As the door was thrown open, every single person in the room turned to watch. Lance, Coran and Dr Anderson all strolled into the room, Dr Anderson and Coran unarmed whilst Lance still wielded his bayard. Dr Anderson walked out in front of the group and raised his head to speak. Just as everyone expected him to fall to his knees and wave the white flag, his lips tilted into a mischievous smile. "Shoot the leader." He said in a complete monotone.
Lance just about had enough time to yell, "WAIT!" before he was being grabbed from behind and pulled back. Coran was in the same position, being held onto by another one of the rebels. The one who had been holding the gun to Shiro's forehead moved his finger to the trigger but he was never able to pull it. Shiro grabbed him by the arm and twisted him around so that he had the upper hand and was able to snatch the gun from the rebel's grip.
"Stop him!" Dr Anderson commanded, though he didn't make any effort to stop Shiro himself. A few of the rebels dived forward but Shiro had expected it, dodging each hit as if it was some sort of dance. Whilst everyone was distracted by the combat in the middle, Pidge twirled around to shove the closest rebel to her into the wall. She knew full well that it was that rebel that had taken their bayards and had them buried inside her pockets.
Lance was just about able to shimmy out of the rebel's grip and latch back onto his gun so he could knock out whoever had been holding onto him. The alien dropped onto the ground with its eyes shut in a deep sleep, something Lance knew he had to take advantage of: he didn't know how long he was going to be out for.
"Everyone get out!" Coran yelled once he realised he was able to imitate Lance's actions. The crowd began to flood out of the double doors at the front of the building as everyone desperately attempted to push their way towards safety. Once Voltron were left with the rebels on their own, Coran made eye contact with Shiro. "I'm going to get help!"
"Go!" Shiro responded, hands clenching into fists as he prepared himself for the fight that was about to come. Coran raced out of the building behind the crowd whilst occasionally shouting commands that would both control and reassure all of the people.
Pidge threw everyone their bayards once the rebel she had been attacking was out cold. Once she had thrown Hunk's at him, he was much more confident in his actions. He used the butt of his gun to knock out the nearest rebel to him. No one wanted to kill the rebels so they took their turns knocking them out until Dr Anderson was the only one left standing. Pidge cracked her knuckles and whipped out her bayard. Lance nodded at her which she accepted as her cue to circle the psychologist until he was wrapped up in her bayard and rendered immobile.
"Dr Anderson... why would you do that?" Lance asked, lowering his head but still maintaining eye contact. There was something about the direct mode of address that made Lance feel like he had power over the 'person' that had once been his psychologist. Dr Anderson appeared much more vulnerable when his glossed over eyes were revealed to the rest of the world. "I thought you were going to help us. Why didn't you? I thought we agreed that we would have saved your daughter if we could." He kept his voice soft, as if he was approaching a cracked shard of glass and trying his hardest not to break it. He raised his eyebrows and let condolence wash over his face. He wanted Dr Anderson to know that they weren't enemies. Lance was truly sorry for his loss and he hated how much pain the alien had been put through. "I want to help you, okay? I don't want to hurt you."
"You deserve to die!" Dr Anderson yelled, face scrunched up as he used all of his strength to struggle against the restraints. He looked like an animal suffering from rabies. There was a dark glint in his eyes that couldn't have been mistaken for anything except for an intense desire to kill. His jaw was tense all of the time, apart from when he was screaming insults and swear words at Voltron. He hardly resembled the composed, calm man that Lance had talked to about his problems in the past.
"No, we don't. No one deserves to die. It's too late now anyway. We've got you now."
"You killed her! You killed my daughter! Voltron are murderers! They don't deserve to be followed!" Dr Anderson was rambling with his yells, sounding delirious. It was getting to the point where it would have been more appropriate for him to see a psychologist himself, as opposed to being the psychologist that other people saw for help. Lance took a tentative step forward and placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder, swallowing as he composed himself. Dr Anderson continued his attempts to escape but he was tied up too tight to even touch Lance.
