Chapter 44: The Fright Zone

"There they are!" Adora's excited whisper carried through the small cave in which the group was hiding.

Seacat got up from the blanket on which she had been napping and joined her lover at the cave exit. If this was a trap… Brain Boy had told them that there were no tracks or any other signs that anyone else had been using the cave, but it was too conveniently placed for her taste. Sure, it wasn't too close to the Whispering Woods, and it was facing the wrong way to watch the front, and there was no reason that the Horde would be using a cave with a base relatively close by, but…

She peered through her telescope. Yes, there was a Horde convoy coming their way. One skiff, as escort, and two heavy wagons pulled by lizards. Three soldiers in the skiff, two each on the wagons. Seven. Same number as their group. "Almost too perfect," she whispered.

"We were bound to have a bit of good luck," Adora replied, whispering as well, "after all the bad luck we got. And I can't see any ambushing force."

"Let's check for a catapult in range, anyway. And for bombs in the wagons," Seacat said. She turned her head. "Entrapta?"

"Yes?"

"Can you scan for bombs?"

"Sure!" The princess almost bounded out of the cave before she managed to stop and crouch down next to them, brandishing her device. "Let's see…" She pushed a few buttons and twisted a knob. "Nope! No enhanced engine bombs in the area - which is bigger than the range of the catapults. Unless the Horde has learned how to shield the bombs from my instruments or how to build rockets, we should be safe!"

Seacat hoped that the Horde wouldn't figure out either before it was too late for them. Even so, they would be as safe as they could be attacking a Horde convoy. Granted, even if all seven soldiers coming their way were Headhunters, Seacat wouldn't give them many chances to hurt her friends. Hell, even if they were traitor princesses, Seacat would bet on Adora.

But those were regular Horde scum. The ones on the skiff were in decent shape, but the ones with the wagons… Glimmer would be able to fit twice into the uniform of the apparent leader.

"Let's get into position," Adora whispered. "Everyone! Move!"

Brain Boy had already packed up what gear they had laid out, and Lonnie and the others were rolling up their remaining blankets. They waited until the convoy vanished behind a rock before dashing out of the cave, into the light woods below. To the ambush location they had determined.

Adora dashed across the road - if you could call a dirt strip that - and into the dense bushes there. Seacat followed her. As did Glimmer and Brain Boy. And not too soon - Seacat could already hear the engine noise of the skiff. And the chatter from the Horde scum.

They had to get the skiff. Without wasting Glimmer's magic on teleporting on it - they would need every little bit of that in the Fright Zone. Which meant… she grinned as she looked up. Yes, that would do nicely.

The skiff turned the corner, entering the passage leading through the forest, the wagons close behind it. Perhaps too close. Not that it mattered - the wagons wouldn't escape either way.

"Ready?" Adora whispered.

"Yes," Glimmer replied.

"I'm going high," Seacat said.

"High? What…? Oh."

Then the skiff was almost upon them, and Seacat jumped up and at the tree trunk. Her claws dug into the bark, and she launched herself further up, onto the thick branch overhead. The Horde scum had noticed and looked up, one of them shouting in alarm, but she was too fast for them. She jumped onto the steering sail, then vaulted over it and dropped down next to the skiff's pilot. He tried to draw a shock rod, but she grabbed his helmet and buried her knee in his stomach.

She heard him vomit into his helmet - that wouldn't be the one she would be wearing afterwards - and hit his unarmoured neck with a chop.

A glance over her shoulder showed that the others were already on the skiff's deck. Adora simply grabbed the two remaining Horde soldiers and smashed their heads together.

"Huzzah! Onward!"

And Sea Hawk was at the wagons, followed by Mermista and Lonnie's crew. The fat leader tried to run, but a net-arrow from Brain Boy stopped him. The rest quickly surrendered.

Perfect.

"Now strip!" Adora ordered.

"What?" one of the scum who was still conscious asked.

"I said strip! Get naked!"

"No!"

"What? Not that! We need your clothes!"

Seacat couldn't help it - she snickered. Adora pouted at her, of course, but it really was funny.

And it might be the last time she got to laugh on this mission.

"This uniform stinks!" Glimmer complained as soon as they made camp for the evening.

Well, doh - that was on the scum who had worn it. Couldn't do anything about it except for washing it, and they had done that. It wasn't Seacat's fault that Glimmer hadn't washed her new uniform enough.

"This uniform chafes." Mermista, who had washed her uniform enough, commented.

"Yeah, they all do," Adora said. "Except for the officer's uniform. We used to use some powder to prevent that, but..." She grimaced. "I kind of forgot about that? It's been a long time since I wore the standard uniform."

Seacat added: "I never wore it - I was a cadet before I, well…" She shrugged.

Mermista huffed.

"This uniform doesn't fit my manly physique!" Sea Hawk pouted. "How can I look dashing and heroic wearing this?"

Seacat rolled her eyes. That comment didn't deserve a response.

"We can adjust them! I can craft some tools to cut and sew!" Entrapta gave one anyway.

"Great!" Brain Boy smiled as well. "Can you adjust mine as well?"

Seacat frowned and narrowed her eyes. The boy's uniform fit almost perfectly. So why would he...? Oh. "You're not going to walk around with your midriff bare," she snapped. "That would attract attention we can't afford!" Both kinds.

"But it feels so wrong!"

She scoffed. "Tough shit. Deal with it."

"This is great! I've got so many ideas about modifying the fabric and the armour!" Entrapta had hers almost dismantled.

Oh, for…! "You can't modify it like that," Seacat told her. "Any uniform that's not standard will stick out."

"Well, in the Fright Zone, at least," Adora added. "At the front, it's a little different."

"We should attack Hordak at the front, then!"

"He almost never visits the front, and we wouldn't be able to predict where he would visit," Seacat pointed out.

"Oh, right." Entrapta nodded. "I guess I'll have to stick to modifying the weapons."

"As long as they look like ordinary Horde weapons."

"That will make it more difficult to improve them." Entrapta pouted as she wrinkled her nose.

"And easier to hide." Seacat looked at Adora and grimaced.

Her lover smiled back at her. Typical.

"Alright." Seacat leaned against the skiff and briefly wished that she'd gone back with Lonnie's squad and the prisoners. "We know from the prisoners that the Horde has been withdrawing troops from this front. And we have 'our' orders. We'll deliver the goods, then vanish - we'll have to meddle with the records, but that shouldn't be a problem."

"We can fake the perfect orders for us!" Adora nodded.

"As long as they aren't perfect," Seacat told her with a grin. "Paperwork usually has mistakes in it. Except for Adora's, of course."

She was rewarded with a cute pout from her lover. Good.

"So, act like the usual rear-echelon scum: Be happy that you're back in the safe Fright Zone and boast about your duty at the front," Seacat went on.

"I've never heard them boast," Adora said.

"You never mingled with them off-duty," Seacat told her. And that was why Adora had rarely if ever eaten anything but rations except for when Catra split her haul with her.

Adora huffed and mumbled something about slackers.

"Anyway - keep your head down and be ready to cite orders - our fake orders - whenever someone asks what you are doing. We'll have the orders ready in the files. That will be our priority." Seacat nodded.

"And the Horde's paperwork will be their undoing!" Sea Hawk raised his fist. "What fitting fate for our foes!"

Seacat hoped the Captain wasn't already composing a shanty. "Also, don't mess with the Headhunters. Even if they push or order you around. Rear-echelon supply troops don't stand up to them. And if they suddenly disappear, the Horde will investigate, so don't think of killing them in secret."

"We can handle some bullying," Glimmer said. "Unless they go too far."

"Yes." Adora nodded. "Though that shouldn't be a problem - in the Fright Zone, regulations are enforced much more than at the front."

Which would restrain the scum. Hordak was an evil leader, but he enforced discipline. And Shadow Weaver would consider rule-breaking as a challenge of her authority. Either way, the Headhunters should mostly behave.

And if they didn't… Well, a disappearance would cause problems, but an accident? People got hurt or killed in accidents every day in the Fright Zone. The plants weren't too safe, and the scum working there or driving the big wagons often didn't pay as much attention to bystanders as they should.

Something the group was counting on, of course.

"Welcome to the Fright Zone," Seacat muttered as they approached the last checkpoint - or the first, depending on how you counted. "Home sweet home." She wrinkled her nose - the stench was growing worse and worse. All those plants burning… stuff. And bodies."

Mermista, sitting next to her, snorted. "I can't imagine living here. So far from the sea."

"It's not as if anyone is living here out of their free will," Seacat said. "Well, except for Hordak, I guess." At least he could've moved to a better place.

"He won't be living here much longer," Mermista replied. "Or living, period."

