"The way he looks at her. Like she's the most important thing in the world to him." "I think she is."
Experiment X - that's was she was known as. A dangerous weapon that belonged to a lab in the Soviet Union. An assassin. A spy.
A seventeen year old...
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- DEVISE -
STEVE ROUSED BEFORE Irina, which was unusual. His eyes gazed over her sleeping face. He could tell the recent events were bothering her even in her sleep by the way her brows furrowed slightly. She usually looked so peaceful while sleeping. She never once told him what happened in her night terrors of flashbacks. She only ever told him about the insecurities they caused. Steve wished he knew what they did to her in that lab so he could do more to help her, but he wasn't about to pressure her into telling him. However the last thing he wanted was for her to try and manage on her own when she didn't need to.
"What are you staring at?" Her soft voice broke his daze.
"Just my beautiful girlfriend." Steve grinned and so did Irina. A crimson colour tinted her cheeks and she gently kissed Steve's lips.
"You wanna borrow another one of my shirts? I think you still have some shorts here." Steve asked. Irina had left some of her denim shorts at Steve's house when she had slept over a few weekends ago and the two of them had been in his pool.
Irina nodded and they both decided to rouse from bed. They were already running a little late since Steve was working today. Steve's shirt was big on Irina, but she didn't mind. It was comfy. She pulled it over her head and looked at herself in the mirror before frowning a little. She didn't look like the other girls did in the mall.
"My shirts look damn good on you, babe." Steve said, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. Irina leant her head back on his chest, the negative thoughts leaving her mind instantly at Steve's compliment.
***
Dustin had been spying on the doors where the armed guards were all morning. He figured out that the only way into that weird room with all the boxes was with a keycard. A keycard that only the guards possessed.
"That keycard open the door but unfortunately the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun." Dustin explained to Steve, Irina and Robin now that he had returned to the back room of Scoops. "Whatever's in this room, whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it." He added.
"There's gotta be a way in." Robin said.
"Well, you know, I could just take him out." Steve suggested.
"Take who out?" Robin asked.
"The Russian guard." Steve answered and Robin nodded sarcastically.
"What? I sneak up behind him, I knock him out and I take his keycard. It's easy." Steve said.
"Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?" Dustin questioned and Irina placed her hand on Steve's shoulder.
"Yes, Dustin. I did." He replied. "And that's why I would be sneaking."
"Okay, tell me this, and be honest. Have you ever actually won a fight?" Dustin asked, folding his arms.
"Okay, that was one time-"
"Twice. Jonathan. Year prior." Dustin interrupted and the two of them proceeded to bicker. Robin seemed to zone out staring at the vent.
"I could do it." Irina sighed and Steve looked up at her from where he was sat.
"Not happening." He said.
"Why not? She can do it!" Dustin argued.
"I know she can do it, but she's not risking going near the evil Russian guard just to get to a room full of boxes." Steve concluded.
"Uh, a room full of boxes that could contain nuclear and chemical weapons." Dustin remarked.
"That just might work." Robin muttered to herself. She had completely blanked out the previous conversation to figure out a plan herself.
"Exactly!" Dustin said, thinking Robin was siding with him and Irina. "Wait, how do you know about Irina?" Dustin asked.
"Irina? What about Irina?" Robin asked, but the three teens fell silent. "I know how to get into that room." She said, rolling her eyes before jumping up from her chair and running out of the back room.
"Where are you going?" Dustin asked.
"I need cash." Robin said, grabbing a handful of the tips.
"Hey! Half of those are mine!" Steve protested.
"I'm finding us a safe way into that room." Robin told them. "And in the meantime, sling ice cream, behave, and don't get beat up. I'll be back in a jiff." She said and ran off.
"I like her." Irina chuckled.
*** Robin returned not long later with a large, rolled up sheet of paper that she spread out on the little table in the back room of Scoops.
"It is fascinating what 20 bucks will get you at the county recorders office. Starcourt Mall - the complete blueprints." Robin presented.
"Not bad." Dustin grinned.
"So this is us - Scoops - and this is where we wanna get." Robin pointed.
"I mean, I don't really see a way in." Steve said.
"There's not. If we're talking exclusively about doors." Robin pulled one sheet from the table to reveal another blueprint of all the vents in Starcourt.
"The air ducts." Irina caught on.
"Exactly." Robin said, walking over the the vent. "Turns out the air ducts from the secret room lead all the way here." She added.
Steve got out a ladder and propped it up under the vent. He climbed up and unscrewed the metal cover before asking Dustin for the flashlight before shining it down the vent.
"Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know if you can fit in here. It's like... super tight." He said.
"I'll fit. No collar bones, remember?" Dustin replied and both Robin's eyes widened.
"Excuse me?" She asked as Steve climbed down the ladder so Dustin could climb up.
"Oh, he's got some, uh, some disease. It's called like, chry, uh, chrydo... um... something. He's like missing bones and stuff, he can bend like Gumbo." Steve explained.
"You mean Gumby." Robin corrected.
"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo." Steve said.
"Steve, just shut up and push me." Dustin groaned. Steve got up the ladder too and began pushing Dustin by his legs. Both Irina and Robin chuckled at this, but when Dustin told Steve to push his ass - and Steve actually doing it - they both burst into fits of laughter, which was interrupted by a very impatient young girl constantly ringing the bell at the cash desk - Erica Sinclair.
"Hey, you think she'd fit in the vent?" Irina muttered to Robin, since Steve and Dustin were too busy bickering.
