chapter three
operation child endangerment

Avery and James made their way back to Scoops Ahoy, their eyebrows furrowed as they followed Robin, who was practically running through the mall. The girl had ridden her bike wherever she had disappeared to earlier and on her way back to her job, had stopped by the diner and told them they had to come back with her with no further explanation. And so, Avery had clocked out of work, luckily her shift was ending anyway, and had followed her best friend along with her boyfriend without a second thought, however her concern was quickly growing.

"Do you think she's been drugged?" Avery asked James, speaking quietly so Robin wouldn't hear them.

"Is this not just Robin?" James wondered.

"I think this is her excited?" Avery responded but she seemed unsure. "I don't know, this is new territory for me."

The three walked into Scoops Ahoy, rushing into the back room, dragging Dustin and Steve back with them. It was at this moment that Avery started to wonder how Robin and Steve still had their jobs – they hadn't been working that long and if someone at the diner slacked off as much as they did, Avery was sure her mother would fire them without a second thought – but then again, the few times she had been in Scoops Ahoy, she had never seen any kind of management there either.

"It is fascinating what 20 bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office." Robin announced, laying what seemed to be the blueprints of something on their table. "Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints."

Dustin sent her an impressed look. "Not bad."

"So, this is us, Scoops, and this is where we want to get." Robin began to explain, pointing at the different blocks on the map as Steve took a seat, Avery sitting in the other chair while James stood behind her.

"I mean, I don't really see a way in." Steve commented.

"There's not." Robin nodded. "If you're talking exclusively about doors."

She pulled off the top sheet of paper to reveal more blueprints of Starcourt Mall, however these ones seemed to have the airducts labelled on them as well.

"Air ducts." Dustin gasped with a small smile.

"Exactly." Robin smiled, moving across the room to grab the whiteboard pen. "Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room. And these air ducts lead all the way... here."

She drew on the blueprints in red whiteboard maker, following the air ducts trail all the way to Scoops Ahoy, circling it with a small smile. The group all turned, looking up at the small airduct that was on the wall.

Steve was the first up, grabbing a screw driver while Dustin moved to grab a flashlight, the group needing to inspect the air duct to see if any of them would actually fit through it – well if Dustin would fit considering he immediately volunteered for the job. Steve stood on a step ladder, unscrewing the cover and handing it down to Dustin who then passed him the flashlight instead.

"Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know if you can fit in here. It's like... super tight." Steve revealed, shining the torch around the duct.

"I'll fit." Dustin stated with determination. "Trust me. No collar bones, remember?"

"Uh, excuse me?" Robin wondered as Steve climbed down the step ladder and Dustin took his place, taking the flashlight with him.

"Oh, he's uh... Yeah, he's got some disease." Steve answered. "Chrydo, chrymo. Something. Yeah, I dunno. He's missing some bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo."

"Wow Steve, you should be a doctor with all that medical terminology you know." Avery teased with a small laugh.

"You mean Gumpy." Robin corrected Steve, ignoring Avery.

"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo." Steve argued.

"Steve, just shut up and push me!" Dustin suddenly exclaimed, having already climbed half into the air duct.

"Okay." Steve let out a defeated sigh, turning and grabbing Dustin's feet to push him further into the duct. "I'll push ya."

"Not my feet, dumbass. Push my ass." Dustin demanded.

"What?" Steve questioned.

"Touch my butt. I don't care!" Dustin shouted loudly. "Come on! Harder! Push harder!"

"I'm pushing!" Steve called back, pushing Dustin further and further into the duct.

"It sounds like Steve's giving birth." Avery couldn't help but laugh at her friend.

The two boys continued to fight over Steve pushing Dustin into the hole as James, Avery and Robin watched in both amusement and concern for their mental wellbeing. The bell ringing over and over again had the three of them turning around to see Erica demanding to be served. Robin and Avery shared a small look, smiles growing on their faces.

It didn't take them long to get Dustin out of the air duct and to explain to Erica what they needed her to do. The younger Sinclair sibling inspected the air duct with the flashlight before letting out a small sigh and turning to the group.

"Yeah, I don't know." She stated.

"You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin wondered.

"Oh, I can fit." Erica disagreed. "I just don't know if I want to."

"Are you claustrophobic?" Robin asked.

Erica snickered. "I don't have phobias."

"Okay, well, what's the problem?" Steve questioned.

"The problem is, I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica." Erica stated.

They decided to give into Erica and with a small encouragement from James, the group was now sat in a booth with the young girl, giving her whatever ice cream concoction she wanted. At her newest demand of more fudge, Steve got up to get what she wanted, leaving Robin to explain the plan.

"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me?" Erica looked towards Dustin as she spoke. "Child endangerment.

"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time—" Robin tried to reassure her.

"Ah, ah, ah, child endangerment." Erica emphasised.

"I'm quickly regretting teaching her about these things." Avery muttered to herself, although James, who was sitting next to her still heard.

