(WARNING- contains blood and violence) (Also could be my last chapter for now)

Kate knew Cain broke the deal they made. She picked up Allura's scent not too long ago.

She put up a little show of passing out in front of everyone when Cain gave a strong blow to her head. It hurt like hell and probably kept her daze, but it wasn't enough to knock her out completely. She wasn't a fool, though. She made him think he tricked her. Made him believe that she was naive and would'nt suspect, for one heatbeat, that be would'nt keep his word. But at least he gave Hunk back. It was a risky gamble, really. If Cain did keep his word, and left Allura alone, she would have to go with plan B (which she didn't think of entirely). But now that he broke the promise, that gives her more than enough reason to kill him. She did warn him after all.

She remained motionless, pretending to be unconscious as he carried and placed her somewhre. She couldn't tell where she was since she had to shut her eyes to not raise suspicion.

Kate could'nt shake the guilt off, dragging the princess into this...

One hell of a risky gamble she pulled off this time.

Zarkon. The galra emperor—the most brutal tyrant and murderer everyone feared—had the princess of Altea; the princess who stood as a symbol of peace, hope and freedom. Perhaps the only living being, born from ten thousand years ago, who still held her ground more than Coran despite the circumstances. A fierce, resilient woman, Kate was sure, everyone adored…

Though Kate promised herself to keep her safe...If Zarkon did something to her, if he even laid a single finger on her…

Kate refused to let her thoughts go on. The situation would be like Emily all over again.

Emily...betrayed by her parents, having more experience to kill than Kate since her training started at age 3. That doctor obliterated her innocence, just like her and the rest of them. But yet, despite being unclean, there was something about Emily. Something special. Kate often thought maybe some part of that child's innocence was still there in her despite seeing the blood and horrors of life. The way she talked, laughed and smiled, it always gave a warm feeling.

…

But the doctor didn't spare her, either. He didn't care.

With one shot of a bullet, her best friend was gone. Killed. Murdered by a psychopath...

...

...

"Strapped back at the med table," she sighed as she opened her eyes. Her body faced the ceiling. Only this time, she wasn't entirely strapped. Her right wrist was cuffed near her head while her left was strapped with a material (looked like duct tape) which she could easily tear with her teeth. Her legs weren't cuffed down (which she was grateful for).Security seemed less tight, just 2 guys in front of her carrying doctor equipment.

Kate looked at her wrists contemplatively. They were restraining her movements. She stared at it, remembering an old advice her forever, long gone friend gave to her…

Let them think lowly of you, keep their guard and defenses down. Then, you have total control of the game, Glade said to her.

Total control over the game.

That's exactly what she had now. They have no idea the kind of beast they have captured. The kind of monster.

They took her gun and her mother's weapon. They took her bayard, too. But she was glad she took precautions in case something happened. In case she needed to escape.

The bobby pin she slipped in earlier poked out of her mouth, but she slipped it back in withouy them seeing. "Is this your first day here?"she asked, catching their attention. She carefully said it without clicking the pin with her teeth.

But the guards turned away, probably rolling their first guard raised a syringe, "It's ready."

"Because you seem...new," she went on, distracting them again.

The first guard growled. "This will shut him up," he said to the second guard. Nearly handing over the syringe to the second guard.

Sedative, she thought.

As quick as lightning, she raised her legs up, and struck…

She threw the syringe away as both guards were fallen because of the sedative.

Both Victor and Allura's lives were at stake and she wasn't going to sit around like last time. Oh no...she was ready this time. She had to make her move now.

She has access to Victor's portal abilities but only two shots of it. She had to get to the control room and erase and break every camera recording about her as she didn't want to be seen, as well as disabling the drones. Then she had to get her weapons back before saving Vic and Allura. What else? Oh, yeah. Kill men . Lots and lots of men.

Kate removed her right glove and stared at the markings on her palm. She pressed her left thumb on one of the markings and focused. A purple void greeted her to her right side and she hesitate to walk through it.

