Chapter Text
"I got us closer to conquering Bright Moon than anyone ever has."
The words echoed loudly, resonating throughout the halls. Catra could feel Scopria inching further away in fear of retaliation. Hordak's fingers stopped making impatient drumming noises against the metal throne, closing his hands into knuckle white fists for a moment, before returning them to linger upon the armrests. Seeing she had caught her leader's full attention, Catra took this cue to continue.
"The Whispering Woods is still in ruins. They have nowhere to hide. Etheria is ours for the taking."
Without Shadow Weaver, the glory was all Catra's to take. Without Shadow Weaver, the brunt of failure was all Catra's to withstand too. Covering her failure by taking all the credit was the only thing Shadow Weaver was ever good for.
If Catra had to risk it all to take what was hers, now was the time.
Keeping eye contact without falter, Catra stayed still, head held high and proud, as Hordak finally rose steadfast from the throne, walking with long decisive steps, striding towards her. The forgotten princess held a whimpering Scorpia from making her distress obvious, slightly annoying Catra as she flicked an ear towards her soon to be promoted trooper.
Every hero needs a sidekick.
Catra's lips thinned at the unwanted reminder from that encounter, as Hordak towered over the Force Captain, unaware of the thoughts swirling in her mind. He stared, deep in thought, almost staring towards the entrance of the Fright Zone. Whatever went through their leader's head was none of Catra's concern. All she ever wanted...
We were always together.
All she ever wanted was recognition.
"Very well, Force Captain Catra," Hordak's voice never rose higher than needed, even in anger. His tone was sharp, cutting through the throne room with unquivering eyes, scanning his loyal followers for any weakness shown from them. Finding none towards the one standing before him, Hordak made his decision. "You will find other chances to prove your worth as my second in command. Do not disappoint me." Hordak returned to the shadow of his throne, wordlessly dismissing them, activating a hologram of the failed invasion with a wave of his hand.
Catra could only smile. This is all she ever wanted.
All her life.
"As you command my liege."
"Second in command! Second in command!"
Tucking her tail firmly around her waist to hide the nerves climbing up till the tip, Catra let out a hefty sigh as she marched towards her new chambers. Another squee matched with another squee rising eagerly in delight, Catra had to lower her ears shut to the skull until they merged with her hair in hopes of silencing the whistling yells of glee coming from behind her. Dear almighty, they just won't shut up.
Grabbing the emblem attached on her chest, Catra tossed it towards Scorpia's direction, uncaring it if reached a claw or not.
"Just shut up! Here! Take this! I don't need it anymore!"
Entrapta caught the shiny badge first, curiosity taking over. "Oooh, shiny! Can I keep it? Can I, can I?"
"No." Scopria snatched it away, making Entrapta's keratin nerved hands lower to her hips in quivering disappointment. She kept holding onto the acquired badge, unsure of what to do next. "But... Catra. This is still yours. We can't take it from you."
This is what I've been working for my entire life.
Gnashing at her teeth, Catra ignored her own confusion, wanting nothing more than to be alone and recover all the energy spent through the battle of Bright Moon. "As I clearly said: I. don't. need. it. anymore. Do whatever you want with that stupid badge. Its yours. But know this. With or without it, you're under my command now. Both of you. So you'd better follow my orders." Sliding a keycard given to her by Imp, Catra opened the restricted area only the top ranks could enter unsupervised. Not even Force Captains were allowed to enter.
Until now.
"So does this mean I can keep it?"
Blue lights glowed within the door locks, parallel contraptions slid open in mechanical continuation, separating the faint circuity systems as the entrance opened before them.
"Yes Entrapta. You can keep it."
Catra braced herself for the inevitable squee ringing in her ears. Walking inside, Catra gestured towards her fellow subordinates.
"What are you waiting for? You can come. You're with me, you're not breaking any protocol."
It doesn't matter what they do to us. You look out for me, I look out for you.
The echoing voice of the past called once more, haunting like a ghost trapped in her head. Catra hissed out in frustration. Scorpia and Entrapta thought Catra was pissed at them. They hurried the pace, entering the foreboding hallway before the magnetic doors shut down airtight.
"Force Captain, did you bring that thing-a-ma-gig with you?" Catra scratched her head lightly. "Like the one I asked for before?"
Entrapta stared happily vaguely in front of her, making Catra wonder if she even heard her. Scorpia leaned slowly behind Entrapta's ear, standing on one side to not scare her. "She's talking to you."
Something inside the princess snapped. Catra wasn't sure she wanted to know what.
