A/N: I hope you like this modern AU! I'm not always a fan of modern AUs for HTTYD, but this one should be fun and action-packed! I'll stay as true to the characters as I can, like I always do.

This isn't a crossover, but it is inspired by a spy, drama/comedy/action TV show. Those of you who are familiar with it, will likely figure out which show I'm talking about, but those who don't know it, that's fine, you can still read it anyway! Enjoy!

—

Episode 1, Part 1: Hiccup Vs. The Birthday Party

A brilliant red light flashed, illuminating the corridor in a rhythm, making it difficult to see properly. In the distance, a repetitive and obnoxious alarm could be heard screeching to whoever had ears, that there was an intruder.

A black clad, muscular shape emerged from the darkness of a corner, his ponytail swinging behind him. He cautiously walked down the deserted hallway with a cocky grin on his face, seen in flashes of reflected red light.

"Well, looks like she's done it." He said to himself quietly, satisfied with the alarm being triggered. Everything was going according to plan. "Now it's time for the best renegade alive to swoop in and finish the job."

The man walked casually down several hallways, with confidence, knowing the route by heart, and acting as if he had all the time in the world to complete his task. He knew what he was doing and where he was headed, the plan was precise, and he was making good time. The door he was looking for was just ahead, on the left, and he came to a halt just in front of it.

Slipping a hand into one of his many pockets, the man withdrew an ID badge. He ran his thumb across the face of his partner in crime, fondly, before looking to the QR code. For a moment, he was unsure if scanning it would really open the door. His former boss knew he had been close with her before he betrayed them and the whole organization. But now was not the time to falter, so he scanned the code and waited.

For an agonizing second, nothing happened. If the door didn't open, the mission would be a failure. He held his breath as he waited a few more seconds until the light turned green and allowed him entrance into the room.

Spots danced in front of his eyes as he entered, blinded by the sheer brightness of the all-white surfaces, giving the vast room a sterilized and clean feel and contrasting the dim, foreboding hallways. The room had four blank, white walls and an open, white floor space. It was like a blank canvas, waiting for someone to come along and decorate its surfaces with designs and myriads of color. The only thing keeping the room from its white purity was a complicated, high-tech computer, sitting in the middle of the floor like a blemish. It was the reason the traitor was there.

The man took a moment to blink and adjust to the new lighting before racing to the computer. He had seen it before, had been to this room before when he had been a trusted lackey to his formidable boss. He knew exactly what to do.

He drew a hand-held, electronic device from one of his other pockets and fiddled with it as he prepared to commit his act of thievery.

"Here goes nothing..." He took a deep breath and whispered as he inserted one end of the device into the side of the computer. He had never seen it in action and wasn't entirely sure what to expect.

As soon as the device clicked into place, attaching to the impressive computer, images immediately started flashing on the walls around him. Knowing what the computer was meant for, he quickly covered his eyes before he could see any of the images and awaited the electronic ping that would tell him when the download was complete.

The multitude of flashing images stopped, the room resuming its pure brightness, and he was alerted to the completion of his current task. He looked at the computer monitor, "Download Complete, Files Empty" could be read in a box in the middle of the glowing screen, the aforementioned files safely stored on his device, and only his device. Mission accomplished. With a satisfied grin the man ran back to the door, the only task left— making his escape.

He was thrown back into the darkness of the dim hallway with the flashing, red lights and had to squint as his eyes adjusted back to the poor lighting. He knew the way well, so pushed forward before his sight completely came back to him.

As he turned a corner in the hallway he felt a sudden, burning flash of pain in his shoulder and heard an echoing bang that resonated through him. He faltered for just a moment, surprised by the unexpected and hostile company. This area had been meant to be cleared, she had assured him no one would be there. Recovering from his momentary shock, he bolted in the opposite direction. He'd have to take an alternate route, hopefully making it to the rendezvous point before he bled out from the new hole in his shoulder.

Still running, and whilst favoring his injured arm, he pressed a few buttons on his electronic device. He had stolen the program and now needed to make sure that it didn't fall back into his former boss' hands. The only way to insure that— sending it in a message to the only person he could think of who could be trusted with such power.

Making use of the dark corners and disorienting red lights, the traitor slipped down hallways and up staircases with the ease of familiarity, losing his sole pursuer along the way. He was supposed to meet up with his partner outside, on the ground level, but the unexpected obstacle had sent him running to the top floor of the building. He would have to improvise.

