Chapter 16: An Expansion of Potential
DUSTIN'S breathing picked up, his eyes squeezed shut as he grew tired of his own repetitive words. "Code red, I repeat, code red. Does anyone copy? This is a code red, I repeat, a code red. This is a code red, I repeat, a code red." His frustration became more evident with every word he muttered, the boy desperate to be heard an rescued.
"Does anyone copy? We are innocent children and we are trapped under Starcourt Mall. The Red Army has infiltrated Hawkins, and if we are found, they will torture and kill us."
"Hey." Steve grunted as he climbed out of the elevator vent and joined Dustin up on its surface. "Gotta take it easy on that thing. Gonna drain the battery." He indicated, slicking his hair backwards. The stuffy and poorly-ventilated elevator proved to be too much for him, sweat gathering on his forehead.
"The mall just opened." Dustin declared. Since his wristwatch indicated that it was morning time, maybe someone could catch their signal and rescue them before they get caught by the russians.
"So?" Steve asked.
"So, someone could be in range."
"What do you think, Petey the Mall Cop is gonna rappel down here and save the day?" Steve questioned, mockery entangling in his tone. His sour mood still persisted from the revelation of last night; the possibility of Jean (the girl he liked) and Billy (his nemesis) becoming a thing. And he found sarcasm to be the best outlet to the ache in his heart that he couldn't soothe.
"All right, why are you such a cranky pants after getting to spend the night with Jean?" Dustin asked, whispering the redhead's name, but in the quiet environment, his voice still proved to be too loud. And Steve panicked at the thought of her hearing them. "Shh! Jesus Christ. Will you just keep your voice down?"
"I heard you guys talking all night." Dustin chirped in a teasing manner, smiling suggestively.
At the beginning, Dustin didn't think that the two were a good match- granted, his judgment might have been impaired by the crush he harbored for Jean. But as time went by, he changed his mind as he saw how genuinely happy the two were at each other's presence. They wouldn't stop joking around, laughing and having fun.
Dustin never saw Steve act that way around Nancy back when they were together. I mean, sure, Harrington was head over heels in love with Nancy prior to when their relationship went up in flames. But every time Dustin would come over to Mike's place for the occasional DD campaigns, heading down to the basement, he would take a momentary glance to the living room to see Steve and Nancy. The two made a gorgeous couple, sure. And Steve's eyes shone with affection like no other for the eldest of the Wheeler children. But as the two sat down on the couch, watching whatever chickflick she chose, arms wrapped around each other, something would look wrong. They were..stiff. Like something was missing. Like they weren't as comfortable as they should be in each other's presence.
Unlike with him and Jean.
Steve scoffed at Dustin's presumptive thinking. "Yeah, Robin was up, too. We were trying to figure out a way to open up the door while you children were sleeping." He said, standing by the edge of the elevator surface and beginning to unzip his pants.
"After eight hours, we're still exactly nowhere, which is, you know, probably just a little bit of the reason why I'm feeling just a tad cranky." He said, choosing to omit the real reason why he was so upset.
Seeing a liquid splashing against the wall and the dripping sound from above, Robin scoffed in disgust once she figured out what Steve was doing. "Can you redirect your stream, please?" She loudly demanded, her voice echoing.
"Yeah, Dustin, you heard her!" Steve lamely yelled at Dustin, pretending to be innocent of the action.
"Wait, that's you peeing. Why are you dumping the blame on me?" Dustin argued, earning a shush from Steve. The brown haired boy desperately wanted to preserve his image in front of Jean.
"Ugh." Robin shook her head, while Jean released a giggle.
Catching the sight of Erica holding the dangerous looking vial, and recklessly beginning to tap at its glass, Jean went full babysitter-mode. "Hey, hey! Be careful with that!"
"Yeah. We don't even know what that is." Robin warned, equally as concerned.
"Exactly. It could be useful." Erica retorted, shrugging her shoulders.
"Useful how? Robin asked, eyebrows raised.
"We can survive down here a long time without food, but if the human body doesn't get water, it will die." The ten year old exclaimed in a matter of fact.
"You were planning on drinking that?"
