"Lance, could you help me with this?"
"As long as I'm not touching the control panels, or the wires, or anything else that directly connects to a power source, sure, I can help,"
Coran sat up and gave the boy an incredulous look, but Lance was totally serious. It was the fifth day by themselves and Lance, finally, for the first time since coming back, was wearing his old clothes. He was using the down time as an opportunity to give the armor a through cleaning.
"You helped me yesterday just fine."
"That's because I was wearing the armor GG made," Lance said, "Not going to tell you why, but if I touch anything I'll at least turn everything off…at worst I'll make the whole castle explode."
"Oh, don't give me that," Coran waved a dismissive hand, "I need you to push that button right over there, that's it."
"Give me a minute," Lance said walking out of the bridge. A few minutes later he came back with one of his old paladin gloves on.
Pointing to the screen he asked, "this one?"
Coran nodded. Lance pushed it as fast as he could.
"Ok, push it again," Coran asked, his head under the console so he didn't see the spark that flew from the screen when Lance touched it again.
"Yeah, I'm done until my armor is done, Coran," Lance laughed nervously, "I don't want to break the ship."
And suck up all the quintessence in the ship and leave it dry.
"Stop being a sissy, push the button three over from that one."
"Who taught you the word 'sissy'?!"
"Never mind just push it!"
"But-"
"LANCE!"
"Oh thank you saints," Lance sighed, "Yeah, Pidge, what's up?"
"What is going on here?"
Not something you want to hear right off the bat.
"You know more than I do. Start at the beginning."
He heard Pidge taking deep breaths and Allura mumbling something in the background. If Pidge was this upset, something big had to have happened.
"I can't take it anymore! I don't know how you survived pretending like that! Keith hasn't made any move whatsoever and I'm about to start tazzing some creepy people!"
Oh, so nothing too serious.
"It might take a while," Lance said apologetically, "They found the resistance and it was more like a support group. So they're doing their best to organize it into more of a 'take action' group."
"We're going to be here-"
"-longer than anticipated, yes," Lance finished. Over Pidges agonized complaints the thought hit Lance and he spoke without thinking it over first.
"Is someone hitting on you?"
Silence.
"No," Pidge said her voice strained, "They are all mostly all over Allura…"
"Buuut," Lance wasn't going to let this drop, "One is paying you more attention than you like?"
Silence, it is the speaker of all truth.
"How many teeth does he have?" Lance asked with a half grin.
"What does that have to do anything?!"
"It seems the more teeth they have the higher their status. So the more he has the more he'll be able to care for you-"
The com shut off.
"She is not happy," Captain obvious Coran chipped in.
"Yeah, well, she's not the only one," Lance sighed as the screen sparked at him again.
"You would think she'd enjoy the attention, its not like you boys treat her like a lady."
"Coran," Lance roll his eyes, "Pidge is not your average girl. You can't just hit on her."
"Like you do with Allura?"
"Now you're comparing Apples and Oranges," Lance shook his head, "Allura and most other girls are like apples. Everyone likes Apples. You can dice them, slice them, put them in pie and make tons of other pastries, make toppings, juice them, make them sweeter, mash them; the point is that there is more than one way to make them smile and feel at ease. Pidge and the like are like Oranges. You can peal them, cut them, juice them, and use them for flavoring…and that's about it. Girls like Pidge take a lot of planning and subtly and, even more, patience."
()
"What are you wearing?" Coran asked, a very worried look on his face. Lance had walked in with his normal clothes, but the gloves and sleeves of his black armor.
"You need me to help with the ship, which means I need the gloves," Lance said, "And that one day I was in my original clothes felt so good I don't want to ware the whole armor suit until I have to."
"It looks ridiculous."
"I'm not trying to impress anyone."
They got to work on the lower systems check. Two days since the last call from Pidge and Keith. Shiro was still asleep. Lance wondered if he should move him to the healing pods, but Allura had told him that it probably wouldn't do much good at this point.
"Alright," Coran said as he finished tying up the wires, "I'll need you to go down to the main board room and toggle a few switches for me. Then once that's done we can get lunch!"
"Woot," Lance spun his finger in the air as he left. Coran shook his head, that boy was getting stranger by the day.
As he ran down to the lower levels he passed by the containment room. He took a quick glance inside the window as he passed…then backed up.
