The night seemed unusually long. White had sworn she looked at the clock hours ago, but only 20 minutes had passed. She was sitting in her office at Authority headquarters waiting for… She didn't know what.
The director sighed and locked the screen on her computer. She stepped over to the small bar in the corner and proceeded to make herself a vodka tonic (a double vodka tonic).
Everything was out of control, White hadn't heard anything of substance. The situation reports and status updates were oddly vacant, suspiciously so. Yellow Diamond had dropped out of communication, and Blue Diamond had seemingly defected. (God, if anything happened to those two… She cared, and she should have said as much but… It may be too late now.)
The Crystal Gems had bested White again, she'd lost her perfect touch. When this was all over, she was going to seriously think about retiring. Then Aquamarine could run things?
The director laughed out loud at the prospect. Oh, what a shit-show this had become.
The older woman took her drink and went over to the windows in her office. DC was quiet at night, restless, but much slower than during the day. She cracked the window, appreciating the hot, humid air over the cold filtered air that circulated through the building, and took a long drag from her vodka tonic.
When she started out over 80 years ago, it was about vengeance. World War II was brutal, to say the least, and even more brutal if you were a minority living in the margins.
White had come far from her humble origins. A transient Romani traveling with her clan in rural Poland. In 1939 the Nazis swept in and destroyed everything. Her family, her home, her way of life, all gone.
All she could do was stand by and watch.
The Luftwaffe imprisoned her and did horrific experiments on her and others. The Nazis got more than they bargained for when her latent abilities were finally activated.
When she managed to escape, Bianca joined the Polish resistance for vengeance. She wanted to destroy the Nazis, just like they destroyed her family. The killing didn't make her feel better, and when the war finally ended, the girl didn't know what to do with herself. So, she started hunting war criminals.
Somewhere in between, vengeance became justice. Bianca had a purpose again, she seemed to be made for this sort of work. She was perfect for this job. Then the United States came to her and hired her to assist in the Cold War. That was when she became White Diamond, it was a handle given to her because she had a perfect record when it concerned missions.
Then when Gems started to emerge, White, along with the US government, created The Authority. White Diamond's purpose was never more evident.
She started a family. Her very own family. She had found Melena in a filthy orphanage in Greece and lifted her up and raised her to be a formidable woman. Then Melena fell in love with Linna. It wasn't orthodox, but White had seen so much death and destruction (too much) that it didn't matter. Love is love.
Melena and Linna were a perfect pair. Together they had Carissa, and White adored her grandaughter. Finally, Bianca had filled the hole in her heart that was created so long ago. But it didn't last.
Carissa was an insanely powerful Gem! White had never seen such raw power, she pushed Carissa to join the Authority. But her grandchild was a free spirit, and all White accomplished was pushing her away and then…
Tears welled in the old woman's eyes.
Her family was shattered the day Carissa was presumed dead. They all just broke apart, and White distanced herself from Melena and Linna. Her heart couldn't take it, and now? Now what remained of her family was being crushed further.
And all White Diamond could do was stand by and watch.
"Director Diamant?" A soft knock and a softer voice filtered through the dark office. The silhouette of a thin woman with buns on either side of her head was outlined in the door. White downed her drink in one go and wiped her eyes.
"It's late, Gwen. You should be at home with your father." Gwen was White's faithful assistant. Ever since the incident at the prison occurred, she had remained with White every evening. The director didn't even ask her to.
The job was thankless, and many times sacrifice was required. But Gwen's father was disabled, he had recently suffered from a terrible stroke and relied on Gwen to support him now. White needed her assistant, but she wasn't made of stone. She understood the importance of family.
"Yes, director, I was securing everything for the night when the situation room informed me of this video." The petite woman walked over to White's desk and set her small laptop down.
The older woman joined Gwen as she began playing the video. It was the prison in South Carolina, there was Blue Diamond and Aquamarine and the boy, Steven Universe.
The video ended, and silence covered the room for what seemed like an eternity. "Well, well, well. Yellow Diamond's instincts were spot on, Aquamarine was up to something. How did we obtain this video?"
"It was uploaded to multiple social media sites from an unknown IP address." There was a slight quiver in her voice. The pair had worked together for a long time, Gwen picked right up on White's anger.
