(Ep. 2: The Mall Rats)

Gwen found herself incredibly bored and nearly on the verge of losing her mind in the long hour of lunch rush, where people ditched actual food for a frozen desert.

When first applying here, she knew the pros and cons that came with it. Sure, they might get free ice cream and she gets to spend more time with her boyfriend, but if you ignore that, there's nothing but the upsetting wage of earning three bucks an hour that doesn't compensate for all the work done.

"Have a nice day," she and Robin said as they handed their last two customers their cones.

Already tired and wanting this day to end, they thought they could finally take a break when out of nowhere, Dustin suddenly popped up from behind what they thought were their last customers.

"Hi," he waved to his sister and smiled eagerly at Robin.

"Hi," Robin answered back and waited for him to order.

"I'm Dustin."

Robin turned to Gwen, confused on why a kid was introducing himself as if she asked, "I'm Robin."

"Pleasure to meet you. Uh, is he here?" he questioned.

"Is who here?"

As if on cue, Steve came bursting through the door with a wide smile on his face when seeing his favorite kid had returned after what felt like an eternity.

"Henderson!" Steve looked over at Gwen and Robin and jumped in delight while pointing at Dustin as if they hadn't just seen him. "Henderson! He's back! He's back!"

"I'm back! You got the job!"

"I got the job!"

Robin silently judged Steve and watched them perform an elaborate handshake. She was getting ready to joke about it with Gwen, but was appalled that she seemed to be enjoying this.

"You're actually into this?" Robin complained and gained a nod from her before turning back and finding relief when their handshake was over. "How many children are you friends with?"

Steve and Dustin simmered down, slightly offended by her comment. Steve just turned to Dustin embarrassingly as he wished Robin hadn't been here to witness their reunion, but there was nothing he could do other than just ignore her like always.

"Since you two are dating, that means he's your friend as well?" Robin asked, hoping her favorite coworker wasn't turning out to be as lame as Steve freaking Harrington.

Steve frowned and whispered to him, "This is what I have to deal with."

"To my misfortune, he's my brother," Gwen answered while preparing a sundae with his favorite flavors.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Dustin snapped, pouting the same way Steve had done yesterday.

She just gave him a small smile and walked over to the table Steve had chosen for them to sit on. Just as she placed the sundae down, she turned back before hearing Dustin call out, "Aren't you staying?"

"Some of us actually have to work," she smirked at Steve and glanced at him through her shoulder before joining Robin in the joys of having to clean.

"How kind of you to join me," Robin held her in a tight embrace while squeezing her cheek with her hands. "That table over there has melted ice cream all over it. Go clean it, Gwenie."

Gwen frowned as she gathered the supplies before dragging herself to the mess, "I hate you, Buckley."

"That's a straight up lie!" Robin yelled from behind the counter.

Now turning back to the table, her smile faded when seeing all the drippy mess of what she believed had once been strawberry ice cream. Clearly it had been made by a toddler based on the small handprint. She was annoyed that the parents didn't even bother to clean their child's mess up. Not that she was surprised since this always happened, especially in the booth area.

She put on her headphones and listened to "Head Over Heels" on her walkman, the one Steve gifted her on Christmas of '83 for having broken hers.

A few minutes into cleaning, she was interrupted when Steve dragged her to their table and forced her into the seat next to him.

Gwen lowered her headphones, staring blankly at the two who had a suspicious glimmer in their eyes. "Do I even want to know?"

Whenever it was something regarding her brother, she knew better than to get involved but like always, she failed in doing so (hence the past two years with the whole supernatural thing).

"Definitely," Dustin dropped his spoon and put on his most serious face while looking around as if he was worried anyone could be spying. "So last night, we were trying to get in contact with Suzie... and uhh," he started mumbling some incoherent words, forcing the couple to lean closer for a better listen.

"What?" Both of them questioned.

He once again mumbled something while continuing to look around.

"Just speak louder!" They demanded from growing frustrated.

"I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin yelled, which made the entire shop's attention fall on them.

"Jeez, shh. Yeah, okay, that's what I thought you said," Steve calmly said to try and ease the room and act all casual.

"I didn't mean that loud," Gwen sunk deeper into her seat from all the attention still on them, which contradicted Steve's attempts in pretending nothing happened.

