Chapter 12

The door suddenly opened, ruining the wholesome moment between the three. When the officer saw Robin and Steve on the floor, he was less that pleased.

“Huh,” he said, “Where were you two going? It seems your friend here is the only one who has behaved herself.” The guards lifted Robin and Steve up, and brought Claudia close to them. “Try telling the truth this time, yes? It will make your visit with Dr Zharkov less painful.”

The officer nodded at the doctor, who came over holding an off contraction, with a jar on top, filled with a bright blue liquid.

“Wait a second. Wait. Hold on,” Steve said, “Okay! Wait, wait, wait! What is that thing?”

“It will help you talk,” Dr Zharkov said. He lifted Steve’s hair in order to reach his neck.

“Did you even clean that thing?!” Steve screamed as the needle was shoved into his neck, and Claudia squeezed her eyes tightly, attempting to block out the sound of Steve’s struggling. Soon enough, it was her and Robin’s turn. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem to do anything to them.

“Honestly I don’t really feel anything,” Steve said, “Do you guys?”

“I mean I… I feel fine,” Robin said, “I feel normal.”

“Yeah I feel- I feel fine,” Claudia said.

“I kinda feel good,” Steve said. The three laughed.

“Wanna know a secret?” Robin said, “I like it, too!”

“Morons. They messed up the drug.”

“Are we high right now?” Claudia asked, the three laughing semi-uncontrollably.

“Morons!”

“Hey, morons!”

“There’s definitely something wrong with us.”

“Something’s wrong.”

They were interrupted by the door opening once again. “Uh oh,” Claudia said. She watched as Dr Zharkov put down metal tools on the table. “Those look spiky.”

“Would now be a good time to tell you that I don’t like doctors?” Robin asked.

“Let’s try this again, yes?” The officer asked. “Who do you work for?”

“Scoops,” Steve said, as Robin and Claudia made horrific attempts to contained their laughs, “Scoops Ahoy.”

“How did you find us?”

“Totally by accident.” The officer said something to the doctor, who picked up one of his tools. “What is that shiny little toy?” Steve asked. Dr Zharkov put the pliers on Steve’s nail. “Woah, woah! Hey, hey! Wait! No! Wait! Wait!”

“There was a code! There was a code! We heard a code!” Robin cracked.

“Code,” the officer said, “What code?”

“The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. Blah, blah, blah. You broadcast that stupid spy shit all over town, and we picked it up on our Cerebro, and we cracked it in a day. A day! You think you’re so smart, but a couple of kids who scoop ice cream for a living cracked your code in a day, and now, people know you’re here.”

“Who knows we are here?”

“Well, Dustin knows. Yeah, Dustin Henderson, he knows.”

“Steve!” Claudia and Robin yelled.

“Dustin Henderson. It is your small, curly-haired friend?”

“Oh, curly-haired. Great hair. Small. Kind of like a ‘fro. Yeah.”

“Where is he?”

“Oh, he’s long gone, you big asshole. And he’s probably calling Hopper, and Hopper’s calling the US cavalry. They’re gonna come in here, commando-style, guns a-blazin’ and kick your sorry asses back to Russia. You’re gonna be two pieces of toast.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

The three laughed as an alarm sounded, as if it had been perfectly timed. The officer left the room to see what was going on, and Dustin burst in, zapping the doctor with some sort of… taser?

“Hey! Henderson!” Steve said, “That’s crazy, I was just talking about you.”

“Oh, my God!” Robin said.

“Did you kill that guy?” Claudia asked.

“Get ready to run,” Dustin said.

“Roger that.”

——————————

Dustin sped down the hallway in one of the Russians vehicles. “Jesus! Slow down, man,” Steve slurred.

“Yeah, what is this, like, the Indy 500?” Robin asked.

“It’s the Indy 300,” Steve said.

“No, dingus, it’s 500!”

“It’s 300!”

“Let’s say a million,” Claudia said. The three burst out laughing. Their laughs were cut off by Dustin crashing into something. Luckily for them, they’d arrived at the elevator.

“You guys alright back there?” Dustin asked.

“No!” Claudia yelled.

“They’re fine,” he said. Dustin and Erica opened up the back doors, and Dustin used the keycard to open up the elevator.

As the elevator shot up, Steve stood on a red hand truck, which Claudia and Robin were pushing around. “Hey! You look like you’re surfing!” Robin said.

“Surfing! Yeah! I’m a natural check it out!” Steve said.

Robin and Claudia winked at each other, before pulling the hand truck backwards, sending Steve flying across the elevator.

“Wipeout!” Claudia yelled.

Dustin put his hand on Steve’s forehead. “He’s burning up.”

“You’re burning up,” Steve said.

Dustin then forced on of his eyes open, “His pupils are super dilated.”

“Maybe he’s drugged,” Erica suggested.

“Steve, are you drugged?” Dustin asked.

“How many times, dad? I don’t do drugs. It’s only marijuana,” Steve joked.

“This isn’t funny, okay? I need to know what they did to you.”

“Are you gonna die on us?”

Steve booped Dustin’s nose. “We all die, my strange little child friend,” Robin said, “It’s just a matter of how… and when.”

“We die right now! Evil Russians!” Claudia said, spinning around.

“They’re gonna be looking for us up there so I need you to tell me where you parked your car,” Dustin said.

“Oh, can we make a pit stop at the food court?” Steve asked.

“I would kill for a hot dog on a stick,” Robin said.

“I feel so skinny,” Claudia said, “I’d have some ice cream. Scoops! Then… we pay ourselves!”

“All right. Yeah, food. Yes, you can have as much food as you want, but only if you tell me where to car is parked.”

“Uh oh,” Steve said.

“Uh oh?”

“They car’s off the board.”

“What?”

“They took the keys. The Russians, they took the keys. Like, forever ago. That’s a bummer right?”

They finally got out of the elevator, feeling fresh air for the first time in what felt like their entire life. “Oh, that tastes so good!” Robin said, “Can you taste the air?”

“I taste it! I tase it!” Steve said.

“I wanna taste some food,” Claudia said. “How long have we gone without food?”

Two Russians were suddenly seen walking towards them, and the were shoved into the back door. They’d finally escape the Russians, but it didn’t stop there.