Air! Holy shit, she'd never take it for granted again.

Glimmer gulped, filling her desperate lungs, the world slowly coming back into focus. There was still the nasty sour taste of Shadow Weaver's dark smoke in her lungs, but the horrible pressure was gone.

"Glimmer!" Bow. She knew it was his arms around her, even though her vision was still spotted and blurred. "Please don't be dead. Please please please don't be dead."

"Breathing." She managed, through the crush of his embrace.

"Right. Sorry." He loosened his grip but kept his arms around her, his forehead pressed against hers, his tears sliding down the side of her face. "I'm just so glad… You weren't moving. I was so afraid…"

"I know." She could see him clearly now, and she reached up to touch his face to make up for when she couldn't do it before. He covered her hand with his, wrapping his fingers around her palm. If he hadn't gotten himself out… She couldn't fucking believe what he'd almost… How that IDIOT had been ready to…

But now wasn't the time. A few feet away, Shadow Weaver moaned and Glimmer's insides constricted with terror. Her body was like lead and all she wanted to do was stay here like this in Bow's arms and rest, but they couldn't. Not yet. She pushed him off her, struggling to her feet. "We need to go."

He reached out for her again, trying to pull her back towards him. "In a second. Glimmer, I—"

"Now, Bow." She pulled herself to her feet, using Bow's shoulder as a support. Everything felt woozy, but she could walk. She wobbled and Bow caught her arm, his eyes wide and worried. Whatever. She'd be fine. She'd have to be, or she'd never get them out of here. "Do you have enough left to teleport us out?"

"No. I'm completely out of magic."

"OK." That wasn't surprising. He'd probably used up most of his magic in the fight when they'd first gotten here. Plus that purple flash he'd slammed into Shadow Weaver's face had burned bright enough Glimmer could still see the imprint on her eyelids when she closed her eyes. "That was very fucking bad-ass, by the way."

"I don't think I could have done it if it was anyone else." Bow didn't look so good, now that she could see him more clearly. He was smiling weakly at her, but the darkness under his eyes and the way he winced as he shifted said he was in a lot worse shape than he let on. She offered her hand and Bow tried to rise. He got to his feet and nearly pitched over again, tugging her down with him. "You should go ahead, I'll slow you—"

"No fucking way. I'm not going anywhere without you." As if she was really going to let him out of her sight after everything they just went through? She pulled his arm over her shoulder. "Lean on me."

He was a lot bigger than she was, but they managed. They made their way carefully into the nearest corridor, trying to make as little sound as possible. Glimmer hesitated at the first turn, trying to remember the way she'd come. Everything looked the same in this place, and now the directions she'd gotten were in reverse.

"Do you… know where we're going?" Bow was struggling to stay conscious, his complexion ashy. He was always so careful with his magic. She hadn't seen him run out completely since they were kids. That time he'd passed out, scaring the shit out of her. And if he wasn't only in need of a recharge but dealing with whatever the hell Shadow Weaver had put his body through, it was amazing he was standing at all.

They were clearly on borrowed time. She had to get him home, now. If someone raised the alarm, sent a dozen guards at them, Bow would be helpless. Not that she was in top shape, but most of the dizziness had passed and she could feel all her limbs again. She reached her free hand into her pocket and grabbed her makeshift weapon. At least she could fight.

"I'll get us out of here." She bluffed, edging around the next corner. There was no one in this hallway, but they were both keeping quiet just in case, their voices barely above a whisper. Hopefully, the disaster she caused in the prison was enough to keep everyone occupied until they got out.

OK, yeah. She'd definitely passed that bio-hazard door on the way here. Whew! Maybe she knew where she was going after all. "Plus that guy who gave me directions was kind enough to give us this keycard, which should get us through most of the doors without raising the alarm."

