CHAPTER 8: PURPOSE
Red eyes on She-Ra, Catra knew, was a very bad thing. "A-Adora?"
"Get behind me, I said!" Adora grabbed Catra's arm and yanked her backward. "Now!"
Catra felt like her arm was being ripped from its socket as she was literally pulled off her feet. She struck the wall behind Adora hard, knocking the wind out of her. She fell to the floor, gasping.
Bow had seen this and, in shock, placed his hand over his mouth. "Adora? What the hell?"
"I won't tell you again!" Adora said, emphasizing each word. She stepped into the dark room, the pinkish light from her aura pushing back against the pervasive darkness of the chamber.
Bow glanced at Catra, in the corridor, getting unsteadily onto all fours. He then took Glimmer's hand and helped her to her feet. "C'mon, we'd better do what she says." He turned to Hordak and Entrapta. "Guys, get behind She-Ra!"
Adora started advancing toward the portal, the others filing past her.
"Wow, she's gone all pink," Entrapta observed. She pointed her sensing wand at her.
"Yes," Hordak said, tugging her along, "and that is concerning."
Catra came up behind Adora and placed a hand on her arm. Adora seemed to be crackling with some kind of energy that made the hairs on Catra's arm and back stand on end. "Adora? Is everything okay?"
"Yes, fine," Adora said, flatly. She swung her sword at the opening portal, and a wave of energy flew toward it. The portal, and the sword that was cutting it open, vanished. She lowered her sword. "You should escape now, before he re-opens the portal."
"Wait-wait a second!" Glimmer said. "No! No, we're not leaving you to fight that…thing."
"Not that we've got anywhere to escape to, anyway," Bow said.
"I thought we were going to capture him," Catra said. "We're with you, Adora. When he gets here we'll-"
Suddenly there was a bright light at the far end of the chamber. They all turned to see Adam standing there, sword in hand. He approached them at a march, head tilted forward, red eyes fixed unblinkingly at them.
"Catra, please stop asking for things," Bow said.
Adam charged at them. Adora immediately launched herself toward Adam, bringing her sword up to counter his coming strike.
Adam didn't strike with his sword. He dropped and slid on the ground, kicking upward as he did so. Adora was caught momentarily off guard, which was enough for Adam's boot to make solid contact with her crotch. She flipped forward, briefly out of control, but then rolled into a crouching position.
Adam had barely lost a beat. He was back on his feet, charging at her friends. As if instinct had taken over her body, Adora was already flying in his direction, her feet not even touching the floor. She swiped the air with her sword several times and sent energy waves toward Adam.
The waves struck him and staggered him, but then kept flying past him toward the team. "Incoming!" Bow shouted as they all dodged out of range.
"Adora, watch it!" Glimmer shouted.
"Check your targets!" Catra said.
Adora didn't answer. She kept charging toward Adam, firing off more energy waves as he spun around, swiping his sword and countering with his own blasts.
In repeatedly dodging Adora's friendly fire the group had split, with Glimmer, Catra, and Hordak having clustered together in one group. "This isn't right," Catra said. "That thing's happening to her again."
"How the hell are we supposed to help fight him if Adora won't fucking let us help?" Glimmer said.
Catra glanced at Hordak. "Don't suppose you have another one of those laser things in that suit I can use, do you?"
Hordak didn't reply, but raised his right arm. A triangular barrel sprung out of the lump that would have been his forearm muscle bundle, if his anatomy had included one. He aimed toward Adam and Adora. "I cannot fire at this range without risking hitting the wrong target."
"Without hitting Adora," Glimmer corrected.
Hordak made no acknowledgment that he'd heard her, but instead started circling the sword-locked warriors, stepping gingerly toward them.
Glimmer and Catra glanced at each other, and the. Followed Hordak around, Glimmer with her staff raised and Catra with her claws extended, both ready to either defend the former tyrant or to strike if an opening presented itself.
On the other side of the room Bow had taken stance in front of Entrapta, an arrow nocked and ready to loose at the rogue She-are as soon as he could see an opening.
"A clash of She-Ras," Entrapta said, her voice betraying a sense of awe. She raised her sensor at them. "They're releasing incredible amounts of energy just by fighting! Imagine how much of Etheria we could power if we could harness it all!"
"Not a good thing to be thinking about right now!" Bow said. "Not sure I like the idea of our friend being a living battery either!"
"Well we'd ask her permission of course," Entrapta said. "It's the only ethical thing to do. And the other She-Ra's too."
Bow bit his lip, trying to resist the urge to respond to Entrapta's apparent non-sequitur. He reminded himself she didn't operate on the same level as almost everyone else, and instead tried to tune her out so he could concentrate on the deadly battle happening just meters away.
"Oooo," Entrapta said. "There's something familiar about that."
Bow, having resigned himself to guarding Entrapta for the moment, didn't respond.
"I'm picking up readings that look like that disc I was working with! The one that made Adora all weird!"
That got Bow's attention. He lowered his bow and turned to her. "What? Where! We can't let them get near it!"
"Actually, it's already near them," Entrapta said, pointing her sensor wand directly at the two She-Ras. "Hang on, let me get a lock on it."
Bow went back to facing the powerful fighters, resuming his defense of Entrapta.
"Weird, almost like an echo…no, that can't be…okay, it's on the other one's head!"
"What?"
"The big one! The 'Adam' one!"
Bow had difficulty seeing them, they were moving so quickly, but he was certain he could not see a large red three-point crystal on Adam's head. "On his head? Are you sure?"
"Wow! It's tiny! Must be much more advanced than the one I was experimenting with! It's stuck to his head right behind his…left ear."
So there was a tiny one of those crazy-She-Ra discs on Adam's head. And he was acting differently than before, but not like he was berserk. Not like Adora was when she was infected. But maybe they could fix this the way they fixed Adora…
He tapped his communicator. "Guys! This is a long shot, but I think we can help Adora take Adam down. We need to hit him hard, just behind his left ear."
"His what?" He heard Catra's voice echo in the room a split second before he heard it in the earpiece.
"Just trust me!"
A pause, then, "Very well." That was Hordak's voice. Bow saw him on the other side of the room, taking a step closer to the melee, and he then blocked the shot Bow had been trying to line up.
Bow cursed under his breath, and then ducked and rolled to avoid an energy beam flying at him. "Entrapta, get to cover!"
"In a minute, I'm getting some great readings here!"
With a growl of frustration, he stowed his bow, rushed to Entrapta, and scooped her up into his arms.
"Hey!"
"Argue later, hide now!" Bow carried her into the hallway and dumped her on the other side of the wall. "Sorry!"
"Bow!" He dropped to the floor at the sound of Glimmer's shout, just as another energy blast seared the air where his chest had been
Adora seemed not to notice anything happening around them. She was solely focused on Adam, trying to land a blow on him. Trying to knock him off his feet. Trying to hit him with an energy blast. Anything.
Adam was just too damned fast.
Go with the flow, she thought. She had no idea why she thought that, though. The words had just popped into her head. They were in her voice, yet-
Stop trying to control. Use your instincts.
That made her pause for the briefest of instants, and in that instant Adam's sword swung down, with Adora too slow to parry it. The tip sliced open her cheek. There was searing pain and she staggered backward.
"Adora!" Glimmer shouted
Adam leaped after her, sword high over his head and ready to cleave her in twain. She quickly firmed up her stance and brought her sword up, blocking Adam's mighty chop but feeling the sheer power of it reverberate through her entire body. Cracks appeared in the floor around her feet and they actually sank into the hard material. Unnoticed by Adora, but seen by the others, the ballroom floor beneath them began to flicker around Adora and Adam.
She felt the muscles in her incised cheek twitch, and she knew the wound was healing itself. It was a blow that could have easily cut half of her head off, though, and she knew she needed to be faster. She doubted her healing ability would be able to fix a cleaved head.
Instinct!
Her own voice in her head startled her, just as Adam swung his sword downward, forcing Adora's blade out of the way. Instead of trying another killing blow, though, Adam stepped forward in two quick shuffles, forcing Adora to back away so she could have room to bring up her sword. She stumbled slightly as she remembered her feet had been slightly embedded into the floor, and it put her off balance. Adam then reached up and grabbed her throat, squeezing hard and lifting her off the ground.
"You are not worthy of the mantle of 'She-Ra', experiment," Adam said, his voice flat and with no apparent emotion behind it. He stared into her eyes. "Time to end this experiment."
