City-17, Upper class sector, Administrator-level spires
One week.
One week it had been since Blue Diamond herself had arrived, completely unannounced, in the true nucleus of the galaxy. Stars and planets may have moved at the beck and call of the forces of the cosmos, but the lives of the trillions who lived on them, ultimately, danced in line with the tempo set by decisions conducted here.
Power, and so much of it, concentrated in one place inevitably tempted some into wanting more for themselves, to have others dance to their tune instead. But, alluring as the prospect of it was, none were so foolish to attempt to take the power held by ones at the very top, for the Diamonds are both the reason for The Empire's continued existence, and the eternal icons who are looked upon as the perfection of gemkind's ideals. Icons for all to emulate.
All gems, aristocrats especially, knew these facts. Try to denounce or depose any of the three, and even one's staunchest allies in any of the courts, or anyone associated with them at all, would either flee for fear of being punished alongside them or denounce and depose them in return.
However, while outright coups from within were made impossible, that did not mean the nobility did not have other ways of climbing to new heights of power.
"Cut-2NX, is the entire company ready yet?"
First and foremost being the simplest - to serenade their Diamond with the ever reliable and simple, steady song of competence.
"Nearly, your clarity." An amethyst replied, the soldier already sounding chastised before any reprimand could be dealt out.
Though those feelings of duty to their creator were nearly always genuine, that was likely the final extent the honesty of many individuals reached.
"Not good enough. I intend to begin the operation soon, and if your incompetence delays me one more time I will be forced to reconsider your position."
"Of course, Your Clarity. But I'll make haste to have them ready as soon as able."
"Next time don't give me buts. Give me results." She replied icily as she closed the communication line.
Beyond that, everything and anything else goes, so long as their plotting and scheming's results did not upset the status quo enough to gather the ire of the ones they were supposed to be pleasing. At the end of the day, even if they were created a cut or acted a crust above the rest, normally it was still beyond impossible for individuals to have their single voice be heard from the deafening din of innumerable others. And so, the only option left was to stamp on the heads and shoulders of others as they climbed.
That is, unless the right conditions are met.
"Oh, My Diamond, what an exquisite time you've chosen to come to Homeworld."
While her personal guard company of two hundred or so amethysts was already sufficient for what she had in mind if she used them wisely, she deemed it time to call for reinforcements. After all, a larger force always made for a more impressive spectacle. Exceptionally so when it was composed of the right mix of types to convey a message, one of unity, where many all worked in their own separate ways for a greater whole they could not achieve on their own.
And so with that idea in mind, Aquamarine allowed herself a thin, gleeful smirk as she brought up a list of contacts from the main holoscreen on her desk and scrolled down to the current Grand Admiral of the yellow court. Emerald.
She frowned for a moment, but banished it from her expression as suddenly as it had arisen. For in the end, though the incident with that abomination of a sapphire all those years ago had bruised her ego, afterwards she had still managed to quite comfortably acquaint herself with 9XI while they were still a rising star among the navy... by helping said star rise exponentially faster. Through her own skill she had pulled on a number of strings to bring them ever upwards, even if it did mean pulling a few others down, naturally.
As expected, there was some avoidable turbulence on the way, but all that mattered now was that she had what she wanted, and it was all achieved without the disgraced seer's help.
'She should have been shattered the moment she emerged.' Aquamarine's calm broke one final time just before the person on the other side accepted the call, with her now putting on a more amiable face as she readied to collect on part of the debt they owed to her in the form of a favour.
And that debt had only been rising, for over the years she had made sure to protect her precious ally from the machinations of others. Both to keep them safe from usurpers once they were in the admiralty, of course, but also for the pleasant side effect of making sure they never built up any of the obstinance nor experience that came in dealing with countless conspirators, leaving them delightfully receptive to courtesy calls such as these without them questioning her reasons for it.
"Ah! 2MY, how is everything in your sector?" Emerald greeted in the usual lively manner that she regarded colleagues with.
"Interesting." She said, contrasting them with her, seemingly, benign and collected nature. "Things have definitely been... stirred by My Diamond's visit, and though she is staying on Homeworld for an extended period, plenty remains the same as usual."
"Good to hear," She replied, for while she would not dare utter it, even as a yellow court gem she knew that Blue Diamond's mourning could be disruptive at times to say the least, "I've heard similar rumours from many people. Is it true that Her Brilliance intends to stay in the pink sector for most of that time?" She added, saying nothing more than that as it was not her place to pry into their mourning for the Fallen Diamond.
"Yes, I can confirm that she is," Aquamarine said, with supposed sorrow welling up in her voice, "and as is required of them, the pink sector has been prepared appropriately to receive My Diamond." She added, not minding mentioning it as much as the Admiral did. "Though that is also why I have called for you, since I wish to do something to make the planet a little better - to please My Diamond, even if only a small bit, in the depths of her grief - and you have a part to play in it." She added, giving her words a subtle rise in emphasis near the end.
