Author's Note: Ah, what the heck. As a tribute to Hijack Week, here's the next chapter early, especially since I didn't do anything to contribute to the lovely prompts on Tumblr. Then again, I guess this technically falls under the 'General AU' category... Oh well, I'll just leave it here (and on AO3) since I don't have a Tumblr account.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon or Portal/Portal 2.

Hypothesis

Chapter 6: Shooting

:: Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the appropriate chamber for this testing sequence is currently unavailable. It has been replaced with a live-fire course designed for military androids. ::

"Still think this is safe?" Hiccup couldn't help but ask as they stepped out of the lift and made their way towards the next test chamber. The sneer that had somehow snuck into his tone surprised him even as he tried to hide it, and he kept his eyes firmly fixed on the end of the corridor.

Jack turned his head slightly and frowned, noticing that he was not even spared a glance when the brunet finally spoke after four test chambers' worth of silent treatment. Not that he was keeping count, of course. Deciding not to answer, he pursed his lips and marched forward on his own, missing the way Hiccup's determined stare softened as he shot a look of worry after him.

:: The Enrichment Center apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes you the best of luck. ::

The test chamber was a connected maze of rooms with many diverging paths, forcing Jack and Hiccup to split up more than usual. If either of them noticed the deliberate move to separate them, no one mentioned it. There were still several areas they had to traverse together, but while they fell into their regular rhythm of working through the test chamber, not another word was spoken between them.

/ Hello? /

The voice was soft and timid, sounding as though it came from a little girl, and it would have been easily missed if not for the eerie silence that permeated the current test chamber.

Hiccup whipped his head when it came out of nowhere, spinning around as he looked for the speaker. Jack was in another room on the other side of the thick glass wall separating them, but Hiccup saw the other test subject's head snap up as well. Clearly he had heard it too.

Was there someone else here? Another test subject perhaps?

/ Is anyone there? /

Jack caught his gaze and jerked his head towards the next room, indicating that they should go and check it out. Hiccup nodded back in agreement, jogging ahead to meet him where their paths converged. It seemed that they were both curious about the third presence in their midst, so there was no harm in going together, right?

The voice was coming from just down the corridor in an area they had yet to explore. Jack strode confidently onwards, intent on finding the person who was probably trapped somewhere in there, but Hiccup paused uneasily, finding himself thinking about the voice.

It set off warning bells in his mind for some reason, and he slowed down behind Jack as he tried to figure out why. The brunet opened his mouth to convey his apprehension, but hesitation and doubt made him hold his tongue, reluctant to hinder the other's investigation.

/ Can you come over here? /

"Where are you?" Jack called out, looking into the empty white rooms as they tried to figure out where to go. The voice didn't answer, and Hiccup felt a strange sense of dread pooling in his gut, screaming at him that something was wrong. There was something, something in its tone…

In front of them, he spotted several red lasers cutting across the corridor from the left. The room that the lasers came from was blocked by opaque panels so they couldn't see inside, but the wall on their right was neither sizzling with smoke nor sporting black burns, so Hiccup assumed that they were simply harmless lights.

Jack called out once more, stopping in his tracks to wait for a reply, but all he got was silence in return. With a sigh of disappointment, he walked ahead into the lasers and suddenly Hiccup noticed that they were starting to move.

The bright red spots converged onto the dead center of Jack's chest, right over his heart.

/ Gotcha. /

"JACK!" he yelled, his body reacting automatically as he lunged forward and tackled the white-haired teen to the ground.

There was the sound of rapid gunfire on their left and he pressed Jack closer to the floor, covering his body with his own as bright sparks rained down from where the bullets bounced off the wall next to them.

/ Target lost. /

The shooting stopped abruptly and the red lasers pointing just above them danced about a little before stilling again. Hiccup waited for a few moments, making sure they were out of immediate danger before slowly pushing himself up. Taking care not to wind up under the sensors (that's what they were – how could he have been so stupid?), he crawled off of Jack, wincing when unexpected pain flared in his left arm.

"What the hell was that?" Jack wheezed from the floor, still lying on his stomach with his hands sprawled out in front of him.

