CHAPTER FOUR
all-american
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"The week is long. The silver cat feeds. When blue meets yellow in the west." The group all changed together, reading out the whole phrase for the millionth time, hoping to discover some hidden meaning.
"Are you sure you're right?" Steve squinted at the code written out, "I mean, you translated it super fast, and—"
"Yes, I'm sure." Robin nodded, "Azalea knew some words and recognized some phonetic sounds, but the rest we went through tediously with the dictionary. We have checked and double checked."
"And triple checked," Azalea chipped in tiredly, "This is it."
The mall was entirely empty, and long since closed. The group dejectedly closed Scoops and headed out to the parking lot, the neon lights from the various shop signs reflecting off the tile ground.
"I mean, it just...it just can't be right." Steve insisted.
"It's right." Robin drilled.
Dustin stepped in stride with Azalea, "Honestly, I think it's great news."
"How is this great news?" Steve squinted, "I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense."
"It's not nonsense. It's too specific. It's obviously a code." Dustin said.
"What do you mean, a code?"
"Like a super secret spy code."
"That's a total stretch."
Robin started siding with Dustin, "I don't know, is it?"
Steve glanced at her, "You're buying into this?"
"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission." Robin told him, "What'd you think they were gonna say, 'Fire the warhead at noon'?"
"Exactly." Dustin said, pointing to Robin.
"And despite your disbelief, Steve, our translation is correct." Azalea added.
"We know that for sure." Robin nodded, "So, 'The silver cat feeds.' Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the meaning of their message?"
Dustin smiled, "Exactly."
"Why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"
"Exactly!"
"So I guess that confirms your suspicion." Robin said with a smile to Dustin.
"Evil Russians." He finished.
Azalea glanced between them with an impressed smirk. They seemed to get along great.
"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child," Robin giggled, "but, yeah, totally. Evil Russians."
"So how do we crack it?" Dustin asked.
Azalea tuned out the two and realized Steve was no longer walking with them.
She turned around and saw him walking the complete opposite direction.
She started towards him curiously.
"Hey, guys?" Robin called out, turning around, "What are you doing?"
Azalea shrugged back, continuing to Steve in front of the little arcade section. He stood emptying his pockets in front of the 'Indiana Flyer'.
"Uh, it's a quarter. I need...Do you have a quarter?" Steve asked quickly, dropping coins all over the ground.
Azalea shook her head, confusion written over her face. The other two both rounded either side of her.
"Sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin teased.
"Quarter!"
Dustin flicked him a quarter and Steve quickly put it in the ride.
"You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin continued.
Azalea joined with a smirk, "It might be a little scary for you. Need someone to hold your hand?"
Dustin chucked at their jokes while Robin gave Azalea a high-five.
"Shh!" Steve chastised, glared down the two girls, "Would you guys just shut up and listen?"
Robin sighed hard with an eye roll. The group all stood in silence, listening to the ride, watching the horse go up and down.
"Holy shit." Dustin muttered, "The music."
He started digging around his bag, retrieving the Russian recording, "The music!"
The group listened in as the recording echoed the same exact song.
"I don't understand." Robin said, even more confused than before.
Dustin marveled, "It's the exact same song on the recording."
Robin tried to put the pieces together. It didn't make sense, "Maybe they have horses like this in Russia."
"'Indiana Flyer'?" Steve inquired, "I don't...I don't think so."
"So, does that mean..." Azalea worked it all together slowly, "Does that mean the code isn't from Russia?"
Steve gulped. This all just became very real, "It came from here."
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Azalea shut off her headlights, putting the car in park in her driveway.
"Russians. Here in Hawkins," Azalea muttered to Dustin as he started grabbing his bag and belongings to get out of the car, "It just doesn't make sense."
Dustin shrugged, "It's kind of exciting. Cracking the code."
"Yeah, I guess. In a scary, exciting way."
"Hey, maybe your dad knows the Hawkins Russians," Dustin joked as they got out of her car.
Azalea laughed, "My dad may speak Russian, but he's the most patriotic man ever. He wouldn't be caught dead with any Russians."
Dustin chuckled, "I know, Adriel's too proud of being so 'all-American'."
He then began to run across the lawn to his house next door. He turned around, "You coming to Scoops again tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure. Screw my job, right?" She shouted back.
"If Billy's still there? Yeah." Dustin said, "Maybe you can get a job at Scoops!"
Azalea didn't hate the idea. She would love to spend some more time with Robin when this Russian stuff blew over. Oh, and Steve.
"We'll see. See you in the morning Dust!"
He grinned with a wave goodbye, and ran inside his own house.
Azalea then walked into her own home, hitting the lights as soon as she walked in.
"Hey, dad! I'm home!" She called into the house.
Her voice echoed back. No response.
She found her way into the kitchen, spotting a note in messy writing on the counter.
Lea—
Working late again. Sorry!
There's some dinner in the fridge.
I'm so sorry. I'll see you soon.
I love you!
