**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender (duh)
Back in her rebel armor with her staff and blaster hanging at her sides, Mari stood in front of one of the Atlas' emergency escape hatches. Shiro, wearing one of the Garrison's space suits, pressed his hand against the control pad, opening the door and exposing them to the battle above Earth.
"Ready?" he asked, casting her a determined look.
Despite her racing heart, Mari nodded, her resolve set. It was time to avenge her comrades who fell on Vurelle. It was time to free Earth from the clutches of the Galra. After years of him being a thorn in their sides, it was time to take out Sendak once and for all.
The corners of Shiro's mouth briefly quirked up into an approving smile. "Veronica, we're departing from the Atlas now!" he informed her over the comms.
"Copy that! Lowering the shields on your side," she replied.
The particle barrier fell and the siblings leapt from the aircraft. Their boosters activated, propelling them forward through the gravity-less space as they headed towards Sendak's cruiser. All the while, their helmet comms crackled as the Atlas crew and the paladins continued to converse.
"These plates are gonna rupture soon!" Hunk grunted, his voice strained. "We don't have much longer!"
"Keep holding, team. We can do this!" Keith encouraged them. "Atlas, what's happening?"
"Hold a little longer!" Coran urged. "We have a plan!"
"Whatever it is, we're running out of time!"
Shiro and Mari streamed along the side of the enemy cruiser, dodging chunks of debris as they went. They moved towards the back and dove down, locating the opening where fighter ships could dock. Entering the cruiser, they landed on the floor of the empty hangar and began to make their way down the nearest hall.
"Atlas, we've arrived at Sendak's command ship," Shiro relayed.
"We're en route to the crystal now," Mari said. She pulled up a scanned map of the cruiser on her gauntlet display and highlighted the location of the enemy's power source. "It's on this level."
They rounded the corner and came skidding to a halt as they were greeted by a squad of sentries. Their blasters whined and they fired on the unexpected intruders. Shiro's new arm soared through the air, grabbing the closest robot by the head and smashing it against the wall. Mari whipped out her staff, one end sparking as it elongated to its full length. She brought down another one, frying its systems as its chest caved upon impact. The clunky sentries were no match against stubborn human rage and honed skill, and they were left in a smoking heap in the hall in no time.
As the duo moved forward, sprinting down the corridor, Coran's voice rang in their ears. "Shiro, the reflective plates have shattered!" he exclaimed, panicked and shrill. "I can't reach the paladins and the Atlas can't hold the Zaiforge beam much longer! Whatever you're gonna do, can you do it now?"
"We're almost there, Coran," Shiro promised as they closed the distance between them and the point on their map. "Hold tight for just a few more seconds."
They stopped as they arrived at their destination. Shiro punched the keypad, busting it with ease, and the door opened to reveal the tainted Balmeran crystal that was powering the cruiser.
"Sam, we've made it to the crystal. Activating communication transponder," Shiro said, bringing his wrist up and inputting the command through his prosthetic's systems.
"Okay, Shiro. I have to warn you, this might be a little strange. I'm about to use your brain as a computer node," Sam carefully explained, and Shiro grimaced.
"Well, wouldn't be the first time," he muttered, lifting his hand and pressing his palm against the crystal. It glowed beneath his touch before a burst of lightning snaked down his arm, connecting it to the prosthetic's base implanted in his shoulder. Shiro screamed and screwed his eyes shut as the pain racked his body. He clenched his teeth together and fell to one knee, but he refused to remove his hand.
"I've got it!" Sam exclaimed. "Disengaging the ventral thoron injector port. It will overload the deuterium array, which should result in an explosion large enough to debilitate the beam generator."
The crystal glowed brighter and brighter with each passing second. The cables connected to it sparked dangerously, sending stray bolts of lightning across the room. It began to splinter and shards fell to the floor. Shiro shrieked as a blinding white light enveloped him, and Mari yanked him back just as the crystal exploded. They were thrown across the room right into the wall, sliding down to the floor in a crumpled mess.
Stars danced across Mari's vision, and she groaned, her body aching all over. She blinked through the settling smoke to assess the damage. The lights had gone out and the ship no longer thrummed beneath her. Fragments of crystal littered the floor, and sprawled amongst them was an unconscious Shiro. His helmet sat discarded several paces away, having been knocked off in the explosion. Scrambling to her feet, she scooped it up and rushed over to inspect him for any wounds. To her relief, he'd only sustained a few scuffs and bruises.
"Shiro, Mari, are you there?" Sam's voice crackled over their comms. "I've lost my connection. Only one of the cannons is down."
"We're here, Commander Holt," Mari replied. "The crystal exploded under the pressure. Takashi's been knocked out."
"Sendak's cruiser has lost power. It's listing towards Earth. You must get out of there, now!" he instructed.
"But what about the rest of the Zaiforge cannons?"
"We'll handle them as best we can!"
