*Third Person*
It's a peaceful day in the castle with everyone having free time to work on stuff, hopeful it doesn't get ruined. Allura is in her office, working on some diplomatic papers that leave her tapping her feet in annoyance. In the cadet's secret hide out, Vince is staring at the lion game that was made by his mentor, Pidge. Playing it with vigorous concentration that could last the whole rest of the day if not stopped.
From outside of the training room a big "whack" can be heard. Lance's face met the floor, leaving a good size bruise on his face. On the other cheek is another bruise that is going to form Larmina's strong kick that caused his fall. Lucky for Lance, it was a practice without the use of weapons. A larger bruise on his 'perfect' face could have happened.
On the outskirts of the castle, Keith has an uniformed pace to fill his rounds, doing his duty of making sure the castle is safe. Though, Keith claims it is his duty, even though there are guards who fulfill those kinds duties.
In the hunkyard, the sounds of metal being hammed and bent fills the air. Hunk is sweating from the hours of hard work that was put into one of his many small projects, later to be destroy to relieve built up stress.
In the hanger, there is tension in the air. Pidge's eyes glanced from Black's wired insides to Daniel, one of the sources causing them stress at the moment. They were given no warning that Daniel has to help them fix Black as punishment. Their hands tightened on the wires, pissed at Keith and Lance for doing this when they truly need to focus. Black was shot during the last mission, leaving a big hole which has been fixed but the wires still need fixing. Without the wires getting fixed, Black will be unusable.
The tension was finally broken as Pidge asked, "Are you just going to stand there and watch?" They stared at Daniel with their eyebrows showing the clear frustration they are feeling.
Daniel got off of the rails they were leaning on, making their way over to Pidge, "How can I if I don't know any of this techy stuff? I would probably end up messing something up and making it worse."
Pidge's eyes widened slightly, "I didn't think about that, and I know you wouldn't bother to listen to this stuff. I also don't care to explain it to you, since I really need to focus. This is a big energy problem Black is facing, I need to fix this before something happens. If Lotor or Wade attacks, Black won't have enough energy to fight, forming Voltron is not even an option." Pidge finished rant-explaining to Daniel, "So, get lost."
Daniel kneels to Pidge's level, "Nope," Pidge's head like an owl of the night, with the stared that strikes fear in Daniel's soul. Leaving Daniel nervously sweating, "I will get into even more trouble! Keith and Lance are going to have my head on a stick if they find out that I left during their punishment!"
Pidge let out a sigh, "If I inform them that I sent you away, will you leave?"
"Really? Of course!" They answered truthfully.
"Yes, I would. Punishments only really work if the person is actually doing something, which you clearly are not. You being here is a waste of time and a distraction," Catching their breath in case Lance says any nonsense about this, talking into their VoltCom,"Keith and Lance?"
Keith responded less than a second later, "Do you need something Pidge?"
Right after Keith, Lance answered with some attitude, "Did Daniel do something wrong?" Out of the corner of Pidge's eye, they could see Daniel wince at Lance's comment.
"I don't always do stuff wrong." Daniel whispered to themselves, thinking no one would hear. Clearly forgetting that Pidge is a ninja, trained to pick up on small sounds.
Pidge had to let out a sigh, "No Lance. Daniel didn't do anything wrong because there is nothing they can do. I'm under a time crunch, so I don't have the time to teach them about fixing Black. With that logic, I'm letting them go."
Keith being the understanding professional leader, "If that is what you think is best, Pidge."
"Should have checked with you first about this punishment little man, sorry. We will find a different punishment for Daniel later, probably cleaning the lions again, at least Black." With that the communication ended between the three.
Daniel let out a groan, feeling disappointed that they would have to waste more time later with a different punishment because Lance wasn't thinking.
"You're free to go Daniel, now please leave." Pidge waved Daniel off, finally getting back to fixing Black. They stared in frustration at this unfamiliar place in Black, they needed to or had the chance to look into this part of Black's insides. Having difficulty figuring out how to fix the wiring, sighing at the realization their going to be stuck doing this for probably hours.
