AN: First off, thanks so much to everyone who checked out Six Gifts and gave it some love. You guys rule!
Alright, here we go. This chapter sets up some important plot points going forward, including several things that are quite different from the canon timeline. Most of these are small, almost-missable details, so put your thinking caps on. Enjoy!
Also, writing group dialogue is terrible and I'm so sorry.
Scorpia was rightfully angry. Prom had been going great. Perfuma was charming and Scorpia was doing her best to flirt with little success, which Perfuma fortunately found cute. Everyone else was having a good time too.
Entrapta collected valuable data. Frosta agreed to join the Alliance. Catra pseudo-stalked her ex-best friend, which was weird, but would have been weirder if said-ex-friend wasn't stalking Catra first. Everything was going fantastic, so well that Scorpia was considering leaning in for a kiss when Perfuma glanced over Scorpia's shoulder and screamed.
Things went very downhill from there, and between the ransom call and the murder, Scorpia knew storming the Fright Zone was the only thing she could. Her mother wanted to use diplomacy, but the Horde had come to neutral ground, attacked the Rebellion's strongest fighter, and kidnapped one of its senior members. There was no way Scorpia and the Princess Alliance was letting that go without retaliation.
That's how they ended up in the Fright Zone, standing at the front door with no way inside. They should have predicted that, to be honest. Scorpia may be a commander, but she was a terrible strategist, and Mermista's vague plan of 'let's go save the geek' had fallen apart the moment they faced the security system.
"Alright, who can hack it?" Mermista asked. Everyone looked to someone else.
"Would it be swayed by the allure of a shanty?" Sea Hawk asked optimistically.
"What do you think?"
"No one has a better idea."
"He has a point, Mermista," Perfuma said.
"He really doesn't." Mermista crossed her arms.
"Ok, so no one can hack this, and we can't get through without opening the door." Scorpia interceded. "What can we do instead?"
"I could knock the door down." Frosta formed an ice fist over her hand and grinned excitedly.
"We're trying for stealth here, Frosta." Mermista rebuked.
"It would be so much easier to just punch our way in." Frosta argued back.
"Let's call that plan B." Scorpia tried again.
"Mermista can infiltrate the building through the sewers and open the door from the other side." Perfuma offered.
"Yes! I like it." Scorpia agreed. "That's brilliant." Perfuma blushed.
"Yeah, hard no." Mermista rolled her eyes. "The sewers? Really? That's our best idea?"
"Given that we have no others, yes." Scorpia reminded her.
"I don't believe this." Mermista growled.
"My dear, nothing could lessen your loveliness. A trip through the sewer would lower you none in my eyes." Sea Hawk tried again.
"Sea Hawk, that is not what I am worried about."
"Just go through the sewers, Mermista. Don't be chicken." Frosta accused.
"You did not just insult me, you toddler!"
"Toddler?"
Scorpia bit her lip as the argument escalated. The mission could be going a lot better. Still, it was only their first. Surely the Alliance would learn to cooperate with time. She could only hope, anyway.
"Frosta, punch the door." Scorpia sighed as Mermista and Frosta continued to yell back and forth.
"Yes!" immediately abandoning her argument with Mermista, Frosta laughed wildly and swung her ice-fist into the door, knocking it off its hinges.
In seconds, the whole hallway was filled with the sounds of alarms.
"Great." Mermista deadpanned.
"Come on!" Perfuma wrapped a vine around Mermista's waist and pulled her along as the group dashed inside.
They dashed down the hall and were quickly spotted by several Horde members in casual clothing. Scorpia didn't think she had ever seen the soldiers without their recognizable armor. It was oddly humanizing.
The soldiers didn't have the same thought.
"Princesses!" one yelled. Another pulled a switch on the wall and the lights started blinking red. The sound of banging boots came from behind the Alliance and steadily grew closer.
"Sorry!" Scorpia blasted the off-duty soldiers with her lightning, throwing them to the ground, and lead the group deeper into the Fright Zone, hopefully away from the incoming battalion. Eventually, they reached an area where the lights were no longer flashing, though the sirens still sounded, and they slowed.
"Ok, according to our spy reports, the prison wing should be 'in the heart of the Fright Zone.' Does anyone know where that is?" Scorpia asked.
"We have a spy?" Perfuma questioned.
"Officially, no." Scorpia said simply.
"Oh."
"I assume the heart would be the middle. So if we pick a direction and stick with it, we should reach it eventually." Sea Hawk deducted. Everyone stared. "What? I am more than a pretty face."
