Zircon didn't know how long she stayed there, curled in the fetal position, squished between the large barrels and the Harvester wall as alarms and nervous peridots cried out above her. Too long, she knew. The fact that she was still alive was enough proof of that. She would have thought that the area underneath the broken conveyor would have been the first place anyone would look, but everyone seemed to be running up, away from the ground floor.
She racked her brain for what she knew about the harvesting process. All law-breaking gems were guaranteed the right to a trial and a defending zircon — which was what she had been for — before being sentenced to harvesting. The exceptions were (1) during war, (2) under explicit Diamond orders, or (3) in supreme court against the Diamonds, wherein the defendant's loss automatically meant the "repurposing" of her zircon, which didn't happen very often because there weren't an abundance of zircons to go around...but which explained (partly) why she was here. She would deal with that mental battle later; how she would get OUT of this place was the more immediate concern.
For all her experience concerning shatter-row cases, Zircon had been fortunate enough to never enter a Harvester. Very few gems, besides the workers, ever left. All Zircon knew was that the Diamonds' Harvester lay on the outskirts of Facet One. Bubbles were usually delivered to a drop-off point by pearls, then transported by aircraft to the Harvester. The buildings themselves were usually small and dome-like, leading to much speculation on the processes inside, even though this area looked much larger than the tiny dome stereotype suggested. There was something to that…
It became very clear, very fast. Besides the ceiling, there were no windows. Of course — this building was underground. If she wanted to escape, she needed to go up.
Right into the mass of peridots and a furious shadow agate.
Wonderful.
Everything told Zircon to hide for all eternity, but she had to be realistic. The longer she stayed put, the more likely someone was to check behind the barrels. Briefly, she considered climbing into one of the barrels, but they were sealed shut, and stars only knew where she might end up if she did. She had to move. It might be legally obligated of her to turn herself in, but the trembling of her hands and the sweat dribbling into her stiff collar erased any last objections.
She was going to move.
Painstakingly, Zircon moved as quietly as she could to the side of one barrel, and peered out. To her surprise, the ground level was all but deserted. Only two peridots — the same two as before, 5XI and 5XU — were present at the control panels, 5XU tapping out a report and 5XI standing guard with a finger blaster at the ready. Both of their backs were to Zircon, but when 5XI shifted, she got a clear view of the vulnerable green gemstone on 5XI's right cheek. Anyone on the walkways above wouldn't see them; the control panels were sheltered under the bubble conveyor belt.
"I can do this," Zircon told herself. Her brain managed to reply "no you can't" just as she got up, but it was too late.
Stepping as lightly but quickly as possible, Zircon ran towards Peridot 2F5L-5XI, her teeth clenched, her cravat bouncing against her chest in a way that was most definitely very audible...at least, 5XI heard it. She turned around, baring her gem.
Desperate, Zircon hooked 5XI around the neck with one arm and scrabbled at the peridot gemstone with her other hand, finally gripping it in her fingertips. 5XI struggled for a second and then froze. 5XU scrambled to her feet, eyes wide.
"Y — y — you're the escaped zircon," 5XU stammered.
"It would certainly appear so," Zircon replied, trying in vain to sound braver than she felt. "Now, ah — swear you'll do what I say, or — or I'll crush her gem! I'll do it!"
She didn't know if she could do it. She wasn't even sure if she could poof 5XI on her own, unarmed as she was — 5XI was as thin as a rail, but peridots were tough. Nevertheless, 5XU bought it, and nodded frantically.
Well. That wasn't as hard as Zircon had thought it would be. Now she didn't know what to say, because this was as far as she'd thought she would get. If there was a way to make the threats disappear completely…
She met 5XU's eyes, bright green under her visor. Of course. Everyone here, except Shadow Agate, could only see in shades of green…
"Turn off that alarm," Zircon snapped. 5XU nodded again and turned to the control panel, but Zircon decided to add something just in case: "If you try to report me, Skinny here gets it."
