1253/What Got The Cat

What Got The Cat
Date of Scene:	09 March 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower
Synopsis:	Catra thinks She-Ra is dangerous and about to kill Sunbreaker. Riventon doesn't agree with her assessment of threat. Someone here is wrong.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Catra

---

Takashi Agera has posed:
    It's a day that ends in y, so Takashi is working over some sort of technological-magic adjacent gadgetry. Just today he's doing it in his office. Which is, all told, a pretty nice office, with the exception of having kind of a crazy lady for a neighbor. But that crazy lady is his boss so he can't exactly avoid her.

    It's absolutely Takashi's office, though, because even though he keeps it neat-ish there's still disassembled magical stuff on nearly every flat surface, projects half done or never to be completed. The TV's on to some American science program, but Takashi is not really listening to that, he's more focused on what's in his desk. But it does make an excellent time for someone who was actually looking for him to find him in a relatively private place to talk.

Catra has posed:
     Catra is a wreck.

     Not that she'd ever admit that to anyone, of course.

     Outwardly, she presents the image of her usual self; guarded, irritated, volatile, as she stalks the hallways of Obsidian's upper floors. Since the last time she saw Adora she's been actively avoiding talking to anyone, proving her 'first rule' to be complete nonsense, but unable to admit that to anyone -- least of all herself. So she just stalks about, looking like she's fit to smash something to pieces, but restrains herself from actually doing so. Probably for the best.

     Eventually, her wandering around carries her past Takashi's office; and five steps past the door, she wheels around and comes back, rapping her knuckles on the door twice and stepping in. And, then, just kind of standing there awkwardly for a moment.

     Well, you walked in here, Catra. "Sunbreaker did something to Adora," she blurts out, without any apparent care for pleasantries, or things like sayind 'hello'. "Infected her with dark energy, which she can't handle. When I saw her earlier she said she was going to murder Sunbreaker. Pretty sure she meant it." She pauses. "Figured you should know."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi looks up from whatever he's working on, and sighs. "Sunbreaker does have that effect on people." he says. "Also the door exists so I can open it after you knock. Come in at the wrong time and you'll end up catching one of those bolts from her ridiculous world's magic and then you'll be singing showtunes for a month. Or you know, something more lethal but frankly less disturbing could be a risk." he warns. "

    "Anyways, isn't doing something to Adora pretty much the goal here? Don't tell me you're trying to protect her or something. She's a sparkleskirt. Your enemy. You know?" Takashi says. "So she can't handle her dark energy, she'll burn it out in a few hours or whatever. Maybe cause some property damage first, hopefully slap a friend into next tuesday too." he says.

    "You... have paid at least enough attention to the rest of the department to know we do that to random boring people like... all the time... right? And they end up okay."

Catra has posed:

     Catra listens to everything Takashi says, and leans to the side, resting one shoulder against the doorframe. The feline folds her arms, adopting an air of patience only because it is required.

"It's been two weeks," she replies, flatly. "She can't handle her dark energy, and sure we do it to people all the time, but not to people like *her*. She's not some average loser like around here, she's Etherian, and she's the chosen one, which means she's basically overflowing with magic already." She pauses, shrugging her shoulders. "And Sunbreaker just turned her evil."

Catra lets that hang in the air for a second, "I don't mean evil like someone we could use," she adds. "I mean evil like, she's like... she's going to start destroying everything around her. She tried to kill *ME*. Y'know, the person she thinks she's supposed to be in love with? Sunbreaker may've basically just armed a... what do you call them around here again." She shrugs. "Nuclear bomb?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi now actually stops futzing with the device on his desk. "Two weeks? That's a long-ass time. I'm going to hide my curiosity and assume you actually do chart this as a big enough problem that you need help." he says. "Like, she is actually off hunting Sunbreaker - then we can use that." he says.

    "Nevermind, curiosity's back on the menu. I just had an idea. If she wants Sunbreaker why don't we give her Sunbreaker?" He offers. And he gets up from his desk. "By which, of course, I mean we give her Sunbreaker in a location that we choose, instead of letting her find her randomly and stab or beat the crap out of her." he says.

    "Instead we lure her in and stab and beat the crap out of her. Solves your problem generally, maybe I can bring her back here for research if her body's reacting with Dark Energy in a unique way." he says.

    "She tried to kill you? So like. How capable is she of actually doing that. People have tried to kill me but clearly they suck at it. On a scale of... I dunno, fluffy bunny to death machine, where is she actually at? I can actually bring a lot of stuff to bear but I don't want to over commit. Costs resources."

Catra has posed:

     "On a scale of bluffy bunny to... Look, she's a vessel for obscene levels of magic, she has a magic sword, and she turns into an eight foot tall muscle-bound lady who can throw tanks and has the martial skill to back it all up. I assure you she's capable and I wouldn't be here telling you about it if I thought it was no big deal." Catra pauses, and scratches her head behind one of her ears. "I corrupted her sword once -- which was hilarious, by the way -- but that was different. That drove her berzerk, but she was just... nuts. She had no control that time. This time is different, there's..."

     Catra trails off for a moment, searching for the right words. "There's intent. She's not just going off on everything in sight and attacking blindly and without skill, like she was that other time. She's out for blood, and I don't think she's going to stop, so it's a problem we have to deal with. I'd advise you not to come underprepared."

