CHAPTER TWO
AYE AYE CAPTAIN!

"What? You can't be serious."

"Well, I am serious Mavis. I forgot Louis was coming in today, and now we're overstaffed. So, as I already said, you have the day off."

Mavis scoffed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. She had rode her bike all the way to the mall just for her boss to tell her they didn't need her today, even after he specified the day before that she needed to come. It was infuriating. But she wasn't trying to get fired, so she decided not to fight him. Instead, she just nodded and left the restaurant.

On the bright side, having a day off meant that she could finally finish her book, and maybe treat herself to something. She looked around the mall before her eyes stopped at Scoops Ahoy, smirking slightly. Ice cream sounded great.

Walking inside the parlor, Mavis caught a glimpse of Steve sitting with one of Will's friends at one of the tables, but she headed straight for the counter.

"Hey," she greeted Robin. She had seen Robin around high school before, but they didn't know each other. All she knew was that Robin was in band, and that was enough for her to find her likable.

"Oh, Imperial Panda girl, right?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "The one and only. The name's Mavis."

"Well, Mavis, what can I get for you?"

"Two scoops of chocolate in a cup, please," she said as she put the exact money on the counter.

After Robin handed her the ice cream, Mavis sat down at one of the booths, placing her bag on the spot next to her and her ice cream on the table. She looked through her bag and pulled out her book, starting to read it as she ate her chocolate ice cream, smiling slightly. Scoops Ahoy might have had the worst uniforms in all Starcourt Mall, but their ice cream was definitely the best in all Hawkins.

She had sat down close to Steve and his younger friend, and they were talking quite loudly. But that didn't really bother Mavis. She had always been good at focusing on her stuff and ignoring the world around her.

"I intercepted a secret Russian communication!"

However, that was hard to ignore. She raised her head to look at the duo, now curious about their conversation. In fact, she was so curious she decided to eavesdrop.

"It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American heroes," she couldn't help but roll her eyes at that statement.

"American heroes..."

"Just think, you could have all the ladies you want and more."

"I don't think Harrington would get any ladies, even as a hero," Mavis said as she sat down next to the younger boy. Why had she done that? She had no idea. She just knew she wanted to participate in the conversation. Something unusual for her, but she decided to go with it. "I mean, he can't flirt to save his life. And I honestly don't think the hero title would change that."

Steve stared at the newcomer. She was familiar... "I know you. I've seen you around school. And you work at that Chinese restaurant."

"Mavis Wilson at your service," she spoke to him before turning to the other boy. "You're one of Will's friends, right?"

"Yes... I'm Dustin."

"Well, Dustin," she said, placing her elbow on the table and holding her face with her hand. "That 'secret Russian communication' you just mentioned..." Steve and Dustin shared a look, "Is that part of Will's new DnD campaign?"

"Yes... yes!" Dustin said. He was not about to tell a stranger the truth.

"Can we please go back to the part where you said I can't flirt?" Steve interrupted, looking at Mavis with a frown on his face.

"What? It's true," she shrugged. "I work right on the other side of the food court, and I see everything. Including your unsuccessful flirting with every female that walks in here."

He scoffed and Dustin let out a chuckle. "I like her."

"Well, I don't," Steve crossed his arms in front of him as he leant back on the booth.

"Anyways, back to more important matters," she turned her attention back to Dustin. "Tell me more about the Russian thing."

"Why should he?"

She rolled her eyes at Steve's words, glaring slightly at him. "Because I know Russian, so I thought I could help since I don't have any plans today."

Dustin' eyes immediately widened as he looked at Mavis. "You know Russian?"

"A bit, yes," she nodded. "I learned it last summer."

"Because that's a very normal thing to do," Steve chimed in.

"What can I say? It was a boring summer," she said, now imitating Steve and leaning back on her seat as well, eating her ice cream.

Steve and Dustin shared a look, the oldest sliding closer to the youngest before they started to whisper. Mavis just raised an eyebrow. Why the secrecy? Anyways, she shrugged and proceeded to finish her ice cream.

After a few seconds, Steve slid out of the booth, standing up. He took a few steps, Dustin behind him, before he looked back at Mavis. "What are you waiting for? Let's go."

She smirked slightly. "Aye aye, captain," she said in a teasing tone as she stood up and followed them to the back.

"Okay so," Dustin spoke, "if we're going to work together, you need to know the truth." Mavis raised an eyebrow. "This is not part of a DnD campaign. I actually intercepted a secret Russian communication. Last night."

"When he was trying to reach his girlfriend," Steve said in a somewhat sarcastic tone, which earned him a glare from Dustin.

"Okay, whatever. I'm still in."

"You are?"

"Yes. I'm bored, and who knows, maybe this heroine title will be my ticket out of here." After all, the only reason she had gotten a job was so that she could save up enough money to leave Hawkins right after graduation. She didn't exactly like this place.

"Awesome," Dustin smiled as he sat down and took his things out of his back. Steve, on the other hand, started to eat a banana, pacing around the room.