Daniel leaned over Pidge's shoulder to see what they were sighing at. Many outlets fit for special kinds of wires, to the side on the floor is those previous wires all burnt up. Lucky, there were new wires put into place, but power still hasn't gotten to Black. "One thing before I go," Daniel points to one of the red wires that has been placed into one of the outlets, "This red wire is in the wrong outlet. It has to go to this outlet," Daniel moved to point to another outlet on the opposite side. "The outlet your using right now is not used for core, but rather the right leg. So, doing this will bring power to Black's core, fixing the problem."
After that, Daniel left quickly, leaving Pidge really confused. 'There is no way Daniel is right, they are talking nonsense.' Pidge thought to themselves, 'I mean, Daniel admitted to knowing nothing about this and I can't seem to figure this out. There is no harm in proving them wrong, it's only going to take me and few seconds to do that.' Pidge did exactly what Daniel said to do, believing nothing is going to happen.
Rrroooaaarrr!!!
Black jolted to life! Eyes glowing of blue for a quick second. Pidge fell back out of shock, 'Daniel was right!'
"Pidge, I heard Black! Did you fix the problem?" Keith asked through the volcom, excitement can be heard in his voice.
Pidge shakes their head, breaking out of their shocked state, "Yeah...I did."
"Daniel not being there must have really help, if you fixed the problem after they left." Keith lets out a small laugh, "Anyway, can you please come down to the meeting room? We have a new mission." Pidge's VoltCom went from blue light to the light turning off, meaning that the conversation is over.
As Pidge walks down the halls to the meeting room, they couldn't help but mumble their thoughts, 'What the fuck just happened? How did Daniel know it would fix the problem? Were they just lucky? Are they secretly smart? If that is the case then why are they acting dumb? The Daniel we know would probably brag about being smart. That means Daniel must be acting, but..why? Especially, revealing it to me. Their just messing with me, that's got to be it!' Pidge stopped walking, 'Daniel doesn't have the patience to wait that long, even to mess with someone.' Slowly, Pidge's eyes widened, 'What if...if Daniel is a traitor?'
Slap!
Pidge's cheeks were red for a moment after slapping them, 'No! Listen to yourself Pidge! There is no way that Daniel is working with someone to betray us. They are dumb Daniel..no not dumb Daniel. Daniel can act, is smart, knew that Keith and Lance would not believe me if I said Daniel was the person to fixed Black. Daniel knew that no one would believe me if I said they are smart, definitely no one would believe me if I said Daniel is working against us. Is Daniel working with Wade? I mean, Wade won't want a student that's dumb like Daniel in his prestige academy, and yet Daniel somehow got into that academy on their own. So, does that mean Wade is 3 steps ahead of us?! Using Daniel as a spy because he knew we would not suspect Daniel. No! Calm down Pidge, Daniel won't reveal that their actually smart to me if they are working with Wade. Unless Wade has something else planned! Even if Daniel is not working with Wade, there is something wrong. I need to find out what Daniel is up to, what side Daniel is really on. I need to find the truth!'
"Pidge, really glad you're able to join us!" Keith said to Pidge, who just entered the meeting room.
"Glad I could join, what's the mission?" Pidge replied calmly, even though their brain was not. They took a seat at one of the chairs with the others as Keith explained the mission to the other paladins and the three cadets....and Coran for some reason. Why is he here?
"So I want Vince with Lance," Keith turned to look at Vince, "Lance will be able to get you close so you can use your powers on the core to take it out." Vince and Lance nods so Keith looks to the rest, "I want Larmina with Hunk, on the field taking out as many enemies as you can. Lastly, I want Daniel with Pidge so Daniel can use their speed to get to the computer and Pidge will talk to them over the Voltcom on what to do. Allura and I will cause a distraction for all of you. Got it?" Everyone nodded, "Let's go Voltron Force!"
Everyone ran to their loins, their minds focusing on this serious mission, except for one. Pidge tried their best to keep their head in the game, but the concern with Daniel kept popping into the forefront of their mind.
*During the mission*
"Ok, Daniel. You need to stay focused, this mission is very important and you can't mess this up." Pidge said while turning in their seat to look at Daniel.
