Chapter 20: Princess Prom-blem (Part 2)
It was…
Adora? Brett let out a quiet grunt as he saw her standing in the doorway. The door to the security room had fallen forward, letting a loud slam. All Brett and Adora could do was stare at each other, mouth agape. With quick thinking, Brett cleared his throat and gave his best accent of Gerard.
"Ah, apologies, miss. That door's hinges seemed to have melted. A consequence of living in a kingdom made entirely of ice." Brett said with a light chuckle. He then changed his tone to a more serious one and started walking towards Adora, "but I'm going to have to ask you to go back downstairs to the party-"
"Brett." Adora asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Brett stopped dead in his tracks and shuddered a bit.
"I, uh, sorry, miss? I think you might be confused-" Brett started before being interrupted, again, by Adora.
"I heard Entrapta. I saw you kick down this door. It's you Brett." Adora said, her tone becoming more threatening. She squared up her body in a fighting position then continued, "what are you and the Horde planning on doing here?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Brett folded his arms, scoffed, and looked away for a few moments.
"I was under the impression you didn't care about the Horde's affairs, anymore…" Brett replied coldly, moving his head back to her, glaring under the mask.
"I care about what evil the Horde is committing against my friends." Adora snapped.
"Your 'friends'?" Brett scoffed and chuckled a bit. His tone then became more irritated, "we were your friends, Adora. You turned your back on us, and you almost got my sister to turn against us, too!" Brett snapped back.
"I didn't do anything! Brittni is her own person! Anything she has been questioning about the Horde has been all her, and frankly, she's right to question! We've been brainwashed our entire lives to believe that the Rebellion is evil, but have you seen what the Horde has done?!" Adora demanded, slowly stepping towards Brett. Brett squared up his body.
"Oh, I've seen what the Horde has done… I've also seen what the Rebellion's done. I was in the thick of it when the Rebellion were trying to kill Brittni and me." Brett said, also walking towards Adora, "but, I think that we aren't going to get anywhere, debating morality…" Brett then pulled out a dagger, "shall we dance?" Adora glared at Brett and shouted, running at him full force. Brett ran towards her as well, brandishing the dagger in his left hand, ready to stab her. Just as he was about to drive the dagger, she grabbed his wrist and pushed it to his left while simultaneously raising her left leg to roundhouse kick his right oblique. Brett grinned, anticipating her kick. Right before her foot made contact with his oblique, he grabbed her leg and pulled it, causing her to lose balance, and fall backward. She let out an oof as she fell to the ground. Brett then switched the dagger's blade downwards and went to plunge it into Adora. Before that happened, Adora, with her free leg, kicked Brett's right ankle. He growled in pain as his right ankle gave out, forcing his right leg to his knee. With the hand that was gripping Adora's left leg, he pulled it further, sliding her across the room into a security desk. Brett grunted as he attempted to pick himself up and turned towards Adora.
"I knew you were going to move my dagger away and kick me. But you should know that I would anticipate that. After all, we grew up together." Brett said, bitterly. Adora did a kip-up right on her feet and squared her body up again.
"Brett, I'm not trying to fight against you! I'm trying to stop the Horde from killing everybody in Etheria off!" Adora snapped.
"I am the Horde." Brett growled. He then ran at Adora again with the dagger brandished towards her. As he ran, Adora lifted up her leg and pulled off her shoe, then hurled it at him. Brett held up his arms to shield himself from the shoe. Confused by this foreign tactic, Brett let out a slight exclamation.
"Whuh- Did… did you just throw a shoe at me?!" Brett demanded, moving the dagger out of the way. Adora growled and lunged at Brett. With the dagger out of the way, but still in his hand, Brett had no choice but to face the full bodyweight of Adora's motion, striking him.
"Oof! Get off!" Brett groaned, dropping the dagger. Adora went to give Brett a right cross as she was kneeling on him. Before it made contact, Brett grabbed her right hand and threw her off onto her back, towards the dagger. Looking to her left while on the ground, she saw the dagger and grabbed it, brandishing it at Brett as he picked himself up. She switched glances between the dagger and Brett. Adora let out a shout and plunged the dagger into the closest wall to her, breathing rapidly. Brett gazed at her action, curiously.
"What are you doing? Isn't fighting with blades your thing?" Brett asked. Adora let out a sigh.