"Well, my dear, you should have gone home when you had the chance. This is going to be an all-night affair now." White closed the laptop and handed it to her assistant.
"I'll foot the bill for any extra home care that your father requires, however." White grabbed her ivory blazer from the back of her office chair.
"Thank you, director."
"Task the situation desk with removing this video from any social media sites. Meanwhile, I want an updated status on Aquamarine's activities. Get in contact, she is to speak with me immediately."
Gwen cleared her throat and clutched the laptop to her chest in obvious discomfort. "Director? I've already taken the liberty of trying to get in contact with her and her unit. She's not answering."
"Of course, my dear, once a dog has tasted blood, it cannot help itself. I was simply practicing due diligence." She knew Aquamarine wouldn't stop with her prey in her sights.
"Have agent Hessonite assemble a strike squad, I want Aquamarine's current location ASAP." White Diamond proceeded to open her gun safe and pulled out some body armor and a Walther PPK.
"Also, inform Hessonite that I will be accompanying them. Aquamarine is my dog, I'm going to muzzle her personally!" Gwen nodded and ran for the door.
White Diamond would not stand idly by and watch any longer.
… … … … … … … … …
They were running faster and harder than ever before. The Crystal Gems were now crammed into Lapis Lazuli's old Ford F-250 Superduty. The Volkswagen just wasn't fast enough so, the pickup was offered.
Steven was now sitting in the cab in between Garnet and Blue Diamond. It was so hard leaving Lapis, Bismuth, and Peridot (and Pumpkin) behind, but there just wasn't any time. Bismuth said they were going to lay low in the woods, the neighboring farm had a deer blind that was difficult to find if you didn't know the area. It wasn't a guarantee that they were getting away from the small army that Aquamarine sent, but it was better than staying at the farm.
There was a knock at the back window, and Steven reached up and undid the latch. He winced, he overstretched his right arm. "Steve-O, you should probably lay off that arm, my dude."
"I know. What's going on back there?" Amethyst reached through the window and ruffled Steven's hair.
"It's super tense, and the bed of this truck is hurting my butt! I just wanted to share that with you." The boy laughed hard as he squeezed his friend's arm. Amethyst always managed to make him smile no matter the situation.
"It could be worse, at least Lapis has a topper on the truck." Light blue eyes glowed gently as Pearl spoke. "And we didn't knock on the window to give you a status report on Amethyst's rear end."
"Pfft, I did. But I guess Pearl has other stuff to ask." The bartender shrugged and leaned back with her hands behind her head.
"Garnet, where are we?" The thin woman scooted closer to the window.
"We're almost in Cambridge, we'll be crossing the Choptank River in a little while. Then it's another hour or so before we hit the Chesapeake Bay Bridge." Garnet said, never looking away from the road.
"Then another hour after the bridge, this is taking too long!" Yellow said grouchily from the back.
"If you have a faster way general, I'm all ears. We're being hunted, and the lower the profile, the better off we are." Yellow was sitting in the very back impatiently drumming her fingers on her leg while staring out of the rear hatch. A warm arm reached around the boy's shoulders, gently forcing him to sit back down.
"She's worried." A lilting voice whispered into Steven's ear.
"Would you like to know a secret about Yellow?" Blue's voice was playful and soft.
"Yes!"
"What Yellow says is often opposite of her actions. She's very blunt and seems severe at times. But if you ever want to know how she truly feels, watch what she does, not what she says." Steven looked up into arctic-blue eyes and smiled.
"Your mother used to say she was all marshmallow fluff on the inside."
Steven chuckled as the woman pulled him closer and buried her nose in his hair. They were all having a terrible time right now, but he was glad that Blue was here.
Garnet suddenly turned the headlights off and turned the truck into a nearby neighborhood. She did a "K" turn and parked on the side of the street.
"What's wrong?" The colonel muttered to Garnet.
"Watch," The tennis instructor's eyes were unfocused and distant, but they never left the road ahead of the truck.
Amethyst had stuck her head in through the small window into the cab, and Pearl was just behind her. Yellow stayed were she was at, but her attention was focused entirely on the front.
