Stars Constant | S. Harrington

45: Gunther's Field Trip

"What?" he asks.

Gwen bends down next to the building and scoops up something into her palms. "Look!" She extends her hands to Steve to reveal a small black and brown lizard. "It's an eastern fence lizard!"

"Okay, yeah, cool. But we're kinda in the middle of a Russian investigation."

Gwen ignores him and holds the lizard in front of her face with a smile. "What should we name our new son?"

"Gwen, put the lizard down."

"I'm naming him Gunther," she beams.

Steve sighs. "Gwen-"

"Come on Gunther. We're going on a field trip," she coos, softly holding Gunther in her hands and walking into the building. Steve follows with an eye roll, but he can't suppress the smile on his face.

It's a small metal room with multiple tables, cardboard boxes littered all over the place.

"What's that?" Dustin asks Gwen.

"My new son. I've named him Gunther and he'll be joining us on our investigation," she says sternly.

Erica makes a noise of disgust and scrunches her nose while pointing at the lizard. "Don't let that thing come anywhere near me."

"He's harmless."

"Okay, can we get back on track?" Steve asks desperately.

Steve cuts one of the boxes open while the others crowd around him. In the box is another smaller metal box with a handle on top.

Gwen bites her lip as Steve grasps the handle and opens it, causing white steam to come out of the top revealing four more handles.

Gwen sighs in disappointment. "It's definitely not Chinese food. Damn it."

Steve sets the lid aside before glancing up at the rest of them. "Uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stand back."

"Uh-uh," Gwen shakes her head while Erica and Robin step back gladly.

"Just step back, okay?" Steve tries to push Gwen and Dustin away with his arm.

"No," Dustin agrees with Gwen.

"Step back. Seriously."

"No!" Dustin shouts. "If you die, I die."

Steve looks at Gwen who nods at her brother. "What he said."

Steve shakes his head with closed eyes and raised eyebrows. "Okay," he twists one of the handles and pulls out a metal tube with a neon green substance in it.

"What the hell?" Gwen exclaims.

"What is that?" Robin asks.

Suddenly, the floor beneath them rumbles and the lights dim ever so slightly.

"Is that just me, or did the room move?" Dustin asks.

"Booby traps," Erica whispers.

The room makes another loud noise and Robin rushes over to grab the green tube from Steve. "You know what? Let's just grab that and go."