There was no point in arguing. There was nothing more they could do here. She had to find them an escape route. Fixing Shiro's helmet over his head, Mari draped his real arm over her shoulders. It took all her strength just to lift his dead weight up off the ground, and she gnashed her teeth together beneath the strain. Still, she didn't stop as she slowly but surely dragged him out of the room and down the halls.
The angry stomping of heavy feet made her freeze in her tracks. She quickly tugged Shiro around the corner out of sight and she held her breath as the footsteps drew closer. When they finally passed, she snuck a quick peek down the hall, only for her heart to nearly drop into her stomach. It was Sendak. And he was on his way to inspect the crystal. He was looking for the sabotaging intruders, and it would only be a matter of time before he found her and the incapacitated Shiro.
Mari racked her brain, trying to formulate a plan. Sendak had no doubt sent sentries to the hangars and pods to guard the escape routes. She searched for another exit point on her map and a spot on the top of the cruiser became highlighted. There was a hatch there connected to the ventilation system that would bring them outside.
Locating the nearest vent, she pried off the grate and shoved Shiro inside. It was stuffy, hot, and disgusting in the cramped space as she pulled her brother along, but she grit her teeth and beared it, moving as fast as she could through the vents. About halfway through the trek, Shiro finally began to stir. He groaned and opened his eyes, struggling to focus on their surroundings.
"What happened?" he asked, careful to keep his voice low. He tried to sit up, but his head bonked into the top of the vent. The metal clanged and echoed, and he gave Mari a sheepish look as she scowled at him.
"The crystal blew up and now Sendak's looking for us," she whispered, breathless from the exertion of hauling him along. "We're getting off this ship."
She jerked her head at the path before them and continued onward, with Shiro following behind. "What about the cannons?" he asked. "Did the plan work?"
"Commander Holt only managed to take one down," she admitted grimly. "The Atlas is preventing the beam from hitting Earth."
With Shiro able to support his own weight now, the journey became much quicker. Like a couple of ants, they speedily zipped through the vents, climbing higher and higher until they reached the hatch. Shiro punched it off and the metal sheet went flying away. They lifted themselves up and out of the cruiser, the air thin and fiery and rushing all around them as the ship fell towards Earth. They ran towards the front of the ship, peering over the edges for any sign of the Atlas or the lions.
"The Zaiforge cannons are all gone!" Mari realized, shouting over the noise of the whipping winds. "And the Atlas is still standing!"
Shiro's face slackened in relief. "They did it!"
She glanced frantically around them. They may have exited the cruiser, but they were still stuck on a plummeting ship. "How're we gonna get off now?" she asked, her eyes landing on the flames streaking past the bow. "We're moving too fast to jump and rocket ourselves to safety!"
Shiro pressed his lips into a thin line. "That is an excellent question!"
"You two!"
They whirled around to see Sendak standing above them on the back end of the cruiser. He bared his fangs, absolutely seething as he took in the sibling pair. His army had fallen. He was the last obstacle remaining in their battle to free Earth. And there was no negotiating with him. The two parties glared at each other, their violent history and the misdeeds inflicted upon one another crashing together as the air thickened with tension.
Sendak made the first move. He lunged for them, his claw-like prosthetic glowing as he sent a blazing laser beam their way. They split and dodged, the blast carving into the metal at their feet. He fired again and Shiro lifted his own robotic limb, blocking and dispersing the shot. Sendak roared in fury and launched his arm, grinding it into him and forcing him all the way to the front of the cruiser. The arm cannon charged again and Shiro just narrowly ducked out of the way before his face could get melted off.
Mari's staff whizzed in her hand as she charged Sendak. She brought the blunt electric end up to catch him in the chest on his unprotected side, but he narrowly dodged, not too distracted to lose track of her presence. She swiped and jabbed at him, forcing him to back up, until his clawed arm soared through the air away from Shiro and towards her. It knocked her off her feet, swinging her around and throwing her behind him. She skidded along the floor, her boosters flaring to stop her from falling off the ship. Shiro launched himself at Sendak, drawing the warlord's attention back to him. Their robotic arms clashed as they fought solely with their fists.
"It's a shame to see your kin still alive and kicking after I destroyed her base!" Sendak grinned maniacally, relishing as Shiro struggled beneath his brute strength. "You should have heard her pitiful screams! She was calling out for a brother who never showed, all while I crushed her beneath my boot!"
Shiro let out a furious shout. He raised his flesh and blood fist and punched Sendak right in the face, but he didn't even so much as flinch at the blow. His smile widened and he growled as he overwhelmed Shiro, sending him flying back towards the front. Shiro rolled and stumbled before instantly regaining his footing and propelling himself forward, running right back into the fight. The cruiser was tilting forward more and more with each passing second, and Sendak ended up sliding along the floor to meet him. Their false fists collided in a mess of orange sparks, metal screeching against metal as they demanded the other to submit.
Rising to her feet, Mari ran up behind Shiro and boosted herself into the air. She soared over him and Sendak and their clashing prosthetics, landing behind the warlord. He turned to her, startled. But before he could fling Shiro away to deal with her, she pulled her staff back and unleashed three years of burning rage as she slammed it mercilessly into his face at full force. There was a dull crack upon impact and his restored robotic eye shattered, sending glass and wires spilling from the socket.
