
The bald man, who Dustin recognized as the man in charge ordered something in Russian. Immediately, Dustin was lifted, fighting the hands that grabbed him, trying desperately to hold onto his unconscious friend, and he locked into a chair that was similar to one at a dentist’s office. Then Steve was strapped to a regular chair in the middle of the room facing Dustin. Once both boys were secure, the soldiers left the room.
“We will be back, it is time you met our doctor” the bald man said. Fear rose in Dustin’s throat, he did not like the way the man said that.
Dustin tried again calling Steve’s name, in hopes of rousing the man. Steve’s head lolled to the side as he started to wake up.
“Steve! Steve! Are you ok?! You look like shit!”
Steve let out a humorless chortle. “Heh, yeah thanks man. Do you think maybe we could lower the volume a bit?”
Steve took in their surroundings as he came to. He saw Dustin strapped to a chair and panic immediately struck. “Are you ok? Did they do anything to you? Why are you strapped to that chair man?”
Dustin assured him that he was fine, that he had only sat in an empty room for a while and then was brought here. Dustin asked how Steve was and he reported that he might have a concussion and a couple of broken ribs, but that was it. “The good news is, they’re going to get a doctor for you. The bad news is, I’m not sure what type of doctor he is” Dustin quipped. Steve let out another exasperated chuckle
“Great”
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Another few minutes past in silence, while the boys contemplated the situation they were in.
“I’m sorry” they said in unison, breaking the silence. “What the hell are you sorry for?” Both questioned each other, again at the same time.
Dustin spoke first “I’m sorry that I got us in the mess. I should’ve never brought that intercepted message to you. You should be working your summer job and flirting with girls, while claiming that you don’t have feelings for Robin! I’m so sorry” he rambled.
“If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. You’re just a kid, man. You should be playing D&D with the party, or figuring out how to get in contact with Suzie. I should’ve never let you convince me to help you decode that message” Steve jumped in.
“Can we both just agree that we were idiots, and promise that if we get out of this alive, we will never do anything like this again?” Dustin suggested
“Heh, yeah sure. But Henderson?” Steve raised his eyes to meet the boy’s “Don’t say if, we will get out of this alive. I’m not going to let anything happen to you-“
“Well wasn’t that sweet?” Oserov walked into the room followed by four guards and a man in doctors scrubs. “I am glad to see you are awake Butterscotch. I’d like you to meet our doctor”
The man in scrubs walked in and came to the tray next to where Dustin was locked up. He started laying out a bunch of syringes and different colored liquids.
“I’m glad to see you had your little heart to heart, it is going to make this next part much easier for me” Ozerov paced the room as the doctor loaded a syringe with a red liquid. “You see butterscotch, I think you are lying to me. It is clear that you don’t want to answer my questions. Also it would be difficult to not notice that you care for this boy” with that he placed his hands on Dustin’s shoulders, pulling him against the chair, which made Steve struggle as he tried pulling against his restraint. “It would be foolish of me to not use this to my advantage.”
Ozerov ordered two of the guards to hold Steve, who was already straining to get out of the straps that held him, begging the Russians not to do this, to let Dustin go. Just as they grabbed Steve the doctor came to dustin holding the syringe to his neck. Dustin tried pulling away from it, but his own restraints as well as Oserov’s hands on his shoulders held him in place.
“This might sting a bit” the man said as the syringe sank into Dustin’s vein and Steve shouted out his name.
Within 30 seconds Dustin’s whole body felt like it was on fire. Every nerve in his body burned as the drug worked its way through his blood stream.
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Almost as soon as the drug was injected, Dustin started twitching and screaming. Steve had no clue what was happening to the boy, but the sight and sound alone was enough to send shivers down his spine and break his heart into a million pieces.
“Please” he begged. “Please he’s just a kid man, make it stop!” Steve’s eyes never left dustin who only seemed to be in more pain as the seconds passed. Each movement, each twitch seemed to set off a new scream from dustin.
“Who do you work for?!” Oserov demanded again.
