WE CAN BE HEROES !

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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?"

"Exactly," Alex and Dustin spoke in unison. Standing in between the Henderson's Steve had made a face at each of them for jumping in so quick to agree with Robin and not him.

"So I guess that confirms your suspicion. I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, totally evil Russians," Robin said. Dustin couldn't help but smile to himself, knowing once again, someone cool had agreed with him— even if she did call him strange.

"The question is, how do we crack it?" Alex had looked around, but all she got from the boys were confused frowns.

Robin had sighed as she kept her eyes ahead. "Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges."

Dustin's eyes had grown in excitement. Robin was not only on board, but brilliant in his eyes. Sharing his own thoughts, both him and Robin had excitedly burst into conversation, going back and forth of the possibilities of what it all could mean.

However, Steve and Alex had come to a stop, leaving the entire conversation to those two. Steve's interest had been set on a the Indiana Flyer— a mechanical horse for little kids to hop on and ride for only a quarter. Alex could only stand there and watch as he dug into his pockets for a quarter.

Pennies and dimes had flung out as he yanked them out, seeing them completely useless. He had barely glanced to her to ensure she hadn't left his side. Continuing to check his stash of coins, he asked, "Do you have a quarter?"

Alex reached into her pockets, but came up short. Whenever she had needed coins, she never seemed to have any on her— and this time there was no one to grab from the side and ask for some help. "Nope," she sighed. Not wanting to be too much of a let down, she had decided to pick up the fallen coins and receipts that Steve had dropped to the floor.

On her knees, she had held all of his junk in one hand while the other had gathered everything of his off the floor. It wasn't until she sat back on her heels when she came across something that had differed from all the rest. Beginning to unfold the paper in her hands, it wasn't long before it was yanked out with Steve standing over her. Shoving the paper back into his pocket, he looked over to Robin and Dustin as they found themselves walking back to check on the two.

Looking up to Steve, Alex had a playful smile, "Does Harrington have a little secret?" Picking herself back up onto her feet, she poked him gently in the side. "Someone writing you love notes?"

Ignoring her, he kept his focus on Robin and Dustin to demand what he needed most. "Quarter!"

Immediately Alex could tell this was no normal secret for Steve. "You got another girlfriend? Or are you finally admitting your love to Jonathan in a cute little love note?" Leaning over, she reached for his pocket when he took a step back. "Come on, I just wanna proof read it for you. Jonathan's a classy guy, I gotta make sure you weren't too raunchy in it!"

"I need a quarter," he demanded, keeping his eyes off of her.

Alex couldn't help but laugh as she leaned into him with her hands barely in each pocket. "I'll give you a quarter if you give me that love note."

"I'll give you me vomiting all over this floor if you two don't cut the shit," Dustin spoke up. "I got your stupid quarter."

Pulling away, Alex had hid the roll of her eyes as she turned away from Steve, letting him be. Standing beside Robin, they had no choice but to watch Steve put in the quarter and wait for him to finish watching the horse bouncing up and down.

Robing smirked while crossing her arms at him. "You need help getting up, little Stevie?"

Alex and Dustin laughed quietly as he shushed the group. He was having a moment of brilliance and it was quickly being taken away by teasing and jokes.

"Would you three just shut up and listen?" Steve whispered. The three had settled down with small frowns just to please Steve. All that was heard was the music that came from the small ride and the squeaking of the gears. For a moment, Dustin had furrowed his brows but it wasn't until he had raised a finger at the horse that Alex was soon to catch on as well.

"Holy shit," they said in unison. Growing excited, Dustin had made his was behind Alex. Unzipping his backpack, he had dug around for his recorder. He needed to be absolutely certain that this truly was the connection they had needed.

Pressing play on his tape, he had watched Robin as the same music had played in the background of the tape. Slowly, it was all coming together and this should have been something worth celebrating.

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia," Robin suggested. For any of this to connect back to Hawkins felt like a long shot. Nothing exciting had happened in this town as far as she was concerned. The only thing ever worth mentioning was the moment Starcourt had came around.

"Indiana Flyer? I don't... I don't think so. This code, it didn't come from Russia. It came from here," Steve said. He had taken his eyes off Robin as he looked over to Alex. Checking on her whenever things started to sound even the smallest bit strange was more important to him than any Russian code or becoming an America hero. If she wasn't happy, then neither was he. He would pull the plug on this the second she said she was done if he had to.

The thing was, Alex didn't seem to have a reaction. As if she had become numb to the idea. She had only stood there with her arms crossed, her eyes going from Dustin to Robin as they discussed the chances of anything happened in Hawkins, Indiana.

"We have to rule in the possibility that evil Russians are here," Dustin stated. It all made sense to him after everything they had all been through. If monsters were willing to pop up, then Russians wouldn't be too low on the list of crazy things to come to Hawkins.

Turning over to Alex, Robin couldn't even begin to consider the idea unless she heard from Alex first. "And what about you, Henderson? You believe evil Russians infiltrated Hawkins?"

