𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

60

❝𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐍,❞ dani sighed exasperatedly. the buckley girl had divulged the secret meaning behind the russian code in order to recruit sheridan, steve, and dustin for the next phase of their mission: "blue meeting yellow in the west" alluded to the hands on starcourt's clock, "the silver cat" being the mall's feline-derived distribution company lynx, and that "a walk to china sounds nice if you tread lightly" implied that imperial panda and kaufman's shoes were somehow in on it all. despite the fact that robin sounded clinically insane, the other three really had no other option than to believe it.

"you know you love me!" she shouted over the heavy rain. the four were adorned in raincoats and plastic ponchos, shielding themselves from the summer storm as they kept a watchful eye on the mall's security guards. they were awaiting a delivery for either kauffman's or imperial panda, from none other than lynx themselves; and the crew was right on time at 9:45pm, the clock's hands meeting in the west.

a transportation truck began to reverse into the loading dock, its incessant beeping barely noticeable over the roaring thunder. dustin honed in on the vehicle with his binoculars. sherrie tugged her blue poncho hood further over her head, huddling slightly closer to steve, who was absolutely soaked from head to toe. he ran his fingers through his hair as best he could, before flicking drops of rain from his eyes. "they're with that whistling guy, ten o-clock!" dustin loudly mentioned, his finger pointed directly at the man ushering in imperial panda boxes on a dolly. sheridan squinted, her gaze focused on him.

"what do you think's in there?" steve questioned.

"guns, bombs..." dustin began to reply.

"chemical weapons," robin tacked on. steve nodded in faux understanding. he always did see the world through rose-tinted shades.

"whatever it is, they're armed to teeth!" dustin continued, alluding to the guns the guards wielded across their chests. 

"great," steve satirically stated. "that's great."

the four sat in momentary silence, watching intently as one of the guard's scanned his identification to let the delivery boy inside. "hey, what's in there?" robin inquired of the newly opened room.

"it's just more boxes," dustin answered, his lenses still fixated on the loading dock.

"let me check it out," steve commanded. he blocked the boy's view with his hand, attempting to snatch the binoculars from him like he had done earlier in the day.

"no, i'm still looking!" dustin defended. he tugged forcefully away from steve, who already had a physical advantage.

"lemme see it!"

"hang on!" the henderson boy pleaded. as karma usually did to steve, though, the rain caused his grip to falter. dustin continued to resist with all the strength he could muster, and flew back from steve's sudden lack of force. the metal of the binoculars clashed against the roof's metal trim, causing a clamorous shock of sound to radiate into the night. they watched as the guards took notice. their gaze flitted around the lot and their grips tightened on their weaponry. hastily, the four ducked. their chests heaved rapidly. sheridan's eyes snapped shut, and she nearly began holding her breath, before another hand took hers—but she realized quickly it was now robin on her right, not steve. through the corner of her eye, she glanced down at the painted fingers intertwined with her own.

✽

𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐌 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑, taking time to soak in the stillness of the post-lunch rush. she scanned her inventory clipboard. "dani!" a nearing voice hollered from behind her. immediately, she turned around to be faced with robin. her mind was flown back to just hours prior, her pulse slightly quickened remembering her hand in hers. as robin approached the girl, she snapped back into the present. "you will never guess what i got my hands on," she breathed out as she sat her bicycle helmet between them and began to dig into her backpack. 

"what did you do now?" she interrogated, placing her clipboard next to robin's helmet. it truly baffled her how quickly the buckley girl's mind worked—sure, dani was more naturally gifted cranially than some people she knew, but robin seemed to be making a break in the case nearly everyday. 

"slipped the town hall receptionist a twenty," she confessed with a meek grin. sherrie couldn't help but smile.

robin bobbed up, and gently slid the helmet and clipboard further down the counter before placing a thin sheet of what appeared to be blueprints in their place. dani's brows furrowed. "what exactly am i looking at here?"

"starcourt mall," robin replied dramatically. sheridan snapped her head up, their eyes locking. her right brow raised.

"you're kidding."

"not in the slightest." after procuring the goods, she knew dani was the first person she wanted to tell.

"...why do we need them?"

"well," robin began, before taking a sharp inhale. "here's scoops," she pointed to one of the square establishments on the sheet, closest to her, "and obviously, here's sam goody's," her finger moved down the row to sheridan's store. "but this is where we want to get." robin then moved on to the one of the shops on the other side, directly in front of scoops.

"sure, but... how do we expect to get in, without getting caught?" dani pressed further, her gears turning with feverish fluidity as she attempted to connect the dots within robin's scheme.

abruptly, robin threw the first set of blueprints behind her to unveil another set. this set was visibly different, with a distinct sort of pipe system that connected every single store on their level. "our ice cream needs cooled, your records need to be preserved..." robin's hint flipped the switch to sheridan's lightbulb.

"the air ducts!" the ginger haired girl stated aloud, her eyes widened. robin's lips pursed and her brows raised, signaling she was correct. from her uniform pocket, she took a red dry erase marker. she circled the building she had identified as scoops ahoy, and began following the duct all the way to the building on the other side, circling that as well. sherrie watched intently. "holy shit."

✽