Chapter Nineteen: What's Done is Done
February 3, 2018. Undisclosed Location.
Another week gone, and still no closer to finding Mr. Echo. Fireteam Victor had gotten in their fair share of scraps in that time, but most of these seemed to have little relevance to his plot. Just a few scattered bands of Rhinestones, some of whom were just standing out in the middle of nowhere. Suspicious, to be sure, but they hadn't been able to connect them with any sort of scheme, nor did they have any obvious purpose.
And so, there was nothing they could do but carry on, moving further down their list of potential hideouts. It was now the middle of the night, and the team had bedded down after a long yet uneventful day. All of them rested by the jeep, except for one.
From the darkness within a nearby ravine, Vargas made his way back to the camp. Sliding his phone back into his pocket, he moved silently and deliberately, like a teenager sneaking back into their room after a night on the town. And much like a teenager, an angry parent was waiting.
"Back already?" Vargas jumped, his hand instinctively going down to where his handgun would have been. Bridge stepped out of the shadows of his hiding place, his arms crossed. "It's only been, what, forty minutes? Are you sure that's enough time to get your point across?"
Vargas was in no mood to put up with whatever his captain was going on about. "What, am I not allowed to use the bathroom now?" he muttered, trying to head back to the vehicle. But Bridge stepped in front of him, clearly not wanting to put this on hold yet again.
"You and I both know that wasn't what you were doing," he said, the pair of them now quite literally butting heads. "The Vargas I know has no shame. If you really had to go, you would've gone in those bushes over there, in full view of everybody. So the only reason you'd have for all this privacy is if you had something to hide. A phone call, for instance."
"I coulda been calling my mom, for all you know," he retorted. "Is that illegal now, Cap'n? To have relationships outside of our tightly-knit group?"
"I don't know that I appreciate that attitude, soldier," said Bridge.
"And I don't know that I appreciate you sticking your nose in my business!" said Vargas.
It didn't take long for their argument to awaken the others. Hester, ever the light sleeper, got up first. "Now what is it?" she mumbled, crawling out from under her tarp. She had a sinking feeling that things were about to escalate.
"Nothing worth waking you all up for," snapped Vargas, burying himself beneath his own tarp. He pulled it over his head, wrapping himself up completely. "If you really need to know, ask our captain. He seems to know everything about everyone."
"Even if you were calling a loved one, that's still a problem," said Bridge. "We're supposed to maintain radio silence out here, which is the exact opposite of making random, frivolous calls in the middle of the night! You don't want Mr. Echo to find us, right?"
There was definitely an accusatory tone to his voice just then. Vargas threw off his tarp, glaring at him as he stood up. "You wanna repeat that?"
Ichigo got out of the jeep, moving to stand in between the two. "Guys, it's the middle of the night, and we're knee-deep in potential enemy territory. Could we at least discuss this civilly?"
"What's so civil about accusing me of being a turncoat?" asked Vargas. "What I wanna know is, do you have any proof? Some reason to think I'd do something like that? Or did you just decide you hate me for no reason?"
"So, if I were to look on your phone, I wouldn't find anything out of the ordinary?" he asked. "A direct line to Mr. Echo, maybe? Or one of his many subsidiaries?"
"Danny, please, this isn't the way to go about things!" said Ichigo. "What's happened to make you distrust Vargas? I mean, what's really happened? Because if you ask me, that whole Children of Homeworld thing isn't enough to–"
"I didn't ask, though," said Daniel, glowering. "When we all signed up to BAINE, we made a pact. We would stand by each other, and this organization, above all else. I shouldn't have to doubt that you wouldn't hold up your end of that bargain."
Farouk, who, not being privy to their feud, had stayed silent, finally spoke up. "Jeez, man, you make it sound like BAINE's some kinda cult. I get not liking traitors, but…"
"We don't even know Vargas did anything!" said Ichigo. "Danny, I know you mean well, but this is all baseless! Right, James?"
