Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lamp Entertainment presents…

Prologue

It was in the middle of the night in the outskirts of Empire City. There were mostly industrial sites around these parts. The plants and factories were mostly abandoned at this hour, aside from a few night staff who honestly were not paid enough for this shit. A few lampposts tried to shine some light on the empty streets but years of neglect and dirt barely let any of it through. The street was bathed in heavy shadow that seemed to dampen even the sounds of the night into low hums.

One of the more drab places around (and that was saying something) was Thomas’ Trash ’n Things. Thomas’ son had come up with the name and painted the sign, something Thomas still took pride in many years later. Gripping as it is, let us not concern ourselves with the complicated relationship between Thomas and his son Thomas Jr.

Let us instead concern ourselves with the three people who had just an hour earlier broken into the aforementioned junkyard. One of them had positioned himself in the large crane used to lift and drop cars into the crusher that would grind them into metal scraps. He was waiting for the order to come through on the cheap walkie-talkie with puppies on that he’d nabbed from a toy store earlier. The other two people were hiding in the shadows outside, armed with some homemade spike strips. At the right moment, they’d throw them out in front of the armored truck that’d come around the corner soon. Any moment now.

”Timed and done,” Rocky muttered. He waved away some smoke from Charlie’s cigar and squinted at his watch. The money transport was several minutes late.

”Yeah, yeah, they probably got stuck at a red light or something,” Charlie, ever the optimist, replied.

Yeah, that was probably it. Stuck at a red light. At four ante meridiem.

Another minute passed by in silence. Still no truck.

”Hey, Charlie… this isn’t dangerous, is it?”

”Of course not,” Charlie said confidently. ”The plan is idiot-proof.” Maybe so, but Charlie would soon find out that while her plan may be idiot-proof, it wasn’t proofed against… certain other things. 

”But what if they’re arme-” Rocky started to say, but Charlie interrupted him.

”Shhh!” she hushed. The sound of an engine approaching. ”Here it comes,” she whispered, even though there was no reasonable way for someone in an armored truck to hear them from that distance.

She and Rocky gripped the spike strips harder, ready to cripple the car the moment it turned the corner. Then Ragnar up in the crane would lift the truck and drop it into the large crusher. Threaten to crush the driver and the guard if they tried to escape or call for help and then go at the truck with the best power tools Thomas’ Trash ’n Things had to offer. Idiot-proof.

Except that’s not what happened. The car never rounded the corner. Instead, a loud crash nearly made the two crooks jump out of their socks. It sounded like the car had driven straight into a wall!

They hurried over and peaked around the corner to see what was going on.

A large lady, easily over two meters tall and unreasonably buff, illuminated by a flickering lamppost stood in front of the armored truck. If not for the fact that it was impossible, you’d be forgiven for thinking she had stopped the truck by jumping in front of it. And surely, her skin only looked orange because of the tinted light from the old bulb in the street lamp… right?

”C’mon Amy, quick now,” she growled. The gates to the junkyard swung open and a second person hurried out. She was almost as tall as the first lady, but her skin looked like it had more of a purple hue. She ran to the back of the truck and then, with only a few grunts, the two technicolor women lifted the armored truck. As easily, or easier than two people moving a couch. They carried it into the junkyard and into the large workshop.

Charlie and Rocky looked at each other.

”Come,” Charlie said and pulled on Rocky’s arm. She spat out her cigar and climbed the fence. It was fairly easy for her, as she had climbed a few more fences in her day than any person on the right side of the law should.

”C-Charlie!” Rocky hissed. ”Where are you going? G-get back here, it’s dangerous!” But Charlie wasn’t listening. ”Oh boy…” Rocky mumbled before starting he climbed the fence himself, with a bit more difficulty since he was a tad bit bigger than Charlie.

They snuck over to a fire ladder and climbed up the rusty frame. The lamps inside the workshop switched on, shining some light through the two windows on the building. One in the front next to the big doors and another at the top of the fire ladder. It was a simple matter for Rocky to break it open with a crowbar. The wood was old and derelict. The whole building had been in desperate need of some renovations for the last fifteen years or so.

The second floor of the workshop really wasn’t. It was more of a loft that reached through half the building. Thomas’ office was up there, as well as about forty years' worth of things that ”might be useful later” stuffed into boxes, shelves, cabinets, or simply thrown in piles on the floor.

Charlie snuck through the clutter towards the edge of the loft to get a look at what was going on below. She could hear the muffled voices of the driver and guard with him yelling.

”Hurry, calm them down before they start shooting,” said a voice. It was different from the orange woman. The purple one, Amy, maybe?

Charlie kneeled down by the edge and peeked down. Grease that had been on the floor longer than she had been alive stained and ruined her suit pants.

Two more people had joined the orange and purple ones. One was green and walked around on metal stilts. The second one was the most colorful of the bunch; her skin was bright sunset yellow and her hair glimmered like a rainbow. She held something in her hand.

”Ready,” she said. ”Open it up.”

The orange woman nodded and punched a hole straight through the bulletproof glass of the truck. The guards freaked out even more than they already were. One of them was holding a rather big gun. Sunset threw the object she was holding through the hole and it exploded in a puff of smoke. The two men in the car coughed and tried to get out, but soon stopped moving.

”There, that should keep them asleep for an hour or so,” Sunset said. She giggled a little to herself.

”As long as they stay quiet,” the orange one said. ”Can you open it, Doc?”

The green one mumbled something Charlie couldn’t hear and walked to the back of the armored truck.

”You know, we could always just blow it open,” Sunset said hopefully. ”I think I could make a mixture with some of the chemicals here…”

”And make even more noise?” Amy scoffed. ”No thanks. Doc got this.”

That’s when the walkie-talkie in Charlie’s pocket sparked to life.

”Hey, what’s the holdup?” Ragnar asked. ”Is the truck coming or-”

It took Charlie way too many seconds to grab the toy and rip out the batteries. By the time she got it to shut up, four colorful heads had already whipped around to look at where she was.

”Hey, who’s there?” Amy yelled and started approaching.

Charlie and Rocky both decided it was time to retreat. Charlie jumped back on her feet, but before she could haul ass out of there, the floor decided to tell her that it was jerry-built and had been overtaxed for decades. The old planks gave out and she fell through the floor with a shriek. Rocky just barely avoided falling himself.

Charlie would’ve hit the hard concrete floor and broken a lot of things if it hadn’t been for the purple woman standing right below where she fell and reflexively catching her.

”T-thanks,” Charlie said, adjusting her thick, round glasses.

”You’re… welcome?” Amy said.

•Charlie Jonson-A small time thief and burglar. Her criminal career started early when she was a kid and tried to break into a cereal factory to steal collectibles that came in the boxes. As an adult, she remains as kleptomaniac and ambitious as ever, but with five arrests and a few years in prison under her belt. She has yet to learn her lesson. Enjoys fine suits and cigars.

•Ragnar D’Shonour-Has been friends with and accomplice to Charlie since they were kids. He has somehow evaded arrest even though he’s always involved in Charlie’s schemes. Good at lock-picking. Likes hats.

•Rocky Flowers-Met Charlie in prison after he was arrested for breaking into a grocery store. Has a large appetite and will eat almost anything. He looks a bit gruff, but is actually really sweet. He’s the muscle of the trio. That is to say, he carries all the heavy stuff. A big fan of foods, cartoons, sweets, teen dramas, candies and horses.

Chapter Text

Lamp Entertainment presents…

Winter Heist

Chapter 1: The Winter Shadow

10:th of December 2021

Ragnar D’Shonour returned home to his anonymous apartment in Empire City after another grueling day at his job. ”Honest work” really just meant it was boring, unfulfilling, and didn’t pay enough to make it worth it. But even though his job may not pay well, the pay-off if The Job went well would make it all worth it.

”Hey guys, I’m home,” he announced as he entered the apartment. He was feeling unusually upbeat.

”Ah, Ragnar, right on time!” Fire Opal said, greeting him from the kitchen directly to the left of the front door. ”Doc and I made foods!” She smiled excitedly and held up a pot of some grey porridge-like mass. Even under the lifeless illumination of a cheap lightbulb, her sunset orange skin and rainbow hair sparkled and shone.

”I calculated the nutritional value,” Doc, the green technician with metal limbs whispered. Her floating fingers fiddled around with some taken apart device on the kitchen table, almost like they had a life of their own.”It should contain all the essential nutrients an adult human needs.”

”Th-thanks…” Ragnar said, trying his best to not reflexively wrinkle his nose at the so-called ”foods.” The last time anyone let Fire Opal and Doc cook, they’d made soup from protein shake and vitamin gummies. Yet somehow still better than Charlie’s cooking.

”It’s delicious," Rocky shouted from the living room. Fire Opal beamed proudly and handed Ragnar a bowl. Even Doc cracked a smile.

”A-anyways, I’ve got news,” Ragnar said and hurried into the living room where the rest of the gang was waiting.

J, the enormous orange warrior gem was occupying the couch as per usual, her massive limbs and hair spilling over the sofa’s bounds. The… let’s call it ” second-hand” furniture creaked with her every movement. She was watching TV, which was pretty much all she did. Amy often joked that the real reason J introduced herself as such was that she was too lazy to use her full name.

Rocky was huddled up next to her, squeezed in on what little space he could claim from the massive gem. He was eagerly gulping down on the grey goop Fire Opal called food.

Charlie and the purple guard gem Amy had nabbed a chair each from the kitchen. They were reading Charlie’s favorite book together. Handbook in Crime, a book infamous for being written by a psychologist who was a bigger nutcase than any of the people he treated. A bowl of ”food” stood untouched next to Charlie, who was instead chewing on an unlit cigar. He may be a criminal, but Ragnar refused to let her smoke indoors.

Ragnar cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

”So, ” he said. ”Can you guess what a couple of weapon manufacturers, an Irish mafia boss, some shady businessmen from Sweden, and a whole bunch of other rich assholes have in common?”

”Aside from more money than they need?” Charlie asked rhetorically.

”Obviously.”

”What do they have in common?” Rocky asked.

Ragnar smiled and reached into his security guard jacket to pull out a piece of paper.

”They’re all on the guest list for the big man’s Christmas party. I know because I have a copy of the list right here,” he said and slammed the paper down on the coffee table. The table was already littered with notes, including a blueprint of the skyscraper Ragnar worked as a security guard at.

Said building was a newly built fifty-story LexCorp Tower, a monument to the company’s wealth and power. It was an impressive, next-generation building filled with smart technology and modern solutions… as well as stolen goods. For you see, although it wouldn’t show up on any official blueprints, there was a large vault in the basement that held a literal treasure trove. This was the result of an impressive criminal campaign that had somehow evaded law enforcement. Gold, artwork, and jewelry (the non-living kind) worth several hundred million dollars, stuffed inside a top-of-the-line vault built by the best; Franz-Jäger in Berlin. They specialized in bank vaults and saves and upheld utmost secrecy for the sake of the client. Which meant that everyone knew except for the few people who might be able to do anything about the obvious crimes going on.

