Thanks to MidnightForest037, TheArtificer42, ReptileGirl497, Smoe05, harrypanther and Grizzly98 for the feedback!
So, you all seemed to take the death of Astrid...reasonably well. Have another chapter!
Enjoy!
Hiccup stood beside the body of Astrid for nearly five minutes before a nurse walked up to him.
"Sir?" The voice was indistinct for a moment. "Sir, I'm so sorry, but we need to move her now."
Hiccup nodded, numb with pain and unable to do much more than stare at his fiancee.
"Sir? Are you the husband of the deceased?"
Hiccup shook his head. "Almost." His voice was cracked with pain, but he didn't care. "Engaged."
The nurse sighed. "We need to contact her next of kin. Are her parents still alive?"
"No." His voice came out as a whisper now. "They both died five years ago. All she had was me." He had to work on not crying as he thought of her.
"Sir? Are you going to be alright?"
Hiccup ignored her and numbly started to walk out of the room and into the hall. Another nurse stopped him with clothes in her hands.
"I don't know if these will fit. I got them from an intern."
Hiccup nodded. "T-Thank you." He looked down at his own clothes. They were covered with blood. Her blood. He collapsed in a chair, overcome with memories of Astrid. This was going to be hard, so hard.
Heather nodded weakly. "T-Thank you. We-We'll keep in contact." She collapsed back into her chair and stared at her two friends. "Sh-She didn't make it."
Both Fishlegs and Snotlout gasped, with the former turning back to his computer in an attempt to redirect his pain, and the latter staring back at her. "You need to call Hiccup. Retribution is going to be the only thing on his mind."
She nodded. "I know. But, he's hard enough to control on his best days. With Astrid d-dead, I won't be able to do anything, but I'll try. I also need to call the President."
Hiccup had just finished lacing up his boots when his phone rang. Quickly, he grabbed it, eager for the distraction. "Yeah."
"Hiccup, it's Heather." She sighed. "I heard about Astrid. I'm so sorry."
"Tell me who did this."
There was a prolonged pause. "Let us deal with that. I'm at the office getting everyone here working on it."
Hiccup was trembling with anger. "Don't try and handle me, Heather. Not now. What were the names of those people who were talking about silencing someone!"
Heather sighed. "We don't have an I.D. on one, he was using a voice scrambler. The other is Dagur."
Hiccup glared at the opposite wall. "Dagur." He thought of the complicated history the two shared. Six years ago, Astrid had been an agent inside B.A.T.U. She had gone undercover in Dagur's operation, the Berserkers. The same operation that Hiccup had been working on destroying. It was how the two had met. "Do you have a location for him?"
"Look. Dagur is our only lead into the investigation. I need whoever is going to be interrogating him to be in complete control. I don't think that's you right now."
HIccup's face was contorting with rage. "I won't interfere with your investigation, I give you my word. Heather, I'm gonna ask you one more time. Where. Is. He?"
She sighed. "He's in Federal Custody. On his way here. You can talk to him here. Hiccup, The other caller came from inside the building. Dagur didn't kill Astrid. He didn't even suggest who. So, you can't kill him."
Hiccup stood. "I give you my word that Dagur won't be harmed. I'm headed there now." He closed his phone, heart stopping as he saw a gurney being wheeled out of the O.R., with the body of his beloved underneath it. "Astrid." He whispered.
He swallowed, gathered his courage, and walked away, mind wandering to what he was going to do to her killer once he found him.
"What's the situation at B.A.T.U.?"
The President's Chief of Staff shrugged. "No idea, Sir. I can call them, if you would like."
Stoick growled. "Yes. Do that now."
In a few minutes, Heather was on the line. "Yes, Sir?"
"What's going on over there, Heather?"
She sighed. "Hiccup's on his way back here to interrogate someone we believe has information about a former agent that was killed today."
"And that agent was?"
There was a prolonged pause. "Astrid Hofferson."
Stoick was silent for a long time. "Agent Hofferson is dead?"
"Yes, Sir."
The President swallowed. "Thank you, Director Agre. We will keep in touch." He ended the call and looked to his Chief of Staff. "Have the guys bring the car around."
Chief of Staff Spitelout Jorgenson frowned. "Why?"
Stoick closed the papers he was working on and stood. "I'm going to B.A.T.U. to talk to Hiccup."
Dagur smiled nervously as the door to the interrogation room opened, revealing Hiccup Haddock. "Brother! Have you come to eat lunch with me?"
Hiccup sat in the opposite chair, simply observing. "Do you remember what I said to you last time we met?"
The smile fell off Dagur's face. "If you touch my family, I swear to Odin, I'll-"
Hiccup leaned forward. "You're not exactly in the right chair to be making threats." He paused for a moment, taking emotion out of the conversation. "Who shot Astrid Hofferson?"
Dagur frowned. "I don't know that name."
Hiccup sat back. "Approximately six years ago, she worked undercover in your organisation. Now someone killed her. Someone, I think, who works for the Berserkers."
Dagur shook his head. "There is no Berserkers. Not anymore."
Hiccup leaned forward, almost growling his next words. "Let me explain myself. This agent, Astrid Hofferson? I considered her to be my family. So, take a long, hard look into my eyes and realise that I will have no problem taking out each of yours before they even get home today unless I get what I want."
"Whoever killed her has nothing to do with me!"
Hiccup stood. "Enjoy your time in Berk Prison. I'll tell your wife you said hello." He started walking to the door, knowing that it would make Dagur talk.
"Wait." He didn't stop, so Dagur said it louder. "Wait!" Hiccup stopped. "If I tell you, they'll kill my family anyway."
He turned around. "We'll put them in witness protection. I give you my word."
Dagur looked nervously around. "Outcasts. The Outcast government. They are the ones behind it, not me. It was all them."
Hiccup sat back at the interrogation table. "Who inside the government?"
"I don't know."
"What are you talking about, you don't know? We're talking about a million people! I need names!"
"I don't know names. She never let me get close."
Hiccup's face hardened. "What are you talking about, she?"
The woman they planted at B.A.T.U. The one who arranged everything."
"What woman?"
Dagur smiled. "Camicazi." He looked up in fear as Hiccup stood and headed to the door. "You promised. You promised!"
Hiccup stopped outside and looked at the officer watching the monitor. "Put Dagur's wife and child in witness protection." He headed for the control floor, as it was called. "And have security arrest Camicazi Jorgenson now!"
Focus on that second-to-last word, if you would. Think of the implication. Now go to the review section to yell at me. Go on...
Thanks for reading!