— Dad
Again.
Azalea was infinitely grateful for her dad's job. She has never lived so comfortably in her life. And he deserved a good job—he was one of the smartest people she knew with multiple science bachelor degrees and a physics PhD.
But sometimes when she came back to their big, cold house, she missed the way things were.
Their tiny, cozy apartment. When he dad wasn't nearly as busy. When they were best friends.
Sighing and pushing away the melancholy nostalgia, Azalea pulled out the plate of dinner from the fridge.
She stared blankly as she watched the plate spin in the microwave.
Maybe she should go over to have a sleepover with Dustin. Or maybe call Steve.
She wished she could call Robin.
She had to be honest, she really enjoyed spending time with Robin today. She was super funny, impressively smart, and kind. She found herself wanting to be near her all the time.
Her mind wandered back to earlier that day. All the Russian decoding. All the words she had already known or recognized. All the Russian her dad has spoken.
What was her dad's job anyway?
They never really talked about that kind of stuff.
She knew her dad loved her, very much. But Azalea knew her father would have loved to have a son.
He never pressured her to be anymore than she was, because she was a girl. What's the point of passing on your genius genes and words of wisdom to a girl? Sure he was a little old-fashioned in that mindset, but so was so much of the world.
So he always treated her like his little girl, and assumed any of his scientific ideas or work stuff would just go over her head.
Whether he was right or not, she would never know. Because all Azalea knew is he was a scientist working in a big project that he was super passionate about.
Maybe more passionate about than his own daughter.
Azalea couldn't stand it anymore. Not knowing what he did was making her itch with interest.
She gave into a bought of curiosity, leaving her food in the microwave, and went into her dad's study.
Azalea plopped herself on his big brown chair at his desk and started to examine the papers scattered.
This is wrong. I should just eat dinner and go to bed. I should not be looking through my dad's stuff.
Too late. Not long after flicking through his messy desk, she found something.
Azalea stared hard at the booklet in her hand.
Depiction of a machine some sort surrounded by words and instructions. And then papers and papers after full of words.
And it was all in Russian.
She flipped to the front page and tried to read the title.
Her brain was fried from translating Russian all day, but something inside her was yearning to figure this out.
She needed Dustin's Russian to English dictionary.
With a hard sigh, she slid her shoes back on and ran over to Dustin's house.
She knocked.
Dustin opened the door slowly, yawning as he did.
Azalea but her lip, trying not to laugh. Dustin was wearing 'My Little Pony' pajamas.
"Nice pjs."
"Shut up." He groaned, "What do you need."
"Your Russian to English dictionary," She stated, but it came out as more of a question.
"For...what?"
Azalea made up something on the spot, "I can't sleep, and wanted to double-check the translation. Just so we know it's all correct for tomorrow."
"More like quadruple-check. You're insane."
He disappeared, leaving Azalea at the door for a bit while he retrieved the book.
He came back, and handed it to her, "Robin said it's correct. I'm sure it is. So don't stay up too late."
"Okay, dad." Azalea teased, ruffling his hair.
Dustin pulled away with a grimace, "And no one, I mean it, no one hears about my pajamas. Got it?"
"Got it."
Azalea lightly laughed to herself, holding the book to her chest as she jogged across her lawn to her own house.
Back in her dad's study, she laid out the dictionary and her dad's Russian booklet. She clicked on the lamp nearby and bit the inside of her check.
She whispered under her breath to herself, "Please have a normal job."
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Screw this. Screw the stupid Russian bullshit. Screw Dustin's Cerebro for picking up the message.
As Azalea stared at the translation she had worked on she could feel a normal summer slip through her fingers.
Her dad was working for the Russians they were currently trying to find.
The Russians were working on something called 'the Key', some sort of weapon presumably, and her dad was one of the minds on the case. And they were working in Hawkins.
Is this why her dad moved them here? So he could work for the Russians?
None of it made any sense.
Her dad wasn't communist. He prided himself so much on his American roots.
And what was this key for anyway? If it was a Russian super weapon, why was her dad on their side?
She needed to sleep.
Her brain was mush from all this Russian, and stress had completely overtaken her system after finding out about her dad's work.
Azalea crawled into her bed and squeezed her eyes shut tight, hoping above everything that none of this was real.
That there were no Russians in Hawkins. That her dad had a completely normal job.
That she, just once, could be a completely normal girl and have a perfectly boring summer.
Her alarm blaring at 8am woke her up.
She woke up to the same big, empty house. Apparently funded by the Russians.
Screw this.
How was she supposed to go to Scoops today?
How was she going to help her friends crack the secret code, when her dad is one of the people behind it?
What happens if they do crack it?
These all-American heroes ratting out the Russian's secrets is going to mean the imprisonment of her father—or worse.
She wished she had eaten her mushy leftover dinner and gone to bed.
A loud banging on her front door snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Get out here Azzie! Or I'm gonna steal your car and leave without you!" Dustin shouted from outside, "We've got some decoding to do!"
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