Executive Assistant

“Do I really have to wear this?” Adora groans as she looks at herself in the mirror, Catra sitting outside the changeroom with the biggest grin on her face, “I look ridiculous, Catra.”
“Come out here so I can see, Adora.” Catra says from where she’s seated, laptop open on her lap while she works on something. Catra hears Adora groan from behind the changing room door, “It can’t be that bad…”
As Adora walks out in the dress that Catra had chosen for her, the CEO’s jaw drops as well as nearly letting her laptop slip off her lap as she takes in the sight in front of her. Adora smooths down the red sleeveless dress and looks up to Catra gaping at her, not saying a word. Taking the silence as a bad thing, Adora feels like she’s right, “See, I told you I look ridiculous.”
Watching Adora frown and continually fidget with the dress makes Catra speechless, unable to refute whatever Adora is complaining about regarding the dress. She eventually snaps out of it when Adora starts waving a hand in front of her face. Catra bats the hand away with a grin, “Sorry, what did you say?”
Smirking, Adora risks brushing Catra’s cheek with her thumb before leaning in and pressing a chaste kiss on the CEO’s cheek, “I said, I look ridiculous.”
Catra leans up and takes a good look at Adora standing in front of her, barefoot and shakes her head, “You don’t look ridiculous. But I definitely can’t have you wear that at work.”
“Why not?” Generally confused, the blonde looks down at the dress again.
“Because,” Catra begins, shutting her laptop and placing it behind her on the chair as she stands and puts her hands lightly on Adora’s waist, “If you wear that dress at work, I’m not going to be able to concentrate at all.”
“Is that so?” Adora puts on a sultry smile and leans into Catra’s body, “Am I, distracting…?”
Catra turns her head, squeezing her fingers gently into Adora’s waist, “Fuck… okay, no. You need to take that off, like right now.” Adora quirks and eyebrow as Catra realises what she had just suggested, “No, not like that. I mean… fuck…”
Adora giggles as she leans in and wraps her arms around Catra’s neck, “You are ridiculous. You know that?”
Catra grins as she feels Adora’s breath on her neck, “I’m not ridiculous. You’re just too… much.”
Catra reluctantly pulls away with a groan as Adora whines softly at almost the same time, “Too much, huh?”
“It’s a good thing.” Catra steps back to get another look at Adora, sliding her hands into the pockets of her chinos, “I know this place isn’t really your kind of store, but it was worth it to see this.”
Adora blushes and she sticks her tongue out at Catra, “Well, I better get changed.”
“Yeah…” Catra sighs and takes in one last long look at Adora with a smile, “Go on, get changed back into your comfy clothes.” As Adora walks back towards the changeroom, Catra remembers, “Oh, hang on.”
Adora stops dead in her tracks, “Yeah?”
“You got to attend with DE ball with me.” Catra requests, rubbing the back of her neck nervously, “I mean, if you want to that is. No pressure. I mean you’ll have to be there anyways as my EA…”
Catra’s rambling is halted by Adora’s body hugged around hers and the sound of her giggling, “It’s a work thing, I know about it. I’ve seen it on the calendar. Not to mention the posters and emails swirling around the office about it.”
“Not my office.” Catra defends.
“That’s because your office only has 1 occupant. And that 1 person is you.” Adora huffs, “I really should decorate your office one of these days.”
“I’ll give you free reign to do whatever you want in my office once you find the mole.” Catra replies, aware of what Adora’s mind will drift to.
Adora purses her lips a little and then nods, no quip or comeback in sight, “Okay, well, should I just wear this then to the ball?”
Shaking her head, “No, I’ll get you something… more appropriate for the ball.”
“Okay. But I get to see it first. No surprises.” Adora points a finger at Catra, “I’m not wearing some silly poofy dress.”
Laughing at the thought that Catra would even consider putting Adora in something like that, Catra says, “Trust me. I’ve got style, remember?”
The lopsided grin on Catra’s face earns an eye roll from Adora, “Well, then, you better be in a suit.”
Catra doesn’t say anything as she goes back to her seat, opening her laptop on going back to whatever she was doing. Not taking no or no answer for an answer, Adora takes the laptop from Catra and places it gently on the floor before she crawls into Catra’s lap, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, “If you are not in a suit, I’m not going to the ball with you. EA or not.”
Grinning and with a roll of her eyes, Catra steadies Adora in her lap by wrapping Adora’s mid section in a firm hug, “Fine.”
Adora nods but makes no move to get off Catra’s lap.
“You know, you’re kind of pushy for an EA.” Catra drawls.
“Uh huh.” Adora acknowledges with a grin, “I know you like it.”
Groaning out playfully, Catra gives Adora a gentle squeeze around her waist making the blonde yelp, “Okay, go get changed. I think we need to go to your place so I can pick out your outfits for the week.” Adora plants her feet back down and nods, “Oh, and you can drive us there.”

“Okay, gently release the clutch and at the same time press softly on the accelerator.” Catra softly guides from the passenger seat of Swift Wind, they start moving forward slowly, Adora still getting use to clutching, “Okay, once you feel us moving forward, release the clutch completely.”
“Oh, wow, I’m doing it!” Adora squeals happily in the driver’s seat, her fingers tightly gripped onto the steering wheel, “Look Catra! I’m doing it!”
Catra chuckles next to her, preening at herself and proud that Adora has finally got Swifty into first gear. They’ve had to wait until Sunday to be able to do this, as the traffic around town a lot more docile and there were more empty parking lots to take the blonde to learn in.
“Okay, do you want to do the start stop thing again? Get used to it without my prompting?” Catra asks.
Adora’s got a smile so wide that it’s hard not to reciprocate it, the blonde nods happily as she rounds the parking lot and comes to a stop. “Okay, just talk me through one more time.”
“Okay, princess.” Catra agrees, “Put the car in park and put it in neutral for me.” Adora does as she’s asked, “Right, now, off you go. Put it in first and we’ll get moving.”
