Glimmer's POV
"She… she turned back around?" Netossa asks, sitting down next to me.
"Yeah, she turned back around," I whisper, looking down at the deck. "I don't know why. To stop Adora from canceling the purge sequence? She… she gave us time to get out…"
"There was… nothing we could do…" Sea Hawk mumbles, he's been looking out over the edge of the boat the whole time.
"This shouldn't have happened…" Mermista says, as she uses her powers to pull the boat over to the shore, now that we're far enough away from the Horde. "I shouldn't have come out here…"
"Mermista..." Bow looks over at her.
"I mean, I'm glad you're okay Glimmer, I am… but this only happened because there were too many of us together. You got captured at Princess Prom, and now Entrapta…"
"Being together like this… it makes us vulnerable," Perfuma echoes the sentiment, and I'm just staring back and forth at them.
"N- No!" I shout, "Perfuma, you know what we were able to do at Plumeria when you united most of your village to join you!"
"And it did save our land, which I am grateful for, but it was a very, very risky move. If we failed, I would have lost everything…"
"But we didn't! And Mermista, you can turn the war in the seas against them now! They can't put pressure on Salineas anymore without their tooling yards, fuel, and docks!"
"And what, just because it was good for me and you, that means it was good for all of Etheria? Entrapta is gone because I was too worried about getting revenge with all of you!"
Sea Hawk finally turns around, walking over to Mermista, "My dearest Mermista, she didn't say that Entrapta was-"
"Don't! We're going home. Everyone, out of the boat! Please…"
"This whole thing was a bad idea…" Netossa murmurs.
"Dear, no," Spinnerella says, "Bow made it very clear what the stakes were."
"So we're supposed to be okay with trading lives?" Netossa glares up at Spinnerella now.
"No one is okay with this…" she says softly.
"We didn't trade lives, that's what would have happened if Angela gave herself up. We saved Bright Moon," Bow speaks, but he doesn't sound like he believes in his own words this time.
"Because we aren't able to take care of ourselves without Bright Moon?" Mermista places her hands on her hips, "My home was just fine before the Horde got word that you two were trying to reconfigure the Princess Alliance. Maybe it fell apart for a reason."
"Mine- mine wasn't," Perfuma says, looking down. She's as unsure of which side to pick as Bow is, seemingly. "No one really was."
"Oh, really? Because both times, when Salineas and the Kingdom of Snows got dragged back into this war, it was because of them-" she points at Bow and I, and I feel my heart twist a little. This really is my fault… I look up at Bow. I should never have things push us apart at Princess Prom.
"Mermista!" Sea Hawk shouts.
"That isn't fair," Spinnerella adds.
A few more people turn to glance at Mermista, except Bow, Netossa, and I.
"I- I'm sorry. You're right," she says to Spinnnerella. "I'm sorry."
I stand up now, feeling as the remaining static charge of the prison I was held in surges through me in pain, and I think Bow notices it, as he raises an eyebrow in concern. "No, this only happened because of Adora. She attacked us at Salineas, she was there at Plumeria and Thaymor, she led the sabotage at the ball. Every move the horde has made in the last 2 months has been because of Adora."
"And her unwillingness to give up when outnumbered cost us Entrapta…" Bow says, looking down at his tracker pad.
"This is exactly what she did at Princess Prom, she got in my head to keep me off of Bow, and tried to even befriend Entrapta for a bit."
"What?" Perfuma asks, "when?"
"At the ball, it's like this is her whole plan, to drive us apart."
"And when we resist, that gets us killed?" Netossa says.
"Death… is always a risk of adventure…" Sea Hawk says quietly.
"Stop acting like this is a game to you, Sea Hawk!" Mermista shouts at him. "I… I can't…"
Perfuma looks at Sea Hawk and Mermsita, then at Spinnerella and Netossa, and finally at Bow and I before saying, "oh…"
"What?" Bow looks up, hearing her speak."
"I- I think Glimmer is right. We… There's so much more going on here. We can't let this Adora person push us all apart." She looks around again, like she realized something no one else did. "We… We are vulnerable together, yes… But… we can't all fight this as a one-person army. We aren't figures of legend like She-Ra, we can only win here if we don't give up on each other."
Bow looks down at his tracker pad and murmurs something to himself, and I realize it was, "it's you…" He looks up. "Guys… I think I just made a very, very big mistake when I didn't listen to Entrapta about that sword…"
"Wait.." Sea Hawk looks over at him, "I heard her say that too. She said she was tracking the sword, right?"
"She did say she thought it was a bad idea to leave it behind or something," Spinnerella says."
"Bow…" I look over at him. "You aren't trying to suggest-"
"Wait, the sword you tried to use at Salineas?" Mermista asks.
