— ERICA SINCLAIR, OUR SAVIOR
season three — episode four

CHAPTER FOUR

OLIVER WOKE EVERYONE UP bright and early the next morning, rushing them out of his house and practically dragging them all to the mall, leaving both Dustin's bike and Steve's car behind just parked in his driveway. It was barely even 8 o'clock when Dustin when back to the place they had been last night, binoculars in hand, while the rest of them stayed behind to tend to customers since they couldn't just abandon their job.

      Thankfully, Dustin seemed to get some more information for them. Upon his return, he sat across from Steve before he began to explain exactly what he saw. "They use a keycard to get to and from the room. That keycard opens the door, but unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun." Oliver nodded along, already knowing this based on what they had seen last night. "Whatever's in that room, whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it."

      Oliver was leaning against a wall, staring at Steve as he twirled his hat around his finger, trying to comprehend what Dustin was saying. "But there's gotta be a way in," Robin stated, turning her head ever so slightly to look at Dustin. Steve brought the inside-out hat to his mouth and blew on it, fixing it. "Well, you know. . . I could just take him out." Oliver reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as soon as he heard those words. Oliver had no clue where he had gotten the absolutely stupid idea considering he had already lost two fights before, once to Jonathan Byers.

      "Take who out?" Robin questioned, pushing her eyebrows together while looking at Steve in pure amusement, already having heard the story of Steve getting his ass kicked from the perspective of Oliver. "The Russian guard." Robin nodded her head slowly and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "What? I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, and I take his keycard. It's easy." Oliver sniggered and walked forward, placing his hands on the edge of the table before leaning down as if that would help Steve understand what he was about to say a little better. "You have never won a fight in your life. This guy has a gun, a massive one according to Dustin. What makes you so sure you'd win this time around?"

      "Okay, that was one time—." Steve started to defend himself, backing away from Oliver a bit, flustered. "Twice. Jonathan. Year prior?" Dustin interrupted, bringing an amused smile to Oliver's face while he gestured over to Dustin, palm facing the air with all of his fingers pointed in his direction. "Listen, that doesn't count." Both Oliver and  Dustin quirked an eyebrow as they peered at Steve.

      "Why wouldn't it? Because it looks like he beat the shit out of you." Oliver wasn't close friends with them the year before last, but he still knew what they were talking about since Dustin had told him the story multiple times and found great amusement in watching Steve pout and flip him off, trying to keep his reputation up. "You got a fat lip, crooked nose, swollen eye, a lot of blood. . ." Oliver looked over at Robin, furrowing his eyebrows when he saw her looking at something.

      He turned his head and followed her gaze, eyes soon landing on the vent that lay overhead. "That just might work." She said, a smile on her face as she pushed herself away from the table, rushing out into the main area of the parlor. She ran over to the tip jar and grabbed all of the bills inside. "Robin." Steve looked at her in shock and annoyance, watching as she ran away with part of his earnings. "Hey, Robin! Hey, what— what are you doing?" Steve ran after her, bursting through the swinging door with his arms crossed over his chest, Dustin and Oliver close behind him.

      "I need cash." She said while turning on her heel, facing the three of them. Steve sighed and pointed at the wad of money in her hand. "Well, half of that's mine." He said, a disheartened and almost whiney tone lacing his voice. "Where're you going?" Robin started to walk backward as she continued to talk to them, fixing the cash in her hands so that he wouldn't drop it, eventually shoving it in her pocket. "To find a way into that room, a safe way. And, in the meantime, sling ice cream, behave, and don't get beat up. I'll be back in a jiff." Oliver laughed at the last 'rule' she had given them, turning to look at Steve when he heard him sigh.

      Steve looked over at Oliver as well, lips pursed. He furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Dustin licking his ice cream scooper from the corner of his eye and tore the scooper away from him. "Oh, dude," he spun the scooper around and placed it in his pocket. "Come on, man, not my scooper."

WHEN ROBIN RETURNED, SHE had a pretty large piece of paper in her hands. "It is fascinating what 20 bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office." She unfolded it and laid it down across the table, the blue markings symbolizing the blueprint of the mall. "Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints." Dustin looked at her with an impressed look on his face.

"Not bad." He complimented as Oliver leaned across the table, looking at the blueprint, using it as a map to try and figure out a new way to get through. "So, this is us, Scoops," she pointed at a small place on the map that checked out to be the parlor. "And this is where we want to get." She moved her finger and pointed at what seemed to be the secret room they were aiming for. "I mean, I don't really see a way in."

