Chapter 20

"Shhhhh" Hiccup mumbled as he continued to hug Astrid. She had her face pressed into his chest as he whispered "Everything is going to be alright."

"Statistically speaking that would be impossible," She mumbled with a sort of self-deprecating giggle.

"Does your programming tell you that?" Hiccup asked quietly. Astrid gave a short stiff nod and he could feel her arms hugging him closer.

"What does your heart tell you?" Hiccup asked. "I'm guessing you want to find out what's really going on."

"When everything's said and done......" Astrid's shoulders sagged "I am still just hardware and software. I don't have a heart."

"Of course you do!" Hiccup exclaimed. "Astrid, you see, you feel, you're happy, you're sad. Never say you don't have a heart." He looked into her eyes when he said the following "You are more human than anyone could ever dream of."

"Hiccup if you keep sweet talking like that you're going to have a hoard of A.I.s after you one day." Astrid joked before she got serious again. "Are you sure you want to get further into this? It could get dangerous."

"Yes, of course." Hiccup said as he held her hand. "I don't think I can look at this facility with rose-tinted glasses any longer."

"Alright," Astrid nodded. "If we are going to do this then we are going to do this right. But first it's time for you to wake up." Astrid whispered the last part as the virtual reality started to fade away. When he opened his eyes again he was looking at the dark ceiling above his bed. Hiccup quickly got out of the bed after knocking back the covers. "Astrid?" He asked as he looked at the room.

"Yes Hiccup?"

"Are you alright?" He asked with a bit of worry.

"I'm....... As fine as I can be." Astrid told him. "I am currently cross-referencing more logs with each other. A plan should be ready before tonight."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Hiccup asked.

"For now just keep a low profile Hiccup." Astrid spoke into the device.

"Well I'm not doing anything today," Hiccup said. "Gobber gave me the day off."

"Can you meet me in the Bio-nanotechnology laboratory in a few hours?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup gave a nod and then decided to take a shower and get ready for the day. He still couldn't believe the turn their date had taken and what they might discover later. When Hiccup stepped out of the apartment half an hour later he hadn't expected to come face to face with the twins.

"What are you-HEY!" Hiccup shouted as the twins suddenly each grabbed an arm and started dragging him towards the elevators.

"Don't you worry Hiccup we know." Tuffnut said as all three entered the elevator.

"YOU KNOW!" Hiccup's mind nearly came to a screeching halt as he thought that whatever Astrid's plan was, was already in jeopardy.

"Yeah man," Tuffnut said as he dragged Hiccup into a hug. "And I just want to say that we are here for you."

"Wait what?!" Hiccup was now totally confused.

"My sis here tells me you're having a hard time with the whole Chief-thing." Tuffnut said and Hiccup looked at both of them. Mentally he let out a relieved sigh. "So we decided to give you a surprise!" When Tuffnut said that the doors of the elevator opened to reveal that they were in the Biodome.

"Stop with the melodramatics butthead and lead the way," Ruffnut rolled her eyes as the trio exited.

"Who you calling a butthead?!" Tuffnut shouted as he poked his sister.

"You, you butthead!" Ruffnut retorted.

"GUYS!" Hiccup shouted getting their attention. "Do I need to go grab Gobber's Get-Along-Shirt?"

"NO!!" Both blondes shouted in unison.

"Really?" Hiccup teased. The twins rolled their eyes before they grabbed Hiccup's arms again.

"So where are we going?"

"Oh you'll see," Ruffnut smirked.

"Tadaaaa!!!" they said when they finally reached their destination.

"Oh my Thor!" Hiccup's eyes widened as he looked at the area before him. The Biodome was huge but he didn't actually think they could simulate an ocean.

"Thought you would like it." Ruffnut winked.

"How did you guys even find this place?" he asked.

"We came here yesterday with Dr. Bludvist." Ruffnut said. "That guy is scary but he seemed to know a lot about coral."

"Coral?" Hiccup asked and the twins pointed towards the shallow water. Hiccup got closer to the water's edge and indeed, there in the clear water was a mass of coral.

"Didn't these die out centuries ago?" Hiccup's head whipped back towards the twins. "How.... Who.... HOW!"

"Don't ask us," Tuffnut shrugged. "Ask the coral dude."

"I didn't even understand half of what he told us." Ruffnut stated. "But this place is relaxing."

"Yeah Hiccup. So sit back and just enjoy the day!" Tuffnut said as he toed off his shoes and flopped on the sand.

Hiccup smiled before he too joined the twins on the artificial beach. The peace however didn't last long as Ruffnut whacked her brother with her slipped because he got sand in her hair.

He spent a few hours with the twins, mainly trying to keep them from killing each other but it did take his mind of off things. He headed to the bio-nanotechnology lab when Astrid told him that she had formulated a plan of sorts.

The lab was just as he remembered it and the lights switched on once the door closed. Hiccup heard two locks click and he supposed that Astrid wasn't taking any chances.

"Hiccup please take a seat." Astrid said as several holographic screens started popping up before him.

"What am I looking at?" Hiccup asked. He could identify several blueprints as well as other schematics.

"These are scans of the original blueprints of Arcadia." Astrid stated. "I ran them against the digitized blueprints I have on file in my system. There seem to be several inconsistencies."

"Like what?" Hiccup now asked.

