"Don't do it." He warned a final time.
The room was silent for what seemed like minutes. Nobody dared to even breath to make a sound. A confrontation between Garnet and Thean was too...thought provoking to even imagine. They all just waited, sweating in anxiety at whatever would transpire.
Garnet lowered her left fist, but her angry look was still there. Thean refused to let his guard down, especially with Garnet involved. She looked past Thean to Bill.
"How many have seen it." She asked him with a calm, yet ominous demeanor. Bill calmed a bit down as this was a question with an easy answer.
"Me and Thean are the only ones. I had to let him see the footage of what he needed to expect from all of you. Nobody outside this room knows." He answered honestly. Garnet settled down, but she was still frowning.
"I want you to promise that this will be destroyed. Every bit of it." She demanded. Bill began to stutter.
"Garnet I can't do that, we need this information for the helps we're going to get." He tried to explain it to her. "What we know about you can help us against the other Gems." He said. Garnet was about to yell at him, when Thean spoke up.
"Bill, just destroy the segments of Ruby and Sapphire, they can learn about fusion from Opal and Alexandrite. They don't need to know about Garnet." He said, trying to come up with a solution that benefited everyone. Bill hesitated.
"Fine, her footage was 'destroyed' in the Gem ship." He said. "Anything else you need?" He asked Garnet.
"The Spider Bytes." Pearl mentioned. "You get rid of them and promise to never use them again." She demanded.
"Done." Thean said much to Dewey's surprise. Thean turned to him. "If we want them to trust us it has to be on their terms." He said. Dewey sighed and then pressed a button on his wrist watch. Suddenly, little devices jumped out of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven's hair and onto the table. The Crystal Gems were appalled.
"You had them this whole time?" Amethyst asked incredulously.
"Yes. We had two for each of you. They needed to recharge every twelve hours so we switched them up. Once one almost runs the others go looking for you, mostly at night." Bill explained.
"Why you little-" Amethyst began.
"Hey, we already have them off of you, I have the other four." He said as he pulled out the Spider Bytes from one of his pockets. "He gave me one set when I moved into town. But it's done. We don't need them anymore." He said as he destroyed them and took the one's from Bill's hand and did the same thing. Thean calmed down. Garnet walked back to where the rest of the Gems were standing.
"Now, let's talk strategy." She said. Bill stepped up.
"From the footage we saw of the message Lapis sent and the time it took for Homeworld to get here, two days, we have to assume the worst. However," Bill typed in something one of the keyboards and footage of what happened a few hours ago came up on the monitor. "According to Emerald:
'We will be back, and we will reconquer this planet!' We could mean she is bringing an army. Her and Peridot's ship were most likely scouting ships so it would make sense they got here faster. However, if they are thinking of bringing in an army we can assume that their travel time could be at the very least an entire week maybe less, but it would take them a long time to organize troops if they work anything like we think they do." He finished explaining. "We will use that time to prepare." He said.
"That's all really well-thought out, but what about an army of our own?" Pearl asked, getting to a point. "Back when we fought Homeworld, their numbers reached in the thousands." She exclaimed.
"We have enough operatives in our organization, prepared to fight. We just have to call them and wait for them to come." He told her.
"I already sent them the message." Bill said as a beeping could be heard from his wrist watch. Bill looked at it.
"But how can you even think about fighting back if the last time the Earth was attacked by Gems you were all under control." Pearl informed. "As much as we appreciate the help, what can humans do against Gems?" She asked, worried about them losing. Thean looked at her as he sat down and put his feet on the table.
"Well for one, our technology has changed since then. Maybe not as advanced as Homeworld's, but enough to pack a punch. Second, just like you, they're very likely to underestimate us. And third," Thean took a second to lean back. "we've been working on a plan in case of another invasion." He finished. Bill received a message from his wrist watch.
"Ok, we will be receiving two-thousand Samaritans in three days. They will be bringing the necessary equipment to defend Beach City." He said. This surprised the Gems in how many were going to participate in their fight just like that. Just how organized were these Samaritans?
