Hell Fire

The hunt

It's been almost another day since the meeting and attack from whatever it was, Lance never was told who they fought or why they retreated. It was strange.

"What happened yesterday anyways? You retreated," Lance asked confused as he stood with the generals.

"There where five kitties, we got everything we needed to know," Ezor smiled at him.

"Five... Wait five lions? How?!" He looked at Lotor with wide eyes as Lotor kept his calm composure.

"I'm unsure but, it's enough for me to know," Lotor smirked a little.

"Someone replaced me," Lance looked at the window with hurt eyes.

"I thought there couldn't be more than one paladin," Axca looked at him.

"So did I," Lance pursed his lips as he crossed his arms.

"Don't worry Lance, we like you, right guys?" Ezor smiled brightly hugging Lance and Zethrid around the necks between them.

"I thought he was Axca's sister or something," Zethrid glared at Lance.

"I thought you where a man," Lance shot back.

"Wanna say that again shrimp?" Zethrid grabbed Lance by the collar with ease.

"I didn't know you where a woman until you started talking" Lance stuck his tongue out at her.

"Enough you two!" Lotor raised his voice and they looked at him. He sighed and sat in his chair leaning on his fist with an annoyed expression. Lance looked at Zethrid smirking.

"Alright I like him, kid has guts, I'll enjoy ripping them out one day," Zethrid smirked back.

"I rather not," Lance was set back down. "Me and my guts are very close, I'd like to keep it that way,"

Suddenly there was beeping and everyone got back to there post as Lotor looked bored in his chair. Lance stood by his side feeling less awkward than standing in the middle of the room. He'd never say it out loud or at least now with a room of strangers but one just a little less strange... Lotor made him feel like no one could hurt him, it was stupid cause it wasn't true, or was it? God what was wrong with him.

"The lions will be on us in one varga, what are the orders?" Axca asked looking back as on a screen showed five lions.

"No way..." Lance whispered, it was true.

"I say we turn around and start shooting," Zethrid said win confidence.

"We just learned all five lions are operational, there's still much we don't know," Lotor said calmly and stood up.

"Keep the cruiser on this heading until my return. Ready my fighter, I'm going to attack the lions myself," He began to walk away.

"You'll never take them all out alone," Zethrid told him.

"I'm not trying to," he stated and Lance nodded as they made eye contact for a split second.

Minutes later the five of them saw a small fighter ship exit the cruiser, it was Lotor, Lance watched as the fighter was smooth in the sky as it attacked the lions with rapid small blasts like a machine gun. The fighter was graceful as it teased the clumsy lions and Lance watched the lions as black, red, and blue where flown differently.

"Hey be carful with her!" Lance yelled annoyed as he saw the blue lion clumsily rammed into the yellow lion.

"Who is in there?" He groaned.

"What is it?" Axca looked at Lance confused.

"The lions are different, someone else is leading the team in the black lion... They switched?" Lance made a face.

"Hunk don't hit blue!" Lance screamed with wide eyes seeing the yellow lion accidentally hit the blue lion.

"This is embarrassing," he mumbled as the woman watched a little amused.

"This is like on Arus all over again," he stuck to his tongue.

"Like the planet?" Ezor asked.

"Yea, blue took us there, we got our lions and... Training was... Yea...." He chuckled nervously remembering everything.

"Acxa set course for these coordinates," Lotors voice said through a speaker on the ship.

"I'm going to lure the lions there," he told them as Lotor popped up on a screen.

"Thayserix? Why?" She saw the coordinates.

"These are not the Paladins who defeated my father,"

"How do you know?" Ezor asked even though Lance basically called it out.

"They could not fight as a unit and are unable to form Voltron, perhaps my father did as much damage to their team as they did to him," Lotor said flatly.

"I could've told you that, we're missing two Paladins Lotor," Lance replied.

"So they gained two more,"

"Whatever the case, they're vulnerable and we need to take advantage," Lotor didn't have any emotion on his face except determination. Lance looked at him with conflict. He basically betrayed his team... But they didn't know that.

And he didn't who replaced him.. lance has always known he'd be replaced eventually with someone better, it was always in his head. But after being captured and not even an attempt to be saved proved his insecurities.

"Recalibration your fighter to adjust for the atmospheric changes on thayserix now," Acxa typed into the panel snapping lance out of his thoughts.

"What happens on thayserix?" Lance asked looking over her shoulder.

"The planet is made of dense gases and has unusual magnetic poles that distort and wreak havoc on normal sensors," Acxa explained.

"Ooooh, so once the lions are there, they'll be blind," Ezor leaned over smirking but her eyes went wide.

"No offense Narti," she looked behind her at the lizard galra woman.

"Keep the cruiser in orbit around thayserix, I'll flush the lions out one by one for you to capture," Lotor said with mischief.

---------

Lotor stormed back into the cruiser ship and sat in his chair with a heavy sigh while a small beeping went off and they where accompanied with other battle ships.

"I'm picking up an energy signature I haven't seen before," Acxa said and Lance looked at her with confused eyes.

Suddenly other ships stated attacking and Lance saw it was Voltron... They fired a canon and it hit Voltron as it was reflected and hit the other ships.

"Are we retreating?" Lance asked. Lotor stayed silent but nodded.

They flew off as Voltron did as well after causing the destruction. They could see the cruiser escaping but didn't follow.

'Smart move guys,' Lance thought as Voltron was barely in sight now.

"Voltron is back there! This is our time to fight!" Zethrid yelled as they retreated.

"A leader must know when to leave the field of battle, well face them on a day of our choosing," Lotor held his hands together under his chin.

"They can form Voltron after all, will that be a problem?" Acxa asked calmly.

"No, an opportunity," Lotor smirked.