Chapter 1 – An Average Day
This a Modern AU story of Voltron Legendary Defenders as SWAT. I don't own Voltron or SWAT. I'm just taking the characters out for a spin. It's already taking a life of its own. Please read and review since this is not in my comfort zone.
Shiro stepped out into the bright warm sunlight that lit up the sky of the four corner states. He slid on a pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes from the glare of the sunlight that rose from the concrete and asphalt around the apartment building.
He turned and waved to Adam who stood in the doorway. Adam couldn't help it when he called out his usual farewell, "Be safe."
"I will," Shiro called back. He strode down the sidewalk toward his car that was parked in the lot.
He scanned the doors of the other apartments as he looked for movement, anything out of the ordinary when he focused on another door opening and out stepped his teammate Keith who fumbled with his keys as he locked the door and then raced down the sidewalk toward Shiro's shiny dark gray car.
Keith saw Adam still in the doorway who waved his way. A half smile pulled at his mouth as he waved back toward the brunette who turned and shut the door to the apartment.
Both climbed into the car and sunk into the seats as Shiro jammed his ignition key into the steering column and turned. The car cranked over and roared to life. "Cutting it a little close there," Shiro said as he shifted the vehicle into reverse and backed out of his parking slot.
"I know, sorry about that."
Shiro shifted the car into drive, and he pressed the gas pedal down with his foot as he expertly maneuvered the vehicle out of the apartment complex, and into the flow of traffic heading for the Garrison where they both worked.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Keith asked.
Shiro sighed as he swerved to avoid hitting a slower car. "Allura's on my ass. She wants me to make a decision about filling the empty spot we have."
"Why? We do fine as a five-person team."
Shiro nodded as he kept his eyes to the road, "That's what I told her too. She has four recruits she says are excellent shots, but one is also a sniper."
Keith let out a laugh, "Lance will be against that idea."
"I know, but she says this guy Kincaid is quiet. There's one, in particular, I kind of like, he reminds a lot of you when you were coming up through the ranks, but I need to know if I do add him to the team will you have a problem with James Griffin?"
Keith turned and stared at Shiro, "Your kidding right?"
Shiro shook his head. "No, I'm not. There are two others, but I'm not considering either of them. Rizavi is too much of a loose cannon, and I think Leifsdotter and Pidge would butt heads too much."
"I can try to get along with him, but he's a bully Shiro."
"Let me handle him. But can you work with him?"
Keith sighed as he leaned his head back onto the seat's headrest. "I can work with anyone, even Lance. But if he starts on me as he did back in the academy, I will lay his ass out."
"I'd prefer that if you feel the need to do it in the boxing ring." Shiro maneuvered the car into the turning lane. "But if you have any problems," Shiro shot the younger man a quick grin, "See me first."
Pidge sneezed again as she dropped the screwdriver on the table and reached into her pocket pulling out a tissue and wiping at her nose. She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see the brown-haired, tall and lanky guy of Cuban descent standing in the doorway.
"Allergies again?"
Pidge's amber eyes narrowed as she glared back at him. She brushed a strand of her honey brown hair out of her face. "Go away, Lance."
Lance shook his head. "Look you need to take some allergy pills."
Pidge scowled at him. "Duh, have you realized that the area where we live plays hell on my system." She moved over to the window and pointed where miles of the desert was seen in the distance. "That's my problem. Besides allergy pills for me are pointless. If the non-drowsy over the counter pills put me to sleep."
His ocean blue eyes gazed at the small petite young woman. "Why not get an allergy shot. Heck, your dad's a doctor get him to give you one."
She growled as she glared at him. "And be a pincushion for the rest of my life? No, thanks. Now do me a favor and get out of here before I decide to make you my next project."
Lance gulped, "Uhm… No thanks," he squealed and took off out of the room.
She shook her head as she went back to work on upgrading a surveillance drone.
Hunk glanced up as Lance slid into his area as he worked on repairing the sonic gun they sometimes used to get perps to surrender peacefully. The large man of Samoan descent smiled. "Hey Lance, the only time I see you around is when you've either pissed off Pidge or her brother Matt."
Lance stood there for a minute as he gaped at the man. Then he chuckled, "Not this time. I just wanted to see what you were up to?"
Hunk nodded, "Right," he replied as drew the word out. "And I've got some ocean front property just outside the garrison for sale."
Lance frowned, "I'm that readable?"
Hunk nodded as he chuckled. "You bet you are, buddy. But your still my best friend even if Pidge wants to destroy you."
Lance placed his hands on his hips, "How'd you guess?"
Hunk raised a hand and waved it in front of Lance. "That's for me to know and you to find out," he replied as he smirked at his teammate. He glanced up at the clock. "We'll be late for check-in with Shiro, and I don't need any extra cleaning details today." He slipped past Lance.
"Wait up for me," Lance replied as he followed Hunk out of the room.
Shiro and Keith strode into the squad room. Shiro glanced over all of them as a new face stepped in. "Am I in the right place?" he asked as he held his duffel bag.
Shiro stepped up and held out his hand. "Yeah."
The newcomer grinned as he took Shiro's hand and the pair shook hands in greeting. Shiro turned to the rest of his team. "This is James Griffin, and he'll be joining us."
Pidge groaned, "Why?"
