Entangled Escape
“Ok, Shiro” Pidge started suspiciously, “Promise me you won’t over react?” Pidge asked cautiously. Shiro nodded, “I’m not much of an over reactor but ok. What’s up?” Shiro asked genuinely. “Ta-da- '' Pidge said sheepishly, directing everyone's attention to the door to the bridge with their hands. “Hey guys how- Shiro…” Matt stopped frozen in the door, “Captain…” The words felt odd as they fell off Matt’s tongue. He hadn’t called Shiro 'captain’ since they had been captured by the Galra. “Matt…” Shiro’s voice was weak and barely louder than a whisper, Shiro discarded Matt's hand that was held out for a handshake and brought him into a tight hug. Shiro almost cried in the younger boy's arms, “I’m so sorry for what I did. I-i just wanted to protect you and it was the only thing I could think of. I-i just i-.” Shiro stuttered on his profuse apology. Matt laughed, it was a loud ugly laugh. Sorry Matt. “It's ok Shiro, it really is. I know why you did it, and honestly if you didn’t injure me. I wouldn’t have found the rebel group and so Pidge wouldn’t have been able to find me.” Matt smiled kindly. “You-” Shiro pointed a stern finger at Matt’s face. “You… are too kind for this world. Just like Hunk is.” Pidge snorted out a laugh at Shiro’s statement. “No he’s not. He’s just a fucking dweeb.” Pidge laughed. “Language!” Matt and Shiro scolded at the same time, this caused them to burst into laughter. They had instantly clicked upon meeting again after 3 years, they returned to the same dad joke telling nerdy friends they had once been before. Despite there being at least a 3 year age gap between the two they had just clicked when they met. It was probably their dorky humour.
“Ok so what now?” Keith asked blankly. “We find my dad.” Matt addressed the group, “With all due respect. Matt, was it? I do not believe it is appropriate for you to be making decisions on behalf of us.” Allura interjected, frustration hinting at her voice. “Matt’s right. We need to find him, he's a very smart person and might be able to help us get back to earth.” Pidge said as they moved to stand next to their brother. “Pidge and Matt are right. When I worked with Matt and their father he was a genius. If we can find him we could probably find a way to get rid of Zarkon and get back to earth.” Shiro placed a gentle hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Rightio! It sounds like we need a plan, anyone have any ideas.” Coran interjected excitedly with his ridiculously eccentric accent. There was a pause. “I have an idea.” Pidge pushed their glasses up the ridge of their nose, “Matt you have intelligence from the rebel groups, right?” Matt nodded, “Then we should start by cross referencing the intelligence we have and then we can double modulate and colour code it.” Pidge sat in their respective chairs on the bridge and brought up the holographic computer. “Because I mean what are we? Animals?” Matt said that at the same time as Pidge. They laughed, even being separated from each other for 4 years they still had their sibling humour. Hunk sighed, now Matt was taking Pidge’s side on how they should modulate the data. “Ok, so it looks like if we cross reference our intel, the blades intel and the rebel groups intel we get this…” Pidge had accessed the data on the usb drive Matt had made before they left his secret hideout and added to their current intel. A large mind map appeared. “Woah.” Lance stood eyes wide, mouth hanging open. Keith snickered at Lance's face, he looked like one of those carnival game clowns but slightly more human like.
“It looks like a lot of the information is similar but there is also a bunch more stuff we didn’t even know about.” Shiro observed the mind map with a critical eye. “What’s this?” the tapped a small base a few lightyears away from Zarkons main base, the mind map changed to a close up view of the base. “That is where my father is. Or well I assume that’s where he is.” Matt said as he took a step closer and zoomed in even closer on the base. “From the intelligence I have received, this is a prison that holds geniuses. They are being forced to create weapons that can suck the quintessence from planets almost instantly as well as a mega weapon that could get rid of Voltron. Once and for all.” Matt fell silent. “It’s ok, we'll get Sam back. That’s a promise.” Shiro spoke gently. “It better be.” Pidge laughed. “Pidge!” Matt turned to his younger sibling in shock. “What? I didn’t even swear.” Pidge shrugged their shoulders innocently. “That’s not the point! You need to at least try and respect your elders.” Matt scolded, “Ouch, way to make me feel young.” Shiro teased. “Well actually, Allura and myself are the oldest by far. We were stuck in cryo pods for 10,000 years after all.” Coran interjected happily and unaware of Shiro’s sarcasm. “It’s ok Matt, they respect me when they need to. Plus we wouldn’t have been able to do half of what we’ve done without Pidge. Or Hunk, or Keith. Or Coran and the princess.” Shiro spoke proudly. Lance noticed that no one was aware of his presence so heretreated out of the bridge swiftly, nobody noticed him leaving. “Fine, as long as you don’t bully anyone.” Matt gave up. “I don’t.” Pidge said happily, “Most of the time” They whispered to themselves.
