Stretching wings, checking straps, and flexing muscles. That was the checklist that the average person would do before going on a flight with his or her dragon. However, Hiccup wasn't the average person, he was currently on his knees underneath the wing of Toothless. Tightening a strap that ran along the length of the dragon's saddle.

It was a simple strap, and it was perfectly fine the way it had been, but that didn't meet the pristine standard that Hiccup asked of Toothless' saddle. He tightened the strap carefully, making sure that it was secured tightly without coming close to hurting or annoying Toothless.

Then came the bags, he wanted to make sure that everything was secured tightly, and that he didn't lose something halfway during the flight. It had happened once before, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience. Diving with an immense speed only to grab loaf of bread that had fallen out of a bag while they were flying, just to grab it before it landed in the sea.

The experience was especially bad since the bread had been stale and tasteless anyway, but they couldn't be sure that they would find other food that day.

But he had no fear of that happening again, since all the bags were tightly secured and properly closed.

"Can we leave now?" Ragnar wined from the back of Bolt, who was walking around impatiently. "This is taking forever."

"Do you want me to lose something?" Hiccup asked as he tested the different way that he could move the foot pedal, looking behind at Toothless' tail to make sure that the tailfin was corresponding correctly. "Or that we fall from the sky?"

"Anything is better than this." Ragnar said as he looked behind him, seeing Heather lying down on her dragon and Astrid with a focussed gaze on Hiccup, who was now testing the lever to lock Toothless' tail in place.

"How are you even keeping him from sitting still that long?" Heather asked as she observed the large black dragon. "Normally he can't sit still for a second."

"Well, for one, he knows we're going out flying." Hiccup answered as he climbed halfway onto Toothless, testing yet another part of the contraption that was his saddle. "And I occasionally scratch him."

Toothless let out a content sigh as Hiccup scratched him again, finishing the last strap of the saddle and turning to his own suit.

"Great, styled his dragon, now himself." Ragnar muttered as he let himself fall backwards, leaning against the spines that covered Bolts back. "Every time."

"Not true." Hiccup objected as he stuffed a part of his flight suit into the leather covers of his pants. "Just once every few days."

He stepped back to take a second to reflect on his work, he was content with it. He walked up to Toothless, swinging himself into the saddle of the black dragon. He turned the rim around his prosthetic, causing the metal foot to switch to the hook that fitted perfectly with Toothless' stirrup. "Alright," He said as he sat down, hooking himself to the saddle. "I'm ready."

"About time." Ragnar said as he sat down normally in his saddle, getting ready to take off. "Lead the way."

Hiccup had the image of the map printed in his head, and knew exactly how to fly. He moved the stirrup, Toothless understanding him and flapping his wings powerfully, pushing his body into the sky. Hiccup lay down on the saddle, making sure that Toothless would have the least resistance from his body catching the wind. They slowly climbed into the sky, the other three following them.

They were going with a smaller party this time, Fishlegs had stated that he had seen enough action for a while, and the twins had to stay on the island to repair a wall that they had destroyed in a barn. It was amazing how quickly they were with the destruction of almost anything, they basically can't keep something in one piece for longer than half a day, and since they had been on Berk for more than a full day, it was bound to go wrong sooner or later.

That just left Snotlout, but he didn't want to go on a trip with the group, he didn't mind going with two girls, he wouldn't mind that at all. But he did mind going with two girls and their boyfriend, mainly just two couples. He would be like a fifth wheel on a cart, and that was just way too much.

So this just left our two assassins and the two female warriors from Berk to explore the last location their current set of lenses had given them. It wouldn't be too far of a flight, less than half a day. So they still left early.

The wind was in their favour, and they were able to travel faster than they had anticipated. In the distance they could see a large icy island, which looked strangely promising.

"I told you we'd make it through winter." A muscled man said as he lifted a crate to put it somewhere else. "It was just a matter of picking the last few useful parts and reusing them."

