The Bad Guy

Chapter 3

It took a moment for Catra to register what happened. The impact of the fall left stars flickering in the corners of her vision and a ringing in her ears. She almost always landed on her feet, so this was as devastating to her ego as it was to her body.

Peering up, she found herself surrounded. Glimmer's shimmering hands were raised, Bow had a fresh arrow notched and aimed, and She-Ra stared down the blade of her sword that was aimed directly in Catra's face.

"Hey! Watch where you point that thing!"

"What are you doing here?" Glimmer asked, a glower of distaste on her soft, round face.

Catra hated her so, so much.

But where Glimmer couldn't help but wear her heart on her sleeve, Catra knew she had to keep her loathing simmering just under the surface. Even tangled in what she now realized was one of Bow's specialized arrow-cast nets, she would have the upper hand so long as she kept her cool.

With a practiced air of indifference, Catra rolled her face away from Glimmer. The princess fumed at having been ignored. Instead, Catra homed in on She-Ra and flashed her a pointed grin.

"Hey, Adora."

She-Ra tensed. A flush of heat flooded her cheeks. Catra loved that blush, especially when she was the reason for it.

"Hey!" Glimmer said, flustered for a different reason entirely. "I was talking to you!"

"Oh, I know," Catra drawled. She kept her eyes on She-Ra. "I just don't care."

Glimmer growled in what Catra could only assume was meant to be an intimidating way, but it was hard to take her seriously under all that sparkle. Bow placed a steady hand on his friend's shoulder and pulled her back a step. "She's just messing with you, Glimmer. Don't let her into your head."

Catra laughed, mean and merciless. These idiots were lucky she couldn't get into their heads. The chaos she would cause if she could would be fantastic.

"Stop it, Catra." She-Ra had regained her composure. Sword at the ready, her expression was stony. To anyone else, she probably looked stoic. But even in this form, Catra knew her better; she could see the internal struggle playing out behind those brilliant, glowing blue eyes.

"Why don't you come down here and make me?" Catra purred. A flash of indecision danced across She-Ra's face.

"Cut it out, Catra." This time it was Bow who stepped in to play peacemaker. But unlike Glimmer, he was gentle in his demand, and Catra bristled at his softness. "Why are you here?"

Again, Catra turned her eyes to She-Ra. "Gee, I dunno. Hey, Adora, why am I here?"

And, again, colour bloomed across She-Ra's face. She shook her head, as if Catra's teasing was a fog she was trying to fight her way out of.

Still draped in the net, Catra squirmed up onto her knees. She smirked at Glimmer and Bow, feeling elated and triumphant despite her position of submission. It was so easy to break these fools that it almost felt unfair.

Almost, but not really.

Out of the corner of her eyes, something flashed. She turned her head just in time to see She-Ra launch a fist forward. From it whipped a rope of solid gold. Before Catra could process what this meant, the rope wrapped around her shoulders like a lasso and tightened. In the time it took Catra to let out an indignant squawk, She-Ra had wound the sword-turned-binding around her entirely. The net had been one thing–a temporary inconvenience that Catra's claws would have eventually made quick work of as soon as she was tired of messing around. But there was no scratching her way through of the Sword of Protection. She was trapped.

"What the fuck, Adora?" she hissed as both Glimmer and Bow gasped in unison.

Something about She-Ra's expression was different now. The indecision, the flustered confusion under a mask of seriousness, was gone. Now, as She-Ra looked down at Catra, she did so with nothing but pity.

"You shouldn't be here, Catra."

The world seemed to spin. Memories flashed across Catra's mind in quick succession: Adora's lips moving over hers, kissing her as if the secret to ever-lasting life rested beneath Catra's tongue. The way Adora had backed her against a tree and grabbed at her hips with greedy hands, hitching her higher so she could wedge her thigh between Catra's legs. Delicious friction in all the right places. With a rush of humiliation, Catra remembered the way she had cried out for her, and the wiley way she had bucked and thrashed under the spell of Adora's touch.

Though she would have denied it to anyone, those meetings had meant something to Catra. And by the way Adora kissed her, the way she had held her and murmured her name against her throat, Catra had let herself believe it had meant something to Adora too.

Yet here they were, face-to-face at the scene of their crimes, with Adora pretending they hadn't both come here for the exact same reason.

White hot shame chased its way up from Catra's gut. She gritted her teeth and growled; menacing in a way that Glimmer could only dream of being.

"Fuck you, Adora."

If this phased She-Ra, she didn't let it show. Instead, she turned to Glimmer and Bow. "We should bring her back with us."

The bottom dropped out of Catra's stomach. Despite still being on her knees, she felt like she was plummeting.

"To Bright Moon?" Glimmer looked dumbstruck. "You mean, like a prisoner?"

"That's a terrible idea." Bow stepped forward, frantically waving his hands as if that was enough to call this entire thing off. "We tried that once, remember? It didn't end well."

She-Ra lifted her chin, her gaze fixed with defiance. "This time will be different. We don't need to use her for leverage."

Bow threw his hands up in the air. "Then why take her at all? The Rebellion doesn't take prisoners."

"Think about it," She-Ra said. "If the Hoard doesn't have Catra, they lose one of their biggest advantages over us."

Glimmer crossed her arms and raised a skeptical brow. "You mean their biggest advantage over you?"

She-Ra pursed her lips. She didn't reply, but she didn't need to; they all knew Glimmer was right.

Still on her knees, Catra thought she was going to be sick. Had this been Adora's plan all along? Were those meetings between them nothing more than her way of getting Catra to drop her defenses?

Had it been a trap all along?

Hot tears filled Catra's eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of these people–in front of She-Ra– but she was overcome. Catra dipped her head forward, letting her mess of unkempt hair hide her face, and screamed.