Erica looked through the air duct, Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Kim standing nervously on the ground.
"Yeah, I don't know," the little girl said, turning back to the group of older kids.
"You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asked.
"Oh, I can fit," Erica said, her ever present sass in her voice. "I just don't know if I want to."
"Are you claustrophobic?" Robin asked, trying to stay calm and not yell at the kid.
Erica scoffed. "I don't have phobias."
"Okay, well what's the problem?" Steve asked, his arms wrapped around Kim's waist.
"The problem is, I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica," the girl said.
Kim smiled as sweetly as she could. "Couldn't you just do it out of the goodness of your heart."
Erica scoffed again. "I think everyone here knows I don't work like that."
•••••
Steve slid a loaded banana split across the table to the sassy child. Erica looked down at it, the back at him before sliding it back across the table. "More fudge, please. Go on."
Steve took a deep breath before getting up to put more fuge on the ice cream, Kim following behind him. "I think I'm going to strangle her," Steve said through clenched teeth.
"Well, I think she could take you in a fight," Kim smirked. "Her sass alone would knock you out."
"Haha, you're hilarious," Steve said sarcastically as he poured the fudge. The two slid back into the booth, passing the banana split over to Erica.
The little girl eyed it approvingly before speaking again. "You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment."
"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time-" Robin started.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Erica said, wagging a finger in the older girl's face. "Child endangerment."
"Erica?" Dustin asked, getting her attention. "Hi, uh, we think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm Don't you love your country?"
"You can't spell 'America' without 'Erica'," the girl said, taking a loud slurping sip of her drink.
"Uh, yeah, yeah," Dustin agreed. "Oddly, that's totally true. So, don't do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for you fellow man. Do this for America, Erica."
She shivered dramatically. "Ooh! I just got the chills. Oh, yeah, from this root beer float, not your speech. Know what I love most about this country? Capitalism? Do you know what capitalism is?"
The group of older kids nodded, wondering where Erica was going with this. Kim silently wondered if Steve knew what capitalism was, or if he was just playing along.
"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."
"Can we just get a different kid?" Kim whispered to her friends. "We could literally get any other kid to help us."
"I don't think so," Erica narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Now that I know about your crazy little plan, I can get all of you into some serious trouble."
Kim took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Hitting children is wrong. Hitting children is wrong. Hitting-"
"My brother was right," Erica raised an eyebrow. "You do have some anger issues."
•••••
Static hissed over the walky talky as Robin asked, "Erica, do you copy?"
"Mm-hmm. I copy," the girl responded from inside the vents. After being promised free ice cream for life, and getting to make fun of Kim with no retributions, she had agreed to help out. "You nerds in position or what?"
"Yeah, we're in position," Robin nodded from on top of the mall. "It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light."
"Green light, roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment," Erica's voice said from the other end of the walky.
Kim snatched the walky talky out of Robin's hand. "Can we maybe not call it that?"
"See you on the other side, nerds," Erica replied, wiggling into the vent.
"I still think we should have used a different kid," Kim muttered.
"Excuse me," Erica's sassy voice said. "I can still hear you, butt head. Next time you talk trash about me at least turn the walky off."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Kim rolled her brown eyes.
After a minute of suspenseful silence, Erica spoke again. "Alright, nerds. I'm there."
"Do you see anything?" Robin asked, taking the walky talky away from Kim so she wouldn't get in another petty argument with Erica.
"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about," Erica nodded.
"Any guards?" Robin asked.
Erica looked out of the slots in the vent, double checking. "Negative."
"Booby traps?" Robin questioned.
Erica rolled her eyes. "If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?"
Robin took a deep breath, thinking Kim might be right about wanting to choose a different kid. "Thank you for that."
The sound of Erica grunting as she hit the ground, echoed off of the speaker. "I'm in."
"Oh, God," Steve muttered, running a hand nervously over his face.
Erica opened the door and stepped into where she could see the group of older kids. "Free ice cream for life."