"Before anything else, uh," Hiccup paused for a moment, wrestling with his words. "I'm… sorry. I shouldn't have done everything I did."

Alphas barely spared him a glance as he said it, but the way he held himself and the look in his eyes told Hiccup that the apology was accepted. Hiccup sighed internally in relief. This was one enemy he didn't want to make. The offhanded mentions of entire families of sorcerers was something to be feared, with the casual way the information was thrown around. Hiccup might not like to concede to much, but he wasn't stupid. Foes of this calibre must not be made at any cost.

He just hoped the others could see that too.

"So, what's, what's the plan?" he asked. Alphas paused for a moment as he shut Kolger in one of the cells and dropped some food in with him.

"First, we get our weapons as quickly as we can and without letting anyone else on the ship know that we've escaped." He shut the door softly, the lock clicking into place.

"Then we fight our way out, free any and all dragons we find, and get to wherever the hell we need to be."

"Ah, one, slight problem with that, actually," Hiccup said, wincing as the magic twins looked over at him in unison.

"Yeah?" It was Omegas who answered this time.

"We're… probably going to need our dragons to get out. Maybe you don't, but we will. We've only ever fought our way out of these situations with dragons, so…" he cringed at how that sounded. It seemed… weak, for some reason, in front of them. He didn't know why (he did, but by the gods if he admitted it to himself.)

"I see. Well, no issue there. You lot can stay here while we get our stuff. We'll get the dragons, kill everyone on the ship, and then we can all get out."

That felt worse. They were effectively dead weight. Astrid said as much to them.

"We can help! We don't have to just sit here!" she said heatedly, before calming a little. "We don't have to be useless. Let us help," she said, putting a hand to her chest.

Alphas appeared to consider it. Omegas watched him as the gears turned in his head, expressionless save for the slightest indecipherable emotion that seemed to be ever present on his face.

"Set up camp here and guard the area. It's defendable and should work fine as a temporary base of operations."

"You're just not giving us anything to do." Astrid said at once. "You think you can just, distract us, with pointless tasks. It's like giving a baby a mace!"

"You give your children- never mind. Your parenting techniques are not something I want to know about. But your concerns are valid. It's only logical to think that I'd want to keep you out of my way."

He clapped his hands together, and the people who had only been half-listening turned their heads to him.

"But at the same time, your concerns are unfounded. This is an actually important task, and I've revised the whole plan of action around it. If you can establish a secure spot on the ship and keep the people in relation to this area quiet about it, we can conduct activities securely and ensure that the fact that we're free is kept under wraps."

Alphas grinned, a genuine expression for the first time since they'd seen him. There was the light of excitement in the tilt of his head, a hunger for something as of yet undefined in the set of his eyes, murder illustrated in his bared teeth, and force, overpowering force, in the shoulders he rolled and the hands he splayed and the fingers he curled, and it seemed to remind of his feats, his talents, the strength he held, or perhaps hinted at all that he had not yet shown.

"Then we get out."

Clear as day, that voice rang through them and now they were instantly alert because of the finality with which he said it.

This is certain, his voice said. This is promised, it whispered.

And if it doesn't come true, it added, then I shall make sure it does.

The shark's smile was gone, replaced by something much milder, but a ghost of that blazing aura of absolution remained.

Hiccup felt something surge through him, and he was vaguely aware of everyone else standing up a little straighter. They had Alphas on their side, and if Omegas was his brother, then he was bound to be just as good.

=0=

Alphas crept through the corridor that led away from the deck. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in ages, and he was constantly having to keep himself from sneezing. A mammoth task with the amount of dust in the air. Behind him, Omegas was having the same problem, face scrunched up into amazingly bad expressions. There was also the danger that the swirling currents caused by their movement could be seen by someone else because of the substantial amounts of dust, and so they were having to move far too slowly for his liking.

They reached a part of the corridor where it forked in 5 different new pathways, and Alphas paused, unsure of where to go from there. Omegas tapped him on the shoulder, and he looked back to see him gesturing to something to the right, and turned in the indicated direction. There was a small doorway, barely noticeable against the grainy dark of the wood, inset as it was into a recess in one of the labyrinthian corridors. They crept forward, taking care to stay close to the wall where the wood was firmer, so as to avoid any unwanted creaks.

As they neared, there was a glimpse of glowing red-hot bars of metal and gray surfaces, walls, floor, and ceiling lined with metal and stone. A furnace. Lucky. He turned back to Omegas and motioned for him to flatten against the wall, which he promptly did. Sneaking up to the opening, which he now saw had an open door, the sound of clinking and tapping metals became clear. The hot coals snapped and sparked, and the furnace flames roared with every wheezing breath of the bellows. Clearly someone was in there.

Omegas was more suited to sneaky kills, so he turned back and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"This one's yours. If there are any others I'll take them after you go in," he said as quietly as he could manage.