"This is your doing." James turned to her wide eyed.

"Hey, if this wasn't us asking for a favour but instead someone else, we'd be glad she knows these things." Avery shrugged.

"Erica? Hi, uh... we think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?" Dustin wondered, trying to persuade her into doing what they needed.

"You can't spell 'America' without 'Erica'." Erica smiled.

"I taught her that too." Avery smiled smugly.

"Uh, yeah, oddly enough, that's true." Dustin blinked a few times in shock as Erica down to slurp down her float. "So don't do this for us, do this for America... Erica."

"Ooh, I just got the chills." Erica stated making them stare at her hopefully before she made a face. "From this float, not your speech. Know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"You teach her this too?" James wondered.

"I think this was my mum actually." Avery answered. "On one of the nights I babysat and took her to the diner."

"It means this is a free market system. Which means people get paid for their services depending on how valuable their contributions are." Erica explained despite them knowing what it was. "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."

"No." Avery announced, shaking her head.

"So you don't want my help?" Erica turned to her.

"We do, you know that." Avery replied with a sweet as sugar smile. "But they can't give you free ice-cream, you'll be fired. So you can have free milkshakes from the diner, I'll give you twenty dollars and next time I babysit, you can stay up late and we'll watch an R rated movie, okay?"

Erica stared at Avery for a few moments before she huffed, pouting slightly. "Fine."

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Robin questioned, raising her eyebrows at her best friend.

"Eh." Avery shrugged. "It's fun watching y'all struggle sometimes. I gotta amuse myself somehow during times like these."

Dustin and Robin shook their head at the girl before they got Erica ready to climb through the air vents. The girl was left alone in Scoops Ahoy while the other four climbed onto the roof where they could watch for when Erica opened the door into the locked room.

"Erica do you copy?" Robin asked through the walkie talkie.

"Mm-hmm. I copy." Erica responded. "You nerd in position or what?"

"Yeah, we're in position." Robin replied. "It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light."

"Green light, copy that." Erica stated. "Commence Operation Child Endangerment."

"Can we maybe not call it that?" Robin questioned.

"See you on the other side." Erica spoke in response. "Nerds."

Avery giggled at the young girl as they listened to her climb up the ladder and into the air vents. They waited with baited breath for Erica to reach the room, praying that she remembered where she was going.

"All right, nerds. I'm there." Erica stated.

"Do you—Do you see anything?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about." Erica told them.

"Any guards?" Robin wondered.

"Negative." Erica answered.

"Booby traps?"

"If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?" Erica retorted making Avery giggle.

"Thank you for that." Robin deadpanned.

They waited a moment before Erica's voice came through the radio once more. "I'm in."

"Oh, god." Steve let out a small sigh.

Suddenly the doors opened and Erica stepped out, looking up at them on the roof with a smug smile. "Free ice-cream for life."

"That's not what we agreed on." Avery shouted back down at her as the others just stared in shock.

The group made their way off of the roof and into the room, gathering around one of the tables that had boxes on. James handed Steve his pocket knife, allowing the boy to slice through the tape to open the box. Inside was another metal box, Steve turning the handle, gas hissing out of it as he pulled the lid off, inside being four metal tubes.

"That's definitely not Chinese food." Steve commented. "Uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stand back."

The girls and James took a step back happily but Dustin began to argue with Steve. "If you die, I die."

"Dramatic." Avery stated watching them with raised eyebrows.

Steve pulled one of the tubes out, it being filled with some sort of green liquid and cells.

"What the hell?"

"What is that?"

Before any of them could theorise, the room suddenly shook. Avery grabbed onto James' hand, looking around in confusion.

"Was that just me, or did the room move?" Dustin wondered,

"Booby traps." Erica whispered, her eyes not leaving the roof.

Mechanical whirring sounded throughout the roof making Robin take the cannister from Steve's hand. "You know what? Let's just grab that and go."

Dustin moved over to the controls, pressing the buttons. "Which one do I press, Erica?"

"Just press the damn button, nerd." Erica instructed.

"Which one? I'm pressing the button, okay?" Dustin exclaimed.

"Press 'open door'."

"I'm pressing 'open door'."

"Just open the—Press the other button." Steve argued.

"Out of the way so she can push the button—" Robin joined in.

Everyone began to speak over each other, Avery standing off to the side with wide eyes. She did not need this kind of stress this summer, this was not what she signed up for when she got home from her vacation.

Suddenly, another door came down in front of the door, fully locking them inside the room. They stared at the door in shock, a moment of silence falling over them.

Then, the room began to shake.

Each of them screamed loudly, grabbing onto the tables to not fall over as the lights flickered on and off. Avery looked around in shock, her eyes widening as she tried to make sure everyone was all right, her attention being caught by the sight through the windows.

They were going down?

"Oh shit."

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
another wildest dreams chapter what
is this ?!?!?!?!
just erica being an icon and avery being
the reason for her iconness