ETHERIA
June 28, 16:01 UTC
Bright Moon had fallen.
The attack had come without warning. Dozens of thunderous portals had erupted across the moon-filled skies, disgorging a swarm of screeching cyber-beasts. They had descended on the castle and outlying town like devil-locusts, spreading terror and destruction indiscriminately. That had only been the first wave.
"Everyone, keep together," yelled Micah, King Dowager and King Father of Bright Moon.
He led a column of refugees from the battle through the ever-shifting pathways of the Whispering Wood. They followed the light of his mage-staff like a steady star in the forested night.
"LEENA?! LEENA?!"
Micah heart jerked at the desperate pang in the cry. He knew that sound well, the voice of a panicking parent.
"King Micah! King Micah!"
He turned to see a stoutly built faun racing up to him. He recognized zir immediately. "Hemli?" The faun and zir husband owned a small farmstead on the edge of Bright Moon where they lived along with…
"My daughter," Hemli grabbed the King Dowager by the shoulder, heedless of rank or protocol, on the verge of breakdown. "Please, King Micah- I can't find my daughter!"
"It's alright, Hemli…" Micah tried to be a soothing as he could, but he knew he'd hardly be any more together if he was in zir hooves. "I'll send Netossa and Spinny out to scout the woods. Don't worry," He tried to sound as hopeful as he could. "We'll find her."
[-]
Leena hadn't meant to wander off from her adi, but the rushing crowd - the press of frightened desperate bodies, the noise of clashing voices and stampeding feet - had been too much. She just needed to get away, to be somewhere quiet, clear for a moment. Now she found herself lost in the undergrowth of the Whispering Woods, clutching a small handmade cloth doll to her chest.
"Adi… Adi…?"
Her hoof caught on a treacherous root, sending the faunlet tumbling into the damp earth. Broken twigs scratched at her as she sobbed piteously.
Something rustled in the undergrowth. Leena saw a shadowed figure move through the branches. "Adi!?" She dried her eyes, racing forward, only to freeze as the figure stepped fully into the light.
It was a hulking thing of burnished steel and grey-green flesh, with long simian arms that ended in scraping metal talons. Its face was eyeless, but Leena somehow knew with absolute certainty it could see her. Gangrenous lips peeled back to reveal yellowed saber fangs filed to needle points. It filled the grove with reeking stench, like something long buried had dug itself out of the deep earth.
Leena couldn't move. She couldn't even scream. Her eyes screwed tight as she retreated into herself. Wake up! Wake up! Please wake up! She pleaded with herself as the Parademon's talons reached for her, snick-snacking as they scraped against each other...
Wake up!
Snick-snack!
Wake up!
Snick-snack!
Wake up!
Snick-sna-
A blast of cyclonic wind came surging out of nowhere, ramming the Parademon into a nearby boulder. The creature stirred groggily before a second blast hit it, and a third, until it was still as the stone it lay against.
With a gust of wind, a third figure landed in the clearing between Leena and the fallen Parademon, clad all in purple except for a silver and blue choker. Even his short-cropped hair was purple. The faunlet couldn't recall his name, but she'd seen the Prince of Wind and Air flying to and from Castle Bright Moon often enough to recognize him.
The Prince turned with a warm smile once he was sure the Parademon wasn't getting back up anytime soon. "you okay?"
She nodded wordlessly.
He knelt to eye-level. "You must be Leena?"
Another nod.
"I'm Spinwit, by the way. Your adi's been looking for you. C'mon, we better be getting back to the others."
He offered her a hand, which she took after a moment's hesitation before they began making their way back through the winding forest.
"Spinwit's a nice name," spoke Leena eventually, breaking the silence.
"Thanks, it's new."
"You can fly?"
"Yeah, but I think it'd be safer if we walk for now."
"So the monsters don't see us?"
"Yeah…"
"My dad was at Bright Moon when they came outta the sky," Leena said flatly. "Adi and I haven't seen him since."
Spinwit winced, looking for a way to shift directions on this conversation. "So, that's a cool doll."
"Thank you. I made it myself." Leena squeezed the cloth doll closer; yellow straw bound about its head, red fabric tied about its neck for a cape, armed with a tiny wooden sword wrapped in foil. "Do you think she'll come back for us?"
Spinwit didn't need to ask who 'she' was. He glanced up, where the night stars peaked through the dark blue canopy, before they were clouded by the grey smoke rising from the East… from Bright Moon.
I hope so, he thought. "I know she will."
[-]
DARLA
June 28, 16:32 UTC
Adora stood alone in front of the mirror. She'd changed back into her old red jacket, but it still wasn't quite the same. She ran a hand through her close cropped dark blond hair; Despara's hair. How long before she saw her own reflection looking back at her again?
The door chimed.
"Come in."
The door slid open, allowing Catra entry into the small cabin. "Hey, Adora! This a bad time?"
"Catra?" Adora smiled, one of her first real smiles since… "You don't have to ask; this is your room too."
"Yeah, I know," Catra sat on the edge of the bed. "But I kind got the feeling you wanted to be alone."
"I was alone." Adora sighed sitting down on the bed herself. "Whether or I wanted to be or not."
Catra gave Adora's hand a small squeeze. She didn't draw back this time but there was still a tension in her fingers that wouldn't quite go away.
"So, where's Melog?" Adora asked.
"Keeping the ship cloaked while Rainbow booms us in."
The two sat in long quiet for a while.
"Catra…" Adora spoke timorously. "Wou- Would you still love me if I… If I changed."
"What kinda question is that?"
"I just- I don't think I'm the same person I was before."
"Who is?" Catra said, falling back on the bed.
"Catra, I'm being serious!"
"So am I. Adora, I couldn't stop loving you if I tried. And that's not me being all mushy either. I literally tried. I spent almost three years trying to make myself hate you, and see how that turned out?"
Adora fell back on the bed herself. "Point taken."
"To be honest," murmured Catra. "I'm not even sure I know who I am."
Adora curled into Catra's arm. "What do you mean?"
Catra stroked Adora's dark blond fuzz. "I mean this whole mess has made me realize that every single decision I've ever made in life has just been me reacting to something you did first."
"C'mon, that's not-"
"Yes, it is," Catra whispered. "Adora, when you first left the Horde, I thought it was because of me, that by rejecting the Horde you were rejecting me!"
