How to Train Your Avengers

With his hands clasped behind his back, Nicholas Fury stood in front of the Avengers on the main deck. Natasha returned from Hicca’s room and joined her comrades at the table. Agent Hill handed her a manila folder with briefing information and she skimmed through it. “How many more of them are there?”

“Dragons or Vikings?” Hill asked, her arms folded across her chest.

“Vikings with dragons.”

“According to JARVIS, there were hundreds of different species of dragons on Berk. The most common were the two-headed Zippleback, the Deadly Nadder, the Gronckle, the Monstrous Nightmare and the Terrible Terror.”

“How do you have access to JARVIS here?” Steve wondered aloud and Tony smirked.

“I have access to everything, everywhere.”

“The names of these dragons are ridiculous,” Barton protested.

A brief silence fell over the room as the Avengers perused threw the briefing packets. There were photos of several different types of dragons, each with notes about its attacks and tendencies. Tony and Thor frowned as some of the notes contradicted other information. Thor smirked upon seeing the Terrible Terrors. “They are always my favorite,” he held the picture up for the group to see.

Something wasn’t adding up for Steve. “If you haven’t seen a dragon on Earth in over 1000 years,” Steve nodded towards the blonde, bearded Norse god. “…that would mean there shouldn’t be any photographs of any of these dragons.”

“Hicca isn’t the first dragon we’ve come in contact with,” Agent Hill explained. Nick shot her a look, which she returned with equal ferocity. She knew better than to give them all of the information, and she was insulted that her director would doubt her. “These pictures were taken of several of the types of dragons we have in custody at HQ.”

“Why are you keeping dragons?”

“Oh, who’s this insane-looking Viking?” Tony asked childishly, holding up the picture of the current chief of the Berserker tribe.

“We don’t know, but he killed 30 people in 2 days and dismembered 4 people. He also cut down half a Redwood Forrest. Our intell says that he has an albino dragon that looks like an oversized centipede with wings and a disproportionally large head.”

“A friend of Hicca’s?” Barton wondered.

Fury shook his head. “We’re not sure. But if even any of the Vikings are like him, then we need a defense system. We took in the dragons to study their patterns and find their weaknesses.”

Agent Hill interrupted the group. “Sir,” she looked up at her director after reading the communique from the monitor. “We’ve approached base.”

“How are we going to get the Viking and the dragon to HQ without anyone noticing?” Natasha wondered.

Nicholas Fury frowned. Surely they wouldn’t be able to do it the way they had with all of the other dragons they had encountered thus far, for that would surely turn the dragon conqueror against them. The last thing he needed on his plate right now was to have a dragon expert to be raiding SHIELD headquarters to take revenge on the agency for hurting her dragon. He already had to convince the council to put a hold on Project Insight because of the arrival of her and the dragons and he didn’t want any additional setbacks.

“Night Furies are all-but-invisible at night. That’s what makes them so difficult to locate,” Thor offered.

Director Fury nodded. “All right. Get the girl. Rogers, you’ll ride with her. Natasha I want you and Barton in the chopper behind. Stark, you lead the way. Barton, if she so much as hints at trying to attack you put an arrow through that beast’s heart, you understand?” Hawkeye nodded. Nick turned to the Norse god, “And, Thor…”

“I shall return to Asgard tonight. Foul footsteps have been laid out, bringing dragons and Hicca to the 21st century. I intend to seek out its culprit.” Fury rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively. He knew better than to order Thor around, for the only person the Norse God respected enough on the team to take orders from was Captain America.
***
The Avengers stood outside of the bedroom where Hicca was being kept. She had been pacing nervously when the airtight door hissed open. “What do you need to fly your dragon?” Nicholas Fury asked; he was all-business.

The Viking’s green eyes lit up. “Y-you mean you’re gonna let me see Toothless? A-and we’re free to go home?” Hicca asked excitedly, but when Director Fury shook his head, her shoulders slumped, dejectedly.

“We’re taking you to HQ. This business of you time jumping and bringing dragons with you is not one I take lightly. Agents Romanoff and Barton are going to fly in the helicopter behind you. Stark will lead the way in his suit. And Captain America will be riding on the back on your dragon with you.” Fury reiterated his expectations for the journey from the helicarrier to the base.

Hicca shook her head. “There’s no way anyone is riding on Toothless but me. You’ve got him locked…”

“Let me make myself clear: Captain America is riding on your dragon with you.”

