Chapter Text
-Glimmer-
It was nearing midnight. The TV in the dark living room droned on with some late night talk show- host in their own living room, giving a monologue. Everything else was quiet. Dozing on the couch was a couple who were wrapped up in a sleepy cuddle. The young woman had slumped onto the shoulder of her boyfriend. He had his feet up on the coffee table with one foot wrapped in a thick brace. They had fallen asleep watching the 10:00 news and hoping they didn't see their friends on the screen. Another major gathering had been planned tonight, not far from the house, but the two had decided to opt out of this one.
The talk show host had just introduced his next guest on the split screen when something made the young woman startle awake. She sat up and listened for anything out of the ordinary. Looking over to the kitchen clock, she could just make out from her spot on the couch, the bright digital numbers read 11:32 and there was a tired groan. Mussing her short pink hair Glimmer disentangled herself from her boyfriend's arms. Bow didn't wake up.
Her phone lit up and vibrated silently on the coffee table. The buzzing noise must've been what disturbed her unconsciousness. Glimmer sat up and grabbed her phone. She saw a couple of missed calls and two unread texts from Netossa.
Glimmer opened the latest message. 'Have you seen Adora?' Leaning over to flick on the table side lamp she debated on waking Bow or letting him continue to sleep on the couch. The pink haired woman rolled her eyes. 'I swear, if Catra and Adora missed tonight because they are too wrapped up in each other again...' Glimmer didn't finish that thought even though she had a exasperated grin on her face. She stood up and stretched, before responding to Netossa, working out the kink in her neck from sleeping awkwardly on her boyfriend's shoulder. She bent over to shake him awake after deciding it was better for his injured foot to be in bed rather than the couch.
She placed a hand on his arm but the sudden pounding of frantic fists on their front door jarred the dark silence of the house. With a yell (that did not sound like a girl, thank you) Bow jerked forward from his dozing position. Glimmer dropped her phone and, for her part, thanked her quick reflexes as she pulled back just in time to keep their heads from crashing together.
"Wh-Wha-What is it? What's going on?" Bow half-yelled, confused and still mostly out if it.
Glimmer chuckled at him even though she had reacted mostly the same way. Speaking of which, the pounding outside paused for a second, as if they'd heard Bow wake up. After a moment the commotion started again, even harder than before. "I don't know," she admitted with a shrug. "Who could be here so late?" Glimmer headed for the door to see who was freaking out at midnight and refusing to let other people sleep. As the strikes at her door continued fervently she started to get nervous approaching the barrier to the unknown force outside. She tried to do a mental checklist of neighbors or family that could possibly have reason to nearly break down her front door tonight.
Gripping the knob for half a second Glimmer took a deep breath and pulled the door open. "Oh my god, Adora?!" The pink haired woman cried out as one of her best friends all but fell through the entry as she had made to bang her fist against the door again. The blond lost her balance and stumbled forward, catching herself on a corner table, and nearly knocking over a potted plant.
The surprise visitor was hunched over and out of breath as Glimmer quickly shut and locked the door and hurried over to her side. Bow hobbled up with a crutch under one arm. His sprained ankle keeping him to the slowest of speeds. "Adora?" He questioned worriedly. "What are you doing here? I thought you and Catra were-" He choked on his words as his friend finally caught her breath and straightened up.
Adora was disheveled, her hair coming out of her usually neat ponytail, her white t-shirt rumpled and stained. There was a clear imprint of a boot on the back and the front had splatters of dark red. That was nothing though. Not compared to the spreading coloration of a fist sized bruise on her cheek, blood from a busted lip spread along her jaw, and a large scrape over one eye. "They took her." She swiped her hand across her forehead, pushing aside loose stands of hair. "Those bastards took Catra."
"Who was it?" Glimmer demanded. They'd heard of it happening before but videos were rarely put on the news. She grabbed onto Adora's arm, mostly to keep her steady as she led the way into the kitchen, but also to keep the taller woman from running back out the door in search of their friend.
Bow followed and grabbed the first aid kit to tend to Adora's cuts. "What happened?" He asked quietly. "There wasn't supposed to be any trouble tonight. You and Catra took the lead, right?"
"Tell them that." Adora muttered darkly as Glimmer set to washing the semi-dried blood from her face.