The sudden pause in their lightning-quick melee gave Hordak the opening he'd been waiting for. He fired his arm cannon, the blast striking Adam in the side of his head, behind the left ear. Exactly as Entrapta said.
Adam turned to face Hordak and for an instant it seemed he would attack the clone, but then electricity began to crackle around his head in all directions, the bolts originating from a spot near where Hordak's shot had hit him. Adam released Adora, stumbling away from her and clutching at his head with his free hand while his other went slack and allowed his sword's tip to strike the floor. Where the blade touched the floor, sparks crackled and the floor seemed to flicker in and out of view.
Adora fell to her knees, gasping for breath for a moment. She looked up to see Adam still reeling. Now! Strike him down! Without even realizing she was doing it, she let out a cry of fury, sprung back to her feet and swung her sword up in an arc, trying to take advantage of Adam's distraction.
Adam's sword came up just in time to knock her upward blow askew. She stepped closer and tried to strike him again, but his sword caught hers and their combined strength locked them into a brief standstill. She glanced from his sword to his face and saw what looked like red veins crawling across his face and down his arm.
"No, no no no!" Bow said, having seen this too. "Adora, get away from him before you're infected!"
Adora didn't seem to hear, or wasn't paying attention. She turned her sword to try to break the lock, bringing the tip of her sword across his face. Their swords locked again in an "X" between them, but this time before Adora could react Adam headbutted her. She stumbled backward and as she did so her sword slipped, cutting across Adam's face.
Adam laughed, his voice reverberating and distorted. He stuck out a tongue and captured the stream of blood before the wound closed. He started chuckling, the sound taking on a twisted echo. He raised his sword and brought it down on Adora in a sloppy chopping strike, which she easily dodged. Adam, undeterred, continued to press the assault, swiping his sword in any and every direction at speeds too fast for anyone who wasn't a She-Ra to be able to see.
"He's got that crazy murder thing going on!" Catra said. She shuddered as she remembered the last time she'd seen anything like this. Adora, infected by that strange First Ones' disc, pursuing her and laughing with a murderous glee. It was the one and only time she'd ever actually been afraid of Adora.
"Wow!" Entrapta had leaned back into the ballroom, her sensor pointing straight at the two She-Ras. "This is incredible! So much data!"
"Stay back, Entrapta!" Hordak shouted, circling back around and standing between her and the dueling She-Ras.
Glimmer, Bow, and Catra took up points surrounding them, but none knew what to do. Bow and Glimmer stood ready to fire, but held back as they could not be assured of hitting Adam and not Adora. Catra was restless, digging her toe claws into the ground, but as fast as they were moving she knew she'd be more of a liability than an asset to Adora if she joined the fray.
Adora continued locking blades with Adam. Glimmer expected to see the red tendrils extend from Adam's blade to Adora's...but they didn't. The pinkish glow that surrounded Adora also surrounded her blade, and it almost seemed to push those reddish veins back down the hilt of the sword.
Adam released his sword's hilt with one hand and delivered a sharp body blow to Adora's midsection. Caught off-guard, Adora was thrown backward toward Bow. Bow dodged and rolled out of her way and then, finally open, he fired an arrow at Adam. It burst on impact, wrapping a net around the infected She-Ra, but Adam didn't seem deterred as he resumed swinging his sword, his arms easily tearing the net away with each strike.
Glimmer screamed, ran behind Adam, and fired a barrage of magic blasts at him. Adam briefly stopped his assault when one blast struck him directly in the back of his head. He turned toward her, pointed his sword, and an energy bolt formed at its tip.
Glimmer instinctively teleported, but was reminded of its uselessness when she was returned to the same spot. Just as Adam released the energy bolt, the floor shook beneath them, causing his shot to go wide and just miss Glimmer's head.
"Glimmer!" Catra said, leaping over Adam and tackling Glimmer, a second too late. "Are you okay?"
"I - was," Glimmer said, bringing a hand to the shoulder that had just struck the floor. "He missed."
"Look out!" Bow shouted. Glimmer and Catra turned to see Adam leaping toward them, his sword pointed straight at Catra's head.
Catra shoved Glimmer hard, and then tried to leap away herself, but Adam's sword caught her in her side, piercing her deeply, and then driving into the floor. Catra screamed in pain as the momentum of her dodge caused her to pull against the pinned sword, tearing the hole larger. Blood began to ooze around where the sword entered her. Adam simply grinned down at her, his face that of a crazed beast, with even a line of drool running down his chin to further complete the image.
"Catra!" It was Adora's voice. The word was intense and piercing, and it caused everything around them to tremble. Adam turned to her, yanking his sword out of the floor and out of Catra. Catra cried out again, though more weakly this time, as her blood was flung away from her. Now in shock, she collapsed fully to the floor, a puddle of red expanding on the floor beneath her.
Adora stood, her aura tripling in intensity, and her eyes glowing brightly red. Instinct… she thought, and then she cried out as she leapt toward Adam, her sword aimed squarely at his face.
Adam ran toward her, ducking just as Adora's sword pierced the air where his head had been. He brought a fist up and again punched hard into Adora's solar plexus.
Adora gasped, but then screamed out in rage as she pulled her sword back, twisting her wrist to angle the blade toward the back of Adam's neck.
Adam dropped and pushed forward, catching Adora's abdomen and ramming her hard into the corridor wall outside the room.
Entrapta, still watching from the doorway, shrieked and scrambled away from them.
While this was happening, Bow and Glimmer rushed to Catra. "Oh my god," Glimmer said when she saw just how much blood had spilled from Catra onto the floor. She felt a moment's indecision, but then remembered the healing spell her father had taught her. She traced a complex glyph in the air and then pushed it toward Catra.
Catra shrieked out in pain as it touched her, but then she quickly settled. The blood puddle stopped growing, much to Glimmer's relief.
Bow knelt down and reached for Catra, but Glimmer caught his hand. "No - I don't...I don't know how well that spell works. Not on a wound like this. If we move her it might open back up."
"I can help with that!" They turned to see Entrapta running toward them. Behind her, Adora and the infected Adam were still grappling in the corridor, seemingly locked in another stalemate.
Entrapta pulled a cylinder from one of her spacesuit's pouches and squeezed it over Catra's stomach. It sprayed some kind of white material into the entry wound in Catra's abdomen. Catra's eyes were rolling around in her head, but she weakly squirmed and hissed as Entrapta used her hair arms to roll Catra slightly to the side. "Just sit tight," Bow said as Entrapta sprayed more of the material on the exit wound. "That's gonna...gonna help it. Right, Entrapta?"
"Right!" Entrapta said. "I mean...it probably will. I think this might be the stuff for fixing hull breaches on the ship. I mighta grabbed that by mistake."
"What?!" Bow and Glimmer both cried at the same time.
Entrapta tilted her head and examined the canister. "Oh wait, no, it's not," she said. "This is the right stuff. Almost done."
"Entrapta," Catra said breathlessly, her words slurring. "When this is done with I am gonna kill you!"
"Oh, no you're not," Entrapta said, almost laughing. "You're too nice now." Then the floor shook, this time violently, causing Entrapta to spray the bandage all around Catra's wound and onto the floor. She turned to Adam and Adora, who were now trading blows in the illusive corridor, and said, "Will you two cut it out? I'm doing first aid here!"
That caught Adora's attention. She turned from Adam to see them all, huddled around Catra.
Adam, roaring out like a beast, took that opportunity to grab Adora's head and smash it into the wall. She dropped her sword, which clattered to the floor. Adam laughed in triumph, the feral sound echoing through the ballroom. Glimmer left Catra's side and charged him, firing another barrage of magic at him. Adam spun around and swung a fist at her just as she reached point blank range.
If the wall to his side hadn't exploded just then, he would have connected. Both were thrown away by a shockwave as red lightning burst into the room. The facade of the Bright Moon ballroom around them flickered yet again, and then finally disappeared.
They were all in the massive antechamber, where they had unknowingly entered this labyrinth. This time, though, with the lights on they could see just how large the chamber was. There were crystal pillars surrounding a platform in the middle of the room, and at the far end from them was a giant set of doors. Closer to them, there was a large hole blasted through the wall.
"Guys! I knew I'd find you!" Scorpia emerged from the hole, kicking away shards of crystal. She glanced around. "Oh wow." Her eyes fell on Catra. "Catra!" She rushed over to Catra, absently knocking Entrapta aside. "Wildcat!" She knelt down and tried to pull Catra up into her lap.
