Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Agent B1A5 moved slowly down the small alleyway.  His partner behind him had a long range rifle while he himself carried two hand guns.  Agent B1A5 only carried one of them however as his other hand was holding his flashlight.  Coming out at 2am was going to have a horrible effect on him come sunrise.  Still, evil didn’t sleep, so why should he?

“I smell him close by,” Agent Frok spoke quietly, his words whistled slightly through the long fangs that protruded from the sides of his mouth.  Agent B1A5 gave a nod and turned the flashlight off.  They switched places and Agent Frok took the lead, his eyes worked better in the pitch black than the humans did. 

They made their way further down the space between the two buildings.  They could pick up a small scuttling sound, but the ambiance made it hard to discern where it was coming from. When all was silent again Agent Frok closed his eyes and sniffed.  Their target was nearby. 

“Hey, Frok.”

Agent Frok started at his partners suddenly loud voice.  Looking back he saw not one but two figures.  The many legged target holding Agent B1A5 at gun point.  Agent Frok realized with annoyance that it was his partners other gun.  Not only had the target snuck behind them, but had taken the gun out of his partners holster.

“I found him!” the Human agent said, a clam and silly grin on his face.  Agent Frok rolled his eyes, a habit he’d picked up from the human. 

“Move slowly,” their target hissed, “Or I blow his innards across the ground.”

“Go ahead,” Agent Frok replied with a sigh, and put his own weapon away.  Agent B1A5 gave a melodramatic gasp.  Their target responded by shoving the gun further into the humans back.

“Now slowly step back-“

Agent B1A5 turned and pointed his gun at the target.  The target pulled the trigger and nothing happened.

“That was the gun I used earlier today,” Agent B1A5 said with an even wider grin, “no charges left.”

()

“You look like death,” Hunk said looking his friend up and down.  Lance groaned; a long whine that came from the very depths of his soul.

They were already late for their first class and Lance wasn’t even dressed yet.

“I feel like death,” Lance complained, “I think I’ll take the morning off today.”

Hunk sighed.  This was the third time that week.

“I really think you should go to the nurse,” Hunk said, worried, “if you’re really that sick-“

“I’m just tired, big guy,” Lance pulled his blanket into more of a cocoon fashion, “I’m not sleeping very well.”

“Which is why you should go see someone,” Hunk stressed.

“I’ll be fine,” Lance yawned, “If Iverson has a problem tell him to stop assigning stupid busy work as homework.”

Hunk took a moment to be horrified.  No one would dare backtalk Iverson, let alone tell him that the homework he assigned was ‘busy work’.  But Lance’s eyes were already shut and his breathing was already evening out. 

Hunk resigned and left quietly. 

()

Lance had only taken a power nap, about 15 minutes, before he was up and dressed.  Opening the window in his room he slipped out and dropped to the ground behind the line of drought tolerant bushes that grew around the garrison.  Well hidden from any passing student, Lance pulled out a device about the size of a small tv remote.  It was blue and black, technology that was shared by two other planets.  Pushing a green button a holographic screen popped up and allowed him to type a message.

“Heading out.  I need three more charge containers.  Report should be on your desk by noon.”

He sent it and pulled a ball cap low over his face as he stood and sauntered off of garrison property. 

()

“Oh My Gosh!” Hunk cried.  Even Pidge dropped was he was holding.  Lance walked into the afternoon class with a long scratch along one cheek, and a rather foul temper. 

“What happened?”

“…I fell…”

“Where?”

“…is it that important?” Lance whined, “I fell and scratched my perfect face.  Isn’t that enough?”

“He’s fine,” Pidge shook his head and went back to work on their project.  Hunk continued to tut and wasn’t satisfied until he took a close up look at it himself.  Finding that Lance had actually disinfected it and had applied a liquid band aid to it, he was able to calm down and also return to work.  Lance joined them and his mood lightened as he played around with his friends.

()

“So, your face,” Iverson asked, a small smirk on his own face. 

“the interrogation was fine and all,” Agent B1A5 sighed as he flopped down in the arm chair in Iverson office, “he got all pissy when I rubbed the fact that he tried to shoot me with an empty gun.  I’m just glad his claws weren’t poisonous.  Can you imagine trying to explain away why my head is twice the size it should be?  I’m already having trouble keeping up with my position here.”

“You have something you wish to say?”

“Yeah,” the agent scowled, “give me one assignment and then let me do it!  I can’t do galivanting off with Frok in the middle of the night, conduct the after party, and then be expected to live like a high schooler!”

“You applied for this position.”

“Don’t give me that,” Agent B1A5 scoffed, “I’m on top of my job.”

“And failing your fundamentals, I see,” Iverson said bringing his grades up to look at, “for someone as talented as you, I didn’t think English and physics would be your downfall.”

“Hey, a rock was supermans weakness, pointless grammar and memorization is mine.”

“Did you get any information?”

“The report will be on your desk after dinner,” Agent B1A5 nodded, “I have make up work in biology to do first.”

“Another subject you’re struggling with?”

“to give a foot long name to a microscopic organism is what’s stupid, not me.”

()

“Agent Blas,” Frok called as his partner stomped moodily into his small apartment room.  He saw earth numbers as letters and often got confused between the two

“is there another mission?”

“Of course there is,” Agent B1A5 snapped, “Because sleep is overrated, lets go.  Some nut job decided to land outside of city limits and attack hikers this morning.”

“Who would be out hiking at this hour?”

“Crazy people, Frok, Crazy. People!”

()

Months went by and Agent B1A5 climbed into his room from the window.  Iverson had promised him a vacation.  From this point on Agent K1B3 and his partner, Agent Houk, would be taking over First Call. 

Three weeks of bliss.

Agent B1A5 looked over at his snoring roommate and smiled. 

Three weeks of being a normal kid. 

()

“Let me remind you that the only reason you’re here is because someone better than you had DISAPLINE ISSUES!” Iverson roared in Lances face, “DON’T make the same mistake!”

Lance lowered his head and tried to not wipe the spittle off his face. 

They really had done poorly, and not because of Pidge and Hunk.  Lance knew it had been his fault and only his fault. 

As they walked away Iverson stopped them, “McClain!”

“Sir,” Lance saluted, face impassive.

“In my office after class!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Sorry, Lance,” Hunk sighed, “I really can’t handle the movement.”

“Its not your fault,” Lance said giving him a nudge.  They spoke quietly as everyone watched the next team go through their simulation.

“humph,” Pidge simply glared moodily at Iverson.

()

“This is not a good idea.  Didn’t Iverson say he wanted to talk to you?”

“yeah, I don’t care,” Lance shrugged as the lights in the hall shut off, “its probably going to be about how I’m never going to get anywhere else in life.  Blah, blah, blah.  I can lecture myself just fine, thank you.”

“Lance, you should really go.”

“I want to relax at the pizza shop and you should come with me,” Lance grinned, “Now let’s go get Pidge.”

()

They followed Pidge up to the roof and watch as he set up his equipment.  Hunk began to almost twitch as he focused on the tech.  they snuck across the roof and waited for Pidge to notice them.  When he didn’t even turn around Lance grinned.

Reaching out he snatched the headphones off his head and put them on himself.

“…sepi…sa….comm…”

Lance felt the blood drain from his face.  Pidge was jumping up trying to grab his headphones back, he couldn’t hear was Pidge was saying, but he kept listening.

“Through….line….”

“Damn…” Lance took it off and handed it back, “what is that?!”

Pidge scowled up at him and then turned his attention on Hunk.

“Leave that alone!”

“Who built this?” Hunk asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.

“I did, now both of you, just go away!”

“Not until you tell us what’s going on,” Lance said folding his arms, “spill.”

“Mmm,” Pidge shifted uncomfortably and then pulled out his notebook, “I found readings…chatter outside our solar system.”

“no way,” Hunks jaw dropped and he was now inching away from the computer as though it might become sentient.

“Uh-huh,” Lance said, “Like…aliens?”

“Yes,” Pidge said firmly, daring Lance to laugh, “I’ve been picking up chatter and all sorts of tid-bits for months.  But tonight its crazy!  Not only are the signals stronger, but you can make out all sorts of conversations!”

Lance sighed, “You sure you’re not just picking up chatter from over seas?  Or from the space station?”

“I’m sure,” Pidge held up his notebook, “They keep talking about ‘Voltron’ and a weapon of some kind.”

Lance frowned, “Voltron?  What the heck is that?”

“No idea, but it must be important.  They never shut up about it.”

“Waitwaitwait,” Hunk shook his head, “so there are actually aliens out there?!”

That’s when the alarm sounded.  Telling everyone to stay in their barracks.  Looking up, the three of them saw the incoming ship.

Lance closed his eye and seriously wondered if he was cursed.

Chapter Text

Lance’s eyes popped open as the sun filtered through the shacks windows.  That was about three hours of sleep, Lance figured and stood slowly so he wouldn’t wake anyone else up.

He could only imagine the lecture Iverson was going o give him after this.  But what Pidge had said the night before had concerned him. 

In all his dealings with aliens, Lance had never heard about this ‘Voltron’.  Ever.  And a race out there was talking about a weapon?  Earth was in a secret alliance with two other planets nearby and together they formed a tight and stable alliance.  They were able to keep the “Purple Menace” and other threats at bay for almost fifty years.  But then Shiro, a survivor of the Kerboros mission shows up in the Purple threats ship!  Lance had recognized the style of the tech, no doubt Iverson did too. The Lockites and Jurmites had shown them the research they had done on the Purple threat.  Between all three planets they could form a fairly decent barrier. 

But shiro had managed to make it through…and if what Pidge had said was right, then more were on their way.  Somehow, Lance needed to convince them to go back to the garrison and talk to Iverson.

He jumped slightly as he saw Shiro and Keith talking out on the ridge.  He backed away slowly and his eyes caught movement around the corner of the shack.  Seeing the familiar red fur of his partner he ran to meet up with him.

“What’s the word?” Lance whispered and Frok glared at him.

“You broke the rules.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Lance snapped.

“Agent Blas, you need to come with me to see Superior Iverson,” Frok urged, “Explain your actions.”

“Look, I can’t right now,” Lance hissed, “But I’m going to try and convince them to talk with Iverson, I promise.  Don’t know how I’ll do that without giving myself away, but I’ll think of something.  As for last night, well, I just kind of went with the flow.”

“…you got angry.”

“What?”

“You never think when you’re angry.”

Lance blushed.  Ok, so he really did hate Keith and seeing the jerk really did piss him off.

“Ok, the truth is, they were going to break him out anyway, so I thought I should follow.  I actually thought if we tried we would be caught and then Iverson could take over.  But I’m going to stay with them and see if I can’t get more information about what’s going on.  I think that Purple Menace is closing in.  the more we can figure out the safer everyone will be.”

Frok nodded, “I understand, but will Superior Iverson?”

“You’re going to have to just convince him,” Lance hissed and jumped as he heard the front door open and close, “I’ve got to go.  But you need to stay back.  This is turning out to be a solo mission.”

Frok did not like that, “partners do not separate.”

“Its not like I’m leaving the planet, Frok,” Lance said grinning at his partner and friend, “we’ll talk tonight.  I have my communicator so I’ll message Iverson directly everything I find out.”

Frok nodded again, “I’ll see you tonight?”

“Yup, everything will work out.  Now scram before they find us.”

()

“Its staring at me,” Lance said as they walked up to the blue lion they had just found.  He didn’t like it when alien tech stared at him.  The last time that had happened…well…it was the hardest report he’d had to write.

“We just have to get past the barrier somehow,” Keith said running his hands over the energy field.  Lance almost winced.  No one should just touch an energy field without first testing it with their shoe or something.

“Maybe if you just knock,” Lance said and tapped the filed that Keith had just proven to be safe.  Keith the energy field testing shoe.

The barrier disappeared, shocking everyone as they all witnessed what Voltron really was.  What exactly its function as a weapon was.

This was amazing.  Lance stood in awe as everyone cowered as the lion lowered its head to him. 

This.

Was.

PERFECT!

This was what they needed!  Oh, he didn’t have to worry about that lecture now!  If he flew this back to the garrison then he’d be praised, and Iverson would have to acknowledge that he’d done the right thing!

“Out of the frying pan and into cool waters,” Lance sang as he sat in the pilots chair.  The others came up behind him and the screens came up.  Familiar with holographic screens and alien tech in general he was able to gauge just how much power this thing possessed. 

“So…awesome,” Lance breathed and heard a rumbling in his ear- no, it was inside his ear!  Scowling Lance shook his head.  He really did not like sentient alien tech, but maybe the Jurmites would be able to make sense of this thing.  They were a tech savvy race and would be drooling to get their hands on this.

The Purring continued and as he listened, he found he could understand it.  It was like he could see, in his mind, what the lion wanted him to do.  So he reached out and pushed the buttons and grabbed both levers.  With fiendish joy he leaped into the air.

()

Autopilot.

Curse autopilot!

Lance did his best to direct the lion to the garrison.  The purring in his ear arguing with him over what they should do.  The argument went like this:

“We’re staying on Earth!”

“We’re leaving.”

“Staying!”

“Leaving.”

Lance hissed as he wrestled with the alien tech.  Everyone screaming around him was not helping. 

“Where are you going?!” Keith snapped as they broke the atmosphere.

“I. Don’t. Know,” Lance snapped back, “Its not turning around!”

And then it appeared.  The Purple aliens ship!  Lance gut dropped.  The ship shouldn’t even have been able to get into he solar system, let alone right next to earth!  What was going on?!

The lion growled in his ear and turned his fear into a deep anger.

These jerks were not going to attack the planet he’d busted his butt protecting all this time!

“How about we play a little,” lance muttered, his voice matching the lions in his head as he pulled on the levers. 

A laser beam shot out of the lions mouth as he dodged the shots that were fired at him.  All his training being put to use.  How many times had he been in an aerial fight with alien tech?  …well, once…technically, and he’d not been the one flying, but he’d been in plenty of ground fights. 

“This isn’t a simulator lance!” Pidge shrieked in his face.

“A good thing too,” Lance shouted, his adrenaline pumping, “The simulator sucks!”

Putting damage on the large purple alien ship, Lance continued to taunt it until it started to turn around.

That’s right, Lance thought, follow me…Frok and Iverson are gonna kill me…

()

They landed in front of the castle and Lance shook himself. 

He didn’t know anything.

He was NOT familiar with alien tech.

He was NOT going to use his experiences to deal with this.

He was NOT going to give himself away.

He was a NORMAL Garrison cadet, with his friends.  The less intelligent one.  the loveable dork.  This was him.  This was who he was going to be until they could get back to Earth.  Hopefully he wouldn't have to flash his badge...they would be able to get home soon enough.

Chapter Text

Voltron was a natural high.

Lance had to admit that he was enjoying himself.  For the first time in his life he felt like a teenager (aside from the fact that they were in space and on the opposite side of the galaxy).  He let himself be the stupid one and loved every minute of it. Of course they were in danger and he could handle that just fine, but since there were, what, six other people to share the load, this was awesomely easy!  Before it had just been him.  And then him and Frok.  Now the work was spread out more.  He could actually chill!  He SLEPT and even picked up his sisters habit of skin care.  Because now he had the time!

He had had a little slip up when he’d protected Coran from an explosion.  He really should’ve noticed something was wrong before it had become like that.  

And when Pidge had said she was a girl, well, Lance had already known that too.  He had exclaimed loudly because he had wanted to not only hide the fact that he knew, but because he had assumed no one else knew.  And then came to find out that everyone had already guessed and he just made himself look incredibly ridiculous.

And he played with that image.  It wasn’t like he was PRETENDING to be someone he wasn’t, he was just behaving the way he would if he wasn’t an Agent.  The way he THOUGHT he would be like if he wasn’t an agent.  He was taking this time to be the teenager he never quite had to opportunity to be.  He wanted to be silly and he wanted to be on the same standing as his teammates. 

When they found a mall, Lance was more than a little excited.  A chance to go shopping without also being on a mission?  SCORE!

When Lance spotted the Earth store and the video game Lance made eye contact with the store owner.  His green skin becoming a bit more yellow with recognition.  Lance simply lifted one finger over his mouth and glared.  The alien nodded.  Lance had overseen some of the trade that went down in between other races and their planet.  Smuggling was a bit of an issue and looking inside he could tell that the agents that covered that section would have a field day with this store.

“A f-free Kalteneker with every purchase,” he said weakly, his eyes darting between Lance and his shops back door.

“What’s a Kalteneker?” Lance asked as if he didn’t already know.  Kalteneker was the name of the poor sap that had his whole herd just up and vanish into thin air.  Agent A9A3 had never found out who did it.

“A kalteneker is a kalteneker,” the shop owner said, now sweating even more.  Gee, lance thought, they could at least figure out that it’s called a cow.

“I have to have this!” Pidge cried looking at lance expectantly.  The way his niece did when they walked through the dollar store.

“With what money?” Lance asked.

“How much is it?”  Pidge rounded on the alien.  Lance glared behind pidges back and the Alien lowered the price.

“I think I have an idea,” Pidge said and grabbed lances arm, “You don’t sell that till I get back!”

“Not a problem,” the alien sighed.

He wasn’t working, so he wouldn’t bust the owner now, but Iverson would be getting the report at the end of the week.  Then maybe that poor agent that had been assigned to the kalteneker case could rest in peace.

Lance helped Pidge dig through the fountain for change and truly enjoyed himself.  When they got back to the store the alien happily handed Lance a cow.

“Just one?” Lance asked and the alien nodded.  Lance shrugged.  He would have preferred to go home with two to give back to the family it belonged to. 

()

“For someone who threw the biggest fit over not going back to Earth, you are annoyingly happy,” Keith said as Lance walked onto the bridge one morning after having gotten seven full hours of uninterrupted sleep.

“I’m flexible, Keith,” Lance sighed, “I still think we should go back.  But since all of you are dead set on NOT even going NEAR earth for a time, I might as well make the most of it.  I mean, don’t you get tired of being emo all the time?”

I know I did…

Keith rolled his eyes and Lance grinned.

Even though he WAS enjoying not balancing three lives at once, he was also trained better than that.  Once a week he used his issued communicator to send a written report to Iverson.  So far there had been no reply.  He wasn’t even sure his boss was getting them, but it made him feel a little better to write out the week and send it.  Let it not be said that he wasn’t at least TRYING to do his job.

They were coming on to the Blade of Marmora head quarters.  Slowly and methodically.  Shiro was making preparations and giving orders

“I’ll go with you,” Lance volunteered and was disappointed when Shiro chose Keith.  Well, not completely disappointed, he was also worried and now really wanted to be part of them going.

“Can’t three of us go?” Lance asked.

“Why do you wanna go so bad?” Keith asked, annoyed at Lance persistence.

“…to smack you over the head when you start getting angry,” Lance said dramatically, “Shiro’s too nice to do it when it needs to be done.”

“You are un-friggin-believable.”

Keith stormed away and Lance felt his spirits lift slightly. If he had known it would be this much fun to pick on the guy, he would’ve done it at the garrison too.  And then maybe his orders would not have changed…

After they left they all just hung out on the bridge and waited.  Lance occupied himself by counting the tiks and dobashes.  He’d felt his teammates pain when they were trying to figure out the time difference between Earths time measurements and everyone elses.  Lance had had to learn that when he was ten. 

“The next opening will be innnn…” Coran said, calculating it.

“Three Vargas,” Lance said absentmindedly.

“…you’re right,” Coran turned and looked at him and Lance became aware of everyones eyes on him.

Well…crap…

“What, don’t look at me, it was a lucky guess,” he waved them off and didn’t say anything else for the rest of the time.

When Red was seen attacking the base, Lance, although as worried as everyone else, had the hardest time not just laughing.  What had he said to keith, don’t get angry?  And here his CAT was getting angry!  It was too funny!

When they arrived back with two Blades to meet them, and the saw just how trashed Keith was, Lance felt his own temper rise slightly.

He eyed the Galra that had come aboard and, when he accidently made eye contact with one, he switched his face immediately to his practiced disarming smile.  He listened as Shiro and Keith told them what had happened and, even though keith seemed perfectly fine with everything, Lance shared Shiros irritation that they would just beat the tar out of someone that was technically one of them. 

“Well, if you’re ok with how it all went,” Hunk said shooting the galra a glance that would’ve shocked rubber, “then we’re ok too.”

“Not cool,” Pidge said ever the direct one among them, “seriously, not cool.”

()

“Running, Running, Running!” Lance shouted as they ran down the hall of a Galra base. 

“Shut!  Up!” Pidge shouted back, “You’re-“

A shot passed a little too close to her head.  Lance reached over and grabbed her arm while Hunk grabbed her other one. 

“Then Move Faster!”

The next serious of shots separated them.  They were too large of a target.

Hunk and Pidge dove into one corridor and Lance down another, mainly because Hunk was so scared, he couldn’t let go of her arm and Lance had shoved them both in that direction. 

Turning two sharp corners Lance dodged into a dark room, covering his mouth and nose, forcing himself to breathe slower and quieter even though his heart was pounding.  He listened to the sentries in the hall and turned his back to the door.  It wouldn’t be safe to leave just yet.

They had only been there to get some information.  Pidge had taken a bit longer to get their logs and whatever else she needed to aid in her search for her brother and dad.  Which had lead them to be discovered. 

He looked around the room he’d chosen as his hideaway and almost gagged. 

There was a table with what he was positive was blood on it.  It was even on the floor.  Lance steeled himself and moved around the room, looking for anything that he could report on that would help them fight back or protect Earth.  The Table was long and Lance tried to avoid looking at it for too long.

“You guys could at least clean up after yourselves,” Lance muttered darkly, “freaking bio-hazard.”

As he made his way to the other side he noticed that it wasn’t just blood on the floor, but hair as well.

He reached down and picked up the hair, holding it closer to the small light source in the room  to get a better look at it.

The color was a deep red, and it was course, more like fur than hair, but it was long, so it had to be hair, right?  Lance shrugged and dropped it, wiping his hand on this armor. 

The drawers wouldn’t open so he could get a look inside. And so, Lance simply waited for the right time to leave.

()

Hunk and Pidge had also found a place to hide.  It was a store room and they helped themselves to whatever they found that look interesting.  Also stealing the bags that held the other stuff they were taking. 

As they were clearing out the bottom shelves, Hunk came across a photo.

It was stained with who-knew-what and was ripped and taped up.  He handed it to Pidge and they both tried to make out the faces in the picture.  It was clear that one was not human, or that one was in a costume of some sort and the other was much shorter, like a little kid. 

Other than that, they had nothing.

There was a loud noise outside the door and Hunk pocketed the picture without thinking.  With their ear to the door they heard a very Earth like swearword.

“Don’t scare me like that,” Lance hissed.  Hunk and Pidge had both burst out of their own hiding place when they had heard Lance.  “I thought you guys were already gone.”

“Please,” Pidge hissed back, “we hid like the smart people we are, now hurry and let’s go.”

“What’s with the bags?”

“Souvenirs,” They both said and Lance just shrugged.

Chapter Text

Before Their battle with Zarkon, Lance sent out two reports. 

And sighed as he had still not received even one message.  Anything to know that they were getting his reports would’ve been nice, but, like always, there was nothing.  Nada.  Zilch. 

Frankly it was starting to get on his nerves. 

They had been gone for MONTHS by now.  Just thinking about the length of time that had gone by gave him a major fit of anxiety. 

To calm himself down, he told himself that after this fight, they could go home.

After this fight…

So the last message Lance sent to Iverson, hopefully, was simply a request that Iverson NOT give away his position that he’d worked so hard to secure and that whoever was partnered with Frok while he was away step down upon his return…oh, and that he NOT be fired or summarily punished for the events that were outside of his control.  I mean, it was the least they could do since he had helped save the universe, right?

So, looking forward to getting home, Lance joined the others for their last fight.

()

Or.

What was supposed to be their last fight.

Why was Shiro gone? Where had he gone?  If one of them had died, then they could at least mourn and take the body home to be buried, but there wasn’t anything.

“We can’t leave until we help to clean up,” Keith stressed but Lance shook his head.

“If we go home we’ll be able to regroup better.”

“I’m with Keith, sorry Lance,” Hunk said apologetically, “I think we should stay and get things done while we can.  The sooner we do this the sooner we can get home.”

“And I still have yet to find my brother or my father,” Pidge stressed, “I’m not going home till then any way, so we might as well stay.”

Lance grit his teeth.

Oh how he wanted to just order them to go home…I mean, he DID have the authority…

“What I think we should talk about right now,” Allura said softly, “is who will become the new black paladin.  If the Black lion doesn’t accept any of you, then we must go and search for a new leader.”

“We still haven’t searched for Shiro!” Keith snapped, “he’s only been gone for a few days!  We can’t write him off as dead yet!”

Oh yes we can, Lance thought, but kept his mouth shut.

“Keith, we’re all sad he’s gone-“

“He’s not gone!  We don’t know that for sure!”

“KEITH!” Allura actually pounded the table in front of her, “We can’t even begin to search effectively till this matter is settled.  If Shiro is still the lions paladin, then the lion won’t react to anyone.  But we NEED Voltron, do you understand?”

Keith stood and left the room.  He understood, he just didn’t like it. 

Lance for one, saw this as an opportunity.  If he could be the leader of the team, then they could go back to Earth.

()

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Lance, VERY disappointed that he wasn’t chosen and a little more defeated when the black lion chose Keith, had to hold back.  He had never, in all his life, seen a man look so sick at the thought of a promotion. 

Keith looked like the world had just ended and someone was force feeding him Corans cooking. 

Lance didn’t think he should laugh, even though he really wanted to.  Instead he thought he should share some of his limited wisdom. 

Frok wasn’t the first partner Lance had worked with.  So he had experience with losing a comrade.  It hurt and it sucked, but he also knew, through hard experience, that digging your heals in wasn’t going to get them back.

“Look,” Lance said gripping his shoulder, “This will be good.  You lead the team.  We’ll follow.  Pidge will look for her family.  And we can look for Shiro on the way.  This is your call.  So step up, ok?  We’re right behind you.”

A little responsibility should be good for him, Lance thought as Keith nodded and looked a little better.  The guy was a little too serious for Lance to really be friendly with, but he really didn’t hate the guy as much as he had at first.

()

And just like that, Lance wanted to retract that thought.

He hated Keith with every fiber of his being.

“When I said we’d follow you, I didn’t mean to our deaths!”

Oh, no response?  How original, Lance seethed as they did their best to catch up with Keith.  He was going off half cocked and that only ended in a blown off hand. 

Their new leader had taken it into his head to go after Lotor, the new threat to their goal of peace.  To cut the preverbal head off while the sword was still unsheathed, so to speak.  And that was all well and good, but he hadn’t said anything until AFTER he was already chasing him down and his TEAM was still doing their own thing!

To make matters worse, it wasn’t just Keith that had to get used to a new lion.  Lance was now in the red lion for some unholy reason!  He couldn’t fathom why Blue just decided to kick him out. 

“Keith, Please wait up!” Hunk called from the slowest Lion.

Still Keith didn’t respond.

When Lance had though the responsibility would be good for him, he neglected to remember that the boy WAS half Galra and the Galra were not known to think things through very well.  Lance could think of a few alien races that were like that closer to home, but none were as infuriating as Keith was!

And because of their unpreparedness, Lotor decided to take them for a ride.

Did Lance blame him.

Sadly, no.

He would’ve done the same thing.  One by one they all were separated and Lance, by luck alone, was able to stay in sight of keith.

“Keith if you don’t stop right now, so help me-“

“We just have to find him!”

“KEITH!  SHUT UP!  DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF?!”  Lance roared, “We are separated!  We have no idea where our own people are, how do you expect to find the enemy!?”

“We’ll-“

“We need to fall back.”

“NO, we-“

Lance slammed his lion into Black, “Do I need to hit you again?  I will!”

“You all made me the leader, so just-“

“That’s right!” Lance cut him off, “We made you the leader, so are you going to get us all killed or are you actually going to start leading?  You can go on suicide missions all you want when you’re alone, Keith, but once you’re responsible for someone else the game changes!  We got your back!  We’re here!  Do you have ours?!”

Lance waited for the response.  He didn’t know what he could do if Keith still insisted on continuing this charade.  Lance understood grief, but this, this was scary. 

“…sorry…”

Oh thank every deity, Lance breathed out the breath he’d been holding. 

“Alright, now that we have you back,” Lance said and thought, your human half at least, “how do we get out of this?”

()

The days that went by were…slow.  They trained together and reformed their ties and bonds.  But it was clear that, even though he was a lot better, Keith was still depressed. 

In the message that Lance sent that week he did more than a little trash talking about a particular agent back home who apparently didn’t do his job correctly.

Chapter Text

Lance was helping hunk with the laundry.  The bags he and Pidge had stolen from the galra base so long ago were now their laundry bags. 

They talked and as Lance turned one of them upside down, the photo hunk and pidge had found floated to the ground.

“I found that,” Hunk said, “I didn’t realize I’d kept it…Lance?”

His friends face had gone so pale it was green.  Lance held the picture and just stared at it. 

Lance tried to say something but had to clear his throat first, “…mm, where did you find…this?”

“the store room where we got the bags,” Hunk said, “why?”

Lance shook his head, “Sorry, Hunk, can I leave you to finish up?  There’s something I’ve got to do.”

He left before Hunk could say anything else, or worse, ask any questions.

Lance practically ran to his room, pulled out his issued com unit, and sent the following message:

Agent B1A5 request immediate response.

Agent B1A5 code Gradient679 request immediate response.

Agent B1A5 – I have found evidence of another Agents activity in enemy territory.  Request reason for this and a response.

“Please?” Lance voice broke as the feeling in his gut sunk deeper.  The red hair and blood in the room he’d found, it could easily have been Froks.  The picture in his hand was the picture he’d taken himself when he’d finally accepted Frok as a partner.  He was sure of it. The stains and rips couldn’t hide the familiar background of their mission together and the outfits they had been forced to wear.

()

“You didn’t eat lunch, you should at least eat dinner,” Hunk snapped shoving the plate almost near the edge of the table in front of Lance.  Lance continued to play with the food instead of eating it. 

He needed to go.

“You’ve been in a mood for the last few days,” Pidge added, “care to share?”

Lance ignored her.

He was pinned.  He was in a stalemate and there was no going back.  Every choice he made was going to be the wrong one from here on out.

Keith scowled.  He hadn’t noticed lances mood, having been in a mood himself, but now that the others were mentioning it, Lance did seem pretty down.

“Perhaps tomorrow we should take the day off,” Allura suggested.  She was looking between both Keith and Lance.  She feared that the mood of the leader was beginning to rub off on everyone else.

“We’ll be stopping by the next planet to join our alliance,” Coran reminded them, “so you can take a break after the meeting we have with their leadership!”

Suddenly lance head snapped up, “Pidge!”

“What?!” Pidge jumped.

“can you… I ask you for a favor...later?”  Lance seemed to be rethinking whatever it was he was going to ask her.

“Sure,” she said and leaned away from him, “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said and grinned, “just fine.  Well I’m full, see you all tomorrow.”

He stood and left, and it wasn’t until after he was gone for a while that hunk noticed that he still hadn’t taken a single bite of his dinner.

()

Lance walked into Pidges and hunks lab area.  After he made sure it was just her in the room.  Hunk would ask too many questions even after Lance would tell him to stop.  Pidge wasn’t one that needed to be told twice.

“What’s up?” she asked, “Make it a quick favor.  We’re landing in a few hours.”

“I need you to look up the security feed you stole from that Galra base a long time ago.”

“you’re gonna have to be more specific than that.”

“The one where you and Hunk got your laundry bags from.”

“Oh, that one,” She turned to her computer and began to search her files, “What are you looking for?”

“I want pictures of every prisoner that’s gone through there.”

“who are we looking for?”

“I’ll know it when I see it.”

“Lance,” she turned to him with an incredulous look, “hundreds of prisoners went through that base on a daily basis.  You got to give me something.”

“Red hair,” Lance said, “tall, tusks, but the left one is chipped.”

Pidge waited for more, but Lance just stared at her.

“Aaaaannnd….”

“Long, red hair.”

“Lance!”

“That’s all I can tell you!” Lance stressed and pouted, “Please?  Pidge?  Pretty please?”

“I’m going to cut off that lip if you suck it back in.”

Lance grinned, “Thanks!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Pidge sighed, “Give me a few days to go through it all.”

()

It took a while, but it finally hit Keith that Lance looked like crap.  The normally energetic paladin was now painfully fake at best and apathetic the rest of the time. 

And it was getting worse every day.

During a coalition gathering, he noticed Lance slip out.  He also watched as Coran made to follow him.  He stopped the ginger.

“I’ll go, you stay and back up Allura.”

Coran nodded and went back into the crowd. 

Keith found Lance on the observation deck and moodily eating a suspicious lollie-pop he and Pidge had gotten from the space mall.  He didn’t quite know how to handle people, but he felt bad, thinking, like Allura had, that Lances mood was his fault.

He sat next to him and tried to think about how Shiro would handle this.

“Crowds suck,” he said and winced.  Looking over at Lance the only response he got was a shrug.  Keith couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and if he didn’t know what was wrong then how could he fix it, and he also knew that if he came right out and asked, Lance would get angry or say something stupid. 

Keith hated people.

“Sorry.”

Keith stated a little, “what?”

“I shouldn’t’ve followed you,” Lance said, still blank faced, staring out the large window, “should’ve just let you take shiro on your own and went back to the garrison. Should’ve faced detention and gone to see Iverson.  Should’ve just left before we went into that stupid cave.  I had the chance, and I should’ve just gone.”

They lapsed into a long silence as Ketih tried to puzzle out why Lance had said what he did.  Was there a meaning behind it?  Was this the actual problem or not?  Why did he have to be so cryptic?!

Then it occurred to him that he was expecting Lance to talk to him about himself when he, Keith hadn’t said anything either.  Keith had just figured it wasn’t any of their business or that it didn’t matter.  But then remembered that Shiro had talked about himself a lot before he had opened up to him.

“Shiro is really the only family I have left,” Keith said instead, thinking this might be best, “so thank you for helping me get him out.  Ahhh, after…after my dad died I was was passed around from one family to the next.  I didn’t understand why and I was angry all the time.  Shiro was the only one that thought I could make something of myself.  I’m sorry for the way I’ve acted recently…so why the hell are you laughing?!”

“I’m…really sorry,” Lance choked, trying so hard to keep it all in, “if you’re trying to open up to make me feel more comfortable, then thank you, but you really need to pay attention to your own facial expressions.  You…you look like you’ve stepped in something smelly on your way to your first job interview!”

He doubled over laughing and Keiths face burned.  He was embarrassed, but at least Lance wasn’t brooding anymore. 

Chapter Text

When Pidge finally got him a list of screenshots of all the prisoners she’d found with long red hair, she just sent it to him through their com units. 

He was flicking through the list when Hunk came banging on his door.

“LANCE!  WE FOUN- KEITH FOUND SHIRO!”

()

Shiro was a mess and a half.  Lance always thought the man looked stressed, but he now looked stressed and unhinged.  He was a mess and, looking from Keith to shiro, he respectfully backed off, dragging the others with him. 

They needed a family meeting.

()

“No, you need to double back around!”

Lance waited for Keiths final say, but when it didn’t come he thought he should poke, “You’re call, Keith!”

“Che.”

()

Since Shiro had come back they were even more busy than before.  For some reason there was a new rise in Galra defiance.  Even Lance didn’t have the time to look through the rest of the screenshots Pidge had sent him.  By the time they’d get back to the castle they would barely make it back to their room before they’d fall asleep. 

The Black lion no longer saw shiro as its paladin and was not giving up keith as the leader.  Lance was fine with this, but he wished Shiro would ease up a little.  No one liked a back seat driver.  It was so annoying Lance almost flashed his badge and took over a few times.

The ship was strategically stationed on a planet right in the middle of everything going wrong.  Lance still was able to send a weekly report, but they were shorter and often he’d have to send it the next morning because he would fall asleep in the middle. 

The pull of needing to find answers and not having the time was starting to drive him crazy.

“Keith, i need to talk to you.”

Keith opened the door and Lance pushed past him.

“I won’t beat around the bush,” lance said quickly, “Shiro’s back and really, there has already been too many of us.  So if you want Red back, then that’s fine.”

Take it. 

“What are you even on about,” Keith asked a little put off by how fast Lance was talking.

“I’m saying, that you can take Red back if Black takes Shiro back, I’m just opening the door of possibilities here.  Allura is doing fantastic with Blue and I’m NOT opposed to taking a back seat and helping out Coran around the castle.”

Take the offer!

Keith let this sink in.  Was this what was eating Lance this whole time? …no, he was moody before they found Shiro.  But this was obviously the root of what was going on.  Keith could see that Lance was desperate, but for what?

“Lance, you’re a vital part of the team,” Keith said, choosing his words carefully, “before we jump the gun, let’s just deal with things as they come about.”

SINCE WHEN?!

Lance kept his face still, but in his mind he was screaming.  Since when was Hot-head Keith the type to just sit back and wait for things to come about?! 

Instead of blowing up, Lance smiled, “thanks…”

“Aren’t you fond of saying that everything will work out?” Keith added with a grin on his own.

Having his own words face him was like a knife thrust to the abdomen.  How would it all work out?  He was a lone agent in the middle of a team he couldn’t debrief!  His partner could be in danger and, for all Lance knew, his world was ending with every day he was out of touch with the agency. 

“Yeah,” Lance said and gave a half-hearted chuckle, “but I’m serious.  I have no problem with giving Red back to you.”

“Thanks, but you’re doing just fine with Red,” Keith said, still not understanding why Lance was pushing the issue, “But we have a long day tomorrow sooo...”

“Yeah,” Lance said again, “Good night.”

Lance left and Keith felt like he’d accomplished something and had done a good job.

()

Pidge had found her brother, finally.  And what did the sucker do the moment he landed?  He hit on Allura.  Lance glared and tried to look menacing, but to no avail. 

But all in all, Lance had to admit that Matt was a good guy.  He watched him with Pidge and thought about how his own brothers and sisters would listen to him prattle on and how they had done everything to support him in his…more than selfish choices. 

()

When Lance had gotten back to his room, after a particularly long day, he habitually picked up the issued com unit and glanced at it, then, also out of habit he tossed it back onto his bed before it clicked in his brain that there had been a message in his inbox. And not just one, but dozens!

Diving onto his bed and, with shaking fingers, fumbled with it until he got the messages up, they all said the same thing:

#38 Supirior Iverson- Agent B1A5, continue as if assigned.  We receive your reports and find them useful.  Security is being increased.  Give your new team level 4 clearance.  DO NOT engage with Agent Frok. 

Lance felt a weight lift from his gut and shoulders.  He finally had permission and orders.  And they knew Frok was out. 

Almost sobbing with relief, Lance went to bed, fully clothed, and slept much easier than he had before. 

Chapter Text

Iverson was working late, grading papers, when his com unit blinked with a new message.

Agent B1A5 – Received messages. Will do as ordered. Request information on Froks mission and full disclosure to Voltron if situation demands.

Iverson scowled.  He’d sent out almost 58 messages all reading the same, in hopes one of them would get through.  It had been about time.  But in all honesty, this message itself was probably sent weeks ago. 

His only hope was to send a reply as fast as possible and hope he made it in time.

“Commander,” Captain McClain entered his office, knocking lightly on the door, “what are you still doing here?”

Iverson thought for a moment, then shrugged, “I just got a message from your brother.”

Veronica was practically shoving Iverson out of the way to read the message.

“Man, you think he’d have something more interesting to say,” she scoffed.

“You didn’t have his training,” Iverson shoved her back to get her out of his bubble, “we offered all of you a position-“

“Did not.”

“Marco was not going to make it,” Iverson shook his head, “trust me. But Lance was the only one that picked up the offer.  He’s been a good agent.  Insubordinate and a handful, and a terrible cadet, but he’s always gotten the job done.”

“I’ve had to work really hard to keep mom from giving you the third degree.”

Iverson sighed.  It was not his business to upset widows.  In fact, he had taken Lances messages and, after taking out anything classified, he’d send it on to his family so they knew he was ok.  It was harder to deal with the other families who didn’t have the level of clearance that the McClains had. 

“If it helps, I did order him back to garrison.  Its HER son that decided to ignore the order.”

“Yeah, you try telling that to her face, and I’ll watch.”

()

Lance tried, and failed, to get everyone in the same room at the same time.  And It was impossible to keep track of Keith these days.  He was always off with the Blades.  Which wasn’t a bad thing, Lance reflected.  It would be SO much easier if they had a closer relationship with them before they went back home so they could be introduced to the agency council. 

When the chips hit the fan and Keith wasn’t there, the team was…upset. 

And when it was reviled that he’d done it on purpose so that he could leave and be with the Blades full time…well, Lance was …upset.

While they all wished him luck Lance secretly hoped someone would blow the guys leg off.

()

While the team got back into the swing of things, Lance completely forgot to tell them about his job.  He worked at not sucking at piloting. 