      "There's not," she grabbed ahold of the top sheet of paper and pulled it away, revealing a similar but different set of blueprints. "If you're talking exclusively about doors." Dustin looked up at her, catching up with what she was saying. Oliver nodded slowly, understanding, as he turned to look at the vent in the room. "Exactly."

      "Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room." She ran over to the whiteboard and quickly came back with the marker in her hand. "And these air ducts," she circled the room they were trying to get into before tracing a line all the way to where their vent was located. "Lead all the way. . ." She circled the parlor. "Here."

      With that, Steve got up to go get a ladder while Oliver searched for a screwdriver, soon finding one just as Steve set up the ladder. Steve started to climb up the ladder and Oliver handed him the screwdriver, their hands grazing just barely but still enough for Steve's heart to jolt. He quickly started to unscrew the screws in hopes of getting rid of that feeling and eventually pulled the vent cover off of the wall, handing it to Oliver. Oliver set it on the table beside him "Flashlight." Steve instructed. Dustin nodded and handed Steve the flashlight before he brought it up to the vent, peering into it.

      "Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know if you can fit in here. It's, like. . . super tight." Dustin shook his head and quickly reassured him that he would indeed fit considering he had no collarbones and such. "I'll fit. Trust me, no collarbones, remember?" Robin looked up at his, alarmed. "Uh, excuse me?"

      Oliver and Steve both turned to her. "He has Cleidocranial dysplasia." Oliver started, quickly getting interrupted by Steve who tried to explain in his own words. "He's missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo." Oliver looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, as did Robin.

      "You mean Gumby." Robin corrected. Steve only looked at her with a know-it-all face, even though he was 100% wrong. "I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo." Oliver sighed and shook his head, deciding that this was highly unimportant, and turned his attention back to Dustin, who was struggling to climb into the vent. "Steve, just shut up and push me!"

      "Okay." Steve set down the flashlight he was holding and grabbed Dustin by his feet, starting to push him by his feet. Oliver was predicting that this wasn't going to work and started to think about different ways. "Not my feet, dumbass. Push my ass." Oliver ignored him, quite used to all of this, and started to look around, peering out into the other half of the parlor. When he did, she saw Erica walking in and grabbed Robin's shoulder, pointing out at her.

Robin turned just as Erica rang the bell. "Ahoy, sailors! All hands on deck! Ahoy!" Robin and Oliver shared a knowing look, the same idea running through both of their minds as they both rushed out, leaving Steve and Dustin behind. Eventually, the two noticed that they had left and followed after them, walking into the main part of the parlor as well. "Get over here and serve me some samples."

"Hey, Erica!" Erica smiled when she saw Oliver walk through the door and gave him a wave. "Do you mind coming back here for just a moment, we want to ask you something." She pretended the think for a moment before slowly nodding, looking between them suspiciously. They moved out of the way so that she could walk in and started to explain to her.

"So, in short, we found these big bad guys who are doing something suspicious in this room and the only way to figure out what's in that room is to go through the vents. But, none of us can fit. Do you think you can?" Dustin asked, handing her a flashlight when she stuck her hand out. She climbed up the ladder and flicked the flashlight on, scanning the vent. "Hmm. Yeah, I don't know." She climbed back down almost immediately, looking at the four others who were awaiting her response.

"You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asked, trying to clarify just exactly what she was saying. She set the flashlight down and pursed her lips. "Oh, I can fit. I just don't know if I want to." Robin furrowed her eyebrows and leaned against the ledge below the window. Oliver straightened up a bit to get more comfortable.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Erica snickered at this, almost revolted yet amused at the idea that they thought she was scared of something. "I don't have phobias." Oliver bit the inside of his cheek and raised an eyebrow. Then it occurred to him. This was Erica. She was probably going to ask what she was going to get if she helped them with this. "Okay, well, what's the problem?"

"The problem is, I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica." He knew it. Robin and Steve looked at each other before sighing. Oliver already knew what they were about to suggest. "Ice cream on the house?"

Erica smirked and nodded, already going to sit at a booth while Robin and Steve started to prepare ice cream. Not even ten minutes later, both Steve and Robin came up to the booth with quite a few things. Steve slid a banana split over to Erica and they stopped and stared for a moment, waiting for her to say something. Instead, she pursed her lips and slid the banana split back over. "More fudge, please. Go on."

      Steve looked at her, clearly annoyed, as he took the banana split back, walking back up to the counter. Robin sighed and lifted the blueprints that were beside her, holding them up since the table was covered with ice cream. "Alright. You see this?" She pointed at the red line that was on the paper. "This is the route you're gonna take."

