Chapter Text
It’s raining when they land.
The steady downpour slams against the glass windows of the airport, rattling the room and drowning out the chatter around them in favor of the crackling thunder.
“I thought this was a desert,” Keith grumbles, popping the last of his granola bar into his mouth before balling up the wrapper and chucking it into the nearest trash bin.
Lance frowns, rubbing his stomach. “Global warming?”
Keith laughs quietly while rolling his eyes before walking over to the kiosk to buy another granola bar.
Lance checks his phone, the bright light near blinding in the dim of the airport, the lack of sunlight casting the room in muted hues. The usually sunny town in the distance looking oddly dark and dangerous in the overcast.
“Shivanni texted,” Keith says as he walks back over, a cookie clutched in his hand. Lance holds out a waiting palm and smiles as Keith hands him a bag of chips. “She says she’s just landed.”
“The Garrison sent out a text alert that the bus will be delayed another twenty minutes,” Lance groans, rolling his shoulders before slumping further in his seat. Next to him, a group of fellow students groan in despair. “At least this place has free wifi.”
Keith snorts in agreement before slipping his headphones back on.
The flight over had been uneventful, almost peaceful. As the plane had taken off, Keith had grabbed his hand and squeezed it once before letting it go as if telling him it’s okay .
They had yet to talk about that moment Macy’s or any of the moments that had been leading up to it. They hadn’t talked about the lines they’d drawn years before, lines that were starting to feel blurrier and blurrier.
At some point, Lance feels time slip away like water through cupped fingers. Slowly and then all at once. The rain a soothing lullaby as it slams into the concrete all around. The occasional roll of thunder and spark of lightning growing only closer and closer as the feeling of something wrong pulls at the edge of his awareness.
He blinks sleepily out at the gray cloudy sky as someone taps him on the shoulder.
“Hey sleepy heads,” Shivanni giggles, walking around to take a seat on Lance’s left. “How are you?”
Lance grunts noncommittally as he forces himself up, swiping weakly at the string of spit forming on the corner of his mouth.
Keith yawns jaw-crackingly wide. “Hey.”
Shivanni smiles weakly, “Hey.”
Keith frowns and purposefully rolls his shoulder, “It’s doing great.”
Shivanni nods and then turns to Lance, “How was the family?”
“Exhausting,” Lance admits before adding, “But good… I- We needed to go.”
“We?” Shivanni repeats.
“We,” Lance nods. Everyone knew they’d been working to repair their friendship after the incident. There was no shame in admitting this to her who’d helped them plan their first therapist appointment and every one after. “My mom might adopt him.”
Shivanni laughs, loud enough to rival the rain. “I see you conned her good then?”
Keith rolls his eyes, small genuine smile playing at the corner of his lips. “I’m just glad your brother didn’t kill us in our sleep.”
“We got better,” Lance defends. “I promised to call them more.”
“Good,” Shivanni nods, satisfied. “That’s good.”
“How was your family?” Lance asks as a new text appears, notifying them at the hover bus might finally be arriving. “Your sister?”
“She’s better,” Shivanni grins. “I think college has been good for her. Or at least she’s met some good people that make it good, you know?”
“I get it,” Lance grins reassuringly.
“Sorry we kind of went dark over break,” Keith mumbles around the last of his third cookie.
“That’s okay,” Shivanni sighs. “I mean, I know Aaron tried to get in contact with you, but…”
“Family drama,” Lance shrugs. “I honestly forgot to call back.”
“He had his own thing the last two days,” Shivanni says as the group of students stand up and grab their bags.
Lance checks his phone. Their bus was finally here.
“He’ll tell you when he can,” Shivanni cuts Keith off when he opens his mouth to question. “I think it’s something he’ll want to tell all of us.”
.
Aaron is already unpacking by the time Lance arrives.
He, Keith, and Shivanni had departed at the gate with a promise to meet up later for dinner to catch up with everyone. Apparently no one had heard from Hunk all break either.
“Hey,” Lance greets, throwing his duffle bag onto the bed. He had half a mind to just pass out but knew it would just ruin his sleep schedule. “Sorry about not calling you back before.”
Aaron shrugs, turning around. Lance frowns when he notices the dark circles under his eyes. “Yeah. We can talk about it now that we’re all together. I also got some bad news…”
“About this or something else?” Lance presses, uncertain. Aaron honestly looks two seconds from passing out. “Shivanni mentioned something happened over break.”
