There aren't many survivors. And of the few Gems that remained, only one of them is lucid enough to relay the attack to the S&R team. She's a Jasper. Despite her towering stature, though, she's a rather timid Gem; legs drawn to her chest and eyes resting at Bismuth and Pearl's feet, she sniffles and bites her lip.
"It's okay", Pearl says, stepping aside to allow Biggs to pass by, a growling Carnelian contained in her arms like a piece of luggage. Bismuth pulls a face but remains quiet as Pearl comforts the Jasper. "We're here to help."
The Jasper looks up and stares, her soft amber eyes swimming with tears and fear; Pearl lowers to the floor and offers her hand; the Jasper accepts, clinging to it so tightly that Bismuth's partially worried for the appendage. But Pearl doesn't so much as wince at the pressure, and Bismuth remembers, with an ever increasing fondness, that this dainty little Gem quite possibly might be the toughest Gem she knows.
Confident that Pearl has the situation handled, Bismuth wanders off. Loghart's fiddling with a sputtering instrument Bismuth doesn't recognize, and Biggs is struggling to remove the Canelian's fangs from her arm; the other survivors are cowering in a position not far off from the Carnelian, and Bismuth hasn't the slightest idea what she's supposed to be doing.
"The success rate of this mission would drive a Peridot mad", she murmurs as she crouches beside a wall; there are strange markings littering these caves, though they've become more prominent as the team delves into the system. Here, the markings are several inches deep and long. It's not like anything she's ever seen before. Of course, these days, she's becoming acquainted with a lot of new things, so this isn't of substantial worry. Nonetheless, she takes a moment to linger, fingers pressing into the marks and their surrounding area, before venturing further into the mountain.
The light from the division's equipment fades, so Bismuth reaches into her pocket and pulls out Beryl's wand; it crackles and whirs as it sparks to life and illuminates the cave with a dim, blue light. It's almost sad, she thinks as she inspects her surroundings. Beryl's been dead for centuries, but her wand's always been there, pristine and pure. Now, it's weathered with age and frequent use, held together only by adhesives Crazy Lace brought from Homeworld upon recruitment.
"Nothing down here", Bismuth sighs as she traces a finger over the wand's base; it expands into a tablet, and she scrawls her fingers across the screen, pausing when she sees a missed call from Rose. Her fingers curl in on each other, and she inhales sharply.
Rose.
Now that a day's passed since the incident, any residing anger Bismuth's holding has dwindled to tepid frustration; in all fairness, Rose had attempted a civil discussion with her. She just happened to step on a nerve and dig up some unpleasant memories and caught the other end of Bismuth's ire. Seeing the Quartz standing so proudly, glaring at her with such contempt, and later ordering her to a mission she'd wanted no part in; itt was far too reminiscent of her time in the Courts. And even if Rose isn't like the Homeworld Elite, sometimes, it's hard to look at her and not feel heated coals settle deep within her belly.
"Come on", Bismuth murmurs, closing her eyes. She taps Rose's icon and waits, trembling as the wand trills. "We don't have time for this shit."
Rose's face fills the screen; the usual softness behind her eyes is gone, and it takes all of BIsmuth's strength not to bristle.
"Yes?"
"Yeah, uh." She clears her throat. "You called, and I figured you wanted an update on the mission."
Rose shifts in her chair. Drawing closer to the screen, she drapes her arm over one her armrests and considers her for a second. With her soft lilac dress and thick, pick curls, she carries an aura of serenity and innocence. But the passivity etched into her face and the terse set of her shoulders brings about a sense of importance, of royalty, of something to be admired.
Of something to rule.
"Whoever lead the attack's gone", Bismuth states, eyes fixed on Rose's. "Those who survived are mostly in shock, but Pearl's working on one that might be of assistance; there's not much else to do."
Rose nods. Her curls bounce with the movement, and Bismuth stares, vision blurring, before forcing herself to look away. It always hurts to stare at her for too long "All right", she eventually says. "You can leave whenever you're ready but be thorough with your inspections." She reaches forward as if to sign off but stops, her hand just inches from her screen. Pressing her back to her chair, she sighs, glances around the room, then turns back to her screen. "Bismuth? Could we talk?"
She shakes her head. "I'm kind of busy. Can it wait til later?"
"You're standing in a cave, staring at the walls. And, as you've said, there isn't anything to do. How are you busy?"
"Don't be a goose, Rose." Bismuth tosses up her hands and scoffs; the wand-tablet floats before her, and she turns her back to it and Rose. "Look, I'm not in the mood, okay? Why do we have to do this now?"
"Because I have something of a pressing matter to take care and I may not be have the time to talk about it later. It's paramount that we settle this now."
