Chapter 5
Everything was black. Suddenly, she was rebooted. Her view comes into focus. Scans around. Disoriented. Pidge was in the Trash Warehouse. Damn it. She got up from the pile of trash she was in, some rodents running away. Robo-rodents of course. Trash, slime, and robot parts everywhere. Piles dumped from a variety of chutes in the ceiling. She blinks a few times and realizes something.
"LANCE!" She looks around, panicked. A warning alarm sounds. She spots a platform, loaded with giant trash cubes. It slides into an airlock. Inner shield doors lock and seal.
"Caution: Activating airlock disposal...Activating airlock disposal." The exterior hatch flies open. The vacuum of space instantly sucks out the cubed trash. She begins to panic even more. Fuck- she needs to get them out of here.
"LANCE!" She calls out again as she manages to get up. Suddenly, her area is flooded in light. She flinches at the sight of two giant compact robots as they rumbled behind her. Headlights for eyes. Each grab a ton of trash at once. Pidge is swept up with the junk. Compact it. Spit it out...Pidge now trapped in the side of a giant cube. Her cube is picked up. Transported to a waiting platform. Stacked with other massive cubes. In a cube next to her, she sees Lance. Pidge's eyes widen.
"LANCE!" She calls out. He groans in pain. Ok ok...he was alive. That's good! Again the alarms kick in. The platform slides on rails...across the safety line...into the airlock...the inner shield doors begin to close. Pidge needed to act AND ACT FAST! She struggled but her gun arm was stuck. She frowned and suddenly she heard it cock. She inhaled.
"Oh please work--" She blasts herself free. She smiles and then hovers over to Lance. He's stuck deep in the cube. Keith suddenly drops from a ceiling chute. Piles of trash and bacteria. HE HATED IT! That's when he notices Lance and his 'contaminant'
"I have you now-- Wait...PIDGE?!" Keith's eyes widen as he notices her, trying to get him out. Pidge keeps pulling but Lance is slow to free. She won't make it. Keith races towards the airlocks and he puts his roller between the doors.
"PIDGE!" He calls to her. Her eyes widen as he blocked the doors.
"KEITH!" She managed to pull Lance out just as the exterior hatch opens. Pidge grabs onto Keith's arm, holding Lance with the other. The trash gets sucked out into space. The robots notice the humans and immediately shut the emergency shut-off button on the wall. The exterior hatch closes. Pidge rolls on the ground as Keith and Lance fall down as well. Keith and Pidge sigh in relief. Safe. The giant robots light up a small work space. Pidge was propping Lance against some trash. He's barely conscious. He was bleeding too.
"Stay awake for me, ok?" She says as she's kneeling down, holding his face. He blinks trying to focus on Pidge.
"Mhm..." Me mumbles. Her hands slide to his chest and she opens the place where the electric shock hit. She winced as she saw the charred circuit bored. It couldn't be fixed. She immediately flies in the air and starts searching through the parts. There should be...NO. MUST BE a circuit board like that. Keith starts cleaning Lance. When his scanners finally said he was clean he huffed in satisfaction. Lance looked at Keith weakly.
"Lance..." The boy looked at his hand, cleaned it and shook it.
"Keith." Lance made the best thing he could to a laugh.
"Keith?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Keith." Lance nodded weakly.
"Got it. Keith..." The boy with a mullet patted him on the shoulder. Lance groaned in pain.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM, KEITH!" Pidge called out, still searching through the trash.
"And don't worry. A friend of Pidge is a friend of mine." Lance smiled a bit.
"Thanks..." Pidge returns with a few found circuit boards. She shows each one to Lance. He slowly shakes his head. She throws them on the ground, still hovering and looks around frantically. Lance opens his cavity slowly and shows her the plant.
"C-Come on...N-ngh!....Directive...." He says slowly. Pidge bites her lip as tears prick at the edges of her eyes and shakes her head. On her glasses she could see the directive showing but she ignored it. Lance's life was more important. There was no doubt in that. She kneels down and throws the plant on the ground as she put her hand out, spreading her fingers.
"No, Lance...Directive." He pushes her hand away and picks the plant up again. He gives it to her.
"Errr..." He kicks his head back and hisses. She can't make out what he's saying.
"L-Lance, i can't understand you-..I..." She shakes her head, trying to understand. Lance slowly reaches in his pocket and pulls out a lighter. Pidge's eyes widen.
