Status Quo
Chapter Nine: Mission Accomplished
by Kyence
Disclaimer: All Voltron characters are property of World Events Productions.
‘’ denotes character thoughts.
Lance lunged away as the projectile exploded where he had just been standing. He curled himself up and rolled further to the side from the power of the shot, his ears ringing from the sound waves smashing into them. Clenching his teeth, he squeezed his eyelids shut as wall debris drizzled on him. A throbbing pain pulsed in his left calf, its strength increasing exponentially after he initially noticed it.
'Thank God I'm still alive, ' Lance thanked with relief.
Keith saw Lance's position out of the corner of his eye. The sight of his friend bowled on the floor from inertia terrified and angered him. He wanted to go over to Lance and help him, but had a more pressing matter demanding his attention. His hands gripped the wrists of the clawed Yudishthira, who was pushing as much as he was. Their grunts were a raucous chord that was a pleasing sound solely to the gods of war. Their eyes bore into each other with intentions anything but noble. Experiencing this strong bloodlust alarmed Keith.
'I can not allow myself to fall to his level, I can't,' he thought. Keith's eyes flickered in self-doubt. Yudishthira's pair detected this aberration and retorted with a glimmer of superiority.
'It would seem we both struggle against our fates, Captain. But my morale defeats yours. I shall make this apparent to you,' the agile Dhmk said in his mind. He launched a knee into Keith's diaphragm with an abruptness that was too fleeting to be parried. He thrust the air out of Keith's lungs, it egressing in a horrific, involuntary gasp. Keith saw his vision blur with tears that refused to abandon the lids out of pride. His young, determined face turned red and flushed, shaking in syncopation with his quivering limbs. He was desperately trying to maintain himself, but his body was rapidly losing strength from lack of oxygen.
The hand around his grips loosened enough for Yudishthira to wrest his hands free. He watched the Voltron Force Captain slowly succumb to his body's demands, panting with an intensity that made the desperation comic to him.
"Hmmph, that wasn't so hard," he admonished Keith as he pulled his left elbow back so that was adjacent to his cerulean face. The claw's talons were menacingly curved, tapering to points that gleamed in hunger for the human flesh in front of them. "Goodbye, Captain," Yudishthira concluded formally as he sliced the air with his left claw, intent on impaling his victim's neck and severing its windpipe. He was an inch from his target's mortality when he saw the fist approach him from the right. His eyes widened as he adeptly leaped backward. Landing with his legs apart, he hovered his heels as his toes pushed into the hotel floor. He saw the tall Voltron Force member with orange stripes help the captain up while giving Yudishthira a vengeful glare, which he returned with a sneer and a maleficent laugh. Still on his toes, he began to circle his new prey in long, lithe strides with his claws weaving in a complicated fashion. His eyes were blazing a ferocious crimson as he bared his sharp, carnivorous fangs.
Hunk propped Keith up as he regarded the enemy. He readied his gun with his free hand, keeping it poised to shoot his assailant's chest. He maintained eye contact with Yudishthira, hoping a hint of attack would give him some extra moments to amount a defense. 'He's so fast, though,' Hunk worried. 'If I shoot and miss, that leaves Keith and me wide open; I can't fist fight him with those disgusting bird feet tied to his arms! Gotta think, Hunk, gotta think…'
* * *
Arjuna flew back several yards from the force of Hey-Zeus's blast. He grimaced as his buttocks provided the friction necessary to halt his skidding. 'Ack! I think I hear my ass screetching!' he thought as he slid along the floor. Once the gliding ceased, his legs, spread-eagled and airborne, plopped down. He stared straight ahead, a dull expression on his face.
Pidge drew his firearm and aimed it at the fallen Dhmk. "Hold it right there!" Pidge warned him.
Arjuna shook his head vigorously to regain his senses. He grabbed Hey-Zeus and hugged it tightly. "I love you," he confessed in a droopy swoon, much to Pidge's surprise and confusion.
'It looks like his thick head took a beating!' Pidge smirked. His head cocked to the side unconsciously as he surveyed Arjuna.
'Well, now it's time to try the laser out!' Arjuna anticipated with conspicuous glee. With swift movements, he skillfully aimed his massive weapon and fired the laser at the young pilot of the Green Lion before a counter shot could be discharged.
"Pidge!" Allura screamed as she heroically dived in and knocked Pidge and herself to the floor milliseconds before the laser could cauterize their chests. It managed to chafe the back of her uniform and scrape some layers of skin off. She felt the pain as the impact of the beam on the back wall sent a nauseating, burning smell into the atmosphere. She looked at Pidge, who was blushing from his face's proximity to her feminine bosom. Even though the circumstances they were in hardly called for it, she could not help but find that very funny.
'If we get out of this alive, I'll have to tease him about this,' she joked to herself. "Are you okay?" she asked gently.
Pidge nodded. Allura and he both turned their heads to the sound.
"Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Now THAT'S what I call a LASER!" cheered a victorious Arjuna.
'What a surprise. Someone from Dhm that gloats before the battle's even over,' Allura groaned inwardly. She witnessed in peripheral vision a weary Lance picking himself up. ' There's no way I can save him if this madman decides to shoot at him, ' she worried.
"Psst, Princess," Pidge whispered. "I've got an idea. Just duck when I say…"
"Pidge, what are you…" she asked aloud, but the brave youth had already stood back up and had begun walking forward towards Arjuna.
Arjuna blinked, disbelieving his sight for a second. "You've got balls, you know that, kid?" he derided the boy's audacity.
"DUCK!" Pidge yelled as he flipped into the air.
"Damn monkey!" Arjuna cursed as he started to lift Hey-Zeus upward.
Allura did as Pidge said, watching fearfully. Pidge pounced his feet on Arjuna's face, prompting a maelstrom of Dhmk obscenities to spill out. The distraction gave Allura an opportunity to wrest the weapon from his grasp.
"My baby!" he cried.
'Whoa, this is heavy,' Allura realized too late as her arms fatigued easily from the weight.
'Okay, toots, you wanna play? Let's play,' Arjuna decided as he grabbed Pidge before his Space Olympic-caliber gymnastic landing.
"You monster! Let him go!" Allura ordered as she aimed the gun at Arjuna. Her legs were unsteady from the bulk, giving her a wobbling stance.
"If you guys are the Voltron Force, then you must be that Allura chick that my uncle drools over," Arjuna determined.
"Uncle?!" Allura spit out. "You mean, you are related to Lotor?" Her eyes widened at the notion, especially since he was apparently an adult.
"Pssh, unfortunately, yes. And may I say that the rumors about your beauty are GROSSLY exaggerated," he snickered.
'I'm gonna shoot him,' Allura heard herself think.
"Oh, and let me just remind you of the carnage my gun wreaked seconds ago. If you are thinking of shooting me, remember that your little friend here," Arjuna threatened as he held Pidge in a headlock, "will get blown into pieces with me."
Allura's eyebrows rose in comprehension. Her delicate lips twisted into a frown. She knew he was right.
* * *
Saoche was so happy she could squeal. Her cage had been severely damaged from the fall. Its bars were separated enough for her to squeeze her body through. ' This is overkill on my part,' she grumbled to herself. ' No one's even watching. Shit, who's the kidnap victim? Me. And who seems to give a crap? Me.' She regarded the melee in the room, and wanted to laugh herself to death. She was sincerely surprised at how well her captors fought, although she still wanted to head-butt them, more specifically, Arjuna.
She coughed. Apparently no one noticed. ' I may as well be choking my tail,' Saoche blubbered in her head. "Hey…HEY! BUTTHEADS!" she squawked at the top of her lungs. It was effective, for everyone halted their battles and focused their attentions on her. Arjuna dropped Pidge just as Allura dropped Hey-Zeus.
"Hah, that's much better," Saoche smiled. She turned to Keith. "I am Saoche, the CFO of Seer Technologies," she introduced herself.
"YOU?! You're the CFO?!" Lance blurted in shock as he used the hole in the wall to support himself "But, but you...you're nothing but a bird!"
"Bird? Bird?!" she yelled in disgust. "I am extremely insulted at your stupidity. See these?" she grinned broadly to display her teeth. "And these?" she wriggled her forearm digits for effect. "And do I have a beak, dumbass?" she countered as she tapped her upper jaw. "What bird do you know of that has fingers, teeth, and no beak?!"
"Well, there's a bird called a hoatzil that has a forearm digit as a chick," Pidge stated.
"Oh, shut up, nerd," she dismissed his facts with a sweep of her wing.
Arjuna inched up to Yudishthira and whispered in his ear, "Okay, what exactly is going on here?"
Yudishthira turned his head slightly towards his brother. "Time to go," he said simply.
Arjuna's face bore an expression that implied it had heard something ludicrous. "Leave? Like, now?"
Yudishthira nodded.
"But, but…" Arjuna argued with a whine.
"But what?"
"But the Princess has my gun," he whimpered like a babe, stomping his foot.
Yudishthira gave an exasperated sigh. "Are you kidding me?" he demanded with agitation.
Arjuna pouted and suddenly bolted towards Allura, intent on retrieving Hey-Zeus that she had dropped at her feet.
Saoche laughed and pointed. "What a dummy!" she giggled as her eyes faded into black orbs. Arjuna stopped instantly in his tracks, incapacitated. He pulled his arms as though invisible bonds held him.
Yudishthira clicked his tongue as Allura kneeled to Saoche. "How, how did you do that?" she asked.
Saoche winked and smiled. "Telekinesis. My…cage…prevented me from using my power."
"Thank you, Saoche," expressed her gratitude.
"Gimme my gun!" Arjuna ordered. Saoche ignored him and addressed Yudishthira with her eyes. He was unreadable. She looked to Arjuna. "You want your gun?" she paraphrased. It levitated off the ground. "Here ya go, punk!" she cheered maniacally as it screamed through the air, slamming into Arjuna. The pair curved to the right and smashed through the room's window.
