And then there was a message from Yellow Diamond.
It arrived in Red's inbox and placed her feet inside the queen's throne room. Due to the regular hours, her Pearl was there as well, and greeted the noble at the door with a confrontational stare of a few seconds that ended up wading inside her ballet shoes.
Red's soul grew a tumor as her Diamond x-rayed her from the throne.
Then the empress spoke: "I've called you here, Red, because I've reconsidered your request."
"My request, my Diamond?"
"Yes. You mentioned that you wanted to capture Morganite."
Red clasped her hands together and began to sparkle as if beneath a spotlight. In a way, she was.
"Well—" There was a slight amount of mismanaged mirth. "I've decided that I do want her corpse, and I'm going to make you the manager of this project. Though, I do have some conditions. So don't get too excited."
"I'll try not to, Madame," but it was already happening, and spread throughout her body like the circuitry of her veins.
Yellow Diamond's mouth curled up at the edges. "First of all, I'd like you to personally avoid going to Earth yourself. I took the liberty of making sure Morganite was indeed on that wretched planet as your vision suggested, and she was. Both she and a renegade Pearl she somehow acquired destroyed it. Despite this, we still know exactly where Morganite is. You'll be able to find the coordinates in the mission layout I'm going to send you, assuming you accept."
"Oh, My Diamond. I accept with every fiber of my being."
The empress smiled in elegant rays. "I thought you would. Anyway, as I was saying before, I don't want you going to Earth yourself. Instead, you are to send other gems to apprehend her, and if all else fails, it is at that point that you may go. However, I expect you to be able to retrieve her before it comes to that."
"Yes, My Diamond."
A moment of silence as Yellow fiddled with her machine. Despite the broken eye contact, she continued to speak. "You would do well not to underestimate her. It's come to our attention that Morganite has actually become quite powerful over the last few centuries. I had put her out of my mind until you brought her up and though she hasn't been a problem, I don't particularly like the idea of there being a gem out there with such abilities, especially considering that she received them from me. You have my permission to break her, Red, and I'd like this mission done in a timely manner."
The noble nodded her head as her mouth folded under the influence of her joy. It refused not to show on her face and it colored her reply. "My Diamond, I'll do better."