“Ok, so do we know anything about this base?” Keith moved forward. “Yes, these droids around the base are actually sensors. They all connect and create an invisible shield, if something passes through it sends out an alarm. Fighter jets will be released and attack you, and even if you deactivate the shield they have cameras on the sensors.” Matt zoomed in closer, “And the base is completely run by centuries, so if we can disable them it shouldn’t be too difficult.” Matt said with a sense of determination. “We should go to the green lion. I was tinkering with her the other day and I managed to get a cloaking feature that turns the entire lion invisible. But it only lasts for 30 ticks.” Pidge said
absentmindedly. “But what if you need backup?” Hunk asked. “Well, I think I can hack everything from the green lion and sneak in. I’ll take Matt with me but we’ll probably need someone else to come with. Just to keep an extra eye out. You know?” Pidge turned to Shiro. “Take Lance.” Keith spoke. “What? Why would we send Lance?” Shiro questioned a little too harshly. “He’s extremely experienced with his bayard. He’s also got a keen eye because he has to attack people from a distance. Plus he’s creepily quiet when he wants to be. I say he’s probably the best for a mission like this.” Keith said plainly, he didn’t know what urged him to say it. However he did believe every work he said, especially about Lance being creepily quiet sometimes. “It’s true, he is very sneaky sometimes.” Hunk smiled as he remembered his life back on earth, “His sneaky-ness is kind of the reason we are all in space right now… I remember playing hide and seek with him and his nieces. We had to give up after an hour because we couldn't find him.” Hunk spoke fondly, he missed playing stupid games with Lance's family. He missed his own family. He missed everything about earth. “Lance? Are you up for it?” Pidge asked and turned to face Lance, but he wasn’t there. “Ugh, he can’t just pay attention for 20 minutes can he?” Shiro complained, “Calm down Shiro, he’s probably still recovering from his injury and his mission. Seeing wounds like he did really isn’t easy, I'm sure you’d understand. Right?” Keith subtly motioned to Shiro’s prosthetic. “Ok, yeah- It is hard, just make sure he understands the mission we will be doing within the next two days or so.” Shiro dismissed Keith.
Keith found himself walking to the training deck, he wasn’t sure why though. Maybe he was hoping he would be able to hug and comfort Lance. Probably not, that's just weird. As Keith got closer he could hear drones and droids alike falling to the ground with loud thuds. Keith looked at his hand as he placed it on the entry pad, once he looked up he froze. A gun was pointed directly towards him, Lance hadn’t heard him enter last night but he definitely heard him today. Lance relaxed slightly, Keith went to alert him of the incoming droid but Lance swiftly and smoothly turned and shot the droid down with ease. “Stop the training sequence.” Lance huffed out in exhaustion, Keith walked in and handed Lance his space water that was sitting on the outside of the training platform. “Thanks, mullet.” Keith scoffed at the repetitive nickname. “Why did you leave?” Keith asked as he sank to the floor beside Lance who let out a confused noise. “The meeting to discuss the plan. Why’d you leave and when?” Lance tried to hide that he choked on his water before responding. Lance sighed loudly and fell to lie on his back. “Right about when Coran said he was the oldest by about 10,000 years. Plus I wasn’t needed in the meeting, I never am.” Lance played off his disappointment as understanding. “Well, you're wrong. Everyone is needed. Plus if we’re going to get Pidge’s dad back, you are the only other paladin going on the mission.” Lance shot up into a seated position. Keith explained the mission and all the details, eventually taking Lance back to the bridge to show him the details of the base.
