A sudden noise was enough to awaken Hunk from his blackout. As his eyes slowly opened, the first thing he saw sitting beside him was a figure in a dirty striped scarf around the head along with a yellow shirt smudged with dirt.

As Hunk sat up, he felt something stinging at the back of his head like a painful headache. He held the back of his head, holding it tightly to suppress the pain. The figure turned around, revealing a light brown skinned woman. She eagerly approached him, sitting near him.

"Sir, a-are you alright?"

They both stared for a moment, unaware of how close their faces were. Hunk could also notice the mix of brown and maroon hair poking out from the bottom of her neck. He glanced around and noticed a red painted door a few feet away from him. Hunk looked down at his body and found his gear and weapons missing. Haxus and his men must've stripped him clean while he was out. What grabbed his further attention was the fact that they weren't alone. The room he was in was filled with women. Scared, feeble and weak women.

"A-Are these-?"

"Villagers, yes," the woman answered. Her kiwi accent made Hunk assume she was Australian. "The insurgents liberated their homes, executed the men and the elders and took away young boys to make them take part of their organization. They didn't say what they want to do with the women...my best bet would be labor or slavery."

It must've hurt to vision the whole scene with the men coldly executed and the women taken away from their sons. Hunk looked back at the woman.

"I didn't catch your name." He said.

"Shay, Shay Bainivalu. I'm a war correspondent. Are you a soldier?"

"I'm with NATO."

"I'm guessing you're here because of the Galra, right?"

He raised an eyebrow. How did she know exactly?

"You're here for the Galra?"

"Yeah," Shay answered as if she wasn't surprised to expect a reaction from him. "I was tracking their movement from Afghanistan to here. I heard stories about them overthrowing governments and armies."

Suddenly, Hunk heard the door creaks open. Whatever it was, it made the women and the young girls tremble and shake in fear. The light shone across the remaining part of the room. Three figures went inside and one of them was none other than Haxus but he wasn't alone. There were two more men accompanying him, all wearing jackets. One was slightly bigger and had a huge beard with a beanie. The other was shorter, sporting a slightly tanned skin with sideburns, giving Hunk the impression he was Armenian. However, what caught his attention was the fact the Armenian was wearing a puffer vest over a yellow striped track jacket with baggy cargo pants. Weird choice of fashion.

"Good to see you awake, ladies," Haxus said, shifting his focus on Hunk and Shay. "Cause I'm gonna need the Hunk guy and Miss Bainivalu to come with us."

They both looked at each other and back at Haxus. They weren't able to ask any further once the bearded guy and the Armenian approached them.

As soon as they arrived in Al Khor to capture Haxus, everything goes down and they lose Hunk to some terrorists. The team took a brief breather to recall the crazy events recently. Few moments later, the team began their search for Hunk. Shiro, Allura and Pidge grabbed some of the dead jihadist's AKM's with a few extra mags. Taking the jihadists' only car, the team set off after the tire tracks left on the sandy road with the headlights as their only source of light.

After thirty minutes of driving after some tracks, they noticed a slightly lit village from a distance. The tire tracks seemed to lead them to the entrance so there was no reason to barge in. Shiro parked the team at a pitch black hill a mile away from the village, killed the engine and checked the village. While the rest hung back to rest, Shiro and Allura glanced at the village surrounded by walls.

"How many d'you think are in there?" Allura asked.

"Possibly thirty or more," Shiro replied, looking over the village with the binoculars. "Can't tell for sure since the drone isn't able to pick up any video feed just like the village. That must be how they managed to catch us off-guard. We best keep this as quiet as possible because they might kill Hunk and we don't have enough ammunition."

"Agreed."

As they continued looking over the village, they heard faint aircraft noises. Looking up, they noticed some red dots hovering from a distance and as it approached the village, it emerged from the shadows as an unusual looking helicopter.

"Since when did terrorists get their hands on helicopters?" Shiro asked.

"Rich terrorists." Allura corrected.

"Rich ones, huh? Figured it would be planes."

"There's probably someone important coming from that heli and we need to get in there fast."

