Chapter twelve: Never Judge A Cloak By It's Color

The Green Lion magnetized to the wall of the base; its claws holding fast to the metal, keeping it suspended against the wall. Pidge made her way out of her Lion to the small hatch that had been indicated to her on the device from earlier.

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The jagged teeth of the door slid open and allowed her to enter the building. Jetting in, the door closed behind her and gravity took hold of her; her feet landing softly on the floor. She activated her gauntlet for the map to appear on it.

"I'm in." She whispered.

"Great work, Pidge." Allura told her. "Now go find your brother. I'm not sure we can keep them occupied for long." Deactivating her com link, she looked up and to her right, and took off down the hallway.

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Checking every direction before heading out around any corners, she soon ran into a door.

"Accessing area code." She breathed to herself tapping at the gauntlet screen. She then shot a beam into the lock and the door opened. Pidge crept inside and had to duck around one of the pillars sticking out of the wall, to hide from the Galra Patrol sentries. When their steps faded, she peeked around to find no one and snuck on, stealing another quick look at her map.

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This went on for seemingly hours, when her scanner detected many biorhythms on the other side of the next door.

"Too many to sneak past." She mumbled aloud. Then she looked down to find a panel, hidden by the shadows. It was only revealed to her by the gentle glow of her gauntlet. Drawing her bayard, she pried it open and crawled inside. Once inside she look again at her map, and found a route to the next area code access point. Thankfully when she got there, the many biorhythms had diminished to almost none, and she could resurface from the hidden shafts. Zapping the lock, it brought her to the place that made her heart sing and her hair stand on end at the same time... the brig. As she walked along the corridor, the cold echo in the darkness seemed to comfort her; but only a little. She nervously checked her map, when she stopped to look up at the door that stood in front of her.

Pidge drew in a deep breath, half doubting that this was real, but wholeheartedly hoping it was. She scanned the lock, and time almost stood still as the door slid open; seemingly in slow motion. Light in the shape of the doorway cut into the dark room, a figure dressed in rags tensed and cowered in the corner. The staggering detail of their features somehow leaped out at her; even in the darkness. The brown-umberish hair that she wore on her head, mirrored that of the one that looked up at her. The fear in his eyes struck awe into hers, mostly because of the familiarity of them, and also because of the extent of pure terror in them.

"M-matt?" She managed to say, frozen where she was. The figure froze, their breath catching in their throat. Their eyes still staring at her in shock. He lifted his chin out from his arms which held his knees up, a small strip of darkened skin acting as a scar on his cheek.

"Pidge?" The prisoner slowly stood up where he was. The folds of his cloak dropping to where they were supposed to go. Pidge said nothing more... but her legs decided they had a mind of their own as they ran her over to embrace her brother as they both began to sob uncontrollably into each others clothes, in an attempt to muffle the sound so no one would hear.

"Oh my gosh!" Pidge cried, tears flooding down her cheeks. "Ever since the Kerberos Mission!.. They said you were dead.. but I knew in my heart that you weren't!"

"I can't believe you found me! It doesn't seem possible!" Matt breathed, releasing her to place his hands on her helmet where her cheeks were supposed to be.

"You didn't think I was lying, when I said I'd come looking for you; did you?" Pidge returned humorously. Matt chuckled.

"Well remind me to take you more seriously next time." He smiled. The two lightly chuckled together, as they wiped away they're tears.

"So how'd you get all the way out here, anyway?" Matt asked curiously.

"It's a long story." Pidge replied simply. "Is there any chance you've heard of Voltron?"

"Of course I've heard of Voltron, who around here hasn't?" Matt replied matter-of-factly.

"Well,.. I'm one of the Paladins." Pidge grinned, with a pleasureful smirk.

"No, no?! You're a Paladin of Voltron?! That's soo awesome!" Matt hugged his sister violently, swinging her around before setting her down again; and holding his shoulder gingerly.

"Shh, keep it down will you." Pidge deadpanned, trying to be serious despite the hilarity of her brother's reaction. "Now come on. We don't have much time to lose." She exited the cell to head back the way she'd come, Matt not hesitating to follow for even a second.

Pidge peered around the door post left and right.. nothing. Cautiously advancing out, she caught movement and shoved Matt back around the doorway to hide. Two Galra soldiers strode by on their patrol, conversing amongst themselves; not even noticing the open door from which the Holt siblings were hiding in. As their footsteps faded away down the hall, Pidge slowly peered out again, and darted across the hall, with Matt scrambling to keep up.

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Kneeling next to yet another corner Pidge took a peek, then recoiled immediately pressing herself against the wall, with a gasp. The feet coming towards them was a ticking clock, egging her on to figure a way out before it went off; blowing their cover. The armed Galra soldier passed the hall, which turned out to be empty as he went right past it.

The ceiling was the first and only place Pidge thought of on the fly. And using her jets she pulled herself and Matt up here to hide; spy-kid style. They dropped down, landing softly, and looked both ways before heading off on their way again.

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"Okay, we're about halfway back to the Green Lion." Pidge told her brother, while checking the map again. "We just have to keep heading down this corridor, make a left away from the main control room, and then a right. That should take us straight back to the Green Lion."

"Sounds simple enough." Matt guessed as they walked out into the hallway, without looking. Suddenly the sound of blasters being synced on them made them freeze, as they looked up. "Uh-oh." They both stepped back as they sentries advanced forward. Turning around, more blasters appeared; pointed right at them. "Looks like we're caught." Matt commented.

