Lyn and Dustin were on the roof, watching the Lynx delivery service that was a cover for the Russians. There was a Russian with a machine gun that opened the door with a key card. Another pushed a cart of boxes for Imperial Panda and Kaufman's shoes into the room. Almost all of them were armed to the teeth.
The Henderson sibling made their way back to Scoops Ahoy using the back hallways to get there. Dustin knock on the door, they didn't have to wait long before it was open by Steve with Robin right behind him.
Lyn walks in and sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the table. "I can't believe they're using Panda Imperial, the nerve of these people." Lyn pouts at her favorite fast food place being tainted.
"It's the Imperial Panda. Why do you always say it wrong?" Dustin scoffs as he walks into the room.
"It's easier to just say it the way she says it," Steve close the door and took a seat next to Lyn.
"You're so whipped." He rolls his eyes at his friend.
"If you know what I'm saying, it is really wrong." Lyn sticks her tongue out at him.
"Yes." He said in a no duh tone.
"Focus Children," Robin scolds them. "What's your report?"
"That keycard opens the door, but unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun. Whatever's in this room, whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it." Dustin paces in front of them as he gave them the information they collected.
"But there's got to be a way in." Robin looks down at the table thinking.
"Well, you know I could just take him out." Steve took his hat off and leaned his elbow on the table. He spoke as if he was telling them something boring like what he ate for breakfast this morning.
"Take who out?" Robin narrows her eyes at him.
"The Russian guard," Steve told them. Robin and Lyn lean back in their chairs with a look of disbelief. Dustin let out a choking sound like he was holding back a laugh.
"What? I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, and I take his keycard. It's easy." He shrugs. He didn't understand why they making like it was outrageous.
"Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?" Dustin smirks at the idea of Steve being able to take down a guard.
"Yes, Dustin, I did. And that's why I would be sneaking." Steve uses his hand to show how he would walk slowly.
"Well, please, tell me this, and be honest, have you ever actually won a fight?" Dustin mocking cocks his head to the side like a curious dog.
"Okay, that was one time." Steve put up one finger.
"Twice, Jonathan, the Year prior?" Lyn grabs his hand to put up another finger.
"Listen, that doesn't count." He shook his girlfriend's hands off of him.
"Why wouldn't it? Because it looks like he beat the shit out of you." Dustin said that the last part slowly so Steve would understand his point. Robin and Lyn share a laugh as the boys began to bicker with each other. While Steve was trying to make up an excuse, Dustin was listing the injury he got from the fight.
Lyn watches in amused but got her attention pulled away from them when Robin jumps up from her seat. "That just might work." She ran to the front. Lyn, Steve, and Dustin ran to the window to see her grabbing all the money from the tip jar.
"Robin. Hey, Robin! Hey, what, what are you doing?" Steve ran to the front as Robin ran out of the parlor.
She turns around when she was officially outside. "I need cash." She yells to them.
"Well, half of that's mine." He stares at the cash in her hands. The tips were the only thing that made this job worthwhile. If they were being honest most of those were his tips that he got from blushing grandmas.
"Where are you going? I'll come." Lyn grabs the keys from Steve's pocket since he drove Dustin and Lyn there that morning. She walks over to Robin.
"We're going to find a way into that room, a safe way. And, in the meantime, sling ice cream, behave and don't get beat up. We'll be back in a jiff." Robin gave them a wave. She grabs Lyn's hand and they ran out of the mall to Steve's car.
Lyn jumps into the driver's seat while Robin got into the passenger side, "To County Recorder's Office." She told the drive. Lyn took her sunglasses off the top of her head to put them on and started up the car.
"It is fascinating what 20 bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office: Starcourt Mall, the complete blueprints." Robin rolls out the blueprint out on the table in the break room of Scoops Ahoy.
"Not bad." Dustin nod, impressed by Robin's thinking.
"So, this is us, Scoops, and this is where we want to get." Robin put a finger on Scoops and another on the Russian loading dock.
"I mean, I don't really see a way in," Steve said the same thing that Lyn did when Robin shows her in the car.
"There's not if you're talking exclusively about doors." Robin pulls the first blueprint away to show another blueprint that told them what was above them.
"Air ducts." Dustin looks in awe at the older female in front of him.
"Exactly, it turns out this secret room needs air just like any old room." Robin grabs a dry erase marker. "And these air ducts lead all the way here." She draws on the map to illustrate how they could get there.
"I can fit." Dustin volunteers right away.
"I don't know, it looks really small," Lyn looks from her brother to the vent and back to her brother.
"I can fit," Dustin repeats himself.
"We'll see." Steve grabs a ladder and a screwdriver to open up the air duct that was in the break room. "Flashlight," His voice was muffled by the tool in his mouth. He took it out of his mouth to pass to his girlfriend, who hands him the flashlight. "Thank you."
Lyn made gross-out face as she put the screwdriver down and wipe her hands on her ripped jeans that had lace tights underneath it to get his salvia off her hands that were covered in fingerless lace gloves. She straightens out her red floral tube top and tightens her high ponytail.