     The feline takes a moment to look around the room, eyes wandering over the variety of magical trinkets and half-finished projects. "Remember that time we fought her and her friends in Shibuya Crossing? You swallowed something, that made you stronger and made you basically... unstoppable. Like, impervious to pain." She shrugs her shoulders lighly. "Think you could give me something the same? if you could put me in that state I could go toe to toe with Adora the way she is right now, long enough for you to do... Whatever you wanna do. But if you're planning on capturing her, make sure you bring something strong enough to hold her. Especially if you bring her here, 'cause I don't think we want a dark-energy infused Etherian chosen one going ballistic inside Obsidian Tower." But, hey, you do you, says Catra's expression.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Okay, so bring the army the navy and even the coast guard." He pauses. "Ah, you may not get that. Joke. anyways it means I'll bring a whole buncha stuff. Like... I don't know, honestly, how much time you've spent fighting anyone other than She-Ra, but being able to throw tanks and know what the hell you're doing in combat is not a rare skill. Like she's big and muscley but I can throw people around and look at me." he says, holding his hands out. "Dark Energy is awesome. But... anyways, we'll bring a bunch of mooks for her to rampage on till she's tired or whatever. And a bunch of firepower to make her reconsider being conscious."

    "Look, if we can't corral one girl with the advantage of picking the battlefield and bringing a bunch of friends, we should just quit and go flip burgers or become accountants or something cause this ain't our game."

    "I'll have to make a decision on how dangerous she is out there. Worst case I decide we can't bring her here, and I can get readings assuming we can get her to fight all out, which... sounds like it won't hard.

    "And... unfortunantly the thing I swallowed back at the crossing probably would put you in about the same *mental* state as Adora, and not last very long. It makes me have problems and I've spent like, years containing Dark Energy. I'm trying to make a verion of it that... is less terrible. Both to taste and to use."

    "Hmmm. And if Sunbreaker's involved I should reach out to Double Trouble, too..." he muses out loud. Then he turns to Catra. "Normally, I would really question the threat you're trying to make her sound like but... you're pretty serious about this, and you usually don't take much seriously. You really think she's that much of a problem?"

Catra has posed:
     "I don't shy away from fights. You know that. Back on Etheria I took on all the princesses *at the same time*." Well, not by herself she didn't, she was leading an army -- the same as they were -- and she didn't win. But she almost did. Good enough, right?

     "She's a problem. We don't need to cure her necessarily, we just need to make sure she doesn't become *out* problem specifically. Bring her back and study her if you want, or find a way to point her in the right direction so she breaks stuff and... people, that we want her to break." Catra brow over her turquoise eye rises, "Okay, no angry strength drug, that's a shame. D'you have anything you can kit me out with for this fight, so I can be a little more useful?" She pauses, deeply considering her next words. "Fresh Pureheart Rifle Prototype maybe? You *know* there's gonna be the enemy when we do this, they always show up. Shooting one of 'em might tip the scales in our favor."

Catra turns, looking back down the hallway after there's a noise; feline hunting instinct kicking in, her claws even come out for just a moment. As she turns, there's the bruises, faint but still visible; around her neck, like someone tried to throttle her not so long ago.

"A shield might be good, if you've got anything like that," she suggests. "Something so I can take a few hits. Adora's *going* to focus on me as soon as we get her off of Sunbreaker. Which, we'll have to do, if we want Sunbreaker not to be dead."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi considers it. "I can bring a rifle or two in but they're not gonna do a damn thing to someone already in henshin. They can't knock it out of em' that way, and I've had some grunts try." he says. "What I can do is keep Adora in a barrier and shrink down how many of her friends get to come to the party.

    "A shield is a good idea - I'm also working on something a sparkleskirt gave me an idea for. While they're smokebombs which are pretty basic, they also come with enough magical... chaff... to prevent people from sensing us through it. That's the plan, anyways. Guess we'll see. And... I can probably get ahold of something like a shield. And don't forget you're going to have tons of nonhuman shields. I know you lead a group back home, but however little you cared about your troops, you can care even less about the masses of stuff I'm gonna bring. If she focuses on you just dodge her. Oh, do you still have that sword?" he asks. "...actually I can probably shield you, too. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen somebody else do it with their Device, and then she'll have to come after me, and she can't come after you, and me, and Sunbreaker, and anybody else I can dredge up, and hundreds of little youma, all at once."

    "Honestly, I'm gonna suit up for this with some extra stuff to test but I think it's gonna be a cakewalk. What we're arraying against your little blonde nemesis is more stuff than I think I've seen brought to any fight. Should be quick clean and quiet, your eight foot tall girl is gonna be eight feet long cause she'll be horizontal soon." he says.

    "Now I just need to figure out where we're gonna bait her, talk to Sunbreaker, and then... get her attention. Adora's."

Catra has posed:
     "Good. I like winning. Especially against Adora." What about your rules, Catra? "Not that I care about her," she clarifies. Gotta remember those rules. Even if she really only wrote down one. Maybe she'll figure out a few more after this fight and then she can go back to Sunbreaker. "Back home, depends on which troops you were talking about. It was best to preserve the living ones because they were a lot harder to replace. We used a lot of robots though, and it didn't matter if they got destroyed, you just..." she shrugs, "Built more. Same as with youmas."

     Catra snaps her fingers, "Make sure you bring something to record with, too. You might as well get as much information as you can, especially if any of Adora's friends show up. They always seem to." She snorts, "So we'll probably have to be prepared to fight them as well. Which we should be *anyway*. We know they'll show up, the second we start doing anything they're always there with pretty irritating levels of promptness. Like, don't they have homework or something?"

The cat rolls her eyes, and turns to wander ott. "I'll take whatever you can fit me out with. Otherwise I'll just dodge her. She was actually *trying* to kill me last time, but this time I know what she's up to. And she's not in control. ...And I'll push her buttons to make sure she loses it even more. Just, be ready for an enraged Etherian, yeah?"