PROLOGUE: WARPED
A Potat0s0verlord production…
"Beginning test! All unauthorized personnel, please exit the testing ground!" the voice echoed from the intercom's speakers. Men in military fatigues cleared out from the platform, sans two soldiers. One was female, her face wrinkled with age and stress. Her hair was a ashened grey that contrasted her dark skin, tied into a bun on the back of her head. She was missing her right eye, in its place was three long scars. The other soldier, a male in what appeared to be a bio-suit of some kind. His head was covered with a gas mask like headgear. Light grey body armor adorned his body along with several bright blue capsules attached to the armor.
Based off Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear franchise and Rebecca Sugar's Steven Universe.
"Are you sure you want to do this, moy sled?" the woman asks the man.
"Da, Snow Falcon. I'm not that sixteen year old kid I was before. Besides, I think America's legal age of draft is eighteen. As far as the death certificate is concerned, I'm still American," the man answered, adjusting the MkII Parasite suit's straps.
Falcon snorted. "Shame you didn't grow out that smart mouth, Little Bat."
Bat shrugged. He grabbed the assault rifle on the table, loading up on a couple of clips. Holstering the rifle to his hip, and checking his secondary firearm, a WU handgun with both tranquilizer ammo and lethal rounds, along with a built in silencer.
"Boss on deck!"
Both soldiers quickly turned to face a newcomer and saluted.
"Boss!" they both said in unison.
"At ease," the man said. With his eyepatch on his right eye, and a piece of shrapnel in his skull like a horn, Venom Snake glanced at the two, then to the device behind them. A large circular platform with large spires pointing upwards into the sky, hooked up to several generators.
The Instant Deployment Warp. A device, that if successful in testing, could change the outcome of troop deployment everywhere.
"Little Bat, huh? Never expected you to jump at the chance at testing new gear," Snake said.
"A lot has changed in two years, Boss," Bat replied as patted the left side of his chest.
Snake nodded. "So it has."
"Rain approaching," Snake's iDroid stated in monotone, the sky greying.
"Come on. Let's get going, Falcon," Snake said, turning to leave. Falcon started to walk with Big Boss, but look back.
"May luck be with you, Cole. Mozhete li vy zhit', chtoby svetit'."
"Prakh k almazov, navsegda," Little Bat replied.
Guest starring the PMC "Diamond Dogs".
Little Bat gazed upon the platform, stepping on the glassy metal floor of the device. Turning back to face the observation deck, he gives the hidden observers a thumbs up.
"Activating primary power!" the intercom spoke.
The platform began to glow a sky blue, the tips of the spires cut through the dark with red lights. Little drops of rain drizzled down softly, creating a ghostly hue around the IDW.
In the observation deck, Snow Falcon watched the spectacle with a steely fixation. Years as a trained assassin has taught her to always be observant, and watch for clues to what will happen. With her peripherals, she read the monitors and charts to see if anything seemed out of the ordinary. She noticed how the rain fell, how there was no wind. Her eye darted towards a scientist typing on his keyboard.
"Coordinates set. Priming firing mechanism," the scientist said, turning a dial.
"Shouldn't we hold off on this test until this storm passes?" Snake asked.
"Relax Boss. There's nothing to worry about. All the internal components are water tight, and everything is running smoothly…"
"Boss! We got a problem!" a technician said in the back. Snake eyed the scientist with a raised eyebrow.
"... I stand corrected," he muttered, getting up and heading to the back. "What's the problem?"
"The computer isn't finishing its cycle. The stabilizers are looping from finishing priming to power down. I barely noticed it until I realized the green light isn't turning on after the generators powered up."
The scientist looked at the screen, frowning. His eyes suddenly widened.
"Power down the pad, now!" he shouted.
Quick as a blink, Snake was on the keyboard, typing in commands into the computer with fingers flying over the buttons. Prompt after prompt, click after clack, the entire observation deck was franticly trying to turn off the IDW. Snow Falcon reached for the microphone.
"Cole, get off the platform, now!" she shouted in the intercom.
"Speakers are offline somehow, along with some other functions! I think we're being hacked!" the technician said franticly.
"Shit!" Falcon cursed.