Erica turned aggressively to Jean who coiled back slightly at Erica's somewhat hostile temperament. "I'm sorry, would you rather explain to my mom why I'm dead from dehydration?"
Jean exhaled sharply. Erica was her responsibility, no doubt about it. But she tried to stop her and warned her that it'd be a bad idea to go up that vent. But Erica chose not to listen and chased after the free ice cream. "Hey, I warned you! You're the one who got greedy and kept saying you wanted the ice cream."
"Whatever." Erica mumbled, rolling her eyes. Then Robin snatched the green goo container and took it out of Erica's reach. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but this is not water."
Erica snorted, smiling obnoxiously at the two older girls. "No, but it's a liquid, and if it comes down to me drinking that shit or dying of thirst, I drink."
A distant electronic whirling sound echoed from beyond the closed gate of the elevator, eliciting the brief eye contact between Jean and Robin. The two girls strided towards the doors and pressed their ears against them, their eyes widening at the realization.
"We've got company."
The troop quickly climbed up the hatchet and hid from the upcoming people. They remained quiet as a beeping sound blared from down them and the door opened with a thud.
Jean could hear the indistinct male voice chattering in russian, her heart beating faster. While Steve looked over to Erica Sinclair who was hugging the green glass cylinder for some reason. And an idea popped in his head.
Once the men drove away, a grunting Steve jumped down quickly as he reached the gate before it closed.
Jean's chest heaved as she trailed Steve, using the shelf again to step down, before helping Erica and Dustin as fast as she could. Steve had gripped the chemical container from Erica's fingers and whipped it underneath the door. He placed the sturdy metal object underneath it and the door stopped, only leaving a small space ajar. The problem was that they didn't have enough time, they only had mere seconds before they were locked in once again.
"Let's go. Go." He instructed, pushing Dustin through the small opening. Jean kneeled beside him and assisted Erica through as the door began to crush the cylinder.
"Go, go, go, go, go!"
"I'm going!" Erica yelled sliding out. Then she was followed in a haste by Robin.
Jean went next and as she rolled on the floor, she saw the vial buckling under the pressure. The door was creaking above her as she slid herself on the floor. "Come on, Steve!" The redhead said, her face looking worried as Steve barely made it.
Caught between the metal door and the cold ground, Steve found himself staring at the vial with wide eyes, watching the glass crack more as less than a second passed. Time was thinning and he felt the door closing in on his spine.
The gate was almost set to close shut with him underneath it, but he was dragged out. Grasping his shoulders, Jean who was still on the floor pulled him out and the two rolled across the linoleum floor. The moment he escaped, the cylinder split, and shards of the glass surrounded the pool of the corrosive fluid. But he and Jean didn't notice at first.
Once his eyes fluttered open they met with Jean's which were only a few inches away from his. His heart was still pounding in his chest from the earlier possibility of being crushed beneath the heavy door, but it almost skipped a beat once he'd realized the position they were in; he was on top of her, basically straddling her and his body was pressed up against hers, each of his arms supported by her side.
Jean gulped and she could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks at the brown haired boy's proximity. And he had a blush to match, his eyes wide. The two were broken out of their daze by the sound of Robin clearing her throat.
"Ahem."
A slightly flustered Steve tugged Jean up as the green chemical bubbled, searing the floor and creating gaseous smoke in the air. She swallowed hard as did the rest.
The material proved to be acidic in nature as it sizzled its way through the floor, disintegrating it.
"Jesus Christ." Steve bellowed.
The five of them let out gasps at the deadly substance.
"You still wanna drink that?" Robin smugly asked Erica, raising her brows at her.
"Holy mother of god." Dustin muttered, his words making the rest turn away from the floor to the corridor.
The never ending corridor that stretched for miles.
Steve sighed. "I hope you guys are in good shape." He said before walking ahead of the group, Dustin, Erica and Robin behind him.
"Okay, so we're walking towards the danger?" Jean dejectedly mumbled to herself before following them.
"You think they built this whole mall so they could transport that green poison?" Steve asked as he and the rest of the group walked and walked for what seemed like forever.
"I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison. It's gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something."
