This title might be a little ironic after this long but oh well...


Chapter 24: No Respite

After their failed raid, Hiccup had Heather rush Astrid straight to the hospital to be treated. He couldn't help but feel pained as he watched them fly off into the sky. When he returned to Fishlegs and explained what had happened, he couldn't bring himself to tell his friend about the note. Everything was his fault, because of him, they hadn't caught the brothers, they hadn't saved Marvin, and Astrid may have been blinded for life. Once home, he stayed by the phone all night, waiting for news, news of anything and everything. Heather upon dropping Astrid off at the hospital had been whisked away into protective custody with her father Oswald. Hiccup wasn't sure of all the details, Astrid had made it clear that she couldn't tell him everything, but that they needed to stay away for their own safety. The night was a long and restless one. He knew he had to visit her as The Night Fury as soon as she was able to return home, but he had no idea when that would be. It was in moments like these he was happy to be just Hiccup, at least he could visit her in the hospital as Hiccup.

As soon as he got the call, he rushed over to the hospital to see her, his chest was tight with anxiety the whole drive over.

"How are you doing? I heard what happened." Hiccup asked as he shuffled into the chair next to her hospital bed.

"I'm alright, the doctors said my vision should make a full recovery, whatever chemical they put in that box wasn't permanent thank gods."

Hiccup couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear."

Astrid smiled. "Aw, were you worried about me?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Hiccup asked, but he quickly tried to conceal his shaky emotions. "I mean, first Gobber, then Marvin, now you, I don't know if we're cut out for this, I'm afraid something bad is going to happen."

"Something bad is happening, has been happening, for a long time now, and if we don't do something about it, I'm afraid no one else will."

Hiccup smiled weakly. "You're too brave for your own good, you know that?"

Astrid also smiled. "I've been told."

"I'm really glad you're alright Astrid, I was, uh," Hiccup cleared his throat. "I was with Gobber when I found out, Fishlegs told me, and I heard that Heather...well, you know."

"She's safe, but she won't be forever, we have to do something about the brothers before it's too late. We need to figure out their new location, fast."

"You need to rest," Hiccup said, frowning. "You were almost blinded yesterday, and you're already thinking about trying to track them down again, we can't be rash or you'll only get hurt worse."

Astrid narrowed her eyes, though her vision was still blurry she looked in his direction. "The longer we wait to stop them, the more chances they'll get to hurt Heather or other innocent people, I have to do something."

"Let the Night Fury track them down, he's still unharmed, but you've only started recovering."

She shook her head stubbornly. "I can't do that, we've already lost Gobber and Heather, if I drop out of this fight now, there'll be no chance of catching these guys."

"Maybe we can find more people to help us-"

"Who Hiccup? Who is going to help us? This city has been rotting for years, and nobody ever does anything. Well now the city is in crisis, my best friend's life is on the line, I'm sorry Hiccup, but I can't just stand to the side and do nothing."

Hiccup was a fool to think he could ever talk her out of this, he knew what she was like, he knew how determined she was. The stakes were higher than they had ever been, and that terrified him, and as much as he wished she would give up, he knew if the tables were turned, he wouldn't be able to give up on this fight either.

The door opened and Fishlegs walked inside, he flashed Hiccup a worried and sympathetic look before making his way to the foot of the bed. "The nurses said your vision would come back, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm good, thanks Fishlegs."

"Gobber sends his well wishes, asked me if you called your folks."

Astrid nodded. "I called them, they wanted to fly in to see me, but I convinced them not to, I don't want them getting mixed up in all of this. Especially not if the brothers are on to us."

"Do you think they know our identities?"

"Not sure, they might know mine because of Heather's involvement, plus I'm Finn's niece, but who knows if they've figured that all out."

Fishlegs bit his lip nervously. "Maybe that's how they knew we were coming?"

Hiccup shook his head. "Knowing Astrid's involvement doesn't mean they knew about our plans, those two things are unrelated. It's gotta be somebody at the prison, they must've learned that Dagur had visitors and put two and two together."

"I think Hiccup is right, that's the only possible explanation I could come up with."

Hiccup hated lying about the reasons they had been discovered, but there was no way around it without telling Astrid the whole truth, and he couldn't bring himself to do that. It was better for them to think it was someone at the prison and move on, knowing the real reason wouldn't do any good now that it was done.

"So what should we do? We have no idea where they are, or how to find them," Fishlegs said, wringing his hands.

Astrid shook her head. "I don't know, the doctors said I could be discharged tomorrow, so I'll try to talk to The Night Fury as soon as possible and maybe we can figure things out from there."

"Tomorrow?"

"Hiccup-"

"Don't you think that's a little fast?"

She scowled at him. "I don't want to argue about this anymore, we have bigger problems at the moment."

