Chapter Forty-Two
Daisy Bell
Veronica let out a small yawn as she leaned against the counter at work and watched as people walked by with their shopping bags. It was a slightly slower morning at Bernards, which she was thankful for. It was another restless night of nightmares as she lay beside Steve. The two of them having a date night with pizza and movies. Veronica was thankful that her boyfriend was a harder sleeper – her tossing and turning not waking him up. The cold chill that she'd felt earlier the night before returned as she lay there with Steve. Thankfully, Veronica was able to play off her restless night as the two of them left for their morning shifts back at Star Court Mall.
But the last thing that Veronica was expecting as she was putting away books back onto their shelves, was her sister standing at the end of the aisle with Max. Veronica's brows pulled together tightly in confusion at first, before her dark doe eyes widened with surprise.
"El!? What are you doing here?" Veronica spoke, looking around for a sign of her father. But when she came up short, her gaze fell back onto the younger teen in front of her. "Did Dad give you permission to be here?"
"I'm being careful," El responded.
"I brought her out here," Max confessed as she saw the worried look cross over Veronica's features. "Thought that she needed to have a little fun."
"If Hopper finds out that she's out here, he's going to lose his mind." Veronica sighed softly, with her eyes looking between them both.
"Please, Ronnie, I'm tired of being in the cabin all day. Also…Mike is being weird." El frowned
"He lied to her," Max clarified, "Pretty much calling bullshit on him saying his Nana was sick. El deserves better than that."
"Alright," Veronica nodded, feeling bad for her sister. "What brought you guys up here?"
"Comics!" Max spoke excitedly "Do you have Wonder Woman?"
"I think we have some," Veronica smiled, abandoning her cart, before leading the two girls toward the comic section.
Veronica stepped aside the moment the wanted comic came into view, Max eagerly grabbing at it, opening it to explain the story to El. Veronica couldn't ignore the happiness that rolled off El as she stood beside her, causing her mood to improve with each second she stood there. She couldn't bring it within herself to ruin this moment to step away and call her father at the station. Deep down she knew it was most likely better for them all to listen to his rules. But, at the same time, Veronica thought El deserved a day to be a teenager.
"Why don't you guys head down to Scoops Ahoy! I'm sure Steve would be more than willing to give you guys some free cones." Veronica smiled, "Especially if you say that I insist that you get some."
"Really?!" El smiled
"Come on! Let's go and we can head down!" Max spoke, before grabbing El's wrist and pulling her toward the checkout.
El looked over her shoulder back toward Veronica, waving excitedly as she was dragged away by the redhead. She laughed lightly to herself before turning to head back toward the cart that she was working on.
The rest of Veronica's shift ticked by quickly, and before she knew it, she was clocked out and heading down to the food court. When she walked in through the doorway, the loud obnoxious sailor music welcoming her, she noticed Robin standing behind the counter. A deep frown was set on her freckled face as she passed off bowls of ice cream to a couple. Veronica stepped up to the counter just as the couple walked away.
"Don't you look like a ray of sunshine?" Veronica chuckled.
Robin laughed sarcastically before speaking, "Harrington's been sitting in the back and leaving me out here to fend for myself. Your dreams of us becoming friends are slipping away with each second I'm out here alone."
"Why is he back there?" Veronica asked, nodding her head toward the back door.
"Some kid came and saw him today," Robin shrugged, crossing her arms at her chest "Ever since then they'd been sitting back there trying to crack some Russian code."
Veronica's stomach dropped, "Russian code?"
"They think they are being all secretive, but they have an issue – they talk really loud, so I've been able to hear pretty much everything." Robin shrugged.
Veronica looked at her friend for a moment before moving to head past the counter and through the swinging door. The last thing she was expecting to see was Dustin Henderson sitting at the small folding table with a book in front of him as a recorder played, a foreign language playing lowly and statically. Robin followed close behind and looked just as confused as her blue eyes darted between Steve and the younger boy.
"What the hell is going on back here?" Robin questioned as she looked around the room. Till her eyes landed on the small whiteboard that hung on the back wall of the ice cream shop's breakroom. "Are you kidding me?! That was holding important data!"
Veronica rolled her eyes slightly at her best friend, knowing that that small whiteboard, only held the number of tallys of times Steve annoyed Robin.
"What are you guys doing back here?" Veronica asked. Her eyes scanned over the table Dustin sat at and noticed the small book in front of him, seeing that it was a dictionary of some sort. "What is this for?"
Before either Steve or Dustin could react or stop her, Veronica reached down quickly and grabbed the book. She noticed a foreign language on the pages that were left open. When she flipped it over to look at the cover, she read, Russian to English Dictionary. From behind her, Robin stepped up and looked over her shoulder to read along.
"So, Robin was right, you two are trying to crack some Russian code," Veronica spoke up, turning her eyes back up to Steve, before shifting to Dustin.
