The pair arrived at an undisclosed location that Astrid assumed was another of Night Fury's hidden safe houses. After she'd declared her intent to follow him regardless, Astrid and Hiccup had moved quickly and stealthily to her lodging in the Village of Heroes and grabbed any essentials she'd need, he told her that he could get her any clothes she might want or need and that she should stick to anything of sentimental value or personal importance. In a matter of minutes after that they were in the wind, moving underground in tunnels that she'd never known about; Hiccup explained they were meant for evacuation should the heroes ever need to escape covertly.

They hadn't had time yet to truly breathe and talk about everything that had happened with Hunter-Mind and the heroes, but now that they were safe for the time being they could rest for a bit before figuring out their next move. Astrid planned on removing her mask and committing herself to their relationship at last once they settled for a bit.

"We should be safe here for awhile." Hiccup spoke after a few gulps of air, "The Chief is a smart enough man, but I doubt he'll think to check one of his own storehouses." The revelation came as a surprise to the heroine.

"How do you know the location of one of the storehouses belonging to the leader of the heroes'? Those are supposed to be secret even among us." She couldn't help but ask, it seems knowing his true identity brought more questions than answers then she thought it would.

"That's a lot to unpack right now, and I promise we will after we've gotten a more long term place to stay. You can even punch me like I could tell you wanted to back at the gymnasium. I don't want to hide anything from you Astrid." He said quickly and without thinking. They both flinched after realizing what he said.

"You... you know?" Astrid breathed quietly.

He turned to face her for the first time since she kissed him outside the heroes base and nodded slowly. "I've known for a long time, before we ever got together. I knew your identity was important to you so I kept it to myself."

"If you knew then why did you push for us to share them with each other?" She demanded.

"Because it had to be your choice, then I would know it was because you trusted me not to use it against you. I wanted you to feel comfortable sharing that with me, it's why I hated myself for giving you that ultimatum about revealing it to me." He spoke sadly.

With a sigh Astrid removed the mask from her face, there was no point in it now. Neither got the reveal they wanted, but it wasn't as important as she thought it would be. They knew who each other were now and somehow despite everything that had happened and the situation they found themselves in, she was glad to be rid of the barrier between them.

"It's fine." She said with a small smile. "But we have bigger problems, where do we plan to go now? Anywhere in Dragon's Edge is out of the question, the heroes will likely be canvassing the city since that was my territory and your most common appearances were there. Berserk is also out since I would work with Razorwhip there from time to time due to our past partnership."

"Yeah and I wouldn't want to bring undue stress on her or Dagur, those two have it rough enough being siblings who were on opposite ends of the super spectrum." Hiccup agreed, because of course he knew Heather's identity too. "She might have been aware of our relationship but she can still play ignorant since it was only for the last year and you two had gone your separate ways before then. And Dagur has enough scrutiny with his past, best to leave them be..." he paused and thought for a moment. "For now our best choice is to head north, towards Berk. The Chief won't be looking in his home town for two supers that have never been sighted there."

The idea had merit, Astrid hadn't been back to her childhood home in a long time. Both her parents had passed away when she was young and after her uncle Finn had died protecting people from a villain that was on the run she hadn't had the will to return, in retrospect she probably owes her time as a hero to her uncle; seeing as his death triggered her powers manifesting.

She nodded in agreement and took stock of the supplies around them, Hiccup had been digging around for something before his slip in using her real name, might as well make use of anything that could be helpful. There was a bathroom where she changed into the spare set of clothes she'd thought to grab while at her place; that was a good start, despite Hiccup's suggestion she thought it smart to avoid running around in yoga pants and a bright blue tank top.

Emerging from the bathroom in leggings, a skirt and a red top had her feeling a bit more refreshed and capable of blending into crowds, the thought shook her for a moment as she realized how quickly she was adopting an almost criminal mindset. Though she'd likely be branded one later today if she wasn't already; Hiccup had gathered a few emergency rations and was holding a set of keys, seemed that he was relying on his time as a villain to ensure their safety for now as well.

