Plumeria

Her next mission turned out to be much later than she thought.

Her communication device pinged, getting her attention as she was putting her outfit on and picked it up.

"Force Captain Tigra, you are being sent to the outpost near Plumeria due to Lord Hordak believing that it could be going much faster due to Shadow Weaver being distracted about her missing soldier. You are to take command of the outpost and determine if it could be sped up. The outpost code is 8-Sigma-Delta-2"

After she finished reading it, she typed a message equivalent to "Understood, I'll head out now."

She has yet to see Catra today, but figured a quick message to her wouldn't hurt.

'Hey Catra, I've been sent out on a mission as soon as I woke up. I likely won't see you for a week or two, but take care of yourself. I have to leave all of the dumbass energy here with you.'

With that sent, she made her way down to the garage and commissioned a skiff.

It took about 15 minutes before she set out, receiving a singular message while waiting.

'Be careful. I'll still need my future second in command with me.'

She focused on driving as she should reach the Plumeria outpost in roughly 3 days.

3 agonizing days of lonesomeness.

…

"Identity and password." One of the guards demanded, despite seeing her arrive on a skiff.

She raised a slight eyebrow but decided to simply do what was asked to make the process easier.

"Force Captain Tigra, 8-Sigma-Delta-2."

The guard seemed surprised if his body language said anything, considering the full body armor they were to wear as Cadets. Including a gray helmet with a green visor.

"Outpost Commander Jar is located in the middle of the outpost, Force Captain!" He saluted.

Tigra nodded before bringing the skiff into the outpost, parking it in the garage near the entrance.

She hopped off before making her way to the command center.

She looked around along the way and saw many things that explained why Lord Hordak would believe that this outpost may be slacking.

From the information given to her before leaving, it expressed that this outpost held 70 guards, 10 engineers, 5 scientists, 10 construction workers, and 5 tech people.

Considering that it was meant to be an outpost and not a permanent foothold, the numbers could be excused.

What couldn't would be the 55 guards doing nothing and several workers seeming drinking something alcoholic, given the way they were swaying told anything.

'An outpost this size should always have 30 guards on shift and rotate every 30 minutes. That way any guards coming off duty would have plenty of time to rest before going back out. The important people to this project, such as the engineers and scientists, shouldn't be prevented from working in any way. This outpost's job is simple yet important: Deal damage to the Kingdom of Plumeria without actively fighting them.'

The fact that, to the other kingdoms, they only fought Brightmoon. If they openly attacked another kingdom while they still held neutrality, then it sends the message that the Horde will be attacking all of them, even if they hold neutrality.

'While we will, it is best to attack the kingdoms one by one if possible. Once we move past Brightmoon and attack another though, that message is out in the open. So we want to deal as much damage to all of them before that happens.'

She walked into the command center and found who must have been Commander Jar, given how he listened to a report given by a construction worker.

"-in the coming months."

"Alright. Meet back up with me in two days and I'll see if we've come up with any ideas on how to approach that."

The construction worker nodded with a slight frown.

They noticed her right after though.

"Commander Jar?" Tigra asked, making sure of his identity before continuing to talk with them.

"I am. Lukan was just leaving." Jar dismissed him.

He nodded before leaving, looking at her for a moment before continuing out.

"You must be Force Captain Tigra. I received a notice that you'd be arriving sometime today. However, they didn't tell me why."

"They wouldn't. I need to be brought up to speed on your projects at taking down Plumeria and their timetables."

Commander Jar seemed to understand, walked over to a small filing cabinet, pulled out a folder and held it out to her.

She took it before speaking.

"Summarize it for me real quick. Afterwards, I'll take a look at this."

"We are using a large chemical injector to poison the land and plants around to kill them off. We estimate that the forest around Plumeria will die completely within 2 weeks, 3 if the princess gets the idea to start regrowing trees. The Heart Blossom, her source of power, within 2 months given that they will use all they have to keep that tree healthy."

Tigra nodded before asking the obvious question.

"Give me the basics regarding the princess. Princess Perfuma, correct?"

Jar nodded. "She seems like a pacifist who believes that the Universe will protect them and provide what they need."

They both gave a light laugh at that. No one in the Horde kept that mentality after a week of living in the Fright Zone.

"So she shouldn't cause any big problems while I'm here as long as we don't attack her subjects? That's good news."

"Really? From what's been going around the rumor mill is that you fought a princess. Figured you are wanting a crack at another one."

"While I wouldn't say no to fighting one, that's not my reason for being here. I'm here to quietly take down Plumeria, remove a princess from the board, and complete the mission given to me."

She looked him in the eye again. "I am not battle hungry enough to risk our operation and fury of our Lord."

Silence took over for a moment. "Now then, how can we speed up that timetable? Say, within the week?"

Jar looked hesitant.

"Do it." Tigra spoke, surprising him. "I am here because Lord Hordak believes that this outpost is slacking off. From what I've seen, he may be right. So I don't care how angry your people will be at me for making them work overtime. Because their anger will be nothing compared to the anger Lord Hordak will have at having confirmation that this outpost is wasting time and resources."

He winced slightly at that.

