"I still don't understand why I can't go on my own," White said, arms crossed loosely but defiantly over the spiky front of her leotard.
"'Cause that's boring!" Caddy told her. "C'mon, it'll be fun, all three of us!"
Silver clapped her hands once, then made a What about me? gesture.
"Plus Silver. You wanna be honorary Pink Diamond's Pearl so we're a complete set?"
"Somehow that's not very appealing..."
"Yeah, understandable," Caddy laughed.
"There's no reason for all four of us to go," White said stubbornly, gaze directed beyond Caddy and Silver to where Crimson was standing.
"There is, actually," Crimson said smoothly. "It's a dangerous mission and I don't want to send you in alone."
"Why not? I was on my own when I went and got the new Pearl with a weird name and her friends."
"Drini," Caddy supplied helpfully, absentmindedly twirling the shawl she'd borrowed from a blushing Ory to cover her gem around and around.
"Yes, that one."
"There's a difference between grabbing a few Pearls that are just going to be shattered and grabbing a valuable piece of equipment in a higher-traffic area." Crimson paused, grimacing. "I phrased that badly, but you know what I mean."
White shrugged. She didn't care to pick people's words apart and get offended by them. It was true, Homeworld would consider the warp core more valuable than discarded Pearls.
"Alright, good," Crimson said, either taking White's shrug as some form of understanding or just pushing forward before there could be any more argument. "Get shapeshifted and head out."
Wasn't really worth the argument, White decided. They needed to focus on the mission, and it wasn't like she couldn't work with Cadmium and Sky and Silver. She'd just rather not. "Okay," she agreed, doing as she was told and going to the door to wait for the others.
"All set?" Crimson checked with Sky as she came out of the communications room.
"All set," she confirmed with a quick smile. Her hair had been taken down from its usual ponytail, helping disguise the communicator she wore, and she only wore a simple blue leotard and flats. "Sorry, did we hold you up?"
"No, no, you're fine," she reassured her. "Just making sure you didn't have too much trouble with the comms system."
"Only a reasonable amount of trouble," she said lightly. "It's working now."
"Glad to hear it. Okay, you'd better go. Be safe."
Sky nodded as the four of them gathered together.
"We'll be fine, boss!" Caddy agreed, slinging a friendly arm around Sky and sticking out her tongue at White when she dodged the group hug. She pulled Silver in instead, receiving a sturdy squeeze. "We'll have our warp core here before you know it!"
Crimson smiled, waving to them as they started out to the main door.
Silver was the only one who lingered behind, catching the unspoken worry in Crimson's eyes. "I'll look out for them."
She nodded, turning her gem shoulder slightly towards Silver to project her own words. "I know. Come home safe."
It wasn't hard to get to the hangar where the supplies were waiting, but it was a challenge to do it without letting gems see them. Silver and Sky had it easier, since they would be staying outside, tucking themselves out of the way for the time being, but with a clear view of the hallway available so they could keep a lookout. White and Caddy had to sneak their way into a room that Pearls usually wouldn't be seen going into alone.
"What if I just shapeshift into a different kind of gem?" Caddy muttered under her breath as they made their fourth pass down the hallway. They wouldn't be able to get in this time either, there were a couple Agates loitering by one of the other rooms now and they'd definitely notice something amiss.
"No."
"But—"
"The place'll clear out in a few minutes, White Diamond's holding court today."
Caddy turned to her in alarm. "Without you?"
"Mm, that was her orders. Keep walking."
She gulped and continued, attempting to look unrattled by the detail White had just let slip. "White, you know that—"
"Not now, Cadmium."
No, it wasn't the time, she knew, but she had to say something. But what? Her gem felt heavy under the shawl and all she could manage was a halfhearted attempt at her usual reply. "It's Caddy."
"Not now," White repeated, more to herself than to Caddy, and the other Pearl wondered if she'd been heard at all.
Why didn't White ever talk to them? Why hadn't she said something before this mission, if she'd known White Diamond had either grown too bored or too suspicious of her? There was no way Caddy was letting her return to her Diamond when this was over. No way. But now truly was not the time to argue.
The halls did indeed clear out as White had said, the elites rushing off to prepare themselves and everyone else following them in hopes of catching the latest gossip from outside. Caddy and White hurried over to the door and White tapped in her passcode to open it. Easy.
Caddy flashed Sky and Silver a quick smile as they came out to keep closer guard on the door, under the guise of Pearls waiting for their owners to return from inside. "Be right back!" she told them.
Once they were in, she quickly scanned the room to make sure they were alone, then bounced a little on the balls of her feet, trying to bring back her earlier energy. They were going to do this, they were going to get the warp core, and then they'd all go to base and she'd convince White to stay. Right. It would be fine. "Okay!" she declared. "Let's get ourselves a warp core."
