Chapter Text
Suggested listening music links over here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziFjnGLEngQ
Alyn stared at the high council chamber from the platform. The chamber was made of dark poured concrete. Vents hung crooked from the ceiling, clinging by their ends like dying vines. The fans that gave the room its ever present drone struggled still, not quite repaired from the brutal killing that struck Dryl a few weeks ago. The table was laid out so that it was the center of the room, a crescent that came to points on the ground on either side of the raised platform that it circled. The way the table was constructed, standing on the raised platform in the middle, set the citizen proposing at the eye level of the back of the council’s chairs. It was designed to be imposing not out of malice, but to test the confidence of the person making proposals to the council. There was a blank sheet for an overhead projector to cast slides behind her. What was once sacred and dim shone bright. Alyn tilted her head back, turning the copper mask up against the warmth of the sun peaking behind the flipping, almost transparent tarp that was hastily installed to keep rain out. A massive crack had sundered the chamber from peak to the base of the wall to her left.
The tarps crackled as the wind challenged their resolve to hold where they were. The sharp light shone in steadily, striking her bleach white lab coat. Her mask shifted looking over her shoulder towards the empty chair with its hallmark double helix logo and ‘Eclypse Labs’ written in neat geometric font. Her copper mask gleamed, casting its reflection across the desk, the walls, the chair where she once sat.
Her mask was indifferent, its features that of a mannequin, shaped human, but immovable, devoid of eye holes, breathing holes. They weren't needed. She had so much more than that at her disposal. The mask steadily fed her information about the logo, the silver alloy, the fact that it was exactly 15.77 centimeters tall. She felt the words coming back to her, the ones that she thought as she passed into oblivion.
This is all a mistake, Entrapta wouldn’t shoot me! I’ve done everything she’s ever asked. I’m a doctor, I help people.
Her fingertips came up to feel along her cheek just next to her nose, knowing the exit wounds underneath intimately. She reflected on how her life was while she sat in that chair, the taste of bitter fear in her throat. Silently bowing, serving, hoping, wishing. Just for the chance, the chance that Entrapta would smile because of her. After all she did, after all the sacrifices-... all she got in return was three bullets.
“It’s almost done,” her cheap speaker peaked as she spoke quietly to the empty chair.
She felt herself sliding into procedural talk, “The native heart has been removed. The donor has been grafted. All that’s left is the immunosuppression protocol. The host must not recognize the transplant as foreign. If it does, rejection will occur. Both it and the heart will fail.”
Of course the chair was empty, the whole chamber was empty, only haunted by the death she wrought over Dryl.
Her mask’s voice was fragile, “The heart must be the one to break. It must listen to its new body for it can no longer live on its own.”
The empty chair she once sat at shimmered, brokenly lit by the mask’s fractured gleam. Alyn continued, “No more wounds, no more strikes, now comes the healing. We were always good at that.”
She pointed the mask’s chin at her ghost’s direction, “Don’t you shrink now.”
It will all be worth it.
“Unbind her.” Hordak said.
She heard the click of the handcuffs come undone. Her blindfold came off. She was in a room she didn’t recognize. She was looking at Hordak’s back.
The room was concrete, lit by recessed lighting. Probably some some room of Dryl’s. There was a file on a table. A tube monitor was built into the table before her and it showed a tactical map. She could see both the Fright Zone and Dryl’s border. A meandering line ran through the two of them, leaving Horde Capital City deep in the Fright Zone’s territory, heading south, then knifing back up into the heart of Dryl.
She recognized it. It was the route that she and Entrapta had taken.
She had been preparing for this.
Hordak’s voice was calm, low. He said, “Do you know why you are here?”
Catra, in that moment, thought about letting Hordak lead. Letting the Horde process her however they wanted. She had failed, Adora was dead, Dryl was destroyed, Entrapta–... She wanted to completely dismiss Entrapta. She didn’t matter, did she? She had her own death wish that was going to come true… or had already come true.
Her eyes followed the line, lingering on the farthest one. The spot where it pivoted north towards Dryl.
“You’ve been obsessing over me? How touching.” Catra prodded.
