Chapter Text
Keith was on edge as Hunk tapped away at the control panel. He and Pidge had successfully shut down the electricity throughout the compound, and now they were both working on opposite sides to wire the explosives to set the place to blow.
Keith stood guard, eyes flashing over the courtyard. The two snipers were keeping watch from above, and Shiro was on the other side with Pidge, protecting the small soldier as he did his part.
It was too quiet. Other than the few clusters of soldiers that Keith had come across, there was nobody. The whole compound was eerily silent.
He knew better than to relax. If anything, the silence made him more on edge; Keith had been caught in enough ambushes and traps to know that he could never lower his guard. Always assume everything was a trap.
It was why Keith was still alive.
So he glanced warily about, every muscle tensed and ready for action. He didn’t trust Lance enough to watch his back, so it was up to him to keep himself and Hunk safe.
Then something prickled on the back of Keith’s neck, just as Romelle gasped over the comms.
“Black and Green! At your ten!”
Pidge swore, and Shiro stayed silent. Keith could hear the soft intake of breath, the one that meant he was mentally screaming curse words.
“Red, keep your eyes open,” Lance murmured, and there was something different about his voice. Soft steel, Keith thought.
He glanced around, his knives springing into his hands. Hunk glanced over his shoulder, honey eyes wide, but Keith waved for him to continue his task.
Then Lance yelped in his ear, making Keith flinch and curse.
“Hostiles spotted! On your six! On your six!”
Keith whirled, his knives flying from his hands in streams of gleaming silver. Two soldiers went down, but the rest behind them marched forward, guns aimed at Keith and Hunk. There had to be at least two dozen of them.
Lance grunted over comms, and Keith could hear the sound of a scuffle on the other side. Romelle was busy helping Shiro and Pidge, which meant Keith and Hunk were on their own.
Of course something had gone drastically wrong on their first mission.
“Step away from the building!” the Galra in the lead yelled, his gun pointed at Hunk. The rest of them leveled their weapons at Keith, recognizing him as the bigger threat.
Hunk’s face was chalky and pale, his hands shaking as they slowly continued making the connections.
“Now!” the soldier yelled, his finger sliding over the trigger.
And Keith moved.
Lance ducked behind a storage container, wincing at the sound of bullets pinging off metal. He was out of his element here, on the ground with no eyes on the enemy.
They’d snuck up on him with no warning. He’d been so focused on keeping his eyes out for Hunk and Keith that he hadn’t realized he himself was in danger until it was too late. Lance was bleeding from a shallow cut on his arm, and another on his thigh. He’d scraped himself up while trying to get away.
And now he waited, not even daring to breathe as the enemy paced around, rifles swinging as they searched for their prey.
A shadow appeared, growing ever larger as the soldier came closer. He would turn the corner and find Lance crouching there, his rifles over his shoulder, hands pressed down to the wounds to keep from bleeding everywhere.
Lance’s eyes raised to the tall storage container, and the ridges and grooves that ran through the metal.
The soldier turned the corner, his rifle aimed at the empty space between the two containers. He crept forward warily, eyes scanning back and forth. Had he looked down, he would have seen drops of blood at his feet, the scuff marks as a pair of boots smeared the blood across the concrete. Had he looked up, he would have seen the moon gleam against the scope of the rifle that was aimed at his head.
But he didn’t do either of these things, and so the soldier went down without a sound.
Lance exhaled, lowering the rifle. That had been too close for comfort. He was pretty sure he’d left blood smeared across the storage container that he’d scaled at the last moment, and he was lucky that the soldier hadn’t noticed the red against the metal.
He had to get back to his post. Keith and Hunk probably needed his help with the sudden ambush.
Lance crawled on his stomach to the other side of the storage container, warily peering down below. He had to leap to the next container to get to a better vantage point ahead, a tall tree with lots of leafy branches. He had to be careful though; one wrong move and he would either be seen and shot, or fall and break his leg and then get shot. Not a lot of options there.
But he had to try.
So Lance rose to a crouch, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. He took a deep breath, mustering his courage and strength, and then he leapt.
Keith grabbed Hunk’s wrist and hauled him around the corner of the building just as the soldiers opened fire. Their bullets pinged off the ground and wall where they had been just moments earlier.
Beside Keith, Hunk looked like he was about to pass out. Keith lightly smacked him.
“Snap out of it. I need you to be focused here.”
Hunk nodded, swallowing.
Keith exhaled, feeling his body shift into survival mode. Hunk wasn’t ready for this level of combat, so it was up to Keith to get him out alive.
He wasn’t about to let his teammate die on their first mission.
Keith could hear the soldiers heading toward them, and he waved for Hunk to follow as he dove into the maze of storage containers. The mechanic followed, moving surprisingly fast for someone who had been frozen in shock only a moment before.
Having a bunch of enemies aiming their guns at him was one hell of a motivator, Keith could give him that.
Hunk stayed close behind him as they ducked behind another storage container. Keith peered around the side, exhaling as he saw the soldiers fanning out to guard the control panel.