— — — —
“Lance, Pidge, Matt. Are you guys ready?” Shiro asked as Pidge put their helmet on and Lance looked over his bayard. “I guess as ready as we’ll ever be.” Pidge let out an anxious sigh, “Hey, Pidge.” Lance had walked over to Pidge, “We’ll get him back. I know we will, and I'll do anything I can to make that true.” Lance was kind, gentle, and reassuring. Even to Matt who didn’t really know who Lance was, Pidge laughed quietly. “When did you stop being cocky and start being sentimental?” Pidge teased, “Look, I know I'm the lazy goofball of the team but I want to help. I would give anything to see my sister again, to see my family again. I’m sure anyone on this ship would agree with me, so I'm going to do everything I can to see you reunite with your family.” Pidge hugged Lance loosely, “Thanks. Now Let’s get going.” Pidge smiled and led Lance and their brother into the green lion. "So- Lance… you have a sister huh?" Matt toyed, "yeah! Three actually, my twin Veronica. And one who's 14 and one who's turning 10 this year." Lance said proudly, "And I've got 2 brothers as well." Lance turned to Matt with a smile. Lance had never actually met Pidge's brother but even the slightest glance he could see the uncanny resemblance. "Oh, nice. Your twin, is she single?" Matt asked, faking the innocence behind the question. "OH HO NO! Absolutely not! You are not getting with my sister when we get back to Earth!" Lance yelled defensively, "Pidge, tell your brother my sisters are off limits!" Lance whined and gently shook Pidge by their shoulders. "Matt, don't go after Lance's sisters. I don't want to be siblings with him." Pidge didn't look away from the window as they spoke, Lance faked an offended gasp as placed a hand on his chest to add more exaggeration. Matt laughed and the playfulness of Lance and Pidge, he wasn't going to lie he was proud of Pidge for making friends.
"Ok, you guys are approaching the barrier. Proceed with caution and get ready to put the cloaking on." Shiro spoke from the castle intercoms, "Lance take us in slowly." Pidge instructed from their computer, Lance and Pidge had swapped so Lance was piloting. Obviously with permission from the green lion. So now Pidge was at their computer with their brother hacking the sensors and cameras. "Activating the cloak now, we have 30 ticks before it turns off" Pidge spoke from their computer and Lance sped up slightly so they could get to the base before the cloaking wore off. "Lance? Matt? You guys ready?" Pidge asked as they stood at the mouth of the green lion, Lance nodded but Matt stayed silent. "Hey man. Trust us, we'll get you dad back. And! Pidge is gonna' prove how quiznaking awesome they are." Lance placed a gentle reassuring hand on Matt's shoulder, Matt let out a small relieved laugh. "Alright, let's go then." Matt was the first to step out of the lion. Lance walked slightly ahead of Pidge and Matt, his gun at the ready. Lance was in the zone, he noticed even the slightest of changes or noises. "Get down!" Lance whispered loudly as he shoved Matt and Pidge behind two large boxes, "What are you doing Lance! You're wasting time!" Pidge whispered furiously. "No, I'm saving your life. Look." Lance pointed to the hallway around the corner, it appeared empty. That was until four Galran soldiers marched past them, "What?" Lance turned to see a shocked Pidge. "But how did you know? My scanner didn't pick up their signal." Pidge tapped quickly as the small screen projected from their armour. "Only the centuries show up on your scanner, for the most part. Sometimes actual Galran soldiers show up, but not often." Lance responded without looking back at the siblings behind him,
Lance carefully snuck behind the soldiers and attacked them from behind.
One headshot, one in the chest. A hit against his own arm. The third soldier got the hilt of Lance's Bayard slammed into his face, "Where is he!" Pidge yelled as they managed to tackle the last standing soldier and held their taser Bayard against his neck. "Holy shit sis!" Matt whispered from shock. "I- what- who?" The soldiers panicked. "My father! Samuel Holt! Where is he!?" Pidge was yelling and almost at the point of tears. "I- i- I don't know! Please! Don't hurt me! I- I'll take you to the prisoners. Just please don't hurt me!" The soldier pleaded frantically. "Move, quickly." Pidge slowly allowed the soldier to stand and lead them into a small room that was occupied with at least 20 other Galran soldiers. “¡Mierda! ¡Los Bastardos nos engañaron! (Shit! The Bastards tricked us!)” Lance practically growled in anger, “What do we-'' Matt started to yell but was stopped by an oncoming attacker, Matt swung his metal staff harshly towards the head of a Galran centurie. Clang and bang. “Ahah oh my god.” Matt laughed loudly when the head of the robot soldier hit the floor, “Matt! Pidge! Over there.” Lance called out and pointed to a door that held a sign. ‘Development Room, Keep Door Locked’. “Dad…” Matt whispered as he looked at Pidge. They both ran towards the door, only fighting if they absolutely had to. “Dam it! It’s locked!” Matt yelled in frustration. Matt punched the metal door with such force he could’ve easily broken some bones had he punched slightly wrong, he let out a loud frustrated groan. “Ugh! Go away already!” Lance complained as he punched one soldier and elbowed another. Lance took a small glance towards the Holt siblings to find them struggling with the door. Breath. Focus. Aim. Shoot. Pidge squealed loudly when an energy beam shot and melted the lock on the metal door. “Hurry up Pidge! I’ll get them off your back while you find your dad.” Lance called out from the furthest side of the room where he had taken the shot from, Pidge didn’t argue. “How the hell did he do that!” Matt asked as he ran into the development room. “I don’t know. He’s kinda just always the sniper / long range gun-man.” Pidge shrugged, they were too focused on the task at hand. Although they did admit it was a brilliant shot, especially considering there was a soldier about to attack him.
