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pennamesmith · 7 months

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Raising Despara

If you enjoyed Masters of the Universe: Revolution and wanted Keith David’s Hordak to have an Entrapta, this story’s for you. Big spoilers for MOTU: Revelation and Revolution!

—

Hordak ran.

He held the tiny bundle tightly in his huge arms, careful to support it properly even as he raced through the night. Sacrificing Skeletor had bought him only moments, if that. He would have to be swift. Already he could hear the pounding footsteps of the palace guards behind him.

Laser bolts ripped across the moonlit sky. Hordak tore through a dark canopy of trees, ignoring the branches that clawed at his face. He was almost at the extraction point. He could see the portal, blazing brightly ahead of him. The shouting at his heels grew louder.

“Pitiful, pedestrian protectors,” Hordak growled, chancing a look over his shoulder. “You cannot keep me from claiming my quarry.”

Clutching the little body to his chest, he took a massive leap and sailed through the crackling rift in space. The portal closed behind him an instant later, sealing out the guards’ angry cries.

In the new silence, another cry filled the air. A small face poked out of the swaddling blankets in Hordak’s hands, and after it, two tiny fists.

“Silence, small one. Cease these sounds. You are safe,” Hordak admonished, rising slowly to his knees.

“Rock her a little. It’ll calm her down,” the engineer operating the portal generator said. “I think that’s what the book I read said to do, anyway.”

Hesitantly, Hordak swung the infant gently from side to side. The movement was almost comical with his hulking frame, but sure enough, the baby girl quieted. A giggle escaped her.

The room they were in was dark, with metal walls. Banks of computer terminals, buzzing machinery, and steaming pipes filled the space from floor to ceiling. Crimson bat emblems burned on every screen that wasn’t showing a data readout.

The engineer busied herself with a wide bank of screens and blinking lights. She was small, but wore her massive work clothes like armor. Her long hair moved like the twisting arms of an octopus, cybernetic implants twinkling purple at the base of her skull.

The hair continued pushing buttons and pulling levers as she approached Hordak to look at the baby he held.

“Did you get the other one?”

“No. Skeletor slipped, as I suspected he would. A manageable mistake. Let him battle his brother for the boy’s fate.” He looked down at the baby girl, who was already drifting back to sleep. “A single scion of Grayskull is more than sufficient to realize my revolution.”

“I’ve got the care pod ready.” The engineer slid a panel aside, revealing a small crib bed nestled in the center of more machinery. Hordak placed her inside, and the two stood there for a moment, simply looking at her.

“Does she have a name?” the engineer asked.

“Whatever name she had on Eternia, she will need a new one now,” Hordak answered. “It presents a potent puzzle. How shall I describe this destined daughter of destruction? Her moniker must match her fearsome fate.”

“What about Despara?” the engineer suggested. “That was my great aunt’s name.”

Hordak considered it, then nodded. “A noble nomination. It suits one such as she.” He leaned down, speaking softly so as not to wake the sleeping child.

“Welcome to your new home in the Horde, dear Despara.”

—

Despara ran.

She’d grown fast in seven years, and soon enough even the generous range granted to her by her guardians was not enough. She could complete every training course with her eyes closed, knew every corner of her dark castle tower, could climb any wall. And so here she was, sprinting down the windowless halls, jumping across the smoky rooftops, and crawling through cramped ventilation shafts. She was big enough to want the universe, and small enough to slip through the cracks in the walls that kept her from it. It was a dangerous age.

She paused at a grate and looked down.

In the room below, a woman crouched over a cluttered desk, soldering computer parts. Her hair stretched out in every direction, reaching for tools or distractedly completing their own tasks. The movement was continuous, like a flowing current. It was hypnotic.

Suddenly, one of the bolts in the grate gave way. Despara yelped as she fell.

The woman below snapped to attention. Despara fell for less than a second before she was caught in a cushion of wrapped hair. She threw her arms around the woman’s neck and laughed.

“Hi Entrapta! I knew you’d catch me,” Despara giggled.