This was The Job. Whoever cracked that vault and got away with it would be set for life. This was what they had been planning for months now. It was the whole reason Ragnar got the job as a security guard in the first place.

”Great,” J said. ”Figured out a plan yet?”

The atmosphere immediately soured.

”I’ll be working at the front gate, I can let you in,” Ragnar said half-heartedly. This was not the first time they had this conversation.

”And then the other guards in the security room will notice,” J shot back., already bored with the repetitive nature of this useless exercise.

”So what, you can bench press a truck, what are they gonna do?” Ragnar countered.

”Call the police,” J said, her eyes wandering back to the TV and then the clock on the wall. ”And you aren’t bulletproof. Plus, we can’t let anyone know there are gems involved, cause then Homeworld police will come after us. Or worse, Steven and the Crystal Gems. Let’s face it, we’ve got a perfect opportunity, but no plan. It’s not gonna work.”

”Why don’t you come up with a plan then,” Ragnar threw back, a bit bitter about having spent the last couple of months working a job he hated so he could get that perfect opportunity.

”I’m a soldier, not a general,” J said with a shrug. ”I don’t make plans, I follow them. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. But that’s our problem. None of us knows what to do. Just look at our last ’perfect opportunity.’”

She was referring to the money transport robbery where the humans and gems first met. As it turned out, the money in the transport was damaged or counterfeit currency on its way to be burnt. They had salvaged a whopping two hundred dollars of usable money from that job.

”We’ll come up with something,” Charlie said, though even she sounded unconvinced. So far, all their plans made about as much sense as a Christmas story in July,

”Sure, whatever,” J said. ”Doc, change the channel, I wanna watch the news.”

Doc nodded and poked some button on her holographic limb-enhancer display. The little box she had wired into the TV so it could pick up gem signals buzzed to life. The gems had plenty of holographic displays and tablets that could do the same thing more efficiently, but J said she preferred inferior human screens. Holograms made her eyes hurt.

”No wait, that was the pre-mid-season finale,” Rocky protested, as the Canadian teen drama was replaced by the gem broadcast.

”Shush, just let J watch her news,” Amy said. ”She has a crush on the Yellow Pearl.”

”No I don’t,” J said very unconvincingly.

”I like her cooking show,” Fire Opal chimed in.

”I like the blue one better,” Doc mumbled. ”I think she has a very pleasant voice.”

”Quiet,” J hissed. ”I’m actually trying to watch this. It’s about the Winter Shadow.”

This got all of the gems’ attention and by extension, the humans’.

”Today, the trial against the Ruby known as the ’Winter Shadow’ finally concluded,” the Yellow Pearl said. A small video feed showed what was presumably the judge and jury making their decision. ”She has been sentenced to a one-hundred thousand year prison sentence, beginning tomorrow.”

”She will be housed in the newly built prison located in facet three,” the Blue Pearl continued.

”Winter Shadow?” Charlie whispered.

”A real loony,” Amy explained. ”She tried to destroy Christmas last year.”

The video now switched to showing the gem in question, a tiny red thing with square hair. She smiled widely and looked like she was having the time of her life.

”…why?”

”Dunno,” Amy shrugged. ”She probably didn’t get enough hugs as a gemling or something and now she makes it everyone else’s problem.”

A reporter held up a microphone to the red gem who waved at the camera.

”Do you have any comments?” the reporter gem asked.

”Not any my lawyer would let me say,” the Ruby said with a cute smile. ”Oh, except one thing!” Her grin turned into a scowl and her cheerful voice into a growl. ”Stop sending me coal! It’s not funny anymore!”

”Coal?” Rocky asked.

”Cause she was naughty,” J grumbled.

”Oh.”

”Did she really almost ruin Christmas?” Ragnar asked, skeptically eyeing the short gem. From what the gems had told them, last year’s Christmas miracle had been a huge undertaking. Millions of gems manning thousands of spaceships to deliver gifts to everyone on the planet. This Ruby looked like the only thing she could ruin was the other kids’ fun at the playground.

”Yup,” Fire Opal said. ”She may be a few pebbles short a pile of gravel, but she’s darn clever. Had this elaborate scheme where she manipulated Steven and White Diamond and everything. It was wild.”

Charlie looked at the screen and into the Ruby's eyes. For a moment, she thought she could catch a glimpse of her mask cracking and a colder, more calculating side of the gem surfacing.

”Guys…” she said with a dangerous spark in her eye. That kind of spark usually meant she’d soon be back in jail again. ”I think I have an idea.”

”What?” Amy asked.

”Do you think she could break into the tower?”

”Yeah probably, she-wait, you’re not thinking…?”

”Well, I may not know much about space,” Charlie said with a large grin. ”But I do have my areas of expertise. I don’t mean to brag or anything, but aside from the police themselves, I may be the world’s foremost expert on prisoner transports…”

xxXXxx

The next day…

Navy the Ruby, perhaps better known as the Winter Shadow hummed to herself as she scrolled through videos on her hard light tablet. She was only allowed to watch educational content. Thankfully, that did include some fun stuff, like videos on industrial accidents on Earth. Those were her favorite.

She was on her way to the prison that’d be her new home for the next hundred thousand years.

The thought made Navy snort. Yeah, sure.

The sudden sound from the prisoner made her two guards jump. They hadn’t taken their eyes off her once. She was almost sure the Amethyst hadn’t blinked for five minutes. they were dead set on not letting her escape. At least not until it was someone else’s problem.

Sadly, fate had other ideas. It fully intended to make Navy their problem.

There was a faint hissing noise and sparks flew around Navy’s feet. Before anyone had time to react, the floor disappeared beneath her feet and the Winter Shadow fell out of the transport with a surprised yelp. The guards, and more importantly, her tablet were left in the transport. A shame too, she was just about to rewatch one of her favorite episodes.

The fact that she was currently falling from a height of almost fifteen thousand meters was also a bad thing. Oh well, the Navy knew from experience that she could survive a fall like that. Although with her luck, she’d land at the feet of Steven Universe again. She had a feeling he wouldn't fall for the cutesy innocent routine again.

This time, however, she had a bit more luck. She was caught in a tractor beam mid-air and pulled into a small hover vehicle. Someone threw a sack over her and the vehicle sped off. By the time the guards in the transport figured out what was going on, Navy was long gone.

Ten minutes later, Navy was dumped out of the sack onto a chair. She blinked, taking a few seconds to adjust to the light. She was sat on a chair in front of a table in a currently empty warehouse. Before her stood four gems; a Jasper, an Amethyst, a Peridot, and a Fire Opal. There were also… three humans?

Alright, this was getting interesting.

From the gang’s point of view, they were starting to get freaked out by how calmly the Ruby seemed to handle being kidnapped. She just kinda sat there and looked at them with mild interest.

”So, Ruby…” Amy started to speak, but she was cut off.

”Navy.”

”What?”

”Call me ’Navy,’” Ruby said.

”…oookay. Navy. You’re probably wondering why we freed you. It’s because we have a deal for you.”

”You wanna help me destroy Christmas?” Navy’s eyes lit up with stars at the idea.

”…n-no,” Amy said. ”We actually want your help to break into a skyscraper on Earth and steal a bunch of human valuables.” She laid a thick paper file on the table.

”Oh,” Navy said, disappointed. Her eyes wandered, examining a minuscule imperfection on the table that she found vastly more interesting than whatever was going on around her. ”Then I’m not interested.”

”C’mon, think about it,” Fire Opal coaxed. ”You could at least look at those files.”

Navy looked at the papers like Ragnar looked at Fire Opal’s cooking. She tapped the folder a few times but nothing happened. She kept poking at it until she figured out that you have to open it and flip the pages.

”You want my help to break into this?” She held up a picture of the building and eyed the gems. Her gaze said,” Do you seriously need my help to break into this hut?”

”Right,” Amy said. ”We have the perfect opportunity. Ragnar here works as a security guard and will be there on the day of the party.” She patted Ragnar on the back a little too hard. ”Security will be lax and the building almost empty.”

”That is a perfect opportunity,” Navy admitted. ”But the answer is still ’no.’”

”Why? You could be rich!” Rocky asked.

”I don’t care about human money,” Navy scoffed. ”So unless you help me destroy Christmas, then you’ve got nothing I want.”

”We’re not gonna help you destroy Christmas,” Amy said firmly.

”Then it’s no deal!” Navy said with an air of finality.

”We busted you out of jail,” J said. ”I say that means you owe us one.”

This made Navy laugh.

”Oh please!” she giggled, almost hysterically. ”Do you really think I’d still be in there if I didn’t want to? Their walls are tinder and I am a spark! As soon as I get tired of watching old USCSB videos, I’ll walk right on out!”

”You’ve got a pretty high opinion of yourself, don’t you?” Charlie observed.

”Of course,” Navy said as if it was the most obvious thing. ”You’re human, so maybe you haven’t heard of me, but I am the Winter Shadow! I nearly ruined Christmas! I turned White Diamond into my puppet! I’m kind of a big deal.”

”Not on Earth, you ain’t,” Charlie shot back. This gave Navy pause, so Charlie continued. ”Buuuut… robbing a skyscraper… stealing hundreds of dollars worth from right under the noses of a bunch of big shots… and getting away with it? That’ll get all over the news. Imagine the headlines; ’Mysterious Winter Shadow steals millions and disappears without a trace! Where will she strike next? ’ You could be the most infamous criminal on two planets.”

”I… I… I could be the most infamous criminal on two planets!” Navy exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with stars once again. ”Alright, let’s do it! I have a plan. We need a radio wave scrambler, a large truck, several platters of luxury foods…”

•Amethyst [7H-13F]-Also called Amy. Used to work as security at a series of asteroid mining facilities in the outer systems of the Emerald-Kyanite Mining Belt. That’s where she met J, Fie Opal, and Doc. Always the mischievous one, she was the one who came up with the idea of stealing human money to live an easy life on Earth instead of having to work for it. Once they get rich, Doc will immediately buy her an” I get us into trouble” shirt, which she will reluctantly wear.

•Jasper (7H-U6)-Goes by J. She and Amy were created in the same Kindergarten around the same time, so they’ve pretty much always known each other. They’re thick as thieves. J is kinda lazy but fiercely loyal. Has a crush on Yellow Pearl. Would begrudgingly accept an ”I helped get us into trouble” shirt, but only as long as it also says ”…and to get us out of trouble” on the back.

•Fire Opal (H4R-RY)-Explosives expert. Used to work with demolition on one of the major colonies, but was demoted to mining duty after she leveled a building not scheduled for demolition. Good at chemistry and likes to experiment with making new explosives. She also likes to experiment with making foods for her human friends. Would protest, but knows in her heart that she deserves an ”I made the trouble worse” shirt.

