Recovery
Chapter Three
Coran, Coran
Shakily swiping his access card through the scanner, the door seemed to open slower than it ever had before. With the gap finally big enough to go through, Coran beelined to the closest fractal he saw. Holding out his card for a similar scanner, he waits for access again, only to be taken aback by the error sounds that played. Anxiety built up quickly, he swiped his card over and over, only to hear that same grating sound again and again.
Frantically trying to bypass his sudden restriction, he didn't hear the heavy metal footsteps coming up behind him, only catching on when their shadows came up behind him and onto the metal door of the fractal. Gasping, he barely managed to whirl around before a wade-bot struck his head, rendering him unconscious, and powerless to stop the bots from dragging him back out the door he came through.
---
"Alright!" Pidge chirped, "We've got a few major developments to unveil for today's science briefing!"
"A question!~” Lance purred, “Is this the kind of science that can smash, burn, and or explode things?”
A beat passes before he dully responds, "yes"
"Eyes on Pidge cadets! This is the good stuff," Lance said, enthusiastically turning towards them,
"Hey! It's all good stuff!"
"No, no, no, of course, absolutely! Please, please continue"
Giving him an eye roll, Pidge displayed the lions on the holographic screens before the team,
"Hunk and I have been working to enhance the lions' combat capabilities with a round of pretty sweet upgrades! By tying each of our Voltcom powers into the lions themselves, we've been able to customize a weapon for each lion's tail!"
Presenting each lion in the order he goes, he lists off everyone's upgrades,
"In your case, Keith, a tail shocker for the black lion,"
Keith visibly gets more interested, eyeing the video of Black's tail with curiosity,
"For Allura, we've got a freeze ray in the blue lion, a precision laser for Lance and red,"
Both perk up at their lion's new abilities, Lance practically vibrating to the thought of finally getting his hands on it,
"Demolition tail for Hunk and yellow, and for me and green Boomer Blades!"
Hunk and Pidge look proud of themselves, having worked on the upgrades while trying to give black an edge, as her battery was still struggling to get past half. Daniel was getting impatient, so he finally spoke up,
"What about us?"
Confused, it took a few seconds before Pidge realized what he wanted,
"Oh! Since you guys haven't activated your voltcom yet, excluding Larmina of course, there's not really anything we can add from you guys"
Larmina took that as a compliment and looked proud of her achievement. Pouting, Daniel wasn't satisfied with his answer and upon seeing that, Pidge decided to give in a little,
"Look, we haven't even fully tested the-"
"I volunteer to test mine!" Lance cut in, "Now's good for me"
Pidge gave him a glare, but before he could respond, the wailing of the alarms stopped him in his tracks. Immediately he rushed to the control center, pulling up a video feed of the threat,
"We've got an incoming fractal! External castle defenses are already active, if you want to test the hardware, Lance, you probably need to hurry before-"
A beep from the comms catches their attention,
Lance comes up next to him, "What's going on, Pidge?"
"We've got a distress call?" he questions as he opens up the line,
"Coran!" Allura gasps,
Looking very weak, he barely controls the fractal, only being able to give a shaky groan,
The alarm wails on as everyone is in stunned silence at the sight ahead of them,
"Pidge the defenses!" Hunk yells before running up to try and stop them himself,
"Wh- Oh shit!" curses Pidge after zoning back in from his confusion,
But before they can stop the defenses, it shoots at the wing of the fractal, sending it into a spiral and crashing on the ground beside the castle.
-
Keith, Lance, and Larmina carefully carried Coran away from the wreck and gently set him down, while Allura made sure he was leaning on the castle for support,
"Easy, It's a miracle he even survived that crash, let's not kill him on the rescue," Lance told Larmina, who struggled to set him down gently, and stuck her tongue out in response,
"Lucky for you, the alliance built a pretty sturdy ship," Keith said, "We'll get you to medical for a full check-up, but I-"
Coran suddenly cuts him off, "No, you will take me to the control room, immediately,"
"Absolutely not! Debriefing can wait, your health is too important to risk it," Allura responded, face scrunched with worry,
"Princess, I'm afraid there are far more lives at stake here than my own. It's Wade," he sighed, "After your announcement, he took control of the alliance and is already preparing his next assault!"
Glancing between each other, they pulled him up once again, this time headed for the control room.
