Chapter 9: Gambit

"I thought you said we had at least a few more hours!" Catra said, sprinting down the hallway after Taline. An explosion in the distance rumbled the ground and she struggled to maintain her footing. Just as she had wrapped up talking about Angella, an alarm had blared alongside a call to arms: the throne room had been invaded.

"I seem to have underestimated just how bullheaded your friends on the surface are," Taline said, pushing past a group of clone and alien technicians plugging up the hallway and sending them sprawling. "It's a miracle what they did worked. Any sane person would have put that spell through more testing before sending anyone through it."

"Yeah well, what did I tell you?" Catra vaulted over the bodies Taline left in her wake, amazed at how light she felt now that the world wasn't threatening to pull itself out from underneath her. That sedative she had given her and whatever spell she cast on her head worked wonders. "They're crazy people, all of them, and they don't ever plan. They just jump headfirst into everything and figure it out as they go. Honestly, it's worked for them so far."

"Maybe so, but this is the end of the line for them. They've attacked the Emperor in his own throne room."

Anxiety seized her at hearing those words. They rounded the corner and Catra pumped her legs to run alongside Taline instead of behind her. "Is there any hope for a ceasefire still if we can get them to stand down?"

"I don't know," Taline said. "Prime is not the type to forgive this, but a lot has changed in the past eight years."

"You'll need all the princesses to make the Heart work," Catra said. "If they die, you may as well kiss your precious weapon goodbye." They got to the door that emptied out into the throne room and Catra could hear the sounds of blaster fire and violent magic on the other side.

"You don't know that," Taline said, giving her a sidelong glance. "Terrible as it was for you, the Emperor expressed his…frustrations with finding nothing of use in your head. You don't know anything. You just said what you had to in order to keep yourself and Glimmer alive." Catra jutted her chin out, about to bite back with some clever retort when Taline shook her head and cut her off. "Still," she said. "I'd like to prevent more deaths if I can."

Taline palmed the scanner to the door to open it. The scene that unfolded in front of them was worse than Catra imagined. The throne room was enormous—far larger than Catra had remembered it being when she was first beamed aboard. Many of the metal panels making up the floor had been ripped from their installations, bent upwards to form dozens of makeshift barriers the clone soldiers used as cover against the attackers. Purple fighting spider bots Catra assumed could only have come from Entrapta's handiwork crawled along the floor and walls and ceiling, blasting and slashing and biting at the clones.

A large purple dome of pure energy blazed in the center of the room, far enough away from the throne that the clones concentrating their fire there could employ full squad tactics in the space between. Shadow Weaver and a bearded man Catra didn't recognize maintained the shield while immolating clones with well-aimed magic bolts. She could also clearly see Scorpia and Lonnie and Rogelio inside, sheltering against the attacks. Suddenly, they fanned out, darting behind the metal barriers and pressing their backs against them with laser rifles hugged close to their chests.

Bow was there too, sheltering behind a different metal panel, sniping clones that left themselves open with his arrows. He shifted to look out from behind cover, and that's when Catra saw Adora there next to him. Sweat sheened her skin and plastered her hair flat to her forehead. She gripped a staff in both hands and breathed hard as if she were winded. A golden breastplate covered her chest.

Why isn't she transforming? Catra thought as she searched Adora for any sign of the sword. Adora wouldn't come here and not use She Ra. Not unless…

"That one right there," Catra said, pointing her out to Taline. "That's Adora. She's one of the leaders. Usually she can…well, transform. Into this huge glowing warrior princess, but I think she might be holding back to turn the battle when it gets tight. She's the one we need to convince."

"There's also Glimmer's father," Taline said, pointing to the bearded man. "The Emperor talked to him a few days ago. He thought he might have gotten through to him until Adora stepped in, but he's technically the king. We might be able to convince him, too." She paused and looked Catra in the eye. "Stay close to me."

Catra cast an uncertain glance at her.

"You're still recovering," Taline said. "And you aren't equipped for a fight in the first place."

She had a point. Catra still had the same loose clothes she had changed into after her shower back in the cell and, despite feeling much better, she was still unsteady on her feet and generally weak from a lack of eating.