"Kill the power!" Snake ordered.
"Roger!" the technician said, flipping a red switch.
Falcon turned her attention back to the platform. Little Bat was still on the potentially lethal IDW, standing idly. Oblivious to what was happening.
"I thought we had trained you better than this," she seethed. Grabbing her coat, she ran out of the observation deck, running down flights of stairs. Floor after floor, she reached the door. Slamming her fist on the button, the door hissed open, exposing her to the elements. The storm had intensified, now a raging downpour. She sprinted towards the IDW, her clothes already soaked.
The sky flashed.
She called out to him.
A second too late.
Gone with the lightning, a bright blue beam stole him away into the sky in the blink of an eye.
Karin, aka Snow Falcon, could only stand there, the cruel storm above laughing with thunderous voices.
"A staff member has gone MIA."
Featuring Rose's Dangerous Defective Pearl.
Cole blinked. One second, he was on the warp pad in Mother Base's new Test Platform, then the next thing the soldier knew, he was in the middle of a forest, surrounded by unfamiliar trees. It was nighttime, and the moon shone brightly above. Crickets chirped among the grass.
"Did it work?" Cole asked himself. He pulled up his iDroid. "CP, this is Charlie-Five. Do you copy?"
No response.
"CP, please respond."
Static.
"Boss?"
No answer.
Cole sighed. "Just great. Lost in unknown territory, without any sustaining rations, some ammo, and no signal…"
Lights illuminated the treeline. Cole quickly dove behind a rock, taking cover. Best if he doesn't get spotted. Diamond Dogs aren't exactly a lay-low private force, and most of the soldiers have capture or kill bounties placed on them. Mainly by Cipher, a shadowy organization with an even more hidden agenda.
"Find the defect!" a female(?) voice called out, "It couldn't have gone far!"
From the forest, a skinny figure stumbled into Cole's field of view. It looked female, and she was holding a broken sword in her hand that hung limply. She wore a light blue one piece that went down to the middle of her thighs, and a frilly light blue skirt flowed down from her waist. It reminded Cole of a ballerina of sorts… if, of course, they carried deadly weapons. Perhaps he landed right in the middle of an escape attempt?
Lights shone on the woman, who recoiled from the sudden brightness.
"Found her!" another female voice shouted. The remaining lights turned to shine upon the woman, who know Cole could clearly see. Her skin was pale beyond belief, and there was a strange object on her forehead. There was a small crack on the object, but barely noticeable.
Several figures marched out from the treeline, all manner of weapons in their hands. The five new figures were short enough so that they could be mistaken for children, their square hairstyle and reddish skin contrasting to the shaded greenery. They, too, had objects on their body like the first woman, but now as Cole looks at them even closer, he could see that they are indeed gemstones. Rubies to be precise. One of the red figures pointed a square knife at the anorexic woman.
"Surrender now, defect! Maybe you won't be shattered!"
"Like hell!" the woman shouted. "I'll take you on!"
The soldier chuckled. "As if a pearl could fight! You don't have your master to save you now!"
"Well, this pearl managed to take down half your squad before the Quartzes showed up!"
Cole noticed the soldiers' reactions. A slight twitch of the mouth, the shortening of the face. The woman insulted them, and now they will disregard orders of capture and attempt to shatter the pearl.
How does he know?
To be honest, he doesn't even know how, either. One thing is for sure though, and that Cole needs to do something, or the escapee will die. He needed to extract the target… and he had just the tools to do so.
Enemy Combatants: Pink Diamond Ruby Squad
Mist began to blanket the clearing. The Rubies looked around confused. Little grey particles floated in the dreary fog, which thickened with each second. The moonlight dimmed, restricting visibility with the blanket of mystery.
"This must be another rebel's doing! Find the defects!" the commander ordered.
"Roger!" a Ruby replied.
"Stay within shouting distance!" the commander added.
"Got it!" another replied.
"Yes ma'am!" the third said.
"Okay!" the fourth called out.
"What's that?" the fifth asked.
The commander sighed. "Stay within shouting distance! The defect might not yet poof and can still fight!"
Silence.
"I'll take that as you understand!"
