After a short talk with Hawthorne, Adora and her friends begin to help out the EDZ scout and adoptive father of Hawthorne, Devrim Kay, with dealing with some local troubles. They hoped that while they were gaining some ground that they would convince other Guardians to go and regain their light. While they may have gotten the hopes up of those at the farm to go get their light back, all who entered the dark forest's entrance were promptly spat back out. No one else could currently enter the forest so that left Adora, Bow, and Glimmer to do what they could to help the survivors.
After dealing with some relatively small but important problems, the gang start to help Hawthorne make a signal to any who can hear, they rally at the farm. If they could, it would bring a much needed sense of hope for any stragglers out there. It wouldn't solve all their problems but it would mean that they could at least be better coordinated and plan for any future attempts to retake the City or help the injured and hungry.
"Hey Dev. I'm still sitting up here above the mines with a busted coms relay. Where's that signal booster?"
"Our new Guardian friends are en route. I'm getting too old to clean up after you, Suraya."
"Finally! He admits he's old. Hahaha! Bail me out on one assault charge and you never let me live it down."
"Aww, don't you mean one a week? You're the reason my hair is gray."
"Yeah, yeah. Keep talking old man."
The fireteam giggles at the adorable interaction between father and daughter. Blasting through Fallen territory they were able to make a good path towards the mines. Once they got deep enough in they saw an elevator that could take them straight to Hawthorne.
"Hey look! Maybe our luck's starting to get better." Adora exclaims.
Both Bow and Glimmer were currently trembling and aiming their guns wildly after Adora said that. After Adora pressed the button and no immediate threat was trying to disembowel them, they believed that maybe she was right. That was until suddenly a loud screeching noise came from the elevator. The elevator came crashing down into the ground at such tremendous speed that it shook the earth once it fell. The Guardians were unharmed, but Bow and Glimmer were giving Adora looks that she could just feel from behind her as she slumped down from the embarrassment of jinxing them.
"Not. A. Word." Adora sighs as she begins to head over to the entrance deeper into the mine.
"We didn't say anything." Glimmer says smugly.
After having Angella open a nearby hatch, they get a call from Devrim
"Careful. The Fallen are scavengers of the highest order. They're going to fight for whatever they can get their grubby claws on."
"Well I think they're going to have a little trouble with that at the moment." Bow says as he finds a perfectly usable sniper rifle and they continue to make a path towards Hawthorne. They soon enter a pit that should take them closer to where they need to go, but it's filled to the brim with shanks. They're easy to take out but in a group they are annoying to deal with – like a bunch of bugs that won't leave you alone but could still seriously harm you.
"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate shanks? Because I feel like I should have by now" an irritated Glimmer says.
"Every chance you get and in this instance I can not blame you, sweetie." Bow says as he too is getting annoyed with the obscene amount of shanks flying around.
"Ah! You'll be pleased to know that I can see the Fallen fleeing the mine. Seems you've really kicked the hornet's nest, haven't you." Devrim says over the coms just as they approach a door that seems to be glowing red. And the door is glowing red because of the ridiculous amount of proximity grenades the Fallen have left.
"No kidding, Devrim. I honestly think this a bit overkill just to stop us, don't you guys think?" Adora asks and her friends nod as she shoots one of the grenades to cause a chain reaction. The explosion takes out most of the proximity grenades and the ones left are easily avoidable. Once they move past the grenades they see the elevator that will take them up and out of the mine.
"Finally." Adora says as she presses the button to go up but nothing happens. She presses it several times before she gives up. "And of course the powers out."
"I think I found why there's no power." Glimmer says as she points to several servitors, Fallen machines that can protect them and give them their life-giving ether, were scattered around the area with several other Fallen who came from behind in an ambush. They were ready to jump the guardians, but with their light back they took them down in a few minutes with their exemplary teamwork and pension for breaking things. Going up the now powered up elevator they were finally able to get out of the mines and meet up with Hawthorne.
"Hawthorne, we're out of the mine and heading your way." Light Hope says.
"Then hurry up with that booster. Let's finish hooking up the comm network. And, uh, thanks for the help. You're not so bad… for a bunch of fancy-pants Guardians."
"Now that's the nicest thing I've ever heard Suraya say. You're in rarefied air, my friends."
"Well your guys aren't too shabby yourselves. It was a good thing we met you guys or we wouldn't even be alive right now. You two are alright in our books." Adora says honestly, as they continue to enjoy the scenery and walk to Hawthorne.
As Hawthorne continues to calibrate the comms she turns around and notices our heroes. "You made it!"
"One comm booster as requested." Bow says as he hands her the booster.
"Looks like Louis owes me money. Alright, let's see if this works." Hawthorne says as she plugs in the booster. "Now if I read the manual right… there's an incoming beacon."
All the Guardians look surprised and wait to see what they picked up, only to be more surprised by the sound of Commander Zavala.
"Guardians… the City is lost…if there is any light left in the system, we rally on Titan. Be brave."
The message continues to play over and over as the Guardians just couldn't think their day could get any better!
