Chapter Forty-Five
Back to the Future
Veronica walked out the back door of Scoops Ahoy, using her powers to flick the lock back into place. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again as she opened herself more, raising the blockers she usually put into place whenever she was in the mall. It was like her skin erupted with goosebumps as it all seemed to hit her instantly. The rapid fire of emotions that weren't her own made her head instantly form a headache. But she pushed it aside as she focused on finding specific people through the massive crowd that filled Starcourt Mall.
Her eyes snapped open the moment she found Steve. Instantly her body moved like she knew exactly where she was going. Veronica moved through the back hallways till she came across a set of double doors at the end of a hallway. Her brows pinched together in confusion as she continued to let the tether she felt with Steve continue to pull her.
Opening the door, Veronica found herself standing at the back of the mall at the loading dock. Several trucks were parked with their backs opened and boxes of product inside.
"What the hell?" She whispered to herself.
But as she focused harder on Steve the more she felt a tug, it felt like it was coming from below. Her eyes scanned around to find any sort of clue. But as her dark eyes scanned along the building, they landed on a small keypad with a green light at the top. Without even thinking, Veronica stepped forward and placed her hand around the silver pad, using her powers. She heard a soft click before soon the doors beside it slowly began to open.
At first glance, it looked like another dock. Shelves lining the backside of the area, with other boxes stacked along the from and sides. She took slow, tentative steps forward as she looked around again. That pull to her boyfriend felt a little stronger – almost like she was heading in the right direction. And when Veronica spotted an identical electrical pad inside the room, she knew that she was.
She pressed down on the button and sent another electrical surge through the pad, causing the doors to close and quickly the room she was within began to descend.
Her body surged to the side, causing her to reach out and grab onto something, as everything else within the room jostled and shook. But within seconds the movement of the now obvious elevator stopped. Veronica repeated her motions from above and the doors slid open. Already her body was beginning to feel drained, and the fatigue of using her powers starting to hit her. But she knew that she had to push through it. Her friends needed her. Steve needed her.
When the doors opened all that greeted her was a series of long, seemingly endless hallways. One in front of her, one to her left, and the last to her right
"Come on, Ronnie, come on…think…think…think…" She spoke to herself under her breath.
The connection that she felt with Steve felt strongest down here, but it seemed even her powers couldn't come up with a direction to go.
So, she went left.
The hallway seemed endless as she hurried her steps looking for any sort of sign. But the hallway was just a straightforward shell of concrete with bright florescent lights and pipes running along both sides. Veronica felt like she'd been walking for hours, realistically knowing she hadn't, but it seemed never-ending.
Till the soft sound of a whirling could be heard.
"….I am not a nerd!" a shrill, young girl's voice sounded.
"You totally are, and that's ok," another familiar voice sounded. "Anyone that can solve a math equation that difficult that fast within their head is a nerd."
"Dustin," Veronica whispered with a smile, before picking up her pace nearly into a sprint. "Dustin!"
"…Veronica?" Dustin replied the sound of the electrical whirling could be heard coming closer.
Turning around a corner, Veronica stopped short, as she nearly ran into the front end of the electrical card that Dustin was driving. He slammed on the brakes and stared up at her with wide eyes, his mouth opened in shock.
"Oh thank god," Veronica spoke with a heavy sigh of relief. "I was starting to think I wasn't going to find someone."
"How the hell did you get down here?!" Dustin shouted in shock.
"I came looking for you guys and saw that Scoops was closed, which led me to think that something was wrong. I used my powers to come and find you, and now I'm here." Veronica explained.
"This is one of the chicks with superpowers you were telling me about?" Eric Sinclair said from beside Dustin.
Veronica looked down at her and gave a small smile before her dark eyes landed back on Dustin, "You told her…everything, I'm assuming?"
"Seeing as we're in the deep, secretive, scary lair of Russians – I thought it was appropriate to tell her," Dustin explained.
"Got it. Where is Steve?" Veronica asked next.
