"There was a random power surge in the lower districts last night. A small apartment complex lost all of it's power for a moment, after the building's power levels shot up sky high for a few seconds then died down. " Hiccup noted while looking over his digital map of Dragon's Edge.
He pinpointed the building with a yellow dot and opened up another computer screen, tapping into a network of security cameras. He then went to the cameras in the same building and found footage from the previous night.
All he could see though was pitch black. "Damn power surge was strong enough to take out the cameras before it was even fully realized. Maybe if I rewind a bit further." He said as he played the tapes back further, watching as people came and went.
He paused as a familiar face entered here own apartment, then played on from there. "Astrid stays there, I can ask her a bit about it tomorrow. But not too much. Don't wanna draw suspicion." He notes as he watches the footage further.
Switching the camera view, he tapped into four more computers, bringing up every camera from every apartment in the building in sets of ten on each screen. Now sitting there with forty different views, he should be able to piece together what caused the surge.
"That was way too strong to be a transformer blowing out.." he said , watching each room very carefully as he played the tapes and viewed the screens one by one. As he reached Astrid's screen he paused, watching as she sat curled up in the kitchen.
This raised some concerns for Hiccup, Astrid was his rival for sure but he still somewhat saw her as a friend. And she was still his coworker. If she's having problems, he may need to talk to her.
"Wait…" he stopped for a moment, watching the Sparks build up around the blondes body as she shakes in fear. Her whole body illuminates for a moment and then. Nothing. Pitch black..
The cameras don't come back on. Hiccup leans back in his chair eyes wide at what he'd just seen. "Astrid is the power source...but how...what…. I have so many questions right now.."
He slid his hands behind his head as he pondered what he should do next. His eyes then moved over to his suit, a look of determination coming upon his face.
(Casual transition)
Astrid found herself waking up a few hours later, eyes shooting over to the alarm clock next to her bed to check the time. "3:04 in the morning." She noted as she turned, slipping out of bed slowly.
Her body had readjusted in the time she'd been asleep thankfully, it meant the medicine was still doing it's thing.
She rubbed her arm, her hand gently going over the marks from the syringe earlier as she did so. Still in her clothes from earlier, she walked out of her bedroom and into the kitchen at a slow, almost zombie-like pace. Her hand reached out for the light switch as she remained completely unaware of the dark figure sitting in a chair in her living room area.
The green eyes figure waited a moment before standing up. "Are you alright?" The modified voice asked, leading Astrid to jump,pivot and reach into her kitchen drawer , pulling out a .9mm and aiming at him. "I took the magazine out." Night Fury says, watching as she pulled the trigger and heard nothing but the metallic click.
She sighed as she put the weapon down and glared over at him. "What the fuck are you doing here?" She asked, venom in her voice. She hated this man, and just who the hell did he think he was to break into HER home? The cocky bastard, same bastard who laughed at her earlier on in the night before making a getaway.
He pissed her off to say the least. "Are you alright?" He asked her again , stepping a bit closer. "Astrid I came to investigate a energy source… rewinded the security cameras to see if I could find anything and...well I saw ….you.."
Astrid's eyes widened a bit, but she managed to keep her composure for the most part. "I have n-no idea what you're on about." Did I just stutter? Oh hell no, Astrid Hofferson does NOT stutter.
Night Fury sighed at that point. "You're taking Anaxylophal, that's a suppressant. Relieves tension in your body by numbing your muscles and forcing back abnormalities, mainly used for heavy sickness or for major pain relief… you use it for...something else." He notes, pulling her vial out and showing it
"You've been snooping around in my stuff too?!" She asks, pointing a finger at him angrily. Night Fury looked down for a moment. "It's alright to be scared...it's understandable...but if you are..ya know...if you're Enhanced, let me help you."
"Help me how?" She asked, crossing the arms over her chest as Night Fury hesitantly replied. "Help you to control it, because this-" he held up the vial of liquid. "this isn't control Astrid….this is abuse. And I feel deep inside you know that."
"And just how, pray tell, is it abuse?" She asks as she draws a glass of water. He narrows his eyes at her. "You've been off your game lately haven't you? Headaches, nose bleeds those sorts of things?" He asks as the glass slips through her fingers,crashing onto the floor below.
"Loss of motor function and control over your muscles?" He asked , watching as this happened and she moved towards the broom in the corner.
"I've tried to make this as clear as I possibly could, and I genuinely mean it- I am not your enemy and I want to help you. Because you using this is only gonna hurt, and if you leave this unaddressed for too long there's no telling what could happen." He says, looking at the clear liquid for a moment before turning back to her as she went to clean the glass.
