Voltron Legendary Defender (Spy AU) - martinis, girls & guns [6] [Sheith + Allurance]

[scriveyner]

Title: martinis, girls & guns [6]
Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defender
AU: Spyfic
Characters/Pairing: Shiro, Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Allura
Rating: M
Length: 1886
Summary: "I'm afraid we don't have a lot of time for details."

"I'm afraid we don't have a lot of time for details," the woman called Allura said. They had moved away from the van and were arrayed around what was clearly a thrown-together briefing area. There was an old battered couch with questionable, stained fabric and several chairs that had seen better days. Hunk seated himself on the couch without issue, and Lance only hesitated a moment before following suit. Pidge remained standing, as did Shiro, who followed Allura as she walked around the scattered seats toward a board covered in papers and string. Keith perched on the armrest of one of the chairs, his attention divided between Allura and watching the three of them. "Our schedule has been accelerated greatly by Sendak's arrival."

"Yeah, you mentioned that name before," Lance said. "And, by the way, we didn't agree to help you yet. We're just hearing out the details."

"So you can run back and report it all to the Garrison," Keith snorted. "You realize that they're crooked, right? That's why they tried to have Shiro ki-"

"Keith," Shiro said sharply, cutting the other man off.

The silence was hard-edged for a moment, before Hunk cleared his throat. "What, exactly is going on?"

Allura touched her hand to the board behind her. "My name is Allura, last princess of Altea," she said. "Those who attacked you, they're part of a larger organization responsible for the destruction of my homeland." She looked to Shiro, who had taken a position near her, arms folded, not unlike that of a bodyguard. Lance shifted forward a little in his seat. "Both Shiro, and ..." she looked over to where Keith sat perched, his attention on her, "Keith, they've pledged to help me stop that organization before they can do the same to countless others."

"Yeah, that sounds noble and all," Lance said, "but we don't do politics or charity cases." He started to lean forward, as if he was going to get up, when Hunk caught his elbow and yanked him back down into his seat.

"Don't try to act like the Garrison isn't funded by one of the most corrupt nations on the planet," Keith said to Lance. He looked back to Allura. "We can't trust them at all, Allura, I don't know why you think that this is a good idea."

"Yeah, if you look at it, we're not the ones with questionable loyalties, pal," Lance was once again kept in his seat by the fact that Hunk still had a solid grip on his arm. "Hunk, man, if you don't let me go..."

"He's right," Pidge said quietly, from behind them. Both Hunk and Lance turned their heads a bit, and Pidge was standing with her arms folded and her gaze trained on the floor. "The Garrison is corrupt. It goes all the way to the top." She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked at Lance, who was staring at her. "I've been pulling at threads for a long time," she said. "Why do you think I joined up? I wanted to find out what happened to my brother." Her gaze flickered to Shiro, who held his expression impassive. "At least now I'm starting to get somewhere."

Lance looked from Pidge, to Hunk. Hunk wasn't looking at Lance any longer, he had directed his gaze back toward Allura, and the board behind her. "This organization that you're opposing," he said. "GALRA, right?" At Allura's affirmative nod, he slumped back into the couch and sighed deeply, releasing Lance's arm. "I've heard of them before," he said as Lance rubbed his elbow angrily. "They're bad news."

"Has everyone lost their minds?" Lance said. "Our mission is that guy-" he jabbed his finger in Shiro's direction. "And we'd get bonuses for bringing in Kogane over there. You aren't seriously thinking about this?"

"You're the one who was yelling 'truce, truce' in the middle of a gunfight," Pidge said.

"Situational hazard," Lance retorted. "I've never even heard of Altea, this sounds like a setup to me." He stood up and put both his hands out. "What's the deal if I say I'm out, you shoot me and dump me in the river...?"

"Lance," Hunk said firmly. "Sit down."

"Nobody is getting shot," Allura said in that same, firm tone. "If you wish to leave, no one will keep you here." Keith was already halfway to his feet, and he hesitated at Allura's words and then sank slowly back down to his seat on the edge of the armrest. "We're not interested in making enemies today, we have enough of those already."

"Come on, Pidge," Lance said. He was staring at Hunk, who was still seated on the couch. Hunk folded his arms and met Lance's eye, clearly not moving a muscle. After a moment of this stare-off, Lance realized that Pidge had not responded and he turned his attention to her.

She stood behind the couch, arms still folded and a conflicted expression on her face. "I don't want to help them," she said finally. "But I want to find out what happened to my brother, and he's the only lead I have." She spat the end of the sentence like it tasted dirty. "It's the whole reason I joined up, Lance. I can't walk away from that."

"Oh, come on," Lance said, and looked back at Hunk.