Standing in the helipad, Haxus along with his bodyguard, Lahn watched the black matte helicopter approach the building from a distance. He had been expecting his visit, was told he wanted to see the man he had captured. Maybe he could help his deal with their Voltron problem. As it closed in, the whipping rotors blew in the breeze from the late night. Once the helicopter softly landed, the rotors began to stop spinning and the engine died. The doors slid open and his boss, Sendak stepped out accompanied by his own bodyguards. Haxus was surprised to see him in an all black suit, especially in some dump called Al Khor.

"Looking good, sir. That suit really goes well with your eyepatch." Haxus said.

"Same could be said to you, Haxus." Sendak replied, smiling.

"Would you like me to escort you to the prisoners?"

"Lead the way."

Nodding, Haxus turned around and headed inside with Lahn opening the door for him. Even as a radical weirdo, he still maintained that respect. Something the Galra expected from a man like him. They headed down the dusty stairwell which would lead them out of the building. As they walked across the village, armor-clad men with improved weapons moved around while some were at their shelters playing cards or whatever they usually do. Although he was in front of Sendak, he shielded his doubt away from him. But as always, he always finds out.

"Something on your mind, my friend?" He heard Sendak ask.

"Sir, I'm no man to ask any questions but I'm not certain you should be here right now," Haxus answered. "We sent Sadik and his ISIL team to ambush Voltron at the village but only two of his men returned and Voltron could be here any second now."

Sendak let out a brief chuckle. "I'm flattered by your concerns, Haxus but I want answers from your prisoner."

"He's not much of a talker."

"Then he will die silently."

Once they arrived at the house where he placed the Hunk guy and Miss Bainivalu, Haxus opened the door with a gun armory inside. To their left, he opened another door and went in where the people of interest were. Tied up in seperate chairs, the Hunk guy and Miss Bainivalu were there as ordered. Bogh stood near them without blinking. Haxus then moved out of Sendak's way as he approached both of them.

"I thought your prisoner was much older than I thought." He said, looking at the Hunk guy. "But, who am I to judge a man's age?"

"The same man who topples half of the government just to prove god knows what." Shay sarcastically blurted.

"You best keep your mouth shut, miss journalist." Bogh snapped.

"I'd listen if I were you," Sendak added. "You wouldn't want to be treated like the other journalists at the Islamic State, wouldn't you?"

There was silence. Silent enough for Hunk to hear the chilly breeze from an open window behind him. The tension between everybody in the room remained fixated until nobody spoke.

"I thought so. Now, I'm not a man to be treated with disrespect and dishonesty. And I will remind you, I'm not a man who will go easy on liars. I have questions and you will both answer them without hesitation."

Shortly, he gazed at Hunk intently. His stare was sharp and directly into his mind. Even one of his eyes was enough to hit him in the nerve. Hunk wouldn't be that man to guess everything. He could only hope for a miracle.

Without wasting any time, the team made their advance to the village. The trek to the village was extremely pitch black and the drones were off so they had to rely on the lighting from the distance as their guide. Despite some setbacks, the team managed to arrive at the village.

They stacked up against the walls covering the village. The top didn't seem to be filled with barbed wire or glass shards. One by one, the team climbed over the wall with Shiro lifting them up for support. Once it was Shiro's turn, he took a few steps back before running towards the wall. His foot climbed onto the surface of the wall and he managed to grab onto the edge before vaulting over it.

With the team inside, they proceeded in silence and with caution. Shiro raised his hand, prompting the team to stop between two buildings when he noticed two jihadists standing together. Luckily, they were concealed by the shadows. Shortly, the second jihadist walked away, leaving the first one alone.

Shiro left a hand signal for the team to stand back before slowly approaching the jihadist with a knife. As he progressed, Shiro made sure to step softly as the sand could be quite noisy. Once he reached a suitable distance, Shiro grabbed the jihadist by the mouth and stabbed his neck deeply while pulling him away from the light. Once the jihadist stopped struggling, Shiro placed his body aside and checked him for ammo. What seemed to surprise Shiro was the fact he had a plate carrier which was unusual. But nevertheless, he quickly grabbed some extra mags and handed a pair to Pidge. They eventually continued advancing, avoiding the light as much as possible.

