EDIT 1/24/16 Mostly I just fixed typos, and cleaned up some wording.
Okay, on with the show.
Chapter 5: Split Screen
Astrid couldn't get home fast enough. Only once she had turned her TV on to the local news did she shed her damp jacket.
Maybe whatever happened could be contained, and it wouldn't end up on the news. Like Frost had said, they would wish. But even he hadn't seemed to think that was very likely.
Sure enough, there they were.
Or, there she was. Sun Flower was the only one on the screen, along with her seventy feet of glowing blonde hair. She wore her usual violet cargo pants, and a purple shirt with her gold sun emblem on the front.
Taking a seat on the edge of the couch, Astrid watched as Sun Flower expertly handled a rope of her hair like a glowing whip. The end struck a Nightmare, which dissolved away to nothing. In the same movement, she snapped her hair back to a Nightmare that had been coming up behind her.
When Astrid had first watched the Big 4 fight – that fight against Frost three years earlier – Sun Flower had been the most hesitant. Night Fury and Braveheart hadn't known how to fight together, but they had an idea how to fight. But Sun Flower barely seemed to know what she was doing. Or even why she was doing it.
Now, as with the others, it was a completely different story. She moved with the benefit of experience – and some kind of training. Astrid was sure of that.
She had already taken out five Nightmares by the time Braveheart appeared at her back. An ally behind her didn't seem to impede her movements at all.
Braveheart fired arrow after arrow at anything she could set her sights on. Sun Flower's hair lashed this way and that around them, the glow filling the air.
Astrid was so engrossed in watching, it took her a few minutes to realize there was no sign of Frost. The buildings in the background indicated they were in the vicinity of Fourth and Traction, near where she had dropped him off. But where was he?
Where was Night Fury, for that matter? He was the one she really wanted to see, if she was being honest.
As if in response to her question, the feed cut to a second camera. There was a second fight, a few blocks further down.
Frost ran along the edge of a warehouse roof. The way his body swayed, his powers of flight had to be the only thing keeping him up there. Fern like tendrils of white frost spread down the front of the building, marking his path.
A few steps behind him, down on the street, galloped a handful of Nightmares.
When Frost reached the end of the roof, he jumped off the warehouse. He had surpassed the Nightmares, and as he flew across the street he created a wall of ice in the crosswalk. The black creatures were forced to rear up on their hind legs and turn back.
But when they turned, Night Fury flew towards them. The dragon's wings were extended, taking up most of the street, so there was no place for them to go. His mouth was open, teeth bared. A glow started in the back of the dragon's throat, building to a plasma blast that took out all seven Nightmares.
Frost was already back on the roof, avoiding the heat of the flames, and already moving.
Astrid leaned forward, watching as the two friends/teammates moved down the street, followed by a news camera in a helicopter. She didn't even bother listening as the reporter offered a commentary on the fight.
The footage switched back and forth between the two fights, focusing on whichever the station deemed more exciting in that moment.
Braveheart and Sun Flower were no longer back to back. The archer had taken to darting around the street, grabbing up arrows to reuse. She hit her targets, Nightmares disintegrating as they were struck. But sooner or later, she would wear herself out.
Agitation built up in Astrid's bloodstream, and she started to fidget. She was tempted to get up and start pacing, but didn't want to miss anything.
This was why she hated spectator sports.
Frost and Night Fury crisscrossed the streets, taking on pockets of Nightmares. They seemed to be trying to reach the other half of their team, but more of the monsters appeared every time they got close, keeping them a couple blocks away.
They were all efficient, the creatures dissolving. But they didn't seem to be getting anywhere.
After a while, the station seemed to decide that the seemingly endless fight wasn't enough to make good television. Reducing the live footage to a cut away in one corner of the screen, they went to a panel of experts gathered in the studio. Astrid didn't know what made them experts, but they certainly used a lot of big words and convoluted sentences.
For the most part they were older, balding men, with PhDs in obscure fields. When their names flashed across the bottom of the screen, they were usually followed by a lot of letters that made no sense to her.
As far as she could tell, it was the usual talk. The Big 4 were a bad influence, who promoted mindless violence. One of the doctors was throwing around words like "megalomania", "vigilantieism", and "self-aggrandizing".
