Hello everyone! Long time, no see. I apologize I left you all on a cliffhanger forever ago but there's the next chapter.
Enjoy! XD
The silence was more deafening than the constant threats. At least when he kept getting letters and pictures, he knew that Hiccup was somewhat safe but it had been quiet for too long. Not a single letter, email, text, photo; nothing. It was driving Stoick mad.
He had asked that Gobber keep a closer eye on his son as it got closer and closer to the semi-final Senatorial Debate. Luckily for him, Gobber had hired Hiccup to be his manager so with the final football game coming up, Stoick knew Hiccup would constantly be surrounded by friends.
But that knowledge still did little to quell his anxiety about the whole situation. He felt like something big was around the corner, like a powder keg about to go off, and his son was in the line of fire. He really considered once again to drop out of the race but Hiccup's words continued to echo into his mind.
Stoick had to admit, it was interesting that these threats appeared after all other contenders suddenly dropped out after the preliminaries; it was between him and Drago. I wonder if Drago is getting similar threats? Well, maybe not about someone threatening his family since it doesn't seem he has one, but maybe… something else. Seems odd that it's just me. Like someone doesn't want anyone to oppose Drago.
A lightbulb went off in his brain and he emailed Throk. Do you think that a sponsor of Drago's could be sending the threats? He continued to expand on his train of thought in the body of the email, re-reading it to ensure that if it were to ever come to court, it wouldn't sound too accusing and just raising questions. Once satisfied, he sent it.
His gut continued to twist and churn as he continued with his day. He really hoped that everything would be okay but his instincts were telling him otherwise. I really hope I'm wrong.
He was never one for pacing and he never understood why people did it when they were worried or anxious. It was exhausting! His feet hurt and he wished that it distracted from his mind running a mile a minute but to no avail. He swore that even if he had a broken bone, that pain wouldn't distract from the chaos in his mind.
Dagur was told that he would be contacted if forensics found anything from the blood he found in the hallway. It took him a while to convince the police that he wasn't on drugs himself, considering his crazed appearance, but they finally decided to humor him, even if it was to get him out of the station. The pride he felt when the station called his house and informed him that they were following up on his lead was something he never felt before. It was like floating on air.
But now he was just stuck shooting the breeze, waiting for the results of their investigation. He hated it. So now he paced back and forth to keep his body occupied and his mind from going completely crazy.
A ring from the house phone had him bounding down the stairs four at a time. "Hello!" he answered anxiously. "Yes, this is him. What did you find?" His excited face faded into confusion. "What do you mean you can't tell me? I found the lead, I should know." As the man on the other side of the phone continued to speak, Dagur's face turned from confusion to anger. "These men killed my sister! I deserve to know!" When the man on the other end finished his closing remarks, he disconnected the call.
Dagur screamed in frustration and anger as he banged the receiver repeatedly on the stand. He slunk to the floor in exhaustion as he tried to wrap his mind around what he was just told. They found that the blood did belong to someone in their records but they wouldn't tell him until the information is released to the public. That means some nerd has the files on his computer in the station and won't tell me!
He continued to pull at his hair, ending with punching the wall several times and causing his knuckles to bleed. Nerd. His mind kept repeating until an idea popped into his head. He looked at the clock to see that it was almost seven in the evening. It's about half way through the first quarter of the game. Fishy won't be available to help me. Perhaps…
Dagur bolted up and grabbed his jacket as he rushed out the door, sprinting down the streets until he came across a single storied ranch style home. He knocked on the door.
"Can I help you?" the woman who answered the door asked.
"Is Jay home?" Dagur smiled sweetly.
"Yeah. Who are you?"
"He's tutoring me on physics. I'm an idiot when it comes to science."
The woman smiled proudly. "I didn't know my boy was tutoring someone. Come on in. He's on the second door to the left," she indicated as she pointed down the hallway.
Dagur nodded in appreciation as he headed down the corridor. He opened the door and closed it quickly. When he turned around, he saw Jay gawking at him as he held his Xbox controller. "Oh quick starring and play along," he whispered. "Hey, Jay! What's up bro?"
"Umm, not much," the freshman responded quietly as he put his controller down. "What are you doing here?"
