It was never easy being Catra.

After all, she had just suffered a humiliating defeat (what self-respecting force captain of an evil organization gets blown away by a rainbow?) and now things were back to the way they were: Catra, sulking alone, and Adora laughing, smiling, surrounded by her current array of friends. Oh, she was sure Adora was having a lovely time in her new ridiculously sparkly home while Catra sat on her shredded, stiff mattress in the dark, very aware that she'd probably won the award for most tanks destroyed in a single go by a force captain.

"Hey, now," Scorpia said in her usual cheery manner, offering a claw from the doorway. "Don't be down! You still have us!" Next to her, Entrapta was muttering to herself, but pulled herself from her plotting long enough to nod in semi-enthusiastic agreement.

"Not interested," growled Catra. Scorpia and Entrapta left her alone. They knew better by now than to argue with her. Everyone did.

...

"You're sure there's a power source here?" Catra said doubtfully, glancing down at the digital map in her hands and tapping it with a claw. She glanced around briefly, cat eyes flickering between the nearby trees. Before her gaped a yawning hole in the earth, the entrance to what Entrapta had excitedly claimed was a series of tunnels.

Entrapta's voice came from her earpiece, a device she herself had created. "I'm sure!" she half-yelled, and Catra winced, rubbing her ear. "At least, I'm 95% sure. It's either down there or up in the clouds! And remember, I told you there's power all throughout the planet, including under the surface!"

Catra glared at a random rock. "How likely is it that it's in the clouds, exactly?"

"5%, obviously," Entrapta responded. There was a pause, and then, "Do I need to explain-"

"No, you do not need to explain percentages to me," Catra growled irritably. "It's just...last time I found a, you know, a power source, there was a lot of glowing, and-" -and Adora was there, her traitorous mind added.

"Well, you'll have to go in to find out," responded Entrapta brightly. "Now, remember, once you go below ground, our communicators will stop working, so don't get stuck!"

Catra wished she hadn't said that-it sounded more like a jinx than anything-but she switched on her headlamp and headed into the darkness.

...

Why was Catra's life so miserably predictable?

Sure, she'd wandered in the tunnels without event for an hour or so, glancing over her shoulder occasionally at the sound of skittling, which she'd attributed to some kind of creature or robotic defense mechanism. Of course, after she'd wandered long enough, the earth had shaken and rumbled, and Catra knew there had been a cave-in somewhere nearby. She wandered in the direction of the loudest sound she'd heard, and what did she find?

Oh, yeah. Adora, unconscious on the ground, clearly having been hit by a fallen rock.

So. Miserably. Predictable.

What were the chances of Adora having some noble, stupid reason to be here at the exact same time as Catra was? Was Adora following her? Was that even possible? Was the universe just screwing with her at this point?

Catra gave Adora's dumb face a gentle kick, debating whether to help her out or not. There was a fairly painful-looking bleeding gash on Adora's forehead, but Catra could easily hear her steady heartbeat and even breaths; she wasn't badly hurt. It would be easy for Catra to continue on and leave her here-after all, if Adora was here, then the actual power source must be close-or even kill her, which was something that Catra supposed she was eventually planning to do.

Catra extended her claws, letting them shine black in the light from her headlamp as they hovered by Adora's exposed neck. It would be so easy to slip and slice through the tender skin. She could hear the blood pulsing through Adora's jugular, knew how delicate it was, knew how quickly and painlessly she would bleed out if it were cut in her sleep.

Adora groaned, shifting slightly; Catra froze, eyes wide and tail lashing, until it became clear that Adora was still unconscious. Catra hissed to herself, glaring at Adora. Even asleep, Adora was still hindering her. Catra sat back on her heels. Adora's face was nice and peaceful now; Catra could almost forget her betrayal, her unfairness, her ultimate privilege and superiority. Her eyes traced the smooth line of her jaw, the soft lips (she'd always assumed they would be soft), the long lashes, cluttered with dust from the cave-in.

Catra shook herself. If she thought about it, it didn't seem like a good idea to kill Adora just yet. After all, she told herself, she might need Adora to access the power source, like last time. She could always kill her later; it was too easy to trick her, to distract her. Adora's deadly sympathy.

Well, that was decided, then. Catra unsheathed her claws once more and swiped them across Adora's face. "Wake up, moron!"