"We didn't kill her. The Galra did. It was the Galra who were the murderers. You know that, don't you? They're the ones who kidnapped Aliyah in the first place."
"You promised you would save her," Dr Anderson spat the words out like venom. His face was still rather scrunched up from all the pent up fury inside his chest. "You promised. All you do is break promises!"
"Killing us isn't going to bring Aliyah back, is it? All you're going to do is commit a crime. You won't gain anything. You're just going to ruin your own life and get yourself locked up until the day you die." Dr Anderson didn't say anything as his eyes grazed his surroundings, looking everywhere except at the paladins. "You know that so why won't you stop? There are many other families who have lost just like you but their sacrifice has contributed to making the universe safer."
"But she was too young. It shouldn't have been her. It should have been one of you."
"We lost too, Dr Anderson. I lost the girl I had fallen in love with," Dr Anderson connected his eyes with Lance's again, just to read the sincerity hidden behind the paladin's tears. Lance was holding out his hand as a simple gesture of alliance. When Lance next spoke, his voice cracked in a way that told Dr Anderson that he really knew what he was talking about. "I know we won the war against the Galra but that doesn't mean alliances aren't needed anymore. The universe is still a dangerous place. As much as we'd like to, Voltron can't save everybody. If everyone from all different planets came together to make the universe a safer place, maybe we would be able to save more people."
Shiro stepped forward, swallowing as his washed over eyes stared at his feet. He forced himself to look up and meet eyes with the man who had almost had him killed. It wasn't easy but Shiro see the terrified alien hidden behind the angry, aggressive demeanour. He had seen the same look in Keith all of those times that his temper had gotten the better of him at the Garrison. He had seen it in Adam when he had threatened to go into space. He had seen it in his colleagues when he had told them that he was going against Iverson's commands by leaving Earth and going to Kerberos. He cleared his throat but that didn't prevent his voice from cracking when he decided to speak. "I lost my arm and a fellow leader because of the Galra. Whilst I can be given endless mechanical arms," He waved his metal arm to prove the point. "I can never get the real thing or- or my friend back."
"We've all lost someone. A member of our team," Hunk was speaking the softest, considering he had always been the best at comforting people. He was like a massive teddy bear that people instinctively clung to whenever they needed emotional- or even physical- comfort. A natural when it came to making people feel relaxed, Hunk always accepted his role as the team's teddy bear. "Coran lost his entire planet."
"But..." Dr Anderson trailed off as he was unable to find an argument that supported his views enough.
"We may even lose a second teammate," Hunk gestured to Keith whose eyes were still glued shut. His face had paled a few shades since he had been shot and had been left unconscious. "You aren't alone in your grief but killing others isn't the way to go about dealing with it."
Lance let out a soft chuckle. "Take your own advice as a psychologist and talk about it."
The doctor let out a heavy sob, finally stilling. Tears trailed down his cheeks, full of regret and sorrow. At that exact moment, the door was thrown open again to reveal Matt and his teammates, wielding their own amazing weaponry. "It's over. Get them out of here and I'll look after Keith." His teammates nodded in unison before walking over to the nearest rebels- who appeared to be just coming to- and cuffing them up. They each blinked with similar looks of confusion on their faces. Matt rushed towards Keith and felt for a pulse, fingers pressing into the red paladin's wrist.
"It was a laser gun," Pidge explained. She had been the closest to Keith when it had happened and, whilst her teammates had been talking to Dr Anderson, she had taken it upon herself to examine a gun one of the rebels had dropped. "I think it must have been the shock that knocked him out." Matt nodded before tugging Keith's suit off of him. He then unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a nasty red burn that covered a large proportion of his shoulder. It had blistered over in most places, making the skin almost unrecognisable.
"He needs a hospital. It could easily get infected and there may be tissue damage. How long has he been lying here?"
"A while..." Matt nodded before he and Hunk hoisted Keith up so they could rush him out of the building towards the help he needed.