Perfuma looks confused, as if she forgot what she casually just name-dropped. "Wait, what are you talking about-"
"Perfuma, you know how I asked about She-Ra on the way to the ball?"
Her eyes widened in shock, "You asked about that sword, if it could be that of the She-Ra…"
Bow puts his tracker pad away. "Adora recognized the sword at Thaymor, she saw it before we found it in the woods."
"Bow…" I say, really, really not liking where this is going.
"I think… I think we're in trouble."
Adora's POV
"Adora, Adora, please wake up!"
I open my eyes. "Catra? Ugh… What happened?"
"I don't know! You came sprinting over out of who-knows-where, barged into your own room, flipped your mattress over, grabbed that stupid sword, and swoosh! You were out cold!"
I look over at the sword on the ground. Oh yeah… that happened…
"What… are you okay?"
"I'm okay, I'm fine." I say, standing up, and moving over to the sword.
"No, don't touch it again, idiot!" She grabs my arm, pulling me back.
"No, Catra, let go, it's fine," I say, struggling for a second before breaking her grip and picking it up. There's no flash this time, no bright light, no… Light Hope…
"What… What happened? Your turn now."
"I… I'm not sure. I touched it, and I had this vision, or dream, or something. There was a woman. Well, not a woman, but she looked like one. Probably a… hologram?"
"What? Adora, that doesn't make any sense."
"I told you, every time I got near this thing the last few weeks I'd spend the next night or two having strange dreams, hearing my name. That was her, this… Light Hope person."
"I don't know what that means!"
"She said… I had to answer a call. That Etheria needed me."
"Wow, someone sees herself as important."
"Catra!"
"Jeez, I'm kidding! Sorry," she says, looking down a little.
"She said… she said the sword belongs to me…"
"Wait, you don't think-?"
"No, no no no… it can't be right…"
"Okay, okay. What… what do you think it means?"
"I think… I think it means that I'm going to get in… a lot of trouble…"
"What? How could you get in trouble? Besides, how do you know any of that is true?"
"The princess… Entrapta… you heard her…"
"You have no idea what she was talking about, maybe she just remembered you from Princess Prom?"
"No, Catra… I don't know, I just… You Kyle, and Lonnie never felt any of what I felt… maybe it really is mine…"
"I… is this because I called you a princess the other day? Adora, it's… I'm sure it's fine. Whatever this is, we'll figure it out."
I look up at her, my voice sounding unsure and anxious, "How?"
"I don't know. I… maybe we go back to where it was found? Explore the woods?"
"We could spend days in the woods, you know how dangerous that is, we'd never find anything without knowing what we're looking for."
"Yeah… maybe we… what if we… what if you just keep trying to talk to this… Light Hope?"
"I don't know," I say, looking down at the gem on the sword, "I don't know what makes her appear."
"Well, maybe you need to like, meditate?"
"Catra, I never relaxed a day in my life, I don't think that's going to help me figure out what any of this means…"
"Hey, I'm just brainstorming here," she holds her hands up, almost defensively, with a hint of friendly mockery.
"Hmm…" I'm still thinking. I really don't want to, but, "What if I… what if I go to Shadow Weaver?"
"What!? Absolutely not! You can't trust her with that, who knows what she'll do!?"
"Or if she and Hordak will decide to kick me out of the horde…"
"Yeah, could you imagine, you running around, holding hands with the Bright Moon Princess, and her night in ab-less armor?"
"Catra…" I glare at her. "This is not the time to be joking about this."
"I-" Her face softens a bit in guilt, "sorry."
"I… Catra, I can't not do something to figure this out, I mean, I don't know what this thing does, or why it's calling to me. It's… my sword, but what does that mean? What do I do with it?"
"I know, this is way more serious than I thought it was. I mean, I always thought it was serious, it's not like you wanted it just because it was shiny. But we need to figure this out without her."
"I… what if we go to Scorpia?" She's kind of a princess, or is, she might have something to say.
"We?"
"I… can't do this alone, Catra. Please…"
"I know, I just, of course I'll help. I just… you haven't- nevermind. Look, I hear you, but you were only actually out for a few moments. Scorpia is almost certainly sleeping now that the alarms are off and everyone not on night-shift went back to bed. I know you yourself were up at the normal rising time, so you were up for, what… 20 hours now? Let's sleep on it, okay?"
"Wait what? Catra, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Here, come on and stand up." She stands up, handing her hand out to me, and I let her help me off the floor.
"Catra, you can't just drop this."
"Tomorrow, okay? You need to sleep, I do too."
Hmm… I walk over to the dresser, setting the sword beside it. "We're… gonna need a place to hide this that isn't in here."
"I can handle that, there are vents and hiding spots everywhere, even ones the contraband smugglers don't use."
"What?"
"Nothing, here," she walks over around my bed, leveraging it up to slide it back onto the bed.
