Hello lovely people! So a combination of a not so stellar day at work and a few of my favourite stories updating today encouraged me to finish writing and editing this chapter early. So tada! One or two days ahead of schedule, depending on where you live on this planet.
Due to an unfortunate internet situation, my beta reader (ADAMalchemist) is out of commission, so I was the only one editing this chapter. I hope I didn't leave too many mistakes...but anyways, without internet I know he is sad and I don't like it when my friends are sad. And you know what would make him happy? Having lots of nice reviews of his amazing story "Philophobia" to receive when he gets his internet back! (This is my story I'm allowed to do a little advertising in it XD)
OK, I'm done with the rambling! (At least till the end of the chapter)
It was almost an hour later that they pulled into an industrial complex that felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. Hiccup had considered jumping out when they had gotten off the freeway and hit the side streets, but the doors were locked and if he tried to unlock one the male twin would probably figure out what he was trying to do and stop him, possibly with some unfortunate consequences. And quite frankly even if he managed to get the door open he couldn't honestly convince himself that he would have the courage to jump. Besides, even on the freeway he had decided that probably the best way to get out of this alive was to cooperate, at least until he was left alone and had a chance to escape discreetly. That was what his mother had told him to do if he was ever in a situation like this, and she had been a smart woman and cop.
Hiccup looked around as they drove through the complex, and his eyes were greeted with unmaintained streets riddled with potholes, broken road and street signs that were illegible after who knows how many months or even years of abuse by the weather, abandoned buildings with wooden boards covering doors and windows, and overgrown grass and shrubbery. Plus, as if to make his view of the run down area even more cliché, it was starting to rain. Not too hard, but Hiccup could hear the faint impact of raindrops on the car roof.
Eventually they finally turned into the parking lot of an abandoned looking warehouse building. It was clear that the building used to be grey, but the paint was faded and peeling. Most of the letters in the company name on the side of the building were gone, with only a T, O, and S remaining. All of the windows were boarded up, just like most other buildings in the complex. Hiccup had no idea what the inside would look like, but if he was going inside hopefully it would look better than the outside.
The car drove to the back of the building, to where the large loading docks were. There was one that had a permanently constructed ramp leading up to the garage door, just large enough for a car to drive up. The car had to be readjusted a few times before it lined up perfectly with the narrow ramp, but eventually they were slowly driving up the incline. When the door blocked them from going any further, Ruffnut stopped the car and honked the horn three times.
It felt like 5 minutes had passed before anything happened. Five awkward, silent moments in the car with the twins. They weren't even bickering anymore which kind of surprised Hiccup. But finally the door opened just high enough for someone to duck out and walk up to the car. With the narrow ramp they had to walk sideways and at one point it almost looked like he was about to fall. At least the drop would have only been a few feet.
"What do you want?" the man asked, clearly not impressed with having to be out in the rain. He was short and pudgy and wore overalls, but that was all Hiccup could tell because he stayed out of the headlights and the shadows covered his face.
"What do you think we want idiot? We have Hiccup with us, now would you hurry up and let us in?" Ruffnut responded, clearly not impressed with being kept waiting.
"Don't talk to me like that," the man snapped as he poked not just his head but half of his body through the front window and into the car to look in the back seat. However even at this angle the shadows still danced across the man's face and prevented Hiccup from obtaining an accurate description. "Are you sure that's actually him?"
Ruffnut looked into the back seat before she said, "Oops, looks like we got the Queen of England instead! Stupid us Tuff." As the guy turned to her, most likely to comment on her sarcasm, he was greeted by a powerful slap to the face. The sound made even Hiccup flinch. "Of course that's him you idiot! Just compare him to the picture! Now hurry up and let us in!"
The man, rubbing his sore cheek and without saying another word, went back under the garage door and opened it the rest of the way from the inside. They drove in and Hiccup's jaw almost hit the floor.
The inside looked like a mechanic's garage, but this wasn't some type of cheap garage. Hiccup wasn't a car person, but these were cars pretty much everyone knows. The first cars on either side were a Ferrari and a Bugatti. Apparently the only spot to park was at the back of the garage, so that just gave Hiccup more opportunity to ogle some of the other cars. Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Bently, all the luxury car brands seemed to be there. There was even a Tesla.
Eventually they pulled into a spot at the back of the garage and both Ruffnut and Tuffnut got out after Ruffnut had unlocked the doors. Hiccup, deciding it would probably be best to get out as well, started reaching for his door only to have it pulled open by Tuffnut.
"Alright, let's hurry this up. As cool as this place is I want to get out of here sooner rather than later," he said.
Unfortunately Hiccup's time to ogle the cars was done, as the door into the other part of the building was right next to where Ruffnut had parked the car. Hiccup was lead through the doorway, up a flight of well-maintained dark wood stairs, and down the hall with the twins on either side of him.
Hiccup had to admit, with the way the inside of the building looked he would not have thought it was the same building that he had seen outside. Granted the garage area had cracked concrete floors, high ceilings with the steel beams exposed, and unpainted walls, but now they were walking down grand hallway with what appeared to be grey granite floors with black specks that sparkled and reflected the light from the chandeliers above, really nice art on the deep red walls, and a ceiling height that Hiccup estimated to be about 10 feet. Hiccup would almost think he had stepped into a luxury New York penthouse, not the other side of a beaten up warehouse.
Hiccup couldn't stop himself from looking around. The interior was too gorgeous to not stare at. Hiccup must have been conspicuous because Ruffnut took notice of his gawking.
"Yeah, definitely nice in here. He definitely put more work and money into his building than anyone else did theirs. And he's got good taste to boot. I wish I worked for him." Ruffnut seemed to be admiring the décor too, her eyes drifting between the paintings.
Hiccup took her possible distraction as an opportunity to try and divulge some information.
"So who do you work for? And who exactly is it that has good taste?" Hiccup tried to ask as calmly and nonchalantly as possible.
"We work, hey! Knock that off. We told you we can't tell you anything," Ruffnut said as she kept walking. Apparently Hiccup had taken a route that was a little too direct. He also had to wonder why Tuffnut was staying quiet this whole time.
They passed several doors along the hallway, all of which were closed and unlabelled. Hiccup let his mind wander, wondering just what was behind each closed door. What secrets lay behind each? What mysteries lay beyond the closed piece of wood? Hiccup didn't have much time to ponder before the twins came to a stop.
"Alright, here we are," Tuffnut stated.
"Are you sure it's this one?" Ruffnut asked.
"Uh, yeah, I think I can remember which door it is."
While the twins started another one of their arguments, Hiccup realized Ruffnut had a good point. The door they had stopped in front of looked exactly like all of the others. Brown, brass handle, wood, and a basic design where four rectangles were sunk into the wood. It wasn't even at the end of the hallway; it was right in the middle.
Deciding that the twins weren't going to stop arguing any time soon, Hiccup opened the door himself. When he walked in, he realized he was in an office. But this wasn't just any office; it was gorgeous. The room felt like it was almost the size of the entire apartment Hiccup lived in. It was a perfect square with something different on each wall, and a desk with three chairs in the middle. The desk was solid wood and beautifully carved with several different designs. There was nothing on the desk; no papers, no pens, no computer, nothing. The chair behind the desk was large and black leather, standing on wheels. The last two chairs, the ones on the close side of the desk, were large, comfy looking beige cloth armchairs. The walls were painted the same deep red as the hallway outside. The wall on his left had a massive gas fireplace, surrounded by intricate stone work and an open door just to the left of the fireplace revealing a bathroom. The wall with the door to the hallway on it housed several more gorgeous paintings. The wall on the right was a library, housing books on all topics, fiction and non-fiction. On second glance, however, Hiccup noticed that not a single book had its spine cracked. Finally, the last wall at the back was one large window, overlooking the garage that they had come into.
'Great,' Hiccup thought to himself, 'no windows, no way out, so I guess I'm stuck here. Though I guess I was stuck here anyways. Where would I go if I got out? I'm in the middle of nowhere. They'd probably get to me before I could get to help.'
Realizing there was no likely way of escape, Hiccup decided to just wait this whole thing out in the office. He could still hear the twins outside guarding the door, but he started looking over the books on the shelf. There really was everything. Hiccup saw everything from "War and Peace" to a book on public transit to a biography of Oprah Winfrey. After skimming the books, he went over to the window ogle the cars some more.
In the middle of looking at the cars, he suddenly noticed that the twins had stopped arguing, and another voice had joined them. Male, deep, and slightly familiar, but Hiccup couldn't quite place the voice.
"You're sure it's him?" the new voice asked.
"Well, he looks exactly like the picture and we found him in the area you said we would, so I'd assume."
"Okay, well I saw him going into the building last night after I met him…"
That was all Hiccup heard before his mind started to race again.
'Last night? Who did I meet last night? Who could have seen me going into my building? I mean last night I,' Hiccup stopped dead in his thoughts, eyes widening when it hit him. 'Toothless.'
It was then that Hiccup's mind started to reel, and his feet started to pace.
'That voice that was so familiar, it's Toothless. But what would he want to see me for? It must be about last night again. Does he think I told someone? Or worse, did he find out who my father is?' That last thought stopped Hiccup dead in his tracks and drained most of the colour from Hiccup's face. What if he thought he had gone to his father about the events he "witnessed" last night? That could only end badly.
Hiccup's thoughts were interrupted by the clicking of the door handle and the creaking of the hinges. To hide his face, he kept staring out the window. He didn't know what it would accomplish, but he seemed to want to do anything to not look at Toothless, even though he knew it wouldn't last.
The footsteps approached slowly, but they never seemed unsure. They continued until they were right beside him.
"Beautiful, aren't they? Took me years to collect them all. Although to be honest I don't think I've ever driven half of them." Yup, the voice was definitely Toothless. Hiccup knew he couldn't delay it any longer, especially with Toothless standing so close. He glanced over, only to find Toothless already looking at him. He was wearing the exact same type of suit as yesterday, the only difference was the colour of his shirt. The smile on his face was the exact opposite of the deep fear that Hiccup was trying to supress, seemingly showing a sense of genuine happiness to see the boy again.
"Hello Hiccup."
DUN DUN DUN! I wonder how many people just screamed at me XD. I'm sorry, but I love a good cliffhanger.
Next Chapter: On or before September 14
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