—later, Allura's cell—

(Allura's perspective)

Allura flinched when she heard a racket outside her cell. There shots rapidly firing, but the sounds soon died was silent again for a few heartbeats before her cell door opened. Keith walked in gazing at her, his eyes looking distant and glazed. She nearly let out a sharp cry when she saw the horror behind him. Even through the sentries that guarded her cell were machines,they were now on the floor, motionless, and had their heads decapitated.

"Are you hurt?" Keith demanded harshly, walking towards her and breaking her chains with his claws. Claws

Allura shook her head but remained silent, watching him.

"Good," they moved out of the cell. "Now you're gonna get the hell out of here."

She blinked. "Me?" she questioned, dumbfounded. "What about you?"

The raven haired boy huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm not leaving until I find Victor."

"Then let me help-"

"No," said Keith, sharply. "I'm not saying you're a burden, Allura, but i don't want you getting involved. Especially since that jackass Cain is still walking around. I can't risk it."

Allura stared at him. He was biting his lip. There was something more to this he was not telling.

"What do we have here?"

They jumped at the sound of Cain's sharp voice behind them. Zarokon's assassin smiled wickedly at them. "Going somewhere?"

"Cain," keith said in aghast.

"Quite a work of art you made here," the galra remarked, stepping over the broken remains of the sentries.

Before the princess could blink, Cain had already launched himself to Keith, swinging his long thin sword to his neck. Keith Stepped to the side with maddening ease and gave an uppercut to the weapon. The blade flew out of the assassin's hand to the ground, but the weapon was still near the galra's reach.

Keith took his chance and pulled out his right glove. He pressed his left thumb on the marking and a portal opened behind the princess which keith quickly pushed her into.

She hit her back on the floor at the other end, but had no time to think about the opain, or where she was as she looked at him confused.

"I'm sorry," was all he said with a sympathetic face before the portal closed on it's own.

"Allura?"

She turned her head, the rest of the team were gaping at her. She then realised where she was. The base of the blade of marmora. Lance rushed to her to help her stand. "What happened?" he asked, concerned. "How did you get here?"

"K-keith," she said weakly. "He rescued me...he helped me escape."

"Thank the ancients you are safe," Coran sighed.

Allura jerked her head to him. "I'm safe? What about Keith?' he's currently having a hand to hand combat with Cain!"

"Funny... I thought you didn't care about him since you despised all galras. Have you had a change in heart now, Princess?"

Allura flinched by the words from the voice she couldn't recognize. She snapped her head to a familiar looking face smirking at her. "Hello princess," he purred. I've been waiting for you. "

"Keith?" She Blinked again.

He chuckled . "No I'm afraid not. My cousin and I've been mistaken for one another since we look alike."

"This is Alex, Keith's old—" Shiro paused. "Kate's older cousin, I mean."

Alex smiled, though a part of allura thought he was forcing it. "We have a lot to talk about, your highness," he said with maddening calmness.

It was a good thing she retrieved her weapons back before she went to Allura.

"What have you done?" Cain growled at her, picking his weapon.

"Forget her," Kate said, drawing her bayard and galra knife. "I'm your opponent now, broke our deal and i take my promises very seriously." she raised her galra blade at his face. "This is between you and me. Assassin to assassin."

The galra scowled, and raised his sword. "Very well."

She fought with her galra knife and bayard, which was now a dagger. She met his sword with both her weapons raised over her head, darting back to give her enough time to assess. He swiped her throat, but she ducked, slicing for his side. Swift as lighting, he leapt to avoid her gutting him.

He chased her down to the corridors, down to a big empty room. Honestly, she was glad he followed her here. too much of noise would get unwanted attention. "As I suspected," Cain panted as she scanned for any weaknesses for any opening, "you're a professional at this. How many souls have you claimed?"

She lunged, fainting left, but he caught the attack. She growled, "Many, but that was a long time ago. And that doesn't make me like you, Cain!"

"Really?" he managed to cut the side of her left arm.

Kate held her ground. "What have you done to Victor?" her canines sharpened as he danced past all her attacks with maddening ease.