"Last time someone tried to help me, they turned me into a freak…" she said, her eyes growing puffy as she spoke, memories flashing in and out of her mind.
"So you were experimented on…" he remarks as she looks at him coldly. "Why are you still here? I don't want or need your help…" she says, nearly starting to shout.
He sighed at this response, releasing this was a battle he was bound to lose. Night Fury reached into his utility belt and drew out a small phone like device, placing it onto the counter. "If you ever change your mind, please just give me a call…" he says, making his way towards the fire escape.
As he reaches out the window, he turns to the one last time, hoping she'd reconsider then and there. But that didn't happen. She simply continued her clean up and drew another glass of water, proceeding to drink it as he disappeared into the night.
Astrid stared off behind him as she moved to close and lock the window back in place. "Help….no way…" she thought as she made her way back to her bedroom.
(Casual transition)
Hiccup had returned from talking to Astrid about an hour ago, and once he returned to his apartment he immediately took to researching the blonde as best he could. Nothing much as far as high school records, middle school records, public records and more was pulled up.
Information drawn from the furthest reaches of her Facebook, to even stuff drawn from Instagram- he was digging deep for this information. But not deep enough.
He'd paced in a line next to the computer for the past thirty minutes, wondering what to do next. He then pulled out his chair and sat down, entering a secure network before hacking into the Government's files.
It was there he managed to draw out the information he sought the most, even finding several video clips of Astrid in the hospital at the age of 18. As Hiccup dug even further, he found an archive of videos taken within what appeared to be a government lab.
He clicked the first video, and waited as it began. It featured an old man, who looked as though he hated the worst speaking to the camera.
"Date: March 20th, 2013. File 20-10: Hofferson, Astrid. Subject is diagnosed with Oshtoran Syndrome- Subject suffers symptoms affecting her cognitive functioning, psychiatric health, movement control, liver (fatty infiltration, hyperplastic nodules), fat metabolism, abnormal adrenal gland functioning and additional issues which are caused by disturbed signalling functions in the nervous and additional systems due to functional changes in a part of the immune system. The treatment given today will attempt to slow the process and activate a cellular regeneration function."
Hiccup sat back slightly, adjusting himself in his chair as the video continued on. The old man, which Hiccup had noted was named Doctor Mildew, moved over to an unconscious Astrid who had been laid out and strapped down to a metal table in the lab. Mildew slid a mask over his mouth and nose as several other scientists and doctors moved about.
He watched as she was injected with a strange fluid, it glowed a bright green color. As it poured out of the syringe and into her veins her body jolted for a moment as her veins lit up green. The camera had been moved in close enough to record this effect.
her body was left there for a few minutes,a just until the color of the fluid died down in her veins. Once that was done, a hospital bed had been wheeled into the room and she was placed on to it.
Mildew walked over to the camera. "Subject has been injected with chemical D-11195- a means of temporary stabilizing her and preparing her body for the bioelectric stasis chamber."
Hiccup raised an eyebrow in questioning as he heard this, leaning a bit closer to the screen. "Bioelectric stasis?" He asked himself as the video ended. There were a few more left to watch, but he had decided to call it a night and simply downloaded them to an untraceable server, saving them for later.
"Man have I got some questions…."
(Casual transition)
Astrid pulled open the door to her car early the next morning, tossing her phone into the passenger seat as she got in and started it up. She pushed for a moment, a strange feeling coursing through her body. She watched as the current shot through her body and into the steering wheel before hitting the engine and shutting down the car.
Her eyes widened and she swiftly moved outside the vehicle, popping up the hood to check on the engine. It was literally fried, smoke arising from it. She slammed the hood down in anger as she sighed deeply.
"Fuck!" She shouted as she leaned against the vehicle before rushing to the passenger seat to grab her phone. She quickly dialed away at a number and stuck the phone to her ear, waiting until the voice on the other end picked up.
"Ruff I need a ride to work, my car isn't starting up." She let out a breath of relief as she got confirmation from her partner, setting her phone down on the hood of the car as she looked towards her hands, watching as the energy died down inside of them.
"Why is this happening?" She whispered to herself as tears began to form in her eyes. "I was in control...I was…'' she sat down on the hood of the car , waiting in silence as her body shook gently.
It didn't take long from Ruffnut to pull up to the apartment complex, honking her horn to let Astrid know she was there. Astrid grabbed her stuff and rushed over, quickly getting into the passenger's seat with a "Thanks" being sung as she shut the door.
