Chapter 2

For several seconds, all Catra and Entrapta could do was stare at each other. The princess had staggered back against the railing after pushing Catra away, holding on to it with both one arm and her hair. Her other hand was raised in front of herself defensively, while one ponytail was pressed to her back. Splitting a length of it away and bringing it around to look at it, Entrapta started in shock as she saw the blood on the end – threads of scarlet spreading rapidly as it wicked through her hair. Catra had never seen the technician look so bewildered, and the blank incomprehension in her crimson eyes cut more than anger or betrayal would have done.

"I… you… I… I don't understand," Entrapta stammered, then doubled over as she began to cough, her breath rasping in her chest.

Kicking Entrapta's legs out from under her was easy - although her hair lashed out at Catra with surprising strength, it had little coordination and was easily dodged. Don't think about it. Just do it. It'll be over soon. Hauling the princess over onto her stomach and trapping both ponytails beneath her body, Catra pinned her down with a knee against the small of her back. She flinched as she saw the red stain spreading across Entrapta's back. Don't think about it. You don't have a choice. You'll feel better once it's done. That was true. Entrapta was an enemy combatant now. Just like Adora.

Catra still had the arrow in one hand. There wasn't time to go back for the neurotoxin, and stabbing Entrapta again was a bad idea because even Scorpia would be suspicious if there were multiple wounds but only one arrow. She would just have to stab the arrow into the knife wound as she'd originally planned, then twist it around until she hit something more vital; a major artery would do. Seeing a flicker of movement from the corner of one eye, Catra looked up only to immediately regret it as a lock of purple hair that had pulled its way free lashed at her like a whip, searing across her cheekbone and eyesocket like a friction burn. Recoiling with a hiss, Catra felt Entrapta struggling out from beneath her. Half blinded, she drew back one fist and punched the princess in what she hoped was the centre of the bloodstain. From her shriek of pain, Catra guessed she wasn't far off. See? You can do some things right. Fuck Shadow Weaver.

Raising the arrow over her head as Entrapta's scream broke off into a racking cough, Catra paused as her hand trembled. She told herself that her uninjured eye was just watering in sympathy with the other. Scraping the back of her fist across her eyes to clear them, Catra raised the arrow again…

…then suddenly went flying as something caught her by the shirt and threw her off Entrapta and into the bridge. Catra had been so focused on the task at hand that she hadn't even heard Scorpia's footsteps approaching.

"What the hell is going on?!" Looking from Catra to Entrapta and back again, Scorpia seemed almost as confused as Entrapta had been. "What did you do Catra?"

For a moment Catra considered telling her that she'd just pulled the arrow out of Entrapta's back. But Entrapta was hardly likely to corroborate that story, and the only blood on the arrow was where Catra was holding it. "Following Lord Hordak's orders," she replied as she slowly pushed herself to her feet. There was an alarm button by the door into the bridge, and Catra inched gradually towards it.

"What, Lord Hordak told you to hurt Entrapta? Somehow I doubt that," Scorpia shot back with a disbelieving snort. Behind her, Entrapta struggled to her hands and knees and made an effort to stand. The technician made it halfway up with help from her hair only to gasp in pain as she straightened and slump back to the ground.

"No," Catra stated flatly. "He ordered me to kill her." She held Scorpia's gaze as she spoke, and saw her disbelief slowly dawn into horror.

"But… but that doesn't make sense!" Despite her words, Scorpia knew that Catra was telling the truth. She could see it in her eyes. "Entrapta's done nothing but help us!"

"I know." Catra's sigh was genuine. "But Lord Hordak has decided that she's more of a liability than she's useful, and Lord Hordak's will is law. You of all people should know that, Scorpia. You've been in the Horde since the beginning."