Rolling her eyes, Astrid went to the kitchen to find something to eat. Her father said pretty much all the same things about the Big 4 – except without all the SAT vocabulary words.
Her can of soup was almost done heating by the time the man stopped talking.
Astrid looked over at the TV, just in time to see the camera pan to the fourth person at the table – the only one under the age of fifty. He was maybe twenty-seven, his red hair combed back perfectly. By some standards he might have been handsome, with broad shoulders and noble features. Though his sideburns had definitely gone out of style a couple centuries ago. He wore a sleek, blue-grey suit.
Hans Westergaard, the helpful writing at the bottom of the screen told her, was the author of "Magic and Dragons: The Dangers of Vigilanteism". Astrid had never heard of it, but it sounded boring.
As soon as Westergaard started talking, she realized it probably wasn't just boring. It was probably arrogant, and self-serving, too. What was the phrase that one guy had used? Oh, yeah. Self-aggrandizing.
"With all respect, Doctor," he said, though he didn't sound very respectful. "I think you're missing the bigger picture here. For years, people have talked about the negative influence these so called 'heroes' have on our society. And, while I agree, that is a problem, I think everyone is overlooking the truly important questions."
Translation: "I'm the only person asking the right questions."
Astrid rolled her eyes.
"What are these people?" Westergaard asked. "One has seventy feet of glowing hair? One flies a dragon? These people are—"
"I'm sorry, Hans, we'll have to stop there," the news anchor interrupted, just before Astrid lost all patience. (She never had been a very patient person.) "We're receiving reports from downtown that the fight had taken a rather dramatic turn."
The on-location footage took over the screen again (finally, Astrid thought).
The Big 4 were all together on one street. Well, Jack Frost was on top of another warehouse, while Night Fury flew low over the street. (Astrid was still trying to come to grip with the fact that the dragon's name was Toothless, of all things.) The girls were the only ones actually on the street.
The dramatic part was that they were caged in by Nightmares, who came at them from both ends of the block.
Astrid finally realized what felt off about the fight.
If the Nightmares were there… where was Pitch Black? She didn't know, but it seemed as though he should be there, directing his troops or something.
But there was no sign of him.
No sign of any other villain, either.
And the Nightmares were focused entirely on the Big 4, rather than searching for bystanders to torment, the way they normally did.
Again, Astrid might not know much about Big 4 fights. But none of that sounded good.
#
"You realize this is a distraction, right?" Jack asked, through the earpieces that kept them all connected.
Hiccup glanced over to where Jack was crouched on top of a warehouse, catching his breath in this moment they had to regroup. Like all of them, he was starting to show signs of fatigue.
Hiccup's hands tightened around the metal grips of the saddle. The worn leather creaked.
It was becoming painfully obvious that Jack was right. There were plenty of Nightmares to keep them busy. But that was all they were doing.
And there was the glaring absence of Pitch.
Hiccup hadn't been complaining about that. At least, not until he realized that that meant they had no clue where he was, or what he was doing.
That thought was rather terrifying.
"A distraction from what though?" Hiccup asked, bringing Toothless around for another lap over the street.
"That's what scare—" Jack stopped, no doubt eyeing the Nightmares closing in around them. Certain words were best avoided. "That's what I want to know."
Best not to think about fear in the presence of one Nightmare, let alone however many they were up against. They would grab onto any fear, and once they got a hold of a thought, it was almost impossible to shake. Hiccup could feel their presence skirting around the edges of his mind, looking for any chink in his mental defenses. Any way to send him into a downward spiral of terror and depression.
Jack knew all of that better than any of them.
And they all knew more than they wanted to.
"I don't like it," Merida said.
"Neither do I," Hiccup admitted.
He also didn't like that the Nightmares had mostly come to a stop. They seemed to be waiting to see what would happen. Which wasn't normal for Nightmares.
"Any ideas?" Jack asked.
Hiccup sighed. They needed a plan… he just didn't feel as though he had enough to formulate a plan. Fatigue wore at the edges of his mind, fraying thoughts even as he tried to form them.
"How many shots do you have left?" Jack asked.
