Yes! I am alive everyone! Also, for anyone still waiting for the next How to Train Your Jocks chapter, I am currently working on it. Anyway, hope you enjoy this next chapter, please leave any comments you have I love to read them :)
Chapter 23: Blindsided
Hiccup hurried along the pale white walls of the hospital, his jacket over his arm as he walked. He would've come sooner, as the Night Fury he knew what had happened, but as Hiccup he had to pretend he didn't know. His father had called him to come to the hospital, Gobber had been there during the attack and was injured in the chaos. Hiccup had only just managed to get home in time to change and drive over, so he was breathless as he stumbled into the hospital room.
"I'm here," he rasped, clutching to the door frame for support.
Stoick stood up to greet his son. "Hiccup." His father had sounded quite frantic over the phone, after what happened at the lab he was only getting more and more agitated. When Hiccup told him he was at home and not been to the school that day, the relief in his voice was undeniable, even now he could see the relief washing over his father's face.
"He's alright?" he asked, peering around Stoick to look at Gobber who lay in a hospital bed right behind him.
His father nodded. "Luckily, the men set off a small explosion in one of the labs, had he been much closer he wouldn't be."
"I'm barely scratched, it's Marvin I'm worried for," Gobber said sharply, when his eyes caught Hiccup's he could tell something was wrong.
"Marvin? Did Marvin get hurt during the attack?" Hiccup asked, he had known Marvin vaguely as one of the head engineers, but nothing much more than that.
Gobber's brows bunched up in concern. "No, he was taken."
Something began bubbling in the pit of Hiccup's stomach, and he didn't like it. "Taken? How was he taken? I thought…" he hesitated, nervously glancing to his father. "...I thought the culprits were stopped? Or was I mistaken?"
"Some were," Stoick said, crossing his arms. "Unfortunately, there were two groups of men ambushing the university, seems they used the first group as a distraction for the police. The explosion was only to get attention, draw the police out to the far end of the facility."
Hiccup looked back and forth between the two men, utterly confused. "All that, for Marvin? Why Marvin?"
His father sighed and shook his head. "We're not certain, Spitelout and his men are working to figure that out as we speak. It'll only be a matter of time."
Hiccup frowned. "Do you seriously believe that?"
"I believe the police are doing everything they can."
"What if that's not enough?"
"Hiccup, I don't want to get into this now."
"Dad if-" The sound of hurried footsteps broke him from his thoughts and they all turned as Astrid and Fishlegs rushed into the room. "Guys."
"Hiccup!" Astrid exclaimed. "Thank gods, you're alright."
He nodded. "Yeah, luckily I wasn't there when it happened."
Fishlegs shuffled past and towards Gobber. "You're okay? What happened over there?"
"I'm fine, just a few bruises and scratches," Gobber replied, "but they took one of the head engineers, Marvin." There was an eerie silence after he said that, both Fishlegs and Astrid were immediately confused and uneasy.
"That's what they did this for?" Astrid asked. "All that so they could kidnap one man? What could they possibly want with him?"
Gobber shook his head solemnly. "That's what I'm worried about."
"They'll be found, I'll make sure Spitelout keeps the force's attention on this," Stoick said.
Fishlegs suddenly became aware of the mayor's presence, and quickly stiffened at the realization. "Mr.- Mayor Haddock! It's- it's been…"
Astrid bobbed her head respectfully. "It's been a long time, six or seven years now I believe."
"It has been that long, hasn't it? You both look quite well, I'm glad to know that Hiccup's kept in touch with you so long after graduation." Hiccup wanted to scoff at that remark, but he stopped himself. His father had always been oblivious to his complete lack of friends in high school, even Fishlegs had been more of an acquaintance until they attended university together. Their school was one for mostly wealthy and prestigious families, and since the Mayor of Berk was the most prestigious of them all, the other students always seemed much less cruel to Hiccup when his father was around. Hiccup had never told him that, of course he'd never ask anyway.
"Well, our work has brought us together more than school ever did," Astrid said.
"I see."