The commander readied her knife. Slowly, she crept through the strange mist. To her, an experienced veteran of all sorts of searching parties, she could tell something was wrong. Fog when a Sapphire didn't predict such a thing happening? From the corner of her eye, she saw sudden movement. Shining her gem placed on her forehead, she turned to face whatever it was.
A figure stood, silhouetted in the mist. It stood there, seemingly oblivious to the Ruby. She took a double take. The figure was much wider than the pearl, like a Quartz. It seemed it hasn't noticed her. Crouching low, the commander crept towards her prey, who still showed no signs of acknowledgement to her presence. Too bad for it.
The Ruby leaped, letting out a battle cry. She thrusted her knife into the spine of the figure-
POP!
The figure exploded into pieces of soft rubber. Confused, the Ruby looked around on the ground. Usually there is a gem lying on the ground after an enemy has been poofed… unless…
"Holograms!" the commander shouted, "They're using holograms!"
"Really?" the second Ruby called out from the mist.
"Yes! I've just encountered one!"
"I found another!" the third Ruby shouted.
POP!
"Hologram down!"
"Got another in sight!" the fourth exclaimed.
POOF!
The commanding Ruby groaned. If the other rebel could make so many decoys, this might take a while. At least the holograms are dumb enough to get close. Though, another thought nagged at the back of her mind. Why was it so easy?
POP!
"Man! These things are easy to poof! I found two more!"
POOF!
"Wait a minute…" the commander muttered. Now she slowly realized what was happening. She just needed to be sure.
"Rubies! Count off!"
"What does that even-"
POOF!
With her fears confirmed, she summoned another knife from her gem. She looked around franticly, searching for some sort of way out, or her hunter. A tiny red light shined in her eye. Not exactly a gem light, but more of a pointer.
The Ruby felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead. Her instincts screamed to move, to get out of the way, but fear had her snared. Frozen, she could only hope it would think of her as just a piece of landscape...
It danced across her chest until it slowly pointed itself right just above her gem.
The Ruby's eyes widened.
Then the world went black.
Pearl poked her head out from the stump she was hiding herself in. She was struggling to keep herself in a physical form, and her cracked gem wasn't helping anything. She needed to get to the rendezvous point so Rose could get her gem healed as soon as possible. Pearl wondered what went wrong. They had attacked another resource processing unit, just like planned until they realized too late it was a trap, albeit a poorly planned trap. Of course, Rose Quartz could handle herself perfectly fine against two squads of Rubies (and that is all that matters to Pearl), but when the Jaspers came, Pearl knew they would have a battle on their hands. She had gotten careless, caught up in her returning hubris after defeating two Jaspers. Then her gem was nicked by that Ruby's blade.
Her arm distorted, causing Pearl to hiss with pain. It was getting worse. At least she could try and get through the fog… which was now dispersing?
Pearl staggered upright. Five Rubies laid on the ground, their gemstones shining in the moonlight. Poofed. Every single last one of them.
Snap!
Turning, Pearl pointed her sword at the sudden noise.
A humanoid stepped stopped mid-step, hands already raised. Its figure was… unsettling. Like a ghost, its grey clothing seemed to blend in with the twilight forest.
"Easy," it said, "I'm not going to hurt you."
Pearl scoffed. "As if I'm going to trust you just like that! You could be some sort of Homeworld special Quartz!"
The ghost sighed. "Look, if I was, I would have let those bozos take care of capturing you, a wounded combatant who can barely swing her blade."
"Oh yeah…?" Pearl growled. With a yell, she whipped her sword towards the figure.
Stepping in, it caught her wrist, breaking down her hand and twisting her arm. Pearl could feel her weight shift as she fell forwards. The ghost pulled her towards itself with a sudden jerk. The gem found herself on the ground, with a knife resting on her throat and pressure on her shoulder. Her arm was effectively pinned, and the ghost was in a position to poof her.
"My point stands," it said in a slightly humorous tone.
Pearl struggled, squirming under the ghost's weight. She managed to turn her head to get a look at it closer. Her eyes widened.
A colorless Diamond insignia.
"You liar! You're with White Diamond!" she shrieked.
"Who's White-"
THUD!
"Pearl!" a voice called out to her. With the ghost knocked off her, Pearl rolled over to see who had saved her.
