It was another day that I was spending with my brother, Robin, and Steve at their workplace as we tried to solve the Russian spy mystery. Dustin had informed us that he went into the rooftop alone, which I yelled at him for, but he continued sharing the information he got.
"That keycard opens the door, but unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard also had a massive gun. Whatever's in this room, whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it." Dustin explained to the three of us sitting down
"But theres gotta be a way in." Robin suggested
"Well, you know. I could just take him out." Steve suggested putting his hand on my leg and sitting forward
"Take who out?" Robin asked sitting back
"The guard. I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, and I take his keycard its easy." Steve suggested
"What?" I say almost laughing
"Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?" Dustin asks him
"Yes. Dustin, I did. And that's why I would be sneaking." Steve explained again and I look towards Robin with my eyebrows furrowed and my mouth open in shock to Steves plan
"Ah, well tell me this and be honest. Have you ever actually won a fight?" Dustin asked and I try to hide my smile
"Okay, that was one time-" Steve started and Dustin cut him off
"Twice. Jonathan, year prior" He explained and I bit my lip hiding my laugh
"Listen, that doesn't count." Steve argued and I saw Robin roll her eyes
"Why wouldn't it count? Because it looked like he beat the shit out of you" Dustin told him and they continued to argue over each other. I sat back in my chair closing my eyes blocking out their argument and I heard Robin stand up and run out
"Hey, Robin wh-what are you doing?" I call out as she runs to the tip jar taking the money as we all follow her.
"I need cash" She stated and Steve scoffed
"Well half of that is mine!" he yelled at her as we all stop behind the counter
"To go find us a way into the room. A safe way. Sling ice cream and behave. I'll be back in a jiff." she states right outside the store.
"Well i'm not scooping I don't even work here" I state as I make my way to the back of the store leaving Steve and Dustin.
We were waiting for about 10 minutes when Robin finally made her way back with the blueprint of Starcourt mall
"This is up, Scoops, and this is where we want to get." Robin informed us
"Is there even a way in?" I ask leaning towards the paper
"There's not. If you're talking exclusively about doors." Robin told us before flipping to the next page
"Air ducts" Dustin and I said at the same time with smiles on our faces
"Exactly. Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room. And these air ducts lead all the way here." Robin stated using a red marker to draw a line to the room.
We all look up to the vent we had in the back of scoops and I quickly got up to grab tools to open it. I dug through the tool kit and grabbed a couple screwdrivers and a flashlight and set them on the table and Steve set up the ladder to be in line with the vent.
"Flashlight" Steve said as he held the screwdriver between his teeth moving the cover of the vent
"Yeah, I don't know man. I don't know if you can fit in here. It's like... super tight" Steve told Dustin as he hoped down the ladder
"Trust me. I'll fit. No collar bones remember" Dustin said before trading places with Steve
"Excuse me?" Robin asks confused
"He's got some disease. Chry, uhh.. it's chrydo, um yeah I don't know. He's missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo." Steve told Robin and I rolled my eyes
"You mean Gumby"
"No pretty sure its Gumbo" Steve stated before Dustin yelled at him
"He has Cleidocranial Dysplasia by the way" I say as I lean towards her and she nods her head
"Push my ass! Touch my butt I don't care!" Dustin yelled gaining my attention
"Uh Hazel don't watch this" He stated before he began shoving my brothers ass into a vent. I stood there covering my mouth laughing as the two yelled. As the two continued you argue there was dinging behind us and I turned around to see Erica dinging the bell asking for samples. As I look to her I notice how small she is and my eyes widen a bit.
