Lonnie sighed in exasperation while both Kyle and Rogelio looked on in concern. She had just hung up on Grizzlor, unable to take any more of him yelling at her to give him authorization to attack Frosta's castle.
It turned out that the Horde's forces had made excellent progress since leaving Brightmoon. Not only had they crossed into the Kingdom of Snows but they had also surrounded Frosta's castle in the two days that Adora had been in charge. And now Adora was gone. She and Catra had left for an undisclosed location for an undetermined amount of time - and Lonnie was picking up the slack.
She had told Grizzlor all she could: "Adora's gone out. I'll get her to call you when she comes back." But had that been enough for the Force Captain? No! The follow-up questions had been relentless:
"When will she come back?"
"Will she come back? I knew we couldn't trust Adora!"
"How could you let her leave?"
"Why didn't you stand up to her? A real officer would –" That was when Lonnie had hung up, and when her friends had walked in. The new second-in-command had summoned them because there was no one else she trusted to help her right now.
"I think something's wrong. Adora left the Fright Zone hours ago. She didn't say where she was going nor how long she'd be out. She left no orders and we need orders. And until she comes back, I'm in charge. What should I do?" Rogelio tentatively walked over to Lonnie and wrapped her in a hug.
They were currently standing in the empty throne room and the noise of Rogelio's movement echoed comfortingly. Kyle then broke the silence:
"Well… um… what do you wanna do?" Lonnie looked over at him in total surprise:
"M-Me?! What do I want to do? That doesn't matter!" Rogelio then growled in a language only Lonnie could understand:
"Yes it does, Lonnie. We love you and we're proud of you for getting this far! You deserve to call the shots - and we'll stand with you no matter what!" Lonnie sniffled a little and hugged Rogelio tighter. Kyle smiled awkwardly:
"Yeah… what he said!" After a minute of silence, Lonnie wiped her eyes, let go of Rogelio, and clenched her fists purposefully:
"Alright – let's do this!"
Catra could not stop crying. It amazed her that she even had this much liquid in her body. She was even more amazed that she was still conscious which, considering her lack of sleep and nourishment, seemed next to impossible. Then again, she had been put through worse by Shadow Weaver.
The feline desperately wiped away her tears, determined not to crash the skiff as it sped back through the Whispering Woods.
Catra had spent some time figuring out what to do next, processing the fact that Adora was dead and all Adora's friends, old and new, were about to suffer in a battle of her own making. In the end, Catra had decided to do the right thing; she was heading back to the Fright Zone to stop the war. It was what Adora, the real Adora, would have wanted - and Catra refused to let her sacrifice be in vain.
As the skiff finally left the woods, and the Fright Zone came into view, Catra accelerated as fast as she could.
When the recorded transmission ended, all of the princesses went white; some with fear, some with fury and others with total despair. Adora was now in charge of the Horde and she was coming to kill them.
She had sent her message to Brightmoon, meaning that it had taken a while for it to relay automatically to Frosta's castle. Now that it was here, however, it was too late for the princesses to even consider a response.
The Horde had closed in yesterday with the castle now completely surrounded by the full might of its army. There were simply too many soldiers for the princesses to even hope to fight, yet alone defeat. Only She-Ra could save them now - and she was not coming. The best they could look forward to was a good battle and most of the princesses were up for it. Most of them. Perfuma whispered:
"She didn't mean that… right?" Mermista groaned:
"Yes she did! She meant every word of that and we need to take her seriously!" Frosta moaned:
"We are! But Adora's She-Ra! Any victory we win will be for nothing unless we take her down! And… I don't know how to do that. Anyone know how to do that?" Angella began to shake:
"Are we sure she won't negotiate? I mean, I know she said she wouldn't but… it's…"
"It's not Adora, mom. Not anymore. We have no choice but to fight. We might not win… but we'll definitely make them hurt!" Glimmer hit the table as she said the last bit. Immediately, there was an uproar of voices. Only Netossa succeeded in silencing them:
"ENOUGH! We're missing the obvious solution here! We have Swift Wind – he can just fly us out of here!" Spinerella nodded, adding:
"OR Glimmer could teleport us out of here! See? We've not lost yet! We can still survive this!" It was at this point that Sea Hawk finally spoke:
"Forgive me, ladies, but… where would we go? The Horde kind of… controls… everything…" There was an awkward silence before Scorpia finally spoke:
"The Fright Zone. We need to stop Adora and there is only one person who can do that: Catra. We need Catra."
