Chapter Fifty Five

It wasn't long before we found ourselves running after Stoick and the rest of the Vikings as they heeded his warning. The fact that mentioning Drago Bludvist had driven Stoick to this told me there was more going on than even we understood. What bothered me was the fact that Stoick had ordered all of the dragons to be grounded, after everything Eret had said about a dragon army, it suddenly made sense as to why he had given that order.

I never saw real fear in Stoick's eyes when someone mentioned the name of another. That alone should have caused red flags of alarm to appear in the back of my mind. But, curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to know who Drago Bludvist was, and why his name struck fear into even the toughest Vikings. It was clear that whatever Stoick had experienced with Drago Bludvist ran deeply enough that he knew to alert the entire village of the man's return.

"Ground all dragons!" Stoick ordered as we finally reached the stables.

The stables themselves had finally been finished after a year of construction. They were located on the cliff of the island, leading for easy access for dragons and their Riders. Hiccup and I were the ones who came up with the idea of the stables. Since so many dragons were staying on Berk now, the stables had become the perfect place for dragons to stay for villagers who didn't have enough room in their homes. Plus those who were visiting could stay at the stables if they needed a place to rest.

"What? Why?" Jacob asked as he ran after us, Sniper, Snowfire and Toothless close behind.

Honestly, I'd almost forgotten he was with us until he spoke up. Snowfire let out an irritated growl at the thought of being locked up, and I couldn't really blame her. She hated being locked up in any cage after her awful experience with SHIELD. And to be honest, I was beginning to understand why. When we had been captured, SHIELD decided to keep her bound by chains to prevent her from escaping the prison they'd tried building for the dragons. And Snowfire hadn't been happy with that.

We were both pissed off with SHIELD at that point, I admitted silently. I don't think Snowfire ever forgave SHIELD for what they did to her or the other dragons after that incident.

'No human will keep me caged,' she snapped angrily.

I had to keep one arm wrapped around her to stop her from charging. Stoick just glared back, not backing down from her cold glare. Despite how much larger and how much more dangerous she was, Stoick didn't back down from a challenge. Especially with the entire village at risk.

"Seal all the gates, lower the wall doors!" Stoick kept shouting orders as the villagers did as they were told, flocks of dragons flying in and reaching their sleeping normal areas.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! What's happening?" Hiccup asked in exasperation.

"Come on, you heard the man! Lock it down!" Gobber called to a group of Vikings.

They guided their dragons into their pens before closing the doors.

"No dragon sets foot or leaves this island, until I give the word," Stoick said to all of us.

Hiccup and I only exchanged looks of confusion. What the hell was going on? Why were dragons not allowed to leave all of a sudden? Something was definitely not adding up. Between finding out about Drago Bludvist and all of this, I was beginning to wonder what Stoick knew about the man in question. Something told me that if Drago was as dangerous as Stoick implied, we needed to take care of him sooner rather than later.

"Look, can you please tell us who Drago Bludvist is?" I asked after taking a deep breath. "Because something tells me he's no ordinary madman causing trouble in far-off lands."

Stoick let out a sigh of frustration before looking down at the two of us. I only crossed my arms and looked back defiantly. While I had a deep respect for Stoick, this was something we all needed to hear.

"Because, Drago Bludvist is a madman," he explained after realizing I wasn't backing down. "Without any conscious or mercy, and if he's built a dragon army… god's help us all. Get them into the pens, quickly!" he added to a couple of stray dragons outside their pens.

"Let's ride back there. We can follow those Trappers to Drago and talk some sense into him," Hiccup tried reasoning with his father.

Which was something I knew would never happen, at this point. If there's one thing I've learned about Hiccup and Stoick, once their minds had been made up, it was almost impossible to change them. Of course, with Stoick, it took him who knew how long just to realize that dragons weren't a threat.

"No, we fortify the island and contact our allies," Stoick retorted, then looked at me. "Alex, do you think you can call that team of yours?"

I looked down at my iPod before sending the much-needed signal back to Avenger's Tower. The good thing about having a rigged iPod was, I could send the signal from just about anywhere to the Tower. Once they received that signal, that usually rose a few red flags. The team didn't normally respond unless it was a real emergency, and understandably so. But if Drago was really as dangerous as he claimed, then we were going to need all the help we could get.

"Already done, sir," I replied with a sheepish smirk.

"Dad, it's our duty to keep the peace!" Hiccup snapped, trying to get his father's attention once again.

"Peace is over," Stoick told him, then shook his head and sighed. "I must prepare you for war."

War… it was such an ugly word, and something that I really hated thinking about. When I thought about it, I realized that truthfully, I had no say in the matter. True, Hiccup and I were dating, and I already pretty much lived here, but that didn't necessarily mean I had a say in what went on around here. I glanced at Hiccup uneasily when I noticed he didn't look any happier with what Stoick had said.