The Galra's smile widened. "I handed him over to the druids after i had a little fun with him. Haggar wouldn't find him useful since he's already half dead."

Her eyes widened.

Half dead.

Half dead...

His words echoed like whispers in her ears.

She forgot her own name when the ice in her gut spread through her veins. She could hear her own heart beating inside of her. The beat pulsed through her ears, drowning the sounds again like it did before with Sendak. Cain said something, but she couldn't hear.

I had a little fun with him...

A beat.

Cain tortured Victor. Just like when Sendak tortured Shiro and hurt Lance. And what mattered was Kate wasn't there to stop any of those times.

Another beat.

That tight leash within her snapped once again.

The galra seemed to have noticed the change in the atmosphere around her and quickly backed away, thinking she might pull a sudden attack.

But she didn't…

Instead, she sank down to her knees, letting her front bangs cover her eyes. She dropped her mother's blade to the ground, her bayard returned to its original state but remained at her hand.

Cain must be smiling wickedly, but she didn't care. He had no idea what he set loose.

She wasn't going to stop like before. Oh, no...no one can stop her. Shiro wasn't here to witness what she was going to do next because now she wouldn't hesitate.

Never again with men like Sendak and Cain.

Cain took her bluff. She could already sense triumph from him before he lunged at her. His sword impaled her, passing through her completely on the right side of her hip. Blood tickled from her wound, as well as her mouth. The galra assassin smirked, but celebrated too soon as he suddenly coughed out a lot blood.

"What?" he rasped, as his blood continued to drip down from his chin. He looked down and gasped with horror.

When he struck her with his sword, she struck him with her claws. It hit home, piercing right into his body. With a Bayard still in one hand, her weapon changed into a dagger once again and she sliced his shins. He screamed as he dropped like a stone, crashing to his side.

"I'm not in the mood to rip your heart out," she said murderously, pulling his sword out of her body. Her hand was completely soaked red, caked with his blood. "Where is Victor?"

She stood, staring down at him like he was her prey to kill. Cain groaned, rolling to his front, trying to crawl away from her with fear. She shoved his sword so deep at the back of his left thigh, she felt the tip of the blade hit the floor. He screamed again. But no one, not even his master, can save him from her.

"Where is Victor?" she asked again, more slowly with a low voice. "Where have the druids taken him?"

"I do not know,"

Lying bastard.

Those tears pouring out of his concealed eye were fakes. It was pain he wept for, not regrets for his actions. And what his actions led to...

She said nothing, continuing to stare down at him with cold, livid eyes. But she was calm. Unpredictable. Wordless. Her cousin once said this side of her was more terrifying when she wasn't broken. Alex would not stop her when her leash snapped. He possibly could not.

She removed his sword from his thigh and he almost soiled himself at the pain, at the relief.

"Thank you." He wept, but she knew he never meant it.

Kate knew he still thought of how he would punish her as soon as he recovered. But who the hell said she was going to give him that liberty?

She walked and stood where his head was, crouching down as she brought up another dagger, its edge serrated and glinting, and hovered it close to his hand.

"Pick a finger," she said. He trembled and shook his head. "Pick a finger."

"P-please," he begged, sobbing at his words.

"Thumb it is,"

"N-no. I … I'll tell you everything!" Still, she brought the blade closer, until it rested against the base of his thumb. "Don't! I'll tell you everything! The Druids took him to the Witch's experimental room. It is at the top half of this ship, east corner. But I do not know if they have done anything to him at this moment!"

Kate swore in Russian. It maybe true she infiltrated storages and some parts of this ship, but Victor never took her to that section. He warned her the druids were not to be taken lightly, and were more skeptical about any soldiers. Whether they were new recruits, or old comrades. They trust no one.

Cain whimpered when he finally realized she wasn't going to spare him. Had no intention from the very start. "NO, please, what more do you want from me?" he coughed out more blood, "My bones are sliced off. I cannot walk. I cannot harm you like this."

Kate removed his mask. Her violet eyes looked intensely at his one golden eye. "Your side of the deal was not to get the Princess involved in this," she withdrew her blade from his hand, but pulled her gun from her ankle holster, "while my side was staying put and not harm anyone. So if you're not keeping your side of the deal…" the color drained from his face when she placed the gun to his head.

