Night Fury- age eighteen. He continued his job of stalking the streets alongside his father. But there was a small group of heroes, a duo of sorts that had taken to doing the same thing in Detroit, not too far from home. Windshear and Hookfang is what they were called, and Hiccup knew them all too well.
Or at least their civilian identities. Heather Oswaldson and Scott Jorgenson. Scott was his cousin, a few months younger than Hiccup but much more muscular and a bit dumber. He used his head in the literal sense (headbutting, headslamming, any attack that utilitizes one's head.). Heather was his girlfriend and also the one to keep him calm in certain situations.
They were like polar opposites, but that's what made them work so well. Scott, or Snot as many called him, was always angry, brutal in battle. Heather moved with the grace of a dancer and remained calm even in the worst situations….but none of them expected things to get worse. It was a simple operation, and a regular night.
Heather looked at Scott, who wore an orange and Red suit of similar design to her own, save for the cowl that covered his hair , eyes and nose and was shaped in the jagged point like a Monstrous Nightmare.
He smiled at her as the two stood upon a roof, looking down at a building below, surveying the windows on the side they stood just far enough away from.
"He's late.." Hookfang says as his modulator kicks in, Windshear slapping his arm gently. "He'll be here...you know your cousin likes dramatic entrances."
Hookfang rolled his eyes, though the action wasn't visible beneath the yellow tinted lenses of his mask. "Yeah...how bout this, we give him five more minutes and then we move in without him…" he says, making a plan to her. It was debatable, but tonight she didn't want to debate.
She sighed and smirked. "Fine..". Windshear looks away, staring out into the night sky for a moment. A bad feeling crept up on her. A large pair of arms wrapped around her, hugging her tight as Hookfang rested his head on her shoulder. "Hey… I know you want him here. I do too...he's my cousin..I love him… but we can't risk them getting away in favor of his timing.." he says, the girl merely nodding in response and kissing his stubble ridden cheek.
"Alright , you make a good point. Let's just try to save some for him , huh?" She asks, resting a hand on the spot she'd kissed. Hookfang smiled "Of course.." he replied as he looked over at the building.
It was a four floor building, with twelve men on each one. They had arranged their set-up perfectly, the highest floor holding twelve men armed with semi-automatic weapons. The bottom floor held the same, while the two middle floors' men all worked heavily on stocking crates and containers, only about six of them actually being armed.
On the fourth and highest floor, the men moved in a wedge formation across the floor and back, six in one formation moving towards the door and six in another formation facing the back walls.
A shadow came upon the center of the floor, drawing some of their attention it's way. The window nearest the wedge facing the door shattered apart with a large burst of fire hitting it. The large form of Hookfang rushed behind it and barreled into two of the men, slamming them into the floor boards headfirst. They were unconscious.
He turned around quickly, activating the feature built into his suit to allow flames to burst from his hands and up to his shoulders, launching the flames at the rest of the men in a large wave. The flames were actually in a form of concussive energy, rigged to looked like fire.
He walked over to the downed men, clapping his gauntlets together to create another burst to send them all flying into the wall halfway across the room.
He smirked at this, listening to the sounds of Windshear handling the other formation. He turned around, watching as she released the collar of the last man, allowing him to slump onto the floor.
"Fourth floor down, three to go… you wanna just take out the shipments first?" He asks her, getting a nod in response. As they move towards the door, one of the men they'd taken down speaks into his walkie talkie.
A sharp rumbling erupts beneath them, causing them to look at one another before rushing down to the third floor. As they burst onto that floor, they're met with all of the men inside being unconscious. The weapons they'd been stocking for sale had been blown up.
"Hey guys.." a voice cut in, the two heroes turning to see Night Fury walking over with his bo staff drawn.
Hookfang chuckled as Windshear smiled at the hero. "There you are.. took ya long enough cuz."
Night Fury gave a shrug. "I had to get away from the old man.." he says, walking over to them. "I take it you got the fourth floor down?" He asks, receiving a nod from Hookfang as he crossed his large arms over his chest.
"That was lightweight." Windshear says as she walks towards the door. As the males scoff and walk behind her, Night Fury stops. He taps the lenses of his mask, going into a search mode and searches the area "Gonna make sure we're not missing anything here." He tells them as they watch him.
"Alright, I'll head down and get started on the second floor." Hookfang says as he turns back towards the door and walks towards it. "Hold up." Windshear says, rushing over to him
As they head out, Night Fury's eyes pan over to the walls. "What the." Illuminated in red on his lenses were long wires, going from floor to floor. They seemed to connect to boxes in the floors..