"Catra?! What the hell are you doing?"
"Surrendering myself – what does it look like? Also, can I please have some water?" Lonnie was too stunned to refuse. As Kyle ran off to get some water, Rogelio uncuffed Catra and dismissed the guards who had arrested her at the entrance of the Fright Zone.
After a minute of awkward silence, Kyle returned and gave Catra a water bottle, standing next to her as she drank it. The feline finished drinking and almost threw the empty container at Kyle's head out of habit - but decided against it. After all, she had really appreciated the water. Lonnie noticed this as well and could not believe it. What had happened out there?
"Catra! Time to talk! Why are you back here? Where's Adora? Explain yourself!" Catra would have laughed at Lonnie acting like she was now the boss but, given that Adora was gone, she technically was. Too tired to argue about it, Catra spluttered:
"Adora's dead. I killed her. And I know she was about to have all her former friends killed… If that happens, the Horde will win and all of Etheria will suffer! It has to stop, Lonnie! That's why I came back - this all has to stop!"
Catra could feel the tears pouring down her cheeks as she admitted what she had done. She could hear the suddenly elevated heartrates of her former teammates and listened to Rogelio's angry growls, Kyle's pleading cries, and Lonnie's disbelieving gasps. But, after a few minutes of silence from Catra, everyone knew she was telling the truth. When the feline finally spoke again, she sighed:
"Lonnie, I know you're in charge now. That's fine – you can have the job! I don't want it! But we need to stop this! Send the princesses a message – say we're willing to negotiate so no one dies! They'll accept our terms, I know they will!" Lonnie, who was still too stunned to speak, shook her head and mouthed:
"No, Catra. Adora told Grizzlor he could kill the princesses and neither you nor I can stop him." Catra frowned in annoyance:
"Grizzlor? Grizzlor?! We can take that guy! Heck, the princesses could take him! He's not who I'm worried about – tell the other Force Captains to stand down!" Lonnie, who was now pinching her nose in exasperation, finally yelled:
"Okay, what is wrong with you?! This is the Horde's whole mission! The princesses are evil and you took over two thirds of Etheria – not me! Why the sudden change of heart? Don't tell me Adora got to you in the end?" Catra shook her head, involuntarily tearing up at hearing Adora's name:
"No! She didn't get to me – that's the point! Shadow Weaver turned her into what the Horde always wanted her to be: a monster! So much so that I had to kill her! I left the love of my life dead at the bottom of a cliff in an ancient ruin in the Whispering Woods! And now the events that she set in motion are about to happen and only you can stop it!" Lonnie, too shocked by Catra's further confession to respond, simply gasped. Catra, equally shocked by her confession, covered her mouth and sunk to the floor in tears.
After what felt like a lifetime, Kyle suddenly stepped forward:
"Lonnie… it's what Adora would want…" Rogelio nodded in support of his boyfriend. Lonnie quickly wiped away her own tears, which had formed at the mental image of Adora's dead body:
"Fine – FINE! I'll call off the attack! But don't think you're getting away with this, Catra! You'll be in a cell for a long, long time!"
After a brief discussion, the princesses had decided to split up. Frosta, Mermista, Glimmer and Sea Hawk were going to stay and fight. Frosta because she felt obligated to defend her kingdom. Mermista because she refused to run anymore and Sea Hawk because he would never abandon Mermista. And Glimmer so she could get them all out if necessary.
The others (Angella, Netossa, Spinerella, Swift Wind, Perfuma and Scorpia) were going to make their way to the Fright Zone as fast as they could. Using Scorpia's insider knowledge, they would break into the prison and free Catra. Then, once they had her on their side (Scorpia had said her help was not guaranteed and they would probably have to beg), they would go to the throne room to face Adora.