"Catra…"
"I know, I know! Now that I say it out loud, I realize how fucking psycho that sounds. I guess that's the big difference between us. You've always believed in things bigger than you. I'm still figuring out how to do that. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be dumping all this on you. Guess we're both pretty moded, huh?"
"Pretty what?"
"Uuugh, it's just this dumb Earth thing Sparkles and Bow picked up, now they got me doing it."
"Huh, 'moded'? Yeah, I guess we are." Adora chuckled softly, running her fingers through Catra's now near shoulder length hair. "You know, I think you could pull off that ponytail after all."
Catra snorted, then fell silent for a moment. "Adora, I've been thinking, when this mess with Prime is over-"
Darla's intercom suddenly pinged as Bow's voice echoed through the cabin. "Adora, Catra, to the bridge. It's time."
[-]
Adora and Catra arrived on the bridge, finding Glimmer, Bow, Halo, and Terra waiting for them. Alongside them stood Miss Martian, Superboy, Tigress and Cyborg. The rusted copper green moon of Zin hung in the viewscreen, hopefully shielding Darla from the prying sensors of the Apokoliptan Horde as they Boom-Tubed into the lunar system. The viridian orb slowly peeled back to reveal Etheria itself, little more than a purple-green drop in the sea of night.
"Hey, Rainbow," hailed Catra, approaching Halo as they leant against a crystalline bulkhead looking uncharacteristically pale. "You doing okay?"
"I'm fine," they answered, rubbing their eyes. "Booming across the galaxy usually takes a bit out of me; but I'll be fine once I catch my breath."
"I'm not picking up any comm signals from Etheria's surface," said Bow, seated in Darla's command chair. "The Horde may just be jamming us or…"
"Can you give us a look at what we're up against, Bow?" Tigress asked.
"On it."
A holo-image of Etheria flickered into existence above their heads, highlighting the orbital trajectories of at least sixteen Apokoliptan warships.
"I'm picking up a lot of encoded sub-space chatter to and from one ship in particular," said Bow. "Like a lot a lot. Must be the flagship. Lemme bring up the telemetry."
Adora's breath caught in her throat as the 3D image zoomed in on the vessel in question. She instantly recognized the knife-like profile, like a dagger poised over Etheria's heart.
"The Velvet Glove?"
"Not exactly," Bow answered, superimposing a grid frame of Horde Prime's former flagship over the new vessel. "It definitely built along the same design parameters; but using Apokoliptan tech."
Adora could see the difference now. Where the Velvet Glove had been all gleaming white and stainless steel, this new flagship was void black, like a shard of obsidian.
Catra absently rubbed the back of her neck. "Prime's probably got half the Apokoliptan military mind-chipped by now."
"If I know Apokoliptans, the other half won't care," Superboy snorted with unveiled disgust.
Adora tried not to stare at the half-Kryptonian, or the scarlet crest emblazed on his black tee, just like Kara's. Kara had been the one gleam of decency in all Apokolips. The 'Supergirl' had stayed behind to give the Adora and Catra time to escape. But now Adora had no idea where Kara was; or if she was even still alive.
"If Prime's resurrected the Horde Hive-Mind then he'll need a new central server to manage it; which should be right…" Bow pinged a location along the flagship's central axis. "Here!"
"If he's using Apokoliptan tech; I should be able to hack it," said Cyborg. "Crash his whole mode. The hard part will be physically getting there."
"Except the server room's gonna be the most heavily guarded position on the whole ship after Prime's throne room," said Catra. "You'll never get near it!"
"They will if we bait Prime with something he can't resist," said Adora. "Me."
"No!" Catra was vehement. "Adora, you've done enough!"
"Catra, I need to do this. Not just for Etheria, but for me," spoke Adora softly. "If I don't confront Prime now; I'm going to be running from him for the rest of my life."
"Wait a sec," Glimmer interjected. "If this is anything like the Velvet Glove, then how're we gonna navigate it without access to the Horde Hive-Mind?"
"Luckily, we can improve our own 'hive-mind'," Miss Martian raised a hand to her temple. "If everyone consents to a psychic-link?"
Everyone gave a small nod, save Catra who grumbled a bit before begrudgingly relenting. "Uuuugh, fine!"
Darla's bridge suddenly fell away, replaced by cycling images of the Velvet Glove dredged from the Etherians' collective memories; Prime's throne room where Adora had originally confronted the Horde Emperor, the cell were he had kept Glimmer for over a month, the endless white corridors where Catra had wandered under the watchful eyes of Prime's clones. Each image was colorless and filmy, as though reflected in milky water, though tinged with emotion.
Through the mind-link, Adora felt something of the constant dread and hopelessness Catra and Glimmer had experienced during their time as Prime's 'guests'. Just like Apokolips, she thought.
The gleaming sterility of the Velvet Glove was at first glance utterly unlike the dismal grime of Darkseid's throneworld. But any differences were only superficial. Both had been expressions of a single omnipresent, all-suffocating Will, one that would never be content until It had subsumed every sapient mind in existence into Itself; until It was all that existed.
My psy-link will keep us all connected while we're inside. Miss Martian's voice echoed through their minds.
And the digital half of my brain will keep us in touch with Darla's sensor array. Cyborg added. Between the two of us we should be able to keep on track in the maze.
"Alright, we split into two squads," Tigress spoke out loud. "Ms. M, Superboy, Glimmer, Terra and Cyborg are Alpha; you make your way to the server and shut it down. Halo, Catra, Adora and I are Beta; we fight our way to the throne room, keep Prime busy while Alpha does their thing. If we're really lucky, Adora uses her She-Ra powers to exorcise Prime from Grayven's body."
"Two squads against an Apokoliptan capital ship?" Catra scoffed. "Great odds."
"I know it's not much but between the crisis on Betrassus and the recent Kobra attack in Coast City, this was all we could spare. Besides if all else fails we still have 'Plan B'." Tigress turned to Halo. "You get what you needed from Danny before we left?"
"I think so," they answered uncertainly. "But I've never tried anything like it before."
"Hopefully, you won't have to." Tigress's voice was authoritative, naturally taking command. "Catra, make sure Melog keeps us cloaked. Bow, bring us as close to the flagship as you can. Once we're in range, we'll-"
Klaxons blared abruptly across the bridge.
