Author's Note: I would like to remind everyone that SLY, the first book in this trilogy, took place after the "Ghost in the Lion" but before the "Roots of Evil" episodes of Nicktoons' Voltron Force cartoon. Therefore, the Predator Robeast had only fought Voltron one time before, back when Green Center hadn't been activated. So if you're thinking, Hey, of course Green Center Voltron fought Predator Robeast...well, not so much in this series. Sorry.

As always, I own nothing except my characters and planets.

To Emie Mac - Oh, my Aidan. You know he's my favorite (always has been, always will be). Of course I'm gonna drag out his big scene! It'll be key for something that's coming a little bit later down the road.

To WarzonePrez - I am totally setting up for the action scene. As for Sven and his explanation, well, you of all people know why I do what I do.

To MamaBirdCat - You know, I felt like Kelly was a really underutilized player in this game, but I'm growing to love her (and now she's one of my favorites to write). I too am pulling for the return of Sven's health & sanity and, even more importantly, a happy resolution for him in his marriage, one way or another.

To idstealer000 - Don't count our Space Marshal out just yet. ;)

To Cubbie - I love the emotional side of the battles, too. My favorite part of Voltron was always the interaction between friends, enemies, and anywhere between the two. The heat of the battle never changes this.

Title Song: "Death Valley" by Fall Out Boy (if you haven't seen this video, Tommy Lee is very appropriately cast as the devil!)

The fifth piece of the Predator Robeast - or the main piece, depending on how one looked at it - was none too pleased with David Rackens. The pilot continued to hurl Blue Mecha in the way, doing whatever was necessary to keep the creature away from Aidan. Taye, covering for the downed Black Mecha, fired whatever weapons that Red had to try to even the score.

Even the score. Albegas was old; essentially, it was the prototype of Vehicle Voltron. Dr. Loring himself had first dreamed it up before he hired Moran, who helped him elaborate on the schematics to create the fifteen-unit robot. There was no way they could take out this robeast as individual mecha. They needed to join together.

And with Aidan down for the count, that didn't look like it would happen anytime soon.

Taye narrowed his eyes as he grabbed Red's controls, firing missiles at the robeast. "Chris!" he hissed at his co-pilot, taking advantage of her seer abilities, "what do you see? Is Aidan okay?"

"He's down," Christiane answered, her eyes glittering. "Open the rear hatch, Taye. Let me out. I'm gonna sneak into Black."

The Red Mecha pilot stared back in disbelief. "Are you crazy, Girl? You can't do something that insane on my watch! I don't want to have to face your husband or your brother if something happens to you...or worse, Morgan and David!"

Calmly, she reached over to place both hands on his shoulders. "It'll be fine, Taye. I promise. Open up the hatch."

"Don't make me regret this." Grumbling, he lifted a lever, and the rear hatch opened. Christiane winked at him in thanks, then slipped out of the mecha, racing over to Black.

Her heart pounding, she pried open the rear hatch to Black Mecha. "Aidan?" she cried out, expecting to find him slumped unconscious against the back of his seat. "Aidan, are you okay?"

The captain had been thrown from his chair. He was sprawled across the floor, face-down, with blood trickling out of his mouth and nose. "Aidan! Wake up!" she hissed frantically, turning him onto his back and wiping the red rivulets away with her sleeve. "We need you! We can't form Albegas without you!"

No response.

Placing one hand on his neck and her ear over his mouth, she assessed that he had a pulse and was still breathing. He was merely unconscious, having been thrown from his seat. He's gonna have one heck of a concussion when he wakes up. Removing her glove, she touched his face with her bare hands, attempting to retrieve information from him.

She froze.

She saw enough. She saw his conversation with Keith, and she actually felt his vow to keep her safe. He wasn't kidding. He'd rather die than let me get hurt. That's why he jumped in front of the robeast - so I wouldn't get hurt.

Overcome with guilt, she planted a kiss on his forehead. "I'll make this up to you, my friend. I promise."

Then she sat down behind Black's controls.

