"No, I won't do it." Ray was leaning against the Typhon as he shook his head, polishing one of his dark brown boots. "I won't throw myself into a pit of wolves." The wind was quietly flowing around the airship. Hicca stood in front of him and sighed. "Please, we need to get them off your back." She pleaded. They had said goodbye to the rest of their fleet and were now moving north. Hicca had abandoned her post to convince the gunner to join their plan. "Intimidation has worked until now." Ray defended while throwing his hands in the air. "Can't we try that instead of handing me over to the enemy?" Brynn was moving crates around and quickly added a small point to the conversation. "It'll be more realistic if we do this without his consent." "Not helping!" Hicca responded before turning back to Ray with a grin. "But true." "Aren't you supposed to be supporting your boyfriend?" Ray asked Brynn, who thought about it for a second before shrugging and replying with. "Nah, you'd do the same. Oh, we could also use Shriek!" "Oh, for Thor's sake," He then noticed his dragon lying over the exhaust vent. "Blitz, you're on my side aren't you Girl?" The female Skrill stood up and walked over to her rider. Friendly, but strongly, nudging him towards the railing. "Looks like she already tries to throw you off." Brynn said laughing.

"Fine, I'll do it." Ray said defeated. "But I do it my way." Hicca looked at him confused. "I'll need my gear, rifle, satchel, the entire bunch." Hicca cocked an eyebrow. "I won't kill them, I promise that. But if they start punching me again I might hurt one, slightly." The last word sounding more like reassurance to himself than to Hicca. "When did you want to do this?" Ray asked, but regretted it when he saw the grin on Hicca's face.

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The airship sailed sadly into the docks, tattered and worn, with a molten piece of steel on the place where the engine used to be. Previous times the entire village would be waiting for the return of the search party, but after a few times only a handful of visitors welcome the crew back. The young adults threw coils of ropes to the men on the ground, who quickly tied the ship to the docks. The gangplanks was put down and one by one the crew walked off the ship to be met by their family. Fishlegs was met by his little sister and his mother, his father was probably working. The twins were visited by their parents, even though they were two troublesome kids, they had a happy family. Snotloud was greeted by his father, and the two shared a friendly, but manly mind you, hug. Aster walked up to his Mother, who was standing next to the chief. Gobber was right behind her. "Hey mom." He said with a plain expression. "Well hello dear." His mother responded as she laid her hand on his shoulder. "Nothing?" "Nothing." Aster replied sadly. "Well, that's not 'tirely true." Gobber said. Creating a slither of hope insides the heart of the chief. "We might 'ave a lead. Bu' it's a tricky one."

"What kind of lead Gobber?" Stoick asked, interested to this lead that they might have. "Ya' know 'bout 'The Gunner', right?" Gobber said with a smile on his face. "From what we know he's protecting her." "How can you tell?" The chief asked. "Told us to 'ack off, rides a dragon, shows admiration when we talked 'bout her, like respect." Gobber answered. "But then 'is capt'n blew the engine, so we 'ere forced to go back." "Right, we'll have it replaced, you can probably fly out in a week." An engineer said, having heard the story. "Good, Aster, can you go hunting for supper?" Gobber asked. "Yes, Sir." Aster replied.

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Fishlegs was walking through the forests of Berk, carefully picking spices and mushrooms that he couldn't get anywhere else. He was the ships cook after all, and he made sure to do his job well. He stuffed his basked full with brown mushrooms and winterberries, hoping to make a nice meal tonight, since Aster and Gobber would probably return with a deer or two. He would get some honey from the beekeeper at the end of town, and he would make his famed honeyed meat. Much to the delight of his crewmates. He was at the edge of the forest, it was lighter here, and near the cliffs the foliage became less thick, so more small plants could grow. He picked some lavender and stuffed it in his bag, before entering an opening.

The clearing was beautiful, tall grass grew everywhere and in the middle of the opening stood a large oak tree. Underneath which would probably grow some good mushrooms. But he froze when he heard an engine, it wasn't loud, but not soft either. He peeked around the tree towards the seas to see a large finned airship coming their way. He grabbed the spyglass from his bag to spot the ship. He read "The Skywhale." on the front of the ship, so it was probably the name. When he went to check the deck his view was blocked by the large dual barrelled front gun of the ship. He waited for the ship to turn, hoping to get a good look at the crew. He felt something in the pit of his stomach, he had seen the ship before. Was it also docked at Hopeless? Maybe at Freezing? No? He had seen it in battle. It was boarding, or was it being boarded. The army. The Mule. The gunner. It all flew through his mind at once, the dots finally connected. This was the ship of the gunner.

