(a/n: Hi everyone! Sorry for the wait. This chapter took a little longer than I expected, lot of things going on. Anyway, here's a new chapter. Hope you enjoy it. This chapter covers "Marble Madness" and comes loaded with all sorts of references. Big thanks to Lucius Walker for all the help with this chapter!)
Part 14: Back to School (part 2)
[Pearl]
It has barely been two days since Steven and Gary's late night encounter with the green orb and the appearance of the gem called Peridot at the Galaxy Warp. When Garnet destroyed the warp pad that connected Earth to Homeworld, Pearl had hoped that it would've been the end of all this strangeness.
She had a sinking suspicion that it wasn't.
Morning came without any incident. Pearl and the others were alert and kept watch for any Homeworld related devices dropping out of the sky. However, as the day wound down, everyone started to relax. Perhaps they had nothing to worry about. Maybe this brief alien encounter was a fluke, a little hiccup that will go away.
However, the sinking feeling that she had was proven right.
As the sun began to set on what was a rather uneventful day, Pearl was inside, folding up clothes fresh from the dryer. She glanced at the people around her, and smiled at the sight of an ordinary day. Steven was showing some of his favorite books to Gary. Rick was sitting on the deck, drinking and looking out on the calm and gentle waves. For a brief moment, all was well. All was normal.
Then came a soft, distant whistling sound.
The sound grew louder and louder until there was a loud splash outside the house. Steven, Gary, and Pearl rushed outside to see, nearly bumping into Rick, who was leaning over the railing and gazing at a certain spot in the ocean. Following the old human's gaze, Pearl saw a bubbling, foamy point in the sea. The rippling, bubbling seawater calmed after a moment, before a familiar green sphere crawled ashore.
The white gem felt her throat tighten, and panic began to set in.
Rick looked at her with a smug, "I-told-you-so" look on his face.
"N-Not coming back huh?" He belched.
POW!
He quickly shot the orb, disabling it in a flash. Rick swiftly collected the orb, which now sported a gaping, oozing hole, and slunk off to who knows where. He told her that he was going to analyze it.
While she was confident that the scientist wouldn't find anything worthwhile, Pearl didn't feel comfortable leaving any piece of Gem technology with a human, especially if that human was Rick Sanchez.
...
It has been a few days since the orb came to Earth again. Garnet, Amethyst, and herself were busy finding and gathering the orbs that the Peridot had kept on sending. They had also gathered up the orbs that Peridot had rendered inert before her hasty departure from the hub. She didn't want to take any chances of them reactivating and repairing the destroyed Homeworld warp. She also hoped that they could glean some information from them on what Homeworld could be planning.
Memories of the war flashed through her mind. She shivered. Pearl didn't want to go through that again or expose Steven to it.
The brilliant light of the warp stream vanished, and they were home again. Steven, who was lying on the couch reading a book, noticed their arrival and rushed over to meet them.
"Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst!" Steven greeted them loudly. He then noticed the orbs in their arms. "Those are the ones from the Galaxy Warp."
"We don't want them to reactivate out of the blue and start repairing the Galaxy Warp." Pearl explained.
"It's been two, almost three days," Gary's voice wafted in from the kitchen. "If they hadn't been reactivated and fixed the warp pad already, then I doubt they'll be reactivated now."
The white gem frowned. "Be that as it may, we can't afford to leave these lying around."
The golden haired teenaged human showed up, drying his hands with a dishcloth. Pearl was still coming to grips with how this human was once the malfunctioning green machine who once spouted nonsense and gave her the creeps.
There was something about him that didn't sit right with Pearl, especially after the incident with the tree people, and with what happened with the first orb and the warp pads. She didn't know what it was, but deep down, something was nagging her.
Despite these odd feelings, the white gem was happy to have an extra hand to help out around the house. Unlike Amethyst or Steven, Gary did what he was asked without complaining, sometimes even offering to help. Judging from the dishcloth and the brief whiff of dish soap, Gary had been doing dishes. Pearl had planned on doing that later in the afternoon, but now, she wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do.
While unusual, it was rather refreshing to have an open schedule, especially now with the orbs and Homeworld.
"Hey guys," Amethyst said, grinning mischievously. "Check this out. Kabloosh!" In an instant, the purple gem crushed the inanimate orb, splattering the teal liquid all over herself, Pearl, and a good portion of the floor. The white gem jumped in surprise, the orbs in her arms slipped and went tumbling across the floor.
"Amethyst!" Pearl snapped, "Please, this is serious!"
"I'll get the mop." Gary said, hurrying off.
"We need to understand them, not destroy them!"
The purple gem put on an innocent smile as the white gem lectured her comrade. "If Homeworld gems are trying to get back to Earth…they have to be stopped!" Her voice rose to a shrill panicked volume.
"Pearl, calm down" Garnet soothed. "We're still cut off. The Earth is safe."
"Safe from what?" Steven asked them. "What does Homeworld want to do?"
Pearl hesitated for a moment. She had hoped that a day like this never came, that they were truly free from Homeworld and could leave everything in the past. Collecting her thoughts, she began to explain their past.
"Steven…a very long time ago, gems tried to do something very…bad. It was something that would've damaged the Earth. Some gems, like your mother, Garnet, and myself, felt that this was unfair to the life that already existed here. So we swore that we would never let the earth be used for their purposes, even if-"
A loud crunch suddenly interrupted her. Glancing sideways, Pearl noticed that Amethyst had walked over to one of the inert orbs and crushed it under her foot. The purple gem had a sullen expression on her face.
Pearl scowled, and continued. "...Even if it meant that we could never go home."
"We chose Earth." Garnet added solemnly.
"No home?" Steven repeated. He thought on Pearl's words for a moment then his eyes widened with realization. "Wait, that means we're just like the No Home Boys!" he exclaimed.
"The wha?" Pearl said, frowning in confusion.
"The No Home Boys" Gary said, appearing behind Steven and Amethyst, holding a mop and a bucket. "It's a book series about two boys who don't have a home. They travel the country solving mysteries, living in boxcars, and going on all sorts of adventures while in pursuit of the man who murdered their father."
As he dipped his mop in the bucket of soapy water and began mopping up the teal goop on the floor, Gary continued. "The books were fairly popular, at least until the disastrous graphic novel adaptation and bizarre Netflix mini-series. It's really a fascinating story. It's all based on the true-life story of the world famous Hale Brothers, two famous boy prodigies trained since birth to be detectives by their father, world-class detective Arthur Hale. Oddly enough, his murder case still goes unsolved to this day."
"Yeah and for good reason." A familiar voice snorted.
Everyone looked, and saw Rick poking his head up from behind the open door of the refrigerator.
Pearl frowned. 'Where did he come from?' She wondered. She didn't even hear or see him walk in through the front door.
"Yeah." Steven chirped. "And my favorite book is this one about the two brothers being chased all across the countryside by a mysterious stranger, only for it to be revealed to be the very fear resting within themselves."