"Being held captive by said Russians," Erica answered. "We escaped to go and find help."
"Are you kidding me?" Veronica looked at Dustin, fear running through her veins like ice.
Dustin slowly nodded his head, before Veronica moved around to hop onto the back of the cart.
"We're going to find them when I say turn, turn," Veronica spoke, her hands tightening on the small edge of the flatbed.
"How exactly are we going to find them? We don't even know where these commie fucks even took those two" Eric spoke.
"Superpowers, remember," Veronica spoke, before closing her eyes. "Doing this without a TV or radio is going to be hard. But we're going to have to make do."
Dustin started up the cart before pressing hard on the peddle, causing it to surge forward before moving down the hallway.
Veronica took a few deep breaths, before refocusing on Steve and adding Robin, hoping that would make it easier to find them. Her head buzzed with the signs of a headache with blood starting to drip from her nose.
"Found them," Veronica spoke, feeling a spike of fear run through her that she knew that wasn't hers. "Turn left."
Dustin turned the steering wheel of the cart when he came to the fork at the front of the elevator. Veronica reached up and wiped away the blood and ignored the pressure building up within her head. Instead, she focused on Steve, and Robin, giving Dustin the instructions he needed.
"Stop!" Veronica shouted, her eyes flying open as Dustin pressed down on the brakes.
"Why are we stopping?" Eric asked, her voice in a low, but harsh, whisper.
"Guards, right around the corner," Veronica slowly hopped off the back of the flatbed, "Guards usually mean something important."
Veronica pressed her back against the cold concrete walls, before maneuvering to look past her shoulder and down the hall. Standing in front of a small series of doors were four to five guards - all armed.
"Ok, here's what we're going to do." Veronica spoke, turning back to look at Dustin and Erica, "I'm going to take the few guards out, you two are going to come up behind me. When I have that door opened – I go first, and you two help get Robin and Steve out of there. Do we understand?"
"Copy," Dustin nodded his head.
"Ready," Eric spoke, before grabbing a long, silver prod from the cart.
"Where did you get that?" Veronica asked.
"Same place we got the cart," Eric explained, before pressing the button, causing an electrical charge to come off the end. "Thought it could come in handy."
Veronica chuckled, "I like your thinking, kid."
Veronica took a few deep breaths before turning the corner and facing down the hallway. Before either of the Russian guards could get a chance to notice her, Veronica raised her hand and sent one of them into the three standing beside it. When the other turned in her direction, she tilted her head to the left, twisting and breaking the necks of the other two.
"Move! Move!" Veronica shouted, before running toward the door they were guarding.
"Are you kidding me!" Erica spoke in shock, running behind Veronica, "That was totally amazing."
Veronica twisted the lock off the door before charging into the room. The scene in front of her caused her heart to leap into her throat and lodge there. Robin and Steve were tied back-to-back on chairs. A tall, bald man loomed over them as he held what looked to be a small knife. While another man, dressed in a Russian soldier uniform, stood off to the side. Everyone's eyes seemed to turn toward the door the moment it opened. But it took seeing the blood smeared and dried on Steve's face for a surge of rage to move through her.
Veronica glared her eyes toward the bald man, holding her hand out in front of her with her fingers in a gripping motion. Her powers reached forward and gripped at the man's chest before sending him flying to the side. His back slammed into the walls before his body crashed and fell limp to the ground. From behind her, Dustin charged in and stabbed the prong into the side of the Russian soldier, causing the man to fall unconscious.
"Henderson!" Steve shouted, a smile spreading across his face, as he softly laughed to himself, "Oh my god, we were just talking about you."
"Did she just make that man fly?!" Robin asked, her words slightly slurred, as she stared wide-eyed at Veronica.
"We gotta move!" Erica screamed from the door, as an alarm blared through the entire room. A flashing red light casts down on everyone.
"Steve, come on," Veronica spoke, her tone slightly panicked and rushed, as she used her powers to undo the straps around the two of them. "We have to run!"