He had hated it when he’d been stationed at the garrison as a pilot, but he knew it was only because he couldn’t pretend to be a Tech or an Engineer.  He was already a certified pilot, but his training had been quick and in-field.  His style had been practical which was why he had a personal grudge against the simulator.  Real life and that stupid machine were two very different experiences. 

Still, He’d been a Leg last time Shiro was the head.  Being Keiths right arm was more of what Lance was used to.  The practical, ‘how about we try this’ approach to flying.

Being Shiros right arm was…difficult.  Shiros style was more rigid and disciplined.  Keeping up with him was taking all of Lances focus and then some.

When they worked with the Blades or worked with the planets in their coalition, Lance would do his best to focus on the problems at hand. 

And then he received his second response message:

Superior Iverson – Agent Frok is not your concern at this time.  He has his orders.  Due to the infrequency of our correspondence, I am personally taking all responsibility in giving you permission to give full clearance IF, and only if, the situation demands it.  I am pleased to hear that Shiro and Matt are alive.  Your mother threatens me daily.  Your sister wishes you to write more.  Please don’t.

Lance nodded to himself and replied. 

()

Keith had been working with the Blades for a while and he liked it.  He preferred the single infiltration and, as lance had said before, if he was going to do suicide missions, then it was best to do it alone.

He and Vrek were hiding in a Galra ship, waiting for the opportunity to steal some information on the ships log.  They watched from the ceiling as the enemy standing in front of the computer finally stepped away.  They waited a few extra doboshes to make sure the way was clear.

But before they could jump down, someone else entered the room.  A broad-shouldered alien, in a prisoners outfit, walked up to the computer and began to punch in a code.

Keith and Vrek exchanged a look, and continued to watch.

The prisoner took a small device and hooked it up to the ship.  Downloading information form or to, they couldn’t tell.

Keith motioned for him to stay put and be back up.  Vrek nodded and Keith lowered himself to the floor.

Keith was trying to figure out a way to let the prisoner know he was there without spooking him, but when Keith took a step towards him, the prisoner pivoted and threw a punch that Keith just barely dodged. 

Keith jumped back and held up his hands to show he was no threat.  The Prisoners large eyes narrowed as he looked Keith in the face.  Keith lowered his hood, another show of faith.

“Tch,” the prisoner stood and went back to the computer.  A little taken aback, Keith moved to stand next to him.  The prisoner ignored him, but didn’t stop him from observing. 

On the prisoners fingers were sentries armor.  That’s how he’d been able to get past the galra security and not set off any alarms. 

Color Keith impressed.

As for what the prisoner was doing…

Keith watched as he uploaded a series of numbers that confused him.  It was times like these that he wished he still had Pidge and Hunk nearby. 

“It’s a marker,” the prisoner said quietly, his words whistling around the large fangs that jutted from either side of his mouth, “it lets us know when this ship, or any that share its server, is within a certain distance from my planet.”

“…cool,” Keith said, only because he felt he should say something.

“I don’t know why you’re here or what you’re doing,” the prisoner continued, “but do try to not mess with this program.  Undo what I do here, and you will regret it.”

Was that a threat?

When the prisoner was done he took his small device and placed it in a holder under the half shirt of the outfit. 

“Do your best,” the prisoner said narrowing his eyes once more, “and try not to just give up this time.”

It was like being smacked in the face with a frying pan!  What did this guys mean by ‘this time’?!  By the time Keith collected himself enough to respond, the prisoner was long gone. 

“Chatty one,” Vrek said landing next to keith, “not a bad idea, though.  We should speak to Kolivan about this.”

Chapter Text

“We need to take this initiative and punch through,” Shiro said, “The last planet to solidify our fighting lines is here.  Kicking out the Galra with everyone on our side should be a piece of cake.  But we also can't afford to have anything go wrong.”

The meeting consisted of everyone.  Rebels, Blades, Voltron, and the surrounding planets that would be aiding them in the fight themselves.  It wasn’t really the difficulty of the mission so much as the importance that it had.  Shiro was giving this speech not only to lay out their plans, but to boost morale.

And he did a fantastic job of it.

They had left the planet they had stationed themselves on and Lance no longer got the messages he’d become so fond of receiving. 

()

A ‘close call’ is what inexperienced individuals call a brush with death.  Lance preferred the term ‘a close shave’ because a ‘call’ didn’t implicate the possibility of getting your throat slit open.

What they had done was stupid.  In hind sight he realized they hadn’t done HALF the research that they should have.  Why had they realized the planet was a bomb only AFTER landing on it?  Why was the planet there to begin with? Did the Galra have that much foresight to predict exactly where they needed to place a huge multiple-star-system-destroying BOMB?! 

Every time he thought about how close they all had come to that ‘close shave’, even years down the road, it would raise the hairs on the back of Lances neck. 

Of course this was all speculation that happened AFTER they smacked Keith around.

“What, Where, you, THINKING!” Hunk shouted hitting Keiths arm with every word.

“He wasn’t thinking,” Pidge snapped glaring at him, “Wasn’t that always his problem?”

“Ow, stop it, hey- ow!”

Lance just watched when Keith turned to him, Keith found only a cold look and knew he wouldn’t be saved from Hunks tough love any time soon. 

“As adorable as this is, I would like to discuss this matter at hand,” Lotor replied. 

Lance felt goosebumps rise as he glared at their former enemy.  He had just swooped in out of nowhere, cool as you please, and the only reason he stood inside the castle unharmed was because he had stopped Keiths stupid stunt.

“I will surrender,” Lotor replied, raising his hands again, “I just wish us to be allies.”

“And I wish to go home, but that’s not happening, now is it?” Lance sneered. 

“The point,” Allura cut in, “is why.  Why now?”

“Why not?” Lotor asked back and Lance rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated groan, “Zarkon has ruled for so long that the empire itself doesn’t know what to do with themselves.  War is all many of my people know.  I have been working on setting up a world were we can settle down on, to go back to the way things were.  I still have yet to find anything, but I caught hold of what the Witch was trying to do and thought I should come and help you stop her.  I didn’t want to approach you until I could put my plans into motion and offer you an actual treaty.  As it stands, Zarkon is still alive and I have little to no influence.”

“But you have information,” Keith said, “would you part with that?”

“I would,” Lotor said, “I can tell you everything you would like to know.”

Lance didn’t like this.  Lotor was way to calm.  He acted the way he himself did when he was bluffing.

“And the truth?” Lance asked.

“I have told you the truth-“

“No, no, I mean the truth behind the truth,” Lance said grinning, showing his barred teeth, “I want your motives, the dark little secrets that you’re hiding with all that bull about caring for your people.  I want your end goal.”

Lotor just stared at him in confusion.  Lance had to hand it to the guy, he knew how to control his face.  But he couldn’t hide the slight tensing of his shoulders and the way he braced his legs.  Lance had interrogated enough people to know he’d made his point clear.

“I do not hide behind my people,” Lotor said slowly, “I have done what I can FOR them.  One can only do so much from the edge of the void.  When I was brought back into the center of the empire, I’ll admit, I let myself go a little.  I felt the need to tease you a little, but I wasn’t aiming to hurt you, that I promise.”

“And the comet you stole?”

Lance sighed, and there went his line of questioning.  They had just given Lotor an out with that question.

“I took it because I had need of it,” he replied, “you already have five lions, if I, too, am to fight against my father, I figured I would need the same kind of power.”

“All figures lie and all liars figure,” Lance muttered.  Pidge was the only one standing close enough to him to hear.  She snickered and Lances grinned widened. 

()

Lance yawned. 

Lotor was in the brig.  Good.  For a moment there he thought they would buy completely into his bull and let him free in the ship.

Lance was almost to his room when Keith came up behind him.

“Hey, you ok?”

Lance gave what he hoped was a look that showed all of his distain. 

“What?”

“The nerve…”

“hey, you just didn’t seem to approve of what had happened in there, so I wanted to see what you thought.”

“No one,” Lance said opening the door to his room, “Flips sides out of the blue without motive, you can quote me on that.”

“I know that,” Keith snapped, “I also don’t think it was a coincidence that he arrived when he did.”

“The impact of his arrival wouldn’t have been so great if you’d not set up the stage for him.”

“I wasn’t thinking-“

“HA! Obviously.”

“What’s that?”

Lance had been taking off his shoes and looked up to see Keith pointing to his issues com unit.  Thinking of an excuse fast he said, “it’s a doo-hicky that hunk had on his work bench.  I was goofing off with it and-“

“I’ve seen it before lance.”

Not from me, lance thought, “what do you mean?”

Keith told him about the prisoner that had been breaking into the galra ships system.  Keith had just wanted a few answers but he didn’t expect the reaction he got.

Lance gave a laughing shout and beamed, “Mother Mary BLESS!”

He continued to laugh and Keith waited for him to calm down.

“…do you know who that was?”

“Only my best friend,” Lance said grinning in a way that he hadn’t in a long while, “I’m glad he’s alive. I was kind of worried there.”

“He threatened me.”

“What? Nooo, Not him.  He’s a tender soul.”

“How did you get to know him?”

Lance opened his mouth to answer then stopped.  In his joy at hearing about his partner, he’d almost given information that was level three clearance.  They only had the official go ahead for level 4.

“Ahmmm…Can we perhaps talk about this tomorrow?  I actually would like to tell everyone at the same time so I’m not repeating my self over and over again.”

Keith scowled. And Lance let him glare all he wanted.

“Fine,” Ketih sighed, “tomorrow.”

He stormed out of the room and lance shrugged.  He’d been meaning to tell them all long before this, but had never really had the time.  Getting it out in the open would be good for him. 

Chapter Text

Everyone was tense as they sat, waiting for Lance to show up.  Lance had Coran called them all to the lounge so he could tell them ‘something’. 

Only the Blades hadn’t left yet after their last mission, so they were there as well.

When lance did show up he looked somber and everyone began to worry even more.

“Everyone,” he said, “we are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Keith Mullet.  Who was killed in the line of stupidity-“

Pidge busted out laughing and Lance grinned.  Keith was not amused.

“Tell me that wasn’t why you called us here,” Shiro said, looking pained.

“Right,” Lance cleared his throat, “I’ve actually never done this before.  Umm, I guess the easiest way to start is to show you this.”

He puled out a pin and handed it to Shiro.  Everyone leaned over to get a look at it.  It was about the size of a quarter, but was the shape of an eye that was divided by three grooves.  In each section was an engraved star. 

“I am a Three-Star Field Agent of the Tri-World Council Agency.  I did NOT come up with the name,” he gave a small chuckle, as did Pidge, but other than confusion on Hunks face, everyone else was deadpanned.  So he continued, “the fact is Earth has been dealing with aliens for a LONG time.  We are in an alliance with two other planets and between the three of us we’ve been able to hold the Galra off and other threats.” 

“Wait,” Hunk held up a hand and Lance paused.  He let what he had said so far sink in.

“You’re telling us you’re a member of MIB?” Pidge said, her lips twitching, prepared for this to be another joke.

“Words do not explain how much I hate those movies,” Lance said, and meant it. 

 “So…aliens ARE everywhere?”

“No,” Lance answered, “we respect each others worlds and privacy.  Occasionally, we get a rogue moron who thinks moving to the other planet without the proper authority is a good idea.  That’s where we come in.”

Pidge laughed, “good one.  seriously, why are we here?”

“It’s the truth,” Lance sighed, “The pin is basically my badge.  I show that to people and I get to take over any investigation I choose.  Its also gotten me out of jail a lot more than I’ll honestly admit.  The fact that I have three stars on my badge means I am capable of traveling between all three planets.  One star just means you’re limited to work on Earth.”

Shiro shook his head, “what else do you do?”

“We handle the messy stuff that get’s by our barriers and shields.  A little before we got the news that the Kerboros mission was a bust, we were getting an Unwanted Entity, or a stranger alien not in our council,  coming in almost every night.  So there was something wrong with the barrier.  If there hadn’t been anything wrong, then Kerberos would’ve been a success.”

“Sooo your job iiissss…?”

“It can’t be very difficult,” Pidge added.

“My Job is mostly to pick up the loose aliens in town, question them as to why they were there and either send them on their way or throw them in a nice little jail building we have specifically for them.  And basically I do most of the odd jobs no one else wants to do.  I’m muti-skilled so I get stuck with the missions that go above everyones head.”

“How did you get this…job?”  Shiro asked.

“How ARE you able to DO it?!” Pidge challenged.

Lance smiled and ignored Pidge, “Classified.  But I can tell you that its because I have a horrible sense of direction.”

“That makes more sense…”

“OH no,” Keith said, “You’ve told us this much, now is the time to spill your guts.”

“Can’t,” Lance shrugged, “You only have level 4 clearance.  That information is level 3.”

“How did we get level four clearance all of a sudden?”

Lance thought for a moment.  He had to word things just right.

“When we left Earth I was on a mission of sorts, so I had a communicator that goes straight to Iverson-“

“IVERSON?!”

“Yeah-“

“WHY IVERSON?!”

Lance sighed, “Iverson is the reason the three planets are working together instead of fighting each other.  contrary to popular belief, he’s actually a good guy.”

“Lies,” Keith snapped and Lance shot him a glare.

“Anyway, I’ve been sending him updates of what’s been going on out here.  I finally received an answer back a little while ago.  He told me he was able to get you limited clearance and that only under pain of death was I to tell you anymore.”

“We’re fighting the empire straight on!  We probably know more than HE does!  We’re on the front lines, how much clearance do we really need to-“

“I don’t make the rules,” Lance cut in, “I can only guess that its to protect the other planets in our alliance.  They are even more touchy about strangers visiting their worlds than we are.”

“But they’re ok with you,” Pidge asked picking up the three star pin from Shiros hand.

“I worked my butt off for that privilege, don’t let anyone tell you different,” Lance snapped.   

“Tell us what you did,” Hunik said, eyes wide, drinking everything in.  It made so much sense!  Why he was always tired, why he always knew the weirdest facts but could’ve for the life of him pass an exam!

“Can’t.  Most of the agents don’t have that level of clearance.”

“What level are you privy to?” Pidge threw the pin back at him.

“I know everything,” Lance said firmly, catching the pin and sticking it into his pocket, “You should’ve seen the look on Iversons face when I passed the last test, though…priceless.  Then he licked into me for getting a ‘D’ in English, so I guess its even.”

“So all those times Iverson called you into his office?”

“It was to give me a job to do,” Lance said, “Which is why I didn’t go that night shiro crashed.  I was supposed to be on vacation, and I refused to be given a job when I was promised time off.  Though, I really should’ve gone to see what he had to say.”

“And the guy I met…” Keith prompted.  He wanted more information on what he’d asked last night.

“The guy you met is my partner.  I can’t tell you anything about him, but he’s a good guy and you can totally rely on him.  But do not sneak up on him.  He’s jumpy.  Make some noise when you walk.”

“He told me to ‘not just give up this time’?”  Keith prompted again.

“Yeah, so?” Lance said raising an eyebrow, “what of it?”

“What did he mean ‘this time’?!”  Now Keith was sure that Lance had been talking about him behind his back.  He wanted Lance to admit it.

Lance rolled his eyes, “you quit the garrison, I’m guessing he’s telling you to not quit this fight half way through either.”

“I didn’t quit the garrison, I was expelled!”

“Because you lost your temper,” Lance added, “You quit.  You knew hitting Iverson would get you expelled and you did it anyway.  No control is the same as quitting.”

Keith had never heard it put that way before.  But it answered his question.  Just like the Blades, this agency had its own code and standards. 

“He probably just wanted to give you good advice,” Lance said shrugging, “as for what you called the threat he made, you really would regret messing up what he was doing because then Earth wouldn’t be able to protect itself and you’d no longer have a home to go back to.”

“So what is he doing?”

“Classified.  Iverson wouldn’t even tell me what it was, only to not interfere with his work.  But I can now pretty much guess what it is and, Keith, Kolivan, Please, don’t bother him, k?”

Koilvan simply nodded.  The news that Earth was more widely known in the galactic sphere that previously known was unimportant to him.

“Why do you get to meet this partner person,” Hunk muttered, scowling at Keith.

“So not fair,” Pidge shook her head, “so what are we supposed to do with this information?”

“Nothing as far as I know,” Lance shrugged, “we’re on our own out here and doing our own thing, but it should help to make you feel better that Earth is more protected than you thought, right?  And, stars forbid, anything happens where I’d have to take over, you all now know that I’m qualified.”

“Somehow I don’t feel safer,” Pidge and Keith spoke in unison.

“But its true that its good to know Earth is safe,” hunk said and brightened, “and aid from the other planets will come if they’re in trouble, right?”

Lance lied through an easy smile, “That’s right.”

()

“Lance,” Shiro jogged to catch up as Lance headed to the training deck.

“Yep?”

“I wanted to ask you…without the others…”

Lance waited and when Shiro still didn’t continue said, “I’m too busy to date Shiro, sorry.”

“What? ..oh, nonono, that’s not-“

Lance laughed at the very flustered Shiro, “I know, you just looked like you needed a break, just ask the question, I’m not going to mind.”

The atmosphere, a lot more relaxed now, Shiro asked, “Why were you at the garrison?”

Lances heart nearly stopped.  Leave it to Shiro to ask the million-dollar question.

“Classified,” Lance said grinning, “But I really enjoyed your lessons and demonstrations…the ones I was still awake for at least…”

“you…most of my classes were outside.”

“I have many skills, one of which is sleeping while standing.”

Shiro didn’t believe it for a second, but got around to what he really wanted to know.

“What did you know about the Kerboros mission?”

Lance was surprised, that was not the follow up question he’d been suspecting.  Technically that information was level 3, but, Lance decided to tell him anyway since it related to him directly.  But first lance looked around to make sure no one was coming.

“Only that the barrier failed,” Lance said thinking back, “the agency tries to keep out of the general public and businesses.  We might have advanced alien tech, but we believe that the Earth, and the other planets, should progress at their own natural pace and limits- given there’s no dire emergency that requires an immediate boost of tech, which the barrier is to prevent.  We watched the preparations for the mission, but didn’t intervene.  I mean, Iverson was in charge of it and all, but that’s his day-job.  He did what he could to make it as safe as possible without telling too much.  When you all disappeared, the world saw it as a sad day and a tragedy; we saw it as a crisis.  The fact that a large enemy ship made it past our stations and we didn’t know about it until too late?  Every one of us was in a state of panic.  Can’t tell you any details about WHAT we did, but don’t think we didn’t try and find you guys.”

“And when I came back?”

Again, Lance chose his words carefully, “The agency got there the same time as the garrison.  We hold power over the government in a large extent, but we don’t like to use it if we don’t have to.  Agents were working on getting you sent to our care facility instead of the garrison labs.  But then Keith showed up and I figured what the heck?”

“Aren’t you afraid someone might just copy that pin and assume a position in your ranks?”  Shiro grinned, abruptly changing the topic, “I mean, you just showed everyone in the room that pin, and it’s a simple design.  I wouldn’t put it past Hunk and Pidge to try something as a joke.”

“Absolutely not,” Lance said thinking the same thing, “that would be not only improbable, but a very, bad. Idea.  I’ll have to talk to them about it later.”

“What would happen if one were caught?”

Lance searched shiros face, unsure as to why he was being asked this.  He instinctively trusted shiro, but this line of questions was raising red flags. 

“We would know right away,” Lance said seriously, “no matter what.  And that person would be taken down.”

“Even though the agency doesn’t reach this far?”

Lance raised an eyebrow.  He felt a little insulted at that question.  The agency reached as far as an agent went.  Shiro didn’t seem to think he said anything strange, so lance just smiled.

“If you get a headache again tonight, you should try some of that tea hunk has in the cupboard.”

 Shiro froze as Lance walked away. 

How had Lance known about his headaches?

()

Overtime, Lotor really did make himself useful.  Shiro suggested they trust him and Lance said they should let him out only if they put a shock collar on him.

Keith kept in touch, at first, but it had been ages since he’d called in.  They assumed he was on a mission somewhere and so they kept busy themselves.

Matt was a frequent visitor.  And Lance made sure Pidge kept her mouth shut about him and warned her and hunk to not try anything funny like copy his pin.  He liked practical jokes as much as the next teen, but that was not a laughing matter.

“Gee, I only thought it,” Pidge said in her defense, “Not like I was going to DO it.”

“Really?” Lance said with all the disbelief he could muster.  Pidge looked hurt.

“No faith, Lance?  I’m stung!”

“That’s how I’ve lived this long,” Lance said and made sure she was looking at him, “I’m serious.  Copying the pin will do more than get us into trouble, ok?”

“Got it,” she nodded, “but shouldn’t you tell Matt?”

“No, I only got permission for you guys.  If anyone finds out Kolivan and the other guy sat in on that discussion, I’m fired.”

“They’re good at keeping secrets.”

“Which is why I didn’t protest too much about it.”

“So what’s your problem?”

“You are,” Lance sighed, “its always the small ones that get underfoot.”

She scowled and reached out to hit him, but he grinned and danced out of reach.  When she didn’t get up he made faces at her until she finally started to go after him.

Chapter Text

When the threat came in, it was just after Pidge and Matt had gotten back from their failed attempt to rescue their father. 

The timing was a little too perfect.

Prisoner exchanges were common in war.  And normally each side kept their side of the bargain.  But Lance didn’t have much faith in Zarkon keeping any deal, even the ones he made himself.

But on the other hand, Pidge and Matt needed their dad back.  It was the reason both of them were out here.

“We can’t trust him,” Shiro stressed, “We can’t just hand Lotor over.”

“Don’t include me in that ‘we’, shiro, I can happily send that pompous jerk to the firing squad for a bag of chips!”

Lance nodded, “I’m with Pidge on this.  This is our only opportunity to fulfil one of our missions, “Get Sam Holt Back”, to let it go to waste is kind of ridiculous, don’t you think?”

“But Zarkon will never give him back,” Shiro stress and Allura nodded.

“We can’t trust him and Lotor still has information that is vital to our cause.”

“I do love how you all are talking as if I’m not here,” Lotor said candidly from behind the prison energy field.

“Shut up, boy,” Lance said, “Sit and behave, and you may get a treat when we’re done.”

“And you say I’m the pompous one?”

“I’m ‘condescending’, there’s a difference.”

“Enough!”  Hunk yelled.  He had been listening and watching them all fight for the last day and a half, “if we don’t go, Shiro, Allura, then he’ll Kill Sam, right?  So we just have to make sure that we cover all our bases…right?  We’ll go, but we need to think of all the ways it can go wrong so that we’re prepared for it and have a counter strategy.  I mean, we only have a few more days to prepare!  Let’s not waste it fighting!”

“And that’s why we’re friends,” Lance grinned.

()

He gave him a weapon…

Lance stared long and hard at shiro, long after they had made it back to the castle in one piece.  They had been duped, of course, but they had done what they had to do.  Shiro had his bayard with him just in case.

What they didn’t expect was for Shiro to pass it on to Lotor!

Lance could think of about a hundred ways why that was the dumbest idea ever.  Maybe even more.  It was so…DUMB that he couldn’t even picture KEITHS reaction to it all!  Then again, being Keith, he’d accept anything shiro did.

“Something wrong?” Shiro asked leaning away from him.

“Mmmm, just wondering what you were thinking when you gave Lotor the bayard.”

“I was thinking,” Shiro said slowly, “That we were sending him to stand right next to our target, so why not?”

Lance thought for a moment then nodded.  That was sound reasoning. 

Too bad Allura didn’t think that way.

She raked Shiro up and down the coals and then up and down them again.  After a while he began to argue back and the others had to step in and stop them.

“It all worked out,” Hunk said, “let’s not dwell too much on what could’ve happened and just be grateful that it didn’t!”

Allura shot Lotor a dirty look.  Shiro had claimed that he was trust worthy enough by his own actions.  Lance could see Shiros point, but he still wanted to put a shock collar on the former enemy. 

Lance looked over at Pidge and her family.  They had been together since they got back and probably had ignored everything what was happening outside their little happy bubble.

Lance didn’t dare even think about popping it.

()

While Lances family were running to make a train, he got lost and ended up in a separate car. 

Not being one to panic, he obeyed the rule that if you get lost, you should stay in one place.  He sat on a seat and waited patiently for someone to come to the back and find him.  While he waited though, he observed his surroundings.

“What is a child doing here?”

“How did he get here?”

“Did you let him in?”

“Don’t accuse me.”

“This is a disaster…”

The whole section of the train seemed to buzz with these whispers.  And Lance caught more than one passenger staring at him. 

“Hey kid.”

Lance looked up into a dark skinned face.  The man was young with light brown eyes and Lance observed that he wore a cadets uniform from the Outreach Garrison facility in the next town over. 

“Where are your parents?”

Lance shrugged.

“Are they on this train?”

Lance nodded, paused, then shrugged.

“I see…” The mans face fell slightly, “My name is Mitch Iverson and I’m going to see if I can’t find your parents, ok?  Can you tell me your name?”

“Lance McClain,” Lance said, totally unafraid of telling a complete stranger his name, “I’m eight years old.  My moms name is Lilly and she’s wearing her gray jacket today.  The one with the beads.”

“…do you get lost often?”  Iverson asked, thoroughly impressed by how calm the child was.

“My sisters say I do,” Lance shrugged again, “They always complain about it.”

“Are they the ones that go looking for you?”

“I prefer them,” Lance nodded, “I’ll hide if my brothers have to come.”

“Your brothers are scary?”

“Marco is really scary when he has to stop working.  His eyes bug out, like that guy over there.”  Lance pointed to one of the passengers whose wide brim hat wasn’t covering enough of its large insect-like eyes.  Especially from the childs lower angle of view.  The Alien quickly hid its face behind a book…which was upside down.

“huh…” Iverson looked down at the child who didn’t seem creeped out or scared at all, “tell me kid, how many people in this car do you think are…weird?”

“Most of them,” Lance said, “That one has his pants on backwards and the lady next to him, well, I don’t know any lady that nice looking who would leave the house with that skirt and those shoes.  My Sisters would die before clashing that badly.  And his feet-“

“Okokok, I get it,” Iverson grinned, “don’t they scare you?”

“Why?”

Iverson wasn’t expecting that.

“Because they’re scary?”

Lance looked around and then back to Iverson, “I would be scared if they hurt me, but they’re not doing anything.  One time, a monster ate my spoon, but even a dog with nip your fingers getting at a treat, right?”

“…one…ate your spoon?”

“He was sitting by himself and didn’t have any ice cream,” Lance stressed in the child-like way that made what he said seem more like a tragedy, “So I tried to give him some and he ate my spoon.”

“That didn’t scare you?”

“He musta been hungry,” Lance said, “But monsters that eat plastic spoons aren’t really that into eating people, right?”

 “You thought a lot about this.”

Lance shrugged.

“Tell you what, Lance,” Iverson said shaking his head, “I know for a fact that your parents aren’t on this train.  This train is heading to an airfield.  But when we get to the next station, I’ll personally escort you back home.  How does that sound?”

“Will the lady you were sitting next to come too?” Lance asked looking back at Iversons empty seat.  The ‘lady’ was draped in a muumuu that hung awkwardly on thin bones.  The bottom half of her face was covered in a scarf, but her eyes were like two empty sockets that glittered.

“Naw, She’ll stay,” Iverson said and the ‘lady’ nodded.

“Mom’s gonna be really angry,” Lance said, “Don’t say anything about monsters.  She doesn’t like that either.”

“Got it,” Iverson nodded and went back to his seat.

“You’re thinking.” Said his partner through her scarf.

“I think this is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for,” Iverson said in a low voice, “and it just waltzed right in the door.”

“be wary of timed gifts.”

()

“So,” Iverson said as he and the small child settled down on the train returning to where they’d come from, “do you always notice the…monsters?

“Yeah,” Lance said, “Am I not supposed to?”

“No, no you’re not.”

“oh, sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Iverson watched as Lance casually observed his surroundings. He watched a woman and her kid for a while, and then moved on to a man reading a book.  He watched them with curiosity and Iverson felt even more sure than ever that his proposal was going to work.  He just had one obstacle left.

()

“Oh you are in BIG trouble now,” Marco and Veronica glowered down at him as their mother spoke to the police.  She had called them right away and now she was settling the finer points now that he’d been returned.

“I didn’t mean to,” Lance complained, “I just went with the crowd!  Is not my fault that Rachel let go of my hand!”

“We ride that train every weekend!  How could you not know which one is which!?”

Lilly sighed as she watched her children argue.

“Excuse me, Mrs?” Iverson tapped her shoulder.  Lilly looked up and smiled.

“Oh, I’m sorry I’ve not had a chance to thank you yet.”

“No, it was my pleasure,” Iverson used his best smile, “Your son there is really amazing.”

She laughed, “He’s got quite the imagination, yes?”

“More like unnaturally observant,” Iverson said, “In fact, I’m starting a program at the Garrison that would allow very young children to begin training in whatever field they want.  It wont take away from their normal school, its more like a weekend and summer program.  Very extracurricular.  I was thinking Lance there would be amazing in this program.”

Lilly searched the young mans face and Iverson realized the boy got his attention to detail from his mother.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the time to drop him off and I’m sure I can’t afford anything the Garrison has to offer,” She was apologetic.  She’d realized that this really was a golden opportunity and if she wasn’t a single working mother, she would’ve grabbed it immediately.

“That’s not a problem ma’am,” Iverson beamed, “The program requires every child to have a mentor and that mentor will pick the child up and drop them off. As for what the cost will be, you have to take a test to get in, and the higher the score, the less the family has to pay.  It’s a new program, and I understand if I’m being too pushy, but I really, really think Lance should at least take the test.  I can come pick him and whoever else wishes to come.”

“You are being pushy,” Lilly said bluntly, “why?”

“Because I’ve just started it and if I don’t at least have five children show up they’ll cancel it,” Iverson said truthfully, “Its part of my…training that I come up with a working program to benefit the community.  This is mine.  So far I only have three children for sure coming.  If I can get at least one more I know the powers that be will bend the rules a little and let the program take off.”

Iverson was practically begging and Lilly sighed, “just the test?  Does the test cost anything?”

“Nothing,” Iverson said quickly.

“When is it?”

“One month from now on a Saturday.”

Lilly frowned, “We visit my mother on the weekends, but I’m sure we can figure something out.”

Iverson clasped her hand, “Thank you ma’am!”

She tugged her hand back and made shooing gestures.

Iverson walked over to Lance to say good-bye.

Chapter Text

“Sooooo it’s a battle royal,” Hunk said, “and the winner is king?”

“I’m getting Lion King vibes only Simba intentionally killed his father instead of Scar,” Pidge said.

“That’s messed up,” Lance said.

“No one asked for your opinion,” Lotor sneered knowing he was being made fun of even though he had no idea what they were talking about.

“Don’t have to,” Lance grinned, “they come unbidden and free of charge.”

“and for our pleasure,” Added pidge holding out her hand for a five, and lance gave it to her, “no one asked you to ask.”

“If I can solidify my position as ruler, then I can stop the war from the inside,” Lotor stressed.

“It really does seem like the simplest option,” Shiro agreed. 

“Even I have to agree,” Allura sighed, “And you know how much I don’t want to.”

“Then he should claim that right on his own,” Lance said, “Like everyone else.  Why do we have to go back him up?”

“Because we are fighting for peace, lance,” Shiro snapped, “Or did you forget that?”

Lance blinked, surprised, “Excuse me?”

“Its almost like you want this war to continue,” Shiro was glaring at him, “I thought you said you wanted to go home, or is this all stroking your ego too much?”

Lance’s jaw was hanging open as he stared at him.  Finally he snapped it shut.

“Fine, you’re call,” he said using the same words he had with Keith when he’d been unreasonable. 

“That’s right,” Shiro said, “My call or are you going to trump my orders?”

Lances face burned red and he glanced over at Lotor, the only person in the room that didn’t know what Shiro was eluding to.

“Of course not I already told you why.”

“Good,” Shiro turned back to Lotor and Allura.  Allura looked uneasy as Shiro began to lay plans.

()

“This one is a little too young, don’t you think?” Karl pointed trough the glass as the kid sitting at the end of the row.  Those beside him were 13, 10, and 13.

Iverson shrugged, “I’m willing to bet he out does everyone else.”

“that’s not the point,” Karl snapped, “There are LEGAL reasons the youngest we can go is ten!”

“the sooner we can start training agents, the sooner we can start integrating them with the other races.  Work off world is increasing and we don’t have the skill for it.  Finding those that wouldn’t cave under the stress is hard enough.  Children naturally have open minds.  They don’t really have opinions formed yet.  If we can train them while they’re still flexible then we don’t have to bother breaking them through training.”

Karl still wasn’t sure but continued to watch the four kids in the room.

They were putting together a puzzle that didn’t have a specific picture.  That morning they had been asked to take a short multiple choice test full of questions like, “what would you do if-“ and the occasional true v false. 

Lance had seen the other kids and had been a little over whelmed.  Even the girl was a head taller than he was.  His mother was waiting in a room with all the other parents while he did all the tasks they told him to do. 

Most of it was solving puzzles which Lance was actually pretty good at.  Sometimes it took his mother a while pick him up, so he would solve the puzzle cubes on the office lady’s desk at school. 

The last test was done separately.  One by one they were called in and then they were able to leave and go back to their parents. 

When Lance walked into the room he saw a table with a knife and pen.

“Choose your weapon,” came a voice from the speakers. 

Lance observed the knife and the pen for a while.  He had no idea what they were talking about.  The only weapon on the table was the knife.  Then again, he thought, you could stab someone with a pen too…

“Don’t wanna,” Lance said finally, “I don’t want either of them.”

There was a long pause, then, “why?”

“Because the weapon I want isn’t here,” Lance said practically, “I’d rather do things my own way.”

There was an even longer pause before, “You may leave, thank you for taking the test.”

It was a full week before the McClains found out the results.  And when they did, Iverson himself and a tall man with black hair and kind face, delivered the good news.

()

“Is that child even human?” the council member watched the candidates and were as impressed as Iverson had been.

“One hundred percent,” Iverson grinned, “I double checked.”

“The other three also did remarkably well.”

“are you sure you couldn’t find a fifth child?”

“I found one, but his parent turned me down immediately,” Iverson answered.

“Keep searching then.”

“Let’s see how this experiment will go…”

()

“Lance?”

“I don’t like this…”

“Don’t let what Shiro said get to your head,” Hunk said, “He’s been all out of sorts lately.  Did you know he’s been drinking three cups of tea a day?  I don’t think he’s doing well.”

“Its not about Shiro…I don’t think…”

Lance couldn’t put his finger on it, but his gut was trying to tell him something.  He felt uneasy. 

They were flying after the black lion while keeping their communications secured between the three of them.  Shiro was even flying with Lotor. 

Red flags were everywhere and Lance had no idea where to look!

The black lion was far ahead of them and even Red was having hard time keeping up.  By the time they got to the location, the battle was already in progress and Shiro had positioned himself between the majority of the opponents and Lotor.

Large ships and galra cruisers were starting to come in. 

“Let’s keep them busy,” Lance called and asked Allura and Hunk to take one side while he and Pidge guarded the other. 

This just wasn’t right…

()

They returned to the ship in a haggard state.  Hunk was stiff and jumpy and Pidge was having a hard time catching her breath. 

“What was that?” Allura shouted as Shiro walked into the room.

“What do you mean?”

“Shiro,” Lance tried, “you didn’t answer any of our calls.”

“You gave Lotor more cover than you gave us!”

Lance tried to calm Allura down because Shiro was looking genuinely confused.

“I did answer you back,” Shiro said, “I-“

“We didn’t hear anything from you,” Allura snapped, “I understand why we were there and I’m glad it all worked out in the end, but please remember who your actual team is!”

She stormed out of the room, shoving Lotor out of the way as she went. 

“Did I miss something?” he asked, looking around at everyone glaring at him

Chapter Text

Getting use to Lotor constantly in their presence was…difficult.  He seemed like a pretty ok guy, but some how none to the trio could bring themselves to trust him completely.  Which, in turn, made things very awkward.  Especially since Allura seemed to be warming up to him just fine.  They would talk for hours and the trio would avoid them. 

Shiro, though looking more ill with every day, seemed to be back to his more…amiable, self. 

“I really am sorry, Lance.  I shouldn’t have said those things.”

“Shiro, if I was still upset about it, I’d tell you.”

“I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with me…I could’ve sworn I’d talked to you guys…”

“Are those migraines getting worse?” Lance asked, “should we head to the space mall and see if we can’t find something to help?”

“I don’t know…yeah, let’s do that.”

“Ok, we’re heading that way next week, so think you can wait until then?”

Shiro nodded and Lance gripped his shoulder, “You got this, Shiro, k?  We got your back.”

()

The day Lotor requested them to come to HIS place for a change, they were more than eager. 

The chance to get a really good and open look into the main Galra hub?  YES PLEASE!  Lance even brought his issued com unit to take pictures and send back.  There wasn’t anything that said this truce would last.

()

The three of them followed the sentry robot to its own doom.  They looked around and Lance took pictures. 

“That the one you use to contact Iverson?”

Lance looked at Hunk and nodded, putting a finger to his lips.  Hunk looked around and then leaned over.

“Think he’ll be able to send a message to my family?”

Lance winced.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Lance whispered back, “after we get back to the castle, k?”

Hunk smiled broadly and nodded. 

()

As Hunk and Pidge worked on their new toy/victim, Lance took his time to really look around the area.  He took pictures and moved stuff around.  And, on a whim, he pocketed what looked like a screwdriver.

As he reached the far end of the room he noticed a small hatch in the ceiling.  Looking back and seeing the other two sufficiently occupied, he climbed on top of the junk in the corner and went through the opening.

He could stand and walk fairly easily and the passageway seemed to have been kept clean.  Lance could think of a few public buildings back on Earth that could take note of this.

Coming around a random corner Lance bumped into a Galra soldier.  They both froze, each fighting their initial instincts.

“What are you doing here?” the Galra said instead.

“Got lost,” Lance said, and it was partly true. The passageway was confusing and he now had no idea if he was on the second floor or the fifth.

The Galra snorted and went back to what he was doing.  He was messing with a box full of wires.

“Something broken?” Lance asked.

“The lighting in the north hall was flickering this morning,” the galra still seemed guarded.

“Hunk and Pidge are messing with a sentry right now, do you want me to call them?  They could fix it no problem.”

“No.”

Lance shrugged and moved forward to get a better look.  The galra tensed, but continued to work. 

The paladin watched the galra fix the wiring and replace the wire covers.

“You and Hunk should work together,” Lance said, “Your fingers are like his.  They work magic.”

The galra had no idea how to respond to that.

“You will find an exit if you go strait down this hall,” he said instead.  Lance grinned.

“thanks.”

They gave each other stiff nods and separated. But Lance wasn’t done exploring, so he took a marker out of his pocket and placed an arrow on the wall next to the junction of walk ways.  He hummed as he turned random corners, marking then as he went. 

Then as he reached one corner he saw that it was already marked.  It was a triangle.

Lance knew that triangle.

To follow, or not to follow…that was the question…Iverson had told him not to.  Frok would be even more upset with him if he broke the rules any more than he had.  But It had been so long!

“You are in big trouble.”

Lances heart nearly kissed his brain.  He spun around to find his partner, hands on hips, and hair much shorter than before.

“You don’t like it, so don’t do it to me,” Lance hissed, “I almost died.”

“If you could die, it would’ve happened years ago.”

“Aww, don’t be angry,” Lance grinned, “I really didn’t plan on any of this, I swear!”

“You don’t plan on anything.”

“Unless its leaving the hospital?”

He had Frok there.  The alien sighed and gave up.

“You are here as a guest?”

“Yeah, Lotor is trying really-super-special-hard to get us to trust him.”

“He seems like one to change his mind on a whim.”

“What do you think will happen if we kill him?”

Frok took his time answering, “I think it would be more trouble than it would be worth.  We already cut one head of the mythical Hydra, let’s make sure if we cut this head off, we have something we can burn the stump with.”

“Look at you,” Lance cooed, “reading up on mythology.  Did you take you Crit. Before you left?”

Frok nodded, “Passed easily.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You missed yours.”

“Well I’ve been kinda busy here.”

“Did you tell your team about your day job?”

“Oh, yeah, Iverson gave them level 4.”

“They will not be joining us?”

“Not unless they bully Iverson into letting them.  After the last episode of the ‘young recruits’ program the council will squish that flat before anyone has a say.”

“You’re afraid.”

“Of what?”

Frok narrowed his eyes at him and Lance became increasingly uneasy under that glare.  It also occurred to him that he’d never seen both of Froks eyes at the same time. His long fur always covered them up. 

“Will your clan be ok?” Lance asked, abruptly changing the subject.  Frok rubbed the short fur on his arm.

“They will understand that it was in the line of duty.  Though my chances of a mate have now decreased significantly.”

“Maybe you can find someone out here,” Lance teased, “I like being an uncle and mixed babies are the cutest.”

“That, my clan would not be ok with,” Frok shook his head, but he was smiling. 

“The barrier isn’t working well, is it?”  Lance asked and Froks silence answered is question, “Quiznak, I knew Iverson didn’t tell me why you were out here for a reason.  Then Keith told me he ran into you and what you told him – he was largely offended by the way -  and it all made sense.  The barrier is busted, its not getting fixed anytime soon and-“

Frok placed a large hand on Lances head.  He could tell his partner was working himself into a state.  And once he was in a state, he was more or less useless for the rest of the day. 

