Catra hid behind a downed Horde tank along with She-Ra. She clutched her shoulder and grit her teeth, "Piece of shit, fucker. ARGH! STINGS!" She took heavy breaths through her nose and concentrated on trying to push through the pain.
"Catra!" She-Ra looked to her while staying low behind that green armored vehicle.
Catra huffed hard to She-Ra's concern, "I'm fine, Adora. Just a scratch." That's what she called it. The gaping gash across her shoulder that bled through her tightly clasped fingers. The pain just wouldn't lessen and she stamped the ground to distract herself.
Adora pursed her lips tight. She knew Catra was lying. Always trying to be tough. Always trying to make sure Adora wasn't worrying. "Shut up and let me heal you."
"I said it's fine! It'll stop bleeding on it's own," Catra wasn't so sure. She looked away and then back to She-Ra, "I know what it does to you, so don't." Catra's eyes looked to kill. Stern and narrowed. An expression that warned she'd claw She-Ra's face if she so much as breathe on her. She-Ra returned a glare of her own. An unconscious flex of her biceps told Catra she had an extra two hundred pounds of muscle that dared her to try it. "F-fine," a short stutter, the pain was making her twitch, "Just don't overdo it."
She-Ra inched over and placed her hand over the wound. A wound that made every effort to push as much of Catra's blood out of her body. She-Ra's hands were covered in sweat and dirt and inflicted a sharp sting of its own, "Sorry, but what I'm going to do isn't going to feel much better." She said the words in her head, "For the honor of Grayskull, your wound will be healed!" Muscle and tissue began to generate beneath She-Ra's hand. Catra squirmed to the sensation. The wriggling of the newly formed matter made her want to vomit. Luckily it had not lasted long. She-Ra finished. Catra watched She-Ra heave and huff with heavy and quickened breath. Each of them came out sharp as if she inflicted the wound on herself. She looked as if to expel whatever was in her stomach. She-Ra turned back to Adora and heaved.
"Damn it, Adora," Catra caught sight of Horde soldiers heading towards them from over her shoulder, "Fuck! Adora we have to move." She watched Adora nod her acknowledgement but didn't appear to put any effort into getting up. "Adora, now!"
Adora clawed the dirt beneath her and then gripped her sword. Again, she turned to She-Ra. Sweat poured from her face. She spoke with a grunted huff, "Get behind me." As soon as she did She-Ra transformed her sword to a full body shield. She-Ra took a several steps back which caused Catra to do the same.
Catra watched She-Ra's glow brighten to blinding light, "Could have warned me!" she said as she shielded her eyes, "You know you're gonna take away the only cover we have?"
She-Ra rammed the downed tank with such unbelievable force. It caved inwards before finally getting launched toward the group of oncoming soldiers. It tumbled and kicked the ground up as it crushed the squad of Horde victims.
Now that the ground soldiers were taken care of, Adora and Catra had to worry about the marching bots taking position on the walls of the Horde Camp. She-Ra pointed to her back with her thumb, "Get on." Catra hesitated. It was humiliating but She-Ra did have the giant shield in front of her. A step and a small leap, Catra looped her arms around She-Ra's -Ra had second thoughts, "Actually, can you grab me from the front?"
Catra angled her head forward and raised a brow, "What?"
"TO WATCH MY BACK, CATRA, COME ON!" A quick rolling of Catra's eyes and she immediately latched on from the front and peered over She-Ra shoulder. It was clear…, for now. She-Ra began to charge with her shield blocking the blasts that struck her. Catra could feel the thunder-like shock waves on her back. She clung hard despite the constant pelting. It was certainly better than dying, but those shock waves hurt. In a flash, She-Ra slid, feet-forward between a blasted entrance into the Horde camp. Catra's nails dug into She-Ra just to hang on, fortunately, she hadn't noticed while being in the moment. She spotted a sewer hole and darted for it.
The bots were closing in from behind her. Catra shouted each position, "SOUTH-WEST HIGH, EAST LOW, NOW SOUTH LOW, SOUTH!"
She-Ra spun towards them, transformed her shield back to her sword and fired at the canons ready to fire back. The whipping-turn dizzied Catra and feared being struck in the back now. Again, She-Ra transformed her weapon back to a shield. She squatted near the sewer hole and removed the covering.
Catra looked down and protested, "DON'T YOU DARE!"
"You have a BETTER idea?" She-Ra held onto Catra's hips and without any further hesitation, pried Catra off herself and pushed her through. "I'm too big, I'll meet you up ahead."
"IDIOT! just turn back to NORMAL YOU!"
