Word Count: 12.7k Pre-A/N's
A/N: Yes people, you're seeing it right here! Not a mirage of any sort, and you're not hallucinating, this is indeed another update by yours truly. I meant what I said- you guys really cheered me up when the depression was hitting, and the wonderful reviews I've gotten have done so much to lift my spirits, so thanks again ^^
Will admit off the bat, the beginning of this might seem a bit rushed. Honestly, the first half of this i was originally planning to add to the last chapter, but I had a family dinner later in the evening so my time was cut short. So, hopefully extending this bit here will make up for the last shortness ^^ Will also comment been in kind of a funk here and there, what with coming back to the writing, so again, writing most likely won't be at it's best. Regardless, I'll continue to supply those who can look past it with fun and exciting chapters that are to come!
So with that said, enjoy!
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...
...
*tap*
"Mmh..." Catra moaned as it failed again.
*tap*
"Stupid..."
*tap*
"Ugh..." Well this day was turning into more of a pain than she expected. And considering her expectations were already close to the bottom, that was saying a lot.
At first, the day was starting out as any other of her training days, and for a change, it was actually going well! After the mayhem that occurred from battling the Horde's new Orbko, Catra had obtained another piece of her She-Ra form, and the power that came with it. She felt newly enhanced as her strength and her speed had increased, and had managed to finish her previous training regime in record time thanks to it!
That was the upside of her day.
So, naturally, everything would have to go downhill from the moment she started thinking positively. Mere seconds after finishing her day's training, she was looking forward to the next part of her training as She-Ra, right up until the moment she realized what that training would pertain; training with Swift Wind. She didn't know what the training would contain, nor what exercises she would have to go through, and for the time being, she wasn't going to.
Not ten seconds after Light Hope's announcement did she start to go a little haywire, glitching and freezing in spot even in mid-sentence. With Swift Wind's insistence, thanks to Light Hope's indication, the two set off to find a certain tower within Etheria that would increase her capabilities tenfold, and help her run her programs more smoothly. In short, it would give Catra the chance to continue more of her training and get right back to seeing just how far her newly enhanced She-Ra form could go. There was just one small addition to this dilemma that put her in a dower mood.
The Horse himself.
In fairness, she didn't really dislike the horse herself or anything. He was friendly, he was eager to help Catra and her friends wherever she went, and he was willing to fly her off to whatever adventure required her attention. Those were the aspects she could tolerate.
What she couldn't put up with was his constantly-upbeat attitude, the fact he was actually capable of talking to everyone, which really got under her skin at times, and the worst part of all, the fact he could get a glimpse into Catra's mind and get a sense of her emotions. If there was one rule she had, no matter who was involved, it was never to get involved in Catra's personal business, especially what was going on in her own mind. She wasn't the type to share her feelings with anyone, and she wasn't about to change that aspect anytime soon, even for him.
She was willing to work with him, and she was willing to put up with his, admittedly, numerous annoyances just fine as long as he didn't start poking his snout into her personal business. But at the very least, was it too hard to ask him to give her five minutes of silence and peace?!
Ever since the two came across the tower's location, it was nonstop annoyance! When she tried to search for the tower, he butted in and kept insisting they searched together. When she tried to ignore whatever emotions he was sensing from him, he had to go off and list any and all possible issues that were plaguing her mind, even ones she was trying to keep down herself and forget about. And, when she finally realized the tower was shattered into pieces, he kept going on about the possible solutions to fix the tower, or suggested doing more "loop-de-loops" like their lives depended on it.
Not once in her life had she ever been so thankful for the downfall of rain that came a short while ago. Well, perhaps thankful was putting it too strongly, but she was at least glad she had some semblance of quiet between the two of them as they waited for the rain to stop. Sitting under one of the many floating boulders, Swift Wind blinked as he kept looking back and forth between the storm and the She-Ra sitting right next to him.
This was the only boulder close enough to the ground that kept a majority of the rain from falling on them. Unfortunately, it was also only wide enough for one of them to sit under, which made it really confusing for him when Catra refused to sit under it herself. She just kept trying to morph the sword for the last five minutes into something that could cover her from the rain, like an umbrella or something.
He had to admit, there were times he couldn't really understand her. Then again, there were a lot of things he was growing accustomed to since he was magically transformed into a talking winged Pegasus with an attunement to the Sword of Protection. Why was she so insistent in declining his offers to help? Why did she prefer to do the work all alone? He clearly understood that they were a team based on what Light Hope said, so why didn't she?
At the very least, she could've accepted the offer stay under the boulder till the rainstorm was over. He didn't mind if it meant he would get wet, heck, he could find another boulder with ease, especially with his ability to fly. Yet, like everything else she did, she insisted on trying to fix everything by herself, or at the very least, practice transforming her sword into a useful tool in an attempt to train and master She-Ra's power.
And if the last ten minutes of her failing to transform the sword into anything remotely useful to provide cover was any indication, it was not going well.
"For the love of...Ughhh!" With a deep, drawn out, groan, she tossed the sword a good five feet away before burying her head into her curled up legs. At least with her current She-Ra state, she wasn't as sensitive to the water as she used to be. Even better, she didn't feel any sense of coldness that came from the freezing rain. Now if she could make it so she didn't feel any of the water at all, that would be a much bigger improvement. All she could do now was wait for the rain to finish so she could get back to restoring the tower, however she was going to accomplish that.
*flap*
And there he goes again, insisting on helping her in any way possible. In this case, he unfurled his left wing to provide her with adequate protection from the rain. Looking up at the sudden cover hovering over her, she gaze a small glance over to the smiling horse who was all too happy to provide any form of support to her, before turning her head away with a bit of a mellow frown.
She would never openly admit it, and she hoped that he wouldn't be able to sense it from her, but she couldn't help but feel a little bit of appreciation for it, despite insisting she could solve her own problems.
At least he has his usefulness...
...
...
*pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-*
Okay. So let's check off the numerous things that occurred to make Glimmer's end of the day a total nightmare.
First, there was the announcement that Entrapta was still alive. That alone sent enough shock to Glimmer to last a life time, both, out of surprise and happiness, and shock and guilt. She was overjoyed to know she was still alive after all this time, but was devastated at the realization that she was a (presumed) prisoner of the Horde after all this time, forced to make their technologies against her will. There was no telling how much she's had to endure since becoming captive, only that if Catra ever found out, it could traumatize her worst of all.
Secondly, there was their two-maned mission to the Horde-occupied city of Dryl in her and Bow's attempt to rescue the poor scientist. To say things didn't go smoothly would be a gross exaggeration. They couldn't find Entrapta, ended up getting lost and confused from her maze-like citadel all over again, were found by none other than Scorpia and Adora herself, had a brawl, and instead of getting their braniac friend back, they were stuck with a commander who was currently resting within the cave they found in a corner of the woods as they continued to wait out the rain.
That brought them up to the third irritation of Glimmer's nightmare of a day. For the last half hour, they were stuck with an obnoxious second-in-command of the Horde who went out of her way to make their day from bad to worse. She threw them off their previous path on the cliffs, went out of her way to push Glimmer away so she could look like a hero to Bow for some reason, and, most annoyingly of all, was now in a state of seeming pain and turmoil as she struggled with the intense fever she was suffering.
