(( Welp... this happened... *nervous and scared laughter*))

Two days, many panic attacks, and some overnight suicide watches later, Adam was still at Lotor's and still breathing. Shiro and Matt especially kept watch on the glasses cam to make sure things weren't going belly up.

They were anticipating when a guard would stop standing by Adam's door every night, so then he would be able to sneak out and let everyone in. According to Pidge's hypothesis, that night would be very soon, if not the same one as they watched.

" The guards have stopped following him around the halls, so my guess is... tonight. We have to be prepared to make our move." She told Shiro, looking at him with an unrivaled seriousness. This whole operation would have to be swift and quiet, and cloaked by the night.

Shiro drank some coffee and rubbed his eyes, knowing exactly what that meant.

He was going to have to kill someone, and that was something he'd never been tasked with before. Even worse... it wasn't just any person. It was Lotor, the same Lotor who was dastardly enough to murder his own fianceé, the same one who could take out anyone the second they even looked at him wrong. It should've made it better, the fact that he 'deserved' it, but it didn't. Shiro despised him and all, but believe it or not, Lotor was still a person.

He hoped he could go through with it, even if it would leave a permanent scar on his conscience.

" I'll tell Lance and Keith to get ready..." Pidge said, and Shiro nodded.

" I'll tell Adam to make his move at midnight, given that the conditions are suitable..." Shiro spoke darkly, staring at the floor. Matt, who was next to him, had never seen such a look on his face before. It was more than something so simple as anger or sadness. It was hatred, but for who the hatred was aimed toward... that was the question. Matt had a hunch Shiro was directing at least a part of it toward himself.

Once Pidge left the room, Matt reached out and took Shiro's hand.

" I trust whatever you do out there..." He murmured, and Shiro picked his gaze up to point it at his boyfriend. He didn't say a word while pulling the ginger haired male closer, enveloping him in a hug.

...

" Klance!" Pidge banged on Keith's bedroom door, and Kosmo's barking sounded from the inside. It was followed by a low groan from someone, probably Lance.

She rolled her eyes and folded her arms, not knowing what the boys were up to in there. Right as she was about to knock again, Lance pulled the door open. He had a bedhead, but it didn't seem as though he'd been asleep. He was wearing a t-shirt and boxers, and Keith was still in bed.

They were probably cuddling to the Netflix playing in the back, wanting to utilize the time they had left before the mission.

" Yeah?" Lance asked.

" Tonight... Adam is making his move, and you'll have to go with Shiro." She informed them, and Lance's face shaded as he stared down.

" So this is it, huh?" He asked, and Pidge nodded.

" You should get ready... and meet with everyone, too. I'm sure Shiro has a Plan B."

Telling them wasn't easy for Pidge. She didn't want to risk her friends, but that was the consensus the family had come to. Lance told her a quiet 'okay' before closing the door. He came back to the bed, where he collapsed beside Keith and embraced him again.

" What's going on?" Keith asked, not having heard what the two discussed.

" We're going in tonight..." Lance muttered, and Keith immediately felt his whole body tense in response to the news. His bracelet jingled, and Kosmo whimpered. He crawled further over Keith and licked his face.

Lance took Keith's hand, running his hand over the bracelet he'd given him. The moon charm, the one that said 'to the moon and back', and the beads, and even the string that held it all together. They represented something bigger.

" I'll protect you." Lance told him.

" Protecting you is my job..." Keith murmured.

There they were at the same crossroads as always. Who was saving who?

...

Hours later, Adam got the cue to sneak from his room. It was pitch black in the hallways, and on his glasses cam, everyone began watching. Shiro was in the car with Lance and Keith, all of them picking the feed up from Shiro's phone.

" If anything goes wrong, if they catch him, I'm calling a family meeting. I will issue an order to storm Lotor's mansion indefinitely, and no one gets to leave until Lotor is dead." Shiro told Lance and Keith. " Pidge has already let everyone know. All I have to do is send her the signal, and she'll send out the alert to everyone."

" Let's just hope it doesn't come to that." Lance said, adjusting his necktie in the back. They were all wearing suits, being that it was a formal mission. Keith was busy cocking his gun next to Lance.

...

Meanwhile, Adam was sneaking through the mansion while Pidge talked him through from the other side.

Hunk was in the kitchen, ready to stress eat his worries away. Shay was busy keeping an eye on Romelle, and he was planning on getting back to them... but that was until he noticed something.

