Chapter 3: Others Know. (For All the Wrong Reasons)

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Pidge doesn't really act any differently from the rest of the Paladin's. Yes, she has a personality of her own but she's still a Paladin. And though this was a very big deal the fact that she was a girl seemed more important in this situation. This time it was because other individuals knew she was a girl. And for all the wrong reasons.

Turns out T'Agog's group was the bad one and those "scoundrels" they saw fighting against him were trying to save the hostages and people they kidnapped.

Pidge realized something was wrong quite soon after leaving her friends. When they reached the bottom of the canyon she saw it was empty. T'Agog explained to her that it was safer for everyone to stay hidden within the network of caves and tunnels peppered along the edge of the canyon walls. That made sense. She didn't question it.

What she didn't like was when they later asked to take her helmet. But first they entered the caverns and T'Agog showed her around. He gave her a look at where and how they grew their food. There were glowing rocks, hot to the touch, that provided light and warmth throughout the tunnels and certain plants had adapted to grow in the environment. He led her to a large underground water source and guided her to a large grotto littered with makeshift shelters. The entire area was clearly lived in with different natives moving about, doing their daily business. Some eyed her curiously but she shrugged it off. She would have done the same if someone new entered their home.

"Pidge," her intercom crackled to life as Shiro contacted her. "What's your status?"

"Just entered the cave system down here," she responded immediately. "It's so cool, Shiro! They have sustainable water and a bunch of food growing down here. They run their electricity and technology off of specialized rocks! I have to get a sample of it!"

She heard Shiro chuckle. "Alright. Keep me updated. Have fun. Find out what you can."

"Don't have too much fun!" she heard Lance call out from the background.

Soon after that T'Agog took her to the side and allowed her to examine his mechanical parts, which were laced with different wires and chips powered by the stones that formed in these very caverns. A few natives gathered around, curious as to who the newcomer was. Then some of them asked about her helmet. They were interested, they said. They wanted to see how much her technology differed from theirs.

She hesitated. Something felt off.

One of the first times Lance had trusted strangers he was left handcuffed in the middle of nowhere, his helmet too far to contact them. She was always cautious after that, even if she never said it.

From what she could tell not that much time had passed yet. She knew it would still be a while until Shiro checked on her. She wanted to give T'Agog no reason to be suspicious of her yet and frankly, T'Agog didn't do much to make her that apprehensive of him either.

She handed him the helmet.

"Remarkable," he murmured, turning it around in his hands.

She nodded, forcing a smile as the men gathered around to see what their apparent leader held. She took this time to take a better look at where she was. Her surrounding was raggedy and run down but she honestly didn't expect much for a makeshift shelter inside caves.

What did T'Agog say to them?

"Aliens come from all over and seek refuge with us."

Her eyes narrowed, shifting from each individual moving from tent to tent or gathered by small fires.

Where were all the children? The women?

Pidge paled. This wasn't good.

There were abductions, Shiro had said.

She wanted to scream. More in frustration and anger at herself than anything else.

Abductions. And she walked right into their hideout.

That's why he was so interested in me, she thought to herself, trying to look around discretely for an escape route. Rare human specimen. I wonder how much I'd go for in the space black-market, she thought wryly to herself.

"Paladin," T'Agog spoke. His voice, before smooth and pleasingly deep, now felt like poison in her ears. "Would you like to go see where the rest of the refugees stay?"

Pidge swallowed. Refugees? If that's what you want to call them. But this was her chance to get more information. Don't jump to conclusions, she told was no clear exit. If she ran she'd have to find her way through the winding tunnels and the natives sure knew them better than she did. There was no guarantee she'd make it out. But this way… "Sure," she said out loud. "But let me get my helmet back, I need to keep Shiro updated."

T'Agog seemed to hesitate for the briefest second and that confirmed her suspicions. Something was wrong.

He handed her helmet with a smile. "Of course. Would you mind if we got it back after? Some of our technicians would love to continue looking at it."

Pidge laughed nervously, pulling it on. She gave them a hesitant thumbs up, before letting him know that no one should take it apart. Only look.

Her com crackled to life.

"Shiro, checking up on me again?" she asked, grinning falsely.

"What?" Shiro answered. "You called me. Is everything alright?"

"Nope," the green paladin replied happily, waving at the natives who listened to her side of the conversation.

"No?" There was silence for a second as Shiro pieced together what was happening. "Something's wrong but you can't tell us."

"You got it!"

"Are you hurt?" Shiro asked, voice strained. In the background from his side she could hear muffled and frantic voices. She could make out a couple words. Her team was worried and angry. She heard Keith yell that he said they couldn't trust them. "Pidge."

