How To Find Your Dragon

Prologue

The skinny boy fights against the overly tightened leather straps with every ounce of strength he has left, but it's too late. The machine is already turned on and working. There's a bright flash of light in the lab and the boy goes limp. The scientists think he's dead, another experiment gone wrong, but suddenly the boy's eyes snap open.

Instead of his old human eyes, they're a terrifying electric green, that of someone – no something else.

They're the eyes of a dragon.

The straps come loose this time. Burning precious equipment, the boy (now turned fully dragon) fights his way out. No one will ever again go through what he just did. He knows that he cannot go home. He must protect the city. Before it's too late he will have to stop N.E.S.T. from destroying it, or worse, harm his family. His family has never cared for him before but...a Chief protects his own.

Of Sons and Serpents

This is New Berk City, located in the Meridian of Misery. It's twelve degrees north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. We who live here are all descendants of Vikings, as if our charming demeanor didn't prove it. My name? I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Great name, I know, but there are worse out there, if you can believe it. I'm not much, but boy have I got a story to tell you...

Astrid Hofferson was the best detective in all of New Berk City. She graduated first in her class from the Berk Academy of Private Investigation with top honors. It wasn't bragging, it was simply fact. She was as tough as a dire wolf. So why was she cowering in her seat as Chief of Police Stoick, "the Vast", Haddock yelled red-faced at the force team?

"HOW IS IT THAT ONE MAN CAN OUTSMART THE LOT OF YOU? I WANT YOU PUFFIN-BRAINED EXCUSES FOR DETECTIVES TO FIND HIM!"

He was, of course, talking about the Night Fury, some elusive new vigilante who was running around, causing havoc throughout the city. The special thing about the Fury was that his get up wasn't the typical Batman, Superman, or Iron Man paraphernalia. Instead, he donned dragon armor. If he had any good qualities, they weren't obvious to Astrid. The media was paying big bucks for any scoops on him. Everything about the Night Fury made Astrid's guts boil like the fires of Muspelheim. A team had just come back from an unsuccessful trap to capture him. The failure made Astrid glad that she wasn't a participant.

"I'VE SEEN DECAPITATED GOLDFISH WITH BETTER THINKING ABILITIES! I WANT YOU ALL WORKING, ON THE DOUBLE. NOW! DETECTIVE HOFFERSON! IN MY OFFICE! IMMEDIATELY!" Stoick bellowed, slamming his office door, hinges protesting and windows rattling. The department dissolved into nervous tittering accompanied by cat calls. Astrid pointedly ignored them as she made her way to the Great Door of Doom.

"Miss Hofferson! Welcome. Take a seat." Stoick pointed to one opposite his wide desk. Despite its size, his massive shoulders dwarfed the desk. Stoick's gargantuan beard poofed out in an array that would have made Astrid laugh on any other occasion.

"Thanks." Astrid said. She sat on the edge of her seat and looked around the office. Oddly, Stoick had a family photo on display, which eliminated Astrid's speculations that he was a bachelor. She didn't recognize the woman standing with him, but the teenager in the photograph seemed familiar. The woman and the teen both had red hair and green eyes, the said features enhanced in the latter of the two. Stoick cleared his throat, drawing her attention. Astrid looked away from the photo and blushed when she realized she had been staring.

"How do you feel about the Night Fury?" he asked her, leaning forward.

"He's a menace who's been terrorizing this town and making us look like complete idiots for months!" she said vehemently.

Stoick grunted. "I know. I understand you're already working on the Red Nest gang case, but you're one of my best agents. That's why I'm putting you on the Night Fury's case."

"Really?" Astrid couldn't believe her ears.

"Yes. You can begin work on it immediately. Here are the files for it." He handed her some manila sleeves. "Another thing." Stoick cleared his throat. "I have a personal favor to ask."

"Yes, sir?"

"It's sort of personal."

"Yes?" Astrid prodded when Stoick didn't go on.

"I need you to find my son."

"Your son." Astrid repeated dumbly. She racked her memory. Harold? Henrik? Her eyes flicked over to the photograph. That red-haired, green-eyed fish bone was his son?

"Yes. Hiccup used to work on the forensics team."

Hiccup. That was it. Now Astrid remembered. She had run into him (literally) a couple of times, but had never paid him much attention. As she recalled, he drove everyone around him nuts with his stupid inventions and crazy tales of conspiracies. He was pretty useless.

"How long has he been missing?" Astrid asked.

"Six months."

"Six months?! Why haven't you contacted the authorities?" That was a brilliant thing to ask. Stoick was the authorities. "I mean, hasn't anyone found a trace yet?"

"Not a thing. Astrid, I need you to find him."

"Can you give me any more details? Was it a kidnapping?"

Stoick leaned back, more visibly relaxed. "Very likely. But, I have not received a ransom note, so it's quite possible he is...you know..." Stoick trailed off. Astrid felt a flash of sorrow for him.

"Why aren't you looking into this yourself?" The question just popped out of her mouth. "I-I mean..."

"Don't worry, Astrid. I would be, but there has been more trouble in the streets. I've been working day and night to keep this city safe. I simply don't have the time."

Astrid nodded in understanding. Being descendants of the Vikings themselves, New Berk City citizens valued duty to the city more than anything, including family. Astrid respected that. There was a code of honor that these modern day Vikings held.

"So you'll do it?" Stoick asked her. If she didn't know any better, she would say he was anxious.

"Yes, Chief, I will."

"You can have access to Hiccup's desk, although I doubt you'll find anything since it's already been searched. Here's the key." Astrid took the brass key and said the necessary pleasantries, then took her leave. Her mind was racing with excitement. She sailed to her office cubicle on the clouds. Her best friend, Ruffnut Thorsen, was already at her desk next to Astrid's.

