Chapter Seven:
Astrid landed with Stormfly and the twins in front of the camper. The rest of the group descended from the trees as well. Gobber went back into the camper, rummaged through some supplies and when he emerged again, he had two needles with tags on them. Gobber walked over to the twins and stuck a needle in their arms. They screamed in surprise and confusion at the sudden pain jolting through their arms. Hiccup nodded in approval, but Astrid said, "Gobber, you can't just go tagging people! That's not right."
She turned to face her boyfriend who was smirking at the action and she promptly smacked him upside the head. "Ow! What was that…oh right, communication!" Hiccup said, dryly. He rubbed the back of his head and half-scolded his peg-legged uncle. "Gobber, Astrid has a point. You shouldn't tag people and I doubt Hammond will be very happy."
"Actually," Snotlout interjected, "Hammond will probably only be mad that you used some cheap animal tags rather than her high-tech InGen prototypes." The group stared at him in disbelief. "What? The twins get into more trouble and get lost more often than you realize. Their mother even has a rule about hospitals to try to curb their crazy behaviors."
"Yeah no hospitals on holidays!" "Or Sundays!"
"Why not? I mean, I get it, 'cause you two probably put one another in the hospital more often than you mother can count, but that's so specific…"
"Mom says that if you go to the hospital on Sundays one of the gods will strike you with a lightning bolt and you'll die for sure. And she says that only idiots go to the hospital on holidays," Ruff explained.
"Yeah! And we're not idiots!" Tuff declared, crossing him arms confidently. "Hey what's this…ow it's attached! Ahh! Get it off!"
"Ahh! There's one on me too!" Ruff screamed.
As the twins shouted and mildly panicked about their new tags, Astrid leaned over to Hiccup and whispered, "And you want children."
"Not those children. Just a breed of child would be intriguing. Remember we're going to called him 'Icky'." Hiccup said and Astrid hummed in agreement. He kissed her forehead and then said to the group. "All right, so BioSyn's here and we've found the twins. What's next?"
The sun had begun to set. With the help of Snotlout, the group had tracked down the base camp for BioSyn. They watched from the cover of the trees. Astrid had tricked the twins into playing the 'silent game' and had promised them chocolate for whoever could stay silent the longest, including noises made from pushing or shoving one another. It was surprisingly effective as Ruff and Tuff sat cross-legged on opposite sides of a large tree trunk.
The adults watched BioSyn's men as they continued to set up the camp. Several dragons were in cages already, but were not sedated. Men walked around with guns and other weapons, just in case any of the dragons escapes from the fire-proof cages. "My god they are well organized. Those are some major-league toys," Snotlout commented.
"Jealous are we?" Snotlout shot Hiccup a glare. Hiccup smirked but decided not to press the matter further. He turned to his mother, "So what's the plan? I see two Gronckles, one Zippleback, a cage full of Terrible Terrors, a Monstrous Nightmare and two Hobblegrunts. And judging by the Hobblegrunts' red pigmentation, I'd say they're pretty angry to be in the cages."
Valka thought for a moment and then said, "Just Gobber and I will go. It is what Hammond is paying us for after all and besides, it will be easier to slip just two people into the camp than a whole slew of them." She held her hand up to stop her son's protests to the plan, before continuing, "And Gobber and I are very well acquainted with trappers and poachers. You'd be surprised at how many times we had to stop filming because of poachers in the area."
"Yeah well that's all well and good, you two go, stop BioSyn, yay! What about Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum over here? We should tie their hands to their feet so they can't go anywhere," Snotlout said.
"I dunno," Fishlegs said, "Astrid's little silent game has kept them still and silent, which I honestly didn't think either thing was possible unless they were dead. Maybe just keep them doing that and we'll keep them in the camper with us and it will be fine…?"
"Yeah, good luck with that."
"Hang on! I got this," Astrid said and walked over to the twins. She crouched down and said, "So Hiccup thinks you two can't stay in the camper until Dr. Haddock and Gobber Van Owen come back. I bet him $20 that you could and I really don't want to lose that bet. So could you do me a favor and stay in the camper so I can win this bet?"
