Influence

“Two weeks. It has been two weeks, Wildcat. Get out of bed.” Scorpia pulled Catra out of bed.

“I don’t care!” Catra lashed out with her claws at Scorpia’s pincers. Catra aimed at the princess’ hard exoskeleton not really trying to hurt her. As annoying as Scorpia was constantly trying to befriend Catra and call her stupid nicknames, Catra never disliked the overbearing friendly Force Captain. It was actually kind of nice to know that someone cared. No one cared about Catra anymore, except for Scorpia. And Scorpia kept coming back no matter what Catra did.

Catra (secretly) liked Scorpia because she was different, she wasn’t quite human in the same way Catra was. In a different world, outside of the Horde, if Scorpia wasn’t so obviously in love with Catra, if Catra was more emotionally available, they might have been able to be good friends. Or rather Catra would have been able to return the friendship.

“Listen.” Scorpia put a pincer on each of Catra’s shoulders, for a girl who referred to herself as the muscle and had pincers for hands she was surprisingly capable of being gentle. “I know that you are annoyed you let Adora get away, I understand that you are angry Wildcat. If I was in charge I’d let you mop as long as you wanted. But Hordak had been demanding to see you for days, he needs you in battle today…”

Catra scoffed, Scorpia didn’t know anything, no one had a clue how Catra felt. No one could understand how Catra felt about Adora. Least of all Scorpia.

“Or he’ll demote you.” Scorpia finished shyly.

Catra growled, a deep rumbling low in her throat. Catra unsheathed her claws and Scorpia backed away. Good, she should be scared. Scorpia would be wise to trust less, especially Catra. Scorpia would be much better off without her.

“Fine.” Catra sheathed her claws and followed Scorpia to Hordak’s sanctum.

Catra trudged behind Scorpia. Hordak was so annoying, always demanding everything of Catra, yet he himself did nothing, locked up in this room with Entrapta and his gadgets. They were an odd pair and Catra was pretty sure that they admired what the other could tell them about science at what not more that they enjoyed each others company. To each there own, she supposed.

They arrived at Hordak's laboratory and Scorpia knocked on the door before flashing Catra a smile before scuttling off. Scorpia was such a trusting goof, she was lucky she hadn't been crushed like a bug by Shadow Weaver in her childhood. Ugh, Catra hated that woman, most of the time.

"Catra." Hordak's voice echoed in the room. Catra hated that she was never aware of whether Hordak was speaking or his weird tiny flying baby parrot recording device was parroting his words back at her from up amongst the pipes. This time it was actually Hordak because he turned around and continued speaking as Catra stepped into the room.

"I have been demanding your presence for quite some time, Force Captain." Hordak drolled, though it was clear that out of the corner of his eye he was watching Entrapta work. Maybe he did have a soft spot for her.

"I'm sorry Lord Hordak. I was busy with Shadow Weaver's old papers. She left them in quite a disarray and managing the entire army is quite a lot of effort." Catra hissed in return. How dare he criticise her while he indeed nothing but remain locked up here all day? Catra did everything, she ran the Horde practically. Everything would actually work much better if Hordak stepped down and stopped wasting resources. Catra could find a way for many things to work much more efficiently.

"Hmmm, you know I do not like liars, Force Captain. Force Captain Scorpia has reported that you were mopping in bed." Damn Scorpia, did she really rat her out like that?

"Or rather my parrot reported that she said such things."

Hordak clearly learnt a trick or two from Shadow Weaver on manipulating people. Good one Hordak.

"Scorpia was joking, Lord Hordak."

"So former Force Captain Adora is not responsible for this outburst of yours?"

"You don't know what you are talking about."

"I would advise you not to take that tone with me, Force Captain. Especially when I have recently learnt that you indeed captured, Princess She-Ra and let her go. Is that right?"

"What is it you wanted from me, Lord Hordak?”

“Fine, do not tell me. But do it again-”

“I get it. I will not let Adora escape again.”

“Next time I will kill you, Force Captain. Don’t disappoint me, Catra.” Hordak adjusted a piece of tubing on his armour. “I want you to get me Queen Angella. Do that and everything is forgiven.”

Hordak turned back to Entrapta and she handed him a piece of tech or something and it was clear that Catra had been dismissed. Catra took a deep breath in and left Hordak’s sanctum.

Hordak was the worst.

As soon as Catra left the room Scorpia was on her. She had a million question about what happened, what mission they were going on, if Hordak was mad. Catra let Scorpia talk for a good minute before she turned without a word and punched the wall so hard her fist ached.

“Catra!” Scorpia cried running up to her trying to grab her hand with her pincers and check on her.

Catra pulled away from Scorpia and glared at her. Catra was fuming. "Get off." Catra snarled and Scorpia raised her pincers. "I want you to ready three battalions. Actually two. Two full battalions then, you, Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle are with me, in a proper vehicle. We leave in two hours, i don't care what you have to do. Just get it done."

