KathDMD - I'm glad I didn't disappoint. Part I was a culmination. Part II will be the fallout. Aside from Tails promising to become the ultimate Matchmaker, and Dariana having the dream-state visions, I'm sure the rebirth of Haggar surprised everyone! In time you'll see where she fits into all this. Oh yeah, Hawkins still needs to find Wade and put a boot up his ass...
Voltrex - What part of Episode 13 shocked you?
Disclaimer - Voltron and all related characters are the property of WEP. Space Marshall Lenora Hawkins is the property of KathDMD.
Author's Note - I admit there are plenty of muses that make me write what I write, say what I say, and feel what I feel. This chapter, beginning to end, had plenty of inspiration. A good portion of it goes to the feelings I get from the theme of this piece.
Theme Music : Leader of the Broken Hearts by Papa Roach
Episode 14 : Prophecy – Part II
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"Is everyone alright?" JC asked. He looked around his view screen and saw his teammates' ships nearby, still seemingly intact.
"Derringer checking in," Seth replied. "I'm ok. Dar, you alright?" Dariana let out a groan.
"Kovinx here," she replied. "A little banged up, but alright."
"McGovern present," Tails replied, with a half giggle. "Shaken, but not stirred."
"Truvall, you with us?" JC asked. At first there was no response, then a slight groan.
"I'm fine, Grend," she replied. "What was that?"
"It's Haggar," Dariana replied. "She's alive."
"Where are we?" JC asked. "Tails?"
"According to the RadialTrac," she replied, "we are in sector 825. In other words, sooooooo flacking far from where we were."
"We have to get back there and investigate," JC replied.
"No," Dariana said. "JC, the last sentinel was released. We have to return to Earth. If the dream is correct, we don't have much time!"
"Set a course for the Terran System," JC shouted. "Stay in tight formation."
"Yes, sir," Roxy replied quietly. They engaged hyperdrive and flew off.
"Daniel!" Keith shouted. "Can you hear us?" Daniel slowly faded into consciousness, and realized where he was...in the pilot seat of Black.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I was about to ask the same thing," Keith replied.
"One minute I was in my quarters playing a game, and the next thing I remember is waking up here," Daniel said.
"We need to get back to Arus and regroup," Keith said. "Something is definitely not right. And if Lotor has something to do with it, it can't possibly be good." He paused a moment. "And this will give you plenty of time to tell us about the haggarium infection you've been keeping from us." Daniel put his face in his hands and groaned.
"Sven," a voice called out. "Sven, wake up." Sven opened his eyes to see King Bandor. He looked around and saw he was on a Polluxian vessel in the infirmary. He tried to get up, but the doctor and nurse guided him back down.
"Please lie still," the doctor said. "You aren't severely hurt, but we need to run some tests."
"Are you alright?" Bandor asked him.
"Strangely better," he replied. "I don't remember what happened though."
"You took off in a shuttle," Bandor said. "We chased you for light years, and finally found your ship badly damaged, and you unconscious."
"Doctor," the nurse said. "Please have a look at this." The doctor came over to her, and her voice lowered to a whisper. "These are the tests we ran on him. You said he was infected with haggarium?"
"Yes," the doctor replied.
"According to his test results," she said, "there's not one drop in his body at all."
"I wasn't expecting this," Wade said to Kala. "What has Lotor done?"
"I don't feel the rage from the haggarium any longer," she replied. "But I can still hear your thoughts. Your memories of the last few hours are as blanked out as mine?"
"Yes," he replied. He looked at the weapons cache, and a screen popped out from it. "It seems my robot soldiers have been doing their job. But it appears Hawkins destroyed my Robeast. Let's both head back to Quantus and fortify there. We can make our attack plans."
"And you have handed over the Space Marshall to Lotor?" Kala asked, beaming.
"He plans to add her to his harem," he replied. "If that keeps her out of our hair and provides the same torture I endured all these years, figuratively speaking of course, then all the better."
Space Marshall Lenora Hawkins woke up in a dimly lit room. She had been unconscious for hours, knocked out by the robot guards. She looked around and sensed a Drule décor. She looked down at her clothes, and found her uniform, though torn in places from the struggle, was mostly intact. Before she could do any more, however, the door slid open, and Lotor walked in.
