Trust No One

Chapter 16

Astrid's POV

BEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BOOP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BOOP!
The ambulance was incredibly loud outside the maintenance gates. I think they'd somehow forgotten to turn the siren off, because it had been parked there for half an hour, blaring its deafening music.

So it turns out that Snotlout almost died, meaning Hiccup is in a lot of trouble.
All of it had happened rather smoothly:

General Throk had been called by some of the students; when he arrived he seemed to take his time inspecting Snotlout.
Realising it was serious, he called the medical centre on the other side of the BMC, who sent an ambulance that wouldn't be quiet.

Struggling to hear anything, I decided to take a walk: I needed to see Hiccup.
Passing one of the filing classrooms, I noticed a sheet of paper with something familiar on it.
Checking no one was watching, I walked into the room and picked up the piece of paper, gazing at it.

Something on it changed everything.

--------------------------------------------

HICCUP HADDOCK

Gender: Male
Age: 21yrs 8ms
Ability Tier: 100
(Superior Tier)
Faction: BLACK

WARNING:

Subject is INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS and must be dealt with cautiously.

Known Occupatiom:
CONTRACT KILLER

Killed by subject:
14,897

WARNING:
THIS IS CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.
SHARING WITHOUT PERMISSION WILL RESULT IN PUNISHMENT.

--------------------------------------------

After comprehending what I'd just read, I snatched up the paper and carelessly left the room, oblivious to the fact I'd knocked over several items on the desk.
But with the way I stormed out of the room towards the shooting ranges, I'm not surprised I didn't knock the shelves off the wall.

Hiccup's POV

Sitting on the spectating bench next to Shooting Range E, I was watching some of the new recruit/students miss every one of their shots.
And they were hitting targets less than a metre away.
Using swords.

I was almost tempted to get up and corrupt them, so they'd kill themselves just because I thought the BMC was a professional academy.

CRACK!
A bullet landed in a tree several metres from my head.
"HICCUP!" A familiar voice yelled.

Astrid's POV

I wasn't trying to hit him when I fired. It was simply to get his attention, and it worked. I shouted his name, putting as much fury into it as possible:
"HICCUP!"

The thing is, it wasn't just that I'd found his big secret, it was also that he'd told me if I needed him he'd be at Shooting Range D, which of course had to be on the other side of BMC.
I stomped up to him and slapped him across the face, rather dramatically.

"Oh so you can say you like me, that we're friends, that you feel you can trust me - which I know isn't true - but what you don't say is that you are secretly a DANGEROUS ASSASSIN!"
And I thrusted the confidential sheet of paper at him, and he grabbed it, confused.

Muttering something as he read the text, he sighed heavily.
But then he seemed to focus for a second, on his right hand.
The paper was suddenly covered in black flame, and then it was gone. Not even the ashes remained.
Then he glanced up at me.
His eyes weren't their usual emerald green.

They weren't even black.

Or purple.

They were blue. The exact same colour as mine. In fact they were mine.
There was a piece of glass lying on the grass, presumably from a bottle. In it I saw my reflection.

My own eyes were emerald green.
And then they turned BLACK.