Escaping Corruption (Seasons 1-3)

S2 - The rescue slide

The Verena Xalia  glided to a perfect landing three miles from Pucas layer.

The villain in her story has a secret layer that's not much of a secret, how cliché.

Catra had told the others to stay behind, but Melog stubbornly refused. That's how they ended up in this situation, climbing up the tall alleyed walls of Pucas layer.

Melog was currently using magic to track any of Pucas guards that may be nearby, therefore Catra had to guide them.

They approached the door of Pucas office, Melog twisting around and around as they watched guards pass in the hallway through the walls.

They nodded to her.

'Good....but how do we get in? Its locked.'

'I could break it down'

'You could?!'

Melogs eyes darted away from her, as if they had been caught in a blunder.

'Probably...'  They say timidly.

'Cool, can you?' She gestured to the door.

They nodded again, and began to mess with it while she stood guard.

Finally, it fell off with a soft thud, and Catra swiftly sidestepped inside.

Melog pulled it back into place, but didn't bother reconnecting it to the hinges.

They began reading the labels on the metal filing cabinets that lined the wall on the right, and a window that moonlight poured in was on the left.

A wide desk stood right in the middle, a swivel chair on its other side.

A few documents, a framed picture of his wife, and a metal lamp sat on the desk.

It was almost like a guard department back in Purrsia.

Catra shook her head, and turned to Melog, hoping they had found something.

'2978 Wedding plans...Warrants....lists of poison and deadly plants...his drug dealers phone number....His weapon suppliers....Ugh! We'll never find it here!' They smacked their head against the filing cabinets in annoyance.

Catra looked over the unlocked ones and then scurried over to the ones hidden in the shadows.

'Look for the unlocked ones.'

Her breath hitched, she stopped in her tracks, waiting for them to disagree.

But they just did it without questioning her further.

She bit her lip.

Thinking in what could possibly cause her trepidation.

She hadn't done anything in particular that was actually bad, atleast not recently.

Even if she had, Puca deserved it full heartedly.

She snapped out of her reverie when a thud from Melog caught her attention.

'What is it?'

'Found it.'

She crept over beside them, and picked out the hefty file they had been looking for.

She picked out a sheet from the middle, and shoved the file into her bag in case of emergency.

She firstly glanced at the two photos attached, and nearly threw up when she did.

One of of a young child, the second of a white, bloated corpse.

She stepped infront of the window and angled the document so that the moonlight made it readable.

'Eros Amora D'riluth...Aged nineteen' She could not believe it.

This was her mother's brother.

Her uncle.

She froze for a moment.

'Does it say how he died?'

'Yes......Accused of being a quisling....They tortured him for days on end, until eventually they slit his throat from ear to ear'

'That's dark and cruel.'

'I know....'

'Why are you so quiet?'

'Because I used to do similar acts to rebel soldiers when I wanted information out of them.'

'What do you mean?'

'I.....I mean I was in the Horde. I was one of the top force captains, and I was second in command for a year after I....I put Shadow Weaver out of commission.'

'Oh'

Catra stared at the ground with an almost melancholic expression.

She may have changed forces, changed herself, changed how she acted and her view of the world and people around her.

But that did not erase the actions she had committed that cost innocent civilians their lives.

She took a deep breath, and pocketed the document.

Just in time, it was, as a second later Melog yelled about guards banging on the door of the outer room.

The two panicked.

'Window!' Catra screamed.

Melog shot forward, as Catra fruitlessly attempted to pry the window open.

A simple kick from Melog sent it shattering from its frame.

They threw themselves out of the window, and Catra skillfully caught the bars of the scaffolding and pulled Melog up with her.

The duo darted and lept through the endless labyrinth of poles and scaffolding, the shadow soldiers at their heels.

Catra bended and twisted through the half made structure, making sure to avoid anyone other then Melog.

It wasn't long before they realised they could not escape to the Verena Xalia  without the guards seeing them in the early morning light, but as usual, Catra had a plan.

She dropped down the scaffolding, layer by layer, and grabbed the final pole seconds before she would have hit the ground.

Melog had disappeared a moment before hand, then appeared before her.

'What's your ingenious plan?!'

'Take us in the backdoor with your invisibility. I remember the document on Pucas desk said something about a princess held captive in the corner battalion, which is right beside the backdoor.'

'On it, Čalyria.'