Looking away, Scorpia shifted her weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Entrapta's still our friend. Couldn't you just have let her go instead? Hordak doesn't have to know, you can tell him she's dead and I'll back you up! Wouldn't that be-"

"No!" Catra hadn't intended to shout the word, but somehow she still did. "You think he wouldn't find out? The moment the Rebellion finds out that she's still alive they'll want her back, and the moment Lord Hordak finds out that she's working with them again, we'll lose our heads!"

That thought gave Scorpia pause for a few moments as Entrapta pushed herself back to her knees and raised her head. "…they… they think I'm dead?" the technician asked hoarsely. Catra ignored her, her gaze fixed on Scorpia instead. The Force Captain was staring down at the deck, her claws slowly rubbing back and forth as she chewed her lip. Her tail switched back and forth behind her, the sting flicking in front of Entrapta's eyes.

"We could say the Rebellion captured her then," Scorpia said eventually. "That they attacked us before we reached the woods and took her, and we couldn't get her back. Tell him She-Ra did it, it wouldn't be the first time Adora-"

"NO!" Catra's shout was even louder this time. "Scorpia, no. We don't have a choice – we have to do this! I know how you feel – really. Like there's something cold clawing at your guts. Like you're the biggest piece of shit in Etheria. But it gets better." She let out a long, shuddering breath as the memory of blue eyes opened wide in shock and disbelief seared through her. "Once it's done, it gets better." Oh, it's definitely better isn't it? No regrets at all, you feel fantastic, no problems sleeping or anything. "You never liked the other princesses anyway."

Scorpia's shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh, giving Catra momentary hope that maybe things would work out after all. But then the taller woman shook her head. "I said they didn't like me," Scorpia said slowly. "And I won't let you kill Entrapta," she added, her tail stiffening into a threatening arch behind her as her claws stopped their nervous fidgeting and opened wide. "Either you let her go, or you kill me too. Well, try to I mean."

Catra drew herself up to her full height, telling herself that this was insubordination – she was Hordak's lieutenant, she outranked Scorpia now. And she was within arm's reach of the alarm. "What, let her go so she can bleed out alone in the Whispering Woods?" she asked scornfully. She'd accepted that the fight was now inevitable, but an angry Scorpia was more inclined to make tactical errors. "I knew you'd be stupid about this, but I didn't think you'd be that stupid. You sure you don't want her to die if that's your genius plan?"

Scorpia's response was a wordless yell of fury as she sprang at Catra – just as she'd anticipated. Dodging to one side, Catra hammered one fist against the alarm button as Scorpia's claws gouged into the metal wall where she'd been standing seconds ago. Catra was pretty sure that four troopers wouldn't do too well against Scorpia, but at least she'd specifically chosen experienced soldiers for this mission instead of Lani and the Awkward Squad.

As Scorpia turned, Catra was already springing forwards to attack. And Scorpia wasn't her target – Scorpia was a problem for Future Catra. Instead she was lunging for Entrapta who was still half-prone, one hand reaching for her with claws extended, the other still holding the arrow which was aimed to plunge through the technician's throat. Entrapta began to scramble away as she saw Catra coming, but not nearly fast enough. The princess squealed as Catra's claws sank into her shoulder to restrain her, wide eyes reflecting the gleam of the arrowhead… which was suddenly eclipsed by a large, jagged shadow as a chitinous claw snapped forwards to seize Catra's upper arm.

For all Scorpia's size and weight, she could put on a fair turn of speed when her blood was up. She heard the alarm but ignored it, kicking herself back from the wall and using the momentum to pivot fast enough to grab Catra's arm as it came down. Despite everything, she still felt a twinge of guilt as she hurled Catra to one side with a precise turn and flick of her claw – and a sharp crack of bone.

Slamming into the forward rail was the only thing that stopped Catra from hurtling off the ship entirely. She managed to turn enough in midair to hit the rail feet-first, but fumbled her landing and fell to the deck instead of springing back towards Scorpia. And as she tried to push herself up, the first thing she noticed was that her right arm now had two elbows. Her upper arm had been cleanly broken halfway between shoulder and forearm and was twisted at an unnatural angle. Strangely it didn't hurt – yet – it just felt numb and cold. More importantly, she was no longer holding the arrow.