Rook had tried to stay out of it, and was caught off-guard at being thrust into the spotlight. "Um…" He was reminded of the promise he had made to Ichigo so long ago, something that now felt insignificant. "That's…true, I guess," he said.
"See? James agrees. Now for the sake of us all, why don't we put this issue, and ourselves, to bed? We can sort this out once Echo is dealt with."
"But what if he's right?"
Everyone, especially Ichigo, turned to Rook. "Wha?"
"I said, what if he's right?" Rook stood up, standing before the group. "You said yourself that we don't know Vargas did anything, but we don't know he didn't, either. Innocent until proven guilty…but what if he's proven guilty?"
The look on Ichigo's face was one of betrayal. "You…I thought…you were supposed to be on our side," he said quietly.
"Now we're bringing sides into this?" said Daniel, ready to start shouting. "Are there any other acts of subterfuge going on that I don't know about!?"
"Subterfuge nothing, I was calling my Ma!" snapped Vargas. "And don't drag me into your little pity-party! I don't need anyone standing up for me, not now, not ever!"
Daniel held out his hand. "We're settling this matter once and for all. Your phone. Now. If you have nothing to hide, then stop hiding."
"Why am I the only one subjected to a search?" he asked. "Everyone else here has just as much chance of being a traitor as I am!"
"Because you're the only one who's been acting suspicious," said Hester. "We don't wander off in the middle of the night and don't say what it is we're up to."
"I just told you what I'm–" Vargas choked down his anger, and reluctantly handed his phone over to Daniel. "Fine. This is what Echo wants, anyway." He watched as his superior looked through his contacts, texts, recent calls, anything he could find. After a few moments, he handed it back. "Happy?"
"No," Bridge said. "Don't think you're off the hook just because you deleted the evidence."
"Deleted the–Captain, don't you think you're being a little unreasonable now?" said Hester. "As suspicious as he's being, you can't keep going after Vargas like this without evidence."
"If we want to talk about evidence, why don't we address the elephant in the room?" Daniel continued. "Vargas was already a member of the CoH, who's to say he wasn't turned by Echo during his time there? Tell me, did you ever meet him? Did he sway you to his way of thinking?"
Vargas clenched his fists. "Maybe he would've had an easier time if he'd mentioned how I'd be treated in BAINE. I'd have defected a long, long time ago if he'd told me about you."
"Uh, Vargas?" said Ichigo. "I'm going to bat for you, but you gotta help me out here. Saying stuff like that just makes you look–"
"Guilty?" he shot back. "What do I care? Everyone's already decided that I did something wrong already. If how I act and what I do doesn't matter, then what difference does it make? Go ahead, throw me off the team, lock me up! I don't care anymore! I'm nothing but a traitorous criminal!"
"So you're admitting it, then?" said Daniel.
Fed up, Vargas then threw himself at his captain. Shouting filled the night as they traded blows, the rest of the team trying to separate them. Neither of them were easily restrained, but eventually Ichigo and Rook managed to pull Vargas back, with Hester and Farouk doing the same with Daniel. "Both of you, knock it off!" shouted Rook. "The last thing we need right now is this sort of infighting! Save it for the Rhinestones!"
"Alright, alright, get off!" snapped Daniel, freeing himself from their grip. He and Vargas glared at one another. "You're clearly lying about something. I may not know what, but you're going to slip up sooner or later. And when you do, everyone will know where your true loyalties lie."
"You wanna talk about loyalty?" Vargas seethed. "Where is yours? You learn something about me that's in my past, it's over and done, and you act as though I sold you out. What about the rest of this team? What about BAINE? If you learned some sort of sordid secret about them, would that be it? Would they not be worthy of your time anymore?"
