#for some reason it kept replacing my punctuation with gobbeldygook

[pipedreamprayer]

Street Kid Vigilante AU

This originated from looking at all the family AU’s where only the youngest 4 were de-aged, and wondering what it would be like if Shiro was a teenager to their pre-teen status rather than still an adult. What's the first situation where the closest thing to an adult leading them was a teenager I could think of? Street kid AU. Then I had a way to incorporate Allura and Coran in a way vaguely paralleling their canonical story, and from there it only made sense that this group would try to fight back against the bad guys, both because if they don’t then no one else will stop these people and in order to defend their new friends and because it was the right thing to do. Then it was similarly obvious how to include Voltron and it actually didn't work as well without it, and suddenly I realised that this idea of a handful of helpless kids with too big a job and some equipment that should not be in their young hands against an economic, political and societal superpower is almost literally what they are up against canonically! There's so much emphasis in the show of how big a job it is, how impossible it is that a grand total of 7 people, most still experiencing puberty, are against such an enormous, indomitable force, that I absolutely HAD to develop this!

In other words this AU went from an even cuter de-aged family fic to a sincerely profound metaphor for the main continuity that promises to have a ton of angst and tension juxtaposing the fluff (because goddamnit, this started off as a fluff-appeal and no matter how off-track it's gotten it will incorporate at least some if it kills me!)

But oh good god, I started out planning a small one-shot series with a cute set-up, and wound up with a full length story idea that just keep pushing more and more ways to parallel the main series in my face and looks like it's going to have a whole plot from start to finish. Help.

BTW Does anyone know of any automobiles with ‘castle’ in the name? If not I'll probably end up making one up to use at some point, the plot bunnies won't let me leave it out!

 Edit a little for summary: Shiro is a teenager (maybe about 15, so if the others are 9 the canonical equivalents could be seen as 16 versus 22, which is pretty viable) who's somehow become the unofficial guardian of 4 younger children - while they're all homeless. Enter Allura, the daughter of a rich businessman who was recently murdered by a competitor, and her current guardian, his right hand man Coran, both on the run from the same murderer. It's chaotic, dangerous and not something these poor kids ought to be having to deal with, but it's life.

 Ideas, also known as more parallels to the original series:

The rival companies are Altea Tech and Galra Corp, maybe the Garrison is the social services, or at least the orphanage that they keep trying to drag the kids to. In other words Iverson is seriously on their case, more or less the person they’re on the run from. MAYBE they’re the police force I. E. Iverson is a cop after them.

 Galra Corp is after Allura because she holds the prototypes for a series of breakthrough technology that would revolutionise the way we live. The issue was that the ‘Voltron series’ could easily be weaponised, as Zarkon intends. The kids initially assume he intends to sell it to military and militia groups for high prices, but it eventually turns out that, having essentially monopolised the world with the fall of Altea Tech, Zarkon intends to become a world dictator himself!

 The Voltron series is split into two: the Bayards and the Lions. What makes them both Voltron is that they utilise never-before-seen technology that connects with your mental assets to work, making the 10 pieces one of a kind and utterly priceless, especially seeing as how Allura and Coran burned the blueprints, prototypes and patents to keep Zarkon’s hands off them. However, aware that they may be the only things able to stand against him as well as all that remains of Alfor’s legacy and life's work, they keep the recently completed final prototypes. When Zarkon sent his people after them to obtain them they had already gone on the run with them.

The Lions are small patches (in the shape of the Voltron crest from canon - or maybe bracelets? Like the wrist-guard part of the paladin armour?) that can boost certain capabilities and unlocks a person’s full potential in various ways. The Forest Green Lion Patch allows Pidge to hack with her mind alone (like in Greening the Cube, even though I hadn’t seen the second season when I came up with these ideas!!), the Earth Yellow one gives Hunk at least 3 times his usual strength (like the grip claws!), the Aqua Blue Patch enhances Lance’s senses to the point he can tell when people are coming from vibrations in the ground and hearing footsteps no other human could detect (like the sonic scans! S2 was a bit of a mind-blow for me when I realised all the parallels), while the Flame Red Lion made Keith as agile and quick as a cat (the kids choice of comparison) and the Cosmos Black one allowed Shiro to make one hand (the prosthetic) into some sort of energy blade-like weapon. The idea is that someone with all the patches will be rather unstoppable, and are called ‘Voltron’ as a result. In other words the Lions combine to form a Voltron of unmatched strength, though they start to suspect there is even more adaptability to this, even more abilities hidden in the tech. For example, the kids prove to be building up resistance to certain effects: Keith can handle high temperatures unflinchingly, Lance doesn’t seem to get cold, Pidge has lost her hayfever and, apparently, other allergies to plants (maybe even building up an immunity to things like poison ivy and nettles as well), while Hunk’s skin seems to be toughening to the point that what would normally graze someone doesn’t break his skin at all (e.g. he can crawl through thistles without it making a difference to him so long as he protects his eyes). Notably, Allura and Coran didn't know what the Lions and Bayards actually did, so finding these effects was as much a surprise for them as the kids. Maybe there's even some sort of semi-permanent link effect between the tech and the user, so once the kids use it they’re sort of stuck with them.