If it wasn't for the amount of torture she put Glimmer through, the princess would've been more than willing to spare any sympathy for her.
That's where the last issue of their day came in, and to Glimmer's surprise, it was from Bow of all people. After everything they've been through, despite Glimmer's insistence, he had a genuine sense of care and worry for the commander, even convincing Glimmer to wait out the storm so she could get some rest.
It's not like she couldn't understand, of course. After all, to him, Adora did attempt to save them from the raging waterfall Glimmer teleported them near, and she's been pretty open and chatty with Bow since the two took her hostage in the hopes of an exchange for Entrapta.
And, given the current state Adora was in, resting by a fire in the middle of the cave while suffering through her fever, she couldn't say she blamed him. How could she? Just looking back at her, even Glimmer had to admit she was a little hard to look at. Her was was entirely flushed from cheek-to-cheek, and it was hard to look at the black veins running along the edges of Adora's face. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, they just knew she was in no position to be moving for the time being.
She just wished Bow wasn't so eager to give a chance to someone who literally tortured Glimmer in the Fright Zone.
*squish*
Looking back at the entrance, she gave a silent greeting to the very archer as he made his way back into the cave, squeezing a small white rag that he always carried with him.
"Hey Glimmer, is she doing okay?" He asked as he made his way over to the feverish Horde.
"About the same as she was five minutes ago." Glimmer had to force herself to repress any sarcastic or moody tone as she replied. It's not like she wouldn't have worried about any other captured soldier of the Horde, it's just... well... it was just hard to do so with someone like Adora! A part of her was even struggling to watch someone like Bow help Adora this much after all that's happened.
Kneeling down at the girl's side, Bow checked her fever once more before placing the moistened rag upon her forehead. There was no telling what exactly was causing the girl's fever, just that the black veins had to be a part of it. Since they appeared, the flush around her face had darkened and spread, and the more dark magic she used, the faster the veins grew along her skin. He didn't have a definitive understanding of what was causing her feverish state, but it didn't mean he wasn't allowed to show the same compassion the Rebellion showed the other Horde soldiers.
"Ngh..." Adora moaned as she weakly opened her eyes a little. She could barely move without feeling like something was stabbing into her veins, and she could barely keep her vision focused without Bow looking like he was splitting back and forth between one and two people.
"Just take it easy, you're still burning up." Bow stated, smoothing out the rag over her head.
"Heh... Heh..." Her voice rasped as she chuckled. "Guess not everyone... from the Rebellion's so bad..." Her comment came with a small smile from Bow before she closed her eyes again.
"Give me a break..." Glimmer muttered, pinching the bridge between her nose. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" Making her way over, the princess casually pulled Bow by the arm as she distanced the two of them a little further in the cave. "Would you stop being so friendly with her? Don't forget who she is!" She whispered to avoid prying ears.
"Glimmer, I know you have issues with her, but you don't need to worry." Bow assured, looking back to the weak commander. "She's not dangerous right now, and she's in no position to attack us." He reminded, gesturing to the bonds that were still around Adora's wrists.
"That's not the point. She's been up to something since we abducted her. Do you think everything on the cliffs was just an accident?!"
"Even if it wasn't, she wasn't responsible for putting us in the river."
"S-So you're saying that was my fault?" Bow quickly regretted his words as he waved his hands back and forth.
"No, that's not what I meant. I'm just saying, she was trying to make up for it after and tried to save us."
"You mean save you!" She corrected with a small glare. "She dragged me under the water to keep me from helping in the first place!"
"Well... Maybe it was an accident?" It almost baffled Glimmer that she was having this conversation as she leaned against the cave's wall by her right shoulder. "Even if she did do it on purpose, you know I wouldn't have left you behind regardless."
"That's not the point, Bow. You've been way too trusting with her since we captured her. Why can't you trust me in what I'm saying?"
"I do trust you, Glimmer. I'm just thinking about how this could help the Rebellion more if we got Adora on our side." That was the very dilemma at the crux of the matter.
No matter how much Glimmer argued her cases, even she couldn't deny that getting Adora to join the Rebellion could help them turn the war in their favor, if not guarantee their victory. She was Hordak's second-in-command, she had info on the inner workings of the Horde, and knew how everything worked from the inside out. She knew what kind of strategies the Horde employed, what technology they were creating, everything! And that wasn't even the biggest driving factor of Bow's argument.
There was Catra, Adora's former friend. Since the days leading to the Battle of Bright Moon and everything after, they had nothing short of a falling out. Catra couldn't get that day out of her head, or the events leading up to it. To rediscover herself and realize what she had done throughout their childhood, to Adora cutting off any and all ties with her former friends and pushing Catra to do the very same. There were no ends to the scars created between the two, both physically and emotionally.
So what would happen if they could patch them up?
Glimmer had to admit, an opportunity to help Catra achieve She-Ra's true form would benefit the Rebellion greatly, and that required Catra understanding a semblance of peace. What better way was there for her to achieve this sense than by making amends with Adora? And the help she could provide with everything the Horde's been up to is overwhelming! She could identify all the weaknesses the Horde had, every method to exploit the Horde of their various strengths and weaknesses. Add on to the fact Adora seemed to be magical like Glimmer and the other princesses were, and her help would be tremendous!
And yet, there was still the one underlining problem behind all of this: it required Adora herself. The very one was convinced the Rebellion was evil to no end, and the one who tortured Glimmer all those weeks ago.
"Don't you think if there's a chance to fix everything, then we should take it?" Bow continued, reaching out for his friend. "We could fix everything, Glimmer, and Catra could finally be happy-"
"I said no!" Glimmer yelled, slapping his hand away. She couldn't push aside the small look of anger growing on her face as she stared at him. "It's too risky, Bow! There's no way someone like her would change!"
"I get that, Glimmer, but if we just gave her a chance-" His insistence fell on deaf ears as she continued to march towards him.
"Give her a chance? There's no giving a chance to someone like her! The minute we let our guard down around her she's going to betray us!"
"We don't know that-"
"We DO know that, Bow!" She was officially shouting at this point. "This conversation is stupid, trusting her is stupid, this idea of yours is stupid-! Mmph!" Glimmer tried to quickly clasped her hands over her mouth before she finished that sentence, but it was already too late. The damage was done.
The look of surprise that the both of them shared was soon dashed as one of anger and hurt overtook Bow's expression, the archer giving off a small glare to her before walking back over to Adora, sitting next to the sleeping girl by the fire and patting her head, checking on her. Even as she silently reached for him before he sat down, Glimmer already knew it was pointless.
All the anger this day had brought, all the irritation that Adora had brought her, all of it had finally taken its toll on the Princess, who took all of her frustration out on her close friend. She was going to say everything about this, even Bow, was stupid, and honestly, she didn't blame Bow in the slightest for his reaction. It was all too deserving after all the arguing the two have been doing since Adora came into the picture.
The princess of Bright Moon struggled a little as her eyes wavered, almost beginning to tear up, before she shook her head in frustration. Pounding it lightly against the cave's walls, she moaned to herself as she sat alongside a pair of large rocks in the back of the cave, contemplating everything that had just transpired today.
