Camilla finished off the end of her ice cream cone, and stretched her arms.
"I'm tired Mamma. Do I really have to go to Uncle Keith's house?" Cammie whined. Pidge put a carton of eggs into her grocery basket, next to the yogurt tubes.
"I'm sorry Cam, but I've got to work late tonight." Pidge grabbed the child's hand and brought her along through the store.
"I think your boss is a vanpire," Cammie said stoically.
"You think?" Pidge said, playing along and ignoring the mispronunciation of 'vampire.'
"Yeah. He always wants people to work late at night so he can submer- sum- sood... soodnerti..."
"Supervise?"
"Yeah! He wants to supertives you. But he can't in the daytime."
"That makes sense. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen him eat any food either," Pidge threw in, grabbing a loaf of bread from the bakery. Camilla's eyes widened in fear.
"I knew it!" she cheered. Pidge laughed under her breath. "Does Uncle Keith believe in vanpires?" she asked.
"I don't know. You'll have to ask him." They stood in the checkout line in near silence, Camilla humming 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider' quietly, until their time to pay.
It started to get dark as Pidge walked out to the car, carrying a single grocery bag and a very tired Cammie.
Once in the car, after double checking Camilla's seat belt, and that she was completely passed out, Pidge pulled out of the parking lot, and drove five minutes to Keith's house. She carried the sleeping six-year-old up the handful of stairs to Keith's front door and knocked lightly.
Her friend answered, wearing his usual black t-shirt and jeans of the same colour. She passed the child into his arms, and thanked him quietly. The door was shut and she pulled out her phone.
"Hey Axca. I'm calling in a favour you and the girls owe me. No, it won't get you arrested. You'll probably actually enjoy it. Promise." Pidge examined her nails as her friend went off on the usual spiel, no cops, no prostitution, she gets a cut, yadda yadda yadda.
"Okay, are you done?" Pidge asked snootily. "Good. Get a pen and paper. I need you to throw a party. Yeah, the address it..."
Once finished with the call, she knocked on Keith's door and gave him the address to give everyone he knew, not in the gang, however. He nodded and pulled out his phone to send messages and make calls.
Pidge sat in her car until Axca called back with the confirmation that she would be at the warehouse with booze and glow sticks.
"Perfect. Love ya babe!" she teased. Axca giggled before hanging up.
Pidge drove to the "headquarters" of The Galra. She smiled at Branko as she held up the finger sign and walked in.
In a duffel bag, she gathered, a crowbar, extra ammunition, and connectors that she had built. She stuffed an empty USB drive in her back pocket and marched out.
She drove her car through the mud pit behind the HQ, careful to cover her license plate, before speeding off to the warehouse that Voltron housed their endeavours. Pidge was lucky enough to stumble upon them when she was driving her daughter to school one day.
"I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I thought this was the soup kitchen. Ever since my husband left us, I've been struggling to make ends meet. I just thought... since you're behind a church..." Pidge looked sadly at the child sleeping in the car. The man at the door followed her gaze and his face softened significantly, surprising, because he seemed very kind and not hard gazed at all.
"It's not a problem at all!" the man that answered the door said, sounding genuinely sympathetic. He was even kind, or stupid, enough to bring her into the warehouse, past the Bridge, or, the place where they stored all their information. Pidge got a good enough look at the warehouse through her peripherals, while being led to the kitchen, noting all exits and the rickety staircase. The man loaded her up with food, homemade and else. She thanked him profusely while he led her out, though not through the same way he had led her in, through the back door in the kitchen.
Thinking back, Pidge laughed out loud at the stupidity of the opposing gang.
Except the one at the park... Pidge shook that thought from her head. The mission came first, before any other thoughts.
The party was in full swing before she even arrived. She was subtly proud of her ingenuity. She climbed out of her car and walked around the back, to the kitchen. She peaked through a crack in the boards covering the window. She saw no one there, so she untied her black leather jacket from her waist and shrugged it on to her torso. She might as well look the part of a party goer.
She pulled two hairpins out and bent them to the shapes she needed to pick the lock. She slipped into the building and through the industrial sized kitchen, into the bridge. Pidge stuck the USB drive into the port and started typing rapidly, downloading information on what they were doing, or going to do in the future.
32%.
She watched as words moved quickly across the screen.
59%.
What the hell are they building? she thought when she saw the blueprints for five... basically they were super weapons, each with a slot to combine with the others.
89%. Almost there.
"Who are you? What the hell are you doing in here?" Pidge spun around. It was a man with a white tuft of hair at the front of his head. He had a blue bandanna tied around his wrist.
"I'm so sorry!" Pidge cried. "I was looking for the bathroom. I thought this device was some kind of map to show me how to get around. This place is so big, I got lost in my search." She backed up, hoping to seem intimidated. Her right hand slowly reached back to grab the USB, while her left reached to her side, making a grab for her gun. Before either of them could move, the sound of glass shattering filled the building. The man turned to the sound.
Pidge used this distraction to turn around and check the download.
"Download complete," said an automated voice. The man's head snapped back around to stare at Pidge.
"I think I hit a button," Pidge said innocently, pulling the USB drive out quickly.
"What the fuck is that?" He pointed to the USB drive.
"This?" She held it up. "It's a USB drive. It's amazing for downloading information and storing it in a small and portable device. Fits right in your pocket. Very handy." She slipped it into her back pocket once more and pulled her gun on the man in one swift motion. She smiled.
"I've got to go. But I must say. You throw a great party." She shot at his foot, purposely just missing, enough to distract him, so she could run by. The biggest problem was his broad stance, filling up the whole single door entrance. She slid through his legs and ran for the railing on the stairs.
"Everybody leave! Or we will call the police!" a voice yelled. Pidge pinpointed the owner of said voice, and saw that it was none other than Blue's father, the man from the park. Pidge kicked out three of the stairs that she ran up, as the building was old, and the wooden stairs were rotting.
"No you won't," Pidge called out from her place at the top of the stairs. She leaned against the railing, listening to it creak unceremoniously.
"You!" Blue's father yelled.
"That's right! It's me!" Pidge grinned down. She had already been caught, might as well have some fun at this point, right? "And no, you won't call the cops. You are the notorious gang, Voltron, right? This is your headquarters?"
The room shared a collective gasp. Pidge grinned deviously down at Blue's father.
"Lance, just go up and get her," another man said, the one that had given her food after falling for her lie.
A woman with white hair, clearly dyed, since she couldn't have been older than twenty-five, pulled out a gun and aimed at Pidge.
"Allura no! She has a daughter!" Lance yelled as the gunshot rang out, hitting Pidge in the arm and causing her to fall. She broke the old railing and fell to the ground. That's all she remembered before passing out.