"You realize if you become a Watchdog this will be against the rules right?" Hiccup asked Astrid as she laid on top of him, only wearing a tight pair of shorts and a sports bra. On top of being Hiccup's personal apprentice, Astrid had grown a pretty serious romantic relationship with Hiccup. While the rules of Watchdogs states that no official Watchdog could be in a relationship with another Watchdog, since Astrid was just a apprentice and not a official member Hiccup found the loophole he needed to pursue the relationship. Still, with Astrid's skills improving it was only a matter of time before Poppy or Branch officially recruited her, and even though Hiccup desperately would love to have Astrid by his side on the battle field he knew the down side to that would mean having to end his relationship with Astrid.

"Oh Hiccup Haddock, one of the things your do best is breaking the rules." Astrid laughed as she bent down and gave Hiccup another kiss while rubbing her right index finger across Hiccup's bare muscular chest. "After all it was you who took me in as your apprentice. Neither Poppy nor Branch had anything to do with it."

"True as that is, relationships with other Watchdogs is a pretty big rule and could end in dishonorable discharge if discovered."

"Oh Hiccup your so cute when you worry." Astrid cupped her hands around Hiccup's cheeks and pulled him in for another kiss, both of their eyes closed as they got lost in their kiss. "Besides I have heard rumors going around here on base from some of the janitors and cooks here on base that Poppy and Branch are secretly involved in a relationship."

"Bah!" Hiccup laughed "Yeah, like Poppy and Branch, the two highest ranking officers on our team would break such a major rule."

"Oh really now?" Astrid replied. Her smirk never leaving her face "Have you noticed that Poppy's belly looks a little chunkier?"

"Well I uh..." Hiccup froze just realizing that Poppy did indeed look a little bigger.

"You remember when that government official in Paris was being held hostage by that Raptor terrorist a couple months back? Branch and Poppy went alone with only each other as backup. I did some digging and by Watchdogs rules your supposed to have no fewer than four Watchdogs on a mission for safety purposes, but those two left alone."

"Yeah I remember that," Hiccup realized. "I asked about that later and they said they were too short handed at the time due to other missions to afford sending anybody else without leaving the base unguarded."

"Another lie," Astrid replied "There were several people at the other Watchdogs bases that could of went on that mission with them, but they just chose to go alone."

"Here's were the interesting thing comes in." Astrid continued "As you probably recall them two were gone for two weeks. I read the news online on the third day of their mission that the terrorist that they were after had been already taken out. It only takes two days tops to get to France from here by plane."

"Are you saying?"

"Words around the janitors is that Branch knocked up Poppy during their mission to France. Why else would they stay more than a week after their mission was completed unless they were doing things together they knew they shouldn't be."

"But Branch has always been a by the books Commander, why...?"

"I guess the pleasures of the flesh can make even the toughest of people break the rules." Astrid said in a flirting tone, laying flat against Hiccups body as she lifted Hiccups chin for another kiss. "Now drop those pants I want you to love me like you mean it."

Back in London Poppy had been released from the hospital when they got word that the others had made it back to base, minus Suki who decided to take some time to be with Lena. Branch had stayed behind the whole time, refusing to go back without Poppy ever since learning that she was pregnant with his child. He still had a hard time wrapping his head around the situation, sure they had spent more time in Paris then they should have, and done things that they knew would get them in big trouble with Peppy, but he didn't think a few nights of fun plus a few drinks one night would end up with a baby.

Despite promising Poppy they would figure things out, if Branch was honest with himself he didn't quite know himself how this would work out for the two of them. Not that it was his biggest issue at this moment anyway. After the extremist attacked the Queen of England summoned them for a meeting and the news was not exactly good.

"What do you mean your not going through with the robot homes?" Poppy snapped

"That robot attack left hundreds dead Captain Poppy," the Queen responded "Thousands more are still missing and unaccounted for. Entire neibhorhoods have been leveled to the ground and cost millions of dollars of damage. People are scared that another group of robots could pick up where they left off."

"They won't."

"How do you know?" Poppy froze unable to answer that.

"I am sending out a decree tomorrow that every robot in London has forty eight hours to move out or get shut offline."

"No, your majesty you can't do that! Many of these robots are just as much victims as the rest of you!"

"And how can we make sure that these robots won't turn on us too Captain."

"Because robot's don't just decide one day to turn on people," Branch chimed in "Robot's have come a long way from when they were first created. Man might have made them but overtime they have grown to think for their own and make their own decisions. They have evolved to the point where they can live their own lives like a ordinary citizen. But despite their growth they cannot just change their personality on a dime. They can't just turn on one morning and decide to take over the world, someone has to do that for them. Rather through a virus or hacking someone has to turn those robots bad."

"Didn't you say that the robots that started the war all those years back had rebelled against their owners and considered them lesser beings Commander?"

