A/N: Ok, good news bad news situation:
Bad news, still not at my A-game when it comes to writing atm. Lack of medication plus sleeping issues is making it harder to focus on the writing process and whatnot.
Good news: should be getting a pick up of medication around the end of this week or next week, and found some of my emergency medication which should give me a good day or two of writing ability ^^
So with that said, enjoy!
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...
...
"Mmh... come on... come on..." Catra mumbled as she continued clicking away at the info port.
"Are you sure you can do it?" Mermista asked as she kept guard with the others.
"Yeah, just give me a minute, ok? I'm not exactly that great when it comes to hacking, I slept through most of those classes." Catra continued to grumble, feeling like Adora would have a much easier time with this hack than she did. Then again, considering one of those two didn't sleep through over half of those nerds classes it wasn't so surprising.
She needed to figure out where Bow and Glimmer's cells were within the prison block of the Fright Zone. She found herself saying how strange her adventures became at the start of every new adventure, and this was no exception. The one exception there was within this case scenario was the fact it wasn't an adventure she was having with Bow and Glimmer, but an adventure in order to save the two people she could now call friends.
Up to this point the plan was proceeding semi-smoothing, at least as far as it could go with this mismatched group of adventures consisting of Mermista, Perfuma, Sea Sawk, and a missing Entrapta. They managed to disable the security tower to infiltrate the door of the facility and disabled any of the guards they came across.
It did get a bit troubling at one point when Scorpia happened to come across them, apparently on a random patrol or something by Catra's guess, but thanks to Sea Hawk's attire she quickly got an idea to hide. Switching outfits and hairstyles between the two, they managed to fool Scorpia into thinking they were inspectors. Scorpia had no idea who the two were as Catra kept one eye closed, less she notice her heterochromatic feature, a bandana around her head to cover both her ears, and wearing Sea Hawk's jacket while Sea Hawk himself switched his hairstyle.
It was enough to fool the scorpion lady into opening the doors for them where they found an irritated Mermista who was smelling of bad sewage. Before Scorpia could even finish her sentence, she was easily tased with the stun batons Catra and Sea Hawk picked up earlier, knocking her out cold and hopefully long enough for the rest of the mission to proceed smoothly. At least until they noticed Entrapta missing.
Because of that, Catra was forced to proceed with the hacking job herself, muttering between breaths as she tried to recall all of her past lessons when it came to sabotage and infiltration missions like this from her days in the Horde. She might've been a bit more adept at hacking other databases in general, but hacking into one ran by the Horde proved to be a bit more complicated than she expected.
"There's no shame in waiting for Entrapta, lass." Sea Hawk commented, peeking around the corner. "I'm sure she'd love to do the hacking herself."
"Yeah, I know that, but every minute we're here the closer we are of getting spotted." Catra's eyes reflected the numerous words and coding she was inputting into the system. "We can't afford to waste... any... Got it!" With a resounding click, the others turned back to her at the sound of her announcement. Skimming through the data with her finger, she read across the various words until she found something that warranted repeating. "Ok, I think I found Bow's cell block, but I can't tell where Pinky's is." She stated. "She's not showing up in the cell's database."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Perfuma worried, trying to see the information over Catra's shoulder.
"Bad, mostly. It either means she's not in these cells or..." She shook the thoughts right out of her mind. Glimmer had to be alive, she just knew it. "Wherever she is, she's got to be somewhere close."
*clank*
All four of them let out a startled gasp as they heard the sound of the mechanical doors opening near them, seeing an oversized droid popping out from the sides. It was definitely bigger than many of the past droids Catra's came across, no doubt a new model they've been working on since Catra's time in the Horde.
"What should we do?" Perfuma backed up slowly as the robot scanned all four of them.
"We should stand and fight!" Sea Hawk stated bravely, pounding his fist against his palm.
"No!" The three turned to the leader of their group. "We can't afford to fight in the hallway, someone's going to see!" Even though she was against fighting at the moment, it didn't do anything to ease her mind. If they didn't fight it it would blast them or chase them around anyway. If they did fight it, it would cause too much noise! What was she supposed to do?
"It's okay!" The chipper voice of relief belonged to a perky-looking princess by the name of Entrapta, one who popped her head around the corner with a smile. "This is my new friend, Emily." She patted her as she took in all her friend had to offer. "I reprogrammed her. Isn't she adorable!"
"...Where have you been?" Did Entrapta not get enough of crimping Perfuma's harmony at this point?!
"Where have you been?" The scientist returned the question with a casual smile as if it was a game.
Taking a deep breath to relieve the tension building up, Catra raised her hands trying to calm everyone. "It's okay, it doesn't matter. Point is, everyone is here. Now let's go!"
...
Thankfully the exploration from that point to the prison block was relatively uneventful, which is the way Catra would've preferred compared to any other alternative. That included keeping a tighter leash on an ecstatic Entrapta, one who drooled at the sight of every new technological device she spotted every two minutes. Perfuma happened to be a rather effective babysitter in that regard, especially when she took the liberty of wrapping Entrapta in a vine around her hands until they got there.
This was another place that gave Catra moments of Deja vu. The large building, the numerous cells, the silent chill creeping up on the ends of her skin. This was the place, that one special place, that turned Catra's life around for the worse. Under the false pretense that she was going through an initiation, she remembered how Kyle tricked her into blindly walking into a prison cell, closing it behind her with her inside, and how Lonnie mercilessly taunted her and mocked her, going on and on about how Catra would never be a part of their gang, never one of their friends.
To this day she still wondered what her life would've been like if she truly did pass some sort of initiation or became friends with the likes of them. Would Lonnie actually be treating her nicer these days? Would she have something in common with a young Rogelio who was more lizard than man? Would she become great friends with Kyle, a shy and timid boy like she used to be back in the day?
She didn't know, and she never would at this rate. She didn't care about making friends since then until very recently. Why would she want to risk something bad happening to her again? This was her first attempt at making friends after Adora wanted to become her friend personally, so why bother trying it again after this horrible experience?
