Chapter 9
AN: Just a heads up there is a character death in this chapter, it is mildly graphic, but I believe it should still fit in the T category. Ps. Whoo! Longest chapter so far. 2081 words. *** indicate a character change.
The Great Rebellion was on edge it was nearing the time to attack and there was still no sign of She-Ra.
"Faster Swiftwind." She-Ra said. Though they were flying at an already incredible speed. They needed to see Lighthope before the final battle. He had important news for them, and insisted they come to see him. Unfortunately he'd done so only minutes before the rebel army was to charge.
She-Ra watched as the red jewel covering the entrance to the crystal castle faded allowing her access to the inside.
"Adora." A rough whisper cut the air. She-Ra looked at the shimmering image of light reflecting too many colours to count. "What's wrong Lighthope?" She-Ra asked. Lighthope had never called her Adora before.
"Hordak knows. He knows about the final attack. Imp told him. And now he has the most powerful spaceship from Horde World to help him. The Nebular. You must destroy it first other wise all hope is lost. You must go now. Good luck Adora." Lighthope faded from sight before She-Ra could question him.
As she mounted Swiftwind her anger set in, she had to destroy that ship, and win the battle against her kidnapper.
She-Ra arrived only minutes before the attack would begin. She lay in wait with Bow, and Captain Sunder. She ordered the troops to hang back a few minutes longer it was a command that was slowly moving though the ranks. She was quickly re-calculated her plan. She gave a smug smile this would work better. She remembered from her days as Force Captain how scrambled the fright zone would become whenever anything would arrive from Horde World, a ship that massive would cause more commotion then was necessary for her plan.
She-Ra resisted the urge to twitch, she heard a low crunching sound behind her. Her days as a Horde solider putting every nerve on edge, she really didn't need to be killed now. Thankfully it was only Glimmer, obeying an order.
"You wanted to see me?" Glimmer whispered.
"Yes, I need you to shut off the robots." She-Ra said still staring at the few horde soldiers on patrol. Glimmers eyes widened. "But how..."
"I know you can do it. You just have to believe in yourself. There's a switch inside." She-Ra quickly told Glimmer of the updated plan and where to find the switch, Glimmer gave a quick nod and headed off to her new position.
"Think it'll work?" Bow asked drawing closer to She-Ra. "It better, if not I've killed us all." "Well in that case." Bow closed the last few inches between them, and kissed her blood red lips.
"What was that for?" Adora asked she felt like she was swimming just beneath the image of She-Ra. She looked around embarrassed hoping Sunder didn't see but he'd already moved onto his next position.
"In case we don't make it back." Bow was already leaping up from behind their rock hiding place. He was giving the battle cry, his sword extended to the sky glinting in the dim light of the Fright Zone. A horrible animal like sound racing from his throat a sound that could be heard for miles across the flat terrain.
"Bow." She-Ra cried. He turned his head around. "I love you too." He rushed into battle, rebels springing up all around him charging the Fright Zone.
Adora felt her self being dragged back down into the depths of her double identity. She-Ra watched as the nebular appeared slowly from an eerie green mist, the Horde transporter. She-Ra followed her planned route. Swiftwind was waiting for her there. She mounted and they took off towards the most powerful Horde ship ever created. She hadn't realized the full immensity of the ship and prayed her plan would work.
Glimmer slowly made her way though the Fright Zone, the instructions She-Ra had given her were immaculate, she just hoped that she was the girl for the job. It was a big responsibility to have been given this order. She couldn't fail, the entire rebellion was counting on her. If she didn't succeed they were as good as grilled fish.
He-Man had the misfortune to wind up in a staring position with Teela. When he'd told Man-at-arms about his battle plan Teela refused to leave insisting that as Captain of the Guard she should help. She was a bit amused that he'd offer to fight someone else's battle.
"Are you going to hide behind He-Man? Or even better Cringer?" She mocked him.
"Teela. For your information-," Adam said pointing a finger at her.
"Now, now you two," Duncan said cutting off Adam before he could reveal his secret. "Now Adam. Teela and I will work on a plan, while you go decide if that's what you really want to do," Duncan said.
He grimaced. Of all the people he had to end up with the most stubborn women he'd ever met. She actually made him angry and he was normally such a placid person. He needed to calm down and remain focused on the job ahead.
Unlike He-Man, Teela didn't ponder her relationship with Adam before she signalled her troops and ran into battle.
Glimmer was carefully hidden next to Hordak's throne, the button that would win the war was inches from her face. All she needed now was the signal from Madame Razz. In her hand she held a pendent that would glow when the moment was right, after the robots had been deactivated she would run like hell to escape. She just hoped she could break away before Hordak's rage turned on her.