"Don't worry Pidge, I understand. Keith was really serious during that meeting. I rather not have a serious talk with Keith if I can avoid it. So, how long until Keith and Allura's distraction." Daniel responds back, getting up from the back seat.
Pidge turned back around to look at the front, pulling up a tech screen that has a timer on it, "It should be in 2 minutes and 34 seconds until you go."
"Understood." Daniel pulls out their Voltcom weapon of speed. They starts to stretch to be prepare for the run.
Pidge turns again to Daniel, "Remember, you have to listen very carefully to what I said for the code." In an instance, Pidge's tone turns from concern to accusatory, "But I'm guessing you don't need my help hacking that computer."
Daniel's eyes widens in shock from hearing Pidge's comment, clearly not expecting that,"Pidge, I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me now, Daniel." Their eyes squints a bit at Daniel's seemly lies.
"Pidge, we don't have time to argue about this!" They start to freak out since the timer for the distraction is about to go off.
"You are right," moment of silence, "We will talk about this later." They said in a cold manner.
"Sure." Daniel said with the same tone, leaving after looking at the time on projection that was still on.
Pidge turns back and sat down getting everything ready for hacking the computer. Daniel runs into the villain base, looking around they saw no guards or enemies at all. Daniel thought, 'Keith's distraction worked! Thanks Keith.' In a flash, the automatic traps that would hurt or even kill went off, but with their speed they would pass the traps right before it goes off. Daniel quickly made their way to the computer room, the big blue lights made it obvious it was the right room. Daniel looked at the strange, but familiar computer.
"I'm at the computer Pidge. What do I need to do?" Changing their tone to a serious one, which is very unlike them.
"Ok, you're going to use the hard drive I gave you and put it into the outlet that looks like a lighting-shocked face. Got it?"
"...no because you never gave me a hard drive..."
"...."
"Pidge?"
"@&@&$$@. I forgot to give it to you! It's too late for you to come back and get it. And I can't get it to you without setting off the traps!" Pidge's thoughts are filled with worry, 'I can't believe that forgot to give Daniel the hard drive, I was too focused on my suspicious! I should have been focused on the mission!'
Daniel could tell that Pidge was starting to lose it, they kind of blamed themself. They were at least a part of the cause and they knew it. They quickly decided on a plan of action, no matter what the outcome was for them,"Don't worry Pidge! I know what I'm doing!"
"Wait, Daniel! The computer is trapped too! If you do one wrong thing this mission is over and you are in grave danger!" Pidge's worry of the mission quickly turned to worry about Daniel's safety.
"Pidge!"
"What!"
"I hacked it...I'm done."
"What..."
A voice came out of both of their volcoms, "Great job you two. Their shields are down, we can end this."
"Thanks, Keith. What do need us to do?" Daniel responds to Keith since Pidge is now shocked by the events that just happened to respond themselves.
"You two can go help Hunk and Larmina on the battlefield." With that Keith ended his communication with the two.
"Pidge, are you ok? I'm coming back." Daniel said with concern. They ran back through the traps, making it back safely to Green. Daniel saw that Pidge was in a daze of shock.
All Pidge could think was, 'How did Daniel do that without the hard drive? Was I right about Daniel, if I'm right then why did Daniel help us? It doesn't make sense if Daniel is working for Wade unless that's why Daniel is doing this. Daniel could not keep up the act, so revealing it by helping us would make it so we are less suspicious of them.'
"PIDGE!" Daniel yelled, startling Pidge. "I have been calling your name, we have to go help Hunk and Larmina."
"Oh..y-yeah, sure. We are going to talk about all of this after the mission. Understand?"
"Yeah, I know," Daniel says in defeat. Daniel sits down, letting Pidge fly Green to where they are needed. Quickly getting out of the loin to the battlefield, helping Hunk and Larmina with taking down the enemies there. The mission didn't last much longer, Lance and Vince were able to finish their part of the mission without any trouble. The team was finally able to destroy one of the bases of terrorists, a group that has been doing business with Wade for tech and weapons. The small planet was safe from the deadly destruction that was planned against them.