“At least tell me there’s a plan,” Lance said, “I really don’t want to take everyone home and there not be anything there.”

“There’s a plan,” Frok nodded.

“You’re lying.”

“Only partly.”

Lance chuckled and accepted the information.  It had been so long since he’d talked like this.  Hanging out with the others was fun, but it wasn’t…natural.  This was easy, talking like normal, not worrying about what he was saying or how he said it.

“Give me your issue,” Frok said and Lance handed over his com unit.  Frok took it apart and started to work on it.  “We are constantly on the move, therefor messages do not reach us unless we remain stationary for a time.  But I found a way to make it so that WE should be able to send messages.”

“Iverson said to not interfere with you.”

“And yet, I’ll feel safer if I can contact you.”

“Valid point.”

“I have one more server to mark,” Frok replied, “Its one that i’m not too…confident, I can accomplish.”

“Where are you going?”

“The ship the witch Haggar is in control of.”

Lance shivered, “you have to go to her ship?   Wouldn’t any ship in her command be fine?”

“I have attempted already, twice, and have come very close to being caught both times.  Are you up to date on the codes?”

“I’m up to date from the time I left, but, isn’t getting in, like impossible in the first place?  And then you have the druids to watch out for, and boy are they ugly to fight.  Do you have your-“

“I am well equipped,” Frok cut him off, “Remember the codes and I will attempt to inform you if I fail.  Then you can inform Superior Iverson.”

“Yeah, I don’t like this kind of talk,” Lance scowled, “how about you just not fail, yeah?”

“True."

()

“DUDE!” hunk shouted as Lance walked back toward the sentry work area.  He had come out of the passageways on the floor above them.

“Where have you been!” Pidge shouted, “We’re about to turn him back on!”

“Sweet!” Lance picked up his pace, and did his best to forget about what Frok was doing.  Iverson was right to keep him in the dark.  It was all of Lance’s will power to stay with the team and not go with his partner. 

Chapter Text

Keith Shifted uncomfortably and tried to ignore the fact that his mother was standing right behind him.  It felt like one of the instructors at the garrison judging his way of flying all over again. 

“The signal is stronger here,” She said leaning forward and pointing at the star map, “think we should go or wait for Kolivan to give the order?”

Keith was about to say ‘screw kolivan, let’s go’ but then thought maybe she was testing him somehow.  Was she seeing if he would think things through?  Was she wanting him to wait for Kolivan or not? 

Somehow, Keith answered her the way he would anyone else, “I don’t care either way.”

That – albeit childishly- forced the ball into her court. 

“Then let’s forget kolivan and just do the job,” she said and when Keith looked sideways at her saw she was stoic, but there was rebellion in her face she couldn’t hide.

“fine with me,” Keith said, putting the plane into a faster setting…were they called ‘gears’ out here, “so…you are not a fan of Kolivan?”

“He’s a good fighter,” Krolia said simply, “even if he can’t see past the nose on his face.”

Keith decide to drop the topic.  He’d only been trying to start a conversation, but realized that wasn’t the road he wanted to go down.

()

Lance continued to watch Lotor, making sure the man didn’t change his mind about being allies.  His relationship with Allura was…aggravating.  Disgusting.  Abhorrent.  All the bad feelings.

He’d never quite crushed so hard an anyone before, but it was clear that there was no room for him to cut in.  And, grudgingly, he had to admit they made a good couple.  IF and only IF Lotor could remain a stable ally. 

They we nearing the space mall again when they also received a call from a nearby planet.  The situation wasn’t dire and Pidge offered to just take care of it on her own.

“Take Hunk and Allura with you,” Shiro said, “I’m sorry, I’d go as well but-“

“We got it,” Hunk waved away Shiros apology, “just so long as you feel better.”

“Lotor said he’d be coming by either today or tomorrow morning,” Allura said picking up a few of her things from the bridge, “I hope this doesn’t take that long.”

They were exchanging private messages now? Lance almost gaged.  Once he had accepted the fact that he’d lost for good, the view of Allura and Lotor was now equivalent to his sister and her boyfriend. 

“Gross,” Pidge stuck her tongue out and Allura scowled at her.

“We’ll pick up the stuff for Shiro and you guys will just meet us back here then,” Lance said, “if lotor shows up we’ll feed him and keep him in the dog house till you get back.”

“Why must you be so immature?” Allura asked and Lance laughed.  His sister had asked him the same question!

“come on,” Hunk said pushing Allura and Pidge out of the room, “the sooner we go, the sooner we can get back.”

()

Shiro wanted to wait until Lotor arrived before heading to the mall.  Lance tried to convince him otherwise, but no doing.  So, while Coran went to take a nap, he chose to clean his bayard.  His weapons training at home had made sure he took care of his weapons.

Back home his weapons were called Pride and Joy.  Pride was the name of his primary weapon while Joy was his secondary. The third planet in the council was fond of naming their weapons and had once asked him what his were called.  Pride and Joy seemed more than fitting and the pun made it THAT much better.

When he finished he let the bayard disappear into his suit.  It had no weight and that never sat well with Lance who was used to the familiar comfort of actual weapons on his hips. 

He sighed and wondered what else he should do to kill time.

“Lance,” Shiro entered the room and, if possible, looked worse than before.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Lance stood and helped Shiro to sit, “I know you want to wait for lotor, but how about I just leave and get the stuff, ok?  You really shouldn’t be traveling anyway.”

“Wait,” Shiro gripped Lance arm and Lance bent down again, seriously concerned, “I need to know…what it means…”

he paused, as though listening to something.  Lance waited.

“I need to know…B…1…U…3…what does-?”

Lance didn’t stick around to hear anything else.  He ran.  He ran as fast as he could and didn’t look back for a second.  When he reached the bridge he ripped the panel off the wall to get to the wires beneath, breaking three nails right down to the quick.  Ignoring the pain, adrenalin pumping, he locked and then jammed the doors onto the bridge.

Taking deep, and controlled, breaths, Lance tried to stand, but felt his knees knocked together.  There was a loud bang on the opposite side of the door and Lance screamed as he flung himself back.  He scooted backwards till he hit the dais. 

He pulled out his issued com unit and saw the message from Frok:

The Witch is watching.

Watching?  Like…how?  But…

Lance could feel the panic rise and he took deep breaths to force it back down.  He had to think.  Frok went to Haggars ship.  He messaged him a warning.  And Shiro…

“Nononononononono,” Lance curled into a ball and shoved his face against his knees.  The banging continued for a while and Lance, finally got the courage to crawl to the control panel. 

With shaking fingers he tried to contact Hunk and the others. 

Nothing.

The shaking was getting worse as he tried to contact the Blades.

Nothing.

When his communicator flashed with a new message, he knew it wasn’t Frok who wrote it:

What does B1U3 mean?

Lance heard the involuntary whimper rise in his throat and forced himself to cough to cover it up.  He had to hold it together.  He had done it before, he could do it now.

That’s when he thought of Coran.  Coran was still on the ship and didn’t know the danger.  Reaching for the castles com button he hesitated. 

Shiro was at the bridge door.  If Coran could stay asleep and out of the way, Lance wouldn’t have to remind Shiro that Coran was around.

There was a groan behind him and he turned back to see the door, now red and yellow form Shiros hand, was starting to warp inward.

“I’m cursed,” Lance said in an attempt to be blithe even though he could feel the panic start to take over again.  Only very few people knew how much he actually meant the statement. 

()

“This is Agent B1U3 also known as B1K3 now,” Iverson said and Lance and the agent shook hands.

“I’ll be your trainer,” the agent said with a kind smile.  He was handsome and looked like he laughed a lot.  Lance immediately liked him.

“So I’ll be in B section?” Lance asked, “What does B section do? And Why did you change from a U to a K?”

“Inquisitive, aren’t you?”  The agents smile broadened, “and you ask all the right questions.”

“Lance here is under your tutelage from now on,” Iverson rubbed his hands together, “I’ll do my best to fill the shoes of the previous B section head.”

“Mark was a good man, but I’m sure you’ll do fine,” the agent said and clapped Iverson on the shoulder.  “I’ll support you in any way I can.”

()

“As a B1 you have the obligation to be nosy,” B1K3 said and Lance nodded.  He’d been an agent in training for almost a year now.

“Secrets are for us to gather, not divulge.”

“that’s right.”

“Sir?”

“Yes?”

Lance grinned, “I have an idea.”

The mission they were on required a healthy amount of information gathering.

“What is this idea?”

“Well,” Lance grinned wider, “I’m a kid, so I’ll be a kid!”

B1K3 blinked, unsure he understood what the boy was saying.

“Kids are ignored in grownup settings,” Lance elaborated, “let me walk around and see what I can find out on my own.”

The agent laughed, an easy and warm sound.

“Eager to be given a little leash?”

“dying for it.”

“Fine,” B1K3 nodded, “go and then come back.  Remember to leave nothing out.”

()

This time it was Krolia piloting while Keith stood by.  The ship they’d started out on didn’t exactly make it.  But they were able to secure a new one.  A better looking one. 

The Altean that traveled with them was quiet and Keith could tell she was the stubborn type.  The only sign that she was nervous at all was when she’d twist her blond hair between her fingers. 

“I’m picking up signals,” Krolia replied, “these look familiar?”

Keith looked and bristled, “that’s the castle, can we open a channel?”

“Negative.  The signal is too unstable.”

“Right, of course it is.  How fast can this thing go?”

Keith had turned to look at the Altean.  She lifted her chin, “I have no idea.”

“We’re about to find out.”

()

The room had been bright before he tried to break in.  Now the lights flickered and dimmed erratically.  Lance was using a piece of broken glass to unscrew the bolts holding the vent grate in place.  His fingers had trembled and were cut up well and good by the time he’d gotten it open.

“Go, go, go,” he hissed getting out of the way as other kids around his age filed into the escape.

“you go first,” said one who was about two years older and Lance shook his head.

“I don’t think he wants to kill me, you need to go.”

“but-“

“Go get help, got it?” Lance snapped, “I can stall him for a little bit, but you guys need to get the councils attention.  Get help, k?”

The older boy hesitated and nodded.  He pressed a knife into Lances hand.

“This isn’t much, but make sure it counts when you do use it.”

“Right, thanks,” Lance was grateful for the weapon, no matter how small it was.  Anything that gave him courage was going to be a life line for him. 

Lance covered the vent back up and then hid as the door opened slowly.

()

Lance panicked.  His breaths coming short and sharp as Shiro broke through the door. 

GUN!  He reached for his bayard, but Shiro was quicker; knocking his hand back and grabbing his jaw, Shiro slammed him down against the floor.

Lance gasped, panic still robbing him of actual air.  He looked up to see empty eyes…Brown? No…they were hazel, and full of pride…

()

Lance cried with pain as the man broke his other ankle.

“I told you,” he said with a sad look, “remember?  We keep secrets, we don’t divulge them.  It is do or die.  This is for the greater good, little dash.”

Lance sobbed as the man bent over to be face to face with him, black hair plastered to a sweaty forehead – the only indication that the man was trying hard at all – and the kindest, most trust worthy face anyone could ever have.  The hazel eyes showed pitty, but they were also determined.

“We wont win, we CAN’T win unless we form this alliance,” he stressed, “we sacrifice a little and we gain the whole.  That is the number one law of the universe, of nature itself!  Even the other planets think this way!  Only humans, only earth is selfish enough to think they can just have it all.  That their actions have NOTHING to do with everyone else.  Are you getting this?”

Lance nodded and choked as the motion sent pain shooting down his back and shoulder.  The man was talking as calmly as a teacher showing a student a butterfly and explaining the process of transformation. 

“Good, so you’ll understand what the law dictates now, right?”

Lance shook as the man grabbed a handful of his hair and dragged him out of the room and down the hall.

()

“What is your code?”  Shiro asked, his hand still grabbing Lances jaw.  Lance was starting to feel dizzy from the lack of air getting to his lungs. 

“Cod-code?”

“For your PIN.”

Lance felt ice penetrate his senses and furry followed close behind, “Don’t you DA-“

Shiro pulled his head forward and slammed it back down.  The only way the witch could know these things is if Frok had told her.  Each pin had a code, which was why a fake could never be made and if one tried to pass off a fake as a real one, they would meet a very messy end.

Shiros other hand began to search his pockets. Every time lance tried to push him back, he was slammed into the floor again.  Until finally, shiro had the pin in his hand.

“You’re code.”

Lance couldn’t stop the shaking, but the anger helped slow his breathing a little, “if you…kill him…I will end you…”

Slam!

As he’d been lifted this time he could see red on the floor.  His head was bleeding.  Seeing the blood made his vision spin again and the fear take over the anger.

“You..want a…code?”

“I want THE code.”

Lance didn’t know if Frok could hear him or not, but it was a shot, “Bevel3-…vixs2-…O1…”

“What does that mean?”

“I have no idea,” Lance said and surprised even himself with the chuckled the bubbled forth.  He didn’t feel like laughing, but he was.

Slam!

This time, Lance felt his shoulder give.  Shiro tilted his head again, as though listening.

“The beast dies if you do not tell us the code.”

“…Can’t…” Lance gasped, “…some…times…the sacrifice…of a few….is needed to save…the many….”

“Last question, then,” Shiro replied, his face natural, and eyes empty, “what is B1U3 mean?”

Lance grimaced, “…tasteless…”

“What?”

Lance stared long and hard into the eyes he was sure Haggar was watching out of, “It means…’traitor’.”

Chapter Text

Keith used what Hunk called the “garage opener” which was just an outside code that would allow him into the castles hangars.  When he landed he was shocked to see Lotor standing there as well.

“What are you doing here?”

Lotor was not happy, “This is most likely a jest by the foolish red paladin.  Nothing I try is opening the door and I can’t get a message to Allura for her to open it!”

Ketih tried his hand at it, and sure enough, the door was jammed shut.

Not good.

He asked Krolia to help him pry the door open.  It took a while, but soon they were able to slip through.

Everything looked fine.  It was a little too quiet, and there was an air of tension, but that could be due to Keiths own mistrustful tendencies. 

When they turned the corner to go down the hall that would lead them straight to the bridge, the Altean picked up on banging sounds coming from further down the smaller corridor. 

Heading toward the sound they came across Corans door.

“Coran?!” Keith called, the banging stopped.

“Hello?!”

“Coran, what’s going on?”

“The door wont open and I can’t get Lance or Shiro to come open it for me!”

“Where are the others?!”

Keith and Krolia again started to work on prying the door open.  Lotor just stood there and didn’t do anything.  Just another reason to not like the guy.

“They left earlier today to answer a mild distress call!  They should be back soon!”

“Why…Why didn’t Shiro and Lance… go with them?!”  Keith said between the efforts put in to open the door.

“Shiro’s been getting terrible headaches and they were going to go to the mall and pick up something to help!”

Keith didn’t like the sound of that.  Why had no one told him that shiro wasn’t feeling well?

When they finally got the door open, Coran stepped through and bushed himself off.  Then they all made their way to the bridge, stopping at the lounge, the kitchen, and even a few conference rooms in case one of them was in there.

When they saw the Bridge door, partly melted and dented in, they increased their pace.

Keith first saw Shiro, second he saw Lance, the third thing he saw was so strange his mind was having a hard time processing what was going on.  He was frozen to the spot, but Krolia and Lotor had no qualms and rushed forward to get Shiro off of Lance.

Why would Shiro be trying to kill Lance?

That didn’t add up.

Coran and the other Altean were already rushing over to see if Lance was ok.  So Keith, now, could focus solely on Shiro what the HELL was going on there.

Lotor, even with Krolias help, was overwhelmed and knocked back.  He struck his head and lost consciousness.  Keith filled in and between Krolia and him, they could just barely keep Shiro at bay. 

“Shiro!  Stop!” Keith shouted, trying to get through to the man, but nothing was working, “What are you doing?!”

Krolia cried out as Shiros weaponized hand grabbed her arm as he spun her around and out of his way.

“What’s wrong with you?!  Shrio!  Answer me!” Keith knocked Shiros hand back and landed a solid kick to his abdomen.  Shiro staggered back wards and Ketih knew his moment was now or never. 

And he chose never.

He couldn’t kill him.

“Tell me what’s going on!”

Shiro regained his footing and darted forward to fight some more.  More mute than a sentry.

()

Lances sense of reality was shifting.  Was he twelve?  Was the man trying to kill him Shiro or…?  He blacked out for a time, ready for it to be the last, but when he opened his eyes next, he found Keith and Shiro fighting.

But that was wrong…

Right?

His world spun as Coran lifted him and started to carry him from the room.  Over Corans shoulder he saw just how brutal the fight between them was.  And then it was cut off as Coran left the room and hurried down the hall.

Nonononono, Lance thought, tears forming, not again…not now…it hurts too much…

()

The man walked down the brightly lit hall.  Nothing dark or dangerous about it.  Passing the windows, it was daylight outside.  The man felt perfectly confident in his actions in the middle of the day.

When he entered into a large room with four aliens.  They were the Rodakkin.  The potential fourth planet to ally with the council.  They were a race of strong fighters and highly advanced technology. 

Their price, however, was a specific level of control over the other races.  Not complete control, but just enough.  The council tried to dislodge them, but there were members of the council that actually thought it was a good idea.  With every passing day each planet was drifting further apart in their relations and even fighting amongst themselves as a whole. 

Lance heard the whimper form in his throat and instead cried out when the man threw him at the Rodakkins feet. 

“This is the only one I have to give,” the man said, “do you accept the offer?”

“The question, is if you think this is enough for you?” the aliens voice was soft and unassuming.  Lance was shaking, but he tried to get his bearings so he could scoot away.  Any show of defiance would be better than just waiting to die.

“I trained this child myself, weather you wish you use him or eat him, I don’t care, just so long as you do your part.”

“Of course,” the aliens nodded with the whole half of their body, “but we were promised three.”

“I’ll get the other two later, is one enough to at least seal the deal?”

There was silence as the Roakkin spoke amongst themselves. Lance was able to scoot about a foot to one side before an alien claw gripped his broken arm and made him scream.  They twisted Lance around, dislocating the shoulder, to carry the boy potato sack style. 

Lance came to, after passing out from the pain to the man and the aliens having a heated discussion.

“You said three hundred,” the man snapped.

“I do not recall.”

“Of course you don’t.”

“Is the number truly a problem when what we are offering is complete and total security?”

Lance blinked trying to get his head to start working again, the mans answer was like an adrenalin shot.

“Not really.”

Lance looked around.  There had to be something…anything…

There in the Rodakkins belt was a gun.  Lance focused on attempting to move without the alien holding him noticing.  If he could just reach the gun, then he would have a fighting chance.  His fingers brushed against the metal and Lances breath began to come in, short and sharp.  He had to.  Failure was Not an option.

Finally grabbing it he yanked it out and fired into the back of the aliens legs.

The kick-back from the blast sent Lance flying.  He was so far past pain at that moment, though, that when he landed, he simply aimed and fired three more times. 

The man had gotten out of the way in a hurry.  He knew Lance was a perfect shot, even under pressure.

Now, with all four Radekkins dead, Lance leaned back against the wall. His legs out stretched, his right arm useless.  He was still having a hard time getting a full breath of air.  It was making him dizzy…

“With that, Lance, you’ve just doomed everyone,” the man sighed.  His voice alone made Lance suddenly alert.  He gripped the gun again and pointed it at the man that was slowing walking towards him.

“You won’t fire,” he said, so sure of this fact, “I just want to talk.  Have a discussion.  Because you OBVIOUSLY didn’t understand it when I EXPLAINED it to you BEFORE!”

Gone was the kind face.  Gone was the gentle tone.  The face Lance thought he knew so well was twisted into an ugly rage as he reached down to grab Lances face.

And Lance fired.

Chapter Text

Krolia joined in as support, but could see that her son wanted this fight for himself.  He had told her all about this ‘shiro’ person and had been grateful to him, however, she couldn’t fathom what was going on right now. 

Keith was trying desperately to find a way to stop Shiro without killing him. 

But the more he fought, the more he was beginning to realize that there might not be a way.  And that slow realization was like a cold poison in his veins.  It froze him and made his moves slow and choppy. 

“Keith!” Krolia snapped, seeing him falter one to many times, “Focus!”

How?  How could he focus on taking the life of the one person he truly saw as family?  The thought was terrifying.

Then it clicked.  He remembered Pidge and her strategies.

“Krolia!  Left!”

She dove and attacked from the left, and sure enough, Shiro blocked it with his right. Keith came in and saw Shrio move to block Keiths swing.  Which would’ve succeeded if he had been aiming for Shiros middle.  But he aimed for the shoulder and severed the right mechanical arm completely. 

Shiro collapsed.  Panicking, Keith checked, and when he felt the pulse under his finger tips he truly felt the relief wash through him.

()

When Lance opened his eyes, he outwardly groaned, mist escaping from his mouth and nose.  Had he really been hurt so bad they had to throw him in the healing pod?  Surly they could’ve just popped his shoulder back in, threw a bandage around his head, apply some bruise balm to his throat and-  yeah, yeah, he could see why they would throw him in.

He’d hated the healing pods because they gave you the worst nightmares.  Because they were nightmares that had been real.  Reliving the worst moment of your life was in no way ‘healing’ so Lance saw this whole process as counterproductive. 

In fact, even though he knew he was healed, he sunk down and sat on the bottom of the pod.  No one had rushed to exclaim he was ‘ok’ so he knew he was alone, for now.  Which gave him time to calm down even though he could still feel the panic building again. 

What they hell just happened?

How long had he been in there this time?

Was Frok ok? Was there time to save him?

Lance heard a door swish open and Pidges squeal.  She didn’t do that often, but when she did it normally made him laugh, now it made him wince. 

Her small arms, much stronger than anyone would give them credit for, dragged him out of the pod and into a hug.  Hunk was right behind her and soon his feet were no longer touching the ground.  He patted their shoulders and tried to tell them that he was fine, but he stopped when he felt his breaths becoming shorter.

Forcing himself to take deep breaths was now his top priority.  So far he’d kept this issue in the dark and he was determined that it remained there.  When they put him down he was momentarily relieved until they both got his face.

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Who’s the president of the united states?!”

“What’s your first and last name?”

“Can you remember how old you are?!”

“What’s your favorite movie that isn’t Top Gun?”

“How are you feeling?  Do you want to eat?!”

Too late.  The panic griped his gut as his brain tried to sort out the questions and know which to answer first.

He was saved when Ketih came and grabbed them both by the ear an dragged them back, giving Lance much more room to breathe. 

Wait…since when was Keith the same size as Hunk?

Lance sat on the steps and tried to get his breath back.  He needed to know…

“Hey,” Lance huffed, “How long was i…”

“Only about two days,” Allura said relieved, “I thought maybe something much worse was wrong if you’d stayed in there any longer.”

“Umm, well, can we…I need…that’s…” Lance couldn’t quite get what he wanted to say out of his mouth and the harder he tried the more the panic started to take over again.

“Calm down, Lance, we’re not going anywhere,” Keith said, “what is it?”

But Lance was now past the point of no return.  He was breathing fast and no matter how he focused on each word, it didn’t come out the way he wanted it too.

Then he felt a large hand rest on top of his head.

“It doesn’t matter how slow you speak if you can’t get the air behind it,” Frok scolded.  Lance looked up to find his partner looking down on him, “it seems you did not get my warning it time.”

Lance was up and giving Frok a large hug before the alien could protest.  He was not one for displays of human affection.  The closeness made his fur bristle uncomfortably, but he also knew his partner never hugged him unless it was absolutely necessary, so he didn’t complain. 

Frok patted his head and Slowly, Lances breathing became less sharp and more even.

“…not cool,” Lance said, “that…was SO not ok…”

“I chose a code that would make you react quickly,” Frok justified, “I didn’t think that puppet person would be stronger than Agent Blue.”

The paladins watched a little awkwardly.  Hunk was feeling a little replaced and was not happy about it one bit.

“Frok arrived a few hours ago,” Allura said, “insisted we let him see you, but he didn’t have proof that he knew you.”

“Your pin?” Lance asked pulling away.  Frok shook his head.  Lance reached to check his pockets, but found that they’d taken his jacket.

“Where’s my pin?”

Keith rolled his eyes and tossed him the tiny object.  Lance caught it and then looked back up at Keith. 

He looked fine.  Perfectly fine.

Why?

Keith wasn’t one that could successfully hide his emotions, and he’d just had to kill his brother…right?  Or did shiro get away?

“What?!” Keith snapped.  Through experience he knew that Lance staring was not a good thing. 

Before Lance was able to ask the door opened and Shiro walked in.  He was moving slowly, and a little lopsided without his right arm.  Lance stiffened, ready to bolt, but Frok gripped his shoulder.

“Its fine,” Frok said quietly.  Lance swallowed hard.

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked looking around and then giving a shy grin added, “did we get Zarkon?  How long was I out?”

There was a long silence and Keith let out a long breath.

“Come on,” he said, “There a LOT we need to talk about.”

“Keith,” Shiro said leaning back away from the other boy, “When did you get so tall?”

“I’d like to know that as well,” Lance chipped in and Frok took his hand away from his shoulder.  He could tell his partner was relaxing ever so slightly.  His fingers still twitched, ready to grab a gun, but he wasn’t going to freak out any time soon.

Frok looked around and noticed Hunk glaring at him.  When the alien raised an eyebrow in what he’d assumed was a human expression of inquiry, Hunk just looked sharply away. 

Had he raised the wrong eyebrow? 

()

They moved to the lounge and Lance sat as far away from Shiro as was possible without making it look awkward.  Hunk and Coran left to get everyone a drink.  Frok took his place next to his partner and since Lance was at the end of the couch, Hunk and Pidge made do with sitting across from them.  Then Coran Left to take care of Romelle.

First, Keith introduced Krolia, and left out the part where she was his mother.  Krolia eyed her child for a while, but let it slide.  These were his friends, she’d let him deal with them. 

Next, Lance introduced Frok.

“How did you guys become partners?” Pidge tried again, thinking the alien would have a looser tongue.  But Frok simply stared at her and didn’t say anything.

“Through a game of tag,” Lance muttered into his cup as he took a drink. Frok gave a lop sided grin and elbowed the human.

“Its classified,” Frok said at last.

“Yeah, I don’t care about that much anymore,” Lance sighed, “but I wont say anything if Lotor is here.”

“Why not!” Allura snapped, “He helped-“

“I don’t care, Allura,” Lance said staring her down, “he is still a potential threat.  He could change his mind at any time.  So far, the only thing keeping him here is your relationship.  What happens if you break up?  Or go through a ‘rough patch’?  Lotor is the type of person that can turn on a dime, and I will not give him information that will compromise our standing.”

Frok nodded firmly in agreement.  It was a good thing that Lotor had left before Frok had arrived.  Coming face to face with the man he’d been spying on for the last month would’ve been awkward and not safe.

Allura sat back and scowled.  She was blushing furiously.  She knew they were in a ‘relationship’ but it was never said out loud till now.

“Who is Lotor?” Shiro asked the silence, “And are you ok, Lance?  I’ve never heard you talk to Allura like that, or anyone else for that matter-”

“AND THAT!” Lance shouted pointing at Shiro, staring down Keith now, “EXPLAIN THAT!”

Frok put his hand back on Lances head.  The team watched as again, Lance seemed to calm right down.  It was a wordless gesture but had almost immediate affect. 

Shiro, more than a little stunned at this point, realized that something was very, very wrong.  He didn’t know what anyone was talking about.  When did Lance make such a friend and HOW did Keith get so tall? 

“Lance,” Keith said through clenched teeth, “we’re going to explain things simply, and in order.  Got it?”

“Fine,” Lance waved Froks hand away, “then start already.”

The hardest part was starting.  How was the best way to explain to someone that they had died?  So after a long silence, Lance decided to take over.

“I don’t know what happened, but I do know you disappeared after the fight with Zarkon.”

“Lance!”

“What?  You can take over now, cause I sure don’t know why you think the guy the other day and this one are different.”

“Huh?”  Shiro looked from Keith to Lance and back again, “…what other guy?  And I disappeared?”

Keith glared and Lance glared back.

So Allura took over and told Shiro about how Keith had taken over, how Lotor had taken over, how they had found him again, How Lotor changed sides, the defeat of Zarkon, and the Holt Family situation.

“this is kind of…strange, and hard to get my head around,” Shiro said.

“It will get weirder,” Pidge promised, “we haven’t even gotten to the REALLY weird stuff yet.”

Shiro was now starting to get a little worried, “well, from what I’m told, I am more in line with what Lance is saying.  This Lotor person needs to be watched a little more closely.”

Lance’s fists clenched.

“Why don’t you spill your secret, Lance?” Keith said folding his arms, “now Its your turn.”

Lance was working his jaw as he stared into Shiros face. 

Shiro, had never known the teams goof-ball to be capable of such a look. 

“I’ll tell all of you a bunch of stuff if you can convince me that this is the REAL shiro.”

“I’m …REall…as least I hope,” Shiro said, trying for a joke, but it fell flat, “So, what, I have amnesia or something?”

“No…” Keith said slowly, “you had already…died…”

“I’m confused,” Shrio and Lance said at the same time.  So Keith explained what they had found when they came onto the ship.

Shiro couldn’t believe it. 

“I did…that?”

“No,” Keith said.

“NO?!” Lance snapped, “What do you mean ‘no’?!”

“I mean, the Shiro that attacked you was a clone,” Keith said, “Our Shiro had died and his consciousness was locked inside the black lion.  Allura was able to move our shiro into the body of the clone after I cut off its arm and disabled it.”

There was another very long silence as Lance and Shiro digested this information.

“You knew this?” Lance turned on Frok, who shrugged. 

“From everything you’ve told me about your friends…call it a hunch?”

“You stopped me…because of a hunch…”

Frok nodded, “it was an educated hunch.”

“…you have stayed way too long on Earth,” Lance said shaking his head but then he started to laugh, “I really am cursed…”

Smack.

Frok slapped Lance on the back of his head, nearly throwing him forward to the floor.

“Wha-“

“It sounds worse than it is,” Frok assured everyone who had half stood in defense of their teammate.

“Say’s you,” Lance grumbled, but he was grinning, so they all sat back down.

“So, I’m not-“  Shiro needed the reassurance that he’d not done something so horrible.

“You’re not the same,” Allura assured him, “Haggar used that body, but I made sure you have full charge of it.”

She sounded a little prideful, but they all handed it to her.  What she did was pretty amazing. 

“Did I prove it?” Keith asked snidely to Lance.  Lance rolled his eyes.

“Fine fine,” Lance repositioned himself so he was facing Shiro a little more instead of hiding behind his partner, “most of this is just review for all of you, so save all questions till the end.”

()

“…that…makes more sense than I would like to admit…” Shiro said after Lance had told him everything he’d told the other Shiro, even the stuff he’d told him while the others weren’t around.

“What do you MEAN?!” Pidge cried using both arms to point at Lance, “HOW does THAT say Secret Agent Man?!”

“…I like that song,” Frok said quietly and Lance smiled.  Hunk scowled. 

“Lance didn’t even hesitate when we found the Blue lion,” Shiro said, making everyone else remember that day as well, “that was our first clue.  I just didn’t realize it till now.”

“I’ll inform Superior Iverson that you need to take supplementary acting courses in the future,” Frok replied, “again.”

“I can act just fine, thank you very much,” Lance snapped, “I mean, Pidge is about to have an existential crisis because my acting was so good! And Hunk still can’t believe it completely!”

“I can!” Hunk protested.

“then stop looking at me like I’m about to fall apart,” Lance challenged, “the other day wasn’t my first ‘bad day’, ok?  Bouncing back is what I do best.”

“I’m sor-“

“Shut up,” Lance snapped his fingers to stop shiro from finishing the apology, “Do NOT take responsibility for what you haven’t done.  You apologize and you’re basically taking responsibility.  If you WANT me to shoot you, then got ahead and finish what you were about to say.”

Shiro felt he should apologize.  Not doing so went against his nature.  But what Lance had said also made sense…

“Just let him,” Keith sighed, “He’ll explode if you don’t.”

“Good,” Lance said, “teach him a lesson for dying on us like that.”

“So?”

Hunk and Pidge sat there waiting expectantly.

“Sooo…”

“You said you guys met over a game of tag, I suspect there a better story under that.”

“You said you were going to tell us.”

“You said-“

“okokok!” Lance cringed.

“Agent Blas disobeyed orders,” Frok answered for him, “I was dispatched to hunt him down.”

“I wouldn’t’ve put it like that…” Lance muttered.

“Those were my orders,” Frok shrugged, “Superior Iverson was NOT pleased.”

“Iverson is never ‘pleased’,” Lance waved the comment aside, “I was told to stay put…because of extenuating circumstances, aaaand I was more than a little tired of looking at the same four walls so I went for a walk.”

Frok snorted and Lance blushed.

“Ok, a stroll.  I went for a stroll,” lance said and this caused Frok to lower his head and Lance blushed even harder, “I got…stuck…”

Frok was now making audible snorts.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” Lance said revenge all over his red face, “get this; this guy was sent out to get me back and when he found me he’s all like, ‘I have orders to take you back’, and being the moody ten year old I was back then I told him, ‘over my dead body’.  THIS GUY spent FIVE HOURS just standing there figuring out the balance between 1) following orders, 2) my conditions, and 3) the over reaching rule of not injuring your comrades and the law concerning homicide!  Five.  Hours.”

“I had been on earth only two weeks at that time,” Frok said in his defense, “and after 7 years, humans are still very confusing.”

“How did you get back, then,” Hunk asked not sure if he understood the story. It was full of inside jokes and Hunk was sure that no one else in the room was getting anything out of it.

“Two other agents came to aid me,” Frok replied, “and informed me that Agent Blas reply was not to be taken seriously.”

“I asked them if they were sure…” Lance said, “and that threw him into another cycle of confusion.  It was so interesting to watch.”

“I was then assigned to a separate branch and a few years later was assigned to be his partner.”

“And the rest is history.”

“QUESTION!” Pidge raised her hand, “Why are you calling Lance ‘Blas’?”

It took a moment to realize that he’d never explained himself that far.

“Every agent has a…’face value’ code,” Lance said, “Mine is B1A5.  Froks race has a difficult time separating numbers and letters.  He’s a lot better now, but he still calls me Blas for kicks.”

“It used to make him angry,” Frok said, “its less entertaining now and more habit.”

“What’s the point of having a ‘face value’ code?”  Keith asked, “wouldn’t that just be your given name?”

Lance thought hard about how to word the answer, “There are three layers of code.  Using the first layer, the face-value layer, is the green area.  Its safe and it lets other agents know that everything is normal.  If anyone over hears or sees it on paper, then fine, whatever, they’re not seeing anything that will get you killed or put anyone else in danger.  The second layer is our pin codes.  Its our person, our jobs in detail, our clearance, and everything we know about the agency plus some.  The third level is the crap Frok pulled the other day.  Codes only those in the know will understand and react to.”

“What did he use…”  Allura trailed off when it was clear that Lance was not going to answer that one. 

“Speaking of that,” Lance said narrowing his eyes at his partner, “spill your side of the story.”

Frok huffed a little.  He did not like being put on the spot.

“I had found an opportunity to infiltrate Haggars ship shortly after our conversation.  I have already dispatched of the traitors in Lotors footmen, but didn’t get to them all.  I used them to get on board and spied on her for almost a full day.  I sent you that message then, hoping it would reach you before I finished.  I was found shortly after.”

“It was five days between being on Lotors ship and getting that call!” Allura gaped, “Were you-“

“My nerve system is not the same as others,” Frok cut in, in an effort to dispel any unease the other may have upon hearing about his experience with the Witch, “Most of your nerve systems are fibrous and there is a lot of them.  Mine…are not.  So when she tried to get information out of me, well, I put on a good show for her.  I passed all my acting classes…the first time.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “When did you tell her about the pin?”

“I believe it was day three,” Frok replied, “any sooner and it would’ve been suspicious.  I told her we were partners and that you held the code for both our pins.”

“And she believed that?!” Lance was horrified, and incredibly offended. 

“indeed, when I watched her watch all of you, I wondered when she’d actually ask me a question that would be useful.  Interrogation games are so difficult.  When she finally seemed ready to play her hand, I put on another show, kept repeating the same code over and over again.  She thought, while I was watching you through the spys eyes, that I had lost my sanity and was trying to call you.”

Lance made a gagging noise and shuddered.

“While she was engrossed with her spy, I made my escape and up loaded the marker onto her ships server.  Her servants were busy elsewhere.  I thought it was too easy so I took an extra day to make sure I wasn’t being followed.”

Allura stood up then and walked over.  Placing her hands on either side of Froks head she felt for the witches presence.  Not sensing any she nodded and sat back down.

“Just in case she started to make you her eyes,” Allura explained, “it would not be the first time.”

Frok nodded, “Thank you.”

“So…you were in contact with Iverson from the very beginning?” Shiro asked, everything just starting to really sink in.

Chapter Text

They ended up talking for hours more, each explaining themselves and connecting the dots. 

Right before the conversation drifted naturally to what they should be doing next, Shrio and Frok spoke at the same time.

“I think now is a good time for bed.”

Everyone stopped and looked between them.  Pidge snorted and Lance laughed. 

“Bed time it is,” Krolia replied, “Out of the mouth of two, so it shall be.”

She didn’t join in most of the time, instead letting her son speak for the Blades as was his right in this situation.  Instead, she had contented herself with observing everyone else.  This Frok person was strange, but so was every race one was not familiar with.  He seemed trust worthy enough.  The tension between her son and the one called ‘Lance’ however was concerning.  They argued, not like herself and Kolivan.  The only difference was Kroila could see this person was much more willing to do what needed to be done.  There was a shiftiness to his look when he spoke, and she didn’t quite like it.

“We’ll address Romelle and her situation tomorrow as well,” Allura said as they all stood and made their way to their rooms.

“Yeah,” Keith said, “lets do that.”

Krolia gave him a look and he shook his head very slightly. 

When they had seen Lotor in the hanger, Romelle had changed her appearance to match with Keith and Krolia.  Lotor had been a little preoccupied to really pay her much attention. However the stress of seeing him and then the panic of what was going on had been a little much for her, no matter how stubborn she was.

As everyone dispersed into their room Keith waited and then headed towards Lances.  When he opened the door he found that Lance and Frok were sitting on the floor talking.

Good, a second opinion.

“So help me, Keith,” Lance snapped, “you are going to have to learn to knock some time in your life.”

“Later,” Keith said, “I need to know everything you know on Lotor.”

The pair exchanged a look and then turned back to him, “After you tell us what you know.”

Fair enough.  It would help if he had more people on his side when they broke the news to Allura.  He had no idea that they were a thing until Lance had said something, which was why he had kept quiet about Romelle. 

Keith explained what he and Krolia had been doing.  He explained what Romelle had told them and why he’d not said anything before.

After he was done Lance had his head in his hands and Frok looked so done with life. 

“Sometimes…”Lance said through his fingers, “I really wish I was as ignorant as I behave…”

“We need to stop Lotor from going further,” Keith said, “but I need more information to really convince them that he’s not our ally.”

“Except that he is.”

“What?”

Lance sighed, “at this moment in time, he is our ally. How we progress from here might change that.”

“What do you mean by ‘might’?” Keith scowled, “You were eager to throw Shiro under the buss today, but here you are making excuses from someone who farms quintessence from living people!”

“We are not making excuses,” Frok corrected civilly, “we are simply seeing the situation from a different angle.”

“Then you better start talking,” Keith folded his arms and waited.

Fork and Lance shared another look. Frok shook his head and Lance then shrugged.  Keith couldn’t figure out what was being said.

“I’m giving you level 2 clearance,” Lance said and Frok let out a disapproving grumble, “Which means, you can’t use this in your argument against Lotor in front of everyone else.”

“Then what’s the point?!”

“the point is that now WE need you to be on our side.  WE need you to take a step back and help us…manipulate a situation where we win most of the battles.  Look-“

Lance closed his eyes and thought for a moment, “The council has been aware of the Galra for a long time – we just didn’t know what they were called.  They really haven’t been able to do anything because, frankly, we had other planets and races to deal with because that threat was more immediate.  Now that the Galra have almost literally shoved their way into being the agency’s #1 problem, there are…affects and effects, that need to be taken into consideration.”

“…such asssss…”

“Do we really have the means to make Lotor our enemy again?  With the Witch as powerful as she is, do we have the resources and skill to take on two powerful opponents?” Frok stipulated, “If we use him to take out the Witch, then we can deal with him without needing to watch our backs at the same time.”

“But what about Romelle and her people?!”  Keith pressed, “They deserve justice and need to be-

“That comes in the form of what you and the Blades do,” Lance grinned, “Or did you forget that all of you are class A sneeks?”

“We are not ‘sneeks’,” Keith snapped, “we’re stealthy.”

“Same thing.”

“Here is what we suggest,” Frok replied slowly, “We contact our Superior and let him know of the situation.  If the...Blades, are they called, are willing, then we can give them and you temporary status in the agency.”

