Eleven: Targets

The window shattered...followed by the flatscreen. Three more high powered rifle shots hit the wall above their heads and everyone hit the floor...

...except Fishlegs, who sat motionless in his chair, staring dumbly at the shattered screen, his jaw hanging slack. Hiccup glanced up at the husky man...then reached up, grabbed the back of the chair and pulled it backwards so Fishlegs slammed back onto the floor.

"Ow!" He reached for his head, wincing and rubbing the point where it had cracked against the floor. "Why did you do that?" he added in a hurt voice.

"He could see you through the window...and if he could see you, he could put a bullet through your skull!" Astrid snapped. Hiccup belly-crawled to the table, snatched Fishlegs's computer and keyboard off the table and shoved them into his arms, then grabbed the pistol from its holster. As an afterthought, he grabbed his own computer and cable and stuffed them into his bag, sagging where it had been dumped.

"Get to the shower room," he said in a low voice. "The window opens over a fire escape. You go down there to the back alley and escape."

"That'll be the first place they look!" Astrid argued.

"No, the first place they'll look is the front door which is the only other way out of the building and opens onto the main street where they're shooting from!" Hiccup replied tightly. He crawled to the main window, keeping below the level of the windowsill. "I'll cover you!"

"How?" Astrid asked as another two rounds zinged into the room. Hiccup's emerald gaze focussed on the remains of the flatscreen, focussing on the faint reflections of what was happening below. He gave a small smile, lifting his left hand abruptly and firing over the windowsill, his eyes locked on the screen. He adjusted his aim and fired again, seeing the shape with the rifle duck back into the strip joint as the wood an inch from his head exploded from Hiccup's shots. He glanced at the others.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" he urged them, seeing Astrid stare at him in concern for a long moment. The twins were already crawling for the shower room...then crawling back, grabbing the frozen Fishlegs and crawling along, hauling the big man behind him. "Go," he mouthed gently then turned his gaze back to the reflection and saw the assassin duck out again. He swiftly lifted his hand up and snapped off a couple more shots as Astrid crawled swiftly through to the still slightly clammy shower room and found the twins wrestling the window open. Then they stared.

"That fire escape is a good eight feet below us!" Ruff protested. "We'll break our necks..."

"Oh, get out of my way!" Astrid sighed and clambered up, feeling the blast of cold air hit her legs, reminding her that she was in Hiccup's training shorts...and though they reached her knees, they were hardly designed for a brisk Berkian day. She squeezed through, looked down and sighed. "Wimps," she muttered as she launched, her lithe form extending and trainers hitting the metal of the fire escape a second later, knees bending to absorb the impact. She looked up...to meet Tuff's admiring face.

"Sweet moves, Astrid!" he said.

"Get down here!" she snapped, feeling goosebumps prickle on her legs and arms.

"But it's a long way..."

"NOW!"

In the main living area, Hiccup was ducked down and watching the opponent in the reflection. The outline was buff, poised and very professional...and the man was adjusting his aim. In a flash, Hiccup realised the single brick skin underlying the soft sandstone cladding of his building really wouldn't keep out the kind of high powered ordnance the man was using. He urgently rolled sideways-as three heavy hits reverberated through the wall and the fourth punched a hole in the wall under the window just where he had been lying.

He stared at the hole: the man was cunning and vicious...a real pro, while Hiccup had precisely no field experience and just the courage, theoretical knowledge and instincts he possessed to help him. Somehow, he was still alive...so far. He rolled across the gap, snapped off a couple more shots to keep the man focussed on the living area...and scrambled to the shower room, snatching his light jacket and his winter coat along the way. But when he arrived in the shower room, he found Tuff struggling to fit a resisting Fishlegs through the small window.

"I'm not going through there!" the big man protested. "There's a huge drop. I'll take my chances with the front door..."

"Don't," Hiccup said evenly. "You will die. He's shot a hole in the wall, Fish...won't be long before he's coming in..."

There was a burst of activity as Fishlegs began to squirm and writhe through the gap and with a wail, his feet vanished. There was a metallic thud and a groan...followed by a burst of cursing in Astrid's voice. Hiccup raced to the window and stuck his head through.

