Welcome back! Thanks so much to all my followers, we have now reached 100 woo hoo! In a later scene I used some of my followers/reviewers usernames as commenters that Astrid reads. P.S. sorry to HiccupSkywalker, I was going to use your username as well but I thought it might be a little confusing since it contains Hiccup's name.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 17: Secrets Found, Secrets Kept
She sat down across from him, a stern, displeased scowl, eyebrows knitted together as she shuffled a small stack of papers out of her bag and onto the table. Once everything had been laid out, she folded her fingers together in front of herself and looked over at him. "These are the forms the lawyer was trying to show you...before you spat at her."
He shook his head indignantly. "I'm not signing that plea deal."
She slammed a hand on the table. "Listen, do you have any idea how ridiculously lucky you are? If dad wasn't the head of the crown attorney's office you wouldn't even have the option of this deal, you're getting away with just probation, do you want to serve jail time?"
"I can't snitch on them Heather, I can't."
Heather leaned back in her chair and groaned, hands covering her face. "Of all the things you could stay true to, this is what you choose? Some stupid gangster code?"
"It's not a gangster code, you have no idea what those guys are capable of, they won't take it lightly if I rat them out," he said. "And they won't just sit by, they'll retaliate, so everyone else knows what happens to people who talk."
"Do you think I'm a idiot? I read the police report, guns weren't even used when you stole all that money from the bank, they're not dangerous, and even if they were, with your track record, dad'll have a police tail on you for the next ten years."
He shook his head and leaned in towards her. "That's what you don't understand, they might be more discreet than the gangs but they're nothing to be scoffed at, these guys are nasty okay?"
"Dagur-"
"They don't mess around, and if I did anything they'd being going after you and dad first, not me."
That made her shiver. "What? Why would they do that?"
"To send a message, so that others won't try to betray them. They're not like Alvin, they're much, much worse."
"Alvin?" Heather's brows scrunched up slowly. "Alvin the Treacherous Alvin? The outcast's leader Alvin?"
Dagur's face fell, a mixture of terror and confusion. "How did you know that?"
She stood up abruptly. "Dagur...for the love of Thor, please tell me you're not involved with those scumbags, you do not understand the shit they're into."
"No, no, I'm not involved with them anymore, it's been-"
"Anymore?" Heather stared at him with wide eyes, horrified by what she was hearing. "When were you involved with them in the first place? You realize these are the people who kidnapped my best friend right?"
Dagur shook his head and waved his hands around. "They weren't going to hurt her, they just wanted Finn, that's all!"
"You...knew about that? Were you there when it happened?" He didn't speak, unsure of what to say to her. Heather took a slow step away from him, keeping her eyes glued to his face. "Did you know they were going to attack the lab?"
"Only a little, they didn't like to tell me much. I wasn't-"
"Only a little?" She spat back, voice bitter and angry. "But you knew, you knew. You could've warned them, you could've prevented all of this from happening!"
Dagur stood from his chair. "Heather, I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"No, you sit the fuck down," She said pointing towards his chair. "Or I'll call in the guards."
He complied, hands outward in a defensive position as he slowly returned to his seat. "Heather, Heather listen to me, I can't identify the men I worked with, please understand that. I'm doing this for you and dad, I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me."
"Yeah? That makes two of us," Heather said shaking her head, a disgusted look on her face. "Do you know the kind of shit those bastards are in? Do you have any idea what they stole, what they're trying to do with what they stole?"
Dagur's face began to drop, going from apologetic to solemn. "What do you know Heather? Where are you getting all this information from?"
"That's what you're worried about?"
"No, this is serious, don't get involved with this. The outcasts are one thing, but the brothers aren't screwing around, they won't-"
Heather narrowed her eyes at him. "The brothers? Is that their gang name or something?"
"Heather, no-" She turned around and banged on the door, the guard opened it almost immediately. "Heather, you have to listen to me, please!"
"Quiet," the guard said sternly, as Heather brushed past him and exited out to the hall.
She looked back at her brother momentarily. "Take the plea deal Daugr," she said before turning and disappearing around the corner.
Heather's lungs burned as she rushed down the street towards the Terror Mail building, she couldn't believe what she had heard, she didn't want to believe it. Dagur had always gotten himself into trouble, since high school he had hung around with the wrong kids, drinking and smoking pot behind the school, skipping classes, getting into fights, but she had never thought he would ever join a gang, a real gang. Even at his worst it was mostly just petty theft and minor assault charges, now suddenly he was robbing banks and hanging out with organized criminals. Heather felt like she couldn't breath, like all the air was being sucked out of her, should she tell her father? Could she tell him? It would break his heart, how could she do that to him? She stumbled out of the elevator and towards her desk, grabbing her bag and shuffling her things into it messily.