For all she knew the next experience would be twice as horrible! The next group of friends she might try to make might shove her down a flight of stairs. The ones after that might've dangled her over the side of a building, making fun of her constantly while pretending their grip is slipping. The ones after that could even be worse! They might've physically abused her or emotionally scarred her on a daily basis, lying to a young Catra and telling her to just take it because they're friends.
Nobody here was safe enough to make friends with, not like her friendship with Adora. She was the only one who cared about her, the only one who didn't consider her a freak like the rest of the kids did growing up, a detail she never came to understand since there were plenty of other kids with animalistic parts. If anything she felt like she was the most normal looking of the dozens of subspecies within the Fright Zone.
At least some things in the Fright Zone had yet to change around here, like the apparent lack of security guarding the Prison's station. They didn't seem to have any sense to get themselves a lock for the stupid doors leading up to this place, no extra security to protect themselves from a group of random people just barging in, disabling them, and wrapping them up in fairly strong vines that they couldn't escape from.
Like they did not two minutes ago.
"Bow's cell is in section B, level 20." Catra said, looking outside the windows of the station.
"Why do we need to be in here if we're going to knock out the generator anyway?" Mermista asked, finding a flaw in the logic.
"The lifts around here are run on a separate power system," Catra replied, "so we need someone to manage them after we cut power to the cells."
"Are you sure that won't interfere with the lifts in anyway?"
"Even if it does, I can handle it!" Entrapta squeaked enthusiastically. With a crack of her knuckles she began tapping away like the mad scientist she was against the computers. "I've already rerouted power to the lifts from another power source. By the time the Horde realizes it, we'll be on a skiff with all our friends back home!" Dashing away on the control panel, the curious bystanders watched as a lift grew from the upper floors above them, connecting to the floor above that. With a fit of giggles, they watched as she extended and pulled back the bridge repeatedly, finding some sort of entertainment at the incredibly advanced bridges.
"Good. Perfuma, Mermista, you deal with the generator down below. Wait until we get the lift up to Bow's cell and we're ready to unlock it. Like I said, when the reinforcements get here, we're not going to get a chance to escape once the jailbreak starts, so wait for my signal. Okay?"
"Right!" Perfuma and Mermista nodded in agreement.
"I think it would be best if I stayed with Entrapta instead." Sea Hawk suggested. "That way we wouldn't have to worry about anymore... friends... while she's busy." The girl was so enraptured by her fun that she didn't even hear what he just said.
"Good point. Alright, once I grab Bow, we find Glimmer through the jailbreak, then we meet at the base of the prison. From there it's a straight shot out of here. Everyone ready?"
"Ready!"
...
*whack*
"Ngh!" Bow grunted as he continued kicking at the door.
*whack*
"Ghhh!" He was running out of time, he was sure of it!
He's never met Adora in person before and based off whatever Kyle told him awhile ago he knew Glimmer was in trouble. What did Kyle mean about her probably being all right? That Adora was in a bad mood? That they needed to keep her alive for the exchange to happen in the first place? That almost sounded threatening to him!
What's worse is the lack of information he had to begin with. He didn't know where he was other than the Horde territory, he didn't know what was happening outside of these walls as they speak! For all he knew the exchange was happening right at this very moment, or maybe Catra herself was captured too! He completely forgot to ask about anything related to her, seeing how he was nabbed and knocked out immediately after returning to the Ball to find Glimmer. Was she okay to? Was she also somewhere in here? There were so many questions he needed answers to!
Yet nothing he did mattered. Every time he hit the stupid barrier it gave off a red flash wherever he struck it before rematerializing again to a solid green. There wasn't anything he could use as a weapon in here save for the bed, and no matter how hard he tried to pry it from the walls and use it as a battering ram, it was completely stuck in place!
There was no way for him to get out, no matter how badly he wished it. Whatever was happening to Glimmer, and possibly Catra, they were completely on their own.
"Bow!" His eyes widened at the sound of Kyle's voice again. "Bow!"
"Kyle?" Bow questioned, rather surprised to see the timid blond riding the lift to his cell.
"I'm supposed to be in the barracks. Lonnie made me cover her in latrine duty..." He mumbled with a sigh.
"What's going on?"
"I found out where your friend is being held!" Kyle announced, giving Bow hope for the first time since getting here. "Shadow Weaver has her in the Black Garnet chamber. She's being interrogated by Adora right now."
"Interrogated?" There was no way any methods of Horde interrogation around here could be pleasant. "What's happening to her now? Is she going to be okay?"
"Umm... Yes! Kind of. Maybe?... I don't think so..." Kyle answered nervously, rubbing his left arm trying to calm down. "Adora seemed really, really, mad about her. She wants Glimmer to either erase whatever spell you guys placed over Catra or tell her how to disable the spell itself."
"Spell? We didn't place any spell over her, Kyle! Catra's working for us because she wants to!"
"I know, that's what a lot of us thought too! But..." A look of worry crossed his face as he looked away. "She's convinced Glimmer put some sort of spell over her. I don't know why but she won't accept any other answer. She's been getting a bit moodier as of late too."
"Do you know what she's going to do to Glimmer? Is she going to be alright?!"
"S-She'll be fine, I know that for a fact! She wouldn't risk doing anything deadly to her! She needs to keep her alive. Shadow Weaver is planning to ransom her in exchange for the Queen, so there's no way Adora would risk that."
Ransom? Information about Glimmer's condition? Telling him about what Adora is planning to do about her? "Why are you telling me all of this?"
"...I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess... you're the first person who's ever listened to me." He gave a small teethe smile as he said this.
"...I mean, I am being held prisoner, so... I don't know if I have a choice, but sure!" Ok, this was off to an admittedly better start.
He doesn't know how long he was going to be stuck in this cell, and he didn't know how much time he had before the exchange occurred or if something worse happened to Glimmer. So far this Kyle guy is the only other person he's met since coming here and right now he seemed the friendliest. If listening to him a little bit and talking to him here and there was a guaranteed way to help him out of this situation, then he was willing to make some new friends.
Besides, how bad could it be to listen to someone?"
...
