Chapter Text
Reading mood music over here -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_egA9RZrD5k&t=9s
And then, as all heavenly visions a dreamer would make, it burst as inevitably any pearlescent bubble would.
Time slowed. He could see the arrow, frozen between him and the queen. Bow had released it from his fingertips, his stomach dropped. His mind was still catching up, locked in a quiet shock. He just shot an arrow at Glimmer. He saw the way her gaze was resolute, confident in facing death. He knew that her desperate, suicidal act would save thousands. Even if the experimental arrow was lethal, the alliance would have a real chance. It was too good a moment to do nothing. Something was wrong though. Why did he fire his bow in the first place? Why would he shoot Adora?
The figure before him was a stranger… Wasn’t she? She was in a dark, gleaming plate that swallowed the light. Gone was her hair poof, the casual smile, the red blazer and brown slacks that she always seemed to wear. Even after the Horde had fallen. Instead, he saw the cold gleam of mettle and the shadow of a warrior he barely recognized. Is that really Adora? he wondered, suspended in the next heartbeat. The arrow halved its distance again. He could tell the true, strong memories were evaporating from his mind like breath wiped across a mirror, leaving only his true reflection. The one that lived here.
They were always enemies. Why would Vice General Adora ever wear anything but armor?
A moment later, Adora’s blade was pressed against Glimmer’s throat. His wife’s wide, terrified eyes locked onto his. The arrow stuttered again, another halfway to its destination. Glimmer’s lips were frozen, they shaped words he couldn’t hear—I love you—but there was no time to respond. Bow could see every detail: the old scar tracing Glimmer’s cheek, the red mark just beneath her eye from a battle long ago. Every memory hurtled back to him, mingling with the ache of knowing how close she stood to death now.
This can’t be happening. But the arrow kept moving, and it would land.
In a flash, Glimmer teleported the two of them five feet back. Bow’s arrow hit the tree beside them, exploding into a burst of lethal concussive force that shook the clearing, splintering bark and ringing in their ears. Glimmer scrambled to get out of Adora’s space. Adora’s hand snatched at Glimmer’s shoulder armor only to snap closed, holding the remains of pink, winking sparkles that remained. She arced her bastard sword wide barely missing Glimmer winking back into existence nearby. The queen twisted back with a fearful shout.
Adora got her feet underneath herself, the ringing in their ears becoming less and less. Finally the first thing they clearly heard was Adora’s grim, cold voice saying, “You missed.”
Bow’s stomach twisted, a knot of anger, grief, and the crushing weight of certainty. This was no friend. This was Adora. Horde through and through—a machine of war. A stranger.
Instinct pulled him back, hand clasped tight around Glimmer’s. He turned to flee, his mind repeating a mantra to numb the ache: She’s our enemy. She’s always been our enemy.
But as they vanished in Glimmer’s teleport, part of him remained suspended in that moment, caught forever in the paradox—mid-flight, mid-betrayal, questioning if, in another life, the arrow could ever reach a different end.
Adora reached back in her mind trying to remember just how she got here. That’s right. This was a risky operation. Her plan had been to create some false documents and distribute them through the Horde ranks to test the security of their ‘classified’ status. When she received information requesting a meeting in the whispering woods it was an unfortunate confirmation that it was faulty. When she heard just who was going to process their defection to the alliance, she couldn’t resist actually showing up to the meeting.
Her hand went to her ear, activating the radio there, “Did you get pictures?”
“Yeah let’s see them try to hide now!” Catra’s gleeful voice responded.
Glimmer and Bow ran until they were ragged, trusting that the forest would keep them safe. When they could run no more they fell to their knees and rear, catching their breath. Glimmer was first to speak, “I can’t believe that you thought that was going to work. I told you that she was the second in command of the Horde. If anyone was going to defect it was going to be someone like a Force captain, lower council rep. or a director!”
Though she had more, she was quieted by the silent king coming over to tightly hold her in his arms. His voice quaked saying, “I can’t believe that I almost lost you. It would have been all my fault.”
