Hearts of Stone (Closed - Para and Howlite, later Light)

[Morion]

The Forge
Located inside an active volcano in an unknown location...
In theory, it was the forge where all of the Crystal Gems' material weapons for the Rebellion were made.
Or at least that was the idea
One thing was sure, it was the base of the Artisan, the Padparadscha Sapphire, the Lady of the Forge
But it was more than a base, more than an Armory
It was a home
Home of Light Mocha Pearl, the home of Padparadscha, and many others, like the apprentice smith, White Spinel, Flurry
But that day only the Artisan was home...
...and she had a guest
A Human, sent by Morion, as a subtile reminder, it was time to upgrade the deffense system of such an important base ^^
After his visit as Yellow Agate, the Smoky Quartz decided, a little help never hurts
The human was alone, looking up from his wheelchair to the orange Gem

"...trust me Lady Padparadscha, it was not easy to find you! But the Boss personally asked me to come over and sent you some gift."



The human, who intorduced himself as Dr. Rallon gave a data-crystal to the Gem

"...you can call me Vincent. Or Professor."

He looked around

"In the M-Tower's laboratories I was responsible for several projects. Mostly... questionable ones. Like the meta-human project! Gem and human techonolgy, empowered by Gem-shards! Living metal encasing dying flesh... yes, it was not a complete success, and we had to lobotomize the three volunteer to keep them calm, but still, those half human, half machine childrens of mine were the engines of destruction! It is a shame, we had to destroy them. And was the mastermind behind Project: Lazarus, gave the idea to Morion to use human corpses and shards, but that little twerp, Fire Opal convinced the Boss, building a "zombie Army" is a bad idea. Short sighted kid!"

Vincent frowned

"Aside that, personally helped M to design the Archangle Network! Helped to create the Gem-energy converter and worked on weapons to fight against the Gems. He even allowed me to experiment on some captured Monsters and Gems, and with the Corruption. He wanted me to find a cure. Morion belived, where Gem science stops, human ingenuitiy find a way to continue! Humans are clever little monkeys lady Padparadscha! But to be honest, not really found a cure so far, or made any progress. Weaponizing the Corruption? sure, no problem! Cure it? Not really an easy feat!"

He rolled back a little and looked up Padparadscha

"So, M sent me here, to help you to upgrade the deffense system of this place and to help you to make weapons for the Crystal Gems! I have several good ideas! That insane scientist of yours, Obsidian made a mechanical monster from a Gem! We could do the same, of course, better! Using those Broken abominations or Monsters, or insane Gems, or... anybody, who is in your way, as the core of a new army of soldiers! You guys are made of hard light! Your body! Almost as horribly inefficient as my mortal flesh! But lets work with nano-bots! A body made out microscopic little machines, a self reparing, shapeshifting body with a Gem as its heart! Or liquid metal. Or giant stone soldiers, like in the legeds of old! We have work to do M'lady... let's not waste time with morals and etics! This is war! But nobody said, you have to fight in the front lines. After all, we are artisans, scientist! Let the soldiers fight, we will do the thinking!"

But the human bowed his head

"Of course, if you want my help... if not, I just go back to M and tell him, you are not interrested in winning this war."

And in that moment a Bubble arrived, it was white... ish, a bit golden, but mostly mocha colored. A bubble made by Light. And inside a cracked, chipped Gem, a Howlite.

[Forge Master Para]

It was indeed true Para was surprised when a human arrived at her doorstep, but she humored him and invited them inside. She made the effort to stay cordial but as the conversation went on Para grew somewhat uncomfortable. It was easy to see how this human, the Professor, was much like herself only past a line she had yet to let herself cross.

"You certainly have quite the resume Professor, I am genuinely impressed. Your species has continued to show true skill, however..." she was a little annoyed at the comment about winning the war, but she could see the bait clearly. Instead she smiled, "You must understand dear, that we do things differently here. Great strides are being made, but not at the expense of all of our morals. Once this war is over, we don't want to be seen as monsters."

"Your experiments with..." she couldn't help but shudder, "...human corpses is a past a line I am willing to currently cross. But you have some excellent ideas, and I will admit that in theory your designs are useful. I'm just not..."

Suddenly a bubble arrived, a color she had not seen before but its origin was obvious. And the contents, it couldn't have been. Had Light really....

