Lance didn't have a clue how but, by some miracle, Pidge had been able to convince him to come to the stupid ball that was being held on Alkafa. It was a celebration of Voltron as they had rebuilt the castle and the aliens on Alkafa respected their loyalty to the cause. The Alkafan prince was throwing the ball and all the paladins had been instructed to dress formally, much to most of their dismay. Coran had arranged suits for each of them (even Pidge after she had refused to wear a dress) and, by six o'clock Alkafan time, they were dressed to the nines.

Each of their suits matched the colours of their paladin armour. Lance's was a deep blue that almost matched the colours of his eyes. He had a black bow tie around his neck that he had adored the moment he had laid eyes upon it. Ever since that Doctor Who episode, he couldn't help but agree that bowties really were cool.

Keith was wearing dark red with a black tie, hands constantly hidden inside the pockets of his suit jacket and head turned to face the ground to avoid social interaction. He had been quiet- even more quiet than usual- since he had come clean about James's father. Someone, presumably Shiro, must have talked to him since because he had been convinced to wear a thin layer of black eyeliner around his eyes. He stood right beside Shiro, who was clad in a black suit and black tie- as if they were joint by the hip.

An army green suit adorned Pidge's small form, suiting her a surprise amount. Though Lance had never seen green as a 'suitable' colour, it seemed to look nice enough on the green paladin. Pidge's clothes seemed a bit oversized as she had had to roll up her sleeves and trouser legs, though it was definitely a look she was able to rock. Hunk was wearing mustard with a matching bow tie, a grin on his face as he attempted to raise the morale of the entire room on his own. Coran wore arguably the best suit, clad in a suit that matched his ginger hair and would make him easily identifiable inside the crowded party. It made him stand out like a neon highlighter in a pencil case of black biros. (You know what would be really cool?? If someone drew them all in their suits :))

-

It was a mere ten minutes into the ball when things began to go wrong. Lance was standing with Keith beside the table of snacks, picking out different foods and eating them even though they weren't sure what they were. There was a rainbow worth of different foods, ranging from red crisp-looking things to purple kebabs. Lance's stomach was doing backflips but he was trying his hardest to ignore it and just enjoy the foreign tastes. It didn't take long for him to decide that eating was a bad idea and the food wasn't settling well with him so he raced off to a nearby bathroom where he proceeded to vomit it all up into the toilet. Just as he was wiping his mouth with his hand and shakily pulling himself to his feet, he heard a gunshot, followed by a scream.

It was enough to make him stiffen and dive back into the bathroom stall. He locked it and pressed his back against the door, counting each of his breaths in and out, in and out, in and out... He could hear a lot of commotion in terms of frantic shouting and screaming from the main room as people panicked but he tried his best to remain calm. After a few more gunshots and yells, Lance decided that he needed to do something. His bayard was buried inside his suit pocket, waiting to be utilised. He cracked his knuckles and pulled it out, the weight of the weapon in his hand foreign yet somehow simultaneously familiar. It felt right. So much more right than being on Earth and doing nothing had ever felt.

His first instinct was to check the windows but the security bars had already come up, ensuring whoever was inside the building was trapped until the procedure was turned off in the main control room. The Alkafan rebels must have had someone on the inside who knew how to control the security which explained why they went for such a drastic attack all at once. Raising his gaze to the ceiling in search of a method of escaping, Lance noticed a vent. He had seen countless movies were people had had to crawl through vents but never had he thought he'd have to do it himself. Just looking at it made it easy for Lance to understand that, despite being rather tall, he was lanky and thin so could probably crawl through the tunnels. Still, he felt it was a job better suited for Pidge.

Taking a deep breath and rolling the sleeves of his jacket up to his elbows, he hoisted himself up onto the sink. The vent cover was surprisingly easy to tug off so, the next thing Lance knew, he was pulling himself up into the vent himself. It was tight enough that both of his shoulders were pressed against the walls; that instantaneously urged Lance to turn back around. The only reason he continued on was because he knew he was the only hope for the innocent Alkafans and the rest of his team.

Lance used his arms to hoist himself forward, moving like a snake at a slow pace until he found another vent cover that looked down into the main room. He glance down and couldn't help the quiet gasp that escaped his mouth once he saw the scene. Keith appeared to be out cold on the floor, a hand frozen over his shoulder. Hunk and Pidge weren't far from him, curled up in defenceless positions on the floor. A group of Alkafan rebels were stood in the middle of the room with a few more scattered in front of each door, black bandanas wrapped around their faces so only their eyes were visible. They were holding massive guns Lance had never seen before. He could only assume what sort of technologies were utilised in the advanced Alkafan weaponry. The guns had a long strip of green light across the body, glowing as if that was the energy source.