Astrid stood up from her cubicle and walked over to Heather's, concern written all over her face. "Heather? What's going on? Are you okay?"
She just collapsed into her chair and covered her face with her hands. "You won't believe this Astrid…"
Astrid moved in closer. "What happened? Tell me."
"My brother...somehow he was involved with them, he knew about the attack, he knew."
"Slow down," she said, putting her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Your brother? The one who was arrested?"
Heather's head popped up. "...What? How did you know that?"
Astrid winced. "Sorry...I was doing research on the recent bank robberies, and it came up. I wasn't snooping, I swear." She paused. "Well, I was snooping, but not on you. I was worried you didn't want me to know so I didn't say anything."
"I guess it's all out in the open now," she said with a sigh. "I should've told you from the beginning. I didn't want anybody to know about it, I was ashamed of him."
"Heather, no, you should never feel that way," Astrid said pulling her friend into a hug. "I'd never think less of you because of something your brother did. I'm sure it's not that bad."
Heather scoffed. "You want a bet? He said he was with them, with the outcasts, he knew about the attack, he knew about the kidnapping. Your kidnapping."
"...He's not still with them is he?" she asked pulling away.
"No, I don't think so, he said he was working with some other guys, the brothers or something," Heather explained. "But either way he can't be involved with them now, he's been in jail for weeks." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. "I just can't understand it, I knew he could be a troublemaker, but I never expected it to go this far," she said shaking her head in disbelief. "To think, the people we've been fighting, the people who kidnapped you, he was one of those people. How didn't I know about this sooner?"
"It's not your fault, you can't blame yourself for someone else's actions."
"What should I do?" Heather asked.
"If you don't want to see him, don't see him anymore. You don't owe him anything."
"No, I-" Heather sighed. "I want to do the right thing, I want to make this better," she groaned and rubbed her face. "This whole time we were trying to stop those bastards he was working against us."
Astrid leaned against Heather's desk a thoughtful expression on her face. "...Maybe we can get him to work with us instead?"
Heather slowly moved her hands away from her face and looked up as Astrid. "What do you mean by that?"
"If he was with them, maybe he can give us useful information, insider information," she suggested. "We still aren't sure how many dragons they have, or what happened to the machine plans, it's possible he knows something that can help us."
Heather shook her head. "He won't talk, my father got him an amazing plea deal where all he had to do is tell the police the names of the people he worked with, but he refuses to take it. He thinks those guys will come after me and my dad."
"That's the police, they're clumsy and indiscreet, as soon as they know, everyone knows. You're his sister, he trusts you," Astrid said, Heather bit her lip and looked off to the side. "If you don't want to do it I won't be angry."
"No, no I want to do it. After all the trouble he's caused I think I deserve at least this much from him," Heather replied with a huff. "I just don't think he'll tell me, he didn't seem to want me to know anything about this. You should've seen how freaked out he was when he realized that I knew about Alvin."
Astrid smiled. "He's worried about you, he doesn't want you involved, but that's not up to him is it?"
Heather laughed. "No, it isn't."
"Then you just have to tell him that, tell him that you're in this whether he helps you or not. If he has any respect for you, he'll tell you what you need to know." Astrid looked down at her watch and stood up. "As much as I'd like to keep talking, I've got to finish up here. "
Heather nodded, making a shooing motion with her hand. "I know, go get your work done, we can talk later."
"Coffee? Tomorrow?"
"Sounds good," she said with a smile before turning back around towards her computer.
Astrid shuffled back into her own cubicle and continued writing. With all the commotion around The Night Fury, and the recent string of bank robberies, Astrid had plenty to write about. Magnus was eating it up, traffic on the site had nearly doubled since Astrid's first article on The Night Fury, and it was only growing. People weren't sure what to make of him, and there was no shortage of articles criticising him for his vigilante antics. Astrid was doing everything she could to sway the public opinion in his favour, and it was starting to work. Though the media continued portraying him negatively, online was a different story.
Night Fire or The Creature
The police department is full of it. When it really comes down to it he's the one saving lives, not them. We should be treating this guy like a hero, not hunting him down. #thefantasticnightfury
Sidhewolf5
Anybody else wanna make The Fantastic Night Fury the new chief of police? No? Just me?
