Previously:

Hiccup and Toothless decided to test out how the new tail takes to lightning mid battle, effectively making Thor think he disintegrated them.

Refer to the last chapter for Peter's recollection of the recent events

Now:

(THIRD POV)

A figure sits slumped in a chair, muscles tense with frustration. The room is bright with fluorescent blue and white lights, some soft music playing from a speaker in the corner. The curtains are drawn closed, shielding the outside from looking in; or the other way round. Computers line one wall, figures hunched in front of them rapidly tapping and clicking away. A large table stretches the centre, a few snacks laid out amongst stacks of paper.

A timid young man pulls his cloak around himself as he approaches the lone figure. "Do you have a minute?"

The figure sighs, but stands up. "Yes..."

"We've been closely monitoring the battle like you asked."

The figure nods. "And?"

"Well, our numbers are dropping. Rapidly."

"I take it this means all subjects are there."

"Yes, sir."

The figure moves to the long table and pulls up a hologram, shaky footage of the current battle bounces back. They are going to lose this stage, without a doubt. But would vérités fall?

"Yes, well..." the figure hums, rolling up the sleeves of their cloak. "They're certainly doing better than I planned."

They have the attention of a few more figures now, who pause their duties to listen in.

"Perhaps this is another unsuccessful attempt. Calculations may have been off after all; this could be the wrong timeline." The figure continues, thoughtful and calculative.

"And if so?"

"Let's not think about that right now... we still have time." And the figure turned away to gaze at the live battle footage. "Yes... we still have time."

Hiccup's POV

Toothless and I circle back around to help keep the robots and aliens away from Sam once we get word that he's hurt, but luckily we don't have to do much except toss a few flying robots away. Doctor Strange, If I'm remembering his name right, arrived fairly quickly to help Sam to the jet; the same machine we were in earlier when we first got to the tower.

"Alright, that's two of us down, so everyone needs to band together." Steve announces over the coms. I find the coms weird, it's very unusual to hear people extremely clearly when they're not nearby, but it's definitely a good element to have for battle. I only have it because Clint gave it to me.

*flashback*

After picking up a discarded arrow and firing it with my shield in its crossbow form, I decide that I should find one of the archers and return it; they would definitely have to be running low by now.

Toothless is close by, so all I do once I retrieve the arrow is hop into the saddle and explain to him my intention. We take off into the sky, spinning slowly in the air as we climb high to get a good look over the chaotic battlefield. The battle itself is spread fairly wide, with many buildings and streets affected, but the majority of it seems drawn to the centre. "Ok, where's an archer?" I wonder out loud, watching the battle carefully. After a few seconds of searching, Toothless cocks his head to the side and fixates on a particular buildings roof. I follow his gaze, making out the faint outline of a person standing against a chimney. "Good eye, bud!" I exclaim, urging him down.

We dip down through the air and circle the building once, swiftly touching down next to the chimney. "Hi," I greet, lifting my visor up to smile at the man.
He glances at me, nodding in acknowledgment before firing two arrows down at the battle. "You're Hiccup?"
"Yep," I respond. I un attach myself from the saddle and hop off, grabbing the arrow from a saddle bag. "Figured you might be running low." I hold it out.
He takes it, examining the arrow. "Thanks, this is one of my favourites," he adds it to his quiver which only has a dozen or so arrows left. "I'm Clint, if you didn't know." He holds out his hand for a hand shake. I take the offer. He pats my shoulder, "Welcome aboard temporary Avenger."

I chuckle, shaking my head, "Thanks." I gesture for Toothless to come over, ready to return to the battle.
"Hang on," Clint calls, digging through his pockets as I swing into the saddle. I wait for him, curious. He produces a small black object and presses something on it, before gesturing for me to catch it. I do, and raise my eyebrows in surprise. I turn it over in my hands. I don't know what it is.

"Put it in your ear," he explains. "It's a communication device. Make sure you hold the side when you talk."

Warily, I take my helmet off and put the devise in my ear. Immediately an influx of noises and voices fill my ear, and I recognise them as the voices of Tony, Spider-man and others.

"Wow." I mutter. "Okay. Thanks."