I walk over, picking up my pillow and sheet, just kinda tossing them on the mattress for now. "Catra…"
"Yeah?"
"Can you… stay here tonight?"
"Adora, I don't think Shadow Wea-"
"Catra, please." I don't try to hide the urgency. I… I won't be able to sleep tonight with everything going on. And she seems conflicted.
Finally, she looks up at me and nods her head. "Okay, Adora. Okay."
I take a step forward to her, wrapping my arms around her, "thank you…"
"Don't get sappy, dummy. Let's go, we can at least get three, maybe four hours of rest before we're due for clean-up."
I smile at her, momentarily, and I can see that she sees through it. Her eyes are filled with… pity. And I hate it. But I don't say anything, I just spread the blanket out, and lay down. Catra climbs into the bed, and shockingly, doesn't go to the foot this time like she normally does.
She just lays down next to me, and there's a period of time between then and sleeping where it's just… silence. In each other's presence. And her presence does help me, as I just allow myself to think about my best friend, and not… everything else.
Glimmer's POV
It's a bit before noon, Etheria's largest, brightest moon glowing down on us from overhead. The last few hours were unnerving and awful. First, our entire alliance is now in damage control mode, and the entire team followed Bow, Spinnerella, Netossa and I back to Bright Moon. Bow's idea has put a looming shadow over all of us, as if we're now on a countdown timer until armageddon.
Secondly, there's these weird static shocks I'm getting. They aren't bad, but… it's like the magic from that sorceress is still coursing through me. And it's keeping me exhausted, on edge, and in slight pain.
Third, when we got back to Bright Moon, my mom was waiting at the entrance. She swarmed us, embracing me, demanding to know everything. The air of silence from everyone was tangible, and she made note of two things: that I didn't teleport out of her hug, and that Entrapta wasn't with us. It was a miracle everyone else came with, I think Bow's idea forced those of us that were reconsidering the alliance to instead be more drawn into it, but we didn't tell my mom about that part.
After getting everyone situated with temporary rooms for the night, Bow and I got to talking about the static shocks he noticed I was getting, but we don't exactly have any way to deal with that, and I assumed I just needed to sleep it off, and so everyone did.
Now, Bow and I are standing under the Moon Stone, trying to recharge, because the shocks did not, in fact, go away.
"Ow! Ow ow ow!" I shout, as soon as I stand up off this stone bed under the Runestone.
"Glimmer!" he moves forward, grabbing me as I stop glitching.
"It didn't work…" I say, gasping for breath.
"Work? It made it worse!" He shouts, helping me steady myself.
"We're… gonna need to try harder to figure this all out…"
"Glimmer?" My mom's voice calls out, "Are you up there?"
Oh no. "Bow, we can't let her see me like this!"
"Uh… Um..!"
My mom flies up and over the ridge and I'm already laying back down on the stone. "There you are, Glimmer. Are you feeling better?"
"WHOA, Mom. Can't a girl recharge in private?" She opens her mouth to speak, so I cut her off immediately, "anyway, we were just leaving. Bye!" I hop off the stone again, and start walking for the physical exit so Bow and I can descend the Moon Stone tower, since I sort of still can't feel my powers.
"Is everything alright? Glimmer?" Glimmer, do not walk-"
Once we get inside, I try for a split second to use them, to get us to my room quicker, but it just triggers the shocks again.
Bow looks over at me in panic again, making sure I don't fall over right now.
"I'm fine!" I lie, "I'm fine. Let's just get back to the others."
Bow definitely sees through it as I steady myself, but we keep moving. The rest of the alliance is in the war room, going over theories and ideas and even myths and legends. We descend the Moon Stone pillar, and head into the castle. Surprisingly, my Mom doesn't even try to bother us as we're heading up the walkway.
We make our way through the halls, stopping once outside the war room as I let the static shocks pass, and we head in.
It's a mess. Spinnerella and Netossa aren't here, but Mermista and Perfuma are both standing over the table while Sea Hawk is off in the corner digging through boxes of papers and books on something.
"None of this makes any sense! Eight feet tall? This girl wasn't even close to six!"
"She also didn't have a magical companion animal! Unless the magicat counts. Oh, hi Glimmer, Bow!"
"I don't think that cat person showed any magic abilities when they were attacking the Sea Gate," Mermista says, not looking over at us.
"Hey everyone!" Bow says, after he woke up he's been doing his best to maintain upbeat, like Perfuma. They're both trying to hold everyone together.
"The magicat's name is Catra, and no, she's just temperamental," I say, walking over to the table.
"Hey Glimmer," Mermista says as I stand next to her, "how'd the recharge go?"
"Not good, I'm still glitching," I say, looking at some of the papers they've compiled on this She-Ra myth.
"So, what do we know so far?" Bow asks, walking up to us all.