"You'll never believe it!" Astrid crowed. Ruffnut stopped swiveling around in circles and peeked at Astrid over a mountain of paperwork. Ruffnut didn't get work done. Ever. It was a miracle she hadn't gotten the boot yet.

"Uh. You got fired." Ruffnut droned.

"No, knucklehead. I'm on the Night Fury case. Chief just assigned it to me."

"Congratz!" Ruffnut shouted and leaped up. Papers flew everywhere.

"Thanks." Astrid replied. "You know," she pointedly suggested, "you ought to fill the paperwork out before you pile it back on your desk." Astrid got busy with her work, starting with studying the Night Fury's file. It didn't divulge more than what the media had reported.

The Night Fury took out gangsters in the darker parts of the city. His methods were highly unorthodox, however, and the police had branded them hazardous. The strange thing in the Night Fury's offensive lineup was his fire, the notes informed. He burned things, but who wouldn't if they were in a dragon costume? Astrid mulled over the photos. After several minutes, she returned to her regular work on the Red Nest case. She was so preoccupied that she didn't even notice when Ruffnut took off early for the day. Astrid was tempted to call it a day as well herself, but the key that Stoick had given here glinted mischievously, even invitingly up at her. A few more minutes on the job wouldn't hurt, she reasoned.

Astrid had to ask directions to find Hiccup's office space. To her surprise, it was fairly close to her own. In fact, it was within eye's view. Personally, she found it creepy looking through a possibly dead guy's things. In her opinion, a detective's desk was his or her sanctuary. She put aside those feelings and began searching through Hiccup's personal articles.

Everything was very neat and orderly. Folders separated the files of cases Hiccup had been working on before his disappearance. Pictures and sketches of an adorable black and white Border Collie were pinned to the walls. The drawers held pages full of notes. Hiccup's messy scrawl contrasted with the neatness of everything else. Astrid skimmed the pages. Nothing useful. She was about to give up in plain frustration, when her fingers got stuck between the bottom of a drawer and its side panel. Which shouldn't have happened unless...

There was a secret bottom in the drawer. Astrid pried it up by her fingernails with a bit of difficulty. She was disappointed. Someone went through all of the trouble to put a false bottom in a drawer, and then they didn't even store anything in it? Seriously? Astrid slammed the thing shut in vexation. Something clunked inside. She opened it again and ran her hand in the way back. It closed around something tiny. A flash drive!

"Finally! Something useful!" Astrid muttered to herself. She plugged the flash drive into her laptop when she got back to her desk. It demanded a password for entry. Astrid typed in Hiccup. It was denied. She tried Stoick. That was denied as well. She tried everything on Freya's yellow braids. In desperation, she tried password, just the sort of dorky thing Hiccup might do. It was accepted.

"You've got to be kidding me!" she screamed at the monitor. Hiccup wasn't even there, and he was already making her blood boil! There was only one document saved on the flash drive. Astrid double clicked on it. It asked for yet another password.

"If I ever find you Hiccup," she said. "I will kill you." This time, password was not the password. The screen flashed the your password is incorrect message. Astrid chewed on the end of a pencil thoughtfully. Surely Hiccup couldn't be that dorky, could he? Incorrect was the password. Guess he was. The first words of the the manuscript sent a stab of apprehension down Astrid's spine.

If you're reading this, it's far too late for me. I hope you enjoy Greek tragedy! Hiccup had a morbid sense of humor, she noted. Instead of the document going into some long sob story about how life wasn't fair, it was a collection of news articles and a couple of profiles. Shocked, she realized that they were for the Red Nest gang, the case she herself was working on. Why would Hiccup have information on them? He wasn't assigned to it.

…The body was that of Dr. D. D. Davids, an important member of the Berk Hospital Staff...Police Officer O'Neally was killed in a shooting, after the start of his investigation of the Red Nest gang. His files were stolen...Mayor Peterson resigned after a break-in at his personal residence...Erit Eritson...Mulch, wanted for assault. So many people. But how did they all fit together?

All victims were strong leaders in this city's government. Nest is putting its own agents in place. The head of Nest is planning

The sentence wasn't finished.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Astrid shouted, steam spilling out of her ears. She slammed her fist on her desk. "You throw a conspiracy theory at me and don't explain ANYTHING? You just END IT?!" She scrolled down, hoping for more. She was rewarded.

I won't lose him this time. I've been trailing him for weeks. This time for sure! Maybe Dad will finally listen to me.

"Oh, that's all right. Why not... I don't know... give me a name?!" Astrid gave up for the evening. She knew from experience that she needed to get away from the problem to think things out and put them into position. She hopped into her old, rundown heap of a car and turned up the heat. She'd once heard a weatherman say that it snowed nine months out of the year and hailed the other three in New Berk City. While this wasn't necessarily true, it felt like it sometimes with the freezing temperature drops.

Once out of the car and inside of her warm house, Astrid settled down for a nice, quiet evening. She threw a mandatory Friday night frozen pizza into the oven and settled down in front of the television. After flipping through the channels, she landed on a horror flick. Astrid wasn't the sort of person who got scared watching the undead crawling across the screen, lurching to grab hold of some person's ankle. She did, however, jump when a loud CRACK! resounded from her window. She whipped around to face the it.

A branch was banging repetitively up against the glass pane.

Astrid laughed. "Your not afraid of a little wind, are you? Get a grip on yourself, Hofferson." Still, she changed the channel. Romance. Eww. There was another CRACK! on her window, and when she turned around it was no tree branch that time.

There was a shadowy figure outside her window...watching her.

A/N: Does anyone know how to spell Stoick's name? I think the books spell it "Stoic" but the character list says "Stoick". It's confusing.