Steve's face got all scrunched up, already becoming concerned since nothing good ever came from this kid. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I need both your help," he reached over to his backpack and pulled out a Russian to English dictionary. "With translation."

__________________

Their 15 minute break had been filled with lots of pacing and listening to the same recording repeatedly. Gwen's overconfidence had disappeared when thinking her knowledge on Spanish and a little bit of French would help with the translation, but only after listening four more times, she was disappointed to find that Russian was much more complicated than any other languages.

Yet as the recording kept replaying, she found the background music sounded oddly familiar. She was certain of having heard it somewhere, but just couldn't quite wrap her finger around it.

"So what do you think?" Dustin asked as he stopped the recording.

"It sounded familiar," Steve mumbled.

"What?"

"The music," Gwen stated.

"What do you mean by the music?" Dustin asked with frustration again.

Steve complained quietly, "The music right there in the end."

"Why are you both listening to the music? Listen to the Russian!"

His sister frowned at his intense voice, "We're trying to listen to the Russian!"

"But there's music-"

Robin barged in, raising her scooper into the air in irritation, "Babysitting time is over. Both of you need to get in there."

She and Steve automatically took a step back. Robin was one of the only people that actually scared the both of them, especially when she got angry.

Robin walked over to place another tally onto her whiteboard, but was annoyed to see everything had been erased. "Hey, my board! That was important data, shitbirds!"

Gwen raised her hands in surrender and then pointed to the two of them, "I told them it was wrong, but they still went on and did it."

Steve glanced down at her, mouth hanging open and eyes wide, "It wasn't me! It was Dustin!"

Already starting to lose his patience, Dustin buried his face in his hands as he thought of all the time they're wasting. "Okay, yeah. I did it! So what? I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data."

Robin walked up to them with narrowed eyes, "Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?"

Their mouths gaped open as they turned to each other in astonishment. Dustin's eyes wandered between his sister and friend as he whispered, "How does she know about the Russians?"

"I don't know," Steve mumbled.

"Did you tell her?" Dustin now questioned his sister for having been told by Steve on how close she and Robin have become, making him wonder if by any chance she had snitched.

"How could I have told her? I've been with you two morons all day to have said anything-"

"Gwen didn't have to tell me anything," Robin interrupted. "You three are extremely loud."

Once again, the group turned silent as they didn't know what to say, because if they were being honest, they haven't been the best at keeping this so-called secret mission a secret.

"You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet. Sounds about right?"

As all three remained increasingly puzzled by Robin's correct reading, she took advantage of their distraction to snatch the tape recorder from them.

Only Steve managed to stop her on time, "Whoa! What do you think you're doing?"

Gwen leaned back against her chair and sighed in defeat, "Just let her hear it. She knows everything already."

Robin smiled at her, "Exactly. I wanna help."

"Why?" Steve and Dustin asked.

"I'm fluent in four languages," Robin said something in another language that caused them to erupt in excitement. "That was Pig Latin, dingus."

Steve smacked Dustin's shoulder and mumbles, "Idiot."

Robin grabbed a chair and took a seat in front, "But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I've been in band for 12 years." She continued listing more of her achievements as if she were being interviewed, "My ears are geniuses, trust me."

Gwen turned to the other two. Right away, she could tell they were still reluctant in letting her help them, but since their three brains haven't been able to decipher this, maybe a fourth one could make this quicker.

"So what? Gwen knows Spanish and also a little French," Steve began, trying to get his annoying coworker away from this mission.

"Yeah but I'm failing at this," Gwen pointed out, "You're in."

Dustin scoffed, "I say we put it to a vote."

Steve nodded, "Agree."

Gwen stood from her seat to stand next to Robin with her arms crossed before saying, "This isn't a democracy. It's a dictatorship which means that Robin is in because I say so."

"Come on," Robin groaned when seeing Steve's reluctance, "It's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored."

Robin held out her ice cream scoop to Steve. He looked over at Gwen and silently asked, 'Are you sure about this?' She nodded at him and motioned him to hand the recorder to Robin, so with reluctance, he did as he was told before heading out the door.