*After they all get back from the castle*
"Ok, good job everyone. The plan went perfectly. Everyone can continue what they were doing before. I'm going to make my rounds if someone needs me." With that, Keith left the room to continue his guard duties. Allura and Larmina had to do some royalty stuff together, despite Larmina's complaints. Vince went to his and Daniel's room to continue that Voltron loin game by Pidge. Hunk and Lance went to get some food since they missed lunch. This meant Daniel and Pidge were left in the meeting room. Daniel tipped toes away, but doesn't get far until Pidge grabs them by the shirt.
"Ohh, no you don't! We are going to have a talk." Pidge pulls Daniel into their room, it was a lot bigger than Daniel expected, probably because Pidge works on tech in their room. Pidge throws Daniel onto their work chair, "Explain now!" Pidge was cornering them so they couldn't escape.
Daniel had a mischievous smirk, "Does it matter? No one will ever believe you. It's true. I knew how to fix Black and I knew how to hack the enemy's computer, but it's not like anyone would believe you," Daniel responds back, "Go tell them that Daniel is really smart. They won't ever believe you about me being smart!" They made a good point, who would believe Pidge with a ridiculous claims?"So, you are now threatening me! I will get proof! I will get video evidence that you have been lying! That you are working with Wade!" Pidge said while getting into a fighting pose with their ninja-throwing stars, just in case their suspicions were correct.
Daniel looks dumbfounded at Pidge, "What? What are you even talking about?"
"How you are working with Wade! You were in Wade's school! You knew about how Black's wires work, which was something Wade messed with in his lab! Lastly, that computer you hacked was a computer Wade created! Your working with him and I will not let you get away with it!"
"I'm not working with Wade! Jesus! I understand how you can see that, but I'm not working with that old geezer. I can explain everything!!" Daniel frantically said.
"You better start talking." Pidge menacingly says.
"I didn't want you to tell the others so they don't get the idea that I'm smart, that means I have to do more work if they knew. Not my thing. I also rather keep my secret about being a stalker fanboy."
"Fanboy?" Pidge's eyes widened at the dumbfounded answer.
Daniel rubs their neck, darting their eyes to the floor, "Yeah, I'm such a big fanboy that I know things that the public doesn't."
"How do you know about information that's basically top secret?!"
"My friend taught me how to hack really well, so I could hack into private information about Voltron."
"What did you even hack into to get the information?!"
"Wade had a file with all the information he got from Black and observations on the computer at this school. So, I copied all of it on a hard drive. I don't think Wade knows because I never got in trouble for it. It was months before I joined the team."
Pidge just stares at Daniel in disbelief, "You..I... You didn't think to give us that information!!!"
"NO, I didn't think of that, it didn't even cross my mind. Seems that I'm just Voltron smart, pros and cons of having ADHD. If it makes you feel better you can be the first beside me to see the information on the hard drive."
"So you're the only person that looked at the information?"
"Yup!"
"Ok, one last question. Why did you say no one will ever believe me with a mischievous smirk?"
"Because I thought it would be funny! It's from a meme." Pidge hits Daniel on the head.
"Because you thought it would be funny? You really are dumb."
"Ow... it's also true. I mean would you believe you?"
"No, I guess not. I'm still going to keep my eye on you until I'm 100% sure that your on our side."
"Ugg, fine. That's fair. Shouldn't have been so sus."
"I hope you didn't do all of this just to say sus."
"Of course not, it was just a bonus!" Daniel laughs has they run away, "I will meet you in front of Black with the hard drive!" After Daniel left the room, Pidge starts to walk to Black thinking over everything.
'Now that I think about it, it would not make sense for Daniel to be Wade's spy. Wade is too proud to have a spy that was not a robot he made. I'm going to take a guess that Daniel thought we would have kicked them off the team if we found out. They really don't think things through. I'm going to have to work on that with Daniel.' Pidge was able to get to Black without running into anyone, which they are thankful for. They don't think they will be able to handle anyone right now. Daniel ran into the room, breathing heavy.
"I got the hard drive, but I ran into Keith." Daniel took a second to breathe, "He started to ask questions, I might be in trouble later."
Pidge took the hard drive from Daniel's hand and inserts it into a computer, "Don't worry, I let Keith know I need your help immediately with something."
