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It was just another mission.
A squeal escaped Entrapta as her datapad beeped. “We’re almost there! it’s so close!” She exclaimed as thick strands of lilac moved thicker branches from her path. “The reading is coming from just up ahead!”
A large claw blocked the branch from smacking back. “Oh good!” Scorpia smiled, continuing to hold it as her smaller companion walked by. “This has been so much better than our last few trips!”
With a roll of her eyes, Catra groaned. “Sure, if you like bugs.” She swatted at one as it buzzed around her. “I better not get fleas.”
Without looking up from her equipment, the scientist raised a brow. “You get fleas?”
“I’d rather not talk about it.” The magicat grumbled, her tail swishing. “It was–”
“Ah!” Entrapta interrupted, dropping onto her feet and running towards a large boulder-shaped object covered in vines. “This is it!”
“Oh, uh, wow, I don’t think we can carry that back…” Scorpia frowned, looking at the size of the piece.
The smaller woman turned to her. “Oh, no, it’s not the whole thing! It’s inside!”
“Great, so how do we get it?” Catra walked up to it and knocked on the boulder. The sound resonating back a hollow metallic ring.
Twin tails reached up and began removing the foliage that had grown on it over time. As she removed the greenery, the more darkened symbols that were etched into the forgotten metal began to reveal itself. “We just have to locate the opening, it should have instructions on here somewhe–”
“Catra!” A familair voice rang out, causing all three of the girls to turn around.
“Oh great.” Catra sighed as she was met with her childhood friend in the distance. “Do you have to ruin everything?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” Adora replied, stepping closer, revealing a handful of her other friends. Glimmer, Bow, and Purfumia were all backing her up. “Why don’t you make this easy and just leave!”
Scorpia raised her tail. “Yeah? Why don’t you?”
Catra nodded. “Besides, it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong here!”
Purfuma frowned. “You’re in my land! I don’t care what you’re doing, I consider this trespassing!”
“Someone’s territorial.” Catra commented with a shrug. “Entrapta, keep working on whatever you’re working on, we’ll handle them.”
“Aye aye.” Entrapta chirped, moving back to decipher the symbols on the boulder.
“No you don’t!” Adora raised her sword and within a flash of bright light she had transformed.
Catra laughed, showing her claws. “You might be taller but you’re still just as dumb!” With that she lept, going straight for She-Ra and trying to grab her sword.
She-Ra stepped back, swinging her weapon just enough to get Catra to leap back and move around her.
Scorpia turned to the remaining three, her tail swaying. Glimmer vanished into a flash of sparkles, reappearing right in front of her and trying to punch her right in the face. The Scoprion woman dodged, pivoting on one leg and swinging her tail to knock the princess to the ground.
Perfuma raised her hands as the ground began to snake and vines grew from the dirt and grabbed ahold of one of the large claws. Scorpia turned her attention to her, quickly snipping the vines with her free claw and running at her, causing the princess to yelp and run deeper into the forest,
“Entrapta!”
The scientist looked up from her datapad. Bow was standing yards away with his own weapon raised.
“You need to stop this.”
“I'd rather not, I’m almost done.” She answered, pulling her goggles over her eyes and leaning in closer to analyze a particular set of etchings.
“Please, Entrapta, I don’t want to hurt you.” He pleaded. “Just come back with us.”
“No thank you.” She declined without even looking up. “I’m so close to figuring this all out, I’m not backing out now.”
With a sigh, Bow drew his string. “Then you leave me no choice.”
As he let go, Entrapta’s hair reached up, grabbing a branch of a tree above her and catapulting herself onto the boulder. Bow’s arrow whistling past her and into another tree.
“Can you please just let me do my research?” Entrapta’s tone came off a bit annoyed which surprised the young archer.
“If you’re doing it for the Horde, I can’t.” He explained, pulling out another arrow.
The scientist frowned and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small round object. Bow’s eyes widened. “Is that a bo-”
She quickly tossed it at his feet. It landed with a loud pop and then a burst of smoke. The commotion spooked the archer and he fell back, releasing his arrow in the process.
Next thing he heard was a yell from Entrapta and a thud, but he couldn’t see anything through the smoke.
“Bow!” Glimmer yelled out, teleporting beside him and taking hold of him to bring him back out of the heavy fumes. They appeared beside She-Ra and stepped back.