"INCOMING!" Bow cried, initiating evasive maneuvers a spilt-second too late.
The entire ship lurched to one side, like a fly swatted by the hand of an angry giant, sending the young heroes careening across the bridge. The bridge was drowned in the bloody glare of emergency lighting.
A thin sparkling mist seeped through the upper bulkhead; pooling on the deck in the form of a prone Melog, their mane a sickly grey and their form still.
"MEL!?"
Catra crawled to the fey's side. "You're gonna be okay, right? Please be okay!"
"What happened?!" Tigress called out.
Adora was the first to answer.
"He can see us."
[-]
THE IRON FIST
June 28, 16:48 UTC
"Oh, what fools these mortals be."
Prime reclined upon His throne, flanked by three silent white hooded attendants. To think the Etherian degenerates and their Earthling allies actually believed they could evade His Sight, the sheer unmitigated hubris. It would be amusing were it not a direct affront to His Divinity.
"A glancing hit as you commanded, Herr Prime." General Vundabar consulted his data-pad. "The Etherian vessel's cloak has been disabled. Shall I terminate the schwein?"
"No, I shall reserve that pleasure for Myself."
Prime's consciousness expanded outwards, filling the Iron Fist with His very being. Through His flagship's sensors, He 'saw' the limping crystalline craft desperately turn to flee, its engines sluggish and slow to respond. He 'felt' the fires building within the Iron Fist's many weapon batteries, aching for release as He brought His full and undivided attention to bear on His wounded prey.
"Goodbye," He whispered, savoring the anticipation of the kill. "My oldest enemy."
A wave of force suddenly sent Prime's mind reeling back into His corporeal vessel, and His corporeal vessel nearly out of His throne. The Iron Fist shook as though space itself was quaking.
"Report!?" Prime demanded imperiously.
"A massive sub-space distortion!" Vundabar groped for his fallen data-pad. "Something huge must have translated back into realspace right on top of us!" The general's mouth went dry as he read the sensor data.
"Herr Prime, it- it's-"
[-]
THE WARWORLD
June 28, 16:50 UTC
Cassandra Savage consulted her tablet. "Father, the Iron Fist is hailing us."
"Then let us respond promptly," intoned Vandal Savage, scarred lips curling slightly.
He mentally directed the Warworld's missiles to lock onto the closest Horde warship, a rather humble gunship intended for light escort duty. He didn't need to speak his next order out loud of course; the control-crown upon his brow directed his commands to the planetary dreadnought with the speed of thought. Still, old habits die hard.
"Fire!"
He watched the holo-emitters embedded in the command deck's walls as the warship in question erupted in a silent white-blue bloom of radionic fire, before even that was consumed by the inky void.
"Half the Horde armada has broken orbit," Cassandra's voice was cool and detached. "They're moving to intercept us."
"Excellent." Savage smiled with the pride of a hunter in a well laid trap. "Then we've made our intentions clear."
"And sealed our deaths!" Desaad hissed, hovering behind Savage's command throne like a crooked shadow. "Even the Warworld can't hope to defeat an entire Apokoliptan armada alone!"
"We need not defeat the Horde armada, Desaad, merely keep them indisposed. Cassandra, open a channel to the Etherian vessel."
[-]
DARLA
June 28, 16:52 UTC
"Oh, fuck my life," Tigress muttered under her breath, eyes narrowing at the scarred visage upon Darla's viewscreen.
"Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon; Princess Adora, She-Ra of Etheria," Savage inclined his head respectfully to the Etherian royalty before casting a cold eye on Tigress. "Artemis."
Adora glanced between Tigress and the scarred figure as they glared at each other. "You two know each other?"
"I am Vandal Savage of Earth," replied the immortal warlord. "Suffice it to say, I am the enemy of your enemy. No doubt, you and your new allies were preparing to execute a daring covert raid on Horde Prime's flagship when your cloak was penetrated. I believe I can help salvage your original plan."
"Adora, listen to me," Tigress interjected abruptly. "It would take too long to explain but you cannot trust Savage! Everything he does is part of one scheme or the other! For all we know, he's working with Prime!"
"Respectfully, Artemis, Prime's knife is not at the throat of our world, at least not today." Savage's gaze turned back to Adora. "Thus the decision belongs to neither of us."
Adora was downcast for a long moment. She had no reason to doubt Tigress; but that didn't change the fact that if Prime wasn't stopped here and now, he'd raze Etheria to the ground and enslave whatever survivors were left. She raised her eyes to meet Savage's.
[-]
THE WARWORLD
June 28, 17:56 UTC
"Then we are agreed," Savage replied. "I shall engage the Horde armada while you infiltrate the Iron Fist and neutralize Prime… however you see fit. Good hunting. Warworld out."
He cut off communications before his new 'allies' had second thoughts, turning his attention to the Apokoliptan warships rapidly entering weapons range.
"You place too much trust in these children, Savage," rasped Desaad.
"As I recall, Desaad, these same 'children' managed to humble you barely a week ago?"
The God of Torment fell into a bitter silence at that, muttering darkly to himself as he withdrew to a shadowed corner of the command deck.
Savage turned to his daughter, voice low. "Something troubles you, Cassandra?"
"I know this is hardly the time, father," she replied. "But isn't all this a bit… direct for us?"
"Horde Prime is the living embodiment of the very stagnation I have fought against for over fifty thousand years. He would see the entire cosmos frozen forever in the image of his so-called 'perfection'," Savage's voice was a low growl, like an angered wolf. "I should have slit his throat eight centuries ago."
[-]
THE IRON FIST
June 28, 16:58 UTC
"Send more ships to engage the Warworld!" Prime bellowed, his command roiling across the Hive-Mind as his voice echoed across the throne room. His body trembled with barely contained rage. "I want that… fossil blasted out of the sky!"
"At once, Herr Prime!" Vundabar replied with a shaky salute.
Prime sank into his throne, considering all the ways he would test the limits of the Earth savage's supposed immortality once this was over. So lost in his dark fantasies was he that his conscious mind barely registered a minor security alert on one of the flagship's lower decks.