Aaron looks away, expression unreadable. Lance crosses the room and takes his friend’s hand in his. “You don’t have to tell me,” Lance reassures.
“It’s just... “ Aaron shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”
“Dude,” Lance squeezes his hand. Outside he can hear the other students, their voices carrying down the hallway from open dorm room doors as everyone tried to settle back in. But here in the safety of their room, it is only them. Lance and Aaron.
When Lance had met Aaron he’d remembered an annoyance, someone who grated on his nerves, who’d acted too spoiled and too frivolous. Now, he sees only a friend, someone who was willing to risk everything, his education and his safety, for the sake of a hunch. He remembers how Aaron had to drop out last time around.
“It’s not nothing,” Lance corrects. “It’s troubling you and after… after everything I consider you a really good friend, Aaron. I- If I can help…”
Aaron doesn’t say anything for a moment, gaze drawn to the floor.
“I want to help you,” Lance promises.
“Okay,” Aaron whispers. “Not... I’m not ready yet, but I don’t want to lie to you.”
“No,” Lance nods, remembering the last few months. “I think we’ve all done enough lying.”
.
It takes a few days before they all get a chance to meet.
Lauren and Mark are the hardest to pin down. Their schedules going crazy as the upperclassmen get ready for their internships. Their finals set for the end of November instead of mid-December leaving the two scrambling to cram.
“We might have gotten a bit caught up in all… this,” Mark admits as they all crowd in Aaron and Lance’s dorm room. The familiarity of it all almost welcoming with the added bonus of Keith sitting next to him.
The only thing missing…
“So we’re pretty much useless until our internship starts,” Lauren groans, slumping pitifully against Mark.
“At least you’re getting assigned to Bolling!” Shivanni grins. “I’ve always wanted to go to DC.”
“How is it you’ve seen most of Europe but none of the US?” Aaron teases.
“Layovers to India,” Shivanni jokes, lifting her arms to strike a flexing pose.
“The good thing about Bolling is it’s all experimental equipment,” Mark grins, “Which might just be the sort of information we need, all things considering.”
“All things considering?” Lance prompts.
Lauren frowns, looking at Lance and Keith before turning to Aaron, “I thought you said you called him?”
“He tried,” Keith clarifies.
“So you guys know my cousin right? The crazy one,” Aaron starts.
“Maybe not so crazy,” Shivanni cuts in, grinning. “I mean… who would have thought?”
“Guys…” Lance whines. “I get it. I should have called back. But the suspense is killing me!”
“Operation Lion,” Aaron grins, grabbing his laptop. “You will not believe what were in Iverson’s emails. Constant references to this excavation dig about forty minutes from here in the mountains.”
“The smoke,” Keith gasps, eyes wide as he turned to Lance. Both of them thinking the same thing. The previously joyful mood plummets as Lance starts to understand the strange sensation of wrong that has been following him around since he landed. Blue…
“Smoke?”
“When we were out by The Cabin, we saw smoke in the distance,” Lance whispers, hand on his chin as he tries to think. Why would they be looking for Blue? How would they even know she was there?
“Iverson mentions that they’ve been looking for something big,” Shivanni grins. “Look,” she passes Aaron’s laptop to Lance where a hundred emails seem to be saved into a pdf. “They keep referring to it as ‘The Lion.’”
Lance leans over so Keith can see as well, skimming through schematics and arguments about equipment as Iverson argues with someone named Thomas about how long it was taking before he catches a name.
“Professor Sutherland is mentioned a lot,” Keith jumps in. “See here. ‘Allison mentioned that we’d have better luck going deeper.’ What does that mean?”
“We don’t know,” Aaron says as Lance hands him back his laptop. “But at least we know our next target.”
“We can’t risk breaking into two professors’ offices so soon,” Lance warns. “I mean last time…”
Shivanni fidgets awkwardly as the room descends into meaningful silence.
“That’s where my cousin comes in,” Aaron argues. “He’s a hacker. He says if I can just get him an in…”
It’s then that the door flies open, revealing a sweaty and flustered Hunk. “Guys.” he gasps as he slams the door shut behind him, his arrival sending everyone into a muted panic. “We’re in trouble.”