Dagur sat on the end of the bed as he strained to hear the happenings outside the closed door. "Well, I was really struggling with this physics concept and it has been really nagging at my nerves…so I was…hoping…" Dagur began to slow as he heard feet walking away from the door.
"Ummm, I, uh, don't-"
"Good she's gone," Dagur dropped the act. He lunged at the smaller boy, holding his small frame firmly on the shoulders. "You know how to hack into tech right? Like computers and shit?"
The dark haired boy looked at the Senior with fearful brown eyes but nodded in acknowledgement. "Y-yeah. Do you need me to change your grades or something?" he asked as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
Dagur scoffed. "No. That's stupid and mundane. I need to hack into the Berkian police files.
Jay's eyes went wide in fear. "What! No! No way! That's illegal!"
"Oh and changing my grades aren't?"
"Th-that's different," he stuttered. "School computers aren't protected like police computers. They have firewall after firewall that could easily be tripped and crash not only their computer but mine as well-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dagur waved his hand around in annoyance. "But you can do it?"
"Um, yeah."
"Good," Dagur smiled as he turned the boy towards his desk. "Do your nerdy thing."
Jay's hands shook as he reached for his computer and opened it up. Before he logged in, he closed the laptop again and took a deep breath. "Why?"
"What?"
"Why should I do this for you?"
Dagur looked at the small boy. He had to give the boy credit for asking such a risky question, given Dagur's history, but here this boy was, staring him down as he shook. He had to give the boy props for having such guts. "Look, you do this for me, I will ensure that you and everyone like you will be protected and safe from this point on."
"So only for the next 8 or so months? Until you graduate? Doesn't seem like a long time."
"And Bobby, once I leave," Dagur added, causing the boy's eyes to go wide in surprise. "I will instruct Bobby to protect you when I'm gone and have him instruct the next group of people to take his place, etc, etc, etc. Okay?"
"This must really be important if you're willing to give up your throne," Jay eyed as he turned back to his computer. "How do I know you intend to keep your promise?"
"You'll just have to believe me," Dagur shrugged. "I don't have any secret handshakes, secrets, or possessions I can give you to make you believe my promise."
Jay continued to give him the side eye as he logged into the laptop and pulled up a program. Dagur watched as his fingers danced over the keys effortlessly. He was impressed but time continued to trudge on forever leading him to start pacing again.
"You keep doing that, it's going to take longer," Jay said. "You're distracting me."
"What's taking so long? It's been almost three hours!"
"I told you. They have so many firewalls. I have to be cautious or I wind up in jail and you never find what you want."
Dagur sighed as he sat down on the bed and began to pick at the hangnails on his hands. His mind began to go wild as he waited for the freshman to finish his job. What if they are a notorious criminal? What if it's someone I know? A faculty member? A student perhaps? He shook his head at that last thought considering it to be ridiculous. He didn't know a single student in his high school or at Hooligan High that had a record.
"Do you know the agent's name?" Jay's question pulled Dagur from his thoughts.
"You got in! Cool!" Dagur jumped up excitedly as he leaned over Jay's chair looking at the screen. "It's Agent Sven."
Jay clicked on the file. "Whoa…" he said as his eyes opened up in surprise. "Didn't realize there was so much crime in Berk. Granted, most of it is petty but…"
"My file should be the most recent file," Dagur pushed.
With a nod, Jay scrolled through the list of files until he found the most recent one. "It doesn't have your name on it. It says Serial Druggers."
"That's it!" Dagur exclaimed as he pointed at the screen causing Jay to jump. "What does it say?"
"Give me a minute…" Jay drawled as he scanned the file, his eyes going wide in disbelief. "Yeesh. This is some intense stuff but what are you looking for exactly?"
"I found some blood at a crime scene and they said they found a match but won't tell me who it is."
Jay gave him a worried side eye before he continued to scroll through. "Found it. Dagur brought to our attention….blood sample…tested…" he mumbled as he read it quickly. "Found that the blood matched a Ryker Grimborn."
Dagur blinked at the screen as the name echoed through his head. Ryker Grimborn. "Never heard of him."
"But the police department knew of him," Jay hissed in revulsion as he pulled up the wrap sheet linked to the file. "He's been arrested for theft, robbery, assault, battery, carjacking, swindling, kidnapping, extortion, and…uhhh…murder."