White had already gravitated over to the abundance of supplies on the far side of the room, scouring the shipment for the device they needed.
"There's a lot of stuff here, huh?" Caddy asked, picking things up and then setting them back down in exactly the same spot once she'd confirmed the warp core wasn't hidden underneath.
White didn't answer, just kept up her own search.
"I think it'll be really cool to visit Earth, don't you?"
"I won't be around when the warp pad is finished," she said plainly.
The harshness of the emotionlessly delivered statement made Caddy want to cry, but she clenched her fists and put on as bright a smile as she could. "Sure you will. Me, you, and Sky can all go together."
"Focus on the mission, Cadmium."
"It's Caddy. And I am focused, because I just found it!" She pointed triumphantly to a warp core suspended in a protective field. "So there," she said sweetly.
White ignored her, jumping over to kneel beside her. "I've never seen one of these before," she said, looking at it from multiple angles. The top and bottom were solid, while a protective field was generated between them in a cube-like shape. "Have you?"
"Nope. You think it's security or just to keep it from bouncing around if somebody drops it?"
"Might be both."
"I guess we could take the whole thing."
"We're supposed to duplicate it."
"Oh, right. Duplicate the whole thing then?" Caddy wrinkled her nose. "Wait, no, I think it has to be individual items."
"Who knows." White had shown a marked disinterest in the replicators Crimson had given them. Caddy suspected it lessened the thrill of stealing for her, which was cute. "Here," she said suddenly, peering over at the opposite side. "There's a place for a passcode."
"There is?" Caddy scooted around to take a look. "I guess it might take ours."
"I'll try mine."
"Wait, wait, wait!" She grabbed for White's hand, catching it just in time. "You might set off an alarm!"
"We're more likely to set it off by moving it or trying to take it out of the room," she said with a shrug. "It'll at least give us more than one chance to put in a passcode."
Caddy hesitated, slowly releasing White's hand. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"
White swiped her finger across the screen to activate it and then rapidly punched in her usual sequence that gave her access to anything her Diamond might require. A few seconds later, she was shaking her head. "Won't take it."
Caddy was still just relieved it hadn't set off any security measures. "Maybe it'll take mine."
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
"Just no. We're not using yours."
"But—"
"If we're unsuccessful, they'll check and see what codes we put in. You'd just be implicating yourself."
"What about you?" Caddy demanded. "You shouldn't have—"
"Quit being loud." White stood up, staring down at the warp core. "We either get it out by force or we try to carry it like this."
"We're not sticking that in our gems with the field activated," she said sharply.
"Okay, force it is." White didn't seem particularly perturbed, just pulled one of the standard training swords from her gem.
"Maybe we should talk to Silver and Sky first and see what they—"
White gave her an impatient look and pointedly poked the tip of the sword into the side of the field. She withdrew it and waited about ten seconds. "No alarms," she said calmly, and then smashed it into the solid upper portion of the device.
Caddy yelped in surprise. "Fuck, White, you're going to crack me one of these days!"
"It didn't work," she said, ignoring Caddy and sounding a bit disappointed as she inspected the field.
"Well, no kidding," she sighed. "Wouldn't be very good at its job if anybody can swing a weapon at it and it shuts off."
"Hm."
Caddy frowned at the warp core, thinking. "Maybe we can interrupt the field with something instead of breaking it?"
"Like what?" White asked.
"Like…" She looked around, trying to find something in the objects around them. "Um…"
"I'll just keep hitting it."
Caddy rolled her eyes, smiling. "Alright, I'll see what I can do in the meantime."
There was no shortage of items in the room, but most of them weren't particularly useful. She didn't know what the techie stuff did, and it seemed like a bad idea to just randomly turn things on and see what would happen. The rest of it was simpler building supplies and basic materials—the kinds of things Crimson had wanted them to duplicate. But they were useless right now unless she just wanted to drop something heavy on top of the device and risk crushing the warp core along with it.
"Cadmium?"
"Huh?" She turned quickly to look at White, who was staring at the protective field that was now hovering about three feet off the floor.
"It wasn't me, it did that on its own." White gestured to other materials that had started lifting off the floor. "They're starting the automatic loading process."
"Already?" she groaned. "We were supposed to have more time!"
"Well, we don't." White gave the device another smack as it started trying to move away from her and got in its path to try and block it. Unfortunately, it just kept moving around her when it found something in its way.
"Okay," Caddy said quickly, pulling out the smaller sword she'd borrowed from Azalea and coming over to help White block it. "We've gotta keep it out here, the ship'll seal off once everything's on board and I don't think we'll have access to that either."
"And the pilot might be on her way once it's completed," White pointed out.
"That too. We still have a few minutes though, so let's…" She tried to examine all sides of the field, ducking down to steal a glance at the bottom.
"Is there something under there?"
"Yeah. Think it's the transport thingy?"
"One way to find out. I'll keep blocking it, you try and break it."
