Executive Assistant

Adora paces around the hospital waiting area, she knows Catra’s currently in recovery after surgery. Bow and Glimmer have stayed with her, in case she has suffered any effects of concussion after being knocked out as well as side effects from whatever knockout agent they had injected into her. Luckily, the needle was clean and whatever they injected her with wasn’t laced with any diseases.
“Why can’t I see her?” Adora huffs for the third time, “I’m her EA for fucks sake!”
“Yes… but you were also involved in a kidnapping.” Bow reminds Adora as she slowly opens his eyes after getting not much sleep, “Just be patient.”
“You know she can’t.” Glimmer teases, “She can barely sit still for a minute when she’s not worried about her… boss.”
Adora glares at her friends, “Am I not allowed to be concerned for my boss?”
“Not to this extent, Adora.” Glimmer answers with a yawn, “Don’t forget we know, what you know.”
The blonde looks around at their surroundings before replying in an angry whisper-shout, “Glimmer! Not here! Someone could be listening…”
Rubbing her eyes, Glimmer just scoffs and turns away having enough of this conversation, “They aren’t going to let you see her until she speaks with the detectives.”
“Can’t your mum do something?” Adora pleads, “What good is it having a top lawyer for a mum if she can’t do anything?!”
“Calm down, Adora.” Bow yawns, “Angella’s already gone in and spoken with Catra. She already established that the authorities are not to speak to Catra without her presence.”
“Catra has nothing to hide though!” Adora points out, “She came to rescue me. What more is there to that?”
“Plenty.” Bow answers and then closes his eyes again, slumping further into his seat and then promptly snoring.
“Look, Adora.” Glimmer sits up before deciding to stand to wake herself up a little more, “I don’t know how they manage to locate you so quickly, but it came as a surprise when I got the call from an ‘Entrapta’ telling me to go to the building where you were held and to bring back up ready for a fire fight.”
For the first time in a while, Adora sits down and rubs her face, “It’s really not all that surprising really…”
“You said that they weren’t evil.” Glimmer recalls, “Are you still sticking with that?”
“Yes.” Adora answers confidently, “DE is crazy loyal. And they are all good people…well the ones I’ve spoken with anyways. It’s like a big family… which is weird for a workplace…”
“So… they aren’t responsible for the H Virus?” Glimmer yawns again.
Shaking her head, Adora replies, “No. Definitely not. Pretty sure that’s all Horde Tech’s doing.”
“I still don’t understand why they targeted you.” Glimmer thinks to herself, “Also… what’s the point of all those black belts if you’re going to end up kidnapped and worry us anyways!?”
Glimmers simmering anger boils to the surface as she comes to terms with the fact they could have lost Adora, Bow yelps when he feels Glimmers fingers digging into his leg, “Uh…Glim… you’re… kinda hurting me…”
“Oh, sorry Bow.” Glimmer apologises.
He pats Glimmer’s hand as she releases her grip on his leg, Adora shuts her eyes and breathes out heavily, “Sorry guys. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Glimmer gives her a soft smile in reply, “But… I also never meant to get kidnapped either… so, you know… I couldn’t exactly defend myself…”
“Adora, stop!” Glimmer groans, “Just… look after yourself, would you?”
“…alright…” Adora quietly promises, “But it wasn’t a fair fight!”
“Adora.” Bow firmly says to end this conversation, “You should go home and get some rest.”
Adora’s eyes widen, “No way! I’m not going back there alone.”
“We can come with you.” Glimmer rolls her eyes, “Or you can come to our place.”
The silence that comes from Adora and the conflicted look on her face makes it clear she has a different place that she currently finds safe, but before she can say anything Scorpia walks into the waiting room.
“Oh, hello new friends and Adora.” She greets, “Any word on Catra?”
“No, not yet.” Bow answers, “We thought maybe you’d know something…”
Scorpia shakes her head in response as Adora groans, “What is taking so long?!”
“Geez, calm down, Adora.” A raspy and hoarse voice comes from behind them, “What are you whining about now?”
Adora turns around so quickly that she nearly falls off her chair, which she does as she tries to get off the chair to run to Catra, making the CEO chuckle as she walks over and holds out the hand of her uninjured arm, “How…?”
