Chapter 61: The First Ones’ Base
Starfox5
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Chapter 61: The First Ones' Base
"And you thought I should stay on the ship!"
Mermista didn't have to sound so smug, in Seacat's opinion. "I didn't expect the entrance to the First Ones' base to be underwater," she said with a scowl.
"Didn't you see Micah rise out of the water on a submersible platform?" the princess asked as they walked up to the shore of the central lake.
Seacat rolled her eyes. "I didn't expect that to be the only entrance."
"We don't know whether or not there's another entrance - or an emergency exit we could use as an entrance," Entrapta chimed in from where she was watching a row of devices she had put up along the shore. "We didn't find one, but that doesn't prove that there isn't any."
That was true, but they didn't have enough time to look more thoroughly for an alternative entrance. Not with Glimmer's dad still tied to whatever magic the First Ones used, ready to lay waste to the island again should he wake up. And not with the fate of Etheria at stake. She sighed. "So, can you open a path to wherever is down there?"
"Of course I can!" Mermista grinned, then raised her trident.
And the lake started to part in front of her, the water recoiling, forming a gap that quickly widened, all the way down to the ground - and to the centre of the lake.
"Even more impressive than the tunnel you created during the River Campaign, my love!" Sea Hawk told her.
"Thank you!"
It was more impressive. And more terrifying as well. This time, there would be no vines and sealing agents holding back the water. Should Mermista lose control, tons of water would crash down on anyone caught between the walls.
Seacat suppressed a shudder. They couldn't take long down below. Just enough to figure out how the regular entrance worked. She looked forward, where the water was still parting, revealing mud and confused crabs.
And a structure encrusted with shellfish and covered with algae and other water plants.
"Oh! There it is!" cheered Entrapta. "Let's go!" She was already climbing up on Emily.
"Wait!" Adora said. "Let me check it first!" She stepped into the gap and started walking through the mud.
"Wait!" Seacat sprinted after her.
"Wait on the shore!" Adora told her. "I'm looking for traps."
Seacat clenched her teeth. As much as she hated it, Adora was right - she wouldn't help much and only be a liability. If the water walls crumbled, Adora was about the only one who'd have a chance to survive it. Other than Glimmer, and the princess had nearly exhausted her teleport magic. "Be careful," she whispered, quickly hugging her lover.
"Of course!"
And Adora turned away and continued her trek down the lakebed towards the First Ones' base.
Seacat stepped back on the shore and forced herself to watch.
"You know, if Mermista loses control over all that water, we'll be swept away by a wave anyway," Entrapta said. "I think the entire shore would be swept away."
"I won't lose control," Mermista hissed.
"Of course not, my love!"
"I'm just pointing out the consequences should you lose control," Entrapta told her. "There's no reason I couldn't go with Adora."
"It's easier to survive being swept away on the shore and carried inland than being crushed at the bottom of the lake," Seacat pointed out.
"Really?"
"Yes." Not much easier, of course.
"I'm growing a wall," Perfuma announced.
A moment later, plants started to grow at the shore in front of them, forming a thick wall.
"Will that withstand the water?" Entrapta asked. "Hypothetically, I mean," she added with a side glance to Mermista.
"It'll reduce the power of a wave," Perfuma claimed.
And it was blocking her sight. Seacat climbed on the growing wall to keep Adora insight. "Make sure Mermista has a line of sight to the lake," she snapped.
"Oh, right, sorry."
"I don't need to see the water to control it!" Mermista yelled.
Whatever. Seacat wasn't going to take any risk when Adora's life was at stake. Her lover had almost reached the base by now. "Why would they have built a base underwater, anyway?"
"To hide it, I suppose," Scorpia replied. "We never even suspected that there was anything here. We wouldn't have deported prisoners to the island if we had known of this. I wonder how Micah discovered the place, anyway."
"He's a very good swimmer. He might have tried to escape through the lake," Castaspella said. "Or he sensed the magic,"
Seacat turned to glance at the sorceress. "Can you sense any magic?"
"It's more that I can't sense much magic where the base is."
"Yes, Perfuma agreed. "It feels the same to my powers."
"Oh! A base that blocks magic? Interesting!" Entrapta piped up. "Then again, if they built the base to manipulate and collect the runestone network, it would make sense to be able to block the magic as well. You can't collect what you cannot contain, after all."
Well, wasn't that good news? Their magic powers might be useless inside the base. Seacat pressed her lips together.
Then Adora reached the walls of the base, and Seacat held her breath. If this was some magic trap…
But nothing happened. Adora touched the walls, first with her sword, then with her hand, before she scraped off some shellfish and plants. Yet all that she did was reveal some of the metal underneath.
"Looks like the outside isn't guarded or trapped," Glimmer stated the obvious.
"She hasn't reached the entrance yet," Seacat retorted.
"One of the entrances," Entrapta told them. "Since the platform that Micah used is on the top, there should be an entrance on ground level. If we assume that the base was constructed before it was flooded. Unless they sealed that entrance up after finishing construction like some ancient tombs. Though that would make later changes to the complex more difficult without noticeably increasing security. Provided they have proper security at the entrances."
"I don't think the First Ones were planning to change much after finishing the base, seeing as they planned to destroy Etheria to destroy their enemies," Seacat pointed out.
"I'm not sure we can judge how the First Ones thought," Bow said. "We don't have enough information - practically everything we know is from Light Hope, which is a biased source."
Right, Bow's dads were historians. He had mentioned that once, Seacat remembered.
"And Adora was taken from her family before she could actually learn her own culture," Glimmer added.
Which was a very good thing, in Seacat's opinion. And not just because she would have never met Adora otherwise. Any people willing to destroy a world to fight a war weren't good people.
"Well, we'll find out soon enough!" Entrapta said. "Too bad I couldn't make Emily waterproof. If I had the parts, I could have made her able to swim!"
Emily beeped, probably in agreement. Seacat wasn't quite sure - the bot only looked vaguely the same as before, having been cobbled together from parts from various sources.
"I'm widening the gap around the base," Mermista announced, "so Adora can walk around it."
Seacat clenched her teeth. That would take Adora out of her sight. If anything happened to her...
But Adora quickly returned and waved at them before she climbed on the roof of the base - where Seacat could see the lines of the platform Micah had used.
"We should go join her!" Entrapta said. "So Mermista doesn't have to keep the water at bay for too long."
"I'm fine," Mermista snapped. "Don't rush into a trap."
"But Adora's there!"
"And she's looking for traps," Seacat said, scowling - Adora was poking the apparent hatch with her sword.
"Perhaps it's a hidden transponder that needs to be activated," Entrapta speculated. Or a voice command - no, that wouldn't work underwater.
"Magic. If Micah managed to get into the base, it must react to magic," Castaspella said.
"Unless he was caught by bots in the jungle and carried into the base," Sea Hawk countered.
"We never saw any sign of bots," Scorpia said. "If they had been roaming the jungle, we would've noticed. So, it's probably magic."
"But if this was a First Ones' base and meant to let Adora control the weapon, shouldn't she be able to use magic to enter? And how would she do that if the entrance was closed and underwater?" Entrapta asked.
"Easily," Seacat told her. "Hey, Adora!" she yelled. "Heal the door!"
"What?" she heard Adroa faintly reply. Rats.
"It's too far. I'm going to join her," Seacat told the others.
"We are going to join her," Glimmer said.
Everyone nodded. Even Mermista. And Entrapta was already gathering up her gadgets.
Damn. Seacat scowled. But she knew she wouldn't be able to convince the others to stay back. She looked at Sea Hawk, then at Mermista. He nodded - he wouldn't let any harm come to her. At least not if he could prevent it.
Seacat could only hope that they weren't about to trigger a trap that would make Mermista lose control.
She quickly took the lead, ignoring the way her feet sank into the muddy ground beneath the lake, and hastened to the base. Adora had spotted them and was waiting on the roof, waving at them. "Seacat! It's not safe yet!" she yelled, just loud enough for Seacat's ears to pick it up.
"Tell that to them!" Seacat yelled back.