Steve broke his gaze from dustin to stare at the man, tears in his eyes.
“I told you, I work for scoops ahoy, that was the truth!” He glanced back at dustin whose screams seemed to get quieter. Steve hoped this meant that the boy’s pain was fading, but upon looking at him, he could see that wasn’t true. It just seemed that Dustin’s voice was becoming strained from the yells. The tears began to spill from Steve’s eyes at the sight.
“And how did you discover this place?”
“We intercepted your code! We intercepted your broadcast on our cerebro. ‘Tread lightly, the silver cat’ bullshit. We translated it and found your secret elevator. Now please make! it! stop!” Steve punctuated every part of his last statement. In the back of his mind he knew that it probably was not wise to show how desperately he cared for Dustin, that this was the very reason the boy was being tortured right now, and not Steve but he was not thinking straight right now. His eyes were glued as Dustin continued to twitch and shake in the chair in front of him.
Oserov looked satisfied with his answer and nodded to the doctor, who immediately injected a blue liquid into Dustin’s neck. The boy stopped twitching and seemed to pass out almost immediately from the pain.
“I still don’t fully believe you butterscotch, but we can not have your friend die right away, now can we?” He leaned in front of Steve as he finished his sentence, and Steve took the opportunity to spit in the man’s face.
“Go to hell!” Steve yelled as Oserov wiped the spit and chuckled. Then after a brief order in Russian, he and the rest of the men left the room. Once they were gone, Steve looked back at Dustin who was now unconscious in the chair. Tears overcame him as he looked at the young boy (and shit, only now did he remember just how young the kid actually was). “I’m sorry dustin! I am so so sorry!” He cried until there was no tears left to give.
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Dustin awoke about 20 minutes later with a start. The slight movement alone made his muscles ache. He forgot where he was for a moment, but then he remembered. He remembered the elevator, the Russians, finding the gate, getting caught, then the pain, the immense pain all over, and then nothing. Shit. He must’ve passed out. Dustin looked around to see Steve still tied to a chair in front of him. The older boy was sniffling and staring at the ground.
“S-Steve?” Dustin croaked out, surprised at how hoarse his voice sounded.
The older boy immediately looked up, his eyes red, and his bruises much darker then they were before.
“Henderson! You’re awake! Are you ok?! What was that stuff they injected you with man?!”
“Yeah I’m ok. Just a shit ton of pain kinda like everywhere. I don’t know what that was, but it was like my whole body was on fire. Everything felt like it was burning. I have never felt pain like that”
“Jesus. I’m so sorry man! I’m so so sorry!” The tears threatened to come again as Steve apologized.
“Hey! Steve look at me! This is not your fault. It hurt like hell, but I am ok” Dustin reassured him. Steve smiled, of course the kid who just got tortured would be trying to make him feel better.
Just then the door unlocked again. Both boys tensed as the guards, doctor, and Oserov made their way back in.
“Hello again boys. Let’s see if you are ready to answer some more of my questions, shall we?”
The doctor began unloading a bunch of metal instruments. “As much as I find these new scientific drugs and tools appealing, I am much more of an old soul. I prefer the classic forms of seeking information” Oserov said, then ordered something to the doctor in Russian. Before they could blink, a scalpel was being held to Dustin’s cheek. Steve once again pulled against his restraints, creating bruises on his arms and torso.
“Now you are going to tell me who else knows about our base here or I am going to have our doctor take out your friend’s eye.”
Steve said nothing, so the doctor began pushing the scalpel into Dustin’s skin. The boy let out an involuntary whimper as blood began poor down his cheek. The scalpel pushed more and more until Steve spoke up!
“No one else knows! I swear! It’s just us!”
Oserov, unbelieving nodded to the doctor, who began to raise the scalpel towards Dustin’s eye.
“Please no! No one else knows! Please stop!” Steve begged. How could this be happening?! How did he end up in this situation being forced to watch his best friend, no screw that, his brother, be tortured in front of him.