Her hands grasped the bubble, turned away from the Professor. Her tone had changed to a much more neutral tone, "You know, I think we could find some common ground Professor. Perhaps we could do some great work with one another. Starting with this." Para turned to reveal the bubble holding the gem, noting that there was some sort of note within as well but she could check that after popping bubble. After all, it looked as if Howlite wouldn't last very long outside of the containment of the bubble. Or some similar prison...

[Morion]

"As you wish, as you wish... I understand, you don't want to be seen as a monster. But the real question is, it is just a masquarade?"

Vincent looked up to the Gem

"I don't know about Gems, but Humans always had the need of monsters. Individuals who were willing to take that one step, to achive their dreams, or what they wanted. Monsters? Perhaps."

He admited

"But the world needs us! I have studied Gem... things, and for example your kind "invented" the drones."

Vincent pulled out a little shard in a bottle and examined it

"Shards have a powerful partial consciousness that has been harnessed by Gems throughout history to create semi-sentient drone soldiers with the capacity to follow basic orders. Gems once created an army of these drones but found their obedience waned as the shards overdeveloped inside their uniforms and turned on their commanders. You see, any shard inside any sort of container could become a monster!"

He nodded

"How desperate the first Gem had must been to use the shattered remains of her "sister", am I right Lady Padparadscha? Yet, how many Rubies were saved thanks to these soldier drones... they fought and died instead of them."

The human smiled

"Not to mention, I guess, like there are Humans who deserves to die or be experimented on, we could work out a compromise, and find Gems for our..."

Vincent turned to the arrived Bubble

"Oh my... ! Lets call it Speciment 001? This Gem is not in the best condition... but usefull."

He agreed, smiling up to the Gem

"Am I right... partner?"

Vincent offered his short, fat hand to a handshake

"Now... whats your plan M'lady?"

[Forge Master Para]

Para talked as her hands examined the bubble more closely, both intrigued by the fact in her hands was the defenseless Howlite but also that this was the first bubble she had seen made by Light, "I can only speak for myself, but I have come to realize I am all too willing to cross lines to achieve what is needed. Perhaps you are right, monsters are needed now and then. And all the better for us to take that role than force the burden on someone else."

"Use of shards is nothing new, in fact my current projects borrow heavily on the same principle. But for this gem..." her voice turned cold, "I want something particularly terrible for him. This gem is nothing short of a villain, true scum of the Earth. Shattering would be a fate far too kind for him."

Her eyes slid from the gem to meet the Professor's, "Specimen 001, hmm? I like the sound of that... partner." She gave him a surprisingly firm handshake, "Let's begin by getting you up to date."

For some time Para would pull up various blueprints on her datapad and some even on paper, going over her various projects (namely her rather detailed plans for gem-golems) leaving the bubble with Howlite and the unread message to float by itself.

[Morion]

"Please I am not the Devil! But if you must act like I am the Devil,  don't forget I can only tempt you to sin, but I cannot force you to sin. You make the choice all by yourself to yield to the temptation. Therefore, you only succumbed to my sweet charm because all those thoughts were already in your mind. Just like the thought of working together is already in your mind. You and me are just two more sinners on this rocky planet in the Laniakea Supercluster."

Vincent smiled warmly to the Gem and turned his wheelchair

"Well, the fact, the shards of a Gem are eventually become monsters proves, the Gems are in fact, "have" the monster inside them..."

He nodded

"...and if I understand you correctly, Specimen 001 let that monster inside him "free"

The human examined the blueprints

"You are truly a genious! these plans are fantastic! By the way do you have some containment field? I don't want a rampaging Gem monsters ruining our work! Activating an autmated deffense system if you have one is a good idea also... just in case if Specimen 001 escapes the containment force field. Gun the bastard to dust!"

The Professor winked and noticed the floating note

"Oh my, what is that? Err... it is written in Gem language. I can't really read it"

He pointed to the note

"Your servant sent you this Gem? Or do you have a secret admirer?

[Forge Master Para]

She sighed, "As much as I hate to admit it, you are likely right. My tenancies to lean towards the questionable lines of science probably says quite a lot about me."

"I'm not certain about every gem being a 'monster' on the inside. I know a number of gems who are quite incapable of... well I hesitate to say 'evil', but they certainly aren't the sort who would even consider so much as shattering a gem. Just us unlucky few I believe, those who can't afford to have such high morals."