"Earth...?" She asks surprised. Lance nods weakly.
"Earth." He starts winking. Pidge didn't understand- He was winking like he did back on Earth when he fixed his eye with spare parts back at the truck....The truck was on-
"EARTH! YES, OF COURSE!" She says as she face-palms in her own stupidity. She puts her hands around his torso. Keith frowns.
"Uhh.." Pidge frowns a bit then looks down at her feet and wiggles them. He sighs and kicks his shoes, taking out some wheels just like Lance had, but bigger. He grabbed onto her ankles.
"Guess we're doing it the old way." Keith said. Pidge nodded and looked up. She puts her hand up and blasts a hole through the roof. She flies up.
"WOAH- PIDGEEEEE!" Keith calls out as she goes faster than she ever did before. She can't lose Lance- She refuses- And if it meant she'll just complete her PROGRAMED directive?? That's just a perk at this point!
A steward moves down the hall. Siren wailing. Scans for rogue robots. Pidge and Lance's "Warning" image on his display screen. He stops in front of painted haphazardly on the floor. Follows it to a storage closet room door.
"Wrong." He beeped. The steward opens the closet. Coran jumped out.
"CORAN CORAN THE GORGEOUS MAN!" He said as he got pulled by a beam. Suddenly everything began to shake. Coran looks down and the steward was confused as well. The noise was coming from the trash-chute. Pidge came out of the trash-chute with Lance and Keith holding on to her. Her gun arm out. The steward immediately took a photo. Keith was now back on the floor and kicked the steward in the closet, helping Coran.
"Thank you. But, what's with the rush?" Pidge and Keith looked at the plant icon then at Lance. Coran gasped.
"OH! URGENCY! GOT IT!" Coran started running after them as Pidge was flying and Keith was rolling with speed. Coran was now also humming the song from Hello Dolly. Lance recognized it and gets an idea. He hits his pocket. The recorder started. Pidge frowned. It was a good thing he was this conscious. She was thankful for that. She started going faster. Rejects come out of hiding as they hear the music. Parade after the trio. Humming POYSC. All following the pied piper. Pidge perked up and smirked.
"You genius..." She says to him. He gives her a small tired smile. The trio's "Wanted" image instantly circulates. Alarms sound. Alert screens pop up around the sleeping ship. Lotor watched the wanted image in shock.
"HOW?!" He screamed in disbelief. Lotor presses a button and suddenly a panel opened. He woke up every steward. Stewards eject from their wall stations. Like ATMs jumping to life. Race in the direction of Pidge. Carelessly knock over stray passengers in their way.
"UHH- PIDGE? WE HAVE COMPANY!!" Keith calls to her. Coran yelps.
"OH BOY! WHAT DID YOU DO- CORAN CORAN THE GORGEOUS MAN- TO MAKE THEM MAD??" Pidge frowns. Keith hisses.
"HOLD ON EVERYBODY! SHE ISN'T A PIDGE FOR NOTHING!" He grabbed onto her ankle and they all formed a chain. Pidge was speeding.
"Mutinyyy...Mute...neee...This is your last chance...Lotor...You hear me?...Stupid...galran..." Allura said, tired. Suddenly, a flashing light caught her attention. Outside her window, she looks up on the sky dome... a giant "Wanted" image of Lance, Pidge and another robot as Lance was holding...
"The plant!" Allura says with a gasp. The Captain's eyes light up. She glances down at the open manual on the floor. "Plant icon + Holo-detector icon = Earth". She is filled with renewed determination.
"We'll see who's powerless now." Allura says and slides under the vanity console. She rips some wires and puts them together, starting the console up.
"Ah-Ha!" Allura says with a proud smirk. Time for some fun. Pidge zooms with the rejects in an intersection. Suddenly Allura's face appears on holo-screens all around them. Pidge lits up.
"CAPTAIN ALLURA!" She says, almost breathless. The rejects stop as well.
"Testing, testing... Is this thing on?" She asks. Pidge looks down at Lance. He taps her hand slightly to show he was still with them. She took on a determined look and watched the screen. All screens display the Captain's live feed. He's absolutely everywhere. A few stray passengers are still up. Watch their screens in confusion. Lotor couldn't believe this! Allura was now everywhere! He tried to jam the feed but couldn't. Agh! There was a reason she was captain after all.