He peeked out from his hiding place again, noticing that the ship was now floating just above the cliffs, its deck a few meters higher than the field. He grabbed his spyglass again and glanced at the ship, now fully seeing the crew. The was a hooded figure standing with his or her back to him, then there was the captain, the one who rode the Nightfury, standing at the wheel, barking to someone. He followed her masked gaze and found the remaining two crewmembers, one holding a sword at the chin of the other, who stood on the edge of the ship, wearing a large trench coat. He kept silent, hoping to hear anything from their conversation. He was slowly able to pick some things up from the talk, words like: traitor, useless, should have known and liability. Liability, was that because they were searching for him? He peeked through his spyglass again, to see that the brown-haired crewmember had sheathed her swords and took a big step towards the gunner, only to kick him straight in his stomach, sending him falling to the field below. Fishlegs flinched as he landed, imagining the pain that would cause. He looked back to the ship, to see them grabbing a halberd and a rifle, together with a satchel and throwing this after him. The two weapons landing on either sides of him and the satchel landing on top of him.

He could hear the gunner grunting in pain, and then the grunting was overtaken by the roaring of the engines. And the ship left. Fishlegs sat frozen behind the tree, he peeked out now and then, making sure the ship left. Once it disappeared into the clouds he ran, ran as fast as he could, back to Berk. He ran towards the tree line and once he reached it he quickly looked back towards the gunner, which was now slowly pulling himself from the ground, one hand on his head. He froze again, maybe if he didn't move he wouldn't find him. He looked as the gunner again, who was now slowly looking around. At first he looked right past him, but he then turned back to him and squinted his eyes in order to get a clear view of him. "Hey!" He yelled, slowly shaking of his dazed state that the fall left him in.

"Hey you." He yelled again. Fishlegs decided that he had been around long enough and ran again. He hurried into the treeline, not ever looking back and hurried off to Berk. In his panicked state he tripped over some roots, slipped on some mossy piece of wood and eventually fell down a small hill, but at the end he reached berk relatively unharmed.

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Aster was sneaking through the forest, stealthily moving through the foliage in order to not scare any animals. He was looking for a deer or a boar. Those would fit fine for supper. He found himself next to an old damaged tree. The tree was shattered in two and had moss growing over it. He knew this place, a few years ago there was a large open trench leading down the hill, like a rock has slid down it. He followed the used to be gully and eventually found himself at a cove. He knew this place, it wasn't uncommon for animals to drink here. He slowly inched his way to the wall, carefully peeking over it to check if there were any animals there, there was. A large deer stood at the edge of the lake, happily drinking away the fresh water. He slowly pulled his hunting rifle from his back, and put it in front of him, carefully peering through the iron sights on top. He would kill for a proper scope, and a good book on how to use it, but he was still saving for it. He moved his finger to the trigger, still keeping his aim on the unsuspecting dear. He held his breath and "Aster!" came a loud yell from the forest. The deer perched his head and scattered a second later. Running too fast for Aster to get a shot off. "Godsdammit." He muttered. "Aster?" Another voice came, he stood up and headed towards the origin of the sound, finding the entire crew, including Gobber looking for him. "What the fuck guys? I almost had supper for us!" Aster exclaimed, angry that they scared his prey away. "Forget the deer Aster, were hunting gunner today." The twin yelled, before banging their heads together. "Gunner?" Aster asked confused. "Aye," Gobber began. "'Legs noticed that our dear friend had a little dispute with his capt'n and he was kicked off" "Literally." Fishlegs added. "Aye, literally, from the ship. Right on our island." Gobber finished. Asters anger quickly faded into joy and then back into anger. "Let's hunt!" He said.

The group quickly took off, slowly stalking through the forest. The twins in the lead, followed by Snotloud and Gobber, Aster and Fishlegs were last. "So how are we going to do this? Snotloud asked, slightly unnerved by the thought that they are hunting a skilled sniper. "He's a sniper, he'll look for high ground." Tuffnut answered." "Duh!" His sister added. "Actually, snipers don't prefer high ground, it an obvious position and easy to spot." Fishlegs argued. "So then where would he hide 'Legs?" Snotloud asked. "He'll probably find a place where we can only easily come from one end, giving him a good view, he'll also want to set up diffirent firing positions. Good snipers never take two shots from the same position." Fishlegs replied. "What about Ferrors Tooth?" Aster asked. "What about it?" Ruffnut replied. "Well," Aster began. "it's a peninsula, so we can only come from one end, it has a clearing in front of the between the two tree lines, so we'll be out in the open." "If he knows it exists, he'll head there." Fishlegs answered. "I think it's our best shot." "Wait," Snotloud suddently stopped walking. "How are we even going to capture a sniper without weapons? Sure we have our weapons, but we don't have guns." "Aster had a rifle." Fishlegs argued. "And Gobber has a revolver."

"Yea, what will an un-scoped rifle and a revolver do against a trained marksman?" Snotloud asked. Gobber sighed, knowing that Snotloud, miraculously, was right. "We'll have to use tactics." He said. "Keen and clever tactics."

