Aha. Yes. I know, BAD DRAGONBOW. Stop writing random story intros right? No. Well, not exactly, yes this will be the last one that I write for now, because I have a plan. (I have a plan people). Flashed back is drawing to a close (eventually, if I stop writing these) but, the main problem I had/have with that is the fact that it's JUST that story, no variation, and that can sap my love for it. But my new plan, once it is finished, is to update the three story openings I do have. (Mythical truth + Life of a curse + Vigilante) so when FB is done, I will be doing one of each, and that will keep my love for them burning so much more than it ever has. (The plan isn't so bad once on paper. right?)

Okay. Also, this is going to be my first M rated one, why? coz violence, and screw it there may just be smut. (Gulps audibly...)

Prologue

Bloody useless criminals.

This gang - consisting of mercenaries and criminals she suspects - has her tied up and ready for execution. They want to send a message. Her uncle Finn Hofferson is her only living relative, and thus she is his only living and her death will be all the more heart breaking. Finn also just happens to be a very important political figure. And his opposition paid out this gang of sorts. Hit-men. Crooks of some kind, cold-hearted scum of the earth douche-bags to come and hold her hostage in her own damn office building. They were sending a message. Playing dirty. If she were ready for this, she may have been able to fight back (Okay, they all had guns and she didn't; not exactly very sporting).

Right now, however, they had her tied up and bound. They were on the phone to the police and the FBI or whatever who were out the front trying to negotiate with these "terrorists." However, this particular guy whom she guessed was high ranking was muttering things along the lines of, "We were only hired to kill her, let's get rid of her, and get to the roof where our chopper will arrive. They don't need to know she's dead just yet."

So they were going to kill her anyway. But she was a Hofferson and she would die with dignity (as much dignity as could be had being bound and all).

However, sometimes events go in a completely different direction than you'd think. Some call it fate. Some call it luck. Astrid could call it both, but she's going to go with luck. Because as she was glaring down her captors who were still arguing with each other about escape plans and the police, a certain masked figure with a grappling hook and a silenced pistol had managed to sneak across from the skyscraper next to her and was currently abseiling down the side of the building to her window...

The masked figure got to her floor and looked through the reflective window. He silently opened the window, jumped inside almost right beside Astrid in a graceful fashion and held up a gloved finger to where his lips would be in classic "shush." Her captors remained oblivious.

Astrid gaped at this masked figure whom she recognized from somewhere...the mask was familiar, but she wasn't thinking very hard about it as he silently unsheathed a combat knife and made his way to her. This was it, her escape. None of the gang members were even paying attention to her yet.

He managed to get halfway to her from the window before he glanced up at the gang members. He meant to just make sure they weren't looking, however in doing this he lost focus, and proceeded to hit a table with a glass of water on it. The table made very little noise, but the glass fell off and smashed on the ground, making quite a clamorous sound.

Multiple of the hitmen turned around as the masked figure was caught red handed in the act. If it were a less serious situation and her hands weren't bound, Astrid would probably be at a loss whether to clap sarcastically, face palm, or burst out laughing. The masked man merely nonchalantly shrugged while introducing himself with a joke.

"I got a call about a faulty air conditioner?"

Astrid noted his voice sounded a little fake; it was clearly altered in some way, but it was surprisingly higher than she'd have imagined. She felt a masked figure like this should have a voice like Batman at the least.

The gang clearly didn't find his joke funny (or his voice), as multiple different guns came homing in on his figure in an instant. The man was prepared as he threw his knife at the nearest enemy and pulled out a gun of his own. The first man was down in an instant, the accuracy of the knife was very precise. They began opening fire with a range of guns, from assault rifles to shotguns. But before the masked man began shooting however, he flipped the table towards the gang members. The table clearly wouldn't give him much defense, but it gave him time to pull out a grenade of some sort, pull the pin, and throw it over the table.

Astrid watched it fly over the table; had she known that she was looking directly at a flash-bang she probably would have looked away, and the blinding white light that made her ears ring was definitely something she would have liked to have known beforehand. When she got her sight back… All of the gang members were either dead or dying. She had blindness for what felt like only ten seconds, judging by the nonchalant posture of her savior (her assumed savior). It was… Only ten seconds. Her ears were still slightly ringing when he retrieved his knife and used it to cut her cords that were binding her. She was still a bit dizzy from the grenade but she could stand.