"Aww, teamwork! I'm really happy!"
"Break it, Cadmium."
"It's Caddy. And I'm on it!" Caddy stabbed her sword up into the bottom of the device, aiming directly for the little glowing square that seemed to be controlling it. Her first strike didn't do much, but the second left a mark and the third and fourth made it crack in two. "Ha!"
The cube dropped to the ground with a thud.
"Good." White was thinking quickly, eyes darting around the room as she watched the materials being loaded onto the ship.
"What do we do now?"
"Grab the bottom part."
"Huh?"
"Grab it and we'll see if we can pull it far enough apart from this piece to weaken the field." White tipped the device sideways and fastened her fingers securely around the top.
"Ooh, good idea!" Caddy picked up the other end and walked backwards rapidly, White doing the same. The field holding the warp core stretched between them, a little warning beep starting up as the distance grew. "Come on," she muttered as she approached the wall. By the time both she and White had their backs pressed to opposite sides of the room, it was buzzing with the effort to keep the field up.
"I'll hit it with the sword again," White said.
"Hold on, I'll hit it on this end too. Go for the field itself this time, we can probably at least interrupt it now."
She nodded. "One, two, three."
Both swords came down at the same time, and Caddy breathed a sigh of relief as the field fluctuated wildly and then vanished, letting the warp core drop to the floor with a clatter. Probably should have been more careful with that, but it seemed alright.
Caddy grinned as White went to pick up their prize, only for the achievement to be cut short by a screeching alarm and a loud, computerized announcement.
"Unauthorized activity detected. Initiating lockdown."
"What?!"
A second later, White was barreling into her, warp core clutched tightly in one hand as she shoved her towards the doors. "Go!"
It wasn't like they'd wasted any time in reacting, but by the time they'd reached the doors, an extra barrier had been slammed into place in front of the usual sliding doors and the keypad beside it had likewise been covered.
"No!" Caddy shouted, banging her hands against the unyielding door. "No! Come on!"
White had immediately gone for the panel where she could have put in her passcode but the only thing she could do was alternate between trying to pry up the cover and slamming her fist against it, panicked.
"Sky! Silver!" Caddy called, loud as she could. "Can you hear us?"
Sky recognized what was happening before Silver did, and she was spinning to try and open the doors before they could lock, to no avail. "Caddy! White!"
"What's happened?" Cyan asked urgently through the communicator. "Sky?"
"I don't know, they must have tripped some kind of alarm, they're locked in." Sky's throat felt dry as she tried to open the door one, two, three more times. "Caddy!" she shouted, banging on the door with her other hand. "Caddy, can you hear me?"
"Sky, listen, you need to get back to a safe hiding spot."
"They're stuck in there, I can't—" She broke off as Silver appeared beside her, flashing up a projection.
"We won't be able to help if we get caught too."
Sky stared at the words, gem heavy in her chest. Too. Because Caddy and White were definitely getting caught now.
"Sky, come on, please? We'll think of something, but you can't be out in the open like this when someone comes."
"Okay," she whispered, trying desperately to open the door one last time. "Hold on, Caddy."
"Sky?" Caddy shouted again. "Sky, are you there?"
Silence.
"Sky? Hello? Can you hear me?"
"It must be soundproofed," White said. "Okay, come on, we need to find a place to hide you."
"Hide both of us!"
"Yes, but mostly you." White shoved her in the direction of the ship, and Caddy couldn't waste time protesting.
The thing was, with almost all of the items loaded onto the ship, there weren't many hiding places available. Going into the ship itself would only get them trapped. The best they could do was crouch down behind the ship and hope whoever came wouldn't notice them. It was a long shot at best.
"What did we do to set it off?" Caddy whispered. "Do you think there was alarm on the thing holding it after all?"
White shook her head, settling in beside her and making herself as small as possible. "The room's sensors probably picked up the energy spike when we broke the field. Everything's monitored in case there's a ship malfunction or somebody tries to steal one or whatever."
"You speaking from experience?" Caddy joked weakly.
"What?"
"You ever try and steal a ship?"
"What would I need a ship for?"
"Dunno, just think you'd look cool doing it."
"I haven't."
"Oh. Well, maybe today's the day."
"I mean, I'll try it if we have to. Do you know how to fly one?"
"Not in the least." Caddy heard a faint noise and quickly added a little "Shh!" before White could say anything else.
White and Caddy went dead silent as they heard the door being opened, exchanging quick, worried glances.
"Who will it be?" Caddy mouthed, not daring to make a sound.
"Don't know," White replied the same way.
The two of them waited impatiently for any hint as to their visitor and how dangerous she would prove. The footsteps that entered were heavy, or at the very least loud. Boots, Caddy could tell by the clack of heels.
"Agate," White mouthed to her.
Caddy nodded, fear spiking in her gem. An Agate was a good guess, but also one of the worst gems to be found by.