The Viking crossed her arms over her green tunic, defiantly. “Listen, Nicholas, it’s not my call. I’m just telling you that Toothless is never going to let someone on his back he doesn’t trust.”

“He won’t have a choice. He doesn’t take him, then he doesn’t go anywhere.”

“You’re not listening!” Hicca threw her hands up in the air. She knew that the man was implying that if Toothless so much as strayed out of line they would kill them both. The last time she had Astrid on the back of Toothless, back before the Night Fury trusted her, he tried to give the teen a heart attack. He had thrashed her into the water, did quick aerial dives and climbs, and spun and spun until both Astrid and Hicca were dizzy. Hicca was only barely able to talk sense into the dragon, and she wasn’t sure if that would be the case this time around.

“You have orders.”

“This conversation is feeling very one-sided,” Hicca sighed. Talking with the director of SHIELD felt very much like talking to her father.

“Understand?” Yep, definitely like talking to her father.

“Clearly you don’t. I’m still amazed the gnomes haven’t taken you off in the night with your lack of logic,” Hicca muttered.

Nicholas Fury ignored her jibe. “What do you need to fly it?”

“To fly him,” Hicca corrected. “I need to fix his tail rudder. He shot a hole through it.” Hicca glared as she pointed at Hawkeye. Fury nodded and ordered Agent Hill to get fabric to replace the current rudder with the hole.

The team escorted Hicca towards the cell where Toothless was being kept. As they walked Hicca giggled to herself. “What’s so funny?” Natasha hissed.

“Nothing. It’s just on Berk, I would never have gotten so much of an escort. I’m not quite Viking enough to warrant such extensive measures.”

They approached the cell. Toothless had his wings and feet strapped down. He whimpered at the sight of his Viking, partially out of joy and partially out of anger. He had been tied up for so long, it seemed and he was growing impatient. Nicholas Fury opened up the airtight cell door and motioned for Hicca and Steve to enter. As soon as the door opened the Night Fury began to struggle against his restraints.

“Hey, buddy,” Hicca cooed, she placed a palm on his nose, silently telling the Night Fury that it would be okay and that he didn’t need to attack anyone…. Toothless’ eyes softened as soon as harnesses came off and he knocked Hicca over onto the ground, licking her playfully. Natasha, Hill and Barton had their weapons aimed instinctively at the beast as he knocked his trainer onto the ground. Hicca moaned in disgust. “Ugh, Toothless, no.” She pushed the dragon’s head away and stood up, wiping the slobber off of her face. “You know that doesn’t wash out.” Toothless sat back on his haunches, threw his head into the air and let out a chuckle, or his best impersonation of a human chuckle. Hicca smiled at her Night Fury. “I missed you too, buddy.”

Their happy reunion was short-lived, however, as Toothless realized that Steve Rogers was standing behind his Viking with a shield in hand. Toothless crouched down and bared his teeth, emitting a low growl from the back of his throat. “No, Toothless, it’s okay, he’s a friend.” Slowly, Hicca stood up and grabbed Steve’s hand. She guided it towards Toothless’ nose and at first Steve resisted. “Listen, if Toothless doesn’t trust you, then you can’t ride him. Nothing I do can change that, no matter what your chief says. It’s a sign of peace and trust.” Steve nodded and relaxed slightly. Hicca left his hand mere inches from the dragon’s nose, and Toothless sniffed it before closing the gap between the Super Soldier and himself. The Night Fury chirped.

Hicca, feeling satisfied that Toothless wasn’t going to attack the blonde man, walked around to the back of the dragon to inspect the damages done to the rudder. She knew a simple patch job would be enough for a temporary fix, but Hicca was just biding her time with these SHIELD people so she wanted to fully replace the rudder in order to be able to make a full getaway eventually. She took the black fabric that Agent Hill had given her, which wasn’t as sturdy as the fabric she usually used, but it would be better than just a patch job. She grunted as she tore the broken tail rudder’s fabric from its metal framing. She sat cross-legged as she wove the new fabric onto the framing.

A few minutes later, Hicca climbed onto the back of her Night Fury and tested out the rudder. “How’s it feel, buddy? Ready to fly again?” Toothless chirped in excitement. Hicca nodded to the team. They led the way to the main deck, where Hicca climbed back onto Toothless’ back, strapped herself onto the harness, and then extended her hand to Steve who climbed aboard the dragon tentatively. “All righty, Metal Man. Lead the way.”

