The cell door screeched open reluctantly. Light shredded the comfortable darkness inside the tiny cell. The purple luminescence threw strange shadows across the sole occupants body.
"Da…?"
The Green paladin stared down at the banged-up form of a tall, dark-haired human woman lying on the floor of the cell. Triggered by Pidge's intrusion, she turned her head toward the door and cracked an eye open to look up at her.
"You're from earth!"
"So are…," the woman gasped for air before finally catching a breath, "…you." She sounded amazed, despite the frailty of her breathing, but she made no move to get up.
"Is there anybody else from Earth held in this prison?"
The woman slowly rolled her head away from Pidge and then rolled back to face her. It was the best she could do at shaking her head no.
Pidge's shoulders slumped, and she hung her head in defeat. She sighed before coming back to the present.
"Can you moved or get up?" Another slow head roll.
"Are you injured?" This time the woman hesitated before managing a small nod.
Pidge glanced back over her shoulder at Shiro who was currently checking the last cell on the right wall. Pidge had taken the left side, but every cell in the brig of the Galra ship was empty. Every cell except for this one. Her confusion grew because they all contained signs of recent habitation.
"Hey Shiro? I've got something, err, someone. I'm pretty sure she's form Earth. She's going to need a pod."
Lance had apparently been listening because he was quick to exuberantly chime in.
"You found a girl from Earth? Is she pretty? Why did I not get to come with you guys!?" Just then blasts could be heard over the comms. Pidge cringed.
"Lance! Quit whining and pay attention. You're about to get flanked." Keith growled.
"I'm on it! I'm on it." More explosions came across the comms.
"Are you ever NOT distracted by girls?" Pidge muttered under her breath
"Hey, I heard that!"
"Lance!"
This time it was Shiro who spoke up. By now, he had joined Pidge in the doorway of the lone occupied cell. His eyebrows rose in surprise when he saw the woman. She looked absolutely awful. Pidge used the biometric scanner in her gauntlet to determine the extent of her injuries. Along with deep tissue contusions, it showed several broken metacarpal bones, and a hairline fracture in her right forearm. Most worrying was her punctured lung - a result of a snapped lower rib. Something or someone had put a lot of effort into trying to pulverize this woman.
"We need to get her into a pod in the next…" Pidge glanced at her holo-screen, "half a varga or her lungs will collapse, and she'll suffocate."
They both looked down at her and were shocked to see a small, pained smile grace her face.
"Just…wheeze…leave…hack…me. It's…hack…it's fine."
"Absolutely not. We don't leave anyone behind." Shiro was already kneeling to pick the woman up. He slipped his arms underneath her back and the crook of knees and lifted her up. She gasped and flinched, obviously in a world of pain.
Despite Shiro's best efforts, it was not a smooth ride back to where the green and black lions were waiting. They had chosen to be stealthy instead of blasting every Galra or sentry that they came across. It was coming back to bite them in the ass now. They had to dart into hiding whenever they came across groups larger than four. Pidge's agility wasn't enough to protect everyone at once. Shiro was not the type of man to let her try yet he was basically useless with the girl in his arms. He was forced to put her down every time they had to fight. Her injuries made it extremely dangerous to throw her over his shoulder or put her in a fireman's carry. The ups and downs as well as the time spent fighting had taken a toll on the woman. She was completely nonresponsive now, most likely having passed out from the pain.
Time sped by alarmingly fast on Pidge's gauntlet timer. With only six dobashes remaining, Shiro raced up the ramp to the Black lion's cockpit. He hurriedly placed the woman in the passenger chair that Black had provided. He paused for a moment to check her pulse. It was frantic but her burdened breathes were getting increasingly shallow and infrequent. Shiro let the worry cloud his expression now that Pidge couldn't see them. Her life was slipping away breath by breath and they were a still a long way from getting her in a healing pod.
Pidge launched Green ahead of Shiro to keep his path to the castle clear. Coran and Allura had been providing cover fire while the other three lions ransacked the small Galra convoy. The main ship, the one Shiro and Pidge infiltrated, was the last to go. Keith blew it up with Red's laser as soon and Green and Black were clear of the blast zone.
Lance, Hunk, and Keith raced to the castle after Shiro. As soon as the lions were in their hangers, Allura worm-holed them into neutral space.
"Coran! We need you to meet us in the medical wing to get a pod ready!" Pidge burst into the cavernous room that held the cryo-pods. She pull her helmet off as soon as she had finished her transition. Coran, though, had anticipated them.
"Already on it, number 5," Coran said. He was waiting by the prep table brandishing the cryo-suit in his hands.
Shiro laid the woman on the table just as the rest of the Paladins bolted into the room as well. Just as Lance opened his mouth to say something, Coran cut him off.
"Boys, turn away. If you would too, Shiro?" He turned to Pidge, "You get to help this time. Take these."
Coran proceeded to hand her the first-aid clothing shears. It took them less than thirty ticks to get the unconscious woman dressed in the cryo-suit. Everyone sighed in relief when the pod door hissed shut over the woman's face. Lance had tried to get a peak at the woman and earned himself a slap to the back of his head from Shiro. He grumbled and rubbed the spot but he didn't try it again.
Hunk was the one to finally voice what they were all thinking.
"How did she get out here? I thought we were the only ones from Earth, err including Pidge's dad and brother?"
Shiro turned to Coran who caught the full brunt of the angry glint in his eye.
"I thought you said you were monitoring Earth in case the Galra tried to return."
"We are. No Galra ship has entered your planet's system since the Blue Lion brought you to us." Allura addressed everyone from the doorway. She turned to Pidge.
"I'm sorry we didn't find your family."
"Thanks," Pidge muttered.
"So… what do we know about her?" Keith asked as he turned to look at Shiro who, in turn, looked at Pidge.
"She confirmed that she was from Earth. That was before you came over." She nodded at Shiro. "Her cell was bare. She only said one other thing - something about leaving her there after I told Shiro extent of her injuries."
"So you brought her here against her wishes?"
"She is-was dying!" Pidge glared daggers at Keith. Lance and Hunk just looked between the two arguing. Shiro was resting tiredly against the prep table. Allura was watching uncomfortably from the back. All the paladins had been brought to space against their will.
Coran took charge.
"There is nothing we can do about her right now. You'll all be more amiable after some food and rest. The girl will be perfectly capable of answering questions when she gets out."
"She's going to fall all over herself to my questions," Lance quipped. He was practicing his 'sexy' smirk in front of her pod.
"It will be a couple of quintets at least before she's out."
"A couple of QUINTETS?" Lance's eyes bugged out.
Keith and Pidge facepalmed. Shiro managed to resist the urge.
Author's note: Hey guys, so this is my first fanfiction that anybody besides me has ever read and the first thing I have ever posted on here. Please feel free to critique grammer, formatting, etc as I am still figuring stuff out. If the rating hasn't already given it away, this story contains mature content and most of it is not meant to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. I categorized it as Romance because of the sexual aspect of this(it's coming in later chapters) not because the story is particularly romantic.
