The runaway Valedictorian(HICCSTRID)

5 Finding Out The Truth

The Monday after the previous chapter.
Astrid POV:

    I looked at the screen of my work computer, nervously. Why? Because I was going to see my boss, Harper Harrison in a few minutes or I was actually going to see my childhood best friend, Hiccup Haddock.
    After Cami revealed that I must have found Hiccup, I was shell shocked. I didn’t know what to think so I just shut off my phone. And I couldn’t believe it. What she said was completely insane, but after thinking about it, it made sense. But I wasn’t completely sure, so I compared photo’s of Hiccup and Harper and I couldn’t believe the similarities. And I couldn’t believe that I didn’t see it sooner, but I had to admit that he changed for the better.
    Hiccup has grown a few more inches and wasn’t as thin and scrawny as always. He was still thin, but you could see he had some well defined muscles now. His hair wasn’t as short as always and had grown a lot longer and wilder. But you could still see his forest green eyes and his caring smile.
    But I didn’t want to believe it. Not because I didn’t want to. But because I didn’t want to give myself false hope. I didn’t think I could live if I found out that I was wrong. So I did more research about Harper and found more out about him. But the more I found out, the more I was convinced that I founded Hiccup. I even called Hiccup’s mother to ask if she has a photo of him since he ran away.
    It was nice to talk to her, and broke me to ask her about Hiccup, because she took his disappearing really hard. But she replied that he did send a photo a few months ago. I asked her if she could send a picture of it to me. She replied that she would and luckily she asked nothing. I didn’t want to tell her the reason why I wanted the photo, because I didn’t want to tell her yet. I wanted to be sure.
    And after I got the photo, it was almost a complete match. Hiccup was kneeling with his black husky, while scratching him on his back and laughing at the dog's dreamily expression. I smiled and tears started to stream down my cheeks, because I found him.
    I didn’t confront him about it the weekend, because I was slightly nervous, but I knew that I would have to talk to him about it sooner or later. And it was going to do it today. I just needed to wait until the end of the day, because Harper had some important meetings.
    After a few minutes, Heather arrived. I greeted her happily and she smiled and greeted me too. We talked a bit our weekends and I asked her about her date. She replied that it was good and we talked about some of their wedding plans. And after ten minutes, Harper arrived.
    I felt a little bit nervous seeing him, but smiled nonetheless. He greeted us and then walked into his office while swinging his keys. His keys! There were a bunch of them, but what got my eye was the one key ring he had. A small black dragon. A night Fury. My birthday present to him, when he turned twelve. The reason why I bought that for him, because he always liked to play with key rings and was a huge dragon nerd.
    I smiled a bit more. He kept it. Through all these years, he kept it. I smiled and continued to talk with Heather. After 20 minutes, Piper, the other receptionist, called us to tell us that the visitors were here. We told Harper and then we all made our way to the meeting room.
    It was still on the same floor, but it had glass walls around it and also a view of the airport fields of the company. It had white tiles for the floor and a large oak desk, with comfortable chairs for 20 people to sit. Heather quickly gave me a quick rundown on what will be happening, since this is my first meeting. Usually there will only be one personal assistant with him in meetings, but since this is my first time I will be in a meeting, Heather will help me. And luckily there were three important meetings for us today.
     The first meeting was with a company from China who wanted to know if we were interested in putting another energy project in their company. While we talk with them I learned that the energy project we always talk about was called Thor's lightning Absorber. [This part is completely made up and I don’t even know if it is possible. So don’t believe a word. ;) ]
     Basically Harper has founded a way to collect green electricity, by literally absorbing electricity out of the ground that was stored. Basically the earth is like a huge battery, that is constantly recharged with lightning storms across the world. And he found a way to absorb that power. And since one lightning bolt contains over 300 million watts at least, and there are at least 100 lightning strikes every second, it is unlimited power source.