•Peridot (DOC-BU53)-Nicknamed Doc, she’s an Era 2 Peridot and the youngest of the gems. Very nervous and has a tendency to mumble or whisper everything she says. Became friends with Amy, J & Fire Opal after she opted to erase a recording of them blowing up some micro asteroids for fun. As thanks, Amy and J had a stern talking-to with Doc’s manager, who was giving her a hard time. Would unironically love an ”I get us out of trouble” shirt.

Chapter Text

Lamp Entertainment presents…

Chapter 2: Point of No Return

23:rd December 2021

It was in the early afternoon on the day of the big job. Ragnar’s apartment was bustling with fervent activity, the gang doing all the last-minute preparations. Navy was sat at the coffee table in the living room, dictating everything like the conductor of the world’s most illegal orchestra. She had claimed the sofa from J, making her one of the few people on the planet who could make the big Jasper move against her will.

She was calling out pieces of equipment and crossing them off the list.

”Communicators?” she called out.

”Check,” everyone replied one by one. The communicators would look to most humans like ordinary power banks but each of them had a twin particle communication circuit installed. According to the gems, they had a range of infinity, battery life of three thousand years, and would be completely unaffected by the radio wave scrambler.

Navy crossed it off her list.

”Stun guns?”

”Check,” everyone but Doc called back. The stun guns were disguised as rings. Simply rotate them on your finger, tap the little crystal on it and the gun would appear from… somewhere. Doc had tried to explain it but that only made Charlie more confused.

”Aaaaand that’s it,” Navy crossed the last item on her list. ”Everything else is already in the trucks. Does anyone need to run through the plan again? You, humans, have you got it all in your skull-hole?”

”Yes, it’s all in there,” Charlie said, trying to determine if what Navy just said was meant to be some form of insult. It could be hard with her to tell if she was insulting you, or if it was just the weird way gems talked.

Strangely enough, living with Navy for the last two weeks hadn’t been that terrible. You know, considering that she was a terrorist who hated Christmas. And also an alien.

She was efficient if nothing else. Within a day she had a plan ready, timed, and done, down to the last detail. A day later and she had made copies of the plan for everyone, written and drawn with their favorite colored crayons.

It was a work of art, both figuratively and literally.

Navy looked at her watch.

”We move out in seven minutes, she announced. ”Are the disguises ready?”

”Yes,” Charlie said, examining her face in a small mirror. She made a few grimaces. It was weird, looking at a face that wasn’t your own.

A perfectly timed and done plan didn’t mean much if they still ended up getting arrested afterward because someone recognized them.

Fire Opal had made some masks for them made from some latex-like material that stuck to the skin and blended in with the natural skin color while changing the facial features enough to fool any human facial recognition software. It felt like having your face vacuum packed, but hey, a couple of hours of discomfort beat life in prison.

The masks wouldn’t really work on the gems, since the material would just take on the color of their skin. So they had to get a bit creative.

J painted black striped on her face to make a tiger-striped pattern. she had watched a nature documentary on the big cats and they were now her second favorite Earth animal, so it was fitting.

Fire Opal opted for a simpler disguise consisting of a trench coat, gloves, hat, and scarf over her face to mask her inhuman features.

That left Amy. As part of the ”advance infiltration group” as Navy called it, she had to be able to pass for a human. Which in turn meant a raid on a local film studio’s make-up department and two hours in the bathroom as Ragnar tried to make her look at least mostly human. The result…

”This is never going to work,” Amy said nervously while she examined her now olive skin in a small mirror. Everywhere she looked she found small imperfections that revealed a faint purple hue that humans really shouldn’t have. ”I’m never going to pass for human, they’ll see right through me.”

”Not at all, you look great,” Charlie said.”Besides, these are rich spoiled people we’re talking about. It’s not like they’re going to actually pay any attention to some random catering staff. They’ll look right through you. Just follow our lead and you’ll be fine.”

”If you say so…” Amy said.

xxXXxx

A little while later…

We’ll leave our lovable gang of criminals (and Navy) for a few moments and take a look at another player about to enter the stage. A bit unorthodox to introduce the hero a seventh into chapter three, but the author trusts his readers to know who Connie Maheswaran is already. She hardly needs an introduction. You’re probably more interested in how she came to be involved in this whole mess.

It all started a few weeks ago when she got a letter from the Galloanserae Educational Foundation offering her a scholarship. Apparently, they offered scholarships for ”gifted students” (a term that made Connie very uncomfortable) who had ”ambitions that may benefit humanity,” whatever that meant. Somehow, they’d heard she had an interest in politics.

Honestly, the whole thing made Connie pretty anxious, but her parents had convinced her to at least try. Even if they could afford college, it never hurt to have a little extra money, right?

Part of the process of getting approved for the scholarship involved an interview at the Foundation’s headquarters in Empire City. On the day before Christmas Eve of all days, because things couldn’t be too convenient, now could they? In the Foundation’s defense, there had been some trouble with the scheduling that forced them to push the interview back a week. On the plus side, that meant there was only one other applicant in the cramped waiting room for her to make awkward small-talk to. A pale-faced boy who had managed to derail the conversation no less than three times to be about extraterrestrial life. If only he had known who he was talking to. Connie had a few stories she could tell him about aliens. She’d soon have one more to tell, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

As it happened, Connie’s dad, the one and only Doug Maheswaran was working on this day. So the plan was for Connie to pick him up at six when he got off. She spent a few hours after the interview reading at the Speedwagon Public Library and she was now on her way to the building where her dad worked.

You’ll be spared the horrifying tale that is driving in Empire City. Just know that it sucks.

She arrived finally at her destination; a large, newly built skyscraper belonging to the multi-national conglomerate LexCorp, yet another monument to its owner’s ever-expanding wealth. Her dad had worked there for a few months now.

She reached the gate by the security booth. The entire building was surrounded by a tall fence. Like an evil wizard’s tower in a book or something.

The gate guard looked annoyed as he opened the little hatch in his window. Connie rolled down her window as well, shivering as the chill air rushed into the car.

”We have closed for today,” the guard grumbled.

”I’m here to pick up my dad,” Connie said with practiced precision. N-not that she had practiced what to say or anything. That’d be silly. ”Doug Maheswaran. He works as a guard here. He’s supposed to get off at six.”

”Oh, right, Doug told me you’d come,” he said, a bit less grumpy now. ”So you’re the daughter he never shut up about then?”

”That, uh… that would be me.”

”Only good things,” the guard said with a smile. ”To be honest, I thought you were some kind of superhero or something based on the way he talks about you.”

Connie did the best polite laugh she could manage.

Sensing the awkwardness, the guard switched back to professional mode.

”There’s a visitor’s parking space to the left,” he said and gestured vaguely in roughly the correct direction from his perspective. He pressed the button to open the gate. ”Doug should be in the security office to the right after the receptionist desk.”

Connie politely thanked him and drove through the opened gate. She saw it close automatically behind her after a predetermined time limit. She found the parking space as instructed. Had she been a bit car-savvy, she’d recognized several expensive brands and models parked there. But Connie was the kind of person who, when asked ”what car do you drive?” hesitated for a moment before answering ”…blue?”

The lobby was a lot more obvious with how luxurious it was. Luthor saved no expenses when it came to showing off just how rich he was. This was not just an office and research building. No, it was a palace. It was lavishly decorated with several large Christmas trees with piles of (fake) presents underneath them. The light strands were pulsating softly with green and purple light. The walls were lined with large screens showing snippets of new projects and companies to be assimilated into the conglomerate in the upcoming year. Well-hidden speakers played classic Christmas music for ambiance.

Connie saw a sign pointing towards the security office just beyond the empty receptionist desk. She headed towards it. She checked the time on her phone and realized she was a few minutes late. Her dad would be waiting.

He wasn’t.

xxXXxx

Doug was currently trudging up the stairs between floors forty-eight and forty-nine. Because of course, someone had to use the elevator at the exact time he needed it.

”This is the last time…” he muttered between his heavy breaths. This was the last time he’d let the night shift guys convince him to go their evening round. Even though they knew full well that they weren’t compensated for overtime.

He glanced at his watch. Already ten past six. He was supposed to clock out ten minutes ago. Connie would be here now, waiting for him downstairs. Waiting for her lame dad who couldn’t even say no to his coworkers.

Just you wait, next time he’d tell the night guys what for. Probably.

Oh well, floor forty-nine would be quick. Check to make sure a few doors were locked and then he could take the express elevator down. If he was really lucky, the catering people might let him grab a few of those fancy mini-sandwiches they were serving at the party. There were always a few that were damaged and unsuitable for the fancy folk upstairs.

He exited the stairwell. The well-oiled door didn’t make a noise, which was always a bit unsettling. He headed down the corridor towards the kitchen. It was dimly lit, most of the building already switched over to night lighting. Everyone had gone home early today. Not because of the holidays, but because Mr. Luthor was hosting a party. The only people in the building were Mr. Luthor, his guests, the night shift guards, and the catering staff.

Speaking of which, he could hear two of them talking around the corner. He’d just walk over and-

”…keep your gun at the ready, it’s almost time.”

Doug stopped dead in his tracks. Not literally, but if he made as much as a sound, it might become very literal very fast.

Another voice said something Doug couldn’t quite make out, but he sounded worried.

”Hey, don’t worry. You probably won’t have to shoot anyone,” the first voice said. A woman, if Doug had to guess. ”These people were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, they’ve never had to fend for themselves. Just wave your gun around and look real mean and they’ll be too afraid to do anything.”

”Are you sure?” the second voice asked.

”Of course.” By the sounds of it, the owner of the first voice patted her companion on the back. ”It’s all timed and done, remember? Down to the last detail. In a few hours, we’ll be rich. In a few days, we’ll be sipping drinks on some tropical beach.” There was a rustle. ”Let’s go, the others will be here soon.”

The two people started moving, walking over to the food delivery elevator. It connected the kitchen on the forty-ninth floor with the fiftieth floor where Luthor had his office… and his party. A party with a ton of powerful and influential guests. A smörgåsbord of money ripe for anyone who wasn’t afraid to get their hands dirty.

Once he was sure they were gone, Doug could start breathing again,

Alright. So. A bunch of criminals had infiltrated the catering staff and were gonna rob the guests at the party. They were armed and while they didn’t want to kill anyone, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t. More were on their way. As far as he knew, Doug was the only person in the building who knew aside from the robbers themselves. With all that in mind, he did what any self-respecting and competent security guard would do in his position.

Call the police.

Or he tried to at least.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket. It took him longer than it should have to remember how to dial nine-one-one. He pressed ”call” and waited for the call to connect.

It didn’t.

His phone informed him that he didn’t have any service.