The whole village consisted of buildings with it's impoverished structure, seemingly unstable towers and lamp posts so bright it can blind anybody. As the team moved, there found several jihadists patrolling the area wearing similar armor while armed with what appeared to be advanced weaponry, other than AK47s. Something felt dodgy about it, especially with the sleek looking helicopter.

The team steered clear of the open, moving through the back of the village. There was little light and seemingly no sign of any jihadists. As the made their way through the narrow lane behind a building, a jihadist in a ski mask suddenly appeared from the left corner. Just as the jihadist noticed them, Allura quickly aimed her rifle and shot him through the head with the sacrifice of thier position. The loud gunshot rang through possibly the entire village.

As soon as the jihadist slumped back into the doorway he came through, shouts and orders erupted from a distance. Lance couldn't help but groan in frustration. At least he and Keith are with the. With no choice, Shiro led the team into the doorway, through the mostly empty living room and out into the open. By the time they barged out of the door, a group of armed jihadists cut their path and everything went off.

While Hunk watched Sendak grab something from the table, he himself was struggling to pull off the cable ties behind his back with his strength. He could feel the ties digging into his skin, hurting every second. Suddenly, he heard dim gunshots accompanied by further more and then the alarm blared. Everybody in the room looked around in confusion with Haxus checking the window. This was definitely Voltron's doing.

"Shit," Haxus cursed and turned towards Sendak. "Looks like it's time for you to go, boss."

Sendak was quick to understand although he was a bit frustrated about it. As he prepared to leave, Haxus then turned to his accomplices.

"Bogh, get the boss outta here. Lahn, get rid of the prisoners starting with these two."

The bearded guy and the Armenian both nodded. While Hunk continued to attempt to pull off the cable ties, everybody scurried out of the room except Lahn. Once the door was slammed shut, Lahn turned back towards the two now alone with him. He began to grin like a twisted psychopath and approached Shay first. He reached behind his pants, revealing a pistol aimed at Shay.

Before Lahn could pull the trigger, Hunk finally managed to break free from the cable ties and charged at Lahn who had just noticed him. Just as he moved his aim towards Hunk, he was suddenly tackled and pushed up against the wall with his arm holding the gun tightly gripped.

"Այ քեզ-?! (What the-?!)"

While pinned, Lahn was unable to nudge or even push out of Hunk's grip. He couldn't even move his hand tightly holding the gun. Hunk elbowed him in the face before grabbing onto his vest and hurling him onto a table. His limp body rolled off the table, pushing off other objects onto the floor. The gun also disappeared out of sight.

As Hunk approached him, Lahn pulled himself up and hurled a kick at Hunk's stomach, only for his shin to be clasped tightly. Hunk threw his leg aside, pushing the shocked Lahn off balance. Stumbling back, Lahn went for a punch for his face. Hunk ducked under and punched his left knee, freezing Lahn in the middle of his punch. He punched him again at his side and delivered a right elbow to his face, pushing him back to the ground. Hunk noticed Lahn swipe off a pair of scissors from the surface before getting back up.

Hunk dodged his rapid slashes with the scissors, away from the blade. When Lahn went for a thrust, Hunk leaned to his right and took that chance to grab his arm. He pulled Lahn's arm forward, causing him to stumble closer to him and set it on his right shoulder. Hunk then karate chopped his wrist, hard enough to make Lahn loosen his grip on the scissors.

Suddenly, a gloved hand gripped onto Hunk's face tightly with some of the fingers touching his mouth. They both began to stumble around with Hunk trying to throw him off but he was way more determined to kill this strong man. He slammed Lahn against the wall, elbowing him repeatedly but to no avail. The hand was about to touch the eyes and it would only last a second until they were gouged.

Hunk caught sight of the scissors between the fingers blocking his face. Though he could hold onto Lahn's right arm, Hunk hit his left arm repeatedly until his grip slightly loosened. Hunk walked towards the knife while being dragged down by the Armenian. Despite some disruptions, Hunk managed to grab the scissors just as his face was completely covered.

