Chapter Twenty-Four: Get Larson!

The black limousine pulled up at the side entrance to the Viking Heritage Centre and two dark-suited Archipelago Secret Service agents got out, eyes scanning the surroundings behind the dark sunglasses before they stood back and opened the door for President Larson. Elegantly, he emerged, automatically buttoning up his dark grey unit that flattered his still trim shape, His greying blonde hair was swept back off his handsome, tabbed face, piercing sky blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled and offered his hand to the blushing Professor Ingmarsson, the director of the Heritage and Research Centre.

"It's an honour to be here to open this splendid monument to our heroic past-and to the research it will bring for our future," he said smoothly, shaking her hand firmly. He flashed his dazzling smile, pure white teeth almost gleaming in the weak sunlight. She smiled back, her freckled face with reddish brown hair and greenish brown eyes seeming plain alongside the President.

"I believe the honour is all mine, Mister President," she said, her low voice quivering with pride. He leaned forward.

"I am a huge fan of your work-you do write as the author 'Berkian Viking', don't you?" he murmured and she blushed furiously. Then he looked at the next person standing by her, a tall, muscular man with his jet hair swept back and dark eyes gleaming, wearing period garb of a fawn tunic and leggings, brown boots and sheepskin vest. "And agent VA1! What a pleasure to see you here as well!" he added. "Love the chin tattoos, by the way!" Eret gave a strained smile.

"As always, the pleasure is mine, Mister President," he replied with just the right mixture of familiarity and respect. "I wish you had accepted our recommendation to defer the opening until we had apprehended the prime suspects in the assassination attempt."

"Cheer up, Eret!" President Larson grinned. "It may never happen."

"Actually, I have a certainty that it will," the agent told him grimly. "Have you taken precautions?" Larson nodded.

"The vest makes me look like I haven't been working out but I'm prepared to take a hit in the tabloids if it prevents a bullet in the heart," he said philosophically. "I..." And then he paused as he saw an armed jet-haired woman in an armoured skirt and Viking garb sprint out of the back of the Heritage Centre, grab a dirt bike that was lined up to run round the trails at the back. With an expertise at odds with her dress, she revved the engine and raced off. Immediately a lanky male with long blond dreadlocks and Viking outfit sprinted after her, grabbed another bike and sped after her. Eret stared and his jaw dropped. Heather had run out of the Centre with Tuff in hot pursuit. And though he knew Heather was a traitor, he also knew that the twins, Astrid and the hacker had been excluded from the mission. That Tuff was here meant that Ruff couldn't be far away.

"Something to be worried about?" Larson asked and Eret shook his head.

"I suspect it's all in hand," he murmured. "Maybe you want to meet the volunteers while I just check what's going on in the Centre..." And then he walked rapidly past the President without waiting for an answer, his service pistol in his hand. Deftly, he ducked in finding cover and methodically searching the main entrance lobby, the concessions area, the Gift Shop and the corridor before heading into the next room-the auditorium.

Immediately he saw the helmet between two banks of seats, bent over something and he approached cautiously, his pistol levelled at the female twin.

"Lower that gun unless you want to blow us all the Svartalfheim!" she snapped and Eret sheepishly dropped to a crouch behind her. She had used her pocket knife to cut the rucksack away and was using the multi-tool to carefully unscrew the cover of a greenish metallic device.

"What is it?" he asked and she sighed.

"Present from our friend, Heather," she sighed, her eyes locked on the device. "It's a Submaripper explosive, designed for undersea demolitions-meaning it produces a shock-wave that is truly devastating, since it needs to propagate in water which is approximately 800 times denser than air..." Eret stared at her in utter bewilderment: the woman talking to him wasn't the loopy Loki-worshipping chaotic force of nature he and everyone else was used to...but he dimly realised that the twins would never have lasted in AI6 if all they did was cause trouble. Few people recalled they were demolitions experts and probably the best people possible when faced with a bomb that could turn the entire Centre and Arena into a giant crater.

"Can you disarm it?" he asked and the female twin nodded.