And they would most certainly be found. Any Agate worth her salt would check the whole room. Should they try and take advantage of the element of surprise before she got to them? Caddy was pretty sure that even with two of them, they didn't have the skill yet to take down an Agate. It'd be sheer luck if they even managed to restrain her.
Was staying still the best option? They were disguised at least somewhat, so perhaps they wouldn't be noticed as Diamonds' Pearls. Would that be good or bad? Which would give them a higher chance of survival here—seeming important or unimportant?
Caddy pressed her hand to her gem, wishing Sky were…well, not here, but at least with her in some way.
White touched her arm, getting her attention and passing her the warp core to put in her gem. "When she finds us, run for the door."
Caddy shook her head aggressively.
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
Their silent argument was cut short by the appearance of a spotless pair of white boots.
"Someone get Yellow," Sky heard Cyan say as soon as she relayed that there was another gem in the room with Caddy and White. "And Blue. And if there's anybody else with high level clearance codes that I don't know about, get them too." She spoke to Sky again. "Listen, if we can't get the door open—"
"I'm getting it open."
"…Okay. Try Blue and Yellow's codes first, see if they'll work." There was slight rustling as the communicator was handed off to someone else.
"Our codes have more than likely been cancelled," came Yellow's clear voice, and its similarity to Caddy's made Sky want to cry. "But I can talk you through a few other methods too."
"Okay," Sky agreed shakily, and listened close as Yellow gave her the sequence to key in. Silver stood at the ready, guarding her back as her jittery fingers worked the panel. She glanced over her shoulder repeatedly, worried that someone else might come, even though she trusted Silver would alert her if that was the case.
As her hand left the panel, there was a split second when she fooled herself into thinking it might be as easy as just this one thing, but the doors remained firmly shut.
"It didn't work."
"Okay, Blue's going to tell you hers."
"Hey, Sky," Blue said quickly before rattling off her own code, not wasting any time.
That one was no better.
"I-It's not working."
"Okay, that's okay. Yellow's going to give you a few other things to try, so don't give up."
"Thank you," Sky replied. "I won't."
"Alright," Yellow said, taking over again. "I need you to tell me exactly what you see on the screen as we do this."
In another time and place, Sky would have appreciated that Yellow didn't get emotional, just kept listening and then reciting instructions piece by piece. But now, with one failure after another, she was only getting impatient.
Nothing was working. She was going to lose them. She had tried to prepare herself for losing White, but she was losing Caddy too and that was too much.
"Sky, it's Cyan," came the other Pearl's voice suddenly. "I'm sorry, but you and Silver need to get out of there now."
"What?" she whispered, horrified. "You—You can't—"
Silver shot her a worried look.
"It's too dangerous for you to stay there any longer," Cyan said gently. "Come back to base."
"I'm not going back to base," Sky said shakily, her legs threatening to give out. "I—Caddy's in there."
"I know. I'm sorry, but there's nothing else we can do."
"There has to be! I-I can at least wait until the Agate comes out and—"
"If the Agate has found those two, she's not just going to walk away. She'll check for accomplices. She'll find you."
"No, no, it's fine, we'll make sure she doesn't—"
"Sky, I need you to calm down and listen."
"I'm not going to calm down! You can't ask me to abandon them!"
"Sky… Sky, can you put Silver on the line?"
"No."
"I just want to—"
"You want to tell her to make me come back, and I won't. I'm not coming back w-without…"
"Sky," Silver said, trying to get her attention.
"I won't leave! Please don't make me leave."
"We need to get back to our hiding spot, okay? At least come away from the door."
Sky nodded mutely, letting Silver guide her back the way they'd come, two sturdy hands on her thin shoulders.
"You know I don't want to leave them either, right?" Silver asked once they were out of plain sight.
"I-I know."
"But Cyan has a point."
"I know she does, but I can't just run away! I might still be able to do something!"
Silver was too kind to ask what she had left to try.
"Please don't make me go."
She looked torn, gem lighting briefly with no words, then going dark, then lighting once more. "I don't know what to do, okay? But I think…" Silver hesitated, then took one of Sky's hands between her own as she finished. "I think we have to think about keeping you safe too. About you staying on base permanently."
No. That wasn't how she wanted it. They—They were supposed to leave service together, when the time was right. They were supposed to save White and then…then later it would be their turn. They had plans, they had so many things they wanted to do once they were free.
"It doesn't mean we're giving up on Caddy and White."
"Yes, it does," Sky whispered. Freedom wasn't meant to feel this hopeless. "I don't want to." Her voice was cracking. "Silver, please, I don't want to leave."
"Sky." A new voice came through the communicator, and Sky clutched at Silver's hand.
"Crimson? Crimson, you won't tell me to leave them, right?"