Something blinked at him from inside the fridge, and he spit his juice box all over the place. A camera?!

Hunk reached in and found it near the back, yanking it out.

" PIDGE!" He screeched, taking it and running toward the makeshift control room for everything. " PIDGE!"

" Yeah, what is it, jeez, Hunk!" She turned around, clutching her chest and startled as hell.

" HE'S BEEN WATCHING US!" Hunk tossed the camera at her, and Pidge felt the tiny device land in her lap. She froze, and Matt's face sank. " WHERE ARE THE OTHER CAMERAS?! THEY HAVE TO BE ALL OVER!"

" He must've put them in when he strung Allura up! Fuck!" Pidge exclaimed, panicking and then turning to Adam.

If Lotor was watching... that meant he'd heard their plan. He knew everything, and he'd let it happen!

" Adam!" Pidge opened the channel and began shouting at him through the glasses cam. " Abort! Get out!"

Adam perked up and looked around, just having made it to the bottom of the staircase.

" What are you talking about?" He whispered, rounding the stairway and taking a right into the ground level of Lotor's mansion.

Pidge frantically looked at the security cameras of Lotor's mansion, trying to find Adam's current position so he could get out. She found him by the stairs, heading toward the kitchen, where he could find the secret door to the basement. Then she saw movement in the darkness behind him, her eyes bulging.

" ADAM! Behind you!" She tried to warn him.

Adam turned over his shoulder, finding himself being grabbed before he could see much of anything.

" Nice try..." Was insidiously cackled.

There was a tussle, sending Adam's glasses flying and shattering, and that was the last signal Pidge could pick up before the channel failed. She sat there in shock for a moment, and Matt was sobbing in the chair beside her. Hunk watched the screen in horror, and all the lights inside of Lotor's mansion were flicked off.

Nobody could see anything from the cameras.

Pidge sent out the message Shiro had ordered her to, causing Lance and Keith's phones to vibrate in the backseat.

Shiro's phone began ringing as she called him as well.

" Plan B!" Lance announced, checking his phone. Keith wanted to throw his phone from frustration.

" Pidge! What's-" Shiro answered.

Lance and Keith were watching on the glasses cam, seeing the signal fail.

" Shiro! He knows everything I swear I tried to get him out but he grabbed him and I-" Pidge hyperventilated.

" Slow down!" Shiro tried to tell her.

" Lotor was watching us! He knew about our plan and he lured Adam over there anyways and-"

Hunk was busy tearing apart every room in search of cameras, which he'd already found three more of.

Shiro sped up and nearly rolled the car while taking a sharp turn.

" What do you mean he was watching us?!" Shiro asked into the phone, shaking from all the adrenaline. Lance and Keith were getting tossed around in the backseat, even though they were both wearing their seatbelts at Shiro's order.

" Hunk has been finding hidden cameras all around the mansion! He must've set up the whole system after the Allura incident, and he knew the whole time what we were planning with Adam! He's toying with us!" Pidge stood up from her chair, cringing from the sudden movement. She felt over her stitches before taking a deep breath. If she got too worked up, she ran the risk of rupturing her stitches.

Matt could be heard sobbing in the background, and Shiro felt tears in his eyes while hearing it. One of his boyfriends was undergoing god only knew what at the hands of Lotor, and the other one was crying his head off. And Shiro couldn't do shit about it just yet.

He floored the gas and maneuvered through people on the road very dangerously. He'd be lucky if people weren't calling the cops on him for how reckless he was being, but Shiro didn't care. With the order dispatched, everyone would swarm Lotor's mansion. He had to be there first.

" Pidge. Stay back and keep watch on Romelle and Shay, send Hunk and Matt out. We need all the help we can get here!" Shiro ordered, and Pidge was already hugging her brother and trying to help reassure him. Nothing seemed to be working, but she'd be damned if she didn't try.

Lance hugged Keith in the backseat and buried his face in his neck, not able to think right. The smell of Keith's clothes, and even his shampoo was helping him come back down to Earth.

Part of the taller boy was tempted to stop the car, grab Keith, and run back the other way. It might've seemed cowardly or whatever, but Lance was terrified of potentially losing Keith. With so many bullets that were inevitably going to fly, and all the punches and kicks, it would be a war zone.

Lance collected himself and was reminded that they had to save Adam. They couldn't just leave him there, even if it put them all in danger. Plus, the mission was still the same. The method by which they'd complete it was different, and the carrying it out part had lost the element of surprise, but it wouldn't be over until Lotor was bleeding out on the floor.