"Steven," Pearl said, wiping the goop of her face with a paper towel provided by Gary. "We're not like the No Home Boys; we are standing in your home right now."
"Man I wish I can be a No Home Boy.'' Steven sighed wistfully. "No past, no future. Just the open road ahead of me."
"Oh yeah," Rick said, rolling his eyes. He brought forth a box of cold pizza and a half empty bottle of beer, before kicking the fridge door close. "That definitely sounds like a great life for a ten year old like yourself. No really, you should totally give up a nice, stable home with a kick-ass beachfront, and trade it for a life full of sleeping in ditches and taking wet, runny shits behind bushes. Always living on the run, always getting into knife fights with other bums over food, doing what it takes to get a buzz going. Oh, and my personal favorite, get routinely beat up by cops and by rich dick bags who think they're good people because they tweet about some other rich twerps crying about the environment."
Steven didn't seem to hear the scientist's oddly specific rant.
The scientist took a bite out of his pizza and shrugged, not really caring that nobody seemed to have heard him.
As Pearl gathered the dropped orbs scattered about the living room and kitchen, a thought came to mind. "It almost sounds like you, Rick".
The scientist was in the middle of taking another bite of pizza when she said that.
Hearing her observations, Rick paused, his mouth hanging open as his pizza dangled a few inches from his face.
"What?" The old human said, lowering the pizza.
"I said that it almost sounds like you, Rick." She repeated, this time carefully choosing her words. "Not the whole…bushes and the police thing. You don't seem like the sort of person who has a place to call home. You've been here for a while, and we don't really know anything about your past."
Rick frowned, and seemed to consider her words for a moment, until he said in a low voice, "And I like to keep it that way." The scientist took a bite out of his pizza slice, and went outside to the porch.
Pearl sighed. She could never get an accurate read on the crude scientist. Of all the humans she's ever met, Rick Sanchez was by far the most perplexing. He was rough, vulgar, and was absolutely filthy. He drinks heavily, and is a lay-about who eats out of their fridge, and yet, he creates and wields pieces of technology that surpasses anything currently available on Earth (and possibly even on Homeworld!). The old man also gave off an aura of someone who had been through a lot. Although he mostly kept to himself, he occasionally mentions a name here and there, and vaguely references an event from his past.
Despite the white gem's curiosity, however, she was perfectly content on letting the man keep his privacy and secrets. It was, after all, none of their business.
And yet, however, her sense of curiosity kept drawing her thoughts back to the scientist. Who was he before they met him? What kind of past did he have? What does he ultimately intend to do? Pearl shuddered at the thought of Rick staying there for the rest of his life, sleeping on Steven's couch and drinking his alcohol. While the elderly human kept mostly to himself, his grooming and his habits left more to be desired.
Pearl and Garnet finished gathering the scattered orbs, and stored them in a secure place within the temple. Once everything was cleaned up, secured, and in its proper place, Pearl returned to the house to complete her chores.
However, once she stepped outside the temple, the white Gem stopped and looked around the house and noticed how awfully clean and silent it was. The floor around the warp pad was spotless. The dish rack by the sink was filled with drying dishes, the floors appeared to have been swept up, and everything that was strewn about messily was neatly packed away.
The house was silent, save for the distant crashing of waves outside. A soft breeze blew in through the open windows and the screen door, carrying the lemony scent of a familiar cleaning product to Pearl's nose.
Gary was sitting alone on the couch reading a book. And Steven…
The white gem frowned.
"Where's Steven?" She asked Gary.
"Steven and Amethyst were talking about something while you were gone." The blond teen said, looking up from his book. "They left like a few minutes ago."
"Where did they go?"
Gary shrugged.
"Could you possibly go look for them? I don't want them wandering off; not now, certainly. Not with the-the…"
'Homeworld orbs dropping on our heads.' She finished in her mind.
Then there was also the way Amethyst was acting. She appeared to be moody and glum ever since they got back from the Galaxy Warp. Pearl had an inkling as to what was causing this mood.
The blond frowned. "I can, but-"
The front door suddenly opened, interrupting the teen, and Rick poked his head inside.
"Yo, Gary!" The old man called. "I got a big errand to run, and I think I'm gonna need an extra pair of hands."
Gary looked at Rick then to Pearl, unsure of who to listen to and who to run errands for.
The white gem sighed, and waved a hand. "You can go with Rick. I can go looking for Steven and Amethyst."
Gary gave her a meek smile. "Thank you, and sorry."
"It's fine," Pearl said, smiling a little. "I'm sure they haven't gotten too far."
Gary set aside his book and left.
Pearl rubbed her eyes. Though gems don't tire easily or need to sleep, the white Gem was feeling exhausted. This whole ordeal with the orbs and Homeworld stressed her out to no end. She hoped Steven and Amethyst hadn't gone too far.
[Gary]
Rick and Gary trudged along the beach away from Steven's house.
Once they had rounded the corner of the cliff, blocking them from the house's line of sight, Rick suddenly paused.
"Something wrong?" Gary asked.
Rick reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out what looked like an upgraded version of his portal gun. He flicked on a switch, and fired a portal onto the wall of rock to their right. Gary's eyes widened as the portal glowed gold instead of its usual green.
"Wait, you fixed it?" Gary's eyes grew wide. He knew that the mad scientist was working on building a new portal gun ever since they crashed in Beach City. He was also well aware of the device's hiccups, and the scientist's multiple failed attempts at getting it into working condition. He just never realized that Rick finally completed it.
Rick nodded. "Yep. Now shut up and follow me." He stepped through the portal and vanished. Gary stared at the golden portal, admiring its beauty. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath, before stepping through it.
It was strange. This was his first time stepping through a portal as a human. As a mechanoid, he vaguely remembered simulated sensations, or just feeling nothing at all. Now, Gary was surprised by a cool, almost chilling sensation as he stepped through the event horizon.
In an instant, he was no longer at Beach City on a sunny day. On the other side of the portal, Gary found Rick standing a few feet away, looking around their new location with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.
The blond teenager looked around, and felt a shiver run through him. The sky above was solid grey, and all around them was a light fog. Through the thin, wispy layers of the fog blanketing the landscape, Gary saw that the portal dropped them in the middle of a great, spacious maze-like canyon. Rising all around them were towering cliffs of dark, maroon rock. Carved into the canyon walls were thousands of vaguely humanoid shaped holes, all smooth and empty. A cool breeze swept through the canyon, almost moaning as it raked across the numerous holes carved into the rock.
Gary was glad that he was wearing a hoodie. You never know where you will go with Rick Sanchez.
The portal evaporated behind them.
After a length of silence, Gary spoke. "What is this place?"
"The Prime Kindergarten." Rick answered bluntly. "At least that's what it's called in the probe's data."
"Probe?"
"The orbs, Einstein, the orbs. Now, come on." He turned and marched onward, into the fog and deeper into the Kindergarten. Gary hurried after him.