     But this wasn't the only one of the energy projects we had. There were few else, like our super solar panels or wind turbines. It was just like other solar panels and wind turbines, but more advanced and efficient and produced more electricity.
     They were about 5 people, one the Ceo, the two personal assistants, the head engineer and the son of the Ceo. They were all in black suits, while Hiccup was in his normal clothes of brown jeans, converse and a green T-shirt. And on Harper’s side was me, Heather, Harper’s head researcher, Athena, and big asian guy, Frank Zhang, that helped us with the translating and me.
     And after a few minutes a deal was signed. We would expand our energy project to them and they will pay us for the amount of energy they get from us. And a fifth of the money they save from the agreement, would go into helping education or helping people in need. At first they didn’t want to agree with the terms of the last part, but after some convincing from Harper they agreed.
     And after they signed the contract, they walked away with smiles on their faces. I smiled a bit at Hiccup. He still wants to make the world a better place, just like in high school. And he still does it. Just on a larger scale, by convincing millionaires to help people and the society they live with.
     Our next meeting was with a Fire fighting company from California. This time we were presenting them with a new fire fighting plane we designed, the Argo II. It could hold more water for them to drop and had better handling and speed for the fighters to use in fire fighting experiences. With that we also had a few more equipment for them to use. The Ceo of the company looked pleased with everything they got and thanked Harper for his service.
    Hiccup just smiled and said, “You don’t need to thank me, Blade. You should thank Leo and his team for the designs.”
    Blade nodded and smiled and shook Leo’s hand and the rest of his team that were present at the meeting and thanked them. He then asked if we could also design a new off-road vehicle for them and Harper replied that Leo and his team will start working on it and will have the design in a month's time. Blade looked pleased and then left the meeting room with a smile.
    Now Heather and I were both in the private kitchen of the personal assistant, taking a lunch break. “Two down, One to go,” I commented.
    She smiled and said, “That’s the spirit.” I smiled and took another bite of my sandwich. “Astrid, you are learning quite fast. I would have said that you could do the last one alone, but I think it’s better that I was there too,” she said.
    I smiled, but frowned and asked, “Thanks, but what do you mean with the last one? Who is the meeting with again?”
    She sighed and said, “It is the secretary of defense.” My eyes widened at the news. I didn’t know that the company had a contract with the military. “We design their transport vehicles and some of their refugee equipment and their uniforms.”
    I nodded and said, “But I am sensing a but.”
    She nodded and explained, “But they want us to design weapons for the military. Viking industries is the best research and testing facility in the USA. And they want us to create for them new weapons that could help them in wars.”
    “What kind of weapons?” I asked.
    Harper walked in and said, “Tanks, guns, bombs. Even biological weapons and they once asked me to help them to create nukes.” He sighed and took a cup from a shelf and started to full it with some black coffee and continued, “But I turned down all of their offers.”
    I nodded and asked, “How many times have they come to you?”
    He looked at Heather and she replied, “This is their 239th time.”
    My eyes widened, but nodded. 239 times. Damm, the military must be desperate. But I decided to drop the subject, because I could see that Hiccup didn’t like it. So I asked about when Dagur’s wedding was. He smiled a small smile of appreciation and answered the question.
    
     After sometime the secretary of defense arrived, with a few more men in military uniforms. The meeting went quite well, actually. Ignoring all the seductive glances a few of the men gave me and Heather. The secretary of defense, Ares, looked quite pleased with all the vehicles and equipment we presented him via projections. All the designs were something I have never seen and looked extremely high tech, but Harper and the head engineer of the defense department explained it as if it was teaching someone to read. During the whole meeting they would nod their heads in approval of the designs and ask questions regarding the safety of it.
     And when all was done, Ares clapped his hands and said, “Well, you certainly delivered as always, mister Harrison. But I want to know if you have thought of my offer.”
     Harper sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, in irritation. Heather shook her head and Hayden, the engineer, rolled his eyes. “And like always I will give you the same answer, Ares. I will not help you with designs for new weapons,” Hiccup replied.
