Serve and Protect

Chapter 45

As she stepped over the threshold into the lobby of Etheria's City Hall, Catra was well aware of the other line she was crossing: the point of no return.

This was it. Whatever lay ahead, whatever happened next, there was no turning back now.

"Ow! Would you take it easy?" Glimmer hissed under her breath. "You're gonna break my arm if you keep squeezing it like that."

"Sorry," Catra muttered. She relaxed her grip but kept it securely planted on the back of Glimmer's arm. Her mismatched eyes scanned the lobby, which was bustling with public servants hurrying between meetings and chatting over takeaway cups of coffee. She was waiting for security to materialize out of nowhere and escort her and Glimmer roughly out of the building, but no one gave them so much as a backwards glance.

Out of the corner of her eye, Catra could see Glimmer watching her as they marched toward the reception desk.

"Nervous?" Glimmer whispered.

Catra scoffed.

Glimmer smiled weakly. "Yeah, me too."

The tight knot in Catra's stomach unclenched by a fraction. Though she wouldn't admit it to a soul, she was glad that Glimmer was there. She was grateful to not be doing this alone, and she was even grateful to be playing this dangerous game with Glimmer, of all people. Sure, Catra still felt the sting of resentment toward Glimmer whenever she saw her and Adora together. It was hard to forget that this was the girl who had lured Adora away in the first place. But the more Catra got to know her, the more she had to admit that she saw the appeal of having a friend like Glimmer. She was tenacious, gutsy, and far smarter than Catra initially gave her credit for. The fact that she was here at all said a lot about her character, and Catra admired her for it.

"How are your hands?" Catra asked as they waited for the young man at reception to finish with his phone call. She glanced down at the jacket that was draped over Glimmer's forearms. To anyone else, it would look as though Glimmer was merely holding it in front of her body. But in reality, the jacket was hiding the zip tie that bound Glimmer's hands at the wrists.

"I haven't lost feeling in my fingers yet, if that's what you're asking." Glimmer glanced down at her front and then at Catra. "At least the zip ties are keeping me from messing with my equipment."

At this less-than-subtle dig, Catra dropped her spare hand back down to her side. She knew she wasn't supposed to mess with the small, inconspicuous streaming camera that Entrapta had hidden in the collar of her jacket, but there was some comfort to be found in affirming that it was still affixed in place. That camera was her connection to Adora; it made her feel safer.

Finally, the man behind the reception desk hung up the receiver and smiled politely up at them. "Good afternoon, ladies. How can I help you?"

"We have a meeting with the mayor," Catra said. Glimmer opened her mouth to add something, but Catra squeezed her arm, and she seemed to think better of it.

The young man's eyebrows shot up, and for a split-second Catra thought he was going to do something stupid like ask for I.D.. Instead, he motioned to a bank of elevators in the corner of the lobby.

"Of course. Just take any of the elevators to the top floor and follow the signage."

Catra waited until they'd crossed the room before letting out the breath she'd been holding.

"Geeze, are you always this rattled?" Glimmer teased. "It's not like you were lying."

"I know that." Catra jabbed the 'up' button with a scowl. She did, in fact, have a meeting scheduled with Mayor Prime. Of all the ways she expected him to react when she finally surfaced after her unsanctioned sick-leave, him penciling her into his busy day wasn't one of them. "And I'm not rattled — I've just never been to his office before."