Chapter Text
"Oh, hamburgers!" Hunk exclaimed as a large boulder flew through the air towards them and shattered on impact.
"You think they saw us?" the Yellow Paladin asked from the shelter of the rocky landscape that provided them cover.
Allura took a cautious peek. "Drones. At least thirty. They definitely know we're here."
"Alright! New plan!" Lance activated his comm. "Red Leader to Green Leader! Our cover's blown! Once you've reached the south security hub, cut power to the central tower, we're under heavy fire!"
Pidge's voice sounded over the comm, scratchy from the sketchy connection and breathless from exertion. "Let's just focus on getting there first before we start -- Drix, watch out!" Sounds from a scuffle and gunfire could be heard. A few grunts later Pidge resumed her thought. "Anyway, the south security hub doesn't have access to the central tower. Otherwise, it would be called the central security hub. Bad design for a prison to be controlled by any one access point. Didn't you pay attention in the briefing?"
The drones were almost within range of his rifle.
"Details. I have complete faith in you. Check back in when you've done it," Lance directed as he shot drone guard square in the head, ignoring Pidge's protesting snort.
Hunk lowered his cannon, momentarily and leaned back against the crags in the rock face. "She's right. Each of the five towers have their own separate security. The south security hub controls the south cellblock. Kinda like how the north security hub controls the north cellblock. It's so if there's a breach the rest of the towers are still locked down. Which makes our jobs oh-so-much harder."
Lance dove out of the way as one of the wall catapults launched a large molten ball their way, engulfing the surrounding area in flames. "You know it's hurtful when you don't let me live my life without nit-picking my delusions! Focus on the catapults."
"'Focus on the catapults,'" Hunk mocked in a high-pitched imitation of Lance as he hoisted his cannon back onto his shoulder. He shot off a large beam, decimating a flaming ball that was heading their way. It exploded midair, showering the advancing drones with burning rubble.
"Lance may have a point," Allura piqued as she drew back her whip from a drone who wandered too close. "If we can get access to the south security hub, Pidge may be able to hack into the other hubs as well. Our advantage of surprise is gone, so the faster we get this done the less time they have to mobilize a response. Unless anyone has a better idea?"
"Actually, I just might," Hunk said.
"Well do tell, buddy!" Lance urged.
Hunk sent one more blast toward the nearest catapult, but it was out of range. He moved back behind the crag in the rockface and removed his helmet, tossing his long braid over his shoulder. Lance and Allura gathered in a huddle as Hunk explained his plan.
"That's ingenious, Hunk!" Allura admired.
"Better than that, it's genius!" Lance agreed enthusiastically, as he peeked back from behind the crags. The great doors stood firmly shut, but not that far away. It could work. "Pidge! Status report!"
"We're in. Well, kinda. I'm in. Drixus is still fighting. I found a communications line that connects to the central security hub. I doubt I'll have any access to anything. Hacking into it now."
"Forget the central tower."
"Excuse me?"
"We've found our own way in. See if you can't unlock every cell in the southern tower."
"But that will release..." Pidge drifted off as she put it together.
"Exactly."
"You know what, fine! I'll just drop everything I'm doing -- the impossible, I remind you -- and release the giant Tyin'baurs. They'll will probably kill us after they break all the drones, but hey, you know what it doesn't matter because--"
"Okay, enough chit-chat. Allura, do the thing!"
Allura climbed atop the rock and stood in full view of the enemy. As a lazer bolt zapped at her feet she reared back and whipped a grip on the smoldering bolder that had nearly crushed Lance. With a great heave and Altean strength she sent it flying to the base of the entrance.
"Now Hunk!"
Hunk aimed carefully before he hit the stone right as it made contact with the stone doors. The explosion rocked them from their place behind the crags.
"Go! Go!" Lance urged as he scrambled to his feet, dashing for the breach. The improvised bomb had bought them enough time to scurry to the hole in the gate.
"Yeah, there is no way we're fitting through there."