Scorpia took a few steps towards her, ignoring the sound of troopers rushing up from the lower deck. Unless Catra had managed to sneak another five or six squads on board without Scorpia noticing – unlikely given that they'd have been packed like sardines in the confined space below deck – she was more concerned about getting to the cover of the Whispering Woods without being blasted by the ship's cannons.

"If we hadn't been friends," Scorpia began, holding Catra's furious glare with her own. "That would have been your neck." Not waiting for a response, Scorpia turned to see the first troopers coming around the bridge. But worse still was that Entrapta had vanished. "Ah, gonopores!" Scorpia cursed, then charged. Catra didn't even get a chance to shout at the troopers to attack before Scorpia barrelled into them like a hovertank.

The fight actually went somewhat better than Catra had expected – probably because Scorpia was trying to subdue her erstwhile comrades instead of killing them - lasting minutes instead of seconds. More than enough time for her to get back to her feet, her broken arm hanging awkwardly at her side. The pain was starting to hit now, a dull throb that seemed to seep through the limb with glacial slowness. It spiked into sharp shards of mirror-bright intensity as Catra tried to flex her hand, her claws refusing to extend as her fingers contorted awkwardly. But her left arm was fine, and she'd always been just as dextrous with her left hand as she was with her right. Maybe she wouldn't be able to take Scorpia with only one good arm, but Entrapta was another story, and Catra had also noticed that the technician was gone. Furthermore, she had also noticed the spots and streaks of blood leading to the generator room – that was a trail even Scorpia could follow.

As Scorpia took a blow from a shock baton to the back of the head – enough to knock her down but certainly not out – Catra considered her options. She was still fast enough to make it to the generator room before Scorpia could stop her. Entrapta wouldn't be a threat, at this point the princess would have lost enough blood that it would be a miracle if she could even stand. Of course, Scorpia would probably catch up with her while she was still in there, and in that confined space Catra's agility wouldn't count for much. No doubt the Force Captain would follow up on her neck breaking threat.

The other option was to attack Scorpia – who had just used her tail to trip the soldier who'd hit her, then jabbed her stinger into the back of their knee as they fell – and try to take her out first. Catra knew that one set of claws probably wouldn't achieve much, but she still had her knife... that is a stupid, stupid plan, you go for Scorpia with one arm and a knife and you'll end up with no arms and no knife then she'll probably bail with Entrapta. But hey you'll have a nice big slice of failure, have you been missing that since Adora left? As Scorpia rolled back to her feet and smashed the side of the last trooper's helmet with one claw, Catra made her choice. Drawing the knife, she lunged at Scorpia with a furious yowl.

The Force Captain sidestepped, one claw catching Catra's knife, which did nothing but graze the thick chitin. Rather than disarm her, Scorpia pulled her closer instead as her stinger darted around like a viper and sank into Catra's hip. For a moment, blue and yellow eyes glared at her, then closed as Catra toppled stiffly to the deck. As an afterthought, Scorpia went back to sting the other three troopers as well. Her venom was going to need some time to replenish after this day's work.

"Entrapta?" Scorpia called, hoping the technician would emerge from her hiding place. Both Catra and the troopers had enough venom in them to keep them out for a while, but all of them would have had access to the antiserum – anyone who sparred with Scorpia would get a dose before a training session so that they'd still be fit for duty afterwards. Without taking the time to check the identity of every trooper – and assuming she'd remember them – there was a good chance that any of them could be back on their feet in a few minutes. And Catra… well, she'd never sparred with Scorpia, but if she'd been planning this then it would make sense for her to have taken a shot of the antiserum before they headed out.