The trickiest part of She-Ra's plan would be to get under the ship with out being noticed. "Sword to giant magnet." She-Ra said. She struggled under the weight, hoisting the magnet above her head. She watched carefully, her luck and smarts had once again prevailed her. The ship was being slowly attracted to the magnet.
"Lets speed this up Swifty." She-Ra said watching the chaos below, no one would notice her. The pair flew towards the underbelly of the ship. There was a click as the magnet connected with the ship.
"Hordak we seemed to be stuck." Toungelasher said into a telecom screen. "Well than make the ship go faster." An angry Hordak replied slaming his arm down on his throne.
"Of course mighty one." Tonguelasher replied using his tongue to flip the thruster switch.
"I can feel it's power increasing." She-Ra was breathed heavily. "Now where to put it?" She didn't have time to decide before the ship began ripping away from the magnet. She understood the ship was increasing to full power and she wouldn't be able to hold it much longer.
"She-Ra there." Swiftwind said pointing a hoof down at the ground, there was nothing but a Horde scrap yard littered with old robots and machines.
She-Ra was in the process of angling the ship down to the the Horde scrap yard, when suddenly the ship yanked away. It was horrifying to watch the ship going full speed, towards the ground, it smashed into the earth shaking the ground. Horrible scraping and screaming sounds followed, as it crashed though the scrap yard, a mild explosion followed as the remainders of the ship indented the Horde fortress.
"I guess it's time," Madame Razz said. She and Broom were fifty feet in the air watching the carnage below, it could only be described as well organized madness. She watched as Frosta created a giant ice wall preventing a wave of Horde forces.
"Madame. Don't you think it's time to send Glimmer the signal?" Broom reminded.
"Oh right, now what was that spell?" She tapped a finger to her chin. "Oh right," She snapped her fingers. "Send a message to the end make the amulet glow red,"
Glimmer felt a burn in her hand as the amulet lit up scarlet. She hit the switch on Hordak's throne and ran for her life.
She-Ra watched the robots were slowly deactivating, she exhaled, Glimmer had done her job. She watched for anything to help with but with the robots out of the way, it was a done deal. There was a mass dropping as weapons fell in surrender. The only thing left to do was to transform back into Adora and congratulate her rebels.
She-Ra and Swiftwind landed on a hill overlooking the destruction the ship had caused. The pair watched the smoking ship become further mutilated. The metal twisted and turned with the heat of the fires inside. Sparks were flying attacking anything they could. She-Ra dismounted Swiftwind, making the conscious decision not to help anyone who was stuck in the flaming inferno.
"Maybe, we should change back now," Swiftwind suggested.
"I suppose your right. But I'm looking is there anything else for She-Ra to do?" She questioned her beloved horse.
"I think not, besides the rebels will want to see that the women who led them to victory is safe," Swiftwind replied nudging his friend
She-Ra smiled knowing peace had once again come to Etheria, her dream now was that it would be a long time before She-Ra would be needed again at least to do any fighting that is.
The rebels had won the fight, they were victorious. Many of them had stopped to celebrate but even more pushed on with their work. They still had prisoners to contain.
He-Man had made a jail for them out of scrap metal, it wasn't large but it contained all the prisoners, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Catra, countless Horde officials those who hadn't committed suicide, and most importantly Hordak. The Horde members grumbled around in their cell unable to escape thanks to a powerful magic blocker, curtsey of an unknowing Teela.
Adora sat with Spirit on the hill, she hadn't moved in quite sometime. It was late in the evening now and the air was getting cooler. She shivered whenever a breeze hit her body. She suddenly became fascinated with a sparking in the distance. She couldn't quite see but it looked like a bright light was twisting and flowing though the air. She remembered what it was; Hordak had told her when she was a little girl. Electricity, a very rare import straight from Horde World. She thought it was coming from the Horde transporter but that couldn't be possible the Nebular had taken the out only one on it's crash landing. If it somehow was still in working condition there would be no hope for the Rebellion or Etheria. She stumbled down the hill, running towards the arcing light.
As she came closer she understood what was happening. It takes two machines to open the Horde transport, the Nebular had only damaged one. The electricity was flying attempting to connect to it's unbroken module. The only way that was possible was that someone from the other side was trying to get though.
Adora hit the ground a jolt of electricity barely missed her head. It finally connected to it's partner; a slow moving green mist started to appear. Adora army crawled closer to the broken module, she wanted to see first hand what was happening. She resisted the urge to scream, when a giant metallic hand stretched from the mist. She knew what it was; Horde Prime. If he was here to fight they might as well commit mass suicide.
