Entirely self indulgent fic based on episode 32 of Mobile Suit: Gundam Wing, except that Shiro pilots Wing Zero instead of Duo and the latter actually gets the relaxing steak dinner he wanted in the first place. (Actual steak dinner not shown.)
Shiro gently, and almost reverently, wraps his gloved hands around the controls of the mech. A gundam, they call it, named for the unfamiliar and near indestructible material that it was made of. Despite sitting in the pilot's seat of the numerous other mobile suits of this Earth - Pisces, Cancer, Taurus, Aries- this one carries a sense of weight that he can't quite put his finger on.
What they have in common though, is the empty and lifeless feeling the cockpit gives. On a deep level, Shiro knows that isn't a fair assessment. It reminds him of the Persephone and the various other spacecraft from home. He loved piloting them all, having figured out just about every nuance and quirk of each Galaxy Garrison vessel by the time he'd graduated. Despite that familiarity, he isn't as excited as he could be sitting in this seat. No thrill of takeoff here, he's already in deep space. No passengers to convey to a destination. There is only a single seat for the pilot. He goes through the motions. Even as the panels in front of him illuminate there is only a slight sense of anticipation for the new craft.
He knows why. He's been spoiled. This gundam and the other mobile suits are not the Black Lion.
Flying the Black Lion isn't like flying any other machine. The Black Lion is sentient. They fly together. He trusts the Black Lion and the Black Lion trusts back.
Of course, this opens up an entire can of sub-reasons why he isn't exactly thrilled. He isn't with his team. They don't know where he is or why he's not with them. He has no current way of getting back to them, either. Can they form Voltron without him? Of course they will, Keith will step up. Shiro believes in him completely. That didn't make him worry any less. He wants to be physically there to do what he can for them.
His eight-year-old self would have been beside himself with envy, knowing that his future self would not only become a pilot for spaceships, but also multiple giant robots. This particular mobile suit, the Wing Zero, looked something out of an outlandish science fiction film. It was humanoid for one thing, as Shiro was beginning to suspect was par for the course among giant robots. It also lived up to part of its name. It had wings, huge white wings that were trying their absolute best to be lifelike despite being made of non-organic material. Shiro didn't know what they were used for other than aesthetic or how the suit was able to even function with them.
The wings piqued his interest though, among other things. This was how he now found himself at the controls of the mobile suit, having agreed to test pilot it at the request of a lieutenant he had briefly made the acquaintance of not long ago.
"Are you ready to proceed with the tests, Shiro?"
He couldn't help but keep a soft, wry grin on his face as he responded back. "Everything looks operational, Trant. Whenever you're ready. I guess I'll see how much of the dollhouse I can destroy." It was a play on words, as his opponents for this test battle were called mobile dolls, and he waited for the anticipated response with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Shiro expected an exasperated sigh, which his wry sense of humor usually got him from the military here. If Trant Clark was, he certainly didn't indicate it in the tone of his voice. It was straight and to the point, near monotone. "Do whatever you want. Whatever it takes for you to fully test the ZERO system."
"Sure thing," Shiro said with a small frown, a tad upset he wouldn't get his witty banter. He instinctively tried to push the levers forward. They didn't budge. Shiro frowned. There he was, muscle memory responding to the controls of the Black Lion, again. It seemed rare metal and wings was where the similarities ended between the two machines.
It wasn't as if he had just arrived in this... alternate reality? Was that what it was? The Black Lion hadn't had time to explain as the battle with Zarkon reached its climax. It certainly looked and felt the part, at least what he could remember from Slav's very hurried and specific descriptions. He hadn't met versions of his team, though, or his family. He honestly wasn't even sure if he was in the right time. The After Colony calendar system here was based off when civilians had first begun to live in space full time. He hadn't had the time or resources to research what that meant in relation to his own timeline, but it wasn't what he was most concerned about.
Not to his great surprise, this Earth hadn't made first contact either. This fact was made abundantly clear to him when, for the umpteenth time in recent memory, he'd awoken strapped to a bed in a hospital. He had tried to warn those around him, which had gone about as well as the first time he'd tried it. They didn't know about the Galra. They didn't believe him.
