Shadows of the Night •a Stranger Things story•

Boom

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The room that Dr. Quill has brought the three of them to is nothing more than a metal table with four metal chairs surrounding it. There's a camera in one corner of the room, capturing everything. A two-sided mirror aligns perfectly in the room. There's only one door out. It's the kind of sterile that's working hard to cover up dust and decay.

It's giving Chris a headache.

"Now that you've got the tour, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Quill gives them a large grin. Her eyes linger on Robbie. "I can assure you we don't have any other siblings hidden away in here for you to steal."

"Steal?" he repeats, anger bubbling inside him quickly. "Need I remind you who stole from whom first?"

"Do you have children here?" asks Lisa, interrupting Robbie. It's a good thing, too; he'd lose his temper too easily.

"No. The only children of ours to survive are Eight, Nine, and Eleven."

"You know about Eight?" Chris questions, leaning forward unconsciously. She doesn't want to be near Quill, but she does want the answers this woman has.

"We know everything," Quill counters, her voice sinister.

Leaning back, Chris folds her arms. "Tell me what you know about me."

Quill chuckles softly, not feeling any kind of pressure or threat. "Why would I do that?"

"Don't pretend like I'm not valuable to you guys. I know that you've been itching to put me in a lab since the start. I'm here. How many of you doctors would enjoy the ability to say you got to have me as your test subject?"

"It's all Quill's ever dreamed of. The recognition Brenner and Owens received for hardly doing anything," Lisa continues, twisting the knife. Quill's eyes grow dark with each passing second. "You've had to work twice as hard, and for what? A failed lab, others laughing at you because one of your interns and a teenager broke in to steal your only test subject, and now you're gonna turn down the Shadow Walker? No," Lisa tilts her head, analyzing Quill. "I don't think you'll do that."

They pause for dramatic effect, and when Quill doesn't reply, the three of them know they've got her.

"Boom," Robbie mutters, leaning back in his chair so the front legs lift off the ground. He folds his arms, smirking. "Now, here are our terms..."

With a cough, Erica Sinclair drops down from the air duct, landing haphazardly on the ground in the room where the Russians have been hiding their secrets. It looks at first to be like any old storage room. Boxes line the walls on shelves, and a few are stacked around the floor, having not been put away yet. Nothing in here screams danger. She pulls out the walkie Dustin gave her from her own backpack.

"All right, nerds. I'm there."

"Do you...do you see anything?" asks Ronda, holding down the side of the walkie as they wait on the opposite roof. The same spot they hid out at days ago.

"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about."

"Any guards?" wonders Ronda.

"Negative."

"Booby traps?" Robin cuts in.

"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?"

"Thank you for that," Ronda comments, rolling her eyes. They hold their breath as Erica makes her way over to the panel along the wall where the doors are. She pushes the blue button labeled 'Door Open' and the double doors swing open. Erica puts a hand on her hip, pointing sassily as she emphasizes, "Free ice cream. For. Life."