He headed up a final flight of stairs and out the roof-access door. The blood loss was starting to slow him down and the wound in his shoulder made itself unpleasantly known. He could see the rendezvous point below him from his vantage point, and it gave him a burst of energy at the thought of how close he was to making it. He ran faster along the roof, parkour-ing his way down from the two-story building's roof, using pipes, ledges, and random handholds while ignoring the throbbing from his shoulder.

He finally landed along the blacktop outside the building with a smooth roll, and was back on his feet, ready to keep running to freedom and meet up with his partner. Instead, he came to a quick and sudden halt, eyes wide.

Before him stood a woman. Long, ebony hair braided over one shoulder, green eyes flashing with menace— faltering for the briefest of moments at the sight of the blood already dripping down his clothes. She held a gun pointed at his chest.

"You knew this was how it would end, Eret." She said simply.

"But it still breaks my heart to see you this way." Eret's smile was somewhat regretful, his cockiness barely showing through. The plan wasn't supposed to play out quite like this.

She tilted her head slightly as she gave him the barest hint of a smile at his words. Steeling herself, she squeezed the trigger, following through. A gunshot rang out, echoing off the building.

Eret fell back and landed with a thud, unmoving. In his hand sat the electronic device, screen facing up, five words displayed:

"Message Successfully Sent to... Hiccup."

—

"Hiccup! Ah! Hiccup, seriously! Kill him, take out the guy." Snotlout shouted to his cousin before tossing his controller to the carpeted floor in defeat. "Aw... now look what you've done. We just lost the game."

"Sorry... I was trying." Hiccup made a lame attempt at defending himself, clearly not as into it as his cousin.

"You call that trying? It is a digital person, not real. So it is okay to kill him." Snotlout spoke slowly, as if to someone who didn't understand a simple concept. Hiccup and his ridiculously high sense of morality often got on Snotlout's nerves. His cousin just needed to lay back and stop being so high-strung all the time, especially since that incident in college.

"Yes, I know that. I killed several of them." Hiccup said with slight annoyance.

"But you felt guilty about it!" Snotlout gestured with exasperation.

Before Hiccup could reply he heard several people calling for him from the main room of the house and sighed, looking defeated. So much for hiding out in his room with his cousin, who was also his best friend, even if a little obnoxious at times.

"Oooh, I think Ruffnut's coming back here." Snotlout said as he started to smooth out his somewhat long, black hair. "What do you think, should I strike a manly pose or look cool and laid back?"

Hiccup just shook his head with amusement, a slight smile gracing his features. Snotlout and their mutual friend Fishlegs, had both been after the affections of Ruffnut, another friend they had all known since childhood.

The door to Hiccup's room flung open with an excited air and Snotlout puffed out his chest, but instead of the blond and unique girl, a giant man with a red beard entered. Snotlout visibly deflated, frustrated as Stoick, Hiccup's father, came walking in.

"There you are Hiccup! What are you doing hiding in your room with this dummy, when we have a huge birthday celebration out there for you?" Stoick playfully scolded in his booming voice, earning a glare from his nephew.

"I thought it was going to be a small get together with my friends and family, not some huge party with people I don't know!" Hiccup replied anxiously, looking a little freaked out.

"Relax Hiccup, they aren't strangers, they're the kids of people I know. Besides, socializing with people is how you make friends." Stoick tried to be enthusiastic and convincing, but Hiccup gave him a doubtful look.

"Last time I made new friends, it didn't go so well for me..." Hiccup mumbled, looking down.

"I know that..." His father pushed Snotlout out of the way with an uncaring hand to the face and sat on the bed so that he could be closer to Hiccup, who glanced up at him from his place on the floor. "But you have to move on. If you weren't willing to make friends as a kid, you wouldn't have your weird group of friends now."

"I guess..." Hiccup gave in a little as Stoick grabbed his son's arm and pulled him to his feet, effortlessly.

"Then let's get you out there. Gobber and I made sure that we invited some cute girls for you to meet."

"Dad!" Hiccup complained, rolling he eyes at his dad's persistence for him to meet someone and move on with his life.

