A silver VW Golf was parked on the street outside a specific house.

The driver had reclined their seat back so that nobody could see them, and if anyone wandered near, they would assume said driver had just woken up.

That was not the case, but Bekker did have her eyes partially closed to sell the idea.

Her phone was propped up against the lower half of the steering wheel and on her stomach, held in place with her hand as well; a multitude of texts displayed on the screen, which she observed through her eyelashes.

When she had been ditched at her parent's home by Hiccup, she hadn't been cut off by any means from her friends. One friend, in particular, had been in near constant contact.

However, as she scrolled through the more recent texts from said friend, the tone had shifted from friendly conversation to more accusatory, to understanding and a plea for help last of all.

It was because of the latter that she was here now, after receiving the request the night before.

She had set off at first light and was here now, waiting for her moment.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she became aware that someone was watching her.

And they were close.

She blinked, then squinted while staring straight ahead, adding in a fake yawn for good measure before glancing around.

One Viggo Grimborn was gazing at her intently, standing on the pavement at the window closest to her, a hand poised to knock on said window, which he smoothly retracted.

She fumbled with her seat, getting it back into an upright position. Then, she opened the door. "Hey! What do you want? I'm trying to sleep here!"

Before arriving in Berk, she had changed her appearance. Her hair was dyed black and fashioned into pigtails, she had a nose and lip piercing and she had procured a fallout boy shirt and skinny jeans.

Immediately after opening the door and responding as if angry, her left hand grasped for an energy drink; one of the six in a pack on the passenger's seat to sell the look she was going for. Only three remained, including the can in her hand; the empty three crumpled and littered the seat behind hers as other objects already took up the other backseat.

Viggo frowned distastefully at her harsh words. "I don't want some hipster loitering outside my house, please leave, miss…?"

"Free country last time I checked, pal," said Bekker, flipping Viggo off as she spoke.

He rolled his eyes, irritably, then sighed and turned away. "Don't be here when I get back or you can explain yourself to the police."

Bekker reached back again. "Hold on, let's talk about this."

He faced her again. "I don't see what else there is to say."

"Just this," said Bekker, as she brought her gun around and shot him three times, once in the head and twice in the chest, directly where his heart resided.

"Cami sends her regards," she proclaimed, tossing the gun aside before she sped away, tires squealing and ducking when Torben, having heard the shots, burst from the door of the house and fired after her.

The rearview mirror shattered, and she sighed after straightening up again, once her car was out of view of the recent ex-employee.

A couple of minutes of driving later, Bekker came to a stop, parking in the middle of a rusting industrial estate.

She got out, taking the last of the six-pack, gun and two grenades out, then walking away as an electromagnet descended, lifting the car into the nearby crusher.

Striding over to Cami, she offered a can of energy drink. "Want this?"

"Sure," Cami accepted and Bekker took one as well. "Thanks for your help by the way."

Bekker nodded idly, silent with her eyes focused on the crusher as the car was dropped in and the screech of metal reached them both a few seconds later. "You're welcome. So about Europcar…"

"I'll take care of that for you. You scratched my back so I'll scratch yours. Having said that, you might want to lie low for a while. Just in case the DDIS decides to look into Viggo's death."

Bekker handed Cami the gun and both grenades before she turned away. "Don't need to tell me twice."

…

Hiccup plopped himself into a seat and picked up the telephone. On the other side of the glass, his visitor did the same.

"We meet, at last, Mr Haddock."

"Hello. Now, who are you?"

"Sigrid's boss. Johann's replacement. Call me what you will, but I prefer Else Frost."

Hiccup gave a nod. "Okay."

"Not to be confused with a certain Disney princess. Just gotta make that clear for the author's beta. Now then, I have questions."

Hiccup blinked. "Okay, but what did you say before that-"

"-How did you kill my predecessor? From what I've read about you; it's no surprise that you could, but I want to know the steps."

"Why?"

"So I can get to the bottom of your beef with him. And of course find out how you think. Can't read that from your dossier."

Hiccup stared for a long moment and then smiled. "Are you being honest or is that a distraction?"

"Honesty does seem like the best approach concerning you."