"Murder!? How the hell is he still out and about?"
"It couldn't be proven," Jay informed as he continued reading. "Apparently every time he's been arrested, either evidence is thrown out or someone else comes forward as an alibi. He's only ever done maybe a few weeks at most in jail. Same with his brother."
"Brother?" Dagur's interest was piqued.
"Yeah but Viggo doesn't have nearly as long of a wrap sheet. He is mainly behind the scenes on stuff like blackmail, corruption, kidnapping, extortion, stalking…They usually work as a team."
"So if Ryker was the one to attack Astrid, then Viggo was there too."
"These people attacked Ms. Hofferson?" Jay squeaked.
"And Jorgenson and so many others. They're the reason my sister is dead." Dagur continued to clench his fist as he stared at the two men's mugshots on the screen until he felt his hand getting wet. When he looked down, he saw that he had broken the skin with his nails and was bleeding.
He was so caught up in his clouded rage that he didn't even notice Jay continuing to tap away on the keyboard. "Uh, oh."
"What?"
"Umm…I went down the rabbit hole of curiosity and now I wish I hadn't."
"Why?" Dagur was more invested than ever.
"I went onto the Dark Web and searched their names. I didn't find much but I did find one sent email conversation and -"
"You can read other people's emails?"
"Not all the time. Only when they're unprotected like if you're on a burner computer or on public wifi. Someone screwed up somewhere and did one of the two."
"So, what did you find?"
"This particular email was sent to Viggo years ago with a job offer. Something about controlling the masses with fear. Protection from the highest level."
"Who sent the email?"
Dagur watched as Jay's eyes went wide in fear and closed out of everything quickly, shut down his computer and threw it to the other side of the room. This took Dagur off guard as he knew that that computer was like the world to people like him. What did he see?
The Senior stepped cautiously towards the boy who held his legs up to his chest in his chair, head buried as far down into his chest as it would go. "Who sent the email?" Dagur asked calmly as he kneeled in front of Jay.
Jay slowly lifted his head just enough for him to make eye contact with Dagur and the chill that went through his spine was nothing had ever felt before. It made Dagur want to roll his shoulders around to get rid of the feeling but he remained still as he continued to look at Jay.
"It was sent by Senator Drago Bludvist," he whispered.
Dagur's eyes went wide in surprise and his mind began to race again. He got up and began to pace once again but more frantically this time as he tried to put the pieces together. "What would the Senator want to do with those criminals? Why would he hire them? What plan to control the masses with fear? What could possibly-"
Dagur stopped as the dots began to connect quickly. "This email can't be found on the regular web right?"
Jay shook his head in response. "No. It took me a lot of digging and programming to get there. A simple search wouldn't find anything."
"Okay, okay, okay," Dagur breathed. "You need to somehow get that information to the authorities."
"Why me? I'm not cut out for this type of stress."
"Listen to me," Dagur grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him squarely in the eyes. "You need to get the authorities to go down that path in some way, shape, and form. If you don't, more people will die." Once he got a confident nod from the teen, Dagur got up and started for the door.
"Where are you going?"
"I need to warn someone."
The night was fairly mild considering that winter had come early. It was a nice break from the last couple of nights being under freezing temps. It also helped that the packed stadium and intense lights helped warm up the place enough to make it comfortable for everyone not playing the game.
Hiccup looked up from his clipboard at the team and saw that they were starting to get tired. He had been observing the other team with great intent as to figure out a weakness but so far he hadn't found one. Their plays had been immaculate and he couldn't find a flaw in it. Every team has a weakness.
When he wasn't watching the team, he was watching the cheerleaders and their routines. Well, specifically, he was watching Astrid. Despite her being sent home to rest, he could see that she was performing stiffly. She wasn't fluid or graceful as she normally would be and it boiled his blood knowing the reason why. He squeezed his pencil harder as he tried to run away from his imagination but it only angered him more until his pencil snapped.
"I know it's close but no need to lose your temper over it," Gobber said as he hobbled over. "Any ideas? Half time is about to come upon us."
"I'm still trying to figure something out but so far nothing," Hiccup shook his head as he tossed his broken pencil and got a new one from his backpack.
