The next day, it was back to work as Robin was working the cash register and I was sweeping around the place and Steve was working in the back when I heard a voice say. "Hey, (y/n)."

I look up and see Dustin and I smiled. "Dustin! Hey!" I greeted as we go to hug. "How you doing?" I asked. "Good. See you got the job." Dustin said as we break the hug and he gestures to my outfit. "Yeah...how was camp?" I asked. "It was great! Uh, is...is he here?" Dustin asked me and I laugh then look over my shoulder then shout. "Hey, Steve! Someone's here to see you!"

Steve bursts out of the door and sees Dustin. "Henderson." He said, shocked, and Dustin laughs and smiles. "Henderson! He's back! He's back!" Steve said, happily, as he jumps up and down and comes over to us. "I'm back! You got the job!" Dustin said. "I got the job!" Steve said then he mimics a trumpet sound as he and Dustin walk up to each other.

Then they do a handshake then mimic doing a lightsaber duel ending with Dustin stabbing Steve in the stomach. I chuckled and shake my head at the silliness I was seeing but Robin didn't seem too pleased. "How many children are you friends with?" Robin asked Steve, who looked a bit annoyed at her.

"No, no. No way. Hotter than Phoebe Cates?" Steve asked Dustin as he, Dustin and I sit at a booth, catching up with him as he tells us about his girlfriend. "Mm-hmm." Dustin said as he eats his ice cream sundae I went and made for him. "No." Steve said, disbelieving. "Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth." Dustin said, proudly, and Steve and I share a look of disgust as Dustin eats his ice cream before I shake my head again.

"Wow. Yeah, that's great. Proud of you, man. That's ro...That's kinda romantic. That's like...Wow." Steve stammers. "Good on you, Dustin. Happy for you." I tell him. "So do you guys really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin asked as points to his ice cream with his spoon. "Yeah. I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in shape for the ladies." Steve said, proudly.

"Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" Robin asked. "Ignore her." Steve tells Dustin. "She seems cool." Dustin said. "She's not." Steve said and I shake my head. "She's right though, the only girls you talk to are your coworkers. I mean, when's the last time you got a girl's number?" I asked him. "Yours." He replied, quickly, and I scoff out a laugh. "And I'm still waiting for the phone call." I said, sarcastically, and Steve rolls his eyes.

"So, where are the other knuckleheads?" Steve asked Dustin. "They ditched me yesterday." Dustin said, annoyed. "No." Steve said. "My first day back. Can you believe that shit?" Dustin asked. "Whoa. Seriously?" Steve said. "I swear to God. Mm." Dustin said and I give a sympathetic look. "Yeah, Max told me about it. I'm so sorry, Dustin." I said as he eats on his sundae

"Yeah, well...They're gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don't get to share in my glory." Dustin said and Steve and I furrow our brows. "Glory? What glory?" I asked him and Dustin scoots closer to us. "So, last night, we're trying to get in contact with Suzie..." Dustin goes to explain and we hum as he looks around, obviously making sure nobody is listening. Then he whispers real softly.

"What?" We asked and he whispers as he hides his mouth from the other guests in the parlor but all I hear was that he intercepted something. "Just speak louder." Steve said. "I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin said, loudly, and the customers all look our way and I wave them off before Steve and I huddled up with Dustin.

"Jeez, shh. Yeah, okay, that's what I thought you said. What...What does that mean?" Steve asked. "It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American heroes." Dustin said and Steve makes an approving noise and I roll my eyes.

"You hear that, (y/n). American heroes." Steve said and I scoff out a laugh. "Just think, you could have all the ladies you want and more." Dustin tells him. "More?" Steve asked. "More." Dustin confirms. "I like more." mutters Steve.

"What's the catch, Dustin?" I asked him. "No catch, I just need your help." He said. "With what?" We asked and Dustin digs in his backpack and pulls out a Russian translation book. "Translation." He said.

Later, Dustin, Steve and I were in the back of the parlor, listening to the recording that Dustin was able to catch. We could hear a man saying something in Russian but there was also music in the background, and it sounded familiar. "So what do you guys think?" Dustin asked us once he stopped his tape.

"It sounded familiar." Steve remarks as he eats the banana he had. "What?" Dustin asked, confused. "The music. The music right there at the end." Steve said. "Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!" Dustin exclaims. "I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music..." Steve argues but then I talk over them. "Guys, shut up!" I exclaimed until Robin bursts in.

"All right, babysitting time is over. Steve, you need to get in there." Robin said then she sees that we erased her tallies on her board and replaced them with the Russian alphabet. "Hey, my board. That was important data, shitbirds." Robin exclaimed, angrily.

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin said. "Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" Robin asked and the boys both look surprised and Dustin looks up at me and Steve. "How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin asked, quietly. "I don't know." Steve said, shrugging, and I sighed.

"I told you guys you two were being too loud!" I said. "Exactly. I can hear everything. You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do. Sound about right?" Robin asked and the boys and I share a look then she reaches over to the tape recorder but Steve puts his hand over it and pulls it close to him.

"Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Steve asked her. "I wanna hear it." She said. "Why?" Steve asked. "'Cause maybe I can help. I'm fluent in four languages, you know." Robin said, proudly. "Russian?" Dustin asked her. "Ou-yay are-yay umb-day." She said and I snort out a laugh as the boys let out a noise of impressed.