[-]
The Parademon marched through the corridors of the Iron Fist, grey-green hide still raw where plates of gleaming chrome-white armor had been freshly riveted into its alien flesh. The armor bore the winged ebon sigil of Parademon's new Master, the Master whose Voice was now a constant whisper in the creature's mind. Not that any of that particularly mattered to the Parademon, it had never had much mind of its own to begin with.
It paused before a large airlock, attention caught by a low whine. The Parademon tilted its head like a bemused dog, listening as the whine grew higher and louder until…
KRA-CHOOOOOM!
The airlock blasted off its frame, crushing the luckless Parademon between it and the opposing bulkhead.
She-Ra, Princess of Power, leaped from the billowing smoke with her energy sword at the ready. She was quickly followed by the rest of Alpha and Beta Squads. Her breath caught momentarily as smoke cleared just enough to reveal her surroundings.
"No way…"
If the exterior of the Iron Fist had been a negative image of the Velvet Glove, than its interior was a perfect reflection. The endless corridors were exactly as Adora, Catra and Glimmer had remembered them; everything was bathed in the same cold acetic light, the deck polished to the same mirror like perfection, the vaulting ceiling upheld by the same deceptively organic buttresses like sculpted bone. Etheria help them, it even smelled the same; a harsh antiseptic sting in the air.
It was like they'd never left.
"Yeah, this isn't creepy or triggering at all," muttered Glimmer through a forced smile.
"Stay whelmed, everyone," said Tigress drawing her crossbow. "Stick to the plan, keep in telepathic contact. With any luck, we'll all laugh about this later."
[-]
Beta Squad - She-Ra, Tigress, Halo and Catra – stalked through the cold, silent and conspicuously empty corridors; under the cloak of Melog's glamor. Catra knelt to run her fingers through the fey's invisible mane.
"How you holding up, Mel?"
Melog chirped reassuringly. There was a growling determination in their voice, perhaps recalling their lost homeworld of Krytis as it was before Horde Prime had desolated it so many centuries ago.
They crept cautiously though endless winding hallways that twisted, turned, split off and whorled back on themselves in no decipherable pattern. Had it not been for Miss Martian's mind-link - and Cyborg's uplink to Darla's sensor array - they'd already be hopelessly lost.
Theseus in the Labyrinth, thought Tigress.
Wut? She-Ra asked over the mind-link.
Inside joke, I'll explain later, Tigress answered, turning her attention outward. Beta Squad to Alpha Squad, you in position?
Alpha in position, Beta, Miss Martian replied from elsewhere on the maze-ship.
Roger that, Alpha, Tigress confirmed. Beta is approaching the target. We'll signal once- "AAARGH!"
Blinding acid light, piercing pain; some kind of energy attack. Or so Tigress reasoned as she and the rest of Beta Squad fell to the cold polished deck, clutching their skulls. Melog was the hardest hit, writhing and unable to maintain the glamor that kept them all hidden from unfriendly eyes.
"Naughty little ducklings," sneered a treacle sweet voice. "Wandering the halls unsupervised."
Their attacker stepped out of one of the rare shadows, clad in shining chrome armor and a cloak of stainless white, her Mega-Rod still crackling with energy. Granny Goodness' toadish lips smiled beatifically beneath emerald glowing eyes, her victims writhing in torment before her.
"Don't you know what happens to naughty little-"
They never found out. Goodness lips were split mid-sentence by a radiant golden fist. The Apokoliptan stared blankly for a moment, as though trying to remember what she was about to say, before falling forward and planting face-first on the deck.
She-Ra stood above her former tormentor, breathe short, fist still trembling. "Etheria help me… but that felt soooo good!"
"I admit, I'm jealous," Halo confessed.
Catra padded cautiously towards the unconscious Goodness, gingerly brushing aside the Apokoliptan's grey mane to reveal a chrome disk embedded in the back of her neck.
"That confirms it, Mind-chipped."
"If Granny's here, we must be getting close," said She-Ra.
"Alright then," said Tigress, cocking her crossbow. "Time to bait the Minotaur."
[-]
They finally came to a vaulting corridor, wide enough for the whole squad to walk abreast. On either side, an entire phalanx of Parademons stood to attention; still and motionless, like stone gargoyles. At the very end of the great hall stood a gate of polished ivory, titan doors inlaid with pale gold and emerald.
"This is it," She-Ra whispered, crouched with Tigress behind the entry arch to the antechamber. Across from them, Catra, Halo and Melog took cover behind the other end of the arch.
Tigress peered around the corner. "No way we're sneaking past all that, even with Melog's glamor."
With a single abrupt motion, the head of every single Parademon snapped towards Tigress like a single organism. She'd only had a split-second to duck back into cover before they spoke.
"No need to skulk in doorways," slurred the Parademonic chorus. Their fanged jaws cracked and popped, forced to unnaturally ape humanoid speech. "If you require an audience, you need only ask. Come, My children; step into the Light."
"Yeah," Tigress muttered under her breath, readying her crossbow. "Like we're going to jus- She-Ra?!"
The Princess of Power stepped from the shadows, striding down the great hallway without haste or hesitation, followed promptly by Catra and Melog. Tigress exchanged an incredulous glare with Halo, who merely shrugged in response.
"Fine, we're doing this now," she hissed, signaling Halo to take up the rear as she emerged from cover. You need a distraction, M'gann? You're about to get a doosy.
The Parademons' heads moved in unison like some alien hydra. Their eyeless gaze tracked the five heroes who approached the great gate. The emerald inlaid doors slid back, preternaturally silent for all their cyclopean size, ushering Beta Squad into the Holy of Holies.
A polished chrome bridge spanned across the inky void, seemingly unsupported; leading up to a central dais where a lone throne loomed like a white rose, silhouetted against a shimmering viewscreen that fanned behind it like a peacock's tail. About the dais, General Vundabar and three white hooded attendants stood at attention.
Every muscle in She-Ra's body tensed like a taut cable as the white throne revolved to reveal Prime. His thin grey lips curled wickedly, four acid green eyes glinting with self-satisfaction.
"Welcome home… My Despara."
[-]
Mystic bolts, sonic blasts and rocky chunks flew through the antechamber of the server room that housed the nexus of the Horde Hive-Mind. One of the swarming Parademons defending the chamber managed to evade the barrage only to be sent hurtling by a half-Kryptonian fist.