"Else, please, you'll make me blush. Alright, Johann was an idiot. A complacent idiot. He couldn't do his job right, so he had to go."

"Is that all?"

"Yes. I'm not one to lie about things like this. Actually, since you were honest before, how about we make a pact, you and I; Never to lie to each other."

"No disagreement here. My next question is about the leak."

"The leak?"

"Your friend, Fishlegs Ingerman, leaked sensitive information yesterday morning, more or less coinciding with the time you were sent away to end up here. Are you saying you didn't know about the leak?"

"No, I was clarifying which leak you meant. My friend has the keys to the kingdom if you catch my meaning. Or at least he claimed as much, several months ago. I suspect more leaks will occur, but that's out of my hands now. Next question?"

"You don't know where Fishlegs is headed? He left Berk. His parents, a former technician of ours who you met and the daughter of the previous mayor did as well."

"No, I don't know where they're headed. Nor do I know where Ludvig, Rebecca or Aage No-Name are headed either. I would however guess that they're all outside Denmark now. Next."

"Hmm. Why'd you turn yourself in, to begin with?"

"To weather the storm. Also, to be able to control what I tell you. If I was back home, you'd round me up and beat the info out of me. Here in prison, I can't leave, and you can't make me, because then it would get out to the media that a trained killer was released from prison, most likely due to being identified by paparazzi or some person with a phone one way. And they'd have a field day."

"…You've been planning this, for how long?"

"Four months or so ago; someone very close to me died. It could have been prevented were it not for Sigrid. That is why I do what I do. Nevertheless, nearly a year later, our plan was set into motion."

"I see. Final question: Sofie Bekker-"

"Is at her parent's house. Or she was, last we spoke. Next."

"-Killed Viggo Grimborn."

"…Fuck."

…

Astrid's police car pulled up next to a certain house. She got out and was guided by a man; one of the Forensics team, dressed head to toe in a white body suit and mask, so that neither he nor she would disturb the crime scene.

She knocked on the door, and when it opened, she smiled. "Are you Torben?"

The man nodded, then softly added, stepping aside and inviting her inside without words. "Yes."

"Nice to meet you, Torben. I'm officer Hofferson. You mentioned a drive-by shooting in your call. Can you tell me more about it?"

"The car was a silver Volkswagen Golf. Didn't see the driver too clearly but I know whoever it was had black hair. My boss was killed in the act."

"I see," Astrid made a note of this in a notepad, which she plucked from her back pocket. "And what was your occupation? I see you have a gun on your hip."

"I am, or was, a bodyguard."

"Alright. Do you recall the licence plate number at all?"

"No. It happened too fast."

"Okay. One final thing, and you won't be arrested for this so please answer truthfully, but did you discharge your gun at any point during the shooting? One neighbour said they heard gunfire on two occasions, those being the initial shooting and a single gunshot."

"I don't really recall. Sorry."

Astrid paused, stared at him and restrained a sigh. "Hmm. Alright, let us know if you see the car again. In the meantime, we'll keep an eye out."

Stepping out of the house and into her police car, she closed the driver's door and her phone started ringing in her pocket.

Perfect timing, whoever you are.

"Hello?"

"Astrid. Have you seen Cami? I need you to go find her."

"Hello to you too. Why do you need to find her?"

"Working theory, but she knows where Bekker is, right now."

"I see. And what makes you think that?"

"She's the only person who is connected enough to keep her 'off the grid'. It's not the DDIS because they're looking for Bekker, and it's not the police because they'll be looking for the car she used, and they wouldn't hide a criminal, even assuming they could, so it's her."

"You're certainly right about that second bit. Guess who's been tasked to find the car."

"You? Alright. Have you been to the old scrapyard?"

Astrid smiled. "Was going to. Just finished speaking to a witness. Great minds think alike, don't they?"

"Maybe, but mine is definitely less modest."

Astrid laughed. "Oi!"

"Deny it, I dare you. You know it's true. How soon can you check out the scrapyard?"

"Right now I think. My work here is done, it's just the Forensics team doing their thing right now."

