Lured (Klance)

6: Connections

Song Of The Chapter:
Howl - Jake Houlsby

It was a process of non-stop pacing for Keith as Pidge worked on tracking the phone down.
He knew Pidge was probably about ready to lecture him, but he couldn't find it in him to stop moving.
"Got it," Pidge said finally with a rather smug grin.
Alongside the glowing dot of a location, Pidge pulled up the ID of the person who owned the phone.
"Honerva H. Zarkon, though is known as simply Honerva," Pidge read. "She's some sort of nurse. Has some really high fucking military clearance."
"I'm not surprised, that team that took Shiro away was definitely military. My best guess is that he's at some base." Hunk mused, munching on his chips.
"So how the hell do we break Shiro out of a military base?" Pidge asked, slumping in her chair.
"We should check out this woman first, see what she knows," Keith suggested, a plan already forming in his head.
"Are you purposing we go and knock on her door and ask to give us our friend back? Because I don't think that'll work." The shorter girl said sarcastically.
"No, we don't necessarily need to even talk to her."
"So breaking into her house or something?"
"Precisely."
"Great. I love it."
Hunk groaned, bringing a hand to drag down his face.
"Guys you do know this is illegal right?"
"The military kidnapped my brother," Keith snapped. "I don't give a shit about illegal."
"I'm just wondering if there's a better way to go about this," Hunk sighed.
"Well if we don't find anything that can give us a clue in her house, we can go and knock on her door when she's home."
Hunk looked uncertain. "Are you guys sure you want to do this? We could go to jail, you know."
"They should be in jail themselves for taking Shiro without a word."
"Keith, call Allura and Romelle. They should know what's going on."
"On it."

The group discussed their plan, and throughout the following two days, they analyzed this Honerva's schedule, and planned their break in. Pidge had managed to put a tracker in the nurse's car, so they knew her route, and knew exactly how to get to the base.

Now all they had to do was wait until she left her house that Sunday morning.

Sure enough, she came walking out, carrying her usual briefcase, before getting in the car and driving off.
"The bird has left the building," Pidge announced slyly, and then together the group got out and carefully made their way around to the back of the house, to prevent being seen out front.
"The bathroom window is slightly cracked open, do you think you can get in?" Hunk announced, turning to Pidge.
"You bet."
She cranked the window the rest of the way open, before jumping and pulling herself through the space.
There was silence for a few minutes, before the back sliding door opened, and she grinned.
"Come on."

There wasn't anything too out of the ordinary in the house. Family photos, trophies, badges, awards, but nothing of suspicion.
"She really likes science," Hunk commented, browsing some catalogs on the coffee table.
"Find anything else?"
A cat meowed. Keith hadn't realized it was sitting on the couch until it personally announced it's presence.
A black, orange, and grey calico, with a purple collar. It's name tag said KOVA.
"Kova, huh?"
"Guys, I found a computer!" Romelle's voice called from another room. Keith gave the cat a scratch on the head before coming over, everyone looking as Pidge sat down on the desk.
"This probably has some stuff on it."
She opened it up, and it went to the password screen.
"Shit, I don't have my decoder with me," Pidge grumbled. "Any ideas?"
Keith was on top of it. "Try Kova... and maybe the date of her promotion?"
It was on an award in the living room.
"Okay..."
Pidge typed the possible combo in, but the "Failed password" appeared.
"It was worth a shot," Keith shrugged.
Pidge tried something else, involving the name of Honerva's son's name.
Again, failed password.
She continued, overriding the 3 attempt security system with ease. At least she knew how to do that manually.
"You could try the day she got married?"
"Guys," Hunk interrupted their process. "Uh, I think people are coming."
"What?"
"People are coming!" He repeated. "Look!"
Sure enough, outside was a dark van, and four men stepped out, in sharp outfits screaming that they were of high rank.
"Oh shit," Pidge said, closing the computer. "We've gotta go. Come on!"

They all rushed out, careful not to be seen through the windows.
One by one each person ran out the sliding glass door, but Pidge didn't follow. No, she closed it behind them, locking it.
Right as the front door opened she sprinted to the bathroom, and a few seconds passed before she was out, having jumped out the window she came in.
They peeked through the windows. The men were rummaging around, looking for something.
The group sat in utter silence, daring not to make a single noise.
Sure enough, the men found the computer. They put it in a case and then left, without a single word.
"What the hell was that?" Pidge hissed, looking at the others.
Nobody knew.

"We should follow them," Keith said as they all went back to the car.
"And what, get caught? No way," Hunk said, frowning.
"What Keith is proposing isn't a terrible idea," Allura spoke up. "We can then locate specifically where the base is located. Maybe Pidge can tap into their security footage too, so we can figure out what we are dealing with."
Silence passed between them, but then there was nods of approval.
"I'm going to go back to the aquarium," Romelle said. "I'll inform Coran of what is happening."
"And ill get my car and come back here. It's a good idea to keep track of what's happening on this end," Hunk said, looking at the house.
"Sounds like a plan." Keith turned the ignition on, and they headed back to regroup and get their things.

~~~

Restless.
That's what Lance was.
Restless, irritable, cramped, unhappy, terrified, and longing for the ocean.
He was getting bored of the slick cut edges of his tank. The simplicity irked him- he wanted the jagged, bumpy bottom of the ocean floor, where nothing was perfectly flat. There was nothing to amuse him here. He was like a dolphin at a marine animal park- going insane because of the boring, perfectly clean environment he was in. There were no fish to watch swim by, no current, not even the gentle brush of sand.
Just an eerie silence.
He knew he had to get out of here. By that scientist's input and overhearing conversation, he knew that the humans were planning on doing another draw of his blood and something else that didn't sound good, by the way that girl Acxa reacted.
So Lance made a plan.
He knew he had to get out somehow. And he was fairly sure he knew how.

~~~

Acxa was dreading the following day once she left for the night. The blood draw would happen, but alongside that, Zarkon insisted they take other tests as well.
That included, but wasn't limited to, a full body x-ray.
Who knew what the radiation could do to him, and not only that, having him outside of water seemed extremely dangerous.
But when she came into the lab that day, it was strange to see the siren fairly limp looking in the tank. She came over and tapped on the glass, trying to evoke a reaction.
The fish's eyes were glazed over.
Second pair of eyelids.
Huh.
It looked weak in the tank- dying.
"Ah Jesus Christ, what's wrong with it?"
A scientist came over, a scowl deep on their face.
"I don't know." Acxa admitted. "I just found him like this."
"Well, make sure it survives by tomorrow, we need it alive for the tests. Who knows, it could be better this way. Maybe it'll be weak enough for us not to need to use any sedative."

Acxa tried to interact with the merman, sitting where she normally did and scrolling through her phone and trying to feed him.
Nothing worked. He was unresponsive.
She didn't know what he was up to, whether it was some sort of form of fake dead or whether he was truly sick.
Either way, she hoped that something would work itself out.

A/N:
I might do shorter chapters to post more frequently. Things are getting exciting :)