"No kidding." Pidge replied drlyly. Suddenly the sentries to their left turned to look back at something, as one of them was blindsided by a hand to its face smashing it to the wall. A cloaked stranger slammed his forearms together, to materialize a weapon that encased them up to the elbow with a glowing purplish-pink blade. Swiftly dropping them to their sides like a ninja, they proceeded to take down the rest one by one. Pidge and Matt stood there in shock, who was this person? And why do his moves look so familiar? And why did the color scheme of their weapon look familiar? The stranger took out the rest of the sentries, then attacked the ones on the other side. The stranger elbowed a sentry to the head and followed that with a slice that took out the sentry and three others next to it. One sentry took the cloaked figure from behind in a chokehold, which caused him to drop his weapon; making themweapon dematerialize for them to grab the sentry's arm. Suddenly, through his glove, the stranger's right hand began to glow and in an instant they reached over their shoulder and dragged the sentry over smashing it to the ground. The Holt siblings stood dumbfounded as the stranger pulled down the cloth mask over their face, exposing the characteristic scar across the bridge of his nose. And then pulled down the hood over his head to show off the iconic floof of white hair.

"We gotta get out of here!" Shiro told them urgently.

"Uh- eh- di- du-.. -Shiro?!" Pidge stammered.

"How?-"

"I'll explain later." Shiro told them, holding his left arm gingerly. "-But right now, we need to get back to the team." He began to leave and Pidge could immediately see the oddness of his gait as he moved. Shiro stopped as shadows appeared on the wall in front of them. He turned around quickly and ushered them back.

"Go, get back to the Green Lion." He told them, pulling the mask over his face. "I'll lead them away."

"But- Shiro!-" Pidge protested, as he pulled his hood up again.

"Go!" Shiro called, turning back toward them the wave them away. "Go!" He repeated as they took off running through the opposite hallway. Shiro glanced back at the sentries headed his way, and darted down the hallway to his left.

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Pidge and Matt didn't even look back until they were sure they were alone again. The two pressed themselves the wall and slid to the floor, breaths coming in gasps.

"Did- did we- just see- what I thought- we saw?!" Pidge gasped, turning to her brother.

"Wa- was that really- Sh- Shiro?!" Matt cried. "-What's he doing here? And- why did he look- so different?"

"I don't know-.. I didn't even know we was even still alive until now." Pidge admitted.

"Oh.. wait- alive? Wha-" Matt's sentence was cut short by a hand to his mouth.

"Come on." The Green Paladin urged, swiftly taking him by the hand. They weaved through the defenses once again, checking every which way before entering into the open.

"Halt!" The two gasped, whipping around to find a horde of Galra sentries and soldiers chasing them now. Suddenly an alarm went off, screaming at the entire base.

"Intruder alert!" A robotic voice delcared over the speaker, announcing this to the whole base.

"Perfect." Pidge cursed under her breath.

"Run!" Matt shouted, grabbing her arm to run, sprinting down an empty corridor. Everywhere they looked was blocked. Continuing in any direction they could, their luck finally ran out as they discovered they were boxed in. Galra on all sides, even coming up behind them closing the gap on them. A Galra commander pushed his way through the parting sentries, gaining him access to the intruder and escapee.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He said, in a slimy serpent-like tone. Pidge and Matt stood back to back, ready to fight if needed. But when a panel fell from the ceiling, they soon realized they didn't have to. The cloaked figure returned, landing awkwardly on the ground with a painful grunt.

"Stop!" Shiro stood up and removed his mask and hood to expose his identity; holding his hands up to the commander. Pidge and Matt, hidden behind him stared in awe of what they were witnessing.

"These too have come alone." Shiro told them. "Let them leave in peace and take me instead."

"What?!" Pidge cried in disbelief. "Shiro no! I-"

"Shh, trust me." Shiro whispered, back over his shoulder.

"I can already tell you're bluffing." The commander replied harshly. "There's already an attack going on out there. And you can't tell me that this one isn't one of the Paladins of Voltron." The Galra pointed to Pidge in saying this.

"I'm a Paladin of Voltron, too." Shiro told him. "One of more value to you than this one."

"How can you be sure?" The Galra demanded skeptically.

"I can only show you." Shiro told him simply. "But only if you let these two go." The Galra commander strode forward toward Shiro.

"Done." The Galra grabbed Shiro's left arm and jerked it around behind his back as pushed him down to his knees. The Black Paladin grimaced at the seething pain that erupted from it.

"Shiro!!" Pidge screamed, reaching a hand out to him to step toward him. Matt grabbed her arm quickly.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!!" He cried, pulling her back a few paces.

"Run!" Shiro told them. "Run as fast as you can, before- ah!" Shiro was bashed over the head with a blaster, leaving him flat on the floor.

"Let's go!!" Matt shouted, pulling her arm as he turned to run. The girl was finally knocked out of her dazed trance and ran away with him.

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The Holt kids finally screeched around another corner and entered the hatch that lead to the Green Lion.

Hey what's up everybody!!! Can't wait to see what you think of this chapter!! This part was meant to be an alternate(and hopefully more exciting) version of finding Matt Holt in season three or four(I think;)). The episode Reunion was great, but I felt like it should've been a lot more dramatic to some degree. And the moment Pidge thought her brother was dead, was both amazing and heartbreaking at the same time! So this is just alternate version of how they could've found Matt(though you may notice a few familiar lines from the episode. ;) Anyway though... I hope you enjoy! Not sure when the next chapter will be finished, but I'll try to finish it as soon as I can. Til then... enjoy!! Thx!!!