Morally Ambiguous: A She-Ra FanFiction
Chapter 2: Hordak's Weapons
The Fright Zone. That was an appropriately given name, as it was in the similitude of a wasteland laced with technological marvels. The land that reached across it was mostly barren with a fleeting modicum of vegetation. Protruding from the craters of the zone were dark buildings emblazoned with sharp edged corners and industrial inspired architecture. It seemed like something from a post apocalyptic work of fiction. The "Frightening" part of the Fright Zone is that this was not fiction, this was reality. And yet, despite the dread that anyone not belonging to the Fright Zone would have towards it, the inhabitants called it home. The Observer Twins were no different.
The Observer Twins were a sister and brother, named Brittni and Brett, respectively. They were horde soldiers that had the gift of observation; hence the name. At first mention, that may seem trivial, at best. However, their observation skills were borderline superhuman. They both had enhanced mirror neurons, which allowed them to copy any action they were able to observe. In addition, anything that they wanted to learn, they were able to comprehend much faster than that of a normal human. Whether through book study, or hands on experience, they had a far reaching understanding of whatever it is they were tasked with learning. Where they receive these gifts, most were unsure. Some believed they were magical. Others believed they were a product of a science experiment. Whatever the reason for their powers, Hordak exploited their abilities for the advancement of his Horde.
From a young age, Hordak assumed the Twins were no more special than any other child orphaned at the cost of a Horde victory. He relegated them to the infirmary with the rest of the orphans. Although it was an infirmary for the wounded, nefarious practices were also held there. Many of the captives that were taken were subject to experiments. These experiments mostly involved testing resilience to diseases, or to understand abilities and magics that were intrinsic to various creatures that were apart of the rebellion.
Not all of the researchers were so heinous. One of the nurses that was assigned to the infants in particular, was especially gentle towards them. His name was Keirnan, and he took a special interest in the twins when he had first gone to admit them into the infirmary. They had been only a few months old, but Keirnan noticed some interesting behaviors from them. For instance, when he had been writing an EMR on a clipboard, he noticed that the two in their isolette; (A polite term for an incubator,) began to mimic his writing strokes. Upon noticing the twins, Keirnan stopped writing. They also stopped the mimicry, but continued to stare at him. He didn't think much of it, and continued to write, when to his amusement, they both began to move their arms in the writing motion. He smiled and said,
"Heh, now that's adorable. Well, sorry kiddos, but I have to admit the other children." He began walking away, when he heard them coo. He chuckled, turned his head, and said, "Oh don't wor-" Keirnan stopped mid sentence and stared at the twins wide eyed. To his astonishment, they had both stood up. He gasped and dropped his clipboard. The twins stared with a cocked head, they looked at their blankets, grabbed them, then dropped them on the floor. Keirnan took a few seconds to digest this odd behavior, and said almost inaudibly,
"What in the world…" At that moment, Keirnan knew that there was something special about these twins. Babies weren't even supposed to be able to lift their heads, and yet, here these two were, standing and mimicking movements. For the next little while, Keirnan gave special attention to the Twins. He would monitor their reactions to simple mathematics with blocks. They were able to count to ten and write their names by age one. By age two, they were able to speak articulately and started learning how to read, write, and perform basic math. The prodigies continued to impress Keirnan who relayed the information to Hordak. Hordak was interested in what they had accomplished, and gave Keirnan full responsibility over their development.
The children continued to rapidly learn. During this learning, they started expressing their preferences towards certain avocations. Brittni, by age three, quickly learned the connection between pain and protests. She had once observed a child get hurt and cry. When this happened, she immediately ran over to see what had caused the pain. She noticed a cut on the child's finger. Brittni ran to the nearby first aid kit, pulled out antibiotic ointment and a bandaid, and went to alleviate the child's pain. This was the first on a medical sojourn that Brittni would pursue. Growing up, she was trained extensively in the medical field, learning the treatment of diseases, fractures, contusions, and other ailments. By age 9, she had memorized the anatomy of multiple humanoid species. Brett, on the other hand spent his time fascinated with technology. He would take apart machines, weapons, and had even created his own stun baton using various parts he had scavenged.
