*this is a day late. i apologize. here's your special 1k words chapter for christmas.*

Group Chat: All of team Voltron

(except lance who they left out intentionally)

Shiro: I just finished interrogating lotor, got some information out of him but it's confusing

Allura: What did he say?

Shiro: apparently he's been watching us for weeks, and he says we undervalue lance

Keith: he killed one of his generals, he has no room to talk about undervaluing a teammate

Hunk: and how do we undervalue him? this team is like a family and he's part of that family.

Shiro: he also said he wants to take lance away from the "toxicity"

Allura: he believes we're toxic for Lance?

Pidge: guys take what he said with a grain of salt. he's our enemy, who knows what he'll say to get out of our custody. he could just be trying to get a rise out of us so we engage him, that would give him another chance to escape

Coran: Number 5 is correct, we must keep our heads

Keith: What else did he say?

Shiro: he said he won't stop until he has lance for his own. that i believe. whatever his motives are, he is determined to take lance.

Keith: Lance knows this too, I think Lotor said something to him that he's not telling us. but i'm not going to try to pry it out of him, he's been through enough. I'm trying to distract him from it all.

Coran: How is he doing right now?

Keith: he's listening to some music and doodling on a notepad I snagged from Pidge's room

Pidge: this is why we're putting handprint scanners on all rooms you dick

Shiro: language

Pidge: duck?

Hunk: quack

Keith: It hurts him a bit to draw because his burns, but it's calming him down so he keeps doing it. i'm not going to stop him if it's helping him mentally.

Allura: Paladins I'm getting a strange reading from Lotor's cell!

Shiro: Keith, make sure Lance's room is secure. But don't let him know what's going on. The rest of you come with me to the cell. If he's making another escape attempt we all need to be there

Pidge: we're already on our way

-

Shiro: he must've had a detonator hidden on him, he blew up his cell. he's somewhere in the castle. Hunk, stand guard by the escape pods. We can't let him slip past us again. Pidge, Allura, we will search the castle for him. Coran, use the castle's sensors to try to locate him. keith, stay on high alert but try to keep lance unaware. the stress will only do more damage to his current mental state

Allura: on my way

Keith: I'll try to get him to take a nap with his headphones still on, that should keep him pretty unaware of what's going on

Coran: i have all sensors feeds pulled up, if I spot him i'll let you know

Hunk: I'm at the pods, if he wants out of here he'll have to get past me first

Pidge: the blast probably injured him, i doubt he got far

Shiro: any sign of him yet?

Allura: Nothing

Coran: got him! he's heading towards the bedrooms

Pidge: how does he know the layout of the castle?

Keith: he did say he was watching us for a while

Hunk: should i come help?

Shiro: no, stay where you just in case he slips past us. we can't leave the escape pods unguarded. you're our last line of defense

Keith: I hear noise in the hallway, luckily I managed convincing lance to take a nap, his headphones are on so he can't hear any of this

Pidge: I have eyes on Lotor, should I engage?

Shiro: not yet, wait until we catch up to you and can back you up

Pidge: he saw me, have to engage now

Allura: proceed with caution, we'll be there in a few ticks

-

Hunk: did you subdue Lotor?

Keith: I hear them fighting in the hall, it's not over yet

Coran: did you guys hear that?

Hunk: another explosion??

Coran: Keith?

Hunk: Keith, come in. What happened?

Coran: my sensors are on the fritz due to the explosion, I can't see anything

Hunk: Keith! What's going on!

Coran: Sensors are clearing up. It appears Shiro, Pidge, and the princess are all unconscious. The blast knocked them out.

Hunk: Shit, do you have eyes on lotor?

Coran: no. but sensors are showing the blast destroyed lance's door. judging by the fact keith isn't answering, lotor was able to defeat him and got to lance

Hunk: I hear footsteps approaching

Coran: I see you on my sensors, Lotor is heading towards you. He has Lance with him

Hunk: I won't let him get any further

-

Shiro: what happened? is everyone okay?

Coran: Lotor got past all of you, he left in an escape pod with Lance. I've been tracking and following it as I waited for you all to regain consciousness. we're getting dangerously close to a fleet

Keith: we have to stop him before he gets Lance onto one of those cruisers

Shiro: to your lions!

Coran: I'm afraid Hunk is still unconscious. you, kieth, and pidge will have to take this one alone.

Keith: we'll manage

Shiro: now that we can follow him in our lions, coran make sure hunk is okay and get him to a healing pod if necessary Allura hasn't woken up either, I've tried waking her but it didn't work

Coran: you three focus on lance, i'll tend to hunk and the princess

-

Shiro: we failed to intercept Lotor before he entered the cruiser. we can't attack the fleet without voltron

Pidge: retreat. I have a plan

Keith: it better be a good one

Pidge: Green had cloaking capabilities. If we all three go in the green lion, we can get to the cruiser undetected and take it down from the inside

Hunk: make that 5. me and Allura are good to go. we just had to take a bit longer to recover than you guys did

Allura: affirmative, we'll wait for you to come back so we can all board the green the lion

-

Shiro: Coran, we're all aboard the cruiser. is there any way to zone in on Lance's location?

Coran: if he was wearing his paladin armor I'd be able to locate him easily but he was in his normal clothes. you're just going to have to search the ship until you find him

Shiro: alright. we're splitting up. everyone proceed with caution and only engage if absolutely necessary.

-

Allura: we failed, coran get the castle of lions far away from here. we were captured, but they didn't take our communicators. we need you to distance yourself until we escape, the last thing we need is them raiding the ship and taking the lions.

Coran: affirmative princess. I'll get as far enough way as I can without losing connection with your coms

Shiro: we're all in separate cells, the coms are our only way to contact each other. we can't lose the connection

Keith: I think I spotted Lance as they were dragging me to my cell

Hunk: I definitly saw him through a door that had a window on it. Lance wasn't cuffed or anything. But he was in a fancy chair with Lotor over him, cornering him. Lance looked terrified

Keith: we have to find a way out of here. we have to save him

*yes, allura is not a paladin in this text au as stated before, but she's still badass. so she still plays a major role in the fights even without a lion*