The doors gave out a soft hiss and then an exhaust of cool gas. It made Matt cough slightly, but his wide grin wouldn't falter. With ginger hair, matching light eyes and large round glasses, he looked seemingly too young for such an important expedition- as commented on by many times. But he knew he was up for the task. Next to him was his father, Samuel, who gave a pat on his shoulder. He had lighter grey hair, but the same eyes- which was above a pair of more rectangular glasses.
"Isn't this exciting? The Galra are finally letting out some of their secret technology to the public- just imagine what they've been working on for so many generations." Samuel smiled.
Onto the right of Matt was Takashi Shirogane. Though, his friend Samuel just called him Shiro for short.
Shiro was tall, broad and would have had a typical military cut if it weren't for the tuft of black hair sprouting from his forehead. He was slightly more wary of the Galra than Samuel and his son were.
"Are you... sure about this? They've practically shut themselves out for decades, why would they now just open up so suddenly?" He asked concernedly.
"Oh, don't be so suspicious- it's an honor they chose us three to be the 'diplomats' of the situation." He chuckled. "You remember what Iverson said? They made a real breakthrough in their technology, both in the weaponry section AND for space travel. I know they've been known as a... rival to the Garrisons and all other tech organizations for a while, but that could all change today!" Samuel reassured with Matt matching his enthusiasm. "This could be a start of something big."
"Yeah! This is a huge step in a partnership between the two. Garrison has accomplished a lot, but that sneak peek of those machines they gave us? Everyone was so impressed, even you Shiro." He said in an almost bantering way.
Shiro let out a small smirk.
"I know, it was very convincing and yet... this place. I guess I'm just not into ease with it." He nervously laughed. No sooner than when he finished, some mechanical noises whirred from behind the door. With a final sigh, the twin doors slid open, revealing an ordinary soldier.
Matt looked slightly disappointed which prompted his father to laugh. "Hello. I am Commander Samuel, and this is my son Matt. This is Shiro, and we're the group from the Garrisons." He waved to Shiro.
Shiro stepped in once he realized the soldier wasn't responding. "Ah, here are our IDs." The soldier took one glance at them, and said in a robotic voice.
"Follow me." The three obliged, walking into the narrow hallway. Everything here was themed black and purple, Shiro mused. Even the soldier's suit. He couldn't exactly see the face of the guard as he was wearing a helmet with a thin sheet of black. But the way his armor moved was very intriguing. It looked smooth, almost too smooth and "animated" for a human. Before Shiro could consider anything yet, they had entered the testing facility.
"Here we are. The Galran commander will be here shortly." And with a turn, the guard was gone. Samuel and Matt were talking about the schematics of the new room, as Shiro walked around. It was an interesting place, a large one at that. It almost resembled an arena. There were vast rows of seats across, whilst in the center was a large dome protected by penetrable glass. Inside there was where Shiro had presumed they would see the Galra technology in action.
Soon, the door reopened- grasping the attention of the team. A man of a surprisingly sick, and light purple skin color walked inside. He was bald and had tiny, visible bumps. Before anybody could inquire about it- he spoke up in a gruff voice. "I take that you are the group the Garrison sent us." His voice was thick and sly, instantly making Shiro chary. He moved his mouth in a foreign way.
Samuel nodded. "Yes. Will you be showing us the weaponry today or..." He stopped when he found that the commander wasn't listening. He was instead looking at Matt and Shiro, heavily. He was observing them, rapt almost.
Matt noticed this too and bristled. "Hey? You guys DID communicate with us last week concerning about these beforehand. Where shall we start?" Samuel held up a hand and opened his mouth to speak, but the large purple general spoke first.
"I'm afraid there's no need for that, old man." Samuel sputtered, more confused than anything. "Why I beg your-" Another Galran soldier behind him butted his neck with the end of a strange looking gun. Samuel crumpled to the ground.