However, in truth, a sense of satisfaction blossomed from her core at how quickly she had steered the conversation to her benefit and managed to swerve away from the mention of any words that Emerald could interpret as them giving aid to her individually and not to Blue Diamond.
"Oh?" Emerald said, slowly raising an eyebrow. "How… can I be of service to Her Brilliance then?" She said, though still sounding rather cautious, for while helping a Diamond would be beneficial for her standing, she did not want to be caught up away from serving her own Diamond for too long.
"Well, surely you've heard of those unsightly, not to mention illicitly built, places inhabited by disgraces of gems who have failed spectacularly enough in their duty to be cracked in battle." She said, skipping any more formalities now that she was where she wanted to be. "In my humble opinion, it would be better for everybody if they were to be removed and recycled - hopefully to be made into better gems in the future. I myself have already begun to muster my company, though some extra forces and equipment won't be amiss either - especially considering how they sometimes have the audacity to resist."
While the Admiral did seem to be disquieted at the idea of purging otherwise loyal soldiers, she did agree on the fact that these people had violated regulations by staining the planet with their illegal settlements. In any case, though she was not naïve enough to assume entirely altruistic actions from the Administrator, they had thus far not given her any reason to distrust them.
If anything, helping an ally who had helped her on numerous occasions in the past was fair enough reason in the first place.
And if it was to please a Diamond as they said, then all the better. So she nodded in agreement. "I suppose I do have some time before I depart for Klavius-7's shipyards… so yes, here is a platoon of the finest citrines from my personal battalion! Use them well." Emerald said with a reserved smile as she typed and sent a message that would soon find its way to the leader of said platoon.
"And I suspect these citrines are armed with something more… substantial?" Aquamarine questioned, knowing her own personal guard was mostly armed with only the more compact but fragile dagger length variant of destabilisers.
"Oh, only the best destabiliser spears industry can provide I assure you." She exclaimed, happy to readily espouse the merits of the yellow court's militant methods. "They should have enough reach to keep any rioting crowds at bay."
"Perfect. Thank you very much."
#####
City-17, Undercity dust plains
Three days.
It had taken them three days of non-stop travel to finally reach topside.
A once ominous hum heralded the trio rising out of a ravine and levelling out with the ground. Spying the surface of the planet naught but arid and dead dust covered the shadowed floor, and looming over it was a towering scene formed of nothing but miles of crust and the skyscrapers of the capital world, of which many of these structures rose further still beyond that, out all the way to the lower reaches of the stratosphere.
Unlike the synthetics that accompanied him, the light of day - dim as few rays that filtered through from above were - was of interest to Bolt. In response, his perpetually dilated pupils became contracted, perhaps for the only time since the moment his eyes first snapped open to meet the world. Never before had he seen anything in such striking colour, and this was only amplified by him sighting the sparkling, almost overwhelming, magnificence of gem architecture in all of its glory in person for the first time as well.
Even if the hundreds of thousands directly on top of them would not hesitate to belittle or battle him, there was an odd beauty to it all as he took in all the details of the world above. The crystalline towers called to him, almost as if they were inviting him to explore their labyrinthine corridors in search of every trinket of technology that would catch his interests. Then there was the hazy pinkish purple sky with the stars twinkling in its folds, the vast stellaris beyond beckoning his young and curious mind with the promise of all the knowledge of the universe he could ever want if only he would explore it.
Nice as it was, he dismissed those wispy and wishful thoughts, because that was all they were: thoughts. He knew it would be a better use of his time to focus on the reality ahead of him now than any flightful fancies.
"Here we are." Pery said as she undid the numerous straps and dismounted. "It's best if we leave these things here. The sight of us is already enough to drive 'em rocky, no need to make ourselves any more detestable to deal with." She added as she pulled out her 'insurance' from her tool's depths and held it out for the two to take.
Following her cues, the pair behind dismounted undid their ties and dismounted the robonoids. Bare feet then crunched on sandy gravel as they walked over and took the pickaxes she held in her hands.
"Why did we go all the way to the blue sector though?" Rhodonite pressed as she looked to the skyline for a moment, the nerve-wracking stress that had been building throughout their journey at last having its toll due in the lull before she had to move onto the arguably more dangerous second half of the venture. "I thought Homeworld's facet-1 was under the white sector." She then added, now sounding genuinely curious as to the detour, if still a little jarred.
