Welcome to the sequel to Assassins. Thanks to the many people who requested the sequel, it wouldn't have happened without it.

Special thanks to BlueLionSTL, CMS and Wade Wells for their input and pressure… I'm getting quite used to hearing, "Hurry up!!" ;)

I make no claims to Voltron or any other WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 1

Mertz

__________________________________________

Without a Memory:

On Planet Doom, Lotor sits at the dinner table in his father's castle watching Merla as she delicately sips her wine. She is dressed in a long, deep blue, low cut gown, her long pink hair flowing behind her. She notices Lotor watching her and gently licks her lips to get the last taste of the wine.

Lotor watches her tongue and is instantly aroused but does nothing to show his interest. He turns his gaze away from Merla and begins speaking once again with his father. Merla sits and silently fumes but doesn't show any outward sign of her irritation. Damn him and his arrogance. For the last six months, since I failed to have Allura killed, I have been trying to win his affection and the fool still fights it.

Haggar sits near King Zarkon and mentally laughs at the two at the other end of the table. She strokes her cat and continues to watch as Lotor tries to hide his sexual interest in Queen Merla while Merla tries to seduce him. Not because she wants Prince Lotor, but because she wants to share in his future kingdom of Planet Doom.

Merla finishes her dinner, stands and looks at Lotor, "Care for some evening air?"

Lotor smiles at her haughtily before he stands, "Why not."

Lotor walks up to her, offering her his arm. Merla turns her head to the side slightly before she finally smiles seductively at him and takes it. King Zarkon smiles to himself as he watches the pair walk out of the dining hall together. He turns to Haggar, "Let's hope that idiot son of mine doesn't blow it this time with Merla. We need her empire."

Haggar says nothing but stands and slowly follows them.

Lotor leads Merla out to a balcony overlooking the dreariness of Planet Doom. Merla turns to him and smiles as she raises her hand to lightly caress his chest, "Lotor, why do we play these games?"

Lotor studies Merla's eyes as she smiles up into his, Be my love… Lotor narrows his eyes at her, "Do not try your mind games with me Merla."

Merla drops the smile and glares at him, "Fine, let us speak plainly. You need my empire and I need the Doom Empire. Only a marriage between us will accomplish that."

Lotor turns away from her, "Never. The only woman for me is Allura."

Merla grabs his shoulder and forces him to face her again, "Then you are a fool! She is married to Keith, no longer a virgin and beyond your reach. Get over your sick obsession with her."

Lotor glares at her, "She will be made a widow soon enough and then she will be my Queen." With that he stomps off the balcony.

Merla screams out her frustration as Haggar walks onto the balcony. Haggar chuckles, "Easy my Queen, we wouldn't want Lotor knowing he can get under your skin."

Merla turns to glare at Haggar, "What does it matter when that fool can't see reality past his own desires."

Haggar chuckles, "Yes…Prince Lotor's obsession with the Queen of Arus is foolish in the extreme." She turns her evil gaze to Merla, "Why don't you kill her?"

Merla turns her yellow gaze to Haggar, "I tried to have her killed and it failed miserably as you know. I was forced to promise Lotor that I would not hire any more assassins."

Haggar smiles at her, "Yes…but did you promise you wouldn't try to kill her? With Allura out of the way Lotor would be bound to turn to you."

Merla turns her gaze away from Haggar as she thinks, "No I didn't…but how would I get to her?" She turns her gaze back to Haggar, "She is entirely too well guarded."

Haggar nods to her, "You could take control of her mind and have her leave the castle."

Merla shakes her head, "No, she would only be followed by that husband of hers. He watches her every movement." Merla stops and stares past Haggar, "Wait a minute…her husband." She gets excited, "I could take control of his mind and make him kill her."

Haggar makes a noise as she shakes her head, "I don't think his mind is weak enough for you to take control of my Queen."

Merla starts pacing the balcony, thinking. She finally stops and smiles evilly, "There is a way it would work."

__________________________________________

Lance groans as he rolls over and picks himself up off the mat. Cat stands over him, her hands on her hips, "Come on handsome…you can do better than that."

Lance manages to get to a standing position but doesn't advance as he holds his side tenderly, "Are you trying to kill me before the wedding?"

Cat smiles salaciously at him, "Of course not handsome. But it would be nice for you to last longer than two seconds against me…"

Lance arches a brow at her, "I thought I proved last night I could last longer than you…"

Cat narrows her eyes at him as his face lights up with a wicked smile. Cat finally smiles back at him then steps toward him, "Would you like to try to prove that one again?"

