Keith tightened his grip on the controls as Black glided over mounds of discarded scrap littering the icy surface of Eris. Although most of the metal was dull and shone only in the places the lights from Black and Green reflected off them, there were some disquieting places that glowed on their own in unnatural hues. Pidge seemed to be guiding them directly toward a reddish area that was periodically emitting brief showers of white sparks. Keith reactivated his vidscreen, which he had turned off after discovering Allura and Lance were now holding down the Control Room. He knew they were still listening over the comms as he said, "Pidge, is this the safest area we could be in?"

"No, but this appears to be where the residual ardillium concentrations are strongest. And I'm detecting a network of tunnels beneath the surface. I think there may be a direct communication between the tunnels and the surface about half a click from here. Allura, Lance, can you guys confirm?"

"We're looking at the same data you are, Pidge, considering how much clearer the scans you're getting are," Lance replied. Keith bit his tongue about cutting back on the attitude as he continued, "Nothing new on the Qirillian front either."

"Is there enough space for us to get into the base with the Lions?"

"Keith, is it so important to go inside?" The concern in Allura's voice prompted him to turn on the split screen.

It was impossible to tell if she were looking at him or Pidge, but it was Pidge who replied, "I think we should be okay if we stay in the Lions. There isn't enough residual ardillium to hurt us. We'd be in more danger from Eris' cold, methane and space junk. It looks like they took the reactor out through a fairly wide passage and left it open. We may be able to access almost every large area of the base through it."

"And the smaller areas?" Keith could see the entrance to the tunnels just ahead. "Can we search on foot?"

"I doubt we'll need to. Any ardillium weapon would have to be pretty big, given the containment apparatus you'd need to make sure you didn't blow yourself up by mistake before you could deliver it."

"What about any surprises Wade left?" Lance asked over the comms.

Keith was already guiding Black toward the bottom of the deep tunnel, causing the images from Arus on his screen to flicker. "Whoever took the ardillium didn't seem to have a problem."

"Considering they knew where to get it, they may have had some inside information about any defenses," Pidge suggested, "though I'm not picking anything up yet. Keith, you should be near the bottom of the shaft. Do you see anything?"

He set Black down on an empty metal platform and squinted into the darkness of the mouth of the one tunnel branching off the shaft at this level. "Nothing."

Something is not right here.

"Oh, so you're talking to me again?" Keith muttered. Black had been stubbornly silent during the trip to Eris. "You picking anything up?"

Nothing specific. But I do not think we are alone here.

"Wanna take a look further down?" After Black's agreeable growl, Keith was about to give the all clear to Pidge when pinpricks of red light began to appear somewhere in the tunnel. "What is…" The lights were suddenly getting a lot larger and closer. The first shots hit Black in a sudden barrage. "Shit! Pidge, up and out!"

"Keith, what's shooting at…"

"The do…clos…face!" Allura was shouting, but it was impossible to make out her words as her image flickered on the screen. "…et ou…fa…" She was completely cut off in a final burst of static just as the automated flying drones became visible.

There was precious little room to maneuver in the shaft, but Keith was doing his best as he tried to cover their retreat toward the surface. Green was already approaching the exit, which was…not there. Keith swore under his breath, swinging Black around to face their attackers head on. "Pidge, can we blast through that door?"

"This entire facility was designed to mask any signs of ardillium, resulting in a combination of alloys that…"

"No time for science lessons, Pidge." Keith hit a drone at point blank range, sending it tumbling back down the shaft. Hopefully, it had taken out at least a few of the other drones he'd seen headed for them on its way down. "Can we blast through or not?"

"It looks like there's a large hangar one level down to the northeast. I suggest we try heading that way."

"A simple no would have been fine." He quickly scanned the shaft and found the escape route Pidge had mentioned. "Right. Let's lay down some fire and clear a path. Now!" The sound of Black and Green's roars in the confined space was deafening even from inside the cockpit. Keith made sure Pidge was on his way before following. After a short trip through a tight hallway, they emerged into a wide open space, flashing past several abandoned shuttlecraft and pieces of heavy machinery as they dodged fire from the pursuing drones. "Pidge, do you see a way out?"

"There's nothing! Everything is shut tight and…wait, maybe…" Pidge suddenly headed for an open space beside a derelict crane. "Keith, land and shut down your systems!"