He continued to watch the plays and groaned in frustration as Tuffnut would score and then the other team and then Fishlegs and then the other team. It was getting nauseating seeing the same thing over and over. That's it! He began to write down his sneaky plan and walked over to Gobber.
The man cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure this will work?"
"Yes, they keep doing the same play over and over again with the slightest altercations. If you focus your blocks here, the rest of the field is wide open for our team to get through with flying colors."
"I don't know…"
"Try it a few times after halftime. If it doesn't work out, I've got a couple other ideas but this will work the best. I promise."
Gobber nodded as he went back over to the team to try one more formation before halftime, leaving Hiccup to just observe the stadium. He knew the Berkians could really get into team spirit but tonight just seemed so electric. Maybe it was because it was the final game or maybe it was because the game was so close. Whatever the reason, he was enjoying himself greatly which surprised him. He was never one for sports but kept a good game face for his father, cousin and extended family.
He jumped slightly when the stadium announced halftime with a large horn on the sound system. People began to file out of the seats to get food and go to the bathroom. His attention was grabbed by the cheerleaders doing one last joyous flip before filtering towards the side wall of the bleachers to get water and a snack.
"Dude," Snotlout panted. "Those Hunters are killing us."
"Yeah. We are truly and completely being tenderized," Tuff slouched.
"We're actually doing well," Fishlegs smiled. "We're in the lead and it's only halftime."
"By one point!" Snotlout snapped.
"Guys, guys," Hiccup chuckled. "Relax. You have a half hour break. Stretch, get water. I gave Gobber a couple of plays the other team won't see coming. You've got this in the bag."
Hiccup watched as smiles slowly crept across his friends' faces. "Snotlout! Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!" he cheered.
The other boys then began to follow him in his cheer until the entire team was chanting for his cousin. Hiccup knew one thing, if Snotlout was having a bad attitude about the whole thing, the rest of the team did too. Even though he wasn't team captain, Snotlout somehow was the spirit of the team.
"Thanks, cuz," Snotlout beamed.
"No problem."
"Astrid, are you sure you're alright?" the four boys heard Ruff ask. They watched as Astrid nodded with a strained smile.
"She's not doing well," Tuff shook his head.
"Agreed," Fishlegs nodded. "You think Gothi will send her home?"
"She'll try but I have a feeling she'll refuse and stay till the end," Snotlout huffed. "Stubborn."
"Sounds like you," Tuff nudged Snotlout's shoulder. "Maybe you rubbed off on her."
"No," Hiccup shook his head. "She was stubborn before she met Snotlout."
"Then she rubbed off on you!" Tuff laughed.
"Shut up, Tuff!"
"Come on guys," Fishlegs ushered. "Let's get to the locker rooms and sit down. We've got a whole other half of the game to play."
The bickering between the guys faded into white noise as Hiccup continued to watch Astrid try and find a comfortable position to relax. After the third time she hissed in pain, he got fed up and began to walk up to her. He scribbled on a piece of paper and dropped it next to her, keeping her in his peripheral to make sure she got it.
He then walked behind the equipment shed and waited for her to show up. He pondered what he would say and how he should talk to her given their predicament but he was at a loss. He figured he'd just let events unfold naturally.
"Hiccup?"
He turned to see her rounding the corner slowly as she smiled at him. He could tell she was struggling to keep up the act and he finally snapped. "This has to stop."
She blinked at him in surprise as her face fell in confusion. "What-what are you talking about? The game?"
"No. What's happening at home. That son of a half troll needs to be arrested!"
Astrid just kept staring at him in disbelief. "Everything's fine, Hic-"
"No, it isn't," he groaned in frustration. "It's getting worse. Why did he hurt you this time?"
"He didn't -"
"Is it because Gothi sent you home early the other day?" he asked. When her eyes looked down to avoid eye contact, he knew that he hit the nail on the head. "Why? He knew you were still recovering from the attack. Does he not care about your wellbeing?"
Astrid shrugged as she turned from him to leave. "I should be getting back. Ruff will be wondering where I am."
He reached out and gently grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving. "Please. Astrid," he begged. "Let me help you. I can be there with you every step of the way as you talk to the police. I-I'm sure Dad will let you stay with us and if not us, then I'm sure Gobber will take you in or even the Thorstons. Please. At least talk to me."