"You alright?" he called down and Astrid glared up at him...as he balled up his coat and threw it down to her. "Put this on-it may stop you freezing!" She stared up at him...then dragged the coat on. Tuff quickly scrambled through and down...before Hiccup pulled his jacket on, pulled his messenger bag across his body and slid through the window and launched downwards. He landed with a thud in a crouch, then stared at the others.

"What now?" Ruff asked. He rolled his eyes.

"We get away?" he suggested. "Ruff, Tuff-find us some transport! Astrid-warmer?" She nodded. "Good-now we three need to get down without being seen!" The twins were already speeding down the fire escape, arguing loudly. Hiccup grasped Fishlegs's arm. "C'mon, Fish. We need to get out of here..."

"But why do I have to come here with you?" the florist protested. "Why can't I just go home?"

"Because you're a target!" Astrid told him. "A madman with a sniper rifle just tried to kill us all...and how well do you think you'll do on your own?"

"I was doing fine until I came over!" Fishlegs said angrily, glaring at Hiccup. "Why did you have to involve me in your mess?" Hiccup stared at him and took a slow breath, calming himself.

"Would you have preferred I turned you in when I caught you so you would be in jail now?" he asked sharply.

"Yes!" Fishlegs snapped back. "It would be safe and warm. Why did you have to ruin everything?" And then he stomped down the metal steps and started stalking away up the alley. Hiccup stared after him, his face pale.

"I'm sure he doesn't mean it," Astrid said quietly but Hiccup shook his head.

"Wow-today just keeps getting better and better!" he said sarcastically. "What next-the fire escape collapsing?"

There was a pause and Astrid jumped up and down on it. It creaked but didn't budge. She looked up with a grin.

"Nope," she said cheerfully. "Not yet..." Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"There's still time," he muttered and headed down to ground level, Astrid on his heels.

"By the way, grabbing me a coat was really sweet," she said. "Thank you." He blushed.

"Um...well, it's kind of my fault you don't have your own clothes," he apologised, his green gaze looking anywhere but at Astrid. She brushed her hair off her face, then grabbed his jacket and hauled him forward, pressing a quick but firm kiss on his mouth. He stared at her in shock.

"That's for stepping up and being so thoughtful," she told him, the stared at his shocked look. She punched him in the shoulder. "And that's...well, Hiccup are you okay?" He blinked then winced.

"Ow..." he murmured, then shook himself. "Um...thanks," he said and stared after Fishlegs. "We ought to catch him..."

Bullets zinged around them and they suddenly cringed. Hiccup glanced up and saw a buff man leaning out of his shower-room window, short carrot hair and pale green eyes visible as the man emptied a clip from his automatic at the two young would-be agents. Hiccup grabbed Astrid's hand and sprinted after Fishlegs.

"Fish!" Hiccup shouted.

"I am not listening!" the husky man said, stomping away briskly and refusing to look at them.

"He's after us!" Astrid added, reaching his side. Fishlegs snorted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah...he's after you! No one knows me...and yes, I'll go home the roundabout route-round the back of 'Bread-Making Vikings'..." he began.

"More likely round the back of 'Happy Ulf's Express Funerals'," Hiccup panted. More bullets ricocheted off the wall by them. Fish finally looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened in shock and horror.

"Oh Thor...oh Thor...oh Thor..." he whimpered and suddenly accelerated to a very rapid lumber that left Astrid and Hiccup behind for a moment as more bullets zinged around them. Hiccup ducked and raced after him...as a screech sounded and a plush brown and red coach lurched round the corner and almost ran them down. The door hissed open.

"Jump in!" Tuff shouted. Fishlegs raced up the steps very rapidly for a big man and Hiccup made sure Astrid was on before he scrambled aboard just as Tuff floored the gas pedal and they lurched off. Hiccup grabbed the rail but still almost fell out of the coach-only Astrid's firm grip stopped him. Breathing hard, he pulled himself up as the door hissed closed and Ruff shoved them into seats.