Without hesitating, Hunk stabbed Lahn's wrist, near the radial artery. A cry ripped out from him and his grip on his face completely loosened. Hunk let go of Lahn's right arm and moved away from him while still holding the scissors to his wrist. Grabbing hold of his hand, Hunk pushed the scissors twice until the blade poked out through Lahn's wrist. Ignoring his agony, Hunk kicked his left shin, leaving him on one of his knees. Holding his hand tightly, Hunk started to push Lahn's wrist towards his neck while the Armenian struggled to push it back, holding his own hand for support.

Hunk slammed the handle of the scissors, almost reaching the tip of his skin. He did it again and Hunk noticed some blood beginning to spill from Lahn's neck. Hunk slammed it repeatedly, over and over to push the scissors further. More blood continued to trail down underneath Lahn's jacket. He stopped for a brief moment before letting out a yell and delivering the last blow. With one last slam, Lahn's wrist was fully attached to his neck and his eyes were left gaping over a thousand miles as well as his full mouth. Blood began to soak his jacket and his remaining arm went limp.

Hunk dropped his body aside while panting like he ran a mile. Of all people he thought, the Armenian was one he would call determined. His wrists were left with red marks. He looked behind and forgot Shay was still there, witnessing the whole thing. From what he could assume, she was probably traumatised.

"Sorry you had to see that." Hunk said.

"No, no. It's fine. I've seen worse." She replied, shaking her head.

After cutting Shay loose, they walked out of the room, leaving Lahn's body behind although Hunk grabbed the pistol at the doorway. On their left was a gun room where most of it were empty. However, Hunk found a M249 SAW at the middle and some ammo. As he packed his weapon, Hunk noticed Shay take a MP5K from another table as well as some mags.

"You know how to use that?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah, my dad taught me. He was a soldier too." Shay answered.

He nodded, hoping she would be right. They found themselves some Kevlar and quickly put it on. Once they were prepared, the two made their way out to find the rest of the villagers.

After managing to shoot only two jihadists down, the rest quickly retaliated with heavy fire, forcing the team to split and hide behind an abandoned car. While Shiro and Allura blindly fired back, the jihadists backed away while continuing firing. Keith briefly glanced between the windows of the car and just caught sight of a group running from a distance. One of them was quick for Keith to recognise.

"Got eyes on Haxus!" Keith notified, just as a bullet hit the window near him.

Allura looked over the boot where she saw the group including Haxus as well, running across the open. She ducked back down as another rain of bullets scuttle after them.

"Alright, Keith and Lance, go after Haxus and capture him alive. Pidge, you're with me."

"And I'll go after the guys trying to escape," Shiro added.

"Good. Now go! We'll provide covering fire!"

Once Allura and Pidge stood up and fired back at the jihadists, Shiro, Keith and Lance made a dash and headed into the other buildings for a shortcut.

While most of the jihadists are busy, Hunk and Shay made their way to the west where Shay led the way. Hunk turned around with his weapon raised in case of any sign of the jihadists. So far, the gunshots were only fixated away from them so that seemed to be good news. After passing by buildings, Shay stopped at a small house with pale wallwork and a hole on the roof.

"That's where the prisoners are?" Hunk asked.

Shay replied with a nod as she opened the door while holding the MP5K on her right hand. Entering the house, they were greeted with a stairwell in front of them which led to the basement. As the two delved into the shadows of the basement, Hunk kept his aim steady as they navigated through the dark corridor. The basement was wide and full of chain link fencing with several weapon crates and shelves filling up the majority of the basement.

As they moved through the dark long corridor which resembled a tunnel, the two found the red door at the very end with the paint dry and crispy. Shay turned the doorknob over but it wouldn't budge.

"Locked," She said with a sharp sigh before looking up at a key shelf where one of the keys were present. "That must be the key."

Shay grabbed the keys and unlocked the door without pulling it out. The red door opened slowly and the whimpers accompanied afterwards. Shay lowered her weapon and raised her hand to calm them.

"It's okay, it's okay. We're going to get you all home. You'll be fine." She said in a soothing voice.