"He's not wrong about the Garrison," Hunk said. "You know that as well as I do that there is some seriously shady shit going on, Lance." He tilted his head when Lance made a noise of disgust. "Remember Laos?"

This time Lance scoffed and looked away. "I can't believe any of you," he said finally, but he didn't move, instead looking to Allura who was watching their conversation silently. "Why us?" he said.

Allura said, in that same level, firm tone; "Lance McClain, eighty-three confirmed kills at over 1,000 yards."

Lance blanched. "My file is sealed," he said hoarsely. "How did you get that information?"

"Hunk Garrett," Allura continued. "Master strategist and expert in demolitions." Hunk shrugged loosely from the couch. "And Katherine "Pidge" Holt, deep intel and technology." Allura folded her arms and raised her eyebrow at Lance.

"Damn, Lance," Pidge actually sounded slightly impressed. "That's more than I thought."

"Shut up, Pidge," Lance said, his voice strange.

"To answer your question," Allura said finally, "you all possess unique talents that I require. That's 'why you.'"

#

Lance stood on the roof of the warehouse. The sun was well past its zenith now, headed toward the far horizon. The water was alive with activity, boats large and small, cars and freight moving about the docks as business went on like usual. After a good wait of ten minutes that Hunk did not come after him he fished a nearly-crushed plastic packaging out of his back pocket and pulled out a slightly-bent cigarette, hand cupped over the end to facilitate lighting it. The wind that rolled off the water was steady up here, heavy with the tang of ocean.

They'd been talking for hours now. Well, Allura had done most of the talking. She talked about what they had accomplished so far, what they planned to do, the structure of this GALRA organization that somehow Lance had never heard of (and yet Hunk had?), and the lieutenant in town that Allura and Shiro and Keith had come to eliminate.

Nothing about this felt right to him. He'd had a crawling sensation up and down his spine the entire briefing. Shiro had disappeared for a brief while, he'd returned with food and beer and they'd eaten (albeit in Lance's case, reluctantly). He didn't trust this, he didn't know what was going on, but this was something else entirely. Despite his misgivings though, this GALRA group seemed like trouble, and he did agree it needed to be dealt with.

He exhaled a long line of smoke into the sea breeze. They'd been given their weapons back, what few they'd had on them. Lance mourned briefly for the rifle that had been left behind; he'd used it a long while and it felt more like an extension of his own body. There would be other rifles and he would learn their quirks in time, but he would sorely miss his tool.

"So you can be quiet," Allura's voice came from behind him. Lance didn't take the cigarette out of his mouth, but he did turn slightly to look at her.

In the sunlight, her hair was white. Not so-blonde-it-was-white, but a colorless white that took on the quality of the sky now, blue seeming to creep into its strands. Lance frowned a little; there was something about it that seemed unsettling to him but he couldn't put his finger on it. "What do you want?"

"We plan to leave at dusk," she said.

"Your pal Sendak's in town," he said, and flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette. "Why are you leaving?"

"We're leaving," Allura said.

Lance ignored the way she emphasized the words. "If Sendak's the problem, why run? He's in town, you're in town, seems like basic math to me."

"You overestimate our capabilities," Allura said softly. She moved to stand beside Lance, her arms folded as she looked out over the small bit of view provided by the rooftop. "We were but three this morning. Even now it would be nothing for Sendak to crush us." The sea breeze caught the loose ends of her hair and stirred them around.

"Okay, princess," Lance said, not bothering to mask the derogatory way he said the title. "Tell me the truth."

Allura tilted her head, a scowl settling on her features. "I have spoken nothing but."

"Yeah, okay," Lance said. "This whole thing you're trying to do ... it's just revenge, isn't it? For your kingdom, or whatever it was." He inhaled deeply, and muttered the last bit mostly to himself. "Didn't really think there were kingdoms anymore, anyway.."

Allura simply looked at Lance and said nothing.

He shrugged loosely. "Not that there's anything wrong with revenge. Vengeance is clean and forward, not any of this 'saving the world' bullshit layered over top. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck..."

"Vengeance isn't the only thing that moves some of us forward." Allura looked at the sky for a moment, then back over to Lance, whose own face had turned to stone. "That wasn't in your file, though I think it's plainly obvious given its contents. "When Keith and Pidge return, we'll be leaving. It's too early to confront Sendak, he's waiting for us."

"And where are we going?" Lance said, the taste of tobacco bitter in his mouth.

Allura smiled at him, and the expression soured his stomach further. Lance dropped his cigarette and ground it out under the heel of his shoe. By the time he looked up she was gone, back inside and down the concrete stairs. He could hear the sea birds calling and for a moment more Lance lingered, looking out at the water framed by coast, and the way it stretched toward the horizon.

Every time he looked out at the ocean, he wondered if it would be the last time. One of these times, it would be.