Connie and the B-Team: The Reboot

Author: Feraligreater328

Chapter 1: B-Team, Rebooted

Little Homeworld…

Peridot ran through the streets of Little Homeworld, her eyes scanning around for any sign of Bismuth. The little Gem was rapidly growing impatient with this notable absence. She could feel a "Nyeeeh" vibrating just inside her throat, but was holding it back. It was the first "Nyeeeh" that led to anxiety attacks.

Like the little gremlin spider she was, Peridot scaled up the side of a building and began to scan over the entire expanse of their tiny community. Bismuth was always clattering around in her armor these days. She should stick out in the distance like a sore thumb.

And yet, nothing.

Peridot punched the air and began to scream. "Darn it! Darn it! Darn it! Where is Bismuth at?! Ny-"

From the sky above, Lapis Lazuli came flying down. She bopped Peridot on the head and crossed her arms. "No, Nyeeeh! Remember the talk we had before! You can't freak out over every little inconvenience, Peri!"

Peridot crossed her arms over her chest and grumbled under her breath. Lapis raised an eyebrow, propping her fist on her hip. "Don't pout, either. We need to focus up. This is serious."

Peridot nodded. "Yeah. You're right."

Lapis looked out across Little Homeworld, a look of concern and consternation on her face. "Have you been able to find her at all? I've been flying around for twenty minutes and I'm drawing a blank."

Peridot sighed, sitting on the edge of a building top. "Nothing. This is bad. We need Bismuth, especially seeing as Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are all out of town visiting Steven…"

Lapis quickly joined Peridot on her perch, retracting her wings and groaning. She could feel a headache coming on. "I can't believe Bismuth went missing on Refinery Day. That's, like, the one bit of Little Homeworld business we really need her direct help with…"

For a while, the two Gems just sat there, valiantly fighting a collective headache and trying to think of how they could go about this. The Refinery was a construct that Bismuth and the rest of Little Homeworld had endeavored to set up after Bismuth's armor forging business took off. It was a massive vent that struck all the way to a molten seam directly below Beach City. In order to avoid it becoming, more or less, an active volcano, the three Gems collectively worked together to reset the pump every six months. Bismuth would fish the filter they made out of the bottom of the magma pool, Peridot would reshape and debride it of molten impurities, and then Lapis would give it a proper tempering and rinse.

The entire process took five minutes and the entire system fell apart without Bismuth there to get the filter. Peridot was sweating. "Wh-What do we do?! If that thing becomes too clogged, it will build pressure until it explodes! Little Homeworld and Beach City will burn to the ground!"

Lapis raised her hand, pinching her brow with the opposite one and groaning. "Let me think about this for a minute…"

And then, they were sitting in silence again. Peridot was becoming antsy. She looked over expectantly at Lapis, but the blue gem's shoulders had gone slack. It was clear, even to Peridot, that her partner had long since given up on thinking of a solution and was simply putting off saying it. Peridot cleared her throat. "Lapis?"

Lapis groaned. "Look, Peri-"

Peridot screeched. "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

Quickly, Lapis slapped her hand over Peridot's mouth and pushed her down. "Sh-Shush! Be quiet! You're gonna cause a panic! We just have to-"

"Lapis? Peridot? Is that you?"

Both of the Gems sat up, Peridot yanking Lapis' hand from over her mouth. Down below, wearing a fur-collared leather jacket, her hair shaved into a lop-sided faux hawk, was the familiar face of Connie Mahesawran. She grinned from ear-to-ear. "Hey! It is you guys! What's up?"

Immediately, Lapis and Peridot both leapt to the ground. They ran up to Connie and jumped into a big hug. Lapis cocked her head. "Jeez, when did you get so tall? You used to be shorter than me, at least. Right?"

Connie chuckled. "I mean, yeah. That's just what happens when humans grow, Lappy. I'm not a teenager anymore?"

Peridot folded her hands behind her head. "How old are you in human years again?"

Connie sighed, the beginnings of worry lines creasing her otherwise young face. "...28."

Lapis and Peridot both looked unimpressed, not having it in them to really appreciate what the number twenty-eight meant for a growing human. They had no concept of what "near-thirty" meant for a human who wasn't ready to be done feeling young. Peridot smiled. "How's Steven?"

Connie smiled brightly. "He's doing fine. I figured, seeing as Greg and the Gems went out to visit him, I might as well swing through and visit my family. Just needed to stop to charge my motorcycle, so I thought I'd swing through to say hi to you two and Bismuth~"

Immediately, a gloom cast over Lapis and Peridot again. Connie cocked her head. "Problem?"

Lapis sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Y-Yeah. Problem."

Connie crossed her arms. "Anything I can do to help?"

Lapis and Peridot looked at one another and then at Connie. Peridot pointed her thumb toward Beach City. "Wanna go talk this over at the Big Donut? It's a bit stressful and I would like a coffee."

Lapis eagerly nodded in agreement. "Coffee would be nice."

Connie smiled. "Coffee it is~"

A bit later, down at the Big Donut…

Connie practically choked on her chai latte. "A VOLCANO?!"

Lapis pressed her finger to her lips, a bead of sweat running down the side of her face. "Shhhh…"

Peridot rolled her eyes. "Lapis is concerned that we might cause a mass panic, or something. Personally, I think a mass panic is very necessary, but she won't let me shout at everybody."

Connie wiped her mouth with a napkin. "I don't think that we should cause a panic either. We just need to…think."

Lapis slammed her head on the table. "We've been thinking. It ain't working. We need Bismuth to do this and we have no freaking idea where she is!"

