"The way he looks at her. Like she's the most important thing in the world to him." "I think she is."
Experiment X - that's was she was known as. A dangerous weapon that belonged to a lab in the Soviet Union. An assassin. A spy.
A seventeen year old...
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— PLAUSIBILITY —
ONCE ALL THE weapons were ready, everyone was back in the van. There was a nervous silence that filled the vehicle and the group all wore anxious expressions on their faces. Irina's fingers messed with the hem of the baggy, long sleeved, white top that Max hand leant her. She was attempting to mentally prepare herself for what she'd have to experience in a short amount of time. But there was one sentence that kept repeating over and over in her head - do what it takes to save everyone else.
Steve stared over at Irina with pure concern in his eyes. The next few moments were going to be life or death. They were going to determine the future of Hawkins. The future of the world. It was so much pressure, not just on Irina, but on the whole group. Everyone involved. They carried so much weight on their shoulders, despite the majority of them being just teenagers.
The van stopped outside the old Creel house and Irina, Steve, Erica, Lucas and Max all climbed out while Nancy replaced Steve in the drivers seat. The five of them were going to do their part of the plan here while the others headed to the Upside Down. The Upside Down group had the majority of the weapons since they were going to actually kill Vecna, but Steve wanted some people with him incase anything went wrong and he needed help.
"Be safe, guys." Dustin said.
"You, too." Lucas responded before Dustin closed the door of the van and they drove away.
Irina took a deep breath before making her way towards the house, closely followed by the Lucas and Steve. Erica and Max headed over to the park across from the house so they could give signals with the torches. The three of them stopped in front of the house to take off their shoes to reduce the noise of them walking around. They didn't want to catch Vecna's attention just yet. They also had note pads to write on instead of speaking.
The floorboards creaked slightly as they entered, making them all wince at the noise. Steve gently took ahold of Irina's arm and turned her so she was facing him. She looked at him confused for a moment before his hands reached up to Max's headphones around Irina's neck and lifted them so they were over her ears. He pressed play on the tape hooked onto Irina's jeans and Kate Bush sounded through her ears. Irina looked up at him and gave him a soft smile, which was returned, along with a firm, loving kiss pressed to her forehead.
Each of them had a lantern they were going to use to find Vecna. None of them wanted to split up, but it was the fastest way to find him. Irina headed upstairs, Steve went left and Lucas went right. They all scoured the house for a while, slowly walking around with their lanterns until Lucas approached Steve with his note pad. On it we're the words 'found Vecna'. Steve gave him a nod and as quickly, but as quietly, as possible he rushed upstairs to get Irina.
Lucas showed them how his lantern was glowing brighter and wrote down on his note pad 'phase one?'. Both Steve and Irina gave him a nod and Lucas went to the window with his flashlight to signal to Max and Erica that it was time for phase one.
***
Lucas sat by the boarded up window waiting for the go ahead from Erica and Max as they were waiting for a signal from the Upside Down group. Across the room Steve leant against a table opposite Irina, tapping the pen in his hand and staring at the floor. He could only hear the faint sound of Kate Bush playing through Irina's headphones when he felt a nudge on his leg. He looked up to see Irina had gently kicked him to catch his attention. She was holding up her note pad with the word 'hi' and a small heart drawn besides it. Steve smiled a little and took the lid off his pen with his mouth before writing his response. He held up the pad, which now had 'hello beautiful' written on it.
Irina smiled at his response and wrote on her note pad 'I want to kiss you' and held it up. Steve grinned and wrote 'come here' on his note pad. Irina quietly stood up from where she was sat and stood so her and Steve were chest to chest. He slid his hands onto her waist and her hands rested on each side of his neck. Steve gently kissed her forehead, then her left cheek and right cheek, then her nose, and finally he pressed a long, loving kiss on her lips. He slowly moved his hands to either side of her face and gently pulled away from the kiss, though his face remained only a few inches away from her own.
"I love you." He silently mouthed the words.
"I love you, too." Irina mouthed the words back to him before grabbing one of the note books and pens and resting it against Steve's chest so she could draw something. Steve waited patiently, smiling down at her concentrated face as she worked on her master piece. After a moment, she smiled at the paper and lifted it to show Steve. It was a drawing of two stick men, one was Steve and one was Irina, and besides them were six other very small stick men. Steve didn't miss the little dog drawn in the corner of the page either.
A large grin pushed it's way onto Steve's face as he took the drawing and the pen into his own hands, writing 'the Harringtons' at the top of the page and drew a little love heart in the corner. Irina smiled and Steve put the pad and pen on the table behind him before pressing another affectionate kiss on her lips. A flashing light outside made them separate and hurry over to the window with Lucas. They all exchanged nervous glances at each other as the flashlight signal came through since they all knew what it meant. Time for phase two: distracting Vecna.
