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Keith saw the hit coming before it landed heavy in his gut, and his eyes widened as the punch forced the air from his lungs. Winded, he stumbled back and retaliated with a jerky kick to the Galra general’s right knee. He choked down a breath as the kick bought him a few moments to gather his senses, and reaffirmed his stance.
Bayard knocked from reach, he had to resort to hand to hand combat against Kval-Che, one of Zarkon’s highest ranking generals. Kolivan was nowhere to be seen, along with any other members of the blade that could back him up.
Steadying himself, Keith blocked another onslaught of punches and drove his elbow deep into Kval’s ribs, relishing in the distinctive cracking noise he got in return. The general flipped away, clutching at her chest and hissing.
“Filthy paladin! You think yourself worthy of even something so lowly as the blade!” She screeched, flexing her clawed hands in anger. “You are nothing but a genetic mistake.”
As Keith was learning, it was laced deep within Galran culture to respect one’s enemy, an honour system. It wasn’t any surprise to him that Kval would hate him both for his humanity and his position on the war. The pureblood glara launched back into battle and dragged her fingernails along Keith’s cheek and jaw, ribboning the skin and drawing blood.
The redness coated the tired teen’s neck and he gasped at the sudden flood of pain. Kval’s nails caught in the helmet seal on his flight suit, and Keith used the disadvantage to toss her off him, tearing the nail beds in the process. She screamed, and he smirked. But not for long.
Keith heard the gunshot before he felt it. It was a hollow and lethal noise. The plasmafire tore through his shoulder blade, demolishing his blade armour, and cauterised almost immediately. A guttural sound escaped him as he lurched forward and fell to his knees. The pain was electric and aching at the same time.
Teeth gritted, Keith turned his head to see the smoke trail of a gunshot leading back to a masked soldier, who’d just entered the station’s flight bay. Shit.
“Give up, you rebel scum.” Kval crowed, apparently glad for the backup. She slunk back over to Keith, who was frozen in place with shock, and promptly punched him in the face - right where she’d previously inflicted lacerations. A broken noise fell from Keith’s lips, but he spat in Kval’s face nonetheless as she picked him up by the scruff.
“Never.” He stated, eyes wide with defiance.
Luckily, he wasn’t bleeding out from the plasmafire wound - thanks to the cauterization - but it still shot his nerves and stole his strength. The masked soldier grew closer, and Keith faltered as he realized the gravity of his situation.
Kval gave him a malicious grin, and gripped Keith’s wounded shoulder in vice-like agony. He cried out, and stared daggers into the general’s glinting eyes. In a flash, he brought up his dangling feet and aimed a heavy blow with his heel at her throat. Kick landed, she dropped him and got lost in a coughing fit, flinching away.
Her eyes were alive with a special kind of rage that made Keith’s stomach drop. And his fists clench. He knocked Kval-Che out with a punch from his good arm. The soldier behind him took their sweet time to saunter over and confront the wounded teen.
Keith drew his eyebrows together, trying to put on an intimidating face as his burn wound ate away at his resolve. Fuck, it hurt.
Before the galran soldier could shoot him down, a blade suddenly stuck itself into their chestplate. They crumpled. Keith breathed out a sigh of relief that turned into a hiss of pain as Kolivan leaped down out of hiding.
“Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, Keith.” The blade member apologized, drawing his weapon from the fallen soldier. “They took out the station’s power grid, I had to get through the blast doors.”
“N-No problem “ Keith gritted out, clutching his shoulder. “I managed.”
“You knocked her out pretty good,” Kolivan praised, gesturing towards Kval’s slumped form. “Now let’s go get you patched up.”
Keith nodded, and stumbled as he took a step toward his teammate. The older soldier gripped Keith around the torso with an alien strength and helped him to walk back to their ship, docked in the adjacent flight bay. Keith bit his lip until it bleed as he tried not to cry out from the painful movement.
He watched as some other blade members, finished with their individual missions, started dragging the fallen general onto their ship. They’d question her properly later.
Tired, Keith dropped his gaze to the shuttle floor as they took off from the military station. Despite the agony blossoming in his shoulder, Keith felt satisfied. They were one step closer to discovering Zarkon's, and potentially Lotor's, agenda.
And for that, he’d suffer the physical consequences.