White Diamond stepped out of the VH-60N White Hawk seconds after it touched down. Her Manolo Blahnik ankle boots making sharp noises on the gravel as she walked. Roughly 20 officers and agents were detained, Hessonite's squad securing everyone with zip-tie handcuffs.

"Where are the Crystal Gems?" White asked in a no-nonsense tone as she walked up to Hessonite.

The woman had bushy red hair and a smooth but haughty contralto voice. She was one of the Authority's most capable commanders. "They're just in front of the building with Yellow Diamond. They surrendered without a fight."

"The Topaz that reported in?" Part of the reason White was able to act so quickly was because there was descent in Aquamarine's squad. Her second in command, a Topaz, saw the situation had become out of hand and called in.

"She's just outside the construction site with a handful of agents and officers. They're giving statements about what's transpired here tonight." Hessonite motioned towards the street.

"The local sheriff also gave a statement. He lost a few deputies, he's got quite the complaint against our agency."

The director merely nodded at the statement and quickly strode forward to the unfinished building. She passed ambulances with injured occupants and police cars with strobing red and blue lights. Bullet casings and signs of fighting were everywhere.

Finally, the pair reached the building, and there was Yellow Diamond. Two EMTs were investigating an injury she had received on her back. Relief washed over White as she approached.

"Alright there, sunlight?" White knelt in front of the stretcher. Yellow was laying at an odd angle while more gauze was being applied to her wound.

"Thank god you're here! It's been hell!" Her face was red and sweaty, and her patience had long since been spent.

"You'll have to tell me all about it now-"

"No, I haven't seen Blue or the boy!" The general barked and glanced at Hessonite.

"We haven't cleared all the floors yet, it's a large building. I'll get a status report." The red-haired woman made to move when a gunshot echoed down.

White stood, as others took cover. It was a single shot, large caliber. Yellow moved to get up, but White simply held out her hand while reaching for the pistol in her shoulder holster.

"Status report, what floor are you on? Has agent Aquamarine been located?" Hessonite ordered over the radio as she stepped towards the elevator.

"Mother, they haven't found Aquamarine yet!" The look on her daughters face told White everything. She was terrified and near panicked. White crouched again and chambered a bullet in her Walther PPK.

"I've got this one, alright? I'm going to settle this, just let the EMTs do their work." She holstered her gun and brushed golden locks of hair from Melena's sweaty forehead.

White's hand came to rest on her daughter's cheek, and Yellow held it there by the wrist for a moment leaning into the caress. It had been a long time since White had shown her daughter any sort of physical affection.

The director then stood up and nodded, "This will all be over soon, general."

She quickly moved in the direction of the elevator and glanced over to the Crystal Gems. The trio was kneeling on the ground with their hands cuffed behind them, several armed officers were watching over them. White was dying to ask them a few questions, but it would have to wait.

"Director!" The largest of the three called out, she had one sapphire-blue eye and one rusty-brown eye. (Garnet if she remembered correctly…) White arched a discerning eyebrow at her.

"The fourth floor, go to the west side of the fourth floor near the edge next to the scaffolding!" The woman was immediately shushed. But White had a feeling there was something to this statement. The strike squad was just now finishing up on the second floor, so the director would be going into an uncleared area.

She stepped into the elevator, Hessonite was already waiting. "Which floor director?"

"The fourth, my dear."

"Ah, we haven't cleared tha-"

"I understand that area hasn't been cleared. Have your officers continue their sweep floor by floor as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, I'm going to see what's so special about the fourth level. Do you have a radio?" Hessonite swallowed hard and pressed the button to ascend.
… … … … … … … … …

He couldn't move, and he could scarcely breathe. Aquamarine had frozen him somehow and was now bringing Steven over to the building's ledge by the collar of his shirt. Why couldn't he move!?

He watched helplessly as Blue tried crawling after the pair, painfully reaching out with a bloodied shaking hand. "I was going to let you live, have you studied. But not now, you're too much of a liability."

The woman was utterly crazy, eyes wide, and short bob haircut sticking to her sweaty brow. There was just a searing hatred that Aquamarine had that Steven couldn't understand. How could someone hate so much?