"Sounds reasonable." Scorpia agreed. "We've been heading this way so far, so let's just keep going. How far do we have to go?" she wondered as the Alliance rounded a corner.
"I'd say you've gone far enough." The girl with the sadist smirk answered. Everyone stopped as the pink-haired girl drew a circle in the air, which materialized into a rune. Scorpia had visited Mystacor enough to know what magic looked like, and that particular spell hummed with malevolent energy. "Then again, I'm surprised you Rebels made it this far at all."
"You're the knee-girl!" Frosta shrieked, and sure enough, Scorpia recognized her as the girl with the short dress from the previous day's dance.
"Come here to scold my decorum?" Knee-Girl chuckled.
"We're here for Entrapta! Where is she?" Perfuma demanded. Scorpia winced. Well, there goes the element of surprise.
"What, you mean the prisoner? She's in a cell, of course. Right where you're all heading." Knee-Girl threw her spell and the Alliance scattered, trying to dodge. She quickly drew another one, but Mermista burst a pipe over her head and distracted her. Scorpia started to attack with her powers but stopped short after realizing that shocking the girl while she was covered in water was a terrible idea. Instead, Scorpia used her natural strength, slamming into Knee-Girl and knocking her to the ground.
Knee-Girl summoned a staff from thin air and swung, but Scorpia grabbed it in a pincer and tossed it across the hall. Knee-Girl looked utterly stunned and Scorpia wasted no time stinging her. With one more threat out of the way, the Alliance took only a moment to recover before continuing down the hall.
"Quick thinking with your stinger." Perfuma complemented with a bright smile. It was Scorpia's turn to blush.
"Thanks. I just didn't want to hurt her. She's on the wrong side but doesn't know it." she admitted.
"You have the biggest heart, Scorpia."
"Hey, flirt when we're not in deadly situations." Mermista interjected, getting between the pair.
"It works for us." Sea Hawk offered.
"No it doesn't."
"We're flirting right now. I'd say it works."
"This is what you think flirting is?"
"Guys come on. Ew." Frosta grumbled.
"Can we refocus on the mission?" Perfuma intervened. "We need to find Entrapta."
"Find me? I found you!" the entire Princess Alliance skidded to a stop as Entrapta dropped from a vent over their head and landed in front of them. "Hello friends! I've been trying to catch you for some time now. You're very fast!" a bot dropped behind her, but she didn't notice.
"Entrapta, look out!" Perfuma called, preparing an attack on the bot. "Bot!"
"Oh, this is Emily. She helped me escape." Entrapta held up her arms, blocking any attacks. Scorpia lowered her arms from their defensive stance in confusion.
"This bot helped you escape?" Scorpia asked. She motioned for the rest of the Alliance to back down a little while Entrapta explained.
"I was in the little room they gave me-"
"A cell." Mermista deadpanned. "Because you've been kidnapped."
"-And I was doing a little tinkering with their waste disposal system since it's so inefficient." Entrapta continued.
"Yeah, the sewers run in overhead pipes all over the place; it's weird."
"Mermista." Scorpia reprimanded gently.
"I was working on getting into the mainframe, but my trackerpad was confiscated, so I could only access tech within a ten-foot radius. I managed to get to the door controls and Emily, who was standing watch outside my room, and reprogram them."
"So you escaped without us?" Frosta pouted. "I was so ready to smash the wall down to get to your cell."
"You smashed down three doors on the way here, pipsqueak. I think you've successfully smashed enough of this place. It's falling apart anyway, doesn't really need our help." Mermista shrugged.
"I'm glad you were able to find independence, Entrapta." Perfuma offered positively. Scorpia smiled. Perfuma always looked on the bright side. "However, we can't take a dangerous piece of Horde technology back to Animalia."
"Why not?" Entrapta frowned. "I've taken tech from lots of dangerous places, and that has a fifty-fifty shot of turning out alright."
"Flower Princess is right, I am not riding home on a skiff with that thing." Mermista asserted.
"If Catra were here, she'd agree with me that assets are assets, regardless of origin." Entrapta argued. The mood of the Alliance suddenly plummeted. Entrapta didn't notice.
"You can take the bot home, Entrapta, but we have to move." Scorpia said, trying to divert the conversation.
"Okay! We need to head to the secondary skiff bay. It's an easy exit and is likely unguarded." Entrapta told them, setting off in a different direction with the bot on her heels. "Let's go! I have so many code modifiers I want to try out!"
"Glad someone knows where we're going." Mermista sighed as everyone dashed after Entrapta.