"I'm not keeping mine, either,"

She pulled the trigger and fired.

—Coridors—

She took Cain's life away. And at the moment, she didn't care.

There was no time to reflect. No time to mourn. No time to regret. The icy rage swept through her endlessly. She took Cain's mask and cloak before she left, not as some sick trophy, but as she was going to use it later.

If they wanted to experiment on him, they have to go through her first.

And may their master help them when she arrived.

Breaking into Zarkon's main ship over and over again was useful. She knew when the patrol guards would come, when would the real living soldiers would walk by along with the drones. Haggar's druids were unpredictable, but she knew they wouldn't freely walk around until the next quintessence shipment arrived (which she thankfully delayed when sabotaging the storages).

She walked to the experimental room using one of the less patrolled corridors with two weapons in each hand. She halted and looked around the empty halls. Whether she liked it or not, a commotion would happen sooner or later, she would be chased by some soldiers. So she needed to be ready.

Which is why she brought the wires with her...

She continued walking, with maddening calmness. Still wordless.

But she wouldn't the silence devour her yet. The tapping sounds her shoes made under the cold metallic floor echoed faintly.

When the guards she couldn't avoid came across her path, she swiftly moved with speed. She decapitated the heads of the machines first before slamming the pommel of her dagger into the side of the heads of the living ones to make them lose focus. It happened so fast, they had no idea what came that way.

They never stood a chance against her. She never gave it to them.

As she reached, she used her mother's blade like a mirror to reflect the room. She found Victor strapped to a med table. He was alive, but parts of his armour was torn and broken. Dry blood was there on his head, his mouth, his arms...he looked terrible.

But he's alive, she told herself.

She tilted her blade to get a better angle of the room. Three machines were keeping guard with weapons in their hands around him, the druids were nowhere to be seen. Fools.

She dived to the deck and rolled into a crouch, tro of her blades already first two stopped functioning and to the floor like dead flies. Before the third turned his body, she lunged at him and decapitated it's head with one swipe from her claws.

She retrieved her weapons back before rushing towards him to cut the straps that held him down.

"Victor," Kate said in a harsh whisper, grabbing both sides of his face.

The galra groaned and fluttered his eyes open. "Xia?" he rasped. "You're alive?"

Xia? "No, Victor, it's me."

"Kate?" he frowned and she helped him sit up. "What are you doing here."

She smiled weakly. "Did you think i would desert you? How are your wounds?"

He groaned again. "Nothing too serious. They drugged me with sedatives, but nothing else so far."

She helped him stand. His body was leaning on her. "Good. let's get you and Thace out of here."

Victor suddenly grabbed both her shoulders and shook her. "We need to think about this more cautiously. I acted rashly and look where that got me."

"Yes," she agreed, "your methods certainly got you strapped to a table. Your methods, not mine."

"Kitten, I am serious,"

"So am I," she bristled. "I thought things through before I came bursting in here, Buttons." she extended her hands to the broken sentries she'd taken down earlier that were now near her heels.

Victor gaped at their motionless bodies.

"Come on," she grabbed his hand and they started walking out of the room. "I don't want to spend half my energy arguing with you."

"Victor?"

They both jumped and Kate pointed her blade to the direction of the voice. She found a Dishorian at the entrance, looking shocked. He wore a black cloak around that covered him from head to toe, and his ruby eyes were bright. "Thank the ancients you're alive," he sighed.

"Arlo?"

Kate turned. "Friend of yours?" she lowered her weapon.

"Well you know him,too. He's the same guy I healed back in my cabin when we first met."

"Huh," though Kate wasn't interested. "What are you doing here?"

"Heard Buttons was captured when I was stuck in my cell, so I busted my way out to save him. Just returning the favor. But it seems I was beaten to it." He winked at her, but she rolled her eyes. "Oh, and I ran into this guy," he beckoned his head to the galra (which Kate somehow missed) behind him.