The pride was evident on her face, "I am quite happy with the progress with these plans, they should be instrumental to our victory. Replacing good soldiers with machines, minimizing casualties. As for a containment field, I had nothing of the sort but the Forge does have some basic defense systems." She pointed to a few spots along the wall, revealing a number of almost invisible marks on the wall that concealed something, "A number of blasters are hidden among the walls. They aren't particularly effective against anything with armor, but this gem is much more reliant on speed than defense."

She turned to observe the note, "No, it certainly isn't a servant. Let's say a uh... friend?" she wasn't actually sure what to call their relationship, "Let's see..." Doing her best to read the note without popping the bubble. As she got through the letter her face dropped, "Oh no no no... grr, I can be such a short sighted fool sometimes!" A hand ran through her hair, panic quickly setting in, "They could be in danger, and I've been here messing with blueprints! I don't even have a ship to get to them..." She then went quiet, trying to figure out some sort of solution where none existed.

[Light]

Light landed with the ship near forge. He could have do this in the landing station but he wanted to make a small suprise for her. It was finnaly all over. howlite was safe, Light didn't need to see him again, bloody was alive and there was a really nice wheater. pearl decided to go to Para as fast as possible. (Bloody stayed to take some rest...?). there was no time to waste. She was probably worrying and trying to figure out what to do.

He opened the door of Para's home "I am back! You won't believe what happened! I and bloody actually have menaged to escape this trap. Bloodstone had some sort of 'berserker power' or something!"

 Light realized someone else is here/ He looked like a fat human... fascinating! Pearl never thought humans can be that big/ "Ohhh.... excuse me, I didn't want to bother you in the thing you are doing"

He approached to Para and whispered something 'Who are they?"

He than looked at what they were doing "Ohhh yeah! It is my first bubble. To be honest I had no idea I can do this. I would probably jump from happines back than but we were closed in cave and there were more important things. Wait..." His smile faded "What are you doing?"

[Morion]

"Now now dear... I'm sure everything is fine!"

The human tried to conmfort the Artisan
...and then Light arrived
Vincent turned to the Pearl, with his wheelchair

"My my my... a Pearl, am I right? The Gift that Sulfur fellow sent to M! A shame he never let me to... play with you! I've heard you have the survival instinct of a leming in his emo phase. But I think the rumors were just.... rumors"

The fat man smiled

"Call me Professor. Me and my new partner just discussed the possibilites of using that Gem in your bubble for our experiments! Oh the possibilites! If you dont my partner, I will just... roll back to a nice room with my laptop and your blueprints. If you need me, just whistle! I have some great ideas for those golems! I can't wait to see our armed stone giants marching to war! But first things first!"

Vincent nodded and turned with his chair and rolled away to a room, leaving the two Gems alone

[Forge Master Para]

The Professor's attempts at calming her had little success, she was rapidly trying to come up with some sort of transportation. Para was almost desperate enough to use the land vehicle she had made forever ago, though even that would be incredibly slow compared to the ship. As luck would have it though Light was not far off, indeed it seemed Para's delay on reading the message served to the situation well.

She was stunned for a while, but once Light was next to her Para couldn't help but embrace him in a big hug, "Don't you scare me like that! I was so scared I could have poofed!" Eventually she released him, "I'm just glad you're safe, I was worried that I might not have been able to arrive in time. That maybe-" she looked to the Professor, noticing Light was rather uneasy about the newcomer.

Para let him introduce himself, although she scowled at his comments about Light, "There will be no 'playing' with Light, he is my highly trusted right hand. As such I expect you to treat him with as much respect as you would me." Her glare left little room for question, any unfavorable comments would surely be a deal breaker, "Yes, situate yourself. I will call if you are needed."

As she turned back to Light her glare faded into a smile, "I am amazed Light, you managed to capture on of the Broken Gems! I'm curious how you did it, even with Bloodstone it must have been a tough fight." Yet something was off. As proud as Para was, there was still the odd message on the note. "I mean, it was a fight. Right...? What exactly did you mean in that note, he was acting weird? Talking about having... changed?" The very thought was laughable, he was a Broken gem! The most twisted, vile, harmful gems on the planet! A gem like that, willing to do that sort of damage, couldn't just changed. It was in their nature, they were monsters at the core. And still, she knew that expression on Light all too well, he was somehow concerned about the fate of Howlite.