Omegas nodded and moved ahead of him, rolling his shoulders in preparation. His hands curled into partial claws, and he straightened, walking to the doorway, and lunged inside, out of Alphas' sight. There was a small sound of surprise which was quickly followed by a harsh clang. Hopefully that wouldn't seem out of place for a furnace, Alphas thought as he hurried in. There was only the one man, who was currently caught in a chokehold, eyes wide and pleading with a hand clapped tightly over his mouth. Alphas drew his fist back and delivered a solid strike to the jaw, and the smith's eyes rolled back as he fell limp. Omegas released him and immediately began to look around. His eyes fell on something and he walked over. Alphas took a cursory glance at the rest of the room before his vision was impaired by reflective stormy gray. He grabbed the sword that Omegas had held out to him and gave him a soft glare as he accepted the dagger that followed. Omegas shrugged and smiled, strapping an axe of the same dark gray as Alphas' sword to his shoulder and a flat, bulky gauntlet to his left arm. He gestured to the rest of the items on the table, one of which Alphas recognized as that flaming sword Hiccup had wielded.

"Take half," he said, moving forward.

Omegas nodded and began picking out several weapons to carry, a battle-axe, a broadsword, and the flaming sword, which, as he swung it around to hold it better, collapsed into the hilt. He stared at it curiously, flipping it the other way. The blade stayed locked in the hilt, but a drop of something green splashed onto the floor. Alphas picked up the remaining short swords, warhammer, and spear, as Omegas inspected the green liquid on the floor. Alphas tapped his foot on the ground. Omegas looked up, and Alphas dropped the spear on him and turned around to leave without another word.

Omegas caught up with him a few seconds later and bumped him in the shoulder, grinning. He gave him an amused smile back, allowing a small show of teeth as he did so. They continued on in silence for another few minutes before Omegas finally broke the silence.

"So… how'd they get you, exactly?" he asked.

Alphas looked down at the weaponry in his hands, sighing. His gaze drifted to the floor for a moment as he recounted the events of 4 days ago.

"So I went to get the eggs, right."

"Uhuh."

"Dropped in out of nowhere while I was getting one guy to take me to where they'd kept them. I could hear them in the trees. They tried to hide but they're not exactly subtle. Squealed like a mouse, one of them. While hiding."

Omegas whistled softly.

"So I got Wreckage to blow their patch of forest away. Their dragons thought we were attacking them, I guess, and get this, the Night Fury is an Alpha."

"The hell?"

"I know, I was thinking the same."

"How though? Like, the Furies aren't even Power Class, they don't stand a real chance against stuff like Devastares."

"It was a Bewilderbeast this time, so maybe you could cut them the slack on that front. It's just barely possible. Anyway, they beat Wreckage by using the Gronckle as a club and knocked me out with the Fury's blast. Woke up on Berk, told them a little about magic, and got the hell out of there. Met you on the way and the rest is history."

"I feel like you're leaving something out."

"I am, but that's for later," Alphas replied as they neared the prison entrance. He kicked the door open with his foot and was immediately met by a swinging fist to the face which thudded against his cheek with a sharp smack. He took 3 steps back, blinking as the blonde girl held her hands to her face in horror.

"Sorry, sorry! You startled me!" she said, repeating until Alphas held a hand up to make her stop.

"It's fine, it's fine," he reassured her. "Good reflexes, I will say that. Punch needs a little work though."

He ignored Omegas dying of barely suppressed laughter beside him and put all the weapons on the floor.

"Oh, sweet," the male twin said, leaping forward from a circle they had formed in the middle of the prison. It was a passable defense, all things considered. With what Alphas had seen beforehand of their combat prowess, along with whatever they had a hand, it was good enough, functional. The shorter Viking was positioned at the other entrance to the cells while everyone apart from the blonde girl (Astrid, that was her name) had formed the protective circle. Good thinking on their part, although some improvement would perhaps be needed.

Everyone gathered up their weapons, and Alphas noted who took what. The male twin took the two short swords while his female counterpart grabbed the spear, expertly swishing it around and twirling it between her fingers. Good, at least the experience was there. Omegas laid down all the things he had carried as Astrid picked up the axe and took a few swings to acquaint herself with its weight. Hiccup, of course, took up the fire sword, which at the moment was just a hilt. The short Viking and the large Viking picked up the warhammer and the broadsword, respectively. The hammer was understandable, he had visible muscle which would be useful in carrying its weight. He wasn't so sure about the broadsword though. A form like that wouldn't leave much room for swings or parries, and he would be open to attack. Alphas had to rectify that, if nothing else. Armour under the clothing should work, and something had to be done about trimming the weight, to put it politely, if he intended to continue fighting like this. Then he remembered that they were overly reliant on their dragons, and it clicked. Something for later, he supposed.

"All right. Now you have your weapons. Keep the formation you had when we came in, it's good for what you have now. If Kolger wakes up, hit him upside the head immediately. We can't afford to have him yelling. Personally I'd just kill him but you're not equipped for that so just knock him out straight away. Me and 'Megas will go to the lower levels of the ship. That's normally where they keep the dragons. You stay here. Now that you have your gear though, take care to distance from each other so there's less chance of hitting each other in case someone does come."

He took a deep breath, and exhaled. Everything should go well from here. He gave them all his most intense, hungry smile.

"Ready?" he asked. Everyone nodded vigorously, and Hiccup whirled his fire sword around. There was a click and a sound of smooth, sliding metal, and then the cell was lit with firelight as he spun his weapon in a circle of flames.

Omegas gaped.

"That's what it does?"