end zone | STEVE HARRINGTON

twenty-six

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - S I X

season 3 episode 6 continued

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THEY WERE STILL INSIDE THE ROOM, STRAPPED DOWN TO THE CHAIRS as Robin continued to get Steve's attention, and also shout for help. Anna's breathing had eventually managed to slow down and get back to normal now that all of her adrenaline had gone, along with the Russians for the time being but it still didn't mean that they were in the clear of them being able to escape.

"Help! Help!" Robin yelled.

Steve muttered something under his breath. "Hey, would you stop yelling?"

"Steve! Oh, my God!" Robin sighed thankfully. Anastasia had yet to say a word to the girl, which led Robin to worry that she had been badly hurt by them, she was glad that Anna was placed in the middle of them so she was able to see the girl occasionally blinking. "Steve...Are-Are you okay?"

Steve snorted. "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."

"Well, the good news is that they're calling you a doctor." Robin smiled, Anna grunted under breath. They were actually going to be getting a doctor, but she didn't have the energy to announce it to them.

Steve glanced over at Anastasia who was glaring at the ground, "Is this his place of work? I love the vibe. Charming."

"Yeah, tell me about it. So, okay, do you see that table over there, to your right?" Robin directed, unfortunately Steve ended up looking to his left. "No, your other right. Yeah, okay. And do you see those scissors?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah, well, I think that if we move at the same time, we could get over there, and then maybe I could kick the table and knock them onto your lap." Robin explained her well thought out plan.

"And I could cut the binds." Steve guessed.

She grinned. "Yeah, and we could get out of here. Got it, Anna?"

"Got it." Anastasia responded, raising her head so she was able to see where they were talking about.

"Gotcha. Okay, yeah, we can do that." Steve said with determination. "Those morons. They left scissors in here?"

"Yeah, morons." Robin giggled along.

Steve chuckled to himself, and even Anna couldn't help but join in. "Total morons."

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

Steve nodded to himself, repeating the instructions. "Okay, good, hop on three. I gotcha."

Robin counted up to three as they all jumped, sending them a step closer to the table. She praised them, and they jumped again but as they went the third time, they ended up falling over with Anna being sandwiched in the middle of them. Robin had started to laugh, as Anastasia sighed to herself.

Steve went to console his friend. "It's okay, it's okay. Don't cry, Robin." The sound of Robin giggling made his scoff, turning his head back over. "Are you laughing? Jesus!"

"I'm sorry!" Robin falsely apologized. "I'm so sorry. It's just...I can't believe....I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington and you, Anna. It's just so trippy, man."

"We're not gonna die." Anastasia told them, even though she had very little hope left in her too.

Steve agreed with her. "Exactly, we're gonna get out of here, okay? Just--You gotta let me think for a second."

Anastasia cleared her throat as Robin did the same, and soon Robin was talking. "Do you remember, um, Mrs. Clink's sophomore history class?"

"No." Anna responded, trying to bring some humor into their current situation.

Steve shook his head, sounding confused as he said. "What?"

Robin laughed through her words. "Mrs. Clickity-Clackity. That's what us dweebs 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. Mister Funny. Mister Cool. The King of Hawkins High himself. Do you even remember me from that class?" Steve stayed silent at her question, giving her the answer that she needed as Robin chuckled. "Of course you don't. You were a real asshole, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know." Steve muttered, he thought that Robin was about to profess her love for him and it worried him considering Anastasia was sitting in the middle of them, listening to their conversation and most likely worrying the worst.

"But it didn't even matter. It didn't matter that you were an ass. I was still..." Robin trailed off, by that point Anastasia had already blocked her mind from the conversation. Allowing the two of them to talk about their past.

Which brought Anna to think about her own. She was so worried about hurting her friends and her family that she didn't even use her powers when necessary. The Russians who experimented on her called her a weapon, but she never wanted to be like that. She wanted to be a human being, and to experience all the things that normal teenagers got too.

She was living her life in fear of them, and she wanted to change it once everything was finally over.

She broke out of her deep thinking when the doors opened and the same officer stepped over them. "Where were you three going?" He then focused his attention onto Anastasia, gesturing for two of the guards to step forward as he said. "Take her."

She fought against their hands, as she was grabbed up by them. Steve called out for her as she was dragged out of the room and sent into the one beside them where a doctor was waiting for her. "Let her go! Hey! You come back here! Let her go!"

They tossed her onto the ground, and she watched the doctor pull out a harness that they used to use on her. Her eyes widened once she saw it, and she immediately rose her hand up but before she was able to do anything, she felt a sharp electrical pain in her side, causing her to fall as they continuously electrocuted her until she was limp enough she the stray jacket to go on.

The officer went over to her, kneeling in front as he warned her. "Try telling the truth this time, yes? What is your name?"

"Screw you." Anastasia muttered to them, as the man slapped her again, causing her to fall further back against the metal wall behind her.

"What is your name, traitor?" The man spat out again at her.

"Хрен вам." She replied, her eyes fluttering closed. She could hear Robin and Steve still calling out to her as she received yet another hit, the man stared at the guards and then walked out of the room, most likely heading into Robin and Steve's room.

She didn't anything for a couple of minutes until the sound of alarms going off made her perk up, along with the other guards in her room who quickly ran out to check what the issue was. The door to her room opened, and revealed Erica and Dustin who were ready to fight but instead dropped their weapon when they noticed her state. Dustin rushed over to her, undoing the buckles on the stray jacket which freed her.

That's when she noticed a delirious Robin and Steve behind her. Anastasia gestured too them, "What happened to them?"

"I have no idea." Dustin sighed, "Come on, we gotta run."

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TRANSLATIONS

Хрен вам = fuck you.