Ruff looked over at her partner and best friend as she drove off, her eyes moving in between the road and Astrid. "You okay?" She asks as Astrid nods her head "Just dandy…" is her response as she let's the seat go back a bit.
"You sure? Everything's good? Your um….your sickness isnt coming back….r-right?" She asked, a sense of fear arising now. She'd known Astrid since they were in middle school, and she'd been there for all of her troubles.
All of them.
Astrid sat there, arms snaking over her chest and crossing as she looked over at Ruff. "I...I don't wanna talk about it."
Upon hearing this, Ruff simply gave a nod as they began to approach the DEPD building. She parked her car and the two got out, walking towards the entrance. As they entered the building, they were met with the sight of Hiccup talking to a blonde haired figure with dreadlocks- this had been TJ "Tuffnut" Thorston, Ruff's twin brother.
"Dude no way in hell are we going to a midnight showing again, not after last time." Hiccup said as he tapped a manilla folder against the table next to them as Tuff threw his hands up.
"Aw come on! Last time wasn't all that bad!"
"We missed the whole show because the theater messed up our ticket booking." Hiccup noted as Astrid and Ruff approached, making their presence known.
"Morning boys." Ruff said as Astrid looked off to the side. Hiccup noticed this, eyes swiftly analyzing her for a moment before smiling at Ruff. "Morning, ready to get through another day in hell?" Astrid and Ruff smiled at this "Always" Ruff replied as Astrid tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
Hiccup watched her closely, finally getting the nerve to speak up. "Astrid you feeling alright? You seem a bit distant today." He says as she turns her attention towards him, moving to speak but being cut off by Ruff.
"She's a bit sick today..' she starts as Astrid rolls her eyes and walks off in the opposite direction. Hiccup , Ruff and Tuff look on as she leaves then look to one another. "We should keep watch today, make sure she's good." Hiccup suggests as the Twins nod.
Hiccup took to his desk, opening a file that had been opened the previous day, the Dragon's Breath case had been long running and it had been updated last night. With the arrest of Dagur and Ryker, they had uncovered two of four major players in the drug trade business.
"Only ones left are Viggo Grimborn and an unknown kingpin…" Hiccup noted into his tape recorder as he crossed his arms, reading each word of the statement given by Dagur very carefully. Dagur had refused to reveal anymore information on the Grimborns' operation and vice versa. Hiccup was going to have to dig deep as hell to uncover the full story behind this one.
He looked over as his phone rang aloud, the tune of "Is Nowhere" by Mayday Parade bringing him from his thoughts. He walked over and took a peek at the caller idea, seeing a large red bearded image and the name 'Dad' on the screen. He reached over, allowing his hand to hover over the phone as he thought on his next move.
He swiftly picked up the phone, sliding the green button aside to answer it. "Hello?" He answered, getting a pause in return for a few seconds. Then the somewhat rough voice of Stoick Haddock came into his ears.
"Hello son. I um...I was just seeing how you've been doing in Dragon's Edge…" he says
Hiccup exhales slightly "I've been good dad..listen I'd love to talk but I-i'm at work right now…" . He brings a hand to his face, feeling slightly ashamed at the words he'd spoken- he hadn't lied but still felt horrible nonetheless.
No. He would not feel bad about this. "Maybe we'll talk later dad…" he says, not awaiting a response as he hung up the phone and tossed it back onto the desk where it had been.
The work day had carried on, boring and slow. No new breaks in the Drug Trade case or any case really. For once , Dragon's Edge was calm despite a few store robbery attempts that were thwarted by Windshear and some jaywalkers.
This kept Hiccup calm as he made his way throughout the day, focusing on the main case and solving a few others in the meantime. No random questionings, no true interruptions throughout the day.
As the night time arrived, Hiccup was making his way out of the building, most others having been gone save for those who were staying overnight. He waved goodbye to his fellows as they went to their respective vehicles and watched as Astrid and Ruff got into Ruffnut's car, taking off rather quickly.
He knew what was going on, the drug wouldn't continue to hold it back for that long. Meaning she'd need a higher dosage, which was highly unsuggested. He'd have to make another visit to her.
Hiccup slid into the driver's seat of his Midnight Blue 2017 Dodge Charger, starting it up and leaving the precinct rather quickly. Once he reached the apartment, he wastes no time heading to the Dragon's Den.
