I gasped loudly, and heard Fish whimper. There was a deep growling coming from whoever was the owner of those eyes, but I felt oddly calm, even looking into them. Suddenly, the growling stopped, and the eyes went from angry to confused.
"Richard?" A voice asked.
"Yeah?" I replied. "Who's there?"
A large black figure came out of the darkness, revealing none other than Toothless. His animatronic face broke into a huge grin, and he moved forward, tackling me to the ground.
"You're a sight for sore eyes!" I said happily, being partially crushed by Toothless' weight. He didn't let up, though, cuddling me happily. Then he stood, letting me get up.
"Richard? Is Hiccup with you?" He asked, looking at me with the wide green eyes. I realized how broken down Toothless looked. Patches of his rubber skin was missing, and many of his parts looked damaged. Both wings were missing, and his left tail fin was gone. One of his glass green eye coverings were cracked, and one of his legs looked like it had been taken off and put back on improperly.
"Did Viggo do this to you?" I asked, horrified.
Toothless nodded, drooping. "He hurt me so Hiccup would do what he said. Then he locked me away. I just escaped, and I thought you were Viggo. But you're not. Are you here to rescue Hiccup?"
"Yes. But you don't know where he is?" I questioned.
"Not the original, no. Viggo's been cloning him all the time, using him as foot soldiers to do his bidding, and using the original to design armor for the clones. I don't know where he keeps our Hiccup. But I was going to look. I'll just stick with you, since I can't fly anymore." Toothless turned his head and looked sadly at his wingless back, also where Hiccup used to sit.
I mulled this over, thinking. "So, Clone was right."
"Huh?" Toothless asked. "Clone?"
"That's who I nicknamed the Hiccup clone we captured. If it hadn't been for him, we wouldn't be here." I answered.
Toothless sniffed. "Really? Those clones are brainwashed to do Viggo's bidding, they can't be that helpful. All they do is his will without question. There's no way one helped you."
I nodded. "It's true. I guess they all still have pieces of Hiccup in them that Viggo couldn't remove."
Toothless shrugged, but still looked skeptical. "Okay. But I still-"
"Wait, here!" Fish said suddenly. "There's something here!" He must have done something, because a door opened into a dark room. The three of us crept into it, moving slowly.
"Toothless? What's this?" I whispered.
"No idea, I haven't been in here." He whispered back.
The lights came on, suddenly blinding us. As my eyes adjusted, what I saw terrified me. Standing there was a smug looking man wearing armor. And behind him was at least two dozen Hiccup clones, with laser guns pointed at us, all of them with identical armor.
"Well, well, well." The smug looking man said, he could only really be Viggo, I figured. "It appears we have some trespassers. Show them what we do to trespassers, would you, boys?"
And then there was the ominous sound of two dozen laser blasters charging up at once.
It happened suddenly. Everyone had been minding their own business in the village of Berk, farming, selling, building. Stoick was walking around, thinking about his son, and Richard and his friends, wondering where the were and if they were alright, when something whizzed overhead. It was fast, and gone in a second. But it hadn't come alone. More and more came, by the dozens, flying over the village. People gasped and looked upwards, pointing and yelling. An explosion rang out, followed by another. Berk was under attack, and chaos ensued. Fire was everywhere, people were screaming and running and calling for loved ones and children, AI were trying to protect their home, houses were burning and collapsing, children were screaming for parents and running for hiding places. The enemies were so fast, they might as well have been invisible. After the first attack, they came down, swooping onto the strongest men and women, the strongest looking children, and carried them away, screaming. Stoick had grabbed a sword, but didn't know what to do. There was nothing near him to attack. and just when he thought he wouldn't get the chance, one of the attackers swooped on him, grabbing him and taking him upwards so fast he dropped his sword with a gasp and began to struggle as much as he could.
"No! Let me go!" He yelled, struggling wildly. Whatever had a hold on him didn't let go, and didn't say anything. He caught a glimpse of his burning village and several people being plucked up by the attackers and carried off. He didn't see Valka, or anyone else as he was carried away.
-A couple of years ago-
I opened my eyes as consciousness came to me suddenly. My vision was blurry as if I had been underwater, and everything ached. My head hurt, as did everything else. I realized I was chained or something, and my vision cleared up to see a very dank looking room. There was nothing in it except a table and a chair about a meter away from me, I was chained to the wall in a very uncomfortable position.
"Toothless? Hello? Is there anyone there?" I asked, looking around. There was only one flickering light on the ceiling, turning on and off as if just to drive me nuts. I began to struggle, pulling against my chains in a wild attempt to get free.
"Toothless! Where are you? Richard? Dad? Fish? Anyone?" I yelled. No one answered. I relaxed, letting the chains pull me back. I sighed in defeat and let my eyes focus on my legs below, my prosthetic was chained as well. What had happened? Last thing I remembered was the attack on Berk. Drago had been attacking with his huge machine, our AI turned on us... Richard... attacking me? Landing in a tree, getting up only to have a knife pointed at me by someone. A gruff voice threatening me to move, or else I lose my other leg... seeing Toothless lying limp and being dragged by some large men... being knocked out, and now I'm here.
