Steven didn't have time to gasp before the Warp in Little Homeworld activated, and countless Gems pored out.
"Wow!" Pearl exclaimed. She had been trying to get the Warps to reactivate before they came back online with a sudden burst and jumped away before she could be trampled by the stampede of arriving Gems. Amethyst wasn't so lucky, and with a yell she was carried away in the crowd as if caught in a rip tide. "What the H-" she was yanked down before she could finish the thought.
"Who invited EVERYONE?" Spinel said and jumped up onto Yellow's shoulder to get out of the fray.
The arriving Gems were panicked, everyone yelling or holding other poofed Gem's clutched to them as they ran. The warp stream didn't deactivate, allowing more and more Gems to scatter into Little Homeworld.
"What happened?" Steven demanded of a crying purple Pearl.
She stared wide eyed at him, and her fear transformed into joy. "Steven Universe and the other Diamonds are here! We're saved!"
Before he could protest, Steven, Yellow and Blue were surrounded by the panicked Gems. Gems cried for help and yanked at his clothes. Blue grabbed him and held him above the chaos before he was ripped apart. "Thanks Blue…what in the world is going on?" He scanned the crowd, panicked when he realized Connie was still on the ground. On a roof, he caught her waving along side Pearl and a trampled Amethyst. He let out a sigh of relief before he cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled. "Please! Everyone, we can't help unless we have order! Calm down!" It was pointless as Gems continued to yank at Blue and Yellow's feet, their eyes pleading.
An orange blur flew past Steven. Jasper's roll attack smashed into the ground and shook the crowd. She emerged from her crater, her roar louder then every scream, "EVERYONE SHUT UP!" she demanded. Everyone stared wide eyed at her, stunned to silence. Jasper smiled up at Steven. "You were saying, my Diamond?"
"Um, thanks Jasper…. Yes, everyone, please, tell us what happened?" Steven pleaded.
"Over here!" a Gem from the crowd whimpered, their waving arm all that Steven could see.
Jasper stomped through the throng and yanked the Gem up and over everyone's heads.
"President Zircon?" Yellow gasped.
Zircon tried to straighten her bowtie despite her precarious position in Jasper's hand. "Homeworld has fallen! Our defenses couldn't hold the Alloy fleet. I ordered a worldwide evacuation to every Gem not fighting. The Gem's not here will be on every other colonized world."
"Where is White?" Spinel asked.
The Warp pad activated once more, and both Diamonds and Spinel sighed in relief. The respite was short lived when the Gem who stepped out was not White, but Garnet.
"Garnet!" Pearl gasped. "What happened to you?" she asked, the fusion's physical form bruised and dirtied.
Garnet pressed her cracked shades into her face and let out a sigh. "Like Zircon said. Homeworld is lost. And so is White Diamond. She's been taken by the Alloy leader. She allowed herself to be captured to give everyone on Homeworld time to evacuate."
"What!?" Yellow shouted over the growing hysterics at the news. "Where is the Alloy fleet now? We'll stage a counter assault and get her back!"
"Our forces have been wiped out," Zircon admitted with a shrinking posture. "We don't have enough ships for a successful counter assault."
"We can't just sit here and do nothing; we have to get White back!" Blue panicked. Without meaning to, the tears pored down her cheeks, and her emotion touched everyone. The screams turned into sobs of forlorn sorrow.
Steven wiped his eyes and tried to think through the sudden sadness, "We'll get her back Blue, I promise. But we need to think before we attack, or we'll lose even more."
"A Diamond corruption blast!" Spinel suddenly blurted, her tears tinged with fury. "Please Steven! Help Yellow and Blue in the attack. It has to do something against the Alloys!"
"White would get caught up in the blast now if we did that," Steven countered.
Spinel's noodle shoulders slumped, and so did her whole body as she hugged Yellow's neck. "Then, how do we get White back?" she whimpered.
"We need to talk to Magnetar," Steven said. "If we can Warp close enough to talk to him, we-"
"I'm sorry Steven," Garnet said from her place on the Warp Pad. "White destroyed the Warp on Magnetar's ship to save everyone and take back control of the Warp Stream for Gems to use again. We can't get close."
Panic was taking hold again, and Steven huffed. He looked to Jasper, who nodded in understanding. She lifted two massive rocks and smashed them together to make an attention-grabbing boom. She gave Steven a thumbs up.
"Hope is not lost!" Steven shouted to the onlookers. "We will get Homeworld AND White Diamond back. We have what the Alloys don't have, and that is individual talents and free thought amongst us. That makes our movements unreadable, and we can use it to our advantage. But first, we need to regroup and recover. Everyone in Little Homeworld and Beach City will help the refugees and the poofed Gems. Don't let fear twist our judgment and make us rush into another trap." He turned to Yellow and Blue, who both were still devastated. "Let's gather Zircon and the other leader Gems to discuss what to do next."
Blue couldn't respond, but Yellow managed a nod. Steven reconvened with Connie, Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet near the house, far from the chaos of Little Homeworld. Jasper and Emerald also joined them, both massive Gems throwing battle strategies at the smaller and flustered Zircon.
Seated on the hill behind the house were both Diamonds. Blue cried softly into Yellow's chest while Yellow shushed her and stroked her hair.
Spinel kicked rocks next to Steven, her lips puffed in frustration. "We'll still kick the Alloy's butts, right?"
"We'll get White back, Spinel, I promise," Steven said, and patted her shoulder.
"I see things have gotten worse," stated Lars as he walked down the beach towards them. "Padparadscha said half of Homeworld would arrive soon. I see she wasn't exaggerating."
