"Hey, wake up."

The words permeated her dream. Nightmare really. It was the sight and sound of her colleague's death.

He wasn't actually her colleague, merely part of her cover, but the sight was unpleasant enough that she woke up quickly as if her brain itself wanted to escape the memory that was playing on repeat.

"Hey. Hey! Stop screaming! You're safe now," the same voice she had heard earlier, asserted firmly.

Her wide eyes locked with others that were green in colour, and she felt her hands gripped at the wrist by calloused skin. She tried to pull away, only for the grip on her wrists to tighten.

Left with no other choice, she stopped struggling, prompting her captor to slowly let go.

"So," green eyes - what she chose to name him - pulled off his balaclava to reveal long auburn hair and a welcoming smile. "Welcome to your ticket back home to Denmark, Draugr. I'll be your escort and these are my assistants. You may call me Fury for the duration of our time together. It's nice to finally meet you face to face."

"You're the people sent by the DDIS?"

"Yes. So, shall we begin your journey?"

"Yes please. If I have to stay here any longer, I think I'll hurl."

"I'll get a bucket ready just in case you do indeed throw up. Let's move out, ladies and gentlemen."

…

Aage No-Name watched as a couple strolled up to the nightclub across the street from his car.

The limo that said couple had just exited, drove away, as they approached the bouncer, who already had the door open for them.

It was at that moment that Aage's earpiece came to life. "Aage. we're on our way over to you now. Has the situation changed?"

"Negative. The target has arrived with some girl, but everything else is the same."

"Roger that. Hold position until we arrive."

"Copy that."

After saying so, however, Aage pulled out the earpiece and tucked it in the collar of his jacket so that it wasn't immediately visible.

Time to do something I call 'dangerously brave' He thought as he got out of his car and approached the bouncer, not in the mood to wait for his friend and the others to arrive. "Room for one more?"

"Beat it. This is a private club."

"I think we can work something out," Aage responded, unzipping his jacket as he spoke.

All too quickly the bouncer was visibly afraid and uncertain about what to do.

Therefore, Aage decided to help him out. "Bring me to your boss; the man who just arrived or this will be your last day on this earth."

Faced with a man with explosives strapped to his torso joker style, the bouncer was quick to acquiesce to the request.

…

"As you know I am prepared to kill everyone in this room. But I am also prepared to come to an agreement, Dan. What say you?"

The room the bouncer led Aage to was small-ish and lit with lights that glowed orange. This, as well as armchairs placed around the head of the table where they sat, helped to establish a cosy feeling in the room.

"I say the prodigal son returns," said Dan before turning to his female companion. "Jane, shall we hear him out?"

"Yes."

"Alright. No-Name, what do you want exactly?"

…

"Well now I can cross 'meeting a sleeper agent' off my to-do list'. Go me. Aage, we're on our way over to you now. Has the situation changed?"

"Negative. The target has arrived with some girl, but everything else is the same."

"Roger that. Hold position until we arrive."

"Copy that."

Bekker, who was beside him in the car, took out her earpiece. "Think he'll stay put?"

Hiccup did the same before replying. "Helheim no. Not with bombs strapped to his body. I know my friend; and I would be willing to bet that he's making a move on Dan right now."

"So why did you want to bring him along?"

"Because I thought he deserved a chance for revenge. As long as Dan dies tonight, or we nab him, I don't care how it happens."

"So… should we hold back for now? Let him do his thing? Assuming you're right about that, in the first place."

"If by 'hold back' you mean be ready to intervene if he tries something and it goes wrong in any way, then yes. We'll definitely hold back."

He put his earpiece back in, and after a few seconds, Bekker did the same. "Ludvig. Rebecca. Anything changed on your end?"

"Nothing so far. Should we join you and Bekker?"

"Negative. Observe for now but be ready to shoot if the target shows up near you. Don't move unless I myself give the word. Not even if Aage or anyone else calls for help."

"Roger that. Rebecca out."

"Ludvig out."

…

By this point, in addition to the explosives on his person, Aage had drawn a pistol, which was pointed at Dan's heart.

"What do I want? Well I'm supposed to want you dead. But paradoxically, I don't want to kill you, despite what you people did to me, my mission and the fact I'm a trained killer."

"Certainly sounds paradoxical," Dan mused.

"It gets worse."

"How?"

"I'm not the most stringent when it comes to my beliefs, and clearly neither are my parents, but the three of us are what you would call, Christians."

"Really. You three. They believe in and raised you Christian. With what I know about your parents in particular, I find that quite hard to believe."

"Yes. With that being the case, I was quite angry when I found out I was effectively abandoned by them. I want them dead, but I'm never going to pull the trigger. I would like to leave that up to you."

"Because… because you don't want to break one of those ten rules."

"Give the man a prize. Do it, and I can leave and we pretend I was never here. You will need to disappear however. A friend of mine wants you dead."

"Your proposal sounds interesting.. Let's go over the details now. First of all, what's in it for me?"

"That's the ultimate question, isn't it?"

…

Once all was said and done, Aage left the building the same way he came, with the addition of Dan of course.