Lance continues to smile not realizing what she was up to until it is too late and Cat flips him on his back again then sits on his chest holding him down. Her emerald eyes dancing with laughter as Lance tries to catch his breath, Cat leans down and lightly licks his lips, "You still need to prove it…"

Lance groans loudly, "You are evil…"

Cat's musical laughter fills the air. Lance takes advantage of her distraction and flips them over so he lands on top of her, holding her arms above her head while he smiles down at her, "So how are you going to get out of this one my sweet?"

Cat smiles up at him before she leans up to kiss him again. Lance leans down to deepen the kiss as Cat slips her knee between his legs and starts pushing it against his groin. Lance pulls back from the kiss and glares at her, "You wouldn't dare…"

Cat arches a brow at him, "Wouldn't I?" as she continues to push her knee into him.

Lance narrows his eyes, "Not if you want to have children someday…"

She makes a dramatic sigh and pulls her knee away from him, "Well…to save our future children…" then smiles wickedly up at him. Lance rolls his eyes at her then rolls off of her when he hears, "Get a room will you two?"

Keith enters the room laughing at the sight before him, followed by Hunk and Pidge. Keith smiles wickedly at Lance as he slowly gets to his feet, holding his side, "Problems Lieutenant?"

Lance glares at Keith, "None at all, Commander."

Keith's eyes are dancing with laughter as he looks at Cat who is standing there looking quite innocent, "Is he lasting longer than two seconds against you yet?"

Lance continues to glare at Keith but Cat just smiles at him, "He is improving." Cat takes a step closer to Keith, "Want to show him how it is done?"

Keith raises an eyebrow at her, "Bored?"

Cat shrugs, "Just looking for a little better workout. With Lance I barely break a sweat."

Keith smiles as Lance grumbles, "Barely breaks a sweat…"

Keith tries to lose the smile as Lance turns and glares at him once more, before turning back to Cat, "Very well…as long as you don't say anything to Allura. She tends to get upset when you and I spar…"

Cat raises an eyebrow at him, "Why?"

Keith grimaces as he runs his hand through his hair, "Oh…because I usually have bruises afterward."

Lance finally starts laughing, "So I'm not the only one who gets beaten…"

Keith ignores Lance and turns back to Cat, "Choice of weapon?"

Cat smiles wickedly, "Staffs"

Keith rolls his eyes and walks onto the gym mat. Hunk, Pidge and Lance go sit near the mat to watch as Cat walks to the weapons hanging on the wall and pulls off two staffs. She approaches Keith and throws one at him, which he catches.

Cat begins twisting the staff around in her hands as Keith watches her from a defensive stance. Lance elbows Hunk, "Watch this…" as she finally attacks Keith and then they become a blur of moving bodies. The sound of the staffs hitting is continuous as each tries to get an advantage over the other. Keith finally does a round house kick and brings the staff around after Cat's legs. She flips backward to avoid both then swings the staff down hard managing to hit Keith hard on his left hand.

Keith swears as he jumps backward and shakes his hand trying to bring back feeling. Cat smiles at him as Keith finally takes the staff, turns it around in his hands and attacks Cat. He keeps spinning, kicking and swinging the staff around forcing Cat to back up until she trips over Lance and lands in his lap.

Keith finally stops and smiles as Lance wraps his arms around Cat, "Honey, if you wanted to sit on my lap all you needed to do was ask…" as he kisses her cheek.

Cat glares at Lance then pulls herself up out of his lap while glaring at Keith, "That was dirty…"

Keith laughs at her, "But effective."

Cat raises her staff to begin again but Keith holds up his hand to stop her, "I think we are done here. Besides I need to grab a shower and get out on patrol soon."

Cat rolls her eyes but takes the staff back from Keith as he waves at the guys and leaves the gym.

_________________________________________

Keith exits the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and heads for his dresser. He looks down at his hand and grimaces as he notices it is swelling. He tugs lightly on his wedding ring and flinches in slight pain before he manages to remove it.

He reaches up and puts it in the box on his dresser that holds his cuff links and military medals as the door to the room opens and Allura walks in. She raises an eyebrow at her husband's lack of attire, "What if I would have been Nanny?"

Keith smiles at her, "I would hope Nanny would know to knock on our bedroom door before she walks in."

Allura smiles seductively at him as she finishes approaching him. She leans up for a kiss, her hand running along Keith's chest before drifting down to the towel and loosening it so it falls off his hips.

Keith laughs against her mouth breaking the kiss. He kisses her nose as her hands drift around him to cup his firm buttocks, "You are insatiable."

Allura laughs lightly as her hands drift up his arms to wrap around his neck as she presses her body against his, "You don't really mind do you?" before nibbling on his lips again.

