[ 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚐𝚜 & 𝙳𝚒𝚛𝚝 ] ~ 𝙳𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚡 𝙾𝚌

XXVI - The Plan.

Erica Sinclair, Lucas's little sister, was stood atop a ladder, flashlight in hand as she stared into the vent in the back room of Scoops Ahoy. "Hmm. Yeah, I don't know." 

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

"She can definitely fit." Lucy countered. 

"I just don't know if I want to." Erica sassed back.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Robin asked from her spot leaned against the counter. 

The middle schooler scoffed. "I don't have phobias." 

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

"Nothing's in it for her." Russell guessed with a small smile.

"Exactly. What's in this for Erica?" The Sinclair girl snarked. 

Five minutes later and the group was sitting around a booth, Steve pushing yet another bowl piled of ice cream over to the girl. She had cones and bowls and boats of at least one scoop of each flavor. Erica pushed the boat themed split back over toward Steve, looking him dead in the eye and speaking with a soft tone. "More fudge please." The five others looked at the bowl for a second before Erica waved Steve off, "go on." He took the bowl, walking back over toward the counter to pile more chocolate on top, his girlfriend going with him. 

"Alright." Robin took out the map, holding it up with the red marks on it to show Erica. "You see this? This is the route you're gonna take." She drew her finger over the line, flipping it over to show her the rest. "Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door." 

"Then you find out what's in those boxes?"

Lucy nodded. "Piece of cake." 

"Mhmm." Erica drew out. "And you say this guard is armed." She looked over at Dustin and Lucy.

"Yes, but he won't be there." Dustin assured. 

"And booby traps?" 

"Booby traps?" Robin practically scoffed.

"Lasers, spikes in the wall?" Erica elaborated. Dustin laughed slightly

"What?" Robin smiled.

"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me?" 

"What's that?" Lucy tilted her head, her brows drawing together to crease. 

"Child. Endangerment." Erica made sure to annunciate her words separately. 

"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time-" Robin started.  

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!" Erica cut her off, shaking her head and waving a finger in Robin's face. "Child endangerment." 

"Erica?" Dustin said to get her attention. "Hi. Uh. . .We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?"

"You can't spell America without Erica." 

"That's. . .That's oddly true-" Lucy laughed slightly.

"Uh- Yeah, yeah-" Dustin nodded, his face showing just as much confusion as Lucy's as Erica slurped down her nearly empty soda. "That's uh, totally true. So- So don't do it for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man." 

Erica kept loudly slurping on her drink and Lucy, in turn, started scratching at her arm, her hand slipping under her sleeve. 

"Do this for America. . .Erica." Dustin smiled at the end.

"Ooh." Erica put her drink down, smiling. "I just got the chills."

Dustin smiled brightly, proud that his words had an impact. 

"Oh, yeah, from this float, not your speech." Erica shot down. "Know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?" Lucy chuckled. 

"Yeah-" Dustin said, clearly annoyed.

"Yeah." Robin said in a less flat tone, a small smile on her face.

"It means this is a free market system. Which 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." Her words were pointed to Robin now. "And I'm talking free ice cream for life." She put a cherry into her mouth, biting it off the stem and dropping the stem back down to the table.

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Word Count - 678

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Published - December 10, 2023

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{Author's Note}

Hello!

I apologize for writing such a short chapter! I've had a lot going on recently and had this one done already, so I figured that giving you guys something instead of waiting for even longer, would be better.

I hope you still enjoyed the chapter and hopefully I'll have a longer one next time.

I hope you're having a wonderful day, evening or night!

<3 - Ghosty