I make no claims to Voltron or it's characters, just borrowed them to create my story.

This story may take me a while to finish...holidays and general busy schedule. Enjoy Chapter 1. Mertz

Assassin:

It's the middle of the night on Planet Arus as a figure crawls out of the lake and changes clothes behind a bush. The figure is now dressed all in black it's face hidden and crawls up the wall of the castle till it reaches the 2nd floor balcony. Trying the handle to the door and finding it locked the figure takes something off of its belt making a hole in the glass big enough to reach through to open the door.

The figure walks down the halls and presses a button on its wrist that activates a digital map of the castle. Taking note of its location and the door the figure needs it deactivates the map and continues walking down the hall slowly and quietly.

Several minutes later the figure in black unexpectedly comes across a castle guard. Before he can yell the figure knocks him out and lowers him to the ground before moving to the bedroom door of Princess Allura. Green eyes study the lock before placing a device on it that automatically enters the code needed to open the door. The figure quietly enters the room and closes the door allowing it's eyes to become accustomed to the darkness and the objects in the room before hearing a noise and stepping into the shadows. The figure watches the windows as a rope comes down in front of it and yet another figure in black places a device against the window that causes it to melt. The new figure quietly steps into the room and moves toward the bed as the other removes something from it's belt and throws it at the newcomer. The new figure howls in pain as the shuriken becomes imbedded in it's arm revealing the figure to be a man.

Princess Allura sits up in bed at the sound and screams when she sees the man throwing something at her. The other figure jumps across the bed grabbing Allura and rolling her off the bed onto the floor. A small bomb goes off blowing up the mattress where Allura was moments earlier causing alarms to go off in the room.

The figure jumps up and begins fighting with the man as Keith comes running into the room with a laser gun held up. He hits the controls for the lights and spots to the two figures in black fighting then the blackened mattress where Allura sleeps.

"ALLURA!" He sees her rising from the other side of the room and runs over pulling Allura up off the floor pushing her toward the door as Lance and Pidge enter the room and yell, "FREEZE!"

Distracted by the voices the man briefly turns toward them giving the figure in black the opening to hit him in the throat before turning and doing a spin kick to the face knocking him out. Standing over the unconscious man the figure in black stops and holds up it's hands as Keith re-enters the room. Walking toward the figure pointing his laser gun, "Who the hell are you?"

The figure removes it's mask revealing a beautiful woman with red hair and emerald green eyes speaking with a musical voice with a light British accent, "I'm the one who just saved your princess from assassination, so if you would be so kind as to put the gun away I would appreciate it."

Keith looks at the body lying on the floor and back at the woman before he lowers the gun as Allura comes back into a room followed by a protesting Hunk. Keith glares back at her, "I thought I told you to stay out in the hall."

Allura raises her eyes at him in challenge, "I want to know what is going on. Who are these people?"

The woman in black laughs as she studies Keith's flushed face, "She has problems obeying direct orders doesn't she?"

Keith turns away from Allura and glares back at the woman, "You still haven't answered my question. Who the devil are you?"

The woman does a small bow toward Allura, "Caitlin Williams; Galaxy Garrison sent me."

Lance steps forward angry, "What a load of crap! They would have contacted us first."

Caitlin looks Lance up and down causing him to flush before she answers, "I told them not to."

Lance glares at her and she smiles at him before looking back at Keith and Allura turning serious, "There is a contract out on Princess Allura's life. I was hired to make sure she stays alive."

Keith looks back at Allura who suddenly went pale as she stares at Caitlin then he looks back at her, "Who?"

Caitlin grimaces, "We don't know yet. In my line of work I hear things through the grape vine; this was one of those things. When I contacted Admiral Graham with the information he hired me to protect her. I asked them not to contact you because I didn't want you to know I was coming."

Keith studies her, "You wanted to see how hard it was to get to her…"

Caitlin smiles at him as Coran and Nanny come bursting into the room, "Commander, what happened?"

