TITLE: Risk and Reward

SUMMARY: When RD kidnapped Hiccup, Toothless decided that he would get the boy back at all costs. Toothless' POV of Hiccup's kidnapping. Inspired by Hiccupthehic.

CORRESPONDING CHAPTERS FROM MAIN STORY: 20 and 21

...

"Hey Toothless?" Hiccup asked, and Toothless zoomed in his attention while drowning out the sounds coming from the television show he had just been watching.

"Hm?"

"So, um, I'm going to have to go out for a little while."

"Where are you going?" Toothless asked. It was odd for Hiccup to be so vague, and the tone of his voice was starting to concern him.

"RD wants to see me."

Toothless stood up immediately. It was nearly instinctual to stand when he heard RD's name, but it was also out of surprise. He knew that this would happen eventually since RD did, from time to time, ask the leaders' assistants to run a job directly for him, but he hadn't expected it to happen this soon. There was no way Hiccup was experienced enough for RD's standards, and all sorts of red flags went up in Toothless' mind. Plus all of this was on top of the fact that RD hadn't contacted Toothless yet that day, which was odd.

"Alright, let's go," Toothless said as he turned off the television.

"No, Toothless, just me. He's sending a car to pick me up." Toothless took a moment to understand the statement before he spoke.

"I don't like this. I'll just follow behind you to see what's going on."

"I don't think that's the best idea," Hiccup said, the nerves in his voice becoming more and more apparent with every word. "RD said I shouldn't even tell you about this."

Toothless' eyes narrowed as he repeated that to himself in his head. The situation was deteriorating by the moment, and everything in Toothless' head told him that this whole situation was trouble. He had never heard of an assistant being told not to tell their employer when RD called upon them.

"Hiccup, I don't like the idea of you going to see him alone. Especially not so soon."

"I know Toothless, but if you come he'll know I told you."

Toothless hated to admit it, but he couldn't find a way around it. Even if he followed the car he would most likely be figured out. He knew RD commonly sent a second car to watch the first car, and there was no way Toothless would be able to stay completely incognito; RD knew all of the licence plates of all his cars and he definitely would have told his drivers. Plus if Hiccup missed the meeting Toothless knew there would be consequences. It went against his better judgement, but he had no choice but to let Hiccup attend the meeting.

"Alright, but take your phone." Thinking on his feet, Toothless needed to find a way to keep tabs on Hiccup. He couldn't track his phone on such short notice, but he did have an idea for a coded message system. "If you need to message me, use all lower case letters and I'll know you're fine. If you use even one capital I'm heading over there. And let me know if it's not the same place as yesterday. No text and I'm assuming it is. Got it?"

"Got it," Hiccup replied. Toothless watched as Hiccup grabbed his phone and gun, returned for a hug, and headed out.

Toothless sat back down on the couch, but he just couldn't force himself to turn the television back on. His mind was a mess, worrying about Hiccup's meeting with RD. What in the world could RD want? There was no way he knew about them, right? Toothless decided he was overreacting, but he couldn't ditch the nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

Glancing at his watch, Toothless realized he was already running behind for one of his own commitments. Joe's funeral was that day, and Toothless wanted to attend. He had already made sure that the man's family would land on their feet after this, and he wanted to pay the man respects. Sure he had been killed in Toothless' defence, but that did not change the fact that Toothless wished that it could have ended differently. After changing into an appropriate suit, he headed for the door.

...

Toothless may have been at the funeral physically, but mentally he was trapped by his phone. His nerves about Hiccup's whole situation were toying with him more than he wanted them to, and it was turning him into a wreck. His phone vibrated five minutes after he had arrived, and while Toothless' hopes raised for a moment they instantly came crashing down.

SOS. Trapped. Staircase behind bookshelf

Toothless left the room so fast that he nearly created a sonic boom. He punched out a response instantly and made his way to his car, nearly getting run over in the parking lot due to his lack of attention. Panic was setting in, weighing on Toothless like a sack of bricks, but he knew that he needed to keep a level head at the moment. He regretted not listening to his instincts, and now he had no one to blame but himself.

As he drove he started a conference call with all of the other leaders. He was headed home, but he knew that everything he needed wouldn't be there. He'd need to go to the warehouse as well for extra firepower; there was no way this was going to end peacefully.

A series of greetings came through the phone, and Toothless informed them they were all on conference call. They started to go through the usual greeting formalities, but Toothless put a quick stop to that.

"Guys. And girls. We need to meet. One hour at my warehouse." Toothless made sure that his voice left absolutely no room for argument, however Hookfang didn't seem to catch on at first.

"Toothless I'm really busy at…" Hookfang started, and while Toothless' interruption was quieter than he had been speaking before, his tone spoke volumes.

"This is not an option."

