(From Ashes) Chapter 34

    Pride: From Ashes
        Chapter 34
        No Plan Survives Contact…

Waking up kind of sucked, though it beat the alternative. As he struggled with the process Hunk looked blearily around his new surroundings—they were a lot like his old surroundings, but with fewer filtration arrays and better company. The doctors had been fine, but he didn't speak the language, and being poked and prodded and literally cut open just wasn't his favorite thing. Not that he remembered most of that…

Most of it immediately reasserted itself as he tried to roll over. "Ow."

Immediately Keith looked over and grinned, his relief evident. It felt like forever since the Arusians had brought their teammate into the recovery room, but probably hadn't been much more than a few minutes. An incredibly long few minutes. Off to his side, Allura sighed happily at the answered prayers.

Wincing a little at the ow, Vince tried for a smile too. "Hi."

"Don't think I'm high anymore, nah." Arusian anesthetic was an experience.

Sven snorted, Vince laughed, and Daniel took up the sympathetic wincing duty. "That sucks."

"Kinda does," Hunk admitted, shifting a little more. The pain in his right side went from stabs to dull aches, which seemed like a plus.

"I'm glad you're still with us." Romelle couldn't muster a smile. "That… was scary."

"Kinda was," he agreed again, and made a face. "So uh, bet you all had this talk while I was out but… that, uh." He gestured vaguely with his left arm. "That happened, yeah?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Understatement."

"Well, hell. Was hopin' that was the drugs." Frown. "Even though it's why I'm on the drugs… made sense in my head. Causality ain't real. Time is a lie. The Earth is patient."

"Ah, good, he's fine," Yellow purred in Vince's head.

Daniel eyed him. "Are you sure you're not still high?"

"That was normal," Vince countered. Much as he didn't like to agree with the creepy voice, he wasn't wrong.

Hunk pointed at him and nodded. Daniel shrugged and nodded too; that tracked.

"Pretty sure the dream that I got dunked in a tornado was the drugs, though." Easing himself up slightly further, Hunk noted that Pidge wasn't in the room. Nor was Larmina, for that matter. "…Or uh, was it?"

"I don't know about a tornado, but there was certainly a breeze," Sven acknowledged; Keith nodded.

"Felt some wind," Lance agreed quietly. The guilt gnawing at him had doubled when Hunk woke up; the nothing he'd contributed during the fight was still on his mind.

"It was kind of nice, actually." Daniel looked around the cramped chamber. "Not much of a breeze down here."

"Well, that's a plus." Another cautious attempt at sitting more upright, and Hunk gave a very incongruous squeak of pain. Okay, just gotta live with where I'm at. "Anyone said how long I've gotta just sit here with a hole in my side?"

"Not that I heard."

"No, they hadn't told us that." Keith shook his head. "Dr. Gorma is supposed to check in soon."

However long he was supposed to be down, Hunk couldn't help suspect he would not be. "Okay. So we uh… got a plan?"

Sven shrugged. "There is something like a plan."

That might be a strong word for it. "Sort of." Keith shook his head. "We're going to confront him in the lions. I know it sounds ridiculous."

Hunk considered that, then pointedly looked down at the bandages covering his side. "Not sure it sounds that ridiculous, no lie."

"No, it's ridiculous," Daniel retorted. Lance grimaced next to him. It's fucking fucked.

Vince glanced around the chamber and raised an eyebrow. He understood Daniel's objections, but also, "You guys are pretty good at ridiculous."

Hunk and Sven answered at the same time. "What d'you mean us guys?"

"You say that as if you aren't."

Putting his best nope face on, Vince looked away. Explorer Team chaos had never come as easily to him, they all knew that! And yet… he heard Flynn's voice in his mind, the real one, the ghost before everything had gone wrong.

Everything we ever asked of you…

"Anyway, anything that means nobody else gets shot sounds less ridiculous than any other plan. Ow." Hunk shook his head. "Good thing I've got a lot of padding." Though that was strange, too. He'd literally been standing still for Romelle to punch him and… He barely hit the biggest target?

Lance was still wondering about that too. "He missed." How did he miss? "It's weird."

"Very weird," Keith agreed, frowning thoughtfully.

They'd brought that up before, and Romelle wasn't following. "Why is that weird?" She remembered from rifle training how easily a large target could seem small.

"He's a fucking good shot," Lance explained. "Almost as good as me." Her eyes widened, and she bit her lip as she turned back to Hunk again.

Is he in there somewhere? Hunk mused, remembering what Allura had said in the meadow, but Yellow growled softly.

"Be cautious, Earthwarder." The lion followed up with a quick summary of what he'd missed while he was out, and he winced. Okay, so it's complicated.

Red was wary in the back of Lance's mind too, and he couldn't just discount that, no matter how much he wanted to hope. He settled on murmuring, "It's just weird."

"Maybe it's because he's a zombie?" Daniel understood exactly what Lance was clinging to—and was damn glad this thing hadn't showed up in Cam's body, so he didn't have to worry about what he'd do. Even if he had occasionally threatened to pitch the guy into a woodchipper. "Alive Flynn was a good shot, Un-alive Evil Asshole Flynn is a bad shot, makes sense to me."

That actually did make sense, and a few of the others nodded. Especially Vince, who'd seen him more recently than most.

"I mean, zombies aren't real known for their gunnery, yeah?" Hunk shrugged, which had been a terrible idea, and gritted his teeth as pain drilled through his guts. "Granted he wasn't yellin' about brains either."

The thought occurred to Daniel that zombies didn't usually have magic, either… and this one had been doing better with it than he had been. He decided to think about something else.

"I wish I knew more to help you all," Romelle said quietly, exchanging looks with Allura.

The princess nodded her agreement. "I've never seen such frightening magic before. We have to free them." Even though she hadn't known them, she felt it just as fiercely. "Nobody deserves that pain, or that fate." She looked at her hands, a couple of sparks dancing between them, and remembered the lightning she'd unleashed. It didn't feel auspicious that she'd only slowed the creature down. "I hope the body can be destroyed."

Hunk tilted his head and decided to ask the closest thing to an expert that they had. Yellow, can we kill this thing?

"Conventionally? It is unlikely. I can sense that the abomination is tethered elsewhere. Somewhere steeped in unfamiliar powers… it blocks some of my sight, but I suspect it must be where they fell."

Korrinoth. That would make sense. The rest wasn't encouraging, except… What exactly d'you mean by 'not conventionally'?

