Chapter 1 – The Path Laid Before
Lance McClane had not expected to spend his little downtime in the city in what was essentially a private home on the borders of said city. Nor did he expect to be blurting out all of his insecurities to someone he had met at a bar mere hours before. But here he stood, or rather, sat, spilling his guts to the alien before him. The blue skin and orange hair of his host seemed to cast an eerie glow in the dim lighting.
"And well, I feel like they could just decide to replace me as soon as someone better comes along. Which can't be too hard, right? We go to so many places."
Reaching across the table, Lance's host held his hands firmly, speaking in a calm, friendly tone. "All you're doing, my friend, is telling me what you feel. I told you that I could help you, but I need to know where these feelings came from before I tell you about the why of their existence."
"You sure you can help?"
"Yes," the man said. "You are someone with a great destiny, Lance, but your current path seems to be leading you to ruin rather than the greatness that you truly deserve. Now, what happened when you got here?"
"The distress beacon is emerging from a planet known as Kuohl, Princess," Coran began as he looked over a readout on the console in front of him. "They claim that the Galra has unleashed a "new weapon" against them and it's overwhelming their forces."
"We're getting a lot of these 'Galra superweapons' lately, aren't we?" Pidge asked.
Shiro nodded. "It makes sense. They know that Voltron is their primary enemy, so they've deployed weapons specifically to take it out."
"So then it's a trap," Lance said. "Why walk into it?"
"It's a little more complicated than that," Coran continued. "You see, Kuohl has been engaged in a civil war for several cycles now, but recently the counter-revolutionary forces have pledged their loyalty to the Galra. Drive off the revolutionaries and they will fall into line as a Galra puppet regime."
"Again," Lance said, "obvious trap. SOS from civil war. New Galra superweapon backed by the army. Isolate and destroy. No one here sees the problem?"
"You would leave innocents to suffer at the hand of the Galra? Because of your own cowardice?"
Turning around, Lance saw the face of an extremely cross Alura, staring a hole in him. For his part, he didn't know how to react.
"What?"
"You would leave innocents, innocents we have confirmed to be in mortal peril, to their demise because you think there may be a risk? You're already full of negative traits, and now I need to add cowardice to the list? Why you remain the…"
"FINE! LET"S GO THEN!"
The others were taken aback by the shout, but nodded at the confirmation, ready to move out. For her part, Allura said nothing to Lance, instead just turning to Coran.
"Coran, set a course for Kuohl,. Try to pinpoint where the forces are moving in from. Perhaps we can surprise them."
"At once Your Highness!" the orange-haired Altean said before punching a set of coordinates into the console in front of him.
"No time to waste people," Shiro said. "Let's move!"
"You commander, this 'Princess' is a bit of a blowhard. Actually, forget that. She's a complete blowhard according to your story."
"She's not," Lance said defensively before taking a drink from the glass in front of him. "She just always yells at us, and has open contempt for me…"
"More?"
"Yeah! Something about this stuff, I can't tell, but it really takes the edge off."
Pouring the liquid from a green-tinted glass pitcher, the blue-skinned man smiled. "It's just a drink native to the area. Water, minerals, and some herbs for flavoring. Quite good."
"Extremely," Lance replied. "So, as I was saying, I was strongarmed by Princess bi…wait."
"Something the matter my friend?"
"No, I just never thought I'd ever call Allura that. I mean, I didn't mean to call her…"
"Your true feelings are coming out, Blue Paladin. You are no longer restrained. This is good. Now, continue."
"But anyway, I was strong-armed into going, and we went in, expecting the worst."
"You found it I presume."
The five Lions launched from the Castle in search of their prey. Soon enough, as they had entered the atmosphere of the planet, they had found it. Two smaller cruisers backed by fighters and ground tanks advancing on a city against a far smaller force. The enemy forces were all covered in the purple hues distinctive of Galra-made weaponry.
"They see us coming!" Keith announced to the group. "Not so bad, right?"
"Only two cruisers," Hunk answered. "See Lance? You were worried for nothing! We can take em!"
"Break off and engage the cruisers first, then we'll focus on the ground forces!" Shiro said. Immediately the Lions began charging the cruisers, firing at their gun emplacements and then their engines. The Lions danced around their prey, firing all the while and ensuring that the barrage the cruisers faced was relentless. One of them, overwhelmed by the immense damage inflicted on it when the Yellow Lion's claws sunk into the engines of the cruiser, began to rapidly lose altitude and fall towards the ground.
