Welcome back! Quite a bit of action going on in the previous chapters, this one is much more dialogue heavy, but fret not, the one after this should be a little more lively. There's also a new character addition this chapter, so get excited :D
Chapter 11: What's the Story?
Astrid carefully lowered the gun until it was pointed to the ground, still keeping both hands holding onto it firmly, finger on the trigger. "It's you," She said, staring at him. "From the attack," Hiccup nodded, hands still in the air. "Who are you?"
"Just an aqu-"
"Acquaintance, right, you said that before," She said as she looked him over. "I was hoping for something a little bit more descriptive,"
Hiccup hesitated. "...I can't really say more,"
"How did you know they would be here?"
He pointed up to the sky with one hand. "I was watching from above,"
Astrid glanced back at Toothless. "On him?" Hiccup nodded. "And who exactly is him?"
"His name is Toothless,"
She shot him a quizzical look. "...Toothless?...Okay, where did Toothless come from?"
"Can't really say more about that either,"
Astrid scowled at him. "Not much into sharing are you?"
"Not really," He replied, lowering his hands.
She looked over at the street. "I guess I owe you at least this much; I was wearing a tracking device, so it's best you leave now, before the police arrive," Astrid then relaxed her hands and moved off to the side to let him get to Toothless. Hiccup quickly walked over to Toothless and mounted him, attaching the bungee cord to his belt. "Wait," She said before Hiccup could fly off. "If you have any interest in stopping these men, meet me on the rooftop of the Terror Mail building, same time next week,"
Hiccup just looked at her for a few seconds, then flew off into the sky without replying. As he made his way back to the scrapyard he saw the flashing lights of the police cars rushing towards the warehouse where Astrid was. He wasn't sure if he was going to meet her, when he built Toothless' tail fin, crime fighting was not what he had in mind for him. But on the other hand, he didn't want to just leave everything to Astrid, Hiccup knew she would continue doing what she was doing with or without him, and that's what concerned him. Astrid was a little too much like her uncle; willing to do anything to achieve her goals, even if it meant endangering herself. Clearly this attitude had not left Finn in the best situation, and he was worried about how it would leave Astrid.
"Hey! I almost forgot you were still here," Tuffnut called out as Hiccup walked towards his car, his duffle bag in hand. "Did you see the news yet?"
Hiccup wasn't sure he wanted to see it, "...News?"
"Yeah, check it out," He said, holding up his phone for Hiccup to see. The screen showed helicopter footage of him and Toothless flying around in the sky, and various cellphone videos of them swooping around over the streets. "A bunch of people saw this just a little while ago, it's totally insane right? People are seriously freaking out about that weird monster thing, nobody knows what it is,"
He just nodded his head. "Yeah, that's...something alight,"
Tuffnut turned the phone back to himself and continued scrolling. "I also read some people saying that this guy might be involved in the attack on the lab,"
Hiccup furrowed his brows. "What?!" he said grabbing the phone from Tuffnut. "Who said that?" He scanned over the article until he hit the line in question.
"Sources say that the mysterious flying creature was present during the recent attack on The Berk Central Research Lab, this concerns many, as crime in Berk is already at an all time high without the addition of a flying monster." Astrid read out loud. "How could you publish this garbage? He wasn't involved in the attack, he was there trying to prevent it!" She yelled, slamming her hands down onto the desk. "I was there, you know I was there, why didn't you ask me if this was true before giving the go ahead on misinformation like this?"
"It's not misinformation, it's speculation, and you can't presume to know this guy's intentions just because you were there during the attack," He replied, taking a sip from his coffee mug. "Besides, you know we like to get articles on major events out as soon as we can, if I stopped to ask for your opinion every time I published something, Terror Mail wouldn't be the number one news site in Berk," He turned back towards his computer screen and continued working. "If you want to write an article about this then go ahead and submit one, but I'm the editor-in-chief, and I decide whether or not something is worth publishing, not you,"
Astrid growled with frustration, and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her as she went. She stalked back to her desk and dropped into her chair with a grunt.
