Lance barely gotten any sleep that night, even though there was still a trace of the 'anti-panic' drug inside him. His heart was racing too fast for him to get so much as a wink. Mullet was in The building. The first thing he was going to do at breakfast was find him.

While everyone else had been asleep, he'd been mulling around ideas in his head. Ideas about using the key card each guard had on their belt to open different doors, taking their blasters, maybe getting Dreks in on it. All of his plans had led to a dead end, but that did not mean he was done trying.

Through the speakers in the hallway, a loud beep sounded off. "The morning bell." He muttered as a small shock of adrenaline ran through him. Can never get used to that noise.

He got up quickly and found himself leaning on the wall. Ow, head rush. Once his vision cleared up, the green electrified shield went down and he gasped. Now was his chance.

His feet were the first to scramble into the hallway, followed by thirty other tired groggy pairs shuffling through. All headed in the same direction; all except one.

Everyone else was headed to the right where they would be given left overs from last night's meal probably, all rubbing their eye(s) and yawning. But that didn't stop Lance from shouldering his way through the crowd and going against the current. Because he could not physically wait to see Keith after all this time. The last few people walked around him, grumbling about how Lance should watch where he was going. He didn't care. None of it mattered.

Soon the hallway was empty, save for Lance who turned around and around again, expecting to see someone else round the end of the corridor. But no one showed up. Maybe-maybe he's already there. He could've missed him in the crowd.

Lance caught up to the others. The crowd was too dense for him to push his way through without inciting his own murder, so he stayed where he was, poking his head above the mass of people. Still nothing. No mullet. Not... yet.

When the horde had dispersed enough for him to semi- politely shoulder his way past, he quickly winded around rows of tables and positioned himself in the middle of the mess hall while the others took their place in a bunched up line along the far wall. Lance twiddled his fingers nervously. I'm not hungry today.

"Isn't that the Voltron guy?" Someone in line was making light conversation with the guy next to him. Lance's stomach churned.

"Oh yeah. His friend almost killed us all yesterday."

A few others started talking about him in hushed tones, all the while Dreks angrily tapped his foot, switching his gaze from the line to Lance.

"Is he here today?"

"Well where else would he be?"

"I thought Voltron was a myth."

"Yeah right, tell that to the bloody red machine out there."

"Of course he's not here." One voice said louder than all of the others. "Why should he be? He is a danger to us all." That voice belonged to a tall, muscular alien with tan stripes framing his face and down his arms. Flat nose, like that of a feline. Spikes on his head, a gold hoop piercing on one of them. Steely emerald green eyes, sharp toothed grin. this was the prisoner who had attacked him on his first day. The bandages on his chest and leg were still there. "If you ask me they should both be thrown in solitary."

Solitary? Lance's heart beat quickened. That's where they put him?

"Serus, knock it off!" Dreks shouted at him from his place in line, switching his gaze from the line to Lance.

Serus shrugged. "I apologize Dreks, but I do believe I speak for all of us when I say that this imbecile's presence in our midst puts the entirety of the solar system at risk of being invaded by Galra." The crowd stirred. "You heard him, didn't you?" He nodded and gestured to the others. "He said Zarkon knew of this one's location and that they are coming here right now to do who knows what?"

"Serus," Dreks interjected. But this time Lance spoke up.

"And what do you know about Voltron anyways?" He stopped twiddling his fingers and stood up straight. His tone was unsure, but he was done with this dick mocking him.

"... What do I know about Voltron?" Serus sneered. "I know it's a useless war machine, and the only people who would ever conceivably want to pilot it are a lot of murderers and liars."

Lance was boiling inside, but the words that tumbled out of his mouth were sleek and effortless. He was not the best when it came to brawling, but what he lacked in the physical department he could more than make up for in wit. "Yeah, says the guy who's doing hard time in a maximum security prison. You're one to talk."

Serus took a step out of the line, and was followed by three of his allies. "And what say you, Paladin, about the lives the Voltron has destroyed? It is because of the search for the machine that the Galra have torn apart planet after planet looking for it. The machine you help pilot."