"...Okay. Ominous." Her back still to the wand-tablet, she raises her eyebrows and glances at the light reflecting from the screen on the cavern walls. "Everything all right?"
"Everything will be fine. Different, possibly, but it'll be fine. I promise. Now would you please just allow me to explain?"
"There's nothing to explain", Bismuth bites. She wraps her arms around her waist; eyes now focused on a large rock jutting from the earth, she huffs and says, "You talked at me. No. You talked over me. And you know how I feel about that."
"It was a mistake. A horrible mistake, and I am so sorry for committing it, but I didn't mean any harm by it."
"Bullshit. You knew exactly what you were doing; don't deny it."
"Bismuth-"
"Don't deny it!" She whips around and purses her lips. Her hands are clenched at her sides, trembling with the urge to morph into something more, and her black eyes stare up into Rose's with the rage of a Ruby. "Maybe I overstepped, and maybe I can get a bit rowdy sometime; okay, I can admit that. I know it's been fucking up missions, and there ain't no denying that. But you can't just sit there and tell me that you didn't see all of that and think, 'Oh, I can just order her to stand down, no problem'. Well, newsflash, princess: problem! I may be following you, but you cannot tell me what to do. Especially not with that look."
Rose sighs; her shoulders fall, and she takes her head in her hand. "What look", she questions irritably.
"You know the look; the one when you're trying to be nice and understanding when you're really just trying to hide the fact that there's still a bit of Homeworld's programming left in you."
"That's not true."
"You were a Quartz. And not just any Quartz, but the Quartz that everyone, Diamond and Gem, adored." Bismuth bats her eyes, puckers her lips into an obnoxious smile, and waves her hand with flourish. She then scoffs, dropping the facade, and placing her hands on her hips. "Excluding Pink, of course, but everyone else waited on you like a slave. You yourself weren't anybody special, but you had way more than what the rest of us had. Tell me you don't still feel like you've got something over us."
For her credit, Rose remains silent. She even has the humility to flush hot pink, and she turns away, chin pressed firmly into the palm of her hand. When she speaks, it's muffled and low, and yet still coherent with the regality of an esteemed Quartz. "I try not to be what I was made to be. But you're right." She places her other hand against her stomach and sighs.
"Sometimes...sometimes, the past still catches up with me."
And perhaps it's the way the ever-present light in her eyes fades at the statement, but the anger that'd been rekindled in Bismuth all but snuffs out; again, there's still frustration, and maybe a little hurt, but, beneath it all, there's understanding. Because if Rose can't shed her privileged disposition, then Bismuth most definitely can't abandon her abhorrence for people like her. She doubts she will ever see Rose as anything more than a pampered pooch. But she knows what it means to be trapped in a role she never wanted. And she knows how, try as she might, she'll likely never discard the mold she'd grown to fit.
"Yeah, well", Bismuth sighs, lips quirking into a tight smile. "You ain't the only one."
At that, Rose's eyebrows jump; then, her facial muscles slowly relaxing, she smiles back and laughs. "I suppose so", she says as she releases a relieved breath. "Maybe we're all a little broken, huh?"
"Yeah, maybe." She slides her hands into her pants pockets and pulls her arms backward into a stretch. "I'd better get back to work. Biggs wasn't looking too hot last I saw her, and, well, Pearl's not exactly the best at comforting trauma victims. Time to do some damage control."
"Of course", Rose cedes. "Help as much as you can and take of yourself."
"I will. Talk later, okay?"
"All right. Goodbye." She reaches above the screen, and the wand-tablet washes over to white; Bismuth grips the device, and it turns back into a wand. Humming, she slides it into her smock, then turns around, roaming through the system of caves before eventually resurfacing.
When she navigates her way back to the main room, the other Gems have disappeared, her teammates included; on instinct, Bismuth ducks behind a control panel and scrutinizes the area, searching for signs of a scuffle.
And sure enough, there are signs: most of the already trampled and broken equipment has seen the fury of something, as it now sits in pools of melted metal, oozing and sizzling as it settles into place; along the walls, the markings from before have multiplied and traveled deeper into the earth. For a moment, all Bismuth can do is wonder how the cave is still sound. Just as the thought enters her mind, though, some whizzes through the air and slams into her temple.
She turns around and finds the other Gems; like Bismuth, they've all taken to hiding; Loghart is clinging to one of the lanterns dangling from the ceiling; Biggs is crammed into one of the weapon cubbies; the Carnelian has her face pressed into Biggs' stomach, hands balled into the orange fabric of Biggs' blouse.
Pearl is nowhere to be seen.