"Alright, call me back if you find anything there. Then I'll talk to Bekker and see if she lets anything slip."

"Alright. If she says anything, I'll let Mala know as well."

"Roger that. I'll keep you posted."

"And if you find out where Bekker is, how should we approach it?"

"Leave that to me."

He hung up a second later, leaving Astrid with questions regarding what exactly he had in mind.

Sighing, she pocketed her phone and drove away. She had a car to find after all. No time for dwelling on her thoughts just yet.

On Hiccup's end, he was staring at the phone screen, having received a text shortly before hanging up on Astrid.

"Now this…" Hiccup held the phone so that Else could see. "This changes things, wouldn't you agree?"

…

Bekker's phone started ringing.

This was a bit of a problem, as she was in the shower at Cami's house, so she had to quickly finish showering, cross the room while drying her hair and body and snatch it up.

"Hey, Bekker. Surprised you'd pick up."

Bekker groaned. "It's you. Hiccup, what do you want? Make it quick or I'm hanging up."

"I've heard that you killed a man. So, let's talk about Viggo."

Bekker strapped on a bra that was too big, so removed it and simply grabbed a t-shirt. The bra and shirt both belonged to Cami, but she intended to go clothes shopping later so she reasoned it was fine. "Who told you?"

"A little birdie. I believe we had an agreement, that Viggo was off limits, starting from the point that he retired, unprompted."

She pulled up underwear and squeezed into jeans. "Then you're not quite in the know, then. I have it on good authority that he came out of retirement and killed someone we both know."

"Oh? Who, pray tell, might that be?"

She tugged on socks and shoes last of all. "A colleague of your ex."

"Anne?" Hiccup surmised. "Alright then. I'll concede that point. What I won't concede is this: you did a terrible job. Not at killing him, but covering it up."

She ran her hands through her damp locks. "I beg to fucking differ."

"Bekker, Johann's successor is here with me right now. She knows. I know. Astrid knows. Heck, she is looking for your car as we speak. You fucked up. The question is, what are you going to do to fix it?"

Bekker spared a glance to the window, suddenly uneasy. She approached it and glanced both ways but saw nothing. "How long do I have?"

"How would I know? I'm in prison across the country anyway. Can't help you."

"Prison? Your past catch up with you?"

"It might have done if I hadn't turned myself in. Still, waiting for an answer by the way? What will you do to fix it?"

"I'll keep you posted when I figure it out."

The siren of a police car became audible.

Bekker suddenly felt more uneasy. However, that feeling faded and was replaced by something else at Hiccup's next words.

"Might want to decide quickly. This call has been traced while we were talking and from the sounds of things, the police are on their way already. Maybe even my fiancé."

Bekker paced the room in search of a hair tie and a coat. "You bastard. You gave me up."

"You gave yourself up. You left a witness and a corpse on the pavement. Good fucking job. But we have worked together, which is why we're having this conversation at all. I advise you not to run by the way if Astrid shows up. She is on your side still. The rest of the police, however, probably won't be. Don't give them an excuse to shoot."

Bekker lunged for the door. "I don't intend to be caught, Hiccup. Conversation over."

She hung up, wrenched the door open and darted left, racing across the front lawn as a police car appeared at the far end of the street on the right, and another on the other end of the street.

Seeing this, and recognising her strong disadvantage concerning a chase against cars, she knelt, placed her hands behind her head and waited for the handcuffs to be placed on her wrists and hauled to stand up.

"Congratulations, Bekker. You're a criminal just like any other," sighed Astrid. "And not a particularly good one. Cami told us where you were," she added, as she led Bekker away.

"Fuck Cami. Fuck Hiccup. I got discarded twice."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Once, actually; Hiccup simply wanted you to visit your parents. You came back all on your own so everything you went through after that is on you."

In another part of the country, Hiccup handed Else back her phone. "I believe my work here is done. As a reward, please keep me posted on anything you find about Naja Bjorn. She's a friend of mine; an agent who went MIA."

"It shall be done. I swear on my life, Mr Haddock."

Nodding, Hiccup looked to the guard who was standing nearby, and had been present for a while. "Chaperone, which way is my cell from this yard?"