Tony Stark used the propulsions in his feet to launch himself into the sky. When Hicca gave a light kick in Toothless’ side, the dragon followed suit. Against his better judgment, Steve grabbed Hicca much tighter than he had intended as the dragon soared above the clouds. “I can’t breathe,” Hicca gasped.

“Sorry.” Steve blushed and berated himself silently. He’d been in tons of airplanes, even fought off a HYDRA agent on the back of an airplane bomb back in WWII, but riding practically bareback on a –dragon— was not something he was prepared for. He loosened his grip and remained conscious of it as Hicca skillfully guided Toothless through the sky.

The view was incredible. It was so different from being in a chopper or a plane, and it was exhilarating. He watched as Hicca used her metal foot to change the position of the makeshift tail rudder. It’s just like riding a motorcycle but thousands of feet in the air, Steve thought.
***
When the Avengers and Hicca landed safely on the roof of the New York HQ building, Hicca and Steve dismounted the Night Fury. The propellers of the helicopter whirred to a stop as Natasha, Clint, Nick and Hill climbed out onto the roof. The soft hum of the Iron Man suit diminished and Tony landed expertly with a soft clank onto the concrete of the rooftop. Toothless butted his head against his rider’s back and Hicca patted her dragon’s head.

“We’ll ride on the first elevator,” Nick explained, motioning to all but Natasha and the dragon. “Agent Romanoff, you take the dragon on the second one. Down to the basement” When they entered the elevator a female voice requested the floor and Director Fury replied, “Basement. Operation Fire.”

“Sir, agents Clint Barton, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark do not have proper clearances for this request.”

“Director override. Clearance, Fury, Nicholas J.” The computerized voice verified his voice signature and initiated the descent for the elevator. Hicca pushed her way past the Avengers to the glass window and watched as they descended from the skyline. The elevator was on the outside of the building and she was amazed by how tall and metal all of the buildings were. She pressed her palms against the glass and a gasp of awe escaped her lips.

Tapping Hicca on her shoulder, Director Fry drew her from the view outside. “Is he on your side?” Fury showed the picture of the boy with blue facial tattoos.

“Dagur the Deranged?” Hicca explained. “Oh great,” she muttered. “Not only am I stuck in a strange land 1000 years in the future but I have the most berserk, well Berserker, who is hell-bent on killing Toothless. Odin, could things get any worse?”

“So I’m sensing that’s a ‘no he’s not on my side’,” Tony joked.

“Yeah. Dagur likes to make me his human knife-throwing practice target. And that’s on a good day.”

“And yet he killed 30 people but he wants just you and your Night Fury. That sounds highly suspicious.”

Hicca shrugged. “His name is Dagur the Deranged. What more do you want? His name is pretty self-explanatory.” The elevator continued to descend towards the basement. Hicca contemplated the newfound information of her rival and something dawned on her. “H-hey! If Dagur’s here and the dragons a-are here too and I’m here…” she rambled trying to formulate her question properly. “Has any of the other members of the Berk Dragon Academy shown up? Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, Astrid?”

“You have the strangest names,” Steve Rogers commented.

“Vikings believe that a hideous name will ward off gnomes and trolls,” to her surprise Tony Stark had responded. He motioned to his watch prototype and the rest of the Avengers understood that he was reading up on the Vikings via his new invention.

“Yeah, well it’s not like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn’t do that.”

“So far, it’s just you and Dagur and the dragons.” Director Fury for once wasn’t withholding information from his team. At the moment, none of Hicca’s friends had been spotted, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t arrive eventually.

The elevator’s bell dinged above and the door opened to reveal a huge basement filled with metal cages and…dragons! Although she did not know it, the entire floor had been emptied of the planes and weapons just under a week ago to be replaced with the dragons. Project Insight had been put on hold by Director Fury when the dragons started to surface across the US a few days before Hicca’s arrival. “Are all of these dragons Berk-ian dragons?” Steve asked, unsurely and Hicca nodded, knowing that his terminology was wrong, but the gist of his question held truth in it.

Hicca walked around the large room observing all of the dragons in cages. It was similar to the old dragon training rink on Berk back when they used to be arch-enemies with the dragons. This containment arena was underground though, so it did resemble the containment cells on Outcast Island. Hicca worried briefly about what the SHIELD agents had in mind for the jailed dragons. Hicca approached the first cell with the large brown boulder-like dragon. “This is a Gronckle,” she walked over to the next cell which held the blue and yellow bird-like dragon of the Sharp Class. “Nadder...” she approached the blue double-winged dragon. It was clearly a baby for that type of Tidal Class dragon could grow to the size of a whale, or bigger sometimes. It had long tail, stubby legs, and an enormous mouth. “This is a Thunderdrum. It produces a concussive sound…” Hicca rounded the final cage, which was filled with 5 smaller dragons “…and these are the Terrible Terrors.”