__________________

Normally, Gwen would've found ways to get out of having to translate Russian, specially since nothing good ever came from Dustin's ideas. But now, look at where she was now. Once again involved in another of her brother's missions, in which she hoped had nothing to do with the Upside Down.

She forced a smile to what seemed the millionth customer before leaning back against the counter and taking a breather. Steve followed her same action, gently laying his head on her shoulder before letting out a sigh, "Do you honestly think this whole Russian thing is real?"

"I hope it is, because Robin is going to be pissed if this is for nothing," Gwen yawned, starting to close her eyes before hearing the annoying sound of the bell again.

Expecting to see Erica, she was surprised when seeing Will standing with scrunched shoulders and a saddened expression. He was alone, which was surprising since he always seemed to be around Mike or Lucas.

"What's up, Byers?" Steve asked.

Will shrugged and looked back at the entrance as if expecting anyone to come through, "Can I just get two scoops of strawberry in a cup, please?"

"What's with the long face?" she asked while stealing Steve's scooper from his hands. "Did you come here alone?"

"No," he shook his head. "Mike and Lucas are here, but they're all focused on finding a gift for El because Mike made some mistake and he thinks buying her something will fix it."

Yeah, like that fixes anything.

"What is it with men thinking gifts are the solution?"

Steve turned in her direction as he felt an indirect attack. He gave her a bracelet last week as a way to apologize for something he didn't even know. Was this actually meant for him?

Will handed her money for the dessert when she glanced around the parlor to see if their pesky customer was lurking around.

"It's on the house," she whispered.

Will smiled and started to consume his ice cream with more eagerness and took a seat in one of the booths.

Steve and Gwen turned to each other. Now worried since they expected him to rejoin the others and instead he was sitting alone with the most depressing of looks.

"If they ditched him like they did with Dustin, I swear I'm-"

Steve laughed as he held her hand, "Come on. Let's just ask him."

Will gazed at them in confusion, especially to Steve. These past few years, all he heard were nothing but terrible things, so it left him surprised that the once king of Hawkins High was sitting right in front. 

Gwen narrowed her eyes at him, "Spill it. What's wrong?"

It didn't take much to convince him to tell them everything. Starting with how he's been wanting to spend time with his friends, but all they seemed to want was to be with their girlfriends. All he wanted was at least one day when it felt like the olden days when they would play D&D in Mike's basement, but none of them were interested anymore. 

Hearing all of this made everything easy to understand. Clearly with everything Will went through, he wasn't able to enjoy his childhood. Everyone grew up, but he was still the same boy that got taken on November of 1983. 

"Have you talked to them about it?" Steve felt sympathy for the kid since he knew the feeling of being left out. 

(Especially with everyone going off to college while he remains here). 

Will nonchalantly shrugged, "It doesn't matter. All they think about is girls as if they're the only ones that matter."

Steve hummed in thought for a moment, "Well, when you reach a certain age and fall in love, that one person is all your mind can think of."

Gwen agreed, seeing as she became a lovestruck fool, "No matter how hard you try, it's impossible not thinking of them."

Will scoffed, "I'm not going to fall in love."

"You say that now, but before you know it, you'll have your eyes on a special someone."

Will looked down at his hands nervously before turning to the entrance once more. He hoped his friends would have noticed his absence, but it seemed they didn't. 

"Ask them for a day without girls," Steve suggested. 

"You guys are best friends, so I'm sure they'll understand," Gwen tried to reassure him, but felt worried his concerns would be dismissed. 

"What if they say no?" Will asked. 

"Then we'll have a talk with them," Steve replied in a cool tone. 

Gwen gestured all around the shop, "You know where to find us."

Will suddenly felt a sense of confidence and smiled, "I don't think I'll need you to, because I know they'll understand once I explain myself."

Steve smiled and applauded him encouragingly, "There you go! Go set those nerds straight and play that geeky game you guys like." 

"It's not a geeky game. It's called D&D," Will corrected, rolling his eyes before tossing his arms around the pair. "I can teach you guys how to play if you'd like."

"I'll be taking you up for it," she ruffled his overgrown haircut, messing it up as much as she could. "Go get a haircut while you're at it."

"I'll see what I can do!" he hollered from outside the parlor with a wide smile.

From the back room, Robin and Dustin had managed to form one sentence all thanks to her genius ears. She slid open the divider and called the two of them over, "We've got our first sentence."

