A/n: Haha, earlier than the usual 4-6 month update? Yep!
Felt bad that I left you guys on a cliffy, so I'm gonna continue it!
Consider it a (sorta late) Christmas gift 😉
Also, the title? Yeah, it isn't Captain Vorg the Berserker, ayt? It's a different Vorg :3
*note: in case y'all didn't know, when I type in dialogue and words have apostrophe (') in place of letters, take note, I try to write with accent included 😂
Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or any other Fandom used in the making of this fanfic, just this fanfic in itself.
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Hiccup's POV
We were led down to what looked like used to be the building's reception counter, now a dull, faded gray color, cracks littering the bottom half of it. There were three chairs set out for us in front of the counter, the backs connected to form a triangle.
Ryker pushed me towards one of the chairs, and I stumbled. My hands were bound behind my back, and they'd stripped us of our weapons. The other two guys jerked both Jack and Merida towards the other two chairs. They forced us to sit down as they secured our hands to the spines of the chairs. One of them aimed his rifle at us, so we had no choice but to comply with them unless we wanted our heads blown off.
"So, what's it you do here?" I asked. I know, it's dumb, but they think they're gonna kill me anyway once they tell me, so might as well get the info beforehand.
Ryker gave a dark chuckle and turned to face me. "Why in the worl' woul' I tell ya?" He rolled his eyes. "You can' even stop me from the'e."
He was wrong about that. I've trained for this kind of situation, I just had to get what I needed before we could execute it.
"And who's the one still sitting at the table?" I inquired. Ryker glared at me. "His name's no' importan'. Now why the 'ell you still talking aye?"
Of course, me being my usual Hiccup-y self, I used my stubbornness to irritate him to force him to leave. "No reason," I answered, shrugging, or at least attempting to shrug when I had both hands bound behind my back, against a chair. "It entertains me."
"So will you stop now?"
"Nope. I have a lot more questions to ask."
I could see Jack making a small smirk out of the corner of my eye; he knew just what I was doing. Merida, meanwhile, was just glaring at all of them, mostly at Ryker.
Ryker growled. "I don' 'ave time for this," he hissed, spinning around and grabbing one of the men by his shoulder. "You, stay 'ere an' keep an eye on 'em. If ya see 'em tryin' to do somethin' funny, show no mercy," he said.
The man nodded in response and raised his gun, just as Ryker walked away. He watched us, his unnerving, somehow unblinking eyes never leaving ours.
"Do you know how to blink? Jeez, seriously, it's disturbing!" I told him. It was both as a distraction and because he really hasn't blinked in the five minutes we've been here, and I felt extremely uncomfortable.
He remained silent though, and only glared at me. I could faintly see the corners of his eyes turning red, meaning they were burning from staying open for too long.
Glad to know he knows how to blink...
I scanned the area. There were chains hanging on the ceiling, and a large steel shelf was on the side of the room, boxes stacked on each shelf. Behind the man in front of me, was a little ammo cache.
I decided to play more of the tricks up my sleeve. "Hey, so...I suppose now isn't a very good time to ask, but...where's the bathroom?"
Both Jack and Merida groaned. "Gods, Hic, really?" Jack said, while Merida said, "Wha' in th' 'ell. Are ya daft?"
The guy in front of us rolled his eyes. "Yer not goin' to the fuckin' bathroom 'ere, boy," he said. "Don' think I don' know wha' yer tryin'."
Okay, so he's smarter than he looks apparently.
"What's your name?" I tried, tilting my head. He squinted his eyes at me suspiciously, and I continued, "Hey, if you know what I'm up to, why would I try anything? I just wanna know your name."
He sighed, closing his eyes, before opening them back up and looking directly at me out of the three of us. "Name's Vorg. Now woul' ya shut up?"
This time I squinted, at the same time tilting my head. "'Vorg'? That name sounds...familiar..." I said. I swear I could recall the name 'Vorg' from when I was younger; those names aren't very common. I don't remember when, but...I could.
I recalled one memory, but it was very vague now. It was in the town park.
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Flashback; 12 years ago
I was around six back then, and my dad took me there for our usual stroll. I wanted to get ice cream, and my dad gave me money to buy some while he sat at a picnic table to watch me.
Back then, he wasn't mayor yet, and we did everything together...