Exiting the guard station the three awaited as the first lift came down to them. Nodding to Perfuma and Mermista, the flower princess giving her a thumbs up of good luck, quickly boarded the mechanical bridge, waiting and watching as she started to ascend a couple floors one by one. At the same time, she took a brief glance as another bridge passed by her, watching as it waited for Mermista and Perfuma at the control center, then descended further below as they headed for the generators.
This was another one of the fun memories Catra recalled having with Adora when they were kids. On the one day these cells were empty, unaware of what happened to the prisoners themselves, they found the place to be vastly empty of guards and almost no one at the consoles. Being around seven years old at the time, what better way could they spend a day they had off of lessons and training other than playing with the lifts themselves?
Taking turns back and forth, at one point setting the lifts to work automatically, they played back and forth on the fun lifts, having fun with the lifts flying them up and down, hopping between the two lifts as they passed each other. At one point they even dared each other stick their arm out and see how long they could keep it out until the lift passed by them.
Neither of them were brave enough to keep their arm out for more than 2 floors above, and yet they still laughed at the good time they were having.
It was during the ascent that Catra came across someone she didn't expect around here, and the last person she wanted to run into again in this place of all places. "You!" Lonnie shouted angrily. Surrounding her was Rogelio and several other guards, no doubt on patrol of the prison as they kept an eye on one of the two recent prisoners.
Back at the control station, Entrapta poked her fingers as she gave a nervous smile. "Whoops... That's not right." She tried making the most of the situation as she pressed another button, only for the lift to stop as it was six feet above the floor Lonnie herself was on. Grumbling to herself, as Rogelio lowered himself, she launched from atop Rogelio's shoulder up to the platform itself, pulling out her stun baton and setting the levels to maximum voltage.
"Entrapta!" Catra called down, seeing the disadvantage she was at. She wouldn't be able to handle four guys at once with the lack of space and mobility she had. Even she was aware of that. Hearing the girl scream, she and Lonnie nearly jumped as they felt the lift beginning to ascend again.
"I got the freak, you guys get whoever's messing with the lift!" She ordered, never taking her gaze off the magicat. Catra gritted her teeth as she got her own stun baton she relieved the previous guards off of. She couldn't risk using her claws during this fight without risking the chance of Lonnie getting her in one good swing.
She made that mistake too many times during training when they were kids.
Not even caring as the others ran to the lower floors, Lonnie grinned as she twirled the stick playfully in her hands. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the freak herself."
"Mmmh I'm not a freak, Lonnie." Catra grumbled, maintaining her composure and grip on the baton.
"You're right for once. Now you're a freak and a traitor." With a mighty roar she lunged herself straight onto the magicat, pressing her baton on Catra's own with full force, keeping Catra's feet pinned to the lift. "I can't believe you were stupid enough to come back here after all this time!"
"Shut up!" With a growl, Catra pushed back on Lonnie, the girl finding herself grumbling in turn as her feet slid little by little towards the edge of the lift. "I'm not your stupid punching bag anymore, Lonnie. And I never will be again!"
"Heh, is that so?" Confused by her sudden grin, she found herself caught off guard as Lonnie grabbed her wrist, the one holding the tighter grip on the baton, and lifted Catra off her feet. Catra could easily tell Lonnie's been taking stricter training regime's ever since Adora became Force Captain. "Let's just see about that then!" With a cackle, she tossed Catra behind her, the girl rolling across the floors on one of the rows of prison cells, Catra jumping to her feet as Lonnie jumped a ways ahead of her.
"Tch, you lose a couple brain cells since I last saw you, or are you normally this stupid?" Catra taunted. This stupid girl just gave Catra the greatest advantage ever! "You had a better chance on the lifts, idiot! At least there I had less balance!" Grinning to herself, she charged head first to the girl with a baton at the ready, prepared to counter any direction she tried to attack from.
There was no way Lonnie had the advantage over her! Here she had stable footing, a solid path, and multiple levels she could leap from in case of an emergency! Lonnie on the other hand was a big hulking idiot with little to no talent whatsoever. Withholding Catra's personal view of her, she was barely a little stronger in the muscle category, and she was nowhere near as fast as Catra herself was! It was because of this method of thinking she didn't consider the ace Lonnie had up her sleeve.
Or in her pockets.
"Personally, I like my chances as is." Lonnie smirked. In one swift motion, she dug through her pockets, placed something near her mouth, and then did the one thing Catra least expected. She whistled.
*Scccccciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-!*
"Nggggghhhh!" All at once, Catra's entire body convulsed as an overwhelming ringing sensation went through her ears. Immediately dropping to the ground, she groaned internally as she covered her ears tightly, trying to drown out the wretched noise that made her body tingle in an almost paralyzing way. "W-What is that?!"
Lonnie continued as she watched the stupid cat squirming on the ground. Pulling her hand away from her mouth, she grinned. "Gotcha."
*WHAM!*
"Ghhh!" Catra yelped as she was kicked squarely in the face several feet away. With the last bits of the ringing leaving her ears, fingers twitching as feeling returned to senses again. Glaring at the smirking girl, she watched as she casually twirled a very small whistle attached to a blue string by her right finger.
"Like it? Think of it as a dog whistle, but one for very annoying cats! Adora was nice enough to listen to my idea when I suggested it to her. Do you know how much better things have gotten since you left?"
"You...!" With another scream, she lunged straight for the girl, stretching her claws out this time as she preferred leaving a few scars this time around. Unfortunately, it was met with the exact same results as Lonnie returned the whistle to her lips.
*Sccccccccciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-!*
"Gah!" What was this horrible shock this whistle was sending through her system?! Every time she heard the stupid high pitched screeching sound her entire body instantly felt heavy and numb, barely having enough feeling to bring her fingers to plug her ears weakly. Groveling on the ground before her, Lonnie sneered as she casually kicked Catra square in the stomach. "Agh!" If the kick wasn't enough to hurt her, the way the screeching was paralyzing her nerves in addition to it did.
"Oh, this is going to be fun."
...
