Chapter 7


With their new ally, the gems continued their journey to the factory. The gems knew just how fortunate they were for Jr already knew all of the city streets and hiding spots. While the rest of the tanks fought amongst each other, the gems managed to keep themselves away from the mayhem.
The fact that Jr was armed with a 76mm cannon also meant that Jr could go up against most stragglers they came across.
For the first time that day, things were starting to look up.


Steven and Amethyst sat on Jr's back. Garnet rode on top of the turret, her watchful eyes keeping a sharp look out for hostiles.
Pearl walked along side of Jr, still a little unnerved by the friendly tank. But she found that she was slowly warming up to it.

Amethyst put her ear against Jr's turret and listened.

"Jr says that this part of the city is under the American tank's control," she hollered to the group.

Pearl sighed and rolled her eyes.

"He cant talk, Amethyst," she stated in an exasperated tone.

"Yes he can!" Amethyst shot back. "You just don't know how to listen!"

Pearl slapped her palm to her forehead, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Alright, fine. I'll play along," she relented. "Does Jr have anything he wants to say?"

Amethyst placed her ear against the turret again. She smiled and started to snicker.

"What did he say?" Pearl asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Jr says your hands are soft and that they felt good on his glacis plate!" Amethyst blurted out loudly before rolling back laughing.

Pearl squeaked with embarrassment and covered her mouth with her hand, blushing light blue.

The group continued down the isolated street for a few blocks, passing the burning husks of slain tanks. Jr suddenly stopped in his tracks. Something wasn't right. Amethyst put her ear up to the turret.

"He says we need to hide!"

Amethyst grabbed Steven and lept off Jr with Garnet following close behind. The gems hid within an ally way that was hidden from the street.
A low rumbling confirmed Jr's warning. Rolling towards Jr was a T29 heavy tank. Following close behind it were two M26 Pershing tanks.
The battle scarred T29 rolled up close to Jr and aimed his gun towards him. For about about twenty seconds the two tanks stood still.
Then the T29 turned it's turret to the north and revved it's engine. Pearl couldn't believe what she was witnessing. The tanks were communicating.
After the two tanks finished, the T29 revved it's engine and started moving north, the two Pershings following close behind it.

Once the coast was clear, the gems ran back to Jr.

"What was that all about?" Pearl asked as she climbed up onto Jr's back.

Amethyst placed her ear against Jr's turret.

"Jr says the other tanks are preparing for the final battle and that all the other tanks will be moving north towards the drained river." She stopped and listened again.

"And that something called 'Deathshead' is prowling the area!"

"That doesn't sound friendly," Steven stated worriedly.

"Don't worry, Steven," Garnet said flatly. "If we run into this 'Deathshead', I'll take care of it."

Jr revved his engine and continued forward.


It was now nine o'clock, and the fighting was reaching a new level of ferocity. The city was in flames as all opposing tanks clashed against each other.
Amidst the chaos, the only things that stood untouched were the factories. Like hellish obelisks, they stood against the dim orange glow of the ruined city.
As the gems snaked their way through the city, Pearl began to feel a heavy sadness come over her.

"This place was so beautiful," she said wistfully as she gazed up at the sky. "Now look at it."

The gems understood what she meant. No trace of the Strawberry fields remained. Now, even the great city that had replaced it was falling into ruin.
But if their was even the slightest chance of restoring order, the gems would take it.

As the group got closer to the factory, they began to notice more and more burning tank husks littering the streets. Amethyst could sense that Jr was frightened.

"It's alright, big guy," she assured in a soft voice as she ran her hand along his armor comfortingly. "Garnet is here. She can punch the crap out of any thing."

Steven crawled up on top of Jr's turret and began to pat him on the turret hatch.

"We've been through worse," Steven stated proudly. "We'll make it, just like always."

Garnet suddenly stood and pointed forward.

"There it is."

Finally, the gems had made it to the factory. The factory was enormous in size, dwarfing the crystal temple. It's walls were made of steel and thick concrete.

"I'll take care of this," Garnet stated as she lept from the tank.

With her fists pulled back, Garnet slammed her fist into the factory wall. The wall cracked and started to collapse. Suddenly, the wall froze in mid-fall and rebuilt itself. Garnet punched the wall again harder but had the same results. Garnet then turned back to the tank.

"You want to give it a shot?"

Jr revved his engine then rotated his turret towards the factory wall. With a loud boom, Jr fired his 76mm. The shell blew a massive hole in the wall.
But just when they thought it had worked, the wall rebuilt itself again.

"How are we supposed to destroy the factories if they can do that?" a disheartened Pearl asked, gripping her spear tightly.

"We don't," Garnet responded. "Because they aren't what's rebuilding the city."

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"The thing responsible for all of this is and always has been the crystal assembler," Garnet answered.
" Like the spinning motion of the pyramid temple, the assembler is stuck in an infinite looping cycle of repairing and rebuilding."

"So the city being destroyed is not caused by the factories?" Amethyst asked.

"Not directly, the factories are doing what they were built for; building tanks. The tanks are what keep destroying the city. They fight, they die, the assembler rebuilds, the factories rebuild the tanks, and so on."

"So in order to stop all of this,we need to destroy the crystal assembler," Pearl concluded excitedly.

"Correct, now we just need to locate the assembler," Garnet stated as she adjusted her shades.

