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The sun had just made it to the top of the towering buildings as the city clock chimed three times, indicating 15 minutes to noon.
Lance made his way through the crowd of people. He kept his head covered underneath his dark blue hood as supporters screamed and cheered around him. Holding signs, chanting, yelling slander about the opposition; it was nothing new for Lance.
He made his way past patrol officers and security guards, keeping his shoulders hunched and the grip on his backpack straps tight. One look at him and this whole thing would go up in smoke.
After walking half a block Lance glanced around for a moment before disappearing up the stairs of an abandoned building. It was due for demolition in approximately a week and looked the same as a lot of the other abandoned buildings Lance had been in before; empty and bare, save for some shattered glass and ruble on the ground.
He was careful to keep his balance as he took the stairs two at a time until he reached the roadblock that his intel had told him about. There were approximately six and a half steps missing from the staircase, the reason, most likely, was to stop the very thing Lance was up here to do.
As if he was going to let something like a gaping hole get in his way.
He pulled out a small, spherical device and dropped it on the stair before watching it roll into the hole and create six and a half brand new stairs for him to walk on. He put one foot on it and pressed down just to make sure it was secure. When it was, Lance continued; not before stopping and looking back at the stairs, waiting for them to disappear from existence.
This was almost too easy.
He soon arrived on the twentieth floor and got right to work.
The backpack was ripped open and Lance started pulling out, piece by piece, the parts needed to make his sniper rifle. He was quick to put it together and within minutes he was set up and ready to go. He took a peek through the riflescope and focusing down on the pavilion across the street. A mob of civilians were crowded around the podium stand where the President’s speech would be held, and it was only a few minutes away.
Time was almost up. It was almost here.
Top of his class at the Garrison before it was shut down, Lance had been handling rifles and other heavy weaponry for almost five years now. And he wasn’t one to brag, but he was a hell of a shot with way too many kills for him to keep track of at this point.
Joining the rebellion was probably the best thing that could have happened to Lance after the Garrison incident. The worst-case scenario would have been being turned into a cadet for the Galra Elite.
Like him.
Lance steadied his scope and watched a Galran officer walk across the stage of the pavilion. He looked nervous and was currently biting on his lower lip. He was young, with jet black hair and bright yellow eyes, wearing a black and red uniform.
Keith Kogane.
He was accompanied by a man who was only a few years older than him. He was dashingly handsome with black and white hair and completely human except for the advanced Galra tech prosthetic arm he had been given by Galran scientists. Takashi Shirogane was one of the top officers of the Elite, and probably the youngest to be so highly ranked among the much older Galra troops.
A shiver went down Lance’s spine. He had seen him before, he’d even had a few run ins with the ex Garrison graduate, many of them being too close for comfort.
Lance watched the two of them thoroughly check the stage over and walk off to the side. Shiro looked concerned, if a little upset, as he glanced around while speaking to Keith. Unfortunately, Keith was facing away from the scope and Lance couldn’t really see his face that well to tell his expression.
After a few more seconds of Shiro talking, he put a hand on Keith’s shoulder before walking away. Leaving Keith to turn around and look after him before suddenly glancing up at the building that Lance was currently staked out in.
Lance was quick to move out of the way, hiding behind the wall for a couple of seconds before resuming his position. When he focused back on the stage, Keith was gone.
He exhaled, he didn’t have time for this, he had a job to do.
The final few minutes passed slowly, if a little painfully, until the clock tower began to chime, indicating that it was now noon.
The time had come.
Lance watched, through his scope, as the vice president, Sendak, walked onto the stage. The crowd gave a cheer and he raised both hands to silence them. “Citizens. It is my pleasure to introduce to you; our leader, the man who will make this nation great again. President Zarkon!”
Another roar of applause erupted from the crowd as Lance watched the man himself walk onto the stage. He was smiling down on his people, it wasn’t genuine, it was of overconfidence, of conceit, and self-satisfaction.
Lance glared through the riflescope, just seeing the monster in the flesh made his blood boil. It was because of Zarkon that Earth was in its current state. He was the reason so many people feared for their lives, if they did not worship the ways of Galra, they were hunted down and killed.
Lance had seen far too many of his kind die in the name of this bullshit, and he was about to put an end to it.
