Chapter Text
“So what you’re saying Pidge, in a roundabout way, is that you think aliens exist.”
“I’m sure I already told you that I did. Anyway, it’s not a matter of what I believe. This message, ‘Voltron’, whatever it is, is coming from far out in the solar system, well away from Earth. Who else could be sending it?” Lance shook his head, sighing. This new kid was clearly delusional, and at this rate, Lance really couldn’t imagine bonding with him in any way, shape or form.
“You sure you didn’t like, hack some government agency by accident?” Hunk was looking at Pidge’s screen in confusion. “Galra sounds a whole lot like some kind of secret spy ring to me, and Voltron… what if it’s a weapon of mass destruction? A nuclear bomb?”
Lance rolled his eyes. “Calm down, Hunk. Now, can we follow my original plan, which didn’t include, may I add, forming conspiracy theories on cold rooftops? All I want is a pretty girl and something to make me forget that simulation.”
“You’re seventeen,” Pidge deadpanned, “you couldn’t even get alcohol if you made it yourself.”
“Then a nice capri-sun will just have to do, won’t it?”
Pidge, thankfully, gave up his bizarre quest for the night, likely lured, Lance thought, by the promise of fruit juice and women. They waited in the barracks as he went to put his computer back in his room.
“Lance, can I ask you something? Do you honestly not believe in aliens?” Hunk actually looked shocked, and Lance looked sideways at him.
“Are you telling me you do? I thought you were brighter than that, pal, I have to say. If aliens existed, I’m sure they would be here by now. Have you met any?”
“No,” Hunk admitted, “but-“
“Then they’re not real! Now let’s keep quiet about the whole alien thing, or Pidge will start going on about Tron-whatever and the Kerberos mission again.”
Eventually, Pidge emerged from his room, wearing a coat that looked a little too thick for the weather, and holding three silver cards, two of which he gave to Lance and Hunk.
“Sweet! I always wanted a credit card.”
“I think they’re to get us back into the Garrison, Lance. Look, it says access on it.”
“I saw that! I thought it meant, like, access to your bank.” Suddenly suspicious, Lance glanced at Pidge. “Where did you get these?”
Pidge pushed his glasses up, smiling slightly. “I may have stolen them from some guards. Don’t worry, I replaced them with fakes. They’ll never know, unless they get locked out.” Pidge’s smile expanded into a full blown evil grin.
“I like you, but I’m scared of you too. Is that normal?”
“You’re scared of everything, Hunk. He’s a valuable member of the team. Let’s get out before anyone sees us!”
Hunk led the party out of the Garrison Academy building, stopping occasionally (to Lance’s infinite chagrin) to check for guards that he knew wouldn’t be there. As they walked, he explained how he’d tracked their movements.
“You know how there’s CCTV all around the place? It’s meant to monitor us, but I thought maybe if I could hack into it, I could monitor them too. It took a while, because I’m not exactly the best in the world at hacking camera’s, but now I have watch over the whole academy, and for a few days, I’ve been watching how the cycle of the guards works. Just in case Lance ever wanted to do something this stupid, you know.”
“Hey! I don’t see you guys protesting…”
“Shh!” They stopped, and a guard came round the corner, carrying a stun gun and a segmented satchel, containing, among other things Lance could see, a silver card. He wondered if that one worked, or if it was one of Pidge’s fakes.
“That’s awesome,” Pidge whispered. “I hacked the cameras too, of course, first thing I did when I got here, mainly so I could watch the meetings between the higher ups. I didn’t think of doing what you did, though. What software did you use?”
“It was a-“
“Blah, blah, blah, coding talk, but I can see the exit! Once we make it out of there, it’s only a mile to town… I can picture it already. Lance, you’re so handsome, how do you manage to be the best pilot at the academy while simultaneously upholding your looks to such a high standard?” Lance turned the other way, now playing himself. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m just amazing like that, babe. Want to feel my muscles?”
“Eww,” Pidge said, fake gagging. Hunk punched them both lightly.
“Guys, the guards are coming past again, shut up.” They waited behind a pillar as they watched the four tall, suited men walk past the door, seemingly having a conversation about the Simpsons, of all things.
“I’m just saying, Marge was hot.”
“And I’m saying, I’d rather have fucked Edna Krabappel while she stuck needles in my eyes. How can you be attracted to hair like that, Mitch? I really don’t get you sometimes.” The talk slowly became quieter with the guards’ steps as they continued down the long hall in front of the entrance to the Garrison. Lance tried to step out immediately, but Hunk held him back until all they could hear was their own breathing and the ticking of the clock in the dining room behind.
That was when they made their move- but before they could reach the tall, marbled door (which, Lance thought dully, really didn’t fit with the rest of the Garrison’s aesthetic), it shocked all three of the boys by creaking open. Next to Lance, Pidge stifled a shriek. They had just enough time to run back to the safety of the pillar before it opened fully, displaying a figure fully clothed in black who surveyed the hall quickly before hurrying to the left.
“…what the fuck,” said Pidge, as they watched the newcomer disappear.
“Was that…” Hunk’s sentence went unfinished. Him and Lance made eye contact, and Lance moved from behind the pillar, ready to follow.