They had reached the edge of the floor, Aquamarine hefting him up, his feet dangling over nothing but air. "Are you watching Blue Diamond?"

"This is what you get, you filthy little animal!" She let go.

Steven felt himself falling, this was it, the end. No more dad, no more school, no more staying up late and playing video games with Connie. No more helping Lapis with her vet clinic on the farm…

He was grabbed and wrenched up from his right arm so hard it took the boy's breath away, "Ah, there you are! That must have been quite the scare."

He cried out, and tears stung his eyes as his feet were firmly placed back on a solid surface. The 12 year-old had no idea who had stopped his fall, but he clung to them desperately with his left hand.

Steven opened his eyes a second later, and an older woman was crouched in front of him. She had wild snowy hair and silver eyes that glowed. She was wearing white pants and a black blouse with a Kevlar vest over the top, the Authority symbol emblazoned on the left side.

"Deep breaths, starlight." She murmured to him as she wrapped her left arm around his shoulder, making sure he didn't inadvertently step off the scaffolding they were perched on.

"Who?" Steven croaked, and the old woman smiled as she brought a finger up to her dark-colored lips.

"White Diamond." She whispered, her warm breath danced across the boy's cheek. The both of them looked up when yelling was heard above them.

"Listen, it's Blue, she's in big trouble! She's hurt really bad and-" White pressed her fingers delicately to Steven's mouth, he was being too loud.

She removed her fingers and traced his cheek with perfectly manicured ink-black nails. "What floor?"

"The seventh." The boy whispered.

"Stay put, starlight, I'll take things from here." White stood and glanced upwards, the scaffolding looked like it went all the way up to the tenth floor.

"I won't stay here! I have to save Blue!" It wasn't a shout, but it certainly startled the older woman. She glanced at Steven and then upwards again.

"Stay behind me, and don't make a sound." The woman then jerked her head towards the metal stairs leading up.
… … … … … … … … …

White had delved deep into Aquamarine's personnel and medical files. Typically background information such as medical files was off-limits and protected by law. However, the circumstances had changed, and an ugly mental profile had been revealed.

Aquamarine had lost both her parents at age five, and her great aunt had taken custody of her. She was then mentally and physically abused by the woman for years until age nine. That was when the house that Aquamarine and her great aunt had been living in had burnt down. Aquamarine didn't even try to hide the fact that she did it.

The Horsham court system in Britain ordered her to be held in a secure children's home. Finally, free of abuse, she was shown to be brilliant but troubled. She was manipulative and self-serving and lacked any remorse for wrongdoing. She was a sociopath.

The one thing that was documented time and time again, however, was how any mention of Aquamarine's great aunt triggered her. It was a tool that White had tucked away in the back of her head.

The pair reached the top of the steps leading to the seventh floor, Aquamarine could be heard ranting. White poked her head up, and the two women could be seen several dozen feet away.

Aquamarine was grinding the heel of her boot into Blue's side. All the colonel could do was try and stop it. This was terrible, White had to act now. She could call for backup, but she knew it would exacerbate the situation.

No, White just needed a few moments. She reached out with her mind; there was the boy his anxiety was crushing, pull back. There was Blue Diamond, she was barely holding on, a burning anger was all that was keeping her going at this point. She wanted to kill the woman who hurt Steven.

Then there was Aquamarine, her mind was a mess. Hate and rage, she deserved to be in charge of the Authority. White pushed past that to the memories in the back of her mind, the uncertainty, and the pain that her troubled upbringing had caused her. This would be difficult, all the rage she was telegraphing made her mind a steel trap.

"Stay here, this is as far as you go. When I say it's clear you can come up, understand?" The boy nodded, his eyes wide. White stepped up and unholstered her pistol while walking calmly over to the raging agent and the injured Blue Diamond.

"That's enough, Aquamarine." The small woman was startled out of her ranting, pointing her revolver at White Diamond. (That was a hell of a hand cannon.)

"No, this is just as much your fault as it is Blue Diamond's fault! If you had just fleeted me up to her position when I asked none of this would have happened. I deserve more!" The woman was practically frothing at the mouth.