"You know, hun," Superboy said. "When you said we should get out and do more together, this isn't exactly what I thought you had in mind."
Miss Martian telekinetically knocked the heads of two more Parademons together. "Maybe a beach day next time?"
Superboy backhanded another swooping Parademon. "It's a date!"
"One more left!" Glimmer cried.
The final Parademon crouched like a cornered predator at the entry the server room as Miss Martian, Glimmer, Superboy, Cyborg and Terra closed in.
Cyborg charged his sonic cannon. "Almost feel sorry for the creep."
"I don't," Terra droned, stomping forward in her stone armor.
Miss Martian hesitated, seeing the Parademon's lips curl in a disturbingly intelligent smirk as a psychic charge crackled through the air.
WAIT!
Too late; Superboy, Glimmer, Cyborg and Terra were already leaping into the fray when the 'Parademon' unleashed a wave of psychic force without warning, sending the entirety of Alpha squad hurtling into the gleaming bulkheads.
Miss Martian was first to stagger to her feet, clutching a throbbing skull. An insidiously familiar voice echoed in her mind.
'Step into my parlor' said the Gra'zoon to the Ma'arzuu,
"No," M'gann whispered low as the 'Parademon's' shape twisted and melted, becoming tall and spindly, it's gangreen flesh turning ashy white.
Hello, sweet sister, echoed the voice of the M'comm M'orzz, eyes burning an acid green.
[-]
"Across the galaxy you have traveled, My child," spoke Prime. "From Etheria to Apokolips, to Earth and back again. Yet no matter how far you run or how twisting the road; it has inexorably brought you back here, where all paths must inevitably end… at My feet."
She-Ra, Tigress, Catra, Halo and Melog stood before the white throne. She-Ra and Tigress fingered their weapons; Catra and Melog flexed their claws, hackles raised; Halo tensed, muttering a wordless prayer to themself.
"Here's what's going to happen, Prime," She-Ra said sternly, stepping forward. "You're going to withdraw all your ground forces form Etheria and order your fleet back to Apokolips, then you're going to surrender yourself to New Genesis."
Prime was silent as death, his acid green eyes hard as adamant before breaking into a scornful chortle. "And the Kryptonian thinks you have no sense of humor?"
She-Ra's fingers clenched about the hilt of her sword. "What have you done with Kara?"
"She is close," Prime sneered. "Closer than you suspect perhaps!"
Catra leaned close, voice low. "Adora, don't let him bai-"
Too late. She-Ra charged forward with a cry of fury, swinging her sword in a wide arc; the shimmering sword froze mere inches from Prime's marbled smirk, blade held in a white-gloved hand.
She-Ra hadn't even noticed the hooded attendant move. One split-second they were standing with their fellows behind Prime's throne; the next they stood between the Princess of Power and the Lord of Apokolips, grasping She-Ra's sword by the translucent blade.
With slow deliberation, they drew back their white hood to reveal a pale face crowned with platinum-blond hair; a face Adora – or rather Despara - could hardly recall seeing without a raucous laugh or cheeky grin. Now it was cold, empty, and blank as her now glowing emerald eyes.
"Kara?"
The enslaved Supergirl responded with a punch that sent She-Ra arcing across the command platform. The Princess of Power skidded to the very edge, sinking her blade into the polished deck just in time to stop herself plunging into the pit below.
Catra, Tigress, Halo and Melog all raced to her side.
"Adora!?" Catra cried. "Are you-"
"I'm fine!" She-Ra rose to her feet only to stumble again. "I just… need a minute."
"I don't think we're going to get a minute," Halo said fearfully.
The two remaining attendants stepped forward to join the Supergirl, drawing back their own hoods to reveal the blank faces of Big Barda and…
"Mary?" Tigress hissed.
Prime rose from his throne, a predatory leer curling across his lips. "Graces of Apokolips… attack."
[-]
"M'comm?"
M'gann took a wary step back from the Martian terrorist called 'the Ma'alefa'ak'; also known as M'comm M'orzz; her brother.
Really? M'comm asked. It's been almost a whole Earth year and all I get is 'M'comm'?
The siblings circled each other slowly. M'gann placed herself between her brother and the still stunned Superboy. Over the past few years, her brother had proved himself every bit as vicious and bloodthirsty as the Martian predator he'd named himself for.
Something was wrong. M'gann should have instantly recognized her brother's mind regardless of his outer form, like cubs from the same litter catching each other's scent.
M'comm's mind was normally a festering canker of pain, loneliness, and resentment; scabbed over by a lifetime of misdirected anger and bitter self-righteousness. But now when M'gann reached out to tentatively brush his thoughts, she felt nothing but cold stillness and the faint suggestion of distant whispers.
"M'comm, if you can still hear me in there, listen. You've been implanted with some kind of control chip, but we can free you."
But I am already free, sister, M'comm's thoughts were cool and colorless Free from my petty prejudices and grievances, Free from the tyranny of individuality, the oppression of 'free' will. I finally understand, M'gann. G'arrunn, B'lahdenn, A'ashenn; such distinctions will be meaningless once my Lord brings M'arzz into His Light. Can you imagine it, sister? No more caste system, no more hate, no more pain; all shall be One in Prime!
M'comm stepped forward. His spindle arms outstretched as though expecting his sister's embrace, only for her to wordlessly recoil from his advances.
I see… When He came to Durla, I too resisted. Blinded by pride, I had to be forced to accept His Light. The air about M'comm once more crackled with psychic force. As you must, sister.
[-]
Prime's three 'Graces' surged forward like a single silent entity. Big Barda brought her Mega-Rod down on Halo like a hammer upon the anvil. Only the young hero's energy shield prevented them from being crushed beneath the New Goddess' thundering strike. Across the chamber; Tigress wielded duel crossbows, loosing bolt after bolt in a desperate attempt to slow down Black – or rather, White Mary.
"Mary, you got to snap-" Tigress began, only for White Mary's fingers to clamp about her throat after weaving through the hail of crossbow bolts with Mercurian speed.
That just left She-Ra and the Supergirl. Kryptonian fists rained blow after blow down upon the champion of Etheria, blows that would have reduced an ordinary mortal to pulp.