"Two," Hiccup said. Toothless had used four of his six shots. But as tired as the dragon was getting, he might only have enough energy for one.
They neared the edge of the street again, and started to turn before the Nightmares thought they were trying to make a break for it. He went to adjust Toothless's prosthetic tail fin for the curve, with the gears attached to his own prosthetic foot.
The gears stalled.
Toothless made a sound of concern as their flight faltered.
"Not again," Hiccup said, fighting his own panic. "Hang on!"
He jerked his foot, and the gears moved the way he wanted. The fin angled properly, and they returned to their previous elevation as they finished the curve.
"The cameras are gonna love that," he muttered.
"Are you alright?" Rapunzel asked.
"Yeah." He injected more confidence into his voice than he actually felt. "Yeah. Just… mild calibration issues."
A momentary issue.
But a moment that had lasted long enough to set his heart pounding against his ribcage.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to act as though it had never happened. To not remember his fall from a week earlier. He couldn't dwell on it. Not with nearly a hundred Nightmares on the ground.
Thankfully, Jack was good in moments like this.
"If we blast out, what happens next?" Jack asked, picking up exactly where they had left off.
"We go home and do homework?" Merida suggested. She actually sounded enthusiastic about the idea.
"What will Pitch do?" Hiccup asked.
The connection was silent, save for the static that surrounded their exhales.
Hiccup took extra care shifting the gears as they made the next turn.
No problems.
He sighed in relief.
Just like he had said. A momentary issue.
"We have to do something," Merida muttered.
"Agreed." Jack nodded.
Action was one of the few things Jack and Merida ever agreed on.
"We can't keep standing here," Rapunzel said. "I think we should blast out and see what happens."
Maybe someday they would learn how to come up with actual strategies.
"Let's do it," Hiccup said.
Merida knocked an arrow in her bow, pulling the string back. Rapunzel adjusted her grip on her hair.
The Nightmares had been surprisingly still, save for the never ceasing black streamers that bent and swirled in the breeze. A breeze that picked up as Jack prepared to dive in.
At the movement from the girls, the Nightmares began to shift as well, pawing the ground and throwing their heads back with shrill whinnies.
Rapunzel made the first move, whipping her hair through three Nightmares.
That broke the spell, and they were all moving again. Merida fired two quick shots, and Jack dived in with a spray of glowing blue ice. The three of them all took on the Nightmares coming from the north.
Hiccup and Toothless turned in midair to takes the ones from the south. Toothless breathed a plasma blast that took out a sizable number of the Nightmares. Even in the saddle, Hiccup felt the heat from the blast.
They were coming in low over the street, Hiccup trying to calculate the best angle for their last shot, when he felt the gears lock up again.
Just as something snapped. He didn't hear the snap. But he felt the sudden loss of tension between the saddle and the prosthetic fin.
Toothless howled as they fell to the street. Only a few feet this time – not even five. But they still hit the tarmac hard. Hiccup grunted from the impact, and heard Toothless make a sound of pain as they tumbled. As he rolled to a stop, his leather armor kept his skin from being scraped open. But the leather would probably never be the same. One more thing for his to do list.
His helmet stayed on, thankfully.
When he came to a stop, he looked over at Toothless, to be sure his friend was okay.
The dragon was a few feet away, just rolling up into a sitting position. He wiped a paw over his nose, then shook his head. He looked incredibly displeased.
Not that Hiccup blamed him.
A cold hand grabbed his arm, pulling at him even as it sent shivers down his spine.
"Get up," Jack said.
It was impossible to ignore Jack when he was the mature, in charge one. Hiccup didn't really feel up to standing just yet. But the next thing he knew, he was on his feet.
Jack kept a hand on his arm just long enough for Hiccup to regain his balance.
The five of them were on the street… and the Nightmares seemed to have increased in the minutes since Hiccup had fallen. The dent he had made in their numbers was now filled in.
Their plan to blast out wouldn't work so well now that he and Toothless were earthbound. Hiccup removed the handle strapped to his right thigh, adjust his grip before he flicked the release switch. The wire frame extended in three sections, igniting as soon as it came into contact with the air.
Toothless came closer to his side, growling deep in his throat.