Soon two police cars glided by on the main road ahead, their lights strobing as they passed. A helicopter could be heard in the distance. Aquamarine was getting closer.
"They're probably at the Choptank River bridge!" Pearl hissed.
Amethyst pulled out a map of the area and laid it flat on the bed of the truck. Just as she was about to open her mouth for some light, Yellow produced a small LED flashlight and handed it to the bartender.
"Okay, here's the dealio guys. We can double back and cross at a town called Tanyard or we can go even further up and cross at a town called Denton. Or, we can go all the way up north and hit JFK Memorial Highway and ride that all the way to DC." Amethyst handed the flashlight back to Yellow, who started to investigate the map herself along with Pearl.
Garnet sighed and leaned back in her seat. She looked at Steven and patted his leg. "We may need a distraction to get through. We're all going to get caught otherwise."
"I got this G, I'll go hotwire a car and cause some damage!" Amethyst said with a toothy grin.
"I'll go with you, I may be able to stall for further time." Yellow Diamond chimed in.
"Wait, you guys can't just do that! What'll happen-" Steven was stopped by a look on Garnet's face. She immediately started the truck and peeled out onto the main road.
"Oh, that's so great! Freaking cops, man!" Amethyst yelled, looking out the back window.
"We can't keep this up! We're going to have to try and lose them in town." Yellow barked. The chopper was now tracking their every move, and more police had joined the chase.
Garnet turned down the main highway and started towards the bridge. The telltale sound of gunfire could be heard behind them.
"Authority officers confirmed!" Pearl yelled as she opened the back hatch to return fire.
"Keep your head down!" Blue told Steven.
Louder gunfire could be heard punching through the roof of the pickup truck, the front windshield shattered and bullet holes and smoke appeared in the dashboard. Garnet swerved, "The helicopter is firing on us! Think you can stop it?!"
The colonel narrowed her eyes and began rolling down her window, she then turned to the boy.
"Stay down, alright?" Steven nodded at Blue.
The colonel then twisted in her seat and yelled at the occupants in the back, "Yellow, I'm taking out the chopper! Suppress the fire from the rear!"
"Copy that!"
More gunfire came from the back of the truck as Blue Diamond opened the passenger door and leaned out, her hand engulfed in azure light. The boy watched as a beam of pure energy was shot up. A loud explosion and a wave of rolling orange fire was seen on the sides of the truck. Blue dove back into the car, slamming the door shut. Garnet punched the gas.
"Good job, colonel." The tennis instructor said. Blue looked at Steven and shook her head.
"Alright! Blue D in the house!" Amethyst grinned in the rearview mirror.
The victory was short-lived; however, the engine started to smoke. "New plan, everyone, the truck took too much damage!"
Garnet rolled into a large construction site just off the Choptank River. The group came to a stop behind a sign advertising the name of the new resort and hotel. Police sirens howling in the distance. Another helicopter appeared across the river. Everyone spilled out of the old Ford and huddled.
"Garnet, what do we do?" Pearl had grabbed Steven's hand, her voice was all panic.
"Let's be real, we're cornered. We're going to have to fight our way out of this." Yellow said, reloading a shotgun and then handing it to Amethyst.
Garnet pursed her lips and nodded, "Everyone pair up. General, you're with me, we're going to take a position behind the construction crane." Yellow hummed and raked a hand through her blonde hair.
"Amethyst, Pearl. You go over to the construction shed on the other side of the yard." The bartender patted Pearl on the back.
"Blue and Steven, there's plenty of solid cover in the unfinished building. You're going to take cover there." Garnet knelt in front of Steven, her eyes boring into his.
"You're going to hide, understand? I know you want to help, but this is going to get really hectic." Steven placed his arms around Garnet's neck and hugged her hard.
"It's okay little man, we're going to get through this somehow," Amethyst said, messing up his hair in her typical fashion.
He finally let go of Garnet and walked up to Pearl, hugging her waist. She bent down and hugged him back and whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry, Steven. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about your mother, I'm sorry I lied. When this is over-"
"It doesn't matter. I love you no matter what, Pearl." The thin woman held him tighter. The distant chopper was getting closer.
"They're almost here." Yellow Diamond said gruffly. She was crouched behind the wheel well of the Ford.