"Told you it wasn't safe," the brunet muttered, heaving a sigh of relief at their close call. He sat down and slumped against the wall, spotting a small bruise on the side of Jack's face from where he had been pushed to the ground. "You all right?" he asked. "I did shove you down pretty hard."

Groaning, Jack turned to glare at him as he pushed himself up on all fours. "You call that –"

Blue eyes widened with horror when he saw Hiccup clutching his left arm, a growing pool of dark red in the middle of the green sleeve as his portal gun shook in his trembling hand. Jack immediately rushed over and knelt beside him.

"You're hurt," he whispered, his hands hovering over the gunshot wound with uncertainty, not knowing what to do.

Hiccup leveled a dry look at him. "Thank you for summing that up," he deadpanned, the expression on his face softening at the concern practically spilling out of Jack. "I'm fine. It's just a graze." One corner of his lips twitched up in a smile to reassure his partner, but Jack didn't look convinced, clearly not missing the flash of pain in the brunet's eyes nor the tightness in his jaw.

/ Searching. /

"We'd best keep an eye out for those sensors and – what are you doing?" Hiccup began, cutting himself off when he noticed the other test subject tearing away the left sleeve of his blue jumpsuit with the claw-like appendages mounted on his portal gun.

Jack didn't answer, silently working to wrap up the brunet's arm and stem the flow of blood with the strips of his sleeve acting as makeshift bandages. He couldn't explain it, but something unpleasant had shot through him at the sight of Hiccup getting hurt, of Hiccup bleeding in pain. It made his gut churn and his chest tighten, and then it struck him that his partner got injured saving his life.

They were fighting with each other, yet Hiccup still cared enough to risk his own life for him. Jack could recall the warmth enveloping him when Hiccup shielded him with his body, making him feel safe and protected. He suddenly realized that despite their falling out, Hiccup was all he had, the only company in this god forsaken place, and he definitely did not want him gone.

"Think you can keep going?" Jack asked tentatively, sitting back on his heels after tying the last knot securing the bandage in place. Carefully, he made sure to mask his anxiety lest the other mistook it for impatience, trying to let Hiccup know that it was all right if he wanted to rest for a while.

"The test isn't going to solve itself," the brunet shrugged, smiling at him gratefully before shifting to stand. Jack quickly shot to his feet first, extending a hand to help him up.

Hiccup's stare went from the offered hand to the inscrutable look on Jack's face, and he reached out to take his partner's hand.

/ Are you still there? /

It turned out that all they had to do to get past the turrets was to tip them over. Jack discovered that handy little trick when a misplaced portal dropped a cube on one, sending it toppling to the ground where it started emptying its magazine erratically before shutting down. So long as they didn't get too close to the sensors, they could literally walk right behind it and even pick it up. While Jack (somewhat vengefully) preferred to launch cubes at them, Hiccup usually opened portals beneath them, dropping the turrets safely elsewhere.

The little buggers were programmed to talk, and it was their voice that had lead them unsuspectingly into a trap. Hiccup realized that the robotic tone was what had tipped him off to the fact the something felt wrong, and he nearly smacked himself for failing to recognize the familiar computerized tune which they had heard so often in the voice that had first spoken to them when they woke up in the relaxation vault.

:: Well done, androids. The Enrichment Center once again reminds you that android hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance. ::

Jack and Hiccup shot each other unsure looks as they walked towards the lift which would take them to the next test chamber. The unsettling words were a definite sign that the voice wasn't all nice and friendly as she initially seemed, prompting them to re-evaluate the safety of the tests. As much as Hiccup suspected that there was more to her than meets the eye, they didn't have anything concrete to go on. All they could do was keep testing and hope that it wouldn't kill them before they learned the truth.

Jack paused in his step as Hiccup walked into the lift, eliciting a raised brow from the brunet. Shaking his head, the white-haired teen flashed his partner a reassuring smile before moving to stand beside him. Hiccup felt their fingers brush slightly as the doors started to close, and through the hum of the lift sending them to the next location, he faintly heard Jack whisper a "thank you."

:: Please continue into the next test chamber. ::

Author's Note: Wow, three chapters in a week. Shall I keep writing, or are you guys getting tired of my crap already?