He walked over to the box that was set up in the back corner of the room, pulling the metal covering off of it. A small gasp of surprise escaped his lips as he saw a heavy explosive behind the casing.
He wasted no time in tapping into his communication software and alerting the other two heroes. "Guys this whole place is rigged to bl-" a loud boom echoed throughout the entire city.
The first floor's explosive had gone off. The beams holding the second level collapsed and the third floor shook wildly, nearly collapsing as well. He fell to his knees from the force and yelled into his comm.
"Hookfang!! Windshear!! Guys!!? Hello?!?"
It was dead silent for the longest time. After about three minutes, a scream erupted from the comm. "HOOKFANG!!!"
His eyes widened and he launched several minor level explosive shuriken onto the floor boards. They went off creating a nice hole for him, Night Fury jumped down it and nearly fell onto a pile of debris. He landed carefully, hitting the ground below.
Most of the men inside were dead, crushed by rubble or debris from the explosion. The entire second floor sunk into the first floor, taking out most of the inhabitants of both floors. Nothing he could do for them right now. He needed to focus on this.
He searched the room, his gauntlet proojecting a hologram to show the signatures of Hookfang and Windshear's communicators. He found one nearby, pushing a pile of rubble off of Windshear's lower half and helping her to her feet.
She was shaken, scared even. It looked like she was crying. He needed her to regain control and soon, they had to get Hookfang and get out of there. "Hey! Hey! Windshear look at me...where is Hookfang?" He asks her as calm as he can be in the moment.
Her hands shake as she lifts up one of them, pointing in front of her. His eyes followed the path in which she pointed, and his jaw dropped in an instant. All he saw was a pile of debris, a pool of blood and a large orange and red decorated arm.
Night Fury wanted to move, he wanted to say something...but he couldn't. He just dropped right there, Windshear dropping with them.. "Scott…" he whispered as the tears began to flow.
The two heroes sat there...crying with one another at the loss of their loved one.
Dragon's Edge (NOW)
"Ever since that day, I've tried to be more cautious of human life... cautious of everything, of people aorund me even. I cut people off as best I could, avoided social interaction and focused on my work…"
Hiccup stood before a gym full of high school students, wearing his normal dark brown leather jacket and a cream colored button up shirt. It was a special day at the school, as they'd asked some DEPD workers to come in and talk to the kids.
While most were far too busy for it, or just too lazy to do it, Hiccup took up the task of speaking to the children of Edge High School. He mostly wanted his message to get across with the Seniors who'd be leaving to experience the full joys of life soon and the freshmen who were just dipping their toes in the pool of life.
"My whole life has been mostly of loss honestly.. I lost my mom to some common street thieves...lost my cousin in a gang fight.." he stopped, scoffing at the lies he'd told. He told them about how he lost Scott, but not about the exact way- not how he also lost Hookfang..
{Gang war….good one….damn liar.} He thought as he shook his head slowly. "I lost so much...so many people to the criminal element that I just...left home. I dedicated my life to bringing bad people in and making sure no one else had to feel the same pain… because it's just a horrible feeling… honestly I'd like to say I'm doing a pretty good job so far." He says with a chuckle, getting a small laugh from some of the students.
"Look, I'm not gonna keep this as some long winded speech. I'll leave it at this- be careful. Don't do anything you know is wrong, if you have to think twice on it, it's probably not for you.."
"Thank you Detective Haddock.'' the principal, a shorter woman with dark brown hair streaked with layers of white, said as she placed a hand onto the man's shoulder and lead him to turn to her. "No problem." He says, a smile coming to his face as he gives the class a wave and turns to leave.
Not long after, the bell rang and the hallways flooded with kids. Hiccup moved towards the double doors that led to the courtyard outside, looking at the phone in his hand as he did so. There were five missed calls, and twelve messages from Astrid.
"Last message : SERIOUSLY?!? YOU DROP A BOMB LIKE THAT AND DON'T SAY ANYTHING ELSE?!?" he chuckled a bit as he read that.
"Um...excuse me." A small voice managed to draw him away from the barrage of angry messages he'd received on his phone. He turned around,his eyes setting upon a shorter male- a student.
He had black hair, combed very similar to someone he once knew. "What's up kid?" Hiccup asked as the young man awkwardly looked to he floor, then back up to him. His knuckles were wrapped in bandages , Hiccup noticed this as soon as the kid began to toy with the straps of his old, raggedy green backpack.