“Alright.” Adora takes a deep breath, before pushing the clutch in and putting the car in first gear, “I can do this…” Catra stops herself from making some snarky remark at Adora’s self coaching, instead making herself relax back into her seat as the blonde goes through the steps again, talking it out.
“You doing okay there?” Catra asks when Adora puts the car back in neutral.
“Yeah.” Adora replies after a moment.
“It’s okay, Adora.” The soft reassuring voice of Catra calms Adora down a little, “Take your time. There’s no rush.”
Adora nods again, “Thank you.”
“Huh? What for?” Catra asks bemused, “This is more for my benefit than yours.” She tries to play this down as she looks away from Adora’s grateful eyes, “It’s, uh, whatever. Just drive, would you?”
Adora just keeps her eyes on Catra as the other woman writhes around in the passenger seat, the blonde nudging her, “Thank you. For real.”
Catra sighs before settling on, “Sure thing, princess.”
“You know, people are going to start to talk if you keep being so nice to me.” Adora’s smile still wide before she quickly adds, “I like you too.”
“Well, duh.” Catra smiles, “Think that’s pretty obvious.”
“Shut up!” Adora laughs, “It’s too bad you like me too.”
“I wouldn’t call it bad…” Catra smirks before nudging the blonde, “Come on, show me what you can do.” Adora take a breath in before her thoughts are interrupted, “Drive the car, Adora.”
Adora sticks her tongue out one more time before she turns back to the task at hand, remembering everything Catra had just taught her. She takes a deep breath in again and then puts the car into first gear and slowly they start moving forward. Catra holds back a chuckle at seeing Adora’s tongue stick out in concentration as she slowly moves forward.
“Do you want to try to go a little bit faster?” Catra asks.
“Uh, I don’t know if I’m ready for that…” Adora answers nervously, “I mean, I just got first gear sorted.”
“First gear is usually the hardest to master.” Catra tells the blonde, “And you’ve nearly mastered it after less than an hour. After that, you’ve got 2nd, 3rd, 4th and then reverse.”
“Mmm… can I practise a little more first?” Adora grips the steering wheel and relaxes a few times, “I don’t think I’m ready for the next step just yet.”
“Alright. No pressure.” Catra’s voice calm as she sits back in her seat, “Like I said, take your time. Let me know when you feel a little more confident, okay?”
Adora nods and goes back to doing the exercises. Catra directs her to one of the parking ramps and gets her to practise on a slope. Adora nearly freaks out when the car starts rolling backwards before she can move forward. Catra pulls the handbrake up as Adora freaks out. The blonde grateful to have Catra next to her.
“Hey, hey.” Catra calms Adora down, “It’s okay. This is why we’re practising. Okay?”
Adora nods her head, but her breathing has picked up, “I… sorry, that was just… yeah…”
Catra squeezes Adora’s hand that on top of the stick shift, “It’s fine, Adora. Just breathe, babe…”
Adora brain stops panicking over the driving stuff and looks over at Catra with a surprised look on her face, “Did you just… did you just call me babe?”
“…no?” Catra tries to play it off, “I said, just breathe… okay?”
“No, that’s not what you said.” Adora insists, her breathing has gone back to near normal and her thoughts no longer on the car rolling backwards when she tried to do the start stop on a slope, “You called me babe. I heard it.”
“Argh, fine.” Catra groans, “It slipped out!”
Adora giggles at Catra’s bashfulness at using this nickname that was seemingly reserved for her girlfriend, “Nope, no take backsies! You’ve already called me babe!”
Trying to hide her face in her hands, Catra eventually emerges and sighs, “You are ridiculous. Come on, get back to driving Swifty, princess.”
Seeming satisfied, Adora does as directed and goes back to practising to take off on a slope. Catra shows her how to take off using the handbrake on a slope and Adora just shakes her head, telling the other woman that she’s not ready for that step yet and that Catra will have to show her again the next time they go for a practise. They switch seats and Catra drives Adora back to her place.
Unbuckling her seat belt, Adora looks over confused that Catra hasn’t made a move to get out of the car, let alone turn off the engine, “Uh, aren’t you coming up?”
Catra shakes her head, “No. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Well of course it’s not a good idea.” Adora rolls her eyes, “I really don’t want you going through my closest for the embarrassing things you’re going to make me wear to work.”
Laughing quietly a little, “Yeah… I think I would rather you feel comfortable at work than me making you feel uncomfortable while you try and find the mole.”
“You can’t do that!” Adora whines before she realises that she is shooting herself in the foot, “I mean, you won the bet.”
“Yeah, I did.” Catra replies, a smile on her lips, “But I still stand by my original wager.”
“We already had dinner together, Catra.” Adora points out, “And you took me out for dessert too.”
“We did have dinner together.” Catra agrees, “But, I didn’t get to take you out for dinner. Only dessert, which really doesn’t count.”
“It so does.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“You are so annoying!” Adora shoves at Catra’s shoulder.
“Yes, I am.” A grinning Catra replies, “Don’t worry, princess. I’ll take my winnings when you find the mole.”
“Ugh! Stupid mole!” Adora whines as her frustration picks up, “When I find whoever it is…”
Catra stops the blonde in her tracks, “Adora. Take a breath.”
“I’m going to find them, Catra.” Adora says with more conviction, “Then we can stop pretending.”
“In the meantime, go get some rest, Adora. It’s been a long day.” Catra sighs, “We’ll get cracking again on finding the mole tomorrow.”
As Adora reaches for the door, she pauses and turns to Catra, “Why did you teach me to drive Swifty? I didn’t win the match.”
“Like I said…” Catra starts Adora give her an unbelieving look, “Fine, I just like seeing you happy, okay.” She focusses her eyes on where her hands are on the steering wheel, “It, uh, makes me… happy? To see you… happy.”
“Now who’s being ridiculous.” Adora blushes as she leans in and kisses Catra’s cheek, “You are too fucking cute when you’re being sweet.”
Catra grunts in return which makes Adora laugh, “Okay, get out of my car.”