"It's set for 12:02-just when the President will be making his big opening speech," she revealed. "Boy, for a popular man, he sure has a lot of people wanting to kill him." She leaned forward. "It has four safeties and a deeply buried trigger which is going to take some time to disarm...and it's already 11:55..." Her grey-blue eyes flicked up. "Maybe you should head out of here, beefcake? You may put me off with all those rippling muscles and if it doesn't work, I can at least not blow our top agent up..." She paused and stared into the middle distance.

"And you?" he asked her and she suddenly smiled.

"It will take twenty minutes minimum to disarm and we don't have that time," she murmured. "But we can dispose of it." He looked at her as she leaned into the device and cut two wires. "The motion detectors-which our lovely Heather activated when she left this present for us," she explained. "I have a plan." She leaned in again and unscrewed the back of the timer, which was relentlessly counting down and she carefully rewired the timer, sending the figures backwards ten seconds and then forward three, repeating over and over. "The cross-wiring will fail eventually but it buys us some time..." Then she lifted the device and carefully rose to her feet. "Can you find me something fast to get this monster out of here?" Eret glanced over his shoulder: there were very few vehicles on site-because the place had been cleared due to the security concerns and the presence of the President. In fact...

He grinned back. "Miss Thornton," he said with a small bow, "your chariot awaits."

oOo

Toothless was walking confidently through the crowd as they headed into the main stand, his athletic shape speeding up the steps three at a time. He could see some early birds already on the back row, having reserved good seats-and a buff red-haired shape who shoved one unceremoniously out of the way. He had a huge axe slung across his back and as he assumed the place the man had been evicted from, Toothless saw him lower the axe and begin the fiddle with it.

"Dagur," he breathed and took a few steps closer-but a tall tanned shape in a very sharp grey suit darted out in front of him, deep indigo eyes narrowed as the man gave a menacing smile.

"I think we need to let the man do his work," he said coldly. Toothless backed up a pace, his fists balled as the man lowered his head, eyes flashing.

"Can't do that," he said, never taking his eyes from the assassin, who had improbably produced a high powered rifle from within the very heavy and thick handle of the 'axe'. "Get out of my way, Volz. This isn't the Queen's business!" The Chancellor of Dragon Island gave a cruel smile, electricity flickering behind his eyes and almost crowning his spiky grey hair.

"Has your little friend got away from you?" he smirked. "Shame. You were his only chance of not being labelled an assassin-and probably paying with his life. Maybe I should remind him where his true loyalties lie?"

Please keep an eye on him, Astrid.

"I think he already knows," Volz said and thrust his hand up into the sky. Lightning poured into the clouds and pinkish light flashed across the Arena, momentarily bleaching the colour from the vibrant scene. "And now he will do what he was told to do like a good...little...pet!"

"NO!" Toothless yelled and threw himself at the Chancellor-as two powerful shapes intercepted him. He fell back down the stairs, the Nadders on top of him, aiming punches at his head and neck and as he twisted and returned the blows with interest, he was desperately trying to crane his head to glimpse the stage...because he could see the President already heading into position...

oOo

Astrid, Hiccup and Snotlout looked up in shock as the pinkish lightning flashed across the Arena. It had been a reasonably fine day, some scattered cloud but weak sunshine in between and not at all bad for Berk.

"Cool pyrotechnics," Snotlout said with an admiring grin but Astrid was more concerned as the expression fell from Hiccup's face. His normally warm and animated emerald eyes blanked and he stood straighter, his hand dropping to the holster of his pistol. Stiffly, he pulled away and headed for the stairs of the stage.

"Hiccup?" Astrid murmured and immediately made to go after him, her eyes concerned. A hand toyed with the injector but the thought that the drug could break his mind entirely, lose her the caring, dorky, brave, inventive guy she had just realised was the best person she knew was enough to stay her hand. So she tried the other way, catching his wrist and pulling him back with some effort, since he was stronger than he looked. "Hey, babe-wanna wait a second?"