"I'll try and force an opening for us," Taline said. "The Emperor's clones are the only soldiers allowed in here, and they won't hesitate against his will. If we want to keep your friends alive, we need to get them to surrender. If they don't, Prime will crush them without mercy and kill them all, guaranteed. He won't take prisoners. Not after this."

Catra nodded and sprinted after Taline as they both entered the fray.


It took several seconds for Glimmer to notice the shimmer in the corner of her eye. Salas had blanketed nearly the entire throne room in small runes after Adora and her dad arrived, and he had used those runes to pull up the metal paneling in the floors to provide cover for Prime's soldiers. Narre had already dragged her almost all the way back to the throne and behind one of those panels before she regained her sense of direction. Everything had moved so fast; it was that glinting in her peripheral vision that she first noticed as soon as she caught her breath. When she looked, she saw an ornate dagger laying there, gleaming amid the rubble.

It was Miri's knife. Glimmer had seen it strapped to the armor of her leg when they first met, although she didn't think anything of it until that moment. It must have been all that was left of her after getting caught in her dad's teleportation spell. The mere fact she could find nothing else of the Sentinel except her blade that had been flung halfway across the throne room was a testament to just how powerful of a spell they had needed to use to get up here. Glimmer suppressed a shudder at the thought—Miri had saved her life, preventing her friends and her dad from inadvertently killing her in their attempt at a rescue.

A thunderous clap rang out, and Glimmer looked up to see Shadow Weaver cast a spell. A black tendril of energy raced out from her hands past the energy shield her father had put up to guard them. It streaked toward the Emperor like a python moving in for a kill.

Salas stepped in front of the Emperor and gestured with his hands. An intricate rune appeared and twisted in the air in front of him. A shield far larger than her dad's appeared with the rune, blanketing the throne and a good third of the remaining room, including Glimmer and Narre. Shadow Weaver's magic slammed into the shield. Salas slid back across the floor a number of inches, straining from the impact, but the shield held and the magic tendril dissipated.

"Form up!" Salas said. Two person-sized portals opened up on either side of him and the hooded mages from earlier on the interrogation deck poured through, flowing like water and arranging themselves like a choir at his back. In one motion, they moved and chanted in a harsh voice. The rune Salas maintained grew larger and more complex. Salas clapped his hands together and the rune dissipated, sending a shockwave across the battlefield.

Glimmer felt herself pull away from the floor, weightless. She made a split-second decision and leapt for the knife, grabbing and hugging it tight to her with one hand as she flailed about, trying to grab hold of anything that'd keep her attached to the ground before she pulled too far away. Strong arms grabbed her around the waist and she turned to see Narre, holding her tight with one arm while the other cradled his unholstered rifle. He oriented himself so his feet pointed back to the ground and slammed his heels together. The floor came rushing back until he stood upon it again like normal. Glimmer was still in danger of floating away without special boots of her own, so he continued to hold tight to her.

"Miri is dead," he said, voice coming through the face plate heavily synthesized. "But my orders are still to keep you safe."

"Bring me to my friends," Glimmer said. "I need to get to them. Please"

Narre shook his head. "My orders are to keep you safe," he said, repeating himself as if he hadn't said it the first time. "That isn't safe. Those are dead men and women walking."

"No!" Glimmer kicked and struggled to get out of his grasp. His hold on her never weakened, but neither did it tighten. He was like an immovable force of nature, refusing to listen or let her loose, but refusing to hurt her in his attempt to keep her, either. Glimmer screamed, hating the feeling of hopelessness that grew steadily stronger inside her.

She fought to look for her friends, for her dad, and found some of them still firmly planted on the ground behind the shield. All of the clone soldiers must have had special boots like Narre's, since none of them floated in the air with Salas' spell either, but several of Entrapta's purple bots had come loose from their stations and floated aimlessly in the air, kicking about and tumbling. When she looked up, Glimmer saw Scorpia, Lonnie, and Rogelio floating out in the open as well. They must have left the safety of her dad's shield at some point, and had been caught up in Salas' magic.