With great disbelief, he stared at his phone screen. No service? And no wi-fi either? That didn’t make any sense, if there was something the LexCorp Tower lacked, it sure as hell wasn’t cellphone reception or wi-fi. It was the first building in Empire City built with 5G network and next-generation smart technology in mind. Or at least, that’s what Mr. Luthor said in every interview.

Doug’s hand was shaking as he pressed the button on his walkie-talkie.

”Guys, we’ve got trouble,” he said. ”Armed robbers. At least two, probably more on the way. Call the police. Over.”

He waited for the answer that never came. All he heard from the radio was the occasional burst of static. He tried again.

”I’m serious. There are armed robbers on floor fifty. You have to call the police. Over.” Still nothing. ”Come on Simon, Jimie. Please answer me.”

He tried on every frequency, but got nothing. Just more static.

How in the world…? Was this the robbers doing this somehow? Had they knocked out cellphones and radios? It was either that or something worse.

Doug’s heart froze when he remembered something.

Connie!

xxXXxx

Just a few minutes earlier…

Ragnar hurried over the parking lot to the gate guard’s booth. He was late, and for once, it was intentional.

”S-sorry,” he panted as he entered the booth. ”Traffic…”

Mohammed didn’t say anything, he just grabbed his backpack and left. Ragnar saw him exit through the side gate and hurry off to the bus station without even going inside to change out of his work clothes.

All according to Navy’s plan. The tapestry of her scheme left no loose threads. And it wasn’t like Ragnar had missed a certain teen girl who had just parked her car and was on her way inside. That’d be awfully inconvenient and might jeopardize the plan. So it was a good thing nothing slipped past Ragnar D’Shonour. What kind of security guard would that make him? A disgraceful one. He’d bring shame to his family name.

He checked his watch, a cheap thing made to look expensive. It didn’t, but it could tell time. Right now it was six past six and time to press the button on the remote Fire Opal had given him. It opened a valve on a gas cylinder disguised as a water bottle that Ragnar had ” forgotten” in the security office yesterday. It contained one of Fire Opal’s concoctions, a potent sleeping gas. Within sixty seconds, everyone in the room would be asleep.

Ragnar counted the seconds for what felt like an hour.

Right on time, a truck arrived at the gate.

He tried to not glance at the camera recording everything.

Time for some acting.

Fire Opal, wearing her disguise, jumped out of the truck. From the passenger side; Navy had insisted she get to drive. ”Best pilot this side of the Emerald-Kyanite mining belt,” she had said, something that impressed the gems.

Ragnar opened the hatch in his window in a very natural and normal way that wouldn’t look suspicious at all to any police watching the tapes later.

”We don’t have any deliveries scheduled for tonight,” he said in his best guard voice.

”Oh, really?” Fire Opal said. She flashed a smile. Try as he might, Ragnar couldn’t help but flinch a bit at what was coming next. ”Cause I’ve got a delivery for you right here.” She tossed one of her smoke bombs in through the hatch. It exploded with a loud ”poof!” and filled the booth with harmless smoke.

Ragnar coughed and stumbled before dramatically falling to the floor in an uncomfortable pile. To anyone watching the recording later, it’d look like he was just hit with the same sleeping gas as his colleagues in the security office.

Fire Opal giggled a little, less so at his dramatic performance and more so because she just loved when things went poof. Almost as much as when things went boom.

She hurried over to the side gate and used a copy of Ragnar’s keycard to let herself inside. She entered the booth and pressed the button to open the gate. Navy drove the truck through while Fire Opal grabbed Ragnar’s limp body. She was a good deal stronger than she looked and easily hoisted him over her shoulder.

She climbed back in the truck where Ragnar could finally stop pretending to be knocked out. He was met by Navy’s disapproving stare. She shook her head and tapped the limited edition Crying Breakfast Friends watch that Rocky had reluctantly lent her.

”Twenty seconds behind,” she chastised them. ”At this rate, we’ll be done tomorrow.”

Ragnar simply ignored her. Everything was going swimmingly, exactly as planned.

He saw that his phone didn't have any reception, meaning Doc had turned on the radio wave scrambler, completely cutting off all wireless communications within the building. The tower was now a sitting duck. By the time anyone on the outside knew something was wrong, they'd be a few lightyears away, celebrating with champagne.

It was all good. Everything was going right.

xxXXxx

Something had gone wrong.

Connie could feel it the moment before she knocked on the door. The door to the security office was slightly ajar. She had a feeling doors to security offices shouldn’t be slightly ajar.

She knocked, just to be on the safe side. Even though they should’ve seen her coming through the cameras. And her dad should already be waiting for her.

She opened the door.

Inside was multiple screens showing camera feeds from throughout the building. There were four people in the room. Her dad wasn’t one of them.

One guard was sitting slumped over in his chair, eyes closed and head hanging. Two others were sprawled out on the floor and the fourth one was lying right at Connie’s feet.

Connie’s first reaction was the very human reaction to try and help. She leaned down to check on the woman lying before her. It looked like she was still breathing, so what in the world had happened here? And why was the world spinning all of the sudden?

She lost her balance and toppled over, all sense of direction lost to her. Black spots danced before her eyes and her limbs felt so heavy. The floor was warm and surprisingly clean. She wouldn’t mind taking a nap here…

The realization of what was going on brought some clarity to Connie’s foggy mind. There was something in the air!

She kicked the door shut and with slow, sluggish movements started crawling away from the door. Her arms and legs felt like they were made of lead and her head full of cotton. Only pure willpower could force her limbs to move, Once she got a few meters away, she started taking deep breaths, trying to flush the poison out of her system.

It took almost two minutes before she felt strong enough to stand up again on shaking legs.

She tried to focus her thoughts.

There was something in the air, something toxic. As much as she wanted to get the guards, she couldn’t just rush in. She had seen enough videos on nitrogen asphyxiation to know never to enter a confined space with a hazardous atmosphere without proper safety equipment.

She took a deep breath and pinched her nose closed. She quickly opened the door just enough for her to peek inside. She could see the chests of the guards still moving, so they were still breathing. But for how much longer?

Movement on one of the monitors caught her eye. A delivery truck was parking at the loading bay. That was somewhat odd, but Connie didn’t have time to think about it, she had to breathe.

She closed the door again and took a few steps back before exhaling and inhaling again. Alright, she had to call for help. There must’ve been some kind of gas leak or something. She needed to make sure the building was evacuated. She-

A loud crash startled her and nearly made her jump out of her boots. Connie had heard enough doors getting smashed in to recognize the sound. She whipped around to where the sound was coming from. A helpful sign informed her the corridor lead to the loading bay. Inside the security office, a loud alarm sounded, confirming that whatever had just happened wasn’t supposed to happen.

Connie’s heart raced and her brain buzzed. The stress triggered Pearl’s combat training. Of course, it all made sense now. It wasn’t just some random gas leak that affected specifically the security office and not the lobby. This was an assault.

She was under attack! Assailants unknown, numbers unknown, weaponry unknown aside from some kind of gas, strategy unknown, goal unknown.

Heavy footsteps and muffled voices approached. At least three people. There was only one thing Connie could do. Tactical retreat.

She swiveled around, looking for a good place to hide. The reception desk. She ran as quickly and as quietly as she could, easier said than done in heavy winter boots. She jumped over the desk and ducked down behind it.

The voices were getting closer. Connie tried to make her heart beat slower and stop pounding in her ears so she could hear what they were saying. She heard at least three voices and a few footsteps. One pair of feet sounded really heavy, like a big quartz soldier stomping around Little Homeworld. Which meant there was at least one very big guy.

”I dunno about you, but I get the feeling doors to security offices shouldn’t be slightly ajar,” said one voice. Short pause. ”Looks like one of them tried to get out. But my sleeping gas is simply too good!”

”Is everyone accounted for?” said a second voice. A shrill, high-pitched voice. For some reason, it sounded somewhat familiar. Like someone Connie knew but couldn’t place.

”Yup, four sound asleep humans in a room,” the first voice said. There was another pause, followed by the door being slammed shut.

The heavy pair of footsteps walked past the receptionist's desk. Connie held her breath and tried to make herself as small as possible as if it would actually help. If anyone decided to lean over and look down behind the desk, they’d see her.

A thin layer of sweat was forming on her body and not just because she was wearing her warm winter clothes indoors.

The footsteps continued past the desk and over to the entrance. There was the sound of metal scraping over the floor and a chain rustling.

”Locked,” a low voice said, ”No one’s getting out.” Again. Why did her voice sound vaguely familiar?

The first voice giggled.

”This is almost too easy,” it said. ”Imagine, in a few hours, we’ll be rich!”

”Not if you keep wasting time!” the shrill voice hissed. ”We’re behind. Get going!”

”Yeah, yeah…” the first voice said. You could practically hear them roll their eyes. There was the sound of plastic bags. A beep. Then waiting.

”Ugh, I thought the express elevator was supposed to be fast,” the shrill voice said after about twenty seconds. ”This is taking forever!”

They were waiting for the elevator, which was across from the receptionist's desk. Connie dared to grab her phone and use the camera to peak over the desk. It was an awkward angle, so she couldn’t see much, but she could see three people. One was partially obscured by another person, a very tall and broad-shouldered brute of a human. We’re talking ”could make eye contact with Jasper” tall. The second person was closer to a normal height but looked short next to their mountain of a companion. The normal-sized person was holding two large shopping bags stuffed with something. Their backs were turned to her.

Connie really wished she had her throwing knives with her. Incapacitate the two of them and then rush the third one in the confusion that ensued. Alas, the holster in her right boot was empty. Had been ever since Steven confiscated the knives last year.

The elevator gave a cheerful ding and the doors opened. Connie quickly retracted her phone in case any of them turned around.

She heard the elevator doors close.

Once she was sure they were gone, Connie stood back up and scanned the lobby. The indicator on the elevator told her that they were still on their way up the building. The door to the security office was closed properly this time. The entrance had been sealed, the large glass doors covered behind large steel bars that slid out of hidden compartments in the walls. In addition to the normal lock, they had also been chained together. No one was getting in or out through there.

There was only one thing to do: call the police.

Connie dialed nine-one-one and pressed her phone to the ear. Her phone kindly informed her she lacked reception, much to her confusion.

No cellphone reception? In the middle of the city? In a building owned by a tech company? That was… unlikely to say the least.

Connie’s head was too full of new information. It was buzzing, sparking, and threatening to boil over. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She had to think. Sort through and organize everything in her head. Focus on the basics, the bare necessities she needed to survive this battle.

What did she know?

She knew there were at least three of them. Considering the scale of the operation, there might be more of them.

Their goal was money. Wasn’t there supposed to be a fancy Christmas party going on with lots of rich businessmen going on right now? Maybe they were going to rob the guests or take them hostage.

Whatever the plan was, it was strict and sophisticated with a tight schedule. They had somehow put everyone in the security office to sleep without alerting anyone and somehow sabotaged communications with the outside.

