(no subject)

[bigbrained]

[Being core members of the Voltron coalition meant that sometimes the team had to spread their forces thin in order to take care of everything that required their attention. Sure, they had other allies who could hold their own -the Blade of Mamora for example- but it had a little more impact if the paladins themselves saved a colony or planet, as opposed to more Galra.

In other words: politics.]

I mean, I understand what Coran was saying but I still think it's kinda dumb, right Keith? [Undeterred by Keith's noncommital 'uh huh's and 'yeah's, Hunk continues on as he follows Keith's lead and slows down his approach. They're going to have to try and sneak up on this installation or risk the Galra retaliating against the captured techs for calling for help.] They've been around way longer than we have, and fighting for way longer too! It kinda feels like we're shoving them out of the way to get all the glory. Not that that's what we're doing, but it sure feels like that's what we're doing. I guess in the end it doesn't really matter who gets the job done so long as the people are saved, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Right? Do you have a bad taste in your mouth too, Keith?

Comments

[whatsacactus]

Sounds good.

[He gives a little shove to his shoulder when he steps back; he knows this is dangerous and asking a lot of Hunk. But he's also certain that Hunk can do this if he doesn't think too much about it. Which... may become the issue later.]

I know you got this, Big Guy. [He makes his way to the cargo bay and waits for his cue.]

[bigbrained]

[Keith is the one diving headfirst into a Galra base with just a bayard and his own wits, but Keith is just so insanely capable that the idea of him not succeeding in his half of the mission is really only an afterthought. And for all his complaining, Hunk does feel a little better that Keith believes in him so much. Now if he could just stop replaying the worst case scenarios in his head...]

Well- [Hunk steels himself. WWKD.] YOLO, or something! [With a sharp dive Hunk pilots Yellow around the cliff edges and right at the center of the Galra base. The defenses come online almost immediately, but with all the practice it's almost easy to dodge them. They only fire in a straight trajectory after all, that's just math, and Hunk gets them over to the Galra base and, with one swipe of Yellow's giant claws, rips open the roof like tissue paper.]

Keith! [he calls over his shoulder, slamming a fist down on the doors for the bay,] Be careful, okay? We don't know who's in there!

[whatsacactus]

[As soon as the bay door is open, the pressure and wind pick up so all he can respond with is a loud "Yep!" before he hops down and out.

It goes to hell almost immediately. Long enough for him to get deep in the facility and realize... there aren't any technicians here. It takes him almost too long, too caught up in making sure he does this right, makes the right calls. But everything's too quiet. Even though the defense system kicked up, that should have alerted someone inside that there's some kind of rescue attempt... Right?]

Hunk! Hunk, something's up in here. It's not right, I'm not finding anyone in the spots you marked.

[bigbrained]

[It's not exactly difficult to dodge the defenses, and that should've been his first warning. In reality it's more like his third or fourth, because Hunk is what he likes to call 'cautious' and what others may call 'high strung and feeble under pressure'- no okay, he would agree with others. Still, this just-

Hunk!]

Wait- so, no techs, or no cells or what?! [Please please, don't let him be right. If he dropped Keith off right into the middle of a Galra base, practically on top of a generator then-

Hunk makes a decision and flies back toward the center of the facility. It'll be harder to dodge the shots there but Yellow's armor can take a beating, and he wants to be close by to grab Keith as quick as possible if (when) things go bad.]

[whatsacactus]

[He's running to get back to the drop off, only now fighting off some guard drones but nothing overwhelming. Still enough to give him that feeling of wrongness about the situation.]

The cells are just empty labs! And there aren't any techs here that I could find, something's messed up here. [He dodges into a small alcove for a second, just get his breath.] I'm coming back to you!

[And he's up again, making the main focus to go.]

[bigbrained]

Ohhhh, no no nononono, bad feeling, baad feeling- [Hunk concentrates on staying clear of the lasers as much as possible, keeping low to the building and watching the hole for Keith.] Okay, I'm in position, ready to g- Wait a second what's... [Hunk pulls up his display, Yellow shuddering to the side when his moment of inattention scores a hit along their armor.] Keith, I'm detecting a huge power surge from that generator, you gotta move! I think it's gonna blow!

