Catra's hair is practically standing on end. She is driving a tank. I'm driving a freaking tank! She shows her canines with her devious smile as she drives it through the brush. She knocks down small trees as the tracks on the vehicle rip through the ground and leave behind ugly trails.
Her adrenaline is pumping, yeah sure Adora isn't here to share this with and it sucks, but she's finally made it out on a mission! "Hahaha, Yeah!" She makes sure to keep her distance from the vehicles in front of her. The Force Captain's – I still have no idea what their dumb name is – vehicle is still in front leading the charge.
This is the moment she's waited her whole life for. This is the moment she's been training her whole damn life for. Getting out in the real world. Getting to do real world shit. I'm so pumped!
She takes out yet another small bush as they make their way through the forest. She has a hard time feeling any pity. Her whole life has been about survival, and if some dumb plant couldn't get out of her tank's way, then that's how it's gotta be. Catra has constantly been on the shit end of the stick. It never mattered what she did, Shadow Weaver always had it out for her. She always got in trouble. She had to fight to stay alive and she had to get stronger. She had to be stronger. To finally have this moment of freedom – this moment where it all was finally fucking worth it – she feels so alive. The only thing that could make this better is… if Adora was here. They'd be so pumped together.
Ugh. Stop feeling this way! I don't need Adora! But even as she's thinking it, her insides are a twisting knot of grief. Shadow Weaver ruins everything! Even this. She takes everything from me! Angry tears start to form, but she hates crying more than she hates Shadow Weaver, because she's not weak. She's not gonna ruin this for me!
Catra tries to ignore the sinking feelings in her stomach that churn like spoiled milk. She swallows the bile rising in her throat and focuses back onto where she's going. This is going to be amazing. I'm so going to kick ass. She looks over her shoulder briefly to catch a glimpse of Lonnie and Rogelio driving the skiff. They make eye contact and grin fiercely at each other. They all have been fighting tooth and nail for this.
Catra turns back to the trail in front of them as they start to reach a break in the woods. She regains her composure just like the armor she so easily slips on. The Force Captain comes over the radio. "We've made contact! Take out all enemies!" It was like they released the reigns on Catra that were holding her back and keeping her in place. She commands her gunner to shoot as she rolls them through the village. Her heart is racing as she looks around. She hopes to spot some princesses soon. She'd ditch this thing and take off on foot if she has to.
Suddenly, as though the thought magically made one appear, a flash of pink pops up in her periphery. She turns her head and spots a princess. UGH! Yes! This one's mine!
Catra rolls her tank forward and gets them close to her, but suddenly the princess poofs and disappears. She rematerializes fifty meters off into the distance with the person she just held in her hands. Catra's eyes shoot open wide. There's no way I can take her in this. I'll have to take her on foot.
Catra hops out of the hatch of the tank to take off on foot. She looks to her left as she runs to see a boy with arrows firing with some serious precision at her tank she just hopped out of. She sneers and picks up her pace. She takes off running faster than she thought she could. Just before she can reach the princess, she poofs again. Catra looks around, confused, trying to make out where she went off to. She turns and gets a blast of magic to the face. It pushes her back but doesn't cause any serous pain. She lunges forward trying to stop her from continuing, but she just disappears again.
Catra stays alert as the pink one reappears, and she dodges yet another attack. Catra leaps at her with her claws fully unsheathed to tear her apart. Before she can get to her, she's blindsided and launched off to the side. Her arms are tied to her side as she looks around to see the arrow boy checking on the pink sparkly one. "Ugh! Lonnie! Somebody, get your asses over here!" She yells for backup as explosions are happening all around her. She writhes in her constraints and attempts to reach down and bite through them.
As she struggles, she hears the pair next to her talking about their next moves. "I know you want to help all of these people Glimmer, but there aren't enough of us. Pretty soon you're going to run out of magic, and we'll be in even more danger."
"Ugh! I know, Bow." Gah, Sparkles voice is so annoying, Catra thinks. "It just isn't right. First, we find this awesome sword in the woods that I know my mom is gonna be proud of, but then we can't even do anything when it comes to actually saving people."
"No, Glimmer. We could save people, but there's just too many of the Horde soldiers and just not enough of us to stop them. And hey, we also caught a Horde soldier. That's something." The arrow boy's optimism is sickening.
Catra continues to struggle in her restraints especially afraid of what's to come with this ragtag team. Ugh!