He spoke first as he helped her to her feet. "Sorry, I would have warned you but I would have been warning them too."

She finally managed to find her balance and regain the ability to think coherently again in the time she took to stand up.

"Who are you?" She managed to say.

The masked man huffed. Still amused while responding. "Well I told you, I got a call about air con in need of repair and-"

She punched him lightly in the shoulder which caused him to flinch, conveying the message that she wasn't in a joking mood.

"Fine; Night Fury. Infamous Vigilante Notorious for… Being a vigilante…" he bowed, displaying a more dramatic side.

Astrid raised a brow but otherwise didn't speak. She then remembered the news programs she barely paid attention to. Stories about a masked vigilante self-dubbed "Night Fury" who worked alone and was...well…a Vigilante. He didn't play well with authority. He was known for being very diplomatic, but when things got out of hand, nobody attacked the Night Fury and lived. She sighed but then addressed the issue at hand. No time for an interrogation.

"So, which way out?" she asked, edging towards the window where she could see a rope, attached to a grappling hook, hanging from the roof.

"Uhh. Not that way," Night Fury answered, putting out a hand to stop her. "The way I got in is kind of a one way ticket, I mean, unless you know how to climb a rope, because if you don't, then one misstep and it's a long way down."

Astrid now wished she spent more time paying attention in gym. Yeah sure she was a track runner and quite athletic but they never taught her to climb a rope. Was there even a technique to it, or was it merely upper body strength? She glanced at Night Fury's lean muscles that she was now trying not to focus on and figured it could be a mixture of both technique and strength. She turned towards him fully.

"Well then... What is the plan?"

They couldn't just go down through the building, there was an entire gang holed up in here. A good thirty if her estimations were correct. Granted he seemed pretty skilled but his plan was surely better than the obvious "go down through the building" plan.

She was proven wrong.

"I uhh, didn't actually come in with a plan," he admitted.

And her facial expression that read 'what' said it all. "No plan. And this is supposed to be a saving gig… how?"

He huffed and retorted. "Well excuse me Miss entitled, I just killed seven people straight off the bat to save you and you're lucky I came here on a whim so forgive me if I'm winging it."

She rolled her eyes but then frowned, suspicious. "Wait. How did you know I was being held in this room specifically?"

Night Fury shuffled uncomfortably, but before he could answer, shouts were heard coming from the direction of the elevator. Night Fury was instantly on guard. He quickly looked down at his gun and back up at Astrid.

"I'll tell you later. Do you know how to shoot a gun?" he asked, but he didn't wait for her to answer as he gave her the gun he was holding and picked up one from one of the deceased gang members. This led her to believe it was rhetorical. Well, point and shoot, seemed pretty straight forward.

She ran up to the wall and took cover so she wasn't in plain sight. The gang members would probably have no qualms about killing her now. She was going to be executed anyway. Night Fury merely lay down next to one of the dead bodies. But before Astrid could protest, a couple of gang members rounded the corner.

They didn't even see it coming. They noticed dead bodies but didn't stop to count them, there was clearly someone alive in the room. So when Night Fury merely raised his sub machine gun and opened fire there was nothing they could do. Astrid couldn't help but notice how brutal this man was. Granted, the gang members were brutal and cold and murderous. But they were unprofessional to an extent. Night Fury was calm and calculated. He had done this a lot by the looks of things.

She did not want to be on his bad side.

Night Fury gave the all clear before she could even shoot anyone and held his hand out for the gun she was holding. "My gun back?"

She frowned again. "You got one off of them, it's only a pistol."

He seemed slightly insulted at this. "Just a pist… Just a pistol? That there is a Glock twenty six. Only my favorite gun and it has sentimental value so if you'd please. Take your pick off of the dead bodies. But that 'pistol'…is mine."

