Alone in the City (Paddy/Closed)

[Paddy]

Her eyes scanned over Hematite's expression as the information was relayed, and the corners of her lips pulled sharply downward when the fusion seemed entirely genuine. With furrowed brows, she peered back down into the hole she'd fashioned, right over the head of the project, and she stewed on that for a moment. Dread pooled in her midriff, her nape tingled; though she wanted to get out of here as fast as possible, she also wouldn't be able to sit right with herself if all of those gems were left to be abandoned. This facility might be resurrected one day, but for now, she and these other gems were here, and had the full ability to do something about this-- and Padparadscha wasn't one to let go of a goal once her mind latched to it. 

The sapphire's hands clapped together lightly,"New objective," She looked between the other gems,"it seems this has already been something of a rescue, lets keep at it. Though technology for the reconstitution of gems is still in its infancy, I believe it would be prudent to gather what we can of this project and its...victims. There is hope for them yet," If they were going to dismantle the project, the least they could do was recover the core of it. Perhaps this endeavor could contribute to research on the miracle technology that her Diamond had spoken about. 

Though she had gone ahead of the others with some manner of confidence before, part of her didn't want to be the first one down into the scene of carnage. She had seen shattered gems; it made her sick, she already knew it would be a challenge to be in the room. But, her calling as an investigator made it necessary to face these kinds of things. With a sharp exhale, she gingerly lowered herself onto the top of the Harvester Drone, then scooched down until she could climb to the floor. Though she was short, her light form meant she could climb down without perturbing the structure she used as a make-shift ladder.

For a moment, she purposely avoided looking at anything but the menacing drone, built to be stockier and taller than any soldier she'd seen before. It was comprised of a thick layer of gun-metal grey alloy armoring, protecting every square inch, enforced around joints and especially the central unit where its core would have been stored. It hunched over itself, orbital receptors dark. The serial numbering H-3567 was embossed onto each of its components.  

Then, with some reluctance, her eyes followed the drone's long limbs down to the floor. She stepped back, a grimace on her face as she spotted a blue gem had been crushed to a powder, and collected right under its fist. Her eyes swept onward around the quarter. The walls would have once incorporated a series of hundreds of cells that would house resting gems; now, the walls were mangled, stretched and twisted like taffy. A myriad of colorful, glimmering shards were scattered across the metal floor. Padparadscha's grimace deepened, she brought a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes, then tipped her head back as she tried to suppress the emotions threatening to overwhelm her. She wouldn't want an enemy to see her tear up. "Prepare yourselves," She uttered in a grim tone,"It's gruesome." 

Not waiting for the others, she got to work. Her holoscreen continued documenting her surroundings; she made sure to get a good 360 of the environment, then began to step with light, calculated placement. Getting these images would serve to help identify these gems, as well as provide a wealth of evidence for what had occurred here. 

[Hematite]

Hematite felt a genuine surge of an emotion from Padpara who voiced they should save these gems, she would have been a bit more compassionate-though she was sure somewhere beneath the sudden noble exterior something had to be amiss. It was just that way with this gem. She wouldn’t answer directly, though the Peridot seemed to share in her opinion who stared anxiously into the dark pit below them. “We’ll do what we can, that way we can minimize the recovery effort for the next incoming team, as I’m sure Homeworld will want to reinspect this entire facility once reactivated.

Hematite refused to use her sonar while in here; not anywhere at its peak at least, it was beyond her how this was happening, but even without pinging her antennae the mass of gems suffering below her seemed to reach out and grasp at her aura, it was as if they pleading for help without really using words. Jumping into the pit, the peridot climbing down to follow, she was met with a horrible site, shattered gemstones bestrewn everywhere around her each, emitting a thick miasmic aura of agony that only she could feel. Through this, she felt a tinge of sadness though it wasn’t from the shattered gems, her eyes shifted to the sapphire instead—who may have thought she had held back her sudden remorse enough no one could see-but that was only the peridot, Hematite was wise to sudden compassion this gem was exhibiting.

She couldn’t help it herself, though she was far less willing to hide it, the fusion was by now already shedding a few tears though her face remained stoic and grim, it was a morose sight, this massive drone bearing almost an quadrupedal-hybrid mechanism of movement combined with humanoid features. Its pincers and weaponry covered in gemstone dust and its gun-metal form obscured under ruins and ancient devices.

