Chapter Twelve: Underneath the Surface


In spite of all that had changed over the years, the Fright Zone was not much different now than it had been before Hordak's disappearance. Upon his return to power, his loyalists once again banded around him, preparing to take the fight to the princesses once again. However, even when Hordak kept his alliance with Brightmoon unbroken, still they stayed by their leader, ready to conquer whoever he should demand.

"An undead sorcerer, a network of killer machines, the total destruction of the planet, and he's still stuck to his same old path," Catra noted, as the three of them overlooked the Fright Zone from a rooftop. "Why anyone would willingly stay under his rule is beyond me."

Carnelian looked around nervously, weighing the pros and cons of pointing out her flawed logic. "Um, didn't you–"

"I meant as opposed to me!" she snapped. "A better option presents itself, and they just stick with the self-defeating old fossil!? I have no sympathy for any of them. Come on, let's find this thing so we can get out of here."

The three of them made their way towards Hordak's inner sanctum as stealthily as they could manage, leaping over the rooftops. Catra and Sqalish were plenty agile, but Carnelian had to move carefully, lest she make too much noise. Luckily, the Fright Zone wasn't as crowded as it used to be, unless one counted the increased presence of cybertroops.

If there was one major difference in the modern Fright Zone, it was that it seemed much more casual, for lack of a better word. The soldiers patrolling the streets were far more likely to simply be shooting the breeze, and likewise, recruits weren't constantly looking over their shoulder for a Force Captain to reprimand them for this or that. The entire aura of the place felt much less tyrannical, though whether this meant that Hordak himself was less so as well remained to be seen.

"Question: how do you suppose we get inside his sanctum?" asked Sqalish, the three of them stopping in front of the tower. "I doubt he's any less paranoid than he was years ago. If anything, he's probably got even more defenses."

"Easy!" Carnelian began glowing, and had soon taken on Hordak's form. "Look at me, I'm Hordak!" she said, in a horrible imitation of his voice. In fact, one wondered if she had even heard him speak before. "C'mon, let's go conquer some place! Don't challenge my authority!"

Sqalish rolled his eyes. "Of course, how did I not consider that? I'm sure everyone will fall for your ingenious disguise."

"Aww, thanks, buddy!"

While the two of them bickered, Catra was busy examining the building to determine their best way in. The obvious entrance was a window or grate, but as little as she thought of Hordak, she figured he was at least smarter than that. No, there was only one way to make it to Entrapta's files. "You two, knock it off and get ready to move. We're going in through the laundry chute."

The two shot her confused glances. "The…laundry chute?" asked Sqalish. "Surely there's easier and less-secure ways to enter the building. Why go through so much trouble?"

"Because as far as anyone in the Fright Zone knows, people can't fit through there," she said. "And they can't, at least not fully grown. Adora and I used to sneak out through there when we were younger. But considering your shapeshifting, and your malleability, I think we'll fit just fine."

"And, what about you?" asked Carnelian. "You're probably a lot bigger now than you were then. How're you gonna fit?"

Catra grinned. "Because I'm a cat. I can fit through any opening, no matter how small!" She led the way towards the chute, with the others following after her.

The chute was located behind the building, looking not only unremarkable but dirty and unsafe as well. A load of dirty clothes fell out into a full bin, which was then taken away by a small robot. "This is how we get inside? Crawling through everyone's used unmentionables?" complained Sqalish. "We might as well wade through the sewers while we're at it! At least that way I can be of some use!"

"That's enough out of you," Catra said. "We're going this way, and that's final. Now wait for my signal…" Before long, another robot brought an empty bin to replace the first, scooting away to elsewhere. "Go!" All three of them leapt down from the building, sneaking over to the entrance.

Catra was first, hopping into the bin and crawling up the chute as soon as she reached it. Sqalish hesitantly climbed in after her, peering up the chute with trepidation. "What's the matter?" asked Carnelian.

"'What's the matter?' The matter is that this is the most humiliating thing I've ever done," he groaned. "I don't see how you aren't bothered by this."

"It's only humiliating if you focus on it too much," she replied. "Now get in there and make your empress proud!" She pushed him into the chute, following after him shortly. However, she found that her bulky body was too large to fit. "Uh-oh. Okay, hold on a second."

Sqalish crawled through the chute after Catra, using his tentacles to climb the slick surface. There wasn't much light available, but he was able to see when a glowing light appeared from behind him, followed by the sound of another joining him in his climb. "I'm hoping that's you," he said.

A small laugh from Carnelian. "I just had the perfect plan," she said. "Check me out! Hey, turn around, see what I came up with!"

"Will you two shut it!?" Catra whisper-yelled at them. "In case you forgot, we're trying not to be discovered! So unless you wanna wake up the whole place, maybe take this more seriously–" Catra was interrupted when an undershirt landed on her head. She growled, throwing it at Sqalish. "Keep going. Say nothing."

