♡
while steve was working at the till, robin continued to help dustin and adella translate the russian. so far, they had part of a sentence, only getting quicker as they listened to it more and more, the words almost irritating adella.
robin was pacing backwards and forwards as dustin played it again before she turned to him, "wait, that last part, just one more time."
"okay." dustin nodded and replayed it for her.
robin listened intently before pointing to him, "okay, that word. um... it's pronounced... 'dly-nna-ya'."
"'dly-nna-ya'..." dustin trailed off.
"which is spelled, d... d, d, d, d." robin repeated as adella looked towards the board.
"the chair. the thing that looks like a chair." adella beamed excitedly, dustin standing to point at 'Д'
"yeah, okay." robin mumbled with a smile, writing it down as she continued to spell the word.
it formed a sentence and robin and adella bounced over to the window, pulling it open. steve span to them, holding two ice creams while robin smiled, "we've got our first sentence."
"oh, seriously?" steve asked, leaning on the counter that seperated them.
"yeah. 'the week is long'." robin said, putting on a russian accent.
"well, that's trilling." steve mumbled sarcastically.
"we know. but, progress." robin raised her eyebrows as she left the window.
"okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream." steve hummed and adella's eyebrows furrowed, seeing el with max.
"thanks." the girls mumbled into their ice creams in unison.
"el?" adella asked and her sister froze, mid-lick.
"yes?" el questioned hesitantly.
"i like the new outfit." adella smiled and el visibly relaxed. "girls day?"
"yes, but max said mike was lying. she said that boyfriends lie. is that... true?" el asked sadly.
"they can." adella nodded. "but, if he has, smash left over ice cream on his head."
el giggled a little before her and max bid them both goodbye, walking out of the mall with ice cream moustaches. steve turned to adella with furrowed eyebrows, "you've had a boyfriend?"
"no, but i know they lie." adella hummed. "i don't want one anyway."
"you gonna be a crazy cat lady?" steve joked.
"yes, and you'll keep me company as an old, lonely man." adella smirked. "think about it, i'll have my cats but you won't even have your hair."
"go away. i don't wanna hear it." steve scoffed and she laughed, leaving the window and closing it behind her, looking to robin and dustin who were listening to the tape again.
towards the end of the night, they had worked out what the tape said. the group stood in front of the board, reading it out loud, "'the week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west'."
steve shook his head and they all left scoops ahoy, the older male locking it up, "i mean, it just... it just can't be right."
"it's right." adella and robin stated together, walking side-by-side.
"honestly, i think it's great news." dustin nodded.
"how is this great news?" steve demanded. "i mean, so much for being american and cuban heroes. it's total nonsense."
"it's not nonsense. it's too specific. like adella said, it's obviously a code." dustin corrected.
"what do you mean, a code?" steve asked.
"like a super secret spy code." dustin said.
"that's a total stretch." steve scoffed.
"i don't know, is it?" robin agreed with dustin.
"it's not a stretch, steve." adella stated firmly.
"listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret russian transmission. what'd you think they were going to say, 'fire the warhead at noon'?" robin shot back.
"exactly." dustin muttered.
"and our translation is correct." adella gestured between them. "we know that for sure, so... 'the silver cat feeds'. why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to cover something with a deeper meaning?"
"exactly." dustin added.
"why would anyone wanna mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?" robin continued.
"exactly." dustin repeated for a third time.
"so i guess that confirms your suspicion." robin smiled.
"evil russians." dustin and adella grinned.
"i can't believe i'm about to agree with this strange child and adella, but, yeah, totally evil russians." robin agreed.
"so how do we crack it?" dustin asked.
"well, i guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges." robin shrugged.
"a pattern. right, like maybe 'silver cat' is a meeting place?" dustin suggested.
"or the code name of a person or machine?" adella offered.
"it's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but..." robin paused, glancing back. "where's steve?"
adella's eyebrows furrowed when's he saw steve rustling through his pockets for coins, "steve?"
"what are you doing?" robin questioned.
"uh, it's a quarter. i need- do you have a quarter?" steve rushed.
robin chucked as they walked over to him, "sure you're tall enough for that ride?"
"quarter!" steve yelled and adella threw one at him that he caught and shoved into the indiana flyer.
"you need help getting up, little stevie?" robin joked making dustin and adella laugh together.
"sh!" steve snapped. "would you three just shut up and listen?"
"is this your favourite song?" adella asked, confused.
"holy shit." dustin said in realisation. "the music. the music!"
he pulled out the tape and started to play it. they heard the ma speaking russian but in the background they heard the music from the small mall rude steve had started just now.
"i don't understand." robin muttered.
"it's the exact same song on the recording." dustin explained.
"maybe they have horses like this is russia." robin mused.
"indiana flyer? i don't... i don't think so." steve denied. "this code, it... it didn't come from russia. it came from here."
"that isn't worrying." adella scoffed sarcastically. "i really have to go now. i'll see you guys tomorrow."
{994}