At the same time, Rogelio was making his own way to the lower levels as he charged towards the security station, the very ones Entrapta and Sea Hawk were busy taking care of the separate lifts, trying to maintain the one bringing down the other girls. There appeared to be a lot more of them than Entrapta originally thought, the girl getting too easily distracted by the many different scientific switches and doodads here and there she came across.
It was during that instance of confusion that she ended up hitting another switch activating one of the lifts; the very one on Rogelio's level as he came across the pathway. Noticing the lift preparing to move, he grabbed the other two guards by the hands, leaping over to the lift right before it started to move. With the momentum increased and the lift heading straight downwards, still maintaining his grip on the other two, he crashed his way through the window as the guards used his body to shield from the glass, jumping from his back towards a surprised Sea Hawk and Entrapta who watched the three crash through the window.
Without getting so much as a word out, the two guards tackled the two immediately out of the way, leaving a clear path open for Rogelio to regain control of the lifts again. Checking over the module, he noticed one of the other lifts were continuing to descend, no doubt the one their friends were still on. With a growl, he pulled back on the switches, halting the lift Mermista and Perfuma were on, just eight floors from the ground.
"What was that?" Mermista asked, maintaining her balance as she and Perfuma wobbled from the sudden stop. Without getting a reply, they were met with the lift coming back to life as it started rising to the sky once again. "That's not right!" Mermista shouted upwards, trying to grab whoever's attention was raising them back to the security tower.
"Quick, grab on!" Perfuma instructed. Using the magic she could gather in a single burst, she grew several massive beanstalks from the edge of the lift, stretching them as far as she could until it finally reached the ground level itself, halting the ascension. Despite it's strong grip, the lift continued to heave and groan, making a whirring noise as it pried a massive stalk one by one.
With a nod to each other the two girls jumped along the beanstalks, sliding down it smooth and quickly as the vines and stalks continued to snap one by one. Thankfully the two were smart enough to recharge their powers before taking on this entire rescue mission, Perfuma managing to maintain most of her magic's grip on the lift long enough for them to reach the ground level, not a second too soon either as the stalks behind them immediately broke apart, turning back to watch the lift immediately shoot upwards at top speed.
Seeing the lift itself starting to pass them, Rogelio growled as he noticed the missing pair from the lift, no doubt escaping to one of the prison rows or getting off of it in the nick of time. Looking back to the upper lifts that had yet to come down, he noticed an eager Lonnie having a bit of fun with the whistle she had Adora get made for, getting an idea as he started to descend the upper lifts that were raised above them.
...
*WHACK!*
"Ough-!" Catra coughed in pain as she was kicked in the stomach for the third time.
She couldn't get an edge over her since the fight began, no opportunity to strike at her! Every time she got back to her feet, Lonnie was either looming over her or was already swatting the stun baton across her face. Whenever Catra tried to defend herself or found an opening, all Lonnie had to do was blow her whistle and almost instantly Catra would be doubled over in a paralyzing pain, the loud screeching noise sending shivers through her nerves to the point where her body wouldn't respond.
"See, like a dog whistle, it's a frequency that only you can hear." Lonne grinned, kicking the downed Catra again while walking around her. "It took me quite a bit of talking to convince Adora to get this made for me."
*WHAM!*
"Agh!"
"I kept going on and on about how I would use it defensively, to help capture you." She grinned, stepping her foot squarely on Catra's stomach.
"Ah..." Catra grunted, trying her best to push off massive boot off her stomach.
"That was a lie, of course. I had to say something to get her to do it."
"Ghhh!"
*swiff*
"Ow!" Lonnie yelped as she hopped her foot away. She let out an angry groan as she rubbed her sore leg, finding several new scratch marks that tore through her pants and into her skin, a little gift from Catra's claws as she sliced into her leg on both sides. She wasn't even given a moment to collect herself as Catra leapt back to her feet, delivering a massive kick straight across Lonnie's face, and hurdling her several feet away from her.
Slowly getting back to her feet, Catra bared her teeth at Lonnie as the girl slowly collected herself, finding the whistle missing from her hands and a few feet rolled away ahead of her. Taking a quick look back to Catra, the girl scrambled towards it as Catra charged herself towards the girl. Right before Catra could land another blow, wanting to add a new scar to Lonnie's personal life, the bully managed to grab the whistle right at the last second, blowing as hard as she could as she placed it into her mouth and sending goosebumps throughout Catra's body again.
She felt such relief as Catra dropped to the ground in pain again, unable to tolerate the cruel sounds that her ears refused to ignore. Sighing in relief, Lonnie grabbed for stun baton and jabbed it right into Catra's gullet, sending thousands of volts through her body from head to toe.
*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!*
"Aghhhhhhh!" Now on top of the horrible pain ringing in her ears, her nerves were getting shocked from every angle as the electricity coursed through her body, Lonnie smirking as she rolled over to her knees and continued to torment the poor girl.
"Doesn't feel to good, does it?" She teased. As she said this, she noticed the lift far above them starting to descend. Getting a rather fun idea forming in her mind, she grabbed Catra by the throat, continuing to tweet her whistle as hard as she could, as she dragged the downed ex-comrade over to the edge. Her grin widened as she watched the lift descend faster and faster through the air, pinning Catra's head straight over the ledge where the bridge would rip through her.
No matter how badly Catra tried, she couldn't extend her claws through the convulsions and paralysis running through her veins. Her own body was resisting her control, she was surprised she could breathe at this point. She wasn't even able to reach Lonnie's face with her claws, the girl being smart enough to distance themselves as she watched the lift continue to fall.
"I'm pretty sure Shadow Weaver will give me a good promotion for turning in your sorry hide." Lonnie commented. "I'll be a Force Captain alongside Adora for this, I'm sure. Maybe I'll even outrank her if I report it directly to Lord Hordak!" That was when Catra finally saw the approaching lift coming down, falling faster and faster as it was just six levels above of them and coming further down. Despite her best attempts to reach the girl, being weaponless from the earlier scuffle, there was no way she could get a solid hit on the girl's face, or get her claws out enough to force Lonnie off of her. The most she could do was push her head away with her hand from the bottom of her chin!