Before Bismuth can further inspect the room, the cave begins to shake; at the mouth of the cave, a metallic arm with an uncanny resemblance to a scythe creeps into the room and begins slicing; another arm enters the arm, followed by a fog-white dome and a long, thin body. When the machine stands at full attention, Bismuth blinks and barely suppresses a smirk, her hand coming up to contain a giggle: it's a praying mantis.
And it's fucking huge.
While the mantis-bot is poking at the walls, Bismuth glances up at Loghart and makes a "come hither" motion; Loghart shakes her head, so Bismuth glares and points to the steadily increasing cracks in the ceiling. At that, Loghart closes her eyes and leaps from the lantern, landing with a soft thud in Bismuth's arms; the mantis' head whirls around at that, but upon finding nothing to be amiss, it turns and resumes its prodding.
Bismuth sighs and turns back to Loghart; she lifts her hands and begins to sign. "What in the galaxy happened here?"
Loghart's fidgeting, even more so than usual, but she manages to sign out a shaky response: "We were helping the survivors back to our Cruiser when the walls started shaking; we thought it was a quake or something, but then one of those thing's hands came through and started slicing like wild! We figured we'd just escape after it left, but it never stays gone for long; we've been hiding ever since."
Bismuth nods. "Pearl?"
"Her Jasper must've imprinted on her or something cause when everything went to shit, she picked her up and just took off. We're not sure where they went, but Biggs says she saw them disappear into the southern hole." She crawls closer to Bismuth and clenches her fist, eyes darting over to the mantis-bot. "Bizzie. We're all that's left."
"Don't panic."
"Our TeleCommunications Center stopped answering a few minutes ago; that ceiling's ain't gonna hold for long, and we don't have any idea where Pearl is. That thing's gonna find us soon, and we-"
"Calm the fuck down." Bismuth takes hold of Loghart's hand and squeezes.
Loghart places one of her other hands against her mouth, then uses the last to take hold of a tuft of her; she pulls. "I've only been on the force for six months", she signs frantically. "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing."
"That's okay cause I do. Sort of. Just stick close to me, all right? Imma get us out of here." When Loghart doesn't move, Bismuth pats her on the back. "Don't tell me you're backing down from a mantis of all things."
At that, Loghart smiles. But she still doesn't look up.
"This wouldn't happen to be the same Loghart who got tossed out of the Courts for wrestling tigers on the clock, would it?"
She rolls her eyes and punches Bismuth's shoulder. "Quit fucking around."
"I'm serious. You've kicked ass before, Loghart. You can take this thing." She squeezes Loghart's hand harder, then turns around. "Hop on my back", she whispers. After a moment, Loghart, complies, climbing onto her back and snaking her arms around her neck in a vice-tight grip. Bismuth gives her forearm a light tap, then turns to the weapon cubies. Biggs has abandoned them and begun crawling towards them. After pausing behind their control panel, she takes a moment to readjust the Carnelian in her arms. Then she signs, "We got a plan?"
Before Bismuth can answer, a green ray erupts from one of the mantis-bot's arms and takes off one of her dreads. She leaps onto the panel, shifts her hands into giant hammers, and glares at the mantis-bot. "Yeah", she shouts as she leaps towards it. "Don't die!"
She lands with a heavy smack against the dome of the machine before proceeding to slam it. The glass, of course, doesn't shatter upon impact, but several cracks do appear.
Beneath her, Biggs has begun attacking the bot's legs, ducking every time it slices its arms after her. Loghart has hopped off of Bismuth's back and started stabbing her katana into the bot's chest. With assaults coming from every end, the mantis loses its balance and crumbles to the ground; the dome shatters upon impact, and pieces of glass collapse, revealing a Gem crouched in its center; she's got her back to them, and her hands are placed on the massive keyboard before her.
Bismuth grunts and rushes over to her, morphing her hands into knives. The other Gems follow her lead, each standing at one side of the fallen mantis, prepared to prevent any attempt at escaping. But the Gem isn't attempting anything. She hasn't even looked up from the keyboard; her fingers are still mashing buttons, as if she isn't aware that the fight's over.
"Who are you", Bismuth demands, shoving a knife against the back of the Gem's neck. "Why are you here?"
She doesn't say anything. Bismuth steps forward once more, taking hold of the Gem to turn her around. And then she freezes.
The Gem rises from her crouch and stands, pulling back her shoulders; her head yanks back in a brutal lurch then forward, pausing just inches before Bismuth's face. As Biggs moves to bind her hands in a pair of electro-cuffs, the Gem giggles and cocks her head to the side; her flowery, snow-white hair sways back and forward over her eyes as she grins up at Bismuth.
It's Beryl.