"Yes!" Snotlout threw a fist into the air in celebration. When Hiccup predictably did horribly with the girls, Snotlout would swoop in and work his magic and maybe even make a certain blond twin jealous for his attention.

"Well look who decided to show up to his own birthday party." A guy with blond dreadlocks questioned, mock disapproval on his face, as the three approached from Hiccup's room.

"Yeah, seriously, why aren't you excited?" Ruffnut asked as she joined her twin in his dramatics. "I so want your dad and Gobber to plan mine and Tuffnut's birthday party."

"What makes you think I want to share my birthday with you, Ruff-nut?" He enunciated each syllable of her name with attitude.

"Ignore the twins. Happy Birthday, Hiccup!" Despite his words, Fishlegs threw Ruffnut a shy smile.

"Thanks, Fishlegs." Hiccup responded to his husky friend.

"Enough chatting with this group of losers." Gobber, a very close family friend, pushed his way forward, putting an arm around Hiccup. "Let's get you out there and introduce you to some girls!"

Gobber dragged a reluctant Hiccup out the already open front door of his home, where the party spilled out onto the cobblestoned, front entrance of a closed community of fancy apartments. He guided Hiccup over to a pretty brunette he knew as one of his employee's daughters. She gave Hiccup a good, obvious look over, making him feel rather self-conscious.

"Tilda, meet the birthday boy! This is Hiccup." Gobber pushed Hiccup in her direction, gave him a wink, and wandered off. Hiccup's eyes followed Gobber as he retreated, with a look that begged for help in his current situation, that he knew wouldn't come. He forced himself to take a deep breath and face the beautiful, young woman. He didn't want to be rude to his guests, even if they were more his father's guests than his.

"So, I finally get to meet the man of the hour. You're cute." Tilda said after a moment of awkward silence, trying to get a conversation going.

"Oh, yeah, I am." After a pause, Hiccup startled, eyes wide as he realized what he had said. "..the man of the hour! That is... what I am... not cute..."

Tilda just gave a little giggle, eyeing him again, amused by his flustered remark. "So Hiccup, tell me about yourself. What do you do?"

"I... uh, work for my dad, at his store." Hiccup was always so embarrassed to admit where he worked, it didn't exactly scream success.

"Oh really? So like a family business?" Tilda didn't think that sounded so bad.

"He owns the local Buy More. I'm head of the Nerd Herd." He confessed awkwardly.

"...Nerd Herd?" She looked a bit less interested now.

"Yeah, I fix people's computers. Not what I wanted to do... but just how it worked out."

"What did you want to do?"

"I was going to be an architect, but..." A faraway look appeared on Hiccup's face and he frowned a little. "I got expelled from the University of Berkeley."

"Well that sounds like an interesting story. A nerd who got expelled from college. What did you do? Cheat for the football players?" She asked conspiratorially, interest returning.

Hiccup's head snapped up, an angered look on his face. "I did not cheat!" The crowd around the two stopped what they were doing and glanced over at a now abashed Hiccup and a startled young woman.

"Sorry." Hiccup apologized quickly, ducking his head down as he rushed past Tilda and around the corner of the house where he climbed in through his open, ground-floor window.

At the front door of the Haddock residence, Stoick and Gobber exchanged a concerned look. That wasn't how they hoped that would go.

"I should go talk to him." Stoick decided.

"Allow me." Snotlout said with confidence from behind the two large men. "He talks to me, we're pretty close."

After a pause, Stoick nodded. The two cousins pretty much grew up together. After Stoick's wife went missing when Hiccup was six, his half-brother Spitelout would help out by taking Hiccup for several hours a day. Now Spitelout lived a couple hours away and Snotlout still lived nearby, also working at Stoick's store, but as a salesmen, not a Nerd. Snotlout could be a jerk, but Hiccup knew him well enough not to take him too seriously. Deep down, Snotlout had a heart, and a decent chance of getting through to Hiccup.

—

"Very smooth, cuz." Snotlout mockingly complimented as he let himself into Hiccup's room. "She was into you and you scared her away."

"I already feel bad, okay? So you can leave." Hiccup rolled his eyes as he took a seat at his computer desk. He just wanted to be alone.