The two kept a steady pace. Rick scanned the landscape around them carefully, searching for something. His hand remained in his pockets, presumably close to a weapon. Gary silently drank in the eerie locale, the gloomy, dead atmosphere looking like a scene from a dystopian horror movie. As they ventured deeper into the fog, the blond considered their current situation.
For months, Rick had tried and failed to fix his portal gun, but days after the orbs dropped from the sky and that Peridot character showed up, it suddenly started working.
It was strange. Rick was very good with technology. He could've had the device fixed in a matter of hours. However, they had been in Beach City for a few months with no discernable change. The teenager would've chalked this lack of progress up to laziness or a sense of needing to stay, but the teenager quickly disregarded those thoughts.
Gary knew Rick for a relatively brief amount of time, but felt that he got a good sense of the scientist's character. Though his memories as a machine were growing hazy, the teen could remember very clearly how the scientist treated him when they were in prison and what he could do. He knew full well that Rick was capable of working with technology, and that he wasn't the type to make friends.
Regardless of whether it was the fault of the man or the machine, the important fact remains: The portal gun works. Now that the device works, Gary knew it was very likely that the scientist was gearing up to move on to greener pastures.
After a few minutes of wandering through fog, Gary saw a shape slowly emerge from the fog.
"Here we are." Rick said, coming to a stop at the feet of a machine of sorts. The shape and form of the device reminded Gary of a bacteriophage.
The machine had a long, cylindrical body with a clear panel showcasing an almost organic looking series of tubes connected to a crystalline lump that seemed to be the heart. A set of four spindly, jointed spider-like legs held the device up off the ground. At the base of the device was a single large drill, surrounded by a dozen smaller ones. At the top was a dull red gemstone.
Another gust of wind blew through the canyon, cutting through the fog and brushing away just enough for the two humans to see several other identical machines scattered about the canyon, silent, still, and abandoned.
"Jackpot." Rick grinned. He pulled out a thin, tube-like device, and clicked a button on it. A thin red energy blade sprang forth, and the scientist began to saw through a leg. Rick paused and tossed an identical device to Gary.
"Come on, hurry up." He grunted. "We don't have much time."
Gary wanted to ask the scientist something, but he held his tongue and got to work sawing through a dust covered metal leg of the phage machine.
In minutes, the two managed to saw through two of the machine's legs and tipped it over, sending it crashing to the ground, landing with the glass panel facing up. Climbing on top of the fallen machine, Rick carved open the glass casing.
Time crawled on by as the scientist quietly and mechanically emptied the machine of its internal parts. Gary stood close by, silently accepting chunks of the crystal parts, the sections of slippery tubing, and the other mechanical parts. He set them aside on the ground and arranged them in an orderly fashion.
He occasionally held a tool for the scientist while Rick wrenched free some other mechanical part in grim silence. The canyon around them was eerily silent, save for the whistling wind as it periodically rushed past them. The grey sky took on a darker shade, and Gary was really beginning to feel unsettled by the grave-like silence of the canyon.
The questions in his head slowly and gradually wriggled their way free from his lips.
"What is this place?" The blond asked.
"The Kindergarten" Rick answered plainly. "The Prime Kindergarten, if we're getting specific."
"Yes, and…?"
"And what?" Rick threw an annoyed look at the teen. "Do I have to spell everything out to you? Jeez, y-you should be smart enough to figure it out on your own. I mean, you got some of my genetics."
Gary scowled, and took stock of their surroundings. Looking around him at the canyon walls littered with oddly shaped holes and dusty old phage looking machines, the blond thought long and hard on what this place was, on its possible significance and function.
After a few moments of racking his brain, it finally dawned on Gary.
"It's a Gem factory." He breathed. "This is where they were born-er-made."
"G-Go*urp*t it in one." Rick belched, almost sounding impressed. The scientist shoved his hands deeper into the machine and rifled around the intricate tangle of tubes and containers.
"It makes sense," Gary continued, scratching his chin. Wonder and excitement filled his expression. "It would explain the holes. Their shape, their size, and their numbers. These machines were probably meant to create a new batch by using the soil as a means of seeding new life. Judging from the drills, I would say they would burrow and insert some sort of additive into the soil, combining with the earth's minerals in order to grow new life. Amazing! Everything about this seems so familiar. It almost reminds me of a Taydenite Growth Cavern, except they never had anything on this scale!"
"Uh huh." Rick said absentmindedly, pulling his hands free from the machine's guts. Putrid grey liquid coated his hands, which seemed to be holding onto something tightly. The scientist swung himself around, and nodded to a nearby container that he laid out earlier. Gary snapped out of the daze of wonder generated by this new discovery and retrieved the container. He opened the grey metal cylinder, and Rick dropped the sludge-soaked lump inside. The scientist wiped his sludge-coated hands on the sides of the felled Gem machine and hopped off it.
As Gary and Rick gathered up the scattered tubes and machine bits into other containers, the blond teen inquired as to how the scientist found the Kindergarten.
"The orbs." He grunted, yanking out a lumpy component from the machine. "The little suckers are basically an alien version of a Mars Rover, except more invasive and less clunky. They're controlled via a subspace transmitter of sorts. I pulled some juicy bits of info off of the one that dropped into the beach in front of the house."
"Like?"
"Like-like h-how Gem technology fu*urp*ing sucks." Rick snorted. "I mean, they got some cool stuff, but holy shit do they have some serious software problems: lots of holes and a lot of exploitable weak points."
Gary nodded slowly.
Rick opened a new portal and the two shoved the fully loaded containers through.
After sending their tech haul through the portal, Gary asked, "The orbs…they're here for the Kindergarten, aren't they? They're trying to reactivate it?"
"Bingo." Rick nodded. He walked over and sat down on a nearby boulder. "From what little data that remained in its memory, the orb was here to locate the Kindergarten and its control room and get things back up and running."
"Why?"
Rick shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they're getting their asses kicked and need new soldiers pronto, or-or maybe they forgot that they had a whole baby factory laying about here and thought 'sure, why the hell not?' Either way, they're aware that it's here and they want it."
"Alright. So what do we do?" Gary asked, folding his arms.
Rick frowned. "W-What do you mean?"
"What are we going to do about it?"
The scientist shrugged. The blond gave Rick a funny look, who scowled back at him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Come on, Rick." Gary said. "We have to do something."
"We? No. W-We're not going to do anything. This is the Gem's mess, not ours. They need to work things out on their own. Besides, I'm not feeling up to fighting another galactic superpower."
"Oh, give me a break." Gary rolled his eyes. "You can turn a group of pandas into ruthless assassins, build an artificial galaxy, eradicate an entire solar system with a packet of gum and a used tampon. You can probably whip up a solution in a matter of hours if you want."
"True, but I won't."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to!" Rick snapped. He paused, took a deep breath, and explained. "Look, I know you've gotten attached to these guys, but this isn't our fight. The portal gun is working now! We can get our little operation underway, we'll both be filthy rich when we get home and nobody here will be the wiser! Besides, this Earth's kind of a dump anyways."
