Chapter 45: The Secret Project

"I still say we should've just faked orders that send us down there."

Seacat rolled her eyes. Couldn't Brain Boy shut up for a change? "Too much of a risk - we wouldn't have a clue what awaited us, and that might catch attention. If this is the Horde's top-secret project, then security will be very tight there," she whispered as she, once more, studied the entrance below them.

"That's not exactly reassuring, you know. We are planning to sneak in, after all."

Perhaps she should've taken Entrapta with her. Or rather, should have asked the others to allow Entrapta to come with her. The princess would've been all fired up about sneaking in. Which, to be fair, was why she hadn't been allowed to come - despite her experiences sneaking through air ducts in her own castle. But Brain Boy was a little too cautious. Sometimes, you had to roll the dice and trust your luck. And your wits and claws, if your luck wasn't enough.

"And we will sneak in. We just have to find out their procedures," she told him. Guards always had a routine. Even though they weren't supposed to have one, sooner or later, they developed habits. Good officers were supposed to prevent that - but breaking up shifts and changing orders tended to slow things down. And Seacat was sure that when guarding such an important project, few officers would risk slowing the work down by doing things by the book. Not in the heart of the Fright Zone. Well, Adora would've, of course.

But Seacat's lover wasn't down there. The officer commanding the entrance guards was a snot-faced mothwoman. A good choice for the night shift, of course - she would see well in the dark. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Seacat and Brain Boy, few Horde soldiers could see in the dark, and so the guard post was lit up brightly. Seacat snorted - the mothwoman was probably lucky if she wasn't blinded all the time by all the lights.

"And how long will that take?"

"An hour or two," she told him. "Patience!" she added, baring her fangs at him.

He sighed. "I'm just…"

"You're worried about the others, I know." She suppressed a sigh herself. "But worrying about them won't help them - or us. And they're not trying to sneak into Hordak's laboratory," she reminded him. "They should be worrying about us." She blinked. "I mean, not that there is anything to worry about. We'll be doing this, easily."

Judging by the glance he sent her, perfectly visible since she could see in the dark as well, he wasn't quite convinced. Rats.

Ah, well… "Look, see how the guards never really leave the light? And how they sit down or lean against the wall, instead of waiting in the guardhouse?"

"Yes?"

"That's because they're too lazy to keep going back and forth whenever a supply transport arrives," she explained. "Give them another hour or so, and they won't notice anything but the transport."

"And then we… sneak past them?"

She grinned. "No. We'll sneak in above them."

"...and then I told her: 'I don't think you've fooled your mother.'"

Seacat snorted. "How old were you?"

"Ten."

When Seacat had been ten years old, she'd also been sneaking out of her room at night to fetch food. But not to get the second serving of dessert she hadn't been allowed to have, but to get something to eat for her and Adora when her friend had split her ration with Catra after Shadow Weaver's punishment.

And there went her good mood.

"Sorry."

She gritted her teeth. "Don't say sorry. It's not your fault."

"Well…"

"Do you even know what isn't your fault?"

"Uh." He coughed, then rallied. "I made you sad."

"No. You didn't make me sad. I did that by remembering what Shadow Weaver did."

"But that's not your fault, either!"

She grinned at him. "See? Now you get it!"

He blinked, his mouth half-open, then pouted while she snorted again.

"And now you've restored my good mood at the cost of your… dignity?" she went on.

He sighed. "A small price to pay."

"I was joking," she told him. "Though… was that how it was, growing up with a princess as your best friend?"

"Actually, no," he said. "Glimmer was always the one who, well, got punished for what we did."

"Oh."

"Yes. She said she was taking responsibility since she was the princess. Noblesse oblige."

"Noblesse?"

"It means that as a princess - or anyone of high rank or power - you're supposed to be more responsible and more honourable than others."

She scoffed. "Well, no one taught Shadow Weaver that." Adora hadn't been taught that, either - but she still lived it. Lived it a little too much, at times.

"Well, that's the Horde - they're evil for a reason."

She nodded. "And we're about to put an end to that." She looked down. "About an hour before the shift changes. Let's go!"

"Alright." Brain Boy pulled his bow out.

"Don't miss!" she told him.

He narrowed his eyes and glared at her for a moment, and she grinned. So, he had a spine. She just had to find the right things to poke him about.