"Dad!" Matt screamed, bending down toward the body. "W-what are you DOING? Do you know why we're here?" His voice strained and shaking. Shiro turned around and saw three more soldiers coming close. Turning to the commander he yelled,
"Call them OFF. We're peaceful and we don't have weapons!" Shiro went into a fighting stance, but it wavered when the same soldier kick Matt to the ground. He gave a grunt, but nothing else.
"No- Matt!" Shiro gave a shout as he kicked the soldier down, foot on his neck. "You better stop this right now." Shiro seethed. He looked down at the soldier and realized that there was sparks coming out from the neck. He stepped back.
"What the..." Robots? Were these soldiers drones? Shiro leaped back to dodge an attack from the other soldiers coming in, but before he could react the commander jabbed something into his side.
"AAUURRGH!" Shiro screamed and fell to the ground- trembling violently. He tased me! Shiro's unbelieving thoughts forming ever so slowly in his mind. He groaned as he saw more drones tie up Samuel and Matt- who were unconscious now. The commander's smirk was the last thing Shiro saw before passing out, and he could barely make out a sentence coming from his mouth. Which he now realized were full of sharp teeth. How did I miss that? How... why...
"Inform Zarkon." And then he slumped to the ground.
- 1 Year Later
"Hey Pidge, you there?"
"Ssshhh!" Came the answer. "Ugh, come on." Lance grunted, struggling to move in the bulky armor he was forced to wear. The bag wearing down on his shoulder wasn't helping either.
His back crouched down low, he moved in lengthy steps with his long legs. Long yes, but skinny as well. The very weight of the equipment in his hands was enough to nearly topple him over.
"W-whoa!" His voice echoed in the lengthy hallway he was sneaking in. After a full two minute's worth of silence, he began to move again.
"Honestly, we are on a sneak mission- why give us heavy suits like this?!" Lance whined. "Aren't ninjas supposed to wear like, really tight clothing?" Lance leered. "I bet that would make the ladies line around the block."
Pidge's voice buzzed into Lance's left ear. "Lance- I swear if you were next to me I would smack you. Plus, we aren't ninjas." He huffed.
"Aw come on Pidge, you love me."
"No, I really don't."
And then a new voice came online, bursting with a pop of static.
"Owww, Hunk! Refresh your mic." Lance complained.
"Sorry, sorry." A deeper voice apologized. "Ok, so I just finished dismantling the security codes without triggering an alarm. Pidge, you ready?" Lance could already hear his best friend smiling.
"Copy that. In position. Lance?" Pidge asked.
"Oh please, you know what they called me in my first year of Garrison Stealth class?"
"I don't really want to know-" Pidge was cut off.
"They called me the Tailor for how I thread the needle." He interrupted, with extra cocky emphasis on the last words. "Let's do this!"
Pidge began to clack away at his computer keyboard. "Downloading now. I added a few... modifications to it so the security cameras would black out longer. Hunk when I say the word, you've GOT to clip the brown wire, okay?"
"Alright!" At Hunk's location which was several rooms away from Lance, he began to unscrew the tight vent which led to the main control wires.
"Great you guys, and I'll be busy kicking butt." He smirked.
"Stealth Lance, stealth." Pidge uttered.
"Don't worry- I'm gaining on them now." Lance creeped up on a nearby corner, peeking over to see two soldiers chatting."I'll be as silent as a-"
"Uh guys? I think there might be a little problem." Hunk's voice came booming through Lance's ear, causing him to stumble.
"H-hey no!" Lance winced from his deafened ear, and lost his balance. With his clandestine weapon outweighing to the left and the bag starting to lean in the same direction, he tumbled.
Lance quailed at the sound of his hard plated bag bump into the ground noisily. Guards alert now, they came sprinting toward the noise.
"Hunk are you kidding me- fix your headset!" Lance hissed.
"Lance, look out!" Pidge screamed as one of the soldiers flexed their arm back, ready to knock Lance out. Thankfully, Lance heard his warning and ducked with a loud yelp.
