Chapter Text
Her leg screamed. A smell like burning flesh invaded Adora’s senses as that familiar electric crackling pulsed around her. She gritted her teeth, walking through the pain as she kept pace with the rest of the group. This was one of the first missions the queen had let her go on and she was not gonna fuck it up because of a stupid twinge in her leg.
“Hold up,” Catra called from behind them. Her tail dragged on the ground a little, her breath coming out in gasps. “Let’s—”
Bow was already stopped, reaching into Glimmer’s bag for a canteen. He passed it to Catra and she took a few harsh gulps. Adora leaned against the side of the mountain, trying to look nonchalant as she finally took some weight off her leg. She was sweating way more than normal, but Bow was too focused on Catra to notice anything.
If she kept up like this she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight but that was nothing new. This was all her fault anyway. She made the mess so she had to clean it up.
“We’ve got another mile to go,” Bow told them, examining his tracker.
They would’ve taken horses but they needed to be stealthy. Plus, Adora couldn’t ride one and they freaked Glimmer out. At least, according to Bow. Glimmer hadn’t said one way or another. Adora wasn’t positive what a horse was, probably their word for skiff. Like how Bow called it a tracker and she had called it a scanner. Or how Catra had mentioned her “aunt” Casta once which probably meant ally.
“Once we get there we’ll need to be quick. Catra, you’ll be—”
“I’ll be fine,” Catra cut Glimmer off, and took another swig from the water. “Just follow your part of the plan and I’ll follow mine.”
They’d been marching all morning. Hiking, Bow had called it. Another example. The weather was fair, 83 degrees with a slight breeze from the northwest corridor. Some cloud cover, but little chance of rain.
Adora glanced at the sky again. There were fewer clouds, still, they wouldn’t want a storm interrupting a safe getaway. Though it might cover up tracks. Maybe they did want a storm. Should they have brought Mermista? No, Catra hated water.
Her leg rippled with unfelt pain and she nearly collapsed but leaned further against the mountain side instead.
Catra handed the canteen back to Bow who put it back in Glimmer’s bag. She stretched out and nodded at Adora. Adora swallowed hard and pushed off the cliff side, taking care not to stumble and keep her expression straight. Once she turned into She-Ra the pain would fade, her vision would come back, she’d be fine. Everything would be fine.
Bow and Glimmer walked a little ahead of them and Catra walked beside her, trailing until Adora was forced to keep pace with her.
“This was a good idea,” Catra said, her knuckles bouncing against Adora’s.
Adora frowned—they hadn’t even gotten to Dryl yet. “We’ll know soon enough,” she pointed out.
“I guess,” Catra rolled her eyes. “But at least we’re doing something. I don’t think my mom ever really had a plan.”
That had become very clear to Adora. The Horde’s plan was simple: divide and conquer. Start with the princesses that controlled arable land, cut off the chain of supply, gradually transition to princesses with significant power. First Plumeria, Salineas, and Bright Moon. Save Snows until last because of the difficult winters.
The Rebellion’s overarching plan held none of the same grandeur. Hold on, had been the basics of it, pray for a miracle, had covered the rest. And here she was, the miracle they’d been holding on for, and she was broken and useless and half-blind and caused most of the damage they were trying to right.
But Adora was smart and could and would be useful to them. She had to be.
“You have one now,” Adora said quietly.
“We do,” Catra reached for her hand and took it, her fingers sliding in between Adora’s calloused and scarred ones. Adora blinked at them, and looked at Catra who looked like she was waiting for something. Were they supposed to kiss? They were walking… she squeezed Catra’s hand and that seemed to cover it, as Catra smiled and looked ahead again.
The new Rebellion plan was mostly the same as the old one. Hold on until Adora could rustle up a miracle. AKA: recreate the princess alliance and get the numbers on their side again. Numbers were the Horde’s biggest advantage; if they were at least comparable, they could slow the Horde’s exponential encroach into the rebellion’s lands.
Entrapta was step one. Plumeria and Salineas would be next, Kingdom of Snows last.
“So, what’s Entrapta like?” Catra asked. “I’ve only heard Bow gush about her.”