Any anger she had is lost as she held him tightly back. “It’s okay, I’m okay.” she replied. They sat there holding each other until a signal ding came through on Bow’s communicator.
https://youtu.be/3fy4YPd7viU?si=I6UNY_xXjpHBKzbH&t=121
The automated factory was a symphony of noise. Four production lines steadily moved with perfect precision, lights flashed, pistons moved, gears ground steadily along. A single figure moved through them following a flashing light on her computer pad. She squatted down to work on the robot arm. Her slender hand pushed back some stray purple and grey strands from her forehead tucking them back into the red goggles resting on her crown. She was a woman in her late thirties, lines starting to show on the crooks of her mouth. She had high cheekbones with a wide jaw. Her hair was tied back by softly lighting hair bands into two massive ponytails. One length of hair carried a screwdriver to her, the other clutched at the semi functional robot arm burping out hydraulic fluid. She used the tool to twist the cable tie tighter. Sure, she could have sent a ‘toolbot’ to fix the efficiency problem on the line but she was much happier working on this than dealing with the difficult decision in her head. She stepped back on her black steel toed boots and flicked a toggle setting it to start again. It pressed down on the casing of the grip clicking the plastic into place on the semiautomatic rifle.
She noticed the piece of hair that handed her the tool. White? I don’t remember handling anything white… She stared at it, trying to piece it together, Oh yeah… I guess this was bound to start happening to me… ’ It dug at her guts, white hair meant that she was starting to get to the middle of her life. A gentle anxiety flushed her cheeks, suddenly craving an Ares stick. She shivered, changing the course of her thoughts. ‘No- I want a toothpick instead.’ She took out the box and stuck one into her teeth to chew. The eerie taste of black tea and a slight tinge of motor oil mixed in her mouth overpowering her need for–... ‘No, new thought.’
She looked out over the sprawling, multi-storied machine lines of Chronos, her father’s company. Hazard tape marked the ground at the edge of the fifty foot safety zone for the five, house-sized, geothermal powered engines required. Enormous skylights that ran along the stadium length building were supposed to make the space light up ambiently, however the light down here was broken up by the steel mesh gratings and railings that wove back and forth over themselves. What light did make it this far down was broken haphazardly, flickering so often as a piston or belt interrupted its path.
The Vyxen Metaflex Thread Machine Lines were extremely adaptable, capable of being reconfigured within hours. They could make anything from simple screwdrivers to multicore fiber optic processors. Currently, Lines 1 - 10 were half on, continuing to pump out simple electronics and basic tools for the various businesses of Dryl. 11-15 on the next floor down were on full tilt assembling firearms for the Horde. Lines 16 - 27 were dedicated to the Alliance. Though they had the majority of lines, they struggled to match the lethal arms that the Horde had ordered– nonlethal weapons were far more resource intensive.
Despite all the noise the beast made, she found it terribly quiet. While there were gears grinding, product flowing and automatic arms shifting product from station to station… there were no words . There was a kind of unsettling comfort that she found in it. Without people, she didn’t have to see the unsettled looks in their eyes. It seemed like everyone in Dryl was watching their words around her. She could tell that they wanted to ask about Project Gemini, Scythia… her old friend. But no one dared.
She realized again how close she was to the downward mental spiral and sidestepped, instead focusing on another part of the Vyxen Shortburst rifle assembly line. She focused at the end of the hallway, her steel toed boots clomped along the metal catwalk grating creating her own noise that blended with the behemoth.
Reaching the end, she turned, letting a sigh come from her as she moved over to the line dedicated to the Alliance’s arms. She picked out the clipboard holding the maintenance schedule. She stared at its shape a few moments, then flipped to the second page there. She read it for the hundredth time this week. Stun batons, kevlar armor, molybdenum helmets, steel boots, two pallets of rubber bullets, all of them have had their quantities halved. Her red eyes squinted at the figures as though that alone would make things change. She looked up to the assembly line, a distinct grinding noise told her that the third pallet of firearms for the horde was complete. She looked back to the order for the rebellion, the price she’s charging was practically free for them. She wasn’t sure what to do. What she really wanted to do was ask-... her what to do. She bit a little harder at the wood shim in her teeth, the flavor reviving in her mouth.
Entrapta closed her eyes, calling out to the computer assistant A.I. she had made, “Emily? Send an encrypted message to King Bow of Brightmoon. Tell him that I’m going to be giving him another prototype gift bundle.”
Emily’s voice hummed back at her, “This is not advisable. There is an 83 percent chance that Entrapt-net is being monitored by Horde gate-tracers.”