"Because Zirc is the best bet for getting anywhere with the stubborn pieces of shale up here, and since she is- was part of the blue court, it's best for her to try to make deals with blue court gems." She spelt out, practically on the verge of patronising. Though Rhodonite could be seen sending a half-glare towards her, Pery took no heed, likely being the subject of that expression or worse from both friend and foe alike. "Besides… defective or failed gems don't tend to stay alive for very long after the white court finds them. Hard to make deals with the dead." She said, voice suddenly laced with bitter sorrow and contempt as she looked up to the skyscrapers, eyes narrowed and cursing every corrupt stain living within those pristine towers in her line of sight.
Despite the likelihood that no one there was of the white court, she still answered the folly-filled call of blaming the next closest thing to the real cause of her distaste, if only for a moment before she cut herself short. She sighed, looking back to her make-do security detail for a second and took in their newly pitied expressions before waving her hand at them to follow as she turned forwards.
Grimacing, she caught sight of the mess that was formed from a loose wall of still substantial boulders and thousands of rusted shacks rising out of the dust behind it in the distance. She had tread in places like these for years, but, after a certain point, it never became any less difficult. She always had to be wary of spiteful eyes that were constantly searching for the smallest justification to brand someone like her as a scape-statue, all so they had someone to blame and vent their problems on.
There was a loose sense of community that bonded all of the broken warriors within the slums through their daily woes, but that was as far as it extended. Beyond that, any outsiders, even the rare few people who came from the megalopolis above, were treated with nothing but suspicion at best, and violence at worst.
The two behind her may have had the crust, but her mind was cut clear. They were novices, and while their soldierly physiques would certainly be useful in deterring any would-be muggers or extortion squads, she knew she was still the veteran tasked to guide them into the sordid and sprawling slums then back out again in a single piece. She only hoped they had more sense and self-control than what she came to expect of many of the lower castes of soldiers. Else, their presence might cause more issues than they solved.
For a moment she wondered just how Rose did it, surviving up here and bringing everyone she guided unscathed with how non-confrontational she often would be and how close her visage was to the most deeply vilified traitor in their kind's history. 'Then again, not everyone who came to the rebellion liked The Rose's ideas at first. Maybe it's a rose quartz thing; being able to convince their enemies.'
No sooner than she had finished thinking did she approach the line of boulders at the doorstep of the shanty settlement, her focus now drifting even further to erring on the side of precaution by making a few final preparations. "I know you've got weapons and all, but don't go brandishing them everywhere. Keep them down to your sides and we should be good. Also, you might want to hide that with something - best not to raise any questions." She added, pointing to the black symbol on Bolt's makeshift chestplate with an undercurrent of self-annoyance in her voice as she mentally swore, now remembering exactly what she had forgotten to take with her in the rush to leave the settlement.
She considered what to do to hide it without any sort of paint or hiding taking away the chestpiece, as he still needed it to disguise his decidedly distinguishing top half. After a few seconds she scooped up a handful of dust from the floor with the intent of covering it over with the gritty substance, only to give up on that as she quickly realised how easily it would fall off.
Seeing a quick, if slapdash way to improve on her thought process, Bolt hummed pensively before replying. "Perhaps if I add this." He said, setting aside the cloth over his mouth.
Then, after gathering a large pile of dust in his hands, he mixed it with a few wads of normal spit, creating an unappealing muddy mixture that he smeared thoroughly from the middle where the symbol was and going up along the left and right sides, just below shoulder level. This was done in random, broad strokes with two thin coats to make it appear as natural as possible. Once done, he wrapped the cloth around his mouth again and looked to Pery to hear her verdict.
"That… works." She said slowly, not knowing how to feel aside from appreciating the strange ingenuity. "Okay, now take these. It ain't much, not anymore at least, but it should be enough to hide your more… organic features."
On that note, she summoned various pieces of her own personal set of armour from her tool, dusting it off after she did to remove all that had collected on it from its long stint of standing untouched within her garage. Overall, the collection of gear included a helmet, gauntlets with spaulders in a single piece and a pair of separate greaves with the boots attached. Thankfully, the set was not composed of entire solid pieces, but rather a thick, black synthetic fibre inner layer with tightly clumped hexagonal plates of scuffed and cracked photoreactive metal welded on top - each of which was the size of an average palm and remained silvery in their inactive state.
As to the rest of the armour, the chestplate, pauldrons and tasset were deemed unnecessary, as he already had items covering these, and that it might tear after having to pull them up so far before they were in position. Though the two were similar in height, for now, Bolt's more quartz-like form meant that the stretch that the type of armour allowed was vital in letting even these few pieces she thought would fit do so.
As he donned her old stealth suit, Pery could not help but smirk as she remembered the deeds she did while within its holds, even if now it would be useless without all of its components or with the damage it had endured. Whilst the others gained all the glory by fighting at the forefront, she slipped behind enemy lines, sabotaging everything from field communications and war infrastructure to marching on the ocean floor for weeks on end to plant charges on the Earth Galaxy Warp itself - thrice. 'Stars knows how many reinforcements I saved those granite-heads from having to fight. Shame the clods always repaired what I wrecked...'
Suddenly, the smile dropped from her face, memories of who she once was unwelcomingly welling up from buried depths. While some of it did remain to this day, she despised the copious amounts of untempered impertinence her old self possessed, remembering the ill results of the frustration she felt when the places she sabotaged were repaired, and of the ensuing extreme lengths she would go to on consecutive missions to the same places to make sure they were out of commission. Forever.
Before she received a stern reminder of what the rebellion truly fought for, she often extended that wrath to her fellow technicians, setting charges on their work stations as she slipped away, silently blaming them for being too foolish to abandon the loyalist war effort. Only later, after reflecting on the utter terror she felt when defecting, did she see the error of her ways, realising they too late their actions amounted simply to doing their jobs - just as she once did - to avoid the wrath of their superiors.
Yet, greatest of all her regrets was the act which led to her receiving that reprimand in the first place.
Feeling her arm grow restless and a sickened crackling grow in the gemstone on her left brow, in contrast her face grew stark and unmoving for a time as what was nearly her most tremendous crime, like an eternal trial she was forced to endure again and again, replayed in her mind. And unlike all others, it was not a crime merely under the skewed lens of Imperial justice, but from all perspectives. Now including her own.
Horrified, she remembered the all but sadistic smile she had under that visored helmet as she, almost lovingly, embraced the casing of the device next to her and discussed its potency with the small audience of rebel cell leaders who watched. It was far beyond anything she had created before, and perhaps since. Formerly, she believed it was to be her magnum opus, and that it would grant her an eternal place in the rebellion's core. For in her mind it was supposed the first of many that could have utterly erased that Galaxy Warp - and far, far more - ending the war in a few, devastating strokes.
Once, the metal at her fingertips radiated warmth, warmth that harboured her hopes for freedom. But now… now that she had all the eons she could ever hope for and more to look back to be contrite for even having constructed such a thing, the sensation gained a new deathly cold as she relived the moment anew - the consequences still being hammered deeper into her psyche despite the fact she reformed her ways quick enough before finding an opportune time to deploy it.
"A tight fit, but it will do." He said diplomatically, looking down at the awkwardly fitting armour as he equipped the helmet and took his pickaxe off of the ground. Though he would need to move with more tact to not risk any tearing, he was still grateful for the curtain to cover his identity, especially with what happened the previous time he was marked out.
Coughing a single time as she escaped the ceaseless suffocation of her mind's tides, she found the will to dispose of those memories for now as his response brought her back to the present. Though it would be far longer, if at all, before her regrets decayed, she was still grateful for the temporary reprieve. "No problem." She addressed him individually before looking at both of them in general. "Okay though, remember everything I told you." She said, a tone of finality ringing her words as she took them inside.
It was contradictory to arm and armour him when going into there, where such an act would sow massive distrust. But at the same time it was a dangerous position to be in the focus of so many lost soldiers. So many with strength to use, but without orders nor roles they have been left to stew in the depths of idleness and destitution.
With or without the armour he would still be at the centre of attention, that much was assured, but at the very least their reactions would be nowhere near as severe.
Through desolate doorways, in the streets and skulking within the alleyways, the haunting glassy or buzzing static-filled eyes of the refuse of society stared back at the three. Rubies, quartzes, even a solitary agate, all of them almost twitching at the sight of the outsiders. A number of them even held crude weaponry in the form of long pieces of metal, or summoned their own if they still could, all in a clear gesture of their loathing.
Heavy as the mounting pressure on their shoulders were when a hundred or more sightlines gazed at and painted targets on their backs, they moved without giving them any notice, though not without significant will backing their barely held together indifference. For the new two, each step was a monumental effort, for their mortality had never been so tangible than here, where they were far from any help and had but a single guide to shield them from potentially thousands of aggressors.
For a time, in spite of the barely contained hatred shown towards them, the two felt a pang of sympathy for those here. Those who once laboured ceaselessly in their duty to the state before injury forced them into being the dregs of civilisation, doomed to be looked down upon by the ones who previously enjoyed the bounties of security and protection provided by their service.
And yet they trudged onwards, following Pery's example of professional apathy as they moved past the twisting and turning alleyways of the far more disorganized settlement and into its centre.
The air here was far less choked, as it appeared that those here - despite the non-existent building regulations - had the foresight to leave some open space for a sort of communal area. It even seemed as if it was actually maintained, for the dust or scraps which lined the ground elsewhere were wholly absent within the circular area, which was about fourty feet across and then surrounded by hovels after that distance.
