Chapter 36 – Surrounded
Pidge, Matt, and Hunk ducked behind the Welcome Desk. Hunk looked over the edge, gulping when he saw several sentries already coming through the door. After searching the room, they all filed deeper into the hospital, Pidge picked up her communicator. "Okay. You've got about fifty coming your way."
It sputtered for a moment, and they tensed up. Shiro's voice came through quietly. "We're on our way."
They heard clattering from the back hallway, and more than half of the sentries went to find it. From the other direction, a similar sound was heard, and they disappeared, too. Pidge let out a breath. "Okay. I'm guessing there's about five hundred foot soldiers that'll come out for this, and so long as this algorithm continues to block their servers, they won't know what's going on in here and will just assume they're searching. If we can get more in here, that'd be great."
"Roger that." Looking out the window, they saw Keith wave his hands wildly. He took down a sentry, and about ten followed him. A couple minutes later, he did it again, only twenty followed him.
"Coran and I are bringing about fifty in from the back entrance," Allura reported. "They think we're scientists."
"We have them fooled!" Coran said excitedly. He had a lot of energy, somehow.
"Sounds good." She nodded at Matt and Hunk, who went out the front entrance. "We've got about four hundred in the building now. The rest are spread out. Get out of here and lock all the doors. Everyone check in with me once you're out."
"Roger that." Keith came through. "Side entrances on the west side are locked. I'm out."
"Coran and I have secured the back entrances. We are clear."
"I'm out," Shiro said. "Doors locked.
"Matt and Hunk are already out, so we're good to go. Pidge is out—" She locked the door "—and we're good to go."
"Great work, guys. Let's meet back up at the front entrance."
n
Ari hurried to the ship, her bow drawn. A couple soldiers attacked her, but they weren't ready for a miniature version of a human to shoot them mercilessly. She rushed into the heart of the ship, where a Galra bent over a blond haired boy. "Will!" She shouted, loading her bow and holding it up. "Stand back."
The Galra held a knife over him, inches from his chest. "Don't make a move." She heard voices outside, voices of fighting sentries. "Looks like you're surrounded."
"I'm not leaving without him."
"Then you'll die here."
A sentry grabbed Ari from behind, but it wasn't one of Lotor's. It disarmed her, but she managed to stab it fatally with one of her arrows. She looked up to see the Galra about to drive a knife in Will's heart. "No!" She screamed, reaching for her bow, knowing she would be too late.
A blaster fired, and the Galra fell back. Ari turned to see Kroila standing, gun steaming.
Ari rushed forward to Will, who groaned at her touch. His eyes stayed closed, and Ari looked back at Kroila. "He's lost a lot of blood," she said frantically, "I don't know how much more he can take."
She glanced over him, then turned when blasters echoed outside. "We'll take the ship."
"What?"
Kroila quickly sat at the controls, flipping switches. "Similar to other Galra technology. Make sure he doesn't fall off that table."
Ari strapped him in. "What about the others?"
"Ranveig's men weren't accounted for. Everyone's on their own, but they know that." She took off. "We'll head to a blade base and get him patched up, then back to Daria."
"Okay." She held his hand and fluffed his hair. "Just had to make me fall for you, you idiot," she whispered.
Will's eyes fluttered open, just briefly. He struggled to focus. "Ari?"
She kissed him.
His eyes were closed when she let go, and he smiled. "Yup. Ari."
"Just had to go get kidnapped, didn't you?"
"Thought it was part of the plan. I should really start paying attention in debrief instead of breakdancing." He fingered her tips. "You—you changed your hair."
"Real smooth, Will."
"I try," he said breathlessly. He took in a sharp breath as the ship took off the ground. "Wh—what's going on? Are we—"
"We're rescuing you!" Kroila shouted.
"Who's…that?" Will asked, clearly out of it.
"That's Kroila, as in Blade of Marmora."
"Who?"
She leaned to his ear. "Kroila Kogane."
He looked around. "I need to write that down," he whispered breathlessly, looking around for a pen.
"Brace yourselves!" She shouted, and blasted into space.
n
"You have proved to be quite the challenge for me," Lotor announced boldly, his hair flowing in the wind. "But I shall destroy you and your pathetic team, showing the universe who is truly in control!"
"Your empire is gone, Lotor! There's hardly anything left."
"That's what you think!"
"Yes, that's what I think. That's why I said it."
"How much you don't know! I have the power of unlimited quintessence flowing through my veins! I have centuries of training and unspeakable hardships."
"Yeah, well, I have three months of sleepless training and coffee, so really, there's no competition." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the green lion taking to the sky, quickly hid by the cloaking technology. In a couple minutes, they'd make it back to Daria and realize he wasn't with them. he hoped they wouldn't come back.
Lotor squinted. "You truly don't believe I won't kill you today."
"I truly don't care anymore." He held up his sword. "You can take everything from me, but I'll keep fighting. So if you want me to stop being a problem, you know what you gotta do. I just don't think you have it in you."
He sprung forward, swinging his sword high for momentum. "I'll show you what I have in me!"
n
Shiro hugged the wall, then sprinted across the airfield to a solitary tower. He silently motioned for the others, and they hid behind it. Just across was their ship, surrounded by fifty or so soldiers. Pidge snapped. "Man, I thought we had gotten them all."
"Getting them all would be logically im—"
"Shut up, Matt, I know that, I was hoping otherwise."
"We need a distraction."
The guards heard them talking and started moving towards them.
Keith crouched in a running position. "I can sprint across and get them to follow me."
"Be careful." The emo took off running, taking at least half with him. He, the princess, and Hunk had legitimate weapons. "Allura, you and Pidge go to the left. Hunk, you and Matt go to the right. I'll go down the middle."
"You'll be in open space if they fire!" Matt announced in a hushed whisper.
"We just need to get past them. We didn't sound the alarm, so they won't be looking for us. Don't engage if you don't have to. Meet at the ship." They all nodded and headed separate directions. Overhead, a ship took off.
n
Keith sprinted around the hospital, about ten or so soldiers in quick pursuit. Every now and then, one would get ahead of the group, and he could slide to a stop, take it out, and sprint again. He circled around the ship and kept going, gaining five more. He counted seven on him.
He came to the end of the strip and dove into a rocky cave. He dove into a crevasse and watched the guards run farther into the cave, guns up. They walked right past him, and he jumped right back out. He could see the rest of the team making their way to the ship, taking out the remaining ten or so guards. He ran towards them drawing his sword.
But something in his peripheral caught his sight.
It was a fight, and a dusty one, spurring up all the dirt in the area. It moved farther down the airstrip to the right. He could see Lotor's fabulous hair flailing around even across the distance, but the other person was lost in the dust. He turned back to the ship.
Shiro had spotted him. "Keith! Help Allura out!" He could see the princess struggling to protect both her and Pidge.
But when he looked back, he saw the second person, and froze in his steps. He'd know that jacket anywhere.
"Lance!" He shouted, and broke out into a sprint.