-Adora-
There was a line of uniforms and shields blocking the road as the hundred plus sized crowd of protesters stood defiantly in front of them. The marchers refused to back down again. Two lines stood face to face, stopping within easy distance of each other. This is where Adora knew things got dangerous. A false move on either side could give the other every provocation they needed. Catra was off to the right and Adora tried to catch her eye but there were several people in-between them. That was holding to the plan the leaders had come up with before. Adora, Catra, and the others had decided to have the activist leaders spread along the front line for direction and also to keep any of the more hot-headed protesters from breaking forward in a hostile move.
Catra had the mega-phone and was yelling into some guy's face. Adora couldn't tell, the visor was down on most of their helmets, but he was probably getting ticked off about it.
Down the line on her other side Adora could see some water bottles being thrown over a couple of heads but they landed well off the targets of armored officers. There was a bristling of tension in the raised riot shields of the police line and she braced. Behind her the hundred or so marchers surged in an answering aggravation.
The crowd movement shoved Adora forward a few halting steps and the man behind the police shield in front of her slid forward half a foot. The blond was able to stop herself and backed into her own line again, glaring, but never taking her eyes from the officer. She frowned worriedly. They were close enough now that, behind the face shield and helmet, she could see disappointment in his expression when she regained control and avoided confrontation.
A rise of angry shouts somewhere off to the right pulled her attention from the man in front of her. "What's happening?" She anxiously asked an older man beside her. She didn't know his name, he wasn't a regular of their group. The guy shook has head but peered around the crowd trying to see also. Adora used her height advantage and looked over a few heads to see what was happening. "No, Catra..." She muttered. The young woman was nearly nose to shield with a police officer easily twice her size. Heart nearly stopping, Adora prayed her girlfriend would keep her temper. They were a little more than 6 feet away from each other but that distance felt even greater when blue eyes fell to the scene of the armored hulk of a man with the mega-phone in his hand. He was mockingly waving it above his head and anyone could plainly see that Catra was furious.
"Catra, don't!" Adora called over to her, hoping she could be heard over the noise. Blue eyes flashed worriedly as the people around Catra seemed to be tipping dangerously close into breaking formation and rushing the police line- for the affront of a stolen mega-phone.
That's when someone must've pushed the slow-mo button on reality. The agitated young woman pushed her short brown hair out of her eyes, smirked daringly in Adora's direction, and jumped. She grabbed the police shield as leverage and barely managed to reach the mouth of the loudspeaker. The cop was so shocked that he stumbled back and lost his balance and the grip he had on the handle loosened. Catra easily reclaimed her property as she landed squarely on her feet and the marchers shouted a victory but that was more than enough provocation.
Adora saw the embarrassed cop, still on the ground, key his shoulder mic and mutter something into it. Then slow-mo ended and time sped up again. The tall blond was so focused on what was going on with her fiery girlfriend she didn't have time to register the look of excitement and glee on the face of the officer who'd been itching for a fight since they'd gotten eye to eye. His radio crackled to life and an order was scratched out. "Clear'em!"
Almost as one, the line of shields surged forward, and the leading protesters were caught in-between their own back-up and the now openly hostile brute force of the city police. Those who hadn't seen Catra's encounter were taken by more surprise and there was shocked confusion spreading through the rows of protesters. It lasted all of a few seconds but that was all the police needed.
Planting her feet solidly and bracing to meet the approaching officers Adora silently cursed. This was supposed to remain a peaceful action. "Dammit!" She growled under her breath. "Netossa! Get them back!" She yelled to one of the leaders on her left. Adora could see the woman's stark white hair against the backdrop of the darkened street. Thankfully, her side gig was teaching boxing in the neighborhood gym so she knew how to use her size to advantage. Adora squared up to the first cop in front of her, grabbed the edge of his shield, and used his own eager momentum to leverage him in another direction. She had to buy her friends time to get their group into retreat mode. It was then that the older man, who had been walking beside her down the city streets, stumbled at her shoulder. Adora hadn't even realized he was still there. The press of bodies behind them had lessened but she could see why he didn't want to run the risk of being tripped up and falling in the crowd. She reached out to steady him, keeping one eye on what was in front of them.
In the next second another shield wielding cop pushed forward from the opposing line. What happened then made Adora's blood boil! Instead of coming for her this time they aimed to knock into the old man. "I don't think so!" The blond jumped in front of this person, she didn't even really know his name, and caught the incoming attack before it reached the intended target. "Where do you think you're going?" She huffed at the man hiding behind his vest, shield, helmet, and visor. He glared and pushed against her so that the edges of his shield dug into her palms, she lost a step, but Adora remained steadfast.