"Simply get them working as fast as they can and I'll inform him that there was a slight efficiency miscalculation that has been taken care of."

She started to leave but stopped at the entrance.

"I am trying to be merciful. I don't want Lord Hordak's anger so I will not hesitate to tell him how you have half the amount of guards on patrol and your essential workers being influenced. I will inform him of every flaw I've seen and it's enough to get you removed and half the people here sent back to basic training. So if you fuck up, you'll be fucking up everyone's position in the Horde." Tigra warned. "Now then, I'm going to be in the spare office. Retrieve me if there is an issue that you think I should be aware of."

With that, she left and remained in the office for most of the next two days.

…

It happened while she was walking around when a familiar scent brushed past her nose. She closed her eyes for a moment and focused on the scent. She opened her eyes and quickly started sneaking towards the source.

It smelled familiar yet different. There were several scents trying to cover the recognizable one but she could work through it with some effort.

Her eyes traced across the area before landing on the door leading to the injector. She would have made her way there but shift change was called. She watched as a guard opened that door.

"Hey! What are you three doing here?"

Her ears twitched as they caught a scoff.

"What are you doing here? We have clearance, password 5-echo-niner."

Tigra resisted the urge to face palm as she knew that voice and the fact she hadn't considered the obvious response when a Force Captain, candidate or not, suddenly turns traitor.

"We haven't used those codes in months. Hands up!" The guard ordered before pressing the alarm and aiming an energy blaster at the group inside.

"Adora, what do we do?!" A male voice asked.

"Run!"

Tigra knew that a fight would likely happen and immediately casted Haste . She waited until three people ran out - Archer, Glimmer, and Adora. She waited for the perfect moment before dashing.

*Adora*

"Alright, maybe not my best plan, but don't forget you agreed as well!" Adora proclaimed as they took cover behind barrels. "How many soldiers can you take?"

"Between 1 and…zero." He breathed heavily.

"I'll take them all on." Glimmer then started breathing hard. "Just give me…a moment."

Adora did not like these odds.

Especially when Bow let out a large exhale and suddenly disappeared from beside her.

"Bow!" Glimmer shouted, turning to look behind Adora. "Let him go!"

Adora started turning when she heard a voice she had been dreading, yet slightly hoping to hear again.

"So that's your name? Or is that a code name for an archer?"

Adora turned around and saw Tigra, holding Bow up by his shirt, his feet dragging on the ground.

"Funny running into you here, Adora. It's been a couple of months since you've gone missing."

"Tigra."

Relief flooded through her at seeing Tigra standing alright. She can still remember hitting Tigra in the chest, feeling bones and muscles shift in ways that Adora had known weren't good.

It terrified her to this day that she could have killed Tigra and had been thinking she did. Considering that Tigra hadn't shown up until now, entire months later, Adora feared her strength that she didn't have control of.

So, she spent an entire week straight practicing in that form to get a grip on her strength.

"What's with that tone?" She asked curiously.

"Well, you are holding one of my friends by his shirt."

"Friend? Interesting. Are you 100% aware that you are aiding the Rebellion, the group that we are supposed to be fighting?"

Adora…didn't get what she meant. Surely she knew that was what she meant to do.

"After all, this could be a misunderstanding. Surely by bringing back the princess right by you, even Lord Hordak would see it as an attempt to bring down our enemy. But if you say that you were aware, you will be declared a traitor of the Horde. Nothing except taking Brightmoon yourself would earn you forgiveness."

She narrowed her eyes at her, yet Adora could easily understand what she left unsaid.

Choose your next words carefully. Are you with me? Or not?

Adora looked at her more closely and her stomach dropped slightly at seeing the Force Captain badge. That meant that Tigra had become important to the Horde in one way or another and was under scrutiny now more than ever.

Before Adora could say a word, Tigra's ears twitched and she looked to the side slightly, just as the wall came down with a large amount of vines.

"I've always said the Universe would repay the Horde someday!" Perfuma exclaimed, riding the wave of vines. "I guess today is that day!"

"For She-Ra!" The citizens of Plumeria yelled out.

"Great." Tigra grumbled. "First job and I have to deal with a kingdom throwing away their neutrality."

The Plumerian people quickly started storming the outpost as Perfuma made her way over.

Glimmer teleported before grabbing Bow. Tigra let go at the last second and avoided being teleported with them, back to her side.

Tigra looked between the four of them before breathing in slowly and exhaling. She then crouched as her claws came out while locking eyes with Perfuma.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!" She exclaimed on instinct alone.

She quickly turned into the giant form of She-Ra, drawing several eyes.

Tigra seemed to scowl at her.

"You idiot." She growled out. "You've made yourself a high priority target."

"I'm not scared of Hordak." She-Ra denied.

"It isn't Hordak you need to worry about." Tigra denied. "Hordak could give a rat's ass about you right now. No, you've just revealed that Adora and this She-Ra are the same person. Weaver's going to know by tomorrow."

She-Ra did pause at that, drawing Glimmer's attention.

"And now…I must view you as an enemy."

"You don't need to!" She-Ra suddenly spoke. "Did you know about how bad the Horde was? You could join us and fight them back! Prevent others from going through what we did."