"Well," Perfuma starts, "nothing concrete. We know Entrapta said the sword was First One's tech, and also that it was a runestone, right?"
"That's… pretty much the only facts we know for sure…" Bow acknowledges.
"Well, We've been thinking about everything Entrapta could've meant when she said, "it's you," like you said she did," Perfuma continues.
"Yeah, it was as if she was tracking more than just my tracker pad's signal."
"So…" Mermista says, "what if this Adora girl has magic in her, what if she's actually a Princess?"
"That's… a little out there, though…" I think out loud. "Two horde princesses?"
"Bright Moon has three princesses and a queen living in its walls," Mermista says to me.
Which is a fair point, but, "actually, Bow and I genuinely don't know what Spinnerella and Netossa are even princesses of, or how their runestones work."
"I- that doesn't discredit my point."
"Wait, so…" Bow says, "this Adora girl could be this princess of legend? Who hasn't been seen for hundreds of years?"
"More like a millenia," Perfuma corrects. "We asked Queen Angella if she heard of She-Ra before, she said she thought it was a legend. A bit more concrete than a myth, unlike the Spirit Ember."
"There's a difference?" I ask her.
"Well, I can say with near certainty that this She-Ra person is real, but it means almost everything about her is likely conjecture."
"Which is the basis of everything we're now running with, which is a stupid idea to get this worked up over," Mermista says, being a little more cynical about this all.
Sea Hawk finally walks over to the table, plopping down a few files he found, "Here, I think this is the rest of what is actually useful for this. But if I'm being honest, I think we should probably just ask Adora."
All four of us turn to look at him in a mix of confusion and disbelief.
"I'm serious. You all know we'll meet her again on another adventure, let's just ask her then!"
"Yeah, everytime anyone tried to talk, it wasn't exactly constructive," I think back to her threatening Bow in the Black Garnet chamber, and shudder. Almost as if through association, I'm rewarded with this thought for a quick burst of glitching."Ow!"
"Is it still happening? I thought you recharged?" Sea Hawk asks.
"Tried… Didn't work…" I force out, before the glitching stops, Bow standing closer again.
"Great, more problems. Why aren't we working on fixing that instead of this nonsense?" Mermista asks.
"Because I did look into this, there's nothing on Runestone conflicts at all, it's like whatever that sorceress did, it wasn't something that's supposed to be done," Bow responds, and Mermista goes back to reading.
"Seriously? Lifting Mountains? Defeated armies with one swing of a sword? Perfuma, this stuff is a children's fairy tale."
"Hey, most of our, "fairy tails," are based on truths. We just need to root this out to understand if this Adora person really could be the She-Ra."
"Wait!" Bow shouts, as he pulls out his tracker pad, opening up a map of the woods on the holo-table. "The sword and possibly Adora weren't the only two things giving off this similar signal. Entrapta told me the sword was acting as a… receiver for some sort of message, a message being sent from somewhere in the woods."
"Was she able to intercept it?" I ask, trying to look at what he's looking for.
"No, First One's tech is still way too advanced to decode. Huh- that's odd… the radio signal she was tracking isn't transmitting anymore…"
"Does that mean this isn't a lead?" Mermista asks.
"No, we still have an energy signal of First One's tech, but it's too deep in the woods, it's gonna take me a lot of time to try and figure it out, but maybe… if it's related to the sword, it can help us learn more about this She-Ra."
"Then what does it mean that the transmission stopped?" Sea Hawk asks, holding his hand to his chin.
"It means… a message was received…"
"And what does this mean for us?" Perfuma asks.
"It means… we need to follow this signal, go wherever this is. There's a good chance this transmission was received by Adora, meaning she could possibly be on her way too. Either way, whether we find Adora or not, we can turn it into a win."
"What do you intend to do if we run into Adora? She won't be alone, and she'll definitely be on edge if she's in the woods." I ask.
"Besides, Bow, this is way too many ifs and coincidences and maybes." Mermista says.
"Look, it's still our best chance to find out real information about She-Ra. And… we can't just sit around waiting for her to show up, or to magically figure out how to cure Glimmer."
"Simple, right?" Mermista says, "Just track a faint tech signal through the shifting landscapes of the Whispering Woods. What could go wrong?"
"Exactly! But, that does mean we have to find the signal first… It's way too vague in where it pops up. I know Entrapta could… probably write a probability algorithm for it… but I'll do what I can," he says encouragingly, as mention of her name causes everyone to tense up."
"Well, good luck with that. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to help, though. I need to get back to Salineas and take charge of the seas while we can," Mermista says, looking at Sea Hawk, "you ready to go?"
"Sure thing! The woods wouldn't exactly be my strong suit anyway. Goodbye, Princess Alliance! And Bow!"