As the team heading to the Fright Zone organized themselves (Angella would have to carry Perfuma – something Scorpia was very jealous about), Angella pulled her daughter over for a talk. She knew she was putting a lot on Glimmer's shoulders and she was even more aware of just how heartbroken her daughter was from losing both Bow and Adora in such terrible ways.
Once they were far enough from everyone, standing on a balcony overlooking the huge Horde army, Angella turned to face her daughter, blocking their view of the enemy with her wings. Glimmer gave a hesitant smile. She knew what her mother was trying to do. Angella reached her hands up and gently cupped Glimmer's cheeks, smiling:
"I'm so proud of you, Glimmer. You're father would've been proud of you too." Glimmer began to tear up. She always got like that when Micah was mentioned. Angella then produced a staff from thin air, handing it to Glimmer:
"Speaking of your father, he would want you to have this. It was his… and now it's yours." Glimmer gasped and took the staff, holding it close. Angella then put her hands down to her daughter's shoulders, gripping them tightly:
"Your survival is paramount. You must get everyone out the second things get out of hand – do you understand?" Glimmer nodded aggressively, embarrassed that she was getting so emotional over a stick. Angella continued in as soothing a voice as she could manage:
"I don't know what's going to happen to us in the Fright Zone but, if anything happens to me-"
"Nothing will happen to you! Nothing can happen to you – you're immortal!" Angella gave a sad smile, unable to look at her daughter for a second:
"Yes, you're right. I can't die… you've got nothing to worry about." With that, the queen slowly leaned forward and kissed Glimmer on the forehead. The sparkly princess uncharacteristically reached up and wrapped her mother in as big a hug as she could.
The other princesses were ready to go but no one dared disturb the two of them. After all, mother-daughter hugs were rare and deserved to be cherished - especially when the mother was Angella and the daughter was Glimmer.
"You want me to WHAT?!" Lonnie bit her lip nervously. She knew Grizzlor would never agree to this:
"I said that you have new orders: cease and desist! Adora has changed her mind and is now negotiating with the princesses." Grizzlor went from dumbfounded silence to a furious roar:
"WHAT?! How dare she? She's such a hypocrite! Put her on right now!" Lonnie began sweating. Adora was not there and she had never given those orders. But saying this was all Adora's idea was easier than admitting that Adora was dead and now Lonnie was in charge and had already been emotionally blackmailed into doing the impossible.
As Lonnie remained silent in response to Grizzlor's angry cries, Catra sat on the steps leading up to the throne, eating a grey ration bar. Kyle sat next to her, holding a tray full of them. Rogelio had gone to get some and the two of them had forced Catra to have three. Now they were both sitting on either side of her, munching away at them. And Lonnie was standing at the bottom of the steps, looking like she was about to blow a fuse. Grizzlor was still yelling:
"This is a joke, you hear? A joke! You're all so weak! Hordak was the only one who ever had any guts! I refuse to go along with this farce – I'm ordering an attack immediately!" Lonnie went white and shouted:
"No! Don't do that! Don't-" It was no use. Grizzlor hung up. Lonnie groaned in frustration, covering her face in her hands. Catra finished her mouthful:
"Lonnie… what about the other Force Captains?" Lonnie removed her hands and turned to look at her friends sadly:
"They all said they would follow my orders – but Grizzlor is fearsome on the ground! He'll make them follow him! I told you we should have been more worried about him!" Catra swallowed and sighed:
"Yeah… you're right…" Just then, an alarm went off. There had been a breach. Without a moment's delay, Lonnie ran up the stairs to the throne, sitting in it and activating the computer screens. Within seconds, images of death and destruction littered the security camera footage in front of her.
Catra grimaced. The violence of what she was seeing was too extreme for the princesses, or so she had thought. Honestly, she would not have blamed the sparkly princess if she had finally lost it. Rogelio then roared:
"Quickly! We have to barricade the door! Whatever's causing this is heading this way!" Kyle stood up, screaming:
"What he said! WHAT HE SAID!" Lonnie then screamed in terror. Catra, who had been momentarily distracted by Rogelio and Kyle trying to block the door with Hordak's old desk, looked back up and gasped.
