A/n: this is a continuation of chapter 50 of Dragons: Oneshots of Berk. It's been edited quite heavily since then, so it's hopefully a bit better now. This follows Avengers canon up to Avengers Assemble, and HTTYD canon up to HTTYD 2, with a few of the things mentioned in D:OoB mixed in. If you haven't read it, you probably don't have to, but some things might make a bit more sense.

Tony's eyes widened as he caught his first first-hand glimpse of space. In any other circumstance, it would've been beautiful. Unfortunately, the effect was rather ruined by the lack of proper equipment. The suit wasn't built to cope with extreme conditions like this in the best of times, and Tony didn't want to know how badly it would perform, with all the fluctuations in the power kept on making the warning screens flicker. It wasn't long before the lights from the screen dimmed altogether - far too slow for Tony's liking; now, the last thing he ever saw would be the failure to connect with Pepper.

He didn't think anything, not consciously, just let his eyes drift shut as he embraced the darkness threatening to engulf him. Just before his eyes shut completely, the scene changed. He hadn't thought that death would be brought along by a view of the ocean, but it was a welcome reprieve from the never-ending darkness of space.

Astrid smiled slightly as she noticed Eret's expression. Though Ruffnut had mostly got over her massive crush on him, she still managed to freak him out with her lack of personal boundaries. This was one such occasion, where Skullcrusher had to send a warning shot at Barf and Belch to get them to back off. Eret noticed her amusement and scowled at her, only serving to further Astrid's amusement.

"Something funny?" Hiccup asked, looking between the two. Concentrated as ever on his flying companion, Hiccup had managed to almost entirely miss the exchange between the two riders.

"No." Eret said, at the same time Astrid offered the opposite answer. He glared at her again. "Just Ruffnut flying a bit close."

Hiccup smiled at that, understanding what he'd seen. "I'll tell her to back off. Again..." he said irritably, turning to the twins to give another stern warning that the duo would surely ignore.

"Ruffnut?" he called. She didn't respond. "Ruffnut!"

"What's that?" she said curiously, completely ignoring Hiccup's call. The others followed her gaze, seeing a slight ripple in the otherwise quite normal sky.

"Stay away from it - or at least approach slowly," Hiccup cautioned, "I've seen it before; it's the portal... thingy."

"It'll send us to another world? Cool!" the twins enthused. Figures that they'd remember that part of the recount of his prior experience with random swirls in the sky. They didn't heed Hiccup's warning and flew straight up to the ripple.

Hiccup sighed. "Do they ever listen?" he asked rhetorically, nudging Toothless to get him to move forwards. He didn't budge at first, still eyeing the strange patch of sky suspiciously. The dragons are nervous. Great; that can only ever mean bad things...

Eventually though, Toothless complied, leading the others up at a much slower pace and stopping the moment he came level with the twins.

"Okay, let's stay here..." Hiccup advised. "If we just watch it, we'll have an idea of what's going on."

They sat in silence for a while, watching the swirl grow. As it got bigger, the area it encompassed started to darken, making it look as though there was a small patch of night in the middle of the midday sky. For a second it shrank back, before exploding outwards to cover the riders.

"What a surprise; we're going in." Hiccup said sarcastically, eye-roll almost palpable. There wasn't time to say anything else, as the vortex pulled them in, and they found themselves falling.

The next thing Tony was aware of was that the Hulk could be very loud. Very loud.

He jerked awake at the yell from the Other Guy, and the second thing he was aware of was pain. Not too much; just enough to remind him that yes, he was still alive. Yippee.

"Please tell me nobody kissed me," he said breathlessly. From the tired chuckles he received, he knew it was the right thing to say.

"You know," he continued, tone light and conversational, "I saw a shawarma joint a couple blocks away. Never had shawarma before. Maybe we should get some."

That was an even better thing to say; Cap was rolling his eyes at him now. Stark one, dreadful situation nil.

They sat in silence for a while, basking in the fact that they were all still alive. Tony especially was grateful for that, having taken a slightly unexpected trip to space. And, if the random flashback to blue skies and sunshine was anything to go by, he really had come close to...

