Agent Blue

One

Lance paced his new room aboard the Castle of Lions. He anxiously ran a hand through his hair, his mind reeling over everything that could go wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here, and now he was on a ship with 6 people who knew nothing about universal laws, and he couldn't reveal his identity. 

He also had to sandbag his skills, make it look like he was mediocre at fighting so people didn't get suspicious, and his flirtatious and clownish personality was only going to further the lie. He hated lying to his friends, but he knew it needed to happen. He needed this mission, and being off Earth was only going to make it 100 times worse. 

"Lance! Training starts in 5 minutes!" Keith banged on his door, effectively scaring him out of his thoughts. 

"Yeah, sure mullet," Lance called back. He heard a groan from the other side of the door but ignored it. He really hated these team training. They all moved so much slower than him, and he had to tone down his moves in order to compensate. He much rathered wait until the night when he could train in peace without anyone seeing. 

He walked down the halls, entering the training room just at the 5-minute mark. Multiple heads snapped to him, he forced a smile on his face, though, he noticed the disappointed look Allura, Keith, and Shiro gave him.

"What's up?" He asked, a laid-back look on his face. 

"Could you be any slower?" Keith growled. 

"Is that a challenge, Keefy?" Lance asked with a playful smirk. 

"Guys, stop. Let's get started," Shiro called out. They all got into formation. Lance pulled out his bayard, the rifle forming to fit in his hands. 

As a rifleman, his mission was to keep to the back, as longer distances work better with a rifle. His job was to keep people away from his teammates, letting them breathe and move without being surrounded. Of course, this also left him open to being attacked, so he had to watch himself too. His aim had to be precise otherwise he could hit his teammates, but that was rarely a problem for him. 

Once Shiro called the training to start, Lance ran to the side of the room where he dropped into a three-point kneeling stance. His rifle fit against his shoulder perfectly, his hand squeezing the stock. Robots dropped down from the ceiling, running towards the fighters in the middle of the room. Lance carefully aimed up one of the 3 robots attacking Keith, his finger slowly pulling the trigger before the blast went off. 

The robot fell to the ground, shocking Keith, who had just enough time to notice Lance before he was plunged into the fight again. Lance moved on to Pidge, taking down multiple robots. 

Lance noticed a robot sneaking up to him on his right, but he forced his body not to react, deciding he would let this robot knock him down to show weakness. The robot lifted his foot, bringing it down hard on Lance's side. He tumbled over, falling on his back where the robot quickly planted his feet on either side of Lance's hips. The robot aimed his sword at Lance's throat, preparing to bring it down on his jugular. 

A sword thrust itself into Lance's line of sight, embedding into the robot's chest. Lance pulled his knees to his chest before kicking the robot hard, pushing him away and through the hole that appeared in the floor. 

"You should be more aware of your surroundings, Lance," Keith growled. Lance simply brushed him off, slowly getting up while looking around the room, only to see all the robots gone. 

"Are you ok, Lance?" Hunk asked, wringing his hands in front of him. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't see him come up," Lance smiled sheepishly. 

"Maybe you should pay more attention," Keith muttered. 

"How did you learn to shoot, Lance?" Allura asked, a soft smile on her face. Lance looked down at the ground for a moment, memories filling his mind. 

"My brother taught me a while ago, I guess it stuck," Lance smiled, but he didn't miss the way his chest clenched, a hole opening up in his heart like he was being stabbed. He had to fight off the feelings, burring them so far down in his gut that he could probably compress it into a diamond. 

"Marco? I thought he hated guns," Hunk questioned. 

"Nah, Luis," Lance's smile never faltered, despite how hard he had to fight to keep it on his face. Hunk didn't really seem convinced of that answer but didn't question it further. 

"Doesn't change the fact that you left yourself open," Keith cut in, drilling Lance's mistake farther. 

"That's why you're there!" Lance smiled brightly. 

"Lance, I won't always be there, you need to be able to take care of yourself," Keith glared, but it didn't faze Lance any. 

"Come on, Keith! He took down a lot of robots for us!" Pidge crossed her arms, defending Lance. His chest felt lighter at the sight of his friends defending him, but he knew she didn't need to. 

"It's ok, Pidge. He's right anyway. I need to be more observant," he shrugged. 

"I'm glad to hear you're willing to improve, Lance," Shiro smiled, but to Lance that sounded like extra pain. He didn't feel like doing extra training for something he already excelled at. 

"Just so everyone is aware, tomorrow we'll be visiting a nearby planet to form an alliance, I require everyone to be on their best behaviors. Lance, no flirting," Allura gave him a pointed look. 

"Come on! Maybe my flirting will seal the deal!" Lance cried out, but his mind was reeling. He knew Allura and Coran weren't going to know the updated requirements for treaties, but he had no way of telling them. 

The night dwindled out, and as all the other Paladins went to bed, Lance tried to contact his boss again. He hasn't been able to get through, and it seemed that tonight was no different. His communicator wasn't labeled to be used this far out in space, and he didn't have time to grab an off-world Com before the Blue lion kidnapped him to the Castle of Lions. 

Once Lance decided there was no helping it, he walked off in search of the training deck. It was around 3 in the morning, meaning the other Paladins should have been in deep sleep at this point. 

Lance stood in the middle of the room, looking at the panels of weapons attached to the walls. While his main weapon was a gun, he knew training with a staff or knife would allow him to practice his movements and help him expel energy. He decided a 5-inch dagger would work. 

Lance was often described as water due to his fluid motions and ability to adapt to any situation. It was how he got so high in the agency. He called for training level 58 to start, watching as 10 robots fell from the ceiling and charged at Lance. 

Lance was quick on his feet, his steps looking more like a dance than a dodge. His arm trusted forward with speed and precision, embedding the blade to the hilt in the robot's side. The robot shuttered but stayed active. 

Lance danced and spun around the robots, pulling wires and chopping off limbs whenever possible. In a matter of minutes, all 10 robots fell through the ground to be repaired. Lance wasn't even breathing hard, simply relaxing his muscles once he saw that none of the robots were active anymore. He let out a sigh, thinking about what to do next. 

He put his dagger back, deciding to simply use his hands instead. 

"Training sequence 60," Lance said in a low voice, trusting that the ship would hear him. 12 robots, these bigger and stronger than the others, dropped from the ceiling and ran towards the Blue paladin. 

The training went on till the early morning. By the time Lance was finished training, it was 5 a.m, and they were departing for the soon-to-be allied planet at 7. He decided he should get as much sleep as possible before leaving.