Chapter Two
🍦
Top Secret Russian Code

◈◆◈◆◈◆◈◆◈

The next morning, Olivia pulled up to the mall in her car with Dustin. Before she barely even parked, Dustin immediately rushed out of the car. "Dusty, wait!" She called him, snatching her sailor hat. She hadn't seen Dustin this excited in a long time, and a soft smile danced upon her lips, knowing it was because he got to see Steve. She ran up to catch up to him, apologizing repeatedly as she gently shoved through the sea of teenagers. As per usual, the mall was extremely crowded with kids of all ages who spent their summer days their.

            Walking into the parlor, Dustin beamed even brighter and stood in line behind a dad and his daughter. "Have a nice day," Robin said monotonously to the pair, handing them ice cream cones. Olivia giggled quietly. She knew all too well how boring and tedious scooping ice cream could get.

            "Oh, hey Liv," Robin waved at her friend once she was now in view. "You're late for your shift."

            "I know, I'm sorry," Olivia apologized. "I had to wait for this guy," She patted Dustin's curls. "He overslept, but he really wanted to come to work with me today."

            Robin raised her eyebrows. "Is he another child of you and Steve's?"

            Dustin snickered at Robin's comment and Olivia swat him on the shoulder to stop. "No Robin, this is my little brother," She answered quickly.

            "Hi," Dustin greeted sweetly.

            "Hi," Robin repeated awkwardly.

            Dustin pointed to himself. "I'm Dustin." Olivia smiled at her little brother, he was always kind to everyone he met and would greet them with that same sweet, toothy smile that she adored.

            "I'm Robin," The blonde introduced herself back. "Liv's told me a lot about you."

            Dustin grinned at Olivia, then put his attention back to Robin. "Pleasure to meet you," He said politely. "Uh, is- is he here?" He gestured towards the back, as if Robin would know who he was talking about.

            "Is who here?" Robin questioned like she was talking to a little kid.

            As Olivia was about to answer for Dustin, Steve bursted the door open from the back of the parlor, almost tripping out of excitement and Olivia jumped back a little.

           "Henderson!" Steve exclaimed. Dustin chuckled happily.

            "Henderson!" Steve repeated a little louder while raising his arms up, walking over to the siblings with a spring in his step. "He's back! He's back!"

            Robin silently judged Steve's over enthusiasm. Olivia giggled, she thought it was cute how close Steve and Dustin were. It still baffled her sometimes though, they were an odd duo. Three years ago, she never would have thought Steve Harrington would become best friends with her little brother. Steve probably wouldn't have even been caught dead with Dustin. It just shows how much Steve has really changed, and it made her smile knowing that her and Dustin were a part of that.

            "I'm back! You got the job!" Dustin gestured to the parlor.

            "I got the job!" Steve shouted and imitated the sound of a trumpet. They started to pretend like they were holding lightsabers and battled each other.

            "Wow Dusty, you weren't even this excited to see me, your own sister!" Olivia said dramatically when they finish their battle, pretending to be offended.

             Robin raised her eyebrows. "How many children do you guys have?"

            Steve frowned a little and gestured toward Robin. Olivia giggled and walked over behind the counter to scoop a banana boat for Dustin, knowing that was one of his favorite deserts.

            Dustin's eyes lit up when she handed him the banana boat. "Thanks Liv!"

            They walked over to sit in one of the booths and Olivia sat down next to Steve. "So, how was camp?" Steve asked, wrapping his arm around Olivia's shoulder.

            "It was awesome! I learned so much. I also got a girlfriend," He beamed, taking a bite of his banana boat.

            Steve widened his eyes. "Girlfriend? Wow, uh, way to go man, is she cute?"

            "Oh yeah," Dustin nodded. "She's hotter than Phoebe Cates."

            "No no, no way, hotter than Phoebe Cates?" Steve retorted. Olivia rolled her eyes.

            "Brilliant, too," Dustin hummed. "And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in."

            Olivia put a hand over her heart at how sweet he was. "Awww," She cooed, happy for her little brother. "That's so sweet, Dusty. I hope I get to meet her someday."

            "Me too. I know you would like her. And get this? She says kissing is better without teeth," He grinned.

            Steve gawked at him, and Olivia nudged him on the shoulder when Dustin wasn't looking. Steve gave her a what look and looked back at Dustin. "Wow. That's great. Proud of you, man. That's- that's kind of romantic. That's like... wow," He spoke slowly, and Olivia frowned at him for not believing that Dustin could get a girlfriend.

            "Mmm. So do you guys really get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin questioned.