[Light]

Light didn't expect Para's reaction. He took it too seriously and also started worrying for no reason "I am sorry, I didn't want to! Please don't poof!"

Light turned to the human "Yes, I am a Pearl. Huuh?!" He made few steps back and made some sort of scared noise. He was now standing behind Para. He felt better when he heard his friend. It was really nice to near those things. However he didn't understand one thing."Yeah! There is no playing with me. Wait... what playing?"

Pearl wasn't sure what experiments are they doing. Than he heard something about golems. Maybe Para wanted to help Howlite! After all he was really damaged and maybe tears couldn't heal him. It would also help him in his relationship with Mocha. "Uhhhh bye Profesor?" He watched the weird man leaving the room. He felt suspicious about this human.

Lady Para wanted to hear what happened "Ohh it was the story full of blood, tears, rocks, moles and weird things!" He summoned the hologram to show Lady Para his memories "When we landed some sort of gem monster attacked us! But a weird person saved us. Than I and the stranger saw Bloody being seperated from us. We thought that she died! Byt she survived and now is on the ship. I will explain later." He sighed "The stranger... it was him, Howlite. I still have no kdea why he did this." Light skipped a little so Para wouldn't see him being sad "He took a hit from the corruped monster even thought it  ould have kill him... not to jention I would dodge or at least survive the hit." Light skipped again "Finnaly we found Bloody. We also found Howlite's machine that was suppose to help us. He poofed himself to power it up. I really don't understand his actions. We could just use a corrupted gem. However we had no idea how does that machine works so we sent him to you with my hologram. Later Bloodstone started to dig a tunnel and we found the ship in one piece."

Light got rid of the hologram "And that is pretty much it. I don't know if ye really changed or it is some kind of trick. I thought that we will send it to Morion so he could get him to the Rose's fountain. Are you using the cyborg body to stop the cracks getting bigger?"

[Forge Master Para]

Para was having difficulty understanding what Light was saying, either because she didn't want to believe it or simply because the events were rather confusion. Howlite's actions made little sense, especially coming from a gem like himself. "I am certainly glad things worked out, and that you both aren't seriously damaged, but it makes no sense... he couldn't have just changed! He's a crook, a villain, a... a... a monster! Healing him would be a thousand times too good for the likes of him, he has done unforgivable things! I don't intend on experimenting him to save him, I want him to pay for how he hurt you! And so many others I'm sure. Who knows how many he has hurt during his time on Earth!"

She tried to calm herself, even she could tell her emotions were getting out of control. The dull ache in her palm flared up momentarily but faded quickly, "I'm sorry I don't mean to sound like I want to torture him, I honestly don't. He isn't worth the effort, but he is a serious threat if we just let him roam free. I wouldn't even dream of shattering him of course, not even an insane monster like Howlite deserves that, but we can't let him go out to hurt others."

But still she felt uneasy about it all, having to sit down on a chair by the anvil to collect herself. More than anything she just wanted the situation to be cut and dry. Howlite was the villain, the enemy, simple as that. But doubt had just barely taken root in her mind. Para looked up at Light, hoping maybe he could convince her one way or another, "This whole situation confuses me dear, I truly don't believe he could have changed but what you say troubles me. What do you think? Did it seem like he actually had tried to change his ways, or is he perhaps just playing some trick again?"

[Light]

Light didn't expect this to happen. Para was always so calm...now she was furious! It was nothing like she! He was wondering what caused it. Was it...him? Pearl didn't really understand the relation between them. She acted like she was going to anything for him. "Lady Para... I am not worth it. Please don't do anything bad for me. I have no idea what to do with him. But we can't act like him, you can't act like him." Long time ago Light wouldn't even think about being the one who will decide of someones life. It was terrible.

Light sighed "It is true. But what else can we do? Leave him in bubble for the rest of his life? No matter what we do, we will risk." 

Light hated moments like this one. No matter what he will do, he will do something bad I.. I have no idea. I wasn't designed to decided things like that. It just doesn't make sense. Like you said, how could he just change like that? He was acting... like he wanted to do everything, even the weirdest thing, just to be forgiven." 

He sit on the ground near Para "I have no idea what to do, not at all." He shed a tear but get rid of it as fast as possible so Para probably didn't saw it. He just didn't know what is good and what is bad anymore.