“Okay. Fine.” Adora playfully pouts as she opens the door and lets herself out, she turns around and Catra expects the blonde to say goodbye to her, instead, Adora pats Swifty and starts cooing, “Awe, goodnight Swifty. Thanks for being so good for me today and letting me drive you.”
“Are… Are you talking to my car?” Catra asks shaking her head and chuckling.
“Shush you!” Adora scolds, “I’m having a moment.”
“Oh, sorry I ruined your moment, princess.” Catra drawls with a grin.
“You’re just jealous, because I like Swifty more than you.” Adora teases.
“And I will always be jealous.” Catra agrees as she pulls the handbrake up and turns off the engine, unbuckling her seatbelt and stepping out of her car, “May I walk you to your door?”
“Such a gentleman.” Adora giggles and grabs Catra’s arm, “Are you coming in too?”
“No. That might lead to… more confusion.” Catra sighs, “But I will offer you a kiss.”
“A kiss, huh?” Adora smirks as they reach her door.
Catra nods.
“Well, this is me…” Adora puts her key in the door and then turns and leans on her door, waiting.
Catra presses her body into Adora’s, pinning the blonde against her door, hearing Adora’s breath hitch at the move. Catra leans in as Adora shuts her eyes. She can feel Catra’s breath on her face as the shorter woman leans in further and presses a soft kiss on Adora’s lips.
Adora moans subconsciously when it happens and she can feel Catra smile on her lips, but she doesn’t care as she lets out a quiet whine when Catra pulls back.
“Goodnight, princess.” Catra whispers into the ear, “I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early at work.”
Adora doesn’t open her eyes, instead just smiling dopily as she manages to nod, eventually getting out a “Goodnight Catra.” before she sees Catra start walking backwards away and then waiting at the end of the hall for Adora to finally come to her senses and open her door and go inside.
Catra sighs happily as she makes her way back out to Swift Wind, buckling up, turning the engine on and rolling her window down. There’s nothing in the world right now better than this moment.

Meanwhile, Adora is in a similar happy state as she closes her door and leans against it, touching her lips with her fingers and smiling to herself. As she turns around to lock the door someone grabs her from behind in a chokehold.
“Hello, Adora.” The strangers voice says as she feels a wet rag forcefully pushed against her mouth. Adora struggles, managing to break the choke hold and elbow whoever is attacking her in her apartment.
“Who are you?” She shouts at the masked intruder, “What do you want?”
3 more masked intruders appear from Adora’s living room wielding guns pointed at the blonde. They don’t say anything as they begin to advance forward. Adora knows 1 or 2 she can handle, but 4, that’s just wishful thinking. And definitely not when they are all armed. She turns back and opens her door, slamming it shut behind her as she runs down the hall to the stairs, hoping that Catra hasn’t left yet. As she rounds the corner, she feels a sharp blow to the back of the head and the last thing she sees are the ceiling lights of the hall and a masked figure standing over her.

It's 9am on Monday. Catra sits in her office, typing away on her laptop with her music blaring through the speakers in the room, 2 cups of coffee sit on her desk from Spinny’s as Catra’s leg bounces furiously to the beat. She looks at the time again, “Where is she?”
Catra checks her phone. No messages. No calls. Her eyebrows furrow and she drums her fingers on her desk a little harder before she finally mutters out loud, “Fuck it.”
Dialling Adora’s number, ready to give the blonde some stern words about being tardy when she’s met with Adora’s message bank instead. “What the fuck is going on?” She taps her phone on her forehead a few times before unlocking it again, this time calling Scorpia.
“Oh, good morning, Wildcat!” Scorpia greets on the other line.
“Have you seen Adora?” Catra bypasses the morning greeting and going straight to her question, “She isn’t here and she’s never late.”
“Sorry, Catra. I haven’t seen her since your match on the weekend.” Scorpia replies with a worry in her voice, “Maybe she just slept in?”
“No… that can’t be it. She’s usually awake at stupid o’clock to go running or something inane.” Catra replies quickly, not caring that she’s divulged a little bit too much, “I’m going to call Traps, can you meet me up here?”
Catra doesn’t wait for a reply as she hangs up on Scorpia and dials Entrapta.
“Catra!” Entrapta beams on the phone, “Why are you calling so early? You aren’t usually coherent enough to have a proper conversation until at least 10am…”
“Have you seen Adora?” Catra’s voice becoming a little more panicked, “She hasn’t shown up to work yet.”
“I don’t usually see anyone at all…” Entrapta replies as she concentrates on something else.
“Traps!” Catra yells into her phone, “Get up to my office, now!”
“Okay!” Entrapta replies with the enthusiasm of about 3 energy drinks.
The other 2 members of the Super Pal Trio converge in Catra’s office, Entrapta’s arm healed enough to be out of her sling, that the scientist is testing it by carrying way too much stuff in her arms, despite having both Emily’s trotting behind her. Scorpia was pacing back and forth by the windows nervously. She had never every heard Catra sound so concerned in her life, let alone had her friends have an impromptu meeting in her office.
Catra is on her laptop, furiously typing while grunting and cursing at her screen.
“Catra? Is everything alright?” Entrapta asks as she sets the gear in her arms on Catra’s desk, covering whatever papers and files that was sprawled underneath, “You sounded… worried.”
“I can’t get hold of Adora. She’s not answering her phone or messages.” Catra replies, “I’m trying to reach her friends, but they keep asking me questions back. Why is it so hard to get a straight answer out of them!?”
The subsequent growl brings Scorpia over, putting a reassuring and ground hand on Catra’s shoulder, squeezing gently, “I’m sure she’s fine.”
Catra shakes her head as her phone rings, “Hello?”
“Is this Catra?” A woman’s voice on the other line asks.
“Who is this?” Catra seethes into the phone.
There’s a little bit of ruffling on the other line as a man then speaks into the phone, “I’m Bow and that was Glimmer. We’re Adora’s friends.”
“Oh, fuck, right.” Catra replies apologetically without actually apologising, “Yeah, this is Catra. Do you know where she is?”
