So, I love this story so much I couldn't help but update it. I thank you for all the reviews and support I received for this story! (16 reviews for 1 chapter. :3 :D) So yeah I decided I'd update again, you know what they say, happy troops happy... groups? (Thank-you princess outpost Hiccup)
Anyway, to the story!
Nótt Heift
That was so totally unfair.
It was his job to say the awesome bad-ass line when a villain went down.
Okay well not exactly because he wasn't a superhero and according to the law he was just as much a bad guy as any. ('Enemy of my enemy' doesn't mean much to them clearly…) However, he still generally gets to say something witty after a fight…
But then here comes this hostage -who is a cut above the usual 'save me oh handsome prince' (Scratch handsome, they can't see his face anyway, also scratch prince… actually scratch all of it.)- with a shotgun and says an awesome line that makes sense in context and deserves to be in a Hollywood movie right out of the gate, and she says it so naturally that she had to have been practising that in the elevator when he wasn't looking.
But evidently by the way she was holding the shotgun…she wasn't experienced in any way shape or form (save the sass. She's got that one down). She blew the bangs out of her eyes and dropped the shotgun after witnessing the police approaching the building.
And Hiccup was about to make his break for it, but he was too busy gaping at this girl who stole his one liner. There was silence as she caught him staring.
"What?" She checked herself to see if she'd been shot or something.
That was when he realized exactly where he had been staring… And he sent a silent thank you for the fact she couldn't see where he was looking clearly, he mentally slapped himself and tried to stop the waves (tidal waves) of embarrassment that threatened to consume him.
Originally he was staring from the awesome introduction… Astrid, as he remembered. But now he was forcing himself not to take second glances… Wasn't there a code of practice against those things? Like, don't ogle the hostages you're supposed to be saving kind of thing? Granted, it was unintentional, but still, it's not like he's blind to feminine beauty when he sees it. She was very beautiful given the second glances he took (those ones he tried to stop). And something about her was different and endearing but he couldn't quite put his finger on it… Hmm, maybe he should stop thinking things about a hostage he freed that he's never going to meet again and get back to business. He vaguely remembered there were police outside that wanted him captured and he should be running now…but he chose to ignore that for the time being. He composed himself from his awkward realization before responding.
"Uhh, you didn't stay in the elevator."
She huffed. "Yeah, and if I did you'd be a dead pile of leather right now," she countered.
He scoffed, but begrudgingly admitted to himself that she did have a point with that one. And wait what's wrong with his leather?
"Wha-... What? No, no, I-I had that perfectly under control…" He backpedaled as if trying to convince himself.
She raised a brow and smirked at his dismal attempt to seem confident in what he was saying.
He sighed at his lame attempt at seeming professional but it was a ton better than his previous train of thought.
At that moment there was the sound of doors bursting open and shouts from multiple people breaking the almost serene atmosphere of the upturned foyer area. Multiple police units came flooding onto the scene and Hiccup got very jumpy in that instant. He looked around quickly for an escape and decided he couldn't make an exit through a window as they'd run him down in an instant…he had to go back up to his rope and grappling hook to get out of this mess…
Astrid looked relieved when the police entered the building but caught onto his distress and eyed him cautiously.
He shouldn't have stayed here so long, he shouldn't have been talking to Astrid for that amount of time and he should have left the moment the immediate danger was over…now the rest of the criminals would surely be retreating after hearing what went down and he would be the only one left in the building for the police to imprison. He was already a wanted man dammit...why didn't he leave?
That's right, he was talking to Astrid, and something about her made him stay…despite the danger. He decided his welcome was long overdue by that point. He clasped his hands together while doing a little bow. "Lovely meeting you, Astrid. But the police and I aren't exactly what you would call friends."
He sprinted off towards the elevator before she could get a word in. The police began yelling towards his general direction, but he made it into the elevator and hit the top floor button before they could even tell him to 'freeze'. He could easily retrieve his grappling hook before they followed him up and he'd be over to the next skyscraper before they knew what hit them.
He saved the hosta- Astrid. And now it was time for his escape.