"At least I'm doing something about them. I get to fight the Galra head on. What are you doing, what's, what's that- oh yeah, you contribute nothing to anyone and you're rotting in a box."

Seurus shook his head. "Oh I promise you Paladin, you would not be saying these things if you did not have an over- sized pet fighting your real battles for you."

"Come on, Dreks is way cooler than your Discount Tiger- ass will ever be."

"I can only assume that that's an insult. But the reality of the situation is that the Voltron is the most unnecessary piece of scrap metal to ever have the audacity to traipse around space and call itself a "defender". Voltron is not defender of mine."

Lance loosened his stance, showing more how bothered he was. "We will defeat the Galra, and when we do-"

"Defeat the Galra?" Serus looked round. "You twit, you are without your lion! And in here, you are in no position to help anyone with anything. You're a joke! Shouldn't even be calling yourself a paladin at this point." The mess hall buzzed with murmurs, many of them agreeing with Serus.

Lance got an idea. Keith is in solitary. I think I know where that is. The Galra could be here any second. Now is my chance. "Oh yeah? why don't you come over here and say that to my face then?" He eyed the mesh door that separated the guards from the prisoners.

"Oh I would be delighted to, assuming you can hold your own against me without your friend to help you out." Serus cracked his knuckles, showing off his razor sharp claws. I can still probably pull it off without Dreks at my side.

"Lance!" Dreks called. "It's not worth it!" He ran over to his friend and whispered, " I know what you're up to. If you ever want a chance at escaping and soon, you cannot fight him. That right there's gonna start a riot. Riots don't get anyone anywhere, the guards are trained to respond quickly and aggressively to the rioters."

"Really? Says the guy who beat Serus up just last week?" Lance took a shot at cracking his own knuckles, but only succeeded in looking like an idiot. He shook his hands and brushed it off. "If you could be a little more of a hypocrite that would be great." He glanced at the door twice more.

Dreks' tone was saturated in sarcasm. "Ha ha. That's because I've given it up. My reputation 'round 'ere is already set. The guards know wha' to expect from me. Jus' think about this."

Lance took one last glance at the door. He'd have to make this look more convincing. "Dreks I know what I'm doing. Back off, okay buddy?"

And he did. He shrunk away, but followed Lance's eyes as they went to the door again. He narrowed his eyes.

The cooks weren't serving, instead watching in awe as the scene unfolded in front of them.

Serus flexed his arms. "Is your bodyguard off duty?" He jeered.

"As promised. Come at me, Scrub. Unless I'm too much for you." Lance gestured for Serus to come closer. He held out his fists. Swiping one of those key cards from a guard and hiding it shouldn't be the hardest thing in the world. As long as I'm not caught. I just have to lure one of them out and get them close enough to me without seeming suspicious.

He was almost having fun with this. This kind of back and forth banter was something he hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy in a long time. He clenched and unclenched his fists, smirked, and hummed a little tune to rile up Serus even more. It worked.

"Prisoner! Halt this behavior!" The first of the guards said with authority. Not gonna happen.

Serus furrowed his brow and stepped forward. Then Lance took a step. All of a sudden Serus lunged at him. Lance side- stepped his blow and avoided getting hit, instead crashing into one of the tables. He hopped over it just as Serus gathered himself and swung out at him. Lance ducked behind the table, turned around, and kicked it in Serus's direction. The table collided with his legs and he was knocked off his feet. Lance got a good distance away, huffing, and he glanced at the mesh door. Not enough for them to step in yet, huh? They have no issue yelling at us to stop though. "Of course they aren't stopping us. They hate me just as much as anyone here." He muttered.