He grabbed one of his trick arrows, took a deep breath, and drew the bow. She refrained from telling him again where to aim - he knew it.

A moment later, he released the arrow. Seacat held her breath while it flew across the road, towards the massive building on the other side. It flew true, as the archers would say, and hit the arc above the gate. It stuck there, and the line it had been trailing went taut.

Brain Boy flashed her a smile.

She nodded in return. His trick arrows were very versatile. That arrow could be used to hit enemies with glue, too. "Tie it up here! Let's go!"

He quickly tied the line to the wall behind them, then pulled out two triangles. "Friction brakes," he explained. "Hook them over the line, and you can slow your descent by squeezing the handles here."

Ah. Clever. Sea Hawk would complain about such an invention removing all the pleasure from swashbuckling entrances, but Seacat was glad they wouldn't hit the other building hard. Not that it would hurt her, but the impact might be noticed by the guards below.

She still went first, of course - she was strong enough, and quick enough, to stop Brain Boy, should something go wrong with the gimmick.

But it worked as advertised, allowing her to control her speed as she sailed over the heads of the scum below and touched down on top of the gate's arc, light as a feather. Yes.

Brain Boy followed her, not quite as graceful but easily good enough to avoid being overheard by the Horde scum. And he withdrew the line with another gimmick - some mechanical spinning disc that would be very useful if it were twenty times the size and able to weigh anchors.

Once both were crouched on the ledge here, shielded from view from below, she slowly peered over the edge. The guards were, as expected, acting as if they were already done with their task, barely paying attention to anything but the most obvious tasks. Even the officer looked like she was half-asleep - another sign that Hodak was pushing his soldiers harder than before.

And there was the next transport. Right on time!

"Get ready!" she hissed.

"Ready," he replied.

Seacat wet her lips as the wagon approached the gate below them, and the soldiers started to check the cargo - without the zeal and care they had displayed hours ago. Any moment… Yes! The soldiers withdrew, and the officer gave the signal to open the gate.

As the massive gate started to open, Seacat grabbed the edge and dropped down, swimming around and latching upon the right side of the gate as it slowly slid to the side. She rode it for a moment, approaching the wall, then jumped and gripped a pipe on the wall.

She pulled herself up on top of it in a second, then looked to the other side. Brain Boy was just pulling himself up - with the help of a line.

Cheater, she thought with a grin, then waited until he made eye contact and pointed at a huge air vent in front of them.

Brain Boy nodded at her, and they quickly crawled and climbed to the great vent. It was big enough to almost fit a skiff inside - and she could feel the vibrations from the air being sucked down through it. This wasn't a feeder plant.

"Should we go through the air vents?" Brain Boy asked. "They're big, but…"

"...the air flow's strong there. Better not. We'll travel with them, though," she replied.

Whatever the Horde was doing here, the air vent would lead straight to it, Seacat was sure.

But it led straight down, first. Fortunately, Brain Boy could use his line again, and so Seacat didn't have to cut hand- and footholds into the metal vent as they descended alongside it. They had to squeeze through the narrow free space between the pipe and the shaft it was run through for a dozen yards until they finally reached the lower level - the basement.

And Seacat gaped. The basement was huge. Large enough to fit the biggest ship in the Salinean fleet into it twice - without cutting down the masts. And it was half-full with the Project Omega. Dozens, hundreds of people were all working here. All working on...

"What are they building?" Brain Boy asked. "This can't be a ship, can it?"

Seacat stared. There was a hull, and the size… twice the length of a frigate. But it was wrong - even the Horde frigates had better hulls. This hull wouldn't really cut well through water. And the lower gunports were much too low - they were far too close to the keel… She pulled her telescope out and took a closer look.

Damn.

"It's a ship, yes. But not one meant for water," she muttered.

"What? Where else would you… No!"

She looked up. The ceiling was higher than she had expected as well - and were those hinges? She took a closer look with the telescope. Yes. Massive, huge, giant hinges. And that was a closed gap, not a painted line going from one end of the ceiling to the other. "Look at the ceiling," she whispered.

He did. And cursed. "This… A flying ship?"

"Yes. Look at the gunports - the lower line is set so they can fire down," she pointed out.

