Chapter 7
Lion suddenly arose from his slumber, jolting Steven awake in the process. Before he could make sense of where he was, a bright light stung his eyes.
The light was the familiar flash of the warp pad.
"Steven, we're back!" Amethyst hollered obnoxiously.
"Sorry we were gone so long," Pearl said with a tired tone. "We had a lot to catch the Remnants up on, and...why is it so dark and hot in here?"
Amethyst peeked over the couch and found the still slumbering Connie.
"Steven, getting your funky flow on or what?!" Amethyst laughed loudly, rousting Connie awake.
"Huh, what's going on? Is the power back on?" Connie asked in a daze.
"Steven...what is Connie doing here?" Pearl asked inquisitively.
"It's not what it looks like!" Steven exclaimed, raising his hands in defense. "Connie came over to watch a movie, but then the power went out. I thought it would be too dangerous for us to leave the temple, so I asked her to sleep over here. Right, Connie?"
"Yeah, we just watched a movie. I slept on the couch and Steven slept on Lion," Connie stammered nervously.
"W-we didn't do anything bad, honest," Steven stated, his face bright red as he remembered how far they had nearly gone.
Pearl squinted her eyes accusingly. Her maternal instincts told her that they were both lying.
She knew that both Steven and Connie cared deeply for the other, but worried if they could tell the difference between love and raging hormones.
"They're telling the truth," Garnet stated flatly.
"How can you tell?" Amethyst asked, trying her hardest not to make a rude joke.
"Look at their eyes," Garnet answered.
Amethyst pressed Connie and Steven's faces next to each other and looked them both in the eyes.
"What about em'?"
"They still have that clueless 'nobody is home' look to them," Garnet answered with a sly smile.
Amethyst nearly fell over laughing. Pearl wasn't amused, but Garnet didn't care.
Even though Garnet's eyes could see every drool stain and kiss mark, she knew the two hadn't done anything they weren't ready for. Still, she understood Pearl's concerns. The last time a crystal gem and a human ever "fused" it ended with Rose's death.
"Alright, Pearl, help me try to get the power back up," Garnet ordered. "Amethyst, you watch over Steven and Connie."
Three hours passed as Garnet and Pearl tried to get the power running in the temple. No lights, not radios, no cell phones, and no air conditioning.
As the brutal July sun beat down onto the temple, everyone began to feel the heat. The temple felt like an oven and was only getting hotter.
Garnet was used to the heat, so it didn't bother her.
Pearl dealt with it the best she could, by keeping herself busy cleaning and organizing random areas of the temple.
Amethyst was the first one to snap.
"Ahug! It's so flippin' hot!" she groaned loudly as she threw open the patio door. She found little relief from the salty sea breeze, but it was enough to keep her from completely losing her mind.
"Ahh...much better," she sighed as she opened her arms and shut her eyes.
When she opened them, she spotted something odd. Out on the ocean was a large cargo ship that wasn't there a second ago.
Even stranger was that a thick fog was trailing behind the ship.
"What the...hey guys, come check this out!"
Garnet, Pearl, Steven, and Connie all ran out to the patio.
"What's wrong?" Pearl asked.
"Look, see that ship?" Amethyst asked as she pointed it out.
"What about it?" Garnet asked flatly.
"It wasn't there a second ago," Amethyst stated worriedly. "It's like it appeared out of nowhere."
Pearl rolled her eyes.
"Amethyst, I think the sun has finally gotten to-"
Pearl stopped mid-sentence as a second cargo ship appeared. It was like it had sailed through an invisible veil. It slowly sailed out of the fog like a phantom.
"What...?" Pearl stated in confusion.
Not a second later, a third cargo ship appeared followed shortly by a fourth. Each ship had a symbol of a red and gold fist with an eye glaring out of the wrist.
"Uhh...guys, that's not normal, is it?" Steven asked nervously.
