As soon as Dustin saw Hopper's saddened expression, his stomach fell to the pavement.
The crisis was over. The mall was on fire, Billy Hargrove was dead, Dustin, Erica, and Jonathan had just made it back. And Hopper was there, but without Steve or Robin.
Dustin's eyes blinked back tears that he didn't feel come, his knees shook as he felt all of his strength leave his body.
"Dustin!" Jonathan screamed, catching him before he could hit the ground. He stared straight ahead in shock, not hearing the worried words anyone spoke over him.
Steve and Robin weren't there. They weren't there. Hopper couldn't save them.
"Dustin!" Jonathan exclaimed, shifting himself so that Dustin sat on his lap, leaning into his shoulder. Dustin couldn't help it. The world was graying around him, losing all color, sounds, and feeling. The only thing he was aware of was the heavy, tightening sensation in his chest, and the knowledge that Steve wasn't there.
"Breathe, kid, you have to breathe for us!" Bigger hands wrapped around his arms now, shaking him gently. Dustin weakly opened his eyes, eyes that had closed who knows when and watched as Hopper talked to Jonathan in rushed tones, transferring the small kid to his own hold as Jonathan ran off.
"Dustin? Dustin, you need to take some breaths, okay?" His voice was clearer than before, but he still felt like he was underwater, like the one time he went swimming and tried to hold his breath for as long as he could. "You're mother's coming, she'll be here soon."
His mom was coming? He began crying more, tears falling down his cheeks as he longed for her comfort, her love. Yet, did he deserve it? Steve was gone. He was probably dead. All because of him.
He wanted Steve. He wanted his brother back.
"Steve.." Dustin whimpered, closing his eyes once more against the onslaught of emotions he experienced.
"I'm sorry, kid." Hopper said hesitantly. "I couldn't find him."
Dustin held onto Hopper with a stronger grip, sob wracking his smaller body. The words only made him feel worse, confirming his greatest fears.
Erica and Mrs. Henderson ran up to him, the older woman shedding her won tears as she saw her son on the ground, all of his emotions breaking him in two.
"Oh, Dusty..." She exclaimed, scooping him into her arms and letting him cry into her chest. Erica watched with sadness, like she knew what it meant, and she clutched onto her backpack desperately.
She wasn't close to Steve or Robin. But they had fought with her, and now they were gone. It left a sickening feeling in her gut.
"What happened, Dusty?" Mrs. Henderson asked, and Dustin didn't reply, hiding his face into her shirt.
Hopper then decided to step in. "Steve Harrington. He was in the mall when it caught fire, no one could find him."
The woman's eyes widened in realization, and she quickly pressed a kiss to Dustin's head.
"It's okay, we'll find him. The police will find him. He's going to be okay."
Dustin couldn't bring himself to agree with her. It wasn't just a fire. It was a secret organization under Hawkins specializing in Upside Down stuff, Steve wasn't going to be okay, Robin wasn't going to be okay, no one was going to be okay.
Apparently Hopper didn't have the ability to agree with her, either. Instead he put his steady hand on Dustin's shoulder, trying to give him comfort.
"I promise, kid, we're going to look for him. Robin, too. They'll come back to us."
Dustin nodded weakly, and Hopper left the two of them alone, knowing that he couldn't do much more to help. Erica followed him, a grim expression on her face.
"What's wrong with Dustin?" Jonathan asked, walking beside Hopper. He didn't know why the Byers kid hadn't been there when he explained it to Dustin's mom, but he deserved to know the truth. They all did.
"Steve's missing. Him and his friend Robin."
"What?" Jonathan said, stopping in his tracks. Hopper looked behind him, nodded.
"Yeah. They were in that Russian base, none of us could find them."
The teen became speechless, his face paling more and more by the minute, and Hopper didn't know what else to say. All he knew was that he had to find El and make sure everyone got home safe. His heart ached at the fact that both Steve and Robin couldn't go home, and were probably the furthest from it that they ever have been before.
He would do everything in his power to bring them back.
%%%%%%%%%%%%
019. Steve couldn't stop staring at it.
The tattoo was small enough to cover with a watch, yet carried so much meaning about his future. Who he was now.