Catra stares at Adora perplexed, “It’s a hospital, Adora.”
“Yeah, but they said you were arrested…” Adora gets up utilising Catra’s hand, “What happened?”
Once Adora’s back on her feet, Catra lets go of her hand and rubs the back of her neck, “Well, I was arrested.” Catra starts as Adora pulls her in for a hug, carefully adjusting her arms so that it doesn’t touch the gun shot wound in Catra’s slung up shoulder, “It’s a weird feeling, waking up cuffed to a hospital bed.”
“They cuffed you to the bed?” Glimmer asks, before she teasingly asks, “Like you haven’t had that experience before…”
Catra doesn’t take the bait and moves on, “Anyways… once I was, coherent, 2 detectives came in and started asking a bunch of questions but then some tall wispy woman comes in like she’s all high and mighty, saying she’s my lawyer or something. Reckon she’s related to you, Sparkles.”
Glimmer huffs, “That’s my mum, you ass.”
“Yeah?” Catra replies flatly, “I didn’t ask for lawyer.”
“Just take the help, would you?” Adora chides as she tucks her head into the crook of Catra’s neck, “Please?”
“Uh, fine.” Catra groans playfully, before turning to Sparkles, “Can she meet me back at my office in DE in a few hours or whenever she’s free?”
“I am not your messenger.” Glimmer scolds as she gets up off her chair to make a point, “Just call her yourself!”
“I don’t have her number, dumbass.” Catra replies, earning her a light tap on the back of the head from Adora, a grin finds it’s way onto Catra’s face at the act, “Sorry, I didn’t mean the dumbass thing… I haven’t got a lot of sleep…”
“And you think we did!?” Glimmer surprisingly admits, “Adora’s been worried about you, which means we have to worry about you because you make her worried!”
Bow pulls Glimmer into his arm from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder to ground her, “It’s okay, Glim.” He soothes, “We’re all okay.”
Catra sighs, “I’m sorry, Glimmer.”
“Oh, wow…” Glimmer smirks breaking out of her anger, “And here I thought you were just an ass. But I guess, you aren’t so bad after all.”
Scorpia glares at Glimmer as Catra laughs it off and without even looking at her friend, “Stand down, Scorp. We’re all good. She secretly loves me.”
“I do not!” Glimmer protests loudly, “If anyone loves you it’s…”
“Hey!” Bow interrupts putting his hand over Glimmer’s mouth, “Can we please just leave the hospital now?”
Adora pulls back with a blush at nearly hearing Glimmer blurt out those words and as she turns away from Catra’s smirk, “It’s not… uh…” Catra pulls Adora back into her with her good arm as Adora finds her spot again in the crook of Catra’s neck, “Can we please just go?”
“Sure.” Catra replies placing a soft kiss on Adora’s neck while their friends gather their things, “Do you want me to take you home?” Adora shakes her head, “Do you want to come back to DE with me?” Adora nods, “Okay. Come on, then.”
Catra squeezes Adora’s hip gently and the blonde pulls back. Scorpia does her best not to coo at the whole thing as she watches the exchange, eventually clearing her throat, “Your car is downstairs, Wildcat. I’ll take you guys back.”
“Glimmer. Bow. What about you guys? How are you getting back?” Adora asks her friends before turning to Catra before the pair can answer, “Can we give them a lift?”
Catra grins as she looks over Adora’s friends, “Sure. But you drive. I don’t trust Scorpia to get us back in one piece.”
Scorpia huffs, “For your information, I am a very good driver.”
“No, you really aren’t, Scorp.” Catra lets her friend down as gently as she can.
“I drove her all the way here, all by myself.” Scorpia stands her ground, “Not a scratch on her!”
“There better not be.” Catra says seriously.
“Like you could even tell.” Adora laughs, “The outside of Swifty is so beat up…”
Catra growls at the assessment of her car, “That’s it. You’re not driving her either now. You and Scorp are both banned.” She turns to Bow and Glimmer, “Can one of you guys drive stick?”
They both shake their heads, “Ha!” Adora celebrates, “Now you don’t have a choice!”
“Laugh it up, Adora.” Catra grins, “Scorp, keys.”