"It's not safe yet!" Adora yelled, louder than before
"It's safe enough!" Glimmer screamed.
"You don't know that!"
Seacat rolled her eyes and sped up. As she reached the building, she shook her head. "You should try to heal the door with your sword."
"Oh!" Adora frowned. "I should've thought of that."
"I could try a spell myself," Castaspella said, "but that might trigger an attempt to capture me if whatever is controlling this base is looking for sorcerers and sorceresses to control."
Seacat felt the fur on her neck raise and her ears flatten. No, they didn't need a second pale and marked, almost invincible, monster to fight!
"Ok, I'll try to heal the door." Adora raised her sword, then pointed it at the roof just as Seacat climbed up.
A moment later, the magic energy hit the roof - the platform - and the lines forming a circle lit up, as did a symbol in the middle of it.
"Entrance," Adora read.
The light shone brightly for a moment, then faded - and the platform started to descend.
"Oh! They must have sensors checking for water!" Entrapta, stepping from Emily's back straight to the roof, gushed. "Fascinating!"
Seacat nodded, almost absentmindedly. She was staring down the dimly lit shaft that had been revealed.
Entrapta also peered down. "It's not very deep. Too deep to jump, though. We could wait and see if the platform returns without any more input, so to speak. An automated system like that would make sense. Perhaps it's a proximity thing? If you're close to it, it descends, and if you're far above it, it ascends?"
"We can't check that," Seacat said, looking up. Mermista might create a water bridge, but Seacat didn't want to strain her even more - holding the entire lake at bay had to be exhausting.
"Oh, look, there comes the platform!" Entrapta beamed, then took a step back as the platform rose again until it was level with the rest of the roof. "Like I thought."
"So, we could use this elevator," Adora said. "I just need to use magic on the platform."
"Let's test it before we end up floating above the lake," Glimmer told her.
"Alright." Adora stepped on the platform and used her sword again.
As before, the platform started to descend again, and Adora jumped onto the roof.
"It works," she announced. "Once it returns, let's all step on it."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Castaspella said. "We don't know what awaits us inside. What if it's a trap? That might have captured Micah before?"
"I'm She-Ra," Adora said. "This was made for me."
"And we can deal with any trap," Glimmer added. "We did so before!"
"Yes," Scorpia slammed her pincers against each other. "Whatever is waiting for us down there, we can beat it!"
Perfuma, standing next to her, nodded. "If we work together, we can do it!"
"We barely beat Micah," Bow pointed out. "And he came from this base."
"Bow!" Glimmer shook her head. "That's why we need to go down there: To stop whatever is possessing him!"
"And to save the world," Mermista commented.
Glimmer blushed and scowled at her. "Yes, of course."
"And courage and love will see us through the worst this base has to offer! Huzzah!" Sea Hawk declared, raising his sword to the sky.
"Not to mention that you can't keep the water back forever," Seacat said. "If we enter the base, you can release the lake. And I don't see what else we can do out here."
"But what if She-Ra's presence triggers a trap?" Castaspella said. "Or mine?"
"This base was made for me," Adora told her. "Well, for She-Ra. Why would they create a trap for me?"
"Light Hope betrayed you, didn't she? If she informed this base…" Seacat trailed off and pressed her lips together when she saw Adora flinch at the reminder.
"They captured Dad well before all that," Glimmer said.
"If he and the base were responsible for the monsters that razed the Horde port," Bow added.
"Who else could've been it?" Glimmer asked. "And we came here to stop this runestone network from destroying the world, and we can't do that if we stay here!"
Well, the princess was right about that. Still… Seacat had a bad feeling about this. She glanced at Entrapta, but her friend was already in the centre of the platform, smiling widely as she sat on Emily. Sighing, Seacat joined her. "Let's go then!"
"Yes!"
"Should we leave Emily back here? On the shore, I mean," Glimmer said as she ducked under the bot. "It's a little crowded with her."
"But I need her! She's carrying a lot of tools and materials!" Entrapta retorted.
"Better take her with us," Seacat said. The bot had proven her worth a few times already, and if they had to deal with another bot like Light Hope, Seacat didn't want to find out that Entrpata needed a tool that was outside the base. And Emily would help keep Entrapta safe.
She jumped up, grabbed the top of Emily's leg and swung herself up to the top of the bot's shell, next to the princess.
Adora smirked at her, then stood in front of the bot. "Everyone ready?"
The group stepped a little closer to the bot - Scorpia almost hugged it - and Entrapta nodded. "Everyone's inside the circle!"
Adora raised her sword, then pointed it at the circle, letting magic healing energy shoot out of the tip of the blade.
Seacat felt the platform beneath her feet jerk. A moment later, they started to descend.
There were no markings on the shaft's walls. No lights. Nothing but dark metal. Seacat reached out and drew a claw over the wall. She smiled when she saw the scratches she left. Good to know that she could cut the walls in a pinch.
Then they stopped, and a section of the wall parted, revealing a long hallway that could've been taken straight out of Light Hope's bunker. Seacat sniffed the air - it smelt… not stale, but not like the jungle or the lake. A hint of something she couldn't identify. Something she had smelt before, though… Her eyes widened. The air smelt like the air in the Horde's yard when Shadow Weaver had started to throw lightning around like crazy.
"This could be a trap," she said. "A lightning trap."
"You smell ozone?" Entrapta asked. "Fascinating! They must have huge power plants, then. Or unsafe ones."
That wasn't reassuring at all - Seacat still remembered how Shadow Weaver had died. And how Hordak would've died if not for his special armour. Armour none of them was wearing.
But Adora was already stepping into the hallway, sword raised. "I am She-Ra!" she announced.
Everyone waited, but seconds passed without any answer.
"Uh… we probably should step off the platform before it ascends again," Entrapta suggested.
"Right." Seacat joined Adora in the hallway, half-expecting an 'Intruder Alert' alarm going off.
But nothing happened.
"Perhaps the base is dead?" Perfuma looked around. "It feels dead to me - no plants at all are nearby. And I can still feel the plants in the lake outside, even though it's harder than usual."
"The entrance works," Adora pointed out the obvious as the door closed behind them. It had door controls on this side, Seacat noted with some relief.
"Perhaps it doesn't work without Micah," Bow said.
"Unlikely," Entrapta said. "My sensors are picking up a huge amount of power! This place is bristling with energy!"
"That doesn't mean that there's anyone to direct that power," Castaspella said.
"Why would they install Light Hope but no bot here?" Seacat asked.
"We don't know much about the First Ones or their technology," Bow replied. "Light Hope might be a unique bot, or she was needed for her task - liaising with She-Ra - while this base doesn't need a bot."
"Someone captured and possessed Dad," Glimmer said. "He didn't do that to himself."
Seacat pressed her lips together. People changed in prison - especially Horde prisons. But this wasn't the right moment to point that out. "Let's go on," she told the others.
"Yes." Adora took the lead at a brisk pace.
Seacat rushed to catch up, meeting her lover's annoyed glare with a flat stare. No way was she letting Adora alone in the front.
"I'm releasing the water," Mermista announced with a sigh just before they reached another door.
This, too, had controls set in the wall next to it, and Adora touched them before Seacat could say anything.
And a bot's voice sounded through the hallway: "Scanning."
Seacat tensed.
"It might be a recording," Entrapta said. "Not a bot itself."
Then a line of light ran over Adora, then over them all before returning to Adora.
"What…?"
"Oh! An active sensor! But why are they using visible light?" Entrapta frowned. "Is that meant to show the subject of the scan the progress? Or does using such a frequency grant an advantage?"
"What is this?" Adora asked through clenched teeth.
"A scanner!" Entrapta replied. "It's scanning you. Analysing you. Gathering data!"
Adora didn't seem to be reassured - and neither was Seacat. They were in a base whose puppet sorcerer had tried to kill them multiple times already. She didn't trust anything here.
"She-Ra identified, but vitals differ from saved data. You are not Mara."
"I'm Adora!"
"Please transform back so your unenhanced vitals can be detected," the bot - it had to be a bot; it sounded like Light Hope - told her.