"How does she know about the code?" Dustin spoke in a rushed, hushed tone as he looked over to Steve. "You tell her about the code?"
"I didn't tell her! How could I have told her? I've been back here with you." Steve spoke, just hurriedly and quietly.
Which wasn't quite at all, since both Veronica and Robin were able to hear the both of them as they argued back and forth in hurried whispers.
"You know that we can hear you right? We are standing right here." Robin interrupted "Also the two of you don't exactly talk quietly. Could hear you the entire time that you've been back here. Suire every snotty-nosed kid shoving ice cream down their throats heard you out there. You two think that you found some secret transcript from a bunch of secret Russians. But little did you shitbirds realize that Russians use an entirely different alphabet than us. Sound about right?"
"I don't know much outside of that, and that sounds about right," Veronica answered, setting the dictionary back on top of the table.
But just as she reached for the small silver tape recorder, Steve reacted quickly this time. His slender fingers wrapped around the small device before his girlfriend had a chance to get it herself. A pout formed on her full lips as she looked at him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Steve asked quickly, holding the recorder tightly in his grasp, out of her reach.
"I want to listen to it." Veronica spoke, "Maybe we could help – seeing as the two of you haven't been able to figure anything out."
"Do you even understand Russian?" Dustin asked, "Either of you?"
"I'm fluent in four languages," Robin spoke up.
"Russian being one of them?"
"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day," Robin spoke with confidence, smirking as she looked between the two of them.
The face of clearly impressed spread over both Dustin and Steve's faces. Veronica chuckled softly to herself at her friend's antics.
"Oh, ho, ho," Steve spoke, clearly falling for Robin's trick. Dustin made a similar exclamation from his seat.
"That was pig-Latin, idiots" Robin smirked,
"Even I knew that" Veronica muttered, but loud enough for them all to clearly hear her. Steve quickly glared at his girlfriend slightly, causing her to raise her hands, "What? She was able to trick both of you, come on. That alone should be qualification enough for us to help."
"Not to mention I have been in band for over twelve years, along with being fluent in both French and Spanish." Robin moved to pull the seat from beside Dustin out, before quickly sitting down, "My ears are magical little geniuses."
Robin held her hand out, a silent signal for Steve to pass the recorder over, her large blue eyes staring up at him. Dustin looked up at his friend, waiting for the same result. It was becoming clear quickly that Robin would be helpful – but Steve was being stubborn.
"Steve, come on, seriously," Veronica spoke, taking a few steps toward him. "Let us help out,"
"I don't know," Steve muttered, looking down at the recorder for a moment before going back at Veronica. Speaking the next part that only she could hear, "I don't know if we can trust her."
Veronica frowned, "I trust her. Besides you – she's my best friend. And we also know that if she was an untrustworthy person I would know before anyone else."
Steve sighed heavily before nodding his head, reaching over, and placing the recorder into Robin's awaiting hand.
"Thank you," Veronica spoke softly, before raising her toes and pressing a kiss against his cheek.
Steve sighed heavily before grabbing his uniform hat and placing it back onto his head.
"I'll come out in a little and keep you company," Veronica spoke as she walked with Steve toward the swinging door.
"Ok, sweetheart," Steve spoke, smiling slightly, reaching over to brush some of her dark curls from her face.
Veronica sat in one of the folded down chairs with her feet kicked up onto the table in front of her. She sat as reclined as she could with her head falling back slightly and her eyes closed. The small notebook Dustin had before now rested on her thigh, the few words they were able to figure out written down. The recorder sitting on the table beside her feet played for what felt like the hundredth time a mix of Russian speaking and background noise filled the small backroom. Robin paced back and forth, intently listening, picking out the little words that she could. The sound of the recording was starting to make Veronica's skin prickle with goosebumps and an ache formed at her temples. She wasn't sure if it was the recording itself or something else.
"Play that again, one more time," Robin instructed as a specific part of the recording played.
Dustin reached over and grabbed it, pressed rewind, before pressing play again.
A man's voice starts again, the sound of music in the background, making it a little hard to understand him.
"Right there," Robin spoke with enthusiasm, "It sounds like he's saying…dlinnyy which is pronounced dly-nna-ya,"
"Dly-nna-ya?" Duston questioned.
"Yes, and it starts with "D", which is spelled with…?" Robin spoke, cocking a brow down to Dustin.
"Right, sorry," Dustin nodded, turning to the whiteboard, looking for the Russian letter that would match with the English component "It's the…c-chair…the chair looking thing."
Veronica grabbed her pen and quickly began jotting down the symbol as Robin looked through the dictionary trying to find the correct word. The system and flow that the three of them were able to come up with worked out easily. Within the first ninety minutes of Steve and Robin switching – they were able to get their first sentence.
"The week is long?" Robin questioned.
