Hello again, I'm back at last

You may be wondering why this took so long to write.

The reason is redrafting. I have written this chapter so many times at this point, in so many different ways, that I'm just happy it's done.

Please let me know what you think of it. My motivation is essentially dust at this point, but I want to see it through to the end.

Henry frowned at the newly bought digital watch on his wrist. Wishing that he could throw it away, as it had been a good few years since he last specifically needed to use a watch.

Back during his SAS days.

Sleep had evaded him, and there was work to do, meaning he was dressed in clothes other than pyjamas as he observed the street through the curtains and blinds on the window. It was quiet outside, save for a Range Rover that drew up by Gobber's house where they were both present currently.

The car flashed its headlights as it faced in his direction and he pulled away from the window, heading for the door after pausing to pat Toothless on the head where the feline was curled up, mostly asleep but eyeing him all the same.

Then Henry continued on his way, to the front door and out of the house to the car outside, taking care to be as quiet as possible despite Gobber's snoring audible from his bedroom. He was not a light sleeper, unlike Hiccup. He would not wake easily.

Approaching the car outside, he opened a door and slid into the backseat, closing it and strapping on his seatbelt.

After fastening his seatbelt, Henry settled into the shadows of the backseat. The car's interior was dim, lit only by the faint glow of the dashboard. He turned his attention forward just as the front passenger twisted around to face him, her features half concealed by shadow.

"I thought you had retired from this particular line of work? You had said as much to your superior at the time."

"Retiring is harder than I thought, Mrs Hofferson. And there can be no more casualties, so let's proceed instead of just talking."

She turned in her seat and met the eye of the driver, then gave a nod and a moment later they took off, leaving Gobber's abode behind.

Henry stepped through an automatic door that closed and locked itself when the lights flickered on, to reveal the room he had entered. Said room was large with white tiles from top to bottom, furnished only by a table covered by a black tablecloth, on top of which lay various objects. Namely two pistol magazines, a pair of gloves and an envelope he found to be filled with money when opened.

He took out the money, counted it, returned it to the envelope and set it aside, then picked up a magazine.

"Getting started already? I take it everything is as you prefer it, for this job."

It was Mrs Hofferson who spoke, audible via a speaker that Henry spotted on the ceiling after a moment of looking around. A white tile had been removed to mount it there.

Henry waved the hand that held the pistol magazine around as he responded, looking at it. "I have no preference beyond what works. Though I don't see any gun here."

"You have a gun on your person. Use that."

"So you know about my pistol. But then, why haven't you done anything about it? What makes me so special that you overlook that? Actually, nevermind don't answer that. I have a feeling I won't like the answer."

"You don't want to be pardoned for what you're about to do?"

"My cousin got away with things. I don't want to have something in common with him."

"We'll discuss this some other day with Astrid present. You have work to do."

A second door slid open across the room from him, and as he saw it, Henry shrugged, dismissing the previous conversation from his mind.

He then proceeded to collect together everything on the table before he left.

It was now midday in Berk.

Krogan was leaning with his back to his car, facing a cafe, idly watching people come and go as his phone dialled.

Then the line connected and he spoke. "Sir, Haddock hasn't checked into any hotels and hasn't been seen since he came to the casino yesterday. What do you want me to do?"

Drago grunted before replying. "Find the girl. Get an answer out of her. She'll draw him out."

"Yes sir. Now about the Bog girl-"

"She is my responsibility now after you let her flee!" Drago growled and Krogan sighed before replying. "Yes sir."

"Proceed as directed," Drago finished and hung up.

Sighing, Krogan pocketed his phone and entered the café. Joining the queue to order, he saw two people in riding leathers, with full-face motorbike helmets on, in the positions directly in front of him, with one more person in front of both of them.

That person received their order and left. Time passed, and finally, Krogan could order, but before he did, he noted that neither of the duo had their visors up, as they left together.