They didn't find Entrapta, they ended up abducting a commander, they had to put up with her for the entire morning so far, she did everything to get under Glimmer's skin, most likely intentionally at this rate, and even though she was more than aware of it, Glimmer took the bait as she let her emotions get the better of her, and now took it out on her best friend. Whether or not that was a part of Adora's plan, she only had herself to blame.
With the way this day was going, she wondered how she was going to make it up to her friend. And before she closed her eyes to rest, she worried if she was going to have a friend left before this day was over.
...
...
"Geeeehhhhh! This is bad!" Scorpia moaned as she squeezed her head, walking back and forth in front of the castle's entrance as Lonne and Rogelio watched. "There's no sign of Adora, we don't have any idea where she is, she hasn't recharged her powers in who knows how long-! Ghhhhhhhh!" Her panicking worsened upon the realization. "Oh gosh, when was the last time she recharged?!"
"Yesterday?" Lonnie reminded with a shrug.
"Ahhhhh, it doesn't matter! If she's used her powers too much, there's no telling what'll happen to her! She could be sick, or dying, or worse! Even-!" As she continued to prattle on, Lonnie leaned over to Rogelio with a questioning look.
"What could be worse than dying?" She whispered, earning a silent shrug from the reptile. She had to admit it was rather humorous watching Scorpia panicking as she paced back and forth about a commander she knew could take care of herself, but even she was beginning to feel sorry for the Force Captain who wouldn't stop panicking. "H-Hey, uhh... Scorpia?"
"She probably hasn't eaten, she could be in the middle of a stress-induced coma, oh gosh, please tell me she's been drinking water!" The captain begged to the lords above, collapsing to her knees.
"Scorpia!"
"What!" She nearly screeched, squeezing Lonnie's arms and staring into her eyes widely.
"...I'm pretty sure if you're worried, you can check in with Entrapta and see what she thinks."
"..."
*crunch!*
"Ghhhh!" Lonnie squealed in pain as she felt have of her bones crunching under Scorpia's immense hug.
"Lonnie, you're a genius!" Scorpia beamed, just as quickly dropping the girl as she brought out her own tracker pad. She didn't waste a single moment tapping on the controls in a mad rush, begging whatever genius was responsible for its connection to hurry up and connect her to Entrapta. "Entraptaaaaa! 'Trapta! 'Trapta! 'Trapta! 'Trapta! 'Trapta-!"
*click*
"Huh? Oh, hey Scorpia! What's up?" The perky scientist greeted back through the console as she lifted her mask.
"Adora's missing!" Scorpia blurted out. "I don't know where she is, she hasn't tried to make contact with any of us since the princess and her friend show in, and I'm starting to get really, really, worried!"
"Adora's missing?" Entrapta repeated curiously. Without missing a beat, the scientist casually typed into the console off screen, overlooking her data thoroughly. "Hmm... well according to my readings, she's doing fine, and her health's not in any immediate danger."
"Oh, thank goodne-!" Scorpia cut herself off mid-sentence as she blinked. "Wait. You can tell how she's doing from your end?"
"Mh-hm! With the machine she's been using to recharge her powers, I've been able to keep a connection on her and her health. I've used it to monitor her vitals and study the effects her magic has been having on her body. For the most part, she's doing fine, although she seems to be in the middle of a fever."
"Wha-?! Oh gosh, what are those people doing to her?!" There were hundreds of horrific scenarios going on through Scorpia's mind as she spoke. How cruel could the Rebellion be to put Adora through whatever pain and misery she was currently suffering?! "We need to contact Hordak! Get posters up! Send an army or something! And-!"
"Scorpia, Scopira! Relax!" Entrapta shushed calmly, the look of peace never leaving her face. "She's doing fine right now, and I guarantee she'll get better when this baby arrives." She stated, proudly showing whatever newest invention she created within the confines of a box being held by a small flying droid.
"Oh! You've made her something to help her!" Scorpia's beaming expression just as quickly turned to confusion as she tilted her head. "What is it?"
"A temporary measure to ensure Adora will be okay when you find her. Just have her put this baby on, and she should be back to her old self for awhile, at least long enough for her to get back to the Fright Zone to recharge." With a small pet to the droid hovering through the screen, the scientist gave it a small wave as the droid carried the package off screen, presumably to wherever Scorpia was at the time.
"Ahh! Entrapta, you're amazing!" Scorpia squealed, finally feeling some relief after the last several hours of panicking. When the Rebellion showed up, things were bad. When Adora went missing after chasing them, it was worse. Now she finally had a moment to relax for herself and collect her thoughts if- "Wait. How long will it take that thing to get over here?"
"Assuming you don't move from your current location? About an hour." She stated.
"And with the rain?" Lonnie butted in, looking at the screen.
"Oh... an hour and two minutes."
"An hour and two minutes?!" Why did everything have to get worse for Scorpia before it got any better? "We can't wait an hour, Entrapta! The Rebellion could've gotten their hands on her, and who knows what they could have in store for her!"
"It'll be alright, Scorpia." The assurance that came from the scientist didn't feel as genuine as a large piece of equipment from behind her could be seen getting knocked over by Emily. "My scans show she's currently resting wherever she is. With a few minutes, I can get a reading on her exact location and send them to you. But you can't go anywhere until that droid gets there with the package. Adora's going to need it if she's been fighting as much as my readings are saying."
"Uggghhhh! How can you ask me to stand around while Adora's out there, though? They could be torturing her for all we know!"
"Hmmm highly doubtful. If she was in any state of torture, her heart monitor would be going berserk right now. Chances are they can't afford to move her in the rain, so I'm sure they're waiting somewhere for the storm to pass... unless she's just really good at taking her torture."
"Mmmmmhhhhh!" Scorpia moaned to herself as she rubbed her scalp with her free claw. She's never been so conflicted between two heavy-handed choices: either run off in a random direction and hope she miraculously finds Adora, with a fat chance of that failing, or wait around for some droid to appear with possibly-life-saving technology made by Entrapta, during which time the Rebellion could be moving further away and closer to Bright Moon?
Why couldn't she have a choice where she finds her best friend and they go back home and be done with this day?
"Are you sure she'll be okay?" Scorpia asked almost begfully.
"Of course, Scorpia. My technology has never proved me wrong~"
*Rrrrrrrrng*
*Rrrrrrrrng*
"F-Fire! FIRE!" Kyle could be heard shouting in the background as a red warning siren flared off behind the cheeky scientist. The purple-haired inventor simply blinked in curiosity as a billow of smoke could be seen growing from the left side of the screen, adding more fuel to the fire of worry crossing Scorpia's mind.
"What is that? What's going on?"
"Thaaaaat's a completely unrelated technological fire. Gotta go!" She announced, reaching for something above Scorpia's point of view.
"No, wait-!"
*click*
All Scorpia was met with was her own saddened face greeting her as the connection was cut from Entrapta's end. With her friend missing and Entrapta being the only reliable source of information at this point, she had to keep calm. She was a scientist, a great one at that, so surely she knew what she was doing! And, thankfully, it did well to calm Scorpia's nerves as she stared off into the rain, awaiting Entrapta's package.
...Until she started wondering if it would make Adora burst into flames...