"What the hell is that even supposed to mean?" Dustin added, a confused look on his face.
"Who knows? But it's a start," Veronica sighed heavily. "Dustin switch off with me. I need a break, and I'll update Steve on what we found."
The teen quickly took the notebook from Veronica's hands, as she stood from her chair. Robin shot her friend a look of both confusion and concern. Veronica noticed it, and just a small smile, silently telling her friend that she'd be fine. The two of them got back to work, the recording quickly starting up again, as Veronica pushed through the double doors.
The moment Steve heard the door push open; his eyes shot over to see Veronica standing there. He dropped the rag he was using to wipe down the counters back into the bucket, fully turning to him as she walked closer.
"How is it going back there?" Steve asked.
"Good, so far, we got our first sentence." Veronica sighed, leaning against the back counter, "The week is long,"
Steve quickly looked just as confused as the others were only moments ago, "What the hell is that even supposed to mean?"
Veronica shrugged, "Who even knows? But it's a step, and I'm sure Robin and Dustin will figure out more. I wasn't really helpful; the sound of the recording was making my head ring."
As she spoke, Veronica reached up and messaged her temples. Steve frowned and stepped closer, his hands reaching up to press his fingers with hers, his tall frame looming over her.
"Is it the frequency?" Steve asked, keeping his voice low, so no one else could overhear.
"Probably," Veronica shrugged, "I don't know what's going on with me lately. It's like my sensitivity is at an all-time high."
"Maybe suggesting you work at the mall wasn't such a great idea." Steve frowned, dropping his hands down, Veronica doing the same and leaning into him.
"I like working at Bernards," She sighed heavily, resting her head on his chest. "And I get to see you more, how is that not a good idea?"
"Well, if in turn, you're not feeling well it's not a good idea. Don't want your powers getting worse. Remember what happened last time you were pushed to your limits?"
Veronica chuckled softly, "Don't have to worry about me teleporting all over Hawkins, Steve. It's not getting that bad. I was fine last night,"
Steve's lips turned up slightly, pulling her back so he could look at her. "Saying sleeping in my bed beside me, brings you some solace?"
"You could say that" Veronica blushed, her arms wrapping around Steve's waist.
Steve stared down at her and felt her melt against him more, her body relaxing into his touch. The tips of his fingers traveled along her forehead, moving along her temple before his hand cupped her cheek. He liked looking at her, marveling over how someone so good and beautiful could be with someone like him.
To himself, Steve wasn't all that special. Not someone special enough to deserve a girl like Veronica.
The three little words he ached to tell her rested on his tongue.
But, instead, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, just as the door swung open again, Robin's face peeking out with a wide smile.
"Ron, we're almost the second sentence, we could use you!" Robin spoke, darting back behind the door, not even waiting for Veronica's response.
She sighed heavily, her shoulders becoming tense again, "Well, guess I'm going back in."
"I'm almost done cleaning up and we close in roughly twenty minutes. Once I'm done, I'll come back there to help out, ok?" Steven said, his hand moving to rub along her back, trying to bring her some comfort.
"Yeah, yeah, that sounds good."
Veronica stepped from Steve's arms before walking back into the back. Steve stood there for a moment with a frown on his face as he watched her walk away.
The mall fell into a soft darkness, the only source of light coming from some of the fixtures in store windows, and food court. At Scoops Ahoy! the gate was down with the main lights still on and streaming over toward the mall courtyard. In the back stood four teenagers as they stared toward a whiteboard with both Russian and English writing. Robin and Dustin stood proudly as they showed off the finished translation from the recording Dustin captured the day before.
"The week is long, the silver feeds when blue meets yellow in the west," Steve answered as he read over the board. "That can't be right,"
"It's right," Robin scoffed "It might not make sense in the moment, but it's right."
Quickly everyone began to gather their things as they started to head out of the ice cream shop. Veronica slung her bag onto her shoulder. Dustin threw the dictionary and recorder into his bag as Robin and Steve grabbed their things from their lockers. Steve hit the switches as the rest walked ahead to leave, the shop joining the rest of the mall in darkness.
The mall, for the most part, was quiet. It was obvious that other mall workers had already left leaving the four of them to be some of the last to leave the building. Steve was the last to duck under the gate, before turning and pulling it the rest of the way down – locking it in the night.
"The sentence doesn't even make sense, how could that possibly be right?" Steve asked as he stood at full height, reaching for Veronica's hand.
"Honestly, I think it's great news," Dustin spoke up.
"How?" Steve scoffed "So much for us being American heroes. It is complete nonsense."
"It's not nonsense, it's too specific." Dustin countered "If the Russians are being all secret, why wouldn't they speak in code? It obviously means something."
"Code? What kind of code?" Steve asked, obviously still not convinced that what was found out was anything meaningful.