"I told you. I'm not here to fight you, Brett; much less, kill you. I just want the Horde to leave the Rebellion alone." Adora said with conviction. For some reason, this actually struck Brett. While Adora had his attention, she continued, "Brett, please listen to me. I didn't leave the Horde out of a knee jerk reaction. I had really begun questioning the Horde's motives and actions. I'm sorry that I left so suddenly, and I'm sorry that you hate the Rebellion. I know that the Rebellion has wronged the Horde, but the Horde has been attacking neutral and civilian territory. I cannot stand by and watch innocent people get slaughtered!" Brett stood there for a moment in deep thought, digesting what Adora had just said. The tension in the room was magnified even greater by the silent communication that was being divulged between the locked eyes of two warriors with opposing beliefs. Despite their differing perspectives, Brett wanted to say something, anything and after the tension heightened, he was about to respond until his radio went off. Without taking his eyes off Adora, Brett picked up the radio.
"It's me." Brett spoke into the radio.
"Brett? Where are you?! Get down here now, we need those charge-" Catra began before Brett shushed her. Catra hissed into the radio, "did you just shush me?!"
"I'm not alone, Catra. I'd prefer not to divulge our plan." Brett replied. The radio was silent for a moment until a slight chuckle was heard.
"Hey Adora…" Catra muttered. Adora gasped.
"What are you two planning?!" Adora demanded. Brett held up his hand in a pausing motion.
"Hey, Catra, I'll be down in a minute." Brett said as he switched the frequency on his radio. He cleared his throat and changed his accent to match Gerard's, "guards, we may have a problem upstairs in the security office, send officers right away." When Brett clicked off the radio, a response, indicating that two officers were being sent, sounded in the radio. Brett smiled devilishly at Adora as she glared at him.
"Truce for now, and I call off the guards. Deal?" Brett asked. Adora choked on a groan then let out a sight.
"Fine. But whatever you're planning, I will stop it." Adora threatened as she pushed passed Brett, exiting the security office. Brett chuckled and canceled the alert. He then went to a nearby maintenance closet right outside the security office, secured a ladder, then headed down to the party to begin placing the bombs. He set up the ladder to the first pillar and set the first C4. As he was doing this, he gazed upon the crowd. He looked at all the princesses that were dressed up, adorned with the finest jewelry. He let out a breathy groan, thinking once again on what Dragstor had said. But he also had another thought. The words of Adora started pervading his mind.
"I know that the Rebellion has wronged the Horde, but the Horde has been attacking neutral and civilian territory…" Brett shook his head as he descended the ladder and moved it to another pillar. As he climbed up again, he looked out at the crowd, Adora's words came back:
"I cannot stand by and watch innocent people get slaughtered!" Adora's voice again rang in his head. Brett let out another groan as he pushed the C4 onto the pillar. He looked at the crowd again. Even though they were a bunch of princesses that were not apart of the Horde, did they really deserve this attack? Were they innocent? Brett shook his head again and rubbed his head when he stepped off the ladder.
"Why do I care about this… I know what they did at Elberon, Grimdale, and Moorstone… These rebels are nothing but scum!" Brett debated in his mind. He let out a loud groan. Nearby, a couple guards were noticing Brett's odd behavior. One of them slowly approached him.
"Uh, you okay, buddy?" The guard inquired. Brett immediately turned towards the guard and waved his arm at him.
"I'm fine!" Brett barked at the guard. The guard was taken aback, blinking his eyes a few times. Brett realized what he had done and quickly played it off. He let out a couple coughs and lowered his voice, "oh, uh, sorry about that. I'm just a little sick, but you know what happens when we're short staffed for a big party like this." Brett said, rubbing the back of his neck. The guard eyed Brett suspiciously.
"What did you say your name was?" The guard inquired, rubbing his chin. Brett made a quickly thought of a fake name.
"Jerome… Jerome Zavalfsky." Brett said, awkwardly. The guard cocked his eyebrow at Brett before smiling.
"Jerome! Why didn't you say? Wow, that is nice of you to come on when you were sick. It's funny, don't you usually do waiting? Well, never mind that, carry on!" The guard said as he walked back to his post with the other guard. Brett let out a loud sigh of relief. He continued his mission, going to another pillar and climbing up. As he did, yet another voice came to his mind. This time it was his twin's voice.