Catra cried out in pain, and Scorpia immediately pulled her arms away. She then noticed the blood on the floor. "Oh my god," she said. "Oh my god. What - happened?"
Bow, who had rushed to the semiconscious Glimmer's side, pointed and shouted, "Him!"
Scorpia turned to see Adam pushing himself off the floor, his grunts sounding as if filtered through some strange sound machine. "Oh no you don't!"
She started to stand and point her pincer at him, but Adam was quicker. In the blink of an eye he was on his feet, his sword pointed at Scorpia, and a ball of white energy collecting at the tip.
"Oh-" Scorpia had enough time to say before Adam's energy blast shot across the antechamber and struck her hard in the chest. The blow lifted her off her feet and sent her flying into the wall behind her. When she struck it she left a large depression and sent crystal shards flying. Entrapta quickly covered herself and Catra with her hair, many of the shards embedding themselves among the purple strands.
Adam grinned and charged his sword for another blast. Hordak, who had been observing and waiting for an opportunity, now saw that his beloved was directly in the line of Adam's fire. He grabbed and twisted a control under his spacesuit, broke into a sprint, and then leaped onto Adam's back. The beeping of his exosuit's power cell was muffled as Hordak pressed his chest tightly to Adam's massively muscular back.
Adam roared, trying to reach behind him and grab Hordak. Hordak did his best to avoid Adam's grip as he held on as tightly as his mechanically-assisted muscles would allow.
Entrapta uncovered herself and Catra, just in time to see Hordak clinging tightly to Adam. She stared in confusion, but as the beeping from his suit grew louder and more frequent she gasped. She shot to her feet. "Hordak! No no no no!"
I'm sorry, Entrapta, Hordak thought. "Die, you scum!" he growled into Adam's ear. Adam swung an arm back at him once more, but in vain.
A ball of white hot electricity exploded from the two figures.
"Hordak!" Entrapta cried, rushing toward it. The blinding light quickly faded, and the two forms separated, electricity still dancing between them. Both struck the floor at the same time. Adam was writhing and moaning, but Hordak laid still and quiet.
It took Scorpia a moment to gather her senses. She tried to stand up, but her head hit something metallic. She looked up and saw Adam's sword embedded deeply in the wall just above her. Its gem was solid red, and red lines tracing a seemingly random pattern from it down both the blade and the hilt.
"Look!" Glimmer said. As Adam's form finally went still, still surrounded by flickering bolts of electricity, his reddish aura evaporated, and glittering white spots appeared around him. After those vanished, what was left behind was a relatively small man wearing some kind of green coverall.
Entrapta went for Hordak, but the electricity from his suit overloading was still jumping across the air between them. She yelped out as she was repeatedly shocked while trying, in vain, to reach Hordak.
"Scorpia!" Glimmer said, pushing herself off the floor. "Help!"
Scorpia looked over at Glimmer, and then to Entrapta and Hordak. A moment's realization and she jumped to her feet and ran over, almost tripping as she ran across the crystal shards from the wall she'd been thrown into. She stopped at the edge of the dancing bolts and pushed her way gently in front of Entrapta. She reached a pincer out. "I - I um…" She closed her eyes. "I can do this." She stepped forward, into the miasma, and when her pincer reached the epicenter of the crackling electricity, the white bolts flowed into her and a deafening *pop* filled the chamber as they finally disappeared.
Entrapta jumped toward Hordak and pulled him up into an embrace. He was limp, but she could tell he was just barely breathing. "Hordak," she said quietly. "Hordak, no."
Adora got back to her feet, her head still reeling from the blow, and took stock of what she was seeing. She was leaning not against a Bright Moon corridor wall, but rather against one of the crystal pillars of the antechamber. It was broken in the middle and its top half was lying on the floor beside it.
And then she saw Hordak lying on the ground, Entrapta cradling him in her arms. Ice seemed to fill her veins at the sight. Good riddance, the voice in her head said to her, but that thought gave her an even worse chill.
"Adora!" At the sound of Bow's voice she turned and saw him kneeling over a form lying on the floor. It was Catra...and red was everywhere around her.
"Catra!" she cried. Her She-Ra form dissipated immediately and she ran to her girlfriend. "Catra!" she said again as she dropped to the floor. Catra was barely conscious and had a hand resting on her stomach over the wound Entrapta had bandaged. She was groaning incoherently.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Adora placed her hands on Catra's stomach. "Just hang on, I'll heal you." She closed her eyes.
Nothing happened.
"What? No!" She reached a hand out. "For the honor of Grayskull!"
Her sword failed to appear. Not even a glimmer.
"No, no no, not now!"
"A-Adora…" Catra said, grunting in pain.
Adora turned back to her and placed a hand on either cheek. "Catra, I'm here."
"Adora," Catra said. "Y-your eyes are…they're not red now."
Adora blinked. "What?"
"T-think you'd better…see if Sparkles or someone can help you. Not…not sure I can…move right now."
"Catra…" Adora said, her eyes filled with tears. She wasn't sure why, or how, she wasn't able to summon She-Ra. She didn't feel different…weaker, maybe. Frightened. "Glimmer! Bow! Someone help!"
As Glimmer and Scorpia rushed back over to them, Bow knelt over Entrapta, who was cradling Hordak in her lap. "No…no…" she kept repeating, rocking back and forth.
Bow put a hand under Hordak's chin, just above where his Adam's apple would have been, and pressed with two fingers. Bow had been trained in first aid ever since he joined the Rebellion, and had worked with the Bright Moon healers when they came up with procedures for treating the various health issues the clones could have. It was something he was now very glad he'd had the foresight to participate in.
"I'm getting a pulse," he said. He licked the back of his hand and held it above Hordak's nose and mouth. "He's still breathing. We gotta get him to the ship."
Entrapta kept rocking. "I knew…" she said. "I knew…and I didn't tell him. He didn't tell me…"
Bow grabbed her face and tried to turn it toward him. She screamed wordlessly and shook her head away from him. "Entrapta, we have to get him back to the ship!" He turned to the large door. "We need to get to the ship, guys! Like, now!"
"How?" Glimmer said, looking up from Catra.
"I'm pretty sure that's the doors we came through when we landed," Bow said.
"How do you know?" Glimmer said. "Never mind. What about the radiation? Some of us don't even have spacesuits anymore!"
"I…I…" Bow looked from Catra to Hordak. "I don't know!"
Adora felt a twitch in the back of her head.
It is time.
"Huh?" Adora said.
Unleash yourself. Now.
Adora stiffened, and then stood. The pink aura surrounded her again, and without a word, without even summoning her sword, she transformed into She-Ra. As the others turned to her in surprise, she marched toward the enormous door and raised a hand. The ground shook, and the seam between the door's halves split open. The doors began to slide noisily into the walls on either side. As the greenish mist began to seep in through the crack, a white haze formed in front of Adora. It flattened into a kind of half-bubble that pushed its way ahead of her and through the opening doorway. It repelled the green mist aside, forcing it back outside. The bubble continued creeping forward, enveloping Darla who was still parked outside.
Once it was fully engulfed, the ship lifted from the rubble-strewn ground, and Adora stepped aside as the ship floated forward into the chamber.
Glimmer had been staring at Adora with confusion, but now it was with a sense of awe. "A-Adora?" she said. "How - how are you doing that?"
Adora either did not hear the question, or ignored it. Darla continued to float in the air, soundlessly, and then set down just inside the massive doorway. The white bubble pulled away from the ship and covered the open doorway, keeping the radioactive green mist out.
The ship's ramp extended. At the top of it stood Emily 2.0, standing in the same place she was when they left the ship. Emily took a tentative step down the ramp and let out an inquisitive whistle.
Adora marched back to Catra. Catra's head was now on the floor, rolling lazily from side to side, with her breaths ragged and rapid. Adora reached her, bent down stiffly and placed her hands on Catra's chest. The pink aura extended from her to Catra, and then engulfed her body. Catra cried out, arched her back, and then sat up quickly, gasping for breath. Her facial fur quickly became drenched with sweat.
"What? W-what?" She looked up at Adora. "Adora?" She placed a hand at her stomach where the sword had pierced her. The remains of her spacesuit were torn and stained red. She stuck a finger in the hole, and found that her wound was completely gone. An ache made her wince as she moved, but the searing pain of having been impaled was gone.
Once again, the love of her life had saved her from near-death. She looked up at Adora, doing her best not to shudder at the sight of Adora's crimson eyes. "Th-thanks."