Everyone silently wondered if this was true, especially Daniel himself. "Look…it's been a long day and a long week, so everyone's a bit tired and cranky," said Farouk. "Let's get some sleep and discuss this in the morning. I'm sure that once we're all well-rested, we'll be able to–"
He was cut off by the sound of a radio crackling to life. The hiss of static drew everyone's attention, putting the quarrel out of their minds. "I thought we were supposed to be radio silent," said Ichigo.
"We are," replied Hester, "except in emergencies. Something big must be happening." Needless to say, everyone was more than a little worried, given the tense situation surrounding BAINE these days.
Luke, who had somehow managed to sleep through the entire argument, got up to answer the radio. "Uh, hello?" he asked sleepily. "This's Fireteam Victor, we're here. Who's this?"
The radio continued to crackle for a moment, until a voice finally replied with a familiar voice. "Everyone, this is, um…this is Captain Steele. I get that you're probably busy, but, uh, we figured that you'd all be resting by now. So, sorry if we woke you up, but this is important."
Daniel had never heard Captain Steele sound so shaken up. It was almost as though someone had died. His heart sank, and he hoped that wasn't the case. "He keeps saying 'we,'" noticed Farouk. "This isn't just to us, is it?"
"Sounds like it's going out to every Fireteam out here," noticed Luke.
Steele continued. "A few hours ago, we got a call back at the base. A call from the Gems. And it, uh…" He was silent for a moment. "I hate to tell you all like this, but we can't afford bringing you back to base for a proper briefing. And we decided you all need to know this. You deserve to."
By now, everyone was certain that somebody had died. Seeing as it was the Gems who had informed command, and seeing how both Greg and Steven had been kidnapped on two separate occasions…their minds were already assuming the worst.
"Don't worry, nobody's dead," Steele quickly assured, dispelling that notion. "It's actually sort of the opposite. See, they recently had a sort of…revelation. A secret that's been kept for a long, long time, finally out in the open. As much as I want to break this delicately, there's no easy way to say it. Rose Quartz…she wasn't who she said she was. She never killed Pink Diamond: she was Pink Diamond."
As this notion sank in, everyone went numb. That couldn't have been possible. It shouldn't have even been something considerable. How would something like that even go about happening?
Steele was about to tell them how. "Apparently, Rose Quartz was just an alias she used to hide from the other Diamonds, and to lead the Crystal Gems. She even faked her own shattering just to run away from Homeworld. This whole time…one of the Diamonds has been living on Earth, in plain sight. And, well…that makes Steven a Diamond, too."
Vargas was not the only one to notice the irony in all of this. If he had been the vengeful type, he might have pointed it out. And considering he was indeed the vengeful type, that is exactly what he did. "Guess I'm not the only one with a secret, sordid past, eh, Bridge?"
Aboard the Sunset Apogee.
All across the Middle East, BAINE Fireteams were listening to the message. They were not the only ones to be receiving it, however. After all, BAINE's airwaves were far too easy to pirate. At long last, Mr. Echo heard the words he had been waiting to hear for so long: 'Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond.'
"Wow…" said Fitz, turning around in his chair. "So this whole time, Rose Quartz was one of the bad guys in disguise?"
Echo chuckled. "Mister Fitzpatrick, it makes no difference which side she fought for. Crystal Gems, Homeworld Gems…at the end of the day, they are all detrimental for humanity. Rose Quartz, or should I say, Pink Diamond, is only further proof of that. For her, it was not simply a matter of ideology. It was all about control. With those two identities, she was able to maneuver both sides of the war. We were all pawns in her twisted game."
His lackey gave him a confused glance. "So, wait…you knew? All this time, you knew who she really was?"
"As time went on, I began to suspect," he said, pacing around the room. "Given what I knew, it was the only thing that made sense. The only way all the inconsistencies could be rectified. But now, I know for certain. And so does everyone else. At long last, BAINE will finally realize the folly of siding with such fickle beings." He paused for a moment. "Is the transmission array ready?"
Fitz went to check the antenna in question. "Uh, it's at eighty-eight now. A few more months, and it should be–"
"Never mind," said Echo. "That should be more than enough. All we need is a moment for the signal to get through. Activate it."