Nanny runs over to Allura horrified as she looks at what's left of her bed, "My God…"

Allura grabs Nanny stopping her, "I'm fine Nanny, Coran; thanks to Caitlin." Gesturing toward the woman across the room from them; who looks down at the groaning man on the floor who is slowly waking up. Caitlin kicks him in the face again knocking him back out before looking back at Keith, "I suggest you get this one locked up, he may have our answers."

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Everyone is in the conference room sitting around the table as Keith enters the room. He looks at the group before turning his eyes to Caitlin, "I just got off the comm with Admiral Graham and he confirmed everything."

Caitlin raises her eyebrows at him, "At least you confirmed my identity…the rest of the security here is lousy."

Keith glares at her as the rest of the men turn as one toward her looking like they would love to hit her. She smiles at them, "It was very easy for me to break into the castle. Your current security works against the average man, but not against trained assassins."

Lance studies her, "And that is what you are, isn't it?"

Caitlin turns her head to the side a bit looking inquisitively at him, "No, I'm not an assassin, but I was trained as one. I know how they think, how they act and what they will do to try to kill your princess. I would think you would be happy to have me on your side."

Lance snorts as Keith takes over, "What do you want us to do?"

Caitlin looks at him briefly and then turns to Allura, "I will be your shadow Princess, where you go I go."

Keith interrupts, "Like hell…"

Caitlin looks at Keith, "Are you going to follow her everywhere? Sleep with her at night, stay in her room as she changes clothes?"

Nanny stands up red faced, "Absolutely not!"

Coran stands up and raises his hand to silence the room as Nanny sits back down, "Keith, she has a point, we need a woman with the Princess."

Keith looks from Coran to Caitlin who smiles at him, disgusted he sits down and glares at her. "Until I know the extent of your capabilities I will not trust her welfare to you alone."

Allura looks around the room and stands, "Since it is my life I think I am the one who should have a say over what happens to it."

Both Keith and Caitlin look back at her. Allura looks at Keith, "Keith, if she was going to hurt me she would have done it already. If she hadn't jumped on me and rolled me off that bed the bomb would have blown me apart."

Keith shudders as Allura turns her focus to Caitlin, "I agree I need someone to help protect me, but why do you need to be with me every second of the day?"

Caitlin studies her, "It wouldn't necessarily need to be me with you every second of the day, but you will have no privacy until the threat is over. A trained assassin would take any opportunity to strike; it could be just when you are walking down the hallway to a meeting."

Allura nods in understanding as she returns to her seat, "Very well, I won't like it, but I understand it."

Caitlin nods at her, "Very well Princess."

Allura looks at her, "If we are going to spend that much time together please just call me Allura."

Caitlin nods, "If that is what you prefer, my friends call me Cat." Allura nods and Cat continues, "I take it you have some kind of schedule, team practices at certain times and what not?"

Keith answers for her, "Of course, which will all now have to be changed."

Cat smiles at Keith, "You catch on quick. But these things will be changed daily, in other words, I don't want her to have a set schedule for anything. We will also be switching rooms on a regular basis, she will be lucky to sleep in the same room twice in the same week."

Coran stands and addresses Keith, "I think you will need to find a new pilot for Blue lion, she will be too exposed in it."

Before Keith can comment Allura stands up and glares at Coran and then Keith, "You are not replacing me, while I respect the fact that my life will be disrupted I will not become a prisoner in my own home."

Cat looks at her with a new respect while Keith holds up his hands as if in surrender, "I never said I would replace you Princess. As far as that goes I think you will be safe enough with all of us up there."

Cat smiles at his surrender…there is more going on there than meets the eye…she looks back at Allura, "As far as the lions go I concur with Keith, I would like to ride with you though. If your ship happens to be shot down then I will be in the cabin with you."

Coran looks at all three of them realizing he won't win the argument, "Fine, Allura will remain the pilot of Blue lion." then leaves the room disgusted, followed by Nanny.

Cat raises her eyebrows at Keith who ignores her as Allura asks another question, "Did you find anything out from the man that tried to kill me?"