Bow watched panic stricken. A metal hand was reaching out of the mist. He spotted Spirit on the hill close to the horrible monster. He knew that Spirit was never far from Adora. He quickly mounted Arrow and took off.
Adora tried to make herself as flat as possible in the dirt. She lay half under the body of a dead Horde commander. It wasn't a pleasant thing to do, she could feel his blood seeping onto her clothes; but she'd done worse before in the name of survival.
She angled her head to the side to avoid inhaling dirt. Her blond hair became muddied with dirt and blood. She herd a clip clop of horse hooves in the distance they were coming closer. She wanted nothing more for them to leave.
Bow looked down onto the destructed valley, he watched in the distance as a little blonde head tried to make herself inconspicuous and comfortable at the same time. He shook his head. That was his Adora. She always had a plan, no doubt she was figuring out someway to combat the robotic hand. He knew from his many years of working with Adora that one person pretending to be dead was less obvious than two. He grabbed Arrow's reins and headed back to the congregation of rebels.
Adora's stomach was beginning to ache. She'd been laying in the dirt so long the blood had stopped running from the corpse that covered her. Meanwhile the hand hadn't done much, it still hung in midair. She didn't have a clue what it wanted.
Hordak was waving his arms about. He'd been yelling for the past hour how Horde Prime would save them. It was beginning to grate Shadoweavers nerves. She held her mutated hands to her head, it was the only thing that helped keep out Hordak's denial.
Hordak began another rant, his actions would lead anyone to believe him insane. Who would rescue twelve misfit soldiers? Even better, ones who'd failed. They'd be quite lucky if Hord Prime's giant fist didn't crush them all.
Hordak once again tried to transform into his rocket form, it didn't work. The wall of steel became his punching bag, making no dents in the impossibly strong metal.
"Hordak where are you?" A voice floated into the airless space.
"I'm here great one!" Hordak said jumping up and down like a stranded survivor.
"You were always bad with directions, though I believe I know where you are," Came the airy reply.
Adora slowly lifted her head the hand had moved on and was hovering over the jail Adam had made. It ripped the lid off with incredible speed, similar to a child on the holidays. The metal crumpled in it's hand easier than a piece of paper. She flinched at the metal flew down towards her hiding spot. There was no way it would hit her, but she didn't have pleasant memories of flying shrapnel. The hand stretched in grabbing it's loyal followers and tossing them mercilessly into the great cloud. Soon only one was left the most loyal of them all. Blue arms waving just above the tops of the jail. There was a gruesome squelching sound as the hand hit the only thing left in the jail.
Adora didn't care she was up and running. She knew what happened, it shouldn't have happened to everyone. She hadn't wanted this, maybe there was a chance she could save him. On the other hand the part of her wanted nothing more than to see his blood run, to see a mutilated body, broken bones.
As she came to a stop she sucked in a breath she had gotten both her wishes. A broken and bleeding Hordak lay on the ground he was somehow alive. Make that barely alive. She watched as he sucked in his last few breaths. Each one becoming more laboured. Occasionally blood gushed from his mouth. He was dying.
Adora's angered piled up, she could barely contain herself from kicking the soon to be corpse. How dare he take her away from her family, how dare he make her fight for him, make her think the Horde was good. She had never truly loathed anyone before that moment. In that instant she learned what the feeling of true hate. She wasn't sure it was a feeling she liked, but if anyone deserved this emotion it was the man of evil himself.
On another level she couldn't help but feel sorry for him, Horde Prime gave him orders, he simply followed them, who was really to blame for this horrible war? It was a question that was probably left unanswered.
"Adora save me," It was a plea from a dying man.
She didn't respond just simply stared at the man who'd once been her mentor. She didn't move when the hand reached out and weakly grabbed her ankle.
"You were like a daughter to me," He said his voice becoming weaker with each word. The grip on her ankle slacked. She turned and began the walk back to her friends salty tears stinging her eyes.
AN: I knew from Adora's good nature she couldn't be the one to kill Hordak, I also knew she wouldn't allow the rebels to either. That's why Horde Prime was essential.
This is not the last chapter, I have half of chapter 10 written, I simply need to type it. Also sorry for the wait, though this chapter is twice as long compared to the previous chapters. You can't make a war scene short. In the next chapter Adora goes home to Eternia.
Ps. Just letting you know that Hordak is defiantly dead, he will not becoming back. And happy Halloween/thanksgiving.