“We haven’t seen her since lunch on Thursday…” Bow answers, “I am worried though.”
“What do you mean?” Catra asks a little too loudly, “Where is she?”
“She’s not answering our calls or messages. She hasn’t been online on our BFS chat since Saturday afternoon… she doesn’t usually disappear without letting us know first.” Bow says, concern now ringing in his voice, “We just figured she was with you.”
“How do you even know about me?” Catra questions with a frown.
“Oh… haha…” Bow chuckles nervously as the shuffling appears again and Glimmer takes control of the phone once again.
“She won’t shut up about you is how.” Glimmer snaps at Catra, “You know, you’re her boss, right?”
“This is not the fucking time.” Catra replies with a growl, “Do you or do you not know where she is or could be?” She grunts out through gritted teeth.
“No.” Glimmer’s voice no longer angry, “Where was the last time you saw her?”
Catra looks at her friends, they’re listening intently to her conversation but Catra really doesn’t care right now at all, “I walked her to her door at her building last night. I even saw her go inside.” Catra admits, “And then, I haven’t heard anything since.”
“She can take care of herself…” Glimmer starts, “Usually anyways… I mean she’s fucking built and she’s got those black belts…”
“You’re not fucking helping…” Catra grunts into her phone, “We need to fucking find her. Now.”
“Hey! I don’t care who the fuck you are, but she’s our best friend.” Glimmer seethes into the phone, “You’re not the only one worried!”
Catra can hear the worry on Glimmer’s voice and it makes her feel like shit, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… fuck… we have to find her.”
“Agreed.” Glimmer manages to say despite a sob being heard, “We’ll go check her apartment. We’ve got the spare key to get inside.”
“Hang on, I’ll meet you there.” Catra says, “Don’t go into the building without me.”
“Okay. We’ll be there in about an hour. We took the trains in today.” Glimmer sighs into the phone.
“Where are you guys at? I might be able to swing by and pick you up on the way.” Catra offers without thinking.
“We’re both downtown in the BM Associates…” Glimmer trails off a little.
“I know that name…” Catra says to herself as Glimmer quickly cuts back in.
“Oh good. Give me us a call when you get here! Bye!” The call ends and Catra is left staring at her device in her hand.
“Traps, I need you to hack into the security system at Adora’s building.” Catra turns to her friend to say, “I don’t care what happens, just do it.”
“Okay!”
“Wait!” Scorpia shouts, “Stop. Do not do that, just yet.” Scorpia points to Entrapta who’s face turns into a pout, “We can’t just go in and hack security systems again.”
“Yes, we can. And we can do it undetected.” Entrapta provides, not understanding what Scorpia wants from her.
“Legally we can’t.” Scorpia exhales loudly, “Legally.”
“Oh…” Entrapta thinks to herself.
“I’ll take the fall. Just do it.” Catra offers, “Somethings wrong, I know it.”
Scorpia shakes her head, “You don’t know it, Catra.”
“I do. I fucking do know it!” Catra stands up abruptly from her chair, knocking it over in the process, before Catra sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose, “I’m sorry, Scorp. I don’t mean to yell at you.”
Scorpia brings Catra into her for a hug, “It’s okay. I get it. You’re worried.”
“I just know… something isn’t right.” Catra replies muffled inside Scorpia’s hug, “I have to get her back.”
“Okay, Wildcat.” Scorpia loosens her arms around Catra, “Let’s go get your girl.” She turns to Entrapta, “Do it, Entrapta.”
Catra smiles graciously at Scorpia, “Thank you.”
“Of course.” Scorpia smiles.
“Err… this might take me a while.” Entrapta tells them as she set ups her gear on Catra’s desk, “I have to run some other programs as well.”
“Yeah, sure. Let me know if you find anything.” Catra tells her as she picks up her car keys from her desk that’s now occupied by Entrapta, “Scorp and I are heading to pick up Adora’s friends. Apparently, they’ve got a key to her place.”
Entrapta nods but doesn’t answer, instead too busy typing on the keyboard and looking at the 1 of 3 screens she’s set up on Catra’s desk.

Glimmer and Bow jump into the back of Swift Wind as Catra drives them over to Adora’s apartment.
“So… you and Adora, huh?” Glimmer asks from the backseat, earning herself a nudge from Bow, “Ow, Bow!”
“There’s nothing going on with me and Adora.” Catra replies indifferently, “She’s just my EA. And I need my EA.”
“Uh huh.” Glimmer nods knowingly, “Sure, whatever you say.” She sing songs in the backseat.
“Shut up, Sparkles.” Catra grunts, “Or I’ll just kick you out and pick the locks.”
“Catra.” Scorpia scolds lightly, “Please don’t threaten our new friends.”
“Friends!?” Catra sputters out as Bow coos in the back with hearts in his eyes, “We barely even know them…”
“If they are friends with Adora, then I think they can be our friends too.” Scorpia declares with a finality to it that makes Catra glare at the road in front of her.
“Fine.” Catra eventually agrees as she parks up in front of Adora’s building and promptly gets out, “Hurry up and get out, we need to find her.”
The other 3 scramble out so Catra can lock Swifty up. Glimmer power walking to the front of the building, pulling out her keys and unlocking the door. They all enter the building and quickly make their way to Adora’s apartment door. Glimmer pulls out another key and puts it in the lock, but before she can turn the key, they find that it isn’t locked.
“Oh no…” Glimmer says with fear in her eyes.
“What?” Catra shoots up and looks over to see the door still shut, “Open the fucking door, Sparkles!”
“It’s unlocked…” Glimmer murmurs out, just loud enough for them to hear it.
Before Glimmer can reach to open the door, Catra grabs her hand, “Wait. There might be fingerprints on there. Here, let me.”
Using her sleeve, Catra carefully opens the door.
It’s dark inside. No lights on. Adora’s backpack on the ground.
“Where is she?” Bow whispers from the back as Catra surveys the apartment.
“Flip the switch for the lights, would you dude.” Catra asks.
Bow flips the switch as the overhead downlights turn on as Catra looks around a little more.
