SECTION 011

MAV GAR SUSHIR?

DATE: JANUARY 14, 251 A.D.E.

TIME: 0634 HOURS

LOCATION: THE DOME, WEST SECTOR FIVE, MCKRILLEN RESIDENCE

The big day arrived, not that it was a big deal. Not really. Just taking down a Dragonoid. Nothing I hadn't done before. This one wouldn't even have a pilot; just the A.I. running the show like the Boneknappers over Paris. Sure the arena would be a lot more cramped, and the Viking didn't hold a candle to the Night Fury, and of course, I'd have an audience of several thousand watching every dodge and volley, but I could do it. If I really wanted, I could probably finish the fight in a matter of seconds.

But then again, that wasn't why I was up; fully dressed, coffee in hand. It was how…quiet everything had been.

The Dragonoids had been near silent since that November raid that had started this whole mess. It wasn't unusual for attacks to be thin on the ground during the winter months, but for them to ignore us completely was practically unheard of. It…worried everyone, and considering what Astrid and I had seen over in Washington Crater, I couldn't blame them. What was Zearaan doing over there? Even Ruusaan wasn't sure. The High Superior had held the position for centuries, far longer than any before him. How could you even begin to try and understand the mind of someone who had held power for so long? That was why I was up, having long ago given up on sleep to try and guess the thoughts of a very old, scarily powerful alien.

And of course, I hadn't told Dad. Stoic had been uneasy, to be sure, but had hidden such things behind long work hours and a focus on expanding the mobile fortress fleet and assault frame battalions. I don't think he'd even been home last night (the third in a row) if his still made bed was any indication.

Not that I was complaining. An absent father made it easier to try and figure out how I was going to tell him what I'd found out. That was my story and I was sticking to it.

That…and one other reason.

"Here you are. Again."

I looked up, and there was Astrid, leaning against the kitchen doorframe; eyes tired, hair mussed and out of its normal plait, and dressed in nothing but an open shirt a size too big and underwear that certainty wasn't military regulation. My shirt. Her underwear. Ah, the old cliché.

She smiled slightly. "And here I was thinking you going to run off without saying goodbye."

I looked at her strangely. "But it's my house."

She frowned, then rolled her eyes. "It's early. Shut up."

Hard to believe perfect soldier Astrid Hofferson wasn't a morning person.

"Are you nervous?"

"About what? The Dragonoid?" I laughed slightly. "Should I be?"

"No, but…" she squirmed under my gaze. "You're not going to…do anything, are you?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Something…Hiccup-y? Don't laugh!"

I smothered my grin, shaking my head from under my hand. Nope. No laughing here. "What exactly did you think I was going to do?"

"I don't know," she watched me abandon my coffee and walk around the table towards her. "But you've managed to learn how to fly a Night Fury and…befriend…its pilot in a matter of months. That's not exactly normal things normal soldiers do, you know."

"Then you can relax. I'm not going to do anything…Hiccup-y." She didn't meet my gaze, preferring to stare at my shoes as I stopped in front of her. "Just going to go in there, blow up a Dragonoid, and…I dunno, profit from it?"

She laughed, always a good sign. It was good, hearing Astrid laugh again. It was a shame it had to stop with what I had to say next.

"But…if something does go wrong, and-I'm-not-saying-it-will!" she looked annoyed as I rushed to stop her talking. "But if something does go wrong…just make sure they don't find Ruusaan or the Night Fury." I saw her wince under her bangs, hands closing into fists. "Just take her to Washington Crater and then dump the Fury in the ocean on the way back. Can you do that for me? Can you promise?"

A weary sigh was my answer, hands slowly uncurling to entwine with my own.

"I will," she said in a murmur, blue eyes finally raising up to meet my own. "Just…promise me it won't go wrong? That you'll be careful with that Dragonoid?"

I smiled wryly. "Honestly? It's not the Dragonoid I'm worried about."

TIME: 1247 HOURS

LOCATION: ENGLAND, MILITARY POLICE ACADEMY ASSAULT FRAME TRAINING ARENA

"Well, I can show my face in public again!"