"Okay- THAT'S IT." Lance dumped the heavy bag and began to sprint down the corridor. "Pidge, is the download almost complete? Hunk get ready for the signal!" He shrieked over the mic.
Hunk panicked. "Yeah-uh, that was the problem I was talking about! The space where the brown wire is, it's too far and too narrow for me to fit through. And I'm pretty sure my arm won't reach that far."
"Well you're gonna have to try Hunk, cause here it comes!" Pidge smashed a flashing red button, and as soon as he did he shut the laptop and shoved it into his own heavy carrier.
"Guys!" Hunk yelled. "It's too dark I don't know which the brown one is!"
"Then use your flashlight." Lance lashed as he dodged another attack. The sirens were on full blare now, and the once purple corridors were now red.
"Right- got it!" Hunk fumbled his light on and reached the clippers as far as he could squeeze into the panel. "Come on... come on- h-Hey! I did it!" He snipped the wire in half triumphantly.
Pidge gave a cry. "In the nick of time too! Now all we have to do is get back to the main control center and open the prison doors to end phase one. Come on!"
As Pidge and Hunk scurried their way to the main center, Lance was still running away from the bots. "Guys- a little HELP here?!" By now Lance had ditched the thick armor chest guard and back, attempting to throw them back at the guards chasing him. He managed to chuck his helmet too, displaying his short chestnut hair that sprinkled in sweat, with his narrow navy blue eyes.
"Pidge, which way?"
"What do you mean- you said you got the whole map down!" Pidge panted, almost to their destination.
"Just tell me!"
"Okay, according to my watch it's er... it's left!" Lance took a sharp turn, his shoes sliding.
"No- your other left!"
"I only have one LEFT." Lance gave a frustrated noise. "Oh great, it's a dead end."
"Your fault for not doing your homework-"
"GUYS." Hunk's voice came back on. "Stop it- Lance you can fight your way through- maybe you just-"
"Too late." Lance said in a muffled voice, his cheek pressed onto the ground. His head was held firmly by the robotic hand, and he gave up squirming quickly.
Pidge gave a moan. "Nice work, tailor."
The sirens were cut off, and the entire setup of the building lifted up around them, revealing the inside of the Garrison training hold. As the walls were raised, Lance glanced at Pidge and Hunk- both not too far away. The atmosphere of danger had faded away- now awashed with a new one. Scolding.
The robot let go of Lance who got up and dusted himself off. "Stupid bot messing up my hair..." He mumbled as he walked toward the scowling commander. Commander Iverson.
Once in a straight line, the commander came in front of them and gestured to the whole flock of students who were watching the whole thing. He had dark lined skin and an eye that never opened- adding onto the angry general look.
"Now. Let's see if your pathetic excuse for a stealth mission could teach something to the rest of you." He bit harshly, voice hoarse.
One hand raised up. "The headsets were not refreshed every ten minutes by the engineer."
"Correct, if not refreshed- security could have your light pinned down and ready to terminate." He scowled more, if that was even possible. Hunk looked down.
Another arm raised. "The executor got caught and threw off his armor and bag."
"Yes, and no matter how bulky or tiresome it may be- you'll have to get used to it because those equipment are necessary to free the prisoners- if you don't recall." Iverson spat. "Anything else?"
"The tech support and launcher tampered with the files." Pidge turned to the voice source and snarled.
"I made it BETTER!"
"No- she's right. It doesn't matter HOW good you think you are- you do not indulge within the files the Garrison give you. Who knows what malfunctions it could cause." Iverson frowned.
"I made the coding smoother- and the cameras would've lasted longer if-" Iverson made a cutting signal with his hands, shutting Pidge up. Pidge looked away, a scowl to match Iverson's.
"If you're this bad individually- you better at least be able to work as a team! Arguing with each other is not an effective way of team bonding."
