Bow and Entrapta ran down the corridors of the Fright Zone, doing their best to evade the many bots and patrols. They managed to make it as far as Hordak's sanctum until a bot finally spotted them.
The bot walked up to them menacingly, scanning them for the ID passes they did not have. Thankfully, it only took Entrapta five seconds to squeal excitedly, rush up to the bot, gain access to its controls and rewire it so it never sent a distress signal.
Bow was amazed. Once the bot started chirping happily in Entrapta's arms, he gasped:
"How did you do that?" Entrapta turned and grinned happily:
"It wasn't that hard! All the bots here are linked to the same channel – all I had to do was change the channel to mine!" Bow raised his eyebrow:
"You…have a channel?" Entrapta nodded:
"There's a giant antenna on top of my castle in Dryl. Did you not see it? It's pretty obvious…" Before she could finish her sentence, footsteps echoed down the corridor and Bow pushed both Entrapta and the bot behind a giant steel pipe.
The bot beeped angrily and Entrapta whispered to Bow:
"Emily says she'd appreciate it if you gave her some warning next time."
Catra sat silently next to Adora for a long time. Scorpia had taken command of the troops and was now securing Salineas. After almost forty-five minutes had passed, Catra's communicator suddenly rang. She jumped up with a start, quickly combed back her hair with her claws and answered the call.
"Catra, you were supposed to report in an hour ago. What happened?" Catra gulped. She had completely forgotten about Hordak. She replied:
"My apologies, Lord Hordak. I'm pleased to confirm that the Horde now controls the seas. Salineas is ours." Hordak's eyes widened in surprise - he had clearly been expecting bad news. He then gave a disconcerting smile:
"Perfect! Well done, Catra!" Catra, who was not used to being complimented by a figure of authority, stared at her boss in disbelief. Her mind went blank – was she supposed to thank him? She was only used to saying that word sarcastically…The feline's thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly heard Adora stand up next to her. Hordak then said:
"Is that Force Captain Adora?" Catra nodded:
"Y-Yes, Lord Hordak." Catra desperately hoped she would not be asked any probing questions about how the battle went – or more specifically how well Adora had performed during said battle. Hordak continued:
"I see she remained by your side…Impressive. How did she fare in the battle?" Catra felt like someone punched her. Doing her best to ignore the pain of the first statement, Catra took a deep breath and calmly answered:
"She…struggled with the stress of combat. However, she's proven herself to be loyal to our cause and, with some more training, I have no doubt she'll be an invaluable…addition…to our team." Catra had almost referred to her the same way Shadow Weaver used to; as an 'asset'. But Adora was more than that and Catra made sure to give Adora a reassuring smile while she said all this to Hordak.
Hordak grunted in acknowledgement before saying:
"Fine. Keep her with you during the next campaign. I imagine another chance to fight will be more than enough training for her." Catra was about to argue about that when Adora surprised both her and Hordak by speaking up:
"Lord Hordak, what is our next campaign?" After an icy silence, Hordak turned to look at Catra, replying:
"Plumeria. I'm sending you more troops - they should be in Salineas by nightfall. As soon as they get there, I want you to cross the border and conquer the kingdom." Catra nodded, saying:
"Yes, Lord Hordak." As Hordak ended the call, Catra turned to glare at Adora. The short-haired blonde stammered:
"W-What's wrong? Invading Plumeria makes sense!" Catra continued to glare, saying:
"You know, I don't get you, Adora! One minute you're a blubbering mess and the next you're brave enough to interrupt a conversation I'm having with our boss? Get a grip!" With that, Catra stomped off.
Catra was not really sure why she was annoyed. Adora had simply asked the question she was about to ask anyway. There was just something about how she had done it, like Catra no longer existed and Hordak was simply a means to an end.
There was definitely something wrong but Catra still clung to the hope that, as long as Adora stayed with her, everything would be alright.
"Alright…" Queen Angella sighed and pinched her nose.
The War Room was fuller than it had ever been. The alicorn, whose name was Swift Wind, stood proudly behind her. Netossa and Spinerella sat in their usual seats with Glimmer and Mermista sitting in front of them. In between them was General Juliet and princesses Perfuma and Frosta. Angella had sent Swift Wind out to get them as a matter of urgency.