After some time running, Entrapta seemed to remember that the Super Pal Trio lacked a member. "Where is Catra, anyway? I was excited to see if her Sword was capable of interfacing with Emily." she returned to the original subject, much to Scorpia's chagrin.
"She's….. um…." Perfuma struggled to reframe the situation.
"She's back at Animalia." Scorpia offered, saving the other Princess. "At the Prom, after you were captured, there was an incident, and now she can't lead the attack."
"What happened?" the Alliance suddenly skidded to a stop as Frosta, at the head of the group, slammed on breaks and threw out her arms.
"She did." Mermista pointed ahead of them and sure enough, there was Adora, guarding their exit. Her attention was on the wall-pad next to her, luckily not noticing the band of Princesses. Perfuma pulled everyone into a small alcove to hide as the officer looked up, hearing them.
"What do we do? We've wandered so far from the plan. I'm not sure what to do anymore?" Scorpia whispered.
"Scorpia, you're the leader." Mermista snarked quietly.
"Who agreed to that? That's a terrible idea."
"You're the commander of the Rebellion."
"That position is honorary! This is my first assignment that's not a diplomacy mission."
"Will you two stop? You're crimping my harmony." Perfuma hissed, taking a deep breath.
"Who's there?" Adora called. Scorpia quickly filed away that she had good hearing. Or maybe they were just very loud. "You are disobeying the direct orders of a Force Captain by not revealing yourselves!" she yelled again after a moment of silence.
"Well, we're dead."
"Mermista!"
Radio static crackled, and a muffled voice spoke up. "Force Captain Adora. Report."
"This is she. I'm hearing strange noises coming from the front door." Adora spoke, likely into the radio. "I'm investigating now." Footsteps headed towards the Alliance's hiding spot.
"It's probably just a mouse." Someone new came over the intercom. "We need you in Sector Q right now. There's been a breach in cybersecurity." The footsteps stopped.
"Bow, isn't that your job?" Adora sighed.
"I need all hands on deck here, Adora! Fighter-Bot E-13-9 is offline and not responding to operator commands! The Princesses have hijacked a bot!" the person over the comms, Bow, screeched.
"I'm at my post right now."
"Leave it, I'm having a crisis and Glimmer isn't responding!"
"Glimmer's not responding?" Adora sounded confused.
"No, and I can't leave this emergency to look for her, and I'm freaking out a little bit-"
"Ok, ok, calm down." Adora interrupted Bow as his voice got higher and cracked more frequently. "I'll go look for Glimmer. Just let me find someone to cover my post."
"Adora…." Bow whined. "There's no way the Princesses are going to sneak out in the five seconds the door is unattended."
"Fine!" she ended the conversation with a growl. "This is Force Captain Adora. I require a battalion to converge on the secondary entryway and monitor potential threats leaving the Fright Zone."
"On our way, Force Captain." Someone answered. Footsteps moved away from the door and gradually faded into the steady hum of machinery. Scorpia let out a breath. The door was clear.
Entrapta leaped from the hiding spot, followed by the bot, and made a beeline for the exit. It became clear why when she immediately began to fumble with the keypad on the door. Once it opened, after only ten seconds of hacking, the group dashed through the door. Scorpia picked Entrapta up by the shoulders and carried her out of the Fright Zone.
….
It was dark but warm. She was naked, but not in a revealing way. It felt oddly natural, even though she had bent to the societal pressure of wearing clothes a long time ago. Here in this place, where she couldn't even see her hands in front of her face, she knew she was safe. No one would berate her here.
She was walking, the ground beneath her feet grassy and free from obstacles. Though she could not see and didn't know where she was going, she stepped forward with confidence and didn't fear falling. This wasn't a place made to hold people back.
Eventually, she saw a light in the distance. As she approached it, she saw a large digital clock with a large cat sitting atop it. The enormous animal roared, shaking the ground, and the clock changed from 9 to 8.
"ynam evah uoy tub, eno desu evah uoY" The cat's words were inscrutable but seemed important. She wished she could understand. "erom on evah uoy nehw emoc lliw emit a rof, esiw eB"
The cat and the clock faded, but the bright white 8 remained for a moment, seared into her eyes. It meant something.
AN: There is, once again, a spy in Bright Moon. I'm sure that won't be important later on. Yes, that detail should be completely ignored. Also, no one gets left behind! Surprise! So why is this chapter called "One Lost" you ask? That's a secret for now, but it'll be clear soon if it isn't already. You're a clever bunch, I have no doubt some of you have already figured it out.Let me know what you thought of this chapter, if you have any theories, or if you just wanna leave some love down in the comments. Thanks so much for your continued support and I'll see y'all soon!