I rolled my eyes as the crowd roared with laughter, shifting uncomfortably in the cockpit chair of my Viking as I listened to my father's opening speeches. He'd insisted on it, as if going through with this battle wasn't bad enough. Not that anyone was complaining. The viewing areas were packed to bursting, hundreds of faces, including those of the brass, staring down into the arena pit to join thousands more watching from their homes in The Dome to see me tear some poor Dragonoid to shreds. What are we, soldiers or Romans at the Coliseum? I wonder if I'm the lions or the Christians?

"If someone had told me that in a few short months, Alexander from, well…being…Hiccup, to graduating first in his class in Assault Frame training? Well, I'd of had him tied down to a gurney, and shipped off to the nearest asylum, for fear he'd gone mad!" more laughter from the crowd. More eye rolling from me. "But…here we are. And no one is more surprised…or more proud than I am." His voice was soft, almost reverent; words I'd always wanted to hear, but now felt that I didn't deserve. After all, would I have really gotten this far without using the bits and pieces of knowledge I'd gathered up on Dragonoid mechanics from working on the Night Fury with Ruusaan? "Today, Alexander McKrillen will earn his stripes. Today, my boy will join the officer's ranks of The Dome Military Police!"

Roars and applause turned the audio into a static-ridden mess before I cut the channel. I put away my thoughts and problems and focused on the battle to come. One Dragonoid, probably a Nightmare. Nothing to worry about. Just establish a link and put on a show. Nothing flashy and nothing that would take too long. Then it was just a question of going through the pomp and ceremony that followed these things. The handshakes, the medals and the smiling for the cameras. Then I was free, and I could focus on more important things. Like what was Zearaan planning, and how could two Humans and a rogue Dragonoid stop him?

"Ye all right in there Hiccup?" Gobber's voice crackled in my ear.

"As I'll ever be." I moved the Viking forward as the doors groaned open, bringing weapons to bear. "Everything alright on your end?"

"Bringing out ye opponent now." The old veteran could barely contain the glee in his voice. "Got ya a real treat, let me tell ya! Ye gonna knock 'em dead!"

"What did you find? Some kind of Boneknapper?"

"Oh, better than tha'! You won't believe what I found fer ya! An' on a local patrol too! Nothing like it in the database, but between you an' me, I think it could be a-"

"Night Fury."

My blood ran cold, eyes wide and hands shaking around the control sticks for the sight that met me from across the arena. A Night Fury, my Night Fury, was being towed out into the arena. It strained and bucked against its chains, caps over its cameras preventing it from blasting everyone into oblivion. It looked more banged up than when I'd seen it last; a few more scratches and scars that hadn't been there before, no doubt inflicted during its capture.

And Ruusaan…

"What about the pilot?" I forced myself to ask. "Did you find-"

"Ah, tha's de best part!" I could practically hear this battered old war veteran bouncing on the balls of his feet like a kid at Christmas. "She was just camping out in the country, right under our noses! Caught 'er praying to some mound of dirt. Lucky fer us, eh? Shame we couldn' get ta de Dragonoid before its AI sealed the cockpit hatch and went loony…"

This wasn't happening. Not now. Not when everything was so simple and separate. It couldn't all blur together now.

No, I had to stay calm. Focus on the fight. Make it quick, even if it meant destroying the Fury.

"It's time Hiccup. Knock 'em dead."

I pushed the Viking forward, watched as the Fury's chains snapped free and the Dragonoid rose unsteadily into the air as the camera covers fell away. It was scanning its' surroundings, looking for weaknesses…and enemies. I could feel its' cameras turn to be as I established a private channel.

"Dragonoid, friendly contact confirm. Pilot Access: Ruusaan, Youth, Code 3262010. Confirm."

Because speaking Dragonoid to this Frankenstein AI I had created had worked so well before.

"Authorization recognised. Contact confirmed. Orders requested."

"Begin Defence Lockdown. Do not pursue until further orders. Confirm." A good start if nothing else.

"Order confirmed. Stand by. Be advised, potential hostile is within range. Opening audio channels."

"No, don't do that." I protested with a roll my eyes. I'd long since realised there was nothing I could do to stop these random transmissions Dragonoid AI seemed intent on broadcasting to the world. In moments of calm, or in the heat of battle, it was always the same three words.

Mav gar sushir. Will you…

"Will you listen?"

…

What?

"Will you listen?"