     Ares fist clenched and he said, in a calm, but dangerous voice, “I urge you to reconsider. With your help, we can assure that our men on the front lines are well equipped and will be safe.”
     “At the cost of others lifes,” Harper shot back.
     “At the cost of mercenaries, murders, madmen and savages, mister Harrison,” Ares shot back, “Or would you rather want them to live and our country to suffer.”
     Ares glared at Harper murderously, but Harper didn’t stand down. Harper just stared at him back and stood silently up. He then turned towards the window and walked to it. He stopped in front of it and looked down at what he built.
     We all looked at him confused, but he just breathed slowly and took his keys out and started to play with them. We all looked at each other confused and Ares looked like he was about to blow up from rage.
     “I built this company with my own hands. And through all the years I kept the promises I made. And one of them is that I always help the people,” he said.
     Ares stood up and said, “Then help the people and design for us the weapons we need.”
     Hiccup stood silently, before putting his keys away and turned around. He looked at Ares dead in the eyes and I was a bit in awe at how much confidence Hiccup has gotten over the years. He took a slight breath and finished, “I will always help the people, but not at the cost of someone else’s life. No matter how bad they are or what their beliefs or history is, Ares. And I tend to keep my promise.”
     “Then keep your promise and give us what we want,” Ares growled.
     Harper smiled slightly amused and replied calmly, “Mmm. According to the contract I signed with the military is that I would produce them transport vehicles, equipment for refugees and improvement to their uniforms. But it never said that I would have to design your weapons. And quite frankly I don’t want to design for you any sort of weapon.”
     I smiled a bit at Hiccup stubbornness and at his confidence. He certainly changed for the better over the last ten years. I looked at how Ares was going to go off on Hiccup. Once I saw it, I had a flashback of how all his bullies usually went after them. I usually stood there and watched how they went off and I always felt guilty about it. I wasn’t going to leave him alone this time.
    Before Ares could speak, I said, “Sir.” He tensed and everyone in the room looked at me, because it was like the first time I spoke. “As the secretary of defense, you should honor the deal you have made with Harper and Viking Industries. So you can’t force Harper to do anything he didn’t agree to. Otherwise you will be breaking the agreement and Harper won’t have to design anything for you anymore.”
    He looked at me furiously, but I sat in my stool, unintimidated. He then turned to Harper and asked, “So you let your advisor talk for you now? And let her talk anyway she wants to.”
    Harper looked at him and replied, “At my company anyone that works here, can speak whatever they have on their minds. And I agree with Astrid. If you abuse the contract we both signed to, then I won’t have to uphold my part of the contract.”
    Ares looked a bit furious at Harper and then asked, “So why did you sign the contract then?”
    Harper looked at him and replied, “I signed the contract, because I wanted to help the military. But my idea of helping them didn’t involve giving them a big gun to shoot someone else. My idea was to equip them so that they will be able to defend and protect themselves and could help any person that needed their aid. So if you want my teams to design gear for you, like lighter armour or aircraft that can take more supplies or even better communication, then please come to me. But if you want another weapon that you can use to kill someone else, then you can go to someone else. Understood?”
    Ares glared at him for a few seconds, before nodding slowly and said, “Understood.”
    Harper smiled a little bit and said, “Now, is there anything you want me to design for you at the moment?”
    Ares looked at him and then shook his head and said, “No, that is all.”
    Harper smiled and held his hand out to Ares and said, “Well, mister Ares. It has been nice that we came to understand each other finally, but I have designs to see and to sign. So could you please leave the building.”
    Ares shook his hand and then replied, “See you around, mister Harrison.” He then motioned to his men. They all stood up and then marched out of the room. One of the men gave me a wink, but I just rolled my eyes.
  
    The rest of the day went by normally. Heather congratulated me on my actions, but gave me friendly warning that I should be careful in the future. I thanked her and Harper gave me a small smile of appreciation and approval. I smiled back and then went back to working.
