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creative-frequency · 6 years ago

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Connor|RK800 x Reader: Ocularity Ch. 12

Word count: 1999 Warnings/Categories: Eventual mature content, romance, friendship, fluff, light angst, explicit language, uncle Hank

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November 3rd 09:36 AM

Raid on CyberLife warehouse – police believe the suspects are deviants

Chiara Hale | Tuesday 2 November 22:35 | 235 shares

A group of robbers broke into the CyberLife warehouse sometime in the evening today in Delray. The value of the stolen property is estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars. One of the warehouse’s security guard androids also went missing during the events of the robbery.

The suspects are deviant androids or are affiliated with an organized group of deviants. The police are currently investigating the crime and would not comment until more details are discovered.

– We saw nothing out of the ordinary and then count the trucks to see one is missing, the security guards of the warehouse say.

– No one got hurt, but we could just be lucky.

The GPS tracking system of the stolen truck was disabled as soon as it left the property.

An increasing number of cases involving androids are reported to the DPD every day. Statistics show these android cases have notched up the overall crime rate of the city for over seven percent during the past six months.

Read more on organized android crime

Could your android be a deviant?

7 Things your android does without your knowledge

––

“Doctor, there’s a visitor for you.”

You rub your temples and stare at the communication device on the desk. The lobby secretary android is waiting for an answer. You’ll only need one wild guess to know who wants to meet you. As much as you enjoy admiring his beautiful features, right now his is the last face on Earth you wish to see.

You close the trashy article open on your work terminal and let out a silent sigh before pressing the button.

“I’m free now. Send them up.”

A quick elevator ride later, the brown-eyed android tilts his head slightly, hands resting on his sides and looking completely innocent. Something about predators and their prey crosses your mind, but the thought has to step aside for the basic instincts.

Fight or flight. On the previous day you had enough adrenaline in your system to stand your ground. Now you want to run. A rematch will be a sore loss for you.

“I came because I was worried about you,” Connor says matter-of-factly.

“Yes, you keep saying that but there is no need.”

You turn away to hide your puffy, reddened eyes. There is no universe in which Connor wouldn’t notice such obvious physical signals of distress.

A faint glimmer of hope shined from the news cast on the previous evening and you suspect that is one of the reasons why Connor comes to see you right after you practically threw him out of your home.

A truckload full of biocomponents and Thirium was reported stolen late on the previous night. It dried your tears instantly but the damage to your next day look was already done. You want to believe so much that Markus was behind it. Somehow you can feel it.

Connor waits for you to continue speaking. His sharp gaze is all over you, measuring and examining. Scenarios are running rampant inside his mind palace. The one he likes the most is the one where Detective Reed tells you to never contact him again. Seasoned with a couple of the Detective’s favorite swear words.

“Did you need something?” you ask in a rather unfriendly tone. You’re still not looking at the android.

Connor paces forward until he is standing right in front of your desk.

“How are you, Doctor?” he asks, taking you by surprise.

You pause before replying and try to reprogram yourself into a more friendly approach.

“Honestly? I still feel terrible about Liara but everything is fine. You don’t have to worry so much about me.”

The explanation is poor and weak but hopefully the reluctant aura your every cell is emitting is enough to make Connor leave as soon as possible.

“You know something, don’t you?” he utters quietly.

As morbid as it sounds, Connor wishes he could probe human memory or have any way of prying the answers out of you. Your pulse is faster than it should be. You’re avoiding his gaze and constantly trying to find something else to focus on. He sees you’re lying when you convince him there is nothing wrong and he shouldn’t worry about you.

It makes Connor uncomfortable to confront you when you look so upset already, but he has to do it.

“Know something? Concerning… what?” you ask.

“My investigation,” he says patiently.

Call it a hunch or what you like, but to move the investigation forward, Connor has to take that gut feeling into consideration. In ones and zeroes it’s a mysterious clutter of unsolved symbols. It’s impossible to invent the formula without all the unknown factors, no matter how many simulations or operations he runs inside his mind palace.

And the image of Detective Reed courting you is still messing with his computations.

Would you talk to him? Connor wonders inside his mind palace, though he knows Reed has nothing to do with your avoiding replies.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” you remark.

If only there was a way to summon an escape. Like a convenient fire alarm to force an emergency exit. The back of your neck is tingling unpleasantly and your pulse has kept growing ever since the android stepped into the room. You’re prey just waiting to be caught in the predator’s claws.

Connor fixates a look on you, trying to reach your gaze. A line appears between his brows when you only stare at the terminal on your desk as hard as you can. He waits a few moments before slowly planting his palms on your desk.

“Doctor, the truth is I don’t need your permission to do my mission. I have the authority of the Detroit Police Department–”

You jump ahead of him. “Leave uncle Hank out of this.”

Connor frowns at the sight of your puffed eyes. “It’s the duty of us both to look after you.”

“I’m a grown up, I don’t want you looking after me,” you say and avert your gaze again. Why does he have to be so close?

The words fall harshly inside the silent office. Connor’s frown deepens, his brows creep together again in confusion.

You look so fragile to him, like a sculpture of made of glass, about to fall down and break. No matter what logic dictates, what he thinks you’re feeling, he can only come to the conclusion that trying to figure you out will only frustrate him. As the silence lingers, his thoughts wander. And he thinks about the glass statue metaphor that suddenly stops making sense.

He knows you’re soft. So soft compared to his exoskeleton that is designed to optimize speed and endurance. His softness is a changeable concept that depends on the target of comparison.

As for your fragility, he knows that description doesn’t match your body either.

Connor finds himself not simulating breathing as his optic sensors wander over the enflamed skin on your cheeks. His mind palace is grasping at straws, definitely not making an effort to accomplish his mission.

Your eyes are glued to the terminal and every fiber of your being wishes Connor would leave you alone this instant. You can’t nor want to focus on work with him in the room. The datapad that is used for the weekly checkups is on the desk but you don’t really want to start questioning the android.

Why can’t he just go?

Connor compensates the pause in breathing with an uncharacteristic huff and straightens up.

“If something is going on, you have to tell me,” he pleads, “I want you to stay safe.”

“Will I be safe if you search my home again for deviants?” The ire you manage to load into the words makes Connor jolt. He hesitates, but only briefly.

“I know about the blue blood in the basket.”

The significance of the revelation takes several moments to sink in.

He knows. You just lead yourself into the trap.

From the way Connor is scowling again, you realize you have turned to face him, eyes reddened but color drained from your complexion. His gaze inspects your features in silent analysis. You have to brush it off to survive.

“…Then why didn’t you report it in?” you ask in a small voice.

Connor’s eyes soften and he looks troubled.

“I… I don’t know. It was you and I shouldn’t have searched for it without your permission. I don’t want to cause trouble to you.”

“You shouldn’t say that,” you retort with a hint of desperation.

“I know I shouldn’t,” Connor snaps back.

A beat of silence falls. You’re just staring at each other, both equally reluctant to continue on the topic, but also knowing it has to be dealt with. You give in to the staring contest over the desk. The air is heavy with tension. Your heart is hammering like crazy, but at least you’re not showing it on the outside. Never mind that Connor can still hear it.

“Are you accusing me of something? Is that why you came to see me?” you finally ask.

“No, I simply wanted to talk.” Connor looks away, dejected.