Jack, on the other hand, edged away from the heat of the blade.
"Plan B," Merida muttered.
Right. Because they weren't practically helpless without a dragon that could actually fly. Hiccup wasn't sure that they had any advantage at that moment. Not against these numbers.
"We can still blast through," Rapunzel said. But even she sounded skeptical.
Hiccup shook his head. "Without elevation, we can't wipe them all out."
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm already worn out," Jack said. He pulled up the hood of his costume. That could only mean he was too exhausted to maintain his powers, and his hair was likely to turn back to brown at any moment.
Maybe that had been Pitch's plan: wear them down and take them out.
Hiccup was distracted from those depressing thoughts when one of the Nightmares whinnied… and they all dissolved to nothing.
Toothless jerked back onto his hind legs, sitting up as he looked around.
"That's what I wanna know," Jack said, to the dragon's nonverbal question.
"Has that ever happened?" Merida asked.
"No," Jack said.
They looked around the street, but there was no sign of the Nightmares.
The news cameras were still very much there, however.
"We need to get out of here," Hiccup said, turning back to look over the saddle.
"Can you fix it?" Rapunzel asked.
"Enough to get home," he said, pulling a length of leather cord from a pocket.
"Don't take long," Jack said grimly.
The sound of sirens, along with the flash of red and blue lights, got closer.
#
Hiccup had known for months that he needed to make a new saddle. Several times he had resolved to do so – going through his sketchbooks and ideas to create an improved design. But something always came up to demand his attention, both as Hiccup, and as Night Fury.
The week before, he had finally finished a design he was happy with, and he had even bought a bolt of leather. He had promised himself, and Toothless, that he would get it done.
But no sooner had he been about to start, than Astrid had walked in. It hadn't even crossed his mind to say "no" to her request. Not when it was Astrid.
He had known that putting her order first wasn't the smartest move. Now he knew exactly how unwise it had been.
Toothless currently lay curled on the carpet by the couch, no ruined longer wearing the saddle. Judging from the glares he occasionally shot in Hiccup's direction, he knew this whole ordeal could have been avoided. Rapunzel had healed his scrapes, but that didn't stop him from pouting.
"Would it help if I said I was sorry?"
All he got in response was a dragon snort. A definite "no".
"Thought not," Hiccup sighed, going back to the leather he had spread out over the workbench.
"What happened?" Valka asked, coming through the house door. She carried two steaming mugs, one of which she held out to Hiccup.
"Thanks," he said, accepting the mug. "You haven't seen the news?"
"I haven't had a chance," she said. "Though Jack is passed out in the living room."
Hiccup grinned wryly. But the expression faded.
"I got stupid," he admitted. "I didn't do what I knew I should have done." The tea was still too hot to drink, but he sniffed at it to determine the flavor. Apple cinnamon. The sweet and spicy scent made his mouth water, and he wondered how long it had been since he last ate. Too long, probably.
Valka came around the workbench, looking over the leather, and the open pages of his journal.
His mother's knowledge of dragons put him to shame, even when it came to Toothless. But she wasn't an engineer. The plan he had drawn up for the new saddle probably didn't mean much to her, except that she knew what it would become. (It probably didn't help that his short hand notes had evolved into his own kind of code.)
Toothless growled, making his displeasure known. The loose translation was probably: "Do you see what your offspring puts me through?"
Valka looked over at Toothless for a moment, before she turned back to Hiccup, clearly putting the pieces together. "That's the second time this week."
"Exactly a week," Hiccup said. It felt as though that first fall had been months ago – but sometimes it felt as if it had been just the day before.
Valka didn't speak for a minute or two, taking a careful sip of her tea as she looked over the tools on the work bench.
Hiccup braced himself for what he knew was coming.
"Have you started to get careless, Hiccup?"
Braced for the words or not, the chastisement still stung. Hiccup exhaled, looking over at the ruined saddle he had dumped into the corner.
Just a few hours ago, he would have said no. But if that was true, he wouldn't have had so many near misses lately. It was kind of obvious when he looked at it logically.
