Criminal

Chapter 10

"No. No way. You can't really be planning to go through with this! You've been shot!"

Keith stiffly changed into his school uniform, the makeshift bandages stained red. "I'm going through with this. Truancy is a crime, Lance."

"So is attempted murder!"

"You ever wonder why the school is out in the middle of nowhere?"

Lance frowned. "What do you mean?"

Keith finished buttoning his shirt and made his way to the door, hissing in pain. "The school—miles out—from civilization. No one—can call—the police—agh!" He fell, holding his injured side. "Okay. Okay, so this is... this hurts a lot more than I thought it would."

"You got shot," Lance reiterated.

"Oh, really? Hadn't noticed." Keith waved a hand. "You go to class. I'll catch up."

"You are notcoming to class!"

"Yeah? Who's going to stop me? You?"

"Yes?" Lance hated the way it came out like a question.

"You want a shiner to match your crooked nose?"

"I'm sorry, you need to notthreaten people, Keith."

"I'm going to class. End. Of. Story. Don't try to stop me."

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Not an option," Keith said grimly.

"Please, come on, Keith, you can't even walk, how are you going to run if they start to chase you?"

A grim smile touched his lips. "I'm not planning on running."

Lance scowled. "You know what? Fine. Just, well, fine! Go get yourself killed, or brainwashed or turned into some kind of weird mutant! Just don't get me mixed up in your stupid coup!"

Lance stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind him. When he got to Physics, he saw that Shiro looked glazed, like Pidge. Class was boring, all equations and practice problems and worksheets instead of Mr. Shiro shoving things off of his desk at random and telling them to calculate the mass based on how fast it had fallen from his 1 meter desk.

About halfway through, Keith pushed the door open, ignoring the stares from the rest of the class and coming to sit down in his normal seat. Lance noted that the side of his shirt was stained crimson.

"Stars, Keith, you're going to bleed out," he said quietly.

"Nope," Keith replied shortly, despite the fact that he looked like he was about to pass out, "Not happening." He put his head down on the desk. "Just give me a shove if anything important happens."

Class progressed, and then P.A. crackled over the speakers. Keith Kogane, report to the principal's office.

Keith wobbled to his feet. "Time to finish it," he murmured.

Lance put his head in his arms. "Oh my stars, you're actually insane!" he whispered, "Or suicidal, I'm not sure which! Just... don't mention me, okay?"

Keith pushed towards the door, and Lance winced as he looked at the empty seat. Keith had left blood on the desk.

He's bleeding too much. He's going to die. He's going to bleed out and die!

Not my problem. I tried to stop him, I tried to keep him from coming.

He's going to get killed!

Lance went through the rest of class in a daze, wondering what was happening. Had Keith managed to kill the principal? Had he gotten caught and dragged to the L wing? Was he busy naming all accomplices to try to save himself?

Lance McClain, please report to Mr. Sendak's office.

Lance felt his stomach heave. They were going to grab him. They were going to brainwash him like Pidge! He considered making a run for it, but he knew the gate was guarded. There was nowhere to run.

He knocked tentatively on the office door and was admitted by a deep "come in." He edged in, gulping.

"Sit."

Lance sat. "Sir?"

"Your friends seem to be trouble."

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"Katie Holt attempted to hack secure files. Hunk Garret attempted the same. And Keith Kogane attempted to kill the principal. Twice."

Lance's mouth went dry, and sweat started to bead his forehead, dripping down the back of his neck. "Did he...?"

"The principal, luckily, sustained only a stab wound to the arm. Kogane is in our custody."

In the L wing then. "Okay. That's good."

Sendak leaned forward. "We've been asking him about accomplices."

Lance leaned forward, putting his hands on the edge of Sendak's desk, gripping the wood tightly. "Sir, whatever he told you, I—I didn't really want to follow him into the L wing, but I was being chased, and I had to, and when he knocked on the window, I mean, I couldn't just let him bleed out, so I let him in and—and—"

Sendak blinked. "McClain. McClain!"

Lance stopped. "Yes, sir?"

"I was just going to ask you if you'd noticed him planning something with anyone. One of the teachers. Or one of the teachers."

Lance let go of the desk, blinking hard. "Um... I..."

"What exactly did you see in the L wing?" Sendak sounded genuinely curious. "I've been told it is just a burned-out building."

Lance's brain whirled. No. Not possible. Sendak had been there! Lance had seen him! There was no way that Sendak didn't know what was going on!

"Lance. I want to help you. What did you see?"

"Uh—I saw—" Lance gulped. "I saw Pidge's old roommates. Sir, they—they were—they—"

"Thank you, Lance, that's all I needed." All semblance of the confused, helpful Sendak disappeared, replaced with a ruthless enforcer of the principal's bidding. "Come along, then."

Lance started to scream. He didn't care who heard him, as long as someone came, but something sharp hit him, and his tongue died in his mouth, all of his limbs going heavy.

Oh, he thought as he drifted off, so, that's how they got Keith.

Xxx

"—riority one—"

"—ot stubborn—"

"Should respond—"

Lance pushed his eyes open, blinking groggily at his surroundings. Everything was starched white. He was sitting in a chair of some kind, like the ones in the dentist's office. He tried to sit up, but something stopped him. Something around his wrists. Something else in his mouth.

He was shackled to the chair. Gagged.

A wave of panic swept over Lance, and he tugged at the restraints, yelling into the gag and generally putting up a fuss. A man in a white coat approached him, smiling.

"Hey, we'll get those off of you in just a minute, okay? We just want to make sure you don't hurt yourself, okay?" He gave another smile. "Work with us, and everything will be just fine."