The words repeated, paused long enough to realise it wasn't getting a response before repeating them again and again.

Will you listen. I'd never really thought about the line before. I'd thought it was odd, the Dragonoids asking me to listen even as they tried to blow my brains out. But now the Dragonoid in question was asking in English…and it wasn't attacking.

In fact, the Night Fury hadn't even moved. Neither had I, thinking about it. No moves to attack, no moves to defend from either of us. Just an empty quiet, the hum of machinery and that endless message the only noise.

"Will you listen?"

And now I was thinking about every other time I'd heard that message. Every training battle against every kind of Dragonoid currently in operation. The Gronckle, the Nadder, all of them. Had they ever even tried to land a killing blow? No, the first Gronckle, the one we'd faced without Vikings, only attacked when provoked (And let's face it, Snotlout being in the arena was probably offence enough), and only disarmed us even when it had me at point-blank range of its plasma mortar.

Then there was the Nadder. It had chased us around that maze, but in the end, we did more damage to each other than it ever did.

And the Zippleback, it hadn't attacked until Nu Squad had started fighting with itself. Sure, it had gotten Astrid's Viking pinned, but an AI shouldn't give you the chance to fight back. If anything, the turret it had pointed at her AF had been there to try and stop her from doing something stupid, right?

Was that what the 'berserker' Dragonoids were trying to do? Not kill their targets, but disable them? Is that why captured Dragnoids were used for training Assault Frame recruits, because in over two and a half centuries, no one had ever been killed by them?

And was this the reason? This three worded message? Was the point of a Dragonoid AI's 'berserker' mode, not to cause as much destruction as possible, but to force an issue? To give its' target no other option…but to listen?

"Will you listen?"

My mouth was dry, my hands gripped tight enough around the control sticks I knew my knuckles were turning white under my gloves. It needed an answer, but what should I say? What would it do if I said yes? I tried not to think about what might happen if I said no.

And then, I had a far uglier thought. Because in every battle I'd fought in this arena, the Dragonoids had broadcast this same message on every radio channel and spoke aloud through the onboard speakers. On every other occasion though, those words had been in the language of the race that built it. A language few within The Dome knew to read or speak. On a normal day, Mav gar sushir would have been dismissed by those who didn't understand it as garbled rubbish or a war declaration they didn't need to hear.

But these were English words, from an alien Dragonoid. And it was being broadcast to an entire arena, and a Dome, full of English-speaking people.

Shit.

"Ah, Hiccup? Ye there?" Gobber's voice had lost its bounce. "Stoic want's ye ta pull back. Sumtings not right-"

"No."

The word softly left me before I realised what I'd said, and to whom.

There was a long pause.

"Hiccup, we really need ye to pull back." he sounded worried now, probably not helped by my body deciding to push the Viking towards the Fury with weapons stowed away. "Ye've got nuthing to prove tadey, Lad. Just let us bring the Fury back an' we'll get ye sumting-"

"I want to see how this plays out."

"Hiccup…No, Alex, don't do anyt-"

I shut the radio off and pulled my helmet off for good measure as I pulled my AF to halt before the Dragonoid. As I'd thought, the Fury hadn't moved an inch. It seemed content to watch as I powered the Viking down, its cameras focused on me as I popped the hatch and dropped down to the arena floor.

"Will you listen?"

Did it even recognise me? Or did its' programming just ordering it to ask this question to everyone it met?

Did it really matter, now that I was about to answer the question it continued to ask?

"Will you listen?"

I stared up into my Fury's cameras, making sure it couldn't mistake my words for anything else.

"I will l-

"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!"

The voice roared, my father's voice. I'd heard him mad more times then I can count, but this sounded beyond anger. This was fury, a man enraged…and afraid.

I wanted to think it was because his only son was standing just feet away from an alien killing machine. If I didn't know the kind of things Gregorio McKrillen could do, I might have even believed it.

"I WANT THE ARENA CLEARED NOW! ALL ASSAULT FRAMES MOVE IN, TAKE THAT DRAGONOID DOWN!"

Not good. Already, I could see a change in the Fury as the gates opened around the arena, and the heavy footsteps of oncoming Vikings vibrated through the cavernous room.

No, not good at all.