“I don’t like this…” Glimmer huddles into Bow, “I don’t like this at all… where is she?”
“I don’t know.” Bow whispers back, “But she’ll be okay. I know she will.” He tries to reassure his girlfriend feeling guilty that they weren’t around on the weekend.
“Can you guys look around and see if there’s anything out of place?” Catra asks, “I’ll check out the living room as that’s the only space I’ve really been in.”
The couple nod as they split up into their separate areas, Glimmer and Bow going through Adora’s bedroom while Catra and Scorpia look over the kitchen and living room.
“Someone was here.” Catra says under her breath, Scorpia just nods, “There were 3 of them. Sitting on her couch.”
Scorpia looks at the couch, “How can you tell?”
“The way it has been indented.” Catra answers, “I remember sitting on this couch and then moving and my previous spot was still indented. Her couch is fucking weird.” The slow nod from Scorpia doesn’t give Catra much confidence that her friend believes her, “So, there were at least 3 other people in her apartment that night.”
“How do you know it wasn’t her friends or something?” Scorpia questions looking over at Adora’s bedroom.
Catra sniffs around the couch, “Can you smell that?” Scorpia sniffs the air around the couch, “Do you remember that smell?”
Scorpia’s eyes go wide, “No…”
“Yes.” Catra growls, “Octavia’s gang.”
“Catra! Scorpia! Get in here!” Glimmer shouts from the bedroom, “You need to see this!”
The other pair quickly move to Adora’s bedroom and that’s when they see what Glimmer is referring to. There’s a note stabbed into the cupboard with a knife. Catra walks up to it, glaring it down.
“Fuck. Fuck!” Catra swears repeatedly as Scorpia tries to calm her down, eventually shaking her head and gritting her teeth, “They’ve got her. Fuck!” She turns to Scorpia, “I have to get her back.”
Before Scorpia can stop Catra, she takes a look at the note, “Oh no…” and then chases after her friend.
Bow and Glimmer look at each other, Glimmer reads the notes aloud, “C-Dog, leak the H or EA blood is on your hands.”
“Adora…” Bow mutters, “Quick, we need to go with them!”
They both rush out, slamming Adora’s apartment door shut as they chase after Catra and Scorpia. They manage to just get to Swift Wind as Catra and Scorpia argue next to it, “Hey!” Glimmer screams to get their attention, “We’re coming with you!”
“No. You aren’t.” Catra glares at them, “Call the police and get them to Adora’s apartment now.”
“Where are you going?” Glimmer screams back, “She… We need to get her back too. You’re not the only one who loves her!”
Catra keeps her glare focussed on Glimmer, “I’m going back to DE to find where they are, then I’m going to find her and kill whoever has her.”
“Here, take this.” Bow hands Scorpia a business card, “Call us when you locate her. We’ll bring back up. Glimmer’s mum can get police and whoever else down there to help.”
Scorpia takes the card and nods.
Catra gets into the car grunting the entire time, unlocking the passenger door for Scorpia before winding down her window, “Get the cops here now. Once I get her location, we’ll let you know. But I get first shot. Got it?”
Glimmer looks hard at Catra for a moment, trying to gauge the threat level before nodding, “Fine. You get a 2 minute head start, that’s all.”
“2 minutes?” Catra repeats, “That’s more than enough time.”
With a wave, Catra and Scorpia take off, leaving Glimmer and Bow behind. They both get on their phones quickly, making calls in their attempts to get Adora back.

Adora wakes up in a strange room, on a strange bed and a throbbing headache. She slowly sits up, lowering her bare feet to the carpeted floor and rubs the back of her head. When her eyesight clears up a little, she takes a good look around. She looks down first. She’s still fully clothed, the only thing missing are her shoes and socks. There’s a no blood on her clothes as far as she can see, which is a good thing, she thinks. The room looks like a hotel room, the windows have thick metal bars on the outside, but the sunlight comes through the lacey shades and the open curtains. The bed is big, king size bed with fresh sheets, it looks very luxurious except for the context that Adora finds herself in. There’s a desk against the wall with a desk lamp and on top of it, a covered tray. Apart from that, the room is bare. She puts a little weight on her feet and stands up shakily, using the bed to keep herself upright, she feels her pockets and find that they are empty, no phone, no wallet and no keys. She makes her ways to the door, shuffling slowly and using whatever she can lean on for support. When she gets to the door, she finds the door is locked. There’s another door just a metre away from the room door and she opens it. It’s the ensuite for the room, equipped with a large tub with jets, shower and double vanity.
“Where am I?” She asks the room as she sees herself in the mirror. There’s not a mark on her, which means she must have been struck from behind and didn’t get a chance to defend herself.
She walks back out to the main room and goes to the desk with the covered tray, lifting the cover to reveal a glass of water, a glass of orange juice and a plate with some meat and vegetables, that looked like it was cooked in a restaurant. It was still warm, so it must have been dropped off not that long ago. She felt her stomach grumble and despite her best judgement gave in and ate the food. It didn’t taste strange or have an aftertaste. She sipped the orange juice slowly, waiting to see if there was any… side effects. When she didn’t feel, any she drank the orange juice down, taking the water to the bedside table next to her as she sat back down on the bed.
She looked around the room again and sighed. She thought to herself that she could break the door down, she’s down it before. So Adora got up and slowly made her way to the door. Once again testing the door, pushing down on the handle. Nope still locked. She steps back and kicks at the door hard with her bare feet. It doesn’t budge. Adora tries again. And again. And again. And again. Then finally the door begins to splinter. Adora smiles to herself as she starts kicking against the door again until the door breaks and she can squeeze out of it. She peeks out of the door first. Looking left and right. Strange. There was no one around. She quietly steps out, careful to avoid the splintered wood on the floor and takes a few steps down the brightly lit hall. She keeps her breathing as calm as she can, silently walking towards the end of the hall where there is a lift. As she feels like she’s home free, a masked person steps out from around the corner, followed by another 3, all dressed the same.