Connie leaned back in her chair, watching as the former Mayor Dewey glazed a fresh batch of donuts for display. She closed her eyes tight, picturing everything in the area burning to the ground and grimacing. She stood, her back giving a few cracks and creaks in protest. It was getting harder to stand up lately and she had no idea why. She smirked. "Okay! I'm up for the challenge!"

Lapis and Peridot both flinched. Peridot cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

Connie chugged her chai latte and slapped the cup down onto the table. "I mean…it's time to reform the Crystal Temps!"

Back at Little Homeworld, Bismuth's workshop…

Connie breathed a heavy, labored sigh. She had barely entered the room and was already stripping off her jacket, revealing a flower-patterned button up and a purple tie patterned with sparkling, white stars. She rolled her sleeves up to her elbows and looked toward Bismuth's forge. As Lapis and Peridot feared, it was a pressure keg just before the point of exploding. Connie wiped sweat from her head. "Not complaining, just curious. Is it normally this hot in here?"

Lapis, also sweating from head-to-toe, shook her head. "No. It's a Gem-tolerable level of heat, normally. But this is pushing it. I feel like I'm going to poof…"

Peridot pulled off her shades. She looked just as faint as Lapis did. She groaned, swiping a puddle of sweat from her eyes. "Lapis Lazulis and Peridots are both pretty poor in the heat. This is normally a quick job…"

Connie nodded. "Okay. Let's keep it quick then…"

The human reached into her pocket, pulling out a small ring made of pink gemstone. She turned to Lapis and Peridot and smiled. "A little wedding gift from the Diamonds, of all people~"

Connie slipped the ring onto her finger and a miraculous change began. The ring rapidly began to encase Connie's hand, covering her entire arm in a thin layer of pink in less than three seconds. She closed her eyes and breathed. "That should be enough…"

Lapis was confused. "What the heck is that?"

Connie gripped her newly coated fist tightly, making her knuckles crack. "Blue Diamond called it Pink's Blessing. It's a ring that grants me a few…Diamond-like qualities."

The two Gems were dumbfounded, looking into each other's sweaty faces and then back at Connie as she approached the Refinery's massive hatch. Peridot stammered. "Y-You have a ring that turns you into…a Diamond?!"

Connie nodded. "Kinda. It's complicated. And they asked me to keep it on the down-low. So, like, keep this between us. Okay?"

Peridot and Lapis both nodded. Lapis summoned a large glob of water. "We'll start by cooling it, then Peridot can hold the lid up and you can reach in to grab the filter. I'll cool it, she'll clean it, then we put it back and this is all done and over with."

Peridot grumbled. "Then we yell at Bismuth whenever she shows back up!"

Lapis nodded. "Agreed."

Connie chuckled as she began to lift the lid. "Guys, come on! Take it easy on her, she probably-"

The moment the lid lifted more than an inch, a huge vent of steam and superheated gas shot out with the force of a fire hose. Connie let loose a bloodcurdling scream, pressing her hands to her face as she was blown back across the room. Connie hit the wall hard enough to make it crack and then slid to the ground, fully unconscious. Lapis' eyes went wide. "CONNIE!"

Suddenly, the refinery didn't matter as much. Lapis and Peridot ran over to Connie, thankful to see through the new hole in her shirt that the ring had automatically spread over most of her body. The impact into the wall had probably hurt, but at least it wasn't fatal. Peridot gave her friend a shake. "Connie! Connie! Wake up!"

Connie groaned and rolled over, her eyes cracking open and a light pink fluid slowly dripping out. She tried to say something, but it came out as a dull mumble. The skin from her eyebrows down to her cheeks was already blistering. The superheated gasses that had shot out from beneath the lid had nailed her right in the eyes. Lapis carefully picked her up. "We've got to get her out of here."

Peridot cried out. "B-But, Lapis…what about the refinery?!"

Lapis shrugged, looking flustered. "I dunno, okay?! We just have to take a step back and…think."

There was a pregnant pause. Connie gave another groan. Peridot nodded, holding out her hand and pulling Connie's jacket to her by the buttons. "Let's go!"

Just outside of Bismuth's workshop…

Lapis and Peridot ran out of the workshop, Connie wrapped tightly in the taller Gem's protective, blue arms. Peridot shook her head. "We can't wait around anymore, Lapis! Panic is bad, yeah, but panic is preferable to everyone dying!"

Lapis looked down at the injured girl in her arms. Connie had gone still, her breathing shallow and whistling. The blue gem squeezed her eyes shut. "Damn it…"

Peridot frowned. "Lapis!"

Lapis groaned, her eyes slowly opening back up. "F-Fine…let's-"

This time, Lapis was cut off from finishing her sentence by a wall. Somehow, it seemed that a building had sprang up right in front of her. She ran into it head-first and felt herself nearly poof from the experience. Lapis crashed to the ground, dropping Connie like a sack of potatoes. The human groaned in pain and Lapis cried out. "Connie! I'm sorry!"

She shook her head. "What did I hit…?"

And then, Peridot screamed. "NYEEEH! WE DON'T NEED THIS RIGHT NOW?! WHAT DO YOU WANT, YOU CLOD?!"

Lapis glanced up and immediately felt her gorge build in her throat. The coffee in her stomach was twisting and lurching like a stormy sea. On a bad day like this, the last thing she needed was the person looming over her.

Standing there, in all her orange-striped and teal-blotched glory, was the hulking form of Jasper. The brutish Gem had a brown, paper bag held in one arm and a can of Kirin Ichiban gripped in the other. She looked discomforted, to say the least. "Oh, you two. What are you losers doing?"

Lapis practically hissed the name, narrowing her eyes in genuine hatred. "Jasper."