Rose Quartz.
"Rose…" she muttered, "that thing, it's with White Diamond!"
"Rest, Pearl. I'll handle it," Rose said with a tear in her eye, kneeling down to grab Pearl's hand.
Pearl smiled, and closed her eyes. The world faded to nothingness, all feelings numbed.
Poofed from existence.
Cole groaned, shaking his head to try and get the sense of vertigo out of his system. Slowly, he stood up with a stagger, trying to get a good look at his attacker. A large woman, much bigger than he was, was in the process of putting Pearl's gem in some sort of pink bubble. Tapping the top of the bubble, it vanished upwards, taking the gem who-knows where.
A little too familiar for the Diamond Dog's taste.
The woman got up, turning towards Cole.
"Impressive. Not many gems can stay stable after being caught unaware," she said. Her voice sounded sweet, yet had a edge to her tone. "Usually they poof after the first throw, unless they're some sort of elite Quartz."
"Last time I say it, I'm not a Quartz."
The woman laughed. "Oh? Here I thought comedy was a rarity in White Diamond's court!"
Cole's eyebrow twitched from under his mask.
"Listen, lady," Cole said, "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Now, if you can please just not attack for a minute-"
Cole's hand shot up, armored with the Parasite's obsidian-like material, much to his surprise. He caught the pink shield that was thrown at him.
"What did I just say?!" Cole shouted, throwing the shield down on the ground.
The woman sighed. "Look, I get it. You're annoyed because you've been sent by miss prissy pants to go find Pink Diamond's mess and clean it up. Still, you don't have to try and act like some common gem!"
"For the last time I-"
"So let me just poof you really quick, then I take you to the nearest Galaxy Warp Pad, and you can go tell your Diamond that this planet is not to be a colony by the order of Rose Quartz!"
Cole mentally and physically groaned. How can this woman be so dense? Is it because of that gem on her naval?
"So, have anything to add?" Rose asked smugly.
"First off, I'm not this White Diamond's soldier. Secondly…" he trailed off. Suddenly, he charged at Rose Quartz, his entire body hardening with the Parasitic armor.
Rose sidestepped, summoning her shield and swung at Cole.
THUNK!
Cole grabbed the newcomer's hand, a orange burly woman with huge white hair. Smacking the machete out of her hands, Cole kicked his heel into the gem's knee, bringing her down to a crouch. Half-swording the blade, he sawed the machete into her shoulder in one fluid motion. The gem gasped before her body vanished, just like those soldiers and that woman, Pearl.
Rose blinked, staring at Cole owled-eyed.
"... you need to work on your observational skills," he finished. Cole stabbed the machete in the ground.
Rose unsummoned her shield after a pause.
"You're not a Homeworld gem, are you?" she asked in realization.
Cole's armor dissipated.
"What have I been trying to tell you this past hour?! You and that pale ballerina!" he snapped, pointing an accusing finger at the pinkette.
Rose approached Cole. She glanced at his shoulder, looking at the emblem etched on his suit.
It was a diamond, but not the insignia that Homeworld soldiers use. Instead of a parallelogram on its tip, it was a round diamond on its side, with a point at the bottom. A skull with a hole on the top left corner of its forehead was in the center of the diamond. Wings sprouted from the skull, and the words "PHANTOM DIAMOND" were written below it. Its color scheme was mostly grey and black, like the uniform Cole wore. However, what was interesting was the fact that there were five gemstones at each point of the diamond.
Cole could tell that Rose wanted to ask about the diamonds, but before she could, they were interrupted by a loud drone.
"Seekers," Rose said quietly, "guess they really want to find us badly."
Cole groaned. Can this day get any worse?
Suddenly, he found himself inside a pink bubble. He turned to Rose, who looked sheepishly at him.
"Sorry, but this is the fastest way for you to get out of here," she apologized, "It would be better if you just poofed yourself to make the time go faster."
"Don't you even dare-"
Too late. She had already sent Cole away. Warped…
...again.
Potat0s0verlord presents…
DIAMOND GEAR SOLID:
Ashes of Gems.
A story based on what-ifs, experience of MGSV:PP, theories and five cans of Red Bull.