Catra may not be willing to listen to her yet, but she could try with Tigra.

She-Ra saw Tigra glance to the side and saw hesitance before looking back at her.

"You've already left Catra," The statement felt like a cut to the heart. "I won't force her to go through that pain twice."

She-Ra felt pain in her side and shoulder before her instincts stopped the third attack.

"You've gotten faster." She told.

Tigra smirked before backflipping and slicing vines that had gone where she was.

"Not really." She spoke as she landed. "I've simply had no reason to go this speed, except against this transformation of yours."

She ducked under a teleportation punch from Glimmer before she slammed a closed fist into Glimmer's chest. Glimmer practically almost folded in two before Tigra brought up her other hand and palmed her chin, making Glimmer fly back about 4-5 feet away and groaning hard.

She-Ra took stock of the situation and noticed Bow on the ground, straddling his stomach, telling her that Tigra must have hit him before he had disappeared from beside her earlier.

'Of the four of us, Bow and Glimmer are down and Perfuma…'

Perfuma sent a continuous amount of vines to Tigra, yet she kept avoiding and slashing them. When she tried to get closer to her, a circle of vines appeared around Perfuma, preventing her from getting closer without also being caught in the vines.

Suddenly, Tigra crouched and made a mad dash at her. She ducked under a fist from She-Ra and landed two cross slashes against She-Ra yet had been hit by a held back punch on She-Ra's part. Tigra quickly made space between her and the duo still standing.

Tigra stood a good distance away before opening her mouth.

"Retreat!" She yelled, taking Perfuma and her back. "The outpost has fallen!"

Right after the command was given, several Horde Soldiers fell back where some civilians started to follow.

"She-Ra!" Tigra called out. "Control your soldiers or I will remove them."

"Perfuma!" She-Ra exclaimed quickly, letting Perfuma know without a doubt that Tigra was serious.

"Citizens!" She called out. "Let them leave. Let them tell the rest that we won't let them poison our land anymore!"

She-Ra watched as Tigra kept an eye on them while keeping track of her own soldiers. As several of them got on skiffs and left until what looked like a commander drove next to her.

"Force Captain, we're all that's left."

Tigra nodded before jumping onto the skiff and the commander drove off, Tigra watching for a moment before getting too far away for She-Ra to notice her features anymore.

*Tigra*

Tigra sat on the floor, touching her shoulder with a wince.

HP: 778/2075 HPR: 10 (Suppressed: 12 hours)

"For not wanting to fight Princesses, you certainly don't stick to that message." Jar started. "Folks are usually terrified of fighting one princess, let alone three at the same time ."

"Well, not like they could really hit me until the end." She said, "You don't have to worry about your positions. I'll inform Lord Hordak that the outpost was lost when the three princesses showed up."

Jar nodded before she let him focus on driving as she looked at her notifications.

[Quest [Join the Rebellion] abstained!]

[H2H gained 25730 EXP]

[H2H Leveled up! 76 →79]

[Physical Resistance gained 2275 EXP]

[P.R. Leveled up! 34→35]

[Magical Resistance gained 455 EXP]

[Magical Resistance leveled up! LV 1 → LV 2]

3250 EXP Gained!

LV 30 (3330/5900)

Title gained: [Princess Fighter]

[With this title, the Horde knows that you're strong enough to take on princesses and come back for more. The Horde are more respectful of you while Princesses are wary of you.]

…

'Considering that I'm not passed out from the fight this time and I haven't grown that much stronger in terms of CON, Adora must have held back. That, combined with the ability to suppress my HPR, paints this 'She-Ra' as a very dangerous opponent to face.'

She leaned back against the metal, knowing that she would likely take over driving in about 3 or 4 hours.

'Hopefully, Lord Hordak will be understanding about the failure.' She thought, already typing up her report.

It would take 3 days to return to the Fright Zone, giving her plenty of time to type down everything from arrival to retreating due to the action of three princesses-Perfuma, Glimmer, and She-Ra.

...

She had been on the day she would have arrived back when she retrieved a message from the Force General she had been assigned under.

"In one week after arriving back, you will be sent to the town of Geotan, a 2 day trip near the edge of Salineas. You will be leading a garrison of 45 soldiers and 5 medics. Expect your forces to be met by Brightmoon Soldiers. You are to take the city with as few losses as possible. If you fail this mission, you will be explaining to Lord Hordak in person."

[Quest Added!]

Taking Geotan

You have been assigned a garrison of 50 Horde Soldiers to take the town of Geotan. This town will be necessary to take in the case that Salineas joins against the Horde, similar to how the Kingdom of Plumeria has.

Objective: Defeat the soldiers stationed in Geotan.

Hidden Objective 1: ???

Hidden Objective 2: ???

Rewards: 100 EXP per enemy, ???, ???

Failure: Possible Demotion, Possible Death

…

'Well…the missions are only going to get harder from here on out.' Tigra thought, staring down at her communication tablet. 'But…they're the main way for me to keep getting stronger.'

She sighed before looking out from the side of the skiff, watching as her surrounding passed by faster than she could move on her own.

'For now.'