"And why would I do that? You're good, but not the best. Far from perfect, my dear." The director had to get Aquamarine to focus on her and not Blue.

"I was the one that held our branch together while this drunk was absent! All the sacrifices I made and what do I get? Nothing! Then we make one of the greatest genetic finds of the decade, a male Gem, and you just throw it away!"

"I'll make you pay, just like I making her pay!" The agent pointed her revolver back down at Blue, who tried to get up but was too weak.

"You don't deserve anything, you filthy little beast!" This was risky, but White was counting on this emotional response. She just needed Aquamarine to open up her mind a little bit, then the older woman could shut her down.

"You're just a filthy little beast! Wetting the bed, always making a mess. No wonder your parents died, they wanted to escape from you!" Aquamarine instantly covered her ears with her hands and began to vehemently shake her head. She was walking backward, trying to get away from White Diamond. The director simply followed calmly, walking past Blue on the ground.

There was a part of White that felt terrible exploiting her this way. This woman was a poor, tortured soul, but then again, the situation they were all in right now was caused solely by her. "You'll never amount to anything, the sheets that you messed are worth more than you! You filthy little animal!"

"NO!" Aquamarine screamed and held her weapon out, pulling on the trigger. That was it, her mind was open, and White seized on it.

The smaller woman seemed to freeze in place, mouth gaping, eyes wide in surprise, finger half squeezing the trigger on the revolver. Then she simply collapsed on the floor. No movement was observed as White waited and watched. She then holstered her pistol and ran to Blue Diamond.

"I need EMTs to the seventh floor now, there's an agent down!" The director yelled into the radio as she dropped next to her daughter-in-law. The hole in her chest was massive, there was too much blood being lost.

"Oh, moonbeam, just hold on, alright?" White pressed both hands over the wound, blood welling up between her fingers. It was a sucking chest wound.

"White? Steven, Steven, was thrown," She was hysterical despite her injury.

"Blue?!" The boy ran over and skidded to a halt opposite White.

"Steven, you're here, you-" She reached out to the boy, grabbing and holding his hand.

"Don't speak moonbeam, help is coming." The elevator could be heard moving and voices echoed up from below.

"Blue, stay with me. I'm supposed to teach you how to play Minecraft, remember?" Tears streamed down the boy's face.

"Steven, I'm sorry, love. I want to be with you, I really do," The colonel coughed, and dark-colored blood dribbled down her chin. "Seems like all I can do is apologize to you. Can't do anything right these days."

The Irish woman looked over, "White, tell Melena I love her, please."

The EMTs exploded from the elevator running at breakneck speed along with Hessonite and several Authority officers. Both White and Steven were pulled back as the technicians began working to stabilize Blue Diamond.

"Blood pressure is dropping fast! Seal that chest wound,"

Hessonite called up some more support for Aquamarine, but White hardly noticed. An agent came by with a bottle of alcohol and had the director rinse her hands off. Her eyes never left the figure on the ground.

"Bag her, she's not breathing!"

The old woman looked over to the boy, he was tugging on his shirt, tears continuously falling from his eyes. She stepped over to him and offered her hand, this wasn't anything a child should see. He grasped it and squeezed it tightly.

"No pulse, she's gone…"

Steven buried his face in White's side, "We should get you downstairs, starlight."

White Diamond felt numb, she wasn't fast enough, and someone she loved died. She started to move ushering the boy with her, there were things to attend to. The pair passed Linna Diamant's body as the medical technicians were placing a sheet over her.

Steven broke free and ran over, pushing aside a technician with incredible force knocking him off his feet, "You can't do this! You said everything was going to be alright! Don't lie to me, Blue!"

He was bawling over Blue's lifeless body. Hessonite walked over and gave White a somber look, "Director, should I?"

"No, I'll take care of this." White walked over to Steven and carefully knelt while motioning for the other EMT to step away for a moment.

"Steven, there's nothing you can do, let's-" A shuddering gasp came from Blue Diamond, and she began to cough. The EMTs jumped back into action.

"Pulse is stable, and this wound is superficial! This was a deep chest wound, what the hell is going on here!?" The EMT that Steven had pushed said incredulously.

