Wow I actually got this chapter done, phew! I really thought I wouldn't have the time but I guess I got a lot of inspiration so that's always nice. I've been watching all the clips and new trailers getting hyped for the third movie, maybe that's whats helping. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter and hopefully I'll be able to post more soon!
Chapter 20: Enemy of My Enemy
Heather stopped in front of the jailhouse to catch her breath. It was already long dark by the time she had made all the way there. She had to go from one side of the city all the way to the other, and neither the warehouse nor the jailhouse were accessible by subway, so it was a long trip. Once she had collected herself she pulled her purse straps up and walked inside quickly.
The man at the front desk looked completely exhausted and seemed almost peeved at her presence, even before she had a chance to speak. Glowering down at her when she reached the counter. "I'm here to see my brother, his name is Dag-"
"Visiting hours are over, miss."
"I know that, I was told-"
"If you know, come back tomorrow at eight. That's when they start again."
Heather sighed, she didn't need this right now. "My brother was attacked today, I'm supposed to see him tonight, ask your supervisor. My name is Heather and my brother-"
"You can't tonight, you'll have to wait until tomorrow."
"Listen to me, I was told by my lawyer that I would be allowed entrance tonight before eight. My brother was attacked today, it's special circumstances. If you would speak to your supervisor then-"
"I wasn't notified about anyone coming in for visitation after hours."
"Yeah, I figured that out. I want you to speak with your su-"
"I'm sorry miss, but you'll have to-"
Heather slammed a hand down on the counter angrily. "Listen to me! My lawyer spoke with your warden about this, if you don't know then ask your supervisor! If I have to come back tomorrow morning and explain this to the warden, you will be sorry."
The man pressed his lips into a thin line, she could tell he wasn't pleased, but she didn't care. "One moment, miss," he said stiffly as he stood from his chair and walked out through the door behind the desk. He took awhile, and Heather was certain that wasn't by accident. Still, she stood at the desk without budging the entire time, eyes glued to the back door.
Finally, he returned with another man, dressed in a similar grey uniform, only with more badges. "You're Dagur's sister?" he asked, and she nodded. "Do you have any form of identification on you?"
"Yes," she mumbled, rummaging through her purse until she produced her driver's license from her wallet.
The man looked it over, giving a quiet grunt and nod before returning the card to her. "You'll have to leave your belongings out here at the desk." Heather complied, handing her jacket, purse, and wallet over to the guard behind the counter. "If you follow me, I'll escort you to the infirmary where he's staying. I can give you an hour and a half at the most, after that you'll have to go."
"Alright."
He gestured forward to the large metal bar doors that led to the inside of the jail. There was a loud buzzing noise as they began to slowly slide open. Once through they began walking quickly through the long white sterile halls. The jailhouse seemed much larger from the inside than from the outside, and they had walked and walked until Heather was certain they must've made it to the opposite end already. Finally they reached the infirmary, and the man knocked on the small guard room window. The guard inside immediately straightened, pressing a button that unlocked the entrance they stood by. Heather followed the man inside and they shuffled past a few empty beds until they stopped at the foot of Dagur's.
Dagur lay there with the bed slightly upright, a small light on and a magazine in his hands. It took him a moment to notice that someone was there. When he lowered the magazine to see who it was, he revealed his busted lip and black eye. Heather gasped at the sight.
The man cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'll be outside, give a holler if you need anything," he said before walking off to join the other guard by the door.
"Heather, I didn't…"
"What happened?" she asked moving in closer and reaching out to touch his face.
He turned away. "It was nothing, a stupid fight, it happens."
Heather crossed her arms. "Dagur, I'm serious."
"So am I, it was nothing. I got into fights even before I was in jail, it was bound to happen. You know how I can rub people the wrong way."
"It was never his bad, the lawyer said-"
He scowled. "Fuck the lawyer, she doesn't know anything."
She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You have to tell them who did it, you'll be sent back into general population if you don't."