“Where do you think you’re going?” They all draw their guns and point it at Adora, “I see you’ve broken your door. Tsk tsk. O’s not going to be happy about that at all. Especially since it was such a nice room.”
“Who are you? What do you want with me? Where are we?” Adora asks in rapid succession as she raises her hands up, “Why am I here?”
“My my… you do ask a lot of questions for an EA.” The masked man says, there’s a smug tone to his voice that just irks Adora, “Unfortunately for you, I don’t have to answer any of them. Now, turn around and walk back to your room.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No. I’m not going.” Adora stands her ground, unmoving, “Not until you tell me what’s going on?”
“I don’t have to do shit.” He cocks his gun and she can see the grin under his mask.
“Put it away, Nugget.” A booming voice shouts from behind Adora, “We need her alive.”
Adora turns on her heel quickly and sees a very large woman, muscular but not a muscley as Huntara appears, an eye patch over one eye as she approaches. From behind her she hears the man, Nugget, apologise, “Sorry, O.”
The others all put their weapons away, “O?”
“Ah, so you’re C-Dog’s new toy…” O taunts, “I see, she’s still into blondes… pathetic.”
O walks straight up to Adora, looking her up and down with a smirk, “What do you want?” Adora glares at the large woman.
“Nothing. I don’t want anything from you.” O replies moving her arms behind her back, “You, are leverage.”
“What?”
O looks over Adora’s shoulder back to her team, “Get her back in her room and fix the door.”
“I’m not going back in there.” Adora moves into a defensive stance, “And you can’t make me.”
“Can’t I?” O replies smugly as Adora readies herself for an attack.
The attack is not what she expects at all. A needle plunged into her neck and taken out so quickly she barely has time to turn around, “What?”
No one answers her question as they all stand back, waiting for something.
It’s not long before Adora is feeling lightheaded again, her muscles and her body feeling weak as she collapses forward into O’s awaiting arms. Her eyes are heavy and the last thing she sees is that infuriating smirk on that eye patched face.

Back at DE, Catra runs out of the lift and straight into her office.
“Traps! Anything?” Catra asks frantically, her hands on her desk staring down the scientist, “Where is she?”
“Catra! Yes, I know where she is!” Entrapta enthusiastically says, “Here, I’ll show you.”
“No, just give me the address.” Catra replies flatly, “I’m not wasting time. I need to get her now.”
“NO!” Entrapta stamps her foot down, startling both Catra and Scorpia, “I need you to see this.” She says a lot calmer, “Please.”
“Okay, Traps.” Catra puts her hands up and walks around to look at her screen, “Oh…”
“Yes. I know.” Entrapta agrees as Scorpia gets around the screen as well, “You’ll need ammunition.”
“Guys, no.” Scorpia pleads with her friends as Catra heads out of her office and into her home while Entrapta begins humming to herself while programming something, “Seriously! We can’t do this again…”
Catra comes back, “Traps, send that address to Sparkles. Let her know that the place is heavily armed. Expect a fire fight. We’ll be on site in half an hour. She owes me 2 minutes.”
Entrapta nods, “Ooh! I get to test out Emily 3!”
Catra grins at her friend and then back to Scorpia, “You know we’d do the same if it was anyone else…” The look on Scorpia face changes to one of understanding
“Then, I’ve got your back.” Scorpia places a hand on Catra’s shoulder, “Try not to get killed, please.”
Chuckling to herself, “No, that won’t happen. It shouldn’t go to a shootout. They want us to take the blame for the H Virus.”
“It’s not even ours…” Scorpia looks around to Entrapta, “Right?”
“That is true. It is not ours. I’m not sure how we can take the blame for something we haven’t done.” Entrapta answers, “By the sounds of that note that was left inside Adora’s apartment, most likely, HT want us to issue a formal statement saying that the H Virus is our doing.”
“Doesn’t matter. We aren’t taking the blame for something that we didn’t do.” Catra declares, “And we aren’t going to let any die either.”
“That’s a bit extreme, though, isn’t it?” Scorpia points out, “Why would they want to kill Adora?”
“Do you think they know about Adora?” Entrapta asks as she taps on the keyboard of her computer, “Is that why they took her?”
Catra shakes her head, “No, they still think she’s my EA.” A little relief in her voice, “They won’t kill her. Octavia’s doesn’t have the stomach for it. Whoever they are working for only want them to hold her there until we cave.”
“Okay, Emily 3 is good to go!” Entrapta beams as she interrupts the seriousness of the mood, “Time to rescue your EA!”
Catra pockets her knife and throws her black hoodie on, “Come on, then.”

“Fucking Octavia…” Catra seethes as she begins to scale the back of the building, “Thank fuck they put these stupid ass bars over all the windows.”
Entrapta and Scorpia head to the front to create a distraction, Emily goes around the back as backup. The pair knock on the door of the building.
“Hello!” Scorpia calls out cheerily while trying to keep Entrapta from taking apart the doorbell that isn’t working, “Hello! Anyone there?”
Knocking loudly on the front doors, Scorpia turns and sees Entrapta pull out some cables from behind the doorbell, “Entrapta! What are you doing?!”
“This is not a doorbell at all.” The smaller woman answers, “It’s a camera!”
Just as Entrapta finishes that sentence the door swings wide open and a few angry men answer the door, “What do you think you are doing here!?”
“Oh, gosh… hello!” Scorpia pushes Entrapta behind her, “We are here because…”
One of the men with a green mohawk sees what Entrapta is holding, “Did she just take that apart?”
“Yes! I did! It’s very fascinating!” Entrapta replies a little too happily, “Where did you get this?”
The green mohawk man grabs it out of Entrapta’s hands and then goes face to face with Scorpia, “Get the fuck out of here or we’ll call the cops.” The threat makes Entrapta laugh from behind Scorpia, the larger woman doing her best to shield the smaller one, “What the fuck is she laughing about?!”
‘Nothing! Nothing…” Scorpia stands her ground but remain nervously defensive, “We were just in the area… and… we just wanted to say… hi!”