"Goodbye, guys," Bow says, looking over at Perfuma, "and you?"
"Oh, I wouldn't be any help with this tech stuff. And I need to head home, too, my village is still on the current front lines. Goodbye Bow, Glimmer," she says, following the others out of the room.
"So…" I slowly say, completely unsure of what to actually say.
"Let's just… rest for a little. I'll work on this later, you shouldn't be on your feet right now."
"I'm fine, Bow, really. But… I wouldn't be opposed to just resting in my room anyway…" I admit. Bow powers off the war table, and we head out for my room.
The walk is completely quiet, Bow just follows me in silence until we're in my room. Of course, as soon as the doors are closed, he starts speaking about everything more.
"You know you're gonna have to tell your mom about this."
"I don't need to worry her, she's worried enough now that Mermista and Perfuma told her we think the Horde has a super-weapon."
"We don't… really know this."
"Bow, you're the one most in on this idea, don't try to play it down now."
"I know, I just… you're getting worse. You're glitching more, and I can tell it's hurting more."
"Yeah, I think it's connected to when I try to use my magic… sometimes it even happens when I think about it…" as I say that, I brace myself for the shocks to come, but they don't right now.
"So… when do we tell her if we can't get you better? We have no idea how to go about helping you!"
"It's probably just… like a cold. It'll go away."
"It didn't after hours of rest or recharging. We don't know what this is at all."
"Maybe my aunt Casta can help?"
"I doubt we could get you to Plumeria from here, let alone Mystacore."
"Then we send for her! But we can't tell my mom."
"Why? You don't have to protect me from this."
"I'm not… what?"
"It's obvious! I couldn't fix things between us before Princess Prom, and you got captured because I almost did!"
"Bow, no! I'm the one who was being a jerk! You didn't do anything wrong."
"I'm sorry I didn't take your concerns more seriously! I was being a bad friend!" He says, tears forming in his eyes, which just makes them well up in mine.
"I'm sorry I made you wanting to hang out with all our friends a problem for you!"
"You can't be sorry when I'm saying sorry," he says, wiping his eyes a little.
"Well, your sorry is wrong and mine is right. Let's- let's just hug?"
He nods, and we lean into each other. Why is he trying so hard to blame himself? This isn't about me… is it? I'm guessing he's blaming himself for Entrapta's death. Me being sick shouldn't be enough to-
The glitching kicks in as my mind wanders to it, and I clench my teeth as I squeeze my arms around Bow, tighter. Except it's different this time, it feels… way less intense. Almost like…
"Bow?" I grit through my teeth.
"It hurts… so much…" he says, struggling to get the words out as he keeps holding me.
The pain passes, and I let go, pulling back. "What… what do we do?"
He breathes deeply for a second, "I don't know, but we'll figure it out. I promise."
Adora's POV
We've been sweeping up debris, clearing out the damages, and working on taking out the damaged walls for a while now, and I've just been burying myself in it. Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio were working near where that horde bot attacked us; Catra, Scorpia, and I are working near the Black Garnet chamber.
"So… the sword is yours, and you might be a princess?" Scorpia whispers, picking up another large chunk of the door.
"No, and be quiet!" I say, working on the wiring within the wall to make sure we can work without it hurting us. "It's just… a maybe, I guess."
"Wow, I never would have thought. Dang, I guess Frosta missed an invitation…" Scorpia says to herself.
"Scorpia, this isn't a joke! Please take this seriously," Catra says, as she's removing damaged side paneling.
"I know, I'm not joking! I just don't really know how to react to this information, you know?"
"So you don't know anything?"
"Why would I? I'm only a princess by blood, I don't know how it works." She points over to the Black Garnet, "I'm not even allowed near that thing."
"What? Then why are you here?," I look over at her, "not in a mean way, but in a, "you weren't told to be here," way."
"I know, I know I'm not really on the team, but… Okay, don't laugh, but I kinda like you guys," she says, looking over towards Catra. "I don't exactly have any other friends, so…"
"Yeah, friends… thanks Scorpia," Catra says absentmindedly, pulling off another panel, and sticking her hand in, "okay, powers off on this side. Now what?"
"Um… just see if you can spot any scrap that blew out from the door into the space between," I instruct her, turning back to what I was doing.
She nods, and Scorpia speaks up again with a, "So, I heard you got to meet Hordak. How is he?"
"What!?" Catra shouts, pulling her arm out of the wall.
"I- Well- it was fine. He actually seemed more mad at Shadow Weaver for all of this…"
"Why didn't you tell me this morning?" Catra asks, walking up to me.
"So… he's actually scary? I mean, I've seen him before. He doesn't spend all his time in his sanctum, but like, you actually spoke to him." Scorpia is saying while Catra is talking to me.
"I didn't think it was a big deal. I didn't get in any trouble," I say to her. But also, I couldn't tell her about how Shadow Weaver seems to think she's a traitor…
"I- it's not. Whatever. It just means you're further ahead than you realize…" she says, looking down. She turns to walk a little away, standing back near where she was working.
"I…" I don't know what to say to her, she's clearly upset with how I didn't tell her about this, but I genuinely didn't think it would be important, I was much more worried about the sword. "Catra…"
"Wait…" she says, turning around. She looks… focused….
"What is it?" Scorpia asks, walking up to her, as Catra moves out into the hall.
"I… I feel like… we're not alone."
"What, like scopaesthesia?" Scorpia asks. I look over at her, confused, "you know, like we're being watched?"
"It's probably just Shadow Weaver…" I say, but Catra starts looking up into the air… sniffing? I pull my hand out of the wall finally, and Scorpia and I both walk out into the hall after her.
Scorpia walks over to her, holding her own head up, "Yeah… yeah. That's- that's concrete." I stare at her again. How does she flip so quickly between saying something that actually makes sense and being one of the… not aware people?
Catra crouches down, and starts prowling down the hall, still sniffing, and I follow behind her. "Catra…" She moves all of three feet, stopping at a vent that had us in view the whole time… and she swipes her paw at it.
"Woah!" Entrapta's voice screams out, as she just rolls out of the vent cover in front of Catra, Scorpia and I. She looks up at us, Catra sits back in confusion, Scorpia looks absolutely confused, and Entrapta just… waves her hand and says, "hii."
I… she's not dead? Immediately, I dart forward, grabbing a bit of her outfit to hold her still.
"Princess!?" Catra finally speaks, and Scorpia just watches.
Entrapta shouts slightly, but makes no move against me as I pin her to the wall.
"What's going on!? How are you here!?"
"Um… the vent…" she says, as if I asked a question with an obvious answer.
"No!" I place my hand to my forehead, and Catra stands up and takes a step close. "I mean, how aren't you dead?"
"Why would I be dead?" She asks, her face again showing nothing but confusion.
I look over at Catra, who just shrugs.
"What do we do?" Scorpia asks.
I pull my stun-baton off of my hip, powering it on. "You're coming with us. If you don't resist, I won't use this."
"Ooh, what is it?" She asks, her hair moving to grab it from my hand, and I reflexively drive it forward, tasing her, and she slumps unconscious.
"Seriously?" I ask to no one, "What was that? What is this?"
"I- I don't know. What do we do with her?" Catra asks.
I think for a second, motioning for Catra to come closer. "Grab an arm, we're taking her to a cell, but… we're gonna need a way to restrain her hair… Scorpia, go find Shadow Weaver or submit a report to Hordak!"
She nods, and is already moving through the hall, our task at the Black Garnet chamber is definitely not going to be finished anytime soon.
Catra and I lift Entrapta, moving her through the halls.
"Where are we taking her?" Catra asks, as we're dragging this princess by her arms.
"I don't know. The interrogation room?"
"This is… but… how?"
"I don't know, let's just get her there."
We keep dragging this woman who is probably a decade older than us, through the halls. Her hair alone is weighing us down so much that Catra and I are struggling, but we get her to an interrogation room. We don't use these too much, the horde hasn't actually had the resources to maintain in-complex prisoners for long-periods of time, but it'll do.
After getting her ankles and wrists into these locks on the wall, keeping her in a standing position, I look over at Catra. "We've definitely going to need something to do with her hair."
"Adora, I'm not sure how you expect to… contain hair."
"I… I don't know, Catra, I'm not sure what to do here. I thought she was dead!."
"Yeah… I did too…" she says, hanging her head down. "I'll go hook up more cuffs I guess, maybe just having it held above her will be enough."
"I doubt it, but since I'm not sure what else to do…"
"Duct tape?"
"You- you want me to wrap her hair in a ton of duct tape?" I ask, completely unsure of what her thought process was.
"So maybe it'll be a pain to take off, it's better than chopping it off."
"Yeah, I'm… not sure if she ever cuts the stuff. I mean, it has to have nerves, right?"
"I'm not a princess biologist, and I don't think anyone else is, either."
"Just go get the cuffs, I'm going to wait near the chamber for Scorpia."
She shrugs as if she couldn't care less about all this, and heads off to the back supply closet. I turn around and sprint back for the Black Garnet chamber, since Scorpia probably wouldn't know where to look for us elsewhere.
Not surprisingly, she's already there. 'Hey Adora, I um… buzzed for Hordak."
"Oh, okay," I say, waiting for her to say more.
After a second she notices she should probably continue, and says, "I told him the news that we have the Entrapta. He said through the intercom something like, "Don't disturb me, have Force Captain Adora deal with it."
"Wh- deal with it how?"
"Jeez, I uh… I didn't even ask. Didn't think of it. I figured you'd just put her in the prison and we'd keep her there for a while."
"No, wait. She saw something on that tablet of hers, I need to figure out what. No, prison, yet, file her into the system, but I'm going to try and figure some stuff out from her."
"Ooh! You think she knows about the sword?"
"I have no idea," I say, then muttering to myself I add, "I feel like I said that 30 times today…"
"Well, it's a lot to figure out. Do you want me to come with for it?"
"Sure, I guess. Shadow Weaver is going to need to find someone else for this, then."
"You have the rest of your team, they can get to it tomorrow. Besides, there are dozens of other soldiers in this place. Strange that you guys are like, the only ones who seem to do anything."
"Yeah, try telling that to Shadow Weaver," I mutter, as we head back to where Catra is.
I go slower this time, Scorpia following as she struggles to write down an information slip to file later on a clipboard. I… didn't even know she could write. Catra said she's seen her draw before, though, so I shouldn't be too surprised.
Whatever I'm about to learn here… I hope it at least gives me something constructive to go off of. Scorpia and I walk back into the interrogation room, and Catra is finishing drilling the other cuffs into the wall, Entrapta's hair already in place.
"You didn't drill them first?"
"I'm being careful, I'm not going to drill through her hair…" She says, finally finishing up. She hops off a step stool, moving it aside, and stepping back over to Scorpia and I. "So, what's the mission?"
"Well, Hordak dismissed it to Adora, and we're going to question her," Scorpia tells her.
She looks over at me, "You're getting directly assigned to missions now through Hordak? That's… awesome!"
I smile at her, but it was clear she hesitated for something.
"Uuuggghhh…" Entrapta groans, waking up.
"Oh she's awake!" Scorpia almost bounces in excitement.
"Scorpia… do you know what we're doing here?" I ask.
"Oh, yeah, sorry!" She whispers, standing at attention.
"Prisoner-" Catra shouts, turning to her.
"Uh, her name is Entrapta…" Scorpia whispers to her.
"I- I know that! Why-"
"Scorpia, let us handle this, just work on the report please?" I ask, pulling her back from Catra, and stepping forward, raising my stun-baton. "Princess Entrapta, you're going to answer every question we have about the rebellion-" I look up, she's completely ignoring me in favor of… using her to unlock the shackle her hair was in with a mini-screwdriver? What?
She looks down at me, chuckling slightly, as if I didn't just watch her, and she sees the stun-baton and gets curious again, "Ooh, how does it work!" Her hair moves forward, going between my body and the baton, as she pulls it from me, stepping out of the shackles.
"Knock it off!" Catra shouts, moving forward and grabbing the stun-baton from her, and as they wrestle from it a blast of energy fires off into the ceiling, and I finally manage to push her back to the wall.
"Are you crazy! Stop doing things and listen to us!" I shout.
Scorpia turns back over to us, and says, "wait, what's going on?" Catra sighs, walking over to Scorpia.
I turn back over to Entrapta, "can you stop being- whatever this is- and let me interrogate you before I zap you unconscious again?" I threaten, but then look down at my hand and realize Catra is still holding it. Ugh!
"Oh, okay. What do you want to know?"
This is not the same person I talked to at the Kingdom of Snows… "I-uh… how are you alive?"
"Oh, that's easy. EMILY got us out."
"… that doesn't explain anything! Why were you in the vents, are you spying on us!?"
"Oh, no, I'm just waiting for my friends to pick me up. I ran off and got lost, and tracked this signal back to him, and he didn't seem happy I left, so I figured I'd just wait for the Princess to come back."
"I-... It's been over half a day?"
Catra and Scorpia are now walking back over, apparently Catra was saying something to her because Scorpia actually looks calm and focused right now. "They left you? Not really surprising, those idiots were only here because Bow needed his best friend back."
"I... no, they'll be back…"
Catra smirks at me, stepping forward, "I mean, they left before they even got his sword back… It's clear what his priorities were, they wouldn't risk an invasion like that for anyone other than Bow's precious Glimmer…"
Entrapta pulls her mask down with her hair, looking down, and pulls a small device out of her pocket. I raise my hands ready to snatch it, but… it isn't a weapon. She starts speaking into it, "Fright Zone log hour… 14? 18? I'm not sure. It's been hard to count in the walls… That… no, maybe they just need to regroup."
"It's okay, Entrapta…" I say, stepping closer, "You can just hang out here. If they come back, great. I mean, we'd have to fight them again, and I'd really rather avoid that. You see, I have another question, one that isn't about the rebellion, or you hiding in the walls."
She looks up at me, slowly, keeping her mask down.
"I think you know something that could help me out. Remember that sword?"
She pulls her mask up, her eyes suddenly sparkling in excitement. "I told Bow we needed to grab it! He didn't care though, but yes! I know that sword!"