"But… how could it fly?" Brain Boy shook his head. "The power needed to lift anything… the magic…"

"Perhaps some variant of the skiff's magic?" Seacat speculated. "Though those can't fly in the sky, and this ship looks like she's meant to fly high above us." And drop bombs on them.

"I've studied that. Earth Magic doesn't work that way," he replied.

She wasn't a scholar, much less a sorceress, but she was willing to take his word for it. But… "Earth Magic doesn't. But what about another kind of magic?"

"The Black Garnet? That's lightning magic, last I knew."

She shrugged. "If it's powerful enough? And lightning comes from the sky."

"Actually, lightning is…" He sighed. "No, it might work. Magic works as often with themes as with technology. And if the Horde manages to tap into Etheria's magic network, they probably have enough power to do anything they want."

She scoffed. "They don't need much more than enough power to let this ship fly. Once they are aloft, they can drop bombs on us wherever they please, and we can't do a thing against them." Neither Glimmer nor Swift Wind would be able to carry enough bombs to scratch that ship - and the horse would be blown out of the sky by those broadsides, anyway, before it reached the ship. Unless the Horde scum was only packing shells and solid shot. But they wouldn't be so stupid.

"We have to stop it. Even if we take Hordak out - with this, the Horde could still win the war. If they can maintain the ship."

"Well, they're building it," Seacat told him. "I think they can keep it flying for some time even if Hordak keeps the details to himself."

"Right. Let's gather as much information we can before we have to leave," he whispered.

"Yes." She took her telescope and studied the hull and guns again.

Fairly standard, once you took the placement into account. Though the gun mountings would have to be modified to be able to shoot down at a steep angle. The hull was, apart from the weird-ish shape, standard. Full steel, not too thick, though. "Weight must be a limitation," she said.

"Yes. And I wonder how they are planning to move it - no sails."

"No mast, anyway," she replied. "Nor any base to mount one in." Well, if a ship could fly, they could simply fly higher to see farther - if they even needed to, in the air. "The bridge would likely be where the lookouts are." Close to the captain - that would make reacting easier. Less chance of information being delayed or lost in the middle of a battle. On the other hand, if you hit the bridge…

Brain Boy interrupted her with a hand on her shoulder. "There! See that round chamber in the part close to the stern?"

She looked over. Yes, there was a gap in the deck, and she saw a round chamber underneath. "Yes."

"That must be where the Black Garnet will be placed. All the power lines lead to this room, and it's empty so far."

"What about the engines?" she asked.

"They're in the middle. See those openings? Air intakes."

"Ah." That made sense. "Are the engines already installed?"

"Yes. The ship seems almost finished."

Seacat cursed. "But if it's so close to being finished… Hordak must be visiting often, then." Shortly before setting out for their shakedown cruise, things were the most hectic - the Captain had bought enough new ships with her assisting him to know this. "I bet he has a special office here!"

"If he does, I'm not seeing it," Brain Boy replied.

"It would have to be high up, so he can look down on everyone and observe the progress with a single glance," she said, looking around, then up. "There. On the other side, at the bow of the ship."

Brain Boy looked up. "An observation bubble."

"Probably armoured," Seacat said. "But I think we've found his office."

"His office when he visits - it doesn't look like anyone's in there right now," Brain Boy said.

"Yes," Seacat agreed. "The soldiers probably would be working harder if Hordak was present." And the guards would be more attentive. Like sailors when the Captain was on deck. "Do you see any entrance to the office?" she asked.

"One of the doors at the bottom should lead to a stair," he replied. "But I don't see any guards in front of any door."

"That could be by design," she said. "Keep the guards hidden so spies don't know which door's the important one." Although the Horde usually wasn't so sneaky. Shadow Weaver, on the other hand…

"Perhaps. He might also have a separate entrance from above," Brain Boy said.

That would fit. But would the Horde be slacking like they did if they couldn't know when Hordak was watching and when he wasn't? Or were they exhausted? She took a closer look at the workers. They seemed to be rather tired. She saw one minotaur almost dropping a plate of steel when his grip slipped, and he took several tries to readjust his hands. And a woman painting part of the hull was doing so while sitting - even though it would take her longer to move that way. "He's running them ragged," she said.

