Serve and Protect

Chapter 43

Catra had heard the term "deafening silence" before, though she didn't understand it. To her, it seemed like a dumb thing to say; the very definition of an oxymoron. She wasn't sure how the quiet could also be loud.

But as soon as she told Adora and the others who was really calling the shots for the Horde, Catra understood. In that moment, with the room in perfect silence, Catra wondered if it was her: had the overdose messed with her hearing somehow? It felt like every sound had been blocked out so completely, leaving behind only a soundless void so vast that it threatened to swallow her whole.

Glimmer was the first to snap back to her senses.

"MAYOR PRIME IS THE LEADER OF THE HORDE??" she cried, making everyone else jump.

"IT GOES ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP!" Entrapta affirmed with a shriek.

"I don't understand," Adora said. She shook her head as if this was all a strange and terrible dream. The movement dislodged a golden tendril of hair from the poof she still insisted on styling it in, and Catra had to resist the urge to reach out and tuck it back into place. This, Catra reasoned, was hardly the time to be looking for an excuse to run her fingers through Adora's hair. "How did they keep this from us for all these years? How did we not know?"

Thinking about Prime made Catra's stomach sour. She scowled. "We didn't know because he's a goddamn psychopath."

"No kidding," Bow muttered in disgust. "He'd have to be to do something like that to his own family. I can't imagine standing there while one of my brothers got his ass kicked. How does he sleep at night?"

"Right?" Entrapta exclaimed, apparently mistaking Bow's horror for empathy. "Hordak's made some mistakes, but he didn't deserve that."

Catra and Adora shared a furtive glance, but chose to keep their opinions to themselves.

With a disheartened groan, Glimmer got to her feet. Catra's eyes followed her as she paced the length of the dining room. "No wonder the police force is so corrupt! Ugh, my mom didn't stand a chance with those backstabbing dickheads."

As if on instinct, Catra reacted before her better judgment could stop her. "The EPD is corrupt because cops are bastards, plain and simple."

Glimmer spun on her heel, her eyes alight with barely contained fury. "Excuse me?"

"I said what I said," Catra snarled. She could feel herself getting swept away in a sudden wave of rage; a riptide she was powerless to resist. "Sorry to shatter the illusion, Princess, but the police are complicit in everything that's wrong with this dumpster fire of a city. Even if your mom's—" she raised her fingers into a pair of air quotes "—'one of the good ones', that doesn't absolve the rest of them."

Catra didn't realize she was shaking until she felt Adora's arm wrap around her shoulder and pull her in tight. She braced herself, waiting for both a reprimand from Adora and a verbal thrashing from Glimmer.

But neither came.

Instead, she watched the self-righteous anger behind Glimmer's eyes fade as she sank back down into her chair looking defeated and tired. She glanced down as Bow slid his hand into hers and sighed.

"You're right," she admitted, earning a jolt of surprise from Catra. "The system is broken. I can love and respect my mom and still admit that she was on the wrong side."

An unexpected twinge of guilt flared in Catra's heart. She'd been so relieved to learn that Angella was still alive, but she hadn't thought to question why the chief of police didn't seem to be around. Only now did it dawn on Catra that she hadn't seen Angella since that awful day at the garage. She chewed her lip nervously before asking, "Where is Angella, anyway?"