They jumped over the counter, nearly falling on their faces as they shoved each other to reach Robin first.

"Really? What is it?"

In a Russian accent, she said, "The week is long."

Gwen felt disappointed to say the least. Having expected something exciting, she thought of this to be a complete waste, but she figured, if Dustin's theory of evil Russians was right, they wouldn't straight up tell their plan. There had to be a code, so maybe that's what this was.

"Well that's thrilling," Steve complained.

"I know, but progress," Robin shut the divider again, leaving the two of them dealing with two familiar customers.

Max and El were standing in line with wide smiles. El was wearing something entirely different from her wardrobe and she seemed extremely happy.

"We're here for some free ice cream," Max broke the silence, turning to El who was looking through the glass to pick a flavor.

Gwen wasn't sure if this was particularly safe. Hopper was still keeping her hidden so her being here would definitely complicate things.

"What are you doing here?" she asked El, who quickly looked up from the rows of ice cream. Her smile remained intact as she gave a simple shrug and stood next to her new best friend.

"We're shopping," El blatantly said.

Max nodded, giving her a quick twirl to show her new outfit, "Do you like her new look? She picked it out herself."

Gwen smiled, impressed by her distinct sense of fashion that definitely felt more like El, "Oh I love it. It's pretty bitchin."

"Bitchin," El repeated with a smile.

"So, how about that free ice cream?"

She started taking their orders while Steve listened and got their ice creams ready. "Here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream."

"Thanks," both girls said, starting to enjoy their frozen dessert while the older teens just stared in sudden worry at the exposure El was having. It wasn't like anything terrible could happen in just one day, but how in the world would they know?

"Are you sure you're even allowed to be here?"

Definitely not, Gwen thought.

With a few laughs exchanged, the girls ran out as if the question was out of this world, leaving behind the two of them to just wonder what kind of trouble those two were getting themselves into.

Once they made sure the shop just had the two of them, Steve walked up from behind her and brought his arms around her stomach. He rested his head on her shoulder before brushing his lips against her neck, "Let's make Robin take over so we can have a little break."

She smiled, "I like this plan."

Steve left kisses down her neck, the softness of her skin feeling remarkable against his. He lowered his hands down her waist before providing a swift spin, both of them now standing face to face. 

Brown eyes met blue ones. 

Gwen shortened the distance between them and ran her hair through his silky locks. She withered as his hands reached under her uniform, caressing her in the right places and making her desire for him less controllable. 

Sudden footsteps made her lean away, to which she was relieved weren't heading inside the shop, but next door instead. 

Continuing was all she wanted, but she was now painfully aware that customers could enter at any moment. "As much as I want to continue-" she gasped as his hand reached further down, "We could get caught by Robin and Dustin."

Steve faltered. 

He frowned and reluctantly leaned away, "Did you have to say their names?"

Gwen lightly chuckled as she fixed her uniform and handed him his sailor hat. She adjusted a few of his locks back into place and leaned close to his ear in a whisper, "I'll make it up to you."

His heart skipped a beat, "Now I'm really impatient."

Ring!

The bell from the counter offered a jarring interruption. 

Standing behind it, Daphne awkwardly waved at them, "I hope I didn't interrupt."

"You did," Steve didn't hesitate in letting her know, causing Gwen to lightly whack him on the shoulder. 

"You're fine," Gwen assured her, quickly taking her place by the cash register to take her order. "Here for a little visit or for some frozen goodness?"

Daphne appeared to be looking for someone. Her eyes kept darting all around the parlor and she appeared to be disappointed when not finding that specific person. "Well, I was in the neighborhood and just thought it'd be fun to pay an impromptu visit. Is it just you and Steve working or is-"

"We need help translating the..." Robin stormed out of the back room, but her words trailed off into a perfect silence once seeing her again. "D-Daphne, what are you... doing here?"

Steve rolled his eyes at the obvious, "It's an ice cream shop. Connect the dots."

"J-just... came for ice cream," Daphne stuttered, her gaze remaining locked into Robin's. "And for a visit."

Gwen continuously glanced between the two of them. She slowly stepped away from the counter, already feeling like she was intruding. She knew Daphne liked girls, so it made sense why the stuttering and the blushed face. A crush was definitely present and based on the way Robin acted the same, she wondered if the feelings were reciprocated. 