The peridot herself seemed too appalled to even move completely to the next floor, she actually found herself climbing on top of small distorted archway, so she could get better look, that and not be so close to the shattered remnants of many of the gemsshe worked with here. “I ... remember some of these gems. They must have fled here when they missed their chance at escaping through the silo. The machine must of followed, cornered them …” she didn’t have to say anymore, the scene before them spoke enough words to fill her grim sentence to the very end.

Hematite shook her head, “It’s horrible, not a single one stood a chance, and I can count almost hundreds …” her eyes then shifted to the Peridot and the sapphire, “We can’t let this thing exist, it’s a monster; who’s to say they won’t try and power this thing back up again only to have it fall out of their control? We should overload it, destroy the core and the machine altogether.” Her eyes shifted to the shattered gems on the floor, “These lost souls deserve that much. Would it not dishonor their spirits to allow this thing to commit more atrocities?” Hematite’s eyes had shifted back to the machine, when a strange pair of tiny mechanical arms beneath it caught her attention, her eyes became alarmed and skeptical when she realized there were actually dozens of these smaller appendages beneath the machine and in some of their grasp lie shattered gemstones. Her curious nature got the best of her and she went to jump aloft the machines side, from its back; covered in rubble was the glistening of something beneath.

She pulled piece after piece off, and tossed them to the floor. And suddenly it all made sense, why it was called a Harvester. On a hard-glass tank welded to its backside, lie even more of the shattered gems. “It was … actually harvesting them.” She struggled to say through dry alarmed voice, “The machine shatters the gem, and collects the remnants to be stored here.” The peridot had also walked over and as she saw the tube her eyes flashed with a sudden realization, “It’s what it uses to power its weaponry, the more shattered gems it collected, the more dangerous it became while at the same time committing to its mission, harvesting. It wasn’t just an assault drone, but a resource gatherer. That resource being any gem it was assigned to destroy.”

[Paddy]

Listening to the peridot speak, she swung around back to her starting position after doing her sweep of the room. There was nothing she could think to say to console Yelle. What a day for her it must've been, to find out she had been trapped for a millennium, and now to see hundreds of those she worked alongside destroyed. Padparadscha bent down, and bubbled the crushed blue gem before sending it to her ship's holding cells. However, before she continued her task, she slowly stood as Hematite spoke, and gave the fusion a hard look. 

The sapphire didn't like this prototype instinctively. She was always a strong believer in the fact that most gems were able to be rehabilitated. Staring at the catch-point that the harvester would have used, she stewed for a moment. If this project were deployed on the battlefield, Homeworld soldiers would be preserved so that they could be dispatched against non-gem combatants, and enemy gems would be recycled-- it would make the destruction of rebels much more efficient, and much more impersonal. Soon, the proctor answered the question of what might be done with these recycled gems. Though, knowing the frugal nature of the Diamonds, she knew that it wouldn't stop with powering the harvester itself. It was likely these crushed gems would've been meant to go on to power other Homeworld technologies, as was done with the majority of gem-cores deemed unfit for society. The difference would be that these shattered remains had no trial in court, no chance of redemption.

Still, she couldn't abide Hematite's request. "We will dismantle the project, but destroying its core would be akin to destroying these gems," She piped up, crossing her arms,"That would mean no chance of rectifying this lamentable mistake. These gems would be shattered in vain if nothing was left of the project to be studied and learned from," As if it were final, and in her mind it really was, she turned, and got back to the tedious, grim task of collecting shards. She hadn't thought she would have need for her field tools today, so she didn't bring them. Instead, she fashioned a make-shift picking tool out of plasma, letting it cool before she used it to sweep like-shards together, then bubbled them.

While she did, she kept her periphery on the other gems. They weren't technically her subordinates, even if she may have outranked them, and aside she knew things like rank would be meaningless to Hematite. She couldn't decide what Yelle might feel about all of this, or which idea the peridot might side with in this situation. But either way, Padpara would find a way to make sure that core got back to Headquarters unscathed.   

[Hematite]

Yelle was actually somewhat torn between what decision to make, protocol was screaming at her document and safeguard the experiment for repurposing and developmental stages. But another part of her, after witnessing firsthand the monstrous violence this device can dish out, question if such a device would be safe enough to handle. Her eyes darted between the two, and her sense for honor shifted. “I must agree with the sapphire,” she held back a choke, not sure if she liked what she was saying. “We must keep records of this technology, to ensure better safety measures in the case of future experiments regarding this form technology.” She seemed to be on the brink of cracking her voice as it became hoarser by the word.