Sendak screeched as blood trickled from his broken nose and the new gash on his forehead. He kicked Shiro down to the opposite end of the cruiser before his prosthetic spun around and smacked her in the side, hurling her right into her brother. They whammed against a raised section of the ship's exterior and fell to the floor in a gasping heap. They just barely rolled out of the way as Sendak's arm streaked towards them, crushing the spot where they'd landed not even a second ago.
The appendage returned to Sendak's side and he uselessly swiped at the blood dripping down his furry face. His yellow eye flashed with hatred as he snarled, "Every ounce of my being will be directed toward the destruction of you and your pathetic planet!"
He barreled towards them, diving into another round of their brawl. He launched his arm again and they ran to meet it. Shiro surged forward, leaping over it with his fist raised to land a hit. Sendak sidestepped the attempt and brought his arm back around, catching him in the chest and throwing him forward. With his back turned to her, Mari thrust her staff upward at his neck to deliver an electric shock, but he spun on her, ready for the attack. He stepped back and his arm swatted her away, sending her sliding along the surface of the cruiser next to Shiro.
The ship had descended well through Earth's atmospheres and was on the verge of nose-diving straight into the ground. Unable to stand on the sharply angled aircraft and forced onto their stomachs, Shiro and Mari held on tight to one another while Sendak clung to a groove in the metal for dear life. The blue sky zoomed past and the dry, rocky desert filled their vision as the earth rushed up to meet them.
The cruiser violently lurched as it made impact with the ground, the bow tearing up the soil. It tilted and crashed onto its side, ripping through the rock and churning up clouds of thick dust. Shiro and Mari were abruptly thrown off and they flailed through the air before slamming roughly onto the ground. They skipped along the crusty surface, the oxygen whooshing from their lungs and their heads rattling around inside their helmets. When they finally dragged to a halt, covered in dirt and fresh wounds and struggling to breathe, the cruiser had gone still.
Mari hissed in pain, her newly bruised ribs tender and burning. She clutched her side and pushed herself onto her knees. She crawled over to where Shiro lay motionless on his back, dazed and too weak to move. His helmet had been knocked off and lost after taking the brunt of their fall.
"Are…Are you okay?" she croaked, her voice thin and wobbly from shock.
Shiro coughed and blinked. He groaned as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders, gently propping him up. "I…I've felt worse," he rasped. "Believe it or not."
A tight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, glad to see his sense of humor still intact. It all but faded though as a tall form emerged from the settling dust. Despite having sustained several injuries of his own from their fall, Sendak was still standing, his chest heaving with thready breaths.
Her heart nearly dropping into her stomach, Mari reached for her blaster. Her arms trembled as she set her sights on the gradually approaching warlord and fired. But her attack never landed. None of them did. Shot after shot, Sendak blocked each one with his arm, the lasers pinging off the Druid tech harmlessly. By the time her blaster's energy had been spent, Sendak was looming over the two fallen humans.
Panic clawed at Mari's insides. Shiro was motionless, on the verge of passing out, and her own injuries were rapidly draining her stamina. Neither of them couldn't fight him anymore. This was it for them, and the warlord knew it. Sendak considered their beaten forms, a triumphant gleam in his golden eye.
"Victory…or death," he growled, his arm crackling and glowing as he prepared to finish them off.
Suddenly, the air whipped around them, dispersing what remained of the dirt clouds. The earth trembled as the Black Lion landed behind Sendak with a wrathful roar. Bayard sword blazing, Keith leapt from its opened jaws, his sights set on the Galra warlord. Shocked and weakened as he was, Sendak had no time to react to the paladin's attack. The blade cut deep into his throat, slashing it open. Blood spurted forth and a gurgling sound of disbelief escaped his lips. The light drained from his eye and his knees gave out. Sendak collapsed, his lifeless body falling face-first into the ground in finality.
Keith glowered at the fallen form of the ruthless warlord, his gaze cold and without remorse. Mari let out a shaky breath, her heart thudding rapidly inside her chest, and Shiro sagged with relief. As Keith moved to his other side, slinging his arm over his shoulders, he gave the paladin a grateful smile.
"Thank you," Shiro whispered, and Keith nodded, granting him a smile of his own.
With Shiro being supported on both sides, they helped lift him onto his feet. The other lions hovered in the sky above them, watching over the trio below.
"We did it!" Pidge exclaimed over their comms.
"Earth is safe!" Hunk cheered.
Mari and Keith exchanged a grin, the others' delight infectious. Despite all the hiccups, they had all survived. Earth was safe and free of Galra control. They could finally move forward.
Their celebration lasted all of two seconds as a fiery unidentified object burst through Earth's atmosphere. Smiles fell and a new wave of dread washed over them. Whatever this new threat was, it was coming in hot and fast, and it was headed right for them.
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