Iverson gave a disgruntled sigh and continued, "The Garrisons exist to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of overall elite agents- and in this session- undercover soldiers. But these kinds of communication problems are exactly what took the lives of the diplomats in the Galra Association Mission."
"That's not true sir!"
"What did you say?" Iverson turned to Pidge. Before he could digress, Lance clasped a hand over Pidge's mouth.
"Sorry sir- h-he must have overworked himself over that command file- sir. But point taken." He gave a queasy smile.
"I hope I don't need to remind you- that the only reason you're here, is that the best executor in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out." Iverson took a step closer to Lance. "Don't follow in his footsteps." Lance sweated- trying to not break the eye contact between them.
Iverson turned to the next group. "Next!" He shouted as the wall rearranged and began to descend.
"Lights out in five. Everybody back to their dorms, now." Iverson gave one last command for the day as he walked down the dorm hallways. Lance peeked out from their door, examining the aisle. Hunk did too, just changed out from his earlier stimulation suit. He was taller and much larger than Lance's thin figure, shoulders padded with muscle and home cooking no doubt. He too had a more tanned skin like Lance- though darker, with short cropped black hair that perked out from the orange headband he wore- wavering in the air when he ran. His jacket was shorter but a similar military style like Lance's. His normal attire was a simple yellow shirt, brown pants and a thick green vest. He had tough fingerless gloves, mostly to prevent sweaty hands. His squarish face was pinched with worry.
"We shouldn't be doing this."
"You heard commander Iverson- we need to bond as a team." Lance smirked. "Besides, how can they expect us to not do some sneaking of our own when we're in the stealth class?"
Still looking concerned, Hunk didn't respond.
"Come on, we're gonna grab Pidge- loosen up, meet some nice girls and maybe-" The lights shut off and Hunk stammered.
"O-ok, but I'm just saying it here and right now for the record... this is a bad idea." Before he could say another word, Lance darted across the intersections- followed by Hunk.
"You know, for someone in the more exploited programs of the Garrison- you don't have much of a sense of adventure." Lance quipped.
"All of your 'adventures' end up with me in the principal's office." Lance continued crawling underneath a window panel with some instructors working inside. Hunk bent down reluctantly and crawled as well. "Aw man." He groused.
One sentry walked by, looking for any cadets. "L5 North all clear." he miked and walked away. Once out of sight, Lance leaped out of the recycle bin he was hiding in, giving a satisfied smirk. Hunk did not jump out as easily as Lance did out of his bin, but managed to squeeze out and crash onto the floor.
"Oof! I'm fine." Hunk recovered quickly, getting up and behind Lance.
However a whirring sound that everybody knew as a dorm door activating open came on, prompting Lance to push himself and Hunk out of the way. Coming out of the door was none other than Pidge. Carrying a bag-pack, he sprinted out of the door and into another hall- leading outside.
Lance cocked an eyebrow. "Where is he going?"
Pidge was sitting down with two screens lighting up his face on the roof of the Garrison building, and several other equipment propped next to his bag. Pidge was far shorter than his teammates, and had a voluminous ginger hairstyle that curved upwards in the ends. A style that made him seem younger than he already was. He wore green and white long sleeves that ended in a quick orange, and baggy navy blue shorts. He had khaki high sneakers and always carried his matching bag around. With large and round glasses resting on his more rotund face, he closed his brown so light it was almost yellow eyes- listening to any unusual garbles, headphones pressed firmly against his ears.
He didn't expect a pair of hands to lift the headphones up, and he definitely didn't expect a familiar voice to say,
"You come up here to rock out?"
"GuaAAH!" Pidge cried out, whipping his head to face Lance and Hunk, eyeing him curiously. "Oh, Lance!- Hunk, no, uh.. just... looking at the stars." He fidgeted.
"Hey- where'd you get this stuff? Doesn't look like Garrison tech." Lance peered strangely at the appliances Pidge was working with. With a conceited smile that could've given Lance a run for his money, Pidge replied, "I built it."