"Uh…"
"Fascinating! Your transformation must hide your vitals and other data! So, not even the First Ones can scan or extrapolate your natural body's data when you're She-Ra!"
"Uh… should I transform back?" Adora asked.
Hell, no! Seacat shook her head. "No. That might be a trap."
"It might be what we need to take over the station - proof that you are a First One," Entrapta retorted. "It would make sense that they restricted the base to First Ones, you know, since they wanted to blow the planet up."
And wasn't that reassuring. "We can cut our way in," Seacat said. Her claws would shred the door.
"That might trigger a hostile reaction," Bow pointed out. "It would be easier to handle this if we had control over the station and any bots it might have."
That was correct, but… Seacat had a bad feeling about this. She could feel her fur rising.
"The base that captured Dad," Glimmer cut in.
"We still don't know that," Scorpia told her. "But we know how dangerous the base can be if it considers us enemies. And we're in a narrow hallway."
That was also true. Seacat still didn't like it.
"I can always transform back," Adora said. Seacat glared at her, and she shrugged. "And I'm not helpless either way. If this is a chance to take over without having to fight an army of bots and traps, then I think we should do it."
Seacat huffed and took a step closer to Adora.
Her lover smiled at her, then raised her sword again in a brief blaze of light, transforming back.
"Scanning."
Once more, that infernal light beam ran over Adora - and over Seacat. She resisted the sudden urge to bat at it. That would be pointless - you couldn't touch it.
"First Ones physiology identified. She-Ra's status updated. Welcome to Power Station One, She-Ra. The Heart of Etheria is at your command."
"Yes!" Bow whispered.
"Uh, thanks," Adora replied. "So… can you open this door?"
"Opening the Door," the voice replied as the door slid open.
"Thank you." Adora entered a room that looked very similar to the one in Light Hope's bunker with all the consoles.
Seacat looked around, ears twitching, as she tried to spot the hidden passages containing bots.
"Control Unit detected. Weapon system charging."
"What?" Adora blurted out as Seacat held her breath.
"'Weapon system charging'?" Bow repeated in a slightly higher voice than usual.
"Are we under attack?" Scorpia asked, looking around.
"Uh…" Entrapta grimaced. "I think the weapon system the base means is the Heart of Etheria. All the magic power it has gathered. The thing we are here to stop and dismantle."
"What?" Seacat yelled - together with pretty much everyone else.
"The weapon is charging? How? We didn't connect the last Runestone!" Glimmer exclaimed. "It shouldn't work!"
"It shouldn't work according to Light Hope's data, even with Adora's sword present - the Heart of Etheria can only activate if the network is complete!" Entrapta looked around. "Console! I need to check the readings!"
"What's happening?" Adora asked. "And how do we stop it, whatever it is?"
"I'm going to find out!" Entrapta yelled as she dashed into the room.
"Warning! Intruder detected. Physiology doesn't match approved personnel. Countermeasures initiated!"
"Stop! Stop! She's authorised! By me, She-Ra!" Adora yelled. "I've got the sword and everything! After a moment, she raised the sword. "For the Honour of Grayskull!"
Adora transformed into She-Ra again, but the bot's voice didn't react. And Seacat heard the sound of doors opening - sliding into walls. Now would come the… She frowned, cocking her head. She didn't hear any bots scrambling over metal.
"Stop it!" Adora yelled again. "I'm ordering you!"
"Please state the override code," the bot finally replied.
"Override code? What override code?" Adora asked.
"I don't know," Entrapta yelled. "There wasn't anything in Light Hope's memories!"
And now Seacat heard the sound of metal legs approaching them. "Here they come!" she yelled, drawing her sword and moving to block one of the passages.
"Base! Stop this! Stop… ah, damn it!" Adora joined her, sword drawn.
Sea Hawk and Mermista followed their example, as did Glimmer and Scorpia, while Bow, as Seacat saw with a glance over her shoulder, moved to cover Entrapta with Perfuma.
A moment later, the first bots appeared in the hidden passages. Seacat hissed. "There they are!"
"I don't see...oh. There they are!" Adora yelled.
And the bots attacked. About half a dozen of them. Seacat moved to intercept them, but Adora charged ahead, and one swipe of her sword cleaved all but one bot in two, and she got that one with the backswing.
The half a dozen bots coming through the door on the other side were dispatched by Scorpia and Sea Hawk before Seacat reached their position.
"Countermeasures insufficient. Please hold."
"What?" Mermista said. "Did the bot just ask us to wait until it can make more bots?"
"A novel approach to fighting, I'm sure," Sea Hawk commented with a grin.
"We must have depleted their stocks of bots," Glimmer said.
Seacat moved back to Entrapta and Bow, nodding at Perfuma. "What's going on?"
"The weapon is charging," Entrapta replied, pointing at a number of blinking lights on the console. "It must be reacting to the control unit - Adora's sword! But it shouldn't do that!"
"What?" Adora yelled, staring at her sword as if it was about to attack her. "This is my fault?"
"No!" Seacat snapped. "None of us thought this was possible!"
"It shouldn't work," Entrapta said, hands and hair pushing button after button. "The network isn't completed. The energy readings are far too low for the intended purpose, and it shouldn't activate without that. The danger was overloading the Heart, not activating it!"
"Well, it seems we were wrong," Bow said.
"No, no, no!" Entrapta retorted. "The Heart of Etheria is still dormant. But another system is charging in the base here. And… the power readings are much lower than the Heart's."
"That's good, right?" Perfuma asked.
"If this blows up, it won't destroy the planet," Entrapta replied without looking up. Seacat was about to smile when the princess continued. "But if the power storage overloads and loses containment, the explosion will destroy the island for sure."
"What?" Seacat paled. "Isn't this supposed to hold enough power to destroy the planet?"
"That's the Heart of Etheria, in the centre of the network. This is the, uh, it's an auxiliary system… targeting system? Something to be fired before the Heart fires, in any case. It's not meant to handle even the vastly reduced power it's using now!"
"We need to evacuate!" Seacat snapped. "How long until it blows up? We need to get back to the ship!"
"Wait!" Mermista held up her hand. "If the island blows up, will it sink?"
"Uh…" Mire tapping of buttons and keys from Entrapta followed. "It'll vaporise the island. Basically. There might be some larger remains, but it'll be mostly gone."
Mermista went pale. Seacat felt her stomach drop to her knees. "That will cause a giant wave," the princess said, shaking her head. "It'll lay waste to the entire South Coast - and probably Salineas as well."
"What?" Glimmer gasped.
"There have been similar catastrophes in the past," Mermista explained.
"Yes," Bow agreed. "The Crimson Flood that created the Crimson Waste, for example.
"We can't let that happen!" Adora looked grim - as if she was ready to… Damn!
"Yes, we can't," Entrapta agreed. "Because if the island gets blown up, we lose the control unit the First Ones installed here - and we need that to safely discharge the power gathered in the Heart of Etheria!"
Seacat muttered a curse under her breath.
"If we lose the station… the heart of Etheria will continue to collect magic energy until it can't contain it any more." Castaspella sounded shocked. "And then it'll…"
"...destroy the planet," Glimmer finished for her. "It might take a while, but Etheria would be doomed."
"Stop it!" Adora yelled. "We have to stop it!"
"I'm trying! But the console isn't accepting my commands! It requires an override code!" Entrapta yelled without looking up from where she was hitting buttons all over the place.
She sounded desperate, Seacat noticed. And that made her stomach plummet again. If Entrapta was desperate, their situation had to be even worse than Seacat thought.
"She-Ra must have the override code," Bow said. "I can't imagine the First Ones being so negligent as to leave the intended user without a way to stop this!"
"Mara might have known it - and taken the knowledge into the grave." Mermista shook her head.
"And after a thousand years, the system might not be working correctly any more," Castaspella added. "Like Light Hope, this bot might be damaged."
"It doesn't matter if it's broken - we have to try anyway," Adora stated. "I've got the control unit here." She raised her sword. "Just tell me where to go."
"And what will you do? Point the sword at it and heal the thing?" Mermista asked.