Great.
I realized I could hear footsteps. I looked up just in time to see a door on the opposite side of the room open. A man came in, carrying a briefcase as if he was going to a meeting. He looked up at me.
"Ah, you're awake. Comfortable? I hope my men didn't hurt you to much." He sat down in the chair and put the briefcase on the table, opening it and pulling out some paper and a pen. What, was this school and he was going to take notes? I gave him the most irritated glare I could muster. He didn't even seem to notice. "Now, I suppose you have questions. Ask away." He stated simply. I blinked. Was I a prisoner or not? Who was this guy, anyway?
"W-who are you? Where am I?" I started.
"I am Viggo, Viggo Grimborn, and you're in my questioning room." He said this as if it was a simple fact, like he was chatting to me about the weather. I flinched as his name clicked with me. Viggo. But... where was Drago? One question at a time, Hiccup. I thought for a moment.
"Where are my friends and family?" I asked.
"I suppose they are back in your village." Viggo answered. Good, I thought, he didn't have them. But what about Toothless? He had Toothless.
"Where is my friend? A big black AI?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.
Viggo smirked for the first time. "That's up to you. If you cooperate, he'll be in a safe place. If not, well, I'm sure you can imagine." The way he said this brought quite the reaction out of me, I growled and glared murderously at him. He didn't even react. "I suppose this means you're going to make it difficult? That's a shame, your AI could be so useful to me." I got even angrier, showing him just how much he was ticking me off with these offhanded remarks about my best friend. Again, no reaction.
"Let him go." I spat coldly. "Now."
Viggo raised an eyebrow. "You're not really in a position to be demanding things from me. But I'll tell you what. You give me what I want, you do what I ask, he doesn't get hurt. I might even let him go unharmed." He let me think this over in silence, giving me that smug smirk.
I growled with pure irritation. I imagined Toothless, chained to a wall, or worse, being pulled apart slowly. He wasn't just a machine, he was alive in a weird way. I couldn't let him go through that anymore than I'd let Richard go through that. I slumped, defeated.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, but I made sure he knew just how put off I was at this in the way I said this.
"It's simple, really. I need soldiers. I need an army. And I need you to make it so they remain loyal to me only. I'm also going to need some good armor." He began writing notes as he said this. "I need you to design the best armor you can that will cost the least amount of materials, and I'm going need you to design a brainwashing device."
I was shocked and horrified. He was going to enslave a mindless army. And he was going to force me to do it for him. There was no way I was going to let him hurt innocent lives. I shook my head.
"No. I won't do that." I said, making sure to glare at him again.
He only looked slightly disappointed, as a parent would at their kid who just threw a baseball at someone's window. He shook his head sadly.
"Well then, I guess your AI friend will be losing something soon." He stated it as if it was a fact of life. "Tell me when you change your mind, Hiccup. I do hope you do, it'd be a shame to waste a perfectly good AI for scrap parts." With this he began to stand up and pack away his briefcase, leaving me stunned and frightened. "Farewell for now. I'll have one of my men bring you some food later." He walked out the door, closing it behind him. I began to cry.
"No! Don't hurt him! No!" I screamed. "Please!"
Viggo didn't return, and I felt a lot of pain in my left leg a while later.
There was no way to tell time here.
A large man came in much later, holding a plate off mushy looking slop like you'd expect in a prison. He was much larger than Viggo, and had a neat beard and mustache. He glared at me, coming forward. He dropped the plate on the table and came over, unchaining me. He picked me up with one hand, and since I was too weak to fight, I let him place me roughly in the chair Viggo had sat in. I could feel my skin crawling.
"Eat. And don't you try anythin', or you'll lose a limb, no matter what Viggo said to ya." The man ordered gruffly.
I stared numbly at the unappetizing slop before me. It looked worse than anything scraped out from under a rock. And of course, since I was in a hostile situation, my sarcasm kicked in.
"What outhouse did this come out of? Do you eat this... stuff, too? I asked the large man innocently.
He snorted in irritation and hit me with a fist on my shoulder, not a bit lightly.
"Do as you're told, you little runt!" He grunted.
I growled under my breath at being called a runt, but grabbed the rusty, bent spoon that was sitting on the plate and began to eat. It was a million times worse than I had imagined, and I nearly threw up a couple times eating it. It tasted like washing water and old dirty socks, crossed with something I couldn't identify and didn't want to. The sad thing was that I was hungry enough to finish it. The man immediately dragged me roughly back to the wall and re-chained me, taking the plate and spoon and leaving, grumbling to himself.
I fell in and out of dozing, it's not easy to sleep chained to a wall. I had no idea how long I had been here, how long I would, what was happening to Toothless, or any member of my family. I was frustrated at being here in this position. There was nothing I could do but stare at the light, the table and chair, or my feet. I started by counting how many timed the light on the ceiling flickered in a minute. Exactly forty-seven each time. I counted how much my heart was beating, I recited some things I knew by heart. I tried seeing how long I could hold my breath. I was slowly losing my sanity here, and maybe that was exactly how Viggo wanted it. My left leg was still throbbing painfully, and I started doing anything I could think of to distract myself from it, but no matter how many different ways I tried, the pain didn't go away. Then Viggo returned.