Romelle woke up the following morning in a strange room, her husband's side of the bed empty. Looking around, she struggled to remember what had happened when they landed on Earth the night before. She had been so exhausted - physically from the travelling, mentally from the events that had occurred at her cousin's wedding - and she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep.

It took her a moment to remember that Kelly had arranged for two hotel rooms for them. One was for herself and for Sven, the other adjoining room was for Rosalie and Erik.

As she sat up in the bed and swung her legs out to the side, Sven came out of the bathroom, already dressed in his civilian clothes. "God morgen," he greeted her, kissing the top of her head. "I'll wait for you to get ready. Whatever this Moran has in store for me, I want you to be on hand to witness it."

"Good morning to you, too." She noted that his scalp was already stubbled with prickly black hair. "How is your head feeling?"

He shrugged. "Not too bad. I've been through worse."

"Of course." She supposed that, after being struck by a near-fatal blow from one of Haggar's robeasts, any other pain would pale in comparison.

Romelle took a quick shower and toweled herself dry, twisting her damp hair into a clip. Assessing herself in the mirror, she decided that she would forego cosmetics today; her husband's health was more important. She slipped into her undergarments, then pulled on one of her dresses, mint-green with hidden pockets, while sliding her feet into emerald-green ballet flats.

Sven whistled. "My goodness, min kone. How do you look so beautiful after less than fifteen minutes of prepping?"

She smiled. That had to be a good sign that their marriage was on the right track. "It's for you, min mann," she answered pleasantly, taking his hand in hers. "Now, let's find Kelly so that we can meet this Moran she speaks so highly of."

They exited the hotel and walked over the pedestrian bridge to the Galaxy Garrison headquarters. It was a beautiful late-summer day in Manhattan, and Sven looked entranced by the sights and sounds as they held hands. He seemed to know exactly where Kelly's office was, and the personnel let them in as if they had been expected.

Sven swallowed before knocking on the door to the Space Marshal's office.

"Come in," the First Officer replied.

Squeezing his wife's hand, he opened the door and came face-to-face with Kelly and a tall, bearded man they could only assume to be Moran. "Good morning," he greeted them.

"Good morning, Sargeant Holgersson. I am Moran." The bearded man extended his arm for a handshake. "And you must be the beautiful Princess Romelle."

Half of her mouth curled up in a grin. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He motioned for the three of them to sit down. "I'll make this quick, since I'm sure you must be eager to begin treatment. I've heard that you have this Haggarium infection, of which I have no knowledge of. I'd like to run a few preliminary tests." Moran crossed his arms over his chest. "But I have to warn you: some of them will be painful."

Romelle squeezed Sven's hand, but he seemed unperturbed. "Ja, so?"

Moran raised an eyebrow. "And I'm under strict order from the Space Marshal not to allow you any prescription pain medication."

Kelly and Romelle gasped in horror.

Keith was worried.

They had battled the Predator Robeast once before, and it had been disastrous. At the time, they hadn't unlocked Pidge's Green Center formation, so they hadn't been able to use those weapons. Yet they had tried every other formation and failed.

At least this time, we've unlocked Green Center...and we have help. Though he hoped that Vehicle Voltron and Albegas would be up and running, he couldn't guarantee it. With Aidan down and the Sea Team separated from the Land and Air Teams, neither mighty robot was in operation.

So they had formed their own Voltron, starting with Black Center, and hoped for the best.

"Well, Keith," Pidge piped up over their internal comm, "where do you want to start?"

Their captain grinned. "I'd say that there's four robeasts, and there's four lion heads. Larmina, follow everyone else's lead."

"Sweet!" Hunk cried out, pumping his fist in the air. "I wanna give Ugly over there a whole world of hurt!"

"Uh, which one would that be?" Larmina cracked. "They're all kinda ugly, if you ask me."

"Astute observation, newbie." Lance grabbed the harness over his shoulder and slid it down over his chest. "Larmina, you're strapping yourself in for take-off, right? 'Cuz it's about to get crazy in here."

The Blue Lion pilot strapped herself into position as her harness automatically came forward. "Why, what's this all abou - WHOA!"