He watched Zarkon and Sendak shake hands before Zarkon took the podium. He raised a single hand in the air and almost instantly everybody stopped their cheers.
Lance took deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling slowly as he prepared himself for the shot he was about to take. His finger rested gently on the trigger and he watched and waited.
Zarkon lowered his hand. “My people! I come to you in a dire time of need! As you all know, last night my treasury was bombed and almost completely destroyed!”
Boos arose from the people standing beneath him, many racial slurs accompanying them.
Yeah, that was Lance’s doing.
He smirked to himself as he stood ready and poised to go, but first he wanted to listen to all the crap that was about to spew from Zarkon’s mouth.
“While their goal was not to steal, they did send a message with their actions; a message that they will not stop until they have destroyed our beloved nation!” Zarkon slammed a fist down on the podium. “Well I say let them try! Let them try to break us! But I promise you all! I will not rest until these savages are destroyed! And then we can all sleep easy once more!”
Fists were raised in the air, flags were waving, people were screaming in joy.
“And as for the individual responsible.” Zarkon’s voice boomed, silencing the crowd once again. “He will be caught, and he will be killed for treason against the name of Zarkon!”
Gonna have to catch me first Lance thought as he pulled the trigger.
A loud bang echoed as Zarkon’s body fell to the ground; a wide-eyed expression of shock on his face as blood began to seep out of the wound between his eyes. People were screaming and bodies were scattering as the Galra security moved towards their fallen President, all checking to see if he was still alive.
He wasn’t.
As chaos erupted from the streets below, Lance let out a breath and watched the scene unfold.
Shiro and Keith were among the dozens of people surrounding Zarkon’s dead body. Some were checking to see if he had a pulse, while others were looking around, trying to find where exactly the assassin would have taken vantage.
That’s when Keith looked straight into the rifle’s scope. His eyes wide in fear as if he knew who was behind this heinous act. Yet he just stood there, unmoved and staring.
A grin curled onto Lance’s lips as he stood up straight, leaving the rifle at his feet. He had to get out of here; the Elite would be up here in minutes.
“An eye for an eye.” He muttered before breaking out into a run and swan diving out the window on the opposite side of the room. He dropped a few dozen feet before he tucked and rolled onto a rooftop, sprinting across it to the fire escape on the other side.
He made quick his feet and got as far away from the pavilion as fast as possible; his heart pounding in his chest as adrenaline rushed through his veins. It was moments like this when Lance felt most alive; giving monsters like Zarkon exactly what they deserved. And the best part; nobody would ever know it was him.
Or at least nobody important.
~\~\~
The dampness of the early morning air drifted into the loft from the slightly cracked window, fogging it up instantly. The room was hot and reeked of sex as the sun slowly rose over the horizon.
“Jesus!” Lance clung onto his bed partner as they both laid there panting for breath, sweat dripping down both their foreheads.
Lance fell back, getting a low moan from the worn out mattress as a sly smirk slid onto his face. “Either I have a bad memory…” He grabbed around the floor for his boxers. “Or you were seriously holding back last time.”
A smile curled onto his partner’s face as well. He wiped at his forehead. “Maybe I was, you’ll never know.”
“Mmm. I like that.” Lance sat up and kissed his lips before slipping on his briefs. He moving to collect the rest of his clothes, which were scattered across the room. He was pulling on his jeans but stopped half way up his zipper when he spotted something on the other side of the room. Had that been sitting there this whole time?
“This it?” Lance asked as he grabbed the rifle gun and looked it over; it was beautiful.
His bedmate rested his back against the wall as he watched Lance inspect it. “Yeah. Higher gauge than the standard issue, better wind resistance, and it erases your fingerprints entirely so you can just cut and run after the jobs done... If you do it that is.”
Lance let out a low whistle. “Damn. Where’d you get something like this?”
“Let’s just say I’ve got some pull with Zarkon’s chief of weaponry and leave it at that.” The subject appeared to be quite touchy.
Lance chuckled. “Naughty, naughty, Kogane.” He set the rifle down and began taking it apart. “This is gonna be a lot more fun than I thought it would.”
Keith bit his lip as a tuff of his black hair hung in his face. “So you’re really going through with this?”