He remembered when he had first seen the 011 on El's skin. He felt sick, knowing that it marked her as a number, not as a person, that it showed that she had no other purpose than being a stupid experiment. He was glad that she had defied that purpose, found her own way in life, and was able to live without the tattoo defining her.
Now, seeing it on his skin, he didn't feel like the world had fallen out from under him. He didn't feel like his life was ending, or beginning, or…anything.
Everything was numb. It was like he had already accepted his fate. But he hadn't. He still had to get Robin out of here. He still had to be Steve Harrington. He just had to hang on long enough to save her.
He tore his eyes away from his wrist, running his hands through his hair, hair that hadn't been shaved off yet. He figured that it was only a matter of time, though.
He took his time to take inventory of himself. The blood that covered his face from the Russians was cleaned, but he could still feel the tenderness of the bruises and small cuts. He was now wearing a medical gown, and his feet were bare. The room around him contained a twin sized bed, which he was now sitting on, with a thin white sheet. A small desk with a light sat in the corner, but other than that there was nothing else in the room.
The door that kept him contained was gray with a small window, and he knew it was locked. It was the first thing he tested when he woke up.
His eyes flicked back to the light in the corner. It reminded him of the phone he had used to fight the Russian with, he could imagine himself gripping the metal neck and using it as a weapon. Could that work?
He slowly got up, his weak limbs protesting, and he wondered when he had eaten or drank anything last. Probably before he went into the Russian base. No wonder why he was so tired and sluggish.
His hand gripped the light and gave it an experimental yank. It didn't budge. That's when he realized that it was bolted into the desk. The desk that was way too hard to lift, especially in his state.
There was no way that could be used as a weapon. He was stuck.
Steve sighed and made his way back to the bed, sitting down on it gingerly and studying his tattoo again, as if his gaze would change everything that went wrong.
At one point he must've fallen asleep, as a loud cleaning jolted him from his slumber. His eyes widened in panic as two people wearing uniforms walked in, followed by Brenner himself.
"I'm glad to see that you're awake, Nineteen." He said in that level headed voice Steve had come to hate, "You have a full day ahead of you."
"That's not my name." Steve said, his hands gripping the side of the bed.
"But it is." Brenner said, kneeling down so that he was level with Steve. He ran his hand against Steve's cheek, making the younger man flinch away. "This is your calling, Nineteen, it's what you were born for. I'm here to help you accomplish it, and your defiance won't help."
"I don't care. What you're doing is illegal."
"You'll soon see that your ideas about me are wrong, Nineteen, I promise that I'll help you to see. But, in the meantime, there are some tasks that we have to complete today. Is that alright, Nineteen?"
Steve could feel his chest tighten at the name, at the words, and all he wanted to do was punch him square in the face. Yet, the men in the uniforms stood beside him, each holding what appeared to be some sort of taser.
There was no way he could fight him.
Well, at least physically.
"Nineteen? Please talk to me."
He bit back a snarky response. "No."
A taser was thrust into his side, turned on and Steve screamed, pain flying up his torso and to his neck, causing him to jolt where he sat. The shock ended as quickly as it started, and Steve was left with a numb side and a shaking leg, his muscles spasming at a disturbingly fast rate. His breaths were labored, and he could feel a headache coming on. He leaned back, falling not so gracefully onto the bed, but Brenner pushed him back up to a sitting position, not caring when Steve cried out in pain.
"You will address me as Papa." Dr. Brenner said, and Steve whined as more pain flared up on his chest. "Let's try again: are you alright with what we have planned today?"
Steve didn't know what was going to happen, but he was far from okay with it. Despite this, he couldn't do anything else but agree with him.
"Yes, Papa." The words tasted bitter in his mouth, or was it the electrocution getting to his senses?
"Good." Brenner straightened himself, cleaning his suit of any wrinkles with his hands. "Why don't you follow me, and we'll get your head shaved."
And those words echoed into Steve's brain, not setting in until it was too late.
They were going to cut his hair. They were going to cut his hair.
Steve bolted to his feet, screaming in protest as his wrists were grabbed and secured behind his back. He kicked out his legs, crying out as the grip around him became stronger, the taser hovering dangerously close to his back.