“Hi.” The man spits out, “Bye.”
As he goes to close the door, Scorpia pushes it inwards, “Oh, I’m so sorry!” it’s genuine, but she also sort of did mean it and then covers it up with a nervous chuckle, “We are actually here because a friend of ours has gone missing and we were wondering if maybe you’ve seen her.”
“Fuck. Off.” He goes to close the door again. Once again met with Scorpia powerful pushback on the door, “What the fuck is wrong with you? I told you to get the fuck out! We will call the police!”
“Oh, please do!” Entrapta grins widely, “I’ve never been arrested before… well, not in this city anyways…”
The man turns to his companion, “Get rid of them. Now!”
His companion, a bald man with a muscular frame that rivalled Scorpia then went to push the door shut, “You heard, Nugget. Get the fuck out of here.”

BANG!

A loud explosion was heard from the back of the building as Emily 3 had set off a few carefully timed bomb near the loading bay. The building shook but not enough to make it collapse. Scorpia had taken this moment to throw her weight around and take out the 2 men at the front door. Entrapta pulled out her tablet and started tapping on it furiously and soon enough, the lights in the building all went out.
“Good work Entrapta.” Scorpia pats the other woman on the shoulder, “Let’s go.”

Catra held on tight to the bars on the window near the top of the 10 floor building as Emily 3 set off the planned explosion as another distraction. The building shook for a few moments before everything stilled again. Catra climbed up to the roof, pulling herself over the top. This building she’s scaled down a few times, just never up. Those menace days always did seem to catch up with her…
The rooftop door locked up tighter than a normal door, it was always a means to keep people from coming out than in so the door lock on it was never high end. But it was alarmed. All she had to do was wait. The little red light on the door faded out until it no longer shone and Catra knew Entrapta had hacked into the buildings lighting system. A grin spread on her face as she pulled out her lock picking tools and began to unlock the door.
Once in, she pocketed her tools and stealthily moved around the inside of the top floor. This floor would no doubt be occupied by Octavia. There were a few locked doors, one door in particular had been fixed, a steel panel affixed to it and there were small wooden splinters on the floor, probably missed when someone had tried to clean it up earlier. This must be the door. Catra looks around one more time before reaching back into her pocket for her lock picking tools. As she sticks the first one into the lock, she hears a feint sound of a gun cocking. Before she can turn around, that gun fires.
“Fuck!” Catra scurries off, grabbing her arm and leaving her tools by the door as another 3 shots ring out. She ducks around the corner and yells, “You’re still a shit shot O!”
“Yeah? Looks like I hit you, C-Dog.” Octavia taunts, “And if I’m not mistaken,” the one eyed woman steps towards where Catra was picking the lock, “that, would be your blood dripping onto the carpets.”
Catra tries not to grunt out loud, but the pain of the bullet in her shoulder is intense, “Why don’t you come at me like old times?” Catra’s breathing speeds up as her body deals with the pain, “You know you suck hand to hand.”
“Why would I give up the advantage?” Octavia raises her gun in Catra’s general direction and fires off another shot, “Come out, come out…”
The sing song tone from Octavia makes Catra growl, “Put your gun down first!”
“No.”
“What the fuck to you want, O?!” Catra shouts back, “Leave my EA out of this!”
Octavia laughs, “Really? You really don’t know?”
“No! If I knew, we wouldn’t be having this fucked up conversation!” Catra grunts back as she leans her shoulder against the wall to put pressure on it, “You don’t even care about DE, Horde Tech or the H Virus!”
“No, I really couldn’t give 2 shits about any of that. But… Horde Tech is paying me a butt load of money for this job.” Octavia cockily tells, “Once I get that statement out of you, I’m going to kill you.”
“Why?! What the fuck!” Catra growls in pain, feeling the warmth of her blood cover her back, “What the fuck did I do to you?! We are fucking even!”
“Not even, C-Dog.” Octavia’s voice turning low, “You took my eye. I’m taking your life.”
“That’s bullshit!” Catra complains, “You took Ollie from me!”
“Oh, your little boyfriend?” Octavia smirks, “Yeah, he was a dumbass. Walking straight into one of my deals.”
“He was my fucking best friend, you asshole!” Catra shouts back angrily, “You shot him 3 times!”
“So what? Another skater twink off the streets.” Octavia shrugs, “No one really cared about him anyways. If they did, there would have been more than 2 people at his funeral.”
“I’m glad I took your eye.” Catra throws back, “Bet that snake enjoyed digesting it too.”
Octavia growls at that and begins to stomp over to the corner where Catra is hiding when gun shots are heard. Catra gets to her feet and waits for Octavia to round the corner. The footsteps getting louder when she sees the barrel of the gun. Without hesitation, she grabs the gun and disarms the larger woman when she feels a punch land on her cheek.
Catra fires off one shot, hitting Octavia in the leg as she stumbles from the hit to the face. Octavia falls to the ground, clutching at her leg. Catra manages to stay on her feet as Octavia digs out a second gun, strapped around her ankle and points it at Catra and fires.
Catra dodges and it just misses, lodging the bullet into the wall behind her. Before she can point the gun up again, Octavia is firing off another shot.
“Fuck!” Catra makes a run for it, leaping out of the way and around the corner as Octavia gets to her feet, leaning against the wall to stay up.
“I’m going to kill you C-Dog!” Octavia shouts angrily, “I don’t care if HT want you alive or not. After I kill you, I’m going to kill your EA after I torture her!”
Catra gets to her feet once again and leans against the wall, still out of sight from her would be killer, “Come at me then, O!”
The limping one-eyed woman stops and looks around, when the sound of the elevator dings and out comes a team of police, guns at the ready and in full tactical gear, bulletproof vests, helmets and shields. Immediately Octavia surrenders and they take her weapon from her, zip tying her wrists almost immediately. Catra pushes up off the wall, dropping the gun and then walking straight past Octavia and right back to Adora’s door. Resuming her lock picking, ignoring the police, much to their confusion as they try to stop her. But with Octavia actively resisting arrest, they’ve got their hands full and leave Catra to her task. Catra hisses in pain as her shoulder muscles tense from the movement of picking the lock, eventually unlocking it. Once the door unlocks and she is about to push it open, it is slams back and smacks Catra on the head, knocking her back a few steps.