-
Everyone waited for Coran to begin as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat,
"His army is still small, but if we're to keep it that way, Wade's secret base on Tarvos must be destroyed. If not, he'll be able to create a force of his robotic soldiers so numerous, I fear Voltron itself may be powerless against it!" he explained
"Ha! I'd like to see that!" Daniel said sarcastically to Vince and Larmina,
The pilots all turned and gave him a judging look,
"Danny, not the time" Lance chastised,
Daniel shut his mouth, giving him a look of apology before Keith spoke up,
"All right, thanks to Coran's early warning, this should be a straightforward job"
"Good," Lance started, "Then I'd like to bring the cadets along, with the 9th looking like they're making a comeback, they could use a soft mission to get up to speed,"
Pidge cut in, "Actually, the cadets aren't the only ones who could use the training, it's been a while since we've worked as a team. We should take this opportunity to shake the rust off"
Keith nods, "Pidge is right, we go original lion force on this one. Since I've been inside Wade's base before, I'll take the lead,"
"Whoa, I know you're out of practice at this, Keith, but cutting off discussion isn't really a team thing." Lance butted in
"Then I guess that proves we need some team building" he responded, not giving him an inch,
"It proves that one of us does,"
Glaring at each other, neither made a sudden movement, until Allura sighed exasperatedly,
"What does bickering and having a stand-off like chihuahuas prove we need?"
Pidge and Hunk snicker at her apt metaphor,
"Team re-bonding it is," Lance relents,
Not liking the awkward tension that still lingered in the room, Daniel changed the topic to himself.
"Don't worry about us," he said confidently, "I'm sure we can find ways to keep busy!"
"Nice try, but I'd like the castle to still be here when we get back," Lance said, not liking the tone he had, "Coran's in charge, assuming he's feeling up to it?"
"I'm much better already, actually"
Proving it, Coran stood up, dusting off his clothing, Daniel groaned in disappointment, already dreading another boring day.
---
As the five lions landed on Tarvos, everyone was on edge, Coran's news at the back of their mind,
"Huh, it's way too quiet" Hunk said,
"Yeah, no reason to take chances" responded Pidge,
"No reason to be subtle either" Keith agreed, "Might as well make this team bonding official"
Knowing exactly what he meant, excitement rushed through everyone as they prepared for the words they wanted to hear, and say, after half a decade of planet arrest,
"Activate interlocks! Dyno-therms connected! Infra-cells up! Mega-thrusters are go! Let's go! Voltron Force!"
Running through instincts, the pilots let the feeling of electricity go through them after hearing their lion's roar of life,
"Form feet and legs!" Keith continued, "Form arms and body! And I'll form the head!"
Not even attempting to hide the mad smile he had on his face after forming Voltron again, he decided to have fun with the mission at hand,
"Let's shake off some rust!"
As if in agreement, the lions roared again. The team landed and immediately started to tear things apart. Crushing mounds in an attempt to find an entrance, the team didn't notice weapons being raised until they were fired at, as they tried to figure out where it came from, they were directly hit with a large laser blast,
"Guess it stopped being quiet!" Hunk complained, reeling back in from the sudden heavy hit,
"Either it's an automated defense system or they definitely know we're here!" Pidge responded
"So, it's got defenses," Keith started, "We'll just need a stronger offense,"
Feeling a rush of excitement, Lance and Pidge couldn't help but show their crazy smiles at his next words,
"Form blazing sword!"
Bringing red and green lion together with a show of light, the two pulled back, revealing a gigantic and legendary sword. Not wasting another second, Voltron cut down the laser that had just fired in half and any other defenses on their radar.
"Ah, hacking up a moon base with a sword," Lance said almost dreamily, "This is the stuff I missed!"
----
As Vince messed with his voltcom, Daniel laid on his bunk impatiently,
"Vince, come train with me!"
Vince looked at him suspiciously, "why? You know I'm not the fighter type, right?"
"Because we don't have our voltcoms activated, duh. Larmina got hers way earlier, and we still haven't gotten a solid training session in after the last mess that happened!"
Vince looked back at his open voltcom, it suddenly sparked, earning a silent gasp from him. Then he heard a voice,
"You are the key, you can help them all"
Finding it weird Vince hasn't responded back, Daniel jumps down and pokes him, snapping him out of his trance,
"Dude, you ok?"
"Huh? Yeah... Yeah, I'm good. You're right, let's go get these puppies activated" Vince said, as he closed up his voltcom, trying to ignore what he relegated to a hallucination from the recent sleepless nights.
"Alright! C'mon let's go, I'll race ya!" Daniel said excitedly before he rushed out the door,
Chasing after him, Vince immediately crashed into Daniel, who crashed into Coran,
"Coran! Oh snart, I'm so sorry I didn't expect to see you walking around yet!" Daniel hurried, wanting to make sure he didn't break the man who was doing surprisingly well after a plane crash,
"It's all right, but perhaps you boys should confine your rough-and-tumble games to your own room, the Gods know I've had enough injuries for one day" he responded,
"Absolutely-, Yeah, sorry-" Vince and Daniel say, overlapping each other.
They watch him turn down the corridor, before Daniel turns back to Vince,
"So, training room, right?"