Adora firmly nodded. "Yes. And if that doesn't work, I'll cleave it into two parts!"
Mermista gasped in surprise - she should've known better than to ask Adora that kind of question, in Seacat's opinion. Her lover always preferred the direct, simple solution.
"But that will likely cause an explosion!" Entrapta said. "If you breach the containment shell…"
Adora drew in a sharp breath. "What? You mean that will cause the explosion?"
"Well… an explosion. If you're quick enough, it'll be limited in power," Entrapta explained. "But it'll still vaporise the station."
Damn. "And if we drain this chamber of the power?" Seacat asked.
"That would work - if we had a receptacle to vent the power into," Entrapta replied. "But it's magic, and the crystals we'd need for that…" She shook her head, tentacled hair flying back and forth. "I don't have the crystals to construct such a storing device, and I don't have the time for it, either."
No way to drain the magic safely, then. And this was just an auxiliary storage - not even the Heart of Etheria itself, which held far more magic… Seacat blinked. That might… "Can you vent it into the Heart of Etheria?" she asked.
"That would overload it!" Glimmer gasped.
"Not necessarily!" Entrapta retorted. "The Heart can hold magnitudes more power - it's already doing so, actually. It should be able to safely contain the additional power currently held in the subsystem."
'Should'. Not the most encouraging words. But better than certain failure. "Then let's do this!" Seacat said.
"But we'd need a direct link to the Heart of Etheria. And according to the console, there isn't any such link," Bow said, shaking his head.
"But we can build one!" Entrapta exclaimed. "If we can repurpose the parts in the consoles here, and… I'm sorry, Emily, but we'll need parts of you again!"
Seacat had no idea what the beeping from the bot meant, but Entrapta patted its shell and smiled, so it was probably agreement.
"But the bot here will try to stop us!" Perfuma cut in.
"With what?" Glimmer asked. "If it had anything left, we'd have been fighting it already."
"We can't know that. There might be traps," Seacat said.
"I don't care. We need to stop this, and I'll do it. Traps or no traps." Adora straightened. "Where is this subsystem?"
"It's two floors down according to the map here," Bow said. "Let me see if I can… yes!"
A crystal set on a pedestal started to glow. Seacat took a step back and prepared to jump away, but it stopped growing brighter, and in the middle of it, lines appeared. Lines that glowed, and… Oh. They formed a sort of map. No, a sort of transparent model of the base.
Seacat tilted her head. "Just how far down goes this shaft?" she asked, pointing at the model.
"Deeper than the deepest mine shaft I've heard of," Bow said.
"But still within a safe distance from the molten core of Etheria," Entrapta added.
"How much time do we have left?" Adora asked.
"Uh…" Entrapta cocked her head. "If we hurry, we'll make it. But we need a powerline and a connection to the crystal storage to drain the magic. And an adapter to the main line leading to the Heart of Etheria."
"Hurry!" Adora spat.
"I'm hurrying!" Entrapta's hands and hair were constantly moving, ripping lines out of consoles and gathering other, weird materials.
"We should clear the way to the subsystem…" Seacat started to say,
"Storage crystal!" Entraota interrupted her,
"… whatever." Seacat clenched her teeth. "We don't want to be held up when we descend with the power line."
Adora nodded. "Good idea. Let's clear the way." She turned to Scorpia. "Keep them safe."
Scorpia straightened, then nodded, touching her chest with one pincer in a Horde salute. "I will!"
Adora turned and left the room. Seacat followed her. "This way to the shaft." The one leading to the storage crystal. Not the one leading down to the bowels of the planet.
They reached it quickly and peered down. "I don't see a platform," Seacat said.
"Let me check the controls." Adora aimed her sword at them, and magic shot out of its tip.
Nothing happened.
"We'll have to climb," Seacat muttered.
"Yes," Adora agreed.
Just like in the Horde airship yard, Seacat thought. Hopefully, this would work better.
She bent down, then stuck her claws into the wall. "I'll create handholds for you," she told Adora before scrambling down the shaft.
"Ca-Seacat! Wait for a rope!"
"It's not too deep," she replied - this wasn't the main shaft, after all. And she had only two floors to climb. Half a minute later, she was busy slashing at the door barring her way. The material the First Ones used for the door was, annoyingly, tougher than the one they had used for the wall. But it wasn't tough enough.
"Watch out!"
Seacat jerked, looking over her shoulder - and kicked her feet against the door, propelling herself away from it. She swung to the side while holding on with one set of claws as a metal arm smashed into the door where she had been a moment ago.
"What is that?" she yelled, scrambling up the wall as the arm - with grasping claws as big as her arms - withdrew to take another swing at her.
This time she was ready - and jumped onto it as it once more missed her. Her claws sliced into the metal, but the arm kept moving - now trying to crush her against the shaft's wall.
She cursed and jumped off again. But the jerking arm made her lose her footing, and instead of hitting the wall with all four sets of claws, she only managed to drive one set into it, then dangled from it before she managed to regain her footing.
"Watch out!" Adora screamed - and Seacat saw something move from above her. Too fast to dodge.
She tried anyway - but before the arm crushed her, Adora fell onto it and cleaved it into two with her sword. And continued falling.
"Adora!" Seacat screamed.
Adora managed to jump off the broken metal arm and ram her blade into the wall, then hung onto it as it sliced downwards for half a floor before it stopped. "I'm OK!"
"You idiot!" Seacat cursed her and started to scramble down towards her.
"Says you!"
"Damn right I do!" Seacat quickly reached Adora and started creating more hand- and footholds for her reckless lover. "You jumped down a shaft!"
"It wasn't too deep!"
Seacat hissed in annoyance at hearing her own words. "That's different!"
"How so?"
"I'm lighter - and I have four sets of claws to stop my fall, not just one sword."
"It worked, didn't it?" Adora shot back as she started to climb after Seacat.
"That's not the point!"
Seacat reached the floor they needed again and vented some of her frustration on the wall there. If Adora had fallen all the way down…
By the time the idiot joined her, she had made a hole wide enough for her to slip through. Which she did.
"Wait!" Adora yelled.
Seacat looked around. She was in a hallway - no dust, no sign of a trap. And the next door was ten yards away. "Looks safe!" she told Adora and started to widen the hole from the inside. That was easier - she didn't have to hang to the wall while working.
Soon, the hole was wide enough for Adora to enter, and she used her sword to cut the rest of the door down. "The others need to be able to enter."
"They better bring some rope," Seacat said. "Let's clear the way."
But apart from a single bot trying to kill them with a broom - Adora cut it in two without stopping - they didn't encounter more traps or defenders and soon reached the storage area Entrapta had found.
And the huge, brightly glowing crystal it housed. The light was so bright, it hurt looking directly at it.
"Wow," Adora whispered.
"I think we'll need a bigger line," Seacat mumbled. She sniffed the air. "It smells like lightning."
"And it's getting warm," Adora added. She reached out with her hand but pulled it back before she touched the crystal. "Yes, it's growing hot."
"That's not a good sign." Seacat clenched her teeth and felt her ears flatten themselves against her head.
"No, it isn't." Adora took a deep breath. "Look…" she started to say.
"I'm staying with you," Seacat told her with a glare.
And Adora proved that she wasn't a complete idiot by shutting up.
"Alright! That's the line… I've connected it to the main shaft!" Entrapta announced. "Now, all we need is to connect it to the crystal and activate it with your sword!"
"Good." Adora took a deep breath. "Take a step back."
"Better, leave the room," Entrapta said. "The adapter could be leaking."
"'Leaking'?" Seacat turned towards her.
"I had to improvise. The main part of the magic should be channelled through it, but some part might, uh, leak," the princess explained. And that could be bad."
They moved out of the room. All except for… "Adora!" Seacat yelled.
"I have to activate it!" Adora yelled back. "With my sword."
"Does she know how?" Glimmer asked.
"It should be automated. Or instinctual," Entrapta told them. "I repurposed the trigger mechanism to start the discharge."
"What?" Seacat turned back towards the door, but the light from the crystal inside suddenly grew much, much brighter.