She-Ra barely parried another fist like steel with her shifting energy shield. "Please, Kara! I know this isn't you!"
Before the Supergirl could strike again, Catra and Melog pounced, landing on the Girl of Steel's back.
"She's not gonna listen to sense, Adora!" Catra raised her claws to strike the white control-chip embedded deep in the back of the Kryptonian's neck. "Take her down now, sort it out latURK!"
The Supergirl caught both Catra and Melog by the scruffs of their necks. For a brief moment, the Kryptonian's lips curled in a cruel smirk – her only expression of emotion since the battle began – before hurling her prey across the chamber. The two felines landed with a sickening thud, crumpling into still limp lumps at the foot of Prime's throne.
"CATRA!?"
That was all it took, just a split-second of panic, for She-Ra to lower her guard. She caught a rapidly incoming Kryptonian fist in the corner of her eye; the black took her an instant later.
[-]
M'gann weaved and darted through the red spires of Ma'aleca'andra - capital city of M'arzz. Or rather, she weaved and darted through her memories of Ma'aleca'andra, evading emerald bolts of psychic lightning. One finally landed, sending her flying into a crimson tower. The entire cavern-city was torn to shreds as she impacted, falling away like a ripped matte painting.
She rolled across a carpeted floor, bolting upright to find herself standing in the old common room back at Mount Justice. Everything was as she remembered it, down to the pile of discarded Chicken Whizzie wrappers piled in one corner of the cave. She had to laugh. Wally was always kind of a slob.
No surprise that her subconscious would retreat here, the first place in all her life where she felt truly safe.
"Oh you're not safe anywhere, sister."
Another psy-bolt sent her crashing through the mental backdrop of Mount Justice and into the apartment she shared with Conner back in Happy Harbour.
"You always were noxiously sentimental," M'comm 'spoke', stepping from a shadowy void.
He didn't truly speak, of course. Even his psychic avatar lacked anything resembling lips or vocal chords; in this place, M'gann's mind merely interpreted his words as aural stimuli.
"Give this up, M'comm!" M'gann drew herself upright, adopting a battle stance. Her amber eyes hardened. "You know you've never been strong enough to take me mind-to-mind, not alone."
"Oh, but I'm not alone, sister…"
The darkness behind M'comm grew and deepened, greedily drinking all light and warmth into itself. M'gann thought she could see countless insectile green eyes gleaming in the black depths. No, only four eyes, the same four asymmetric eyes repeated again and again across her brother's spreading shadow.
M'comm's own eyes blazed white-green, unleashing a screeching psy-tempest beyond anything he'd ever demonstrated before. It was all M'gann could do just to summon a mental shield against the telepathic onslaught.
"I am but the lens for the power of a billion minds, united by a single will: HIS WILL!" M'comm poured ever more borrowed power into the maelstrom. His astral avatar began to blur at the edges, ash-white flesh bubbling and dissolving into pale mist.
"M'comm, you have to stop!" M'gann cried over the screaming psy-winds. "It's killing you!"
"SO BE IT!" M'comm's voice was ragged with agony and rapture. "NONE SHALL STAND IN THE PATH OF UNIVERSAL LIBERATION!"
That's when M'gann realized the only way to save M'comm's life, to sever his mind from Prime's control, was to leave no mind left to control.
"I'm sorry."
She unleashed a lance of pure psy-force that transfixed M'comm like a moth on a lepidopterist's pin. The Ma'alefa'ak howled and writhed in animalistic pain as he – and everything else on this notional plane of existence – was consumed by psychic fire.
[-]
Adora's eyes quivered open. For one brief merciful moment, her mind was utterly empty, unable to remember why she was lying on the cool polished surface. Then memory and horrid realization flooded her consciousness, panic surged. She tried to leap to her feet only to be yanked back by the steel manacles chaining her to the command platform.
A searing jolt of electricity raced through Adora's body from the inhibitor collar clamped about her neck, just enough to light up every pain receptor in her body.
Adora bit back a cry as the agony ebbed to a dull ache, glancing about through bleary eyes. Catra, Tigress and Halo all lay in a semi-circle alongside her, similarly manacled and collared. Melog had been sealed in a sphere of viridian energy next to Catra; fey claws raked the inner surface of the sphere as they shifted from one shape to the next, desperately seeking some flaw in the field.
"Ah, good, you're awake."
Prime had deigned to descend from his throne to lord over his prizes. "I had feared my sweet Kara had been too exuberant with you. She does not quite know her own strength at times but then, she no longer knows much of anything."
He ran a gilded talon along the cheek of the Kryptonian Grace, her emerald eyes gazing up at him with vacant adoration. The sight set off something in Adora, a wild angry dread.
"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Adora roared, pulling her chain taut before another jolt brought her back to her knees.
"I will do with her as I please; for she is Mine in body, mind and soul forever more; as you all soon shall be." Prime leered, inspecting his prey. "And what a motley collection of trophies I have before Me? A fallen champion, a traitor…"
Catra's blue/yellow eyes narrowed dangerously, a low growl building in the back her throat. Melog was nowhere near as controlled, hissing and snarling with undisguised hate as Prime paused before their prison sphere.
"And a Krytin?" Prime's lips curled in distaste. "I had thought your aberrant kind wiped from the very memory of the universe. Fortunately, that oversight can be easily corrected."
"You lay a finger on them; I'll rip your throat out," Catra spoke, soft as death.
Prime merely flashed her a wordless smirk, moving on to Tigress. "Ah, one of the infamous Earth 'heroes' who so vexed My late father and his pet savage. Still fighting with bows and arrows, I see?"
"It's a crossbow, genius, and they're called 'bolts'." Tigress smirked behind her striped mask. "You know, for an omniscient evil space god, you're kinda ignoran-" She was brutally cut-off by Prime's hand striking her across the face.
"You are the benighted spawn of a barbarous species, bred in filth and chaos!"
Prime caught himself. He inhaled deeply, smoothing back his frost-white hair. "But you know no better. So I shall forgive your thoughtless outburst this once, child. Take comfort knowing that once My affairs on Etheria are concluded, I shall turn My redeeming Light towards your long-suffering homeworld."
Tigress hawked a glob of bloody spittle on the polished deck at Prime's feet. "Touched a nerve," she mouthed to herself.