Defiantly Entrapta called back, “But it would reach him?”
Emily replied, “Yes.”
She said, “Do it.”
Bow looked up from the communicator, he told Glimmer, “Entrapta is asking that we meet in person to look over some new prototypes.”
His wife winced, “Last time she came she had the nerve to show off some of the weapons that the Horde has been using against us. I wish she didn’t. Those rifles they’re using against us...”
Bow reminded her, “She did offer us a whole pallet of them, no charge.”
“Bow! We can’t! Did you see what the test fire did to the trees?” said Glimmer.
The two remembered the deadly demonstration. Entrapta had stood right next to them taking aim at a small grouping of trees. She simply had to pull the trigger and the weapon made steady even pops. Almost a hundred feet away the old growth trees exploded one by one sending splinters everywhere. The arms dealer kept on clicking away at the trigger, and in less than a minute she had five trees on the ground.
Glimmer’s voice was tight. “ Why did she have to make those? I hate her.” She gestured sharply, “Tell her we can’t-”
She was interrupted by another ding on the communicator before he could even start. The King blinked, surprised and announced, “She says that it’s not a refusable gift.”
The Queen scowled, “Damnit, I knew these Entrapt-net communicators might be used for listening in on our conversations! Let me see th-”
She was cut short again when a blood curdling shriek echoed in the forest where they were just running from. Bow turned back to Glimmer, his expression dutiful. Glimmer’s shoulders dropped, “You’re not serious… You know it’s them. They’re awful! ”
Bow said softly, “And that’s not a scream to stay away, it’s a scream for help.”
Glimmer scowled, pinching her eyes. Bow was already running back towards Adora and Catra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma27diEPqB0
After a few yards, Adora broke off the pursuit. Horde intel had told her that the princess could literally teleport so an elongated pursuit was going to be pointless. She took a few steadying breaths and then righted herself. She looked around at the whispering woods. The dense trees where they met had thinned, allowing for light to filter in through the exotic branches. It felt colder here, a thin mist clutched the ground looking a little too much like spider webbing.
Expectedly she heard the pattering footsteps of her top force captain coming up beside her, just in time for her to finish catching her breath.
“Report.” Adora said.
Catra gave a sarcastic smirk, she hefted a pack off her back and dug out a tablet saying sarcastically, “Don’t get all soft on me or anything.”
She swiped a few times while Adora folded her arms. Catra turned the tablet to face her, “I got some good pictures of them, they’re going to be flooding the Horde message boards any second now. Our scientists are going to be deconstructing the queen’s magic in no time.”
Catra flipped it back to herself, “Gotta admit though, she’s not the war-paint general that the propaganda machine says she is.”
Adora raised a brow at Catra, the faintest smile on her lips, “Are you questioning the brilliance of the state public report recordings?”
Catra gave an easy smile back, but as the moment grew longer Catra’s smile muted just slightly. She realized in the silence that Adora was still ‘on the clock’ right now.
Once it was fully established, Adora asked, “Any word on the source of the leak?”
Catra rolled her eyes, “You’re so annoying when you get like this.”
Adora opened her mouth to correct her but Catra clicked back to business, “We have some names here, but still figuring out the exact chain, would you lighten up?”
Adora did shift, “You know we need to get done with our business first before anything else. None of us are safe when our plans can’t remain hidden from the enemy.”
Catra folded her arms, “Jeez, you’re sounding more and more like Hordak every day. Come on, Adora! We got new reconnaissance about the head of state of the alliance, plus while they were away from the battle, we captured their rebel outpost! Isn't that enough to start up an end of day report?”
Something played on Adora’s memories that she couldn’t quite place. Something about Catra’s tone, wanting to return home… Trying to get away from the mission to another thing. She squinted in the direction of the rebel’s escape and asked, “Did… something feel strange about that encounter?”
Catra rolled her eyes and tapped on the screen to bring up one of the horde’s debriefing self-evaluation form, “Alright, here we go.”
“No, off the record.” Adora said.
Her almond shaped eyes widened at those words coming from the ever-dutiful Adora. “Something strange?” she echoed trying to jog her memory, “Well, yeah actually.” Catra shifted to face the same direction Adora was facing. She reflected, “The moment he shot at you… seemed to drag into eternity. I got this overwhelming feeling to come down and join the fight, but something held me back.”
