All the gems somehow meet up at the same mysterious place.
Pearl had seen a lot of things in her life. Going from the top to the bottom to somewhere in between was a strange feeling. She'd known Knighthood from serving her liege and was privy to all sorts of secrets. It became painful on occasion to with hold such critical information where it could have been useful. But as the one who had to deal with such powerful restraint almost broke her entirely.
She'd worried about Steven the most, but he would always be on the look out for the well-being of Amethyst and Garnet, who were just as important. And of course, Peridot and Lapis out of obligations. Pearl became attached to them too, somehow. Maybe not like a leech to blood but something similar.
As tense as some of the situations they found themselves in were, it was always up to Steven to pull them together. Like a real leader would. Their saving grace was Garnet right now, like the old times. Pearl still preferred him there though, just to keep an eye on him. Crawling through vents, shafts...and what ever else you can call, small, tight places, rubbed her the wrong way. It took them a while as they followed this false Steven. It was just as exhilarating as watching gem gestation through scanners. Up, down, left right...
It wasn't long until they reached an unusual room. It was filled with numerous wires that connected to a large, round silver table that had an arch on it. The table's platform had a huge, shiny black surface and in grey text that curved around the mechanical silver edge was the word "Apophyllite" in gem language. They were all curious about it, but confused at it at the same time. They heard noises nearby as they prepared to attack, only to notice that it was Peridot, Lapis and Dori who emerged from a grounded vent. It took them a moment to realize what just occurred, until Pearl broke the ice.
"Oh...well, funny meeting you here." She said as her eyes were still widened with surprise.
"See Lapis I knew this would bring us here...I think..." Peridot claimed.
A look on the blue gems face indicated otherwise, but they let it slide.
"This place looks like a secret meeting room. Though, out of all gems that I've seen come out of Kindergartens, I've never seen an Apophyllite."
Neither did Pearl, although she theorized it could have just been the name of the machine construct in front of them. She then only noticed that the False Steven had disappeared. Pearl didn't like it mocking her Steven, so in a way she was glad he was gone.
No one knew what was going on, although they had begun to talk about what they'd seen so far, although no one could agree on who should go first. Garnet selected Peridot to share their knowledge first.
She explained the appearance of Jasper, of all gems and a mysterious Garnet known as Pyrope. She furthered explained how this Pyrope was after Steven and Connie and detailed their unique biology and had considerable interest in them. Then found out about the Black Star Prophecy. Lapis worded the Prophecy to her, which made Garnet shift uncomfortably with their words. Pearl focused on the prophecy, among other quarries.
"The Curse of Hope." Pearl muttered.
"The Sight of Stone." Garnet said.
"Why is Jasper helping her out?" Amethyst wondered. Things had gone so well between them too.
But most importantly, where were Steven, Connie and Snow now? They couldn't reach them from here and there didn't seem to be any indicators that they were even remotely close to the Security Room. How would they know anyway?
"Do we know who this Pyrope is?" Pearl wondered.
Peridot nodded as she explained that the Black Star Sapphire left a message on Milky's Labradorite Luna, whom Dori had helped visualize for them. Pyrope knew a lot about Steven and Connie's situation, even after talking about it with Snow not long ago. Especially given their talk about Connies very organic structure on the way to an unusual journey. The fact that they were being very closely observed made matters worse.
Garnet sighed. She had a feeling Garnet suspected the same thing. It didn't seem like it was going to be an issue when it first started and maybe it wasn't going to have side effects to begin with, though they could never admit that they would have no clue about the nature of hybrid species and their effects on other people. Garnet really supported Steven and Connie for reasons that were exclusively between the fusions. There was a refusal on her end that allowed her to show distress, with her feeling like her future vision and it's value were getting much worse.
They also confirmed the purposes of the Alpha and Omega Kindergartens. Alpha was simply a testing ground for new Quartzes, but ended up wasting most of it on so called prototype gems that had power, but had no personality. Omega produced Snow Quartz gems for the Diamond Authority.
"But then...Black Star mentioned a Medusa? I'm guessing that's another Snow Quartz." Said Lapis.
She's heard of Medusa Quartzes on the metaphorical grapevine, but Pearl couldn't envision them.