"Hiccup! Move away from the Dragonoid!" Stoic's voice boomed in my ears, maddeningly loud and edged with fear. I didn't move. "That is an order, Alexander! Get away now! You don't know what you're doing!"

The Fury stared down at me, its cameras occasionally darting to the noise of oncoming Assault Frames. It had a question that needed answering, and I had so many questions of my own I wanted to ask myself. But if the Dragonoid stayed here, whatever I needed to listen to might not be around for much longer.

So I ignored it all. Ignored Stoic's shouting, ignored the oncoming Vikings and the weight in the pit of my gut at what I was about to do.

The Fury watched me, almost carefully. "Will you listen?"

Not yet.

"Release Intelligence Control."

The cameras flashed, the Fury abruptly landing with a plume of dust on the ground.

"Intelligence Control Released. Awaiting pilot input."

I was halfway to the hatch before it popped open, the Night Fury's cockpit already thrumming with energy as I dropped myself into my chair and settled my hands and feet around controls so much more familiar than the Viking ever hoped to be.

"Alex…?"

The last noise I heard before the hatch hissed shut; a note of…something in Stoic's voice. Disbelief? Regret? It was hard to tell, and quickly lost as I pointed the plasma energy cannons skyward and pulled the trigger. Concrete roof and steel exploded outward as I rocketed out of the arena, armour rattling with debris as dust clouds parted for the blue skies above.

So, I was out. Out of the arena, out of trouble, out of harm's way. At least for the moment. A moment to catch a breath, think things through…and realise what I'd done.

Well…shit.

No, I couldn't think about the shitstorm. I needed to find Ruusaan, and Astrid too if I could manage it, and then put as much space between us and The Dome as possible. The Fury's question still echoed in my mind, but it could wait. It would have to-

"Alex!"

"Astrid?" Speak of the Valkyrie, and she shall invade your radio.

"I'm broadcasting this on all frequencies, so I hope you're listening because we don't have much time." I could hear her pounding footsteps, the sound of angry soldiers too close behind. "Ruusaan's being held in the Detention Block on Level Seventeen of Central Tower. Gobber told me she's under heavy guard, but I don't think they'll be expecting a Dragonoid to crash their part-" A gunshot froze my blood, Astrid's cry turning my knuckles white around the control sticks. "Alex…"

The radio went dead.

"Astrid? Astrid! As-!"

Gunfire shook the Fury, several Vikings of various weapon loadouts pouring from the arena's outer doors as alarm bells rang out clear across The Dome, and me in a Dragonoid built for night attacks. To say I probably stuck out against the bright blue sky was an understatement, but even then I knew I had the advantage. Not the flight, not when the Assault frames below were practically built for anti-air warfare.

But the N-Link. Could I really use something like that against actual Humans? It had been a gamble, pitting the Fury against other Dragonoids, but Vikings were a whole different story.

When a missile exploded too close for comfort off my wing, I realised I didn't have much of a choice.

So I let the blue light take me, shivered as the cold swept over me and the Night Fury shifted into its humanoid form. I felt the Dragonoid shudder as it brought rifle and shield to bear, as though even my own machine regretted what I was about to make it do.

Target in sight, even the Viking far below seemed to hesitate.

Without closing my eyes, I fired.

Opening salvos cut through leg armour and machinery, the Fury darting around its target faster than the Viking could turn. More blasts struck weapon barrels and self-righting jet manifolds, every shot on target and keeping clear of the cockpit until one caught the missile salvos, blasting the eviscerated machine onto its side.

His friend at least had the chance to fire back, my Dragonoid dancing through bullets to put shots in both legs and sear the cameras off, head and all, falling back with an earth shuddering crash.

Threats neutralised, for now at least. It wouldn't be much longer before the main forces would be deployed from The Dome, and with them-

"ALEXANDER!"

…My father.

I pulled the Fury back, thrusters complaining at the sudden shift as a scattershot round exploded a million shards of metal across the area I had almost been in.

Stoic led the charge, smoothbore cannon shooting more scattershot rounds into the sky, trying to limit my movements as his comrades tried to shoot me down.

"I should've known! I should've seen the signs!" I could hear his voice crack, from rage or despair I couldn't say. "It was all a lie, wasn't it? A trick to pull the wool over my eyes."