Just as the scalpel hovered above Dustin’s eye, which was being held open by the doctor’s free hand, alarms started blaring throughout the base. Oserov ordered the guards outside and followed them, leaving just the boys and the doctor. Just then Erica and Robin charged in and using an electric pole, Robin killed the man holding A scalpel to Dustin’s face. She worked to undo the restraints on Dustin while Erica got Steve loose. As soon as he was free, Steve sprinted over to the chair that Dustin was sitting in. He immediately pulled the younger boy into a hug, which he regretted when Dustin winced under his arms, still sore from the drug. He helped the boy stand, then crouched down to look him in the eyes.
“I am so sorry. Are you ok?” Steve asked as he brought a hand to wipe the blood running down Dustin’s face.
“How many times are you gonna ask that” Dustin joked. “Im ok, in pain, but ok”
“You guys we gotta go, like now!” Robin shouted. And Steve let Dustin put an arm around his waist as he limped out of the room. The loaded into the small car, with Erica and Robin up front and Steve in Dustin in the back. Steve kept a firm grip on Dustin, swearing to not let him out of his sight until they made it to safety.
“You’re gonna be ok. We’re going to be ok” Steve assured Dustin, and Christ he hoped it was true.
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The next few hours went by in a blur.
Hoping to hide from the Russians that were pursuing them, Dustin and Erica ran into the movies, while Steve and Robin went to hide in the bathroom. Steve confessed his feelings, only to find out that Robin did not reciprocate to say the least, but he was not upset. In fact he was happy to just have a friend who felt secure enough to share this part of herself with him.
Dustin got in contact with the rest of the party, despite the low batteries on his walkie-talkie.
The scoops troop was still being pursued by the Russians, and was forced to hide in the food court after the movie was over. When it seemed like all hope was lost, the Russians were taken out by a flying car.
Dustin limped over to see his friends, who immediately embraced him in a tight hug. When Dustin winced at the contact Steve reprimanded the party, and warned them to be careful with the young boy.
Not long after, Hopper, Murray, and Joyce showed up. Steve felt immediate sense of relief at not having to be the adult anymore.
When a plan was devised, Erica, and Robin argued with Hopper and Murray saying they needed to go back down to navigate the tunnels and to help close the gate, but Dustin had a better idea to use cerebro.
Once again the group divided into their teams in order to go save the world.
Once they were at cerebro, and the lights started flickering at the mall, Steve felt his heart rip in two. He knew he had to go save the others who are stuck at the mall, but he couldn’t imagine leaving Dustin, especially after everything they just went to. Dustin assured him that him and Erica would be fine, and Steve and Robin went to go save the day once more.
Dustin manned the comms, and was forced into singing an embarrassing number with his newfound girlfriend, in order to save the world. His voice was horse, from the screaming he had produced earlier in the evening, but he ignored it, because this was his and Susie’s song.
When the mind flayer was stopped, and the gate was closed, Dustin and Erica were picked up by one of the helicopters making their way to the mall. Dustin limped out the aircraft and Steve immediately ran over to him.
Robin glanced at the two. She didn’t know what happened between them down in that base, but you’d have to be blind to see the bruises that lined Steve’s face, or the cut on Dustin’s cheek, or the way the boy limped and flinched at any movement. She knew they had faced unimaginable things down there, and this bond that the two shared had somehow grown into something more, something indescribable.
In the following months Steven and Dustin would have nightmares about their experience down in the Russian base, they would wake up screaming and in a cold sweat as they remembered the things that they had faced. But whenever this happened, one would just call the other, despite the time of night, just to ensure their safety, and would stay on the phone until they fell back to sleep. Life moved on. The Byers and El moved out to California. Steve and Robin got a job at Family Video. Dustin and the party prepared to start high school in a few weeks. No words could describe what the two had seen and faced, but since then, Steve knew he would do anything for Dustin Henderson, he would give his life to ensure that the boy never had to face anything like that again. But what Steve didn’t know is that Dustin and made the same promise to himself. What Steve didn’t know was that Dustin have truly meant it when he said those words to Steve. “If you die, I die”