"You guys make out and I've seen a hickey on your neck, so you let him slobber in your mouth and on your neck, but you don't want it on your hands." Dustin shook his head at his sister's logic.
Before Lyn could tell him to not call it slobber because it sounds disgusting, Steve remind them they had bigger issues to worry about. "Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know if you can fit in here. It's like super tight." Steve shines the light down the small air duct.
"I'll fit. Trust me. No collar bones, remember?" Dustin grabs the flashlight from Steve as the older teen climb down.
"Uh, excuse me?" Robin pushes her eyebrows together.
"Oh, he's, uh yeah, he's got some disease. Chry, uh it's chrydo, um something." Steve tried to explain.
"Cleidocranial Dysplasia," Lyn gave the correct term for it.
"Yeah that. He's missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo." He continues his explanation.
"That putting it very simply," Lyn rolls her eyes at his description, but she didn't feel like going through the whole history of it right now.
"You mean Gumby," Robin said, remembering the green character.
"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo." Steve nods his head like it was ridiculous to think the name of the cartoon was Gumby.
"It's Gumby, were talking about the green guy, not a food dish." Lyn agreed with Robin.
"Steve, just shut up and push me!" Dustin's voice echoes through the vent.
"He looks like Winnie the Pooh." Lyn giggles. Dustin's ass and legs were sticking out of the air duct. She hums the theme song from favorite childhood show while Steve climbs up the ladder.
"Okay. I'll push you," Steve grabs his feet and pushes.
"Not my feet, dumbass. Push my ass!" Dustin yells back to him.
"What?" He gasps, not wanting to touch the other male's ass.
"Touch my butt! I don't care!" He wiggles around to try and get farther into the vent. Steve put his hands on his ass to try and push him in. "Come on! Harder! Push harder!" He demands.
"I'm pushing!" Steve throws Dustin's legs over his shoulder, so he could go farther up the ladder to get better leverage to push.
"You're playing with my legs." Dustin wiggles his legs around making it harder for Steve.
"I'm not playing, I have terrible footing." Steve grumbles.
"Come on!" Dustin screams.
"Stop yelling, you idiot. You're so loud the Russian can probably hear you." Lyn scolds her brother.
"I'm going to just shove you, ready?" Steve wrapped an arm around his leg and another around his feet.
"Just shove me?" Dustin snaps, but at least he wasn't screaming anymore. Steve counted to three and shoves him, but the boy didn't move.
"Shit." The males in the room curses making the females roll their eyes.
"One more time," Dustin said, not wanting to give up.
The bell ding, made Robin and Lyn turn around to see Erica. "Ahoy, sailors! All hands on deck! Ahoy! Come on. Get over here and serve me some samples." The sass queen repeatedly rang the bell. Lyn and Robin share a look before turning back to Erica with a smile.
They brought Erica into the back and told her what they need her to do. At the moment, she was looking into the vent with the flashlight. "Yeah, I don't know." She climbs down, shaking her head.
"You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asks.
"Oh, I can fit. I just don't know if I want to." Erica shrugs.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Lyn tilts her head.
"I don't have phobias." The little girl laugh like fear was beneath her. Lyn shook her head, knowing the girl didn't know about the monster underneath their feet.
"Okay, well, what's the problem?" Steve crosses his arms over his chest.
"The problem is that I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica." She put her hands on her hips making the others let out an exhausted sigh.
"Babe, take her out to one of the booths," Steve told Lyn. She nods her head and grabs Erica's hand to take her out to her booth. They watch from the table as Robin and Steve began to make floats, shakes, banana splits, and cones filled with different flavors of ice cream.
With Dustin's help, they brought it all over to the table. Erica looks everything over before pushes the banana split-back over to Steve. "More fudge, please." Steve shot her a glare that would have made Lyn back down, but not Erica. She made a hand motion for him to hurry up. "Go on!" She orders.
"All right, you see this? This is the route you're going to take. Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, and open the door." Robin pulls out a blueprint to show Erica where she needs to go.
"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" Erica asks, not understanding why the boxes were so important.
"Exactly," Robin nod. Lyn realizes that seems to be her favorite word.
Erica hummed in understanding. "And you say this guard is armed." She looks over at Dustin remember the big gun that he mentions early.
"Yes, but he won't be there," Dustin reassured her.
"And booby traps?" Erica asks.
"Booby traps?" Robin raises an eyebrow.
"Lasers, spikes in the wall," Erica gave two examples.
"This isn't Indiana Jones." Lyn shook her head, chuckling.
"You don't know that. Do you know what this half-baked plan of your sounds like to me? Child Endangerment," She said the last two words in Dustin's face.
"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time," Robin told her.
"Ah, ah, ah! Child Endangerment!" Erica waves her hand in Robins's face. Lyn cracks her neck to focus on something else, so she wouldn't end up smacking the little girl. Normally, she found Erica to be funny if the situation wasn't serious she probably would right now. But, the situation was serious and the little girl didn't seem to get that. Their country and their freedom were on the line and all she cared about was how much ice cream she could get out of it.