No, he wasn't going to think about that one - plenty of time for that over the sleepless nights that were sure to follow.

Just as Tony was starting to relax back into blissful thoughtlessness - as close as he could come, anyway; he was actually running through new inventions and suit designs (gotta have a space suit, not repeating that experience), but at least he wasn't thinking about that - a voice that had become far too familiar over the past few hours basted through the comms.

"It's not over yet." Nick Fury deadpanned. Tony could imagine him now, all frowny and official while he kept turning like an idiot to see both the screens in front of him. He needed to do something about that, actually. If he was going to be working for SHIELD now, he didn't want to work for someone who turned like an idiot. Maybe the motion sensors for the holographic screens can be reprogrammed to - wait, still got things to deal with here.

"Uhh... wrong?" Tony said sarcastically. "We won, the bad guys all got exploded... I think the others mysteriously died? Gotta love them hive minds."

"And now we have a new problem." Fury corrected by way of comeback. Tony scowled; he was going to win in a snark-off with that man some day.

"What is it?" Steve asked, in full Captain America mode and just as serious as the boss man in the sky.

"I don't know, but they're about a hundred feet above you."

"They?" Tony echoed. The comm link cut off. Rude.

About a hundred feet in the air, Hiccup was complaining about his bad luck. He was also falling uncontrollably, but that kind of thing tended not to bother him as much as it probably should, given his track record for it happening.

"We'll have to find the portal again, but it looks like it just sealed off." he said, looking up at where they'd appeared from. They'd come out of the portal just as it closed, in fact, falling much slower than the strange creature that came before them. The red and gold object had landed some time ago, actually; he didn't have the advantage of wings to slow himself down.

"This isn't the time!" Astrid yelled, reminding Hiccup that his first priority should probably be a safe landing.

"Yeah, sorry..." he said. "Alright. Is everyone okay?" he checked. Everyone gave a confirmation - Hiccup ignored Snotlout's shrieks about how he was about to die - and he mentally checked off the first step of his hastily made plan. "Right. Let's get to the ground - slowly though, and I mean slowly," He glared at the twins. "then we can work out what's going on."

After a short glide down to ground level, Hiccup was surprised to find what was quite clearly the aftermath of a battle of some sorts. There were only a few people stood in the middle of the smouldering remains of the strange grey buildings, none of whom looked that bothered to be there, and certainly weren't making any effort to stop the dust settling on them.

Well, people was a loose term.

There was a green creature, who was normal if you discounted his greenness and his bulging muscles - they looked like they'd rival even a Viking's. The red and gold creature from before was still there, and its face had opened to reveal a normal looking human's face, possibly meaning that a man was trapped inside (or was it intentional - some strange armour, the type Johan sometimes spoke of?). Speaking of normal humans, a man dressed in red and blue stood next to the green man, holding one hand to his ear while the other gripped a circular shield - good to know that one of them had a good taste in weaponry, at least - and beside him was...

"Thor..." Hiccup whispered.

"Dragons?" Tony said incredulously. He shifted his head, trying not to wince at the pain such a simple action caused, to check if the others were seeing the same thing. Well, Capsicle certainly was. Thor, on the other hand, looked... amused?

"Vikings!" the god said. He sounded inordinately pleased at this fact, even more so than when he spoke of 'petty' and 'puny' humans. His smile was almost one of endearment.

Vikings. Well, the dragons made more sense now. Wait - Thor was a Norse god, these were Vikings...

"Ha!" Tony laughed. This was just too rich. "Cap, they're meeting god!"

The man in red and gold said something - Hiccup wasn't surprised that he didn't understand it - that the dragon riders ignored. Thor was there. And he looked pleased to see them. Thor. Pleased to see them.

"Thor?" Hiccup said, trying not to sound too nervous. Behind him, the other riders had noticed the god, and were having mixed reactions. The general consensus seemed to be that this was an appropriate time to faint; Astrid was the only one still awake, and it looked like she would soon be following her friends into oblivion.

"Yes?"

And oh dear gods he was just as amazing as people said.

"You're Thor." Hiccup said dumbly. Thor smiled again. "Actual... god... Thor."

