CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE ROUND TABLE
Abby had not been able to get through to Hopper—much less even get ahold of him—and so, after several attempted calls, they're back on square one. This is their battle that they're going to have to fight alone. Like the knights at the round table, the motley crew of four gather around the table in the backroom of Scoops in various positions. They're the farthest thing from knights in shining armor, though. They're still young and fresh-faced, they still have so much to learn about the world, so much to discover and explore, so much gleaming golden potential—and yet three of them have already faced horrors beyond comprehension.
Dustin, their faithful scout, paces back and forth and supplies them with the information of the keycard that he had gathered from perching on the rooftops of Starcourt and staring down at the Russians. Abby slumps in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest and a dour expression on her face. Beside her, Steve props his knee up and spins his Scoops Ahoy hat around on his fingers while Robin, who sits to her lift leans forward and stares down forlornly at the ice cream scooper in her hand. It felt like just yesterday that they were scooping ice cream, laughing, and keeping track of how many times Steve had been rejected, but they had been thrown headfirst into this problem and there was no going back now.
"That keycard opens the door," Dustin explains. "But unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun. Whatever's in this room, whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it."
"But there's gotta be a way in," Robin presses as she keeps her gaze fixated on the scooper in her hands.
"There has to be some sort of emergency escape exit in that room, right? We could enter that way," Abby suggests.
Steve blows into his cap, effectively popping it back into shape as he tosses it down on the table. "You know," Steve leans forward and shares a glance with each of his companions, "I could just take him out."
Robin raises her eyebrows and leans forward, "Take who out?"
"The Russian guard," Steve answers.
Abby snorts and manages to mask it behind a cough, hoping that he isn't serious. Robin merely lets out a sigh and falls back into her chair while Dustin stares at Steve with an amused expression on his face. Here's the thing: Abby knows that there is a lot that Steve Harrington is capable of; bringing some sort of light to otherwise hopeless situations, rupturing eardrums whenever his favorite songs play, incessant talking during movies, the uncanny ability to make a smile grow across Abby's face no matter how hard she tries to suppress one. But the one thing he isn't capable of, without a doubt is fighting. And then she remembers November, she remembers Billy and his anger, Billy and his flying fists, Billy pummeling Steve until he was senseless. Steve Harrington isn't invincible. He doesn't stand a chance against the Russian guards, not when they're easily twice the size of Billy, and certainly not when they're armed with guns.
"What?" Steve asks seemingly offended by the disbelieving expressions on his companions' faces. "I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, and I take his keycard. It's easy."
"Did you not hear about the part with the massive gun?" Dustin questions.
"Or the fact that he's probably like twice your size?" Abby adds. "Plus, I thought you said that you didn't run around trying to get your face smashed in."
"Yes, guys, I did," Steve responds placatingly, "and that is why I would be sneaking."
As if to emphasize this, Steve runs two fingers across the surface of the table. Abby only lets out a sigh and buries her face in her palms.
"Ah," says Dustin as he crosses his arms over his chest and steps toward Steve. "Well, please tell me this, and be honest. Have you ever actually ... won a fight?"
Steve rolls his eyes. "Okay, that was one time—"
"Twice," Dustin interrupts holding up two fingers for emphasis. "Jonathan, the year prior."
"Listen, that doesn't count."
"Why wouldn't it count? Because it looks like he beat the shit out of you."
Abby lets out another sigh and slumps farther down in her seat as Dustin and Steve continue to argue. Robin has an amused smile on her face as she watches the two boys squabble before her eyes drift to something on the wall. There's a hint of dawning realization in her eyes as the gears start to turn in her head once more.
"That might just work," Robin murmurs to herself.
Before Abby can ask any questions, Robin is already up and out of her seat. Abby watches along with Steve and Dustin through the window as Robin strides to the front counter and scoops the money out of the tip jar.
"Robin," Steve calls after the girl as she pushes through the small swinging doors and into the seating area of the parlor. "Hey, Robin! Hey, what—what are you doing?"
"I need cash," she responds, turning around to face a distressed Steve as he emerges from the back room.
The boy throws his hands in the air as he watches Robin helplessly. "Well, two-thirds of that is mine and Abby's, where are you going?"
"To find a way into that room, a safe way!" Robin responds, spreading her arms and backing into the main area of the mall, and joining the foray of brightly dressed people. "And in the meantime, Abby, keep an eye on those two. Sling ice cream, behave, and don't get beat up. I'll be back in a jiff."
With a small salute and a delighted chuckle, Robin departs, running off into the depths of the mall, leaving Steve, Abby, and Dustin to stare after her. Steve turns to Dustin who raises the former's ice cream scooper to his mouth and proceeds to lick the ice cream off of it as he stares after Robin. Abby takes notice of this and nudges the boy with her elbow as she wrinkles her nose.
