Criminal

Plans Don't Always Go as... Planned.

Lance glanced at his watch as he crept towards the school. Three... two... one... time to go. He bolted for the kitchen door and snuck through. True to her word, Romelle had managed to get it unlocked. Allura followed behind him. Keith, of course, had opted to use a window, since it was a faster and less populated route.

"Good luck," Allura whispered, and she turned off towards the L wing. Classes were in session right now, so the only people that would be in the hallways would be the guards. Which were, of course, the ones they really had to worry about.

Xxx

Allura opened the door to the L wing soundlessly, grateful that they hadn't had the time to take her handprint off of the alarm system on the door. She tapped by Florona and Plaxum's fishtank, making straight for Lotor's prison. She pulled out a screwdriver (provided by Romelle, of course) and attacked the hinges of the door, unscrewing them and taking the door clear off.

"Lotor?"

"Allura?"

Allura dropped to her knees next to him. "Oh, Lotor. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry! I should have figured it out—I should have tried harder to find you when you disappeared even after they told me that you graduated!"

"Allura." Lotor leaned against her, his shoulders shaking. "Allura, he's my father! How could he—he—"

Allura hugged him. He'd been at the school the longest, and as the student council president, she'd worked with him more closely than any of the other students. She'd been there when his mother had died in a car wreck and his father had been badly injured. She'd been there when all of his friends had 'graduated' and he'd been left behind. And now she had to be here for this.

"I'm sorry, Lotor." She pulled back. "We need to get out of here."

"And go where? I'mpurple, Allura! I can't go anywhere that I will fit in."

"Lotor, we'll figure it out. But right now, we're going to get you and everyone else out of here." Allura picked the lock on his chains and offered him a hand up, wincing as she hauled him to his feet. Lotor had never exactly been heavy, but he barely weighed anything now. Allura's vision went red. It wasn't enough that they'd experimented on them. They had to starve him, too?!

Lotor closed his glowing eyes. "There is no one else. Except for the fish-girls, but we can't take them out."

"Nyma?"

"Dead in experimentation. Just like Narti, and Axca and Zethrid and Ezor when they' graduated.'" Lotor's voice cracked.

Allura's heart clenched. She'd hoped that maybe Lotor's friends had been released into the world. They could get them back that way, at least.

"Okay. Alright. Let's just get you out of here, for now. We're going to end this, Lotor. Lance and Keith and Romelle and I. We're finishing it. This won't happen to anyone else."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," a deep voice rumbled from the door.

Xxx

Romelle smiled brightly at Hunk and Katie. "I've got something I want to show you! In the library! Come on!"

They looked up at her. "What is it? A book?"

Romelle laughed. "No, sillies! It's a piece of art I drew! Mr. Coran said it was the best in the class! We put it up in the library so that everyone could see it! Come on!"

Hunk and Katie looked at each other, shrugged, and followed her to the library. Romelle fingered the taser in her pocket, her mouth dry. This was it. She was going to free them. She'd never known the real Hunk and Katie. But she wanted to. And now was her chance.