Chapter Fifteen - The Turn
"Peridot… Please," Steven pleaded.
"Intruders!" One of the Rubies (the one with a gemstone eye) said. The little red aliens entered combat stances, their eyes glossy and lacking focus.
More importantly, the black and orange drones that flanked them were now fully prepared to go into battle. They awaited only a command. Steven grimaced, his gaze flicking away from Peridot, to the prisoners behind her. Five still hadn't stirred, but Ruby was practically rolling her cage around like a hamster ball, shouting a string of curses in Gem Speak. (Steven could understand them all, and honestly found them warranted.) Sapphire, meanwhile, seemed to be staring intently past Steven, to where the rest of his friends were still hiding.
"You can com-" Steven started to say.
That caused Peridot to snap.
"Nyergh-! Stop trying to tell me what to do!" She burst out.
The drones reacted instantly, and Steven was blasted back by several lasers, his shield dissipating as he was flung across the room. From there, the other teens burst into action. Jake was the first to respond, pouncing out on all fours and slicing through the air in a swift glide towards the nearest robot. He tore grooves through its armor with his infallible claws, and brought it down underneath 9 feet of red reptilian muscle. Ben was right on Jake's tail. First, he zoomed over to Steven, and dropped to a kneel next to him.
"Steven! Are you OK?" Ben as XLR8 asked. Steven groaned as he picked himself up, rubbing his head.
"Yeah… I'm alright- ouch," he said.
"So much for the diplomatic approach," Ben said, looking back towards where Jenny had now joined the fray as well.
The white-chrome robot was hovering a few feet in the air, shooting blue beams of energy from the palms of her hands at any drone that dared to approach her. She kept a steady pace, her eyes devoid of emotion, focused on the task in a robotic manner. She was aiming for the commanders. She was aiming for Peridot. However, just as she shoved two destroyed drones aside and swooped in to strike the small green gem, another large robot jumped in the way, grabbing the XJ-9 by the arms and spinning her around. Then, with a mighty, hydraulic heave, the drone sent Jenny flipping end over end, until she smashed loudly into the far wall, stones crumbling to the ground around her.
"Jenny!" Jake shouted, as he ducked underneath a blast of orange lasers. He used his tail to trip up some of the smaller drones, but he was being pushed back by the constant onslaught.
"I suspected that the Terran defenders would send another team to try and rescue their fallen comrades," Peridot lectured, as she watched some of the drones pin Jake to the ground. The others began to advance on Ben, Steven, and Jenny. "I didn't expect them to send the… Offspring, though. Not that it matters."
"Peridot!" Steven shouted, starting to move towards her, despite the battalion of drones. "Please… I trusted you before-"
The green gem visibly flinched. Then, she asked a question in genuine confusion.
"Why?"
Steven's heart soared. He saw the faintest, smallest glimmer of hope. Somewhere, deep inside, Peridot was questioning everything. Her nature, her loyalty. She was teetering on the brink of light and dark. He just needed to gently guide her in the right direction… But how?
"Wait! You're trying to distract and manipulate me again!" Peridot suddenly growled, gripping the sides of her head. "Grr… Get rid of them!"
As another hail of laser fire came down, Steven and Ben dashed to opposite sides.
"You sure she really wants to talk, Steven?" Ben called to him. "Maybe its time to like, I don't know… Kick her butt?"
There was a blast of white-hot flames as Jenny kicked off of the wall and blasted her way through the group of drones that had Jake pinned. Gratefully, the dragon pulled himself up to his hind legs. Jenny, then, started to kite around the other remaining drones.
"Well… You're not a pyronite," a voice said behind Jake. "But I guess you'll have to do."
Jake whipped around, and found himself staring down a quintet of small, fiery red warrior women. Each of them had a gem inlaid in their body. The one who had spoken had her gem in her arm. Unlike the others, whose eyes were sunken and vacant, there was almost (almost) a glimmer of something like excitement in this gem's eyes. Jake glanced from these Rubies, to the one in the cage, and then back. They were maybe up to his scaly knee, but the way they held themselves made it seem like they could hold their own in a fight. He had to be careful. The dragon warily shifted into a defensive combat stance.
"Rubies!" The seemingly lead gem said. "Let's do it!"
"HyaaaaA!" Came the chorus of replies. Then, to Jake's astonishment, the five Rubies grabbed onto each other shoulders, and began to glow a brilliant reddish-white light.
"Ayo, what the juice?" Jake shouted in surprise, stumbling back a bit unceremoniously.
As he looked on, the Rubies physical forms began to vanish, and then meld and morph together, in a massive, amorphous blob of light. Then, there was something like a popping sound, and the light vanished. Jake's heart jumped into his throat. Standing in the place of the five original Rubies was now one, gigantic, 10 foot tall Ruby.
"WHAT?" Jake exclaimed, narrowly jumping out of the way as the MegaRuby smashed a fist down on the ground where he had been, leaving a small crater in the stone. "They get big?!"
"It's called fusion!" Steven said, as he floated over to Jake. The two of them squared off with the huge gem, and Jenny was dealing with the drones.
