Chapter 10: Technicolor

Pidge was out of options.

"You're not leaving this ship alive."

She narrowed her eyes, glaring. "Watch me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Watch you," he echoed. His grip on his sword tightened.

Before he could say another word, the far doors opened again, and a soldier entered. "Sir, there's been a disruption—"

"What is it now?!" Reggar whirled to face the doors, and Pidge took the opportunity to take a step back.

The soldier blanched. Was it the same one as before? Pidge couldn't tell. "I—I apologize, Sir," he stammered, "but it seems the Red—"

Pidge gasped lightly, her eyes widening. "Fine!" she shouted, desperate to cut off the soldier's report. At her outburst, Reggar turned towards her, holding up a hand to silence the soldier. "You win," Pidge said, and she saw her father jerk forward. "Just…just promise me…."

If she was right about what that one soldier had started to say, then Keith must be somewhere on the ship. Without her helmet, she wasn't able to hear the rest of her team, wouldn't be able to receive an auditory signal from Keith. So she kept her eyes peeled, searching for a visual signal.

"Leave us," Reggar ordered the soldier.

"But, sir—"

"Now."

There!—a flash of light from the catwalk. Pidge glanced up, taking in the figure poised in the scaffolding. Keith had activated his shield, casting the area around him in a faint cyan glow. When she met his eyes, he nodded.

Setting her jaw, she looked back at Reggar. "How can I be sure you'll keep your end of the deal?"

"I'm a man of my word."

Pidge crossed her arms. "Forgive me if I'm having trouble believing that. See, in my experience, the Galra tend to lie a lot. What assurance do I have that you won't do the same?"

"If you're trying to get me to drop my guard," he growled, "it's not going to work."

"I'm not trying. I'm succeeding." Seeing the way his eyes narrowed, the way his shoulders tensed ever-so-slightly, she stood up a bit straighter. "Allow me to let you in on a little secret," Pidge told him, leaning in towards him. "There's only one Galra who I trust. And it sure as hell isn't you."

The commander sneered. "Oh? And who might that be?"

She smirked. "Why don't you turn around and see for yourself?"

Then everything seemed to happen at once.

The knife came shooting out of the shadows, and Reggar barely had time to turn and deflect it off the hit of his sword. At the same time, Pidge ducked, rolling to the side in one fluid motion.

The luxite blade clattered to the floor, and Keith dropped down beside it, drawing and activating his bayard. "Surprise."

Reggar glowered, glancing back over his shoulder to take in both paladins, both standing at the ready. The two sentries who stood guard by Sam and Matt had taken up arms as well, aiming their blasters at her and Keith.

"An ambush," the commander growled.

"I did mention there may be other paladins on the ship," Pidge reminded him.

Keith grinned, charging Reggar without another word. Their swords collided, sending off bursts of glowing sparks. But Pidge ignored their fight, focusing instead on the sentries that were guarding her family. She ran towards them, barely pausing as she swiped her bayard back off the floor. Both of the sentries had their blasters pointed at her, and she smirked. "Come and get me."

They ran towards her, and Pidge launched into action. She slid between the legs of the first sentry, slashing at its knees, then leapt at the second one to drive her bayard through its chest. The robot fell to the floor, and Pidge ran to her brother, taking him by the arm, using her bayard to slice through the handcuffs around his wrists.

"Katie—"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

She moved towards her dad next, cutting through his bonds so that the handcuffs fell to the floor.

"Katherine," her father said, turning to face her.

She took him by the hands, staring into his eyes frantically. "I'm sorry, I know you probably have a million questions, and I promise I'll get to all that later; but right now, I need to finish taking care of this."

He smiled at her, briefly leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I'm so proud of you, Katie."

Tears prickled at her eyes, and she forced them not to fall. "I love you, Dad."

With that, she turned and ran full-force into the fray.

Keith had Reggar occupied in their sword fight. She came up from behind the Galra commander, striking upwards with her bayard. The glowing green blade hit at a chink in his armor, and arcs of electricity shot through him.

She let her rage charge the blast, letting it all out in one cathartic wave of anger.

Still sparking, Reggar fell unconscious to the floor.

For a moment, there was silence.

Keith straightened, retracting his bayard and moving to collect his Marmora knife from where it had fallen. "That thing really packs a punch."