Using her knowledge of the Fright Zone she had accumulated in her childhood, Catra knew exactly where to go. She led her team up to a higher level of the building, thankfully avoiding having any more clothes dumped on them. Eventually, they were able to reach their destination, climbing out into a hallway. She peered down both directions, crawling out when she saw nobody was there.

After her came Sqalish. "Here's hoping getting out will be easier than getting out." Carnelian climbed out after him. "I really could go without–Why do you look like that?" he asked, exasperated.

Carnelian had shapeshifted into a Horde trooper. "Eh? Eh? Pretty ingenious, right? Not only was I small enough to fit, but now if anyone finds us, I can just say 'it's alright, they're with me!' I'm on a roll with these good ideas!"

"I'm sure none of them will question why your armor's the complete wrong color," Sqalish said. "Or why you have a gemstone on your back."

She shrugged. "Hey, I can just stand with my back against the wall, like this. And if anyone asks, I'll say it's just the lighting." Carnelian leaned back casually, crossing her arms and trying to look stern. "'Hey, you 'sposed ta be up here?' That's what I'll say if anyone comes in. Got your back, boss!"

Catra rolled her eyes, heading over to the door to Entrapta's lab. "Whatever. You two stand guard out here, this shouldn't take long." Entering the lab, she found that not much had changed over the years. It had been largely untouched in that time, with the only major difference being the addition of several more terminals. "Now comes the hard part: sorting through Entrapta's stream-of-consciousness."

Despite being relatively unchanged, it was clear that Entrapta's old lab had been used extensively in the time since Hordak had reclaimed the Fright Zone. He had likely been accessing her research, but for what purpose, Catra could only guess. Whatever the reason, he hadn't added in any extra security, meaning she was able to easily get into the files.

Before her was a multitude of projects Entrapta had logged, completed, unfinished, or abandoned. Catra scanned over them: a few of the names listed were ones she recognized, like the Staff of Keldor and Multi-Bot. There were plenty more she either hadn't heard or hadn't bothered to remember, but she didn't find anything relating to the Heart of Etheria. "Come on, Entrapta, give me something here…"

Seeing as there was nothing of use listed under her projects, she tried looking through Entrapta's various logs. As before, many of them were of no help. "During my research into the Citadel today, I came across this bad boy! I think, and I'm only guessing here, it might be the legendary Staff of Keldor!" "I've been looking into this 'Surgeon' person, but I haven't been able to find any trace of them. It's like they're a ghost!" "Apparently, 'Horde Prime' is a title passed down from the machine network currently attacking Etheria, all the way down to Hordak's brother! It begs the question, just who were the other Horde Primes that came about in the interim?"

"This is getting me nowhere," Catra muttered, skimming through the video logs. With how obsessed Entrapta was with the First Ones and their technology, she refused to believe she had nothing on the Heart of Etheria. Eventually, she decided to look through some of her earlier ones, from just after their initial attack on Brightmoon. She didn't know why, but somehow, this one felt different than the others.

"Okay, so, my experiments with the Black Garnet were…sort of a success!" said the recording of Entrapta. "I was able to successfully prove that all of this planet's Runestones are connected in a sort of network, but…I think it goes deeper than that. Literally: this network, it seems to be drawing energy from the planet's core. Or possibly, supplying the core with energy? I'm not really certain, but something's down there, and whatever it is, messing with it could be a very bad idea. Considering my hypothesis of Etheria being an artificial structure could be true, this 'heart' could very well be its power source, and disrupting it could have apocalyptic consequences. For now, I think it's best we left it alone."

And with that, it all clicked. Entrapta had already figured this all out. The Heart of Etheria was no ordinary object, it was literally Etheria's heart: the planet's core. In addition to that, two things became very clear in that moment as well. First, if even Entrapta, who would experiment with just about anything if it produced results, was afraid to deal with the Heart, then it must be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined. And secondly, their mission to retrieve it just got much more difficult.

Catra turned off the computer and returned to the hallway, where Carnelian and Sqalish were both standing guard. "We have what we need. Time to leave," she said.

"That was fast," Sqalish said. "So, where we goin' next?"

She led them back to the laundry chute. "Back to the ship. I know where the Heart is, but it's beyond our ability to reach as is. We'll have to contact Azurite's team and rendezvous with them before heading back to the Supermassive."

Carnelian leaned in closer. "So? What's the big scoop? Where do we find this magical doodad?"

"At the planet's center," Catra said.

Neither of them were expecting that. "So, the Heart of Etheria is…literally the heart of Etheria?" asked Sqalish. "Huh. I'm surprised none of us put that together sooner."

"Entrapta did," Carnelian noted. "If she figured this out years ago, how come she didn't tell us before we came here?"