There was a pause, followed by five, "I'll be there" responses in perfect unison. Toothless didn't even bother to say a goodbye before he hung up, putting the car into sixth gear and flooring it down the expressway.

He made it back to his condo in record time, running inside. He threw off his suit and left it sitting on the floor as he quickly threw on something more comfortable. If this was going to be a rescue mission, he didn't want to be constrained by his clothing in any way. As he was about to head out he passed the front table and he stopped himself. Opening the drawer he found Hiccup's wallet, and inside was his insurance card. He didn't know why he had even looked in there or why it was causing him to pause like this, but in the end he took it and made his way back to his car. If there was one time he needed the Bugatti's speed, it was now.

...

Toothless arrived only minutes before the others, and they all drove into the garage. No one spoke a word as they nearly ran to the meeting room, taking their seats and waiting for Toothless to start. Seeing as it was a rather pressing and time sensitive issue at hand, Toothless took no delay. He did leave his phone on the table in case there were any further messages.

"Alright everyone, I'm sorry I called you all here so urgently, and I know I owe you all a lot for this, but it's important."

"Toothless you look like a wreck," Stormfly commented with a concerned gaze, a few of the others nodding in agreement. "What's wrong?"

"RD kidnapped Hiccup and I need all of you to help get him back." The group was silent for a moment, the twins looking at each other while the others looked down and fidgeted for a moment. Their actions did not inspire hope in Toothless, nor did Hookfang's next sentence.

"Toothless, what you're proposing is nothing less than a mutiny, so to speak. You've been nothing but loyal for years; what's with the sudden change?" Toothless took a deep breath. He knew that he would probably have to recount some painful memories to get them on his side, and now he had no choice.

"I was loyal because I had no choice. RD took me when I was young, after he killed my entire family. He told me that my work for him would be repaying my parents' debt. He kept me close, only introducing me to you guys when I became old enough to become a leader. Since then I've been worried that if I said anything to any of you or did anything, he'd find out and I'd be killed. But Hiccup means more to me than even my own safety, which is why I'm bringing this up now. I'm asking if any of you will help me get him back. If not, I ask that you just don't tip off RD until after I can save Hiccup."

"I'm in," Meatlug and Stormfly answered instantly and in unison. They smiled at each other, then looked back to Toothless who was more than a little confused.

"Toothless," Meatlug continued, "We're sorry to hear of your tragic past. But the truth is, your story is not so different from Stormfly's and mine. We too were too scared to act up, fearing repercussions."

"Actually," Stormfly laughed, "We were worried he would get you to do it. To this day you're still the only one that can out-stealth me."

Toothless smiled. He didn't really want to given the present situation, but it couldn't be helped. He had two down, now he needed to see what the others were going to do. The twins had been whispering back and forth between each other while the girls had spoken, and when they realized Toothless was looking at them, they stopped.

"We're in," Barf said with a nod.

"We've been under RD since before we can even remember. He never let us know anything about our past. We're sick of him, and we know how much Hiccup means to you," Belch added.

As if planned, the entire group looked over at Hookfang. He had been the only one not to speak, and the group looked at him expectantly. Toothless could only imagine the pressure on him as 10 pairs of eyes bore down on him. Toothless became concerned, however, as Hookfang continued with his silence. Hookfang was definitely the person he was most worried about, and his silence was not comforting.

"I'm in. I don't want to explain why, but I'll do it."

Toothless' sense of relief kicked in immediately. He could understand why Hookfang didn't want to share his reasoning, most likely a painful backstory of his own given the pattern, but at this point he didn't even care. He inhaled deeply and smiled to himself that no one present should cause any kind of problem. There was no time to waste, so Toothless got right into explaining his plan.

...

"Everyone ready?" Toothless asked into his earpiece. The gang had been up planning and setting up all night, and it all came down to this. Toothless' heart was pounding so loud in his chest he almost started to believe that others could hear it through their ear pieces, but he calmed himself with a few breaths and the determination to get Hiccup out of there.

"Ready," came five voices in unison, and Toothless pulled the pin out of the hand grenade. Using his expert aim he tossed it and watched as it landed right outside of the front door before it exploded, blasting the door in. The explosion on the other side of the house went off at the same time, indicating that Meatlug had had perfect timing as well.

As expected, several guards came running out of the now gaping hole in the side of the house with guns blazing. Toothless, Hookfang, and Stormfly took cover behind one of the cars, waiting for a gap in the barrage of bullets. When it came nearly a minute later, the trio took their chance. They picked off the shooters one by one before advancing into the house.

Bullets almost immediately came from the left, and Hookfang and Stormfly provided covering fire. Toothless noted that neither the twins nor Meatlug were inside yet, indicating that they were still dealing with the cronies out back.