"Well, we already suspected that there was a manpower shortage in the Horde," Brain Boy said. "If they're throwing everything at this - and Project Omega sounds like they are - then it would make sense that the soldiers are overworked. But overworked people make mistakes. They might spend more time fixing problems than they gain by hurrying the work."

"That's the Horde for you. Hurry up and wait." She snorted. "But we can't hope that they make so many mistakes that the ship will fall from the sky."

"Technically, we can hope - but we shouldn't depend on it."

"Smartass," she told him, flashing her fangs at him.

He grinned back at her but quickly grew serious again. "A few bombs would damage the entire ship. Enough to keep anyone from using it after Hordak's out of the picture."

"Or one enhanced bomb," she pointed out. "But they aren't making the bombs here. At least I can't see anyone working on bombs."

"It would be very dangerous to work on bombs so close to the ship, wouldn't it?"

"Yes." Not that that stopped the Horde before. "They might've a separate workshop for the bombs nearby. But I think they don't - that would be guarded."

"We should've taken Entrapta's detector with us," he said.

"Yes. But she might need it looking for other ways to get to Hordak."

"True. We'll have to return here, then."

"Definitely," she agreed. "And we need to find out where the Runestone is."

That was the key to the ship, after all. And to the bot's plan.

"A flying ship?" The Captain looked both horrified and intrigued as he lounged on the crate serving as a chair in the warehouse they had taken over.

"The size of two Horde frigates," Seacat confirmed. Not something he could sail by himself.

"A flying ship… that would dominate Etheria." Mermista shook her head. "We can't let the Horde finish this!"

"We won't," Adora said. "But we can't abandon our primary objective for this. We need to kill Hordak. Once he's dead, the ensuing chaos should allow us to strike at the ship as well."

"If we're lucky, we can strike at Hordak and the… airship… at the same time," Brain Boy said. "He's got an office in the yard. At least, we assume that it's his office since it has the best view of the entire yard and isn't being used as far as we could tell."

"That sounds like a logical deduction," Entrapta said. "Even though it's not logical not to use such a good office when Hordak isn't around."

"That's the Horde for you," Glimmer said. "It's all about Hordak's ego." She shook her head. "But we can't count on getting both the ship and Hordak at the same time. And Hordak takes priority. He's behind all this new technology."

"We assume that," Adora said. "But he certainly is the uncontested leader of the Horde. And he's holed up in his laboratory. Our only way in seems to be using the bots that guard him."

"We've found the maintenance section for the bots!" Entrapta chimed in. "It's all new and shiny!"

"New? The Horde's been using bots for years," Seacat said.

"Yes." Adora nodded to her. "But we've found out that they recently moved the maintenance sections together - including the one in Hordak's laboratory."

"That might be a simple way to make maintenance more efficient. Consolidate and centralise it," Brain Boy said.

"Or it was needed to make room for something else in his laboratory," Adora retorted.

Seacat nodded. That sounded like a valid theory. She certainly didn't think Hordak would move the maintenance of his bodyguard bots outside his laboratory to merely make it more efficient.

"Alright. Let's get Hordak first. Before the ship is ready to fly," Mermista said.

"We need proper reconnaissance of the laboratory," Adora pointed out. "Entrapta, you can place a device into a bot that lets us see their memory?"

"Well, more like copy their data, which we can then display. But it works out the same," Entrpata confirmed.

"We can't wait too long - every day we stay here, we risk being discovered. Or our ruse at the front being exposed," Mermista said. "We need to hurry."

Well, she wasn't wrong. Time would run out sooner rather than later.

"There!"

"Yes." Seacat, crouching behind a cooling unit on the roof of a factory, nodded. "Just as you said." There was the bot maintenance building.

"Right. So, they send the bots that can walk through this door, and they walk out through that door there," Entrapta explained.

"How many soldiers inside?"

"About two dozen at any time," Adora said. "And half a dozen guards."

"Guards?" Why would they have guards inside the building?

"In case the bot in question acts up." Entrapta shrugged. "If you change their control unit or their sensors and make a mistake, they can go, uh…"

"Out of control?" Seacat suggested.

"Kind of," Entrapta nodded. "Although they're still in control, kind of - they just don't listen any more. At least that's what happened to mine."

And wasn't that worrying!

"We've never seen them lose control like that in the field," Glimmer added.

"Well, they usually don't do maintenance in the field, I believe. Or not when fighting, at least." Entrapta's hair spread out. "And it's almost impossible to damage the control unit of a bot just so that it still works but loses its friend/foe programming. Usually, they just stop working if their control unit is damaged." She perked up. "Though if you repair it and forget to disconnect it, they can regain control in a second - isn't that fascinating? It's like returning from death."

"Fascinating, yes," Glimmer mumbled. Seacat saw Brain Boy frown at her.

"Anyway, we'll have to avoid all of them," Adora said. "That will require precise planning and execution. We need to time our distraction perfectly so Entrapta and Bow can sneak inside and manipulate a guard bot's control unit. And we have to make a distraction that won't raise suspicion and cause the Horde to investigate."

"Make a bot go out of control outside?" Seacat suggested.

"That is, as I just explained, quite difficult," Entrapta objected.

"Poison their rations so they get the runs?" Glimmer cocked her head.

"Do we have such poison?" Adora shot back.

"I could make poison, but it would be quite lethal," Entrapta said.

"And that would certainly be investigated," Seacat said. "Not to mention it would be hard to poison any rations - those things are as durable as a brick."

"What's your plan?" Glimmer asked Adora.

"Have Mermista cause a leak in a water pipe. While everyone is trying to find it and plug it, we drop Entrapta and Bow from the ceiling and have them sabotage the guard bot," Adora answered.

"Drop us?" Brain Boy asked.

"Lower you down with a line," Seacat told him. "But what if they notice the changes when they return? We'd have to target a finished bot."

"And those walk out on their own as soon as they are finished," Entrapta added.

"That's why the timing is critical: We need to have the water leak when they are about to close and secure the bot's cover before they reactivate them, so you can open them up again and replace the thingie without anyone noticing," Adora retorted.

"The control unit," Entrapta corrected her.

"Yes." Adora nodded with a slight frown. "That's also why we need Mermista - she can control the water, so it is seen by the Horde at the exact moment we want."

"That sounds a little like Operation Locker Room," Seacat said.

Adora blushed as everyone else looked at them.

"Operation Locker room?" Glimmer asked.

"Adora's plan to get back at a rival squad who had taken our locker room," Seacat told them.

"We were ten, and it's really not important right now," Adora said.

"But it relied on precise timing as well. And failed," Seacat reminded her.

"Right. But this is different. We couldn't control when the shower would go off." Adora shook her head. "Totally different."

"Should we really plan this on the roof of a Horde factory?" Brain Boy asked.

"It's one of the safest spots." Seacat shrugged. "The noise from the machines means no one will hear us, and the steam from the pipes hides us from casual view from the air. And if anyone comes looking, we're just taking a break."

"Anyway, the timing shouldn't be an issue as long as we can maintain contact with each other," Adora said. "Which shouldn't be a problem since Mermistra can use her powers from the rafters as well."

"And you'll lower us down?" Brain Boy seemed a little concerned with that. As if Adora would drop him.

"Yes." Adora nodded. "Well, you'll descend by yourself. But I'll pull you up again."

"If I could build a stronger auto-retriever, I could ascend by myself," the boy said.

"Oh, yes!" Entrapta perked up. "We could build a remote-controlled harness, too!"

"We don't have the time," Glimmer cut in. "We need to do this now. Well, soon."

Great. But Glimmer wasn't wrong - and Adora could lift Entrapta and Brain Boy at the same time without breaking sweat. They didn't need all the gimmicks the two wanted to build. "Let's hit them an hour after midnight," Seacat said. Shift change would be too late - it would early morning by then. And for this, she preferred the cover of darkness.

"Let's get Mermista." And the Captain, of course - he wouldn't leave her side.

"I can do that, yes - the pipes aren't the newest, nor are they built well," Mermista said a few hours later. "They're already leaking in places."

"Perfect," Adora said. "Then we can move into position."

They climbed down to the ground, dashed across the road when no one was looking and were soon climbing the mix of pipes and nooks and crannies forming the back wall of the maintenance building. It was easy for Seacat, of course. Adora didn't have any trouble either - they used to race each other years ago in the Fright Zone - and Mermista and Seahawk were used to climbing the rigging of a ship. Entrapta's hair had her up the wall faster than a monkey would have managed, but Brain Boy had to lend Glimmer a helping hand. Probably too used to teleport.