"That's the plan"
"We could really use Larmina on this one, she knows how to fight like she's on the team's level! Think she'd be up for it?" Daniel asked,
"Definitely," said Larmina from above, before she dropped next to the boys,
"You know that's incredibly creepy, right?" Vince said, immediately not liking that she could hide like that,
"Creepy like a ninja! I'm always honing my stealthy stalking skills, gotta stay sharp!" she said proudly,
“Stalking us, are you? That desperate for cool friends, kinda sad really~" Daniel responded sarcastically,
She rolled eyes, "Just give me a minute to grab my Voltcom, if I'm going to train you, I'm going to do it right"
Vince stopped her, "Wait, what about those tunnels Keith went through last time. What're they doing there?"
"Tunnels!" Daniel said surprised, "I thought we were friends, man! You have to tell me about cool stuff like that!"
Ignoring him, Larmina explained, "On Arus, there are tunnels from the Zarkonian war where Arus's people hid, but specifically the castle tunnels lead to the underground catacombs"
"Like for your dead ancestors?" Vince asked wearily,
"Yup! I grew up in the castle, so I know them like the back of my hand, wanna explore them?" She asked with a taunting tone,
"Absolutely!" butted in Daniel,
"Dude, what about activating our voltcoms!" Vince said expectantly
"Later! The team won't be back for hours more anyway, so we've got time, let's go!"
Larmina rushed to the closest entrance, with Daniel not too far behind. Sighing, Vince ran to catch up to them, hoping they wouldn't get in too much trouble for going into sacred grounds.
---
Voltron continued to make his rounds on the lunar surface, when a strong and consistent rumbling caught the team's attention,
“Is this a quake??” Lance asked, “I didn’t know moons could get quakes,”
As soon as he said that, it subsided, but before they could go back to wrecking shop, Pidge piped up,
"Lunar quakes take the equivalent of an afternoon to finally start tapering off, something that short isn’t normal. Can we get into the air, I can start a scan while you guys pick off stuff from above,”
“You heard the man,” Keith said, leading Voltron into the air,
Pidge's eyes widened at his comment, being used to being called “kid” or “kiddo” by him still. Shaking it off, he began scanning the lunar surface and in the meantime joined in on the aiming practice the others were in the middle of. Not long after that, the scanner notified its completion, in the middle of Lance taunting Allura after getting one-uped by him,
"The lunar core is destabilizing!” Pidge shouted, “The entire moon will likely collapse on itself if left alone, how did this happen?!”
"We couldn't have done that much damage, not this quickly" Hunk replied with his own confusion,
"Unless you want to watch your dear friend's fate to be the same as this moon, I suggest not focusing on what caused the reaction" said Wade, patching in a video feed from the lions comms,
He turned away from what recorded him, only to turn on a screen behind him, showing Coran hanging from the ceiling by the waist, with his hands and feet bound.
"Coran!?" Allura calls out, confusion evident in her voice,
"Trapped in the belly of the base, you might say. If only there were some foolishly brave souls nearby to attempt a dangerous, possibly suicidal rescue!" Wade replied, mocking the team for their predicament,
"Wade," Keith hissed, "This was a set-up from the beginning, you wanted us here!"
"So, the great Commander Keith's sharp military wit is just figuring that out now?" Wade laughed, "You'll have to be quicker than that if you don't want Coran's demise on your hands"
When the comms were cut, the team had already made their decision,
"I don't know how much longer that moon has, Keith" Pidge said,
"We'll have to split up and go inside," Keith sighed, "We'll be walking right into Wade's trap, but I don't see any other option"
"Agreed, whatever's in there, I'm not abandoning Coran!" Allura stated firmly,
"Hey, you know I'm game for deadly danger, but I've got one question. How do we know that's the real Coran in there?" Lance asked,
Hunk continued, sounding more concerned, "Um, I've got another one. If that is the real Coran, who did we leave back at the castle?"
---
Trying to catch up, Daniel and Vince could only hear the echoes of Larmina's footprints as she went farther and farther into the catacombs,
"Hey, Larmina, slow down! We didn't all grow up in this place!" yelled Daniel,
"Thought you had 'a need for speed' Daniel!" laughed Larmina before crashing against something and falling back.
As she got up again, the boys finally caught up and ran straight into her, all of them falling over once more. Finally getting up, Larmina looked for what she ran into,
"Coran?" she said surprised,
"You shouldn't be down here, it isn't safe" Coran replied seriously, "I strongly suggest you return to the main castle, you have no business down here in the catacombs."
