Chapter Fourteen: Pain

"Intruder! Lotor's in the castle! He's got the Princess!"

Takashi stopped mid-stride and turned. He'd just seen them less than two minutes ago! He ran full force back down the hall and could hear blaster shots echoing.

"Akira!"

The Princess. She'd screamed it, but her voice was still too far off. Takashi ran back to her room, barely pausing in the doorway to see Akira down and bleeding badly. He took off again after the Princess.

"Someone get the Garrison to cover, now! Get them off the tarmac!"

"I've got him on the monitors! They're in the west wing!"

The shouts were coming from his communicator and Takashi was almost to the west wing. There was nothing in that section of the castle but the rooms the Garrison had been using. Lotor would have to either come back towards him or jump from a second story window to escape.

Unless he'd landed on one of the balconies there.

Takashi felt a blow of doubt in his chest at removing the artificial intelligence of Kurojishi and the other Lions. If that bastard Lotor had in fact landed on the balcony, it would have been detected by the Lions.

No, there! Takashi leveled his blaster and shot at the light blue skinned man with long white hair. He knew he hit him because Lotor was forced to drop Allura, who was cast over his shoulder. Unfortunately, she did not get up when she met the floor. She was unconscious.

"Akira's down in the Princess's office!"

"Does anyone have a visual of the intruder?"

Takashi pulled out his communicator while Lotor took up a defensive position and returned fire at him.

"Got him pinned in the entry of the west wing," Takashi reported, ducking out of the way of fire. "Someone get up here!"

Lotor was a good shot. He knocked the communicator out of his hand. It went skittering across the floor with a smoking hole through it and came to rest near the stairs. Two inches in the other direction, that would have been Takashi's face.

"Hey—"

Takashi reached and yanked Lance down by the arm right before a blast flew past his head.

"Hold him here," Takashi instructed. "I'm going to get Kurojishi. I'm not letting that fucker get off planet. Keep your head down!"

Takashi dashed away and ran down the stairs to the main entrance. Lotor had to have a way off the planet nearby and Takashi was going to rip it to shreds, and later, rip the bastard prince to shreds too. Out in the courtyard of the castle, Kurojishi was where he'd left him, jaw lowered still.

Well fuck. Lotor could have made off with the Lion if he'd had a passlock-code. The Lion had not closed its jaws to prevent entry after Takashi had exited it hours before. Regardless, Takashi was up and in the cockpit in seconds and buckling himself in.

"Come on, come on," Takashi muttered, typing at Kurojishi's console. Nothing happened. The Lion remained motionless and the monitors off. In a moment of desperation, Takashi put his key in the console.

The Lion powered up, which was a start, but when Takashi took over the hand controls, usually only used during assembly, the Lion stumbled to standing. It was rough, to say the least. Without any automation, the Lion was a hundred times more difficult to steer.

"Lance is down! Lotor and the Princess are gone!"

"I have visual at the main gate!"

He was at most five hundred meters away. Takashi directed Kurojishi in that direction but it was all stumbles and tripping. The Lion would not run, let alone walk without losing balance. Takashi had no idea how to get the Lion where he needed him.

"They're on the tarmac! He's stealing the Garrison ship!"

Desperate, Takashi finally caught sight of the airfield that had the Garrison ship sitting ready for take-off. It was already rising in the air.

"Fuck!" Takashi hissed. He aimed the claw blades at the rising ship, hoping to lay waste to the hyperspace engines at least. When he fired, the claws went wide by a hundred yards. "Damn it!"

The ship was taking off into the air unhindered and while Takashi watched, desperately trying to engage the Lion's thrusters, the ship made a hyperspace jump.

.o0o.

Akira felt like he was forgetting something. It nagged at him in his sleep until he reluctantly opened his eyes. Above him, halogen lights blazed down at him relentlessly and he squeezed his eyes shut again, knowing how the Princess felt those times he woke her up without turning the lights down.

The Princess!

Akira tried to sit up and take in his surroundings, but his chest burned with pain and kept him lying down. Turning his head, he saw he was in medical next to Lance, who was still unconscious. From the looks of him, he'd taken a couple to the chest as well.

But looking further, he did not see the Princess.

"Hello!" he called out, his voice gargled and crackly when it came out. "Hey! Someone! Hello!"

A nurse appeared at his side.

"Please, stay still," she advised him, looking over his monitors.

"The Princess," Akira spat out. "Is she safe? Did we get her back?"

The nurse did not look back at him. "No. We did not."

He felt a sinking in his chest. They'd failed. Lotor had her. Akira'd promised to keep her safe from the thing that scared her most, and he had completely and utterly failed.

"Gorosei," Akira spoke again. "The old man. I want to see him. Right now."

The nurse looked at him and he noticed that she seemed on edge. "He is unavailable. With the Princess taken from us, he and the Royal Advisory Committee are in charge of ruling the planet."

"Raible," Akira tried again.

"He is with the committee," the nurse told him.

"Then help me up," Akira insisted, grabbing her arm as leverage.

"Please! You must remain lying down," she told him, trying to release his grip. "Your wounds—"

Akira finally got himself into the sitting position. He looked down and saw his chest covered in bandages that were stained with blood, but it was old. He hadn't opened any wounds sitting up. That was good. He was going to have to do a lot of moving in the next few hours.

"They're fine," he snapped at the nurse. "And if Gorosei isn't coming to me, I'm going to him."

Testing his legs, they were a little unsteady but he'd manage. He rushed out of medical, past nurses and doctors determined to keep him where he was. He wasn't going to be deterred, not for anything.