All eyes turned to Alex and all she had done was shrug. "Sure," she said softly. "Weirder stuff has happened."

Robin narrowed her eyes at her. "Nothing weirder than evil Russians has happened here. The weirdest thing here is that Harrington believed his hair is a super power."

Lightly touching his hair, Steve was prepared to defend himself. Maybe it wasn't a super power, but it was possibly the best hair in Hawkins, and that definitely was impactful. However, when Alex didn't laugh at Robin's joke, he knew other things were on her mind. "Listen, don't you think evil Russians are above our pay?"

"Dude, heroes. We could be heroes! Actually getting recognized for something badass this time!" Dustin laughed, smacking Steve hard on the arm.

Steve had flashed him a sarcastic smile for a moment. "I'm serious though. Don't you think we've been through..." his eyes flashed over to Robin, causing him to lower his voice as he raised his brows to Dustin. "We've been through a lot already."

"So? This is awesome!"

Alex dropped her arms down to her side as she forced a smile. She wasn't all that thrilled to face another dangerous thing in Hawkins, but the way Dustin gushed about being a hero and needing that sense of adventure, she knew she had to give in. They were already heroes and maybe they should leave this to anyone else... but this was them. They saved the world and what were some Russians going to do? She didn't want her trauma to stand in her way from having a once in a life time adventure with people she cared about the most.

So Alex had given in to Dustin's idea of the Henderson glory. After all, she wasn't going to let him handle this alone. They were brother and sister and they needed to do it together even if this time it really did kill her.

"Let's just accept the possibility that evil Russians are in Hawkins, then we kick their asses. We can be heroes."

Dustin couldn't help but nod with a grin stuck to his face, undeniably glad that he had a sister cool enough to want to find evil Russians for fun. Steve on the other hand was nervous given the things they've dealt with before but seeing Alex and Dustin thrilled to be having something exciting to do, he shot them each a smile. Robin felt herself link arms with Alex, not caring if she was pegged as a freak or anything less, as long as she had her new friends at her side, she was ready for an adventure that didn't involve slinging ice cream all day.

Kicking evil Russian ass was the go to plan as of now— the team was confident in this. That was up until exiting Starcourt that certain members started to really have their doubts.

Once out the doors, Dustin and Robin made a race to their bikes while Steve and Alex headed towards his car. It was quiet between the two as they walked— each daring the other to be the first to speak. All summer the two had made concrete plans— just let it be normal for once. This was the start of anything but normal.

"You seem okay with all this," Alex said quietly. She knew deep down he was anything but okay with it all. Maybe the adventure would have had caught his eye for a moment, but once it started getting real, the past started coming up just as his doubts did.

Alex really knew how he felt when he let her hand go. That was the thing about Steve Harrington, he always wanted to show off who he loved, even with no one around to watch. He wanted to show the world that he got to call Alex Henderson his. Dropping her hand was a clear sign that he wasn't okay.

"Should it matter if I'm okay with it?" His question felt valid to him, but to Alex, she was caught off guard. He was too used to having his heart broken and to always be put in second. He trusted Alex, but the past always did have a way of emerging into his thoughts.

She looked at him is disbelief, "Of course it should."

"I'm just saying, I didn't go through what you did."

Alex tried to wrap her brain around his thought process, but to her it made no sense. "You did go through it. You were more thrown into it while I sort of asked for it after chasing it down. It's more unfair to you above anyone else. I want to do this for Dustin, but I'll pull him out of it if you don't want this. We're a team."

Steve looked over to her and that instant comfort took over his body. There wasn't a chance in this world she was lying to him. His closed off composer had loosened up and his hands fell out from his pockets. "I'll do it for Dustin. He'll just get the rest of the idiots to follow him and then it'll be another rescue mission from hell."

Alex took it upon herself to take his hand back in hers. Only thing time, she had held onto his arm as well, leaning into him as she walked. "If any monsters are involved, then screw being heroes. Someone else can have a monster child that eats their cat. I'm so over it. Screw monsters from other worlds."

"Yeah, don't say that," he sighed. "You took the whole screw monsters a bit too literally last time."

Lifting her head up from his arm, she looked to him in complete shock. Giving him a sharp pinch on the arm, she managed to finally release his laugh while scolding him for his teasing. "And don't ever tell Robin that stupid Mind Flayer was my boyfriend again. Or about Dart. I finally have a new friend and you're gonna gross her out."

"Trust me, she's met Dustin and puts up with me, she's not gonna stop being your friend if she hasn't run off already."

Alex couldn't help but agree with his statement. It seemed like it would take a lot more to send Robin turning another direction. Evil Russians kept her around and surely monsters would only interest her a bit more. Alex could only smile, even as Steve continued his teasing of last years events as they walked. Even with Russians in the mix, she somehow found herself being pretty happy with her life at the moment all because of the people she surrounded herself with.