STARCROSSED ▷ steve harrington

09. e pluribus unum - part one

CHAPTER NINE - E PLURIBUS UNUM
PART ONE

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"I DON'T UNDERSTAND," Robin admitted when they started to explain, rushing down the stairs to get away from the massive device that Jackie could only assume was being used to open the gate again. "You've seen this before?"

"Not exactly," Steve answered, still trudging forward.

"Then what, exactly?"

"All you need to know is that it's bad," Dustin said, and she could hear the waver in his voice. Despite that, Jackie felt a little more at ease knowing she wasn't the only one who felt like her shit just got rocked. What happened the year before gave Jackie nightmares herself, she couldn't imagine how Dustin felt going through it twice. And now, three times. Dustin was still barely a teenager.

"Really bad," Steve agreed.

"Like end-of-the-human-race-as-we-know-it kind of bad," Dustin spoke quickly.

"And you know about this how?" Robin questioned, disbelief clouding her voice.

"We've been through this before," Jackie replied. "Just trust us, okay? We need to get out of here. Now."

"I-"

"Steve," Erica cut Robin off, staring at something behind them with wide eyes. "Where's your Russian friend?"

Cynthia paled from next to Dustin. "Uh-oh."

They all glanced to where the unconscious man was supposed to be, soon realizing that he wasn't there. An alarm blared, and red lights began to flash. Jackie looked out the window to see him clutching his bleeding head, and pointing into the room they were in.

"What a snitch. Okay you ugly bastard, I'll remember that!"

"Jackie," Steve snapped, grabbing her hand as they struggled to find out what to do. "Not the time."

Steve ushered them back into the room where the gate was being opened, and they sprinted through the room, narrowly avoiding Russians. Jackie nearly fell while running down a flight of stairs, but caught herself thanks to the railing. Dustin dramatically shrieked, and pushed a man with a mask on out of the way. She would've laughed if she weren't so frightened for her life.

The six of them ended up at the front of the machine, the power from it blowing the hair out of Jackie's face.

"Holy shit holy shit HOLY SHIT!" Dustin was screaming. There was nothing to do other than stare at each other hopelessly as the guards started to swarm in.

"This way!" Steve ordered, pulling Jackie by the arm as they ran down another flight of stairs. Steve roughly shoved a man during the process. As more guards appeared around the corner, Steve swore and pushed a bunch of barrels onto them.

They ran into a room, and Steve quickly shut the door behind him, struggling to hold it closed as the Russian men pounded on it. Jackie and Robin hurriedly ran to his rescue, forcing it to stay shut with their body weight, but it was obvious they wouldn't hold for long.

"Here!" Erica yelled, picking up a panel off the floor. "Come on!"

"Just go!" Steve ordered, and Cynthia looked back and forth between the groups.

"Go!" Jackie yelled. "Take care of them!"

"I—" Cynthia went to speak, but Jackie shook her head.

"Seriously, go! Keep them and yourself safe!"

Swallowing, Cynthia's eyes briefly darted to Robin who stood next to Jackie, before she slowly nodded and climbed in after Dustin.

"We'll come back! I promise!"