[whatsacactus]

[crap crapcrapcrap this was a bad idea, bad idea, he knew it when he suggested it, knew it the whole way down, but it was the best idea he had and he fucked it up he wasn't meant to be a leader he's not cut out for it why did shiro think he could do it--

Keith closes his eyes tight, tries to breathe. Looks up because the whole is straight up. Focuses on getting one hand in front of the other to climb up]

I'm almost there! Just hang on! [If he sounds worried, it's because he's worried for Hunk. He shouldn't have come, he should've found a safe place to wait out for him, not in the middle of all this. He's climbing out, waving when he feels the metal beneath his feet vibrating aggressively.]

Yeah, Hunk, I think we're outta time!

[bigbrained]

[They're more than just out of time; the energy levels are spiking and they're about to cook them both alive.

No time to drop the bay doors and let Keith climb leisurely aboard, so Hunk does the first thing he thinks of and snaps Yellow forward, jaws open, to snatch Keith up with that chunk of metal he's standing on before turning tail and gunning it for the atmosphere.]

Keith, you okay?! [Hunk cries, because the energy levels aren't dropping and there aren't many things in this universe that can climb to an output like that without melting down and Hunk is very, very worried they're dealing with one of them right now. Yellow isn't built for speed and it's almost- it's almost like a tractor beam pulling them in, because he's barely gaining any altitude-] Oh crap, oh crap I think we're in trouble...!

[And then the blast hits.]

[whatsacactus]

Hunk!

[It's all he gets out before he's scooped up, platform and all. He clings to what he can of Yellow's mouth when it goes off. It lets out a deafening hum sound, enough that he's sure his brain is going to vibrate out of his skull because it won't stop. Metal creaks and the world starts to tilt.

Something is definitely wrong with Yellow. If he were in the cockpit, he'd know for sure, but here, it's just dark. Which is probably the first sign.]

Hunk-- C'mon, we gotta get out of here!

[bigbrained]

Ugh- [That humming is honestly setting him off like nothing before, but the panic is doing a good job of chasing away the worst of the nausea. Panic, because all of a sudden Yellow isn't responding, and now they're in freefall.] My lion's offline- we're falling!

[No amount of praying or bayard-punching or begging is having the least amount of effect. That hum starts up again, and Hunk is sure if he had his displays he'd be able to see that power spiking again, but just out of Yellow's eyes he can see through the tear in the facility, that bright yellow-white light seething up again. Another blast.] Keith, hang on, I think it's gonna-

[Another blast, more powerful this time, and instead of just offlining Yellow it hits them like an intergalactic freight train. Hunk rattles in his pilot chair, thrown forward until his helmeted head slams against the console and then everything fades to a sickening black.]

[whatsacactus]

No-

[He feels the hit, feels their rotation going the wrong direction. Then silence from Hunk. That isn't right, this shouldn't be happening. With nothing to hold onto, Keith rolls with the way Yellow is tumbling from the blast. He's not sure how far they were knocked away, but it feels like it takes forever to land. The metal Yellow bit up with him crashes into him with a crunch and he cries out because he's been hurt a lot, but this is something else and it's his fault. The seconds it takes for the gravity of whatever planet they're on to have the debris crumble on top of him takes eons to pass.

It's a safe thing they were in Yellow and not one of the smaller lions; they might have gone into a bad roll when they crashed and made it so much worse than it already is. As it is, it's a mess of yellows and grays and reds across his HUD until he finally stops and everything aches but the throbbing in his head drowns out everything until he's unconscious.]

[bigbrained]

[Consciousness returns to him in scraps.

Thought comes first, and with it the pervasive feeling of wrongness. He's not where he's supposed to be. Something is digging into his side.