And Adora started screaming.
"And you thought I should stay on the ship!"
Mermista didn't have to sound so smug, in Seacat's opinion. "I didn't expect the entrance to the First Ones' base to be underwater," she said with a scowl.
"Didn't you see Micah rise out of the water on a submersible platform?" the princess asked as they walked up to the shore of the central lake.
Seacat rolled her eyes. "I didn't expect that to be the only entrance."
"We don't know whether or not there's another entrance - or an emergency exit we could use as an entrance," Entrapta chimed in from where she was watching a row of devices she had put up along the shore. "We didn't find one, but that doesn't prove that there isn't any."
That was true, but they didn't have enough time to look more thoroughly for an alternative entrance. Not with Glimmer's dad still tied to whatever magic the First Ones used, ready to lay waste to the island again should he wake up. And not with the fate of Etheria at stake. She sighed. "So, can you open a path to wherever is down there?"
"Of course I can!" Mermista grinned, then raised her trident.
And the lake started to part in front of her, the water recoiling, forming a gap that quickly widened, all the way down to the ground - and to the centre of the lake.
"Even more impressive than the tunnel you created during the River Campaign, my love!" Sea Hawk told her.
"Thank you!"
It was more impressive. And more terrifying as well. This time, there would be no vines and sealing agents holding back the water. Should Mermista lose control, tons of water would crash down on anyone caught between the walls.
Seacat suppressed a shudder. They couldn't take long down below. Just enough to figure out how the regular entrance worked. She looked forward, where the water was still parting, revealing mud and confused crabs.
And a structure encrusted with shellfish and covered with algae and other water plants.
"Oh! There it is!" cheered Entrapta. "Let's go!" She was already climbing up on Emily.
"Wait!" Adora said. "Let me check it first!" She stepped into the gap and started walking through the mud.
"Wait!" Seacat sprinted after her.
"Wait on the shore!" Adora told her. "I'm looking for traps."
Seacat clenched her teeth. As much as she hated it, Adora was right - she wouldn't help much and only be a liability. If the water walls crumbled, Adora was about the only one who'd have a chance to survive it. Other than Glimmer, and the princess had nearly exhausted her teleport magic. "Be careful," she whispered, quickly hugging her lover.
"Of course!"
And Adora turned away and continued her trek down the lakebed towards the First Ones' base.
Seacat stepped back on the shore and forced herself to watch.
"You know, if Mermista loses control over all that water, we'll be swept away by a wave anyway," Entrapta said. "I think the entire shore would be swept away."
"I won't lose control," Mermista hissed.
"Of course not, my love!"
"I'm just pointing out the consequences should you lose control," Entrapta told her. "There's no reason I couldn't go with Adora."
"It's easier to survive being swept away on the shore and carried inland than being crushed at the bottom of the lake," Seacat pointed out.
"Really?"
"Yes." Not much easier, of course.
"I'm growing a wall," Perfuma announced.
A moment later, plants started to grow at the shore in front of them, forming a thick wall.
"Will that withstand the water?" Entrapta asked. "Hypothetically, I mean," she added with a side glance to Mermista.
"It'll reduce the power of a wave," Perfuma claimed.
And it was blocking her sight. Seacat climbed on the growing wall to keep Adora insight. "Make sure Mermista has a line of sight to the lake," she snapped.
"Oh, right, sorry."
"I don't need to see the water to control it!" Mermista yelled.
Whatever. Seacat wasn't going to take any risk when Adora's life was at stake. Her lover had almost reached the base by now. "Why would they have built a base underwater, anyway?"
"To hide it, I suppose," Scorpia replied. "We never even suspected that there was anything here. We wouldn't have deported prisoners to the island if we had known of this. I wonder how Micah discovered the place, anyway."
"He's a very good swimmer. He might have tried to escape through the lake," Castaspella said. "Or he sensed the magic,"
Seacat turned to glance at the sorceress. "Can you sense any magic?"
"It's more that I can't sense much magic where the base is."
"Yes, Perfuma agreed. "It feels the same to my powers."
"Oh! A base that blocks magic? Interesting!" Entrapta piped up. "Then again, if they built the base to manipulate and collect the runestone network, it would make sense to be able to block the magic as well. You can't collect what you cannot contain, after all."
Well, wasn't that good news? Their magic powers might be useless inside the base. Seacat pressed her lips together.
Then Adora reached the walls of the base, and Seacat held her breath. If this was some magic trap…
But nothing happened. Adora touched the walls, first with her sword, then with her hand, before she scraped off some shellfish and plants. Yet all that she did was reveal some of the metal underneath.
"Looks like the outside isn't guarded or trapped," Glimmer stated the obvious.
"She hasn't reached the entrance yet," Seacat retorted.
"One of the entrances," Entrapta told them. "Since the platform that Micah used is on the top, there should be an entrance on ground level. If we assume that the base was constructed before it was flooded. Unless they sealed that entrance up after finishing construction like some ancient tombs. Though that would make later changes to the complex more difficult without noticeably increasing security. Provided they have proper security at the entrances."
"I don't think the First Ones were planning to change much after finishing the base, seeing as they planned to destroy Etheria to destroy their enemies," Seacat pointed out.
"I'm not sure we can judge how the First Ones thought," Bow said. "We don't have enough information - practically everything we know is from Light Hope, which is a biased source."
Right, Bow's dads were historians. He had mentioned that once, Seacat remembered.
"And Adora was taken from her family before she could actually learn her own culture," Glimmer added.
Which was a very good thing, in Seacat's opinion. And not just because she would have never met Adora otherwise. Any people willing to destroy a world to fight a war weren't good people.
"Well, we'll find out soon enough!" Entrapta said. "Too bad I couldn't make Emily waterproof. If I had the parts, I could have made her able to swim!"
Emily beeped, probably in agreement. Seacat wasn't quite sure - the bot only looked vaguely the same as before, having been cobbled together from parts from various sources.
"I'm widening the gap around the base," Mermista announced, "so Adora can walk around it."
Seacat clenched her teeth. That would take Adora out of her sight. If anything happened to her...
But Adora quickly returned and waved at them before she climbed on the roof of the base - where Seacat could see the lines of the platform Micah had used.
"We should go join her!" Entrapta said. "So Mermista doesn't have to keep the water at bay for too long."
"I'm fine," Mermista snapped. "Don't rush into a trap."
"But Adora's there!"
"And she's looking for traps," Seacat said, scowling - Adora was poking the apparent hatch with her sword.
"Perhaps it's a hidden transponder that needs to be activated," Entrapta speculated. Or a voice command - no, that wouldn't work underwater.
"Magic. If Micah managed to get into the base, it must react to magic," Castaspella said.
"Unless he was caught by bots in the jungle and carried into the base," Sea Hawk countered.
"We never saw any sign of bots," Scorpia said. "If they had been roaming the jungle, we would've noticed. So, it's probably magic."
"But if this was a First Ones' base and meant to let Adora control the weapon, shouldn't she be able to use magic to enter? And how would she do that if the entrance was closed and underwater?" Entrapta asked.
"Easily," Seacat told her. "Hey, Adora!" she yelled. "Heal the door!"
"What?" she heard Adroa faintly reply. Rats.
"It's too far. I'm going to join her," Seacat told the others.
"We are going to join her," Glimmer said.
Everyone nodded. Even Mermista. And Entrapta was already gathering up her gadgets.
Damn. Seacat scowled. But she knew she wouldn't be able to convince the others to stay back. She looked at Sea Hawk, then at Mermista. He nodded - he wouldn't let any harm come to her. At least not if he could prevent it.
Seacat could only hope that they weren't about to trigger a trap that would make Mermista lose control.
She quickly took the lead, ignoring the way her feet sank into the muddy ground beneath the lake, and hastened to the base. Adora had spotted them and was waiting on the roof, waving at them. "Seacat! It's not safe yet!" she yelled, just loud enough for Seacat's ears to pick it up.
"Tell that to them!" Seacat yelled back.
"It's not safe yet!" Adora yelled, louder than before
"It's safe enough!" Glimmer screamed.