As he watched this, he was too distracted to notice how Entrapta and Sea Hawk dealt with the two guards he carried into the room with him. What might've been a somewhat challenging endeavor for Sea Hawk, seeing how he came here without a weapon against guards with stun batons, Entrapta easily managed to knock her own guard off his feet before he could retaliate with a stun baton, swiping the guard off his feet and tossing him into the other one as they both passed out from slamming into the wall.
Noticing the small clearing ahead of him, Sea Hawk dashed wildly for the lizard boy, throwing his bandana around his eyes as he pulled back as hard as he could. The lizardman was unable to see anything around him, feeling Sea Hawk wrap his legs around his torso as he held on for dear life. The ensuing struggle was enough to pull Rogelio away from the console for a short bit, long enough for Entrapta to take over as she put an immediate stop to the lifts.
Back up top, Lonnie watched with anticipation as the lift was nearing their level, right where Catra's head was firmly planted. However, just as it was about to reach the defenseless cat's head who closed her eyes out of fear, right before it was about to ensure her head came clean off, it came to a halt, right at Lonnie's eye level. Noticing the lack of head removal herself, Catra tossed one eye out again, seeing the platform one foot right above her head, finding the timing of the event beyond words could say for relief.
It was then she also noticed Lonnie's perplexed expression as she stared at the platform in mild confusion. Right before she could get her bearings, faster than she could react, Catra punted her knee right behind Lonnie's legs, pulling the girl straight forward and slamming her head against the edge of the lift, right on the bridge between her eyes.
*Thud*
"Ahhhh!" Lonne cried out in pain as she pulled herself off of Catra, squeezing the bridge of her eyes painfully. The impact was strong enough to send a shock between her entire face, leaving her in a disoriented state that Catra managed to take advantage of. In one single strike, she uppercutted Lonnie square in the face, punching the girl off of her and giving her enough time to slip her head out from under the lift, not wanting to take her chances of whether it would get up again or not.
...
"Is that the generator?" Perfuma asked as the two circled the base of the security tower for a minute.
It took a bit of time circling their way around the tower itself, seeing how the lift didn't bring them directly to the generator. Luckily for them compared to the outer rings of the floors above, the tower wasn't that hard to circle around, the two girls running in a full half-circle until they came across a strange piece of heavy machinery.
Looking back on it they realized Catra never told them what the generator looked like, though this machine seemed to fit the power. With a glowing green X in the center of what looked like a football-size battery, the machine housed nearly hundreds of different green wires, ones that housed all the way up the tower and the floors beneath their feet and towards the walls of the prison. If this wasn't what the generator looked like then there was no way they were going to find it at this rate.
"Must be." Mermista said, stepping towards the machine as she cracked her knuckles. "Heh, just give me one minute with this thing and I'll-"
"Haaaah!" Roaring with the force of mother nature itself, Perfuma shot a dozen powerful, thick, vines towards the battery-like device housed in the center of the machine, ensnaring it in a large mass of tangled vines and leaves. With a grand pull, using all of her physical strength, Perfuma heaved as she pulled the vines over her shoulder, slowly popping the wires out of the battery one by one, sending sparks flying everywhere, until the entire battery of the device ripped to shreds upon forceful ejection.
Ripped from the machine, the generator gave off a low-tone humming noise as numerous sparks and wires sparked from the cables and generator itself. All around them the living green energy slowly dimmed down to a grey dark nothingness, the power to the jail cells being dismantled
Turning back to the girl, Perfuma smiled as she raised a fist victoriously, crushing the battery just in case, as she cheered. "Haha! I did it!" Her mood of cheer and celebration was cut short as she noticed Mermista giving a small pouty face, crossing her arms as she turned away. It was then that Perfuma remembered how destroying something big was her idea to begin with. "Oh! Mermista! Did you want to rip the generator apart?"
"Yes!" She grumbled, kicking her feet a little against the dusty ground.
"I'm sorry! I-If you want, I could try to put the battery back in for a bit-"
"Don't bother, it wouldn't be the same!" She retorted puffing up her cheeks. "I get flushed on and I don't even get to blow up something big..."
"Mmmh... would you feel better if we went up to beat up some guards?"
"...Maybe..."
...
"No one's ever asked me for my help before." Kyle continued with his life's story with his teary eyes. "People don't think I can do anything right!"
"Mh-hmm. That seems tough." Bow reply, bored out of his mind as he leaned on his arm while sitting in his cell.
Oh geez, how much longer was he going to be tortured like this? Whatever pain and suffering Glimmer was going through couldn't be anywhere near as bad as this currently was. He thought if he made friends with Kyle, his problems would be over. If he somehow got Kyle to help him, it would be even better! The Rebellion could always use a welcoming defector hand, after all. All Bow had to do to cement any sort of relationship was hear Kyle prattle on for awhile about his life and struggles in the Horde.
And MAN was he regretting it!
Not two seconds did Kyle stop to take a breath for a change, having an immediate story about his life's problem, one issue after the next, one story to tie in with his previous. It always came down to how he was picked on, how he tried his hardest despite not many people acknowledging his strengths, all his constant fears of the place, and so much more that his attention span eventually dropped out and took a nap halfway through.
He wouldn't really mind his life's story either if he just gave Bow a single second to ask him a question about it! It also would help him greatly if he didn't leave off with the same problem at the end of every, with him referring to how nobody ever listened to him and how nobody ever treated him properly around here.
At the very least, he could give Bow five seconds to process a thought!
"Why am I telling you this?" Kyle asked the both of them. "I shouldn't even be here-"
*Raaaaaaaanoooooo-Raaaaanoooooo-!*
"Huh?" The two stared up at the sound of the sirens going off, seeing the place starting to flash with an eerie red light mixed in with the green.
"What is that?" Bow's question came with an immediate answer as the two of them saw an electrical spark running through the door.
By the time Kyle realized it, it was already too late. From a simple line right down the middle, a single bolt of electricity ran through the doors, slowly causing the door to dematerialize in front of the two of them in two opposite directions. From the center, piece by piece, the door began to slowly vanish and crumble, fading to a deepening shade of red before finally disappearing completely.
