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 thirty-two rosemary's baby
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"SO, HERE'S WHAT you're going to do."
Martin Brenner stands in front of Ruby. Through the powers of creepy government dealings, her grandpa acquired an underground bunker in the California desert, which has since been converted into a mix of Hawkins lab and the Soviet bunker under the mall. The long corridors lead off to testing areas and offices, all working for Brenner's secret plan to 'fix' the Upside Down.
Those people are unaware of Ruby's involvement, so she has to go somewhere just as shady. An old warehouse in downtown LA.
His deal with Ruby was that she'd come here, once a week, to improve her powers. He'd let her live a normal life, and he'd help pay her rent so she wasn't missing out on work, being here. He wouldn't kidnap her like those other kids at the old lab — Ruby knows her grandpa's not a nice man, but she appreciates that this feels more like a partnership, rather than her grandpa trying to take advantage of her powers. She knows about the Upside Down, she chose to get involved with the lab again. She deserves to know the truth... She's earned her right to know.
The only downside is that Ruby had to agree, when the Upside Down acts up, she has to drop everything and stop it. But she decided that for herself anyway. Ruby, despite spending her entire life running from this, wants to stop whatever's wrong with the Upside Down. It ruined her life, it killed her mom, her aunt, her dad... She wants to stop this thing, for good — and once she's prepared, that's when she'll step foot in Hawkins, ready to finish this off.
It's just that she isn't ready.
"You're going to avoid using your abilities, including subconsciously. You'll have to open and lock your own doors."
Ruby nods. She lays out her hand, about to use her powers to zoom a straw over to her, but frowns, deciding now is better than never to stop using the abilities for meaningless things.
"Eleven is correct — if you don't use your powers, there's no reason for anything to realise you're there. Your power has been given to you by the Other Dimension. So if you're not taking from it, it won't be able to sense you."
"What if something does happen?" says Ruby.
"Then you call me," says her grandfather. He gives her a Post-It Note with a number on it. "This phone is for Area X." (He means the place in the desert... She likes to think it's named after her.) "We're being spied on, yes, but they don't know where we are, or that you're involved."
Ruby nods, rolling her eyes. He told her this at the start, why she needed to lie to El. And, as powerful as Ruby thinks she is, she doesn't want to deal with the FBI, or the CIA, or whatever Area 51 bullshit hunt her down.