Adora did not answer, and her facial expression remained stony. She stood and then surveyed the antechamber. She observed Entrapta, cradling Hordak, and watched Bow trying and failing to get Entrapta's attention. She turned to Scorpia. "Scorpia, get Entrapta and Hordak on the ship," she said. Then she turned to the green figure lying immobile on the ground not far from Bow and Entrapta. She marched over, scooped Adam up, and carried him over her shoulder.
She then extended a hand out. Adam's red-streaked sword, which was still embedded in the far wall, vanished. It reappeared in her hand.
"Adora no!" Bow said.
Adora glanced at the sword for a moment, but then lifted it over her shoulder and placed it on her back, where it attached itself to her armor. She turned her cold, red eyes to Bow, and then to Glimmer, and finally Catra, who was just getting to her feet. "We're leaving. Now."
"Umm…" Scorpia said. She turned to Bow. "What's…um…?"
"Just - just do it," Catra said, wincing slightly as she walked over. "Get Entrapta and Hordak."
Glimmer grabbed Bow's arm and leaned toward him. "This is wrong," she muttered. "Very wrong."
"Yeah it is," Catra said. Glimmer and Bow turned to her. "But we got what we came for."
Adora walked steadily toward Darla, until a voice said, "She-Ra." She stopped and turned around to see Last Resort's reddish form standing on the dais.
"We're leaving," Adora said again, and turned back to the ship, continuing her march toward the ramp.
"Wait, Adora!" Glimmer said. "Is that-?" She turned from Last Resort to Adora, and then back to the dais. Last Resort was gone. "Was that...Light Hope?"
Adora did not respond. She simply continued her march up the ship's ramp.
"Uh, okay then," Scorpia said. She knelt down. "Entrapta, I'm gonna carry Hordak to the ship, okay?"
Entrapta shook her head. "No."
"I can carry you both if you want, but we gotta go now."
Entrapta paused, and then finally said, "Take him."
Scorpia gingerly slid her pincers under Hordak and lifted him from Entrapta's lap. Entrapta stood as she did so, gripping one of Hordak's hands tightly in her own. She and Scorpia hurried toward the ship.
Bow, Glimmer, and Catra took one more look at each other, and then followed behind Scorpia and Entrapta.
"This is really wrong," Bow said. "Did you see Adora's eyes?'
"Oh I saw," Catra said. "Last time I saw her looking like that she almost killed me."
Glimmer drew in a breath. "We'll...have to worry about that later. For now we need to get home. Bow, go help Scorpia get Hordak set up in the medical bunk." Bow nodded and then sprinted to the ship and up the ramp, catching up with Scorpia at the top.
Glimmer shook her head. "I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but…I wasn't…I wasn't ready for…" She trailed off.
Catra grabbed Glimmer's arm, gently but firmly. "You can't worry about that right now. We need you to be on top of things. Adora's…whatever's going on with her. And I don't think…I can't be level-headed about her right now. I'm gonna try, but…we need Queen Glimmer now."
Glimmer stared at her for a moment, then placed her hand onto Catra's. She nodded. "You're right."
Catra nodded back and smirked. "Always am. Now let's get the hell off this goddamn rock, Sparkles."
The deck lurched beneath them as Darla's liftoff thrusters pushed the ship off the antechamber's floor. Catra then felt as the momentum shifted sideways, and she watched through the front viewer as the ship backed out of the antechamber, turned, and flew forward out of the cavern's opening and across the devastated landscape.
She then looked at Adora, still in her She-Ra form, sitting in the command chair and manipulating the holographic controls. Catra observed her movements to be almost mechanical, as if they were being performed by a robot and not the woman she loved.
She glanced back up at the transparent hull, but then quickly back down to Adora. Outside the viewer, the landscape and then the cloud cover, zooming past the front screen, was enough to make Catra's stomach churn. Add to that her concern over the events that had just transpired, and the lingering ache in her abdomen, and she was starting to feel positively sick.
It got a little better when the view outside the ship finally gave way to the blackness of space. The cockpit lights dimmed, and she could just barely make out a few stars in the inky darkness.
"So...we're going home?" she asked, almost absently.
"Yes," Adora said. "Home."
The cool indifference with which Adora said those words almost frightened Catra. "Are you…um...okay?"
"I'm fine."
The chill turned to ice in her veins. Catra raised a hand, held it hesitantly over Adora's shoulder, and then finally laid it on her. "Are you - are you sure? You seem like-"
"I'm fine," Adora repeated with the exact same tone and cadence.
"O-okay," Catra said, withdrawing her hand. Part of her wanted to flee the cockpit, take a moment alone to think about things, but she didn't want to leave Adora alone. Something was definitely wrong with her, and Catra wasn't going to abandon her to whatever that was. She decided to remain where she was, standing behind the command chair.
For now, she would just stay and watch. And be ready for whatever else might happen.
In the medical bay, Entrapta was still connecting tubes and wires to Hordak. She'd started working on him the moment Scorpia laid him onto the bunk. Bow had tried to help, but she refused to speak to him; she seemed too hyper-focused on the talk. Whatever she was doing, though, it was far beyond anything he'd learned from Bright Moon's healers.
It also looked like something she'd practiced more than once. There were few wasted movements and almost machine-like precision in her actions.
As various connections were completed, lights in the walls around the medical bunk began to light up. Blue, amber, green. Some were solid, others blinking at various frequencies. Absolutely none of it made sense to him. Thankfully, Emily 2.0 was standing beside her and providing some kind of help, manipulating various controls on the machinery in concert with Entrapta's movements.
On the other side of the room, Scorpia and Glimmer were just finishing applying the restraints to their prisoner, the green-clad Adam. After traveling however many light years, after all the chaos he had caused on Etheria and then on Crelus, he was in their custody. For Glimmer, it was hard to believe that only a few days had actually passed since Adam's ship first landed in the Whispering Woods.
Their plan had worked out well. Even on Crelus, a mysterious planet where they'd been separated, attacked, her powers practically nullified…it hadn't taken them long to fight their way through a situation they couldn't have prepared for, against not just Adam but also against - whatever that thing was that seemed to be running the planet.
She couldn't understand why, but deep down she had the nagging feeling that this had been too easy.
She glanced over to Hordak, lying still on the other bunk while Entrapta was almost frantically attaching tubes and wires to him. No, not easy, she thought. Catra had gotten seriously wounded, and Hordak… She wasn't even sure if he would survive.
And then Adora…
Adam stirred on the bunk, bringing Glimmer's attention back to him. His head rolled from side to side, and then his eyelids started crawling open.
"So Glimmer," Scorpia said, "ya think he'll be all - you know…" She made a strange noise. "Like Adora was, I mean?"
Glimmer didn't answer, instead leaning over and glaring into Adam's face. "Hey," she said. "Wake up."
"Do I have to?" Adam said, his eyes closed and words slurring. His voice was noticeably higher-pitched than the one she'd heard when he was in She-Ra mode. "Can I have, like, five more minutes? Sarge made me clean the latrines again."
Glimmer glanced at Scorpia. "Guess that's a yes," she said. Then, to Adam, "Who are you?"
Adam burst out laughing, flinging spittle around as he did. Glimmer and Scorpia both had to wipe some off their faces. "I'm…I'm nobody," he said. "I'm the somebodiest nobody you've ever met." For someone who seemed quite impaired, he'd managed that complicated-sounding sentence well.
"Your name," Glimmer said. "And where you come from."
Adam yawned and opened his eyes. "Nah, I'm boring. What's your name? You're kinda pretty. Y'know, for a savage."
Glimmer glared at him for a moment. "My name is Glimmer. Queen Glimmer, of Bright Moon. Planet Etheria. I rule the kingdom where you landed. Where you attacked my subjects. Where you attacked my friends."
Adam blew a raspberry through his lips. "Don't blame me, I just follow orders." His goofy grin melted away. "Shitty lot for a prince, innit?"
"Prince," Glimmer said, remembering what Adora had told her about her first encounter with Adam. "We have - on Etheria, we have a lot of different kingdoms, protectorates, and such. Most of them have a royal family in charge, or helping to run things. Is that how the First Ones do it? Are you the Prince of a planet, or a group of planets?"