"I told you he wasn't going to care," A voice said from above her. "His nickname is Magnus the Merciless for a reason,"
Astrid looked up to find one of her co-workers, Heather, leaning over the cubicle wall that separated their desks. Heather was pretty, young woman with a slender physique, emerald green eyes, and long dark hair, usually done up in a braid. The two had met a few years earlier, when Heather began working at Terror Mail. "And I told you I'm telling him the truth even if nobody believes me, that's what being a journalist is about," Astrid huffed, crossing her arms.
"Just write a counter article, you're a better writer than that douche Harek anyway," Heather said. "Magnus might be difficult, but he knows your articles always do the best, so he'll definitely publish it,"
Astrid sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I don't think I should, I'd rather not put any more attention on him than necessary,"
Heather moved out of her cubicle and into Astrid's, sitting on the edge of her desk. "Right, because you're trying to work with him…" She said nodding. "But don't you think writing a positive article about him will make him more likely to show up next week?"
"Uh, you want me to research and write an entire article in less than six days? I actually care about quality over quantity, unlike everybody else working here," Astrid said looking over at her friend. "Plus, I've already got enough to do, I finally have the location of the outcast's hideout thanks to the tracker I planted. Speaking of which, have you checked if they moved at all?"
Heather rolled her eyes. "No, not since an hour ago, you need to relax, they've been in the same spot for the last twelve hours, he's not going anywhere," She said sticking her hand into her pocket and pulling out her phone, then looking down at it. "Yeah, he's still there,"
"Good," Astrid said. "Now I need to start figuring out how to get the plans from them, I don't have time to start writing a whole new article right now,"
Heather nodded. "Okay, I hear you, but how exactly are you going to break into their hideout without that flying guy's help? Not that I don't have confidence in your abilities or anything, but I doubt you alone is enough to get past a bunch of trained thugs with guns," Astrid scowled and bit her lip. "Listen, I just finished my last piece yesterday, why don't we write the article together?"
"You don't write about crime,"
Heather shrugged and stood up. "Well, we're not writing about crime, we're writing about…" She paused in thought for a few seconds. "The Fabulous Night Rider!" She said moving her hands in emphasis as she looked off into the distance.
Astrid furrowed her eyebrows. "The what…?"
"Look, you have to market him correctly, right now everybody thinks of him as 'that guy on the flying monster' super negative, not catchy at all. But if we replace that with something cool and catchy, that's what everyone will remember," Heather explained. "So…The Fabulous Night Rider!"
Astrid wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "I don't know about that name, the word fabulous, it's a little fashion runway don't you think? I mean we still want him to seem a little intimidating. What about something like amazing? Or fantastic?"
"Okay, The Fantastic Night Rider! Is that better?"
She looked up and squinted her eyes in thought. "Hmmm, it's still not quite right, maybe something more like…"
"The Fantastic Night Fury?!" Fishlegs exclaimed as he started at the computer screen from over Hiccup's shoulder. "It hasn't even been a week, and you've already got nicknames from the press," He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look at this, on Terror Mail alone, you've got four articles already written about you, and that's not even mentioning the other news sites," Hiccup scrolled to the top of the page and looked at the writers credited to the article, the first person listed was Astrid Hofferson, he couldn't help but smile to himself. Of all the articles written about him, hers was the most positive. "Are you listening to me?"
He jerked his head around to look at Fishlegs. "What?"
"This is serious Hiccup," He exclaimed "You need to stop taking Toothless out into public like this, you're going to get yourself caught,"
"What was I supposed to do? Just let them kidnap Astrid?"
"I know you have a thing for Astrid, but stuff like this, that's what the police are for," He said waving his arms around dramatically. "Next time you should just call the police,"
"Oh come on," Hiccup groaned turning away from his friend. "You know how unreliable they are, they're never fast enough to prevent this stuff, if I hadn't showed up when I did, who knows what would've happened,"
Fishlegs crossed his arms. "You know exactly what would've happened, you told me she had a tracking device on her, so the police would have been able to find her eventually, she would've been fine,"
"Maybe...but I'm not willing to take that chance," Hiccup said getting up and moving out of his chair. "I've got to help her,"
"Well you did, twice," He huffed, sitting down on the sofa nearby.