Daniel lets out a sigh of relief, "Thanks. I don't think I will be able to handle a lecture right now." They turned their head to the screen, seeing a password login pop up, "Password is 12346." Pidge types it in, the files from the hard drive pops up on the screen.
Pidge slowly turned their head to Daniel with the stare of death. Daniel starts to sweat under that glare, feeling uncomfortable. "Do you want this information to get leaked? You absolute fool!" Pidge had a look of disgust on their face, sending Daniel into shame. Pidge lets out of a sigh, "You got lucky that none of this got leaked, it would have caused mass damage in the wrong arms, like Lotor's. We will be changing this is a much stronger and protective password." Pidge turned back to the computer, leaving behind their disgusted look.
Daniel was silent with guilt, feeling like they just keep failing. With that feeling, Daniel put their right hand onto their left arm, straight in the middle of the arm. Pidge could see this out of the corner of their eye, knowing that some of Daniel's guilt was caused by the false accusations. Pidge didn't like seeing this very rare side of Daniel with their mask off, showing their anxiety they always hide. The others don't see this but Pidge has known for awhile of Daniel's mask because Lance does the same thing. Daniel's acting is much better then Lance's though, which is the reason the others don't know. Pidge now knows 100% that Daniel's has acting abilities. Pidge was 84.72% sure before the truth slipped through this day. With the percent being high it played a part of the reason of suspicious early on in the day. A good spy would have to be great at acting. Though, now Pidge sees the small signs that Daniel wouldn't be a good spy, only good at hiding emotions not lies. Seriously, Daniel sucks at hiding lies, everyone in the castle knows. They got in trouble multiple times since the team could easily tell that Daniel was lying.
Pidge knew that they had to say something to break the tense in the uncomfortable silence, "...you did a good thing getting this information. It will really help us with learning more about Black's inner workings and to learn about what Wade knows and may use against us in a battle." Pidge didn't turn back to look at Daniel, they just continue to look through the files. They didn't need to look back to see that they words have worked, the tense was gone.
"Do..do you think I should tell the others?" This was the first time Pidge heard this kind of tone in Daniel's voice, their real voice.
Pidge thought for a second.... "No," They said clearly, "The less people who know about your deep knowledge about Voltron the better. It is less likely for our enemies to find out and use it to their advance. You will become a target for kidnapping, possible brainwashed or tortured to give the vital information only you know."
Daniel's eyes went vacant with fear, "..what do you mean vital information only I know? You now have the information right here, so that means you will now know."
Pidge turns around, their eyes now narrow, "Daniel. If we even had this information and you were a villain, it's very unlikely that we will win. You see things that no one has even thought of when it comes to Voltron. The others might not think this, our enemies don't think this, we want to keep it this way. So, for now on you will be only be communicating to me about your knowledge of Voltron, no matter how big or small. We want this advance. Do you understand?"
"I understand. It actually feel nice that someone will listen to my rants about Voltron." Daniel had a small understanding smile on their face.
"I honestly can't wait to hear all of your thoughts." Pidge smiles back. The atmosphere changes to a more calm environment. Pidge went and came back with two chair. They sat in one in front of the computer, patting the other seat next to them to tell Daniel to sit. "There are no cameras here, nothing is being record so you will be able to talk freely about your knowledge without fear."
Daniel sits down, "Is this a start of a friendship?"
"You didn't think we were friends before."
"We never talk or hang out."
"Fair. Now we are friends."
"Is are friendship just going to be about this?"
"No. I'm guessing that your hiding other things that you aren't going to tell the others, besides me. So, we will grow closer in time and trust each other better."
"Wow! I didn't even think about that!"
"I know that you can hide your emotions, but can you also fake emotions?"
"I never tried. Why?"
"Your not the only one who likes to pull pranks." Pidge gave a grin, Daniel picked up what Pidge was putting down. In return, Daniel gives a smirk. Seems their friendship is already picking up through pranking the team...especially Lance. Shouldn't have called Pidge 'little man'.
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Thank you for toasthoneyandstardust helping me with Pidge's response to Daniel's stupid password. "Do you want this information to get leaked? You absolute fool!", this made by them.