"Hopefully he doesn't come looking here anytime soon and I can return the car before then, but I'll reactivate the tracker if that isn't an option." He explained before heading to the garage. The Chief's vehicles were things of legend among the younger heroes, most having adopted more unconventional methods of traveling through heir assigned territories; such as Nadder jumping and running along the rooftops. To see one of his legacy cars prepped and waiting to run was a bit astonishing for Astrid, nevertheless she climbed into the passenger seat and the two tore out onto the street before heading north.

A couple hours later Hiccup shook a sleeping Astrid awake. They had reached Berk and were now parked outside a house big enough for the both of them, just in case she wanted her space. Grabbing the gear they'd 'borrowed' from The Chief the blonde made her way to the door while Hiccup programmed the auto drive he'd discovered to return the car to the storehouse they'd been at. Grabbing a hidden key from a rock with a divot craved into it, the pair admitted themselves into the house.

"You don't need to worry about anyone coming by here." Hiccup explained when Astrid began checking the rooms for anyone that might be there, "I own this house, legally. I had planned to eventually settle down here when the villain thing had run it's course for me, granted I hadn't planned on the development between us at the time." Astrid visibly relaxed at hearing they'd have no unexpected guests. "And neither side of the supers will find this place either, I have it under an alias. So please make yourself at home, there's a spare room if you aren't comfortable sharing right now." With that Hiccup silently went into the kitchen and began searching in the refrigerator for something to make them for dinner.

Astrid stood at the end of the hallway looking between two doors, one led to the master bedroom which had enough personal touches that she knew Hiccup had stayed there before, the other was a simply furnished guest room with a bed, night stands and a dresser that had a TV sitting atop it. She was conflicted over which one she should choose; on one hand she wanted nothing more than to be curled up in Hiccup's embrace while they slept like she had during like those hotel trips over their secret romance. On the other hand, they had several things that needed to be sorted out and she wasn't sure if he was uncomfortable with sharing a bed with her now. Indecision frustrated her, and after several minutes she left her bag on the floor of the hallway, choosing to figure it out before entering either room. Upon returning to the living room she found a lack a Hiccup and a note.

Gone to get some ingredients, be back shortly.

P.S. there is an encrypted communicator watch on the desk, if you want to let Heather know you're ok

-Hiccup

It was little things like this that made her want to choose the master bedroom. Even when he suspected she had issue with him, he still went and made sure to think of her and what she might need or want, that's was the man she'd fallen for.

Picking up the communicator, she sent a message to Heather with a similar function to texting for stealth missions.

Are you safe to talk? -DN

The response was immediate, an incoming call with Heather's ID. The blonde wasn't surprised, she had no doubt that her friend had made up some story about places they might hide in a situation like this and immediately went off the radar. She smiled slightly as she answered.

"Astrid! Are you ok? What happened? Do you need backup? What happened with Hiccup? Was he actually Night Fury all along?" Did you know? Help me out here!" Her best friend shouted as soon as her holo image popped up. Astrid couldn't help but chuckle.

"Calm down Heath, I'm fine. Yes Hiccup is Night Fury; and of course I didn't know! You really think I could have acted that heartbroken if I did? Anyways, I chose to go with him. We're safe for now and he's out buying groceries believe it or not. If anyone asks you never knew about our relationship, with your relation to Dagur something like this will ruin you." Astrid answered, she knew her friend wanted to show people that villains could in fact be reformed and rejoin society as productive members, a stance that made her unpopular with the hero leadership; but having known about this could destroy her work as it'll no doubt be spun as a hero falling to crime. "Look, I was already planning on choosing Night Fury over hero work before he vanished, that hasn't changed. Despite him knowing the full situation and still staying hidden; Hiccup chose to reveal himself when I was in real danger. Things might be a bit awkward right now, but I know he still cares about me; and I still care about him. So I'm going to follow this through to the end, once things calm down with the heroes we'll come to Berserk and have dinner with you and Dag. And I promise we'll give you both some answers. For now though we need to lie low and wait this out while rebuilding our relationship ok?"