"We have certainly faced enemies with power over death before." Yellow purred. "I may not know this magic, nor precisely how to destroy the abomination, but I know that we are not conventional."

…That was a pretty good point too, actually.

"We will destroy it," Keith said quietly. "Somehow." He felt Black's purr of agreement.

"My plan was just to keep firing the tail laser until it hits it," Daniel said with a shrug. "I mean if the lions can't destroy the body, what are we expecting can?"

Lance looked at him and lowered his eyes. It. Flynn… why can't I do that? Just call him it? He was getting annoyed at himself again, he had to get it together.

"Complicated feelings are to be expected, Firestriker. There is no justice in the position you've been placed in."

Not helping. True, probably. But not helping. Red responded by purring warmly, and he sighed. It didn't really help either, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

Also not helping was Daniel, who was still dwelling on lion-versus-person dynamics. "He's definitely too small to lock the missiles onto." Landing the hit was going to be the hard part. "The tail has the most flexibility, but I think any laser ought to do it."

"Yellow has the plasma bombs," Hunk volunteered. "Ain't fast but they'll blast an area." Yellow's caution was in his mind, but there was no sense in not trying to just vaporize the thing.

"Both of those could work," Keith agreed, looking over Hunk and frowning. The big guy kept wincing if he even raised his voice too loud. "Could you fly in your condition, though?"

Snort. "Hole in the ribs ain't that close to the joystick, boss." Then he paused, a blush spilling over his cheeks. He knew these people. "Uh, the actual joystick, I mean. The one you fly with. That one!"

Romelle blinked. "What?" Allura looked equally confused, and Sven pressed a palm to his forehead.

"The lions use control sticks," he said quickly. "Y'know, not yokes." Yep, that's definitely all that's goin' on there.

Neither of them looked wholly convinced, but both also seemed to realize it was better to leave it alone. Daniel, on the other hand, eyed Lance worriedly. He'd snickered, but his frontseater had not. Red, is he even gonna be able to help out there? Hunk—HUNK!—just made a sexual innuendo, and nothing!

"You will have to help ground him, Flamechaser."

I can't even focus myself, he protested. It wasn't that he wouldn't try, but, I am not a therapist! How am I supposed to—

"You are his person."

—Oh, okay. Using my own words against me, huh? That's fucking rude. Red snickered, and he rolled his eyes. "Lance, your lion is being fucking annoying." If innuendo wouldn't do it, maybe lion commiseration would.

It got his attention, at least. "He's your lion too."

"Not when he's acting like this he's not."

"I'll try to tell him to be less of a lion."

"Good luck."

It did help, a little, and Lance managed a bit of a smirk. Focus on the kid, again. Keep him safe. He knew he had to focus on the team he still had… even if he had to stare what he'd lost straight in the eye.

It was just easier said than done.

Keith watched the exchange quietly, then looked around the room again. We have one pilot critically injured, another who froze, and none of us are in peak condition. Physically or mentally. Will we be able to do this?

"Believe in your team, Stormsoul."

He nodded; he did believe in them, even when everything seemed insane. Like this was the first time for that. "Okay. We need to rest as much as we can, so we're all ready when the militia sees something."

"…Do you really think we need all five lions to kill this thing?" Daniel was still pretty sure a laser should do it.

"Honestly, Daniel, I don't know." Without all five lions they couldn't form Voltron, though that might not be the best play—the accuracy problem was a real one, and forming a single robot might exacerbate it. It felt like they should have the option, though. "I'm not an expert on fighting against magic boosted undead… whats?"

"Jaivur," Romelle supplied, and Daniel snorted.

"Jaivie-who? I'm sticking with zombie."

"Kinda thinkin' we'll need all the firepower we can get," Hunk said hesitantly. "Yellow says we might not be able to kill this thing conventionally, and we never know who's gonna pop out the unconventional until it happens, yeah?"

Everyone spun to face him, including those who probably shouldn't have; Allura's icepack went to the floor again. Vince went to pick it up and wipe it off for her, mostly to keep anyone from noticing his whole new manifestation of nope face. Yellow probably knew what he was talking about…

Fuzzmuffins.

"What did he mean?" Keith asked grimly.

"Dude, you ask a lion what he means." Hunk shook his head. "Like, he keeps tellin' me being the Lion of Earth makes him an expert on death-y things, but the only solid info is that the jaivur's tied back to probably-Korrinoth and blowin' it up might not be good enough. But also that the lions are pretty good at sayin' screw physics, which, y'know, fair, so I'm pretty sure we should try it anyway and see what happens." As he wound down, he took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. "Ow."

"For fuck's sake," Sven muttered under his breath. The worst of it was, he wasn't even surprised. Of course this got worse; psychological warfare could only go so far. Moving up from the giant spigator robeast to a reanimated human body implied an awful lot of nonsense going on with that human body.

And an awful lot of nonsense there damn well was.

Before anyone else could agree with that—because they were all thinking it—the curtain swished, admitting Dr. Gorma. Looking around at the state of his patients, he sighed. He should not be surprised by now. "I didn't think it needed to be said, obviously that was my mistake, but Mr. Garrett should be resting. And none of you should be hindering that, especially as most of you need it as well."

Blushing, Romelle translated; Hunk gave the doctor a sympathetic grimace. "This is rest compared to what's gonna be later on…"

Sigh. "I'm here to check in and deliver the strongly recommended care instructions." He did not mean recommended; he was pretty sure, even with the language barrier, his tone would get that across. "You need rest. Especially on your right side. You are to keep all weight off your injured side for at least one week, and no arm use either. After the first week we can evaluate the progression of healing and look at starting some sort of physical therapy."

His tone had gotten a fair bit across; Hunk's frown deepened as Romelle relayed the instructions. He remembered the last time he'd ignored a doctor's 'strong recommendations', his arm had been neon orange for a week. But this was different. "So uh, who wants to tell 'im I'm gonna need to fly my lion before then cuz there's an evil undead thing runnin' around out there?" It really felt like the thing he should have to explain himself. But, language barriers.

Romelle blinked, looking between Hunk and the doctor, whose expression was not the expression of a man interested in debating. "I'm… not sure I'm brave enough… maybe someone with more authority?" She turned sheepishly to Allura.

The princess couldn't really blame her, and translated with a little bit of elaboration. "This situation seems to call for a full team effort." She gestured vaguely around the room as she said it; the threat did rather speak for itself.