"Thaaaat's an understatement dude," Amethyst grumbled from her place laying in the sand. "Alloy's made off with the strongest Gem to ever live and trashed Homeworld as an afterthought." Amethyst glanced up at Garnet, who remained seated on the Warp pad they had moved outside for the Diamonds, so the house didn't take any more damage. She had her arms crossed. She hadn't moved in over an hour. "Ug," Amethyst offered and slumped her head back down.
"I never thought I'd see the day," Pearl muttered to herself. Steven looked to see her gaze was skyward and her face solum. "I've lived for so long. Gem kind had expanded so far unopposed over the eons. It took us Crystal Gems thousands of years to just stand our ground against the Diamonds, and we had a Diamond leading us… and in a little under a week, the whole empire collapses. I don't know if I can even believe it."
"It's a harsh lesson in life," Lars offered her with a half-hearted shrug. "No matter how good you are, there is always someone out there who's better. I guess It was just a matter of time before Gem's found a cosmic authority even more ruthless then the Diamond Authority used to be."
"We can't talk like this," Connie huffed to the group. "Things have been bad before, and we rose above it! We just need a plan."
Steven smiled at her. He knew he could count on her to remain positive. "Well said. If we're standing, we keep moving."
"Soooooooo, what's the plan to get White back?" Spinel asked.
"It will be a plan of attack!" Emerald explained with a tap of her heeled boot. "I am sure White Diamond can stall the Alloy leader long enough for us to stage an assault. We seemed to forget this is the Gem matriarch! The fake Garnet fusion said it herself! White Diamond gave herself up so she could get onto the Alloy ship and regain control of the Warp Streams for Gems! She has other forms of sabotage in store I'm sure."
Spinel gave a wry smile, "Yeah, that does sound like her."
Steven caught Lar's motioning for him to follow. They stood not far from Garnet who remained still as stone, out of ear shot of the others.
"You and I both know we can't take the Alloy's head on, no matter what big green and overly confident Emerald says. They outgun us on all fronts, but now this Magnetar guy has White. It's what he wanted from the start and he now may be less likely to jump right into hunting down Gems. White bought us time to think of a solid plan."
"I disagree," Steven muttered. Lars rose a pink eyebrow at him, a stand in for a silent question. Steven looked over at Garnet, her appearance modifying clothes still ripped and her lips pressed line thin, "I don't think we have much time, even if that was White's original intention."
"Why?" Lars asked.
"I've felt Magnetar's mind through his connection to Titanium," Steven watched Blue smile gently at something Yellow said to cheer her up, and they cuddled closer. "Magnetar doesn't feel love for White, not in a normal healthy way. It was infatuation. Obsession, like White was a possession and not a person. I've seen stuff similar in my therapy work, minus the crazy space stuff and Gem powers. Magnetar's mind is controlling and dangerous. If he's anything like an abusive human partner… I think Garnet was right. The worse thing that could have happened was for Magnetar to get ahold of White, because now I think she's in real trouble."
"I wish I could do more to help," Lars said with a sigh, "But without a ship, there isn't much I can do. I guess you'll have to rely on Emerald to get you to White."
Before Steven could respond, wind and sand whipped around them with the sound of powerful engines. They both shielded their eyes as a triangular green craft came over the hills. The ship brandished a large golden star on its belly. The impressive space vessel hovered over the group, until its engines shut off. It landed hard, taking out a wall of Greg's house.
The shaved away wall revealed Greg was in a bathrobe, eyes wide and arm still outstretched towards the shower that was no longer there, gone with the wall.
A panel on the ship opened and Peridot popped her head out. "Sorry Greg! Just had to readjust the manual drives. It always gives ya trouble the first time." She spun away from the carnage to smile wide at Lars. "This good enough for a new ship? I call her Gem's Revenge! Well? Comments? Praise? Anything other than stunned silence!?"
Another panel under Peridot slid open and Padparadscha appeared in the opening to smile wide, "Captain Lars! You'll never believe what the Peridot is going to make for us!"
Lars began to chuckle until he was almost doubled over with laughter, tears pricking his eyes, "Yeah! I'd say that is one heck of a new ship!"
"It's alright, I guess," hummed Emerald. She saluted Steven when she walked over, "But! We'll need more than one ship to make a fleet."
"I keep saying!" Zircon protested. "The Gem fleet is in shambles. I doubt we still have…"
"HA!" Emerald exclaimed and waved off the smaller Gem. "I'm not talking about those ships full of Diamond betraying hacks! My fleet. The outcasts and enemies of the new order! We have numbers to spare and are ready to fight at your Diamond's command."
The commotion brought Blue and Yellow over, and they observed the green ship with hope.
"We can still catch up to the Alloy fleet before they take White to far," Blue muttered with a smile.
"It can work," Steven said as he observed the hopeful faces of those around him. "We'll find Magnetar's ship and put an end to this war. This time, we'll do it together!"
Cheers erupted from the beach, until Amethyst raised a hand from the ground, "And, how are we going to find this Magnetar guy?"
The short-lived celebration ended, some eyes looking up at Peridot. "Well, we could track a particular ship by their ships energy signature, if we have something to trace, like a piece of their tech or engine."
"Which, we don't have," Lar's said, deflating.
After such a long time spent in stillness, Steven startled when Garnet stood. A small, knowing grin crossed her lips, "Right on time," she said, and stepped off the Warp Pad.
The Warp came alive with light and the sound of a whistle. Out of the beam stepped Onion, his face dirty, but his eyes flaming with resolve. Garnet met him. "Did you get what I said we will need?"
Onion nodded and pulled from his cheeseburger backpack a dark metal sheet. Steven saw it contained cut wires from a ships control panel. A stolen piece of Magnetar's ship.
Peridot gave a snorting laugh. "Yeah, that should work!"