[Forge Master Para]

Listening in silence Para thought things over, battling between her own personal desire to punish Howlite and knowing the morally acceptable choice. Already she was feeling emotionally exhausted, going straight from worrying that Light might be lost forever straight into a moral dilemma on the fate of a sociopath was not what she had in mind for today.

But eventually she made up her mind. Turning to Light she laid a hand on his shoulder, "Light dear, I assure you that you are very much 'worth it'. When I think about what we're doing here, the work we have to do so that Earth may live, I often realize that I am perhaps not..." she wasn't sure how to describe it, she certainly wasn't about to admit that she saw herself as morally bankrupt to him, "Let's just say that I tend to go for the quick and easy solution, even if it is not the best option. But at this times I stop and think to myself, 'What would you do?'"

Para smiled, "When everything is over I want you to be proud of what we have done here." she let out a heavy sigh, "Which is why we can't simply just lock him away forever. If there is even a chance for redemption then even a create such as Howlite deserves a second chance. With precautions of course..."

Standing up Para set to work at the anvil, taking a number of small circular device from the pouch she often wore while out on missions. The device was a mostly unused weapon, a glorified one-time use battery. When used the stored energy is expelled within seconds, creating a rather powerful shock similar to that of a gem-destabilizer.

With those on the anvil she set to work making a circular band with four different circular slots about the size of her devices. Occasionally she would glance up at Howlite's gem to get a sense of his color, notably making the circular band roughly the same color as his projection (from her impeccable memory).

One it was done it was a simple matter of inserting the four devices and locking them in place. Turning around she showed the device off, "While not exactly an original idea, this collar should serve as a way to ensure no nasty tricks on Howlite's part. It is non-lethal, but it should operate on some unique parameters. But I best explain to our 'guest of honor'." Para turned to look at the bubble containing Howlite, "When you are ready dear, summon forth your weapon and pop the bubble. Be on guard for any sudden movements."

[Light]

Light was waiting for her response. He was waiting in silence... Para probably had some important things to think about. Pearl was just hoping that she will find an solution to this problem. But how could they stop Howlite from hurting others without trapping him in a bubble, using him to create a golem or worse. "Lady Para...?"

Suddenly she placed  a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her eyes."You said something like that before... Why would you be less worth than I?" Sometimes Light really didn't understand Padparadscha. He didn't understand Sapphires in general. Maybe that is because of their famous futurvision that most of them have and big knowledge. "The problem is that I have no idea what to do."

Her next words suprised him. She had a plan! But what was it? Light smiled a little and noded "You really think so?"

He approached to the anvil. He was wondering what was her plan. Just few seconds they had no idea what to do. It is like something flew to Para's head. There was some sort of machine similar to gem destabilizer. Light raised an eyebrow "Hmm what is it?" She later add some other parts. It looked like some kind of collar. He wasn't sure what is the meaning of this. But he knew that she know what is she doing. And he knew that she is not going to these bad things they consider before.

it looked like this device is suppose to zap Howlite if he tried to do something bad. "It is so simple and good! Well not perfect... but it should control him till he will change."

He noded "Of course!" While he wasn't sure if it is good to pop the bubble there really was nothing to complain. Now he was weak, damaged. The fully heaked Howlite would be a problem in Forge. Light summoned a stick. The metal like wing at the end touched the bubble with the high speed. It was time for the show "I have got a bad feeling about this."

[Howlite]

Howlite's gem hit the floor. Soon it raised up off the floor and started to form. Suddenly a mangled voice could be heard singing. "We'll meet again. Don't know where. Don't know when. Oh I know we'll meet again some sunny day." He formed this time in a tattered black toga like Pearl's but covered in holes. His face was badly damaged. His face was unrecognizable due to the wounds and liquid light that surrounded it. His form was dissipating over and over. He looked at Pearl. "You... Saved... Me....why?" He collapsed on the ground, unable to stand. He looked at Para. "Oh hell no. I don't suppose you're here to fix me up are you?" He switched to Tracker Vision to search for an ambush he spotted a human signature. A rather obese one. He shouted "hey fatty! Get out here so I can see you!" His form then failed again but quickly refocused. He coughed up liquid light then looked at Pearl. "I... Tried... To save you. What... Happened?"