17 – 19 August 2012
Hacked
by Zuzanny
lionette AT mailcity DOT com
Part 3
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"We've got a problem." Allura burst into the room, causing the rest of her team mates to gather while she marched over to Keith and the control panel he was seated in front of. He span his chair around to face her.
"Only one?" Lance supplied.
"Pidge had a visitor today. His location has been compromised." She told them about the flowers and their message, and how no one saw the flowers being delivered.
"Creepy meanings." Hunk said. "I don't like it."
Keith immediately span back to the computer system to access the hospital security cameras, scrolling back through the last couple of hours from all angles, and muttering how Pidge was so much better at the computer stuff than he was. He selected the cameras for all the entrances leading to Pidge's location, as well as the central desk, and set the screen to view them all at once. Very quickly he noticed a problem with the time coding. "That's interesting." Everyone crowded around to peer at the screen. "Exactly one hour is missing from all these shots."
"An hour?" Lance piped up. "What times between?"
"It starts just before Daniel and I went to see him," Keith said.
"And ends just after my visit with him." Allura added.
"Strange that." Keith pondered out loud. "We know that the flowers were delivered some time between our visits, so why delete that much?"
"Maybe you guys saw someone, or maybe saw something that would help identify this guy?" Lance suggested.
Both Allura and Keith thought over their visits, but couldn't think of anything that stood out.
"It doesn't matter." Keith announced. "Pidge's position and the security here has been compromised. We need immediate evac."
"What about his injuries?" Hunk asked. "Can we treat them ourselves?"
"I will talk to the staff here." Allura said. "If we need to, I will request one of them to come with us." And by request, they knew she meant demand.
"Right. Lance, go check the transport. Hunk, guard Pidge. I'm going to keep an eye on security here. Communicate through coded channels only. Evac to the castle ASAP. Clear?"
They all scurried to do their jobs.
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Pidge looked around him with wonder as he rode in the transport into the castle grounds. His face pressed to the window to look up the tower walls as they entered the gates, seeing the flags at the tops of the great spires flapping in the wind. Their colours were bright in the clear blue sky. The grounds of the castle were green and well kept, everything looked perfectly normal and beautiful and just what a castle out of a fairy tail should look like. But even thought the walls were built with large block of grey stone, Pidge knew there were weapons and scanners hidden all over them, and that there were hidden traps all over the place, ready to fry intruders. "Because I put them there." He whispered out loud.
"What?" Hunk asked, seated across from him.
"Nothing." Pidge presented the man with a bright smile, and Hunk went back to looking out the windows in a highly distracted way... that made Pidge think he was looking out for imminent attack. Pidge had noticed all his team mates had been behaving like that actually. All tense, and sharp and looking at every single person near them as though they were a threat. Pidge didn't like it. "Hunk," he asked. "what's going on? I know I am cleared to leave the hospital, but what has you all freaked out so much?"
Hunk tried to laugh it off and changed the subject. Pidge frowned, but decided not to pursue the subject... for now.
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The cadets were standing in wait for them in one of the castle's many formal lounges. Pidge wasn't allowed to enter until Keith had gone through every single room before him, and closed all the voluminous purple velvet curtains. Once again Pidge didn't like it, but apart from narrowing his eyes, he said nothing. Not that he could have said anything at that moment anyway. Walking from the transport bays to the interior of the castle was taking all his energy as it was. By the time they had made it into the lounge, he was shaking and his heart was pounding so hard that he felt like he had just run a marathon. Hunk ended up taking his arm and guiding him to one of the overly fluffy and formal couches which he sank into with a sigh.
No one relaxed until they were all finally in the room, and Keith had locked the doors behind them. After that, Allura was busy ordering where the medical supplies were to go, and for food to be brought. The cadets were all chattering away with the older members of the team. Pidge didn't care. He hadn't realised quite how much just that much walking had washed him out until he found himself being gently shaken awake... with his head on Hunk's knee and Hunk's fingers running though his hair. And really, with those magic fingers relaxing him in such a manner, who could blame him from falling asleep?
"Gotta eat something, Little buddy." Hunk was leaning his head down so Pidge could hear it through the chaos that was the cadets and their interaction with his team mates.
