the unknown | steve harrington

chapter eighteen: it's either you or me

Daphne's mind woke before her eyes, hearing the chatter of Russian words around her, but it wasn't until she heard the curse words of Steve did her eyes flutter.

"Daph, Daph, can you hear me?" Steve asked from across the room, the panic in his voice as she flinched at the light burning her corneas.

"Hey, hey, there she is," Robin smiled exhaustedly, seeing her best friend finally wake up after witnessing the two of them out cold.

"Give me one reason why we shouldn't kill you right now," one of the soldiers asked in their accent, and Daphne felt a small chuckle fall from her throat, her eyes not even adjusting around her.

"Because we're pretty?" She grinned up at them, but he just brought his fist to her stomach as she let out a groan.

"Woah, no, no, she didn't mean it!" Steve tried to wiggle from the chair, but he was too tightly tied as the ropes cut into his skin, watching helplessly as the girl he loved writhed in pain.

"Not a fan of humor, huh?" The brunette scoffed, her stomach still pulsing with seething pain.

"We— we know things!" Robin shouted, helpless as the guy raised his gun towards Daphne, watching he wince away. "That's what you want right, you've got El, right? I— I seen her, and we— we've seen a lot of shit, that's— that's why you need to keep us alive."

"What do you know about the girl?" The soldier asked, and all three kept their mouths shut.

Daphne let herself look at Steve for the first time and felt her heart shatter; Steve had never looked away from the girl bar a few glances, but Daphne had to hold in the audible gasp as she seen his new shining eye and burst lip.

Steve knew when her face scrunched up in concern what she was thinking about and he gave a small bloodied smile, shaking his head in hope to reassure her he was fine. It didn't.

Daphne's concentration fell around the room as the soldier continued to probe, repeating the question as he pointed his gun. But Daphne didn't even glance at him, she was trying to think of how to get out of the situation she was in.

It wasn't until she felt a little loosening of the rope around her wrist did she think she may have an idea. A pretty stupid idea. But it was all they had.

"Hey!" One of the soldiers shouted, roughly grabbing Daphne's face so she could face him. She tried to pull her face from his fingers but he gripped her so hard she let out a small whimper, knowing his dirty fingernails were cutting into her skin. She felt sick as she heard the protests of Steve in the background, so she did the only thing she could think of and spat right in his face.

"Don't fucking touch me," She seethed as he slowly wiped it from his face and Robin closed her eyes ready to stop herself from seeing however they would retaliate.

"You touch her and i'll—" Steve started, the laughter from soldiers bubbling further adrenaline into his body.

The soldier quickly shot beside Daphne and glared at the Harrington boy with a fist full of her hair, yanking her head back so hard she had to inhale a deep breath.

Daphne could deal with the brain dead creatures that attacked them thoughtlessly, but actual people so easily hurting innocent people. This was personal.

"Start talking, pretty boy, or your little girlfriend..." the soldier placed his gun next to Daphne's head, pleading from both Steve and Robin echoing around her as she clenched her eyes shut, a stray tear rolling from one eye as acceptance of her situation rolled over her.

And she hasn't said she loved him back. And her jaw was clenched so hard she couldn't manage to get the words out.

Then there was a bang. A loud, echoing gunshot and she knew she had to be dead. That it was her smart mouth that got her killed, is she really surprised?