They were fascinated by his Galra arm though, the people from the Alliance military. There were a lot of questions asked about it and reluctant demonstrations. When the Alliance fell in a coup d'etat, he found himself with the OZ organization, who then asked him to repeat everything.
He almost, almost preferred Slav. Actually he did prefer Slav, since that meant he'd be back in his own reality with his own team and piloting the Black Lion again.
Regardless of who in 'insert organization here' believed him (because truly this reality had an abundance of groups, organizations, factions, and rebel fighters that made his head spin a little), Shiro was not about to let humanity be vulnerable against the Galra. As a Paladin of Voltron without his Lion, that was the least he could do here.
Since space exploration was on a bit of a hold thanks to the ever growing tension between countries of Earth and the human colonies in space, tempting fate by going to Kerberos a second time wasn't in the cards. He also hadn't been able to find any information or evidence that the Galaxy Garrison had ever existed.
There was one thing he could check for sure. If he could confirm that the Blue Lion had been or still was on Earth, then he could reasonably assume the Galra were a threat here as well. To do that though, he needed to be on Earth, and have a vehicle that could get him to that specific cave system. If the cave drawings were there, then he'd know the Blue Lion had been there at some point in time.
Unfortunately, freedom wasn't something he had. He wasn't a prisoner in the sense that he walked about in handcuffs, but unsaid threats lingered were he to go out of line. There were a handful of people in various organizations who trusted him, and that he'd grown to trust, but that didn't extend to many of the more high strung political leaders. It was thanks to a few particularly influential individuals that he wasn't on the run for his life and was instead an amicable assistant.
The fact that his prosthetic arm was a weapon was a chief factor to the more widespread distrust. He had no delusions it was simultaneously the reason various military organizations all kept him around and wanted him dead at the same time.
Shiro wasn't going to not use it, especially when bullets frequently found their way in his direction. The rebel kid from the space colonies OZ had designated as 01 had it out for him particularly. Part of that stemmed from his short stint as a bodyguard for a very nice young woman, whom 01 had also had it out for. (They eventually found common ground...maybe? Shiro wasn't sure but they sure talked about each other cryptically enough)
He'd met them all at this point, the five gundam pilots, as they were referred to. They were designated 01-05, but Shiro knew them all by their (fake?) names and had met them at separate instances. He didn't think they were bad kids really, not overall. Even as a newcomer to the world situation he understood the significance of what was going on, the change they were bringing about in their world. They were young and all would barely be starting flight school by Galaxy Garrison standards. They were fierce though, with a quiet confidence and had mastery over the most powerful mech suits by far. It hardly surprised Shiro at all. That combination of youth, skill, and passion was effective. He knew from experience, and he suspected the Voltron Lions knew too.
Humanity would need them if the Galra came this way.
"The mobile dolls are all in place. I'll be turning them on and targeting you in thirty seconds."
Shiro couldn't help but grin again. "Thirty tics is plenty. The controls are pretty similar to some of the other models." It aggravated certain individuals when he spoke alien. With situation after situation being as gloomy as it was, it gave his inner nerd a chance to stretch.
Which brought him back to why he was testing out this particular gundam, designed and built exactly as the ones the rebel kids piloted. It had been taken into custody from one of them after a disastrous series of events. Everyone was nervous about it. Shiro sat in a weapon, one that was capable of destroying an entire civilian space colony.
And it had.
Shiro hadn't been given an explanation as to why the pilot had destroyed the colony. He had been under the impression that the entire reason the kids were fighting with the gundams in the first place was to protect said space colonies from military takeover. Why one of them would want to destroy one was beyond him. Thankfully it had been empty, as the pilot had given notice of its imminent destruction.
The fact remained that he sat in an extremely powerful weapon. This bothered a lot of political leaders. It did not bother Shiro, which was why he had agreed to test pilot it. This was what he had been trained to do at the Galaxy Garrison. He had the experience leading Voltron to not be intimidated by the firepower.