Jean scrunched up her face in confusion at Dustin's words, and when she looked at Steve, she found that he held a similar expression. "What the hell is promethium?" He asked.
"It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components." Robin smugly stated, earning a satisfied grin from Dustin, a fellow nerd.
Jean seemed to recognize the blonde's words, recalling the Cyborg comics she'd read with Max. "Like from the comics?" Apparently Max was a hard core fan of DC and Wonder Woman and not the Marvel comics. They 'sucked' in her opinion so she never talked to her about them and Jean didn't know anything about them.
Erica cringed, holding her stomach to show how nauseated she'd become at the flow of the conversation. "You're all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill."
Steve vigorously disagreed with the accusation, shaking his head. He denied it like not being a nerd was the only thing that left him standing. "No, no, no. No, don't lump me in with them. I'm not a nerd, all right?"
"Why so sensitive, Harrington? Afraid of losing cool points to a ten year old child?" Robin snickered, eliciting a smile from Jean.
"No, I'm just saying I don't know jack shit about Prometheus."
Dustin intercepted Steve and quickly corrected him. "Promethium. Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure, but whatever. All I'm saying is, it's probably being used to make something."
"Maybe they're making another gigantic hole in the ground." Jean suggested, referring to how that green liquid easily disintegrated the cement.
Robin shook her head. "Doubt it. Maybe to power something."
"Like a nuclear weapon?"
"Totally."
Steve pursed his lips at Robin and Dustin's words. "Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great." He mumbled.
Jean gave a frustrated sigh, thinking it'd be idiotic to proceed. "Aaand we're still walking."
"But if they're building something, why here? I mean, Hawkins. Seriously. Of all places. At the very best, we're a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland, but maybe that's it. Maybe it's our very.." Robin babbled, and Jean tuned her out at the end once she realized that Steve and Dustin halted in their step, and started mumbling and exchanging words quietly. The blonde noticed as well and abruptly turned.
"I'm sorry, is there something you'd like to share with the class? You guys have been whispering into each other's ears for a while now." She complained, referring to the earlier occasion where the two and Jean continuously spoke privately without including her. Jean felt guilty for excluding Robin earlier, but she couldn't so openly speak of her powers. Hopper warned her.
The mother and child exchanged nervous glances, but before they could give an answer, a sound of static hissing blared from the walkie talkie in Erica's bag.
All of them gathered around as Erica took out the walkie and listened tentatively as a man spoke in russian over the radio.
"It's the code." Robin declared.
"Wherever that broadcast is coming from-" Dustin began and Robin finished his words, nodding. "It's close."
"And if there's one thing we know about that signal."
"It can reach the surface."
A gleam of hope shone in Jean's green eyes, relief draping over her. "Okay, so there's still a chance you can make it to your uncle's thing." She said to Erica, earning deadpan glances from the rest.
Steve pinched up his face at the redhead, although he did find it kind of adorable seeing that frantic side of her. She was always so serene and calm so it was a contrast to her usual demeanor. "Priorities, Jean." He indicated, giving her a slight shake of his head.
"Hey, I just don't want to survive down here only to be killed in the suburbs by Erica's mom because she missed the party." She argued, promoting another shake of head but this time it was Robin's.
"Let's go."
As they proceeded in hopes of reaching the radio room, Jean could only hope that they wouldn't run into any Russians on the way.
The red haired Grey could only curse at their misfortune. The more they proceeded forwards, the more she could sense the presence of various minds nearby. But what did she expect? For an entire military base to be empty?
An engine sound of the red transport truck began fading by the second as it drove away in the opposite direction of where they were hiding.
All of the bunch creeped out, sighing at how close they were to being caught.
Steve, the unannounced leader of the group, walked ahead of them followed by Jean. They both cautiously looked around. "Clear, come on, let's go."
Robin's breathing was still unsteady from the scare of the rooskies sudden appearance. The only thing that gave them a heads up was Jean who out of nowhere whispered for them to hide because she 'sensed' people which the blonde still couldn't comprehend. Albeit, she was grateful to the redhead. "Okay, that was close."