Cogs started to turn in his head.

"Um, sir... can I take your order?"

Hurriedly, he spoke. "Full English breakfast, please. Take your time though, I'll be right back."

Ignoring whatever else may have been said in reply, he made haste out of the café, searching for the pair with one thought lodged in his head.

Fortunately for him, they hadn't yet left, engaged in enjoying a polystyrene cup of coffee each.

Krogan coughed. "Excuse me."

"Yeah?" One of them responded.

"Can you lift up your visor, please?"

"What?"

"Both of you. Can you lift up your visors? I'm an off-duty officer but I heard there's someone who went missing. I need to see if that could be either of you and pass the info along. Don't worry, you're not in trouble."

One of them - the one who had responded earlier - shrugged. "Alright then." And removed their helmet to reveal a head sporting a recent haircut and a face with brown eyes.

Meanwhile, his companion was female with black hair with a purple highlight and eyes that were also brown. Krogan supposed they could be siblings. What he knew for sure, however, was that neither appeared to be Henry Haddock, despite what he had hoped to discover.

He didn't let his disappointment show but nodded. "Thank you for your time. I'll have to keep looking." And headed back inside the café.

"I'm sorry for doubting you, Emma," Henry said, putting his helmet visor back up. "And your contact lenses."

"Apology accepted. But you still owe me, Haddock."

"Fine!" He huffed, pretending to be exasperated. "Here," he said, slapping a ten-pound note in her waiting hand.

"The agreement was for twenty."

Henry shook his head and lowered his visor. "Did you forget what we're here for? I'm going to finish up. Then you'll get your money. Got it?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You better not die."

"I won't."

Henry ventured into the café after that, spotting Krogan sitting alone at a table. He approached him. "Hey, you dropped this."

Krogan had only just looked at him, lips parting to ask what he was referring to when Henry pulled out his pistol and shot him in the chest three times.

This led almost immediately to a cacophony of screams from the other patrons, but he ignored them, not looking at anyone as he swiftly approached the exit, his mind bare of anything but a single thought.

Stoick sends his regards, Krogan.

He was now back in the white-tiled room, only this time he wasn't alone. Mrs Hofferson was waiting for him when he arrived, and he was soon joined by another.

"I suppose you must feel better, now that you've enacted your revenge."

"I enacted my father's revenge. My own would result in Drago's entire organisation being no more, Grimmel included since he threw in his lot with them. Nevertheless, I hope I never have to shoot a man in broad daylight ever again."

Mrs Hofferson squinted at him. "Did you just have a moral crisis?"

"Gods no. That was sloppy. Far too high a risk of intervention. There's a reason why the alleyway is a stereotype as a location for killing people."

"Not to mention the chance of being recognised," Another voice, distinctly female, chimed in.

Henry paused and looked at the person who had spoken, and smiled. "That too, yes. Thank you Emma."

Mrs Hofferson looked at her, then back at him. "Alright, humour me: under ideal circumstances, how would each of you break into a guarded building to rescue someone, and leave without being stopped or better yet, noticed to begin with?"

"The former is much more achievable than the latter," Emma supplied, tapping her fingers on her chin for a moment of thinking. "Okay, ideal circumstances would include an insider that could leave a door or window unlocked during their break time. Infiltrate, subdue any guards in the way, locate the person in need of rescue, exfiltrate with them."

"My answer is the same as hers. But I get the feeling that you have a task for us."

"That's because I do. There's a certain someone in need of rescuing."

Henry and Emma exchanged glances, before the latter asked, "Who?"

"And where is the person?" Henry prompted.

"You'll find the person at-"

"This is the place? Why here of all places?"

Hiccup and Emma were now parked not far from a closed-down motel building, a failed branch of Motel One that hadn't yet been repurposed or demolished.

"Less obvious?" Emma supplied.