-0-
Astrid watched Night Fury get all tense the moment the police entered the scene. She realized he wasn't actually working with them but that didn't mean… She mentally slapped herself upon remembering that he's a Vigilante…he breaks the law to…keep it? She wasn't a hundred percent sure of his motives but he did seem nice enough, minus the sarcasm.
He sprinted towards the elevator and closed it before the police could even get near him, she didn't even get to say good-bye. Not that she would usually care, but he did save her…he deserved some kind of thanks. He didn't actually comment on that either, she would have thought he'd be first to jump at the opportunity to get gratitude from her. But he didn't. The police reached her finally and some rookie by the looks of things came jogging up to her after they were sure the foyer was secure.
"So, uh, you all right? I mean, we were doing stuff and then, well. Bayum! That guy came, I mean he's totally awesome and bad-ass and all it's just he's kinda killed people so he's wanted by the law etcetera-etcetera you know the drill. Wait, no you don't. Why am I asking!?"
He finished, and there was silence as Astrid stared at him with a raised brow. Another officer walked up and slapped him over the head. They looked quite alike; if she had to guess, twins.
"Ignore the idiot over here; we're here to rescue you. Good thing you came out when you did, Snotlout hates negotiations."
Astrid didn't even know their names yet, and what kind of name was Snotlout? The female twin continued, noticing her confusion.
"Snotlout, the officer who was supposedly in charge of the whole negotiations with terrorists ideal, well, before the F.B.I showed up, he wanted to storm the building. And then, yeah. Come on, well get you to the police station." The female twin gestured towards the front doors.
Astrid didn't believe she was getting out of this alive; turns out the Night Fury was better at his job then she suspected when he mentioned his lack of planning. She followed the twin officers as multitudes of other officers swarmed the area and began entering the stairwell and beyond. The female twin began to introduce herself.
"So, anyway, I'm Ruffnut. And this numb-nut here is my brother, Tuffnut," she began.
"Wait, whose Numnut. Is he our cousin?" her twin interjected, before cracking into laughter at his own joke.
Ruffnut sighed in frustration before continuing. "Anyway, that's spelt 'R' 'u' double 'f', and then 'nut' just in case you forget the spelling when you write out your thank-you note to the police station, as well as your recommendations for promotions." She nudged Astrid in a hint-hint way.
Astrid was still slightly in shock from the whole ordeal, she'd barely gotten used to the idea she was being rescued. First there was Night Fury, and now these two. She just sighed a bit at the nudging and queries of Ruffnut and continued out the foyer.
The street was a mess, there was even an upturned car among the destruction. She can't tell what exactly went down but there must have been an explosion of some sort, grenades by the looks of things. These criminals were well stocked. There was a barricade of police cars that were previously lined with F.B.I or other military and police units with bullet holes and discarded weapons scattering the entrance of the building.
She had walked unsuspecting into the building this morning with a coffee and now it looked like a war-zone.
They reached the closest police car with the officer, dubbed Snotlout by these twins, talking to what was presumably the F.B.I agent in charge.
"Yo, Snotface Snotlout, the hostage is safe and ready to be escorted to the police station!" Tuffnut interrupted.
Snotlout sent him an irritated glare. "Excuse me I was just having a conversation with this kind gentleman over here whose position is higher than ours and is quite frankly more important than-" he cut himself off when he saw Astrid, and then he not-so-subtly checked her out.
She could already feel a scowl of disgust coming to her face before Ruffnut chimed in as if she completely expected him to do this.
"Yeah about that, Snotlout here checks out everything that moves and has tits."
Snotlout glared at Ruffnut for embarrassing him. "I do not, and that's highly inappropriate to say," he objected, not even realizing the irony of his statement. He turned back to address the F.B.I agent as if apologizing for the twins antics and not his own, whom he had found had already left. He turned back to the twins. "See what you did! You scared him off!"
And by the snicker Tuffnut gave this was clearly a normal thing for him.
Snotlout turned to Astrid and tried to go back to suave (at least what he thought was suave). "So anyway, I hope these two weren't too much trouble for you, I know how annoying they can be, I'm Scott, but the babes just call me Snotlout." As if that would bring any allure to him what-so-ever.
Tuffnut frowned and responded before Astrid could. "Everyone calls you Snotlout though."
Snotlout glared at him. "Shut up Tuffnut!"
The helicopter that was landed on the roof was taking off again.
Astrid was no longer paying attention to them. Her thoughts were directed back to the Night Fury, his nonchalant attitude and dorky approach to the situation. He seemed...to be frank, rather odd, but not in a bad way. He wasn't that bad looking either...she quickly dispelled her thoughts - she hadn't even seen the man's face!
However, as the helicopter left her sight she had to admit (only to herself) she had become worried. He had a rope of some sort she knew, but would he be able to escape? She liked to be optimistic, but he was either going to get caught by one faction or the other...
Wasn't he?
-0-
Hiccup was about halfway up the building in the elevator when he remembered there were still gang members in the building. He forgot he didn't kill them all, only the ones he had to. He groaned aloud at the realization.
It's at times like this he wished he was a little more morally grey.
He pressed the button to the floor he originally entered on, floor thirty-eight. And when it opened on him he was met with a couple of gang members that were looting the corpses of their own dead comrades. They were shocked to see him to say the least, and seeing his aftermath laid before their eyes they were rather scared.
"Oh, uhh, so sorry, I was just leaving," he said reaching for his gun.
The two gang members quickly raised their hands in surrender.
He raised his gun at them, a little more confident now. "But before I go, drop your weapons on the ground," he added, as they still technically had them on their persons. He knew they could try and aim at him before they dropped their guns, but he was willing to bet his reaction speed against theirs.
They complied as he moved towards them out of the elevator.
Once they were dropped he shuffled up to them and kicked their weapons away from them, still aiming his pistol at them. "Face the wall and reach for the ceiling," he said coldly, knowing that they couldn't do anything now that they were disarmed.
They complied. They'd probably thought before if they appealed to his wishes they'd be spared, but now all they could think was the fact that they were seemingly going to be executed. However, Hiccup did not shoot them; he merely got the butt of his gun and knocked them both out cold. It saves the amount of body bags and also gets two criminals in prison awaiting questioning.
After he holstered his gun he raced to the window where his rope was and without sparing a second glance jumped out and grabbed it in mid-air, it swung away from the building for a few seconds before swinging him back unceremoniously into the wall. He grunted and then positioned himself so that he could climb the rope when he heard the helicopter blades begin to spin up. The main members, save Alvin, were leaving, abandoning the rest of the crew to the police. Clearly they didn't know anything important judging by the lack of camaraderie.
He was lucky he was on the side of the building so the police wouldn't look up and see him, and if any of the citizens looked up at the helicopter sound and saw him instead it would take way too long for them to inform the police and organize a response so he resumed climbing.
Once he reached the roof he checked the landing pad to see if it were clear. For once he had luck on his side as he didn't see any enemies to be concerned of. The other gang members either hadn't realized, or hadn't bothered to come to the roof only to watch their abandonment take place. Hiccup scrambled onto the top of the building, untying his rope and re-attaching it to his grappling hook. He glanced at the building on the other side of the road. It was rather a long way for a grappling hook, but he'd made it over the first time, he'd make it over the second.
The hooked end of the rope shot over the road of unsuspecting citizens and police alike, most focused on the front of the building where bodies were being taken out and criminals were already being lead towards police cars in handcuffs. Astrid was probably down there, he figured, talking to somebody in the agency about the Night Fury and how he'd saved her. No doubt his cousin would be there; that guy was such a man-whore, he'd be all over Astrid in seconds. He dispelled his thoughts and focused on his escape. He took out a chain link cord that allowed him to zip line across the building he was on to the skyscraper across the road. He achieved this with a surprising amount of success, for him. After rolling to his feet he quickly detached and reeled in his grappling hook. No way was he leaving that behind; not when he'd created it himself.