"That rebel soldier that was underneath the wardrobe…He told me that the Horde had killed his family… His friends. He said the Horde burned down his village 'just for existing.'" Brittni's voice sounded in Brett's mind. Suddenly Brett began feeling a modicum of guilt. He let out a big sigh and began thinking:
"Maybe not all of these people deserve to die… If I place a C4 at just a couple more pillars, the collapse will be a lot slower and more of them will be able to evacuate before getting killed." Brett reasoned with himself, almost reluctantly, "as long as we get Glimmer and Bow, that's all I care about."
Brett went to the last few pillars and placed the last of the C4s. He let out a sigh.
"I hope I know what I'm doing…" Brett muttered to himself. While he was at the top of the ladder, he analyzed the room. Glimmer and Bow seemed to be having some kind of confrontation. Although he couldn't hear what they were saying, clearly they were getting impatient with one another. Brett grinned devilishly upon seeing that.
"Heh… separating themselves? They're making this way too easy." Brett said to himself as he descended the ladder. He wanted to keep a peak position, so he put the ladder into a nearby maintenance closet and made his way up the stairs to the eastern balcony. Once Brett arrived, he analyzed more parts of the room and saw Adora speaking to Princess Frosta.
"Oh, this is going to be great." Brett said to himself, chuckling. He couldn't hear what Adora was saying, but he heard Frosta when she began yelling.
"The snow peas and cookies are touching. Do it right!" Frosta yelled at the waiter bringing around hors d'oeuvres. Looking closer, Brett saw that the waiter was none other than Kyle. He growled upon witnessing Kyle being berated by Frosta. Suddenly, Brett's vengeful nature that was initially beginning to fleet away from came racing back.
"You'll get yours, princess…" Brett muttered to himself while glaring at her. He continued to analyze the room. Catra and Scorpia had already begun their plan of giving Adora the runaround. Brett chuckled at Adora frantically following Catra. He let out a slight groan, however, when he looked over at Scorpia who was busy engorging herself with the buffet. Brett pulled out his radio.
"Scorpia!" Brett said, stifling his frustrated voice.
"Oh, hrey Rett, oh, gawsh, 'ou 'otta 'ry zish 'ood!" Scorpia said, with a muffled mouth.
"Focus! We need those heat bombs set in just a few minutes. Also, I think I saw archer boy headed outside. Follow him." Brett commanded. Scorpia swallowed the last bit of food that was packed into her mouth.
"On it, Infiltration Saboteur!" Scorpia said, more coherently. For some reason, Scorpia accepting a directive that Brett ordered, gave him a sense of power. He grinned upon this feeling. Back to surveying the party, Brett did one last sweep. A certain, purple-pigtailed young woman caught Brett's eye. On a balcony overlooking the party, Entrapta was crouched on the railing. He shuddered, thinking that she might fall. Brett pulled out his radio.
"Catra, can you get to the western balcony? That'll keep Adora away from Glimmer." Brett asked.
"Already there." Catra replied. Surely, a few seconds after Catra spoke, Brett saw her appear on the balcony. Entrapta was leaning off the railing in order to get a better observation point at the party. However, at the expense of this vantage point, Entrapta began slipping. Brett let out a gasp and shouted into the radio.
"Catra! Quick, grab that girl!" Brett commanded. With a flick of her wrist, Catra grabbed Entrapta's overalls and pulled her back to safety. Brett let out an exaggerated sigh. He could hear Adora yelling in the background and saw her take Entrapta away from Catra. Catra got back on the radio and let out a nefarious chuckle.
"Gee, Brett, if I didn't know any better, I think you were actually concerned for that princess." Catra teased. Brett's cheeks turned red.
"N..no, I just didn't want her body to splatter all over the dance floor and ruin our plans." Brett snapped. Catra simply laughed at his protests and shut the radio off. Brett let out a sigh and scanned the area some more. He spotted Glimmer approaching Frosta near the table that was holding Frosta's ice sculpture. He smirked, believing Glimmer and Frosta's confrontation to be more volatile. He moved across the balcony towards the two princesses, hugging the railing. Once he was right above them, he was able to hear their conversation.
"Oh, Princess Glimmer, I was hoping to speak with you." Frosta spoke in a tone sweeter than Keirnan's pancakes. Upon hearing her complete transformation in attitude towards Glimmer, Brett's jaw dropped hard enough to break the floor beneath his feet. He was intrigued and continued listening.
"Really? Well, that's great to hear!" Glimmer replied, rather chipper. Frosta smiled and blushed a little.