            "Yeah, I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me though, I gotta keep in shape for uh..." He paused and glanced at Olivia, then looked back at Dustin. "For uh, the ladies," He finished.

            "Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" Robin called out from the counter.

            "Ignore her," Steve huffed.

            "She seems cool," Dustin shrugged.

            "She is," Olivia nodded with a smile.

            "She's not," Steve disagreed, and Olivia flicked his forehead.

            "Hey!" Steve complained. "So uh, where are the other knuckleheads?"

            "They ditched me yesterday," Dustin heaved.

            "No," Steve said in disbelief.

            "What?" Olivia gasped, she knew how excited Dustin was to see them. She was disappointed that they would do that to him. "How come you didn't tell me this?"

            "Because I knew you would overreact," Dustin shrugged. "But on my first day back! Can you believe that shit?"

            Steve squinted his eyes at Dustin, thinking the same thing as Olivia. "Woah, seriously?"

            "I swear to God," Dustin groaned. "They're gonna regret it though, big time. When they don't get to share in my glory."

            Steve and Olivia shared a look of confusion. This couldn't be good, Olivia thought.

            "Glory? What glory?" Steve queried.

            "So last night, we were tying to get in contact with Suzie," Dustin explained. "And uh..." He lowered his voice and covered his hand over his mouth. He started to mutter something Olivia couldn't understand.

            "What?" Steve asked.

            "Uh..." He looked around the parlor to make sure no one was listening. He muttered something quietly again.

            "Just speak louder!" Steve told him.

            "I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin blurted out. Olivia widened her eyes, she was definitely not expecting him to say that. But of course, only Dustin could accidentally intercept a secret Russian communication. This is the same kid who kept a demogorgan as a pet last year. Well, to be fair, he didn't know it was a demogorgan. But still.

            Olivia shook her head at her brother, who just seemed to have a knack for getting them into some kind of trouble. What was Olivia going to do with him?

            "Jeez, shhh, yeah okay, that's what I thought you said," Steve mumbled sarcastically. "What does that mean?"

            "It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American heroes," Dustin explained.

            "Huh. American heroes?" Steve sang with a grin. Maybe this could be his chance to impress Olivia, to win her heart, which is something he wanted to do for a long time, even way before they became close.

            Dustin leaned closer to Steve. "Just think, you could have all the ladies you want and more."

            "More?" Steve repeated.

            "More," Dustin nodded.

            "I like more," Steve muttered.

            Olivia rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, that's great and all, but what about me? What do I get?" She added in.

            "Don't you care for your country, Liv? Don't you want to be an American Hero?" Dustin persuaded. Olivia nodded slowly in response, still not quite sure if she wanted to help or not.

            "But you won't just be an American Hero," Dustin added in. "Think about it, guys will be lining up for you."

            "Guys already are lining up for her though," Steve admitted. "Like literally. And that weird Keith guy comes in here at least once a day just so that he can see her."

            Olivia gawked at him. "For the last time Steve, Keith and I are just friends. I don't know why he bothers you so much," She scoffed. "And your lying, guys don't line up for me."

            Steve sighed in frustration at the brunette, hating that she never believed how beautiful she was. It drove him crazy sometimes. "Uh, why else would a guy come into an ice cream parlor then? I mean-"

            "Uh, can you two please stop your weird lover's quarrel?" Dustin interrupted the couple. "Are you guys in or not?"

            Olivia shook her head at him and put her hands on her head. "What's the catch?"

            "No catch," Dustin shrugged. "I just need your help. The both of you."

            "With what?" Steve and Olivia said in harmony.

            Dustin grabbed something out of his backpack and showed it to them, revealing it to be a Russian-English translation book. "Translation," He answered.

            Olivia tilted her head in confusion, not sure why Dustin thought she could help. "But I don't know Russian?" She voiced out loud.

            "But you took French, right?" Dustin asked her.

            Olivia nodded. "Yeah, but it's completely different from Russian. Russian has like, an entirely different alphabet."

            "Okay yeah, but maybe you'll be good at translating it," He stated. "You're good at that kind of stuff."

            "Alright fine, I'll help," Olivia gave in.

            Helping Dustin become an American hero?

            This was going to be fun.

◈◆◈◆◈◆◈◆◈

            Olivia, Steve, and Dustin are in the back of the parlor as Dustin plays them the recording. Steve is slowly pacing back and forth eating a banana, and Olivia is sitting next Dustin, listening to it closely. "So what do you think?" Dustin asked the older teens after playing the recording a couple of times.