"Toothless, go! We'll take care of these jokers," Stormfly yelled over the sound of flying bullets. Toothless immediately took off, taking the stairs two at a time. Half way up he noticed two more guards coming around the corner, but he hit them both before they even had a chance to lift their guns.

Pausing at the top, Toothless realized that RD would most likely have a guard stationed immediately outside of his door. He glanced around the corner, and before he even had half of his face around the corner he had to retract it. The bullet fired had come so close to him that it caused his hair to sway, and that did little to calm his racing heart. Another calming deep breath and Toothless lunged across the hallway, hitting the deck and rolling before firing a single bullet. It landed right between the guard's eyes, and he fell down with a thud. Toothless got up and made his way to the door, unsure what he was about to find inside. He knew there was no sense in delaying, and he kicked it open with his gun raised.

Glancing around the room, it appeared empty. Toothless lowered his gun and took a few steps inside, unable to spot any sign of RD. He was about to check the closet when he heard footsteps behind him. Turning around he was greeted to the sight of RD charging at him, knife in hand. He was closer than Toothless had expected and he didn't have time to aim before firing. It hit RD in the leg, but his pace remained largely unchanged.

Toothless side stepped, but it wasn't quick enough to entirely avoid RD's swing. He felt the knife slash at his chest, and it was just powerful enough to draw blood. Toothless seethed in pain, and RD took the chance to take another swing. This time it slashed Toothless' cheek, leaving a cut from the bridge of his nose to his ear. Toothless felt a slash on his arm as he dove far enough away to avoid further attacks, causing him to drop his gun before landing in front of the bookcase that hid the stairs to Hiccup.

"You'll never leave here alive," RD swore, grasping his leg where Toothless had shot him just moments ago.

"If I die, I'm taking you down with me," Toothless promised, preparing himself for hand to hand combat. He lunged at RD, but the large man sidestepped with agility that Toothless hadn't expected. He tried to recover from his over-swing, but before he could he felt a blunt force on the back of his head.

The last thing Toothless saw before he blacked out was the hardwood floors.

...

A sharp pain to the left side of his face was what woke Toothless, and when he saw RD standing in front of him he immediately tried to move. It was then that he learned that he was tied to a chair, and while he knew he was in a bad situation at least he was still alive. He still had a chance. He could only wonder how long he had been out, and what was going on amid the silence from downstairs.

"Oh good, you're awake," RD snarled, but that was all he said before he opened the bookcase and descended. The next minute was the longest of Toothless' life, imagining what he would be greeted to when RD returned. A cold sweat took over his body, hoping that it wouldn't be Hiccup's lifeless body in RD's arms. Toothless tried to pull on the ropes binding his hands, if not to get free then to ease their sting of biting into his wrists like barbs. Unfortunately they were tied too well; he couldn't even get them loosened.

Toothless' head snapped back up to the bookcase when he heard footsteps, and the first figure he saw emerge was an apparently alive and well Hiccup. He immediately felt a wave of relief wash over him, but it was only temporary as he saw RD emerge not too far behind his boyfriend.

"Toothless, oh my gods, are you ok?" Hiccup asked as he ran up to him. Before Toothless had a chance to answer Hiccup kissed him, a comfort that Toothless happily accepted given their current situation.

They were rudely pulled apart by RD, who had grabbed the back of Hiccup's shirt and pulled him backwards. Hiccup was kept a few feet away, just out of arm's reach.

"You were my best, Toothless," RD said, his grip on Hiccup's shirt clearly tightening as his neckline moved further up. "I had such high hopes for you. You were always so tough, ruthless, unforgiving! Then you had to go and let this one turn you soft. I can't have people under my employment becoming soft."

"Nothing about my work has changed," Toothless responded, and Hiccup visibly flinched. Toothless knew that bargaining and begging would get him nowhere, but he was hoping to at least delay RD long enough for someone, anyone, to come. At this point, however, he was starting to wonder if anyone was left. He felt guilty for dragging them all into this now, but he could let it get to him later. If he survived that was.

Hiccup stumbled when RD released his shirt, and RD's hands immediately went for the boy's neck. Toothless saw Hiccup's eyes roll upwards in his head and his hands immediately grasped RD's arm, but Toothless knew Hiccup would never be strong enough to pry RD's arm off of his windpipe. Toothless struggled with the ropes once more, a new bout of desperation cascading over him.

"Yet here you are, attempting to kill me," RD pointed out. "I can't have threats like you in my operation, and you need to be punished for attempting something like this. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to kill Hiccup here while you watch, and then I'm going to kill you."

Hiccup immediately stopped squirming, and Toothless immediately had tunnel vision as his panic set in. His cold sweat returned, and he felt violently nauseous. He couldn't let Hiccup be killed because of him. He still felt bad for dragging Hiccup into this, and now his inclusion was about to get him killed. His heart broke as he saw panic set in on Hiccup's face, and Toothless made his last ditch plea.

