It was during their clash in the snow-covered field of the Northern Reach, near the drill site. Catra managed to use the Firsts Ones' Disk - a three-pointed, dark red star - she received from Entrapta on Adora's sword, but instead of losing her powers as the scientist said, it only made Adora ruthless, more violent, stronger than before - or at least that what Catra thought at the time but when her former friend was about to strike Catra down, she realized:
Adora was always holding back.
Had not been Scorpia's tackle, Catra didn't want to think about what would happen to her. Seeing the giant hole Adora made, the one where Sparkles and her group had fallen into, a cold sweat ran down Catra's forehead. But her mood quickly shifted; Adora was unconscious within Scorpias's arms, her sword laid down on the snow, and She-Ra was gone. As she picked the infected sword with red veins pulsing on the hilt from the ground, Catra saw her own smile on the blade's reflection and couldn't hold back her laughter.
She had won. In her mind, there was nothing else stopping the Horde from conquering Etheria.
"Seriously, this is too good to be true!" Catra happily said.
"So… huh…" Scorpia timidly called out, "Are we going to talk about what just happened or everything is fine now?"
"Fine?" Catra laughed once more, "This is the best thing ever! Instead of wasting time searching for some ancient junk, we actually caught the best weapon from the Rebels!"
Catra's words left Scorpia stuck for a few seconds, with her nodding her head like she understood what her friend was saying. Unfortunately for her, Catra could tell what Scorpia meant with that gesture and groaned before selecting her next words.
"We got the sword…" she showed the sword in her hand, "We got Adora…" she pointed at the blondie on Scorpia's arms, "So the two combined leaves us with…"
"Oh!" Scorpia said getting the idea but then it left her more confused "But wouldn't she go against us when she, you know, fooch, voom, bling?"
"Nah, not as long as we have…" with her claws, Catra ripped off the disk from the sword and brought it in front of her eyes, "This."
Catra couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear, her mind imagining the future when she sent out Adora to battle against her friends and allies from the Rebellion, each of them begging their beloved She-Ra to not finish them off, and finally Adora's reaction to the actions she caused, finally realizing there isn't anyone out there left for her but-
"Right, right, but I have one question…" Scorpia's words brought back Catra from within her imagination, as she stared at her colleague's wry smile, "How can we stop her from destroying, you know, everything?"
Both of them looked around the snowfield where their recent battle took place. Rocks were smashed and sliced apart, a giant hole was created in the middle of the ground which also has small deformations from their movements. Even Catra's own body, full of bruises and red marks, was a reflection of how destructive this disk can make She-Ra be. But while Scorpia looked at her friend with worry, Catra shrugged her shoulders.
"Meh, this is nothing I can't take. Besides, I was taken by surprise because someone said this would make Adora powerless, right, Entrapta?" Playing off like she always does, Catra boldly talked like this was not her problem but someone else's, however, when that person didn't respond, it made her annoyed, "Entrapta?"
Turning her head, Catra spotted the pink-haired princess using her twin-tails to stand in and out of the bridge's edges located on top of the drill site. Entrapta was moving left and right holding her monitor like she was looking for something.
"No, no, this can't be right. This signal is too strong, but is going on and off! Maybe the blizzard is messing around with the circuits, I mean it is the most probable theory, but if this is true then I might have found exactly what I wa-"
"Entrapta," Catra was blunt, calling out the last member of this team, cutting Entrapta's monologue as she went on with her thoughts.
"Oh. Hi, Catra. Did we win?" Entrapta's question was answered with a stare from Catra, although the sight of Scorpia carrying Adora was much cleared "Great! Let us resume our searc-"
"Nevermind that, we are leaving."
"What?!" Entrapta's reaction was almost as desperate as when Catra was fighting She-ra, which made her worry once again if this princess's head was in the right place, "We can't leave! Think about the potential data we might discover under these ruins! Hordak will be very pleased with-"
"Forget that now, Entrapta. Lord Hordak can't be more pleased than this! We have the sword and She-ra!" Catra said, showing off the sword and using it to point at Adora.
And as if it was responding to Catra's voice, Adora started to sluggishly move within Scorpia's arms. Such an opportunity is not something Catra wouldn't exploit, as she made her way to her former friend with a smirk on her face. Holding her chin with the sword's hilt, Catra made sure Adora would see her face as the first thing she would witness when waking up.
"Hey, Adora," Catra said with arrogance, a phrase Adora must have heard a million times by now but this time it was the biggest pleasure Catra had when saying it, "Guess what?"
Slowly, Adora opened her eyes and Catra could see herself being reflected on her former friend's blue pupils. She is now the only thing Adora is seeing at this moment, and it couldn't be more perfect.
"I am taking you back to the Fright Zone, the place that you love so much, and we are to have so much fun together. Well, I'm going to have fun, seeing you go against your new friends, but I think you are used to fighting against friends by now, right?" Catra enjoyed every moment of her monologue, she wanted to see Adora's expression realizing everything that she was protecting and fighting for will be destroyed by her own hand, and there is nothing that she can do about it.
However, the despair and grief Catra imagined never occurred. Not even the slightest hint of anger or regret could be seen on Adora's face. It was the contrary. Adora - the same Adora she consistently fought over the years, her childhood friend, the person she knew about the most in this world - bore no expression.
"Catra!" Adora exclaimed, jumping out of a surprised Scorpia's arms as she pounced over a shocked Catra, bringing both to the bridge's metal ground.
Catra was startled, her tail and fur shook up as Adora was on top of her. A variety of thoughts passed through her mind: Was Adora trying to bring both of them off the bridge? Did she want to fight even being outnumbered? Every image resulted in both of them fighting once again, but Catra liked that. This was the Adora she knew, the never giving up, trying to resolve everything on her own Adora, the heroine that was going to do everything to take down the bad guy, which in this case, was Catra.
…And this is why Adora's next action was not foreseen.
"Man, I missed this," Adora happily said as she was passing her hand through Catra's hair while the other was petting her head, "Did you do anything with your hair and fur while I was gone? It feels so… different. But I must say, it is still good to touch."
There was a moment of silence between the four, with the only sound being of Adora's hands-on Catra's hair. Scorpia was looking at them, lost at what to do; Entrapta only looked at them for a second before resuming her search; And Catra… was looking up to the sky her eye twitching, trying to figure out what was going on with their prisoner, but her brain stopped as Adora's gentle hands left her stunned on the freezing ground.
"By the way, this is a new coat?" Adora, perhaps the only one of them not understanding the mood, casually asked "Wait… since when did you wear a coat? And why is it freezing out here?"