Lance cheered himself on, that shot was amazing. “Oh no.” Lance’s excitement quickly fell as he saw an unarmed soldier begin a physical attack on Lance, “This is really bad, like really, really bad.” Lance whispered to himself as he was slowly getting cornered. Lance had no space to line up his Bayard for a shot, he was becoming weak. He had been nicked by several shots from the soldiers while trying to get an opportunity to shoot the lock in the door and now he had no room to shoot. The physical attacks were starting to get painful. I mean Keith's punches during sparring matches were harder so it wasn't too bad but the repetitiveness of the punches began to grow in pain. “no no no. No puedo morir de nuevo. Te lo prometí, Verónica, voy a cumplir esa promesa. Por favour creeme (no no no. I can't die again. I promised you, Veronica, I'm going to keep that promise. Please believe me)” Lance took a deep breath and raised his bayard to aim, just as Lance was about to shoot his bayard morphed. Lance’s slim snipper-like bayard shifted to a large broadsword, noticing the drastic change Lance only had a split second to react and so he swung his sword with no aim or much power. Surprisingly the panicked and weak swing knocked the attacker far enough for Lance to run into some space. Lance squealed as he ran into the open space, when he was away from the flock of Galran soldiers he adjusted his stance and grip on the broadsword. Lance took a deep breath and waited for the soldiers to approach him. Lance had managed to disarm most of the soldiers of their blasters and so the majority of the Galrans had no weapons. Lance had no official training with a sword but he used to play with a plastic pipe offcut when he was back on earth. How different could it be, right? "Ahh!" Lance screamed as he felt a harsh, blunt force crash into his back. "Blood!" Lance squealed, the force of the metal bar hitting Lance's back caused him to cough up blood. "Oh! Come on! Do you guys ever stop?" Lance complained loudly to himself as he slowly stood, "All Galrans start training as younglings to give us proper skills and training to fight Voltron." The soldier retorted robotically, despite not being a robot. "Ok, let's just get this over with." Lance rolled his eyes and took his fighting stance once more, without hesitation the soldier took an uncalculated swing at Lance's torso. As soon as Lance saw movement he responded by manoeuvring his arms to swing the sword to his unprotected side of his body. The movement resulted in his sword pointing down to block the blow. The soldier recalled quickly trying not to get stuck by Lance's Bayard.
"Lance, we need to go!" Pidge yelled as they emerged from the hallway they had entered about 10 minutes ago. "Yup! Couldn't agree more." Lance dropped to the floor and swiped the soldier he was fitting off his feet with his leg, the soldier was winded and struggled to stand. "Ok. Run!" Lance called out after plunging his sword into the chest of the winded soldier. Matt, Pidge, Lance and an older male ran frantically through the corridors back to the green lion. Lance allowed the others ahead of him so he would be able to get rid of any incoming attackers. "Allura, we are about to get to my lion. Start preparing a wormhole." Pidge said as they climbed into the jaw of their lion, Matt hoisted his father up and Pidge pulled him the rest of the way. Matt jumped in the jaw and looked back to help Lance. "What are you doing? Lance, we need to go!" Matt called out. "I-i I'm going to pass out…" Lance almost whispered before landing one last shot against a control panel that stopped any soldiers getting to the fighter jets. Matt barely heard Lance before he collapsed against the cool metal of the base. "Come on-" Matt whispered as he managed to lift Lance onto his back and climb into the green lion's jaw just before Pidge flew off.