But Hematite’s reaction wasn’t so subtle, the gem narrowed her gaze on the sapphire and then shifted to the peridot as she spoke. There was a sudden fierceness to her eyes, the peridot almost missed it, until she watched as the fusion's pupils thinned into slits and her expression bore an almost reptilian fury. “Are you insane? This device will create nothing but destruction, it’s a machine designed to kill and nothing more. Have your our kind any sense of boundary with these weapons?” she asked as her gaze shifted back to the sapphire, “You’ll design more of these machines and their lives will be worth only that, more chaos and destruction. Honor them with dignity, not this ruthless taste for power that has destroyed our race.”

[Paddy]

Padparadscha continued her rather macabre task, scooping up what she could of gem remains to be stored for later use. She eyed the peridot as she spoke, analyzing her words and her mannerisms to be sure that she was being truthful. Though Yelle seemed to be having difficulty, she wasn't lying about her position. A small relieved sigh left her lips; at least it wouldn't be one against four, and she might still be able to count on Yelle for the final capture, the fulfillment of the original directive. 

Then came the fusion's inevitable disagreement, a pang of agitation shot through the sapphire. Back-talk was something she didn't experience often, though she was getting more use to it coming from Earth-bound gems like Hematite. She carefully finished sweeping up a pile of green shards, then dispatched them, before she rose up, dusted off her hands and glared at the fusion. Instead of continuing to glare, she pursed her lips, and spoke as she went on collecting dust and shattered gems. Her clear toned voice resonated off of the metal walls of the chamber.

"This project was a failure, for the fact that it couldn't be controlled. The reason for that would present itself in the core's main functions; having this core would give Homeworld researchers something to go off of, a catalog of what not to do. Whether or not my Diamond even sees fit to attempt a project like this again is above me, or any gem in this room; but if it were again attempted, would it not be better to use what has already been sacrificed, rather than making even more sacrifice for the sake of rehashing data?" There would be no need for projects like these, she thought bitterly, if the rebels would give up their game-- a game they'd lost before it had even begun. "As I've told you before, Earth is meant to become a hub for research. There have already been exciting developments; Pink Diamond is the medicinal Diamond after all, her goal is to heal those who have been damaged. All of these gems," She swept her hand around the room,"There is hope for them-- if the rebels stop impeding research that is. What we're doing here may very well help to lead gemkind into the next era, one where shattering is as temporary as losing one's photonic form," 

Methodically, she continued her task. But, she kept herself on alert. She reached for her holoscreen, intending to send another message to Yelle, but then she thought better of it-- Hematite likely had her full attention on her, and she didn't want to kick up any suspicions about when or how she would endeavor to capture the fusion. All the same, she needed a way to modify their plan; she didn't suspect that the fusion would be much swayed by her words, and the two Homeworlder's might have to act fast in order to keep the core in tact. 

[Hematite]

The fusions’ eyes flashed at the words of the sapphire, couldn’t they not understand the emotional pain these gems have already suffered through having their forms torn from them and their very essence shattered? No, she refused. The slits of her eyes managed to turn a motely red and thin to the point of a snakes.

She had forgotten, at the end of the day this was not an ally, this was one of her enemies. Nothing between them could connect it seemed, it was stunning to this fusion. Never had she needed to process and understand a mind like this. Radical, and destructive. She couldn’t value life, no - she couldn’t value pain either. This sapphire was truly beyond her help.

She would not save her energy for this one.

“Is that so?” Her voice was pungent, harsher than usual and filled with regret. “Watashi o’ yuroshite …” her eyes scanned the machine with killing intent and locked on a hatch that donned the words core containment. “Watashitachi saisei kaisū no seimei wa tōi amarini kotonaru.” The Peridot had followed after the sapphire, bubbling gems though realized soon enough she had nowhere to send them. A chime from her limb extender confirmed something to her-but she wasn’t paying attention, handling shattered gems caused an immense amount of hysteria to pour from the gem, this was a challenge in of itself.