Noticing the strange happening that just occured, Kyle quickly turned around, panicking at the sight of everything around him. One floor after the other, row upon rows of doors were starting to short out, the barriers keeping the cellmates confined in their blocks disappearing one after the other. Many of the inmates who stepped out of these cells found themselves in a momentary state of confusion, one that lasted for but an instant, and was quickly replaced by one immediate thought soon after.
"Jailbreak!" Dozens of prisoners shouted, some in unison, some after waking up from the sound of the sirens. All around the prison hundreds of people of varying races ran out of their cells, many of them tackling a guard or two patrolling their section, and others running for their lives after helping out a fellow friend.
"No, no, no!" Kyle squeezed his head as he backed. He needed to think up a plan fast, he needed to regroup with someone! He needed to figure out what he backed into and why it felt like it was in the shape of a person. "Ack-!" He yelped, finding Bow staring him down from behind. Instead of the untold pain and misery he was going to find himself in, he was surprised to see Bow walk right passed him, the archer trying to get a grasp on the situation, and gasping at the sight.
It wasn't just a fancy wordplay or joke being thrown around. All around him nearly every floor in the prison was being opened, exposing various people running out to either flee or fight for their lives, as well as some of the more rugged variety of people tossing others away as they charged passed them. His floor alone held about five different prisoners, none of them giving him a notice as they ran around the rings of the prison, heading straight to the stairs that could lead to possible freedom.
And that wasn't the most surprising part of it!
What really shocked him was what he saw in the middle of this entire complex, as well as what he saw three floors below his.
In the center of the complex he saw what appeared to be Entrapta through the middle, the mad genius typing away as fast as her hair would let her, doing everything in her power to keep the lizard guy off of her at the same time as Sea Hawk fought him with his bare fists.
Below them he started to see an extension of numerous vines, large stalks that scaled around the multiple flowers that allowed many of the prisoners to use them as poles for a faster escape. All of this was created by an excited Perfuma who continued to climb the various levels with her magic while an angered Mermista happily beat against several guards at once, using the many water pipes running through this place to blast the guards off the levels, many of them fortunate Perfuma littered the ground with numerous bushes for safety.
And what surprised him most might've been what he saw not four floors below his. There, he saw Catra, his friend, Catra, who appeared to be fighting off another one of the cadets like Kyle, except were he was more timid, frail, and currently trying to get out of the prison to sound the second alarms, she was pounding on Catra with stun baton.
And winning.
...
"Grrrrrrr!" Entrapta grumbled as she tried to hold the giant lizard at arm's, and hair's, length. For what little time Sea Hawk managed to pull the lizard off of the console, the two soon found themselves fighting off an angered beast without any weapons to call their own, save for Entrapta's hair that was becoming more difficult to push back with. She was barely a foot away from the beast that tried to crush her with his massive jaws.
That's when he found himself grabbed by the tail, feeling two incredibly powerful hands crushing in on his tail as he was pulled directly off the scientist. With her view clear, she watched in awe as Sea Hawk began spinning the lizard around, picking up momentum and speed, and finally flinging the massive lizard straight through another glass window. The lizard was fortunate himself Sea Hawk was a surprisingly impressive thrower as the landed a floor under his current level, slamming head first to the ground.
Rogelio hissed with his lizard-like tongue as he worked his way back to his feet. A simple tug and throw wasn't going to be enough to keep this lizard down, especially with a purple-haired geek and a sea captain with a terrible-looking moustache!
Sadly fate was less than kind to him as a large siren rang throughout the prison. All around him he watched as numerous cells were being opened on separate floors in an orderly style. He was so distracted by the recent development he didn't even notice the cells behind him starting to open up to. By the time he turned around he found himself tackled to the ground by three different prisoners, all attempting to fight off the guard in order to make their escape, buying Entrapta and Sea Hawk all the time they needed.
"Wow..." Entrapta oohed, still in wonder. "That was amazing Sea Hawk!" She was legitimately impressed in all honesty. Not many people can say they flung a creature nearly three times their size and weight off the ground and through the air like that.
The proud captain smiled triumphantly as he clapped his hands clear of dust. "That was nothing. I've been forced to wrestle a shark off of people on at least three occasions during my time on land."
"Wow!... Wait, did you say "on land"?" Entrapta asked curiously as she went back to the module.
"Well, the cantinas tend to get very rough sometimes when you're playing card games..." He mumbled regretfully to himself, rubbing the back of his head. "Especially when they find out how you keep winning twenty matches in a row..." Moving on, he ran over to the module too as he looked around the prison itself. All around him prisoners were running or fighting for their as they tried to escape. "It would seem Mermista and Perfuma finished their part of the mission."
"And according to this, just about all the cells have been vacated." Smiling, she worked her scientific knowhow as she sent several lifts across the prison. "I'm sending the lifts up to Bow and Catra and down to Mermista and Perfuma. Once we collect everyone and Glimmer, we'll be home free!"
...
*wham*
"Ugh..." Catra groaned as she was thrown to the ground for possibly the fifth time by this point.
She couldn't beat her. She couldn't get anywhere close to her since getting her off of her from the lift. After managing to bash the girl away, Lonnie hasn't even dropped that stupid whistle from her mouth, and it was starting to affect Catra on a more permanent basis. Her body was getting a little sluggish, her sight waved here and there. She didn't know if it was from the beatings she was taking or the whistle constantly ringing in her ears, and it didn't matter at this point.
"You know I never did see what Adora saw in you." Lonnie continued to taunt. "You were lazy, you were incompetent, and you got Adora into just as much trouble as yourself."
"Been there, heard that." Catra muttered, rushing the girl again.
*Sccccccccciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-!*
"Eggghhhh!" This time was no exception as Catra's body shook violently, dropping straight to her knees mid-run as she clamped her ears shut tightly.
"Worst of all, you never knew when to quit." With a winning smile, Lonne raised her baton high in the air, ready to land a finishing blow that would knock Catra out for good. "I almost wish I got to see what Shadow Weaver did to you after this, but oh well."