Lance inhaled and exhaled deeply again. He pushed forward further until he was right over the corridor where the stairwell was. He used all of his strength to tug the ventilation cover off before dropping down into the corridor. Activating his bayard into his gun, he pressed it against his chest and skimmed the room for any enemies. Upon seeing it was clear, he began to tiptoe down the hall. He passed the lift which had been locked down as a result of the extensive security procedures. Once he made it to the stairs, he began bolting up them as if they were his only hope- he supposed they were.

Vaguely, Lance could recall Pidge having briefed them about there being five floors and the IT and security systems were all stored in the control room on the top floor. They could only be activated by an eight digit passcode that very few people actually knew. She didn't know the passcode so neither did Lance. Once Lance made it up to the top floor, he was breathing as if he had run a marathon. Ever since he had been on Earth, he hadn't bothered with his daily exercises and training routines. He regretted not continuing with them.

The door to the control room couldn't have been more obvious. Three guards were stood outside it, wielding guns that seemed- somehow- even larger than the ones they were holding downstairs. Lance snuck up to the corner and poked his head around, holding his gun right up against his chest.

"Come on, Sharpshooter," He thought to himself, knowing he was the team's only chance. The rest of them were downstairs, trapped and rendered helpless with the other hostages. He squeezed his eyes shut and counted three breaths so he was able to find his zen. "This is your moment to make your team and your family proud." He raised the gun higher so he could press his eye into the scope and focus on one guard. That guard in particular seemed to have drifted away from the other two, staring out into space and not paying attention to the job at hand. His index finger slowly moved to balance on the trigger before he pushed it down. The shot couldn't have been more perfect as it nailed the rebel in the shoulder, hard enough to render him immobile but not to actually killed him.

Not being able to spare any time celebrating the hit, he moved to the second guard like lightning. They had caught on that someone was sniping them but hadn't yet sought out the source. Lance pressed his finger down again and took a second guard out. The hallway was long enough that Lance was just able to snipe the final guard before he got too close. He raced forward to the nearest unconscious guard and fished through his pockets for anything that could resemble a key. After pulling out a scrunched up wrapper and what looked like it could have been some sort of e-cigarette, he pulled out a keycard with the guard's face on the front. In the picture, he seemed so innocent and happy; definitely not like someone who was putting hundreds of lives at risk.

Lance tried not to think too much as he pressed the keycard into the slot. The door flew open, barely giving Lance enough time to prepare himself with his gun. Once it was open, he surprised that there was one lone person inside with their back to the door. They sat at a laptop, typing as fast as Pidge would when she was trying to hack into something. It was an open shot: all Lance needed to do was raised the gun and pull the trigger. Then everything would be over on Alkafa. It was an easy move and it wouldn't take any more than a few simple seconds.

Just as Lance was working up the courage, the person twirled around on their chair like the villain in a cheesy movie. He half expected him to start touching the tips of his fingers together, as Mr Burns would do in The Simpsons. "Ah, blue paladin. I've been watching you closely."

The way a smile stretched across the rebel's face, full of an intense kind of malice that you couldn't force, made Lance feel uneasy. "What do you mean?" Lance kept authority in his tone so that the rebel knew he wasn't giving up; he wasn't letting them get away with what they had done.

"Put the gun down. All I want to do is talk to you, alright? I think you're going to like what I have to say."

"Why would I listen to you?"

The rebel let out an exaggerated huff and didn't say another word as he turned his laptop around so the screen was visible to Lance. It appeared to be showing footage from the main room where people were still trapped. An Alkafan rebel with eyes that seemed to be devoid of all emotion had a gun pressed against Shiro's temple. It was almost like the rebel didn't have a consciousness. Shiro was clearly trying his hardest to stay strong as the leader of the team but Lance had known him long enough to read the trepidation behind his eyes. "If you don't, I'll ensure your leader gets shot. It would be so easy to send a message to my rebel and ask him to pull the trigger, wouldn't it? The black paladin wouldn't even have time to blink before he would bleed out across the floor."

"I-" Lance wanted to shout back an argument but he couldn't as the Alkafan cut him off in a creepily monotonous tone.

"I think you should listen to me, Lance."

"How do you know my name?"

"As I said, I've been watching you," The alien raised a finger and pressed it right into the side of his head; just above his ear. His face slowly morphed into another that made Lance stumble back with a loud, horrified gasp. His arms fell down to his sides, alongside with his gun, as his eyes widened at the sight in front of him.

"No, no, no, there's no way..."

"Don't you remember our little chats?"

"Stop it, you're lying-"

The Alkafan grinned as he put on an accent that broke Lance's heart in half. "Tell me a bit about yourself, Lance, does that jog your memory?"

Lance let tears dribble down his face as he stared into the eyes of none other than Dr Anderson. The one man he had come to trust.