𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐂, 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 | 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

chapter thirteen; interrogations

꒰꒰・┄┄・𓆩♡𓆪・┄┄・꒱꒱

"ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?" Summer's words come out in a mumbled slur, her eyes fluttering open as if she were in some sort of a heavy daze and she slowly returns to her previously conscious state. She takes in a deep breath and as she releases she slowly lulls her head back against Steve's, staring up at the bright lights that hung above them.

"Honestly, I don't really feel anything," Steve answers, his voice a hushed tone, which was very unlike his usual upbeat self. Though, given the circumstances, it was pretty understandable why he was a lot quieter than he was the majority of the time. "What about you, Robin?"

The couple both turn their heads to the blonde girl, her arms growing tiresome as they hung above her head lazily and she lets out a frustrated sigh. "I mean, I... I feel fine. I feel normal."

"Yeah, I feel — I feel fine." Steve agrees before letting out a hearty chuckle, his hair bouncing slightly and tickling at Summer's olive skin. It was a nice feeling. A comforting feeling. And not even the sweat that had coated his brunet locks was going to make her turn away, because, in reality, who knew what the Russians were planning to do with them. So instead she nuzzles herself as close to him as she possibly could, not wanting to take any second she may have left with him for granted.

"Y'know, I kinda feel... good." He smiles.

As Steve continues to chuckle at himself Summer begins to feel a bit funny, a sensation she could only compare to the few times she had gotten high with Steve while his parents were away on business trips, and like a virus, the boys laugh becomes contagious. At first, it starts out as nothing more than a reaction to his sudden burst of happiness, eventually turning into something more uncontrollable, but both Summer and Robin find themselves bursting at the seems with giggles.

After a few minutes, Summer shushes the other two and swings her head back to lean on Steve's shoulder. "I have a secret. A good secret." She giggles again. "I feel... really good and I really like it."

Both Steve and Robin choke back their laughs but it becomes too much and they let it out, the breath escaping their lungs as they do so, causing their sides to ache. The stress and panic that had been gnawing at the three of them only moments ago had now vanished as the substance that they had been injected with riddled its way through their bloodstream.

"What morons. They messed up the drug." Steve points out, though perhaps what they thought was a mistake wasn't one at all. Maybe, just maybe, what was happening to them was exactly what the Russians had intended all along.

"They messed it up! Morons, hey morons!" Robin yells mockingly.

Then completely out of nowhere, like a wave crashing hard against the shoreline, Summer's breathing begins to fasten as the realisation that something was definitely wrong with them hits her. Her smile fades a little, her laugh dying down with it, and for a second her features are taken over by the fear inside before her smile quickly whisks it away like it hadn't happened at all. She tries to fight the urge to laugh along with the others but whatever was in her system was doing a damn good job of making sure that that wouldn't happen.