"You know that sword, huh? Say… would you mind sharing?"
"Why would you need to know? It's your sword."
The words ring out through my ears… just like that vision last night…
"What?" Catra asks.
"Oh, this Adora person gives off a similar energy reading to the sword, but it isn't that of the sword's tech or magic. It's… subtle. And you look like a person, so I gave myself an 80% probability that you are, which means there's about a 97% percent chance that the sword is connected to you somehow! And the sword is connected to what might be a First One's treasure trove of tech and knowledge hidden in the woods that was sending signals to the sword."
I look over at Catra and Scorpia, and everyone seems shocked. I mean, we all had been assuming this by now… but… "What do you mean I give off… energy?"
"Magic, silly! You're another princess, probably, assuming the sword's Runestone really is yours. I'd have to see it again, and run some tests on it and you to be sure."
"Hey, no running tests on Adora!" Catra shouts.
I don't say anything. I'm just… stunned. "I- I'm… a princess?"
"You really don't know? Ooh… Fascinating! I… probably shouldn't be telling you this then. If you figured out that you might just be a long-lost Princess of myth named She-Ra that had something to do with the First One's then the rebellion would really be in trouble."
Everyone stops speaking. Scorpia seems like she hasn't understood anything, Catra looks like she's seen a ghost, and Entrapta holds her hands over her mouth.
"Oops…"
"You… you mentioned signals? What kind of signals?" I say, my breath growing shallow as I start to feel overwhelmed with everything Entrapta is saying.
"Oh, the sword was receiving these radio signals until sometime right around after I went into the vents last night."
Light Hope… she's real? This is all… real? "From where?"
"The woods, I haven't got an exact location though. Say, if I give you this-" *she reaches behind her back with her hair, holding us a tablet… the same one she was holding in the corridors yesterday, "-and you go out into the woods and find the transmission using that sword of yours and this map, I'll be able to write an algorithm to better predict any future endeavors! I know the transmission signal is gone but it still gives off First One tech signatures, so…"
I just stare at her, I'm pretty sure this princess has… no sense of awareness. I reach up hesitantly grabbing the tablet, looking at this rough map of the woods. I can… actually go and learn something about what any of this means? I raise my hand, and shake Entrapta's… hair in the shape of a hand…
I turn to face the others, "Scorpia, Catra, I'm heading out to figure this out-"
"No, way, if you're going to trust this princess and rush out into the woods on a hair-brained fetch quest, I'm at least going with you," Catra cuts me off.
I stare for a few seconds and nod my head, "Okay, Catra. Scorpia, keep an eye on Entrapta, will you?"
"Of course! Um… What do I tell Shadow Weaver when she inevitably asks?"
"Ooh… secrets…" Entrapta whispers to my side.
"Um… tell her parts of the truth. Catra and I obtained a lead on powerful tech that will help us in the war against the rebellion and are going out to retrieve it."
"She isn't going to be mad if we don't run it by her?"
"Scorpia, I technically got promoted again, to a higher rank with the Force-Captains. Shadow Weaver barely has authority over my team anymore."
"But… she does over me, right?"
"For all intents and purposes, you're on my team." Catra looks at me, slightly confused, but it's not like I'm wrong.
She beams in excitement, "really?"
"Sure."
"Adora," Catra leans closer to me, grabbing my shoulders, "we can't do whatever we want here, which I know is rich coming from me, but are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. We'll deal with Shadow Weaver later, you're the one who said she can't find out about this sword, and especially not… all of this."
"Who's Shadow Weaver?" Entrapta asks. Oh… I almost forgot she was here.
"Don't worry about it. Scorpia, watch the Princess. We're heading out."
"Yes, ma'am!" Scorpia says in solute.
I turn to Entrapta and say, "behave yourself, and I'll give this back," I say, moving her tablet slightly. She doesn't seem phased, and just nods.
"No problem, I'll just work on EMILY some more."
"Okay, seriously, who or what is EMILY?" Scorpia asks.
"Oh! How rude of me! Let me introduce you!" She claps her hands together twice, and I just barely hear the sound of something… charging up?
A large blast of energy flies into the room from behind us, hitting the wall to my left. Instantly, I feel a large weight on top of me as Scorpia charges into Catra and I, tackling us both to the ground.
"I got you! I got you!"
"Get off of us!" Catra shouts, pushing her back, as we get to our feet after waiting to make sure no other blasts come through, as that giant training bot from yesterday walks into the room through a massive hole in the wall.
I look back at Catra, who has the same look of shock as I do. That blast was way more powerful than what happened yesterday, this time tearing a hole into the opposite wall too. And she also handed us a map to something huge?
"Those princesses have no idea who they left behind…" Catra says, looking back at the bot as it crouches down before the four of us…