Connie had a hundred questions, but one towered over them all. If he wasn’t in the security office, then…

Where was her dad?

xxXXxx

The fiftieth floor of the LexCorp Tower was a place few people would set their foot. It was a height few people could ever dream of reaching. Not in a physical sense, but figuratively. This was high society, an exclusive circle for only the richest and most powerful.

As such, the room was impeccably designed and decorated. One side of the room had a large glass window for a wall that showed the glittering skyline of Empire City sprawled out. Works of genuine art dotted the walls, their placements determined with millimeter precision. Notably, a katana hung on a wall, purposefully placed to attract intention so that the host could tell the story of how he had gotten the antique weapon.

For the holidays, the room had been decorated with tasteful, but still very obviously expensive decorations. This included a real Christmas tree with a pile of presents for the guests. The presents didn’t amount to much to any of the guests as they all already had more money than most people would ever need. But a little goodwill could go a long way to establishing a profitable business arrangement.

You couldn’t find a bigger flock of crooks if you so went looking in a prison.

Charlie’s arm was getting tired from holding the (fake) platter with wine glasses. Her hand was sweaty and the platter slid around, threatening to fall. The pinkie kept rubbing against the ring on her ring finger.

She glanced at her watch for the fourth time that minute. It would be time soon. She looked through the glass doors separating the party room from the rest of the building, The express elevator should start moving any second now.

A few guests threw her some dirty looks, undoubtedly judging her for her jittery behavior and unprofessional manners, but who cared? In a minute, they’d be at her mercy. Then she’d show them how it’s really done. None of that economic crime bullshit, no hiding behind someone else.

Meanwhile, Amy was feeling even more nervous than Charlie. So far, things had gone well enough. They made it into the tower and past Luthor’s private bodyguard’s pat-down. Amy had worried he was onto the fact that her proportions weren’t entirely human when he spent a little too long with her, but it was nothing. And wouldn’t you know, Charlie was right. None of the guests had noticed the fact that her face had a subtle purple hue that normal humans shouldn’t have. It reminded her a bit of how some upper crusts barely used to acknowledge the existence of lower gems. Most of the guests seemed to just… look right through her.

Most of them.

One woman was looking at Amy with interest. She said something to the man with her. He had strange markings on his face that distracted Amy long enough for her to not notice the woman approaching her until it was too late.

”Sorry to disturb you, but I just have to say I love your make-up,” she said with a polite smile. ”It gives your face this almost magical glow.”

”T-thanks,” Amy said. Unbeknownst to her, she perfectly imitated how a normal human sounded when they got an unexpected compliment from a stranger.

”Could you tell me what brand it is? I think I know someone who would love it.”

”I, uh… I don’t know, my friend helped me,” Amy quickly came up with an excuse. ”I’ll go ask her.”

She hurried off as fast as she could without drawing any more attention to herself.

”I think you made her nervous,” Angeline,” her husband said.

”Oh, I hope I didn’t,” Angeline said. ”She seemed like such a nice young lady. Reminds me of one of Juliet’s wrestling friends.” She glanced around and lowered her voice. ”Then again, I wouldn’t blame her for being nervous, considering some of the people here…”

”There are legitimate businessmen here as well,” her husband tried to comfort her. ”Mr. Wayne for instance…”

”I know, I trust you,” Angeline said. ”I just… have a bad feeling.”

Of course, Amy didn’t hear this little conversation, she was too busy making her way over to Charlie.

”What?” Charlie whispered. ”Something wrong? Do they suspect anything?” She glanced nervously at the couple whispering to each other.

”No, I don’t think so,” Amy said. ”What’s the time?”

”One minute” Charlie hissed. She looked over at the elevator again and saw that it was moving. That was their cue. ”Get into position.”

Amy nodded. Some of her nervousness disappeared at the promise of action. No more talking to humans about make-up and other things she didn't understand. Actual action, like fighting and looking mean. That was something she knew a lot about. She was made for it.

Charlie took a deep breath to steady herself. She put down the platter of wine on a table, spilling a little and staining the tablecloth. She shot Rocky a look to signal it was time. All at once, the three caters started moving outward towards the edges of the room.

Luthor’s bodyguard, a large beefy man in a black suit a few tiers less expensive than his boss’ noticed something was going on. He started marching toward Charlie.

There came a faint ”ping” from the elevator as it arrived.

Charlie, Rocky, and Amy simultaneously tapped their rings. There was a flicker of light and the plastic stun guns appeared in their hands.

The bodyguard’s eyes widened. He reached into his suit.

”Get do-!” He started to yell, but never got the chance to finish. Charlie pulled the trigger and an electric bolt flew from her gun. It struck the bodyguard in the chest. He looked a bit confused before he fell to the floor, unconscious.

”Alright, everyone!” Charlie shouted. ”Hands in the air!”

Chapter Text

Lamp Entertainment presents…

Chapter 3: Phase Two

23:rd December 2021

18:19

High up in the luxurious, if uncreatively named Le Hotel, a young man’s mediation on the peculiar girl he met earlier that day was interrupted by an irritating notification on his cellphone.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while he grabbed his phone. If this was another one of his brothers’ pranks then so help him…

His annoyance disappeared the moment he saw the notification, replaced by shock and terror.

xxXXxx

Shock and terror.

”Alright, everyone!. ”Hands in the air!”

It took people a few seconds to process what was going on Someone was yelling. Mr. Luthor’s bodyguard was lying on the floor. The three catering staff members were holding guns.

Oh.

Someone dropped their glass and it shattered on the floor. A woman screamed and panic ensued. The guests started running for the door, only to find it was blocked by an almost impossibly large brute.

”QUIET!” yelled the giant woman, her scream seeming to shake the entire room. She wasn’t holding a gun, but that did not make her any less intimidating. She looked like she could kill you a hundred ways without the use of any weapons. Though surely, one would be sufficient. Her face was painted with orange and black stripes like a tiger. Fitting, as she probably wrestled tigers for the sport of it.

One by one, people quieted down.

”Good,” the brute muttered. She stepped aside to reveal her complete opposite. A short, positively tiny person, no bigger than a child, clad in a dark robe and hood, face obscured by shadows.

The figure stalked forward slowly. Deliberately. Calculated. As if mathematically determined to be the most effective intimidation tactic.

The guests all collectively backed away from the figure, stepping on each other’s feet to get a few centimeters further away. They could sense that it was more dangerous than anyone else in the room. They didn’t get far though as they were surrounded by the armed caterers.

The figure stopped for a moment, examining one of the guests; Angeline, with her husband’s arms around her.

”I like your necklace,” she said with a shrill voice. ”Rubies, right?” There was a faint smile in her voice as if there was a joke no one else got.

”Y-yes,” Angeline stammered. ”If you want it, you can have it, just please, w-we have children an-”

”I don’t care.” The figure dismissed her plea and continued walking toward the center of the room.

Once she got there, she turned around and examined the crowd of scared people, breathing in the tension and fear.

She threw her arms up in the air.

”Merry Christmas!” she exclaimed cheerfully. ”And thank you for inviting me to this exclusive part. Who’d ever think little ol’ me would ever find herself in high society? I am most grateful for this opportunity, this is sure to be the beginning of something great. Now, I know who all of you are, but some of you may be wondering who I am.”

She made a dramatic pause.

”When you are alone at night and sense something watching you from the dark… that is me. It is always me. I am the blackness that surrounds all that you defile.”

She grabbed a glass of wine from a table and took a sip, only to immediately spit it out again.

Blegh! Disgusting!” she spat. ”You people drink this stuff? No wonder you don’t get older. Or, uh… I mean… Ha!”

The wine suddenly caught on fire and she threw the glass on the floor. she jumped up on a table and spun around while shouting.

”I am shadow and flame rising! I am the bitter black wind that howls about ruin’s bleak peaks! My machinations lay undetected for years, for I am a master of deception! I am the greatest criminal mastermind in the world, nay, any world! I! Am! The Winter Shadow!”

If any of the guests had been able to tear their eyes off the dark figure, they would have seen the now forgotten caterers rolling their eyes at the shenanigans.

There was a brief silence. No one dared to say anything, lest they upset this lunatic.

The Winter Shadow giggled to herself and clapped her hands together like she was applauding her own performance.

”Anyway, just stay calm and we won’t hurt you, et cetera, et cetera,” she said as an afterthought. ”This shouldn’t take too long, so you should be able to go home in an hour or so. I wouldn’t wanna keep you from celebrating the holidays with your friends and family and all that.” She scanned the crowd for a particular individual. ”You, boss man,” she said and pointed at Mr. Luthor. Everyone near him took a few steps back, leaving the host of the party to face the shadow on his own. ”Take me to your office. Now.”

Mr. Luthor stood there for a moment. He glanced quickly at all the people around him before replying.

”And what if I refuse?” he asked calmly.

The Winter Shadow sighed impatiently. She snapped her fingers at the brute.

”Break something,” she commanded.

The brute rolled her eyes. She made her way through the crowd, roughly showing a man aside when he didn’t get out of her way fast enough.

Mr. Luthor stood defiant. He was by no means a small man, tall and well-built. Though he still looked small and lanky next to the mountain of muscle that was the Winter Shadow’s brute.

To his credit, Mr. Luthor did try to punch her, not that it did him any good. The brute caught his fist in her own hand. She closed it and started squeezing. Luthor tried to pry his hand free, but he was trapped in the vise grip of the brute’s massive hand.

He tried to punch her again, but all that earned him was bruised knuckles as his fist bounced off her face.

Throughout all of this, the brute looked bored. She grabbed Luthor by the neck of his suit and lifted him into the air.

”Wanna try that again?” she growled while staring into his eyes. Her grip around his fist tightened even more.

Luthor stared into unyielding eyes.

”No,” he finally said with an air of defeat. ”I’ll do what you want.” The brute dropped him and landed with a stumble. He rubbed his sore hands together.

”Good choice,” the Winter Shadow said. ”For a moment I thought she might have to break your hand and that’d be kinda gross. Now, office. Lead the way.”

Luthor’s eye twitched. His breathing was heavy and strained. For a second, it looked like he might do something stupid.

”Chop chop, get going,” The Winter Shadow demanded. ”I haven’t got all night, I gotta be home in time for Donald Duck tomorrow.”

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Luthor did the sensible thing and went with the option that netted him fewer broken bones and lead the Winter Shadow to his office.

When they got out of earshot of the guests, the Shadow seemed to relax a little.

”Just between the two of us,” she said, awfully casual for someone pointing a gun at another person. ”How was that performance? Was it intimidating? I feel like I stumbled a few times.”

”It was terrifying,” Luthor said dryly, only mostly sarcastic. If the Winter Shadow noticed, she didn’t say anything. ”I especially liked your entrance. The timing was impeccable.”

He entered the passcode to his office and the doors slid open with a slick pneumatic hiss.