Keith grinned devilishly to himself as four lion heads took off in four separate directions, each one slamming into a different robeast, trying to destroy it. No such luck. With months of Maahox's Haggarium infusions to back them up, something as impressive as Voltron's Lion Head Attack was entirely ineffective.

"Well," Lance scoffed in disgust as the heads returned to reattach to Voltron, "that didn't exactly work out as well as we thought it would."

"It didn't," Hawkins' grim voice came in over the comm. "That's why you have us here for back-up. Land Team! Air Team! All defenses up and attack as you will!"

As the Strato Fighter, Turbo Terrain Fighter, and the Explorer began to charge and fire on the robeasts, Keith shook his head in disbelief. The Lion Head Attack failed against these things. How is that even possible? It's supposed to be like a hundred-ton punch!

The Explorer also began to fire upon the robeasts, doing everything in its power to hold them at bay. "Hey guys," Ginger's voice came over the comm suddenly, "did anyone think that maybe we should go to the volcano and see if we can rescue Aidan's sorry behind?"

"Hey, not a bad idea," Rocky agreed. "And if we join up with the Sea Team, we can form Voltron."

"I don't know." Jeff looked at Lion Voltron over his viewscreen. Was it even possible for Keith and his crew to defeat those four robeasts by themselves? Then again, two Voltrons might even the score. "Oh, seven hells. Let's go."

"You heard the man!" Cliff shouted to his team over the comm. "Let's go pull my Mate out of a jam. Again."

"Not the first time, huh?" Hutch quipped.

"No. 'Fraid not. And it won't be the last time, I'm sure." Cliff began to steer the Turbo Terrain Fighter in the direction of the volcano, hoping that his friends on the Lion Force could hold out long enough for Vehicle Voltron to help them.

The Aqua Fighter landed near the volcano. We are definitely not in our element, Crik thought hesitantly as the fifth robeast battling Red and Blue Mecha came into view. It looked as though David was taking a beating, with Taye doing his best to cover. Aidan was still unresponsive.

Lisa's heart fell to the bottom of her stomach as she processed the image. Never taking her eyes off the screen, she contacted Black Mecha through a private channel. "Aidan? Are you awake? Aidan, it's me."

There was some static before an answer popped up. "He's not dead, Lisa. But he's still unconscious."

She furrowed her eyebrows. What was Christiane doing in Black Mecha? What reason did Jeff's wife have to be in there? "Tech Sargeant, what in the world are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get Black online." Christiane's voice came out smoothly and patiently. "Taye and David need all the help they can get."

"That's why we're here." She answered just as Crik fired on the robeast. "We came to help."

"I know." The seer gripped the controls. She didn't know if Black Mecha would respond to her, but she hoped it would. Even if she could only control it long enough to form Albegas, it would be on auto-pilot from there, and with Blue or Red in the center, she wouldn't have to do much at all. "And we'll take the help, believe me."

"How is he?"

"Like I said, he's unconscious." Christiane struggled with the controls, trying to force a sluggish Black Mecha upright. "He was thrown from his seat on impact. I know he's breathing, but he's out cold, and I don't know for sure how badly he's hurt."

Though she was excited to hear that her fiancé was still alive, Lisa's gut twisted at the thought of him being injured and unconscious. Switching off the private channel, she opened the comm to her fellow Sea Team members. "Crik, can you pilot the Aqua Fighter without me? I'm going down there."

Her four teammates gasped. "Are you mad, Woman?" Zandee shot out angrily. "That's insane! You'll be hurt for sure - or worse!"

Shannon clucked his tongue. "See? If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: these girls are too bloody emotional. Good grief."

Before she could retort, Crik spoke up. "Lisa, I don't think it's a good idea. You could get hurt, and besides, we can't pilot the Aqua Fighter without you. You should stay put until we can get the robeast situation under control."

Swallowing hard, she fought the urge to argue. Lisa - sweet, empathetic, kind-hearted, soft-spoken little Lisa - wanted to bite all of their heads off. Aidan was the most important thing in the universe to her. If she lost him, she had no reason to go on. "Okay, Crik," she muttered through clenched teeth, "I'll acquiesce. But God help you if he dies and I'm not there. I'll never forgive any of you."