Admittedly, going up three flights of stairs had him panting and sweating more than he cared for, but Akira made it. The committee was probably in the same room he'd collected Allura from…whenever that had been.

It occurred to Akira that he didn't know how long he'd been unconscious. He spared a glance out one of the windows and saw that the sun was setting. Well. It had either been only five or six hours since he'd taken the hit, or a day since then. Hopefully not more than that.

With little grace, Akira opened the door to the meeting room and stumbled through. It was an interesting sight. Both the Garrison and the committee were there along with Gorosei and Raible. They were all shocked to see him.

"How long?" he asked.

"Just over thirty hours," Gorosei replied. He gave Raible a look and a nod and turned to the committee. "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen."

Gorosei walked Akira out of the room.

"Went to the west wing, got holed up, escaped, and took off in the Garrison's ship," Gorosei told him when the door shut. "We were unable to pursue, but we tracked them back to planet Doom."

"How the fuck were you unable to pursue?" Akira cursed. "Kurojishi—"

"Was manned at the time by Takashi," Gorosei interrupted. "Who is being held in questioning. He cannot give an acceptable account of why he let them get away."

Akira knew why. "He took the artificial intelligence chips from the Lions."

Gorosei's frown grew deeper. "Did he?"

"Allura had them in her hand when…" Akira trailed off. "She had three of them, and I have no doubt Takashi has the other two. He probably couldn't get Kurojishi to function properly without it."

Gorosei raised an eyebrow at him. "Your guess?"

"One of the things I trained with Raible," Akira admitted. "The possible malfunction of the artificial intelligence. It was a pain in the ass. I could barely get Kurojishi to run properly, let alone hit a target."

Gorosei sighed deeply. "I will be frank. The committee's purpose at this point, beyond everyday rule, is to wait for ransom demands."

It took a moment for Akira to register what he'd been told. "You're not going after her?"

"We cannot," Gorosei grumbled. "It is not our purpose. And the Lion pilots are not allowed either. But seeing as their decision chips have been removed from them, I doubt the Lions even could."

Disaster didn't even cover it.

"I am—I mean to say, I cannot—" Gorosei stumbled. "I am in no position to ask this, but I must, out of love for that damned bratty child if not duty to the royal line. You are no longer a Lion pilot, therefore of all the people on this planet, you are the only one I can ask. Will you—"

Akira knew what he was asking. Or at least trying to.

"Give me a ship," Akira told him. Gorosei let loose a bated breath.

"Anything you could possibly want," Gorosei assured him. "But you must realize—"

"I do," Akira interrupted. "My chances are statistically nil. But I won't leave her to him."

Gorosei put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed hard. Akira fought a wince, since that's the one that Takashi had nearly dislocated the day before.

"It's not much, but surveillance has found a ship of Daxus origins across Erus lake," Gorosei told him. "It may get you into their system without much fuss. Beyond that…"

Akira nodded. "It's my strong advice to the committee that you don't let Takashi out of holding for questioning. Period."

Gorosei nodded back. "Quite."

Akira turned and headed back down the stairs. He needed a shower and to peel away the bandages to see how bad the damage was. His chest was a collection of stitches. Two long gashes along his chest had been sewn up with more than fifty stitches, and when he turned in the mirror, he saw more bandages. They would not peel off for him, so he got in the shower and let the water dissolve the adhesive.

Getting a second look at it, there was a pretty bad gash on his back as well. He was in no condition to go try to rescue anyone, but he couldn't wait until he healed. He redressed in his old clothes; the ones he had arrived on the planet in. If nothing else, he could be confused as a prisoner once he got on planet.

That, he knew he could escape from.

There wasn't much left for him to do. He got his blaster and looked around the room he'd spent the last few weeks in. He probably wouldn't see it ever again. It was a surprisingly sad thought, despite the meager amount of time he'd called it his.

He realized that despite his wishes to the contrary, and despite his declarations to the Princess herself, that this place had become home to him. A place that he wished to stay, despite all the dangers and frustrations he faced every day. This was home.

And if this was home, Allura was his Princess. He may not want to join this world's military, but he did want to serve that pain-in-the-ass girl. He wanted to see her succeed and flourish as a ruler. Something she would only be able to do if he got her back from Lotor.

Akira left his room and headed for the stairs again. There was nothing left to do but go rescue her. Or die trying.

.o0o.

Takashi sat in the mostly empty room waiting for Gorosei to return. He'd been there for probably a day, if he had to guess. Unable to pursue the Garrison ship in Kurojishi, Takashi had exited the Lion and returned to the castle to see if they'd managed to track where the ship had gone. When he'd gotten to the Command Center, Gorosei had been there and placed him in a room to be questioned.

It seemed the old man was suspicious that Takashi'd had something to do with the Princess's abduction.

It was a ridiculous notion. Takashi wanted nothing more than to keep that girl inside the castle and protected where she belonged. He'd seen too, too many girls her age, with her vivacious spirit, broken and killed by Doom's forces. Like hell he'd ever want the same for her.

But that's exactly what had happened.

Takashi couldn't have ever known what events would occur after he removed the decision chips of the Lions. He still had Kurojishi's and Aojishi's chips in his pocket. Those two chips jabbed him in the leg every time he moved.

Removing their decision chips hadn't just removed their personalities, Takashi had discovered. It had removed every bit of them except the ability to be piloted. And not in the way that Takashi had grown accustomed to. Walking was a hard feat in itself, and without the Lion's added processing speed, firing any of the weapons was a lost cause.

And you have taken away that which was Voltron as well! The Lions cannot form him now!