While Hunk stayed back outside the room, Shay managed to get all the villagers together and they began to move out. As the group moved through the long corridor, they had just caught sight of two jihadists approaching their area. Just as they noticed them, Hunk quickly fired the M249 with heavy rapid bursts, mowing down the unsuspecting jihadists.

Once they reached the other end of the corridor, they were immediately greeted by another sight of jihadists. Hunk counted four jihadists with one of them helming a G36C with a drum mag and AK12s for the rest. They started opening fire, strong enough to suppress Hunk and Shay behind the stacked crates. The muzzles flashed the dark basement alight. The G36C with the drum mag was delivering further destruction, with its bullets shattering through boxes and other objects on top of the crates above each of them.

"Stay down! Don't come out until we say so!" Hunk heard Shay yell at the villagers hiding behind the doorway through the thunderous gunshots.

Hunk flinched as a bullet ricocheted from the side of the crate, narrowingly missing his arm. As he moved to the other side of the crate, Hunk shifted the M249 around the corner and fired blindly. He heard loud thumps and clatters afterwards, estimating two remaining jihadists left.

Cocking his head to his left, he noticed Shay leaning out and aiming the MP5K at one of the jihadists. However, there was a click and as soon as Shay noticed the jammed weapon, the remaining jihadists diverted their attention at her. Ducking down, the bullets penetrated the walls and the boxes around her as the villagers' shrieks echoed throughout the basement. Suddenly, the gunfire stopped and heavy thuds followed up. Hunk remained still behind the crates and glanced at Shay who was backed against the corner of the doorway. They still heard the whimpers of the women from the corridor.

"Yellow Lion, you in there?" Hunk heard a familiar voice call out.

Sighing of relief, he placed his almost empty M249 and raised his arm above the crates.

"Yeah, it's me!" Hunk replied, waving.

Once he stood up, he saw the rest of his team, Pidge and Allura walk into the basement with their weapons lowered.

"You okay, Momoa?" Allura asked.

Hunk nodded. While Pidge bent down and replaced her AKM with the G36C from the body, Allura noticed the villagers slowly appear from the corridor as well as Shay who was still holding her weapon tight.

Allura glanced at them both. "I see you made some new friends."

"They're the villagers the Galra captured and the woman with me is a war correspondent tracking down the Galra as well as us." Hunk clarified.

"We'll talk about this later. You stay here with them."

"Yes, ma'am."

She then turned to Pidge who was now carrying the G36C with the drum mag.

"Pidge, I want you to meet up with Yeun and Santos." Allura ordered.

"What about you, ma'am?" She asked.

"I'm gonna find Shiro."

After splitting from the team, Keith and Lance advanced towards a building where they last saw Haxus run into. The lamp posts around the village flickered and flashed as gunshots erupted from a distance. While they headed down there, a jihadist with a Remington shotgun appeared from one of the parked trucks and aimed, only to be put down instantly by Lance with one shot to the head. Once the two entered the building, they were greeted with suppressive fire by two jihadists, forcing the two to take cover apart from each other.

As the bullets sprayed at them, Lance checked his magazine only to find it empty including his pouches. Shortly, the gunshots stopped accompanied by magazine fumbling. Lance emerged out of the pillar he was hiding behind and threw his empty rifle at one of the jihadists. At the same time, Keith shot down the other jihadist. Charging at the distracted jihadists, Lance tackled him onto the ground while holding his rifle tightly. After punching him several times in the face, Lance pulled out his pistol and finished him off.

"Clear!" Lance called, after aiming across the room with his pistol .

After the two split up to find Haxus, Lance went up the stairwell to check the top floor while Keith remained at the bottom. He arrived at what he believed was the fifth floor and searched the dusty corridor. Suddenly, he heard faint footsteps from down the corner. Once he reached the very end of the corridor, he noticed a closed door to his left. As Lance opened the door and entered the room, something suddenly appeared from the corner, grabbing the barrel of the gun and Lance felt an elbow slam into his cheek. He stumbled sideways and raised his pistol towards the figure. He grabbed the barrel tightly, leaning to the right and shifting it away from his face, just as Lance pulled the trigger. The gun let out a muffled pop with nothing coming out of the muzzle. Lance was instantly met with a fist to the face. The figure twisted his gun tightly, enough to make Lance loosen his grip. Before he even knew it, the butt of the gun slammed his cheek.

