Part 3 - Devil's Dawn

Chapter 52 - Battle at Berk

Teresa was hanging around the hangar of the SGC Roosevelt. The ship was only half the size of the Valour, and at least three times as old, but it was serving as the temporal headquarters for her home dimension: 9578. She was sitting on the ramp of a heavily modified Phantom jet, possibly the most advanced war machine in the multiverse. The machine had been given the ability to jump between dimensions, which until recently wasn't a standard feature. Mark twos were being worked on that incorporated it by default, but it was taking a little longer than expected. This particular mark one was to be used to get Peter to Alduin, and hopefully away at the same time. Truthfully, the commander wasn't entirely sure this was going to work. What was a 'Bewilderbeast' against the creature capable of ending a dimension? Her chain of thought was interrupted as a spikey blue dragon landed nearby. Astrid dismounted and looked around in confusion. Teresa stood up and approached the chieftess.

"Is everything OK?"

"We found the Bewilderbeast. Hiccup has it occupied, so we're ready."

"Good." The commander tapped her com badge. "Teresa to Edward and Peter, they're ready down below."

"Understood. Peter is on his way now."

Peter found that he was nervous as he strapped in for the dimensional leap to 6257, or Nira as Darian had been referring to it as. The ramp slammed shut and he felt the aircraft shaking a little as its powerful wing rotors kicked into action. He clutched the device he was supposed to plant, inspecting every speck of dust on it. It was hemi-spherical in shape, its flat edge designed to stick to anything when activated. The pilot came over the intercom:

"Commencing temporal warp. When we arrive, we'll be twenty seconds out so get ready to jump."

Out the window, 6257 looked quite bleak: enormous mountains seemed to surround the area and there weren't any skyscrapers or sprawling cities. There were some large gatherings of structures which Peter guessed were medieval cities, which would explain the lack of skyscrapers. The ramp opened, Peter moved close to the edge.

"Three, two, one. Go!" Said the pilot.

On 'go', Peter jumped. His target was visible immediately: a black dragon which stood out against the snowy landscape. The spider pulled his arms out a little, extending the wing suit. Alduin didn't seem to care about the human diving at him. He had looked up, so definitely knew Peter was coming. Perhaps the dragon just viewed him as another insect? At the last second, Peter folded the glide suit and landed near the beast's tail. Alduin laughed and began to turn, lumbering like a truck trying to turn in a narrow street.

"You dare approach me, jiir?"

Peter didn't listen. He fired a web at the side of the dragon and pulled himself forwards, tapping a button on the device and slapping it amongst the spikes on Alduin's back before performing a roll off the other side and running. He expected a stream of flames, or a powerful bite, but none came. Instead, he skidded to a halt, finding himself face to face with a figure in a black, white, magenta and teal spider suit. Gwen said nothing, she just watched as Peter edged around her. What was that expression on her face? It was cold, yet somehow reassuring. He wanted to stick around and see if he could talk some sense into her, but he was also conscious of the Devourer of Worlds now behind her. Alduin took a large pace forwards and opened his mouth. Gwen's hand shot up, a blazing magenta katana held in it. The dragon closed his jaw and snorted. Peter began to run again, sprinting down steps until he came to a circular clearing. A second later, the Phantom descended with its ramp hanging open. He fired a web and pulled himself aboard before the machine accelerated away into clearer skies where it warped to 6119.

The village of Berk was deserted apart from a tent with the Sol insignia painted on it. Inside, Peter found the other members of the council, minus Teresa and Hiccup. Edward was watching a screen over two Sol officers' shoulders. He looked up when the spider entered.

"Good job. Anything we need to know?"

"Gwen was there. There was something not right about her."

"Of course there was. The poor woman has been fighting crime since the age of thirteen. She's done more to win two interdimensional wars than everyone else in this room. She's been put in a concentration camp, been shot, lost her husband, her father, her son, accidentally killed her best friend, and goodness knows what happened to her mother. Honestly, I'm surprised she hasn't turned into me yet." Replied Teresa, entering the tent.

"How's the Bewilderbeast?"

"Getting rowdy. Let's do this before Hiccup loses his other leg."

Astrid didn't seem amused by the joke, but chose to ignore it. Edward nodded.

"Alright then. Hit the button, lieutenant."

"Aye sir." Replied one of the officers.

The group ran outside and looked up. A little further along the shore, a number of dots were dancing around an enormous creature which seemed to be missing half a tusk. Suddenly, not far out away from them, a dazzling display of colours appeared in the sky. From the warp emerged Alduin, clearly surprised, and equally, if not more-so, angry. The dots darted away as the SGC Churchill came up behind Alduin to trap him into the fight with the Bewilderbeast. The Bewilderbeast was much larger, at least ten times the size, but that made it much more clumsy. Alduin opened his mouth and his opponent staggered backwards. The roar and thundering rumble reached the village a few seconds after. The Bewilderbeast opened its mouth and unleashed a spray of ice. Alduin's wings froze but he didn't seem to care. He blasted flames at the creature before landing on its face and tearing into its flesh. Hiccup landed by the group on the back of a black dragon, accompanied by a few others also on dragons.