The warrior had Catra pinned between a tree and her sword. “What was that?” Concerned, she looked over to her friend to make sure he as okay. Catra grinned and took the opportunity to kick She-Ra’s arm back, releasing herself in the process.
Scorpia, who was esentially playing catch with the Plumerian Princess also turned to see what was going on. As the smoke faded, she could see the figure of the scientist slumped over.
“Entrapta?” She called, leaving her target and running towards her friend. With the smoke cleared, it was easier to see the small woman, her hand on her shoulder as an arrow protruded out.
She-Ra’s eyes widened and she turned to her friend. “Bow?! What did you do?!”
He was in just as much shock as his friend. “I-I- I don’t– it was suppose to be a net– a net arrow…”
Glimmer looked to the scene with wide eyes. “Suppose to be?!”
“I don’t know!” Bow panicked. “It must have malfunctioned!”
Scorpia knelt down beside her friend. “Hey, are you okay?”
Entrapta’s hair lifted her goggles to get a better look at her wound. Blood was trickling it’s way down as she studied it. “It’s just an arrow, I’ll be okay.” She winced but smiled. “I’ve had worse.” Her lilac strands reached up to snap the tail end of the arrow off.
“No! Wait!” Bow’s voice rang out, causing her to pause. “It’s a malfunctioned arrow, if you break it, it might set it off. “
Catra growled, annoyed by the entire situation. “Forget it then, fall back!”
She-Ra turned, ready to grab her old friend when the cat gave her a grin. “Do you really want to stop Entrapta from getting medical attention?” The warrior stepped back, looking down. Catra took that as a small victory.
“Scorpia! Grab her, let’s go!” The magicat barked, stepping away from her enemies, her eyes on the archer. “I can’t believe you shot her, some friend you are.” She laughed as she saw his shocked expression.
“Really, I’m okay–” Entrapta tried, but was scooped up by her larger friend. She winced with a hiss and placed her hand on the stem of the arrow, keeping it stable.
Scorpia smiled gently at her. “You still need to go to the infirmary.”
She shook her head. “Just bring me to Hordak.”
—----------------------------------------------
The warlord stood and slammed his fist on the desk, rattling items and knocking others off. With a booming voice, he turned to the trio, his eyes falling on Catra.”What do you mean Entrapta was injured?!”
His gaze quickly turned to the scientist, his expression softening as he saw the blood and the arrow still jutting out of her shoulder. “How-”
“It was my fault, I distracted Bow and he misfired. Seems there was also a malfunction with his trick arrows, it didn’t release.” She explained with a pained smile. “I just need my tools and an extra set of hands and I’ll be all fixed up!”
Hordak knelt in front of her, his large claw reaching out to gently move her hand to get a better look at the wound. “Very well, I will assist you.” His voice was soft, kind.
Catra’s eyes narrowed. “So, anyways-”
His ears pinned back and his usual grumpy demeanor came back. His glare snapped to Catra before he stood, towering over her as he stepped to her. “What? There is no more to discuss.”
Her ears also flattened. “We need to–” Before she could finish her sentence, his grasp was around her neck and she gasped, eyes wide.
“The only thing that is important at this time, Force Captain, is Entrapta’s well being! Do you understand?!”
“Hordak!” The small woman came up, her hair gently taking his arm and guiding it away from Catra, freeing her. “Please don’t hurt her, she was only trying to help.”
Red claws reached out and made sure Catra didn’t fall back. “Sorry, sir.” Scorpia answered for both of them, hoping he would accept it.
The alien looked between the three women before giving a nod to the two force captains. “Leave us.”
“Thank you, sir.” Scorpia bowed her head while taking Catra’s arm and leading her out of the dark lab. Once out, she turned to the cat and smiled gently. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay?!” She pushed Scorpia away. “That jerk takes everything out on me! Entrapta got herself shot! Yet he can’t seem to believe she’s capable of messing up! He dotes on her like– like–”
“He loves her.” Scorpia commented, causing Catra’s expression to fall. If that was true, that was a problem. Entrapta was a distraction.
—----------------------------------------------
Hordak cleared off a spot on his desk, allowing the scientist to sit upon it. She looked up at him with a smile as he observed her. After a moment of silence he cleared his throat. “I am going to have to remove your sleeves.”
She looked at the already punctured fabric and then nodded. “I can cut it away.”
“I will do it.” He sat on his chair in front of her with a small set of scissors. “It is an odd angle, you might catch on the fabric.”