That was enough for the Viking. He slumped over, completely dead to the world.

The scrawny one on the black dragon said something that Tony didn't understand - he was so going to have to learn Norse - and promptly collapsed. Tony found he couldn't really blame him; he'd just met one of his actual gods, after all. The other Vikings had all met the same fate, and their dragons had assumed defensive stances in front of them.

"Hey, Point Break," Tony caught Thor's attention, "What was the little dude saying?"

"He reminded me of my name." Thor grinned. Tony couldn't help but chuckle at that, painful as laughter was.

"So, no names?" Steve checked, once again a downer. "No explanations?"

"No!" Thor seemed positively jovial, as usual. Perhaps he was making up for Captain Stick-In-His-Ass. "The dragons could tell me though."

Lucky gods and their all-speak.

"What's going on down there?" Fury all but shouted into the comms.

"We've found some Vikings." Vikings. Amazing! "What should we do with them?"

"Bring them to your tower, Stark. I'll come to you."

Another click sounded, and the Avengers were on their own.

"Okay, this, and then we get shawarma?"

After regrouping with Hawkeye and Widow, scaring Loki a bit and letting the SHIELD goons cart him off to locations unknown, the Avengers finally had a chance to tend to their Norse guests. A quick translation program installed in JARVIS and a few beds pushed into one room were all it took to prepare for the small group. The dragons were happy to follow and stayed calm after Thor had a quick chat with them, and now all there was to do was wait.

They weren't there for long before the little dude - the black dragon had been calling him 'Hiccup', of all things - started to stir. He woke up easily, and soon calmed down after he scanned his surroundings a bit.

"Where am I?"

JARVIS gave a quick translation that made the Viking jump, and Steve answered: "Stark Tower. It's a safe place," he added quickly, pointing at Tony, "he owns it."

"Oh." Was all the young man could come up with after JARVIS translated for him.

"Who are you?" Steve took the lead instead.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." the Viking said, with a slight smile, "Bad names are supposed to protect us from evil spirits." he explained.

"These guys are Astrid, Eret, Snotlout, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut." Hiccup continued. Tony noticed the way he grouped two of the names together - twins, perhaps? - "And... where's Toothless?"

"Toothless?" Steve frowned. "There weren't any other people there..."

"No, he's a dragon." Hiccup explained, "And my best friend."

Best friends with a dragon? Damn, Tony wasn't sure whether he should feel jealous of or sorry for the guy.

"They're in the other room, with Thor." Steve explained calmly. Hiccup visibly relaxed at that, though he still looked a bit tense. Nothing a quick drink couldn't solve... now to work out what Vikings even drank...

"Are the Vikings awake yet?" Black Widow asked, popping her head round the door. She frowned slightly toward the ceiling as JARVIS started translating her speech. She doesn't speak Norse? Ha, point to me... once I learn it... "Fury's here; he wants to speak with someone."

"You up for it, kid?" Steve checked.

Hiccup scoffed. "I can talk; I'm not the chief for nothing."

Chief? Tony thought, giving the SCRAWNY Viking an appraising look. Doesn't look like one.

Steve stayed in the other room to wait for the others to wake up, while Tony took Hiccup through to talk to Fury. He soon saw the chief in the boy; he wasn't intimidated by Fury's commanding speech or posture - in fact, he looked quite used to being around people much strongER than the director.

"I am Nick Fury, director of the Strategic Homeland -"

"That's great and all, but I'm more interested in your plans," Hiccup said impatiently. "Do you have dragons here, or am I going to have to demonstrate?"

"A demonstration would be ideal." Fury snapped. Tony sniggered, revelling in the knowledge that Hiccup had managed to make the unflappable director feel put out. You're doing great, kid.

Team Stark one, Fury nil. Tony mentally adopted the Viking.

"Okay. Toothless?"

Tony stopped laughing - it wasn't because Fury was glaring at him, honest! - and paid more attention to the black dragon walking over to Hiccup. He was the smallest of the group, but by no means the least threatening. Part of his wing was a different colour to the rest, a bright red made of a clearly different fabric. What had caused that?

"What do you want to know?" Hiccup asked politely.