Keirnan continued to be impressed by the Twins' natural talents and rapid learning. Hordak was also interested in the Twins' abilities. However, he began having concerns with Keirnan's charge of them. Hordak saw the Twins as nothing more than weapons, than actual people. He felt that Keirnan was too soft on them, and according to Horde standards, he was. Keirnan wanted to keep them away from battle as much as possible. He tried to keep them focused on research and development. This was mostly fine for Brittni as she mostly was able to treat wounded soldiers that made it back from battle. She did sometimes think about what it would be like to be in the field, though. Brett, on the other hand, relished the thought of going into battle. He spent so much of his time creating weapons and repairing robots, that he wanted to see them in action in a live battle. Keirnan was once a combat medic, and had experienced battle many times. He didn't want the twins to go through the trepidation of combat, which is why he tried so hard to keep them at the Fright Zone. This did not sit well with Hordak, and eventually, he refused to wait any longer.
Because of the unique position that the Keirnan had with the Twins, they stayed with him in his living quarters. Keirnan's quarters had only two bedrooms, a kitchen, and makeshift living room that was actually referred to as a "meeting room." One particular morning, Keirnan was making breakfast for the Twins. It wasn't often they could eat something other than an MRE, so receiving pancakes and eggs was quite nice.
"Thanks for making breakfast!" Brittni blissfully exclaimed as she ran out of her shared room and swiped a plate. Brett walked out in a groggy manner holding his head and rubbing one of his eyes. He let out a loud yawn.
"You're welcome!" Keirnan replied, happily. Upon noticing Brett's dazed countenance, he chuckled and asked, "And what were you doing last night, kiddo?"
"Ugh, I'm not a kid. And I was trying to splice the fiber optics on this bot. The copper was reall-"
"Sho dash wot 'ou 'ere 'oing lash nigh'!" Brittni interrupted, mouth full of pancakes. She swallowed, then added, "sleep is an absolute necessity! Did you know that sleep deprivation can cause the subject to experience the equivalence of inebriation-" She couldn't finish because Brett had just shoved a pancake into her mouth. She glared at him for a few seconds, but upon registering the taste of the pancake, she shrugged her shoulders and started chewing. Brett sat down and asked for some coffee. Keirnan gave him a cocked eyebrow and said,
"You know, she's right. You have plenty of time during the day to work on these experiments." Brett rolled his eyes at him and forked at the eggs that were placed before him. Keirnan added, "also, you really shouldn't be drinking coffee at the age of 17, anyway." Brett groaned. Brittni then spoke up,
"Yeah! Do you know what's in that stuff? Tannic acid! It literally leatherizes your stomach!" Brett sighed and simply said,
"At this point I'll let it burn a hole in my stomach, that's the stuff that keeps me going." Keirnan spoke up,
"Well, as soon as you're 18, you can-" He was interrupted by an incoming transmission from Hordak. Keirnan went over to the nearby monitor and patched the transmission through. Hordak appeared on the screen with a calm, but serious demeanor. He went straight to the point.
"Keirnan, I need you to report to my lab. Immediately." Keirnan rose a fist to his chest and said,
"Right away, Lord Hordak." The transmission switched to static then turned off. Keirnan turned straightways to the Twins and nodded.
"Well, you heard Lord Hordak, I need to go. Brittni, I will see you at the clinic, later. Brett, I'll see you tonight." Keirnan turned suddenly and began walking away. He took about two steps before Brittni asked,
"What's wrong?" Keirnan stopped, but didn't turn back, and answered,
"Oh, uh nothing. I just don't want to keep Lord Hordak waiting." He took another step, but was then stunned by an impertinent inquiry from Brett.
"Why are you avoiding eye contact with us?" Keirnan swallowed audibly, turned towards them and said,
"I.. I'm not avoiding eye contact, I just-"
"And how come you're sweating? Do you have hyperhidrosis?" Brittni interrupted, pointing her fork at him." Keirnan began to stammer with his words.
"W-Well, I-" He tried to start.
"And you're stuttering. What's going on?" Brett also interrupted. Keirnan tried to protest,
"N-now see here-" Brittni and Brett started overlapping their questions to the point where Keirnan had to raise his voice a bit.
"Enough!" He saw the shock on their faces. "I'm sorry." He sighed, brought his hands up to his forehead, then rubbed his eyes. He half-heartedly chuckled and said, "I forgot how observant you two are. Listen, you two know how Hordak can be. Being called by him is a roll of the dice. You might get a praise, he might throw you into the Beast Island prison. I've generally always had… civil interactions with Hordak, but I have heard of those that have displeased him." Keirnan walked over to the Twins and put his hands on both of their respective shoulders, then continued. "As long as you can please Hordak, you will thrive in the Horde, and therefore thrive in life. Remember that." The Twins nodded in affirmation. "Good." He cracked a slight smile, then stood up and began walking back towards the door. "Brittni, I will see you at the clinic later. Brett, I'll see you tonight. Good luck, today." Keirnan walked out the door and headed towards Hordak's lab. The Twins looked at each other.