"One down!" Pidge said. "One to go!"
For a moment in his cockpit, Lance began to relax, looking at the other cruiser with a sense of inevitable triumph. Smoke plumes emerged from it were gun batteries once were and the ship showed signs of heavy damage. Destroying it was a matter of when not if.
And then, without warning, it arrived.
Above the Lions, casting a shadow on the battlefield was a massive warship, guns targeted at the Lions, while fighter jets launched to support the smaller invasion force.
"You had to say something, didn't you?" Lance snapped.
"Cut the chatter, Lance!" Shiro said. "Everyone, there's only one way we're going to bring down that battleship! FORM VOLTRON!"
"Doesn't the mighty Voltron eat Galra battleships for lunch?"
"How would you know?" Lance asked.
"Your stories are not told in a vacuum, my friend. Tales of the Paladins spread far and wide, of the heroic Black Paladin, the genius Green Paladin, the Yellow Paladin with the strength of ten men, the Red Paladin and his obedient love, the Blue Pal...
"THAT"S A GODDAMN LIE!" Lance shouted, standing up and nearly tossing the glass at the wall. The man smiled.
"I made that last one up."
"Don't," was all Lance said, retaking his seat. "I'm not."
"My apologies. It won't happen again. Now, your story was just getting good. Your premonition had proven true despite the doubts of those around you. What happened next?"
Drinking the entire glass in front of him, Lance continued. "A Galra battleship isn't too bad. But this wasn't just a Galra battleship, oh no. They had a surprise waiting for us."
The combined form of Voltron flew above the battleship, prepared to attack. But the battleship did not fire its guns. Instead, several panels on the deck of the ship opened, revealing six gigantic, identical looking machines, humanoid in shape, but with the faces of animals, complete with snouts and piercing jaws. Each held a sword a shield in their hands.
"Robeasts?" Hunk asked. He was answered by the six jumping towards Voltron, propelled by jets in their feet towards Voltron with their swords ready to attack.
"Pidge! Keith!"
A sword and shield formed in Voltron's hands to deflect the attacks from the Robeasts, the first two parried, and the second two blocked with the shield. However, the final two found an opening on Voltron's legs, slashing at them and causing the machine to stumble and fall.
"We're losing altitude!" Lance shouted.
"Hold on!" Hunk said, jamming his bayard into the slot in his cockpit. Immediately a cannon formed in Voltron's arms, blasting the enemy machines in front of it. Unfortunately, their shields were already prepared for the attack, blocking the blasts.
"No good!" Hunk said.
"It bought us some time," Shiro replied as Voltron touched down on the surface, unharmed. The six Robeasts followed, swords drawn, surrounding the robot.
"We can't take all six of them at once!" Lance said, only for Keith to interrupt.
"Lance, shut up and do something useful, like think of a plan!"
Lance's objections or anyone else's idea of a plan were cut short by the thunderous boom of cannon fire from the battlecruiser. The six Robeasts had cleared out of the way to allow the cannon to fire with impunity, the shield of Voltron barely holding out against the blasts.
"Shield's fried!" Pidge warned. "We need to move!"
"Look!" Lance shouted.
Sure enough, the six Robeasts had resumed their attack, slashing at Voltron with incredible speed. While defending one, another found the opening to strike, and soon the various strikes added up, leaving the machine on the ground, heavily damaged.
"Oh my word, how did you escape? Did you come up with a plan? Did your friends?"
"You know, I wouldn't call them that now that I think about it," Lance said, taking another drink from the glass. "But no, neither of those happened."
BLAM!
Without warning, laser fire began to pelt the Robeasts, the machines unaware of such an offensive until it was too late. The striking blows hit each machine, forcing them away from Voltron, allowing it to rise up. Not wasting any time, Hunk reformed the cannon in Voltron's arms, but rather than fire at the Robeast, fired at the battlecruiser, leaving a massive hole in the midst of the ship, causing the cruiser to lose altitude.
Immediately, the cruiser began to pull away, recalling its fighters. Not wanting to be left behind, the six Robeasts flew back up to it as well, Hunk firing at them all the while. Unlike the battleship, the broad shields each carried deflected the blasts, allowing the machines to escape from the battle.
"Way to go Hunk!" Pidge exclaimed.