"Sure, but I do think that we're not quite in the clear yet." One of his fellow trappers said as he carried a few furs and followed him. "We still have to answer to, you know who."

Eret stopped in his tracks. "We'll think of something." He muttered softly. "I'm not looking forward to another warning."

"I don't think we'll get another warning." His fellow trapper said as he threw the furs over the railing, a trapper underneath him catching them with ease.

They were on the remains of their old fortress, which had been a huge wood and stone construction that towered the skies, filled with cages, weapons, nettings and everything they could ever ask for when trapping dragons. It was something they had loved when they started their work, it made an extremely dangerous and difficult job a lot less difficult and a bit less dangerous. After all, they still had to handle the wild beasts when they were shot down.

But it hadn't lasted long, just a few months after their brand new fortress had ran its best month, capturing a total of fourteen dragons in just one month. It had been targeted by him or her, they didn't know. All they knew that somebody was flying around with a large flock of dragons, some of which they had captured. And had destroyed their entire fortress, of course, it wasn't a fair fight. They had only a handful of trappers and a fortress. They had an entire flock of angry dragons, some angry vigilantly, and most importantly, a humongous dragon that could the entire fortress to shreds.

It had done just that. Their mighty fortress was reduced to a mountain of splinters mixed with ice. It was a sad sight. They had made use of it though, living mainly inside the single boat that remained undamaged and using a few remaining platforms with weaponry to defend themselves and try to catch dragons.

They hadn't been that lucky though, the dragons seemed to stay away from their position. Like they knew it was dangerous. Sure, they still had the occasional Terrible Terror trying to steal from their already scarce supply of food. It became more and more difficult for them to survive, and they would probably soon have to set sail, tail between their legs, and return to their master to ask for help.

None of them felt like this was a preferable idea, they had already once headed there without an excuse, and even if they had one, he wouldn't care. They had received their final warning, and they weren't sure if it was better to hide and starve or freeze to death on a cold rock or to try and head back and face his wrath.

It was better not to think about it. They all decided that it was best to just wait and see what would happen. Hopefully they'd be able to get a large catch of dragons to take back, but the chance of that happening was becoming slimmer and slimmer with the passing days.

However, their luck may have returned, since they saw four small specks, out in the distance.

Eret dropped the crate, hurrying towards one of the still functional net-launchers that they had moved to the part of the fortress that wasn't destroyed. The other men around him scrambled too, heading towards their positions to get ready for the dragons to get closer.

He held a keen eye on them, they came closer with relatively fast speed, but slowly grew closer to the getting behind the ice, where they couldn't see them.

"Get ready." He shouted, alerting the men around him, we won't get another shot at this.

The sounds of some foreign mechanism alerted the two assassins, and as they passed around one of the icy walls they quickly saw the origin of the sound. Two large weighted nets were being shot at them. Toothless quickly folded his wings and dropped a bit, causing the net to easily overshoot him. Bolt rolled sidewards, the net missing him too.

They looked at each other with a grin, knowing that they both didn't have to warn the other about the trap, their reflexes were quick enough. However, the surprised yelps from behind them made them realise that they weren't alone on this trip.

Astrid tried to divert the net by climbing upwards, but she and Stormfly started climbing too late. The net hit her dragon on the chest, trapping one wing and Astrid's food, causing the dragon to quickly fall towards the ground.

Heather had tried to duck beneath the net, which had indeed caused it to miss Shimmer, but unfortunately caught her fully, knocking her off the back of her dragon. Both girls tumbled down, luckily Heather fell into some netting that was lying on the dock beneath her, by now completely tangled in netting. Astrid was not looking for a soft landing, being swung from a panicking Nadder she was flying straight towards the cold Nordic waters. But luckily she was grabbed by the black paw of a Nightfury.