Hitting the ground with a hard thud, Lance coughed and spat out blood, splashing on the dusty concrete surface. Looking up, he stared at the figure with a familiar face, sporting a brown jacket with a beige shirt while aiming Lance's own pistol at him. Even as a cruel terrorist, he still looked like he was preparing for a fashion shoot. However, Haxus' mouth grew into a smirk before letting out a chuckle.

"You think I'm just gonna shoot you right now, boy?" He said, lowering the pistol. "I rather have ourselves a good old-fashioned fist fight before I let you die alone."

Haxus threw the pistol aside, disappearing into the shadows before cracking his neck to flaunt his looks. As Lance pulled himself up, he looked up to find Haxus in his close combat stance as if he was some UFC fighter.

"You ready for your dinner?" He said.

Once he was on his feet, Lance made his first move and went for a punch. Haxus leaned away from the oncoming fist and blocked his attempted punch before delivering a hook to Lance's face. His ears began to ring like a loud alarm and he wasn't be to comprehend what went through his head when he decided to pull off a haymaker. Lance left arm slammed against Haxus' elbow block and he felt a fist pummel his abdomen before another one clipped his face.

His vision began to blur, his eyelids were on the verge of shutting down but despite his dazed self, Lance caught Haxus' left hook just in time and ducked under. He let his left fist drive itself towards Haxus' waist before going for his face with the same fist. Lance then delivered a heavy right cross to his face, seemingly dazing him.

He swung a kick for his leg, only for Haxus to surprisingly block his kick with his leg before lifting his other leg for a roundhouse to Lance's side. He then deployed a back kick to Lance's abdomen, sending him swaying back. Lance swung another punch but Haxus ducked under the swing and slammed a fist against his stomach again before noticing an elbow flash right in front of his eyes, dazing him completely.

Before he knew it, Haxus was able to lift him up with his hands on Lance's neck. He was then thrown onto a table behind him. As Haxus' hands tightly squeezed his flesh, Lance outstretched his hand to his face, reaching for his eyes. Before one of his fingers could reach his right eye, Haxus grabbed hold of his arm and effortlessly threw his arm off. His vision began to blacken and while his other hand was holding onto Haxus' hands, his free hand struggled to reach for an object on the table. If only there was one. However, the tip of his fingers managed to feel for a bulky object but it wasn't close enough to touch it.

Just as he was losing to the terrorist, he heard gunshots and Haxus suddenly loosened his grip on Lance while letting out a grunt. When Lance looked up, he noticed a hole on his shoulder. While distracted, Lance took that chance to slam his head with the object which was a walkie-talkie. While he stumbled away, Lance let himself slide off the table while barely conscious. He wanted to see whoever it was that shot Haxus but that guy looked so much like Keith. Or maybe it was him.

He watched as Keith approached him, only to be attacked by Haxus by surprise. Keith struggled to wriggle Haxus' grip off his rifle and it was only seconds until he managed to disarm Keith. He tried to pull out his own pistol, only for Haxus to grab hold of him. They both wrestled each other for the gun, dragging each other around with Haxus in front of an empty window large enough to fit a crate. Shortly, Keith somehow managed to break free and what came next shocked him to the core. With a strong kick to Haxus' stomach, he fell over the window gap and disappeared in a mere split second.

"Fuck." Lance heard Keith whisper.

When he got towards the window where Keith kicked Haxus off, they found a slight sight of a body on the ground. Lance could see blood surrounding it. It was at this point, Lance felt no accomplishment. He saw Keith and all he could see was a mistake. He made a mistake. There was nothing to say.

Shiro was able to find the helicopter pad from a building a few steps away from where they were. As he ran upstairs where most of the rooms looked deserted, Shiro couldn't help but pander over who it was coming from the helicopter. It could be someone leading the attacks. Either way, he could be more use for them in taking down the Galra Empire.

