Growing Pains (A Voltron Legendary Defender Fan Fiction)

Chapter 19

"Hey, guys! Look who I found!" Pidge marched happily into the lounge, dragging Keith behind her.

"Keith!" They all ran over to him, and Hunk wrapped him in a huge hug. They were all concerned about his wearing the helmet, but for the moment, they didn't care.

"We missed you so much." He looked up and saw Shiro walking towards them. Keith gave him a small glare, not knowing what he was going to do next.

"I'm sorry." Shiro looked down. "I... what I did to you was terrible. I was blinded by my own desire to help you, that I didn't think about what I was doing. I am so sorry... can you forgive me...?"

They all turned to Keith who remained silent, but eventually, a small smile appeared on his face, and he gave a nod. "Thank you." Shiro squeezed him in a bone-crushing hug. "I don't know what I would do if you hated me..." Keith's eyes widened, acknowledging how he felt the same when it came to his being Galra.

Before they were able to do any more catching up, they heard Coran's voice over the speakers. "Paladins, we have just come across a Galra cruiser, and they've spotted us! We need to take the fight to them before they are able to radio for backup!"

They all ran to their respective hangers, as they could feel the castle taking fire. Once they were in their lions, they soon started firing on the cruiser. When that wasn't making much of a dent, they formed Voltron and tried using the sword instead. Unfortunately, that seemed to have been their plan all along.

Before they knew what was going on, they found themselves trapped in a tractor beam. "What's going on?!" Lance yelled.

"It's like the beam we encountered on Zarkon's ship!" Pidge yelled back.

"This was a setup." Shiro glared up at the ship, "Once they saw we were in the area, they purposely let themselves take fire and waited to form Voltron. That way they could capture us all at once."

"What do we do now?" Hunk said in a panic. "I can't move."

"We just have to wait for an opening to escape once we get inside." Shiro tried to remain calm for the sake of his teammates, but even they could tell that he was worried.

Once they were brought inside the ship, the lions were forcibly separated, and the paladins were dragged off to a holding cell. All of their weapons had been confiscated. Including Shiro's arm, which they didn't even know was possible.

"What are we going to do?" Hunk said miserably.

They had overheard one of the guards say that they had radioed the Castle of Lions and had threatened to kill the paladins if they tried to follow them. They were sure Allura and Coran were trying to come up with some kind of plan to free them, but without knowing what it was, they didn't feel very hopeful.

"I'm so stupid..." Shiro slammed his fist against the wall. "I should have questioned why they were only attacking the ship and not the lions. They were just trying to draw us out..."

"Hey man, don't blame yourself..." Lance put a hand on his shoulder. "None of us figured it out either."

"Any ideas on how to get us out Pidge?" they all looked at the small girl who was sitting on the floor.

"Our one bit of luck is that they didn't think to take our armor." She answered. "That means I still have access to my wrist computer." She continued typing away.

"That's great!" Hunk cheered. "So can you get us out?"

She bit her lip, "Well, that's a bit of an issue." She pulled up a map of the ship. "We are here. She pointed to the screen. "Right outside our cell, is a door that will lead us to that hallway. From that hallway, we can reach the room where they have most likely taken our weapons. From there, it's a clean shot to where they are keeping the lions."

"That's great Pidge." Lance praised. "So, all we need to do is find a way to get this cell open, and we're home free!"

"It's not quite that simple..." She pulled up a schematic of one of the doors. "It seems like the Galra are getting smarter. Every door on this ship has one of these bio scanners. That means that only Galra can operate them. Normally we are able to bypass this issue with Shiro's arm. But since they took it..."

"Even if we are able to escape the cell, there's no way we can get past those doors..." Hunk finished, and she nodded.

"Could we..." Lance was thinking as fast as he could, "Couldn't we like, cut off the hand of one of the guards and use that to open the doors? I know it sounds gruesome but if it could work..."

She shook her head, "No, the door also scans the user before it opens. It's a security measure so that exact thing won't happen. It won't even open if the guard is unconscious. If the hand isn't attached to someone who is alive and awake, it won't open."

"Damn!" Shiro punched the wall again.

"That's it then..." Hunk slid down to the floor. "We're stuck, and Zarkon is going to get the lions, and he's going to use them to conquer the universe..."

Keith could only watch as Pidge silently cried, and Lance tried to comfort her. He looked down at his own hands and thought over his options. He could either keep his secret or watch all his friends die. Or...

"We need to distract the guard..." They all looked up in surprise to hear him speak. His back was to them, but he continued. "I can get us out..."

(A/N - Hey guys, thanks for reading! :) When I say Vol, You say... Also side note, Happy Percy Jackson's birthday! Even if it is technically 2 am on the 19th now...)