Then comes the pain, then nausea, and then Hunk is jerking awake, flailing until he falls out of his pilot seat and leaning over to throw up all over the floor- wall? Wall. They're sideways.

They're...sideways.

With that out of his system Hunk moans and rests his forehead on the nearest cool metal surface he can find. ...hang on, where's his helmet? The whole interior is pitch black, only the barest bit of light eking in through Yellow's eyes. Fiddling with the controls does nothing, so Hunk pats a hand on the console and murmurs,] You rest, buddy.

[He needs to find Keith. Keith wasn't in a chair, he was just in Yellow's mouth with that huge plate of metal. So even though moving makes the vertigo worse and even though Hunk is pretty sure something is wrong with his side, he still manages to crawl over to the bay doors and shove his shoulder against it hard enough to creak it open and slip outside.

They'd crashed into a forest of some kind. Well- that was probably to their advantage; all the trees plus Yellow's armor probably slowed their descent enough to keep them from getting rattled around inside like a box of marbles. With any luck Keith managed to brace himself and avoid injury, but Hunk still hurries with a limp over to Yellow's mouth, sticking his hands between his partner's jaws and straining to open them enough to see.] Keith- Keith, buddy, you okay?

[whatsacactus]

[The pain that wakes him is sharp and concentrated in a few spots, but the worst by far is his leg.

He groans when he comes to. Keith's hands are shaking when he tries to shove the metal off him and gasps, stops with a stabbing pain in his chest. It's fine. It'll be fine, he has to be fine, he has to figure this out and get Hunk out and them back home.

Keith --

He looks blearily to the direction he thought he heard his name, tries to reach out from under the metal.] Hunk-- Here.

[bigbrained]

[It takes a second for his eyes to adjust, but once they do-]

Keith, [Hunk gasps, and reaches. He can only just barely reach those stretched-out fingertips so Hunk ignores the burning in his side and the throbbing his head, wedges himself between the edges of Yellow's jaws and grunts as he pushes with all his might. Painstakingly slowly, the jaws open, and once Hunk has enough room he reaches in for Keith's hand, stretching to grab the edge of that metal slab to try and heave it off of his friend.]

[whatsacactus]

[Relief wells up in him seeing Hunk there, for real. He reaches his closer hand out to him trying to just feel that he's there.

But once Keith sees Hunk reaching for the metal, he gets both hands on it and shoves with him. It's less pressure on his chest - still hurts like hell trying to breathe and shove - but they get it off, his breath catching in his throat when he feels something hard pull out of his leg like a pressure being released.

...God Hunk is keeping the jaws open, what the hell. That alone is incentive enough for Keith to crawl to him, anything so the guy can get out of there and rest.]

[bigbrained]

[Somewhere in the back of his mind Hunk realizes that Keith is moving too awkwardly, crawling too slowly, that something must be very wrong but he's too preoccupied trying to keep these things open and not crushing them both. Once Keith's within reach Hunk grabs him, pulls him along and out of Yellow's mouth with him as he jumps out of the way. The jaws snap back closed again and break a piece of the metal slab off, which honestly h-hahahha that was terrifying. That could've been them.

He really should get up and check on Keith, see what's wrong with him but it's okay for him to lay here a second and hold his side and try not to die, right? Right. Not-dying is good. At least he can manage to wheeze into the dirt,] Why do we always get the hard missions...?

[whatsacactus]

[Once he's out, Keith lays on the ground. Not moving is the best idea he's had all day, which, considering his last plan, isn't that hard to pull off. He'll ignore the throbbing everything for a few minutes to just breathe.]

I dunno. But- [Wheeze, he looks over at Hunk, gets a little half smirk.]

Y'did good, Big Guy. Knew you would.

[bigbrained]

[Looks over at Keith too, and man, he looks rough. Maybe it's the concussion robbing him of his tact, but all these compliments, all this encouragement...it's no secret that Keith is struggling with his role as semi-leader in the group, and Hunk doesn't have a doubt in his mind that he's probably blaming himself for at least part of this.] If we didn't go in through the middle like you said, you would've got caught in the middle of that. And me too, come to think of it. We'd be totally, completely, utterly dead.

