The metallic whoosh of The Forge's door just barely registered in Hiccup's mind, along with the light sound of footsteps descending the stairs. Wrist deep in wiring, he didn't even look up at the sound of her voice.

"Tink?"

"Yeah?"

The remains of his father's broken Battle-axe gave a sudden snap, and Hiccup flinched at the bite of electricity at his fingers. A curl of smoke puffed from the gadget. He resisted the urge to tear off his magnifying goggles and chuck them to the other side of the room. Sighing with frustration, he raised the twinging fingertip to his lips and sucked at the little burn.

Astrid paused a few feet away. The goggles distorted his vision so he couldn't see her, but he suspected she was resting her hands on his cluttered work table. At his feet, his previously napping cat jumped up to go weave between her ankles. "Nobody's seen you since we got back," she began, rapping her knuckles absently on the stainless steel. "Have you eaten?"

Hiccup glanced up at the clock to check the time, like he hadn't already been shooting it nervous looks every five minutes. "I will after I finish this," he muttered, more for her sake than his.

She moved closer, to his shoulder. "Dex was wondering about those contacts you were working on. Ever get those figured out?"

He gestured absently to his left before burying his hands back into his father's axe. It had been crushed, and even after Hiccup had reforged the steel shell, there was still a mess of rewiring and broken pieces to fix. He'd already used a pair of tweezers to fish out the slivers of broken glass from the lens of the laser redirection mirrors. Any accidental brush of the laser function before he got those replaced might mean losing a finger or two.

"What's this?"

Resisting the urge to exhale with sharp annoyance, he looked up and pushed back his goggles. His gaze fell on Astrid's hands— in one, she held the little contact case meant for Rolodexter. In the other was a tiny pin with a matching ear bud.

"It's for Strongarm," he answered, slouching back in his leather rolling chair. Toothless pounced up to the countertop and strategically padded around stray tools and parts. The device was for his cousin, if he ever answered his distress call. Of all the times for Snotlout to fall off the face of the earth.

She raised a blonde brow at him. Her mask was missing, and her hair was down. Any other day, he'd be pleased by the sight, but his mind was too preoccupied to appreciate it fully. "The Vast won't like it."

"Yeah, well, he's not really in a position to argue," Hiccup said bitterly. He glared at her feet and tapped a wire stripper with barely concealed anxiousness.

Astrid softened, setting down both inventions. Her hand stretched out to brush across his knuckles, and the hand holding the little tool stilled.

"It's gonna be okay, Tinker. We'll get him back." Her voice was gentle, but it didn't have quite the reassuring affect she was hoping for.

His lips pressed in a thin line. Setting down the wire stripper, he jerked his chin towards his tall storage tower. "Hand me a size D phillips head?"

She retracted her hand. It stretched across the room to the bank of drawers and tugged open one or two before finding the screwdrivers. After a second of digging, she found the tiny tool and held it out to him. Her arm returned to its normal elasticity to rest at her side.

Hiccup pulled his goggles back down and looked back to the Battle-axe. Feeling her concerned gaze on his profile, he tried to focus on removing the panel that likely hid the intersecting wires he was looking for. She'd always been a good companion to have while he worked— she knew when he wanted conversation, and she knew when he needed quiet. Even her presence felt distracting today, though, like any minute he might shove everything aside and pull her to him. He imagined things might seem much less worse with his nose buried in her hair.

The axe gave another little pop, but this time it was accompanied by a little beep instead of smoke. That was good news, at least.

She was petting Toothless— Hiccup could hear the feline purring. "Nobody knows for sure what your relationship is with The Vast," she began, and Hiccup stiffened at the thought of their well-kept secret. "But I know what it's like to sit by and feel helpless."

That stirred a little ire in him. "No, you don't," he hissed, only barely managing not to slam his tweezers down. "Ast— Twist, you're a super. You have no idea what it's like to stay behind while everyone else is in danger." He shoved back his goggles again, well aware it likely made his bangs stick up like a mad scientist. "Sure, I get to help. I make fancy utility belts and neat toys, but when it comes down to it, he's in Alvin's hands, and I'm fixing another broken weapon."

He shook his head and glowered at the computer monitor. "Not this time. This time, things are going to be different."

Toothless, sensing his owner's frustration, loped over and leapt into Hiccup's lap. The human didn't even acknowledge him.

Astrid shifted her weight to her other hip and gave him an uneasy glance. "What are you going to do?"

Hiccup sniffed and shrugged, tapping his fingers restlessly. "Probably something stupid."

She snorted. "You do that on a biweekly basis."

His eyes slid to the glass door of the storage compartment settled in the back corner of the forge. The sheen of polished black metal winked back at him, and he gave the untested suit a grim frown. "Then, something crazy."