"What about everyone else? The Pizzas, the Frymens, Lars and Sadie? They're gonna evacuate like last time, right?" Steven asked thinking about everyone else.
"For now, we need them here. Beach City still has to function as an attraction site for 'tourists'. When the time comes, we will personally evacuate the citizens a few days before the battle. Besides, it's a rarity that our operatives get to have fun, so let them enjoy themselves in Beach City and everything it has to offer." Bill said.
"Is that it?" Garnet asked. "What about us? Where do we fit in all this?" She asked.
"Oh, you're going to help out too. But for the next three days, we just gotta wait." Thean said. "And do not tell anyone about this, this needs to be classified." He said. Steven seemed hesitant. He wasn't sure how he felt about keeping Connie out of this. On one hand he didn't want to put her in danger, but on the other, he didn't want to keep the truth from like last time Homeworld came. "Steven, are we clear?" Thean asked, causing Steven to snap out of it.
"Oh, sure." Steven said automatically, barely hearing the question.
"Then it's settled then." Garnet said. "The Crystal Gems and the Samaritans shall fight together to protect Beach City." She crossed her arms. "In the meantime, we have to get back to the temple." She hinted at Bill. Bill suddenly got the meaning of her words.
"Oh yes, it is my responsibility to escort us all back to the Beach." He chuckled nervously.
"Fine then." Pearl said.
"Can we get some sleep then?" Amethyst asked.
Homeworld: Yellow Diamond's Tower
"But my liege, your sisters have forbidden you to attack without their consent. And they made it very clear that the Earth is not a planet worth having." Emerald exclaimed in clam urgency. Yellow Diamond turned to her.
"Am I not of part of the Diamond Authority?" She asked sarcastically. Emerald refused to answer. "Because I will have you know that my sisters are still licking their wounds from the last time they faced Rose Quartz. But not me. Without their precious leader, the Crystal Gems will fall." She said, obsessed with the idea of killing the remainder of the rebellion.
"But without the consent of your sisters, you won't be allowed to bring an army with you." She pointed out. Yellow Diamond contemplated before walking to a balcony, Emerald following behind.
"Ah, but my subjects don't need to know that." She said as she gestured down below. Emerald looked down and was shocked to see an entire army of Gems down below. All gems lined up in different colors, each bearing their weapons. The entire slew looking very disciplined and waiting their orders. Behind them was what appeared to be a giant mechanized woman, with many arms, two of which were missing hands. Similar to the rock formation of the temple. "It is amazing how you can control the populace and guards with fear." She said as she looked down at the army.
"My fellow subjects. I love planets." She began. "Nay, I love controlling them. I love to invade them. I love to cast aside its inhabitants to the side, and take their resources. To break down the will of those with organized societies who try to defend themselves and to exterminate them." She paused. "I love it when we enslave whatever competent races we can, and force them to build more kindergartens on their own planet, only to suck up the life of it and when it's done leave them to die out. I love expanding the rule of the Homeworld onto other planets and make them know just how powerful our armies are." She paused as a loud roar of appeal came from those down below. Emerald knew it was mostly of fear for their queen, than respect for her ideology. "My subjects, let them experience the full wrath of immortals as ourselves." She said with a malicious, sadistic tone. The entire force was in excitement. Some who relished to conquer and fight, whilst others were too afraid of their monarch to even speak out or even act indifferently to their master. "Let's go to war!" Yellow Diamond commanded as she gestured them all to board the ship. Yellow Diamond grinned at how they all fell in line.
"A total of one-thousand Gems are being disposed into Earth. Are you positive that your actions won't have negative reactions from your sisters?" Emerald asked stoically.
"My sisters will envy me to find out that I have succeeded their failure." She responded. "With one-thousand soldiers, and with our technology, the Earth does not stand a chance." She said. "One of our soldiers is easily that of a million of theirs. This time, the Earth will be ours." She said as her and Emerald warped to ground level and made their way to the ship.
