The age old story of two best friends falling in love...
... Only, one's a lab experiment with an entire Upside Down hunting her down, and the other won't leave her side, no matter how hard she tries.
steve harrington x fem oc / season 2 o...
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chapter twenty-nine ruby, baby (part ii)
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"OK, SO. IGNORE DUSTIN, NEW PLAN."
Ruby looks around at the four, her hands on her hips. She tries to talk quickly, knowing that those Russian guards will be outside — and although they're not leaving, they need to slip away, and if Ruby needs to save all of her energy to kill the monster, she can't be dealing with Soviet guards, too. So she needs to talk, quick.
"Sneak away from the guards, wait for everyone to leave, then we need to find gasoline. Lots of it. I'll explain the rest later. Got it?"
Dustin and Steve nod. Erica and Robin, not used to this, look apprehensive.
Thing is, Ruby doesn't have time to convince them; sure, they've seen her powers — and Erica knows about the demogorgon, she saw those ones in the fortress — but they haven't seen those monsters alive. They're terrifying. And Ruby's going to need all the help she can to kill the Mind Flayer, in case it gets her again.
"This isn't a choice," says Ruby, to Robin and Erica. "Either do this, or leave."
"Aye, aye, captain," says Robin, uncomfortably.
Ruby turns back around, as Dustin peeks out of the bathroom door. He frantically waves for them to get out of the bathroom, and the five rush out, blending into the movie theatre crowd. Ruby feels Steve's hand snake around hers, squeezing, and she stiffens. She lets go, and steps in front of Dustin and Erica, leading the way.
Steve, behind her, frowns. What was that?
Ruby ignores the inevitable for now, focusing on the current moment — getting them away from the Russian guards, undetected. She plans to slip around a corner, away from the crowd, and hide until they can check the guards aren't looking for them. But as they walk towards the doors, just before the JCPenney she broke into (the most embarrassing crime ever), she spots two men in black, stopping people. Ruby stops in her tracks.
"Shit," she says.
Dustin's eyes widen. "Shit."
"Come on," says Steve, and he grabs Ruby's hand, pulling her backwards.
The guards have already noticed — Ruby figures the Scoops uniforms gave them away, but even if they had changed clothes (she shudders to think at the selection in JCPenney, ew), Steve's face is beaten up, they would've clocked it. So Steve and Robin, having spent the entire summer in the mall, lead them back into the depths of the place.
They run towards the escalators leading down to the food court, now roped off. The five stop for a second, unsure what to do, but as they catch the guards bolting through the crowd, towards them, Steve jumps in front of them all, sliding down the middle part between both escalators. Ruby, panicking, follows suit, as do the rest.