“She’s right,” Yelle seemed to be reassuring herself, “Though the casualty rate for these gems may remain greater than the one’s saved. We can at least stop a catastrophe in the – by the stars!” The Peridot suddenly shouted and fell over at what was an explosive amount of movement, she knew combat gems were fast, but that was a blur! The fusion crossed a few feet in a second, kicked to the air and landed on the hatch, she tore it open and her hair suddenly took the form of a drill encircling her arm like a deadly extension.

She waited not a second more, she stabbed inside and the sound a loud electric discharge escaped and echoed through the room, the glow was intense and became a flare as it seemed there was still energy left in the core and suddenly there was an explosion. The peridot was thrown back a few feet as Hema was sent across the other side of the room.

[Paddy]

The sapphire glanced up as Yelle spoke, then double-took as she spotted Hematite tearing into the project-- she hardly had time to get to her feet before she was blasted across the room. She tumbled along the ground, hitting her shoulder hard in the landing. "Agh," She writhed, grimacing. It reminded her of the aches she'd sustained from when they'd first stumbled into this facility. It hadn't fully hit her what just occurred, her head rang and her vision was filled with spots. She looked around to try to regain her sense of direction. Along with her and the other conscious gems, the shards she had been after where scattered in all directions.

"sy--syst--system--" A booming robotic voice echoed through the room as blue electric light licked along the metallic surface of the harvester,"system check-- engaged--" it's orbital receptors snapped on,"Em--emergency generator-- engaged-- Fatal Error 002-- Fatal Error 091--" Whirring and clicking buzzed off of the drone as it went down the a list of dozens of errors it seemed to be experiencing. The machine was already heavily compromised from the explosion; from the midsection up, it hung awkwardly to the side by scraps, and the glass casing on its back had been obliterated, mingling with the shards of gems. It's claws spun absently, but soon it sputtered out, and a long beep cracked out of the thing and bounced around the room. It's orbitals snapped off once again. 

Padparadscha was struck through the chest with her emotions as she came to realize what had happened. Ire fumed from her, literally evaporating what little moisture hung in the air near her. She pushed herself up to her feet, and scanned the room for the culprit. Her lips pulled back into a snarl as heat continued to collect in her, her peachy hue into morphing into a more molten orange. Then, her fiery gaze landed on the fusion where she'd ended up after the explosion. How reckless and misguided could a gem be? Or three of them for that matter. Any hope of recovery for the core had been lost, in what amounted to the blink of an eye. An utter failure for the sapphire. Her nails dug into her palms as she clenched her fists, as her jaw set. 

Pouring out of the ether came blisteringly hot plasma, amassing around her feet and curling up around her. The vivid, white light washed out every shadow, and flooded the room with heat, "Proctor, It appears the project has been disabled," She seethed, cutting her eyes into the peridot,"It's time to turn the power on," 

[Hematite]

The peridot lay shaken, her eyes flickering as she seemed to be rocking through shell-shock. She wasn’t so stunned that she didn’t notice a gleaming pink glow beside her grow orange hot and with flaming intensity, the culprit of this phantasm the pink sapphire, she swore the stone was seething near her and she stood as her eyes-enough to make her shudder commanded her to ready her weapon. It was now or never, they were finally going to proceed with attacking this fusion. “Affi-affirmative!” She recounted nervously and her limb extender suddenly caved in to reveal a built-in beam rifle.

Hematite had also been stunned some by the force but had already pulled herself up, it threw her into the air and she landed into a pile of rubble not far away. Despite not pinging her energy at full intensity, it almost didn’t matter. What she felt next was for sure the sapphire, but never had she felt such a cold, fumous rage emitting from her in such a way. It was writhing with a violent intent and more than anything determination. Hematite stood, she couldn’t show a match to such anger, she wanted to – but she realized this wasn’t the time. This was the perfect moment for her to take advantage of this situation.

She had to hold her confidence as she felt a distinguishable amount of determination and intent from the peridot as well, this could would work against her.

What was it, years ago? Many times had she listened to stories of the great samurai of her past using tactics against foes who were considered infamous or reknown for their technique. One man came to mind, Miyamoto Musashi the originator of Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu kenjutsu, a famed technique exploiting openings in opponents through a rare form of dueling style. But Miyamoto was known for more than just his talent with swords, his sense of strategy was also quite incredible. Many a traveler would tell her of his book of 5-Paths; later she got her hands on through some pleads with travelling monks, where combat and warfare was essentially broken down into elemental paths.