“Um,” Adora tried to think about how one might describe Entrapta, about how a rebel might. If she were in the Horde she’d say Entrapta was an asset and leave it at that. But… well maybe Bow at least would frown at the wording. “She’s—smart. About tech stuff. And, um, nice?” Entrapta was not very nice to her, but that’s mainly because Adora was threatening her and her people. But Entrapta’s people probably wouldn’t have wanted her to be their princess if she was mean? Was that how it worked?
“Nice?” Catra asked, eyebrows raised.
Adora looked away, “I guess.”
“Hmm,” Catra bumped her shoulder, “Are you keeping secrets from me?”
Adora stumbled, pain shooting up her leg, and she put a hand on the mountain side, screwing her eyes shut, “No. No. I um—”
“Relax,” Catra sounded bored now. “C’mon, we can’t let Sparkles and Arrow Boy beat us to Dryl.” She kept her hand in Adora’s though, tight, like she knew Adora needed the leverage and Adora swallowed hard. She really was a terrible person. Weak.
They kept marching, catching up with Bow and Glimmer quickly who, oddly enough, weren’t really talking much to each other. They had gotten along fine the last time Adora talked to them. Had she said something wrong?
“What’s wrong?” Catra demanded.
“We were just saying,” Bow glanced at Glimmer, “It’s really quiet. For a Horde base.”
Adora blinked, he was right—she should have noticed—there should’ve been sounds of machinery, people shouting orders, the familiar groan of bots. Even the distant clink of miners shoveling should’ve been audible.
“We’re in an avalanche zone,” Catra pointed out. “They have to be quiet.”
Adora shook her head, “No it’s—when I was in charge,” she flinched, “it was never this quiet. It’s never been this quiet.”
How had she not noticed? Her leg, her eye, too wrapped up in herself—she needed to focus. Obviously they needed to revise the plan, it wouldn’t work now. They needed—
“Okay,” Catra squeezed her hand—they were still holding hands?—“We’ll do recon then. Glimmer and I will take a look around while you and Bow can be back up.”
“Um?” Bow looked between Glimmer and Catra who hadn’t met each other’s eyes all day.
Adora shook her head, “That makes no sense. I’m the only one who knows my way around Dryl.” That was the only reason Queen Angella let her go in the first place. “It has to be me.”
Catra released her hand, narrowing her eyes at Adora and Glimmer. “You’re about as stealthy as an elemental,” she said to Adora. “You guys would get caught in an instant.”
“So I’ll teleport us out,” Glimmer said. “C’mon Adora,” she held out her hand and Adora glanced at Catra who was now glaring. Catra still didn’t trust her, not with Glimmer. Of course.
Catra had assumed Adora had hurt Glimmer when she first joined the Rebellion, after all. And now she was assuming Adora couldn’t protect her. If Adora could leave Shadow Weaver behind, the closest thing she had to a mother, then maybe Catra was worried she could leave Glimmer. She’d have to prove otherwise.
Adora took the offered hand, her stomach instantly dropping out.
“You okay?” Glimmer asked, hand now touching her shoulder blade as Adora stumbled.
“Fine—fine.” She landed on her bad leg and had to prop herself up against the wall, hissing as she felt those old electric scars sear into her. It was all in her head, it wasn’t real, it was over, she had healed.
“Where are we?” Glimmer asked.
Adora looked around, taking in the compact quarters and the Horde insignia carved into the wall. “It’s a housing barracks. I think civilian.” She ran her fingers along the edge of a table, picking up a fair amount of dust.
Dryl was a dusty place, the lack of rain and huge amount of mining mixed together for an awful combination. People in Dryl liked things orderly though, calm, and no one would be caught dead with a speck of dust in their home. Most kids learned to clean before they learned to write their name.
“No one’s been here for awhile,” Adora said.
“Do you think the mines emptied out?” Glimmer asked.
Adora shook her head, “Unlikely. Besides they wouldn’t have just… left.” She leaned against a wall, edging around it to a nearby window and peeking out, wary of snipers. The whole square was deserted. The windows were empty. Dryl was a ghost town. “Let’s head to the castle. Maybe I can find something in the records.”
“Are you sure?” Glimmer was giving her a funny look and Adora stiffened. “You can take a break before we teleport again. It used to even give Bow vertigo.”
“I’m fine. We don’t have time to wait around.” Adora held out her hand this time and Glimmer shrugged but took it. The sharp feeling of falling returned but this time Adora managed to stop herself from stumbling, merely closing her eyes to make the transition to new ground easier.