Gorma blinked. Then blinked again, a bit more dramatically. "With all due respect, Your Highness." Between her presence here and the things he'd heard about her storming the castle, risk assessment was perhaps not the Princess' forte. "I fear he may be using the more literal definition of 'strongly recommended'. The one the priests use when telling children to use proper language or obey their parents. The medical version is a bit different." He crossed his arms and gave Hunk a stern look. "It means if you do not follow these recommendations, death—or in Mr. Garrett's case, muscular rupture, infection, and then death—is much more likely."

"I don't know the words but that sounded a bit Jace-like," Lance said casually. "Must have threatened death."

"Death was mentioned, yes." Romelle went ahead and translated the lecture.

"Not enough cursing," Sven decided.

"Yeah definitely not." Hunk shrugged—with his left shoulder, he was trying to follow instructions. "I mean I get what he's sayin' and all, but again, evil undead thing on your planet."

Rubbing her forehead, Allura relayed that one to the doctor as well. "I assure you, the team is taking the medical circumstances into consideration."

"Yes, well." He bowed his head respectfully to her, but his tone remained grave. "When this 'undead thing' shows up here, I will waive my recommendation, but I believe I've made it clear enough that otherwise it is not a mere recommendation—"

The curtain wooshed again, more emphatically than it was designed to, as Pidge came skidding into the room. Literally skidding; when they'd taken this section of the tunnels for an infirmary, Gorma and his orderlies had enlisted anyone who was able and willing to polish the floors. It made the medical transport sleds easier to move and smoother for the patients. The ninja finally had to jump-stop to keep from crashing into Hunk's bed. "He's camped out in that tunnel entrance in the foothills—the one you guys found when we landed—"

Larmina entered behind him, having known to stop before she reached the entrance. "He means the bad zombie."

"—They knew that!"

"FUCK." Lance had nearly jumped out of his blanket. The others weren't in much better shape, and even Gorma was just staring at the new arrivals in disbelief. The state Pidge was in—rather scorched, with the cut on his back seeping blood—was enough to distract him from pointing out that the entire team jumping three feet in the air was not resting. Larmina's new turquoise markings, though they didn't help the situation, were barely even worth a double take.

Not even Daniel's bruised ribs or general soreness could stop his adrenaline from kicking in; he jumped up the second the words registered. "Well come on, let's go!" He bolted for the exit, only to have Larmina reach out and grab his collar.

"That was not the full report."

What was it with Arusians and full reports? "Well hurry up and give it before he goes somewhere else!"

"I don't think he's going anywhere," Pidge muttered. "Or at least, he was definitely not hiding."

Blinking, looking at the ninja not six inches away and looking much more battered than the last time he'd seen him, Hunk slowly turned back to Gorma. The doctor seemed to have given up on tracking a conversation he couldn't understand, and was settling for an expression of extreme disapproval. Which wasn't about to improve. "…Aaand now who wants to tell him?"

Romelle had finally managed to pick her jaw up off the proverbial floor, and nodded. "I think you're going to have to give that waiver, Doctor…"

Listening as she summarized the situation, Gorma felt a mild headache coming on. It wasn't the first this team had given him, and somehow he suspected it wouldn't be the last. "Minimal possible movement of any injured areas," he said gruffly. "I'll go and secure my other patients." He would also be making sure to not make such careless statements in the future.

As he left, Lance managed about half a smirk before turning back to Pidge. "What do you mean he's not hiding?"

"Yes, please continue." Sven felt certain that if Larmina wanted to give a full report, it must be important.

Pidge made a face. "He's been practicing the magic blasts, there's a whole burnt-out area, it's hard to miss. Also, Green's wind cannon only mildly inconvenienced him." Snort. "He was happy enough to see me, anyway."

"Happy?" Lance echoed despite himself, as Keith raised an eyebrow.

"Wanted a moving target."

Well, fuck.

Larmina rolled her eyes. "What the ninja is trying to say is he went after the undead monster thing alone, like an idiot. So I jumped in his lion, also like an idiot, to bail him out, and anyway the zombie isn't real scared of two idiots but we're not dead."

There was really no way for Pidge to argue that, so he just waved weakly in her general direction. "Her lion too. Meet Lifebinder."

"Ah." Sven gave her a nod and a small, grim smile. "You must have been the breeze."

She exhaled slowly. Not like they weren't going to notice, she might as well not pretend anymore. "Yeah."

Lifebinder? Hunk hadn't entirely meant it as a question, but Yellow chuckled.

"My sister likes to use her secondary element rather more prominently than the rest of us. I promise I've never named one of my Bonded for death… that I can recall."

Oh. Well that's reassuring.

Allura's eyebrows went up, and she moved to get a better look at her niece. Sure enough… perhaps she'd been hoping for it, but seeing it was still a shock. Black, how is that possible?

"Your circumstances are unique, yet related. Something which lies within the past…" She nodded, accepting that for now. It wasn't much of an answer, but there were more immediate concerns.

Keith blinked and found his voice again. "Well…" Hell of a way to make an entrance. "Welcome to the team?"

"Thanks, I think."

"Yeah, welcome aboard," Daniel agreed, glaring around the room. "Now can we get in the lions and try to inconvenience the zombie fuck more than mildly?"

Nodding, Keith struggled to his feet, wincing as several bruises still protested. It had definitely improved with rest, though, and there was no more time. "Pidge, Larmina. What condition did you leave him in?"

"Disheveled and annoyed."

Not the best report, but it was what they had. "Okay. You should know, there's some question whether we can actually destroy this… jaivur conventionally, so stay open to any other ideas."

A few of the others grimaced again, but Larmina took it surprisingly in stride. "Sounds like any other win we get over the sinycka." It's never over.

Pidge frowned. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"We will know when it is done," Green purred. "You will know."

At the same time, Daniel was on his very last bit of patience. "We won't even know if it matters until we kill it, so can we please," he gave up on talking and gestured towards the door.

Looking to the ceiling, Keith exhaled, then nodded. "Yes. We have to try, no matter what. Let's go."

"Fucking finally!" Daniel was off in an instant, with Lance on his heels, matching his speed if not his confidence.

It's flying, it's just flying. I can do this. Right?

Sven followed, not moving quite as fast, though the burn salve was still doing its job. Keith paused, waiting for Allura, who'd also started to stand a bit gingerly. She was gratified to find that while her face and upper body still ached, her legs seemed fine. But not everyone was quite that fortunate.

"Keith, go on, I'll catch up." Giving Larmina's shoulder a quick squeeze, she turned to Pidge and Hunk; neither were in very good shape. Hunk's wounds were far worse, of course, but Pidge's were fresh. "I'll do what I can for you two." Hopefully she'd have enough energy of her own to at least dull some of the pain they must be feeling.