"It's always about you, isn't it?" I spat back, sending two more Vikings back into crumpled heaps. "What do you want me to say? That I screwed up? That I should have told you before now? Would you have believed anything I said?"

"And that was enough, was it? To throw your lot in with them? They've killed billions of us-"

"But we might have pulled the trigger first." I flew up out of range, just as a missile exploded close enough to feel the heat through the Fury's armour. "We've been fighting this war for so long, I'm not sure either side really knows what's going on anymore."

"They're nothing but monsters!" More explosions filled the air, forcing me down. "There's nothing more to be said! Out for our blood, to conquer our world-!"

"Ruusaan is not a monster!" I fired back. "And a lot of them are no different from us! People like you, who just want to wipe the enemy out. But people like Arthur Hofferson, who just want to make peace. If you could just see what was going on in Washington Crater, then you'd-"

"You've been to Washington Crater?"

…

Shit.

"I didn't say that."

"How did you do it? How did you get past the patrols, the defences…the Night Fury!"

No. No, no, no….

"That's how you got past! Of course, the Dragonoids would let one of their own through, and if we can use the Fury's signal, mask the mobile fortresses with its IFF…"

Nonononono!

"Dad, it's not what you think!" I cursed the pleading note in my voice as I pulled the Fury away. "You don't know what you're up against!" He wasn't thinking straight. He still saw the Dragonoids as mindless monsters, easily tricked. He didn't know about Zearaan, hell, I didn't know that much about Zearaan. But I knew enough; knew that no frontal or surprise attack would be enough. "It'll be a bloodbath like nothing you've ever seen!" All those Dragonoids, coming home, readying for…something. "Dad, please! I promise you that you can't win this one!"

"All units, shoot to disable! Bring that Dragonoid down intact if you can!"

No…NO!

The gunfire came thick and fast, even as the N-Link counter clicked down to zero and pain flashed through my every nerve. I couldn't stop, not when Stoic couldn't see, not when everything was unravelling too fast for me to hold it together.

"No, Dad No!" I could taste blood in my mouth, even as I transformed the Fury back into its Dragonoid form and dived towards the Viking battalion below "For once in your life, WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME?!"

The other Frames scattered, still firing but getting out of the way between me and the gate. Only my father held fast, Recoilless rifle blazing and smoothbore cannon raised to the oncoming Fury.

It was only when he fired did I realise my mistake.

The scattershot round exploded, shards of metal missing my Dragonoid by inches as I forced it down to avoid the shot.

Down, into the ground.

Metal screeched and alarms screamed as the Night Fury bounced off grass onto tarmac, thrusters protesting as I tried to keep sixty metric tons of alien war machine in the air and failed miserably. I couldn't breathe, couldn't concentrate beyond the haze of pain and the taste of blood. I felt my own hands go limp as the Night Fury finally crashed to the earth, skidding across it with sparks and shrieks before finally coming to a halt at the feet of my father's Viking.

The AF stared down at me, rifle aimed at the Dragonoid's heart.

"Dad…please…" I couldn't black out. Not now. Not when so many people could die on both sides…

The radio crackled with static, blind hope filling my failing mind as my father spoke.

"You've thrown your lot in with them."

No…no that's not true…

"You're not a soldier."

You're right, but I can still-

"You're not my son."

And as consciousness left me, I felt my entire world just…break.

Author's Notes

So, I think if Dragonoid was an original novel or a more popular fic, I might have accidentally started a shipping war with last week's chapter. As such, it was more of a shipping skirmish, but it still something that, as a writer, truly fascinated me.

Because I've had responses from HiccupxAstrid fans and, much to my own surprise, people who ship AlexxRuusaan. Relief and disappointment in equal parts. One person even broke down for me why they thought AlexXRuusaan was the superior pairing.

Do you know how happy that makes me? Ladies and gents, that makes me ecstatic beyond words! I've managed to write a story that has created debate, where people are reading the same material and coming to different conclusions. It's hard to explain, but for a relatively unknown fanfiction writer trying to break out into original stories, this gives me a lot of hope for my future work.

I never intended to write Alex and Ruusaan's relationship that way though, it just evolved that way on its' own merits if that makes sense. I tend to have a 'Seat of Your Pants' mentality when it comes to writing, so when I found myself writing scenes and dialogue that I realised could be seen as shiptease, I was actually conflicted about what to do.