A half dozen Horde clones aimed for them and fired. The three of them jolted when hit and stilled in the air, heavy burn marks visible in their armor. Glimmer screamed and redoubled her efforts to escape Narre's grip.

A second shockwave emanated from her dad's shield and washed over them. Glimmer felt gravity impose itself upon them once more and her feet slammed to the ground; either her father or Shadow Weaver had negated the spell. She saw Scorpia, Lonnie, and Rogelio drop from the sky like bricks and rushed toward them as soon as Narre released her, only for him catch her by the arm and stop her once again.

"Let me go!" Glimmer said.

"You cannot save them." Narre yanked her closer. "You will die if you go to them."

"I don't care, let me go!" Glimmer yanked again and still couldn't get free. "They're not dead yet. I have to help!"

"There's nothing you can do. Live on and honor their memory."

The emotion that tinged his voice was apparent even against the modulation from the armor, and it forced Glimmer to pause. Those were words from the heart—she could almost imagine the sadness in his eyes despite the helmet covering his face. Aside from Miri, it made her stop and wonder what else he had gone through serving under Taline. Narre's grip loosened and she jerked away from him, refusing to meet his gaze again.

Another explosion sounded off nearby. Salas and his team had deflected another bolt of Shadow Weaver's dark magic, and were responding with a wall of fresh runes that spit fire and lighting back. Horde Prime stood just behind. Simmering rage played across his features as he called for reinforcements.

A spark of inspiration struck Glimmer at seeing that. Honor her friends' memories, Narre had said? She didn't have to wait until they died to start doing that. In fact, if she acted now, she might just prevent that whole 'dying' bit from happening altogether.

Glimmer gripped the knife still in her hand and vowed instead to honor Miri, someone already gone, having given her life to protect Glimmer's. She evaded Narre when he reached for her once again, and took off at a dead sprint toward Horde Prime.


"Adora, come on! Stop fighting us and listen for a second, will you?" Catra danced around their zone of engagement, trying to keep as close as possible to Taline as she dodged Adora's staff and Bow's arrows.

Taline had protected the both of them when Salas' antigravity spell hit, and Catra had watched Adora and Bow cling both to each other and the paneling they had taken cover behind to keep from floating away themselves. When Shadow Weaver and Micah—as Catra had come to learn his name was—dispelled it, they had both caught her and Taline's approach when crashing back to the floor. It hadn't taken more than a few seconds after that for them to engage.

"You saw Scorpia and Rogelio and Lonnie go down just a second ago," Catra said to Adora, leaving Taline's side to catch Bow in the middle of drawing an arrow back. He released just as she knocked his aim off, sending the arrow flying high over Taline's head instead of at her chest. "Do you really think you're going to win this? Your only hope out is to surrender."

Adora grimaced, and Catra could tell she was getting through to her, even if she didn't respond. Something about the way her attacks grew sloppier with their aggression and the way her eyes took on a wild look as she fought clued her in.

Bow dashed to the side and slid forward on his knees, another arrow already knocked and aimed. He let loose, and the arrow whistled straight at the back of Taline's head. Catra already knew she wouldn't get to it quick enough to intercept it.

Taline dodged the arrow, leaving Adora in front of her wide open to take the blow. Catra and Bow gasped and Adora's eyes went wide seeing the arrowhead screaming straight for her face. Taline snatched it out of the air centimeters from impact.

"Arrow Boy, you stupid son of a—"

"I'm sorry! Adora! Oh my god."

Catra turned and gave Bow her full attention, firing off punches and swipes with her claws, trying to sweep his leg, throwing blow after blow in rapid succession, anything to put him on the defensive and keep him from readying another arrow.

"You guys must be really desperate if you're going for headshots like this," Catra said amidst another flurry of attacks. "Where's She Ra? Why isn't Adora transforming?"

Bow grunted, trying to put enough space between the two of them to get another arrow knocked. Catra was faster. She pushed closer and threw another series of punches, the last of which Bow wasn't fast enough to fully step out from.