"I'm fine," Pidge said immediately. "Just get Hunk."

She rolled her eyes; he was clearly not fine. Before she could point it out, Hunk managed to get his legs over the side of the bed, and hissed in pain. Yes, he had to be the priority… but then his eyes flared yellow and remained that way, and he blinked and sat up straighter. The pain hadn't gone away, but it had faded significantly.

"Quieting your wounds would take more energy than Stormheart has to give, Earthwarder. I can keep you alert and dull the pain through the Bond, but it will cost you later, and I cannot prevent further physical damage. You must be quick."

…Got it. He nodded to Allura. "Yellow's got me, just help Pidge out if you can, yeah?"

Feeling Black's low growl, Allura knew Hunk wasn't telling her everything. For that matter, she was pretty sure she'd have been able to tell that with no lion input whatsoever. But she had to believe Yellow knew what he was doing, and help who she could help. With a nod, she focused on Pidge, willing what she could of the pain to disperse and earning a nod of gratitude in return.

As they departed, Vince and Romelle found themselves alone in a recovery room that they had no particular need to be in. Romelle sighed. It didn't sound good…

A little part of Vince almost wanted to follow. To be with them to… what? Fix the mess that might be his fault? Or something more, something deeper? Shaking his head, he tried for confidence. "They've got this."

"I know," she agreed, with about the same conviction. "Magic robot lions, right?"

"Totally."

He hoped.

*****

'Disheveled and annoyed' was precisely Flynn's mood, as it happened. No doubt the team would be coming for him soon; fine, he was as ready as he was going to be. He didn't like this magic bullshit, but at least he knew what he was doing with it now…

Or you could just not.

"Fuck off, Doctor," he growled under his breath, though the voice was gone before he said it. He didn't need the distractions. He didn't need the anger.

A roar sounded over the foothills, and he looked up. More lions. There were three of them this time: one black and one red coming together from the mountains, while a blue one approached from the south. A pang went through him as he watched, not anger or even hatred, for a moment. Just envy, or perhaps sorrow.

They're beautiful…

It wasn't supposed to be like this!

Pidge had been right; the area Flynn was lurking in wasn't hard to spot. Sven glanced over his shoulder as he moved Blue up to link with the others. He was doing his best to emotionally distance himself from the reality of this battle. Being in the lions would help that, at least—the cockpit was some insulation from the reality. Though, there was something else about the cockpit. The empty seat behind him… the more Sentinels that joined the team, the lonelier it seemed to become in here.

Blue purred gently.

Circling the clearing of scorched and rotted trees, Keith hissed in concern. What a mess. "I hope we can keep this contained."

"Me too," Allura agreed softly. The fake cabin was intact—the only thing for some distance. They might need to shut that tunnel down just from the loss of its camouflage, even if the actual doorway wasn't compromised. But first they had to win this battle.

Lance brought Red down in the clearing, glaring at the small human form on his monitors. Don't freeze. Can't freeze. One of the secondary monitors tried to zoom in automatically, and he slapped it off, not wanting to see. Daniel was on the guns, anyway—thankfully. He was the one who needed that kind of precision.

Startled by the red one landing so close, Flynn pulled his gun on reflex and emptied his last couple of bullets into its forehead. He hadn't expected much, and got what he expected.

"Lance? What kind of damage did that do?" Keith asked, moving up next to him.

"What exactly did he think that was going to do?" Daniel snorted at the same time.

"Red's fine," Lance said quietly. He wasn't, but Red was.

"He'd better not have chipped the paint," Daniel continued, drawing a low chuckle from the lion.

"My paint will heal."

"It's the principle!"

Annoyed with himself, Flynn holstered the gun and gathered his energy. The witch seemed to think he was meant to be a match for these lions; seeing them up close it seemed absolutely ludicrous, but here they were…

Lance. As he unleashed an energy blast at the red robot lion, he knew it without question.

Moving on instinct, Lance dodged most of the blast, but it clipped Red's cheek and left a scar on the damage display. "That packs more heat." Just fly. Let the kid handle the guns. You've got this. Just move!

Hearing another roar in the distance, Flynn sprinted for the red one. It was fast, but he knew instinctively he couldn't stay in the open for any duration against—

A massive beam of concentrated flame just barely missed him, and he picked up the pace as stifling heat engulfed him. "Faex!"

"Fuck," Daniel hissed, immediately remembering why he'd called this ridiculous in the first place. Red's tail laser was pretty damn precise, but even it was not meant to be used as a flyswatter. Shaking his head, he just started firing as fast as he could.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Lance muttered under his breath as Flynn continued to close in, dodging lasers and launching sickly purple energy at the lion's legs. Keith took aim with Black's lightning breath and fired. The blast hit the ground just next to the jaivur and knocked him to the side, but a few tendrils of electricity also hit Red, ripping through his left forepaw and sending an alarm shrieking.

"Kuso! Sorry."

"…That's what he's doing." Fuck. It was the same advantage the lions had against larger, more powerful warships: the ability for a hard target to get inside of a formation, to cause more chaos than firepower alone would allow.

Having it used against them just felt like one more injustice.

Flynn was scrambling to move. Staying down was death, and he'd already done that shit once. This is stupid! The witch said I could fight these things, has she ever seen them?!

Witch was stupid, who'd have thought—

—Shut the fuck up!

No! We will not shut the fuck up.

Fine, don't. He threw another energy blast, this time at the black lion. Kogane. Even as the voices fought, they were being drowned out by the rage. Maybe he was nominally working for the witch, but hating her just as much as his teammates was coming easily… another laser struck too close for comfort. He couldn't stay exposed like this.

"Ugggggh!" Daniel was getting frustrated enough for a few embers to burst out to his side. "Hella hard to have pinpoint accuracy like this!"

Pinpoint accuracy… Sven tried Blue's eye beams, and came close to hitting Black instead. Hmm. Yes, I see the problem. Daniel had said missiles wouldn't lock, and no question he was right, but… deploying Blue's launchers, he sprang forward. Her standard missiles didn't lock anyway, and they had a pretty decent blast radius.

A volley of explosive warheads rained down over the area, and sure enough, none of them actually hit Flynn. But they gouged deep craters into the ground, blast waves uprooting or outright disintegrating the battered remnants of trees as well as flinging the jaivur in several different directions in quick succession.