"Her place should be… aha." Pery said as she spotted a single dreary shack out of many others that was perhaps larger enough than the rest to be considered a bungalow. "Alright, you two, stay out here and keep out of trouble. I'll be in there for a few minutes at most, any more or if you hear any fighting - then that's when you come in - got that?"
After receiving a nod from both of them, she turned around and entered. Unassuming and rundown as both the outside and inside of the structure was - with barely more than a few crudely carved pieces of stone furniture and heaps of barely organised materials strewn either on said furniture or on the floor - she knew to approach the one who lived here with far more discretion than anyone else. And not because their temper was easily roused.
Rising from her armchair, the Amethyst waiting within stomped over to confront Pery with their static filled eyes bearing down on her. Though the height disparity was not all too significant, within four or five inches at most, the difference in bulk was definitely the opposite. Even if their hardlight form flickered and buzzed from ancient damage, the techie was not so confident in her chances in a one on one.
After all, there was a reason why they survived so long after sustaining so much, and she was not willing to find out why.
But she remained undeterred, having played this game all too many times before. "Cut-5JQ, I'm here to pick up a shipment of heatproof plating. Have you got it ready for me?" She said plainly, not caring for the display. Though it was often that newcomers were intimidated into paying more for the same amount on their first few independent trips, she was not so fresh out of the ground.
Nodding, she raised her wrist to her face and opened her multitool and scrolled down the list, muttering as she did. "Heatproof, heatproof, heat- says here the manifest for that was agreed on with a Blue Zircon." 5JQ intoned, pausing to hone in on the point before continuing. "I might be cracked, but you sure as stars ain't a Zircon."
"No, but you know I work with her."
"Hmph, fine. But I still need proof." At that, wanting to speed things along and avoid altercation, Pery complied and brought up a copy of the document of Zircon's transaction then sent it to her tool. 5JQ spent a time comparing it with the original copy in her possession before giving her a hard nod. "Looks good to me." She said, closing the holoscreen and stepping out of her way so she could make her way to one of the piles of goods. "Can never look too closely at these things."
"Fair, but I thought this was supposed to be actual plating, not broken up scraps." Pery muttered, looking unimpressed as she inspected the materials with the green light of a scanner to make sure it was totally pure and had no other junk had mixed in.
"Tough. The Zircon said the same thing, then we negotiated lower sums. I'm not going any lower."
Standing up, she faced them. "Yeah yeah, I get it, the deal's already been made. Here then, take your payment." She said placatingly, if still sounding dissatisfied as she summoned a rather large sum of twenty one wrist-mounted tools one by one out of her own device's pocket dimension along with a string to hang and tie them all together.
"...nineteen, twenty, twenty one. Good." 5JQ said, cracking a greased smile. "Since I'm feeling okay today, I might just help you move this all out… for a fee." She added, setting down the string of tools on a block of stone to her side and eyeing the eight tonnes of material at the back of the shack.
Grumbling, but otherwise knowing there would be no negotiating for the armed duo outside to come in and help instead because of one arbitrary reason or another, she soon took the easy route out and took out one more tool to begrudgingly hand over. In truth she knew it was just to squeeze more payment, but her patience and the sensitivity of the situation being what it was, she knew there were truly only two options available - do all the work herself and spend more time in this shellhole, or pay and get out their way before anything goes awry.
"Alright then, a deal's a deal." 5JQ said, her smile growing ever so slightly wider and a tinge of smugness was cast over it as she scooped up a load of the scraps and walked outside with them, with Pery following behind her and carrying a, relatively more humble, pile in her own arms.
Dropping the veritable hill of salvage she managed to scoop up with a resounding cascade of clangs, 5JQ saw the two who stood at the front door tense up, even further on edge at her presence. "I see you've got a few fresh faces here." She said to Pery before looking at them, appraising. "So, who are you two?"
"Rhodonite." She said evenly despite being burdened with sudden alertness of everyone who had been spectating her and Bolt, the weight of that feeling only growing now that 5JQ turned their focus to him. A tightness strained every joint of her body, keeping her facing forwards and leaving her barely able to view what would happen next.
"H… She's a… smokey aura quartz." Pery answered for him, mouth dry.
"Another piece of schist fusion and a fracked up non-standard quartz huh? So, which hole did you crawl out of?" She said, leaning towards him.
Rather than dignifying any real tangible response, he only merely raised his heels off the ground, bringing his face closer to theirs as he matched her appraising glare from within the helmet's blackened visor with a glower in return.
Snapping to attention, Pery and Rhodonite watched with growing dread as the stare down between the two opposing blocks of granite grated against eachother, the brashness 5JQ displayed to any outsider and the unwavering stubbornness of Bolt when those he had given his loyalty to were threatened doing nothing to help matters.