"Erica? Hi. We think these Russians want to do harm to our country, great harm. Don't you love your country?" Dustin tried to get her to understand that this was bigger than all of them.
"You can't spell America without Erica." She slurps up her float loudly.
"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 gave his mini-speech to a girl who wasn't even paying attention because she was too busy trying to get the last sip from her float.
"Ooh! I just got the chills." Erica shiver, smiling at Dustin. He smiles back at her. "Oh yeah, from this float, not your speech," She gave him a smirk. He frowns at her. "Know what I love most about this country? Capitalism, do you know what capitalism is?" Lyn sighs seeing that was she sets them up for something.
"Yeah," Robin, Lyn, and Dustin nod their heads.
"It means this is a free market system. This 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." She ends her aggressive negotiation.
Robin and Lyn share an amused look before nodding at each other. "Sure," Robin smiles.
"Really?" Erica looks surprised that it was that easy.
"Yeah, done deal," Lyn nods her head. The worst that could happen with this deal was Robin and Steve would get fired. It wasn't like this job was something they were planning to retire from anyways.
Lyn drove Erica home to get her helmet, elbow and knee pads and whatever else she had in her my little pony backpack. She brought her back to the mall. After another ice cream sundae, she was ready to get into the vent. "You nerds in position or what," She spoke into the walkie as she tightens the straps of her helmet.
"Yeah, we're in position. It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light." Robin told her from the rooftop that her, Steve, Dustin, and Lyn whereon.
"Greenlight, roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment." Erica climbs up the ladder.
"Can we maybe not call it that?" Robin asks. Lyn and Steve nod in agreement.
"See you on the other side, nerds." She snickers before going into the vent. Robin and Steve share a look, hoping the girl doesn't get caught.
They sat on pins and needles until they heard Erica come over the walkie again. "All right, nerds. I'm here." Lyn let out a breath of relief.
"Do you see anything?" Robin spoke into the walkie.
"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about," Erica told them.
"Any guards?" Robin asks.
"Negative." They don't see but Erica was shaking her head.
"Booby traps?" Robin jokes about the girl's worries.
"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?" Erica's sarcastic tone came loud and clear through the walkie.
"Sass Queen," Lyn mutters, shaking her head.
"Thank you for that," Robin smirks in amusement.
"I'm in." Erica opens the vent and hops down.
"Oh God," Steve sighs, feeling more stressed now than ever.
The doors open to reveal the Sass Queen with a hand on one hip. "Free ice cream for life," She yells up to them.
They share a look before running down there. They went into the storage place and close the door to not draw any unwanted attention to anyone passing by. Not wasting any time, Steve rip open an Imperial Panda's box. They peek inside to see another mental box. Steve twisted it open to show four more twist tops.
"That's definitely not Chinese food." Steve stares down at it. "Uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stand back." He looks up at them. Robin, Lyn, and Erica did as they were told.
"No." Dustin shook his head.
"Just step back, okay?" Steve put his arm out to push him back.
"No." Dustin pushes his arm down.
"Step back. Seriously," He glares at his friend.
"No! No! If you die, I die." He matches his glare.
"You are so dramatic. Just open the thing, Steve." Lyn groans in annoyance. They didn't have all the time in the world. They need to get in and get out.
"Okay." He shrugs and twists it open. The thing lets out a hiss and smoke as Steve pull up a large vial of green slime.
"What the hell? What is that?" Lyn squints her eyes like that would help her figure it out. The room shook making her grab onto the boxes behind her.
"Was that just me, or did the room move?" Dustin looks at them, hoping it was just him.
"Booby traps." Erica whispers.
A whirring noise that sounded like something was winding up echo throughout the room. "You know what? Let's just grab that and go." Robin grabs the vial from Steve and put it in Erica's backpack.
"Which one do I press, Erica?" Dustin pushes the door open button.
"Just press the damn button, nerd." Erica snaps.
"Which one?" Dustin turns back to glare at her.
"Press open door." She said slowly like she was talking to a baby.
"I'm pressing open door." He repeating pushes the blue button.
"If it's not working then press the other button," Steve pushes Dustin out of the way.
"I don't know about that." Lyn shook her head, but it was too late Dustin was pushing all of them.
"Out of the way so she can push the button" Robin point to Erica, who was the one who got it to open in the first place. But, Steve and Dustin were too busy arguing to listen.
"Dustin stop being a brat and let Erica do it," Lyn screams. Dustin needs to figure everything out was a curse and a blessing. It was looking more like a curse at the moment as a red wall slide down.
The room began to drop down quickly making everyone, but Steve who was able to grab onto the walls fall on their asses.
Lyn wraps one arm around the rack that was nail into the ground behind her and with the other, she held onto Erica. The young girl was so light that she was being flung all over the room. She looks up in horror to see the wall passing by them through the ceiling. It would seem that they were on an elevator.