That didn't help Daniel's hitting-with-laser issues either, but he appreciated the thought. Mostly.

Scrambling back to his feet, Flynn abandoned his pursuit of the red lion and narrowed his eyes at the blue one. Sven. Missiles, though? Now that was a possible weak spot. He had a good angle on the lion's left-shoulder launcher, and flung several small energy blasts towards the launch tubes.

Jerking the lion to the side, Sven took the hit directly on her left flank rather than the launcher. "Sorry, Blue." She responded with a purr that was somehow more irritated than her grumpiest growls, and truthfully? He felt that.

Green Lion arrived to what Pidge was pretty sure could generously be called a fiasco. He saw the problem right away. "Stay ready on the shrapnel pods." Having Larmina behind him was weird. "They're one of the only effective anti-personnel weapons any of us have."

Everything about this was weird, but Larmina found the weapon he was talking about without too much trouble. "Got it."

Would they actually be effective? They were just sharp bits of metal, and he'd already tried severing the damn thing's spine… that thought was cut off as Flynn launched another flurry of energy at Blue's missile launchers. Wait. That wasn't an accident. "Sven, put those away!" They'd never really stopped to think about the lions' ammunition stores before…

Suddenly that seemed like an oversight.

Flynn was close, and Pidge's yell had confirmed what Sven had already been starting to recognize. He retracted the launchers and tried the eye beams again, but the jaivur was much too close now; he scorched the ground well behind it instead.

Red and Black were trying to reposition, but there was no way they'd be getting any shots in without hitting Blue as well. Pidge scowled; sometimes he hated being right. "Sven, uh, tell Blue sorry about this." He looked back at Larmina. "Hit it."

Hit it? Hells did he mean, hit it? She dropped the crosshairs over the zombie in the distance and fired the shrapnel pod, only for a secondary display to come up and track it… a button she hadn't noticed before suddenly drew her attention. Detonate…? Oh! At what felt like slightly later than the last possible second, she slammed down on it and the secondary display winked out.

Time for any training at all would've been nice, but here she was.

The pod exploded just about under Blue's chin, sending tiny slivers of sharp metal flying everywhere—several embedded themselves in Flynn, while a great many more bounced off Blue's armor and rattled around her leg joints.

That wasn't going to scratch a lion's paint either, but it couldn't be pleasant. "Pidge apologizes," Sven relayed, and was rewarded with an even more irritated purr. "She says it's fine."

"She said no such thing," Red informed his own pilots, drawing a much-needed snicker even from Lance. He was keeping the lion moving, but his hands were shaking.

"She certainly did not," Green agreed, and Larmina snorted.

Flynn whirled around, gritting his teeth against the pain; getting stabbed was preferable to getting vaporized, at least. Seeing the lion who'd shot him just made him that much angrier. "You're back already?" He launched a blast towards one of the lion's cables; they looked more or less like a weak spot.

Any attempt to see what the attack did was cut off by another laser blast from Red. It came close enough to superheat some of the shrapnel… and also very nearly graze Blue's leg.

"Be careful of Sven," Lance cautioned as Daniel groaned in annoyance.

"Why bother telling Daniel to be careful?!" Sven demanded, gripping the controls and stepping forward. If their irritating zombie really wanted to get that close, well…

"Because I like Blue."

Her paw slammed down just a few inches from Flynn, and he startled at an entirely new possibility that he somehow had failed to take into account. Giant robots were big, who knew? No more of that. Springing up onto the armor plate that sheathed the lion's claws, he landed a point-blank magic blast to the joint; it left a mark, though not a great deal more.

"Did he just shoot my foot?"

"No, he shot mine."

"He shot the foot in the foot?" Hunk was just getting Yellow out of his den; getting into the shuttle had been a trick. Getting out of the shuttle and into the lion, even more so. But he was finally in the air and things weren't exactly sounding promising.

"It appears so," Sven agreed, deadpan, and pulled the control to give the foot in question a good shake. "Blue is upset."

"Can't say as I blame her." Keith looked back at Allura, who was struggling to aim Black's shock tail. There was no such thing as a good firing angle when the jaivur was literally on another lion.

Not that he'd be staying there for long. Flynn had actually paused for a moment after his attack, distracted watching the armor restructuring itself before his eyes. It was fascinating… and absolutely ridiculous, what was he supposed to do to these things? His luck couldn't hold forever, and surely they only needed to land one direct hit. He did manage to get another blast in before the lion unceremoniously threw him aside.

Faex!

Lightning and lasers struck just behind him as he raced at the blue one again. If the armor won't break, let's try something else. "Even in a lion you're only good at hand to hand." Taunting the giant metal cat didn't feel nearly as useful as taunting Sven to his face might've, so he shut up and focused on scrambling up the lion's arm. Climbing he was good at—he'd trained for all manner of engine shafts, after all—and he'd reached the lion's face before any of the others could react.

"Kuso…"

"Mijtairra!"

Planting his hands on the glass that made up the lion's eye, Flynn gathered his energy and forced it forward. In a flare of purple light, a swath of the glass shattered… revealing more armor, rather than the cockpit interior he'd been hoping for. Well, that's annoying.

Inside the cockpit, a large section of Blue's viewscreen went blank, and Blue gave a furious growl. As did Sven, really. "Are you fucking—" Shaking the lion's head, he threw the jaivur off again, and pulled back to get some distance before any more bullshit happened.

If Green had arrived to a fiasco, Yellow was showing up for an entire debacle. Hunk looked around at the situation and shook his head slightly. "Welp." He hadn't thought the plan was ridiculous, but the parts they'd been worried about had clearly gone… exactly the way they were worried about.

Physical impacts were still better than risking energy. Flynn would've chased down the blue lion again, it was working well enough so far, but then he saw the new arrival. A pang of recognition ran through him—through all three of them, in fact. The voice that had brought them here long before the witch got involved… his eyes blazed. What if the damn lion had just let them sleep?

None of this would've happened… "There you are."

Hunk blinked. "Dude, what'd I do? You already shot me!"

"I believe he was speaking to me."

"…Oh." He went for the sand breath, but reconsidered quickly. Even if he didn't miss, most of it would hit Blue, and he was pretty sure sandblasting a lion with some existing armor damage would be especially bad. Instead he tried the plasma stream, but aiming it at the ground wasn't really a thing—and a moment later it didn't matter, as he had a zombie clinging to his armor. "Y'know, pit boss, I liked you better when you only did guns."

Making his way towards the head, Flynn stopped just long enough to land a quick energy blast on every seam in the lion's armor. Where the hell were the hatches on these things? They must have them.