"Ah, Space Marshall," Lotor said, "it is an honor to have you as a permanent guest on my ship."
"We'll see how permanent it'll be when the Voltron Force and my husband comes for me!" she replied defiantly.
"Such a strong will," he said, approaching her. He touched her face, and her face grimaced. "I love a challenge. But I must warn you, you'll make things much easier on yourself if you don't struggle." At once, she jammed her knee into his groin and forcefully tried to push him away. He gasped once, then backhanded her so hard she spun and fell to the floor. She tried to get up, and saw drops of blood fall to the floor. She touched her mouth, and found she had bitten into the inside of her lip, and her mouth trickled with blood.
"You will find that the rougher you are with me," he said, "the rougher I am with you!" Before he could approach her again, Haggar appeared in the doorway.
"Sire," she said. "I must speak to you at once. There is much to discuss."
"Can it not wait until later?" he shouted.
"I'm afraid not," she replied. "And the Space Marshall's ears are not fit to hear what I have to say to you."
"Very well," he replied. "I suppose I owe you my life, old witch. The least I could do is listen to what you have to say." Haggar let out a cackle as she walked down the hall. Lotor turned to Lenora, who was staggering to her feet. "Don't even think of rescue, or escape. If I were you, I would take some time to consider your options. You should feel honored…the first beautiful woman in my new harem!" He laughed as he left the room. When the door closed, she struggled to the makeshift bed that she woke up on, and tended to her wound.
"I'd sooner hang myself with my own uniform than let him lay one finger on me," she said to herself angrily.
The smoke from the explosion blew by them, and Voltron turned to see the Sentinel wading through the bay, heading for New York.
"If we don't stop it right now," Krik said, "It will wipe out the entire city!"
"Then let's get to work!" Jeff shouted, and Voltron took off into the air. It landed in the water in front of the Sentinel, stopping it in its tracks. Just as Voltron swung the Blazing Sword, it pulled a sword of its own, and the two clanked.
"Looks like we got ourselves a sword fight on our hands, Jeff!" Cliff shouted. Votron swung repeatedly, and the sentinel matched him shot for shot.
"Jeff," Lisa shouted, "I just did a system wide scan. Power levels of all the vehicles is dropping rapidly. I can't explain why, but it seems to be absorbing our energy like a sponge!"
"How much longer do we have?" Jeff asked.
"I'm not sure," she replied. "Chip, can you crunch the numbers?"
"Looks like we have about five minutes of stored nuclear energy left!" he replied.
"Great," Jeff said. "Here's to the good ol' days."
"Are we able to get down there?" Hawkins asked.
"Their ships far outnumber ours," Newley replied. "At this rate, it'd take a miracle." Suddenly, they saw laser fire pass them and begin firing on Lotor's fleet.
"What is that?" Hawkins asked. "Sparks?"
"I have an incoming transmission, Commander," he replied, and the screen came up.
"Commander Hawkins," Hazar said, "We received your distress signal. We're here to help."
"We can use all the help we can get," Newly said.
"It's the least we can do for all you've done for my people," Hazar replied. Hazar's fleet confronted the Doom ships. Some were destroyed, and the rest began to run. "As soon as the air cover is gone, and we've secured the skies, we will land our troops near the harbor to begin taking out the robots."
"We'll take the Explorer down and meet you with troops of our own," Hawkins replied. "Let's take back this city!"
Swords continued to clank as Voltron fought harder and harder to try and disarm the sentinel.
"What's this thing made of?" Rocky asked.
"My guess would be corrite," Chip replied.
"We're locked up!" Jeff shouted as the swords locked in a test of strength. "How much time?"
"Two minutes," Chip shouted.
"Then we better make it count, team!" Jeff shouted. "Eye Beam!" Voltron shot its eye beam at the sentinel, hitting it in the face and causing it to stagger backwards. "Now!" Voltron leaped into the air, and swinging back, sliced through the sentinel twice. After a moment, it broke apart and exploded. A white mist rose from the rubble and swirled into the sky. "I'm not sure what that was gang, but I think we did good."
"Power levels are low," Chip said. "We need to get back to the Explorer."
"Right," Jeff replied. "OK team, separate and head for the command ship. It looks like the Explorer is gonna land in the harbor for a ground assault." In a flash of light, the fifteen vehicles split and headed back to the Explorer.