That made Hordak turn, casting his razor thin red squint at her.
“You are a defector, a heretic!” Hordak accused.
‘Heretic’ was new.
Catra rubbed at her wrists letting that hang in the air. She waited for more.
When it didn’t come, she said, “Do I actually get to defend my actions or is this a review?”
Hordak didn’t answer. He placed his hands wide on the table, his pale skin illuminating in the screen’s light.
Catra’s two-colored eyes rested on the pivot again. They lifted to Hordak.
She said, “She needed to be dealt with. If I had waited any longer, she would have given Ares to the population of Dryl. Torque Snap would have been a bloodbath.”
Hordak shifted to have one eye scrutinize her.
Catra gestured at the table / monitor. She said, “Should I go on?”
Hordak stood and gestured back.
“Your general was compromised.” Catra managed to keep the statement sterile, “There’s a network of spies within the Horde. One of them got to Adora and began to influence her decisions. When I confronted the Vice General with these facts, she turned on me.”
Hordak shifted, bringing a hand to his jaw.
Catra said, “Project Hellbent.”
Hordak waited.
Catra explained, “We acquired Dryl’s project Ares from Entrapta and made our own version: Hellbent. The princess was going to get back to Dryl any second and turn Chronos into a chemical factory. Within days she would have had all her people ready to become soldiers. Imagine that: The remaining population would have been reliably perfect soldiers instead of lambs for the slaughter.”
Hordak glared. “Hellbent was a test. Which soldiers would sign and which wouldn’t.”
Catra had already anticipated that quickly pivoted, “The princess is a tech genius, she would have found records of my compliance had I signed that paper. It had to look perfectly like I was going AWOL.”
She squinted in the half beat after her statement. Catra said, “And that just goes to show how compromised the Vice General was. If we had an advantage like Hellbent, why didn’t we use it? Why don’t we use it now?”
Hordak shifted again, his claw tapping at his lips. He moved to the side where a silk plant was nestled in the corner.
Catra gestured at the file, “The royal kept breaking out of her cells, it was only a matter of time before she actually managed to escape. I saw this and took action. I placated her, telling her that I wanted to defect, to escape. I was going to take her with me. She already had shown some interest in me, so I capitalized on that.”
Hordak nodded.
Catra pointed at the line’s pivot, “An agent in Dryl contacted her here. That’s when we headed north. I managed to delay her long enough for her to be inconsequential during the final operation.”
Catra leaned forward, “I’m just confused at this point. Do you want me hunting spies or not?”
Hordak’s voice gave a growling sigh.
Catra leaned back.
Hordak turned to her, “I believe that your usefulness as a spy hunter is complete, Force Captain Starborn.”
Catra’s lips thinned, feeling her stomach sink. It wouldn’t touch her face though.
“I have a different mission for you now.” Hordak gestured before facing her again, “As you know, much of the horde army is unsettled. They are looking for recognizable leaders, your name has come up several times as someone they believe to be cunning, ruthless, but firmly on the side of the Horde.”
Hordak let his hands rest wide on the monitor-table. He said, “I just need to know one thing first. Do you believe?”
Catra frowned.
Hordak said, “Do you believe in pain, Force captain?”
Catra didn’t follow.
Hordak kept his firm expression, “It’s a simple question: Do you believe when you are struck, pain shoots through your body?”
Catra slowly nodded.
“Good.” Hordak said, “I am promoting you to Commandant of Dryl. You are a known leader of men, with the reduction in the army, we need those known to take on the burden of leadership.”
Catra quickly said, “I need Entrapta.”
Hordak tilted his head, curious.
Catra explained, “I need someone who was in authority of Dryl to be a close advisor for the remaining population and infrastructure. I just need her advice. We can make her a servant of the state for her crimes against the Horde.”
Hordak stood, bringing a hand on his chin to think.
Catra said, “Having her under my wing will also make sure that she does not build a resistance cell either. Plus she is emotionally compromised towards me.”
Hordak asked, “And does she understand pain?”
That she didn’t have to think about. Catra nodded.
“Very well… you may have the royal.” Hordak said.