"O-of course! We're sorry, it'll never happen again," Vince stuttered,
Not having it, Daniel almost accusingly asked, "So, what's your business down here?" ,
"Daniel!" Vince chastised,
"You're crossing a line, cadet! Coran has earned the respect we give him." Larmina responded angrily,
"No, I'm honestly curious," he began, "A couple of hours ago, you were so weak you couldn't even stay conscious at the controls of a fractal, and now you're exploring the catacombs?"
Seeing his point, Vince looked back at Coran, "Yeah, it's a little weird,"
"True, but of course, there's a very simple explanation," Coran started,
Not bothering to finish his sentence, he knocked down the cadets and immediately tried to run away from them, but before he could, Larmina brought out her staff and tripped him. Barely faltering, Coran recovered quickly, suddenly unsheathing a sword from inside his sleeve and began to fight the red head. As they traded blows, Daniel joined in, trying to distract or land any hit on whoever the Coran really was. He struck Coran on the side, who then aimed for him before Larmina hit him again, this time making space between the three,
"Who are you, you freak?" she cried out,
“Larmina, darling, is that any way to speak to your dearest royal advisor?” the enemy Coran taunted,
Burning with anger, she yelled, "Don't you dare speak with his voice!"
With another jab at him, she hit his temple, and hears metal dropping onto the floor. Confused, she looks at him closer, only for him to whirl around and show the cybernetic insides under his fake skin. Larmina and Vince gasp, and all three cadets share a look of horror,
"Surprise!" he said, in response to their horrified looks,
The machine powered up and shot a laser at them. Not ducking in time with the other two, Vince crashes on the wall closest to him after being hit, slumping down, and going unconscious.
---
The lions walked through the winding corridors, trying to stick close together, weary of the trap they walked into,
"Oh, I can't reach the cadets. If we left them alone with one of Wade's twisted machines!" Allura said worriedly,
"They're tough kids, they can handle themselves in a fight. We've got our own Wade problems" Lance responded, trying to comfort both her and him,
After going deeper into the soon-to-crumble base, everyone began to uneasier than they were before, and with a ticking time bomb for a moon, it already was a lot.
Taking notice of small cameras spaced around the corridor, Hunk asked, "Anybody else feel like we're being stalked?"
"A well-chosen word, Tech Sergeant!" answered Wade, his voice slightly echoing around them,
"That's not on the monitors," Keith said, "Where is he?"
"This Den is mine, lions. You've entered my hunting grounds, and I can already smell my prey"
Upon hearing that, the pilots all get a disgusted expression. While some try to hide it, Lance doesn't even try to poker face through, what he thinks, is a role-play session gone horribly wrong.
Pidge, trying to focus on the danger ahead and not on whatever Wade's weird power kink had to do with them, shouts, "He's coming from the speakers! If the moon really is set to implode, then he's been controlling the base remotely this whole time!"
As if waiting for Pidge's cue, the internal weaponry activated. The floor opened to show circular saws coming at them full speed, making the lions back up and into laser fire from behind.
"Straight forward job, huh?" Snarked Lance,
Everyone began to destroy the surrounding weapons, Lance, Keith and Pidge knocking down exposed laser guns, while Hunk and Allura crush and freeze the saws in place respectively.
"Maintain constant contact! Wade has the element of surprise here, so we're going to have to watch each other's backs" ordered Keith,
"Sorry," Wade said with sarcastic remorse, "My hunt, my rules."
Suddenly, the walls opened up, metal claws grabbing red lion and pulling her through. Similar claws aim at yellow, with Hunk managing to jump out of the way quickly enough. While distracted by that, green and blue get entangled in wires, dragging them towards a chute. The lions roar, expressing dislike for their situation.
Finally testing out his tail upgrade, Pidge sliced his way out and gets far from its reach. Allura, still unable to get out, gets dragged closer into the chutes, audibly struggling. Keith moves in to help, but the floor under black gives in, almost taking him down another chute before he crawls his way back out. By the time he does, Keith catches a glimpse of the princess before she's pulled into the hole and shut out from the rest of them.
"Allura!" he called out,
Catching his breath, Hunk rhetorically asked, "Didn't this used to be easier?
---
As he woke up, Vince saw Larmina and Daniel still fighting the robot Coran. This time Daniel had his voltcom activated, wearing orange claws as he continued to fight hand to hand, trying to give Larmina time to land a strike.
"This is crazy! Who'd send a robot to kill us?" Daniel asked, trying to catch his breath mid-combat,
"Nobody, you thick-wit!" she responded in an annoyed tone, "He must have some other mission, and we're just in the way!"
After working up the courage, Vince let out a war-cry and tackled the robot onto the ground, only to be kicked off immediately after. As it gets back up, Daniel spots Vince behind him and signaled for him to stay there. Catching his plan, Vince braced himself as Daniel showed off another one of his voltcom abilities, super speed. He quickly pushed the bot back, tripping him over Vince and onto the floor once more. Suddenly, the voice from before floods Vince's mind again,
"You are the key, you can help them fight"
Shaking it off, he saw robot getting up, but before he could, Vince shouted,
"Hold him! I've got a plan!"