“No way!” Scorpia replies, “You are not driving.”
“Yeah, I totally am. My car, my rules.” Catra holds out her good hand, “Keys. Now.”
“Catra. No.” Scorpia crosses her arms in front of her body, “I’m not letting you drive one handed.”
“I can do a lot of things one handed, Scorp.” Catra winks to Adora who just rolls her eyes, “Now, give me my keys, please.”
“Oh, because you said please.” Scorpia mocks, “No. Come on, I’m driving.”
“Don’t make me tackle you, big gal.” Catra threatens with a grin, “Because you know I will.”
“No.” Scorpia repeats, but this time it comes out less confident as she takes a step back and ground herself, “Don’t even think about it. Not with your injured shoulder. Entrapta will kill you if you rip open your stitches and bleed all over the workplace.”
“Right, this is because of Traps.” Catra remarks teasingly, “Well, she won’t get mad at me if you’re the one that’s making me rip my stitches.”
“Hey! Don’t turn this around on me.” Scorpia begins but takes a few steps back when Catra begins advancing towards her menacingly, “Wildcat… I don’t like that look in your eye…”
Catra intentionally twitches said eye and moves even closer, “Give. Me. My. Keys.”
Backed against the doors of the hospital, Scorpia finally concedes, tossing the keys over, “Fine. But I’m shotgun.”
Shrugging, Catra looks to Adora and her friends, “I suggest Sparkles sit behind Scorp. She takes up a lot of room.” Laughing at her own observation, Catra waves the group to move along, “Let’s go!”

After dropping Glimmer and Bow off at their apartment, Catra drives them back to DE, parking in her usual spot. Once she’s parked, Adora gets out quickly and opens the door for Catra. Catra rolls her eyes at the blonde, “I can open the door, you know?”
“I know.” Adora replies still holding the door open and offering her hand, “But this side is where your bad shoulder is.”
“It’s not bad, Adora. It’s just…injured.” Catra corrects, “Besides I didn’t hear you complain when I drove us back from the hospital.”
“Well, that’s because Scorpia was doing enough of that for the whole car.” Adora smirks before dropping it and sending the larger woman an apologetic look, “Sorry, Scorpia…”
“I was not complaining.” Scorpia scoffs, “And I was right. You shouldn’t be driving with a busted-up shoulder. Especially when you are driving manual.”
“Whatever. Got you back in one piece, didn’t I?” Catra huffs, “And besides the way you drive Swifty, my clutch is going to wear out from you riding it around corners.”
“I could have driven…” Adora adds innocently, “I mean, as long as there weren’t any hills, I had to stop at… or had go past first gear.”
Catra gives Adora an incredulous look, before shaking her head, “Yeah, no way.”
Once Swifty is locked up in the parking garage, they all head back up to Catra’s office. Waiting for them at Catra’s desk is Entrapta, still with her 3 screens set up and now taken to sitting in Catra’s chair.
“Catra! You’re okay!” Entrapta beams without looking over her screens to the CEO, “As you can tell, Operation Rescue your EA went very well… apart from you getting shot in the shoulder.”
Catra chuckles at that assessment as she shows off her sling as Adora rolls her eyes at the name of the operation before she takes Catra over to the couch and they both sit next to each other, Catra leaning slightly forward to keep it off the gun shot. Scorpia just hovers around, not really sure what to do with herself.
“I believe this is yours.” Entrapta holds up a phone and points it towards Adora, “I hope you don’t mind that I’ve put a tracker in it now. Not that I couldn’t track your phone without it. Now it’s just a lot easier!” Entrapta continues to click away on her screen with her other hand, “It’s a good thing they didn’t turn your phone off, otherwise it would have taken way longer to locate you.”
As Adora takes her phone back from Entrapta, the blonde inspects it a little, turning it over in her hand, “Yeah. I guess the tracker thing is okay as well, for now.”
Catra turns to Scorpia, “Hey Scorp? Can you organise for the locks on Adora’s apartment doors to be changed?”
“Sure thing.” Scorpia salutes as she pulls out her phone.
“Okay.” Catra finally turns back to Entrapta and says, “Where are we with the mole?”