Fire, represented the furious assault, unrelenting energy that is dangerous both when out and in control. Water was described as fluid, it was adaptive redirecting of your opponents attacks, using their force against them. Air, which was about trapping and evading an opponent, using attacks that served to create a greater offense through a perfect defense. Earth, which was the utilization of the world around you while in combat. And finally, the void. When one ceased to be. As nothingness carry’s a danger of its own, unknown to your enemies.

One of his most famous victories was when he was challenged by the famed Sasori, “The Man of the Swallowblade.” Who wielded a great Nodachi into combat. When Miyamoto was challenged, he waited three days after the challenge, only to arrive late. Sasori was fumed, he felt disrespected and dishonored by the Ronin, and in a fit of rage he threw down his sheath and bared arms, a sign that this match would end in one of them dying. But Sasori’s anger had gotten the best of him, and after exerting too much energy, was slain by Musashi, much to the disdain of the swordsman’s students.

Another instance where he used stamina against his foes, was in situations, much like what the gem was in—out-numbered and out-powered, leading his enemy to chase him, to narrow them down slowly one by one. She didn’t know what the peridot was packing, but she certainly didn’t want to find out. Hematite had a certain plan, she would have to use her Torinoko at the perfect moment, and head towards the silo, leading the gems on a chase could prove to tire them out, while she used her own stamina more wisely.

[Paddy]

Already the sapphire was certain that the fusion's endurance and speed would always win out in a chase, so Padpara would have to prevent her from taking off in the first place. She counted on Yelle to take her shot while there was still time, and the sapphire directed her plasma to fling across the room to plug up the hole she'd made. Next would be to bar off any walls that had been ripped open by the harvester. She glanced around, noticing two gaping tears, each on opposite ends of the quarter. Orbs of plasma shot out and carried their momentum across the room until they began to slow, steam off and become more tar-like as each splat into the floor, then spread out into pools of bubbling muck.

However, it would take more than a few seconds for her to build a proper wall to cut Hematite off from any possible escape. She focused, raising the structures as quickly as they could be raised at this distance. It was moments like these when she wished her ability had a greater range to it, but with no practical way to address the issue, she let the thought pass and thought ahead on her next moves. From the look on the fusion's face, the sapphire could tell that she too was considering her plan, and would likely take off in a flurry of action before the affects of plasma could be felt. 

Yelle's role in this plan was absolutely crucial. Padpara's plasma could only move so fast once it had exited her immediate range, and Hematite would surely be able to circumvent it if the peridot didn't make the shot. The sapphire grit her teeth; having to rely on another gem was part of the reason she avoided team-oriented missions with unfamiliar gems; failure or success wasn't entirely up to her own skills and luck. She wanted to think that Yelle would be able to pull it off. But, the gem was rusty and likely disoriented from her millennium long seclusion, not to mention that she wasn't accustomed to combat. 

She had to be prepared for failure, as much as she wanted to have confidence in this other gem. Her walls of plasma would serve an ulterior purpose; if she could grab Hematite with even a sliver of plasma, it could be used to track the gem down, and perhaps give them a second chance. 

[Hematite]

As soon as she saw what looked like a panel of liquid hot plasma block off the original hole they come through, Hematite didn’t need a second word to know what to do next. She kicked to her feet and made a rapid dash for the nearest desecrated wall, all the while vaulting, leaping and tumbling over the decrepit limbs of the drone. Escaping this room was absolutely necessary to her plan, she was going to limit the level of casualty she was willing to commit to, and this would be her own choice. She certainly didn’t want to harm this gem, though she realized, Hematite would have to deal a solid blow if she was going to get through this.

The sapphire was just too dangerous.

But then suddenly, something happened she didn’t expect. Not exactly fast nor graceful, the peridot went to cross paths with the gem. Hematite was uncertain, but the way she cupped her hands around limb extender gave her bad feeling. Suddenly the proctor would lift the odd weapon, and in a hollow chamber at its core, she watched as the glowed for a split moment and then fired a projectile at her! The lemon sized energy bolt seemed to be constructed mostly of some kind of dense electromagnetic force, but Hematite despite having much of her movement committing in going forward, would use something seemingly unpractical for the situation. Instead of ducking, which would sacrifice speed, or dashing around, her hair would swipe out almost instinctually, like a fan. Though her hair may have melted to plasma, the strange crystalline form fared well against this odd projectile and batted it away like an odd ball.