Assuming the scrawny blonde hadn't already freed himself from that access panel she'd wedged him into and reported it stolen. Then they'd be truly fucked. She booped the card against the keypad and held her breath until the panel lit up green and the door slid open. Maybe their luck would hold after all.

"You befriended one of your guards?" Bow sounded doubtful.

"Ha! No. I busted myself out, grabbed the first Horde soldier I saw and told him I'd slice his fucking face off if he didn't tell me where to find the prince." She held up her hand, the sharp metal claws she'd fashioned sticking up from between each finger.

"Where did—are those your hair pins?"

"Mmhmm, sharpened them on the force field before I disabled it." She flipped over her hand so he could see the base of her makeshift weapon, the half-moon curve of metal that held the pins in place. "And this is the wire from my bra."

"You are terrifying," Bow said, but his tone was affectionate.

"You can't be impressed yet. I haven't even told you how I used the crystals from my hair to hack the force field." A plan that had worked pretty fucking perfectly, if you didn't count the slight loss of hair. She paused, flattening them behind a small wheeled cart, overflowing with metal pipes. There was a noise… a faint rhythmic tapping. Probably just something dripping from the pipes that seemed to hang all over this place. She relaxed a little. "And then I triggered a chain reaction in the main processor that blew out the heating system for the whole building to give myself cover to get out."

"Of course you did." His laugh was a low rumbled against her ear. "I love you."

Did he just… Glimmer pulled the step she'd been about to take short to turn to look at him, her foot catching on the cart. It started rolling, and she lunged for it, forgetting about Bow's nearly dead weight on her shoulder. She grabbed the edge of the cart reflexively to keep them both from falling over, but it jostled the pipes, sending half of them clattering to the floor, a cacophony of metal on metal echoing in the empty hallways.

Fuck. That made A LOT of noise. Someone had to have heard that. They froze. Glimmer listened, her heart thudding against her chest. Other than the tapping sound, faster now, there was nothing. Maybe they gotten lucky and there was no one within earshot.

"OK, I think—" Glimmer realized exactly one second too late what the tapping was.

"Well, if it isn't Adora's new best friends, Arrows and Sparkle Boy." Catra stalked towards them leisurely, her claws tapping against the metal floor as she walked. She laughed. "And where do you two think you're going? You're my bait."

"Listen—" Glimmer began, ready to tell the Horde scum to go fuck herself, but Bow surprised her by pulling his arm off her shoulder and approaching their enemy himself.

"Catra. We don't have to fight." He winced, his expression contorted as if he was still in pain, but didn't stop talking in that maddeningly calm voice. "You and Adora grew up together, right? Glimmer and I have known each other forever too. She's my best friend. So we get it."

"Are you out of your mind?" Glimmer hissed at him, digging her fingers into his arm. "You're going to try to, what, befriend Catra? She kidnapped us! They TORTURED you, Bow! All of this is her fault!"

Bow ignored her and took another wobbly step towards Catra. "You could come with us! I'm sure Adora would be happy to have you at Bright Moon. She told us all about you. We know how things are for you here with Shadow Weaver—"

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Catra's face contorted. She extended her claws. "You don't know anything about me!"

She lunged for Bow, but Glimmer got there first. She crashed into Catra's middle, using the other girl's momentum against her, sending them both slamming to the ground. Catra recovered immediately, slashing her claws exactly where Glimmer's head would have been if she hadn't rolled out of the way.

While Catra was off balance, Glimmer kicked her feet out from under her and grabbed the neck of the other girl's uniform. "Listen, you brat—"

Catra licked her arm, and Glimmer was so surprised she dropped her. "What the FUCK?"

"Wow. You even taste like nothing." Catra laughed, absolutely the most irritating sound in the universe. This kitty was just begging to be punched in the fucking face. Glimmer reached into her pocket and fitted her second set of claws between her fingers as they circled each other. "So what's your deal, anyway? Adora does the magic sword thing, Sparkle Boy glitters and goes poof or whatever and you're, what, their sidekick? The prince's angry puppy. 'Aw, Arrows can't do anything useful, but gosh, the little bitch sure is cute!'"