LittleOldWriter12
The BPD is more concerned about their rep than they do about actually helping people, honestly their crap doesn't even surprise me anymore. #thefantasticnightfury #smh
ArthurShade
Come on man, The Night Fury saves a bunch of people from a burning building and the news is still coming at him? He could cure cancer and they would still hate him. #thefantasticnightfury
ilovesnakes2643
Nice job saving those people. Night Fury: 1 BPD: 0 #thefantasticnightfury
Anonymous Noob the 2nd
It's pretty sad when one guy is better than your entire police force. #thefantasticnightfury #youhadonejob
2012209
It's a sad day when you stop rooting for your own police department and start rooting for the masked vigilante instead. #thefantasticnightfury
Tenchiko
Ummm how is every news station in this city able to shake their finger at The Fantastic Night Fury while completely ignoring how utterly incompetent the BPD is? #thefantasticnightfury #imdone
Astrid smiled to herself as she scrolled through the pages and pages of comments relating to The Night Fury. Maybe the police department would never support him, maybe the media would never support him, but she knew the public did, and that was the real victory. Magnus had demanded another article about The Night Fury, and Astrid thought it might be the right time to take aim at the BPD and their villainizing of him and his efforts to help the city. She opened up a new document on her computer and typed in a title: "Police Target Night Fury; Night Fury Targets Criminals". Astrid stared at the title, it was sure to ruffle a few feathers, but then again, it wouldn't be a good article if it didn't. She began typing away, working on the opening paragraph.
A hand touched her shoulder and she turned around to see Heather standing behind her, her jacket on and her purse over her shoulder. "You staying late?" she asked.
Astrid leaned over slightly to see out the window, it had already turned dark outside, she hadn't even noticed. Her eyes darted back to the corner of the monitor, it was later than she expected. "Shoot, I've got to go," Astrid said grabbing her bag.
"Did you bring your bike? I can give you a ride if you want," Heather offered, jangling her car keys in her hand.
Astrid shook her head and pulled her coat on. "No, I was supposed to meet, you know who tonight."
Heather snapped her fingers in realization. "Right, he left before we dealt with the…" She looked around to see if anybody could hear them, there were only a few people left in the office. "The other dragon," she said in a whisper.
"Yeah," Astrid said absently as she logged out of her computer and shut it off.
"Well you won't take too long will you? I can wait if you still want that ride, it's no problem."
Astrid shook her head. "No, no, that's alright. It might be a while, I wouldn't want to keep you."
"I'm not busy tonight, it's really okay."
"Seriously, Heather, I'm fine. You can go ahead without me," she said staring at her friend adamantly. "Really."
A sly smile spread across Heather's face. "Alright, I'll just be going then. I'll see you tomorrow," she said nudging Astrid with her arm before heading off towards the elevators.
Astrid shook her head with a smile as she watched her friend step into the elevator, the doors slowly cutting between them with a ping. She looked around the office, there were only a few people scattered about, sitting in their dimly lit cubicles, click clacking away at their keyboards. With the public in a frenzy over The Night Fury more and more people were beginning to work nights to get articles out on time. Magnus had been especially merciless as of late, doling out strict deadlines out like candy.
Astrid shuffled the last couple items into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, quietly heading towards the elevators. There wasn't usually so many people in the office this late, and she hoped nobody tried to catch the elevator up with her; she didn't want anyone to know about her and The Night Fury's little meetups on the roof. Astrid let out a sigh as the doors slid shut, nobody in the office seemed to notice or care, and she watched the little numbers go up and up as she reached the top. He was already there by the time she reached the roof, he stood at the edge, looking over the cityscape from above. Toothless lay curled up nearby.
"I'm sorry, I'm late," she said approaching him from behind.
Hiccup turned around and shrugged. "No problemo, I wasn't waiting long."
"It's been pretty hectic around here lately, you've created quite the stir up," she said jokingly.
"A good stir up I hope?"
This time Astrid shrugged. "I like it anyway."
"And the dragon?" he asked. "Is it alright?"
She nodded. "It's alive, but just barely. Gothi isn't sure if it'll survive much longer but Fishlegs has been looking after it per her instructions. She was very curious to know where it came from."
"You didn't tell her did you?"
Astrid smiled and shook her head. "Of course not."
"Did Gothi say what was wrong with it?"
"She wasn't completely sure, after all she didn't know anything about it's physiology," Astrid began. "But she did say it seemed to have a similar reaction to how humans react to poisoning, it even started vomiting."