"I…" There was an awful, awful pause. "Sky, listen. You can have fifteen more minutes, okay? Cyan will tell you when the time's up, and I need you to listen. I need you to come home with Silver. Can you do that?"
"Fifteen minutes?"
"Fifteen. Any longer and we…we're going to have to assume the worst."
Like Sky hadn't already. "Okay," she said hoarsely. "Fifteen minutes."
"And you'll come back?"
"Yes."
"Promise me?"
"I-I promise." Tears trickled down her cheeks.
"Good. And I promise coming back does not mean we're giving up on Caddy and White. We just need to find another strategy."
"Okay. Thank you."
"Pearls?" The Agate seemed more curious than angry, but that didn't make Caddy feel any better. She quickly looked the other gem over, trying to place her. The Agate's gem was perfectly centered on the front of her left thigh, and it had what looked like a small pocket of water inside, only now stilling as she came to a halt in front of them. Her outfit was fancier than most Agates, and her hair had been styled in the current asymmetrical fashion with only one bun.
Caddy had seen her before, but she didn't know anything about her besides White Diamond seemed to like her quite a bit, which was far from reassuring.
White, beside her, had gone rigid at the sight of the Agate. Not a good sign. But in an instant, she regained her composure, pushing Caddy up and away from her.
She didn't want to run, but she did anyway. If she could at least get the door open…
She should have realized immediately that it was futile, because the Agate made no move to stop her. But her mind was racing, and she needed the door to work, needed to do something to make sure she and White didn't end up shattered.
Her attempts at opening the door fared no better than the first time they'd tried. The Agate, while allowing herself in and unlocking the panel that opened the door from the inside, hadn't fully shut off the lockdown. They were still trapped. And now…well, they'd shown some sign of rebelliousness even in hiding, so maybe it wouldn't really make much of a difference that she'd run to the door.
You're shattered, shattered, shattered.
No, Caddy told herself. She couldn't give up hope before they'd even tried. She might not have very much training, but she had a sword and she could hit a target as big as an Agate easy. The part that wouldn't be easy was incapacitating her.
But should she go for her sword now or wait? She still wasn't able to gauge whether they ought to reveal themselves as Diamonds' Pearls either. White might have been recognized already but… What was Caddy supposed to do?
Her thoughts were racing, but she'd only paused for a few seconds before she was brought back to attention at the sound of the Agate's voice.
"Are you finished? Come back here, Pearl." The Agate spoke loudly but calmly, not sparing Caddy more than a glance before turning her attention back to White. "Now," she added smugly, "perhaps White Diamond's Pearl could tell me what she's doing here."
Caddy saw the hand reaching for White and drew her sword in one swift motion, slicing the edge of the shawl slightly in her haste. "Don't touch her!"
"That's quite enough. I wasn't speaking to you." The Agate didn't even bother to draw her own weapon, just disarmed Caddy in one kick and sent her sprawling on the ground. Her sword was held securely under one boot as the Agate reached for White again, this time catching hold of her by the front of her leotard and lifting her up so she was at eye level. "Hello there. I did wonder why you weren't with our illustrious Diamond today."
White had gone still and limp the instant the Agate grabbed her, and now she just looked back with wide, scared eyes.
"What are you doing in this plain outfit anyway? It hardly suits your beauty."
No response.
"Change it back, Pearl. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, disgracing your station like this."
"Yes." It seemed to be an automatic response, but White shifted her normal clothes back on all the same. Caddy was glad; she didn't want the Agate to get angry with them.
"Excellent, that looks much better. Such a fine Pearl." She pushed White's hair away from her gem to take a closer look at her. "Or so it seemed. White Diamond will be quite disappointed when I inform her of this treachery. She could never expect such behavior from a Pearl as exquisite as yourself." Her hand slid down the side of White's face, to her shoulder, down her arm in clear admiration.
Caddy wanted to punch her. Or—Or something besides just watch her keep rambling on about White, but she was well aware of the little glances the Agate kept throwing her way, the pointed way she moved her thumb to keep it pressed into White's gem. She might not consider Caddy a real threat, but she was definitely going to make sure Caddy didn't think of herself as one either. She was just an annoyance to be kept at bay.
"I can't wait to see her face when I tell her what you've been doing," the Agate continued grandly. "She'll be so furious, I'm sure she'll shatter you on the spot. She's always been a bit dramatic, our Diamond, but—wait." She stopped herself, frowning. "She'll shatter you."
No shit, Caddy wanted to say. You just said that.
"That…That won't do at all. No." The Agate began looking at White with new appreciation. "No," she said again, "I'm not sure White Diamond needs to be informed of your indiscretion."
"What?" Caddy asked, the question slipping out before she could stop it.
"I wasn't speaking to you, Pearl," she said, sounding mildly irritated.
"You're not speaking to anybody, you're just giving the universe's most boring monologue." That might have been a bit much, she realized as soon as it was out, but there wasn't anything she could do about it now.