Keith shakes his head, "No, we have him locked down, cuffed to the bed in his cell, but he refuses to say a word."

Cat looks at him, "Let me question him."

Keith looks at her suspiciously, "Exactly how would you extract information?"

Cat smiles evilly at him, "In ways you probably don't want to know about."

Before Keith can answer his communicator rings. He answers it, "Commander Keith…"

The voice on the other end sounds hesitant, "Commander…the ahh prisoner…is dead."

Keith is flabbergasted, "How?" as Cat starts swearing under her breath.

The guard makes a throat clearing sound, "We don't know. He was fine one minute and the next he had this white foam coming out of his mouth."

Cat looks at Keith disgusted, "Cyanide tablet."

Keith shuts his eyes, "Fine, get the body out of there, Keith out." He looks over at Allura who has gone pale and then at Cat who is visibly angry. She rages at him, "Instead of wasting time like this you should have let me question him the minute he woke up, now we don't know anything and have lost our only source of information."

Keith raises his eyebrows at her before replying sarcastically, "Yes, I should have just trusted that you were who you said you were and let you do anything you wanted."

Allura slams her hand down on the table stopping Cat's reply, "Enough of this!" She gets up out of her seat and leaves the room, Cat quickly rising and following her. Keith looks at the closing door shocked as Lance raises his eyebrows at him, "Well…that went well."

Keith glares at him, "Follow them and tell them to meet us down in the gym in thirty minutes. Change into your workout clothes; we are going to test Miss Williams' capabilities." Lance nods and leaves the room followed quickly by Hunk and Pidge as Keith sits there for a moment and tries to collect his thoughts.

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Thirty minutes later Cat follows Allura into the gym still in the clothes she was dressed in earlier. Allura has changed into her workout clothes. She follows Allura across the gym as she stops next to Keith, "Why in here?"

Keith grimaces at her while Cat answers for him, "You would be too much of a target outside."

Keith glares at Cat before looking back at Allura, "She is partially right, we are going to test Cat's capabilities and I don't want everyone able to see what we are doing or what she is capable of."

Cat raises her eyebrows at him as she crosses her arms, "Just how do you expect to test my "capabilities"?"

Keith narrows his eyes at her, "You can either show us or we will attack you forcing you to show us."

She looks at Keith amused, "Go ahead, try it."

Keith looks at Lance and the others, "Lance, Hunk, Pidge, attack her." He takes Allura's arm forcing her to come with him as he moves out of the way while Lance, Hunk and Pidge circle Cat. The amused look leaves her face as she closely watches the three of them as Hunk tries to grab her from behind while Pidge tries a jumping kick. Cat ducks the kick and twists, her own foot connecting with Hunk's face knocking him backward as Lance and Pidge both attack her. Cat deflects the punches and kicks twisting between them.

Keith watches from the side his gaze narrowing on them as she deflects another one of Lance's punches…she is playing with them, learning how they attack and what their strength's and weakness are…then grimaces as she gets a hold of Lance throwing him at Hunk who tries to catch Lance as they collide and land on the ground. Cat then gets a hold of Pidge twisting him into a hold he can't break as her eyes come up and meet Keith's in a challenge.

Keith walks toward them as Hunk and Lance get up off the floor and prepare to attack again. Keith puts up his hand stopping them as he approaches Cat and Pidge. Cat smiles at Keith and releases Pidge who pushes away from Cat and goes to stand next to Hunk and Lance. She looks back at the others and then at Keith, "Is that the best you can do?"

Keith shakes his head at her and then attacks her. Lance grabs Hunk and Pidge and they walk over to where Allura is standing watching in amazement as Keith and Cat move in a blur of swinging arms and legs both trying to knock over the other. Keith manages to get a hold of Cat and throws her as she does a flip and lands back on her feet turning again to face Keith, "Who trained you?"

Keith smiles at her and then moves forward attacking again forcing Cat to push her abilities to the extremes in order not to be beaten. She manages to do a flip kick catching Keith in the jaw knocking him back as she steps away from him for a moment. It's been a long time since I have fought anyone this good…as Keith regains his footing and wipes the blood off his lip then circles her again.