”Thank you,” the Winter Shadow giggled, sounding genuinely happy with the compliment. ”It took us a lot of practice to get that one right. The others said it wouldn’t work, but that just shows you what they know! They don’t get it. It is very important to show that I’m not just an unhinged psychopath but also really smart.”

Mr. Luthor’s office was a place that even fewer people ever got to see than the party room. Only him, his bodyguard, and a couple of select high-ranking managers within the LexCorp conglomerate had access to it.

At the center stood a large wooden desk, hand-crafted specifically for him. The wood was sourced from a rare tree only found on a small European island nation. A local religious temple claimed that the wood possessed magical properties and had been blessed by two saints. Not that Luthor cared much for magic and saints, he only cared that it was expensive and exclusive.

One side of the room was lined with bookshelves. Displayed in a special case was a copy of Luthor’s autobiography: Lex Luthor: From Slums to Success.

The other side of the room had a section reserved for prices, diplomas, and news clippings detailing Luthor’s success. There was also a small section with a mattress surrounded by several delicate plants and a small water installation meant for meditation.

The Winter Shadow blew past it all without sparing it a glance. Although it was hard to tell where she was looking, as her eyes were still hidden in the darkness of her hood.

She hopped up on the office chair by the desk and grabbed something from a pocket in her robe. She plugged it into the computer.

”Password,” she demanded.

”What is it that you want?” Luthor asked, his words with a hard edge to them.

”…the password. Like I said,” the Winter Shadow said, sounding confused.

”That's not what I meant,” Luthor snapped back. ”What is your plan? What do you think you have to gain here today? Do you intend to hold us hostage?”

”Nah,” the Winter Shadow said. ”That’d take too long. Too much of a hassle. We’re just gonna rob you. My friends heard yo-” she stopped in the middle of the sentence and mumbled something inaudible. When she continued, she sounded like she had lost a bit of her previous steam. ”I mean… my-the goons in the other room heard you were sitting on a vault of riches and figured they’d take a crack at it.” She leaned back in the chair. She noticed it move a little and pushed off the desk, making the chair swivel around. She seemed to find this amusing, because she kept spinning around on the chair almost like she had forgotten all about Luthor and her plan.

”A-ah, I see,” Luthor said. He made a mental list of some people who were going to be involved in some ”accidents” for leaking that information once he got out of this situation. ”If it’s money that you want, then perhaps we can come to some… arrangement. It’s going to take you several hours to open the vault and if the police get involved, things could turn ugly quick.”

”Don’t worry about that,” the Winter Shadow said. She stopped spinning around. ”I said this was only going to take an hour, and it will only take an hour. And the police won’t get involved. We have established a communication barrier around the building and everyone in the building who aren’t at gunpoint are taking a nap. Besides… I don’t want your money. But what I do want is the password to your computer so I can watch the security camera footage. Or do you want me to call my big friend over and let her convince you some more?”

Luthor ground his teeth together.

”CroesusAC23-1940,” he said. ”Capital ’C’ in Croesus, capital ’AC.’”

The Winter Shadow looked down on the keyboard. Her hands hovered over it, index fingers extended but unmoving.

”Uh…” She tapped a few keys slowly before stopping. ”You know what, I don’t feel like typing, you do it,” she said abruptly.

Luthor raised his eyebrow. So much for being ”really smart.” It took a lot of will for him to not make a biting comment.

He walked around the desk, the Winter Shadow pushing herself and the chair out of the way. She kept her stun gun pointed at him.

Never the one to pass up an opportunity to assert any form of dominance over a person, no matter how tiny and petty, Luthor typed the password in less than two seconds without even looking at the keyboard. He instead examined the device the Winter Shadow had plugged into his computer. It looked like a cheap external hard drive that had been disassembled and glued back together. A small hole had been drilled through the plastic, and a red light pulsed in it.

”I’m assuming that is some kind of remote access tool,” Luthor said.

”Uh… maybe, I dunno,” the Winter Shadow said. ”I don’t really… not that technical,” she mumbled.

Luthor smirked.

”The local LexCorp server is encrypted and locked behind several layers of security. I can disable the security if you wish, but it’ll take a few minutes.” He could also use that to send for help or activate some of the nastier security measures down in the vault.

”No… that won’t be necessary,” the Shadow said. ”She said I only had to plug in the box and type in the password…”

The red light on the box stopped blinking and turned bright green.

Whatever was in that box, it was some serious software. Without any prompting, several windows and folders opened on Luthor’s computer screen all on their own. Folders that were supposed to be secured on LexCorp’s private servers by the tightest security money could buy were laid bare in mere seconds.

The Winter Shadow pulled out a tablet from her robe and started fumbling around with it. Luthor recognized the old tablet as the last model manufactured by Fission Chips before LexCorp assimilated the company following the arrest of the owner. She tapped on something and the CCTV feed appeared on Luthor’s monitor. She made an approving sound. Most likely, the feed from the security cameras had shown up on her tablet as well.

”Welp, we’re done here,” she said and hopped off the chair. ”Grab the chair and let’s get going. Your guests are probably wondering where you are.”

Luthor stood dumbfounded for a moment. Of all things… the chair? Sure, it was a nice enough chair. Handmade, very comfortable, and ergonomic. But out it was also the cheapest thing in the office. It was the second to last thing any robber that somehow made it into the office would take, second only to the large bookshelf. Which was screwed to the wall.

”The… chair?” he asked finally.

”Yes, bring the chair with you,” the Winter Shadow said patiently and waved her gun around. ”I like it. Take it with you.”

”You want me to bring the chair with me… back to the party room?”

”Yes, that is what I just said,” the Winter Shadow. ”It was very simple to understand. You’re not very smart, are you?”

Luthor's eye twitched and he could barely contain his anger. He closed his eyes and counted prime numbers until he calmed down, a trick taught to him by a priest. He got all the way to one hundred and seventy-nine before his fists stopped shaking. With a deep sigh, he grabbed the chair and lifted it awkwardly. It is a well-known fact that there is no unawkward way to carry a chair, especially not a bulky office chair.

The Winter Shadow gestured with her gun for him to lead the way. It wouldn’t do to have him knock her down with the chair and wrestle the gun from her hand.

”Do you really think that you will get away with this?” he asked while shuffling towards the door.

”Yes,” the Winter Shadow said simply.

”You have no idea the kind of enemies you have made here today,” Luthor continued. ”There are powerful men here who won’t take kindly to this. Powerful men who will come after you.”

His threats would’ve been more effective if he was facing his enemy and wasn’t lugging around an unwieldy office chair.

The Winter Shadow snickered.

”Powerful men like you?” she mocked. Her voice suddenly became cold, her every word a dagger in Luthor’s back. ”I have seen people with real power. They were giants. And you… are tiny. Your fortress is a joke and your defenses pitiful. The hardest part of this whole operation was driving the truck here.” She made a frustrated sigh. ”But it’s all like that,” she said, talking more to herself than Luthor now. ”They think me some deranged genius, but nothing I do is difficult… it only requires the will to do so.”

They made it back into the party room. While they were gone, the Shadow’s companions had instructed all the guests to sit down. And so several millionaires and a couple of billionaires sat on the floor like preschoolers ready to recite nursery rhymes.

Another man had joined Luthor’s bodyguard in the unconscious club. A tall and broad-shouldered man with raven black hair was taking an involuntary snooze on the floor.

”That one was acting up,” said one of the turncoat caterers. One of the big ones, with a slight purple sheen to her face. ”Broke a glass and tried to stab me. Well, that didn’t work out too well for him,” she laughed, as if the idea of being stabbed was humorous to her. ”I put him to sleep for a while.”

”Tsk tsk,” the Winter Shadow tutted. ”Dummy.” She gestured at Luthor with her gun and then towards where she wanted the chair put down. He did so and then went to sit down close to his unconscious bodyguard. The bodyguard that, once he woke up, would be fired.

The Shadow hopped back up into the chair.

”I like this chair,” she said. ”It feels like sitting on a throne.” she rubbed her hands together. ”Oh, it does feel wonderful, seeing a good plan unfold neatly like a warm blanket on a cold day.” She snapped her fingers. ”Communicator.”

One of the caterers tossed something that had looked like an ordinary power bank during the body search to the Shadow. She pressed the button and spoke into the USB port.

”Number Four, this is Shadow. Report status.”

”I’m on floor forty-seven,” responded Number Four. ”I’m setting up the charges right now. I’ll be done in about ten minutes or so and then I’m heading up to you.”

”Good,” the Shadow said. ”Number Two, report status.”

Silence.

She repeated the call, but there was still no answer from Number Two.

”Ragn-I mean, Number Two, answer me!” the Shadow said into the communicator, clearly getting frustrated… and maybe a bit nervous as well. Perhaps things weren’t going as according to plan as she initially thought. ”What is your status?”

Number Two never answered.

Then the fire alarm went off.

xxXXxx

Meanwhile…

Connie forced herself to calm down. Panic was only going to make her act irrationally and irrational actions lead to people getting hurt.

She wanted to find her dad, but she hadn’t the faintest clue of where she should even begin to look. He had told her that he would be waiting for her… on the other hand, she remembered he had complained about the night shift guards making him do their rounds sometimes. Maybe he had been on a round that took a little longer.

…and then he was spotted by the robbers and…

Connie shook her head, as if she could physically shake the thoughts from her head.

This was not the time for worrying, this was the time for action. She had to get out of the building and warn the police. Maybe Steven and The Crystal Gems too. Then she could worry about her dad.

She walked over to the sealed entrance. The metal bars slid in front of the glass doors were thick and the gaps were clad with a thinner metal net, almost like a chicken net. The sturdy metal barrier looked clunky and out of place in the fancy and inviting lobby. Then again. it was made for keeping people out… and now to keep them from leaving as well.

A quick examination revealed that the lock on the gate itself wasn’t locked, but the robbers had left a thick chain and padlock to secure it.

Connie unzipped her jacket. Inside was a hidden pocket Pearl had helped her sow into the jacket. The pocket was padded and clad with a fabric that Peridot claimed would hide the contents from any human scans or instruments. Inside the pocket was a sword handle.

”Connie, you really shouldn’t be carrying around weapons everywhere,” Connie muttered to herself, repeating the words Steven had told her. ”Well, sorry Steven, but not all of us have a hundred superpowers. Seriously, I bring a knife to a snowball fight one time, and suddenly it’s an obsession!”

She pressed her thumb to a small pad on the simple sword handle and the tiny scanner read her thumbprint, heartbeat, and brain wave patterns. Once Peridot’s nanocomputer was satisfied that it really was Connie Maheswaran holding the handle, the blade extended.

The sword was a collapsable, lightweight model that Bismuth had made for her, made from seventy-eight percent recycled aluminum. Not the most ideal material to make a blade from, but Bismuth could do things with metal that bordered on magical. It wasn’t as sturdy as one of her regular blades, but it would do in a crisis. Like now.

