Thanks for all the love on that last chapter. You guys make me feel all warm and squishy. Hope you like this one just as much. The team is about to see a little action. Cheers.
"Rah!" From where she sat in the common room of their suite, Allura tossed the magazine that she had been reading across the room, nearly missing Romelle as she walked out of the kitchenette with a steaming cup of tea.
"Easy, Allura." her cousin scolded.
The Princess of Arus got to her feet and began pacing between the couch and the armchair. "I am so sick of those guys running off and leaving me behind. I am part of this team too, damn it! Wait a minute," she stopped in her tracks, "I'm the head of this team. Well, not literally the head. Keith's the head. You know what I mean! But there wouldn't BE a Voltron if it weren't for me. And I am always the first one sidelined!" Allura seemed to be fuming at no one in particular. She began pacing again.
"What exactly do you think you would accomplish by going with them?" Romelle settled in the armchair opposite of where her cousin was pacing. "They wouldn't let you on base anyway. Try to relax."
Finally, she stopped pacing and dropped into the chair. "I'm sorry. I know I sound like a spoiled child. It just irritates me to no end that they think so little of me. Like I have nothing to contribute. I have proven myself time and again how valuable I am to this team. Sure, I've done some dumb stuff like stealing Black Lion and there was that time when I thought my father was a lion talking to me."
"Don't forget about Prince Bocar." Romelle added.
Allura glared at her. "Thanks for the reminder. How could I possibly forget that psychopath?" She sighed in frustration. "But that was years ago. Surely they've gotten over that by now."
"Maybe I can offer some insight." Deirdre appeared in the doorway that led to her bedroom. She picked up the magazine where Allura had tossed it and sank down on the couch between the two armchairs."
"These kinds of missions – recon missions – are what they have been trained for since they were in the Academy. Something they probably never told you, is that they are not just soldiers to Galaxy Garrison. They are members of an elite force that, generally, are sent in to clean up when the Garrison screws up." She discarded the magazine on the coffee table and leaned forward so that her elbows rested on her knees. "If you remember, Allura, they were not even suppose to be a part of the Arus assignment four years ago. The only reason they got involved is because they were looking for me. It was totally accidental that they ended up as the pilots of the lions."
"No, it wasn't." Allura said softly. "They were chosen by Voltron. It was fate."
"Either way, at the time, they had been preparing for an undercover mission off planet. The plans were classified so I have no idea what that mission was. But it was not to follow an unknown Princess to her planet to take control of a legendary robot to defend the galaxy."
Allura was unmoved by Deirdre's speech. "What does that have to do with this?"
"They have been trained to work cohesively as a team to get the job done."
"We are a team." Allura insisted. She would not be discounted because she hadn't received special training from the Garrison Academy.
Romelle, who had been listening quietly, was more objective. "I think what she's trying to say, Allura, is that here, on Earth, they are more effective as their own team."
"Exactly." Deirdre said. "It's nothing personal. Trust me."
The princess sat back and seemed to be thinking it over. It did make sense they were more comfortable working without her on a non-Voltron mission. Maybe she was taking it too personally. After all, she was definitely an important part of the Voltron Force. They put their lives in her hands every time they went into the sky together as she trusted her life to them. Still, she wished they wouldn't treat her like a porcelain doll. On the other hand, it was nice to know that they cared enough to look out for her. And she hated being angry with them. After all, they had come to her planet and saved her people. And they had stayed and helped rebuild. They were an exceptional group of men, and she would always be grateful that Voltron had chosen them.
Her revery was cut short by the soft beep that echoed from the communicator on Allura's wrist. She tapped on it lightly. "Yes?"
"Allura," Hunk's concerned voice penetrated the silence.
"Hunk what's wrong?"
"We've got a bit of a situation here. I think that Keith, Sven, and Lance just got arrested. Sort of."
"What?" Allura jumped out of her seat like she'd been burned.
"Yeah, some guys in a black van pulled up, jacked the guys and took off."
"Black van?" Deirdre was already shrugging into her jacket, fumbling around in one of the pockets.