*Raaaaaaaanoooooo-Raaaaanoooooo-!*
"Huh?" Lonnie raised her head as she heard the sound of the strange sirens going off. This wasn't like the normal one that was met with an instantly flashing red light, this one was mixed with a flashing green and red light, while also having a different pitch at the same time.
That's when she saw the same thing Kyle was seeing a few floors above her. Starting from the bottom of the prison, one row after the other, the cells began to dissipate on each and every floor, slowly working their way to their floor and continuing onwards. "What did you do?!"
Catra watched for herself as the floors began to flood with anywhere between five to ten people a floor, everyone scrambling or fighting back against any of the nearby guards that happened upon them after a resounding "Jailbreak" was announced. It didn't matter to her at this point if there was a lack of signal, no doubt something forced the others to destroy the generator. All that mattered to her was the opening it gave her.
"Hrrrgggggghhhhhh!" Catra growled, leaping straight for Lonnie's throat with her bare claws.
*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!*
"Ahhhhhhhh!" It wasn't Lonnie's unfortunate scream that was resounding near them. It was Catra's. The girl was so certain Lonnie let her guard down for an instant that she didn't anticipate her hasty reaction, striking back at the magicat square in the stomach with her baton right as Catra's claw had reached her neck.
"You didn't really think that would work, did you?" Sneering as she pulled back the baton and beat her fist against Catra's face, toppling the girl straight to the ground and throwing her to the ground again. She snickered at the sight of the girl weakly getting to her hands and knees again, her tail limping almost as bad as the rest of her body was. "You really never learn, do you? Geez, and I thought after awhile you would've picked up on some-" Lonnie froze as she noticed something missing around her neck, all while she heard a small chuckle coming from the bruised and battered Catra who made her way to her feet.
"Oh, trust me. I picked up something alright." She grinned, opening her palms wide enough to give Lonnie a pleasant view of what she had picked up.
It was the whistle she had tied around her neck, now in the palm of the last person who should have it.
"Catra, don't-"
*crunch*
Did she seriously think that was going to happen? If she politely asked her not to that she wasn't going to bring herself to crush the small whistle in her open palms. "Whoops, my fingers slipped." Catra joked, tilting her hand enough to let the bits and pieces of the broken whistle fall in front of her. In a single breath, Lonnie watched as Catra extended the claws out of her hand, the girl lowering her brow as she glared at her everlasting tormentor. "Now THIS is going to be fun!"
Without giving Lonnie a chance to process the small hiss that followed it, Catra practically teleported between the two feet in front of them in her mad dash, slamming a long-deserved fist right into Lonnie's stomach that she's been waiting so long to give her. The bully found herself knocked right off her feet, dropping her Baton in the process, as she was flung through the air two entire cells away from Catra.
It wasn't anything the girl couldn't power through as she immediately rolled back to her feet, thankful Adora's increased training had her amply prepared for a fight like this. Unfortunately for her, prepared was the farthest thing she was from as she was met with an angered magicat diving right at her, smacking her across the face as she passed her.
Catra didn't give her a single second of relief as she continued her relentless assault, passing Lonnie at every opportunity that the girl managed to collect herself. From the back, to the side, forward, backward, as well as her knees and arms, Catra scratched and slammed away at each of her limbs. Disorienting the girl enough, Catra knew this is one of the few things she's always wanted in her life as she headbutted the girl straight against her tiara.
Revenge.
For every prank she pulled, Catra kicked her in the stomach. For every cruelty inflicted upon her, Catra punched her in the face. She was not holding back against this girl now that she had the opportunity to do so. It didn't matter to her if she was rushing this fight as fast as she could. She was savoring every delicious blow she dealt to her second worst tormentor, uppercutting her again before her knees could even drop to the floor, flattening her onto her back.
If she had to give any compliments to the girl, it was that she still managed to get back to her feet after everything Catra had done to her, though it was clear she was exhausted and out of breath, with several scratches across her ripped sleeves and a small cut on her lower lip. There was no way she was going to make a comeback herself.
"Catra!" She heard Bow calling out, letting out a small gasp herself as she saw Bow coming down to her level on one of the lifts.
"Bow? Ah-!" She let out a small yelp as she found the archer throwing his arms tightly around her, unaware of the injuries she's sustained to this point.
"Thank goodness! You're all right!" Finally! A bit of good news he was given around here!
"Ack-! Hey hey, easy! Easy!" Catra yelped, trying to wriggle her way out until he finally let go.
"Oh, right, sorry." He smiled apologetically. "I forgot, still not buddy-buddy yet or anything. I'm just... glad you're okay..." For the first time, the announcement of that actually made her frown. He made it sound like she still hated him along with Glimmer, like she still didn't see the two eye-to-eye. Even if she wasn't exactly that comfortable with saying it out loud as of yet, it's not like she wasn't happy or relieved to see he was okay either.
With a minor blush, shifting her eyes away as she scratched her head, she spoke. "W-Well, I mean... It's not like I'm unhappy you're okay or anything..." She mumbled, almost shocking Bow with what he was hearing he was so surprised. "I mean... I'm, well... you know... glad you're okay too and all..."
No. Freaking. Way. There was no way he could believe what he had just heard and what he had just witnessed. For the first official time since meeting Catra, there wasn't one hint of sarcasm, no lead up to a joke, no amount of wordplay or manipulations behind anything she just said. She had, in fact, not even kidding here, just said the very first legitimate positive thing about him and/or Glimmer.
And he didn't even do anything yet to earn it!
"...Wow..."
"S-Shut uuup..." Catra mumbled blushing deeper. "You think this is any easier for me?
"Heh, right..." He knew what this was like for someone like her, after all the hardships and troubles she had just to get to this level of kindness. At this point in the relationship the three friends shared, she could take as much time as she needed for all he cared. Turning back to the weakened Horde soldier, he nudged her with his elbow to get her attention. "What do you want to do about her?"