"Yes, Catra." Scorpia looked hurt. She turned away and walked off to fulfill Catra's orders.

Catra walked off to her room. When she got there she pull out the medical box from under her bed. She poked her hand, it was bleeding but she healed quickly, her hand wasn't broken. Catra pulled a rag out of the box and poured a bit of alcohol on the rag. Catra wiped her fist until the wound until she had stopped bleeding and it felt okay again. Catra wrapped her hand in a fresh cloth.

Punching things was a terrible idea but Catra was so annoyed at Hordak, what did he even do?

Catra pulled on some gloves over her hands to hide the cloth. Then Catra pulled out a cloak. She didn't know what she was doing really. Hordak never planned battles, Catra did that, every time. She ordered soldiers, she got them weaponry, she gained new land, she made sure the entire Fright Zone ran for goodness sake! Yet that lunatic locked up in his office tinkering with his toys and Entrapta and he dared threaten her? She'd like to see him manage his own army.

Wait... Entrapta, the bots. Okay, Catra could do this and then she would deal with the issue of Hordak. Hordak, Adora and everything latter. First let's get Glitter, wait no Shimmer... Ah who cares? Let’s get the queen's kid and then she could trade her for Angella. Now how could she be sure as few princesses showed up as possible and which princesses would do where?

Catra walked up to the map on the wall. Scorpia would be ready with the soldiers soon so she needed to work fast. Catra could not show weakness. If she showed weakness then she would lose everything she built and Adora made her weak, Catra better stay away from her, if that was even possible.

If Catra sent bots to three cities in advance she could clear them and raise alarm to get the princesses there. If she just wanted Sparkles she couldn’t have all the princesses in one place, she also needed to make sure she could control where each of the princesses would go so she could make sure she would be where Sparkles would be. Okay, so Flinte is near the water so they would definitely send the water princess there. Catra didn’t really care which particular princess went where but she knew Arrow boy and Sparkles and Adora would be together. As long as she knows where they would go… Ah the plant princess, which kingdom was hers? Plumiera, yes, Silono is near there so Flinte and Silono she would send bots then troops to distract the princesses and if Catra gained those towns too that would be great. Now, where should Catra meet Adora… Not Adora, Sparkles. And maybe Adora…

Was it a bad idea to talk to Adora too? Maybe she could get something out of this. Closure or something like that?

Catra arrived in Asan. It was a big town, near to Bright Moon, but that was not why Catra chose it. Asan had many wandering streets and alleyways that Entrapta’s bots had mapped put. Catra had decided that Scorpia - possibly with Lonnie, but honestly Scorpia wasn’t likely to need help- would be hiding in a back alleyway along the main street and kidnap Sparkles and Arrow boy. Catra was going to stand in the middle of Asan. She told everyone it was simply to distract Adora because if She-Ra got involved in the mix it could cause complications. But Catra had personal reason for wanting to see Adora.

Catra pulled the cloak over her head to cover her face. The bots nearby alerted Catra that people had entered the town. Catra nodded to Lonnie and Scorpia would quickly disappeared down a back alley to ready themselves. Catra took a deep breath and dug her claws into her gloves.

She could handle this, she was literally running a whole entire military operation, who cares about Adora? She’s just a princess, a silly childhood crush, the enemy.

After about fifteen mintues of Scorpia and Lonnie leaving her to hide Catra heard foot steps behind her. Adora…

“Hello?” Adora called, the sound of her boots on the cobblestones getting louder as she approached Catra. “I’m looking for my friends, have you seen…”

Catra turned around, lifting the cloak from her face. Adora trailed off, clearly caught off guard. But there was more than that. Adora had really fallen right into her trap. Catra knocked her to the ground in a flash, throwing Adora’s sword out of her reach and pining Adora to the ground with her body. Gotcha, Adora, right where I want you.

“Hey Adora.” Catra said in her signature singsong tone.

“Where are Bow and Glimmer?” Adora screamed at Catra. There was bitterness in her voice, everything was different from last time she had seen her. The teasing was gone and Catra desperately wanted it to come back. Catra wanted Adora to be the flirty teasing person she was in her office two weeks ago.

“Straight to buisness, huh, Princess?” Catra teased trying to bring out the playfulness in Adora again. “Don’t worry about your friends they aren’t hurt. Scorpia is taking good care of them.”

“Catra, let them go.” Adora demanded, clearly not looking to play Catra’s games. She tried to move her weight to gain the advantage over Catra. But Catra was too quick for Adora and moved easily to pin Adora’s arms over her head. Catra knew Adora too well for Adora to one up her.

