❁

she had to leave max and eleven to find heather by themselves. she knew the two were strong and could most definitely do it without her help, but she still couldn't help but worry about them. all she could do was tell them to be safe and to keep a good distance (from billy especially) incase anything was wrong. after annoying them with her advice and pleas to stay safe, she had to go pick dustin up from scoops, where he and steve had been spying all day.

what she didn't expect was to be following them outside into the rain. she didn't have a rain jacket, but she was wearing steve's gray jacket. "hey, is that where my jacket went?" steve said, a cocky smirk on his face.

"i've had it since christmas." meadow replied, smiling as he fondly shook his head. "you better be right, robin." meadow said, feeling guilty about leaving the two girls when her coworker was in potential danger.

this better be actually serious, she thought, because she wouldn't ever be able to forgive herself if something happened to el or max. her original plan had been to grab dustin, take him home, and then follow the girls to the house that eleven had seen, to help them if need be. now, it seemed they'd be working an operation that would take all night.

despite how creepy billy was, meadow didn't see him as a murderer. he had probably just gotten a bloody knee, or something. or so she was trying to convince herself, not wanting to think the worst.

"i know i'm right." robin had replied to meadow, putting up the hood of her red rain jacket. the group all made their way to the roof, crouching behind a barrier so that they could spy.

robin believed that the elevator was the key to the russian puzzle, and that whatever cargo was being sent inside was the potential threat. in their hiding position, meadow was between her brother and boyfriend, and robin was sitting on the other side of steve.

dustin had his binoculars in his hands, scanning the boxes that the men carried. "what do you think's in there?" steve asked, since he didn't have his own binoculars, of course.

"guns, bombs?" dustin replied. "whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth."

"great." steve said, rubbing his eyes. "that's great."

a garage door-like contraption opened up and meadow leaned forward a little, started by the movement. "what's in there?" she asked dustin.

"more boxes." he replied. steve began to fight dustin for the binoculars, wanting to see, too. they ended up dropping them, causing a loud thud. "fuck!" dustin cursed at the sound it made, and the four all instinctively turned and dropped to the ground to avoid being seen.

meadow had barely even noticed that she had grabbed steve's hand until he squeezed hers lightly, assuring her that he was there and fine. they left the roof, headed back down to scoops. "i think we found your russians." robin said to steve, all four teens drenched from the rain.

"now we just have to find out what's in the boxes." meadow replied.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"whatever's in this room," dustin said the next day, "whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it."

robin shook her head, not about to give up. "there's gotta be a way in."

"i could just take him out." steve said.

robin looked over at him. "take who out?"

"the russian guard." he replied as if it was obvious.

meadow did her best to suppress a chuckle. "yeah, considering how good that's worked in the past, maybe don't."

steve ignored her. "i go up behind him, i knock him out, and i take his keycard. it's easy."

"yeah i don't think that's your strong suit, babe." meadow said, patting his arm.

dustin pointed a finger her direction, a silent way of agreeing with his sister. "did you not hear the part about the massive gun?" he asked steve, crossing his arms over his chest.

"yes, dustin, i did." steve replied, still ignoring meadow's comments. "and that's why i would be sneaking." he explained.

dustin nodded. "ah. well, please, tell me this, and be honest, have you ever actually.. won a fight?"

meadow snorted a laugh, looking over at the frustrated expression on steve's face.

"okay, that was one time." he defended himself.

"ah ah ah, jonathan in your senior year." meadow corrected, thinking about it. "and you also lost a fight to me."

robin threw her head back in laughter. "he lost a fight to you?"

meadow nodded. "i punched his nose and he nearly cried." steve covered his face with his hands.

"okay neither of those count." he insisted, sitting up.

"why don't they? because they both beat the shit out of you." dustin replied "fat lip, swollen eye, a lot of blood.." he described it, much to steve's annoyance.

robin suddenly hopped up and ran out of the room, grabbing half the cash from the tips jar and leaving with few words except for the assurance that she had thought of a safe way to get into the room.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

robin came back shortly with a blueprint map of the entire mall. "there's no way in." steve said, looking at the room's position on the blueprint.

"there's not." robin agreed. "if we're talking specifically about doors." she then ripped away the map to show a second map, this one revealing the pipes and air ducts on a different blue print.

"the air ducts." meadow and dustin said in unison, both smiling up at robin.

robin smiled back. "exactly. turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room. and these air ducts," she grabbed her dry erase marker, "lead all the way.. here." she drew on the map, showing that the pipes connected to scoops, meaning that they could use the air ducts in the very store and crawl their way into the secret room.

"no fucking way." meadow said, looking over at robin. "so who wants to get in there?" she chuckled, looking up at the vent.

since dustin was the youngest, he was volunteered to go in. "i don't know if you can fit, man, it's tight." steve said as he looked into the vent with a flashlight.

"oh, i'll fit." dustin replied. "no collar bones, remember?"

robin looked up. "uh, excuse me?"

steve looked over. "oh, he's, uh, yeah, he's got some disease." he looked to meadow for help but she only raised a brow to see how badly steve would butcher it. "chry, it's, uh, chrydo, um."

"cleidocranial dysplasia?" meadow asked in clarification as dustin climbed into the vent.

"yeah, that." steve pointed to her. "he's missing bones and stuff. he can bend like gumbo."

robin furrowed a brow. "you mean gumby." she said.

"i'm pretty sure it's gumbo." steve replied.

"no it's definitely gumby." meadow said, looking to robin.

"steve, just shut up and push me!" dustin said from inside the vent. "meadow! help." he said, his head inside already. steve grabbed his feet, a lame attempt at trying to shove him into the vent further. "no, not my feet, you dumbass, push my ass."

steve looked up at him, appalled. "what?"

meadow chuckled as she watched them. "touch my butt, i don't care!" dustin screamed. "come on, push harder!" he screamed in a high pitched voice that made meadow double over in laughter. "you're playing with my legs."

"i'm not playing, i have terrible footing," steve insisted, moving up the ladder. "i'm just gonna shove you, ready?"

"just shove me?" dustin asked.

steve held his feet. "one, two." dustin didn't move at all, and only let out a string of profanities. "one more time."

"you're gonna get him hurt." meadow said after seeing enough, moving over to assist them. after dustin had nearly fallen onto both of their heads, they got him out of the vent. "now how are we going to get in there?"

"we find someone smaller." robin said, looking over at erica sinclair.