"Hold him?!" Daniel asked incredulously, "You call that a plan?!"
Complaining didn't stop him from doing what he was told, however, and the three pinned him down, Larmina and Daniel held on as tight as they could to let Vince work. Vince noticed his voltcom had an auxiliary cable of sorts built in, getting the others to help him flip the robot over, they saw a port on its nape, letting Vince pull the cord out and plug into it.
"Huh," Larmina said slightly surprised, "Weirdly lucky you could connect to him like that"
"The cord end is universal, so I took a chance and assumed he'd have some sort of port to plug into that worked with it" Vince answered, catching his breath,
Not liking the odds, Robo-Coran threw them all off him. Stopping Vince from getting all the information he needed, and getting ready to attack them once more,
Vince landed with an oof, before reading the information and warning the other two, who were already up and in a fighting stance again, "He's got some kind of bomb! If he plants it in the right detonation spot, he can bring down the whole castle!"
"What?" Larmina and Daniel both yelled,
They turned back to the pseudo Coran as if asking for confirmation,
"You heard the boy" he said simply,
Still being somewhat close to them, he jumped up and spun his legs outward like a fan blade. The cadets are pushed back with a yelp before hearing a scanner whirl,
"Tick tock" it said aloud before breaking down a wall and running off,
Following him with Larmina in tow, Daniel shouted, "Vince, come on!"
But before he could catch up, the voice echoed in his head,
"Only you can save them"
Vince gasped as an unfamiliar feeling washed over his body, unbeknownst to him, his eyes begin to crackle with visible cyan electricity, as he only saw his vision get washed out with the same color.
---
Attempting to crawl her way up, Allura strained and groaned, trying to get any grip she could on the wall in front of her. Feeling something give, blue swiped, creating an exit to crawl through. Being at the edge of the fire pit the cables dragged her to, they burnt up quickly at the ends, letting them slip into the escape hole and into a darker, dingier, hall. Allura, caught her breath and spotted a dark lion-like figure,
"Keith?" she called out,
"Not exactly," Wade responded,
Confused, she looked closer, seeing a rusted and janky looking lion, larger than hers and fitted with what looked to be machine guns on both sides,
(Kind of overkill), Allura thought to herself,
Not giving her any more time to do that, the sickly looking big cat attacked her, roaring to officially let his presence be known.
---
Black, green, and yellow sped down the halls, hoping to get to the lower levels of the facility. Assuming that was where red and blue ended up going,
"Pidge, can you get a fix on Lance or Allura's position?" Keith asked,
"I think planetary convulsions are wreaking havoc with longer-range comms, but I know they're both still moving" offered Pidge,
"Good, keep a tight formation. Don't let Wade pick off anyone else."
Rounding a turn, they're met with three ill-looking rusted lions. They didn't give the boys much time to react and immediately attacked,
"What are these things?" Hunk strained, trying to push the one on him back,
"I've seen them before," Keith responded as black swipes another copy, making room between the two, "Leftovers from Wade's experiments on the black lion. Pidge, your upgrades better be as good as advertised"
All three of them pushed the experiments close together, while green and yellow give black space, Keith reaches to activate her tail shocker. But before he can, a lunar quake rips a hole under them, sending black and the three copies plummeting into a dark room.
As they got up, the sickly experiments prepare to attack once more,
"Try it," Keith threatened,
They lunged towards him but are shot down from behind black lion. Setting down next to her, red confidently looked at black and Lance sighed with satisfaction,
"Guess I'm still pretty good at this teamwork thing"
Unnoticed, another experiment lunged at red from behind, but as Lance turned, Keith used black's tail shocker to take it down,
"Me too" Keith snarked back,
While resparking their playful rivalry, blue approaches after spotting them,
"Just like old times, right?" says Allura softly, reminiscing the memories the three had,
"Ah, teamwork is so touching," interrupts Wade, "But don't you have more urgent business? I don't think this base has much longer, and neither does Coran.
"I guess we're splitting up again," gritted Keith,
Turning to the princess, Lance asked, "You still okay, Allura?"
"I'm fine." she reassured, "Just worry about Coran"
---
Feeling a presence behind him, Vince turned around, and with cyan colored sight he saw a man standing next to him.
"Who are you?" Vince asked nervously,
"Seeing as you're in the catacombs, you may recognize my name, I am King Alfor" he responded simply,
Vince tensed up and could force out his voice. He always told himself ghosts weren't real, but that didn't stop the fear from being real instead,
"B-but, you're uh,,,, you're past your prime, aren't you?" he said, trying not to offend Princess Allura's late father, the man he believed started the entire Voltron legacy,
King Alfor laughed, "you don't have to beat around the shrub, child. Yes, I am quite dead, and your abilities let us commune."
