Chapter 27

"Lad did ya just say Nightfury?! Gobber sputtered as he stared at his godson with wide eyes and disbelief.

"Who cares!" Ruffnut said as she elbowed Gobber. "It's mischief! We're in, right Tuff?"

"Most certainly my troll-like sister!" Tuffnut answered as he had picked up Chicken and was cuddling her.

"Who are you calling troll-like, Lardbrain?!" Ruffnut shouted back.

"Just you, you cricket-kisser!" Tuffnut shot back.

"That was one time! One time! It doesn't count you Mulch-for-Brains!" Ruffnut got red in the face as she shouted that.

Hiccup thought he remembered 'the cricket incident' or at least heard about it as they were traveling the wastelands. He wasn't so sure if bringing up the entire chain of events would be good for his health though. Especially with Ruffnut already looking like she wanted to murder her brother. "Guys... guys...." Hiccup quickly got between the twins as Ruffnut's eye twitched dangerously. "Do you guys want to hear the details because I have to go convince Snotlout as well."

"Snotlout?" Ruffnut asked while Gobber muttered "Oh boy."

"I'll just go get him." Ruffnut then said and made her way to the door. "It might be best if this is explained in one go." She then walked out of the room leaving the trio inside.

"That was extremely logical." Tuffnut whispered as he hugged Chicken close in paranoia. "Do you think my sister was replaced by shapeshifting aliens?" He murmured.

"She called you a lardbrain. I highly doubt that." Gobber stated.

"Oh..... Oh.... yeah right. That is like sister dearest." Tuffnut perked up. "But what if the shapeshifter is just as good!" Tuffnut's paranoia returned and both Hiccup and Gobber groaned.

Ruffnut returned a few minutes later while dragging a squirming Snotlout by his ankles into the room. "Will you let me go you madwoman!" Snotlout shouted and tried to wiggle out of her grasp only to hit his head on the doorway. Ruffnut dropped the ankles and shut and locked the apartment door again while Snotlout got to his feet and glared at the group.

"Just what is going on here?" He asked as Tuffnut shoved a mug into his hand.

"You might want to drink that before Hiccup explained." Tuffnut said as Chicken tried to take a sip of the mead.

Snotlout frowned at the mead and then said "Guys just tell me. I was about to start my beauty regimen."

"Alright........" Hiccup said as all eyes turned to him. "It started like this......."

When he was finished the group was giving him dumbfounded looks. "Okay okay lad. Let me get this straight...... The Nightfury is here..... In the Infirmary........ After fighting a large cat. And Mildew knows and hasn't blabbed?" Gobber asked incredulously.

"Oh, remember that time Mrs Larson shut up your dad, Snot?!" Ruffnut suddenly remembered. "I bet she used the same type of threat on Mildew!"

"Soooo........." Hiccup mumbled. "Will you guys help me? Toothless doesn't seem like a bad guy and he's worried about his friends. You all know what will happen if dad finds out about him."

"We're in!" The twins said once more while Gobber said "I'm in too. I'll make sure they don't blow Mildew up in the process." Everyone then looked at Snotlout.

"Alright alright! I'm in!" Snotlout waved them off and then asked "So how are we going to do it?"

The twins immediately started throwing out ideas which then turned into a full-blown debate that Gobber was trying to control.

"Hiccup can you ask the twins, Snotlout, and Gobber if they could start planning the smuggling?" Astrid asked over the earpiece. "Something just came up that you have to see. It involves Drago."

"Eh........." Hiccup looked at the arguments going around with a frown. "Hey..... eh..... Guys....... I have to go check on something real quick. Can you guys handle it for a while?"

"Just go do your thing Hiccup!" Ruffnut waved him off.

"Yeah man! We'll make this the most clandestined smuggling operation ever!" Tuffnut added. "We might even go out with a bang."

"No! No! There will be no bangs!" Gobber warned as he gave the twins a stern look.

"Especially not a bang that can singe my beautiful hair!" Snotlout huffed.

Hiccup gave the group one more look before he quickly went to the door. Just as it closed he could hear Gobber saying "Three mugs of mead that he's going to be getting lovey-dovey with the missus." Hiccup tried to get the blush that was creeping up his freckled cheeks down while Astrid howled with laughter. She stopped giggling when Hiccup found a nearby storage room with no one in it. He made his way passed several shelves and sat down on one of the sturdy crates as a holographic screen appeared in front of him.

"What am I looking at Astrid?" Hiccup asked as names scrolled across the screen.

"It's the employee list of Arcadia throughout the years." Astrid explained. "It also shows the person's professions and to which areas they were assigned. Do you see anything weird?"

"During the years............. There are a lot of Hoffersons." Hiccup noticed. "Are they all one family?"

"That is a reasonable conclusion." Astrid stated. "They were there since the beginning. One of the founding members." Another holographic screen was pulled up to show an old picture of people Hiccup didn't recognize. "Those appear to be the founding scientists of Arcadia."

"And their descendants took over one after the other for centuries?" He asked perplexed. "That would take a lot of dedication. Especially with the declining birthrate."

"If they thought their goal was noble then they would probably dedicate themselves to it." Astrid stated. "But there is where it gets hinky."

"How so?" Hiccup asked with a frown.

"I have been able to crack 80 percent of the data so far. Project Re-genesis seemed to be Arcadia's main goal." Astrid explained. "That project's aim seemed to be to terraform the Earth by using nanobots."

"That was what was explained during our first day here. So it wasn't a lie." Hiccup frowned.

"It was half a lie." Astrid said or rather more like growled. "Project Re-genesis appeared to have been successfully created sometime in the 24th century. I have been going over the study data and programs and everything seems solid. They even did all the Biodome tests we are running now."

"Wait..... You're telling me that they could have terraformed the planet decades ago and didn't?" Hiccup's voice raised a bit as he realized the implications. "They let hundreds, possibly thousands, of people starve and plunder in the wastelands when the nanobots could have created the resources we needed?"

"Yes," Astrid said. "But I can't activate the programming to start terraformation. A password is needed."

"Which probably isn't on the data you managed to get." Hiccup realized. "But what has all of this to do with Drago?"

"Look at the list." Astrid said as she highlighted two names. "Dr Johann Trader assigned to......." Hiccup mumbled as he read. His eyes widened when he came to Drago's name. "They were working in the same lab."

"Both Geneticists yes." Astrid confirmed and Hiccup remembered Drago bringing up Johann's name once.

"He's the guy that invented that cloning plasma." Hiccup realized. He also quickly scrolled through the names until he came to Mary and Hank's names. "Neuroscientists?"

Hiccup frowned for a moment and nearly missed what Astrid was saying. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"I said I went digging further and found more recordings. They were quite disturbing but one stood out. An audio log of Hank's. Seems that when they shut Johann down they went to check on the people in the cells. All but one were dead."

"No..... you can't be suggesting........." Hiccup leaned forward slightly.

"Drago survived." Astrid confirmed.

"So Drago is working with his captors now?" Hiccup frowned. He had heard of these things happening in some settlements.

"He is, but I don't think he realises just what happened to him." Astrid explained. "Hank mentioned that the lack of oxygen caused Drago to develop retrograde amnesia. He probably has no memory of the Hoffersons taking him and his colleagues' prisoners."

"What are you thinking Astrid?" Hiccup asked.

"I'm thinking that maybe.......... We should try and get him to remember." Astrid stated. "He would have first-hand knowledge of what is going on in this place after all."

"And what happened to you........" Hiccup added.

AN: I have no clue when the next chapter will be. Most probably on the weekend. (Glares at piles of books stacked up). (Pile of book proceeds to fall on author)