Hunk gingerly touched his ribs, then sighed. "Doc won't like this, but I think we're kinda past that." He launched into the air and put Yellow into a backflip that he might have pulled off properly if he weren't injured… maybe.

It did its job; Flynn was thrown off to the side. But Hunk couldn't quite maintain the lion's equilibrium, and crashed down face-first just beside him, crying out as pain jolted through his wounds.

"Hunk!"

"Fuck."

The other lions charged in, and Flynn jumped up onto the fallen lion's nose. One energy blast, then another—the armor was repairing itself, but if he just kept pouring it on, the restructuring couldn't keep up. With every burst of the sickly magic, he burrowed just a little bit deeper. "You've got to be in here somewhere."

Pidge glanced at his consoles, feeling Larmina looking over his shoulder. The shrapnel pod may not have worked, but Green did have other options… he idly wondered if being able to shoot her allies without much damage was a design feature, or just a useful quirk. Either way, he lowered the lion's head and unleashed her cyclone breath.

Flynn was getting very tired of all this frequent flying, but he was also adjusting to it. This time he rolled on the landing and got to his feet easily, glaring at the green lion and flinging another blast. It cut into the same cable as his last attack, and this time sliced through.

"I think he just cut an ammo feed?" Larmina reported, trying to make sense of the warnings popping up on her monitor. Reading via the glowy lion eyes was weird, but even with a translation she wasn't quite following all the technical details.

Bringing up another display, Pidge nodded. "Flare and tracker pods are disabled." Could be worse. "I doubt we were going to be landing a tracking beacon on him anyway." Nothing on his damage readouts said anything about the cable fixing itself; that function must be armor only. Not surprising, but not optimal.

Allura managed to snap off a shot, grimacing with annoyance as it missed. Focus. But it wasn't focus she was lacking, the lions weren't designed for this. "Can't guarantee a hit, but we might be able to drive his movements." She took a second shot, not actually aiming for him this time. The lightning blast scorched the ground a few feet away, forcing him further from the lions—where he clearly did not want to be.

Lance moved Red up, trying to get Daniel a better shot. He was on automatic, trying not to look, not to think. Just stick to the target. Daniel, for his part, really wanted to just start shooting cluster bombs everywhere. But the others were still too close, not to mention the amount of dead wood and grass in the area. Setting the foothills on fire wouldn't help anything.

Flynn threw some energy back at the black lion while moving towards the green one; he'd noticed by now which lion did friendly fire the best. Pidge cursed quietly, drawing back.

"Mijtairra, why does he have to be smart?" Humans weren't supposed to be like… like him.

"He was always fucking smart," Lance said quietly.

Another blast hit one of Black's wings, and Keith growled in irritation. "Could you not?"

More lightning and lasers scattered around Flynn as he tried to rush the green lion, some close enough for the heat to be uncomfortable. He was frustrated, exhausted, and angry. There was no way he could win this fight, hardly anything he did could even cause lasting damage… how long would his luck hold out? What happened if one of the shots hit?

Does it end? Do we just get to rest again, can we stop this? For half a second, he slowed down…

We didn't start this. You can stop.

…And the damnable rage surged back up, as it always did when they spoke. Hatred that wasn't entirely his own, focusing his thoughts back to the witch's mission. No! They started this when they let us die! Gathering larger energy spheres in each hand, he flung them at two different lions before finally reaching the green one's paw. The cables had broken easily—he didn't know what they did, but he could get more of them, maybe reach internal structure. Yes. He could accomplish something.

"This isn't working!" Daniel almost had a shot as the jaivur paused to scorch one of Green's joints, but he pulled it because he knew better. Even if he could land the hit, there was a pretty good chance he might drill through something critical on the other lion, too.

"We have to coordinate. Isolate him." Pidge tried to shake him off, but he was getting wise to that trick too, holding onto a seam in the armor and refusing to be dislodged. "He knows we can't hit him with precision, we have to make an opening for splash damage somehow."

"If you guys can get outta his way, I've got somethin' hella splashy," Hunk volunteered. It's our job to get them all out of this mess… right, Yellow?

The lion growled softly. "Yes." Whatever else had been done here, he was certain he'd drawn the attention of the enemy to these spirits.

Despite his own intense annoyance at this whole situation, Sven cracked a small smile. He very much wanted to see what Hunk and the Lion of Earth thought was 'splashy'.

Allura's eyes narrowed. Something was tugging at her thoughts. Focus. She could feel the lightning dancing over her fingers, but why? She was in the cockpit, she couldn't… wait. She placed her hands on her console, feeling the energy resonate. The power came from the lion, from the Bond. It had to have a purpose here. It had to…

Balance.

She could see Black's shock tail in front of her, crackling with lightning. Inhaling, she began to draw the lightning in. She could feel the weapon's electricity flowing through her, and took hold of it, clutching the power right to herself while feeding her own focus back.

This… was this the truth of the Sentinels? She felt Black Lion purring, and took aim.

Keith glanced behind him, feeling the fluctuations. "Allura?" She didn't say anything in response, but her eyes flashed electric-blue, and a rush of energy flashed through the cockpit and the lion's entire hull.

Allura fired. And the lightning snapped out, a delicate thread carrying a thunderclap, swirling around the jaivur before tearing him free of Green's armor and flinging him hard to the ground.

"Holy…"

"How did you—"

"MOVE!"

Four lions leaped into the air, while Yellow sprang forward, staring down the fallen zombie. Flynn struggled to get up and move, but his muscles weren't working quite right, still crackling with vestiges of the black lion's lightning. Instead he started to gather as much energy as he could, realizing what was happening as the cannon on the yellow lion's back began to glow like a second sun. "Faex."

Targeting was difficult—that control stick was on the right side. Hunk eased it down, knowing he couldn't take too much time, but his side giving out completely would be even worse. It was enough time for the plasma mortar to reach a full charge, but he could also see Flynn charging a sphere of the toxic energy.

Well, one of them was a freaky undead Drule thing and one of them was a magical robot lion, and he knew who he'd place his bets on.

Faith… "Sorry, pit boss."

Both of them launched their attacks at once, and they met with a blinding explosion that vaporized whatever trees were left.

"NICE!" Daniel crowed, as Lance winced and cursed under his breath. There was nothing nice about any of this, but if it was over…

Keith looked away, still blinking back afterimages, as Allura whispered a prayer for the spirits they faced. Hunk leaned over his consoles, eyes wide. "Holy fuzzmuffins… did it work?"