The error in metaphor brings Vince back into reality and out of his spiral of fear. Now being able to think more clearly, dozens of questions buzz around his head. Noticing, Alfor decided to take it easy on him,
"I'm sure you're wondering how, why it's me speaking to you, and why I've been trying to get you to see me for the entire day today"
Immediately seizing the life ring Alfor tossed him, Vince nodded,
"I've been hearing your voice all day, what do you mean I'm 'the key', and why now?"
"I can't tell you everything, but you are the key to helping Voltron and helping the team grow stronger, and right now, you are the only one who can help your fellow cadets"
"Why, Why me?"
"Because you were born to do it"
---
Still chasing after the imposter Coran, he fired missiles, trying to deter Larmina and Daniel. Not having it, Daniel shot his projectile claws, taking out many and the two dodging the little that were left.
"I hate robots!" Larmina said, panting for more breath,
"Really?" Daniel questioned, "Because you know we're supposed to pilot a giant-"
"You know what I mean!"
---
"I was born to be part of this?" Vince asked,
"There is much to teach you, much power to unlock, but the danger in the castle won't let you continue down that path unless it is stopped. Go back to your team, I can help you save them" Alfor explained to him,
"I already know about the robot and his bomb. How can I-"
Alfor cut him off, "No, you misunderstand. The robot is the bomb"
---
The psuedo-Coran stopped and began to audibly scan the area. As they catch up, Larmina and Daniel stare in confusion,
"What is it doing?" she asked,
"I'm pretty sure something bad"
---
Running through a crumbling corridor, a beep from his scanner caught Keith's attention,
"If anyone can hear me, I have a visual on Coran and am inbound!" he reported,
"Negative, Keith," Lance responded, "I am already approaching"
Running towards Coran, they both spot another sickly experiment, also heading towards him,
"Ease back, Lance, I'm almost there" Keith warned,
"He's got a mutated lion on him, Keith. I need cover fire!" retorted Lance,
"Then fire away! I am right on him!"
Both boys sped up, and they watched as the rusted experiment practically reached Coran. The two reach the copy at the same time and split it in half. Before either of them can say a word, the quake dislodges parts of the roof, reminding the two of imminent doom as it crashed onto the lions.
---
Digging Coran out of the debris, Lance and Keith carried him closer to their lions,
"Almost there," Keith strained,
"Are you all right?" Lance asked,
Coran weakly tried to respond, "I'm fine. I was never Wade's target. You shouldn't have come for me."
"Nah, we're actually pretty spectacular rescuers" Lance replied, care evident in his voice, "or we would be, if some of us were as good at taking orders as we are at giving them!"
"When I tell you I'm closer, I mean-"
Interrupted by more crumbling and ever stronger rumblings from the lunar core, everyone stayed silent until it subsided,
"Right, trapped under debris. Inside a wrecked base. On a moon that's about to implode. You-and-me stuff can probably wait, huh?" Lance cracked,
---
When the scan completed, the pseudo Coran launched himself into the air, only to land back down hard, making a crater into the floor. Daniel prepared to fight him again, before the bot disintegrated its disguise,
"The robot is the bomb" muttered Larmina,
Realizing what it's planning, Daniel yelled, "He's getting ready to detonate! Go!"
At his signal, Larmina immediately went in to fight. Running towards the automated bomb, who sent out laser fire that she successfully dodged before a large orb of energy from shot out from his core. Using the end of her staff, Larmina set it off before it can do any damage.
While she was distracted, the bot sent out more missiles aiming directly for her. Daniel rushed in and redirected it to a wall where it detonated instead. The cadets and the robot had a stand off, once again got ready to attack.
---
"I... I don't understand," Vince stuttered, "This power you're talking about? All I'm getting so far are headaches and weird voices in my head that are actually from you. How is that supposed to stop a robotic Coran-bomb?"
"I can't lead you on this path. This journey is yours alone, but I can help you protect what's important" Alfor replied as he placed a hand on Vince's shoulder,
Gasping, Vince is once again flooded with the strange feeling and his eyes glow once more, finally realizing it's Alfor's presence guiding him,
"Whoa"
---
Feeling the strongest quake yet, Lance, Keith, and Coran prepare to scramble out of there,
"Looks like time's almost up" Lance noted,
Keith looked up, "I'll blast an opening in the rubble. If you time your jump right, you can slip out with Coran in your lion before the debris collapses back in"
"On you! Leaving you stuck in here when the moon rips apart!"
"You have any other ideas?"