Caitlin smiles wickedly at him and does several back flips to get away from him throwing three shuriken at him. Keith's eyes grow large as he flips back to avoid the first two and then lands on the floor on his stomach to miss the third one. Allura watches in horror as all three become imbedded in wall behind Keith. Trying to pull away from Lance, who grabs her to stop her, she yells at Cat, "YOU BITCH!"

Caitlin holds up her hands at Allura and calls back to her, "He is fine Allura, and I wouldn't have thrown them if I thought he couldn't avoid them." She watches as Keith jumps back to his feet and walks over to her glaring at her. She eyes him speculatively, then gestures to the group most of which still look horrified, lowering her voice so only Keith can hear her, "They have no idea how good you are or what you are capable of do they?"

Keith narrows his eyes at her, "I don't usually show that side of myself, no."

Cat smiles at him, "It's nice to know I won't be the only one watching over the princess that has been trained. I might actually get to sleep." Keith gives her a dirty look and then turns back to see Hunk and Pidge who look at Keith shocked and then at the imbedded shuriken in the wall again. Allura finally gets away from Lance and runs up to Keith grabbing his chin trying to see how badly hurt he is. Keith pulls back from her hand then attempts to smile at her, "I'm fine Princess."

Allura steps around Keith and glares at Cat, "If you ever try something like that again…"

Cat raises her eyebrows at Allura glancing back at Keith's red face before facing Allura again, "Like I said Princess, I wouldn't have thrown them if I thought he couldn't avoid them. While Keith was testing me, I was also testing him."

Allura opens her mouth to say more but stops when she feels Keith's hand on her shoulder, "I'm fine Allura and she's right. We were testing each other, now I know I can trust her with your safety." She turns and faces him as he smiles into her outraged face, "Let it go."

Allura glares at him, turns glaring at Cat again then walks away from both of them heading out of the gym. Cat turns to follow her but stops when Keith grabs her arm, "Don't." He then looks at Lance, "Lance, follow her please."

Lance nods and runs out of the gym to catch up with Allura. Cat glares at him as she pulls her arm away from him, "While I accept you can handle yourself; I don't appreciate you stopping me from doing my job."

Keith studies her for a moment before explaining, "There is something I know about the princess that you don't. Right now she is angry with both of us, which means she needs to calm down. Either of us going near her will set her off again. Lance will be able to calm her down and keep her safe."

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Lance catches up with Allura as she enters a conference room, he watches as she paces around the room muttering about stupid people. Lance smiles at her, "I sincerely hope you are not thinking of me when you use the term stupid."

Allura looks up at him startled; she had forgotten he was there in her anger, "You know better than that Lance, I was referring to those two idiots in the gym."

Lance rubs his chin in contemplation then snaps his fingers, "Oh, you mean Hunk and Pidge…"

Allura glares at him, "Don't be dense…"

Lance raises an eyebrow at her, "That comes close to the term stupid…"

She finally stops and laughs at him, "You have a point…"

Lance relaxes now that he managed to make her laugh, "Princess, Keith wasn't being stupid, and he needed to know what Cat is capable of."

Allura instantly gets angry again, "She could have seriously hurt him Lance."

Lance raises his eyebrows at her sardonically, "Look Allura, I know you care about Keith as more than just a friend but he is capable of taking care of himself." Allura flushes and turns away as Lance grabs her arm forcing her to face him again speaking in a low serious tone, "Keith is capable of more than you want to know about Princess. I've only seen him fight like that a couple of times and let me tell you it takes a hell of a lot to beat him."

Allura nods at him then turns away muttering, "It doesn't mean they weren't being stupid."

Lance smiles at her again, "Sweetheart as long as you never use the term stupid when speaking of me…"

Allura finally laughs again then turns back to Lance hugging him, "Thanks for being there for me."

He hugs her back, "You're welcome Princess."