Hiccup and Merida slid to a stop outside of the Grimborn's offices. Inside, was their main shot to finally getting justice for the attacks and thefts from the past month.
"Go," Hiccup whispered as Merida nodded, pulling out her controller. The Humming-fairy was set up outside the door, where it was promptly started up and sent inside the room. Merida used the bot to leap over tables and knock piles of papers off of Viggo Grimborn's desk, which quickly caught the attention of the CEO.
"What the hell?!" He yelled, leaping out of his chair and chasing after it. He pulled out a phone and quickly dialed. "Ryker! There's a robot loose in my office! Get your ass up here and help me lock it down!"
"Come on!" Merida whispered, shoving Hiccup back as the door was shoved open and Viggo went chasing after Humming-fairy. The robot was already headed in a clear shot towards Ryker's office, and Merida looked at the Hiccup, who smiled back encouragingly.
"Come back ta me in one piece," She whispered, kissing him quickly and chasing after Viggo. Hiccup nodded and slipped inside the vacated office, running over to the computer and plugging a flash drive in. He unbuckled his bag, letting Toothless leap out.
"Watch the door, stay out of sight," He said quickly. Toothless whirred in response and leaped up to a shelf next to the door. Hiccup watched him, waiting for the computer to load, and his jaw dropped. "Holy shit,"
Rapunzel stuck close to Jack, hurrying to not get left behind. They were almost at the vault, and she was already ready to leave the building. Something about it just didn't feel right. The lights were too dim, too spaced out. The workspaces had this… sick feeling. Like nobody who worked at Grimtech actually wanted to be there.
Jack reached the door and punched in the code, pulling Rapunzel inside as soon as it opened.
"Where to next…" He trailed off, blue eyes darting back and forth at the prototype shelves.
"They aren't here!" Rapunzel finished, glancing at the shelves. "Viggo's hiding them somewhere else!"
"Where then?" Jack asked, running down the aisle to see if any of the bots they were searching for were there. "Where could he possibly be hiding them?"
"I… don't know!"
The two looked, but there were no robots to be found. There were plenty of copies of different pieces and attachments. Rapunzel felt sick as she recognized the distinctive generators from Invisi and MASHmallow's twisting joints. Feeling a jolt of anger travel down her spine, the blonde whipped out her phone and took several pictures of the offending pieces.
"Punzie, what are you doing?" Jack asked, still frantically searching. "We've got to find the other bots!"
"They can't get away with this!" She growled. "Everyone spent so much time on their bots and they're just stealing it!"
Hiccup typed out a few codes quickly, glancing worriedly up at the doorway. Toothless still stood guard, but the brunet knew that Merida's distraction would only last so long.
There was a satisfying beep as the downloads finished. Hiccup ripped the flashdrive out of Viggo's computer, grinning widely. He pulled his own laptop out of his bag and stuck the drive in, waiting impatient for it to start up.
"Toothless! Updates!"
The dragon-bot whirred, leaping from one of the many shelves lining the dark office to the desk. He shook his head, signalling that they were still in the clear.
"We really need to find Wisp…" Hiccup muttered, opening a tab on his laptop and starting yet another download cycle. He waited a few more minutes, setting the laptop on Viggo's desk chair to let it finish loading.
Toothless made a sound from a different cabinet, and Hiccup made his way over there, looking inside as he got closer.
"Yes!" Hiccup cried. "Toothless you're the best!"
He pulled on the handle, but the door was locked. Hiccup didn't want to risk any alarms going off if he broke the glass casings, but he also needed to finish up in the office and find Merida.
"Toothless, open the door - minute lasers only!"
He slid back over to the chair, finishing typing in a few things and hit send, sighing with relief as the message successfully made it to its destination - E. Aster Bunnymund's city council email.
"Yes!" Hiccup cheered, whirling around in the desk chair to face Toothless. "Come on, we have to go help Meri!"