Yelle’s eyes could only flash and she froze as the fusion came charging straight toward her. In the back of her mind she recalled wondering if maybe they should have examined this opponent more carefully, but at this point it was too late. She half expected the fusion to charge through her, but instead watched with shock and confusion as the fusion leapt into the air, spun a fast full-rotation and wham! For the peridot, it would have all gone dark; seeing something like static before her eyes. "Ugh!" she'd cry out! But Padpara? She would watch as the fusion unleashed a wicked tornado-kick that sent the peridot slamming into the floor, only to slide and stop by the sapphire’s feet.

The fury of this gem was starting to show its head.

But the attack, though thrown using her moment, would still slow her down some as she watched a familiar tar-like substance begin to obstruct her exit. She’d push herself into a sprint, her hair doing something unusual as it collapses within spiraling bun at the back of her head, and she would dive, making herself as low-profile as possible as she’d barely make tumbling through the strange soupy substance.

Where she was now only seemed to alienate her, it was some kind of odd complex filled with halls. She’d never seen anything like it. One disadvantage she had was that she could really remember the silo’s location from the maps. It was in the center of the entire structure, but whether there was an obvious exit or place to head out from was beyond her. She chose to simply take a path and make a break for it. Though, on the tail end of this gem, quite literally the fuzzy one at her sacral, there was actually a bit tar hanging from her tail unbeknownst to herself, it wasn’t a perfect exit.

The peridot however was in a world of hurt, her head throbbed with pain and her neck wasn’t doing so well either, she seemed to shiver, her eyes were open but she couldn’t see anything other that faint after-images and noise wasn’t even really reaching her. “D-did you … get her?” she called out, absurdly so, she was amidst a concussion that had her in dreamland at the moment.

[Paddy]

The sapphire's jaw dropped as Hematite kicked away the energy that had been meant to stun her. She wondered if it had even been possible to use such a tactic on the fusion anyway, but her eyes stabbed into Yelle. Padparadscha hardly had a second to figure out what was going on before the peridot smacked into the floor and Hematite fled the room in a whirl. Immediately, she registered the rapid movement of a small bit of plasma, and her eyes widened as she realized she'd gotten a hold of the fugitive with a tracker. On top of that, she and the proctor had all of the maps. Still, a chase would mean that the two of them would have to maneuver carefully in order to capture the fusion. 

She retracted her plasma as she leaned over to sweep her eyes over the peridot, to make sure she wasn't seriously damaged. Her lips pressed together; as much as she knew it must've hurt, there wasn't yet time to dote over injuries. Every idle moment ripped at her, her agitation nearing volcanic heights as she began to pace around.
Never had she anticipated that the fusion would be able to deflect energy like that, she began to wonder if this was a property of Hematite or of the stun-weapon at play. Either way, every moment was ticking by faster and faster for the sapphire as the sound of her tapping feet bounced around the room. 

"I've tagged her; she's headed due south. We need a way to cut her off before she gets too far," She hoped the encyclopedic knowledge of the Proctor would be of use here, but she also took this moment to pull up her holoscreen and bring up her own copy of the maps. Her eyes flicked over them, then she glanced around the room, her eyes landing on the remainder of the shattered gems that laid askew, before bringing her eyes back to Yelle, then gestured around the room,"I'll assign a task force to finish getting this cleaned up once I get back to base. We'll recover what we can," These gems weren't going anywhere fast, but the fusion was. Part of  her wanted to go sprinting after Hematite, her legs were practically dragging her toward the exit that the fusion took. But she knew better, and there might be a short cut that the peridot could offer. If not, perhaps she could simply make her own. 

[Hematite]

The peridot managed to push herself to her knees, the world was still spinning, evident as she tried to stand only to wobble, and eventually she’d even seem to catch ground but only after a few seconds of staggering. Her eyes fell on the sapphire which may have seemed dazed or dreamy. She realized now she was at least conscious of her position, but their target was getting away and she’d have to shake off the dizziness from that strike in every way she could if they were to pursue her. “She’s really fast, and dangerous.” she wanted to, with almost every bit of her being, advise against pursuing this gem, but that seemed out of the question for the sapphire, who was more dedicated to this perilous task.