"Suit up time.." he says lowly as he stares at the case holding the Night Fury suit. Not even a full fifteen minutes later, the Night Fury was stalking the streets of Dragon's Edge once more. His masks lenses were changed to a blue function as he scanned over the electrical activity in the area. The main place he was looking was across the street- at Astrid's apartment.
The energy spikes had increased since last night, with this entire district losing power and regaining it about five times since Astrid had returned from work.
"She needs my help...I just wish she'd acknowledge that…"
The hero thought as he watched as his blue colored vision picked up something new- a mass of electrical energy shaped like a person.
Astrid had approached her window, watching as the moon abve cast a shadow onto her floor. She turned and was eye to eye with the caped vigilante, both simply staring at one another for a moment.
Night Fury made the first move, grappling his way over and perching himself onto the fire escape next to the window. "We need to talk…" he says as Astrid sighs.
"Yeah...we do…" she replies, holding her left arm and shamefully looking towards the floor as she then moved to open the window for him.
"Your powers-
"My sickness, has been getting too hard to handle." She says, cutting him off just before he finished his statement and staring at him. The blue in her eyes was brighter than usual, nearly glowing white around her pupils.
"I've noticed… the chemical isn't working the same, I know that much. If you continue to increase that dosage, you're gonna wind up slowing down, possibly even risking loss of motor function. " He says, his modulated voice coming across as cold even though he'd attempted to convey his concerns.
"I just need something more…"
"You need to control it, and don't let it control you. Which I imagine is hard, but I can help you better than any doctor."
"I've heard that before, it was a lie. I'm not going to allow myself to be taken into something like that again!" She said, turning and yelling at him.
The hero winced slightly and sighed "You can't live like this… and I'm not like any doctor, I'm not a doctor at all….. above all else, I'm not Doctor Mildew… I'm not allowing anything else like that to happen to you.."
Astrid paused for a moment,her blonde hair glimmering in the moonlight , each strand seemingly lifting upwards as the lights began to flicker. She moved about an inch ahead, slowly. Anger building within, she tightened her fists and tried her hardest to hold back the tears and ignore the memories.
But they flashed back more and more… she could see herself being tied to the table and shocked vigorously, a form of 'treatment' to activate the chemicals that had been pumped into her continuously.
She could feel each vein growing then dying down more and more, gorwing green then blue in a split second before returning to normal. The pain she felt then came back at her , hitting like a train.
Speaking through clenched teeth as the tears flowed down her cheeks, she spoke lowly. "How do you...how do you know about Mildew?" She asked as her eyes began to change, the color in them growing more vibrant until they shimmered with electrical energy.
"Astrid , I-"he began as she turned on her heel, launching a burst of energy towards him. The Night Fury lunged out of the way, allowing the blast to hit the rooftop across the way, tearing it slightly.
He turned towards her, taking a few steps out of the way on the fire escape as she walks over, stepping on to the fire escape. By now her hair had shot up, eyes now white as she glared at him. The energy flowed throughout her body, out of her hands and over her shoulders.
It burned through her shirt, burning off the sleeves. "Astrid I swear I only did this to protect you.." he started, staring at her and moving into a stance to shield himself in case of another blast.
"You...You BASTARD!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she launched another burst of energy at him, this time sending him flying over the railing and falling about 20 feet into the alley below. As he landed, he grunted heavily and looked upwards.
"Shit…" he said with a brief cough as he watched bits of smoke rising from his gauntlets- minicomputer now fried. "Dammit.." he commented as he rolled over slowly, getting up to his feet in pain.
"Shit that hurt.." he commented, while watching the fire escape carefully. Night Fury moved an arm over his stomach, holding his abdomen in pain as he coughed again.
"Still alive huh?!?!" He heard a feminine voice call as another burst approached. He lunged out of the way and rolled beside the dumpster nearby, in a kneeling stance now. "Astrid calm down!!" He shouted as the blonde jumped down, landing with a literal shockwave flying around.
Trash and more was sent flying, along with Night Fury. As he collided with the wall behind him, he looked up through the now damaged lenses of his mask. The green filter shut down, leaving the lenses now transparent.
As she approached, she stared into the emerald eyes that laid behind the mask, charging more energy into her palms. "I've wanted for so long to catch you...and now I've got you cornered.. I can finally take that damn mask off…" she said, reaching for the mask.
Hiccup's eyes widened as she approached, closing his eyes tightly as her hands grabbed onto the mask. As she did, the defense system in his suit kicked in, sending 20,000 volts of electricty into her body. Astrid's own eyes widened here, the new amount of energy overwhelming her as she had just begun to get used to it.