"Do I have to?" Pidge whined. "Tired."
Hunk snorted. "Yeah, I know. But you gotta take your meds with food, so up you get."
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Pidge could barely keep his eyes open during the meal, and only managed to get a few spoons of soup down before leaning precariously to the side of the chair. Only Hunk being seated next to him stopped him form falling completely off the chair. Hunk had to shake him awake again so that he could take his pills, but then he was listing again. Hunk exchanged a glance with keith, who nodded.
"Come on, Little buddy, lets get you off to bed."
Pidge made a small noise of agreement, and not long after that Hunk actually lifted him into his arms and was carrying him out of the room.
Keith, Lance and Allura gave the cadets sharp looks that quickly cut off any snickers at that display.
"Drills. In lock-down mode." Keith ordered the cadets, who groaned, but stood to obey.
"What's their problem?" Larmina snarked while they walked the halls.
"Yeah, what did we do to deserve lock-down mode?" Vince whined. "It's like they hate us all of a sudden."
"No," Daniel said quietly. "It's because of Pidge." At the stunned looks of his fellow cadets he passed them and entered the drill hall. "If something can injure Pidge this badly, it would rip US to shreds."
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The blood curdling scream had everyone scrambling from their own quarters and down the hall, weapons blazing and ready. Hunk was the first one in the room, and found Pidge sitting upright in his bed while he screamed, and immediately was by his side trying to find out what was going on, but could find no injuries and no intruders. Someone actually switched the light on, and the screaming stopped, but Pidge continued to sit staring into the air with an expression of horror, his mouth hanging open, panting heavily. Tears streamed down his face.
"Pidge?" Hunk hedged while carefully laying a hand on his shoulder. A shudder ran through Pidge's body, and his head lolled to the side to look up at Hunk with dilated pupils. Hunk wasn't sure he was actually even awake.
"Balto. Gone. All my people. Dead!"
Hunk pulled Pidge into a hug to let his sob against his shoulder, patting him gently, while looking back to the doorway at Allura and Keith who shared troubled expressions. "It was just a bad dream." Hunk tried to sooth him, qand even started rocking him back and forth.
"I saw it. My planet. Everyone. It's all gone. Oh my God, Chip!"
"Chip is alive. So is everyone else. It's just a really bad dream."
Pidge pulled back and actually grabbed Hunk by the lapels. "You DON'T. GET. IT!" Pidge growled angrily. "I SAW it happen! I SAW my planet destroyed. That was NOT just a bad dream, Hunk. I watched while it happened, and there was nothing I could do about it!" Then he burst into more sobs.
"I know Little Buddy. I know." Hunk looked back at his gathered team mates, begging for help with his eyes.
"It's true the original Balto was destroyed." Princess Allura spoke softly, and entered the room. "But it was fully evacuated before that happened and a new Balto had been built. Everyone is safe and well, Pidge. Even Chip." She sat on the edge of the bed while she spoke. Pidge pulled away from Hunk to look up at her through red eyes.
"How can you be sure everyone got off? With all those nukes, how can you really be sure everyone got off? And even if all the PEOPLE got off, what about all the animals, the knowledge, the history that's been lost?"
Allura ran a hand through his hair and he shivered. "We can't be sure, not really." She admitted. "We can only hope, and trust the information we received from the Baltan government about it. Remember I told you some of the things you would remember would not be nice?"
Pidge nodded, trying to suppress his tears now.
"This is one of them. But it's okay now. Things are better now."
"Promise?" Pidge's voice reminded them all of the eleven year old child they had first had on their team many years ago.
"Promise." Allura smiled at him, and after a few moments Pidge lay back down, his eyes flickering closed.
"Sorry," Pidge breathed when both Allura and Hunk stood to leave.
"No problem, little buddy." Hunk smiled back at at him from the doorway. "If you need anything, let me know."
Pidge didn't reply, his breathing slowing as he returned to sleep. Hunk turned the light off and together the rest of the team walked towards the lounge.
They did not see the ox eye daisy lying innocently on the bedside table.
Author's notes:
Ox eye daisy – A token
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