Broken & Pretty..Steve Harrington

044.

THE ECHO

⇾freaks by surf curse

i won't wake up this time

⸺TIFFANY'S veins were fading back to normal, but Erica and Robin were a little freaked out by her. Erica would walk near her and Robin was acting pretty normal. Tiffany showed Robin her abilities so Robin didn't need as much time. Robin was more concerned for her if anything. Erica was a little scared of her. She wouldn't admit it, but she was.

Everyone was really tired and they didn't seem to be moving or going anywhere, so everyone tried to get some sleep. Dustin and Erica were sleeping in the middle of the room by some boxes, away from each other.

Cory and Robin talked for a little while and so did Steve and Tiffany. They made sure to whisper because they didn't want to wake up the kids. Tiffany and Steve had their backs up against the wall opposite to the door. Their fingers were interlocked and Steve was tracing circles on her hand with his thumb. He had this nagging thought in the back of his head that he had to address. "Tiffany...If you became a model, would you've tried to make it work with me, or would you have dumped me?"

"I would want to make it work, but I would dump you." Steve gave her a look of shock and offence. "Not for the reason you might think. I would dump you because I would want you to meet someone better for you. Someone that would be there for you and you would be able to love. It would be the hardest thing I'd ever have to do, but you know what they say, if you love them, let them go."

Steve kissed her temple. "I love you."

Tiffany's head snapped towards Steve. She met his gaze and he was smiling down at her. Tiffany was speechless. "I...Wh...You...L...I-I love you too."

"Really?"

"I...Y...Wh...You..." Tiffany could not get words out so she just nodded. Steve let out a small laugh. "Speechless?"

Tiffany nodded again. She broke out into a smile and Steve leaned in. He kissed her on her lips and it was a deep, passionate kiss. It felt magical. They finally pulled away. Tiffany rested her head on Steve's shoulder and he kissed the top of her head. Steve looked forward and Cory was staring dead at him with his arms crossed. Steve had an honest look of fear on his face. Cory whispered to him, "You're lucky the kids are asleep or else I'd kick your ass right here, right now."

Steve was a little scared of Tiffany's brothers sometimes. He was never scared of Dustin because Dustin was so much smaller than him. Cory was another story. Not only was Cory just naturally strong, he could control people's fucking minds! He could literally drive Steve to insanity with a snap of his fingers. But if Tiffany said not too, he wouldn't put his hands on Steve. One: Because she's way stronger than him, generally and supernaturally. Two: Cory feels like he owes Tiffany. No matter how many times she would tell him that he didn't owe her anything, he would just shove it off.

In the morning, Tiffany knew that Erica was scared of her, so she wanted to make sure that this whole Russian adventure wouldn't be filled with Erica trying to avoid her. Tiffany showed Erica the beauty of her powers. She was making cute little clouds of black smoke and the shadows would fly around the air gracefully. Erica had to warm up to it, but she wasn't being awkward around her anymore.

Dustin was on top of the elevator along with Cory. Dustin apparently was awake most of the night, so he was making fun of Cory for talking to Robin most of the night. Cory was pissing and the girls and Steve could see it on the wall. Robin yelled up to him, "Can you redirect your stream, please?!"

They saw the piss move along the wall and they all looked away in disgust. Robin started talking to Erica since Erica wanted to drink the green toxic looking liquid. Something happened to Tiffany that hadn't happened in awhile. She started hearing the echo. Tiffany put her ear against the door and the echo got louder. It almost sounded like an electric scooter or a golf cart. Steve  gave her a confused look. "What are you doing?"

"I hear the echo. Steve, I hear the echo. The echo's never good."

"Shit. Everyone get on top." Everyone joined Cory and Dustin on top of the elevator. Thank god for Tiffany because the door opened and two Russian guards walked into the room, or, elevator. The men were speaking in Russian. "You smell that?"

"What?"

"Piss."

They shrugged it off and they began loading all of the boxes onto a red transport vehicle. The Scoops Troop was watching the Russian guards through the grates on top of the elevator. Once the Russian guards were finished loading all of the boxes onto the truck, they drove off and they found their opportunity to escape the elevator, but it was going to be tricky.

Steve jumped down with the cylinder of green liquid. The door was closing, but Steve stuck the cylinder underneath it, causing there to be a small crack in between the door and the ground. "Let's go."

Erica threw her backpack to Steve and he slid it underneath the door. Erica hopped down and started crawling out of the elevator. Steve was being very impatient. "Go, go, go, go, go!"

"I'm going!"

"Henderson, go, go!" Dustin hopped down next and he rolled out of the room. Tiffany followed after him and she crawled out too. She noticed the cylinder was cracking and Tiffany knew it was about to break. Speak of the devil, the glass on the cylinder broke, but Tiffany saved it. She used her powers and a black smoke stayed underneath the door, keeping it up while she had her red light in her hands. Steve and Cory took this opportunity to crawl out. There was a hissing, hole in the ground from the acid and Tiffany dropped the door. She wiped away one single tear of blood.

"Jesus Christ."

"You still wanna drink that?" Erica ignored Robin's snarky comment. They all turned around and they were faced with a very long, loooooooooooooooong hallway. It was unbelievable.

"Holy mother of god." Steve now had a snarky comment. "Well...Hope you guys are in good shape. Looking at you, roast beef."

As Steve said that, he patted Dustin on the shoulder. Him and Tiffany started walking ahead. "Let's go. Come on."

Everyone started following them and Dustin was clearly upset. Even by the way he was walking it was obvious. "Why me?"

A/N

I have good news and bad news. Good news: I found you woman. Bad news: She's American.

- Sir Tommy the Child