Shit. He’d hoped they would go after them. He would have to improvise.
Keith pulled back, glancing at Hunk. “When I give you the signal, run for the panel.”
Hunk’s eyes widened. “Do you see how many there are? I won’t make it three feet!”
“Trust me. You’ll make it.” Keith crouched, his muscles tensed and ready to spring. “Just wait for my signal.”
He didn’t wait for a reply, springing out into the open to dive behind the next container. The soldiers would be watching the spot where they’d disappeared into the maze, which meant Keith had to emerge from another place.
He crept around the containers, slowly circling his way around to the side of the control panel. Since Lance had long since fallen silent on his end, Keith had no choice but to go into it blind. Part of him wondered if the sniper was dead. It was uncharacteristic of him to be so quiet.
Keith peeked around the corner, seeing that he was at the end of the row. Now there was nothing but open, empty space between him and the group of soldiers, all facing the direction to Keith’s left.
He hoped Hunk was paying attention. Otherwise he was about to risk being blown full of holes for nothing.
Before he could lose his nerve, Keith charged out into the opening, whipping a pair of knives toward the soldiers. Two fell with blades lodged in their necks, and the others turned at once, shouting in alarm.
In the same movement, Keith dove to the ground as the bullets whistled over his head. He rolled to his feet, flinging another knife before diving around the corner again. He could hear the sounds of the soldiers pursuing, boots stomping against concrete.
Time to go. Hopefully Hunk was paying attention enough to see an opening when the soldiers moved off.
Bullets pinged off the ground around Keith as he ran, and he dove behind another storage container, throwing himself back into the maze. He would be running blind. His skill alone had to be enough to keep him alive.
It was time to see if all his training had paid off.
For a moment, Lance hung suspended in space, dangling between the two tall containers. Then he was landing heavily on the next container, gasping as the wind was forced from his lungs. He began to slide off, and Lance scrambled frantically to stay on, fingers clawing at the metal, his feet scrabbling at the sides. He managed to get a grip and pull himself the rest of the way up, muscles responding well to the familiar motion. He mentally thanked himself for all those nights climbing the Garrison walls.
He crouched atop the container to catch his breath. All around him, chaos ensued. He could see Hunk hunched over the control panel, frantically connecting wires to the building. Keith was nowhere in sight.
On the other side, Shiro and Pidge were holding their own well enough. Romelle was somewhere helping them, and Shiro was ducked behind an overturned container, squeezing off shots as Pidge typed away at the control panel.
Lance exhaled, moving to make his way to Hunk. He didn’t know where Keith was, but his best friend was exposed and out in the open. Lance wasn’t going to let anything happen to him.
As he moved, he glanced up, catching a glimpse of red as Keith leapt between containers, a group of soldiers on his tail. Even as he watched, there was a flash of metal as Keith swung a sword that hadn’t been in his hand before.
He could probably handle himself. Pride of the Garrison and all that.
Lance wasn’t even going to try and pretend that it wasn’t insanely hot, though. Because it really was.
Focus, McClain. If he got himself killed because he was ogling, his brothers would never leave him alone in the afterlife.
Lance leapt between another pair of storage containers, more confident now that he knew it was possible to make the jump. As he ran he saw another two soldiers creeping up to meet Keith head-on. He would run right into them and get pinned down.
Without breaking his stride, Lance unslung his rifle and took aim. He’d fired from the back of jeeps before. Upside down. On horseback. Shooting while running? That was nothing.
The soldiers didn’t even know what hit them. They slumped to the ground, and Keith came sprinting around the corner. His eyes widened in surprise but he didn’t break his stride, leaping over their fallen bodies.
Lance looked ahead to where Hunk stood, just in time for a soldier to step out from the compound. Right away, Lance could tell there was something about this one.
He was huge, muscles rippling beneath his uniform, his shirt stretching with the broadness of his shoulders. He had a craggy face, marred with scars, and he was missing an eye. This must be Sendak, the commander in charge of this compound. He grinned as he approached Hunk, who was bent over his work, frantically connecting the wires.
Static crackled in Lance’s ear, and then Shiro’s voice.
“We’ve got the explosives wired on our side. Gold, what’s your status?”
“Almost done,” Hunk whispered. “But I don’t think I’ll make it in time.”
“I’ve got you, buddy,” Lance murmured, raising his rifle to his face. Sendak’s ugly mug appeared in his crosshairs, and Lance’s finger rested on the trigger, slowly pressing down.
Then agony blazed through his thigh just as Lance fired. The shot went wide, grazing Sendak’s shoulder when it was supposed to hit his forehead. Lance crumpled to the ground, clutching as his thigh.
Below, Keith tackled the soldier with the raised gun, smoke curling from the end of his rifle. He smacked the woman’s head against the concrete to knock her out, but the damage had been done.
Lance struggled to his hands and knees, sucking in a sharp breath at the burning, twisting pain. He’d never gotten shot before, and it hurt like hell.
Sendak grimaced, rolling out his shoulder before continuing to make his way to Hunk. But the mechanic leapt back, smiling grimly in triumph; the explosives blinked a green light. He’d done it.