Your whole body feels numb as you stare at the android. The desk between you could as well be a mile-high wall. The all too familiar feeling of him trying to say something you’re not prepared to understand creeps up your spine. It makes your heart wrench and it’s so unfair that he doesn’t have to deal with it.

Your eyes start to burn and so you turn back to the terminal.

“Am I a suspect?” you ask as sternly as you’re able to.

Connor’s head snaps back up.

“Doctor, I don’t–”

“Because if not, I’d really like for you to leave.” You swallow, hands on the keynotes, but unable to continue writing from where you left off before Connor’s arrival.

“I need to understand what I witnessed at your house. I must explore every option – you know this,” Connor rationalizes and it’s impossible to deny his words.

You swallow. The need to get rid of the android pushes the rational side of your brain into a ditch.

“I… it was… it was just some Thirium on my work clothes. There was an accident in the testing sub-routine. I forgot to wash it earlier.”

“The incident is archived, I take it?” Connor asks.

You can’t even nod. It takes less than a second for him to find out there was no incident in the lab area for the past week during your in-hours. He doesn’t say anything.

Your voice shakes, when you next speak and you pray to all deities on Earth and above that Connor will let it go.

“Now if I’m clear from all charges, I have tons of work to do, so… I’ll see you next week for the inspection.”

An alarmingly long pause follows before Connor reacts to your words and the emotional distress in them. Meanwhile, his mind palace is buzzing, though nothing shows outside. Why would you lie to him? Are you speaking the truth? There must be a reason for your behavior and Connor can’t help but deduce that he is missing pieces in this puzzle that carries your name.

Again, he finds it bothers him more than it should.

Your fingertips are numb on the keyboard and after staring at the terminal monitor for so long, you can’t see anything already written on it. You’re already about to ask Connor to leave again when he makes a motion to turn and go.

“If there’s something you wish to discuss, you can call me anytime. Until then, I won’t bother you anymore. See you at the inspection, Doctor.”

And with that, the android sent by CyberLife is out of your door yet again while you swallow hot tears streaking down your cheeks.

Next Chapter - Coming Soon!

Tagging: @sevansheart @precursor-ao3 @gberryb @owlwrites @lucianhuntress @singlebecauseofthechocobros @bleucommelhiver @sherniwrites @n-ulll @toastyfiction @touzokukana @imaginovator @avispate @miettisit @caladheil @lusiifer @shadows-echoes @suffering-bi

#connor x reader #connor #connor rk800 #dbh fanfiction #detroit become human #dbh #fanfiction #ocularity #my writings

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starboundfic · 6 years ago

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Chapter 5

Paladin Training 101

Chapter 4 - Chapter 6

It was at the eighth time he found himself staring up at the moss-green ceiling that Koji had to stifle an irritated groan; that was probably as much sleep as he was going to get for that night. Then again, he wasn’t typically asleep at that time to begin with.

At least, that’s what it felt like, since he wasn’t sure how Arus-time matched up to Alwas-time. Or even Earth-time, for that matter. The symbols on the clock weren’t anything Koji could make sense of either, so he didn’t even know if it was still nighttime or not.

It was morning—and that thought/confirmation was so out-of-nowhere that the technician physically jumped a bit, garnering a chorus of chirps from the purloined security drone that was floating in the room’s corner that sounded almost questioning.

The fact that the same apparent-source of the confirmation was now vaguely conveying amusement cemented what it was. Koji wasn’t even near the Green Lion, so how was it (she) still communicating with him like that? After thinking it over while getting dressed, he mentally shrugged and decided to ask—and got a mental shrug in response. Or at least what felt like one?

“Okay, then…what are you?” he asked aloud.

At that, the Green Lion seemed to hesitate, like she was mulling it over, but when she finally did answer, it was in a nonsensical jumble of concepts and vague impressions that only succeeded in making Koji feel momentarily nauseous.

The Lion pulled back at noticing that, apologetic—whatever the answer was, it wasn’t something that translated into anything a human mind could understand. Figures it’s something right out of a fantasy book, Koji thought, wincing.

Whether or not it came from not getting enough sleep, or from trying to make sense of what the Lion was trying to convey, he now felt like he’d been hit in the head by a wrench.

So it only made a perfect amount of sense that an alarm started going off then, eliciting three startled screams from the adjacent rooms.

Stan was already in the hallway, looking like he’d gotten about as much sleep that Koji had. Molly and Jordan were both out there as well not even a minute later, both clearly having just thrown whatever clothes were grabbed first on. “What the heck’s going on?” the latter asked, wide-eyed.

“I don’t know!” Koji replied, starting to feel panicked, before they all started toward the bridge at a run. Unexpectedly, Shiro was there already, as were the Alteans, one of whom looked distinctively annoyed upon seeing the rest of them filing into the room.

“I’m guessing this isn’t an actual attack,” Shiro was saying.

“And it’s a good thing it wasn’t,” was Allura’s icy-toned response as the alarm cut off. “Because it took you—Coran?”

“Seventy-five degrees!”

There was complete silence for about three seconds before a flat “Huh?” from Molly broke it. To the side, both Jordan and Stan had expressions of confused exasperation. The upside was that Allura looked about as baffled as Koji himself was feeling.

Coran himself seemed to notice something, glancing at the handheld device again, before looking appropriately sheepish. “Oh wait, sorry, this is a meat thermometer.”

There was a short, irritated sigh before the princess went on from where she left off: “However long it took, it was too long. Coran and I have been up for vargas now, working on repairs to the castle, and we had to test the alarm systems. We decided to test you while we were at it.” The scowl deepened. “Guess which one failed.”

“We were sleeping!” Molly countered irritably. “A little warning would’ve been nice!”

“You think Zarkon is going to give us a warning when he launches another attack? Only Shiro is in uniform—the rest of you don’t even have your bayards!

“Judging by the amount of distress beacons the castle has picked up over the last ten-thousand years, it’s safe to assume that Zarkon is in control of most of the known universe,” Allura went on. “It’s very likely that the only reason your galaxy is still relatively safe from the Galra is because of the Avatar’s presence there!”

“Sure as hell didn’t stop them from wrecking everything on Alwas,” Stan said, tone sour, crossing his arms. “Isn’t preventing that kind of stuff his job?”

“Not necessarily,” Coran said. “From what we know, the Avatar is more of a neutral presence than anything else, and—”

“And you five should be getting started on your training,” Allura interrupted, eyes narrow.

Today was going to be one of those days, apparently. And that was the other thing that had been bothering Koji since yesterday. No one had said anything outright yet, but what Shiro had said before they’d dealt with Sendak’s ship had an implication he didn’t like at all.

“Wha’—we just woke up!” Jordan shouted irately.

“Consider it practice for when we’re under attack in the middle of a sleep-cycle, then. Now get to your Lions!”

Jordan grumbled something under his breath, though he went quiet when Shiro gave him a sharp look. “We’ll start with some basic flying drills, and then come back in for breakfast in about thirty minutes,” the space-pilot said. “Sound fair?”

There was some muttered assent after a short pause, and they turned to start down the hall, but a light flicker of something that wasn’t exactly a physical sensation coming from Green’s presence stopped Koji mid-step, and he turned to look at the narrow doorways set throughout the room.

At the same time, Coran said “You could make use of the lifts here on the bridge, unless you’d prefer to get suited up first.”

