Chapter Text
An uneasy Adora stood at the edge of a burning town. She normally would wear her signature red jacket, but wanted an air of professionalism today, so instead, she wore a set of horde issued armor that had a slightly higher grade due to her new position but that wasn’t what was causing her discomfort. It was a Rebellion stronghold, which SHOULD have meant heavy resistance. She had thought it was odd they hide a base in a civilian city like this, and it’s so empty… she wonders if this is because she broke protocol? She sent in Lonnie to give the non-combatants a warning ahead of time after her follow up scouting, which is another thing she didn’t need to do as the previous scouts already gave a report, but it's a good thing she checked because the scouts made mistakes. Shadow Weaver is not going to be happy about this either way, no stronghold, no people, and no princesses. A shudder went through her as she thought about what kind of unhappy. She didn’t have time to worry about it, she was in the field and Thaymor still hadn’t been fully cleared.
“Secure the perimeter! Make sure there’s no hidden insurgents but fall back if you spot princesses!” Adora barked out the command and a cacophony affirmative ‘yes Ma’ams’ is heard all around
Kyle walks up to her before moving out though, much to the dismay of Rogelio and Lonnie “Um Adora? I ne-”
“It’s Force Captain or ma’am in the field Kyle,” Kyle has a really hard time separating barracks talk from field speak
He nods and corrects himself “Yes sir! I mean, force captain Ma’am, Adora sir- MA’AM!”
Shadow Weaver mentioned her concern over the squad competency but Adora saw them in action during the simulations. Kyle lagged behind the rest of them usually but it wasn’t a fair comparison… Sometimes she wonders if he would be better for a different role or job. His nerves cause him so much trouble out here.
“Just one of them Ky- Private, and please start reporting. We have a job to do and it’s dangerous out here.” Adora tries to sound indifferent and cold but that caring tone she tried to stamp out rears its head
It makes Kyle smile and calm down some “Uh yes! We- I mean they saw- some guys thought they saw something in the treeline!”
Good thing she is on edge as well or this would have made her laugh “ ‘Some guys’? ‘Something’? Gotta be specific here Kyle. We’re on a schedule.”
He looks surprised, but he nods and answers nervously “Well… it was just weird sounds and… g-glitter?”
Adora ponders this for a moment and then nods “Get Rogelio and anyone else not on high priority, and check it out. Update every 5 minutes, I’m not taking any chances.”
This is her first legitimate outing as a force captain and she won’t tolerate failure or negligence. The horde was taught that glitter is a favorite of those monsters. Shadow Weaver told Adora specifically that they use it to track their prey, that’s why it’s so hard to get out. She thinks it’s best to be safe, rather than sorry. Kyle salutes her and runs off to gather a make-shift team
Time passes and the first two updates go off without issue. But as the third one begins it cuts off just as quickly and bleeds into static. Something had to be wrong and they could be in trouble. She needed to act fast.
Adora places a hand on her badge that doubles as a short range communicator “We have possible enemy contact, update to high alert! Center on the emergency survey squads last known location!”
Adora sprints as fast as she can, hoping they are all okay or that they can hold out until backup arrives at least. She controls her breathing as much as she can but she can’t push down the horrible worry circling through her mind, the thought that won’t stop ‘what if Kyle and Rogelio are already dead’. It would be all her fault, Lonnie would never forgive her, Shadow Weaver might even decide she isn’t worth the trouble.
As she arrived, she quickly looked for signs of where they could have gone next. Luckily Rogelio is a pretty big guy and leaves significant and abnormal boot prints. She follows them until she reaches a nearby clearing; she immediately notices Kyle sitting on the ground, and a terrified private, but she can’t tell with that helmet on. Rogelio is still standing but has deep cuts along his arm. It absolutely infuriates her to see her friends in such a bad state, and the object of her fury is luckily standing just a stones toss away. A man wearing a strange outfit aiming an arrow at them.
20 minutes earlier-
POOF a sudden and abrupt entrance from a small pink haired girl and an archer with a crop top showing up in a nearby tree. They are both deathly silent as they watch the horde soldiers point and aim towards the tree they previously were at, hoping they would leave soon.
“Bow… Bow!” The pink-haired girl taps his arm and whispers, in a concerned tone, "Where's Catra?”