"The Ancient Greek book that we found out the Library incorrectly assumes Medusa was a woman with snakes for hair. Pff...couldn't be more wrong..." Peridot claimed.
Lapis slapped her own face.
"Oh no not this again." She whined, before she covered Peridot's mouth, who violently protested.
"Peridot believes this gem may have the ability to turn people to stone. That might be the Stone the Prophecy was talking about."
It was hard to make sense of it all. All Pearl could surmise was that Black Star's Prophecy held the question over Steven and Connie's uniqueness, this...Curse of Hope and potentially this Medusa Quartz alongside this Pyrope who had Jasper roped along for the ride. Meanwhile Milky Quartz and her crew were no where to be found, except that they were trying to stop this Prophecy from occurring.
An Earthquake shook the room for a few seconds as each of them clung on to something to prevent themselves from falling over. Pearl clung on to Garnet, while Peridot fell on the floor as she held her head in her hands, while Lapis and Amethyst did the sensible thing and held on to something far more stable.
"Oh noooo the Cluster!" Peridot cried, then she became confused.
"Wait yes! No..wait...yes, no that can't be it..."
Pearl would imagine the Cluster acting up like this, but she a had sneaking suspicion that it wasn't. It went back to normal, as Pearl let go of Garnet as everyone stood up.
"We're gonna end up no where..." Amethyst complained.
"We need to find out where Steven and Connie are and get them out. Who knows what that Pyrope is gonna do to them."
She was right though. Pearl deeply feared over their safety and wanted to prioritize on getting them out. Peridot was busy looking at the device at the middle of the room and wanted to tinker with it, meanwhile Garnet just continued to look troubled. It was when you had been around Garnet as long as Pearl and Amethyst have that you knew the subtle, microscopic differences between her stoic face and her angry one.
"You okay Garnet?" Pearl questioned.
"The Darkness continues to push me back." Garnet replied in solemn.
"If only I could meet up with the Black Star Sapphire to find out what she knows. She may have found a way to peer through it somehow."
It worried Pearl if Garnet didn't feel up to certain tasks due to her powers failing at the most crucial moment. Last thing she wanted was her falling apart on her again. Then turned back to the device as Pearl contemplated on its design. It looked recent, nothing like most of the artifacts they'd retrieved or the ruins they'd raided in the past. The words around the table indicated the name, but nothing of its purpose, though a small portion of it reminded her of the console they once used on the moon base.
"Peridot." Pearl asked the jittery gem. She was only other technical expert in the room.
"I might be able to project some of the contents with this. Is there anyway to get it partially activate?"
Peridot cleared her throat and adjusted herself as she tried to shake off her nerves.
"Maybe..." She said.
The thin gem groaned.
"You either know how or you don't." Pearl stated. She wished she wasn't so...
"I said maybe because I know the architecture is from constructed by Berryite, a type of hardware building Bismuth. They're small but are meant to be for wiring and some software engineering. The texture is quite smooth but I can't see their typical hidden panel here anywhere. Although going from the round design it could be meant for someone to raise the holo tile on top. Let's see..." Peridot rambled. She placed her hands on the base and moved them around for the moment. The tech itself looked kind of new, if not for the odd spec of dust here and there. It may have only been in here for the last several months. Tops.
Within a few moments, two light blue rectangles rose up from the center as a loading screen popped up as well. Peridot quickly scanned all the text as her eyes went left to right.
They then widened as a projection poured out of the middle and into a blue sphere made of separated squares and rectangles that had a pulse of light run through it every few seconds.
"Stars..." Peridot murmured.
"That's a..."
It loaded up for the moment then for what ever reason, it felt like it was it was watching all of them, then it poured a horizontal ray of red light that scanned all of their gems.
"Scanning gems for infection, please wait." The device said, monotone yet feminine.
Pearl had nothing to be nervous about, but she was nervous anyway.
"All clear. Welcome Crystal Gems. Welcome Labradorite 1G5L-6XS."
Pearl gulped. It knew?
Garnet slammed the device in haste. Pearl knew Garnet didn't want to mess around or waste time talking. They had to find Steven and Connie right away.
"Great you know who we are and what we want." Garnet said cooly.
How much it did know, Pearl held a great need for it.
"You're Apophyllite aren't you?" Peridot said.
This...thing was a gem construct of nothing she had ever seen before. Why was it here though? Stuck in between vents and not in any secure room. Blue lines of light were drawn on the clumps of large wires around them.
"Affirmative." She answered.
"The facility has been compromised. Delta Kindergarten remains sealed. Medusa Quartz remains inactive. Several Infected Gems detected in Alpha, Omega and Delta Struts. Unknown Lillim detected in Delta Strut. Gems detected in Delta Strut. Organics detected in Delta Strut. All remaining Gems located in Apophyllite Sphere."
Well that clarified some information. Organics could only mean Steven and Connie as far as Pearl knew. Everything was happening in Delta however, which made her increasingly frightful for their safety. By the look on everyone's faces, they knew this too.
"Well what are we waiting for? Lets go find them!" Urged Peridot in her usual state of impatience.
"Access to Delta Strut limited. South Entrance Elevator is unavailable. West Entrance Elevator locked. Authorized personnel only."
How convenient.
"Who do we have to beat to get inside then?" Amethyst asked as she punched a fist into her her hand.
"Currently registered active users: Pyrope Garnet, Black Pearl. Registered inactive users: Milky Quartz, Black Star Sapphire, Medusa Quartz, Labradorite "Luna". Temporary Guest Users: Jasper."
Again, this proved what Peridot and Lapis explained earlier. But for what ever reason, this Medusa Quartz was mentioned before, noting that she was inactive. Pearl covered her mouth as she fell into contemplative thoughts to try and decipher Apophyllites odd wording.
"Who is this Medusa Quartz?" Pearl asked.
"No file number detected."
Their best bet was Jasper then.
"Where is Jasper?" Lapis demanded.
"Scanning. Nearest Jasper is located in Delta Strut."
Darn. Pearl dipped further into dismay.
"Where are the organics?" She called out. She knew, but she'd hoped it would give her more information.
"Scanning. Organics detected in Delta Strut."
That didn't help.
"They could be fused right now." Garnet assured her.
Pearl hoped she was right. In dire situations such as these of course they would fuse. But the amount of distress could cause them to split up at any time. With everything happening all at once, anything could happen too. She didn't know what she we do if anything happened to them. She made a promise to Rose and by the stars she would never want to break it. She clung on to Garnet tightly and wrapped her arms around the larger gem and bawled her eyes out. She felt Garnets hand on her head and her other arm around her back.
"They'll be okay Pearl...we just need a way to get down there."
It was then Amethyst started to whack the machine, venting her anger towards it.
"Stupid, no good for nothing machine." The purple gem cried out as she kicked it.
Dori growled at Amethyst, who was then surprised at her sudden hostility and stepped back.
"Woah easy girl."
Did Dori see something in the machine that they didn't? Either that or she didn't like the outburst. It was then she projected her light from her gem and sprayed it all over the room. Suddenly text began to appear on the thick wires over and over again on the lines that appeared before.
HOPE/DELTA
There it was again. Dori stopped showing off her light as she stood there. Peridot knelt before her and patted her.
"There she goes again. Trying to show us a message...Labradorite creation is so weird to begin with." She said.
"Their programming is generally one of the most difficult to process due to their shapeshifting nature. The materials required aren't the problem, but the nature of the formation must be set right to allow for such flexibility in their forms. As a result, it sacrifices intelligence for adaptability."
This one however was trying to tell them something to their best of their ability. The wording of the HOPE/DELTA had Pearl trying to connect the dots and Dori clearly understood more of what was going on than any of them.
"I wonder if what the message is saying that something is in Delta that it needs us to find." Pearl theorized.
Peridot continued to tinker with the system to check its stats and particulars.
"Yes, that would be obvious." The green gem pointed out as she typed away.
"Apophyllite, is there any other way to get inside the Delta Strut without the primary active gems being required?" She asked.
Pearl hadn't hoped for any other answer.
"Access to Security Detail limited. Link to Security Room required for alteration of access prerequisites. Apophyllite Blackbox necessary. Input Request Code for Blackbox Detachment."
A Blackbox? All eyes were on Peridot now, which made her incredibly nervous.