He recalled Allura's words clearly. Aojishi should have warned him, though, Takashi maintained. He'd told the blue Lion that he was going to remove all decision chips to prevent any more possibility of dissention in the ranks. No more possibility of the Princess suffering for internal feuding. Aojishi had agreed for the sake of the Princess.

The door opened to his holding cell. Takashi spared a glance at Gorosei as he entered.

"He's taken her to Doom," Gorosei told him, sitting across from him at the small table in the room. Beyond the table, there was a toilet that he was permitted to use twice a day, and that was it for accommodations. "I thought you should know."

Takashi ignored him. He was trying to make Takashi feel guilty.

"I am also told that you hold two of the Lion's decision chips on your person as well," Gorosei went on after the silence surpassed a minute. "I'm going to have to ask for them back."

Takashi reached into his pocket and pulled out the two chips. He dropped them on the table and pushed them across.

"Piece of advice," Takashi stated. "Put those back in. They're more useful than you think."

Gorosei collected the chips and gave him a look. "I am not all that interested in following any advice of yours. But I cannot replace them now. The Lions would fly off and be destroyed in a desperate attempt to rescue their beloved Princess."

That was probably true. Still, the stupid planet would have no way to defend itself without the Lions.

"Do what you want," Takashi dismissed. "How long are you going to hold me here?"

"Indefinitely," Gorosei replied. "I was thinking about until the probable death of our Princess is announced to us, and then I was going to take you out to be lynched. It could take as long as a year."

Takashi raised an eyebrow at him. "Raible said that Lotor would want your surrender and Voltron. Not to kill her."

Gorosei sneered at him. "Do you wish to know a little of this world's history? There once was a princess named Lila Fala who was abducted away by a fiend of Doom."

"I've heard this story," Takashi muttered. "She was the daughter of Josei Fala and he was forced to produce another heir. That heir was Ryou Fala and he released Voltron. So what?"

"Do you know who abducted her?" Gorosei questioned. Takashi remained silent. "It was Daizzabal Zarkon. He stole Lila away and raped an heir from her."

Takashi stared at Gorosei in disbelief.

"Oh, yes," Gorosei confirmed. "That bastard Lotor is the son of Lila Fala. He, like his heathen father, is gifted with a slow progression of age. Lotor looks to be only two and a half decades old, but he is actually a century and a half old."

It made Takashi feel a little sick. That bastard son wanted Allura to—

"Lotor has realized that though he is an heir to the Fala line," Gorosei continued, "he cannot command Voltron because Voltron was resurrected from his uncle, not his mother. But if he were to create heirs from Allura, he would be unstoppable."

"So why are you just sitting here guilt-tripping me?" Takashi demanded. "Go after them! Put the chips back in the Lions and go take them down! Quit wasting time!"

Gorosei regarded him coolly. "What does it matter to you? Only one day ago, you plotted to take away the rights of that girl yourself."

"It was for her own good," Takashi muttered.

"Her own good," Gorosei repeated. "Interesting that you feel you ultimately know what's best for her. Your short association of eight weeks makes you knowledgeable about what's best for her. She is lucky that I spoke to Raible before he spoke to the committee, then I suppose. Because you almost put her into a forced marriage."

"What?"

"Prince Trace, from planet Lendil," Gorosei told him. "Mordune system. The committee was in negotiations for her hand in marriage. It is most likely that you would have ensured it."

Takashi rolled his eyes.

"Don't believe me?" Gorosei guessed. "Well, you'll see for yourself when the Prince comes to greet her. Oh, wait. He cannot. Because our Princess was stolen away, aided by your incompetence!"

Takashi shifted and attempted to ignore the man. It was obvious that Takashi was being held as a political prisoner. They'd likely not let him out of this room but to execute him, as Gorosei had said.

"And now, all of our hopes lie in a boy who is not bound by politics to rescue her," Gorosei huffed. "While the rest of us hold our asses with both hands."

What? Takashi gave the old man a look.

"Altea's military is bound by royal order to not move against Doom," Gorosei sighed in disgust. "As to ensure the best possibility of her being returned to us through ransom."

"So you're doing nothing!" Takashi shouted, outraged. "What's wrong with you? Go after her, to hell with the royal orders!"

"And risk the wrath of Doom against our people," Gorosei spat. "Is that what our Princess would want?"

Takashi sat back in his chair again. He couldn't figure out what Gorosei had meant: a boy who is not bound by politics? What did that mean?

"About this ass-holding," Takashi spoke up. "Does it have a time of conclusion? Or are you meant to just be impotent until your ultimate destruction?"

Gorosei's face turned red at the mention of impotence. "We are bound by royal honor not to move until our royal heir is returned, or Lords forbid, killed."

"What then?" Takashi pressed. "What if they murder her like the rest of her family?"

"We will wage war against those monsters," Gorosei predicted. "We will fight until the last man to avenge her."

"Is that what your Princess would have wanted?" Takashi shot back. "You need to prepare! They're going to kill her and come at you guns blazing. You know it. And yet you're going to sit here and wait for it to happen. What will you do if they choose to annihilate the planet before they murder her?"

"We will survive," Gorosei vowed. It sounded like a mantra that had been instilled into him at a young age.

"Not if they nuke the planet," Takashi disagreed. "Your caves will be useless, and by the way, they know about that little secret now."

Gorosei gave him a look that suggested he'd known and figured as much already.

"You don't care," Takashi whispered, astonished. "You don't care if the planet gets wiped out."

"Without a Princess to serve," Gorosei spoke quietly, "without a reason to protect and fight back, what purpose is there to this life?"

