The title speaks for itself here. That and I'm finishing a final semester of college during all this so I'm running a bit low on quippy intros so let's go!
The mood throughout Satellite Gamma was grim for the Crystal Gems and triumphant for the Homeworld gems. One side had all of the cards in their hand and the other had no choice but cooperate or else innocent lives would be cut short just to prove a point. Holly Blue Agate, in particular, was all but giddy at the situation. She stood in the command room simply enjoying the feeling as Steven was still unconscious. While tempted to simply finish the menace off herself, she knew White Diamond would reward her handsomely and her name would go down in gem history.
That all changed, however, when the base's scanners detected a massive ship income. A quick glance at the surveillance systems showed it was Blue Diamond's personal vessel. The agate went from ecstatic to panicking in an instant. There was no talk of Blue getting involved!
And she was not the only one getting antsy. Word of her arrival spread like wildfire and soon the guards and personnel running Gamma were outright having panic attacks. They all knew White Diamond was behind this operation. Blue Diamond was never supposed to be here. The Crystal Gems simply watched the situation, waiting to see what happened next. This spanner in the works could play into their hands or make matters far worse.
While the tensions were up outside even as Blue Diamond seemed to fly away from Gamma, two gems were trying to intimidate and beat their way into dominance against the new fusion Quartzite. Instead, all they got were several jokes and the occasional flirt while the flippant four-armed fighter handled them both without too much difficulty. The copy of Rose may have been as strong as the original and the gem-shard creature could reform after every hit, but neither of those things seemed to matter to Quartzite.
The biggest issue was that they were all but impossible to actually hit. Steven's shield and bubble were powerful defenses already but thanks to Bismuth's shapeshifting the barriers could now stretch and change to match almost any oncoming attack.
As for offense, all four hands were capable of shifting from one form to another with zero effort. Even if one of the hostile gems could get through their defenses, they could be any combination of punched, sliced, hammered, or smacked away with multiple limbs and enough power to punch a hole through a starship.
Now they were the ones trying everything they could think of to throw the fearsome fusion off. They tried pincer maneuvers, but Quartzite was more than capable of flinging them both around.
"You know, if y'all wanna dance, I prefer one at a time!" they sassed while blocking another attack from not-Rose. The pink-haired imposter tried a leg sweep, but the fusion merely flipped over her while grasping her arm, so the clone went flying over the horizon. The shard-gem then tried ambushing her from the cover of the tall grass only for a barrier to appear in her path.
"Oi, what d'you think you're doing back there?!" Quartzite snapped, "That ain't for first dates! What kinda gem do you think I am, chump?"
"Annoying!" the shambling gem retaliated, "Why are you so calm? You should be roiling in anger, wanting to shatter me just like-"
The fusion dropped their façade, however, and glared at the attacking gem while wrapping a hand around her neck.
"You know what? I am really sick and tired of your schtick. 'Rah, I'm angry because Bismuth's angry! Grar!' Don't you got anything else to say, hm?"
"I… I…"
"But you do got one thing right… Bismuth sure is mad and so am I. At you."
All four hands suddenly grabbed hold of the creature's limbs and with one sudden yank, all four appendages were yanked clean off. As the shards clattered to the ground, Quartzite's arms darted out at insane speed, quickly bubbling each individual piece so that there was no way for the creature to reform. The shards fought to escape the barriers, but they proved more than enough to keep the remnants of the shard-gem contained.
"There, now I feel better! Now where's mommy dearest hiding at?"
"I will not be trivialized!" Not-Rose suddenly dropped out of the sky, slamming her feet down on the mass of bubbles. The pieces were quickly mashed into shards which were then absorbed into not-Rose's body. Quartzite watched with mild interest as not-Rose's form started changing. Her skin took on a multicolored hue, her hair sharpened into a mass of pink spines, she almost doubled in size and her eyes shifted from black voids to broken mirrors.
"You cannot escape your hatred!" she said, her voice now backed by dozens of others, "You will be consumed by it! No fusion of yours can-!"