She glanced down at her bayard, then quickly deactivated it. "You," she muttered, glancing back towards the Red Paladin, "are late."

"Ran into some trouble on the way."

Pidge barely heard his reply. She breathed deeply, letting herself come down from her adrenaline high. Wordlessly, she spun back to face her family. She broke into a run, throwing herself into her father's arms.

"Oh my god," she cried. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, I never…I…I should've—"

"Shhh," her dad soothed. "You're alright, Katie, it's okay."

Matt was hugging her from the other side, and she melted into their embrace. "I've missed you so much."

Distantly, she was aware of Keith's voice as he filled in the team through the comms. "Reggar's down," he reported. "We found the Holts. Preparing for extraction."

That pulled her back to reality, and she took a deep breath to steel herself. Pull yourself together, Pidge, this isn't over yet.

Pidge pulled away from the hug, wiping at her eyes. "Okay." She took a deep breath. "Okay. We need to get out of here. He's not going to stay unconscious forever," she added, glancing at Reggar's prone form.

She glanced at Keith, who was waiting patiently a few yards away, her helmet cradled in his arms. Catching her eye, he held out the helmet. "You alright?" he asked, tossing it towards her.

"Better than ever." She caught her helmet easily, standing up a bit straighter as she pulled it on. "Alright. Keith, this is my dad and my brother. Guys, this is Keith. He's cool. Now let's get the hell out of here." Already halfway to the door, she brought a hand up to her helmet to make sure the comms mic was switched on. "Lance? It's Pidge. We're on our way back."

"Good," she heard him reply. "I'll meet you halfway."

Keith turned towards the Holts with a tentative smile, saluting. "Commander and Lieutenant Holt," he greeted, "if you could follow me, please."

It was too much to hope that they hadn't tripped any alarms. Even if Reggar wasn't conscious enough to issue orders, the other soldiers had certainly noticed their saboteurs. If not when Keith fought his way from the hangar to the bridge, then certainly when the bridge went dark, or when Lance made his presence known.

"Pidge, Keith, you've got incoming," Coran said over the comms. "The BLIP-tech scans are showing a large amount of Galra in the next room. Be careful!"

"Thanks for the heads-up, Coran," Keith replied. He looked towards Pidge, and she nodded. With her confirmation, he pressed his palm to the scanner to open the door.

The four of them found themselves on a catwalk overlooking a lower deck. Below them, about a dozen sentries patrolled. Keith frowned. "That's our way out," he murmured, pointing towards a set of doors below them. "We're gonna need to get past them to get out of here."

Matt peered over the edge of the catwalk. "How?" he asked. "Both of you have melee weapons. We'd need something long-range."

Pidge stood up, activating her bayard. "I'm on it." She fired her bayard at the ceiling, letting the grappling hook secure itself around the scaffolding.

"Pidge," Keith said, completely deadpan. "What are you doing?"

She climbed over the railing, holding onto it firmly with one hand. "Um, going down there. Obviously."

Matt blinked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Aw, come on; you've seen me take out, like, twice as many as this."

"Yeah, and you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I'll be fine." With that, she leapt off the catwalk, swinging on her bayard like a vine. With a loud cheer, she bowled into the sentries, sending a number of them falling to the floor.

Keith cursed, activating his own bayard. "I hate it when she does this," he muttered. He jumped over the railing after her, using his jetpack to slow his fall.

The sentries that hadn't been caught in her swing turned towards her, opening fire. She dropped to her feet, retracting her bayard and using it as a dagger as she charged into the fray.

She felt the impact in her left shoulder as one of their shots hit home. She hissed in pain, stumbling back. Keith jumped in front of her, swinging his sword in a wide arc, taking out the nearest sentries.

Matt, coming down the stairwell onto the lower level, grabbed a fallen blaster and opened fire on the last few sentries. As they fell, he held up the blaster smugly. "Long-range," he repeated.

"Yeah, yeah," Pidge muttered. She rubbed gingerly at her left shoulder. Her armor had taken the brunt of the impact from the laser fire, but she was still sore to the touch. That was definitely going to leave a mark. Keith glanced at her curiously, raising an eyebrow, but she ignored him. "Well that's done." She looked up as Matt and Sam came to join them. "Onwards?"

"You," Keith decided, "are going to be the death of me."