"It's not." Gary countered, a scowl forming on his face. He ran his fingers through his messy hair and began pacing. "How could you so callously decide to abandon them, especially during their time of need. They're our friends!"
"Just like that." Rick replied blithely as he snapped his fingers. "Trust me. I-It's better this way. This is the moment we need to give us a clean break. Besides, would they really be our friends if they found out who we were and what kinda shit we've done?" The scientist's expression darkened. "Or did you already forget about that?"
Gary paused and looked at Rick in shock. "What I've done?" The teen repeated, his voice cracked a little. "What do you know about what I've done"
"Everything" Rick said, retrieving his flask from his coat pocket. "I know for a fact that before you were the dopey little robot with a few wires short of a functioning VCR that everyone liked to pick on, you-you've done some pretty f-f*urp*ed up shit."
Gary's cheeks burned. "T-That's not fair." He stammered. "I…I was forced to do those things! I was following orders, I am-er-was a mechanoid. Do you know how little freedom we-they have? I had no choice!"
Rick snorted, and drank from his flask.
The blond teen glared daggers at the old scientist, and wanted to shout something back at him-to tell him just how much of a hypocrite he was, but the words died in his throat. Rick Sanchez was a messed up man, he knew that very much, and so did everyone around him, and he was seemingly unashamed of it, so Gary knew that it was pointless to try and throw that back in the old man's face.
Unfortunately, Rick was right. They were, first and foremost, criminals. They were fugitives from the law, and although the Federation was shady and corrupt, the two of them were still guilty as hell for all manner of heinous crimes, with many of them that warranted their imprisonment in a Supermax prison with the rest of the galaxy's most infamous criminals.
Of all the things that remained from his time as a machine, Gary's crimes were the most vivid and clear. He remembered them as clearly as the day he committed them. The moment his thoughts were turned toward them, old memories flashed through the teen's mind: a kind smiling face, soft and silky platinum hair, accompanied by the smell of blood and the shrill, anguished scream of a young woman, followed by many more, some sounding higher and child-like.
Visions of his numerous dark deeds played out before him like a movie. Everything came back to him, crisp and clear, except for the faces of those who pulled his strings. The ones who gave him his tasks, the ones who wound him up, gave him a weapon, and directed him toward a new target.
Everything about them was a blur, but he could distinctly remember pale, clammy hands with long, claw-like fingers. He could vividly remember their shiny obsidian eyes and their other creepy features, especially from his final job. The one who gave him the job, that time around, wore an eerie smile. It looked alien, as if he was some sort of unearthly being wearing a faulty rubber mask with an artificial smile etched into it.
A sharp pain flared up in the back of the teenager's head. Gary winced and he looked down. His blood ran cold. His hands were metal once more and were once again soaked in violet blood.
A loud and ferocious roar filled his ears, and he once more saw the face of the one who broke him, leaving him to be discovered by the authorities a decade later at an amusement park, a broken and malfunctioning mess. An awful sensation welled up from his gut that made the teen feel nauseous.
Gary squeezed his eyes shut and raised his hands in a pitiful attempt to protect himself, but he knew that he deserved it, even then. Instead of righteous vengeance, Gary felt something on his shoulder. The teen opened his eyes.
The pain and the awful memories were gone.
Instead, Rick was standing before him, a hand on the teen's shoulder and an almost sympathetic look on his ashen face.
"That's guilt, by the way," Rick said grimly, reading Gary's emotions like a book. "Sucks shit, doesn't it?"
"Y-Yeah." The teen mumbled.
"Well, imagine that, only a million times worse. That is what will happen if we stay any longer with Steven and the Mouseketeers when they find out who we really are. Only it'll involve more yelling of 'How could you?', and 'You monster!' Someone's gonna cry, and t-then they'll exile us to Jupiter or something. Shit, maybe they'll even try to kill us."
Gary shook his head. "They'd never do that"
"You sure?"
He didn't answer.
"They might not…at first." Rick continued slowly. "But it's probably only a matter of time…"
"What do you mean?" Gary frowned at the old man.
The scientist rolled his eyes, sighing deeply. "Do the math, dingus! You might have a new shell, but the same, shitty software's still there. It's been a while since your last episode, but it's probably only a matter of time. They just keep getting worse. W-*urp*hat if the next one involves something more than screaming in a dead alien language? What if you go all First Blood Rambo on someone? What then?"
Gary felt his heart skip a beat. The blond teen felt his gut sink as images of him harming one of the Crystal Gems while blacking out came to mind.
"Besides, you got a super expensive hunk of rock embedded in your skull." Rick belched, poking Gary's forehead. "I-I ain't leaving my nest egg behind, especially when the Mom Squad finds out what it's made from."
Gary nodded, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his neck.
"They're nice guys, really." Rick sighed. "You won't hear me say that to their faces, but they really are nice. Its-its just…guys like us don't mix with people like them. They're like Cartoon Network or Disney Channel and we-we're like HBO, or-or-"
"Adult Swim?" Gary suggested.
"Eh, I was thinking more along the lines of Starz or-or Showtime. Who the hell even watches Adult Swim?"
Gary shrugged. A peculiar silence fell on them. After an awkward length of cool grey silence, the two decided to get back to work.
The greyness all around them deepened and gained a darker hue as time wore on. The two continued to pick apart the Gem machine, silently disassembling and inspecting various pieces and packing them up into containers. Once the machine was picked clean of anything that seemed useful or interesting, they dumped a dozen more of the loaded containers into a new portal, sending them off to Rick's lab. Eventually, the two grew hungry and decided to take a break.
Sitting on the rocky canyon floor in the shadow of the fallen Gem drill, which was now nothing more than an empty, metal husk, Rick and Gary shared some fries that they got from Beach Citywalk Fries during a quick trip back to Beach City.
Rick alternated between the fries and his flask mechanically while Gary chewed his food slowly as he considered his companion's words in silence. The wind picked up again, tumbling through the empty canyon and washing over the two humans having lunch.
The blond teen shivered. He was still getting used to being able to feel real sensations. It was still mind-boggling, actually feeling what his mechanical body can only mildly detect. He looked down at his hand again, flexing and curling his fingers, making sure that he could still control and feel them.
Gary paused, his hand freezing up. For a moment, Gary thought he could hear voices carried on the wind but he couldn't make out what they were saying. The blond tried to ignore it, and stuffed more fries into his mouth.
Something in the corner of his eye moved, causing him to whip his head around to see it, but saw nothing. He waited, silently listening for the voices and to see if anything moved. The canyon remained still and empty. The blond shook his head and forced his thoughts to return to the topic he was wrestling with: Steven and the Gems.
Gary knew that Steven and the gems considered them like family. They trusted them and relied on them. A part of him insisted that if they come clean to them now, Steven would forgive them and understand. The gems would take some time and a lot of convincing, especially with the ball of Taydenite in his skull, but they'll eventually forgive them for lying, and understand their position.
Would they though? A part of Gary retorted. It wasn't like they lied about their birthdays or took their lunch money for rent. They were criminals of the worst sort. Even worse, the teen was a killer whose programming has grown defective.
