Chapter 18: A "Beneficial" Alliance!
A few minutes ago...
Aquamarine was many things in her time: Manipulative. Dangerous. Commanding. Ruthless. Spiteful. Uncooperative. In Charge.
But desperate was NOT one of them!
Why did she let her "Eyeball" talk her into this?
Was it because she was cracked?
Was it because of her "feelings" for the Ruby soldier?
Was it because of her hatred of Lincoln Loud and those who follow him?
Is it because she had the same hatred for the Exiles as Emperor Zing does?
Was it all of them combined?
Was it all of the above?
Was it something more?
Those were the thoughts the little gem was thinking in her mind as the Ruby that she was romantically involved with carried her to the elevator and used it to head to Zing's throne room.
Back to the present...
Aquamarine and Eyeball were standing in Zing's throne room as the alien emperor sat down on said throne.
"So, why have you come to me?" Zing said as he narrowed his eyes at the two. "Make it quick now."
The two gems felt a chill go down their spines as Eyeball spoke, albeit with a stutter. "W-Well Zing. As you can see, Aquamarine's gem is cracked a-and because of that, her physical form is falling apart. S-So is there anything you have in your arsenal that can fix h-her?"
"I do. But I have a question though." Zing said to the two. "My services don't come free, so you'll have to earn my assistance in helping your girl Ruby by giving me something. The question is, what could you possibly give me in exchange for my assistance?"
Before the red soldier could answer, Aquamarine answered for.
"L-o-o-k Z-i-n-g, w-e d-o-n-'-t t-r-u-s-t y-o-u a-n-d w-e k-n-o-w y-o-u h-a-t-e u-s! B-u-t t-h-e-r-e re a-r-e a g-r-o-u-p o-f p-e-o-p-l-e t-h-a-t a-l-l t-h-r-e-e o-f u-s h-a-t-e e-v-e-n m-o-r-e."
"And that is?" Zing asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"L-i-n-c-o-l-n L-o-u-d a-n-d h-i-s e-x-i-l-e-d f-r-i-e-n-d-s!" Aquamarine stated, glitchy.
"True. But what do they have to do with you two coming to me for help?" Zing asked.
"Well, we could spy on him and his friends." Eyeball stated frantically. "I bet there planning to escape somehow."
Zing thought about this briefly, he knew that Aquamarine and Eyeball were right. If Lincoln and the Exiles were going to try and escape, it would be beneficial to know when and how.
"Even if they do escape, it's not going to help them." Zing stated. "I mean, where will they go. If they go back to Earth, well bring an invasion force there."
"True." Eyeball said, staring down at Aquamarine.
"Besides, I have an army and the technological advantage on my side on my side. There just a single group of individuals who were banished from their home. Aside from the Xenomorph battle, why should I fear them." Zing said.
"He managed to defeat Jasper in one on one fight." Eyeball said
"Really?!" Zing asked in shock it clicked into his head as the memory of the two's fight going into his throne room as he, Foster and Roger saw firsthand, when he and Jasper went back down the hole the Quartz made (which was still getting fixed up), he didn't see the rest of the fight.
"Foster's story checks out after all." Zing thought to himself as he spoke up again. "Very well, I'll heal Aquamarine for you." He quickly spoke again before the two gems can thank him. "In return, you gather intel on our enemies."
"Of course. I'm in your debt Emperor Zing!" Eyeball said, bowing to him as Aquamarine did the same thing, unknowing to the Emperor crossed their fingers.
"Good to see that you know your place, gems." Zing said as he then got up from his throne. "Follow me."
Zing led Foster and the two gems to the back of his throne room which had a door that immediately slid open, allowing the four to head inside.
What they saw caused Ruby, in her confusion, to nearly drop her Aquamarine on the metal floor...
As this was happening, meanwhile Lincoln and the Exiles assembled the other prisoners around the Shawarma stand, which was surprisingly the only other private place on the ship. And they were doing the classic "hiding in plain sight" maneuver as the Exiles (sans Jasper) and Sinbad were pretending to work as Jasper was looking out for guards as the prisoners were pretending to be costumers.
A few minutes passed as Lincoln explained the plan to all of them and when they were going to do it... which was on the day of the Exiles... "Smoothening"...
"So, what do you all think?" Lincoln asked the group.
"Sounds like a good plan?" The blue strong looking alien said.
".Off pull to difficult rather be will It" The cycloptic orange alien said in its backwards language.
"We're going to need all of you help us to pull it off." Sinbad pointed out.
"So you guys with us!" Lincoln asked as he pumped his fist into the air.
His answer came in the form of everyone cheering and pumping their fists him and his fellow Exiles as they all dispersed throughout the undamaged parts of the ship, getting all hyped up as they did.
Leggy remained with the group, much to Lincoln's confusion.
Before the boy could ask why she hasn't left, the soldier, while looking rather nervous and blushing a little bit, spoke up rather quickly. "Could I talk to you privately Lincoln?!"She said before catching herself and adding in. "P-Please?"
"Oh, uh, sure." Lincoln said as he hopped over the counter before he then walked away with Leggy. Unknown to him, Leggy looked behind them and saw Milo and the others give her a thumbs up, even Dan gave her a thumbs up... (granted it was a very, very, brief one but still it counts).
She even saw her fellow Rubies mouth words of encouragement like "You go girl!" and "He breaks your emotional state, we break his face!"
Blushing even more, Leggy smiled with even more determination and confidence as she escorted Lincoln to a private place for the two to discuss... whatever it is that the red soldier wanted to discuss with Royal Wood's man with the plan.
To be continued...
Wow, so only has Zing agreed to help Aquamarine and Eyeball but they also agreed to work together (at least for the time being) in order to take down and his friends!
Speaking of the eggshell hair colored lad, it seems a certain naïve, red colored soldier wants to have a few words with about something.
The question is, what could that be?
Find out next time on "The Exiles".