"Psssst! Hey! Hey! This is the Captain I'm locked in my room. Pidge, Lance, bring the plant to the Lido Deck. I'll have activated the holo-detector. Now hurry! Lotor's probably going to cut me off--" The screens all go dead. Pidge and Lance look at each other with determination. They're about to continue on... Pidge started scanning for the fastest route.
"Pidge? What do we do?" Keith asks. Her glasses beeped.
"We follow our commands like good humans! HOLD ON!" She says. She was about to go when...A WALL OF STEWARDS block their path.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE!!" Pidge growls. Dozens of them stand in a row. Pidge fires her gun. Destroys a steward. Another one quickly takes its place. Traps her arm with its suspension beam. She can't shoot.
"FUCK!" She tries to pull her arm back. Coran frowns.
"CORAN CORAN THE GORGEOUS MAN! HYAAAAAA!" He lounges forward and takes down a steward. The rejects all look at each other. They all charge forward. Pidge's hand is freed and the three humans stare in disbelief. Up in the quarters however, Allura was using the device for Pidge's memories and was projecting herself in the room. Suddenly, Lotor gets a message on his screen. It was a Captain holding the plant, but it wasn't...Lotor however didn't realize and all he could see was red.
"That's right! The plant! Oh, you want it? Come and get it, Blinky!" The Captain hovers in front of Pidge's memory screen. That's how she was pretending to have the plant. When she hears Lotor moving, she yanks some wires and everything goes dark.
"Captain? Captain...?" Lotor frowns. He looks around the room and at the portraits. Lotor stops at Allura's potrait...The eyes in it dart nervously... -- wait a minute. Dart? That's not right-- Allura lounges at her. She grabs him as he tries to shake her off.
"LET GO! LET GO!!" Lotor says, panicked. He tries to go up but Allura manages to get him stuck between floors. She laughs.
"Aww? You got a bit stuck, eh?" Lotor tries to free himself. The Captain won't let go. Lotor ends up yanking her through. The Captain rides Lotor like a bucking bronco. He swings violently back and forth.
"You're not getting away from me, grape! -- OOF! -- Is that all you got?!" Suddenly Shiro walks in. His eyes yellow. Allura kicks him out of the window just as he tries to help Lotor. He ends up falling through the chute and right in front of Pidge, Lance and Keith. Pidge's eyes widen.
"YOU-" Shiro looks at her with black eyes.
"I....I'm free..." Shiro says and starts hovering as well. Pidge's eyes widen and so do Shiro's.
"I'm so sorry, Pidge...." She nods.
"We don't have time. PICK KEITH UP! LET'S GO!" Shiro nods and Keith puts his hands up, used to Shiro carrying him around.
"Welcome to the team white strand." Lance tries to joke. Shiro scrunches his face up.
"I fucked you up really badly..." Pidge growls at him and starts zooming. On the bridge, Allura was swinging with Lotor.
"Come...on...AHA!" She managed to hit the button. Suddenly, in the Lindo Deck, the pool started closing, green lights flashing. It was happening. THEY WILL go home. Green lines appear on the floor and every passenger chair follows it. The procedure is completely automated. The passengers are all confused. Helpless to stop it. The passengers glide in by the thousands. Form concentric circles over the closed-up pools. Fill the multi-storied balconies on all sides. Everyone was confused. Shay and Hunk arrive together at the Lindo Deck and notice a bot trying to calm a group of toddlers. The BNL LOGO on the floor rotates. A large cylindrical device rises from the stage...The ship's Holo-Detector. Jumbotrons activate on the dome, showing the wrestle between the captain and Lotor.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! This is your Captain speaking! We're having a slight malfunction with the Autopilot! Please remain calm!" The passengers get caught up in the conflict. Treat it as if it were a televised fight. Pidge, Lance, Shiro and Keith fly out of the the transport tunnel. Make a beeline for the holo-detector. Ready and waiting for the plant...almost there...But Lotor is now furious. A wheel comes down from the ceiling at his command and he spins it. He throws Allura to the floor and the entire ship tilts to the side. Pidge and Lance slam into the holo-detector's side. Lance drops the plant. It tumbles off the bridge plaza. She is forced to set Lance down.