"Do you know what happens to guys who snitch in here? I'll look a lot worse than this if I tell them, I don't need that kind of attention. It's better to leave it alone, believe me."
Heather frowned. "Well I don't. It was targeted wasn't it? This was about something, it wasn't just a dumb fight, I know better."
"The lawyer's been filling your head with this shit hasn't she?"
"Dagur."
"It wasn't like what she said."
"Dagur!"
"Please, Heather."
"No, you need to tell me the truth. I'm trying to help you, we're all trying to help you, but all you do is fight us every step of the way," Heather said, her face scrunched up in anger. "Do you understand what you're putting me through? Putting dad through? You've made mistakes, that's done already, but if you're really trying to change, if you want to be in our lives, you need to tell me the truth. No more lies."
He shook his head. "I don't want you involved in this, if I tell you, if I tell anyone, they'll try to hurt you and dad, don't you understand?"
"So it was targeted."
Dagur sighed and looked away. "Yes, it was targeted."
"You need to tell the warden, and you need to give the names of the people who attacked you."
"Do you have any idea what it means to be a snitch in jail, Heather?" he asked. "Trust me, the reaction will be a lot worse than this. If you're really worried about my safety, stop trying to convince me to give names."
She pulled in a chair and set next to him, scooching in close. "But they're already after you, if the warden knows he can keep you out of general. Somewhere safe."
"They won't hurt me, this was only a warning."
"A warning?"
He nodded. "Yeah, they've noticed how often I've been visited by my lawyer. They're trying to make sure I don't give the names of who I tried to rob that bank with. They think I might go for a plea deal, they want to make sure I know they're still be able to get me, even if I'm in here."
"Who are they? The Outcasts? The brothers?"
"Heather, I can't."
"If you're worried The Outcasts will try to hurt me, I'll tell you now, if I'm not on their hit list, I will be soon," Heather explained.
That got Dagur's attention and he jerked his head up to look at her. "What? Why? What have you gotten yourself into? What have you done?"
"You know about the dragons don't you? Those creatures that came out of the machine? I'm trying to save them, Astrid, I, and a few others. We're working with The Fantastic Night Fury. If you were involved with them, if you know what they're doing, you need to tell me right now. We can stop them, then you'll be safe."
"The Fantastic Night Fury? You can't be involved with him, they really don't like The Night Fury. Not after all the meddling in their robberies."
Heather paused. "Robberies? As in multiple? How many robberies have they been involved in? Is this The Outcasts orchestrating all this?"
Dagur shook his head. "No, it's not The Outcasts. I'm already done with them, it's the brothers you have to worry about. They're the ones who sent those guys to attack me. They're the ones robbing banks."
"Who are the brothers?"
"...I can't."
"You need to tell me, that's the only way I can help you. I won't say anything, not even to dad if you don't want me to."
"Heather, please, I can't."
"I'm involved in this either way, what you do or don't tell me won't change that fact. All it will change is how prepared I am to help you, help us," she told him. "If they're threatening you, if they're involved with The Outcasts or the dragons somehow, you have to tell me right now."
He stared at her for a long time, saying nothing. She could see the resolve melt away from him and he sighed, lowering his head. "You can't tell dad, if he's not already involved I want it to stay that way."
"Of course."
"I was with them, The Outcasts, I started from the bottom and was working my way up. I thought I could make it big there, after all they were the most notorious gang in Berk. I was there when they attacked the lab, and when they kidnapped Astrid. I was with them long before that too." Dagur swallowed dryly and looked around the infirmary. It was empty, and the two guards sat in the box by the door chatting with one another. "I got frustrated with how slowly I was moving up, their plan with the machine wasn't going as they had expected either. They only had half of the plans and they had failed to capture Finn. Those creatures, the things you call 'dragons', they were small and weak, nothing like Mildew had described. Even when they figured out-"
"Wait, Mildew?"
"He was a janitor at the lab, he was the one who leaked the information to The Outcasts," Dagur explained. "He said they could turn huge, but for awhile nobody could figure out how to make that happen. Even when they learned how to make them big, they couldn't control them like he could."