"You're crazy!" Takashi yelled. "You're bat shit crazy! You'll let every man, woman and child die if she dies! You're fucking insane!"

"I am a member of the Royal Guard," Gorosei replied calmly. "I would rather die than abandon my planet and its people. But I dare you to find a man, woman or child that would abandon their Princess or their world for the sake of living. You will not on this world."

"Then all of you are crazy!" Takashi yelled. "If I were in charge—"

"You are not in charge," Gorosei cut him off, rising. "In fact, you are being held for further questioning. So try to get comfortable if you can. You're going to be here for awhile."

Unable to do anything else, Takashi watched the insane old fat man walk out the door.

.o0o.

Akira found the Daxus ship on the far side of Erus lake. It wasn't well hidden, but then again, Altea's defenses weren't all that great either. Akira's biggest problem was going to be getting inside of it.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?"

Akira turned to see Pidge and Hunk.

"Looking for a way in," Akira answered, tracing the seaming on the underbelly of the ship. "And then I'm going to Doom."

"We're coming with," Hunk stated.

"No you're not," Akira denied. "You need to stay here. Altea will be defenseless if you two go. Lance is still in medical and Takashi is being held in questioning until further notice. You two are this planet's only defense."

"But—"

"No buts, Hunk," Akira cut him off. "You have to stay. Besides, this is a suicide mission, plain and simple."

The other two were quiet for a few minutes while Akira continued to look for a way in.

"Why did you lock us out of the Lions?" Pidge asked, watching him. "When we were battling Scheelock. Why'd you lock us out?"

"I didn't mean to," Akira answered. "I only meant to lock out Takashi. He wasn't following orders and was putting everyone in danger. Kurojishi didn't tell me that I would lock the rest of you out, too."

It was quiet again. Akira found that the only way into the ship was at its landing stilts, and the space was much too small for him to fit. He tried anyway.

"Damn it," he cursed, clutching his chest where it had rubbed up against the stilt. He felt like he'd pulled some stitches. While he was lifting his shirt to examine his wounds, Pidge shimmied up the stilt and slipped into the ship. "Hey!"

"Why won't the Lions work?" Hunk asked as Akira tried to peek into the landing stilt hole. "We can't even get into them. It's like they're dead."

"They kind of are," Akira told him. "Takashi took out their AI chips. Hey Pidge, let me in!"

The gang plank lowered and a few moments later, Pidge appeared at the top, smiling cheekily. "All you had to do was ask."

Akira gave him an exasperated look as he climbed the gang plank. "As I was saying, Takashi took out the Lions' AI. You'll probably have to be the one to put them back in, but do Kurojishi's first. I need to talk to him to make sure he and the other Lions don't go off and screw up my rescue mission."

Pidge nodded as he descended.

"I'll be in touch while I'm in this system, but once I do my hyperspace jump, that's it," Akira instructed. "Get down to the Command Center!"

Inside the ship, it was very ornate. There were accoutrements and adornments that Akira was sure were of some sort of royal importance everywhere. This was the ship of a Prince, alright. Luckily, the ship appeared to only need one to fly. Akira buckled himself in and brought up communications. Soon, an image of Pidge filled his screen.

"What I'm doing is outside of the realm of Altea," Akira informed him. "I'm a one man show, because I am not a citizen nor am I a Lion Pilot. I'm going to do my best to get her back but in the mean time, you guys have to make sure that the planet is safe."

Pidge nodded in understanding.

"First things first, get those AI chips back in," Akira instructed. "Like I said, Kurojishi first. I need to make sure he orders the rest of them to stand down. Besides, they're hell to try and work without those chips. Also, be prepared for a move by the Galaxy Garrison. They're first hand witnesses to how vulnerable the planet is right now and would probably take the chance at stealing those Lions while they're incapacitated and taking them back to the Alliance."

"You sure?" Pidge asked, a little surprised.

"I would," Akira admitted, feeling the first real solid thread of doubt in the Galaxy Alliance. "And then there's the contingency plan."

"Contingency plan?" Pidge repeated apprehensively.

"If I don't succeed in rescuing the Princess," Akira replied, "you guys need to evacuate the planet and send the Lions off in opposite directions in the universe. Lotor can never get his hands on them. Ever."

Pidge's face contorted in displeasure. "I know what the odds of your success are."

"Me too," Akira chuckled emptily. "But hey, if nothing else, I've got this on my side: I've already escaped from Planet Doom once. Maybe this time, I can at least get Allura off planet alive."

"What about you?"

Akira smiled tiredly. "This is what I've always wanted to do, you know? Take down Doom somehow. I may not take down the entire Drulean Empire, but if nothing else, I'm going to make one hell of a dent."

Pidge looked unhappily at him for a long time. Finally, he sighed and looked away. "Good luck."

The screen went black.

.o0o.

It was almost time. Takashi waited in his chair for the servant to bring his food. As usual, the girl came at meal time to bring him his bread and water. Takashi smirked, reminded of earth's terms of cruel and unusual punishment. The girl had no fear of him, since he was supposed to be handcuffed to the table by one wrist. She would approach from the other side of the table, ensuring that even if he had the notion to get up and try something, there would at least be the table between them.

That was the theory, anyway. Takashi had long since picked the lock on his cuff.

Human shields were despicable in his opinion, but Takashi had little choice in the matter at the moment. The damned government of this world was determined to let its princess die by Lotor's hand and, even better, was letting the most inept and headstrong young man Takashi had ever met go after her.

It had taken awhile to understand what Gorosei had meant by a boy who was not bound by royal duty, but Takashi had figured out that the old man had sent Akira to rescue the princess. She'd be dead in a day.