She raised a brow but she wasn't about to question why he gave it to her in the first place. He may be good at what he does (somewhat; he only alerted the whole building), but he was quite defensive when it came to things like his…"pistol." (She briefly wondered what his response would be if she commented on the eccentric leather suit he had on that was certainty not giving her a nice view.) She gave it back to him and looked for the most suitable gun she could find.

She found a shotgun by the looks of it and decided she'd go with that. She may be used to offices and may be incompetent when it came to proper training with a firearm. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Night Fury nodded at her choice and made his way down to the elevator. He checked out the hallways to make sure they weren't about to be ambushed, and then went to the stairs. He knew they'd be guarded. But it was probably better than walking into the elevator...basically a box and that was just asking to be killed when the door opened on whatever floor. However. He did place the empty sub machine gun he was still holding in the elevator as somewhat of a message to the people guarding it, and then sent it down.

He seemed to laugh at the idea and whatever little inside joke he had and then raised his pistol while opening the doors to the stairs. He cautiously looked down and noticed how there were some not so friendly faces, and their guns, looking back up at him. He moved out of the way just in time. Bullets flew up the center of the stair well hitting the roof.

Astrid actually began to wonder if they were going to make it out alive. That was before Night Fury pulled out another grenade and dropped it down the stair well. He then motioned for her to follow him, and they quickly made their way down to the next level.

The sound of people calling out in alarm and moving out of the way were heard. But when the few clatters of the grenade stopped, there was just silence. Astrid wondered what was taking the grenade so long. She guessed it must have been a dud, or a decoy. They seemed to guess that too because they were coming back into position and aiming back up the stairwell. And then it exploded. It seemed to be on either a longer timer, or was remote detonation; she went with the former. Night Fury wasn't even looking at it.

They vaguely heard the sound of a helicopter overhead. This must be the escape helicopter the mercenaries were originally talking about. They had gone down about three levels before they opted out and went through the door to level thirty five. For starting at level thirty eight they were doing pretty well.

Night Fury didn't seem to think so, however. "We need to get a move on, soon they'll be in floors above us and below us, They have a helicopter on the way, Gods only know how they have one of those, they are funded well. This is a criminal organization, not a measly hostage situation," he mused to himself.

Astrid hummed in thought, maybe there was a way down that didn't involve the elevator or the stairs? But Night Fury had made up his mind.

"I have an idea. It's crazy, so you'll have to be on board."

She didn't like the sound of this. For a vigilante type he really was eccentric.

"But that's the thing, they wouldn't even expect it because it's so crazy. It's perfect."

He seemed to be getting lost in his own thoughts so she snapped her fingers and drew him back to her.

"What is this brilliant plan of yours?"

She could hear the smile in his voice when he answered.

"Straight down… In the elevator."

-0-

His plan was foolproof. Well at least he thought so, but his saved hostage didn't seem to think so.

"What? No. No way. That's insane!"

He smiled although he knew she couldn't see him.

"Precisely. I mean, it's not like you have a choice, either I go down by myself and leave you to die, or you come with me to… possibly die," he finished.

She clenched her hands in exasperation and after a while sighed her frustrations away. He took this time to reload his pistol.

"Fine. But if I die and you don't, I will haunt you forever," she threatened half-heartedly.

He opened the elevator and as it opened he stopped her from entering. "Okay, I figured out a game plan about how we'll do it," he said as if the idea came to him literally three seconds ago. Because it did.

She seemed to pick up on this too. "Oh? And what is it, die?" she demanded sarcastically.

He bit his tongue so as not to hand out a sassy remark like keep up that attitude and maybe or well, I was only planning to have you seriously injured but if you insist… "The plan is we get in the elevator and I set off a smoke grenade, and I will have a flash-bang ready when it opens. As soon as the door opens get as low to the ground as possible and wait there until the smoke clears. Deal?"

She seemed to ponder this before looking at him neutrally and responding. "All right."

They hopped in the elevator and pressed the bottom floor. This is where the main hold up of the gang members versus the police would be. They are currently bypassing a good half of the remaining men for sure. Hiccup dropped his smoke grenade and let its smoke fill up the elevator.

"You're not asthmatic are you?" he asked as the terrible but 'cheery' elevator music played in the background.