"Stoick," Gobber interrupted. "I appreciate that you've come to see me, but I'm alright. After all this, I'm sure you have more important matters to handle. I don't want to keep you from that, right now Berk is doing worse than I am."
He nodded, placing a gruff hand on his friend's shoulder. "Get better," he said, almost like a command, before trudging off and out the door, only giving Hiccup a slight glance as he left.
Only moments after Stoick's footsteps faded away did Astrid speak up. "It's the brothers, it has to be."
"But why Marvin? What's Marvin got to do with this?" Fishlegs asked.
Astrid bit her lip. "I can only think of one possible reason."
"And?" Hiccup asked.
"The Outcasts were looking for my uncle remember? They wanted him to build the machine for them, when the other engineers found out they ran, they all got on the first flights out of Berk and never looked back."
"...They're trying to build the machine," Hiccup said in horror.
"They're trying to build the machine," Astrid confirmed.
Gobber sighed. "I was worried it might be something like that, Marvin's one of the best and brightest engineers still in Berk, he's top-notch, no wonder they went to all this trouble to get him."
"What do we do? What can we do?" Fishlegs asked anxiously.
"We have their location," Astrid said, and everybody's eyes shot up to look at her. "Heather and I went to speak to...an old associate of the brothers, and we got the location of their base. All we need to do is make a plan and attack."
"You and Heather got their location?" Fishlegs sputtered. "When was this?"
"Only yesterday, we were going to plan a meeting to discuss everything...but it seems the brothers have forced our hand, there's no time to hesitate now."
Hiccup nodded. "She's right, we have to coordinate and ambush their base as soon as possible."
Gobber shifted, sitting up a little higher in the hospital bed. "Regardless of them having Marvin, we can't be rash here, you don't have any idea what kind of forces they might have at their base. If you're going to rush in there only to be overpowered you're no use to Marvin or anyone in Berk."
"We won't be overpowered," Astrid said, "we've got The Night Fury, and we have two more healthy dragons, ready to be flown. We're stronger now than we've ever been, we have to strike. Besides, given what Heather and I were told, they're a small operation, if we went at night there's a good chance it'll only be a few men keeping watch."
"Ready to fly?" Gobber asked, his eyes subtly trailing towards Hiccup.
Astrid nodded. "We've been training with the two dragons that recovered, we can take them."
"I don't know, I don't know if I'm ready yet," Fishlegs admitted. "I've only flown on Meatlug the once, we're not exactly seasoned pros."
"Well that's better than no dragons at all," Hiccup said, "which is the position the brothers are in, but not for long if we keep waiting around for them to finish the machine and release even more dragons into Berk."
Gobber grumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're right, as much as I'd rather you all prepare more, we don't know how long it'll be until the brothers have an endless supply of dragons at their disposal. You have to act now, while they're not as strong."
They all knew it was true, no matter how dangerous it might be, now was their best shot. Astrid informed both Heather and The Night Fury as soon as she could, making sure everyone was ready. After some planning, it was decided that The Night Fury, along with Astrid and Heather on Stormfly would ambush the building from the front where the main entrance was located. Fishlegs and Hiccup on Meatlug would stay at the back of the building to make sure nobody was able to escape.
When the day finally arrived, everyone was tense, the whole situation weighed on them heavily as they prepared their things and dragons on an abandoned rooftop nearby.
"Where's The Night Fury?" Heather asked as she strapped her helmet on.
Astrid smoothed her hand across Stormfly's stomach. "He's meeting us there. I gave him an earpiece from Hiccup, when I give the signal he'll swoop in with us." She turned to Fishlegs and Hiccup, who stood near the edge of the roof with Meatlug. "Meatlug is the quietest so you two will head out first, keep an eye out and let us know if everything is clear alright?"
Fishlegs nodded. "I will."
Heather glanced towards Hiccup. "This'll be your first time flying won't it?"
He laughed awkwardly. "Not exactly...uh, Fishlegs flew me around a few times so I'd get used to it. He didn't want me to fall off by accident."