She was cut off, however, by Quartzite who loudly yawned at what sounded like the start of another diatribe. Angered at still not being taken seriously, the enlarged monstrosity charged forward with surprising speed given she was fifteen feet tall and plowed the fusion down through the grassy field. While they were still down, not-Rose opened her mouth inhumanely wide and a barrage of spines fired out like a machine gun. If it were not for Quartzite summoning a bubble purely out of reflex, they would have been skewered a dozen times.
"Oh, you wanna see me serious?" the fusion asked. When they got a roar in response, they assumed it was a yes. The bubble around them suddenly glowed with an array of colors before four hands emerged and quickly flung the monster back. When she got up again, she watched as the bubble kept growing. In less than a minute, Quartzite was surrounded by a thirty-foot tall avatar of themselves with the fusion glowering down at her foe.
Unfazed by the much larger target, not-Rose barreled forward firing off more shots only for them to bounce off the Quartzite's shell which quickly started running up to meet the hostile gem with a pair of left hooks that sent her flying. She managed to right herself just in time to be body slammed through the ground several stories before being spiked back into the air.
Not-Rose tried to fight back, but the avatar's hands actually detached from the main body and kept clamped around her arms, legs, and face to stop her any counterattack. Now past all of the fun and games, Quartzite prepared to end the fight as they shapeshifted a new set of hands on their avatar and proceeded to pounce while the nightmarish gem was still trapped.
The copy the lead Crystal Gem fought as hard as she could to free herself, fully expecting a painful demise only to see Quartzite's hulking puppet merely wrapped its arms around her before morphing into a massive bubble that made it fully impossible for her to even blink.
This left the fusion with their feet on the ground looking up at the thoroughly stunned embodiment of hatred with a thoughtful look.
"So, now do ya get it?" they said, "I don't gotta be like you to win. I mean, it'd be easy to just smash you up but why do that, huh? I don't need to dirty my hands and be like you."
With one flick of the wrist, the malicious monster-gem was sent away to they did not know where and the fusion took a moment to appreciate the once-again serene plain before they closed their eyes. Steven and Bismuth then reappeared side by side to take in the gentle breeze and tranquil sounds of rustling grass.
"You know, that was pretty schmaltzy," Bismuth said. Steven quirked an eyebrow.
"Does that make it bad?"
"Nope. I just wish somebody told me that in the beginning…"
"No changing it now…"
"Yeah, but now I know what to do. Thanks, kid."
Steven simply nodded as a swirling light appeared under the duo's feet to take them back to reality.
Back inside the Crystal Beacon, Greg and Peridot were still glued to the main window on the bridge. Neither of them understood why or even how Blue Diamond appeared only to rocket off to parts unknown. They could have used the time for a plan if their brains were not collectively fried to the point.
"Um, guys?" she asked from behind them, startling both the father and the tech whiz back to reality.
"Oh, thank goodness you're back!" Peridot gasped, "We're in serious trouble?"
"Does it have something to do with Blue's personal ship being parked outside?"
One quick rundown of the situation later, the blacksmith was immediately heading for the still-open ramp to the ship with Peridot following behind her.
"Alright, you hack into the place and shut it down so the gems and people get free," Bismuth said as she began stretching her limbs like she was going for a jog.
"But… But they told us-" Peridot started before the veteran cut her off.
"I'm guessing Blue Diamond isn't supposed to be here. Holly Blue is usually stationed at some zoo, right? One that Blue Diamond keeps running with all the people inside?" Peridot nodded which let Bismuth finish her deduction.
"I don't think she'd be that willing to sacrifice everyone in that place for a trap. Which means that whole base…"
"…Is in total disarray… That's why they haven't sent any more saboteurs at us."
"Bingo! And that means it's the perfect time for someone to bust in and really throw them off their game!" Bismuth then started running towards Gamma before leaping into the air.
"And how do you plan on doing that?!" Peridot asked frantically.
"Oh, I can make it work…"
(Cue Epic Theme Song: Jewel Fever from NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams)
She then wound one arm back as if Bismuth was throwing a punch at nothing only for that arm to suddenly extend for dozens of feet while the rest of her body remained still. Then, with the force of a massive gun blast, her elongated arm shot forward like a whip right towards the main entrance to Gamma with enough force to bash part of the gate in.