While Rick was in full control of his actions (unless he was in one of his blackouts), Gary was a tin soldier without any safeguards. He could go off at any moment, and someone could possibly get hurt - or worse.
Rick's words echoed in his mind, and he saw Steven, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, and Greg looking hurt and horrified. He imagined Pearl and the others wanting nothing to do with them and chasing them off. He tried thinking of how the two of them could be truthful, to make this situation work.
But no matter what path he considered, Gary saw that they all ended the same way: badly. They would become the live-action adaptation for the No Home Boys, and the worst part is that their lives would admittedly be better than the shitty one that was put onto Netflix.
The wind arose, and with it, the whispering returned. Gary's eyes scanned the barren canyon around them, searching among the maroon stones for the source until his eyes landed on a shadow far across the canyon.
Gary squinted, trying to get a better look, but he remembered that he was human, and couldn't enhance his vision. In the distance, standing in the shadowy mouth of one of the thousands of holes in the canyon walls was a tall silhouette.
There wasn't much else detail, other than it was tall and looked like a solid figure.
Gary frowned and rose to his feet. He moved to get a better look, but just then, a gust of wind kicked up some dust, making him close his eyes. After blinking many times, he looked again, but saw that the shape was gone. The young man frowned, before he felt an odd sensation that he couldn't explain. It wasn't possible, but Gary swore he felt like he recognized that strange figure. He thought of telling Rick, but he decided against it. He didn't want to bother Rick over something that wasn't really there.
After a long and melancholic silence, Gary turned to Rick.
"You're right." The blond said finally. "I'll go with you, but we can't steal from Steven and the Gems."
"Don't worry, we're not going to" Rick snorted, rolling his eyes. "Trust me, they don't exactly have anything worth taking. I already checked most of the temple and their rooms. Bird Mom's room is like a giant water park, and Starburst commercialist's room is literally a garbage dump. The only thing worth dick are their gems, but even I'm not fu*urp*ked up enough to go all Walt Disney on Steven's ass."
"Then what are we going to take?" Gary asked, frowning in confusion.
The scientist smirked, and gave the teenager a knowing look.
It took a few seconds for it to click in the blond teenager's mind. "Oh" He said, realization dawned on him. "Oh, that is a better idea."
"Mmhmm." Rick hummed. "Why steal a bag full of Pleasure Islanded Gems or turn Steven into Harry Potter Jr. when we could just make our own!"
"It would certainly be more profitable, and would involve less personal issues." Gary reasoned. 'Even though it's still morally screwed up.'
"We're gonna go all Michael Crichton up in this bitch! Reviving a species that's extinct in our universe while making a lot of cash! Maybe we can auction them off a small batch at a time or-or go all the way and build a theme park."
"Maybe." The blond conceded. "But didn't they all die in that movie?"
"Not all of them, but the point here is that we'll be living the good life when we get back! We just need to market to the right people and boom! Buy our own solar system and retire, no more running, and no more Feder*urp*ation. You could even buy a personality."
A faint smile played on Gary's lips. "I like the sound of that."
A distant explosion echoed throughout the canyon, followed by some shouting voices, which they recognized was coming from Amethyst and Pearl. The two shared a look.
Gary volunteered to gather up the remaining pieces salvaged from the Gem machine, while Rick went to investigate the source of the sounds. Rick agreed, and handed the blond his portal gun, giving him strict instructions not to use it to go anywhere else but the lab.
The blond agreed, and the scientist trudged off towards the sound of yelling and explosions.
[Steven]
Steven watched with worry as Pearl and Amethyst clashed.
Amethyst zipped around the canyon with her Spin Dash, while Pearl unleashed a volley of arrow-like bursts of energy at her with her spear.
The half-Gem tried to stop them, but Amethyst picked him up and tossed him aside with one hand. He tried to intervene again, but the purple gem told him to stay out of it while throwing her whip at him, which wrapped themselves around his legs, binding them together.
Earlier, Steven wanted to see what it was like to live a life on the road like the No Home Boys. It was fun, at first. He started to get homesick, and knew that Pearl and Garnet would be getting worried but Amethyst didn't want to go back. She stated that her home was somewhere else, and so she took him to what she called her true home.
It was a thrilling experience, though the more time they spent in the canyon, the more Steven grew nervous. The towering machinery, the countless humanoid and identical holes in the rock walls, and the lifeless silence of the area made the whole place seem eerie - sinister, even.
Pearl showed up via a nearby warp pad, and Amethyst's mood immediately soured. Pearl expressed her worry, and began scolding the purple gem for bringing him here, to which Amethyst snapped at her, and revealed to Steven that this canyon was the place where Gems were grown.
Though Pearl tried to stop her, the purple Gem continued, saying that the place was shut down, saving the Earth from "parasites" like her. It was then things spun out of control.
"What's their problem?" A voice asked, interrupting Steven's thoughts. He looked over and saw Rick standing beside him.
"Rick!" Steven exclaimed.
"That's my name, don't wear it out." The scientist belched, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"How did you get here?"
Rick said nothing. He watched Pearl and Amethyst's battle with some interest. Before Steven could follow up the question, an explosion thundered through the canyon, drawing his attention back to the battle and away from Rick's sudden appearance.
"Why's Grumpy and Sneezy fighting?" " He asked, glancing at Steven. The boy explained what happened and what led up to the fight.
Rick listened, nodding slowly. When Steven finished, the scientist smiled.
"D-Don't worry," Rick said, rummaging around his coat pockets. "I've got just the thing to fix this." He pulled out a silver TV remote like device.
"What's that?" Steven asked, curious.
The scientist held up a hand. "Just watch…" He took aim and clicked a button.
A burst of silver blue energy struck Pearl and covered her in a blue light, which held her in her place, kneeling with her spear aimed at Amethyst.
Rick turned the remote toward Amethyst and blasted her, who also froze in place. The purple gem was rearing back and was ready to crack her whip when she was locked into place.
The two immobilized Gems struggled to move, but were still like statues. Rick pocketed his remote and stepped into the space between the two frozen Gems.
"Rick!" Pearl said, surprised to see the scientist. "What are you doing here?"
"Let me go!" Amethyst growled. The two continued to complain and struggle to break free and resume their battle. The scientist regarded them both calmly, before he spoke.
"Both of you need to SHUT UP!" He roared at them.
The two flinched, going silent at the sudden outburst. He glared at Pearl, then to Amethyst.
"Just what the hell are you doing?" He snarled. "Seriously, you could hear this little catfight from the other side of the planet."
"She started it!" Pearl complained. Rick held up a hand to silence her. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I-I don't want to hear it." The scientist grumbled. "I can't believe you're going to make me be responsible, but apparently I'm the only adult here."
Rick took a deep breath and addressed both Gems at the same time. "Look, I don't know why you're fighting, but you seriously have to cut this shit out! I-I mean, you're both thousands of years old! You-You both walk around acting like you're better than humans, but you both sure are acting like them." That gave the Gems pause.