"You've got quite a mouth on you. I imagine whoever owns you won't miss it." The Agate looked to White. "You, on the other hand, are well worth taking for my own. White Diamond hardly cares what happens to her Pearls; I'm sure she won't ask any questions if you simply vanish. Or I could tell her I had to shatter you, did the dirty work for her. Though Diamonds can be picky about those sorts of things. I'll consider the options on our way back. Let me just take care of this nuisance first. Stars, who would want a Pearl like this?" She took a step toward Caddy.
"Yellow Diamond," White blurted out, her voice strained. She flinched instinctively as the Agate looked at her closely.
"What's that, Pearl?"
"Y-You asked who would want her. Yellow Diamond did."
"Oh?" The Agate gave Caddy a quick onceover. "I'm not sure I believe that. Let's see your gem."
"She is," White insisted. "You should bring her too."
Thank you, White. Caddy knew she wasn't doing it so much out of friendship as out of logic, but it still meant something. At the very least, it'll buy us some time.
"I don't normally take suggestions from Pearls," the Agate said, coming over to flip up Caddy's shawl and peer at her gem underneath it. Thanks stars she hadn't grabbed the part where Caddy had attached the replicator wand. "But your accomplice seems to be quite special, as you say."
"She is," White said urgently.
"However, Yellow Diamond's or not, I have no interest in keeping her. You'll be more than enough on your own."
Okay, there went that plan. Oh well, the Agate's interest in White was starting to creep Caddy out anyway.
"Yes, no need to keep two Pearls. You might start getting big ideas about escaping again if you stay together. By the way…" She frowned down at the broken protection field, grip tightening on White. "What did you steal?" She waited perhaps ten seconds before getting impatient with White's silence. "Not going to answer me? Fine. I'll just be sure to see what's in your gem once we get back to my quarters. Come along, we've wasted enough time."
Don't let her get White out of this room. Caddy knew with certainty that it wouldn't end well, whatever happened. An Agate like this would be sure to make it very difficult for White to leave her quarters once she got her there.
"I'll tell Yellow Diamond what you've done," Caddy blurted out.
"And?" she said dismissively. "By all means, run back to your Diamond. I highly doubt she'll take the word of a Pearl that was practically made yesterday over an Agate with two thousand years of loyal service."
She was right, but Caddy had been hoping she wouldn't catch on so quick.
Well, screw it, she decided. All or nothing. She wasn't going to let White be shattered or captured. In White's mind, the latter was probably worse, and the thought pained her. I don't want her to have to be scared anymore.
Caddy grabbed for her sword with a swiftness she hadn't quite realized herself capable of. The Agate saw her coming and kicked the sword up so she could grab it in her own hand.
"I wish you'd settle down," she said irritably.
Caddy dodged the retaliatory strike aimed at her and hurried to put some distance between herself and the Agate. She had another sword in her gem as backup—thank stars Cyan and Crimson had been cautious about that kind of thing. She felt stupid for not just getting that out instead of going for the other one, but it was hard to think straight. And either way, if she went sword-to-sword against an Agate, she'd lose. There was too big a difference in both strength and skill. Maybe she could throw it? No. Caddy was a decent marksperson but the sword wasn't built for that and the likelihood it would hit her target effectively was too slim.
Think of something, think of something.
The Agate seemed as if she couldn't be bothered to face one lone Pearl with a sword, and Caddy wasn't sure why she'd expected any different. Still, her gem went cold when she saw that the Agate blatantly ignored her, lowering White to the ground and beginning to pull her towards the door firmly. "Time to go, my Pearl."
"She's not yours!" Caddy shouted, fuming at how possessive that my had sounded.
"Oh? Whose is she then?"
"No one's," Caddy spat. "She doesn't belong to anyone, and definitely not you!"
The Agate raised her eyebrows. "Well, be sure to tell the Diamonds that when they come get you. I'm sure they'll be very interested to hear all about it."
Caddy saw the Agate reach for the door panel and panic flared in her chest. No, no, no, I can't let her separate us or White will be—
Her gem glowed hot, almost painfully hot, and she shoved her hand up over it in shock. Her fingers met with the end of something sharp and she grabbed it tight, not caring what it was as long as it got them out of here.
It was a thin weapon, almost needle-like, and pointed on both ends with a ring in the center that she instinctively knew was where she was meant to put her finger.
Not that there was time for that now. As soon as she got a look at it, she was throwing it, aiming it straight at the Agate without wasting a second.
It wasn't her best aim, but it hit and stuck fast in the Agate's shoulder.
She gasped, probably not so much from pain as from surprise. "You!"
Well, she wasn't thinking about leaving anymore, Caddy thought triumphantly for about two seconds before the Agate yanked the point out and threw it on the ground in disgust.