"I guess... but it'll be a legal nightmare if someone gets injured there; falling through a weakened floor beam or whatever. Now sir, can you tell us when and where you got injured? So we can contact the owner of the building?"

"Point well made, Haddock. Now, let's take a closer look."

He drove them around the building, with Emma observing through the lens of her camera, taking pictures as he drove at a suitably slow pace. Finally, they returned to their parking spot.

"Did you notice anyone? I sure didn't. Maybe we're lucky and we can just stroll in. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"It would," said Emma, flicking through the pictures she had taken, zooming in on each one, before repeating with the next in the collection until finally she stopped and squinted. "We may have been noticed though."

She showed him a picture of the building, zoomed in to a vague glimpse of a room with the curtains open and a figure dressed in black, standing by the window looking out.

"Right..." Henry murmured, after peering at it for a few seconds. "Time for you to make yourself scarce. I'll stay here."

"Copy that. Emma out," she said, only to receive a stare. "What?"

"You know you don't need to say that, right? You left the army..."

"Still working with one of the best I know."

Henry snorted. "Don't tell Lucan that."

"I'm like Frozone: I don't see anyone from the old days. Just you."

"And whose fault is that? Now go. We can't let that camera get into the wrong hands."

Nodding, she climbed out of the car, grabbing her camera but then paused. "Did he say anything? When he came to visit you?"

"Why didn't you ask me this sooner? Perhaps on the day he came 'round?"

"I'll let you figure that out yourself," she said, then was gone.

Which was just as well, because a few minutes later, a small army of vehicles turned up, arranging themselves so that he was boxed in, should he decide to flee.

But that wasn't the plan. Instead, he got out of the car, nonchalantly leaning on the driver-side door as one by one, he was covered by guns.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?"

His question was ignored. Instead, one of the men stepped closer and pistol-whipped Henry in the face.

Cami's head shot up, only to grimace as the action sent a bolt of pain to her neck and head. Warily, she cradled her neck and head and watched the door to her makeshift cell unlock and be pushed open, then someone was shoved inside to fall flat on their face before the door was shut and locked again.

Her new cellmate moved into a sitting position and Cami's eyes - which were ringed by black and were the least painful part of her - widened in recognition.

"Hiccup?!"

He looked over and waved lazily at her. "Hey."

"What happened? How did you end up here?"

"We were on our way to rescue you," he answered, gingerly touching the bruise on his face. "Didn't go too well... I guess we might be a bit rusty. Also, you really don't look too good right now."

Cami ignored that last part. "Who's 'we'?"

"Myself and a colleague from my time in the SAS."

Cami's jaw dropped, and she shrieked. "WHAT?!" before regretting it as it sent her into a painful coughing fit, though it subsided after a few seconds. "W-what do you mean?" she gasped, looking at him expectantly.

But before Henry could explain, they both looked at the door as they heard it unlocking. It opened and Cami instinctively backed away until her back hit the wall and she could retreat no further, the result of a mere glimpse of the man standing in the doorway.

"The boss wants to make a deal with you," growled the man, before stepping inside and hauling Henry to his feet, then taking him away.

Cami watched the proceedings intently, hoping that the door being left open was her opportunity to escape, but then he returned and shut the door again, locking it before she could hear footsteps recede down the hallway.

Despairing, she curled up, placing her head on her knees and wept; for Hiccup, herself and for never seeing the outside world ever again.

Meanwhile, Henry was feeling anything but despair as he was brought to another room, where he found Drago sitting at a desk.

"Ryker, leave us. Haddock, sit."

He sat while Ryker left, then leaned forward to place his hands on the desk. "Are you going to make me an offer I can't refuse? As an alternative to being locked away?"

Drago grinned widely. "Am I that predictable?"

"Not necessarily. I'm just familiar with how gang bosses think. So what is your deal?"

"You replace Krogan, becoming my second in command."

"Hmm..." Henry made a show of thinking. "No."

Drago did not look pleased as he registered what was just said.