Checking at the glaring Horde soldier too, assuming how many minutes were left before the backup generator kicked in for the cells, she grinned.
"I have an idea..."
...
*THUD!*
"Ah!" Lonnie cried out as she was tossed to the cold metallic floor. Glaring back at the two, she grumbled furiously as she saw Catra smirking by the doorway, looking all calm and peaceful as she grinned to her with her hands behind her head. "Youuuu!" She wasn't going to let Catra get away with this! It didn't matter to her if she now had someone else at her back, she would take them both on if it was the last thing she did-!
*Bzzzt!*
"Ahhh!" Lonne cried again as she was blasted back into the cell. To her horror, in front of the two, now stood a fully solidified barrier, one that ensured she couldn't escape. It didn't matter how many times she got back to her feet, slamming on the cell door itself, the barrier wouldn't budge an inch. She pounded away with her fist time and again, all while Catra let out a bored yawn at the show in front of her.
"Awwwwhn. Perfect timing on the barrier." She teased.
"Come on, let's get back to the lift and get out of here." Bow suggested, already taking his own advice as he jogged towards the lift.
"Eh, you go on ahead, I need one sec." Catra replied, giving a small annoyed look back to Lonnie who continued to glare at her.
It was just like that day in almost every detail. The day Catra wanted to be friends with her, the day she thought she was going to take part of some grand initiation plan, and watched how it all crumbled in front of her in a horrible shatter of reality. All because of what Lonnie did.
And now, they were right back where they were almost a decade ago, this time on completely opposite sides.
"Hmm..." Catra hummed loud enough for the girl to hear, looking over the control panel on the side of the door. "Now if I remember, one of these buttons started some grand initiation we did when we were kids, right?" She didn't bother to look as Lonnie's face filled with fear and dread, having a clear picture of what Catra was about to do.
"N-No, wait! Catra, please!" Lonnie begged, sliding to her knees. "Don't!"
"I think it was... ah, here it was." She gave off the proudest smirk she ever could to the girl. "Have fun in solitude."
"No, please! IHATETHEDARK-!"
*Thud*
"..." For some reason, the intense amount of amusement she was about to get out of this grand dose of irony was brought to a halt as Lonnie uttered those last few words, right before the metallic doors sealed her away in a never ending darkness, the same one she practically threw her in all those years ago. "..." She still remained silent, opting to pull open a small foot long panel that was used to deliver food to the prisoners when they were subjected to the Hole as punishment.
It didn't make sense to her as she saw it. Here she was. Lonnie. Former bully, tormentor, and person who nearly made her lose her head, kneeling on the ground in front of her so that all Catra could see were her eyes. She sputtered those last few words of fear out of her thinking Catra would've cared, trying to play whatever last minute trick she could get out of her for her own amusement.
And yet, she didn't seem the least bit amused. Here, right in front of her, Catra could see it. Tears. A pure stream of tears rolling down Lonnie's eyes, the girl looking terrified beyond her wildest nightmares, as the prospect of being trapped in terrifying darkness reached her. She was looking at the bully who subjected her to the pitch black room all those years ago getting a taste of her own medicine, and she was now crying her eyes out for the few seconds she was in total darkness.
What did she expect? Did she expect Catra's forgiveness for all those years of hate and abuse? Did she think she would take pity on the girl who harassed her constantly, all because she was scared of the pitch darkness like Catra was as a child? Did she really expect some sort of mercy out of her?!
"Please..." Lonnie sniffled, looking into Catra's loathing eyes. "Just keep the latch open... don't put me in the dark..." What was she expecting at this point? This was Catra she was talking to. The traitor, the defector. The person who thought she was always the victim and never took responsibility for her own pranks and mischief she pulled on everyone else. The troublemaker who would pick on other people herself if they bugged her out of nowhere, and the one who always goofed off from her duties.
If this stupid cell had an incineration function to it, she was positive Catra would press it on a heartbeat. So why did she think asking for mercy of all things was going to help? She just exposed her greatest fear of being in perfect darkness like this to the person she nearly tried to kill a minute ago, and that's not including all the years of torment she inflicted upon her. This was her chance. Her moment of revenge. Her opportunity of justifiable payback.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Huff..." Catra shook her head of all the irritation she was getting out of this. "You're not even worth it." With those five words, Catra walked away, leaving the hatch open wide enough to let a small beam of light fill the darkened room. Lonnie herself blinked madly, unable to comprehend what she had witnessed. Catra... THE Catra... just did the last thing she had ever expected her to do for someone like Lonnie.
Something nice.
"...Thank you..." She muttered, sniffling. She saw it for herself and she was still in disbelief.
Catra truly has changed...
...
"You guys! You're all here!" Entrapta announced happily, watching as Catra and Bow had arrived to the security station from above as Mermista and Perfuma arrived shortly after from the lift down below.
"It's wonderful to see you again, Bow!" Perfuma ran over hugging him tightly, relieved one of her two captured allies were alright.
"It's good to see you guys too." Bow replied, hugging back.
"It's good to see you back on your feet after all this, lad." Sea Hawk smiled, patting his shoulder. "I don't want to imagine what you might've been through till now."
"Honestly, I'm alright. It's Glimmer we need to worry about-"
"Pffft, relax, how hard can it be?" Catra said shrugging casually. "Even if little miss princess somehow slept through all of this, we'll just run up to the cells to get her." She smiled a little looking as high as she possibly could towards the ceiling. "Any idea what floor she's on?"
"Catra, you..." She turned back as he placed a hand over her shoulder, a twinge of worry emanating through his eyes. "You don't understand. Glimmer's not around here."
"Then... where is she?" At the sight of his frown, Catra's heart sank a little before she even heard what he had to say.
"Shadow Weaver brought her to the Black Garnet chamber... and she's being interrogated by Adora."
...
...
...
A/N: For those of you wondering, yes, I do happen to have a future reasoning/explanation for Lonnie's fear of the dark playing into a future episode (possibly season 2). But for now still hope you guys had fun regardless. Next episode is going to be the second last to last chapter of this episode, at which point I hope the rest of you have fun with either way ^^
Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!