Siren wailed. Sudden screams.

Hiccup jerked awake.

No mind how many times the night erupted in alarms, of ear-tearing warnings ripping through the dorm halls alerting everyone of Outcast attacks, Hiccup still reacted with a shriek of his own. He snapped up so rapidly his neck lashed. He would feel it in the morning. Heart pounded as he sat there, upright, in bed, registering the fact that the Outcasts were attacking once more.

"I'm off!" shouted Mindlock above the noise. He threw himself out of bed with surprising alacrity for his size, bulldozing through Hiccup's junk on the floor, and launched himself at the door. A sidekick on duty knew to rush to combat. Shouting above the noise even as he left, Mindlock announced, "I'm with Lucy this round!" This was Lucy 'Thought Rider' Svensson, one of the young, talented mindreaders from the junior high; she and Mindlock often partnered during their student shifts in the Outcast raids. Then the door crashed shut, Mindlock rushing down to meet up with the other superheroes and sidekicks on fighting duty.

And that was it. Hiccup threw himself back in bed belly-first, grabbing the corners of his pillow with all his might and squeezing it around his ears. He clawed at his head from around the pillow, agonized at the noise of the alarms. Someday I'll go out there and fight during the Outcast raids, he moaned, hating both the dorm siren blaring and the fact he would do nothing during yet another raid. Someday they'll give me a shift, and I won't just spend the nights going deaf with the alarms.

Accompanying the melody of howling sirens, pounding footsteps frantically rushed down the hallways. Intermittently explosive, rocking booms like bass drums emphasized the rhythm.

In the midst of all this chaotic noise, his mind paused, and Hiccup wondered, with a burgeoning sense of dread, Those explosions… sound awful near. While Berk was accustomed to frequent supervillain attacks, it was not often that the noise of fighting sounded so… loud.

Another boom. Hiccup shook, the bed shook, everything shook in a spasm of tectonic energy. He could not be sure in the dark, but he might have blacked out a second in the tremors.

…really, really near…

Like… just outside the…

And then the knowledge rushed to him.

Oh shit.

Hiccup flew out of the bed, raced to the window – so similar to what he had done before entering sidekick training. His eyes widened as the entire world burst into a firework, banging, stabbing his chest in the sonic snap. Night died; explosions dominated the window view. He could see shadows raining from the skies, racing down below between fire bursts; could see flashes of color, of electricity, of lightning, of blasting laser vision; could see counterattacks and battles and movement between superhero and supervillain below in the backlight; could see heroes metamorphosing into wereanimal counterparts; could see heroes shooting to the skies in arcing flight; could hear gunshots and blasts and shouts and screams and threats and booms and crashes; could feel heat; could smell burning; could taste smoke.

Tonight, the Outcasts were attacking headquarters itself.

"No no no no no no no no no no no no!" Hiccup catapulted out of his covers faster than any projectile thrown outdoors. Hands flailing, he lashed out toward his breastplate. Fumbled. "Come on come on come on come on!" he shouted as he attempted to hop into one cuisse, then the other. He fell onto his bed in the attempt. An explosion from outdoors accompanied his fall. He rolled about, reaching for his gauntlets, found one, lashed it on, began scuffling about the ground in search for the other. He whacked the entire floor as he tried to feel for it in the dark. "Come on! I don't have time for this!" he howled. His slaps became more frantic, his searches more frenzied. "What sort of stupid hero can't even put on their own suit?!"

At that moment, his fingers brushed metal. "Got it!"

Two boots, easily found, easily pulled onto his feet. Something done right.

Ready.

And like he did one time before, he threw himself out the window.

Ignited the suit.

Burst of speed.

Flight.

Feet and calves vibrated from the force of the rockets. Arms shook as he sought to control his flight. Hiccup launched himself directly toward the center of the explosions, heart racing, left arm shakily pointing forward to take aim.

Gusts from a storm nearly threw him to the trees. Thunderclouds swept over the land, and the howl of a local tornado ripped debris into the skies. Hiccup spun, facing upward, noticing Storm Fly fighting three figures in the sky. Air erupted into electricity, bursting outward from her in a sea of pulsating waves.

A winged devil plunged forth, diving down as a falcon, reaching for her head. Storm Fly swerved in the sky, pointing her arm and launching a bolt of lightning from her hand. Miss. A second Outcast attacked, some sort of flying machine, a human airplane. She whirled as a tornado, winds bursting out, and shoving him aside. Yet the first and the third darted in again; Hiccup could hear the repeated crack of gunfire. Storm Fly dropped down twenty feet in a desperate maneuver to avoid them both.

