A patrol craft hovered over the remains of the Fright Zone, two of it's spotlights shining down on the empty streets below. The two Horde Clones piloting it examined the city carefully, their cold expressionless green eyes quickly darting between the computer terminals in front of them and the area illuminated by their respective spotlights. Scars remained of Catra's battle with Hordak during the final hours of his conquest of Etheria, curved lines of melted steel from Hordak's laser cannon made an intricate pattern in the central citadel. The spotlights of the patrol craft made the shadows flitter around in bizarre patterns along the tall buildings. One shadow looked like a gigantic bat flying in the night sky between the streets.
"This is Horde Unit Beta Gamma, reporting in," one of the clone soldiers spoke his computer terminal, "Situation nominal. It would appear to be a quiet night for once."
"I've got something strange on my scopes," reported the younger clone, "It keeps flicking in and out."
"I don't see anything, Delta Sigma," reported Beta Gamma, "Check your equipment for a malfunction."
"It's there," Delta Sigma reported, "It must be right below us."
As the clone finished speaking, a black shadow flew past his window, causing him to jump back in fear.
"There!" the young clone exclaimed, "Did you see that?!"
"See what?" Beta Gamma asked, turning to look out the other window.
"Nevermind," replied Delta Sigma, "You are correct. It is probably just a malfunction."
~*~
On one of the rooftops below, a lanky goat woman emptied a large bag of gold coins in front of her partner, a short and stocky four armed lizard. The lizard glanced around nervously.
"What's the matter?" asked Other Kyle, "You afraid of heights or something."
The lizard gave her partner an angry glare, while Other Kyle shuffled through the gold coins.
"Sweet, those tourists were loaded," Other Kyle noted, picking up a plastic rectangle, "Etherian Express Card, don't leave the castle without it."
Other Kyle's partner growled a noise.
"Quit your belly aching," Other Kyle shot back, "The kid will be alright, like he never saw a gun before. What are you so mopey about? We got away, didn't we?"
Her partner murmured something to herself.
"Hey, what happened to Gobbs in Salineas was his own stupid fault," Other Kyle reassured her partner, "Probably got drunk and picked a fight with the wrong guy."
Her partner gave a warning series of growls in response.
"The Bat?!" Other Kyle repeated mockingly, "Come on, buddy. Give me a break with that fairy tale baloney, will ya?"
Her partner continued looking around nervously.
"Look, girl," Other Kyle said reassuringly, "There ain't. No. Bat. Now shut up and let me count your cut."
Her partner gave out a loud snarl and pointed at something behind Other Kyle.
"Hey, do you want your cut of the take or not?" Other Kyle shouted angrily, "Shut up, will ya! Shut! Up!"
Other Kyle turned around to see what her partner was pointing at. Directly behind her stood an armored soldier that towered above them. The symbol of the old Etherian Horde, a red teardrop with large red batlike wings, was emblazoned on its chest below a glowing purple crystal. A long black cape flapped behind the figure in the wind. It's face was hidden by the darkness but Other Kyle saw two angry red eyes narrow at her.
"Book it!" ordered Other Kyle, as she and her partner ran in two separate directions.
Other Kyle headed towards the fire escape, and heard something make a loud snap behind her. A gun? No, too quiet. A crossbow, maybe? Other Kyle ducked as she ran, but felt something grab the back of her jacket, causing her to fall flat on her butt. She heard her lizard friend grunt from behind her as she also fell in the same fashion. A whirring noise sounded from between them and Other Kyle was dragged backwards. She collided into the back of her four armed partner with a loud smack. Shaking her head to recover, Other Kyle pulled out her gun and fired two shots at the armored creature with red eyes. The caped crusader was lit up briefly by the green energy blasts and fell backwards. Other Kyle saw a flash of red fangs on the soldier's grey face before it hit the ground. Dead.
Other Kyle took off her jacket and picked up her friend to begin their getaway anew. Other Kyle saw that her jacket was still being dragged behind her partner, attached to her friend by some kind of self-retracting cable with clawed hooks on each end. The two stopped for a second when they heard a cough from behind them. They looked back to see the monster rise up again and approach them. Other Kyle took out her weapon again and took aim, her partner following suit with her own gun. The creature flicked its wrist towards them and the two criminals dropped their guns as something sharp struck both of their hands. Other Kyle heard something metal hit the ground on her left.