Heather sighed and nodded, she couldn't really argue anything her former partner had said. "Ok, well then you should know: the heroes are searching the entirely of Dragon's Edge for you two, if they don't find you guys then you'll be declared flipped and labeled a villain. I heard Kingstail pressuring The Chief to even publicize your 'illicit relationship' as proof. I'll keep an eye on things at headquarters and if there's anything you need to know I'll find a way to pass it along."

Astrid nodded and bid her friend farewell, as she ended the call she pondered how long it would be before they saw one another in person again. The call did help her breathe a bit easier however, and even gave her the conviction to march back down the hallway and take her things into the master bedroom, placing them firmly on the left side of the bed to claim it as her own.

—————

As soon as the call ended Razorwhip started making her way back to headquarters, despite what she'd promised her friend she knew that feeding them random updates wouldn't be enough.

When she arrived she found The Chief surrounded by his closest confidants still encouraging him to do everything possible to ruin Nadder's career as a hero. An idea had come to Heather on her return trip and while it was admittedly a gamble, it was one that she had a good feeling about.

"We need to get out in front of this Chief!" She could hear Kingstail whisper shouting loud enough to heard by anyone within five feet, "label the girl a traitor and send word to law enforcement to issue a warrant for her arrest. We can't let her make fools of us all!" Several of the others nodded in agreement, the time for her gamble was now or never.

"I wouldn't act so hastily Chief," she spoke drawing the groups attention.

"And why should we even consider your opinion on the matter!?" Kingstail sneered at her. "A villain sympathizer such as yourself already makes us look weak to the public, and now your former partner has been cavorting about with her supposed archenemy and you had no knowledge of it?" The men around her gave growls of agreement, but The Chief looked at her with curiosity.

"Why do you think labeling Deadly Nadder as a traitor would be a hasty decision lass?" He asked, shocking the other men to silence.

"Chief, you can possibly be seriously considering-"

"As the leader of the heroes, it is my duty to examine all avenues before making any major decisions! It would do you well to remember who is in charge here!" The mountain of a man spoke loudly to his second in command. Kingstail wore a fittingly cowed expression on his face as The Chief signaled Heather to continue.

"It's simple sir, something like this makes a large splash in the world. Just like when Treacherous A flipped on you, only now there's a lot more scrutiny on us heroes." Heather explained, knowing the jab about The Chief's once partner would ensure his attention. "If certain parties look into this, it will undoubtedly lead not only to Nadder's relationship with Night Fury, but also that YOU hired his civilian identity to work right under our noses. And if that comes to light sir, we can all kiss our days as heroes goodbye."

Kingstail was red with fury, he was not one that enjoyed being made a fool of; but Heather could tell he knew that no one else had considered the possible blowback on the rest of them as a result of exposing Nadder's relationship with Night Fury. Nevertheless he turned his scowl to their leader before speaking, "Chief, this girl is young; surely you know the right call to make here."

"Aye, that I do." The Chief responded, "The lass is right, Grisely has gained significant support over the past two years about our presence being more likely to draw out dangerous villains then deter crime overall. If we were to announce that one of our brightest heroes can be corrupted, then he will have more than enough support to push his anti-super legislation. If we wish to continue to serve the people then we have no choice but to keep this quiet; find and subdue them! I want them in one piece and we'll get this sorted after, until then: Deadly Nadder is on indefinite leave!"

Heather held her sigh of relief, any indication that she was protecting her friend over the heroes as a whole could cause The Chief to reverse his decision. There would be a time to relishing her buy the pair more time later, for now she needed to convince everyone she had no prior knowledge of the relationship between the two. Eventually she'll be able to contact Astrid again and give her the good news( if she didn't see it on the news herself first) and hopefully pass along more intel she might manage to pick up. Thankfully, Hiccup had managed to disappear right under the heroes noses once before; Heather just hoped that he could do so again with Astrid by his side.

Putting on a demure facade, the dark haired woman approached the other heroes her age, where she could already hear Monstrous Nightmare refusing to believe his 'princess' was involved with the villain and clearly had be coerced into it somehow.

'I really hope Astrid appreciates what I'm about to put myself through for her'