"Ha!" Adam said. "No wonder your planet's so weird. We just got one royal family. One Emperor, one Empress, one Prince. And I'm the Prince." He laughed out loud, but the laughing degraded into sobbing. "For all the good it did me." He blinked, and some tears rolled down from his eyes. He looked up at Glimmer again, and she noticed his eyes were the same shade of pale blue as Adora's were. "Who were you again?"
"I'm…Glimmer," Glimmer said.
Adam laughed. "That's a silly name. Kinda like it." His lazy-eyed gaze shifted to Scorpia. "Whoa," he said. "You're big."
"Yeah, I, uh, get that a lot," Scorpia said. She turned to Glimmer. "Should I tell the others he's awake?"
Glimmer shook her head. "They'll find out eventually. Right now we'll-"
"It's working!" Screeched a voice from behind them. They turned to see Entrapta jumping in place, her hands clapping together. "Hordak's alive!"
Glimmer glanced at Bow, who drew in and then released a deep breath. He nodded. Glimmer sighed and then turned back to Adam. "That's lucky for you."
"Wait, what?" Scorpia turned to Glimmer. "Uh, Glimmer…?"
"I'll handle this, Scorpia," Glimmer said. "Maybe you should go see how Adora and Catra are doing."
"Umm, Glimmer, I-"
"Just go," Glimmer said curtly, cutting her off.
Scorpia glanced from Glimmer, down to Adam, then to Bow.
"Glimmer-" Bow started.
"Go with her," Glimmer said. "Entrapta…" She glanced at Entrapta. She had her hair curled underneath her and she was sitting cross-legged on it. Her back was turned to them.
She had a hand on Hordak's forehead and another on his chest. Glimmer noticed, for the first time she'd ever seen, that Entrapta had her gloves off. Her nails were longer than Glimmer would have expected, and unevenly trimmed. The backs of her hands had scars of various shapes and sizes. Entrapta was rocking slightly, back and forth.
She turned back to Adam. He was bobbing his head from side to side, and seemed to be humming some kind of tune.
"Glimmer," Bow started, "I don't think-"
"Get out!" Glimmer said. She turned to him and Scorpia. "Both of you! Now!"
Scorpia and Bow glanced at each other, and then Scorpia left the room without another word. Bow stared at Glimmer, who was staring back at him. He could see anger in her eyes. "Glimmer…"
"Get. Out."
Bow's heart jumped up into his throat. "No, I don't think I should."
He could see her clenching her fists, almost as tightly as she was clenching her face. "Fine."
She turned back to Adam and raised a hand. She traced a glyph in the air and then flicked it toward his face.
"Now, I want you to tell me everything."
Once the ship jumped to hyperwarp, Adora laid her hands in her lap. She sat there, silently, apparently staring at the telemetry being projected before her.
"Adora."
She did not turn to Catra when she spoke. "Adora…what happened to you down there?"
Adora did not answer. Did not stir.
"Adora they…they used Shadow Weaver against me. Down there. What did they do to you?"
Adora finally turned to her. Catra could see her eyes were still deep red. It was incredibly unsettling. "A lot happened to me. Down there."
"Yeah, I can see that," Catra said. "Adora, you said - after we landed, before we went in that place - if something…happened to you, you wanted us to… Well, you never got to finish it, but-"
"I'm fine," Adora interrupted. She stood and turned toward Catra. Her She-Ra form vanished, leaving her standing there in her spacesuit. Her irises were still red, rather than her normal blue, and yet they seemed ice cold. "Some - things happened, but I dealt with them."
"I can see that," Catra said again. There was a moment of silence between them, and then Catra stepped forward and took Adora's hand. "Adora…"
Adora pulled her hand from Catra's. "I said I'm fine," she said flatly.
The two of them stared at each other for a long moment, before the rear hatch opened. They both turned to see Scorpia starting to enter.
"Guys, there's…" Scorpia stopped. She looked at Catra, and then Adora. Then back to Catra. "Umm…" she started. After another pregnant silence, she said, "Never mind." She turned and left the command deck.
The command deck door closed behind Scorpia, and the sound of it made her feel as if something had slammed shut within her. She was starting to feel really claustrophobic now. She'd been thrown out of the med bay, where Glimmer and Entrapta were. And she guessed Bow was still there, too, since she didn't see him leave when she did.
And she apparently wasn't welcome in the command deck with - whatever was going on between Catra and Adora.
Were they angry with her? She'd been separated from them on the planet, and she knew that wasn't her fault. But so much had apparently happened to them while she was stuck trying to break through all those rooms to find them. And Hordak…maybe they were mad at her because Hordak wouldn't have gotten hurt if she'd gotten to them sooner.
It was a small ship, with not many places for her to go. After weighing her options, she decided to retire to her room. Upon entering she realized how small it felt. It shouldn't have felt that small; Entrapta promised her it was the same size as everyone else's. Then again, she was twice the size of everyone else.
It felt tiny. And lonely.
She opened the stand by her bed and pulled out her large-handled communicator. Her heart leapt in her chest when she saw the indicators that two messages were waiting.
She selected the first one, by a tiny photo of Perfuma, and Perfuma's message expanded to fill the screen:
Hey sweetie! How is the pursuit going?
Just wanted to let you know I'm feeling lots better. Your special tea and a little bit of mugwort really makes a nice healing elixir. Plus it helped me a lot because it made me think of you.
Please call or message any time you want to talk. No pressure, I know it's got to be a really exciting and busy trip, but I'm always here if you want to talk.
And I like to see you and hear your voice.
I love you
Perfuma
Scorpia sighed and hugged the communicator to her chest. She needed that right now. No matter what was going on here, she knew she had Perfuma to return to. And with any luck, they'd be together again in just a few days.
She'd have a lot to get off her chest, and it was pretty clear she wouldn't be able to do that with anyone on the ship.
She looked at the communicator again and selected the second unread message, indicated by the letter "C":
Chancellor Cobalt reporting.
Please contact me at earliest availability. Non-emergency, but given your sudden departure, some in our command chain need reassurance you are still in command.
Cobalt out.
Scorpia sighed. She wasn't surprised, to be honest. With nearly all the people in charge of her new kingdom being former Horde, they were used to power struggles and quick, frequent changes in the command structure.
Best to get the difficult call out of the way first. "Duty calls," she muttered. She selected Cobalt's icon and clicked the control stick.
The device beeped once, twice, three times…and then Cobalt's face appeared. Always hard to read, she couldn't tell if she was seeing relief or annoyance in his countenance.
"Cobalt here, Your Highness."
"Hey Cobalt," Scorpia said. "Tell them that I'm fine and I'm on my way back. Should just be a few more days."
"Understood," Cobalt replied. "Was your mission successful?"
"I…it was…" Scorpia glanced toward the door, and visualized the people beyond. It hadn't been a smooth victory and…things weren't so great right now, but… "Yes, it was successful."
"Excellent. That will definitely help maintain your standing with the troops. They've been sharing stories of the battle in the Reach. It was good for morale for them to finally be able to participate in battle again. Even if it was alongside their former enemies."
Scorpia nodded. "That's, um…that's great." She took a deep breath. "Anything else to report since I'm on?"
"The first shipments of food arrived from Albara yesterday. It's helping reduce the strain on the new farms, and we've reduced the drain on our ration stocks by 50%. And they…there was a - gift of some kind that came with the shipment. They said it was for you, personally."
"Oooo, a gift?" Scorpia said. The idea of that helped raise her mood, if only a little.
"That's what they called it. To be honest, we thought it was some kind of bioweapon, the way it smells. They said it was 'cheese'."
"Oh," Scorpia said, the word drawn out in mild confusion. "Okay. Tell them…um, say I said thanks, I guess."
Cobalt nodded. "I'll pass the message along. We ended up having to seal it up to stop it from stinking up the entire compound. It's in cold storage now. You can decide what to do with it whenever you get back."
"Okay," Scorpia said, not at all excited anymore. "Great."
"One more thing. I wasn't going to bother you with this until you got back, but since communications are now open I think you should know. There's a - delegation from one of the tribes that lived in the Fright Zone before the Horde. They arrived the morning after you left for the Reach, and asked to see you personally. I told them you were off-planet and they could return after you did, but they insisted on waiting here."
"Really?" Scorpia said. "I didn't think any of the old tribes were still around."
"Apparently it was a well-kept secret," Cobalt said. "I didn't even know about it."
"Well," Scorpia said, sighing and taking another look around her, "I can talk to them now. I probably won't have much else to do for a while."
"I was actually going to suggest that," Cobalt said. "Especially in this case."