Inside, the gems truly were panicking at why one Diamond was interfering with another Diamond's operation and barely noticed the massive dent that appeared on the main hatch. A few gems were even bowled over by the door flying at them thanks to a second punch completely demolishing it. Several gems then tried to ready themselves for a fight only to see nothing coming at them.
That might be because they were looking straight ahead instead of up where Bismuth was readying her feet. She pushed her whole body back like she was about to kick off a wall before swinging her legs out. Both appendages suddenly stretched out and were angled so they would just cross the threshold of the base.
The Homeworld cronies were then immensely confused where a pair of purple legs suddenly came from only to realize too late that Bismuth was flying in right behind them. The shock of her landing caused many of the troops to back up and try surrounding the Crystal Gem who looked none the worse for wear.
"Sorry for barging in like this," she started before she let out a laugh, "Oh, who am I kidding, No, I'm not! Anyway, I think it'd be a good idea to let my friends go now."
"Fat chance, traitor!" a jasper shouted before trying to rush at Bismuth with several of her friends. Unfortunately for them, the blacksmith was more than capable of crowd control thanks to shapeshifting both her arms into maces and then swinging them outwards. The arms lengthened to dozens of feet in a matter of seconds, sending the crowd flying in every direction while Bismuth dashed into the base smashing every gem she came across in the face with slingshot-powered punches.
As more and more of a commotion was raised, gems poured out of every crevice to attack her but none of them could catch her. She may not have been running at super speed like Amethyst, but the novelty of fighting a gem who could stretch and bend her body faster than any of them could process or shapeshift themselves proved to be too much.
The feeling only worsened when a blackout went off thanks to Peridot hacking the system. The brief loss of power was the perfect to let the other Crystal Gems start running amok. Connie and Priyanka soon got to work poofing all of the gems holding them and the humans from the zoo captive while the rest dealt with their jailers.
What was supposed to be one of the gem empire's strongest bases had now fully devolved into chaos with none more frazzled than Holly Blue Agate. She stood at the command center with completely aghast to see the entire operation was falling apart. As soon as Steven Universe woke up, he bolted out of the room and was running through the base to join up with the others. If she did not do something soon, White Diamond would have her stone for a failure of this scale.
Angry beyond words, the agate forsook the lift back to the rest of the base and instead leapt to the top of the shaft with one jump before ripping the door separating her from the base clean open.
"Where is she?!" she shouted, frothing at the mouth and her whip crackling with energy, "I'll have that Bismuth turned into powder!"
"You rang?" the gem in question asked running up to greet her, a pile of gems either unconscious or poofed filling up the hall behind her. She hurled another punch at her, but the agate sidestepped and charged ahead. The two went at it mano-a-mano, the walls around them being slashed and gouged by the attacks that missed. Even as they slugged and zapped each other, neither of them gave ground. Bismuth had to hand it to Holly Blue for training up since agates were designed for commanding instead of combat.
That praise came to an end when Holly managed to leap above a low kick and tackle Bismuth to the ground. She discarded her whip and held down all of the blacksmith's limbs and looked ready to literally bite Bismuth's head off from how she was gnashing her teeth.
"You disgusting rejects!" she hollered, "Why can't you do us all a favor and shatter already?!"
"Sorry… I think that's a stretch…" Bismuth joked before her hair suddenly started moving. Holly briefly watched in confusion before the multicolored locks stretched out at a rapid pace and smacked her in the face. The blow was light, but it was the perfect thing to break her focus just long enough for Bismuth to free her arms and send both fists smashing into the smug gem's face. Holly Blue screamed as she flew into the very elevator shaft she just jumped out of. She also punched through the bottom of the elevator itself in her fury meaning she went tumbling all the way back down to the bottom just outside her control room.
"Now you stay down there and think about what you've done, young lady!" Bismuth scolded, wagging her finger while Holly just groaned and tried to get up from the beating she just received.
Now that she was taken care of, Bismuth soon ran down corridors and jumped down lifts until she met up with most of the others.
"Peridot found a warp pad and is bringing the humans to Earth," Pearl reported, "The Famethysts are already there. They were happy to look after them there."