Ruff and Tuff exchanged glances. Tuff spit onto his hand and stretched it out towards his sister. Astrid watched in disgust as Ruff mimicked the action. The twins shook hands, nodded to Astrid and skipped off to the camper.
"That was very clever," Fishlegs commented.
"Yeah, well they're pretty competitive by nature. And believe it or not I used to be pretty competitive too. My mom used to do things like that all the time to me," Astrid explained. "Now c'mon, let's get back to the camper while Gobber and Dr. Haddock take care of the trapped dragons."
Once again, Gobber marveled at the fluidity of Valka's movements as she slunk into the campsite. He followed behind her with a pair of bolt cutters. Her staff was useful for prying open basic traps, but cutting through deadbolt locks on cages required some more sophisticated equipment.
They approached the cage with the Hobblegrunts. When the frilled dragons saw the new humans who came without weapons, they changed their scales from red to purple. "Hiccup said that means curious," Valka commented as she circled around the cage. "Doesn't look like they sustained any major wounds. Some minor rope burns here and there but those should heal on their own."
Gobber nodded and cut open the cage with the bolt cutters. He opened the door and the dragons cautiously stepped out. The two Hobblegrunts turned their scales back to yellow—a happy color and took off into the night sky.
Valka and Gobber then freed the Gronckles and the Monstrous Nightmare. The Gronckles followed the Hobblegrunts into the air, but the temperamental Monstrous Nightmare growled and set a nearby tent on fire before taking off as well. BioSyn's men shouted and scrambled to put the tent out as Gobber and Valka snuck around to the last two cages. "Well tha' outta keep them busy while we free t' Zippleback an' the Terrors." Gobber said as he cut open the Zippleback's cage.
The Zippleback's one head breathed out gas and the second head lit it, causing the nearby Jeep to combust. The Zippleback took off into the air and hovered briefly before dive-bombing the camp. It grabbed onto its tails with its head and coated its body in gas before setting the gas aflame. It had turned itself into a rolling fire wheel and rolled through the camp, destroying everything in its path. After setting much of the camp on fire, the Zippleback took back off into the night sky.
Valka grabbed the cage with the Terrible Terrors in it. "What. Is. All. The. Fuss?" Dagur shouted as he emerged from his tent. Valka froze. She was standing only a few feet behind him and Gobber was safely hidden behind the Zippleback's former cage.
"Time's up," Gobber noted quietly and pointed to Dagur.
Valka nodded and placed the overcrowded cage of Terrors on the ground just behind the unsuspecting Dagur. She opened the cage door and the Terrible Terrors flooded out of it. They swarmed onto Dagur, who screamed. The Terrible Terrors chattered and circled around him several times before flying off into the night. "Ah! You wretched dragons!" Dagur screamed. One of the dragontologists approached him and Dagur grabbed him by the shirt collar, "You wanna tell me how the dragons escapes the fireproof cages, hmm?"
"Um…it's just…um…Dagur, your derangedness, um, the locks were cut off."
Dagur threw the poor dragontologist onto the ground and laughed to himself. "Oh ho ho, the game's afoot. I do-so love a worthy opponent."
Valka and Gobber ran off into the forest as BioSyn continued to wrestle with the damages the dragons had left. Valka stopped suddenly and Gobber inhaled sharply as he tried to stop on a dime as well, but failed miserable. "Do you hear that?" Valka asked. "A dragon is in trouble. This way." She took off again and Gobber hustled after her.
They came to a muddy bank where the juvenile Bewilderbeast was tied to the ground, wailing fearfully. Initially Gobber was shocked at the sight, but Valka's instincts had already taken over and she began to help the downed dragon. "Gobber, help me with the stakes in the ground. We need to get him back to the camper to fix his leg."
Gobber pointed to the injured white dragon, "Look, Val. It 'as a broken leg an' a hole in its wing. E'en if we fix t' leg it will ne'er fly. There's no use saving 'im."
Valka wasn't going to give up so easily. "This is the alpha. Do you know how big they grow up to be? Most Viking legends say that this dragon never even flew anyway. C'mon, Gobber, have a heart!" Valka pleaded.
Gobber smirked, "Jest like Zimbabwe," he muttered.