That left Peridot to Ben. With his super enhanced speed, he bolted across the room, narrowly avoiding several pitfalls along the way. He baseball slid underneath a drone that Jenny threw across the room, he had to stop on a dime to avoid being stepped on by the huge Ruby, and he had to run up and along the wall at one point to avoid a death beam. However, after a heart-racing encounter, Ben finally skidded to a stop in front of Peridot. The Gem had her limb enhancers set to combat mode, meaning that one of her arms sported a blade, and the other was a cannon of some kind. As Ben arrived, Peridot squinted.
"A kineceleran?" She said. Then, when Ben showed no signs of understanding her, she seemed to realize. "Ah. The Omnitrix, then."
"Sorry, green M&M. I'm not as keen on converting you as my buddy is," Ben said. Then, before she could react, he was dashing towards her. A flash of blue!
"Gack!" Peridot shouted, awkwardly swinging up her arm cannon and firing a reflexive shot. It went completely wide, and the blur of blue materialized into Ben right before her. He delivered a spinning roundhouse kick to her face, cracking her goggles, and sending her tumbling backwards.
"Hah!" Ben cheered, not noticing that Peridot had activated her robotic fingers and was pressing buttons on her wristcom. "Take that! Hey, wait, what're you-"
There was a low, droning sound. Ben looked around in confusion. Nothing seemed to have changed. The battle still raged behind him. However, a few seconds later he began to feel the effects of Peridot's little trick, as his feet started to lift slowly off of the ground.
"Woah… Woah, woah woah!" Ben shouted, as he began to float up and into the air.
Peridot then pressed another button, and there was a magnetic suctioning sound, as her enhanced boots seemed to attach her firmly to the ground. Then, she looked up at Ben, floating around, kicking his legs uselessly. The green gem cackled.
"Ha ha! I turned off the artificial gravity! Not so fast now, are you? Earth clod!" She shouted, taking aim with her cannon and shooting a hefty bolt of green energy at Ben.
It hit him solidly in the chest, and he blew backwards. Then, as he was pushing himself away from the wall he was now floating next to, Ben heard a low droning sound. Not good. He looked down at his chest, and in an acute moment of terror, realized that the hourglass shape there was blinking red. Seconds later, there was a flash of green, and Ben was suddenly defenseless. Peridot quirked an eyebrow as he transformed back.
"Lord Vilgax said you were a mere child… He expected you to be heavily guarded, back on the planet… Yet, you were foolish enough to bring it straight here."
Fear clutched Ben, and he suddenly felt even weaker than he had in the nightmares. There was nothing he could do. Peridot only pushed the point further, stalking forward, her cannon held lazily at her side. She was clearly leaning into the moment, but Ben almost got the sense that she was bluffing.
"You're too late, human," she spat the word 'human.' "If its any consolation, at least you didn't have to witness the destruction of your planet."
Ben looked from Peridot, to her charging hand cannon, to the giant Ruby that was swatting at Jenny and Jake as they flew overhead. The two of them had dealt with the small squad of drones handily, and were now focused on the floating giant. Finally, Ben's gaze returned to Peridot, but something behind her caught his attention.
Steven. His iconic red shirt caught Ben's eye, and he briefly watched as Steven floated stealthy through the air behind Peridot. He grabbed onto the hovering cage that contained the blue Sapphire, and she in turn seized the bars of her prison. They quickly turned to ice, which Steven broke as quietly as possible. Ben snapped his attention back to Peridot; he had to make sure she was distracted long enough for Ben to free Garnet.
"Who says your loser boss is gonna win?" Ben sneered. Peridot wrinkled her nose at him.
"Don't bluff," she said. "There's no tech you humans have that could resist Vilgax's new exo-suit."
"Wanna bet?" Ben said. "I've seen some pretty crazy stuff."
"What is wanabet?" Peridot said in confusion.
"Uh," Ben said, glancing down at the Omnitrix (which was still red) and Steven (who was halfway through freeing Ruby. "It's like, a marsupial."
"Mar-soupee uhl?" Peridot mimicked. Then, it dawned on her. "Tch- Wait! You're stalling for the Omnitrix to reset!"
From there, she swung her cannon up, aiming the beam at Ben, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach that accompanied the action. However, before the beam fired, a spinning pink disc slammed into her arm, deflecting the shot. Steven had thrown his shield, and knocked her blast harmlessly into the wall.
Not only that but the shield had also damaged her wristcom, reactivating the artificial gravity. Peridot spun around in surprise, and then threw up a mechanical arm to shield her eyes as there was a blast of bright white light. A melodious chime echoed out from this blast, and then when it faded, a large gem landed beside Steven.
Garnet had reformed.
"No!" Peridot snarled.
"Surrender, Peridot!" Steven said.
Peridot did no such thing, however, as Jake was suddenly thrown across the room, slamming into Ben and sending them both crashing into the wall. The MegaRuby had slapped him with the back of her hand, and sent him hurtling down like a swatted fly. Jenny, then was swiftly snatched up by the huge gem. As powerful as she was, she couldn't resist the enhanced power of the 5-gem fusion. Peridot grinned, but the grin melted as she turned to Steven. She saw fear and desperation in his eyes, and she faltered. She was reminded of another moment, some time ago… She had caused that fear. The same fear she was causing now.