"And at last, we come to the true prize…"
Prime's leer came creeping back as he turned his attention to Halo, seizing them by the chin, forcing their head up as though inspecting a newly purchased thoroughbred.
"For millennia I believed the Anti-Life Equation was but a fable, that My father pursued a delusion; yet here you are, the final variable. Rejoice, child; for you shall be the Vessel through which I shall bring Final Peace to this universe."
"I'll die first," Halo spat back.
"Your kind always say that." Prime chuckled softly. "But in the end, like all the rest, you will prostrate yourself and worship Me before all others."
Halo's eyes went wide, gleaming with a horror that went far deeper than that of physical pain or death. "No… I… I won't..."
"Leave them alone!" Adora bolted upright, as much as her chains would allow anyway. "I'm the one you want!"
Prime's head snapped towards Adora, releasing Halo. "And I had such high hopes for you, My Despara."
"That isn't my name!"
"You are whoever – or whatever – I say you are," spoke Prime. "Oh, I had such plans for you. You were to be the one leading this invasion, you know? Once it was over, and you stood over the charnel ash-heap that had been Etheria, I would have given you back your mind just long enough to fathom the depths of your betrayal. Alas, you will have to settle for watching Etheria die from a distance. Vundabar!"
"Herr Prime!" Vundabar saluted, snapping his black polished boot-heels together.
"Route the live feed from our ground forces to the main screen. I wish to… entertain our guests."
"At once, Herr Prime!" Vundabar began tapping commands into his data-pad, popping a monocle as his brow creased. "Umm… mein Herr, perhaps we should wait before-"
"I gave you an order, Vundabar," Prime intoned darkly. "And I do not repeat Myself."
Vundabar gulped, clutching his pad close. "O-of course, Herr Prime."
Prime turned towards the view-screen, ready to bask in his victory, only for his polished marble face to fall like a crashing skimmer.
[-]
WHISPERING WOODS
June 28, 17:26 UTC
The Parademons screeched like panicked crows as they were sucked up in a swirling wind funnel, before being deposited in a glowing blue net that was strung spider-like between the ancient trees of the Whispering Wood. They flailed haplessly like webbed flies, becoming more and more enmeshed.
Netossa paused to admire her handiwork, giving Spinwit a quick peck on the cheek. "That's my boy."
[-]
SALINEAS
June 28, 17:26 UTC
Six amphibious figures clad in Apokoliptan war-plate screamed in terror as they were washed away by a surging wave like so much flotsam. Their leader had managed to crawl his way ashore before a flaming boat dropped on him.
[-]
FRIGHT ZONE
June 28, 17:26 UTC
The outer wastes shook as massive Apokoliptan Dragon-Tanks tumbled over onto the dusty ground, entangled in titanic cactus roots. The atomic fires that belched from their reptilian-cast prows gave a few last pitiful sputters before finally dying forever. Tank crews frantically abandoned their fallen war-machines, fleeing into the stony desert, harassed by bolts of crimson lightning.
[-]
THE IRON FIST
June 28, 17:28 UTC
All across the multifaceted view-screen, the same theme was repeated again and again; across Etheria, the legions of Apokolips were being routed by the Princess Alliance and their allies. Prime's fist went straight through the viewscreen, shattering it into static shards.
How could this be happening? How could the Etherian degenerates possibly prevail over His Horde without their precious She-Ra? They were weak, they let their emotions guide them, they relied on others! Yes, that was it!
"YOU!?" Prime turned on Vundabar like a feral wolf. The Apokoliptan General shriveled under his glare.
"H-Herr Prime- I can exURCK!" Vundabar squelched wetly as Prime seized him by the throat, yanking him bodily from the deck.
"This is all because of you! You and the rest of the comic-opera buffoons who called yourselves Apokolips' 'Elite'! I should have purged you all the moment I…"
Prime was cut short by a sound he had never thought to hear uttered by any throat but his own in this, his place of power; unabashed mocking laughter. Catra was doubled over in a fit of raucous hooting, tears of hilarity streaming down her cheeks.
Adora hissed low. "Catra, what are you doing?"
"What?! This is priceless!" Catra panted through peals of laughter. "The All-Powerful Horde Prime, Lord of Apokolips, is getting his ass kicked by a bunch of princesses… Again!" She shot Prime contemptuous sneer. "Loser."
Prime glared back at her, his asymmetric eyes pits of acid hate, his whisper cold as the void. "You will lose far more than I this day." He tossed a gasping Vundabar to the deck. "Signal all ships not needed to engage the Warworld, tell them to prepare for full orbital bombardment on My mark. We'll begin with the major population centers."
For a brief moment, Vundabar considered mentioning the Apokoliptan forces still deployed planetside but thought better of it. "Yuh-yes, Herr Prime," he rasped hoarsely, reaching for his fallen pad.
"NO! YOU CAN'T!" Adora cried.
"I can do as I please, worm!" said Prime. "For I Am."
After many long tense minutes, Vundabar finally spoke again. "The armada is almost in position, Mein Herr."
"Then by My Word…" Prime raised his arms in self-exaltation. "In accordance with My Perfect and Unchanging Justice…"
Adora tried to cry out, to scream, to drown out the next and final word from Prime's lips.
But before anyone could say anything, Vundabar's pad suddenly began emitting a shrill high-pitched whine. He smacked the offending tech frantically.
"Mein Herr, someone is interfering with the shields! I'm reading a buildup of Zeta-"
A crackling green light erupted in the center of the throne room, ushering four new figures into the fray. Prime spun on his heels, face contorting in fury. "WHO DAR-" he began to bellow before being silenced by a shaggy hammer-like fist that sent him skidding across the deck.
Prime's assailant barked a harsh wolf-laugh. "You never could take a punch, little brother!"
Adora gaped in shock at the shaggy trollish figure. "KALIBAK!?"
"Oh good, you already know each other! That saves time!" Entrapta rapid fired as she and Wrong Hordak began undoing the prisoners' bonds. "Anyway, Kalibak washed up on the shores of Beast Island about seven tide cycles ago, so we adopted him!"
Adora stared blankly. "Wut?"
Across the command deck, Kalibak cracked his knuckles, stomping towards his foe. "Father can't protect you this time, bastard!"