"You don't know that!"
Seacat rolled her eyes and sped up. As she reached the building, she shook her head. "You should try to heal the door with your sword."
"Oh!" Adora frowned. "I should've thought of that."
"I could try a spell myself," Castaspella said, "but that might trigger an attempt to capture me if whatever is controlling this base is looking for sorcerers and sorceresses to control."
Seacat felt the fur on her neck raise and her ears flatten. No, they didn't need a second pale and marked, almost invincible, monster to fight!
"Ok, I'll try to heal the door." Adora raised her sword, then pointed it at the roof just as Seacat climbed up.
A moment later, the magic energy hit the roof - the platform - and the lines forming a circle lit up, as did a symbol in the middle of it.
"Entrance," Adora read.
The light shone brightly for a moment, then faded - and the platform started to descend.
"Oh! They must have sensors checking for water!" Entrapta, stepping from Emily's back straight to the roof, gushed. "Fascinating!"
Seacat nodded, almost absentmindedly. She was staring down the dimly lit shaft that had been revealed.
Entrapta also peered down. "It's not very deep. Too deep to jump, though. We could wait and see if the platform returns without any more input, so to speak. An automated system like that would make sense. Perhaps it's a proximity thing? If you're close to it, it descends, and if you're far above it, it ascends?"
"We can't check that," Seacat said, looking up. Mermista might create a water bridge, but Seacat didn't want to strain her even more - holding the entire lake at bay had to be exhausting.
"Oh, look, there comes the platform!" Entrapta beamed, then took a step back as the platform rose again until it was level with the rest of the roof. "Like I thought."
"So, we could use this elevator," Adora said. "I just need to use magic on the platform."
"Let's test it before we end up floating above the lake," Glimmer told her.
"Alright." Adora stepped on the platform and used her sword again.
As before, the platform started to descend again, and Adora jumped onto the roof.
"It works," she announced. "Once it returns, let's all step on it."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Castaspella said. "We don't know what awaits us inside. What if it's a trap? That might have captured Micah before?"
"I'm She-Ra," Adora said. "This was made for me."
"And we can deal with any trap," Glimmer added. "We did so before!"
"Yes," Scorpia slammed her pincers against each other. "Whatever is waiting for us down there, we can beat it!"
Perfuma, standing next to her, nodded. "If we work together, we can do it!"
"We barely beat Micah," Bow pointed out. "And he came from this base."
"Bow!" Glimmer shook her head. "That's why we need to go down there: To stop whatever is possessing him!"
"And to save the world," Mermista commented.
Glimmer blushed and scowled at her. "Yes, of course."
"And courage and love will see us through the worst this base has to offer! Huzzah!" Sea Hawk declared, raising his sword to the sky.
"Not to mention that you can't keep the water back forever," Seacat said. "If we enter the base, you can release the lake. And I don't see what else we can do out here."
"But what if She-Ra's presence triggers a trap?" Castaspella said. "Or mine?"
"This base was made for me," Adora told her. "Well, for She-Ra. Why would they create a trap for me?"
"Light Hope betrayed you, didn't she? If she informed this base…" Seacat trailed off and pressed her lips together when she saw Adora flinch at the reminder.
"They captured Dad well before all that," Glimmer said.
"If he and the base were responsible for the monsters that razed the Horde port," Bow added.
"Who else could've been it?" Glimmer asked. "And we came here to stop this runestone network from destroying the world, and we can't do that if we stay here!"
Well, the princess was right about that. Still… Seacat had a bad feeling about this. She glanced at Entrapta, but her friend was already in the centre of the platform, smiling widely as she sat on Emily. Sighing, Seacat joined her. "Let's go then!"
"Yes!"
"Should we leave Emily back here? On the shore, I mean," Glimmer said as she ducked under the bot. "It's a little crowded with her."
"But I need her! She's carrying a lot of tools and materials!" Entrapta retorted.
"Better take her with us," Seacat said. The bot had proven her worth a few times already, and if they had to deal with another bot like Light Hope, Seacat didn't want to find out that Entrpata needed a tool that was outside the base. And Emily would help keep Entrapta safe.
She jumped up, grabbed the top of Emily's leg and swung herself up to the top of the bot's shell, next to the princess.
Adora smirked at her, then stood in front of the bot. "Everyone ready?"
The group stepped a little closer to the bot - Scorpia almost hugged it - and Entrapta nodded. "Everyone's inside the circle!"
Adora raised her sword, then pointed it at the circle, letting magic healing energy shoot out of the tip of the blade.
Seacat felt the platform beneath her feet jerk. A moment later, they started to descend.
There were no markings on the shaft's walls. No lights. Nothing but dark metal. Seacat reached out and drew a claw over the wall. She smiled when she saw the scratches she left. Good to know that she could cut the walls in a pinch.
Then they stopped, and a section of the wall parted, revealing a long hallway that could've been taken straight out of Light Hope's bunker. Seacat sniffed the air - it smelt… not stale, but not like the jungle or the lake. A hint of something she couldn't identify. Something she had smelt before, though… Her eyes widened. The air smelt like the air in the Horde's yard when Shadow Weaver had started to throw lightning around like crazy.
"This could be a trap," she said. "A lightning trap."
"You smell ozone?" Entrapta asked. "Fascinating! They must have huge power plants, then. Or unsafe ones."
That wasn't reassuring at all - Seacat still remembered how Shadow Weaver had died. And how Hordak would've died if not for his special armour. Armour none of them was wearing.
But Adora was already stepping into the hallway, sword raised. "I am She-Ra!" she announced.
Everyone waited, but seconds passed without any answer.
"Uh… we probably should step off the platform before it ascends again," Entrapta suggested.
"Right." Seacat joined Adora in the hallway, half-expecting an 'Intruder Alert' alarm going off.
But nothing happened.
"Perhaps the base is dead?" Perfuma looked around. "It feels dead to me - no plants at all are nearby. And I can still feel the plants in the lake outside, even though it's harder than usual."
"The entrance works," Adora pointed out the obvious as the door closed behind them. It had door controls on this side, Seacat noted with some relief.
"Perhaps it doesn't work without Micah," Bow said.
"Unlikely," Entrapta said. "My sensors are picking up a huge amount of power! This place is bristling with energy!"
"That doesn't mean that there's anyone to direct that power," Castaspella said.
"Why would they install Light Hope but no bot here?" Seacat asked.
"We don't know much about the First Ones or their technology," Bow replied. "Light Hope might be a unique bot, or she was needed for her task - liaising with She-Ra - while this base doesn't need a bot."
"Someone captured and possessed Dad," Glimmer said. "He didn't do that to himself."
Seacat pressed her lips together. People changed in prison - especially Horde prisons. But this wasn't the right moment to point that out. "Let's go on," she told the others.
"Yes." Adora took the lead at a brisk pace.
Seacat rushed to catch up, meeting her lover's annoyed glare with a flat stare. No way was she letting Adora alone in the front.
"I'm releasing the water," Mermista announced with a sigh just before they reached another door.
This, too, had controls set in the wall next to it, and Adora touched them before Seacat could say anything.
And a bot's voice sounded through the hallway: "Scanning."
Seacat tensed.
"It might be a recording," Entrapta said. "Not a bot itself."
Then a line of light ran over Adora, then over them all before returning to Adora.
"What…?"
"Oh! An active sensor! But why are they using visible light?" Entrapta frowned. "Is that meant to show the subject of the scan the progress? Or does using such a frequency grant an advantage?"
"What is this?" Adora asked through clenched teeth.
"A scanner!" Entrapta replied. "It's scanning you. Analysing you. Gathering data!"
Adora didn't seem to be reassured - and neither was Seacat. They were in a base whose puppet sorcerer had tried to kill them multiple times already. She didn't trust anything here.
"She-Ra identified, but vitals differ from saved data. You are not Mara."
"I'm Adora!"
"Please transform back so your unenhanced vitals can be detected," the bot - it had to be a bot; it sounded like Light Hope - told her.