"Can't imagine quitting their jobs was that hard," Bismuth replied before nonchalantly dodging a ruby that was trying to sneak up on her while screaming like a banshee. With the last of the humans being sent to safety and no one in immediate danger, the group started contacting each other to head back to the Beacon asap and get out of here.
While the group was stuck in multiple places thanks to running and fighting their way through hordes of gems that seemed to never end. Whether they were warping in from somewhere or there were just that many stationed here none of them knew. All they were sure of is that they were all getting closer to salvation.
Just as the group was starting to reconvene right around the entrance, an airlock now covering the door that Bismuth burst down, most of the group stopped. They suddenly felt sluggish, lethargic and even just depressed. They had no idea why, or why Connie and Priyanka were the only two unaffected. Until they noticed the blue light seeping in through the door…
"Guys, what is that?!" Connie panicked, trying to get someone to react as many of them started weeping for no reason. Her answer came from a massive blue hand bursting through the blast shield and firing off a wave of energy that forced everyone to fall to the floor.
"Oh no…" Steven muttered, trying to get back up and change into his full-gem form since he knew exactly what was happening.
"Get out here, Rose Quartz!" a shrill voice rang out, "I won't let you escape from me again!"
"Anyone else hoping she flies away again?" Amethyst joked but the effect being ruined that she sounded like she was heartbroken.
"Could someone please tell us lowly humans what's going on?!" Priyanka said.
"It's her energy…" Garnet got out, "It tampers with a gem's emotions…"
"You have fifteen seconds to surrender!" the diamond bellowed, "Or else I'm reducing this entire base to ashes!"
"She can't be serious, right?!" Peridot squirmed, "That'd be idiotic to destroy her one of her own strongholds!"
"Trust me, not kidding," Steven retorted, "But what can we do? Most of us… Can't even move much!"
"We'll do it!" Connie promised, "Mom and I can distract her or something and then you all-"
"Are you crazy?" Lapis admonished, "That'd be like an amoeba trying to fight one of us! You'd get pounded in an instant!"
"She's right," Bismuth said, clenching her eyes shut, "You aren't doing that, kid."
"Time's up!" Blue Diamond yelled, her outstretched hand starting to radiate with power, "You've just forfeited your lives!"
"Forfeit THIS!" the blacksmith said, charging ahead blindly while stretching her arms back as she far as she could. The rest of the group was slung back before Bismuth snapped both her hands forward into the diamond's much bigger palm. The impact did not knock her away, but it did get her attention.
"You still resist your fate?!" Blue wailed, "Then I'll crush you myself!"
The hole in the blast door widened as she forced her arm through to reach in and grab Bismuth faster than any of them could blink. They all shouted in protest before the arm pulled out leaving a gaping hole into the vacuum. Thankfully, Steven was able to summon bubbles around his head as well as Connie and her mother to act as makeshift helmets before any of them could suffocate.
Outside, Bismuth hoped the best for them even as she was brought up to the face of a thoroughly enraged Blue Diamond. Clutched in both hands like a toy, the monarch applied enough pressure to crack actual diamonds as she spoke.
"You… You're one of Steven's lackies," she snarled, "Do you have any idea who you're working for?"
"Yeah… Not you…" Bismuth kidded before yelping in pain as Blue put on even more pressure.
"You think this is funny?! Pink Diamond is gone thanks to that abomination! I don't care if it's Rose or not, whatever bears that gem must face the consequences!"
"And what'll that do, huh?!" Bismuth shouted, not caring that tears were streaming out of her eyes or that she could almost feel her gem cracking, "Nothing you do is gonna bring her back!"
"That is why I must avenge her! If I can't restore her, at least her shatterer can be brought to justice!"
The dreadlocked gem scoffed at that supposed justice, but something else caught her eye. Blue's ship was still hovering above her…
"Oh, boo-hoo!" Bismuth taunted, "Is that all you can think about? I don't know how Pink could have ever lived with such a crybaby! I'd rather get flung into a black hole than listen to your whining, clod!"