Once he reached the rooftop, he made his way up the staircase and managed to catch a glimpse of the helicopter and the occupants. However, his eyes locked onto one of the men inside. And everything went silent around him. His eyes widened. The man was familiar. The suit. The eyepatch. That glare, enough to make Shiro lose his focus on the mission.

Pakistan…2016...Sven…

It was none other than Sendak himself. The man they were supposed to capture. The man who ordered the ambush. The man who got his team and his brother killed. As soon as they noticed him, Shiro immediately let out a roar and charged at them with bullets flying.

He gunned down the two remaining jihadists escorting him within seconds, although the bearded guy with a beanie was hit in the arm. Unfortunately, he managed to hop into the helicopter with the assistance of another person, suppressing Shiro back with a rifle, forcing him to hide behind a crate.

"Get us outta here!" Shiro heard one of Sendak's men shout.

The helicopter began to hover off, spreading wind around the pad. Sendak was about to escape. He wasn't going to let that happen. Not now. Shiro jumped over the crates and shot at the helicopter while enduring the wind. After emptying his entire rifle, Shiro switched to his pistol and kept on shooting while the helicopter flew off into the dark. Once again, he emptied his pistol, completely not getting the hint it was already gone. The only sounds left was the soft breeze. Sendak was gone again. He let slip of him once and did it again. Shiro couldn't do anything. He felt useless beyond that point. He let out a curse in pure anger, loud enough for Allura to hear once she found him.

2132 Hours

SOCCENT Forward Operations Base

Al Khor, Qatar

Getting back to base was just as hard as the events from earlier. And the situation was even worse once Shiro found out the unfortunate fate of Haxus. While they left for pickup, everything was absolutely silent like silent, silent. Once they returned to base taking another two hours on the highway, everybody met up at the debriefing room after changing into their clothes where they stood around the large table without a word. All of them were looking quite grim. Shortly, Allura sighed and took her hands off her hips.

"Because of the death of Haxus," she said. "The tops have ordered us to be grounded and to hand the mission to the CIA. We are to also return back to HQ immediately to vote whether or not Voltron should be shut down."

"Yeah, thanks to this dumbass." Lance said, pointing at Keith.

"Hey, fuck you, asshole!" He snapped, pushing him by the shoulder.

"Of all the ways you could've handled him, you coulda just punched his lights out but no! You just had to kick him outta the goddamn building!"

"What was I supposed to do? Hold him at gunpoint? You and I know he wouldn't go down this easily!"

"We obviously needed him alive!"

"You think I don't know that?!"

Shiro quickly slammed his hands on the table twice.

"That's enough, both of you! This is just proving to the tops that we're not competent!"

Keith and Lance scowled at each other for a moment before reconsidering towards Shiro's order. Lance eventually snorted, still holding his glare at the Korean.

"I shouldn't even be in this bullshit anyway," he sneered. "I rather just get dishonorably discharged and go home."

"Yeah, maybe you should." Keith hit back.

They both began to walk off, turning their backs on each other.

"Keith!" Pidge called.

He didn't reply or even stop. They both just walked out of the room and slammed the door shut. With the dead silence, Shiro uncomfortable sighed while staring away from anybody else in the room. This was starting to tear apart the team.

After the recent heated argument, Keith separated himself away from contact and set himself somewhere in the dark. He still refused to go over the fact he kicked Haxus out of a window but he didn't have any other choice. There was a gun in his hand and Keith was only able to think for a second before everything went loud. Keith needed some time alone. Some time to grovel and mope.

He took out a Zippo lighter from his pockets and tried to light up his cigarette in his mouth. The flame burst and flickered before vanishing. Eventually, Keith was unable to light the cigarette. This was just getting better. Shortly, he noticed his former instructor approach him from the light.

"You alright?" Shiro asked.

"Do I look alright to you?" Keith sarcastically replied, throwing his deadbeat lighter and spitting his cigarette out. He sighed in frustration, refusing to look at Shiro.

"I fucked up too."

Keith scoffed.

"Yeah, okay." He said.

"No, I actually did."

He looked up at Shiro, noticing how sincere he sounded.

"How so?"