"You're a cop…I had a question." The kid responds. Hiccup smiles warmly "About what?"
"Child abuse." . And cue the awkward silence. It took a moment for Henry to register what the kid had just said. But once he did, he gave an awkward nod and said "Shoot."
The kid looked to he ground once again "My mom is sick..and my stepdad works to pay for her treatment..but lately he's been coming home drunk… he yells.." Hiccup's eyes soften, as he listens intently to the story.
"Go on…" he says gently, urging the kid to continue . "H-he..he always yells at me.. I yelled back last night.. and…"
Hiccup placed a hand of support onto his shoulder, watching as the child's eyes began to well up. "Did he hurt you?" He asks plainly, as serious as a heart attack.
The child looked back at him and gave a simple nod. "I tried to fight him.. I-I tried to get my m-mom out of there..but… he was too strong.. he beat me up, he stepped on my hand a bunch and then he left...he hasn't been home since.."
Hiccup bit his lip, trying to hold back the rage that had built within him. "Come with me… I'll get you and your mother taken care of.."
(DEPD Building)
Hiccup marched up to the desk in the center of the building, placing a manilla folder down onto it for the woman behind it to pick up. "Hey Phlegma." He said, casting a glance over his shoulder across the room.
He watched briefly as the boy say in a chair, looking at the floor and every few seconds or so, looking around the building. "What do we got here?" Phlegma asks as she opens the file, finding images of the boys damaged hand and bruises on his face inside.
"Victim of child abuse. Kid's name is Gustav Larson, he's 14 and he lives in the Garden District." Hiccup replies as he looks to her, her eyes widening gently as she views everything within.
"His step dad beat him last night..beat him like he was in a street fight and left the kid to bleed on the floor. I wanna do something about that."
"Of course you do...you know that big heart of yours may get you in trouble one day." She says, a sly smile coming to her face. "I'll open up the case for you and some other to investigate. For now we need to relocate him and his mother. Does he have any other relatives in town?"
"Nah...dad died years ago, neither of his parents have any siblings. Cousins are all out of town and out of contact with them.. he's pretty much alone with her.." he says, looking to the kid once more. He looks at Phlegma again.
"I can't get them room and board at my apartment. I'll move in when we get the warrant to search his home and Ruff and Tuff can go to arrest the guy today."
"Already sent them out." Phlegma says with a smile. He smiles back, knowing Ruff and Tuff this guy was in for a hard time.
"Thanks Phlegm.." Hiccup says, giving a wave to the kind receptionist as he walks back to Gustav. "Hey.. I found somewhere for you and your mom to stay for a bit."
(Hours later)
The clicking of the doorknob echoed throughout the the empty apartment as Hiccup pushed it open. He wheeled in two suitcases behind him, flicking the light switch on with the edge of his foot to illuminate the room. Gustav walked behind, a black duffel bag full of items on his back. He turned to his mother, a slender woman with black hair, mid-40s who coughed softly as she walked in. She looked as healthy as could be, looked barely a day over 40.
But she was sick, Hiccup deduced that much from their first meeting. "Thank you so much Detective Haddock.." the woman began as Gustav walked around the area. It was a moderate sized apartment, three bedrooms and a nice kitchen, one bath with a beautiful tile pattern and shower. It also had a balcony.
"You're welcome Mrs.Larson.." he says with a smile as he hands her the keys. "My apartment is upstairs, room 211 if you need me. I'll also be checking in on you guys and Officer Thorston and Officer Thorston are going to be taking shifts watching out for you outside."
With that being said, he turned and made his exit from the apartment, closing the door behind him. As he turns away from the oak door, he smiles thinking of what he'd just done. It made him feel better about recent situations.
Ruffnut walked over to him, a bored look upon her face. "Hey my shift ends in a few minutes, Tuff is on his way up now…" she says plainly, Hiccup cocking an eye at her.
"You alright?" He asks the female twin who nods "You sure? Usually you hit on me or say something about my butt." He says
She chuckles "Ah what, you like me talking about your butt?"
He gave a shrug. "Makes me feel like the cardio is working." He replies with a chuckle of his own. Ruff casually strolls past him "You know we could see just how well that cardio is working for you."
She says, leaning against him gently. He chuckles "We should probably wait for your bro-" as he's saying this, he hears the elevator opening and the sounds of Hollywood Undead's Levitate playing loudly.
"He's here, let's go." Ruff replied, pulling him towards the elevator and past her confused brother. The two moved to Hiccup's apartment and soon , his bedroom. The rest of the night went rather smoothly.