As they all waited expectantly for her to finish, Angella could not help but reminisce about the last time this room was so full. Her husband had been sitting next to her…
"Your majesty?" General Juliet bought the queen back to the present. Angella took a deep breath and continued:
"Now that Salineas has fallen, it's only a matter of time before the Horde attacks either Plumeria or the Kingdom of Snows." General Juliet cleared her throat, saying:
"It's more likely to be Plumeria. Less equipment would be required. The Kingdom of Snows is much bigger with rougher terrain, requiring more soldiers and specialized equipment." Perfuma went white. Seeing her friend in distress, Glimmer spoke up:
"Or maybe that won't happen? Hordak isn't exactly a tactical genius, he'll probably take his time securing Salineas and the coastline rather than make any advancements…" Netossa interrupted the princess:
"You don't give him enough credit." Spinerella nodded and added:
"We may have only been teenagers when the last Princess Alliance fell, but we remember why it did." Angella coughed, indicating this was not the right thing to talk about. Mermista then gave a long sigh:
"Look, I'll tell you why Hordak won last time – Shadow Weaver! She's always been his secret weapon and now she's killed Adora, giving Catra the opportunity she needed to destroy my kingdom!" Mermista then stood up and hit the table furiously:
"I don't care what you decide so long as I get to fight that mangy cat!"
Bow and Entrapta had been as quiet as possible but it had been no use. Lonnie and Rogelio trapped them before they could escape from their hiding place.
Seeing Kyle slung over Bow's shoulder, Rogelio roared angrily and almost hit the archer with his stun baton. Lonnie stopped him, however, saying:
"Don't! You might hit Kyle!" Lonnie then turned back to Bow and growled:
"Drop him! NOW!" Bow nodded, laying Kyle gently down on the floor. He then said:
"I'm sorry! I promise I wasn't going to hurt him – he's okay!" Rogelio dropped his stun baton and fell to his knees, cradling Kyle in his arms. Lonnie glared at Bow:
"Really? Because he looks pretty hurt to us!" Before Bow could explain, Entrapta suddenly grabbed Bow and literally dived into a vent that had been concealed behind them. When Lonnie tried to stop them, Emily got in the way.
"What the…get out of the way!" With that, Rogelio lay Kyle back down and proceeded to literally lift Emily up. Lonnie slid under the bot, crawling into the vent after the escaped prisoners.
As soon as Lonnie disappeared from sight, Rogelio threw Emily behind him and stuck his head into the vent he had no hope of fitting into. Lonnie, realizing Rogelio could not follow her, then yelled back at him:
"It's okay, Rogelio! Get Kyle to the med bay! Don't worry about me – I got this!"
The troops arrived sooner than expected and Catra was getting nervous. She watched as the significant number of reinforcements began to disembark and Scorpia ran down to meet them.
It was only just hitting Catra what it truly meant to be second-in-command of the Horde. All of these soldiers were waiting for her orders. They were her responsibility.
Catra had been acting like a Force Captain up until now, and even that had been a position she had not done any training for. Scorpia had already teased her several times about missing Force Captain Orientation…
Catra's invasion of Salineas had been based on a plan already laid out by Shadow Weaver, and she had only had one ship and two squads under her command at the time. She could manage that, but two whole divisions? Catra was way out of her depth. On top of that, she had absolutely no idea how to go about invading Plumeria.
Catra figured she could have thought something up given more time, but she had been given less than 24 hours!
Catra sighed in exasperation. She needed Adora – she had always been the one who excelled at planning missions and leading squads into battle. Catra's strategy, in so far as she had ever had one, was to just react to whatever Adora was doing. Unfortunately, that was no longer an option.
As Catra tried her best to think of any lesson she could remember about battle planning, she found herself flanked by the two newly arrived Force Captains who commanded the troops who had been sent to help her.
The first was Grizzlor, a notoriously unpleasant bear hybrid who had a lot of experience and had been the leader of the Plumerian base before She-Ra kicked him out. He spoke first, making it clear he had little to no respect for Catra and would let nothing stand in the way of him regaining his honour (as he put it).
The second was Octavia. She was an octopus hybrid who hated Catra's guts. She was also one of the Horde's rising stars, having never lost a battle and the youngest Horde admiral of all time. She was so determined to make a name for herself beyond the sea that she made a show of being exceptionally nice to Catra - the person who took her eye.