Angered beyond words, Blue threw the smart-mouthed rebel behind her into space and resumed her focus on Gamma. She was so preoccupied with blowing the meteorite and everyone on it to kingdom come that she did not notice Bismuth fling an arm out to grab a hold of the thumb fingers to Blue's ship to catch herself.
"You want something to cry about, princess?" Bismuth snarked to herself, "Then I've got something for you!" She made her way to the pinkie on the other side and proceeded to leap off while stretching one arm several hundred feet to grip the ship while she pushed the rest of her body back. She knew she only had one chance to pull this off.
Once she felt like she finally hit her limit, Bismuth let her grip slack and thus the rest of her flew straight as an arrow towards Blue Diamond. She let out a holler to draw her attention as the monarch was readying a blast, causing her to turn her head. Bismuth then shapeshifted both her hands into axe blades and swung.
Inside the base, everyone went from paralyzed on the ground to standing upright as a massive scream rang out across the whole base.
"MY VISION SPHERES! I CAN'T SEE!"
Not wasting any time, Steven concentrated for a moment before his gem glowed and he transformed into his full-gem state. He then summoned a bubble around his head to act as a helmet before doing the same for Connie and her mother. The message was clear and soon Steven bolted through the doors to knock a blinded Blue back with a gauntlet punch while the others made a break for the ship.
"Where do you all think you're going?!" Blue screeched, "I don't need to see you to destroy you!"
She raised her hands for another attack, but suddenly fell to her knee when Steven smashed a hammer into her leg. Deciding to focus on the more imminent threat, Blue quickly got up and started flinging energy around in every direction trying to hit Steven. What she did not know was that the hybrid was forcing barriers to surround Blue so her energy was only hitting the hexagonal pink wall he was building around her.
He thought that would be enough to contain her until she suddenly lashed out with her foot, surprising Steven as he had no idea that was under her dress, and forced to leap up unless he wanted to be kicked into another planet's orbit.
All the while, the Crystal Gems rushed back onto the Crystal Beacon with Greg shepherding everyone in. Once the whole crew was assembled, Peridot shut the docking ramp and readied the engines for takeoff much to a certain parent's horror.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Greg protested, "We're not leaving my boy out there!"
"We're not going to! I was just getting things in position to help him!"
Outside, Steven was dodging a literal maelstrom of lasers as Blue seemed to have no end of projectiles to throw at him. While he could summon a full bubble to keep him safe, that would severely limit his movements and Blue had some capabilities to listen for his movements. He just managed to evade her fire long enough to shoot back at her with his bow before Pearl's voice over his communicator cut his concentration.
"Steven, are you reading me?"
"Yep, but can we make this fast? She's a lot better at fighting than I thought!"
"Peridot is readying the blasters. Keep her in place long enough and that should stun her long enough to let you escape!"
"Got it!"
"No! MORE! ESCAPING!" the diamond blared, somehow hearing him through his makeshift airtight helmet, "You've evaded justice for too long! Accept your punishment already!"
Rather than respond, Steven flew up to meet a clumsy swipe from Blue. He held both his hands out to catch the attack and refused to let go when she tried pulling her arm back. She tried the same thing with the other arm, but he held that one firm as well. Figuring that she could hear him, Steven knew one thing that would keep her focus even if he hated riling her up more.
"I'm sorry!" he said, "I know you miss Pink and-"
"Don't feed me your false sympathy, you monster! You aren't fit to be in the same quadrant as her let alone act like you knew her!"
"I didn't know her, you're right. But you need to let go of this, Blue! All you've done is make your own life worse!"
"You rebels are the ones ruining my life AND the lives of our entire empire! If you want to improve things, shatter yourself already!"
"I'm trying to fix things, Blue! If you'd just listen to me-"
"SILENCE! I won't listen to any more excuses from-"
As she was locked in place and screaming her head off, Blue was completely unaware that the Crystal Gems' ship was now right behind her with its phasers charged to maximum power. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Topaz ordered the weapon to be fired and a searing hot beam of plasma smashed into the diamond's back. She yelled in pain from the sudden onslaught of heat giving Steven the time to rush in and deliver the final attack.