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Ray had arrived at the peninsula, he heard from Hicca that they called it Ferrows Tooth, but they'd be bound to nickname it sniper hill after this. He had drawn the entire peninsula in his book, adding possible point of entry and noting the different firing positions that he had set up. There was a small ditch crossing the woods, through which he could easily move from position to position unseen. He had a total of four places ready to use, the first, and most right one, consisting of a fallen log behind which he could hide. The second one was a small hole inside which he could find shelter. The third and fourth were both trees that had low branches of which he could fire his rifle. He sat down in the trench, and pulled back the bolt of his rifle. "One in the chamber," He muttered to himself before looking in his satchel. "ten in the bag." He then broke his revolver open to check the revolving magazine. "Four and a quickloader." The quickloader being a small magnetic round with 6 bullets, with which he could very quickly reload his revolver.

He stood up and walked to his second position. He took his rangefinder and scanned the woods, now all he could do was wait.

It didn't take long for the first search party to arrive. He quickly recognized them as the crew of the Berkians ship. They were with six, moving slowly in a group through the open part before the forest.

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Everyone was on edge, scared of the fact that a skilled sniper probably already saw them. That idea was confirmed when they saw a flash from the woods, and a bullet hitting a fallen log, making them all dive for cover. "So much for the quiet approach!" Yelled Fishlegs. Ruffnut was standing a few meter further, hiding in a small ditch with her brother. "I say we just run for it! He can't hit all of us!" She yelled before jumping out of her hole, only to be met by a bullet at her feet. Making her jump back down in the hole. "Okay, not so much."

"Think we can roll this log?" Aster asked Gobber. "Ah' think so." Gobber replied before pushing against the big oak log that they used as cover. Together they moved their cover a few meters from the edge of the forest. Gobber tried to make a run for a tree but was also greeted with a bullet hitting the tree in front of him.

"He'd trying to scare us off, he's playing defensively." He yelled to his crew. Who were scattered through the peninsula by now. "Aster come here!" He yelled, spotting the glint of a scope in the hills. "I have a plan."

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Ray had just moved to the fourth position, mixing up the order to throw his enemy off. He laid his rifle down on one of the branches and quickly found the log where the peg leg and blond guy where hiding. The sun was slightly in his scope, which could give away his position. He saw the big fellow stand and prepared to fire another warning shot at him, he fired at his feet. But the man didn't even flinch. He pulled out his revolver, like a dying general trying to save his troops and opened fire at his position. Having only a small tree as cover Ray quickly hit the dirt. Rolling behind a bigger tree to avoid the bullets. After tree shot he quickly jumped into the ditch, Gobber still shooting at his previous position. He counted carefully, and when he hit six he knew that he would have to reload, having just arrived at position tree, he quickly scoped onto the man and fired a shot that went straight past his head. This time he did duck for cover. Ray pulled his bolt back and quickly put a new bullet in, before chambering it by shoving the bolt back into the rifle. He scanned the log again, seeing the head of the older man, but not spotting the younger man, realization soon dawned on him that he had been diverted. "Shit." He said as he walked back into his trench, heading to position two. He quickly jumped into the hole, now also frequently checking behind and besides him. He scoped back at the man to notice that he had moved up a few trees, slowly closing the gap. The crew that was still in the field also became more daring, peeking above their cover to see if they could advance.

He held his breath, hoping to his the fat guy in his satchel or something, enough to show him that he could hit him if he wanted. He could also try to hit his prosthetic arm. He took aim and slowed his breath, focussing on the small bald head that peeked around the tree from time to time, but his concentration was broken when he heard a twig snap besides him.

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Aster had successfully closed the gap when Gobber opened fire, and had hid behind a large rock besides the gunner's positions. When he laid down to take another shot he quickly closed the last few meters, stealthily, to not alert the gunman. Only to step on a dry twig on the last meter. Alerting his targer. His head spun around and the barrel of the gun quickly moved his way. Aster acted on instinct and kicked the barrel as hard as he could, sending it flying away. The gunner rolled away from him, he grabbed in his satchel and pulled out his revolver. Only to be met with the barrel of Asters hunting rifle. They looked at each other, Aster with his finger on the trigger and Ray with his along the length of the gun. They just stared at each other, waiting for the other one to make a move. After a few second Gobber reached their position, also aiming his gun for the man lying on the floor. Ray slowly raised his hands, showing them that he surrendered. Gobber took his revolver from him, which he quickly emptied in his hand. Ray was looking at him, anger on his face, he had actually hoped to negotiate with them. But it looked like interrogation were more likely.

He turned his head back to Aster, and for a brief second he wasn't looking at the barrel of the gun but at the stock, coming straight at him, before everything went black.

AN:

Hey guys! First of all, Happy Christmas! Both for those who have already celebrated it and for those who still need to. I hope you are still enjoying the story. I sure am.

Also, in case I don't upload before then, Happy new year! I hope it's going to be amazing for every single one of you!

Take care,

R4y