"If you're sure." Fitz began the process of transmitting the signal. The entire ship began to rumble and shake, the sounds of mechanical whirring filling the rooms. But what was really happening was most obvious above the surface.
The middle of the desert, no landmarks for miles around. No way to know that, underneath the sand and earth, the remains of a Gem experiment lay ready to be released. With the sounds of an earthquake, the ground burst apart, revealing an enormous tower that stretched to the heavens. No longer would the Sunset Apogee remain hidden, as Mr. Echo had no more reason to hide. What he did have was a message for a very important person.
The antenna sent a signal into space, faster than any radio could normally transmit. Through subspace it went, reaching its destination before even light could come close. It was a very simple message, but it wasn't what is said that mattered, but that it had been sent at all.
Homeworld, Capitol District. Era 2, Year 4,725.
It had been yet another routine day for Yellow Diamond's Pearl. One by one, she sorted through Her Diamond's messages with a very, very small amount of enthusiasm. She was glad to be helpful, but she couldn't help but feel that this was a waste of her time, and her talents. "Request for more materials…request for more weaponry…request for more workers…can't any of these lower-crust take care of these matters themselves without bothering us?"
One by one, she sorted these requests into categories based on whether or not they were worth Her Diamond's time, which most of them weren't. But as she filed them away, A sudden alert caught her eye: a ship had sent them a message.
"What now?" she hissed, sliding the notification on-screen. "I swear, with everything going on lately, this had better be worth our…" She went silent when she saw just what the message was. She quickly got up from her seat, hurrying over to Her Diamond to inform her. "My Diamond! I apologize for disturbing you, but I really think you should see this!"
Much like her Pearl, Yellow Diamond's day was relatively routine and uneventful. But despite doing little more than reviewing the latest strategic movements, she was never keen on being interrupted. "What is it, Pearl?" she sighed, expecting her report to be nothing of importance."
Yellow Pearl held up the screen displaying the message. "One of our ships has sent back an automated 'all clear' message. On its own, of course, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but the ship in question was the Sunset Apogee."
In all her millennia of running the Gem's Empire, Yellow Diamond had dealt with millions upon millions of ships. "And…?"
"And I checked the ship's registry, and it was apparently stolen by the Crystal Gems back during the Earth War." Yellow Diamond's hands tightened on the armrests of her chair. "And for that ship to still be functioning…"
"...It means the Earth is still in one piece," said Yellow Diamond. Her voice stung with barely-restrained fury. She had waited an entire Era for the Cluster to emerge, to give that planet exactly what it deserved, and to wipe any traces of that awful war away once and for all. An old ship sending out an all-clear like this was most likely a fluke, but at a time like this, it felt like it was mocking her. Not only had Rose Quartz survived. Not only had she somehow managed to escape justice a second time. But she had somehow found a way to disable the Cluster. It was the only explanation that made sense. It should have taken form by now.
She wouldn't stand for this. No more would she sit idly by, waiting as her incompetent followers bungled the most basic of jobs. She would handle this herself. Standing up, she made her way towards the door. "Er, My Diamond?"
"Pearl, contact Blue and tell her to ready her ship," she said. "It's time we dealt with some unfinished business."
Her Pearl did just that. "Should I ready the fleet as well?" she asked.
Yellow's eyes narrowed. "No. I don't want to share the pleasure of tearing the Crystal Gems apart. That honor belongs to us and us alone." She left her throne room, making her way to the enormous yellow arm extending from the nearby dock. "You've waited so long for this, Pink. It's finally time. Time I put down this insurrection once and for all. For you."
AN: Ordinarily, I like keeping the timeline things happen lined up with the episodes' release dates. But since a lot of the near-finale happens in quick succession despite the episodes airing a little ways away, I figured it made more sense to have them happen a bit closer together. Not really a big deal, just trying to keep internal consistency consistent!