            "It sounded familiar," Steve said with a mouth full of banana. Olivia giggled at him.

            Dustin squinted his eyes at Steve. "What?"

            "The music," Steve answered, wiping his mouth off with his hand. Olivia sighed and walked over to Steve and handed him a napkin that she had in her pocket.

            "Oh, thanks. Want some?" Steve offered her some of the banana.

            Olivia wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Uh, no thank you."

            "The music," Steve repeated to Dustin. "The music right there at the end."

            "He's right," Olivia agreed. "The music does sound familiar."

            "Why are you guys listening to the music?" Dustin shouted at them. "Listen to the Russian!"

            "We're trying to listen but there's music playing-"

            Robin barged into the back and interrupted Steve. "Alright, family time is over, one of you guys need to get in there." She turned to look at her white board, and frowned when she noticed her chart had been erased. "Hey, my board! That was import data, shitbirds," She scolded.

            "I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than you're data," Dustin retorted.

            "Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" Robin quizzed them.

            Dustin widens his eyes and looks back and forth at Steve and Olivia. "How does she know about the Russians?"

            "I don't know!" Steve said in another mouth full of banana. Olivia sighed again and pulled out another napkin, and wiped his mouth for him. Robin snickered at them.

            "Uh, sorry to interrupt lovebirds, but we don't have any time for that. Liv, did you tell her about-"

            "No!" Olivia answered Dustin, tossing the napkin away.

            Dustin narrowed his eyebrows at Steve. "Then you told her about-"

            "It wasn't me!" Steve defended himself.

            "Hello, I can hear you." Robin interrupted the boys. "Actually, I can hear everything. You are both extremely loud," Robin pointed to Steve and Dustin. "Liv, I don't know how this strange child is your brother. But back to what I was saying, you think you have evil Russians plotting against our country on tape, and you're trying to translate but you haven't figured out a single word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet even though Liv, the only reasonable one here, kept reminding you that. Sound about right?"

            Steve and Dustin look at each other amazed. As Olivia is about to toss Robin the tape, Steve stopped her. "Whoa! What do you think you're doing?"

            "Robin was in my French class," Olivia shrugged. "Maybe she can help, too."

            "I'm not just fluent in French," Robin added in. "I'm fluent in four languages, you know."

            "Russian?" Dustin asked, impressed by the blonde.

            "Oh-yay are-yay umb-day," Robin answered.

             Steve's eyes lit up with amazement at the intelligent girl. "Woah-ho-ho!"

            "Holy shit!" Dustin exclaimed.

            "That was Pig Latin, dingus," Robin corrected.

            "Idiot," Steve swatted Dustin.

            Olivia rolled her eyes at the two idiots, wondering why she hung out with those two. "Um, she said you are dumb. So, actually the both of you are idiots," She retorted, which made Dustin glare at her.

            "Woah-ho-ho!" Robin said, mocking Steve. "Nice one, Liv." Robin and Olivia high-fived each other, as the boys continued to glare at them.

            "I can also speak Spanish and Italian. And I've been in band for 12 years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me." When Steve and Dustin didn't say anything, Robin pleaded again, "Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit, I'm just bored."

            Olivia knew the girl was smart, but this was a whole other level of smart. Olivia looked up at Steve and started to tug on his arm. "Please?" She begged. "If we're going to translate this, we're going to need all the help we can get."

            Steve sighed, hating how easy it was for Olivia to convince him. "Alright fine," He turned back to Robin, "But if you tell anyone about this-"

            "I won't, I promise," Robin assured him.

            "Fine," Steve sighed. "I guess I'll sling some ice cream then," He reluctantly handed the tape and traded it for the scoop.

◈◆◈◆◈◆◈◆◈

            "We've got our first sentence," Robin said excitedly behind the window, with Olivia standing besides her.

            "Oh, seriously?" Steve perked up.

            "Yeah," Olivia nodded. "The week is long." She said, trying to imitate it in a Russian accent, but did it terribly.

            "Well, that's thrilling," Steve said sarcastically.

            "I know, but progress," Robin encouraged and went back to working on the translation.

            Olivia smiled when she noticed Max and El standing on the other side of the counter. "Hey Max and El!" She waved at the two. "Girls day, I see?" El was wearing a cute black romper with colorful shapes all over it. Olivia thought it was adorable on her.

            "Yeah!" Max nodded with a smile. Olivia returned it, happy that those two were finally becoming friends. El could use a girl friend, Olivia thought she hung out with Mike too much.

            "As cute as your hand me downs are," Max told the older girl. "I thought she could find her own look."

