Chapter 9

                                    

                                          
Catra woke up to a blaring alarm. She was in her bed in her Force Captain quarters and her ear no longer hurt. As the feline sat up, trying to get her bearings, the door opened to reveal Adora. She was dressed in her Horde Lord armour with the same short haircut; looking every bit as terrifying as she had been when she had had first given herself that title. On reflex, Catra got on all fours and unsheathed her claws. Adora simply laughed:
"Oh very funny! We both know you could never take me hand-to-hand!" Catra's eyes widened. Why was Adora laughing? Come to think of it, why was she scared of her? This was Adora! They were friends, Catra was her second-in-command and they ruled Etheria together... right?
Catra relaxed and scratched her head, saying:
"Maybe... but I am faster than you." Adora smirked:
"Wanna bet?" Catra gave her signature mischievous grin and leapt off her bed. She landed on Adora, forcing her to ground. The blonde tried and failed to get up due to her heavy armour and impromptu laughing fit:
"Okay, fine! You win!" Catra gave a wry grin:
"Yeah, I do! I already told you this armour's impractical. What was wrong with your previous look?" Catra got off Adora as she spoke and the blonde quickly stood up, brushing herself down:
"It was not worthy of my rank, Catra. You know that." The feline shrugged her shoulders and ran back into her room to get her mask. She had only just realized she was not wearing it and found it odd that Adora had not commented on it. Before she could bring it up, however, Adora suddenly called to her:
"Come on! We have to hurry! The drill starts in five minutes and you don't wanna be here when it does!" Catra turned back to face her friend but she was already gone. That was when she became aware once more of the blaring alarm and that she had to get out of the building before the sprinklers activated.
***
Once Catra made it to the assembly point (the biggest hangar bay that constituted the main entrance and exit of the Fright Zone), the number of questions she already had tripled. 
There were not nearly as many soldiers as she was expecting – barely two battalions. There were no other Force Captains and the alarm seemed to suddenly change from the standard fire drill that had woken her up to a full-on intruder alert.
Searching frantically for Adora, Catra saw her standing on a platform she did not remember ever being there. After sighing in frustration, the feline accepted she had had a bad night and was feeling more out of it than usual. That must be why she was feeling weird and her memories were all messed up.
Catra ran to the front of her troops and fell in line alongside Sergeant Cobalt and another officer she did not recognize. As soon as she was in position, Adora began to speak:
"As you know, one of the princesses escaped from her cell half an hour ago. We've prevented her from leaving our prison but we can assume she has killed all the guards and is currently releasing all the other prisoners. We must stop this rebellion before it's too late!" Upon hearing the word 'rebellion', Catra's head started to hurt and flashes of images she honestly could not describe filled her mind. The common denominator in all of them seemed to be the colour purple.
"Force Commander Catra!" Catra blinked and saw Adora standing right in front of her. She squealed and jumped, suddenly feeling scared of her friend once more. The blonde simply raised her eyebrow at the feline:
"Catra? Are you alright?" Catra nodded hesitantly. Adora leaned forward and gave a surprisingly soft smile:
"Don't worry, I won't let her hurt you." Catra gave another hesitant nod before asking: