Astrid's POV

I groaned as I heard an annoying sound. Thinking it was my alarm I smashed my hand on the snooze button, idly wondering if I would yet again have to get a new clock, but the sound didn't stop. In my half asleep state I finally realized that it was someone insistently knocking at my door. I climbed out of bed, and opened the door to see the twins in front of it.

"Wow, take a look at that bed hair." Tuffnut exclaims. He is promptly hit by Ruffnut.

"Why are you guys up at…" I glance back at my clock "5:37 in the morning?" I say while stifling a yawn.

"It's Fish. We went to cheer him up but we found this taped to the door." Ruffnut says as she hands me the note.

Dear friends,

Thank you for standing up for me, but I can't take it anymore. I have to confess that this wasn't the first time the Mayor or one of his aides said something like that to me. It only happened when you guys were out on mission, and I was in the control center monitoring your progress.

But last night was the last straw. I've decided to leave for a while to clear my head, and to carry out an investigation of my own. Something is going on, and I'm going to find the source.

I'll have my communicator with me, but I ask you not to track or contact me unless it is an emergency.

Love,

Fishlegs

"Fishlegs is gone!" I exclaim as I finished the letter.

"Seems so. He must have snuck out after we went to bed." Tuffnut comments.

"We'll tell Snotlout, and meet you in the hub Astrid." Tuffnut said as he, and his sister ran down the corridor to Snotlout's room.

I go back into my room, and see Stormfly staring at me curiously. As I take a look in the mirror I could see what Tuffnut meant. I looked like Madam Mim.

I quickly wash, and got dressed. I sent a text to Hiccup that I couldn't meet him today, and headed for the hub. The others were already there. The twins were punching each other, and Snotlout was nodding off slightly, his sleep cap still on his head.

"There you are Astrid." Tuffnut says, and slaps Snotlout on his back to wake him up.

"So what do we do now?" Ruffnut asks, as she glances at the computer console where Fishlegs always sat.

"We're going to have to respect Fishlegs wishes, and if I see the Mayor again, I'll give him a piece of my mind." I tell them. "I know some people look down on others because they don't have stronger bonded dragons, but I wouldn't have guessed that our city's Mayor or his aides were such bigots. This has been going on for quite some time as well according to Fish's letter. It's times like this that I hate what our society has become."

"Yea, and even he thinks something's fishy." Tuffnut comments, and laughs at his own joke.

"At least we can still contact him. Now I want everything we can dig up on The Phantom, Mayor Haddock, and any of his aides." I tell them, and we go to work on our separate consoles.

After a while Snotlout curses. "Can't this guy be easier to find?"

Phantom

Identity: Unknown

Birthday: Unknown

Place of residence: Unknown

Height: Approximately 6'1

Eye color: Unknown

Bonded dragon: Night Fury (Strike class/ extremely rare)

Powers: Plasma blast (Other powers possible, so far unknown)

Criminal record: Arson, Breaking and entering, Theft, Property damage, Attempted manslaughter, Cyber terrorism.

"This is all I could find on the guy." Snotlout grumbles. "Fishlegs was right he's a ghost. How does someone hide a Night Fury! I hope you guys have better luck than me."

"I'm checking the Mayor." I tell Snotlout. "So far, except for being prejudiced, he's come up clean. I hate to say it, but it may be that he genuinely thinks that Phantom is the worst sort of villain, and that he will stab us in the back if he has a chance."

"Except Phantom may not be a villain." Tuffnut mumbles.

"What do you mean?" I ask, clearly shocked at Tuff's statement like the others.

"I'm saying this criminal record might be faked. The progression is all wrong. Normally a criminal will make his offences worse, going from 3rd degree felonies to 2nd degree, but here chronologically it goes from 2nd degree, to 3rd, and then to a misdemeanor. The person who wrote this has no criminal profiling experience." Tuffnut explains as he shows us the data.

"But that's a police file." Snotlout points out. "Are the police in on this as well?"

"It's hard to say." I mumble. "Ruffnut, you got anything?" I ask.

"Not yet. I'm looking into the aides, but we'll need to widen the search. If the criminal record is fake then we have to look at the judges as well." She mumbles while typing furiously. "I'm trying to hack into their financial files right now."

"Wow Ruffnut, where did you learn to do that?" Snotlout asked impressed.

"I had Fishlegs teach me in case of emergencies. This qualifies as one." Ruffnut shot back.

So the week dragged on, Fishlegs hadn't contacted us yet, but we managed to dig up only some useful information. I called Hiccup to ask about his father, but he couldn't tell me anything new, because they hadn't spoken for five years.

Ruffnut, and Tuffnut followed up on the financials on the aides, and even those of the judges whose signatures were on Phantom's criminal folder, as well as the police officers who those cases belonged to.

Needless to say what we found was shocking. Phantom hadn't done any of those crimes. In the arson case, according to eyewitnesses he even saved the occupants of the house. The aides made sure that the Mayor only got the highlights of these crimes, so of course he thought that Phantom was evil.

Those who framed him had large amounts of cash deposited in offshore accounts during the time the crimes took place. The only problem was that we could not find out who was paying them.

"Why would someone go to so much trouble." I mumble, frustrated that we weren't making any headway.

It was nearly an hour later that Snotlout came barreling through the door. He was clearly winded so he must have flown at top speed. "A..H..ahh." Snotlout gasps.

"Snotlout take deep breaths." Ruffnut says steering him to a couch.

When Snotlout gets his breathing under control he tells us. "Followed one of the aides. He met with some shady guy. I overheard them talking about something called Red Death. They had plans to take over the city." Snotlout wheezes out.

Ruffnut was immediately behind a console looking into 'Red Death'.

"I accidently knocked over a trashcan as I was leaving. They might have seen me, and would be moving their plans up." Snotlout continues with his explanation.

"THOR DAMNIT!" Ruffnut exclaims. "This is bad guys. I haven't found much, most of their data is encrypted, but it's bad."

"They're a cult with lots of followers." Ruffnut tells us, and goes on explaining. "They believe only they should control the dragons, and their powers."

"Okay, so they are a bunch of maniacs." Tuffnut states. "Why frame Phantom?"

"Because they are after his dragon." I state, as the situation finally becomes clear. "If they believe only they should have the dragon's power, than the one bonded to the most powerful dragon would be their biggest treat. They either aimed to capture Phantom, or kill him so that they could control the Night Fury."

"Their aiming to take over the city. They already have enough of their people in high functioning jobs." I tell them. "I think it's time we inform the Mayor."