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ROBIN HAD EXPLAINED TO ERICA EVERYTHING THAT NEEDED TO BE DONE. She came into the backroom, climbed up the ladder, checked out the vent with a flashlight, and climbed back down. She swung around to tell everyone what she had thought. "Yeah, I don't know." She voiced, Erica obviously couldn't care less about the situation.
Robin, Dustin, Steve, and Zoe leaned against the wall, watching as Erica looked back at them. "You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asked.
"Oh, I can fit. I just don't know if I want to." She responded back. The four of them groan in annoyance, simply not wanting to put up with this.
"Are you claustrophobic?"
Erica snickered, "I don't have phobias."
"Okay, well, what's the problem?" Steve tried to sound sincere, but his eye roll provided evidence otherwise.
"The problem is, I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica." She sassed, now beginning to speak in the third person.
They had settled on ice cream, so while everyone sat down, handing Erica what seemed to be her third ice cream boat, she still wasn't pleased. She had sent Steve back to get her more chocolate fudge, clearly, if she were going to do things— it was going to be her way.
Robin turned to the girl, "Alright," She pulled out the outlined blueprint. "You see this? This is the route you're gonna take. Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door." She showed Erica the map.
"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" Robin and Zoe nodded. "And you say this guard is armed?"
"Yes, but he won't be there," Dustin reassured her.
"Okay– and what about the booby-traps?" She asked.
"Booby-traps?"
"Lasers, spikes in the walls?" Erica listed examples of all the things she'd seen in movies. All the things that weren't close to being realistic.
"You won't have to worry about that either." Zoe appealed, though Erica still seemed unsure.
"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment." Erica exaggerated. While Robin tried to assure the younger girl, Erica only emphasized the phrase more– child endangerment.
"Erica? Hi. Uh.... we think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?" Dustin asked. Zoe leaned backward, taking a more relaxed stance, she had no clue where Dustin was trying to prove (if he even had a point) if Erica had said that she didn't. Which would be pretty unfortunate.
"You can't spell America without Erica." She began to slurp on her drink loudly. Zoe began to spell the word in her head, coming to the conclusion that 'Erica' was indeed in America.
"Uh, yeah, yeah. Oddly, that's, uh, totally true. So, so, don't do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man. Do this for America... Erica." Dustin ranted while Erica slurped on her drink. She hadn't stopped once, which would result in an inevitable brain freeze in the near future.
Erica let out a satisfied noise, "I just got the chills." Dustin seemed proud of himself, but it was short-lived. "Oh, yeah, from this float, not your speech. Know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?"
"Yeah," The three responded back.
"It means this is a free market system. Which means people get paid for their services, depending on how valuable their contributions are. And it seems to me, my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So, you want my help? This USS Butterscotch better be the first of many. And I'm talking free ice cream... for... life." Erica ended her speech with a dramatic ending, popping a cherry into her mouth for extra effect.
Zoe Addams was most definitely impressed. This girl knew exactly how to drive a bargain, and it was working. It wasn't like they could just go find another small kid to drag into their problems. Erica was the little sister of a boy named Lucas Sinclair, and Lucas was friends with Dustin. Erica already knew about most of the problems in Hawkins, which meant she was the perfect candidate. And they needed her. "We can do that."
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ZOE, ROBIN, DUSTIN, AND STEVE WERE PERCHED ON THE SAME ROOFTOP AS LAST NIGHT. This time, however, with a plan to get inside the room. Robin would be communicating with Erica through a walkie-talkie that Dustin had generously provided. They waited until they could guess if Erica was in position or not. While she was back at the Scoops Ahoy air duct, the only thing the others could do was hope there would be no guards or alarms inside that they hadn't accounted for. "Erica, do you copy?" Robin asked.
"Mhm, I copy. Commence Operation Child Endangerment."
"Can we maybe not call it that?"
"See you on the other side, nerds." Erica got into the vent, which the four could tell by the way the girl grunted and strained to get into the vent. After the process had gone down for about a minute or so, the sound had stopped. "Alright nerds, I'm there."
"Do you see anything?"