She needs help.

In a determined line he shot straight for the cyborg. He threw his left fist forward, elbow locking, and with a shout launched a shot from the weapon on his vambrace. Laser fire stabbed the sky. Red light exploded with blues and whites.

Again. A second shot, aimed again, even as Hiccup's body shuddered from the turbulence of flight speed. Third shot. A geometry of lines, laser fire and lightning, as Hiccup and Astrid's attacks melded into one exploding sky.

The winged devil, hovering above Hiccup almost contemplatively, suddenly dove. Straight at him.

"No!" A shot.

And the winged beast plummeted to earth.

Storm Fly spun in the sky, ballerina-artist repainting Starry Night with her lightning attacks, whirling and tumbling in constant arcs. Her storms raged in full, clouds rushing like running water straight at her two remaining opponents. Clouds engulfed them both; their shadows fell an instant later. The skies quieted for just a moment as Astrid took a breath, glanced down at Hiccup from where she was hovering, acknowledged him with a thankful nod, and then shot off for the next cluster of enemies.

Hiccup himself floated in the sky for a moment, though mostly from flabbergasted numbness. A second passed before the truth fully registered: I did it.

Even as he glanced downward, preparing himself to enter another fight, a high-pitched voice suddenly entered his mind. It shocked him before he realized it was the junior high telepath. "Thought Rider to academy! Thought Rider to academy! Everyone engage in battle. I repeat, everyone!"

Well, that's it, Hiccup thought, and taking heed of Lucy's words, plummeted downward.

Between the trees of headquarters' clearing he could spy the burgeoning explosion of firework blossoms. An entire cluster of sidekicks stood their ground on the grass and walkways, standing as a wall to bar half a dozen approaching Outcasts. Not daring to think of this insanity, Hiccup targeted him toward the Outcasts, rocketing beneath tree branches and firing one long, half-blind blast.

Shouts.

He swept up and around again for another dive, swinging like a pendulum back to earth. Outcasts shot from above, while the sidekicks on the ground charged in for battle.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut had not been completely correct in their description of their powers. They were not exactly two complementary sides of a magnet. Both were north, both were south. An Outcast, arm made of spears, swung at Push; Pull spun, facing backward; her brother, yanked by her pole, flew away from the spear. They turned, shot away from one another with magnetic force. Each twist, each turn, ricocheted and wrenched them, jerking them around the enemies, snapped them faster around the earth than anyone could run, two twins working as one. They literally pushed and pulled one another through their fight. Past this dance Hiccup rushed, shooting at one of their opponents. He heard a cry as he sped away back over the trees.

He circled again, slowing down for more careful aim. He shot past Snotlout, blazing every bush, every tree, every blade of grass in a torrent of pure fire. He shot past Speedifist running laps around his opponents. He shot past Clueless, whose enemies stood stupored before him, uncertain what they were, who they were. And for every circuit Hiccup completely, he shot a blast, zipping past before any could attack back.

The Outcasts held their ground, blooming force fields for protection, shaking the ground with earthquake stomps, blasting projectiles at the sidekicks. Behind them more supervillains arose, new enemies with new powers. They rose in waves. A telekinetic whose gestures threw boulders. A pyro whose snapped fingers lit sparks. Some strange conjurer whose motions produced heavy hardback books, all of which were launched straight at her enemies. That last superpower might have been hilarious – had it not been directed at them in such dire circumstances.

They were being overwhelmed.

"Snotlout, look out!"

Hiccup shot forth, rushing straight at his cousin, grabbed him before a blast could hit. Snotlout's sudden weight threw Hiccup downward; flight tottered; they crashed into grass. Tumbled, tumbled, tumbled. Skidded across grass. Sudden swearing.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?"

"I saved your life!"

More Outcasts attacked, chasing after them and cutting the quarrel off before it could begin. Hiccup could see nothing of what was going on except that they were being surrounded by more than trees. Snotlout flipped up to his feet, whisking a hand from right to left like a sprinkler, shooting fire like a flamethrower. It blasted out, crisping enemies immediately, but also setting fire to the bushes that surrounded them.

"Snotlout I wouldn't do that if –"

He pinwheeled in a circuit, retaliating as enemies closed in. Snotlout did not listen. Around Hiccup Snotlout circled, still facing outward, still shooting forth fire. Heat closed in on them and Hiccup baked in an oven beneath his metal armor. Smoke roiled upward into thick black night.

A wall of fire circled them completely.

