Chorus

Chapter Fourteen

Note: Once again, apologies for the lateness of this chapter. A headfirst dive into a new fandom that's given me a serious case of the waifu wails plus my usually packed schedule means it went on the backburner until I could give it the attention it deserved. We're nearing the end of this fic, but I may write other stories in the same continuity if anyone's interested.

…..

After what seemed like an eternity, Orthoclase stood up, cleared her throat, and everyone turned around to pay attention.

"I have all the arrangements made, more or less," she began. "I've done what I can...now I need to ask what you can do."

She wasn't addressing Steven or Amethyst or Garnet, but the pearls. Steven, who had been waiting on sweaty nervous tenterhooks since speaking to Ginger, clutched the couch cushions.

"I think you all know, more or less, what we're walking into here, but for those of you that don't I'll explain," Orthoclase continued. "There's a lab on the east district, one of the tower blocks. Old military research, supposed to be discontinued but someone's set up shop in there again. It's guarded by a Jasper squadron, and has a half-dozen Kunzites working in the lab. We need them taken out but not shattered. Murder Pearl's good, but she needs someone to run interference."

One of the pearls, a small one in shades of pale blue and yellow, raised her hand.

"You want me to impersonate a zoatox," she guessed.

"Spot on," Orthoclase nodded, and Steven realized that Ginger had probably passed the plan on to all the other pearls without him noticing. "We're disrupting the security holoforms so they won't see us. You make the noises and Murder Pearl will do the rest."

"What are we supposed to do?" Amethyst asked from the back of the room.

"Stay out of our way," Orthoclase shrugged. "The less gems we have on this, the better. I'll bring the pebble, we might need the special spit. And if any gems come sniffing around here after our little sing-song, we could use you here to look after Lapis and the pearls."

Amethyst didn't look happy about it, but she sighed and said nothing. Garnet, still clearly trying to keep her two squabbling parts together, had nothing to say. She leaned against the wall with her arms folded, gazing directly at the ground.

"Now, once we're in, that's when we can expect big trouble," Orthoclase said. "According to what I've found, the missing pearl is hooked up to some sort of organic parasitic...thing. It'll take time to remove, if it can be removed..."

Steven's heart felt like it was going to drop into his stomach. From across the room, he watched Amethyst blanch and Garnet cover her face with her hands.

"...but if we stand any chance of getting it off and getting out of there undetected, we need to make it look like we weren't there at all. We need to leave a pearl there, and not just any pearl. It has to look identical to the missing one."

No. No, she wouldn't...

"That means I need a volunteer..."

She had barely said the word before every available pearl's arm rose to the call. The few that didn't have a full arm to raise put up whatever limb they could. They didn't even hesitate.

"Okay, great," Orthoclase sighed. "Any of you will do, but we need a second string configuration circuit, otherwise any changes are just cosmetic."

The arms descended, and a silent gestured conversation took place among the pearls.

"I will take her place," one of them finally announced, walking forward.

Steven recognized her, she was one of the pearls in better condition than most of the rest. She was the pearl who had been working in the processing centre, the one who went with them willingly. He'd named her Waterlily.

"You're not second string..." Orthoclase began.

"I have the largest memory bank, they won't suspect anything for a long time," Waterlily told her. "You can implant a configuration core."

"Well, then I need another volunteer..."

"I'm second string, she can have mine," another pearl (Magnolia) piped up.

"Fantastic! Two quadrants in surgery and we're good to go."

…..

As much as he didn't want to, Steven watched the surgery. He felt it was his duty. Two pearls were choosing to sacrifice themselves for Pearl, and he owed it to them to not shy away from the messy details.

With a few incisions, the pearl that volunteered her configuration circuit flopped over like a puppet with her strings cut. Orthoclase carried her out to the others, and at the sight of her Amethyst looked like she was going to be sick.

Ginger stood by the operating table with a holo-projected image of Pearl they'd gotten from somewhere, and Orthoclase set about recreating the image on Waterlily.

"Couldn't you use nanobytes for this?" Steven asked, swallowing hard as he watched her scrape away Waterlily's skin.

"It wouldn't last once the organic matter was attached, we'd never get out in time," Orthoclase told him. "Plus we'd need Ginger to stay there, and I'm kind of fond of her so I'd rather not dump her in that place."

"It's not hurting her, Steven," Ginger assured him.

"I'm okay," Waterlily agreed, awkwardly now that most of the skin on her face had been peeled away.

Steven swallowed again, and tried to focus on something else.

"So, this organic thing you were talking about...what is it for? Like, what's it doing?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them, but he hadn't been able to think of anything else to say.