In any case, they all made it up on the roof without the Horde sounding the alarm. And Brain Boy managed to open a skylight without breaking it - or alerting anyone.

"Can you control the water from here?" Adora asked in a whisper.

"Yes," Mermista replied. "It would be better if I could see the pipes, though."

"No problem." Adora dropped down on the rafters, then waved at the princess.

Seacat saw Mermista wince for a moment before setting her jaw and following Adora. Sea Hawk was right behind her, of course, then the rest of the group climbed through the open window as well.

Seacat brought up the rear - after a quick sweep to ensure there was no one watching - and pulled the skylight close.

"Alright. We're in position. We'll prepare the harnesses and the ropes, then we're ready. After we move directly above the end of the maintenance line." Adora was, once again, talking too much, but it couldn't hurt - the noise from below was too loud to let anyone overhear them; it was so loud, Seacat's ears were actually hurting a little.

They made their way through the rafters, glancing down. "Are those Hordak's guard bots?" Adora whispered.

"Different markings," Brain replied.

"Yes. Those are regular bots but of a later series," Entrapta added. "But those there, at the entrance, are the guard bots we're looking for - see the numbers on the armour plating?"

Seacat did, even without her telescope, but the numbers didn't tell her anything.

"Those indicate the series and model number, and they are quite distinct. The big "I", for example, indicates the first special mark. And the number afterwards means..."

Adora cleared her throat. "Yes, yes. But important is: Once that bot is ready to be closed up, we'll need the water to make a big splash… I mean draw attention."

Seacat grinned while Adora blushed. Then she helped Brain Boy and Entrapta to put on their harnesses and checked the lines. Twice. A fall from this height would be worse than dropping from the mainmast of a Courier even if the floor weren't covered with metal tools, spare parts and bots.

"Everything's ready," she reported.

"More or less," Brain Boy added. "Don't let us fall!"

"I could build a device to soften our impact - if I had a bit more time. And a workshop," Entrapta said.

"I won't let you fall," Adora told them, smiling earnestly at them.

"Good." Entrapta seemed reassured. Brain Boy… well, he didn't complain.

Then they had to wait while the workers below went over every bot. Seacat sighed and hoped she didn't fall asleep with boredom.

"...Oh. That's a new tool. It allows them to access and alter the memory at once. Oh! I need that! It would make upgrading bots so much faster."

At least Entrapta wasn't bored. The princess was studying the workers below and taking notes on her device. Not that Seacat understood anything of it.

Brain Boy would, but he was talking in whispers to Glimmer, and Seacat tied not to overhear what they were talking about.

Same for Mermista and Sea Hawk - Seacat knew all too well what they were talking about; a ship's cabins had thin walls, after all.

She glanced at Adora, who was trying to keep an eye on the entire hall at once. Just as Seacat had known she would. Smiling, she moved at Adora's side, sitting down on the beam so their legs touched.

Adora gave her a glance, which Seacat met with a wider smile, then went back to keeping an eye on the Horde.

But she wasn't as tense as she had been any more.

Then the guard bot they had spotted moved to the line, and everyone got ready.

Seacat watched as the Horde soldiers - Horde workers - below opened the armoured hull of the bot, then used a crane to lift it up. "Not exactly friendly for repairs in the field," she commented in a low voice.

"I know, yes!" Entrapta replied. "I've got plans for a field repair bot for that! Based on the standard bot chassis, they could travel everywhere bots could, keeping up and providing repairs. Well, assistance for repairing the bots - I haven't yet found a way to make bots that can actually repair bots."

And wasn't that a scary thought? "Don't let the Horde hear about your plans," she said.

Entrapta blinked. "Well, I wasn't planning to, but they would probably notice once we deploy them… Oh. Is this about our lack of bots in the Alliance?"

"Yes." The Horde would copy such an idea and benefit far more from it than the Alliance, where only Entrapta used bots - and a handful at most of them.

"Oh."

"Cheer up," Seacat mumbled as the Horde scum below started plugging some tools into the exposed innards of the bot. "Once we have the Horde beaten, you can build whatever bot you want."

