Lance, Pidge, and Hunk are sprinting down to the lower floors of the Garrison. That meteor—space ship, flying object—crashed somewhere in the desert.
"There is no way we'll get there in time," Pidge complains as he sprints behind the two cadets.
"Just trust us and be quiet," Lance retorts as he and Hunk stop a few feet away from the junction of the two connecting halls. They duck behind the trash and recycling recipricals. Pidge only had to duck down slightly to avoid detection.
The trio waited there a few minutes until the sounds of running footsteps were gone. Hunk gets up first and leads the two off to the right, toward the nearest exit at the back of the facility. The three of them head behind a stack of rocks. Pidge looks back and forth between their position and the Garrison.
"Guys, we're in the wrong place. We have to go west not north." Pidge complains as he taps his thigh.
"Don't worry about it, Hunk and I made something super cool last year. Well more like I gave the idea, and he built it." Lance shrugs as he goes behind the rocks and touches a dark grey button in a crevice.
With the button pressed, part of the piles of rock disappeared with a blanket over it, leaving only bits of a. It was a hologram that Hunk had embedded in a blanket that Lance provided. Pulling the blanket out, there is a jeep underneath it.
"Where did you guys hide one of these?" Pidge inquires as he slides into the back seat, placing his backpack beside him.
Lance pulls out a key from his pocket, and slides into the driver seat. He waits for Hunk to get in before he books it.
"I seriously hate you're driving," Hunk says as the car jolts before he strapped in. He is a little green, and Lance drives on.
"This is an emergency," He says as he slams on the accelerator.
No one can hear them. Hunk installed a muffler last year, so no one could hear them. It was way easier than walking into own when they got their hands on a damaged jeep that was going to the scrap yard. Hunk managed to rewire the car, the keys were gone. It wasn't until Hunk got a basic outline of the ignition, first using a 3D printer before trying to make a rough outline of the key from the Garrison. They had to go to the nearest hardware store to get a professional look for their key, testing it out. While Hunk was dealing with that, he had to find a brown cloth to cover it. He then covered it up, and it worked for some time.
Most cadets or instructors head back behind the facility, which worked in their favor. The two of them would then work on buying parts to clean up the jeep, after Hunk got his hands on the tech for the hologram. How he got it, Lance will never know.
Lance drives to a cliffside, and he stops the jeep. Pidge slides out of the jeep, legs shaking, and he gets down and sets his laptop up. Lance turns off the car and slides out. He sees Hunk hunched over to the side and he rubs his buddy's back.
"Let it all out bro, let it out." He rubs his back, comforting him as Hunk spills his dinner all over the rocky terrain.
Hunk groans and Lance winces. He might have been driving faster than he usually did, then again Hunk tends to hurl often. He pities his friend for having an upset stomach, but it assists with his culinary skills. Hunk was a guinea pig for any amateur cook, and it is horrible whenever Hunk has to eat it. He gives his honest remarks, and he tends to be harsh.
The two of them go to Pidge when they hear him holler about something, a live video feed about what's going inside a recently erected tent over the space ship.
"That's the pilot of the Kerberos mission," Pidge whispers, entrapped by what's going on.
Lance is speechless, Takashi Shirogane, best pilot the Garrison ever had, is alive. He was confirmed dead a little over a year ago, and he cannot believe his eyes that his hero is alive. No, he shakes his head, he can't get distracted now. Shiro is strapped down to a table, and trying to say something. Voltron, and that someone is coming for it. That name—Voltron—Pidge mentioned something that he got from the frequencies out in space.
He might not know a lot of things, but he knows a few. Voltron is definitely important, and dangerous, his mind helpfully supplies. Shiro is panicking, trying to warn everyone, but that also can account to him being kidnapped for a year. 'Shit,' he thinks. Shiro's been through some kind of shit, and being strapped to a medical table is not helping. His hero is trying to warn everyone, but they are ignoring him. Giving him questions he can't answer—that isn't important—before knocking him out.
He clenches his fists in anger; Shiro's just trying to save these people after all the crap he went through, and this is the way the Garrison repays him? Not cool. Not cool at all. The ultimate act of betrayal.
"We got to get him out of there," he finally says.
"Yeah, especially if can see if he knows where the rest of the crew are." Pidge adds and Lance nods.
If one person survived, the captain and the communication technician should have survived as well.
"Well we need some kind of distraction if we want to rescue him." Hunk inputs, and Lance silently agrees.
"Anyone got a plan or some kind of distraction?" Lance asks, as he looks between his two sons.
Just when he said that, there are explosions a few miles away from the site. The instructors are driving out in the jeeps and Lance is excited.
"Okay how did you guys did that? That was literally magic. Come on Hunk, what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything." Hunk weakly protests.
"Hey guys, look over there." Pidge points close to the site, and he has his binoculars out.
There is a dark figure drive up on their hover board at the site. Lance takes the binoculars from his grasp—choking the poor boy—and zoomed in on the figure. A man with a neck scarf over the half of his face, and he has a mullet.
"Keith." Lance hisses out before dropping the binoculars and sliding down the loose rock.
