Chapter Text
The doctor loomed over them, eyeing them like cattle as the general stood nearby. Amusement twisted his features into something cruel as Steve and Robin shrunk into themselves. He barked out some orders in Russian to the soldiers still in the room. They marched out.
Blood dripped onto the floor, falling from Steve’s fingers and Robin’s nose. They could only hope that they were giving up after having gotten nothing they wanted to believe from the two teens. Steve was missing more fingernails than he still had and Robin had been beaten black and blue.
At least Robin still had her uniform shirt. Steve’s has been ruined sometime after they had been separated. He didn’t say what happened to it but she suspected it had something to do with the lash marks covering his back.
Luck did not seem to be on their side today.
The doctor stepped closer and began to undo the belts binding Robin and Steve together. He let the binding fall to the floor as he pulled Steve from his chair and away from Robin. He was manhandled by the doctor onto the examination chair set up in the corner of the room. Between the drugs and the concussion Steve was fairly easy to maneuver, if a bit unwieldy.
The doctor strapped him down. That pulled weak sounds of protest from both of the teens. Robin glared daggers at the doctor as the soldiers marched back into the room, one of them carrying another bag. It was a similar size to the case that held the doctor’s ‘tools’.
The soldier carrying it handed it off to the doctor, something akin to amusement alight in his. That wasn’t quite right, this had a distinctly malicious edge to it. God this wasn’t going to be good.
He unzipped the bag and pulled out pieces that were meant to make something. It was a little hard to see from Robin’s angle but it seemed similar to the bunsen burners she has used in chemistry.
What were they going to do with a fucking bunsen burner?
Wasn’t pulling Steve’s fingernails from their beds enough?
Wasn’t drugging them to the gills with a mysterious truth serum enough?
A flame flickered on shortly after the pieces were properly assembled. The soldiers stood back, merely observing whatever was going to happen next. The doctor didn’t seem to care. They probably wouldn’t interfere on the teens’ behalf anyways.
What was the doctor going to do to Steve?
“What are you doing?” Steve slurred as he tried to lean away from the doctor and bunsen burner.
“It seems you need more motivation to tell the truth.”
“No. No no no no! I promise I’m telling the truth. I promise.” Steve begged, voice breaking on the last word. Robin could now clearly see the scalpel being heated over the flickering flame.
“What are you gonna do to him?” She demanded, pulling at her restraints again.
“Make him see things our way.”
The blade was cherry red. Robin watched as he removed it from the flame and held it over Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington’s battered body. She held her breath as the scalpel was brought down on her coworker.
A now familiar scream rang out yet again. Steve screamed as the red hot blade was dragged across his skin, cutting and cauterizing as it went. The doctor pulled it down his chest, making a y-incision like the ones used for autopsies. Robin felt bile rising in her throat. Surely the doctor wouldn’t dissect him while he was still alive? He wouldn’t break open Steve and study him. He might. He might, what was it? Vivisection, that was the term.
“Who do you work for?”
“Scoops Ahoy!” Steve sobbed as the doctor lifted the blade from his bruised and bloodied skin. The doctor clucked his tongue at Steve’s words, shaking his head as a parent would at a misbehaving child.
“I hoped you would say that.”
Steve squirmed under the doctor’s gaze. His eyes widening in fear as the words’ meaning sunk in. He tried pulling at his bind with more fervour as the doctor turned away from him. The scalpel was back over the flame, heating it back up after it had cooled some after being used to slice through Steve’s flesh.
“What are you going to do?” Robin asked again, desperation causing her voice to crack as the words tumbled from her mouth. She didn’t get a response this time.
The knife was back up to the doctor’s preferred temperature all too soon. He turned his attention back onto Steve who had only aggravated the rope burns and bruising. A gloved hand roughly gripped his face holding him still as the other slowly and surely brought the scalpel to his eye level. Steve held his breath.