Astrid looked to see his green eyes pleading with her. He was completely and utterly sincere with her which made her resolve falter. She took a step forward to accept his help but her voice didn't reflect what her heart wanted. "It's only a year and half, Hiccup. I'll be fine until then. I can make it till then."
Hiccup sighed in defeat as hung his head and shook it. "No."
Astrid was surprised by sternness in his response. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn she was speaking with Stoick. "What do you mean, no?"
"I mean no," Hiccup looked at her. "It's been getting progressively worse over the years. First, it started with insults then threats then emotional manipulation and now beatings. Astrid," his tone softened to almost a whisper. "What if he doesn't stop one night? What if he ki-" He cut himself off as he looked away. No way in a million years could he finish that question.
Astrid knew what he was going to say and the thought had crossed her mind but she never really thought her father would do it. She was his only child after all. "That won't happen," she assured quietly as she placed a hand on his arm.
He turned to look at her again and he wanted to believe her but he couldn't. Something deep in his gut told him that she didn't believe it either. "I won't if you let me help you escape," he tried again.
Astrid was now frustrated. She knew she wasn't frustrated at Hiccup but at the situation. She wanted nothing more than to be free of her own personal hell. She wanted to never be fearful of her father again or of going home. She didn't want to have to hide the truth from her friends but having Hiccup beg and beg to let him help her was too much.
"I said no, Hiccup," she said sternly. "Let it go."
"I can't."
"Why?!" she snapped tearfully. "Why? We're almost adults. Just another year and I can leave on my own legally; find a place, get a job, and be free of him for good. Why can't you wait another year?"
"You know why," Hiccup said gently, not backing away from her tirade.
"No, I don't! Please tell me why." Astrid didn't understand why she was yelling at him. He did nothing wrong. "Why!" she hollered again as she took a swing at his arm. She was surprised when he caught it and held her firmly but gently. He was calm as he continued to look at her, not a single hint of anger or resentment in his eyes. Instead, she saw…she wasn't sure what she saw but it was familiar.
It was at this moment that he realized how much pain Astrid was in. Not just physical, but emotional and mental too, and it broke his heart. She was always strong, confident, and that didn't wane after all these years of abuse from her father but he did do his damage. She truly couldn't see it and no amount of words could convince her.
As he continued to gaze at her, she got more and more scared. Not the same kind of scared she got with her father, a different fear. This fear was warm and alluring, beckoning her to succumb to it and she didn't know why. "Why?" she yelled again as she yanked her wrist out of his grasp.
Hiccup wasn't sure how to proceed so he let his instinct take over. He reached out and gently cupped her face as he leaned in and kissed her. He blocked out all worries and concerns from his mind and focused pouring his heart out to her through that kiss; every feeling, hope, and dream he had regarding her. He wanted her to understand his feelings before he said a word.
Astrid tensed up at the sudden action, her eyes going wide in shock, and as much as she wanted to pull away to protect him, she actually relaxed. The feeling was surreal to her; it was warm, gentle, passionate, romantic, and overall lovely. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.
Hiccup pulled away when he needed air and placed his forehead on hers. "I love you," he breathed. He stared into her eyes as he continued to speak. "I have loved you since, oh, I can't remember. You are my first friend, my first crush, and my only love. I hate seeing you in pain and I wish I could just go back and stop it from happening to begin with. I hate that we have to pretend that we're not friends. I hate that I can't protect you and be there for you when you need it. I hate lying and hiding."
He took a deep breath before he continued. "But I do it because I love you and I can't imagine not being in your life. I love your fiery spirit, your fighting attitude, your spunk. I love every aspect of you. And I'm sorry if I'm coming on too strong but you need to know that you are loved and by none more than me."
Astrid continued to stare at him in shock. Her mind and body were numb to what was happening. She couldn't wrap her mind around his words as she was still trying to wrap her mind around the kiss. She was floating and drowning at the same time. She didn't know what to do.
Hiccup backed away as she continued to just stand there. "Please, Astrid," he begged one more time. "Please, let me help you." When she didn't respond, he was going to speak again but the horn blared for the game to resume again. "At least think about it. I'm begging."
She still didn't respond, he sighed and headed back to the field. "I'll see you at the field." He walked back, his heart beating as fast as his mind was racing. Did I just screw things up royally between us? Knowing me, yeah, I did.