Before either could speak, the mad scientist pressed on. "Pearl" Rick looked at the white gem. "You may think you're the sharpest tool in the shed but you can be really dense sometimes. Amethyst has dropped a billion not-so-subtle hints that something's bothering her."
Pearl blinked in surprise. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Amethyst mumbled something about Pearl, which caused Rick to round on to her.
"Oh don't worry, I got some for you too." Rick told her with a scowl. "While Pearl and Garnet have been scrambling and panicking over the orbs, what were you doing? Having a pity party!" His voice went shrill and overly dramatic. "'Oh woe is me, I'm a failed creation of an evil empire, I'm self conscious about my origins and worry about what my centuries-long companions think of me.' Well guess what? The very fact that you're here, living, breathing, eating, shitting, and bitching about it should be an indicator of what they think about you!"
Amethyst stared at Rick, hurt displayed clearly on her expression, but the scientist could see the wheels turning in her head.
Tears welled up in the purple Gem's eyes.
"You don't understand." Amethyst cried. "Everytime I look at Pearl, I'm reminded of everything I hate! I-I didn't want to be made!"
"So what?!" Rick shot back. "You think everything that grows and breathes in this universe asks to be made? News flash, Barney - nobody asks for that shit! None. Zip. Nada! Pearl didn't ask to be made to be used as a portable A-1 Self Storage unit! Steven didn't ask his dad to bang his mom and turn her into his son! I certainly didn't ask to be born so that the universe can use me as its toilet paper! Some shit happens by mistake, but that's fine. Not every one of them's shitty, and -" Rick suddenly stopped himself, before shaking his head. "Look, t-the point is that sometimes, shit happens, and the only thing you can do is either give up, get killed, or just keep fu*urp*cking going! Suck it up and deal with it your way! Quit being a Jerry and get your shit together!"
The purple Gem's eyes widened a little. Silence passed between the three of them for what seemed like a long time. Rick pulled out the remote device and pressed a button. The silver blue energy field that held them prisoner faded, and the freed Gems put away their weapons.
Pearl slowly rose to her feet and Amethyst put her hands behind her back, her eyes lowered to the ground. The two appeared to be processing Rick's words, trying to say something. In the end, it was Rick who spoke.
"J-Just hug it out already and say sorry." Rick grumbled as he fished out his flask. "I can't believe that I had to be the fu*urp*cking therapist." He stepped away, drinking as the two Gems met the other's gaze.
The two stepped closer together and eventually embraced.
"I'm so sorry." Pearl apologized in a soft voice. "I didn't realize you felt that way."
"I'm sorry for acting out like that." Amethyst replied, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I-I never really thought about it that way."
"No duh," Rick said, standing off to the side.
The two broke their embrace, only for Steven to run up and hug them both. Rick grimaced a little and turned away from the touching scene. Steven turned to Rick and waved him over.
"Come on," Steven coaxed him. "You know wanna join in."
"Ugh, n-no thanks." The scientist declined. "I-I had my 'emotional moment' for the week."
Steven shrugged, and continued to hug the two Gems.
In the renewed silence, Steven, Rick, Pearl, and Amethyst heard a distant rumble, like thunder, followed by a loud boom that came from nearby.
"What was that?" Steven asked aloud. Pearl and Amethyst both appeared to be just as clueless. Rick, on the other hand, appeared to be grim.
He looked to the two freed Gems and gestured vaguely toward the general direction of where the sound came from. "That, ladies, is what you should be more worried about."
Steven was about to ask him what he meant by that, but Rick shushed him, his hand drifting toward his coat pocket. The old man nodded to Pearl and Amethyst, who summoned their weapons. A few silent seconds passed, and slowly, a soft warbling sound echoed through the canyon.
The warbling sound grew louder, accompanied by a series of soft, steady reports of thumps.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
For a moment, Steven felt like he was back in that eerie obsidian chamber with the warp pad and the sinister footsteps coming from the darkness. The half-gem worried that the scary, unknown thing had followed him here. Fear worked its way through his body, but Steven assured himself that everything was alright. He was above ground and it was daytime. Besides, the boy reasoned, he had Pearl, Amethyst, and Rick here with him. If it was trying to hurt him, he won't be alone in facing this thing.
Rick motioned for everyone to move, and the four scurried over and hid behind the wreckage of the giant Gem machine that was knocked over during Pearl and Amethyst's fight.
The four watched and waited.
A few moments passed, and a shape came scuttling into view.
"Is that…?" Pearl breathed.
"Obviously." Rick murmured.
Standing a few feet from them was a horse sized cyan orb with seven conical legs. The orb trotted past them, whether it was oblivious to their presence or not, it didn't seem to care, as far as they could tell.
Once it was a fair distance away from them, Rick, keeping low, followed after it. Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven shared concerned looks and hurried after Rick.
The group trailed the machine, each of them trying to puzzle out why it would come to this place.
"What is it doing here?" Pearl wondered aloud.
"Maybe it wants to see where Amethyst is from?" Steven suggested.
"Maybe it should mind its own business" Amethyst grumbled, eyeing the orb suspiciously.
"It's looking for something," Rick informed them, still holding the orb in his gaze. Pearl seemed to agree, her face twisted with worry. Before the half-Gem could ponder what Pearl could be worried about, the orb suddenly stopped.
Everyone stopped. The large, cyan orb stood absolutely still for a few seconds, before it began to rise. Its conical legs retreated into the orb, seamlessly being absorbed into its glossy body. A short current of crackling green energy zapped the ground beneath the orb. The ground beneath the orb retracted without warning, forming a wide square opening.
The orb's form fluidly changed into a pyramid shape, the tip aimed at the opened earth, and slowly lowered itself into the hole. The pyramid fit perfectly as it emitted a bright glow. A variety of expressions appeared on each of the group's faces: Pearl looked worried and was on the verge of panicking, Amethyst was simply astonished, Steven's eyes were wide as dinner plates, and Rick looked heavily interested in seeing where this new discovery was going.
"Yes." The half-Gem whispered to himself.
The four approached the hole, and watched as the droid began to sink into the earth, leaving an opening for them to follow. Peering through the opening, they saw that there was a shaft that descended diagonally into darkness beneath them.
"This is so cool." Steven breathed.
"I know," Rick agreed, eyeballing the recently uncovered tunnel. "Something interesting is finally happening."
"Where do you think it leads?" Amethyst asked Pearl. The white gem struggled to answer; her worry had evolved into fear.
The mad scientist grinned. "Only way to find out!" He declared, and hopped into the hole, with Steven following closely behind, laughing and whooping alongside the mad scientist.
Amethyst and Pearl gasped, before jumping in after them despite their fears.
Steven and Rick slid down the smooth wall of the tunnel until they landed safely on the still descending drone. The Gems landed shortly after.
"Hey guys, going down?" Steven asked the others with a joking smirk, which shortly faded when he looked at the Gem's stunned faces.
"A-are you okay?" He asked.