One side was set up much like a gun... Aim and shoot, but it had more resemblance to a gun/hair dryer hybrid than anything. Instead of a motor, however, it was a spring-loaded winch with coils of wire wrapped around it. When shot, the hook would fire and latch onto wherever it was aimed (if it was shot accurately). That then triggered a hook within the gun to pop out of the handle so he had something to tether the gun to on his own end. And once across a simple remote button attached to his suit would retract the motorized hook on the gun and reel said gun back in again. Which of course required him to hold the other end so it didn't simply slither off the building at the force.
After he retrieved the grappling gun he reached under his suit to his normal clothes and fumbled out his phone (he almost dropped it) and shot a text to Fishlegs, the only person who knew his secret identity. He'd know doubt heard the news by now; the text read mission accomplished so that he would know Hiccup was okay.
Hiccup sighed after the text was sent and walked into the building; he could easily make his escape from here. He'll make it back before his dad even knows he was gone.
-0-
Astrid got into the police squad car after she realized they'd found neither hide-nor-hair of Night Fury in the skyscraper. He was known to be sneaky, although it didn't help that she didn't tell them about his rope or grappling hook or whatever... She sighed as the squad car left the scene. Unfortunately for her Snotlout was her self-designated driver... That was going to be fun.
After a slow and torturous ride to the police station either shooting down or just plain ignoring Snotlout's passes, - which she should probably file under harassment but after she threatened him with it he shut up right quick so she'll let it slide for now - she arrived at her location. She stretched her already reasonably tired muscles and leisurely exited the car, shook away her tiredness and was escorted inside where she would be questioned and probably have to go to some form of counselling due to all the high stress levels she faced today.
However, once she entered the station her eyes fell on a figure pacing hastily around the lobby. It was her uncle, Finn Hofferson. She made no move to disguise her surprise.
"Astrid, Oh my god you're all right!" he yelled as soon as he saw her, and she was embraced in a tight hug before she could respond.
She'd never seen the man this emotional since her parents' funerals. She bit back tears of her own as she returned the hug.
There was silence as people just observed for a few moments before going back to what they were doing.
Finn eventually loosened his hold and drew back. "They told me you were saved but it still didn't help until I saw you. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
She nodded, laughing back tears of her own. "Yeah I'm fine, nothing a few years of counselling won't fix." She barely ever cried much like her uncle, they were alike in a lot of ways, but they only had each other now, after her parents, her cousin her grandparents… Everyone died in a string of bad luck and accidents (supposedly) they were all that was left for each other. If she was gone he would have nothing left.
He sighed and cleared his own tears as best he could. "I am so sorry for what they did to you... and if we had proof that the opposition hired them I would take them to court. But… Of course we don't so the police are filing it under an 'Isolated incident' which is bullshit. Total bullshit." He growled with a hint of anger in his voice; he knew his opposition was playing dirty, but he couldn't prove it.
They were sneaky with how they hired the criminals. The police did manage to track down the criminal organization responsible though: their leader went by the name 'Red Death' and his followers were just known as 'subjects'.
Before they could continue in their reunion, however, Astrid noticed a massive mountain of a man had entered the lobby from another part of the building. He had a red beard and a massive stature. Astrid had seen him before. He was the Chief of police... Stoick 'the vast.'
He witnessed the two, uncle and niece, and looked directly at Astrid who subconsciously straightened herself at the man's gaze. He gestured to a corridor behind him.
"Madam, we would like it if you came with us for some questioning." He had a thick Scottish accent and spoke in a no-nonsense tone.
Astrid complied with one last glance at her uncle. She followed the big man down a corridor away from her uncle into a room that was clearly made for interrogation, complete with the white table and one low hanging light that gave it a clinical look.
When the Chief of police followed her in, she couldn't help but raise a brow. The Chief didn't usually conduct the questioning.
He seemed to pick up on this and he sent her a small comforting smile, but she didn't pick up on it due to his massive beard. "This is a big case, I want it done right. As you could imagine, an act of terrorism such as this is not to be taken lightly," he explained.
Astrid gave a curt nod at his reasoning.
"I know the experience is obviously not a pleasant one, and clearly traumatic and you may not wish to be recalling that right now, but we need to know everything that happened in that building, from the criminals to the Night Fury." He said the vigilante's title with such distaste that she couldn't help but feel he had a past with said person.