She glanced over to Steven, "We'll talk more when this is all over, young man. Pay attention to Blue and do as she asks."
The general stood and gave him a nod. The 12 year-old started for the building when he noticed Blue walking over to Yellow. The Irishwoman murmured something into her ear and gave the stern woman a soft kiss.
They just had to get through this.
… … … … … … … … …
Aquamarine was furious, just enraged. Time and time again, Blue Diamond and the Crystal Gems had escaped her carefully laid plans. She was smarter than this dammit! It was the incompetence of the people around her, it had to be!
Now Yellow Diamond was with them. It was a problem, both Yellow and Blue were classified as Diamonds for a reason. They were currently both working with the Crystal Gems. She just had to overpower them; that was the only way. The agent would figure out an excuse for killing two of the Authority's heads later.
Aquamarine was so close, so damn close…
She looked at the wreck of the helicopter that was burning up the highway. It was a police copter, no real loss. Her own detachment of agents was dwindling, however. She called in for reinforcements about 12 hours ago but was denied. Aquamarine was running out of resources and time.
"Ma'am, White Diamond is requesting a status report, now." Topaz had ambled up behind the diminutive woman. "I have comms up in the van with a link up and ready to go."
"Do you think she suspects anything, Topaz?" Aquamarine's eyes were glowing as bright as the fiery wreck in front of her.
"Honestly ma'am, I think it's time to pack this up. I don't know if the director will buy the story of both Blue and Yello-"
"Excuse me, agent?" An older man with a cowboy hat and a snowy white mustache walked up to Topaz and Aquamarine.
"Sheriff Elliott, we need to talk about what just happened here." The man motioned to the wreck in the street.
In the sweetest tone, Aquamarine could muster, she spoke. "Of course, Sheriff, we're all terribly shook up about what happened here. Rest assured, we'll stop these fugitives and bring them in."
"If you're talking about 'we,' that's going to be your agents and officers. I'm pulling back my deputies. We're way out of our league." The man rubbed his chin and gave Aquamarine a hard look.
"We need your assistance Sheriff, you're mandated to help us if requested." The agent's voice became low and dangerous.
"We're mandated to provide backup if requested, not be on the front lines. We'll cover your back, but I'm not putting any more of my deputies in danger by having them charge headfirst into your fight."
Aquamarine took a deep breath in, then out. "Thank you, Sheriff Elliott, we're sorry for any loss you may have incurred."
"Somehow, I doubt that. You're too damn reckless. I'll do my job though, the folks you've been chasing are holed up at a nearby construction site. We'll create a perimeter a quarter-mile around and alert EMS and Fire. Past that, we're done." The Sheriff tipped his hat and then turned on his heel, leaving Aquamarine and Topaz.
… … … … … … … … …
"Ma'am, White Diamond-"
"Screw White Diamond! Take what's left of our squad to the construction site. We still have enough manpower to take control of the situation."
Topaz cleared her throat and headed back towards the comms van. What she was going to say was; White Diamond had ordered Aquamarine to stand down.
But the burly agent had a feeling that wouldn't have stopped her either. This was personal now, and Aquamarine was putting everyone in danger.
Topaz stepped into the van and gave a nod to a nearby Peridot. She started up the video screen, and agent Pink Pearl appeared.
"Ah, Topaz. The director wished to speak to Aquamarine." The petite woman was clearly tired, flyaways could be seen sticking out of the buns in her hair.
"She won't be coming. Ma'am agent Aquamarine is in gross violation of various US government regulations and laws. She is proceeding in a manner that is unbecoming of an agent of the Authority."
"I see, this is a grievance then." The Pearl began writing on something off-screen.
"Oh, is it ever. We're all in harm's way, I'm sending you the location of the fugitives and our current position. I'll also order as many agents and officers to stand down as I can. Still, many of them are loyal to Aquamarine and her squad." Topaz was sweating, she'd never disobeyed a superior's orders before.
"Understood agent Topaz. Help has already been sent out, hopefully White Diamond can get there before anything further happens. I'll be at this number until the situation resolves, good luck agent."
Topaz watched as the screen went dark. God, she hoped she did the right thing.