...
...
"Mmmh..." Glimmer mumbled as her eyes slowly fluttered awake. Judging by the sunlight that woke her, the storm had finally past, and the time to rest was well over. She mumbled to herself as she rose to her feet, stretching her arms on both sides as she prepared herself for the rest of their trek through the woods. She had a number of personal goals she made to herself as she gazed over at the doused fire.
Step 1: make amends with Bow. That was the first and foremost of her goals. She needed to apologize to him no matter what, even if he still wasn't in the mood to talk.
Step 2: try to reason with Bow. Adora was at the front of this matter, and she was going to come up in the conversation one way or another. She needed to either find a way to convince Bow from this foolish optimism, or at the very least, find a compromise with Bow that he would agree to. It was impossible to say if his plan really was foolish, or if her own stubbornness about her past with Adora was getting in the way of her line of thinking. All she knew was that she needed to find some common ground with Bow, hopefully one he would happily agree to.
Step 3: Figure out where they went. They could've gone anywhere-
Wait. Glimmer rubbed her eyes again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Then she rubbed them again. And a third time for good measure. "Bow?" She called out in the hopes of a response, turning around and back through the cave to see if they were possibly behind her.
Nada.
They weren't anywhere. Bow was missing from the spot where he sat by the resting Adora, and, more importantly, Adora, the only bargaining chip they had to ensure they'd get Entrapta back, was gone too! All at once, every conceivable warning light was flashing in Glimmer's mind as she rushed out of the cave, looking all around in panic.
"Bow? Booow!" Glimmer cried out, gazing around. Did he chase after Adora? Did Adora actually regain her powers and kidnap Bow while she slept? Or did something possibly worse happen?! She took her eyes off them for a brief nap, and to find the two missing with hundreds of possible scenarios explaining why? It was the worst feeling ever. A catastrophe. Terrifying.
"Booow! ...Adora?" She called out again in worry. She pinched herself to confirm if she was even awake at this point, and the results were regretful. She doesn't know when they could've taken off, it could've been sometime during the rainstorm itself or shortly before Glimmer woke up. She doesn't know which direction they went in, and thanks to the wet ground, any of their tracks would be covered at this point. And, most frustrating of all, she doesn't know what Adora could've done with Bow. She could've taken him to the Horde, captured him in turn.
She gasped to herself in the most worrying thought she had- what if she somehow convinced him to betray Glimmer? There... There was no way she could-!
"Well, about time someone woke up." A familiar, albeit obnoxious voice, finally spoke out. To Glimmer's reluctance and annoyance, turning around again, she was greeted with the simple sight of a certain Horde commander, casually minding her own business as if she hadn't a care in the world as she sat atop a large boulder not too far from the cave, hands still bound in the rope-like vines from before. "Honestly, I was reeeally tempted to leave you. It would've been pretty easy if I had any idea where we were."
"You!" Glimmer grumbled as she raised her fist, drawing what little magic she could to it. Sadly, even with the brief hour of rest, she could barely draw out a few flashes of her power before she felt her energy leave her again. At least she didn't have to worry about Adora fairing any better by the looks of it. While the dark veins seemed to recede to the sides of her neck again, her face still had a large flush of red covering most of it. Whatever kind of fever she was dealing with still appeared to be in her system, but she was at least able to move again.
"Ahh simmer down, your royal annoyance." Adora mocked as she twirled a loose bang of her from her forehead. "I'm not going anywhere. Not that I'd want to, anyway."
"Mmhhh... Where's Bow?" She demanded to know as she stomped over.
"Bow?" A look of perplexity and confusion took Adora's face as she tapped her chin. "Hmm... Bow... Bow... Bow...Oh! Bow! You mean that yellow guy? The one with the arrows? The only decent one of you two?"
Grumbling again, the princess jumped atop of one of the boulders as Adora stood upon her feet again, hopping back to the ground as Glimmer tried to reach her. "Where is he?"
"Ehh, how should I know?" She shrugged carelessly, backing up further as Glimmer marched over to her. "Maybe he got bored of being friends with you. Or maybe it was something you said to him?" At Glimmer's pause, she smirked. "Man, I don't know what you were yelling at him for, but it must've been pretty funny if it forced him to come over to my side and keep me company."
"NGGGHHHH!"
*thud!*
"Ow!" Adora yelped as Glimmer shoved her into a tree.
"Leave Bow alone. Understand!" Glimmer stated almost threateningly. Unsurprising as it was, this was met with a typical smirk back to her.
"Leave him alone? But it was just getting fuuuun~" Adora grinned. "What with the way you two were barking back and forth at each other, it would've been all too priceless if I wasn't responsible for any of it."
"So you are up to something!"
"Up to something, did something, doesn't really matter now. All I did was nudge Bow in a certain way to get him to be more... understanding. Reasonable." Even as she was pushed back, she leaned her head closer to the princess with a sinister grin. "It's not my fault of a few seeming acts of kindness can make a guy so gullible. Heheheheh!" Adora's never found a better reason to chuckle like this before, and she was loving every moment of Glimmer's expression. As for Glimmer herself, she had reached her limit.
That was the final straw!
She could take all the berating and irritation she could throw at her. Heck, she welcomed it if it meant she was going to leave her own friends alone. And she didn't expect Adora to be any simpler of a prisoner as anyone else. In fact, this kind of irritation she had been building up was to be expected, almost welcoming in a way. She could put up with any of it.
What she couldn't put up with, though, was her. Her constant need to bring up her interactions with Bow, especially after how Glimmer treated him awhile ago. She was sorry for what she said to him, sorry she took her anger out on him. But none of that would've been happening if a certain Force Captain, a certain commander by the name of Adora, hadn't barged her way through all of this to get between the two, and practically toyed with them intentionally in the hopes that they would argue like this, and ruin their friendship!
As for Adora, she honestly couldn't tell why she was acting so zany, and she couldn't care! She was having a blast! The looks of anger on this princess's face, the way she seemed to twitch every time a nerve was struck somewhere, it was all too hilarious! Maybe the fever had something to do with it, maybe she was just tired of being nice to nearly every single person she came into contact with?
Whatever caused her to have such thoughts, she pushed away as she prepared to take the brunt of Glimmer's incoming assault as she watched the princess pull a fist back angrily. She couldn't let an opportunity like this pass while the iron was hot. She had to slam the nail in the coffin while it was getting exciting.
"Who knows? Maybe at the end of the day, Bow will be calling me his best friend?"
That did it.
"Haaaaaaaah-!" Adora braced herself as she watched the princess pull back her fist, ready to endure whatever additional pain she had coming.
Or at least, would have if not for one saving grace.
"Glimmer!" Bow could be heard calling out, causing Glimmer to stop her fist just mere inches from Adora's nose. Turning around, she was surprised and relieved to see him coming out of the hedges, as well as a bit distraught at the unfortunate timing.
Once again, the princess found herself baited and caught within Adora's trap. She manipulated her and let her emotions flare up, all for the sake of letting Glimmer seem like the bad guy when Bow was finally turning around. As he made his way over, there was little else Glimmer could do than to back away from the prisoner, with Adora falling to the ground again as she always did. Whether it was Adora trying to be dramatic for the sake of innocence, or a genuine weakness of the knees from her fever mattered little. She managed to put on enough of a innocent display as she groaned a little, dusting off the little dust caught on her outfit.