"She can't transform, can she?" Catra asked as the blow grazed his shoulder. "Something's wrong, isn't it? That's why you all are fighting so sloppy. You don't have She Ra anymore. You're all desperate."

Bow didn't respond, but the grim expression on his face told Catra all she needed to know. He took a step backward to dodge another swipe and lost his balance when his feet tangled. Catra pressed the advantage and threw a haymaker. It connected with the side of his head and Catra swore she felt his consciousness leave his body. Bow crumpled boneless to the floor, and she turned around to look for Adora and Taline.

Catra was already worried about everyone surviving the fight, but if Adora couldn't even use She Ra any longer, then the Rebellion was at an even bigger disadvantage than she originally thought. She found Taline and Adora trading blows not far from where she left them, and rushed to rejoin.

"This is insane, Adora," she said, coming up on Taline's left and giving the both of them a wide berth to continue dancing. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Taline's been trying to call a ceasefire ever since she got here. She's taken over from Horde Prime and she isn't here to conquer Etheria, so just surrender already so no one else has to get hurt!"

A flaming Entrapta bot flew over her head, chased by a flurry of blaster fire. Catra cursed and threw herself behind one of the metal barriers, then peeked out the edge to continue watching them.

Taline fought Adora as if she were waiting for her to transform at any moment. She kept her distance, goading Adora with false openings that she'd then take, only to inadvertently leave herself wide open to a counterattack. Except Taline wouldn't press it. Instead, she'd retreat, leading Adora around in a wide circle that edged them closer to Micah and Shadow Weaver.

Adora glanced behind her and seemed to realize what Taline was trying to do. She roared and charged at her, fighting with a reckless abandon that Catra hadn't ever seen her stoop to since they were barely-trained cadets.

Taline dodged and blocked each attack. Adora thrust her staff forward in a particularly sloppy jab, and Taline caught it between her arm and her side. She then torqued her lower body and shoved an open palm against its side. The staff broke in two at the impact point, and Taline quickly looked over her shoulder at Catra still ducking behind cover.

"I leave her to you!" she said. "I'm going to see what I can do with the king."

Adora stepped in and threw a punch. Without looking, Taline gave a quick gesture of her hand and a rune appeared in her palm, as did small circlets of magic at Adora's wrists and ankles. Taline gave another gesture and Adora flew up and over, landing in a heap right next to Catra, then she turned and ran off toward the Rebellion's magic shield in the distance.

Magic crackled and roared in the distance, as did the sound of blaster fire, the scurrying of bots, and the shouting of clone soldiers as they coordinated, trying to flank the bots. Adora groaned nearby, dazed from impacting the ground, and Catra didn't waste the opportunity to climb on top and restrain her before she came to her senses.

"What the hell, Catra?" Adora said, struggling to break free. Catra tightened her hands around her wrists and squeezed her thighs tighter around her abdomen, flexing the armor there. Adora bit back a cry of pain when she did, but Catra refused to let up.

"Come off it, Adora," she said. "I know about She Ra. I know you can't use her."

Adora shot her a glare. "So what? You think I'm just going to give up and let Glimmer die up here without trying to rescue her?" Tears welled up in her eyes, and venom seeped into her voice. "I was coming for you too, despite everything that happened. But it looks like you've chosen a different side. Again. How can you help them, Catra?"

"That's not it," Catra said with a growl. "I'm on your side this time, I really am. Horde Prime is going to kill all of you. I can't stand by and just let that happen."

"It sure seems to me that's exactly what you're trying to help him do."

"I told you earlier!" Catra said, jostling Adora in her frustration. "Taline isn't here to conquer the planet, she's here to help. There's some sort of…enemy the Empire is fighting against and Prime needs her help fighting it. Etheria, the Heart…they need it. Taline's here trying to keep more people from dying so they can research it."

"Is that what she told you?" Adora asked, both eyebrows shooting up in genuine disbelief. "Tell me you didn't fall for that."

Catra furrowed her brow, not expecting that reaction. "What do you mean?" She expected Adora to listen to her, or at least listen to reason. They were so far outmatched, but the way Adora responded to her just now sounded almost like she thought it was—

"That sounds like a straight up lie!" Adora said, tone so biting it made Catra flinch. "You're smarter than this, Catra. 'Some sort of enemy' they're fighting? That's what got you to believe she was trying to help?"