Glimmer's vision tunneled, and she lunged for Catra, claws swinging. The other girl stepped aside casually, and she almost lost her footing. She spun and slashed at her again and again with the metal claws, only to have Catra jump away each time. Glimmer growled with frustration. "How did Adora take years of this? She didn't run away from the Horde, she ran away from you."

Ha! Now that got her mad. Catra dove for her, claws out. Fighting all her instincts, Glimmer waited until well past when her body wanted her to react. Instead of diving out of the way, she ducked, Catra's bottom half catching and sending her toppling end over end into the pile of metal pipes strew across the corridor. She tried to leap back to her feet, but she couldn't get her footing in the mess of pipes and fell backward into an open doorway.

In half a second, Glimmer was on her. One set of metal claws jabbed into the floor, trapping Catra's hand between them, the other at the cat girl's fuzzy neck. She slammed her knee down on Catra's other arm, pinning the rest of her with her body. For a moment, they both glared at each other, the only sound their heavy breathing. Then Catra grinned, showing teeth.

"Wow, Arrows. At least take me out for dinner first." Catra slid her eyes leisurely from Glimmer's legs straddling her middle back up to her face. Glimmer scowled back, hoping like hell her face wasn't nearly as flushed as it felt right now. Catra didn't even look afraid, like she didn't believe she'd actually do it. Yeah, well, she was about to find out exactly how fucking wrong she was.

"Goodbye, you fucking nightmare." Glimmer raised her metal claws.

"Glimmer! No!"

"Fuck, Bow! What?" She risked a quick glance over to where he was propped up against the doorway looking like absolute shit, his breathing labored.

"Please… We're…" There was something wrong with his voice. It was strained, like he was struggling against something. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead. "… not like them. We're… the good guys."

"Don't be naïve, Bow! We're in a fucking war! She's tried to kill us all a million times. Even if I let her go now, she'll just raise the alarm and we'll never get out of here alive." She didn't dare take her eyes off Catra and the four razor-sharp knives pointed at her throat. One jab would rid them of her for good. "If you don't like it, look away."

She raised her metal claws again. For a second, Catra's mismatched eyes widened. Was she actually finally scared? Good. Because Glimmer was going to do it, and Bow could deal. He'd be mad, but he'd forgive her. Bow always forgave her.

"Glimmer, please, no! You're so much better than—" Bow's sentence choked into a strained shout.

Glimmer whipped around to see him doubled over, his face contorted with pain, his body wrapped in purple light. Almost like when he teleported, but very clearly WRONG. Red lightning crackled at the edges, his power fractured and sputtering, reminding her of a tracker pad glitch. For a horrible moment, she thought he'd fall apart into pixels before her eyes. Then suddenly whatever it was ended, and he collapsed forward onto the floor.

"Bow? What's—FUCK!" Sharp claws dug into the soft of her arm and then Catra threw her across the room, slamming the back of her head against the floor. In a second, their positions were reversed. She kicked her legs uselessly and strained against the other girl's vice grip, but she had her trapped. Catra's claws pressed into her neck, breaking the skin. One look in the other girl's eyes told her Catra wouldn't hesitate.

"Wow, didn't know you had it in you, Arrows. But Sparkle Boy is plenty to lure the Queen and Adora here so…" Catra pushed her claws deeper into Glimmer's throat, deadly pin pricks. She swallowed and felt a line of blood trickle down the side of her neck. "We're done here."

Glimmer flinched, getting ready for the strike. But instead a massive green vine slammed into Catra, sending her sprawling across the room. Glimmer shot upright and saw Perfuma in the doorway, flanked by a sodden Sea Hawk and Mermista with her laser sword.

The Captain winked at her. "Yeah, we're here to rescue you. Or whatever. Don't make a big deal about it."