Unexpectedly, Huntara shows up from behind, looming over the two squabbling concealed behind a bush. They're going back and forth with each other and hardly notice her presence. Then, she grunts like an animal about to attack.
Bow and Glimmer are facing the opposite direction but smell an intense threatening alpha close by. After hearing Huntara's grunt, they slowly rotate their heads towards the imminent danger and their eyes shoot wide open.
Catra cackles from her position on the ground. "Oh, you two are in for it now! Hey! Hunter lady, come get me out of this!" She claws at nothing trying to use brute strength to get out of her entrapment.
Huntara just stares down at her and looks back at the two behind the bush. "Hey, you two."
They squeak in response as they both hold each other's hands in front of their chests, nearly cowering on the ground.
"Get up." She commands them and they immediately respond. She walks over to Catra and picks the wiggling girl up and throws her over her shoulder.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Catra does not like this one bit. She learned some history about alphas and what kinds of ugly things they can do to people. Her instincts start to kick into overdrive. "Put me down and untie me you idiot!" She starts to panic and sweat, releasing her own pheromones.
"Relax, Kitty. I'm not gonna eat you" Her smile is devious, but her tone sounded tired. "You!" She points at Glimmer who almost faints on the spot. "Can you get us out of here?"
Glimmer's mouth gapes open at the sudden change in direction this conversation is taking. She attempts to speak, but nothing comes out, so Bow speaks for her. "Technically, no. Well, she's never tried with more than one person." His eyes shoot to her with concern.
"Well," Huntara says, "looks like today's the day we find out." She shoves her hand forward and places it on her shoulder.
"What!?" Catra's voice is high pitched and squeaky as she interjects. She's completely thrown off and confused. "What the hell is happening? You're with the Horde! Take me back!" She wiggles more and tries to scratch Huntara.
The taller woman grabs Catra by the tail and holds her out with an extended arm. "Woah, Kitty! No biting, or I'll do something you'll more than regret."
Catra is writhing in pain at this point. There's just too much weight for her tail to hold and the pressure almost feels like she's about to dislocate something. She calms her movements for a moment, but her breaths are still coming out quickly, panting. "Fine!"
"Alright," Huntara tosses her back up onto her shoulder and Catra's head hangs down her back. "Let's do this Princess, we don't have all day." She looks left and right, making sure that there's no way they could be spotted as deserters.
Glimmer gulps and reaches her hand out for everyone to grab onto. She musters all the power she has for fear of this giant alpha. If she wasn't so scared, she'd probably be impressed, or worse turned on and now is not the time to be having thoughts like that. She closes her eyes and before they know it they're all sputtering into Glimmers magic.
They land close to the tree line of the whispering woods, it was only about 100 meters away from where they originally were.
"Glimmer!" Bow reaches out to catch the spent princess before she falls to the ground. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine" she responds, but knows she used far more magic than she should've if they wanted to make it home safely.
"Blegh, I think I'm gonna be sick." Catra starts to gag from behind Huntara and the giant lady drops her straight to the ground with no remorse. She hits the ground hard and rolls onto her side as she tries to calm her stomach by taking deep breaths.
"Well," Huntara says "not as far away as I would've liked, but it's something." She starts walking off, making her way through the woods.
Catra stirs from her vomiting stupor, "wait! You can't just leave me here. With these two!"
Huntara turns back to them, "I can do whatever I want. Plus, you're their prisoner, not me." She turns to walk away again.
Glimmer and Bow just stand next to each other glancing back and forth between the two.
Catra starts to panic and she's about to lose her shit, too. She thrashes on the dirt frustrated with her situation and confused as to what just happened. So what!? She's just defecting!? "Ugh! You coward! Get back here and untie me! I'll show you…" She manages to pull her elbow up past the ropes and pulls her arm out the rest of the way. She claws at them and they easily fall to the side. Her insides are boiling with anger.
Huntara finally turns just in time to see Catra leap towards her face. She dodges to the left, but not without Catra utilizing her strong legs and clawing at the older woman's chest. Huntara hisses at the pain and runs to take down the pretty-kitty. "Urrrgh!" She reaches her hands out and is able to grab one of Catra's arms, although she was trying to reach for her tail again. That had seemed to be effective.
Catra turns her whole body sideways and latches her legs around the woman's torso – hand still trapped by the large woman. The move is pristine as she uses her agility against the slow brute strength of Huntara. She reaches her other hand to the woman's face and gives it a slash leaving claw marks across her face.