"I don't know where you acquired these weapons, but I suggest you stop at once before I'm forced to shatter you myself for your insolence."
"I like being insolent, thanks. Now let her go." She put her sword away, preparing to summon again.
"I do not take orders from—" The Agate broke off, gaping in shock as Caddy pulled another of her weapons from her gem. This time, there was no mistaking it as anything besides summoning.
"I said let her go," she repeated, voice icy with a mixture of anger and fear.
She had, it seemed, at least succeeded in scaring the larger gem. But the Agate went for the door all the same, preferring the idea of getting out and making off with White to staying to fight a Pearl.
Caddy didn't waste any time, rushing at the Agate on instinct and stabbing the second needle deep, deep into her back. Her fingers loosened for a split second, but it was enough for Caddy to knock White free of her grip, sending her spilling to the ground in a heap.
"Take one!" Caddy summoned another weapon and threw it to a stunned White, who just barely caught it.
Caddy's gem seemed to protest at having drawn three of them, so she dove to grab the fallen one from the floor. Her finger fit perfectly into the ring at the center and she gripped one in each hand, pausing only the briefest second before throwing herself towards the Agate again.
Get her away from White and away from the door.
She wasn't heavy enough to really be able to shove the Agate back, but rapid-fire stabbing seemed to do the trick just fine, driving the other gem back a few steps. She wasn't landing very many hits though.
And the Agate was going for her weapon now. No thank you.
Caddy threw a kick at the Agate's gem that sent her stumbling back—hits to the gem always hurt, even if it wasn't enough to do real damage—and she quickly aimed her next stab at the Agate's neck.
It didn't make contact, but it was enough to get even further from the door.
Caddy glanced over her shoulder to check on White, and the other Pearl hadn't moved an inch, still looking absolutely terrified as she held tight to the weapon Caddy had given her. That was okay. As long as White was safe, Caddy didn't mind taking on this fight for her. She kept up her attack, ignoring the ache that was beginning in her arms and legs.
I have to keep at it.
Silver would have been a big help, or even Sky, but Caddy could do it. She had to.
And that, more than anything, was what kept her going, made her mind work quick to find the best places to strike, refused to get discouraged when she was pushed away repeatedly and her weapons didn't find their mark.
How was she meant to end this fight though?
Maybe…
With one last burst of energy, Caddy drew her second sword from her gem, swinging it hard at the Agate's head and finally managing to knock her off balance, sending her crashing to the floor. She immediately followed after the bigger gem, knees smarting as she dropped down to get close to the Agate's unprotected gem.
Caddy drove both her weapons in on either side of the gem, using every bit of strength she had to get them in deep. The Agate was immediately struggling beneath her, grabbing her and trying to yank her away, but she held on tight, the rings on her fingers cutting in but refusing to break.
"Get off of me!" the Agate screamed. "Stop it!"
"No," she managed through gritted teeth. "No." She twisted the needles in as hard as she could, trying to get them to cut in underneath the gem.
"They'll shatter you for this! They'll do worse than shatter you!"
Caddy cried out as large fingers caught in her hair, yanked hard. She immediately shapeshifted it away, leaving the Agate nothing to hold onto there. Come on, she told herself, hating the visceral feeling of digging into the other gem's form but knowing she had to keep at it. She was just trying to pry the gem up now.
"What's wrong with you!"
"You don't get to hurt the gems I care about! Now will you please just shut up and dissipate already?!"
"I will not—" The Agate screamed in pain as Caddy yanked on the needles hard. She kept grabbing at any part of Caddy she could reach, doing her best to throw the smaller gem off, but Caddy's weapons were dug in so firmly that it only worked against her.
It was all Caddy could do to keep her grip, to not give in to the shoving and punching and kicking that was aimed to dislodge her. Come on, come on, she kept telling herself. If she could just separate the Agate's gem from her body a little bit, it should—hopefully—trick it into thinking she was injured enough that she had to dissipate.
All the strain made it impossible to keep up her shapeshifting, and she gave in to her body's wish to snap back to her base appearance. She was glad, in retrospect, that she'd borrowed Ory's shawl and not created her own, because she liked having that extra layer of protection over her gem.
She yelped as her hair was grabbed again but held on all the same. She could hold out. She could. She just needed to keep working the needles in underneath the gem and…
"Cadmium!"
The shock of White appearing beside her nearly made her ease up, but she tightened her hold determinedly, barely able to look up before White's hand darted in to shove the third needle in hard.
And that was what she needed. Caddy could feel a little bit of give where there hadn't been before, and she gave the two in her own hands one final tug.
The Agate shouted but the sound disappeared only a second later as she poofed, retreating into her gem, which dropped to the ground before Caddy.
The two of them stared down at it for a long moment before Caddy let out a quiet "Oh my stars."
White nodded slowly.