“With that, you and the Blades can go, rescue Romelles people, get them to a safe planet and away form Haggar and Lotor and after we use lotor for our mutual needs, then we can air his dirty laundry.”

“Why would we need to be part of the agency?”  Keith wrinkled his nose, “we can just do that ourselves.”

“Because the agency knows where you can relocate the Alteans,” Lance said, “They will be able to give you aid and support.  AND it would solve all my problems too.”

“No,” Frok said, “it wont.”

“yes,” Lance argued, “it will.  You’ll see.  I can finagle my way out of anything.”

Frok rolled his eyes.  Keith thought for a moment.

“Soo..”

“So, while Frok messages Iverson, I’m going to initiate you, sound good?”

“But you haven’t received permission-“

“Ask for forgiveness, Keith, not permission,” Lance cracked his fingers.

“Is this really ok?” Frok asked and Lance nodded.

“It’s a temp status, Frok, nothing more,” Lance grinned and to Keith explained, “you won’t get codes outside of what you use yourselves as an independent group.  Think of yourselves as contractors. You get a higher clearance because that’s what’s needed to actually be in contact with Iverson and know where that planet is.  You will not be told about any other missions going on, only information pertaining to what your mission entails.”

“Sounds normal enough, I guess,” Keith shrugged, “So what do I have to do to-“

“repeat after me,” Lance clapped his hands, “I, Keith Mullet.”

Keith scowled.

“Fine, fine, be boring” Lance shrugged and pulled out his issued com. He brought up the screen and started to record, “state you name.”

“Keith Kogane.”

“Race.”

“Human… and Galra.”

“Do you promise to honor and never betray your kin?”

Keith blinked, not sure what Lance meant by that.  Seeing Ketih hesitate, Lance explained.

“Your kin is human and Galra.  You follow one path that hopefully honors both.  Will you promise to do what is best for both of your people?”

“Of course,” Keith snapped, now pretty offended by the question.

“Do you promise to honor and never betray your own conscious?”

“I promise.”

“the agency wishes to form a temporary alliance with you and the Blades, do you accept the give and take necessary for a working relationship?”

What kind of question was that?

“Yes…”

“Do you speak for the Blades?”

Keith suddenly went pale.  He did NOT speak for the Blades.  Krolia wasn’t even here.  How had it gotten this far?

“No,” he said and Lance clicked off the com device.

“then we’d better get someone who does speak for them,” Lance said, “and here I thought we could just get this over with because you were Kolivans favorite or something.”

“Noooo,” Keith shook his head and even waved a hand to dispel the misunderstanding, “just the opposite.  Kolivan hates my guts.”

Lance tilted his head a little, “keith…dear, red leader, keith…you really need to learn how to read people better.  You’ve gotten better, I’ll give you that, but Kolivan practically dotes on you the only way Kolivan knows how.”

“What makes you say that?”

Lance sighed, “Kolivan wouldn’t let you leave a room alone after you tried that suicide dive.  We just made you realize it was stupid, but Kolivan was the one that felt he needed to watch you.  You really freaked him out there!”

“the Blades don’t worry about stuff like that,” Keith denied, “the missions come first.  That’s how its always been and how its always going to be.  You preform the mission and you do not compromise it even at the cost of one of our own.”

“You seem to have changed something then, because that stiff personality of his was all over the place after that.”

Keith, again, shook his head.  Lance was good when it came to people, but he didn’t know the Blades like he did.

“What about your mom?” Lance asked, “does she hold a higher standing with the blades?”

“I don’t think she and kolivan get along very we-“  Keith froze.  Lance looked about as innocent as a snake.

“Pidge owes me SO much money,” Lance grinned.

“How did you…I didn’t say..”

“No, but you were overly self conscious when you introduced her and every time she spoke up,” Lance said.

“You share many similar genetic traits,” Frok added, “as well as genetic habits.”

“Your faces are pretty much identical when your thinking really hard,” Lance said, “anyway, can she speak for everyone, or do we have to drag all of them here for this?”

Keith was still struggling with the fact that he’d been found out. 

“The council will not like this,” Frok replied, his voice slightly lower, meant for Lance alone.

“the council owes me, I’m calling in my favor,” Lance shrugged.

“On this?”

“Sure,” Lance said, “most fights are won because of pivot points.  I’m looking at this and seeing a pivot point.”

“You’re making the call?” 

“Either we do it now, or we wait for everything to pan out on its own.  Remember when we did that last time?”

Frok closed his eyes and groaned, “that was a completely different situation.”

“True, but I’m not trusting my overly trusting team to NOT make my mistakes.”

“You both know that I can hear this whole conversation, right?”  Keith thought he’d remind them since Lance seemed to think it was ok to bad mouth the team.

“Yeah, we know,” Lance said, “so, are you going to go get your mom or are you going to go call Kolivan?  Do one or the other.  Chop-chop!”

“Know what,” Keith stood and shook his head, “Never mind.  We’ll do things our own way.  Not like you have much faith in your team anyway, right?  You have your partner back, so maybe I’ll just take Red back and you can do your own thing.”

Keith left and stormed to his room.  The one thing Keith hated the most about space ships was that you couldn’t slam the doors.

()

“I believe he did not understand.”

“You think?” Lance rubbed his eyes, he was so tired.

“Will you tell them?”

“…if I can avoid it, I will,” Lance answered, “but it looks like I’ll have to at least tell Keith so he’ll not do exactly what I said not to do.”

“You’re talking in circles.”

“Mmm,” Lance yawned, “Go find a room or you can camp out on my floor, I don’t care.”

Lance stood up from the floor and moved to his bed, “We’ll mess with this in the morning, I can’t think…”

“Clearly,” Frok stood and gave his partner a pat on the head, “Do you need me to stay?”

Lance turned a skeptical glare at his partner.  Frok nodded.

“I’ll be down the hall then.”

Lance waved and Frok left. 

()

Hunk and Pidge found themselves in the kitchen long after everyone went to bed.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“Mmm.”

They snacked for a while in silence before Hunk spoke up.

“Do you think Lance will quit?”

Pidge shrugged, “so what if he does?”

The food fell from between his fingers as he stared at her.

“Because we’re a team, Pidge, Shiro doesn’t look like he can or even wants to fly any more, so Keith will have to take over in Black, and if Lance quits, who’s going to pilot the red lion?!”

Pidge swallowed, “you’re worrying too much.  Things will work themselves out if we just leave it alone.  I mean, Keith did come back, right?”

“Well, yeah but…”

“Hunk?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s really bugging you?”

Pidge grinned at him and Hunk scowled.  It had been like a slap in the face for Lance to turn and rely on Frok when they had been standing right there.  It irritated him to know that there was someone else who knew him better and could help him more.  Hunks whole pride was built on the fact that he could take care of others.  That even though he was large and looked down on, he’d always been able to help in some capacity. 

“when Lance talked about having a partner, it was just talk, now…it feels like the team is falling apart.”

“If he’s that attached to his partner, do you really think he’d let his team down?” Pidge asked, “Lance is a moron, but he’s loyal…like a dog.”

“Glad to see you’re fine with whatever.”

Pidge shrugged, “I have enough to worry about without thinking that a team member is going to not help me when I need them.  If I add that to the plate, then I’ll never get to sleep….ever…”

“So you’re up now because…”

“because today was a lot to take in.  I need to think it all through.  I don’t think on my feet like the others, we’re more alike because we take our time to really consider things.”

“true,” Hunk nodded, feeling much better.  Pidge was right, of course, and he had known that as well, deep down, be he still worried.

Pidge and Hunk were making their way back to bed when they heard a loud noise come from Lances room.

“Sounds like he fell out of bed,” Pidge grinned, “should we open the door and mock him?”

Hunk grinned and nodded.

They opened the door with as much flair as one could with an automatic door and leaped in, expecting Lance to be wide eyed and dazed on the floor with a silly look on his face.

Well, his eyes were wide…

And he was on the floor…

But neither of them dared move any further as they stared at the gun that was pointed at them.  His breathing was rough, but his hand was steady.  Tears streamed down his face as he glared at them.

“Hey, Lance, you ok?” Pidge asked, her voice squeaking a little.

Lance took his time answering, “Pidge?  Hunk?”

“That’s us,” Hunk said slowly.

“…on…on an altean…ship…”

“Yup,” Pidge said her hands still in the air, “its where we’ve been for a loooong time.”

Lance slowly lowered the gun and rubbed his face with the other hand.  He hadn’t stopped crying.  He just sat there, unwilling to let go of the gun in his hand and trying to hide his face with the other.

Hunk didn’t know what to do.  They had tried approaching him earlier, but he’d obviously rejected that.  There really wasn’t anything to say without asking questions first, and even Hunk wouldn’t stoop so low as to ask questions while he was like this. 

So Hunk did the only logical move left to him.

He walked over and sat next to his friend.  He didn’t do anything, he just sat there.  Pidge sat on the other side, bringing her legs up and resting her chin on her knees.

And there they sat until Lance fell back asleep.

()

Keith took his time getting ready the next morning.  He was going over in his head everything that needed to be done today.  Everything that needed to be said. 

When he opened the door Lance was standing right outside of it.

“What?”

“We need to talk.”

Keith tried to push past, “No, we don’t.”

“Hurry up,” Lance said, not listening, “Krolia and Romelle are already waiting in the red lion.”

“What?!”

“Come on, come on,” Lance said and started to push him down the hall, “you didn’t let me finish last night.  Let’s go.”

“Oh, but your point was clear,” Keith said brushing him off, “we’re not part of your ‘clearance level’ so we-“

“Oh don’t get me started,” Lance sneered, “You’re every bit as bad.  You ran off to hide with the Blades because you haven’t come out of your emo phase yet.”

“It was the best decision to make with Shiro back!”

“But he wasn’t!  And the only one of us that could’ve figured it out BEFORE everything happened was YOU!”

Keith wasn’t ready to back down, and he hated that what Lance said made sense. 

“the best decision would’ve been to take Red back, like I tried to offer you,” Lance rolled his eyes, “I was really trying to get you to so I could leave and chase down Frok, but then you beat me to it.”

“…are you serious?”

“yes,” Lance made a face, “as gross as it sounds, we both had the same idea, but, like always, you did it before I could.”

Keith grit his teeth, “fine…let’s go.”

()

Shiro looked around the table.

“We are missing a few people…right?”

“Lance said he needed to talk to Keith this morning,” Hunk replied, his mouth full.  He glanced over at Frok, who didn’t seem too bothered. 

“And the others?”

“Here,” Keith said, “Romelle and Krolia are doing…I don’t know what, but I was told to leave.”

“Where’s Lance?”

“He went back to bed, said he didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“Oh,” Hunk and pidge said, “right.”

Keith sat down and started to fill his plate up.  Frok just sighed and continued eating.  They couldn’t tell if it was an annoyed sigh, or a relieved sigh. 

“What?”

Frok looked up from his food, “yes?”

Pidge had been no less upset than Hunk had been the day before, but she could hide it better.  What she had told Hunk was true, to a point, but he had surprised her when he’d voiced the same thoughts that had gone through her own head.

“What’s the ‘hhhhaaaahh’ for?!  You got something to say, then say it!”

Allura tried to step in but stopped when Pidge shot her a look.  Frok thought for a moment about why Pidge would be upset.

“You were with Agent Blas last night, yes?” Frok asked.

“Yeah, but how do you know?”

“He told me.”

“Why would he tell you?  Its not any of your business!”

“Because I asked.”

Pidge slammed her fork down, “And why would he tell you?!”

“Pidge,” Shiro tried to calm her down but Pidge had had enough.

“you just waltzed in here!  Demanded that you see OUR teammate, and then DON’T even stay PUT when we told you to!”

“Yes,” Frok said, admitting it, “but I simply walked…I would not know how to dance my way anywhere and it seems like a rather confusing way to travel.”

Pidge rounded on Hunk, “Is he making fun of me?!”

“I asked,” Frok said slowly, “because I knew he would not sleep well.  I had been expecting him to come see me last night, like he often does when he has a nightmare.  When he did not, I wondered if perhaps he had slept well and my prediction was wrong. He told me that you two had stayed with him and that he was fine.”

“Nightmare?” Allura asked, “How bad?”

“Bad enough to point a gun at us,” Hunk said.

Shiro stared at his plate.  He hadn’t really been hungry to begin with and now it was simply impossible.  It was his fault. 

“So long as he didn’t spend the night alone, I didn’t see any reason to push the issue further.  I am confused as to why you are upset.”

Pidge felt the heat rise in her face, as did Hunk.  They were being immature, they knew it, but the uncertainty of the situation was unnerving. 

“Is Lance going to stop being a paladin now that you’re here?” Hunk asked, again, voicing the thoughts no one else wanted to ask.

“That does not seem like the logical course of action,” Frok replied, “and I highly doubt he would leave any of you so long as he is able to stay.”

“Why would we kick him out?!”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You were thinking it!”

Frok sighed again, this time it was plain that it was an annoyed sigh, “Agent Blas does not trust lightly.  It took me a long, long, long time to reach the level of comradery that we have at this time.  The fact that he is so candid with you should ease your worries, yes?”

“’Candid’ doesn’t mean ‘turthful’,” Allura pointed out.

Frok looked around the table and started to piece together what the real issue was.  It was foolish, and oh, so, human.

“If anyone should be jealous, it would be me,” Frok said, immediately calling them out, “You both reaped the reward of my long hard work.  Had you met him but two years before you did, I doubt he would have let you get anywhere close.  He was and is a horrifically stubborn human, even by human standards.  When Iverson assigned him to the Garrison, I severely questioned the wisdom of it.  Then he came back with stories of how much fun it was.”

“All we did was get into trouble…” hunk muttered.

“Over time he began to be more…short tempered with the work the agency gave him.  He didn’t seem to want to work anymore, but spend more time you the two of you.  If anyone should be worried, its me.”

“…sorry…”

“You’re not worried?”

Frok shook his head, “Agent Blas may be a troublemaker and flippant at the best of occasions, but he does not joke or mess around when it comes to partnerships, or in this case teamwork.  He will never take that lightly.”

“See,” Pidge slapped Hunks shoulder, “I told you so.”

“I’m not the one who exploded,” Hunk snapped back.

Allura giggled and even Coran grinned a little.  It was good to know there was nothing to worry about.

The only two that didn’t join in the good feelings were Shiro, who still felt everything was his fault, and Keith, who knew the real reason why Lance would never betray them.

Chapter Text

“Its not FAIR!” Romelle burst onto the bridge, interrupting Shiro, with Krolia close behind.  Allura started to smile, excited to see another Altean and to hear about where she’d come from.  But Romelles eyes were red and she was furious as she stormed up to Keith.

“I knew Galra break their word all the time, but is it also a human practice?!”

“First of all,” Keith said through clenched teeth, “I never gave you my word.  Second, I’m sure I can find a very good example of Alteans who have gone bad.”

“That’s not the point!”

Keith shook his head, “I’m just about to explain to them our plans, would you like to join?”

Romelle stepped back and folded her arms.  Keith nodded for Shiro to continue.

“In short, Black isn’t going to accept me.  Keith, do you think you can take over again?”

“I doubt the Blades will miss me,” Keith shrugged, “if the three of you are ok with me coming back.”

“Just wondering what was taking so long,” Allura said and moved to hug him.  Romelle hissed and turned her head. 

Her initial excitement had cooled with Romelles explosive entrance and now the princess turned those cool eyes on her kin.

“And now, you can explain what you were talking about, preferably WITHOUT insulting a member of Voltron.”

“Rome-“ Keith tried to cut in, but the girl took off.

“I come from a planet of Alteans!  We’ve lived there and built our lives back up, but we’ve been hunted by-“

Poof.

A pillow engulfed her face and forced her to stagger back.

Lance stood in the door way and yawned.  His hair stood strait up and there were sleep creases on one side of his face, and he did not look happy.

“I can hear you screeching…down five hallways, and a locked door.”

“Its all your fault!” Romelle shouted throwing the pillow down on the floor, “I demand justice!”

Lance rolled his eyes, “carry on like this and this morning will be for nothing.”

“I was promised justice!”

“SO WAS I!” Lance roared making everyone jump, “You will get your justice, and a healthy dose of revenge, but it will be on OUR terms.  Do I make myself clear?”

Romelle refused to cower, but she did start to cry again.  Lance sighed and rubbed his face.  He hadn’t woken up with a temper in a long time.  It mostly came from his mothers side of the family and Lance knew he took more after his father.  But every so often his mothers morning blood would take over and he’d have mornings where every face he saw was incredibly punchable. 

“Why are you crying…”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Pidge said, “perhaps screaming in her face has something to do with it.”

“You’d think she’d run out of salt water by now,” Lance muttered darkly, “this is how the other Alteans situation will be handled.  Krolia, Romelle and the Blades will transport all the Alteans to a safe planet out of the way of anyone who might discover them as soon as possible.  The Agency should already be in contact with Krolia and they will work together to get a planet set up for them.  We have this witch to take down and we are NOT going to be dragged off course and leave our back completely unattended!  Now, if you have a problem with that, then go ahead and discuss it till your face turns blue, I don’t care.  Whatever Black Leader says, I’ll do, but so help me Romelle, if your actions put anyone in danger I will end you myself.”

He stormed back out of the bridge, looking like a madman.  Then he came back in, stomped up to Romelle, who flinched, snatched his pillow off the floor and stormed back out.

In the silence that followed, Frok turned to Hunk and Pidge, “See?  I told you he takes these things seriously.”

()

Allura did her best to comfort Romelle as they talked.  Keith told them that Lance had wanted to hook them up with the agency that morning, and that’s what it was all about.  He said it was a plan that they had come up with together and that it was the safest way to accomplish all the tasks that seemed to be piling up on their plate. 

“We can’t be in three places at once,” Keith said, using his most gentle tone to offset Lance as much as possible, “Voltron may be the defender of the universe, but the universe is a really big place and its got a lot of problems.”

“Patience is hard,” Allura said, now somewhat understanding why the girl was so angry, “especially when its something close to you.”

“Yeah, Lance really isn’t like that,” Hunk said, “I’ve seen him be a morning beast only once.  Back at the garrison he woke up, cursed everything he came in contact with and then went back to bed.”

“You never told me that,” Pidge said.

“I didn’t think about it until now,” Hunk shrugged, “Like I said, it only happened once.”

“Lucky,” Frok said, “he was like that for three days in a row while we were on a stealth mission.  It is difficult to be stealthy when your partner wants to strangle everything he sees.”

“you can’t expect me to believe THAT BEAST has any kind of heart!” Romelle sniffed an rubbed her face, “He listened to everything I said and then ignored HALF of it!  Telling me that my problems had to come second and maybe even THIRD!”

“With sound reasoning,” Keith replied, “You know this.  We discussed this.”

Angry, and pushed to her last limit she snapped, “I don’t CARE if he killed his last partner!  I don’t care WHY he had to kill him!  That has NOTHING to do with THIS situation!”

Keith felt his blood freeze.  Frok clacked his teeth together in barely controlled anger of his own.

()

When Lance woke up again he felt much better.  He had a dim recollection of Romelle making a scene…or did he make the scene…well, he’d find out eventually.  He should probably apologize though.  Frok and his sister had once recorded one of his bad temper mornings and showed it to him.  Honestly, he’d scared even himself. 

He sat down and poked around a small box where he kept all the odd things he liked to pick up and collet from time to time.  He’d been sure he had a pair of earrings in there somewhere.  He’d got them for Allura, but then thought better of it when she refused to give him even a moment to present them to her. 

Romelle didn’t look like the type to be swayed by gifts, but he hoped it would at least give her pause enough for him to get a proper apology out. 

Finding them he pocketed them, fixed his hair, washed his face, and left to face the aftermath of his bad temper.

Or so he thought.  He entered the bridge to find Keith with his blank, tight lipped, ‘you can’t make me’ face firmly in place.  Frok and Romelle were having a stare down and as he entered, they all looked at him like they didn’t know him. 

“Umm, ok,” Lance said as he walked up to Romelle, this was the largest and strangest reaction to his temperamental mornings that he’d ever had, “Hey, Romelle, I’m sorry I was so harsh and, here-“

He held out the earrings and watched as she turned her head, stubbornly defiant of his apology.

“I shouldn’t’ve yelled,” Lance continued, still holding out the present, “I know its hard to wait for things to come about the way you want them to, but this really is the best idea we could come up with.”

“Lance…”  Pidge started to reach out, then hesitated.

“What?” Lance said, “are the earrings too much?  I just thought-“

“She told them,” Krolia replied, her arms folded as she leaned against the consol, “told them that you killed your last partner.”

The air in the room tensed as they waited for his response.

“…that’s all?” he asked, and Krolia nodded, “Then good, this is a non-issue right now.  That can be addressed later.”

“But-“ Coran tried to protest but Shiro held him back. 

“Does the news stop you from trusting me?” Lance asked.

“An explanation would be nice,” Hunk confessed, “but right now?  No, we’re sure you had a good reason.”

There was a hesitation in the room before everyone gave a nod for themselves.

“I did,” Lance said and turned back to Romelle, “I had a very good reason.”

He stepped up to her and pressed the earrings into her hand.

“I don’t want this!”

“Then throw them away, I don’t care,” Lance shrugged as he made his way over to Keith, “Am I correct in assuming you’re the leader again?”

“…yes.”

“Good, what’s the order?”

“We changed a few things.”

“Just tell me what to do,” Lance grinned, looking totally at ease.

()

“Are you very upset?” Frok asked once he was able to talk with his partner alone. 

“Not as much as I thought I’d be,” Lance confessed, “you know…this morning was the first time I’d said any of that stuff out lout since I told you and Iverson what happened for the report.  I’d almost forgotten a lot of it.  I mean, it was eight years ago.”

“Not many people, even in my own race, have vivid nightmares about events that happened eight years ago.”

“Because your race, and most other people, would’ve just died,” Lance winced after he said it, “Sorry.”

“It’s the truth,” Frok replied, “if a little uncouth.”

“We’ll get this done,” Lance said flopping down into a seat by the table, “we’ll get rid of the Wicked Witch and imprison Snow White shortly after for his crimes against humanity.  After everything is manageable once again, we might have time for war stories.”

()

The change was that Frok would be leaving with the Blades and Romelle.  Krolia would stay as their contact into their situation.  The others waited for Lance to object, but he didn’t. He helped his partner ready a ship and said good-bye without any complaint. 

“So how ARE we going to deal with the Witch?”  Hunk asked, “I know we all said that we need to, but I’m at a loss as to how.”

“We’ll wait until Allura and Coran get back,” Keith said, “we’ll send her a message and invite Lotor to this meeting as well.  With his support we should be able to get this done a little bit quicker.”

“I’m just glad he’s on our side,” Hunk sighed, “Can you imagine how hard everything would be if we had to fight him AND the witch at the same time.”

Lance nodded, “makes me tired just thinking about it.”

“Its just a good thing he hates her as much as we do,” Pidge said, “maybe even more so.”

“We were able to get the movement of Haggars ships and all those that are allied with her,” Krolia replied, “I should have everything ready and organized by tomorrow.”

“So rest up,” Shiro said, “last time before we go back to the grind.”

Chapter Text

The next morning Ketih opened his door in time to see Lance running pell-mell past and down the hall.  Pidge close on his heals screeching curses at him.

“What the-“

“He changed her programs file names,” Hunk said walking by, “Its times like this I really think everything he told us was a big hoax.”

Keith shrugged, “just so long as everyone does what they’re supposed to.”

()

“Taking out her support will make it easier to attack her directly.”

“but her support doesn’t matter when she’s powerful enough without them.”

“but if you could target them, then it would open the door to get at least near her ship.”

Lotor was not pleased with his role in their plans. 

Correction.

He was not excited that Hunk was the one accompanying him in the next mission and not Allura.  He much preferred a direct attack and get things over with. 

“We’ll take out her support,” Ketih said, making the final decision, “and if we see an opening, then we take it, fair enough?”

Lotor leaned in with a smirk, “my, you’ve really grown to fill your position, haven’t you?”

Keith blinked.

Strange…he’d expected to feel the heat rise in his face, or his gut to twist or something.  But to his surprise, Lotor words didn’t bother him at all.

“I guess you’re right,” Keith replied and socked even himself as one side of him mouth lifted into his own smirk.

“Pffffft!!!”  Lance lowered his head to the table as he laughed, pounding the top with his fist.  Looking up he wiped a tear from his eye.

“Keep this up, Mullet, and I’ll follow you for the rest of my life.”

“Oh?” Keith tilted his head to one side, “you’d quit your job for me?”

“Hell no.  I need something to keep you in check.  You may be less emo now, but I don’t trust your temper at all.”

“Then why do you insist on calling me names?”

“Why do you keep answering to them?”

“If you two are done,” Allura said pointedly, “is there anything else we need to discuss?”

“Pidge, has Matt contacted you at all?”

“He’s manning the posts and marking the enemies movements,” Pidge said, “I’ve already updated the program…no thanks to lance…”

“You left the whole thing open on your laptop, how was I supposed to resist?”

“Lance, we KNOW you can get serious, why are you being so…impossible right now?”

“Can I be serious?  Really?” Lance grinned. 

“right, let’s get to work,” Keith sighed and left the room.

“You really are a piece of work,” Pidge said squinting at him as everyone followed Keith out of the conference room.

“Oh no,” Lance gasped, “You figured me out?!”

“You are such a ham,” she sighed, matching his drama with her own, “you are ridiculously transparent. But I swear, if you touch my stuff again I’ll bust it over your head, got it?”

Her tone changed half way and Lance raised both hand in surrender.  They had all been expecting to go home after Zarkon, and not only had they not, but the Clone and now the witch were taking a toll on their morale.  Lance decided to lighten things up a bit.  Gentle and harmless teasing went a long way to normalize any horrific situation.

()

Three months, and still no openings.  Hunk and Pidge had finished spiffing up Lotors ships and adding their flair to his tech. He had been furious when they had redesigned his supply crafts with floral dingbats. 

They had two attempts on Haggars personal ship, but each one ended in their narrow retreat. 

()

“I’m dying…” Lance moaned sitting in the lounge, “I swear if I have to ram my face into another ship I’m going to have permanent whiplash.”

“Stop whining,” Pidge kicked his foot as she moved to the other side of the couch.

“say’s the one with the shield,” Lance made a face at her and she made one back.

“How many supporters does she have,” Hunk looked over at Lotor, “you said not many refused to join you.”

Lotor didn’t answer.

“Lotor?” Allura sat next to him and put an arm around him, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” He stood, “I have to get back to my people.  I’ll be heading to sector 53 and taking that rout along the edge of her claimed domain.”

“Sounds good,” Keith nodded, “Keep us informed of how you’re doing and we’ll keep in contact with you as well.”

Lotor gave a respectful nod and then left.

“I’ll go see him off,” Allura followed him out.

“Ahhh, a little bit of a shame, really,” Lance sighed, “he’s staring to grow on me.”

Keith shot him a look and Lance waved his concern away. 

“Good news!” Shiro sang as he entered the lounge with Coran.  He’d been awfully happy with their progress, even when it was obvious that their progress was minimal at best.

“Haggar imploded.”

“Haggar was just a figment of out imaginations and we can go home now?”

“Haggar EXploded.”

“Are you done?” Shiro asked. The team looked at each other.

“Haggar fell into water and melted?”

“Look, I think we found out a way to really get in close this time,” Shiro brought up a screen and walked it over to them,  “the Olkari are doing amazing things with sabotage type weapons.  They got the idea seeing Pidges …plant…canon..thing…anyway, last time we came so close, if we can just find a way to get someone on the inside, we can overwhelm the ship without much effort and take it from there.”

“You realize what it took Frok to get in there?” Lance said, not really impressed, “And even then he still got caught.”

“Matts on his way, I really think if we go with this angle we could really get somewhere.”

They could see Shiro truly believed it, and really, no one with a heart could say ‘no’ to that face.

()

“Why was I picked for this again?”

“…” Krolia was about to inform her companion that it was because she was small, instead she said, “because your lion is the only one with cloaking.”

“I see,” Pidge said, “remind me to put it in everyones lions when we get back.”

“And the Olkari designed the weapon in such a way that you’re really the only one who can activate it.”

“Yeae me,” Pidge rolled her eyes.  The weapon was still in its experimental phase and wasn’t exactly ‘user friendly’ as of yet. 

“I will be taking a different ship when I leave with the prisoners,” Krolia said a small smile on her face, “So take your time and make it count.”

()

Something was bugging Pidge as she crept down the halls of Haggars ship.  She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something was not right.  This made her more than a little jumpy and she ended up moving slower than she normally would have. 

She ship shook as the lions landed occasional hits.  Every once in a while a sentry or a galra soldier would run down the hall.

Other than that, it was smooth sailing getting from her entry point to the main frame.  The long bridge that lead to the singular consoul was ridiculous.  Pidge rolled her eyes again as she made her way there. She’d never really been one to be afraid of heights, but she’d almost fallen off of enough of them to be wary.  The large vast space beneath mocked her as she did her best to ignore the echo of her own foot steps.

When she reached the end of the walk way, she pulled two large seeds out of her pocket.  Dropping the blue one over the edge, she turned to the consoul.

She opened the front and sure enough, a purple crystal shone bright amongst the wires.  She licked her lips as she pulled an Indiana Jones and switched the crystal for a large purple seed.  The machine whined a little, but she knew it would take a while for there to be any noticeable effect.  By then she’d be long gone.

She tossed the crystal over the edge after the blue seed and began to make her way back down the long walk way.

()

Krolia, though proud of her child, wondered if he knew she wasn’t perfect…and had more difficulties than most Blades in stealth.  Her forte was spy work, infiltration and espionage.  She could lie her way out of any situation.  She was never very good at sneaking around…much less, sneaking around with seven extremely injured prisoners.

“Is this all of you?” She asked.  She figured if she had seven, then any more couldn’t really be worse.

“We thought we heard more down the hall…”  Said one who was less injured and supporting another, “but we have never seen them.”

“Good, at least its on the way,” Kroila muttered to herself.

()

“Shiro!  Matt needs help at 10!”

“got it.”

Shiro flew in the pod that Hunk had repurposed for Shiro to fight in.  It had as many bells and whistles as Hunk could manage to put in.  It could even make coffee.

“I spy Pidge!”

“About time!”

“It was a delicate process!” She snapped.

“Is Krolia out yet?”

“Not yet,” Pidge said, “I caught a glimpse of her as I was making my way out.  She still had a ways to go before reaching the bay.”

“Well that sucks.”

“How many prisoners were there?”

“How should I know?  I did my job and I got out!”

“Give her ten more doboshes.”

()

That’s when things started to go down hill.

As they formed Voltron to take on her ship head on, she opened a channel with them.  Three galra soldiers stood behind her.  Two were holding a man, his hair matted with blood and semiconscious.  The third was holding onto a smaller child bruised, but not severely injured.

Lance let out a series of curses that made even Keith flinch.  They may all have been able to see Haggar, but Since the Black lion was the head, only Keith showed up on her screen. 

“Cease you’re fire and tell me where Lotor has gone,” the witch was calm, almost stately. 

Weird. 

Lance opened a side channel with Allura and mimed instructions to her.

“…fine,” Keith replied, “We’ll cease fire and you send the kid out in an escape pod.”

“Tell me where Lotor is.”

“First let the kid go.”

Haggar hesitated for a lot shorter than they thought she would have.  She waved her hand and the kid was dragged out.

“Now tell me-“

“We can continue negotiations after we’ve confirmed that the kid is in the pod and heading towards the castle.”

The Witch nodded.

After what seemed like forever, a pod shot from the side of the curser. Pidge and Allura scanned it and observed the data.

“One kid, no guards or sentries detected.”

“What is he doing?”  The escape pod was flying erratically. 

“Shiro!  Intercept!”

Shiros fighter rounded around the pod and tried to nudge it toward the ship.  Only when the pod was close enough to the castle did Keith resume his conversation with the Witch.

“Why do you want to know where Lotor is?”

“that is MY business.”

Keith took his time thinking.  He had learned from Shrio and the others that putting up a show wasn’t always a waste of time. Still, being who he was, he couldn’t pause for very long.

“Alright,” Keith said, “We’ll tell you where Lotor is the moment you send that guy you’ve half killed in a pod as well.”

“How about I just kill him?”

“then who would you threaten us with?  We ceased firing, so far this is already a better exchange than all of you had with Lotor and Sam Holt.”

“I wish to know where Lotor is; tell me and I will let this prisoner go.”

“And I want to trust you, but I’m just not the trusting type.”

“…you are stalling…”

“…”

It was then that Lotor fell out of hyperdrive immediately behind the Galra cruiser.  Keith let out a long breath.  Stalling was NOT something he was good at.  It was worth it to have the others show him how.  It had been long and painful lessons, but worth it.

“Is there a problem?” Lotor asked opening up his own channel along with Haggars and Voltron.

“Not anymore,” Keith pointed, “we found him, now let that guy go.”

The Witchs hand flew back, slicing the man across the chest.

“He can go, if he can make it to a pod on his own,” She cut off communication with Voltron and they watched as her ship turned to face Lotors.

“Kroila is still on that ship right?”

“How long do we have before those seeds germinate?”

“Can’t be longer than a few more doboshes.”

“You know that guy Lance?”

“…yeah…”  Lance didn’t look to happy about it, “I’m still trying to figure out how he got all the way out here AND captured my Haggar!  I mean, I’M not even that gifted.”

“It must be important, though, right?”

“Yeah, and not good news.”

“I’ll contact Krolia and-“

All five paladins flinched at the rain of lasers Lotor began to fire at Haggars ship.  Her defenses were as solid as ever, but that didn’t deter Lotor from trying his best to break through.

“Should we help?”

“And get caught up in that?  Hell no.  Let’s wait for the seeds to do their thing.”

Keith was drumming his fingers as he watched the side of Haggars ship, waiting for Krolia to turn up.

()

Krolia, when she found the cell empty, yet freshly soiled, gave a low curse.  They had been moved and who knew where. 

She lead the group to the escape pods and hid them in the furthest one, “You stay here, understand?  I’ll go see if I can’t find the others.”

They nodded and attempted to make themselves as small and well hidden form the outside as possible.  She was grateful that she’d not have to specify that direction and felt a bit safer.

She was making her way back down the hall when she heard someone walking towards her.  She hid and waited for the footsteps to pass before continuing on.

About to give up, because the only place she’d not searched was the bridge, and she was sure that if they were there, they were dead anyway. She was making her way back when the floor in front of her erupted as vines and woody branches made passage impossible

“Che,” she scrambled up the vines and made her way into the airducts above.  It was the long way around and she just hoped she’d be able to get out before the plants wrecked that part of the ship.

As Krolia passed by the Bridge, she gave a curtesy look inside.  Haggar was focused fully on her weapons and slowly failing shields.  Behind her was what had to be the other prisoner.  He was slowly inching his way across the floor and out of view of the enemy in the room.

She had to give the guy credit for not only still being alive, but able to move.  Not many would have.

Taking a line from her belt she lifted a tile well out of the view of the enemy.  She lowered it and then attempted to get the guys attention. 

He spotted it and squinted up to see who was up there.  It was too dark, and in his predicament, he didn’t really have room to argue.  He inched slowly, the best he could, to the line dangling above the ground. 

Taking the end, he fumbled with it while Krolia kept watch on the enemy.  Bloodloss was making him clumsy as his fingers forgot how to tie a loop.  He bit back a curse as the knot slipped again. 

Krolia snatched the line back up and tied it for him before lowering it again.

()

Haggars ship was just staring to bow outward with the pressure of the growing plants when Voltron saw a second escape pod rush out and away.

“Oh I can breathe!”

“About time.”

“Almost didn’t make it.”

“Shields are almost down, we should get into position.”

()

“Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead!” Lance announced with both arms in the air as he entered the bridge. 

Shiro looked up and nodded.  In front of him was the kid wrapped up in a blanket.  He looked a little shell shocked, but he’d be ok in a bit.

“Hunk, think you can get him something light to eat?” shiro asked, “Maybe something a little sweet as well?”

“Sure, I’ll be right back.”

“Lance,” Shiro waved him over, “he wont say a word to me.”

Lance walked over and sat next to the kid.  Digging into his pocket he pulled out his badge and showed it to him.

“I’m Agent B1A5, what’s your name?”

“…A3-1…”

“Well, Lil’ Dash, you and your trainer got yourselves into a quite a bit of trouble. Is there a reason you’re all the way out here?”

The kid nodded but didn’t elaborate.

“You know,” Lance said, “With your trainer out of commission, for the time being, you hold the authority.  I can’t do anything unless you talk to me.  From what Krolia told us when we arrived, A3 isn’t leaving the healing pod for a week.”

“Will he be ok?”

“Of course,” Lance grinned, “in fact, if he can survive the rude dreams, he’ll be as good as new.  Those healing pods are a little weird, but they patched me up after an explosion just fine.  And I’ve seen A3 take on worse.  With or without the healing pod he would’ve been out in a week.”

The kid laughed, that was his trainer all right.

“So spill, what’s A3 and his Dash doing so far from home?”

“mmm,” the kid glanced around at all the bodies in the room.  Bodies he was sure were not part of the agency.

“You can speak freely,” Lance assured him, “if they ask questions I’ll answer, or I’ll let you know, ok?”

The kid nodded and sifted into a better position to face the older agent.

“We were sent by Superior Iverson to bring back whatever aid we could find.  We were told to follow a specified signal that would lead us to something called…Voltron…and that we’d find an agent already stationed there.”

“You found Voltron and the Agent is me,” Lance confirmed, “what else?”

“Earth had been under attack for the last six months from an enemy named Sandack.  He’s blocked all communication in and out of the immediate solar system.  The Hogros have tired sending aid, but they can’t get through the enemies forces.  The Jermites are trying to get the barrier fixed still.“

“Did the markers Agent Frok ingrained in the enemies systems help?”

“they helped like a tornado siren,” the boy shrugged, “it only gave us time to get underground and Sam Holt time to fortify the Garrison and the surrounding areas.  We were not able to help everyone…”

“And you never will,” Lance said firmly putting a hand on the kids head, “that should be lesson one.  You will never help everyone.  Life is and never will be fair.  The best we can do is pick up where we trip, k?”

The kid nodded, “My trainer is the only one that had been trained on the new Jermite ships before the invasion.  It was still not completely finished and only allowed one jump through space.  But we figured that if we found you then we’d have a ride back and if we didn’t, well, Earth was pretty much toast anyway.”

“Is it a practice in your agency to be so hilariously bleak?” Allura asked leaning over to Lance.

“Occupational hazard,” Lance shrugged, to the kid he asked, “do you have all the information?”

“My tainer does,” he said, “I don’t know where he put it.”

“Don’t worry,” Lance said, a little too gleeful, “I’ll look through his things.  Hunk will be back with food and then I order you to get cleaned up, get those busies looked at, and then go straight to bed.”

“But we have to hurry, we don’t-“

“You disobeying orders?” Lance asked lifting an accusing eyebrow.  Wide eyed the kid shook his head.

“Good,” Lance smiled, “You’re first priority is getting rested.  A sluggish Dash is a useless Dash.”

The kid blushed and muttered, “yessir…can I ask a question though?”

“Of course.”

“are you really a…five?!”

Lance knew what he was talking about and laughed, “Don’t worry, this job isn’t for everyone.  Most of them quit before their training was done.”

“Laaaaance.”

“Right, right,” Lance looked up at his friends, “You’re first letter and number tells people who trained you.  The second number tells you how many were trained by that same person above you.  the dash is there as a place holding.  The letter that goes there will come after you become an actual agent and you’ve developed a specialty.”

“So four above you were trained by the same guy?  Is that bad?”

“Three quit, one died,” Lance said, “I was the fifth to be trained.  Normally agents only train two at most.  So five is definitely rare, if not completely unheard of.”

“Was your trainer tough?”

Lance grinned and shrugged, “he knew his stuff and the way he taught made it easy to get ahead of yourself especially if you couldn’t keep up.”

“But you could…keep up?...you?!”

“Ouch Pidge,” Lance scowled at her, “you know, someday you’re just going to have to get over this.  You’ve had months to let this sink in.”

She shook her head, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

()

Lance whistled a happy tune as he searched the pockets of A3’s jacket.  He sat in the middle of the floor where all the personal possessions of the prisoners were kept.

“So, how angry will this guy be when he finds out you went through his stuff?” Pidge asked sitting on the steps by the pods.

“Oh, he’ll be furious,” Lances grin widened, “and he’ll have nothing to say about it.”

“No love lost?”

“Love? No.  But he is a good agent and his loss would be felt where the work load is concerned.”

“Because you both are ‘A’s and his work would go to you?”

“Bingo.”

“Have you trained anyone yet?”

Lance laughed, “Absolutely NOT! I refuse to train anyone.”

“What if we wanna join?  Would you train us?”

“Death first,” Lance said and tossed Pidge a usb. She caught it deftly.

“Rude.”