Hiccup shook his head. "No...she asked me to help her, and I think I should do it,"
Fishlegs jumped back to his feet and stared at him in utter shock. "What are you talking about? What did she ask you to help with? You can't keep meeting her while in disguise, what if she figures out it's you?!"
"They have part of the plans, Fish, if they manage to get the rest and build the machine, I don't know what'll happen, to Berk or to the other creatures," Hiccup said sighing and sitting down into an armchair by the window in his apartment. "We were already concerned about Finn having access to the dragons, now it's criminals, we can't just sit back and do nothing,"
"Finn is a scientist, he has decades of experience with engineering, biology, physics, he could've easily figured out how to return the dragons to their full size. Those criminals...I'm not even confident they can recreate the machine themselves let alone figure out what to do with the dragons if they get them," Fishlegs said. "Plus, and I have to stress this again, dealing with criminals is a job for the police, not you,"
"...And if the police can't handle it?" Fishlegs just stared at Hiccup and didn't say anything. "I know you're just trying to keep me out of trouble, but I have to do this. Maybe the chances are low, but if those men figure out how to get the dragons to their full size, there's no way the police are going to be able to deal with it on their own," Hiccup stared at his friend from across the room. "I have to do this,"
The sun began dipping below the horizon, and Astrid watched from the rooftop. The city was dazzling from high up, especially when all the lights began to turn on. She rested her arms on the metal railing that framed the roof as she watched the sky turn orange, and then to black. A heavy gust of wind hit her from behind and she turned around to find both Hiccup and Toothless standing behind her.
She smiled and crossed her arms. "So you decided to show, did you?"
He shrugged. "I figured I owed you one,"
"Because I told you about the police? Or because of the article?"
"A little of both,"
"And here I thought you came because you were interested in stopping those criminals,"
"Well, that too,"
Astrid approached, keeping a close eye on Toothless as he sniffed around and cleaned himself. "I know where they are, I put a tracker on their leader last week when I was at the warehouse, he's moved a few times but he keeps returning to the same location. I think that's where their main hideout is," She explained to him. "I could give this tip to the police, but something tells me I'll have better luck with you,"
He nodded. "Alright, and what exactly do you want me to do?" Hiccup was pretty certain he knew what she wanted him to help her with, but he had to play dumb, after all, he wasn't supposed to be Hiccup right now, he was; "The Fantastic Night Fury".
"I need you to get me in there, they have some very important documents with them, these documents could be extremely dangerous if they're able to use them," She explained. "The attack at the lab, the first time we met, that was when they stole the documents, I need to get them back,"
"And what exactly is your plan to get in there?"
"You are my plan to get in there,"
Hiccup pressed his lips together anxiously. "I know that this is a serious situation, and while Toothless is very strong, he's not bulletproof. If we just fly straight into their base...without knowing how many men are inside, he could get seriously hurt,"
Astrid nodded and glanced off into the distance in thought. "How far can Toothless shoot?"
"...How far? Uh, I'm not completely sure, pretty far anyway,"
"Farther than a gun can shoot?"
Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "You want us to just shoot at the building?"
"If you can blast a hole in the building like you did last time, and distract the men from above, I can get in there to look for the documents," She explained. "Do you think you'd be able to do that from a safe distance?"
"Probably...but are you planning on going in there alone?"
Astrid nodded "It's better if I go alone, someone else would just slow me down, and we don't need any more liabilities. Besides, I'm not planning on fighting my way in, if you can create enough of a distraction, I'll have no problem getting in and out unseen," Hiccup didn't say anything, he didn't like the way that this was going. He wanted to help out so that Astrid would be in less danger, not so he could help put her in even more danger. "Look, if you're not up for the task, just say so, because I don't have time to just stand around if this isn't going to go anywhere," She said moving for the exit.