Adora tapped thoughtfully at her lips, “I noticed it too. I was going to kill Glimmer, just like we killed all those other princesses but I didn’t.”
Catra remembered all the kingdoms that had fallen to them. Each crumbled easily after the death of the monarchs. She ended up giving a little chuckle, “Yeah… we’ll get them next time for sure though.”
Their gazes landed on each other then, having looked at each other since childhood they knew instantly the same thought was in both of their minds… I don’t want to see them dead .
Before either of them could voice the strangeness of that thought a frigid chill ripped through the clearing.
They were both drawn to look at a black winking flicker that grew larger and larger. It came through a single point. Flesh, bone, organs, and muscle drizzled from it into a bipedal form. It crept up from there, the smell of rot, and burnt protein filled the small clearing. It mostly formed a stomach. For some reason, instead of completing the belly, a small part of her intestine flopped out of the gaping wound there. Higher and higher went the form until it shaped a seared neck, above there was only black char and wept flesh. Its voice was nothing more than a sigh escaping air over a tight throat where vocal chords might have once been. It lifted a hand as if to observe it, but how was that possible without eyes?
She wasn’t sure how she manifested among them. She was simply there. It was cold, her wounds were eased in those moments, pain gave way to numbness crackling all over. The tears at her flesh were there, searing in pain but she dulled them, forming ice at the seams. She looked down at the slice in her open belly, struck there by horde steel. It had ruined her body just moments ago… no… not moments ago. It had been a long time since she died. Something brought her here.
One of the horde soldiers was screaming, the other pushed them aside drawing a sword against her. They were pointing at her-... no, not just at her, they were screaming about her face.
Oh yes… her head. Her head had been the last thing to go. Wrapped in cloth and set ablaze. She must be a ghoulish sight. Her fingers came to touch her there, it was unimaginably painful to have been burned to death. Of course they ended her with fire, how poetic. When she touched the char, a good question dawned on her, how was she seeing them when the tender organs of her eyes were nothing but ash now?
“What’s the matter?” she tried to say coyly but her tongue and lips wouldn’t comply, only a hissing noise came from her, smoke plumed from her lungs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrk0mf9uHYs
They knew her from the Kingdom of Snows. It was impossibly the princess of that kingdom, Frosta. They had been there at the unceremonial execution in the hallway leading to the negotiation chamber. Adora had lanced her belly herself. Catra said at the time, “Burn her head.” That was years ago.
Catra shouted to Adora, “What is she doing here?? How is she here??”
Adora knew that now was not the time for questions, nothing about that noise it was making was friendly. She closed the distance between them, sword outstretched and ready to parry. Frosta pulled moisture from the air and gestured at the knight-like Adora. A swarm of ice shards flew at her like birdshot.
She took the peppering of ice shards, wincing at the gashes that suddenly crossed her face. Ignoring the pain, she retorted by sweeping her blade across Frosta’s shoulder. The specter spun to the ground in a heap. Adora kept closing the distance like an inevitable titan, her frost burned wounds pumped crimson blood down her jaw and neck. Frosta pushed off the ground away from Adora, but just as she was getting her senses about her she was tackled from a hands-first leap from Catra. The two of them spiraled to the ground in a heap.
Adora’s steady strides faltered when she heard a painful shriek come from the tangle of Catra and the princess. Adora was there in an instant, losing sight of any kind of defense. She used her free hand to fiercely rip Frosta from the grapple with Catra. In that same instant, she understood what her Force Captain was screaming about. Just touching Frosta sent a numbing, biting pain straight to her heart, an unnatural cold that stole the breath from her lungs. She gave a shuddering noise with her throat trying to ignore the supernatural pain across her soul. She threw the assailant to the side with all her might one moment and thrusted the same hand for Catra to take the next.
That’s when Bow and Glimmer re-appeared suddenly in front of them.
For the briefest second Adora was glad to see them. But realized how much more trouble they were in now that they were facing off against both the alliance and this strange spirit of vengeance. They all shared a strange, silent moment before the creature made a deep throated noise leaning towards them in the air. Adora jagged to the left in full tilt, hoping that the unsettling noise would be affecting the king and queen’s reaction time. Catra got to her four feet and was in front in an instant. Bow and Glimmer followed right after. Thirty yards of running after them was enough for Glimmer to remember that she could teleport and blinked right in front of Catra.