"What is all this?" Pearl whispered, looking at the current of massive wires and tubes that slowly passed them as they descended. They ran in and out of the earthen walls like giant maggots, wriggling their way upward towards the surface.
Steven glanced at Rick, who looked more alert than usual, and was studying the passing tubes with silent interest. The initial excitement Steven initially felt slowly transformed into unease. If the Gems were worried and didn't know what this place was, then that should really give the boy a pause.
The platform came to a stop at a large, open, hexagonal room, which lit up when the droid bearing the humans and gems arrived. At the far end, embedded in the back wall of the room, Steven saw a large gemstone connected by numerous conduits and wires.
A green, hand shaped pedestal rose from the ground, with a yellow diamond embedded in the palm of the hand print. The group heard an odd, swishing sound beneath them, prompting them to look over the edge of the platform to see the pyramid's tip ballooning, before it shed a blob onto the ground, which formed into a small robinoid.
Rick nodded appreciatively. "Hmm, not bad, not bad." He murmured.
The newly created robot sprouted legs and made its way up into the room, unaware of its audience. It skittered onto the hand pedestal, placing itself upon it, positioning its legs and body to fit the shape of the hand, causing it to activate. The walls of the room began to glow and display random, indiscernible data and images of the canyon above.
The gemstone in the wall projected a large, wide floating monitor. A brief flicker of static on the screen gave way to a familiar looking Gem: Peridot.
The Crystal Gem trio gasped, while Rick didn't give off a reaction of any kind.
The four quickly jumped off the platform and hid out of sight as the green Gem began to deliver her report aloud.
"Established Gem Projection Link with Control Room." Peridot began dully, her fingers forming another small screen appearing on her end. "Plug Robinoid has successfully landed on planet Earth, and entered the Prime Kindergarten Control Room in Facet Five. Will now proceed to perform a status check of the Kindergarten."
As Peridot's screen turned itself around, Steven and the others released a small sigh of relief that she didn't see them.
"It's Peridot." Amethyst whispered, her eyes wide with fear.
"Is she trying to reactivate the Kindergarten?" Pearl whispered in alarm. "Doesn't she know it'll destroy all life on Earth?!"
"That's a ten-four, good buddy" Rick whispered calmly, casting a glance upward at the turned around screen.
"Why don't we just ask her?" Steven suggested simply.
The Gems shushed him.
"Steven, we can't" Pearl said, "We're dealing with an enemy we don't know and technology we don't fully understand."
"I have a pretty good idea of the technology." Rick chimed in, but the white gem ignored him.
Pearl stroked her chin and became deep in thought. "We've got to think of a strategy." She murmured. "This isn't the time to be asking questions."
"It sure sounds like it is." Steven mumbled.
After a few seconds, Pearl turned to Amethyst and Rick. "Here's the plan, while she's distracted, we take out the power source on the far wall. Steven will stay here with Rick." Amethyst nodded and Rick shrugged, muttering a 'whatever'.
"Okay, now Steven-" Pearl began, but stopped. The half-gem was scrambling up to the control room.
"Steven!" The two Gems hissed. They desperately wanted to climb after him and bring him back but stayed, trying to maintain their cover.
In the control room, Steven was standing behind Peridot's screen, which was still turned away from him and the entrance.
"Now accounting for all operational injectors." Peridot continued her report, unaware of the boy's arrival. "Checking for aberrations in perimeter."
As she spoke, two very large robotic hands, which was devoid of arms or wrists, emerged from the floor in front of Steven. The mechanical hands activated a pair of panels on the adjacent walls, which ejected six cylinders from the ceiling.
"Ugh, this Gem tech is simply archaic…" Peridot said dryly as she worked.
"I don't know, I think it looks pretty cool." Steven suddenly spoke up, a smile appearing on his face.
"Actually," Rick said, appearing next to the half-Gem. Steven looked up at the scientist, startled by how quietly he appeared. "I kinda have to disagree. I-I've seen better crap at Steve Jobs's garage sale."
The control room went silent, the robotic hands frozen in place, before they, along with Peridot's monitor, quickly swiveled around to face them, eyes wide in with alarm and confusion as she stared at the duo standing there.
"Hi!" The half-Gem greeted warmly, waving hand at the Gem. "I'm Steven." He gestured to Rick, who was currently sipping from his flask and studying the data on one of the wall panels. "And this is Rick."
"Seriously!" The scientist chuckled, looking over to Peridot and jabbing a thumb at the wall panel. "This is like dinosaur tech. Where-Where did you guys get this stuff? Space Radio Shack?"
"Don't touch that!" Peridot snapped at Rick, who was tapping the panel, bringing up a window full of data written in an alien language. She made a gesture and the window was quickly closed. The green gem regained her composure and looked over her log once more.
"There appears to be an infestation of 'Stevens', and 'Ricks' in the Kindergarten." she observed, sounding rather cross.
"Who're you calling an infestation, you troglodyte!?" Rick retorted, waving his open flask at her, spilling golden brown droplets all over the place.
"Aw, we're not so bad once you get to know us!" Steven quipped.
Peridot glared at the two, raising an eyebrow as she scrutinized them. "And how many more Stevens or Ricks are present in this area?"
"It's just us." Steven replied casually.
"Yep." Rick agreed. "Just me, baby." He winked at the green gem. Peridot gave Rick a funny look, and glanced over to her log once more.
"Hmm, well, that's a relief." Peridot remarked, looking at them. "So tell me: Have Ricks and Stevens replaced humans as the dominant species on Earth?"
"We are humans, dipstick." Rick replied blithely. "Besides, it'd be a shitty place if Ricks supplanted humans as the dominant species."
The green gem scowled at Rick. "Oh really?" She asked, sounding bored and a little irritated.
"Yeah, but there's lots of other humans too!" Steven exclaimed enthusiastically. "There's my dad, Connie, Lars and Sadie, the mailman, Gary, Onion…I think. But yeah, lots of people!"
"Hm…" Peridot mused, "I suppose it is impressive that your kind managed to survive this long…even if you won't for very much longer."
"And I suppose it's impressive that you Gems even made it this far out of your backwater little shithole with the type of tech you're packing." Rick sneered.
The green gem went rigid. Her expression wavered between outrage and confusion. The screen turned towards Rick, the fingers of the robot hands curled into two large fists.
"What do you know of Gems?" Peridot sniffed, pride and indignation dripped from every word. "A simple organic with a meager brain capacity like yours can't possibly fathom the wisdom and might of the Gem race."
"Oh, some of your more recent stuff is impressive." The scientist said, a smirk growing on his face. "Like your little drones. What was it you called them? Hemorrhoids? No, wait... Robinoids! That's it! Yeah, I learned quite a bit about you dirtballs from that Robinoid you sent and from the Gems living here."
Peridot's eyes widened. "What?" She began, but Rick carried on.
"Yeah, your little toys are pretty snazzy…for a retrograde civilization that's burning the candle at both ends. Did you understand that, or is it too much for y-your tiny little pebble brain?"