"Are they dangerous?" Fury asked, subtle as ever as he glared at the dragon in obvious mistrust. Toothless glared right back, baring his fangs to the man. I thought he'd be... well... Toothless.

"Of course," Hiccup said, "But they're good; they won't harm you unless you harm them. Or me; they're fiercely protective."

Fury nodded. Tony used his momentary pause to jump in with a question of his own: "So they fly? And breathe fire?"

Hiccup laughed. He turned and said something to the dragon, which JARVIS didn't translate.

"Not telling us that bit, J?" Tony asked, frowning up at the ceiling.

"That was not a language in my database, sir." Jarvis explained.

"Oh, sorry. That was Dragonese." Hiccup explained. "I was warning Toothless not to demonstrate that just yet. But yes, he can fly and shoot plasma blasts."

"Cool!" Tony grinned. Dragonese... gonna have to learn that, too. "Can I try?"

Hiccup answered by walking over to Toothless and hopping on. The dragon padded over to Tony, and Hiccup extended an arm out. "Hop on." he invited.

Tony, giddy with childish excitement, grabbed Hiccup's hand and practically jumped onto Toothless's back, injuries and tiredness be damned. Clint rolled his eyes at the show of maturity.

"Shut up. You're just jealous you didn't ask first, Legolas."

Clint muttered something obscene about where Tony could shove his statement, which JARVIS didn't translate. Tony laughed and blew a very mature raspberry. Hiccup laughed at the exchange and had one of his own with his dragon, patting it slightly on the head and saying something else in the strange, growling language that was Dragonese. Honestly, it sounded like a mix of clearing his throat and particularly painful coughing fit when it came from a human. Maybe I won't learn it... The dragon understood though, and sprang forwards in response, diving straight out of the building.

"A little warning next time!" he yelled. Hiccup laughed at the response, saying something in Norse that was once again not understood, now that they were out of reach of the tower. He needed to find a way of getting JARVIS outside the tower without the suit. It was a good thing that most of the glass had shattered during the battle, Tony realised, as neither dragon nor Viking appeared to have even considered to check the windows. Maybe they don't have glass? Tony shuddered at the thought of such a primitive lack of technology.

Speaking of technology, Tony found himself more interested in the gear system by Hiccup's feet than the actual sensation of flight - it was an amazing feeling, and dragons, but... technology - which looked quite advanced for a civilisation that had yet to discover glass.

"You make that?" he asked, pointing at the contraption. As he did. he realised for the first time that one of the Viking's legs was missing - how he'd missed that, he'd never know.

Hiccup followed Tony's gaze and nodded, guessing what he was asking. He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it.

They continued in that silence for a while - what were you supposed to say to a guy you couldn't understand, anyway? - as Hiccup guided them around the ruins of New York. Wow, we really wrecked the place, Tony realised, looking down at the collapsed buildings and small fires dotting the ground. Hiccup seemed to realise the place for what it was - the aftermath of a warzone - but that didn't stop him from using it as his personal playground. He dodged the skyscrapers, flew between dangerously narrow gaps in bits of rubble, and laughed at Tony's screams - manly screams, of course - as he did.

Just as they were about to pull into yet another loop-de-loop, a slight buzz in his ear reminded him of the comms unit he'd had forced onto him back at the helicarrier before the battle. He had no idea why, really; JARVIS had a perfectly safe frequency for everyone to go onto, but no, SHIELD had to be super-special with their super-secret communication and super-unique earpieces. He sighed slightly as he realised why it was back online, and Hiccup slowed down accordingly.

"Get your ass back here Stark." Fury demanded. "Put your little friend on here and get that computer of yours to tell him what's happening."

"He's not a computer." Tony corrected impulsively. "He's an AI, or more -"

"I don't care if he's a talking monkey; get back here now."

"Fine." Tony sighed. He couldn't help but add a quiet "Popeye."

"What did you call me?"

"Nothing!"

So, there it is. I'd appreciate (read: I live for) reviews and feedback, so if you could take the time to do that. Though, this probably won't get much, 'cause there's only like three other fanfics n this section. Maybe I'll move it to just Avengers...