Chapter Twelve: Speed Stingers

As Hiccup and Astrid approached the maintenance shed on their dragons they could see a swarm of small biped green dragons surrounding the shed. With their rapid movements, they were near impossible to see at full speed, but as they would pause briefly to communicate with one another, Hiccup and Astrid could get a better look at the tiny raptor-like dragons. The dashed around the shed and rammed into the door and the tiny barred windows, trying to break into the maintenance shed.

One of the dragons had a red and white crest on top of its head. The red and white crested dragon made no attacks on the shed, instead it growled and clicked at the other dragons as they continued to rush around the shed. "Look, Astrid! The Lead Stinger. And they're following its directions to try to get into the shed. It's not a random spur of attacks, but a coordinated system to try to break down the door. You were right about their level of intelligence!" Hiccup prattled on and excitedly waved his hands to emphasize his point. "I wonder if their stingers on their tails really hold poison or if they're just sharp…"

"Babe, really? Now?"

Hiccup held up his hands defensively. "You're right, you're right. We have to save Heather."

"How are we going to get into the shed with the Speed…?" Before Astrid could finish her question, Toothless fired a plasma blast, successfully spooking the tiny green dragons. A moment later, however, they had regrouped to the call of the Lead Stinger and reinitiated their attacks on the door.

"I like your plan, bud," Hiccup patted the dragon's head. "Okay, Astrid, have your Nadder fire again to spook them. We'll keep firing until we scare them far enough away to safely land and get into the shed."

Astrid nodded. She patted her own dragon, "Okay, Stormfly, fire!" The Nadder complied and fired down at the Speed Stingers.

"Storm…fly…?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I mean we found her just before the storm hit and she's the first dragon I've flown…so…oh! Don't give me that look!" Astrid said, playfully. Hiccup raised his hands in a mock surrender. Toothless fired several more shots. As Stormfly fired again, Astrid noted, "I think Fishlegs was right about the Nadder's type of fire."

"Yeah, once we get Heather out and are safely back on our dig site we should consider hiring him as an intern for the next season," Hiccup said. Toothless and Stormgly fired one final shot each, and the Lead Speed Stinger called to its pack to retreat farther into the jungle. Toothless and Stormfly landed and Astrid dismounted quickly, then rushed over to the Night Fury to help Hiccup dismount as well. They signaled their dragons back into the sky and hurried into the shed before the Stingers came back.

After securing the door shut behind them, Hiccup and Astrid descended the metal staircase. Even with the regular power back on, the maintenance shed was poorly lit. "You think Hammond could 've 'spared some expenses' here, huh?" Astrid nudged Hiccup in the chest with her elbow.

At the base of the staircase was a narrow hallway. Hiccup and Astrid walked cautiously down the dimly lit hallway to… "It's a dead end," Hiccup noted. "We really should have asked Hammond for a schematic or something of this shed since it's not so straight forward."

Astrid rolled her eyes, but halfway through the motion she stopped, noticing the large grey wiring above them. "Hiccup, I bet the wires lead to the circuit breaker. We can follow them and to find Heather." Hiccup nodded, and the pair began to follow the wires, backtracking towards the metal staircase. They made a right turn down a second hallway, which thankfully was better lit.

At the end of the second hallway Astrid and Hiccup could see Heather. She was sitting, propped against the wall, cradling her left leg. Hanging off the wall was a corded phone—the one she had used to call Hammond not long ago. Separating them and her was a wired gate door, which looked as though it had been attacked several times by something. Behind her were red buttons labelled with each of the parks' fences. "Heather, are you okay?"

"Yeah, one of the Speed Stingers got me in the leg though. Luckily, she's just a juvenile so her sting can't fully paralyze anyone yet. I can't walk though."

"Where's the Speed Stinger now?"

Heather shrugged. "I dunno. It stung me right as I tried to leave so I slammed the gate shut. It attacked the gate for a little bit before giving up and running away. I think it got lost from its pack."

"That's why the Speed Stingers were attacking the shed so adamantly. They don't care that Heather is in here. They want the baby back," Hiccup concluded. "They are trying to protect the baby. I think the debate over the parental instincts of the dragons is purely academic now."

Astrid raised an eyebrow. "Do you think the Lead Stinger is female then?" Hiccup shrugged.

"Look out!" Heather shouted and pointed.

The juvenile Speed Stinger launched itself towards Hiccup and Astrid. Astrid reacted quickly by pushing Hiccup onto the ground and then round-house kicking the tiny dragon, hurling it against the nearby wall. "And you thought those self-defense classes were unnecessary," she joked as she helped Hiccup to his feet.

They walked up to the wired gate door. As Hiccup examined the damage on the wire, Heather explained, "Their attitude is about as bad as the Changewings', but not they're not as deadly. Their stings just temporarily paralyze. And they're not clever like the Changewings. They're strength is in their numbers of the pack not in their intelligence." Hiccup pulled on the handle several times to open the door, but to no avail. He turned to Astrid, who smirked and kicked the gate in.

Astrid mock bowed and held out her hand, "After you, Dr. Haddock."

"Why thank you, milady," Hiccup winked.

Hiccup and Astrid helped Heather to her feet. She placed her arms around their shoulders and used them as a pair of human crutches. Her left side was almost completely unresponsive, which slowed down the process of getting back out of the maintenance shed. The stairs proved particularly difficult for the group, as they practically had to drag Heather up them and Hiccup couldn't put the proper amount of weight on his one leg to actually help her up the stairs.

After several painstaking minutes, the group was at the top of the stairs. Hiccup cracked the door open and immediately slammed it shut. On the opposite side, they could hear the Speed Stingers ramming against the heavy metal door again.

Hiccup cracked the door open a second time, shouted for his Night Fury friend and then slammed the door shut again. He could hear the familiar sound of Toothless charging up his plasma blast. The group heard the Nadder squawk and fire as well. Then a faint thud of the two dragons landing outside of the shed's door. Hiccup opened the door for a third time and smiled at Toothless. Toothless' eyes dialated, happy to see his human was successful and uninjured…er well, not any more injured than he already was at least.

"I'm gonna leave the door open, so the Speed Stingers can rescue their baby," Astrid said as she propped the heavy door open. Hiccup smiled and nodded.

Astrid and Hiccup helped Heather onto Toothless and then the dragontologists mounted their own dragons. "All right, let's get back to the Visitor's Center and help the others with that Red Death."

[a/n] Battle of the Red Death next chapter! Thanks again for reading! And to those of you wishing for a sequel, I did start outlining it last night.