But hearing of a tracker, she realized maybe there could be hope. Though, she was worried that this fusion had some tricks up her sleeve, if they played their cards right- they may just be able to do this. “Okay,” she checked her map before collecting herself and planning out-loud. “The silo is located in the center of facility, it’s designed to access the different levels of the complex so that we could deliver goods and expedite our own materials more efficiently. But when the power in the facility is deactivated, and the security protocols are in place after the evacuation through the silo, it brings itself to lowest level of the facility. There a four main gates that enter into that silo from each floor, but the one’s we are interested in is at the lowest level of the facility.”

She orientated her map to show an overhead view of the facility which was shaped much like a drill or-top. “The complex is divided into two wings, however each wing has small sub-sections that are always orientated in this pattern; the right wing constitutes the north and east, while the left wing is south and west. Unfortunately, the fusion is on an easy path to bottom floor, if she’s aware of this however, as the left wing descends directly into the bottom levels without the use of external elevators or warp systems making it her easiest way of reaching there. All other doors to the silo will be locked and closed except the silo on the bottom floor, due to safety reasons, the silo is never completely locked off and the bottom levels' blast-gates will be open, leading directly to it.” She thought for a moment, the fusion probably wasn’t very knowledgeable of the facility and this may trip her up.

“So, how shall we proceed? The right wing naturally ascends upwards, so here in the left-wing we are in our best position to pursue her, but we’re still falling behind her, I worry even if the silo is inactive, she could reach it and possibly find a way to climb out the structure-but that’s if the main floor-gate blocking entry into the facility from the silo is open. If not, she’ll have to wait for the power to return and remotely activate the silo from the panel in the silo-bay, which will initiate the automatic release for the horizontal silo-doors.” She sighed, they would have to do something hectic to catch up with this fusion but if her mind was considering this correctly, the fusion had nowhere to go.


Meanwhile, as the Yelle had foreseen, the fusion had no understanding of where she was going. In this dark remote facility, she simply running in the dark trying to find somewhere to go. Occasionally she’d come across directional panels—almost to her own surprise, she couldn’t believe she could still fluent read the written form of gem-speech. Though she was sure the silo is where she wanted to be, she saw something that irked her deeply:

Current Position, Barracks and Detainment Center;
- [Direct Left] Silo Gate 1C, Warden Chambers
- [Directly Ahead] Silo Gate 1B, Main Control Room
- [Direct Right] Testing Room D

There was more than one way to enter the silo? But then, was there more than one? It confused her, and it didn’t help that she had become sorely unfamiliar with gem architecture over the years. She decided to head to the nearest gate. It didn’t take long, a good jog led her to a large sealed blast door with emboldened white decals spelling, “Silo Gate 1C.” her eyes narrowed, there was no way she was getting through this door. Her eyes darted back forth from the door and the only path she could take, leading deeper into this horrid place. She sighed and continued on, it was matter now of keeping away from her pursuers long enough to find a way out of here.

[Paddy]

It didn't take much of Padparadscha's analytical prowess to see that the peridot wasn't eager to keep chasing after this fugitive, and that she wasn't all the way collected after the hit she'd taken. The gem didn't have as much of a stake in the chase, and she had just been the rebel's first-hand victim-- it was understandable. But the sapphire wasn't ready to just let Hematite escape, especially when they were so close. She paced around with her finger tapping on her cheek as she listened intently to Yelle, considering their options. She was grateful that the peridot continued in her aid despite her reservations.

It made her nervous to hear that the Proctor was worried about Hematite escaping in some other manner; did that mean this facility wasn't as air-tight as she might have assumed it was? Or perhaps it may have been damaged over time? She hoped Hematite's lack of knowledge about the compound would lead her to pass up the opportunity that waited in the lower elevator's partial lock. Was there any way to control for those outcomes? At any rate, there was still a good chance that she and Yelle would be able to catch up with Hematite, as she could still feel the location of the bit of plasma.
The target wasn't lost yet. 

"You're right, she is dangerous, which is exactly why she can't be allowed to escape," The sapphire urged, glancing up to meet Yelle's eyes,"She's kept a low-profile for hundreds of years, but considering what she alluded to about the circumstances of her creation, it's just as important to have her, a prototype, under Homeworld control as it is for this prototype," She gestured to the harvester, which had been blown to shreds. She knew that the harvester would have been promptly destroyed if there hadn't been future plans for it, and now that it was, Padparadscha knew her involvement and subsequent failure to protect it would put a smear on her record. But, it would be many times worse if she were to come out of this whole ordeal empty-handed. The rescue of dozens of gems might do something to give her and Yelle an excuse, and the capture of Hematite might do something to pique her Diamond's interest.