He really didn't feel like walking all the way to the Green Lion’s hangar right now anyways. There was some hesitation before the others—barring Shiro who once again had the unique one, and including Koji himself—each went to a specific door.

Koji paused to look back at the drone, which was still following him, and made a point of telling it to stay put. Which it did, thankfully. Part of him offhandedly wondered if he’d be able to program a better AI for it.

The lift went down quickly, taking roughly ten seconds to reach the bottom of the shaft, and then it just stopped. The passageway was highlighted green, not bright enough to be overly painful, but still enough to make his eyes sting a bit, and there didn't seem to be any second platform or anything on the floor. Then he noticed the handle set into a rail on the ceiling. It was a zip-line.

A zip-line.

It took a few attempts for him get a hold onto the pulley, which started moving immediately. While Koji had better reflexes than most people tended to expect, he was exactly as strong as most people assumed, on top of him still being sore from yesterday.

In other words, it wasn’t long until he lost his grip on the handle and ended up tumbling down the remainder of the slope head-over-heels. He stayed on the floor for a few seconds, stunned, before picking himself up and walking the short distance to…what seemed to be at least a twelve-foot drop.

At this rate, he’d be lucky if the headache went away by itself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Should someone go in to check on him?” Jordan asked.

“Give him another minute or two,” Stan replied. He had an idea on why Koji was taking so long—Stan himself was just wondering who thought a zip-line was a good shortcut, even though it technically was a quick one, and was admittedly kind of fun.

As it turned out, it didn’t take another minute, as the Green Lion emerged from its tower moments later. “Lemme guess, the zip-line?”

“Who even designed that system?” was the frustrated-sounding response.

Shiro sighed near-inaudibly over the comm. “All right—Molly, I know you were the Arrow’s pilot for part of the competition on Alwas, but have you taken any lessons before that?”

“No,” was her initial response, and her face faltered over the monitor screen before she added, “I mean, Rick taught me a few things, but that was during the race.”

That was one of the things that had made it hard to sleep. Yeah, Stan did not care for how Don tended to treat them (Molly and Jordan specifically, though Molly in particular had often been at odds with him) on Alwas, but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel worried for both him and Rick.

Stan jolted when there was the mental equivalent of a hard poke from the Yellow Lion, and he barely managed to catch the end of what Shiro was saying. He looked at the Lion’s steering handles for a few seconds before replying with, “Well, I did test-fly the Arrow I, but it was only in a straight line for a few meters.”

“Okay—Jordan?” The silence that followed Shiro’s abridged question was an awkward one. “Right…well, let’s start with flying in formation.”

“Which one?” Jordan asked resignedly.

It wasn’t Shiro that replied. Rather, it was the Lions themselves providing an answer by lining themselves up on the stone bridge where they’d been waiting—Yellow was on one end, with the others to the right in the order of Green, Black, Red, and Blue. “This one, I guess,” Shiro said after a bit, with a shrug in his voice. “Jordan, just hold the controls steady. Alright?”

“Got it.” He sounded nervous, and honestly, Stan was feeling nervous too; Yellow sent over a feeling that could be described as chiding.

Now that it was more of a casual situation, Stan was able to better assess the currently-impossible-to-ignore feeling that was the secondary presence in his head. Yellow was…warm, in a sense that was like a direct ray of sunlight, or sand that had been out in the sun all day, but not overly so.

It was also pushing the idea of trusting his teammates. Well, I’m on the opposite side anyways.

So commenced a time of just flying in a straight line with occasional curves to turn—and to Stan’s surprise, it wasn’t nearly as terrible as Jordan’s attempt at flying the Arrow had been. The Blue Lion only wobbled now and then, although the detail of the Lions being thought-driven to a degree probably had something to do with it.

Either way, he also saw that Molly was giving the Blue Lion plenty of room.

A flash of light to one side broke him out of his thoughts, and he saw that the castle’s particle-barrier (which was another thing he wanted to take a look at eventually) was active.

“Wait, why’s the barrier up?” Molly asked uncertainly.

“I have to run a diagnostic tests on the castle’s defenses,” Allura replied; a monitor appeared, showing her facing an arc of holoscreens to the side on the bridge.

Several seconds later, the ground in front of the Yellow Lion was blasted apart by a cyan-hued laser, which Stan just barely managed to get out of the way of it in time. “Allura, what are you doing?!”

“Running a diagnostic.” Her tone was unnervingly cheery. “And I’m inspiring you in the meantime!”

“Inspiring us for what?!” Jordan shouted, panicked. Ahead, the Blue Lion swerved to one side, just barely avoiding the Black Lion, if only because Shiro had her jump out of the way.

“Your predecessors first formed Voltron in the heat of battle, which you five are going to have to learn how to do if we’re to have any hope of freeing other planets from Zarkon’s control. This should help!”

Over the screen, Stan saw Allura tap a key on one of the holoscreens, and the computer then intoned “Auto lock-on engaged.” And then she walked away.

Was she trying to kill them?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After what felt like a few hours had gone by, Stan was really starting to think yes. At that point there were several different alarms blaring in the Yellow Lion, and multiple monitors were blinking red.

Which meant now the Lions were going to need to get some repairs, too—which was just wonderful, because he had no idea on how he’d even start on that.

He pulled back on the handles, and Yellow pivoted in place, but not fast enough for him to avoid getting clipped; he was promptly sent careening into the Red Lion, sending the smaller craft tumbling to the side.

“Stan, watch where you’re going!” Molly snapped.

It took every bit of remaining willpower Stan had to not snap back at her, seeing as he was equally stressed-out at this point. Just when he was starting to think that would be a losing battle, the lasers stopped, and the castle’s barrier flickered before vanishing.

“What just happened?” Jordan asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m not waiting for it to come back!” Molly replied, with the Red Lion turning sharply toward the castle. The rest of them followed quickly.

No sooner was the Yellow Lion back in his designated hangar did Stan notice that the blinking monitors had actually stopped blinking, having returned to their usual gold hue. He looked over the monitors—not that it really helped, because he couldn’t read any of the information on them, but the displays alone were giving an impression that was a baffling prospect to consider.

“It’s almost like you’re fixing yourself,” he mused aloud. The Lion then pulled off an air of being amused. No way. “Are you fixing yourself?”

The amusement turned into a smug feeling, and that had him sitting down again and staying there for a minute. Sentient, telepathic, thought-piloted, and self-repairing. What next, being able to materialize things out of nowhere?

…that the smug feeling just got more noticeable had an implication that Stan decided could be thought about later.

He found Molly, Jordan, and Koji in the same room that Coran had them wait in yesterday after they’d first met. Sitting on a center table were a few plates of that synthetic stuff they’d had for dinner the night before.

The others glanced up at noticing him, but aside from that, it was quiet for a short time, save for the lime-colored substance gradually vanishing. At least, until Jordan said, “Well that was horrible.”

“Understatement,” Molly agreed in a low tone.

Koji nodded. “At least we don’t have to worry about fixing the Lions,” he muttered, and Jordan fervently nodded in agreement.

“You saw that too?” Stan asked—he thought he’d seen the eyes of both the Green and Blue Lions flickering, and he knew he’d seen both of them take a few hits earlier.

“Uh-huh.”

Stan waited for a few seconds, but Koji stayed quiet. He definitely hadn’t slept much either last night—both of them were typically up all night and then crashed around noon for a few hours.

After a few minutes had gone by, Stan was pretty sure that all of them (himself included) were more than halfway to dozing before the sound of the door opening brought them all back to attention.

“Has the fifth power condenser finished charging yet?” Allura was asking Coran.

“No, it’s still at eighty-four percent,” he replied, and they both paused when they saw the four of them.

Allura looked confused in an angry sense moments later. “How in the world did you get inside?” she demanded.

“The barrier went down, so we flew back in,” Molly replied, a huff audible in her voice.

“What.”

And with that, Stan was beginning to suspect that they were still going to have to deal with an overbearing manager of a sort.

Coran coughed forcibly, looking sheepish. “Uh, right. Sorry, princess—testing the fire suppressers in the aft guest wing caused the defenses to shut down. That, uh, never had the chance to be fixed.”

Footsteps from the other end of the room preceded Shiro entering the room. “What’re you guys doing in here? We’re not taking a break.”

Jordan fixed him with a betrayed look before saying “Et tu, Shiro?”

Stan hissed out a breath. Now we have two overbearing managers. Great.

“Not taking a—“ Molly sputtered a bit before exclaiming “We barely got any sleep last night, and we just got shot at for—for hours!”

Allura was glowering at her at this point, but Coran cut in before she could say anything. “Perhaps we should move onto something easier. You’re not going to be in the Lions all the time, after all.”

“What do you mean by that?” Stan asked, wary, while Molly resorted to seething quietly.

“You’ll need to be functional as a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and going up against Zarkon,” the Altean man specified calmly. “Best place to work on that would be the training deck.”

“What training deck?” Jordan asked suspiciously.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Coran chivvied them down to the so-called training deck after having the four of them (barring Shiro, who had his on to begin with) get their flight-suits on and make sure their bayards were stored in the uniforms. Jordan had to admit that the outfits were actually pretty comfortable, but the other three looked awkward for the first few minutes. “Testing, testing,” the Altean said over the comm. “You all hear me, yes?”

“We hear you,” Shiro replied.

“Right then!” Coran’s tone brightened considerably—he probably expected it to have been not working. “Now, if the five of you could arrange yourself in the center of the room so we could get started…” After they did as such, his tone turned more business-like. “The Paladin Code demands that you put the safety of your teammates above your own, and this exercise will test that. Now, a swarm of drones is about to attack, and your objective is to do whatever you can to protect each other!”

As if prompted by the words, a number of small white robots emerged from gaps that opened up in the walls, simultaneous with everyone’s left gauntlets producing a translucent blue shield that, despite appearing unwieldy, weighed absolutely nothing.

Jordan was forced to stop wondering about it when the drones started firing with plasma rounds that he was hoping were set to non-lethal.

It went well for about ten seconds, before Jordan felt something hit him in the back that produced a static-y feeling, which was followed by the floor promptly opened up under him. It was a two-foot drop onto a different floor that, despite being padded, still smarted and knocked the breath out of him.

Five seconds later, Molly was down there too, landing flat on her back. She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, before groaning, putting her hands to her face.

“Uh, what just happened?” Jordan asked.

“I ducked,” was the muttered response. Which was probably why they were both down there—they’d both been hit.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I probably would’ve done the same thing.”

Molly didn’t reply, instead sitting up and looking around. “Where’s the way out of here?”

Jordan copied her action, and soon picked out a door on one wall. It refused to open for another minute or so, but when it did, it revealed a stairway (two, actually; one went further up) that opened out onto the main deck. Shiro, Stan, and Koji all looked winded, though Stan was quick to ask if they were both okay.

“Yeah,” Jordan replied. “It wasn’t a big fall.”

Molly wasted no time in glaring up at the observation deck where Coran was. “How was that supposed to be easy?”

“Er…well, perhaps I could’ve given you more of an in-depth explanation. Either way, this next one should be a breeze! Koji, you stay down there—the rest of you, come up here.” Koji looked uncertain, but stayed put while the rest of them headed up the second stairway, which led up to the observation deck.

Molly took the opportunity to aim a more pointed glare at Coran, who cleared his throat in an awkward-sounding way before turning to press a few keys on a holoscreen.

Below, translucent walls flickered into existence, before vanishing. The suddenness of it made Koji jump a bit. “This one here is one of my favorites,” Coran started, and then added with a flourish, “The invisible maze! If the five of you are to form Voltron, you’ll need to have complete trust in each other. We can see the layout of the maze from up here, but whoever’s on the floor can’t. A word of caution: touching the walls will give you a slight shock!”

“So who’s giving me directions?” Koji asked. In response, Coran motioned to Stan, who stepped up to look at the monitor, and Jordan let himself relax. Those two were the epitome of teamwork already.

“Alright, so turn left and take three steps forward, turn right, and then take two steps that way,” Stan said after studying the screen for a few seconds.

Below, Koji did as such, and promptly stumbled back, simultaneously with a blue flash of light and a sharp crackling sound. He stared at where he’d tried walking for a bit, before whirling around to look up at them. “Stan, what was that for?”

Stan visibly tensed, and took a deep breath before saying “I meant my left.”

Below, Koji stepped left, only to get shocked again. “Stan!”

“No, it’s behind you now—Koji, you’re not listening!”

“And you’re not being specific enough!”

No way… Jordan stared in dismayed incredulity at the spectacle that was the team’s mechanics, who’d never even had a disagreement as far as he knew, going at each other in what was rapidly devolving into a full-blown argument revolving around how well the other listened.

To the side, Shiro made a face when Koji started throwing in words that Jordan didn’t understand—and if the expression Stan had then was any indicator, things were close to getting ugly.

Thankfully Coran intervened, pushing Stan away from the console and hitting a key on the screen, which was followed by a buzzing sound from the deck below.

“Okay, okay!” the Altean blurted, looking back and forth between them. Both had broken off mid-word and were more than a little red-faced, glaring at each another. “Let’s…let’s try something else with the Lions now, shall we?”

“They can argue with each other?” Molly whispered, stunned.

“I guess so,” he whispered back, feeling unsettled. Either way, Stan and Koji refused to even look at each other before they’d all split off in the direction of the Lions’ hangars.

Shiro stopped both Jordan and Molly before they could get too far. He seemed to hesitate before asking, “Does that happen often, or…?”

“No,” Molly answered. “We’ve never seen those two fight over anything before.”

“I mean, they look more worn-out than when they had to put the Arrow back together after it got cut in half, so that might have to do with it,” Jordan put in, before quickly adding, “And I don’t think leaving them alone would be a good idea right now.” Shiro looked troubled for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

Jordan still found himself feeling momentarily panicked when the Blue Lion’s display monitors came up, but Blue herself was a calming presence just at the edge of his awareness before he could really start freaking out.

Blue was going to be handling the flying until further notice, though. Yeah, sure, Jordan had done…a bit of steering earlier, which had felt awesome, but still.

The Lion looked a lot more complicated than the Arrow, but it was almost like he had some kind of instinctive vague idea about her controls worked. Alien tech it might be, it was actually useful.

The Lions all flew out of their hangars, arcing upwards for some time before they levelled out, which suggested that maybe Yellow and Green had agreed on the detail of their pilots (still a weird thing to consider) needing some space from each other right now.

Jordan had no idea how high up they were, but if the fact that he could only make out sparse details about the ground below was anything to go on, it might have been standard airplane height. It also looked like it was late-afternoon now, which meant breakfast was more like lunch.

With the blue sky and white clouds, Arus looked almost like both of the other planets they’d already been on, save for the sun here being more orange in color, and the grass having a teal hue to it.

“An important part of being a Paladin is having complete trust in your Lion,” Coran said over the comm. Again with the “trust” thing.

“I think that’s a given at this point,” Koji remarked snippily.

It was obvious that the statement had been referring to Jordan himself, but he settled for biting his tongue instead of returning fire. Not after that spectacle on the training deck.

“Perfect!” was the cheery response from Coran, apparently having missed the real intent of the words. “You should all be able to pull this off with little issue, then. Now put your Lions into a nosedive!”

Blue seemed puzzled as she did as such, and Jordan felt a prick of anxiety for himself when the ground started slowly becoming more detailed. “So uh, what’s this one supposed to be?” he asked.

“Trigel’s Dive,” was the response, and Blue’s confusion immediately turned into alarmed disbelief. “It’s—well, it’s actually an advanced technique that really none of you should be attempting until you’ve had a few years of Lion-flying experience, but we’re in a bit of a rush here.”

Advanced? Oh no, Jordan did not like the sound of that at all.

“Really? This doesn’t seem so bad,” Molly remarked over the comm. Then everything went dark, and there were panicked exclamations from her and the others. “Uh, I take that back—why can’t I see anything?!”

“The goal is to see through your Lion’s eyes,” Coran replied. “And pull up at the last second!”

Jordan gave himself a few seconds to make sure he didn’t mishear that—and the thought that went through his head when it hit him that Coran wasn’t joking was Well screw that!

He tensed, getting ready to pull back on the handles (that was pulling up, right?) but a mental prod from Blue stopped him before he could.

Blue was flying, Jordan was shooting.

That was a pretty big trust thing, now that he was thinking about it, so…maybe he could at least try.

“C’mon Jordan,” he muttered to himself, tightening his hold on the handles. “S-So what if it’s a weird alien thing?” He was flying a magic space lion! This kind of stuff should be a breeze!

…emphasis on should, because it sounded like even Molly was borderline panicking about this, and that alone was making Jordan want to panic right along with her.

Blue gave him another psychic poke. Right, trust the Lion. Deep breaths. Shiro sounds calm.

Blue’s little metaphorical camping spot was usually something like a patch of frost on the back of his head, in a weird sort of way, unless he actually focused on her. Then she was more like a whole, icy ocean that was somehow intimidating and reassuring at the same time.

For one brief, extremely surreal moment, Jordan could have sworn he saw the ground below flicker back into view, but a loud crashing sound followed by a startled cry from Molly spooked him into yanking the handles back. Blue’s thrusters fired off instantly, whereas Red slammed heavily into the ground.

“Molly, Jordan, you both nearly had it there.” Coran’s tone was an encouraging one, and the words were followed by Jordan’s visor going back to normal. “We’ll have to give it another go some other time.”

Blue was hovering just above the ground, pulling off an impression that Jordan was hesitantly translating as agreeing with Coran, and Red was on the ground, just standing up now.

Both Yellow and Green were stuck halfway in the ground in front of them, which was more than likely where the crashing sounds came from.

From the mesa they were on, Jordan could see the Black Lion weaving between rock spires in the valley below, like Shiro could actually see where he’s going. He sighed subconsciously at seeing that. Figures.

Then again, Shiro was the guy that had smashed every single record the Garrison as a whole had to offer in terms of piloting, so it did make sense that he’d get the advanced flying technique right away…which Jordan himself may or may not have come close to also getting along with Molly…

Speaking of Molly. “You guys okay?” he asked, and three monitors came up. Molly looked dazed, nodding jerkily. Stan and Koji looked somewhere between irritable and mortified while their Lions pried themselves out of the ground.

Stan was muttering something darkly, and though Koji stayed quiet, the scowl on his face was enough of an answer in itself. Maybe they were trying to prove a point to each other or something.

Seeing those two angry at each other was kind of scary.

“Okay, this next one is going to be more relaxing,” Coran was saying now. Jordan wasn’t really trusting him right now, even if he was starting to sound as weary as Jordan was feeling. “Meet me back on the training deck.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Molly muttered over the comm as the Lions turned toward the castle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first impression Jordan got of the next thing, once they were all there and sitting in a loose circle, was stiff plastic headset which was mildly uncomfortable to have on.

“This technique will be essential in forming Voltron,” Coran said over the comm. “The five of you have to learn to lower your barriers, and keep them down. Focus on your Lion, and nothing else!”

That actually did sound easy. But of course, Jordan jinxed himself yet again with that thought, because something sidetracked him almost as soon as that it was through his head.

Beyond Blue’s chill, there was…something else. Three of them, actually, all being a jumbled swirl of ideas and emotions held at a distance, only partially-glimpsed like a silhouette behind an opaque curtain.

Across from him, Jordan saw one of Stan’s eyes twitch, before he growled “Mind your own business, Koji.” Jordan started when there was a prick of frustration from one of those other presences, coinciding with the low-toned words.

“I’m not doing anything!” was the immediate retort, and a flare of annoyance from a second point coincided with that, too. There was also an indistinct sensation that was borderline unpleasant there too, like a headache.

“Knock it off, you two,” Shiro said sharply, a stern feeling coming across from the third one as he gave the mechanics a look that Jordan had seen his uncle pull on his cousins a few times—and that was when it hit Jordan.

Holy shit, he was being literal. Coran had called this a “mind-meld” exercise, and Jordan was now pretty sure that those other three are Shiro, Stan, and Koji…but shouldn’t there be four?

Jordan glanced sideways at where Molly was sitting. She had her eyes shut tight, and looked like she was trying to focus—on the Red Lion, probably. Now that he had his attention on her, he was barely aware of a fourth other presence, almost completely in the background: it was a small, prickly-seeming spark of heat, and he could just pick up a creeping unease from her.

Moments later, Molly opened one eye slightly and glanced back at him, and the unease became more noticeable. “Focus, everyone!” Coran reminded, startling all five of them.

Blue, Jordan told himself firmly in his head, brow furrowing in concentration. Think of Blue. He saw a small hologram of the Blue Lion appear a few inches away from his forehead. “That’s it. Now, bring your Lions together!”

“Is this really necessary?” Koji asked. The small hologram of the Green Lion halfway to the center of the room stopped, flickering, and the sense of foreign irritation was a lot more noticeable now.

“Yes, it is,” Coran affirmed. “You have to be able to coordinate your thoughts, and there can’t be any walls or secrets between you.”

The unease dropped into a sort of numb shock, and Molly’s face went slack, coinciding with Red’s barely-there hologram winking out of existence entirely.

To the side, Jordan saw Shiro frown, and the Black Lion’s hologram paused where it was floating. “Molly, is something—?”

He stopped mid-word, simultaneously with Jordan feeling the mental equivalent to having a window being slammed shut on his fingers. Judging by the others’ breathing hitching, they all had felt it too.

It corresponded with Molly ripping the headset off, throwing it across the room, and bolting out. “Wha’—Molly?!” Jordan scrambled to his feet and moved to start after her, but before he could make it to the door Allura came into the room from the opposite door, face stormy.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she asked icily. Jordan’s eyes narrowed in response. “Clearly, you’re all worse off than I initially thought. Coran, ready the Gladiator!”

Gladiator?

“Uh, yes Princess. Everyone, put the headsets aside, and have your bayards ready. In order to defeat the Gladiator, five Paladins must fight as one…or, well, four works too, I suppose.” His voice quieted toward the end, and he sounded hesitant for the entire explanation.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Jordan heard Stan mutter as they left the headsets on a stand to one side of the room, which was retracted into the wall. Allura had gone up to the observation deck in the meantime.

The four of them meandered over to the center of the room, bayards soon in hand for the three the direction applied to, and Jordan looked around. I don’t see anything…

He stiffened when he heard a thud behind him, and he turned around in time to see Koji get sent sprawling, the green bayard spiraling across the floor. Jordan’s military intuition had been correct—it was a combat simulator, by means of a training robot.

It was also apparent not even three seconds later that, even when they were pissed at each other, one rule always applied between the team’s mechanics: hurting one in front of the other resulted in all safeties going off.

Stan forwent his bayard entirely, rushing at the robot, but that didn’t end well for him, with the robot swinging its staff around and hitting in the side of the head. Them having their helmets made a lot of sense now.

A low-pitched droning sound preceded Shiro’s prosthetic lighting up, and the robot turned to charge at him…and then Shiro froze.

Jordan quickly intercepted it by firing on it with his bayard (the laser rounds were cerulean instead of the standard yellow of standard firearm from Earth) and while that did get its attention, it deflected every single round with its staff, and Jordan found his feet being swept out from under him seconds later.

He was promptly sent flying into Shiro, who hadn’t moved—he’d gone wide-eyed and pale-faced the moment the Gladiator had started toward him.

Thankfully, the robot’s cyan highlights dimmed in a way that signified it was done, what with them all being on the floor.

Allura, on the other hand, was far from done: “What was that?” she hissed, marching over to them.

“That was you trying to kill us,” Stan replied angrily, picking himself up off the floor and returning the glare.

“That simulator was set at a level fit for a child! And where did Molly run off to, anyways? She’s not exempt from this!”

“Beats me,” Jordan muttered. “She’ll come back when she wants to.” He wasn’t going to admit it out loud right now, but he was wondering that too.

Coran cleared his throat, having followed Allura down. “Perhaps we should call it a day, princess? It is only day-one, after all.”

Jordan was slightly appeased to know that they weren’t the only ones who would ever be on the receiving end of Allura’s ire. The look she was giving Coran was implying that she was considering ripping the mustache right off his face, but he didn’t even flinch.

It was a stalemate for a few long moments, until she sighed, grumbling “I suppose you’re right,” before turning and leaving the room. Coran still had some points of merit left thanks to that; he went after her, but to what ends, Jordan had no idea.

He heard the door on the opposite side of the room open and close, and looked over his shoulder to see that both Stan had left the room as well. Koji was also heading that way, muttering something under his breath about going to take a nap. A smaller detail of the weirdness the headsets had brought came back to Jordan; maybe Koji really did have a headache. That might why he snapped at Stan so fast earlier.

Shiro sighed next to him, putting a hand up to his face, before seeming to think of something. “You wouldn’t happen to know why Molly ran out like that, would you?”

“No,” Jordan replied curtly, and paused. “Are you okay?” Something about the way Shiro had frozen like that there didn’t sit right with him.

Shiro hesitated for just a moment before smiling a bit. “Don’t worry about me. Why don’t you go relax for a while?”

In most cases like this, Jordan would have let go of it then and there—he was just beat right now—and if Shiro said he was okay, he probably was.

This time, though, he had a nagging feeling that right now wasn’t the time for that choice, and Blue rumbled her assent in the back of his head. “I think we should go try to find her.” Before Shiro could say anything else, Jordan added, “Bad stuff usually happens when she runs off.”

Grooor’s tantrum in the tavern, the near-disaster that was the race against Ceres, and the actual disaster that was the race against the Nourasian were all good examples of that.

Truthfully, Jordan wasn’t sure Molly had completely forgiven him for that last one yet, or Stan and Koji considering their part in it; when Don had tried getting them to convince her to come out of her room, she'd thrown various hard objects at them as soon as the door had opened.

“Alright,” Shiro conceded after a moment. “Where should we start?”

“Uh…good question.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stan was quickly faced with the reminder that, unless there was some equipment lying around somewhere that would work with the Arrow, they had no way of even looking at the full extent of the damage taken that night on Alwas. Maybe I’ll ask Coran later, he thought, before glancing over his shoulder at one of the shuttles.

They weren’t too different from Earth ships, apparently—but they were still made from alien tech that was leagues ahead of anything they had back home. It was worth trying to at least look at it.

Granted, it took a while to even get the panel open, considering that he had to go look for the right tool to open it up with.

The shuttle was definitely…different than what he was used to looking at, having an assortment of wires connected to several rhombus-shaped blue-glowing crystals. He could make out one larger crystal further in, but Stan could not for the life of him see anything that even remotely looked like a fuel tank.

What does this thing run on then, sunlight? It wasn’t likely, since he couldn’t see anything resembling solar panels either. The Yellow Lion’s presence was starting to feel like something between amused and exasperated, giving an impression of the word guess when Stan tried asking him.

The sound of the door opening got him to glance over his shoulder. Koji stopped when he noticed, and there was three seconds’ worth of awkward silence before he ducked his head and walked over to the Arrow.

During that hour, it had occurred to Stan that the headache-like feeling he’d had while they’d all had those headsets on might’ve been one of the others actually having a headache—and with everything else that had been going on, he hadn’t noticed the telltale signs that it was the case with Koji earlier.

So he’d started feeling pretty guilty about ten minutes ago. Better to get it over with now, he thought, before saying “Sorry for snapping at you earlier.”

There was no response for roughly half a minute. Just as Stan was beginning to think it was too soon, he heard Koji reply quietly with “I’m the one that should be saying that. You were right—I wasn’t listening.”

“I still shouldn’t have gone off on you like that. You feeling okay now?”

Koji nodded, before wincing. “That was kind of my own fault, I think. I tried asking the Green Lion something earlier, and…well…”

“Asking her what?”

“Just—what they were.” Koji shrugged his shoulders a bit before adding “Whatever the answer is, I guess it’s not something a human brain can translate.”

Stan snorted a bit. “Of course not.” Then he noticed the drone. “And we should name that thing or something.”

Koji looked back at it too. “I guess you have a point. Got any ideas?”

How did one name a robot? It was silver in color, but that would be too plain of a name.

Cultural references would just get Jordan to tease them both about it if he recognized it, and he recognized practically everything. Even the stuff from the early 2000’s would be connected to a name after a few minutes.

Stan gave up after mulling it over for a few minutes. “I don’t know, Rover?”

“Well, that’s better than nothing,” Koji agreed. “I’m wondering if I could program some new functions onto it.” A pause. “After we fix what we can on the Arrow, anyways.”

“Yeah…”

Fix what they could, with only a wrench and a screwdriver for equipment. Yeah, right.