Chapter Text

The trainee stared at the plate of food before him.  It had been three days and no one was out of the healing pods yet.  He timed his meals so he wouldn’t have to eat with everyone else, and the one named Hunk seemed to be one that didn’t ask too many questions.  He knew he’d have to get used to foreign dishes, but right now, his brain was telling him that neon green and purple was NOT a color food should be.

“Its an acquired taste,” Hunk said sitting across the table from him with a plate of his own, “but I did add some seasonings we picked up around the galaxy, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

The kid continued to pick at it, so Hunk decided that if he wasn’t going to eat, then he could answer some questions.  It had been enough time, he thought, for the kid to get used to the new environment.

“So what’s your name?”

“A3-“

“Nonono,” Hunk shook his head, “Your name.”

“…Jackson.”

“Cool,” he grinned, “how old are you?”

“eleven.”

Hunk froze. What was he doing at eleven years old?  Could he even think that far back?

“What made you want to become an agent?”  Hunk asked instead.

“Mmm,” Jackson looked around.  He wasn’t sure how much he was able to say and how much he wasn’t, but it didn’t look like the senior agent, B1A5, was too concerned about classification, “I guess…they found me?  I was working on a summer project and one of the teachers overseeing it asked if I wanted to take a test for an even bigger project.  Said it would be easy enough.  And it was.  Like, super easy.”

“So…you didn’t know what you were getting into?”  Hunk was horrified.

“Mmm…I wouldn’t say I didn’t know completely…I kind of guessed it was a big deal and hush hush and had to do with all the weird stuff I kept seeing all the time.  Strange people on the subway, walking their dog, and don’t get me started on theme parks.  I figured out enough on my own I didn’t need someone to point it out to me.  Which, it turns out, is one of the things they look for.  Can you piece together what’s around you without information?”

“I make a valiant effort, but most things in space make no sense,” hunk said resting his chin on his hand, “basic logic has no foot hold out here.”

Jackson smiled, “same when you first join up.  Reason kind of takes a back seat.”

“So, you’re a little more prepared for this than I was.”

“Not really,” Jackson absentmindedly took a bite of food, “just like reason took a back seat, so did my training when the invasion took place.  I’d only been working for about two weeks when everything became chaos.  My job was mostly running errands.  I still haven’t had my basic weapons introduction.”

“Bet that’s been hard.”

“At least I’m not the only one.  Two others started with me and their training isn’t much better….though they already knew how to use a gun because they're older, like, in their twenties...”

“You know…”Hunk said slowly, “I’m sure if you ask Keith…or Allura…or even Lance, they’ll show you the training deck where you can learn how to fight with the weapons we have here.  Maybe you’ll find something you like even more than a gun, ya know?”

“Iiii, don’t think I should until my trainer is present,” Jackson said, though it was clear he really wanted to.

“Just an idea,” Hunk shrugged, “just because Lance and I use guns doesn’t mean everyone has to.”

()

Lance had insisted on being the one present when the prisoners came out of the pods.  One by one they woke up and he’d give them a blanket, a hot drink, and let them sit for a while until Allura or Coran could come by and take them to a room so they could get cleaned up.

When the trainee tried to spend all day with him, waiting for his trainer to wake up, Lance insisted that he go else where.

“Let me talk to A3 first,” Lance said, “I know you’re worried, but we’ve got to talk before anything else, k?”

“But he doesn’t like it when I’m out of sight for too long…”  Jackson said, “and I’m sure he’d like to see that we’re all ok right away.”

Lance nodded, “true.  He would.  But I’m even more sure that he’d hate it if we were in the same room.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t like each other very much.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t like the way I was trained.”

“Then shouldn’t he be upset with your trainer?”

“I don’t take after my trainer.”

“…that doesn’t make any sense?”

Lance grinned, “I was a very bad kid.”

Jackson scowled.  He’d been told that he’d be forced to quit if he reached the point of dissidence.  So apparently there was more to this story that this older agent wasn’t going to tell him.

“Go make Pidge show you around,” Lance said ushering him to the door, “she knows all the little nooks and crannies of this place and she needs to get away from her computer for a while, or you can help out Coran, I’m more than sure he’d love the help of your tiny hands.”

“But you’ll tell me when he’s up, right?”

“You’ll be the first one I tell the moment I’m done talking with him, you have my word.”

“…fine…”

()

When Agent A3A1 opened his eyes he didn’t know quite how to handle the situation.  He didn’t remember how he’d gotten where he found himself.  He couldn’t even truly remember when he lost consciousness. 

But, all things put to one side, he was not prepared to find the one agent he didn’t know how to handle.  When Iverson had told him he’d meet up with another agent, he’d expected it to be one that was a little more…competent, not to mention trustworthy.

“Wow,” B1 said handing him a blanket and a cup of some steaming liquid, “look any more disgusted and I’ll have to take it personally.”

A3 took the cup and tried to step out of the machine he found himself in.  His knees wobbled unexpectantly and B1 caught him.  He sat A3 down on the steps and put the blanket around his shoulders.

“these healing pods kick you harder than morphine,” B1 grinned, “take your time and get the chill out of your system.”

“…Where is…my trainee?”

“He should be crawling through the vents somewhere,” Lance shrugged, “but I’m sure he’s fine.  He’s had six months of training right?”

“I only had two weeks with him when the invasion took place….he did tell you about this?”

“Yes, he told us.”

“Us?”

“I have permission to give Voltron whatever clearance is need to meet expectations.  I am not the one in charge.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t see the need for me to assert my authority.  The leadership here is sound…could be a little more solid and constant, but I think we’ve gotten to a stable state.”

“B1…”

“Its fine, A3, trust me,” Lance pointed to the drink, “hurry up.  It will take you forever to get the chill out if you don’t drink that.  Then you can get something to eat and a shower.”

“We don’t have time for that.”

“Yes we do.”

“Earth is-“

“In a state, I know, but we are currently on the other side of the galaxy. Time may be a luxury, but its cheaper than rushed mistakes.”

A3 rubbed his head.  He always got a headache when talking to a B1. 

“the kid is ok though?”

“He was a little roughed up, but he’s fine.  I’m a little worried that he doesn’t know basic weapons yet or even the basics of flying a ship, but we can fix that on our way back home.”

“You will do nothing,” A3 growled, suddenly tense.

“I never said ‘me’, I said ‘we’,” Lance stressed, “which may or may not include ‘me’.  He’s already spared a little with other others in the training deck.  He’s really good with a staff.  Though he refused to hold a gun until you taught him how.  He’s a good little Dash.”

“We don’t call them Dash’s anymore.”

Lance shrugged, “the point is, we’ve been making plans based on the usb that fell out of your jacket.”

“There’s that ‘we’ again,” A3 hissed, taking a sip of the drink finally.  It was horrifically gross, but it did warm him up.

“I just thought you should know that I’m not in charge and you are a guest,” Lance said, a firm statement masked by the smile on his face, “Voltron is the main force in this galaxy and we’ve just finished a major mission and, truthfully, the last thing we needed was to hear our planet was being attacked.  We’ve made plans and we’ll run them by you.  If you have any suggestions, then go ahead and put them out there.  But, mark my words, A3, if you try to take over, I will match you authority for authority, and we both know I will win.”

“B1,” A3 replied setting the empty cup down on the step, “I am not here to take control, I am here to make sure my planet is still around so when my kid is old enough to go school, its not a prison camp.”

“You say that now,” Lance said, smile gone and all pretense aside, “But we both know how you work.”

“A lot can happen in two years.  You’ve been gone a while.”

“Yeah, someone actually married you,” Lance snorted, “never would’ve seen that coming.”

“she’s a patent woman.”

“she’d have to be.”

“You need a girlfriend.”

“I need a sarsaparilla and a nap.”

A3 shook his head, “where is my jacket that just spit up my usb from its sealed pocket?”

“Over there,” Lance waved in the direction of the small pile, “you can thank Krolia for collecting everything.  She didn’t have to, and she sure didn’t have the time to.”

A3 nodded as he stood slowly, finding his feet again, “these, you said, are healing pods?”

“Its doesn’t seem like it until you’ve actually had a good nights sleep and let everything settle.”

He made his way to his jacket and scowled at the tears in the seems, “while you were riffling through my pockets, you could’ve mended it a bit, like a good junior agent.”

“Come on,” Lance grimaced, “then I’d have to treat all my seniors that way, and I can’t have anyone expecting anything from me.”

“The horror,” A3 rolled his eyes as he pulled out a flat tin and a lighter.  Taking out a cigarette from the tin he lit it and took a deep breath, “that’s better.”

Lance made a face, “you know, I’ve quite enjoyed working in an environment where I could actually breathe.”

“Just because you’re not old enough…wait,” he held out the tin, “two years in space makes you legal.  Want one?”

“And ruin my beautiful looks with tar drool?  No thanks.”

“that’s not a thing.”

“You’ve never seen the old man that lives down my street back home.  Great stories, a breath that could kill and voice to match.”

“That’s something totally different-“

The door on the other side of the room opened and caught both their attention.  Keith walked in and paused as he spotted the man smoking.  He’d been about to say something, but now he looked between Lance and the man.  Slowly he turned and started to walk out.

“Wait!” Lance stood, “What’s up?”

“Just gonna tell you that Pidge has gone through everything and wanted to ask you a few questions,” Keith said, “but if you’re having a meeting, then I don’t-“

“Pish,” Lance grinned, “naw, we said all we needed to.  We were just discussing the lack of intelligence in smoking in an enclosed oxygen enhanced area in the middle of deep space.”

A3 swore and pinched the end of his cig, “happy?”

“right,” Keith still was a little uneasy around strangers, “I’ll get the others then.  Meet you both in the bridge?”

“Sure.  And get Jackson.  I told him he’d be the first to know when this guy was awake.”

Keith nodded and left through a different door.

A3 placed a firm hand on Lances shoulder.  Looking up he saw the older agent glaring down with a dead cig between his lips.

“And what…the Hell…is that?”

“That,” Lance said softly and with his most angelic smile, “is the leader I’ll go down defending.  You have a problem?”

A3 closed his eyes and reached for his lighter again.

()

Jackson ran ahead to the bridge, eager to see that his trainer was alright. 

“Sir!”

“Greenie,” A3 looked the boy over and nodded, “I hear you’ve not been lazy.”

“No Sir.”

“How is ‘Greenie’ any better than ‘Dash’?” Lance asked as the others filed their way in.

“Its not, I just wanted to tell you what to do,” A3 said looking around and was impressed with the ship.  Lance had only showed him what was on the way to the bridge, but he already could tell that the timid and non-aggressive Jermites would kill to get their hands on this tech.

“It is rather cathartic,” Coran said coming up behind A3, making the man jump and reach for a weapon that was no longer at his hip.

“Thanks,” Lance rolled his eyes.

“I’m Shiro,” Shiro said Reaching out a hand and quickly introduced everyone else. 

“Since we’re being informal, you can call me Harvy,” A3 replied and puzzled at the odd looks he was suddenly getting from the other people in the room. 

Harvy was about as tall as Shiro and every bit as muscular.  His hair was evidently bleached and his dark roots were showing strong and, all in all, he looked like the holy mixture of a German and a Russian with an American western accent.  DEFFINATLY not someone you would peg as a ‘Harvy’.

“I thought S5 told you to never tell people your real name,” Lance muttered through a smirk.

“There’s nothing wrong with me name-“

“Right, Pidge,” Shiro raised his voice to cover any awkwardness, “You’re show.  Keith, is Krolia going to join us soon?”

“She should be here after she’s done talking with Kolivan…it might take a while.”

“Allura,” Pidge waved at her as she sat in her paladin station, “if you would?”

Allura stepped up and brought up the starfield; the holograms spanning the entire bridge.  Harvys eye widened even more.

“We’ve got to get us one of these…”

“That’s the thought that started this whole mess in the first place,” Lance shrugged.

“If you two would shut up,” Pidge snapped, “I was able to Piece together everything that needs to be done.”

“but,” Shiro added, “because you know more about Earth situation, we wanted to wait for your input before making any solid decisions.”

Harvy nodded and looked around, wondering where he should direct his attention.  So far he didn’t recognize any of the star systems.

“This is the plan we have so far,” Shiro continued as the holograms shifted and Earth with its surrounding star systems appeared in the center of the room, “There’s Earth with the other two planets in the alliance, and the ‘safe house’ planet that the Alteans and the Blades are occupying.”

“You didn’t…”

“Nope, your usb did.”

“It was coded.”

“Pidge can hack into Iversons back-logs, what makes you think you –“

“Seriously!” Pidge snapped, “do I have to separate you two?!”

Harvy answered by lighting another cig while Hunk slid in between them.  Allura scowled at the smoke and tried to wave it away.

“The Olkaries have agreed to help rebuild the barriers around these star systems.  With their ingenuity and the craft ideas of the Jermites that we’ve seen, they could be a very formidable force.”

“The enemy is already inside our boundaries,” Harvy stipulated, “how is focusing on the barrier going to help now?”

“We plan on inverting the barrier,” Keith said nodding to Pidge who started up the simulation, “by making it so that whoever enters into the boundary can’t get out, we can claim a level of control over the battle field.”

“The more they try to leave, they stronger the barrier will become,” Shiro looked very pleased with this part of the plan, “and that can give us an advantage when they retreat.”

“And why would they retreat when they are clearly stronger in every way?”

“Because,” Lance shrugged, “Sendak may be like a cockroach and actually know how to use leverage properly.  But he still doesn’t know when to stop pushing.”

“We’re tied of him,” Hunk nodded, “and Voltron is more than capable of taking out his ship.”

“Once his ship goes down, the rest will flee.”

“The rebels will aid and Lotor will come in and surround their back,” Keith pointed out the simulation of Voltron chasing a series of Galra ships right into the path of larger Galra ships.  The Rebels ships were circling Earth.

“The Rebels will scan, aid, and help clear out any enemy lagging behind.”

“A standard pincer attack,” Harvy huffed, smoke coming from his nose as well, “will this guy really fall for it?”

“That’s not the problem,” Lance said, “we need to contact the other planets in the alliance and make sure they know what we’re doing and make sure Sendak doesn’t try to use them against us as well.  You’re more current and up to date on the political tensions between the three.”

Harvy sighed and scratched at the stubble on his face, “Right, can I ask a few clarifying questions after all this?”

“Of course.”

“Then here’s what I know.  The Jermites are a very private race.  They horde their ideas like dragons with gold.  I honestly don’t know if they will willingly work with another technologically advanced race.  They already don’t like us very much because we got the microwave to work before them.  But I’m sure if they saw it as a life vs. death, and someone they trust is there to introduce them, then it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.  As for the Hogros…don’t step on their fields.  They’re quiet, have a strict moral code and customs, and their crops are not only their life, but their religion.  I don’t think the enemy had attacked the other planets when we left, but if they have, then I’m not sure if the Hogros will be angry enough to fight, or defeated.  I’m leaning a little more towards the defeated.  Grishi took over after Polaki died.”

Lance made a face, “great.  Frok will never be allowed to go home now.”

“What kind of people will they work better with?”

“I…wouldn’t know,” Harvy looked over at Lance.

“Grishi is in charge you say?”

“Yes.”

“Who’s his second?”

“Tropp, and Bikk is his third.”

“Bikk?” Lance perked up with a big smile as he turned to Hunk, “Do you think Shey and her folks would like to meet new people?”

“I can ask,” Hunk said, “but you know they don’t like fighting.”

“That’s not the point,” Lance said quickly, “because neither do the Hagros, BUT the Hagros have this tendency to get attached very easily when they like something.”

“Even Grishi,” Harvy said nodding and tilting his hand from side to side, “a pill and a half, but his intentions, although well meant, are a bit skewed.”

“So if they get attached to the Balmerans, Then they will join the fight?”

“Not all of them, but enough should,” Lance said, “Bikk is a really tender soul with an iron pole up his back.”

“Also Frok’s little brother.”

“And more apt to listen to reason.”

“So now the problem is who goes to visit the Jermites and at the same time visit the Hogros?” Allura sighed, “Voltron will be tied up, so Lance can’t.”

“I can introduce the…Olie…Ol..”

“Olkaries.”

“Yeah, I can introduce the Olkaries and the Jermites,” Harvy said, “then while they’re working I can-“

“Or,” Lance interjected, “while you’re with the Jermites, the little Dash can take care or the Hogros and Balmerans.”

“No.”

Lance threw his hands up, “Why not?”

Hunk, looking between the two stepped out of the way of the growing anger that was building between the two.

“He’s not been trained!”

“And whose fault is that?!”

“Don’t you DARE lecturing me on how I train!  The enemy attack mere WEEKS after we got our charges!  There wasn’t enough time to properly get him supplied much less begin his studies!”

“You’ve taken not only a DASH, but a GREEN DASH out into the middle of SPACE!” Lance roared back, “You’re lucky Haggar didn’t kill him or worse!  This is the last place I’d train anyone, but those are the cards being dealt here!  If you’re so worried NOW perhaps you should’ve left him behind!”

“there isn’t enough qualified left!  The attacks have depleted our forces!”

“AAAAHHHHH!!!” Lance scratched his head, aggravated.

“HEY!” Shiro shoved them both away from each other, “Stand down!”

“Don’t-“

“Jackson,” Shiro turned toward the kid and ignored the others completely, “what do you think?”

The kid, who had been happy to stay out of the conversation, found himself now the center of attention.

“..i….i don’t have the training…”

Harvy nodded and Lance rolled his eyes.

“It will take us a few weeks to get back to Earth with everything we need to fight off Sendak,” Shiro said and turned to Harvy, “Will you be capable of speed training him so that he can act as mediator?”

“It takes months,” Harvy growled.

“You saying you are Incapable of doing it?”  Lance poked, “because from what I’ve seen, the kid is intelligent and fully capable of learning at a quick pace.  He already knows the basics of Altean Staff fighting and its only been a week.  So the fault will lie with you, A3, if he fails, yes?  Is that what you’re worried about?”

Shiros breath held as he watched the death glares pass in between the two agents.  They had seemed so cordial and almost friendly a few minutes ago.  Now they looked like they could kill each other and not feel bad about it.

“Ummm,” Jackson raised his hands in surrender, “I really have no say-“

“Of course you have a say,” Lance snapped, “but no trainer will ever tell their Dash this.  You have a lot more freedom than you think.”

“Just because you’re Iversons favorite doesn’t mean you can corrupt whomever you please with your complete disregard for protocol,” Harvy growled through clenched teeth, “I’ve swallowed everything from the release of classified information to relinquishing control, but I will NOT have anyone telling me how to train and ruin this kids future as a functional agent!”

Lances eyes widened as his face burned.  It was clear that the older agent had struck a clear point.   The others had no idea what that point was, but it was a hit nonetheless.

“If Lance wasn’t ‘functional’ would Iverson still keep him in the force?”

Keith shrugged as he asked his question.  Harvys glare switched over to the other boy…the other problem.

“And then we have your other failed mission to consider on top of your ineptitude.”

“I’ve never failed a mission,” Lance said quietly.  The others looked back at Harvy.  They had never seen lance lower his voice like this and they expected the burly man to drop dead any second.

“the fact that you have not taken charge shows a level of incompetence that should be grounds for referral!”

“My missions and how I accomplish my missions are none of your concern, A3, or do you forget your place?”  Lance was still speaking lowly and this time A3 didn’t answer back, “you have a dash here how is perfectly capable of rising to the occasion.  Use the dash or don’t use the dash, but-“

“Jackson.”

Everyone looked back at the kid who had broken the threatening atmosphere, whose face was also turning a deep red, “My name is either Jackson, or A3-1, NOT Dash, or Greenie.  I am an A3, and YOU are a B1 and have no say in how I am trained!  I accept my trainers orders!  You’ve never trained anyone so what makes you an expert?!”

Harvy grinned and Jackson turned on him too, “and I can’t believe that my trainer would not take the opportunity to make a plan work!”

Lance snorted, his earlier seriousness completely gone, and muttered, “You don’t know him very well.”

Harvy stepped toward Lance and Shiro intercepted, planting himself firmly in between the agent and the paladin.

“If neither of you are going to actually DO anything except TALK, then I’m going pick someone else who WILL teach me what I need to do to help!” Jackson snapped

Lance raised his hands and stepped back, “Do what you think is best, A3-1.  Its your planet too.”

“And who would you pick?” Harvy asked looking down on the kid.

Jackson looked around the room and pointed, “the leader should be capable to teaching me diplomacy, right?”

The silence in the room was so still…then it shattered.

()

Krolia was just walking onto the bridge after talking with Kolivan when she nearly jumped out of her skin.

“AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”  Lance grabbed hold of Hunk as they both fell into gut bending laughter.  Shiro just closed his eyes as Keith, the one the kid had pointed out, stood in resolute ridicule.

“No,” Harvys voice was cold and solid as the others took a breath to keep laughing, “anyone else.”

“But-“

“I,” Allura said, her own cheeks pink with ill-concealed humor, “I am the one with the most diplomacy knowledge.  I can show you all you need to know as well as continue your staff fighting skills.”

“but isn’t he the leader…” Jackson questioned, visibly wilting under their reactions.

“I can fight,” Keith said shooting a glare at the others, “but people are still not really my thing.”

“He is getting better,” Pidge said, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, “but he’s not teacher material yet.  Though if you want him to teach you the skills of silent interrogation and awkward pauses, then he’s definitely your guy.”

“But…he’s the leader…”  In Jacksons head, ‘leader’ and ‘trainer’ were synonymous with ‘all knowing’. 

“That’s right,” Lance said, recovering before Harvy could answer, “he is, and we’ll follow his lead no matter what.  That’s why we’re a team.  That’s why even agents work as partner units.  What one lacks the others pick up.  And over time you pick up your partners habits and skills as you work with them.”

“We all can help,” Shiro said, doing his best to smooth the waters, “you were right in saying that Harvy is your trainer and you are an A3.  He is still in charge where you are concerned, no matter, Lance, how much you heckle him.”

Shiro eyed Lance until Lance, again, raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“but I want to help,” Jackson said looking up at his trainer, “I really don’t know if I can, but I can’t just stand by if there’s an opening I can fill…right?”

They all turned their attention to Harvy, who lit yet another another cigarette.  After a moment of quiet thought he made the final decision.

“The white-haired lady and the ginger can teach him whatever he needs to know.  The rest of you are nothing but criminals and will not corrupt my charge.”

“sooooo…that makes us the Suicide Squad?” Pidge asked grinning, “Can I be Joker?”

“Nonono,” Hunk shook his head, “We’re The Dirty Half-Dozen.”

“Only if Shiro’s the guy that kisses the grenade,” Lance grinned.

Shiro relaxed a bit.  Sure the tension would go down now that a decision had been reached.  They had left Earth in less than legal circumstances, and the Agency was a government enforcement agency.  Harvy’s attitude made a bit more sense when looked at from than angle.

“Tsk,” Harvy gritted his teeth, “all of you…every single B1 is always the same.”

He flicked the end of his cig in Lances direction.  That’s when he noticed Krolia for the first time.  Again his hand went to the place where he’d usually kept his gun.

“Now, now,” Lance said coldly, “You weren’t thinking of attacking your savior, were you?”

“Kolivan and the mission is underway,” Krolia said, seeing her opening, “So far no one has followed them.”

“That’s good,” Keith sighed, “at least one thing is going smoothly.”

“Krolia,” Lance beamed and waved.  Krolia hesitated and gave a half-hearted and confused wave back.

“Yes?”

“Krolia, meet A3, the guy you saved.  A3, This is Krolia, she and her people are friends and allies.”

A3 sized her up and, sensing his gaze, she did the same to him.

“I’m glad to see you’re a feeling better,” she replied, “Were you able to learning anything while you were prisoner?  Did you happen to overhear something that might be important?”

“excellent question!” Lance praised and turned to A3, “Well?”

“Not really,” A3 glared daggers at Lance, “Hard to hear with your ears ringing the whole time.”

“Fair point,” Shiro cut in before Lance could say something snide, “I’ve been there.”

“Che,” He gave Shiro a disgusted look before turning to leave the bridge, heading who knew where.

“How about you go show him where the rooms are,” Allura said nodding toward Jackson, “Then the two of you can talk one on one.  That should be best.”

Jackson nodded, took one more look around, and left.

Chapter Text

“When you said you didn’t get along, I thought you were lying,” Pidge said as they sat and ate a late dinner.  Jackson had showed up and grabbed a plate for him and Harvy to eat elsewhere.

“Why would I lie?”  Lance asked raising an eyebrow, “A3 trained the same time my trainer did.  There’s about a two year difference, A3 is older.  But we…B1’s, have always been the cocky type and it pisses everyone off that we can actually get away with it.”

“I would like to know more about the how you are classified and what the specialties are,” Shiro asked.

Lance smiled, “not telling.”

He shoved more food into his mouth and made distressed hand motions every time someone asked him anything else.

()

Jackson and Harvy ate in the room they’d picked out.  There was a bunk on either side of the room and a table in the middle.  The boy was impressed with how his trainer was completely unbothered by what the food looked like and instead ate it as if it were normal.

“Sorry…” Jackson said as the silence became too much for him, “I just thought I should say something and I wasn’t really thinking about what I was saying and I was confused and irritated, and you guys were fighting and that didn’t make much sense and the others started to get a little annoyed with you, I could tell, and I didn’t want them to get upset with you because they don’t know you and-“

“Its fine,” Harvy cut in, “I was out of line and I had lost my temper.  This is their territory and we are guests; not to mention we are guests that came with bad news.  We can follow their lead so long as our goals are the same.”

“…are they the same?” Jackson asked, his head spinning with all the things they had argued about.

“All of us wish to save Earth and protect as many people as we can.  How we get to that end goal is something we disagree on, but so long as that end goal is the same then everything should work out for the best.”

“You called them criminals.”

“Because technically they are.”

“You looked like you wanted to shoot B1A5.”

“I did.”

“why?”

“Because there is no one as selfish or as self-serving as a B1,” Harvy replied firmly, “His trainer was an U3…well, a K3, if you can believe that.  Every last one of them is a stain on the agencies record.”

“Mmmm…” Jackson watched his trainers face, “You’re just worried, aren’t you?”

Harvy dropped his fork onto his plate and sat back with a sigh, “This is why B1 refuses to train.”

Jackson scowled, “what do you mean?”

“Kids have an annoying talent to pick out bs,” Harvy grinned and lit another cigarette.

()

The next day, After a morning of getting his Trainee up to standard, Harvy set out to find Shiro.  Not only did he intend to apologize, but he still had questions that he’d not asked about.  He also need to talk with B1 and get some serious answers about why they were working with the enemy.

He took his time looking over the ship and getting to know his surroundings while he looked for someone to tell him where he could find the former pilot.

“This is going to bite back hard, isn’t it?”  Shiros voice floated down the hall from a room at the far end.

“Pretty much,” that was Kogane.

“Are you sure?”

“If I wasn’t I wouldn’t be telling you guys,” B1s voice was heavy with a sigh, “in my experience as agent and as paladin, this is always the case.”

“I hate irony.”

“You are living irony, emo-mullet.”

“And you’re a mess.”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“I’m just glad you two aren’t trying to kill each other still,” Shiro said, relieved.

“Who says?” they both chorused as Harvy finally made his way into the room. 

The three looked up from a small table at him.  Shiro was sitting with his hands laced in front of him.  Kogane was leaning on one elbow and B1 had his head on the table.

“Feel better?” B1 asked as if the argument the night before hadn’t happened.

“Much,” Harvy nodded, “I wanted to apologize for losing my temper.”

“That happens.”

“Pod symptoms.”

“happens to everyone.”

“I also wanted to ask somethings that I didn’t before,” Harvy motioned, asking if he could sit with them.

“Sure, sure,” Shiro said, “I just got finished being filled in on everything, so we can now answer whatever you need.”

B1 stood and walked toward the door.  He shut it, and locked it.

“’Everything’ is such a heavy topic,” he said taking his seat again, “and there are tender ears out there.  Let’s keep everything on the down low, k?”

“If you could start from the beginning,” Harvy asked, “and tell me what’s been going on, I’m sure I’ll be able to understand the future plans better.”

“Fair,” Kogane shrugged.

“I’ll start,” Shiro grinned a little sheepishly, “since its basically my fault this all started-“

Slam!

Shiro and Harvy jumped.  B1 and Kogane glared at Shiro, their hands had slammed against the table top.

“Red Leader, did he just use the ‘f’ word?”  B1 asked, still glaring, but talking to the other paladin.

“I believe he did,” Kogane replied mirroring the side conversation while staring at Shiro.

“Guys, its not-“

“What was the punishment we decided on every time he used the ‘f’ word?”

“I don’t think we came up with one yet.”

“We were neglectful.”

“We’ll add a tally next to his name and punish him later.”

Shiro sighed, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“the ‘f’ word is still the ‘f’ word,” B1 said his eyes narrowing, “use it again, and I’ll tell Pidge and Hunk.”

“….right…” Shiro gave up, “I’m sorry.”

“And now he’s used the ‘s’ word.”

“What are we going to do with you?”

“I don’t know what you want-“

Harvy cleared his throat.  As amusing as watching the three of them was, he still needed answers.  Shiro opened his mouth, probably to apologize again, but after a glance in Kogane’s and B1’s direction, he thought better of it.

“I’ll just start with the Kerboros mission…”

()

“So the crystal comes from a planet sized beast,” Jackson asked looking from Coran to the large blue crystal on the bridge, “beeeecause the beast has THAT much quintessence to spare?  I’m not understanding how this all balances out.”

Coran was teaching him about the basics of how the ship ran and how their brand of tech worked.  Hunk and Pidge were working on getting a list together of all the things the Olkarie would need and things they would need to pick up themselves.

“that’s because you’re thinking that quintessence is a finite amount, when its actually INfinite!” the Ginger instructed.

“Then why the whole ceremony and ‘exchanging’ of energy?  If its infinite, then why would over harvesting kill it?  And if you’re giving back what you take, can’t you just power the ship yourself?”

“Mmmm…” Coran had to hand it to the kid, those were good questions.

“Think of it as donating blood or plasma,” Pidge piped up, looking around her screen, “if you go and get blood drawn once every three to four days, its not going to really hurt you at all.  However what the Galra were doing was basically pulling a Dracula and going to town.  The energy is infinite, but still requires time to adjust and recover.”

Coran nodded, “Exactly, the ceremony simply aides in that recovery so there is a fair exchange.”

“Huh,” Jackson tapped his foot, “what about that witch lady then?  Did she just over produce quintessence so she can shoot it from her fingers?  Of are you actually expecting me to believe that that was magic and not a lick of science?”

“The witch…well…that’s…”  Coran looked to the others for help again.  They shrugged.

“The Witch fed off of everything around her,” Allura said, walking into the room, “she abused power and frankly, no one should be thinking too much about it.”

She eyed the kid who gave small grin, “it was just a question, honest.”

“Are you done?  I would like to get started on his instruction as well,” Allura said, giving back a smile that was less than trustful.

()

Harvy had his face in both hands.

“I think we fried his brain,” Lance said cheerfully, “so who wants lunch?”

“Lance, I don’t think-“

“NO, that’s great,” Harvy snapped, sitting up, “it will give me time to let everything sink in…and organize itself…”

“Try having to live through it,” Lance sighed dramatically, “luckily you’re just hearing about it.”

“this is not…” Harvy was searching for a word and couldn’t quite pin it.

“Kosher? Protocol? Smart? Easy? Take your pick, I got more,” Lance yawned, “the point is, this is the only solution we’ve managed to come up with.  The whole ‘enemy of my enemy’ bit only goes so far, ya know?  And sometimes you have to break a few eggs.”

“Preferably eggs, B1, NOT planets!”

“Planets exploding is not on the agenda,” Lance’s voice raised slightly in pitch, “plus, that was an asteroid, not a planet.”

“Three,” corrected Harvy, “THREE asteroids.”

“Technically four,” Lance said picking at his nails, “your point?”

“My point is what’s in it for you?”

“Huh?” Keith and Shiro looked from Harvy to Lance.

“When we get home,” Lance said slowly, “and all is said and done.  I’m going to get my nine months back and then I’m going to go on vacation.  Probably not in that order.  Most likely not in that order.  I’m going to sleep for a whole month and eat whatever I want.  I’m going to take my mother out shopping and I’m going to babysit my nieces and nephews and I’m going to go to the beach every day.  That’s what’s in it for me.  The job we do here means I get to actually go on a real vacation.  Iverson OWES me a VACATION!”

“I can see you getting your vacation, but don’t count on getting your nine months back,” Harvy sighed. 

“That’s not up for debate,” Lance stood and stretched, “so how about food before whatever you were going to say makes me loose my apatite?”

“Good luck pulling that favor,” Harvy called after him.  A tap on his shoulder made him turn around and face Keith.

“So you’re on board with the whole plan?”

Harvy looked the kid up and down.  His initial misgivings had cooled somewhat, but he still couldn’t shake that there was something he wasn’t understanding.

“It seems like the only course of action so far,” Harvy replied, “I’ll be with you, but I’ll also be looking out of better alternatives.”

“So will we,” Shiro nodded.

“Now, I understand not telling that princess, lady, about her boyfriend, but what about the other two?”

“they wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret,” Keith said and pointed at Shiro, “Neither could he, but his clone memories and all that stuff are starting to blend together.”

“That’s another thing,” Harvy leaned forward, “…what the hell?!”

“that’s what I said,” Shiro nodded.

“No you didn’t.”

“I thought it.”

“You say B1 was alerted through a code, what code?”  Harvy asked, he’d not asked before for two reasons: because B1 wouldn’t tell him if he asked, and he was still trying to process everything on top of that while they told the story.

“Lance wouldn’t tell us, we thought you’d know?” Kieth asked lifting an eyebrow, inviting the agent to spill his secrets.

Harvy snorted, “As if.  You say your memories are slowly coming back, do you remember what it was?”

Keith bristled slightly but Shiro just gave a small chuckle, “not really…I’m…trying not to think about it too much.”

“there are codes we use.  There’s a code that literally means, ‘you’re about to be sprayed with purple goo’, but not one that specifies ‘you’re facing a clone that wants to torture you for information’.”

“What about just a general emergency?” Shiro asked, “kind of just a red alert warning?”

Harvy made a face, “eeeeh, not really.  Those codes are specific to the section you’re allied with.  B1 is the only section B, so his emergency codes are his alone…and maybe Frok.  So, you, Mr. no-longer-a-clone, are the only one other than B1 and his partner that has any idea what that code is.”

“So these sections in the agency are basically independent of each other?”

Harvy sighed, “I can’t believe B1 hasn’t even explained this much to you if he’s already telling you inner-council secrets.  Think of it like the U.S.  You have the central over reaching authority, which is the council. And then you have the states, which are like the sections everyone belongs to.  Agents criss-cross all the time depending on where their talents and skills are needed.  Each section has their specialty.”

“Ssssssooooo….Iverson would beeee….”

“The head of B section.”

“Wait, back up, you said Lance was the only section B?  Like…the only one?”

“The only one,” Harvy affirmed, “it’s a well-known fact that the head of B section is looked at as more of a ‘handler’ or ‘baby-sitter’ than an actual head of office.”

“But why?” Shiro asked, “What’s sections B’s specialty?”

Harvy lowered his voice, “you haven’t figured it out yet?”

“would we be asking?” Keith asked, irritated.

“Then he’s doing his job,” Harvy shrugged, “no one but those in the section know what its all about and since B is basically two people and two people only- except for Frok, a lot less is actually known about it.”

“I’m still confused…”

“Look,” Harvy stipulated, “the only thing anyone knows about B section is that they seem to be able to do whatever they want and get away with it.  And by whatever they want I mean WHATEVER they want.  I have a friend in my section, another A3 that went on a mission with him and he said the kid nearly killed every alien just because.  And there was no punishment for it!”

“And Frok?  If Lance is the only B1, the who is his partner?”  Shiro asked.

A3 grinned.  It was the grin of someone enjoying the pain of someone else, “Well, rumor has it that B1 was forced to have a partner after a mission went horribly wrong.  Apparently he needed an extra baby-sitter.”

“So, since we have you talking, Lance said something about you getting placed in a section after you graduate?”

“that’s your secondary section.  My code is A3A1.  I was trained as an A3 and the section I was housed in is in section A.  Your primary section are the missions you take first, your secondary are the missions you take because you can.  Lance is B1A5.  His first priority are the missions requested and required of section B, and when he has time he will join section A in their missions.”

“I’m sure it makes sense because you’re a part of it,” Keith muttered and rubbed his head, “If we’re going to work with this agency then this is going to have to start making SOME sense SOME time…”

“You’re first example was B1,” Harvy said sympathetically, “not the best first impression.”

“Better than a stuck up snob like you,” Lance called from the hall before he appeared carrying plates, “I figured you all would start talking after I left.  Say ‘thank you, Lance’.”

“You didn’t so anything to it, did you?” Keith asked scowling at the plate Lance had put in front of him.

“Good grief, Keith, any more distrustful comments like that and I’ll have to make it worth it,” Lance threatened.

“Thank you, Lance,” Shiro said.

Lance beamed and turned to Harvy, bending his ear down ever so slightly.

“absolutely not,” Harvy said, “I’ll starve first.”

Lance gasped and dropped the plate in front of him anyway, “And force me to take a full plate back to Hunk?!  You sadist!”

“So you tell us then,” Shiro said and Lance turned, “Why are you the only on in section B?”

The smile dropped from his face and he turned back to Harvy, “When I said they had full clearance, I didn’t think you’d be a bitch about it.”

“Is it bad?”

“I already told you,” Lance said taking his seat and started to take a bite, “I do all the odd jobs no one wants to do.”

“…I guess that’s one way to put it…” Harvy shrugged, “if you don’t know about the job in the first place, how is one supposed to want it?”

“Awwww,” Lance pouted, “dose A3 wanna go on adventures with the B’s?  Mmm?”

“Frok’s not a B,” Harvy said pointing his fork at Lance, “He’s only there temporarily.”

“I love it when you talk like you know everything,” Lance countered, “it gives me something to laugh at later.”

“Why doesn’t Frok have a code name…thingy?”  Keith asked, hoping to stop any fighting from starting.

“Because the other worlds have their own way of organizing their agents that they send out,” Harvy said, taking the opportunity to disengage with Lance, “They have their own training and then we have liaisons.  Frok was supposed to go to section O, but then this kid needed an extra babysitter.”

“Keep talking,” Lance said taking another bite.

“Lance,” Shiro said slowly, “and Harvy, would the agency work with Voltron?  We’re not going there to be put under a council, we know the enemy and we have this plan set.  Can we count that you will work with us?”

“You have Section B’s full support,” Lance said immediately, “However I can’t speak for the others.”

Harvy rolled his eyes, “You can count on full support so long as we can get word back in time.”

Chapter Text

“You really must be joking,” A3K2 replied as he looked down at the pre-teen that was going to assist him and his partner on their mission.

“Do I look like I joke, A3?” the B1 replied, and it was true that the kids face didn’t look like it had smiled once in his life, “Iverson said you needed an extra man.”

“Yes, a MAN, or a WOMAN, not a Dash!”

“I am a fully-fledged agent, A3,” B1 replied and held out his pin.  A Dash’s pin was blank, but the boy already had two stars on it.

A3 looked over at his partner, a Jermite who had an unnatural fondness for explosives and found his home planet a little too tame.  The Jermites amber eyes looked the boy up and down and then it sighed.

“Let us leave then.”

()

Agent B1A5 sat quietly in the back seat.  A3K2 kept checking him in the rearview mirror as he drove; almost like a twitch.  His partner, Agent Pepk, tinkered with the device in his lap.

“What happened To B1K3?” A3 finally asked.

B1 took his time answering, “He died during his last mission.”

It took A3 a moment to realize the snark in the answer.  It was a dark humored answer.

“I’ve been on a few missions with him, can’t see him slipping up very easily,” A3 replied, urging along the conversation.

“He was old.”

“He was only 29, that’s hardly old.”

B1 shrugged, “old enough to…what did you say ‘slip’?  Yeah, he slipped.”

“…you don’t seem too upset about it,” A3 was seriously starting to get creeped out. 

“It was a year ago and my first lesson was to not look back, so, are we going to discuss the present mission or are you thinking of practicing psychology some more?”

“I see you’ve picked up your trainers love for work,” Pepk said, “he also disliked what you humans call ‘small talk’.”

“It never killed anyone,” muttered A3.

“You would be surprised how many times small talk has killed someone A3,” B1 replied, “now, about the mission on hand.  Iverson told me there’s a Canyon in East Texas that’s a bit of a problem.  Then he told me you would fill me in on the rest.  So fill.”

“The canyon is a hot spot for unwanted guests,” A3 said, “sometimes a party arrives and we have to crash it.  A rather large ship landed about an hour ago and while S section deals with the media and people who saw it, we’re going to clean the spill.  Pepk will make their ship unable to fly and we’ll round up the group and detain them.  Then when-“

“I am familiar with detainment protocol A3,” B1 sighed, “Is there anything else I should know?  Or is this all standard?”

“Its pretty standard,” Pepk replied, “there’s just a few more than the two of us can handle at once.”

B1 sighed again and looked bored as he stared out the window.