Unfamiliar with this version of Earth, Shiro had long decided that observation and reaction would be for the better. The majority of those he'd met wanted these mobile suit battles and skirmishes to end and avoid all out war, but there were vastly different opinions on how exactly to accomplish that. Shiro was glad to lend his expertise and advice as a pilot despite the wary treatment he received. He could remember the Galra fighters, their reaction times and maneuvers. As far as he was concerned, humanity needed to be armed and ready, in case of the worst.
"Mobile Dolls commence battle simulation in 5.. 4...3...2…"
When the countdown ended Shiro pushed the gundam forward. Its reaction time surprised him at first, and he had to spend the first thirty seconds of the test just dodging the blasts from the humanless mobile dolls. Already this was the closest he'd found to piloting the Black Lion yet.
It still wasn't the same. He was making the choices and the reactions, but there was no commentary. There was no one to work with him.
Two of the mobile dolls attempted to converge on him. The speed and the trajectory in which he flew was a familiar one. There were no true directions in space, but he flew up in a sharp arc. He had flown in this formation hundreds of times, but there was no forming Voltron today.
Shiro put on the figurative breaks and turned the gundam. On instinct he unsheathed the beam sword and cut through one of the mobile dolls in one fluid motion as they came barreling towards him. He barely had time to breathe before the remaining eight mechs began shooting at him from a distance with their mid range rifles.
"I wonder if that's what Voltron will look like when Lance unlocks his bayard?" Shiro thought to himself.
In turn, he aimed the giant beam rifle. The weapon was powerful like Hunk's shoulder cannon, but lengthy and precise like Lance's gun. This was the weapon that had destroyed both a colony and a mining asteroid.
He aimed. He needed to test the power anyway, and he was facing well away from the colony they were staging the battle in front of. The mechanics of the virtual scope came almost too easily, two rectangles converged in the three dimensional sphere that sat in front of him and served as an interface. Shiro fired. A white beam, its circumference nearly the size of the gundam itself, shot out and destroyed one of the mobile dolls. Moving the gun controls a fraction of an inch Shiro destroyed two more as the trajectory of the beam moved in an arc. A third mobile doll barely dodged and wasted no time in returning fire as the powerful beam disintegrated.
Shiro gave a low whistle. He hadn't used any weapon that powerful since his time with Voltron. "That beam rifle sure packs a wallop," he said through the comms. At the same time he took evasive maneuvers to avoid the remaining seven mobile dolls chasing and firing at him. "Controls are scary easy for something this powerful."
"Don't worry about the commentary, Shiro. I'm going to make the mobile dolls extra aggressive. We need to test the ZERO system that's installed in that gundam. That requires you to be in the heat of battle, as if your life depends on it."
Shiro allowed himself a meaningful, calming breath inside his airtight helmet. He was already working up a sweat from the continued chase. Change course again. Turn on a dime.
"Copy that. Let them come at me with everything you've got." It was time to kick things into a higher gear. Shiro couldn't help but smirk. On record, he was the best pilot Earth had to offer. Off record, if he was asked, the second best. Without any immediate danger to anyone, he could afford to show off and have a little fun.
True to their word, the mobile dolls came at him with full force. For a solid minute Shiro focused on dodging, further testing the gundam's maneuverability and reaction time. There was no need to bring out the weapons yet. The Virgo model mobile dolls were the pride of artificial intelligence. They learned. Shiro would not be able to beat them with the same tricks twice, so he took his time to bait and watch them.
Despite his exceptional abilities as a pilot, the mobile dolls lived up to their reputation. Between the seven of them, five managed to surround him with the other two sending the gift of a shot in the back.
Shiro screamed in pain. The sensation of the beam rifles shot was new. He'd taken hits while piloting other mobile suits, but this was on a different level. He felt this to the very core of his being.
The lighted screens around the cockpit blinked, causing a strange yellow illumination all around him.
Shiro had precedent for what occurred next. Suddenly, it was as if the Black Lion was once again with him, feeding ideas into his brain as to where to go, what to hit, when to attack, when to defend. Yes, he had a partner again. Suddenly this gundam was not just another lifeless mobile suit. It was helping him.