"Yep." Hunk's voice was solemn.
Allura looked desperately at Deirdre. "What does that mean?"
"Black Ops means that its an unofficial mission." Hunk explained. "These guys will make Keith, Sven, and Lance disappear."
"But why?" Romelle finally found her voice.
The day was going from bad to worse. Allura pinched the bridge of her nose. This could not be happening. This was not going to happen. They were the Voltron Force, the saviors of an entire galaxy, damn it. And they would not be taken without a fight. Allura straightened her shoulders and set her jaw. "After we've gotten them back, then we'll ask questions." The princess was in full command mode now. "Hunk, can Pidge contact them?"
"Our communications with them have been blocked." Pidge's voice was tense as it came over the intercom. "But I've unscrambled the signal enough to track them. They're still moving."
She darted her eyes to Deirdre who was already holding up her car keys. It suddenly became very apparent why Keith had chosen to call her for help. "Can you send the signal to my comm?"
"Sure."
Deirdre and Romelle were already at the door. "Let's go!"
"Allura," Hunk was back. "what are you going to do?"
The question echoed in the silent room as the three women looked at each other with resolve. "We're going to get them." Allura replied with conviction.
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Still in front of the do-nut shop, Hunk looked at Pidge who nodded somberly. "Alright," the bigger man said. "Be careful."
"Hunk," Deirdre called. "is there any way the two of you can rendezvous with us?"
"We would love to, Dee, but, unfortunately, we have been left without a car, and I highly suspect that any cab would be opposed to tracking down a..." Hunk stopped as he gazed at the curbside. "Hold on a sec, I think I may have just found us a ride."
On the curb about a half a block from where they stood rested two racing bikes. Both were a sleek black with colored accents. One was yellow, the other was green. Hunk smiled at Pidge who got a decidedly wicked look on his face and Hunk could tell that they were thinking the same thing. Someone, or something, was giving them a sign.
"Ladies," Hunk said into his comm, "you go on and find the guys. We'll be meeting up with you shortly."
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"Go right!" From the backseat, Allura barked directions to Deirdre as she thrust the stick shift into a higher gear, maneuvering the Charger through the mid morning traffic. Fortunately, morning rush hour was over so there were not too many other vehicles on the road. Allura eyed her PDA, watching the blinking light on the grid. On the tiny screen, the van looked as if it should be right in front of them, when in reality, Allura knew, they were miles away. "It looks like they're on some sort of large road way." She tilted it in the driver's direction.
Deirdre barely glanced at it before putting her eyes on the road. Traveling at the speed they were going took a titanic amount of focus. "Looks like they're taking the old highway out of the city. If we don't find them soon, they could end up anywhere."
"Do you think we can?" The uncertainty in Romelle's voice gave Allura pause. Romelle was never one to worry. At least, not that Allura had ever seen. As she watched her cousin in the front, passenger seat, it was clear that she was distraught.
"OF course, we are going to find them, Romelle."
Once they hit the highway, it was a straight shot to the van, assuming that they didn't get off somewhere, the car fell silent. Even with the windows closed, Allura could hear the rushing wind outside of the car. They were traveling very fast, and if she hadn't been so used to high speeds in the air, it probably would have bothered her. She frowned and listened harder as the sound seemed to be getting louder. One glance at the speedometer told her that they hadn't accelerated. She sat up and, while looking around, and object caught her eye in the side mirror. By the time she realized what it was, her comm began chirping at her.
She tapped it. "Hello?"
"Hey, hey," Hunk said. "Told ya we'd make it to the party."
"Holy crap." Deirdre breathed as she stared into the rear view mirror.
They turned to the back of the car to see two black motorcycles coming up on them fast. Although they had helmets on, the large rider looked fairly comfortable while the smaller rider held on to the handlebars like he would fly off any minute. They were unmistakeably Hunk and Pidge.
"Welcome aboard, gentleman."
"Nice wheels." Deirdre interjected.