Hiccup stuffed his laptop into his bag and raced over to the shelf, yanking open the door and grabbing Wisp. Toothless leapt onto Hiccup's shoulders, and the two raced out of the room, chasing after Merida as one more message finished sending.
"RYKER GET THIS THING UNDER CONTROL!" Viggo yelled, chasing the Humming-fairy as his brother joined the fray. "Where did this even come from?!"
Merida smirked, and tapped in another code, setting the Humming-fairy to another prewritten program. The little robot cartwheeled away, opening doors and running down the halls. The brothers chased after it, leading them further and further from the office.
Merida stayed a little bit behind, watching carefully.
"Hey you! Come and help us with this!" Viggo yelled, suddenly catching sight of Merida.
'Crap.' Merida thought. "What's the problem?"
"This bot's gotten out of testing! We need to catch it! You're an employee, do something!"
Merida rolled her eyes and ran towards the Humming-fairy, making a lackluster attempt to catch the rogue bot. A few other late employees had joined in, so she did her best to duck out of sight of Ryker.
She stuck her foot out and caught another worker's ankles, sending him sprawling into another man. Merida then jumped over the pile and faked a grab for the robot, instead yanking a chair into the stomach of another woman.
'Three down. Three to go.' Merida thought, ducking down as the Humming-fairy jumped over her head. She spun around to trip up the last employee, but stopped when there was a sudden yank on her hair.
"Ahhh!"
"I know you!" Ryker Grimborn yelled, pulling Merida back by the fist locked in her curls. "You're that spitfire!"
"What spitfire?" Viggo asked angrily, whipping around, the rampaging Humming-fairy forgotten.
"This is the girl," Ryker growled. "The one that took both me and the Stabbingtons to take her bot!"
Viggo's expression changed and he stepped closer to the struggling redhead. He traced a finger over Merida's black eye, causing her to flinch away angrily.
"What are you doing here then…?" He muttered before shaking his head. "Nevermind, Ryker, bring her in here,"
The smaller man opened a door to a small conference room, not bothering to close it as he followed his brother and Merida. The redhead was tossed into one of the chairs, the force throwing her so far back that her head collided with the wooden table. Merida let out a low growl, but Ryker pinned her back with her arm.
"Careful cub," He hissed. "You aren't out on the streets anymore!"
"What exactly are you here for?" Viggo asked. "Your robot?"
Merida didn't say anything, instead glaring at the CEO.
"You can't be working alone…"
"Can't we just turn her over to the police?" Ryker growled. Viggo shook his head.
"Then all she has to do is file assault charges, and this whole thing gets more media coverage than we want,"
"Yeh'll never get away with this!" Merida spat, twisting against Ryker's grip. The two men laughed, not noticing how the redheads fingers slipped towards her waist.
"We already have," Viggo said, pulling a small chess piece out of his pocket and examining it. He smiled, which sent a bad feeling through Merida. Viggo Grimborn and his brother might have been sleazeballs, but the younger brother was clearly the brains. He seemed to have every angle mapped out.
A metallic glint caught Merida's eye.
Every angle but one.
"No. We 'ave," She smirked, flicking her wrists. Four tiny darts flew towards Viggo, catching him off guard as they snagged onto his coat and knocked him over. Ryker yelled, moving to help his brother, but this meant that he let go of Merida.
The redhead kicked out, tripping the older Grimborn as she left to her feet. She pulled her controller out of her coat and slammed a button, sending tiny electric shocks to her darts. Viggo yelled out in pain and annoyance, ripping the darks away. Ryker lunged for Merida, but she ducked, whirling around and connecting her fist to the man's nose.
"No!" Viggo yelled, lunging towards Merida. He reached out for her hair, but was cut off as a large black robot landed on his head, dragging him back down to the ground.
Toothless hissed, eyes glowing green as his wings spread, and he jumped back in to protect his fighters.
Authors note: The final fight has begun! Only a few more chapters left!