Quicksand

What the fuck was that?!

Catra’s pacing around her room is making her feet warm. She had moved to her private quarters now, so she could frantically pace without judgement. According to her higher-ups, the only other incident this evening was a flying horse taunting her front guards and one of them passed out. Meaning: no other princesses, no army invading, no members lost, nothing stolen. Adora just showed up out of nowhere, then left. It had to be an intel mission, none of her blueprints were missing though. She put her guards on high alert, but still feels uneasy.

“I’m proud of you.” Adora’s words echo through her head. She stoops down to pick up the cloak that Adora left. Catra is lost in thought, replaying every second of the last encounter over and over in her mind. Did she just- did she just come check on me?

“Catra!” Scorpia’s voice comes from behind her, startling her out of her thoughts. Involuntarily, Catra jumps, fur poofed out and a squeak escaping despite her attempt not to. She lands on all fours, then quickly stands, smoothing out her tail. At least the dreads minimized her disgruntled appearance. Scorpia tries to hide her smile behind her claw but Catra can see it in her eyes. 

“Yes?” 

“Hi! I, uh, um. Permission to talk as friends?” 

Catra raises an eyebrow. “Granted?”

“Right! So how was your visit? Tell me everything!” Scorpia sits on the bed, claws up and eyes sparkling.

“UGH. Permission revoked.” Catra falls onto the bed next to her, covering her face.

“Nope! Not this time, wildcat. I want ALL the details!” 

“Wait, how did you know she was here?” Catra asks, leaning up on an elbow.

“I saw - well, bumped into - Adora in the hallway. She looked okay, so I figured she left on good terms.” Scorpia gives Catra a pointed look. “Oh! And I gave her a jacket too. Figured it would help her keep a low profile on the way out.” 

Catra, sighing, lays back down, covering her eyes with a hand. “Next time, apprehend her and throw her in the Ribs.” The Ribs is what they had nicknamed their fight dome.

“Aw, Catra.” Scorpia smiles, knowingly. “You don’t mean that.” She reaches inside her jacket, pulling out the headpiece. “I brought you something!”

Catra peeks through her fingers, her yellow eye glinting in the light. She sees the metal and sits up, taking the gift. She looks at it, running her thumb over the engraving. She looks back up at Scorpia, who is scratching the back of her neck with a claw and looking away.

“Since, you know, this is your thing now. Let me know how it fits! I can always get it adjusted…”

“...thanks.” It’s a beautiful piece, and it couldn’t have been easy for Scorpia to find someone to make it.

Scorpia blushes and grins. “You’re welcome.” They sit in silence for a few minutes. Catra takes off the headpiece from her days in the Horde, replacing it with the new one. The metal feels cool against her head. Looking at the old one, she realizes just how worn it is. The red faded to a lighter shade from the sun, scuffs and scrapes from some battle or another interrupting the uniform color. Her stomach knots and turns looking at how small it is in her hands now as opposed to how big it felt the first time she put it on.

“Sooo are you gonna tell me what happened?” Scorpia probes. 

“What?!” Catra jumps.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! We don’t have to if you don’t want to-” Catra quickly realizes that Scorpia is referring to the earlier incident, not to where her mind had gone just then. 

“It’s fine.” Catra sighs, shifting her weight. “I mean, what was she even thinking? Walking in here like she owns the place with that stupid sword, no back up or anything? Ugh.” She stands up and resumes pacing.

“Yeah it does seem weird that she just, you know, left.” Scorpia offers, her head turning back and forth to follow the cat.

“Well now all of Etheria is going to know we’re here, so we might as well start raiding the west.” Catra throws her hands in the air, exasperated. “It’ll be easier than messing with the Horde reinforcements.”

“I mean, we could still just go talk to them before we start going in guns blazing.” Catra looks over, opening her mouth to argue the same side she had last time, but Scorpia holds up a claw. “We don’t know that Adora’s going to tell the princesses that we’re here, and even if she does, we’re none of their business. To be honest, she seemed surprised that we left the Horde - and didn’t want to fight once she knew that.” 

Catra ponders her friend’s words. She still doesn’t want to be viewed as weak, as that could be risking mutiny. “Fine. If you want to try making a deal, you do it. Good luck keeping these assholes from breaking it though.” she gestures towards the mess hall, indicating their own members. Townsfolk are notoriously trusting and easy to manipulate, where bandits are a rough people. Fun, but slimy.

“Really?” Scorpia has those little tears at the edges of sparkly eyes. “You’d do that for me?”

“Ugh. Don’t get all mushy about it or I take it all back.” Scorpia grabs her in a big hug. “Technically it’ll be you doing it for you.”