Takashi nodded politely at the young woman who placed the tray on the table, feigning disinterest. She returned the gesture and turned away towards the door. Silently, Takashi stood and leapt the table. His hand was over her mouth before she knew something was wrong. The guards outside the door would be tricky, since the girl was definitely struggling with him.

'Sorry,' Takashi thought as he knocked her out. She'd still work as a human shield even if she was unconscious. Plus, it left him with two hands free to deal with the two guards that were outside his door.

Thirty seven seconds. That's all it took for Takashi to free himself from Altea's pathetic version of imprisonment. The two guards were dragged into his holding room and locked in while the girl was dragged along as an insurance policy. Takashi knew exactly where the security cameras were throughout the castle; he'd helped install them. The only thing left to do was get outside the castle.

He used the emergency exit. The stairwell that lead from two floors below surface level to the open plains outside of castle Erus. He didn't meet a soul. Leaving the girl hidden from searching cameras beneath some bushes, Takashi took off for the lake. Now that he had escaped, he needed to find a place to hide for the time being.

.o0o.

Kuro: Debriefing required. Lion is hollow.

Akira glanced over at one of his monitors as the letters flashed there. It seemed as though Pidge had succeeded in replacing Kurojishi's AI.

"Long story," Akira admitted. It took over an hour to explain everything to the Lion. He kept interrupting with questions. It was like talking to a child who couldn't keep his mind on one subject for long. First he wanted to know what happened to the rest of the Lions, then the Princess, then Takashi, back to the Princess, to himself and Lance, and then the Princess again. But eventually, Akira got it all out.

Kuro: Demand to assist.

"You cannot and you know it," Akira told him. "I'm doing this because I'm the only one who can."

Kuro: Pilot needs assistance.

"I'm not a pilot anymore," Akira reminded him. "And you have to keep the other Lions grounded. They can't be allowed to come after me or they may get us both killed."

Kuro: A-K-I-R-A needs assistance.

"Akira needs to rescue the Princess," Akira replied. "And I can't do that with five Lions flying around and announcing that I'm there. This is a stealth mission."

Kuro: Suicide.

"I'm hoping not," he said, though with a grimace. "But I won't leave her there with that monster, and I'll do whatever it takes to get her away from him."

There was no response from the Lion for several minutes.

"The point is, you need to order the other Lions to stand down," Akira spoke up. "That is your job. Your duty. You know as well as I do that Allura would flip shit if she found out that you put yourselves in danger for her."

Kuro: Do not understand F-L-I-P S-H-I-T.

"You have to order them, Kuro," Akira repeated, determined to get an agreement from the Lion.

Kuro: Order to stand down will be given.

"And you have to obey it yourself," Akira reminded him. "No heroics."

Kuro:…

"I'm serious," he tried again. "You must stay put or you could get both me and the Princess killed."

Kuro:…

"Damn it, just agree!" Akira cursed, punching his fist into the console for emphasis. Not that the Lion would see or understand that gesture, but it made him feel a little better.

Kuro: Accepted conditionally.

Akira heaved a sigh. "What is the condition?"

Kuro: A-K-I-R-A returns. Resumes pilot status.

This time Akira hesitated. Agreeing to it meant a lot of things that Akira couldn't think about at the moment, but needed to.

"What the hell. I'll probably die anyway," he muttered. "Fine. Condition accepted."

Kuro: Order will be relayed. Awaiting communication recovery.

Akira sighed again, taking in a long scope of the galaxy. Disappearing from view rapidly was Altea and it was likely the last time he'd see it. He let his eyes linger on it for a few more seconds before punching in the calculations for the light speed jump.

.o0o.

Takashi watched as Pidge put the AI back into Aojishi. The kid had scurried in through the nasal cavity; something that would have been impossible for himself. But Takashi knew of the access panel on the side of the Lion. It was the same one he'd used to exit the Lion almost two days prior. No one suspected that Takashi was taking refuge in one of the Lions.

Hell, he doubted anyone would have the balls enough to search a Lion for him.

"There we go," Pidge murmured to himself as he closed the circuitry board behind the eye. "Now to do the manual restart."

The kid punched some buttons here and there that Takashi figured were the sequence to restart the Lion. With any luck, Pidge would—

"On to Aka," Pidge said as he manually opened the jaw and slid out of the cockpit.

Perfect.

Takashi slid into the pilot seat and began typing commands. Postpone update. Manual restart only. Closed communications.

A screen blinked on and displayed a hoard numbers before the familiar cursor next to a name appeared.

Ao: Debriefing required. Lion is hollow.

Takashi sighed. This wasn't going to be the best conversation with the Lion he'd ever had.

.o0o.

As soon as he was within Doom's orbit, a tractor beam had him. Akira knew this was the time to hide. He could only hope that whoever was in command didn't decide to blow him out of the air as soon as they recognized the ship.

The best he could hope for was to be boarded once the ship landed. Still that left him in the predicament of needing a place to hide and a new hope: that they didn't bring aboard thermographic detectors. It was going to be a good twenty hours or so before the ship would be deemed a low priority threat, and that meant Akira wouldn't get off the ship until then.

Unless there was a newbie working.

The Drulean Empire had its fair share of new recruits to train, just like any other militia. The problems were the same: superior officers who would rather hurry up and get things done and skip the thorough training of an annoying new subordinate.

It was a fifty-fifty chance.

Though it had been at least a month since he'd heard any Drulean, let alone two since he'd spoken it, Akira's brain automatically translated the language as soon as it hit his ears.

