Chapter 10: Rest

She-Ra

Healing anyone, even from the slightest injury, always made Adora feel cold for a second. It was as though she was standing in frigid air, buffeted by wind, and found her coat had yanked off. It was always an unpleasant sensation until her life energy restored itself a few seconds later. Then, once again protected from the chills of the air, the sight of a child now warm and protected always made those few seconds of discomfort worth it.

Antares has been explicit with her request to not let Amelia heal her, raising her voice when the point had been pressed. So the shy freckled girl moved about healing injuries the others had sustained, while Adora worked solely on Antares.

"That should be everything," Adora said, tapping Antares' leg where Mermista had broken it. Antares gave no sign of pain and Adora smiled. "I left the scars you already had. I figured you wouldn't want me to get rid of them. They make you look tough and cool."

"I'm glad you think so," Antares said, sounding genuinely happy.

She smiled, but her gaze was preoccupied by Amelia, who was healing Frosta. Antares' eyes were like spotlights, always keeping the healer within her field of view no matter where she went. Gentle and kind as she could be from what Adora had seen, part of her was ever the warrior.

And the muscles certainly are one such part, Adora thought approvingly.

I really do need to find out what happened between those two. Not at the moment, but as soon as we've defeated Horde Prime.

Frosta broke free from Amelia's grasp as soon as the healer had finished her work on her.

"Thank you," the Princess hurriedly said before rushing her way to Antares.

"I was in and out of consciousness until just now," Frosta spoke in a rush. "Did you really beat Horde Prime? I can't believe it."

"She didn't beat Horde Prime," Catra said. She was stroking Melog who, having recovered from Scorpia's venom, was sticking even closer to her than usual. "He wouldn't have conquered the known universe if he could be killed by a stroke of bad luck."

"I don't even get an answer and you're already a killjoy Catra," Frosta responded.

"I think perspective is important," Glimmer said, watching Amelia heal Bow. "We didn't defeat Horde Prime. But I'm not going to lie, if he was half as scared as you said he looked, I am happy about what you did."

"He didn't look scared at first," Antares said. "When I first flew in there, he was confident, and took my presence in stride. Even after I started tearing through his clones, he seemed more frustrated than fearful. But when he was the last one standing, then he was definitely terrified."

"Did he try to convince you that he found you useful and that you could serve his empire?" Glimmer asked.

"Sort of," Antares replied. "He didn't pretend he was going to do anything other than chip me, although he also seemed to think I should have been grateful for the opportunity."

Glimmer glanced at Catra, smirking, "I think you of all people would enjoy this."

Catra rubbed Melog behind the ears and sighed. "I guess I do. You did good Antares."

"Man, we did great," Frosta said, pumping her fist.

Despite having been shifting between unconsciousness and a state of delirium only minutes ago, Adora half-expected the diminutive (make sure not to slip and use that term when she's in earshot) Princess to erupt through the ceiling of the cave.

"I'm finished," Amelia said.

She lifted her hands off of Bow, who sat up from the floor of the cave looking none the worse for the wear.

"Excellent. There's just one thing left for you to do," Glimmer said.

Amelia rubbed her hands together, her red tattoos making it look as though she were trying to cleanse them of blood. With a furtive glance at Victoria, who met it stone-faced, she gave a silent nod.

In a corner of the cave, Scorpia and Spinnerella had been laid on comfortable bedrolls, face down. Miss Militia and Chevalier stood over them, while Entrapta examined Scorpia's neck with a handheld microscope. Adora travelled with Glimmer, Amelia and Catra to them.

Adora caught Miss Militia saying something to Chevalier before hushing, catching something about 'Adam' and 'the earth'.

"Sorry to run just as you arrive, but there is something I need to handle with our friends from Shin," Chevalier said. "I am excited to have these two awake though," he added as he headed towards the portal, where Menaf had set up a small communications post.