"Wait!" Hiccup called out. "Wait, I'll do it,"
Astrid stopped and looked back at him, she looked less than convinced by this. "You don't have any obligation to help me, I understand that you just want to keep your...whatever he is safe,"
Hiccup shook his head. "No, no it's not that, it's a good plan, Toothless will be fine," He said. "It's more you that I'm worried about, they've already tried kidnapping you twice, and to just walk into their base like that...I don't know if it's a good idea,"
She smirked at him. "You're worried about me? That's sweet of you," Hiccup blushed and thanked the gods that she couldn't see it behind the helmet. "Well you don't need to be worried, even if they catch me, they're not going to do anything. They want to know where my uncle is and until I tell them, I'm still valuable to them, so they can't kill me," Astrid said, turning around to properly face him. "And anyway, getting these documents is our best move, the only reason why they want to find my uncle is so he can help them build the machine. If the plans are stolen from them, they won't be able to build it either way, and they'll have no reason to come after me,"
Hiccup nodded reluctantly. "I suppose you're right,"
"I'm glad you agree, so what would be the best way to contact you?" Astrid asked pulling out her phone. "Email or phone?"
"...I don't have...either of those so…" He didn't know what else to say, Astrid already had his phone number as "Hiccup" and even if she didn't, he knew she was a pro at investigation. Any contact information he gave her could lead to her discovering his true identity.
Astrid crossed her arms, and shot him a skeptical expression. "You don't have a phone or a computer?"
"...No."
She looked back down at her phone, unlocking it. "Well how about I give you my number and you can…" She suddenly stopped mid-sentence and stared at her phone, brows furrowed and eyes darting across the screen.
"What is it?"
Astrid pressed a few buttons on her phone before pressing it to her ear. "When?...Why now? Is it the...really? The office?" She rushed to the edge of the roof and looked out at the streets below. "I don't...how long? No, don't...he is," She said, glancing over at Hiccup. "I think so...well I guess we'll find out, okay, bye," Astrid hung up the phone and turned towards Hiccup "What are you doing after this?"
Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "...Why?"
"We should go there now, a large group of men have left their hideout, so this is the best time for us to ambush them,"
"Now? Ambush? How do you even know this?"
Astrid continued to look down at the streets from the roof. "I set up a few cameras around the perimeter, and I had someone watching for me, she said they left just a little while ago, so if we're going, we should go now."
"Shouldn't we prepare a plan first? And why do you keep looking down at the street like that?"
"I'm looking down at the street, because I have reason to believe the men that just left are coming here," She replied.
"...Here? Here, here?"
"Yes, here,"
Hiccup rushed to the ledge and looked down, everything seemed normal, and he couldn't spot any cars stopping near the front of the building. "How do you know about this?"
"I don't, I just know that there's been someone trailing me all week, and the men who just left are moving in this direction," Astrid explained. "This is the first time I've stayed at work after hours since the incident, they likely think that they have a chance to get me while the building is mostly empty,"
"Aren't you supposed to have a police escort?"
She looked over at him. "Yeah, because that stopped them last time..but yes, they're downstairs,"
Hiccup looked over at Toothless, then back to Astrid. "Alright, but you need to hold on really tight, I don't have anything to hold you to his saddle," She nodded, and he walked over to Toothless, who was resting by the door. "It's time to get to work, bud," Hiccup then mounted Toothless, attaching the bungee cord to his belt. Astrid approached slowly, even though she had gotten somewhat used to Toothless' existence, she was still a fair bit cautious around him. "He won't hurt you, I promise,"
Astrid smiled at Hiccup as she moved closer. "That's good to know," He stretched out a hand for her to take, and when she took it, he heaved her up onto Toothless' back. Astrid then circled her arms around his waist and leaned into him. It reminded him a little of when he rode on her motorcycle, and he could feel her heavy heartbeat against his back, though even now his was just as heavy as hers. "Okay," She said, indicating she was ready to go.
"Okay," He echoed, before Toothless took off into the air.
Please make sure to leave a review on your way out, I love reading all of your feedback. Let me know how you feel about the different jobs I've given all the characters, I had a especially hard time figuring out what kind of job Astrid should have, so I'd really like to hear what you think of what I ended up choosing. Thanks for reading!