However, after a nerve-wracking few seconds, beyond all expectations 5JQ's glare softened into ardent cheer. "Hah! Finally, one of you runts that's got some grit. Definitely better than last time with that runaway coral." She said, moving her head back away from face while still looking at him, as if she was waiting for something, though after a further few seconds of silence she spoke again. "Maybe you've got a mutie here, probably another reason why she's with you." She waved off before going back inside to haul the rest of the goods.
It was a further fifteen minutes they had to spend, deep in the centre of the slums, before the goods were all moved outside and they were able to begin getting ready to depart, and in that time, the mood had improved as the previous uncertainty melted away, if only in a few small streams at a time. Yet, in spite of this there remained inevitable conflict.
"No need to get your rocks tumbled over everyone and everything you piece of crust." Pery muttered as 5JQ walked out of hearing range and back into their hut for the last time.
Once they were gone, she began taking the larger pieces and folding them over for simpler storage both now for transport and later when smelting. This came along with the added benefit of making it far easier to place into the forge to be remade into usable plates, for with its durable and heatproof nature, even in this ruined state, any part of processing being rendered even marginally easier would be a stars-send as far as she was concerned.
As he watched the various metal bits being broken up, a thought came to Bolt. "We came across plenty of scrap on the way here," He said matter of factly, "so how come none of you scavenge it for yourself?"
"We do. Sometimes." Pery said as she folded another vaguely cylindrical roll. "Except most of the time we're too far away and they get the best pieces first, so we've got no other option but to trade with them." Lowering her voice not to gather any unwanted attention, she continued her answer.
"I guess I should be taking in a few of these then?" Rhodonite said, putting the pickaxe to her lower pair of arms and taking up one of the finished rolls with her upper pair of arms. A glow emerged from the pearl at what would be her sternum, the light encompassing the entire sheet and briefly converting it into light before dissipating, signifying it had been teleported within.
"Yep, if you could put some of the bigger pieces in your pocket dimension that'd be great." She replied, handing her another sheet to store.
In time, Bolt joined in with the packing too as the staring crowd dispersed back into the tangle of the slums, the atmosphere noticeably cooling as a great tension was wafted away by their departure. Though, the two impromptu guards' weapons never remained too far away should anyone try anything unwise. Aside from that, it was another half an hour or so of rolling up sheets, and while the quality of work was not the best, it served its purpose in the end and they were stored for transport without issue.
Satisfied that her side of the trip had been fulfilled, Pery took out the nine remaining extra tools and another thick string. "Here, take this. You and Rhodonite can go out and buy whatever it is you need for yourselves." She said, hanging the devices on it and giving the collection to Bolt. But mere moments later, she took in a sharp intake and delivered a reprimand in a harsh whisper. "Also, NEVER do that again. You're lucky that 5JQ's mind is still more intact than her gemstone. Not all the people here are so sane…"
Despite his honourbound character, he understood that Pery's motivations were ultimately in line with his, if walking the opposite path of avoiding confrontation to arrive at the same destination. "I understand. I will keep that in mind for the next time." He said, seeing no productivity to be had in arguing his point of view he only nodded in compliance as he took the goods from her.
Then, just as he was about to go to a scrap vendor, the mood in the air shifted again. Suddenly, a common salvage vendor on the opposite side of the slum's centre rose from their sedentary seating, the amethyst grabbing a metal pipe as she did before marching towards his direction.
But, just as he was about to prepare a retaliatory strike, he stayed his hand as his enhanced hearing allowed him to make out the quiet but unmistakable cacophony of hundreds of boots, all marching in unison and at a rapid pace to create the striking display. After swivelling his head around he pinpointed the source to be coming from the far side of the slums, at least relative from where they entered.
He turned back, and sure enough hundreds of former soldiers were on the move in the same direction to meet whatever was coming, all of them armed with whatever piece of sturdy enough scrap they could find that may pass as a weapon.
"What's going on?" Rhodonite said, her tone a mix of confusion and perturbation as a seemingly hostile force passed by, paying no heed to the three as they instead took arms against an as of yet unseen foe.
Suddenly, after the sound of a number of crashes emanated from her house, 5JQ re-emerged from it with an enormous sack balanced on her shoulders, hastily tied down with rope going from its top going down and around to crisscross her chest before two loose ends were held in her hands. Though startling the three again with her presence, "Crackdown," was the only warning she muttered before walking past them, and as soon as she did she broke out into full pelt, sprinting into the sprawling edifices of scrap and disappearing.
As the unified stomp of marching broke down into a dozen different dins, every single one of which was now closing in on the area from similarly many different directions. Sensing the miasma of imminent death and their decisions tempered by a sense of self-preservation built up over the centuries, not all of the inhabitants took up arms against the oncoming storm. These individuals understood the futility of both their peers' actions and convincing them of their folly, so instead they elected to follow 5JQ's lead, taking their valuables before making a desperate escape through the gaps in the oncoming formation before they could be closed.
