❁

fighting against the restraints on his hands and legs in a lame attempt to get to her. he noticed the blood on her face, and his blood boiled, forgetting about the 'doctor' behind him. "what did they do to you? are you okay?" she still had her hands bound behind her back, her feet tied together as well, making her unable to get up from her position on the ground.

meadow nodded. "i'm okay, steve." she looked up at him. "your eye!" she took in the swelling around it, feeling her heart ache at his pain.

the soldier was unamused, looking down at both of them. "i thought she might persuade you into honesty." he said, grinning evilly.

"no." steve shook his head. "no, i'm telling the truth! hurt me, please, don't hurt her! i'm telling the truth!"

one of the heavier soldiers kicked meadow in the stomach and she yelled in pain, rolling onto her side. she still had steve's jacket on, but it was now covered in blood, as were her denim shorts which she had spit her blood onto.

steve let out an audible cry as tears streamed down his face. "no, please, i'll tell you anything you want to know just don't hurt her!" his hair had fallen completely into his face, and his eyes were wide with terror.

"i'll ask you again. who do you work for?"

meadow looked up from the floor. "he works at scoops-" the man kicked her in the rib and she recoiled, moving into a fetal position.

"she's telling the truth!" steve said frantically. "i work at scoops ahoy, and she works at the hawkins public pool-" the man moved over as if to harm meadow again and steve whimpered a cry, yelling now. "don't hurt her please! i'm telling the truth!"

the doctor in the corner of the room fumbled with something, and moved in front of steve, holding a frighteningly large contraption, completed with a needle. "wait, wait, wait, what is that thing?" steve yelled, his eyes wide.

"it will help you talk." the doctor replied simply, taking the needle and moving it closer to steve.

"wait did you even clean that thing?!" steve panicked. next thing he knew, the needle was injected into his jawline, and he screamed in pain.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

meadow woke up tied to a chair. she was now sitting across from steve, who was still tied to robin, who was still entirely knocked out. "steve?" she spoke groggily, her vision clearing to confirm that her boyfriend was sitting across from her.

steve opened his eyes, looking over at meadow. she rolled her chair across the room until she hit steve's legs with her own, their knees touching. "i honestly thought i was imagining things. you're here?" he asked, smiling slightly. "what did they do to you?"

"nothing compared to what they did to you, by the looks of it." meadow replied, wincing as her ribs started to hurt. "well, i knew we couldn't go one year without you getting beaten up."

"ha ha, very funny." steve said. he felt his whole body rush with relief at just meadow being there. he then thought about what robin had said. she was right. any minute they were down there, he or meadow could've died.. and they would've been ripped from each other. "i love you." steve blurted out, looking into her eyes.

meadow smiled, despite the pain it caused her bloody cheeks. "i love you, too, steve."

"do you wanna get married?" steve asked.

"what?" meadow replied.

steve shook his head. "i'm serious. if we get out of here, do you want to get married?"

meadow smiled. "when we get out of here, we will get married." she then thought for a moment. "i mean, like, much after we're out of here." she clarified, making him laugh. "we can't legally drink yet, slow down, dude."

he laughed. "yeah, i just mean, like, i want to. i don't know if i've ever just straight up told you that i want to marry you." he said, not knowing that what was kicking into his system was a truth serum.

robin then woke up, groaning to herself. "surprisingly.. i feel fine." she said. "i feel pretty normal."

"yeah. i actually.. i actually feel kinda good." meadow said.

"woah i feel good, too." steve agreed.

robin laughed. "can i tell you a secret? i kinda like it, too!"

they all broke into laughter. "those morons messed up the drug!" meadow said, throwing her head back with laughter.

"yeah! complete morons!" robin agreed.

"morons!" steve added.

"hey, morons!" robin yelled.

"woah-oh!" steve laughed.

the laughter between the three died as the doors opened again. the leader, a soldier, and the doctor. the latter moved over to his small table, removing items from his bag. he began with smaller objects, eventually taking out a giant knife.

robin gulped. "would now be a good time to tell you that i don't like doctors?"