Huntara screams in pain and uses both of her arms to grab the damn cat off her back using bone crushing strength.
Catra claws the woman all the way up her back until she's being held out like a child. Huntara doesn't even give her the chance to retaliate and she throws her forward smashing her body against a tree knocking her unconscious.
The older woman pants, her lungs working overtime after that fight, and tries to stand straight. She hisses at the deep lashes Catra left in the muscle of her back. She looks over to the other two standing off in the corner hugging each other. "You idiots gonna tie her back up?" Her voice is harsh, but so is the pain from her back. "I don't suppose you can heal with that magic of yours."
Glimmer's eyes are wide as she realizes the question is directed at her. She smiles uncomfortably, "uhm… no. Sorry?"
"Ugh, of course." She looks up to the sky and realizes that it'll be dark soon. Inside the forest they go. She takes one last glance over her shoulder at the calamity that's occurring and the screams that are drifting to her ears. She just breathes a heavy sigh. "Let's get movi… Dammit, you idiots still haven't tied her up!?" Her voice is now full of exasperation.
Bow pipes up, his whole body as stiff as a rod as he runs over to Catra's still limp body. She groans as he nervously releases the mechanism from his arrow. It comes out with much less velocity when it's been hand released and he's able to tie her back up with the knots her learned from a book once.
Once Catra is tied up tight, Huntara moves to grab her. She sighs heavily as she hoists the damn she-devil onto her other shoulder – the one that's not clawed through. "Damn kids."
"Bow," Glimmer whispers screams at him. "We need to get home tonight! There's no way my mom won't be mad at me if she finds out we left. I don't even know if we can trust these people!"
"I know, Glim, but we don't have much of an option. You're magic is practically drained. We're lucky you can still walk." They both follow behind Huntara as she carries the half dead cat. "Let's just stick it out until morning and we can head straight for Bright Moon. She'll be thrilled we found that weird sword and a Horde soldier prisoner. Right?"
She sighs, "yeah. I hope so."
Catra eases her eyes open as she comes to. Everything is really dark as she looks around. She sees light off in the distance in the shape of a body. "Hey!" She winces at the pain in her head and claws her fingers over the skin of her face.
She still sees the silhouette of light. She walks towards it and it moves away from her.
Confused, she takes another hesitant step forward and it does the same. "What the hell?"
She starts to run towards it and it takes off like a bolt of light. She tries to keep up but she can't.
Soon, another body comes into view. It's just so far in the distance that she can't make out who it is. The light form drifts their trajectory towards them. Catra is even more confused as they approach this person and Catra can finally see who it is.
"Adora?"
The light figure makes a B-line for Adora.
"Adora watch out!" She reaches for her best friend, but it's too late. The light consumes her. It changes her and it shifts her. Then the flash of bright light surrounds them both and it leave a warm comforting feeling. She can smell the comforting scent of Adora and a much stronger desirable scent coming from her. The two scents intermingle and Catra sees stars behind her eyes. She opens them once more to be in the arms of Adora, but she's different. She's wearing white with gold trim and her hair is cascading down over her back. There's a sword in the hand that isn't cradling Catra's back. She looks up into those familiar blue eyes and starts to melt.
Huntara finally feels they've travelled far enough not to still be chased by the Horde. She has so desperately wanted to leave that place. They only ever did horrible things, and she just kept leading those poor baby alphas to the slaughter.
Her moment of reflection is interrupted when she hears whispering from behind her. "Ugh, when is this gonna stop?" The girl complaining about her feet, no doubt. Damn omegas. Some are fierce and some are just plain princesses. She rolls her eyes and wants to continue marching forward, but the cat starts to stir on her shoulder. That is one thing she does not want to have happen again. She drops Catra to the ground like a sack of flour. She hears a snap come from the fall and wonders if it was a twig or her fragile little kitty bones.
The noise catches the others' attention. They're heads snap up after dragging their feet for the last two miles.
"Alright, we'll make camp here. Bright Moon should be about 10 clicks that way." She points to their right side. "We can finish the trip in the morning."
"Oh thank goodness!" Glimmer falls to her hands and knees as she lets the throbbing in her legs ease up. Bow reaches down to make sure she's okay. "What are clicks?" She directs the question at Bow and he just shrugs his shoulders.
Huntara starts to get things ready for the night. She's heard some crazy stories about this forest and doesn't want to know if any of the damn things are true. She reaches for some dead branches on the ground and starts gathering them together.