Branch sighed hanging his head in shame before defending himself "Those robots were treated like slaves, being abused and mistreated to the point that they had enough. Robot's also pick up on the behavior around them and learn from what they see. If they see violence they will pick up on that, and if all they are exposed to is violence and abuse then that's what they are going to respond to. Those robot's that started this war, all they ever knew was violence and abuse because that's all they saw. So when they rebelled, they decided to try to treat us the way they were treated. But a robot cannot just go from being friendly and loving to trying to murder you the next day on their own free will, their program won't allow it."

"Very well then, what's not to say someone won't try to hack every robot in the world to try to take over the world?"

Branch paused in place unable to answer.

"That's what I thought. As early as tomorrow, robot's are no longer allowed in England."

Poppy stormed into a hotel room that night, furious over the news. Despite their best efforts to change the queen's mind she refused to back down.

"She can't do this!"

"Sadly there is nothing more we can do, she is a queen, we can't overrule her."

"But's it's not fair!" Poppy cried, "A robot saved my life out their when we were being attacked and he is going to be forced to leave the country just because of what he is. How can one possibly paint one's kind as evil just because of what they are? It's not fair!"

"It's not, but until we get through to them and get rid of their hatred that is how the world is going to be."

"The world's never going to let go of their fear or hatred Branch. That's what got this world in this mess to begin with."

"Maybe so, but we can't give up."

Poppy plopped on the hotel bed and started sobbing. They had worked so hard to improve the relationship between humans and robot's since the war ended and everything had fallen apart all because of one incident.

It pained Branch to see Poppy like this. Sitting beside Poppy he lifted her head up with his left hand, wiped her tears away with the other and promptly planted a soft kiss on her lips.

"This is not over, with the robots or us. We will get through both the robot situation and the baby one."

"How can you be so confident?"

"Because your hear with me, and your the strongest person I know. You never give up no matter the situation, that is why your my second in command."

Poppy smiled and rolled onto her back as Branch fell on top of her in a series of deep kisses. As Poppy closed her eyes, losing herself in the kisses, Branch removed Poppy's dress, grabbing it by the bottom and lifting it over her shoulders. Branch only stopped kissing Poppy long enough remove his vest and shirt, Poppy took that opportunity to turn off the desk lamp so nobody would disturb them. With Poppy only in her underwear, and Branch only in his pants, the two of them dove under the covers where they remained the rest of the night.
Back in Australia, in Chef's lab at Watch point Gibraltar, Recluse drove a truck up to Chef's lab. She then unloaded carts filled with several dead victims from the London attack and rolled them inside Chef's lab. Inside the lab laid thousands of dead bodies both male in female, laying on a table with nothing but a white sheet over them. These were the thousands of unclaimed victims from the attack.

"These are the last of them Chef."

"Excellent, you have done good Recluse."

"I take it that you have something to do with the attack in London don't you?"

"Who do you think ordered it?"

"I'm curious about one thing Chef? How did you hack hundreds of robots to rage a assault of London?"

"Recluse let's just say I have a friend. A friend who is a excellent hacker and will do what I say no questions asked. I simply asked him to go to London, hack into the most powerful and dangerous robots in London and have them all team up and attack London and he did just that."

"What do you benefit from attacking London, did the queen make you mad or something?"

"Two things actually. One, the Queen has power not just in England but all over the world. She decides to exile robots out of fear, soon other countries will follow suit and soon the robots will either run out of places to go, or will all be ordered to be shut down."

"And the other?"

"Look around you, you know why I asked you to retrieve these bodies?" Chef took a syringe and injected a human male with the Death Blossom. "This man in particular will play a key role in our plan. His name is Rudy Thorn a big and well known businessman in Italy. With him under our control we will have a powerful weapon that the Watchdogs won't be able to stop.

Rudy's eyes shot opened and with a gasp he sat up. He turned to Chef, got up from the table and knelt before her. Recluse cringed at the sight of Rudy wearing no clothes.

"What is your bidding of me master?" Rudy asked

"You are to start turning the public against Watchdogs. Blame them for not protecting the world against the menace of the robots. Then afterwords you will plant a bomb inside Watch point Gibraltar and blow up their base, wiping out everyone inside."

Recluse let out a wicked smile. "You certainly are a wicked lady."

"Oh Recluse dear, you don't even know the half of what I am capable of. Soon the Watchdogs will be no more."

I did originally have a love scene between Suki and Lena but I ended up taking it out because it would have crossed the line to M rating. In the past I have put M rated love scenes in T rated stories and even though I never got in trouble it was dishonest and I didn't want to come across as dishonest. Plus I didn't want to change the entire rating for one scene, so just to save the trouble I took it out.

Things is about to get real here soon so don't go anywhere.