Clint waves me off, "If you're on our team we may as well be able to communicate with you."

I put my helmet back on, being careful to not knock the earpiece. I finish attaching myself to the saddle and open the tail, giving Clint a salute as Toothless takes off into the air.

* Flashback over *

Toothless and I spend a few more minutes zipping around the sky, firing plasma blast after plasma blast— and summoning the occasional lightning bolt from the dark clouds that Thor is using. Now that he doesn't think he killed us he seems to be hanging a lot of fun, working with us to co ordinate multi attacks with the lightning.

"Good job, bud!" I cheer after a plasma blast takes out a dozen aliens that were swarming around a young girl standing in a section of blown-up road. We swoop down low, fending off a few robots. "Are you okay?" I ask the girl, yelling over the sounds of the battle.

"Are you a good guy?" She snaps, a wooden plank in her hands. I hold my hands up in a gesture to calm her down. She doesn't look any older than twelve. Her hair is red and curly, and her clothes have a few scorch marks and tears, most likely from the battle.

"Yes I'm with the Avengers." I hope I said the name right. "C'mon, we'll give you a lift to safety!" I add, holding out my hand. The sense of familiarity pings my heart, we've used this very gesture for six years now—trying to convince people to give us a chance, but not everyone has given us one like Astrid did.

A few more aliens are heading this way, and I draw inferno in defence. Whether the girl will come or not, we still need to protect her.

The girl follows my gaze and gulps nervously. "Okay. Okay, I'll come!" She says quickly, moving towards us. I pat Toothless, keeping him calm, before helping her onto the saddle. "Hold on tight!" I urge her as we take off into the sky.

"Okay Toothless, find us somewhere safe!" I encourage. We fly up high above the battle, the girl tightening her grip in fear. Toothless looks around, searching for somewhere safe.

"Hiccup has a civilian, looks like they're tying to find somewhere safe." Spider-man says in the ear device.
"We'll cover him," Kate, who I know is one of the archers, responds. I would tell them thanks, but I can't access the device with my helmet on. The few times I have spoken, I've slipped my helmet off altogether, so it's not the most convenient nor safe.

Finally, Toothless finds a spot and we speed off towards it. Touching down next to a large building, we're met with a few other civilians, most of them adults. I help the girl off the saddle and pat her shoulder comfortingly. "Stay safe!" I say, before we shoot off into the sky again. I glance down to see the other people leading her to safety.

We continue to give some more arial support for a few minutes. We even team up with Tony at one point when a large contraption is thrown off a building by robots, swooping in to help defend him from attacks as he lifts the long wheeled contraption to safety. Turns out that there was people inside it. The modes of transportation are so weird here.

"Everyone ok? Can everyone walk?" Tony asks impatiently as he opens the doors. A chorus of yes rings out, and he steps aside. "Alright, everybody off the bus. Run away from the imminent danger." He calls, ushering them out. A dozen adults leave the contraption, a few waving in thanks as they all sprint away. Toothless and I land close by, watching them go and making sure no aliens or robots are going after them. Thankfully they make it out of sight without any trouble.

Then I notice a group of aliens to our right, their chittering unmistakable as they charge towards us. Toothless growls, and I look down to see his eyes on a few robots that are heading in the same direction the people did. Thinking quickly, I jump off the saddle.

I draw inferno and get my shield at the ready, nodding to Toothless. "You get the robots, bud." I point at them with inferno. He rushes off on foot, his spine glowing blue as he readies himself. I turn towards the aliens and raise my sword in defence. And here I was thinking I'd never be in an on-foot battle.

Once they're within range, I hold my shield up defensively while faking jabs with inferno at them. As I found out earlier, they're not big fans of fire, so it manages to make them hesitate long enough for me to make jabs with my shield. As the minute rolls on I start having to get more resourceful; picking up stones and using the mini catapult function to launch them at the aliens' eyes. It does help disorientate them, which gives me several opportunities to take several of them down.