Hiccup and Ragnar, along with Astrid dangling from Toothless and a confused and startled shimmer, flew back, Hiccup dropping Astrid on the back of Shimmer so that she could comfort the distressed dragon.

The trappers were busily working on securing the freshly downed dragon, wrapping ropes around the wings and tying the snout shut to prevent it from breathing fire. They had split in groups, a group taking on the downed dragons, a group staying on watch to keep an eye out for other dragons, and another group that was looking for the other thing they shot down, which seemed like a smaller dragon, perhaps the size of a Smothering Smokebreath.

Instead they found a yelling, cursing, and tangles Heather, struggling in a bunch of nets, trying to free herself. They took no chances, knowing that there were people that actually rode dragon, and knowing that they weren't on friendly terms with some of those. It was relatively easy compared to the dragons they were used to. Remove the net, keep her in place, wrap a rope around het and done.

Eret looked across the remains of the fort, a tied Nadder lying on the ground in front of him. He saw a group of his men coming towards him with a captive, who had apparently landed softly from such a fall. He was glad that she did, although she may very well be an enemy, he wasn't too keen on trying to scrub off remains of the deck of the ship.

But his thoughts of scrubbing the deck were interrupted when he heard a whistle, one that every Viking knew, although few had heard the actual sound. "Is that what I think it is?" He asked to his crewmates as he looked to the sky. A small black speck flying across the sky with incredible speed.

It disappeared as soon as it appeared, but it soon returned, with two more dragons, they headed towards the deck with incredible speed, dodging nets and bolas as they charged, but instead of attacking they calmly landed on the deck.

"Stop!" One of the riders shouted as he dismounted the mythical black dragon, which had the trappers mesmerised. Hiccup had his helmet at his side, but his hood pulled over his head, covering his face in shadow. Ragnar quickly joined him, his blades unsheathed in case they tried to do something to Heather. Astrid was standing behind them, a piece of wood in her hand, her axe was strapped to Stormfly's saddle, so she had to improvise.

"Let me go." Heather yelled as she tried to kick one of the riders, causing the three men who were holding her much difficulty. Her hands were secured tightly, so she was forced to resort to kicking, yelling and if she had the chance, biting. "You yak-brains."

"Everyone quiet!" Hiccup yelled, earning the attention of rather surprised trappers. All but one, Eret calmly climbed onto Stormfly, standing in the horn of the dragon. Earning an angry glare from Astrid. "Well well well, what do we have here?" He said sarcastically as he looked at the riders and the dragons that stood behind them. A Skrill, a Nightfury and a Shockjaw, two tricky dragons and one impossible one, they could surely redeem themselves with those.

"Well well well, would you look at that." Eret began, stepping off Stormfly and calmly observing the foreign warriors. "Looks like our luck turned for the better lads, I bet Drago Bludvist will be pleased with those in his army."

Hiccup winced as he heard the name drop, it confirmed that these men here were part of the Templar organization, although there were no Templar symbols anywhere. What troubled him the most though, was that Astrid and Heather were with them, and they hadn't told them about that part.

"A Skrill and a Nightfury." Eret continued. "You don't see that every day." He added as he nudged a fellow trapper next to him.

"We don't want any trouble." Ragnar said through gritted teeth. "But we'll make sure to give it to you if you try anything."

Eret looked at the two hooded men carefully, they had a mysterious and dangerous air around them. And he felt uneasy around them. "Where are my manners?" He said with a grin. "My name is Eret, son of Eret." He calmly continued a short walk across the stone dock, carefully keeping his eye on the other trappers that were getting into positions to capture the group of riders and their dragons.

"Tell your men to stand down." Hiccup said calmly, he felt that they were being surrounded, and the short glances that Eret was shooting at something behind them confirmed this suspicion. "We just want our friend and our dragon, and we'll be going."