"Where were you?" Glimmer asked as Bow brushed off the leaves on his armor.
"I was looking for Adora." He answered, turning back to the Blond in question. "After the rain cleared up, she just got up and wandered off." Turning to the girl, Adora casually ignored the princess as she gave her seemingly-innocent expression to Bow, digging through the pockets of her coat.
"Heh, sorry about that," she apologized, pulling out a strange bluish fruit the size of her palm, "I wasn't entirely thinking straight. I just... wanted to find a way to say thanks. You know... for taking care of me during the fever."
"Oh..." Bow blinked as he stared at the fruit in curiosity. "Uhh... thanks-"
"Bow, no-!" Glimmer stammered, swatting the fruit straight to the ground with an audible squish. At least in this case, Bow could understand her reasoning, right? There was no way Adora would've found just any sort of fruit in the woods. It had to be poisonous in some form. And even if it was genuine, it was still better safe than sorry.
Glaring a little to the rude princess, Adora gave her a small grumble before pulling out two more pieces of fruit. However, instead of just offering another one to Bow like she expected, Glimmer was, once again, caught by surprise as Adora casually tossed one of the two remaining fruits into Glimmer's friends. "Hmph, you try to do something nice for some people..." Before she could protest further, Adora took a bite of her own piece of fruit, proving its authenticity as she shoved her way past Glimmer.
"Adora, wait!" Bow called out as he chased after her, most likely to apologize.
Switching glances back and forth between the piece of fruit in her hands and the two travelers, Glimmer let out an irritated groan as she tossed the fruit away, quickly catching up to the two in the hopes of possibly explaining herself to Bow. Once again, Adora had outsmarted her, and now that she had confirmed Glimmer's previous suspicions of it all being part of some plot, that made it all the more infuriating.
At every turn, Adora managed to make herself look like the good guy. Around every corner, she managed to turn the situation around to make Glimmer look more like the bad guy. She had a perfect understanding and grasp of the events leading up to this point, and took advantage of every opportunity to work the situation in her favor. It almost baffled Glimmer that this was supposed to be the same Adora Catra talked about in the past.
Based on what Catra had said, for what little she was willing to divulge, she made Adora out to be like a genuine, caring, person. Somebody who cared deeply about others and always took their interests at heart first before her own. She almost sounded like someone Glimmer would've been happy to be friends, possibly even after the torture. As cruel as it was, she at least took note of the fact that she did it all for the sake of saving her friend.
This Adora, however, was nothing like that! She was cunning, manipulative, and openly mocked Glimmer at every opportunity she had, all while playing on her and Bow's emotions for her own benefit. She couldn't even tell at this point if this was the very same Adora they once fought over a month ago, or some evil twin nobody knew she had!
As for Adora herself, she was getting a kick out of all of this. In all honesty, a part of her was weirded out by her own erratic behavior, and at the exact same time, she didn't care. Whether or not the fever she was going through was putting up this bizarre display of manipulation or her own personal hatred for the princesses mattered little. Every second she spent putting her plan into action was another minute of enjoyment out of her life.
The best part of all of this? She didn't even hear the voices in her mind anymore! While the dark veins still trailed along the edges of her neck, she no longer heard the cryptic voices in her mind that told her how to do things. Maybe it was the result of being under such an intense fever for so long? Or maybe they only lasted a short while? She never bothered having these voices rattling on through her mind for so long, so maybe there was a limit to how long they lasted?
Regardless, all she knew was that everything was going according to plan. She saw the kindness in a soldier of the Rebellion like Bow, she played on the stubbornness of a certain Princess of Bright Moon by the name of Glimmer, and she managed to activate the tracker of her badge after distancing herself from her captors while still putting her plan into motion.
One way or another, she was going to be free by the end of the day, and if she played her cards right, she was about to gain something much bigger than her freedom...
...
...
Breathe in.
"Huff..."
Exhale.
Breathe in.
"Huff..."
Exhale. This had been the way Catra found herself for the last ten minutes as she focused on channeling her powers.
After the rain had finally stopped, she took it upon herself to resume her business, and focused on finding a way to reactivate the tower that would have Light Hope up and running again at full capacity. Simply turning into She-Ra and connecting her sword with the tower's shattered remains wasn't enough, so she decided to focus on her powers, on She-Ra's own magic, in the hopes o drawing out a solution.
Still within her She-Ra form, she centered the Sword of Protection parallel with he own person, keeping her eyes closed as she tried to focus. Perhaps she needed the ingenuity of the First Ones to figure out how to fix the tower physically like the generator in Salineas, like the knowledge the sword granted her before becoming the official wielder of the blade? Or maybe there was some sort of magic she needed to channel through herself, and connect it with the heart of the Tower to reactivate its power? In either scenario, she knew that with enough focus, a solution would present itself.
All she had to do for now was focus on her own power. She tuned out the whistling breeze of the wind as it brushed past her ears, ignored the flow of power as it blew against her hair. She needed to find a sense of inner peace if she was ever to hope to master She-Ra's power, and as long as there weren't any distractions around her, she was confident that a solution would present itself within minutes.
"Focus the She-Ra. She-Raaaa..." Unfortunately, fate wasn't as kind to her as the sound of a very annoying horse made it clear. The one dilemma she found herself plagued with time and again on this mission went by the name of Swift Wind, her "noble steed" who was supposed to be her companion on this illustrious journey. "She-Raaaaaa..." He whispered again into her left ear, oblivious to the pang of anger that formed over Catra's head as she tried to focus.
"How am I supposed to concentrate when you keep DISTRACTING ME!" She barked. "Would it be too much to ask for some space here? I need to focus She-Ra's power to fix the tower." She stated, closing her eyes again as she tried to focus.
"Hey-hey, that rhymed!" Swift Wind commented in his casual cheerful tone. Catra rolled her eyes mentally as she tried to ignore the frustration building up inside her chest.
"Yeah, sure, it rhymed, whatever. Do you mind now? I need to concentrate."
"You know what might help? Loop-de-loops!" Swift Wind suggested, flapping his wings open as he displayed his rainbow-colored wings, inadvertently knocking Catra a little as his wings brushed past her. Gritting her teeth, Catra let out another sigh of annoyance as she lowered her sword, giving a stern look over to her feathered-companion.
"Swift Wind. I need you to do me a favor stop goofing around for five minutes and pretend this is serious." It took all of the feline's energy to speak as calmly as she could. "Do you think you could do that?"
"I'm just saying, everything's better with loop-de-loops." He insisted, lowering his front to the ground. "Come on. Climb on my back."
"I think I'll pass." She replied. With the casual smile he always seemed to have, the gallant horse flew off into the sky, partaking in his favorite activity as Catra continued to walk along the ground.
Okay. So while the worst kind of animal to give the ability to speak continued to do his thing, Catra decided to take this from a different approach. Seeing how concentrating on her own powers were proving to be impossible, in a small part thanks to a certain steed, she decided to take this from a physical approach as she transformed the sword into a sturdy lasso, one with enough length to cover over fifty feet.