"Look, I know that what happened in college is still painful, but that was two years ago." Snotlout sat on the bed, looking at Hiccup, who refused to meet his eyes. He had tried to get through to Hiccup in the past, but his cousin was fixated in the past and full of regrets. "We're all happy at the Buy More, or as happy as one can be at a retail job... You should just be happy that you get to work with friends and family."

"And Dagur?" Hiccup wasn't quite ready to stop with the cynicism.

"Don't say his name, you might summon him." Snotlout warned in an even tone, although he was mostly joking.

"I wanted something more than working for my dad at an electronics store. I was going to follow my dreams and do what I'm passionate about." Hiccup looked remorseful as he stared at the floor. "But now... I can't."

"You could apply to another college."

"Would they even take me? With my history as a cheater? All because I became friends with that traitorous jerk-!" Hiccup's rising frustration was cut off as a ding rang out from his laptop that was sitting on the paper cluttered desk, to his left. "Speaking of traitorous jerks..."

"What? What is it?" Snotlout stood up and looked over Hiccup's shoulder in curiosity.

"A message from Eret. I guess my ex-friend remembered my birthday."

"Well, aren't you going to read it?"

"Pfft. No. What could it possibly say? 'Sorry I accused you of cheating and got you expelled, but at least I remembered your birthday!'" Hiccup said with his trademark sarcasm.

"Hmmm, I guess. I say you forget about that jerk and join me in another round of shooting people." He suggested as he handed Hiccup a game controller and sat down in front of the decent sized, flat screen TV. "Just pretend that they're all Eret, then you won't feel guilty."

—

After a long and emotionally draining day, all Hiccup wanted was to collapse into bed and sleep. He prepared for bed as if on autopilot, maneuvering around his private bathroom, connected to his room, and then over to the made bed, as per his usual routine.

The party finally ended a couple hours ago and once all the unwanted guests left, Hiccup was able to spend some time with just his family and few close friends, like he wanted to do in the first place. The considerably smaller group were nice enough to not mention what had happened before, and show that they were happy that Hiccup decided to join them for the rest of the evening.

With a sigh, Hiccup walked over to his desk to turn off his laptop before bed, not wanting any blinking lights shining in the dark and keeping him awake. As he brushed a finger against the finger pad, the screen came to life. His attention was immediately turned to the notification in the corner of the screen, reminding Hiccup that he had an unread message.

He had forgotten about Eret's mysterious message. He had been angry at his former friend's audacity to message him on his birthday. Did he want to rub it in Hiccup's face, what had happened, on a day that was supposed to be special? Or maybe act like he had never done anything wrong and wish his old college friend and roommate a happy birthday? Hiccup wasn't sure which would be worse.

His hand hovered over the finger pad as he looked back and forth between the Power Down button and the New Message icon. He chewed his bottom lip, debating internally his two choices. Then, with a hard look on his face, he dragged the cursor over the mail icon and clicked.

A white box appeared in the middle of the screen with a question and a space for typing an answer: What was the nickname I gave you for being up all hours of the night, studying?

"What, feeling sentimental all of a sudden, Eret?" Hiccup asked bitterly, unsure what this was about. "Fine, I'll humor you."

He started typing in the answer: Night Fury

The laptop went dark, as if it had been shut down, and Hiccup took a step back in surprise. After a moment of nothing happening, the frustration started to settle in. "Getting me expelled wasn't enough for you? You just had to send me a virus on my birthday?!"

Suddenly, his computer screen came to life with a series of images flashing in his face. Hiccup's eyes widened, a blank expression taking over his face as he became hypnotized by what he was seeing. After a few minutes the images stopped and the computer screen went back to normal, seemingly as if nothing had ever happened.

Hiccup swayed on his feet, blinking in confusion, then collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

—

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you stick around to find out what just happened to Hiccup. Did you figure out which spy TV show I was talking about?

While watching the show "Chuck," I found myself seeing parallels between it and HTTYD. It was practically begging to be written as an HTTYD AU! So I finally decided to write a fanfic with the concept and general plot from "Chuck," but with the characters from HTTYD.

The character Chuck reminds me of Hiccup, and Sarah reminds me of Astrid, so it works out well. And isn't Snotlout perfect for the role of Morgan?

I hope fans of both "Chuck" and HTTYD will enjoy all the references to both! And even if you have never seen "Chuck," you should still be able to enjoy this HTTYD Modern AU. Thanks for reading, and I hope you like it!