She swung the blade at the chain without hesitation, as Pearl had taught her. Rather than slicing through the chain as her normal sword would, this one got stuck in the chain and sent a small shockwave into her arms.

A few metal sparks flew and Connie cursed. She examined the blade. Her sharp eyes picked up a small deformity in the blade. There was a larger chunk missing from the chain, but then again, it had a lot more bulk to spare.

She tried to slice through the padlock but was met with similar results. The robbers had invested in some good hardware for this job. She considered trying the gate itself, but by the time she managed to hack her way through, it might be too late. Who’s to say the robbers wouldn’t be back in a few minutes?

Alright, Plan A to call the police didn’t work and Plan B of exiting through the front door didn’t work either. Time for Plan C.

She ran back to where the robbers had come from, the loading bay. It had sounded like they smashed the door in, so it should be open for her. She stopped on her way to check on the security office, but the door was firmly locked. Even if she could get in, there probably wasn’t much she could do. She had no idea how long it would take the ventilation system to decrease the concentration of the sleeping gas to a safe level. It was likely a long time though since a quick whiff of it had nearly knocked her out.

Down the corridor, past a few bathrooms and a staircase, she reached the loading bay. Her hopes were crushed for the third time in almost as many minutes.

The door was welded shut. The steel door had been haphazardly put back in its frame, slightly misaligned and with a large dent in the middle. The rough seam was still hot, though not enough to make the metal pliable.

How in the…? That was some quick hot work. It had been less than a minute between the door getting smashed in and the robbers coming down the corridor. Come to think of it, how had they even managed to force open the door in the first place? It was at least a few centimeters of steel. That must’ve been one heck of a battering ram to tear the door off its hinges like Jasper walks through one of Bismuth’s walls.

Connie took a look around with no luck. The other doors, including the emergency exit, had all been sealed as well. It was strange, it looked like only spots had been melted on the other doors.

If she had examined the security camera in the loading bay or the corridor leading there, she might’ve noticed spots of singed plastic and that the faint electric whir had stopped. As it were, all Connie saw were closed doors. Escape was starting to look very unlikely.

It wasn’t over yet though. She could make her way upstairs and see if she could find a way out on the second floor. Maybe a fire ladder or something. If not, well, she had fallen from higher up and been fine.

…most of those times she had her magical boyfriend to catch her, granted, but still.

Connie made it back again. She had run past a staircase on her way to the loading bay. There were elevators she could take, but it’d probably be faster to run up the stairs.

She was two steps up when a sound behind her made her freeze in place.

One of the bathroom doors opened.

She spun around to find a surprised man. The both of them stood there for a few moments, too dumbfounded to say anything.

”Uh… who are you?” the man finally asked. He was almost painfully average looking and clad in baggy anonymous grey clothes. He held a bag in one hand… and a plastic gun in the other. ”And… wait, is that a real-ass goddamn sword?”

”Y-yes,” Connie said nervously. Was this one of the robbers? What was he doing here? He didn’t have time to go before the job? ”I was, just, um…” She slowly stepped down the stairs.

The man flinched and raised his gun.

”Oh no, you stay right there!” he said.

Connie stayed, not that she had much of a choice. There were five meters between her and the man. By the time she reached him, he could’ve fired at least twice from that gun, and then it’d all be over. She could try to throw her sword at him but throwing swords rarely ever worked.

”Drop the sword,” the man demanded and waved his gun a little.

Connie did as told and dropped the sword. It fell to the floor with a clang. She raised her hands, the universal sign for ”I’m unarmed, please don’t shoot me.”

”Kick it away,” the man continued.

She kicked the swords toward him, hoping he’d lean down to grab it and lose focus on her. He flinched when the blade bumped into his shoe, as if the sword was a snake that might jump up and bite him. Yet he kept his gun steadily pointed at her.

”Alright, good,” he said and paused for a moment to collect himself. By the looks of it, he was as surprised at this as she was. ”Now… put your hand behind your back, I’m gonna handcuff you,” he said.

Connie put her hands behind her back. The man started approaching slowly. A half-baked idea for a plan formed in Connie’s brain. She subtly bent her knees and moved her feet, getting into stance.

As the man got closer, he glanced at the bag he was carrying. The moment of distraction was all Connie needed.

She kicked his outstretched hand, knocking the gun from his hand. The gun sent out a blast of electricity that hit the wall with a sizzling sound. The man yelped with a mixture of surprise and pain. He reeled backward.

Connie stumbled too. Of course, the one day she decided to wear a pair of jeans, she just had to go and perform a high kick. The restrictive clothing threw off her balance. Pearl would be ashamed of her horrible stance.

That single moment of imbalance meant that the man recovered at the same time as Connie. He lunged forward, trying to punch her in the face. Connie sidestepped him, grabbed his arm, and used his own momentum to throw him forward. She tripped him and he fell, hitting his head on the banister.

He collapsed with a loud groan. He struggled for a few seconds to remain conscious and get back to his feet, but Connie made sure he didn’t with a quick jab to a nerve cluster in his neck. She had her mom to thank for that particular piece of anatomy trivia. The man moaned but didn’t get back up.

Connie let out a sigh of relief.

”Lesson learned,” she mumbled. ”No high kicks in jeans.” She got down on her knees and checked the man’s vital signs. His breathing and heartbeat seemed fine, a little heightened, but that was to be expected. ”Or better yet, no jeans.” She made a mental note to get rid of all her jeans and replace them with pants that didn’t hinder her movements as much.

She grabbed her sword and then examined the bag he had been carrying. A pair of handcuffs had fallen out. The rest appeared to be clothing.

The man stirred, so Connie grabbed him and dragged him back to the bathroom. She took the handcuffs and locked him to the basin pipe. There. Now he wouldn’t cause any more problems. Once he woke up, she might be able to ask him some questions.

She patted him down and emptied out his pockets. She found a can of pepper spray, a power bank (no phone though), and a name tag. The name tag read ”Ragnar D’Shonour” and identified him as a security guard. And wouldn’t you know it, in the bag was a discarded security guard uniform.

It seemed like Ragnor D’Shonour was a traitor, a dishonor to the noble trade of security guarding. Although…

Connie held up the name tag and squinted at the small picture. It was hard to make out any exact details, but… his face looked slightly different. Was he wearing some kind of mask? She supposed it made sense if he didn’t want to be recognized.

She was distracted from that train of thought and from taking a closer look at his face when the power bank suddenly started talking.

”Number Four, this is Shadow. Report status.”

Connie jumped up on her feet, reflexively grabbing her sword and getting into her combat stance. The sudden sound of the boss’ shrill voice had spooked her. But no, she was still alone with the unconscious man.

”I’m on floor forty-seven,” another voice said. Connie recognized it as one with the sleeping gas. She curiously examined the power bank. It looked normal enough. A USB port, another port for charging the bank itself. Four indicator lights and a button to trigger the lights. And yet it was talking. It must be some kind of radio or something disguised as a power bank. ”I’m setting up the charges right now. I’ll be done in ten minutes or so and then I’m heading up to you.”

Oh now, this was interesting. This ”Number Four” was on floor forty-seven, setting up charges. Presumably the explosive kind. Once she was done, she’d join the others, most likely on floor fifty. Which meant there was another member of the gang alone.

”Good,” the boss said. ”Number Two, report status.”

The communicator remained silent for a few seconds before the boss repeated the message. It dawned on Connie that Number Two might be the man she just knocked unconscious.

She bit her lip. At this point, Plan A to call the police had failed. Plan B to flee through the front door had been thwarted. Plan C to escape the same way the robbers came from was smashed to bits. Plan D to jump from a window on the second floor was looking more and more like a bad idea as time went on. That left Plan E: Direct confrontation.

There was at least one member of the gang on floor forty-seven setting up some kind of bomb. From the sounds of it, she was alone and vulnerable.

The boss called once again. This time, she was sounding frustrated.

”Ragn-I mean, Number Two, answer me! What is your status?”

”Oh what the heck…” Connie muttered and quickly took off her jacket. She was already sweating bullets and it’s not like the winter clothes would provide any extra defense. She gathered all the useful stuff. The pepper spray, the name tag, the communicator, and her sword.

Lastly, she picked up the man’s gun from the floor. It was some kind of electric gun that she’d never heard of. Then again, her interest in weaponry only extended to things that you could stab or slash with. She fiddled around with it for a few seconds until she found the safe and then shoved her in her now overfilled pockets. It jutted out at an awkward angle and threatened to fall out.

”Also, new pants should preferably have bigger pockets,” she mumbled to herself.

She set off for one of the elevators she had seen earlier. She knew the name tag would let her into the express elevator, but she had a hunch the robbers might be looking at that one. It was only a matter of time before they realized something was wrong. Connie had to get to the person on floor forty-seven and incapacitate her before she could deal with the rest of the gang. Exactly how she was gonna go about that, she wasn’t sure, but she had to try damn it! Right now, she was the only one who could do anything.

As you know, that wasn’t entirely true. Connie became acutely aware of this when the fire alarm suddenly started ringing.

xxXXxx

At the same time…

Doug was racking his brain, trying to figure out what to do. On one side, him. Middle-aged security guard a few years past his prime, armed with a can of pepper spray and a pair of handcuffs. On the other side, at least three, if not more armed robbers.

He looked around the kitchen while he thought. A few jackets the turncoat caterers had worn hung on a coat rack by the door. A few paper boxes laid abandoned on the countertop with a few of those mini sandwiches. Doug took one. Might as well, what were they gonna do about it? Accuse him of stealing? Call the police?

It tasted like black pudding and mayonnaise. With sprinkles on top.

Doug took another one.

”Not bad,” he mumbled. ”Probably not worth the price though.”

He considered his options. He could simply stay where he was, hide and wait until it was all over. Few people would blame him for it.

No.

No, no, no.

He couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. He had to at least try something!

The deciding factor was Connie. If there was even the smallest chance that she was somewhere in the building and that she was in danger, then he had to do something, or he’d never forgive himself.

”But what to do though…?” asked himself. His eyes wandered all over the kitchen, not really expecting to find anything of use, but then he noticed something on the wall.

The robbers had somehow blocked cellphones and radios.

What about the fire alarm?

A small sign next to the box informed him that the fire alarm would inform the fire and police department. It also said that triggering the alarm in anything but an emergency would result in a fine and possibly firing.

Doug pressed the button.

xxXXxx

Doug’s idea was decent enough; the fire alarm would indeed notify the local fire department as well as the police. However, you’ll recall that the LexCorp Tower was built with new smart technology and 5G network in mind. The building didn’t have a landline to the fire department, it was all wireless. And all conventional wireless communication in and out of the building had been disabled by the gems’ communication barrier. This meant that the fire department, and by extension, police, would remain unaware that something was wrong for a little while longer.

It did do a pretty good job at frightening the thieves though.