Entrapta raised her goggles and lowered her eyelids. “You are not supposed to be here, little one.”

“I know, but I was bored, and Hordak’s meeting is taking forever,” Despara whined. “Can’t you show me some of the cool stuff you’re working on?”

Entrapta ruffled the girl’s short, blonde hair. “Flattery will get you everywhere, my dear. Here, you can help me make wire relays for the new death ray prototype.” She pushed a pile of parts across the workbench.

Despara began assembling the components with practiced speed. “Tell me again about the day you found me,” she said.

Entrapta’s reply was equally practiced. She’d told this story many times.

“Hordak was coming back from a mission. I had used my technology to open a portal to another world, and he was searching for a new home for the Horde.”

“But it was a bad place,” Despara piped up.

Entrapta nodded. “Very bad. Barbaric, in fact. The evil king and queen of that land were going to sacrifice a child to their false gods of magic.”

“That was me!” Despara bounced in her seat.

“That was you. But Hordak rescued you, even after his trusted apprentice betrayed him. He left that world, just to bring you somewhere better. And as soon as he was back, I closed the portal, snap, just like that!” Entrapta clapped her hands for emphasis.

“Snap!” Despara echoed, mimicking the motion. “What was that world called?”

“Nobody knows,” Entrapta answered, very quickly. “If we ever find it again, perhaps you will be old enough to help us liberate the poor people who live there.”

Despara was quiet for a moment. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

“Will you build me something?”

Entrapta examined the paper. It was a child’s work, but the intention was clear. She smirked at the helmet’s design; the familiar red eyes and teeth.

“I want to help Hordak,” Despara explained. “And if I wear something like that, if I looked like his real daughter, maybe he would let me.”

“You are his real daughter,” Entrapta insisted. “Even if you are not of his blood. And you will help him, someday, when you’re older.”

Despara’s blue eyes twinkled. “That wasn’t a no.”

Entrapta winked and pocketed the paper. “When you’re older,” she repeated.

And Despara thought about her future, making the universe better one world at a time.

It was going to be beautiful.

—

“It’s beautiful!” Despara gasped, staring at the majestic creature. “What is it?”

Hordak beamed as he handed her the reins. “On its homeworld, it is called a horse. A birthday present for you.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” Despara hugged the towering Horde Commander with unabashed familiarity. “I love him! I’m going to name him Spirit. May I go out for a ride with him now? Please?”

“Of course, dear Despara. Just take a trooper with you, in case of trouble.”

He stood and watched as they raced off into the distance. Someone snickered below his sightline. Turning, he saw Entrapta emerging from whatever corner she’d been hiding in this time.

“You’re laying it on a bit thick, my lord,” the engineer said. “Everything all right at home?”

Hordak snorted. “You know me so well, scientist. I can have no secrets with you at my side. It happens that the new magic user I hired has been making many overtures to our adolescent ward. I cannot have the future leader of my armies seduced by such simple spells! I had hoped to regain her regard by giving her this gift.”

“Really? You’re feeling threatened by Shadow Weaver?”

“It is most miserable that I must make magic a part of my machinations, however minute. But I will not have my years of work wasted by that witch.”

“Yeah, and it’s got nothing to do with wanting to be the favorite parent over mom,” Entrapta needled with a grin.

Hordak remained impassive. “Nothing at all. And at any rate, if anyone has assumed the mantle of mother to Despara these many years, it is you, my most marvelous machinist.”

That caught Entrapta off guard. Her hair shivered, suddenly uncertain of what to do with itself. Unconsciously, she stepped closer to the towering man. She tried not to look at his face and only wound up staring at his chest instead.

“It’s been an honor to work with you, mighty one,” she managed. “I mean, you already trust me with your weapons, your robots, and your infrastructure. I should think that looking after your kid once in a while is a small ask compared to all that.”

He rested a mighty claw gently on her shoulder, and she cursed herself for flinching.

“I owe you a great debt, Entrapta. I do not forget fealty such as yours. In the new universe Horde Prime has promised us, I intend to install you at my right hand. You are the engine of this empire. Wherever I go, I want you with me.”