Valka wasn't the lecturing type – she was the exact opposite of his father that way – so she let him stew in those thoughts for a minute before she rested a hand on his shoulder. It took him another moment to meet the concern in her blue green eyes.
"I've never disapproved of this, Hiccup," she said. "You know I'm proud of what you've done. All of you. But you cannot afford to be careless. This city needs your team, and your team needs you." She sighed. "And I can't bear the thought of losing you."
"I'm sorry," he said, ducking his head in apology.
"Just be careful," Valka said. "That's all I ask."
"I thought I was," he said. Though hindsight made it clear just how naïve that had been. "I just got…"
He waved a hand through the air, trying to think of the right word. Because he really didn't like the first one that came to mind. Unfortunately, he had to admit that it was the truth.
"I got distracted."
He was pretty sure there were proverbs about the dangers of being distracted by a beautiful girl.
His mother hummed in a knowing way he wasn't entirely comfortable with.
"The name Astrid has been mentioned a few times of late," she said, taking a too-casual sip of her tea.
Hiccup took a drink of his own, hoping to hide what Jack called his dopey grin.
"She's the one you've had a crush on since middle school, if I remember correctly."
"More like elementary school." Embarrassing, but true.
From the corner of his eye he saw her smile, and expected some kind of teasing. But when she spoke a moment later, her tone was once more serious.
"You need rest, Hiccup," she said. "Leave this for tomorrow. Come eat, and get some sleep. Rapunzel left soup in the slow cooker."
Over in the corner, Toothless's crown twitched. He lay with his back to them (probably still pouting), but Hiccup knew the dragon was listening to every word.
Taking another sip, Hiccup looked over the workbench. Everything on it could be left out overnight, and the main door was already locked. All that was left was to turn off the light.
"You comin', Toothless?" he asked, pretending he didn't already know the answer. Toothless hated being left alone in the garage.
Toothless feigned nonchalance as he stood up, stretched, and meandered over to the door. Like a cat, trying to pretend that is hadn't been his human's idea.
Hiccup exchanged amused glances with his mother, then followed Toothless into the house. Valka kissed his temple as she said goodnight, heading down the hall to her own room, while Hiccup went into the kitchen.
The living room was dark, save for the glow of the TV. Jack was passed out on the couch, sprawled out as though he had collapsed there. Someone (Rapunzel probably), had draped one of the throw blankets over him.
In the kitchen, the stove light was on, creating a pool of illumination just large enough to show the slow cooker plugged in on the counter. Hiccup didn't know what kind of soup it was, but he didn't especially care. The aroma went straight to his head, making him realize just how hungry he was. He ladled a large bowlful, then started towards his room.
In the living room he paused, debating is he should wake Jack up, or at least turn off the news.
"I was right," Jack said suddenly, without opening his eyes.
"I hate when you do that," Hiccup said, once his heartbeat recovered from the spike of surprise.
Jack grinned darkly.
Hiccup had never figured out if Jack was just a light sleeper, if he faked sleep, or if there was some other trick. No matter how sure he was that Jack was asleep, he was usually proved wrong.
"Right about what?" he asked, finally registering what Jack had actually said.
"It was a distraction." Jack finally opened his eyes, exhaling as he sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "I literally cannot see as well with brown eyes. I hate it."
"You're probably just tired."
Jack shook his head. "I see differently. Everything is sharper when I have blue eyes. Everything is bluer, too. I never figured that out."
After a moment, he shook his head again, and took a deep breath. "Sorry. While we were downtown, Pitch broke Gothel, Drago, and the Stabbington brothers out of prison. He freed a whole cellblock, but I think it's a safe bet those are the ones he wanted."
"The people who hate us most," Hiccup said. "Of course."
Jack made a sound of agreement as he hit the power button on the remote, and the TV turned off. Standing up, he stretched his arms over his head. "They're blaming us, of course. And I'm getting' really tired of Westergaard's smug face."
Hiccup nodded, as they both started down the hallway, towards the bedrooms.
"On that happy note," Jack said, opening his door. "Good night, Hiccup."
"Good night," Hiccup said, more from habit than anything else.
Toothless was already in his corner of Hiccup's room, fast asleep.
Hiccup barely finished his soup before he joined the dragon in dreamland.