19 Aug 2012-08 Sep 2012
Big thanks to Matt, Katti, and to Sempai Michael for their help with this chapter!
Hacked
by Zuzanny
lionette AT mailcity DOT com
part 4
(insertlinebreakhere)
Then...
"Can I ask you something?" Daniel had asked from the co-pilot seat, ignoring Pidge's not-so-subtle instructions to take his feet off of the control panel.
"You can always ask." Pidge had said, eyes never wavering from the stars in front of him as he piloted the ship.
"Why did Keith decide to send me with you on this lame maintenance ride? I can already see this is going to be bor-ring."
"Boring, huh? So you haven't noticed how even the most mundane missions can turn out to be dangerous, life threatening and even fatal to us?"
"You know what I mean."
Pidge paused before answering. "Do you want the truth, or an answer that caters to your ego?"
Daniel crossed his arms and turned his head to look at the wall opposite Pidge. "I want the truth."
"It's because you're a dickhead," Pidge told him easily, almost like he was discussing the weather. Daniel bristled at that, but Pidge continued as though he hadn't even noticed. "and Voltron Force is too important for your constant pissing contests."
"You can't talk to me like that!" Daniel raised his voice in offence.
Pidge turned his head and gave Daniel a narrow eyed look that promised pain and death. "Oh really?"
"You have no authority-"
"Do you even know who you are talking to, Cadet?" Pidge spat the word, and Daniel's mouth snapped closed. "I AM the Pilot of the Green Lion. I have been a fully fledged member of Voltron Force since I was 11 years old. I am the one responsible for the security network keeping the galaxy safe, and I am a NINJA. If I chose to space you out here, not only would no one ask any questions, they would accept any excuse I were to give as truth without needing to investigate"
"You wouldn't! You wouldn't do that!" Daniel shrieked with the first real fear of the real reason why Keith may have sent him out with Pidge after all.
"Wouldn't I?" Pidge asked, back to that casual tone, but now Daniel could hear the dangerous edge to it.
"You're not a murderer."
Pidge snorted. "Is it murder when you are at war? When you are doing what needs to be done to remove a very real threat to the life of your team? You just don't GET it Daniel. You're continual insubordination and outright disrespect for the chain of command will get us killed one day, if it doesn't kill you first. Either you pull your head in and start following orders while you still can, or you will be removed. It's that simple."
"So you're telling me Keith sent me here with you so you could space me? Great. Thanks a lot."
"No," Pidge returned his attention to piloting. "not this trip anyway. This is just punishment for you being a brat."
Daniel didn't really remember actually doing the attack, but he did remember the sudden, overwhelming rage, then he was on the floor blinking through dancing stars up at a standing Pidge. A standing Pidge with raised eye brows and a particularly unimpressed expression on his face.
"Your attack is sloppy." Pidge said, extending a hand to help Daniel stand. Daniel glared and reluctantly accepted the hand up, grimacing at the pain in his sternum from Pidge's strike to his chest, and rubbing at his backside where he had hit the ground. He could tell he was going to bruise in both places. Pidge stood in a relaxed yet defensive stance a few feet away from him. "Try again."
Daniel shook himself off and straightened his shoulders. "You're crazy."
Pidge's mouth tilted into a small smile, and stood calmly waiting.
With a cry Daniel charged at him, swinging a punch at his head. Pidge easily stepped to the side, caught his wrist to twist it behind Daniel's back, tripped him up, and sent him sprawling. "Again." Pidge ordered.
With a growl Daniel sprung at him, and literally found his butt kicked before his face impacted on the floor.
"Again."
"You're a freak!" Daniel shrieked.
"And your technique is abysmal. Again."
After several more times of Daniel impacting with the floor, or wall, or Pidge's foot or fist, Daniel sat in a pile on the floor, panting heavily and wiped blood from his split lip with the back of his hand. Pidge was completely unruffled and still standing in his relaxed stance, waiting for Daniel to continue.
Instead Daniel looked down at the floor. "What do you want?" he quietly asked.