"Oh, dude," Steve groans. He wrinkles his nose and snatches the scooper from Dustin and shoves it into his uniform pocket. "Come on, man, not my scooper."
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"It is fascinating what twenty bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office," Robin tells her three companions. Once again, they had congregated in the backroom of Scoops Ahoy, away from prying eyes and ears as Robin lays out a blueprint of Starcourt Mall over the small square table. "Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints."
"Wow," Abby murmurs as she stares down at the squares, rectangles, and measurements. It was all so fascinating, how the simple shapes on the paper soon grew to be the majestic building that surrounded them.
Maybe she'll study architecture in college, it seems interesting enough. This is the other thing that sets Abby back from choosing a college. She doesn't know what she wants to study, for one thing, she's afraid to lock herself into something that she may not even be interested in the following year, and for another, there aren't many opportunities in Hawkins to try out different subjects. There are only two schools, no colleges, and barely enough teachers to handle the core subjects of school and not many of the citizens are lucky enough to even dream of departing the town for college.
Dustin nods approvingly. "Not bad."
She points to a square on blueprints. "This is us, Scoops." She points to another square far across the blueprints. "And this is where we want to get."
Steve shakes his head as he pours over the thin sheet of paper. "I don't see a way in."
"There's not," Robin answers before she peels away the layer of the blueprints that they are pouring over to reveal another sheet just beneath it. "If you're talking exclusively about doors."
Dustin looks up from the blueprints and to Robin with a smile on his face. "Air ducts."
"Wait, I'm sorry, so you're saying we're gonna James Bond this thing?" Abby asks.
"Exactly," Robin answers. Their heads follow Robin as she strides around the table and takes the red dry erase marker from the board that hangs on the wall with the Russian translations still scribbled on it. "Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room. And these air ducts lead all the way ..." She draws a large circle around the spot where the room is and draws a line along with the winding illustrations of the pipes from the room to the Scoops Ahoy square and circles it. "Here."
Their heads turn to the small vent in the wall behind them. With a little difficulty, Steve manages to remove the small grate from the wall. He peers into the small, cramped air duct and calls for Dustin to hand him a flashlight. The two trade tools and Steve clicks on the flashlight and peers farther into the duct.
"Yeah, I don't know, man," Steve says, "I don't know if you can fit in here, it's like ... super tight."
"I'll fit," Dustin assures Steve as he climbs down the ladder. "Trust me. No collar bones. Remember."
"I don't know, Dustin," Abby sighs. "I mean, even without collar bones that seems like an extremely tight squeeze."
Robin furrows a brow. "Um, excuse me?"
"Oh, he's uh ... yeah, he's got some disease," Steve explains as he hops off of the ladder. He glances back and watches as Dustin scales the metal rungs before he turns back toward Robin. "Chry, uh ... it's chrydo, um ... something, yeah I don't know."
"Cleidocranial Dysplasia," Abby clarifies.
Steve nods. "Yeah, he's missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo."
"You mean Gumby?" Robin corrects.
"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo," Steve replies.
"Steve, it's—it's Gumby," says Abby.
It's then that Dustin, who has managed to wedge the top half of himself into the air duct calls, "Steve, just shut up and push me!"
"Okay," Steve agrees. He rolls his eyes and gestures toward Dustin's legs and steps onto the bottom rung of the ladder. Steve grabs onto Dustin's feet and starts to push against them. "I'll push you."
"Not my feet, dumbass," Dustin retorts. "Push my ass!"
"What?"
"Touch my butt, I don't care!" Dustin screams, his voice reverberating and echoing through the air duct. Abby cringes and glances behind her through the window, hoping that nobody has walked into the parlor at that particular moment. She shares an exasperated glance with Robin and massages her temples with both of her hands. Steve hesitantly steps up and begins to push again as Dustin yells, "Come on! Harder! Push harder!"
"I'm pushing!" Steve calls back.
Dustin and Steve continue to shout back and forth at each other as Steve shoves Dustin into the air duct but to no avail. It's then as they continue to scream at each other that the sound of the bell on the front counter cuts through the clamor in the back room. Robin and Abby turn around to look through the window, and there stands Erica Sinclair with her My Little Pony backpack and light blue overalls.
"Ahoy, sailors! All hands on deck!" She calls with a wide grin as she continues to ring the bell. She catches Robin's eyes and salutes. "Ahoy? Come on! Get over here and serve me some samples."
There's a look that crosses Robin's face in that instant. Abby doesn't know too much about Robin's thought processes or her streaks of brilliance, but for once she's pretty sure she knows what her friend is thinking.
"Robin, please don't tell me you're thinking what I think you are," Abby sighs. "We can't drag anyone else into this."
"Desperate times calls for desperate measures," is Robin's only response. "We just won't tell her the specifics."
Abby knows that Robin is right. They have to make their own calls now, but surely they aren't that desperate.
author's note: it's the pining for me