"Thanks. We borrowed them." Hunk explained. "I hope you ladies have a plan." The three women looked at each other blankly. There had been such a sense of urgency when they left the hotel that they hadn't really discussed what they would do after they found the van. "Hello?" Hunk's voice questioned again.
Allura took a deep breath. She hated not having a plan. While she was certainly capable of improvising when need be, she usually left the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to Lance. The Princess of Arus preferred order. Order was not nearly what she had now. "Um, Hunk, we're going to have to get back with you on that one." She clicked off her receiver and looked from Deirdre to Romelle in the front seats. "Anyone have an idea?"
"This is your BBQ, Princess." Deirdre said, and although she had no idea what exactly it meant, Allura was sure that it left her in charge.
She leaned against the backseat, frustrated. "I wish we had some weapons."
Deirdre grinned. "Why didn't you say so. Pull down the backseat. It leads directly into the trunk."
Allura did as instructed and yanked the back rest of the seat down. A light blinked on as it folded down, giving her a good view of the contents of the trunk. "Wow." was all she could say.
"Anything inspiring?" Deirdre asked.
The princess looked up from the trunk to the ladies in the front seat. "I think I have an idea."
"Good, cause I think we've caught up to our van."
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"Let us out of here, damn it!" Lance banged for the umpteenth time on the barrier wall between them and the front of the van. "We didn't do anything!"
From his vantage point sitting on the floor, Sven shook his head at Keith sitting across from him. "They won't answer. They are Black Ops. Super soldiers. They are trained not to. And unless a nuclear attack happens, they won't stop this thing for anything."
The pilot of the Red Lion finally gave up and stalked to the far back of the van and stared out the window. He could tell by the sparse landscape that they were already miles out of Freetown. The four lane highway sped behind them at a hurried rate. There was no way to tell where they were being taken, but one thing was for sure: they were not going to be coming back. As he watched the asphalt disappear into the horizon, something caught his eye. It was moving toward them at an incredible speed, and it wasn't too long before he was able to identify the vehicle. Then the two smaller ones flanking the Charger. "Um, guys, you might want to come take a look at this." Keith and Sven joined him at the window. Lance turned to them and smiled. "Looks like the cavalry has arrived."
"Is that Deirdre's car?" Keith asked.
"Yep."
The trio watched as the car moved closer, but kept a slight distance. Then something happened. The top began to retract as the car turned into a convertible. Now they had a clear view of the passengers. Deirdre was driving, and Allura and Romelle were sitting in back.
Sven narrowed his eyes. "What are they doing?"
They watched as Allura stood up in the backseat while Romelle held her steady against the wind. She lifted something up to her shoulder, aiming it at the van. Realization dawned on all three of the men at the same time.
"Shit...!" Lance bellowed.
"Hit the deck!" Keith screamed as the three of them threw themselves toward the front of the van. They landed hard on the metal just in time to hear a thunderous roar just before the doors of the van were blown off their hinges.
###############
The Charger swerved, nearly sideswiping Pidge as Deirdre fishtailed to avoid the flying debris from the van. The three of them stared at the gaping hole in the back of the van. They could now see Keith, Lance, and Sven staring at them from the back.
"Well," Allura yelled over the sound of the wind whipping through the now open car. "that kind of worked."
"But they're not stopping the van." Romelle pointed out. It was true. If anything, the black van seemed to accelerate. "What now?"
Deirdre shrugged. "Plan B?"
"What the hell is plan B?" Romelle bellowed.
Allura nodded, frustration etched into her features. She suddenly felt as if she wanted to punch something. They hadn't discussed a plan B. She had no idea what Deirdre had in mind, but she knew that the driver had been in the military academy with her team. And Keith and the others seemed to put their utmost trust in her, something that was very difficult for them to do. And she was all out of ideas. She would have to trust Deirdre.
She quickly changed her mind, when Deirdre did something that Allura found to be incredibly stupid. She gently put her foot down on the gas petal and urged the car forward until it was almost touching the back bumper of the van.
Keith, Sven, and Lance watched as the car inched closer, even at the high speed that they were traveling.
"What the hell is she doing?" Lance wondered out loud.