Meanwhile, Mavis looked around the place, her eyes stopping at a white board. On it, there were two sides: 'you rule' and 'you suck'. And the 'you suck' was definitely winning. She smiled slightly as she took the board and brought it with her to the table.

"Is this important?" she asked Steve.

"No! Not at all," he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "But what do you need it for?"

"You guys do know that the Russians use a completely different alphabet than we do, right?" the two boys exchanged a look as Mavis sighed. "This is going to be fun," she muttered under her breath, sitting down and starting to erase what was on the board.

"You're going to write the Russian alphabet... right?" Dustin asked.

"Correct," she said as she started to write it down. Once she was done, she stood up again and placed the board back on its place. "Ta-da!"

"Impressive," Dustin said as Mavis sat down again.

"Okay, let's hear it."

Dustin turned on the tape recorder, and the three listened to the recording. It was hard for Mavis to understand some of the words. She had learned Russian a year ago, so she was obviously a little rusty, but it wasn't just that. The man in the recording wasn't making any sense.

"So what do you think?"

Mavis was about to answer Dustin before Steve interrupted her. "It sounded familiar."

She looked at him. "What?"

"The music. The music right there at the end," she mentally facepalmed.

"Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!"

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music–"

"Alright, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there," suddenly, Robin entered the back room. She was probably tired of doing all the work, and Mavis couldn't blame her. "Hey, my board!" she exclaimed, going up to the board. "That was important data."

"I'm really sorry... But don't worry, I saved it up here," Mavis said, pointing to her head.

"You better. I need it to remind Steve of all his losses."

"It has to do with Harrington?" she let out a chuckle. "Then I'm definitely not forgetting it." Steve just rolled his eyes in annoyance. Who did she think she was?

"Anyways," Dustin spoke, "I guarantee you that what we're doing is way more important than your data."

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" the three of them shared a look.

"She's good," Mavis whispered.

"I am", Robin smiled before looking at Steve. "It's your turn to sling ice cream and my turn to translate. I don't even want credit... I'm just bored."

Mavis looked at Steve with a smirk. "You heard her."

He just rolled his eyes and looked at Dustin before giving Robin the tape and heading to the front. Mavis leant back on her seat, smiling.

"Do you hear that?"

"What?" Dustin frowned.

"Silence."

Robin let out a laugh. "Mavis, you're my favorite person now."

Mavis smiled at her before Dustin interrupted them, and the three of them proceeded to translate. Like mentioned, her Russian was dusty, so she really didn't know all the words. But Robin was good at languages, and a great help. And Dustin's enthusiasm helped as well.

As the day came to an end, the Scoops Panda gang had translated the first part of the recording. It read 'The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west.' It didn't make any sense, so they all just hoped that the puzzle would be solved once they translated the missing part.

"I mean, it just... It just can't be right." Steve spoke as the four left the ice cream parlor and started to walk towards the exit.

"It is right."

"Yes," Mavis agreed with Robin. "Or are you questioning our translation skills, Harrington?

"Come on, it is total nonsense. So much for being American heroes," he whined.

"It's too specific. It's obviously a code," Dustin said.

"A code? That's a total stretch."

"Is it though?" Mavis looked at Steve. "Think about it. If what Dustin recorded is indeed a secret Russian transmission, they're not going to just share their plans with the whole world. They hid the message they created a code, so that whoever is meant to hear it, and no one else, can understand it."

"Exactly," Robin nodded. "I guess that confirms Dustin's suspicion."

Dustin smiled. "Evil Russians."

"Okay, so let's say you're right," Steve rolled his eyes. "How do we crack it?"

"We translate the rest and see if there is a pattern," Mavis said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, maybe 'silver cat' is a person."

"Or a weapon."

As Dustin and Robin continued to try and figure out what 'silver cat' could stand for, Mavis turned around and noticed Steve wasn't walking with them anymore. Instead, he was standing next to a mechanical horse.

"Don't you think you're a bit too tall for that ride, Harrington?" she smirked as she walked over to him.

"Shut it, Wilson."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "What are you even doing?"

"I just need a..." he looked at her. "Do you have a quarter?" she nodded and took a quarter out of her front pocket, giving it to him. Meanwhile, Robin and Dustin caught up to them.

"You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin teased.

"Shh!" he said as he inserted the quarter and the machine came to life. "Would you just shut up and listen?"

So they did. And soon enough, Mavis' eyes widened slightly. "Holy shit."

Dustin caught up on it too. "The music."

"The music!"

"I don't understand," Robin was confused.

"It's the exact same song on the recording," Steve and Mavis said at the same time, sharing a look after speaking. She was the first to break eye contact. That had been weird.

"This code..." Dustin started speaking. "It didn't come from Russia."

Mavis shook her head. This was bad, very bad. "It came from here."

『••✎••』

what an adorable meet-cute between mavis & steve, am i right? 😌 you're going to love them. & you're also going to love the friendship between mavis & robin, my favorite translators🥰 oh, & don't forget to check the lookbook to see mavis' outfit during this chapter☺️

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

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