𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 ⟿ s. harrington

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

WE CAN BE HEROES !

☀︎

TRANSLATING WHAT THE GROUP HAD THOUGHT TO BE 'SECRET RUSSIAN SHIT' HAD BEEN A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT WHEN THEY HAD THEIR FINAL RESULT. The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. It was late and the mall had closed down by the time the group was finished and ready to call it a night. There was no thrill when they had left as they were expecting. Instead, they had been fairly quiet compared to earlier in the day as they got lost in thought.

Alex had stood outside Scoops Ahoy as they locked up, now wearing Dustin's backpack, Steve's sailor cap and Robin's sweatshirt. A long day spent at the mall had her randomly taking things from those around her to claim as her own. Not that any of them cared— Dustin's shoulders hurt, Steve hated that his hat covered his hair, and Robin knew Alex was shivering from all the ice cream she had eaten through the day.

After locking up, Steve had immediately gravitated towards Alex, taking her hand in his as they followed the other two to head out of the mall. "I mean, it just... it just can't be right."

Robin had rolled her eyes, hating that he had doubted her ability to translate. She knew she was right and it wasn't her fault it made no sense. "It's right," she scoffed over her shoulder.

"Honestly, I think it's great news," Dustin piped up. Of course it was great news to him— it meant that their adventure was only at its beginning. This was the first step, the next was translating the code into something that made sense. And with the team he had assembled, he had no doubt it would be just as quick and easy.

Steve didn't seem to think the same way. "How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense."

Alex scrunched up her face in guilt as she sided against Steve. "I mean, it's not total nonsense."

"Oh, so you're buying into this? It's nonsense. No one talks like that."

"Yeah, exactly. It's obviously code. If they flat out said what they were up to, it wouldn't be so secret."

"Code? That's a total stretch."

Stopping, Robin had waited for Steve and Alex to catch up so they could all get on the same page. This was much more than just translating Russian and as much as all of them had expected a normal, boring summer, this was going to be far from it. "I don't know, is it really a stretch? Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility THAG it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, Fire the warhead at noon? And my translation is correct. I know that for sure. But you're right, why would anyone talk like that... that is unless they're trying to mask the true meaning of the message. And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"