"Veronica," Steve smiled, his blue eyes dark with his pupils blown out, "Oh my god, you are so pretty."
Steve stumbled forward as he moved to stand up, his hands reaching forward, and grabbing to Veronica's face. His large hands caressed over her cheeks as he stared down at her with a smile.
"God you're so pretty," He spoke, as Veronica struggled to take on most of his body weight.
"Alright big guy," Veronica chuckled, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Let's go."
Erica and Dustin moved to shuffle Robin out of the room, the alarm still blaring, as Veronica moved with Steve. Despite Steve being nearly half a foot taller than her, and several pounds heavier, she was able to move quickly down the hallway with him. Dustin helped Robin onto the back of the electrical cart, before shifting to get back behind the wheel. Veronica nearly threw Steve onto the back beside Robin before getting on herself, just as Dustin started the cart.
"Hold on!" Erica shouted as Dustin shot back down the hallway, whipping the cart in the opposite direction.
"Head back to the elevator!" Veronica shouted over the alarm system.
From beside Veronica Steve and Robin seemed to giggle and laugh to themselves, something that made Veronica even more confused as she stared at them.
"…a-and she made the man fly! Fly! Did you see that?" Robin spoke to Steve, the two of them seemingly in their own worlds.
"I did, my girlfriend is a badass." Steve nodded his head before laughing again.
Dustin slammed down on the brakes, causing Robin and Steve to fly backward against the metal backing of the flatbed before everyone started moving again.
"We're here, let's go!" Dustin shouted.
Veronica was the first to move, using her powers again to activate the electrical pad of the elevator. The doors slid open slowly, just as Erica and Dustin got Robin and Steve from the cart. Miraculously, the five of them made it inside, the doors closing before the elevator made its quick ascension. Veronica sagged down against the boxes not only to catch her breath but to rest. Her bones felt like they ached as the adrenaline started to come down.
"That was a close call," Dustin panted slightly from beside her. Veronica could only muster a small sound of agreement as she nodded her head.
"Woah!" Steve's raised voice caused Veronica to open her eyes quickly, expecting something to be wrong.
Instead, she was created to the sight of her boyfriend standing on top of a cart, Robin standing directly behind him, as she moved it back and forth quickly. Her laughter filled the small room and the other three stared at them with deep confusion.
"It's like you're surfing!" Robin laughed; her eyes wide with excitement along with the smile spreading across her face.
"It is like I'm surfing," Steve laughed along with her, his body moving side to side with his hands out beside him.
"What in the hell is their problem?" Erica asked from Veronica's left. "It's like they're drunk."
"Why would they be drunk?" Dustin asked, just as Steve was shot forward into a stack of boxes.
"Wipeout!" Robin laughed while throwing her hands up.
"Oh my god," Veronica spoke before rushing to Steve, helping him roll over and rest back. The moment her hands pressed against his skin, caressing along his cheeks and forehead, a deep frown cast on her face. "He's hot, like he's burning up."
"No you're hot," Steve spoke, with a giggle, before pressing his finger against Veronica's nose. "Bop! Bop!"
"Steve, please," Veronica spoke, grabbing his hand away from her face. Her frown only deepened when she got a closer look at his face. Seeing the bruises form, the deep cuts along his eyebrow and lip, and the blood that dripped and dried down his neck.
"Burning up? Let me see," Dustin spoke before kneeling beside Veronica.
Dustin grabbed at Steve's face, despite the older teen fighting against him sluggishly. "Shit…his pupils are blown out."
"What does that mean?" Veronica asked, looking at him. "Is he going to be ok?"
"Oh, he's fine…just high as hell," Dustin answered, before directing his next question to Steve. "Steve, Steve…focus for me, buddy. Are you high? Did they give you anything?"
"I told you once before Dad, I don't do drugs. Just the marijuana." Steve rolled his eyes, before giggling to himself again.