()

The next few days Jackson found a routine.  He rose in the morning, did physical training with A3, Shower and breakfast with Hunk and the others, Technics with Coran (and a little input from Hunk and Pidge), lunch, Diplomacy with Allura (and manors with Shiro if he happened to be around), dinner, then it was back to training with A3 until bed.

After about five days of this, Jackson began to wonder where B1 had gone.  He hadn’t seen him at all since the huge fight on the bridge.  When he asked Harvy about it, the man told him that if B1 did talk to him, then he was to tell him everything he said. 

“I thought he was a colleague,” Jackson said raising an eyebrow, “selfish or not, wouldn’t his knowledge be the same as the others?”

“I want to make sure what he tells you is actual fact and not a half-truth,” Harvy said, “he’s known to be a bit of a sadist with other Dashs’.” 

“Why?”

“Stars only know,” Harvy rolled his eyes, “all I know is the last Dash that followed his advice almost lost a hand.  So just, tell me what he tells you and I can fill in the gaps.”

So Jackson agreed and spent his days learning as much as he could from whomever was willing to give it.  Allura was by far his hardest instructor, and Coran his most confusing, but between his trainer, Hunk, and Pidge, he felt he could get a handle on most of everything that was thrown at him. 

“You just have to quickly find something to relate it to,” Hunk said while Jackson was starting to get cross eyed during one of Corans tangents, “Listen to what he says, but observe it yourself and think about what you understand and how you would apply the basics in the situation.  You remember what I told you about the basics, right?”

“…I think so.  It was mostly about currents and the flow of energy as waves and particles, right?  Or was it that stuff you said about mass and that other stuff with the fluff and ….size thingy…?”

“Right, you need a break.”

Hunk stopped Coran and told Jackson to go to the lounge, “I’ll bring you a snack, but you really just need to sit and chill for a bit.”

Jackson didn’t think that was the proper use of his time, but he couldn’t deny that his head felt like it was in a vice.  So much was being crammed into it at such an alarming rate, he couldn’t tell what time of day it was.  He mostly relied on the others to tell him what he should be doing next.

The lounge looked empty at first, but as he came around the side of the couch he saw B1 sitting on the floor, cleaning his gun.

“You look like you’ve been hit by a train,” B1 greeted him with a grin, “Take a load off before you keel over and A3 blames me for it.”

Jackson hurried to comply with the order, even though B1 was only, what 7? 8? 9? Years older?  Jackson felt he was facing an adult equal to his trainer.  He sat on the couch and B1 ignored him, focusing on his gun.

“I’ve never seen a gun like that,” Jackson said, after a while, “where is it from?”

B1 looked up at him, and took his time as he thought about his answer, “This is my bayard.  The shape of the weapon is similar to the Rodakkin.  I have one of their guns back home so this is the shape my bayard took since I’m already familiar with it”

“Oh…weren’t the Rodakkin bad guys?”

“Yup.”

“why doesn’t anyone else use the weapon?”

“Because we don’t want to give them the excuse that they have any authority in our alliance,” Lance said, “we don’t use their tech, follow their rules, or do anything in any way that would give them an opening to invite themselves into our space.”

“But you’re using their tech.”

“That gun is mine,” B1 said, “I won it.”

“Like, in a game of cards?”

“Sure,” B1 grinned, “Life is a gamble, so let’s say I won it in a game of cards.”

Jackson didn’t know how to respond to that.  He’d been trying to joke around, but it suddenly didn’t seem like a joke any more.  The silence became heavy and awkward as he waited for Hunk to come.

“Where do you go everyday?” Jackson asked instead, curious.

“Where ever you aren’t,” he said, “You keep to a schedule, so its not that hard.”

“Why?”

“Because A3’s don’t like me very much.”

“Why?”

“Because I call them on their BS.”

“That’s what A3 says trainees are for.”

“getting called out by a trainee makes you proud, being called out by a fellow agent that’s about 20 or so years younger than you only pisses you off…especially if the younger one is right.”

“Soooo, does that mean I have to hate you or can I make up my own mind?”

B1 looked up, a little surprised, then his face broke out into a grin, “quiznak, A3 has no idea who he picked up, does he?”

“I’m a very open person,” Jackson said frowning, “I just asked a question.”

“A desirable trait in any trainee,” B1 nodded, “and in any agent.  Question everything, even your trainer.  Though I can tell you that A3 is a good man and will do his best by you, your job is to question him in everything, even me right now.  Question Allura and Coran and Hunk and Pidge.  Question them all and make up your own mind.  If you can’t trust yourself, then you might as well quit right now.”

Jackson sat back and thought that over, “…isn’t that the same as not trusting anyone?”

“You catch on quickly.”

“But you trust them.”

“I trust them, but you shouldn’t until you’ve come to that conclusion on your own.”

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t trust that I shouldn’t trust people if I’m supposed to question everything?”

B1 laughed, “kid, you are a riot!  I don’t think I’ve ever met a Dash that’s as quick as you are.  You’ll do fine.”

By then he’d finished with his gun and had put it away.  B1 stood and stretched as Hunk came into the room with the snack he’d promised.

“Hey, Lance, Keith and Shiro are looking for you on the training deck,” Hunk said, “said you left it a mess.”

“I did not,” B1 scoffed, “I made a perfectly sculpted tower after I was done of the dead drones.  They just don’t understand art!”

He left in a huff and Hunk sat next to Jackson.  The boy watched the other agent closely and noticed a subtle changing in B1’s face and attitude when Hunk had entered the room.  He wondered if that was because he didn’t really trust one side or the other, or if he felt the need for a persona one way or another.  The change had happened so naturally and quickly that Jackson had to really observe to notice it at all.  Was it by habit?  Or was it intentional?  And who was he hiding from?

“You and Lance have a good talk?”

“Yeah,” Jackson said, “A3 doesn’t like him very much, but I’m told its because of past head-butting.  How did you guys meet?”

Hunk grinned, “We were roommates at the garrison.  At first I thought he’d gotten in on bravado alone, but he really did have skill.”

“You think he’s a friend even though he lied to you?”  Jackson asked picking up the little finger noodles that tasted like chicken fingers.

“He’s my best friend,” Hunk said, “I never doubted that for a second.”

“You trust him?”

“With my life.”

It was a firm and immediate answer.  It was a bit of a blow to the boys conscience and he sat up a little straighter.  How could he be so trusting?

“Look,” Hunk said picking up a finger noodle for himself, “you guys…agents, have this thing going on.  And Lance may have his own issues, but even Lance can’t hide the fact that I know a real smile from a fake one.  We had fun at the garrison.  We laughed and joked and goofed off.  He got bossy and I dragged him to classes.  I know we’re friends because I know the good side of people.  You guys may know how bad people can be and think, but I think I’ve got Lance pegged.”

“Really?” Jackson couldn’t think the B1 could be ‘pegged’.  The boy viewed B1 as a conundrum mixed with a metaphor. 

“Sure,” Hunk shrugged, “Lance is easy to figure out.”

Easy?

“…so…what?”

Hunk smiled, “Figure it out.  It really isn’t hard.”

“I seem to be getting that a lot today.”

()

“WHAT THE HELL!”  A3K2 roared as he slid down a canyon incline.  B1 stood, both guns in his hands, four dead and 2 wounded lay on the ground. 

“They fired back,” B1 replied, “I spared two for questioning.”

“THEY CAN’T BE QUESTIONED!” A3 yelled and took out his radio, “Pepk!  Don’t worry about the ship!  These guys aren’t going anywhere!”

“It was self-defence.”

“And a little excessive!” A3 snapped as he got to work tending to the aliens injuries.

B1 rolled his eyes and holstered both his guns.  And then he stood there and watched A3 do his best to save the visitors lives.  It was this that really solidified the A3’s dislike for the boy. 

When Pepk found them, one had already died from blood loss.

Needless to say as they drove back to HQ A3K2 was NOT happy.  He drove, Pepk in the passenger seat reminding his partner to slow down to the speed limit, and B1 sat in the back with a severely wounded alien.

When they made it back, A3 swerved in the parking lot and came to a screeching halt by the curb. “Get out! Pepk, you take care of the guest.”

Pepk got out and grabbed the alien, he quickly ran into the building and the med ward.  A3 got out and stood, blocking B1’s path to the building.

“Explain again, in detail, what happened.”

B1 sighed, “I announced myself, they fired.  I fired back.  Unlike them, I’m a better shot.  There’s nothing left to say.”

“You…you…” A3 had no idea he could ever want to strangle a child, but here he was, stuffing his hands into his pockets in order to keep his impulses from taking over.

“Lance!”

Before his eyes the boys face transformed.  The dead eyes brightened and the stiff face split into a wide, childish smile.

“Veronica!”  B1 shouted as he turned around and waved, “you came to pick me up!”

“Yeah,” a woman in a garrison uniform jogged up to the car and ruffled his hair, “Marco was going to, but then he came down with the flu.  Sorry I’m late, did you wait long?”

“Nope!” B1 beamed up at her, “I just got back from a field trip!  We went to a canyon and looked at some of the rock formations there.  It was SO boring!”

“That’s not nice,” Veronica said looking up at A3, “I’m sure your instructor here put a lot of effort into his lesson.”

“I’m sorry,” B1 said turning back to A3, LOOKING sorry as well.

A3 realized just then that his mouth was open.  He shut it quickly and blinked several times and ended up gaping at the woman. 

“Uh…wh-yeah…”

B1 chuckled and turned back to Veronica, “He only cares about rocks.  I don’t think he has much experience with a pretty face.”

Veronica smacked the back of his head, “I’m sorry my little brother is such a handful.”

“…li-little brother….right…”

This sadistic brat had a family…and they had no idea what he was capable of.  B1 rocked back and forth from his heals to toes and back, all with a smile on his face. 

A smile.

Veronica smiled, the siblings shared the same smile.

“Well, if you’re done, we gotta get home.  Mom’s waiting for us.”

“I just have to get my bag inside,” B1 said starting to run toward the building, “Be right back!”

A3 watched him go.  Floored with the transformation that took place right in front of him.

“Hey,” Veronica got his attention again, “Look, I know the field trip wasn’t just about rocks.”

“Oh?” A3 put on his own smile.  Secrets were still secrets.

“Yeah,” Veroinca sighed, “but I want to thank you for looking after him.  He really is a handful, but he’s the baby of the family.  We don’t know what we’d do without him.”

The baby.  A3 would never associate the word ‘baby’ with that monster.  Not after what he’d see that day.

“Yeah, sure,” A3 said nodding, “anytime.  He’s…ah…he’s….something…alright…”

He had no idea what to say.  He was good at cover ups, but this was the first time his mind refused to come up with anything. 

Veronica laughed, “’something’, that’s accurate.  I’ll talk with him tonight and make sure he gives you a proper apology next week.”

“No,” A3 said immediately; he had no desire to see that kid next week- or ever again- if he could help it, “no, its fine.  Kids will be kids.  I’m not going to be around next week anyway.”

“uh-huh,” Veronica gave him a searching look and then shrugged.

“I’m back!” B1 shouted waving his backpack in the air.  It was blue with an Avengers logo on it.  Way too child like for A3s opinion of the boy.

“Mr. Jhonson,” B1 said coming to a halt next to them, “Mr. Pepinsky wants to see you inside.  Says there’s something about the rock we brought back that you should see.”

“...Rock, huh?” A3 nodded, a smile still on his face even though his gut dropped into his shoes.

“Yeah,” B1 chuckled and wiggled his fingers, his eyes full of childish menace, “who knows, maybe there’s an alien inside, like Venom and it will take over and infect the world.”

Veronica smacked the back of his head again, “yeah, whatever, get in the car.”

“Why you gotta hit me all the time,” B1 grumbled and pouted.

“Why you gotta be such a butt, now git.  We’re already late for dinner,” She turned back to A3 as B1 headed towards a blue camri, “see you later then.  Thanks again for looking after him.”

“Pleasure,” A3 said thickly.  He watched them drive away and when he finally got back inside the building he found Pepk waiting for him just inside the door.

“Human children are frightening,” Pepk said quietly, “may we please request we never work with that one again?”

“Way ahead of you,” A3 shuddered.

()

“Huh,” Harvy sat and listened to what Jackson told him.  The boy was drying his hair after taking his shower and was telling his trainer what B1 had told him that day.

“What does ‘huh’ mean?”

Harvy shrugged, “I’m not opposed to anything he’s said.  Its unhealthy to have THAT much mistrust of those around you, but you should always be vigilant and find out the answers yourself. As for why he’s able to carry around a Rodakkin gun, its commonly said that the day he became an agent his trainer gave it to him as a gift.  I’ve never heard of him winning it.”

“Still, even then, should he be allowed to use it as his standard weapon?”

“B1’s get away with a lot,” A3 said, “You’ll learn this in time.  They are a one man show and do whatever they want with little to no repercussion.  Just don’t get on his bad side if you don’t want to be perfectly framed for a crime you didn’t commit.”

Jackson looked up and let the towel fall to his shoulders, “he’s done that?”

“a fair few times,” A3 said, “and there’s no trace of him ever doing it.”

“then how do you know?”

“Because he told me,” Harvy said, “We got into an argument and he threatened me, using a previous case as an example.”

Jackson frowned, “…i…don’t think so…”

“What do you mean?”

Jackson bit his lip, “I think if he was smart enough to do that, then he’d be smart enough to not say anything about it, even as a threat.  Actually from what I’ve heard from the others and from you about B1, I’d say its more likely that he only told you that to make you think he was more cunning than he really is.”

Harvy stared at his trainee.  Almost unable to believe his ears. 

Why had he not thought of that?

“What have the others told you about him?”

“Well,” Jackson sat on his bed, “Hunk trusts him completely, like no hesitation at all, and Pidge thinks he’s just a big goof-ball who can’t memorize his times table.  Allura see’s him a frivolous flirt and coran talks about him like he’s his own son.  I’ve seen Keith and B1 interact and Keith seems to take what B1 says either very seriously, or not at all, there is no in between.  I don’t see B1 with Shiro a lot, so I’m not sure about how they interact, but I did a bit of poking around today and that’s what I’ve got.”

“I’m aware that the idiot act is just that, an act, but you’re telling me that they still believe he’s a complete moron?”

“Mmm, I wouldn’t say that.  More like they just don’t see him as anything to be wary of.  I can’t get a handle on him at all, but Hunk says he’s already got him pegged.”

Harvy shook his head, “No, no, more like he’s got pegged what B1 WANTS him to have pegged.  No one ‘pegs’ a B1.”

“I thought so, but they all seem be really certain about their view of him.”

“Then B1 is doing his job and doing it well,” Harvy shook his head, “but we in the agency know better.  Let them think what they want, but don’t fall for anything B1 tries with you.  He is anything but an innocent flirt.”

Chapter Text

“We’re coming up on Olkarion!” Coran called through the ships com. 

“Is the Balmera already there?”

“Not that I’m seeing.”

“They are going to meet us here, right?”

“that’s what we agreed on.”

“well we don’t have a lot of time!”

“They’ll get here, Balmeras don’t travel that fast.”

“Neither did we in getting here.”

“Pidge,” Shiro called coming onto the bridge, “I need you up front.  We’re not spending a lot of time here.  Get out there, gather those that are ready and then we’re leaving the moment the balmera get’s here.”

“Right’o!”

“Can I go too?” Jackson asked.

“No,” Harvy answered, “when that Balmera arrives you’ll be going straight there.  You have everything already prepared, right?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good, go double check your gear and make sure everything is in working order.”

Jackson nodded and left. 

Harvy shrugged, “if you don’t give them something specific to do they tend to do stupid things.”

“Oh, I get it,” Shiro said with a chuckle, “We’ve all been there.”

()

“Boss!” B1A5 flung the office door open and froze.  Behind the desk was not Iverson, but a strange lady in a pinstripe suit.

“I assume you’re looking for Iverson,” she said, “he’s moved back to his old office.  He only occupied this one temporarily.”

“..aaaannnd…tttthhhhaaaat’s….”

She sighed and stood, jotting down the address on a sticky note.  She held out her arm and forced him to walk over and take it from her.  He gave a quick glance around the room and then left without another word. 

Looking at the address he groaned out loud and stuffed the note in his pocket.  He knew the garrisons address and he did not look forward to having to go there.  Veronica and Rachel went there.  Hiding the fact that he knew how to use a gun – really well – was going to be even more complicated.

He kicked his bike off the rack and started to run before he hopped on.  He picked up speed as he left the parking lot and aimed his bike down the hill.  The faster he went the better he felt.  Taking his hands off the bars he held out his arm and leaned them back, like a fighter jet.  Letting gravity take him faster than he could peddle. 

He grabbed the bars and slammed his feet against the peddles, and regained control of the bike just in time to bring the bike to a skidding halt at the stop light at the bottom of the hill.  The other pedestrians cried out as he stopped.  He gave an apologetic grin and a mumbled apology, and when the light turned, he sped as fast as he could down the road. 

He picked up more speed as he neared the garrison entrance.  The entrance was oddly shaped, and he enjoyed entering as fast as he could.  Last time, he’d been pretty fast, this time he’d try a little faster.

As he angled his bike just so, two people appeared at the corner, leaving the garrison.  Lance caught sight of a kid in a red jacket before he had to slam on the brakes and spin the bike to slow himself more. 

“Watch it!” Lance shouted.  The kid shouted something back, but Lance was already taking off across the parking lot and didn’t pay him any mind. 

Parking the bike and clipping the lock, he walked into the building where the head offices were. 

()

It didn’t take too long for the Balmera to arrive.  Pidge was getting the Olkaries settled into their rooms when they received the hail from Shey.

“We are awaiting your arrival,” she said and Hunk grinned.  Jackson nodded and thanked her.

“I’ll take you over,” Hunk said, “is your stuff already in there?”

“Yup,” Jackson ran out of the room, eager to go see something new.

“Show him around, get him introduced, and then we need you back here,” Shiro said, “try and be quick.”

“Sure thing.”

()

It was easy finding Iverson.  All Lance had to do was follow the booming voice.

“You are a disgrace!  How can you stand there in that uniform and claim to deserve it!?  The Garrison does not condone such behavior!  One more slip up like this and I’ll kick you out myself!”

Lance peaked into the room through a narrow window by the door.  Two cadets stood in front of his desk.  They were standing at attention and, from the way their fists were clenched, they were terrified.

Lance smiled and chuckled.

He waited for them to leave, one looked like he was about to pass out.  B1A5 slipped into the office and shut the door.

“What did they do?” Lance asked walking behind Iversons desk to the safe where his guns were kept.

“That’s not your concern,” Iverson sighed, “I swear, its harder and harder to discipline kids these days.”

“Careful, you’re dating yourself.”

Iverson smiled and rubbed his shaved head.  He’d been prematurely balding so he decided to just shave it all off.  He honestly wasn’t that old, but in the eyes of a child he must seem ancient. 

As Lance buckled his gun on Iverson told him to sit down.

“What’s up?”  He asked, “is this going to be an away assignment?”

Iverson shook his head, “I got the report back from your last ten missions.  The reports from those you’ve worked with.”

“Ooook?”

“The council thinks it would be wise to assign you a partner until you’re 18 years old.”

Lance face twisted.

“Hear me out,” Iverson said, knowing he was on thin ice, “I’ve convinced them to lower it to 16.”

Lance sighed, “I don’t need a partner, Boss.”

“The reports say otherwise,” Iverson said.

“Are they different from the reports I’ve given you?”

“No, they match yours just fine.”

“Then I don’t see what the problem is.”

“You’re actions need to be reigned in a bit,” Iverson tried to make it sound less than it was, but Lance was smarter than that.  The boy bristled and his eyes burned.

“’Reigned in’?”

“Their words, not mine.”

Lance stood, “I don’t care.  They made me an agent!  If they think I need a partner, then why didn’t they just give me a followup trainer!”

“Good question,” Iverson said, leaning on his fist, “but this is the case so you’re going to have to suck it up.”

Lance folded his arms and plopped back down on the chair, “So who’s my ball and chain?”

“You will meet up with him next week,” Iverson said cheerfully, glad no actual shots were fired, “as for the second thing that was discussed this week, you will now be attending the garrison.”

Lance blinked and Iverson picked up a few student reports, shuffling them together.

“Eeeexuse me?”

“Yup, instead of a mission today, you will be testing into the garrison.  Of course you already have an in, but this will give us all the paperwork in case anyone asks questions or-“

“NO!” Lance stood again, this time the chair fell, “I’m fine with a baby-sitter, but a baby-sitter AND a cage?!”

“This is hardly a cage,” Iverson said, slightly insulted.  Though he was an agent, he loved the garrison.  This was his favorite position to be in.

“Easy for an authority figure to say,” B1 snapped, “why am I here, Iverson?!  I was trained!  I follow my training!  Why am I being punished for doing my job!”

“You’re training was not complete,” Iverson said, “You were never passed the responsibility from your trainer. Not officially.”

“I did it just fine!  I figured it out!  It’s not that hard!”

“Lance,” Iverson said and the boy flinched at the name, “B1A5, please.  Just sit down and listen to the rest of what I have to say.  This isn’t so much a punishment as it is a long term mission.”

B1’s eyes narrowed, suspicious.  But slowly, he righted the chair and sat down.

Iverson let out a breath and continued, “There is a boy that will be joining the garrison next year.  The recruitment staff picked him up from a near by foster home.  There is more than a little evidence that he’s a mixed race.”

“So?” Lance rolled his eyes, “I’m Cuban and Irish.”

“I mean half-alien,” Iverson raised an eyebrow and noticed the boys interest.

“Aren’t there precautions in place so that doesn’t happen?”

“Not all precautions are full-proof,” Iverson shrugged, “Its not known for certain if he is a half-blood, but that’s why you’ll be here, inside the garrison, keeping an eye on him.”

“And the partner?”

“Is for when you are given outside jobs.”

Lance groaned again; a long mournful moan.   His head resting on the back of the chair as he kicked his feet. 

“Complain all you want, but the council already made the decision,” Iverson sighed, “here, fill out these forms and get your parents to fill out these.” 

He handed the boy two packets of papers and watched as he looked at them the way cadets looked at a pop quiz.  Iverson hid a grin behind laced fingers.

()

Rax met them when they landed.

“Shey is organizing a group that has volunteered to go with you.”

“Wait, what?” Hunk scowled, “we didn’t ask-“

“It was their idea,” Rax said, looking down his nose at Hunk, “they wish to help on more fronts than one.  Will they be denied?”

Hunks mouth was open, but nothing was coming out, so Jackson took over, “I’m sure their help will be more than welcome.  But we have to contact the castle to make sure they are prepared to receive them, right?”

Jackson looked over to Hunk who nodded, “yeah, let me just contact Shiro really quick.  Rax, take Jackson and show him around, I’ll be right back.”

He turned and ran back inside his lion.

“We did not think it would cause problems,” Rax said and gave a small shrug. Jackson smiled. 

“Hunk is a planer, when events happen outside that plan it takes a while for him to readjust.”

Rax nodded, “I understand.  I too like following a plan.  Follow me and I shall show you who we are.”

()

“YOU?!” B1 glared at the Hogro standing outside HQ, “Why you?!”

“I have been temporarily reassigned as your Partner, Code name Frok.”

“WHY?”

Froks head tilted slightly, “perhaps because I already know you as a liar?”

B1 glared harder, “I didn’t lie to you.”

“Then perhaps because I follow orders?”

“I follow orders,” B1 muttered disdainfully.

“You did not-“

“Oh shut up, were you briefed on todays mission?”

Frok stood, silent.

“Well?”

“You told me to shut up-“

“AAAAAAAARG!”

()

“We have recalibrated your teledove,” Ryner said, patting Pidges shoulder, “It should allow the Balmera and your ship to enter without too many problems.”

“And the problems that are within that amount?” Shiro asked.

“The Balmerans have their caves,” Pidge said, “If one is on the surface when they enter the worm hole, then they’ll most likely fly off into the void.”

“Better pass that along,” Shiro muttered as Hunk called in to tell them about Rax’s proposal.

“I mean, I don’t see it going wrong, I just don’t know what they can do off of a Balmera, you know?”

“If they want to join this side of the fight, they are welcome to,” Shiro said, “But make sure you tell them what they’ll be getting themselves into.  Shey’s people may be a little too peaceful for what will be needed here.”

Hunk nodded and cut the feed.

()

Iverson closed his eyes.  His anger bubbling slightly.  He’d known the situation was bad, but this was…worse.

“Tell me again, what happened.”

B1A5 sighed, “Our mission was to check on the seemingly random and suspicious activity at an apartment complex.  The landlord being an otherworlder, his paperwork was fine and his records were clean.  However, we discovered an illegal transport device in an illegal underground complex.  We arrested the alien, disabled the machine, and called in the proper matenance crews to come and clean up.”

“And Frok?”

“He got himself shot.”

Iverson hissed, “A shot meant for you, yes?”

B1 shrugged, “I told him to disable the device.  He chose to ignore me.  He got himself shot.”

“From your own report and from the otherworlder that shot the gun, that shot would have killed you.”

“That would be my fault,” B1 said again, “I would not have died.  I already had started to move.  At most the shot would have hit my arm.  Frok moved and intercepted the whole blast.  His actions were not only contrary to what the plan was, but his own fault.  In the end I still had to do everything myself.  I had to disable the device AND arrest the alien.  He simply became baggage.”

Iverson rubbed his eyes.  He briefly wondered what happened to the bright eyed child he’d recruited, the one with the kind and simple smile.  Then he berated himself since he also knew full well what had happened.

“B1A5,” Iverson said, barely able to keep his temper level, “You are hereby suspended until your partner is fully recovered.”

“What?!”

“This is my decision,” Iverson clarified, “Until you learn what it means to be a partner, you will have Frok by your side until you are 18-“

“But Boss!”

“-You will also be trained as a fighter pilot the moment a place opens up and you will stay close to home and under my direct tutelage AND you will have two team members you have to work with.”

B1 stared in shocked horror. 

“Until you can learn that a partnership is NOT about YOUR job and THEIR job, I will continue to load on restraints.”

“..S…Sir…” Lance leaned forward, “please…you said I could just be a cargo pilot!”

“Cargo pilots don’t work in teams,” Iverson said, letting his anger show with his indifference, “Fighter pilots have to work with at most four others.  Every time you leave your partner out to dry, I will add one more team mate you will have to work with.  So you better learn quickly.”

B1 shook his head, “I…I can’t…Boss, I CAN’T!”

“You will, regardless,” Iverson said, “Or you will be forced to quit.  Now I suggest, B1A5, that you go to that hospital, and you check up on your partners condition.”

B1 was red in the face and quickly turning purple.  Finally, he let out the breath he was holding.  He took off his weapons and put them on Iversons desk.  With out a word he left, slamming the door behind him.

Iverson sighed and took out a bottle of aspirin.

()

Lance stormed into the hospital and into Froks room.  The Hogro was sitting up.

Good.

“Let’s go.”

“The doctor said I was to not leave until a week from now,” Frok said.

“Yah, well, he’s not a superior and you weren’t given the order to stay.  We need to go for a walk. Now.”

Frok observed the tense face and irritated grimace.

“No.”

“Now!”

“No.”

Lance was ready to start tearing his hair from its scalp, but it was too short.  He never grew his hair out, afraid someone would grab it during a fight.  Now he wished he could grab it himself.  Instead he rubbed his hand back and forth and swore.

“I do not know what those words mean,” Frok replied.

“Who cares? You’ll be hearing them a lot if I have to put up with you for much longer,” Lance snapped, “What were you thinking?!  I’m a trained solo agent!  If I get shot, then I get shot!  NO one asked you to bud in!  All you had to do was your part of the job!”

“Partners do not leave the other to take the hit.”

“Well, that’s what you did,” Lance said, “You left me by getting taken out.  YOU LEFT!  I had to do everything ANYWAY!  What was the point of you even being there?!”

“Well,” Frok said with a shrug, “I guess it was to be your shield for a moment.”

Lance had no response for that. 

“That…that-that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” Lance roared and he reached out and grabbed a handful of Froks hair, pulling on it.

“Ow!”

“Stupid!  You are the dumbest idiot I know!”

“Stop it!”

“Get up and walk you moron!”

“NO!”

“YES!”

()

From what Jackson had been told about the Hogros, he had to agree that the Balmerans would get along just fine.

Still, this was a big step.  He’d never been off world before and only knew two Hogro agents by sight and a short hello in the morning.  Now he had to correspond between two races he’d just barely gotten to know.

“Every one going to the castle get on the lion!” Hunk shouted and turned to Jackson, “Ok, so you listen to Shey, and Rax, and Grandma here, ok?  Ok…this is going to work.  Make sure everyone is under ground before you enter the teledove.”

Shey chuckled, “Everything will be fine.”

“I wish I had your confidence,” Hunk said and gave her a hug, “the moment we reach the other side, get in contact with the ship to solidify plans.”

“Yes, yes, we know,” Rax said and began to push Hunk away from his sister and toward the lion.

()

Two years later B1A5 was required to move into the dorms. 

“Hi, I’m Hunk,” the larger boy held out his hand.  Lance stared at it for a moment and then took it, forcing the smile on his face as he introduced himself as well.

“I’m in the engineering class,” Hunk said fidgeting with the zipper on his jacket. He had already unpacked.  Lance tossed his case onto the other bed.

“I’m in the pilot program.  I’m going to be a fighter pilot and explore the universe!”

“That’s cool,” Hunk said and an awkward silence prevailed.

Lance had done a lot of ‘learning’ since his first mission with Frok.  It was easier to work with him after a while, and he guessed he understood a little bit on how to rely on a partner, but he still had no idea why he was asked to complete missions with a partner when he was perfectly capable of doing it himself.

And now here he was, in yet another situation that would be simpler if he didn’t have to ‘learn’.

“We’ll find out at the end of this year where we will be assigned,” Hunk said, for the sake of conversation.

“Yup, I do so hope I get to be a fighter pilot,” Lance said, his back to Hunk so his roommate didn’t see him roll his eyes.

“What’s your  favorite snack food?”

That was a completely different conversation.  Lance looked up and raised an eyebrow at him.

“What do you mean?”

Hunk shrugged, “What’s your favorite snack?”

Lance thought for a moment.  He didn’t think he had one.  No one had asked him before.

“Mmmm…”

“yeah, I have a lot I like too,” Hunk said, “Hard to think of just one.”

Lance smiled and shrugged.  This year, if he worked really hard with Frok, then he wouldn’t have to be a fighter pilot.  He could be a cargo pilot and do away with the threat of having to work with a team.  He had enough problems with a partner, a team would fall under ‘cruel and unusual punishment’.

One year to prove that he didn’t need any more ‘special lessons’.

()

“Everyone ready?” Allura asked, clasping her hands behind her back.

“You talk to Lotor?”

“Of course,” she said and she didn’t even blush, “he’ll be ready and waiting for our signal.”

“All we ask,” Keith sighed.  This was a delicate plan make even more difficult because only half of them knew what was really going on.  He really wanted to tell Hunk and Pidge everything, but then he’d have to tell Allura and she was such a straight arrow, Allura would never go with their plan.  And after all this, Allura would never forgive them.

“It will be fine Red Leader,” Lance said elbowing him in the side, “don’t think to much about it.  I mean, it is your instincts we rely on the most, right?”

Keith scowled at him and then sighed again. 

“Alright, then start up the teledove and let’s get going.”

Chapter Text

B1A5 panted as he brought the ship around to the dark side of the moon.  Frok clutching his shoulder.

“You alright?”

“Just bruised.”

“Good, that other ship is really something,” B1 sneered, “but they’re not allowed to land, sooo, any ideas on how to stop them?”

“Ask nicely?”

Lance blinked and stared at his partner.  The fangs tilted slightly outward as the Hogro grinned.

“You are so strange,” B1 muttered coming out from behind the moon and right into the path of the on coming ship.

()

Hunk stood in the middle of the lab, his face covered in a purple gel.  Lance stood in front of him, holding the bottle of the catalyst.  He’d only been supposed to add tree drops, but had accidently put in more.

Lance laughed, and then stopped, covering his mouth.  Wide eyed he blinked at Hunk who had also started to laugh, wiping away the gel, which only made his hair stand up. 

After that Lance couldn’t hold it in anymore.  He laughed so hard tears filled the corners of his eyes.  The teacher was less than pleased at the disturbance and after Lance had been un able to stop laughing, she had sent them both down to the office.

Lance and Hunk stood in front of Iverson desk, snickering uncontrollably.  Iverson watched both boys and marveled at Cadet Garret.  He hadn’t seen Lance laughing like that since his first year of training.  So, he put on his commander shoes, reprimanded them, gave them extra work, and sent them back to class.

Which only made Lance laugh harder.

So Iverson bodily kicked them both out of his office.  He couldn’t have them see how much he also wanted to laugh.

()

At the end of the year, Lance was a cargo pilot.

“I’m so sorry, Lance,” Hunk said, though he had no idea how happy his roommate was.  But Lance pretended to be ‘not bothered’ and make it seem like he was disappointed.  Then he snuck to Iverson office.

“I’m a cargo pilot!”

Iverson grinned, “Yes, you are a cargo pilot.  I almost still made you a fighter pilot, but there you have it.  Happy birthday.”

“Since Kogane is going to be in a different class-“

“You two will still share classes to a point,” Iverson said, “You’re reports on that matter are lacking.  I thought I said you should try and be his friend.”

“Have you tried being friends with a brick wall?”

“….”

“Its easier,” Lance said, “than becoming friends with a guy who can’t even pretend to NOT be a wet blanket.”

“You know the same was said about you?”

“Who said that, I’ll shank them!”

“Point is I thought you two were similar and you two would get along.  Now I see you both are TOO similar to get along.”

“Wow, Boss,” Lance grumbled, “Tell me how you really feel about me.”

“I’m proud that you’re improved so much,” Iverson said, “but you still have a long way to go.”

“How long?”

“18 years old long.”

“whaaaaaat?!”

“Hey, I’ve reduced the punishment to cargo pilot, be happy with what you get…or would you like to be a fighter pilot?”

“Thank you sir!”

Iverson laughed and Lance scowled.

()

B1A5 stormed into Iverson office one Saturday.  His boss was holding an ice pack against his eye.

“What’s this about my mission being passed on to an A3?!”

“Kogane was expelled.”

“WHY?!  Didn’t the agency accept him here because it was easier to keep an eye on him?!”

“Its still your mission,” Iverson sighed, “On the weekends you are to observe his home and make sure he’s not contacting any one out side our atmosphere, got it?”

“Have you not read the last twenty reports?” B1 snapped, “I am more than sure that he has no idea he’s half alien.  If he knew he wouldn’t be that attached to Instructor Shirogone.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I’ve been in class with him for almost four years!  How can I NOT know that?!  Are those A3’s words or the councils, because I know you’re not that small-sighted!”

Iverson stood, “Enough.  Kogane is gone and you are moving up to fighter class.”

Lance’s jaw dropped, “BUT YOU SAID-“

“This wasn’t me or the council, believe it or not, this is from the board of education.  Out of all the cadets that can be moved up, your name was top of the list.”

“But…I worked so hard….”

“So did I,” Iverson sighed, “I tried to tell them you weren’t a team player, but then your teachers contradicted me.  Said you’ve worked well with Garret on all your assignments.”

“…but….Hunk doesn’t count…”

Iverson barked out a laugh, “Apparently it counted more than you gave it credit.  But I’ll be kind, because you have worked hard.  I’ll only give you two team mates, and one of them will be Garret, does that take the sting away a little.”

Lances face twisted and he shook his head.

“But A3 is taking over?  Do they have to?  Do they have to know everything?  I did my job I don’t like it when someone comes in and messes everything up!”

“Its an observation mission,” Iverson scoffed, “Its not like there’s room to mess anything up.”

“They could misunderstand something, and request action be taken,” Lance said firmly, “I don’t trust A3A1 to not take charge without discussing anything with me first.  Keith is a pain and I know that better than anyone!”

“Oh, he’s not the only pain,” Iverson said and Lance scowled further.

“Not funny, Boss, I’m being serious here.  Make it so he can’t do anything unless I ok it!”

“What about me?”

“No, I know the mission, not you, not anyone.  Unless A3A1 talks to me DIRECTLY, I don’t want him requesting action, or back up, or even night vision goggles without my say so!”

Iverson sighed, “I understand you’re angry about this, but taking it out on A3A1 is not going to do you any favors.”

“I’m not after favors, Iverson,” Lance growled, “I’m after control.  Because I apparently don’t have any.  I started as my trainers puppet, and now I’m finding I’m the agencies as well.  I will not be jerked around like this anymore.  If they still want a B Section, then they better start complying to MY wishes.  Go ahead and fire me!  If they fire me, there will never be another B1!  I’ll do as I’m told, but then I get to lay down my rules, am I clear?!”

Iverson stood, “Watch your tone, agent.”

“Agent or cadet?  I tend to get a little confused these days,” Lance sneered.

“Agent B1A5!” Iverson roared, “Your grievances have been heard and I will take them to the council, however, from this moment on you are Fighter class, your weekend missions will be observations and you will keep your communicator on at all times in case I call you, do you understand me?!”

“Yes Sir,” Lance said, saluted, and left the office.

()

“I hate Keith…” Lance growled into his text book.  Hunk looked down at him with sympathy.  Lance had just been given third degree by their physics teacher where she stated quite plainly that Lance was not welcome in that area of study, unlike some other unmentionable former cadet.

What Hunk didn’t know was that Lance hated him because he existed in the first place.  If Keith hadn’t been born, then Lance never would have had to join the garrison and he’d be happily working for the agency with no problems.  Then Keith left and made his already complicated life unbearable!  Now he received reports almost daily from A3A1 and he couldn’t stand it. 

“I can help you, if you want,” Hunk said for the hundredth time.  By now he was more pleading than asking.

“You can’t help me,” Lance said and winced as it came out as a whine and then thought it was a good cover, so he kept it up, “I’m beyond help.  Help is for those that can be helped, and I’ve fallen too far into the abyss!”

Hunk laughed, “Its just physics!  Think of it as a logic puzzle!”

()

“I don’t believe this,” Harvy muttered as he looked out to the familiar star system, “All that way in one jump.”

“You got all that way in one jump,” Lance said, but Harvy shook his head.

“Not quite.  We almost got to the end of the galaxy, and when we left it, that’s when we were picked up by the Galra that serves the Witch person.  Then we lost track of time.  We have no idea how long we’ve been away.”

“We’re about to find out,” Lance said, “Jackson looked nervous when he left.”

“He’s a smart kid.”

“Yes he is,” Lance nodded, “So don’t ruin that, ok?”

“Excuse me?”

“Just sayin’,” Lance sang as he turned away form the window, “raising a kid like that is going to be hard.  You don’t want to crush his potential, but you do want to curb the curiosity to a manageable amount.  Like pruning a bonsai…”

Lance cackled as he left the room.  Harvy rolled his eyes. 

()

“No one flew off the planet,” Shey said happily as they contacted the ship, “Everything is ready to go!”

“We’re sending the coordinates to you now,” Shiro said, “go quickly.”

“As fast as we can,” Shey nodded and the feed cut.

Shiro then turned to Harvy, “get us home.  Voltron, to your lions!”

“See ya later, Har-veee,” Lance sang as they left the bridge. 

“Oh I hate that kid so much,” Harvy sighed and Shiro laughed.

Chapter Text

Voltron formed and flew next to the castle as they flew into the solar system.

“See you in a few days!”

Voltron kicked off as the castle veered off and headed towards the Jermites planet.  The slowed as they neared Earth, keeping a look out for Sendaks fleet.

“Now the only question is, do we pick then off from behind, or do we sail in, in all our glory, and start shooting?”

“I doubt we’d be able to pick them off.”

“I want to see what’s going on Earth, you know?  See what they have planned?”

“Yeah, and see what damage Sendak’s been able to do.”

“Pidge will the cloaking work for all of Voltron?”

“Sure, but for a limited time.  There aren’t any places on Earth I can think of where we’ll be able to hide the lions or their energy signature from Sendak.”

The paladins fell silent and Lance cleared his throat.

“….what if there was a lot of…what’s that thingy that turns stuff red…”

“Iron?”

“Yeah, would not hiding the lions in metal…do something?”

“Where are we going to find Iron in that amount and quantity in the short time it takes to even land on the planet!” Pidge snapped, “It would have to be flowing from the Earth and we’d have to bathe in-“

Pidge interrupted her self and hunk joined in, “Blood Falls!!”

“That’ll work!”

“Man, I totally forget Blood Falls even exists!”

“Um, guys?” Keith interrupted, “what does a blog sight have to do with our current situation?”

The explosion of laughter that followed, and Keith spluttering took a while.  Allura sat back and waited for the humans to get their act together.  They were stressed, that was clear, but they really didn’t have time for this.

And she didn’t get the joke…she never got their jokes.

()

Jackson bit his lip as they drew closer to a planet about twice the size of Earth.  From space and even on a separate…traveling planet, he could see the blues and greens of the Hogros planet. 

“I’m so excited,” Shey said beaming.  Jacked gave a small, nervous laugh.