"Just a tic..." Allura closed her eyes and shape-shifted into a bi-bo-bi and slithered through the gap. A moment later the gates opened from the inside, Allura dashed out in her normal form as energy bolts screamed out after her.
Lance took in the the scene. A hall. Not that big, but packed with drones. "Looks like we got our work cut out for us," he said as he raised the red bayard to his cheek and lined up the sights. "Where the hell is Shiro!?"
* * *
"Behind you!" Matt shouted before swinging savagely at him.
Shiro ducked as much to avoid Matt's strike as whatever was behind him. The blow struck true as the drone collapsed on him. "Ooph!"
Matt kicked the drone to the floor and extended his hand to his fallen friend. "But as I was saying, how did you all meet Drix?"
Shiro grunted as he found his feet and fired up his hand. Both his helmet and bayard had been knocked away, in the corner of the room. But the drones kept coming, preventing him from retrieving them. "Was a spy, I think, for one of your freedom fighters. He's been on several undercover missions that have brought us invaluable information. Being full Galra helps him infiltrate easily."
Matt thrust a drone through the chest before kicking it off his weapon into several others. "So you trust him?"
"Pidge seemed to think we couldn't pull off this operation without his help. Looks like the Empire has taken steps to make to make their equipment more restrictive to Galra inputs, like a biological fingerprint before bypassing. He's already a known hacker, and he can fight," Shiro replied as he sliced a path through the drones.
"But do you trust him?"
"We'll see how he does on this mission," Shiro reserved judgement.
"The Green one trusts him," an accented voice joined the conversation. "In sixty-seven percent of realities. He has feelings for her in twenty-three point eight percent of those sixty-seven percent realities. And in five percent of those realities Pidge leaves Voltron and travels to a faraway planet with him. And then in point zero zero zero two percent of those realities, they adopt sixteen children."
"How about you put those calculations to use by telling us how trustworthy he is?" Matt pleaded.
"Hmm. Betrayal possible in sixty-nine percent of realitites. Thirty-four percent of those realities because of a better offer. Thirty-five percent because he has been a double agent for Zarkon all along."
"How about we don't talk about this now?" Shiro directed, as he dove for his bayard.
Slav frowned at them. "I was only calculating the percentages."
"You're supposed to be freeing the citizens imprisoned in the east tower!" Shiro snapped.
"And you're supposed to be protecting me while I do it. And yet here we three are, shit-probablilting the new guy."
Matt sent a drone flying and it landed in a busted heap of parts next to Slav. "Work silently or not at all!"
Tail tucked close and looking wide-eyed at Matt, Slav touched two wires together. All the doors slid open. "That should do it."
* * *
"What is that?"
Pidge, sitting cross-legged on the floor, looked up from her portable keyboard to the screen Drixus was pointing at. Security footage showed a rodent the size of an elephant tearing up drones that frantically tried to subdue it. "That is a Tyin'baur. I've never seen one that big before. Why they have an army of them, I can't figure. How did they even transport something like that?"
"Are those fangs?" Drixus leaned over a lifeless drone that was strewn over the console desk to get a better look, tail upright on alert.
"Nasty buggers, aren't they?" Pidge said with a grin as she turned back to her keyboard. She grabbed another wire and carefully connected it to the circut board. "Close everything between them and the prisoners. We're here to save them, not feed them to giant carnivorous bunnies."
Drixus grunted in aknowledgment as he tapped a few keys on the Galra console.
"Lance, Hunk, and Allura have breached the central security hub and should have the central tower under their control soon, and hopefully by extention, the whole detention center. Matt, Shiro, and Slav are currently ushering all the hostages out of the east tower. Lotor's team just reported that they have started evacuating the north tower. Reinforcements should be arriving soon to take out the west tower. Tyin'baurs are running rampage in the south tower. The civilians will need you to guide them to safety. Meet them at the south entrance and take them to the cargo pods."
"And what of you?" His ears twitched in concern.
"I'll be leading the Tyin'baurs away from the cells and towards the north exit." Pidge pointed at a screen that showed a door opening for a Tyin'baur. It would have been quite bloody if the drones were not made of parts.