"Sure." Eret said calmly, carefully looking at the foreigners. He felt like he knew them, he hadn't seen them, he'd surely remember that, but he felt like he had heard about them, somewhere. "Why don't we give you our food, and our ship, and while we're at it, would you take our heads?" He said sarcastically, pulling his sword out from behind his back, realising what he recognised the men as, he had overheard a conversation back at the camp. "We're dead without those dragons, Assassin."

Hiccup was surprised that some random trapper in the middle of nowhere knew who they were, but it was to be expected. They were the biggest threat to the plans of the Templars, so they'd probably warned all their men about their presence.

"Those are our dragons." Heather yelled as she struggled against her captors. Stomping het foot down on one of the two men's foot. But the thick leather boots prevented him from feeling much.

"Don't worry about it." Eret said calmly. "You can come with us." He gestured to the bunch of nets that lay behind him. "I'm sure Drago would be pleased to have the assassins presented to him."

"Or we could not do that." Hiccup said calmly. "Because I'm sure Drago would be irritated if he discovered that one of his little groups had been completely wiped out."

"Don't sweat it." Eret said as he signalled his men to take up arms. "Your heads will do."

"Bolt, warn them for us please." Ragnar said to the Skrill, who calmly walked up, using his wings as forelegs. Eret looked cautiously at the large dragon, wondering what it might do. The large dark dragon stood calmly on the stone, small flickers of electricity jumping between the spines on its back. It didn't take long for Eret to realise the danger. And luckily, most of the men did too.

They quickly threw their weapons on the ground before the dragon could fire its bolt of electricity. Which would fry anyone who was still holding the weapon.

"Could we please have our rider and our dragon back now?" Hiccup asked calmly, smiling at the annoyed look of Eret. "Because I see pretty of other metal things around here."

Eret gulped, the sheath of his blades were partially metal, his belt buckle, straps on the armour of many men, it was a death sentence to try anything. "Fine." He said, motioning the men behind him to push Heather towards the assassin. Ragnar caught her, preventing her from falling when she couldn't use her arms to catch herself. He quickly cut through her binds and allowed her to go back to her Dragon. "But don't expect to be holding on to them." He said with irritation as he motioned his men to step away from the tied Nadder, who immediately started squirming.

Astrid quickly stepped forward, cutting the binds of her dragon loose, calming the distressed dragon before removing the rope around the head. She wasn't afraid that she would hurt her, but she might lash out against her attackers.

"Calm girl." Astrid said to her dragon, leading het back to the safe place behind the two assassins. "Let's go home." She said, earning a joyful squawk.

She mounted her dragon, feeling like they wouldn't be spending much more time at the strange and destroyed camp. Heather did the same, petting Shimmer gently, happy to see that her dragon was unharmed.

"Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you." Ragnar said with a grin, pulling himself onto the back of Bolt, who purred softly as he gave him a scratch on the back.

"You won't be safe!" Eret yelled with a threatening tone. "Just wait until Drago wields Mjolnir."

"We'll be waiting." Hiccup said as he motioned for the others to take off, quickly following them.

The flight back was silent, calm and quiet. They flew close to the sea, making sure they flew as quickly as possible, in the front flew Hiccup and Ragnar, their dragons allowing them to stay a good distance away from the girls behind them, preventing them from hearing what they were discussing.

"Another piece of the lie is broken." Ragnar said calmly, having to raise his voice to make sure it reached above the whistle of the wind. He looked back at Astrid and Heather, seeing the two busily in conversation themselves. "Think they'll get mad?"

"It's not them I'm afraid of." Hiccup answered, opening the faceplate of his helmet to allow for easier conversation. "It's the rest of Berk."

"Why, they have no idea about anything." Ragnar calmly replied. "Just another lunatic running around the archipelago."

"I just got a bad feeling about this." He said as he looked back at the girls behind him. "But I also feel like we can't keep this between the four of us."

"Why?" Ragnar asked confused. "Not too difficult, is it?"

"Just feels bad." Hiccup replied. "I fear Berk is forced to get involved."