“Careful Princess. It doesn’t look like you are in any position to be making demands right now?” Catra teased. Catra missed being this close to Adora, it brought back memories of their childhood, sparing and play fighting. But Catra wasn’t a child anymore, Adora wasn’t her best friend, she was her enemy and Catra needed to remember that and she did, with the gentle pressure of her claws against Adora’s face. The fear in Adora’s eyes brought Catra back to the sad reality. Catra could see that Adora knew Catra could hurt her, that she would hurt her, if it came to it and Catra had no doubt Adora could and would hurt Catra if their positions were reversed. It hurt.

“What do you want Catra?” Adora spat out. Anger was rising off Adora like smoke, Catra had clearly struck a nerve, now Adora would make sure that Catra would pay for that. Because Catra had taken Adora’s best friends, because that title was no longer Catra’s anymore.

“What a tricky question. You see, technically I’ve got what I came to get. I came to get little Glimmer so we can barter with the Queen. So I’ve got what Hordak wanted.” Catra said, brushing a hand down Adora’s cheek. Catra decided to be honest, because if she couldn’t tell Adora the truth who could she? Catra didn’t trust anyone anymore, not since Adora left but nevertheless Adora was the only one she ever trusted and no matter how much Catra tried not to she still believed Adora cared for her.

“So… why haven’t you left then?” Adora’s voice cracked as Catra’s gentle touch. Oh Adora, Catra wanted nothing more than to kiss Adora in the moment. To take the uncertainty from Adora. To show Adora that Catra was not uncertain about Adora, that she had never wavered from her love of Adora. That Catra could give her the world.

“I…”

I want you, I want you to come home. Come Adora be with me and we can defeat Hordak. We can rule the Horde together. We can make it good, we can live peacefully with your princess, just come home.

“I wanted to see you.”

Honesty didn’t have place here. Not when honesty was selfish. Catra couldn’t ask Adora to come home and she knew it. Adora would be miserable and Catra couldn’t deal with it, even if it meant that Catra was miserable. Catra could handle misery but seeing Adora miserable, because of her, that would be an entirely different kind of torture.

“I don’t want to hear it, Catra.” Adora glared back and Catra felt her heart shattering. “I am not here for you.”

“I don’t believe you.” Catra did believe her, Adora wasn’t hers anymore, Adora no longer did things for Catra. Catra simply didn’t want to believe Adora.

“Believe whatever you want.”

“Fine! I do want something.” Catra sighed and sat up on Adora’s stomach flicking her hair out of her face, Catra almost smiled went Adora watched her run her hand through her hair. Adora had always loved the less conventional parts of Catra, the things that made her different. Adora stood up for Catra against everyone else.

“I want…” What did Catra want? A lot of things, but all of them were selfish and none of them were things she could ask of Adora. Not like this, when she had already ruined everything. Maybe though… if she couldn’t get Adora maybe she could get Shadow Weaver back. Catra needed her help, she knew how to run the Horde and Catra missed her. “Shadow Weaver, from what I understand she is residing in Bright Moon and I want her back.”

“Will you let go of my friends if I do it?” Adora whispered.

Her friends, Arrows and Glitter, who were ever so important to Adora and more important than Catra. Catra hated them for taking her Adora away, if it hadn’t been for them Adora would still be with Catra. They could’ve been running the Horde side by side already. Yet even now when Catra was right in front of her Adora couldn’t stop thinking about them.

“Hell no, Princess. I don’t think you understand our situation.” Catra raised her claws to Adora’s throat but Adora wasn’t afraid. Instead Adora grazed back at Catra definitely and it was clear she wasn’t about to back down

“No. I don’t think I do Catra. Explain it to me. Explain to me why you are doing any of this.”

Adora was right. None of this made any sense, she was acting emotionally, she should leave Adora alone and just take the princess. But if she did that Adora would be alone.. Could she really do that to Adora? But what could she do? Without the queen Hordak would kill her… But Adora was more important!

Catra’s mind raged, fighting against itself, she needed to breathe, she needed to get away from Adora. She needed to stop, somehow, everything needed to stop.

“I…” Catra’s voice broke and she leapt off Adora and up onto the wall surrounding the fountain in an instant. “You. All of this, it’s because of you. You left me Adora. None of this would have happened if you stayed with me.”

“Catra, I…”

Catra wanted to cry. Adora couldn’t see that, she needed to be strong, she needed to leave. Nothing else mattered right now, Hordak could do his worst, Catra no longer cared.

“No, Adora leave it. Have your stupid Sparkles and Arrows back. Your best friends…”Catra spat venom into the words as she leapt down from the ledge straightening up from her crouch and walking away from Adora. “Because that is obviously not me anymore.”

Catra let Adora see her tears falling from her eyes for a second before she stalked off. Catra blinked back tears as she whispered into the intercom. “Let them go.”

“Catra!” Adora called after her, but Catra couldn’t allow Adora to see her this weak or Catra might be tempted to let herself be comforted. Something she could not allow. Ever.