“I managed to clear up the image of the 2 assailants that tried to run me over the other day.” Entrapta answers sharing her screen to the main TV in the room so they could all see, “It appears to be the same 2 people that answered the door last night at the building Adora was held in.”
“Who are they?” Adora asks.
Entrapta and Scorpia both turn to Catra who just sighs, “Remember that friend I told you about when we came back from the Huntara’s bar… uh, the second time?” The question directed to Adora who nods slowly, “Well, you know how I said my friend died from being caught up in a drug deal gone bad?” Another slow nod, “Well, O or Octavia was the shooter. And it wasn’t just an accident. She made sure he was dead. Put 3 slugs in him and left him for dead.”
“O. She’s the one that kidnapped me.” Adora finally says, “Was this a personal thing?”
“Eh, bit of both.” Catra manages to shrug her good shoulder, “Anyways… she’s still pissed about me ripping out her eye and feeding it to a snake.”
“You, what?” Adora looks to Scorpia and Entrapta who just nod at her in confirmation, “So, it wasn’t HT?”
“On the contrary. They paid her for kidnapping you. Because you’re my EA.” Catra replies, “But also, hold you as leverage so that could get a statement out of DE about releasing the H Virus.” Catra huffs a little, “But if HT were smart enough, they’d now Octavia would rather get her revenge on me than care about money. They just gave her a lot more resources to do it.”
“Do you think she’ll spill on who hired her?” Scorpia asks with a frown on her face.
“I don’t know.” Catra replies with a sigh, “I guess for the right price, she’d be willing to say anything.” Before anyone can say anything, Catra adds, “Oh, and for the record, we are not paying her off. Maybe Sparkle’s mum can bend her or something.”

Entrapta and Scorpia eventually leave Catra’s office, Emily helping Entrapta lug out all her equipment from Catra’s desk and back down to the basement office. Catra reclaims her chair and turns on her computer, wincing when she reaches for her keyboard.
“Hey.” Adora’s voice comes out soft as she notices Catra’s pain, the blonde coming over and pulling Catra’s chair back out so she can take a seat on her lap, “You need to rest.”
Catra’s good arm wraps around Adora’s waist, “You need to rest. I was under for surgery. So, I’m feeling right as rain.”
“Being knocked out for surgery is not the same as resting, Catra.” Adora rolls her eyes as she gets off Catra’s lap, taking her good hand in hers, “Come on.”
“Where we going?” Catra asks still seated.
Adora picks up Catra’s keys, “Bed.”
“Bed?” Catra repeats with a smug look on her face, “Adora…”
“We’re not having sex.” Adora reassures her, “You need to rest.”
Catra looks at her screen and then sighs, “Okay. Just an hour.” Adora nods, trying to hide her smile at getting Catra to rest while the CEO closes her laptop again and stands up, “Lead the way my dear EA.”
Adora tugs on Catra’s hand and leads her to the ‘Supplies’ door, unlocking the door and holding it open so Catra can walk through first. As soon as Catra is inside, Adora closes the door and takes Catra’s hand again and leads her to the bedroom.
“PJs?” Adora asks.
“I can dress myself, princess.” Catra drawls, “Besides, I don’t think I have the energy to get in and out of clothes right now. Help me with my sling?”
Adora comes over and gently removes the sling from Catra’s arm, folding it neatly and placing it on the bedside table as she watches Catra unbutton her shirt. And that’s the first time that Adora actually notices, “Did you get dressed up for work yesterday?”
Catra grunts, “Yeah, there’s also 2 cups of cold coffee on my desk as well.”
“Awe…” Adora coos, “Are you making an effort for me?”
“Shut up, princess.” Catra grins, “And yes. But after what happened yesterday, I think it might be a bad omen and I should go back to dressing down again.”
Adora pouts at that, “You can’t be put off because of my…kidnapping.”
Catra pulls off her shirt, awkwardly shrugging it off her injured shoulder and dropping it onto the floor before she starts unbuckling her belt. Adora promptly turns around, a blush on her face. A toothy grin Catra’s face, “You don’t need to be here right now.” That earns a huff from the blonde, “Are you planning to supervise my rest?”
“Are you done yet?” Adora replies instead of answering the question.