"No! Don't you dare! Not my hair! Please!" Steve exclaimed, begging as tears fell onto his cheeks. Brenner didn't reply, and Steve was dragged out of the room and into barren hallways, his bare feet attempting to halt the movement but failing.
"Please, don't! I can't lose my hair! Please, I'll do anything!"
His words were ignored, and it didn't take long for him to be thrown into another chair, leather bonds wrapped around his chest, wrists, and ankles, keeping him restrained. He was sobbing now, vision blurry.
He didn't want this, please don't do it please, it's all he had…
"Stay still, Nineteen. This will be over before you know it." Brenner said, and Steve didn't obey, moving as much as he could to avoid the fate that was about to befall him.
"No! Please! Please please please please…"
A gag was shoved into his mouth, and he tried to scream, but no words would come out, so all that came out was a pathetic whimper.
He heard a buzzing sound, loud and painful in his ears, and a rough hand grabbed his chin, keeping his head still. He sobbed, his chest shook, his wrists fought the bonds, but there was nothing that he could do.
He felt a cold piece of metal resting on his head, going from the front and to the back, and a large amount of brown hair fell onto his shoulders, onto the floor. He could feel the light strands tickle his skin, making it itch, but he couldn't make a move to brush it away. As soon as he saw the first lock that he could see fall in front of his eyes, he couldn't watch any longer, closing his eyes as tightly as he could.
The motion continued, covering his entire head with a cold sensation, and then the buzzing stopped. Steve refused to open his eyes. He didn't want to see his most prized feature on the floor around him, discarded like garbage.
It was only hair though, right?
It wasn't. It really wasn't.
A strong and sturdy hand rested on his shoulder. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"
The gag was removed from his mouth, and the hand on his chin went away, too. He felt cold, colder than he ever felt before, and he knew that this wasn't a dream or a nightmare. It was his life.
"Nineteen? Can you open your eyes for me?"
Steve didn't want to get electrocuted again, so he opened his eyes and nearly puked at the sight of his precious brown locks on the floor. He tore his gaze away, meeting Brenner's eyes, probably looking more scared than ever.
"Good." Brenner gave him a smile, and all Steve wanted to do was look away. "Are you ready to see Twenty?"
Twenty? Robin? They were going to let him see her? He knew that he couldn't mess this up, he had to see her. He had to make sure that she was okay.
He swallowed. "Yes, Papa."
"Alright, Nineteen. Why don't we go join her in the Common Room?"
The bonds that kept him immobile were removed, and Steve rubbed his wrists, trying to get feeling back into them. He realized that he was being spoken to like a child, but he didn't care at the moment. All that he could focus on was the brown on the floor, and the bare head he now had. He ran his finger along his scalp, now feeling the roughness of super short hair instead of soft, luscious locks that he had grown used to.
Brenner seemed to notice his distress. "I'm sorry, but for the tests to be performed correctly this needed to be done. I'm sure that you understand."
He didn't understand. He could never, ever, understand.
Well, at least he could see Robin. That was the only good thing that had happened, wasn't it?
But, deep down Steve knew that it wasn't. He didn't want to see her in this cage. He wanted her to be free.
He didn't notice when he was pulled to his feet and half dragged half led down the halls once more, leaving his hair behind. His eyes were glazed over with something close to despair, and he couldn't register anything.
"We're here, Nineteen. Meet Twenty."
The arms around Steve were let go, and he let himself fall to the floor, curling in on himself tightly. He could hear multiple pairs of footsteps walk away, and the clanging of a door being shut. Soon he was aware of rushed breathing across the room from him, breathing that seemed too fast for another person that worked under Brenner.
He weakly opened his eyes, getting up and sitting on his legs, trying not to fall back to the floor.
Right across from him, with a shaved head, hospital gown, large neck collar, and tear stains on her cheeks, was Robin.
And Steve had never seen her so scared.
Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and voting! The updates are coming a bit quickly because I'm moving it over from where I originally have been posting it, so there should be an update a day for two more days, and then all of the updates will come every Tuesday and Thursday.