"Come on you puke. We haven't got all day."

"Yes commander."

"I'm taking the port of the ship. You take the starboard. Got it?"

"But protocol mandates that—"

"Don't you dare quote the protocols to me. I was a commander before those protocols were even observed. I know how to operate a search of a potential threat ship. Do as you're told."

"Yes, commander."

It was perfect. Just the scenario Akira had hoped for as he listened to the two sets of boots walk off in opposite directions. The search would take a maximum of an hour and then the ship would be deemed 'non-threatening' and Akira would be left to do as he pleased.

.o0o.

Allura stared at the ceiling. It was cathedral like and painted a banal color that she didn't even try to name. But it wasn't Lotor, and she stared at it as though her sanity and composure were hidden up there. Because they probably were.

"What intrigues you so, brat?"

The ceiling couldn't block out his voice, though.

She sat in a chair across a small breakfast table from him, maintaining her abstinence in both food and conversation. She simply would not give him the pleasure. Her food was likely drugged and any words uttered to the madman would probably be used against her in some way.

She heard him sigh.

"And all my niceties fall upon the ungrateful."

She maintained staring at the ceiling.

"I am running out of patience with you."

Like it or not, that thought scared her. There were so many things worse than death and Lotor could do all of them to her. But she held on to the vain hope that after three days of silence and ignoring, that Lotor would become bored with her and leave her alone.

After all, she wasn't going anywhere.

She was slapped hard across the cheek. The sound echoed throughout the cavernous room and brought her sight away from the ceiling to her abuser. Lotor did look annoyed, but also amused.

"I can weather this storm of your tantrums," he mused as he considered a half full wine glass. "They are pointless but somewhat entertaining. But I grow tired of the same thing over and over. So stop this petty game of yours and speak."

She considered remaining silent, but the twitch of his right hand brought words to her lips.

"What would you have me say?"

"Tell me what fascinates you about the ceiling," he suggested, bringing the glass to his lips. She watched it and quickly looked down.

"It is not you," she mumbled in a low voice. She expected another blow but instead got the opposite reaction: he laughed.

"I suppose I am the bane of your existence right now," he chuckled, draining the glass. He reached for a decanter and poured himself another. "Then what repels you from the food?"

"I am not hungry," she lied. Thankfully, her stomach stayed quiet on the matter. He laughed again, but it was more of a scoff.

"After three days, it's a miracle you have not dehydrated," he put forth, swirling his wine. "I know humans require food on a daily basis. I have hoards of them down in the dungeons. If they are not fed daily, they drop like palegerion squigs."

She had no idea what palegerion squigs were, but the thought of hundreds of people suffering in such a way tugged at her innate desire to protect a people at large. Maybe if she were nicer to him, she could find a way to barter better—

No. This was Lotor. He killed for fun. Manipulated for pleasure. He'd do no such thing.

"Your conversational skills leave something to be desired," he noted wryly. "Maybe we should up the ante. What would you say to a little bit of torture?"

Unwillingly, she shivered.

"Oh, I'm not talking anything physical," Lotor assured her, smiling a little too cruelly. "I'm thinking more of a mental torture. Something that will help break down that little mind of yours. After all, I do want to keep what I see intact. Which gives me inspiration."

She didn't like the sound of that. Her eyes flickered to him, and she saw that he was wielding a knife from the table—the only one, his—in his hands as he looked her over.

"Stand up."

Her breath shook as she fought the desire to obey him. Her courage did not win when he reached for her. She stood and backed away, at least as far as the chain would let her. As always, it was never far enough to escape the reach of Lotor.

.o0o.

Akira was busy at the controls of his ship. The so-called prince's ship had all access to every part of Doom's systems, which was a plus that he hadn't counted on. He'd been recounting the exact steps since the Garrison's ship landing three days prior and hopefully he would soon run across—

There!

Grumpeth building. East wing. Reachable from a 57th story private landing pad. Oh, the prince had so many perks that were coming to bite him in the ass today. He memorized the route from the private landing pad to the prince's living quarters.

Now the question was how was Akira going to get there.

Akira knew he'd never pass for a guard, even with the uniform of one. The drulean skin was a purplish blue color that couldn't be mimicked, despite several previous attempts before he'd first escaped Doom. So the only other open option was to remain dressed as a slave. But that raised another problem: slaves weren't allowed to wander about unsupervised.

So how was he supposed to get to Allura?

Akira sat debating his problem for longer than he cared to, but acting rash was not going to get him anywhere but dead.

This. This was where Takashi had come in. Back when they'd first escaped the planet. Takashi had a mind for covert operations. So Akira's only choice was to think like Takashi. That meant that everyone and everything that blocked him from his goal was expendable.

Including this ship.

This ship, Lotor's ship, was how Akira had initially hoped to get the princess off the planet, until the tractor beam had taken hold and proved that Doom's aviation sector had improved since the break out. It looked like no ship within a certain distance was going to be able to take off unless otherwise allowed by the aviation sector.

So blow the ship.

Every guard within a hundred kilometer distance was likely going to be called in to take care of the problem, leaving everything within a hundred kilometer distance poorly guarded.

Perfect.

But still, how to get to the princess?

Everything and everyone that blocked him from his goal was expendable. But also potentially useful as well. What was within running distance, say thirty meters? Akira took a good look around the hanger. More deep space travel capable ships, but that was out. They'd all be affected by the tractor beam. So what wasn't?

A skeet ship. The small, one-person ship had speed and maneuverability, and wouldn't be easily taken down but had the drawback of little offensive weaponry. It was used for sentry purposes only and left its pilot virtually completely exposed. Akira struck away that idea.