(4:15 AM)
Night Fury found himself chained up to a wooden chair, and being submerged in to a large mass of water. As he kicked and struggled to get free, he found that the more he tried, the less of a chance he ah at actually surviving. His eyes widened as he gasped for air, when suddenly a hand reached out for him.
It was a gloved hand, red gloved. His eyes locked onto the shape at the other end of it, gasping gently. "Scott!!" He said, more water rushing into his lungs as he said this. He was soon pulled free from the swimming pool and on the side of it, coughing up a storm.
He looked up to see his cousin Scott, age 11 looking down at him. "Dude I sometimes can't believe I'm the younger cousin." he says with a grin, a few missing teeth showing.
The 11 year old Hiccup laughed as he stood up, standing a few inches taller than the other boy. "Shut up!" He says, giving him a playful shove.
"Whatever, just don't drown again fishbone!"
"If I do I won't need you to save me Snotlout!" Hiccup replied as a laugh escaped both of them.
"Hey that's as one time!" Scott replied as he pushed him once again. "And besides….you didn't save me…" he says. His voice sounded different, sounded like the older version of himself in an 11 year olds body.
Henry stopped laughing at that moment, turning towards him. "W-what?" He asked , now seeing A fully grown Hookfang standing in young Scott's place. "Why didn't you save me?" He asks him, Hiccup dropping to his knees.
"Scott...no…. I..I'm so sorry.."
"Sorry doesn't bring me back...you can't save anything..you can't save anyone. Not me, not those gauntlet guys...not your mother… what kind of hero are you?!" Hookfang asks, swinging a baseball bat at his face.
Henry wakes up with a start, a sweat having broke out in his nightmare. He looked to the sleeping form of Ruff next to him, a bit relieved he hadn't awoken her. She'd be gone by morning either way, this was nothing new for them
They knew a relationship, an actual relationship, wouldn't work. But this seemed to work quite well. But for now, he needed to focus on something else.
He got up, heading down into the Dragon's Den and sat at his computer for a good while, before getting the guts to read the rest of Astrid's messages.
1.You're serious?!?
2. Hello?!?!
3. DO NOT IGNORE ME HADDOCK!! I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!!
Finally, he'd grown tired of it. Tired of avoiding her and tired if sitting around and doing nothing. He tapped the icon on his phone, listening as it quickly dialed her number. " H-hello?" A voice spoke on the other side.
"I'm sorry. It's been a long day, a couple of long days and I know I've been blanking you but...I just wanted..space I guess? I know a dropped a huge bomb on you and that's as wrong, and I'm an asshole for that bu-"
"Shut up…" she said, causing him to cease his rambling for the time being. A giggle entered his ears then. "You sound stupid." She says
"Yeah.. I am. The stupidest." He says with a chuckle. "But I'm sorry. I am Night Fury, I have been since I was ten and I'm…I'm a monster I guess."
"I'd really like to know more about this monster thing.. but not now. I'm tired. Go to sleep, and I'll come by to talk to you later in the day, okay?" She asks.
He nods, though she can't see this and replies with an "Okay" before they both hang up. Hiccup then tosses his phone onto the desk and runs a hand through his aurburn hair.
"I am so screwed...I feel it.."
"You can say that again.''
Hiccup moved with a swiftness that could barely be tracked, grabbing and throwing a shuriken immediately in the direction of the voice. From what he could register, it didn't hit him and instead hit the wall behind him.
"Relax.." the voice says, as a hooded figure walks out of the shadows. Hiccup stands up completely, staring at the figure. His face droops slightly as he sees "Gustav?!"
The young teen chuckled as he looked at Hiccup. "Yeah...I was poking around and found this weird elevator."
"Bullshit." Hiccup said, stopping the boy's like then and there.
Gustav shrugged "Alright, I was punching the wall in our apartment out of anger and found a panel for something when I finally made a hole in it."
Hiccup's eyes widened as he threw his arms up in defeat. "It's like the Gods just wanted this to be found."
"Maybe.." Gustav replies as he casts a glance to the Night Fury suit. "But this is so COOL!!" He shouts with Glee as he runs over to the case, staring at it.
"Hey hey hey, no." Hiccup walks over to the boy. "You can't be down here, and you can't know about this."
"But I do know , and that's what makes this fun."
Hiccup lifts an eyebrow. "Pardon?"
Gustav smiles as he crossed his arms. "You could train me." The boy states. It took a moment to register, before Hiccup replied.