Keith rubbed his chin. "I think she wants us to jump."
"I was afraid you were going to say that. Well," He turned to Keith and made a grand gesture. "Age before beauty, my friend."
"You're three weeks older than me, Lance." Keith reminded him.
His friend grinned at him. "You go first anyway."
The commander shook his head, but moved forward. The rushing wind and accelerated speed made it difficult to maneuver so he crouched as low as he could to reduce resistance. He finally made it to the opening in the van and looked out. Three tense expressions stared back at him from the car. There wasn't a very big gap between the two bumpers, and he wondered idly how Deirdre had managed to get so close and still remain in tandem with the van. He shook his head to clear it. Focus was what he needed at that moment. He took a deep breath and gazed out at the car once more, locking eyes with Allura, and he jumped.
He landed hard on the hood of the car, immediately catching the top of the windshield. Using the traction from his boots, he slowly walked his way up the hood until he could climb over the windshield. Even as he landed in the front seat, he quickly made his way to the back to make room for the others.
Lance was next. He made quick work of climbing over the windshield. He stood in the back seat and watched as Sven prepared to make his jump.
The Scandinavian was already at the edge of the van, preparing to make his move. He could see Deirdre in the front seat. In the back, he saw Romelle. The fear on her face was unmistakeable, and it broke his heart to see it. He resolved that once all of this was over, he was going to make Romelle his wife and reassure her that no matter what happened, he would always be with her. With those thoughts on his mind, he steeled himself and jumped.
At that moment, the unforeseen happened, as it usually does. The van, immediately followed by the Charger, ran over something large in the road causing them both lurch and fall out of sync. Sven heard a crack as his knee awkwardly hit the metal and felt a searing pain moving rapidly from his knee up his leg. He howled loudly, closing his eyes tight but managed to grab hold of the windshield with one hand. He was unable to keep traction on the hood causing his feet to flounder like a fish out of water. Even over the rushing wind in his ears, he heard the shrieks from the others, but one, in particular, called out to him.
"Sven! Open your eyes, damn it!"
He looked up to see Lance standing over him, leaning over the windshield, his hand outstretched. "You're going to have to help me here, pal!"
Despite the pain in his knee, Sven managed to swing his other arm up until his hand connected with Lance's, feeling the stabilization of his counterbalance.
"Climb!" Lance ordered.
With Lance's help, he was able to finally get traction with his good leg. His muscles strained as he pushed forward with his leg at the same time he was pulling on the windshield. He finally crawled his way to the top of the windshield. With one final pull, Lance yanked him over the top, sending him flying behind him. Keith caught him, and they both crashed into the backseat.
"Let's get out of here!" Lance ordered to the driver.
Deirdre nodded and, without warning, made her move. She stomped on the brake and jerked the wheel hard, sending the car careening into a wide arc, turning it 180 degrees into the other lane. The Charger fishtailed for a moment before she finally straightened her out. She threw the gear shift again and punched the gas, sending them well on their way in the opposite direction of the van.
"Nice work." Lance commented, still trying to catch his breath.
Deirdre's knuckles were as white as her face as she held the steering wheel in a death grip. She continued to stare ahead.
"Is everyone okay over there?" Hunk's voice came over the com. He and Pidge, having been made privy to the plan had also made the 180 turn and still flanked the Charger.
Glancing in the backseat from where he sat, Lance couldn't help but let out a loud laugh. The quartet in the back was a mangled mess of arms and legs. Sven was sprawled halfway across Allura's body, while Keith had managed to land face first in Romelle's lap.
"Yeah, I think everyone's okay." Lance chuckled.
A barrage of grunts and curses was let loose as they tried to right themselves, embarrassed blushes painting everyone's faces. In the end, Romelle and Allura were pushed to the outer windows of the backseat with Keith and Sven, respectively, sandwiched in between them. Allura tried to shift from her uncomfortable position, causing Sven to yelp loudly when she bumped his leg.
"I'm so sorry." She cried.
"It's alright." He ground through his teeth. "I think I may have cracked my kneecap. I'll be alright."