Entrapta smiled.

—

Entrapta frowned at the screen. She’d double- and triple-checked the data she was receiving, but the results stayed the same. She sighed. There was no getting around it. She had to tell Hordak.

Half-finished projects and disconnected parts filled the cluttered laboratory. She had to take several big steps over loose cables and chunks of mismatched machinery to get out of the grungy nest that had formed around her desk. She’d been working for, what was it, three days now without sleep? Hordak would have ordered her to rest if he knew, but his praise of her ingenuity always fueled her to keep going.

Most of the room was dominated by a robotic woman of titanic proportions, tubes and wires stretching away from her crowned face like braids. Entrapta patted it on the knee as she passed. The robot didn’t move, but it glowed softly with an eerie indigo light.

Propelled by her hair as much as her feet, Entrapta sped through the labyrinthine halls and tunnels that stretched across the complex. Everything was connected, like a massive anthill, and she had built half of it all anyway. It wasn’t long before a hissing grate swung out of a hidden panel, and she was standing in the vaulted throne room.

Hordak lounged in his chair, resting his head on one hand. He smiled when saw her, flashing his blood-red teeth.

“My most exceptional engineer,” he purred. “What sends you to my side? Have your eyes espied evidence of Eternia’s erosion?”

Entrapta took a deep breath. “You were right. Something happened to the magic — it’s seeping away from the planet like water down a drain. My drones picked up everything. As for the cause… all my reports say that the Champion of Grayskull is dead. And the Sword of Power has been destroyed.”

“Dead?” Hordak’s eyes brightened. “Then Grayskull stands unguarded. You have amazed me again, my accomplished ally. Make Motherboard ready and muster the machines. I would hold Eternia in your electronic embrace as early as possible.”

Entrapta hesitated. “There’s more.”

“More?”

“It would seem that the Champion… was also the son of King Randor.”

Hordak’s face fell. “The king’s son?”

“It’s an advantage.” Entrapta tried to focus on her data screens. “Not only has magic left the planet, they’ve been thrown into political chaos. It’s the perfect time to…”

But Hordak wasn’t listening. He mashed his wide palms against his face, and when he looked up Entrapta was shocked to see the beginning of tears in his red eyes.

“What am I going to tell Despara?”

Entrapta affected a shrug. “Nothing would be easiest. She doesn’t even know Eternia’s name, much less that she still has family there.”

“Her family is in the Fright Zone,” Hordak snapped, perhaps more defensively than he’d meant to.

“Look, we knew this was a possibility. Both of the twins are descendants of Grayskull, it’s the whole reason we went after them!”

Hordak was staring into the distance. “I just didn’t think… He would have been so young. Despara is only a girl.”

Entrapta crossed her arms. “She’s twenty-one. And asks me every day when you’re going to let her go out on a real mission, just so you know. You can’t shield her from the universe forever.”

Hordak grit his teeth. “Perhaps not. But with Eternia eliminated, I can at last provide her with the peace I have promised. We move with caution. I say again: make Motherboard ready. Drones only, until we determine what is next to be done.”

Entrapta pulled her goggles down, and turned to leave.

“As you wish, Lord Hordak.”

—

“No! I won’t do it!” Despara shouted. “Do you really expect me to stay behind? After everything you’ve told me about Eternia?”

“Eternia is an evil environment,” Hordak said sternly. “Especially since it seems the Sorceress’ savage sword-swinger has survived. It’s not safe.”

“All the more reason for me to go!” Despara stomped her boot. She had buzzed hair and wore gray armor, with two swords at her back that ached to be drawn. She scowled at Hordak, and he held out a gauntleted hand to console her.

“If Skeletor’s sedition is successful, we will seize the planet without a single shot. After that I will send for you, to help me redeem the repugnant world I rescued you from. It is your destiny, Despara.”

Despara relented, but her frown remained. “You told me yourself that Skeletor can’t be trusted.”