Catra chuckles behind her as she climbs into bed and under her blankets, “Yes. You can turn around now.”
Adora’s eyes widen at seeing Catra’s pants and shirt on the floor and the CEO snuggled up under the blankets with her eyes closed. The blonde doesn’t know what compels her, but she’s shucks off her outer layers onto the floor next as well and slides in under the blanket next to Catra. She lies on her side, facing the CEO.
“I can feel you staring at me, Adora.” Catra says with her eyes closed and on her back with the blanket pulled up to her chin.
“Sorry.” Adora whispers in reply as she moves to go on her back.
A yawn escapes from Catra, “Mmm, it’s fine. Sleep now.”
“You don’t mind me being here?” Adora asks quietly.
“Keep talking and I will.” Catra says tiredly, “Sleep.”
“Okay.” Adora turns back over onto her side to face Catra, “Thank you for saving me.”
“Mmm…didn’t.” Catra replies with a grumble, “My fault you got into trouble.”
Adora’s hand makes it way over onto Catra’s cheek, “No. It’s not.”
Catra’s eyes open at the feeling of Adora’s fingers caressing her cheek, “We can argue about this later.” Catra’s eyes close again before she adds, “You’re welcome.”
Adora smiles as she closes her eyes too, leaving her hand on Catra cheek as she falls asleep on the soft pillow and the fluffy blankets. The warm body next to her is also very nice too, lulling her deeper into sleep.

Adora wakes up to fingers running through her hair and a warmth on her cheek and the sound of a gentle heartbeat before it’s interrupted by a chuckle rumbling under her ear. Turning her head slightly and coming back into consciousness, Adora looks up to see Catra sitting up slightly, her eyes are closed and a slight smile on her face as she continues to run her fingers through Adora’s hair.
“Hey. Good morning, sunshine.” Catra rasps, eyes still shut as she feels the blonde shift her head slightly, “Sleep well?”
Adora groans into Catra’s chest, rubbing her cheek against the CEO before pulling away a little embarrassed, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to… I mean, we didn’t… you know?”
Catra laughs, her eyes opening as she looks down at Adora who has moved back onto her pillow, taking her hand back and placing it over her shoulder just shy of her injury, “If you are asking if we slept together, the answer is yes.” Another chuckle, “But if you are actually asking if we had sex, then the answer is no.”
Adora lets off a relieved breath and smiles, “Okay. Uh, I guess we should get back to work?” Adora moves to get out of bed before realising she’s only in her smalls, yelping as she quickly covers herself back up under the blankets. Catra laughs at her, shaking her head earning her a huff from the blonde, “Could you like, turn around or close your eyes or something?”
“Sure, princess.” Catra puts her hand over her eyes, “Go for it.”
Adora nods despite Catra not being able to see her as she tries to get out of bed quickly, tangling herself in the blankets and practically falling out of bed, “Oof! Ow…”
“You okay there? Need some help?” Catra asks not moving from her spot, a smirk on her face.
The blush on Adora’s face runs down her body, glad that the CEO can’t see her right now as she crawls along the floor to retrieve her clothes, “Nope. Don’t you dare look! I’m fine…”
“Sure, you are.” Catra drawls as she listens to Adora get dressed, “Are you decent yet?”
“Finished!” Adora beams, “You can open your eyes now.”
Catra does and just smiles at seeing Adora clothed again and her bed hair, “Nice hair.”
As Adora scoffs playfully at Catra’s comment, she quickly turns around as she sees Catra start moving to get out of bed too. “Catra!” Adora whines, “You can’t just…”
“What?”
“Just get dressed, will you?” Adora pleads.
Catra laughs again as she moves behind Adora and goes to her closet to pull out her comfortable clothes, “You can look now.”
Adora turns around and sees Catra dressed back in a pair of chinos and an old baggy tshirt with the DE logo on it, “Ready?”
Clearing her throat, Catra replies, “Yeah, let's get back to work.”

Catra peeks over her screen to watch Adora, the blonde has decided to conduct her research inside Catra’s office, utilising the space in front of the couch, papers spread across the floor, a pen behind the blonde’s ear and her tongue sticking out as she writes in her notebook.