Fishlegs looked back and forth nervously between the two. "...Do you think The Night Fury is going to know what to do?"

She sighed. "I'm really not sure, but we should get everyone on the same page before we make any decisions." Astrid paused in thought. "It seemed based on what we saw at their old hideout that they weren't too far off from finishing the machine, they even had huge power cables like the ones at the lab. Maybe we can try to track supplies within the city, it's not like the parts used for the machine are commonplace."

"If the machine is using those large power cables like the ones at the lab, that means they're using a lot of power all at once, we could try and track power usage in the city grid, figure out where a lot of electricity is suddenly being directed to," Hiccup suggested.

"Right," Fishlegs said nodding. "and since they've only just left their previous hideout wherever they've gone to should have a very recent spike in power consumption, in the last couple days or so."

"That's a good start, I'll see what I can find out about power usage," Astrid said, "Try and lay low for right now, I'll talk to The Night Fury and text you when we have more information."

They both nodded.

"Try and get some rest," Hiccup said as they began moving towards the door.

Astrid paused before saying a solmen: "I'll try."

Hiccup didn't visit Astrid's house as soon as she had been discharged, for starters because he had hoped she would take the time to rest and recuperate at least a bit, but also because he didn't want to make is seem as if The Night Fury knew somehow that she had been let out of the hospital. Each night he flew over the city as The Night Fury, but he wasn't quite sure what he was watching for. The city was eerily calm from above, especially knowing what danger was lurking somewhere within.

A few nights after her discharge, Hiccup swooped down onto her roof as The Night Fury, the rain pattering down into him. He dismounted Toothless, crouching down by the skylight to peer into her upstairs hallway, glowing with warm light. It wasn't long until Hiccup could hear her quickly pattering footsteps coming up from the stairs. Astrid smiled up at him, climbing up to unlatch the window and let him in.

"I was waiting for you," she said breathlessly, as he climbed down, a shrunken Toothless now on his shoulder.

"I wasn't sure when you would be let out, I thought with what happened…" he sighed, "I'm worried you're out so soon, but your eyes are…"

Astrid smiled. "My eyes are fine, vision is still blurry, but the doctors say they'll make a full recovery."

"That's really good to hear."

"We need to find the brothers, I was talking to Hiccup and Fishlegs, they think we should look into power usage, remember the cords we saw in their base?"

Hiccup chuckled. "You really get into it right away don't you?"

"Heather and her father Oswald are in protective custody right now, we're working on borrowed time. If we stop or slow down, their lives are at risk."

He nodded with a sigh. "I know, I know, I'm just worried about you, after what happened...I don't want you to get hurt again, we were lucky this time, but we don't even know if they've discovered your identity."

Astrid moved towards him and touched his hand. "It's okay...I'm okay, and the sooner we stop them the sooner we'll all be safe."

"You're right."

Her hand reached up from his and touched the side of his helmet, tugging at it slightly. Hiccup quickly turned his head away from her hand. He wasn't ready to tell her yet, maybe he would never be, Fishlegs said he should tell her, and he knew that his friend was right, but he just couldn't bring himself to show her the truth.

"...Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I…" before he could finish, a knock came at Astrid's door, she looked at him, then turned to head down the stairs.

"I'll be right back," she said softly. Hiccup listened as her footsteps pattered down towards her front door, the locks clicked open one by one, and the door creaked open, letting in the sounds of raindrops hitting the ground outside. "What do you need, officer?" he heard her ask.

"Don't be like that, you can just call me my name." Hiccup recognized the voice, it was Snotlout. "I just came to see if you were alright, I heard what happened."

Astrid sighed. "Well, I'm fine, I'll be making a full recovery soon, is that all?"

There was a pause. "Well, no, I...look I don't usually say things like this, but I was wrong okay? I didn't believe in what The Night Fury was doing, but the both of you saved my life, you really helped, you've been helping, I can see that now. The police, as much as we try, we aren't doing enough, we need him, and you, to keep doing what you're doing."

"I'm glad you finally see it that way, I hope this means the police will stop interfering with us from now on," she said, her tone was icy. "If that's all-"

"Hold on, I need to tell you something," he interjected. "The men you're following...the department has been following them as well, apparently they're being called 'The Grims' on the streets, they've been recruiting, and they are gaining followers quickly."

"...What? They've gained followers? Since when?"

Snotlout sighed. "It's been a little while we think, they've gotten themselves a reputation, a few guys we picked up gave us information on them, but nothing very useful, and nothing since you were...well you know." There was a pause. "I'll tell you anything I learn moving forwards, my father might think we can handle them, but I know the force isn't equipped to take this on, not with everything we're already dealing with."

"Thank you Snotlout...I appreciate that."

"Let me give you my phone number, I'll do whatever I can to help you and The Night Fury, whatever I can do to stop The Grims."