Adora only pressed her momentum faster, while Catra’s agility easily let her turn sharply to the side. The wind rushed through Adora’s blonde hair, her voice rising as she closed the distance with Glimmer. Her dark greatsword at her hip cut up from the ground in a rising slash. Glimmer held her palms out on either side of the blade. At the last second, her staff suddenly blinked into existence. A great sundering chime that echoed across the woods. Glimmer was violently launched from where she stood. Catra had doubled back and was engaging Bow the next moment. Adora and Catra had so many ‘bloodless battles’ in training that they were like a single entity fighting against the king and queen of Brightmoon.
Catra lunged at Bow, he fell back, tossing her over him. She landed on her feet, then sprang back almost as though she planned it. Her razor sharp claws gashed across his shoulder, spattering his blood on the ground. Bow cried out painfully. She threw back her head cackling in victory, “I can’t believe that the alliance is so gullible! If I knew all it would take is some screaming to bring you back I would’ve done that right away!”
Bow cradled his wound knowing that he was little help to his wife now that he couldn’t wield his signature weapon properly. He got to his feet preparing for hand-to-hand combat. He glared at Catra proclaiming, “We’re not like you, if someone, anyone is in trouble we’re going to help them!”
Catra cooed, “Aww, that’s why you’re going to lose , just like Sileneas and Plumeria. Once you’re gone your subjects are going to cower in fear. All because you couldn’t resist hoping for a peaceful end to this.”
The repartee let Adora know that Catra had the techmaster king well in hand. Adora also knew her role was to tire out Glimmer and maybe score a single hit to end her. She feigned a swing to throw the queen off-guard, goading out yet another teleport from her. Adora reversed her footing and swept her sword behind her thinking that she might reappear there. Adora hit nothing. A split second later she felt pressure splash across her armored shoulder, sparkles showered from the blow. A sneer came across her expression disliking this game of cat and mouse. A frustrated shout escaped her throat whipping back around to throw a small blade from her waist in Glimmer’s new direction in the trees. Glimmer’s eyes widened, twisting and teleporting to the ground prone. Adora was already running to engage her. Before Glimmer could realize what was happening she was underneath Adora’s foot, the armored woman’s sword was raised high to end her life. Glimmer shrieked, teleporting yet again in the last possible second.
Adora’s foot fell through where Glimmer was, the bastard sword sinking inches into the loam of the whispering woods. Adora bared her teeth barking, “Stay still and die!” It was both a warning and a promise for how this would end.
Nearby, Catra rolled her shoulders showing off the palms of her hands at her hips. She flexed just the tips of her fingers down, causing her claws to push forward from the sides of her second knuckle joints looking like little black razor sharp switchblades. She was ready to finish him off when she noticed the quickly advancing ash-faced Frosta from the clearing. The ice princess was drifting through the trees towards the noisy scuffle.
Quickly thinking, Catra lunged at Bow’s thigh leaving a gash there. Faster than she expected the king’s razor sharp bow sliced along Catra’s shoulder in exchange. Catra danced back, disengaging from Bow. She shouted at Adora, “Enemy incoming! East!” With no more than that, the two of them withdrew as one. The Horde leaders jumped a horizontal tree, and were sprinting away. The king and queen were left behind for Frosta to finish off.
Glimmer was next to Bow in an instant just as the unearthly creature came within striking distance. Effort crunched her face as she mustered one more teleport to pull them both as far as she could away from her. Their forms winked away just in the nick of time.
Frosta felt herself breathing heavily, coming to a stop just as Glimmer and Bow disappeared. Strangely her huffs were doing nothing to alleviate her fatigue. It was almost as if–… She tried it. She stopped breathing. Her unconscious demanded another breath but she quelled it as an experiment. When her limbs tingled with newfound energy she instinctively raised her hands to her ruined face. She really had died. She looked at her hands. Her friends had fled in fear over what she was now. She needed to do something to keep them from running away. Somehow she knew it was within her power to gather a death shroud around herself. It felt strange as the rough linen curled from her back, over her head, around her shoulders.
