Steven and Connie took a deep gasp of air as they stared at the ceiling before picking themselves up.
Looking around in confusion, Steven was the first to speak. "Lars? Are you okay? Where are w-"
"It's over! We've got you now you miserable Off-Colors!" a nasal voice yelled as she glared at the gems that were responsible for stealing her companion's ship.
"That's what you think!" Jonathan said, clapping his hands from his spot in the chair next to Lars.
"Yeah! You'll never take us alive, uh…whoever you are!" Lars agreed, confidently standing and grinning at the gems on the other side of the screen.
"Emerald! Were you able to find those clods that stole my ship?" a familiar voice asked from out of frame.
"Captain Lars. Lieutenant Jonathon. I have a vision that we are about to be discovered by Hessonite and Emerald." Padparadscha said as Hessonite quickly made her way into frame, glaring at the gems on the other side of the communicator so that her furious face was clearly visible.
"Captain Lars? Lieutenant Jonathon?!" Steven and Connie exclaimed as they looked between them with huge grins.
"Thanks Padparadscha." Jonathan said, smiling at the orange gem.
"Fluorite! Check the engine! Twins, fire up the Novathrusters." Lars ordered, the gems in question giving nods of agreement.
"No! You will not use my Novathrusters to escape the rightful shattering that you know you should be going to!" Hessonite snapped, her comrade putting a hand on her shoulder to ease her before rounding on the gems. "Those are our Novathrusters. That is our ship." she ranted as Lars asked Rhodonite if everything was clear up ahead, who nodded in affirmation.
"It was a minor inconvenience when you snuck into our base, it was an insult when you destroyed the display case of medallions holding priceless awards and medallions we received from our countless battles with the Crystal Gems, but to steal our Sun Incinerator is absolutely unacceptable!" she ranted, the Off-Colors laughing.
"If the ship means so much to you, maybe you shouldn't have left the keys on a key ring and left your prisoner unguarded." Jonathan said, with a smirk.
"You imbeciles snuck into our home and stole them!" Emerald snapped.
"And I was there to guard the base!" Hessonite added.
Lars snickered. "Obviously you didn't guard it very well." he teased.
"Are you calling my comrade incompetant?!" Emerald demanded, her eyes flashing as Hessonite placed a hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter. We'll blow them to smithereens."
"Of course it matters! They can't disturb the peace at our base then insult the very gem they stole from!" Emerald shot back.
"The engine is ready!" Fluorite called, interrupting the spat between the gems.
"Alright you heard the fusion! Twins, hyperspeed us out of here." Jonathan said, grinning at the gem, who nodded as Lars turned off the communicator, ignoring the gems on the other side as they protested and the ship jumped into hyperspeed..
"I have so many questions!" Steven said, hugging Lars as the ship shot through space. "How'd you guys get away with stealing the ship? And more importantly, where'd you guys get those sweet clothes?" he said, ruffling Jonathon's hair affectionately as he grinned at the matching outfits the boys were wearing.
"Oh that? Rhodonite grabbed them when she went upstairs to write her report." Jonathan said with a laugh.
"Steven, is that another human friend?" Fluorite asked, their eyes shining with happiness as they looked down at Connie, who nodded and grinned up at the gem. "Yeah! I'm Connie. Happy to be aboard! You guys must be Lars's and Jonathon's crew!" The boys exchanged a look before shaking their head with a grin. "Kinda. They're more than that. Without them, we would have never been able to sneak in and steal that ship."
"But without you we would have never been able to even think about escaping." Rhodonite pointed out.
"And now, a few weeks of preparing and a stolen ship later, we're finally on a course straight to Earth!" Jonathon said, grinning as he and Jonathon high fived.
"And that is a huge relief." Jet said, relief washing over her face as she stood. "And now that that is all solved, Jonathan and I can finally go home through Lars's head."
Jonathan's smile faltered as he glanced up at the gem, the room going silent in shock. "What? What are you talking about?"
Jet bit her lower lip. "Look, Jonathan. This is not your fight. You're a human. You're weak, and if they get their hands on you, they won't put you in the Zoo. They'll either kill you or keep you with The Diamonds as something to entertain them. It's too risky."
"Not my fight?" Jonathan said, looking like the gem had just slapped him in the face. "Homeworld made it my fight when they took my mom away from Earth. Homeworld made it my fight when their negligence lead the same human they kidnapped to die in childbirth. Homeworld made it MY fight when they decided that any gem and/or human who doesn't look 'normal' decides to die." he ranted, his voice growing louder with every sentence. "Homeworld made this my fight when their stupid robots killed my best friend." he snapped, gesturing towards Lars. "This IS my fight, Jet! And even if it wasn't, I want to be involved anyway. That's…that's what best friends do for each other." he said, looking up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw Stevonnie beaming down at him.
"It sure is."
