Chill (Klance Warmth series Book 2 of +4)

24: White Hot Destruction

Shiro blinked at the prince's unusually sharp reply. As far as the  black paladin could remember, Lance had never said anything in such a  cold, curt tone except when he argued with his sister in 'private' that  one time. He was always polite and courteous, if a bit outrageous and  flirtatious.

"Keith, what's going on?" he asked, trying an alternative to contacting Lance again. "Is Lance alright?"

"I don't know," was the red paladin's reply. "He called Allura. Whatever she told him made him freak out. He ran ahead to his Lion leaving me and the Balmerans behind."

"He left the Balmerans alone?" Shiro gasped. That was definitely not like Lance. "Are they alright? Where are you right now?"

"I'm about to get into the Red Lion," Keith said. "The Blue Lion's already in fli- Fraking quiznak!"

"Keith!"

Shiro  stopped talking when his speeder pod burst out into the mining shaft  where he'd left the Black Lion. He was horrified to see several Galran  fighters hijacking the Black Lion with their tractor beams. Thankfully,  the Black Lion had kept its particle barrier up so they couldn't  directly access it, but this also made it impossible for Shiro to reach  the Black Lion. Especially now that the Lion was hovering at least a  good a fifteen or so above the ground. Or so he thought.

Before he  could slow down, the pod began speeding up without his input.  Frantically trying to slow down, Shiro pulled back on the controls.  Nothing happened. The next moment, the pod was rising from the ground,  up through a small opening in the Black Lion's particle barrier, and  back into the Lion's small chest hangar. Shiro barely had a chance to  marvel at the sudden change in location when the roof slid open above  him. His pilot seat lifted up to the floor above and slid down a track  into the Black Lion's cockpit.

The Lion made a sound that Shiro  suspected was a laugh at his shock. The Lion's amusement eased his  nerves and he gripped the controls confidently. Immediately, the Lion's  particle barrier disappeared and Shiro flew up out of the shaft into the  sky. Pidge's Green Lion and Hunk's Yellow Lion swiftly joined him  followed closely by Keith's Red Lion. Lance's Blue Lion wasn't visible  until Shiro looked up. The Blue Lion was streaking through the sky  directly at the Galra battlecruiser that was currently facing off with  the Castle of Lions.

"Guys! Get to the Castle quick!" he  commanded, forcing the Black Lion into a steep climb. "Lance! Lance,  come back. We can form Voltron and stop this!"

No response.

"Lance!" Shiro called again. "Lance, help us form Voltron. We'll have a better chance of defending the Castle that way."

"Lance!" Keith called over the same channel. "Lance, listen to me!"

"Lance, stop!" Hunk shouted.

"He's insane!" Pidge cried.

To  Shiro's horror, Lance ignored all of their calls and flew the Blue Lion  straight at the Galra battlecruiser. Shiro pushed the throttles as far  forward as he could. But the moment he saw the tell-tale purple glow of  the ion cannon powering up, he knew he wouldn't make it in time. He  could only watch in sick fascination as the Castle's particle barrier  shrank so it only covered the bow of the Castleship in an oval shape.

Shiro  knew the princess had probably focused the full force of the particle  barrier directly in front of the Castle in the hopes it would have a  better chance of absorbing the ion cannon's blast. It was a last ditch  effort and everyone knew it.

"We have to get to that battleship,"  he said. "Everyone, push hard. We may not be able to stop the ion cannon  from firing, but we may be able to knock it off target."