She-Ra blinked, "R-right," and with quick thinking, darted in as Adora, slimey splashing and all.
They both groaned at what they were wading through. They could hear the bots thumping hard over them as if trailing their was enough of a distraction to ignore the repugnant odor and get moving. Catra grit her teeth with a twisted face, "Cannot believe you were just going to dump me here and leave!"
Adora bickered back saying that she wasn't leaving her and encouraged Catra to argue later. Now they had to figure out how to reach Emily and reprogram her. Catra possessed the drive that Entrapta gave them. It was, of course, a virus that would breach Emily's security protocols and inevitably stop her from making her own bots for the Horde.
It was a monumental heart break for Entrapta when Emily's affections were weighted more towards the new bots she created. Eventually Emily became more distant and oddly, didn't have the time to deal with Entrapta. Had it not been for another rescue mission staged by Catra's team, Entrapta would be another one of Emily's victims. Now, Entrapta, charged with treason and a slew of other crimes, was forced to resolve the issue with the only method she knew how. The virus that would end Emily permanently.
They continued to charge down the sewers until they found a path back out. The tunnel seemed to ramp upwards toward a ladder. They didn't hear the the bots following them which, of course, meant going above was an obvious trap. They knew they were close to Emily when a giant beam of death nearly took out both of them. They barely dodged the blast and was thankful they had a moment to see the bright red, melting walls before they jumped out of the way. Catra yelled over her shoulder, "KEEP MOVING!" knowing well there was going to be a follow up.
They only had but a half a moment to breathe before the next beam began to trail behind them. Adora had no choice but to transform while running. It was difficult while running due to the growth of her body. Balance was an issue and stumbling right now was not an option. She attempted to compensate by first leaping into the air. She performed her transformation and She-Ra quickly changed her weapon to a shield. She landed with a roll and made sure Catra was behind her when she guarded against a third blast.
They were both so out of breath. They were pinned between She-Ra's shield and the green metallic wall behind them. Being stuck between a rock and a hard place seemed infinitely better than their current situation. She-Ra was wide eyed and spoke with gritted teeth, "W-what do we do!?" She-Ra couldn't think with everything going on. The transformation, the constant barrage, and she knew she wouldn't have much more time before more bots would arrive to completely overwhelm them.
Catra would normally retort with a snarky answer but it was clear to her that She-Ra was panicking and unable to do anything besides shield them. "We can still pull this off, I just-" They were both pushed back a little by the sheer force of the beam. Catra felt like her entire body was punched with She-Ra's body. She shook her head to recover, "Argh! I need a window. Can you do that?"
She-Ra hesitated. She wasn't sure if she had enough energy to not only shield both of them but also create a portal to see around the room. "A-a small one…, just don't touch it."
"I won't." Catra thought about creating a distraction by darting out quickly but it was clear that Emily was going to be faster than her. This was the only way.
She-Ra grunted against another blast and concentrated to make a tiny portal. It was no bigger than half the size of Catra's palm but it was enough. It was better than being completely blind. She-Ra turned the other side of the portal from a corner of the room. Each time she was hit with Emily's blast, however, made her lose the portal and she had to recreate it. Catra kept encouraging her. She only needed a little more.
Catra saw a power conduit that was connected to Emily directly across from them. It was how she was able to generate so much power so quickly. Catra thought about trying to focus on disconnecting the power from Emily, but that wouldn't guarantee that Emily wouldn't have a power reserve and getting to it was near impossible. Catra found that the power cables that connected Emily exposed the exact port that she needed access to. "Okay, I have a plan!"
She-Ra was relieved. She thought this would be over soon, "Great! What do you need me to d- ARGGH!" Those damn blasts were becoming too much for her.
Catra took out the device that would infect Emily. Both of them heard the thumping clanks of more bots approaching. "I need you to create another portal right underneath Emily."
She-Ra was silent. Catra understood. It was impossible with what she had to manage. She changed her mind, "It's fine, I'll create a diversion instead. You charge as soon as I leap out."
With zero hesitation, "NO! I'll do it-"
"Adora, you're tapped out, don't argue!"
"I'm DOING IT!" She grunted hard with everything she had, "JUST BE QUICK… I-I might take your arm if you aren't careful. DO IT!"
The portal opened in front of Catra as she gripped the device in hand. The portal edges kept wobbling wider and narrower but remained large enough to stick her hand through. There, the port was available. That beam was about to fire again and Catra thrusted her arm through, stabbing the port a little harder than she expected but it was enough. She pulled her hand out and She-Ra suddenly passed out. "ADORA!" Fuck fuck fuck fuck! Catra quickly grabbed Adora by her shirt, grabbed her shield, and began dragging her. She just needed to keep moving. She watched Emily track her movements but Emily didn't fire. Maybe the device was working. The glow on Emily's weapon kept getting brighter and then dimming like she was fighting what was attacking her internally.