The green gem's eyes burned with anger. "That's it!" She snarled. "I'm going to get rid of you pests once and for all!" One of the giant fists rose and fell, hurtling toward Rick and Steven like a meteor.
Steven ducked, trying to shield himself with his arms, but Rick remained calm.
CLANG!
Before the fist could strike its target, it collided with a shimmering blue energy field a few feet above the two humans. The energy field rippled and shimmered, revealing a protective dome surrounding both Steven and the mad scientist. Steven lowered his arms and gazed up in surprise at the force field.
Peridot's eyes widened in shock and confusion.
"What is this?" She demanded. "H-How could a primitive organic being like you possess such technology?"
"Well if you're such a staggering intellect," Rick sneered, crossing his arms, "you figure it out, or is all that Gem wisdom so limited?"
Peridot let out a frustrated screech, and the robot fists began to pummel the force field. Rick stood stock still, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face as Steven watched the whole thing transpire. The scientist began to moonwalk and twirl around, flashing his middle fingers at the enraged Gem who kept pummeling the force field to no effect.
The giant hands came together and rose as high as they could go. Before they could fall into a double axe handle strike, a long, purple whip wrapped around them both, binding them together.
"What the-?" Peridot exclaimed, trying to see why the hands won't move. A white spear arced over Steven and Rick and skewered one hand, while a familiar Crystal Gem assaulted the other with a mighty punch.
"Garnet!" Steven cried.
"Gems!?" Peridot gaped.
Pearl and Garnet landed beside Rick and Steven, the force field flickered and vanished permanently. Amethyst, using her whip, pulled the hands away from them and joined up with the others.
"How can this be!?" The green gem exclaimed. "The Red Eye didn't report the presence of any Gems on this planet!"
"Your what?" Amethyst asked.
"No idea what you're talking about." Rick said. "You must be huffing too much of that space glue."
Peridot did her best to ignore Rick, and remained silent for a moment. "This doesn't make sense! The records say that all the Gems on Earth were wiped out!" Realization then dawned on her. Her eyes then narrowed at them. "So you're the ones who destroyed my Plug Robinoids! You're the ones who destroyed the Homeworld warp and left that bizarre icon!" She held up an image of the Wailing Waffle sticker on the screen.
"Augh! Why do you keep destroying my things!?"
"Because it's fun!" Rick declared.
"Because WE are the Crystal Gems!" Pearl proclaimed proudly, leveling her spear at the green Gem on the monitor. Steven watched with wide eyes, feeling pride and awe by the display by his guardians and the mad scientist.
"We're still alive, and we're still the guardians of this planet, and all its living creatures!"
Peridot stared at Pearl in confusion, as if she had no idea what the white Gem was talking about. "The Crystal Gems…?"
Before the green Gem could inquire further, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl leapt into action. They attacked the giant hands, wrestling and beating them away.
"Stop it!" Peridot shouted, angrily. "How dare you! I'm doing this one way or another! You're just making it really difficult!" The green Gem seethed as Garnet and the others took out one of the robotic hands with ease, smashing it into bits.
Rick, meanwhile, strolled past the battle between the Crystal Gems and the second hand, and made his way toward the hand pedestal. Steven squinted, and watched as the scientist produced a thin cable from his watch and jammed a sharp, needle-like jack into the Robinoid on the pedestal.
Rick typed away on his watch and withdrew the jack and cable from the Robinoid, before making a hasty retreat.
"Amethyst, now!" Garnet shouted to the purple Gem as she went high.
"Destroy!" Amethyst growled, wrapping her whip around the remaining hand. Pulling with all her might, she threw the hand down hard at the power source at the back wall. The crystal was shattered instantly, but not before Peridot shouted one last angry threat.
"I'm reporting this, you CLODS!" She shouted, before the monitor vanished and the control room went dark, its link to Homeworld broken.
After a moment of silence to catch their breath, Pearl turned to Rick.
"Thank you, Rick," She said honestly. "For the distraction. I gotta say, you can be quite a nuisance when you really want to be."
"That was nothing.'' Rick smirked.
"What were you doing with the Robinoid?" Steven asked, pointing toward the hand pedestal.
Rick's smirk widened. "I was just giving Peridot a little memento to remember Earth by."
"What kind of memento?" Garnet asked, raising an eyebrow. Rick continued smirking, but said nothing.
[Peridot]
Meanwhile, millions of light years away from Earth, on the Gem Homeworld, Peridot had just lost connection with the Prime Kindergarten on Earth. The holographic monitor for her terminal displayed only static. The green Gem seethed and cursed the Crystal Gems and the arrogant, annoying organic.
She quickly got to work trying to log the whole affair into her terminal and began planning on reporting this to her superiors. Sure, she didn't succeed in her task, but she did gain some important information, particularly about the Crystal Gems and the humans. However, she was still confused as to why the Red Eye didn't report the presence of these Gems. In fact, she was wondering why the Red Eye went missing. Initially, she chalked it up to a technical error or some sort of interference. Perhaps it was the work of these Crystal Gems.
Peridot brought up her log, but before she could input her report, the screen flickered, before it blacked out. The green Gem typed away at the keypad and tried everything she could think of.
Nothing.
She tried accessing her personal log and data pad, but found nothing but static. Peridot frowned. 'What is wrong with this stuff?' She wondered.
Just then, the screen began to turn back on, and much to her shock, a blurry, pixelated image of a human appeared. He had a thick, bushy beard, wore a peculiar hat with a skull emblazoned on it, and had a small, colorful avian creature perched on his shoulder. In place of one of his hands was a hook, with his leg replaced by a stumpy peg and his eye covered by a patch of sorts. A soft jingle began to play, and the human shuffled around and chanted in a gruff digital voice. "Hunch, hunch!"
The avian flapped its wings, squawking loudly, "What, what!"
The human then replied, "Buh, boh!"
Peridot stared at her monitor with disbelief and confusion for a few moments, watching as the little human and avian performed the same, bizarre dance and chant over and over again, repeatedly chanting the same nonsense. It was ridiculous, and left Peridot with nothing but questions, but she couldn't look away.
Eventually, Peridot tried to get rid of it, but the little, animated human refused to leave.
Frustrated, she left her terminal and tried to find another one she could use. Unfortunately, as she passed other Gem technicians and their terminals, she saw the same scraggly human and his avian companion chanting nonsensically to the catchy, digital rhythm on their monitors.
It didn't take long for her or the other Gem technicians to realize that their systems have been infected with a virus.
In a matter of hours, the virus had spread to numerous other systems, disabling them and causing widespread disruption in two different facets.
The green Gem's superiors and her colleagues pondered where this invasive little virus could've originated. However, it was only Peridot who realized it's origins.
Peridot gritted her teeth and swore she would get back at the human called "Rick".
"RIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!" She yelled with all her might.
(a/n: Things are starting to pick up! Next chapter will cover SU's "The Message" and the chapter after that will be a multipart chapter covering "The Return" and "Jailbreak." Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Until next time, see ya!)