"YOU GUYS HELP THE PEOPLE! I'M GOING AFTER THE PLANT! Lance will you-" He gives her a weak smile and leans against it's side. She starts flying as Shiro and Keith slide on the floor towards the people. The hover chairs stay locked on their lines. Passengers all slip off their chairs. Their uniform color defaults back to RED. Slowly slide across the deck. And for the first time...all of the alteans reach out to one another. Shay and Hunk both look at the toddlers now sliding.
"Be ready to have some kids, Hunk!" They both let go and join hands as they slide down. Pidge starts searching the giant pile of humans. Useless. An empty monorail car tips off the upper deck...lands on the pool level. It begins sliding down the Lido Deck. Smashes vacant hover chairs in its wake.
"LOOK OUT!" Shay yells to Pidge. Pidge's eyes widen. Shiro and Keith were trapped and couldn't help.
"PIDGE!!" They both call out. She grits her teeth together and puts her hands forward, stopping the fall. Lotor, on the bridge, switches the halo-detector. Lance gasps as he realizes it's falling. He kneels down and starts pulling it up. Pidge's eyes widen.
"LANCE!" The holo-detector button buzzes and flashes. Something's wrong. Lotor looks and frowns. He keeps pressing it but Lance keeps fighting it. Lotor presses it again. Nothing. He takes out a taser and electro-shock the button. Suddenly the weight was getting too heavy for Lance. He then slips and starts being crushed. Pidge screams. As Allura watches, she raises on both feet. The passengers collectively gasp. Their Captain is standing...and walking herself up the railing...towards Lotor! They cheer! Allura smirks as she makes her way towards the galran.
"Lotor? you are relieved of duty." She flicks his switch off and everyone cheers again. He turns the ship properly and Pidge pushes the monorail. She immediately flies towards Lance.
"LANCE! FUCK- SHIRO! KEITH! THE PLANT!" She says as she tries as hard as she can to help Lance, using her own strength.
"SHIRO! THE PLANT!" Keith repeats and the two nod and scatter. They keep searching, Keith using his sensors when he spots it. The plant!
"SHIRO! I'VE FOUND IT!" Shay looks at the plant and frowns with determination. She throws it to Hunk who throws it towards the human. Shiro catches it and flies towards Pidge. She takes the plant and shoves it in the detector with speed. The detector started lifting and Pidge pulled Lance out. God he was roughened up good. Her eyes widened.
"LANCE!" She knelt down and started searching all his wounds. She then tried to wake him up.
"LANCE! NO NO NO- LANCE!" Hunk and Shay gasped.
"Plant origin verified. Course set for Earth. Ten seconds to hyperjump." The alteans, who have never before been out of their virtual world, let alone stand AND witness grief from a human nonetheless were all taken aback.
"No..." Keith said, lowering his head. Shiro looked away. Pidge bit her lip as she tried to wake him up. He couldn't die- SHE WON'T LET HIM DIE!
"Oh, Lance..." Shay said, crying on Hunk's shoulder. The ceiling countdown hits "0:00." The ship jumps to light speed. The passengers and robots are thrown off their feet. Everyone holds on to one another. The Captain struggles to keep control of the steering wheel. Fights the G-forces. Humans, alteans and robots hang on for dear life. Pidge still wouldn't let go of Lance. The Axiom zooms through hyperspace. Finally, it lands on earth. The city-size starliner lowers gracefully from the sky. Pushes back the clouds to the horizon. The ship's keel descends into it. The earth shudders. Trash towers tumble in the distance. Then all it's quiet. The doors open and alteans, humans and robots step out But Pidge wasn't having any of that. She zoomed out the door and started scanning the area- Ok- OK! They were close to Lance's truck. She sees the small mouse and takes it, putting it on her shoulder. She then speeds towards Lance's truck.
"PIDGE!" Keith calls out after her. Shiro frowns.
"OF FUCK THIS! COME ON!" Shiro picks Keith up and, followed by the rejects, they all start going after the two. Allura respectfully lowers her hat. The interior of the truck was dark. She opened the door and didn't even wait until the door fully lowered. She zoomed inside at the speed of light and set Lance down, his back against some shelves. She scans the rotating shelves at high speed.