His rival didn't show up for a year, and somehow managed to find himself here. Like hell that's a coincidence. Keith managed to get the glory of being the best pilot before getting memorialized for being the first cadet to get expelled other than his grades.
He finds himself to the ground quick, and he sprints inside the tent. Bursting through the flap and the door, he sees Keith has one arm under Shiro. Pushing the table out of the way, Lance got to the other side of Shiro, and put his arm under him.
"No no no, I'm saving Shiro," Lance protests. What he means is that Keith isn't taking all the glory again. He's here to prove to him that he can save his hero; well that's what it came down to, he just wanted to help Shiro out.
"Uh who are you?" Keith asks, drawing a blank, he stops from hauling the older man.
Lance is flabbergasted. Seriously this guy didn't have the decency to remember his own rival. He knows the guy doesn't know that he is his own soulmate, it's stupid. He's offended by the question then he thought he would be.
"Uh Lance McClain went to the Garrison. We were classmates." Keith gave him a blank look.
"Were you an engineer?"
"What? No! I'm a fighter pilot!" Lance protests as he helps move the deadweight in their arms.
"Really? No wait, weren't you the cargo pilot?" Finally Keith asked the right question after like a minute of trying to remember him.
"Well I was until someone washed out." Lance acidly retorts as he continues with getting Shiro out of the pod and tent.
What is the deal with the guy? The best pilot in his year couldn't remember him. Him?! Lance McClain. Maybe he should have started off as his rival, or the best student with a skin routine. Heck, his pores are better than some of the girls, and he swaps some of his homemade remedies with a few other cadets. Casey and Julie are two of his friends he managed to gain, but they only talk to him about beauty products. Nothing about going to the movies or getting coffee, shooting him down before he could seal the deal.
The hurt he felt during that time—whenever girls reject him or anyone overlooks him—pales in comparison to the feeling he has. Seriously, who wears a neck scarf at this day and age? Not to mention a three-quarter jacket, is he trying to be cool? He scoffs.
Whatever, he'll deal with this later, right now he has to stomach being in the 80's reject's presence. He won't be touching Keith's arm for long, as they got out of the door and the flaps. They had to climb on Keith's hover bike two minutes later with their instructor's their tail.
He got up early, like he usually does. He can't do his skin care regime, but he notices that there are two people short in the little hut. He gets off the floor, and looks out the window to see the two missing individuals. Shiro and Keith are standing close to one another, and he can just read the mood between the two of them. While Lance may not have the same level of perceptiveness as Hunk, he can read body language well. From what he can tell now, Shiro's exhausted. That's a given, due to what the ace pilot had to experience in less than twelve hours, but he notes how strong the other is. His shoulders are dipped down slightly, and he notices that the hollow of Shiro's throat is deep for a moment, then the man exhales slightly before talking.
Keith looks concerned, but hopeful at the same time. He is frowning slightly when he heard Shiro talk—the voices muffled from the wall—but there is a ghost of a smile. Lance snorts before realizing that Hunk and Pidge were still sleeping. Hunk didn't even stir from the sound, but Pidge's soft snoring halted.
He panics, his neurons firing fast, figuring out the potential scenarios as he is frozen. Pidge not snoring is an indicator that he is going to wake up. He glances at the window then back at Pidge, he cannot risk anyone seeing him by the window now. If the two ex-Garrison cadets saw him when they look in the direction of the shack, their reactions will vary on two ends of a spectrum. His hero would most likely be disappointed, which isn't something he wants to feel. The poor guy just got back from being abducted by aliens. He could also act like nothing happened, but Keith would be off his chain. He would be glaring at him—accusing him for intruding on his little moment with the older male—or start yelling thus waking up the others.
With Pidge, his teammate would be curious to see him, and the guy is persistent once his curiosity has been piqued. He remences the male going into his dorm to find his Christmas stash for his loved ones—trashy romance novels, a large hand knitted sweater, coloring books, a gift card to Coffee Brewery, headset, a knitted hat, and a butterfly net—after spending twenty minutes unsupervised in his dorm. He had to find new places to hide the headset because a certain someone tried to get his gift early. Needless to say, the short teen didn't get his gift until a week after Christmas, he was that persistent.
He sucked in a deep breath, and glances at the teen in the beanbag. Pidge rolls to his other side, and curls up in a tighter ball. He sighs, stealthily steps away from the window, and heads to his spot on the floor—Shiro claimed the cot, Hunk the couch, Pidge the beanbag, and Keith a chair—laying down on the threadbare blankets. He pulls up the top most layer up, and stares at the ceiling.
He contemplates how close the two are, that's a given. Keith apparently knew where Shiro would touch down—the guy rigged explosives and he does not want to know where he got them—along with seeming gentle when dealing with the pilot. He wonders what their relationship is family, friends, or lovers? No, he shouldn't be focusing on that, but on how much Shiro knows about the dropout? The poor guy is suffering from some sort of amnesia, or is it a mental block about his memories in captivity?
God, he rubs his temples, he can feel a headache coming up from contemplating about those two.