"Well it wasn't very splashy." Sven didn't sound entirely committed to the joke, but he tried it nonetheless. "Earthy and… explosion-y, but I believe Blue remains the expert on splashy." As he spoke, he was looking around for any sign of the jaivur, though Blue's new blind spot made it difficult.

Rolling his eyes, Pidge pushed Green ahead to investigate the crater that had been gouged in the hill. The problem was clear immediately. "There's traces of that energy everywhere. I'm not seeing anything out in the open that looks like a body, but if he got blown into the trees…"

Figuring Pidge knew more about Green's sensors than she did, Larmina closed her eyes. Green had said they would know… is he still out there?

"I do not think it is over. The creature does not live, and never has. But something… unnatural still lurks."

It's never over. She nodded her acceptance. Then we'll fight as much as we have to, to save what's left.

Speaking of… Hunk gasped and slumped over his controls, and Yellow pitched to the side briefly before his energy returned. Except he knew it wasn't exactly his energy. "Uh, guys…"

He didn't need to say any more; Keith brought Black down to help get Yellow back on his paws. "Pidge, Larmina, patrol a little longer. Everyone else, we get Hunk back to the infirmary. Move!"

As the lions dispersed, a very scorched jaivur shifted weakly in a stand of trees. A few bits of cloth beneath his armor were still smoldering. Faex. That had gone poorly. To hell with the witch, and whatever she thought he was going to do against the lions.

This would call for very different tactics.

*****

Staying in the recovery room hadn't felt right, so Romelle and Vince had ultimately followed the others to the shuttles. Hunk needing further help had been a distinct possibility. But they hadn't caught up, and the shuttles had all been gone by the time they reached the chamber. A tense silence had fallen soon enough… the chamber seemed so much bigger with the shuttles gone, and the quiet just got more and more oppressive.

What was there to even say?

Vince had not quite managed to banish the desire to be out there with the others, no matter how hard he tried. But that's only because of the situation. He grimaced, hearing Yellow purring in his head, which was exactly what he didn't need.

"Are you all right, Vince?" Romelle asked quietly. Maybe if she focused on him, it would distract her from her worry for the others.

"I…" He tried to give her a reassuring grin, but couldn't keep it up. The guilt was eating at him. "No." Frown. "It's Flynn, and the others, I guess it's…" Words. Words wouldn't come.

She couldn't blame him for the difficulty. "It's not right, what the Drules have done to them." An understatement. The Drules did excel at treating people wrongly… she blinked at that thought, but tried to shake it off as Vince shook his head.

"Yeah, the Drules. They're awful. But…"

She gave him a minute before prodding further. "But what?"

"I've…" He looked away. But it felt like the words were churning inside him, like he had to admit the truth to someone. And why not Romelle? At least he could look her in the eye after it, probably. She hadn't even known them. "…beenseeingtheirghosts."

Blink. "You've been—what?"

"Seeing them. Cam, Jace, and Flynn." Yellow's purr of approval rippled through him and he frowned, trying to ignore it; the last thing he needed was creepy voice getting involved. Wasn't he busy? "They were nice. I mean it was awful, but nice." He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "They were supposed to help me but what if—what if I caused this?"

"You…?" Their friends. She shivered a little, remembering how he'd felt about ghosts the last time they'd discussed the subject. "Vince, no. Making such a horrible creature, and invoking a Drule deity?" She shook her head. "No, Vince. I don't think you could possibly have caused that."

She didn't get it. "Not that. It's just, Flynn… they usually faded away after they talked for a little bit, but he was like… zapped or something, the last time we spoke. He was helping me." Or trying to. The ghost had known something was wrong, in that last moment, but he'd still tried to say something more. To help.

Oh. Romelle bit her lip. "Your friends were trying to help you, but one was… 'zapped?' Hmmm." She slowly shook her head again, wishing she had anything concrete to say. Obviously he needed something. "If they were helping you, I don't think it's your fault at all. And something else must have interfered, considering…"

Maybe. Maybe not. "I think I summoned him the last time, though. I don't understand at all."

"Magic isn't prominent on Earth, is it?" She nodded thoughtfully, then gave him an understanding smile; she didn't entirely understand, but she could sympathize with how he felt. "It's frowned upon on Pollux, except for those who can see ghosts, if that can even be considered magic. But the Drules make more use of it. You have to believe this is on them, Vince."

There was something oddly familiar about what she was saying…

"Magic is pretty much make-believe on Earth. I'd never even seen ghosts until here, and only one nice one until they showed up."

Romelle's head tilted to one side. "One nice one?"

Oh. Vince flushed slightly, he wasn't sure he'd meant to let that slip. "Yeah, an Arusian, uh. I think he said he was the King. I'd be worried to talk with him now, though, after this…"

"The King?" she repeated, then chuckled softly. On Pollux nobody would ever have said that so casually; of course, she was quite certain Earth had little in the way of royalty either. "You've been busy since we last talked about ghosts, haven't you?"

Vince sighed and nodded. "Seems like it…" And suddenly, a small orb of light floated into the chamber, flickering somewhere behind Romelle. As if on cue… he gasped softly. It can't be. Did I…?

Seeing him stiffen, Romelle turned to follow his gaze, catching sight of the orb as it slowed and drew near. "Vince, did you…?"

"…I don't know." Surely he couldn't have, could he?

Nod. "It's okay." I hope. Ghosts alone weren't dangerous, at least not physically. Mentally though?

With a swirl of fog and soft light, the orb coalesced into the form of the former High King. Alfor took note of the woman, a Polluxian, and gave her a warm smile before turning his attention to Vince. "Hello, young Earthling. Something puzzles you again?"

"…Did I call you?" he whispered, even though he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. NOPE.

Alfor cocked his head to one side. "Not really. I did promise you could call upon me, and I felt my name in your thoughts, but mostly I sensed your distress."

"Oh." Was that better or worse than outright summoning? Was it all that different? "Distress, yeah. I'm great at that." The king smiled, inviting him to continue, and he wasn't sure he wanted to do that either. "Um, it's just the last ghosts I talked to aren't doing so great."

"Ah. What happened?"

Vince looked over at Romelle. "Uh…" How was he even supposed to answer that?

Some reflex made Romelle bow as the king turned his attention to her—because he was dead? Arusian? A bit of both? There was a calm gravity about him, and even her usual wariness seemed to fade before it. "They've been made into an undead creature by the Drules," she explained.

"…Which might be my fault."