"For the love of God, you just trapped us!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"Duh, I just got rid of all the enemies."

"Only to kill us with fire?!"

"Then get us out of here with your fancy flying suit!" Snotlout shouted back. "Nightmare knows what he's doing!"

"This better work!"

Grabbing Snotlout again, Hiccup reignited his thrusters. They groaned, ankles wavering. The launch started slow, built momentum, gained speed. Straight upward they shot up, boosting through a tunnel of fire. As they escaped, a voice squeaked through their minds, calling out, "Evacuate! Evacuate! I repeat, leave headquarters now! Cyborg has been spotted!"

"Did you –?" Snotlout began, suddenly worried.

"Yes," said Hiccup, eyes widened as he realized the severity of Thought Rider's second broadcast. "We need to get out of here – now." Hiccup tried to turn himself, strained at the extra weight, and slowly curled toward the ground again where the other sidekicks had been fighting.

"Yo! Where are you going? Escape is literally any other direction but that one!" Snotlout screamed, beginning to writhe in Hiccup's grasp.

"Stay still!" Hiccup yelled, nearly dropping Snotlout. Below them, the entire dorms glowed in fire, every room, every hall torched and dying. Hiccup had no idea how the Outcasts had managed to so thoroughly destroy the location when he had been busy fighting elsewhere. It only spoke to the large numbers and great danger of the situation. The Outcasts had not only overwhelmed the sidekicks, but had burst past them and set their dorms ablaze. "We should leave with the group," he explained to Snotlout. "Better chances of survival."

In the forest of fire they spotted their comrades. The sidekicks stood in a circle in the clearing, momentarily freed from fighting Outcasts, though all glanced over their shoulders with the knowledge they would soon need to run. A cacophony of frightened words rushed out of their mouths. "What is going on? Does anyone know?" "Where are the superheroes?" "They're east, that's where the official patrol went. They're too busy to help!" "How are we supposed to do this ourselves?" "God, I've never seen an attack like this!" "Did everyone get out of the headquarters?" "We're gonna die!" "How do we get out of here?" "Hey is that Hiccup?" "How the hell do we evacuate in THIS?" "Is this every single Outcast out there? They've never done this!" "Don't lose hope!" "That's definitely Hiccup." "There's no way to get out of this!" "We're gonna die!"

They landed. Hiccup and Snotlout raced for the group and joined the remaining teens. Thuggory. Push and Pull. Velocity. Firewyrm. Fanghook. Clueless. Typhoon. Crypto. Now Nightmare and Night Fury.

"Where is everyone?" Hiccup huffed, eyes wide and panning through the small group. The school consisted of several hundred youths, not this tiny portion of students. The main cluster of sidekicks had to be elsewhere.

"No idea," said Thuggory, who clearly had taken charge of the group and was attempting to calm everyone down – without much success. For that matter, he, too, seemed quite unsettled, barely holding down internally welling nervousness. "And no time to find them, either. As much as I'd like to know the others are safe, we've got to leave."

"Shouldn't we at least help with the main fighting? It's happening east, right?" Hiccup asked. Storm Fly, part of the official patrol, had flown that direction. Though he were very uncertain with what was going on, he believed he could understand that one small fact in the midst of this chaos.

"You heard Thought Rider," Thuggory pointed out. "She's in the main patrol, and she just sent us a word to leave. And she doesn't usually hop into that many minds at once – too much effort. So if she tried to send this warning, then it's serious, and there's nothing we can do…"

"We have to leave," said Velocity.

"I have no idea what the hell is happening!" Snotlout contributed furiously, waving his hands in the air.

"Shut up. No one knows what is going on!" Ruffnut snapped back. "I was in the middle of this and it makes no sense to me!"

"Nothing ever makes sense to you!"

"Nothing ever makes sense to you!"

"We're gonna die," wailed Firewyrm.

Thuggory interrupted, holding up a hand and speaking loudly so all could hear, "I'm confused myself. I couldn't tell what was happening in the heat of the attack. All we know is that we were told to leave." He emphasized the word yet again and ushered them subtly in the opposite direction of the rocking explosions. People began inching along with him. "The headquarters got attacked. They're in flames now. There seem to be a lot more Outcasts east fighting with Berk's superheroes and some of the other sidekicks. The rest of the sidekicks are God-knows-where. That's all we know. That's all any of us know."

Nervous murmurs.

"Let's try west then," Hiccup spoke up.

"West," Thuggory agreed. "Silent as possible, everyone. Stick to the shadows. We've learned how to fight, but now, it's best if we learn how to hide."