Allura and Hunk sat in their rooms. They were told, in no uncertain terms, that they were to not leave. They swept their rooms for bugs again and this time found a few. They checked more thoroughly and when they were sure they were safe, Hunk pinged Allura. When he got a ping back, he knew it was safe to contact her.

"Do you think Keith and Lance were caught?" Hunk said immediately.

"Shush," Allura snapped, "I think something happened. That's all we know. Until we know more, it does no one any good to speculate."

"Allura, this is me, speculation is all I can do without thinking."

"We'll stay for a while, and then we'll escape to the lions. Right now their guard is up. If they think we're tame, they'll let their guard down."

"Right…" Hunk bit his lip, "do you think they're ok?"

"Keith sent a coded message that I'm pretty sure he got wrong, so they better be."

()

Lance didn't look back once to see if Keith could keep up. But Keith had learned much from the Blades and keeping up had been the first lesson.

Occasionally he checked the map to see where they were.

"Where are we going?" Keith asked, not for the first time, "we don't have time to take a detour."

"Of course we have time," Lance said. And that was all he said.

Lance lead him into a tall building that was empty inside, much like a silo. Sliding down a ladder they found the bottom was grated.

Lance grabbed Keiths shoulder tightly and held him still.

"What-"

"Sh." The command was quiet, and Keith listened.

Below them he could hear muffled voices. The voices were becoming clearer as they sat still.

"We'll release the agents memory once I'm back on my planet."

The voice made Keith grimace; it sounded robotic and like it was being spoken out of a tin can.

Lance, upon hearing the voice, gripped Keiths shoulder tighter.

"We can't kill him," said a clicking Jermites voice, "his absence will be noticed."

"Why was he allowed on his own anyway?"

"He wasn't, he just thinks he can do whatever he wants."

"Then make up a convincing story until I can play more fully with the humans memory," the robot voice said as he came into view. Four arms and no neck, the monster was huge and had three eye hilariously small eyes in its angled head.

Two Jermites followed in the creatures shadow.

Lance was barely breathing, and Kith took that as his cue to do the same. If Lance was being that cautious, then so should he.

"We must act quicker than this," said one Jermite, "the humans are bound to suspect something before long. We must act while they are still weak from the war."

"You will keep them busy," the monster said simply, "while my people fill in the power vacuum left by the Galra."

"But do we have time for that? Have you seen the weapon they call Voltron?! Its-"

"Its of no concern if we have one of its operators, or if one of its operators is of no use, right?"

"…that's true."

"Trust us, like you have this whole time," the monster rested a reassuring hand on the Jermites shoulder, "everything will go to plan."

They walked out of ear shot and then turned the corner down the hall.

Keith let out a breath but Lance didn't do the same.

He was shaking.

"Lance," Ketih hissed and the other shook his head.

"sh," Lance licked his lips and then beckoned Keith to follow him.

()

Allura and Hunk leaned out their windows, looking around at how they might escape.

Then the doors opened and Lance and keith walked in.

"What's going on?"

"Lance!"

"Sh," Lance ordered, his face unnaturally serious. Hunk slapped his hand over his mouth and followed his friend out and down the hall. They passed both Jermite and Hogro guards, all knocked out.

"Keith-" Allura scowled as she almost tripped, her diplomatic attire getting in her way. It didn't help that Lance was moving at an unforgiving pace.

"Let's get out first," Keith said helping her. Hunk watched Lances back and wondered if his friend was…carrying himself differently than usual.

"Lance," Hunk hissed, panting a little, "You need to slow down."

Lance didn't slow down.

When they were clear and on their way back to the black lion, Keith filled them in on what was going on. He helped pull both hunk and Allura along and often had to stop talking just to keep Lance in their line of sight.

When they reached the lion Lance rounded on them, "spill everything you know."

"I'll kill them," hunk muttered.

"Hunk, buddy," Keith put a cautious hand on the big guys shoulder, "one step at a time."

"Will someone tell me what the situation is?" Lance finally snapped, "I understand I've been compromised, so the sooner I have all the information the sooner we can get something DONE!"

They all jumped a little. Lance had never, not once, raised his voice to them like that.

"I told you what-"

"Keith," Allura raised a hand and stepped forward, "allow me." To Lance she said, "would you like the current situation, the war, the moment Voltron appeared, or would you like us to start back when you were twelve?"

The question could be seen as condescending, but they were honest questions.

"the current situation," Lance said stiffly, "then we will go from there."