Keith pretends to think about it for a moment and lets out a deep sigh, "Well…I did say for better or for worse…"

Allura pulls back slapping Keith in the chest as he breaks out laughing. She turns away from him, giving him her back and crosses her arms as if annoyed. Keith continues to chuckle as he steps behind her and wraps his arms around her before kissing her neck, "I love you Allura…"

Allura relaxes against him and wraps her arms around his, intertwining their fingers, "That's cheating…how can I be annoyed with you now?"

Keith nuzzles her neck making her shiver, "You can't be…"

Allura tightens her fingers in his, then pulls his left hand up, "Where's your ring?"

Keith sighs as he pulls away from her, "I hurt my hand while working out this morning. It's nothing serious, but the hand is swelling enough that the ring was getting a little too tight."

Allura grasps his hand once more to check it herself before pulling it up to her lips to kiss it. Keith steps closer to her and wraps his arms around her, hugging her. He kisses her forehead and then pulls away to walk back to his dresser and opens a drawer, pulling out briefs.

Allura walks up behind him and touches his shoulders while she kisses his back, "Going somewhere?"

Keith turns back to face her smiling, "Yes…it's my turn for patrol. I need to get in the lion so I can get back in time for dinner."

Allura sighs disappointedly, "Can't you switch with Lance?" as her fingers roam across his chest.

Keith grasps her fingers to stop them, "Not today love." He leans down and kisses her lightly then smiles into her sapphire eyes seductively, "I'll make it up to you tonight…" he lifts her hand and kisses the back of it, "I promise."

__________________________________________

Two hours later Keith completes his loop then radios in, "Come in control."

Lance's voice echoes back at him, "This is control."

Keith smiles as Lance's face appears on his video prompt, "Everything is clear, I'm heading back for the castle."

Lance sighs, "Good thing…Allura has been pacing. Apparently you promised her something?"

Keith laughs, "Tell her I'm on my way home and I'll keep my promise."

Lance smiles at Keith sardonically, "Sounds like someone is a little whipped."

Keith raises his eyebrow at Lance, "Just wait until you are married Lance…I'm sure Cat will have you whipped into shape in no time. In fact, didn't she whip your ass in the gym this morning?"

Lance grimaces into the monitor making Keith laugh, "You needn't rub it in that my fiancée can kick my ass Keith…"

Keith chuckles, "Sore spot?"

Lance groans, "In more ways than one…"

Keith breaks out laughing then stops when his radar beeps. He checks his systems as Lance asks, "What's that?"

Keith flips the screen to live radar, "Unidentified ships coming in, sector seven."

Lance can be heard flipping switches and swearing, "Hang tight Keith, I'm hitting the alarms and scrambling the rest of the team."

Keith flinches as he feels Black being hit by something, "Move your asses." before he loses sight of Lance on the screen as his communications shut down.

Swearing Keith begins defensive moves as he turns Black around to fight the oncoming ships then yells as Black is hit in the head by a barrage of missiles. Bracing himself Keith tries to pull up on the controls as Black heads for the ground, "Come on dammit! Respond!" then falls forward in the seat as Black crashes into the ground.

Keith groans as he slowly sits back up in the command chair and shakes his head trying to clear it. Feeling something sliding alongside his face Keith reaches up, pulls off his helmet and reaches with his hand to touch it and pulls his hand away to find blood on his glove. Grimacing Keith looks up at the monitors to see a ship landing beside his lion.

Keith pulls at the controls but when the lion doesn't respond he pulls the key out of the ignition and opens a side compartment in the lion, placing the key inside of it before shutting it and locking it with a code. He presses buttons for the communication systems, "Control come in please."

Swearing when all he hears is static he grabs his gun from his side holster and hits the emergency exit button for the lion. Dropping to the ground, then falling groaning in pain, Keith quickly rises and points the gun at the oncoming robot soldiers and opens fire.

Keith ducks behind the lion's leg as the robots return fire before rising again to fire, however a blast hits him in the chest throwing him back against the lion. His head exploding in pain as it hits the side of the lion, Keith cries out before the world goes black.

__________________________________________

Queen Merla paces near her ship as she waits for the robots to return. She turns as her Lieutenant gestures to the bots coming through the trees, Keith's limp body held between two of them. She smiles malevolently as they approach her, "He better be alive…"

The lead robot responds, "He is Majesty, he is only unconscious."

Queen Merla looks down as she hears Keith groan. She pulls up his chin as his eyes flutter open and he manages to mutter, "Who you?" before his eyes close and he loses consciousness once more.

Queen Merla smiles evilly, "Perfect."