Twirling it a bit as she made her way over to one of the shattered pieces, she gave the rope a good toss as she wrapped it around the levitating fragments, tightening a good grip around the immense boulder, and began to pull.
"Hnnngh..." She grunted as she attempted to pull the fragment with her strength. With the wet ground from the earlier rain still fresh around her, it was proving itself to be difficult as her feet sank into the wet earth a little, sinking in several inches as she continued to pull. "Come on you stupid..." She grumbled as she tried to turn around while pulling.
She didn't need a talking horse to help her do something as simple as moving a boulder, even if it was floating in the air. All the past She-Ra's could do it, and chances were Adora could do it too if she was here right now, so whose to say Catra couldn't do it either? All she needed was a firm hold on the rope, wrapping a length of it around her right arm, sufficient strength to pull the floating landmass in the right direction, and then a clear indication of where she wanted to go with it!
*swiff*
"Ah-!"
*thud*
...For about Three seconds. The moment she took her fourth step towards the center of the large landmass they were on, she had lost her footing and fell backwards. As if to add insult to her injury, in this case her pride, the magicat felt herself being pulled in the opposite direction again by the same floating landmass, the very one she was supposed to be pulling herself.
She never thought she would reach a day of annoyance such as this where she was wishing she was with Glimmer and Bow instead of all this, because no matter how bad their day was going, there was no way it could possibly be more annoying than the day they were having...
...
...
"A hundred ration bars on the wall, a hundred ration bars. Take one down, pass it around, a hundred ration bars on the wall!" The delirious side of Adora sang out with her glazed-over eyes continued to follow along the beaten path. Glimmer would've given anything to see this day come to an abrupt end.
If Adora wasn't trying to bother Glimmer, she was spending time chatting with Bow about who knows what. If she wasn't spending time chatting with Bow, she was using the opportunity to bother Glimmer as much as possible, just to get some sort of negative reaction out of her in the hopes of it working in her. At this point, Glimmer was well aware that anything she did to react to her would've worked to Adora's advantage, yet the longer she continued to pull Adora by the ropes attached to her wrist, the harder it was getting to drown out the girl's insensate yammering.
"Come on, you all know the words." Adora cheekily grinned as she took another deep breath. " A hundred ration bars on the wall, a hundred ration baaars-"
""You've been saying "a hundred ration bars" for the last one-hundred and two bars already!" She yelped, turning back.
"Really? It only felt like a hundred and one ration bars to me, buuut..." Just seeing the veins of anger above Glimmer's eyebrow alone were enough to brighten Adora's day.
"Look, can we all just calm down?" Bow suggested, looking between the two girls. "I know everyone's irritated, we've all had a long day."
"It's becoming a longer day with her, Bow! Every time she starts to annoy me, she turns it around and makes me look like the bad guy!"
"Pffft, like I'd really need to help you with that, sparkles. What, with being a princess and all, I thought that would've come to you naturally."
"Hgggghhh!" Okay, that was pushing it. She didn't care if what she had to say would've made her seem worse, she just had to get this off her chest. "You know what? At least when it comes to Catra she's honest about her dislike for people and why, but you? You just lie to yourself while going around with a confident smile on your face pretending everything is going to be okay, and pushing away everyone you disagree with like they're the bad guy. You're worse than Catra could ever be!"
No amount of delirium could make Adora ignore the very words that came out of the princess's mouth as she stomped away. For a moment of clarity, she felt an intense well of emotions rising to her chest, a fiery anger that was ready to burst. There were many insults that Catra could handle from enemies of the Rebellion. They could pretend she was really the evil one, they could say anything they wanted to make the Horde sound like the bad guys.
BUT! Out of everything, out of any single phrase anyone could put together, there was one thing Adora would never tolerate in her life: accusing her of being worse than someone like Catra!
"You want to ring that by me again, princess?!" She seethed, running up to the girl and glaring into her eyes. If the look on her face wasn't enough evidence of the anger rising within her, the dark veins that began to grow along her face was more than enough. "Tell me something then; if I'm actually worse than Catra, then where is your little furball of a friend?"
"She's out working on something-"
"Oh, wow, what a coincidence!" The commander didn't even bother hearing the rest of her sentence. "Catra is out being some She-Ra girl somewhere else while you're here doing all the hard work! Boy, I'm so jealous that you have a friend like that."
"Listen you-!"
"And you think anything Catra does now is going to matter? One day, you're going to end up like me. She's going to turn her back on you and ignore you like you never even existed. And once you give Catra what she really wants, something better than she already has right now, she's going to completely forget you even existed when you really need you the most, and ignore you like you were yesterday's trash!"
"Ggghhhhh!"
"Ahh... Guys..." Bow stuttered as he tried to think of what to say. Magic withholding, he could practically see the sparks shooting off between the two as they glared daggers into one another's eyes. Each of them had such an immense hatred for one another that he couldn't tell who to side with. If he sided with Glimmer, chances were Adora's magic would flare up, making her more sick. And if he sided with Adora, Glimmer obviously wasn't going to drop the discussion within the next hour.
There wasn't any likely scenario in which siding with one of them would resolve their current differences, and there was little doubt that siding with both of them was out of the question. He needed to find some common ground where both of them could at least ignore each other until they reached Bright Moon, or at least some way to get them to stop fighting until they reached their destination.
At least, that was the plan until just two seconds ago.
"Don't move!" Shouted a familiar voice, one that Adora was more than glad to hear within the last few hours.
Turning around, the trio were equally surprised to see the Horde present within the other side of the clearing, specifically Lonnie, Rogelio, and the other Force Captain, Scorpia, who looked ready to pounce on any of them the moment they tried to attack them, or worse, did something to harm Adora, and with a small package in her left arm.
Reacting quickly in turn, Bow brought himself to the front of his own group as he pulled out his weapon and arrow, standing at the ready and prepared to fire the moment any of them took a step forward. As for Glimmer herself, she wasted no time grabbing onto Adora's wrist in one hand, having the girl kneel in front of her as she grabbed her by the back of the neck with her other, prepared for anything in case Adora tried to squirm her way out of this situation.
Both sides were glaring each other down, waiting for any one of them to make the first move. This was, by all accounts, the ultimate standoff.
...
...
*crash!*
"Haaahhhhh!" Catra roared as she pushed the boulder into the surrounding piles of rock, holding onto the lasso tied around all of them for good measure. Once she pushed the floating mass another several feet within the cluster of rubble, she let out a mighty grumble as she pulled her lasso as far as she could, wrapping it around the newest addition to the pile of rocks. "Huff... Huff... How's that look?" She asked, looking back to Swift Wind who was overlooking the entire show from one of the floating rocks.
"You know what? I don't think that one goes there after all." He replied flatly. "In fact, it might be upside down." Catra could've sworn he was trying to toy with her on purpose if he wasn't so high and mighty about being Catra's "glorious steed". "You should take it apart and start again."
"Mmmh... I already tried that four other times!" Catra reminded, doing whatever she could to contain her anger. Ignoring the horse's questionable methods of helping, Catra returned to her task at hand as she shoved the rock further into the giant cluster. Perhaps with the rocks closer together, combined with her form of She-Ra, she could get the rocks to activate somehow? It was better than trying to touch each of them individually, anyway.