"No," Pidge replied quickly. "Sorry. The other guys are really loud. Hm…" She hesitated, emphasizing her words. "It did feel like there was too much testosterone here." She hoped he understood the last sentence was not meant for them but meant for her current situation.

A couple beats of silence passed. "I see," Shiro answered. Pidge let out a nervous sigh of relief. She was sure he didn't understand completely but it was good enough. "We're coming, Katie. Just hold on."

"Awesome, thanks," she ended, chippering back up to not arouse suspicion. T'Agog looked a little restless. "Well, they're going to show me some of the deeper cave systems where the…uh…refugees are. So I'll be there."

"Understood."

Her eyes met the white, pupilless eyes of her captor.

Captor.

Because that's exactly what he was.

"Bye, Shiro," she said quietly, pulling off her helmet.

T'Agog held out his hand, waiting. "I apologize. We try to avoid bringing in too many electronics into the deeper caverns. It muddles the glowing rocks."

Most of his body was technology but Pidge held her tongue.

T'Agog led her around smoldering campfires, over steep ledges, and under hanging clotheslines. She felt eyes from the darkness of the tents as she walked by and they reminded her of the time she got separated from the Paladins and met those colorful, fluffy aliens. But these eyes felt much more sinister and she could almost feel chills run down the circuits of her suit. She kept her fingers close to her Bayard.

T'Agog politely greeted his men as they passed, holding his arm out to the side to stop her briefly.

"Just one moment," he said, smiling. He whispered to another native, pointing ahead towards a couple more shelters nestled in the stone. She could hear music and laughter and almost the almost muffled sound of…

"Did someone yell?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing together.

"Ah, it's nothing," T'Agog replied, his back to her. He continued to gesture to some of the natives and she watched them rush into the shelters. "Probably some of the younger men training," he said, turning to smile at her.

Her frown deepened.

The music lulled and the laughter stopped.

"They didn't have to stop for my sake," she said slowly, almost methodically. "It's been a while since I've been to a party." T'Agog chuckled and she suddenly didn't like the way it sounded. "Maybe it's not my kind of party," she suggested, maintaining eye contact with him. His face hardened and she knew she had to take it down a few notches. She couldn't let him know she was suspicious but she was getting mad. She could only assume what happened here…what happened to women who were captured. Pidge smiled. Careful… Careful. "After all, I'm a Paladin!" she said, laughing. "Work comes first."

T'Agog watched her for a moment longer as his men returned, nodding at him to continue. "Indeed," the larger alien said. "Come, there's lots to show you."

They passed the once rowdy part of the cavern and she saw aliens give her once-over through the curtains. One gave her a wink and she wanted to gag.

"Excuse them," T'Agog said. "They are young boys and don't know how to act around a powerful, young Paladin as yourself."

Pidge had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. That was no excuse. That doesn't give them the right to do stupid stuff without any repercussions.

The green Paladin tried to listen closely as they walked through the rest of the cavern but she heard nothing unusual. She almost wrote off what she heard as nothing but she knew better.

She followed him deeper into the caverns, feeling her skin crawl. She was so happy before. T'Agog seemed so nice. They were going to help this planet and put a stop to some alien trafficking. And now she was stuck underground, her lion and fellow Paladins a bit too far for comfort. But she felt better not being oblivious to her situation. If it came down to it she would fight.

Her fingers brushed against her Bayard. She may not be as strong as the guys on her team but she was fast, agile, and smart. Her Bayard let her adapt during battles in ways that the rest of the Bayards did not. It wasn't just used for the offensive. It let her outmaneuver her opponents and shift the battle to favor her. Pidge exhaled slowly, staring intently at T'Agog's broad back. Strong and, from the skin she could see, strewn with scratches and scars.

But he had no weapon.

Pidge smiled to herself.

He underestimated her.

They walked for what felt like forever but it was only a few moments. Shiro and the rest of the team must be on their way.

"Right through here," T'Agog said, gesturing towards a small opening in the rocks, leading to darkness.

"I'll follow you," Pidge said politely.

"Ah, how do you say it?" T'Agog considered carefully, smiling. "Ladies first."

"I insist," Pidge said, gesturing as well. She'd keep this up as long as she needed to. She smirked. Lance did annoying things like this all the time. She was immune.

Finally T'Agog's eyes narrowed. "I do not understand why you hesitate."

"I'm not hesitating."

His hand shot out faster than she could react, the dim lighting in the tunnel only making it worse. His strong, metallic fingers wrapped tightly around the crook of her elbow as her hand instinctively flew to push him away.

"Let go!"