Shiro looked down onto the ground and deeply sighed.

"I lost control of myself when I saw Sendak. As soon as my eyes landed on his face, it instantly reminded me the loss of my team...and my brother. I let my anger get the best of me, Keith. It would've gotten myself or the rest of you killed."

Keith didn't make a move or respond. He wanted to believe him and sympathize with him but his frustration was making him rethink his decision.

"All I'm saying is if there's any sort of miracle we actually get back to the mission," he continued. "You and Santos need to put aside your grudges. You're supposed to be working together, not getting into each other's faces over who's the best shooter or whatever you two are fighting over right now."

Keith still didn't reply. Just kept staring out into the distance. He heard Shiro softly sigh.

"We'll be leaving in 2200."

Shiro leaned over and patted his shoulder before leaving him to himself. As he left, Keith let himself think about his words.

2200 Hours

Once the team packed their belongings and swapped into their uniforms, they began to make their way to their transport across the airfield while pilots and soldiers around them wondered around with their partners. Most of them haven't said a word, especially with the issue between Lance and Keith. Hunk was able to notice they were intentionally refusing to make contact with each other.

"Hunk!"

He turned around and noticed Shay approaching him. She had already gotten herself washed up and he had to admit, her hair looked really silky from his view, especially with the long end resting on her shoulder collar.

"Hey, Shay," Hunk said. "What are you doing here?"

She bit her lip. "I...just wanted to thank you again for rescuing me back at the village. And the villagers as well."

"No need to. I would do it regardless. How are they right now?"

"They're being taken care of by the military. Possibly treating them for psychological trauma and losses." she answered and noticed the aircraft about to ignite. "So, you're leaving?"

"I am, sadly."

"Aw, that's a shame. Any chance I'll see you again?"

"Well, that depends on the situation I'm in but...time will only tell."

Shay nodded while staring past Hunk's feet before taking out something from her pocket. She pulled out a small notepad and gave it to Hunk. Taking the notepad, Hunk stared at it with confusion and curiosity.

"What's this?" Hunk asked.

"Everything you need to know about the Galra just in case you're going after them again. You guys might need it more than I do."

"You're really putting faith on us?"

"I'll admit it's just for you."

He was surprised about receiving a full notepad of information about the Galra. She was really determined in her work. But the fact that Voltron was taken off the grid would mean no reason for him to keep it. Either he keeps it for personal use or someone from the CIA may need it for the investigation.

"Momoa, you coming?" Hunk heard Shiro call, prompting him to look over his shoulder.

"Yeah, just give me a moment!" Hunk replied before turning back. "Thanks, Shay but I gotta get going now."

"I know," She nodded. "Best of luck, Hunk."

They both exchanged smiles before Hunk watched her leave, heading back to the base. Once he arrived at the C130, the team were strapped in with Coran and his assistants Gold and Colbert joining them. Beside them, Allura was leaning on the side with a phone to her ear. She seemed rather baffled over what she was hearing.

"I-I don't understand, are you actually...but why are you...o-okay...I understand. Cheers."

After hanging up, she went back to the team minding their own business. Coran was the first to notice her odd expression.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

Allura looked at them without blinking. "We're not going back to HQ."

That got everybody's attention.

"Why not?" Shiro asked.

"Well, this is gonna baffle you guys but I just got a call from one of the guys from the CIA and it seems like they're allowing us to continue our hunt for Sendak with their help against NATO's orders."

Eyebrows were raised, including Coran's assistants.

"Those guys can actually do that?" Gold asked.

"They're the CIA. They can do whatever they want." Lance replied.

As much as it was good news, there were still unsolved problems. Lance and Keith are still refusing to talk to each other and others are worried about continuing their mission against NATO's direct orders. Shiro then stepped up.

"Look I know it's difficult working with each other, I get it but this is our only chance we got in taking down the Galra Empire or a lot of people are gonna get killed. Starting unnecessary drama with each other needs to end immediately otherwise it will catch up to you and then it'll affect all of us and we'll risk losing good people on the field because of that. Voltron was formed for a reason. We counter against terrorism to save lives and that's what we're gonna do."