He scored a direct hit on another drone, but the fire didn't lighten at all. "Are you insane?"

"They may leave us alone if they don't think we're a threat."

"May?"

"We need time to find a way out of here and we can't do that with these drones shooting at us!" Green was already on the ground, going dark. "Keith, just…they're not shooting at me anymore."

"You better be back online in a hurry if this doesn't work," Keith grumbled to Black as he set his Lion down beside Green.

Lance was having trouble keeping his hands to himself. Every time Allura bent over, he had to fight the urge to grab her ass. He didn't like the feeling, especially as they had yet to reestablish contact with Keith and Pidge, who were under attack a very long way from backup. Normal Lance was focused on tactics and escape routes and scrambling for the Lions; Bonding Lance could barely focus on anything unrelated to sex. This needed to end very, very soon.

In spite of his attempts to stop himself, he stepped behind Allura and wrapped his arms around her. "We should get Hunk, Vince and Larmina to the Lions."

"They're under attack now, Lance!" She was leaning into him, pulling her hair off her neck to give him access. "Could the GA get anyone there faster than we can?"

"They aren't far from Earth." He pressed his lips to the side of her neck, allowing his tongue a small taste of her skin. "We can get someone to them while the Lions are en route."

"I hope nothing is…" she trailed off as she guided his hands to her breasts. Oh, Lance…

Allura, I want you so bad right now. But we have to… He jerked away from her in shock. "What are we doing?"

She looked equally horrified. "It was like…I can't…Lance, we need to…" Her bedroom eyes sudden came on full force. Take me now.

Here? He was already shedding his jacket and unzipping his flight suit. Anywhere, beautiful. Everywhere.

Now! He moved to unclasp her Voltcom, but she shouted, "No, stop! We have to get the others to…Keith and Pidge."

Lance leaned down to speak into his own Voltcom rather than take his hand off Allura. "Hunk! Control Room with the cadets, right away!" He disconnected before Hunk could reply. Allura was just too damn tempting.

He wasn't sure how much time or totally inappropriate contact had passed when they were interrupted, not by Hunk and the cadets but by Dr. Lunnen, who rushed excitedly into the Control Room. "There are my favorite test subjects! I must say, I'm surprised to see you up and about. Most people describe the final day of bonding as pretty darn intense, like, not able to leave the bedroom intense."

Lance tugged Allura's flightsuit back over her shoulders. "Did you say final day?"

"Based on your brainscans, you've recently entered the final stage of bonding! You should be stabilized in your bond sometime tomorrow." She looked at them curiously. "Why are you here?"

Allura pushed Lance's uncontrollable roving hands off her. "We're trying to monitor a mission. Keith and Pidge are in danger."

"And you normally view that as a good time to make out?"

"Of course not, but…oh, crap." Lance abruptly understood. "This is a bonding thing, isn't it?"

"Like I said, final stage!" Dr. Lunnen clapped her hands together. "You must be so excited! And not just in the…" She waggled her fingers and laughed somewhat maniacally.

Allura was speaking into his chest, as she had just wrapped herself around him, "Why didn't you warn us about this ahead of time?"

"I thought…"

Hunk suddenly burst into the room, followed by Vince and Larmina. "What's happening?"

Lance did his best to get it all out in one breath because if he inhaled he'd be breathing in the scent of Allura's hair and lose it all over again, "Keith and Pidge are under attack and trapped on Eris and you need to go help them and call Earth on the way because the GA should have ships nearby to assist faster than…" he breathed in and completely lost his train of thought. Need you right now.

"Uhhhh…" Hunk wasn't moving yet, as Lance could see in his peripheral vision before he stopped caring. Allura was in his arms and that was all that mattered.

Dr. Lunnen was talking from somewhere in the distance, "Last stage of bonding. They should really be somewhere private. Maybe there's someone else who can, um, handle things here while you three…"

Allura pulled away from him for a moment, "Get Coran. We…go! Keith and Pidge…"

The rest of the action was a complete blur. Lance's brain was a delicious blank as he lost himself in Allura until two of the castle guards manhandled him out of the Control Room while two others half-carried her behind him. All he could think about was getting to her, fighting the guards all the way to their destination, which turned out to be Allura's suite. The doors hadn't closed before they had shut out everything in the universe but each other.