The monster took a flying leap and tackled Other Kyle's partner to the ground with a loud crunch before it rolled forward back into a standing position. Other Kyle swung a punch at the creature who knocked out her friend, but it deftly dodged to the right. The monster's metal gauntlet grabbed Other Kyle by the throat and lifted her up in the air with one arm. Other Kyle struggled as the creature carried her over the edge of the roof.
"Don't kill me," Other Kyle begged, "Don't kill me, man. Please, don't kill me."
"I'm not going to kill you," the monster growled in a deep threatening voice, "I want you to do me a favour. I want you to tell all your lowlife friends about me."
"Oh, no," Other Kyle whined, "What are you, man?"
The monster pulled Other Kyle close to his grey batlike face.
"I am Hordak," he said, before throwing Other Kyle off the roof.
Other Kyle screamed in horror as the street below drew closer and closer to her face. She closed her eyes and threw her arms in front of her, awaiting the inevitable, before she felt a tug on her leg and she slowly stopped, hanging upside down in midair. Other Kyle looked at her feet to see a rubber cord attached to her ankle and the rooftop she fell from. A crack of thunder shook the sky from above and a flash of lightning illuminated the dark silhouette of the terrifying creature that attacked her on the roof above, it's cape billowing in the wind.
~*~
In the dark, ruined caves that once made up She-Ra's Crystal Castle, Entrapta was hard at work setting up her new workspace. A couple of bedrolls were set up in the corner next to an oil lantern with piles upon piles of unopened crates surrounding the campsite. Entrapta herself was assembling together a contraption the size of a small end table out of what appeared to be random parts of metal, cables and First One's crystals. If she noticed the gigantic metal facsimile of a spider come down from the ceiling on a thread of webbing, she gave no indication. Entrapta continued welding her creation together, as the robotic monstrosity silently landed and crawled carefully towards her.
Entrapta hummed playfully as she picked up a long piece of pipe next to her and handed it to one of her prehensile purple pigtails, completely focused on her work as the spider crept right behind her. It opened it's jaws and reeled back to strike, when her hair quickly slammed the pipe into the ground behind her. The pipe struck the robot between it's head and abdomen, impaling it onto the floor. The spider roared in terror as scuttled frantically on the ground, trying to pull itself free from the pipe.
"Shh!" hushed Entrapta, as her hair picked up a large piece of white cloth and wrapped it around the spider's screaming head, "I'm almost done. I'll be with you in a minute."
Entrapta picked up a tiny glowing crystal off the ground and carefully placed it in an indentation she made in the device she was making, soldering it into place. The device began whirring and began to glow brighter and brighter, until the entire chamber was cast in a dull red and purple light.
"Finally, we have power," Entrapta gasped in relief as she opened her welding mask, "It's so much better when you're able to see properly, don't you agree? Oh, right!"
Entrapta turned around and began untying the cloth from the spider's head as her hair pulled the pipe from out the ground. With the pipe removed, the spider's wound quickly repaired itself as if magically healed.
"Now, go on!" Entrapta ordered, her hair smacking the spider from behind with the pipe, "Get!"
Entrapta watched the spider as it scurried away deeper into the cave, not noticing the tall dark monster with red eyes behind her hunching over to grab her by the shoulders... and kiss her on the cheek.
"I see you are adapting well to your new environment," Hordak observed, "Are the accommodations to your liking?"
Entrapta turned around and angrily put her fists against her waist as her hair pushed her up to her lab partners face.
"You're late!" Entrapta scolded, wagging a finger at him, "Do you have any idea what would have happened if my serum wore off while you were gone?"
"I am well aware of the risks, Princess," growled Hordak, standing his ground to stare Entrapta in the eyes, "I believe I am the one who informed you of them, am I not? I have been-"
"No time for excuses," Entrapta interrupted, grabbing Hordak with her hair, "I need to get your armor off and put you back in bed before you 'wake up'."
"Very well," Hordak said, allowing Entrapta's hair to take piece after piece of metal from his body, "I am curious, Entrapta. How often have you been injecting me with this amnesic?"
"Oh, we've been doing this every night since our first date in Salineas," Entrapta explained, carefully stripping her partner, "Except for the whole nighttime vigilante part, today was a first."
"Every night?" Hordak repeated, "I don't remember any of this."
"Good, that means it's working!" Entrapta said, examining his scorched chest plate as she pulled it off, "Oh my! You got shot?!"
"A careless mistake," Hordak explained, "It won't happen again."
"Well, at least we know my armor works as... well... armor," said Entrapta optimistically, "What did you think of everything else?"