"For you to wake up and be teachable." Pidge replied, equally as quiet. "For you to learn that you are not the centre of the universe. That in order to gain the power you so desperately desire that you fling it away from yourself, you have to LEARN to be responsible. Now, have you had enough, or do I need to put your head through the monitor as well?"
"Enough." Daniel whispered, then dragged himself from the floor to curl up in his chair to nurse his bruises. "I'm sorry."
Pidge inclined his head and returned to the pilot chair, flipping the controls to take the ship off of automatic. Daniel shrank a little inside when he realised that he also didn't remember Pidge having time to switch to autopilot before being attacked, and if it were anyone slower to react their ship most likely would have crashed or be completely off course by now. "Can I ask YOU something?" Pidge asked after a few moments of there being no sounds in the cockpit except Daniel's heavy breathing.
Daniel shrugged but didn't say anything.
"Why ARE you such a dickhead? I mean, you are obviously talented enough to get in the top three of the academy, why are you trying to throw it all away?"
Daniel remained silent, which could have been petulance or could have been genuine self examination. Pidge shrugged to himself and contented himself on watching the stars and being in his own company. He had plenty of practice being alone out here. Sometimes he got his best inspiration while heading to or from routine equipment checks like this one anyway.
But less than than two minutes of silence had passed before Daniel blurted out "Well you taught me, Dad." and with that Pidge spun around and smacked Daniel up the side of the head. "Try again with the truth or your face will meet the monitor."
Daniel gasped and clutched his head, panting from the sharp pain even that light tap had given him and said with caution, "Okay, I'm really sorry, please don't hit me again. I might be at the top three but you don't see the other two fighting for attention, or the best jobs, or to be included when it comes to entering a battle with evasive manoeuvres, do you? But for me its all I can do, at least I get noticed this way... and okay maybe not for all the best things, but can you honestly tell me I would have been your first choice for this trip out to do even a simple maintenance run?"
With That Pidge interrupted abruptly, "Daniel, you have so much potential buried under all that attitude. Do you think I would waste my time trying to get through to you if I couldn't see it? Just do your best, and stop trying to compete with everyone else. Put your back into the tasks you are given and give your best result no matter what. Fame is fleeting, and it wont be long till those two are tested and find out if they have the inner resilience to stand up to the challenge or not. If they do, great, but if not, you will, and all the other crap in-between will have been worth the battle."
(insertlinebreakhere)
The next time Pidge turned on the auto pilot was to demonstrate one of the many kata he ran through daily. Daniel watched in fascinated awe as Pidge's body moved in a liquid dance through all the perfectly controlled moves, strikes, kicks turns and rolls that the kata contained. Daniel realised he could imagine exactly where the opponents would be, and the injuries they would have fallen with. Some of the intricate movements showed Daniel that they wouldn't have survived, or would have had limbs broken. At the end of it, Pidge stood in the centre of the space, feet together and hands at his side, and bowed. Daniel clapped. It had been beautiful to watch.
"Will you teach me?" Daniel asked.
Pidge smiled and inclined his head. "Of course." And Daniel felt his heart soar.
(instertlinebreakhere)
Now...
Pidge's blood curdling screams brought everyone running for the the third night in a row. As usual, Hunk was the first to arrive, and switched on the light. This time it was to find Pidge standing pressed rigidly against the far wall of his bedroom, frantically whispering gibberish to himself. Hunk literally vaulted the bed to reach out to the smaller man and pull him into his arms. The others all watched from the door way while Pidge's wide, terror filled eyes darted about his room as though he was seeing completely other things. He continued his frantic whisperings even though Hunk was stroking his back and rocking him, and murmuring that everything was ok. Eventually he slumped, exhausted and breathing heavily, in Hunk's arms.
