Serve & Protect

Chapter 12- Truth Comes Out

TW- mentions of SA

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The car broke down because of course it did.

You were stuck in the middle of the woods outside of Hawkins with a broken-down police vehicle and a Russian in handcuffs. What more could possibly go wrong?

"Where's the machine that you're building?" You asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Da machina?" Alexei tilted his head in confusion as he stared at you.

He was leaning against a tree in the shade, and you stood in front of him while Hopper was busy trying to fix the broken Chevy behind you.

"Yes. Machina. Machine." You nodded in relief. Finally getting somewhere. "Where is it? Where?"

"Machina. Vroom, vroom." Alexei continued to say, pointing at the Chevy with a smile.

Damnit.

"No." You shook your head with a sigh. "Not the car. The machine-"

"Y/N just give it a rest." Hopper shouted over his shoulder tiredly. "You're just wasting your time."

"I'm making progress."

"Progress? Huh?" He asked, pushing himself out from under the hood to face you. "What have you learnt? You learned that Smirnoff over there-"

"Alexei." You corrected because that was all the information you had managed to get from the Russian.

Hopper glared at you, "Smirnoff is Russian and works for Starcourt, two things we already knew."

You rolled your eyes, "whatever. Have you fixed the car yet?"

"You overheated the damn engine." He muttered pointing to the mess under the hood with an annoyed huff.

"You wanna blame me? I was not the one shouting to drive faster." You snapped, marching over to the vehicle and pointing at the engine under the hood. "This is on you."

Hopper growled in frustration before he turned away and continued to work and after a few minutes he told you to get behind the wheel and try the key.

"It's not working." You said, stating the obvious as you poked your head out the open window.

"Try it again." Hopper instructed from where he was standing in front of the hood.

"If I keep doing it, it'll flood the engine." You warned.

"Just trust me."

You sighed and turned the key once more, but it wouldn't start. The engine just kept turning over.

Alexei started to shout in the background while you turned the key again doing as Hopper instructed before you heard Hopper shouting at the Russian to shut up.

Suddenly high-pitched squealing erupted from under the hood, and you quickly let go of the key and looked up to find a cloud of dark smoke rising from the front of the car.

Oh, that can't be good.

"Y/N, get out!" Hopper yelled, a hint of panic in his tone.

You frantically reached for the door handle and yanked it open but only manage to take a single step before the engine suddenly exploded from behind you. The force of the explosion sent you falling to the ground, your forehead cracking against a tree root in the process.

Pain blossomed through your head at the impact, and you winced pushing yourself onto your hands and knees. You lifted your hand up to the stitches above your temple and hissed when you made contact with the wound and quickly lowered your hand to find fresh crimson blood staining your fingertips.