"I hope you're enjoying the ball. I aimed to impress." Frosta said, rubbing her shoulders and looking away. Glimmer didn't quite pick up on Frosta's cues and simply smiled with her eyes closed.
"Well, it's definitely impressive. You should be proud." Glimmer said, reassuringly. Frosta let out a slight chuckle. Brett, meanwhile let out a groan.
"Ugh, gimme a break." Brett thought to himself.
"So, uh… that princess, Adora? Is there a particular reason you came with her? Is she your..." Frosta began inquiring before coughing at the last part of the question, "girlfriend?" Glimmer gazed at Frosta, mouth slightly agape.
"Wha? Oh, no, no. Adora and I are just good friends. I… actually wanted to go with my friend, Bow, but he ended up going with Princess Perfuma" Glimmer said, glumly and looking away.
"Pah, you should forget about him." Frosta scoffed, callously ignoring Glimmer's feelings. Glimmer narrowed her eyes at Frosta, as she continued to speak, "I'm just saying, a pretty girl like you should set your sights towards somebody a little more… blue." Glimmer's eyes widened again upon hearing Frosta's implication. Brett, meanwhile was ready to vomit. Glimmer chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head.
"Oh, uh… well, that's a really flattering thing to say, Frosta. Thank you." Glimmer started, chuckling nervously, "maybe we could hang out later? I mean, I'd definitely love to get to know you first." Glimmer replied, quickly.
"It's a date!" Frosta replied, excitedly, "for now, I need to start the first dance of the ball. Have fun with that!" Despite the cold permeating the atmosphere of this kingdom, Glimmer's cheeks were burning brighter than a tank's plasma cannon. Brett put a hand to his eyes and shook his head.
"That might have been one of the most painful things I've ever had to witness…" Brett thought to himself. Just then, the lights became dim and multicolored lights began spotlighting different areas of the dancefloor. Frosta then announced the beginning of the first dance of the ball. Suddenly Brett's radio went off.
"It's Brett." Brett muttered into the radio.
"Hey, it's Lonnie, I snatched the sword." Lonnie said. Brett smirked.
"Good work, Lon-" Brett was about to say before being interrupted by Scorpia
"Oh, wow! Great job, Lonnie. You know, this plan is really coming togeth-" Scorpia began saying before being interrupted by Brett.
"Scorpia…" Brett muttered.
"Oh, right. Sorry! Hush, hush. Anyway, I'm placing the heat bombs, and I think I saw that archer in the area.
"Good work, you two." Brett said. He then increased the channel to include Kyle, "okay, Lonnie, Kyle, make your way to Scorpia and get that archer. Get him aboard the ship. Catra's gonna make sure that Glimmer goes and finds him. Understood?"
"You got it, Brett." Said Lonnie.
"You betcha!" Said Scorpia. Everybody waited a minute for Kyle. No response.
"KYLE?!" Brett, Lonnie, and Scorpia screamed in unison. Kyle came onto the radio with a muffled mouth.
"Ohw! Sawwy. Diz 'ood ish amazhing!" Kyle said with a muffled mouthful.
"I know right?!" Scorpia chimed in.
"Kyle! Just get over here!" Lonnie yelled. Kyle audibly swallowed.
"Sorry! Coming!" Kyle said. And with that, the heat bombs began their slow melt of the pillars. Lonnie and Kyle grabbed hold of Bow as he was trying to report Scorpia's planting of the heat bombs, but was quickly incapacitated by Scorpia. They then brought him aboard the aircraft, and the rest of the plan was going smoothly…
that is until the unexpected guests showed up. A few minutes after the dance had started Brett had looked over to the entrance and saw two suspicious characters arrive. They were suspicious because they were down to their underwear, freezing. Brett looked closely and realized it was the guards that had been previously knocked out in the guest room.
"Oh, no…" Brett muttered as he saw them waving their arms around frantically. A couple more guards ran to them and threw blankets on them. From the distance, Brett could see that they were frantically explaining themselves to the guards. Brett switched his channel to the security channel to see if he could hear them. Suddenly an alert came onto the radio.
"Attention, all Snow Kingdom Security Officers, there has been a security breach. The one who has been masquerading as Captain Gerard is a phony." A guard was saying into the radio, "If you see him, arrest him immediately. He is known to be running with four others. Two are dressed as guards, two are-" Before the All-Point Bulletin finished, Brett quickly interrupted, so as not to reveal Catra or Scorpia's identity. He screamed into the radio as though he were being attacked.