"Is the gun really necessary?" Dan questioned, glancing at the pistol pressed to his side. "I'm not the sort of crook to run at a time like this."

"It matters for appearance sake," said Aage.

Dan fell silent as they crossed the street and approached a waiting Hiccup and Bekker, the latter of whom then took Dan's arm, allowing Aage to step away.

"Well hello…" Dan said to Bekker. "You new here?"

Bekker rolled her eyes. "Hiccup, open a door so I don't need to listen to him."

Hiccup did so, Bekker forced Dan inside and the door was shut again.

"So since you did most of the work, do you want to handle the mission log or shall I?"

Aage was quick to nod. "I'll do it. You two make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

"Alright."

So Hiccup handed Aage his phone and both he and Bekker took up residence in the car.

"Mission log whatever-number-this-is. Speaker: Aage No-Name. Target is detained and ready for transfer to Denmark. Target was as cooperative as expected when faced with his potential death. Discuss the degree of possibility of retaliation by way of his cohorts. When such a thing does occur, it is my recommendation that the target does not live to be rescued and in fact should be dealt with, within 48 hours of his arrival in Denmark; assuming the target is forthcoming with relevant information. If not, may he die with his secrets and may the entire rotten business be concluded, so that no other individual - soldier or otherwise, should experience what I have. End of Mission Log, date October 2021."

Aage stopped the recording there.

Now let's just hope that my parents will be the last to die in Berk in this way. May God see to it that everyone else on that frozen island dies of old age, instead of being murdered by some fucking gun smugglers.

Aage then got in the car, in the backseat beside Dan and handed Hiccup back his phone. A short while later, they were off on their way; the start of their journey back to Denmark.

Dan, you have no idea what's coming.

Aage's thoughts proved to tempt fate, as Hiccup's phone started ringing in his pocket.

Awkwardly fishing it out, Hiccup passed it to Bekker, who put the call on speaker.

"Fishman?"

"Kai, what is it?"

"Our guest. She attacked Frederick. He's dead! I turned my back and she must have got a gun from an ankle holster or something, because neither of us expected it. She shot him under the chin then knocked me out with it. I was too slow to react… it's all my fault!"

By the end, she sounded on the verge of being hysterical. "It is not your fault. It's mine if anything. I was the one to search her first, remember? So just hang tight for now. Grab a shotgun if she comes back. You have my permission to cave her head in if she is that stupid as to return. Got that?" Hiccup's words provided no room for argument.

"Y-yeah… I… I'm going to do that right now. Come back soon, boss."

"Fuck Johann," Hiccup hissed once Bekker ended the call. "He was the one who told me about her. He knew. And I listened to him. I'm going to…"

"Save your thoughts for later, Hiccup. We need to find her," Aage urged.

"We already know where she is," said Bekker. "She's with Kai. Or at least close to her."

"How do you know?"

"The only way she can get to Denmark is with us. If she goes it alone, then she'll likely be on the run from the DDIS for the rest of her life. If not the Jaeger Corps for killing one of their own. So, she'll wait for us to come back and explain her actions so that she can leave with us and not get hounded immediately. So it's in her best interest to stick close to where Kai is, watch us arrive and act accordingly to stay on our, and the DDIS by extension, good side."

"Give ketchup-top a prize. Now when we get back, you three are staying put."

Bekker's head moved fast enough to give her whiplash, and she wasn't the only one who was incredulous at Hiccup's words. "Like hell we are. You need backup."

"This was on me. I should have searched her for weapons. Would have, if I thought she was even slightly not on our side. So with the benefit of hindsight; never assume anything."

"We all made that mistake. None of us searched her for weapons. She might not have even had a weapon. She could have taken Frederick's gun and shot him with it. He could have been unprepared; Kai said as much, but we don't know for sure how it happened yet. So, like I said, we're all going in."

"No. Blame me or don't, but this is my mess, so I'm going to clean it up alone."

Though Bekker wanted to say more, she ultimately didn't, so the car fizzled into an uncomfortable silence until they arrived at their hideout.

There, true to his words, Hiccup was out with his gun ready in a flash, pausing to lock the car doors with the key fob. Then he was marching up to the door but slowing at the last moment to push the door open.

Then he was inside, and his compatriots could do nought but wait for his return. And so Aage decided to reflect on a past event.

…

"Your proposal sounds interesting. Let's go over the details now. Firstly, what's in it for me?"

"That's the ultimate question, isn't it? Allow me to answer it then. I can give you what any crook wants: protection from the authorities. In this case, the DDIS."

"Why would you do that? Isn't your friend with them?"

"He is, yes."

"Then why?"

"Because, Dan dearest, not everyone in the DDIS is my friend. By extension, not everyone on Berk is my friend, and I've got a whole lot of repressed anger to work through, thanks to my parents. You can figure out the rest, I'm sure. Now before we go over the finer details of this agreement of ours, allow me to call my aforementioned friend to bring you in."

"Excuse me?"

"The alternative is your death. It's no substitute for being detained, my friend. If you want, go talk to your girlfriend before I do anything. Ten minutes sound good? It's the perfect amount of time for you both to say your goodbyes."