"I hope Keirnan will be alright." Brittni said with some concern.
"Eh, the frequency in his vocals didn't indicate any anger. But then again, Hordak is a fantastic liar." Brett replied, casually. Brittni sighed a bit, then nodded. Brett continued, "Anyway, I have to get my equipment, I got a lot of tanks to work on. Brett started towards their room to grab his equipment. Brittni was always an overly punctual girl, she always had her scrubs laid out and ironed, and her medical bag packed. She went over to the mirror to fix her hair. She always fastened her medium sized brown hair into a ponytail. She was very short, about five feet tall, and rather thin. Her eyes were a greenish-brown. Because of her love for anatomy, she did what she could to improve her physical fitness. The horde had a mandatory basic training which she happily went through. In addition to her love of medicine, Brittni loved competition. In particular, she loved excelling at things that people believed she couldn't do. There was one day in basic training where they were doing grappling training. She ended up being pitted against a boy that had at least twenty pounds on her. Little did he know the power of her observation skills. Her opponent rushed in to grab her arms, thinking he could slam her on the ground. However, she saw what he was doing and grabbed his wrists first, used her left leg to force his arms down, and swept his feet with her right leg, then flipped onto his back, pulling his arms up in strappado. Her opponent never dared face her after that.
Brett, being Brittni's twin looked very similar, just much taller. His hair was shaved close to his head, and he had a thickening beard. He had similar facial features to her, just more masculine. Just like Brittni, he also excelled at wrestling, and was able to take on larger foes than himself. What he excelled at, however, was weaponry. He only used weapons he personally built. Everything from stun batons and ballistic energy weapons, to tanks and robots, he was a weapons master.
What really set the twins apart was their stern loyalty towards each other. Growing up, they did have their sibling rivalries. Particularly with their talents towards observation, they always tried to outdo each other. Despite all that, growing up together, training together, and just generally living together in the Fright Zone were the elements that forged their unshakable bond. At any rate, they had gotten ready and headed to their respective assignments. However, they had no idea what was in store for them that day.
Keirnan walked with a well feigned appearance of confidence. In reality, he was always nervous to see Hordak. He had arrived at the doorway to Hordak's lab. Keirnan took a deep breath and pressed the button to the intercom.
"Lord Hordak, it's me, Keirnan." Keirnan let go of the button and waited a few seconds. There didn't seem to be any response. A slight bit of hope penetrated Keirnan thinking that he might not have to see Hordak. But just as this hope entered, it immediately fled when the mechanical doors to the lab swung open. This shocked Keirnan a bit and he took a couple of steps back. A firmly deep voice from the intercom then came on.
"Ah, Keirnan. Come in." Hordak said. Feeling the utter reality of having to face Hordak sank into Keirnan's legs as he walked with uneasiness into the lab. It was a rather big room that functioned more as a workshop than an actual lab. The lab was filled with all sorts of technological marvels. Wires, power conduits, and energy relays lined the walls and floors. All the energy currents surrounding the lab caused it to glow a green tint. Although it was clean, and high tech looking, there was a feeling of macabre that emanated the lab. Atop a staircase was Hordak, situated on his throne. Hordak was an intimidating being. He had a white, skeletal-like face with pointed ears and glowing red eyes. His apparel consisted of a black robe that covered his torso and upper legs. Emblazoned on the robe was a red bat. Underneath his cloak, his arms, and his legs was dark layered plate metal that had sharpened edges. Keirnan went to the bottom of the stairs, kneeled before Hordak, bowed his head and said,
"Lord Hordak, it is good to see you. How may I serve?" Hordak had two facial expressions that Keirnan had ever seen: A scowl, and a sort of blank expression that represented a tolerant attitude. Hordak stood up from his throne and started walking down the stairs, his arms crossed behind his back. Once he got to the bottom, Hordak said,
"I commend the servile attitude. You may arise." Hordak walked passed him towards one of his workbenches that was filled with various tools. Keirnan rose up and looked towards Hordak. Hordak was fumbling through different tools and gadgets. Keirnan cleared his throat and said,
"So, Lord Hordak. Uh, is.. Is there something in particular I can do for you?" Hordak, without turning around replied,
"Patience, Keirnan. I just wanted to talk for a moment." Hordak had grabbed some kind of device that Keirnan could not see. Hordak turned around and crossed his arms behind his back again. He walked towards Keirnan, just a few feet away. Keirnan stood there, eyes fixated on Hordak. Sweat began to strain down his head. Hordak then presented the device he was holding. It was a laser pistol. Hordak had his finger off the trigger and pointed it away from Keirnan, but he still felt nervous around the weapon. Hordak continued to speak, "Tell me Keirnan, do you know what I am holding?" Hordak then aimed it at a wall, and looked at Keirnan. Keirnan spoke up,
"Oh, well, that's an L-29 Mark 2 Laser Pistol." he said with some confidence. Hordak's neutral face curved just slightly into some kind of a smile. For some reason, that made Keirnan even more nervous. Hordak looked to the right where he was aiming the pistol.