"War?" Hiccup repeated, looking equally as stunned as me. "Dad, if Drago's coming for our dragons, we can't just stick around and wait for him to get here! Let's go find him and change his mind!"

"You know, as crazy as that sounds, it just might work," Jacob muttered under his breath, having stuck around with the rest of the Riders for the most part.

"Some minds won't be changed, Hiccup," Stoick said. "Berk is what you need to worry about. A Chief protects his own."

And yet, Hiccup managed to change Stoick's mind about dragons. And the people from our world. Heck, we were even able to convince him that, despite his earlier misgivings, the Avengers weren't entirely a bad thing to have around for protection. With that thought in mind, I made a run for it to Snowfire, and Hiccup seemed to have the same thought in mind.

"Wait, don't!" Astrid tried stopping us, but it was too late.

Snowfire had already taken off.

"I have to," Hiccup told her.

I flinched at the sound of Stoick's yell, knowing full well we would never hear the end of this. Snowfire narrowly missed getting stuck under the hanger door as she folded her wings and flew through the narrow opening, with Toothless close behind her.

'As long as I am not caged, then I am more than pleased to be out of there,' Snowfire hummed once we were outside.

I couldn't agree more with her. I hated seeing her locked up in some cage, especially given our history with SHIELD. Though, I knew that the fear of being locked in a cage ran deeper than that. Snowfire had never fully explained her history to me, but I was beginning to learn more and more about what happened to her before we met. Humans had never been kind to her or her kind. And it suddenly made sense why she didn't openly trust most humans right away.

"Once we get to the Trappers, what are we going to say?" I asked once Toothless had caught up with Snowfire.

"I'm going to show him that dragons can be trusted," Hiccup replied.

Fortunately, it wasn't all that difficult to track them. We just followed our traces from where the icy fortress was. From there, the Trappers hadn't really gotten much further in their journey. Sure enough, Hiccup's theory was right, as a familiar looking ship soon came into view.

Eret had already spotted us from a distance, and his crew immediately began firing nets and bolas in our direction. Snowfire and Toothless dodged each blow with ease. My eyes narrowed as I recalled the training Natasha had given me. If it came down to a fight, Eret and his men were in for a nasty surprise.

Once Hiccup had Toothless land on the ship, Snowfire soon followed, growling with unease at the thought of facing these men again.

'I do not like this plan.' I only kept an arm wrapped around her as she glared at Eret, who seemed to glare back with as much confidence as he could muster. 'It is not going to end well for everyone involved.'

"And here I was worried we might turn up empty handed," said Eret with the slightest chuckles.

He grabbed his sword and pointed it in our directions.

"Nope, it's your lucky day; we give up," Hiccup replied, suddenly putting his hands in the air.

'What are you doing?' Snowfire asked in disbelief.

Eret looked just as surprised as we climbed out of our saddles. I really hoped this was all part of Hiccup's plan, because otherwise, this wasn't going to end well.

"That's one Night Fury, and one White Terror, and two of the finest Dragon Riders west of Luck Tuck," Hiccup told them once the pirates lowered their swords in confusion. He threw a net over me as I dropped my defensive posture, causing even more confusion. "That'll make the boss happy, right?" he asked while guiding me towards the brig. "Excuse us."

"Hiccup, what are you doing?" I whispered as we entered the brig.

Toothless was about to follow us, but Hiccup stopped him.

"Ah, Toothless, stay," Hiccup said as he closed the door. "The dragons really don't care for cramped spaces, so they'll just hand out with you. They won't be any trouble."

The pirates ignored his warning and raised their weapons, at both Toothless and Snowfire. Both dragons let out intimidating growls that sent the men back a few paces.

"Unless you do that." By now I had already guessed what Hiccup was planning. "You know, wooden boat, big endless ocean. H-How good is your swimming?"

"Not good," one of the pirates admitted, lowering his weapon.

'This plan of yours had better work,' Snowfire grumbled as Hiccup closed the door.

I nodded in agreement but didn't bother saying anything. Suddenly, Hiccup stuck Inferno between the bars and ignited it. He then stuck his head out of the door as he wedged it open.

"Oops, almost forgot. Can't have armed prisoners," he pointed out, handing Inferno to one of the pirates.

"How exactly is this a plan?" I asked in a whisper.

Though I already had an idea as to where this was going. With that Zippleback gas and Monstrous Nightmare saliva igniting the flame, a dragon could easily be swayed by it. Just another thing that Hiccup had learned in a short year.

The pirate eyed the weapon curiously as he tried to figure out how to make it work.