After a minute I see someone run into view, fighting off a robot. Once he takes down the robot, he comes over to help me. I've seen him around, but only from a distance. "You doing ok? No offence, but you fight better with your dragon." He calls gruffly, fighting off an alien with a weapon that launches small, but evidently powerful, shapes in rapid succession. (It's a gun lol)

"Oh trust me, I know," I laugh awkwardly back before slamming my shield into an aliens side harshly. It does the trick, I must have hit the right area. But as I try tug it back out, it seems to be lodged in deeply. Why does this always happen to me?! Sighing deeply, I extinguish inferno and put it down (big mistake) before starting to tug at the shield. Then two aliens are about to jump on me, so I abandon the shield and reach for inferno— just to see it had rolled out of reach. Where's my sword or my shield NOW, Gobber?

Thinking quickly, I reach down and detach my prosthetic. I swing it at the alien closest to me, metal end extended. It connects with the alien's head, which emits a loud crack. I pull it back out, grateful it wasn't hard, and turn towards the second alien that's mid air. In the moment I know that it's too late to do anything, so I throw my arms up in defence. Nothing comes, but as I re open my eyes I see a flash of sunlight catching on something metal. That metal something is an arm.

I freeze.
"Dragons are kind, amazing creature that can bring people together!" I'd said.
Drago had sneered at me and unhooked his arm, exposing his stump. "Or tear them apart."

***

"I vowed to rise above the fear of dragons and liberate the people of this world."
"Then why a dragon army?" It had seemed dumb to hate dragons, yet use them, after all.
"Well, you need dragons to conquer other dragons."
"Or maybe you need dragons to conquer people. To control those who follow you... and to get rid of those who won't."
His dark laugh followed as he mocked me. "Clever boy."

***

"No dragon can resist the Alpha's command." Drago announced smugly as he wielded his staff. "So he who controls the Alpha, controls them all..."
Toothless started to thrash in pain as the Bewilderbeast tried to take control. I called out to him, but all he did was cry out and thrash in pain.
"Witness true strength. The strength of will over others. In the face of it, you are NOTHING!"

The next thing I knew, my dad was lying dead on the ground.

"Hey!" A sharp tone snaps me back to reality, and I blink as the man with the metal arm fends off the alien. He then turns and extends his flesh arm to me, and I realise I'd fallen to the ground at some point (probably because I hadn't reattached my prosthetic). Trying not to shake, I take his hand and let him pull me to my feet.
"It's a bad time to freeze up like that!" He exclaims. I swallow, bending down and attaching my foot as I nod. As if I had any control over it.
"Yeah... it won't—it won't happen again." I stammer, picking up inferno.

He stops me as I go to move off. I turn to look at him as he stares me in the eyes. "I know that look." He says, then looks at his metal arm— which happens to be the one on my shoulder. He withdraws it and takes a step back. "Did I—"

"It's... its not you." I assure him, wanting my racing heart to calm down as I remind myself that Drago is dead. "Your arm just... reminded me of someone from my world. He did some horrible things." It's in this moment that I realise it has already been over a year since I lost my dad. I shake my head. "Thank you, uh, for the save by the way."
"It was no problem. I'm Bucky." Steve's friend?
"I'm Hiccup." I manage.
"You be careful out here, Hiccup." Bucky gives me a nod, before jogging off.

About twenty minutes later I'm still fighting on foot. The numbers have dwindled a fair bit, which is good. Everyone has grouped together into the general area now, I can even see Toothless about a hundred meters away squaring up with two aliens. Right now I'm dodging an alien's horns, waiting for an opening to strike. Sweat is running down my face, neck and back—partly due to the heat of the armour, and partly due to exhaustion.

Finally I knock the alien to the ground. It gets its horns wedged in a contraption, unable to pull itself out. Which gives me the perfect opportunity to run it through. Which is still about as fun as you can imagine at this point, but by now I just want the battle to be over with. I just want to go home.

I pull inferno back and step away from the alien. I hear movement behind me so I turn to fight whatever it is that's closing in in me, just to freeze.

"Wow, Hiccup. Not even a hello? I'm offended."

"DAGUR?!"

And there we go, wow this battle is going on for a long time. But hey, it might be over soon! Or it might stretch on for another twenty chapters 💀 jk it won't.

Can someone give Bucky a hug I feel bad that he immediately assumed he had hurt Hiccup as The Winter Soldier.

See you next chapter with Peter!