"Don't worry...I'll fix you, just hang on for me!" She pleads, more to herself since he was still unconscious. She starts searching and picking up bandages, a first aid kit, new pieces circuits and all she needed. Her hands were moving with precision, fixing Lance. God, she was pretty sure she'll cry. Her hands were a blur as they moved. She was done in record time and put her hand up, shooting the ceiling, letting light shine onto Lance's screen on his hand. She prayed. The rejects alongside Keith and Shiro saw the explosion and thought something bad happened. The sunlight beams down on the screen. Pidge watches...Waits..
...Beep...
...Beep...
And finally, it charged. He opens his eyes but he looks...Devoid of life.
"Lance..." Pidge says with satisfaction and puts her hand out for him. He stares blankly at her. He tries to leave but Pidge stops him.
"Lance! Come on..." Pidge says, unsure of what to do. He just stares at her.
"Come on...Kathlyn Holt? Katie Holt? Pidge?" She says, pointing to herself. Lance doesn't make a move. She searches for any type of reaction. Nothing...
"Look! A lightbulb! A rubik's cube! Come on...you remember these!" Pidge said, holding the light-bulb as it lit up between her fingers. She gives Lance the objects. He stares at them. Pidge waits patiently. But nothing...She then rushed and put on his tape. Only to turn around and see him try to make a cube out of his stuff.
"Wha-- No no no!" He was leaving the truck. His mouse tried to greet him on his way out. He almost stepped on him. The mouse gave a sad squeek. Pidge rushed to the door of the truck shaking her head in disbelief. That's not her Lance....That's just not him...She rushed outside to him as he was trying to make more trash cubes. She grabs him by the shoulders and turns him to her.
"Lance? LANCE! STOP IT- T-THIS ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" She hit his recorder and then...Static. She felt her heart drop. She shook him.
"Lance?! LANCE! LANCE PLEASE!!" He stared at her devoid of life. He's gone....Her Lance is gone...The dork that collected all these interesting things and had a pet mouse...the dork that followed her in space thanks to a stupid movie and....the dork she fell in love with....was gone...She stays in silence as she looks down. Water drops were hitting the ground. Was it raining...? No. Oh...She was crying...That's what it was. Pidge sighs and forces his fingers to intertwine with her. She hold him close one last time...She leans her fore-head against his chest and starts humming. The song of two lovers...But...it was a bit farfetched now to call them that, was it? After all...his memory has just been wiped clean...even his personality. She looks up at him with tears in her eyes and looks away.
"Goodbye...i guess..." She kisses him, a soft peak and then tries to leave. She checks his eyes again. Maybe...? No- what was this, a romance movie? As she tried to leave, suddenly something was pulling her back. Dumb feelings- No wait...This was brute force. Was that something squeezing her hand? She looks down at their hands and her eyes widen as he slowly starts locking their fingers together. What...? Lance started blinking...no...winking...wait- wait a second-
"Pidge...?" He asks as if just now he realized what was happening. He looked down at their hands. His brow raises then he blinks in surprise.
"HOLD THE PHONE- PIDGE- WHAT?!" He flushes and Pidge beams.
"YOU'RE ALIVE! YOU- YOU- OH MY GOD- YOU'RE OK!" She jumps in his arms and he chuckles twirling her around.
"Ahaha! So you REALLY WERE worried about me!" He says, hugging her tightly. She sniffled.
"P-Pidge, are you crying right now...?" he asks, a bit amused.
"N-No...Shut up!" He laughs and rests his head on her head. The "Hello Dolly" tape reaches the finale of IOTAM. Pidge and Lance look into each other's eyes as Lance had his arms around her waist and she had her arms around his neck. Keith, Shiro and the Rejects get to the truck. They were about to cheer when they realize the moment they dropped him.
"Heee-" Shiro was about to say. Keith covered his mouth and Coran shushed him. They all turned around and started leaving quickly. Lance looks at Pidge and smirks.
"Soooo does that meannnn~" He says wiggling his brows. Pidge rolls her eyes.
"Just shut up." She pulls him by his clothes, down to her and they share a passionate kiss. Shiro peeks from behind one of the boxes to snap a picture.
"SHIRO!" Keith says pulling him back.
And with that kiss a new era started. The era where alteans and humans would go back to living together peacefully on Earth...well...after they finish cleaning this whole mess up. But it also meant the start of a beautiful relationship between our two main characters.
"...That it only took a moment..."
"...To be loved a whole life long..."
~THE END~