“Seriously?” Tony gestured to the green dragon in front of him. It was about the size of a large iguana. The Terrible Terror licked behind its ear with its long tongue and cocked its head to the side. “You Vikings call this a ‘Terrible Terror’? It’s like the size of…oh god!” Tony screamed as the Terror slipped through the bars and jumped onto his shoulders. The Terrible Terror bit his ear playfully. “Ow! Ow!”

Hicca laughed. “They’ve got a beastly little temper on them. This one seems to like you though,” she said as the Terrible Terror butted its head up against Tony’s cheek.

“Well, what’s not to love?” Tony smiled. His smile was quickly replaced with a frown as he rubbed his sore ear. “The little bastard bit me though.”

The Terrible Terror purred like a small cat before noticing Hawkeye’s bow and arrow. It hissed and Hicca’s eyes widened. “No, no, no!” She rushed over to Hawkeye and wretched the bow out of his hands, much to his surprise, and threw it across the floor. The Terrible Terror relaxed. “Terrors make a hissing noise when threatened just before they attack,” she explained to the group.

The young Viking reached out her hands and the green dragon crawled into her arms. She giggled and stroked it behind its ears. She began to scratch under its chin and when she hit just the right spot—where its jawline met the top of its neck—the little dragon collapsed in a happy heap. “How long have you had the dragons here?” she directed her question to the director and Agent Hill.

“About 3 days for most of them. That one over there,” Agent Hill motioned to the large pterodactyl-like red and yellow dragon with black stripes, “A little less than a week. It’s the only one that hasn’t eaten anything but we can’t get any of the medics near it because it keeps lighting itself on fire.”

“Yeah, they have a nasty habit of doing that.” Hicca glanced over to the Monstrous Nightmare in the corner. It was pressing itself as far into the corner as possible and Hicca furrowed her brow. She slowly approached the cell and the Nightmare screeched. “No, no, it’s okay. I’m a friend.” She glanced over her shoulder at Director Fury, “you have keys?”

The Director walked over to the cell. “Open cell 423.” The computerized female voice asked for his authorization code and Hicca spun around, glancing at the sky for the source of the voice. “Fury, Nicholas J.”

The jail door slid open and Hicca approached slowly. Natasha attempted to follow her for cover but Steve placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. Hicca extended both her hands in front of her, palms open. “H-hey, buddy,” she cooed. The Monstrous Nightmare roared and lit itself on fire once again. When she was only a few feet away, she broke eye contact, turning her head away to face the ground and extending her left hand out to wait for the dragon to meet her hand with its nozzle. The Nightmare refused to do so and roared again. Hicca knew that she would need to make a quick getaway since this dragon was not in the trusting mood today…wait… “Is that an eel?”

“Yeah, why?” Agent Hill asked.

Hicca bent down and picked up the eel between two fingers. As she held it in the air both the Monstrous Nightmare and Toothless roared in fear. “No, no, n-no, no. It’s okay. I’m getting rid of it. See?” She tossed the eel out of the cell and a little too close to Toothless for his comfort, for the Night Fury growled and hopped in the opposite direction. “Sorry, buddy. You know my aim is terrible.”

Director Fury and Agent Hill exchanged glances, silently logging away the newfound weakness of the dragon. Meanwhile, Hicca had resumed her position in front of the Monstrous Nightmare with her hand extended and her head turned away. The dragon extinguished itself and pressed its nozzle against her palm. She looked up at it and rubbed both hands on its nose. “I’m not a big fan of eels either.”

The Viking began walking backwards, keeping her palm an inch away from touching the dragon’s nose. It followed her out of the cell towards the group of Avengers. “I’ll be damned.”

Agent Hill crossed her arms and leaned all her weight on one leg, impressed by the Dragon Conqueror in front of her. “Well, I think we know what the next steps of Operation Fire should be. It should be easy to stop this Dagur the Deranged with our own army of dragons.” As she spoke, Hicca was presenting the Monstrous Nightmare to the rest of the Avengers. They were all amazed, and they chattered amongst themselves.