    It was now almost 5 o'clock and I could go home in a few minutes. But I still had to confront Harper about being Hiccup. And I was going to do it now.
    I sighed as I put the phone down. Just had to organize a meeting between Harper and one of the research teams that was going to go to China in a week's time. Heather looked at me as she was swinging her handbag over her shoulder. She smiled at me sympathetically and said, “Hey don’t worry, today was a really busy day and you handled yourself pretty well. Do you want to do something after you finish?”
    I smiled and shook my head, “No, but I am fine thanks. I just need a good night's sleep, then I will be ready for round two.”
    She smiled and said, “Well, I am sure those soldiers would gladly give you a good night.”
    I gagged and replied, “Heck, no. The only thing they will get is a fist to their pig faces and a knee to their groins.”
    She chuckled and said, “Well, see you tomorrow.”
    I waved at her as she walked out of the office and then looked down at my notes. Everything was done, except for one thing. I took a deep breath and stood up and walked into Harper’s office. He was at his drawing board like always looking over some plans with a pencil and making changes to it.
    I smiled. He looked so much like Hiccup and now the way he acted was precisely the way I remembered. He was just usually covered in grease, but I guess that since he is a billionaire, he can pay other people to be covered in grease.
    I knocked on his door, softly. He looked up at me and smiled. “I’m all done. Is there anything else you want me to do,” I asked him.
    He smiled and shook his head and replied, “No, thank you, Astrid. I am almost done here.” I nodded and was about to speak, but he then said, “And Astrid, thank you.”
    I looked at him confused and asked, “What for?”
    He smiled and said, “For standing up to the secretary of defense. Not everyone is that brave to do that and I appreciate it. So thank you.”
    I smiled and replied, “Your welcome. And it is the least I could do for you since I left you in freshman year.”
    He looked at me confused before his eyes widened in realisation. He looked down and commented, “So you figured it out, didn’t you?”
    I nodded and managed to say, “Hiccup?”
    He looked up at me and smiled a tiny bit and said, “Hey, Astrid. It has been a while.”
    I then walked towards him and he slightly held his arms out to give me a hug. I almost wanted to jump into his arms, but walked to him and punched him in his gut. He huffed and bent forward hugging his stomach.
    He looked at me questionably and asked, “What is that for?”
    “For running away,” I replied, before giving him a hug. He tensed for a moment before his arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer to him. I leaned more into him and apologised, “I am so sorry, Hiccup. I am so so sorry. I should have never left. I was just-”
    He cut me off, by hugging me tighter and saying, “Hey, hey, Astrid. Calm down. It’s ok. It’s ok. I am fine now.”
    I chuckled a bit and a few tears slipped down my cheek from happiness and sadness and said, “A billionaire. Sounds more than fine, but I am so sorry Hiccup. I should have never left. I was so stupid and I wish I never did that.”
    I buried my face into his chest and cried a few silent tears and said, “I am sorry, Hiccup.”
    He hugged me a bit tighter and said, “It’s ok, Astrid. I was never mad at you and you have nothing to apologize for.” I didn’t want to argue so I just stood there in his arms and buried my face deeper in his chest.
    We stood there for a few minutes in each other’s arms. It was completely silent and I was fine with it. He rubbed my back to comfort me and it almost sent shivers down my back. “Do you want to talk after I finish up here?” he asked me quietly.
    I nodded and replied, “Gods, yes please. We definitely need to catch up.”
    I then pulled back from him and he said, “Well, I need to walk my dog, so which park can I meet you at?”
    I smiled and said, “The one at Zippleback and Flightmare lane.”
    He nodded and said, “Well, see you there in a few minutes.”
    I nodded and hugged him again, “I missed you.”
    He hugged me back and said, “I missed you too, Astrid.” I smiled and hugged him tighter and just enjoyed that I found my best friend again, after ten years.