It was not the princesses. It was a single princess: an eight-foot tall woman with long blonde hair and a glowing yellow sword now covered in red. And she was standing right outside the door.
When Adora had finally lost her grip on the cliff-face, she had accepted her fate. While her taunting of Catra may have seemed like a refusal to give up, the reality was that the feline had won. Adora had let her guard down and paid the price for it.
As Adora had fallen, flashes of a life she could not remember played before her eyes. Catra and Shadow Weaver were the main characters. Adora had frowned angrily and closed her eyes, only to find herself already lying on the ground. She was alright – and she was not alone.
Adora had turned to see the individual she now recognized as Light Hope, who then explained what was happening. Adora was She-Ra and she needed to balance the planet. Adora, who had been sceptical since the first time she remembered hearing her alter ego's name, had asked for more information. Surprisingly, Light Hope had obliged, explaining more than just the nature of the princesses and their runestones.
As Light Hope described the Heart of Etheria, Adora's mind wandered: maybe Shadow Weaver's mind control had altered her mind for the better… after all, it was clear that she had struggled a lot more with She-Ra beforehand…
When Light Hope had finished explaining the need to connect Scorpia with the Black Garnet, the hologram had told Adora about the need to open a portal. The blonde had nodded, saying that Entrapta was working on it. Light Hope had made no comment, simply saying that the opening of the portal and Scorpia forging a connection with her runestone were two parts of the same event, the balancing of the planet, and both needed to happen as soon as possible.
Supposedly believing Adora to be ready to go about her mission without any training, Light Hope had woken her up, causing the blonde to almost hurt herself falling off the stone slab she was inexplicably sleeping on.
Adora had transformed into She-Ra and fought her way out of the ruin and, without a moment's hesitation, proceeded to run straight for the Fright Zone.
Adora now had new objectives. She could see now that the Horde itself was a dysfunctional organization which was far from perfect – both it and the princesses needed to be eradicated. She needed to capture Scorpia, open Entrapta's portal, and find and kill Catra.
Now, Adora stood outside her throne room and, as she had suspected, Lonnie had taken her place after her only being gone for a few hours. No matter. She would make Lonnie pay too.
Adora sliced through the metal doors like tissue paper, only to find the room completely deserted. The blonde frowned and looked up at the screens which were still playing before an empty throne. She could clearly see the squad sneaking through the secret passage to Hordak's sanctum with… Catra?!
Adora gasped and any rational thought left in her mind abruptly ran away. She no longer cared about her mission. She had long since stopped caring about the Horde's mission. Right now, she was going to find Catra and tear her apart.
The princesses desperately searched the cells, not finding anything but dead Horde soldiers. Perfuma began to hyperventilate:
"Um… guys? Maybe we shouldn't be here? There's… there's something evil here…" Angella nodded:
"That there is." The queen used her wings to point in the direction of two large cells at the centre of the prison; one held Hordak while the other held Shadow Weaver. Scorpia grimaced:
"Yeah… I'd leave them there if I were you…" Perfuma nodded aggressively:
"Yes! And let's leave!"
"No!" cried Netossa, who had found a cell with claw marks in it. She continued:
"Catra was here – she's gone. Do you think she's somewhere else in the Fright Zone?" Scorpia went white and everyone turned to look at her. After a moment of stony silence, where the only sound was the blaring alarm, Scorpia clasped her pincers together and said:
"If Catra's not here, then… she's not anywhere. She's been sent to Beast Island or worse." Spinerella gasped and Swift Wind whinnied:
"Um, guys? I'm detecting Adora close by! The connection is pretty messed up though, like something's blocking me!" Angella nodded:
"Yes, magic. It has to be. This is all that witch's fault." Angella had pointed to Shadow Weaver when she had said that. Netossa raised her fists angrily:
"Then let's make her pay!" Spinerella stopped her wife:
"No! No, we cannot waste time on her. Something is happening here, something bad, and Bow and Entrapta are in the middle of it. If we can't stop Adora, the least we can do is save them." Angella nodded:
"Agreed. Scorpia, where were they being held?" The former Force Captain sighed and pointed upwards:
"They were in Hordak's sanctum."