Seacat made a noncommittal sound. She wasn't quite as optimistic as the others - this was the Fright Zone. The heartlands of the Horde. So to speak. Hordak ran a tight ship here - and Shadow Weaver had her eyes everywhere; she had caught Catra so often…

"Halt!" A lizardman manning the checkpoint raised his hand. The two men at the cannon next to him straightened, but they didn't aim the gun.

"Supply convoy from the Northwest," Seacat told him as she brought the skiff to a stop near the lizardman. "Adriana there is in command." She pointed at Adora, who was sitting on the first wagon.

"Right. Wait here." The officer walked towards Adora. No parade ground step, and he was slouching slightly.

"It seems standards slipped since I left," she whispered.

"Really?" Mermista looked around. "Could just be this checkpoint."

"It's the gate to the heartlands," Seacat corrected her friend. "Most visitors will pass through here, so this is the first impression they get." And 'slacker' wasn't the impression she thought Hordak would want them to have.

"If this is the checkpoint, where's the rest of the traffic? Bright Moon has more traffic than this," Mermista commented in a low voice.

That was a good question. "We'll have to find out," Seacat replied.

The lizardman walked back, giving the lone mothman at the barrier a lazy wave. "Let them through." He didn't even look at them before he sat down behind a desk in a small shelter.

They slowly drove past the checkpoint, and past three soldiers lying in the grass. There was another shelter which would be the quarters of the troops stationed here, but it didn't look like it was bursting at the seams. Not much laundry drying in the air, either. Of course, any laundry drying here would stink like the Fright Zone. On the other hand, the Horde scum here must be used to it.

"I think they're understaffed," she said once they were past the checkpoint. "But I'll have to ask Adora if she had the same impression." Things could've changed since she was a cadet, after all.

Mermista didn't answer for a moment - she was studying the first plant that came into view. "No wall. I imagined there would be a giant wall here."

"It wouldn't stop a princess - or not many princesses - and would cost a lot to build and maintain," Seacat said. "And unlike skiffs and bots, you can't move a wall to attack someone or guard another spot."

"And until recently, the Horde was always attacking instead of defending." Mermista nodded. "Then we turned the tables, and the Horde had to scramble to adjust.

"Yes." Seacat grinned. And wasn't that a pity for Hordak?

She slowed the skiff down and guided it to the side, letting Adora catch up. "Where to, commander?" she called out.

"Uh…" Her lover looked around. "It's been a while since I was here. I think we should go… that way!" She pointed ahead.

Seacat hoped that Adora was merely acting. Fortunately, the road did lead to the supply depot, where they could unload their cargo. Unfortunately, they had to unload the cargo all by themselves - it didn't seem that the warehouse nearby had much staff.

After putting down a particularly heavy crate, she wiped her forehead with her sleeve and muttered a curse; even pirate ports were better organised than this. The Horde must be really hurting for soldiers right now.

On the other hand, it meant that it should be easier to sneak into the administration centre and manipulate orders. But first, they had to finish unloading. And hope that Glimmer or Mermista didn't complain too loudly - and that Entrapta didn't dismantle the door controls she had been eyeing for a minute now. Or forgot that she couldn't use her hair here.

Seacat sighed and went over to her friend. She had better keep an eye on the princess so their mission wouldn't be over before it had really started.

"That's the administrative centre," Adora announced in a whisper, pointing at the big, ugly building ahead of them.

It looked as if it had been a plant before - Seacat could see lots of pipes and vents covering its walls and probably roof. "I remember it differently," she said.

"That was the training administration. This is supply," Adora explained.

"Oh."

"It looks nice!" Entrapta said. "Do they use the pipes to send messages to other buildings? You could use pressurized air to propel small containers with paper and crystals!"

"Uh… I don't know?" Adora shrugged. "I wasn't often in there, and I never worked for the centre. I mostly dropped off paperwork."

"That's not very helpful. We need to know where the files are," Mermista commented.

"I know that! The files archive, I mean," Adora retorted. "I, uh…." She blushed a little. "I looked up Ca-Seacat's file."

"I was a cadet," Seacat pointed out.

"But you were in the field when you, ah, went missing, so your records were filed with those of the other soldiers," her lover replied. "Anyway, I know where the files are stored. Both, uh, active and passive."

"Oh! They keep an archive?" Entrapta beamed at them. "That is a treasure trove of data! Imagine what we could learn about the Horde if we have access to their entire data!"

"We're here to destroy them, not study them," Mermista said.

"But the more we study them, the better we can plan! Think of the data - we could probably find guard schedules, too!" Entrapta's helmet was twitching - her hair was probably moving again. Seacat didn't want to know how the princess had managed to stuff her hair inside her helmet, even though she was wearing an oversized piece meant for a lizardman.

"But the longer we stay inside the centre, the higher the chances that we'll get detected," Adora cut in. "We need to get in, file out orders, and get out. That is, only a few of us need to get in." She eyed the pipes. "And we can get in through the vents."

"So, you and me?" Seacat asked. They were the ones raised in the Horde, after all. And Seacat was the best climber and the most limber - she could fit through any vent.

"Yes." Adora smiled. "We'll best go in through the roof."

Seacat nodded and looked at the building again. Yes, that would be easy to climb. She sighed - climbing Horde buildings. Just like before…

"Don't you want to wait until it's night?" Glimmer asked.

"They're actually more active at night," Adora explained. "Most officers file their reports in the evening, and Hordak expects the results in the morning."

"Oh. So, they have to work all night?"

"Yeah," Seacat agreed. "That's the Horde for you." They didn't care about the soldiers as long as the orders were obeyed and the objectives achieved. "Let's go."

"Yes."

Seacat led the way - to the adjacent building. That was a warehouse, which made it far easier to climb without people watching. She quickly scaled the side, then looked down. Adora was slightly struggling - she didn't have claws, nor Seacat's balance - but smiling when their eyes met.

"Come on, slow-poke," Seacat whispered, offering Adora a hand when she reached the top. "We don't have all day."

Adora snorted. "Right behind you."

Right. A large pipe connected the two buildings - some shared cooling system, maybe? The metal felt cold under Seacat's feet - and it was wide enough to shield them from view from anyone on the ground.

Seacat dashed across it, then hid behind a water tank on the roof of the administrative centre. Adora followed a little more slowly. Not quite as agile as Seacat was, nor as at home in such heights, Seacat noted. Which was as it should be, of course

They moved to the biggest air vent, and Seacat's ears twitched as she listened.

"You think there's something inside the vents?" Adora asked.

"You never know when they send someone into the ducts to fix a leak," Seacat replied. "But I don't hear anyone. Or anything." Other than the usual sounds of the Fright Zone, of course. "Let's go in!"

She grabbed the edge of the vent, pulled herself up in a smooth motion, and started to slowly slide down the vent.

"Don't wreck it with your claws!" Adora cautioned her - as if Seacat still were seven years old! Catra hadn't made such a mistake since that day, anyway.

Scoffing softly, she dropped onto the bottom part of the duct, then cocked her head. Still nothing moving through the ducts - other than air. "Where are the files?" she asked as soon as Adora joined her.

"Uh…" Adora looked back and forth between the two vents.

"North is this way," Seacat told her.

"Thanks! This way, then!"

Seacat took the lead again. They crawled through a narrower pipe - still large enough so neither of them would get stuck - and finally reached a large room filled with shelves. Seacat peered through the narrow grating closing off the vent and saw several Horde soldiers moving around.

Damn.

Then she felt Adora trying to crawl past her - then over her. Seacat hissed in displeasure.

"Sorry," Adora whispered but kept crawling forward, ending up lying on top of Seacat, her chest pressing into Seacat's back, and rested her chin on Seacat's shoulder. "Yes, that's our objective!" she whispered into Seacat's ear.

"I've guessed so as well," Seacat replied in a whisper, then suppressed a snicker at Adora's silent huff. "Now, let's see how we can sneak into the room."

"We'll just act as if we belong here," Adora said. "As long as we can get down on the floor without being seen, we're OK."

"What?" Seacat hissed.

"They only check at the door, not inside the building."

That was… well, good for the Alliance, but… Such a lax regime went against everything a good sailor did. No wonder the Horde fleet was, except for a few good crews, so bad.

"Don't growl."

"I'm not growling!"

"Yes, you are." Adora rubbed the top of Seacat's head.

She huffed. "So, let's get down here and fix our orders and records. Be quiet so I can listen!"

She felt Adora tense up - even holding her breath. As usual, she was overdoing it. But Seacat couldn't hear anyone else. "It's clear, let's go," she whispered.

"Need to deal with the grating here," Adora replied. Seacat could hear her fumbling around.

"Let me do it," she hissed - she knew how to handle the vents. Her claws were perfect for it. A few scratches and they could push the grating out, then slip out as well. And poised on Adora's shoulder, she could easily push the grating back into its proper place. "Done!"