Scorpia's brow furrowed. "What do you mean 'in this case'?"
"They call themselves 'Scorpioni', and they…they look a lot like you."
Scorpia gasped. She practically jumped off the bunk. "Scorpioni? Really?"
Cobalt nodded in his unflappable manner. "Yes, Your Highness."
"Can I talk to them now?"
"They're roaming the compound. I'll have them brought here immediately."
"Oh, I've gotta tell Perfuma!" Scorpia said, practically squealing. Then, when she saw Cobalt's raised eyebrow, she cleared her throat and said. "Call me back when you find them, please."
"Understood. Cobalt out."
Cobalt's image was replaced on-screen with his earlier text message.
Scorpia was shaking. She'd only just found out who her people were, that she even HAD a people…and now she was minutes away from finally getting to meet one of them. All her trepidation was momentarily forgotten. She was almost gleeful. Her excitement made it difficult for her to manipulate the communicator's controls to select Perfuma's icon.
When she finally initiated the call, she was bouncing on the bunk in her excitement.
Perfuma's face appeared on screen. "Hi Scorpia! How's the mission going?"
Scorpia stopped her bouncing as she felt the pit in her stomach grow. The worries came flooding back. For a blissful moment, she'd forgotten all that had happened. She knew she needed to tell Perfuma about it all. She wanted to tell her. But for now…
"It's...okay," she finally said, clearing her throat. "We caught Adam."
"That's wonderful!" Perfuma said. "And fast, too! You've only been gone a few days!"
"Well, apparently he came from a planet not too far away from ours."
"Was it the planet Adora talked about? Eternia?" Perfuma said.
"No, it was…'Cruller', or something like that. Kind of a messed up place. But listen, I have even better news! I found out who my people are! People who look like me! And know what else? They're still around, and they're waiting to meet me! At Horror Hall!"
Perfuma gasped and put a hand to her mouth. "Really? That's incredible, sweetie! I'm so happy for you!"
The communicator beeped twice, and an icon appeared in the upper left corner. "Oh, oh, that's them! That's them! Bye, I love you, see you soon!"
"O-okay, sweetie! Love you too! Good luck!"
Scorpia clicked the call over. "Cobalt?"
"The delegate is here," Cobalt said. "One moment." The image shifted.
Scorpia stared at the screen with excitement, and then when she saw the delegate, her eyes went as wide as they were physically capable.
"Hello, Princess Scorpia. I'm so glad to finally meet you."
Scorpia brought a pincer to her mouth, and tears started welling in her eyes. She then touched her pincer to the screen.
"Mom?"
"Adora, wait!"
Adora stopped at the cockpit door just as it opened, and turned back to Catra. Every one of Catra's senses were screaming at her. If her senses had a language, they would be shouting one word in unison:
Danger.
"What?" Adora said. For the first time since they'd left Crelus, Catra detected a bit of emotion in her: annoyance.
"What do you mean 'what'?" She pointed at Adora's eyes. "This! Look, you told us that if weird things started happening with you, that we'd…you know…do something!"
"Then what are you going to do?"
Catra walked up to her and backhanded her hard across the face. Adora stumbled backward, instinctively bringing a hand to her face. She blinked, and for a moment Catra thought she saw the red glow fade from her irises. Then the red returned, and her eyelids narrowed. She hissed a string of filthy curses.
"See? Right there? That's not you!" Catra said.
"Then who am I?" Adora said. She blinked, the red vanishing from her eyes again. "Who…who am I?" Her legs seemed to buckle underneath her.
Catra reached out and laid a hand on Adora's arm. Adora yelped out and put her hands to her head. "Adora!" Catra cried.
Adora shook Catra's hand off her arm and rushed out of the cockpit. Catra followed. "Adora, stop!"
"No, no I can't!" Adora said, still clutching her head. "I won't do it!"
"Won't do what?" Adora started stumbling, and Catra caught up. Adora fell to her knees, and Catra slid down with her. She wrapped her arms around Adora, cradling Adora's back to her chest. "Adora…what happened to you down there?"
Adora looked up and turned to Catra. Her eyes were fluctuating in color. "I…I…"
"My mom's alive!"
They both snapped their heads down the corridor. Scorpia was rushing toward them. She scooped them up, squeezing them tightly to her chest, spinning around almost in a dance. "My mom's alive! My mom's alive!"
Catra was gasping for breath, her chest compressed hard against both Adora and Scorpia. She instinctively tried to push herself free, as she had the many other times Scorpia had invaded her personal space in such an aggressive manner.
Adora cried out, and a moment later Bow and Glimmer emerged from the medical bay. "What the hell's going on out here?" Glimmer said.
Scorpia finally released Catra and Adora, and then went after Glimmer and Bow. They both backed away, and as they did, Scorpia could see past them. Entrapta was still seated, hands on the unconscious Hordak, and was still rocking back and forth silently.
As if a switch had flipped, Scorpia stopped. "Oh. Um…" Her elation was gone. "I - um…I need to go call Perfuma." She turned to Catra and Adora. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to…" She seemed to be trying to think of what to say, but finally just retreated to her dorm.
Adora, Catra, Glimmer, and Bow stood in the corridor, looking at each other, completely bemused.
Glimmer broke the momentary silence. "What in the hell just happened?"
"I'm…not really sure," Catra said, still trying to catch her breath. She looked past Glimmer at Entrapta. "Hordak…is he…how is he?"
"He's…alive," Bow said. "I think Entrapta must've built some kind of-"
"Adam," Adora interrupted. All eyes turned to her. Her eyes had turned red once again. "Has he said anything?"
Glimmer and Bow glanced at each other, and Catra could see some kind of tension in their expressions. "He's…Adam's…" Glimmer started.
"He's kinda like you were, after that whole - First Ones disc thing," Bow said. "After the crazy murdery part."
"Good," Adora said. She pushed her way past them.
"Hey!" Glimmer said. She spun and immediately followed Adora into the medical bay. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Interrogating the prisoner." Adora spared a glance at Hordak and Entrapta, but then turned back toward Adam. He was rolling his head from side to side, humming some kind of tune. He seemed to be pulling against the makeshift restraints, though not actively struggling against them.
"Adora!" Catra said, catching up to her.
"I'm going to talk to him," Adora said. Catra grabbed her arm. Adora stopped, and then glared at her.
Catra refused to be intimidated this time. "You need to back way the hell up and calm down. This whole 'angry Adora' thing is back and we're not gonna just stand by."
Adora narrowed her red eyes. "Back off. Now."
"Whoa, whoa, hey!" Bow stepped in between them. "Adora, look. We know something is up with you. This whole thing with the red eyes and the attitude - it's not you. And we don't have time for this right now. In case you forgot, we have a prisoner here who's already tried to kill us all several times, and-"
"I get it," Adora said, placing her hands on Bow's shoulders. "I'll deal with him."
"No you won't!" Glimmer said, almost shoving Bow aside. "I am interrogating him right now!"
"Glimmer!" Bow said. "Everyone, calm down!"
"What exactly have you gotten out of him?" Adora said.
"Excuse me?" Glimmer said.
Without responding, Adora started to turn back to Adam. Catra pushed her way past Glimmer, and just as Adora noticed she was there Catra swung her fist around and struck Adora hard on the temple. Adora's head struck the wall and she crumpled to the deck.
"Catra what the hell!?" Bow said. He dropped to his knees between her and Adora, and checked Adora. She seemed to be dazed. "Why did you do that?"
"I - I…something's seriously wrong with her!" Catra said. "I just…it was instinct!"
"Everyone stop!" Glimmer screamed. Bow and Catra turned to face her. Entrapta continued her silent vigil over Hordak, still rocking slightly back and forth.
"Okay, I'll stop," Adam said. "What was I doing?"
"Look…Catra, get Adora out of here!" Glimmer turned to Bow. "And Bow, help her."
Bow stood. "Wait a minute-"
"Bow, don't start right now!"
"Glimmer-"
"Shut up!"
All conscious eyes turned to Entrapta. She had stood and was now pounding her fists up and down. "Shut up shut up shut up shut up!"
"E-Entrapta?" Bow said.
"Haven't you all done enough?!" Entrapta practically screamed at them. "Fighting and screaming and punching! And Hordak's dying! Isn't that enough? There's too much noise in here and he needs his rest!"
With that, and with a moment of everyone's stunned silence, Entrapta sat back down and resumed her silent vigil over Hordak.