"Zavala's alive?! If we leave now we can .." But Light Hope didn't get to finish. Hawthorne turned off the beacon.
"You are not going to Titan! We've got refugees coming in, the Red Legion on one side, the Fallen on the other." Hawthorne said with a tone of authority none of them had heard from her in the time they had known her.
"But we have our powers back! And if we're going to retake the City …" Glimmer tries to retort but Hawthorne stops her.
"Your City is GONE!" Hawthorne yells as she starts to take her thing and head back to the farm. The Guardians could tell she has had problems with people leaving before and definite problems with the City. But if Zavala is alive they may have a better chance at retaking their home and taking the Red Legion down.
"Hawthorne, we will be back. And we won't leave you." Adora says honestly, hoping to give her new friend as much comfort on their return as she can, but to no avail.
"You know where to find me." Hawthorne says as she starts to head back to the Farm with the fireteam giving her some space before they follow suit. Once they landed Adora thought it was a good idea to visit Catra so she tries to find her while Bow and Glimmer talk to Hawthorne in hopes of putting her mind at ease about heading out. Adora looked everywhere but she couldn't find a trace of her, so she tried to find either Scorpia or Entrapta-6. Thankfully that was much easier as she saw Scorpia talking with the newly arrived Lord Shaxx.
"Hey Scorpia you got a minute?" Adora asked.
Scorpia turns to the sound of Adora's voice and politely tells Shaxx she'll be right back. "What's up Adora?"
"Have you seen Catra? I can't find her anywhere."
"Oh, she's in one of the buildings' basements. She's trying to rest right now and be a little less stressed and stuff. I wouldn't go to her right now if I were you. She's a bit… grumpy, let's say." Scorpia says, trying to find the right words so as to not sound too rude. She always tried her best to not offend anyone, even if they were trying to kill her. She was always nice like that.
"Okay, well tell her me and my team are heading to Titan. Zavala's alive and we're going to try and find him and get the Vanguard back together if we can." Adora says
"You sure that's a good idea? I mean yeah having the bosses back would be awesome but we aren't exactly well fortified here. Our best advantage is that nobody knows where we are and that's about it." Scorpia says, trying to point out their problem.
"I know but the longer we stay here the longer we wait and do nothing. At the very least if we can get the Vanguard back together we can at least rally our scattered forces and come up with a reasonable plan or at the very least a better chance at humanities survival until we can come up with something better because let's face it, right now we are doing nothing but waiting for the Red Legion to take us out. If we do go out the Red Legion will be more focused on us disrupting their plans then trying to find the farm." Adora explained, it wasn't a perfect plan in any sense but they were desperate and any way they can make the situation better, they would have to take it.
"Yeah, okay wow. That makes a lot of sense. I'll make sure to tell her when she wakes up. Keep up the good work and uh try not to die. Catra will kill me if you die out there."
"You? She'll bring me back to life herself if she has to then kill me again!" Adora jokes getting the both of them to laugh a bit.
"Okay I'm gonna head out with Bow and Glimmer, keep me updated on Catra when you have the chance." Adora says as she waves goodbye to Scorpia.
"Can do!" Scorpia yells enthusiastically.
As Adora leaves she sees Bow and Glimmer. They talked to Hawthorne and while she isn't pleased they're leaving she gets it. She just asked for them to promise to come back, she doesn't want to ruin her no loss record of refugees. Once they had their gear they transmatted onto their ships and made a b-line for Titan.
Back in the City, the Speaker Hordak was currently smoking from whatever torture the Dominus had subjected him to.
"It would save us both a lot of time if you would just kill me." Hordak says angrily, even though it's taking all his strength just to say those words. The Red Legion have not been feeding him very well and he refused to eat most of it. He would not help these butchers and brutes if he could help it.
"For one who calls himself Speaker, you have remarkably little to say. We've learned that some of your Guardians have reconnected to the Light. You say you have no power over the Traveler yet… this. Help me understand Speaker."
Hordak turns to Ghaul and gives him the best scowl his face could muster despite the pain and exhaustion. "The Light lives in all places, in all things. You can block it, even try to trap it. But the Light will find its way. And the Traveler will protect itself."
"The Traveler…" Ghaul turns from Hordak and starts to slowly walk to the window and view the Traveler. "For years, I have studied it, the worlds it has touched, its power over life and death. We are not so different, your Traveler and I."
"You are nothing like the Traveler. NOTHING. You think you have power. Control. I know your kind. You started small, you will end small." Hordak yells to Ghaul before the Dominus wraps his hand around Hordak's throat.
"If the Traveler truly has chosen humanity of its own free will, then there is no reason I should not reach inside, tear out the Light for myself, and leave this system in ashes!" Ghaul says as he releases Hordak.
"Only those the Traveler choses will be reborn in the Light." Hordak mutters as best he can from his sore throat.
Ghaul lightly nods in understanding. "Yes. This I know. This is why I have claimed your planet, and why you still live. The Traveler WILL choose me, Speaker. And you are going to tell me how."