She huffed as she struggled to push the massive boulders further. Even with all her strength, keeping the rocks together while bunching them all up at the same time was proving to be a difficult task in and of itself. Add a talking horse to the mix that flew down to her, and it would've been considered a miracle Catra hadn't pulled her own hair out by this point. "You seem stressed. Why don't we list all of our favorite things until we feel better!"
"I'd rather not-
"I'lll go first. Apples, hay, untoppling hierarchies, apples... Wait, I said that already."
"Swift wind!" She nearly shouted in anger. "Do you mind giving me some space already?!"
"...Hear you loud and clear, boss!" He replied, casually trotting away. In one of the few moments, Catra found a second of relief as the horse finally did as he was told for a change... for about three seconds.
*crish*
"Huh?" Catra braced herself a little as she felt the rocks pushing closer to her, taking a moment to realize who was on the other end of the rubble. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm helping of course!" The horse insisted as he continued to push further. "I'm She-Ra's steed, that's what I do!"
"I don't need your help, I can handle it on my own!" She yelled back, both unaware as the rope started to untangle inch by inch as they shouted back and forth.
"I don't care, I want to help you!"
"I didn't ask you to help me, so buzz off!"
"But Catra-!"
*snap!*
"Huh-? Whoa!"
*crash!*
"Catra!" Swift Wind called out in worry. Before either of them could react fast enough, the rope untangled itself with a solid snap, scattering the boulders in every direction, including blasting Catra back among the rubble. Thankfully for her, the magicat was still in her She-Ra form before the blast took place, otherwise there was no telling how injured she would've been.
Unfortunately, that moment quickly faded as Catra pushed the rubble off herself. No sooner had she gotten back to her feet did a bright flash envelop her. In an instant, She-Ra was gone, and she was back to being her old Catra self once more. And that probably wasn't the worst part of it all.
Looking around again, her eyes widened in disbelief. All of it, every single boulder that she spent the last hour collecting and putting together, all that hard work she had been through, was completely wasted. One after the other, she watched as all of the boulders seemingly floated back to their original space, with some of them looking even farther away than last time! As if this wasn't enough, she just had to get greeted by an irritating voice yet again.
"Catra! Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.
"Ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Was this supposed to be her life now? Working with an annoying horse, going on countless annoying missions like this, and having to put up with who knew how many other annoyances for the rest of her life?! She swore, the minute one last annoyance popped into her life by the end of the day, she was going to scream, if not tear her hair out followed by someone else's hair! There was barely enough sensibility left in her to push herself away from the conversation. "I need some space! Now!" She stated, walking away as she squeezed the hilt of her sword.
"But Catra, are you okay? Are you hurt? You seem upset about something-" Before he could reach other to her with his right wing, it was just as quickly swatted away by the magicat, the pupils within her boiling eyes mere dots from all of the suppressed rage.
"I'm fine! Happy?! Good! Then leave me alone!"
"But Catra, I just want to help-"
"You wanna help? Fine! Then leave me alone! Go fly and do your stupid loops or whatever, I don't care!" That was the one line where even Catra was aware of what she just said. Even if she didn't know what she said specifically, the sight of the steed's own ears drooping in hurt was enough to make her know she might've crossed a line a little. "Look, I don't have a problem with you or anything, okay? I just... Ghhhhh!" The cat couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence as she pulled at her own ears.
Swift Wind continued to watch his master as she stormed her way through the tall grass. Being in tune with the sword, he had a basic connection with Catra to know what she was feeling most of, if not all, the time. Something was bothering her, something wasn't admitting right now. She wasn't in the mood for sharing, and she showed little interest in getting along with him any further than she had to.
At the same time, there was a strange sense of sorrow coming from her. Even if he didn't have an emotional connection to her, it was clear by the look on her face and the way she was still squeezing at her own head. She was struggling with something that was bothering her, and was continuing to bother her at this very moment. For a change, he didn't care what she asked for, because he already knew what she needed right now.
She needed a friend.
...
...
"Adora, are you okay?" Scorpia continued to ask worriedly. "Are you injured? Did they hurt you? I swear if they hurt you, I will CRUSH them!" She declared, squeezing her claw.
"She's fine! Glimmer announced, tightening her grip on Adora's bonds. "We just want to make a trade. We'll release Adora if you release Entrapta."
"Pffft tchhahaha!" Adora bellowed out laughing, mostly from the delirium, and partly from the situation. "Oh my gosh, this is too funny."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just... Heh heh heh... That's never going to happen." She practically squealed. Naturally, this only served to rile Glimmer up further as she raised Adora to her face.
"Then we'll make it happen!"
"Heh heh... Oh, really?" She grinned, turning over to Scorpia. "Scorpia, get Kyle on the the communicator. I need to prepare an execution if these two don't release me."
"What?" Bow nearly gasped as Adora drew his attention.
"She's bluffing." Glimmer was sure of it. There was no way someone would do something like that, even if it was Adora.
"Really? You want to put this to a test?" Adora grinned, giving her attention back to a confused Scorpia. "...Now, Scorpia!" She shouted.
Scorpia was at a loss as she turned her head back to Lonnie and Rogelio, who were at just as much of a loss as she was. She can't really remember if she ever heard Adora say something threatening, in any regard, to somebody else. Especially not to her own subordinates.
Given the direness of the situation, she was confident Adora had a plan, if any. She had to put her faith in her lovable friend that things would work out, even if they seemed a bit far-fetched from the outside. With a confirming nod, Scorpia followed Adora's orders as she brought out her communicator, adjusting the settings until she got a clear transmission to Entrapta's lab. What followed were the sounds of chaos as a large crash echoed over the comms.
"Ahhhh!" Entrapta could be heard screaming. "No, no, no, no, no! Ahhhhhh! No! Nooooo!" Entrapta's constant cries of anguish were overheard even as someone else's voice took over the communications.
"Force Captain, I knew you'd call me back!" Kyle's optimistic voice cried out. "What do I do here?!"
...
On the other end, everything within Entrapta's lab was a complete and total mess. What started as a simple fire escalated into a full-grown warzone.
First, there was the initial fire itself that started after Emily accidentally knocked into some of the cabinets along the walls, dropping a handful of chemicals mixed together into an eventual flammable substance that was somehow even more flammable when exposed to water.
Following that were several smaller droids created by Entrapta that were designed to put out such flames in the times of crisis, ones that were capable of dousing any fire, be they chemical, electrical, or otherwise. At first, things were proceeding smoothly as the fires slowly dissipated into a small ball of fire, and by the looks of it, things were going to be fine after awhile.
That was Kyle's line of thinking until Emily accidentally stepped onto one of the smaller droids in her attempt to back away from the ensuing fire, crushing the first of the many droids underfoot and accidentally slipping from the oil spill it leaked, causing her to to tumble over several other droids.
This resulted in a security protocol initiating within Entrapta's lab that only made things worse. As the instructions dictated, in the event that several of Entrapta's droids were destroyed simultaneously, specifically by another droid's hands, it was presumed that one of her newest creations had gone haywire, again, and were posing an immediate threat to the scientist and her handful of creations. As such, several more security droids were automatically instructed to enter the room and neutralize the threat in an ensuing battle that only furthered to worsen the fires that were nearly doused.