"Everyone, back to-"

A distant explosion followed by a low whistling noise alerted the gems to incoming danger.

"Get down!"

With a catastrophic blast of fire and metal, Jr was struck in his side by an armor piercing shell.
The force of the impact spun him violently with sparks flashing as his treads scraped across the ground with a terrible screech until he lurched to a stop.

"Jr, no!" Steven cried out as he ran to the stricken tank.

Jr's engine was smoking with oil seeping out.

"Come on guys!" Amethyst cried as she ran to aid Steven. "We have to help him!"

Pearl and Garnet both started to push Jr out of the street. Jr tried to move, but a loud clacking noise meant that his treads were snapped.
As she pushed, Pearl placed her gem against Jr's body. She could feel fear and pain within the tank's body.
He was dying.

With the last amount of strength he had, Jr turned his gun to the north.
Frightened and confused, Steven pressed his ear against Jr's body.

Run...Daddy...

The sound of a second explosion rang out. Acting quickly, Garnet pulled Steven away from Jr and ran for cover.

"Everyone move!"

Just as the gems dove to safety, Jr was struck with another shell. The shell ripped through Jr's armor and detonated inside of him.
Jr's fuel tanks ruptured and caught fire instantly. When the gems looked back, they saw the burning body of Steven's surrogate son, his gun still raised defiantly towards the north.

"No, Steven Jr. 2!" Steven cried out as he ran to the burning wreck. Pearl grabbed him and locked her arms under his, keeping him from running blindly into the flames.

"He's gone, Steven!" Pearl exclaimed as she struggled to keep a hold of the distraught boy.

"Let me go! I can still help him!" Steven yelled angrily with hot tears running down his face.

Pearl spun Steven around and slapped him across the face. Steven went silent, his eyes wide with shock and confusion.

"He's gone, Steven," Pearl repeated in a hurt but stern tone. "He's gone and there is nothing we can do!"

Steven's lip started to quiver. He looked back to Jr's burning husk then back to Pearl. Her eyes showed that she too was hurting.
With a loud, anguished wail, Steven buried his face into Pearl's chest. Pearl held him tightly and let Steven cry.
She ran her hand over his back, her maternal instincts screaming that she needed to comfort the child somehow.
She whimpered and sniffled as tears of her own began to fall.
With a loud sob, Amethyst knelt down and put her arms around Steven as well. In the time before the second attack, Amethyst was forced to listen to Jr's unnatural cries of pain followed by the haunting silence of his death.
The usually stone faced Garnet felt a single tear roll down her cheek. She too knelt down and wrapped her arms around the laminating gems. Jr was strong.
He was strong enough to fight the urge to kill Steven and the gems.

"He-he was so strong!" Steven cried out between sobs.

"He was so noble!" Pearl sobbed as she pressed her forehead against Steven's.

"He was so awesome!" Amethyst wailed in between hiccups.

"He was so-"

A third cannon shot rang out, followed by Jr's turret being blown off. Over the crackle of the raging flames, the gems could hear a deep ominous grinding noise.
The grinding was coming from the north were the attacks had come from. With the light of the moon behind it, a large tank approached slowly down the north road. The gems all stood and readied their weapons, enraged that this assailant wouldn't even give them the time to mourn their fallen friend.
As the approaching tank crept closer, the dull orange light of the flames illuminated it's fearsome body.
With it's mighty Flak 88 still smoking, the tank allowed the gems to gaze upon it. Standing before the gems was a mighty King Tiger heavy tank.
Along side the Flak 88 was the name "Totenkopf."
As if out of spite, the King Tiger scraped it's treads against Jr's body.

"You!" Garnet pointed threateningly. "You're 'Deathshead', aren't you?"

The King Tiger nodded its gun. Garnet stood up and clenched her gauntlets. She remembered that gun.
It was that same that had attacked her and Amethyst during their last visit.

"You just killed a very dear friend of ours," she stated coldly as she walked menacingly towards the tank.
The tank suddenly fired a burst from its MG34, but Garnet blocked the stream of bullets with her hand.
She looked back at the rest of the gems.

"Get Steven out of here!" she ordered before turning back to the tank. "I'll handle Deathshead."

Garnet felt the fires of anger burn inside of her. Jr was their friend, and Deathshead murdered him.
The tank suddenly fired it's cannon at her. Like an ancient Titan, Garnet stood her ground as the shell blew up against her hand.
In the blast, shrapnel broke her shades in half and gashed her cheek. Warm, purple liquid ran dawn from her cheek and past her lips.
She licked the trickle of blood by her mouth. It was strange, she had never grown use to it's taste.
Rarely could anything manage to harm her, let alone make her bleed. Through her broken shades, all three of Garnet's eyes had a wild look in them.
The fire within her was now a raging inferno fueled by the rushing adrenaline. A wicked smile crossed her face.

She had found a worthy adversary.

"I hope you're ready!" she yelled raising her fists. "Cuz' I'm coming for you, Deathshead!"


Ugh, how dare zat filthy gem untermenschen address me in such a tone!
If it vants to face this feat of superior German engineering, zhen so be it!
She vill be crying my name out vin I am done vith her.
But she vill address her new master properly.
No more of zis 'Deathshead' nonsense.
Mein name ist Totenkopf!