Catra stirs from her fall moments ago and groans with her face in the dirt. "What the literal fuck?" She rolls to her side and sees the behemoth a few yards away gathering shit. Her head pounds from all the chaos and anger still boiling inside.
"Hey look, the kitty's awake." Huntara turns and drops the wood down at Catra's feet.
Catra grunts from the disrespectful display, but she knows that she's clearly in no position to retaliate. She looks around to make sure they aren't alone, and the massive witch didn't just kidnap her for her alpha desires. She thankfully sees the other two picking up much smaller excuses for sticks in the distance.
"Ugh, why are you doing this?" Catra spits out between clenched teeth.
Huntara continues to grab more branches and drop them in front of Catra. "Yano, you're a confusing little one. You have the spunk and feistiness of an omega, but you reek of a beta. You almost take me on asking about some alpha friend of yours, but that alpha is in prime condition for an omega. She'd never go after some beta. You're very curious, kitty."
"Ugh! Tell me what you know about Adora. Where are they keeping her?" She figures if she's going to be left for dead eventually, then she at least deserves some information first. She wiggles some in her restraints, but Bow made them much tighter this time around.
The older woman continues to set up camp, hardly paying any mind to what Catra is saying. She sets up the base posts for a shelter and makes sure they're steady. "Hmmm Adora. Which one is that again?"
"Ugh! You just said you knew her."
Huntara thinks deeply. "Oh right, the one who gave me the heart eyes.-"
This causes a reaction from Catra and she starts to thrash once again. Growling deep in her throat she spits out "bullshit! Adora's not into you, you friggin monstrosity."
"Oh yeah? Then who is she into? You?" The woman taunts Catra finding her childish reactions to be quite funny. Oh, to be young again.
"What!? N-no. I don't know! She's my best friend, but I know she wouldn't be into you, ya meathead." She is panting with irritation and her constraints are making her fuming mad again. Who am I kidding? Adora always stares at the dumb jocks with muscles in the locker room. She rolls her eyes.
Bow and Glimmer make eye contact wondering how long this is gonna last. Glimmer just rolls her eyes, shrugging.
"Yeah," Huntara starts "Adora is something else. She definitely has potential. She out races all of the other alphas and doesn't take any of their shit."
"Heh, of course she doesn't." Catra says it proudly.
"Yep! She'll probably end up with some omega. They always do. Especially the ones on that side of the Fright Zone. They're always so desperate to find the best ones." Huntara just goes on her tangent as she finishes putting together the makeshift awning to protect them from elements. This is quite entertaining.
Catra starts to lose control of her reaction and of herself. All she can see is a group of flighty omegas standing around her Adora. They're pouting their lips and giving off their bullshit scents to get her attention. Catra loses control of her emotions. "Who are they? I'll rip out their throats!"
"Hopefully, none of those vying omegas are in heat!" Huntara chuckles and continues to taunt Catra. Each jab making her grin bigger and bigger. "Oh man, she hasn't even been trained to resist those pheromones yet. She'll be-"
"Shut up! Shut up already!" Catra's insides are blazing hot with jealousy. She never thought she could feel this way, but there's no way in hell Adora is going to be tempted by all of those pathetic excuses for omegas. Adora is mine! She sits there panting her fury away. She knows she's not the best at holding in her emotions, but this subject just forces them out of her. It's like there's something else entirely taking her over from the inside.
"Hmmm," the older woman finds herself at a loss. "You are definitely interesting. You even react like an omega." She taps her chin. "When was the last time you ate?" She looks over to Catra with this questioning look as she just finishes tying her last knot.
Catra, flustered, tries to focus on the question. She's still so agitated from Huntara goading her. "Why?"
The older woman squints her eyes with this deadly glare at Catra. "No reason." Her mood completely shifts back to when she was torturing the poor feline. She moves to pick up the extra wood. "You other idiots have enough wood yet? I'm already done with the shelter for crying out loud."
Bow and Glimmer look at her amazing craftmanship as it almost sparkles with how pristine it is. Their jaws drop in amazement and they take what they have over to her.
"Great, now drop those here and we'll get started on a fire." Huntara directs them. They seem much more relaxed knowing that camp will be set up and it doesn't look like they'll die anytime soon.
"Hey! Meathead! I'm talking to you!" Catra huffs out panting breaths as she still can't seem to control the way she feels about the omegas flocking to Adora. "Why do you want to know when I last ate!?"