"It's utilized to gather and process memory from pearls," Ginger told him with her usual bluntness. "Pearls are organic-based as well, it can access areas a normal probe couldn't reach. It's like a...vacuum, of sorts."

"I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't hack the notes," Orthoclase chimed in, casually pulling out a rib as she spoke. "Apparently they synthesized it using some leftover spores from a zoatox they had in deep freeze. Once we're done here, I'm leaking it across the bulletins, they put all of Homeworld at risk with this slag."

"Wait, so...it wasn't the Diamonds who took Pearl?"

"Nope, it's an illegal operation," Orthoclase said. "Probably disgraced military looking to get back in their good graces by finding out what the Renegade Pearl's been hiding. They tested it on fifteen pearls before they took her."

"That's why we need Waterlily," Ginger said. "She's gathered more memory than any other pearl."

"But...isn't memory, like, really important to you guys? I thought..." Steven stammered.

"It is an honour to sacrifice our memories for her," Waterlily said. "We all agreed."

…..

When the surgery was finished, the resemblance was uncanny.

Unless you knew Pearl very, very well.

Waterlily-as-Pearl was too blank-faced, too still and too calm to be Pearl. The effect was almost frightening, and Steven could tell by the look on Amethyst and Garnet's faces that they felt the same way.

"You're sure you don't need some extra back-up?" Amethyst asked, mostly it seemed as an excuse not to look at the copycat.

"No, we'll be fine," Steven assured her. "Orthoclase knows what she's doing, and Murder Pearl does too."

"I can't believe I'm sending you off with someone named 'Murder Pearl,' she groaned. "This has been one weird week...or month, whatever."

"Just look after Garnet until we get back, okay?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "And you try to bring Pearl back in one piece, okay?"

They shook on it.

…..

The facility was supposed to be on lockdown, but after Orthoclase used a small machine that made a loud noise to jam the security holoforms, Murder Pearl released her form and was dropped through a grate. A few moments later, the metal shutters on the door cranked upwards to let them in.

"We do this as fast as we can," Orthoclase whispered.

She turned and gave a signal to the blue-and-yellow pearl (Buttercup, wasn't it?) and with a nod she clambered up the wall to the air conditioning system. Out of her throat came a strange, eerie sound that froze Steven on the spot; a resonant, shrill scream that wavered in the pipes and seemed to move on its own towards the centre of the building.

Without a word, Murder Pearl crawled into the pipe after the sound. Distantly, they could hear panicked mumblings from other places in the building, which were cut short one by one. When the building was silent, she emerged from the pipe.

"She's in bay five, lab seventeen," she told them.

Steven caught glimpses of her handiwork as they made their way through the building; shattered panels and broken glass, twisted metal grating and gems in their gem form littered the floors. All in what seemed like ten minutes. Despite himself, Steven shuddered.

Of course, all thought of Murder Pearl and what she was capable of fled his mind when they finally reached the lab that Pearl was being held in.

She looked...okay.

He'd had visions of her being badly injured, maybe missing limbs like some of the other pearls, but her form was whole. She looked like she was peacefully sleeping on the gurney she'd been placed on, not even strapped down or restrained in any way.

It was frighteningly easy to miss the long black tendril suspended from the ceiling that was connected to her gem, thin as it was. It was waving gently back and forth, almost playfully it seemed. It didn't look like it was hurting her...

"Sweet Core," he distantly heard Orthoclase say to the ceiling, as his own eyes remained rooted on Pearl's utterly still form.

Distracted by whatever the tendril was connected to, she didn't notice Steven hurrying to Pearl's side until it was too late, and he barely heard her hiss at him to come back.

"Pearl?" he croaked. His throat was oddly dry. "Pearl? Wake up! We came to get you..."

Once he was close enough to take her shoulder and gently shake it, he saw just how not okay she was. The tendril was clearly burrowing into her gem, leaving a crumbling raw crater around it. Her eyelids were flickering rapidly and her breathing was harsh and ragged. Little dark raised veins stood out in her face, pulsing obscenely.

Gripped with an urge to pull the tendril out, he reached out to grab it.

"Steven, don't!"

The shout brought what was on the ceiling to furious life, enough to make Steven finally look up. An enormous black mass, like a breathing fungus, quivered and swelled. Long ropes of veiny black and red gelatin dropped from the ceiling, and with astonishing speed they targeted the other pearls in the room.

Ginger was pulled out of the way by Orthoclase in the nick of time, and Orthoclase covered her with her own body as the rope tried to get to her. Murder Pearl caught hers with her hook and was holding it inches from her face with grim determination. Waterlily cowered behind her.

Buttercup was neither quick enough to dodge or strong enough to hold the thing off, and it struck her right at the centre of her chest, where her gem was. She began to scream, a terrifying sound made all the worse by the fact that Steven had never heard any of the pearls scream before.

Swiftly, Murder Pearl managed to turn her hook to cut the tendril in half and she hurled herself at the one attacking Buttercup, slicing it off at the tip. The ragged end was left writing in Buttercup's gem, and Buttercup released her form in a puff of smoke.

Shock had stopped Steven from forming his shield, and he went for it just as another of the tentacles shot towards Waterlily.

I'm not going to make it, the thought flickered in his mind.

But Orthoclase managed to make it first. She had what looked like a syringe in her hand and she stabbed the nearest tendril with it. It shivered, withered a little and dropped limply to the ground. They all watched it intently, for signs of movement, and when nothing happened they all took a deep breath.

"That should keep it still for a while," Orthoclase sighed. "But just so you know, pebble, I could have done without that stress. Plan was to immobilize it before it sensed other pearls."

"I'm sorry," Steven mumbled. "I got...distracted."

Orthoclase's stern expression softened, and she strode to the gurney with purpose.

"Right, well, let's not waste any more time," she said, rooting through her equipment bag. "Let's see how deep this thing's gotten."

Using a scalpel and tongs, she poked and prodded at Pearl's gem in a way that made Steven feel vaguely sick. It was bad enough watching her do it to pearls he didn't know that well; seeing her work on Pearl was a different level of uncomfortable. Even Ginger holding her hand on the other side of the gurney didn't ease the discomfort.

"Okay, I have good news and bad news," Orthoclase said at last.

Steven didn't trust himself to speak without bursting into tears.

"Good news is, I can get these out. It'll take a while but once the embedded strands are separated from the main host they're pretty much dead. I just have to cut them off."

Well, that was a relief. But...

"But, there's a lot of core damage here. It's kind of incredible she's kept it together, but she's in stasis so I guess that's accounting for most of it. I hate to say it but the parasite might be what's holding her together. Once it's gone, I don't know what'll happen."

Steven sniffled. When had he started crying, exactly?

"We should at least get her out of here," Ginger suggested, speaking on Steven's behalf. "If she is going to shatter, it would be better if it happened away from this place."

"Got that right," Orthoclase muttered, and deftly she sliced through the tendril.

Gently, she lifted Pearl down from the gurney and laid her on the floor. Her eyelids were no longer flickering and her breathing was more relaxed, but those awful veins remained.

"You ready?" Orthoclase asked, and with a start Steven realized she was talking to Waterlily.

Waterlily showed no signs of fear or sadness, but Steven could sense it in her anyway. Who wouldn't be frightened, after seeing what this thing could do...?

"Maybe she doesn't have to do this," he said when he found his voice. "We have Pearl now, and the thing's not moving, we could..."

"No," Orthoclase cut across him severely. "It has to look like the lab was attacked by zoatox. If the authority even suspects gem involvement we're finished, and they need to be the ones to shut this operation down. We need to leave an intact pearl here to prove it."

"But..." Steven spluttered. "I mean, we can't just..."

"Steven," Ginger said gently but firmly. "Waterlily has made her decision. You dishonour her by refusing her sacrifice."

Stunned, he looked at Waterlily. She smiled at him and nodded.

"I have lived a good life," she told him.

And so, he kept his silence as Orthoclase bore a hole in Waterlily's gem and pushed one of the tendrils into it. They left her there.

Pearl was tucked into a box of lead shavings that Orthoclase had brought along, and stored in Ginger's gem alongside Buttercup's gem. They made it safely to the door and were almost at their vehicle when Murder Pearl stopped.

"Something wrong?" Orthoclase asked, looking around for reformed security gems.

"I can't go with you," Murder Pearl answered. "I cannot let that monstrosity live."

"What?" Orthoclase scoffed. "Come on, we have a plan we need to stick to...!"

"I will wait here," Murder Pearl said. "I will allow enough time to pass so that you cannot be suspected, and then I will kill it."

"For the love of Core," Orthoclase swore, and turned to Ginger. "Can you talk to her?"

"No," Ginger said bluntly. "She is right."

"It is an abomination. I will also destroy the lab and the notes so that they can never create another one," Murder Pearl continued. "It will never touch another pearl."

With a long-suffering sigh, Orthoclase agreed.

"Your owner is going to be severely tetchy with me now," she grumbled.

"I don't think that's true," Murder Pearl said. "She was looking to get rid of me, actually."

"Thanks for everything," Steven said past the lump in his throat. "We wouldn't have gotten this far without you."

For the first and last time, he saw a genuine smile light up the notorious Murder Pearl's face.

"It has been an honour," she said, and then she was gone.