Entrapta was getting impatient. She had sent Adora out to bring her First One's tech to activate her portal machine literal hours ago. And then the guard who had been keeping her company, the lizard guy, had gone and left her all alone.
She had debated using the opportunity to escape through the pipes but had decided against it. She was too curious – she wanted to see what the portal machine would do! She wanted to gather and examine the data! She wanted to see what else she could do with this technology – the possibilities were endless! Then, all of a sudden, a hidden door in the wall opened and two guards, a Force Captain and Catra ran into the room. Entrapta chirped:
"Hey guys! Where did you come from?" Catra immediately turned to face the princess before abruptly turning again and addressing Lonnie:
"What's she still doing here?" Before Lonnie could catch her breath and explain that she had completely forgotten about Entrapta, the hidden door was blasted from its hinges by a blinding light, and everyone turned to watch in horror as She-Ra entered the room.
The eight-foot tall warrior princess did not wait long to move, immediately charging at Catra. The feline leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding the giant sword. Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle did as they had been trained. They grabbed Entrapta and moved to a safer position behind the portal machine, waiting for a chance to take down the victor of the fight.
Just as Catra narrowly avoided another swing from She-Ra's sword, the door of Hordak's sanctum opened and several princesses, including Scorpia, walked in. Catra, distracted by their entrance, was caught off-guard by Adora, who cut her ear once more, re-opening the wound she had caused only a few days before. Catra howled and rolled towards the princesses.
She knew She-Ra would try to kill them and that they used to be her friends, but it seemed obvious that Adora was never going to recover from what Shadow Weaver had done to her – plus it was high-time one of them helped Catra.
As the feline predicted, all the princesses (and flying horse?) charged forward and started using every power at their disposal to disarm She-Ra. As they were doing so, someone helped Catra to sit up against the doorframe, gently stroking her cheek and looking attentively at her ear:
"Are you okay, Catra? Besides the ear?" Catra's eyes went wide at the queen's compassion. Her ears then went down as she averted her gaze:
"Yeah… I'm fine." Angella gave as warm a smile as she could manage and pulled Catra in for a small hug:
"Good. I wanted to thank you for saving my life and keeping Adora under control until we got here." Catra went red, pushing Angella away and muttering:
"W-What are you doing? Stop it! I'm the enemy!" Angella continued to smile and pointed at Scorpia, who had just successfully pulled She-Ra's sword from her hand:
"So was she. Scorpia told us all about how you helped her and the other princesses escape." Catra frowned:
"I was using her to… to spy on you." Angella gave a forced laugh and winked:
"Of course you were." With that, the queen stood up and turned to face the fight which was now over. The princesses had She-Ra pinned firmly to the ground, with her sword lying discarded by the portal machine.
As Angella walked over the group, trying her best to communicate with the princesses over Adora's cries, Entrapta slipped away from the squad who were too distracted to notice, picked the sword off the ground and hooked it up to the portal machine. This turned it on and silenced everyone in the room. Entrapta began to laugh loudly:
"It works! Told ya!" Angella pushed past her friends and reached Entrapta, putting her hand on the scientist's shoulder:
"Well done, Entrapta. I'm glad you're okay. Let's turn this off now, okay?" From her position on the ground, Adora suddenly yelled:
"No, Entrapta! Don't do it! Pull the lever – pull the lever!" Catra, who had now stood back up, stared at the scene before her in utter disbelief. To make matters worse, Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle chose this moment to reveal themselves and wave their stun batons menacingly at the princesses:
"Get out of the Fright Zone! All of you!" This was the distraction She-Ra needed. As the princesses holding her down lightened their grip to fight the squad, the warrior princess pushed them all off her and ran to the lever. When she reached it, Catra screamed:
"NO! ADORA, PLEASE DON'T!" She-Ra looked back at Catra with a look of pure evil that would undoubtedly haunt her for the rest of her life. Then she pulled the lever and everything went white.