Keith traced the lines and I suppressed a shiver. "There are hundreds.." he whispered. I pulled away from him and pulled my shirt back over my head.
"Yeah...there are." I said. "I....I didn't want you guys to know about this...about me...I thought that I was finally free now that I'm in space...I wonder if my family is safe. Do you think he's hurt them because I can no longer protect them?"
"Lance.." Shiro stepped forward and I flinched away from him. He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. "I understand. I've done things I'm not proud of too...." he trailed off. A far away look in his eyes before he brought his attention back to me. "The difference between you and I is that you had no choice. You did it for the people you loved I did it for myself. It's okay.."
"I really hope you keep that opinion of me," I whispered. "Because it's about to get graphic."
"What do you--" Pidge started but a loud whooshing sound made her stop. We were passing to a new memory. Suddenly we were in another warehouse. I cringed because I know which memory this is.
"Guys...I don't....you shouldn't see this..turn away.." I whispered in a trance. My eyes couldn't leave the figure standing in the center of the dank room.
The man laughed and snapped his fingers. Oh no. It's beginning. "Welcome everyone," the man said, talking to the large group of people that spilled into the room. The were wearing fancy clothes and expensive jewelry. "I'd like to thank everyone for coming. As you know my family has a very interesting career path. And as I know, all of you are in need of our services. So, I offer you my best assassin. Alejandro McClain. Let the bidding start at ten thousand."
That's when I was brought into the light. I was tied up and my head was in a bag. I was eleven. The team gasped and stared at me.
"Lance.." Shiro asked softly. "Is this...an auction?"
I nodded my head. "How else would he get paid for what I do?"
"Lance I'm so sorry..." Shiro said, his eyes misty with regret. I shrugged.
"I'm used to it." I said, avoiding the eyes of my teammates. Instead I stared into the eleven-year-old version of myself. His head had been removed from the bag after someone won the bidding. You could see the fear and anger in his eyes.
"Sold! For twenty thousand dollars," Papa said, banging his fist on the table. I was untied and forced to stand. The man who bought me held me like a prize. I remember fighting the urge to spit in his face. "Now you only have dear Alejandro for two weeks before he must be returned."
The man nodded.
The memory ended and we were back in the core room. The team stared at me, their faces betraying their surprise.
"Lance what the fuck was that?" Keith demanded.
"That was my first auction," I said. "My papa would hold auctions when he had too many customers at one time. He always got twice the money he would have had he let everyone use me."
"That is so fucked up," Pidge whispered.
"Tell me about it," I said glumly.
"Wait so you were sold to people...like.." Hunk trailed off. I shook my head.
"No, I was never, you know, raped or anything. I just did whatever they paid me to do." I said. "Usually it was just to kill someone. Sometimes I had to torture people. That was it. It was always what they told me to do. I couldn't say no to them because, for the short time that I was with them, they owned me."