"Gotta agree," Shiro added. "Nice shot."
"Aw come on guys, you're gonna make me blush."
The Paladins, a sense of relief having washed over them, looked on at the allied forces that had given them the opening. Smiling, Voltron turned to them.
"Don't be alarmed!" Shiro said. "We are here to help!"
"So blind luck let you win the day?"
"Just about." Taking another drink, Lance added, "they always respected fat boy's shooting skills more than mine. Like it takes a lot of skill to fire an LMG all over the room. What I do takes practice, dammit!"
"Something tells me that wasn't the end of it."
"No, I had to get raked over the coals when we meet with our so-called 'allies' at their base…"
If it was not for your help, Paladins of Voltron, our capital city would have surely fallen today against the Galra and their Tiglon Robeasts."
The Voltron Paladins stood in front of the commanders of the Resistance forces over a large circular table, after having been escorted to a building known as the Heroes Hall. According to their hosts, the Heroes Hall was one of the last buildings of the old united government to still be standing in the civil war, which is why they chose to use it as the headquarters of their military. Lance grinned slightly at the round table, reminded of the old legends of King Authur and his knights, noblemen who battled the forces of evil and protected fair maidens. If only it were so simple in real life. The blue-skinned aliens seemed welcoming, offering seats to the Paladins and Allura.
"Tiglon?" Allura asked.
"Machines meant to be half-tiger, half-lion, presumably to be more ferocious than the mighty lions. But with your help, we won the day. The loyalist forces will soon lose their support when they find the price of their freedom isn't enough to quash the rebellion."
"And to think," Keith said, "we almost didn't come in time because someone thought it was a trap." Staring at Lance when he said this, Keith said nothing else, but his expression spoke volumes. It was one not lost on the Kuohl commander.
"The Blue Paladin would shirk us in our hour of need?"
"What?" Lance said, taken aback by the sudden insult. "No! I just wanted to…"
"It's a good thing you didn't listen to this spineless Walderfish of a Paladin! If the Galra had come in unopposed, we would have been wiped out!"
Shiro attempted to speak, but the commander, a blue skinned man with thick wrinkles and a worn expression would have none of it, raising his hand alongside his head.
"Guards, remove the Blue Paladin from my sight. He is banned from all further meetings, lest his cowardice infects the rest of you."
Two tall blue-skinned guards emerged, but before they could do anything, Lance walked out of the room, sneering.
"Fine. I'll leave." As he walked out, he heard the commander say something that truly stung, something that Shiro did not object to.
"Black Paladin, you really should get a braver pilot for the Blue Lion. The one you have now is clearly unworthy."
The revolutionaries are hypocrites. Claiming they desire peace when they just want to replace the current monarchy with a direct tyranny. Their battles aren't ideological, they're old blood feuds between clans mad that their rivals have power and not they."
"Well I wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson," Lance said.
"That's why you went to that bar, wasn't it? To plan your revenge against the revolutionaries?" This caused the Blue Paladin to laugh.
"Yeah, I wish! I just wanted to clear my head as far away from those jackasses as possible! No one recognized me or cared thank God. And then you walked in."
"And I saw a man who had a great destiny," the host began, "but who was held back by a team that didn't appreciate his skill and his genius. A man wasted working with incompetent fools, children, recluses, and the blind. When he should be leading his story, not following the wills of others."
"Look, my man," Lance said, "You're a nice guy, and I'm real glad you listened to me ramble about those idiots, but it's not like you have a way to fix this. You don't have anything I can use to stop those hypocrites, and I still have to help Voltron fight the Galra. The others are probably…"
The man smiled, standing from his chair and interrupting Lance's train of thought.
"First, my name is Shurato," the man said. "Secondly, what if I told you I did have a weapon you could use to destroy the counter-revolutionaries, one that would let you and you alone bring peace to the universe?"
"I'd say you were drinking more than water."
"It was no accident that I met you, Mr. McClane," Shurato said, beckoning Lance to follow him. "I have searched this entire planet for one that could use my weapon. Fate bought me a warrior from the stars, wise and rational, but powerful and skilled as well."
"Where is he?"
"You, Lance. You are the one I seek. The Warbird."
"War-bird?"
As the pair continued to walk, Shurato beckoned Lance to what appeared to be an elevator. Entering it, he continued.