"Okay."

This would be good, having someone from the BPD on their side would help them greatly moving forward, they would be able to give them valuable information on what was happening on the streets of Berk, and possibly give them leads on catching the brothers.

Hiccup decided to take a risk, and started walking down the stairs, just far enough for Snotlout to see him standing there. Snotlout's eyes immediately darted up to The Night Fury, widening at the realization of who it was. "It's...you."

"You said you'll help us?"

Snotlout nodded decisively. "Berk needs more than the police can handle right now, whatever I can do to help you, I'll do it. We have to stop The Grims."

"Thank you," Hiccup said simply.

Hiccup had had his doubts about Snotlout, as kids Snotlout was always a bully, arrogant and selfish. Even as an adult, not much had seemed to change from the few interactions Hiccup endured with Snotlout. It seemed now however that the failings of the police department had taken its toll on Snotlout, watching the city crumble without being able to stop it no matter how hard he tried. Spitelout was stuck in his old-fashioned ways, refusing help from any outsiders, but Snotlout had clearly grown, he knew it was futile and foolish to turn away the only chance Berk had for peace.

Hiccup had to let Fishlegs know about this news, so the next night after visiting Astrid's, he flew across the cityscape to visit his friend. As usual, he tapped on the glass of Fishlegs' window while perched on his fire escape. It was silent for a moment, before the shuffling sounds of Fishlegs approaching came, and he pulled the window open for Hiccup to enter.

"Any news?" he asked over the soft murmur of Fishlegs' television in the background.

Hiccup pulled his helmet off once safely inside. "Some, we've got a new ally."

Fishlegs' head popped up. "A new ally?"

He nodded. "Snotlout came to Astrid's house last night, he said he would give us any information he could regarding the brothers."

Fishlegs drummed his fingers nervously. "This...this is good."

"There's something else too."

"Oh?"

"Apparently the brothers are being called 'The Grims' on the street, and they're gaining followers, rather quickly according to Snotlout."

Fishlegs bit his lip. "That's not so good…"

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, but I can work with not so good, especially since we've got another number on our side, we're gonna need him considering the losses we've had recently."

"I'm...kind of surprised, I wouldn't have expected this of Snotlout of all people...I mean, you remember him in high school don't you?"

"Trust me, I remember better than anyone, but he seems genuine, I believe his intentions are in the right place. He just wants to help protect this city, it's his home too after all."

"Yeah, you're right," Fishlegs said nodding to himself.

"How are the dragons?" Fishlegs' face broke out into a big smile. "...That good huh?"

Fishlegs immediately rushed into the next room, gesturing for Hiccup to follow him. "They're doing fine, but yesterday I learned something new about Meatlug, it's amazing! Come see!"

Hiccup followed his friend into another room where the dragons were being kept, the TV was on in this room, the sound of the news anchor talking filled the room. Fishlegs pulled out a fist-sized lump of what appeared to be metal and dumped it into Hiccup's hands, it was lighter than he expected, but still seemed to be a solid chunk of metal. "...So what am I holding?" he asked, confused.

"That there is metal that Meatlug made!" Fishlegs replied excitedly.

"Made? How do you mean that?"

"I was experimenting with different types of rocks and minerals to feed her, and turns out if you feed her the right combination of things she spits out this type of metal, I've never seen anything like it. I've been doing tests on this metal, and it seems like a brand-new type of metal, stronger than any I've been able to find," he explained.

Hiccup looked down at the metal in his hands, tossing it back and forth between them to feel the weight. "It's light," he commented. "Could I take this with me? To try smelting it?"

Fishlegs nodded excitedly. "Yeah go ahead, it's really easy to make with Meatlug, and the rocks I need aren't hard to get ahold of, if you're able to manipulate it I was thinking you could use it to make a stronger, lighter tail finn."

"That's a good idea," Hiccup said, staring down at the metal lump in his hands.

The words "The Night Fury" from the television caught Hiccup's ear and he turned to listen to what the reporter was saying. She spoke quickly, talking about the popularity that The Night Fury had gained online within Berk, then a flash of Mayor Stoick Haddock came onto the screen.

"Frankly, I think he's a criminal and I support Police Chief Jorgenson's efforts to pursue capture of him. Some citizens may think he's trying to be a hero, but we can't have anybody who wants to running around trying to stop crimes, that will lead to more danger, and more people hurt. I believe the best thing this Night Fury person can do to lower the crime in Berk is to turn himself into the BPD."

Fishlegs winced, turning to see his friend's reaction. "Hiccup…"

Hiccup just pressed his lips into a thin line, and turned his attention back onto Fishlegs. "I should go, I'll take this and let you know if I learn anything new." With that, he pulled his helmet back on and began heading towards the window.