“Shhhhhhh, Glimmer! She’s right…. Right… OH NO WHERE’D SHE GO!?” Glimmer reaches over to cover Bow's mouth as the soldiers seem to be confused by the echoes and sounds of warfare… pure luck they weren’t caught
“Shush! I do-don’t know. I know she said she hated teleporting...” She thought it was just… Catra being Catra! She always makes a big deal out of nothing!
It didn’t change the situation either way. They came to save Thaymor- well not originally, they came to get some ancient tech but when they heard the explosions they knew they had to do something but the people had already gotten some kind of intel ahead of time and evacuated. Which is really fortunate because the horde was much more organized than usual. The horde soldiers dispersed, one running back to the center of town the others spreading out to search more
Bow’s nerves are visible as he keeps looking around his voice cracks when he speaks “We have to find her! She could be in serious danger, or hurt or-or-”
Glimmer cuts him off “-or just fine! Don’t worry we’ll get her back… She’s probably just doing this to mess with us, she knows how much trouble I’ll get in if we don’t all come back together! So let's grab her, get this tech and get out!”
“I don’t know Glimmer… I feel like maybe after we get Catra and then try to pull back and just head home? We aren’t prepared for this… this force is way too heavy for Thaymor.” He says as the smoke funnels upwards and the sounds of the tanks drown out everything else
“Yeah weird amount of people, weird amount of horde weapons, the horde is WEIRD and EVIL! That’s their whole deal, and we need to get Catra AND to at least find this tech so we don’t go back empty handed. Let’s split up, and then meet once one of us has her.” She says, needing this to be a success so her mom takes her seriously
“Splitting up? Is that a good idea? What if we get caught!? How would we even know where to meet back up?” His panic is rising because usually Glimmer just POOFs off after saying something like this
“Easy! Whichever one of us finds her just shoots up into the air so the other knows! Then when we all come together I’ll teleport us out of here!” She says with a smug and confident smile
“Teleport? Glimmer you’ve used a lot of magic are you sure… you can keep doing this?” He can’t imagine she has much more left, especially after trying teleporting all three of them earlier
“UUUUGH BOW I’LL BE FINE! Just worry about finding Catra!”
“Wait Glimmer, please be car-” She teleports away before he can get another word in
“I guess I’ll just start by doing! How hard could she be to find really? She’ll be fine! Everything will be fine, I mean, everything is fine!” He stabs an arrow with rope attached to the side of a tree and rappels down.
He knows a bit about Catra but he’s only met her once or twice. Her attitude… he really hopes she didn’t get caught by that squad of goons… or worse go off and chase them down. He tracks their footsteps and follows them hoping he can get some kind of lead, when he hears a shout nearby. He grabs his bow and preps an arrow.
He moves quickly until he can see a clearing through some brush, three horde soldiers, a bigger greener one who has a nasty claw mark on his arm, one of them seems to have fallen over while the last one is holding a stun baton out, shaking violently at nothing. Catra must have been here. The one on the ground pulls out some kind of communication device…
He’s calling for backup! Bow nocks an arrow and lets it loose in under a second, nailing the device against the ground nearby before rushing out himself, pointing a second arrow at them “Let’s all just… relax and take a breath! Let’s talk this through.”
Everyone is deathly still for a while, an Impasse. Rogelio wants to rush but if he leaves the spot it’ll leave Kyle open for whatever it was that got him or an arrow. The other two are still frozen solid from earlier, and then bow see it out of the corner of his eyes. A buff and incredibly angry looking blonde woman… wearing a force captain badge.
He turns the arrow to the new person “Don’t move!”
Adora Rushes at him, quarterstaff drawn and ready “Make me!”
He fires an arrow and she twirls the staff deflecting it. It’s enough to throw him off balance as his hand misses an arrow in his quiver, he keeps going for a second one but it's too late, she’s already swinging, so he ducks and rolls out of the way, running to try to make some distance but as he looks back she isn’t following.
She was locked in place, her quarterstaff had just barely blocked a set of claws from tearing her to pieces as a familiar smiling Magicat is interlocked with the force captain.
Her smile turns to a scowl as she looks at Bow “YOU GUYS ARE DICKS!”