"The Warbird is a creature in Kuohl folklore that rises to end the reigns of tyrants. It was said that many, many cycles ago, the despot Daibazall ruled our planet with an iron fist. He tortured our people, ground us in eons of war, and made us suffer. Then, it rose."
"The Warbird?" Lance asked, unaware of just how deep the elevator went.
"The Warbird bonded with a sole warrior, a boy who deemed himself weak and unworthy. He arose, in shining armor, and struck down Daibazall on the field of battle, freeing our planet from his tyranny."
The elevator came to a stop, as the pair stepped out to a catwalk. Looking over it, Lance was stunned.
"That's the Warbird?"
"Quite an impressive machine if I say so myself."
Said machine was a black and blue battleship, the size of a smaller Galra gunboat, but at least twice the size of Voltron, with long wings on the front, and the face of what looked like a masked man by its bridge. Gun emplacements were present on both sides along with slots that Lance could only assume were missile batteries.
"You want me to pilot this?" Lance asked. Shurato nodded.
"I want you to embrace your destiny, not as the Blue Paladin, but as the Warbird that will bring peace not just to this planet, but to the entire cosmos! You are the true hero of this story, and with this, you will rewrite that story! Don the armor of the Warbird! End this civil war!"
Lance looked on at the gunship in front of him, and then at Shurato, who was smiling the entire time. "But then again, if you believed that your friends were right, then I can always place you back in the armor of the Blue Paladin, and you can remain the emotional crutch for those who seek to demean and demoralize you."
Lance tried to think of a reason to not go, of the bonds he had made with the others. But something seemed to be preventing him from doing so. His attempts to think of the things he would normally bring up when describing the other Paladins and Allura were replaced with harsh memories, rejections, insults, and abuse.
It was if he didn't have a single positive memory to share.
"Where is the armor?"
"Follow me."
Nodding, Lance left the catwalk and entered a small room where standing on a wall was armor with an avian theme, white and red in color. He began to remove the Blue Paladin armor, but before he did, quickly turned to his host.
"Some privacy please?"
"Oh, right. I'll be outside on the catwalk." Taking his leave, Shurato walked outside and grinned.
"You will be my Warbird, Lance McClane. And with you and this machine at your disposal, not only will this pointless civil war be over, but also so will the Voltron Paladins! I will finally have power in the universe to allow my seat in Zarkon's inner circle."
Shurato's train of thought was interrupted by the appearance of Lance, having discarded his Blue Paladin armor in favor of the white and red armor of the Warbird, complete with a mask that covered the entirety of his face save his eyes. Nodding, he looked on at his benefactor.
"I'm ready. So, uh, what do we do first?"
That armor will allow you a mental link with your steed, the War-Ark," Shurato explained. "Try it."
Raising his armored hand, Lance began to focus on the ship in front of him. Without warning, its engines ignited, stunning the former Paladin.
"See? You will know everything your machine does. Now, how about you take revenge on the revolutionaries that insulted you? Destroy their center of command and end this war?"
"I can do that?"
"Of course you can. But, before we go…"
Going back into a separate room, Shurato emerged with two glasses. Handing one to Lance, he proudly toasted.
"To peace in the cosmos! And the start of our story!"
"I'll drink to that!"
Shurato smiled as Lance entered the gunship, awed at the starship he had command of while he retreated to a large room with a control panel.
"Hey, Shurato?"
"What is it?"
"After we take out the counter-revolutionaries, can I show this to the other Paladins?"
"Why?"
The smile obvious on his face even with the mask, Lance answered, "So I can kill them."
"Of course."
Two massive doors emerged, leading to a long tunnel in front of the gunboat. It flew out, prepared to attack its quarry. Holding a glass, Shurato smiled.
"So easily manipulated, my friend. So easily directed. But even if you are under my control thanks to my tonic, I think you'll be happier with me in the long run."
In the safe confines of his basement, Shurato observed the screen, prepared to see what the Warbird would do in his anger-fueled haze.
This was one of two scripts I wanted to write about that were Lance-centric, a much lighter adventure that I'll probably do later, and this. Too many times, characters that are depressed are giving really bad revenge fics where they're saints and everyone else is a jerk. Anyone who's had to deal with anger knows that this isn't the case and that more often than not, anger blinds us to the true situation of what's going on. At the same time, watching Season 2, it was clear that Lance had a severe case of self-doubt, and it's not hard to see how something like that could be turned against him.
Enjoy and review. A proper explanation is set to come.