"Uh…"
"Fascinating! Your transformation must hide your vitals and other data! So, not even the First Ones can scan or extrapolate your natural body's data when you're She-Ra!"
"Uh… should I transform back?" Adora asked.
Hell, no! Seacat shook her head. "No. That might be a trap."
"It might be what we need to take over the station - proof that you are a First One," Entrapta retorted. "It would make sense that they restricted the base to First Ones, you know, since they wanted to blow the planet up."
And wasn't that reassuring. "We can cut our way in," Seacat said. Her claws would shred the door.
"That might trigger a hostile reaction," Bow pointed out. "It would be easier to handle this if we had control over the station and any bots it might have."
That was correct, but… Seacat had a bad feeling about this. She could feel her fur rising.
"The base that captured Dad," Glimmer cut in.
"We still don't know that," Scorpia told her. "But we know how dangerous the base can be if it considers us enemies. And we're in a narrow hallway."
That was also true. Seacat still didn't like it.
"I can always transform back," Adora said. Seacat glared at her, and she shrugged. "And I'm not helpless either way. If this is a chance to take over without having to fight an army of bots and traps, then I think we should do it."
Seacat huffed and took a step closer to Adora.
Her lover smiled at her, then raised her sword again in a brief blaze of light, transforming back.
"Scanning."
Once more, that infernal light beam ran over Adora - and over Seacat. She resisted the sudden urge to bat at it. That would be pointless - you couldn't touch it.
"First Ones physiology identified. She-Ra's status updated. Welcome to Power Station One, She-Ra. The Heart of Etheria is at your command."
"Yes!" Bow whispered.
"Uh, thanks," Adora replied. "So… can you open this door?"
"Opening the Door," the voice replied as the door slid open.
"Thank you." Adora entered a room that looked very similar to the one in Light Hope's bunker with all the consoles.
Seacat looked around, ears twitching, as she tried to spot the hidden passages containing bots.
"Control Unit detected. Weapon system charging."
"What?" Adora blurted out as Seacat held her breath.
"'Weapon system charging'?" Bow repeated in a slightly higher voice than usual.
"Are we under attack?" Scorpia asked, looking around.
"Uh…" Entrapta grimaced. "I think the weapon system the base means is the Heart of Etheria. All the magic power it has gathered. The thing we are here to stop and dismantle."
"What?" Seacat yelled - together with pretty much everyone else.
"The weapon is charging? How? We didn't connect the last Runestone!" Glimmer exclaimed. "It shouldn't work!"
"It shouldn't work according to Light Hope's data, even with Adora's sword present - the Heart of Etheria can only activate if the network is complete!" Entrapta looked around. "Console! I need to check the readings!"
"What's happening?" Adora asked. "And how do we stop it, whatever it is?"
"I'm going to find out!" Entrapta yelled as she dashed into the room.
"Warning! Intruder detected. Physiology doesn't match approved personnel. Countermeasures initiated!"
"Stop! Stop! She's authorised! By me, She-Ra!" Adora yelled. "I've got the sword and everything! After a moment, she raised the sword. "For the Honour of Grayskull!"
Adora transformed into She-Ra again, but the bot's voice didn't react. And Seacat heard the sound of doors opening - sliding into walls. Now would come the… She frowned, cocking her head. She didn't hear any bots scrambling over metal.
"Stop it!" Adora yelled again. "I'm ordering you!"
"Please state the override code," the bot finally replied.
"Override code? What override code?" Adora asked.
"I don't know," Entrapta yelled. "There wasn't anything in Light Hope's memories!"
And now Seacat heard the sound of metal legs approaching them. "Here they come!" she yelled, drawing her sword and moving to block one of the passages.
"Base! Stop this! Stop… ah, damn it!" Adora joined her, sword drawn.
Sea Hawk and Mermista followed their example, as did Glimmer and Scorpia, while Bow, as Seacat saw with a glance over her shoulder, moved to cover Entrapta with Perfuma.
A moment later, the first bots appeared in the hidden passages. Seacat hissed. "There they are!"
"I don't see...oh. There they are!" Adora yelled.
And the bots attacked. About half a dozen of them. Seacat moved to intercept them, but Adora charged ahead, and one swipe of her sword cleaved all but one bot in two, and she got that one with the backswing.
The half a dozen bots coming through the door on the other side were dispatched by Scorpia and Sea Hawk before Seacat reached their position.
"Countermeasures insufficient. Please hold."
"What?" Mermista said. "Did the bot just ask us to wait until it can make more bots?"
"A novel approach to fighting, I'm sure," Sea Hawk commented with a grin.
"We must have depleted their stocks of bots," Glimmer said.
Seacat moved back to Entrapta and Bow, nodding at Perfuma. "What's going on?"
"The weapon is charging," Entrapta replied, pointing at a number of blinking lights on the console. "It must be reacting to the control unit - Adora's sword! But it shouldn't do that!"
"What?" Adora yelled, staring at her sword as if it was about to attack her. "This is my fault?"
"No!" Seacat snapped. "None of us thought this was possible!"
"It shouldn't work," Entrapta said, hands and hair pushing button after button. "The network isn't completed. The energy readings are far too low for the intended purpose, and it shouldn't activate without that. The danger was overloading the Heart, not activating it!"
"Well, it seems we were wrong," Bow said.
"No, no, no!" Entrapta retorted. "The Heart of Etheria is still dormant. But another system is charging in the base here. And… the power readings are much lower than the Heart's."
"That's good, right?" Perfuma asked.
"If this blows up, it won't destroy the planet," Entrapta replied without looking up. Seacat was about to smile when the princess continued. "But if the power storage overloads and loses containment, the explosion will destroy the island for sure."
"What?" Seacat paled. "Isn't this supposed to hold enough power to destroy the planet?"
"That's the Heart of Etheria, in the centre of the network. This is the, uh, it's an auxiliary system… targeting system? Something to be fired before the Heart fires, in any case. It's not meant to handle even the vastly reduced power it's using now!"
"We need to evacuate!" Seacat snapped. "How long until it blows up? We need to get back to the ship!"
"Wait!" Mermista held up her hand. "If the island blows up, will it sink?"
"Uh…" Mire tapping of buttons and keys from Entrapta followed. "It'll vaporise the island. Basically. There might be some larger remains, but it'll be mostly gone."
Mermista went pale. Seacat felt her stomach drop to her knees. "That will cause a giant wave," the princess said, shaking her head. "It'll lay waste to the entire South Coast - and probably Salineas as well."
"What?" Glimmer gasped.
"There have been similar catastrophes in the past," Mermista explained.
"Yes," Bow agreed. "The Crimson Flood that created the Crimson Waste, for example.
"We can't let that happen!" Adora looked grim - as if she was ready to… Damn!
"Yes, we can't," Entrapta agreed. "Because if the island gets blown up, we lose the control unit the First Ones installed here - and we need that to safely discharge the power gathered in the Heart of Etheria!"
Seacat muttered a curse under her breath.
"If we lose the station… the heart of Etheria will continue to collect magic energy until it can't contain it any more." Castaspella sounded shocked. "And then it'll…"
"...destroy the planet," Glimmer finished for her. "It might take a while, but Etheria would be doomed."
"Stop it!" Adora yelled. "We have to stop it!"
"I'm trying! But the console isn't accepting my commands! It requires an override code!" Entrapta yelled without looking up from where she was hitting buttons all over the place.
She sounded desperate, Seacat noticed. And that made her stomach plummet again. If Entrapta was desperate, their situation had to be even worse than Seacat thought.
"She-Ra must have the override code," Bow said. "I can't imagine the First Ones being so negligent as to leave the intended user without a way to stop this!"
"Mara might have known it - and taken the knowledge into the grave." Mermista shook her head.
"And after a thousand years, the system might not be working correctly any more," Castaspella added. "Like Light Hope, this bot might be damaged."
"It doesn't matter if it's broken - we have to try anyway," Adora stated. "I've got the control unit here." She raised her sword. "Just tell me where to go."
"And what will you do? Point the sword at it and heal the thing?" Mermista asked.