But the big scorpion woman doesn’t hear the last part, she’s too busy showering Catra with thank yous.

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Adora sneaks out the way she came in, saluting awkwardly to the guards there. They give her a funny look, but then carry on making fun of their comrade who “fainted” at the sight of the “flying beast.” She follows the canyon wall a little ways before turning into She-Ra. 

Swift Wind, where are you?

“Hey Adora!” She yelps, jumping back when Swift Wind comes around the corner behind her. “What is the Horde up to? Is it a super big bot? A flying contraption? A frankenprincess made from the body parts of all of the princesses and given life by lightning?!”

Adora turns back into herself, sighing. “No, Swifty.” She pauses, unsure of what to tell him. She’s a terrible liar, and Catra was her former enemy, but it felt wrong to explain everything. She isn’t sure that everyone would understand - or that Swift Wind would keep it a secret. So, she tells him a version of the truth.

“It’s actually not the Horde at all. Just some Crimson Waste gang with some old Horde tech.” She hopes he can’t see her sweating in the dark.

“Huh. That’s weird. You seemed sure the Horde would be here.” Adora swings onto his back and they take off towards Brightmoon. “Did you find any signs of Catra?” 

Adora blanches, she forgot that Swift Wind was there when they interrogated Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio. “Um uh n-no actually. No signs of her here!” She sweats harder.

Swift Wind turns his head around, looking unamused. “Adora, you know I can tell when you’re lying, right?”

She laughs nervously. “Y-yes, well, um, you see it’s-” She takes a breath to compose herself. “I found out that Hordak sent her and Scorpia out here as punishment for something, so they’re actually, sort-of, not with the Horde anymore?”

“Oh! That actually explains a lot.” He turns back around. “I wonder what they did to be kicked out, didn’t Shadow Weaver say that Catra took her place as second in command?”

“Yeah, I wonder.”  Adora furrows her brow and bites her lip, playing with a frayed edge of her new jacket as they sail through the cool night air.

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It has now been a full two weeks since the shape shifter showed up in his sanctum. Hordak puts the final piece on his portal, but hesitates with his hand on the lever. The last several attempts, Entrapta was with him. She checked over his work, adding things and talking him down when they failed in an explosion of green light and energy.

Could she still be working on that cloaking technology? She said it wouldn’t take long, and to his knowledge she hadn’t lied to him before. His imp crawls up his leg, choosing to sit on his shoulder to relay the latest message. Entrapta’s voice rings out in the quiet room.

“-still! This one won’t hurt a bit!” Sounds of clattering and movement play through the imp’s open mouth. Another voice enters: “That’s what you said last time! How many measurements do you even need?! Oww!” Then the recording begins to repeat and Hordak waves his arm dismissively.

He considers testing this version of the portal again, weighing the pros and cons. It would really be optimal to have a second set of eyes… Sighing, he turns on his computer and calls the Black Garnet chamber that Entrapta has since turned into her personal workspace. The camera buzzes and whirrs to life, showing him the room full of gadgets and projects. 

Double Trouble is inside a cylindrical chamber, electric nodes attached to various points on their body and an IV attached to each arm. The shape shifter jumps, presumably from noticing Hordack’s electronic presence.

“Hordak!” Entrapta’s face comes into view. “I’ve made such great progress! Did you know that-”

“I require Double Trouble’s presence in my sanctum at once.” He hisses and shuts the video. It comes out more bitter than intimidating, but he shoves that thought to the back of his mind as he walks to his throne to wait. A few minutes later, he hears the door open and Double Trouble enters, looking somewhat disheveled. They make their way to the foot of his steps, then bow deeply.

 At least this one is obedient. 

“Double Trouble.” He clicks his nails on the armrest.

“Your highness. You’ve summoned me, does this mean you’ve fi- you’ve realized my potential for you?”

I’ve realized that my lab assistant has become distracted due to your presence. “I have an assignment for you.”

Double Trouble’s eyes light up at that. “Excellent! I’ve been thinking; I could go to the princesses as a scorned Entrapta, left behind from their mission to feed them ‘Horde secrets’ - all false, of course. Oo! Or as a small child with a tragic past, orphaned by the war seeking refuge-”

Hordak almost lets out a groan, instead he holds up his claw to silence this rambling. “You must complete training as any Horde recruit. I’m assigning you to Octavia’s squadron. Do whatever she asks, then we can discuss the use of your … unique abilities.”

Double Trouble looks disappointed, but bows anyways. “Of course. At once.” They saunter out, and Hordak releases a small huff. His failed clone tilts its head at him before opening its mouth. “Hordak!” Entrapta’s excited voice rings out and he quickly moves to kick the imp, but misses. It flaps around the room, cackling at its own devilish ways.