Girls Just Want To Have Fun | Robin Buckley

caught?

July 3, 1985

The group of five were all in a line and walking farther down the hallway. None of them knew where it headed and they had been walking for a good chunk of time already.

"I mean, you have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone, this is impressive," Dustin marveled.

"What are you talking about? It's a total fire hazard. There's no stairs. There's no exit. There's just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell."

"They're Commies. You don't pay people, they cut corners," Erica told Steve.

"To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don't think this tunnel was designed for walking," Robin told them. Jill looked at her. "Think about it, they developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo."

"It all comes into the mall like any old delivery."

"And then they load it up onto those trucks and nobody's the wiser."

"Do you think they built the whole mall so they could transport that green poison?" Jill asked, her eyes still on Robin. Robin looked at her as she asked the question and Jill looked away, a light red color rushing to her face that she desperately hoped wasn't visible in the shitty lighting.

"I very seriously doubt it's something as boring as poison," Dustin told her. "It's gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something."

"What the hell is promethium?"

"It's what Victor Stone's dad used to make Cyborg's bionic and cybernetic components."

Erica put her hands to her stomach. "You're all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill."

"No, no, no. No, don't lump me in with them. I'm not a nerd, all right?"

"Why so sensitive, Harrington," Robin asked.

"Aww, are you afraid of losing cool points to a ten-year-old child?" Jill laughed.

"No, I'm just saying I don't know jack shit about Prometheus."

"Promethium," Dustin corrected. "Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure, but whatever. All I'm saying is, it's probably being used to make something."

"Or power something."

"Like a nuclear weapon?"

"Totally."

"Walking towards a nuclear weapon. That's great. That'd be great."

"But if they're building something, why here? I mean, Hawkins. Seriously. Of all places," Robin said. Dustin and Steve slowed to a stop behind the three girls, who were already several steps ahead of them. "At the very best, we're a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland, but maybe that's it. Maybe it..."

Robin kept talking about her theories but Jill had turned around to look at the boys whispering to each other. She slowly walked backwards so she could watch them while still keeping a steady pace with Robin and Erica. Jill elbowed Robin and nodded behind them to the boys. Robin stopped ignoring them and spun around.

"I'm sorry, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" Robin asked, her voice echoing down the long hallway. The boys looked at each other before looking back at them. A static noise and voices in Russian suddenly called out. Jill jumped and spun around before realizing it was Erica's walkie. The group all ran to Erica as she pulled it out of her bag. Erica handed the walkie to Robin, who pulled the antenna out. They listened carefully.

Robin and Jill both said the code in Russian, at the same time as the Russian on the other walkie did. "It's the code," Robin told them.

"Wherever that broadcast is coming from.."