"Yay! And I'll have so many resources!"

Seacat blinked, then shook her head. She had to focus on the task at hand. This was essential for taking out Hordak.

Below them, the workers finished doing whatever they did to the bot and moved it further ahead in the line, to the crane where they'd lower the armour plate over the bot's body. Almost. The crane was moving now, the Horde soldier controlling it doing some adjusting… and the plate slid in place.

"Mermista, now!" Adora hissed.

"Alright."

For a second, nothing seemed to happen. Then a siren sounded - and the workers below jerked or froze. And a stream of water appeared in the back of the hall, quickly forming a growing pool on the ground.

Someone - probably a non-commissioned officer - screaming their lungs off got the workers moving, some scrambling to grab tools, others rushing towards the water.

"Direct some to the furnace there," Adora ordered. "We need the cover of the steam."

"Good thinking!" Sea Hawk said. Mermista grunted - but steam started filling the hall, causing more confusion.

"Bow, Entrapta - go!" Adora barked. "I've got you!"

At least Brain Boy looked a little sceptical, but both nodded and dropped their lines, then started descending. Seacat clenched her teeth. She'd prefer Brain Boy in the rafters, covering them with his bow, but he was the second-best tech expert they had. And they needed all of them for this.

Entrapta was the first to reach the abandoned bot, and her hair quickly reached for the crane control levers. Shortly afterwards, the armour plate was rising again. Without hesitation, Brain Boy stuck his head and shoulders through the gap, followed by Entrapta.

Seacat held her breath, splitting her attention between the Horde scum frantically trying to stem the tide, or as much as she could see of their efforts through the steam cloud, and her two friends working below her. And tried not to think of the fact they were working underneath an armour plate heavy enough to crush either, should the crane fail.

Damn. It just took one Horde scum going back for some tools to wreck this. Who had approved of this plan, anyway? This had been a stupid idea.

But none came through the steam cloud. And no alert sounded. Other than the one still going on about the water.

Yet Entrapta and Brain Boy were still working. What was taking them so long? The longer they took, the higher the chance that someone would sound an alert if only to kick the mess up the chain of command so they wouldn't be blamed for this.

And Mermista couldn't keep it up forever, either, or it would become apparent that this was not a normal accident. Once the Horde managed to shut down the water lines, this would be over one way or the other.

Still no Horde soldier walking through the steam cloud - well, the steam was hot, which would keep them wary. But it wasn't hot enough to actually boil anyone.

What was taking the two so long? Couldn't they…?

As if they had read her mind, they finally pulled back out. Entrapta's visor was covered in oil, Seacat noted - and waved.

Adora immediately started pulling them up. Seacat moved to help them. Almost...

"They've shut down the water," Mermista snapped.

Time was running out. Seacat gritted her teeth and heaved harder than if she were setting sails to escape a coming storm. Grip, pull, grip, pull, grip…

Entapta's hair reached the beam first, and Adora almost lost her balance when the princess suddenly swung up by herself. Brain Boy was close behind her - he had climbed a fair part of the line himself.

Still no alert. Now all that was left was pulling up the remaining lines, getting out on the roof - and finding a way off the roof while everyone was busy repairing the pipes.

Easy.

They made it back to the warehouse shortly before the sunrise - after all the additional Horde soldiers ordered to assist the maintenance building had finally finished getting into each other's way and were sent back to their posts. Or barracks.

"Next time we need a distraction, we need to find something that won't attract half the Horde," Mermista muttered.

"Unless, of course, we want to attract half of the Horde!" the Captain said. "We now know how important coolant lines are for the Fright Zone, too - they should be a primary target for sabotage from now on! And, my dear Mermista, you're perfect for exploiting this glaring weakness!"

That cheered her up. It cheered up Seacat as well. All in all, this mission had gone decently well - they had planted their device in the guard bot and got away clean. And apparently did a lot of damage to the Horde war machine.

Seacat grinned and stretched her arms over her head as she entered the warehouse. "I'm going to sleep past noon," she announced, "All this waiting tired…" She trailed off and blinked. This scent… this trace of… she knew it! This was… She hissed, her claws unsheathing, as a tall figure stepped out of the shadows near the stairs in the warehouse.

"Shadow Weaver."