"Steve, please, I need to know that you're going to be ok." Dustin spoke, slapping Steve's hand away from his face, "Are you going to die?"
"We're all going to die, my strange little friend," Robin spoke with a smile still pressed to her lips, her hands twirling with the ends of her short blonde hair. "It's only a matter of how…or when…"
"Whatever is going on with them, we have to figure out how in the hell we're getting out of here, cause I am almost certain our little Russian friends are going to come looking for us."
"There isn't a chance you came driving in a car" Dustin spoke, already knowing the answer.
"Dustin…I can't drive." Veronica spoke, before shaking her head, "Steve…honey, where are your keys? Where do you park your car?"
"Oh! Can we stop at the food court?" Steve slurred it out, ignoring his girlfriend's questions.
Robin gasped excitedly, "I could totally go for a hot dog!"
"Ok, obviously the two of them are helpless," Eric spoke, "We're going to have to come up with something else."
The elevator stopped and the door slowly started opening. Thankfully, as Veronica and the others turned to the door, there weren't soldiers waiting for them with guns pointed at them. Dustin and Veronica worked to hold Steve off the floor before they all walked out from the elevator and onto the back dock of the mall.
"Oh my god! I can taste the air!" Robin laughed, before moving to tilt her head back and hang her tongue out.
Veronica shook her head, and opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped but the sound of a gate slowly opening. She looked back over her shoulder to see the gate at the end of the driveway slowly starting to roll open with two men on the other side.
"You! Stop!" One of them spoke, with a thick Russian accent. The two of them reach for their guns.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Dustin cursed, before turning to run.
"Move! Let's go!" Veronica shouted, wrapping her arm around Steve's waist and rushing him along toward the back entrance of the mall.
"Okay, Okay, Woo!" Robin shouted as Eric and Dustin pushed her along.
"Why are we running?" Steve questioned, that no one bothered to answer.
Once the door was closed behind them, Veronica turned and rushed her powers to flick the lock over – hoping and praying that was enough to slow them down.
"Head toward the theater," Veronica spoke, reaching her hand down to grab Steve's. "Hopefully we can lose them there."
Dustin led the way through the back halls that led straight into the movie theater. He checked both ways, before ushering everyone through and into a theater. One by one you each found an empty seat. Robin and Steve were seated beside each other. Veronica sat a few seats away from them, while Dustin and Erica moved toward the front of the theater. The moment Veronica's body was able to sink more into the soft seat beneath her, the fatigue hit her more.
"Oh, god." Veronica groaned softly to herself, her brows pinching together as she felt an ache move through her neck and into the base of her skull.
She rested with her eyes closed, the movie Back to the Future blaring through the speakers, Veronica didn't notice Dustin slip out. Or Robin. Or Steve.
One second Steve felt fine, he felt like he was floating with the glistening lights above him and a tingling feeling moving over his skin.
And then another second his stomach felt like it was upside down and he felt the urge to empty his stomach.
"Oh, no." Robin groaned, grabbing at her stomach, before turning to her left and rushing into the nearest bathroom. Not bothering to see what sign was on the outside of the door.
Steve was rushing right behind her. The two of them barely made it to the toilets before everything they had eaten that day came back up.
Steve wasn't sure how long he knelt on the cold floor of the bathroom with his head nearly in the toilet – but it was enough for the tingling feeling to go away and his brain to feel slightly normal.
With a deep and heavy sigh, he slowly moved his body back, before sitting down and resting his head back against the wall.
He and Robin sat in a still silence before she spoke up first.
"Is the room not spinning for you too?" She asked, her voice soft.
Steve slowly opened his brown eyes and looked up slightly, "Holy shit…it did."
"Maybe we puked everything up?" Robin asked, "Ask me a question, to make sure."
"Uh…" Steve rested back against the tiled wall, "When was the last time you peed your pants?"
"Today," Robin answered quickly, with no hesitation. "But only a little! When the doctor Russian dude brought out the bone saw!"