They landed inside Berk's hangar with a calm demeanour, acting like nothing had happened. They were quickly greeted by Stoick and Gobber. Who calmly walked towards the group with interest.

"Well?" Stoick asked, hoping to be able to bond better with his son if he showed more interest in his adventures. "How did it go?"

"It went, well." Hiccup said calmly. "I went really well."

"With well he means that I almost got my throat slid." Heather yelled as she dismounted shimmer, Ragnar wincing under her harsh tone. "And Astrid almost fell to her death."

Stoick looked at Hiccup questioningly. "Son?" He asked cautiously, he wanted to know the answer, but still feared that if he was too rough on Hiccup that he would flee again.

"We ran into some trappers." Hiccup explained. "Nothing we haven't seen before."

"Speak for yourself." Astrid said from Stormfly. "We hadn't seen them before."

"Trappers?" Stoick asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Like, animals."

"Dragons." Ragnar explained. "Dragon trappers."

"Worst kind of people you'll find, cunning and devious." Hiccup continued. "They don't care for the wellbeing of the dragon, if a wing gets cut or a fin is lost they just leave them for dead."

"But why would they be capturing the dragons." Stoick asked, the question directed to the entire group.

"We used to do the same." Gobber said. "Useful for training."

"Yes, but we didn't seek them out." Astrid said. "We didn't hunt them."

"Apparently they are building an army." Astrid said as she dismounted Stormfly. "For some dude with a strange name."

"An army?" Stoick asked confused, as he looked at Hiccup. "With dragons?"

"Well, we can't be sure." He began, trying to find a way out of it, sure he wanted to inform his dad about the whole ordeal, but this wasn't the perfect time. "I mean, it could be a metaphor."

"Sure." Heather said as she walked up to the group. "I bet Drago Bludvist will be pleased with those in his army." She said, trying to imitate Eret's voice.

Hiccup winced as Heather said that, and Stoick's face grew from semi-relaxed to extremely troubled, as he shot a stern look towards Hiccup. The assassin gulped softly under the gaze, even though he might be able to beat his father in a fight, he was still extremely intimidating. "Did you know?"

"I knew nothing about the dragon army." Hiccup said calmly, rasing his hands in defence, trying to avoid lying to his father.

"And Drago?" He asked sternly. "Did you know about Drago Bludvist?"

Hiccup diverted from his father's gaze. "Yes." He said.

Stoick looked out the hangar door, the large hatches that could be closed for storms and disasters were lowered to make it accessible for dragons and Vikings. He turned to Gobber. "Close it up." He said sternly. Gobber hurrying off to get people to work on shutting all the hatches off the hanger.

"What?" Hiccup asked confused, watching as the first of the smaller hatches was slowly pulled upwards to seal one of the openings on the side of the hangar. "You're grounding everyone?"

"Yes." Stoick said as he walked towards another villager, telling him to sound the horn that signals that all dragons are to get into the hangar. "I can't risk people running into Drago."

"I understand that he's dangerous, but why lock the island down." Hiccup argues. "You'll lose all advantages, the patrols, the ease of gathering recourses, a large part of the defence."

"I won't risk it." Stoick said as yet another smaller hatch closed. "I won't allow anyone to get hurt."

"Dad." Hiccup began. "Let's get out there, and find Drago." Hiccup said, blocking Stoick's path to make sure he had to listen. "He's building his army, he'll be vulnerable."

"And what?" Stoick asked as he shoved Hiccup to the side, continuing his path. "Convince brave Berkians to fight for something, to die for something that isn't their fight?"

"If you keep waiting here it will be your fight." Hiccup said sternly. "He'll come here, and he'll bring an army."

"We'll be ready." Stoick said sternly. "Now get your dragon into a pen."

Hiccup looked at him with a shocked expression. And it didn't take long for him to walk over to Toothless. He put his foot in the stirrup, and could hear his father behind him.