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Astrid told him with a smile. "Whatever you do, stick together, these guys are no joke."
Fishlegs and Hiccup both mounted Meatlug, clipping themselves onto her saddle and quietly taking off into the night's sky. "You hear what she said?" Fishlegs grumbled as they slowly approached the back of the building.
"I know, I know."
"She told us to stay together."
Hiccup sighed. "I get that this isn't exactly ideal, but once we've stopped the brothers you won't have to pretend I'm with you anymore."
"And then you'll tell her who you are?"
"...We'll see."
Fishlegs pressed his lips together in a thin line. "Fine. So where am I supposed to be going? A bush somewhere?"
"Yeah, just over there," Hiccup said, pointing towards a patch of unkempt shrubbery about a block away from the building. "That's where I stashed the stuff."
Meatlug slowly hovered to the ground, and Hiccup climbed off of her, pulling Toothless out of his pocket and placing him down where he began to grow in size. As Toothless grew, Hiccup pulled a duffle bag from the bush and began unpacking the tail finn along with his jacket and helmet.
"So what do you want me to do when I get over there?" Fishlegs asked.
"Use the communicator, tell them we're in place and stay above the door."
"Above?"
"If anyone tries to get out, douse them in Meatlug's lava, tell Astrid someone's escaped, and get out of there. Don't try to engage them, it's too dangerous," Hiccup told him.
Fishlegs nodded. "Alright, no time to waste," he said lifting up off the ground and flying off towards the building.
Once Hiccup had changed and gotten Toothless setup, they took off, flying high into the black, cloudless sky. He soared over the building, and dove down towards the front, watching for the approach of the others. From the sky he could see Fishlegs in getting into place above the back door, then Astrid and Heather caught his eye. He swooped in next to them, putting a finger to his mouth. Then he pointed down towards the door and they both nodded, following him as he dove further down towards the building.
Stormfly and Toothless both perched on the edge of the roof just above the front entrance, they peered down to see if anyone was guarding it. Nobody was there, and everything was eerily quiet.
Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other and nodded, both swooping down to the door. Astrid dismounted, slowly walking up to the door and nudging it open. It drifted open effortlessly. She was unnerved by this, glancing back at the others who looked just as agitated. Heather shuffled forward in Stormfly's saddle, and her and Astrid exchanged a glance. No words needed to be said, Heather knew what she was to do, and she positioned herself in front of the door as Hiccup also dismounted.
Stormfly and Heather swooped back upwards so they could sit at the edge of the roof, keeping a close eye on the door as The Night Fury and Astrid crept inside the building. The halls were dark inside and it was deathly quiet, something was wrong, if this really was their current base, there should've been someone there to guard it, at least one person. Astrid began carefully nudging doors open and peering inside as they continued on down the halls. Toothless kept behind them, holding his wings and tail close to his body as not to make any noise.
"This isn't right," Astrid whispered. "Most of these rooms are empty, maybe they moved their base since Dagur was caught?"
Hiccup only nudged his head forward, urging her to keep moving. He knew if he whispered she would probably not be able to hear him, but he wasn't quite ready to give up yet. She nodded, continuing to peek into each room. The longer they searched the more they realized that the brothers must have somehow anticipated their arrival. Not only was the base empty, but many of the rooms looked like they had been hastily cleared out, with some left in shambles.
"How could they have known?" Astrid asked, still searching for anything they could use.
Hiccup shook his head. "I don't know."
"Wait, look-!" Astrid pushed a large metal door open. It looked like it had been once locked shut, but had now been left open. Inside, the room looked like it had once been a lab, but most of its contents had been carelessly moved out in a hurry. There were papers, broken glass, and mechanical parts scattered all over the floor. "Maybe there's a clue somewhere here."
"You might be right," Hiccup agreed as he began looking around himself. "If they knew we were coming, they must've found out only recently, they didn't do a great job of hiding their tracks."
Astrid bent down to yank a section of heavy extension cord from a socket in the wall, it was so thick she couldn't even wrap her entire hand around it. "What's this?" she asked aloud.