“yeeeeah…”

()

A3 handed over his pin to the Jermite authorities.  They had flown out to meet them and the small techno savy aliens grimaced at the Olkaries. 

“You bring strangers.”

“I think the council has little to say about strangers since there’s been an invasion for almost a year,” A3 said diplomatically, “These are the Olkaries.  They also have a way with technology and are going to help you rebuild the barrier.”

The Jermites wrinkled their flat and wide noses, “the barrier is not the problem anymore.  It failed and we must do what we can to assist with being noticed.”

A3 nodded, “B1 and I have been able to come up with a plan.  We can explain it to you.”

“I thought it was the paladins that-“

A3 cut off the Olkaries quickly, “The conference room is over here.”

The Olkaries lifted an eyebrow in Corans direction.  Coran shrugged and motioned that they should just go along with it.  He was sure there was a good reason for the lie. 

Coran trusted Lance, and since this man was from the same agency, then the ginger saw no reason to not trust him as well.

()

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I told you,” Lance sighed, “We have a base below the surface.  Pidge just has to send them the code and they wont shoot us.”

“You don’t seem to be very well liked,” Allura commented, “are you sure they wont shoot anyway?”

Lance laughed, “Ouch, Princess, ouch.  This is Section O.  The O’s are…special.  I honestly have no patience with them, but they honestly aren’t dangerous.  I’d actually be surprised if there’s a single gun in the whole place…”

“What do they do?”

“Stars only know.”

His tone let them know he no longer wanted to answer questions.  If they weren’t on their way to gaining the answers to their questions already, the would have pushed him no matter what.

Invisible and undetectable, they sailed past fleet after fleet of galra ships.  Hunk whimpered while Lance gave a low whistle.

“We either underestimated Harvy, or we weren’t given the proper information,” Keith muttered, “Let’s hope there’s still an Earth in the middle of all this.”

When they Reached Earth, it was Pidge that ended up gagging. 

“My mother always said,” Lance muttered, “it doesn’t matter who wins the war, the farmer always looses…”

Though the oceans were still as blue and beautiful from space as ever, the land was devastated.  From space they could see craters, black where green, where the forests and plains, had once been.  Even mountains had not stood against the assault Sendak had waged against its surface.

“Guys?”

“We know.”

Keith nodded.  He regretted not killing Sendak when he’d had the chance.  ALL those times he’d had the chance and he hadn’t done it.  Now everyone was paying the price for not reacting on his instinct.

The flew and descended smoothly, Pidge and Hunk punching in their data and instructing the others at what angle they should enter.

“If we go in at the wrong angle, we’ll attract too much attention.  Cloaked or not, we’d still turn into a burning ball of flame.”

“A sight to see, I’m sure.”

“and making all my hard work pointless, now shush as I finish up these calculations.”

()

“What good would that do?” the Jermites asked as A3 told them about how they wanted to Barrier to function.

“The paladins are sure about how they will be able to turn the tide of this battle,” an Olkari named Uryer replied, “And they are upset about the attack of their planet behind their backs.  Sendak has been a personal thorn in the paladins side since the beginning.”

The Jermite snorted, “And they have not dealt with the mess yet?  I hear that B1 is among these, these…paladins.  Has he finally gotten old enough to be useless?”

A3 would have laughed if the Olkari weren’t scowling.

“Is he still refusing to take an apprentice-“

“That is not the topic of conversation,” Uryer interjected, “we are talking about accomplishing the task Voltron asked of us in a timely manner.”

“What makes you think we need your help?”

“the fact that Sendak made it past your barrier in the first place,” Uryer said through clenched teeth.

“That’s-“

“Our technology is not for anyone elses eyes!”

“The moment our feet toughed ground we already figured it out!  Its not hard!”

“You know nothing!”

They argued back and fourth and A3 stared.  He’d never heard a Jermite raise their voice before. 

()

Hunk and Pidge “oo”ed and “ahhh”ed as they walked into the secret facility.  Everyone wore wither a white or purple lab coat.

“Welcome to O section,” Lance said, hand on hips, “this is the agencies research section.  You two-“

They weren’t listening.  They were already engaging the agents there in conversations about topics of interest.

“B1,” said a man in a purple coat, “what are you doing here?”

“I’m here on business, O9, or did you not notice the ships attacking earth?! I need to call Iverson.  I need a secure line.  Get it!”

The man squeaked and ran off.  Lance sighed and noticed everyone had stopped to stare at him.

“What?”

“Dude, not cool,” Hunk said, “why did you talk to him like that?”

“Because if I don’t, he’ll talk my ear off,” Lance protested, “O agents usually have a talkative streak a few hundred miles wide and few light years long.  If you don’t order them around, they’ll ask you questions till you’re dead.”

“Not all of them are like that,” Allura said, “surly.”

“Not taking any chances,” Lance shrugged as the man returned with a land line.  He grabbed it and walked to an empty room off to one side.

“O9, take care of them while I talk with Iverson.  I’ll see you all in the photo room in a bit, k?”

He disappeared and Keith clicked his tongue, “rude.”

“Oh, he’s not so bad,” O9 chuckled, “I think…his trainers trainer was a real monster.  His trainer was a wonderful man, and he’s…special….”

“Ooo,” Pidge and Allura got closer, “Tell us more about his trainer.”

“Well,” the man thought for a moment, “normally B1’s have a reputation for being disagreeable and hard to work with, but the previous B1 was always kind and funny, even.”

“So Lance takes after him a lot, then,” Hunk grinned.

“who?  Oh, B1, no, I darsay he does not,” the man snorted, “very much the opposite.  Very much like his trainers trainer.”

The paladins exchanged looks and put that question on the shelf for now.

“You’re a bit young to know three generations of agents, aren’t you?”  Allura asked.  O9 blushed and laughed.

“Oh my! I’m not young at all!  I just have good genes.  But, yes, even the younger agents know a few of the previous B1’s.  You see, there’s a rumor what say’s there’s never been a B1 that had lived past 30 years old.  The previous one waited until he was 28 to start training and died three months before his thirtieth birthday, poor- hello?”

He turned around when he realized he was walking alone.  All four of his guests has stopped walking and just stared at him.

“Before they’re thirty?”

“Why?”

“Does Lance know this?”

“Of course he does, that’s why he didn’t tell us!”

“Well, he’s gonna live if he knows what’s good for him.”

“I’ll kill him if he dies!”

O9 watched them talk and marveled when it finally hit him that their questions were all because they LIKED B1.  Someone actually LIKED the crude and cruel agent!  And not just someone, but FOUR of them!

“how did they die?” Hunk asked, “I need to know so I know to keep him away from any spindles or whatever.”

“Well,” O9 gestured for them to keep following him, “no one really knows about it.  The files are never shown to anyone but the head of B section and the council themselves.  But one thing we all know is that they always die in the field.  Then their trainee becomes the new, solo agent. Only the section head and the council really know what the B section does and how they are trained.”

“Then how are we going to keep him alive!” 

“I refuse to have any of you die before me.”

“Is this why he doesn’t want to train?”

Silence followed that question as the implications sunk in.

“What was his predecessors code name?”  Pidge asked.

“Oh, it was B1U3, if I remember correctly, like I said, they die so fast its hard to keep them all straight.  He was an awesome agent.  The best this agency has ever seen in a long time.  I still remember how jealous everyone was that a small boy had been chosen to train with him instead of them.  His skill was-“

“We get it,” they snapped and followed O9 to a room of ceiling to flow photos of space. 

“I’ll leave you here.  I really must be getting back to work.  If you need anything, use that phone over there and push seven.  An operator should pick up.  Please don’t touch the pictures, but feel free to look-“

“We got it-“ they said again, now understanding what Lance had meant when he’d warned them about the O’s talking capabilities.

O9 nodded and turned to leave, then he turned back, “just one more thing, if I may.  Are you all really…friends, with B1?”

“Duh.”

“Yeah.”

“Why not?”

“Of course.”

“Amazing,” O9 said, “no one is going to believe this.”

And then he left.

“Why won’t they believe it?”  Pidge asked, “This is Lance we’re talking about.  The human friendship machine, right?”

“yeah, he is now, but what about before we met him?”

They all looked at Hunk, the first one to meet him.

“He was fine,” Hunk shrugged, “a normal Garrison pilot, all hopeful of being a fighter pilot.  He was pissed when you got in and not him.”

Hunk said looking at Keith, “he locked me out of our room for hours!”

“then when was the last time they saw Lance if Lance’s personality changed between that time and the garrison, that doesn’t leave that much room.”

“So,” allura said taking a seat at the long table in the middle of the room, “either he faked it all and then then became what he faked, or he’s still faking and we’re all chumps for believing him.”

That was a sobering proposition. 

“No one say anything,” Keith said finally.

“but keith-“

“Until this is all done, we’re not going to badger him about all of this.  Let’s work together to save Earth, and then we’ll tie him up, hang him off of a bridge, and force him to answer all of our questions.”

“Sounds good to me!”

“Fine, but I get to push him off the bridge when we do that.”

“I’ll hold Shiro and Coran off when we do it.”

()

“Good to finally hear from you,” Iverson said.

“Ditto,” Lance couldn’t help but grin, “so what’s the situation?  I have Voltron waiting for me.”

“We’re at a stand still,” Iverson said, “this Sendak person wants the five of you and when he learned that you really weren’t here, then he hunkered down and waited.  We were able to get most of the population under ground and safe. Everyone else was captured and are on all those ships in our solar system.  Our agency and the garrison are our main forces.  I’m at the garrison acting as correspondence.”

“So we’ll need to plan a systematic rescue mission on top of it all.  Good thing we didn’t go in, sword blazing.  That was something we thought of doing.”

“Please don’t.”

“I havn’t taken over, boss, and I don’t plan to.  Keith has a good head on his shoulders, well, NOW he does, but I’m more than happy with the way the team works.”

“…team, huh?”

“are you crying?!”

“No, I’m shedding all the frustrations you’ve given me!  Now, hurry and get back to base, that way we can talk.  I still don’t trust these lines.”

“Mmm,” Lance didn’t trust them either.  Which was why he was talking alone.  If anything leaked, then they’d know the wire had been tapped.

“Tell Gunderson, that her parents are waiting for her here.”

“Sure thing,” Lance laughed, “we’re on our way.”

Chapter Text

When Lance entered the Picture room he saw all four friends huddle together with their heads almost touching.

“Uh-oh,” Lance said shutting the door, “what’s up?”

“We figured it out!”

“What?”

“O section is the Observation section, A section is the Action section, S section is the Secret-keeper section…or Sabotage, we’re split 50/50 on that, and K is Kickstart or basically those that recruit, right?”

Way to go,” Lance nodded, “glad I don’t have to explain that.”

“But what is B?” Hunk asked, “we can’t-“

“Bitch,” Lance said, no hesitation, “as in ‘son of a’ because that’s what everyone says when they realize we’re working with them.”

“For real, Lance,” Pidge said rolling her eye, but she was smiling, “what’s it stand for?”

Lance sighed, “Stands for Black ops.  I told you: I do all the jobs no one else wants to.”

“You do them by yourself?”

Lance took a seat and shrugged, “at first.  Then an A3 complained that I rained on his parade and Iverson said I had to have a partner.  Which pissed me off to no end.  Frok did his best, but I was so used to working by myself that I saw him as more of a burden.”

“So…” Allura, Pidge, and Hunk looked over at Keith, who sighed.

“Fine.”

“So this attitude change,” Pidge said quickly, “are you faking it with us even now?”

“What?”

“I mean, you were all moody and everything when we first met and faked being friendly and all, so are you still faking it?” Hunk asked in a rush, tears welling up in his eyes.

“NO!” Lance snapped, glaring at him, “guys, I’m just me!  I never faked being anyone friend!  Hunk, you are so….just…you really don’t remember how much I really didn’t talk to you at first?  I sure don’t remember looking you in the eye till second year!  Heck, I didn’t see us as friends till we blew up that goo in science and got chewed out by Iverson. The only thing I faked was my desire to be a fighter pilot.”

“Wait…WHAT?”

“What do you MEAN?!”

“But you hated me for who knows how long because-“

“Because I tried to talk to you for months and you ignored me every time,” Lance said scowling at Keith, “and then you asked who I was every time I had to talk to you.  Every. Time.  You were a butt.”

“But but but!” Hunk said, “You-you locked me out of the room!”

“I was so happy, I couldn’t hide the fact and locked you out so you wouldn’t see,” Lance said, “Fighter pilots had teams.  I was suffering with a partner, I had NO desire to have more people to muddle up my jobs.”

“But you did become a fighter pilot,” Keith said.

“Yeah, cause you went and hit Iverson,” Lance snapped, “You idiot.  I swear, its all your fault!”

“My fault?”

“yeah.”

“Iverson said that it was-“

“I know what Boss said, and its just what he says as a commander, that’s it.  Did you have to HIT HIM?!  If you had let him finish, he would have helped you out!  Iverson has a soft spot for everyone and he was totally about to offer you aid and help, but nooo, you had to hit him IN FRONT OF THE OTHER TEACHERS!”

Keith blushed, “he was blaming Shiro for what happened at Kerberos-“

“We knew it wasn’t their fault,” Lance rolled his eyes, “but that’s what the rest of the Earth knew about it, so he couldn’t tell you otherwise.  If you had hit him when you guys were alone, then you wouldn’t have been expelled, and I would have been happy as a cargo pilot till the end of my assignment.”

“What was your assignment?”

“Classified.”

“You don’t wanna say?”

“I’ll write it all in my will for you all to read,” Lance laughed, then stopped as they all weren’t laughing, or even rolling their eyes like normal.  Suddenly they were serious, “What?”

“Is it true that no B1 has survived past 30?”

Lance sighed, “O9 talked your ears off, huh?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Yes,” Lance said simply, “Its true.”

“How did your trainer die?”  Allura asked, but Lance was already shaking his head.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” he said firmly and changed the subject, the others let him, “I just got off the phone with Iverson.  He’s sending transport to us so we’ll get to the garrison in about three months.”

“Three months!?”

“We’ll be going by the emergency tunnels, so yeah, it takes a while.”

()

O9 and five others crowded around the small door window as they watched B1 and his ‘friends’.  The room was sound proofed, like all the others, but they watched as B1 laughed and the small girl tugged angerly on his cheeks.

They were so casual with him!  They even used his real name!  They had been sure that B1 didn’t even have a real name!

“I don’t believe my own eyes…”

“I thought I’d see a black hole before I’d see this…”

“I heard the large yellow one was friends with him BEFORE he disappeared.”

“Now I know that’s a lie.”

“Maybe he had an NDE and decided to change?”

“Yeah right, B1’s don’t care about dying, that’s why they’re B1’s, susan.”

“Bite me, Bob.”

“Guys…”

They looked up into the window again and saw five pares of eyes looking at them.  One pair was not happy.  And that scared them.

The big one walked up and opened the door, “there’s something you want?”

He was way too nice to be B1’s first friend.

“Um, we just wanted to know…

“We just…”

“I still don’t believe it.”

“Shush!”

“Hey, think you guys could get us something to eat while we wait?”  Lance called, his voice like steal, “and stop snooping like the-“

Smack!

All six O’s mouths dropped.  Both girls had smacked B1 on the back of the head.

“Stooop.”

“Honestly, I know it must be habitual, but try to not be such a jerk.”

Lance looked up and glared at them both, “I do have a reputation to protect.”

“Ohhh?” Pidge sneered and raised her voice so every thing she said could be heard, “Like NEVER passing the simulator?  Or failing three out of five classes?  Or-“

“No, more like not letting the pleebs think I like them,” Lance muttered so only Pidge could hear.

“Oh, so you DO like them!” She shouted, having fun.

“NO!”

“But you said-“

“Quiznak Pidge!”

He reached over and grabbed her face, O2 shrieked, but Pidge just laughed and continued to tease.  To the O’s surprise, B1 stared to laugh as well.

Him laughing, forget laughing, was something they would never get used to.

“Fine, fine, fine,” Lance said turning around to face the door, “I’m sorry, but I am starving, and if I’m hungry, then I know Hunk is.”

“I could eat a horse.”

“Settle for a cow?”

“Mmmm…cow…”

“Stake,” Pidge sighed, “Ohhh and pizza…”

“Potato chips…”

“anything,” Keith said, his own gut rumbling loudly, “I’ll eat anything.”

“I’m starting to take offence,” Allura said folding her arms.

“Just wait to try it,” Pidge said waving a hand at her, “Then you’ll see.”

“oooor, is there something else?” Lance asked peeking at them past Hunk, “You’re doing your shifty-shuffle, spill.”

The O’s blushed.

“Well…we just..”

“PLEASE LET US USE THE LIONS!”

The paladins stared.

“What?”

“Can’t you just imagine the amount of research we could do within our own solar system alone if we had but ONE of those ships?!” O4 shouted, all of them getting very excited as well, “We could do SO much!  And LEARN so much!  With technology like that we could-“

“we could bring back SO MANY samples!”

They went on and on and on about everything they had ever wanted to do.

“Are they serious?” Keith asked Lance who nodded.

“yup.”

“don’t they know there’s a fleet of enemy aliens waiting to blow the Earth to bits and they’re here….geeking out about solar research?”

“I have always had this theory,” Lance said, “that they are really androids and that no matter how dire the threat, their default will always be their projects.”

Keith sat back in his chair and watched these agency researchers.  He didn’t know if he should be angry with their disregard for the situation, or impressed with how dedicated they were to their work.

“Tell you all what!” Lance called out, making them stop, “We can’t lend you the lions, only we can fly them.  And I’m not going to speak for my team, but, if you get us a feast of everything Hunk tells you to get, I’ll personally fly two missions for you once this is all over.  One to Mercury, and one to Venus.”

The silence in the room was absolute.

“You would?”

“Really?”

“To Venus?”

“Can you get that close to the sun?”

“The Red Lion is specially equipped to handle dangerously hot places,” Keith said, “I think that’s what he’s volunteering for.”

“But…really?”

“Just get us food,” Lance said, “And those two missions are yours.”

O9 almost burst into tears as he turned and ran away to get the orders.  O4 was the only one who stayed behind to actually get their orders.

“I hope Iverson gets here soon,” Lance sighed, “I think I opened pandoras box.”

()

Sure enough, by the time Iverson got there with the transport vehicles, word had gotten around to all of O section that B1 was secretly a softy.  However, only about 25% of them believed the rumor.

They helped out around the facility, Hunk and Pidge making themselves right at home.  Keith gained a reputation of being a clutz and someone to be feared.

O section logic saw that B1 was taking orders from the one in Red armor.  That meant that the one in Red armor was to be respected at all costs…even if they wouldn’t allow him near the glassware. 

Lance took the time to really flush out all his reports with more detail for the council, once it was put back together again.  He knew they would want it, and since they had time, he thought ‘why not’? the paladins had already discussed what needed to happen with the limited knowledge they had about the situation.  They knew it was up for change the moment they got back to the garrison.

One night as Pidge, Hunk, and O9 stayed up late to oversee a programming function, Pidge took the opportunity to get the guy talking again.

“Question,” she said, spinning a pen in her fingers, “You said there was an agent that was a B1U3, but there is no section U that we’ve heard of.”

O9 seemed to wilt, “that is because it no longer exists.”

“What did the U section do?” Hun pressed and O9 sighed.

“Section U were the Underminers; they built the entire underground systems and are essentially the reason we’ve been able to save as many people as we have all around the globe!  They were a fearless lot, too.  Loud, good natured – for the most part- and large, boy, they were large.  The strongest section physically.”

“What happened to them?”

O9 shrugged, “They disappeared.  No one really knows.  The council chose to close down the U section entirely when the A’s and S’s lost the investigation.  I heard even the B1’s couldn’t find out what happened to them.”

“A whole section disappeared without a trace?”

“We questioned every planet, even those outside out alliance, but couldn’t find them.”

“We also heard that he had a follow up trainer…”

O9 laughed, “no, that was not a follow up trainer, there are no ‘follow up’ trainers in the agency.  All I know is that the current B1 had to have a tutor after his training.  Who was it…I think it was S2K10, if I remember correctly.”

“K10?!”

“Ah, so you know how the codes work.  S section is notorious for training a lot of potentials.  You won’t find many with a secondary S since S section prefers to train everyone primary.  Only prodigies trained as primaries in other sections get the honor of being a secondary S.”

“Sooo, not Lance,” Pidge grinned and Hunk chuckled.  O9 watched them.

“How did…you become friends with B1?”

They looked at each other, “We ate snacks.”

O9 blinked, then laughed, “If only we had thought of the same thing!”

“Is he really that different?” Hunk asked.  Lance had said that he had himself, but Hunk still didn’t see it.

“That boy could look at you and you’d never believe that face knew what a smile was, let alone how to,” O9 said, silencing them, “He also has a tongue that can cut stone.  Us in the O section never ran into him much, but when we did, it wasn’t uncommon for us to be reduced to tears.”

“You’re what 30…40 something?”

“Cried like I was a toddler,” O9 said, unashamed, “O9K2 was in his sixties and he locked himself in his room for days after going on a mission with him.  Its like he can see what makes you tick and then uses it against you.”

“He can’t,” Pidge said and rolled her eyes.

“You would probably boost his ego if he heard you just now,” Hunk said, leaning on his fist.

“Lance, contrary to popular belief, is a people person,” Pidge said, “he’s no all knowing, but if you talk enough, he’ll know.”

“People talk when their nervous,” Hunk added, “so he glared at you to get you to start talking, then he used what you said against you.”

“Simple sociology.”

O9’s jaw hung open.  He couldn’t really tell when he rambled on, but it was a possibility.  He knew he liked to jabber, most researchers liked to babble.  But…

“You make him sound so tame.  You make him LOOK so tame.  He was known among every section as the Beast section.  Now he’s offering to accompany us on missions!  He actually ran a few errands the other day!  He says ‘please’ and ‘thank you’!”

“Sooo he was an uncultured and rude kid,” Hunk said, then scowled, “I know his mother, she would have his hide if she knew…”

()

“Boss,” Lance grinned as he walked up to the old man, the other paladins hanging back, “Only one month?!  That’s got to be a-“

They were as shocked as everyone else when Iverson walked quickly to meet Lance and then embraced him.

“You’re in one piece!”

“Yeah, you think?  What are you doing out of your hole anyway?  Aren’t you the link between the garrison and the agency?”

“I had to make sure it was really you,” Iverson said finally letting go and then he scowled, “Your hair is longer.”

“Not many ways to cut hair without losing the whole head in the process out there,” Lance replied grinning, “I can’t wait to get it cut.”

“I think it looks nice long,” Allura said coming up behind them.

“Still gonna cut it…if not buzz it.”

“This must be the princess I heard so much about,” Iverson said, shoving Lance out of the way and holding out his hand.

“Gee, you’re not creepy at all,” Lance muttered.  As Iverson Allura talked Lance turned to the others who were looking at him as if his skin had changed color.

“What?”

“But,” Hunk said, “Iverson hated you…”

“The hug?”

“the hell?”

“I told you all that he’s not a bad guy.  Commander Iverson is just a front so he can keep an eye on the goings on in the garrison.  His real job is B Section Head.  And since I’m the only B, then I get special attention.”

He was being smug.

He was being smug about being Iverson favorite.

“I think this is what it feels like to ‘need a drink’,” Pidge said, shaking her head.

()

“Woooooooaaaaaaa.”

They gazed at the vehicles that had brought Iverson and two other officers.  They were not what Lance remembered.

“where did you guys get these,” Lance asked running his hand along the side of the slick vehicle.  It was a dark gray, and even with the thick coating of dust it accumulated while traveling underground, it still shone.

“The short reports you sent back,” Iverson said, “You would mention some logistics that I would…casually mention to the Jermites.  Their pride created these.”

“Three months into one month…” Lance whistled, “awesome.”

“Cross continental,” Hunk shook his head, “I wanna take it apart…”

“After we get back,” Keith said pulling the tool box out of Hunks hands. 

“Good to see you Kogane,” Iverson said, holding out his hand.  Keith eyed it, remembered what Lance had said, and then took it.

“I still don’t like you,” Keith said.

“Fair,” Iverson nodded.

()

The reason it took so long was because there was only so long one can sit in a car.  They had to stop and stretch and Iversons bones popped every time.

“I’m too young to be old,” he complained.

“It isn’t that bad,” O9 said, easing himself into a full standing position, “I’m too old to be traveling like this anyway.  Damn those aliens...making traveling so difficult…I could shave their faces off with a lazer…”

O9’s bad temper was new, even to Lance.  The fact that the man COULD have a bad temper wasn’t not something that had crossed any of their minds.  Fact was, O9 was a ‘home-body’.  He liked his lab and he liked his room.  He did NOT like traveling and he HATED spending time away from his projects.  However, his Jermite partner, Mab, had convinced him that they should go with them to the garrison.

()

Jackson felt his anger rise.

For the most part, the Balmerans were a very laid back culture.  They were loving and accepting to all sort of suggestions.

The Hogros were as well.  They were amiable and soft on the out side as well as on the inside.  Most looked nothing like the Hogros that he had seen at the agency.  At the agency they were large and buff, these were, well, short and buff. 

His trainer and B1 had suspected that the two races would get along well.

And they did.

A little too well.

“We have done out part,” Grishi said, “we’ve done all we could, and we still are, but we are not a natural fighting people.  The few of us that answer that call are already on other planets.  There is little we can do to help.”

“Oh, we understand,” Shey said, “of course we understand.  We are not a fighting race either.”

Jackson bit his bottom lip.  They had been agreeing with each other and simpering with each other for days and days.  Everytime Jackson tried to cut in, Rax would hold him back.  Every time he tried to say something to Shey privately about moving things along, she would either ignore him, or tell him that everything was going to plan.

But everything was NOT going to plan!  This was worse that those “no you go first” polite-offs!

()

The garrison really did seem different after all this time. 

Smaller.

Simpler.

Even with everyone running around and the technology had gotten much more advanced since the last time they’d been there.

“What did you tell them in those reports?!” Pidge asked looking at lance as if he’d suddenly sprouted antenna from his head.

“I only mentioned what we did, nothing technical at all,” Lance defended himself, “You know me.  I can shoot and put together a gun, but that’s about as tech savvy as I get!”

“This is what out neighbors call ‘human creativity’,” Iverson said, a little smugly, “Let us know that something is actually possible, and we’ll stop and nothing to achieve it.  The healing pods are proving the most difficult to design and get working, but the suit you wear and the barrier.  We’ve made a lot of progress in a short time.”

“Ha!”

Iverson stopped and turned to Allura.

“From what I’ve seen,” she replied to his questioning look, “humans don’t need to know that its possible.  They just do it.”

Iverson and everyone laughed.

“That was really only a half compliment,” she added, “you lot seriously need to know your limits.”

“Limits are boring,”

“Limits are meant to be broken.”

“That’s true, just look at speed limits.”

“Give us limits and we’ll see it as a challenge.”

They all grinned at her.  She gave in with a roll of her eyes, “just so long as you don’t die, I’m fine.”

“Kogane,” Iverson said, becoming serious, “I’ll need to talk to you in my office.  Everyone else can show the princess around and see what’s been going on.  But I would like a chance to explain things to you personally.”

Keith looked at lance. 

Lance avoided eye contact.

“Ok…”

Chapter Text

“First, you’re going to sit there and I’m going to sit over here,” Iverson said, “and if you could, no matter how upset you get, stay seated?  That would be wonderful.  I need my other eye, you see.”

Keith felt himself turn a little red, “sorry, about that…Lance explained what you were trying to do and I did over react.”

“I’m not too upset.  Your reaction was actually pretty normal.  You should’ve seen McClain when I told him he’d be moving up to take your place.  I thought HE would be the one to take my other eye.”

“A little paranoid?” Keith asked, this laid back view of Iverson making him comfortable enough to jibe a little.

“Oh, you’ve seen nothing,” Iverson nodded, “Paranoia is now my middle name, which is why I felt the need to come clean and give you full disclosure.”

Keith wondered if he would be expected to come out and tell Iverson everything as well.  He understood Lance had been sending messages back, but he couldn’t quite see Lance intruding on his privacy and telling Iverson that he was half-Galra…

“We know you are part…Galran,” Iverson said, crushing Keiths beliefs like a ripped off bandaid that wasn’t supposed to hurt ‘that bad’.

“We’ve known you weren’t fully human since you entered the states social services.  It gave us a shock and a lot pof trouble trying to hide it from the general medical community.  Your blood work was vastly different from normal.  Ever since then we have placed our own agents as your doctors and they’ve been watching you until you came to the garrison.”

Keith held a hand up, stopping Iverson.  He needed to let this sink in a little.  When he could finally come to the conclusion that Lance had NOT told on him, but had instead KEPT the fact that he knew a secret…

How was he supposed to feel about this?

“The reason McClain came to the garrison was to…well, I wanted him to be your friend and keep an eye on you.  Then I realized my mistake there.”

Keith snorted and shook his head.  Lance had said he’d hated him, where was the effort there?  Lance, according to Keith, had made no effort at all to be his friend.

“Seems you two were far too similar to get along,” Iverson said, saying what he’d told Lance before, “you two ended up butting heads instead of bonding.”

“We’re nothing alike and never were,” Keith snapped, “we may be a team now, but that’s-“

“Lance hasn’t taken over, right?”

Keith stopped and scowled.  Iverson continued.

“we are trained to take over any major operation outside our atmosphere.  Especially if we find the rest of those involved to not know what they are doing.  Truthfully he should’ve taken over from the beginning, but he backed off and let Shiro lead.  Then he let you lead.  Kogane, I know my agent very well.  I was the one who recruited him in the first place.  He would never take orders from someone he did not trust with his life.  Which is why, you are going to get full access to our operations inside the agency.  Only you.  Then you can lead your team the way you see fit, after having all the information we have to offer.  Do you understand?”

“What, there’s more?!”

Iverson laughed, “I can only get away with this now because this is not only an emergency, but the council has been disbanded.  So there’s no one for me to ask permission from.”

Keith bristled, “YOU’RE in charge of the whole agency?!”

Iverson shook his head, “Each head of the sections form their own type of council. We ah…agreed that Voltron will fall under B section.”

He gave a crap-eating grin and seemed to invite Keith in on the whatever was funny.  But Keith didn’t see anything funny about any of this.

“You knew I was half alien when I was a KID and you said nothing?!”

“Of course.”

“’Of COURSE?!”

“Kogane, look how you’re behaving right now.  How would you have reacted to that kind of news right after you had lost your dad?  It would have been cruel. If we had told you then, we would have had to put you into confinement.  In fact, we tried to recruit you into the agency as an agent when we recruited Lance, but your foster parent at the time was a jerk.”

“which one?”

“The first one.”

“oh.”

“Thing is, a few in the council was firm in the belief that if you showed to take after more of your Galra nature, our enemies nature, then we would have to take action.  Hence why we asked someone your same age to watch you.”

“Are you sure you ordered him to be friends?”

Iverson gave Keith a dead-panned look, “I witnessed him try to talk to you multiple times…you brushed him off every time.”

Keith blushed.  He couldn’t remember a single one of those times.

“After a while, you’d hurt not only his personal pride, but his professional one,” Iverson said, a smile sneaking back onto his face, “I’ve never seen such an angry child wonder so angrily why another angry child wouldn’t talk to him.  He even said becoming friends with a brick wall would be easier than being yours.  And now look at you both, makes me so proud.”

Keith scowled, “really?”

“There’s so much I could tell you about my wo’s as McClains second parent, but I’ll digress.  Walk with me to the agency’s main building and I’ll fill you in on everything.”

()

“So what are they talking about?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Lance said for the hundredth time.  He really didn’t know, but he could guess.  And his guesses weren’t half bad.

“McClain!”  Some garrison cadet…no longer a cadet, ran up to them, Lance swore, “McClain, my buddie!  My pal!”

“How in the ever livin’ HELL did you get in here?” Lance growled, the boys face fell.

“What?  With the invasion you think I wouldn’t do something?  You think I’d be a coward forever?”

“Nooo,” Lance sighed, “I just really don’t like seeing familiar faces that I’ve been told I never would again.”

“Touchy,” the boy grimaced, “you changed.  And here I thought I’d be able to at least thank you this time.”

Lance blushed a little, “sorry.  But I really don’t want any thanks.  Everything turned out fine.”

“That’s when Iverson told us,” the boy nodded and for the first time noticed the others with him, “Hi!  I’m Melvin! You can call me Vinny if you want.  McClain and I used to be trainees together.”

“Seriously?” Lance snapped, “You just spout that out?”

“They’re with you and you’re matching!” Melvin snapped back, “Obviously they’re in the know!”

“What section are you in?” Allura asked and Melvin laughed.

“I quit after about a year and a half.  The fact that this kid,” he wrapped an arm around Lances shoulder, “is still in it all, means he’s got balls of steal!”

“Let go before I undo what I did,” Lance said and glared, making his point clear.  Melvin raised his hands and stepped back.

“Is that the way you speak to someone you owe a knife to?”

“I figured the knife for the favor was an even trade,” Lance shrugged, “I owe you nothing.”

“Fair enough,” Melvin grinned again, “good to see you’re still on your toes, even after you’ve been off world for so long.  Here, let me show you all around!”

“I can do that,” Lance sighed, but Melvin wasn’t listening.

“So, we converted ALL the classrooms into what we call ‘Assembly rooms’.  Each room is dedicated to creating a part of the whole.  We’ve come up with some really awesome fighter jets!  They are even better than the ones we used to go off world in! As for the noise you’re hearing right now, the Jermites are fighting with the graduated engineers.“

“That’s my cue,” Hunk said, and passed by them to head in the direction of the slow rise in volume from the opposite corridor. 

“I’ll go with him,” Pidge said, reluctantly, giving Lance an evil eye, “don’t talk about stuff I wanna know while I’m gone.”

“Not if I can help it,” Lance said, and looked tired.

“They just ship at the front of the tour,” Melvin complained.

“yeah, that’s what they do,” Lance said, “Come on, Allura, I’ll show you around.”

“Wait, you’re not allowed to go that way!”

“Why not?”

“Because the-“

“Melvin,” Lance said smirking and mimicking the arm around the shoulder move the other boy had done to him, “Melvin, Melvin, I’m a B1, which means I get to do whatever I want.  So long as Earth is safe in the end, I can even kill whomever I want.  Savvy?”

“Ummm, I don’t think-“

“That’s alright, I’ll do the thinking from now on, you go back to your toys,” Lance shoved him back the way he’d come, “Good to see you~!”

Lance then grabbed Alluras arm and hot footed it away from the boy.

“What was that about?” Allura asked, curious about what Lance had said more than how he said it.

“I didn’t lie,” Lance chuckled, his good old self again, “I really can do whatever I want.  Actually, I can do whatever I want to a point, then I have to write a request, get it passed by Iverson and the council, and then wait for the ok, but its basically the same thing.”

“Uh, huh.” Allura stopped and folded her arms.  She had noticed Lance was struggling since the clone incident.  She had been there before as a princess.  It was hard to balance your professional side and the side you saw as your real self. 

“What’s up?” Lance asked noticing the look.

“Look, Lance, I get that this is hard, but do try to cool it, just a little.  If you’re irritated, that’s ok, but don’t take it out on random people.”

“I really don’t like how perceptive you are sometimes,” Lance scowled, “its creepy.”

“The same to you,” She chuckled, “if anyone understands I do, and I can teach you some tactics I’ve used that have worked for me.”

“Actually, that-“

“What are you brats doing here?” a man in a pin stripe suit came marching down the corridor at them, “this area is off limits.”

Lance pointed at his pin, which he’d fixed to his armor while they had still been in Antarctica, “I’m-“

“I don’t care if you’re a trainee or not, where is your trainer?”

Lance turned an imploring look at Allura.  Sighing she gave up, and nodded.

()

“Where did they go?”

Hunk had an engineer by the ear and Pidge had a Jermite tangled up in her bayard.  They dragged the two of them around, looking for Lance and Allura.

“This isn’t any of your busi-ow!”

“It IS my business,” Hunk said absently as they chose a corridor at random and walked down it, “you guys are embarrassing the department.”

“Its not my fault!”

“KNOW YOUR PLACE!”

The shout came from around the corner and, recognizing Lances voice, they sped up.

Lance stood over a man well into his twenties, bending over so their noses where almost touching.  Lance did not look happy.  Allura was standing back with a ‘he kind of asked for it’ expression.

“When another agent identifies themselves, especially if its me, you back off.  I don’t answer to you or anyone else in S section!”

“Hey, Lance!  Can you help us out here?” Pidge called.

“One minute,” Lance said not looking up, “I’m schooling a puppy.”

“I’m no ‘puppy’!” the man said, trying to gain back some dignity, “I’ve made it past my year mark!”

“chihuahua then,” Lance corrected, “go back to your computer and leave hard working agents alone.”

“That was rude.”

Another man appeared on the other side of the corridor.  His hair was more grey than pepper, but the lines on his face didn’t seem too deep.

“Rodrik!” Lance stood straight and actually smiled, “Don’t tell me this is yours?”

“Yes, actually,” the older agent said, “With you off world I seemed to have been remiss in informing him about B section.”

“Oh, well, if its you, I’m sure it ok,” Lance backed away from the other guy, “next time put a leash on your chihuahua.”

Rodrik sighed and moved to help the other man up, “he’s not a bad sort.  We’ve just been a bit stressed and understaffed.”

“A lot didn’t make it, huh?”

Rodrik shook his head, “it was like they knew where our facilities were.  Every section has decreased by half.”

Lance sighed, “do they know who yet?”

“We were kind of hoping you would know.”

“I’ll get on that then,” Lance shrugged, “its good to see at least you made it.”

“High praise.”

“You deserve it.  You’re the only one in S section that never felt the need to lie to my face when there was bad news,” Lance grinned.

“Ah, I see,” Rodrik let his eyes wonder and they landed on Pidge, “holt, you’re parents are down the hall and to the left.  I apologize that they weren’t there to greet you when you arrived.  We’ve been keeping them busy.”

Pidge didn’t need telling twice, she dropped her bayard and bolted down the hall without a word.

“What did they do?” Lance asked, noticing Hunk and the prisoners for the first time.

“They were instigating the fighting between the Jermits and the department,” Hunk said, “Since one is part of your alliance thingy, I wanted to know if it was ok to punch them both in the face.”

“They human you can,” Rodrik said with a smile, “the Jermite might break if you do.  They are not very…sturdy.”

“then what do we do?”

Lance grinned at the older agent who sighed, “cruel, but effective.  Hele.”

“Yes?” the Jermite asked, worried.

“You come with us and help us with coding for a while.”

“NO!”

The Jermite struggled as Lance bent over and untangled the alien from Pidge’s bayard.  Then he took hold of his long ear and tugged, leading him over to Rodrik. 

“But..MY  PROJECT!” Agent Hele complained.

“Shouldn’t’ve started a fight.”

“As for the former cadet,” Lance said turning back to Hunk, “You found yourself a personal slave.”

“WHAT?!”  Both Hunk and the engineer shouted.

“Hunk is the best when it comes to tinkering,” Lance said, “he takes it very seriously.  If you dare come in between him and his project with something stupid, no one could punish you better than him.”

“Is that a compliment?” Hunk whined.

“You were going to hunker down in that hallway anyway,” Lance said, “Now you have a constant slave to do your bidding!”

Hunk looked down at his new shadow.

()

“Feel better?” Allura asked since Lance hadn’t stopped smiling as they wandered around the garrison some more.

“Oh, much,” Lance said and laughed, “Hunk is a lot more hard core than anyone gives him credit for.  I can’t wait till they realize that.”

“Well, you sure put the other guy in his place.”

“That?” Lance thought for a moment, “Rodrik was right, I’ve been gone for too long.  I keep telling you guys that I have a reputation.  If I go soft all of a sudden, then the other sections will walk all over me.  I’m the only B, so I’ve got to stand on my own like that.”

“Oh, I get it,” Allura nodded, “I remember complaining to my parents about them not giving me an older brother first.”

They laughed and Alluras Com unit buzzed.

“Lotor is asking about what’s going on,” Allura said and blushed, indicating that wasn’t all he was asking, “I’ll go talk to him and let him know.”

“Allura,” Lance said, unable to see her like this, “Be careful with him. Ok?  I know you like him, but you have to keep in mind that he wasn’t always the good guy, k?”

She scowled at him and walked away.

()

“Why is this even a thing?”  Keith asked as he looked at the large laser that was going under repairs, “how long was this here?”

“About 50 years?  Give or take five years,” Iverson said, “It was dusty, but it worked a little bit when we were attacked.  We’re getting it up and running again, but probably wont mass produce it.  Not with all the new ideas coming from Commander Holt.”

They continued the tour and by the time they finished it was late.

“Let’s wind everyone together and get something to eat.”

()

Everyone was already in the caffitria when they arrived. 

“We saved you some and a spot,” Hunk said, a stranger sitting next to him.

“Who is this?” Keith asked sitting down.

“Hunks slave for the day,” Lance sighed, “was going to sentence the kid for a week, but Hunk just looks so sad, I couldn’t punish Hunk too.”