So Allura waved Keith and Hunk forward and together they explained who they all were and what their roles were in the mission. They explained each briefing and what training they had on top of the skills they already possessed.

"You mentioned one more?"

"That's pidge," Hunk said, "her mission was something totally different, though I'm not sure how it all connects…"

"Tell me," Lance ordered.

Keith, already irritated with Lances mood, let Allura and Hunk explain Pidges mission and what they hoped to gain from it.

Lance closed his eyes and sighed, "This is a mess."

"tell us about it," Hunk laughed, "we barely managed to-"

"I'll get out, but you lot need to go back to Iverson."

"What?"

"Is that the only one word response you lot know?"

"We're not leaving if you're not," Keith said firmly, squaring up against Lance, but Lance, for once, didn't raise to the bait.

Instead he said, quite calmly, "If I'm your trainer, then you will do as I say. End of discussion."

"I am also the leader of Voltron," Ketih said, trying to sound more in charge than he felt, "we work as a team."

"I don't even work with a partner, what makes you think I'll work with a team?"

"But you did have a partner," Hunk said, but his voice trailed off as Lance gave him an icy look.

"I'm not one that works well with others."

"Yeah, we noticed," Allura sighed, "So please sit down now as we explain the rest to you. you don't have all the information yet."

Lance hesitated before turning his attention back to Allura, but he did not sit down.

With Hunks help they explained what Voltron was and how they had become paladins. Allura took over in explaining the war with Zarkon, the Witch, and then Sendak.

Lances face remained unreadable throughout the explanation.

"And that brings us to why we should stay together," Allura finished, "We're a team-"

"You're an embarrassment," Lance said, making Allura stop in her tracks, "All of you. The fact…you say I let some other dash take over an undercover operation, and then I let you two out of my sight…I don't have that level of trust with Iverson, let alone you lot. Which means I had another motive. There's something I knew that I didn't tell you."

"Yeah, we knew that too," Allura smirked, "That's why we all talked to Iverson behind your back."

"And you still think we're friends and a team?" Lance mimicked her smirk, "are you all masochists?"

"Are you?" Keith raised a fist, but Hunk stopped him. Lance didn't even flinch, in fact, he looked bored out of his mind.

"You all will go back to Iverson while I figure out what happened here."

"Iverson," Allura smiled, bringing up her arm com.

"What's going on?" Iverson yawned, "Did something happen?"

"Lance lost his memory and is acting like a jerk."

"That's a problem-"

"Boss!" Lance grabbed Alluras wrist and almost bent it backward, but she3 ripped it from his grasp and shoved him back, hard.

"Lance," Iverson said firmly, "I'm ordering ALL of you back to HQ. I want ALL of you back in my office ASAP."

"But boss!" Lance protested, "I can't leave! There's-"

"Its an order, Lance," Iverson yawned again, "make sure you leave with conscience."

He signed off and left everyone in an awkward position.

"I can't leave," Lance muttered, "Not while-"

"you're going to disobey a direct order?" Allura gave a gasp, "that's not very professional…in fact, its rather embarrassing if you ask me."

"No one asked you," Lance said, unfazed by her jabs, "there's more going on here than any of you know-"

"Then tell us," Hunk snapped, "tell us and we can help!"

"Help? You?" Lance looked at Hunk with disgust, "I'd rather not die, thank you."

"oh…"

"Apologize," Keith growled.

"for what?" Lance folded his arms, "shouldn't you be flying this thing since you're the 'only one who can'?"

"Its fine," Hunk grabbed Keith and pulled him back, "we need to get out of here."

"What about the lions?" Allura ran her fingers over her head, "we can't leave them behind!"

"They can't-"

"We're going to go pick them up," Lance said with a shrug, "we were ordered to leave with conscience. So, Red-Dash, take us to those lions and we'll bow off this planet legally."

"HOW?!"

"They'll just capture us again!"

"What if-"

"SHUT UP!" Lance roared, "HOLY QUIZNAK YOU ALL ARE ANNOYING! JUST LISTEN TO ME AND DO AS I SAY!"

Both Keith and Allura barred their teeth, ready to dig their heels in, But it was Hunk who nodded and said, "ok, ok, let's just go get the lions then?"

Keith swore and stormed into the cockpit. Allura continued to glair.

Lance re folded his arms and glared back, "you got something to say Pink-Dash?"

"Maybe," she said, "But I'll hold off for now."

()

Keith flew back into the Jermites air space and landed next to the other lions. There was already a party waiting for them to disembark.