"Catra," Bow said, finally, his voice low and calm. He lifted the moaning Adora off the floor. "Take her back to your bunk. And please don't punch her again."
"I…you…" Catra started. Then she sighed, took Adora's arm over her shoulder, and practically carried her back to their dorm.
Glimmer was still standing there agape. Bow said, "Glimmer, let's go…talk."
"Bow…"
Bow walked up to her and took her hand. He held it firmly. "C'mon."
Together they walked back to their dorm, Glimmer saying nothing and still seemingly in shock over Entrapta's outburst.
As Bow closed the door behind them, Glimmer sat down on the bed.
"You okay?" Bow said, sitting down beside her.
Glimmer said nothing. Instead, she slid an arm around Bow, leaned over, and pressed her face into his chest. After a brief moment, Bow wrapped his arms around her.
They sat like that for several minutes before Glimmer finally spoke. "I'm so sorry."
"For what?"
'You can't be serious." She pulled away and looked at him. "Weren't you in the room just a few minutes ago?"
"Of course I was, Glimmer, I just-"
"I got so angry and I - and yelled at you and at Scorpia. I was ready to - ready to…do anything to that…to Adam." She looked away. "Nothing you said was gonna stop me. I got so - so angry." She turned to Bow. "I wasn't even that mad about what he did to our people. But they - whatever was in that place...it used my mother against me, Bow. My mother. I - I thought I was doing okay. About her. It's been so long now." She shook her head. "But I'm not. I miss her. And that place, it made me face her. It made me - made me fight her. And it made me…" Her voice choked and she could say no more.
Bow placed a hand to the side of her face, leaned forward, and kissed her forehead. "It's okay, Glimmer. It's okay."
Glimmer shook her head. "No, it's not okay. I'm a queen, dammit! I'm supposed to be beyond all that! I'm supposed to be better than that!"
"You're a human being," Bow said. "You're allowed to be sad. To be mad. I know you have to pretend in front of other people, but we're your friends. Best Friends Squad, remember?" He kissed her forehead again. "You can let yourself be vulnerable with us. We're here for you. Just like you're always there for us."
Glimmer looked up at Bow. Tears started streaming down her face, and she pulled him tightly to her, the embrace still slightly awkward with the both of them still wearing their spacesuits.
"Thank you," Glimmer said. "Thank you thank you thank you."
"You're welcome," Bow said, gently.
"I love you so much. With all my heart."
"I love you too."
Catra sat down on the bed, upon which she'd laid Adora. Catra had stripped her of her spacesuit to make her more comfortable. Her eyes were screwed shut, and she was muttering under her breath.
Catra took a small cloth, dabbed it in a cup of cold water, and then touched it to Adora's temple where Catra had struck her. She felt a pang as she observed the growing reddish bump that was growing there. "Damn. Sorry about that."
"C-Catra."
Catra pulled the wet cloth away. "Adora?"
Adora opened her eyes slightly. "Catra…what happened?"
Catra stroked her fingers through Adora's hair. "I…um…you asked us to stop you if you started getting…whatever it is with the red eyes. So…I punched you in the head."
Adora opened her eyes wider. To Catra's relief, they were their normal pale blue. "You...punched me?"
"It was instinct!"
Adora sighed. "That's why I've got this splitting headache, I guess."
"Yeah, um - sorry," Catra said. She laid a gentle hand on Adora's chest. "But seriously, you were getting…weird. Bad weird."
Adora sighed and closed her eyes. She laid a hand on Catra's. "I'm not…I don't even… Something happened on the planet. I remember a voice, but I can't remember what it was saying. And then things are just a - just a blur." She tried to sit up, but got suddenly dizzy and her head fell back onto the bed.
"Hey, it's okay." Catra laid a palm on the top of Adora's head. "Just relax."
"I - we fought Adam, right? And we beat him?"
"Yeah," Catra said.
"But something bad happened, didn't it?"
"Yeah," Catra said again.
"You got...hurt."
Catra shrugged. "You saved my life. Again. You're pretty good at that, you know."
Adora let out the briefest of chuckles. Then she said, "Hordak…"
"Entrapta's in there with him," Catra said. "He's still alive. Barely."
Adora drew in a sharp breath. "I didn't try to heal him!"
Catra blinked. She realized that no, Adora had not tried to heal Hordak. She healed me, but then we got out of there. "You were…distracted," Catra said.
Adora pushed herself into a sitting position. Her head started spinning, and it was all she could do to keep herself from falling back over. Catra caught her and helped her stay up. "I gotta go heal him," Adora said. She slid her legs off the bunk and tried to stand, but immediately crumpled to her knees.
"Adora!" Catra dropped off the bunk to the floor and held her.
"I'm fine," Adora said. She reached out a hand. There was a brief flash of white, but no sword appeared. "Dammit, not now!" She stretched out her fingers. Another flash of white, but then nothing else. "For the honor of Grayskull!"
Nothing.
"For the honor of Grayskull!"
Still nothing. Catra stared at her, unsure of what she could say or do.
"For the honor of Grayskull! For fuck's sake!"
Still nothing happened.
"Dammit!" Adora pounded a fist into the floor.
Catra placed her hands onto Adora's shoulders. "Adora, calm down!"
Adora shook her head. "How could I forget? How could I not try to help him?"
"You…it was…" Catra stammered.
Adora turned her blue eyes to her. "Dammit, Catra. What good am I?"
"Hey, cut that out!" Catra said. She took Adora's cheeks in her hands and forced her to look at her. "You went through…I can't even imagine. You go through so much. All the time. You need to cut yourself a break. You hear me?"
Adora blinked for a moment. "But I-"
"You deserve a break," Catra interrupted. "Especially from yourself."
Adora opened and closed her mouth a few times, before she finally said, "Okay, fine."
Catra nodded. "Good."
Adora's eyes slowly blinked a few times. "I'm…I'm tired," she said. Her head started to bob forward.
"Then let's get some sleep," Catra said. "It's been about the worst day ever."
"Can I have something for my head first?" Adora said. "It's pounding. I - I feel like it's gonna make me throw up."
"Sure," Catra said. She helped Adora get back onto the bunk, laid her down, and covered her with the blanket. "I'll be back in a sec."
"Thanks," Adora said. She watched Catra as she walked out of the room. Once Catra was gone, she allowed herself to finally let her grief and anger loose. She started sobbing.
Then a voice whispered something Adora could barely hear.
She ignored it, sniffling and wiping a hand across her nose.
The voice spoke again, more loudly this time, but still unintelligible.
"I don't know what you are, but shut the hell up," Adora said, her voice low. "Just leave me alone."
You are so much more.
It was her own voice. Or it at least sounded like her voice. "Just - just shut up. I need to sleep."
You know what you must do.
Her voice choked, she managed to say, "Go to hell."
You will comply. Sooner or later.
Catra stood at the doorway to the medical bay. She watched as Entrapta rocked slightly back and forth. Her ears twitched as she heard the barely audible words Entrapta was whispering; they were heartbreaking. Entrapta's hands were laid on Hordak's bare arm, which was wired to machines in the wall beside the bunk on which he was lying. The new Emily was standing beside her, motionless, facing the equipment in the wall.
The new body Entrapta had made for her friend really made Catra nervous, but she had to put that out of her mind for the moment.
"Entrapta," Catra said, almost completely voicelessly.
No response.
Catra walked in, compelled to make extra sure her footsteps made no sound on the cold metal floor. She laid a hand on Entrapta's shoulder. Entrapta did not seem to notice.
Old feelings of guilt, over how she'd used Entrapta, how she'd betrayed her, and how Entrapta had so quickly forgiven her, boiled to the surface. She glanced at Hordak. Yes, he'd been an evil monster. Yes, he'd built an army that wiped out entire cultures. Hell, for all she knew, he'd wiped out her own people, since she'd only once in a great while run into anyone like herself.
But for all his manipulation, she still felt guilt over her betrayal of him as well. He had trusted her, and she'd used it to enrich her own position. Just as he'd scolded her about.
And she hadn't just turned on Entrapta and Hordak. She'd betrayed Shadow Weaver. Lonnie. She'd betrayed Adora. Anyone and everyone who had ever meant something to her.
That's me, she thought. The betrayer.
"Entrapta, we're gonna help him," Catra said. "He's gonna make it. I...I promise."
No response. Though, for a moment, she thought she noticed a slight slowing in her Entrapta's rocking.
She took her hand away. After lingering there a moment, she turned toward Adam.