"He? You mean The Night Fury?"
Dagur nodded. "At first they wanted Finn, but the last time I was there, all they really wanted was The Night Fury."
"So they could learn how to control the creatures?" He nodded again. "So what happened? Why did you leave?"
Dagur let out a heavy breath. "I was tired of working for them, I didn't see anything to gain from it. That was when I was approached by the brothers, they said they knew how to finish the machine. They told me they would share the power three equal ways, all I had to do was steal the plans from The Outcasts for them. I thought they already had the other half of the plans at the time, otherwise I would've never agreed to such a dangerous job."
Heather furrowed her brows. "Hold on, are you telling me you stole the plans from The Outcasts? They don't have them anymore?" He nodded reluctantly and she jumped out of her seat. "Astrid and I have been trying to get those plans this whole time, and you're saying they had already been stolen?"
"I'm sorry, I...I would've told you if I knew you were involved like this."
"So...these brothers, these men you robbed the bank with, they're the ones who have the plans now? Why have they been running around robbing banks then? Shouldn't they be…" Heather stopped, a feeling of dread began to creep up on her. "Dagur, why are they robbing banks?"
His eyes were so sad and solemn as he looked over at her. "They said that they knew Finn Hofferson had opened up multiple safety deposit boxes in several different banks across the city. They told me we could spread out the robberies, make them look like they were only for the cash."
"Oh my gods...I have to warn Astrid," Heather said before turning quickly and running towards the door. She banged on the glass with open palms. "Let me out, I need my phone!"
The red and blue police lights continued to flash in the darkness as officers swarmed around the warehouse. The Outcasts had all been apprehended and police were calling in additional cruisers there were so many men to arrest. Astrid leaned on the hood of Snotlout's car, watching them cuff and book Alvin from across the lot. Arms crossed and a thin grimace on her face.
Snotlout approached from behind and gave her a slap on the shoulder. "Only you would look so annoyed after single-handedly taking down the leader of the largest gang in Berk. You should be celebrating, this is a victory," he said with a triumphant grin.
It wasn't single-handed, and now we're even further from getting the dragons and the plans than we were before. She thought, but knew better than to say out loud. "I didn't take them down, Alvin may have taken many of his men but not all of them."
"We got Alvin though, and isn't there a saying about cutting a head off a snake or something like that?" Snotlout said, scratching his neck and looking upwards in thought. "Whatever, the point is; without Alvin, any of his remaining followers will scatter. The Outcasts are over."
That only made Astrid's frown deeper, she was afraid that would be the case. With The Outcasts as they were known disbanded, there was no way to know for certain where the plans and dragons would end up. Their perfect plan had only made their goals more difficult to achieve. "Yeah," she mumbled dismissively.
Snotlout opened his mouth to speak, but before he could the buzzing noise of the police radio grabbed his attention. He groaned and shuffled back into the car, taking the radio into his hand and bringing it up to his face. "What is it? We're at a raid right now, call Larson if you need backup." Astrid could hear him speaking clearly, but the voice on the over end was muffled and difficult to understand from outside the car. "What? Really? Right now?" He grunted in anger. "Well, no, I can't...I've got like fifty guys under arrest here."
Astrid's phone began vibrating in her pocket and she plucked it out, turning away from Snotlout as she pressed it to her ear. It was Heather, and she wouldn't be happy to hear how the plan had gone in her absence. "Hey," she answered dismally.
"The Outcasts don't have the plans!" Heather rasped, a startling urgency in her voice.
Astrid straightened at the frantic tone of her friend's voice. "I know, we got them. Why? How did you know that?"
"My brother, he was with the men who stole them from The Outcasts, they're after your half, they know it's in a safety deposit box, they're the ones robbing banks!" Heather babbled, trying to get all her words out as quickly as possible.
"Wait, slow down, who's robbing banks?"
"They're trying to get your half of the plans Astrid, you need to move them!"
Snotlout climbed back out of his car and looked over the hood of his car towards the other officers. "We're going to need some men!" he called out. "Starkard, Minden, Hoark, you're with me! The rest stay here and make sure they all make it to the station!"
"You need to get to the bank right now!"
Astrid watched as the three officers rushed over to Snotlout. "What's going on?" Starkard asked, glancing around. "We're needed somewhere else?"
"Astrid? Are you there?"
Snotlout nodded. "There's a robbery happening at The Bank of Berk, Hoark and Starkard take your car and follow my cruiser, Minden you can ride with me. They'll send more as soon as they can."
Astrid's eyes widened and she dropped her phone, rushing off towards the back of the warehouse where her motorcycle had been parked. She pulled on her helmet, whacked the kickstand up and whipped down the street with a loud rumble of her bike's engine. There was a uneasy tightness in her chest, her heart pounding, and her breath ragged. How could she have overlooked all the recent bank robberies? She had assumed they were yet another symptom of Berk's growing problem with crime, she never stopped to think it was targeted.
Please. Astrid thought. Please don't let me be too late. She whizzed down the streets, weaving in between vehicles and cutting people off at every turn. Many drivers honked at her, but she didn't care, she needed to make it, she had to. Her tires screeched as she turned sharply around a corner and finally stopped in front of the bank. She watched as people rushed out of the doors and onto the street, people swarmed around on the sidewalk, it was chaos. Astrid leaped off of her bike and ran inside, only a few people were left, cowering in corners and under tables. The door that led to the safety deposit boxes was wide open, she looked inside and found it raided, left in shambles. A woman crouched by the door, terrified. "Where did they go?" she asked. The woman just pointed towards the back door, it was open and Astrid rushed outside. There was nothing but an empty alleyway. She was too late.
He heard the news from Fishlegs, who had heard it from Heather. It was a devastating blow to hear that everything they had worked towards had blown up in their faces in only one short night. Not only had they failed to get the plans from The Outcasts and save the dragons, they had also lost the one and only piece they had held. It was worse than going back to square one, they were further behind then when they had started. He wasn't sure what he could do, but now their only lead, their only hope was Dagur.
If they were going to get any more information from him, they would need to ensure that he, Heather, and their father Oswald had damn good police protection. This would be no easy task, Snotlout and his father Spitelout, the chief of police, had made it quite clear that they had no intention of cooperating with The Night Fury, and they certainly wouldn't agree to award protection to a criminal and his family, not with the bad press they were already getting. There was only one other person in Berk that Hiccup could think of that had the power to control the BPD, but that was a man that he did not want to have to deal with. However with their options slowly diminishing, he didn't have much of a choice.
Hiccup shuffled into the crowded lobby, it was an old historic building, the wood support beams still in place, finished and shined to glossy perfection. The memories of the building had not faded from his mind, though sometimes he wished they would. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and followed the all too familiar path, ducking his head down to avoid anyone recognizing him. Nobody did, and it was unlikely anyone would, the last time he had been here he was barely a teenager, a little scrawnier and much shorter. The office was near the back on the top floor, though there was plenty of security to get through before he made it there. The first layer of security was easy enough, it was the last one he was worried about.
"Stop," a large gruff security officer said, putting a hand out. "You have a press pass?"
Hiccup sighed, straightening his back and letting his hair fall away from his face. "No, I'm...uh, I'm Hiccup Haddock," he said, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and showing the security officer his I.D.
The officer glanced back and forth between the I.D. and Hiccup, regarding him with suspicion. "You don't look anything like him," the man said nonchalantly.
"Wow, you're the first person to ever say that." The guard stared at him in confusion. "It was a joke."
"Uh-huh," he said, clearly unconvinced. "He never talks about you either."
"Ever heard of the word 'estranged'?"
The officer narrowed his eyes at Hiccup. "I'm going to have to make a call to be certain, it's a security thing, you understand."
"Sure."
He moved away slightly, pressing down on the large piece in his ear. "Sir, we've got someone here claiming to be 'Hiccup Haddock', were you aware of someone with that name coming to visit? No? So- oh. Really? He's what?" The man turned to eye Hiccup. "Are you sure, he looks nothing-...I see, alright, yes sir." He returned to the checkpoint. "It seems everything is in order," he said handing the card back to Hiccup. "You may continue through, around the corner on the right."
"I know where it is, thanks," Hiccup said as he passed through and made his way down the hallway. The closer he got the more uneasy he felt, it seemed like forever since he had been here. Though even forever wouldn't be enough time. The door came into view and he stood in front of it for a moment before finally grabbing the handle and yanking the door open.
It was a well kept room, a large beautiful window on the far wall, neat bookshelves covering the other two. He sat at his desk, a dark red wood with a glossy finish, the gold name plate sitting at the front. "Mayor Stoick Haddock" it read.
Stoick looked up from his computer, taking off his small wire-framed glasses and setting them down. "Hiccup," he said quietly. "You should call if you want to visit, security doesn't like it when people arrive without an appointment."
"It's a little urgent, I would've had I known I was coming earlier." Actually I would've just gone to the house. Hiccup thought, he hated coming to city hall, he hated the way people looked at him when they found out he was Stoick's son.
He folded his hands together on the desk. "Urgent? What is it that's so urgent?" Though he sat more upright as he spoke his voice did not make him sound very concerned, quite the opposite.
"You heard about the recent robbery of The Bank of Berk didn't you?"
"I have."
"That attack wasn't random, the criminals involved were looking for some plans and they got them. It's very important that we catch the people responsible. There's a man currently facing charges for working with these men, he has valuable information but won't give anything to us until his father and sister are given police protection. I know Jorgenson won't listen to me, so I'm coming to you."
Stoick stared his son, expressionless. "What plans are these exactly?"
"They were the plans that were being worked on at Finn's lab, they have the potential to be very dangerous if given to the wrong people."
"Finn's plans? I hardly think that a few common criminals would be able to figure out how to build such a contraption. Plans or no plans."
Hiccup took a step forward. "Maybe not, but that's not a risk we should be willing to take."
Stoick sighed. "What does this machine do?"
"It opens a portal."
"A portal?" he asked, unconvinced. "To where?"
"It's not where we need to worry about, it's what. Very powerful creatures exist on the other side and if they are able to learn how to control these creatures the whole city may be in danger."
Stoick frowned and furrowed his brows together. "Creatures? Like the one that The Night Fury rides around?" he asked. Hiccup nodded. Stoick stood up from his chair. "So that's where he came from, if you knew you should've told me or Spitelout earlier."
"Did you hear what I said? We need to do something before they figure out how to rebuild the machine."
"Hiccup, do you know anything about the machine or the creatures? Any information you have needs to be given to the police, they're having enough trouble as it is stopping him," Stoick said looking across the room at his son.
Hiccup shook his head. "No, that's not what I-, hold on, you're more concerned about stopping The Night Fury than stopping the guys who stole the plans for the machine? You realize they could open it and release more dragons into Berk right? If you're worried about one, imagine what kind of damage hundreds could do."
"Dragons?" Stoick waved a hand at Hiccup. "Nevermind, Hiccup, you need to go to the police and give them anything you know about that creature. Stopping The Night Fury is the BPD's top priority right now, not finding those plans. That machine took Finn and two dozen of Berk's best scientists near fifty years to complete. The bank robbers who stole the plans will never be able to rebuild such a complex device on their own."
"You can't know that," Hiccup said through gritted teeth.
"You're not after stopping those men, you've been caught up in finishing that damn thing just like your mother was, and look where it got her. It's better you leave it where it is, nothing good will come from digging it back up."
"So you'd rather do nothing and leave the plans in the hands of known criminals? Instead chasing down The Night Fury, who's only tried to help the people of this city?"
Stoick glowered at his son. "The Night Fury is a known criminal too, Hiccup."
"A criminal for what? Saving lives? Stopping robberies? What horrible crime has he committed that provokes you so much?"
"He's not a police officer, he can't take the law into his own hands whenever he feels like it," Stoick replied, creeping agitation clear in his voice. "That's how you get anarchy. If we allow him to continue it will only set a bad precedent."
Hiccup scoffed. "A bad precedent? What, that the citizens of Berk should be safe? You'd rather chase down someone actually trying to fix the crime tearing this city apart than try to catch real criminals! You're exactly the same, you only care about appearances and nothing else! "
"Hiccup," Stoick warned.
"And for all your talk that I'm the one with ulterior motives, you're the one who still resents this whole project because of what happened to mom. You hated that I wanted to work for Finn, and now you're refusing to help because you want nothing more than for his research to disappear into nothingness. Well maybe you'll get that, but it won't bring her back!"
"Hiccup!" Stoick roared, slamming a heavy fist onto his desk. "That's enough!"
Hiccup stepped back and shook his head. "I thought you'd be different. I don't know why I'd ever think that," he said quietly before turning and leaving the room without another word.
With everything that had happened, it took her long enough to get to bed. Right as it seemed she would finally drift off, her phone began to ring, abruptly jolting her awake. Astrid groaned, slapping a hand clumsily across her bedside table in the darkness until she was able to get ahold of her phone. Pressing it to her ear, eyes still closed, she grumbled as she spoke. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"They've only just allowed me a phone call, and I needed to speak with you as soon as I could," the voice on the other end croaked.
The sound made Astrid's eyes pop wide open, and she quickly straightened up in bed. She'd recognize that voice anywhere, it hadn't even been a day since she last heard him speak. It was Alvin the Treacherous. Her shock quickly turned to rage as her face crumpled up. "You should've used your phone call to get a lawyer, you'll need one you rat-eating, sack of shit."
"I understand why you'd hate me, we haven't exactly been on the same side this whole time."
"I wasn't on the side of torturing dragons, no."
"Whatever conflicts we had before, it doesn't matter now," he continued. "It seems that our goals have aligned. Now that I am unable to stop them myself, anything I have left, anything within my power, I will give it to you."
Astrid narrowed her eyes. "What game are you playing at?"
"The brothers," he breathed out.
She barely heard it over the poor audio, but it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. With one movement she pulled the covers away and got to her feet. "Who are they?"
"They mean to take Berk, take it with the dragons. They wanted us to work for them, at the time they were only two men, so obviously we laughed them out of the room. I thought it would end there, but somehow they convinced one of my guys to steal the plans for them. That's when I knew they weren't just gonna go away," Alvin explained. "After they stole our half of the plans we knew they were after the machine, I thought we could get them, use the dragons we had to attack them, but the dragons…"
"The dragons aren't yours to use," Astrid said.
Alvin laughed bitterly. "We had many issues to say the least, it took us long enough to figure out how to grow them to their full size. And yes, the molecule made them powerful, but they were completely uncontrollable. Those last few months you thought we were after you, no. No, we were after The Night Fury, he was the only one able to control those things, nobody ever came close."
"Why did you megadose them then? What good would that have done if you couldn't control them?" she asked.
"We didn't know what we were doing, we were using the molecule like bait, trying to train them like dogs. Turns out they only need so much before it sickens them. Of course, we didn't know that at the time, and we tried to fix them with the very molecule that was making them sick to begin with. We didn't understand what damage we were doing until it had already been done," Alvin said with a heavy sigh. "I'll have my remaining men give them to you, but you need to do something for me in return."
"...I'm listening."
"I know you're with The Night Fury, you don't have to admit it. I'm sure the two of you were planning on it already, but you need to end the brothers. Find them, destroy them, and make sure they know The Outcasts had a hand in their demise," he said, his voice turning dark as he spoke. "If they think they can waltz into Berk and take over everything that I've spent my life building, they are dead wrong."
Astrid paused for a moment, thinking everything over, wondering if he was her the telling the truth or not. Even if she didn't believe him, what else could she possibly do? The brothers had both half of the plans and she had nothing. Astrid took in a sharp breath. "Fine, but I've got a few conditions of my own."