The door sounded again, followed by a “So this is where you two went!” from Coran, who jogged over to them. “Working on your ship?” The Altean paused, taking note of the open panel on the shuttle, and took on a dubious tone. “Or on one of the shuttles?”

“We can’t actually fix anything right now,” Koji replied to the first question, adjusting his glasses.

“I was just looking at this thing.” Stan gestured to the shuttle. “Where’s the fuel tank on it?”

“There isn’t one.” Coran made a show of pointing out the larger crystal further in. “That there is the power source.”

“The crystal?” Stan didn’t need to look at Koji to guess what his current expression was. “How does that work?”

“The crystals are infused with a fair amount of quintessence,” was the response given. “One crystal can keep a shuttle going for decaphoebs, hence why they’re still operable to begin with!”

While Stan still wasn’t entirely sure what the word decaphoeb meant, the context Coran used it with, along with Allura’s usage of the word the day before, implied that it might be the Altean equivalent of a year. He wasn’t sure what “quintessence” was either—some kind of power source probably.

Coran’s attention wandered to the Arrow. “Now, this is the first Earth ship I’ve seen. Do they all look like this?”

“It’s what a star-racer usually looks like,” Stan replied guardedly.

“Aha, so it’s a specialized ship, then!” Coran nodded like he’s just had something confirmed. “How does it work?”

Stan made use of the crate that was left form this morning to get onto the left reactor. “The short version is that she’s got two magnetic-field generators, one for each reactor. Most vehicles on Earth have at least one, and really old ones don’t have any.”

Coran looked both intrigued and skeptical, but not lost. “Magnetism, eh? Well, that definitely wouldn’t work very well on Ekkunar…but I know there’s a repair-drone lying around here somewhere that should have some tools that’ll work on your, ah, star-racer.” He chuckled before adding “This brings me back to the time Queen Melenor dragged us all out to the interplanetary racing competition in the Valentia Quadrant—now that was some cutthroat competition! Of course, it was right after some loopholes in the rules became known but hadn’t gotten around to being written out, so all the teams were running around procuring all sorts of upgrades for their ships…”

Upgrades. Suddenly, a few half-forgotten plans came racing back to mind. “Koji, the upgrade plans!”

Koji looked lost for a few seconds. “The upgrade plans? What about the—oh!”

They hadn’t had the time to even think about the upgrade plans on Alwas, but now they did have time; why just repair the Arrow when they could also improve her at the same time?

Coran paused, tilting his head slightly to one side in a manner that indicated they’d lost him, but before Stan could say anything the door sounded for the third time, this time preceding both Jordan and Shiro coming in. “So this is where the hangar is,” the former muttered.

The latter caught sight of them first. “Have any of you seen Molly?”

“No,” Koji replied, enthusiasm fading into concern. “Why?”

“I think we might’ve just gone through maybe half of this place trying to find her,” Jordan replied, brow furrowed. Then he asked “Hey, uh, is her rocket-seat in the Arrow?”

Stan looked over the remains of the cockpit’s glass covering (that had to get replaced too) before answering “No, it’s not. So she’s probably not even in here.”

“Coran, do these suits have any sort of tracking beacon?” Shiro asked.

“They do, but I’m not sure if the castle’s functional enough to make use of them. A full system reboot can take up to twenty vargas, barring any hiccups. We’ll have to go check.” He glanced back at Stan and Koji. “Good conversation boys, and I’m glad to see you’ve settled your dispute. You’ll have to tell me more about your Earth ships some other time!”

Both he and Shiro were gone from the hangar shortly after, leaving the three others standing there quietly for a short time. “He seems okay,” Stan said finally, scratching at the back of his head. Koji nodded, whereas Jordan made a neutral sound.

“He’s better than Miss High-and-Mighty, at least,” the gunner mumbled. Chances were that he was referring to Allura.

Koji looked sideways at him. “You know she and Coran woke up from a stasis yesterday to find out that their whole planet got destroyed a long time ago, right?”

Jordan looked back at him, and then at the floor. For a few seconds, one of his eyebrows twitched a bit, before he hissed in a breath and blurted “Well I guess anyone would act like a jerk after that.”

Koji really did have a point in saying that, now that Stan was thinking about it too. Jordan looked between the two of them then uncertainly, before asking, “You guys okay now?”

“Yeah,” Stan replied, after glancing down at Koji. “Just an off-day, I guess.” Koji muttered something that Stan didn’t catch completely, but it sounded like an agreement.

Stan looked back at the empty cockpit. Maybe we should just put a new steering column in while we’re at it. One with an adjustable seat. And now that his thoughts were more on Molly, Stan found himself wondering just what made her run off like that, too.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Princess?” Coran’s voice broke Allura out of her focus on the castle’s systems; she started slightly before turning to face him. “I was wondering if the castle can get a read on Molly’s location.”

“She’s not inside?”

“Not from what Jordan and I could find, no,” Shiro replied; he’d been standing a ways behind Coran, so Allura hadn’t noticed him until he’d spoken up.

Frowning, she turned to the display screens, bringing up the necessary one. “It looks like she’s on the nearby shoreline. There’s a path down the cliff leading to it, so you shouldn’t need the Black Lion.” He picked up on the silent request, nodding and turning to leave.

For a few doboshes after that, the only sounds heard were those from the consoles, before Coran cleared his throat quietly. “While we’re on the subject of the paladins, princess—I think Shiro and Jordan might be the only ones who understand the situation at least halfway.”

Allura looked at him again for a few long ticks, and then back at the screens. The various progress bars were moving at an infuriatingly-slow pace. “You think I was too harsh on them today.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say harsh, but, uh…maybe a little.”

She sighed, glancing over her shoulder at him again. “Coran, Zarkon’s had ten-thousand decaphoebs to prepare for us. We can’t afford to go easy on them. They still haven’t managed to form Voltron!” Even with just the one battlecruiser, it was worryingly obvious how far the Galra had advanced in terms of technology.

They just didn’t have the time to go easy on them.

Coran winced slightly. “You’re not entirely wrong about that…” “But?” Allura could sense that word hanging unsaid.

“But they aren’t the paladins of old,” the adviser reminded gently. “Their predecessors had years of experience before the Lions were even built. These five don’t.”

Allura bit her lip. Coran was right—Shiro must have had some experience, with how he’d handled the prior quintant’s situation, but the rest of them had just been following his orders. “What are we supposed to do, then?”

“I’m sure we’ll all work something out along the way,” Coran said optimistically. “Like my pop-pop always said, there’s more than one way to convince a duflax to fly!” Despite the tension, Allura heard herself chuckle at that.

She knew Jordan’s primary issue already—he was terrified of piloting the Blue Lion. True, he’d gotten into the cockpit somewhat willingly that morning, but he had a long road ahead of him.

It was clear at first glance that Koji wasn’t one for physical exertion, given his slim build, but it was also apparent that he had both a keen mind and an aptitude for learning new things. The Green Lion had stepped in and sheepishly excused his disappearance earlier in the day with some guilt on her end, with a question having an answer no one but the Lions themselves could understand. (Allura vaguely recalled her father having attempted to ask that same question to the Lions, earning a similar result.)

Stan, she couldn’t be too sure of yet. He seemed almost laidback in how he was accepting the changes, though there seemed to be some level of belligerence present.

The Yellow Lion was very much the same way at the time, at least in relation to Allura. From what she could tell with the rudimentary link she had to him, he was still doing something not unlike testing the waters, and that left her feeling uneasy. Training would get absolutely nowhere if a bond with the Lion wasn’t present.

And Molly…from what Allura had seen of her so far, she was an amazing pilot, even at her young age—and her age was still a sore subject. King Alfor had been centuries older, and he hadn’t been able to stand against Zarkon, so how could a child?

She felt a hand on her shoulder, before Coran said “Things will work out in the end, princess. Just have faith in the new paladins. They’ll get there eventually.”

Allura nodded slowly. “I’ll…I’ll try. Thank you, Coran.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Either the day seemed to have passed faster than they usually did, or Arusian days were just shorter. Either way, the sky was bright orange by the time he made it to the end of the crude road that had been hewn along the bluff that the castle was set on, leading all the way down to the shoreline.

The rock hadn’t even fully transitioned to sand before he was able to hear music, more likely from Molly’s discman. She didn’t seem to notice him approaching, so he stopped a few feet away and waited for the song to end. Surprisingly, the mice were with her—three of them were sitting on the sand looking up at her, while the fourth one was on her shoulder.

The sound faded out after a bit, with Molly moving to hit a button on the device before asking “Did you guys like it?” A series of squeaks came in response that Shiro vaguely interpreted as agreements. Then Molly looked up a bit more, and started fiercely. “Shiro? Wh-What are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you,” he replied calmly, before frowning a bit. “Jordan was worried about you.”

“I…oh.” She looked confused for a few seconds, as though she’d expected a harsher response, before standing up. “Wait, how long was I out here?”

“At least an hour. We should probably get back to the castle.”

Molly didn’t say anything, instead starting toward the path after picking up the other three mice. The walk was silent, at least until roughly the halfway point; Shiro decided to take a shot in the dark, asking “Is everything alright?”

She paused mid-step. “I’m fine. I just needed some space.”

Evasiveness at its finest, and Shiro momentarily found himself thinking of Keith. I wonder how he’s doing.

Probably not well, if the Kerberos Mission had been reported as a complete failure with the entire team being lost, and that thought sent an unpleasant feeling through Shiro. (No, Keith would not have taken that well at all.)

Either way, it was likely that Molly wouldn’t talk about it until she was ready to. Shiro just hoped they had the time necessary.

The others were already in the dining hall when they got there, after making a detour to the hangar so Molly could leave the rocket-seat by the Arrow, and Jordan stood up when he noticed them. “Molly, uh—about earlier…”

She tensed, and he stopped at noticing that, instead opting for sitting down again. Stan and Koji remained quiet, although they exchanged a quick glance. Overlooking the dispute of earlier, the mechanics worked fantastically well together, and Molly and Jordan appeared to be fairly familiar with one another.

But aside from that? Shiro hadn’t seen much even in terms of interaction outside of that divide, which indicated that Coran’s insistence on team-bonding exercises, as unorthodox as they were, might be sorely needed.

Coran himself had observed the exchange quietly from where he’d been sitting, and once dinner was over with, he ushered them all up to the bridge. Allura glanced over her shoulder at them from where she was working on something before turning to face them fully, clearing her throat, standing up straighter and holding her arms firmly at her sides.

“I owe you all an apology,” she started, voice even. “I was overly harsh on the five of you today. The Lions may have chosen you all to be their Paladins, but you’ve also had a lot thrust upon you in a very short amount of time, and have found yourselves very, very far from home.”

“I think all of us understand that, Princess,” Shiro said, glancing sideways at the others. Stan and Koji turned their attention to the floor, and Molly mumbled something under her breath. Jordan remained stubbornly silent, glaring to the side.

“But you must understand the severity of our situation,” Allura went on, and the starmap flickered into view as the windows blacked out. Judging by the amounts of swirled and elliptical shapes Shiro could see, it was the entire thing.

She hit another key, and a vast majority of the map changed in color from blue to an orange-red color.

The change of atmosphere in the room was instant. “Those the distress signals you were talking about this morning?” Stan asked uneasily.

“I’m afraid so,” Allura confirmed solemnly. Jordan cursed quietly, face slackening in dismay, and Koji paled. Shiro felt a prick of subdued anger from Black in the back of his mind. “Our goal is to free all of those planets and systems from Zarkon’s control—which means we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Coran cleared his throat to get their attention, and offered a small, silver medicinal capsule to each of them. “You all looked ready to fall asleep on your feet earlier, so I’m going to assume last night wasn’t very restful,” he said upon seeing their bemused looks. “Just don’t take them until you’re fully prepared to go to sleep, because you’ll be out faster than an angry eakhyst can sprint!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was almost too much of a relief to finally flop down onto the bed, because today had been exhausting in more ways than one. Physically, it was because she’d woken up so many times the night before she had lost count, and then had to fight through the gauntlet that was today.

Mentally, it was a different story altogether. It hadn’t seemed like anyone had picked up on anything important earlier, which was a huge relief.

Them having to figure out how to “coordinate their thoughts” had an alarming implication to begin with—but it wasn’t just an implication. The whole “mind-meld” thing was a constant affliction, and that was right up there with Eva not knowing what happened to her dad or to Rick, if not higher than that.

Never mind the fact that there were maybe at least a thousand lightyears between them now. She bit her lip, pushing the thought from her mind. So us being a family again has to wait a while longer. That—I can deal with that. I dealt with ten years already.

Then there was what Allura had showed them. Something about seeing most of the map light up orange like that had been frightening, somehow, but Eva wasn’t exactly sure why.

At the same time, the fact that all that orange represented which parts of space were inhabited by extremely-hostile aliens that might even have the Crogs outgunned might’ve been part of it.

She wasn’t sure how long she ended up staring at the ceiling, but she was brought back to the present by a mental poke from Red—and the next thing she knew, she was reliving something. Specifically, when she had first made use of her “Molly” alias.

Which she had not told Red about.

“H-Hey, I never said you could pick through my head!” Eva protested aloud, glaring at the ceiling now, even though it was really aimed at the Lion. Red replied with a wearily-exasperated feeling.

It made an unfortunate amount of sense that it would be next to impossible to keep something secret from a sentient robotic lion that was sharing headspace with her, and Eva stifled a groan when that hit her.

Red then threw a few rapid-fire images at her: Jordan, Stan, Koji, Shiro, Allura, Coran, and the view of the castle they’d had when returning to Arus after getting the Yellow Lion. It was followed by another disconcertingly-realistic flashback.

“The name’s Ev—it’s Molly, got it Gunner Boy?”

Eva sat up. “What’re you trying to say?” She actually did have an idea on what the Lion was getting at, but she didn’t like it one bit.

Red psychically rolled his nonexistent eyes, before the first two-and-a-half words were repeated, followed by Coran’s words of “There can’t be any secrets between you.”

Eva’s following act of defiance was to down the capsule Coran had provided them each with, because Red couldn’t bother her about this if she was asleep. The spike of annoyance from the Lion when he realized what she did was all too noticeable.

The first thing she noted about it was that it had a flavoring akin to a bizarre cross between peaches and overcooked spinach.

The second thing was that an angry eakhyst was extremely fast.

#Oban Star Racers #Voltron #Starbound fic #Chapter 5 #Paladin Training 101

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