"Hiccup, don't you dare!" He yelled as he saw his sons look. He should have seen it coming. He shot a quick glance at some of the men who stood near the few doors that remained open, who were waiting for the last dragons to enter.

Hiccup looked at the door, which was now slowly being raised to close the final part of the hangar, which would safely keep all the dragons inside. He could also try to take the stairs that lead upwards to the town, but he would be sure to run into someone if they tried to stop him, and he would be in deep trouble with his dad if he was caught.

The villagers near the doors looked at him cautiously, they knew what he was planning, and although they respected their heir, Stoick was still the chief, and they would surely obey him if he asked something of them.

Hiccup swung himself further into the saddle, Ragnar further behind him doing the same. He had a good idea what Hiccup was planning, but he didn't know for certain. But he was prepared to follow him if he did something stupid, at least then the two of them would be able to do it together.

Hiccup slowly motioned Toothless to walk towards the opening of the hangar, the villagers near the exit looking at him warily. They had ropes, nets, bolas, and a lot more lying around in the hangar in case a dragon panicked or went wild. So he had to try his best to get out now that they were expecting him to do something.

"Hiccup!" He hear his father warn again as he slowly guided his dragon trough the large hallway that lead to the main door. Ragnar followed him calmly on Bolt's back. The villagers who guarded the doors were getting wary, the door was almost closed and they realised that if he was going to try something he was going to do it soon.

A soft thud was heard as the door closed, and the men who stood near is were clearly relieved. Stoick looked from a distance as he saw Hiccup grab for his sword, cursing to himself for thinking that it was done. It took a second of green gas as a small spark for a large cloud to be created inside the hangar, surrounding Hiccup completely. Ragnar jumped into it with Bolt, and when most of the surprise had worn off it was silent.

Stoick listened carefully what was happening, he could hear the soft sound of Hiccups sword extending, and he feared the worst. Hiccup wouldn't attack someone just to get out there would he? Stoick questioned. He was certain of it, but doubt began to creep up on him. Luckily this wasn't the case, since all he hear was a soft swoosh and then the sound of something creaking as it fell down, a light illuminating the smoke.

He understood, the smoke was a distraction, meanwhile they had cut the ropes that held the smaller doors to the side closed, causing it to fall down. He quickly ran towards it, pushing the other villagers aside who were still waiting around the smoke. As Stoick ran through the smoke he was shocked to discover that he almost tumbled off the edge of the Hangar, a small door being opened. And two smell specks growing smaller and smaller on the horizon.

AN:

I'm sorry it's small and late. :( (I know, same excuse as always is coming up)

Really, I've had too much trouble with this chapter than I'd like to admit, especially since I felt like I was done with the bad chapter spree. At least I once again update in the actual weekend, so this will also force me to have a clear moment when I reach the 2 week mark and have to write a new chapter. My mind has just been occupied with a lot of things.

Besides that I'd like to take a moment to pull everyone's attention away from reading fanfiction and over to a country that I like a lot and have friends living in, France.
I'm not going to go into too much details but I just want to say that I hope that French readers are all right and that I support you. France is going through a difficult time right now and I just hope that everyone will be alright there. I don't know what to really say about it, I just hope that everything will go well soon.

Anyway, onto some more fun or interesting news. I've started looking more into the next story, which is going to be a run-away AU with Hiccup starting his own tribe with a group of Nomads. If anyone would like to look over the plot or has tips or something, or in general would like to discuss writing related or other things, PM me.

Also, going to try the whole Tumblr thing again, this time with an actual proper account. I've made a blog called Internet-corner. You can easially find it by slapping Internet-corner in front of Tumblr . com

For now I just used it for a picture I drew of a tree and a photo of a bunker, but more is to follow. The tree is a work in progress and I have more photos of bunkers. My supply of content is pretty limited.

But it might be a fun way to interact with the community a bit more.

Take Care

- R4y