“You’re staring again.” Adora says without looking up from her research, but before Catra can respond, the blonde adds, “Get back to work, boss.”
Catra chuckles at the blonde’s comment, “Yes, ma’am.” But before getting back to her own work, “Any luck over there?”
“Mmm…” Adora hums as she chews on the back of the pen in her hand, “Maybe… I’m just double checking.”
“Oh yeah.” Catra abandons whatever she’s working on and goes over and crouches down next to the blonde, “What did you find?”
Adora takes the pen out of her mouth and picks up one of sheets of paper she’s put in a pile beside her, “Look at this.”
Catra takes the paper and speed reads through it, “Okay. This doesn’t look good…”
“No… it doesn’t.” Adora agrees, “I think you need to talk to your SPT group.”
“SPT?”
Rolling her eyes like Catra should know this, “Super Pal Trio.”
“Ugh.” Catra groans, “Please don’t mention that name.”
Adora giggles at Catra’s reaction to the name, “It’s cute.”
“Shut up, princess.” The grin on Catra’s face gives away her real feeling towards the name, “Can you schedule a meeting with Scorpia and Entrapta please? Maybe around 4pm?”
“Yes, boss.” Adora salutes mockingly, “Let me just double check these documents first before I send out the invites.”
Catra nods, “You sure are a quick learner.”
“Huh?”
“If you applied as an EA now, I would totally believe you.” Catra elaborates, “Heck, I would hire you on the spot.”
Adora preens at the praise, “Thank you. But…” Adora cups Catra’s cheek, “I don’t want to be your EA forever…because then I can’t do this…”
“Do what…?” Just as Catra asks the question, Adora’s presses her lips to Catra. The kiss is chaste and this time Adora pulls away first, leaving Catra to chase after the blonde’s lips which just makes Adora giggle, “Ugh…” Catra groans as she steadies herself, “How long do you need to go over all the docs?”
Adora smirks back, “Desperate much?”
Catra supresses a growl, “No. I’m not.”
“Sure.” This time Adora drawls it out, “Give me another hour?”
“Okay.” Catra stands back up and heads back to her desk, “I’ll get lunch brought up.”
Adora nods as she goes back to the papers in front of her as Catra sends a request for lunch to be sent up.

Entrapta and Scorpia sit on Catra’s couch in her office, while Catra leans against her desk with Adora standing next to her.
“What’s this all about, Wildcat?” Scorpia asks a little concerned.
“We think we know who the mole is.” Catra declares much to the surprise of her 2 friends.
Entrapta sits forward, eager to find out, “Tell us!”
Adora steps forward, “It’s you.”
Scorpia looks between Adora and Entrapta, her confusion growing more, “I don’t understand. It’s Entrapta?”
Catra nods, “Yes.”
“Me?” Entrapta points to herself, “That cannot be correct…”
“It’s uh, not you per se…” Catra tries to explain, “But it’s got something to do with who you have been working with.”
“Uh huh.” Entrapta nods before shaking her head, “I don’t understand.”
Adora passes Entrapta the document in her hand, “It’s got more to do with your…lab partner…”
“Hordak?” Entrapta muttered under breath, “No…” She shook her head, “He wouldn’t…”
“Look at the paperwork, Traps.” Catra gestured at the paper in the scientist's hand, “It kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Entrapta glances down at the document in her hand and reads it intently, her expression falls flat, “But he wouldn’t…”
“Well, he has.” Catra tries not to sound too harsh, “He’s the only one that has access to your lab and all these files.” Silence fills the room as Entrapta continues to shake her head before Catra reasons with her, “What does your data say?”
Entrapta looks up, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, “I’ll… I’ll need to check.”
Catra gestures to her desk, “Go ahead. We could be wrong.”
The small bit of hope Catra gives her is enough for Entrapta to hastily make her way over to Catra’s computer, booting it up and then frantically typing and tapping away on the keyboard. Catra flops herself on the couch next to Scorpia while Adora sits next to Catra on the arm rest. They all watch Entrapta work away at Catra’s desk.
“Are you sure, Wildcat?” Scorpia whispers to Catra next to her, “Why would Hordak do that?”
Catra just shrugs at the question.
‘Ah ha!” Entrapta declares from behind Catra’s desk, “Data doesn’t lie!”
