Chapter Text
Catra started coughing a week after the attempted invasion of Bright Moon.
If she was any other Horde soldier, Catra would have simply shrugged it off and gone off to hide from anyone who could potentially have given her orders (not that anyone other than Hordak could do that now). But Catra paused for a moment after the occasional coughs became a coughing fit, thankfully while she was alone.
She had never been sick, all her life. Adora had gotten sick plenty of times, but something about Catra had kept her from suffering the same fate. Which had worked out too well for the two of them to question as kids (because that meant they could hang out without worrying about Catra catching whatever Adora had), and as teens Adora guessed it was probably because of her differing physiology, since she was the only one here who wasn't like Adora or Rogelio, but Catra still hadn't cared because it meant that even with Adora sick she didn't have to sleep alone in her bunk-
Okay. She was definitely sick if she was thinking this much about Adora without stopping herself like five thoughts ago.
She tilted her head at the wall, mulling over it a bit, before shrugging. "Whatever."
Maybe she just had a good immune system and was due for a cold. Nothing that weird about it.
"You okay, Boss?" Scorpia asked when Catra came in to check on Entrapta. "You look exhausted."
"It's-" She let out a rough cough, and her throat was starting to feel like she had swallowed dry sand and every clang against the metal was making her head pound. Ugh, this was the worst. "It's nothing."
"Um, that didn't sound like nothing. Are you sick?"
She was about to deny it, but another cough forced its way out of her painful throat, silencing any doubts in Scorpia's mind.
"Interesting!" Entrapta shouted, grabbing her recorder and turning it on. "Fright Zone Log, Day 15. It seems Commander Catra is suffering an illness! Tell me, are you experiencing fatigue?"
"...Yes," Catra admitted. She would have lied, but she was a little too curious about whatever she had come down with to deny the symptom.
"Headaches? Muscle aches or chills? Fever?"
"...Yes, yes, and...no?"
Scorpia's claw was suddenly pressed against her forehead, and the princess herself piped up, "Looks like she is running a bit hot, Entrapta."
"Sounds like a strain of the flu then!" Entrapta determined cheerfully, before addressing her recorder again. "Incredible! I was certain Catra's unique physiology meant that she was unable to catch the viruses such as influenza, but it is possible that a strain of the virus mutated in a way that it was able to infect her! I'll need to get a sample in order to make sure though!"
"Hey, who said anything about-OW!"
The syringe was out of her arm before she could do anything, and one of Entrapta's pigtails got busy disinfecting the area and placing a bandage over the place where she had been jabbed as Entrapta herself moved over to her work table and got to work with the blood she had taken.
"The tests will take a while, but once I'm sure of the virus' capabilities I can put together a vaccine to prevent you from spreading it and maybe a cure if the symptoms don't go away!"
"...Huh." Catra glanced at the bandage and frowned at the weird doodles on it. "What's up with this bandage?"
Entrapta grinned. "Oh, when I was little I used to get into also sorts of trouble and get hurt, and apparently I refused to have any bandages except ones with those characters on them! In fact, I got this box from..." Entrapta went silent suddenly, and Scorpia and Catra looked at each other for a second, confused.
"Uh, Entrapta?" Scorpia spoke up, and Entrapta snapped out of it.
"Oh, it's nothing!" she explained cheerfully, her manic grin returning just before she clapped her mask over her face. "I'll get to work on that vaccine, but you'll need rest."
Catra began to protest, but Entrapta continued talking, as if she hadn't even noticed.
"It's actually really interesting! See, the symptoms you are experiencing aren't caused by the illness itself, but your body trying to fight it. The fever, for instance, is your body trying to kill the foreign contaminant through the heat. It is almost like an antivirus program for your body! But in order to better assist your body in the fight against the virus you need to have plenty of rest. Oh, and soup!"
"I can handle that!" Scorpia volunteered immediately. "Don't worry, boss, we'll have that virus defeated in no time!"
Catra's attempts to argue were drowned out by Entrapta calling out suggestions and Scorpia encouraging her to go rest and promising to cover for her, so she was forced to relent and head for her private room and flop on her bed.
God, how had Adora survived this?
She crawled through the vents, the pathway seared into her muscle memory. Hordak supposedly knew all that happened in the Fright Zone, but the vents were Catra's domain alone, the one place the Horde could never reach her, hidden away in their own domain.
Eventually, she reached a grate and popped it off, slipping down through the hole in the ceiling and landing in a crouch in the infirmary.
"Catra!" Adora loudly whispered, her voice nasally and disgusting as she struggled to breathe. "You're here!"
"Of course I am!" Catra answered, puffing up her chest. "I'm awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I brought you...these!"
She handed Adora a pad of paper and a pencil and was rewarded with a gasp of delight before being grabbed by the wrists and being pulled into a warmer-than-normal hug.
"You're hot," Catra whined.
"Thank you."
She flushed a little. "That's...that's not what I mean!"
"I know, silly. It's my fever. 'sides, I'm not exactly looking at my best with the stupid flu."
Catra patted her best friends back. "Aw, you'll get better soon. And once you do we'll go cause chaos to make up for all the time you were stuck in here. Sound good?"
Adora smiled brightly at that (and somehow she managed to simultaneously look cute and like death warmed over), and the two sat there for hours, talking while Adora doodled and Catra resisted the urge to fiddle with the various medical equipment, and eventually Catra fell asleep, curled at Adora's feet like always.
Scorpia knocked on Catra's door. "Boss? Are you alive?"
There was a miserable groan from the inside and Scorpia opened the door to find the room dark, and Catra hissing at the light from outside.
"Headache," Catra grumbled, sounding absolutely awful. "Whaddayawant?"
"I brought soup!" Scorpia explained, grinning cheerfully. "This should make you feel better in no time."
Catra let out another groan before sitting up, and Scorpia didn't like how pale she was. She guessed it was a symptom of the flu though and carefully handed Catra the bowl.
"Thanks," she muttered, scooping a spoonful into her mouth before humming pleasantly. "Holy shit this is delicious."
"Make sure to eat it slowly," Scorpia quickly warned. "Last time I had the flu I was really nauseous, and we don't want you throwing up."
It took a while, Catra thankfully taking Scorpia's advice seriously when threatened with the chance of feeling worse and eating slowly, and Scorpia hovering anxiously, wanting to help but having no experience or knowledge beyond what Entrapta knew and having the flu a few times as a kid.
Finally, Catra passed over the bowl, mumbling, "Thanks Scorpia."
"Get some more rest, Boss."
Catra nodded and laid back down, curling up tightly under her blankets. Scorpia was just about to close the door behind her and return the dishes to the kitchen when Catra mumbled something barely identifiable.
"Get outta my head, Adora."
"Fright Zone Log, Day 17. Scorpia has informed me that Catra's condition has not improved. While there are medications to manage the symptoms, they have to be modified to fit Catra's unique physiology, which is a side project I am undertaking while investigating the illness that has infected her.
"As for the strain itself, after doing study on the virus I realized it is not a strain of influenza as previously hypothesized. In fact, it is a virus I have never even seen before. Considering the possible danger I have encouraged Scorpia to wear protective gear when visiting Catra and to wash her pincers well after doing so, and I am taking the same measures to protect myself. As of now, Catra is under unofficial quarantine. Scorpia and I have agreed to leave Hordak unaware of this.
"Something about this virus is...familiar...but I can't really place it. More research required. The medicine to maintain Catra's symptoms will have to take priority for a moment, as some of them have the potential to worsen her condition if left unchecked. I will return my focus to the virus itself once I am certain Catra has reached something closer to healthy.
"I hope that this virus will be defeated before she has the chance to get worse."