Catra faltered. "I don't…no. No, that's not what—"

"Horde Prime conquered the entire planet except Bright Moon in three days. He would have finished us off too if it weren't for Micah and Shadow Weaver and all the princesses and the entire Royal Guard coming together. We just barely turned their advance into a prolonged siege. And that was from one warship he sent down to us—he's got thousands up here! Horde Prime doesn't need help with some made up enemy, that woman is just using you to try and get us to surrender."

A fresh onslaught of emotions attacked her. Lied to? Used? Again? How could she let this happen? How could she not see it coming? Why did everyone do this to her? Shadow Weaver had done it so many times, shown just a bit of compassion or tossed a morsel of approval here to get her to bend, and then…

Catra released Adora and slid off her, eyes staring through everything. Adora sat up and rubbed at her wrists, sending a pitying look in Catra's direction. Catra turned away, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," Adora said. "I shouldn't have made it sound like you were stupid for believing it. I have no idea what you and Glimmer went through up here, and that may have…" she glanced over at her and Catra could feel her staring at the wounds at her temples where Horde Prime had probed.

"Lonnie, Rogelio, and Scorpia aren't dead, but they're down and out," Adora said. "But Entrapta's bots are still tying up Prime's forces. Shadow Weaver and Micah are slowly whittling down their mage. He's a lot more powerful than we expected, but they're getting through him. And once they are, we're taking the Emperor out and ending this." Adora stood and extended a hand down to her. "Come on. I can't let whoever 'Taline' is go and distract them. Help me. Please?"

Catra looked up and saw the guarded, hopeful look Adora was giving her. She bit back the urge to put herself down for being so naïve, and took Adora's hand, reveling in the look of relief and happiness that passed across her face when she did.

Except something didn't feel right.

Catra followed, this time hot on Adora's heel instead of Taline's, and tried to keep her head low to avoid stray blaster fire as they went. It was as she looked around that it gradually dawned on Catra just how disadvantaged the Rebellion was without She Ra. Lonnie, Rogelio, and Scorpia were tied together and unconscious off in a corner. Entrapta's purple bots numbered only a handful now, and the clones were on the verge of wiping them out entirely. Once that happened, they'd have an unimpeded path to Shadow Weaver and Micah, and the battle would end the moment their protective shield went down.

The screaming and crunching and thundering of battlefield magic grew louder the closer Adora and Catra drew to Micah's shield. Shivers ran down Catra's spine with the rumbling that pulsed through the floor and up her body. She could feel Shadow Weaver's magic there, and even though it mixed with Micah's less toxic emanations, it took everything in her body to not shy away.

They came away from cover and in full sight of the battle. Shadow Weaver faced away from them, throwing black fireball after black fireball toward Salas and his chorus of mages. Micah held one hand high in the air where a rune twisted, maintaining the protective shield that insulated him and Shadow Weaver from Salas' counter attacks. He held his other hand outstretched in front of him, a continuous beam of energy shooting forth from the rune in that palm and out at his opponent.

Taline stood six feet away, back toward them, feet planted wide, clothes and hair flapping ruthlessly in the blowback from Micah's attack. She held both hands thrust in front of her where a massive rune of her own design twisted and gyrated, splitting Micah's beam and sending it careening off in six different directions away from her. The sheer power emanating from the both of them physically buffeted Catra like a gust of wind, and her jaw hinged open in awe.

Adora crouch low and pull a knife from her boot, straining with every step forward, fighting for every inch of progress she made against the buffeting winds toward Taline. It was clear she intended to ambush her while distracted. Catra followed close behind, that gnawing feeling of something not being right growing stronger with every step.

"Micah, their sorcerer is running on empty, I can feel it," Shadow Weaver said all of a sudden. Another thick black tendril of energy shot toward the throne from her extended palms. "How are you holding up back there?"

