Pidge fought against her restraints and looked over at an unconscious Hunk. Allura just sat, staring at the wall and looking confused.
"We…we were just shot…stunned…by Lance…"
"Yeah, but it can't be real," Pidge said while wondering why her restraints were so tight. Lance had put them on. If this was a ploy, shouldn't they be a little loose?
The door opened and Keith was shoved in and tied to a chair next to his teammates. He fought back and was beat for his trouble. Then the galra had left Pidge opened fire.
"What happened? What's going on? Are you in on this?!"
"in on what?" Keith snapped and spit out a bit of blood, "You think I planned this?"
"But Lance wouldn't…."
"Well, he is."
"No, nope," Pidge shook her head, "we know Lance, Keith, we know him better than anyone and its just not true."
Keith sighed, but didn't say anything else. This alone was enough to piss her off.
"It CAN'T be true! It-"
The door opened again and Lance walked in with Rodrik and three other agents. He wasn't wearing his paladin armor. Instead he wore jeans and his jacket zipped up. His pin catching the light over where a right breast pocket should be.
"Wow, tricking you guys was easier than I thought," Lance said smiling. It was a kind smile, a disarming smile.
"We are here to get information before we turn you over to Sendak," Rodrik said, "We don't care what you say or do to him, but any information you have that could help Earth, well, now is the time to say it."
"Help earth? You're hurting it by SIDING with the ENEMY!"
"The sacrifice of a few is necessary to benefit the many," Lance said, "you are the few. We know Sendak is a liar, that's why we have other agents saving prisoners as we speak. But then we turn you over to Sendak, we keep the lions, he'll want to keep up appearances, so he'll back away only a little bit and initiate the pincer attack with Lotor. He'll have his guard down because he'll have what he wants. You guys!"
"And you!" Allura snapped, "He wants you as well, right?"
"I had a long talk with him the other day," Lance shrugged, "I already gave him what he wants of me."
"You said you were planning-"
"Yeah, never told you what I was planning."
"Keith!"
But Keith wasn't looking up. He kept his head down and the little of his face that Pidge saw…he looked terrified.
"Waaait," Lance squinted his eyes at them, "You don't really believe I've turned…do you?"
Rodrik and the others laughed, so did Lance.
"Pidge, for how smart you are…you really are so very stupid."
Pidges mouth went dry. Lance's face was still as kind as ever, but the words coming from his mouth were sharp and cut right down to the center.
"Here," Lance sighed, "let me make this easy for you."
Taking out his gun, Pride, he pointed it at Keith and fired. Blood exploded from his side and he slumped in his chair.
He didn't breathe.
He was dead.
"Never liked him anyway," Lance said and holstered his gun, "Believe me now?"
()
"Why did you kill one?" Rodrik hissed as they walked toward the bridge, "I thought you said we needed them all alive."
"Yeah, but he's useless in the larger scheme of things," Lance waved the issue away, "Hunk and pidge are smart and can be used, the princess has been a thorn in the Galras side for ten thousand years, I'm simply going to offer him all the best parts of the team, that's all."
"But the deal was-"
"The deal, Rodrik, will be something Sendak never follows anyway. I know how to play this game, do you?"
()
Pidge and Allura stared at Keith's body. It didn't move.
They were crying, and Pidge hated crying. But she was scared, and finally understood, that she didn't know Lance at all.
()
"Contact Sendak," Lance ordered and the Galra did as he said.
Man, that was a great feeling. When Sendak cam up on the screen Lance gave a big wave and a smile.
"Hey! Guess what?! I've been able to do what Zarkon himself couldn't do!"
"You have all four of them?"
"Yup."
"You are willing to give them over?"
"Yup."
"I don't believe you."
"Ok, Fiiiine, I shot one, but it was just Keith, you can still have his body if you like."
"You shot one?"
"I shot the half Galra, you're not offended by that, are you?"
"…you shot your leader?"
"What can I say," Lance shrugged, "I loathe being bossed around. I know we agreed on them being alive and all, but really….its just Keith…"
Sendak took his time answering, then he nodded, "fine. I am sending over my Captains to receive the…remaining paladins."
"Of course, Lord Sendak," Lance said so smoothly that it took a moment for Sendak to react to it.
"I do not trust such flattery."
"I just thought I'd try it out, I'm not a fan of it either…unless you end up liking it at some point."
"I will burn the earth and every member of it, and you are ok with that?"
Lance laughed, "They never thanked me for anything, why should I ever care what you do with the earth? I sacrificed more than most and I refuse to let my duty control me anymore. You see, Sendak, unlike Rodrik and the other agents here, I WANT to turn my back on Earth, I WANT to see it burn. I HATE it! So yeah, I know you were going to back off on our deal, and I wanted you to!"
"You what?" Rodrik snapped reaching out and grabbing Lances elbow. Turning him so that he could hiss in the boys ear, "this wasn't part of the plan."
"Oh, dear, Rodrik, you actually think you were the one pulling my strings this whole time? You forget who trained me. Blue was a fantastic backstabbing bitch. Didn't you know?"
"This is too far-"
"Is it?" Lance hissed back, "is it really? If you're going to sentence those already taken prisoner, then why not everyone else?"
"What…what about your family?" Rodrik tried, "You're family is still down there!"
"No, they're not," Lance said, gripping the older mans shoulder in a vice grip, "your intel to Sendak made sure my family didn't survive the first attack."
Rodrik blinked and looked down at the hole in his stomach, then at the gun in Lances hand. Then he fell, and died.
Sendak watched and approved. Lance turned to the other agents, "anyone else want to complain about how "far I'm going"?"
They all did.
And they all died.
Lance was already good in a gun fight, but after time in the middle of an active and open war, he'd honed his skills to a fine point. The other agents didn't stand a chance.
"You have no qualms about killing your own," Sendak observed.
"I have no 'qualms' about killing those who stand in my way. You understand, don't you?"
"Of course."
"Of course."
Sendak nodded and signed off.
Lance looked around at the two Galra in the room and no one else.
"Go make ready for Sedaks Captains; he's not taking any chances and neither will I."
They left, which left Lance alone with four dead bodies.
Four.
Lance closed his eyes and took a series of long, calming breaths.