"Alright, Deirdre," Lance said, "I gotta ask. What the did Allura do to that van?"
"Sticky grenade." She said it as if it should be obvious. "Semtex."
"Okay, but where the hell did you get a grenade launcher?"
She finally relaxed a bit and smiled. "In my line of work, it's good to be prepared for most situations."
He stared at her. "What exactly have you been doing these last four years?"
"That's a story for another time, my friend."
Keith leaned forward, sticking his head between Lance and Deirdre. From the landscape, he could see that they were heading back toward Freetown. That would be a mistake. "We can't go back to Freetown." He said.
"We're not." Deirdre answered. "A friend of mine has a cabin about 30 miles on the other side of Freetown. I'll take about an hour to get there."
Lance raised his eyebrow. "Who's this friend?"
She smiled. "Richie. You remember Richie. From the Academy."
"Richie Vandersloot?" Lance snickered.
"Vanderlough." She corrected.
"Didn't you two date your Senior year?"
"Yep. Lasted about as long as Keith and I did."
Lance nodded. "And how does old Richie feel about you just showing up with a couple of intergalactic princesses and three men wanted by Garrison?"
She shrugged. "He lets me crash at his place when I'm in town. Besides, he won't be there. I contacted him just before we got to Earth. He's off planet for the next couple of weeks."
"You are the only person I know that can stay friends with all of your ex's."
She smiled. "I'm just good like that. There's a back road that only locals use anymore that goes completely around Freetown. We won't even have to go through the city."
Keith cleared his throat to get their attention. "The cabin's a good start. We need a quiet place to regroup." With that said, he leaned back, having to squeeze back between Sven and Romelle. Glancing at his watch, he grimaced. It wasn't even lunch time yet, and they had already been kidnapped and involved in a high speed pursuit. Hopefully the day wouldn't get any more exciting than that. But they definitely needed to get to the bottom of what was going on. A soft tap on his shoulder broke his train of thought. He turned to find Romelle blinking at him with her big, blue eyes.
"Um, Keith, I was wondering if you would mind switching places with Sven."
Keith raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He turned to look at Sven who merely shrugged. Letting out an irritated sigh, he nodded and pulled himself forward so that he was standing, giving Sven room to slide behind him next to Romelle. Keith dropped back into the seat next to Allura, elbowing her in the shoulder in the process.
"OW!" she cried out.
Keith's face burned with embarrassment. "Sorry," he muttered.
"Sven! I was so worried." Romelle cooed, brushing a stray hair out of his face. "Don't you ever do that to me again!"
Sven gave her a weak smile. "If I can help it, my love, I won't." He planted a small peck on her lips that turned into a longer, deeper kiss, causing Allura to turn and look out the window and Keith to stare straight ahead so that he could see the landscape out of the windshield.
To eliminate the awkward silence, Lance punched a couple of buttons on the stereo, bringing it to life. A slow paced love song sang over the speakers, causing him to wrinkle his nose. He reached up to change the station, but recoiled when his hand received a sound slap.
"Ow!" He rubbed the top of his hand. "What the hell was that for?"
Deirdre presented him with a very serious expression. "I'm driving. I pick the music."
"Fine!" Lance pouted. "But can we please listen to something else? Between Sven and Romelle making out in the backseat like it's their last day on Earth, which, ironically enough, it probably is, and that sad bastard music, I think I might just throw up."
She gave him a crooked smile and nodded in agreement. She tapped a button on the radio causing the love song to vanish and be replaced by a higher paced rock song with a catchy guitar riff. Lance smiled and began moving his head to the music.
"This is much better."
Chapter 8: The team will be paying visits to some old friends. Plus, new information about Galaxy Garrison will come to light.
Hope you enjoyed this latest installment. If anyone's wondering, there is a back story to Deirdre's explanation at the beginning about how the pilots ended up on Arus in the first place (a revision, if you will). Probably going to do a prequel...eventually. I have to finish this saga first. Just call me the George Lucas of fan fiction LOL! Don't worry, I'll explain everything you'll need to know as we go along.