"Vince, it's not your fault."

"But I summoned Flynn and then…" He shook his head. He was the commonality here.

"Mmmm." Alfor stroked his chin thoughtfully, then shook his head. "No. Your gift to speak with those that have passed is unique, but it is a gift of vision, and cannot summon a spirit unwillingly. Whatever has been forced upon these other spirits, be sure it is not by anything you have done."

Forced… Vince wanted to believe him, but the word made him ill. "I hope you're right." I hate this. If it was true that he couldn't summon them, then… what? They'd willingly come to help him and ended up as this?

He wasn't sure that was an improvement.

Alfor smiled gently. "There is much I cannot tell you, but I can see what you are capable of in this realm. I know it can cause uncertainty, when you don't know the extent of your own talents. But I assure you, this undead creature is not of your making."

Talent? I'd rather be able to sing. Yet there was a certainty in the words that even the creepy lion didn't quite accomplish—maybe because the creepy lion wanted something from him. The High King just seemed to want to help, and he supposed it really did have to suck to just watch all of this happening to his planet. "Thank you." He did mean that, at least. "It's just hard to believe…" It isn't a coincidence, whatever it is.

"You will come to understand everything in time."

…Well that sounded like asking a lot. "I kind of hope not." It got him a knowing grin from Romelle, and he exhaled slowly. The team, his team… Vince found his thoughts wandering back to them, the battle they were engaged in. "I hope they're okay."

"I feel they will be," Alfor offered. "Have faith in those who've had faith in you."

Those words made him hear Flynn again, and he shivered. How can they be okay, though? In this situation? He wanted to ask more, but the High King was flickering faintly, starting to revert to the wandering orb of light.

With a smile for Vince and another pleasant nod to Romelle, he phased out.

Romelle stared after the light for a long time. "Was that…?"

"King Alfor? Yeah."

"Wow." She nodded; that explained some of her reaction towards him. Even on Pollux, she'd heard the then-current High King was less objectionable than usual. "I think you handled that well."

"I did?"

"Yes." She remembered the last time she'd actually seen him encounter a ghost. But she also knew better than to expect him to believe her, and the shuttle chamber was already closing in on them again. Frowning, she decided her next thought was worth a try. "…Do you need a hug?"

Did he…? Yes. Holy fuzzmuffins, yes. "I could totally go for a hug."

She giggled and hugged him. "You are getting better at these things. I know it's hard, but believe it."

"Maybe." Could he believe that? Could he believe he wasn't at fault for the jaivur, that they'd come to him voluntarily, that he didn't have to kick himself every time he looked at a teammate? …He could certainly try. Knowing what was going on with that situation right now would help, though. "Man, I hope they're back soon."

"Me too, Vince." Romelle gave his shoulder a quick squeeze, glancing down Blue's tunnel and biting her lip nervously. "Me too."

She thought she might've heard the lion purr.

*****

Haggar moved silently through her laboratory, golden eyes locked onto the shelves of phylacteries where the newest one was waiting. She'd fully expected it to be alive with energy, the soul and supports within prepared to move to another vessel. Instead, it was dim with only sparks glittering within. The Earthling jaivur was not destroyed as she'd expected.

"Curious…"

"My Lady?" The nearest acolyte had looked up at her words.

"The weapon on Arus yet lives within its vessel." She murmured a spell, and images flashed through the crystal. Images of battle, rage, and… strategic retreat? She watched intently, frowning. "This is not what I expected."

"What, you didn't send someone with him to shoot him in the back, too?"

Haggar's eyes narrowed and she slowly turned; no acolyte would be so bold. Prince Avok would. "Mind your tongue or you may find yourself without it," she said coolly, then looked back to the phylactery in her hands. "But it is a fair question. The circumstances of this weapon are quite different than yours."

Avok just stared at her, silent. He knew better than to push. If she said it was a fair question, she would explain, as long as he didn't provoke her further.

"Your operation was more… coordinated," she murmured, running a hand over the prince's phylactery. "Had I not been watching and expecting when you were shot, your body would soon have healed. I did not expect I needed to watch this one so closely." Any properly-crafted jaivur would heal from lethal wounds if the body remained basically intact. Had she been anywhere near the phylactery when this one's spinal cord was cut, she could have used that opening. But that hadn't been the plan.

The plan had been so simple. Her new pet would arrive as a psychological weapon, attacking his former friends' resolve. But no matter how powerful she'd made him, he was no match for the lion beasts. He was supposed to fall. To soften them up, then be vaporized by their lions to be transferred into the true weapon at her leisure.

But of course, he didn't know that. Given his instability, she hadn't told him the full nature of a jaivur's abilities, and certainly not about the occult beast that now lay dormant in the Arusian mountains. The second Demonspine, awaiting only the vengeful souls of the fallen to guide its hand.

Based on the anomaly she'd observed in the first battle, secrecy had been a wise decision. What he didn't know couldn't be slipped out in a lucid moment. But it meant, oddly enough, he seemed to have some sense of self-preservation. The mission simply didn't require that.

He was meant to die and rise in a blaze of new glory, not run away and plan a guerilla war! "Earthlings really are obnoxious creatures."

Avok slowly raised an eyebrow, as the acolyte scurried back a few steps. "Why not just order him to get himself shot, then?"

"That would suffice as a last resort," she agreed. "But it would require a more active hand than I'm yet prepared to play. We can work with this."

Yes… she could adapt.

I cannot keep a constant watch on him, I have other duties. But if he wanted to use caution, to wage a one-man war upon his erstwhile comrades, who was she to object? Eventually they would kill him… or he would kill them. Either way the Voltron machine would be doomed, and Arus with it.

The images of battle raced through her mind once more. It had been close, that fight with the metallic beasts. He'd been clever, but also very lucky. It could in fact be fascinating to watch this game of… a thin smile crossed her face. Cat and mouse.

King Zarkon would not approve of that outlook, and her fealty to her lord was absolute. But it wasn't as if she were Lotor, playing careless games she might lose. No, everything was still proceeding in the Ninth's favor.

It would simply take a little more time. And she was nothing if not patient.

*****

*Minor health/schedule update: cat herder in chief's tentative diagnosis from a few months ago did not pan out, so the medical mystery tour continues. Hence why the 'getting back to weekly' thing hasn't happened yet. We aren't changing the schedule now, per se, just adding a fallback: we still aim for Saturday, but late Sunday is the standard plan B. With any luck this cuts down on missing entire weeks in the future, until things actually get sorted out.