"Too close." Dustin agreed, panicking internally. Although the fourteen year old was grateful for Jean's assist, a part of him wished El was here instead. No offense to the beautiful older girl, but Eleven was more resourceful and her powers had better use for them in this current situation. Or so he thought.
"Relax. Nobody saw." Steve said to Robin and Dustin. Just when he was about to take a turn to the left, Jean abruptly grasped his upper arm and clawed at it to get him to stop walking. "Ow!" He shrieked in a somewhat feminine manner. Steve widened his eyes and quickly cleared his throat, trying to lower his voice. "I mean, ow. What was that for?"
Robin shook her head at his antics, while Jean seemed preoccupied with something else.
"There's a lot of people down there." She announced.
Dustin and Steve exchanged glances before the latter peeked his head to check and see. She was right, there was a buttload of Russians, ones in uniforms and others in hazmat suits.
"Shit." Steve said under his breath, straightening up and hiding against the wall like the rest.
Curiosity ate at the rest of them so they copied Steve's actions and once they saw, they mirrored his expression.
"Jesus."
"How in the hell did you know?" Robin asked Jean, perplexity drawn on her face.
"Instinct?" Jean replied.
"I saw it. First floor, northwest." Erica exclaimed, and all eyes turned to her.
"Saw what?"
The Sinclair girl rolled her eyes. "The comms room."
"You saw the comms room?" Steve incredulously repeated, trying to check and see but turned right around because how easily he could be spotted.
"Positive. The door was open for a second, and I saw a bunch of lights and machines and shit in there." Erica declared.
"That could be a hundred different things." Dustin said, pinching his nasal bridge.
Robin looked up to Steve and the girl slightly shorter than him, before determinedly speaking. "I'll take those odds."
Eyes darting between the two girls, Steve sighed. "All right. We're gonna move fast, we're gonna stay low. Okay?"
"Okay."
Jean closed her eyes, hoping to god they don't get caught.
The bunch heard indistinct chatter around them as they sneaked their way across the large place. "Shh! Move it."
They treaded lightly and stopped by a large metal square pinned to the ground. They didn't even know what it was, but fortunately it was big enough for them to hide behind it.
Only a few steps till they reach the comms room. Their eyes became hopeful.
The troops faces fell, their worry and panic spiked as a soldier went in their way, but his head was turned in the direction opposite of them. A simple tilt of his head, and they'd be done for.
"Oh, no." Robin mumbled in less than a whisper, her eyes turning glossy at the thought of dying just like that.
The soldier with the massive machine gun seemed to be patrolling the area, his footsteps echoing grimly as he walked in front of them. His line of sight still not meeting with them.
Jean cooled her mind. She thought calculatingly, observing the soldier. "Don't move." She commanded. And from their state of panic, it seemed they were unable to, their bodies tense and frozen.
The redhead could see the four of them turning to her, eyeing her like she was crazy.
"Just trust me, stay still." She breathed in and moved her fingers on her temple. Closing her eyes, she entered the soldier's mind.
Jean was taking a leap of faith as she delved into the man's head. She'd read about the presumed capabilities of a telepath and their possible ability to change what others perceive. Maybe she could make him see what she wanted to and not make him see what she didn't.
She just needed to tap into the right corner of his mind. After a relatively short search, the telepath felt euphoria creeping into her as she found the brain's area responsible for the configuration of what he sees.
And so, she manipulated it, warping his perception.
Once the man in uniform turned to them, all of their breathing hitched. All of them were about to cry, no exception -save for Jean who remained focused to make them seem invisible.
And it worked.
The large russian man just stared right at them with his stoic face, his eyes blank and disinterested as it looked straight at them. His grip on the weapon in hand remained calm. It was as if he was seeing through them.
And after a good minute -that lasted an eternity for the group- he walked away like nothing had happened and went on with his patrol.
Steve, Robin, Dustin and Erica all held shocked facies. Their lungs eventually giving out after their halted breathing and then they started hyperventilating.
"What in the holy hell just happened?" Robin seemed the first to snap out of her daze, but stared at them with equally widening eyes.
A breath of relief escaped from Jean's lips and she smiled to herself. She was a natural at this, it seemed. It appeared to be like she had a ton of possibilities to unlock regarding her abilities. And she was not wrong.