"I cannot," T'Agog said, shaking his head as he dragged her inside. "A human. A Paladin. And a female to top it off." He laughed to himself as she followed him blindly into the darkness.

Of course. His kind would have adapted to this type of environment. He could see. Pidge bit back a groan. She missed her helmet.

"You will be quite the merchandise to sell," T'Agog said as a hazy light filled the room once more.

Bless those glowing rocks, Pidge thought, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted. She looked around with a gasp. The walls were littered with indents in the walls, barred from top to bottom, all kinds of different aliens sheltered inside. "Women go for quite the high price."

"Yeah, I'm a girl." Pidge rolled her eyes. "I get it. But you talk to much."

She pulled out her Bayard, the blade coming to life, and jabbed him in the side. The fingers wrapped around her tightened for a second as his muscles contracted but soon enough the rippling current blew him back. He let out a loud yell and collapsed, struggling to move. As electricity coursed through him she swung her arm as the Bayard quickly shifted to her needs, allowing her to grapple to one of the higher cells. She slid her weapon across the rusted bars and they crumbled before her.

"I'm here to get you out," she said, holding out her hand to the scared and huddled aliens before her. For a moment none of them moved. But then what she could only assume was one of the younger ones approached her. "Hold on to me," she said, smiling as the child wrapped her legs around her waist. Pidge was saddened and furious. They had children. They were selling them too.

She swung back down to the ground, slicing open more bars as she went, shouting to help each other make their way to the ground. She knew this was impulsive but she had faith that the rest of the Paladins would come through.

Sure enough, she heard explosions.

T'Agog started to rise.

Pidge turned to look at the child at her side. "I'm going to have to put you down now," she said, smiling softly.

"Why?" the kid asked nervously, setting her feet on the rocky floor.

Pidge stretched her arms, eyes on the opponent before her, as she readied herself for the fight, her Bayard glowing menacingly. "I've got to kick some ass."

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Later, Shiro told her he heard her voice echo through the caverns and reprimanded her for cursing in front of an alien child.

In response Pidge handed over T'Agog to Shiro and though her face with littered with deep scratches and her suit with small dents, she flashed him a pearly white grin.

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While she was dueling it out with T'Agog the other Paladins had fought on foot, leaving their lions out in the canyon. Now Shiro is normally very patient when it comes to the team. They pull pranks on each other and do dumb things, but if someone on his team was in danger…well, he wasn't afraid to let hell break loose to protect them.

So when Pidge hitched a ride in the black lion she told Shiro it wasn't fair to scold her for swearing because she definitely heard the rest of them cursing out the hostile aliens for threatening her life as well.

"I appreciate it though," she said, holding on to the back of his seat as they flew toward the castleship. "I didn't know you had such an extensive vocabulary. I feel like you threw in some space curses too."

"You pick up a lot of different things when you spend a year away from Earth," Shiro said with a grin. "Looks like you didn't need us saving you anyway."

Pidge shrugged. "Hey, but look!" She stuck out her hand, presenting a glowing rock. "It's still a little hot but its cooling down and I got a sample!"

"When did you even find the time to get that?" Shiro asked, navigating the lion inside.

"T'Agog threw me into a wall and a piece came loose so I stashed it in my boot," she stated nonchalantly, holding the rock up to the light as they descended.

"He threw you into a wall?"

"Can't wait to see what I can learn from it," she said, staring at the stone in her hand gleefully as they walked out of the ship.

"How hard did he have to throw you to knock the stones off?" Shiro continued, upset.

"I got more too," she said excitedly, plopping down onto the floor in front of the black lion. She yanked off her boot and turned it upside down, little glowing pebbles scattering across the tiles.

Shiro stared at her, mouth agape. "Just how many times did he throw you against a wall?"

"That's not important," she waved him off before throwing the rocks back into her boot. She stood, wearing one shoe, the other held tightly in her hand. "What's important is I get to study these ASAP!"

She ran, her bare foot slapping against the cold floor, chattering excitedly.

Shiro watched her go.

He didn't understand. Was this a girl thing? Or a nerd thing? A Pidge thing?

"He threw you into a wall?"

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Authors Note:

Lmao Shiro yea. A lot probably.

Is it still a one-shot collection if this chapter is technically a continuation of the previous one? ….whatever lol

Also if you have any questions/requests/ideas leave a comment! I'd really appreciate it! Can use all the help I can get.

You can also find me on tumblr as magmawrites. Give the chapters a reblog/like there if you want! I'd love it! Still dipping my toe in the VLD fandom so it's a bit slow going. :'(

Okay thanks for reading!

Allura and Pidge coming up!

-Magma