"I love buses!" she grinned, chewing on a slice of pizza she had somehow managed to bring with her. Hiccup glared.

"Tuff? Do I even need to know how you got this?" he asked as shots impacted on the rear window.

"Oh...the Berk Senior Viking Recreation Club won't be happy if we shoot up their bus!" the male twin commented, a mad grin on his face. Astrid and Hiccup shared a horrified look. The BSVRC were the most outspoken, pompous and irritating grouping in Berk and everyone was scared of annoying them. Everyone's parents were in the BSVRC and clung like limpets to their Viking heritage, often blocking or slowing any change or modernisation of Berk society or Berk Town. Having them angry at you was like being chased by the mafia...only with more cursing and viking helmets.

"If my Dad wasn't in ITU now, he would be chasing me with a rocket-launcher," Hiccup groaned, knowing his father was a leading member of BSVRC. "Get us out of here!"

"I think they're following us, dude!" the male twin commented, peering in his wing mirror as a black Mercedes screeched round a corner with the carrot-haired man hanging out the window firing at them. Astrid glared.

"And they're faster than us!" she pointed out, earning herself a glare from both twins...leading to them almost crashing into a statue in the traffic island. Fishlegs's scream drew everyone back to the present and the coach swerved, flattening a hot dog stand. Mustard and buns shot up and smeared over the windshield. Hiccup groaned and pointed.

"There!" he shouted and Tuff zoomed through the lights, skidded round the corner and shot down the hill and round towards the ruins of AI6 HQ.

"Why are we coming here?" Ruff asked. "I mean, there's no one to help..."

"Except the cops stationed all around the site of a major terrorist attack?" Hiccup suggested as they screamed round the corner and accelerated towards the police cordon. But on seeing the out-of-control coach, the police all drew their weapons and fired at them.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Astrid asked from the floor as more bullets zinged round them.

"No," Hiccup admitted, lying beside her. He glanced behind. "But the lunatic in the Merc has dropped back."

"Shame the lunatic behind the wheel here hasn't slowed down!" Astrid snapped. "Tuff!"

"Oh Thor, oh Thor, we're all going to die..." Fishlegs whimpered, covering his head.

"Mutton-head-we're running out of road!" Ruff shouted as the coach lurched round a very sharp corner onto the incredibly steep and hair-pin old road that crawled down the cliff. No one used this way anymore because it was so dangerous: absolutely everyone used the newly constructed artificial ramp way that used the seastacks to create a safer highway to the harbour. The coach lurched as they screamed round another hairpin, the back alarmingly swinging above the yawning drop.

"You're going too fast," Hiccup shouted.

"So is he!" Tuff yelled back, indicating to the black Mercedes that was stubbornly on their tail. The carrot-haired man snapped off a handful more shots at them. Hiccup stuck his head up, peered down the slope and saw a huge yew two corners down.

"Keep us on the road until then," he ordered. "Everyone, get to the door. Ruff-open it. When we swing round that corner, we'll be out of sight from the killer so we're going to jump."

"WHAT?" Fishlegs screamed.

"Awesome!" Ruff grinned.

"I concur!" Tuff shouted, wrenching the coach round another hairpin. Everyone slammed to one side and Hiccup felt his cheeks heat as Astrid pressed against him. She stared briefly into his eyes.

"Are you sure this will work?" she asked him, quickly pushing herself away from him.

"Sure...is a strong word," he admitted. "More like...a hunch..."

"Coming up!" Tuff shouted as Ruff opened the door and they all hustled Fishlegs to the door. The big man gave a scream as the coach began to swing. Hiccup and Astrid gave him a huge shove and followed him out in leaping out of the coach, followed by Ruff and finally Tuff who screamed 'Chicken!' for no apparent reason. They all impacted in the thick and incredibly bristly bush as the coach roared down the next leg with the Mercedes-which shot past the yew containing the fugitives-in hot pursuit.

They all ducked down as they heard a huge crash and then the crunch and scream of bending and tortured metal as the coach shot off the road at the next hairpin and bounced down the almost vertical slope until it crumpled in a pile on the rocks below. There was a long pause...and then an explosion as the gas tank ruptured and caught fire. Hiccup shifted and groaned as a branch poked into his cracked ribs: he could see the column of black smoke already beginning to rise into the guy sky.