A fist crashed into his face while Lance hadn't been looking, and he fell to the ground with a dull thud. "Uggghh." He moved his jaw around and a jolt of red hot pain seared through his face. He began tasting warm blood in his mouth. A shadow alerted him to Serus's presence right next to him; his foot was a second away from connecting with Lance's head. He swung his upper body away and instead twisted around and grabbed Serus's leg. In one fluid move he stood straight up and pulled, making Serus lose his balance. He smacked the ground and cracked the tiles. "Ooh shit, that has got to hurt." Lance taunted while taking a few fleet- footed steps back just in case, purposefully over- acting to further anger his opponent. His jaw ached, but nonetheless he had to do something to paint himself a bigger target. "That one's for my buddy Keith, a better person than you could ever hope to be." Now that one he meant.

Serus roared and got to his feet. He ran at Lance. Using his new audience to his advantage, he wove through the crowd. No one wanted to stop him, for fear of being confronted with an enraged steroid- infused cat. Stepping out from the mass of people, Lance dove under two of the tables and emerged on the other side, having given himself some cover to think. Serus tore through the first table, leaving deep claw marks on its surface. Lance flipped the second table over and used the one at his right as a shield. Come on! One of you pansie- guards do something!

"You speak of 'taking me on' and yet you put anything you can between yourself and me. Why is that, Voltron Scum?" As Serus said 'scum' he ripped the second table apart and thrashed at Lance's makeshift shield. It splintered instantly. Lance fell backwards and scrambled under the table to his left. Serus leaned over the table to grab it and throw it to the side, but Lance got on his back and with all of the force he could muster he kicked the table upwards. It connected with Serus' face and he stumbled back. To Lance's relief, a few guards appeared from the mesh. Now to direct the fight over to them five. They'd sent out some of the larger ones, three men and two women of frightening stature.

"Alright that's enough. Both of you get down on the ground!" One of the women shouted, raising her blaster. Lance more or less guided a bloodied Serus closer and closer to them. Serus had lost all hints of humanity. The animalistic gleam in his eye told Lance that he would not be stopped easily. Just how I need it.

For the cherry on top he grabbed one of the shards of table from the floor and hurled it at Serus. He smacked it with his hand and it went sailing into the crowd. It made Lance flinch and let out a tiny inward giigle. "Oh-oh, shit." A stream of blood drooled out of his mouth, contradicting his mischievous demeanor.

To the guards he put on an overly terrified face. "I cannot stop him!"

"Lay down on the floor, now!" She bellowed, and turned to face him. That's a mistake. Serus came up behind her and another one of the guards shot at him. Do it now! He screamed at himself and his hand went to the male guard'd belt. But he moved out of the way too quickly. Lace took a few bouncy steps to position himself so that the guards would be in between Serus and him. They were all too preoccupied with the 'beast' to do anything about some flighty kid.

Lance reached out for one of their key cards again. The bright orange thing gleamed in the light, calling out to him. He was only an inch away from one of them, when the guard batted his hand away roughly with the butt of her blaster. Uuuggghhhh, this isn't working. On impulse he shouted the first thing that came to mind:

"Riot!" The other prisoners' murmuring had been getting louder every passing minute, and now some were shouting back their agreement. A short and stout violet guy was the first to join in. He was easily subdued by the second female guard, but soon others joined in. Great. Now that they're preoccupied, let's juuuust... Lance had the right kind of cover now to get close enough to swipe a card.

But there were now dozens of bodies between him and any one of the cards. He pushed his way past the first few, being careful not to get involved in their skirmishes with... each other. Lance ducked under a couple of fists and crawled under someone's two pairs of legs.

He reached out a third time to one of the male guard's belts, but he was slammed onto the floor by another prisoner. The prisoner got off of him to continue his last fight, but Lance stayed down. The air had been forcefully ejected out of his lungs and the blow had him coughing and gasping for air. He tilted his head up only to see the first female guard angrily marching up to him. He couldn't stop her, she out- weight him by some seventy pounds and was easily a foot taller than him. She lifted her blaster and brought it down hard on his head.

So close! Looks like Dreks was right, rioting doesn't do anything. So what now? With the Galra fast approaching, someone better think of something fast or they're all toast. (Also I lied this fic is gonna probably be way more than 8k lol my social life is over and I have dived in head first into the Voltron VoidTM)

Please review if you want!