"You built all of this?" Hunk got closer to the machines, hand reaching out to touch it. Another hand came down faster and slapped his away.
"Ah- stop it. With this thing, I can scan to the edges of the entire state and more. It maps it all out too." Pidge's grin only got wider, but it went away in a snap when Lance elicited. "That right? All the way to Galra Corp I presume? Bet you could find the files for the Association Mission?"
Pidge gave a staggering whine, looking away.
"You go ballistic every time one of the instructors mention it!- what's your deal?" Lance crossed his arms as Hunk managed to touch one of the mini satellites.
"Second warning Hunk!" Pidge glared. Hunk grumbled and let go.
"Look Pidge, if we're gonna bond as a team we can't have any secrets." Lance pouted. There was a moment's pause.
"..Fine. The world as you know it is about to change. The partnering mission didn't fail because of some system malfunction- STOP TOUCHING MY STUFF!" Pidge cried out, baring his teeth.
Hunk slumped to one side on the roof.
Pidge continued. "..So I've been scanning the system and I've been picking up manufactured zombie DNA strands in the base-"
"WHOA- what?" Hunk got up instantly from the ground. "Zombies?" He asked, acutely worried. Lance stayed unmoving,
"Okay, so you're insane. Got it."
"I'm serious, my scanner can't reach that far down underground- but near the surface there was a few traces. And I picked up a video sound recording of the zombies- they kept one repeating one word: Altea." He picked up his notebook covered in crude doodles of some sort of symbol, and he pointedly tapped it.
"And tonight, it's going crazier than I have ever heard it."
"How crazy?"
Speakers all across the Garrison turned on.
Attention students. This is not a drill- we are on lock-down. All students are to remain in their barracks until further notice.
Hunk got up, looking around. "What's going on? I-" There was a deafening explosion let off in the distance, the three shrieking and falling down as the roof shook into near rubble. Wide eyed, Pidge shot a finger at the sound of the explosion. "Look!"
There was a large torch ball of a sick orange entangled with purple electricity, rupturing the only Galra base in the entire state. It was far and the bomb was limited, but the visible radiation let by it was massively wide. The nearby quiet city now winded into chaos, with people screaming and cars honking- all audible to the rooftop of Garrison. Lance gawked. "Holy Cro..."
Pidge took a pair of binoculars and watched all the wreckage in the city unfurl. "Oh no..."
Lance swiped the lorgnettes from Pidge and looked for himself. "What-what is it?" The flare of the radiation reached the outskirts of the city. The unfortunate skyscrapers to get entangled with the flare was melted, the walls peeling back like paint. And the people...
"This can't be..."
Hunk took a turn on the sights, and shoved it back to Pidge after one second. "T-that's- oh no. I'm gonna be sick- oh god." Hunk pressed his hands against his mouth.
A more leveled alarmed was now ringing, causing every single security derby to drive out. They were driving toward the city, and more were going off to the Galra base. Pidge packed his stuff and got up. "We gotta go there and see what's going on."
"Hunk come on." Lance went after Pidge and called for Hunk to come. Hunk, just recovering got up and ran too.
"Oh, this is the worst team building exercise ever."
Stealing a car from the Garrisons wasn't too much of a problem for Pidge, the only problem was Lance's driving. "Buckle your seat belts, cause here we GO." Lance lurched the car forward, the tires screeching onto the unpaved road.
"L-lance could you, uh, try shaking it less?" Hunk gulped, gripping onto the sides hard.
"Do you even know how to drive?" Pidge sat in the back, much to his dismay.
"ExCUSE me- of course I do! What kind of man would I be if I didn't?" Lance said through a roguish smile.
After one long and dizzying car ride, with Hunk puking out the window once or twice, they arrived at the scene. Pidge suggested they go up on a ledge nearby to be safe out of view. The Galran base here was isolated from the city- but still close enough. It was in the middle of a desert, not counting the east city line.