"Thace," Vic gasped, but coughed harshly. His wounds were far worse than she thought.

"This is Thace?" she pointed at the galra. "Great, you made work a lot easier, now let's get the hell out of—" she heard footsteps coming closer. "Did you guys lead an army of soldiers to our direction?" She asked, forcing herself to stay calm.

Thace hesitated. "I'd be lying if I said no,"

Kate glared at him. "Alright, guess I have to pull my cards out," she pulled a small button from her pouch.

Victor choked. "Are you serious—"

"Yep," she brushed him off, "don't worry I asked Slav to take care of the blades. An hour must have passed, so they gotta be safe now." She pressed it.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The entire ship shook. Kate held Victor up from falling since his body was weak right now. The other 2 nearly fell. The alarm began to blare loudly in the ship.

"What the hell was that?" Thace demanded.

"The beginning of our operation," she replied, calmly. "Buttons, can you open a portal?"

"Can't," he groaned, touching his head. "Sorry, but the sedative is still messing with my mind. I can't focus on our location. I need time. What about you? I g—" he stopped when he saw the wary expression on her face. "You blew it, didn't you?" She didn't reply, she did use the first to get into the control room faster since it was on the other side of the ship, and the second was for Allura…

"Doesn't matter now. The explosions will distract them, but it won't take long. We need to find a safe place to stay."

-later, Zarkon's mainship, storage room-

"This place seems safe," Arlo whispered, as he and Thace gently laid Victor to the floor.

We'll still be found, though. Victor still needed time to open a portal. Kate thought, as she scantulised every inch of the room. The galra's hardly used this place, she could tell with the amount of dust collected on the floor, and the broken models of ships lying around.

"Where are you going?" Thace questioned when she moved to the door. Victor's eyes went wide.

"Distracting the guards,"she said, wrapping Cain's cloak around her, then placed his mask over her eyes.

"Kate, no," Victor rasped as he coughed out blood.

"It's the only way. Until you can focus your strength to open a portal, I'll keep them at bay."she focused, feeling the mist wrap around her. Her skin had become purple, her claws sharpened, her senses enhanced far more clearly than ever before.

Arlo gasped. "You're galra?"

"Half," she yanked the crystal off her neck. "Keep this safe for me." she tossed it to the dishorian General.

"Kate," Victor tried again, but stared at her when she gave a smile. A smile she managed to make after what she'd done with Cain. The hood of the cloak was now over her head.

"I'll come back for you." A promise. And she was going to keep it. Xia sacrificed her life for him, and she died because at Cain. The situation was similar, but she wouldn't be gone for long.

Kate stepped out.

What she was about to next would lead to mass slaughtering, insanity, and no mercy. And the person doing it would not not be Kate Kogane, no. Kate Kogane was a coward who always made mistakes and was utterly useless, helpless, a hell of an emotional mess when she was alone. The 'person' doing the killings tonight was who Kate loathe most, but she couldn't deny 'that person' was her alter ego a lifetime ago. 'That name' was even tattooed on her nape. 'She' was fire, 'she' was darkness, 'she' was dust blood and shadow. 'She' was the unknown and unseen death of people. It was why Kate took Cain's mask and cloak and mask, and changed into her galra form. 'She' would be the anonymous murderer the galra's wouldn't be able to identify, and being the paladin of voltron would be the last thing they would suspect.

One night, she told herself. Just once.

With an intake of breath, 'She' opened her eyes.

Irina gave a loud, shrill, horrifying laugh that echoed around the corridors, making sure the nearby guards heard her. A few heartbeats later she was sprinting, the sentries sentries and soldiers chasing right behind her. Just like she planned. A twisted, feral smile formed on her lips. For the first time in years, her choices and plans were working spectacularly well. The laser shots whizzed past her, and she zigzagged. They had no idea she had the upper han; no idea they were her prey to kill now that they've seen her. And they didn't have the slightest hint she was leading them to her death trap.

After another turn around the corner with rapid speed, she slid her body to the floor, avoiding all the lethal wires- she planted earlier- above her.

