The Monster in the Sky. Klance AU

Chapter 17: Sharing the Losses

As the door was thrown open, every single person in the room turned to watch. Lance, Coran and Dr Anderson all strolled into the room, Dr Anderson and Coran unarmed whilst Lance still wielded his bayard. Dr Anderson walked out in front of the group and raised his head to speak. Just as everyone expected him to fall to his knees and wave the white flag, his lips tilted into a mischievous smile. "Shoot the leader." He said in a complete monotone.

Lance just about had enough time to yell, "WAIT!" before he was being grabbed from behind and pulled back. Coran was in the same position, being held onto by another one of the rebels. The one who had been holding the gun to Shiro's forehead moved his finger to the trigger but he was never able to pull it. Shiro grabbed him by the arm and twisted him around so that he had the upper hand and was able to snatch the gun from the rebel's grip.

"Stop him!" Dr Anderson commanded, though he didn't make any effort to stop Shiro himself. A few of the rebels dived forward but Shiro had expected it, dodging each hit as if it was some sort of dance. Whilst everyone was distracted by the combat in the middle, Pidge twirled around to shove the closest rebel to her into the wall. She knew full well that it was that rebel that had taken their bayards and had them buried inside her pockets.

Lance was just about able to shimmy out of the rebel's grip and latch back onto his gun so he could knock out whoever had been holding onto him. The alien dropped onto the ground with its eyes shut in a deep sleep, something Lance knew he had to take advantage of: he didn't know how long he was going to be out for.

"Everyone get out!" Coran yelled once he realised he was able to imitate Lance's actions. The crowd began to flood out of the double doors at the front of the building as everyone desperately attempted to push their way towards safety. Once Voltron were left with the rebels on their own, Coran made eye contact with Shiro. "I'm going to get help!"

"Go!" Shiro responded, hands clenching into fists as he prepared himself for the fight that was about to come. Coran raced out of the building behind the crowd whilst occasionally shouting commands that would both control and reassure all of the people.

Pidge threw everyone their bayards once the rebel she had been attacking was out cold. Once she had thrown Hunk's at him, he was much more confident in his actions. He used the butt of his gun to knock out the nearest rebel to him. No one wanted to kill the rebels so they took their turns knocking them out until Dr Anderson was the only one left standing. Pidge cracked her knuckles and whipped out her bayard. Lance nodded at her which she accepted as her cue to circle the psychologist until he was wrapped up in her bayard and rendered immobile.

"Dr Anderson... why would you do that?" Lance asked, lowering his head but still maintaining eye contact. There was something about the direct mode of address that made Lance feel like he had power over the 'person' that had once been his psychologist. Dr Anderson appeared much more vulnerable when his glossed over eyes were revealed to the rest of the world. "I thought you were going to help us. Why didn't you? I thought we agreed that we would have saved your daughter if we could." He kept his voice soft, as if he was approaching a cracked shard of glass and trying his hardest not to break it. He raised his eyebrows and let condolence wash over his face. He wanted Dr Anderson to know that they weren't enemies. Lance was truly sorry for his loss and he hated how much pain the alien had been put through. "I want to help you, okay? I don't want to hurt you."

"You deserve to die!" Dr Anderson yelled, face scrunched up as he used all of his strength to struggle against the restraints. He looked like an animal suffering from rabies. There was a dark glint in his eyes that couldn't have been mistaken for anything except for an intense desire to kill. His jaw was tense all of the time, apart from when he was screaming insults and swear words at Voltron. He hardly resembled the composed, calm man that Lance had talked to about his problems in the past.