"Oh my stars, that's what I call teamwork!" Her voice was a little higher pitched than usual with nerves, but she was smiling as she clapped White on the back. "Thanks!"
The other Pearl still seemed rather stunned that it had worked.
Caddy quickly stood up, looking around. "Okay. Uh, what now? How do we get out of here?" She leaned down to get a better look at White. "And are you okay? Did she hurt you?"
"No," White said slowly.
"Oh, good." Caddy let out a small sigh of relief.
"You're hurt."
"Nah, just a little banged up." She frowned as she took in the mostly empty room. "Maybe we should steal a ship."
"We can use her gem," White said suddenly. "To open the door."
"Yeah?"
She nodded. "It's just an identity scan, it won't know if she's really there or not."
"You're sure? Okay, let's go." Caddy held out her hand to help White up. "We're getting out of here."
"We still have to get supplies."
"Screw supplies, we don't have time." She hurried inside the ship and started shoving things out of place, scattering them across the floor. "We'll make it look like somebody ransacked the supplies. Can you help? I'm going to replicate the warp core so it's not the only thing missing."
"Alright," White said, hurrying in after her and helping makes a mess of the items that had been so neatly stacked up in boxes.
Caddy pulled the replicator wand from inside Ory's shawl and the warp core from her gem, quickly making a duplicate of it. The original went straight back into her gem and the copy was thrown to the floor. As she went to help White, she noticed the standard building material that was used to create buildings and rooms. They could use that, right? Sky said Crimson had mentioned something about renovations. Caddy duplicated one of the smaller blocks, then flipped up her shawl and shoved the original into her gem as fast as she could.
White had done a good job of smashing things and wreaking havoc on the ship in the meantime, and Caddy helped topple a few more boxes before grabbing White's arm and pulling her back out of the ship.
"That should be good," she said, grabbing the broken pieces of the device that had been protecting the warp core and throwing them inside with the rest. The ship's doors immediately began closing. "And it'll confuse 'em for a bit. Let's give this to Silver so you guys can take this stuff back."
"Back?"
Caddy tilted her head toward the Agate's gem still lying on the ground. "We don't want her to reform and blab about us. So you and Silver should take her back to base."
"But—"
"Come on." Caddy gave her a gentle push towards the door before scooping up the Agate's gem and shoving it in front of the door panel. There was a small chime as the scan was accepted.
She immediately came face to face with another gem and was prepared to use the weapon still gripped in her hand until she saw who it was.
"Sky?"
"Caddy!" Her arms were around her in an instant, holding on tightly, tears wetting Caddy's shoulder. "Oh, thank the stars, I thought—I thought—"
"Yeah, me too," Caddy said hoarsely, clinging to her.
"What happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Cyan was saying something along the same lines in her communicator, but she wasn't paying attention.
"You say after you've squeezed me half to death," Caddy joked unevenly. "I'm okay, I think."
"Good. Good." Sky drew in a ragged breath. "I'm so happy you're safe. Both of you."
Silver clapped her hands loudly, making them jump apart. "I'm sorry, but you don't have time to talk," Silver projected. "Are you leaving your Diamonds?"
The two of them exchanged a quick look and then shook their heads in unison.
"No, we can stay in service," Caddy said firmly. "At least for a little bit longer."
"Okay, then you need to get back to them right now and make sure they don't suspect you."
"She's right," Sky agreed, immediately hurrying to help Caddy fix her hair and clothes. "Do you have healing tears, Silver?"
"Right here." She passed them over. "Good job in there, Caddy."
"I haven't even told you about it yet," she said with a grin.
"Well, I know it'll be a cool story later." Silver watched as Sky applied the tears quickly to Caddy's gem, then swept some more down her arms and legs to make sure there were no leftover blemishes. "Okay, you look good. Just give me the core and everything and run."
"Got it." Caddy hurried to deposit all the items at Silver's feet, Sky following suit. "Take care of White for us."
"What? I'm coming with—"
"No, you aren't," Silver projected quickly, grabbing her wrist in a firm but not painful hold. "Run," she repeated to Caddy and Sky.
The two of them took off, and White pulled halfheartedly away as if to follow.
"You shouldn't go back," Silver said, getting her attention with a small tug. "Your code was the last one entered and you're not going to be able to talk your way out of that, not with an Agate missing."
"But…"
Silver let go of White, leaving her free to run if she pleased. "You're not White Diamond's anymore, alright? You don't have to be afraid of her."
White didn't move, but she didn't look like she believed her either.
Silver casually knelt to pick up the abandoned items and store them in her gem, picking up the Agate that Caddy had dropped last and keeping it in her palm. "I've got to get this back to base so somebody can bubble it."
The other Pearl nodded slowly.
"We can figure out the rest later."
"Okay," White said uncertainly.
"Okay," Silver repeated, smiling. She took one step and then waited for White to follow before leading the way down the hall. "Let's get you home."