𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥

008. America.

    

     WHEN THE two girls arrive back at Scoops, Valerie looks giddy and happy so it made Steve smile when he saw her before the three of them head into the backroom where Dustin was waiting, eating the last of his ice cream cone. "It is fascinating what 20 bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office." Robin says as she sets down the blueprint.

"Starcourt Mall." She says as she lays it out. "The complete blueprints." she looks at Dustin who glanced up at her. "Not bad." He says and Robin points. "This is us, Scoops, and this is where we want to get." She pointed and Steve leans closer. "I mean, I don't really see a way in." He says and Robin glanced at him.

"There's not, if you're talking exclusively about doors." She says before she pulls the top paper away to reveal the other blueprints, Dustin looks up at her. "Air ducts." He says quietly and she smiles. "Exactly." She says before walking away. "Turns out, this secret rooms needs air just like any old room." She grabs the marker off the small whiteboard hanging on the wall.

"And these air ducts lead all the way..." She circles the air ducts to the room before drawing a line. "Here." She circles Scoops Ahoy before closing the marker and looking at the air duct on the other side of the room.

Steve then searchs for a step ladder and a screwdriver, both of which he uses to open the air duct. "Flashlight." He says, looking at Valerie who takes the air duct vent. She holds up the flashlight which he then takes from her. "Thank you." He says, handing the screwdriver over to her which she takes with a slight grimace on her face solely because it was in his mouth. She sets it down pretty quickly.

"Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know if you can fit in here. It's, like... super tight." Steve told Dustin who spoke up from beside Val. "I'll fit." He says and Valerie looks at him. "Trust me. No collar bones, remember?" He says before he gets ready to climb up the ladder next. "Uh, excuse me?" Robin says as Steve jumps down and turned towards her.

"Oh, he's, uh... yeah, he's got some disease. Chry, uh, it's chrydo, um..." He looks at Valerie who raised her brows then looked at Robin. "Cleidocranial Dysplasia. It's a genetic disorder that affects the growth of his teeth and bones..." She quickly explains, clearing her throat when she realizes Robin is staring at her. "Yeah," Steve snaps his fingers, "he's missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo." He says, nodding his head as he looks at Robin.

"You mean Gumby." Robin says and he raises his brows. "I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo." He says as Dustin tries to get into the air duct. "Steve, just shut up and push me!" He shouts. "Okay." Steve points to him with an annoyed manner before he climbs up the ladder. Val and Robin just stand there, watching the pair.

"I'll push ya."

"Not my feet, dumbass. Push my ass." Dustin says. "What?" Steve says, taken back. "Touch my butt! I don't care! Come on! Harder! Push harder!" Dustin shouts as they bicker back and forth. Valerie walks over to Robin, crossing her arms. "I think we need to find someone smaller..." She whispered.

"Yeah, no kidding..." Robin glanced at Valerie who just watched Steve and Dustin with a grimace on her face. "Ahoy, sailors! All hands on deck!" Valerie and Robin both turn to look back at the girl ringing the bell. Erica Sinclair. One of the many mall rats, and Lucas' little sister. "Ahoy!" She salutes as she continues ringing the bell and Robin and Valerie just look at her before turning to one another.

"Get over here and serve me samples." Erica orders as Val raised her brow and Robin smiles, nodding her head. Valerie then looked over to Steve and Dustin. "Hey dummies? Get down..." She says and they do as told as Robin goes out to the front counter, smiling at Erica.

The four now stand in a line together by the counter as Erica looks into the air duct before she came back down, turning to them. "Yeah, I don't know." She says. "You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asked her. "Oh, I can fit. I just don't know if I want to." She says and Valerie gives a confused look. "Are you claustrophobic?" Robin says and Erica snickers.

"I don't have phobias."

"Okay, well, what's the problem?" Steve asked. "The problem is, I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica." She points and Valerie smiles, walking over and putting her arm around Erica's shoulders. "You can get whatever you want." She then gently boops Erica's nose.

She sends a look to Steve, "come with me." She says before she leads the way. The four sit in the round booth with her and Steve slides over the last sundae he and Robin rushed to make for her. Erics glanced down, sliding it back. "More fudge, please." She says and Steve just stared at the ice cream. "Go on." Erica waves her hand and Valerie gently kicks Steve's leg.

"Go, Steve." She whispered and Steve got up, takig the sundae with her. "Alright..." Valerie turned to look at Erica. "Here's the plan..." She gestured to Robin who holds up the blueprint. "You see this? This is the route you're gonna take." Robin points along the red line before flipping it over to the room.

"Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door." She says, looking at Erica. "Then you find out what's in those boxes?" She says and Robin puts away the blueprints, "exactly." She tells her.

"Hmm. And you say this guard is armed."

"Yes, but he won't be there." Dustin says, shaking his head. "And booby traps?" She then asked and Valerie is confused. "Booby traps?" She says, causing the girl to look over to her. "Lasers, spikes in the wall?" The girl says and Robin laughs, "what?" She looks at Valerie who leans back, amused with a small smile as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me?" She says, looking at Valerie then over at Dustin. "Child endangerment." She states and Valerie furrows her brows. "We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time--" "ah, ah, ah!" She quickly cut her off.

"Child endangerment." She repeats and Valerie looks away, over at Robin. "Erica?" Dustin caught her attention. "Hi. Uh... We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?" Dustin then asked and Erica nods. "You can't spell America without Erica." She says, taking her drink and taking a long sip. "Uh, yeah, yeah. Oddly, that's, uh, totally true." Dustin nods.

"So, so, don't do this for us." Dustin looks at her. "Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man. Do this for America... Erica." He tells her and she stops, "ooh!" She sets down the cup, smiling. "I just got the chills." She says and Dustin smiles. "Oh, yeah, from this float, not your speech." She simply says and his smile goes away, raising his brows.

"You know what I love most about this country?" She says, before looking at Valerie. "Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?" She asked. "Yeah." The three nodded. "It means this is a free market system. Which means prople get paid for their services, depending on how valuable their contributions are. And it seems to me, my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So, you want my help? This USS Butterscotch better be the first of many. And I'm talking free ice cream for life." Erica states and Robin looks at Val.

"You sure you won't fit into the vent? You're kind of small like a child..." She whispers and Val sends her an offended look. "Rob..." She whispered and Robin sighs. "I'm kidding... We'll go with Erica." She says and Val giggled, looking away and over at Erica.

 

AUTHORS NOTE

i'm gonna try my best to prewrite to the end of season three faster because i wanna focus on writing my fear street fics.