The next possibility was a prison cruiser. The small ship carried a maximum of twenty people at a time and was meant to be used for transporting prisoners from one part of the planet to another. It was very conspicuous, but in light of other options, it was Akira's best bet.

There. He had a plan to get to her. That was all that Akira could manage at the moment. He'd worry about the other details later. Right now, he'd get through one thing at a time. Using stolen codes from his previous prison break, Akira set the ship for self destruct. It was still risky, despite being his best option, because the self destruct had a countdown time of two hundred seconds and after only thirty, the sensors in the aviation sector would detect the impending doom. That meant it was possible that someone could possibly deactivate it if they were fast enough, but that wasn't even the worst of the situation.

For the thirty meter dash to the prison transport, Akira would be completely exposed.
Biting the bullet, Akira activated the self destruct and ran like a man hunted to exit the ship. Not bothering to look around, Akira made a mad dash for the prison cruiser. Immediately, blaster shots chased him, forcing him to take refuge behind the larger ships momentarily. Very momentarily. Faster than Akira had counted on, the alarms signaling a ship programmed for self destruct went off.

The small benefit was that the guards shooting at him stopped in light of exiting the landing pad. The big benefit was that he made it to the prison cruiser and took off unobstructed. Like him, other small craft were quickly exiting the main landing pad making his exit unnoticeable. He flew for the wing where he believed the princess to be held and landed on the small craft pad.

Akira prayed hard to a deity he'd never before believed existed that the ship would blow. It did. He felt the concussion blast hit a few moments later and watched in pure amazement as the electricity went out as far as he could see.

No cameras. Every guard on their way to the main landing pad. Akira had never lucked out so much in his entire life.

Not wanting to waste it, he ran out of the ship for the door off the landing pad that he knew would be unlocked. Running the memorized route to Lotor's quarters, Akira kept the blaster he'd knicked from the ship ready just in case. In all likelihood, he'd have to face Lotor again before Akira found the princess.

The hallways were eerily quiet. Even though the ship destruction was probably the biggest calamity of the moment, but did they really leave their prince so unprotected?

Well, was Lotor the typical prince who needed protecting? Probably not. He'd all but whooped their asses and stolen their princess from under their noses. Still, Akira was careful, not knowing what to expect as he approached the door to Lotor's personal living quarters.

For this door to be unblocked was the last thing that Akira expected. Hell, he'd have been surprised to see as few as ten guards around this door. But there was not one guard and the door opened immediately at his touch.

His eyes swept the room for threats automatically, but he couldn't help but see her almost immediately. Allura. Sitting on a large bed and utterly alone. She looked empty. Like a shell. The life seemed to have been sucked from her. She was just sitting there, staring at nothing. It was…sad.

Hollow.

All that spitfire and piss that had been in her eyes the day he'd met her was gone. And that thought put fire inside him. Lotor had said he wanted to keep the beauty for himself, but he'd diminished it almost completely.

For no reason that Akira could comprehend, she was alone in the room. No guards, no cameras. It was a little odd. Until he heard the rustle of a chain. She was shackled to something in the room.

"Allura," he called, coming out from the shadows. She jumped and looked confused, then settled back into looking hollow. "Hey, Allura!"

This time she looked up. When she saw him, her jaw dropped a little and her eyebrows knit together. Her chest heaved a little and she looked like she was going to cry out to him, but Akira had made it to her and his hand covered her mouth.

"Shh," he whispered, looking for the shackle. As he shifted fabric, he became acutely aware that she was only wearing the sheets. "Where are your clothes?"

She looked away and her lower lip started quivering. "I…I don't have them anymore."

The shock at finding her naked was immediately replaced with a burning anger. With his hands trembling slightly, Akira pulled the sheets tighter around her.

"Fine. I'm going to tie these on you and then we're going to get out of here," he told her firmly, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

"But," she started, and then shifted as he was tying the sheet around her stomach. The chain rustled and she lifted her leg up. Her pale leg was marred near her calf. It was red and enflamed all the way down to her ankle, where a bloody mess of chains were.

"What the hell is that?" he hissed, looking at her ankle.

"A shackle," Allura told him. "With barbs."

"Shit," Akira hissed. "This is going to hurt. Try not to scream."

Allura nodded and covered her mouth with her arm. Despite knowing it was coming, when the shackle broke, it stabbed deeper within her ankle and tore downwards. Allura squealed into her arm and tried to stay quiet. It was just so hard! When he pulled the shackle off altogether, it was a relief and a new kind of pain at the same time.

"Hold still for a second," he told her. Allura tried to stay as still as possible as he wrapped her ankle in a torn piece of sheets to staunch the bleeding. "There. Try standing."

Stand she could. Walk, she could not.

"I'm sorry," she whispered when she buckled against him. "I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry," he whispered back. "Just put your arm around my neck. I'll hold onto your waist and you're going to limp it. I need a hand free to shoot."

It was awkward at first, but by the time they'd made it from the bed and to the doorway, there was a little bit of a rhythm there. They slipped out and Akira began following the route back out. A problem presented itself: it had taken him only two minutes to get to her, but vice versa now it was taking two minutes just to get down one hallway.

Akira could have probably run faster if he just carried her, but then his hand would be free to blast anyone that got in their way. Still, they were doing okay. The Princess was keeping up as best she could with a maimed ankle, and soon they'd be back to the ship.

They turned a corner and Akira nearly had his head blasted off. He backpedaled quickly using the wall as a shield, but it wouldn't do for long. As if to punctuate that sentiment, the power was restored and Akira knew the cameras could see him from every angle. Sentry guards would be called and find them at any moment.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that stealing is wrong?"

