Age of the Dragons (HTTYD Fanfiction)

Chapter 17

Two chapters on the right day in a row! This must be a record of some sort!

A low rank officer swiped his scanner over Hiccup's wrist. There was a momentary pause as the scanner worked on the detection. Of course, it was actually the chips hacking the scanners and interfering with them, but neither the general, nor the officers surrounding him knew that. Finally, the screen flashed green.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock XXV. Born July 7th, 4756 N.A. Citizen of the United States of America. Status: Dead."

"Sir, what the boy says is true. He was declared dead almost a year ago when he disappeared seemingly off the face of the planet!" The general nodded. But inwardly, he was annoyed. "Good. Get a reading on the rest of the people."

"Yes sir!" the officer said. "We will notify the families of the recovered witnesses as soon as they are scanned." he added, and made to walk away.

"No." the General interrupted, "don't notify anyone." The officer hesitated. "But sir...it isn't legal to withhold this information for a period of more than three days!" "Just do it!" the General growled, "I'll get everything I need in three days." The officer nodded nervously, and walked away, to begin scanning.

The General stared at Hiccup with tangible contempt. Somehow, the skinny boy had become the embodiment of the answers the general was lacking. "Just you wait, Hiccup." he hissed, "I'll find out everything I need to know."

"Wake him up." he said more loudly. "I'll question him again."

~/|\~

Hiccup had suddenly discovered a new use for the talents he had developed in the past years of his life. Passing out on command, faked panic attacks, and hysterical screams had become quite useful when dealing with the obnoxious man that incessantly questioned him. 

Of course, Hiccup could never have imagined that he would have to ever do anything like this. For as long as he could remember, Hiccup's life had been a miserable limbo of horrible, painful school, and his desperate parents worry. So, from a young age, he developed defenses.

A panic attack was enough to make the annoyed teachers send him to the indifferent nurse, where he could wait until the danger of major bullies was over. Passing out provided a blissful reprieve from the stress of every day. And a screams were usually enough to drive bullies off long enough for him to escape.

Suddenly, Hiccup's dead brain was woken by an uncomfortable shock. He groaned as he slowly regained consciousness, at first groggy and disoriented, before remembering what had happened, and donning his tortured disguise.

Blearily, he opened his eyes, bright, blurry shapes resolving into humans as his pupils adjusted. He barely managed to restrain a sigh of annoyance when he spotted the General, as angry as ever.

Instead, Hiccup shifted restlessly. "So cold..." he mumbled. "Wake up boy!" the General commanded, words so sharp that memories of Hiccup's time at school came unbidden to his mind. His spine stiffened automatically, and he squeezed his eyes shut. His breathing quickened, and Hiccup fought to keep himself under control. "I said WAKE UP!" the General roared, but Hiccup stayed where he was, trembling.

With a tremendous effort, Hiccup managed to regain control of his body, and sensed the General leaning over him in frustration. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him. He took in a huge gasp of air, and sat up abruptly, head smashing into the General's face.

Hiccup was prepared for the impact, but the General was caught unawares, and stumbled backwards, falling indelicately on his behind. Hiccup fought the urge to laugh, while he breathed hard, collapsing back onto the bed. An officer snickered, then paled, and suddenly excused herself to the restroom.

The General levered himself to his feet, fuming vigorously. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID BOY?!!" he screamed into Hiccup's face. But Hiccup, already curled into a ball, only whimpered, murmuring indistinct words, as if from horrible memories.

The General groaned, and stomped off. He chose the next most intact looking prisoner, who happened to be Annie, and pressed the wake up button. Annie opened her eyes, and caught Hiccup's gaze. A quick grin passed between them. Annie was nowhere near as good as Hiccup and faking trauma, but she knew enough. And with the combined efforts of all the Berkians, Hiccup knew they could craft a convincing story. 

And drive the General almost mad in the process.

~/|\~

The ship spun a full loop, sending the already green-faced passengers into another painful slam. "Gah!" Soren said, "why are there so many birds at this altitude?!!" 

"I no longer like gulls!" Stefen said in a muffled voice, who had been trying to hold his head over the trash can, until a particularly violent spin had lodged his face squarely in it.

"You forget," groaned Philip, now so thoroughly tangled in the seatbelt he had hastily tried to put on that he was suspended in midair. "Cities let out so many horrible gasses that birds have developed over time to fly much higher than they used to back in Before Hovering time. The birds in the Barbaric Archipelago seem not to have deviated from their ancestors, since there are no cities there."

"A fascinating piece of information if my stomach were the right way around!" Lila moaned, pinned under her chair, who's balance sensors seem to have been thrown off drastically by the power surge.

"LOOK OUT!" Soren yelled, as he threw the ship to the left, avoiding a large and screaming Eagle. The entire team was hurdled to the left, crashing into the surprisingly solid metal wall. "I love you Chicken..." Tuffnut said deliriously, then passed out.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!" Soren yelled. "You won't have to!" Philip said, managing to twist his head around to see his console. "We're almost there!"

Every conscious team member let out a shout of glee, which was cut short by a rapid beeping. Suddenly, the voice control spoke up. "Secondary fuel source - 1%"

"Well," Lila said, "at least we still have Primary fuel!"

And then another message came. "Primary fuel source - 1%"

"You just had to jinx it." Stefen muttered from the trash can.

Suddenly, all the yellow controls reverted to blue. "Deactivating Secondary fuel source." There was a heavy rattling in the ship, and then a jolt sent everyone flying forward. The blurs that were the scenery quickly resolved back into shapes, as the ship lost momentum.

"Come on! Just a little further!" Soren said, flooring the pedal. But it was too late. "Deactivating Primary fuel source. Ciao, idiots." And the cabin went dark.

Suddenly, the ship began to plummet. "HOLD ON!!!" Soren shouted, as the sea grew nearer and nearer. But the ship, with wings and momentum still left, kept on forward. And as the A-Team yelled in fear, they were all holding their breaths inside. 

The ship inched ever forward and forward, while they went down and down, heading either towards victory on the smooth ocean, or towards disaster on the spiky crags in the outside sea. "Come on...come on!" Soren said, crossing his fingers.

500 feet forward, 400 feet down...

300 feet forward, 225 feet down...

200 feet forward, 100 feet down...

The ship fell ever closer to safety and certain death. But as they got closer and closer, it seemed inevitable that they would land on the rocks. Everyone closed their eyes and crossed their fingers, hoping against hope that this wouldn't be the end...

But they fell every downward, losing ground with every second! The sharp rocks loomed larger and larger in the windshield, until...

In the last second, the ship pulled forward one more time, brushing inches above the rock. They soared forwards, crashing against the waves, but safe!

The A-Team cheered, as the ship drifted to a stop. They had made it! "Alright!" Soren said, "now all that's left is to find the dragons!" There was a bang, and all heads turned to Stefen, who had hit his bucketed head against the dashboard while trying to stand up.

"Right." Soren amended, "first we get the bucket of Stefen's head, then we find the dragons!"