The same fear that Vligax instilled in her.
"You clod! Don't you get it? The Cluster is out of our hands now… Even if… Grr, even if I wanted to stop it, there's no way we could," Peridot said. "We'd need-"
"The power of a Diamond. I know," Steven said. "But, didn't you say you were in contact with Yellow?"
Peridot snorted, turning away from Steven for a moment. The MegaRuby now stood passively, ignoring the struggling dragon, human, and android they now held in their hands.
"If you're asking why she won't help, I'm afraid you're pitifully uninformed," Peridot said. "Yellow Diamond wants the Cluster to form. She wants to forget about this whole planet, and be done with."
Garnet instead of charging into the fight, had set to making sure Agent Five was alright. He breathed, and mumbled, but he had suffered majorly at the hands of the combat drones. The fusion picked up the Glitch Tech, holding him close to her chest, and then turned to watch the conversation unfold between Steven and Peridot.
Truth be told, she was at her limit. The two of them had been separate for a long time, after leading an already dangerous mission, being poofed, and all of this almost directly after several months of hard trials and combat. The fusion, despite her near limitless stamina, was tired. Not only that… but something inside her knew. Steven needed this. He was ready, and he needed this. He could do it.
"Then what?" Steven asked. "You're branded a hero of Homeworld? They come pick you up in a golden Hand Ship and crown you captain?"
Peridot's expression darkened. Steven instantly knew he had overstepped a boundary.
"Sorry," he said, worried that she might resort to violence. "I just-"
"No, Steven," Peridot said. The three syllables left Steven stunned. She had said his name correctly, and in a calm fashion. She sounded exhausted. Defeated. The green gem sighed. "From your perspective, that's how you imagine the end of this scenario… I'd wager its due to the fantasy version of gem history you've been taught. I can't even blame you for that."
The gem turned to Steven. Her arm cannon was now hanging at her side.
"I'm expendable. I'm an Era 2 Peridot. We come cheap. We don't even have any of the special abilities of Era 1 gems. I… can't shapeshift. Or do anything magical, really. All we get are these," she held out her robotic hands. "Limb enhancers."
"But… After everything you've done, they've gotta see you're not just any Peridot," Steven suggested. "They'll come get you… Right?"
"No, Steven!" Peridot repeated, this time her voice trembling with anger. She was staring at the floor as she spoke. "You can't prove your worth on Homeworld! Every gem has a place, and that is it. There's no room for error! Don't you get it? They're not coming for me! They don't care about me! Nobody cares about me! I'm going to be left here to die by the Cluster… or Vilgax."
Her voice hung in the air for a long moment. From their vantage points in the grip of the MegaRuby, Ben, Jake, and Jenny were now observing the conversation intently.
"Ooh, is this Steven backstory?" Jenny asked in a harsh whisper.
"Who is this green chick anyway?" Ben jeered.
"Both of you, shush! This is an important dramatic climax!" Jake hissed.
Silence held out for a while, as everyone waited to see what would become of the tension. Eventually, there was a flap-shuffle as Steven took a step closer to Peridot, whose eyes had still been on the floor. As he approached, she snapped her gaze back up. To her surprise, she found him extending a hand towards her. Small tears were forming in the half-gem's eyes.
"Peridot," he said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm sorry you ended up in this situation. I'm sorry I didn't understand!"
The tears started to burble freely down Steven's cheeks, and Peridot's expression rapidly shifted from suspicion, to disgust, to confusion, to embarrassment, until finally, with an odd feeling rising in her chest… Relief.
"Steven," she said awkwardly. "What is I'm sorry?"
Steven sniffled and laughed at the same time.
"It's like… -sniff- apologizing," he said. "You say I'm sorry when you did something that made someone else feel bad, and its making you feel bad too. It eats you up inside… If you want to make it better, saying "I'm sorry" is a great start."
Peridot's cheeks continued to flush.
"Then… you are incorrect, Steven."
"What?"
She turned to him, and a single tear also rolled down her cheek.
"It is I who is I'm sorry," she said, butchering the phrase entirely.
Steven didn't care whether or not she said it right: she was being earnest. A huge grin split across the half-gem's face, and he quickly ran forward. However, he stopped just shy of her.
"Uh, is it OK if I hug you? Are we on that stage? I mean, we like, shared a bathroom."
Peridot wrinkled her nose.
"Perhaps we refrain from… hugging, until after our immediate problems are dealt with."
"So, you mean it? You're switching sides?" Steven said excitedly. Peridot winced, and threw metal hand over Steven's lips. She jerked her thumb towards the MegaRuby, who still stood there with a distant look in her eyes.
"Well, don't be so loud about it! They're still under his mind control," Peridot warned. Then, sourly, she added: "They're also the only ones with a spaceship off this rock."
Then, Garnet spoke up for the first time.
"Those Rubies just need a strong leader, to shake them free of their subservience to Vilgax," the fusion said. Then, she grinned. "Luckily, I think I can take care of that."