"Weird..." Connie stated with intrigue. "Those are old Soviet cargo ships. Look at the rust on them."
Slowly, the fog that the ships were trailing rolled out over the city. The sun was dimmed and the air suddenly felt colder.
"We should get down to the coast line," Garnet stated. "This doesn't feel right."
By the time the gems had made it to the coast, the four cargo ships slammed onto the shallow waters and beached themselves.
As the ships groaned and rattled in place, the gems readied their weapons. It was strange, usually there would be news helicopters.
But it was now obvious that the blackout was no simple blackout. Garnet was worried, if this was a matter that was strictly between humans, then the gems technically could do nothing except get people to safety. But if the blackout was not just isolated to Beach City, then it was possible that not even the U.S government knew about the cargo ships. None of this sat well with Garnet.
The beach suddenly began to echo with a loud whirling noise. They were coming from aft ends of the ships.
Slowly ascending above the cargo ships rose several Mi-24 Hind gunships.
Without warning, the gunships fired their nose mounted 12.7mm auto cannons at the four gems.
Luckily, the gems managed to disperse before the gunships could tear them apart. Like great vultures of metal, the Hinds circled over the beach and began to fire rockets into the city.
"We need to get back to the temple!" Garnet shouted over the roar of the gunship's rotors. "It must be protected!"
"What about the city?!" Steven shouted. "We have to do something!"
"I'm sorry, but this fight isn't ours to fight!" Garnet stated firmly.
Steven scowled and shook his head.
"Screw that!"
He then bolted down towards the beach, head strong and full of adrenalin. Pearl ran after him, hoping she could stop him before it was too late.
"Steven, stop!" she ordered as she grabbed him. "We need to get back to the-"
Suddenly, the cargo ship's hulls slammed open. Out of the cargo ships thundered a collective war cry.
"For the H.L.A!"
Hundreds of heavily armed militants charged out and ran towards the city, their Kalashnikovs roaring and their bayonets gleaming.
Pearl grabbed Steven and shielded him from the rushing wall of gunfire and bayonets.
But within the blink of an eye, and orange flash swept across the first line of militants and decapitated them.
The unknown invaders began to fall to pieces, literally. Arms, legs, heads, all fell to the ground, staining the sand red with blood.
Before they had time to make sense of what was happening, Pearl and Steven were grabbed and were rushed back towards the temple.
The one who got them away from the battle was none other than Wolfram.
"Stay here," he ordered, summoning his sabers with a red flash of light. "This is a matter of national security."
Without another word, Wolfram lept back towards the invasion. Suddenly, one of the gunships began to struggle to stay in the air.
It's tail was being constricted by a metal chain. The gems looked down an saw Titanium pulling the gunship out of the sky.
"Get your commie ass down from there!" he cackled coldly as the yanked the gunship's tail off.
The gunship spiraled right into the side of the Fish Stew Pizza sign.
"Oops..."
As if things couldn't get worse, out of the cargo ships rolled out several T-72 tanks, each bearing the mark of the red fist and eye.
The tanks began to fire at Wolfram and Steel, forcing them back slowly. But then like a meteor, Iron fell from the sky and slammed his sledgehammer into the tank leading the charge. The tank's hull was crushed like an empty soda can.
"I broke your toy..." Iron growled as he flipped the tank's burning carcass onto a cluster of militants, their bullets bouncing off his armor harmlessly.
Seeing that things were falling apart on the ground, the four remaining gunships began to fly to the east of the city. Steel noticed this and smiled.
"Iron, be a dear and toss me," he asked playfully.
Iron lifted Steel and tossed him like a javelin. As he flew through the air, Steel readied his claws. Like a hot scalpel, Steel sliced a long gash along the side of the first gunship. As the first one fell in sheets of flame, Steel lept over to the second one and pulled the pilot out of the cockpit and threw him up into the gunships rotors, killing the pilot in a spray of blood as the rotor blades chopped him to pieces. Steel reached into the gunship and steered it into the third gunship.