She nodded again and responded with as much detail as she could remember, from the fact they were executing her as a message, to the Night Fury's antics and rescue stunt. She decided she should add the part about his rope and possibly grappling hook, given that she couldn't think of any reason to cover him. After she recounted her memories she couldn't help but feel better.
The Police Chief listened to her intently nodding at various points and taking down notes. "So... Night Fury. He came down from the roof, you say?"
Astrid sighed. "Yes, and he was either lying about having no plan, or he's very skilled at improvisation," she added.
Stoick leaned back in his chair. "Well the most important case is obviously your hostage situation there's no doubt about that, but I can't help but question his motives. Why was he there? Why did he save you? He is a wanted man after all, and with his skills he could clearly make a profit by joining these organizations..." He mused more to himself.
Astrid raised a brow. "With all due respect sir, he saved my life. I believe he is trying to do good, in his own way." He may of been a little on the sarcastic side but he did save her life. She owes him that much.
"Well, his way has gotten people killed. You're not the first person he's tried to pull a wildcard on; he breaks the law to save one person and even that doesn't work all the time! The amount of times I've had to clean up his mess negates the amount of times his heroic antics have actually pulled a victory!" The Chief raised his voice slightly and Astrid flinched, but after realizing who he was speaking to he calmed down. "I apologize. He did save your life, I understand that much... but you must also understand, it may have worked this time, but the amount of times it hasn't is the reason he is wanted. Good intentions, or not."
Astrid glanced towards the floor and sighed. She understood Stoick's reasoning, but if the Night Fury hadn't come through that window, she'd be dead and her uncle would be left with no-one left in his family.
Stoick stood up and gestured to the door. "I thank-you for coming in, We'll organize a ride home for you, some police protection over your apartment building for now and some counselling for the future. We've got all the answers we can, you may go home, get some rest," he said, in a suddenly more fatherly manner than she expected.
Astrid stood up slowly.
Stoick walked towards the door and opened it. Once they reached the corridor his booming voice filled the building.
"HICCUP!"
She raised a brow at the sudden declaration but after a few seconds a scrawny figure came stumbling out of an office area, paperwork flying and all. She realized this was his name.
"Y-yes dad?" He responded, trying to make himself look as composed as possible and failing miserably.
Astrid frowned at Stoick and his son and wondered how those two were even related: all they seemed to have in common was the color of their eyes and hair. They didn't even have the same accent!
Stoick sighed at his son's embarrassing entry. "Escort miss Hofferson here home. The Police protection unit should be there before you."
Hiccup nodded and gestured for Astrid to follow him. She noticed he was rather skittish at the moment but complied anyhow.
Her uncle was still waiting in the lobby and upon noticing her he came up to her hastily.
"How did it go?"
He was closer to being the tough uncle she remembered by the minute. Astrid shrugged and responded. "All right I guess; I need to head home though, get some rest." She noticed Hiccup staring at the ground and fidgeting in the corner of her eye.
Finn glanced at Hiccup and then back to her. "Okay. You call me if anything happens, all right? I don't trust the opposition to let this escape off lightly."
Astrid nodded. Good thing she lived in a pretty secure housing unit as you needed a code to enter the building in the first place and her apartment was five floors up. Not to mention Stoick had dispatched some units to watch over her place for a while.
She followed Hiccup out to the car park where a few squad cars were parked. He hadn't said anything besides when his dad called him. She gave him a once over and presumed he must be a rookie, or only have a rank due to his father's prestige. He's been nervous since she met him. Perhaps he was like this all the time? He unlocked the car and she got in silently, awkwardness gracing the atmosphere as the silence didn't leave.
He turned the ignition and the car rumbled to life. The ride home was silent, and rather comforting considering she didn't have the easiest of days. Astrid slowly allowed herself to close her eyes and doze off in the car.
-0-
Hiccup should say something...it's not like she'd recognize him, she'd hardly spared him a second glance, which was normal for him, unfortunately. The silence was almost unbearable…it had been awkward in the entire time they were walking out to the car and it was even more awkward now.