…
"My, my, my, you've caused a lot of trouble, haven't you?" a Quartz soldier said, thumbing through the report in her hands with a light glint in her eyes. "Where did you even get this?" she asked, looking down at the Amethyst guard crumpled in a heap on the floor at her feet, covered in scars and bruises. When she didn't receive an answer, the gem placed their foot on top of their gemstone and started to press, glaring down at them, their cry of pain meaning nothing to her. "Make this quick and we can get this over with quickly. Thanks to you I have to spend the rest of my day cooped in this dingy little room and shattering gems like you who think it's okay to leak private data." she spat, holding up the report on the Defective Pearl fiasco.
"T-The Defective Pearl!" the Amethyst guard barely managed to gasp out. "She…she put it next to my gemstone. After she poofed me."
The gem above her laughed without humor. "So you mean to tell me while your crew was goofing off, not only were the Off-Colors able to escape. They were able to poof you. That's pathetic." she said, pressing her foot further into the gemstone and relishing in the cry of agony that emitted from the gem below her.
"In case you are unaware, this report was supposed to be destroyed years ago by an Agate at the Zoo. But it somehow managed to land in the hands of a defective Pearl, who then gave it to you. Do you know what that means?" she asked, cocking her head to the side and watching as the Amethyst shook her head slowly.
"That means that we have far more problems than a single Pearl gone rogue. This means the Diamonds are right." she said, scoffing. "This whole system is tainted. Defective gems have served the Diamonds, gems are knowingly going against orders, and now? Now gems like you try to spread the word about a report that no gem should have known about." she said, her eyes lighting up in anger.
"So…so it's all true then?" the Amethyst guard said, dumbstruck. "The Diamonds are planning a genocide?"
The gem above her pursed her lips as she examined the gem's battered, fear-filled face. "Yes. It is true. Don't worry, though. The diamonds are making a new, better authority. Isn't that what you were taught to fight for? A world where the Diamonds are happy, cared for, and well-taken care of? Well, like it or not, your kind are no longer useful. Soon you will all be replaced with better made gems like myself." she said, her eyes lighting up.
"Really, you should be honored that a gem like yourself even had the opportunity to see the beginning of Era 3!" she said, grinning. "An era where every gem is the same. Logical. Factual. Physically incapable of feeling emotion. It will be beautiful."
"What…are you?"
The gem above her barked a laugh at the Amethyst guard's question. "I'm what the Diamonds need." she said, glancing down at her notes as she reached into the gem on her stomach, pulling out a rainbow scythe. "Now that the Diamonds have what they need from you, you are not." they said, casually tossing their notes to the side before turning back to the Amethyst guard with a smile.
"Wait! Don't I get a trial?" the gem protested, doing their best to back away. The Quartz soldier tapped their chin in mock confusion before smirking at the desperation in the gem's voice. "Aah, about that. We don't do that anymore." the Quartz soldier said with a laugh as their figure morphed into a 10-foot tall, shadowy figure that was dark as the thick nothingness of space, the only feature that was distinguishable being a pair of brilliant white eyes, a sharp toothed grin, and a sparkling multi-colored gemstone..
"The Diamonds have what they need now that they have me." the figure said in a distorted, low voice that sent shivers down the Amethyst guard's spine. "No point in sparing you now if we're just going to shatter everyone else soon anyway." they said before swiftly bringing the scythe down and poofing the gem.
As the Amethyst guard's gemstone clattered to the floor, the figure closed their eyes, momentarily relishing in the few moments they got to take their true form. When they opened them again they sighed before resuming the form the Diamonds preferred, bringing their foot down hard on the Amethyst's gemstone and sending it shattering into different pieces.
When the deed was done, they bent down and picked up the gem shards, bubbling them in a bright golden bubble and topping the top of it to send it to the Diamonds before reaching into their gold gemstone on their stomach to pull out the Diamond Line and activate it.
"Gold Pearl. I assume the deed has been done?" Yellow Diamond said as soon as she picked up the Diamond Line, not even giving the gem on the other end a chance to greet her as she waved the gem's salute away.
"Yes, My Diamond." the gem said, bowing low so their long, silky, white hair momentarily covered their face before they stood again. "The Amethyst guard who was in charge of spreading the Perfect Pearl experiment has been shattered. The report is in my possession and will be destroyed. I intend on spending the rest of the day shattering every other Amethyst that so much as looked at the cover of the report."
"Good." Yellow Diamond said, nodding. "Blue, White, and I are doing damage control. Our Pearls are assisting us with putting together a message to send to all of Homeworld to calm everyone down and ensure nothing is going on, and to prove it any and all missions are put on hold for the grand ball we have scheduled. When this message goes out, if you get the smallest inkling that any gem doesn't believe this message or is not intending on going to this ball, you are to shatter them immediately. We need to send a message that we will not be tolerating any gems trying to speak ill of us. Understood?"
"Yes, My Diamond."