CHAPTER THREE
SPY KIDS

"Mavis!" Robin said with a smile as the brown-haired girl walked inside Scoops Ahoy. "You ready for more translating?"

"I was born ready," she smiled. She saw Steve at the counter and smirked slightly. "Ahoy sailor," she teased him as she walked past him and followed Robin to the back.

Steve just rolled his eyes. This girl was a headache.

"Wilson," was all he could say before she disappeared.

Mavis had woken up in a good mood, and not even her father was able to ruin it with his screaming. This whole thing just felt like something straight out of a book or a movie, and she was really enjoying it. Enjoying it so much that she didn't seem to fathom the severity of the situation.

So during her break, she went to the ice cream parlor. And here she was, along with Robin, listening to the recording again. It didn't take them too long to translate the rest of it, since they had done most of the work the day before.

"A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly," Mavis read the new sentence out loud. "Does this make sense to you?" she asked Robin as she walked back into the room.

Robin crossed her arms in front of her. "Not really. But it has to. There is definitely something hidden in that message."

Mavis looked at her watch, sighing as she stood up. "Well, you will have to figure it out on your own. I have to get back to work. But I will see you guys after my shift is over," she walked back to the front, Robin behind her. "If you figure it out, please let me know."

"Will do."

She smiled at the girl before she left Scoops Ahoy and walked through the food court to get to Imperial Panda. She did not know what she was expecting, but she definitely wasn't expecting to see Steve and Dustin in front of the restaurant, hiding behind some plants as they watched around the mall with binoculars.

"What the hell are you two doing?" she asked, making the two jump.

"God! Don't do that," Steve yelled, hand going to his chest as if to calm himself down.

"We're spying, Mavis. We need to find the evil Russians before they find us," Dustin explained.

"Do you really think they're going to be walking through the mall? With, let's say, their guns in plain sight?" she crossed her arms as she raised her eyebrows.

"Shouldn't you go back to work?"

She rolled her eyes at Steve as she put her hands up, her palms showing. "I was just saying," she said before she turned around and walked to the restaurant.

A few minutes passed, and Dustin and Steve were still spying. Mavis had just bid goodbye to a customer and since there was no one else in line, she decided to see how they were doing.

"Any luck?"

"Not really, but–"

"Target acquired," Dustin interrupted Steve.

"What?"

"Where?" Steve asked.

"Ten o'clock. Sam Goody's."

"Give me that," the older boy said as he grabbed the binoculars. "Shit."

"What? What is it?"

Instead of answering her, Steve and Dustin just looked at each other. "Evil Russian," they said, standing up.

"Could you maybe share your findings with the class?" she asked sarcastically. She was starting to get mad at them for ignoring her and not giving her an answer.

"No time for that," was all Steve said as he took Mavis' hand and started to run.

Mavis' eyes just widened as she was dragged by Steve. Looking down at their hands, she frowned slightly. Why had he done that? And more importantly, why did it feel... natural?

However, she didn't have time to think it through as she ran alongside him and Dustin through the mall. Apparently following one of the evil Russians.

"Guys," she spoke as they had reached the second floor, "I don't think this is a good idea. We're literally following what is very likely a dangerous individual! We should–"

She was interrupted by Steve pulling her closer to him as he hid them behind a plant. He brought a finger to his lips, signaling her to shut up and nodding his head in the direction of their possible target. But Mavis was too stunned to look in that direction. In fact, she was speechless, not knowing why the hell she was blushing. Sooner than she had wished, he stepped away and let go of her hand before following Dustin. She stood there for a few seconds before snapping out of it and going after them.

They were hiding behind a column, so she joined them and followed their gazes. They were staring at a place called Jazzercise, where a man with long blond hair had just walked inside carrying a duffel bag. She frowned slightly, but her frown soon turned into an amused smile as the man walked to the front and started the class.

"That's the evil Russian you were talking about?" she said before bursting into laughter. "Oh my god, this is hilarious."

Steve just sighed. Now they would never going to hear the end of it.

The three of them walked back to Scoops Ahoy, Mavis still laughing. "Robin, you're not going to believe who these two thought was a Russian," she said as they walked inside the parlor. However, Robin just ran past them. Mavis frowned, and after looking at the boys, followed her.