What was Pudda doing out of his cell?!
Pulling out his gun he walked in, slowly.
"Pudda, get up! Get…" Lance walked forward and realized that Puddas head was missing, "Well, never mind then."
He looked around and noticed that the clone was out of his cell as well. A rotting, crazy, fake corps was wondering around the castle.
"Ef my life," Lance sighed as he was grabbed from behind.
()
Shiro had woken up to a very strange room. Not only that but his arm was gone and instead he had a metal one.
Maybe he was still dreaming.
He hoped he was still dreaming.
He got up and when he caught sight of his reflection, he nearly jumped out of his skin. When did he have white hair?! He'd always been well toned, but when did he gain so much muscle…and these scars…
"I must be dreaming…" he muttered walking to what he assumed was the door, "must be nerves. A lot of nerves…"
The door opened to a blue lit hallway lined with other doors. He ignored them and felt he would get somewhere or meet someone if he just walked around.
The bad part was the longer he walked around, the less it started to feel like a dream and the more it started to feel like reality. Even though that was absolutely impossible…
He admired the structure as he walked down a set of stairs. The lights were ethereal enough for this to be a dream, so he focused on those.
Then he heard a scream.
Running down a bit further he found a corridor that could have been any of the others, but he defiantly heard more sounds like small explosions coming from this direction.
When he came to a locked door he looked inside the small window to see what looked like a zombie attacking a teenager. The teen was shooting a hefty black gun at it, but it didn't seem to be doing anything to slow it down.
"My dream, my rules," Shiro muttered as he pushed all the buttons on the side panel. "Open, door, open!"
Looking through the window again he could hear the shots that missed and pinged off the walls and walkway. The boy was also shouting something at it, probably to psyche himself up or maybe it could actually understand him?
"Open!" He shouted at it as if that would do the trick. It was like a nightmare where everything moved faster than you were able to think. Looking up again he found the kid pinned under the zombie a purple glow emanating from the creatures arm.
His arm.
Looking down he found he had the same metal arm as the monster. Watching the monster he saw what looked like electricity travel down and shock the teen. What if…
Focusing, Shiro didn't know what to do, but maybe his arm could do that.
There was a spark and his arm and hand shone a vibrant purple. Without hesitating he shoved it into the panel and ripped it out.
The door opened.
"…won't work…anymore…" the boy growled threw clenched teeth as he tried to reach for the gun that had been knocked out of his hand.
Shiro darted forward and, with hand still glowing, threw his whole body into a punch that sent the zombie flying backward. He felt the shock of the electric charge threw his arm and he staggered a few paces back. The teen didn't move as he gasped for air in short bursts. The Zombie was already on its feet.
"…Just," The teen said through still tightly clenched teeth, "I'll get the gun, just keep his back to m…me."
Shiro wondered how this kid could still be awake and alive, never mind him getting and using a gun! He turned to look at the creature again and froze.
Was that supposed to be his face?
Maybe he looked like that after finals, but yikes!
There were holes all over his torso and legs. There were even a two holes in his head. Still, it stood straight and proud, its eyes a milky yellow and the skin of its face looking like it was sliding off the skull.
"I…" it spoke making Shiro feel all sorts of weird inside because it was his voice, "I..bring…back what…is Haggarsss…"
"…over my dead body," the teen hissed scooting slowly toward the gun. The zombie suddenly dashed forward, its own hand glowing. Shiro intercepted standing in between the kid and the monster. There was a clash as their arms met and the zombie jumped back to attack again.
"Can't get a clear shot," the kid hissed, "With you in the way…"
Shiro intercepted again, grabbing the zombie by the front shirt and spinning him around so its back was to the kid.
Next thing Shiro knew, the zombie didn't have its metal arm anymore.
Nor its head.
Its body crumpled on the ground at the same time the kid dropped his gun. The kid was still gasping for air and Shiro rushed over trying to remember everything he'd learned in first aid.
"I'm fine, Shiro," the kid shuddered, "just some residual shock. Best if you don't touch me. I'm gonna have a beast of a headache after this."
"You shouldn't be alive after that," Shiro replied, amazed, "Just who are you? What are you?"
The kid stared at him and then slowly shut his eyes and groaned. There was a loud crackle above their heads and a voice spoke from all sides.
"Lance, have you toggled those switches yet? It is not that hard!"