"It threw up?"
"Yeah it was bizarre...it wasn't like any vomit I'd ever seen, it almost looked like lava," she said narrowing her eyes in thought. "Fishlegs took some samples, he said he could try and analyse it, maybe figure out what was poisoning it."
Hiccup bit his lip, he didn't like where this was going. "They really must've been experimenting on it, giving it harmful chemicals."
"Why would they do that?" Astrid asked aloud.
Hiccup could only think of one reason why they would try to feed the dragons various chemicals but he didn't say it. He wasn't supposed to know about the molecule, what it could really do. "...I don't know, but whatever the reason, we need to figure out a way to get those other dragons out of there, before they kill them," he said. "And we can't let them build that portal, if they do that they'll only gain access to more dragons."
"You're right, but how?" she asked. "You're strong, but everytime we infiltrate them they only get more cautious."
Hiccup shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I'll think of something." He looked back at her. "Keep the dragon alive, I'll return tomorrow," he said turning towards Toothless, who had laid down by the ledge. "I can take you home."
Astrid moved closer. "Didn't you want to talk about that?"
Hiccup stopped and thought for a moment, before realizing what she was referring to. When he remembered it, his face began to slowly heat up at the memory of it. "Oh," he said, turning back around. "I did say that, didn't I?"
Astrid laughed. "You did."
Hiccup cleared his throat. "Well, I just...I don't know, wondered what it meant?" He silently cursed at himself, he knew for certain she thought he was an idiot now. Hiccup was never the best at dealing with women, he had never had a real girlfriend, and he still wasn't sure what to make of her advances. Did she like him? Was that even possible?
"What it meant?" Astrid asked, amused.
"Yeah."
"Don't you have kissing over there?"
"Over there?" He asked, but quickly understood what she meant, she was talking about the other side of the machine, where she believed he was from. "Oh, over there. Well, uh…" Hiccup trailed off, he didn't know what to say to that.
"Here, when someone kisses you, it usually means they like you," Astrid explained. "You know, romantically likes you."
His head whipped around. "Romantically?"
"Yeah," Astrid tipped her head at him. "It's not just dragons is it? Aren't there any people where you're from? Other girls? I'm not the first you've ever met am I?"
"I've met other girls," Hiccup said quietly. "Just...none like you."
That made Astrid blush, quite clearly, and he could see the reaction on her face. She smiled at him, taken aback by his words. "That's quite a thing to say."
"Oh."
"I didn't mean in a bad way," she said, taking a step closer. "Do you like me?"
He swallowed nervously. "Romantically?"
Astrid giggled. "Well that is what we're talking about isn't it?"
"I guess so…"
"You guess that you like me?"
Hiccup jolted and shook his head vigorously. "No, no, I meant that I guess you're right that we were talking about it!"
"So you don't like me."
"No! I do!" Hiccup stopped and stared at her face, the realization of what he just said sinking in. Astrid looked over at him, hair gently swaying in the wind, softened eyes and lips slightly upturned. He cleared his throat loudly. "I...uh...I do like you...you know, romantically." Her eyes burned into him and he felt like he might pass out as he willed himself to speak again. "...Do you? Like me, Uh, romantically?"
Her smile widened and she snickered. "I thought that was kind of implied."
"Was it?"
"When I said that kissing is what you did when you liked someone, you know, because I kissed you. You haven't forgotten about it already have you?"
Hiccup laughed and shook his head. "I don't think I could forget that."
"We could try it again," she offered, taking another step towards him and reaching for his helmet with her hand.
He touched her hand with his and stepped away slightly. Astrid couldn't know who he was, everything was going so well, if she found out now it would ruin everything. "I don't...I don't think that's a good idea."
"That's alright, we don't have to," Astrid said, pulling her arm back.
Hiccup held onto her hand before it could slip away. "I'm sorry."
She smiled. "You don't have to apologize."
Still holding onto her hand, he led her towards Toothless, who had begun to sit up and warbled as the approached. "I'll take you home," he quietly offered again.
Fishlegs looked over towards the window, listening to the old fire escape rattling loudly as the wind seemed to pick up, whistling past his building. It was already quite dark out, he would've normally gone to bed by now but the small dragon in his kitchen trembled furiously and he couldn't help but worry for it. He grabbed another towel and tucked it around the small creature who lay in a bed of old rags arranged in a bowl. The poor dragon had been in bad shape all day, vomiting it's strange slogely vomit that petrified almost immediately upon contact with the air.