I'd bought the ice cream and began walking back, stopping every now and then to let skaters and bicyclers pass before continuing, when my foot snagged on a small root from a nearby tree, and I tripped, falling to the ground and dropping the ice cream. I saw my dad grip the table as he pushed himself up to walk the rather far distance over to me.
A skateboarder rolled by and stopped beside me, kneeling down to help me up. "Aye lad." He had a Scottish accent like my dad's, though not quite as thick, and looked around 17 years of age. "Ya alrigh'?" he asked, lifting me up by my arm. I nodded, looking at him, then at the ice cream I'd dropped on the ground.
Sad. It was Cookies&Cream too.
He clicked his tongue at the spilled ice cream. "Aw, tha's a shame. Tell ya what, 'ow 'bout I buy ya a new one?" His smile was genuine, despite the fact that he looked rugged with a long scar at the side of his face.
He noticed me staring at it, chuckled, and said, "Ah, that? I fell down an' scraped up ma' face when I wen' skateboardin' once. Bu' le' me tell ya somethin': If ya get knocke' down, whethe' by bullies or misfortune, it hur's mo'e when ya don' ge' up."
He pat my arm and stood up, before walking over to the ice cream stand and getting me the same Cookies&Cream.
My dad came up while the guy was at the stand. "Oh boy-o, are ya alrigh'?" he asked. I nodded, and my dad looked up as the guy came back, a brand new cone of ice cream in hand.
"Aye, wha's yer name, son?" Dad asked. The guy bent down to hand me the ice cream, before standing to face my dad. Now that I could see better, he was around two feet shorter than my dad.
Made sense. My dad is a beast in size. Don't tell him I said that.
"Name's Vorg, sir," the guy, Vorg, replied. "Hope yer son's fine. Now I need ta go, 'fore me mum comes out yellin' at me." He shook my dad's hand, bent down and ruffled my hair, all the while I was just eating the ice cream.
"'ere's hopin' I see ya again, eh?" He smiled, and I nodded.
He got onto his skateboard, gave a curt salute, and rolled off.
He never got our names, and we never heard from him since.
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I looked at the side of his face, and there indeed was a long scar running down. He still had that familiar rugged look.
Of course... If he never got our names back then, then he wouldn't know that Mayor Stoick Haddock was my dad, and the man he shook hands with twelve years ago.
I wonder if quoting what he said twelve years ago would affect him... I decided to give it a try.
"If you get knocked down," I began in a low voice, and I could pretty much feel both Jack and Merida giving me strange looks, but I ignored, only looking at Vorg.
He raised an eyebrow in confusion, and I took it as my cue to continue, "Whether by bullies or misfortune." I saw his eyes widen ever so slightly, before he narrowed them again. It was affecting him.
"It hurts more when you don't get up."
He stepped back, shocked. "Where...did you 'ear tha'?"
I stared him straight in the eyes, and said, "From a seventeen-year old skateboarder, twelve years ago, in the Town of Berk's family park."
He stumbled, dropping his gun in the process, and Merida took it as her chance to snap the ropes she'd spent the entire time weakening, running up to him and putting him in a chokehold, clamping a hand over his mouth to keep him from yelling for backup.
Jack slid his fingers free of his ropes; Merida had slightly weakened them for him. He moved the chair out of the way and began untying the knot on mine. Once I was free, I stood up and walked towards Vorg. He was really beginning to choke, his troubled wheezing and slightly red face was proof of that.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Let him go, Mer," I said, and she gave me a stunned look. "Are ya crazy?" she hissed. "If I do tha' who's ta say 'e ain't gonna turn us back in?"
I shook my head. "He won't," I said, just looking at him. "Just let him go."
She did so, slowly and reluctantly, all the while giving me her glare that could usually make other people run away.
Jack and I are used to that.
Vorg crumpled to the ground, gasping for air. We could hear somebody coming up, and Jack quickly picked up the gun which was, thankfully, surpressed.
"Oi, Vorg! Boss sen' me tah check on the 'ostag's."
He handed the weapon to Merida, who spun around and fired two bullets into the man's skull. Jack and I ran towards him to keep him from making any noise as he started to drop to the ground.
"Oi, wha's goin' on in the'e!?" That sounded like Ryker.
Jack nodded at me; I was in charge of voice impersonations after all.
I recalled what this dead man said before he was killed, and matched my voice to it. "Nothin' Sir! Ever'thin's fine!" I shouted.
I heard a grunt in response, then silence.
He's not so bright is he... I chuckled, before standing up to go back over to Vorg. "You never got my name back then," I told him, before kneeling down. "Nor my dad's, which might help explain why you're doing this."
I sighed and said, "They're targeting the mayor, and...that just happens to be my dad..."
Vorg widened his eyes and started stuttering. "I-I-I didn' know. Th-they... They jus' sai'...tha' if I 'elped, they'd pay me, an' I neede' the money. I didn' know who they were targetin', I swear. The financ'l crisis go' to me."
I nodded. "I know your name. Vorg. You never got mine. I'm Henry "Hiccup" Haddock. My dad? Stoick "the Vast" Haddock."
Merida stepped in, hissing in a whisper-yelling voice, "'iccup! Are ye sure ye shoul' be tellin' this man yer name and yer ol' man's!?"
I nodded in response. "I know this man," I said quietly enough not to be heard by the enemy, but loud enough for both her and Jack. "He helped me get back up twelve years ago. Remember what I said earlier? This man told me that that day."
"You mean, the whole 'it hurts when you get up' thing or whatever it was?" Jack asked. I corrected him, "'It hurts more when you don't get up.' And yes, that. Honestly, if it hadn't been for that, I'd have given up a long time ago.
"He's got that same good in him," I continued, "and the only problem is that he was misguided. He didn't know what he was getting into.
"I don't blame him. If, whoever is the mastermind of this entire thing is, can twist others' minds to do the wrong thing, then I won't even be surprised if that Ryker is actually a good person as well," I finished.
I slowly pushed myself up and held a hand out to Vorg, who took it and pulled himself up, dusting his clothes off.
"Listen, Vorg," I said, "I know you've got that good in you. And if we escape and Ryker manages to find out, he'll take it out on you, and who knows what he'll do then. Wouldn't it be better if you came with us instead?"
He seemed deep in thought. "I...don'... Wait..." A slight grin creeped onto his face, and he furrowed his eyebrows. "I coul' be yer man on the insi'e. Let 'im find out ya three go' out; I ain't 'fraid o' tha' man."
I... Well, admittedly, it wasn't a bad idea at all. But...I felt uneasy about letting him on his own with Ryker. That guy looks rough and unforgiving, and if he were to punish Vorg for our 'escape', then I wouldn't know how bad it would be.
"Look," I heard Vorg say. "I c'n come up with a li''le show fer if Ryker came 'ere 'imself. Bu' you three need ta go. Now."
He pushed us towards the back of the room, where it was shadowed and secluded. Jack and Merida began looking for a way out, feeling the walls for a door or loose brick like earlier. But I stayed behind, in the shadows, to watch what would unfold.
Jack found the door and whisper-yelled my name, making me turn to him. He gestured me over - which I could only barely see in this darkness. I was just about to go, but then I looked back one more time, to find Vorg aiming his surpressed rifle at his leg, biting his wrist that was covered by the sleeve of his jacket.
I widened my eyes when I realized what he was doing, and before I could grab his attention again, he pulled the trigger and fired the shot into his leg.
I stiffened, just staring as I heard the muffled screams coming from him and his slow collapse to the ground. Merida had to yank me away and out through the door Jack had managed to open.
When we were all out, Jack shut the door again, as quickly yet quietly as he could, then secured it with a chain littered on the ground a few feet away.
I immediately clicked on the button on my earpiece. "Toothless, hey, we got out," I said, once I heard the other end open up.
"'Got out'?" I heard him ask as we started sneaking off, away from the surrounding area of the building. "You guys were caught?"
"Yes, but..."
"You're all alright? No one injured?" he asked. "None, sir," I replied.
"Good," I heard him say with with sigh. "Now what were you trying to tell me?"
I squeezed my eyes shut as the image of Vorg injuring himself appeared in my mind again. "Yes, sir, uh... We found a man on the inside. Vorg's his name. Man from my childhood. Listen, he's-."
I got cut off. "Who's Vorg?" Toothless asked. I sighed and replied, "Well, you see, Toothless..."
I looked back at the building that was now far behind us.
"It's a long story."
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A/n: So I hope you enjoyed that chapter!
I love the quote I made actually (Or if it isn't and I somehow coincidentally typed the quote of someone else, tell me)
I just love it.
"If you get knocked down, whether by bullies or misfortune, it hurts more when you don't get up."
Stay tuned for the next chapter! And yes, I will be using that quote a lot more.
~ Astor (Yes I switched my name from 'Azriel' to 'Astor')