Lotor. Of course. Allura began to panic and tried to back away, but Akira's grip on her wrist was strong. He pulled her back to him and shoved her behind.

"Stay with me," he hissed in a whisper to her. Akira's eyes did a quick scan of his surroundings. Some details about Doom and its defenses still hung with him. He spotted an observation camera in a corner of the hallway fork and concentrated on it.

Tiny and distorted, Akira could make out a light blue blob down the hallway. It had to be Lotor. Now, he needed a window…

"There they are!"

Fuck! The camera would have to do. It was probably shielded in protective resin anyway.

Akira pointed his blaster at the camera and shot twice. The electricity-based beams bounced off and into the hallway. Akira knew at least one hit Lotor based on the grunt and yell of pain.

New blasts came at them from the pursuing guard and Akira dragged Allura around the corner and past the bent form of Lotor. He wasn't down, but his surprise bought the two of them a few seconds to get around him.

Not enough though.

As soon as Lotor realized they were dodging him, he lifted his blaster and shot. Akira heard Allura cry out in pain before she collapsed to the ground. No longer with any other options, Akira quickly scooped her up over his shoulder and turned to run.

"You still with me, kid?" Akira called to Allura, noticing her stillness. She didn't answer. Not a good sign. Akira wanted to stop and check her over, but knew if he did, it'd be the end of him. And likely, Lotor wasn't going to take all that effort to abduct her just to kill her. He hoped.

After two more long hallways and a few turns, the door to the observation deck was in sight. Outside wasn't much better than inside since six guards were trying to get into the mis-parked prison cruiser and all looked at him when he exited the tower door.

Fuck.

Three of them reached for their guns as Akira took out the two closest to him. The rest took up a defensive position around the cruiser as Akira put Allura down to the ground and tried to block the door closed to cover his back. Unfortunately, that left his front wide open.

Without rhyme or reason, the four remaining guards were gunned down from above. Akira looked up unbelievingly to see Aojishi barreling straight towards the observation deck. The Lion landed perfectly on the deck and stared directly at him.

"You were always useless without backup," Takashi's voice echoed out of Aojishi.

How the hell did that asshole get here?

.o0o.

Allura felt some jostling that reminded her that she wasn't supposed to be sleeping. She also felt a throbbing headache and searing pain in her ankle, further bringing her back to consciousness. Blearily, she blinked up at the silver and blue blur above her. With a few blinks, she made out the head of Aojishi hovering over her and another black blur plop out next to her.

"Up you go."

Allura barely caught a glance of Takashi's arm as it yanked her up into the Lion before descending himself. Aojishi lifted his mechanical head and she slid down the neck and into the cockpit before she could anything to stop herself. A moment later she caught sight of the external monitor, showing Akira blasting at Lotor through an open door to the deck.

Takashi took a shot at the demonic prince that allowed Akira to dodge away, but when Akira went for the cruiser, Takashi grabbed him by the collar and threw him in the direction of Aojishi. Akira stumbled a few steps while Takashi continued to fire at Lotor, pushing the prince back enough that he took refuge behind the door to the observation deck.

"Get 'er outta here!" Takashi yelled, climbing in the cruiser. "I got this."

Akira wasn't given much of a choice when Takashi fired up the small ship's engines and began lifting off. Lotor was emerging from his defensive position and Akira ran back to the blue Lion, jumping into the open jaws.

"Go!" Akira yelled, not yet in the cockpit. "Just go!"

Aojishi did begin ascending but also began taking fire. Allura, who had sat in the pilot seat to help Aojishi, was not faring well against their attackers. She moved for Akira when he made it into the cockpit and took refuge near the back, holding on as the Lion took severe blows.

"Damn it!" Akira cursed. "We'll never escape the atmosphere at this rate."

"Takashi—" Allura began.

"Is in the prison cruiser," Akira told her. "At this moment, he's more equipped to handle this situation than us. At least he can defend himself. We're just a moving target."

"You got that right."

"Then how about a little help," Akira snapped into the communications console at the sound of Takashi's voice.

"Working on it."

Aojishi unwillingly rolled as a severe hit took his flank. A new screen showed the Chezda in pursuit of them, amongst two dozen or so other, smaller ships.

"Fuck!" Akira hissed, checking his screens. At least sixty seconds to open space and a chance to make a jump out of the system. A warning went off and Akira almost dismissed it, since several severe damage warnings were already going off, but this was a proximity warning.

"Takashi, what are you doing?" Akira demanded. "You activated the self destruct, and everything else on that ship."

Static was the response and Allura saw on one of Ao's monitors that there was a proximity warning of the danger of explosives coming from the prison cruiser Takashi flew.

"Takashi—" she began, but Ao was rocked hard as another one of Chezda's missiles hit them. She lost her grip on the back of the seat and hit the floor roughly.

"It was truly a pleasure, Highness," Takashi's voice echoed through the cockpit, sounding wistful. "Maybe not that last day, but I promise I only had your best interests in mind. So be great, kid. Wish I could stay and help you, but I don't think you'd really want me around anymore. Sorry about that. Forgive me someday, will you? Take care of her, Akira."

Allura rightened herself and looked up at the external monitor. The small prison cruiser was flying straight towards Chezda's weapons bay. Its velocity didn't slow and the cruiser disappeared into the open bay a single moment before a blistering white light blazed out from it. Chezda reeled to the side from the blast, no longer able to pursue them as it vaporized in the air.

"No! Takashi!"