Something scuttled on her blind side. She whipped around, her sword drawn in one hand and Glimmer covered with the other.
“Oh,” Adora looked at it. The bot was only six inches in diameter as it clicked around on 7 feet. Adora picked it up, examining it. “It’s one of Entrapta’s cleaning bots. Looks like one of the legs got pulled out.” The wires didn’t look cut, more ripped. “Probably a rat honestly.”
Rats weren’t really common in Dryl either. The elevation was pretty intense and the townspeople took to rats like a shark took to blood. Apparently there had been some infestation a few decades ago, before the Horde even. When she had first been told about it Adora had been somewhat shocked. Rats were no uncommon thing in the Fright Zone but what really got to her was the second part. The “before the Horde” part. Sometimes it felt like the planet stopped and started with her.
She adjusted the grip on her sword. She was kinda right, in a way.
“You know, you’re lucky it was me,” Glimmer said.
Adora furrowed her brow and looked at Glimmer.
“Instead of Catra. If you had done the whole—” Glimmer made a serious face and then stuck a hand out wildly like she was trying to block someone, “—thing with Catra she would’ve clawed you.” Glimmer rolled her eyes, “Cause Catra gets to be angry.”
“Um,” Adora set the bot down, letting it scuttle away. “Are you angry?”
Glimmer rolled her eyes, scarily reminiscent of Catra, “No. But you don’t need to protect me.”
Adora absolutely did. “Okay,” her voice cracked and Glimmer scowled.
“So where should we check first?”
Adora straightened, she liked plans. “Her lab. Then her holding cell. From there we can go to the Base of Operations, and finally the barracks. If it’s all as barren as this place is…”
“There’s gotta be a lead somewhere. Ready to teleport?”
Adora shook her head, “We’re better off walking. This place is too much of a maze.”
Glimmer sighed, “Lead the way.”
They hadn’t been walking long when Adora noticed how much Glimmer was staring at her. She kept sneaking glancing and then looking away and honestly it kind of made her skin itch. Adora had been hiding the limp pretty well, taking care to walk as close to the wall as possible so Glimmer wouldn’t have to see her horrifying facial scar, but they mostly hung out at night. Like, sleepovers or whatever Bow called them. Instead of just—sleeping. Maybe Glimmer still wasn’t used to the massive electrical scar that made her half blind.
“So you’re dating my sister.”
Adora tripped over thin air.
She just managed to right herself, double checking there weren’t any boobytraps before desperately calming herself so Glimmer wouldn’t see the rising blush.
“Um, I guess.”
“You guys get stuck in a First One’s ruin for a couple days and then she’s ready to bring you into the rebellion and date you?”
Glimmer sounded exactly like Queen Angella right now. It occurred to Adora this was the first time she’d hung out with Glimmer alone. For the most part, she and Bow were attached at the hip and Catra had really tried to check in with Adora a lot to make sure she was adjusting okay. Right now, Glimmer and Catra were a bit like opposing magnets.
“What do you even like about Catra?” Glimmer demanded, stepping closer.
“I—”
“How well could you even know her?”
“Really well!” Adora felt her mouth move before she could stop it. “I know that she cares about people a lot. More than anyone else I’ve ever met. She’s willing to do anything for the people she loves. I know that she’s smart and clever and always has eight different ways out of things and nine different new ideas before there’s even a problem. I know that she’s brave and isn’t afraid to care about things or feel things and—and—she understands responsibility. And fear. And… and I guess me.”
Glimmer’s face was hard for only a moment longer before she cracked a smile, “Pretty good. I give you a B minus. Might want to work on it when you tell my mom all that.”
“A what? Wait, what? Tell who?”
“Catra’s going through a lot but my mom can’t hate you forever. She’ll get over it once she realizes you care about Catra.”
“She should hate me. I killed her husband.”
Glimmer looked her over, “You couldn’t have been more than five.”
“No, I mean, the Horde did.”
Glimmer groaned, “Oh my god. And here I thought that finally Catra had found someone at her level. She usually goes for morons.”
“Usually?” Adora asked. How many people had Catra dated? Did she care that Adora hadn’t dated anyone? What did she—
Glimmer’s eyes widened. “Um, which way did you say Entrapta’s lab was again?”
They kept walking, but now Adora was the one stealing glances at her companion.