As Octavia defended Catra's lack of experience to a clearly disinterested Grizzlor, Catra pulled out the map of Plumeria that had been sitting idle under her belt for the past half hour. She now opened it out and shoved it in her colleagues' faces.
Catra had hoped that by doing this she could redirect the conversation to a better topic and hopefully get some actual advice for two more experienced and well-respected officers. Instead, she just made it worse.
"We need to do a full frontal assault! The Plumerians are cowardly and weak – they'll retreat as soon as they see us!" Octavia scoffed at Grizzlor:
"The Plumerians won't be alone! They'll have help from the other princesses – or did you forget how you lost Plumeria in the first place?" Grizzlor growled angrily:
"I can take She-Ra! I'm ready for her this time!" Octavia laughed:
"No you're not! After all, Catra's the only one who's ever faced her and won – which is why she's in charge and you aren't!" Grizzlor roared angrily, looking like he was about to swipe at Octavia, but the octopus hybrid ignored him and continued:
"Catra knows better than anyone that a stealth attack is needed! I'll take a team down this path-" Catra cut her off, yelling:
"Both of you, shut up!" Catra then took a deep breath and decided a compromise of two vaguely viable plans was better than no plan at all. She gave her orders:
"Octavia, you will take two squads and head for the old Horde base. Once you taken that resource back, Grizzlor will lead an attack on the…city?" Catra was honestly not sure what the map was showing her when it came to the so-called 'residential area'. Grizzlor sneered at the Force Commander he had little to no respect for:
"The Plumerians don't have a city - they live in tents. You're thinking way too hard about this – there'll be no resistance."
"We must resist the Horde! I say we all go to Plumeria and destroy anyone who tries to get in!" Glimmer grinned when she remembered her call to arms after Mermista's demand for revenge. Unfortunately, her mother had replied by saying that they should not do anything until they knew exactly what the Horde was planning. Perfuma had agreed with Angella, saying the Plumerians were a peaceful people and she would much prefer to evacuate them to Brightmoon instead of fighting another battle on their land. Glimmer had countered this by saying:
"What are you talking about? You helped us kick the Horde out of your kingdom only a few weeks ago!" Perfuma had sighed and said:
"That was when She-Ra was with us. She's…not with us anymore." Glimmer pushed a branch out of her way, almost breaking it in her frustration.
Glimmer frowned as she remembered telling Perfuma that they did not need She-Ra to win. She remembered Mermista say that Catra was merciless and that, whatever the state of the Rebellion, it was their duty to stop her before she reached Brightmoon. Glimmer raised her eyebrow a she remembered Frosta being surprisingly mature, saying she wanted to make sure the Kingdom of Snows' defences were built up before she engaged in any fights with the Horde.
It was obvious that Princess Prom had badly affected her too.
Glimmer clenched her teeth when she remembered her anger at her mother's executive decision: everyone needed to focus on defences and wait for the Horde to make the first move. After that, Glimmer had called her mother a coward and stormed out of the room.
Several hours had passed since then, and Glimmer was now walking to Plumeria with Mermista and Perfuma leading the way. She was still unable to teleport and still became consumed with electricity at random moments.
Glimmer did not care, however. She was so set on avenging Adora and destroying the Horde that she was willing to risk it all. Perfuma, on the other hand, was really scared. She did not want to fight the Horde without Adora. After all, she had seen first-hand what would happen if she did.
Once the meeting had ended, Glimmer and Mermista had cornered Perfuma, saying that they were going back to Plumeria with her, whether she liked it or not. While somewhat intimidated by their tone, along with the fact they were both clearly going behind the queen's back, Perfuma let herself be comforted by the thought that at least there would be some help if it was needed.
As the princesses entered yet another clearing, Perfuma suddenly screamed. In front of her and Mermista was a group of Horde soldiers. Glimmer, who was trailing behind her friends, did not immediately see the danger and almost got hit by a laser. That was the only time she was caught off-guard, however.
The princess of Brightmoon lifted up the axe she had taken from her secret armoury, raising it high above her head and charged forward. As she did so, her body became consumed by electricity, only, this time, Glimmer did not let it stop her. If anything, she used the pain to propel herself at the enemy, yelling:
"DIE, HORDE SCUM!"