"Do you know why I like weapons and tools, Keirnan?" Keirnan was dumbfounded for a moment but then simply said,
"Um… Well, because.. Um, I mean that's how you win the war, righ-"
ZRAAAM.
Hordak had fired the pistol and left a medium sized hole in the wall he aimed at. It had melted the metal and left a burn mark surrounding the hole. Keirnan gasped a breath of air and stared, mouth agape at the wall. Hordak's voice became more sinister,
"I like weapons and tools because when I activate them, they do as they're told!" Hordak walked back towards his workbench and slammed the gun onto it. He then turned his head towards Keirnan and continued, "Everything I have invested my time, energy, and resources in, I expect to be used for the advancement of the Horde." Keirnan was feeling frightened now. He had no idea what Hordak was trying to convey. He asked, with feigned confidence,
"Forgive me Lord Hordak, but I'm not sure I'm following." Hordak turned his body completely towards Keirnan with a menacing looking scowl. Hordak walked towards Keirnan, again. Keirnan felt completely frozen, including his eyes that were still fixated on Hordak. Hordak got within a foot of Keirnan's face, shifted his own face to a more neutral expression and said,
"The Twins."
Keirnan slightly gasped and took a step back. He tried to start talking,
"B-but, my Lord, what would you have with them? They are already doing much for the Horde!" Hordak began speaking,
"From what I have seen, they are wasting their full potential. I am completely aware of their feats and observational skills. Brittni is a medical prodigy, and Brett is a tech wizard, yes? And it took them very little effort." Hordak crossed his arms behind his back again, then started slowly pacing away from Keirnan. Hordak continued, "I am aware that Brittni has saved many of our soldiers, and that Brett has designed many weapons for the war effort." Hordak then stopped and turned his head towards Keirnan.
"Now, I would like to see them in the field." Keirnan attempted holding back a gasp, but Hordak caught attention to it, and turned his body towards him. "Is there a problem, Keirnan?" Keirnan swallowed hard and said,
"Oh, uh, no, no, my Lord. I just.. Well, the Twins are very precious to the Horde-" Hordak cut him off and said,
"Precious. Interesting word choice, Keirnan." Keirnan had a puzzled look on his face with his mouth slightly agape. Hordak continued, "the word precious generally denotes a familial, or intimate bond, more so than a word regarding an organization." Keirnan knew what Hordak was implying, and tried to cover it up by saying,
"Oh, right, well I meant they have value in the horde, and we don't want to lose them." Hordak then said,
"We don't want to lose them? Or you don't want to lose them?" Keirnan tried to protest by saying,
"No, Lord Hordak, I mean, all of us together. Their talents have been very beneficial, and I just wouldn't- I mean, the horde can't afford to lose them." Hordak was not buying it. He spoke again,
"Their observational skills and their overall talents that they've developed since childhood will protect them out in the field. They have the skills of some of my most elite troops. They have the potential to be some of my best soldiers, and I will not allow that potential to be wasted on trivial pursuits here in the Fright Zone." Keirnan tried to speak again,
"But Lord Hordak-" Hordak had gotten up in Keirnan's face at this point and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him a foot off the ground.
"Enough!" Hordak shouted, "I will not allow your attachment to the Twins interfere with the Horde's goals. They will be put into the field, and that is my final say on it. Do I make myself clear?" Keirnan was frightened to the extreme at this point that he could not even speak. "Well?!" Hordak shouted again. Keirnan scrambled to get words out,
"Y-yes. Yes, Lord Hordak. I'm sorry. Forgive my insubordination. It will be done." Hordak's scowl went back into a calm, but indignant expression. He put Keirnan down, took his hands off of his shoulders, and took a step back.
"Very good, Keirnan. I expect that you break the news to them when they get done with their shifts, tonight. That is all. You are dismissed." Keirnan bowed himself, and quickly walked out of Hordak's lab.