"Just fine!" Micah said, grimacing and clearly exerting himself trying to keep the shield up and take down Taline at the same time. "She's got a strong defense, but I can handle it. I leave the Emperor to you!"

Catra stopped. Micah's words made her remember what Taline had said only moments earlier.

I leave Adora to you.

Clarity dawned on her. She suddenly understood what that 'wrong' feeling was: if Taline was faring this well against Micah, then she must have had the upper hand the entire fight with Adora. Every feint she used to goad her into using She Ra had left Adora vulnerable to counterattack, and Taline hadn't exploited a single opening. Taline could have ended Adora in an instant, but instead, had tossed her over to Catra so she could try and convince her to stand down instead.

Catra still wouldn't go as far as to say she trusted Taline, but it was obvious she was doing everything she could to not kill them, and that was all Catra needed. She wasn't about to gamble Adora's life on the Rebellion's half-brained plan, especially when it was going as poorly as it was.

If we want to keep them alive, we need to get them to surrender. It's their only chance.

Adora stood and charged, knife poised in the air to strike. An image of Horde Prime conquering planets and slaughtering millions came at Catra. It was the same image she had glimpsed back in the infirmary. This time, all the faces of the victims had turned into Glimmer and Scorpia. Some were of Lonnie and Rogelio, too. One of them had Adora's face, and that was when she made her decision.

"Stop!" Catra said, yelling as hard as she could. "Adora, stop!"

Adora didn't hesitate, but Taline glanced behind her at Catra's outburst and caught Adora in another magical hold before she could strike. Adora gasped and dropped the knife when Taline made a squeezing motion with her hand. The blade clattered to the ground and, for a terrible moment, Catra feared she had made the wrong choice…feared that Taline would squeeze the life out of her right then and there.

Instead, Taline made another gesture and Adora fell unconscious and limp in the air before dropping to the ground in a heap. Catra came up on Taline's left, pushing against the shockwaves of magic that still buffeted her from Taline and Micah's duel.

Micah bristled and reached out an arm in Adora's direction. A tendril of purple energy sprang forth and grabbed her, pulling her to safety behind the shield before Taline could do anything further. The shield flickered a moment as Micah concentrated on getting Adora to safety, and Catra shot Taline a look, watching to see how she'd react to this sudden weakness. Taline instead turned to her.

"We're out of options," she said, shouting to be heard over the crackling of magic. She shunted power into her rune, and another shield large enough to cover the both of them sprung up to intercept a sudden attack from Micah that would have hit Catra were it not for Taline's quick thinking. "Unless you can think of something else and quick, everything is about to come to an abrupt end. And not in your friends' favor, I'm afraid."

Catra's thoughts went to the plan she had been brewing in the back of her mind the moment she surveyed the battle. "Do you know where Glimmer is?" she asked, feeling sick for what she was about to do. "Can you get me to her?"

Another explosion rocked the floor and Shadow Weaver cackled. "The mage is almost down!" she said. "I can feel him draining! Keep protecting us, Micah. We're almost there!"

Taline grabbed Catra by the shoulders. "I can take you," she said. "But you have to be quick. If this isn't solved within the next few minutes then I'm putting an end to it, personally."

She pulled her close and wrapped her in a tight hug. Catra felt as if something had hooked under her breastbone to pull, and everything faded to black.


AN: If you want to check out one of World Eater's influences, go look up a one-shot titled "Looks like we're both alone now" by alettapegasus on AO3. Something about how they wrote Catra and Glimmer working through being locked together in a cell after the Season 4 finale resonated enough to drag me out of my fanfic writing retirement.

World Eater is well and truly its own independent thing, but I like to think you'd be able to see the homage I've paid to it in my initial Catra & Glimmer-centric chapters. Them arguing about food, talking about Scorpia, Catra volunteering herself for interrogation about the Heart, those all started as seeds planted because of that one-shot. I'm still surprised I took it to the extremes and watered that seed into this ridiculous story.

There are other inspirations too, of course, and I'll share them as we continue, but I wanted to start with this one. Credit where credit is due :) I doubt the author will read this, but if you do: thanks for inspiring me to start writing again.