With the domino effect that was taking place, somehow what transpired as a simple fire within her lab quickly escalated into a warzone as droid upon droid were either crashing into each other, blasting at each other, or, in Emily's case, trying to help its master calm the situation down, which further escalated the chaos.
And the only sensible one out of all of this was a panicking Kyle who watched the situation unfold as he hid behind some debris as Entrapta worked through the madness in an attempt to calm the robots down, or at the very least, disable them before anyone else got hurt.
...
"Kyle, do me a favor and prepare Entrapta for her execution." Adora ordered.
"...Uhhh... who is thi-"
"Y-You heard the commander, Kyle!" Scorpia shouted, playing along with whatever plan Adora had. "And no backtalk!" Never had Adora been as thankful as she was now that Scorpia was clued in on the plan.
Taking a peek again from out of the debris, Kyle turned his head around as he saw the crazy scientist continuing to work on several things at a time, from disabling one of her many droids, to working on another project, and typing info onto her computer for her latest project, all simultaneously and with the help of her elongated hair.
"Just relax. We're figuring this out. Everything's going to be okay." She said to one of the many droids as she worked towards disabling the next.
"Ah, music to my ears." Adora sighed, listening intently on the sounds of chaos in the background. "So, about releasing me now..."
"Haaahh!" If Adora thought Glimmer would've simply released her, she had another thing coming! With a shout of anger, she pressed Adoar back into a tree, raising one of her fists as she gathered an ample amount of magic into it. "Two can play at that game!"
"Adora!" Scorpia cried out in worry and anger. "I swear, if you touch her again..."
"Pleeease, tell me I struck another nerve. It's so much fun seeing you pretend to care for someone, princess." Adora teased. "Or better yet, go ahead and strike me! You know you've been wanting to since we last met."
"Mmmmhhhh!" Out of all the suggestions Adora had given her, this was the one thing Glimmer was REALLY tempted to follow through with as she pushed her harder into the rough tree by her collar. A part of Adora actually was hoping she would go through with it just to prove to her everything Adora knew about the evil princesses.
"Glimmer, stop!" Bow pleaded as he turned his head back.
The princess in question was struggling with what to do. She needed to do this, she almost wanted to do this! This was the one person who brought a war to Bright Moon, the so-called "friend" from Catra's past! How could anyone this malicious and snide possibly be friends with someone like Catra? Even Catra wasn't anywhere as stuck-up as she was!
That smug look of calmness as she knew what Glimer would do, that sense of pride in everything she's done to torment her and her friends since they first mt? And who could forget, the ever-loving memory, of when she tortured her!? There was no way she could let someone like Adora go!
"This isn't fair!" She stammered. "After everything she's done? To me? To the Rebellion? To Catra?" Man, it was so tempting to strike her as Adora yawned so casually. "We're supposed to let her go? Just like that?" She shifted her eyes back as she tightened her grip. "How do we know they'd really get rid of Entrapta, Bow? They need her."
"We need her, you need her, everyone needs Entrapta these days." She taunted.
"We can't take that chance, Glimmer." Bow stated. "We're not them."
It was getting hard. Way too hard. Could she at least strike her once? Get away with a single hit before letting her go at least? This girl wasn't like any enemy Glimmer had come across before. She wasn't like the typical soldier, she was beyond ruthless compared to any Force Captain. This girl... was a monster. One that played solely on people's feelings from Glimmer's standpoint.
And just to prove it to her, Adora just had to lean in and whisper. "Go ahead princess. We both know you'll do it anyway."
"...Mmmmhhhh..."
Adora watched in mild fascination as Glimmer lowered her fist again, watching the magic dissipate from her hands. "Bow's right, Adora. We are better than you." Glimmer simply stated, much to the Force Captain's annoyance.
Still, she wasn't going to let an opportunity go to waste s Glimmer lowered her to the ground again. Shaking her head in dissatisfaction at the girl's feigning innocence, she finally made her way over to her allies once more, one of which was more than eager to welcome her back with open arms.
"Oh! Thank goodness!" Scorpia sighed intensely as joy overwhelmed her. "Oh, come here! Come on! This nightmare is over, finally!" She swore as she helped untie her hands, she would find a way to make it up to Adora for letting her friend get captured if it was the last thing she did! She would keep a much closer eye on her as her friend, and ensure nobody would ever try to kidnap her again!
"...Scorpia, why are there two and three of you right now?" Adora wondered, her vision still wavering even from up close.
"Huh? Oh!" The red officer blinked as she remembered the package. "That's right! Here, put this on. Entrapta said it should help!" She wasted no time ripping the wrapping off the package, excited to see what sort of wondrous device could possibly restore her friend! With one shred after the other, she was ecstatic to see all of Entrapta's hard work, the very project she had been working on for the last several days, finally come down in the form of... a wristband?
"How is... never mind. Here, put this on, quickly!" She pleaded, wasting no time to roll up Adora's right sleeve and slipping the band over the girl's wrist.
All at once, in a reverse-like process, Adora groaned as she felt a wave of pain from her forehead again, squeezing it in agony. However, unlike the previous times where the pain continued to grow within her, this one seemingly started at the top of her pain, and slowly dwindled down little by little. All throughout her body, she felt herself becoming lighter as the fever began to quickly subside, dwindling until nothing more than a slight pang lasted, and eventually, nothing.
At the same time, the darkness surrounding Adora's veins seemed to recede as well. While not disappearing in its entirety, they all seemed to be shrinking as the dark veins began to center around the very wristband Scorpia placed on Adora. Little by little, the shadows continued to slink away, diminishing further until, after several excruciating seconds, all that was left were a few small trails of dark veins growing out from under Adora's wristband.
It might not have absorbed all of the darkness within her, or whatever it was supposed to do, but at least it did it's job enough to rid Adora of her long-lasting fever. The very same Force Captain felt light-headed for a moment as she nearly dropped to her feet. She winced slightly as she rubbed her head, feeling like she was awakening from a long slumber.
"Ugh... Scorpia? Guys?" She questioned, looking around her mysterious surroundings. The last several hours of her life felt like a large blur, where every two seconds of it, one second was lost to her memories. "What's going on? How did we-" It took a simple glance behind her for Adora to recall most of the events that had transpired, a small glare coming from the commander as she remembered who abducted her. "Oh... right."
"Look, we held up our end of the bargain, "Glimmer reminded, "now give us proof that Entrapta is still okay."
"Oh, of course, of course, I'd be more than happy to, your royal migraine." She sneered before turning a calming expression to Bow. "Just as soon as Bow comes with us."
"Huh?" The archer was at such as much of a loss as the rest of them were as he turned briefly Glimmer, who felt a mix of confusion and worry as she prepared for the scene to unfold. "What do you want me for?"
"Duh, isn't it obvious?" Adora casually smiled as she extended a hand. "I want you to join the Horde."
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A/N: Hooftah, what a long chapter! I dont have much to say that wasn't already said yesterday, nor am I going to jinx it by saying anything like "i'm back to my old self" cause the last time I did, I was on like a 3-month hiatus XP Lol
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and rev if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!