"Good." Adora took a deep breath and straightened. Seacat could almost feel the change as Adora gripped her papers more tightly and started walking towards the middle section of the room they had entered. "Come on, we don't have all day!"

"Yes, ma'am." Seacat rolled her eyes. Just as the hapless soldier under the command of a tight-ass officer would have - behind their back, of course. Adora was a little too good at playing the Horde officer.

But it worked - the paper-pusher they encountered on the way gave them a wide berth without looking at them. Just another pair of soldiers handling paperwork.

Adora led them to a huge shelf crammed full of sheets and folders. "Now, where are those records?" she mumbled, loud enough for the soldier not quite working at the desk nearby to suddenly feel the urge to make herself scarce before Adora found a task for her.

As soon as the layabout was gone, they started sifting through the supply troop orders. Fortunately, they knew when they had been expected, so it only took them ten minutes to find the files. And five minutes to replace the 'send back for more supplies' order with 'assigned to reactivated warehouse in preparation of new supplies'.

"Don't be too perfect," Seacat told Adora at the end. "You've seen how many mistakes were in the original."

"Yes." Adora sounded annoyed, though, and she hesitated before adding a spelling mistake.

Seacat shook her head. "Let's go."

"Alright. We can…"

Seacat turned. When Adora trailed off like that, it was usually a bad thing. And it was. Her lover was looking at another stuffed shelf.

"That's new."

"Judging by the amount of paperwork the Horde generates, it's no surprise that they expand their archives," Seacat retorted.

"We're not in the archives; this is the active data centre," Adora replied. "And that's… that's a huge shelf. They lost territory, and we know they've got problems replacing losses, so what is behind this new mountain of data?"

Adora had obviously been hanging out with Entrapta. Perhaps a little too much. But she was right. "Let's check it out, then," Seacat said, walking towards it.

"Wait!" Adora hissed.

But Seacat didn't stop. They were already long enough in here - they needed to get done and get gone. She reached the suspicious shelf and pulled a sheet out of a stack at random.

"What are you doing?" Adora hissed. "We need to put it back as it was!"

"Why?" Seacat whispered back. "The more confusion, the better!"

"Uh… Right!" Adora looked around, then grabbed two stacks and started redistributing them.

Seacat snorted and read her sheet. And then drew a hissing breath. "It's a new project," she whispered. "A huge construction project, or so it seems. Project Omega."

And didn't that sound ominous?

"What? I've never heard of that."

"You've been out of the Horde for a long time," Seacat told her, sifting through more forms. "Nothing about what the project is about," she muttered.

"There was an entire power plant built for it." Adora held up a stack of reports.

"And look at those supply reports," Seacat held up hers. "They must have half an army assigned to the project."

"We didn't see any new construction on that scale", Adora said. She frowned, then quickly sifted through several transport reports. "So much earth being moved… They're underground."

"What?" Why would anyone build anything underground? Why would the Horde? This had started before Glimmer's bombing attack, anyway. This… Seacat pressed her lips together. Barges on transport reports. "The Horde must be building something huge there."

"And we need to find out what it is," Adora said.

Seacat agreed - whatever project the Horde was using so much manpower on would be important. Especially when they were hurting for soldiers and supplies. But on the other hand… "We're here to kill Hordak," she whispered.

"He might be involved in the project," Adora retorted.

Seacat clenched her teeth. "We can't discuss this here," she shot back, looking around. "Let's go back to the others."

"But…" Adora looked at the shelf. "There must be more information there!"

"We can return later," Seacat told her. "Let's go back."

"But…"

"Or the others will start to worry about us." And who knew what Glimmer would do if she thought they had been captured. Or Sea Hawk and Mermista.

Adora sighed. "Alright."

They returned to the corner with the vent leading into the air ducts.

"We could just walk out," Adora said. "They don't check people who walk out."

"Safer this way," Seacat said. "Lift me up."

Adora glanced around, then held out her hand. Seacat climbed up and put a foot on it, then let her lover lift her up. Adora was so strong when she was She-Ra - she didn't show any strain at all lifting her up one-handed.

Seacat shook her head. She could dwell on that later. She had a vent to open.

Which didn't take much time. Seacat climbed into the vent, then was about to turn around with some contortions to help Adora up - but her lover had already jumped up and was pulling herself up.