There was no response, but as Catra had feared it didn't take Scorpia long to notice the red spots and smears leading to the generator room. Heading over at a run, she looked inside with more than a little trepidation in case something exploded the minute she stuck her head through the open door. In this situation she could hardly have blamed Entrapta for rigging the place to explode. But all Scorpia was met with was the low, pervasive hum of the power banks. And the sound of a stifled cough.

"Entrapta? It's me," Scorpia announced, warily stepping into the dimly lit room and keeping an eye out for tripwires. "Whatever Catra had planned, I didn't know about it, I swear. But we need to get out of here, fast. You need to trust me."

The ship's two generators were placed on the rear two corners of the room, a good few feet of space around them on every side –including underneath – to prevent overheating. A line of power banks reaching from floor to ceiling ran between and beyond them, glowing with dim green phosphorescence. Hearing a faint scrape and shuffle, Scorpia cautiously made her way along the narrow walkway between the left generator and the power banks – she was sure the sound had come from this side.

There was a mass of purple hair wedged into the dark space behind and beneath the generator, a blank black faceplate with two glowing magenta lenses at its centre. It didn't move, though Scorpia could hear hoarse, ragged breathing. Sinking down into a crouch, Scorpia slowly stretched out a claw. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said gently. "Plus, I just broke Catra's arm and I'm pretty sure assaulting a superior officer counts as high treason, so I would really like to get out of here fast."

It was hard enough at the best of times to tell what Entrapta was thinking - and impossible behind the mask. The lenses seemed to study Scorpia's face for a few moments, then shifted to look at the offered claw. Hesitantly, a gloved hand emerged from the enveloping hair and took hold of the spiked pincer, and Scorpia carefully pulled the technician out of her hiding place.

Entrapta's ponytails were both wrapped around her like a comfort blanket, though one of them was matted with congealing blood. She hissed in pain as she emerged from beneath the generator, but didn't try to resist as Scorpia lifted her.

"…does… does Hordak really want me dead?" Entrapta's voice was muffled by the mask but Scorpia didn't try to remove it – if the princess felt safer behind it she wasn't going to take that away from her.

"I don't know, but I guess so," Scorpia replied, turning so that she could shuffle sideways between the generators and power banks while holding Entrapta. "Catra wouldn't have done that otherwise. I think. I'm pretty sure anyway." Emerging from the narrow passage, Scorpia headed for the door then paused. "Is there a way to disable the ship that won't blow us all up?" she asked, remembering her earlier fears about the ship's cannons.

"Killswitch," Entrapta groaned, one ponytail making a halfhearted flick towards the control console. "Put 'em in everything after Dryl. Except Emily. She's friend."

Scorpia looked blankly at the console for a few moments, then noticed the large toggle switch that had been recently welded into it. It was circled with red marker and labelled 'NO' in Entrapta's handwriting. She flicked it with her tail, then was thrown to the floor as the ship simply dropped out of the air and ploughed prow-first into the barren earth of the Badlands. Thankfully, she managed to land on her back.

"I did not know that's what a killswitch does," Scorpia grunted as she got back up and went through the door. "But I'm not complaining." She half walked and half slithered across the canted deck to the handrail, looking cautiously towards the prow as she did so. The prone bodies of Catra and the four troopers had slid forwards against the bowsprit when the ship had crashed, but didn't seem to be moving of their own volition yet. Unless they were just playing possum of course.

Deciding that getting while the getting was good was her best course of action, Scorpia leapt over the rail to the wasteland below, spreading her weight to absorb as much of the impact as possible. Even so, Entrapta still made a pained sound as they hit the ground. Rather than check on her Scorpia immediately started sprinting for the treeline just in case anyone started shooting. The ship's cannons might have been neutralised, but the troopers would still have sidearms. Scorpia cursed for not having taken those off them, and jinked from one side to the other as she ran to throw off the aim of anyone getting ready to fire.

No shots came however, and in less than a minute Scorpia had reached the shadows of the trees with Entrapta and disappeared between the trunks as if the Whispering Woods had opened its mouth and swallowed them.