“Mother… Fuck!” Catra shouts as the door opens again, much quicker.
“Catra?!” Adora peeks around the door and upon seeing Catra with one hand on her head and her other arm limp she comes out and grabs the other woman, “Shit! Shit! I’m sorry!”
“Yeah, it’s cool.” Catra brushes it off as Adora pulls Catra in for a hug, “Are you alright?”
Adora nods into Catra’s neck, “I can’t believe you’re here!”
“Yeah, me neither…” Catra chuckles as Adora’s hand moves around Catra’s back and then lingering over a wet spot.
“Fuck, you’re bleeding!” Adora gasps when she looks at her hands, “You need to get checked out. By a doctor!”
“I’m fine. Doesn’t even hurt.” Catra lies. “Come on, we need you to…”
“Adora!” Glimmer screeches through, “You’re alive! And you’re okay…”
“I’m fine guys.” Adora tells Glimmer and Bow, “How are you guys here?”
2 women in suits come up behind Glimmer and Bow, “Oh, this is Juliet and Vera. Sorry, Detective Juliet and Detective Vera.” Glimmer corrects.” She turns to Catra, “2 minutes, huh?”
“Fuck off, Sparkles.” Catra mumbles back.
Before anyone can get another word in, there’s a ruckus from the other side of the hall and a few police grunting and shouting as Octavia breaks free and knocks out a few of the squad.
“Gun!” Someone yells as Catra turns around and sees Octavia with the gun in her hand, pointing it directly at her.
2 shots fire off, Catra’s pushed Adora and her friends as far away from her as possible as she drops to the ground, clutching her shoulder with her eyes slammed shut. When her eyes open, she sees Scorpia out of nowhere, tackling Octavia to the ground while the other officers restrain her.
Adora rushes over, “No, no, no, no… Catra!”
Catra turns over onto her back, pushing her shoulder into the ground, putting pressure on it, “Hey, Adora.”
“We need help here!” Adora shouts to anyone that will listen.
Glimmer kneels next to her taking off her jacket and handing it to Adora, “Medics are on their way. Here, use this to put pressure on her shoulder.”
Adora takes it, pulling Catra onto her side so she can slip Glimmers jacket under her shoulder, Catra just looks up at Adora rolling her eyes, “Seriously guys, it’s not that bad…”
“Shush you!” Adora scolds, “You’ve been shot. Stop complaining and let us help!”
“Fine.” Catra concedes.
Bow gasps at seeing some blood around the back of Adora’s head, “Adora! You need to get checked out too! Your head is bleeding!”
“Was bleeding…” Adora corrects, “Must have been when they knocked me out at my apartment.”
Scorpia rushes over and kneels next to Catra, “Wildcat! I told you not to get killed! What did I say!?”
“Calm down, Scorp.” Catra pats her friend on the knee, “I’m fine. It’s just my shoulder. Good thing, Octavia is a fucking terrible shot.” Before Adora can say anything, Catra quickly adds, “The shoulder shot was lucky. Plus, I was completely fucking still when she shot me. I stand by my words.”
Scorpia leans in to Catra’s ear, “Entrapta has gone back with E3. They won’t be able to connect her with this at all.”
“What about you?” Catra turns her head.
“Uh, I’m just a concerned citizen who heard what sounded like explosions around this building.” Scorpia just shrugs, “Plus I tackled the shooter, so, yay me.”
Catra shakes her head and chuckles, “What’s my cover?”
“No idea… I’m sure you’ll figure something out later…” Scorpia rubs the back of her neck nervously.
“Yeah, me too.” Catra agrees, “I mean, I kind of picked the lock of where Adora was being held right in front of the cops…”
“…Yeah, I’m sure we’ll find a way out of this…” Scorpia tries to smile.
Adora huffs, “I’m fine, Bow. Could you guys just give me a minute with Catra?”
“No.” Almost everyone around her simultaneously said, making the blonde even more irritated that she couldn’t kiss Catra right now.
Catra just smirks at Adora, wincing at the same time making Adora laugh as she rubs Catra’s cheek with her thumb. The detectives try to question Adora, but she’s zoned out too much currently staring at Catra on the ground in front of her. So, they said they’ll catch up with her at the hospital since she’s Glimmer’s friend, it shouldn’t be too hard to find her.
Adora and Catra both get loaded up into 2 separate ambulances and get brought to same hospital. Catra going into surgery to get the bullet removed and Adora into the general wards to get looked over for the blow she sustained to the back of her head. When they’ve finally got Adora to stay still she asks her friends, “Any word on Catra? Can I see her?”
“Adora, she’s just gone into surgery.” Bow replies, “And when she gets out…”
The hesitation in Bow’s voice makes Adora worried, “What’s going to happen after?”
“They’re going to arrest her.” Glimmer answers in lieu of Bow, “They have… questions…”
“Arrest her!?” Adora’s voice goes up 2 octaves in shock, “But why? She was coming to get me!”
“We know, Adora.” Glimmer sighs, “It’s, it’s just all part of the process. She literally picked the lock on the door to where you were in front of them.”
“So?!”
“So? They need to question her. See if she had anything to do with your kidnapping or the explosions at the back of the building.” Glimmer replies as if Adora should have already known all this, “Don’t worry, we’ll back her.”
“Thanks guys.” Adora says to her friends, worry still in the back of her mind for Catra.

Catra wakes up in a hospital bed, a steady beeping noise next to her and tubes coming out of her arms. She pulls off the face mask and goes to sit up, but the pain in her upper body refuses to let her. As she goes to reposition her affected arm, she finds that she can’t seem to lift it all the way. Focusing her eyes, she notices that she’s handcuffed to the bed.
“Fuck…” Catra sighs as she relaxes the damaged arm.