"The suspicious door is an elevator that seems to lead to another area of the facility that is not on my maps." Astrid stated. "That area is completely off my grid."

"So you have nothing on it?"

"I can only speculate that the layout is similar to the areas here." Astrid explained. "The hard part is gaining access. Someone needs to physically plug me in."

"Wait..... Can you explain this a bit more?" Hiccup asked. "What do you mean physically plug you in."

"A facility as large as this cannot run without a network system." Astrid explained. "The most logical conclusion would be that the area below has a separate system in place. To gain access to any files I would have to be manually given access."

"And how can you do that?" Hiccup asked just as a robotic arm on a nearby workstation activated and handed him a square device that was no bigger than his thumb.

"That needs to be plugged into the system for me to connect." Astrid told Hiccup. "But to do that you will need to go down there. Hiccup, look, this will be dangerous. If you're caught.........."

"Astrid I can do it." Hiccup said as he took the small device.

"Hiccup, my influence only extends to the elevator. When you go to that area I can only reach you through the headset. I won't be able to see you or manipulate anything to help you." She tried to make it clear. "If anything were to happen.......... I'd never forgive myself."

"Astrid........ Listen to me, I know it's dangerous." Hiccup said as he stood up. "I like you, I want to help you. Someone clearly tried to stop you from accessing data. If the secrets here endanger the people, if they endanger you! I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I could have helped."

"Alright Hiccup," Astrid said and Hiccup had the vaguest notion that she was smiling. "Seriously though, if I see you riding up on a white horse I will scream. Though the armor might weigh you down."

"Uhm......" Hiccup raised a brow since he wasn't familiar with what Astrid was saying. 'Why would I ride a horse?' he pondered.

"Speaking of clothes. I have something for you." Astrid giggled as she had another robotic arm hand Hiccup a bundle of black clothing.

Hiccup unfolded it and his brows shot up. "Won't this be a bit........ Tight?" He held out the jumpsuit for her to see.

"The fabric is made from nanobots." Astrid stated. "They have been preprogrammed to help you bypass any security system I could think of."

"Any?" Hiccup asked as he was a bit skeptical.

"Any," Astrid smiled. "The clothing is insulated and will make you invisible to infrared detection. Placing your hand near smaller electrical devices like automatic doors will let the nanobots hack the systems to give you access."

Hiccup blinked for a moment as he stared at the suit open-mouthed. "Astrid.......... You are a genius!" he finally said in awe. "You made this in....... Four hours?!"

"Well the science had been done before in the 23rd century. I merely appropriated the data." She stated humbly. "It's not like I invented it."

"Four hours Astrid!" Hiccup said once again. "You are just amazing!"

One of the robotic arms gave Hiccup a playful shove. Hiccup then asked "So when are we doing this?"

Later that night when Astrid had verified that everyone was asleep, Hiccup sneaked out of the apartment he shared with Fishlegs dressed in the special jumpsuit. The suit stretched to fit him perfectly and Hiccup stared in wonder that all the fabric was really just nanobots linked together.

"Now remember," Astrid spoke in his ear as Hiccup made his way down the dark corridors towards the mysterious elevator. "Once you are down there I can only communicate with you through the earpiece. The suit will also protect you against any surveillance but try to stick to the shadows. I couldn't make you completely invisible."

"Four hours Astrid! Four hours!" Hiccup reminded her as he placed his hand on the control panel on the outside of the elevator. "You should flaunt your abilities a bit more at times."

"I don't know," Astrid said as the elevator door beeped open. "I guess I never really had an opportunity before now."

Hiccup gave one last wave at the camera before the elevator doors closed. The elevator itself looked much older than the one now primarily in use. The ride however was short and Hiccup ended up walking into a dark room. He looked around and saw several cameras so he tried to do like Astrid told him and stay in the shadows.

"What's down there?" Astrid's voice filtered through the headset, though a bit staticky.

"It's dark," Hiccup whispered. "It seems you were right though. The layout is similar to the areas above."

Hiccup swiftly moved into a corridor where he could see several bulkhead doors. "There is rust on the walls." He whispered. "This place is older than above."

"There is no record of there being a previous facility down here besides Arcadia." Astrid stated as Hiccup went over to one of the doors. He used the lever to wrench it open and peered inside.

"Astrid there is some type of light emanating from a device there." Hiccup frowned as he stepped into the room. The device was against the wall and a glass pane separated it from the rest of the room.

"A light?" Astrid asked. "Drs. Hofferson and Bludvist have been in this area before. Maybe it is one of their experiments."

Hiccup walked closer to the light and realized that the glass was frosted over.

"Astrid, hold on. I think I see something." Hiccup said as he leaned closer because he could make out a shape that looked human. He used his hand to get rid of some of the condensation on the glass and loudly gasped at what he saw on the other side.

"Hiccup?"

"Hiccup?!" Astrid shouted in his ear as she had become worried when he didn't respond.

"Hiccup? What's the matter."

"Astrid you wouldn't believe who I am looking at right now?" Hiccup managed to suppress his stutter as he rubbed his eyes and pinched himself to check if he wasn't dreaming.

"Who?" Astrid asked over the headset as worry could be heard in her voice.

"You."

AN: Dun Dun Dun! Oooh things are gonna get interesting. O_O
Next update will be either Thursday or Friday as I have meetings the entire week.