      "Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door." Robin explained. Erica looked up from her milkshake. "Then you find out what's in those boxes?" Oliver nodded with a hum, tearing his attention away from the blueprints in front of him. "Exactly." He confirmed.

      "Mm-hmm. And you say this guard is armed." Upon understanding her question, Dustin jumped into the conversation in fear that she was going to say no. "Yes, but he won't be there." He reassured. Erica pushed her eyebrows together before raising one, looking at him questioningly. "And booby traps?" The three of them furrowed their eyebrows at this, looking at her in confusion.

      "Booby traps?" Robin questioned. Erica pursed her lips and nodded. "Lasers, spikes in the wall?" Robin laughed at this, turning to look at Dustin. Erica did the same and began to talk. "You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment." Oliver sighed but also nodded, knowing that she was completely correct.

      "We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time—." Erica cut her off by waving her finger in front of her face with a series of 'Ah's. "Child endangerment." Both Dustin and Robin sighed.

      "Erica?" She turned to face Dustin with an unamused look on her face. "Hi. Uh. . . We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?" Erica scoffed in amusement as she reached for her milkshake. "You can't spell 'America' without 'Erica.'"

      Dustin furrowed his eyebrows as she sipped loudly, starting to drive Oliver insane: "Uh, yeah, yeah. Oddly, that's, uh, totally true. So, so, don't do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man." She continued to slurp and Oliver groaned, resting his head in his hands as he stared at her through his eyelashes. "Do this for America. . . Erica."

      She finally stopped slurping and set her cup down. "Ooh. I just got the chills. Oh, yeah, from this float, not your speech." Dustin's smile fell and Oliver lifted his head up, leaning back against the cushioned backboard. "Know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?" She asked Dustin.

      "Yeah." He answered almost immediately, starting to get very impatient with Erica. "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. And I'm talking free ice cream for life." With that, she picked a cherry from off of the float and stuck it in her mouth, smirking at Robin.

      Steve came back over, banana split in hand with more fudge, setting it on the table before taking a seat next to Oliver. "So. . . how we doing?" He questioned, watching as Erica ate a spoonful of the float in front of her. "Free ice cream for life and we've got a deal." She proposed once more, looking directly at Steve before looking at Robin as well.

      Robin and Steve looked at each other and Steve sighed. "Alright. We've got a deal." Erica smirked in accomplishment and nodded, continuing to eat her float.

      THE SKY WAS NOW stripped from any color it could've had earlier that day as Dustin, Robin, Steve, and Oliver laid on their stomachs, peering over the edge of the building they had been on a day prior. The only light that illuminated the area was the vivid pink and blue lights of Starcourt. "Erica, do you copy?" It only took a few seconds before Erica's voice crackled through the static. "Mm-hmm, I copy. You nerds in position or what?"

"Yeah, we're in position. It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light." Dustin was looking out of his binoculars just like he had been the night before and was staring directly at the little room. It was a lot easier to see without the rain pouring down on them. "Green light, roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment."

Oliver couldn't help but smile in amusement as Robin pressed down on the push-to-talk button. "Can we maybe not call it that?" Erica completely disregarded her question and instead said. "See you on the other side. Nerds."

After around ten minutes — what felt like thirty — Erica's voice was, once again, crackling through the static. "All right, nerds. I'm there." Robin let out a sigh of relief and pushed down on the button, just making sure that she was actually where she was supposed to be. "Do you— Do you see anything?"

"Yeah, I see those boring boxes you're so excited about." Oliver lifted himself onto his knees as he looked over the edge again, just trying to make sure there was absolutely no one there. "Any guards?"

"Negative." She replied immediately. Robin smirked in amusement and asked her yet another question. "Booby traps?" Oliver furrowed his eyebrows yet didn't say anything because they had been talking about it earlier. "If I could see them, they'd be pretty shit traps, wouldn't they?" Oliver couldn't help but laugh a little, leaning back down so that he was the same height as the rest of them. Steve looked over at him upon hearing his laughter and felt the corners of his mouth tug up. "Thank you for that."

"I'm in." She said and Steve ran his hands over his face. Not even a minute later, the large door jerked before it slid open, revealing Erica standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. "Free ice cream, for life." She repeated so that they were well aware of it.

The four up on the building all looked at each other with a mixture of nervousness and excitement as they jumped onto their feet.

They had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

UHHHHHHH SOOOO
i'm not dead 🧍‍♀️
i'm sorry this took so long but i have all honors classes so school really stresses me out— i'm trying mu best to update when i can but it might not be very often— maybe twice a month at most? i'm not sure yet, i'll try to make a schedule so that you guys will know for sure, but for now i'm really sorry if updates are delayed.