"Oh, god. Maybe it is still in you." Steve laughed lightly, Robin doing the same on the other side of the stall.
"My turn to ask," Robin laughed softly, "Are you…in love with Veronica."
A smile fought to turn up on the corner of Steve's lips, despite the pain, "Yeah, yeah I am,"
"I knew it!" Robin spoke, "I fuckin' knew it. Though the two of you gross me out, I don't understand what she sees in you…I can tell…you really love her."
Steve chuckled, "I do…I really do. She…she means so much to me. I thought that when I was with Nancy that was love, ya know. But truthfully, I was just infatuated with her. It took spending time with Ronnie for me to see that. She is just…so sweet, and kind. Willing to do whatever to make sure that those she cares for, and love are alright."
"She's got a way about her, that's for sure." Robin smiled, "Becoming her best friend is probably one of the smartest things I did last year." Robin paused "Does she know? How do you feel?"
"I-I haven't had the guts…you know? T-To tell her." Steve reached a hand up to brush it out of his face, "And when that Russian asshole was kicking the shit out of me…not going to lie, she was my only thought. If I'd ever see her again."
"Well, she totally saved our asses," Robin spoke. The two of them fell into silence before she asked a question. "Was it the drugs, or did she totally cause a man to fly across a room without touching him?"
Steve opened and closed his mouth a few times, not knowing how to explain away to Robin seeing Veronica use her powers. But before either of them could say another word, the door swung open, revealing a slightly panicked Dustin, Erica, and Veronica.
"Oh, thank fuck." Dustin sighed heavily, the three of them ushering inside.
"You guys scared the shit out of us when we couldn't find you," Veronica said, stepping toward the two of them.
Robin's eyes stared up at Veronica with shock, but nearly instantly, Veronica wasn't hit with fear. Instead, she was hit with curiosity. Her steps faltered for a moment as she stared down at Robin.
"H-Hi," Robin reached up and waved to them.
"Guessing you two are feeling better?" Dustin asked, standing behind Veronica with his hands resting on his hips.
"Could stay that." Steve chuckled, slowly moving up from the ground, before stepping in Veronica's direction.
Veronica's focus changed to him, and a frown returned to her lips, "Oh, Steve."
"It looks worse than it feels, trust me," He chuckled softly before pulling her into his arms, sagging slightly the moment he felt her. He pressed his nose into the top of her head and stood there. "Thank you, for everything, for saving us."
Veronica tightened her arms around him, "You don't even have to thank me, Steve. Know I'm always going to come for you."
Steve rubbed his hand along her back as he watched Robin come out of her stall. "So…uh…I know that I was high, and whatnot, but there are some things that I'd really love the answers to."
"Yeah, of course, Robin." Veronica stepped back from Steve, but not too far, one of her arms still wrapped around him. "I-I…There are some things that I…I haven't…"
Steve looked down at Veronica with worry as her words began to slur, her brows pinching together tightly. She swayed slightly where she stood before closing her eyes tightly.
"Woah, hey, are you ok?" Steve asked gently.
"She used her powers a lot." Dustin spoke, "I'm sure it drained her."
"I'm…I'm o-o-ok…" Veronica hissed as the pain at the back of her neck moved up along to the base of her skull, before spreading out and adding pressure.
Veronica moved away from Steve and reached up quickly to grip the sides of her head, bending forward slightly as she let out a cry of pain.
"What's wrong with her?!" Robin spoke, her voice spiking as she started to worry and panic for her friend.
"Ronnie, Ronnie," Steve reached to pull her hands away, "Baby, talk to me, what's wrong?"
"It' hurts…it hurts…" She cried over and over.
Blood dripped down from her nose, as a shock of pain moved down her spine, causing her to lean into Steve. He moved quickly to wrap his arms around her and catch her as her body fell limp. Steve reached down and caressed her cheek, caressing along it softly as he stared down at her. Her eyes closed as she leaned against him.
"Ronnie? Ronnie!" Steve shook her, trying to get her to wake, but unable to.