As the four of them walked, the only ones that seemed even entuned to the conversation were three of them. Veronica walks beside Steve with a tired look cast across her features. The headache that started to build earlier in the day was only now worse. She tried to tune out their conversation – not fully paying attention.
"A super-secret spy code, duh" Dustin rolled his eyes.
"That makes no sense," Steve shook his head.
"Doesn't it?" Robin spoke up, looking over her shoulder slightly toward Steve.
"Don't tell me you're buying into this," Steve spoke, clear annoyance in his tone. "Ron, you listening to these two?"
"Mmm?" Veronica's head snapped up, her tired eyes moving around to look at them, "Uh, not really. All I really heard was Russian secret spy,"
"Ronnie you good?" Robin asked, moving to walk beside her friend.
"I'm just tired," Veronica shrugged, lying of course. Not really being about to fully go into why she was feeling tired.
Since Robin was still fully in the dark about her past. The only thing Robin knew was that Veronica was once kidnapped. Didn't know of the who, or the why. And a part of her liked it that way. She liked that, to Robin, Veronica was a normal teenager. Instead of a girl that was experimented on for most of her life because she had powers that no one could explain how she got them.
Robin nodded her head, accepting her best friend's answer, "Let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission that Dustin intercepted. What do you seriously think they would say? Fire the warhead at noon?"
"Exactly!" Dustin agreed excitedly, the volume of his voice causing Veronica to jump slightly and flinch from the pounding in her head.
"And my transmission is correct," Robin continued, not noticing Veronica. "I know that for sure so – the silver cat feeds – Why would anyone talk like that, unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message?"
"She is smart, Steve. I trust what she's saying." Dustin nodded his head.
The four of them continued to walk down the empty halls of the mall – passing by empty storefronts. They turned down another hall that led toward the back doors of the mall that led out to the parking lot. Along the walls sat the small amusement rides that were for children – the type you slipped a quarter into for a two minute ride. The bright lights illuminated the small merry-go-round with the echo of the song bouncing off the walls.
"And why would anyone want to hide the true meaning of their message, unless the message was somehow sensitive?" Robin continued her argument with Steve while Dustin listened. "So, I guess that would confirm the kid's suspicions."
"Evil Russians?" Dustin smirked.
"I can't believe I am about to agree with a strange child, but" Robin laughed lightly, "Yeah, totally evil Russians."
"Let's say all of this is true, how do we even crack it?" Steve asked.
As the conversation continued, neither of the three noticed Veronica falling back. Her fingers slipped from Steve's hold as they continued forward. The music coming from the carousel caught her attention enough to cause her to stop. Veronica stood there and watched as the lights continued to flicker and dance in front of her, the small child's ride still moving, with an upbeat song coming from it.
A song she'd heard before as it played over and over again through a recorder.
"…it's probably going to take a super genius to crack it," Robin spoke, her head turning slightly, only then noticing Veronica was no longer with them. "Where's Veronica?"
Robin stopped and turned more to look back to where they had been walking from. The other's doing the same. Steve's face screwed up with confusion as to how he missed his girlfriend no longer being there. But as they all looked back down the hall they'd been walking they saw Veronica, standing in front of the carousel. Her body stood ridged as she stared at it with the red, yellow, and blue lights dancing across her face with each spin of the machine.
"Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing?" Steve asked, being the first to move toward her.
Robin and Dustin followed close behind, all of them too concerned to even notice the same tune Veronica had picked out.
"Shh," Veronica spoke, throwing her hand up beside her, causing them all to freeze and stop. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear? Hear what?" Dustin asked.
"Just listen," Veronica spoke, finally turning to them all, "Listen to the song."
Veronica watched as they all stared at her – knowing she probably looked like a crazy person. But she stood there and waited, and waited, and waited till the look of realization dawned on their faces one by one. The tune of Daisy Bell echoed out between the four of them
"Holy shit," Dustin cursed, the look of realization dawning on his face "Are you fucking kidding me."
"You hear it? Don't you?" Veronica asked.
Dustin dropped his backpack to the ground, fishing out the small device, before pressing play. Now the recording played along with the voice of a man speaking Russian, with the song now at the forefront.
"I don't understand," Robin shook her head.
"It's the same exact song, Robin. The same one from the recording." Veronica explained, her dark eyes wide with excitement. "As we were listening to it, I could tell that something was familiar about it. I pass this damn thing every time we come to work."
"Maybe they have the same ride in Russia?" Robin shrugged.
"It's called the Indiana Flyer; I don't think they'd have that same exact ride in Russia." Veronica countered.
"She's right," Steve spoke up. "Which means, the code didn't come from Russia…"
"It came from here, in Hawkins," Veronica spoke, finishing off Steve's thought.
AN: Hopefully a long chapter update will make up for my absence. I work retail so 'tis the season I am busiest the most between that and family. Leave thoughts/comments/anything if you enjoyed it!