Lance watched as Red exited out of the atmosphere, his cheek scraped against the dirt as the planet's commander, Thax, pressed his head into the ground. They had landed on a planet earlier that day and tried to negotiate an alliance with them. Until they figured out that they planned to turn them into the Galra. When they attempted to escape, everyone but Keith had been captured. They just hoped that he would be able to plan with Allura and Coran before the Galra arrived and kept them prisoner.

"Commander, should we follow the red lion?" One of the soldiers asked.
Thax waved his hand in dismissal and pressed down further on Lance's skull.

"We have four of the paladins and their lions, we have no need to get the fifth, this will be enough to please Lord Zarkon," he stated. He picked Lance up by the back of his collar and dragged him to line him up with Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro. He was already regretting telling them what the Galra had done to themselves personally; about Pidge's family, Shiro's imprisonment, and the fall of Altea. They were quickly bound with their hands behind their backs and around their torsos.

"Are you okay Lance?" Shiro asked with concern, looking at the bloody graze on his cheek. Lance gave him a reassuring smile in return.

"Yup, A-okay boss man," he said cheerfully. He heard Thax scoff and turned to face him. He was standing imposingly in front of them with his arms crossed in front of him.

"I'm almost surprised that the all-powerful Voltron fell for this plan," he stated mockingly, "then again all you seem to preach is peace and diplomacy, instead of fighting for planets or taking them by force. It all seems a bit tedious to me," he huffed. He paced in front of the four of them, stopping at the end in front of Pidge.

"But what could I expect from a weak girl who couldn't even save her family when they needed it," he smirked at Pidge as she lowered her head in shame.

"Or an unfit paladin who looks as if he couldn't get himself off the ground if he tried," he laughed at the way Hunk blushed and looked away from his face.

"And a broken soldier who couldn't escape for a year and still feels pity for himself," Shiro's eyes widened before he bit his bottom lip and looked down at the ground. Lance listened to this with impossibly wide eyes, a feeling of pure hatred stirring in his stomach.

"Ah I almost forgot about the Blue Paladin, just like the rest of the universe," he crouched in front of Lance and grabbed his chin in his claws. "Can't forget about Voltron's weakest link now can we?" Lance couldn't hear Thax's voice over the rushing in his ears. His eyebrows lowered and he looked straight into his eyes with a glare full of complete hatred.

"Are you feeling brave paladin?" He laughed backhanding Lance across the face. Lance's head snapped to the side but his glare didn't let up and he only faced Thax again. He gritted his teeth and shot forward grabbing the ridge of Lance's chest plate and hulled him up.

"Do you have something to say?" He spat, punching Lance in the gut making him spit out the air in his lungs. He dropped him to the ground and started mercilessly kicking him wherever he could reach. There were loud cries of disapproval coming from the rest of the team but he ignored them, set on trying to teach Lance a lesson. He stomped down on his chest plate making him look up at him.

"Something to say?" He asked again.

"Don't insult my friends, they're worth more than you'll ever be," he hissed breathing heavily under his boot. Thax let out a snarl and fell to his knees to deliver a few heavy hits to Lance's face before he heard the sound of ships coming their way. He stood up with a smirk looking down at Lance's blooded nose and forehead.

"I believe that is the sound of our ensured victory," he stated smugly. He looked up at the sky but his smirk dropped and his eyes widened when he saw the Castle start descending into the atmosphere. He turned to his second in command in fury.

"Why did you not inform me that they had another ship?" He demanded.

"We couldn't detect it, Sir," they stuttered under the venomous glare they were being given. He sighed in annoyance and pivoted to look at the few soldier that were around the base.

"Everyone get to your crafts, we must take the large one down," he commanded. However, before anyone could move to do as they were told. One of the Castle's particle beams shot out destroying the aircrafts that were lined up a ways away from them. Thax could only stare in shock as the soldiers all retreated away from him, leaving him to stare at Red when he fell to the ground in front of him. His hands shot up the moment Keith ran down the ramp and pointed his sword to his throat.

"Guys," he said in relief. He crouched in front of Lance and cut the ties to his wrists and carefully set them in front of him, noticing the obvious damage done to him. He turned to release Shiro only to immediately start hearing the sound of beating on flesh. He cut the ties binding Shiro and looked over his shoulder. He froze when he saw Lance standing over Thax throwing blow after blow in his face, chest, gut, anywhere he could reach and he didn't look close to stopping.

Lance could only feel the rage boiling just beneath his skin. How dare this stranger hurt his friends like this. They don't deserve to be torn down like that, they're everyone's heroes. They're his heroes. He was going to teach this unworthy creature a lesson. Even it ended up costing him his innocence.

Thax only felt fear staring into the glazed over blue eyes that seemed to be staring and mocking his very soul. The blood that dripped from the paladin's nose and forehead made the glowing eyes stand out even more. He could only feel himself slipping into a daze as hit after hit landed on his body. The feeling of cold metal pressing into his forehead was the only thing that made him snap back into awareness. He looked up and saw the shiny white metal of the paladin's bayard and felt it dig into his skin slightly.

"N-NO NO NO PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" He screamed as tears burst out of his eyes. He sobbed out pleas to the blue paladin and trembled when his eyes didn't look away from him or show any sort of remorse. He started blubbering in terror when he saw the small twitch of Lance's finger and the start of it pressing down.

"LANCE, NO!" Keith yelled pulling his arm away making the blue laser graze across Thax's cheek instead. He yelped and immediately slumped on his side in a dead faint. Keith looped his arms through Lance's when it looked like he was about to jump on him again but caught him when he slumped down as well, finally succumbing to his injuries. He shakily looked over to the other paladins who were equally trembling at what they had just witnessed. They cautiously walked over when they saw Keith struggling to take Lance closer to Red. Shiro picked him up and walked on-board Red. With a glance to their own lions they decided to board as well, the threat of the soldiers minimal at this point.

"I've never seen Lance act like that," Hunk admitted quietly as Red flew up to the hanger doors to land.

"Me neither," Pidge added sticking close to Hunk who was standing further away from Shiro and the bloody form of his best friend. They were all still trembling from seeing the actions of one of their best friends. They unloaded and started making their way to the med bay. Keith stared blankly ahead as he thought about what could have happened if he wasn't able to grab Lance in time. He would have murdered someone in cold blood obviously, but even after that. At any rate he wasn't sure whether or not he could trust him now after seeing what he was capable of even after being severely injured.

"What do we do now?" Pidge asked after they set him in a pod. She was still shaken up and everyone could see it as she stayed behind one of the examination tables in the room. They looked at Shiro in question.

"We wait," he stated looking at Lance warily. "Then we'll have to handle Lance."