"You mean to let them loose on the central tower?" He sounded surprised, if not impressed.
"No prisoners there, but a lot of bad guys."
"Also your friends."
"They can handle themselves. Think of it as...reinforcements," Pidge said confidently.
Drixus looked on skeptically as the Tyin'baur cleared yet another room. "As you say. I'll go retrieve the prisoners."
Pidge made the okay sign. Drixus left before it occurred to her that he probably didn't understand what that meant.
"Pidge. You there?" Lance voice sounded over the comm.
"What is it this time Lance?" Pidge asked, chewing her lipring. She found herself doing that when in deep focus.
"Think you could go back to hacking into the central security hub?"
Pidge looked at one of the screens that showed a hole blown into the central security hub's gate. "I thought you already were in? I'm a little busy driving a horde of Tyin'baurs your way."
But she pulled up the tab anyway. It was rough trying to hack into the other tower without a bio override. Especially while herding Tyin'baurs at the same time. But Pidge was excellent at multitasking.
"I'm in. Where are you? I don't see you on any of the screens," she said as she scanned through the security footage.
"Second floor, north wing. Looks like a conference room. We're a bit tied up. You think you can fix this?"
Pidge pulled up the security footage.
"Oh you've got to be joking."
* * *
"A bit tied up? Really?"
Lance knew the expression Hunk wore without having to look. Not that he could anyway. Hunk was behind him. He looked up at the floor where his red bayard lay, several meters out of reach. "Hey, I'm trying to lighten mood."
"We are hanging from the ceiling by our feet!" Hunk pointed out.
"Yeah, it's murder on the ankles," Lance agreed.
"Calm down!" Allura commanded. She had been lucky enough to step into her own trap. Lance and Hunk were strapped together back-to-back, unfortunate enough to have been standing close enough together to get strung up in the same trap. "Let's just focus on a way to get out of here."
"Pidge is on her way. Sit tight."
"Yeah, she only has to outrun an army of Tyin'baurs--those murder bunnies are no joke--then cross over to the central tower without getting shot down, navigate the tower crawling with drones by herself, find us, and cut us down." Hunk reiterated with what Lance knew to be a pout.
Lance watched the room rotate as they slowly spun. "In my defense the Tyin'baurs were your idea."
"It has been a while since she left," Allura sounded worried.
"She already did the impossible once today. She can do it again," Lance replied confidently.
"That's really not how odds work," Hunk murmured.
The door hissed open and they all held their breath as they looked to see who it was.
The Green Paladin strode in.
"There's our shortest stormtrooper!" Lance greeted, relieved.
Pidge gave him a haughty look as she stepped forward. "You know, in my family, we're more Trekk--"
She found herself violently jerked off her feet and strung up with the rest of them. She stared up forlornly at her green bayard that now littered the floor alongside the red, blue, and yellow one.
"Oh, we're so gonna die now," Hunk lamented.
"Don't be such a downer!"
"Oh I'm sorry. It's just there and drones everywhere, we're trapped in the one tower staffed with generals to direct them, the Tyin'baurs are coming, and we have no way of removing ourselves from the situation, but you're right, I'm sure we'll be fine."
A large crash sounded the floor below, followed by muffled shouting. "Oh, and speaking of Tyin'baurs..."
They could only wait as the crashing and panicked voices came closer. They could make out words here and there. Then the yelling grew clearer as the generals retreated up through the tower. Shouts of "Oh no! He got away!", "Careful! This one's quick!", "Don't let this one through!", "It's just one, stand your ground you cowards!" until all was quiet.
Breathlessly they listened as footsteps approached. The door opened.
A shadow fell across the floor.
It stepped into the room.
The dark figure removed it's hood, revealing a familiar face. It had changed with time, dark hair no longer hiding his face, but pulled back into a long ponytail at the nape of his neck. But the most noticeable change was the fresh scar across his lip, marring his face in a permanent snarl. Lance prayed it wouldn't awaken anything in him.
"Designated hangout?" Keith asked with a smile.