Robin awoke to the sound of steps going up creaky steps, and she opened her eyes weakly. Steve's head was on her shoulder, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling with even breaths. She didn't have to wonder if he was still asleep. He looked to be at peace, something that Robin knew was a hard thing to come by for him.
Gently getting up and lowering Steve to the couch, who still slept through the movement, Robin readjusted the blanket so it covered him nicely, and headed upstairs, avoiding all of the sleeping bodies. Dustin, Max, and Nancy were gone, and, if it weren't for Robin's powers, she would've been scared, likely wondering where they were. Yet, despite the pounding headache One gave her, she could still hear their minds and feel the varying emotions rolling off of them in waves, Max's thoughtfulness dampened by fear, Dustin's thankfulness and hunger, and Nancy's worry.
When she made it upstairs, she saw all three of them sitting at the table, Holly and her father sitting with them, Mr. Wheeler eyeing them with distast.. Mrs. Wheeler was happier than her husband, and she gave Robin a bright smile before handing her a plate of pancakes.
"Good morning, Robin. Sleep well?"
Robin took the plate thankfully, giving the older woman a smile. "Yes, thank you, Mrs. Wheeler."
"The others are just at the table, and feel free to eat as much as you want! There's plenty."
She nodded and joined Dustin at the table, ignoring the way Mr. Wheeler stared at her, the man heaving a big sigh before heading to the living room. Robin watched him leave, feeling bad that her presence made him go away, but Dustin bumped her shoulder.
"He's just an old grump, don't worry about him." He whispered, and Robin huffed a laugh.
"I can't say that I'm shocked by that. My question is how did he have awesome kids like Nancy and Mike?"
Nancy rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, very funny. He's not a fan of the company, that's all."
Robin then turned her attention to Max, who was looking at a collection of folded paper, drawn to look like the Creel House Robin had seen in Victor Creel's mind.
"That looks…"Robin said, picking one of the drawings up. "Really accurate. Wait, it's accurate to the house and to your mind when One attacked you. What is this?"
She could already hear words fall into her mind, words that were not her own, yet she still listened as Max explained.
Max smiled gently. "Thanks. We were thinking that I managed to access his mind somehow, that we were in his mind instead of mine. So, this was his mind. And then Nancy discovered something."
"It's the Creel House." Dustin said with a smile, and Robin breathed out a sigh.
"That confirms it; Henry Creel is One."
Nancy nodded. "Exactly. I'm going to wake the others, we need to come up with a plan. Investigate this house, see if it'll lead to any clues on how to stop him."
"Has anyone been able to come in contact with El?" Dustin asked suddenly, and Robin frowned. She opened her mind, calling out for El, but she received no response.
"Nothing on my end." She replied. "Maybe we can call Ms. Byer's and see if she's heard anything?"
"We can try. And, we have to check if Eddie and Jonathan are okay, too, it's been a while." Dustin added, and Nancy nodded.
"Eddie did just radio in. He's hoping for another food run. We'll visit them after we see the Creel house."
The three of them got up, Max choosing to remain at the table. As Robin walked by her, Max stopped her with her hand.
"Hey." She said, softly, "I know you probably know what I'm going to say, but…" Her eyes reflected how sincere she felt, and Robin listened intently.
"Thank you. For saving me back there."
Robin shrugged. "I think you and Kate Bush did the heavy lifting, I just did a bit of superpowered stuff. Which is still super strange, I didn't even know I could do that."
That got a small smile out of Max. "Really, though, thank you. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
"Anytime, Max. Us ladies have to stick together, right? Now, are you coming or what?"
Max nodded, and the two of them quickly joined the others in the basement, where everyone was now awake, all of their eyes on the television.
"What's going on?" Max asked, and Steve sighed, running his hands through his hair.
"It's Carver. Not only has he rallied people against Eddie, but…against me."
Robin gasped, turning to the TV where Carver stood, talking animatedly to the reporter, anger in his eyes.
"Sir, are you saying that you think that Steve Harrington is part of this so-called cult?" The reporter asked, and Carver nodded, furious.
"He's a freak! There's no doubt in my mind that he's a part of this. He doesn't feel pain! He can't get hurt! He's a freak of nature!"