"Yeah, why didn't he see us?" The stunned Erica Sinclair asked.
Steve was still frozen, rooted to the spot, still not comprehending what just happened. A light bulb switched in his head and he quickly turned to Jean and his suspicion was confirmed once he saw the satisfied look on her face.
"Was that-?" He lowly whispered to the girl crouched beside him, implying that she was the one who just saved their ass. Jean tilted her head to the brown haired boy and smiled at him, giving him a quick nod. Steve reciprocated the expression.
Seeing that the group was still stuck in their questioning state, Steve cleared his throat drawing their attention to him. "He probably has shit eyesight." He suggested. Dustin scrunched up his face at him, about to interject but was stopped by Steve's narrowed eyes. Dustin's face flashed with recognition once Steve gestured his head towards Jean.
Dustin rubbed his forehead, trying to rationalize the unexplainable situation. "Yeah, I think he had a glass eye."
Erica and Robin gave the three confused looks. "What? That doesn't make any sense."
Fortunately, the door to the comms room beeped open, grabbing all of their unbridled attention. They turned to it and saw a man in a labcoat leaving. So Steve sprinted in a rushed haste to hold the door before it was shut. The rest followed him in a hurry.
"Come on." Steve whispered, holding the door for them and sighed in relief once they all safely entered.
They were so preoccupied with the door that didn't notice the Russian soldier sitting across from them.
Jean gasped and coiled back once the man shot up from his chair upon seeing them. It was too late for her to make a move or try to get in his head when he reached for the gun in his holster.
In fact, they were all frozen except for Robin who came forward and started speaking in russian. The words were so familiar to the redhead, perhaps it was the code itself, she thought.
Although the man's fingers shied away from the gun for a second at Robin's words, he was still alert. And he spoke in response in russian, his face still painted with confusion.
The terrified troop saw how Robin glanced back at them, probably at her wits end as she muttered her last word in a way of a tentative statement.
The man scoffed and brought his hand to pull out the gun, and Steve, out of instinct ran to him. The Scoops Ahoy employee let out a battle cry as he sprinted to the soldier and attempted to grappel the larger man.
Jean winced when the russian threw Steve against a table and groaned. But a victorious smile soon took over her face when she saw Steve elbow him in the guts then smack his head with a large phone. The momentum of the impact caused the man to slam his head against the desk and lose consciousness, falling to the floor.
Steve victoriously stood over the unconscious soldier's body.
The red haired telepath bit her lip. There was something oddly attractive with how Steve panted after winning the fight, his arm lifting so he could run back his hair with a brisk hand.
"Dude!" Dustin's loud voice tore Jean from her bizarre thoughts that she recognized were not..appropriate in the given situation.
"You did it! You won a fight!" The fourteen year old yelled. His exclamation made Steve proudly look between them and the unconscious Russian, and he chuckled softly.
As Dustin rushed to take the Keycard from him, Jean approached Steve with her cheeks notched upwards from her big smile. "That was...impressive."
"Y-you think so?" He stuttered, partially because he was still out of breath and the other part because he was flustered from her compliment.
"Knocking out a trained military personnel? I'd say that's pretty awesome."
Steve almost blushed as he looked at her with his own matching smile. "Thanks. Well, it's not as awesome as what you did back there. How'd you pull that off by the way?" He asked, his mind traveling back to its original state of curiosity and confusion from earlier's event.
Jean's grin grew wider. "I made us invisible."
"You-you could do that?" Steve dumbly stammered looking down to his hands to inspect them.
"Not physically invisible. I just convinced his mind that we weren't there." She reasoned with a soft rumble of laughter vibrating through her chest.
"Now that's badass."
Before Steve could ask any further, Robin came up to them, looking more panicked than ever.
"Guys! There's something up there."
A/N:-Eeeeey!So finally, Jean is beginning to learn the full extent of her telepathy! It's so cool when she and Professor X use their powers to seem invisible and make people fall asleep in the movies XDMeanwhile, her telekinesis is jelly of being repressed for so longPlease tell me what you think so far and what you would like to see happen!