"Man..." Hunk breathed, looking back through the scope and to the city behind. "The buildings are... do you think they're alive? I-I mean the people?" Hunk looked sullen.
"Oh, if I'm right- which is most likely, they're plenty alive." Pidge answered grimly.
"Phew, well that's a relief- wait a minute.. Oh no, Pidge, are they really zombies now? H-how fast will it spread and stuff?" He realized.
"Well, the bomb let out a massive amount of the DNA into the air, but I'm sure it wouldn't do any harm unless it is injected into the bloodstream. From what we've seen back there those people had open wounds and-"
"Hey- Pidge take a look at this!" Lance was wild-eyed. "There are a ton of Garrison- scientists and soldiers, grouping around the base."
Pidge's view went there as well. "Why aren't the Galra doing anything about it? They're always so protective."
"Argh, there are too many guards- we can't get past that." Lance's brow furrowed.
"Aw man, yeah I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks huh?" Hunk said with false dejection, and was already on his way back to the car until Pidge piped up.
"Hey guys? I grabbed a feed from one of the cameras in there. Check it out." Pidge angled her laptop.
Broadcasted on the tiny screen was a tall, muscular man, tightened against a metal table. He looked strong, but couldn't do anything to break free.
"Hey- what are you doing?" His voice hitched with fear and fatigue.
"Calm down Shiro- we just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you."
"No- you have to listen to me. You have no idea how long they've been- argh, planning this. You need to stop this before it spreads anymore- the Galra.. augh!" Shiro struggled against the restraints.
"That's Shiro!-he was in the Association Mission and one of the best agents ever. That guy's my hero!" Lance jabbered.
"Guess he's not blown to bits after all." Hunk added. Pidge looked albeit upset.
"But where's the rest of the crew?"
One of the men in a white, protective suit continued. "Do you know how long you've been gone?" Shiro pulled at the straps.
"I don't know, months- years? Look there's no time. The Galra have a plan to destroy the world- there are so many, it's global! We MUST contact Altea." He urged.
"Altea!" Pidge exclaimed.
"Sir, take a look at this. It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic." One man spoke. Another ordered, "Put him under until we know what that thing can do."
Already at the words "put him under" Shiro lifted his head up, frazzled. "Wha- no, no no! Don't put me under, there's no time!"
"They didn't ask about the rest of the crew." Pidge said in a quiet voice.
"What are they doing, the guy's a legend- aren't they even gonna listen to him?" Lance asked.
"We have to get him out."
Hunk got up, hands raised in protest. "Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason here- always- but weren't we just watching on TV because there was NO way to get past the guards?"
"That was before we were properly motivated. We just gotta think." Lance propped his finger under his chin. "..Could we tunnel in?"
Pidge joined. "Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in?"
"OR we dress up as cooks- head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary, with a late night snack." Hunk suggested, smiling from the idea.
"... No. What we need is a distraction." Lance answered.
No sooner than he ended, a series of flashy explosions rippled through the plateau, triggering the alarms once more. Hunk hollered.
"What was that- was that the zombies- or the Galra?! How did they-" Hunk stopped his hyperventilating when Pidge interjected.
"No, those explosions WERE a distraction. For him." Pidge pointed out a hovering vehicle landing near the sight, with a small figure hopping off. "The Garrison's headed toward the blast, and he's sneaking in through the other side!"
Lance zoomed in with his binoculars. "No way!" His grip tightening. "Oh he is not going to beat us in there- that guy's always trying to one up me." Lance got up and began to run down the slanted ledge.
"Who is it?" Hunk asked.
"Keith!"
"Who?" Pidge picked up his bag.
Hunk continued. "Are you sure?"
"Oh- I'd recognize that mullet anywhere." Lance confirmed. Pidge exasperatedly ran after them. "Who's Keith?!" They all slid down the ledge, dust kicking from beneath their feet.
