Chapter Twenty: Under Siege
Pearl had no idea where she was. Well, actually, that wasn't entirely true. She knew she was in the saferoom, deep below the Reef, but where exactly that was, she didn't know. The Bazzites had pretty much left all of them down here, standing guard outside of the room. Some of the other Pearls were milling about, talking about this and that. The green Pearl sat next to our pink Pearl.
"So, this has been one void of a day, huh?" she said. "One minute we're getting massages, the next we're all stuck in a box!"
"Yeah," Pearl agreed, nodding. "So...what are we supposed to do now?"
"Now?" said her fellow Pearl. "Now we just sit here until the Bazzites tell us we can come out. Best get comfy, something tells me it could be a while."
Pearl stood up. In the corner of the room, a monitor on the ceiling showed the current situation at the Central Spire. The building was being attacked by Interloper forces. The city's defenses were active, but it was hard to tell who was winning.
"Don't you feel so...helpless?" said Pearl.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" asked the light blue Pearl.
"I mean helpless!" Pearl said. "Our world is under attack, and all we can do is sit here and watch! Don't you want to do something to help?"
The green Pearl stood up, walking over to Pearl and placing an arm over her shoulders. "Look, hon, it's noble of you to feel that way. But there's not much we can do. We're Pearls. We aren't strong, or smart, or have special powers like other Gems."
"I know," Pearl said. "But don't you wish there was something we could do to help? Just look!" She pointed to the monitor. "What happens if the Interlopers win? What then?" A small crowd had gathered around her now.
"It's not our place," said the blue Pearl. "We weren't made to fight."
"We don't have to fight," Pearl said. "I just want to help somehow!" She looked around. None of the others seemed to share her sentiment. "Well, if you're not going to help, I will."
Pearl looked around. A panel on the wall was loose. Better than nothing. She walked over to it and tried to wrest it out of place. No matter how hard she pulled, the metal panel refused to budge. A Pebble barely could have crawled through, let alone a Pearl.
"What is she doing?" asked the black Pearl. "Why in the universe would she want to go out there? She'd get herself shattered!"
"She has a point," said a red Pearl quietly. "All of us are Gems, same as any of them. Even if we can't fight...I still want to help in some way, even if it's small."
The green Pearl sighed. "Our girl's crazy...but if she wants to go out there, then that should be her choice. Let's help her."
The green, red, and blue Pearls all walked over to help Pearl remove the panel. With all four of them working on it, it dislodged ever so slightly from its place. "What are you all doing?" Pearl asked.
"Doing our part to protect our empire!" said the green Pearl. "Right, everyone?"
A few more Pearls walked over to help, emboldened by their fellows' actions. Some, including Black Pearl, refused to do so. "Tch! You're all as crazy as she is!" huffed Black Pearl. "When you end up running into one of those metallic freaks, don't come crying to me!"
The panel was almost free now, but it wouldn't move any further, no matter how many Pearls yanked and shoved it. "Great, it's stuck!" said the blue Pearl. "Now what?"
"I think I have an idea," said Pearl. "Everyone stand back." Her gemstone began to glow, as she produced the small blaster that Emerald had given her. The others, who had given her a small berth, now ran to the edges of the room.
"You see!?" said Black Pearl. "Who brings a blaster to a place like this!?"
Pearl aimed the pistol at the panel, and squeezed the trigger. A bolt of energy sprang from the nozzle, nudging the panel and leaving a sizzling mark. She repeated this action a few more times, until the panel had completely fallen from the wall, creating a hole big enough for her to crawl through. Pearl looked up at her new friends. "So...I guess this is goodbye."
"It is for now," said the green Pearl. "We may have helped, but I doubt any of us are crazy enough to go out there. But maybe crazy is what we need right now. Good luck, hon. Try not to get yourself shattered out there!"
"Will do!" Pearl said. She placed the blaster back into her gemstone, and crawled through the tiny space in the wall.
"Hmph! She must have been defective, that one," muttered Black Pearl, her nose in the air.
The green Pearl looked on to where that fancy pink Pearl had disappeared to. Maybe she was defective. But if so, maybe that was a good thing. "Shine on, you crazy Pearl!" she said to herself.
Pearl slowly but surely made her way through the crawlspace, with one question on her mind: what now? She hadn't really thought about what she would do upon escaping, and no plan was coming to mind. She glanced out of the various holes she found, but nothing useful ever seemed to reveal itself to her.
Just as she was preparing to double back, something interesting caught her eye. Through one of the holes was a small, one-Gem skiff, used for travelling across the water. Due to the facility being on lockdown, it was completely unguarded.
"Ah," Pearl said. "That could work."
The Central Spire was under attack. While the battleships stayed put over the foundry, fighters and dropships laid siege to the Spire and the surrounding city. Defense cannons fought off all the ships that they could, and the Gems had launched several fighters of their own. Even worse, the titanic Apex lumbered ever closer. If that metal monstrosity made it to shore, all would definitely be lost. The cannons were slowing it down, but only slightly.
"Come on, you tin cans!" yelled Onyx, smashing a whole battalion of Interlopers with her hammer. "You think you're hot shard? You ain't nothing!"
Nines and her company were blasting the Interlopers at the shore before they could get any closer. A couple did manage to get past their defenses, however. A few Scavengers got too close, bearing down on Tenrit. "Nines, sword me!" shouted the Valurian.