Adora gets up first, Catra following closely behind her. Leaning over Entrapta’s shoulder, Catra looks at the screen, “And… what does all this data mean?”
“It means that Hordak is innocent.” Entrapta beams, “He is not the mole!”
“How can you be so sure?” Adora asks frowning a little at being wrong, “But the other document…”
“He’s been set up. A patsy if you may. I don’t think he even knows it.” Entrapta mulls over her own words, “I think Horde Tech are secretly using him to gain their way into DE.”
“How so?” Scorpia stands and stretches her arms over her head, “I thought you had all bases covered.”
“I did. I do.” Entrapta replies a little miffed, “I haven’t seen this signature before in my analysis…”
“What do you mean?” Catra asks leaning in to look at the screen a little more closely, “Because according to what’s on your screen, it looks like HT have found a back door into your lab.”
“What is Hordak’s background?” Adora asks “I couldn’t find anything on him apart from whatever happened between you 2 at HT…”
“Oh yes, that!” Entrapta turns to Adora to explain what happened in the past, “I used to work for Hordak at HT, we all used to. We became close. That was before his big brother came back and took over HT. With Hordak no longer in power and the focus on the company changing, the 3 of us had to get out of there… So, we did.”
“What happened to Hordak?” Adora prodded a little more when it looked like Entrapta had finished her retelling.
“They fought. And as far as I know, big brother fired him.” Catra filled in the gaps, “Real piece of work, big bro is.”
“So… how did he end up here as your lab assistant?” Adora turns to Entrapta.
“We worked well together at HT.” Entrapta replies like it was obvious, “I reached out to him when I heard he was no longer working for HT and asked if he would like to come work at DE with me, as my lab partner, not assistant.”
“Sorry…” Adora apologises for the misuse of title.
“Going back to this signature…” Catra steers the conversation back to the mole, “Do you have any idea who it is?”
“Of course, I do. And so do you.” Entrapta replies as Catra stares at her bewildered, Entrapta rolls her eyes in disbelief, “Did you really forget about Prime?”
‘Fuck.” Catra grunts out, “I thought he was gone…”
“Who is Prime?” Adora cuts in, “And why does that name sound so familiar…?”
“He’s supposed to be in prison.” Catra leans back and sighs, “He was the one that released the first batch of virus that caused that blackout all those years ago. Paid off all the media companies to keep his name out of the headlines. But it was leaked through a few websites and outlets that were quickly…disposed of.”
“So…if Hordak is innocent…” Adora begins, “Then who is the mole?”
“I said Hordak is innocent.” Entrapta repeats, “But I also think he doesn’t know what he is doing.”
“You’re not going to suggest mind control, are you?” Catra squeezes the bridge of her nose, “Because that’s not possibly.”
Entrapta laughs, “No. That’s impossible. So far…”
“Uh huh. So, explain, brainiac.” Catra rolls her neck.
Entrapta nearly jumps off her seat at the attempt explain her theory to the group, “Yes! Sit down!”
The scientist pushes Catra and Adora to sit back down on the couch with Scorpia as she starts pacing in front of the trio. The 3 on the couch look at each other with confused looks on their faces but stay quiet as they wait for Entrapta to explain.
“Okay! First off, mind control is not a thing…yet.” Entrapta chuckles at the thought to herself, “No. I believe he may be chipped.”
“Chipped?” Adora frowns, “What do you mean?”
“Before he was fired, he confided in me that he spent time in hospital after an argument with his brother.” Entrapta resumed, “He showed me a scar on his arm. I didn’t think much of it until Adora showed me this document. I think I’ll need to operate on him to remove the chip.”
“What chip? What does it do?” Scorpia raises her hand to ask the question.
“I think it’s part recording device and part data collection.” Entrapta rubs her chin with her fingers, “I would really like to see the recording device part of it.”
“Hang on… you can’t operate on him in the basement.” Scorpia cautions, “You need like, a sterile area, don’t you?”
“My lab is sterile.” Entrapta replies a little annoyed at the question, “I’m sure Hordak won’t mind being operated on.”
“Okay, yeah, no. That is not happening here.” Catra replies gritting her teeth, “You’re not operating here.”