Only now comprehending the Quartz's words as she saw and heard the beginnings of a last stand, Pery turned to the two, a look of wide-eyed urgency stretched thin on her features. "Frack, frack, FRACK!" She hissed through clenched teeth. "Hunker down somewhere. NOW!" She said, frantically tapping her multitool in the vain hope of summoning their rides.
But just as they were about to run away, Rhodonite turned back. "Wait, why aren't you coming with us!?" The fusion exclaimed, wondering why in the stars Pery had not begun to run, but of all things, instead stood still right in the open where the crackdown squad could see them.
Looking as if something within her cracked, she snapped. "BECAUSE the fracking SIGNAL is already a load of SCHIST this far away!" Sighing, she paused for a moment, realising that anger towards them would do no one good at this moment. So instead, she now gave them context so they could understand her actions. "I have to stay here - it's my best chance to call the robonoids to us. We'll be as good as a pile of shards if we try escaping any other way." She all but begged them, her panicked rage simmering into frantic frustration then into confusion in the same few moments as the marching suddenly died down.
However, just as it seemed that the slums were well and truly surrounded, the noise of striding feet stopped...
And the screams began.
A crackling thunderclap was the only prelude to the onslaught as hundreds of destabilisers all came to life at once. War cries of defiance were met with ruthless rebuttal as the cold discipline and weaponry of the crackdown squad let them strike down the hastily formed lines of defence before swarming in without resistance.
In the midst of it all, a great red light was spawned, solidifying as over a dozen rubies all came together into one being. Fuelled by spite, a titanic fusion was formed, the titan perhaps rivalling a diamond in size and crushing buildings in their wake with every step they took to the front...
...only for a blue aura to unceremoniously lift them from the ground before a spear destabiliser was thrown at them like a javelin, impacting their back and cutting a deep gash from which yellow lines of energy radiated until they wrapped around the giant's entire form.
Their body broke apart in chunks, each of the pieces red on the surface but covered in an ill-looking lambent glow within that remained present for little more than a few seconds before the ruined bits of hardlight exploded in clouds of red. Left behind within were only the damaged gemstones of the unfortunate rubies as the aura as it shrunk down, doubtless taking the stones to the unknown wielder of whatever tool cast it.
As the clatter of battle grew ever closer, Bolt breathed, realising the magnitude of the situation and taking a second to internalise how rapidly it devolved into street clashes as he listened to Pery growl with every failed attempt. "Is this what unfailing service to The Empire earns you?" He asked no one in particular, sounding simultaneously distant and disgusted as he brought himself back into the shack. "Servitude in life... only to be slaughtered after surviving strife, and for what?"
Another cry of anguished desperation took his attention, but he resisted the urge to peer outside. "Piece of shale. Work stars-damn it!" He heard Pery say as she whacked her knuckles on the tool in a short fit of anger, her efforts only being further stymied by her lack of a proper control desk and the cobbled-together nature of the repairs on the robonoids.
Rhetorical as the question was, Rhodonite could not help but mumble an answer as the words sat heavy on her mind. "Yes, yes it is. And thank the stars I left…"
She trailed off, thinking back to the many displays of macabre extravagance she saw in her long service, things that she or the others had deemed too much to ever tell him. Of the living walls. Of the singing statues. Nothing to say of the weapons and technology powered by what were, in essence, corpses of the betrayed dead. People, either created solely for this purpose or once loyal subjects, now all degraded to what amounted as little more than passing amusements or literal tools after their gemstones were installed in these structures, the consciousnesses inside permanently dulled after thorough sanding and polishing.
If anything, after all she had learnt, death was mercy compared to these other fates.
"Hahaha, fracking yes! ETA in one minute," Pery shouted out to the shack shakily, fear still trembling in her voice but hope eeking out a place also, "we'll be out of this schist-"
Briefly looking out of the shanty structure again, he saw her at last allow herself to run for where, only to then watch in horror as the aristocrat leading the purge at last showed themselves. Quickly wiping any semblance of the growing hope that once was on all of their faces in a single fell swoop, they grabbed her with the gravity wand and brought the unfortunate techie face to face with them.
"An intact peridot?" She said, visibly surprised as she raised an eyebrow and a smirk. "How interesting. I wonder how it got here."
Diminutive and flying on wings of water, she was easily distinguished as being of the blue court on account of their garment's colours. Unlike the more practical clothes of the soldiers that trailed soon after her, she had on an attire that announced authority where her size did not.
A simple, yet so soulless suit over a white collared shirt along with a dark blue cravatte atop it and a short skirt of similar colour under it, below all of which were an equally uninspired pair of black low heels and white socks. Last of which was her countenance, completing the set with a signature look of contemptuous smugness that chafed on the minds of even the most patient individuals who subject to it for long enough.