"Holy shit!" Dustin giggles and I turn to them. "That was Pig Latin, doofus'." I tell them as Robin smiles and Steve hits Dustin's shoulder with his banana peel. "Idiot." He mutters to him as Robin speaks again. "But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I've been in band for 12 years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me." Robin said as she takes the chair across from Dustin.

"Uh..." Steve mutters but she talks over him. "Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored." She said and we hear the bell ring. "Here, I'll take it." I tell him as I take the scoop and walk out the front, only to groan in my head as I see Lucas' sister at the front desk. Obviously only to get free ice cream.

A couple of hours went by as I helped a few customers when they came until I see Max and El come in. "Hey, girls." I greet as they come up. "Hey." Max said. "Hi." El greets, smiling, then I realized something when I see El. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be home?" I asked her and El frowns when Max speaks up.

"Look, Mike was being a dick to her and I just thought taking her out for some fun would be..." Max defends, quickly, and I chuckled. "Ah, boy problems. Don't worry, your secrets safe with me." I said and El's smile returns. "So, uh, can we have some ice cream then?" Max asked and I raise an eyebrow at her.

"Please." She added, quickly, and I smiled. "Yes, you can. And since this is a special occasion, ice creams on me." I said and Max and El's eyes widen in shock. "Seriously?!" Max asked me and I nodded. "Yeah, tell me what you want and I'll pay for it." I said and the girls smile. "Thank you!" Max said. "Thank you, (y/n)." El said and I smiled at them.

"No problem." I said and the girls tell me what they want and as I start to make their ice cream, I hear the sliding window door open. "Hey!" I hear Robin's voice call out and I turn to her then walk closer to her. "We've got our first sentence." She tells me, quietly. "Oh, seriously?" I asked. "The week is long." Robin said, imitating a Russian accent. "Well, that's thrilling." I said, sarcastically. "I know. But, progress." Robin said, smiling, then she shuts the door and I go to finish Max and El's order.

"Okay, here you go." I tell them when I handed them their ice cream. "Oh, and El, if you ever have anymore boy problems, you can always come talk to me, okay?" I said and she nods and smiles. The girls give me their thank you's and start to run out into the mall and continue their day while I sigh heavily and continued with the day's work.

It was way past closing time but we think we had finally got the code figured out as we look at the board with the written sentences. "The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west." We all recited together and just give confused and dumbfounded looks to the other.

"I mean, it just can't be right." Steve said after we walked out of Scoops Ahoy and he shuts the gate to lock it up. "It's right." Robin said. "Yeah, we checked it over twice like Santa Claus." I remarked as we start to make our way through the mall, heading towards the exit. "Honestly, I think it's great news." Dustin proclaims. "How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense." Steve said, frustrated.

"It's not nonsense. It's too specific. It's obviously a code." Dustin said. "What do you mean a code?" Steve asked him while I look over at Dustin. "You talking about like a secret spy cod or something?" I asked and Dustin nods. "Exactly!" He said. "That's a total stretch." Steve scoffs. "I don't know, is it?" Robin asked and Steve looks at her. "You're buying into this?" He asked her. "Truth is stranger than fiction." I remarked and gave him a knowing look and he scoffs alittle.

"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, Fire the warhead at noon?" Robin asked, annoyed. "Exactly." Dustin said again. "And my translation is correct. I know that for sure and like (y/n) said we checked it over a couple of times, so...The silver cat feeds. Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the true meaning of their message?" Robin asked. "Exactly." Dustin said and I nod, starting to believe that this could be true.

"And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?" Robin asked. "Exactly." said Dustin again for the fourth time while Steve looks at me and makes a mocking face and I stifle my laugh and shake my head. "So I guess that confirms your suspicion." I said to Dustin. "Evil Russians." He said and Robin smiles.

"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil Russians." Robin laughs. "So how do we crack it?" I asked. "Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges." Robin said, shrugging. "A pattern. Right, like maybe silver cat is a meeting place?" Dustin asked. "Or a person." Robin suggests. "Or a weapon." Dustin said.

"It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but..." I started to say then I look over to my right to see Steve was not there anymore. "Where's Steve?" I asked the others as we stop and I look around to see him at one of the little horsey rides, looking at it before digging into his pockets.

"Hey, Steve. What are you doing?" I called out. "Uh, it's a quarter. I need—" Steve said as he digs into his pockets then looks over at us. "Do you have a quarter?" He asked and Robin laughs as we walk back over to him. "You sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin teases him. "Quarter!" Steve shouts and I hand him a quarter. He deposits it in the ride and the horse begins to gallop and a familiar tune plays. It was Daisy Bell.

"You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin teased as I stopped once I heard the music. "Oh my God." I muttered and Robin looks over at me. "What?" She asked. "The music." I said, stunned, and Dustin gets a look of realization on his face. "Holy shit." He said and he pulls off his backpack. "The music!" He exclaims and he pulls out the recorder and plays the tape where we hear the man speak Russian but the same music was playing in the background of the tape.

Steve, Dustin and I share a holy shit look while Robin looked lost. "I don't understand." She said. "It's the exact same song on the recording." I said as I point at Dustin's recorder. "Maybe they have horses like this in Russia." Robin suggests. "Indiana Flyer? I don't...I don't think so." Steve said, shaking his head as he looks back at the galloping horse. "This code, it...didn't come from Russia. It came from here." Steve said and all of us share a shocked look.