𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎, steve harrington

Chapter 29

After many beggings of Dustin and Erica, Hopper finally caved in, letting the two children be his navigators, and only that. He didn't take it lightly since he was the chief, and his job was to keep everyone safe, or in this case, keep everyone alive, but they were his only hope to finishing this once and for all. Hopper continued taking walkie-talkies and guns off of the dead Russian guards, the chief throwing Olivia one of the walkies, the girl sitting down on a counter of one of the food courts with Steve and Robin.

The girl was sitting down on the edge of the counter, her hand slowly pulling the gauze off of her shoulder, the girl grimacing at the sight of the bullet hole and blood covering her shoulder. Robin and Steve both watched her carefully, knowing that it probably hurt like hell, but there was nothing she could do to make it better. Olivia quickly stuck the gauze with tape back on her shoulder, then turning herself on the counter so she was looking out at the kids, watching them exchange small talk.

Olivia smiled to herself, the teenager turning her head when she fela a hand lay on her shoulder to see Steve smiling at her. "Hey." She muttered, pursing her lips at him.

"You okay?" He questioned softly, knowing about everything she had gone through in the past 24 hours, but Olivia still was concerned for everyone but herself.

"Are you? I mean, you two took some back blows." She muttered looking over at Robin's red eyes and his bruises coating his face.

"Yeah. But, I'm asking about you. Don't switch the subject." Steve muttered, his hand now on her back.

"I'm fine. It's just... Never over, you know? And... while I was with Hopper and Joyce, there was this guy, Alexei. He was actually pretty nice for a Russian and he... he died. It was all my fault. I should've, just, I should've known that-"

"Hey. Don't blame youself for that. You clearly cared about him and that means it's not your fault, Liv." Steve muttered, Olivia smiling as she quickly pressed her lips to his before sliding off of the counter with the walkie in her hand. She began walking over to the kids, seeing El sitting down on the ledge. The dark-haired girl walked up to the girl, the boys hugging behind her while Max stood behind Eleven.

"Hey, sweetheart." Olivia muttered, holding El's hand, the short haired girl smiling up at her. "How are you?"

"I'm okay." El shrugged, looking down at her leg which was wrapped in bloody gauze, dried blood all over her calf. "Does it hurt?" She questioned, pointing to Olivia's shoulder.

Olivia shrugged, looking down her her shoulder. "Yeah, it's better than before. Does your leg hurt?"

When El nodded softly, Olivia squeezed her hand tighter, the teen's thumb rubbing her knuckle. "Hey, you're gonna be okay. You're strong." Olivia reassured the girl, who slowly sat up and wrapped her arms around Olivia's waist.

"Hey, heads up." They all turned to see Hopper walking torwards her and the kids with a gun on his shoulder and another walkie-talkie in his hands. "You can navigate, just from someplace safe." He threw the device torwards Dustin, the young boy quickly catching it.

"It's not that simple." Dustin argued.

"The signal won't reach." Erica added on.

"Not with this/ You need something with a high enough frequency band to relay with the Russians' radio tower. But for that to work, you need someone who was both seen their comms room and has access to a super-powered handcrafted radio tower, one preferably already situated at the highest point on Hawkins." Olivia and the kids all watched with raised brows, the ground already knowing what he was speaking of. "Oh, wait. That's me. If you want us to navigate, you got us. But we need a head start. And a car."