With a nod from her, he gently snipped at the fabric, peeling off the bloodied piece from her. She watched him intently, his touches feather soft that she didn’t even feel when he removed the dried spot from the wound. Soon, he was able to peel the piece off her shoulders completely. Assisting him, she took her gloves off and took the detached sleeves off, tossing them to the floor.
His eyes watched as he got a rare glimpse of her bare hands before she slipped her gloves back on. Maybe he stared a little too long because moments later she gently whispered his name, grabbing his attention again.
“My apologies, it is hard to see you in such a state.” He mumbled, straightening in his seat.
“I’ve had worse wounds.” She assured him. “I didn’t want to set the arrow off.”
He looked over the arrow, noticing the small indents where, he assumed, was where the arrow would have opened. It was too close to her flesh and could have caused a lot of damage. “You were wise to wait.”
Hordak turned away and rummaged through his tools in the drawer. “I am going to have to push it through more so that the opening is on the other side. Once there I can properly deactivate it and remove it.” He paused, a pained look on his face. “I wish I did not have to, it will cause discomfort.”
“I’ll be okay.” She gently draped her hair around his shoulder. “Honestly, I can handle it.”
Sighing heavily, he placed a pair of clamp pliers on the stem of the arrow. “I will be pushing it through now.”
“Alright.” She looked up at him, their eyes meeting. Although most would find his eyes a blank slate, she could see the worry and hesitation in them. “It’s okay.”
He steadied himself, using the tool to help him press the stem through with more sturdiness. To his dismay, she cried out before biting down on her lip, her eyes shut tight. Luckily, that was it. The opening of the trick arrow was on the other side of her shoulder and was now safe to detonate without causing her harm.
Fresh blood did begin to trickle out of the wound, causing Hordak to turn away and rummage for a First Aid kit. Soon, he produced some gauze and additional wrappings. “I am sorry, I–”
Entrapta giggled and waved dismissively at him. “It’s okay, I appreciate it, really.”
He awkwardly placed the gauze on the wound, dabbing at the blood. “You are very strong.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, watching him. “And you’re sweet.”
This caused the warlord to pause, his ears drooping. “I-I am not!”
She tilted her head, trying to get a better look at his face, where she swore she saw a blush. “I guess we’ll agree to disagree.”
Hordak gave a quick chuckle and shook his head. “We can continue this discussion once you do not have an open wound.”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” She giggled.
“I believe the best course of action is to detonate the head and then we can pull the rest back out.”
“I think you’re right.”
He stood, moving to the side of her, careful with the placement of his pliers. With a quick movement, he snapped the head, the top splitting off and shooting out a net onto the floor. Entrapta winced, the movement aggravating the wound.
“I am sorry.” He apologized again, his brows furrowed in worry.
“It’s okay, we’re almost done.” She assured him, her hands balling into fists. Sure, she had dealt with plenty of injuries before, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.
“Yes.” He moved back to her front and grasped the other end. “I will pull it out now.”
She nodded quickly and squeezed her eyes shut.
Not wanting to cause more pain, he made sure to steady his hand and pull it out in
one quick movement. He heard her gasp but he didn’t allow himself to get distracted. With the stem out, the wound was now completely open and blood gushed out. He grabbed the wrappings and began to cover up the hole in her flesh, wrapping it gently, raising her arm to secure the bandages around it.
Only once it was covered did he allow himself to look at her. Seeing tears in her eyes his heart sank and he reached up to brush a tear from her cheek. “I am so sorry.”
Entrapta smiled and pressed her cheek into his large claw. “Don’t be, you’ve helped so much.”
His ear twitched and he glanced around, seemingly looking for something to say, but he did not remove his hand. A soft silence fell over them and soon enough his eyes found hers again. “You… you will need to rest for a while until you have healed. No lifting or working with that arm.”
“Good thing I have my hair.”
That caused him to smile. “And I would prefer you not travel through the vents for some time as well. I do not want it to get infected.”
She gave a playful pout before sliding from his hold and landing on the floor in front of him. He allowed his hand to fall, a bit disappointed that he couldn’t continue to touch her.
That was until she stepped closer and pressed her forehead to his. His eyes widened in surprise at first but with her gaze so close he found it easy to relax. He gently pressed against her back, finding the action to be comforting.
“Thank you, Hordak.” She whispered, her breath tickling his face.
“You are welcome.” He whispered back. But for one reason or another he would not let the rest of his thoughts escape his mouth.
I would do anything for you.