"Robin" I say before tapping her arm to face Erica
"What?" she says before she clues in and we both make our way over to her smiling
"We need you to come back here with us" I tell her with a smile and she scrunches her face
"Why the hell would I do that?" She asks and I drop the smile on my face
"Would you just" I say before lightly grabbing her arm and bringing her to the back room where Steve and Dustin argued by the ladder
"You two shut up. Erica, can you fit in that vent" I ask urgently and she looks at me before holding out her hand
"Flashlight. I can't see in the dark" She states sassily and I hand her the flashlight. She climbs the ladder and looks into the vent for a fee seconds before climbing back down. Questioning whats in it for her. After finding out all Erica wants was a shit ton of ice cream we all got whatever she wanted and made our way to the front so we can sit and try to convince her to help.
"More fudge. Go on" She told Steve and he calmly grabbed her banana split and took it to put more fudge.
"You know what this half baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment" Erica explained after we told her what we needed her to do
"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time" Robin began and Erica cut her off
"Ah-ah-ahh. Child Endangerment" she said slower this time
"Erica. We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?" Dustin asked trying to get her to change her mind
"You can't spell America without Erica" she stated before taking a long slurp of her drink
"Exactly. America. Do this for your country, not for us." I tell her and she continues slurping
"You know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. It means free market system. Which means people get paid for their services. And this seems to me, my ability to fit into that little vent, is very very valuable to you all. I'm talking free ice cream for life." She explains to us before biting her cherry.
"You guys could just quit after we're done using her" I whisper to Robin and she shakes her head still staring at Erica
After going more into depth on the plan, and feeding Erica more free ice cream we decided it was time to get in our positions. Erica was left to be in the Scoops vent while the rest of us made our way to the roof we sat on before to watch the door and the guards.
"It's all quiet here. You've got the green light" Robin told Erica before she agreed
"Can we not call this Child endangerment" I stated grabbing the walkie from Robin
"See you on the other side nerds" Erica said and I handed Robin the walkie
"That kids gonna kill me" I state and Steve leans closer to me as we all sit patiently waiting for Erica to get to the spot. A couple minutes had passed and the walkie talkie beeped
"Alright nerds, I'm here" Erica told us
"Do you see anything?" Robin asked
"Yeah. I see those boring boxes you're so excited about. No guards." she tells us
"And booby traps?"
"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps. Wouldn't they?" Erica asked sarcastically
"Thank you for that" Robin stated and I rolled my eyes at Erica. A few seconds later the door to the room opened and Erica stood with her hand on her hip.
"Free ice cream. For. Life." She stated and I let out a laugh. We all pushed ourselves up and made our way down to the now open door. After we got down we all stood inside by a box while Steve cut the tape off of it. Once he opened it there was a metal box with a turnable handle, Steve grabbed it and twisted it to open the box and we looked inside to see four more capsule looking things.
"That's definitely not Chinese food" Steve said jokingly before he went to rich for the new handles
"Maybe you guys should, you know, stand back" He warned us and Robin and Erica took a step back
"Hendersons. Back it up" he said and I looked to Dustin who shook his head
"Uh no" I said and Dustin agreed
"Seriously Hazel, back up, we don't know whats in here" Steve said protectively putting his hands on my arm and I stood my ground
"Exactly" I told him and he rolled his eyes before arguing with Dustin
"If you die, I die." Dustin said and we stood quietly before Steve shook his head and turned the first one pulling it out to show neon green stuff inside the capsule with bubbles
"What the hell" I whisper as i take a closer look and we all eye the object
"What is that?" Robin asked sounding somewhat scared. Before we could finish the room felt like it was moving and i grabbed onto Steves free arm
"Booby traps" Erica stated and the noise continued
"You know what. Lets just grab that and go" Robin said before grabbing the thing out of Steves hand and Dustin went to open the door.
"What button Erica!" Dustin argued
"Just press the damn button!" Erica yelled before Steve joined over while him and Dustin began smacking the random buttons. There was a loud noise and I felt my stomach drop as the room began to lower itself fast. I heard Robin screaming and I looked to see Steve staring at the walls and I turned to see us moving down.
"Shit" I yell as I struggle to stand near Robin and holding Erica so she doesn't lose her balance either as we continue to fall.