 The Bayards are physical, able to morph from small devices to different objects depending on the users will. There is of course a limit in terms of mass, and imagination is vital. Luckily they're now in the hands of small children, who make them anything from toys to tools to weapons of self-defence, with the powerful imaginations of childhood, no matter how much they've been through. That said, they sometimes come up with ideas that aren't possible, or don't think things through properly. Shiro was completely against giving the children potential weapons until it was pointed out that they're used to having to defend themselves already (hence Keith’s knife, that he refuses to let Shiro take off him) and as they refuse to be left behind (they'd just follow him if he tried to separate from them, and would therefore be in even more danger being unprepared) they'll need something to defend themselves and get out of tight spots the most. They prove to be the best candidates out of the group anyway - their imaginative minds conjure things no one else would of through of e.g. robotic mice to serve as a distraction. Then, after that, one of their favourite things to do with their Bayards was to make pets out of them until needed as something else - particularly robotic mini-lions, already thinking about the animals a lot because of the names of the other line of Voltron products.

 Zarkon already has the Black Bayard, having stolen it at the same time as Alfor, Allura’s father, was killed, and he always has it on him to remind himself of the taste he's had of the power available, of why he wants more. The Black Bayard and Lion are connected (as are all corresponding colours) so he can sometimes sense when Shiro is near, or when he activates the patch - either way he can’t exactly track them in the traditional way, but does know when to look for them. The group don’t realise for a good while that this is happening and just think he has people out looking for them everywhere for them at all times and they just pick up on the signs they give away when they get into a situation that requires Shiro’s weaponised hand.

 Maybe Allura had pet mice in real life, and it was the stories she had about them that inspired the kids move with the Bayards. Allura is maybe 17, so older than Shiro by about 2 years but still a teenager and also on the cusp of legal adulthood - at which point she’ll inherit her father’s company. At the moment though, she tentatively bonds with the kids surprisingly well, Shiro coaxing her into opening up and being a kid with them rather than a future CEO. She sometimes jerks out of phases of loosening up somewhat by snapping that they can’t afford to be kids when they have her father’s murderer on her, and now their, trail.

 If Zarkon owns and heads Galra Inc, maybe Haggar is head scientist? Sendak may be the head of security or Thace is the head of security, Sendak is the hired muscle/assassin, the same probably going for the other big-shot Galra we’ve seen. Again, started this long before season 2, so not sure how to incorporate Lotor - maybe he’s in charge of these hired guys? Or maybe he’s heading his own mini army of assassins directly under Zarkon, i.e. rather than the difference between him and his team being that he’s Zarkon’s son maybe it’s that he’s actively loyal to Zarkon rather than just hired. I mean if he were to be the future heir to the company then he would be trained in business, not fighting, so he wouldn’t really be a threat like the other Galra.

 MAYBE Altea Tech has fallen behind a bit over the past 10 years as Alfor devoted so much time to the Voltron Project - so it dying out and being absorbed by Galra Inc wouldn’t raise so many eyebrows - nobody would know that Alfor was planning something big this whole time because it wasn’t actually ready yet. Maybe there’s even something about how potential investors thought it was a fools endeavour because there was only theory to begin with, and now that he has proof that it works he’s been silenced and Zarkon is out to take it all, without anyone being any the wiser. At least, not until it’s too late.

 MAYBE Shiro is more on the run than homeless: he was kidnapped alongside several other teens (including Matt Holt) for experimentation but managed to escape before they could amputate his arm, it having gotten a badly infected wound. However it is still pretty weak, and he suspects that the Black Lion therefore intentionally sought to make the weakest part of him, the most likely to let him down or be targeted, the strongest part by far.

 Katie went on the run from the authorities with her older brother after the care system threatened to separate them not long after their parents death, but when he was kidnapped by strange men she built up a less feminine persona known as Pidge both to cope with all the loss and convince herself and others that this scrap of a child could make it on the streets alone - she wanted to channel her brother as much as she could, and even wore his old glasses. Then she met Shiro and the boys and didn't need to do it alone any longer.

 I'm struggling a bit with the boys back stories, so I'll juggle some ideas:

Hunk’s parents died and he joined his best friend’s family, only for the two to eventually run away after being neglected due to the overwhelming size of the family.