Steve stiffened where he stood, and Robin had no doubt the walls around his heart were growing taller. Dustin touched his shoulder, trying to be comforting, but nothing in Steve changed at the touch.
"And, may I ask how you know this?" The reporter asked, and they all watched in horror as Carver continued.
"He attacked me. He attacked me and my friends when I asked him about Eddie Munson. Chance and I have bruises! Cuts! He's a part of this, that I have no doubt! He's violent and dangerous, he's been killing these kids, he and Eddie Munson are teaming up to destroy our home!"
"Steve attacked them because they were threatening me! They were the violent ones!" Dustin exclaimed, and Steve sighed.
"And, I didn't cut them either."
"Then, what did you do to them?" Nancy asked, "I know you guys fought him and they figured out that you were…different, but did you really attack them like that?"
Steve ran his hand through his hair once more, a nervous habit that Robin had picked up on long ago. "I punched them a couple times. They slashed me with a knife, though, and stabbed me. Threatened Dustin too. So, they deserved those punches. But that's all I did."
"You threw one to the ground, too." Dustin added, and Steve shot him a bored look.
Robin turned to him, panic filling her stomach.
"Steve! You didn't tell me you got hurt!"
"Relax, I'm all healed up. And something tells me we have bigger issues now. Carver is going after me, that's a lot worse than old wounds."
Nancy turned off the television, crossing her arms.
"Okay. This is bad. I have no doubt that the police are going to listen to Carver, they're desperate for any information right now. There's no doubt that the police are going to want to question Steve, and if they find out what Carver and his gang did about him and his powersー"
"Then it's game over for me." Steve added, and Nancy nodded stiffly.
"They might take you to jail, to a lab, or even worse, back to Brenner. We can't let that happen."
"Okay, but Steve can just resist the police's grip. Steve can fight back!" Mike added, gesturing wildly with their hands. "Their weapons will do nothing to him! So that would never happen."
Steve glanced at him with a frown. "It's bad enough that I might be a suspect in a murder case. Fighting the police or breaking out of jail would make everything worse."
"He's right. It would only prove that he is involved somehow. Or different." Max said, and Mike nodded, all of the fight leaving his body.
Will spoke up softly. "Then, what do we do? We can't risk letting Steve get caught, or even questioned."
Robin thought deeply, trying to come up with a solution. She knew that this was bad. If Steve was caught by the police, they would lose a valued member of the Party, and Steve would be in great danger. Robin had promised herself that she wouldn't let him be in trouble alone, and she had to stick to that promise. But, how? How could they protect him and Eddie and fight One at the same time?
Words fell into her mind, like whispers carried by the wind, words that…made sense. But, as soon as it came, it was brushed away with thoughts of conflicts and a movie theater.
What was that? Who's mind did she just read?
Nonetheless, what she heard was a great idea. The perfect idea. It would make everyone safe, and it would allow Steve to hide yet still be available to help whenever need be.
"What if he hid away at my house? My mom would never believe these crazy stories about Steve." Dustin said, breaking Robin away from her thoughts. "She would believe everything else, maybe, but Steve has always been an angel to her."
"And risk your mom getting in trouble? No way." Steve replied, and Robin interrupted whatever he was going to say next.
"I had a thought. It wasn't mine, I…I think I read someone's mind subconsciously? Anyways, I think it's a great idea."
"What were you thinking?" Nancy asked, watching her with curiosity.
"Eddie and Jonathan. They're in a perfect hiding spot. You can hide with them, and then we can all regroup when we need you. As much as we need you with us we can't let you get caught."
Nancy raised her hand, as if she was back in school. "I was thinking the same thing. But, it wouldn't work. We're lucky that Eddie and Steve managed to get along, but putting Steve and Jonathan in the same room is a bad idea."
"Hey! Weー" Steve protested, but Dustin shushed him.
"Just listen to Nancy."
"Listen, I don't know what exactly went down between them, but what else can we do? Steve needs to be safe. Jonathan and Eddie are in a safe location. It makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Have Jonathan and Steve switch?" Nancy suggested, and all of the kids nodded in agreement.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! But you guys need me! I'm not going to be benched because Carver is coming after me!" Steve interrupted, nearly shaking with pent up emotion, rage or confusion Robin didn't know.
"Being benched is better than being caught." Mike said with a scoff. "And, it's not like you would be benched! You'd be protecting Eddie, which should be one of our top priorities. Seriously, what is it with you and these sports analogies?"
"It's a good analogy." Lucas muttered, and Steve nodded towards him.
"Thank you, Sinclair. But my point is, what if something happens to Max again? What if she gets hurt? Then I won't be able to heal her, or help her!"
Robin could sense Max's worry spike, yet the young girl stood tall.
"I'll be fine. We just need to get you away from the police and danger, and I think that hanging out with Eddie is the best option for that."
Steve sighed, throwing his hands up and then bringing them down, wrapping them around his stomach. His eyes were closed shut, as if he was trying not to cry. Dustin looked at him, a guilty expression on his face and shame radiating off of him, and Robin patted him on the back, knowing that the young boy was more concerned for Stevbe than anything else. Then she didn't hesitate to wrap her own arms around Steve, pulling him into a hug. She watched as Lucas, out of the corner of her eye, gave Dustin a hug, one that seemed to help Dustin through his struggle.
Steve breathed heavily against Robin, and she rubbed his back, glad that he was finally feeling what he was feeling, but devastated, knowing that he was probably exhausted by it.
"Robin?" He asked softly, and she nodded, her chin bumping her shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to be separated from you guys. I really don't want to. What if something happens and I…what if I can't save you?"
"Hey. It'll be okay. As much as you want to protect us, we want to protect you. It's a two way street, Dingus. Let us protect you for a change."
He let out a shaky breath and nodded, not letting go of her.
"I don't think I've eaten for a while. I think that might be why I'm acting all…weird." He said simply, and Robin couldn't help the panic that swirled in her stomach at his words.
He really needed to start taking better care of himself.
"Okay." Reluctantly she pulled away from him, and he watched her with a frown on his face. "We need to get some food for you. And then we'll need to ditch your car somewhere, go to the Creel house, and then go talk to Eddie and Jonathan. We'll work things out from there. Sounds good?"
Nancy nodded, coming into their field of vision with a plate of pancakes.
"That sounds perfect. Steve, eat up." Steve took the plate of pancakes, giving Nancy a small smile, and sat down on the couch, eating slowly. Nancy then turned to Robin, a smile on her face.
"Thanks. I'm glad someone is looking out for him." she said, her voice nearly a whisper, and Robin nodded.
"We look out for each other, it's just what we do. What do you think about my plan? I know I'm not the leader or planner or anything, but I think it might be what we need to do."
Nancy responded kindly. "It was great, I think it's perfect. You're right, we do need to get rid of Steve's car, even though the police haven't publicly declared that they're looking for Eddie or Steve, it won't be long until everyone is keeping an eye out. His car is going to be looked for, so we have to get rid of it as soon as we can."
"What about your parents? Did they see the news?"
"Luckily not. Mike just disconnected the television. I don't think my parents would call the cops, but I don't want them freaking out, either."
Robin nodded, and Nancy continued.
"We'll leave in ten minutes. Just let me know if you guys need anything."
Nancy, after glancing at Robin one last time, made her way out of the basement, and Robin noticed that mostly everyone else was gone, too.
Steve was still on the couch, Dustin had, at one point, sat beside him and was talking faster than normal. Robin knew that he was scared for Steve, and she knew that the rambling was a result of it. She was prone to do that, too.
Steve, though, seemed to be doing a bit better. He was nearly done eating, and looking a lot more lively than before. He still looked devastated, and Robin didn't have to wonder why. Hiding out in a boat shed, especially right now, was probably the last thing that he wanted to do. He needs action. He needed to help fight One. But they needed to keep him safe.
She just hoped that he would understand that. She hoped that he would understand that even though he has the power to be a human shield, he shouldn't have to be one, and that he needed protection as much as the others did. That he was worth just as much as the rest of them.
Every part of her wanted to wrap him in a hug once again and tell him these things, but she knew that they needed to get a move on. They had stuff to do.
Yet there she stood, unmoving, watching him, and hoping for the best, because that's all that she could do.