"Lisa," Tangor offered kindly, "he won't die. Aidan Dalloway would never give up like that."

His words were cold comfort, but they were exactly what she needed to hear at the moment. Lisa needed to focus on her duties and fight off this robeast with her team. After all, there was no way to ensure that Aidan was safe with these monsters running around.

Allura hated the fact that she wasn't on the field. Although she had officially handed the reins of Blue Lion down to her niece, the call to battle surged through her blood. Especially when her new husband was out there.

Instead, she was stuck inside the castle with Coran, the cadets, and her remaining wedding guests. No, this is definitely not the way I wanted to start out my married life.

Looking over at her advisor, she shrieked, "Coran, I need to do something!"

"Me too!" Daniel chimed in, grabbing the queen's elbow. "We can't just stand here and watch!"

Coran shot an exasperated look over towards Vince, who shrugged back. "My dear Allura," he began, "you are the queen of Arus now. You cannot, under any circumstances, put your life in jeopardy. You have a responsibility to your planet that goes far beyond your own wishes and desires."

"Be that as it may," she replied caustically, narrowing her eyes, " I'm not one to turn a blind eye to battle." Turning her head to look at Daniel, she asked, "Care to join me for shooting practice on the balcony?"

The cadet's violet eyes gleamed. "You bet!" he screeched enthusiastically. "Vince! Are you coming too, or are you just gonna sit there?"

Vince waved them off dismissively. "You guys go. I'm gonna sit right here in castle control and do what I do best: defend the castle." Immediately, he brought up the schematics for the advanced defense system. Then, more for his own benefit, he added, "Let's see those robeasts try to come anywhere near here…"

Allura shook her head. "No time for that now, Daniel. Let's get the the balcony. I hope you've got your VoltCom!"

The cadet sprinted after the queen. "Sure do," he responded. "But the better question is, do you?"

Without looking behind her, she held up her sheathed wrist. "I always do, Daniel. I always do."

"Yo," Hunk started in his usual nonchalant manner, "does anyone else feel like a bunch of chickens at this moment?"

It was a comical, if not altogether wrong, statement. Keith made the decision to head over to the volcano to help out the Albegas team, and so Lion Voltron flew at top speed through the air with four robeasts trailing in its wake.

Christiane.

It was all his fault that Aidan was unconscious, he knew that much. He'd fallen just shy of threatening the Albegas captain with his earlier speech about keeping Christiane safe. For some reason, in the pit of his stomach, Keith knew that he was the cause, so he had to do whatever it took to make things right.

Lance must have felt that same way, because for the first time, he didn't question an order that appeared to be a retreat. But it wasn't, even though it looked like it with the four robeasts following them. It was Keith's way of setting things right.

"Volcano's dead ahead, Chief," Pidge informed the team needlessly.

"Yeah, we see it," Jeff piped in over the general comm. "We're right behind you guys, Darrell. The Explorer's taking up the rear behind the robeasts. The commander's giving those things seven hells from behind."

"Good." Keith inclined his head. "When we get to the volcano, Jeff, I want you guys to form Vehicle Voltron."

"Relax, Kogane," his fellow Voltron team captain winked. "That was the master plan already. You guys buy us some time to assemble, and then we'll take down these robeasts together."

"Yeah...about that," Hunk interjected. "You see these nasty things? The fifth one's even nastier."

"And even worse than that," Pidge added, "these five robeasts assemble, too. Collectively, they're the Predator Robeast, which we have yet to defeat. Keith, I think we might want to go into Green Center Formation immediately once Vehicle Voltron has been formed. We haven't seen what my lion can do against it."

"Not a bad idea," Keith answered. "Once Jeff's team is assembled, we'll reconfigure."

With that game plan in place, all of the ships and mecha - and robeasts - put their speed into hypermach, racing towards the volcano and the rest of their teammates. Once there, they found the Blue and Red Mecha trying to keep the fifth robeast at bay, with the Aqua Fighter firing on it from behind.

And they found Black Mecha staggering to its feet.