SULIT | IV.
"THIS IS TOP SECRET"
(' THE RUSSIAN ELEVATOR ')
***
"DID YOU TWO FIND BILLY?" Danielle asked when she returned home to find Max and El in her younger sister's room.
"Yeah," Max answered, "We found Billy and Heather. They're alive."
"So, there's nothing to worry about?" Danielle asked looking between the two of them. Max's face didn't show any worry or concern, but El's did. She clearly wasn't able to hide her emotions as well as Max could.
"Nope," Max answered, "Everything's fine."
"Good I guess," Danielle answered, "I'll leave you two to it."
"Danielle," Max called after her, "Thanks."
Danielle couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't done anything, "For what?"
"Caring," Max said, "You're a good sister."
Danielle shrugged, "I try. Don't stay up too late you guys."
"We won't," Max told her.
"Yeah," El agreed, "We won't."
The next morning, Danielle did get a call from Robin, but it wasn't the one that she was expecting.
"Why do you want me to bring Angela and Erica to Scoops Ahoy?" Danielle asked her, confusion in her voice.
"I can't explain over the phone, just please trust me," Robin said, "I'll explain everything."
"Fine," Danielle agreed, and that's how she, Angela, and Erica ended up at Scoops Ahoy, sitting in a round booth. With Dustin, Robin, and Steve.
"Let me get this straight," Angela said, "You want to use my sister to climb through some air ducts and discover some secret Russian base?"
"Well simplified that would be correct," Dustin told them.
Danielle looked between the three of them, "You don't actually think it's a Russian base, do you?"
"We translated the recording, Robin figured out where everything was in the mall. We've seen people bringing in shipments. It has to be a secret base," Steve said passionately, "Imagine the awards we could reap from this. The girls."
Angela hit him on the shoulder and Steve let out a quiet, "Ow."
"I am a hundred percent onboard with this plan," Angela agreed, "As Erica's unofficial guardian, you have my permission to use her."
"Angela!" Danielle exclaimed, "She's your sister and this could be dangerous."
"Please," Angela said rolling her eyes, "Erica is from the pits of hell. She'll be fine."
Erica rolled her eyes, "Look, what's in it for me?"
"Gratitude?" Robin asked.
Erica raised an eyebrow, "Not good enough."
"Look all you have to do is sneak through the ducts and open the door," Dustin says.
"Yeah, but you're saying there's an arm guard. You know what this half-baked plan sounds like to me? Child endangerment," Erica tells them, her eyes looking at everyone at the table.
"We'll be in radio contact with you the entire time," Robin tells her, but Erica isn't having it.
"It's still child endangerment."
Angela rolls her eyes, "It would be if you were a child and not a demon."
"Keep talking shit and I definitely won't do it," Erica tells her. Angela raises an eyebrow at her younger sister, and Danielle can tell she's moments away from launching across the table.
"How about I'll drive you anywhere you like," Danielle offers, "I'll be your own personal chauffeur."
Erica raises an eyebrow in interest, "I'm listening."
"These Russians want to do harm to our country," Dustin says, "Don't you love our country?"
"You can't spell America without Erica," Erica tells them, and Danielle has to bite her lip to hold back a smile at the comment. She looks across the table to see Robin watching her, a smile on her own lips. She quickly looks away and back at Erica as she sips her milkshake.
"Oddly enough that is true," Dustin says nodding his head.
"Do you know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what that is?"
"Yeah," everyone at the table says nodding their heads, but Erica launches into an explanation anyway.
"It's a free market system which means that people get paid for their services, depending on how valuable their contributions are. My ability to fit into that vent is very valuable to all of you. So, you want my help? I want free ice cream. For life," Erica demands.
"Your sister is extremely smart," Danielle whispers into Angela's ear.
"She's a little shit, that's what she is," Angela narrows her eyes, "You can't just ask for free ice cream."
"I already did, and if they know what's good for them, then they'll give it to me," Erica says looking between Robin and Steve.
"Fine," Robin agrees, "For as long as I work here, you can have free ice cream."
Erica smiles, "That wasn't so hard. I look forward to doing business with you."
"I'm adding something else to this," Danielle says looking at Robin, Steve, and Dustin, "Angela and I want in on this."
"Speak for yourself," Angela says, "This sounds like some stupid shit to me."
"Why? Do you want an award or something?" Dustin asks and Danielle shakes her head.
"Weird shit has been going on in this town and I want to know what the hell is going on if I have to live here for another miserable year, so do we have a deal?" Danielle asked.
"They could help us," Robin says.
"I don't see the issue," Steve says with a shrug.
Dustin stares at them and lets out a loud sigh, "Fine, but this is top secret."
"Whatever," Angela says, "But if this does turn out to be true, I'm using it on my college application."
"Like anyone will accept you," Erica replies, snark in her tone before eating a scoop of fudge ice cream.
"You better hope I get accepted because if I don't, I'll be on your ass until you graduate," Angela tells her, and Danielle slowly slides her way out of the booth, wanting to leave the uncomfortable atmosphere.
"Okay," Danielle said, "So when are we doing this?"
"Tonight," Dustin tells them, "After the mall closes."
"Great, we'll meet you here," Danielle tells them before walking toward the exit. Angela jogs to catch up with her.
"Thanks for roping me into that," Angela says, annoyance in her voice.
"You're welcome," Danielle tells her with a smile, "So what do you want to do until the mall closes?"
Angela sighs, shaking her head, "Let's shop I guess."
___
"You nerds in position?" Danielle hears Erica's voice ask through the walkie talkie.
"Yeah, we're in position," Robin said from beside Danielle, "It's all quiet here so you've got the green light."
"Green light, roger that," Erica says, "Commence operation child endangerment."
"Can we maybe not call it that?" Robin asks.
