Chapter Text
Lance wasn’t supposed to be here.
He wasn’t even supposed to be working this Case, let alone doing it alone.
But like any teenager, he chose to rebel against his dad, how original, right? Anyways, it all started when he was in the bunker with his dad, Uncle Sam, and Cas. They were looking into the disappearance of the crew of some space program. That’s what really piqued his interest, like, come on! It's space!
Sam had brought up that it could be too risky and that their usual fake IDs wouldn't fool the military, so they dropped it. But Lance couldn’t just forget it. He kept thinking about that Case and eventually decided to go. By the time he got accepted to the space program as a cargo pilot and established his cover as Lance McLain, a boy from Cuba, he was in too deep. It would have been suspicious to pull him out now.
It was late at night, but Lance was out on the roof of the garrison like every night before. He was humming along to Ramble On while he fiddled with his phone, pulling up the number he was looking for. “Hey, kid, how’s it going so far?” He hears his dad ask. At the sound of his voice, Lance feels a slight pang of homesickness but shakes it off to start his daily check-in. “It’s going pretty good so far, you know how I was paired with Hunk and Pidge, right? Well, it turns out Pidge might know something about the Kerberos disappearances.” Lance furrows his brows. “I know he's hiding something, I just can't figure out what.”
“Well, that’s some pretty good luck!” He can hear Sam say in the background. Great, he must be on speakerphone, so he responds, “Hey Uncle Sam!”
“Hey, Lance! You said the kid, Pidge, right? He might know something? Do you think he had something to do with their disappearance?”
“Have you tested him? is what Sammy is trying to say.’ His dad buts in impatiently.
“Yeah, yeah, salt, silver, iron, holy water, all of it. Nothing. I tested Hunk, too, by the way, and he’s clear. Not that I actually thought he’d be capable of being anything other than a sweetheart,” Lance joked.
“Anyway, I was thinking of borrowing a hover bike tomorrow night and checking out the local cave systems. Who knows what could be lurking down there! Maybe the crew never made it to space, and the missing ship is a cover for something else here.”
“You know the drill, bud, keep us on speed dial while you’re out there. Cas can have us there in seconds if you need us.” Dean says seriously.
“Yeah, Dad love you too. But I've got this! You trained me well, you don't call me sharpshooter for nothing,” he boasts, a smirk appearing on his face. “I do have to go now, the next patrol starts in ten minutes, and I need to be in my room by then.”
“Be safe,” he hears them both mutter, like all the past check-ins so far. And then the phone clicks off, and he makes his way back to his room.
He’s made it to the caves earlier than he planned, which is a good thing because he’d like to get this sweep done with as soon as possible. He’s gonna have to get some rest tonight because they’re running drills in the simulators tomorrow, and he’s still adjusting to being a fighter pilot now.
He’s making his way down one of the caves when he spots them. Carvings in the shape of, what is that? A lion?
When he tries to get a closer look, they start to glow an eerie blue, and he immediately reaches for his phone to call his dad, but then thinks better and calls his uncle. “Hey, uhh, weird question, but do you know what it means when weird cave carving suddenly glows on contact? It’s not just me being dumb and not remembering something from our lessons again like that time with the Rugaru, right?”
There was a beat of silence from the other end, and then he heard Sam mutter in confusion. “Oh, good, so it’s not just me. This is weird. Ok-wait! What the f-!” And the ground was crumbling underneath him, and gravity took over, and he fell.
While he reoriented himself and rubbed the shoulder he fell on, weird, he could hear Sam and was that his dad too? Yelling in concern from the phone that fell a couple of feet away from him. He was already reassuring them as he got up and picked up the phone. “Hey, I’m ok, guys, I just fell and oh… HOLY SHIT!”
“What! What is it, kid? Talk to me! Is it a vamp nest? Wendigo? We can come help, just talk to us!”
“Um, no, I don’t think I’m in danger?” He said questioningly. “Umm, to be honest, I’m actually not sure what I’m looking at right now. It’s a lion? But like metal?” He took a quick picture and sent it over to Sam to do some research.
“Okay, Sam’s gonna nerd out over this for a few days. You'd better get out of there before it decides to eat you or something. Lay low for now and try to just gather some more info within the garrison.”
“Okay,” he agreed with his dad reluctantly, hanging up. He didn’t know why, but he had a strange feeling he should stay. He shook it off and let his training take over as he found an exit to the cave about six meters up. He lets out a resigned groan. Guess I’m gonna be sore for the simulator tomorrow.