Robin watched his chest as the whole world seemed to slow down. She could only watch as the blade made contact with his left eye. It took a second for her to register the broken howls pouring from Steve’s lips. It took another before she realized her own screams echoed after his. This was awful.
Blood leaked down his face as the smell of burnt flesh filled the room. Steve writhed in his seat. The blade moved slightly as he managed to turn a bit. The red hot metal cut into his eyebrow and the bridge of his nose.
Robin turned her head, vomit spewing from her lips.
Steve’s screams turned into whimpers as the scalpel was pulled away from his face. The doctor held it back over the flame and let something else fall from his hand onto the table. Robin didn’t have to look to know it was Steve’s eye. That monster had just cut an eye from a teenager’s face.
She could only watch as the doctor grabbed Steve’s face once again and raised his blade to the other eye.
“Please,” Steve begged, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked up at the doctor. The doctor’s face remained stony. He glanced past him at Robin. Her eyes widened. Then the scalpel made contact once more.
Steve thrashed against his bonds, more bloodcurdling screams ripped from his throat. The doctor did a better job holding his face this time. There were fewer mistakes as he extracted the other eye from its socket. It was placed beside the other on the table.
“Who do you work for?”
All that answered was sobbing.
Robin watched as the doctor clicked his tongue derisively once more and turned back to the implements he had laid out earlier. Tears flowed freely down her own cheeks as she kept an eye on the doctor. Steve couldn’t anymore so she’d have to look out for the both of them.
She glanced over at the soldiers in the room. All of them stood still, eyes looking straight ahead, stony faced. She grit her teeth. Robin knew they wouldn’t help them for fucks sake, but where was their fucking humanity. They were just as moved as if they were watching paint dry, not witnessing a teen be tortured and maimed.
She opened her mouth to shout, beg, something, anything to get them to stop hurting Steve when an alarm sounded. The doctor stiffed from where he’d been reaching for another torture implement. He glanced up over to the colonel and exchanged a few words in Russian. The colonel nodded and turned to his soldiers, barking orders at them in Russian. Robin watched them march out of the room, the colonel leading them out of the torture room, presumably to check on whatever was causing the alarm.
God she hoped that was backup. Hopefully the kids had gotten out and got help. She wasn’t sure that Steve would last much longer if they kept up the level of violence. She wouldn’t last much longer either if their attention turned to her.
The doctor seemed antsy. He had stopped looking down at the implements. Robin hoped that was a good thing. Maybe he would wait to continue until the other soldiers returned. The uncertainty was getting to her.
The room was quiet apart from the hum of electricity and the quiet sobs coming from Steve. She sat and listened for a sign of returning soldiers. No sounds of marching boots could be heard but there was something that seemed to grow louder every second. Sneakers pounding against concrete echoed down the hall behind the closed door.
The door was yanked open and two familiar, short bodies came barreling in. Dustin was wielding a modified cattle prod. She could only watch as he pressed the tip into the doctor’s chest and shocked him with what she was sure was a deadly amount of voltage. Erica was just behind him, darting in and heading straight for her.
“Dustin? I thought we told you to get help?”
“What’s wrong with Steve?” Erica cut in, eyes darting from Robin to Steve and back again.
“We have to get him out of here first, then we can help him, but right now can you get us out of the bindings?” Robin said, trying to draw the kids' attention away from Steve. She didn’t think he’d want to be seen like this. She certainly wouldn’t want people gawking at her after she’d been tortured.
Her words seemed to snap Erica and Dustin into action. Erica freed Robin whilst Dustin worked on Steve. As soon as she was free Robin took over undoing Steve’s binds whilst Dustin and Erica kept watch.
“Hey Steve, I think you can stand up now. If you help us we can get out of here now,” Robin murmured encouragingly, gingerly holding onto his hands. He gives a slight nod and pulls himself up and out of the chair with Robin’s help. Steve hissed as he moved, trying to get a sense of his surroundings based on his memory of the fucking room.
“Robin? Can you give me a hand out of here?” Steve finally asked, voice rough and broken. Robin nodded. “Robin?”
“Oh! I can. Yeah I can totally do that. I’m sorry I just nodded and I know that you can’t… Yeah, I can definitely do the seeing for the both of us. Also, um, do you want to cover up your back or eyes or anything? No pressure! I just thought I should offer,” Robin rambled, gripping his hand a little tighter and lightly pulling him towards the exit as she talked.
“I would like that. Yeah what are you gonna cover me up with anyhow? Got any secret clothes that you aren’t using?”
“I mean, I’ve still got my vest and I was thinking that I could use the scarf to cover your eyes.”
“The scarf should work. Are you sure that your vest will fit me?”
“Nope, we can still try though.”
“Okay,” Steve acquiesced, extending a hand expectantly. Robin pulled off her uniform vest and handed it over. Steve struggled to put it on for a bit. He eventually got it on correctly and by that time Robin was ready with the scarf.
“Hey Steve, I’m gonna tie the scarf around your–”
“Do it,” he interrupted. Robin gingerly wrapped the red fabric over his bloody sockets. She tied it just tight enough to stay on. Steve reached a hand up to feel the knot. His fingers made contact and after a minute he gave her a slight nod.
“Thanks. We should probably get out of here.”
“Yeah,” Robin agreed, she grabbed onto his hand and started pulling him towards the exit and Dustin and Erica guarded. “Okay everybody, let’s get out of here.”
The four of them ran from the room and through the halls towards the cart that Dustin hijacked from somewhere. Dustin waved the injured teens into the back whilst he and Erica took the front seats. Robin helped Steve clamber into the cart whilst Dustin started the engine and started speeding down the halls towards that godforsaken elevator that started this whole shitty experience.
“What happened to you guys?” Dustin yelled back to Robin as he steered them down another identical looking corridor.
“Russians happened! Is now really the best time? We need to get out of here and get Steve to a hospital!” Robin shouted back, slightly grateful that the drugs were taking the edge off her pain. She could only hope that they did Steve the same kindness.
Robin braced herself and kept a hold of Steve as Dustin whipped through the halls. She did her best to keep the both of them steady, muscles twinged underneath her bruises. Steve winced when he slammed into the side of the cart after Dustin took a particularly sharp turn. Robin hummed slightly, whether to soothe herself or remind Steve she was there she didn’t know.
Soon enough the cart came to a stop and Robin leapt out and yanked Steve along behind her. Dustin got the elevator open with a swipe of a stolen key card and Erica was the first one inside, waving the others into the metal box. Steve was next, Robin pushing him in and then stepping in herself only for Dustin to bring up the rear.
She sat herself and Steve down by one of the walls. Erica settled down on Robin’s other side whilst Dustin got the elevator to rocket back up towards the surface. The elevator was almost as quick going up as it had been going down. Robin was glad she had been sitting when it started. Dustin had almost been knocked onto his ass by the force of the elevator.
After a minute or two they stopped going up. Dustin started messing with the elevator controls again whilst Robin led Steve and Erica over to the door. The two teens swayed a little as they stood, leaning on each other for some support. The elevator opened once more to a familiar sight. They were back topside. Dustin darted past the three of them and took a quick look around before waving the others forward. Erica grabbed Steve’s free hand, startling him for a moment before he realized whose hand it likely was.
“Erica?”
“Yeah.”
Steve relaxed as the two girls pulled him towards Dustin. Robin stumbled slightly as she went, almost bringing Steve down with her but they pressed forwards. Dustin led them towards the doors out of the mall when they were spotted.
A few Russian guards noticed them trespassing and started running at them.
“Shit. Shit. Shit shit shit shit!” Dustin cursed, leading the group back into the mall and through the employee hallways. Erica followed after him pulling Steve and Robin along with her. The half-ran half-stumbled through the halls, looking for a place they could lie low when they came upon the theatre that the other kids in the party had been sneaking into using the very same hallways. Dustin led them into the darkness of the theater. They ought to be safe there.