A loud thunk against the window gave Fishlegs a start and caused him to yelp, snapping his head around towards the source of the sound. The Night Fury stood outside on the fire escape, a flat hand on the window as he peered inside.
Fishlegs groaned in annoyance and began making his way over. "You almost gave me a heart attack, you couldn't text me like a normal person?" He grumbled as he put his hands to the bottom of the window and heaved it open.
Hiccup climbed inside and yanked his helmet off placing down on the dining room table. Toothless shrunk down to his smaller size and leap in, curling up on an armchair nearby. "Fishlegs you won't believe what just happened, I almost didn't believe it," he said breathlessly as he began pacing around the room.
"Take your shoes off man, this is my living room," Fishlegs said taking Hiccup's helmet and moving it over towards the front hall, placing it on the entrance table.
Hiccup complied, walking over to the front mat and shuffling his shoes off. "She likes me, she actually likes me."
"What are you talking about? Who likes you?"
"Astrid," Hiccup said, putting his hands on Fishlegs' shoulder, an ecstatic smile across his face. "She likes me, and not just friend likes me but really actually likes me."
Fishlegs grinned. "Really? That's amazing, did you guys meet up today? How did it come up?"
He nodded and began pacing around the room again. "Yeah we met up just a little while ago, it was...oh my gods I can't even describe it...yesterday she kissed me you know? On the helmet, but still."
Fishlegs' smile began to drop. "Wait...what do you mean? I thought you were talking about Hiccup-you not Night Fury-you, Astrid likes The Night Fury?"
"Obviously, who else would I be talking about?" Hiccup asked turning back to his friend. "I've known her since first grade as Hiccup-me, if she was ever going to like me it would've happened a long time ago."
"How are you going to maintain a relationship with her?" Fishlegs asked, brows furrowed together in concern. "She knows both your identities, are you going to tell her who you really are?" Hiccup didn't reply and just shot Fishlegs a uncertain look. "This isn't a good idea, maybe you should stop seeing her as The Night Fury."
"I can't!" Hiccup exclaimed. "Astrid finally likes me, you of all people should know how much this means to me."
Fishlegs sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "How are you possibly going to make this work? Are you just going to hide behind that helmet pretend to be The Night Fury your whole life? What kind of relationship is that?"
"I can make it work," he insisted stubbornly. "And besides, I can't just stop seeing her, we need her to help us save the other dragons." Hiccup looked around the room. "Where's the dragon now?"
Fishlegs gestured towards the kitchen. "He's in there, I've been keeping a close eye on him."
"Astrid said you were going to try to analyse the dragon's vomit, did you?"
He nodded. "Yeah, Gothi watched him for a few hours so I could go to the lab at work."
"And?"
"I told her that I didn't find anything...but I did, I'm not sure how to tell the others yet," Fishlegs explained, glancing towards the dragon. "At first I thought maybe they were trying to recreate the englargium, since Astrid stole their information on it from their last base."
"That wasn't it?"
"No, when I analysed what was in the dragon, I found a lot of it. If all they wanted was the enlargium to get the dragons to grow, they already had it."
"So what does that mean?" Hiccup asked.
Fishlegs stared at his friend, lips pressed into a thin line. "I think they're trying to megadose the dragons."
Even though Hiccup didn't know what exactly that meant, he already didn't like the sound of it. "Megadose? What are you saying?"
"They're trying to give the dragons extremely large doses of englargium at once, just in him," he said pointing towards the bowl where the small dragon lay tucked inside. "I found almost ten times the amount that's in one of Toothless' pills, it seems like that's what made him so weak."
"Why would it make them weak? Don't the dragons need englargium to survive?"
Fishlegs nodded. "They do, but too much of any substance can kill you. Clearly The Outcasts don't understand this, they could be seriously harming the dragons with their megadosing. Who knows if they've already killed one or more of the others."
Hiccup walked over to the armchair where Toothless was resting, and watched him as his body went in and out with each gentle breath. "I don't get it...if they have the enlargium, why haven't they tried to use the dragons yet? They're powerful enough as it is, but they're trying to make them more powerful? They've seen what Toothless can do, what just one dragon can do, and they have, what? Three?"
"Maybe they're preparing for something."
He turned back to look at Fishlegs. "Preparing for what?"
Thanks for reading, I hope you all liked it and if you have any comments, questions, concerns, or cries of anguish make sure to leave me a review!