The Explorer and Hazar's ships docked at the harbor. Troops emerged from both ships, opening fire on the army of robots. Hazar and Hawkins emerged as well to join and direct the troops.
"It seems a bit overwhelming," Hazar admitted.
"We've fought with tougher odds before," Hawkins replied, as they too opened fire on the robots. Suddenly three minor explosions happened in the crowd, sending robots flying and scatterring in pieces. Gunfire was coming from another direction, along with light grenades. Commander Stormclaw came running out of the smoke with what looked like a battalion of troops of his own.
"Commander Hawkins," he said, "I want you to meet the remains of the Den Resistance!"
"Excellent," he replied. "We can use all the men we can get. Let's keep pushing forward!" The combined forces made their way through the city towards the Garrison.
"Any signs?" JC asked. "Any signals? Any hint of what's going on down there?"
"RadialTrac shows a gun battle down there, Chief," Tails replied. "It looks like a combined effort of Drule Confederates and Alliance forces."
"What about the sentinel," JC said. "Do you see it?"
"I'm detecting remains," Tails replied. "The energy signatures match that of the last one we fought."
"That's how the prophecy was fulfilled," Dariana responded softly. "The Sentinels were released, and the energy was drawn back. The soul was split and couldn't die. It lived inside them all this time…inside Lotor especially. He was the catalyst to bring it all together."
"Well, if the sentinel is dead," Roxy said, "How about we land these ships and take care of some wade-bots?"
"For once, Truvall," JC replied, "we are in total agreement." He smiled. "Take us into the hangar. Our fight starts there." The moment they landed, and the hatches opened, the wade-bots in the hangar converged on them. But then one was hit with a charger, then exploded, taking out a large group of them. Dariana pulled the charger back in, and they leaped to the floor.
"Our best bet is to clear out of the hangar and make our way to the elevator," JC said. "If Wade is here, I bet he's hanging out in the Space Marshall's office." They ran into the hall, and Roxy and Seth began firing shots and bolts at the bots, taking them down one by one.
"They're like a neverending swarm of bees," Roxy shouted.
"Then it's time to sting back!" JC said, running into the crowd of them. Katanas appeared in his hands, and he quickly sliced through a dozen of them, parts falling to the floor. Tails launched an ax at one, and it sliced through it and clean through the next two before sticking into a wall.
"Three for one!" she shouted in glee. They continued on until they go t to the elevator. When they did, they met up with Stormclaw and the Resistance.
"You cadets alright?" he asked.
"We're fine," JC reolied. "Have your men cover the elevator. We're going up there to take back the Space Marshall's office."
"Is she still there?" Stormclaw asked.
"We were hoping you knew," Roxy replied. The doors opened, and they entered. Stormclaw entered a special keycard, and the elevator went up and breakneck speed.
"It pays to pull rank sometimes," he said jokingly. The doors opened, and the hall seemed clear. They all marched to the office and forced open the door. Two wade-bots sat there ready to open fire.
"Get out of our town," JC said. Tails pulled two axes quick and crossing them in front of them, whipped them in either direction, striking both bots and putting them out of commission."
"Well," Tails said, "that was fun!"
"But where's the Space Marshall?" JC asked.
"She's gone," Dariana said softly. "Lenora's gone."
JC sat on the front steps of the main building of the Academy. He held his head in his hands and pondered what had happened in the last day. Soon after, Seth emerged from the building, and carefully sat down.
"How are you holding up, oh fearless leader?" Seth asked.
"Do they know?" JC asked.
"Stormclaw broke our identities to the public, yes," Seth replied. "It doesn't change things. We still have to finish our core curriculum to graduate from the academy before they'll even consider giving us rank."
"I'm not thinking about that now," JC said. "Wade got away, Quantus is under the control of the Supremacy, and the Space Marshall…" He let out a sigh. "I feel like I'm failing as a leader, man."
"You're not," he replied. "You've been a great leader. You ARE a great leader. Even Roxy believes that deep down, I know it. We took back the Garrison, and saved Earth. Hawkins is in there right now with Stormclaw devising a plan to get the Space Marshall back. We will succeed. Because you made us into a team."
"You're right," JC said. "I just wish there wasn't so much pain following what's supposed to be a victory, Seth. I want nothing more than to make it right."
"We all do, bro," he replied. "We all do."