You see, a part of me actually thought about going completely off script. I had a rough idea, at least for the initial divergent path. Ruusaan wouldn't be able to convince Alex to go after Astrid, and the pair would leave England. The recall signal would then take effect as they were still arguing about it, and the chapter would have continued similarly to how it did in-story, at least for the short term. In the end though, I decided to stick to my original plan for a couple of reasons.

The first one was that building up Hiccup and Astrid's relationship was the core idea that started Dragonoid off. Before the setting update, before the mecha and long before Ruusaan became more than just my favourite name in the Mando'a dictionary, this had been the idea that set everything else in motion. To have spent so long on this story, only to, in my eyes, veer away from the core idea at the last minute, felt a bit hollow to be honest.

That said, the second reason, time, was also a major factor in two different ways. Dragonoid, as I've said before, was only supposed to be a year's work, maybe two or even three at most. If I'd reached this point within that time-frame, I might have been a bit more willing to diverge down the AlexXRuusaan route. As it was, various reasons turned it into a seven year project. I think I reached Section 08, when I started having these thoughts, around mid to late 2016, and as I said that had two major impacts on my decision.

First, variants of Section 010 had been rattling around in my head for almost seven years. It was always Astrid and Alex, and Ruusaan had always been pleasantly platonic. That's a hard image to rework or get rid of when it's been with you for so long.

The second more important factor was the time it would take for me to rewrite Dragonoid. I'd already spent almost seven years working on this story, and one of the major things that slowed me down was when the setting update necessitated something original to correlate with HttyD's original plot. I knew there was going to be original content in this story before the end, but there would always be the film's original plot to take the beats of the story from. If Alex and Ruusaan flew off, then Astrid would reach The Dome unimpeded to open a can of worms there, and that was just the first plot point I would have to map out. Keep in mind that May 18th, 2018, HttyD 3's then current release date, was when I wanted Dragonoid to be finished at the very latest, and I just wasn't confident I could come up with and write out a decent plot within that time limit. When I found out the release date had been pushed back, I was already far enough into the finale that I couldn't really turn back without wasting months of work.

And the third major reason? I wanted to get Dragonoid done. It's been a project that has survived where AVATAR and Legend of Arcardian Skies got cancelled and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: ZAFT's Archangel got put on hold to be reworked into an original story I'll work on in the future. It is the only story that has gotten a recommendation on tvtropes, which as I've said before is a big deal for a small time fanfic writer like me. Seven years was already six years longer than I expected myself to work on a single project and with other ideas and concepts, both original and fanfic, rattling around in my head demanding attention, I simply thought it better to push on with the ideas for Dragonoid I had, rather than potentially spend a few years more developing new ideas on what to me is now a very old story.

But that isn't to say I disregarded Ruusaan's feelings for Alex entirely. When I made the realisation, I adapted the story accordingly, just not to the extremes talked about above. I'm sorry to those who were hoping for a full AlexXRuusaan pairing, but I hope the coming chapters will be a good alternative, and I hope you enjoy Act Three regardless.

On to today's chapter, I think it's a good indication how how things radically change from HttyD's original plot and yet how a lot of it stays the same.

The appearance of the Night Fury over the Nightmare, along with Ruusaan's capture, was my attempt to inject the seriousness of the original scene into the new one. Alex has been shown to destroy AI-controlled Dragonoids before now, so I thought to pit him against one now wouldn't carry the same weight. It also gave me a way to bring Ruusaan and the Night Fury into the arena, as the 'Toothless-senses-Hiccup's-in-danger' sequence from the film had felt a bit too convenient to be properly integrated as it was. I thought about have Ruusaan sneak into the arena to watch Alex's battle and to step in when something went wrong, but a part of me felt she would have a harder time blending in, even in a hat, than Alex and Astrid did blending in on the Rock. The sequence I went with just seemed to solve both problems at once. Ruusaan's capture was deliberately left out to avoid suspicion on the reader's part on where the story was going. I'm not entirely sure how well it worked though. Maybe it came a bit out of left field? If I ever write any bonus chapters, it's certainly on the list of possible events I would write about.

That's all for today. Next time, the prelude to the final battle! See you then!