"I never needed father's protection from anything," Prime wiped a trickle of emerald ichor from his lips. "Least of all, some unwanted mongrel!"
Kalibak charged forward with an enraged snarl, only to be tackled by the chipped Barda. The two Apokoliptan warriors began trading deck-shaking blows as Prime watched on.
"What marvelous sport?" Prime chuckled darkly, before being sent hurtling to the foot of his own throne by a blast of crimson energy. He glared through the smoky haze at his latest attacker, eyes narrowing to knife-like slits.
"Of course… I should have known you'd be skulking about somewhere."
"On your feet, abomination!" Hordak snarled, the barrel of his arm-cannon still smoking as super-heated air hissed around it.
"You dare address your Creator with such disrespect?!"
"The dignity of dying on your feet is the only respect I have left for you, 'Brother'." Hordak spat that last word like a slur, gesturing with his arm-cannon. "Now up!"
"As you wish." Prime drew himself to his full height. His eyes rolled back in his skull, leaving his expression vacant.
Hordak sneered. "That won't work on me anymorRRGH!"
His arm-cannon was suddenly red-hot. He ripped it off as swiftly as he could, casting the scalding metal aside. The pale skin beneath was already blistering.
"How…?"
Above Hordak, hovered the Supergirl, her eyes burning a deep crimson. "It wasn't meant to work on you, Little Brother," she said, with Prime's voice.
"BROTHER!?" Kaliback reached for Hordak as he tried to fend off Barda, only to be blindsided by White Mary's fist.
"We have to help Hordak and Kalibak!" Adora rubbed the feeling back into her wrists as the inhibitor collar and chains finally fell away. "I can't believe I just said that."
"It's been a weird day for all of us," remarked Tigress, loading a crossbow bolt. "Now get traught."
Adora summoned her energy sword, shifting back into her She-Ra form as she charged the vacant Prime. He snapped back into his own body just in time to find She-Ra gripping his face, enveloping him in an aura of golden light, seeking to cast him back into the Void.
Prime cried out as the healing energy flowed through him, a cry that quickly broke into triumphant laughter.
"Wait, something's-" She-Ra began, before the New God smote her to the deck with a marble fist.
"Blind fool! Did you really think you could exorcise Me from My native flesh?" Prime towered over the prone She-Ra, reinvigorated by her healing power. "When will you accept that there is no freedom from Me, only freedom through Me!?"
"Oh, we're going through you, alright!" Tigress loosed an exploding bolt directly into Prime's face, sending the New God staggering back as she reloaded. "Halo, time for Plan B!"
Halo took a deep breath, reaching deep into themself, praying they had the strength for what came next. Opening a Boom-Tube across the galaxy was one thing, opening one to a place that didn't strictly exist was quite another. They focused their attention on the spot just beneath Prime's feet, hoping to sweep him away in a single stroke. The pain built behind their eyes, swelling until they thought their skull would crack, swelling until…
BOOOOOM!
Halo fell to one knee, clutching their head. "Did… Did I do it?"
"Eeeh, not exactly, Rainbow," Catra said, peering over the lip of the command platform, eyeing the indigo Boom-Tube that had just opened in the plunging pit below.
"Then we improvise," Tigress said. "Halo, can you keep the Tube open?"
They nodded weakly. "I think so!"
"Then everyone else," Tigress took aim. "Lay it on him!"
Prime staggered back under a barrage of exploding crossbow bolts, fey claws and whipping hair tendrils until he teetered on the very edge of the command platform; the indigo Boom-Tube gaped hungrily below.
The final blow fell to She-Ra, energy blade shifting into a weighty warhammer as she swung with all her might, sending the Lord of Apokolips reeling over the edge. For one blessed fraction of a second, relief flooded her mind; it was over. It was all finally over.
Then she felt the gilded talon bite into her ankle. The world around her lurched like a bed cover abruptly torn away. Suddenly, she was in freefall. Only by grasping the edge of the platform with all her strength had she saved herself from plummeting into the pit. The metal deformed under her fingers as she dangled one-handed from the precipice. Below her, Prime clung to her ankles with vicious tenacity. Below them both, the Boom-Tube yawned like the maw of some patient oceanic predator.
"ADORA!?" Catra cried as she, Tigress and Melog tried to haul She-Ra back up, only to be weighed down by the mass of the New God still clinging to her.
Prime tried to cast his mind into another vessel to no avail; something about She-Ra's healing energy had only bound him tighter to this native flesh. His talons bit deeper into She-Ra's calf. "I'm not going in there alone!"
Catra crouching as though to pounce. "You want company?! FINE!"
"Catra, what are…?" She-Ra's voice died as she watched Catra leap from the platform, plunging headfirst into the pit below.
Catra seemed to move through the air as though it was treacle, slowly sinking into the darkness. Time abruptly sped up again as she collided with Prime, becoming a hissing flurry of tooth and claw as she raked three of the New God's eyes. Prime cried out in pain – or perhaps simple indignation – releasing his grip on She-Ra's ankle.
She-Ra watched helplessly as Catra and Prime fell - clawing at each other - into the indigo vortex before it collapsed, swallowing them both, leaving only the black pit below. Her vision blurred as the tears began to pool in the corner of her eyes.
"Catra?"
[-]
Catra tumbled through the abyss. She clawed desperately for some kind of handhold, grasping only void. Her body tensed as she caught sight of something all too solid hurtling up to meet her. She hit the ground with a shuddering thud, rolling across a surface of what looked – and certainly felt – like rough-hewn quartz. She came to a halt at the very edge of the crystalline outcropping, overlooking a gaping purple abyss that plunged down into infinity.
She let out a small yelp as she scrabbled back from the precipice. She raised a hand to wipe her brow only to freeze at the sight of it; the hand was ghostly transparent, like frosted glass. Through it, she could see more quartz skerries drifting through the void, islets in a sea of nothing.
"Am… Am I dead?"
"You should be so fortunate."
She heard his voice before she felt his fist; her vision flashed white, her skull rang with searing agony as she was sent reeling across the drifting skerrie. The specter of Horde Prime loomed over her, a towering wraith. His single remaining eye burned with cold malice.
"How fitting, 'Little Sister'," he sneered viciously. "That your story should end here, right where it began?"
DESPONDOS
- -, -:- -