The three women stood side by side, huddled around each other as they each stared at the huge screen displayed on the wall in front of them. A large pink diamond-shaped gem was plastered on the screen.

The shortest one of the group clicked a button on a small remote she was holding. The gem spun around once and rotated down, showing the circular top of the gem, the point facing away from them. A few moments of looking at the diamond from that angle and she clicked the button again. The gem flipped back 180 degrees, the point now facing towards them. Then she clicked the button again and the gem flipped up, going back to it's original position, showing it's whole profile from top to bottom as the diagram rotated slowly on the screen.

There was a whistle from the tallest one. "Now that baby can definitely go for at least five point two billion dollars." she said to the group.

The short one nodded. "And it'll be ours for the taking." she turned to the slimmer one of the group. "Looks like you'll finally be living that Malibu Barbie life, P."

The girl scoffed teasingly. "Well it's about damn time."

The short one pressed another button at the top of the remote and the screen blinked off. Then she took a few steps forward and spun around on her toes. Her lavender hair flying up as she did. "Now, as you know. This will not be like all of our other missions. We are talking about stealing a pink diamond here. The absolute rarest gem of them all. That gem will have more guards and security cameras than all of the other gems that we've already stolen combined." she looked at the tallest one, then to the slimmer one. "But we'll nab it." then a hint of self admiration crept into her voice just as a guileful smile swept across her face. "Just like the others. And we'll-"

P raised her pale arm in the air. The purple haired one sighed. "What is it, Pearl?" she switched to the full name.

"Sorry..Amethyst.. But, I was just curious. Where will the gem be taken to?"

"It is still unknown. It could either be Hong Kong, Singapore or Dubai. But right now, it's currently being held in Los Angeles where it's being treated with glow to preserve the gem."

"Ah, so that's why you didn't want us to just take it back then when we were already in Cal."

"Exectamente. And while we could just easily steal it once the treatment is over, it would be wise of us to still hold back." she held up a hand to silence Pearl. "because it very well may undergo another glow treatment after it arrives at it's destination." Pearl got her question answered and so, remained quiet.

Then it was the tall one's turn to interrupt just as Amethyst was about to continue with her speech. She raised a muscular, fit arm in the air. Amethyst sighed again. She titled her head. "Garnet?"

"Do we have anyone stationed at any of the three potential locations?"

"Iolite is currently in Dubai and Star Garnet." she took a quick glance at her Rolex. "should be boarding her second flight to Hong Kong in another three hours. And as of yet, we're still in debate on whether to send in Orange Fire Opal or another Crystal Gem to Singapore."

Garnet only nodded. Satisfied with Amethyst's answer, she too, went back to being quiet.

"Now, anymore questions?" she looked at the two. They did, in fact, have more questions, but they decided to save them until later, not wanting to interrupt their boss' talk again. She waited for a few moments until she said, "Good." with a slight bob of her chin.

She straighted her back and squared her shoulders, taking her first step as she paced towards the left with her hands fixed behind her back. "Now. With everything going underway, we can continue with our plans until another couple of weeks, then wrapping everything up very soon, no later than the end of this month." she turned and marched steadily in a line. "It may be three of us.. or more who will go and retrieve the pink diamond."

"Three or more?" Amethyst cut her eye at Pearl and she covered her mouth. She stopped and turned around to face the slim, pale woman. "Yes." she said coarsely. "Is that a problem, Pearl?" She didn't say anything.

Amethyst snapped back around and continued her course back towards Garnet. "See, I've been thinking you two, that with the biggest heist yet, we may very well be facing one of our BIGGEST, I hesitate to use the word 'challenge' because no heist is truly challenging for us, but, it won't be a walk in the park is what I'm getting at."

The two nodded in affirmative. Then a hand was raised. Amethyst looked up. "Pearl? Again."

"Are you.. suggesting that we recruit another person to our team?"

Amethyst slowed her pace as she walked back up. She raked a hand through her hair. "It." she strained out. "is an idea." she scratched the back of her head, ruffling up her locks before dropping her hand back down to her side. Her other hand on her hip. She kept looking straight, not turning to look at Pearl. "We need that diamond.. And I just CAN not risk our heist being compromised in any way." then she slowly turned her neck towards Pearl. "We may need an extra person to get all of this done. And since everyone else will be busy on other missions, at that time, we will not be able to pull anyone from any of our groups." then she turned sharply to face the two women. "We'll need to be incredibly thorough and careful with who we choose." she said with such authority in her voice. "We haven't recruited ANYONE in over fifteen years."

Garnet raised her hand and Amethyst gave her a nod to go on. "But how exactly would we recruit anyone? Just about everyone on the streets is weak and the neighborhood is filled with nothing but eyes and ears.. We cannot blow our cover."

"You're correct, Garnet. But, I already have a few guys in mind.. And us three will be keeping a close eye on them before we make our move." A short chuckle escaped her. "But for right now? Let's just focus on our planning. And everything else, should fall neatly. into. place." Another chuckle escaped her. Then another. Until she was cackling in the room. Garnet and Pearl looked at each other before cracking nervous smiles. Garnet was the first one to break, slowly chuckling, then Pearl until soon the other two formed their own cackle, joining Amethyst's. The three laughed and cackled in unison for a full thirty seconds until Amethyst stopped abruptly, the other two still in their fake, fits of laughter.

"Okay, that's enough!" she ordered the two. And they stopped on cue, shutting their mouths tightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys, so if you have AO3, you can read more of this story over there. /works/21593314/chapters/51486190

Just delete the space between org and the /

ooooor put The Road to Beach City on the search tab.

It's a pretty long fic with over a million words already. Hope you guys will enjoy it though! It's going to be a rough, angsty ride. 8) Alright, guys. peace!