"Arjuna!" Yudishthira cried as he leaped out the window to save his brother.
* * *
Keith was the first one at the broken pane. He looked down.
"Do you see anything?" Allura asked. Keith shook his head.
"This hotel's pretty high up, maybe we can't see their bodies," Lance smirked.
Hunk grimaced at Lance's dark humor, and braved his phobia of heights enough to take a long glimpse out the window. "Nope," Hunk disagreed with his cynical team member. "I can see the street from here, and there's nothing." He removed his helmet and wiped some sweat off his brow.
"Does that mean they got away?" Pidge wondered.
Saoche clapped her hands together as though wiping them clean of dust. "Who cares? They're gone, I'm free, and you guys can take me to Arus."
"Arus?" Keith said surprised. "But, isn't Xiron here on Earth?"
"Um, ex…excuse me?" Saoche said in a high pitch. "I said I am FREE and you GUYS can take ME to ARUS!" she repeated obnoxiously and with deliberate pauses between the words.
Lance crossed his arms, limping as he walked forward. "Why should we?" he retorted.
Saoche assumed a demure pose and batted her eyes at him. "Because I'm afraid to stay on Earth. Xiron is on a business trip that's been planned for months. Please," she sweetly pleaded in a girlish tone. She flew onto his shoulder. She touched his left cheek to turn his face to hers. She moved his visage closer. "I'll make it worth your while," she propositioned in a sultry voice.
"Really?" Lance said, his interest piqued. "How?"
Saoche chuckled and pulled his face closer. She leaned toward his ear. "I'LL PAY YOU LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY!!!" she belted out.
Lance cried and winced from the painful decibels. He shrugged her off his shoulders as he placed his hands over his ears. Saoche smugly obliged, gliding onto Keith's shoulder instead. She leaned her elbow on his head, crossing her legs as she pretended to watch herself picking lint from her claw. "So how 'bout it, Chief?" she asked nonchalantly. "Shall we be off?"
"But what about…" Pidge began.
"No, no, no!" she wailed, shaking her head violently. "I've been traumatized enough! Let's go," she whimpered desperately. "Besides," she added as she gestured to Lance's wounded leg, "Cutey over there needs some medical attention."
The hotel staff was unbelievably considerate despite the severe amount of damage done to the room. Perhaps their attitudes were mollified by Saoche's promise of gratuitous financial compensation from Seer Technologies. Saoche's initial quip about suing the hotel for being an accessory to kidnapping on behalf of her employer may have led them to be amiably cooperative as well. The hotel doctor on call had checked Keith and Lance for fractures. Finding none, he cleaned and bandaged Lance and Allura for no cost. The hotel then gave everyone complimentary penthouse suites for life as long as the media was never informed of the situation that had occurred.
"I have to admit, you really helped back there," Lance confessed to Saoche on the hoverail back to the Lions.
Hunk nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we came to save you, but it looks like you're the one who saved us."
"Aw shucks," Saoche smiled, her feathers fluffing from the happiness she was feeling. "I'm flattered. You guys rock. You really do." She turned her attention to Keith, who was awash in his own thoughts. "What's with poker face over there?" she inquired aloud with a flip of her thumb in his direction.
"Oh, he's always like that," Lance answered as though the question was asked a thousand times before.
"I see," Saoche observed. ' Lord, I'm beat. ' "Hey…Lance, that's your name, right?" she asked.
Lance nodded. "You were paying attention," he chuckled. ' I can't believe this, but I actually like this little bugger, ' he admitted to himself.
"Well, Lance," she continued, "I'm very tired. May I take a nap in your lap?"
Heat dribbled onto his cheeks, blushing them an embarrassing shade. "The ride's only a couple of minutes longer," he observed.
"Duh," her demeanor changed harshly. Lance's pallor paled. "I meant when you're piloting the Lion, genius," she elaborated.
"I dunno…" he objected.
"Oh come on, it's not like I'm gonna bite ya or pee on ya!" she argued.
Lance agreed, "Fine, but not for the whole trip."
"Deal," Saoche completed the negotiation with a slap on the back of his head.
"Someone's got a new girlfriend," Allura teased jovially.
"No I don't," Lance pouted.
"Shh, don't admit you're not getting any," Saoche rasped in his ear. "It makes you look like less of a man."
"I get plenty of chicks!" he proclaimed to the hoverrail. "Plenty!"
"Easy there, now you're coming off greasy," Saoche advised.
"Lance and Saoche sitting in a tree…" Pidge began the rhyme.
"Pidge french-kisses his PC," Saoche finished it before he could. Pidge scowled as Hunk and Lance laughed up a storm. Even Keith visibly guffawed as Allura comforted Pidge while struggling to keep her chuckling in check.
The mission had been a success. They reached the Lions in minutes, and took to the sky. The Voltron Force set their course for Arus, and cruised space with the stars as the cosmic backdrop. It would be two weeks of sleeping with the autopilot on and cruising with only the monitors and each other for company, with the exception of Lance, who had a snuggling Saoche to tolerate the whole trip.
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