"I belong to the Queen, I am her subject. Nothing else matters. Not family, not friends, not Berk. Only the Queen's will counts. Kill Forraeder. Kill Commander Haddock. Kill the President. The Queen will take all. The Queen will rule all," he muttered, his lips moving as he said the words soullessly, like a mantra. She jerked him round to face her.

"You belong to me, babe-and no skanky red-haired murderous bitch is taking you from me," she insisted.

"What...?" Snotlout asked, coming forward, his face honestly confused.

"Hiccup was hypnotised and programmed by the Red Queen when you got him captured, you ass, and now he's been activated," she hissed as he began to pull away.

"I belong to the Queen..."

"Like Helheim you do!" Astrid spat and wrestled him back.

"KIll Forraeder, Kill Commander Haddock. Kill the President..."

Snotlout's eyes widened in utter shock at the words. "Oh Thor," he breathed. "He means it! What do we do?"

"Hiccup-remember this?" Astrid asked, pulling the key fob from his pocket. "This was the last gift from your Mom, who gave her life in the Service. You're braver and better than this. You can fight this. For her. For me. For Berk..."

"Berk belongs to the Red Queen," Hiccup said flatly and then blinked. "Berk is free..." His hand closed tighter around the little metal shape. "Mom..." he whispered and then he shuddered. "Kill the President. Kill the Commander. Kill Forraeder. The Red Queen will own all!"

"Not you!" Astrid snapped and hauled him close, grabbing his face between her hands and kissing him very thoroughly. There was a long pause and then he kissed her back, hands rising to close tenderly around her shoulders, one sliding across to gently cup her cheek.

Let Astrid be my anchor. I have loved her for years and I can't lose her. No matter what it costs me, I cannot forget...

"EWWWWWW!" Snotlout exclaimed, his face disgusted. "Babe-please...I can't unsee that! And..."

"Shut up!" Hiccup and Astrid said together, then leaned close to one another, foreheads touching. There was a look of wonder and utter joy in Hiccup's face. "How-how did you know?" he breathed softly and she smirked.

"Toothless said there were only a couple of ways to break the conditioning-pain, drugs, death...but I reckoned that shocking you out of it may work just as well..." she suggested and blushed. Hiccup's head snapped up.

"Toothless!" he gasped, his quick eyes picking out the shape fighting with the two Nadders-and the tall, menacing shape of the Chancellor walking deliberately down through the Viking-clad throng as they shoved and pushed to get their seats. "Snot-go help him."

"Sorry...who...?" the stocky agent asked. Hiccup gestured.

"The black-haired security guard! He's been helping us-and it looks like the Red Queen is pretty pissed about it!" he said urgently. "Help him! And then try to stop Dagur..." Astrid stared at Hiccup-he still looked pale but he was in control again, his voice animated and filled with a steely determination. "I'm not letting them win..." he said almost to himself. "But..."

"But what?" she asked with some concern.

"But I have to go up there," he told her, his face apologetic. "They know they have triggered me...and if I don't make my 'move', Dagur will just start shooting anyway..."

"But they could kill you," she said softly. He nodded.

"But they want to kill the President-and my Dad-and I have to stop that," he said with resignation. "Try to stop them shooting me, Milady?"

"It's not them I'm worried about," she said quietly. "Out on the stage, you're in full view of Dagur."

"No," he said quietly. "I'm in full view of Dad."

oOo

The Presidential limousine fishtailed along the service road away from the Viking Heritage Centre with Eret fighting every yard of the way. The car handled like a bus and he was trying to provide the smoothest ride possible so that Ruff could continue her efforts to modify the Submaripper bomb as much as she could. The female twin was focussed like a laser, muttering curses and entreaties to Loki as she pried and hammered her way into the body of the device. And then she stopped, staring at it.

"We have to get to the cliffs," she said quietly. "This one's modified-it's a Dark Submaripper."

"A what?" Eret asked, avoiding a tree and skidding round a small copse as they sped to the edge of the Park and the coastal road beyond.

"Dirty bomb," she said grimly. "Small nuclear payload-not enough for full fission but enough for massive contamination. This would render half of Berk uninhabitable for ninety years."