            "Well I'm loving the new look!" Olivia complemented. "Glad you girls are having fun. You deserve it El."

            "Here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream," Steve handed them the two ice cream cones.

            "Thanks," The girls said in unison.

            As Max was about to pay, Olivia stopped her. "I got it, it's on the house for my two favorite daughters,"She laughed.

            "Really? Thanks Liv!" Max and El beamed.

            Steve paused and studied El for a second. "Wait a second, are you even allowed to be here?"

            "Oh, leave her alone," Olivia swatted his shoulder. "The poor girl is locked in her house all day. She deserves a day out."

            Max and El giggled. "Well, bye mom and dad!" Max teased, and the two girls ran off.

◈◆◈◆◈◆◈◆◈

            It was finally the end of the day, and Olivia and Robin finally figured out most of the translation.

            The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west.

            "I mean, it just... it just can't be right." Steve shook his head as he locked up the parlor. The busy mall was now completely empty as they started to walk back to their cars. The pink glow from the neon store signs reflected on them, and Steve thought it made Olivia look even more beautiful. Their hands were barely brushing against each other as they walked side by side.

            "It's right," Robin corrected Steve, which snapped him out of his daze.

            "Honestly, I think it's great news," Dustin admitted and Olivia nodded in agreement.

            "How is this great news?" Steve chuckled bitterly. "I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense."

            "It's not nonsense," Dustin disagreed. "It's too specific. It's obviously a code."

            "What do you mean, a code?" Steve queried.

            "Like a super secret spy code," Dustin clarified.

            "That's a total stretch," Steve said in disbelief.

            Olivia looked up at Steve. "I don't know, is it?"

            "You're buying into this?" Steve questioned her.

            "Maybe," Olivia said with a shrug. "I mean, is Dusty ever wrong?"

            "Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission, what do you think they were gonna say, fire the warhead at noon?" Robin chimed in.

            "Robin's right," Olivia nodded. "I mean, it says the silver cat feeds. Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the meaning of a message? It's gotta be some kind of riddle or a code."

            "My point exactly," Robin nodded in agreement. "And why would anyone mask the meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"

            "Exactly," Dustin agreed. Steve mocked him, and Olivia shoved him gently to stop.

            "So I guess that confirms your suspicions, Dusty."

            "Evil Russians," Dustin grinned proudly.

            Robin looked past Steve at Olivia. "I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange little brother of yours," Robin laughed, "But yeah, totally evil Russians."

            "So how do we crack it?" Dustin asked.

            "Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges," Robin explained.

            "A pattern," Olivia hummed. "Right, like maybe silver cat is a meeting place?" She lets out a small gasp. "What if it could be in this very mall?"

            "I don't know," Robin shrugged. "It could also be a person."

            "Or a weapon," Dustin suggested.

            Steve suddenly grabbed Olivia's hand and he leads her quickly over to the horse carousel. "What?" Olivia questioned Steve and blushed at the contact. She widened her eyes in realization when she realized what Steve was trying to show her. "The music!" She gasped. "We need a quarter." She started to dig around in her purse and fumbled with her stash of change, but couldn't find one.

            "It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but..." Robin trailed off, then stopped when she doesn't see Olivia or Steve behind them. "Hey, where are your parents?" She asked Dustin.

            Robin and Dustin turn around to see Steve and Olivia kneeling down by the carousel. "Hey guys, uh, what are you doing?"

            "Uh, it's a quarter. We need- do you have a quarter?" Steve mumbled.

            "You sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin joked.

            "Quarter!" Steve demanded.

            Robin tossed him a quarter. "You need help getting up little Stevie?" She teased and Dustin chuckled.

            "Shhh! Would you two just shut up and listen?" Steve scolded them.

            Dustin's eyes grew big after he realizes what Steve was trying to show them. "Holy shit. The music. The music!" He pulled out the tape in his backpack, and played the recording.

            "I don't understand," Robin asked with confusion in her tone.

            "It's the exact same song on the recording," Olivia claimed.

            "Maybe they have horses like this in Russia," Robin shrugged.

            Steve looked at the horse closely. "Indiana flyer? I don't think so. The code, it didn't come from Russia. It came from here."

            A terrible feeling swarmed in Olivia's stomach at Steve's statement. Could this mean that Hawkins was in danger again? Even just the thought made her whole body quiver with fear. When Steve noticed her shaking, he put his hand over hers, hoping that would calm her down.

            "You're right, Dusty," She exhaled. "It's time for us to be heroes."