A spider's web - a perfect trap for those fools. The wires were so think to see, but were strong enough to not snap easily. Kate placed many of these traps all around from wall to wall.

Irina rolled into a crouch before getting back to her feet around the safe area. She didn't turn when the screams started behind her, followed with a couple of thuds on the metallic floor. She could smell fresh blood in the air. Good. the wires didn't fail her. They were meant to cut through armor and skin after all. And if hadn't stopped and ran right into her trap, she's bet good money that some of their body parts were cut clean. Even their head.

She turned and walked back to their fallen bodies. 3 broken sentries, 4 carcusses lay before her. Well, 3 carcusses. Irina panted through her bared teeth as she looked down. The soldier lay on the floor like his dead friends. He gurgled blood, clutching at his gut that had a deep open line made from the wires, but did not have his throat cut from ear to ear like the rest of them. What a shame. A quick death from the wires was better than face her.

She was Irina, an unseen assassin, and no one survives her wrath. There was no room for mercy when she'd become like this. She was Irina, and there was no joy in her life. She was a weapon forged to end lives, and she was sure Zarkon would prefer her over Cain to do his dirty work. Perhaps that's why Zarkon wanted her alive. He must have seen the darkness and insanity in her eyes, and wasn't anywhere close to being called 'a decent human being.' Still, the galra had no idea what he was asking for, who he was dealing with. Zarkon wouldn't know what hit him without any eyewitnesses around.

The assassin pulled out her bayard, willing it to change into an ax. She cut down the wires hard enough that it snapped with one swing as it was in the way between him and her.

She took a step. "Give my regards to your death god," she said in an accent that was foreign to him. Irina merely smiled down at him, and his eyes went wide as she swung the ax to his face.

His blood sprayed her legs, staining her clothes red.

Then...things went quiet. Quiet as mice, quiet as wind, quiet as grave…

…

A few heartbeats later, another unfortunate group of soldiers she ran into began screaming in her wake...

—Blade of Marmora base—

"Who could have done it?" Antok demanded. "Who withdrew all of our members from Zarkon's ships?" He faced the crowd of undercover agents, who were as confused as him.

"Sir," one of them stepped forward. "We all got the emergency retreating code, but we assumed either you or Kolivan m—"

"Yes, yes, I know." Antok brushed him off. "But neither of us sent that code." He turned to his leader. "Kolivan, are going to do nothing about this?" He demanded. "This was definitely an inside job. Who else would know our codes? And the amount of our agents withdrawing from the mainship out of the blue will surely catch Zarkon's attention."

Kolivan was still leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He hadn't said a word since this discussion began.

"Sir?"

Kolivan looked up slowly, his eyes narrowing. The members of the blades froze and they tensed a bit by the way he was giving them those one of those rare contemplative/serious/scary looks.

"Now I understand why Chaos told me not to get involved," he said, chuckling. "Honestly, that was one kind of gamble I wouldn't risk doing."

"With all due respect," Roland said, confused. "What are you talking—"

"Not you," Kolivan snapped. He beckoned his head to the entrance of the door. "Her."

They all whipped their heads to the direction, finding Kate leaning her back against the door frame. She was bleeding, but he couldn't exactly tell where because of that oddly familiar bloody cloak over her.

"Everything that happened tonight...you had all this planned before you met Victor, yes?" Kolivan asked.

"You can't resist planning, really." She picked on her nails, looking at the dry blood and dirt. "Ever since the day I got captured by Zarkon," she said calmly. "Every single detail about that mainship keeps forcing its way in my dreams and nightmares. I had a whole bunch of plans to escape if I was captured again." She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "You owe me and victor for saving your men's lives from the bombs we planted."

There was an intense silence.

"I can't imagine the look on your mother's face if she hears about this."

"I can," she looked away. "And i doubt she cares about it. Along with the rest of the paladins."

Roland frowned, concerned by her cold statements. "Kate, you cannot be so sure."

"I am," she snapped. "My cousin Alex is here. I caught his scent not too long ago— no doubt brought by Chaos. And if he's here... it also means he told them everything."