"See you on the other side, nerds," Erica says before breaking communication.
"Now we wait," Angela says as she leans against the wall of the roof. Danielle glances over at Robin to find her already looking at her.
"I wanted to talk to you about what you said yesterday," Robin said softly.
"We don't have to," Danielle told her.
"But I think there's been a misunderstanding," Robin says. Danielle can tell that she wants to say more, but Erica's voice comes through the walkie talkie.
"All right nerds. I'm there."
"Damn, she's still alive," Angela mutters from beside Steve.
He glances at her with a tiny frown, "You're a terrible older sister, you know that?"
"I'm a great sister to Lucas," Angela retorts.
Steve scoffs, "That's not what he told me."
Angela looks at him, her curiosity piqued, "Lucas talks to you about me?"
"I'm not saying," Steve tells her coyly.
Robin rolls her eyes at the scene before looking at the door, "Do you see anything?"
"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about," Erica replies.
"Any guards," Robin asks.
"Negative," Erica answers.
"Booby traps?" Robin asks, Danielle glances at her strangely, to which Robin gives her a shrug.
"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps," Erica sassily replies and Robin raises an eyebrow.
"Thank you for that."
"You know what? Angela, you're doing a great job," Steve tells her, patting her on the back. She glances over at him, her eyes still narrowed.
"You're gonna tell me what Lucas said," she says firmly.
"How about we discuss it over dinner?" Steve asks and Danielle can't help but hide her face in her hands at Steve's terrible timing. This was literally the worst place to ask someone out. Dustin lowered his binoculars and looked at Steve.
"Seriously? That's the best you could do?" he asked him.
"He's such a dingus," Robin muttered under her breath. Danielle's lips quirked up at that.
"Dingus?" she asked. Robin glanced over at her with a smile.
"It fits perfectly, doesn't it?" she asked, still smiling widely at Danielle. She felt a fluttery sensation in her stomach as she stared at Robin.
"Yeah, it does," she replied.
They glanced back over to see that Steve was still waiting from a reply from Angela.
"No," She answered, "Try again later."
Suddenly the doors open, and everyone's attention shifts as Erica stands in a power pose with both hands on her hips. Danielle glances over at Angela to see her breathe a sigh of relief. She follows Robin and Steve down the roof of the building to meet Erica.
"Free ice cream for life," she says when Robin stands in front of her. With a wide and beautiful smile on her face, Robin nods in agreement.
"Free ice cream for life," Robin tells her.
They enter the room and Danielle glances around, "It seems like a regular storehouse."
"Trust me, it's not," Dustin tells her.
They gather around one box as Dustin hands Steve a letter opener. He cuts across the tape of the box to reveal a metal container inside.
"That's not Chinese food," Angela mutters.
Steve reaches inside and grabs the handle and turns it as air hisses out of it. Danielle's eyes grow wide as it reveals another metal container, this time with four handles on it. Angela shakes her head and takes a step back.
"Alright, you guys were right. Russians in Hawkins," she says, "If you don't mind, I'm going to stand over here."
Steve looks at them, "I think you guys should follow Angela's lead."
Danielle, Robin, and Erica take a step back, but Dustin stays at Steve's side. He looks up at him, "You die, I die."
Steve shrugs and turns the handle on one of the containers, air hissing from it as he pulls up something green. Danielle stares at the object with raised eyebrows.
"What the hell is that?" Robin asks from beside her.
The floor begins to shake under them, and Danielle can't help but grab on to Robin, who also latches onto her. When it stops, they all look at each other wide-eyed. Erica latches on to Angela who hugs her sister in turn.
"Did the room just move?" Danielle asked, her voice shaky with fear.
"Grab that and let's get out of here," Robin says, still holding on to Danielle. Steve grabs the green substance and Dustin makes his way to the door, pressing the button, but nothing happens.
"Which one do I press Erica?" Dustin asks, pressing the button over and over again
"Just press the damn button, nerd," she retorts.
"I'm pressing the button!"
"Press open door!" Erica exclaims.
"I'm pressing open door!" Dustin yells back.
Steve hands the mystery substance to Angela who stares at it before quickly putting it in Erica's bag. Steve goes over and presses the button and still, nothing happens as he and Dustin argue over which button to press.
"We're going to die," Danielle says as she hides her face in Robin's shoulder, "We're so dead."
"We're not going to die," she hears Robin say softly, her arms moving to wrap Danielle in an embrace, which she wasn't complaining about. Dying in the arms of a prettty girl in a Russian base was the way to go in her opinion.
Danielle heard as a something seemed to lock and looked up to see something covering the door. The room fell silent and then they began to drop. Danielle clutched on to Robin tighter and closed her eyes. She felt as Robin did the same, drawing her closer.
"We're going down! We're going down!" Steve yelled.
"Yeah, no shit Harrington!" Robin yelled back.
Danielle was pretty certain that her heart was going to come out of her mouth. She had never liked riding roller coasters that dropped straight down and that was exactly what this elevator was doing.
"Press the button!" Erica yelled.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Dustin asked. Danielle was unsure what button they pressed and who pressed I, but she was grateful when the elevator came to an immediate stop. The impact made her fall over, with Robin falling on top of her.
Danielle laid there, trying to catch her breath. Robin groaned as she tried to get up, she placed her hand on what she thought was the floor but wasn't.
Danielle looked up at Robin with wide eyes as she felt something groping at her chest. Robin's eyes grew wide as she stared down at Danielle and then to her hand's placement. Suddenly aware, she quickly retracted her hand and stood up.
"I'm so sorry," Robin apologized, her face redder than Danielle had ever seen it.
"It's fine," Danielle said, sure that her cheeks were dusted pink.
"We just found a Russian elevator," Angela muttered, "What the hell is going on in Hawkins?"