"Same idea, except I shoot, you jump with Coran. My tail upgrade has a faster rate of fire!"
"Faster won't matter! My taser tail's got more raw power!"
The quake continued, only getting stronger and causing more destruction around the three,
"Argh! Are we really going to argue over who makes the noble sacrifice?" Lance said exasperatedly
"Only if you don't let me do it" Keith responded,
They glared at each other once again, neither of them backing down.Soon the rumbling stopped and ice took over the surrounding area. Surprised, Coran exhaled, watching his cloudy breath float away,
"What is-" Coran questioned before Lance cut him off,
"Allura!"
Busting through an ice wall, blue, green, and yellow lions walked through and towards the others,
"It's okay!" Pidge chirped, "We've got your back!"
"Eventually." Lance snarked, helping hold up Coran as they walked towards them,
---
Running out of time, and running through crumbling corridors, the lions sped through, trying to keep together, and looking for the nearest exit. Large pieces of debris crumbled and fell, some blocking their path but not stopping their stride. Jumping over and continuing their race against time, Lance destroyed a piece of roof aiming for green before it could hit her, she nods a silent thank you as they continued to run,
"You're not going to make it, lions! I can feel Tarvos cracking!" Wade taunted through the curiously still working audio system,
Coming across a bridge, it collapses in on itself right before they cross half way, quickly they all jump across anyway, using their boosters for extra help. As the doorway in front of them begins to collapse into itself, blue quickly freezes it and bursts through to make an opening for the others behind her. The base continued to get more and more unstable as the roof heavily rained down on them. Yellow, red, and green, all used their tail upgrade to clear the biggest boulders out before it hit any of them.
Finally seeing an exit, Keith slowed down, letting the other lions jump through before he did, making sure everyone is ok. Finally jumping out a large boulder smacked into black lion, sending them falling back into the lunar base. Yellow rushed right back in for them, activating the demolition tail and turning back around to give them something to grab,
"Keith!" he yelled, "Hang on, buddy!"
Black bit onto the tail and lets himself be dragged out, far into space, where the team watch Tarvos crumble into itself and imploding before them. Taking time to calm down, Keith finally spoke up,
"So, team bonding"
"Yeah," Lance said, "That felt good"
"You were right, Lance. It was a spectacular rescue," Coran chimed in, "but how did you know I was in there?"
Reality crashed back on her, "We have to get back to the castle!"
---
Larmina and Daniel rushed the bot in separate directions. Daniel blocked laser fire before getting close in an attempt to hit him, but the pseudo Coran lands a blow first, knocking him away and back onto the ground. Larmina took the chance to try and hit him from behind, only to be blocked by a force shield, then grabbed and thrown towards Daniel,
"We can't stop it!" Daniel said worriedly,
Sensing a new presence, the robot turned around, spotting Vince in the doorway staring him down,
"Vince?" Daniel cried out in surprise, "Where have you been?""
Ignoring him, Vince recalled what King Alfor had been repeating the entire day, "Only I can save them,"
Taking one final look at the bomb, Vince realized it was going to detonate in the next few moments. Seeing the same thing, Daniel yelled a warning,
"We have to take cover!" but seeing Vince ignore it, he called out to him again, "Vince!"
Not acknowledging Daniel, the unfamiliar feeling took over, this time Vince was fully aware. He didn't hear Alfor’s voice anymore, but almost instinctively knew what the plan was. Letting himself be guided, his arm moves, pulling loose cinder blocks from the walls and setting them around the robot, with a visible connection of telepathy. Eventually, all the blocks have been placed, covering the thing entirely.
Daniel and Larmina rushed over, starstruck over what they saw. Then a rapid beeping is heard and Daniel, with split-second thinking, pulled the other two down and behind him,
"Down!"
A moment later, the bomb exploded, contained within the cover Vince had built. Everyone heavily sighed with relief, catching their breaths and trying to calm down from what just happened,
"Vince? Buddy?" Daniel said,
"What did you do?" Larmina asked, heavily confused,
"I'm not sure." he admitted, "But it was awesome!"
"As long as you're feeling alright man," Daniel said, relief evident in his tone
Noticing how shaken the two are, Vince tried to change the subject,
"Hey, we got that training at least!" he pointed out, "Those claws of yours are way past cool!"
Daniel brought them out again, this time giving them a thorough look-see, "Right? I think they're kinda funny looking, though, rawr"
As Daniel motioned his hands as if he was scratching towards the wall, his claws suddenly launched and stabbed into it. In stunned silence, the three look at where they landed, only for Daniel to be dragged and slammed faced first straight into the wall.