The other bodies to potentially hit that same floor were collateral damage, plain and simple. That's how gang life was. As long as they got the person they were after, everyone would see it as a win.

Keith slowly wrapped his arms around Lance as well, needing to be close to him. He could feel his boyfriend shaking, or was he himself shaking? Keith couldn't even tell anymore.

Shiro's tires screeched as they entered the open gates to Lotor's extravagantly long driveway.

" Keith..." Lance whispered.

" I know..." Keith told Lance, and the larger boy undid their seatbelts. How he could trust Shiro's driving right then, Keith didn't know, but it wasn't of importance as Lance pulled him atop his lap.

" No matter what happens... don't leave my side." Lance told Keith, getting right next to his ear and holding him. Keith didn't want to promise him, because clashes such as this were beyond unpredictable.

Keith nodded.

" Promise me, Baby... I need to hear you promise..." Lance squeezed his eyes shut and buried in the back of Keith's neck.

Keith grit his teeth, knowing that if he did, there was no going back on his word.

" I promise." He told him.

...

" Let go of me, fuckface!" Adam thrashed around, and his vision was blurred in the distance without his glasses. He squinted and kicked behind himself as he was dragged.

" You should've thought of that before you tried to outsmart me." Lotor growled at him.

Adam tried to see where he was, but there was barely any light anywhere. The only remotely helpful thing was the moonlight coming in through the windows, but they weren't always next to one.

He fought more, knowing that if he gave up, there was no chance he'd make it out. He was dead or worse if Lotor went through with whatever he was planning.

The basement door creaked open behind them, and Lotor didn't seem to have that much of a problem dragging him down.

" Fuck you!" Adam screeched and managed to get out of his grip somewhat. Lotor let him hit the steps, where he pressed a foot to Adam's back and forced him down into the wood.

Adam writhed and wheezed, and Lotor kicked him down a couple more.

" Oh, my bad, did that hurt?" Lotor asked pitifully. It was completely fake, however, and he didn't feel a shred of guilt while yanking him by his hair.

Adam moved as much as possible, flailing in a desperate attempt to get free from him. Once he realized that wouldn't happen, and they reached the bottom of the staircase, Adam felt tears in his eyes.

" Shiro!" He screamed, hoping, praying that someone would hear him. " Matt!"

" They can't help you... nobody can help you." Lotor smirked. He had a chair, and reinforcements waiting down there for him. Instead of just killing Adam in a humane way, maybe putting him out of his misery... he had bigger plans.

James, one of his most trusted guards, was down there preparing everything.

" N-No! Stop!" Adam yelled, and Lotor pulled him to his feet by tugging on his hair. Adam hissed in pain, and found Lotor shoving him into a chair. He was handcuffed there by James, while at the same time Lotor held him down.

" You know what the best part in all of this is?" Lotor got by Adam's face with a sinister grin. Adam ignored him and tried to get away, even as his ankles were bound with duct tape and his chest to the chair as well.

" SHIRO!" He bellowed.

" Oh, Shiro this, Shiro that." James groaned. " You really think he loves you? I bet he's just waiting for Lotor to get this over with."

Lotor cackled, fist bumping James and looking back at Adam. He grabbed a knife from his back pocket, bringing it toward Adam menacingly. There was already a small bandage on Adam's face from the last time, and he couldn't help but flinch away in fear.

" Please don't!" Adam struggled and nearly knocked the chair over before James held it down.

" The best part... is that Shiro won't be able to stop me... he'll be too late." Lotor smirked. He was just deciding where he might like to cut him, but then there was a single gunshot heard upstairs.

So it was beginning, hm? Lotor was ready, and even if Shiro was sending everyone in... he knew one thing. Shiro wouldn't have the guts to kill him. He talked a big talk, and Lotor had heard everything through the cameras, but when it came down to it... Shiro couldn't kill someone.

Lotor already had his gang upstairs, waiting to combat everyone.

" SHIRO! MATT! PLEASE!" Adam screamed, and James ripped off a piece of duct tape to secure his mouth shut.

Adam prayed that they'd make it to him in time, and even if they didn't, he moreover hoped that Lotor wouldn't make it out.

(( ̿'̿'\̵͇̿̿\з=( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)=ε/̵͇̿̿/'̿̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ ))