A.I.: Orphans of Terra (HTTYD)

22

Chapter 22

It had been two days since Hiccup had returned from the mysterious area and he was on edge to say the least. Astrid had directed him into placing the test tubes in one of her containment fields so that she could analyze it. The data she was backing up and analyzing discreetly was going to also take some time but he just couldn't look Mary and Hank in the eyes anymore. He wondered if Dr. Bludvist was in on it too and decided that it would be best to avoid the three in general.

"Do you think we should tell the Chief?" Astrid asked.

"Do you think he would even believe us?" Hiccup mumbled. "So dad, I know our relationship is a bit salty at the moment but our hosts are planning to experiment on us in an underground underground facility that we know nothing about. Also the sassy A.I. might have been human." Hiccup ranted. "That would go over so well."

"True, we only have speculation now." Astrid admitted. "Also you think I'm sassy?" Hiccup could imagine Astrid's smile when she asked this.

"Why of course Milady," Hiccup laughed as he made his way through the various corridors, while having no destination particularly in mind. As Hiccup was walking some voices in a corridor caught his attention. There weren't many Berkians in these parts of the facility so he was curious. When he turned the corner he halted as he saw Gustav and his friends. They weren't looking very friendly at the moment as one of the boys had pinned Gustav to the wall, was calling him a traitor, and looked ready to hit him.

"Hey! What is going on here?!" Hiccup asked aloud, startling the boys.

Even though Hiccup was lanky, he was still their senior and the younger boys ran away without answering him. Gustav was left leaning against the wall and taking deep breaths.

"Gustav are you alright?" Hiccup asked with concern. He had thought the boys were close friends but Gustav had been eating with them in the Mess hall instead of with his friends for the last three days already.

"I'm fine....." Gustav muttered. The small boy didn't look into Hiccup's eyes as he crouched down.

"Hey, you know you can tell me why right." Hiccup spoke softly.

Gustav looked a bit uncertain for a moment before it seemed like the boy decided something. "But you can't tell anyone." The boy whispered.

"I promise. I won't tell." Hiccup held up his hands as the boy stared at him. It seemed that these days he was keeping a lot of secrets.

"You really promise?" Gustav asked.

"You can hand me over to the twins as prank tester if I do." Hiccup said and that seemed to appease the young boy, because who in their right minds wanted to be the twins' tester?

"Okay, come on. Maybe you can even help." Gustav said as he took hold of Hiccup's shirt and started leading him somewhere.

"So those boys?" Hiccup asked as he followed along. He was very curious about the traitor comment and he also wondered what Gustav meant when he said he could help.

"They........ Uhm...... didn't like me saying stuff." Gustav mumbled.

"Stuff like?" Hiccup prodded. He did also wonder why Astrid was silent. Normally she'd have something to say.

They seemed to have reached their destination before Hiccup could get an answer however. Hiccup looked at the door and realized he was standing in front of the Infirmary. Gustav went in and Hiccup followed.

"Mom!" The young boy shouted which caused the woman behind the desk to look up.

"Gustav what are you doing here?" His mother asked and then looked at Hiccup. "Uhm... Hiccup... can I help you with something?"

"Mom we can trust Hiccup!" Gustav said as he tugged her pant leg. "Hiccup's nice. He can help."

"Honey..... I don't think it's a good idea." The woman mumbled and looked at Hiccup with some suspicion.

"Hiccup is very trustworthy. I was going to tell him if you hadn't sworn me to secrecy." Astrid now spoke up as a familiar click could be heard. Hiccup looked back at the Infirmary doors that Astrid had automatically locked.

"I can keep a secret." Hiccup said as he looked at Gustav's mother who was assigned as a healer to the facility now. "Really! I just have no clue what is going on right now."

She let out a sigh before saying "If Astrid tells me that you're trustworthy then I'll believe it. But break my trust and......" She made a slicing motion at her neck with her hand and Hiccup gulped. The wasteland had made certain women very scary. He had no doubt that she'd deliver on her promise as well.

"Moooom!" Gustav whined a bit. "Hiccy already said that he'd be the te twins' tester if he breaks his promise."

"Hiccy?" Hiccup questioned as Astrid laughed.

"Come with me," She said and directed Hiccup to the area where the beds for the patients were situated. The beds all had high tech scanners above them but the curtains around one of them seemed to have been closed. The doctor proceeded to open one side of the white curtain and frowned when she saw an empty bed with rumpled sheets and a thrown off blanket. She then let out a groan before walking around the bed and reaching down.

"OUCH!" Came a yelp as a lanky black-haired man was dragged from behind the other side of the curtain by the ear.

"Mom aren't you supposed to be nice to patients?" Gustav asked as Hiccup got a good look at the man. His arms and side were covered in bandages and gauze. He'd never seen the man before so this man must have been an outsider.

"Not if they don't behave honey!" Gustav's mother muttered as she glared at her patient. "How many times must I tell you not to aggravate your wounds! If you pulled those stitches again I will bring out the slipper!"

Gustav actually cringed at that as his mother helped the stranger get back on the bed.

"I'm assuming the Chief doesn't know about this." Hiccup mumbled as the others stared at him. His father would never allow a non-Berkian to get into this facility and possibly endanger them.

Hiccup then turned to Gustav and asked "So the boys wanting to beat you up know about this?"

Gustav quickly shook his head though and said "I told them The Dragons weren't so bad when they were bad mouthing them. Then they said I was a traitor for not agreeing with them. But this man saved my mum!" Gustav said without seeming to breathe. It took a few seconds for Hiccup to process everything and when he did he nearly shouted "This guy is one of The Dragons!"

The guy on the bed actually gave him a bemused expression before introducing himself. "The name's Terence but I go by Toothless. Don't ask."

"Uhuh......... okay." Hiccup mumbled as he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that one of the Raiders from the famous Dragon tribe was actually here....... In Arcadia.

The bemused expression was still there as Toothless continued talking. "You might also know me as Nightfury."

Hiccup's thoughts came to a screeching halt as his eyes widened comically. He barely heard Astrid say "Hiccup breathe." nor did he see Gustav's mom facepalm. All his mind was screaming right now was 'Oh my Thor! Oh my Thor! Oh my Thor! How in the Nine Realms did The Nightfury get here!' This certainly would be one interesting story.

AN: Sorry for the chapter delay yall. I was writing my thesis and then I got a splitting migraine yesterday. I didn't manage to finish writing the chapter then. But I'm feeling better right now. I took a very very long nap. XD Next update will be Wednesday