Catra sat in one of the tanks with Adora and two guards. They were waiting for Octavia's signal, along with the rest of Grizzlor's troops, when Catra's communicator suddenly began to ring. Catra gulped. It was way too early for Octavia to be calling in. She quickly answered the call:
"Catra! We've been stopped by three princesses! They're too powerful – I'm down to one squad! We need help - NOW!" Catra could hear the laser fire in the background. She also heard the distinct sound of the princess of Brightmoon cursing out her soldiers.
Catra sighed and pinched her nose. Why did this have to be so difficult? She then decided to do the only thing she could think of:
"Okay, I'll order the main attack early. Try to hold them for as long as you can. Fall back to our position when it gets too much – don't bother with the base!" Octavia nodded and grunted her acknowledgement before hanging up.
Catra gave the tiniest of smiles. It must have killed the octopus hybrid to let her know she was losing. Catra then called Grizzlor, who took his sweet time answering. When he finally did, he rudely growled:
"What?" Catra hissed:
"Don't take that tone with me! Octavia's team has been apprehended by princesses. We need to attack now!" Grizzlor looked like he was about to say something along the lines of 'I told you so' or 'you don't deserve to be in charge', but then the ground began to shake. The battle was coming to them sooner than even Catra expected.
Fighting the urge to panic, Catra yelled at Grizzlor:
"I gave you an order! Get everyone ready to fight!" Somewhat surprised by the feline's show of authority, Grizzlor simply nodded and hung up.
As Catra leaned back in her seat, trying to stop herself from panicking, Adora suddenly spoke up:
"He shouldn't have spoken to you like that." Catra raised her eyebrow at her friend, giving her a wry smile and whispering:
"Gee Princess, what a nice thing to say…" Catra was unable to finish her sentence, or realize that she had just called Adora "Princess", because something suddenly hit the tank and forced the two guards/ drivers to perform an evasive manoeuvre.
After a few moments of being roughly thrown around the inside of the tank, it finally crashed into something and the engine died. The two guards immediately jumped out of the drivers' seats and opened the hatch to climb out. As soon as they did, however, a vine appeared and grabbed them both, throwing them some distance away.
Adora began to hyperventilate. Catra immediately climbed over all the upturned boxes of ammunition and supplies, biting back the pain from all her fresh bruises to get to her friend. Once she reached Adora, she used her claws to break her seat belt (Adora had been the only person actually strapped in). Catra then retracted them to give her a hug.
As the battle outside began to intensify, Catra forced herself to purr against Adora's chest, hoping it would calm her down once again. In that moment, she did not care about the war, the princesses or the Horde – all she cared about was her scared best friend.
Bow and Entrapta stood before Hordak in chains. Lonnie had managed to trap them both in the hot vents over the Forge – forcing them to either surrender or be badly burned.
Hordak growled menacingly at Entrapta, who cowered behind her sentient hair. He then glared at Bow, who stood tall and eyed him defiantly (despite never being so scared in his life). Lonnie then stepped forward to report:
"Lord Hordak, it would seem the two prisoners managed to knock out their guard and were about to escape the Fright Zone. I managed to recapture them." Hordak nodded:
"Good. Very good. You're promoted to Force Captain. Now leave us." Lonnie beamed with pride. She gave the most emphatic salute she could manage before happily marching out of the throne room. Hordak then turned to his two prisoners:
"It seems you lied to me, princess. I thought we had a deal." Entrapta went red from guilt. She moved her hair out of the way and muttered:
"You're right. I'm sorry." Bow turned to his friend in shock:
"No – no you're not sorry!" He then turned back to Hordak:
"We'll never work for you!" Hordak gave an evil grin:
"Really? I don't think you have a choice. You see, I have one of your friends in my custody. A friend who I'll not hesitate to hurt if you dare disobey me." Entrapta went white, exclaiming:
"No! You mustn't hurt people to make others do what you want! That's not right!" Bow added:
"Yeah! Leave Glimmer alone!" Hordak's eyes widened:
"Who said anything about the princess? I was talking about Adora."
"You bastards killed Adora…and now you're gonna pay!" All Glimmer saw was red. Ever since hitting the first Horde soldier, she had been unable to stop. She had not even noticed that the battle had changed location, or that there were now more than double the original number of Horde soldiers surrounding her. Each time the electricity consumed her, her anger increased and her screams became more deranged. She was angry and she did not care who she hurt.
