Chapter 4

Astrid let out a huff as she stepped off the bus. The cold wind was blowing harshly these past few days. Today she was supposed to visit Hiccup but a cryptic call from the twins had made her curious. She wondered what could have been so important that the twins called her in. She entered Berk's main Hospital and made her towards the morgue that was located downstairs.

"Astrid" Ruffnut greeted as she entered the room. "How are you?" the female twin asked.

"I'm fine" Astrid responded. "Why did you want to see me?"

"We need to talk girl." Ruffnut told her solemnly.

"If this is about me moving on...."

"No...No..." Ruffnut quickly stated. "It's the exact opposite."

Astrid looked at Ruffnut sceptically. "What are you trying to pull?"

"Nothing.... Look, let's wait for my brother. He was running a few tests." Ruffnut told her as they stood in the cold room.

"I thought you wanted me away from Hiccup. All the others had been saying it even if they thought I didn't hear them." Ruffnut flushed scarlet at that.

"Okay I admit that we might have thought that but the evidence speaks otherwise."

"What evidence?" Astrid asked looking quite eager. "Will this clear Hiccup?"

"Not exactly..." Ruffnut mumbled just as her brother entered the laboratory. "There you are Butt-elf!"

"Hiya Astrid!" Tuffnut greeted. "Ruff, you told her about the inconsistencies yet?"

"What inconsistencies?" Astrid now asked.

Ruffnut looked a little unsure about what she was going to tell Astrid next. Instead she said "Yeah, but Tuffnut knows more details, so you have to ask him."

"Hey don't lay this all on me! You're the one that got suspicious!" Tuffnut retorted.

"Can it butt-elf!"

"Don't call me butt-elf, you troll for brains!" Tuffnut shot back.

"What did you say you slimy son of..." Ruffnut's reply was interrupted by Astrid who shouted "ENOUGH!" Both twins were now looking at the annoyed blond. "I came here because you guys told me you had news. Now what is it!" She growled and placed the twins under a glare that said 'you made me miss visitation for this'.

"Alright alright," Tuffnut said. "Another Medical Examiner apparently worked on Stoick. We asked if we could see his body for the investigation but we were thrown out."

"And that is an issue because...?" Astrid asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Because we are the best the department has!" Ruffnut stated. "You'd expect that the police would want their best people on this case." Astrid nodded at that statement. The cops would want to get to the bottom of who killed their boss and she knew the twins were very good at their jobs, if you ignored their tendency to finish each other's sentences and created small scale explosions.

"So who was this other ME?" Astrid asked. "Are you sure they weren't just better than you guys?"

Both twins put a hand over their hearts and looked aghast at Astrid for even suggesting that. "Astrid I thought you had faith in our abilities!"

"Oh I do." Astrid told them. "I just wonder constantly if you guys are sane or not."

"HEY!" Both Ruffnut and Tuffnut shouted in unison.

"So who was this Medical examiner that got on your hackles?" Astrid asked as her journalistic instincts were prickling.

"Oh it was Camicazi." Ruffnut muttered not at all looking happy about it. "She actually threw us out of our own lab before the body came. THE NERVE OF THAT WOMAN!"

"Wait who is Camicazi?" Astrid now asked. She had never heard that name before.

"You know we told you about the whole scandal that there was during medical school. Guess who caused it." Tuffnut stated.

"Nooo.... Seriously?!" Astrid was astonished. "Why was she even allowed to become a ME after that?"

"We don't know but we sure as hell want to find out." Ruffnut told Astrid.

"And what about you siding with Snotlout and the others at the trial?" Astrid asked. "Did you seriously think Hiccup was guilty?"

"What NO!" The twins shouted before Ruffnut explained. "Astrid, Thor, we wanted to sit with you and Fish. There's no way Hiccup could have done that to his own dad."

"But we had to make a decision." Tuffnut continued. "Thanks to Camicazi's report the cops thought Hiccup did it. If we didn't make it look like we sided with them then we'd be a hell of a lot farther from uncovering the truth."

"We're really sorry Astrid but we couldn't tell you we'd plan to look into this whole mess. No way that fishbone did it."

Astrid looked at the twins while frowning. She had to admit that the case was high-profile and it would have hindered them a bit if they supported Hiccup out in the open. "You know how Snot is girl." Ruffnut told her.