"Amelia, I'm glad you're here," Entrapta said. "It appears that the chips in these Princesses have integrated remarkably well with their nervous systems, especially Spinnerella's. It's a truly ingenious device. I've only removed one of these before, and it wasn't nearly as well incorporated. I'd love to work on these two a little more, but Castaspella suggested choosing a safer and less painful method for the patients. Do you think you can do it, Amelia?"

"All in a day's work," Amelia said, once again ringing her hands. "I'm just happy to be appreciated for what I'm doing. Not everyone is so kind."

Why? Adora thought. Who doesn't appreciate such a power healing them?

"Okay Entrapta, give her some space." Glimmer said.

Entrapta prodded at Spinnerella's chip one last time, but reluctantly pulled herself away, her hair dragging crestfallen on the ground. Amelia kneeled down on the floor and, without so much as a deep breath to prepare, placed her hand on Scorpia's neck.

"This is unique," Amelia said, running her fingers along the length of Scorpia's neck and onto her cheek. "I can sever the artificial neurons of the chip, but that will leave some of its axons behind. They should be harmless and eventually naturally be disposed of via the lymphatic system, but it would be best if I periodically monitored it."

Amelia lifted her hands and held them in front of her, admiring them like a work of art.

She placed her hand down again, this time on Spinnerella. A few seconds later, she removed them.

"That is it," she said. "Entrapta, you should have no trouble removing the chips now. They will be awake soon."

Adora stared at the figures of the two Princesses as Entrapta used a pair of tweezers to extract the chips, which she rushed to appropriately marked containers.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Adora asked Glimmer and Catra.

"Am I supposed to be able to read your mind?" Catra asked.

"Out of all the people in the world, I'd expect you to come the closest," Adora said. "When Scorpia and Spinnerella wake up, we're going to have a lot to explain to them. And frankly, I want a little something more than that. We've explained our abilities to each other and filled each other in on the particularities of our world, but what we haven't done is something fun as a group. We've sat around a bit and gotten to talk and play that game called 'Rock Paper Scissors'…"

"Which you still don't seem to quite get,"

"Not the point Catra. What I'm saying is that we haven't gotten to do proper bonding."

Catra stared at Adora, realization dawning on her face. Her fur stood upright like soldiers at attention, her tail bristling and eyes widening.

"We're going to have a proper event where we get to have fun and learn some more about each other."

Catra sputtered and Adora knew she was looking for an excuse.

"We're fighting against an all-powerful alien."

"And Dinah said we should sit tight until Cryptid and Swift Wind are back. Come on Catra. You know fun is in fact allowed here."

"I'll admit I have reservations about this," Miss Militia said.

"See, she has reservations about it," Catra said, gesturing at the hero.

"Let me put it this way; you're opening up. I know you can do it. You did it earlier. You don't need to lay bare your deepest secrets, but is showing some vulnerability that bad?"

Miss Militia sighed. "This situation is incredibly volatile and delicate. This simply doesn't sit right with me."

"We have a human calculator on hand. We don't need to worry about this being a risk." Adora said

"We are undergoing a joint operation against a hostile force. With stakes such as these frivolity is not something I can endorse."

"Do you have something you wish for us to do?" Glimmer asked. "If you don't, we're not doing anything until Cryptid returns and Dinah tells us how to proceed. This isn't interfering with anything. If Dinah doesn't veto it, can you say it's the wrong thing to do?"

Miss Militia shook her head. "If this lowers the odds by a fraction of a percent, don't continue with it."

"Glad to have you on board," Adora said, deciding to ignore the discouraging remarks. She turned to Catra and Glimmer "Assuming Dinah says yes, here's what I have in mind."

The Boogeyman

The shadow called Aasdier died pitifully. Reduced to the size of a wolfhound, it still futilely flew through the air. Contessa easily evaded its smoky body even in her weakened state, as the crocodilian skull's trail of shadow vanished piece by piece. Each step, perfectly placed, made her body scream. She ran a path to ignoring the pain until Aasdier was dead. She always tried to remain cognizant of the limits of her body, lest she run herself ragged, but now was the time to, for just a short while, ignore those until her task was completed.