"As for what we're going to do, if the fastest way is to go down, then I can get us there," She pointed up to the impromptu entrances that she had made before,"I have plenty of energy left in my reserves, it will just take a bit of focus. My tracking capabilities tell me she's still in the facility, though she is making some head-way. The tag can only be live for as long as it can hold onto residual heat, once that's gone I won't be able to track her any more," She clapped her hands together and shuffled over to throw what plasma she had conjured onto the floor, blasting through it in moment's with the thermal energy of a planetary core. Without waiting for the peridot's input (though perhaps she should've) the impatient sapphire rappelled down the hole into the hall that was below this quarter, then left a pole for the Proctor to climb down while she worked on the next. 

[Hematite]

The proctor frowned as the sapphire pushed her on, Yelle couldn’t lie to herself, she was indeed scared for her life, but she took shaky breaths “Of course!” She somewhat found herself surprised when she heard this gem was possibly as old as she was. Part of her wanted ask what they’d do to this gem if they brought her in, the natural thing for any prototype is to disassemble and analyze it. She doubted these gems would be given any new service unless their abilities proved too valuable to sacrifice. She hoped that was the case, or they’d most likely have their gemstones deconstructed and … who knows what happens after that.

It wasn’t enough to strike empathy from the peridot to help the renegade, but it made her wonder if the sapphire was completely aware of the impending results of her actions.

She watched as this incredible tool the sapphire possessed started burning wholes into the facility floor like nothing, she even had to step back she felt the air around her starting to become scorching hot. It was incredible. She filled her lungs with air and tried to exhale as much anxiety as she could before leaning over taking hold of the pipe to slide down.


Hematite descending several more spiraling halls to reach another floor, her eyes looked mechanically for any form of detail or sign regarding her position. She saw the letters Silo-2B and again, another locked blast door. She scoffed, and took to the nearest right. The deeper she went, she realized if the doors couldn’t even be opened with some kind of module. She continued on hopefully in search of another.

[Paddy]

As she worked to bring them down, floor by floor as quickly as she could, she stewed over every strategic option in this race. The tag was getting closer, but its presence faded with every moment, pressing her sense of urgency. She landed with a clink onto the next floor, her knee crumpling as she landed with just a bit too much momentum, but she didn't let it slow her down. Already she had directed her energy down onto the floor. The sapphire was beginning to feel worn at this point, and knew she would have to conserve if she wanted to use her ability to help capture Hematite. 

It was taking longer for her to get through this panel, and she narrowed her eyes as she realized that the air around here was generally warmer, and not just by virtue of the presence of plasma. She peeked around,"We must be getting to the lower levels now, it's taking too long to burn through this. I suspect a similar alloy to what is in the silo elevators has been used here," Unconsciously her lip pulled back into a sneer, as if this floor had the audacity to hold her up. She glanced back up to look at Yelle, her agitation still clear on her face. "I'm not sure this is going to work, we need to find another way around," Padparadscha asked with her volume lowered. Despite her voice being quieter, it still carried down the austere metal corridor. On top of that, she was getting antsy-- what would they do when they faced Hematite again? The doubts that the proctor had voiced earlier resonated on her memory for a moment, and she grit her teeth. 

For the majority of the time, Padpara wanted to rely on no other gem. She wanted to prove her multitude of uses, and to prove that she could be successful at anything, to Pink Diamond, but mostly to herself. If she would have to curb her need for independent victory, she would want a few select gems to be there for her aid, particularly some soldiers that were on her retinue. While this peridot was very useful to have around at the moment, she was definitely not as optimized for combat as a quarter-ton quartz soldier was. 

Still, she didn't want to give up hope yet quite yet, especially since she still sensed the faint signature of the plasma tag. Letting Hematite go now would mean having to track her down again, expending even more time and energy to the cause and she had a feeling that the fusion might not make it so easy to find her. When it was clear that her plasma wasn't going to get through this metal any time soon, she drew it back into the ether. Then, she brought her attention back to Yelle, "I have an idea. How many charges does your stun weapon have left, Proctor?" She began to bring her internal strategies out,"Also, can gems be removed from the registry remotely?"