Steven got up and took two wobbly steps backward. White got up and followed closely, "Are… Are you alright?"

"I-I don't feel good." The boy fell backward, and White Diamond caught him.

"I need help over here!" The director yelled as she gently laid the unconscious boy on the floor.
… … … … … … … … …

Steven woke to a dark room that was empty except for him. A heart monitor that periodically beeped was next to him, and a tube that fed him oxygen was placed in his nose. The boy tried to move, but he was so weak, none of his muscles wanted to work; it was painful.

"Ah, I'm relieved to see you awake. You had me worried, starlight." A saccharine voice said from the darkness.

White Diamond was sitting near the side of the bed opposite the heart monitor. She looked tired and had removed her gun and Kevlar vest, but her eyes still burned a silvery light.

"Where are we?" Steven croaked.

"We are currently in the George Washington University Hospital in DC. How do you feel?" She leaned back and crossed her legs.

"I can barely move, what's wrong with me?" He took a deep breath in, and his chest ached.

"Well, the doctors told me that you have a dangerous electrolyte imbalance. They're not entirely sure how it occurred, but I'm certain it's a result of that feat you performed on Lt. Colonel Diamant."

Steven blinked, trying to remember. They were at the construction site, and Blue was shot! He thought she had died and was crying, but somehow Blue was still alive? The 12 year-old was so confused.

"I don't… That was me?" The boy asked his voice, raising an octave.

"Oh, yes, that was you. That's quite a powerful talent you have, starlight. In my experience death is rather permanent. It seems to take a lot out of you, however." Steven couldn't explain the look on the older woman's face, she just seemed affected.

"Is Blue okay?" That question was one of many on his list.

"She's doing very well, better than you, in fact. I believe she'll be released from the hospital before you."

"What about the Crystal Gems?" This was the other burning question. Steven's heart sank, this was going to be a less than stellar answer.

"They are in the DC Central Detention Facility nearby. They've broken a lot of laws over the years, and I'm afraid I couldn't just let them go." Steven looked away at the answer, it wasn't exactly what he was looking for. White Diamond seemed to pick up on this.

"Oh, but they're all fine. They were roughed up a bit in the fight but nothing serious. Yellow is doing well too, same as the Crystal gems, just a few scratches." She amended after seeing the look on the boy's face.

"You know you're being detained as well, for the time being. I'm working on getting the charges dropped; this was just a mess you were caught in."

Tears rolled down his cheeks; he was far from home, and Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were in prison. And Steven was under arrest, he just wanted to go home. He was so done.

"Starlight, we'll figure this out, just sit tight." White picked up a tissue from the side table and wiped away his tears, he barely knew this woman, and she was doting over him.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" It was strange, this woman giving him a nickname and they were relative strangers.

"Because the minute I laid eyes on you, you reminded me of your mother. That was my pet name for her, starlight." The old woman chuckled, but it was bitter.

"Your mother, my grandaughter. I can stop calling you that if-"

"No, it's alright, really." Steven reached out and held her hand. White just nodded and gave a sad smile.

"What did you do to Aquamarine at the construction site?" The 12 year-old asked tentatively, he was scared of the answer.

"Oh, that? I turned her off. At least that's how I label it." White gently stroked the back of Steven's hand with her thumb.

"I have an array of mental abilities at my disposal. I can read minds and take control of people. I simply shut down Aquamarines thought processes and a few of her basic motor functions. Some would argue that it was far too gentle a punishment, but I felt there had been enough bloodshed." White squeezed the boy's hand and let it go.

"She'll recover in a few days' time. Then she'll probably wish I had used a more violent tactic." Steven nodded at the answer. He was relieved that no one else was severely hurt.

"No doubt you have many more questions, but you need to rest. I'm going to get in contact with your father and let him know that you're safe, I can only imagine what he must be going through." White pulled the covers up over Steven and grabbed her blazer from the chair she was sitting in.

"Get some sleep, starlight. If you need anything, and I mean anything, just ask for me, and I'll come see you."

The woman walked out of the room, leaving Steven in the dark. He was worried, but he was exhausted. The boy slowly drifted away into sweet unconsciousness.