She was tired to her very bones, yet she made no mistake. She danced past the swirling body of her foe, brushing past but never touching, battering the skull so it was forced to face her rather than her companions.

Holod clapped her hands and Aasdier shrunk again. The shadow was dissipating swiftly already, and the cape's assault only accelerated its demise. With each clap, Holod afflicted physical deterioration on a chosen target. Normally, Aasdier would have resisted more than a single clap, but in its weakened state, it could do nothing other than vainly try to escape the inevitable.

Following another clap, Contessa was able to firmly grab Aasdier's skull in her own hands, the trail of shadow stretching behind it not even a foot in length. She pulled the skull from the shadow.

Holod clapped again, and Aasdier was reduced to the size of a mouse. Stripped of power, Contessa banished it with a wave of her hand, the being that had terrorized southern Africa disappearing like the last smog of a dying fire.

Contessa stepped over Moord Nag's body, which looked up at the ceiling with an unseeing gaze, a bullethole squarely between her eyes.

Contessa finally could safely lay eyes on her target.

Teacher was still cuffed and the fight seemed drained from him. He tried as best he could to appear regal in captivity despite being a balding, overweight man, but he was defeated.

Contessa was not to interrogate him before returning to the old Cauldron base, but now, with the last of his defenses spent, she still felt a thrill, an emotional burst of energy that reinvigorated her drained body.

"Our allies have taken control of the area surrounding the cathedral," Contessa told her team. "Teacher's allies have stationed some of their men at the portal connecting Cheit to Gimel in an attempt to confiscate Teacher on our return, but that will be unable to do more than momentarily inconvenience us."

Contessa did not mention the civil war that would erupt once they crossed dimensions. Doing so would give a few of her capes cold feet. She could easily assuage their concerns, but had no desire to do so. Teacher would press the fact, adding a needless complication to his extraction.

Still, what she had said felt incomplete. Her team were people who had put themselves at risk to lead her to Teacher, guide her past his traps and face fearsome foes.

Path to improving morale.

"You all did exceptionally," Contessa said, smiling slightly as the Path dictated. "And not just us. The brave thralls who imprisoned Teacher when freed from his clutches will all receive lesser canonization from the government of Cheit. Thanks to the efforts of everyone, we have finally defeated the greatest threat since Scion."

Contessa's team was made of veteran capes, hardly the sort for celebration in the field, but they did feel elevated by her remarks. Holod even clapped, without using her power this time.

"It must be devastating, to see the world slip through your fingers once again," Contessa said to Teacher, as she and her team escorted him from the cathedral.

"I feel anger only at how you let your sentimentality puppet you into allowing humanity to die."

Teacher was lying. Contessa knew it and Teacher was aware she did. She allowed him the comfort of voicing how he claimed he had fought for humanity. The reality of how and who had defeated him would degrade him over time, as he grew more distant from his resources, imprisoned without an ounce of control.

There were so many questions Contessa wished to ask Teacher, but she remained resolute. Not running a Path to the answers tested her patience, yet she would hold firm to the promise she had made.

"We should contact the mayor once we reach the government bureau," Nightshade said. "I think it would be good protocol to contact her sooner rather than later."

Contessa ran a Path, determining that contacting Wynn would not inhibit their escape.

"An excellent suggestion."

It felt strange to take a recommendation from a teammate like that. Instructions from the mayor were easy for her to adapt to, reminiscent of Doctor Mother, whose grand design Contessa had executed. Listening to other capes as near-equals was... strange.

The destruction of the Bridge of Abraham — which Teacher's countermeasures to her power must have allowed him to execute without her knowledge — had necessitated taking a roundabout route to the cathedral, along which they had been hounded by security forces loyal to Teacher, costing them hours. However, his former thralls had managed to defend their position with the Tinkertech they had built under his control, fighting with anger only the truly wronged possessed.