"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Get over here. We're about to start." Hiccup jogged over and stood by the large man waiting for the play to start. From the corner of his eye, he saw Astrid join the cheer team as she spoke with Ruffnut. "Let's hope that your plan works," Gobber whispered.
Hiccup grinned weakly as he nodded and focused on the field. He watched as Fishlegs punt the ball to Snotlout and then proceeded with Hiccup's play. He watched it unfold beautifully and cheered with everyone else when Tuff scored.
"Holy shit! It worked!" Gobber cried ecstatically as he picked up Hiccup and spun him around.
Hiccup smiled but couldn't get into the celebration. Why did I have to open my stupid mouth? I can't even enjoy the game now. I wonder how she's doing? He looked over to see her performing her routines robotically like her mind was somewhere else. When the girls turned in their routine and faced his direction, the two made eye contact only to watch as she broke the contact and turned her head away from him. I really screwed up.
He continued to wallow in his self made misery for the rest of the game, pretending to be enthusiastic every time they scored and slowly began to widen their lead on the Hunters. By the time the last second of the game finished, the Hooligans won against the Hunters 22 to 15. The stadium roared in celebration as the Berkians hooped and hollered as loud as possible.
Hiccup high fived the entire team as they came in, even getting tackled by Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Tuff. "Guys, you're suffocating me."
"Who cares?" Tuff chuckled. "You were right H. Master. We got this!"
"That was amazing!" Snotlout spazzed out on his adrenaline high.
"Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!" Fishlegs yelled in Hiccup's ear causing him to flinch away.
"No," Snotlout said as he stood up and pulled everyone up off of his cousin. He proceeded to pull Hiccup up to his feet and made a gesture with his hands resulting in Fishlegs and him hoisting Hiccup up on their shoulders parading him around. "Hiccup! Hiccup! Oi! Oi! Oi!"
Hiccup blushed at the sudden attention as everyone else on the team, including Gobber and the cheer team, joined in on the chant. He yelped slightly as he suddenly lowered to the ground and the friends encompassed him in a huddle-like hug. "Guys, I just wrote the play on paper, you made it happen."
"Stop being modest, cuz, before I punch you into next week."
Hiccup smiled at his friend's excitement. "Alright. You guys go get cleaned up and celebrate the rest of the night. I'll see you later, Tuff?"
"You got it H. Master! Game win and a sleep over. Nothing could ruin this evening!" he hollered as he ran towards the locker room.
Hiccup shook his head as he chuckled to himself. He was glad he was able to make them happy. At least I made someone happy tonight. His mind began to drift back to his conversation with Astrid and it bummed him out again. He tried focusing on finishing up his duties before heading home but all he could see was Astrid's shocked face after he kissed her. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
If his mind wasn't so preoccupied when he got home, he would have felt the strange feeling in chest that something was off in his home but that wasn't the case. I've ruined everything between us. All those years of waiting and waiting and I just flushed it down the toilet. God, this sucks.
He locked the door behind him and hung up his coat in the closet before reaching for the light. The moment he did, he wished he hadn't for in the reflection of the family portrait hanging in front of him, he saw a fourth figure. Oh, shit!
Hiccup looked to his left and saw the fire poker by the fireplace and quickly debated the likelihood of actually being able to obtain it before getting tackled. Just as the man behind him lunged, Hiccup somersaulted towards the fireplace and grabbed the poker, immediately swinging it in front of him and making contact with someone.
"Aghhh!" the man cried out. Hiccup began to bolt towards the front door when the man yelled, "Get him Eret!"
Suddenly, Hiccup was tripped and face planted on the floor just inches away from the door. He felt himself being pulled away by his foot and he turned around to kick the man in the chest with his prosthetic. It did the trick and knocked the wind out of the man giving him a chance to get up and run to the door.
But he didn't make it to the door. Instead he hit someone's chest at full speed and landed on his back with the wind now knocked out of him. The person he ran into was the same man he struck with the poker and he looked mad. Hiccup went to get up but he was too slow.
"I don't think so, toothpick," he grunted as he pulled Hiccup back onto the floor and straddled him. Hiccup tried to wriggle out from under the man but he had at least 200 pounds on him. Hiccup went to open his mouth to scream but he felt cold metal touch his throat. "Go ahead and scream. I dare you."