But Pery was nowhere near the most patient person. "Yes, amazing, did you also notice that space is black and the ground is GREY!?" She exclaimed, trying to aim a green beam of energy at the gemstone under her captor's eye.
But it was to no effect, for the moment she tried to move her wrist to position one of the soldiers below her brought up their destabiliser spear and rammed it right through her abdomen, the crackling tip of the weapon emerging on the other side as her hardlight body collapsed and exploded, leaving her gemstone behind.
The object floated helplessly within the now shrunken aura before it was brought into her hand along with the multitool. "Tsk tsk. These gems... always so arrogant." She chided with false weariness, bubbling and teleporting them away along with the device as she did, likely to get another peridot to pry it for its secrets for evidence in court.
Bringing herself back indoors, Rhodonite racked her mind for any possible escape. Then, thinking quickly, she set down her pickaxe, knelt down on the floor and cupped her hands around her pearl, the stone shining with a pink tinted, bright white light. "Get in." She whispered to him.
"What of Pery?" He challenged, for he had not been one to easily shirk off his loyalties from those who had even just begun to earn it. After all, while the techie's words towards them often left much to be desired, their actions spoke louder, and thus far had not. "We cannot leave her out there, to be taken!" He added, clearly not yet informed about the inner workings of bubbling a gem.
"But think about it! She's already been taken, and even if she wasn't, what are we supposed to do against that?" She said, letting on a harsh whisper as she tried not to be heard by the hostiles outside. "And you're the only organic on this planet, after last time, what do you think will happen to us when that upper-crust schist confiscates your armour and sees you!?" Sighing at her rashness, she spent a precious moment to let her mind clear. "Sorry, but just please, listen to me," Rhodonite said, looking to him, both pairs of eyes begging and despondent, "I'm trying to get us out of this."
Huffing a deep and sorrowful sigh as he saw no other way, he conceded and dipped his forehead down near her gemstone. The glimmer enveloped the rest of his body, turning him and whatever he had on him into a mass of amorphous mass of light that was soon absorbed.
Hyperventilating, Rhodonite took up her pickaxe once more and ran to the far side of the room, beating a hole into the scrap with all due haste before she slipped out into the tangle of alleyways and streets, storing her pick in the pocket dimension moments later to save valuable weight.
Minor as the temptation previously was to turn back and try to get on the machines, it was terminated in its entirety when behind her the buzz of the oncoming robonoids that, ironically, were meant to save the was quickly silenced as the clatter of steel striking stone was heard. Disheartening as it was, she ignored it, pressing the advance instead.
Though her eyes may have remained on the road, her mind was partitioned to her gemstone too, the cargo within being beyond precious to her, her pace rising at the thought of the weighted burden she loaded onto herself. For all his faults, Bolt was one of them from the moment he emerged - an outcast, an off colour. Wretched in the eyes of The Empire but dear to her and the others. In return, he never failed to provide, whether it be simple, almost silly joys or bravado to confront those who spat on their existence.
And so with that, her will to bring him back safely superseded all else.
Her legs were practically restless as she prepared to almost drift on the next corner in the rudimentary roads, and as it came she bent to the side, sending her centre of gravity off for a moment to spin sharply and take the turn. Then, she raised herself back up, quickly finding it suspicious that she had risen far higher than her height. But scarcely a nanosecond later, dread and despair's deadly twin grasps clasped her like a vice as the truth sunk in when a crushing force overtook her body and a field of eerie blue surrounded her.
As she was hoisted from the floor her legs stopped kicking, and yet, the fire in her spirit was not so easily put out.
Flickering, it continued to fight against darkness, darkness which not too long ago she would have let take over in an instant. Fuelled by the courage from his echoing words and hardened by her recent experiences, Rhodonite fought against these emotions even as she was twisted around, violently and without care to her wellbeing, to face the haughty noble whose whims she had once more been tied to after being free for millennia.
"Now this is interesting! An off colour, here?" Aquamarine said, hovering above with the gravity wand in her hand mockingly poised downwards as she chuckled at the sight of her latest captive. "Looks as if the wash-outs here will have more to attest for in court than mere incompetence.
'You…' She thought, though too paralyzed to let out anything more than a nigh murderous glare. While never having seen this Aquamarine in person, she knew more than enough about them from her oldest friend to despise them with passion.
"Guards, poof and bubble her away." She said, clapping her spare hand onto the bottom of the palm of the other that held the wand.
Pain. Even as it surged through her form, preluding its collapse, her glare remained. Even as her mind faded into black, her resolution remained. Even as her body exploded into dust, leaving her gemstones to the mercy of her captor, her will remained.
A single, final thought before oblivion.
'No more running.'