"Love you too!" she chirped, already backing towards the door.

"Is she always like this?" Sam asked.

"More often than not," Keith replied.

Pidge rolled her eyes, calling over her shoulder, "You're an enabler and you know it!"

He shrugged, following her out into the hall. "Never said I wasn't."

Pidge rounded the next corner, skidding to a halt as she came face-to-face with a familiar blue-and-white blaster. "Lance!"

"Pidge!" he gasped, lowering the gun.

"Status report?"

"Good news is I've pretty much cleared the path from here back to the hangar," he told her. "Bad news is they now know for sure that there are three paladins on board and they really don't want us leaving."

She sighed. "What else is new," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Okay, well. Lance, this is my dad and my brother. We can do proper introductions later. Let's go."

She gave Lance a push back down the hall, prodding him to lead the way. He gave a little wave towards Pidge's family, then started back how he'd came, winding through the mostly-empty halls towards the hangar where Green and Red were stowed.

"Pidge." Again, Coran called through the comms. "Scans are showing a high concentration of Galra in the hangar."

She set her jaw. "They're trying to cut us off from our lions."

Lance tightened his grip on his blaster. "How are we gonna get past them?"

"Well," Pidge suggested, "there's the certified Keith method of 'eject your problems into the void of space'."

"Bad idea." The words were said in unison––Lance, Matt, Sam, even Keith, all speaking at the same time.

"Fine," she relented with an eyeroll as they came up to the doors leading into the hangar. "We'll do it the blasty way." They stopped in front of the doors, and Pidge straightened. "Lance, you take point. As soon as the doors are open enough, start firing."

"You got it."

"Keith, keep your shield up and skirt around the side until you reach your lion. I'll tell you when it's clear to go."

He nodded decisively.

"I'll cover defense," she finished, activating her shield. She turned towards her dad and Matt. "And you," she added firmly. "Please. Just stay out of the way until we give the all clear."

"Yeah, not happening," Matt said. He hefted the blaster he'd taken earlier. "I'm not just gonna stand around and do nothing."

"Matt, I'm not arguing with you about this."

"Good." He took up position beside Lance. "Cuz I'm not either."

"Matt."

Sam sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Please, you two, can't you go just five minutes without trying to strangle each other?"

Lance was smirking insufferably. "Ready?"

"Opening doors," Keith responded, laying a hand on the scanner.

"I hate you guys," Pidge crouched a half-step in front of Lance and her brother, using her shield to cover them as the sentries––at least three dozen of them––opened fire. Lance and Matt fired back, and when enough had been knocked down, Pidge yelled, "Now, Keith!"

Keith ran along the right flank, using his sword to take down any sentries who got in his way. Once across the room, he raced inside Red's mouth. Red's eyes flashed as her paladin settled into the cockpit, and she roared to life. A few pounces and blasts––and the last of the Galra were down. "All clear," he called triumphantly.

Lance cheered, stowing his bayard and heading into the hangar. Pidge smiled. "Nice job, Keith," she congratulated, deactivating her shield. "Now let's get out of here."

She held out a hand to her father, and he took it, shaking his head. "You're going to give me a heart attack from all your reckless abandonment."

"We're your kids, Dad," Matt said with a light smile, dropping his blaster. "That's kind of our job."

The three of them followed Lance into the hangar, heading towards where the Green Lion waited, her shields still up.

Matt skidded to a halt as he took in the two lions before him. "Wow."

Pidge turned to glance at him over her shoulder. "I told you we had giant magic robot lions, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Matt squeaked. "You did. I just…it's a lot to take in."

"They really are something," their father agreed.

Pidge smirked, putting her hands on her hips. "You guys ready to see the inside too?" She continued walking towards Green, and the lion dropped her shield. She bowed, opening her mouth to allow Pidge to enter.

Lance stood at the base of the ramp and gestured for Matt and Sam to follow her in. "After you."

"Giant magic robots," Sam murmured, repeating what Pidge had said earlier, awestruck as he climbed inside. "Absolutely astounding."

In the cockpit, Pidge's hands flew across the controls. She could see Keith through their vidlink, his image projected onto the side of her main display viewscreen. "I'll go out first and clear a path for you," he told her. "Follow my lead."

"Copy. Coran, open the hangar doors for us."