And she really hoped they were. 

"So, what's with the translation?" Daphne broke the momentary silence, gesturing to the dictionary on Robin's hands. 

The three of them froze and exchanged concerned looks.

Steve was the first to take initiative, "Translation? What translation?"

(Well, not in the best way.)

Daphne shot him a glare, "The one Robin said she needed help on."

(Did he really think she was an idiot not to notice?)

"Umm..." Robin was hesitant to involve her, especially with how secretive the rest had been. "Gwen?"

Gwen felt the sudden pressure once the three of them turned her way. She fiddled with her thumbs nervously as she deliberated on whether or not she should include another person. Dustin would definitely never let her hear the end of it, but they were stuck at a crossroad. If they kept this up, they would never finish the translation. Daphne did know a little bit of Russian, so she'd be a great help. 

"Do you still remember Russian?" she blurted out.

Confused at the sudden question, Daphne simply nodded, "Umm, I do. Why?"

Robin smiled, "Help us then."

__________________

Surprisingly, it didn't take much to convince Dustin to let Daphne in on this mission. Probably from having gotten tired of listening to the same thing over and over and barely getting one sentence in the long hours.

It turned out that Daphne's skills helped a lot since they were finally able to translate the recording. The five of them stood in front of the board and read,"The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west."

It was now nearing midnight and the entire mall was emptied except for them. It was eerily silent throughout the building. The neon lights were brighter than ever and instead of offering a delightful feeling, it only made the scenery ten times more chilling.

"It just can't be right."

"Are you doubting my skills, Harrington?" Daphne scowled as she followed Robin out of the mall.

"It's right," Robin assured him with no hint of doubt.

Gwen waited for Steve to finish locking up the gate for Scoops Ahoy, "Maybe it's a good thing."

"Honestly, I think it's great news," Dustin told the group while forcing himself to walk slower from how long Steve and Gwen were taking.

Steve placed his arm around her, lazily following Robin, Daphne, and Dustin as he tried to keep his eyes open from how tired he was. "How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense."

"It's not nonsense. It's too specific," Dustin got slightly ahead of his new older allies. "It's obviously a code."

"What do you mean, a code?" 

"Just think about it. If Dustin's right that these are evil Russians plotting against us, they wouldn't straight up admit it," Gwen explained.

"Yes! Exactly!" Dustin exclaimed, relieved his sister was thinking the same as him. "This is a super secret spy code."

Daphne chuckled, "I seriously hope you're wrong because if not, I'm regretting getting myself involved."

"You got that right," Robin agreed.

Steve wasn't entirely convinced just yet, "That's a total stretch."

Robin groaned in frustration as she turned to glare at him, "I don't know, is it?"

Gwen quickened the pace, letting down her hair as she reached the three of them, "You see, Steve? Even Robin, who's a skeptic, believes this. Just go with it."

"If I let myself agree with this, then it will just make it real," he leaned closer to whisper, "Remember last fall?"

"That was different," she whispered, although she did get his point.

"Look, just for the kicks," Robin began. "Let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. Like Gwen said, do you think they were going to say, 'Fire the warhead at noon'?"

"And my translation is correct," Daphne pointed out as she continued to walk alongside Robin.

"I mean, why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"

"Exactly!" Both siblings exclaimed, making Steve jump at her loud voice.

Daphne began walking backwards to see them better, "You see? So that confirms your suspicions."

A grin appeared on Dustin's face, "Evil Russians."

Robin chuckled as she turned to the curly haired boy, "I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil Russians."

Gwen couldn't help but wonder if this was actually true, then what in the world were they supposed to do with this information? They couldn't go to the Hawkins Police because they would be dismissed as crazy, and they couldn't go to their government because of everything they did at the lab, which meant they'll be left completely alone with this once again.

"So how do we crack it?" Dustin asked.

Robin paused for a bit, thinking clearly about this before saying, "I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges."

Dustin, Daphne, and Robin started discussing the possibility of their theory being true. They excitedly discussed their plans while Gwen and Steve fall behind.