“But…science…” Entrapta whines, “Hordak won’t mind.”
“It doesn’t matter if he minds or not.” Catra sighs, “You cannot operate in the basement.”
“Where can I operate then?” Entrapta asks with a pout at being overruled.
“I don’t know.” Catra shakes her head.
“I’ve operated on you here before.” Entrapta adds, “How is this any different?”
“What?!” Adora gasps, “She operated on you?”
Catra rubs the back of her head, but before she can answer, Entrapta butts back in, “Yes. I have. Numerous times.”
“Yes, but that was out of necessity!” Catra protests.
“Why was she operating on you…?” Adora eyes furrow at Catra, “What did you do?”
“I didn’t…” Catra begins to reply.
“She got in a drunken brawl and cut her hand on a glass bottle that smashed in her hand, she was stabbed during a bar fight over, what was it? Oh right, someone thought it’d be funny to challenge her to a fight and she didn’t say no weapons or tag teams were allowed.” Entrapta begins to list off.
“Hey! I won that fight still.” Catra groans at the memory, “Besides, I was defending our honour.”
“Wildcat, you could have walked away…” Scorpia puts her hand on Catra’s good shoulder, “It didn’t need to be a fight.”
“They called you dumb and ugly. And then they called Traps something I don’t care to repeat.” Catra gritted out, “I’m not going to let that kind of crap stand. And you know it.”
“I know. But you could have died. Especially since the cops rocked up right after you got stabbed in the back…” Scorpia trials off as Adora’s face twists in fury, “It was lucky we got you back here in time and Entrapta was able to fix you up.”
“Hey! You’re supposed to be helping me here.” Catra glares at Scorpia, “Besides, I was fine It wasn’t even that deep…”
“Where was it?” Adora addresses the question to Scorpia.
“On her lower back.” Scorpia replies, pointing it out to Adora.
Without even thinking, Adora pulls up Catra’s tshirt to take a look at the scar or rather large number of scars on Catra’s back. “What the?” Catra tries to tug her shirt back down as Adora fights her to get a better look, “Do you mind? You’ve seen my back before.”
“Yeah, but now it makes sense.” Adora replies, “Except for these ones…”
Catra shivers a little at feeling Adora’s fingertips run along the long scars on her back, “Those… aren’t important.”
“Yes, they are.” Scorpia frowns, “Do you want to tell her or should I?”
“No one needs to tell her anything. This has nothing to do with the mole!” Catra manages to tug her shirt back down, “It was a long time ago and I would rather forget it ever fucking happened. Okay?!”
Adora huffs at Catra’s refusal, “We’ll talk about this later.” She warns Catra.
Catra sighs, “Fine. Can we get back on topic, please?”
“Yes! So, I’m going to operate on Hordak.” Entrapta repeats, this time feeling a lot more confident that it will go ahead, “I think you should be there to witness this as well.”
Finally conceding that there was no way around this, Catra nods once and gets off the couch, “Fine. Make it happen. Let us know when and where.”
Entrapta claps her hands together as Scorpia rises off the couch as well, “Yes. I will need to prep my lab and get some more medical supplies first.”
“Fine. You’ll need to do it after hours. Not during. Understand?” Catra points a finger at Entrapta who just happily smiles back at the CEO, “How long do you need to prep?”
“Mmm…” Entrapta thinks in her head, “2 days should be sufficient.”
“Hordak can’t know until then, you get me?” Catra tells the scientist, “We don’t want to tip HT off if he really does have a chip on his arm that’s recording and transmitting data back to their headquarters.”
Entrapta nods as her and Scorpia exit Catra’s office. Catra sighs, shaking her head as leans up against her desk and rubs her eyes.
“Come here.” Adora orders the CEO, “Come sit with me here on the couch.”
“Why, Adora?”
“It’s later now.” She pats the seat on the couch next to her, “Sit.”
Catra trudges back to the couch and sits. Adora pushes her forward and lifts the back of her shirt up. This time Catra doesn’t fight her.
“Tell me about these.” Adora runs her fingers up and down the jagged scars on her back, “Where did you get them?”
Closing her eyes before answering, Catra takes a deep breath, “At Horde Tech.”