"Uhhh I guess we need to put her brain to good use. We need to take her to the Security Room to modify the access requirements. But I have no idea what the Request Code is." She said.
More red tape.
"Its' obvious isn't it?" Said Amethyst.
"Hope Delta."
The machine suddenly turned off on the purple gems words. Of course it was that. Pearl kicked herself for not realizing. The inner part of the machine opened up and a panel from below uplifted a rectangular construct out of it which had peculiar markings. Garnet picked it up, with it being the size of an ingot. The fusion stared at it briefly, before she looked at Pearl, then saw something behind it. It was the Diamond Eyed Steven again.
"Woah...that's...Steven?" Peridot cried out in disbelief.
Pearl shook her head. What she wouldn't give for a little sensibility right about now.
"No. It's an illusion." She confirmed. It was offensive that it dared to use his form in the first place.
"But it's helping us...and for what ever reason it likes to use Steven's form...in a very disturbing fashion."
He raised his hand and spread his fingers out. Upon that, the wires wriggled about and moved on command. It was another hidden walkway in the facility. The others were hesitant, as it took a prompting from Amethyst to get them moving as Pearl trailed behind Garnet who remained her usual, stoic self. But she held vibes about the black box, with Garnet herself holding a certain, unheard opinion on it, like it unsettled her.
They walked through the twisted tunnels for some time, until the Diamond Eyed Steven walked over a panel and opened it without prompt. He didn't fall through it as he just hovered there and stood on nothing. He disappeared into pixels as Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl looked over the edge. It was clear as Amethyst dropped in first.
Eventually they all made it, then saw all the monitors. Cameras that had their eyes on the gigantic facility. Peridot went straight for the main console as she dragged Garnet with her. Meanwhile Pearl and the rest tried to scan the monitors for anything that would indicate or show them where Steven and the others were. She noticed Dori sniffing around, before she nudged Amethyst's hand with her nose.
"What is it girl?" Asked Amethyst.
Dori whined as she gently nibbled on Amethyst's hand to get her to follow. Amethyst wandered over to a broken monitor nearby as Dori pointed towards it. Pearl watched on as Amethyst picked up a piece of brown fabric. That would have been from Connie's jacket. That did not bode well with Pearl at all.
"They must have been here already." Pearl quoted as she looked at the brown and blue gem. A sense of a relief followed by a sense of fear roiled through her as Amethyst handed her the torn piece.
"A struggle took place..or a, slight accident..."
No cameras showed anything about them nor the Delta Strut. Only the Kindergartens and the other numerous rooms in the facility. She pressed her hands to her chest, as Amethyst noted her current distressed stance as she patted her on the back.
"We'll find them P." Amethyst assured her.
Pearl sighed as she turned towards the main console. Peridot rendered herself as she configured around with the device. Then noticed a large square hole on the side panel. Pearl watched as the green gem examined it.
"This looks like it'd fit something quite large." Peridot commented.
Eyes went to Garnet who still held the box in her hands.
"That'd have been to be the insert point for it then." Pearl said.
Garnet nodded as she walked towards the console and harshly slotted the Blackbox into it. She didn't care about being careful, she was most likely frustrated.
The system appeared to reboot as Apophyllites hologram projected itself on to it.
"Security Alteration in progress. Gem Scans required." It said.
Each of them agreed without question to scan their gems one by one.
"Peridot confirmed."
"Ruby confirmed. Sapphire Confirmed."
"Pearl confirmed."
"Amethyst confirmed."
"Lapis Lazuli confirmed."
Seemed normal so far.
"Labradorite confirmed. Reactivating previous authorization prompts."
She must have been here before with Snow it seems. If the Wolf Gem could talk...
"No infections detected. Please remove the Blackbox and proceed to the marked location."
They created a map of the facility in a blue light, then marked the location to where they were. A door opened to their left as Pearl peered down, noting another long hallway. Garnet then removed the Blackbox and handed it to her, much to Pearls surprise.
"Protect it for now." She said.
"I have a feeling we're not going to like what we find down there."
Garnet must have finally seen something if she was that worried. It made Pearl feel worse about it as she put it into the safety of her gem. With that, they proceeded to go to the Hallway as Garnet led the gems to the Western Elevator.