“Course I am.” Lance snickered, placing the pieces into his duffle bag. He glanced across the room. “Why? You didn’t think I would?”
“No, it’s just that… You’re anything but easy, Lance.” Keith said. “You always want something else.”
“Well don’t worry, that fuck was payment enough.” Lance grinned down at the dismembered rifle. “Plus… Not every day I get the offer to take down an evil dictator... It’s always been a dream of mine, actually.”
Keith raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re not serious?”
“Oh I’m dead serious.” Lance zipped the bag up and did the same with his jeans. “Especially one that’s as fucked up as Zarkon.”
“Oh for god sakes.” Keith rolled his eyes, he wasn’t in the mood to get into another one of these debates. “Enough of this Lance, he won fair and square.”
“He won on a technicality and that technicality was that he hired men to take out his competition.” Lance snapped.
“That was never proven.” Keith retorted. “He won fairly.”
Lance rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and walked over to the dresser mirror that his shirt was hanging off of. “Jesus you’re so borderline.”
“Can we just not talk about it? Just-“ Keith grunted. “Let’s just focus here. You’re sure this deal won’t be traced back to me?”
“Not unless your boyfriend finds out somehow and tattles on you.” Lance muttered, grabbing his shirt and pulling it on.
“He's not-” Keith sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “God. You are such an asshole.”
“Yeah but you like assholes.” Lance’s eyes were on the mirror as he fixed his own sex hair. He knew he was getting under Keith’s skin. It was one of his many talents. “Or so I’ve heard anyway.”
“Fuck you.” Keith cursed.
Lance chuckled and spun around to look at him. “You always get so wound up when I mention him.”
“Yeah that’s because he’s none of your fucking business, that’s why.” Keith snapped, standing up and pulling on a pair of boxers.
“Sadly,” Lance gave a dramatic sigh. “He’s so fucking hot.”
“I’m serious, stop.” Keith hissed. His face was turning red now, and Lance had to admit, he looked pretty mad. “He’s not my boyfriend and he could do so much better than your pathetic ass anyway.”
“Hah.” Lance scoffed and threw his hoodie on. “I’m the pathetic one? You should try looking in a mirror.”
“Oh really?” Keith crossed his arms. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Lance glared at him. “You serve under a fucking terrorist who’s destroying this planet, who’s slaughtered my people and many others, including your own! And yet here you are helping me do a job you’re too scared to do! Now that’s pathetic.”
“Hey!” Keith stormed up to him and jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t get all self righteous with me! I’m not the one who makes a living on assassinating people. You’re just as much of a murderer as he is!”
“Maybe.” Lance swatted his hand away, not breaking eye contact. “But at least I can own up to it Keith, can you?”
It got very quiet, and Lance knew he had struck a nerve. But it wasn’t like anything he was saying was wrong. Hundreds of Galran people had protested against Zarkon and his beliefs, and hundreds of them paid the price by being permanently silenced by the Galra Elite.
Keith was an absolute hypocrite for serving under that monster and Lance had never shied away from telling him so.
After a few minutes of Keith staring down at the floor, Lance gave a roll of his eyes and picked up his duffle bag. “Alright then, I guess that’s my cue to leave.” He walked towards the door. “Don’t quit your day job there, pretty boy.”
“After you do this…” Keith suddenly spoke up. “You know they’re gonna be closer to you than they ever have before…”
Lance stopped. “Yeah I know.”
“And you’re prepared to run?” Keith’s voice cracked as he asked the question.
Hesitant, Lance closed his eyes for a second. “It is what I do best.”
A beat passed and Lance reached the door, opening it slightly.
“Thanks.”
Lance stopped again, still grasping the doorknob. He looked over his shoulder at Keith. “For?”
“This.” Keith glanced out the window. “I didn’t think anybody would actually be stupid enough to do this job for me.”
As if Lance would give him the satisfaction. He had other commitments. None that Keith needed to know about, but he had them.
He scoffed and turned around. “What makes you think I’m doing this for you?” He didn’t leave any time for Keith to reply before he threw the door wide open and took off.
He got onto the street quickly and pulled up his hood before heading west towards downtown. He’d make it there before the ceremony started, and he’d get this done the only way he knew how; without looking back.