“Black, it’s ready to blow,” Hunk cried, sprinting for the container maze for all he was worth.
Through a haze of pain, Lance watched as Sendak slowly pulled a small rounded object from his belt, pulling something out with his teeth. Grenade.
Lance was moving almost before he realized what was happening, leaping down from the containers. The wound in his leg screamed as he landed, his knees buckling beneath him, but Lance scrambled back to his feet, sprinting toward Hunk with everything he had. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, reducing the agony in his leg to an incessant tingling.
Sendak cocked his arm back, ready to throw the grenade. Lance screamed, maybe; the blood was rushing in his ears too loudly to hear anything else. He tackled Hunk to the side, shoving him behind a storage container.
The grenade exploded in midair, right above Lance.
Unimaginable heat blazed across his body, the beginnings of horrible pain. But then everything was taken by merciful blackness, and Lance let himself be swept away into nothing.
Keith leapt back as the small explosion washed flame over the containers. He hadn’t seen if Hunk had gotten clear or not; something inside him clenched at the thought of losing the kind-hearted mechanic. He hadn’t known the soldier for long, but Keith didn’t want him to die, certainly when he was one of the most decent people on the team.
“Black, we need backup over here,” Keith gasped into comms, and Shiro’s reply was quick.
“I know. We saw the explosion. We’re on our way.”
Keith waited for the fire to clear from the air before charging back around, knives out and ready. He froze in shock. Hunk was yelling, fists raised as he faced off a massive soldier with a scarred face. Behind him was a crumpled pile of black and blue and red.
Keith’s heart leapt into his throat when he realized that it was Lance. He must have shoved Hunk out of the way.
And now the mechanic was ready to throw hands with a soldier twice his size with probably much more combat training.
Keith charged forward, his knives expanding into katanas. Sendak stepped back to avoid them, his arm rising up to block Keith’s strike. The blades sparked against the arm, and Keith’s eyes narrowed. So he had a prosthetic. Keith could handle that.
He wove in and out, ducking to avoid the man’s heavy strikes. A single hit from his arm could knock Keith’s head clean off his shoulders.
The man grinned as he ducked to avoid a heavy punch from Hunk. He kicked the mechanic in the gut, sending him stumbling back. He grabbed Keith’s shoulder and threw him, Keith’s body bouncing painfully against the concrete before coming to a stop.
Then Shiro appeared above him, leaping down with a yell. Pidge darted in from the other side, his knife flashing as he dug it into the meat of Sendak’s shoulder. Sendak yelled, swiping at Pidge. But then Shiro was there, landing a solid hit on Sendak’s gut.
Keith scrambled to his feet, running forward to help. Shiro yelped as he was thrown into a metal container, and he crumpled to the ground, dazed. Keith sprinted past him, his swords out. Sendak turned to meet him, grinning sharply.
Then there was the unmistakable hiss of a silent gunshot, and Sendak stumbled back, clutching his gut.
Keith turned to see Lance, propped up on one arm. He’d fired his sniper rifle one-handed. He looked awful, his face smeared with blood, his expression pulled into a pained grimace. Even as Keith watched, the rifle clattered to the concrete and Lance slumped back, his eyes rolling up in his head.
Keith knew an opportunity when he had one. He darted forward, slamming the hilt of his katana into the side of Sendak’s head, knocking him out.
Pidge knelt by Shiro’s side, moving to help him up.
And Keith moved to Lance. His gear was charred and burnt, his skin beneath even more so. Blood trickled from awful gashes in his back, and Keith was surprised that Lance had even been able to move with such horrible burns.
He knelt by the sharpshooter’s side, carefully pulling him upright. Lance gripped his hand, pained hisses escaping as he struggled to his knees.
“Are you okay?” Keith was dimly aware that he and Lance were supposed to hate each other, but he was also aware that Lance was badly hurt, and had saved all their skins.
Lance raised his head, meeting Keith’s gaze. His lips curled into a small smile.
“We did it,” he rasped, his grip on Keith’s hand tightening. “We are a good team.”
I really need you two to get along, Shiro’s voice echoed. And Keith found his own lips quirking upward in a soft smile.
Maybe Shiro was right. Maybe they could make this work.
Then Lance’s eyes were rolling up in his head and he slumped forward against Keith, who caught him instinctively.
“Lance!” Keith yelped, checking for a pulse. He hadn’t just died , had he?
After a moment of scrabbling fingers, Keith found it, light and fluttering. He exhaled, glancing up to take stock of his team. Pidge was helping Shiro stand; the latter was swaying slightly, but looked unharmed enough. Behind him, Hunk was standing on his own, rubbing the back of his head where it had slammed into the concrete.
Keith sighed. It looked like he’d have to get Lance back to the Castle on his own. He slid his arms beneath Lance’s knees and around his shoulders, carefully pulling him into his arms and rising to his feet. Lance’s head rested against Keith’s shoulder, his eyelids fluttering.
Maybe they could make this work.