"If I was I wouldn't be standing here," she dead-panned.

Damn, He thought to himself, she's nearly as sarcastic and sardonic as I am. That's quite rare in most people. His level of sassiness. Well, they were, despite his awesome plan, probably going to die so he might as well learn her name.

"So uhh, before we do this, do I have the privilege of learning your name?"

They were getting close to the ground floor by now.

"Only if you tell me yours. Your real one," she replied.

He was about to reply with fat chance when the elevator began to slow. He readied a flash bang as the girl got to the ground.

There was a soft ding when the elevator stopped that probably gave away their position. The doors opened right when his flash-bang was dropped and ready to explode. There was about a second of silence before the flash-bang went off and Hiccup ran out of the elevator, gun at the ready.

Turns out, they really weren't expecting it, but this had a downside. They weren't looking at the flash-bang. So by the time he had exited the elevator he was merely getting some dumbfounded looks by a majority of the gang members who had turned away from the door.

He shot one of them and ducked behind the reception desk. They all scrambled to take on an attack that was now from two sides as the police began to see their window of opportunity as well. He vaulted over the reception desk before the criminals could get their sights aimed in on him and shot another that didn't make it to cover in time. And then he quickly detached his last flash-bang and dropped it where he stood as he dived to the dead criminal he just shot.

The flash-bang gave him time to grab the dead merc's gun, another pistol, so then he held one in each hand, and went to work. He aimed his pistols in different directions having enough to shoot two criminals at once. He worked methodically, taking out two of his combatants at a time. He was standing in the middle of the room as criminal after criminal fell to the floor with a bullet in their abdomen or head.

He merely rotated his footing as he calmly walked past one hastily constructed wall of cover to the next, killing any criminal behind it. However, when he neared the last one he realized with a start that…

Firstly, He was out of ammo.

Secondly, his next foe was Alvin, a well-known gang leader who's clearly been working for someone richer in more recent years.

Alvin was on a radio calling for reinforcements. But upon seeing 'Night Fury' he stopped talking and calmly stood up, clearly aware that the vigilante was out of ammo, and picked up a gun from a dead comrade as he strolled towards him. Too bad he was out of view from the police.

"Well, if it isn't my one and only vigilante friend. I didn't think dispatching of you would be this…easy. After all, they say the Night Fury never steals anything, never harms an innocent but more importantly… Never. Misses."

He laughed as Night Fury began backing up.

This was…not going well. Alvin had him cornered and he couldn't reach another enemy's gun in time, and if he made any motion towards his knife Alvin would probably kill him.

"Too bad it never says anything about when the Night Fury runs out of options." Alvin laughed maniacally.

His back hit the wall as he had nowhere left to backtrack too. Alvin was clearly savoring this. Well, he was bound to run out of luck one day.

But the funny thing about luck is, it comes when you'd never expect it. And to Hiccup (also known as Night Fury), it was the best possible form of luck. In the form of a sassy office hostage with a shotgun and an attitude to match.

Alvin expected the girl to be somewhere. But he didn't expect her to be right behind him. With a shotgun. He definitely didn't expect her to shoot him square in the back. One minute Hiccup was having his back against the wall with Alvin facing him down, the next Alvin was shot towards him with the force of a Remington model eight hundred and eighty seven shotgun.

What? He's allowed to know gun names just by looking at them (well, not that he's allowed, more that he's supposed to… Ask his father. Wait no, don't. His dad would flip if he knew where and who his son was right now).

Hiccup saw Alvin forced towards him and dodged out of the way. He stood up from his absolutely superb combat role. At least he hoped it was.

The guns recoil was more than Astrid expected but she was prepared. She saw the mercenary go down and then she looked at Night Fury.

Said vigilante was about to respond with a bad-ass line to answer Alvin's 'Night Fury out of options' spiel (it would have been something like "I always have options" or something cooler) but she was the first to speak.

"My name, is Astrid Hofferson."

I have the very slight feeling that this is going to be my favorite. Why?

Hiccup has a grappling-hook.

Hmm, feedback is always welcome, I forget to add this to all my fics. But yeah. Go ahead.