"Just what every dragon trapper needs; one end coats the blade with Monstrous Nightmare saliva, and the other sprays out Zippleback gas," Hiccup explained as the pirate flicked the switch on the blade to release gas. "All it takes is a spark and…"

Hiccup quickly ducked as the pirate's friend hit the button. A huge explosion shook the entire ship, covering the deck with smoke. The two pirates stood there in shock, probably amazed to still be alive, but their clothing was now scorched. Snowfire only rolled her eyes and puffed out smoke at one of the pirates standing nearby.

"Yep, that just about did it," I said with a sheepish smirk, trying not to laugh as Toothless played with one of the sparks.

"Once they see you as one of their own, even the testiest of dragons can be trained, right bud?" Hiccup asked as Toothless warbled in agreement.

"Everyone that is, except for Snowfire," I suddenly added.

I gave her one look and she rolled her eyes once again, but she understood the message. She knew well enough not to tamper with the plan, even though there really wasn't one. As of right now, I had a feeling that Hiccup was improvising with whatever he had. Hopefully this plan of his would work, otherwise I wasn't sure what we would do.

Eret scowled and threw Inferno off the ship, but Snowfire took off and chased after it.

"What are you playing at?" Eret demanded.

Snowfire dropped Inferno at his feet, narrowing her eyes at him.

"No game, we just want to meet Drago," Hiccup insisted as Eret threw Inferno again.

And again Snowfire chased after it, growling in annoyance.

"Why?"

"Because we're going to change his mind about dragons," Hiccup replied.

We? I had a feeling this Drago guy wasn't exactly in a listening mood.

Eret and the other pirates just laughed, having obviously thought the same thing. But Eret stopped as soon as Snowfire dropped Inferno and ran over to the brig, folding her wings protectively as he glared.

"He can be really persuasive," I added helpfully, poking my head out of the brig.

"Once you've earned his loyalty, there's nothing a dragon won't do for you," Hiccup said while rubbing Toothless' head.

Eret only snorted in response.

"You won't be changing any minds around here," he snapped.

'Would you rather I bite your head off?' Snowfire suggested in a low growl.

But she made sure that Eret and the others didn't hear. I smirked and patted her on the shoulder as she nuzzled me affectionately.

"I can change yours, right here, right now," Hiccup told them as he placed his foot on the lever that controlled Toothless' tail. He then got himself out of the brig and gestured to Toothless. "Ah, may I?"

Eret didn't have a chance to answer, because a Monstrous Nightmare swooped in from nowhere and snatched Hiccup by the arms. I held back a sigh of frustration as I recognized the other Dragon Riders. The boat swayed from side to side as Hookfang flew further up, with Toothless trying to jump after his rider.

"Wonderful timing, as always," I muttered under my breath.

Unfortunately, their timing was impeccable, and so was the timing of some of the Avengers, as well. To my surprise, and disbelief, I saw that they had already acclimated with the Riders, consisting of Steve, Natasha and Clint.

"Dragon Riders!" Eret shouted as his men fired nets at them. Snowfire only swatted her tail at Eret, knocking him off his feet. "What?" he demanded before getting up and running to one of the net launchers.

"Something tells me Stoick isn't going to be happy." Snowfire pressed her chin against my shoulder and hummed in agreement.

'Some minds cannot be changed,' she reminded me.

I watched the scene unfold before me as Eret fired a net at Barf and Belch. Ruffnut had her arms wide open as the net wrapped itself around them.

"What the hell's wrong with her?" I asked in a whisper.

Snowfire looked just as confused until Hiccup pulled out his flight suit and glided towards Eret's ship. That was when I noticed that Eret had his net launcher aimed at Hiccup.

Without warning I charged after Eret, knocking him to the side while bruising my own shoulder in the process. But by then he had already launched the net. Luckily Hiccup was able to dodge it as he pulled out his dagger and dragged it along the sail to slide down to the deck.

"Ah, what are you guys doing here?" he demanded once he'd landed.

"We're here to rescue you," Gobber replied as Grump flew down on the deck with a thud.

"Yeah, because you clearly needed it," Clint scoffed as he climbed off of Grump.

I don't know what was funnier. The fact that he got along with Gobber, or the fact that he had flown on the back of a Hotburple.

"Uh, we don't need rescuing," I reassured him.

'We were doing perfectly fine without you,' Snowfire added in a huff.

"Oh yes, I can see that," Gobber said with a smirk.

"Enough!" Stoick's booming voice sounded from ahead as Skullcrusher came landing on the ship.

Skullcrusher had replaced Thornado when he had to release his Thunderdrum in order to take care of three babies that had lost their mother. And Skullcrusher was a new dragon known as the appropriately named Rumblethorn. He looked like a cross between a rhinoceros and a scarab beetle, with green scales mixing into brown and a club-like tail.