She did not need eyes to see. Their movements brushed against her awareness, like ripples on a frozen lake. They were running. If she was to get help in this new form, she needed them all. Her whispering throat exhaled smoke under what she thought would be strain. She evoked a thirty foot tall wall of ice around Catra and Adora over fifty yards away by now. When the strain didn’t come to her she staggered. Again looking at her hands she pondered just what she was now.
Bow and Glimmer had stopped moving. She drifted in their direction to try again.
Desperate breaths came to Glimmer helping her injured husband hobble quickly shoulder-to-shoulder. She was out of teleports for the time being, his heavy body was relying on her to stand. He was also taking shallow breaths mostly from Catra’s injury to his thigh.
“We gotta stop.” He said as loudly as he dared.
It was a welcome relief to Glimmer, crashing next to a tree that overlooked a small ravine. Her hands ached from fending off Adora’s strikes. It had all gone wrong. Glimmer tried to cough quietly as Bow dug into a pouch on his hip to quickly gauze the worst of the bleeding.
A gentle crackling came from the ground before them. They braced, the king reached for his sharp bow. Before their eyes, frost spread across the dirt, jagged and deliberate. Ice crystals bloomed in fractured, unnatural patterns, shaping themselves into something recognizable. Words.
"It’s me, Frosta."
The two looked to each other, a chill passing through them as they realized what had been chasing them. The two peaked around the side of the tree to get a good look at her.
The young woman hovered just above the ground, her movements unnervingly still. She had wrapped herself fully in a long black shroud, the fabric darkening where it clung to her middle, as if drinking in the gaping wound beneath it.
Glimmer swallowed hard. Frosta had only been eighteen. She had been one of the youngest among the alliance. Seeing her now—her ruined body, the ashen void where her face should have been—twisted something in her stomach.
“By the ancients..” Bow said watching Frosta smooth the new cloth over her stomach. Knowing what she was now gave her a kind of innocence that pierced her ghoulish appearance. Glimmer started to drop her guard letting herself cough to soothe her burning lungs. The specter pointed ominously in the direction of the captives. When they looked they saw the tall cylindrical tower of ice that Frosta had used and they looked at each other. Once again they wordlessly agreed to follow the direction of sure danger.
Adora looked up at the distant peak of the wall they found themselves surrounded by. The diameter couldn't have been more than twenty feet. Enough to move around but not much else. Catra rubbed at her face, she had just ran into the barrier forming and was seeing stars now. Adora stared bewildered at the impedance, “Even if that was Frosta, she couldn't have made a barrier this tall form that far away. Our intel can be spotty from time to time, but it’s never this wrong.”
She squinted, it was just ice. She raised her sword above her head and began jabbing at the wall, it would only slow them down. After minutes of hacking she felt Catra touch her shoulder. She turned to see the woods produce the spirit, Bow and Glimmer. The grim understanding came to her that she was going to be a prisoner. She watched Catra, silently conversing. Remember the training. Give nothing but your name, rank and number, escape at the first chance, don’t wait for the other.
Catra’s sarcastic glance back told her that she understood. Yeah, I was at force captain training too dummy.
The king and Queen approached. Glimmer was the first to break the tension, “You are now prisoners of the Hierophant Alliance. You will be well taken care of. Your lies about trying to join the alliance will be considered when judgment is cast upon you.”
Adora set her shoulders, clasped her hands behind her back. She grimly stated, “Adora Starborn, Vice General. Serial number Zero, One, One, Nine.”
Bow looked to Glimmer uncomfortably, then back to them. His gut felt that this is all wrong but he couldn’t think of any proof to back it up. If the intelligence they received was fake, then there was nothing they could trust about their history. He urged Adora, “If there was any truth about you joining the Hierophant alliance at all, it would go a long way if you told us that now.”
Catra’s mismatched eyes drifted to Adora, looking for guidance. Adora was already reflexively repeating the proper answer to any engagement by the enemy.
Bow didn’t miss the glance. He asked Catra, “Do you have anything to add?”
She hesitated watching Adora’s stoic glare before mirroring it. She sternly said, “Catra, Force Captain. Serial number One, Zero, Two, Eight.”
Glimmer groaned, “I hate this Horde brainwashing bullshit.” She looked at Frosta, “You can do that again, right?”
Frosta gestured to the ground, words rising from the shape of jagged ice, “Yes.”
Glimmer looked back to them, “So don’t try to escape.”