"Boy, the Senior Viking Recreation Club are going to be totally pissed at us now," Ruff noted.

"Maybe we should just leave the island completely before they hunt us down and float us out to sea for betraying our Viking heritage," Tuff added, not looking at all upset about it.

"Or we could all stop talking about it so no one ever knows," Hiccup sighed.

"Oh Thor...how do we get down from here?" Fishlegs whimpered. Astrid swung down to the next branch and peered through the needles to the ground below. The yew was huge and looked pretty challenging to climb. She could already tell that Fishlegs would be a huge liability and they may have to leave him up the tree. Everyone knew that the assassin would go and check the wreckage of the bus...and at some point, they would find out that there had been no one on the bus and then he would be back on their tail.

"Quickly," Astrid snapped and looked up at Hiccup. He winced but nodded, trying to sort his limbs out and grasp the branches he was on more securely. Suddenly, there was a crack and a wail and Fishlegs crashed down through the levels, whacking Hiccup and Ruffnut as he passed before landing in a huge patch of bracken and brambles. Everyone stared, looking guilty and trying not to laugh.

"I don't think you meant that quickly," Hiccup commented, absently rubbing the shoulder Fishlegs had inadvertently kicked and trying to feel guilty, though he had managed to scramble onto the branch and was inching carefully along to the trunk to start climbing down. Ruff and Tuff were already swinging carelessly down, agile and reckless and Astrid was swinging down with the grace and agility of someone who was qualified and skilled on every single piece of equipment in a gym. He felt a small blush warm his cheeks and shook himself: Astrid was out of his league and would probably beat him to a pulp if he tried any sort of move on her. He shook his head and scrambled onto the next branch down.

The twins were already hauling the complaining Fishlegs out of the brambles as Hiccup's foot slipped and he landed in a heap by Astrid. She stared at him then grabbed an arm and hauled him up. He winced, feeling his left ankle twinge with pain but turned to check the others. "Is everyone okay?"

The twins both gave a double thumbs-up. "That was awesome, H!" Tuff announced in an admiring voice.

"Wow-we never knew you had this in that skinny body! You are one awesome almost-badass!" Ruff said admiringly.

"Almost-badass, dear sister?" Tuff asked her in surprise. "He shot through a window at someone he couldn't see, jumped out of a window and had us leap out of a bus over a cliff into a tree!"

"Okay, he's a badass!" Ruff commented.

"Leave my ass out of this," Hiccup deadpanned, seeing Astrid scowl at him. "We need to get down the hill and hit one of the waterfront safe-houses until we have a clue what's going on. Fish-please stop grumbling. The more you moan, the more anyone could hear us-including the crazed guy with the gun."

Fishlegs cast him a huge scowl but shut up as Hiccup looked down the steep, bracken-strewn slope and sighed. "Okay...here we go," he sighed and promptly fell over.

oOo

Snotlout was really not enjoying his first mission as a field agent. He had been captured and terrorised...though he had, of course, borne up bravely. But he was still a prisoner and had no way to work out how to escape.

He sat on his bunk and decided to do a light workout...so he began...

Two hours later, exhausted from push-ups, sit-ups, squats, dips and all manner of exercises he could come up with, he had rested back down on his bed and decided to get some more beauty sleep.

Alvin stared at the images through the monitor.

"And that's all 'e's done-sleep, eat and exercise? No attempts ter escape, no nothing?"

The man to his left, his second-in-command Savage shrugged.

"He was the mutton-head who confessed to being an agent to our men," he reminded Alvin. "I think if we left the door open, he wouldn't even notice!"

"So 'e really ain't any sort of prospect fer recruitment?" he clarified. Savage sighed.

"Sir-we both accept your men are not the finest the Archipelago can offer but I can honestly say that recruiting that agent would lower the average IQ of your organisation!" he said dryly.

"Point taken!" Alvin conceded. "So what're we doin' with the other one?" Savage gave a nasty smile.

"Making him an offer he can't refuse!"

oOo

After he had tumbled thirty feet down the ridiculously steep slope, Hiccup's fall was luckily arrested when he hit a tree. Admittedly, he had been slowed down considerably by being snagged and scratched badly by brambles but even so, he had hit pretty hard and had collapsed, stunned, as all the rest had come after him.

Astrid had reached him first, urgently crouching down to lift his head and check he was conscious. His eyes fluttered blearily open, the emerald depths sweeping over her worried face.

"Hi, Milady," he mumbled. "Sorry...ankle gave way..." She swatted his shoulder and he flinched.

"Mutton-head!" she grumbled. "You had me worried."

"Um...still hit a tree rather hard," he protested as he wincingly pushed himself up and peered down the very steep slope. "Everyone be VERY careful..."

"Says the guy who already fell over!" Fishlegs said smugly and tripped over a bramble to roll about ten feet down the slope.

"Hey that looks like fun!" Ruff noted and threw herself down to roll halfway down the slope.

"Wait for me!" her twin replied and threw himself after her. Astrid folded her eyes and scowled as Hiccup achingly levered himself very cautiously to his feet. His left ankle was jabbing hot pains up his lower leg but he gamely stumbled down after Astrid, who was carefully keeping an eye on him, pointing out the best places to put his feet and the securest holds as they reached a small rocky cliff they had to climb down. Eventually, they reached the bottom and the rough road that ran around the back of the old warehouses and boathouses by the waterfront....though the twins had already hit the ground hard and were arguing about who hit with the loudest thud while Fishlegs was whining about how much his feet hurt.

Astrid stared at Hiccup. "You mentioned a safe house," she said thoughtfully. He nodded.

"I...um...memorised where they were in case I ever made the active roster...or was called on to provide technical support in some capacity...maybe servicing the electrics..." he sighed. He looked round his little group and inclined his head. "This way," he said calmly and limped to the line of buildings. The others followed as he quietly walked through the line of warehouses and then headed left along a narrow street until they reached a nondescript frontage and a small doorbell. He deftly flipped the doorbell cover up to reveal a keypad and unerringly thumbed in a code which was followed by a brief green light and a click as the door unlocked.

Astrid gaped: this was serious detailed knowledge about field process. She had no clue where the safe-houses were, though she was aware there were some on Berk and would have no idea how to access them...but Hiccup, the most useless agent in AI6 did. He grasped the door handle and opened it, then flipped on the light and walked into a largish kitchen-living room. The twins closed the door behind them and slumped onto the couch, muddy and still grinning. Fishlegs sat in an armchair and rested his precious computer bag down, then cast a glare at Hiccup.

"Next time you ask for help, I'm hanging up," he grumbled. Hiccup sighed and limped to perch on the arm of another chair, his painful ankle swinging just above the floor.

"Aw, c'mon Fish...you penetrate the most secure systems in the world...you can't suddenly go all coy on us when people get mad!"

"But they're mad at you, not me!" Fishlegs protested.

"You hacked our mainframe without hesitation-how do you know they're not mad at you?" Astrid asked him, taking off the coat and flopping into the seat by Hiccup.

"Oh, they were shooting at you!" Ruff reminded him with a huge grin. Fishlegs stared at her...then sighed.

"I hate being shot at, I hate walking, I hate jumping, I hate bus rides...I work in a florists!" he protested furiously. "Look, I am not a secret agent or explosives person or anything...I just enjoy using computers!" He glared at Hiccup. "Being a secret agent is your job, not mine!"

"I wish," Hiccup sighed. "But in fact none of us have any jobs now because AI6 is down! Some lunatic gunman is chasing us, most of us don't have anywhere to stay-or anywhere that isn't shot to Hel-and we've still got to find out why they blew up AI6."

"I may be able to help you with that," an unfamiliar voice said from the door. Hiccup looked up, aghast, to meet a pair of acid-green eyes in a deeply tanned face topped by tousled jet hair. He gaped, recognising the man...but freezing at the sight of the automatic pistol aimed straight at his chest.