Chapter 4

January 17, 1991. A loud explosion shook the temple, awakening the gems. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl rushed out to the balcony to find the city in chaos.
Buildings were burning, smoke choked the sky, and cannon and gun fire cried out all over. A sudden blast of air caught the gems by surprise as two A-10 Warthogs flew over the temple. With a loud 'bbbrrrttt' sound the A-10s fired into the city.

"What's happening?!" Rose beseeched as she ran to the balcony.

"We hoped you could tell us," Garnet replied.

"I'm as clueless as you are," Rose responded. "I usually predict things like this before they happen." Another explosion boomed by the Big Donut shop.

"Those people need our help!" Pearl stated loudly, summoning her spear. Amethyst popped her knuckles and summoned her whip with a loud crack.

"This just had to happen before breakfast, didn't it?" she groaned loudly. "Alright lets effing do this!"

Garnet raised her fists, her gauntlets flashing into existence.

"Ready!"

Rose's gem flashed as she summoned the Laser Light cannon. As if it weighed nothing, she hoisted it over her shoulder.

"They picked the wrong city to mess with!"

The gems teleported down to the streets. Before them was a small military blockade. Piled up sandbags and concrete road barriers blocked off the roads. Pearl ducked in surprise at the sound of a 50cal firing atop a parked Humvee. All around the blockade laid black, smoldering husks of some type of creature.

"Overlord, this is Hunter 22 Actual!" a young army sergeant shouted into his communicator. "The Gems have arrived! Do you copy? Over."

"Overlord copies, Hunter 22 Actual."

Rose and the rest of the gems, walked over the the sergeant, who was shouting orders to his men.

"What's happening here?" Rose asked.

The sergeant shook his head.

"No clue," he stated. "About four hours ago, these weird critters started swarming all over the city. We call them Burners"

"How bad is it?" Rose asked.

"Bad, and getting worse," the sergeant stated grimly. "They hit us so fast. They aren't like anything we have seen before. Standard munitions don't faze them. Even our anti-gem rounds aren't working much better."

"Anti-gem rounds?" Amethyst asked, a little worried that the army would even know how to make such a thing.

"Yeah, they just bounce off of the critters carapace. Tanks and bombs seem to still be fairly affective against them, but even our tanks can get swarmed. The little bastards crawl up underneath them and blow themselves up."

"Contact! West side!"

Before anyone could react, something lept over the barricade and attacked one of the soldiers.
After tearing the poor soldier apart, the creature turned and faced the gems.
Rose recoiled in horror as did the rest of the gems.
The creature stood about three feet off of the ground on five spindly legs. Two sickle like blades jutted out from it's underbelly towards it's front like a scorpion.
The creatures head, much to the gems horror, look like that of a human infant's with the exception of having large, jagged teeth.
It's body was a dull gray color with a glowing orange light pulsing underneath it's armor.

With a loud and grinding wail, the creature attacked. Acting quickly, Pearl threw her spear at the creature, only for it to bounce off harmlessly.
Undeterred, the creature leaped towards her, it's sickles raised, ready to tear the gem asunder. Before it could reach Pearl, Garnet grabbed it's head and ripped it off. As the headless body writhed and flailed, red hot liquid gushed from its neck. Unfazed, Garnet threw the head over her shoulder.

"D-did you see that?!" Pearl asked shaken, gripping her spear tightly. "It's not made of crystal!"

"If it's not made of crystal then what is it made of?" Amethyst asked, wide eyed and unnerved.

"Metal," Garnet answered flatly. "They're made of really hot metal."

"I hate to break this to you, but that's not just any metal," the sergeant said in a very serious voice. The gems turned expectantly to him, wondering what he meant.

"It's Uranium."