"Yeah, I see those boring boxes your so excited about." She responded.
"Any guards?"
"Negative."
"Booby-traps?" Robin tried to joke around, remembering the conversation from earlier, but it hadn't worked out that way.
"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?" Erica sarcastically remarked, earning a snicker from Zoe. She couldn't help herself, Erica was starting to grow on her. Everyone else, on the other hand, looked unamused. "I'm in."
Steve let out a sigh of relief that he didn't know he had been holding. He ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to calm himself down. A few moments passed by before the doors to the room opened up, out came Erica who was standing confidently as she looked up at the rooftop. "Free ice cream for life." She yelled, reminding everyone of her end of the agreement.
Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Zoe made their way down towards the door, joining sides with Erica once more. Zoe felt a shiver run up her spine as she stepped into the oddly cold room. The only thing in the room were boxes, and as much as she hoped there were ordinary items in there, she had also craved for something more. Hoping she hadn't wasted her time for nothing. Steve stepped closer to one of the boxes, taking out a pocket knife he had equipped earlier and began cutting the seal.
Steve moved the flaps aside as everyone began to crowd the box, wanting to see what was inside. As they say, curiosity killed the cat. Inside the cardboard box, held another box– this one, of a metal design, clearly meant to hold something more fragile than food. Steve twisted the cap off the box, pulling off resulting in the condensed air to hiss as it let go. In the metal box held four caps, looking like tubes, which made the entire situation more intense. "That's definitely not Chinese food." Steve quirked. Zoe couldn't tell if satisfaction had brought the cat back or not.
"Uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stand back." Steve ushered everyone away. And while the girls stepped back, Dustin argued. He didn't want to leave Steve's side, wanting to die as well if it happened to Steve. The older male looked back at the boy, clearly annoyed, but after a long pause, let him stay. Realizing he wasn't going to budge anytime soon. Steve twisted one of the capsules again, revealing a green acidic liquid inside one of the tubes. "What the hell?"
"What is that?" Seemed to be the question on everyone's mind. It made Zoe's stomach queasy, realizing something much more sinister was occurring in Hawkins. The room shook for a second, making everyone stumble a bit.
"Was it just me or did the room move?" Dustin asked, looking around for any sign of the disruption.
Zoe shook her head, "Nope, we all felt it."
"Booby-traps," Erica whispered.
The room moved once more, "You know what? Let's just grab that and go." Robin grabbed the green capsule as Steve began to close the box again. Dustin moved to open the door while Zoe helped Erica put her helmet back on. One that she insisted she'd wear so she wouldn't get hurt.
"Which one do I press, Erica?" Dustin asked, pressing one of the buttons on the pad repeatedly.
"Just press the damn button, nerd." Erica fired back, clearly not amused by whatever scam he was trying to pull.
"Which one? I'm pressing the button, okay?" Dustin began pressing the same button again, but to no avail. Zoe was growing worried. She quickly rushed over to Dustin's side, pressing the large blue button that read, 'DOOR OPEN'. Tension began rising as everyone yelled. Even Steve came over and began pressing all the buttons but nothing would work. Zoe moved aside as Dustin and Steve bickered, something they seemed to do a lot.
A loud clang noise was made, catching everyone's attention as they looked up. Instead of the doors opening, a new set of doors came in, closing them in. Everything was quiet before the power shut off, and the room began to move at a violent speed. Robin and Zoe clutched onto each other, holding the other for support. The girls, plus Dustin, began screaming at the sudden feeling of falling. Zoe looked at the corner of the room, watching as light passed at a synchronized speed. It wasn't a room anymore, the whole time, this place had been an elevator.
And where it lead, was more ominous.
AUTHOR NOTE!
Double update who?? Finally we can get into the good shiz!! I want to dedicate this chapter specifically to my bestie happylupins for supporting this book nonstop?? Like you amaze me every time and thank you for loving this book and being my friend?? I stayed up until two in the morning to write this chapter because I had nothing better to do and I need sleep now lol. Next chapter is episode five which means we're halfway done and that kinda makes me sad lowkey