OR

Their families all died in the same accident, or maybe a burglary, or even being targeted for some reason by Galra Inc. MAYBE the boys saw something they oughtn't have, but by the time they managed to get an adult to listen to them (their family continually being distracted by other members) the Galra had been sent after them, and everyone was slaughtered. The boys somehow managed to escape, leaving the deaths rather pointless and in vain - not to mention the boys entirely blame themselves. Perhaps because they think their families were targeted because they tried to tell them, they want it keep it a secret from their new family for their own safety. Thus they clam up when it comes to talk about how they ended up in this situation, and unless thoroughly distracted will at least tense and question everything they say when discussing family in general. This contrasts Pidge’s way of voicing memories whenever she gets the chance, a little afraid of forgetting, and Keith’s absolute reluctance to say anything at all about his past.

Maybe, just MAYBE I could incorporate the Alien!Keith headcanon (not exactly pure speculation anymore, hallelujah!) in that his parents were a part of the Galra ‘empire’. However maybe I can include something that the Aliens can't: They were undercover spies. Like, full-on-MI6-James-Bond style (again, shockingly similar to the undercover BoM agents!). However, when they discovered something important (either Zarkon’s eventual plans or some weakness. BIG MAYBE that the top-tier Galra are actual Aliens!!) they were killed, but not before getting their small son to safety (the Galra never knew about him but would have found him at the house). While they were able to, they gave him the vital evidence they were killed for i.e. not knowing about him and not having reason to suspect his existence means the enemy will never find him or it until he’s worked out what it is and turned it in to the proper authorities. MAYBE it’s his knife: he always thought it was a memento of his parents but really it was evidence that Zarkon was an alien OR has some sort of other significance e.g. hidden memory stick or the symbol has meaning with the organisation they worked for.

 Katie renamed herself Pidge after a random pigeon she saw on the street - unlike her it could come and go as it pleased and she wanted to be more like it. She was maybe 6 at the time, met Shiro about a year later and is currently just about 9, 3/4 of a year younger than the second youngest (Keith, who’s a few months younger than Lance who is younger than Hunk by even less) but is exceptionally small for her age. Maybe her birthday even comes up during the story. Maybe Shiro and Matt met in the facility that took the formers arm, so he knows he'll likely be kept alive and also that he has a little sister who was left behind. When he got out he tried searching for Katie for Matt's sake, even to find out if she'd died while alone or been taken into care or something, but EITHER found Hunk and Lance together first, then Pidge then they all found Keith, whom Shiro had known before he was kidnapped and Keith's parents died OR Pidge had already met Hunk and Lance, and Shiro found them after finding Keith.

Maybe Keith heard his parents mention a bomb so when the gang realise the connection between them and Galra Corp they start looking into bombs that occurred around the time. However Pidge eventually realises that they may have instead said "B.O.M" as in Blade of Marmora. This unfortunately renders their research so far potentially, but not certainly, useless, so no matter which option they choose to investigate they could be wasting more time even as they are hunted day and night. Furthermore, they are still no closer to finding out if his parents were even good guys or not - just like they could have been referring to a bomb they were involved in setting off or preventing they could be a part of the Blade of Marmora or seeking to eliminate their agents. It’s tense situation (that was unintentional but still, ba-dum-tsh).

 Not going to include most of season 2 because I can’t follow the plot identically, though some of the characters can be useful i.e. the mall Galra can come up when they genuinely steal from a mall owned by Galra Corp.

I think starting with a prologue to show how Shiro became responsible for the kids would be a good idea. MAYBE paralleled by snippet of Allura’s life at the time I. E. Before her father’s death, possibly by her seeing them in the middle of all this and not thinking much of it. Like, she just sees some random kids causing a scene one way or another and shrugs it off.

First chapter begins with Allura and Coran, maybe finding Alfor’s corpse, on the run already or burning things that don’t make sense to the reader at the time.

Then it moves on to the kids, spending some time showing how they function normally, a mundane day (pick-pocketing and a couple of thefts because CPS will be called if they're seen begging), before Allura and Coran burst into it, being chased. MAYBE Shiro recognises Sendak from his time as a prisoner and therefore knows who the bad guys are in this situation instantly. He rushes in to help on instinct, not realising until it’s too late that his kids have followed him. MAYBE they find Allura’s bag of equipment (including a teleporter that only activates for her DNA signature? It would only go small distances, but could be extremely useful) and use the Bayards to fend off the enemy from the get-go. If so, they do it in order: i.e. Lance finds it first and the others follow suit like in the first episode. MAYBE one is already in the hands of the enemy, but Keith actually gets it back (little shout-out to badass!Keith getting the Red Lion in the first episode).