Hiccup moved towards her, crouching down to see what she was holding. He knew immediately what it was, it was a type of power cable for devices that used an especially large amount of power, it was the same type used to feed power to the machine when it was still in the lab. "Looks like a power cable," he said, Hiccup knew he couldn't say what he was really thinking, after all, it wasn't The Night Fury who was an engineer.
Astrid got down onto her hands and knees so she could look under the table. The socket that the cord had come from was enormous, probably the largest she had ever seen. "This must be the room they were keeping the machine in," she said before her eye caught a small silver lockbox tucked under the farthest corner of the table. "I think I see something."
"What is it?" Hiccup asked.
"It's a lockbox," she said, pulling it out of the corner and standing back up. Astrid yanked a bobby pin out of her hair and gave The Night Fury a quick smirk before getting to work on the lock.
Hiccup leaned in as the faint click of the lock could be heard. "Do you think it's something important?"
"Only one way to find out," Astrid said as she lifted the top up. Before either one of them could get a look at what was inside, something small exploded, spraying a yellow liquid at Astrid's face and she went crashing to the ground. Hiccup stumbled backward, little of the liquid had gotten to him, and what had was blocked by the glass of his helmet. "Night Fury…" she groaned, hands covering her eyes as she slowly moved into a sitting position.
Hiccup dove to her side. "Are you alright?"
"My eyes sting...what was that?"
He touched her arms gently. "Let me see them." Astrid moved her hands away from her face, her eyes were foggy looking, almost white, he could hardly see her pupils at all. "Where are you looking?" he asked her, staring into her eyes.
"I...I'm not looking at anything...I can't see anything...my eyes...my eyes…"
"It's alright, you'll be alright," he assured her.
"What's wrong with my eyes? Am I blind?"
Hiccup shook his head. "No, we'll have someone look at them. Your eyes will be fine, I promise."
Astrid reached forward and touched his helmet. "What if they can't be fixed? We don't even know what got into my eyes...what was in that box?" Her face looked utterly panicked, and her breaths her quick and rasped.
"I don't know, we'll have it checked out, can you stand?"
"Night Fury...what if I never see again?" she asked him, her hands gripping tightly into his sleeves, fingers digging into the fabric. Hiccup could feel her shaking.
"You will."
Astrid shook her head. "How do you know that?"
Hiccup took her hands into his. "We'll figure it out, together." Using her hands he lifted his helmet over his head and let it drop to the ground with a thunk.
Astrid gasped softly, then moved her hands across his face and into his hair. "You have hair," she mumbled. Hiccup said nothing, fearing she would recognize his voice without the helmet on. "You know, everyone's been saying I should be worried that you're some freakish alien-man, and here you are, so human," she said as their faces grew closer, so close they could feel each other's breath.
"Would you stay with me if I wasn't?" Hiccup whispered so quietly she could hardly hear him.
"Of course," Astrid said, and then their lips met for a brief moment. They pulled away only slightly, still only centimeters apart. Soon Astrid had pulled him back towards her, and they were kissing again. Hiccup had imagined so many times what it would feel like to kiss Astrid Hofferson, the Astrid Hofferson. Nothing could ever compare to the real thing, and his chest swelled with joy as his lips danced across hers. When they finally pulled apart for the second time, they were both out of breath, but Astrid was no longer shaking.
Hiccup put his helmet back on. "We...we should get you to the hospital."
She nodded, still flushed from their kisses. "You're right."
He put his arms around her. "Can you stand?"
"Yes," Astrid replied as he helped her back to her feet.
As they moved towards the exit, Hiccup glanced towards the lockbox, still sitting there on the table. He could see into it as they walked past, there was a note inside, written in large letters it said; 'next time, don't be so obvious while you're scouting dumbass'. For a moment Hiccup was confused, none of them had scouted the area beforehand, but then a horrible realization washed over him. They must have seen him when he went to hide Toothless' fin in that bush, that's how they knew about the ambush. The mission failed because of him, and if Astrid never regained her sight, that would be because of him as well.