[whatsacactus]

Looks like we both had something to with it. [That's about as much fight as he has in him right now. Joint effort, like in the Weblum, like he wanted. Just not the results he wanted.

Now that he's gotten still and the adrenaline is fading fast, the pain is rushing in, the exhaustion pulling at his bones.]

Looks like you came out better than me.

[bigbrained]

Probably because I was the one in the cushy pilot seat, [Hunk groans, mustering the will to move at the weak wobble of Keith's voice. He rolls back onto his knees and tries to ignore how horrible an idea that was before crawling over to Keith's side. ...shit, there's blood.] I gotta get you back inside, [Hunk mutters. The lions don't have much by way of medial suites, but each of them have a med kit that he can at least do something with. Shiro had been insistent that they all learn how to use the supplies, and they'd all had first aid crash courses in the academy anyway.

Hunk slides his arms under Keith to pick him up, left side throbbing too badly for him to pick him up far, but this'll be enough to get him over to the bay doors.]

[whatsacactus]

[Hands reach under him suddenly, and Keith can feel the wobble of how uneasy Hunk is.]

Hunk-- Hey.

[He gets an arm around his shoulder, tries to maneuver them and that's a bad idea, but so is Hunk trying to carry him back with whatever's wrong with him.]

Where-- Where're we going, just help me walk.

[bigbrained]

On what, that bloody leg? Don't think so. [Maybe if his head didn't feel like it was stuffed with cotton and if his stomach wasn't empty, he'd be a lot less okay with that blood, but he's handling it fine. Even though it's Keith's. Even though Keith is bleeding because Hunk didn't take two seconds to drop the bay doors and let him ohhhhhkay okay, the not-okay part is back.

Hunk just swallows and looks away from the wound as he mostly-carries Keith over to the bay doors, wedges them open just a bit more (and thankfully these stay open) before settling him down on the wall inside as he goes in search of the first aid kit. Judging by the sticky feeling in his hair, they're gonna both need it.]

[whatsacactus]

[He wants to argue that but.. Well! It's hard to argue sometimes, when his head is swimming and they just got tossed half-way across a planet by some weird beam.

... OH crap. Oh crap with Yellow down, they don't have a way to contact the others. It's a realization that hits Keith as Hunk sets him down, leaving him reaching for Hunk still.

No nononono this is bad, even as he watches him disappear to look for probably some kind of med kit or something but crap crapcrap.]

I think... [Some cursory attempts proves him right, and he rests his head back against the wall. Floor. Whatever's behind him.] We're out of range of the others.

[bigbrained]

[Yeah the thought has occurred to Hunk and he is trying REAL HARD not to freak out, even though he thinks he might be in the 'numb' stage of freaking out, where he gets stuff done but then becomes useless later. He'd like to at least get Keith bandaged up before becoming useless, like, that's ideal.

So Hunk just...HAHAHAHA just ignores that as he drags over the Altean medkit and starts rummaging around before pumping up the blue lights on their suits to better see Keith's leg.] Okay...okayokay, I don't think it got the artery. That's good. [That wound is deep though, and Keith is so stoic about that sort of thing that it could've hit bone and all he'd say is 'ow.' Right. Okay. Disinfectant first, gonna just pour that over the wound, generously.]

[whatsacactus]

[That pain and the anxiety of not having contact goes to his head, making Keith flighty and fidgety, lightheaded enough that he doesn't fully notice Hunk coming back with the kit. Or that he's about to dump a whole lot of pain on top of his leg.

He hisses in through gritted teeth, a hand clutching to whatever of Hunk's armor is within his reach. He's used to doing this himself with disinfectant, but Altean version? Hurts like shit. It pours into the wound and it's like a fire lit through every muscle and blood vessel from his leg to his stomach.]

Hunk - Save some of that for yourself, we still have to check you over. [Yeah, he's still not thinking much of himself in this.]