Mermista, on the other hand, was growing increasingly concerned. She had only one goal in this fight, which was to find Catra. But she had yet to find her.
The water princess fought valiantly, drenching anyone and everyone with water, literally washing soldiers and tanks away, when she was attacked from behind by a furious bear hybrid. Mermista subdued him easily, however, and was soon dangling the Force Captain upside down in front of her. He roared angrily, thrashing at the water princess, before finally giving up.
Mermista then leaned forward, growling:
"Where's Catra?" Grizzlor did not hesitate to point to a tank behind him:
"If you want the Force Commander, she's probably hiding in there." Mermista effortlessly threw Grizzlor away and used her water to reach the tank in a matter of seconds. She then poured as much water as she could into it, making the tank break apart from the inside.
When it fell apart, Catra and a fully armoured Horde guard fell out. Ignoring the soldier, Mermista went straight for the soaking wet feline, grabbing her by the tail and dragging her off into the woods.
If the water princess had stayed and continued fighting, the battle may have ended differently. But she did not and that decision would cost the princesses.
Once Mermista left, the guard who had been with her stood up and instantly ran after her. Perfuma, who was using her vines to try and corral the drenched and beaten soldiers, easily stopped them. However, the guard then did something totally unexpected. They grabbed an abandoned stun baton and charged straight at the princess.
At this point, all the guards were running away and no one was engaging any of the princesses directly. This guard's move caught Perfuma completely off-guard, and she was too slow to stop herself from being knocked out by their stun baton.
Glimmer, who was still swinging her axe wildly in a blind rage, did not even notice when the same seemingly suicidal guard challenged her directly with nothing but a single stun baton.
When she felt the steel of the baton hit her axe, Glimmer roared angrily, and swiped at her new opponent. The guard dodged and managed to catch the axe once more with their weapon. They held it long enough for Glimmer to have another one of her electrical episodes, at which point the guard did not hesitate to pull back and immobilize her with their weapon.
As soon as Glimmer was down, there was complete silence. At least, there was until a voice that sounded like Mermista's could be heard yelling:
"SAY YOU'RE SORRY!"
When the tank began to fill with water, Catra had grabbed Adora's helmet, jammed it on her head, and activated its underwater settings so she could breathe. Catra told herself that, in that moment, she was fully prepared to drown. The reality was that she would never in a million years deny Adora the only chance of survival either of them had.
The tank then filled to such an extent that it broke apart, giving Catra barely enough time to catch her breath before she felt herself get roughly dragged by the tail away from the battle. After a few minutes of this, the pain and humiliation of having her tail pulled angered Catra sufficiently for her to start fighting back.
Catra rolled over and kicked Mermista, causing her to let go of Catra, only to then pin her to the ground with her trident.
Catra did not move. She had never been so scared in her life. The grass of the forest was soaking wet, reminding her that the water princess could have killed her already if she had wanted to. Why did she not want to? Mermista then spoke breathlessly:
"You…took…everything…from me!" Catra nodded, deciding to play it cool. She had always been taught that hiding her fear was better than showing it:
"Yep. Guilty." This made Mermista even angrier. She pushed the trident so close to Catra's body that she could feel one of its points hit her ribs. Mermista then shouted:
"SAY YOU'RE SORRY!" Catra's eyes widened. She almost laughed:
"What? I…I don't think I heard you right…" Mermista then leaned closer, speaking through clenched teeth:
"I told you to apologize!" Catra genuinely could not believe this. The water princess, one of the most powerful princesses on the whole planet, and whose kingdom she had literally just conquered, had her at her mercy…and all she wanted was an apology? Catra scoffed before muttering:
"I'm sorry. There you go - happy?" Mermista narrowed her eyes:
"No." She then raised her trident, ready to strike the fatal blow, when she suddenly froze and collapsed.
Catra gasped at the Horde guard who had apparently snuck up behind the princess and knocked her out with a single stun baton. The guard then pulled off their helmet, revealing Adora's terrified face. She quickly stepped over Mermista and knelt in front of the Force Commander, stammering:
"Catra, are…are you okay?" Catra shook her head, her eyes filling with tears from the emotional toll of what just happened. Without thinking, she pulled Adora in for a hug and whispered:
"Thank you…Princess."