Stoick jumped off of Skullcrusher and walked over to us with an angry scowl on his face. Although I'll admit he's always looked like that. Somehow this seemed different though. I tried to keep calm as Stoick glared down at us.

"Well didn't you just pick the wrong ship, eh?" Eret said, introducing himself like nothing was wrong. "I'm Eret, son of—"

He never got to finish his statement, because Stoick shoved him to the side. He was pulled back by Gobber, who banged his club prosthetic on his head. Eret fell, face first to the deck, but when he tried getting up, Grump just rested his head on him.

"Ah man, you should seriously see the look on your face," Clint laughed, earning a glare from Natasha, who flew with Astrid and Stormfly.

Somehow, it didn't surprise me that those two got along so well. They were surprisingly alike in some aspects. Both had issues trusting people right away. Both trained constantly to keep themselves prepared for anything the world threw at them.

"Get this thing off me," Eret choked out.

"Anyone else?" Gobber asked, and the other pirates looked at one another reluctantly. They didn't seem all too eager to rush over and rescue Eret. "Hm, that's what I figured."

"You two, saddle, now. We're going home," Stoick said after pointing at the two of us.

I winced after realizing that this was definitely not going to end well. And judging from the looks Steve, Clint and Natasha were giving me, I was going to get an earful when this was over. Getting involved with other-world politics and such wasn't part of being an Avenger.

"No," Hiccup replied firmly.

"Of all the irresponsible—"

"Look, I'm trying to protect our dragons and stop a war!" Hiccup snapped. "How is that irresponsible?"

"Because war is what he wants, son!" Stoick yelled back.

Stoick sighed when he saw that neither of us were going to give up. After what Snowfire had done for me, I would do anything to keep the dragons safe. Even if it meant risking my own life.

"Years ago, before you were born, there was a great gathering of chieftains on Berk to discuss the dragon scourge we all faced. Into our midst came a stranger from a strange land. He was covered in scars and draped in a cloak of dragon scales. He carried no weapon and spoke softly, saying that he, Drago Bludvist, was a man of the people. Devoted to freeing mankind from the tyranny of dragons. He claimed that he and he alone could control the dragons, and that he alone could keep us safe if we chose to bow down and follow him."

The other Dragon Riders other than Astrid laughed. Her expression suddenly turned serious when she realized how much danger they were in.

"Stupid," sighed Ruffnut after wiping away a tear.

"Ah, good one," Tuffnut agreed with her.

"Aye, we laughed too, until he wrapped his cloak around himself and cried, 'Than see how well you do without me!'. The rooftop suddenly burst into flames, and from it armored dragons descended from it, burning it to the ground. I… I was the only one to escape."

We all fell silent at that. The thought of having armored dragons made me shudder. I couldn't imagine what that must be like for them. And then to be forced into destroying an entire village like that. If Drago was as bad as Stoick claimed, then maybe the jerk needed his ass handed to him a few times.

"Men who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with, Hiccup," Stoick told his son.

"Maybe," Hiccup began while walking over to Toothless.

"Hiccup!" Stoick yelled.

"I'm going to try." Hiccup gave me one pleading look, and I nodded in understanding before climbing into Snowfire's saddle. "This is what I'm good at. And if I can change your mind, then maybe I can change his."

Snowfire had already taken off before Stoick could stop us. The ship had swayed from side to side once she took off, leaving everyone in awkward silence as Toothless followed soon after.


AN: Faster update this week! :) So, the next update might take more than a couple of weeks to get posted, for multiple reasons. One of them being, I wanna make sure that both the Avengers and Riders get an equal amount of time in the story (Well, those who have made an appearance already, at least), which means working them in a way that won't interfere with the second movie too much. Also, I have admittedly been working on the sequel as well XD And needless to say, it's gonna be a fun ride, literally :P I also apologize for the repetitive titles that might show up... I didn't know what else to title this chapter D:

Wild Cat 214 - Well, you'll just have to wait and find out what happens to everyone :P I'm not giving away spoilers. As for guessing what the fanbase will be, you can check out my profile, because I already have the title worked out, and it falls along the lines of my favorite movies list ;)

Sil - Haha, that would be fun to watch. I could just see the looks on everyone's faces, too. Would be hilarious to watch XD

monsterjamvadim - You know, now that I think about it, they haven't met the Hulk yet... I'm gonna need to change that D:

dragologistmaster - Thanks!

xX69759Xx - You didn't have to do that :P And no, you won't have to rewatch every movie... I'm not planning on including the other Phase 2 or Phase 3 movies... unless something happens otherwise, but it may provide some interesting insight with how she adjusts to the fall of SHIELD, and the Winter Soldier.