"What?"
"You...could...train...me…" he says once again, very slowly to ensure the older male understood him very clearly. "I could go and beat my stepdad, pay him back for what he's done…"
"No." Hiccup replies immediately. Gustav frowns. "What? Why not? Come on! Every great superhero has a sidekick!"
"Not this one.." his stance remained firm, he refused to give in. As he turned away from Gustav, he stared blankly at his suit.
"Too many lives lost...too many risks taken. I've let people die, some in my name and some by sheer accident. I refuse to train someone up just so they can fall to the same fate."
He looks at Gustav once again. "Get out of here kid...I can't be your mentor...not like this."
The silence soon filled the air, bothering the both of them. Gustav looked to the floor, before turning to face him once again. "I was a big fan… of your cousin. Scott "Snotlout'' Jorgenson.."
Hiccup raised an eyebrow, but it was set down as he realized what he meant. Scott was an all star athlete, and the best quarterback that Central High School in Detroit had ever seen. Schools lined up with scholarships for him, until the incident that took his life.
"He was so cool..wanted to be just like him when I grew up. Even changed my hair like his." He chuckled. Gustav then sighed. "Look, I know the risk.. but it's my responsibility to ensure that people like my stepdad never hurt anyone again.."
The boy was shaken, his emotions flying everywhere st the moment. "I don't want to kill him, I don't wanna kill anyone! I know the values of life just like I know people can change, but Gods dammit!! I want to help bring that change!! I know how to fight, I'm just…"
He stopped his rant, calming himself gently as a few tears began to fall. "I'm weak….and I wanna be strong…"
Hiccup had to weigh his options heavily. But his decision was clear. He looked at Gustav. "Go back to your apartment. Go to sleep."
Gustav stared at him, slightly taken aback. But turned to head out, his head hanging low as he approaches the elevator.
"We start training tomorrow." Hiccup says, bringing Gustav to a halt. He smiles before running back to the elevator. As he entered it, a call of "Don't make me regret this!!" Hit his ears, Gustav giving a thumbs up to Hiccup.
"You won't!!"
(In his apartment)
Hiccup leaned over the balcony, watching as the skies above allowed the sun's rays to shine on down. He couldn't help but to smile at how peaceful the sight looked. His peace was interrupted as a crackling sound entered his ears, he smirked.
"Hey.." he said to the descending Stormfly, who now hovered over his head.
"Hey…" she says, turning her body upside down. "I've got the hang on this now.." she says.
He chuckles. "I see...biological storms.. weird power." He says as she hovers down next to him, wearing a white short sleeved blouse and some jeans. "I think that just means you control the weather around you…"
She lifts an eyebrow. "I figured that out years ago.. when I first got free, I remember I was so sad one day that it started pouring rain. Except it was only raining on me...and in my house…"
He smiled at her as he turned his back to the railing. "So it seems that the electrical part of your powers was just some sort of lock, like they were set for lightning usage until you got the hang of them.."
"It seems so...weird as Hell, but I think it's cool. Matches my name much more.." she says as she turns around, leaning against the rail with him. "So...who's the kid?' she asks, looking over at Gustav as he punches a punching bag in Hiccup's living room.
"That...thats my sidekick."
She looks at him, a bit surprised. "Man you're just picking up strays now aren't you?" She asks as he playfully scoffs and walks over to Gustav. "Hey Gustav, this is Astrid. She's a close friend of mine."
Gustav continues to wail on the bag, pausing to look at her and give a wave. "Is she as close a friend as the one from last night?" He asks, causing both adults eyes to widen.
"One from last night?" She asks , turning to him.
"Yeah I think her name was Officer Thorston?'' the teenager says, a smirk coming to his face as Astrid's eyes glow a bit. She turns to Hiccup.
"You had sex with Ruff?!" She asks, anger building as her hair began to lift upwards. Hiccup darted back and took off running at that moment.
"Dammit Gustav!!!"
(Detroit)
It was like a routine, coming back to this area. It had been years since he'd even seen it and he couldn't help but to feel a strange way. The figure looked over at the building that was once crumbled down.
He gave a sigh as he turned away from it. "Memories….need to find...them…" he said, the cold Detroit air starting to bother him as he tightened the hood ever so slightly, attempting to keep the wind out of his face.
The sound of a Harley Davidson motorcycle bursting to life filled the streets, as the figure took off down the main road, passing a sign that read 'Now leaving'.
He had his eyes set on something else, somewhere else. Next stop, Dragon's Edge.