Back inside the lab, two doors hummed and opened. And all the scientists turned to the figure at the doorway. Keith.
As Lance described, he had a black mullet with spiky bangs and a pair of violet eyes. A red and white cropped jacket with matching boots, black shirt and pants underneath, and fingerless gloves clothed the intruder. He had a mouth mask on as well- covering his ashen skin, but that didn't stop him from looking angry. The three men, alert, took off to the boy. "Hey!"
Within two swift kicks and one powerful punch, he knocked the men out, crashing them into the science equipment. He hopped over the bodies and straight to Shiro, pulling his bandanna off. Carefully, he nudged Shiro's unconscious face to his. He remembered him slightly differently. That scar spreading across his nose wasn't old, right? The tuft of hair on his forehead was now white, but it didn't effect the rest of his short black cut. And his right arm...
"Shiro?" Aghast, he flipped out a knife and smoothly cut the straps. Before he could walk out with Shiro leaning onto one of his arms, an abrupt voice entered the lab.
"Nope!- ah no, nononono, no you don't, I'm saving Shiro." Lance roughly pushed away the table, hoisting Shiro's other arm around his neck.
"Who are you?" Keith felt disrupted.
"Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance." A pause. "We were at the same galaxy class at the Garrison?"
"Really are you an engineer?" Keith guessed.
"No, I'm a pilot- we were like rivals you know, Lance and Keith neck-and-neck?" Lance jogged his "rival's" memory.
"Oh wait, I remember you." Keith had a distasteful look. "You're a cargo pilot."
"Well, not anymore I'm fighter class thanks to you washing out." Keith eyed him up and down. This... boy had chocolate skin and a very morphable face- his eyebrows moving with ease. He had a light blue shirt with the Garrison military jacket on- though it looked like it had some modifications. Blue jeans and regular sneakers- he had a similar thin body frame to Keith's- but was a few inches taller.
Monotonous, Keith said, "Well, congratulations." And they both began to carry Shiro out the doors.
"Oh man- they're coming back and they do NOT look happy." Hunk said before turning to run towards Keith's strange hover bike. "Uh- do you mind if we catch a ride with you?" He climbed onto the back of the vehicle, causing it to creak and tilt backwards promptly.
Pidge shrieked. "Is this- thing gonna be big enough for all of us?" He asked, unsure.
Keith gave an annoyed no. He looked up to see bright headlights racing towards the group. Keith thrust the handles forward and the engines blasted, flying into the air.
The hover vehicle sped down the long desert- opposite from the city, but the Garrison derby was catching up.
Lance looked back. "Can't this thing go any faster?"
"We could toss out some nonessential weight." Keith deadpanned. Lance looked around.
"Oh right!... ...-Okay so that was an insult, I get it."
Keith called out to Hunk. "Big man, lean left!" Hunk obeyed, and by doing so the entire motor tipped way over- creating a sharp change of direction. The derbys behind couldn't keep up the same change at the speed they're going, so two of them toppled over and got wrecked.
"Big man- lean right!" Hunk held his breath and jerked himself right. They were all headed down an open gorge- landing on a built in path in the side. Another derby pummeled while everybody screamed.
"Guys- tututututut, is that a cliff up ahead?" Hunk's headband whipped and lashed crazily in the air and he raised a finger. Indeed, there was. Despite everyone's panic and "nonono"s, Keith leaned forward and thrust his handles more. "Yep."
All but Keith and Shiro shouted when the vehicle plummeted off of level ground and down, down, down.
"What are you doing you're gonna kill us all!" Lance stumbled on one of the wings, shaking as the vehicle throttled into the air.
"Shut up and trust me!" Keith rasped and tugged at the brakes, cranking his foot pedals back. Right before they could hit the ground, the hover bike blasted wind underneath, inches from impact.
Speeding on ahead, they fled down the desert horizon, far away from the city and far from the Garrisons.