"You got it, Number Five."

As soon as the bay doors were open wide enough, the Red Lion blasted out, with Green following a tick later.

"And, we're out!" Pidge announced as they shot away from the ship. "Light it up."

Keith grinned. "With pleasure." He opened fire, sending a blast of superheated fire towards the warship. "I've got this covered; you take care of the fighters."

"On it."

There weren't too many of them––Reggar had spread himself too thin what with trying to hold both Vallen and his warship. Pidge took them on easily, despite their efforts to swarm her.

A fighter broke away from the main cluster, coming at them head-on.

"Pidge," Lance warned.

"I see it." She pulled Green into a dive.

"Two-o-clock," Lance continued, staring out of the lion. "Watch the right flank. Ack! Your other right!"

"Lance," she threatened.

"Do a barrel roll!"

"Lance, I will eject you out of this ship."

"Gee thanks, Pidge, I love you too."

Matt gripped the back of the pilot's chair. "Can't you form Voltron?"

Pidge shook her head. "Only got four lions in play. Blue is still at the castle."

"I came in with Pidge," Lance agreed. "Not to mention Black and Yellow are down on Vallen."

Pidge punched one of her joysticks forward, firing at the last of the fighters ahead of her. Deep olive-toned vines burst out of them, and Pidge sat back with a smirk. "That's the last of the fighters. Keith?"

"Could use some backup."

It was Allura who answered, flying the castle towards the warship. "Just a tick." The castle opened fire, sending a wide blast of concentrated energy towards the warship. When it hit the engines, the entire ship started to blow.

Sam stared out the cockpit, watching as the spacecraft combusted. "Wow."

"Bye, Reggar," Pidge added remorselessly. Without sparing the ship any more than a second glance, she pulled up her comms display. "Shiro? Hunk? What's your status?"

There was a moment before they heard Shiro's voice answer. "Just about taken care of. Was that explosion the warship?"

"Yep," Keith replied. "We're all clear."

"Good work," Shiro told them. "Keith, Pidge, head back to the castle. Meet us down here in a dobosh."

"Copy that, Shiro," Pidge answered. "Allura, we're coming in."

"I'll open the doors to your hangars," the princess responded.

Pidge watched the bay doors, waiting until they closed fully before stating, "Green and Blue secure."

"Red secure," Keith echoed.

"Shiro, we're coming down," Allura announced.

Pidge barely registered as the castle began its descent. She breathed deep, focusing her thoughts as the adrenaline rush wore off. "That's it," she murmured. She pulled up her legs, sitting crisscross in her chair. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she pressed a hand to her face, starting to laugh. "That's really it."

Lance propped himself up on the back of her chair, leaning towards her. His mouth quirked in a lopsided smile. "You okay, Pidge?"

"I can't believe that's it."

"Yeah, okay." He reached over, placing a hand on her arm and helping her gently out of her chair. "Let's go."

"I can stand on my own, Lance."

"I know." He turned towards Matt and Sam, offering them a tentative smile. "Come on. It's cramped in here. Proper reunions can happen outside of the lion. Let's go."

Pidge giggled weakly as she let him guide her out of the cockpit and into Green's bay. "You dork."

They felt the castle touch down on the planet Vallen, listening as the whirr of the engines quieted to a low hum.

Pidge wiped at her lingering tears, looking towards her family (they're here, they're actually here!) with a smile. "Shiro will be waiting outside," she told them. "Let's…let's go meet up with the rest of the team."

AN:

WOW those comments on the last chapter!
You guys are great, those comments made me smile so damn much. Love you! 3

Well, this adventure is drawing to a close. Only one chapter to go! Thank you, everyone, for reading!

In related news: I made my little sister start watching Voltron on Saturday night. (She's 14 which means she's the same age as Pidge and that just really ?! with me, like jeez Pidge is so young.)
She told me her favorite character is "probably the emo one".
She also said that Shiro's "eyeliner is on fleek" and I actually had to pause the show cuz I started laughing so hard.

By the way, some of you may have already noticed this, but I posted a new Voltron fic! It's a Garrison Trio Pidge-centric oneshot, entitled 'Peanut Butter Cookies'. It'd be super awesome if you guys checked it out!

As always, thank you all so much for your continued support! You guys are the best

~Brigit