"let's try this again, yes?" the leader said, ignoring robin's comment. "who do you work for?"

"scoops." steve said. robin and meadow burst into laughter at the simple word. "scoops ahoy." steve chuckled, making robin giggle.

the man didn't look as amused. "how did you find us?"

"totally by accident." steve answered.

suddenly, everything was funny, and meadow giggled at the way that steve answered each question, biting her lip as she glanced at robin, who was also laughing.

the doctor picked up a device, moving over towards steve. "what is that shiny little toy?" steve asked.

"where are you going wit that, doc?" robin asked.

meadow laughed. "is that for taking out teeth, or fingernails?"

the doctor grabbed steve's hand and everyone stopped laughing instantly. "whoa, whoa, hey, hey. wait! no! wait wait!" steve yelled.

"there was a code!" meadow yelled in terror, watching as the doctor put the clippers close to steve's nails. "we heard a code!"

"code." the leader repeated. "what code?"

"the week is long. the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west." robin said. "blah, blah, blah. you broadcast that stupid spy shit all over town, and we picked it up on our cerebro, and we cracked it in a day. a day!" she shook her head, laughing at the insanity of the situation.

meadow nodded. "you gotta give us props for that one."

robin smiled and nodded her agreement. "you think you're so smart, but a couple of kids who scoop ice cream for a living, and that one who sits in a stand for hours getting a free tan-"

"hey!" meadow said, offended.

"- cracked your code in a day. and now, people know you are here."

"who knows we are here, little bitch?" the man asked.

steve looked over his shoulder. "uh, well, dustin knows."

meadow looked up instantly, her eyes wide with terror. "steve. steve, no."

"yeah, dustin henderson, he knows." steve said.

"steve!" meadow yelled, knowing that they could hunt her brother down.

"dustin henderson." the man repeated. "is it your small, curly-haired friend?"

"oh, curly-haired. great hair. small. kind of like a 'fro. yeah."

"where is he?"

meadow's heart rate picked up. "he won't do anything, he's harmless. he won't tell anyone, i swear. he's just a kid, please-"

"he's long gone, you big asshole." steve replied to the question. "and he's probably calling hopper, and hopper's calling the us cavalry." steve laughed. "they're gonna come in here, commando style, guns a blazin, and kick your sorry asses back to russia."

meadow laughed a little, nodding to herself. she tried to calm herself down as she remembered that dustin was smart, and he was out of the way. it didn't mean she wasn't pissed with steve for saying her little brother's full name, but, hey, it was something.

"you're gonna be two pieces of toast." steve added, snickering and nearly doubling over with laughter. all three teens were laughing now, and the drugs had fogged meadow's thoughts enough for her to forget about dustin.

the leader leaned down so he was close to steve's face. "is that so?" he asked.

"yeah." steve replied as if it was obvious, making meadow and robin let out small cackles of laughs. the doctor and the other man laughed a little themselves, but the laughter of all five died out at the sound of alarms blaring. steve shrugged his shoulders, a silent way of saying 'i told you so'.

the doctor stayed in the room while the other man left. the alarms continued to blare, and meadow leaned back in her chair, waiting in anticipation.

suddenly, the door burst open and dustin flew through with a giant stick, which was pointed at the end with a blue electricity. he stabbed the doctor with it, screaming at the top of his lungs, making a huge scene of it. the electric shock from the tip of the sword-like thing made the doctor fall to the ground, and dustin panted.

"hey, henderson!" steve cheered. "that's crazy, i was just talking about you."

meadow looked up at her brother, impressed. "dusty-bun!" she cheered. "does.. does.." she laughed to herself, snorting a little as she thought of her joke before saying it. "does suzie call you that like mom does?" she heard robin and steve laugh alone, also picturing it. "my lil dusty-wusty."

dustin ignored her, removing the constraints on his sister and the ones on steve and robin. "get ready to run." he said to them.