Seeing as the base was technically still active, the teen had to demolish it and stop the diamond long enough to escape. Having seen Bismuth use her new flexibility to great effect, he did a little shapeshifting of his own to enlarge his hands to several times their size before bringing them together to form a massive hammer fist and smashing Blue Diamond into Satellite Gamma and then through it as she crashed through every floor, utterly demolishing the base while she kept flying.
While stunned at his display, Steven had no time to gawk and instead flew back to the Beacon where Peridot was waiting to glitch him inside to safety.
Once he was in, he lost the helmet and changed back to normal where everyone was equal parts relieved and exhausted.
"Okay, that was too close!" Lapis sighed, "I think we actually should thank Blue otherwise we'd have been toast."
"True, but what's done is done," Garnet resigned, "Peridot, what's the ETA before Homeworld?"
"Four days, give or take. For now, though, I think I'm gonna try this sleeping thing…"
The others all muttered the same thing and split off with only Steven and Bismuth remaining on board alongside the Off-Colors.
"Good going, kid," the blacksmith congratulated him, "It's not every day someone tussles with a diamonds and wins!"
"Heh… Thanks."
"What's got you feeling down?"
"It's just… Really sad, you know? Blue really does care about Pink and she just wants her back. I kind of thought about showing her except she couldn't see."
"Steven, even if you did that, the bigger issue here is White. That gem will never be convinced unless she sees it with her own eyes. Go on and rest, bud. You've earned it."
"So have you. That stretching thing looks neat."
"Heh, it's pretty handy. I'll work on it some more later but for now? I'm off to make a few dozen swords to unwind!"
With the adrenaline winding down, Bismuth soon went off to one of the pocket dimension to do just that while Steven crashed in his room for a much-deserved nap.
While the Crystal Gems were relaxing, Blue Diamond was the opposite. As she drifted through space, sobs wracked her body even as no tears came out from her ruined eyes. She had no idea where she was and honestly did not care. She could have collided with a sun and yet the pain she felt would burn more.
With no way to see, her mind drifted back to Pink Diamond. Her bubbly smile, the parties she always threw, the jokes and antics she made just to cheer everyone up. All of them played over and over again driving Blue to cry harder and harder. The fearsome judge, jury and executioner of the galaxy-spanning gem empire kept muttering "I'm sorry" over and over again while blubbering. She stayed that way even when Yellow Diamond's ship found her and finally got her fixed up.
One extremely awkward flight back to Homeworld later, both Diamonds were unsurprised to hear that White wanted to speak with both of them. Yellow was not sure if the prospect of a meeting like this was scarier than Blue being catatonic the whole walk to White's chamber.
When they arrived, a look of pure wrath as etched on her face.
"So…" she started, "Gamma is completely destroyed, yes? The rebels are all free? Oh, and now they have several dozen new allies because the guards of the zoo willingly joined them? Blue, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Do it."
That caught the larger tyrant off-guard. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Do it. Shatter me, control me, whatever. I don't care anymore, White. You were right. You win? Happy now? That's all you want."
"I… Ergh… Just get out of my sight! We'll deal with your insubordination later!"
Yellow had to resist watching Blue slink out the door, astonished that nothing had happened. For her own sake, she kept her attention on White who had to regain her composure before speaking up again.
"Yellow, I want you to do exactly one thing. I want you to send a message to everyone."
"Everyone?"
"Yes, that's what I said."
"Ehm, what do you mean-?"
"EVERYOOOOOONE!" White snapped as glaring energy filled the room, rattling the walls and making Yellow tremble as she felt like she was standing feet away from a supernova until the stronger gem finally relaxed.
"When I say everyone," she resumed, "I mean override every signal. Contact every base, every outpost, and every ongoing colonization and tell every last one of them to come here. Drop everything they are doing and return to Homeworld at once because Steven Universe has successfully downed the Aveturescence and is heading here to annihilate us. And be sure to tell them that anyone who can capture a Crystal Gem will be second only to the diamonds. Understand now, Yellow."
"Everyone… Yes."
"Good. Get to it. That will be all."
Next time... The Crystal Gems touch down on Homeworld.
Thank you all so much for reading! Leave any questions, comments or feedback below!