Seacat still had to squeeze past her to put the grate back on the vent, though.

"They have a new, secret project?" Entrapta sounded as if they had told her that they had found a First One library or something. She was also not very quiet. They were in the warehouse, in makeshift quarters, but still… you never knew.

"Yes. And a huge number of workers - soldiers - are assigned to it. It generates more paperwork than the rest of this area together," Adora explained.

"That's very suspicious," Glimmer said. "Could that be where the Horde is making their enhanced engine bombs?"

"Well…" Entrapta chewed her lower lip. "That would mean they're making many more than I thought."

"We'll have to find out what they are doing," Adora said. "If this is where they build their bombs, then we have to take it out as well."

"Yes," Mermista agreed. "Otherwise, the Horde will still continue to fight - whoever controls so many bombs will be in charge."

"And too dangerous," Glimmer added.

"That will complicate our mission," Brain Boy pointed out.

"Unless we use this to kill Hordak," Seacat said. She ignored Adora's triumphant expression; this wasn't the time to be petty. "I doubt he'd survive one of those bombs going off."

"I doubt we would survive it, either," Mermista said. "Especially if a bunch of them go off at once."

"Oh, that shouldn't happen," Entrapta said. "Unless the bombs are kept so close that the initial impulse sets off the crystals in the others. Then there would be a chain reaction." She blinked. "I would need to study the bombs to determine the safe distance at which the bombs would be destroyed without being set off."

Seacat had a sudden vision of a massive crater where the Fright Zone used to be.

"And what if that destroyed the Runestone?" Adora asked.

"Oh." Entrapta blinked again, then cocked her head to the side. "I don't know, actually. Runestones are supposed to be very hard to destroy, but the shards we've found prove it's possible to destroy them, but those probably weren't tied to Etheria like the five linked Runestones. On the other hand, the Black garnet isn't attuned to the network, so it might be easier to destroy - although an enhanced engine bomb might be enough to destroy it anyway."

"And what would happen to Etheria if that happened?" Brain Boy asked.

"I don't know." Entrapta sounded far too cheerful about it. "We'll have to find out!"

"Without blowing up the Runestone," Adora said.

"Right." Entrapta nodded. "Though that will be harder."

"But also safer," Seacat said.

"We don't know that, actually," Mermista pointed out. "If this secret project is so important, the Horde will guard it with everything they have. Did you find the records for the guards assigned to it?"

Adora shook her head. "No. We didn't stay long enough to search the records."

"Probably wise," Glimmer said. "You might've been detected otherwise. But we need to know what they are doing there - and how to stop it." She stood from where she had been sitting on one of the beds they had requisitioned. "We need to observe it and find a way inside!" She put her hands on her hips and raised her chin. "This is crucial for the Alliance!"

"We need to find out first where it is," Brain Boy said, and she deflated a little.

"And we need to find out how to get into Hordak's laboratory and quarters," Seacat reminded them.

"And Shadow Weaver's," Adora added.

"I know how to get into her quarters," Seacat said.

"She will have changed her security after my defection. Certainly after you escaped her," Adora retorted.

Her lover had a point, Seacat had to admit. She nodded. "So… who scouts which area?"

"We shouldn't split up too much," Adora said. "If one of us gets caught and we aren't close to save them…"

"Yes!" Sea Hawk stood up as well. "We need to fight side by side. A last stand is only advisable when we have accomplished our mission, to cover our retreat - not when we are still working on reaching our target." He shook his head. "That would be a sad shanty indeed."

Seacat narrowed her eyes at him, as did Mermista. She wouldn't let the captain sacrifice himself for them.

Then she glanced at Adora, who nodded a little too readily. And neither would she let her lover sacrifice herself.

"I think we've found the project," Brain Boy whispered.

"We've found a possible entrance," Seacat corrected him. "And you don't have to whisper," she added. "We're on the roof of a factory; no one can hear us over the noise from the machines." If not for her ears, she'd have trouble hearing the boy herself.

"Sorry."

She made a noncommittal noise. The boy was just too… nice, probably. Always apologising, even though he was rarely at fault. Well, perhaps that's what you were like, growing up with a princess. Would Seacat have turned out like him if she had grown up with an Adora who had been raised as a princess from birth? Something to ponder another time, she reminded herself. They were on a mission.

"Although the number of supplies carried down that entrance seems pretty indicative that the secret project is there. Beneath us."