"Of course I did!" Entrapta used her hands to quickly bring out another gadget from her purple nest full of ... infinitely growing ideas, as an improved version of the beacon locator was revealed in sight. She started typing vigorously on the hardware, greedily using some loose wires from the hanging metal pipes to improve the gadget more by connecting it with them, using her planted hair to pillar her body in mid-air, comfortably sitting down crossed legged, completely forgetting about her superior's command to follow her lead.
Both Horde members stated dumbfounded as Entrapta took more of the rare tech around her without any regard for her own safety.
"I had to build this one from scratch because the one you had before got lost but it's okay it was old anyway. I have upgraded my precious thing-a-ma-gig—if you want to call it that—thought I prefer if you'd call it by its name FOT Radar—it's much shorter too! I've chipped it to locate any source of runestone energy as you requested especially Black Garnet energy. It's more user friendly too, there's even a tutorial when you switch it on! Since you found the old model so hard 'cause of all the buttons-"
“Force Captain,” Catra growled through her fangs. “Just switch the damned thing on?”
Entrapta blinked, taking in a deep breath. "Sorry. Its the rush of getting promoted talking~" Tapping a light slap on her forehead, Entrapta switched the contraption on, pushing the mini buttons on the control panel to make everything set to default. "There, all set! All nearby Black Garnet sources can be located within a 100 mile radius! Za-za-zing!"
Scorpia looked she was torn between hiding the badge and giving the excited scientist a congratulatory slap on the back.
"Scorpia."
Scorpia looked towards Catra, who gestured to hand over the badge with her eyes. She could see Imp gliding with haste towards their location.
"Okay, chest out."
Entrapta puffed her chest out, pointing gleefully towards herself with an ear reaching grin.
Scorpia placed the green metal badge onto her clothes. "I did say chest out, but you don't exaggerate."
Imp flew in front of them, scrunching his face towards Entrapta. It seemed he was looking forward to chewing her out of the restricted zone.
Chew on that you stupid bat. Catra couldn't help but snigger a little.
"Catra." Imp darted a glance towards the other two. "Force Captains. Follow me. Commander Octavia is waiting for us upstairs."
Commander one-eyed dumbface finally got out of prison duty? Oh this is going to be great.
Imp lead the trio towards a vast elevator, inputting a code too quickly for Catra to memorise. She'd have to use her nose to write down the numbers later. As they entered it, Scorpia and Entrapta were mesmerised by how small the Fright Zone looked from their viewpoint. Closing the gates, the levels kept increasing as they reached the highest tower.
Imp turned towards Catra, lowering his voice. "Hordak informed me Shadow Weaver has been handcuffed in the toughest prison cell of the upper fortress. You can interrogate her for any information necessary whenever you wish, as long as you report your findings to me."
Scratching the glass surface lightly, Catra tapped on it absentmindedly, asking the question she had in mind for awhile.
"I'm not sleeping in... her quarters right?"
Imp backflipped and made circles in the air, obviously amused by the question.
"No, of course not. You'll find your new chambers and threads very soon."
"Look! You can see the dungeons from here!"
"Cool~!"
"Hordak also told me," Catra twitched an ear as she blinked back towards the conversation. "That you need to enter the recreation centre the minute you enter your chamber. If you don't make your battle report within the hour, you'll be demoted back to Force Captain. This is a direct order from the top. You understand?"
So much for recharging. "Yes, Imp. Loud and clear."
At that, Imp flew towards Scorpia and Entrapta, landing on the purple haired scientists' head, making himself comfortable there.
Getting the message swiftly as an arrowhead to the gut, Catra growled under her breath, realising if she got demoted, Entrapta would be the first to suffer.
The elevator had arrived to destination, stopping directly to the east wing. Walking outside first, Catra looked swiftly towards the forked end.
"Your chamber is this way," Imp flew towards the closer hinged entrance of the fortress, the right one. "Follow me. Please mind the gap. I won't catch you if you fall."
So Shadow Weaver must be chained somewhere rotting to the left.
Catra shook off her plans, placing them on hold for the time being. Something... something small, but still something, from the battle for Bright Moon was irritating her, and the only person whom possibly knew the answer is being locked away in a prison cell, rendered completely powerless and was at Catra's mercy, being just a few feet away from her. The strong whistling winds surrounding the skyscraping tower seemed to mock Catra for her undecisiveness.
Adora would not have trembled if she were here. The wind would've stayed on her back.
She walked to the right, following Imp. Scorpia and Entrapta followed suit, pushing forward against harsh gusts of wind.
It would be unwise to defy Hordak after such a generous promotion.