"That's not looking good." He commented, taking his place next to Astrid.

By now, the Bewilderbeast was a roaring wreck.

"We shouldn't have done this." Muttered Astrid.

"There might be a chance yet." Said Edward.

"Or not."

Alduin was dragging the Bewilderbeast towards the cliff edge with little trouble, despite the difference in size. He hurled it into the sea, letting out a furious roar which became a shockwave. The Bewilderbeast didn't surface again, leaving Alduin hovering alone. The Devourer of Worlds turned his head towards the village, straight at the group.

"Oh no..." Muttered Darian.

The dragon swooped low over the houses.

"Scatter!" Shouted Teresa.

Nobody needed telling twice. Peter swung up onto a rooftop as flames engulfed the place they had all been standing a moment before. Alduin circled around before rearing up and striking the ground with a boom that echoed off every surface. His red eyes bore down on Hiccup who had fallen over only a few metres in front of him. The chief stood up, crouching low and raising his hand.

"You aren't so bad. Maybe we could be friends?"

Alduin sneered.

"You insult me, mortal."

Peter didn't need his spidey sense to tell him what was going to happen. Alduin began to rear up, opening his mouth. Teresa was near Astrid and had seen enough of this to know the Viking chieftess was about to try and hurl herself in the way of something and achieve nothing but killing both herself and her husband. The commander leapt on her and pinned her down as she began to run forward.

"Hiccup!"

Flames shrieked from Alduin's mouth, engulfing Hiccup and almost certainly turning him into nothing but a pile of ash, and maybe a pile of bones if he was lucky. But hold on...Peter replayed the scene in his head: something had dived in just before the dragon fire had struck the chief. What did it matter? Nothing could withstand that, probably not even his brand new spider suit. But as the smoke cleared, it quickly became clear the spider was wrong in this conclusion. Very wrong.

"We had a deal, Alduin."

Hiccup was on the ground again, but he seemed untouched. A blazing ball of magenta flames stood between him and the dragon. Alduin feinted a bite, but Gwen held her ground, her magenta flames dying away but her expression no less fierce. Peter saw an opportunity and swung in, grabbing Hiccup and landing next to Teresa and Astrid. Astrid flung her arms around Hiccup, and the chief's black dragon snuggled up to him as well, but neither Teresa or Peter were interested in that.

"Who are you to stand in my way?" Roared the Alduin, clearly livid.

"The person you made a deal with."

"You owe me a billion souls for one!"

"A billion souls in Sovngarde, I owe none to Valhalla. I may live to regret that decision, but not by your hands. Or claws, you don't have hands."

Alduin bit at Gwen, clearly aiming to kill her. She slammed a charged fist into the dragon's snout, knocking him backwards a little. She rose up into the air, magenta wings holding her airborne. Alduin spread his own and flew up to be equal with her, unleashing a torrent of fire which was cut in half by an intense beam of magenta energy that drove the dragon down on top of a building. The Devourer of Worlds let out an almighty shout. A few seconds later, flaming chunks of rock began to fall from the sky around Gwen. She deflected the meteorites as Alduin flew at her. As he was about to snap her up, she let her wings go. They faded into ash beneath her as she plummeted, but then she fired a web at the dragon's underbelly and swung upwards onto his back. Another beam brought them both crashing down on top of the tent. Alduin managed to grab Gwen between his jaws and hurled her away, rolling back onto his front. Gwen curled up for a second, then got back on her feet. This was a stalemate: neither could kill the other, and that was the principle behind the deal they had made. Neither benefitted more than the other. She raised a hand and a large magenta ring of flames appeared above the village.

"Return to Nira." She ordered.

Despite the obvious defiance, Alduin took-off and glided through. Gwen looked around at the destruction and sighed before flying through herself and closing the portal behind her. The rain of meteorites ceased, although the damage was done. Berk was burning and nothing was going to put it out for quite a while. Hiccup and Astrid sadly watched the roof of a house cave. Peter turned to Darian who had just strode up beside him.

"That was something to remember."

"Yes. We missed something. Something big."

"Bigger than the Bewilderbeast?"

"Not that sort of big. I need to do some research. Tell the others I'm not to be disturbed unless it's essential. Darian to Churchill, one for transfer."

'Mystery Man' disappeared in a beam of energy. Peter sighed and looked around. Teresa was sitting on a meteorite a short distance away. The spider made his way over to her. She gave him a cold look but didn't tell him to leave so he sat down on the edge of the crater.

"You alright?"

"I'm alright; things just got weird. Gwen should have let Alduin kill us all if she has merged with the Plate, which she has unless she was bitten by another radioactive insect since we last saw her."

"I've no idea how the Plates work. I was always in and out up until Flux Force."

"I was hardly involved up until Flux Force. I just pay attention and worked it all out. Merging with them should destroy the very core of who you are. It did it to Gwen once before and the consequences were disastrous. Why is she so in control this time?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask an expert on all this."

"There are none. The Quintari were wiped out by Helltreader. We've got to work it out for ourselves."

Crossovers in this Chapter

- How to Train Your Dragon
- Skyrim