His thoughts trails to other topics such as how are they going to go back to the Garrison. Known for the galactic space travel, the place has horrible measures when confronting others. The place literally tried to sedate Shrio when he was talking about prepping weaponry against the aliens who captured him. He doesn't know how often beings from outer space even came to Earth, did they receive the same five star treatment as Shiro?
Either way, he fears about what the Garrison would do to him, Hunk, and Pidge. The instructors definitely saw some people on a hover bike, but would they link that three out of the four teens are students? He and his crew are dressed in their civvies and not the standard uniform. Lance sighs, panic ebbing away from all the questions swarming in his mind. Not like the instructors will know that they helped stage a prison break.
What if someone notices that they are gone before the day is over? Sure it's a Saturday, but their friends are bound to see they aren't there. Someone might not say anything to the instructors, but later on what if an instructor remembers their faces? He knows that he and Hunk tend to get into trouble, either getting caught for taking extra food from the canteen, or staying out after hours in the pool. Their illicit activities of going to town have yet to be discovered, but the soldiers patrolling the area could say something about not seeing them.
If the three of them happen to stay out a little longer, the chances of them being found could last until Sunday or Monday. He wants to be back inside his dorm chilling with Hunk and finding Pidge where they plot out days to hang around the famed pilot. If they don't return by then, someone will definitely notice their absence. Who would call his mama and papa, telling them that their son is not in school? Would they freak out and post missing posters again when he didn't tell them where he went, or would they rant at whoever called them to find their precious son?
'Backtrack, don't get yourself worked up McClain, what you're thinking sounds like you got kidnapped. That did not happen, but everyone else could think that. You just have to make sure to get back before any of the rounds, which should be easier than sneaking out of detention.' Lance takes a deep breath through his nose and exhales. He whispers to himself, "I wouldn't mind sticking around longer to just talk to Takashi Shirogane, maybe he'll say something about his past or give me tips. He's bound to like me, I'm he handsomest one here…my face creams!" Lance jolts up in horror.
His beauty products are back in the door, and he never missed a day of his skin care regime. What if his face gets dry? The probability of that is high since they are in a desert. What if he gets pimples, and his flawless face is ruined because Keith slept on these blankets?
He needs to find a mirror or some kind of reflective surface pronto.
Scrambling up from his sleeping area he nears the closest of the three doors that aren't the front door. Pidge groans and mutters under his breath as he opens the door, and finds out that it is a closet. He shuts the door—not quiet and his sleeping mates are either cursing quietly or groaning—and goes to the next door. Behind door number two is a washing machine and a dryer; why does Keith need a room dedicated to cleaning his clothes?
Just as Lance shuts the door, another opens. He looks to see Keith and Shrio enter, coming straight from their little emotional chat.
"Good morning," Shiro greets him. He sounds enthusiastic despite being in a hellish situation around twelve hours ago, and acts like he isn't in a room full of grouchy or half-awake teenagers.
"'Morning." He says before going through the last door. He thinks he hears Hunk tiredly echo a good morning and Pidge mutter something about mornings should be abolished.
Lance sighs in relief as he sees a mirror, he's grateful that there is a bathroom in this shack. It may be small, but it has the standard appliances for a full bathroom. He closes the door behind him and leans over the sink to examine his skin. He doesn't spot any blemishes or pimples to his naked eye. He knows the tentative balance of his epidermis, and there could be a battle of extra oil or dirt trapped in his pores. They are ready to make their battlefield show, and cause undying embarrassment for him once shown.
"It's okay Lance, you can fix this," he says reassuring himself.
When he gets back at the dorm he can rectify the intense battle happening currently. Exiting the bathroom, he notices that everyone's standing up. He goes to the back of the group, with Hunk and Pidge, as he watches what's going on. Keith is in the front of the group, with Shiro, and unveils a cover over a corkboard with pictures pinned on it. 'Looks like a conspiracy board from those old films.' Lance notes as he listens halfheartedly to the words escaping his rival's mouth.
"There's this energy source coming from this area," Keith points to a large picture that already has words on it, "and I found a cave here with these pictures of a blue lion."
Wow. This is quite fascinating Keith, pictures on a wall where he thought he could feel something out. He can't believe that his rival is delusional, thinking he has some kind of ESP, and he can feel out something big will happen aka Shiro's arrival to Earth. He will give him an educational guess that something did happen, but it doesn't make the raven haired teen less delusional.
Shiro nods at the desert hermit's explanation and he turns around. He comes toward him with his right hand extended out. "The name is Takashi Shirogane."
Lance looks down. His whole arm appears to be a metallic prosthetic, and he can't help but feel a twinge of pain. His hero, the man in front of him, was tortured. His hair is white, a scar across the bridge of his nose, and his whole arm lobbed off. It is amazing that he could move the prosthetic. The only good thing about the man is that he isn't malnourished, at least the aliens fed him.
"Lance," he finally said as he firmly grasps the firm hand.
The pilot of the Kerberos mission shakes everyone's hand, or tries to in his buddy's case.
At least Hunk can be positive in a situation like this, even though it came from snooping in Pidge's bag. He can't help but feel amused that Hunk's a snoop for necessity and Pidge's his inquisitiveness.
Well…look's like they are going to find Voltron.
