Serve and Protect

Chapter 29

"I'm worried about my mom."

Glimmer's quiet admission came during a particularly tense moment of the horror movie she, Adora, and Bow were watching. The character on screen was slowly, foolishly, creeping down a rickety wooden staircase into a dark basement. A split-second later, the killer's hand shot between two steps and grabbed the hero by her ankle, but Adora was too distracted by her friend to be scared. In fact, she actually let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, I didn't want to say anything but I'm worried too," she said. Almost a week had passed since Shadow Weaver turned herself in. With each day that went by, Chief Angella Brightmoon became more and more distant. At this point, Adora wondered if Angella was actually sleeping at the office — if she was sleeping at all. They rarely saw her, and when they did, Angella's usually bright and kind eyes were shadowed by a perpetually furrowed brow and hung with dark circles. When she was home, Angella spent most of the time staring off, deep in thought, or sneaking away to take hushed phone calls behind closed doors.

Bow paused the movie. "Investigating your own precinct must be pretty stressful," he said, giving Glimmer's leg a reassuring pat. Glimmer, who was laying across the couch with her head on Adora's lap and her legs draped over Bow's, let out a groan.

"I know," she said. "But I just wish she would let us help!"

Adora bit her lip and let her head fall back against the plush couch cushions. She knew Angella had plenty of reasons for not letting her teenage daughter and friends help ferret out the bad seeds in the police force. Glimmer knew it too, so Adora knew telling her as much wouldn't really help.

But sitting still and doing nothing wasn't exactly Adora's forte either.

"We should get back to strategizing what our next move will be," she said. Her mind was on her notebook and the list of gang-toppling ideas they had brainstormed together. "As much as I hate to admit it, Shadow Weaver is right: without the kids or the cops, the Horde is going to be vulnerable."

"What do you think the Horde will do if they find out that Shadow Weaver is helping the police?" Bow asked.

It was a good question, and one that made Adora uneasy. "I'm not sure. They've never had a breach like that before."

Glimmer snorted. "Yes they have! You're literally living with the Chief of police!"

Adora shook her head. "Yeah but I'm not nearly as important as Shadow Weaver. She's been Hordak's right hand for years. I don't think there's anything about the gang that she doesn't know."

Humming thoughtfully to herself, Glimmer shimmied up to sit properly. "What do you think the Horde is doing without her?"

Tapping her chin, Adora ran the scenario through in her mind. She'd never known the Horde without Shadow Weaver in it. Now, without her or the kids, Hordak was probably leaning pretty heavily on the Force Captains to keep things moving. She wondered how Catra was handling the news. Out of everyone in the gang, Catra was probably the most relieved to be rid of Shadow Weaver and, after all Catra had suffered at the hands of that miserable woman, Adora wouldn't blame her.

"Hello? Earth to Adora?"

The flash of Glimmer's hand waving in front of her face made Adora jump. "Yes! What? Sorry, I was just thinking about Catra. I hope she's doing okay through all of this."

Glimmer and Bow exchanged an inscrutable look.

"You still care about her, huh?" Bow asked gently.

Adora's mouth worked silently, trying to find the words. "I mean... yeah. Of course. I can't just turn off my feelings, y'know?"

"But what if what Shadow Weaver said is true?" Glimmer pressed. "What if she really did beat up Sargeant Lashor?"