Dragons, Superheroes and a Tear in Time

Chapter 19: He has a Lab (Hiccup)

Previously:

Hiccup encountered the kitchen and met Yelena, who was very "chill" for someone supposedly dangerous. She seems to love the food "mac and cheese" a lot.

Refer to the last chapter for Peter's recollection of the recent events

A short chapter for ya.

Now:

Toothless and I are in the living room, both on the floor as I examine the gear and try to determine what I can and can't salvage. The metal is a huge mess, but that tends to happen when you get hit by lightning.

"... set a reminder for the next meeting so I can be conveniently on the other side of the country." A new voice surfaces, I recognise it as Tony.

"Are you sure that's wise, boss?"

"Yes, Peps gonna kill me but that meeting was the more boring than being kidnapped. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to regain the will to live."

As I undo a saddle strap, I see Tony walk into the kitchen and stark making himself that drink he seems to love so much. We don't have it on Berk. It smells weird.

After a few seconds I feel eyes on me, and glance up to see Tony staring at me. I raise an eyebrow as I retighten the strap. "Can—can I help you?" I ask, not trying to sound rude.

"That tail," Tony stroll forward and points at the prosthetic— or what's left of it. "Did you build it? What happened?" He asks with a curious tone.

"Oh, yeah." I nod. "He, uh, lost his fin and can't fly without a full tail so I helped him. It wasn't too hard, but I've never seen anyone else do the same." I explain casually, looking away as I check the condition of another strap and try not to let my guilt show. I still, and will always, feel guilty for stripping his ability to fly from him, but I will never regret it; I met my best friend and discovered the thrill of flight; If I didn't shoot him down, that wouldn't have happened.

"So you built him a new fin?" He waves his hand vaguely at it.

"Yep, he can't fly without me though." I gesture to the stirrup, you can tell despite the mangled metal that it connects to the tail. At least I'm hoping he can tell, "Well, we do have an automatic tail that allows him to sorta control it, but we don't have it with us."

Tony steps closer, a certain glint in his eye: one I recognise as the excitement only an inventor can feel. I wonder if he built his suit?

"So, what do you need to fix it?" Tony asks, eyeing it more closely. I follow his gaze, examining the twisted and fried metal and the absent tail fin.

"I've got spare fins," I explain, slightly excited that he's showing interest. I lift up a flap in the saddle and produce a spare red fin, spreading it in demonstration: I'm so glad I always carry spare prosthetics for both of us. I should try to carry some more scale covered ones.

"We need a new metal connection rod, this one's bent in half. And most of the wire is fried to the point of no return, so that needs replacing too..." I ramble, running my hands over the jagged edges. Toothless turns to look, too. I can tell he's worried we won't be able to fix it. It's a shame I didn't use more Gronkle iron, it might have survived the lightning better.

Tony steps back. "I've got a lab, you know."

Toothless and I brighten up. Wait, he's gonna...

I state at him, perplexed. "R-really?! You'd—"

Tony slides on the weird, dark eye glasses. Perhaps there's something wrong with his vision. "Yep, come on Cough. I was about to head down anyway." He starts walking towards the door. I share a hopeful look with Toothless as we stand up and head after him quickly. I'm too excited I don't even bother correcting him. "Besides," he calls over his shoulder as he grabs his now ready drink from the kitchen, "I want to see what you can do."

"We might be up in the air sooner than we thought, bud." I exclaim as we follow Tony into the dreaded elevator. Toothless purrs in anticipation, no doubt longing to be up in the air again. It's funny how much we rely on flight in our everyday life. Whether that be for convenience or joy. Nothing can beat it. I feel stuck every time we can't fly like this. I could never leave this lifestyle. Not now that I know what I'd be missing out on.

Boy, I'll never forget our first flight. We were only young, both new to this way of flying, both eager to learn. I still remember the thrill of climbing high among the clouds, higher then any mountain I'd ventured on. I still remember the euphoria buzzing through me, how I knew I'd made the right decision. I do, of course, remember the panic as we fell through the sky, and the terror of flying at breakneck speeds towards those pillars. But I remember how natural I realised it was, how I didn't need a cheat sheet and how it was like our minds connected.

We could tell what each other wanted to do, in the split second, it's like our bodies came tuned to one another. That's how we made it out of there alive. If only I knew then how far we were going to come, how thrill and danger would become the very centre of our lives. How we seek out the most crazy and thrilling things until we master it, then set our sights on something else and move on.

I can't wait until we're back in the air again, amongst the clouds, feeling the wind in my hair, seeing the world grow small below. There's no greater feeling then being free with my best friend.

Apologises for the shortness.
Heh, that's what he said.

That wasn't funny. Ignore me.