"Your equipment worked amazingly," Hordak complimented, "You truly are a genius, Entrapta."
"Enough of that!" said Entrapta, "Tell me what needs improvements so I can fix it."
"Of course," said Hordak, "The shock cord on the grapple device needs much more tensile strength, at least 200 pounds. That is partially why I took so long. I had to go through a number of miscreants until I found one light enough not to snap the cord in freefall."
"Well, you wanted it to be durable enough to stop a sword," Entrapta criticized, "I can increase the diameter of the cable but that will greatly reduce how much length I can fit inside the device."
"Perhaps we can design variable settings to improve utility," Hordak theorized, "Find a way to Double or Triple the cable used when I want to emphasize strength over range."
"I'll see what I can do," Entrapta said, "I still need to find a way to get all these weapons to the Resistance. But it's good that you're working out all the kinks for me beforehand."
"I quite enjoy testing your equipment out in the field, Entrapta," Hordak admitted, "Don't remember the last time I've felt this... alive. It's too bad I have to forget it all in the morning."
"I know, but it's so great to have you back, even for a little while," Entrapta said as she pulled off the last piece of armor, "Speaking of which, I'm finished. Time to get you in bed."
Hordak wrapped his skeletal arm around Entrapta's shoulders and leaned his weight against her to steady himself as she led him to the bedrolls. Even with assistance, it was easy to see how dependent he had become on his armor. Entrapta was strong enough to carry him by herself, but Hordak stubbornly clung to whatever autonomy he had left. As they approached the spartan sleeping arrangements, Hordak let go of Entrapta and waved her away as he carefully controlled his collapse to the floor. He crawled onto the nearest bedspread and lay on top of the pillow and covers.
"Thank you, Entrapta," Hordak said, grabbing her hand and removing her glove, "For everything you've done. I love you."
"I know," Entrapta said, as a tendril of hair tenderly caressed his head, "You tell me every night."
"Not nearly enough..." Hordak whispered before he kissed the back of her hand before closing his red eyes.
~*~
Horde Unit AK-13145's green eyes opened as he struggled to get up from the ground. He examined the room around him, purple light illuminating the glass walls, thin lines etched in the crystal forming bizzare images and patterns. On the wall behind the piles of wooden crates brought over from Dryl and the Fright Zone, Horde Alpha Kappa saw the lines formed an image of a woman with a tiara holding a sword pointed down.
"So this is the She-Ra's Crystal Castle..." Horde Alpha Kappa observed to himself, "Her very own... fortress... of solitude."
"Ooo," cooed a familiar nasally voice in the distance, "A Fortress of Solitude! I like the sound of that!"
Horde Alpha Kappa stood up, holding onto a crate for support and looked over the mess to see his lab partner crouched underneath a pile of computing equipment. She stood up and turned around and gave a wave as she opened her welding mask, revealing a bright smile.
"Good morning, Hordak!" Entrapta greeted, "Did you sleep okay?"
"I... don't know," the clone replied, "I do not remember having any troubles, but, for some reason, I feel exhausted."
"Oh, let's get you dressed!" Entrapta suggested, her hair quickly crawling her up to an open box and digging through it, "I have a new suit I want you to test out."
"You worry too much about my well-being, Princess," Hordak growled, as she pulled out bits and pieces of metal, "I am the one who is supposed to be taking care of you."
"We take care of each other," Entrapta scolded, bringing the pieces with her, "That's what partners are for."
"Of course," said Hordak as he allowed himself to be 'dressed' by Entrapta's hair, "How are you finding our new... assignment?"
"Oh, this place is amaaazing!" Entrapta shouted excitedly while she worked, "I already have so much data to go over, just from this room alone, and the complex goes down for miles! I could spend the rest of my life studying here and not even scratch the surface of all the secrets this place holds! I love it!"
"I'm happy you find such joy in our work," said Hordak as Entrapta finished assembling his suit, "I suppose that means we should make ourselves... comfortable here for the time being."
"Oh yes," Entrapta agreed, soldering a familiar purple crystal into the heart of the armor, "I don't think I've ever been happier than right now!"
As the crystal began glowing and the armor came to life, Entrapta wrapped her arms around it and gave Hordak a loud smooch on the lips. Hordak stood still as his cheeks began to flush in embarrassment.
"What..." Hordak stuttered, "What was that for?"
"Just something for you to remember later," Entrapta said as she closed her welding mask and returned to her work.