Chapter Seven: Outcasts.

The encounter with Gobber really wasn't any better, the Quartermaster's big face scrunched in a scowl as he saw the tall, hunched shape enter the department. He beckoned Hiccup directly into his office and slammed the door. But because Gobber didn't do quiet any more than he did subtle, everyone in the department could hear him roaring at the young man.

"Yer an utter disgrace!" he shouted. "How they didn't fire yer beats me!"

"Guess this is your lucky day, then," Hiccup replied wearily. An entire morning of everyone telling him how useless he was hadn't been much fun: notwithstanding the pains and headache he had from the beating the last night, what remained of his self-esteem had been effectively blown to bits. He was even starting to doubt what he had seen outside the warehouse. "You get to yell at me to your heart's content!" Gobber stared at him, almost speechless.

"I ain't having yer back," he said firmly. At that, Hiccup flinched.

"Please, Gobber...Q...give me one more chance," he begged. The Quartermaster's department was really the only place where he had actually enjoyed working in AI6: if he was kicked out, where was left? "I know what went wrong and I..."

"Yer not being given the chance to destroy anything else," Gobber snarled. "Get yer things from yer station and get outta my sight. Yer ter report ter Maintenance in sub-basement 2 tomorrow 0800."

"But..."

"GO!" Gobber snapped and Hiccup stared at him, feeling utterly betrayed. It was now official: everyone hated him. He had a hat-trick of complete dressings-down, he had no friends, no future and when he was kicked out of AI6, he wouldn't even have the money to keep his meagre apartment. For a brief moment, as he walked in a daze towards the remains of his workstation, he wondered if he should just apply to one of the criminal syndicates that had their tentacles spread over the Archipelago. They would either hire him or shoot him...and frankly, either would be preferable to how he felt right now...

There wasn't much of his station left, just the charred remains of the base and a small cardboard box with the remnants of his tools and notes perched on top. He deftly sifted through it, picking out a couple of the tools, discarding the rest after finding, with relief, the little Night Fury metal toy that his mother had given him and that he took with him for luck to every posting. He stared at it and sighed.

"Yeah...I think you're the only one who hasn't left me, bud," he mumbled, tucking it into his pocket and dumping the scraps of his possessions into the trash. There was no point even looking back as he walked out of the department, head down and cheeks scorching in humiliation. He still heard the echoes of laughs as he trudged down the corridor.

The only place he could head was the canteen because his brain was fried by all the non-stop recrimination, so he stuffed the tools and his light coat into his bag and trudged down the stairs to the canteen in sub-basement 1. It was lunchtime and he didn't have any food in his home so he was feeling distinctly hollow...but it also meant the canteen was pretty full and he really wanted a table to himself to avoid the awkwardness of people looking at him like something they'd trodden in. But as he got to the front of the line, the server paused and ducked down to swap the container of mac and cheese-despite there being plenty left for Hiccup-and the young agent watched with dismay as the table he was eyeing was occupied by three agents with the green flash on their IDs of Heather's Coms department. The server straightened up and his bright green eyes twinkled, his tanned face twisted in a smile with black hair sticking out from under his white catering hat.

"Sorry about that," he apologised, his voice calm and friendly. "Supervisor really hates if we get empty. Mac and cheese?" Hiccup nodded silently, accepting the plate with a nod. The man called him back and splatted an extra spoonful and a slice of garlic bread onto his plate. "You look like you need it, friend," he said amiably. "I think there's a free table right in that corner...there..." Hiccup's glance flicked up, his emerald eyes inspecting the friendly and helpful face and nodded.

"Thanks," he said emotionlessly. "Very kind." It was probably the kindest anyone had been to him today and he really was grateful but he was so numb from being battered by his superiors that he couldn't raise a smile. Then he turned, sloshed out a glass of water and made his way to the little corner table right at the furthest corner of the canteen. He squinted up, seeing why the table was shunned: it was right by the air-conditioning duct so there was a distinct breeze and a constant hum. It was a microcosm for his life. He sighed: at least he shouldn't be disturbed here so he could wallow in well-deserved self-pity. Miserably, he fished two aspirin from his pocket, swallowed them then took a mouthful of mac and cheese to cheer himself up.

A tray slammed on the table and he jumped several inches in the air. "SON OF A HALF-TROLL!" Astrid snapped as she slid onto the bench by him. He scooched up a few inches to make more room for her as she stabbed away at her mac and cheese and scowled at him. He chewed and looked back at her.

"What am I supposed to have done?" he asked defensively. Her eyes widened as she inspected his battered features.

"What the Hel happened to you?" she spat. "Gods...did that idiot Snotlout think that was some kind of a joke because if he did I'll..."

"What?"

"Your face!" Astrid said, gesturing with a fork laden with macaroni tubes and dripping cheese. "I certainly didn't do that!"

"I've been telling everyone you did," Hiccup said after an awkward pause, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. Azure eyes narrowed as Astrid chewed menacingly-at least Hiccup assumed she meant it to be menacing.

"So who did?" she demanded, half-turning to glare at him. He looked nervous and then sighed: this was Astrid and she would either turn him in or just tell him he was an idiot...which he was, he admitted. He toyed with his garlic bread and took a bite to try to gird his courage.

"Um...you know how I traced that text..." he mumbled. Her eyes narrowed.

"The one you were told to drop or you would be kicked out of AI6?" she clarified.

"Um...yeah, something like this...but hey, let's agree not mention that right now...?" he asked her and she reluctantly nodded, slowly eating her lunch. "Um...I kind of went there and had a look around...and found the remains of the com I issued to Eret and his flash drive."

"Remains?" she mumbled, taking another mouthful.

"They'd been smashed," he confirmed. "Um...but they saw me poking around and a couple of them came out and well...they were better at unarmed combat than me. A lot better." Sighing, she raised a hand and gently stroked his battered cheek.

"You idiot," she said softly.

"Hey-I proved something has happened to him," he protested.

"You could've been killed!" she reminded him, inclining her head and sweeping her azure gaze over his wounds. "Hmm...nasty. Did you tell anyone?" He sagged and his green eyes widened with defeat.

"How can I?" he asked. "No one believes me...and I was in today to be chewed out by Mildew, Gobber-I mean Q-and the Commander. If I had brought it up, I wouldn't be sitting here-I'd be in security having all my access and codes revoked before they bodily threw me out of AI6! As it was, Gobber has kicked me out of Q department and sent me to Maintenance! I mean, if he could bust my rank any further down, he would have. I'd be VA 1020 by now!" Reluctantly, she smiled at his chagrin.

"Why be so unambitious?" she asked him. "I would have guessed for 2000 at least!"

"Probably 3000, knowing my Dad," he groaned. "So why are you so upset...at least, I assume you weren't calling the Commander a half-troll..."

"I should," she growled. "They turned me down!"

"What? They refused you another go at the Selection Interviews?" Hiccup choked, his eyes wide. Astrid scowled and nodded, her eyes flashing with fury.

"Dear Miss Hofferson...Despite your excellent record of service in your current role, we regret that your aptitudes and scores do not qualify your for the Selection Process to move to Active Service. Yours, VA200." Her voice was bitter as she recited the rejection letter: Hiccup knew she must have read it dozens of times to have the words imprinted on the inside of her eyelids.

"But that's rubbish!" he exclaimed, his voice angry on her behalf. "Your scores were more than good enough to get you through before and..."

"And clearly there's a massive red 'VETO' on my file since that...shambles..." she snapped and he cringed. It all came back to that frantic five minutes where he had to choose between saving the building or their careers. Sagging, he stared at the table and covered his face with his hands.

"You can say it," he sighed. "Go on-make yourself feel better by having a go-everyone else does..." She opened her mouth and stared at him, seeing the defeated slump in his shoulders and she stopped. Her sense of fairness reminded her that Hiccup hadn't been the only one who had cost her a chance at active service...and Snotlout was far more to blame...yet he was swanning around with Eret for a partner. He flinched as a gentle hand landed on his shoulder.

"Hiccup-it's not your fault..." He lifted his head and she sighed at his disbelieving expression. "Okay-it's mostly not your fault...and we'll find a way round this."

"We?" he asked, still suspicious. She gave him a very small but very genuine smile.

"Yeah...you and me, Hiccup," she told him firmly. "We're both outcasts here so we'll find a way to make them HAVE to give us that shot. And we'll start with that warehouse you checked out..."