Astrid had to nod at that. Every time she saw the guy she wanted to throw up. It didn't matter that he was Hiccup's own cousin. Snotlout tended to throw it into her face that she was dating a good for nothing murderer. "Yeah I know." Astrid muttered.

"So what have you been able to find out?" She then asked.

Ruffnut sighed "Not much but things don't add up."

"Like?"

"Well we never got to see Stoick's body." Ruffnut told her. "All we have is the word of that quack."

"The funeral was a closed casket one." Tuffnut added. "And the blood on the knife was Stoick's but I can't find any of the medical records from the hospital itself."

"You done digging bro?" Ruffnut asked and then explained to Astrid that Tuffnut had been lurking in the hospital archives trying to dig up Stoick's file.

"We got nothing sis. The file is missing, Camicazi's autopsy report was the only thing that was there."

"See, something fishy is going on!" Ruffnut told her. "There should be detailed medical records on Stoick but those are missing. Even the tox screen report is gone."

"So you're thinking foul play?" Astrid asked and thought 'This might exonerate Hiccup.'

"We are thinking it, we just can't prove it." Tuffnut muttered. "They might claim that the missing paperwork was an error but we don't think so."

"My twin senses are tingling." Tuffnut stated "Someone is scheming here and none of it is in Hiccup's benefit."

"Well it's something, but I can't just go waltzing into the police department or the DA's office with just this. They'll think I'm the crazy one. All of this is circumstantial."

"So what can I do with this?" Astrid asked.

"Well let's just say we know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy." Tuffnut stated but that backtracked at the glare Astrid was sending him. "Okay It's Heather's brother."

"The recluse?" Astrid asked. She had only met him once but he seemed pretty deranged to her.

"The genius hacker recluse." Ruffnut stated "Yeah"

"Look, if anyone can uncover what is really going on it's him." Tuffnut had stated.

That was how Astrid found herself not a few hours later banging on a door. "DAGUR OPEN UP! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!" She kept knocking and knocking until the door opened and she accidentally hit the occupant in the face.

"Oh my Thor!" Astrid shouted as she didn't mean to do that. "I am so sorry! It was an accident!" She told the red-haired man that would probably have a black eye later. He raised his hands in a gesture that said not to worry.

"Come in." He muttered. "Heather called. Said the twins were sending you cause you needed a favor."

"It's more than a favor really. A man's life depends on this." Astrid stated.

"Oh you sweet on him?" The man that introduced himself as Dagur teased. Astrid blushed furiously at that before whacking Dagur in the shoulder. "OUCH!! I get it I get it!!" Dagur shouted.

"Can you help me out or not?" Astrid asked. She was pretty skeptical about the whole thing but getting Hiccup exonerated was her first priority. "I'm guessing the twins already told you what I'm here for."

"They did." Dagur admitted. "You know my fee ain't cheap, and what we are technically going to do will be against the law."

"I can pay." Astrid told him. She didn't know much about Heather's brother but she doubted he would betray one of his sister's friends. "I just need to know if there is anything that can free my boyfriend."

Dagur nodded and led Astrid into a dark room that was filled with computers. She watched as he sat down behind a monitor and began typing furiously. Dagur said nothing for the next twenty minutes until he grumbled "Well this is problematic."

"You couldn't get in?" Astrid asked.

"Oh I got in." Dagur smirked and then looked at Astrid with a serious face "It's just that someone posted a hit on your boyfriend on the dark web."

"WHAT!" Astrid's eyes widened. 'That couldn't be possible' She thought as Dagur continued.

"It's very plausible if there was someone with a lot of money behind the hit. Who did your boyfriend manage to piss off?"

"No one!" Astrid told Dagur as her voice rose. "He worked in an architectural firm!"

"Well either way he's in deep water." Dagur muttered. "Someone is out to get him."

"Can you do anything about it?" Astrid asked.

"No, but your guy better watch his back." Dagur stated. "This is no ordinary situation."

"Did you find anything on the medical records?" She asked next.

'They are in a secure server. Highly encrypted." Dagur told her. "Whoever did this didn't want them easily found."

"But why?" Astrid asked. "Why encrypt a dead man's medical records?"

"Maybe he isn't so dead as it would seem." Dagur shot back causing Astrid's eyes to widen.