"Alright," Lance pointed to Keith, "Red-Dash to my right, Pink-Dash to my left, and Yellow- Dash behind. I want all eyes open and I want every one of you to ooze confidence from every pore. Act like you're in charge and they can't touch you without admitting fault and starting a war."

"What makes you think they don't want war?" Keith asked, "It seems they-"

"If they wanted war now, they would have struck by now," Lance rolled his eyes, "the Jermites and …their other allies will move soon, but they can't afford to be rushed."

"So we go in as if nothing is wrong, ignore everything and they'll let us go?" Hunk raised an eyebrow.

"That's the plan," Lance said, "They know my memory is gone so I pose no current threat. They'll be upset, but they wont be desperate."

"What about us?" Allura asked, "were supposed to be in our rooms."

"Leave that to me," Lance looked bored, "any more stupid questions?"

They didn't reply so Lance nodded, "let's go."

()

Telliksha tapped a thin, clawed toe on the pavement as they walked up to her. They were walking with mush more confidence than they should.

Then again…they were B's…

"What is the meaning of this disrespect?" She asked as they stopped before her.

"I was going to ask you the same question," Lance replied, "house arrest? On what grounds do you have to lock away a diplomatic party? Was the deal not to your liking? Surely there are better ways to go about showing your displeasure, such as renegotiating."

"You and the Red paladin disappeared, we were looking for you-"

"We were seeing the sights," Lance shrugged, "and got separated from the guide. It happens. We on earth have never locked anyone away on that basis when it happened with your people."

Teliksha bristled, "That was NOT our mistake-"

"And yet, it was a mistake that was made and WE didn't lock you away. However you have shown us all a GREAT deal of disrespect."

Lance turned to the alien that didn't look like a Jermite at all, "Ryner, dear, would you like an escort home?"

Lance gave his most handsome smile.

Ryner smiled back, "No, thank you, I believe we are done here for now. I will contact Iverson for anything else."

"Please do," Lance bowed and held out a hand. Ryner took it and he passed the hand to Allura, "Take our dear friend to her ship and make sure all her people are with her."

Allura nodded and did as she was told, keeping all emotion from her face.

"We came to an agreement! They can't leave until-"

"Those agreements are now nulled," Lance said, the smile gone from his face as he turned back to the Jermite leader, "by not only arresting the mediators, but illegally calling in a FOURTH party, you've ruined any further chance at this point in time. Perhaps, after a bit of time-"

"They agreed to a fourth party!"

"They were not aware of the laws," Lance said, "you took advantage of their ignorance and forced an unfair agreement."

"You cannot undo this-"

"I just did," Lance said, "and if you try to stop the Olkaries or us from leaving, you will be starting a war. Do you wish to continue down this path?"

Hunk couldn't help himself, he shivered and hoped the answer would be 'no'. He'd never heard Lance sound like this before.

"War is the last thing on our minds," Telliksha said, "our planets have been friends for deca-pheebs. I don't know why you seem so egger to take this to the furthest level."

"Then we will be going," Lance gave a much smaller bow to the Jermite leader and then turned on his heal.

"Your lion is the red one," Keith said when they were safely out of ear shot. Allura was running back to them as the Olkari ship blasted off.

"You said that before," Lance rolled his eyes, I'm not stupid."

"How did you know that was ryner, though?" Hunk asked, "you don't remember her-"

"I'm. not. Stupid," Lance stopped and poked Hunk in the chest, "a skill you should pick up on should be to only hear something once. I refuse to repeat myself from here on out."

He turned and made his way to the red lion. The other three watched, wondering if Red would lower her barrier and let Lance in. He was a totally different person and they weren't sure the red lion would accept him.

Much to their surprise, the red lion lowered its head and accepted him without question.

"I've never been so disappointed in all my life," Keith muttered, shaking his head.

()

Lance licked his lips. It had been a shock when he'd left the black lion to see that it was actually a lion shaped craft. He'd kept all surprise off his face so the Red-Dash wouldn't see, but this one was unnerving. The moment they had turned around to head to their individual lions, he could feel the eyes of the red one. He'd never been good with sentient technology and, if he was honest, he hated Ais and anything of the like. But he would go down in flames before he admitted it.

So, march up to the creepy lion he did and it. Moved. On. Its. Own!

Still refusing to show weakness, he walked in without hesitation.

A small, quite rumble sounded in his ear as he sat at the controls.

He shook his head.

The rumbling persisted.

Just shut up and do as I say.

The lion was using his own words against him.

Lance laughed and in spite of himself, he found he liked this weird cat.