By the time he'd finally gathered the courage to say something (it was probably going to be stupid anyhow) he realized she was asleep. At least it drove the awkwardness away. He had a moment to look at her as well. Well, at the next red light. He took a moment to actually look at this girl. Not in a creepy way, or the way he accidentally did whilst being Night Fury, but just how her face was now content in its state of repose, how her chest rose and fell with each breath, he couldn't help but admit it was rather cute.
He was drawn back to reality by the light reflecting on her face turning from red to green, meaning he should probably focus on the road again. He followed the address he'd been given until he reached her apartment building. However, he realized he must have been rushing or something because as it turned out he was the first one there. He sighed as he exited his car and opened up the passenger side door. He didn't want to wake her, but it was obviously necessary: he couldn't see himself carrying her to her apartment bridal style, and even if he could, this place had security of some kind by the looks of it. And her door was probably locked anyway, and he was not searching her for the key.
He softly shook her awake (he tried not to hitch his breath at the fact he was touching her shoulder) and he noticed how her grogginess and confusion faded when she noticed where she was. He found he could actually muster words to his mouth now.
"Sorry to wake you, but we're here."
Astrid looked around and noticed the lack of other police. "Where's everyone else?" she asked - a little meek, which was odd; she doesn't seem like the type to be meek. But after today he guessed even she could feel a little vulnerable sometimes.
"Not here yet, they'll arrive in a few minutes, I'm just the first one here."
She got herself out of the car and slowly approached her apartment building. He followed her and looked around nervously for a bit, unsure of what to do. When she reached the door she pressed in a code and the glass doors opened. She moved inside a little hesitantly and turned to face Hiccup.
"Thank you…"
Hiccup's breath hitched again at her sincerity. "Y-you're welcome," he stuttered. Oh sure, as Night fury he's cool and sarcastic, but as Hiccup he's awkward and… pathetic.
She grinned at his stutter and turned to walk towards the elevator to her apartment.
And Hiccup couldn't help but feel that if he spent too much time around her it would probably be bad for his focus in general, as her smile hadn't left the forefront of his mind and he didn't snap out of his daze until the high beams of a police squad car reflected off the glass into his eyes causing him to curse and almost trip over on the spot.
I think I like this Hiccup quite a bit, he's rather fun to write. Hope you enjoyed the Vigilante Second chapter! Also, the title is "Night Fury" in ancient Norse. because... why not. (That had to get corrected by someone who ACTUALLY knows the language...)
Warning, Shameless plugging ahead:
Also. I have an announcement to make (more of a plug actually, so just skip now if you can't handle the advert :P). As a good friend of mine has a story that deserves way more support then this. (I mean the concept is fantastic, you need to read it.)
if you're not convinced by this sad attempt at plugging, I'll say that I beta read it, it has my seal of approval...
And if you're STILL not convinced. Here's a small snippet of said story.
["Then we still have a problem..."
Stoick narrows his eyes and says "Oh?" taking that as a signal to go on, the council member continues...
"The child cannot simply leave unscathed, the act of freeing a dragon is blasphemous!"
"He's too dangerous to be let loose around the village!"
"How about amputating both his legs so he cannot cause more damage?"
Stoick cringed at the suggestion, but didn't speak against it, the last thing he needed was to be accused of going soft... and by Odin, he was not soft! He was a Viking, mind and body! And the other problem of being accused as soft -other than his dignity as a Viking chief is that- was that his words might fall on deaf ears, the elders, chalking his reasoning up to a father whose judgement was clouded by the fact that the one to be judged was his son...
So what if it's true? Hiccup was the only thing Stoick had left for a family, he was the last of the ones bearing the Haddock bloodline...
"Why don't we just banish him?"
Stoick's head so quickly snapped to attention... to the source of the voice... it was his second in command, brother of his late wife...
Spitelout...]
Pretty good huh? I thought so. The dread instilled here is brilliant. Okay, enough praising I bet you're itching for the name right? I thought so! It is Named Útlægr (meaning outlawed in ancient Norse) by the fantastic author Blue663
And with that, the plug is complete. (She's awesome though, and this plug is out of my own free will. Because it's the least I could do :P)
So yeah, that is all.
~Dragonbow