"You okay now, little buddy?" Hunk asked quietly. "let's get you back into bed." Pidge slowly turned his head, pressing his cheek against Hunk's shoulder. No one from the door was able to hear what Pidge then said, but they saw Hunk's back immediately straighten, and he spun, keeping Pidge against the wall, and turned his head to take a serious look at all the corners of the room. Then, still keeping protectively in front of Pidge, Hunk slowly lowered himself to check under the bed. Seeing Pidge's increasingly distressed expression, Princess Allura drew her staff and stepped closer to the bed tilting the edge of it to be able to lift the bedding. Keith drew his sword, and Lance his guns, both standing ready. Slowly Hunk reached out his hand towards the hanging blankets, then together with Allura, flipped them up to expose the empty floor under the bed.
Pidge made a relieved sound, and slid down the wall in a heap. Hunk knelt beside him trying to coax him back to his feet and back to bed.
"What the hell was that all about?" A very rumpled Larmina snapped from the hallway outside. "It's like dealing with a child. 'Monsters under the bed.' Feh!" The older crew members shot her dirty looks, which had her stomping off to her own bed in a huff.
"Want me to stay?" the other cadets heard Hunk ask. Pidge nodded solemnly and then was willing to slide back under the blankets. "Okay, I'll be right back." Hunk stood to leave, and Pidge's hand flashed out to grab his wrist, terror again flashing through his eyes. "Hey, I need to go get some of my own stuff, you know. I'll be right back." Still Pidge wouldn't let go.
"How about I stay with you while Hunk gets his things?" Lance suggested.
Pidge examined Lance's face for a few moments, before giving a single inclination of his head and releasing his grip on Hunk. Hunk gave Lance a thankful little nod and, after a meaningful silent communication with Keith and Allura, they all left taking the cadets with them.
Lance sat on the edge of Pidge's bed purposely not making sarcastic comments about how Pidge had pulled the blankets right up about his face like a little kid, or how big his eyes were right then. "So..." He drew it out awkwardly, while looking around Pidge's room, trying to think of something meaningful to say.
(Insertlinebreakhere)
Keith and Allura followed Hunk into his room where he quickly gathered his own pillow and blankets together. Daniel and Vince were standing out in the hallway.
"He said there was someone in his room." Hunk said in a low voice. "That he was paralized and they talked to him, and then hid under the bed when we came in. From what I could make out, what ever was being said wasn't particularly nice."
"But it was just a dream, a nightmare even." Allura said. "There was no one there."
"Hmm." Hunk grunted, neither agreeing or disagreeing, but pushed past her to leave again.
"I don't like it." Keith said when Hunk was pulling his stuff back through Pidge's door and Lance was waving goodnight to Pidge and headed in their direction. "I'm going to check security again."
"I'll join you." Lance said far too cheerfully for that time of the early morning.
Allura, Daniel and Vince watched them head towards the central security room. Allura sighed tiredly. "Let's go back to bed."
(Insertlinebreakhere)
Pidge watched every move Hunk made with wide eyes, and was silent as Hunk prepared for bed. Hunk turned on the bedside lamp before turning the main light off, and then motioned for Pidge to shift over so he could climb in beside him on the side closest to the door.
"Want me to leave this light on?" Hunk asked once under the blankets. Pidge nodded his head. "Okay." Hunk took in a deep, slow breath, lay on his back, and closed his eyes. He could feel the heat that was Pidge close by, and the blankets shook from Pidge's nervous shivering. Hunk cracked an eye open to look at Pidge who was now sitting up, and reached out to his friend. "Come here."
Slowly, like a wild animal, Pidge shifted close and lowered himself to Hunk's side. Once he lay his head on Hunk's shoulder, Hunk curled his arm around him to bring him closer. But Pidge stayed tense enough to shake.
"Relax." Hunk whispered, "I'm here." and he reached across with his left hand to stroke fingers through Pidge's hair. Pidge made a small noise, then with one last shudder, went limp. Hunk continued stroking Pidge's hair until his breathing slowed and he was really asleep, the he groaned and covered his eyes with that arm trying to block out the light
Under the bed, completely missed by all eyes, lay a blue salvia.
To be continued...
Blue salvia – I think of you.
[Reviews - 1] [Kudos - 161]
Download story PDF format or ePUB format or MOBI format
Table of Contents
Download story PDF format or ePUB format or MOBI format
Table of Contents