His eyes popped wide open and he suddenly felt the weight of his dilemma: he literally would give any limb you cared to name for the chance to work with Astrid and have her treat him like...well, a friend...but how could he tell her he had already involved an outsider in the mission, which was probably treason?

"I...I..."

"Mind if we take these seats, dude?"

The strange voice broke his train of thought but gave him a distraction as he saw two almost identical shape standing across the table, holding burgers. The male had long blond dreadlocks while the female had long blonde braids: both looked ridiculously similar with blue-grey eyes and long faces, their lean shapes in matching khaki combat pants and beige T-shirts with brown leather vests over.

"What are you two doing here?" Hiccup groaned at the twins-Ruffnut and her brother Tuffnut Thorston were field support agents who specialised in security and demolition-not rated highly enough to run missions but allowed out in the field to provide tactical support. They were incorrigible pranksters, argumentative and ferocious, enjoying chaos, preferable at the expense of others. And Hiccup knew they had been messing with his tactical purse.

"Having lunch, dude," Tuffnut answered, his tone confused. "This is the canteen isn't it?"

"I mean here. At this table? As in a table with me on it?" Hiccup asked pointedly.

"Well, there aren't that many free seats, man," Ruffnut put in.

"And you realise I know what you did?" Hiccup asked them directly, his eyes hardening. Sharing a look, the twins shrugged.

"What exactly?" Tuffnut asked, looking shifty.

"Let me think...two days ago, you came into Q department, put a rat in Marius's desk, set fire to Damien's notepad and armed the purse I was working on? Ring any bells?" Hiccup snapped. The twins shared a look, sliding in to the seats opposite Hiccup and Astrid. He could hear Astrid huff but he was too annoyed to even register that she was as annoyed as he was.

"Oh yeah...what happened with that?" Ruff asked, biting into her burger. Mustard oozed down her chin.

"Because you armed it, it exploded, demolishing my workstation, most of my tools and getting me suspended and on a Final Warning," Hiccup growled. His glare should have made them feel a scrap of guilt or remorse...but instead they shared a look and high-fived.

"Snap!" Tuff grinned. "We're suspended too."

"What for now?" Astrid sighed.

"Um...we may have blown up three vehicles from the motor pool," Tuff admitted.

"May?" Astrid tone was sharp.

"How?" Hiccup growled. He had worked there as well and had put a lot of effort into upgrading most of the vehicles.

"Well, Tuff bet me that a Terrible Terror mini-charge wouldn't be enough to take out three cars if they were all rigged with only one primary detonation," Ruff grinned. "I won."

"Oh Thor," Hiccup groaned. "Which cars?"

"Guess!" Ruff grinned, confirming they had blown away the high end, most expensively modified vehicles.

"Odin-you couldn't just blow up the wrecked rust buckets in the eastern compound, could you? Oh no...you have to destroy everything that other people literally sweat blood to create..." Hiccup bemoaned.

"It's not like any of those were your personal cars!" Ruff scorned him. Not trusting himself to answer, Hiccup face-palmed.

"Anyway, that purse of yours was underpowered..." Tuff said in a superior voice.

"What the...Underpowered? It had a gun, a stunner AND an explosive charge!" Hiccup's tone was outraged.

"And it was far too girly for my sister anyway!" Tuff concluded.

"Yeah-waaaay too many sequins..." Ruff added, pulling a face. Hiccup bunched his fists.

"It wasn't designed for you anyway!" he snapped. "It was designed for a beautiful, fierce and brave agent in a glamorous setting where she may need concealed firepower..." Ruff read the almost unconscious flick of his emerald eyes and laughed out loud.

"You designed it for Astrid!" she scorned him.

"No, I..." Her head snapped round and he could feel the warmth of a blush heating his cheeks. Of course, he had been thinking about her-dreaming really-when he made it, imagining her as the gorgeous female agent...and himself as the handsome, suave partner at her side.

"He did!" Tuff managed, roaring with laughter. He could feel Astrid's glare burning through his shoulder. Heads were turning to see what the commotion was about and he sat there, face in his hands and beet red with utter humiliation.

Oh Thor, please let this stop, he prayed fervently.

It seemed the God of Thunder took pity of Hiccup because it was at that moment that the world exploded.