"Daniel!" Larmina and Vince yelled,
"I'm ok!" he replied, peeling himself away from the wall, "Mayyyyybe we should go up now, I've had enough catacombs for a week"
"Yeah, alright- I'm so down for that-" the others said overlapping each other,
Larmina pulled Daniel up, but before leaving he picks up the decapitated psuedo Coran head, grossing out the other two and chased them through the halls, back into the castle again.
----
Back at the castle, Lance and Allura stood next to Coran, who was in med bay laying down after being examined for injuries from Wade. The princess held his hand, reassuring herself that he was ok and safe,
"Coran, did you know anything about what Wade planned here?" Lance asked, "You said you weren't his target, but we didn't do enough damage to Tarvos to make it implode like that. He still went after you,"
"All I can really recall is trying to escape for Arus after the attack, but my access to a fractal was denied and one of his personal robot guards knocked me out" Coran explained, "The next thing I knew, I was tied up in the secret moon base. Wade did monologue at me however, he basically said he had an extra plan if the one with me didn't go through"
Gripping his hand tighter, Allura didn't like the sound of it at all. When they finally made it back to the castle, she was about to search every nook and cranny for any sign of the cadets. But before she could, Lance convinced her to take Coran to med bay, and the other boys agreed. So they both took him while the rest searched for the cadets.
As if sensing her worries, the door to Coran's room opened, and the rest of the team filed in. Lance took notice of the robot head in Daniel's hand, a shot him a questioning look,
"We got to have a mission after all!" Daniel said excitedly, lifting the decapitated head up above him, so everyone got a good view,
Coran cringed, "My... That's... unsettling"
Trying to distract himself, Coran sat up and held his hand out towards the two boys,
"Hello! I don't think we've been properly introduced"
"Yeah, nice to meet... uh... the you, you" Vince nervously laughed as Daniel shook Coran's hand,
"So I'm guessing you boys got to activate your voltcoms after all, huh!" Lance said,
"Oh yeah!" Daniel exclaimed as he activated his voltcom, "these things are so cool! I even got super speed because of them!"
Not hiding the almost evil look in his eyes, Pidge said, "Suddenly I have a great idea for an addition to your voltcom"
Keith stopped him in his tracks, "No, you cannot make Daniel’s voltcom play Running In The 90s every time he activates his super speed"
Pidge groaned in disappointment and Hunk nudged Keith with an equally disappointed look on his face,
Allura giggled, "What about you, Vince? Did you get a chance to activate yours?"
"I completely forgot actually" he replied, finally turning over his voltcom and activating it,
Suddenly, his voltcom sparked and was left fries, surprising everyone in the room. Pidge moved over to Vince, taking off his voltcom,
"I wonder what happened," Pidge said, “whether you fought, we should've gotten some response from the voltcom, not... this"
"Well today has been a weird day, I'm not surprised our near-death experience fried it" Larmina added, trying to see if it helped at all,
"At any rate," Coran said, "It's refreshing to see the castle is well protected while the pilots are gone"
Pidge tried to hide his sudden tensing from what Coran just said. The pilots all glanced at him and then at each other, Larmina saw it too and decided to switch topics,
"Well, I think you should worry about yourself, Coran! You were literally strung up from the ceiling and even circled by mutant lion mechs at one point!"
That made the air in the room change, now the pilots and Coran were stuck on what she said,
"Larmina," Allura began, "How did you know that? You weren't even with us when we found that out"
Vince pulled out his phone and opens up a video that began to silently autoplay,
"After pseudo Coran was done and dealt with, we still didn't know when you guys would come back. So we started passing time online and that's when we found this,"
Still inaudible, the clip played on. A newscaster shows footage of the team wreaking the moon base, it didn't take a genius to know that their body language only conveyed a negative story. All the pilots piped up with question after question,
"How did Wade get his hands on this?!"
"Was he planning this from the start?!"
"It got out so quick, what is he trying to do??"
The energy in the room was getting too frantic for Daniel's taste, so he slammed the robot's head on a nearby table to catch their attention,
"No offense," Daniel prefaced, "But after the princesses' whole speech about going against the Alliance for Voltron, I'm only surprised something like this wasn't released sooner!"
Seeing looks range from questioning to 'This is not the time kid', Daniel spoke up again,
"I'm saying this because if you didn't have a negative public image before, you so do now. I'm not embarrassed to admit I'm a fan of you guys and because of that I can tell you when people have the right motivation, absolutely anything can happen"
Coran sighed, "He's correct, Wade is a politician first and foremost, he is trying to ruin your public image to gain more support. If he plays his cards right, he won't have to listen to Alliance code or the other leaders! He can shut Voltron down again and this time take you all with it as well"
Vince was still letting the video play, and the pilots shared weary glances between each other. Soon Wade himself began to speak and nobody needed to hear the audio to know what agenda he was trying to push.
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