Hiccup breathed rapidly, his heart beating in his ears as his mind raced for a way to escape but he couldn't think of one. His arms were pinned, a knife to his throat, and no one will be here to keep him company for a while. I'm in some serious shit.
"Alvin," Eret warned. "You know his orders."
Alvin rolled his eyes as he removed the knife from his throat. "You're lucky kid."
"You can't blame him for defending himself."
"My cheek can!"
Now that the knife was no longer at his throat, his mind began to clear and made a realization. "You're the homeless man I caught the other day."
Alvin looked down at the pinned boy and smiled. "Surprise! I'm not exactly homeless," he said as he bent down closer to the boy's face. Hiccup turned away in disgust, as he could smell his breath, only to be forcefully pulled up by the collar and stood up. "But thanks for the 10. It did buy us a nice hot meal."
"Stop teasing the boy," Eret sighed. "Our job was to grab him and go."
"You're no fun. We've been sitting in that damn car for weeks on end and you don't expect me to have a little fun with him?" Alvin smiled as he grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked him down into a chair. "I want some action."
"You got it when you attacked him. And now you're pissed because a scrawny little kid got a good hit in." Eret pointed a gun at Hiccup as Alvin made his way behind him.
"Thanks," Hiccup said. "I think."
"Shut your mouth," Alvin demanded as he shoved a gag into his mouth and began to tie it around his face and started to tie his hands and feet.
There was suddenly a knock on the door. Everyone went quiet and still, the tension in the air so thick that one could cut it with a knife, the silence so deafening that it was unbearable. Hiccup hoped to God it was Gobber coming to check in on him before Tuff arrived but he knew Gobber would just come in since he had a key. Alvin and Eret looked at each other and hoped whoever it was would just go away.
"Hiccup?"
His heart skipped a beat at the angelic sound but his body filled with dread. No, no, no, no. Go away, Astrid. Not now. Please go away. Why now? Why at this exact moment in time. He hoped that she would think he went to bed and would just go home.
"I know you're in there. The light's on."
Damn it!
"Turn the light off!" Alvin whispered.
"If we do that it will really alert her that he's here," Eret whispered back.
Alvin bent down and put the knife to his throat again as he whispered in his ear. "I'm going to ask you a question. When I take this gag off, if you so much as answer above a whisper, I will drag her in here and slit her throat. Understand?" Hiccup nodded in response. "What will happen if you don't answer the door?"
Once the gag was removed from his mouth he whispered, "She'll realize something is off and call my friend and guardian."
Alvin wrapped his hand around his mouth as he spoke to his partner. "What do we do?"
Eret thought for a moment before he turned his attention back to the door. "I think she's gone. I don't hear her."
Hiccup sighed, his eyes closing in relief, as his heart slowed; that is until he heard something upstairs. His eyes flew open a panic as he realized what was about to transpire. He got the attention of Alvin by shouldering him in the arm.
"What?" he asked as he removed his hand.
"Wherever it is you're taking me, can we move this along?" he questioned hurriedly.
Alvin chuckled. "Someone in a hurry to be a hostage?"
"Already am, aren't I?" Hiccup glanced upwards trying to figure out where she was positioned. "Besides, I'd like to get this whole situation done and over with so I can go back to my life."
"Kid," Eret shook his head. "There is no going back. Once we've- Holy shit!"
Hiccup and Alvin looked in the direction Eret starred and saw Astrid standing in the middle of the stairway. All of them gawked at each other for a minute before Hiccup found his voice and yelled," RUN!"
Astrid did just that. She bounded up the stairs but Alvin was quickly behind her. He heard running upstairs for a minute or two but then it went silent. Hiccup's heart raced as he waited for the result of the chase. Please, please, please. He prayed. Let her have escaped. He heard footsteps once again, a single set, and his heart soared in delight that she escaped.
However that elation deflated when he saw Alvin walking down the stairs with Astrid firmly in his grip, one arm pinning her arms to her side and his chest, the other over her mouth to keep her from screaming.
She looked at Hiccup in fear as he shook his head and said, "I'm so, so sorry."
I know. I'm so sorry for leaving you with another cliffhanger. Muahahahah!