"Hello? Officer?! Where are you?! Is the phony attacking you?!" Brett screamed harder in reply until he gave out a very faint answer.
"W...weapons check…" Brett wheezed out. He then heard an order for available security officers to head over the Weapons Check. Brett then quickly switched channels to the Horde.
"Scorpia, Lonnie, Kyle. I need your help with something." Brett said.
"What's up?" Lonnie asked.
"The two guards we knocked out managed to get free of their bonds and they let the rest of the security know that we infiltrated the place. I have a plan to give them the runaround, though. Lonnie, I need you to head to a nearby bathroom and start flushing toilets. Kyle, their sweep should take about ten minutes. After that, go to the kitchen and turn on a microwave or oven or something. Scorpia, stay with the ship. Everybody got it?" Brett said. Everybody repeated that they understood and went to their various stations. Brett then switched channels to the security officers.
"He's not in the weapons check!" He heard in the radio. He then switched to his team's channel.
"Lonnie, you at the bathroom?" Brett inquired.
"Right here, Brett." Lonnie replied.
"Great, start flushing." Brett said. And with that, Brett merged the channels on the radio and put on his Gerard impression.
"Looking for me, you fools?" Brett asked in Gerard's accent.
"It's the phony!" A guard said on the radio. And after hearing the flushing, "he's in one of the bathrooms! All security teams search the bathrooms!" Brett chuckled and turned around. As he turned, he bumped into his prehensile-haired acquaintance.
"Whuh-ah!" Brett exclaimed as he fell backwards, almost falling off the railing. Entrapta gasped and grabbed him before he fell over. Unfortunately, his radio fell out of his hand down on the dancefloor, "oh, no…" Brett then muttered. Entrapta then pulled him off the railing onto his feet.
"Hey, Brett! Sorry I scared you. I was just noticing you were up here alone, and I thought I could… be alone with you?" Entrapta inquired, smiling at him. Brett started blushing.
"Oh, uh, Entrapta, that's really flattering, but, uh-" Brett began replying before being interrupted by a group of guards marching towards him. "Oh, no…" Brett thought to himself. Before he could react, the guards yelled out to him.
"You, guard! What's your S.O. Number?!" The guards demanded. Brett was glaring at them for a moment, then his scowl curved into a devilish grin. He then pulled off the coat he was wearing, revealing his combat engineer armor underneath. The guards gasped, then quickly brandished their halberds at Brett.
"Get behind me…" Brett muttered to Entrapta. Entrapta was stunned, staring mouth agape at the armor. She began analyzing it, quickly moving around it, touching it and admiring the features.
"Metalized iridium… built in armaments… very fascinating…" Entrapta muttered as she gushed over the armor. Brett and the guards widened their eyes in annoyance and fascination. One of the guards shook his head and ignited the energy in his halberd. Brett quickly noticed, grabbed hold of Entrapta and dove to the left. Entrapta gasped.
"Wow! Your reaction speed is almost inhuman! Can I run some tests on you?" Entrapta inquired. While still holding onto Entrapta, Brett rolled out of the way, towards the guards. He kicked the halberd of the guard that was firing at him. Letting go of Entrapta he picked himself up. The other guard, with his halberd already ignited, fired a shot, hitting Brett's right pauldron and knocking him backwards, several feet away.
"Oof! ...Ugh…" Brett muttered. Both guards then ran at Brett. Entrapta, not wanting them to hurt Brett, hurled her hair towards one of them, grabbing his legs. He quickly lost balance and fell forward towards Brett. As he fell, Brett simultaneously raised his leg, kicking the guy in the forehead, instantly knocking him out. The other guard was about to fire another shot at Brett until he raised the flamethrower that was built into his arm, letting it go full blaze at the guard. The guard screamed as his coat caught fire, quickly becoming the major, literal, spotlight. Brett then fired the flamethrower at the ceiling. As the flames licked the ceiling, the melted ice quickly strewn down and put out the fire on the man.
"Ahh!.. Oh, man, thanks bud-" The guard was about to say gratefully before being punched right in the face by Brett.
"Don't mention it…" Brett muttered as he flexed his knuckles. He then looked to Entrapta who laid there, with her lip quivering. Brett shuddered then slowly walked towards her with his hands up at chest level, "Entrapta, look, I can explain-" Brett started before she picked herself up with her hair and moved her body within inches of his face.