Netossa was there a moment later and had the old man by the arm. "It's okay, Adora. I got him." She said as she helped lead him out of harm's way.
Adora heard an awed 'thank you' from behind her and smirked in satisfaction though she couldn't spare an answer for him. Her arms shook now from the pressure being applied and what was worse... she recognized the cop walking up in her peripheral vision as the same one from before. Adora gritted her teeth. Her hands were occupied so she had no defense when the coward reared back his fist and connected to her cheekbone.
Her arms buckling and her head ringing, the first thought that made it through her pain clouded brain went along the lines of, 'At least he knows something about punching... suck if I got ko'd by an amateur.' Then she was on her knees and being forced to the ground by the two uniformed officers.
The taste of blood was metallic on her tongue and the side of her face was swelling from impact already. One of the officers placed a boot in the middle of her back, putting a hefty pressure between her shoulder blades. A hand twisted in her ponytail and pushed her face down into the street. "Hey, you asses, leave her alone!" A familiar voice rang through her ears.
"Bout time you showed up, after starting this mess." Adora sputtered. She didn't need to lift her head to know that Catra had found her and grinned through the blood that was smeared across her face.
"Hey, I was just getting my property back. Not my fault Donut-Lord fell on his ass in front of everyone." She shrugged, brandishing the mega-phone in the face of Adora's two assailants. "Now, about letting my girlfriend up." She smirked at the two officers, nodding to people coming up to the group.
Adora couldn't see everyone that Catra motioned to from her pinned position but the hand holding her head down and the pressure from the boot on her back lifted. She pulled herself to her elbows and looked around with a bright and grateful smile. Netossa had returned with reinforcements: Mermista, Sea Hawk, and they'd even found Double Trouble somewhere. The five of them had surrounded the two cops, who were quickly backing away from Adora, now the numbers were against them. They turned and bolted in the only open direction, away from their own back-up, still visibly going after anyone in their path but farther down the road now.
"Look at those two bullies scamper off." Double Trouble crooned. "I say, you two kittens sure aren't boring to be around. The drama is outstanding." They giggled delightfully at Adora and Catra. "Anytime you need Double Trouble- just let me know." With a wave of their hand they disappeared into the shadowed streets, now the fun was over.
Catra playfully raised the loudspeaker to her mouth and addressed Adora from across the sidewalk. "So, are you planning to camp out there tonight, or what?" Her voice reverberated into the night air with barely restrained laughter.
Of course it was at Adora's expense since she had yet to pull herself up from the ground. The blond made a rude gesture she reserved only for when Catra was extra annoying. Adora was sore and in no small amount of pain so if she wanted to take her time standing up then so be it.
Then reality did one of those lovely 180s it's so fond of showing off. A dark colored van sped up the road and headed right for Adora. She scrambled madly for the sidewalk and rolled out of the way just in time. The others also scattered to the sides of the street. The vehicle screeched to a halt and the side door slammed open. Five burley men in military style fatigues jumped out. They were armed with AK-style rifles and their faces were covered. Their uniforms had no identifiers on them: names, service branches, no sign of authority at all, but their movements had purpose and intent. Two moved to surround Catra, roughly grabbing her arms and wrenching them behind her back, while the other three kept their guns at low-ready position.
"Hey! What the Hell?!" Adora yelled, hastily pushing herself to her feet. She made it all of a few steps toward the van before one of the agents...she wasn't sure who or what this guy was... blocked her way. "Catra...!" She tried to sidestep around the human barrier but really, one couldn't argue with the business end of a gun. Adora looked around at her friends, they seemed to be facing the same problem. Mermista had gotten the closest, and she had her phone out, recording every moment and every question she threw at them. 'Thank the stars for her cool head.' Adora breathed a sigh of relief and appreciation at her foresight.
Catra was forced into the back of the van without even one word of her rights or where she was being taken or the reason of her arrest by this group of strangers. As soon as she was in a seat the other three pulled back and loaded into the vehicle. The last thing Adora saw of her were terrified eyes in a usually bold and defiant expression. She quietly mouthed Adora's name, but then the door shut and the driver slammed on the gas, shooting the van down the dark street.