Catra was still not in the clear as those additional bots were right outside. Catra had to trust her gut and dragged Adora towards Emily while she was incapacitated. She had to use her as a shield until Adora snaps out of it. She stashed Adora as far behind Emily as she could as she was now surrounded by Horde bots. She looked around quickly. Adora was out, at least twenty-five bots filled the large room, and she was damn sure wasn't going to get out of there alive. That was until she realized the army in front of her was not attacking. They were only tracking her motion.
It was uncertain if this was due to her using their mommy bot as a shield or if the device she used against Emily was affecting all of them. Entrapta wasn't clear with what the device actually did when she tried to explain through choking sobs. Catra took advantage of this delay to check on Adora. She quickly slid to her side. She checked Adora's pupils, her breathing, her heart beat. And even though Adora was out cold, that heart of hers was beating so rapidly in chest. It was alarming but there wasn't much she could do.
The weapons on the bots began to glow red hot and a panic washed over Catra. "This is it," she thought. No way out. She grabbed Adora's hand tightly and closed her eyes for only a moment. A thundering boom shot at Emily. One after another. This shook Catra to realize they weren't going to attack her but it sure as hell wasn't safe to be there. She quickly secured Adora's shield to Adora's back, grabbed the woman, and hoisted her on her back. With Adora's thighs under her hands, she marched out as quickly as she was able. More bots were coming towards her but she had to trust that they weren't coming for her. She pressed on as they began to open fire on the building itself. They fired at each other. It was chaos. Catra had little choice but to keep moving and hope that she wasn't caught in the crossfire.
Debris flew everywhere. She felt the heat radiate in the air like boiling waves only for it to quickly recede moments later against the cold winds that blew throughout the Horde camp.
Catra spotted the blown entrance they first came through. She just needed to get through it. Her knees were feeling the added weight and strained with every sprinted step. Catra's lungs burned with the smoke all around her. Her breath wheezed sharply and her vision was blurring with sweat in her eyes. But she was almost there. Almost there.
Adora, you better live through this. Don't you dare waste my all my effort to get you out! She passed the entrance but that was as far as she could do. She needed a moment to rest. She collapsed with Adora onto the ground with a disoriented flop and roll. That definitely wasn't good for Adora. Catra crawled to her side and dragged her closer to the Horde camp's wall. Catra panted hard and fast. In hindsight, Catra now understood why Entrapta was sobbing.
Catra leaned against the wall and dragged Adora's body on top of hers. She looked down to Adora's face, "Come on asshole, wake up!" She patted her face causing Adora to reflexively blink wither her eyes already closed. "COME ON!"
Adora jolted awake with a sharp gasp, "CATRA!" Adora snapped her head left and right, not knowing where she was. Without another word, she grabbed Catra's hands and observed each one.
She huffed at her, "They're both there, Adora!" The fire in her chest was cooling and thought it smart to get farther away from the dumpster fire happening behind them. "Mission success let's get the fuck out of here! Can you walk?"
Adora was exhausted, dizzy, and nauseous. "I'm fine," Adora got up, but as soon as she did, she stumbled to a fall. Her stomach hurt. Her muscles were on fire from straining against all of Emily's repeated blasts.
"Great." Catra pushed herself up and rushed to Adora's side. In a short moment, she was looping her arms around Adora's waist and they both limped back towards the Whispering Woods. "You know, Adora, you're gonna have to tell Entrapta the mission was a success."
Adora wanted to snap her head towards Catra but resisted to prevent further dizzying. Instead she uttered an emphatic, "No! You do it! You're the one that actually killed her!"
"I just lugged your brain-dead corpse across the battlefield while all of them were trying to kill each other! No way! I can already hear her crying!"
"You think I can't! I already feel bad thinking she was dead the FIRST time!"
The two of them bickered the entire way back to the woods where a vehicle would pick them up. When they returned to Bright Moon, of all people, Entrapta was the first they saw. It seemed Catra and Adora had interrupted a hearing for Entrapta's crimes. She looked at them with tears suddenly streaming down. Simply being alive in front of Entrapta was enough evidence to tell her that Emily was no more. Entrap lost her breath and collapsed to the floor with her hair wrapping around her like a curtain.
The world seemed to weigh upon all of them. But it was done. The Rebellion will move forward.
This fic was written as a trade for RedWar :) Hope you all like it!