“What did he do,” Keith asked, amazed that someone would be punished by Hunk.  They all looked at the new kid.

“I started a fight,” the kid muttered, “and stop calling me ‘kid’ we’re the same age.  I think I might be older.”

“Whatever, kid,” Lance said taking a bite.

“I’m so happy your view on training has changed,” Iverson said and Lance froze, “You’re already assigning other people, progress is so important.”

“Boooossss….”

“Keith is your trainee,” Iverson said, like ripping off a bandaid.

“NO!” Both boys stood and glared at each other and then at Iverson.

“You didn’t say anything about that!” Keith snapped.

“Think about what you’re saying!” Lance said at the same time.

“I’ve thought about it, and if this is going to work, B1, you will have to either quit the Agency to join Voltron, or quit Voltron, and continue with the agency with a trainee that the Section Council will choose.  This way, you can be part of Voltron AND a B1 AND I get to choose on my own who you train.”

“But Boss…I can’t…no way!”

“So you’ll choose by tomorrow who you will join and who you will quit,” Iverson said, ending the conversation.  Lance left, storming away like a child being sent to his room.

“Now look whose the kid,” the engineer said and got Hunks fist in his face.

()

Keith sat next to Lance, who was hiding on the roof.

“I really hate you,” Lance said.

“Ditto.”

“you know how hard doing my job was after you punched Iverson in the face?”

“We’ve been over that already, its getting old.”

“We’ll, it still pisses me off.  I refuse to train someone like you.”

“I refuse to be trained by someone like you.”

“So, oh Red Leader, Order me to either leave or stay,” Lance said.

“Hell no, this is your choice.”

“You and Iverson are the same person, you know that?”

“He said the same thing about us.”

“Yeah, I know, I said he was wrong and an idiot.”

“I said about the same thing,” Keith shrugged.

They sat in silence for a while.

“I can’t teach you,” Lance muttered, “B1 training isn’t like the others.”

“You told me already, remember?”

“Yeah well, its needs to be repeated.”

“So what will you do?”

Lance laughed, “die?”

Chapter Text

“Did you make your decision?” Iverson asked the next day.  He sat behind his desk, fiddling with paper work so he wouldn’t have to look at his agent in the eye.

“Yeah, Keith’s agreed to be a dash.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“But you are one.”

“I’m still your leader too.”

“And I’m your trainer, so sit.”

“Your pin,” Iverson said holding out his hand, “I have to change your status.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “Couldn’t you have just waited till I was thirty?”

“No.”

Lance tapped his toe and folded his arms.  He didn’t like anything about this, but, he guessed it wouldn’t be too bad.

“Here you go, take a look and see if you understand you’re…curriculum.”

“Its training, Boss,” Lance hooked his pin up to his issued com unit, “Not a migration mission.”

“Keith,” Iverson said and handed Keith four blank pins, “hand those out to the rest of Voltron.  Since you’re the leader, its your job to teach them what Lance teaches you.  I would have Lance teach all of you, but B section, as you have probably noticed, isn’t normal.”

“You sure,” Keith jerked a thumb at Lance, “because he’s not messed up at all.”

“You’re tone is duly noted.”

Keith looked over at Lance, wondering why there had been no comeback.

Lance was staring at his com unit and crying.

“Lance?!”

Iverson laughed, “It’s a number change, B2, not a migration mission.”

“Iiiiii….I’m a…”Lance voice cracked, “a B2…I’m a B2!”

“And that’s….” Keith was still trying to figure out why his right hand was crying so much!

Lance reached over and grabbed Keiths uniform and shook him, “A B2!!  B2!!”

“I heard you the first time!  What’s that mean!”

“The curriculum has changed,” Iverson said sitting back down, “You now have two major missions.  I’ll let Lance explain all that in detail, just know that I’m doing this behind a few section heads back, so keep it on the down low for a while, ok?”

()

“He looks like he’s on cloud nine,” Pidge said watching lance at lunch.

“He’s been like that all day,” Hunk muttered.

“Its starting to piss me off…”

“Leave him alone,” Keith muttered, “he apparently got good news this morning.”

“You know what it is?”

“A legal name change, that’s it,” Keith shrugged, “He hasn’t explained it to me.”

“You can’t guess?”

“I can, but I don’t like to when everything is so uncertain.  Sendak hasn’t made a move in three days and we have no idea why not.”

“Ok!” Lance stood, “after all of you are done, meet me in Iversons office.”

“I thought the black lion chose Keith.”

Lance sighed, “If Keith wills it, meet me in Iversons office, please?”

()

“OK ALL YOU DASHS!” Lance beamed at his fellow paladins, “TODAY YOU ALL BECOME B2’S!”

He stood behind Iversons Desk with Keith while the other three sat in the front. 

“I thought you were a B1?”

“Well, now I’m a B2!” Lances face could’ve split in have with how wide that grin was, “Which mean training is going to start right now.  I spent the morning putting information together, but we need to put together the rescue mission first, Keith?”

The night before Lance had told him to seriously put a plan together.  It had irritated him since that wasn’t usually how they did things, but he rolled with it.

“Our lions are half a world away, but we have the intel to make this work.”

“Oh?”

“The blades have people on the inside that have been sending coded messages to Earth.  Iverson and S section have been holding them and trying to decode them, but without a working knowledge of Galren and Altean, no one could,” Keith continued, “I went through them last night and gathered what we needed.  Pidge, I’ll need you to take this data and build us a working map.”

“Roger.”

“Hunk, I’ll need you to help Pidge.  Tag team it so neither of you are over worked.  Allura, I’ll need you to…use your diplomacy on this agency and really get in their gears about what’s what.  We know the galra better than they do, make sure they all get up to speed.”

“What about you and Lance?”

“We have something else we have to do,” Lance said, “we got…hearsay that there could be some folks working with Sendak inside this agency.  I’ll be showing Keith how B section does its job while you guys make it look like we’re innocently working hard.”

“We ARE innocently working hard.”

“But you’re also covering for us, so just look extra innocent, accept you Hunk, you’re already innocent enough.”

“Why would anyone sell out to Sendak?” Pidge asked, having the hardest time believing anyone would actually do such a thing on PURPOSE. 

“Why not?” Lance asked, seriously, “If it helps to avoid all out war, why not?”

“Because Sendak is a liar!”

“They don’t know that,” Lance shrugged and stood, “Look, this is a different battle field we’re playing with.  I told you what I did only because everyone is already suspecting it.  The agency, every section lost many members due to direct attacks, that could only happen if they were told before hand.  The only thing is, no one knows who it might be.  Every section is on the verge of blaming another section, then inside accusations are going to start cropping up because of everyone different secondary section alliances.  Do you see the mess that’s going to go down?  Iverson has already put a pin in it for the time being, but that pin can only hold so much tension.  If Sendak doesn’t make a move soon, the agency will collapse under its own suspicions.”

“…which is what they want.”

“THAT’S why Sendak hasn’t attacked again!”

Lance nodded, “Keith and I will figure something out, till then, look innocent.”

()

Cadet McClain ran down the hall.  He was so late, so, so late!  Professor M was NOT going to let him go with a warning this time!

“McClain!”

Lance skidded to a halt and turned to see Rodrik beckoning to him.

“I’m late, S7,” Lance snapped, not appreciating being called by his real name by someone in the agency, “Talk to me this weekend when I’m not busy.”

“you’re already late,” Rodrik reached out and grabbed the boys shoulder.  Lance twisted and shoved the book he was holding into the mans side.

“I said, this weekend, S7, you get me?”

Rodrik, when he could finally stand straight again, gave Lance a searching look.

“I just wanted to talk to you for a minute…”

“And I said, this weekend, would be best,” Lance said through his teeth, as if he were hiding something. 

“I see,” Rodrik nodded, “Then how about we go get a snow cone together?  My treat, of course.”

“Sure thing, whatever.”

Lance was again running down the hall, his gut writhing.

()

“Are you sure about this?” Keith asked.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, Keith, of course I’m sure about this.”

()

“I don’t like this,” Allura scowled as Lance and Keith boarded a small earth made ship.

“We can’t take the lions, allura,” Lance rolled his eyes, “the lions will give us away, plus, you guys are coming shortly after.  How much trouble can happen between now and then?”

“Don’t jinx yourself,” Pidge said, giving him a playful kick to the shins, “see you before the day is out.”

()

Lance licked his icecream while Rodrik ate his snow cone. 

“So, you wanted to talk?”

“I wanted to know more about you trainer,” Rodrik said and noted the boy stiffening at the question.

“What about him?”

“I know he was a good man, and we worked together a lot,” Rodrik said, “I wanted to know if you also share his…convictions.”

“He died before he got to share those with me,” Lance said, “care to share?”

Rodrik was silent for a while then asked, “If you could save half the casualties in world war two, would you have turned a blind eye to the holocaust?”

Lance paused, his tongue hanging out as he observed the older man.

“Explain.”

“B1, your trainer was a man who had nothing but the planet in mind for everything.  I know, your first and only mission is self preservation, but your trainer was different.  He only cared for others.  He cared for the majority and the minority.  His ideas would have shaped the world for the better.  There would be no fear, Kerboros would never have happened.”

“I see,” Lance gave a small smile, “then I’m even more sorry he’s gone, tell me more.”

()

They walked silently along the ship.  When they found the prisoners, however, the status quo changed.

()

“Hey, listen to this,” Pidge waved her phone in the air, “I got the mission report where Lances trainer died!”

“Really?”

“Oh, he’s gonna me maaaad…”

“Not if he doesn’t know,” Pidge sang, “someone in the S section gave it to me.”

Allura had snatched the phone out of Pidge’s hands and started reading.  Pidge scowled, but waited, knowing she’d get to read it eventually.

But then Alura went pale.

“Oh my gosh…”

“what!”  Pidge and hunk grabbed it and began to read on their own.

“B1U3 died in the line of duty protecting his and three other trainees from A5K2, who had sided with the Roddakin,” Pidge summarized, “No wonder he didn’t wanna talk about it.”

“It also said he killed the other agent to protect the other kids.  He killed someone at the age of ten!”

“And he couldn’t tell us any of this?”

“Would you?”

“….no…”

“Why would an agent give this to you?” allura asked, suddenly curious, “I don’t like this.”

“Well, we all know the other sections have no love for Lance.  This could be one way to get back at him.”

“I’m starting to really hate these other sections,” Pidge muttered, “they really get on my nerves.”

()

“B1U3 was an isolated incident,” Iverson stressed, “you know this better than anyone!”

“Not according to this,” Lance said slapping his report, “Agent Blue is more influential than you think.  He was a wonderful, friendly, humorous, and kind human being.  I aspire to be just like that.”

“You, Lance, are playing with fire.”

“You handed me the match, boss.”

()

Keith sucked on his teeth and observed the restraints on his wrists.  Lance had put them there.  They had found the prisoners, were about to let them out, when Lance spun him around, clapped the cuffs on his hands with practiced ease, and shoved him among the other prisoners.  Then he’d left.

Keith hated assumptions…but…

“Are you ok?” asked a woman, probably in her thirties, if not, forties.

“Yeah,” Ketih said, “I’m fine, just trying to figure out what exsactly happened.”

“Its ok,” she said, patting his hand, “now that I get a closer look at you, you seem very young, you must be separated from your parents.  But its ok, we’ll look after you.”

Keith REALLY hated assumptions.

()

Lance watched as the dust he and his comrades had fanned out into space gently dispersed.  That was the tell that the green lion, with its new and improved cloaking, was right next to the ship.

“Ok you five,” Lance said turning to two Galra and three agents, “they’re here.  Now remember, we want them all alive when we present them to Sendak.  Do you get me?”

Chapter Text

Pidge fought against her restraints and looked over at an unconscious Hunk.  Allura just sat, staring at the wall and looking confused.

“We…we were just shot…stunned…by Lance…”

“Yeah, but it can’t be real,” Pidge said while wondering why her restraints were so tight.  Lance had put them on.  If this was a ploy, shouldn’t they be a little loose?

The door opened and Keith was shoved in and tied to a chair next to his teammates.  He fought back and was beat for his trouble.  Then the galra had left Pidge opened fire.

“What happened?  What’s going on?  Are you in on this?!”

“in on what?” Keith snapped and spit out a bit of blood, “You think I planned this?”

“But Lance wouldn’t….”

“Well, he is.”

“No, nope,” Pidge shook her head, “we know Lance, Keith, we know him better than anyone and its just not true.”

Keith sighed, but didn’t say anything else.  This alone was enough to piss her off.

“It CAN’T be true!  It-“

The door opened again and Lance walked in with Rodrik and three other agents.  He wasn’t wearing his paladin armor.  Instead he wore jeans and his jacket zipped up. His pin catching the light over where a right breast pocket should be.

“Wow, tricking you guys was easier than I thought,” Lance said smiling.  It was a kind smile, a disarming smile.

“We are here to get information before we turn you over to Sendak,” Rodrik said, “We don’t care what you say or do to him, but any information you have that could help Earth, well, now is the time to say it.”

“Help earth?  You’re hurting it by SIDING with the ENEMY!”

“The sacrifice of a few is necessary to benefit the many,” Lance said, “you are the few.  We know Sendak is a liar, that’s why we have other agents saving prisoners as we speak.  But then we turn you over to Sendak, we keep the lions, he’ll want to keep up appearances, so he’ll back away only a little bit and initiate the pincer attack with Lotor.  He’ll have his guard down because he’ll have what he wants.  You guys!”

“And you!” Allura snapped, “He wants you as well, right?”

“I had a long talk with him the other day,” Lance shrugged, “I already gave him what he wants of me.”

“You said you were planning-“

“Yeah, never told you what I was planning.”

“Keith!”

But Keith wasn’t looking up.  He kept his head down and the little of his face that Pidge saw…he looked terrified.

“Waaait,” Lance squinted his eyes at them, “You don’t really believe I’ve turned…do you?”

Rodrik and the others laughed, so did Lance.

“Pidge, for how smart you are…you really are so very stupid.”

Pidges mouth went dry.  Lance’s face was still as kind as ever, but the words coming from his mouth were sharp and cut right down to the center.

“Here,” Lance sighed, “let me make this easy for you.”

Taking out his gun, Pride, he pointed it at Keith and fired.  Blood exploded from his side and he slumped in his chair.

He didn’t breathe.

He was dead.

“Never liked him anyway,” Lance said and holstered his gun, “Believe me now?”

()

“Why did you kill one?” Rodrik hissed as they walked toward the bridge, “I thought you said we needed them all alive.”

“Yeah, but he’s useless in the larger scheme of things,” Lance waved the issue away, “Hunk and pidge are smart and can be used, the princess has been a thorn in the Galras side for ten thousand years, I’m simply going to offer him all the best parts of the team, that’s all.”

“But the deal was-“

“The deal, Rodrik, will be something Sendak never follows anyway.  I know how to play this game, do you?”

()

Pidge and Allura stared at Keith’s body.  It didn’t move.

They were crying, and Pidge hated crying.  But she was scared, and finally understood, that she didn’t know Lance at all.

()

“Contact Sendak,” Lance ordered and the Galra did as he said.

Man, that was a great feeling.  When Sendak cam up on the screen Lance gave a big wave and a smile.

“Hey!  Guess what?!  I’ve been able to do what Zarkon himself couldn’t do!”

“You have all four of them?”

“Yup.”

“You are willing to give them over?”

“Yup.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Ok, Fiiiine, I shot one, but it was just Keith, you can still have his body if you like.”

“You shot one?”

“I shot the half Galra, you’re not offended by that, are you?”

“…you shot your leader?”

“What can I say,” Lance shrugged, “I loathe being bossed around.  I know we agreed on them being alive and all, but really….its just Keith…”

Sendak took his time answering, then he nodded, “fine.  I am sending over my Captains to receive the…remaining paladins.”

“Of course, Lord Sendak,” Lance said so smoothly that it took a moment for Sendak to react to it.

“I do not trust such flattery.”

“I just thought I’d try it out, I’m not a fan of it either…unless you end up liking it at some point.”

“I will burn the earth and every member of it, and you are ok with that?”

Lance laughed, “They never thanked me for anything, why should I ever care what you do with the earth?  I sacrificed more than most and I refuse to let my duty control me anymore.  You see, Sendak, unlike Rodrik and the other agents here, I WANT to turn my back on Earth, I WANT to see it burn.  I HATE it!  So yeah, I know you were going to back off on our deal, and I wanted you to!”

“You what?” Rodrik snapped reaching out and grabbing Lances elbow.  Turning him so that he could hiss in the boys ear, “this wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Oh, dear, Rodrik, you actually think you were the one pulling my strings this whole time?  You forget who trained me.  Blue was a fantastic backstabbing bitch.  Didn’t you know?”

“This is too far-“

“Is it?” Lance hissed back, “is it really?  If you’re going to sentence those already taken prisoner, then why not everyone else?”

“What…what about your family?” Rodrik tried, “You’re family is still down there!”

“No, they’re not,” Lance said, gripping the older mans shoulder in a vice grip, “your intel to Sendak made sure my family didn’t survive the first attack.”

Rodrik blinked and looked down at the hole in his stomach, then at the gun in Lances hand.  Then he fell, and died.

Sendak watched and approved. Lance turned to the other agents, “anyone else want to complain about how “far I’m going”?”

They all did.

And they all died.

Lance was already good in a gun fight, but after time in the middle of an active and open war, he’d honed his skills to a fine point.  The other agents didn’t stand a chance. 

“You have no qualms about killing your own,” Sendak observed.

“I have no ‘qualms’ about killing those who stand in my way.  You understand, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Of course.”

Sendak nodded and signed off. 

Lance looked around at the two Galra in the room and no one else.

“Go make ready for Sedaks Captains; he’s not taking any chances and neither will I.”

They left, which left Lance alone with four dead bodies.

Four.

Lance closed his eyes and took a series of long, calming breaths.  

Chapter Text

It was the Hogros that attacked the opposite end of Sendaks Fleet first.  The little A3 still had no idea how they had managed to to it.

“First become friends,” Shey said in her usual sweet manner, “then you can ask for favors.”

()

Sendak turned half his fleet to this new threat and wondered at the balmeran that was suddenly there. This galaxy was too young for one of those!

“What is the meaning of this?”

()

“I’ll kill him.”

“Calm down.”

“I’ll kill you too.”

Keith sighed as he tried to wipe the fake blood and innards off his lap.  His hands were free, but he’d waited too long to move and the gel based intestines had adhered to his clothes.  O9 had gleefully made it for them and a K3 had taught him how to breath without moving.  

“If it make you guys feel better, I had no idea what was going on, I just did as I was told.”

“But you’re the leader Keith.”

“yeah, tell that to Lance, again.”

“Hunk, if you don’t stop crying, I’m going to have permanent guilt issues.”

“Bbbb…b.bbbbut…”  hunk hiccupped. He had woken up before Keith had moved and had had a small panic attack.  Allura had been halfway through explaining what had happened when Keith couldn’t stand it anymore.  

“So,” Pidge growled, “what’s the plan?”

“I think we’re supposed to go help the other agents rescue the prisoners.”

“The same agents that are two timing earth?”

“No, trustworthy ones…I think…”

()

Lance tapped his fingers on the railing on the bridge.  In all essence, he was in charge of the ship.  He had Galra underlings.  More double-agents were going to come and remove themselves from Earth to save their own skins.

Lance didn’t care about all that.

He was waiting for the tell sign that Keith and the others had left.  So far the dust outside the ship remained undisturbed.  

What was taking them so long?

()

A3 observed the Olkaries and the Jermites as they fixed the barrier.  It had taken more time than he had liked, getting them to work together, but it had paid off.  They were now, almost, best friends.  They had argued their way into a fond respect for one another.

Harvy was just relieved that this was working out.

()

Finally, Lance saw the dust particles move on their own.

“You two,” he ordered the galra on the bridge, “You both stay here and notify me if Lord Sendak contacts the ship, immediately.”

They nodded and went back to the controls.

It was then that Lance saw a galra shuttle pull up along side the crusier he was on.  That would be the captains sent to make sure the Paladins were in firm custody.

He knew just where to put them.

()

Three ships down, and with the fighting going on, who knew how many more?!

Pidge was doing her best to fly without being noticed, But the Hogros were flying in between the enemy ships and making everything much more difficult.  Not only that, but her own lion was full to bursting with people. She perhaps had room for ten more, but more than that, and she’d never make it back to earth.

“You’re doing good, Pidge,” Keith said, patting her shoulder, “you’re fine.”

“I know,” she quipped, “but is everyone else?  They look like they haven’t eaten in months!  Not only that, but Lance is doing who knows what, on his own, and I’m STILL pissed off with BOTH of you!”

()

“YOU!” Sendak glared through the com at Lance, who glared back, “You betrayed me!”

“I did no such thing!” Lance snapped back, “Your captains NEVER arrived!  They were never here!  The paladins got away because YOUR captains were SLOW to do THEIR job!”

“I saw that they arrived!”

“They are not here!” Lance roared, “You are welcome to come and check!”

“I will send ONE more! If I don’t hear from him, I’ll know that you are to be killed.”

“Yes, of course,” Lance saluted, “Now, double agents from Earth have just arrived.  I’m going to either convince them to join you, or they die.”

Sendak nodded, “very well.”

()

When the green lion touched down on Earth, Iverson was waiting for them.

“Get your lions and join the fight,” he ordered, “Gunder- I mean, Holt, I need you to get me to Sendaks Ship, personally.”

()

Lance watched as two ships landed in the cruisers hanger.  One was full of double agents and the other was carrying Sendaks agent.

“As you can see,” Lance said sweeping his arm around the hangar, “the ship is not here.”

“I shall go look at the other hangars,” the agent replied.

“Be my guest,” Lance stepped aside, “Help yourself to anything in the kitchen a well while I talk with my associates here.”

The agent glided away and Lance turned to the others, “The objective has changed.”

“What?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Lance said firmly, “that anyone who doesn’t bow to Sendak gets shot, by me.”

()

Six out of 27 joined.

21 died.

Lance sighed as he lead the survivors out of the room.  He took them to the bridge and told them to stay here under pain of death.

Then he went in search of Sendaks agent.

()

“Tell me why I’m taking you to sendaks ship again?” Pidge asked.

“I didn’t tell you the first time, and I’m not telling you know,” Iverson said lightly, “Just get me in close enough I can get aboard.”

“You’re not gonna do something stupid, are you?”

“Holt,” Iveron laughed, “this is war.  Every move either side makes is stupid.”

“You know what Lance is up to?”

“More or less.”

“Is that why you’re after Sendak?”

Iverson shrugged, “Someone’s got to put a leash on that boy.  That way I won’t have to put a brick wall in front of him like this.”

“….did you just make a roadrunner reference?”

“I can be funny too.”

()

“This is inexcusable!”

Lance scowled, “I told you that-“

“You thought I would not notice a disassembled ship?!”

“Sendak will be told of this, GUARDS!  SENTRIES!”

Silence.

“YEahhhh,” Lance scratched the back of his head,” the only galra on this ship are you, and the two on the bridge….I made sure of that.”

Sendaks agent backed away and Lance chuckled.

“I’m not gonna kill you. You have to tell Sendak that everything is hunky-dory! THEN I might kill you.”

()

Iverson scowled down at Pidge.  She had insisted she follow him.  When asked why she’d said it was because she knew the ships layout better than him.  The fact that she’d been right would never cease to sting Iversons pride.

“Their technology is inferior!” The heard Sendak roar, “How much trouble can a group of natives be?!”

They crawled through the vents, Pidge leading the way.  She stopped and tapped her back foot on a section of vent that she wanted Iverson to remove.  Then she crawled further to find a place she could turn around.  

Out of habit, more than curtesy, Iverson waited for her.  

“Where are my Captains!?” Sendak asked, as they peaked down onto the bridge.  The screne was large and showed a thin galra, and Lance standing behind him.

“I…”  the Galra looked like he was having trouble getting a full breath, “I found…HE KILLED THEM-“

Lance fired, showing that he’d been holding a gun to the galras back.

“Quiznack,” Lance muttered.

“You really HAVE betrayed me!”

“Oh please, Sendak,” Lance rolled his eyes, “You really didn’t think I wouldn’t, did you?  We’re the same time of person.  We exploit the people around us and use them for our benefit. I had a wonderful trainer that taught me that backstabbing can be as easy as breathing.  Now, I wasn’t lying the WHOLE time, but I did lie when I said my family was dead, so I really can’t afford you burning the Earth like we’d planned, sorry.”

“I will-“

“You will what?” Lance laughed, “all your leverage is gone!  All your prisoners have been saved!  You are evenly matched! You-“

That’s when Iverson took his shot, and fired.

Sendak dropped to the floor. The galra in the room looked up, but by then Iverson had replaced the section of vent and no one know where the shot had come from.

()

Lance watched Sendak fall, and knew who had shot the blast.  He had seen him behind Sendak and had kept talking so that Sendak and the other galra wouldn’t notice his boss.  

A shot fired and sailed past his shoulder, the laser getting it pretty badly.  Turning, he found that all six still living agents were on guard and had their guns out and ready.

“You-“

“You shot my right arm,” Lance whined, “I’ll never be able to play the violin again!”

“You lied!”

“So did you,” Lance countered and drew his weapon with his left, “I’m ambidextrous, I suggest you all take cover.”

()

After Sendak fell the Galra tried to retreat and found they were trapped inside a thick and self sustaining barrier.  The more they shot at it, the stronger it became.  

Then Lotor showed up.

A few ships surrendered right away, and were spared.  All the others were not.  

()

“That worked a little too well,” A3 said as he and Jackson reunited with the paladins.

“The getting ready was longer than the actual fighting!” Jackson said, “Is that natural?”

“Oh yes,” Allur nodded, “that’s how most, if not all wars, are fought.”

“What doesn’t sit will with me is how the plan actually worked,” A3 said, “in my experience, you come up with a plan A and then you have to ad lib it until you reach plan Z.”

“We reached plan Z,” Iverson said, making A3 Jump.

“Sir!”

“Chill, we’re not in the office,” Iverson waved away the salute, “B2 went and decided to bite off more than he could handle.  That’s why it turned out so well.”

“How do we snap him out?” A3 asked.

“Snap him out of what?” Hunk asked, “Isnt this part of the plan? He DID have a PLAN, right?!”

“Weeeelllll…” Iverson scratched the stubble on his face, “B section has never been one to follow plans…”

“…that makes an absurd amount of sense.”

“Lance always hated following a plan.”

“We just thought it was because they were Keiths ideas.”

“Hey-“

“Drop us off on Earth and the rest of B section can take care of B2.”

“The REST of B sec-“ A3 was still trying to put pieces together.  He had missed a lot being on barrier duty.

“I thought you said he was B1, so who is B2?” Jackson asked, also out of the loop.

()

Lance pulled the cruise ship into a wider orbit and then settled down to catch his breath.  He sat with his back against the far wall of the bridge, as far from the controls as possible.  Lights flashed, but the ship was silent.  

So, hatefully, silent.

“Why is it so empty?”

Lance started.

“This is creepier than an empty school or hospital.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! We’ll land the ship and turn it into a haunted attraction!”

Lance looked over in time to see his friends walk onto the bridge.  They chatted away as if they didn’t know it was a death ship.

And if they didn’t know, then Lance was not going to be the one to tell them.

“Hey!” He waved at them and Hunk got to his side first.

“YOU’RE OK!”

“ARE you ok?!”

“Its not mine,” Lance blushed a little knowing he looked a mess, “I promise its not all mine.”

“I’LL KILL YOU!” Pidge shouted once they were sure his injuries were minimal.

“Aw, I’m sorry,” Lance gave her what he hoped was his cutest pout, “it was all I could think of, I swear!”

“So instead of talking with us and getting new ideas, you thought scarring us half to death was better?” Shiro asked, he’d been updated on the way over and shared Pidges irritation. He’d been gone and hadn’t been present to help the situation, and that hit a nerve.

“Old habits die hard?” Lance said sheepishly. Then his face changed as he raised his gun and shot.  

Keith had been on the other side of the bridge about to go through a door, when Lance shot the control panel.

“The hell!” Keith shouted, snatching his hand back and moving away, “What was that for?!”

“Don’t go through that door,” Lance called out to him, “Trust me.”

Keith scowled.  He could guess what was behind the door by the smell.  He had wanted to open it to see how bad it was…and a sense of morbid curiosity.  Judging by the emptiness of the ship, he knew about how many bodies were stashed behind the door.

“What’s behind the door?” Hunk asked, all innocent.

“Not good stuff,” Lance yawned, “Hunk, lend me your shoulder, I’m exhausted…wait….where’s Allura?”

Everyone grinned and shiro even chuckled.

“What?” Lance asked looking from one to the other.  He was too tired to play the guessing game.

“She’s off arresting Lotor,” Keith said shrugging as if that was obvious.

It took more than a moment for that to sink in.  Looking around to everyone again, he noticed something he hadn’t before.

“…you all played me,” Lance was aghast, “you all…played me!  You Knew!”

“You don’t think we wouldn’t after Romelle had that fit, did you?” Pidge asked, “Don’t be so insulting!”

“But then why didn’t-“ Lance stopped himself just in time. They hadn’t said anything because HE hadn’t said anything.

“But weren’t they going out?” he asked instead, “isn’t that-“

“It took her a while to come around,” Shiro said, “but in the end, it was her idea that she be the one to arrest him.”

“That sound like our princess,” Lance nodded, and yawned again, “ok seriously, I need sleep.  I pulled all-nighters for this and its SO bad for the skin and hair.  Any more operations like this and I’ll go bald.”

“Lance,” Shiro put a hand on his head, “You sure you’re ok?”

“What? Yeah,” Lance laughed, and cursed the tears forming in his eyes, “I’m just fine!  Missions as normal!  This is nothing!  Noth-“

He quickly rubbed his face, but before he could go on denying everything, they all pulled him into a hug.

“….I’m sorry,” he said instead, “I’m sorry….”

Chapter Text

“Injured,” Veronica tapped her foot on the floor as a doctor wrapped up Lance’s arm, “You know mom knows more than you let on, right?”

“According to Iverson, she’s feared in my line of work,” Lance nodded solemnly, “I think the rumor is that ‘B1s mother will kill you before B1 can pull his gun out’-OUCH!”

Veronica smacked him upside the head, “Mom DOESN’T know you’re been holding a GUN!  Its one of the FEW things we’ve been able to keep her in the dark about.  That woman is clairvoyant.”

“That woman is a mother,” the doctor chimed in, finishing his wrapping, “and if she’s anything like my mother, then Sherlock Holms couldn’t hold a candle to her.  Now, I want you to stay the night. Just to make sure everything’s ok.”

“Awww, com’on,” Lance whined, “I dun’wanna!”

“Too bad,” the doctor said turning and leaving the room, “You’re already checked in and guards are outside the door.  No more unauthorized adventures on my watch.”

“I GET VISITORS, RIGHT?”

()

After his mother had come in to make sure he had eaten his dinner and was going to be ok, the Paladins and Shiro got their turn. 

They discussed each of their missions and what they had done.  Pidge and Allura both expressed their vehement dislike for the way Lance had tricked them.

“I said I was sorry,” Lance shrugged, “But I was SO close to finishing one of my operations.”

“What was that?”

“What operations does B section actually do?!” Allura stressed.  Lance had always danced around the topic.

“…you havn’t figured it out yet?” Lance asked and they just glared.  So he sighed and explained.

“I…well, B section is the force that bites back.  Being part of a super secret agency tends to go to peoples heads.  B section keeps everyone else humble.  If someone, oh, I don’t know, decides the best course of action is to side with a homicidal alien race against a portion of earth, B section takes care of them.”

“By that you mean…”

“We arrest them,” Lance smiled at Hunk who looked worried, “Sometimes we have to kill them, but only if they resist…or if the situation demands it.”

“So all those agents that sided with Sendak?”

“Every agent that turned its back on the earth, regardless of siding with Sendak or not, I made sure they were executed,” Lance said, his tone firm and his face stern, “The agency has no room for idiots like that.”

“Isn’t that an abuse of power itself?”

Lance shrugged, “That’s why everything I do get’s written down.  Even my time off the job I have to turn in as a report.  My orders and requests are dealt with by the council themselves.  And that’s why there’s always ever just one B.  BUT NOW THAT’S CHANGED!”

He beamed, and the others relaxed instinctively. 

“So what’s B2 all about?”

“Well,” Lance said, still estatic, “that means there’s two main missions, one of which is self preservation, the first one and the one I was trained under.  The second one is Seek and Find.  If those two ever clash, then I get to chose!  We get to chose!”

“Which….meeeeeaaaaannnnss…”

Lance blushed a little, “It means I can train without worry.  Tradition used to be that B’s were trained until the trainer died.”

“Ohhh,” they all suddenly seemed very interested in their hands or feet.

“What?”

“Well…we read about what happened to your trainer,” Hunk said, coming clean first, “and we’re really sorry about that.”

“What?” Lance was confused.

“The file on your trainers last mission that you wrote…we…kinda read it.”

“Ooooo,” Lance laughed, “The story you read was a fake.”

“A fake?!”

“So you didn’t kill anyone?” hunk was relieved.  The thought of a child killing anyone was a little terrifying.

“Eeeeehhh,” Lance made a face, “I did, but not who the report said I did.  Anyway, the report was made to lure the two-timers out and make sure they came to me.  I had a ton of things to do on top of homework, can you blame me for failing physics?”

“Don’t blame others for your lack of intelligence.”

“I tried to stop them from asking about it,” Shiro said, but didn’t look like he really tried at all. 

“What ever happened to ‘you had a good reason’ stance you guys had this earlier?”

“that was when everything looked like it would blow up if we pushed the wrong buttons at the wrong time,” Hunk explained in his usual confusing way.

“What Hunk said is that we wanted to wait till you had calmed down some before we interrogated you and then we forgot until now.”

()

“I was accepted into the agency’s training program when I was about 9.  My trainer was Agent Blue-“

“You’re kidding,” Pidge grimaced.

“No,” Lance grinned, “He liked being called Agent Blue because his code was B1U3.  ‘Blue’ was easier to say and to remember.  He was a good teacher.  Out of all the other kids that started at the same time, I excelled way ahead of them.  You know Agent K in the MIB movies?  Think of him but younger, better looking, and better humored. 

“about the time I started training, a fourth planet wanted to join our trio.  They were much more advanced than all three of us and they truly had amazing fighting power.  The council was split on the decision to accept them or not,” Lance laughed, “I remember I asked him which side he was on and he told me that a field agent does his job.  And if the agent does his job well, then that would reflect in how the council would behave.”

“That’s double talk,” Shrio said scowling.

“Don’t get ahead of the story,” Lance chided, “but you’re right.  At the time I thought he meant to not worry about it and it would just work out so long as we did a good job.  With the rising tension, however, our already established alliance started to break apart.  The fourth planet, the Rodakkin, were not only militarily strong, but politically wise.  They knew what they were doing from start to finish. 

“The only thing standing in their way was the agency.  We were intermingled with all the races of all three planets.  We had a bond with each other than we didn’t have outside of that badge.  While the Rodakkin were trying to tear everyone apart, we stayed together. 

“You guys probably wont believe this, but Iverson was the one who really held those council members together.  And, despite everything the Rodakkin had tired to do, the council unanimously refused them a seat in their alliance.  The price the Rodakkin asked for was too high.”

“What was the price?” Hunk asked.

“They wanted free access to our worlds,” Frok put in, “they wanted to build cities and be able to come and go as they please.  It’s a subtle infiltration tactic, but no less than what the Galra do by blunt force.”

“It sounds innocent,” Shiro turned a little pale, “but the implications and over time the-“

He actually shuddered.  Lance nodded.

“We refused them entry into our alliance,” Lance repeated, “and everyone worked around the clock to make sure the Rodakkin weren’t planning a counter response.  After almost a year, everyone began to relax.  And agents were able to really focus on training again.

In our training we were to visit each of the planets in the alliance.  Sometimes that’s the only time an agent sees another planet because of their ranking when they graduate.  But as a trainee, you got to see and experience a little of everything. 

The Jurmites were still a little upset with the rest of the council and were being more than a little picky about who came to their planet.  My trainer happened to be one of the few allowed to land on the planet.  He and one other Agent were to look after all the trainees.”

“Like a field trip!”

“Yup, just like that.  Except most teachers don’t shoot the para in the face.  We landed, my trainer shot the other agent and we took off again.  Most of the kids were older than me, but we’d all had about the same amout of training, so none of us really had any idea what was going on.  They all thought I should know, but I couldn’t even begin to guess.  He’d shown no sign that anything was different.  He was the same as he always was.  I asked him where we were going and he said we were going to visit a better planet.  It was the older kids who figured it out first and locked all of us in the back.”

Lance paused here.  They waited patiently for him to continue, and when he did he wasn’t looking any of them in the eye.

“We waited for the ship to stop moving and power down.  One kid was able to jam the door.  It was a neat trick and I made sure he taught it to me later.  We knew we were in enemy territory and, using a few gadgets one kid had we were able to deduce we were inside a hangar of sorts.  One kid had a locator map and discovered we were on a desert planet that shouldn’t have any life on it at all.  We thought maybe we were wrong and the agent just wanted a place to burry the body.

“My trainer started to try and get into the door.  I still didn’t quiet understand what he was doing.  And when I opened a vent for the others to escape, I decided to stay behind.  If we weren’t in Roddakin territory, then I couldn’t imagine there being anything else wrong.  I didn’t believe he’d really do anything to me.  There was no evidence of it.  He’d been the perfect teacher, and all I could think of were all the times we had worked together and I couldn’t believe that he’d do anything.

“But he had also taught me to back up my beliefs, which was why I told the others to escape and get Iverson.  If I was wrong, then help was on the way.  If I was right, then no harm no foul.”

He paused again and when he looked up at them finally he laughed, “boy was I wrong.  I’ve never been so wrong in all my life!  I was just a trainee so I didn’t have very good weapons on me.  That and I trusted him from the get go, which was a mistake.  I had my guard down.  He broke my arm disarming me, and then broke both ankles so I couldn’t run away. 

“I could tell he was angry even though he was still smiling.  Because while I was keeping him busy, the other kids were able to highjack a ship and get away.  It was a very small victory for me.  But it struck a deep nerve with him. 

Turns out he was planning to end the recruitment program that Iverson had started so the Agency would die out on its own.  By getting rid of the current trainees, it would be deemed too dangerous for agents to be trained that young.”

“But isn’t it a little too young?” Hunk stress, “I’m not agreeing with his methods here, but 9, 10, 11 years old, that’s really young.”

“Childrens minds are open,” Shrio explained so Lance could get ready for the rest of the story, “they are less judgmental and by training a young mind, you can raise a child to think on a broader scale.  Its not just one planet these agents are in charge of, its three.  Try getting an adult to wrap their human minds around that…its not pretty.”

“The fact is,” Lance continued, “that my trainer was completely on the side of the Rodakkin.  He was willing to give the kids over to them, and then they would come and take the alliance by force.  The minimal limit was three kids, because then Iversons program would be shut down due to the fact that 1) three kids died, and two) there aren’t enough kids left in the program.  Recruitment would be put on hold and if they attacked directly, then there wouldn’t be any new blood already in the system to take over.  The agents would die out. 

“Agent B1U3 firmly believed that letting the Rodakkin take over was the best form of safety.  It didn’t matter to him how many would die in the process, so long as a few were saved.”

“That’s…so messed up…”

“I never said it was good, only that this man was smart enough to pull it off.  While they discussed how they should go about making their next move, I got my hands on this,” Lance pulled out Pride and laid it on the floor in front of him, “The agency and even the council ruled that Rodakkin technology was banned.  We didn’t want to give them any excuse to lay claim on any of us, but this is my spoil.  I earned this one and they allowed me to keep it.  I’ve never been really good at shooting with my left hand, but I’ve always been decent.  I killed all the Rodakkin in the room, my trainer had taken cover.

“The kickback from this gun in nothing to look down on, and my arm was pretty numb after firing it so many times.  But I got him in the end….i got him…and it was ten days before help came.”

“Oh my gosh…”

“the docters had to rebreak my bones and reset them,” Lance chuckled, trying very hard to lighten the dark mood and the even darker story he was telling, “Frok was the one who found me.  Apparently 11 and 13 year olds suck at giving directions and Frok found me on an expedition to the next planet after the one I was on.  But he decided to stop because he saw a building that wasn’t supposed to be there.  The Rodakkin built it as a station between their planet and ours.”

“Soooo the hide and seek?” Hunk asked and Lance laughed again.

“I was in the hospital and got sick of staring at the same four walls, so I left, wheal chair and all.  And then I got stuck in the mud and before I knew it Frok came over to stand and be confused over “Things humans say”.”

“You didn’t tell us before because it was too close…”

“-to the incident, yeah,” Lance sighed, “now you know.  I’ve got no more secrets, honest.”

Pidge scowled, “lie.”

Lance grinned, “Those aren’t secrets, those are confidential.”

Pidge shrugged, “fine, torture my curiosity.”

“I shall,” Lance stuck his nose in the air, “it will be my favorite pass time.”

((((((((((((((((((((fin))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))