"No!" Toothless said, but it came out as a scream. He subconsciously attempted to lunge forward once more, but he was stopped by the ropes that still remained as tight as ever. "Don't hurt him! If you're going to kill anyone, just kill me and spare him. He's done nothing."

"Tooth…less…" Hiccup choked out, and Toothless could see a tear running down the boy's cheek. Toothless had to keep his own tears in; he couldn't show weakness in a moment like this.

"No such luck," RD said with a smile that could only be described as evil.

Toothless watched helplessly as RD raised a gun to Hiccup's temple, and Hiccup closed his eyes as if bracing himself. He strained against the ropes one last time, only stopped by the sound of a gunshot.

...

Toothless watched as Hiccup fell to the ground, and he nearly sobbed. He regained hope when he saw Hiccup was still breathing, however, and that confused him. Looking over at RD he couldn't believe his eyes: RD's eyes were glazed over, he was about to fall down, and there was a gunshot wound directly between his eyes. Toothless went back and forth between feeling confused, euphoric, and relieved. He was about to turn around but the voices gave away who it was as RD finally fell to the ground.

"Your aim was way off," Barf claimed, waving one hand in the air. Toothless could feel his ropes being worked on, meaning that the twins were setting him free. His wrists would welcome the breathing room. He also felt some of the guilt he had felt earlier lifting from his shoulders; clearly the twins were alright and Hiccup was alive.

"What are you talking about? It was clearly my shot that hit him!" responded Belch.

"You wish."

"Don't need to; I know." Toothless felt them stop untying his ropes, and he rolled his eyes.

"You're delusional."

"And you're just plain wrong."

"Guys!" Toothless finally interjected, setting their attention back to the ropes currently restraining him. As they finally loosened, Toothless tore them off himself and ran over to Hiccup.

"Toothless," Hiccup breathed as Toothless approached him. Toothless felt Hiccup's arms wrap around his neck when he bent down, and Toothless wasted no time in placing a kiss on Hiccup's lips. His mouth moved quickly to deepen the kiss, and while Hiccup eagerly accepted Toothless pulled away in mild embarrassment when the twins whistled.

"Hiccup, oh my gods what did he do to you?" Toothless asked as he looked the boy over. He stopped when he saw Hiccup's recently exposed leg and he had to stop himself from touching it. It was a multitude of different colours, bent the wrong way at the ankle, and extremely swollen. Toothless knew that it was bad, and the guilt that had been set aside due to their survival of this whole situation came right back.

"It's ok, it's just my leg and I'm not in that much pain any more" Hiccup said, but Toothless knew that he was lying.

"This is my fault," Toothless nearly whispered, lowering his eyes. He couldn't force himself to even look at his boyfriend after all of the grief he had caused him. "If I would have just stayed away from you from the start this never would have happened…."

Toothless was interrupted by another kiss before Hiccup said, "Shush, this was not your fault. And if you would have stayed away I would never have been as happy as I am with you." Toothless couldn't help but smile, partially uplifted and relieved by the statement, but Belch spoke up before anyone else could say anything.

"Hey, Toothless, we REALLY should be getting out of here." Toothless' smile immediately dropped as he remembered the next part of the plan.

"Right," Toothless confirmed as he stood up and picked up Hiccup bridal style. He followed Barf and Belch out of the office and down the stairs. Toothless saw Hiccup averting his eyes, clearly trying to avoid seeing the dead bodies that were strewn about. Toothless could understand why, he himself not really wanting to see all of the death and destruction that all of this had caused. It just reminded him of how much trouble he had caused everyone involved.

As they exited through the hole in the front of the building, Toothless became extremely relieved. Everyone, leaders and assistants, were present, accounted for, and appeared to have minimal injuries. The plan had had several speed bumps, but in the end it had gone off perfectly. RD was dead and everyone was alright. Toothless nodded to each of them, a silent thank you and 'I owe you' implied in his look. They all nodded back before they started to get into their cars. Toothless helped Hiccup into theirs before getting in himself and turning the key. Toothless didn't take long before he got down to business.

"Alright, first thing's first. We are getting you to a hospital. But we just have to do one thing first," Toothless said before he stopped the car where the others had stopped theirs. He did not turn it off, but he did step outside to join the others. He was handed a small remote from Hookfang, and with a deep breath he pushed the sole button on the small black box. A second later the sky was alight with a massive fireball, rising towards the sky from where the farmhouse once stood. Toothless watched the inferno for just a moment before getting back into the car and starting to drive once more.

"The end of an era," Toothless said to himself, relieved that the whole situation was finally over. It felt surreal, and it felt amazing to finally be freed from RD.