“Wait,” said Pidge confusedly. “I really don’t understand. Who was that?”
“Keith,” said Lance bitterly. “My rival. He’s here to try reclaim his place as a training pilot, and push me back down to cargo. We’ll see about that!” With that, he ran off in the direction he’d seen the figure head, leaving Hunk and Pidge speechless.
“Oh man,” said Hunk, “we’re gonna have to follow him, aren’t we?” Pidge was incredulous.
“You do know they’re heading toward the Garrison command building?!”
“Yeah, but he’ll end up in trouble if we’re not there. Come on!” Pidge sighed, but they both followed Lance toward wherever Keith was headed. After a few seconds of hard running, they had caught up with him. Lance stood outside the door to the communications room, peeking in through the keyhole. Inside, Keith (and it definitely WAS Keith, he’s recognise that mullet anywhere) was pressing random buttons, seemingly frustrated.
“Come on,” he muttered. “This has to work.” Finally, he seemed to press the right one, and a compartment opened up. Smiling slightly, Keith got something out of his pocket and prepared to place it inside.
“What’s he doing in there,” Hunk asked, trying to push Lance out of the way to see through the keyhole.
“He’s doing something to the computers. Probably trying to register himself as a student again. Like the commanders aren’t going to notice THAT.”
Keith closed the compartment, and immediately the computer screen started flashing, undecipherable text appearing all over the screen. “What the…” That was when the alarm went off.
“Um, guys,” said Pidge. “I can hear the guards running toward us. How do we explain this?”
“Hey, it was Keith, not us. We can just explain how we were suspicious of what he was doing, so we followed him. They’ll think we’re great, maybe even move us up a grade. Plus, Keith will finally get what’s coming to him.”
“No he won’t,” Hunk was saying, looking through the keyhole.
“…huh?” Lance, with strength he didn’t know he had, shoved Hunk out of the way. “He’s jumping out the window?! What a coward! He is not getting away with this!” Before the others could stop him, Lance had opened the door and was running toward Keith’s makeshift exit.
“No, Lance!” Hunk looked done. “Pidge, you’ll stay with me and explain, right?”
“Do you want to get expelled? Anyway, that Keith guy could know something about the Kerberos mission. I know it’s a long shot, but I am not missing the chance to question him about it.” And then Pidge had jumped out the window too, leaving Hunk with a decision. Stay within the safe walls of the Garrison, or squeeze through the window and confront a potentially dangerous Keith.
Sometimes he wondered why he was such a good person.
-*-
A hundred metres away from the headquarters, and dangerously close to the detection of the guards, Keith ran, knowing that he had to get away, that Shiro had to know what he had found. If he got captured by the Garrison, he’d have to tell them instead- but somewhere, inside, he knew that they already knew. If a seventeen-year-old boy with no ability or experience with computers could decipher an alien message, then surely the commanders could too. It sickened him that they hadn’t told anybody.
His hover board was hidden around another five hundred metres away, behind a particularly large tree he had spotted while out scouting earlier. Another minute of running and he’d be there, and then he’d be safe. He didn’t want to think of what would happen if he didn’t make it.
Behind him, he could hear running, and he knew that it had to be the guards. Putting all the energy he could into it, Keith sped up, but so did his pursuers. Keith could see his board now, but worse, he could hear the panting of whoever was following him, and he was running out of breath. Come on Keith, he thought.
You’re so close, three more strides and you’ll be there- and then suddenly, a dead weight pounced on him, and he was brought to the ground, groaning at the impact.
“Aha! I caught him, Pidge! Finally convinced I’m better, Keith?” Frankly, Keith had no idea what was happening. The boy who had spoken sounded young, maybe his age, and was still sat on top of him.
“Let me go! You don’t understand how important what I’m doing is!”
On top of him, the boy chuckled. “Would the Garrison understand? Because that’s where I’m taking you back to!”
“Cut it out, Lance. We can’t go back now, and you know it.” The other speaker, Pidge, was crouching in front of Keith. “What do you know? Is it about the Kerberos mission? Did you find out what happened?” He looked hopeful.
“Why do you people care about that? Who are you?” Suddenly, the weight was off of Keith, and he stood up, finding himself facing someone vaguely familiar.
“Who am I? Surely you haven’t forgotten. Keith and Lance, sworn enemies, deadly rivals?”
Keith squinted at him, trying to remember. “Lance… Mcclain? The cargo pilot? …I never even spoke to you.” Lance rolled his eyes in a way that said but you know who I am, but Keith ignored him. These two were going to get him caught. “Who cares, anyway. I have things to do. I’m leaving.”
“No you’re not!” Lance tried to pounce on him again, but Keith was quick, and dodged the attack by feinting away. The other boy, Pidge, had gone straight for his hover board, and was messing around with the controls. Just when Keith reached it, ready to throw Pidge off, it flew suddenly into the air, and connected with his chin. He didn’t even feel himself hit the floor.
-*-
“Pidge! You killed him!”
“What do you mean I killed him?” Pidge looked over the side of the hover board. “Oh, hey Hunk!”