Her body shook as she found herself lurching back and passing out onto the ground, Hiccup standing up slowly and looking down at the ground. "...holy shit…" he says as he spits out a bit of blood and walks over to her.
(Casual transition)
Astrid's eyes opened slowly, very slowly. They looked immediately to the coffee table sitting nearby then darted towards the figure that sat in a chair across from it. She lept up quickly, reaching behind the pillow for something.
"It's not there." The semi modulated voice said- Night Fury's modulator having been damaged during the scuffle earlier in the night. Astrid could hear a glimpse of his true voice now, but the distortion in his damaged modulator still made it impossible to place.
She grunted in anger as she rose to her feet, soon finding herself falling back onto the couch behind her. "What did you do to me?!" She asked , screaming at the hero as he looked back at her. "My suit has, or had, a security measures installed. When you went to remove my mask, it kicked in and sent a large burst of electricity into you… at the time you were just beginning to truly use your abilities..from what I've deduced, it overloaded you."
Astrid could hardly believe what she'd just heard. "Overloaded? Like a damn battery?" She asked, looking up at him as he slid over a warm mug of coffee. She eyed it questioningly and watched as he sipped from a mug of his own- Both of which came from her kitchen.
She glared softly as she lifted the mug to her lips, pausing for a moment to wonder if she should trust this.
"Your powers- seem to work off emotion."
"Huh?" She asks, setting the mug down as he made this be known. "They work off emotion. When you were sad, they fluctuated.. when you were angry, they went wild. You went wild." His words cut slightly, especially as she recalled what had happened.
She narrowed her eyes at the man, nose turned up slightly. "You brought that upon yourself."
"I did what I needed to do to ensure your safety and the safety of those around you." He replies sharply, eyes cutting over to the then back down to the mug of coffee in his hand.
The woman groaned gently , locking her eyes onto him. "You had no right to go snooping around like that and Gods only know how you even managed to FIND any of that information!"
He listened as she complained, and soon clsoed his eyes whilst sitting the mug down. "Tell me...how would it have felt if your powers surged like that whilst on duty? What would happen then?" The woman grew silent as he asked this, looking down to her feet as he stood up.
"What if you'd been driving around with Ruff and boom, power surge causes a car wreck? What if you'd been with your family and boom, shockwave takes them out…" he turns to her, aggression livid within his emerald eyes as they lock onto her like a target.
"I'm a hero, I protect people and intervene when I feel the need. You need an intervention and you're too damn proud to admit it. Well I refuse to allow you to continue to potentially harm others and to harm yourself.."
He moved over to the window, sliding it open once again. "Parkway Alley, 3 o'clock PM- be there or so help me Thor I will find you.." he says, staring at her one last time before heading out. The cool Dragon's Edge breeze blew in as he left like a thief int he night.
Astrid sat there, staring down at the floor in deep thought on what to do now. She looked at the window, a mixture of emotions flowing throughout as she moved to close the window. When her hand approached, a small spark shot onto the latch and she quickly withdrew.
Astrid just stared, stared at the roof she'd seen him on earlier, now devoid of life but bearing a large crack and burn- one that she'd put there herself.
And she began to cry.
(Casual Transition)
Hiccup gave a deep sigh as he looked at the damage done throughout the night. His minicomputer in his gauntlet was burned out, he'd need to replace it and fix the material around it. Maybe build up something to help it resist shock.
As he took to removing the wires from within the cracked up and burned device, he grabbed an old iPhone 4s and began to replace the wiring inside. He then placed a plexiglass cover over it and began to install a software chip.
And just like that his new minicomputer was complete, not even a few seconds after turning it on- a signal came through. He almost smirked as he recognized it and tapped an answering icon, his voice automatically being modulated by the device.
"So you've made the right choice?" He asks as the voice on the other end sighs.
"Yeah...I need your help.." Astrid replies.
(Meanwhile….in Berk)
A constant shouting could be heard from behind a closed door. A body soon hit the door, crashing through it and sending wood splinters flying all about. A dark clothed figure stepped out of the room, staring down at the unconscious man who laid in a pile of wood chips.
He shook his head at him. "I'd say it was a pleasure but- honestly I'd be lying out my arse." The figure remarks as he raises a hand, a strange green energy flowing through his palms and bursting outwards- taking the man's head off.
"Sad...some people just need to pay their debts…. Speaking of which…" he looked at his phone, a familiar red haired figure appearing in a mugshot before his eyes.
"I've got to make my way to Dragon's Edge…"