She found her in the middle of the food court, looking around. "Robin?" she asked as the other two caught up.

"What are you doing?"

Robin just smiled. "I cracked it."

Steve frowned. "Cracked what?"

But Mavis smiled, being completely impressed right now. "She cracked the code."

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Finally, Mavis' shift was over. After finding out that Robin had actually cracked the code, her boss called out to her angrily, giving her no choice but to go back to work. And during the rest of her shift, all she could think about was the code. And the feeling of Steve's hand in hers, but that wasn't important at the moment.

She changed out of her uniform and into her clothes and grabbed her bag before rushing to the ice cream parlor. As soon as she walked inside, Robin approached her and told her the message behind the code.

"So we got this delivery, and the company that does it it's Lynx, and their logo is a silver cat. China is Imperial Panda, and tread lightly is Kaufman Shoes. And lastly but definitely not least, when blue meets yellow in the west are the hands of the mall clock, signaling at what time this will go down."

Mavis immediately complimented her intelligence once she was done explaining. Now it made sense why she was never able to help with the delivery... Her intuition had been right.

"I knew there was something weird going on with our delivery. My boss never lets me handle it. And let's be honest, I work more than that asshole."

"He's probably a pawn," she just nodded at Robin's words as she followed her to the back, where Steve and Dustin were. There, she was told the plan: they would use the tunnels that connected all stores together, and were mostly used for delivery, to get to the roof, and from there they would do what they did best: spy.

Mavis wanted to disagree with that last part, given Steve and Dustin's stakeout mishap a few hours prior, but she decided to shut her mouth.

When they made it to the roof, they realized it was pouring, and so they all had to put on their raincoats. They chose a place near the edge and looked down, but it was hard to see anything due to the shower they were under. Mavis really liked the rain — there was nothing better than reading a book or sleeping while the raindrops hit the windows — but in that moment she just wished it would stop so they would have a better look. All she could make out was a big door with two men in front of it. At least Dustin had the binoculars.

"Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes."

"They're with that whistling guy, ten o'clock."

"What do you think is in there?"

"Guns, bombs," Dustin said.

"Chemical weapons," Mavis interrupted as she put her hand over her eyes to stop the rain from ruining her view.

"Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth." That couldn't mean anything good.

"Great. That's great," Steve said exasperatedly.

Suddenly, the big door opened.

"Hey, what's in there?" Robin asked.

"It's just more boxes," Dustin answered.

"Let me check it out," Steve said as he tried to take the binoculars. However, Dustin wasn't letting him, and the two started to bicker, resulting in a loud thud.

Mavis' eyes widened as she, like the others, laid completely down on the ground, their hearts beating out of their chests. That had been close. She didn't want to know what would have happened if they had been caught. Looking over at the others to see how they were handling it, she noticed Steve and Robin holding hands. Huh.

"Come on," she whispered, halfway standing up so that the Russians couldn't see her, and walking over to the door slowly, the others behind her. She opened the door gradually before she went in, letting out a sigh of relief.

"I think we found our Russians."

As the four walked back to Scoops Ahoy through the tunnels, Mavis noticed a slightly open door, and curiosity got the best of her. She stopped walking and looked at the other three before she decided to peek through the hole, her eyes immediately lighting up as she rushed inside.

Not hearing Mavis' footsteps behind them, Steve turned around, and he grew worried when he didn't see her there, stopping his walk. Had the evil Russians taken her?

"Where's Mavis?" he asked the other two, but they just shared a worried look. "God," was all Steve could say before he began to retrace their steps. If the Russians had taken her, they couldn't have gotten that far; and that meant they could still save her. "Wilson?" he called out, hoping she would hear him and answer.

Suddenly, Mavis exited the room she had entered with something in her hands, scaring her friends in the process.

"Where were you?" Steve asked after his heart had calmed down.

Mavis just smirked as she lifted both of her hands, holding what she had just obtained: a Lynx jacket. "Finding us a way in."

『••✎••』

mavis is such a badass, *sigh* i wish i was her... especially because of steve holding her hand🥰; also, aren't you obsessed with robin & mavis' friendship? because i certainly am😍

& yes, this chapter is named after the iconic movies; i was obsessed with them when i was younger, but can't you blame me?

anyways, don't be a ghost reader & i'll see you next chapter! 💙

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