"Yes." That was a lot of supplies. "The river must be crammed full of barges." They needed to take control of the river running through the fright zone as well. But they couldn't do it with the threat of bombs.

"That should open it for sabotage," Brain Boy said. "Sink a few of them at narrow spots of the river…"

Seacat grinned. "I like that idea." A few saboteurs wouldn't risk getting a bomb thrown at them - and wouldn't be as easy to spot as a frigate or gunboat. "But we need to confirm that this is the project, first. And not a - what did Entrapta call it? A feeder?"

"A feeder plant, yes," he said, nodding. "Though those would be part of the project as well. And I think the material transported through the entrance here is too varied for a feeder plant."

Well, he was the 'Techmaster'. Seacat shrugged. "Whatever it is, we need to get in there." If only to find out if Hordak visited the place regularly. Hordak's laboratory was a little too well-protected - at least that had been their first impression upon scouting its perimeter. "But not today. Let's go back to the others."

Perhaps Adora and the others had found a weakness that let them get into Hordak's laboratory or his personal quarters while they were taking a second look today.

Seacat could hope, at least.

"Whoever placed the guards and set their rotation knew what they were doing," Adora told them. "Entrapta, Glimmer and I did a full tour around the entire area - it's locked down tightly."

"Yes! And not just with soldiers, but also with bots!" Entrapta chimed in. "Double-double patrols - two bots and two soldiers. Though I think that the bots are ordered around by the soldiers, so that's one weakness, unless they have backup orders or there were significant improvements to their control systems. Still, we can handle bots since we look like Horde soldiers, and if there are crystals that are attuned to the bots to indicate who is allowed in, we can take those from guards and fool the bots. Probably. Unless they improved the pattern recognition matrix and made all bots remember all guards. Which is possible, but they would be quite hard to maintain. One mistake and - boom! You lose one of your guards!"

"Great," Glimmer commented. "We'd have to worry about being shot at by bots who don't recognise us."

"A novel experience, I'll say," Sea Hawk added with a grin.

Mermista growled and glared at him.

"Well, we don't know if the bots are so… advanced?" Adora looked at Entrapta.

"No, we don't. Unless we observe some of the bots attacking Horde soldiers. Or…" She beamed at them. "We take a bot and examine its controls!"

"I think the Horde would notice a missing bot," Seacat pointed out.

"Not if we pick one that's being sent away for maintenance or repairs!" Entrapta countered.

Seacat blinked. "Oh. I think we just found a weakness. A possible weakness. If the bots on guard aren't maintained inside the guarded area…"

"...then we can sabotage them outside the area!" Adora and Seacat exchanged a smile.

"At the very least, the bots going after the soldiers would be a distraction. But if they patrol inside the area, close to where Hordak is working, then we could use one as a bomb carrier," Brain Boy said.

Seacat nodded with a wide smile. That would mean none of them would have to risk fighting Hordak in his laboratory. "We'd need an enhanced engine bomb, though," she cautioned.

"I could, if I had the materials, make a bomb," Entrapta offered.

"I'm sure the materials are heavily guarded," Adora said. "After we cut off their fuel crystal supplies."

"Oh. Then I can't make a bomb." Entrapta hung her head, and her hair drooped for a moment.

"Well, they might have assigned the materials to the secret project," Brain Boy suggested.

"Or they'll have their bombs there - then we just needed to grab one," Mermista said.

"That wouldn't work," Entrapta told her. "The standard Horde bomb is too big to fit into, or be carried by, a Horde bot. I would have to build an adapted bomb variant to fit into a bot as it is - and I would have to take out most of the gun. The space is just too limited. The bots are a pretty mature design - not much wasted space, if any at all. Impressive, for the short time - relatively - that they've been around. Although now that I've met Light Hope, I think bots have been around far longer than we thought. Hordak could've been using First One technology for his bots."

That was a likely explanation, in Seacat's admittedly inexperienced opinion - it wasn't as if Catra had ever cared much about where the Horde technology came from.

"So… next task: We need to find out where the bots are maintained. And we need to find out where the materials for an enhanced engine bomb are stored," Adora said.

"Or where they are used," Glimmer added. "Also, if we don't find a weakness, I can teleport us inside." She flexed her arm. "I've got enough magic to get us in and around."

"Let's save that as an alternative," Adora said.

Seacat nodded. Glimmer was their best shot at escaping, after all. "And we have to find out what this secret project is about."

She had a feeling this was more important than finding out how to get into Hordak's laboratory.