"Oh! That was amazing! Who was the one to build the armament in of your armor? Better yet, who built your armor in the first place?!" Entrapta excitedly inquired. Brett blinked a few times and let out a nervous chuckle.
"Uh… heh, that's… kind of a long story-" Brett began saying before he heard the sounds of simultaneous cracks. He immediately looked over to see the heat bombs fully melting the pillars. He ran over to the rails to see that Adora had been encased in some kind of enchanted ice. Catra was standing over her, most likely mocking her. Glimmer had already left, most likely going after Bow.
"Oh, no." Brett muttered. He then looked at Entrapta, "Entrapta, you need to go. Now! Get to whatever vehicle you took to get here. Hug the walls and you should stay out of the rubble that's going to fall from the ceiling." Brett said, putting his hands on her shoulders. Entrapta stared at him blankly. Brett let out a slight groan, "go! Now!" Entrapta gasped, quickly nodded her head, and ran towards the entrance, hugging the wall. Brett looked down and realized it was time. He pulled out the detonator. From the dancefloor, Catra looked up and nodded at him. Brett gave her a smirk.
"Boom." Brett muttered. As if saying the magic word, the C4's that had been placed on the pillars let out a deafening explosion that blew the tops. Suddenly, the enchanted ice rubble began collapsing from the ceiling. Panic ensued in the crowd. Although Brett didn't want to necessarily kill everyone, he couldn't help but grin devilishly at them for running away in trepidation. Frosta was trying to keep everyone calm, using her powers to stop some of the rubble from hitting the other guests. Catra had begun running towards the exit, with Adora, being recently freed from the ice, in hot pursuit of Catra.
"Time to make my exit." Brett said as he jumped from the railing and landed on the dance floor, splintering the ground beneath him from the shock blowout from his armor. He looked back to see Frosta's widened eyes. As he stood up and faced her, he gave her the meanest look of contempt. This caused Frosta's widened eyes to curve into a glare. Using some of the ice that had previously trapped Adora, that was to the right of Brett, she morphed it into jagged-edged icicles and hurled them at him. Brett quickly determined the velocity at which they were being hurled at him. He turned to the ice and brandished his flamethrower, quickly igniting the ice. The burst of flame managed to melt some of the ice, but he had to fall on his back to dodge the rest. Once he was prone, Frosta used her powers to wrap ice around Brett, encasing most of his body in ice. He grunted and growled, struggling to break free. He couldn't reach the igniting trigger on his flamethrower. Frosta slowly walked towards him, continuing to use her powers to repair the pillars and ceiling. Once she was above him, her glare turned into a scowl.
"You think you can just come in here, ruin Princess Prom and destroy my kingdom?!" Frosta demanded. Brett simply gave her a stoic, blank expression. Suddenly his mouth curved and opened into a grin and he began laughing maniacally. Frosta took a step back and shuddered, maintaining her scowl on him. Suddenly Brett's laughter broke and he glared at her.
"As a matter of fact, I do." Brett declared, boldly. He then revved up the chainsaw on his other bracer and cut through the ice. The following action that happened, despite the rapid spinning motor of the steel teeth, seemed to happen in slow motion. As the saw broke through the ice, the motion of the saw attached to Brett's wrist continued to move until the teeth made contact with Frosta's stomach and began ripping it apart. Brett gasped and quickly pulled back the saw, but it was too late. For a brief moment that felt like an eternity, the two enemies' eyes peered into each other, as if reading one another's soul. Aside from their spiritual encounter, their lips began quivering. Frosta looked down at her stomach and saw the blood pouring out. She coughed out even more blood and began shuddering until she fell backwards. Brett continued to stare wide-eyed at Frosta. He then remembered, however, that he had to get out of there. He narrowed his eyes at Frosta and began sawing his other limbs out of the ice, then used the flamethrower to melt the rest of it. As he stood up, he gazed at the princess that was lying in a pool of her own blood. Although he felt guilty at first, he remembered what he had been taught and believed his entire life. With a scoff and no remorse, Brett made a simple conclusion.
"One less princess in the world… One less evil in the world." Brett said, rather coldly. He then ran towards the entrance. As he made it to the entrance, he looked back once more and saw a couple of medics running over to treat Frosta. They put her on a stretcher and carried her away. He was thinking about running back to finish the job, but a large amount of rubble fell before him and he dove away. It really was time for him to go. Brett made his way through the chaos of the crowd running towards their various vehicles, and just away from the Ice Palace in general. Shortly after, Brett had found the air transport. It was parked near a cliff's edge up a snowy hill. The railing on the edge of the cliff had been worn off. As he ran towards the transport, he saw Lonnie and Kyle about to board it.