The walk was difficult for Contessa and her legs wavered with each step. She ran a Path to keep herself moving forward, but remained aware of her pain.

The other capes evidently noticed her struggles and they gradually slowed the speed of their walk, keeping pace with Contessa even as her speed declined.

As Contessa's breaths grew more ragged, her steps more unsteady, Holod approached.

"Do you want help?" she asked.

Contessa didn't speak, unsure of how to respond. She was tempted to use her power to ignore her pain until returning to the vehicles. Surely there would be no harm in holding out that much longer after the hours she had spent on her feet.

"Come on. You're clearly hurting. I can only imagine how difficult this mission was for you in your condition."

Holod lifted Contessa's hand and placed it over her shoulder. Nightshade saw and did the same for Contessa's other side. Together, they supported her the rest of the way.

Horde Prime

Horde Prime slithered from the mind of the vessel that had once been Princess Mermista, his instructions to abandon the Fright Zone conveyed through her own voice.

Returning to the clone inside his throne room, he breathed-in deeply. Hormones stimulating panic coursed through his veins. In a calmer state, he might have indulged in the heightened awareness, but he was still terrified.

Terror. An emotion almost alien to him. As he stood in place, the realization that he would be without a suitable body for some time dawning on him, he recalled that same feeling. He had not experienced it in a manner anywhere near as stark as when he had fled the Fright Zone, but he had felt it only recently.

In a memory.

Horde Prime summoned several of his little brothers to his throne room. They hid it well, underneath poise and deference, but he could sense the shock and disbelief that blossomed within them as he reluctantly admitted that he had lost his body.

He refused to describe the incident in detail.

One of the clones he had summoned was the clone monitoring the planet's energy. Horde Prime addressed him directly.

"You said that the dimensional fluctuations observed on the planet vary in strength, being weakest over the ocean," Horde Prime said to the clone.

"Yes, Lord Prime."

The clone tapped on his armband, streaming the data to Horde Prime's screen.

"As I said Lord Prime, the fluctuations vary, being strongest in the regions formerly occupied by the Princesses and my wayward sibling's pitiful semblance of our empire."

"I want you to average the fluctuations you have monitored and present the strength of the dimensional torsion in all locations on Etheria based on that average."

The clone executed a program, and, after a minute of processing, Horde Prime's screen depicted an unwrapped map of Etheria.

"It appears that the torsion is strongest in a particular region of the Whispering Woods," Horde Prime said. He lifted his hand to chin and stroked, finding it didn't feel right without the armor he wore on his pointer finger rubbing along his skin.

"It would appear so, Lord Prime."

Horde Prime smiled. It was so clear. The strange individuals who had given him trouble in the Fright Zone had abilities unconnected to Etherian magic, the same as the natives of Exalia. They appeared alongside an unclothed being from which wings grew like branches, the same as he had seen on Exalia.

On Exalia, the destruction of the planet by the titans born of the natives had been accompanied by dimensional fluctuations of every sort, spreading from the locations of those strange powered individuals.

It was clear as a plane of glass; he knew where to find his enemies.

"Little brothers," Horde Prime said. "It is clear that our plans for Etheria will need to be altered slightly. There is a troublesome group on this planet, and they must be eliminated. Fortunately, doing so will be easy. I have determined their location. We will scour this region of the Whispering Woods, where I know we can cripple them. We will strike with our full strength, and remind them why I rule this universe!"

The eyes of his little brothers glowed with reverence that had been dimmed mere seconds ago, their faith restored with confidence in victory.

"For now, I will devote my attention to finishing the Ferrum Arterial. I will complete the design in enough time to oversee the destruction of this resistance personally."

Hopefully, this will allow us to eliminate the Princesses as well.

Horde Prime ordered his clones to disperse and prepare his troops for attack.

Through an unfortunate accident, he had been bested once. Flukes, unpleasant as they were, could occur. Now he was prepared. This aberration would be rectified and swept into the ashbin of memory.