Gwen just couldn't stop thinking about how she hoped this would be nothing more than just another of her brother's theatrics. Having to end the summer by translating some secret code was not the way she envisioned her last month in Hawkins being like.

From everything that happened, she longed for normalcy as nothing about their lives has been normal ever since the Upside Down was first discovered. Sure, this whole translation thing had nothing to do with that dimension, but it was just another pattern that would end up with all of them getting themselves into trouble.

"Earth to Gwen?" Steve snapped her back to reality, catching her by surprise that she held a hand against her heart. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

He started worrying that she was about to have another one of her panic attacks. They haven't happened in over a month, but he still kept an eye out to make sure he'd be able to help her get through them.

She gave a faint nod, "I'm fine. I was just thinking how this is far from the ordinary summer I expected."

Steve slowly nodded as his eyes remained glued to her. He walked in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulder, blocking her path that left her startled. "Are you going to tell what's running through that beautiful mind of yours?"

"Summer is definitely not going to be normal if Dustin's right about this," she really hoped he wasn't, but he has never been wrong before so this was definitely some evil Russians. "I don't know, I guess I just-" nearly about to mention New York, she bit her cheek to stop herself since this was a sour topic between them that they haven't spoken about.

He noticed her reluctance, "You just what?"

Gwen had to look away from him as she knew she wouldn't be able to mention it if she continued staring into those beautiful eyes of his. "I just think it's time we talk about it."

Steve stopped breathing for a split second. Between working and trying to spend as much time as possible with her, he managed to move New York to the back of his mind. He didn't want to admit it, but working was just a way to distract himself from the intense fear that he'd lose her the second she leaves Hawkins.

What if she found someone better? 

What if she falls for a scholarly guy that has his entire life figured out?

He tried to say anything, but every word that was about to escape his lips just faded into nothing. His eyes fell down to the floor, counting the lines of the tiles before starting to look around for any distraction. That's when he noticed The Indiana Flyer, a ride that was always occupied.

He never saw it without any kids around during all the times he ran out for lunch. Every time he walked by it, the song got stuck inside his head for hours.

Gwen waited for him to say anything. Her heart started beating rapidly, feeling like it was about to jump out from her chest, "Steve?"

"Do you have a quarter?" Steve ran to the ride and inspected his pockets for any spare change he might have.

Her face fell once realizing this was just another ploy to avoid speaking about New York. "Of course," she muttered annoyingly.

He quickly noticed her disappointment, which only made him feel worse about the situation as he knew she had been trying to have this conversation for the longest and he would always find a way out of it.

"Sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin chuckled as the others ran back to them. Right away, they were able to sense the tension between the couple, but chose to remain silent.

"Quarter!" Steve yelled before Daphne tossed him her spare change. Immediately, he placed the coin into the slot and the ride begins. The annoying music started playing, causing everyone to groan from the terrible melody.

Only it started clicking after a few seconds.

Gwen took a step forward and recognized this music was the same one from the recorder. But if this same tune was playing in the background, then that meant...

"You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin teased him, earning a few laughs from Dustin and Daphne.

"Would you shut up and listen?" Steve complained, gesturing his hand to the machine in complete annoyance they didn't seem to be understanding. He looked over at his girlfriend and based on her furrowed brows and assertive stance, he was quick to learn she already realized it.

The group took a deep breath and began to pay close attention to the music. The melody echoed all throughout the mall, filling their ears when they finally understood why he was so drawn to this.

"The music!" Dustin exclaimed, his eyes widening in realization that Steve was actually right about something. 

"What?" Daphne asked and leaned close to Robin, who jumped back in fright. "What are they talking about?"

"I'm- I'm not sure," Robin stuttered nervously before creating distance between them.

Dustin dropped to his knees and unzipped his backpack. He took out the recorder and hit the play button. The recording they spent listening to for hours filled the atmosphere again. The same monotone words repeated once more, but instead of focusing on the man's voice, they focused on the background music.

"It's the exact same music," Dustin tried explaining to them.

"So what? Maybe they have horses like this in Russia," Robin still didn't understand the grand importance of it. Rides like these must surely be everywhere and not just in America.

"The Indiana Flyer? I don't think so," Gwen finally spoke up before leaning down next to Steve.

"This code, it didn't come from Russia," Steve clarified. "It came from here."