"Lonnie! Kyle-" Brett began shouting before Glimmer appeared behind them both. Brett stopped in his tracks and shouted, "look out!" But it was too late. Glimmer grabbed Kyle's shoulder and threw him behind her. Lonnie pulled out her energy baton and was about to fire it at Glimmer, but Glimmer generated that purple aura around her right fist and punched Lonnie, sending her flying into the ship. Glimmer began marching into the ship when Brett's shouting stopped her.
"You…" Brett started, pointing his finger at Glimmer. She stopped and turned towards Brett, a scowl on her face, "I was wondering when we'd meet again. If it wasn't for orders, I'd tear you apart right now for everything you've done." Glimmer let out a loud growl and took a few steps towards him.
"I could say the same for you…" Glimmer muttered, she then added in a more exclaimed voice, "and for 'everything I've done?' Who are you to judge me?! You're the Evil Horde! You're the ones that destroyed Elberon, poisoned Plumeria, and tried to destroy Salineas' sea gate. Justify that!" Glimmer snapped. Brett scoffed and took a couple steps closer.
"All little sacrifices in order to achieve victory and order for all of Etheria. Maybe if your little Rebellion would just give up-" Brett began before Glimmer growled and dove at him in a tackle. He simply moved out of the way, thinking she was going to hit the ground. She wised up, however. Right as Brett moved out of the way, Glimmer teleported herself in front of Brett in her diving motion, successfully tackling him.
"Oof! Whah?!" Brett yelled in discomfort and surprise. He was laying on his back, his head dangling off the edge of the cliff. He peered up at Glimmer's eyes. The sclera in her eyes began turning a dark purple. He tried punching her, but she grabbed his fist, he tried again with his other fist to the same result. He could try kicking her, but that would most likely throw him off the cliff. Glimmer knew this just as well, so she was savoring this moment.
"You know, I'm going to enjoy this, Horde scum. You're just one more evil in this world to be taken out." Glimmer said, rather coldly. Brett grunted underneath her.
"Do it then." Brett dared her, glaring. For a moment, she shuddered, and even struggled a bit. Her scowl started curving into a more concerned and even fearful expression. Brett took notice of this and he began grinning, "you can't do it, can you?" Glimmer brought her scowl back and started pushing Brett's arms towards the cliffs edge. She let out an angry exclamation. Brett then said something that finally pushed her:
"You're weak."
Glimmer's eyes widened in rage and she let out an almost inhuman growl that made even Brett fearful. The purple energy in her hands began glowing brightly. She grabbed him by the neck, stood up and held him over the edge. Brett began gasping for breath, holding onto Glimmer's hand. She gazed at him with an anger she hadn't felt before.
"No, I'm not." Glimmer said, rather menacingly. Brett choked out a gasp. Glimmer chuckled devilishly in response, then added, "goodbye, Horde soldier-" Glimmer was then interrupted by a stinging feeling in her back. Suddenly, she gasped and her scleras became white again. She let out a slight groan, letting go of Brett. Brett screamed as he was about to plummet. But at the last second, a burgundy colored claw grabbed his arm. He let out a gasp and then a nervous laugh as he realized it was Scorpia. She smiled and pulled him up. As he was brought up, he fell on all fours coughing from being strangled.
"You okay, Brett?" Scorpia asked, kneeling next to him. He coughed a few more times and held a thumbs up.
"Yeah, thanks to you… Thank you, Scorpia." Brett said, gratefully. He looked up and smiled at her and she smiled back. He then picked himself up and the two of them looked at Glimmer.
"I'd say that's a mission accomplished." Scorpia said, proudly. Brett smirked.
"Not just yet. Let's get Catra and we're out of here. And with that, Scorpia grabbed Glimmer and brought her aboard the transport, then ignited the engines, flying off to find Catra. Brett began binding Glimmer's wrists. As he did so, he looked at her with disdain.
"You've got some fight in you… but none of that's going to matter when Shadow Weaver gets a hold of you." Brett muttered.
Apologies for the late chapter… but my wife and I welcomed a newborn child into our home last week :) We love him so much. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write, but I will try to stay consistent again. Much love!