"Orders Pidge, and I expect all of you to show him the ropes. And how we do things here," Shiro replied. "Until we get a call, Lance, show him where to stow his gear. Hunk, when you're finished with the sonic weapon I want you to spar with him in the boxing ring."
Matt Holt entered the room, "Hey Shiro, I see you got a replacement for Curtis finally."
Shiro sighed, "You know he only transferred because you had an opening on your team."
Matt, as the almost carbon copy of his little sister Pidge, scowled. "I can't help it. Rodgers bought the farm on that last mission we had. Rodrigo was cleared, so he's back. I needed someone to take Rodgers' place." He frowned. As a SWAT team leader, he took every loss personally. "Zarkon is getting bolder," Matt replied. "And Rodgers and Rodrigo were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Shiro placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "We'll get him one way or another."
Matt nodded. "My team's been kind of down since Rodgers was killed. I think some good competition will bring up their spirits."
Shiro stepped back as an eyebrow rose, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "What did you have in mind?"
"Maybe a sharpshooting competition between my sniper and yours."
Shiro shot an amused glance at Matt. "You want to pit Lance and Veronica against each other?"
Matt shrugged as he grinned, "Why not?"
"You know why not," Shiro replied as he poked Matt in the chest with his index finger. "If Lance loses he'll mope around here." But, as he rubbed a hand over his chin in thought, he quietly agreed both teams needed a bit of a morale boost. "I have another idea, how about a team competition. I need to see what Griffin has got and what better way than the training rooms."
"The obstacle course?" Matt hummed in thought. "Yeah, that's a good idea. What time?"
"I was thinking twelve hundred."
"You're on," Matt replied.
Lance led James to the locker room. He pointed at one of the lockers along the wall, "You can store your gear there. There's a uniform inside so you can change out of your civilian clothes into that. Captain Allura makes sure we have everything we need for the job. Your call sign will be twenty-three David. Remember that."
"Thanks a lot," the man replied.
"Don't thank me yet. Shiro wants to see what you've got so you get to spar with Hunk sometime today."
"The big guy?" James asked.
Lance nodded, "Yeah."
James frowned, "What does he have against me?
Lance shook his head, "It's nothing against you. It's the fact that she forced him to choose between you and the other candidates to replace a guy who went to Matt Holt's team."
"Oh, I remember now. I heard that Matt lost a guy last week to this new drug lord that's sprung up, this Zarkon."
Lance nodded, "Yeah, this dude is really bad news."
Shiro stepped up to Hunk as he worked on the sonic weapon. "Change of plans. I want you to step into the ring with Griffin now."
"What brought this on?" Hunk asked as he picked up a rag and wiped his hands off on it as his dark brown eyes locked on Shiro's dark gray eyes.
"We're going to be running the obstacle course, full gear against Matt's team."
Hunk couldn't help it as a huge grin was plastered on his face. He fist pumped the air. "Yeah, I was hoping for a rematch against them."
Shiro clapped Hunk on the shoulder. "Let's see if Griffin will sink or swim."
Hunk chuckled as he sped off out of the armory.
Shiro stood in the center of the ring as he looked at both Hunk and Griffin. Hunk was taller than Griffin and outweighed the slighter built man by at least fifty pounds. Though Hunk had replaced his teenage flab with nothing but pure muscle, he reminded Shiro of a grizzly ready to take down its next meal.
Shiro turned his head to consider Griffin. The other man was built more like Keith, though maybe an inch or two shorter. He stood at parade rest. He'll learn Shiro thought. "This will be one round. The first one to score fifteen points wins."
He moved out of the ring, and Keith rang the bell. Hunk came out of his corner with chin tucked in and hands up as he moved towards Griffin. His feet shifted changing his angle of attack as he used his left shoulder to protect his chin.
Griffin had the making of an amateur. Shiro's eyes narrowed as his eyes caught Griffin's first mistake. The rookie's chin rose from the tucked position making that an obvious target. Also, he didn't try to shift his body to an angle like Hunks was.
Shiro groaned when Griffin's elbows flared out from his body. Shiro knew this wouldn't take long. Hunk moved in and quickly landed blows to the other man's body.
Griffin grunted with each blow that struck his midsection. He threw a punch which Hunk quickly blocked and landed a blow straight to the chin.
Lance leaned over to Pidge, "What's Hunks score now?"
"Thirteen," she replied.
Lance looked down at his watch and gaped. Five minutes hadn't even passed yet. He groaned, what were they teaching these guys nowadays.
"There's fourteen," Pidge said, "and fifteen."
Keith hit the bell.
Rax glanced at the pair. Griffin was breathing heavily. "I see I have my work cut out for me."
Shiro nodded at Rax, the team's hand to hand expert. "Take him under your wing and teach him. I want him able to take on Hunk and try to win." He waved his hand signaling for everyone to come up to him. "I have accepted a challenge from Matt to the obstacle course. We go at noon, full gear. Pidge will score Matt's team, and someone on Matt's team will score us. Oh, and Pidge make sure you have your gadgets."
He turned to Lance, "Get Griffin outfitted. We'll meet at the obstacle course."
Pidge glanced over at Shiro, "Do I have to do the score with Slav at the controls?"
Shiro gripped her shoulder. "I know you don't like it. But someone has to, and you, after all, are our tech expert."
Pidge groaned. "Just to let you know, I do this under protest."
"Noted."