"Wow," Adam said, his words slurred. "You're like a big cat."
"Go to hell," Catra growled. She turned and headed to the cabinet that contained the various medications Entrapta had stocked before the unexpected departure from Etheria.
She rifled through the various pouches. She'd never spent much time learning how to be a medic, even though it was supposed to have been part of her training as a cadet. It had always seemed pointless to her. Their jobs were to kill people and break things, not heal people. At the time, it had seemed perfectly reasonable to her.
Now, she cursed past Catra for being so pigheaded.
Finally she came across a name she recognized. She'd seen it on a bottle in the Bright Moon infirmary, one of the times she'd managed to get hurt badly enough that she couldn't just walk it off. She vaguely remembered being told it was "for pain".
She grabbed two pouches and walked out of the medical bay, but not before Adam said, "Hey, can I pet you? Your fur looks really soft."
She stopped briefly, stared daggers at him, and then left the room.
As soon as she opened the room to their dorm she started, "Hey Adora, I…"
She stopped when she heard the snoring. Adora was lying on her side, legs curled up in front of her. Catra walked over to Adora and watched for a moment. She definitely sounded asleep. Even breathing, heart beating at a slower rate. "Adora," she whispered, running the back of her fingers gently down the side of Adora's face.
A slight murmur, but no other response.
"Okay," she whispered. She placed the packets on the table and rounded the bunk. She stripped down to her underwear and then gently sat down, laid down, and rolled over. She placed a hand on Adora's arm and slid it down to her hand, sidling closer until they were pressed snugly together.
She made her away around Adora's hair and kissed her ear. "It's gonna be okay," she breathed, and then laid down and closed her eyes. "I promise."
Adora's eyes snapped open, her red irises almost glowing in the darkness.
Immediately she knew Catra's arm was on her, furry body pressed against her back. She had to be extra careful not to wake Catra, or else the next part was going to be particularly difficult.
At any other time in her life she would have been too impatient and would have risked waking Catra just to get moving. Now, though, she felt a newfound strength in both body and mind, and for the first time, she did not feel the need to just act. She reached up with her other arms and slowly, gently, slid Catra's arm off hers. It took a few minutes, with her pausing every time she heard or felt Catra's breath changing, or her body stirring. Eventually she had Catra's arm moved to her own side. Then Adora took several more deliberate minutes, moving herself forward, breaking the contact between her back and Catra's front.
At one point Catra murmured and slid her arm back around Adora. Adora then spent another few minutes breaking the contact, and once that was done she continued sidling forward until she literally fell off the bunk.
She cushioned the fall as best she could with her arms and legs, trying to dull any resulting noise. She laid on the cold deck for a long time, listening for Catra's breathing and her stirring, waiting for them to settle down, and planning for the possibility that she would notice Adora's absence and wake.
If that happened, she would have to act swiftly and silently.
Eventually, though, Adora was satisfied that Catra was in deep sleep. Slowly, she pushed herself up off the floor to her knees. Then she stood, her stocking feet silent on the floor, and took slow, gentle steps toward the dorm's door.
She stood there for a long moment, listening and watching for any indication Catra was anything but deeply asleep. She took a deep breath, pushed the button to open the door, and quickly bound out to the corridor as soon as she could fit through. Her feet threatened to slide out from under her, so she had to adjust her gait to make sure she could avoid a spill.
Once the dorm's door closed behind her. Adora stood and listened. As she had hoped, the ship was mostly dead. Everyone was silent, most likely asleep.. She stole a quick glance across the corridor at the medical bay, the door having apparently been left open. She saw Entrapta still rocking, her head dipping low onto Hordak's still form. Entrapta did not seem to notice her.
Adora continued past toward the cockpit door. It slid open for her. The forward screen allowed the light from the hyperwarp tunnel to bathe the otherwise unlit chamber in rainbow light. As she had hoped, the command deck was unoccupied.
She marched up silently to the front panel. "Darla, engage intruder response protocol."
"Intruder response protocol can only be engaged if the intrusion alarms have been triggered."
Adora shook her head. She reached out her hand and her sword appeared immediately in the air in front of her. She grabbed it and held it up. "For the honor of Grayskull," she said in an even voice.
She immediately transformed into She-Ra. "Darla, engage intruder response protocol."
"Administrator recognized. Intruder response protocol engaged."
Adora lowered her sword.
"Caution: neuromethazine gas containers have not been installed."
Of course, Adora thought. Of all things Entrapta would forget… She stood silently for a moment, head tilted to one side, as if working out a solution in her head. Then, she said, "Reduce cabin oxygen concentration to 7 percent."
"Acknowledged. Warning: 7 percent oxygen concentration will result in unconsciousness for all unaided Etherian crew members. Prolonged exposure could result in irreversible neurological damage."
"Acknowledged," Adora said. "Proceed." She stood there for a long moment as she listened to the very subtle change in the environmental system noise coming from the air vents. There was a sharp ping in the back of her head and she winced ever so slightly. "Cycle the oxygen concentration between normal and 7 percent every...30 minutes. That will prevent permanent damage, won't it?"
"Confirmed," Darla replied. "Intruder response protocol engaged using alternative parameters."
Adora squeezed her eyes shut as a jolt of pain struck her in the back of the head. "It's not a violation of my orders," she muttered. Then, to Darla, "Drop out of hyperwarp. I have new destination coordinates."
Catra opened her eyes. She felt groggy, as if she'd fought a round against a dozen 'bots. She noticed Adora was not beside her.
"Adora?" she said, surprised to hear that her voice was slurred and breathy.
She tried to get up, but her limbs felt rubbery. "Adora, where are you?"
She tumbled off the bunk onto the floor. She tried to get to her feet, but it was too difficult. Her limbs were barely responsive. Instead she made her way as best she could on all fours, her claws digging for purchase to keep them from sliding out from under her as she made her way to the door. She reached up, unsteadily, and smacked the button to open the door. She then made it out into the corridor.
Nobody else was out here. She stopped and listened, and for a moment she thought she could hear the landing gear lowering. She started almost crawling toward the cockpit, stealing a glance into the medical bay where she thought she could see Entrapta lying with her head on Hordak's arm. Her vision was blurry, so it was hard to tell.
The cockpit door suddenly opened and she gasped. Standing there was Adora, in She-Ra mode. Her red eyes were staring down at Catra.
"A-Adora…" Catra gasped.
"Catra," Adora said. "I…I'm sorry for this."
"A…dora…" Catra managed, before the world blacked out on her again.
The next she knew, she was opening her eyes to a closed cockpit door.
The overhead speaker came to life. "Intruder response protocols rescinded. Cabin oxygen concentration normal."
"A-Adora," Catra said.
Eventually she was able to generate enough strength in her arms and legs to push herself up onto all fours. She made her way to the cockpit doors, which parted for her. She continued crawling into the cockpit, just in time to see the star field outside the forward viewer stretch and twist, before morphing into the rainbow-colored maelstrom of hyperwarp.
"Hyperwarp cruising speed reached," Darla said. "Estimated time of arrival three days, seven hours, fifteen minutes, thirty-three seconds."
"Darla," Catra tried to say, but it mostly came out as a whisper. "D-Darla." After she again received no response, she took a deep breath and shouted, "Darla!"
It sounded like a whimper to her own ears, but it must have been loud enough. "Please state your query."
"Where…" She took a couple breaths. "Where are we?"
"We have just departed the Crelus system. Our destination is planet Etheria. Estimated time of arrival is three days, seven hours, fourteen-"
"Adora," Catra said. She finally felt like she was starting to catch her breath. "Where is Adora?"
"She-Ra is no longer onboard. She debarked on planet Crelus nine minutes thirty-seven seconds ago."
"No…" Catra said. She summoned all her strength and pushed herself up to her feet. She had to fall against the command chair to keep from falling over completely. "Turn us around. Right now!"
"Unable. Navigational controls are administrator-locked."
Catra fell to her knees. "Adora. What did you do?"
Adora walked into the darkened antechamber. Unlike the first time she had entered, it was just slightly illuminated, enough for her to see the corners of the room, and the dais in the center. As she stepped up onto the platform the surrounding crystal pillars illuminated.
"Welcome back, She-Ra."
Adora stood at attention. In front of her, the red holographic image of Last Resort appeared. "Are you ready to fulfill your destiny as the last hero of Eternia?"
"I am," Adora said. A tear welled in her eye and slid down her cheek. "What is my first mission?"