They landed in the bin, crawling out before they were detected. "Who knows what's going on in her head?" Catra said. "Come on, let's get moving. I don't want to stay here longer than we need to." But as they began to make their escape, Carnelian's question arose another one in Catra's head: why, if Entrapta was so hesitant about the Heart of Etheria before, did she change her mind? Was the situation on Ophidia really so dire? Whatever the reason, it left her with a nagging feeling that stuck with her even as she put her mind on other things.


A few hours after the duo had made their escape, the village had more or less calmed down. Modulok and Shadow Weaver were gone, and the hunting parties had returned from their search. Now, after avoiding being taken back inside, all that remained was to get back inside.

"I count three guards along the eastern wall," Micah said from his perch in a tree. "If we move quickly, we can get past them without raising any alarms. Of course, by the time we break down the wall, everyone will know we're there. Are you ready?"

On the ground, Scorpia stretched as she prepared herself to transform. "You bet! I think I've finally got the hang of this giant scorpion thing. Okay, here we go, and…!" She thrust her arms out, with her tail hanging over her head. Despite her pose, nothing happened. "Uh, hold on, just gotta…Now!" A few streaks of darkness slid along her pincers, but aside from that, she remained as-is.

Micah climbed down, seeing she looked distressed. "Something wrong?" he asked. "Do you think it only works when you're in distress?"

"No, no, I got it!" she assured him nervously. "I just gotta concentrate harder!" She strained, with shadowy energy visibly building up inside of her. The shadows all around were drawn to her, but the moment she lost her focus, it all faded. Disappointed, she collapsed to the ground. "No! Why now, I don't get it! It worked fine before, but now it's like I'm outta fuel!"

Having a princess for a daughter, this was a concept Micah was familiar with. "That explains it: your energy is drained," he said. "Princesses can only use their powers so much before they have to recharge at their Runestone."

"That's…not much help," Scorpia replied. She got to her feet, glancing through the bushes at Black's stronghold. "We can't exactly head on over to the Black Garnet for a quick recharge, can we? …Can we? You're magic, aren't you? Couldn't you just, like, magic us up a solution?"

He grinned. "Trust me, in the years I've been stuck here, I've tried everything. Although…" Having a sudden thought, he raised a hand to his chin. "...What if there was a way for you to connect to your Runestone without necessarily touching it?"

Scorpia stared at him for a moment. "Uh, are you askin' me? Because yeah, that would be pretty good, but I don't know how we would do that."

"Luckily for you, I think I do!" he said. Micah concentrated his magic into his staff, holding it out as he scanned the horizon with the end. "Like I said, I've been on this island for years. In that time, I've come to learn that its magical energies are unlike anything else anywhere else on the planet. So if I'm right…" He apparently found what he was looking for, walking off away from the village. "We've got a way for you to recharge!"

He led the way off into the forests of Beast Island, with Scorpia following after. "Great! So, uh, where exactly are we going?"

"I'm not entirely sure," he said. "But if I'm right, our path will take us down. Far down." Unsure and uneasy, Scorpia nevertheless kept on after him, trusting that the more experienced of the two knew what he was doing.


As the Horde trooper whispered something to Hordak, Glimmer looked at the two from the corner of her eye with a sense of unease. Nothing they were talking about could be good, especially with that urgent tone. "I understand, thank you," he said, as the trooper left the room. Hordak then made his way over to Glimmer to deliver the news. "Apparently, the Fright Zone's command center has just been breached."

Glimmer raised an eyebrow. "How so? Was anything stolen?"

"No, though what the perpetrator did was equally troubling. A computer containing all of Entrapta's research and discoveries was activated without my approval. Taking into account that someone was not only able to infiltrate the Fright Zone, but know where to find this information, only one suspect makes logical sense."

"Catra." Glimmer stared at the floor from her throne, her whole body tensing up. "Any idea what she was after?"

Hordak sighed, unwilling to admit he had no idea. "It is likely she was after Entrapta's data. We don't yet know her reason for returning to Etheria, but I would surmise it has something to do with her findings."

"And that could be anything," said Glimmer, exasperated. "Well, have someone go through Entrapta's files to see if there's anything she might've been looking for. As for right now, we need to figure out how to handle this."

"How else?" Hordak said with a slight smile. "Your enemy is within striking distance. Why waste time waiting for the perfect moment when you can make the perfect moment yourself? Send someone to eliminate her."

The idea certainly intrigued her. "We have to be careful about this. If Adora finds out we plan on killing Catra, she'll get in the way. We'll have to send someone who won't tell her."

"Your Majesty, if I may…" Hordak said. "In my time leading the Horde, I preferred to delegate my tasks. That said, I am also intimately familiar with the old saying, 'If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself.'" He loomed behind her, hanging onto her throne.

Glimmer got to her feet, her staff appearing in her hand. "You're right," she said. "I've been sitting here telling everyone else what to do for too long. I'm the queen now, and I've got the powers to prove it." She looked over at her new advisor, a sinister glint in her eyes. "I think it's time I showed everyone what a more proactive queen looks like!"

Hordak smiled. "Long live the queen."