"Ah, I trust you've had a nice night?" He asked, acting as though we were old friends. He unpacked the briefcase again, ready to take notes. "Alright, have you anything to say to me?"
I thought for a moment. I hadn't really planned out anymore things to say. I stared at him, slightly irritated at myself.
"Read any good books lately?" Was what I came up with.
"As a matter of fact, yes. I'm reading this really interesting book on methods of torture." Viggo replied. "I simply can't put it down." I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.
"That's exactly what you would read, right?" I asked, unable to keep a smirk off my face.
"Not my usual read, no." Viggo said, putting his hands together. "I usually read books about historical battles to take inspiration from. And occasionally, I'll read about adventures. Or poetry."
"I guess you read a lot?" I asked.
"Why, of course! One cannot claim to be an intellectual without knowledge. And you cannot gain knowledge without learning from people before you. There's always such amazing things to learn, wouldn't you say? The brutes of this world just don't understand. All they really value is fighting and violence for no good reason." Viggo exclaimed.
I was sort of surprised. "So, would you say torture and forcing others to do your will is pointless?" I asked.
"Only if there is no reason or plan behind it." Viggo said, obviously catching my meaning. "I have you here for a reason."
"So you can do what that brute Drago tells you?" I asked smugly.
Viggo shook his head calmly. "No, I don't take orders from him anymore. I'm afraid his career has come to an end."
I started. What did that mean? "So... I thought you two were working together. What happened?"
"A difference in opinion. He believed in simply destroying everything. He hated just about everyone and everything against him, and wanted to make the world fear him. As for me, I'm just a business man. I want to profit. Instead of destroying like a dangerous maniac, I'm going to bring order to this broken world. I'm going to fix it. And peace will come after. You and I want the same things, Hiccup."
I shook my head. "Profit at who's expense? You're hurting people too. What do you mean by fixing? What is your definition of order?"
Viggo sighed as if I was a misguided child. "Ah, boy, you're in over your head. I've heard of your mission for peace with the AI. To make them smarter, as our equals. That's a foolish quest. They will turn against us, as they did years and years ago on our ancestors. You'll bring a second doom on us all. I propose that we make them dumber, not smarter. That way, they will not question us. That way, instead of revolting and destroying us, they will obediently follow."
"So, slavery." I answered. "Viggo, the AI are alive! You can't do that!"
He chuckled softly. "Alive. How on earth can machinery be alive. That's ridiculous. They're nothing more than gears and hydraulics, boy, and you know that. Do you really believe that they have feelings? We created them. We created them to work for us, to do our bidding, to work in theme parks and pizzerias, to work in factories and in movies. Not to be our equals."
"They do have feelings. I'm friends with one. And there are plenty who hate humans. They have creativity. I've seen some drawing, singing, cooking, growing gardens, Viggo. They have fears of being taken apart, rusting, dying. They enjoy things, they have personality, they are in every way just as sentient as we are!" I yelled. "They feel pain! They feel happiness!"
Viggo gave me a pitying look. "You're mad, boy. You're mad. I think you've been spending too long with these AI. Your need to have companions is driving you to madness. You actually believe that they have feelings. It's so sad."
"I'm not crazy! You are! Let me go!" I began to struggle.
He stood again, and began to leave. "I'll come back when you're not spewing nonsense. If you weren't so brilliant, you'd be useless to me." And with that, he was gone.
I was left in silence with my own thoughts and doubts. There was no way I was crazy, he was just blind. AI had feelings, just as much as humans did. What about all those times Toothless and me had together? Laughing, crying, caring, having fun? All that couldn't have just been my imagination, my mind playing tricks on me, a desperate way to have friends? Richard had realized it too. All of Berk had. Some other places had been making peace with AI, too. Were we all crazy? No. This couldn't all be a lie. I thought back to the first time Toothless had come to life, when I had put my hand on his snout. I had been so, so desperate for him to live. I had wanted a friend so badly, so so badly, that I had broken so many rules to get there. Richard had called me a traitor. My father had disowned me. Doubts began to fill my mind.
What if I was wrong?
What if everything I was living for, everything I was fighting so hard to do, every peace speech and desperate attempt to show people how peaceful AI really were, was all a big fat lie, a concoction of my desperation for acceptance driving me mad enough to do all this?
A picture flew into my mind, of my father stabbing Toothless in the head. I didn't fully remember where it was from. But somehow, I knew that it had happened. Did my father believe that AI were sentient? Maybe not, if he was willing to stab my best friend.
What about those weird sensations I got when Toothless had his CAE removed? Figments of my imagination? They couldn't have been just... nothing, right?
But the frustrating, maddening thing was that I had no idea.
All those hours and hours of being with Toothless didn't seem real. This had to be Viggo's plan, to drive me insane. To drive me into helping him. And I was falling for it like a ton of bricks.
Snap out of it, Hiccup, I thought. Snap out of it. I had to mentally slap myself a few times. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't a lie, or a fake dream. I had to find a way to keep from losing hope. I had to hold on, and eventually, Toothless and me would escape. It had to happen eventually.
It had to.