“I don’t like this plan either,” Entrapta cut in. She was perched on the roof of Hordak’s shuttle, as it waited to deliver him to the great fleet massing in the skies. “There’s too many variables. I should go with you in the flagship, at least.”

“No!” Hordak roared. “I need you both to stay here. The Power of Grayskull is not to be trifled with. Entrapta can continue to control Motherboard from a distance. Despara, you must prepare for your future without distractions. I will send for you both when I have secured the planet…”

He glanced at Despara, then Entrapta, and then looked away from them both.

“…And when He-Man no longer poses a threat to us.”

Entrapta climbed down, her hair like spider legs, and joined Despara in frowning quietly. But she also didn’t try to stop him. Hordak looked at the two women with the closest thing to caring he imagined his cold heart could hold. A more sentimental family might have embraced in that moment.

“I will return soon to the heart of the Horde,” Hordak said, and turned to board the shuttle.

When the doors were up and they’d left the dock, Hordak sighed deeply. He drummed his fingers against his armrest and tapped his feet impatiently. It was alien to him, this feeling of fear. Certainly, he had felt fear before. The universe was large and full of things more terrible even than Hordak. He was not ashamed to admit he had feared for his life more than once in his many years.

What was strange was feeling afraid for someone else’s life. For two lives, in fact.

Hordak hunched in his chair and buried himself in thoughts of war, and stratagem, and conquest. He would be victorious. He had to be victorious.

He would let nothing stand in his way.

—

“Get out of my way!” Entrapta screamed, pushing past the Horde soldiers and robots as they rushed down the medical complex hallways. “Move, you useless trash!”

She burst through the door of the surgery bay. Despara was already there, standing helplessly by the emergency pod. She turned as Entrapta ran in, and there were tears streaming from her face.

“Is he alive? Can you…?” Despara broke into another sob and threw her arms around Entrapta.

Entrapta hugged the girl back, but her eyes stayed fixed on the pod beside them. Under its glass, Hordak lay still, a huge, vicious wound torn through his torso. Data points flashed on holographic screens and a million medical machines pumped and pinged.

Entrapta’s hair moved, twisting across the room in all directions. She seized scalpels, sutures, and a dozen other pieces of equipment. Moving out of Despara’s grasp, she bent to stare at Hordak’s injury. Her eyes burned. She opened the pod, noxious steam hissing, and went to work.

“I need a full-immersion tissue loom and a fresh nanite base kit,” she said, without looking around. For her, the rest of the universe was already fading out of existence. She moved like a machine.

Or a monster.

Six hours later, Entrapta slumped to an exhausted heap. Despara helped her to her chair.

“He’ll live,” Entrapta said, her voice distant and gravelly.

“I should have been there,” Despara said firmly. “We should have been there. Skeletor did this. I knew he couldn’t be trusted.” Her face bent into a cold fury. “I will destroy him. I swear, I will destroy them both! Skeletor, and this despicable He-Man!”

Entrapta put her hand on Despara’s and looked up at her. The fire in the engineer’s eyes had dimmed, but there was still a red-hot coal lurking there. She raised an eyebrow.

“Do you remember, Despara, many years ago, when you asked me to build you something? So that you could help Hordak, as his daughter.”

Despara returned her gaze, and the fire.

“I remember.”

—

The lab was even messier than usual, after Entrapta’s fit of rage when Motherboard went offline. And her next one, when the fleet had returned blaring emergency klaxons. But she still knew where everything was, and in seconds she had what she was looking for.

She’d built it years ago. She was saving it, as a present.

Despara took the helmet from Entrapta’s outstretched hands. She looked at the familiar features: the fanged face, the dark red eyes, the spiked crest. Reverently, she placed it over her head. The world went crimson, and she felt as if she were finally complete. She had the power.

Despara rose.

#Hordak #Entrapta #entrapdak #Despara #Adora #he man #she ra #masters of the universe #motu #motu revelation #motu revolution #spoilers #fan fiction #smith stuff #this was inevitable really #I keep forgetting to put this here #it’s been on ao3 for weeks #anyway Hordak’s alliteration was fun to write and I’m not sorry #raising despara

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