"Do as she says," 5XI squeaked. Wide-eyed, 5XU pressed a diamond-shaped icon and the alarms stopped.
"Now tell the whole Harvester. The escaped zircon has been found, shattered, and disposed of."
5XU did a double take, and gaped at Zircon. "What?"
"Just say it!"
5XU obeyed, pulling a tiny microphone from the panel. "The threat has been neutralized. The escaped zircon has been found, shattered, and properly disposed of."
"Tell Shadow Agate to meet you in the west of the building."
(Zircon didn't actually know what was in the west side of the building. She just needed that agate to be somewhere she could avoid.)
"Shadow Agate, we request your presence in the west wing."
"That will be all."
5XU put down the microphone. Above them, the machines started up again. Peridots stopped running and began acting bored again. "This might actually work," Zircon thought to herself, and as she relaxed, her fingers loosened their grip on 5XI's gem.
Which was when 5XI twisted her head, dropped down, and elbowed Zircon in the side.
Pained and shocked, Zircon stumbled back with an undignified "oof!" and landed on her knees. When she looked up, 5XI was charging at her, her face twisted in rage. A second later, Zircon was on the ground again. A tiny green ball of static electricity sparked to life in 5XI's fingers, making the hairs on the back of Zircon's neck stand on end. A second more and she would have been fried, but without thinking, Zircon reached in, grabbed three of 5XI's electric fingers, and jabbed them into the peridot's gut.
The electric shock hurt both of them, but the force caused 5XI to keel over. Still numb, Zircon pushed 5XI off her and whirled to 5XU.
She had a destabilizer — great. 5XU jerked forward and Zircon was only barely able to dodge the weapon.
What happened next could only be attributed to luck (luck and fear and little else): almost without thinking, Zircon circled to 5XU's side and pulled her arm at the elbow, forcing her arm to straighten and making 5XU cry in pain. In quick succession, Zircon's hand wrapped around 5XU's fist and the destabilizer, pulled the floating fingers from their magnetic field, and drove the destabilizer into 5XU's form.
Even before 5XU's remains fell to the floor, Zircon whirled around and met 5XI mid-lunge.
Two peridot gems and eight limb enhancers clattered on the ground.
In the aftermath, it took Zircon a few moments to process what she had just done. She'd assaulted two gems. Two imperial workers. If her courtroom tirade wasn't treason, this certainly was. The idea filled her will both cold dread and an electric thrill — this was rebellion, on par with Rose Quartz herself.
The thought stopped her in her tracks. Rose Quartz. If Zircon had been sentenced to harvesting…
Right. She needed to move. She had to find Rose Quartz.
Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Zircon looked down at her form, closed her eyes, and thought about peridots. She hadn't shapeshifted since a case in which she had had to prove that a gem of a ruby's size couldn't fit a witness description from a certain distance. She was a little rusty, and it took her a few tries until she could get it right — the shapely upper body, the limb enhancers, the nondescript uniform, the tetrahedronal hair, a fake triangular gem on her forehead. If another peridot saw her through her tinted visor, Zircon might appear an aqua-green. But green nonetheless.
Unfortunately, when she reached up to touch it, the hair had more of a curve than anything. Her nose was still long. Then there was still the problem of her all-too-obvious gem, sitting right at her collar and bared by the deep, almost provocative neckline of the uniform.
She could wear something to cover it — no. Or she could carry something...possibly. The peridots she had seen usually just put things in bubbles, or pushed them on rolling carts…
Her eyes landed on a tall hand truck by the barrels. When she went to the effort of putting the barrels onto the truck, it was tall enough to hide her gem from the front. Perfect.
For the first time since she had reformed, Zircon began to finally feel like things were going her way.
ohoho...so it seems that fics about everyone's favorite new blue lawyer wife are in short supply. well i guess i'll treat you guys and deplete my store of backup chapters a little (i have this written up to half of chapter 4, i like to leave a little space so i can edit)
((despite the fact that i had to go in and add paragraph spaces manually which drove me bonkers))
anyway lmk what you think