Adora firmly nodded. "Yes. And if that doesn't work, I'll cleave it into two parts!"
Mermista gasped in surprise - she should've known better than to ask Adora that kind of question, in Seacat's opinion. Her lover always preferred the direct, simple solution.
"But that will likely cause an explosion!" Entrapta said. "If you breach the containment shell…"
Adora drew in a sharp breath. "What? You mean that will cause the explosion?"
"Well… an explosion. If you're quick enough, it'll be limited in power," Entrapta explained. "But it'll still vaporise the station."
Damn. "And if we drain this chamber of the power?" Seacat asked.
"That would work - if we had a receptacle to vent the power into," Entrapta replied. "But it's magic, and the crystals we'd need for that…" She shook her head, tentacled hair flying back and forth. "I don't have the crystals to construct such a storing device, and I don't have the time for it, either."
No way to drain the magic safely, then. And this was just an auxiliary storage - not even the Heart of Etheria itself, which held far more magic… Seacat blinked. That might… "Can you vent it into the Heart of Etheria?" she asked.
"That would overload it!" Glimmer gasped.
"Not necessarily!" Entrapta retorted. "The Heart can hold magnitudes more power - it's already doing so, actually. It should be able to safely contain the additional power currently held in the subsystem."
'Should'. Not the most encouraging words. But better than certain failure. "Then let's do this!" Seacat said.
"But we'd need a direct link to the Heart of Etheria. And according to the console, there isn't any such link," Bow said, shaking his head.
"But we can build one!" Entrapta exclaimed. "If we can repurpose the parts in the consoles here, and… I'm sorry, Emily, but we'll need parts of you again!"
Seacat had no idea what the beeping from the bot meant, but Entrapta patted its shell and smiled, so it was probably agreement.
"But the bot here will try to stop us!" Perfuma cut in.
"With what?" Glimmer asked. "If it had anything left, we'd have been fighting it already."
"We can't know that. There might be traps," Seacat said.
"I don't care. We need to stop this, and I'll do it. Traps or no traps." Adora straightened. "Where is this subsystem?"
"It's two floors down according to the map here," Bow said. "Let me see if I can… yes!"
A crystal set on a pedestal started to glow. Seacat took a step back and prepared to jump away, but it stopped growing brighter, and in the middle of it, lines appeared. Lines that glowed, and… Oh. They formed a sort of map. No, a sort of transparent model of the base.
Seacat tilted her head. "Just how far down goes this shaft?" she asked, pointing at the model.
"Deeper than the deepest mine shaft I've heard of," Bow said.
"But still within a safe distance from the molten core of Etheria," Entrapta added.
"How much time do we have left?" Adora asked.
"Uh…" Entrapta cocked her head. "If we hurry, we'll make it. But we need a powerline and a connection to the crystal storage to drain the magic. And an adapter to the main line leading to the Heart of Etheria."
"Hurry!" Adora spat.
"I'm hurrying!" Entrapta's hands and hair were constantly moving, ripping lines out of consoles and gathering other, weird materials.
"We should clear the way to the subsystem…" Seacat started to say,
"Storage crystal!" Entraota interrupted her,
"… whatever." Seacat clenched her teeth. "We don't want to be held up when we descend with the power line."
Adora nodded. "Good idea. Let's clear the way." She turned to Scorpia. "Keep them safe."
Scorpia straightened, then nodded, touching her chest with one pincer in a Horde salute. "I will!"
Adora turned and left the room. Seacat followed her. "This way to the shaft." The one leading to the storage crystal. Not the one leading down to the bowels of the planet.
They reached it quickly and peered down. "I don't see a platform," Seacat said.
"Let me check the controls." Adora aimed her sword at them, and magic shot out of its tip.
Nothing happened.
"We'll have to climb," Seacat muttered.
"Yes," Adora agreed.
Just like in the Horde airship yard, Seacat thought. Hopefully, this would work better.
She bent down, then stuck her claws into the wall. "I'll create handholds for you," she told Adora before scrambling down the shaft.
"Ca-Seacat! Wait for a rope!"
"It's not too deep," she replied - this wasn't the main shaft, after all. And she had only two floors to climb. Half a minute later, she was busy slashing at the door barring her way. The material the First Ones used for the door was, annoyingly, tougher than the one they had used for the wall. But it wasn't tough enough.
"Watch out!"
Seacat jerked, looking over her shoulder - and kicked her feet against the door, propelling herself away from it. She swung to the side while holding on with one set of claws as a metal arm smashed into the door where she had been a moment ago.
"What is that?" she yelled, scrambling up the wall as the arm - with grasping claws as big as her arms - withdrew to take another swing at her.
This time she was ready - and jumped onto it as it once more missed her. Her claws sliced into the metal, but the arm kept moving - now trying to crush her against the shaft's wall.
She cursed and jumped off again. But the jerking arm made her lose her footing, and instead of hitting the wall with all four sets of claws, she only managed to drive one set into it, then dangled from it before she managed to regain her footing.
"Watch out!" Adora screamed - and Seacat saw something move from above her. Too fast to dodge.
She tried anyway - but before the arm crushed her, Adora fell onto it and cleaved it into two with her sword. And continued falling.
"Adora!" Seacat screamed.
Adora managed to jump off the broken metal arm and ram her blade into the wall, then hung onto it as it sliced downwards for half a floor before it stopped. "I'm OK!"
"You idiot!" Seacat cursed her and started to scramble down towards her.
"Says you!"
"Damn right I do!" Seacat quickly reached Adora and started creating more hand- and footholds for her reckless lover. "You jumped down a shaft!"
"It wasn't too deep!"
Seacat hissed in annoyance at hearing her own words. "That's different!"
"How so?"
"I'm lighter - and I have four sets of claws to stop my fall, not just one sword."
"It worked, didn't it?" Adora shot back as she started to climb after Seacat.
"That's not the point!"
Seacat reached the floor they needed again and vented some of her frustration on the wall there. If Adora had fallen all the way down…
By the time the idiot joined her, she had made a hole wide enough for her to slip through. Which she did.
"Wait!" Adora yelled.
Seacat looked around. She was in a hallway - no dust, no sign of a trap. And the next door was ten yards away. "Looks safe!" she told Adora and started to widen the hole from the inside. That was easier - she didn't have to hang to the wall while working.
Soon, the hole was wide enough for Adora to enter, and she used her sword to cut the rest of the door down. "The others need to be able to enter."
"They better bring some rope," Seacat said. "Let's clear the way."
But apart from a single bot trying to kill them with a broom - Adora cut it in two without stopping - they didn't encounter more traps or defenders and soon reached the storage area Entrapta had found.
And the huge, brightly glowing crystal it housed. The light was so bright, it hurt looking directly at it.
"Wow," Adora whispered.
"I think we'll need a bigger line," Seacat mumbled. She sniffed the air. "It smells like lightning."
"And it's getting warm," Adora added. She reached out with her hand but pulled it back before she touched the crystal. "Yes, it's growing hot."
"That's not a good sign." Seacat clenched her teeth and felt her ears flatten themselves against her head.
"No, it isn't." Adora took a deep breath. "Look…" she started to say.
"I'm staying with you," Seacat told her with a glare.
And Adora proved that she wasn't a complete idiot by shutting up.
*****
"Alright! That's the line… I've connected it to the main shaft!" Entrapta announced. "Now, all we need is to connect it to the crystal and activate it with your sword!"
"Good." Adora took a deep breath. "Take a step back."
"Better, leave the room," Entrapta said. "The adapter could be leaking."
"'Leaking'?" Seacat turned towards her.
"I had to improvise. The main part of the magic should be channelled through it, but some part might, uh, leak," the princess explained. And that could be bad."
They moved out of the room. All except for… "Adora!" Seacat yelled.
"I have to activate it!" Adora yelled back. "With my sword."
"Does she know how?" Glimmer asked.
"It should be automated. Or instinctual," Entrapta told them. "I repurposed the trigger mechanism to start the discharge."
"What?" Seacat turned back towards the door, but the light from the crystal inside suddenly grew much, much brighter.
And Adora started screaming.
*****
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