"But you can stop it, right? he asked her, astonished at her cool assessment. She sighed.

"That's what I'm trying to do-but the problem is getting the bomb far enough away from civilisation to stop it blowing half of Berk to bits and contaminating the other half...which is why we're heading to the coast."

"Because it's a submarine explosive-so burying it in the water will mitigate the effects of the explosion," Eret realised.

"But still contaminating half of the Sullen Sea...unless we get the nuclear payload out of the bomb," she finished and handed him a cylinder. "Where d'you want this, beefcake?" He eyed the grey metallic rod warily.

"As far away from me as possible?" he suggested.

"There are three more and we need them away from the device...or at least contained so that they won't spread and will be contained until divers can retrieve them..." Ruff suggested. Eret crashed through a fence and made it to the coastal path.

"You know, this limousine is extremely bomb-proof and the back compartment is armoured to withstand a blast..." he suggested as the female twin prised out the second rod. "If we stow the rods in the safe under the back seat and get the bomb away from the nuclear material, we could end up just being charged for wantonly destroying the President's official car!"

Finally, Ruff gave a leering smile. "You can wantonly do anything with me, you hunk of agent!"

"Oh-kay..." he muttered, turning his eyes back to the uneven path. "You just keep getting those rods away from the main bomb...unless you can disarm it...?"

"In two minutes?" she asked. "I've found another two safeties. I'll be lucky to get the rest of them out before we all join the pollution in Thor's Bay..."

Suddenly bullets zinged around the car and Eret swerved. Three impacted on the rear windscreen and it held-just. Ruff peered in the rear mirror and cursed.

"Heather!" she growled. "How did she know we have the bomb...and where is my brother?"

oOo

Toothless was losing, pinned under the Nadders and struggling wildly as Volz slowly made his way towards him. Electricity was still crackling around his hand and his indigo eyes were dark with menace. The spectators thought this was another staged event before the Presidential speech and were cheering and hollering.

"The Queen is very angry at your treason," the Chancellor growled. "And it's time the last Night Fury fell. Your kind should have been wiped from Midgard years ago..."

"Hey! You're ruining the mood!" Snotlout yelled and barrelled forward, throwing himself straight upon the Chancellor. The man gave a curse and went down under the solid agent, who rained blows on his head and kicked him in the chest. Toothless gave a sudden smile as Hookfang and Meatlug joined in, helping him subdue the Nadders swiftly.

"Where are the rest?" he snapped.

"Don't know what you're..." one began but Toothless leaned close, the purple flash in his acid green eyes enough to silence the man.

"You all know what a Night Fury can do...in legend. And I am the last, so I've really got to do justice to my clan," he breathed. "Wanna find out how much of the dragon I inherited?" The two Nadders exchanged worried glances and then the nearest shook his head.

"Rather not," he admitted. "Ten on the front row by the VIPs, all armed. Can we surrender now?" There was a pause as Snotlout flew overhead, lightning crackling off his helmet.

"Flibble wobble gloop..." he complained, looking slightly dazed with his helmet smoking lightly. Toothless glared up at Volz and bunched his fists.

"Just you and me," he growled before Volz hit him with a bolt of lightning. He pinwheeled back, shaking his head: he was relatively resistant to a Skrill blast but it still wasn't a fun experience as he hit the ground hard, just by the still-steaming Snotlout.

"No-just me," the Chancellor snapped and leapt over the side of the stand, vanishing from sight. Toothless looked after him, in two minds...until he glanced up-to see the gleam of the intermittent sunlight off a rifle sights on the top row...and he knew there was no way they could stop Dagur in time from their position...but they could make the stage. His head snapped round as the tall, tanned and elegant shape of the President walked up to the lectern on the platform. He grabbed Snotlout's arm and turned to the others.

"Meatlug-can you hold them?" he asked and she nodded, scowling at the worried-looking Nadders.

"Any trouble and I'll sit on them!" she growled as Toothless, Hookfang and Snotlout stumbled down towards the front row and the armed Nadders, ready to attack...