Panting, Hunk was walking the final few steps to where they stood. “Never… make me run that far… again!”
“It was less than a kilometre. You really need to work on your fitness.” Pidge was distracted again by the board. “Guys! There’s lasers on this thing!”
“Bring it down and let me see!”
“…guys! Pidge murdered my arch nemesis! How do we punish him from trying to get me off of the programme now?!” Lance shed a theatrical tear. “You could have at least let me kill him!”
On the floor of the clearing they were in, shadowed by a large oak tree, lay Keith. Hunk noticed, with a relief that spread through him immediately, that despite being unconscious, he still seemed to be breathing. Still, this was a problem.
“What did you do to him, Pidge? I thought you just wanted to question him!” Pidge had seen it too, and seemed shocked.
“I didn’t do anything! It must have been Lance.”
“Hey, don’t blame me! I saw it happen. You pressed some weird button, and that… thing you’re on went up really fast and hit him in the face.”
“Ouch…” said Hunk, wincing. “So what are we doing? Waiting until he wakes up to question him? Because if we wait any longer, we’re going to get caught by the Garrison soldiers.”
“So? Why can’t we? Won’t they like that we’ve caught the person who broke into their computer room and stole information? I honestly don’t see the problem.” Pidge listened to Lance, and then sighed.
“The problem is, what he’s wearing.” Having seemingly mastered the controls of the hover board, he flew down and parked next to where Keith sprawled, unmoving. “My dad used to wear this when he went hunting. To the human eye, it looks black, but to anyone else- including cameras- this stuff practically makes you invisible. It can blend into anything. Much better than khaki.”
“So he’s got a fancy suit. It’s not going to work when the Garrison get here, and actually see him.”
Hunk thought he could see where Pidge was going with this. “They’ll see him unconscious. Like we’ve attacked him and laid the blame on him for something we did.” Pidge nodded.
“Lance, when they play the security tapes back, all they’re going to see is us. In the control room. When we’re not meant to be. They know information has been stolen, and think we know things we’re not meant to. The truth is, they’ve probably already been through this entire situation- the guards have most likely been told to shoot us on sight.”
Lance was processing this now. “Shit. I hate Keith.”
“Lance, you’re a pilot. Can’t you fly us out of here on that thing?” When Hunk was worried, he had bad ideas. This was probably the worst one yet- Lance was the worst pilot he had ever met, and, even on a craft flown by a professional, Hunk really didn’t have the stomach for flying. “Actually, maybe not. We could walk.”
“Thankfully, we don’t have to walk anywhere, or let Lance fly. This thing has autopilot.”
“That sounds marginally preferable,” Hunk shrugged. Lance walked onto the hover board, glaring at the screen suspiciously.
“I bet it’s set to take us to Keith’s secret lair. The controls look simple, anyway. A baby could fly this!”
“Nope,” said Hunk and Pidge at the same time. Pouting, Lance helped Hunk drag Keith on to the board. To start, the screen would only accept a hand print. Without hesitating, Pidge grabbed Keith’s right hand and pressed on an appropriately shaped pad. The board took flight so fast that they all almost fell off. Hunk only held on by holding on to Lance, who in turn was holding on to Pidge. When poor Keith nearly slipped, Hunk grabbed him too.
“It’s taking us toward the desert,” shouted Pidge over the sound of the engines. He was right, Hunk saw, somehow repressing his urge to throw up- the landscape was growing more and more barren as they moved away from the urban area the Garrison was located within. Hunk wondered whether this was where Keith lived, after he’d been kicked out of pilot training. If he did, it must be lonely- Hunk couldn’t see a town in any direction he looked in, now.
“Hey, this button says it makes you go faster!”
“Don’t press it Lance!” Out of the corner of his eye, Hunk saw that Lance was about to, but thankfully they seemed to be slowing down as they came toward a shack in the middle of the sand dunes. The hover board’s engines began to cut out as they descended, and they managed to stand normally again. Next to Hunk, Lance shivered.
“I have a really bad feeling about this…”
“Wuss,” said Pidge, and jumped off the board before it hit the ground, looking at their surroundings. As soon as he felt he could walk again, Hunk got off too, and immediately puked.
“Disgusting,” admonished Lance, shaking his head. “Who votes we leave Keith here and go somewhere nice on his hover board? Like New York. Or Hollywood!”
Nobody listened to him. Hunk wiped his mouth and went to pick up Keith, who was thankfully, fairly light.
“We should at least wait until he wakes up, so we can ask what he was doing.” At the shack, Pidge knocked on the door. There was no answer.
“That’s creepy,” said Lance.
“It just means there’s nobody in,” Pidge corrected, and pushed open the door, which seemed to be unlocked. “See, nothing to worry about! It’s all good!”
Hunk froze when he saw the figure behind his friend. “Uh, Pidge?” Pidge’s eyes widened as he felt the knife at his throat. Lance immediately drew out a similar sized knife from Keith’s pocket, and Hunk held up a stun gun he had taken from the Garrison.
“Give me my brother,” the figure said, “or I’ll kill you all.” With that, he pulled the knife across Pidge’s throat.