With both gunships falling to the ground, Steel lept to the fourth and final gunship. He sliced through the spinning rotors of the gunship and lept off as it hurtled to the ground.
"Just like in the training video," Steel said with a smile as the gunships burned.
The gems watched with a mixture of awe and terror as the Alloys carved through the unknown invading force. It was then that Steven understood why gems never fought in human battles, the battle would turn into a massacre.
"Th-they're just slaughtering them!" Pearl exclaimed horrified. "Do they know no mercy?!"
"Mercy has no place in battle," an unnervingly calm voice responded.
The four gems turned around an saw an old man watching the battle through a pair of binoculars.
"Sir, you should get somewhere safe," Garnet stated firmly.
"Blödsinn!" the old man hissed. "I'm here to watch the Alloys work."
The old man began to laugh as the battle began to become desperate for the invaders.
"Dummkopfs, look how they continue to fight. Idiots!"
The gems were disturbed by the old man's amusement. He seemed to relish in the slaughter, bouncing his knee like a giddy child.
"That's right," he hissed. "Drive them back into the sea!"
On the beach, the last of the invaders were quickly being decimated. After a few minutes of gunfire and flashing metal, the battle was over.
With their weapons dripping with blood, the Alloys stood triumphant.
"Time, ten minutes and thirty four seconds!"
A terrifying silence fell over the beach as the Alloys stood above the carnage they had created. The old man began to clap and applaud jovially.
"Good show, boys!" he shouted down towards the Alloys. "Those bastards never stood a chance!"
Pearl was sickened by the old man's lack of humanity.
"Who are you?" she asked with a tremble in her voice.
The man stopped and turned to face her and the rest of the gems.
"Ah, yes, the Crystal Gems," he said with an amused tone. "Don't you have an ocean to steal or whatever it is you gems do in your spare time?"
His voice, his smile, his scent, whatever it was, it made Garnet snap. With a flash of light, she summoned her gantlets. Before she could even raise her fists, a chain wrapped around her waist and pulled her to the ground. Suddenly the gems were surrounded by the Alloys, their weapons drawn.
"Lower your weapons, boys," the man ordered calmly. "She didn't mean it..."
"Yes sir."
The Alloys lowered their weapons and stood beside the old man. Pearl was dark blue with anger. How dare they threaten them.
"You never answered my question," she stated coldly.
The old man chuckled as if embarrassed.
"Oh, yes, how silly of me," he stated. "You three beautiful ladies, and...you boy, may call me Professor Adler Von Schlachten the Third."
He paused as he pressed his glasses up his nose.
"Or, you may call me Adler, founder of the F.B.U.R and the creator of these four proud warriors you see before you."
"You created them?" Amethyst asked. "How?"
"That's classified information," Adler hissed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find out what I can about these invaders of American soil."
As Adler raised his hand to order the Alloys, a loud siren began to blare from the cargo ships.
Immediately, the Alloys doubled over in pain. They cried out and screamed as an intense burning pain tore through their stomachs.
"What's wrong? Boys, answer me?!" Adler ordered in a panic.
"Guys...something is happening!" Steven exclaimed as he pointed down at the beach.
The mounds of bodies began to smoke...and move.
The bodies of the invaders began to writhe and flail wildly.
Their skin began to burn off to reveal a dark gray shell.
Their eyes melted into glowing orange pits.
Their teeth grew and their fingers warped into long claws.
Molten metal dripped off of their bodies and smoke rose off of them.
Pearl felt the invisible fires of radiation scorch the beach as the creatures arose.
One by one, the slain invaders transformed into the hellish creatures.
The gem's blood all ran cold. They knew what those creatures were, but never though they would ever be seen again.
They should have all been killed, taken to the void once their master died.
"No...it-it can't be," Pearl stammered with pure terror.
The creatures all gave a loud wailing cry and began to charge the temple.
"Burners!"