The Black Lion had also asked for trust. Asked for control. It knew what to do.
It was a feeling he was so desperate to have again after being away for so long. He let go.
The effect was immediate. Two mobile dolls fell to the sword once again, this time the unsheathing of the sword a second faster than before, catching the A.I. off guard. Five more to go.
Shiro breathed heavily as he pushed the gundam as fast as it could go. That's what it wanted. He was sure of it. Fly past the mobile dolls. Turn around. No, wait, he couldn't do that. The mobile dolls would had split off and -
Shiro blinked, confused. No, the mobile dolls hadn't split off. But as clearly as he could remember his friends' faces, he had seen the mobile dolls split from formation.
He wasn't given time to dwell upon it as they continued to fire on him. Once again he gave up control.
Slash with the sword. Try again. Sideways. Up and down. Diagonal. He was quick, but not quick enough for close ranged combat. Frustration began to creep into his mind.
"Why won't you just stay still for a half a second!" he yelled.
His breathing became more hurried. He needed to destroy the mobile dolls. It was necessary to bring out the gundam's abilities. What had Trant said when they'd initially spoken? Something about the ZERO system being able to expand the human consciousness - make a pilot better, faster, equal to the machine. They needed this weapon for when the Galra, inevitably, came. Otherwise they'd take him prisoner again.
A flash of a vision. Back in the gladiator ring. Facing down Myzax without a clue what he was doing.
Shiro's breath hitched. Before he could even finish a thought he had the beam rifle fire at the mobile dolls and incinerated two of them at point blank range. Shiro breathed heavily, his eyes wide with fear. Why was Myzax here? That didn't make any sense. He'd defeated the gladiator twice now!
But it had been so realistic.
"You're seeing it now, aren't you?" Trant asked through the comm unit, his voice inflected with interest and excitement. "What did it show you?"
"I...it…" Shiro couldn't bring himself to talk. First he saw the mobile dolls move when they actually hadn't, now he was seeing his old gladiator opponents instead? He hadn't hallucinated this badly since after his first time in the G-machine. Unlike then, his head felt perfectly clear.
"Yes, this is good. It's perfect." Shiro could almost see Trant's manic grin. "I'm going to send the last mobile dolls after you with all of your pilot data from earlier mobile suit tests. This will help you push past your limits."
Shiro didn't have a moment to recover. The remaining three mobile dolls came at him with prejudice. Once again, he fired the beam rifle more on pure instinct than anything else. Despite his obligations as a test pilot, he didn't want to be in here any longer than he had to. This software that was installed in the gundam, the ZERO system, he was starting to not trust it.
The mobile dolls pushed on and Shiro followed after, putting himself on the attack. He used the beam saber to try and catch one of them by the back, but it was a tactic he had used on Earth once and the A.I. was expecting it. He missed.
Pure speed was not going to work. Inside the space suit, Shiro's hands were sweating. His hands gripped the controls as tightly as they could and it took special effort to make sure his Galra hand did not activate.
Destroying a system that toyed with a pilot's mind like this would probably be a good thing. Shiro closed his eyes in frustration. He was seeing the results though and understanding why this system was special. This system made a pilot focus on the opponent, somehow enhancing their capabilities through that focus and showing possible enemy movements. As if it were allowing the pilot to see the future.
It would be far too valuable to use against the Galra Empire. He couldn't destroy it.
Shiro screamed in pain as a shot landed on his back. He needed to end this now.
Turning the gundam around to face his opponents. He gasped as he saw not the mobile dolls, but Zarkon himself, dressed to the teeth in his giant robeast armor. The civilian colony draped in the background.
"The Black Lion will be mine. Your successor is weak," the emperor said. His voice was all too real.
Shiro's eyes widened. He knew, rationally, that this was not actually Zarkon, that the Galra may not even exist in this reality, that this was the ZERO system at work. ButShiro couldn't deny that Zarkon was the enemy he needed to defeat.
But common sense went out the window with even the implication that Keith was in danger.
Shiro's hands trembled in anger. "You won't touch him! I'm the one you want!" The targeting system blinked and beeped at him aggressively, urging him to fire.