"Coming up!" Nines produced a khopesh from her gemstone, tossing it to Tenrit. He dispatched the Scavengers with the weapon before they had the chance to blast him. He twirled the sword around upon taking them down. "Where'd you learn to do that?" asked Nines.
"Back home, I had a lot of free time," Tenrit said.
Emerald fought like an animal, slaying Interlopers in droves. In the midst of her rampage, a communication came through to her. "My Emerald, the southern defense tower is down!" said a Jasper. Emerald looked to said tower, which's turret had indeed stopped firing. If they didn't get it up and running again, the Apex would flatten them all. "Should we send a team to fix it?"
"No, everybody keep fighting," Emerald responded. "I'll go in myself." After making sure that there were no Interlopers near her, Emerald ran towards the tower.
Emerald was not entirely sure how they would win this fight. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and that metal monster stomping through the water was one void of a trump card. Tanzanite was right; she wished she never ran into that thing. Their only hope was the cannons, and if the Interlopers disabled them...well, it didn't take a genius to tell what happens next.
Bursting in through the door to the tower, Emerald expected to find it crawling with Interlopers. Instead, it seemed to be strangely empty. No Interlopers, but also no Gems. Having less enemies to fight was probably a good thing, but something about the lack of them unnerved Emerald. It was a classic case of 'quiet, too quiet.' Emerald made her way towards the cannon's power source.
As she descended to the core, another transmission came through. "My Emerald, I am on my way." It was Tanzanite. "I'm charging the Decimator now."
"Tanzanite, where are you?" said Emerald. "Is Pearl with you?"
"Pearl is safe, the Reef is on lockdown. I have taken control of the Soul Evaporator. The Decimator will be ready to fire in twenty minutes."
"Understood," said Emerald. "Diamondspeed, Tanzanite. Adamantem in Eternum."
"Adamantem in Eternum, My Emerald," said Tanzanite, before cutting off the transmission. Emerald continued towards the core. Hopefully, Tanzanite would be able to put a dent in their defenses. At last, she reached the core, which had indeed been shut off. And the culprit stood in the center of the room.
"And here she is, the former Supreme Admiral of Homeworld, in the light," said Zirconium. "I've wanted to meet you for so long now."
Emerald's anger flared up at her enemy, before she was able to tamp it down. "You must be Zirconium," she said. "The ringleader. I've been dying to meet you, too."
The fusion calmly walked around the room, her lower pair of arms held behind her back, the upper pair clasped in front of her. "It really is a shame what we've had to do, the five of us. Spodumene and Purpurite, they really did love Homeworld, even at its worst. But they loved each other more." She turned towards Emerald. "That's Homeworld's biggest problem. You can love nothing more than you love it. Freedom, other Gems-unacceptable. It's no wonder Rose Quartz decided she had had enough."
Emerald sighed. "I know you've been wronged. You all have. But siding with the Interlopers? Can't you see Pythoriax is just using you? Once he gets what he wants, he'll throw you to the wayside, just like Homeworld did. Do you really want that?"
Zirconium stared forlornly into the distance. "I know. From the beginning, I've always known. But we had no choice. We couldn't change Homeworld on our own, so we needed outside help."
"And you really believe the world that the Interlopers turn Homeworld into will care about you any more than the old one?" said Emerald. "Pythoriax hates Gems. He only cares about you as long as you obey him. I think it's safe to assume this is a common sentiment among his people." She walked closer. "Please, Zirconium, reconsider. I still have all your friends, bubbled. I can take you to them. All six-er, five of you can stay with me, under Homeworld's radar. It may not be ideal, but I promise you, it's better than working with the Interlopers."
A small grin spread across Zirconium's face. "And why should I listen to an upper-crust like you?" she said quietly. Before Emerald could respond, Zirconium thrust out her arm, suspending Emerald in the air. "You claim to want what's best for me...but you only want me out of the way. You're no better than the Interlopers. Even if working with them leads to my downfall, at least Homeworld and the Diamonds will fall as well. It won't be the world I sought to create, but as long as my enemies are destroyed, I don't care."
"No! I can...help you!" Emerald strained to speak under the fusion's grasp. "You don't...want to...do this!"
"Perhaps not. But it's far better than the alternative," Zirconium said. Lifting her other hand up as well, Emerald felt an intense pressure across her entire body. She was trying to crush her. Emerald twisted and squirmed, to no avail. "Don't try to struggle. This will be over soon."
Just as the pressure became unbearable, it suddenly stopped. Though she still couldn't move, Emerald wasn't being crushed. She looked up to see something had caused Zirconium to stumble.
"Get away from My Emerald!" shouted Pearl, her blaster aimed at the fusion.
"Pearl!" cried Emerald. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to save you, My Emerald!" said Pearl. Suddenly, Pearl was lifted into the air as well, beside her master.
"What a touching reunion," Zirconium said. "And such loyalty! Unfortunately, Pearls who are loyal to their masters have no place in my new world." Both Emerald and Pearl were shoved tight against one another, and the pressure resumed. "I will give you the small courtesy of being together in death. Farewell."
"M-My Emerald! It's too tight!" said Pearl. "It hurts!"
"I know, just hold on a little longer!" said Emerald. "We'll be okay!" Deep down, she was certain that this would not be the case.
"My Emerald, I...I love you," Pearl said.
"I love you too, Pearl," Emerald said. "Don't worry. It's gonna be okay. It'll be okay."
And then, the pressure ceased, replaced by a blinding light.