A strong roar stopped Shiro before he could. A distinctly purple glow enveloped the dashboard.
"Nope, not it!"
Hunk? That was absolutely Hunk's voice.
That was... unexpected.
Which might have been intentional, because Shiro did not fire the beam rifle.
Soon the image of Zarkon morphed back into that of the trio of mobile dolls. Shiro's breath caught up to himself as he saw the colony in the background.
He would have destroyed it had he fired.
Shiro took his hands off the controls entirely, panting heavily and refusing to make another move. "What...what is this?"
"That's the ZERO system," Trant responded. "It is showing you what your enemy will do in the future. This is brilliant. Continue testing."
"Okay you can do it. This is your moment." The voice rang out as clear as Hunk's had. Whatever Lance was referring to, Shiro channeled the calming sense his teammate's tone gave.
"No, the test is over," Shiro said, eyes narrowed. For really the first time since he'd come to this reality, he took destiny into his own hands. "I very nearly destroyed that colony over what I saw. This isn't a safe testing ground at all."
"I don't care about the colony. Do as I say and finish the test or I will override the controls."
"Don't care?! Are you listening to yourself?" Shiro growled.
"I am. The colonies have never mattered. This data on the ZERO system is the only thing I care about."
"You're insane," Shiro whispered in disbelief, before summoning all the intimidation he could. "Do what you want; you won't be getting any more data out of me."
The controls lit up a soft blue color, the same as when the test had first begun. They flickered, signalling that Shiro was losing control. His fingers danced across the control panel, doing all he could to keep control of the vehicle.
It was a losing battle until the panel froze. Blue light was replaced by a translucent purple. It was accompanied by a gentle but firm roar.
"Hmm I wonder if I can adjust the seat?" Pidge's voice felt whimsical, and the purple lights played around in kind.
Shiro smiled wide as his Lion waded into the cockpit. "You knew where I was the whole time, didn't you?"
Instead of Trant's angry voice, a more gentle one filled the space. "We may have come here fragmented and disorganized. But the only way we're getting out is if we work together. This is our team. Shiro believed in us. We have to believe in ourselves. Who's with me?!"
Keith's voice was a welcome relief. It was confident and passionate. It gave Shiro an immense amount of relief. He did believe in them, but it felt good to actually hear that they were going to be okay without him for a bit longer.
"Thank you, Black. I don't suppose you have a plan for getting me home, do you?"
The panels parted and the cockpit opened into space. Shiro grinned. "Time to get out, huh? Keep waiting then?"
A firm purr was the response.
"I'll leave them in your capable paws. Keep them safe." With those parting words Shiro took the leap of faith out into the open, angling himself towards the nearby colony.
As he did the purple controls faded back to blue.
Drifting away Shiro observed Trant fly his Virgo mobile suit next to the gundam and transfer himself over. There was a decent chance he'd be caught in the crossfire with the lieutenant's obsession with the ZERO system. He closed his eyes, trusting the Black Lion was instructing him correctly.
With how unstable the system was, perhaps this was one advantage against the Galra that Shiro could concede they didn't need. He sighed. "If the Black Lion had to snap me out of it, how can anyone handle that system?"
Trant sped away with the gundam, blinking out of Shiro's eyesight. He was prepared for a significant wait before the colony detected his presence.
A large figure zoomed over top of him. Shiro blinked. What?
Even as it flew past him he recognized the vague shape of one of the original five gundams. The one called 02 if he remembered right. It had sights for the Wing Zero though, not for rescuing him.
Shiro turned himself around and came face to face with what would rescue him. A salvage shuttle, perhaps the size of Rolo and Nyma's ship. The cargo bay doors were open. The gundam 02 must have come from here.
The pilot could be flustered easily, but was friendly and not completely trigger happy. As the shuttle positioned to catch him, Shiro reasoned that this would be just fine. He could think of a worse rescuer.
He allowed himself a genuine smile. The reminder of where he belonged gave him hope, and the knowledge that his team was okay gave him relief. He could sense home was within his grasp.
He was the Black Paladin and he would return to Voltron.