A sudden loud ringing made everyone in the party room jerk or jump a little.

Navy had the most animated reaction. She shrieked and nearly tossed her tablet into the air as she jumped in her chair.

”Gah! ” she yelled over the noise. ”What is that!?”

”It’s some kind of alarm,” Amy said nervously. The sound reminded her of the alarms from the combat drills the Agate back on the mining colonies used to make them do. ”Are we under attack?” She glanced out the windows but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

”I think it’s the fire alarm,” Charlie said.

”Fire? There’s a fire?” Navy said confused and looked around as if she might’ve missed some flames between the guests or something. Or maybe she thought she had accidentally triggered it. She was a fiery little rock after all.

”Shut it off!” she screamed and all but threw the tablet at Charlie. She took it and hesitantly tapped on the notification that had popped up on the screen. It took her about thirty seconds to find the off-switch.

”There,” she said when the alarm finally stopped screaming at them. She handed the tablet back to Navy. ”Um… I think… it says here that the alarm was triggered manually.”

Navy was silent for a few seconds as the cogs turned in her head.

She cursed violently. Well, violently by gem standards. To all the guests who were not familiar with gem curses, it sounded more like she was a really angry geologist trying not to swear in front of her children by instead angrily reciting geological jargon.

”No! No, no, no!” She stamped on the chair with every word. A smell of burnt fabric came from her, threatening to trigger the fire alarm for real this time. ”This is bad! This is really bad!”

”Why, is there really a fire?” Amy asked. ”Maybe we can put it out before it spreads too far-”

”No!” Navy screamed. She sat back down and started furiously flipping through camera feeds on the tablet. ”Think! It was triggered manually! By someone! Someone who’s not in this room!”

Amy thought about it and the implications became clearer.

”But if it’s not someone in this room…” she said slowly. ”And if there really isn’t a fire…”

”…then it’s someone who knows about us and is trying to call the police,” Charlie concluded. She was looking pale, even through the mask she was wearing.

”Yes!” Navy spat. ”Call Number Two,” she barked at Charlie. She then started mumbling to herself while looking at the tablet. ”Someone saw us… we missed them… where…?”

”Number Two still isn’t answering,” Charlie said, getting really worried now. This wasn’t as much fun when the plan was falling apart all of the sudden. ”Do you think…?”

Navy didn’t answer. She grabbed her own communicator.

”Number Four, do you hear me?”

”Yes boss, what is it?” Fire Opal asked, unaware of the crisis going on only three floors above her. ”Did you trigger that alarm?”

”No, there’s someone else in the building,” Navy said. ”Potentially hostile. Number Two isn’t answering his calls. I’m looking for them on the security cameras right now. I need you to go after them.”

”M-me?” Fire Opal asked nervously.

”Yes, you,” Navy said. ”Who did you think I was talking about? Number Two? The guy who’s missing in action?”

”N-no,” Fire Opal stammered. ”It’s just that, I, ah… I don’t really deal well with violence, so…”

”Then you better get good at dealing with it, or I’ll show you how well I deal a violence. On your face!” Navy hissed through gritted teeth. She dropped the communicator and rubbed the sides of her head while taking deep breaths. The air around her heated slightly as she literally boiled under her hood.

It seemed she calmed down a little after that because she was a lot calmer when she grabbed the communicator again.

”Sorry, that was unprofessional of me,” she said. ”Number Four, stay where you are. ”I’m sending Number One down to assist you.” She snapped at Charlie. ”Get down and help her. Once she’s finished, come back up here. Use the express elevator.”

Charlie nodded and did as told.

Navy continued flipping through cameras, looking for the one throwing a wrench into her plans.

”There!” she cried finally. ”I found you!” She turned to J. ”Our uninvited guest is in the kitchen downstairs. Go get him!”

J nodded and lumbered away. Navy turned to the guests.

”And as for you…” she said. ”If you think you have a chance to escape or rush us now… don’t.” She held up her and spat a large fireball into it. The flames danced on her unprotected hand. ”Or I’ll show you a real fire!”

xxXXxx

Connie stepped out of the elevator on the forty-sixth floor and immediately beelined it for the stairwell. She was in even more of a hurry now than she already was before. By now, they must’ve figured out something had happened to Ragnar. Even if they hadn’t, they most certainly figured out something was wrong when the fire alarm went off.

The alarm had started suddenly, nearly scaring the life right out of her. It also made the elevator stop at the nearest floor. Connie had taken about thirty seconds to consider her next move as she was only about halfway up the tower. Just as she was about to bite the sour apple and take the stairs the rest of the way up, the fire alarm stopped ringing as suddenly as it started. The elevator was back online again and carried her the rest of the way.

She spent the rest of the traveling time thinking.

The fire alarm going off meant one of three things. The first possibility was that there really was a fire. And that was about in line with her luck today, so she wouldn’t be too surprised. But then, would the alarm just stop like that?

The second possibility was that one of the guests had managed to press the alarm to try and call for help. Slightly more likely.

The third one was that her dad had triggered it. That he had somehow figured out what was going on and managed to evade capture. And now he was calling for help.

The thought made Connie run a bit faster, taking two steps at once. She had to take the stairs for the last bit since she didn’t want to risk Number Two hearing the elevator chime when it arrived at its destination.

The communicator stuffed in her pocket sparked to life. An unknown voice called for Ragnar, nicknamed Number Two. Soon after that, the boss with the shrill voice started yelling at Number Four. It confirmed what she feared. They knew she was somewhere in the tower. The boss was telling Number Four to go looking for her, but Number Four was hesitant.

With no time to lose, Connie threw the communicator on the floor next to the door. The element of surprise didn’t mean much if the enemy could hear you coming.

She pushed open the door and it barely made a sound at all. Just like her dad had told her. She peeked through the gap and saw that no one was there. She snuck into the empty corridor. A faint sound was coming from a bit further down. The boss’s piercing voice on Number Four’s communicator, Connie guessed. She couldn’t make out what she said.

The corridor was lined with doors leading into offices, conference rooms, and a small server room. The Fission Chips logo hung beneath the (bigger) LexCorp logo on the doors. Each of them was locked with a keypad, not that it had impeded the robbers.

It was an absolute nightmare scenario. Flanked on both sides with open doorways leading to dark rooms with deep shadows that could hide who knows how many enemies.

The sound of the boss on the communicator stopped and Connie knew she had to hurry.

She tiptoed (a very hard thing to do in winter boots) down the corridor, towards the source of the noise. The plaque next to the door helpfully informed her that it was a laboratory belonging to a Dr. Pearson. She stood at the side of the door and glanced inside, fully expecting a gun to be pointing at her face.

Doctor Pearson’s laboratory was a large, clinical room, with shiny stainless steel workbenches, and tools neatly arranged on racks and in lockers. The wall to the far left was lined with locked cabinets. To the right stood a wooden desk with a computer and a few personal effects on it. Notably, a framed Nobel price on the wall. The laboratory had large windows (actually bulletproof one-way mirrors) to the outside showing Empire City’s impressive skyline.

A figure was kneeling by the window. The robber called Number Four. She was mumbling to herself and was visibly shaking. Connie recalled her saying something about being uncomfortable with violence. Putting unaware security guards to sleep with gas though? That she was fine with.

The figure took something from a large plastic bag she was carrying and placed it on the floor. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but it looked like a bottle of something. A few more were lined up along the long window.

Connie snuck up behind her. Five meters. She briefly considered the gun, since it had a bit longer reach than her sword, but she decided against it. For one thing, she had no idea how it worked or if she risked killing the robber. Secondly, she had never fired a gun before and wasn’t confident in her aim. Better stick with the sword. She just had to get close. Three meters now… two…

Number Four grabbed her communicator.

”Alright, the last charge is set up,” she said. ”I’m coming up now.”

Number Four suddenly stood up, sensing something was wrong. She spun around… only to be met by Connie holding a sword to her throat.

”Agh!” Number Four yelped and took a step back. The sudden motion caused her scarf to fall down a little, exposing some of her skin. Her very bright yellow skin and locks of rainbow hair sticking out from under the hat.

Connie’s eyes widened in surprise.

”Wait a minute, you’re…”

xxXXxx

Doug was trying to figure out what to do next when the fire alarm suddenly stopped ringing. Which wasn’t a good sign.

”Think,” he urged himself. ”What would I do if I was a criminal?”

Well… after he shut off the alarm, he’d call the fire station and say it was a false alarm. That was, if he could call someone. It was possible that if he couldn’t, then the robbers couldn’t call anyone on the outside either. If so… then he’d someone down to the lobby to pretend to be a guard and tell the fire department it was a false alarm when they arrived.

Which meant… he’d have to get there first.

He ran toward the express elevator… only to see it was already moving.

Doug cursed. They were already on their way down!

Maybe… if he took the stairs…

No luck there either, sadly. As soon as got close, the door to the stairwell slammed open and an absolutely massive brute stood there.

”And what have we got here?” she said with a rumbling voice. ”Causing trouble, are we?”

She was over two meters taller, almost too broad to fit through the door and her face was painted black and…. orange?

”W-wait a minute,” Doug stammered. ”You’re… a gem!?"

Chapter Text

Lamp Entertainment presents…

Chapter 4: Escalation

23:rd December 2021

18:34

Ragnar was slowly coming to again. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying very uncomfortably, the bed was hard and his pillow missing. In his half-conscious state, he tried to turn around and go back to sleep, but he was stuck somewhere. As the process of waking up continued, he became aware of a throbbing pain in his head. Throbbing, beating, pulsating like someone hammering on his skull from the inside. Also, his shoulders were stiff.

He forced his eyes open and blinked away the tears. He could now see where he was and it was not in his bed or even on the floor in his apartment bedroom. Instead, he was lying on the floor in one of the bathrooms in the LexCorp Tower, handcuffed to the basin pipe.

His memories returned to him in a flash, like the lights turn on when you flick the switch.

This was the night of The Job. Everything was going according to plan until this girl with a real-ass goddamn sword showed up out of nowhere. She had thrown him into the wall or something… it was still a bit unclear exactly what happened in those last few seconds. Though evidently, after she was done bashing his head in, she cuffed him to the pipe and ran off to cause more problems.

Ragnar tried to sit up, but it was hard with how he was cuffed. He felt around in his pocket, but the communicator was gone. The girl must have taken it with her. Smart. She could listen in on the others and Ragnar couldn’t warn them. He didn’t doubt that J or Amy could take a single human in a fight if it came to that, but she could still cause a lot of trouble and get people hurt. Like J had said, he, Charlie, and Rocky were not bulletproof. Or swordproof for that matter. Plus, the girl was obviously some kind of maniac. What kind of person runs around with a real-ass goddamn sword?

For once, Ragnar actually had a bit of luck on his side as the girl made the mistake of leaving one of his arms free. Had she cuffed both of his hands around the pipe he wouldn’t be able to reach his leg. For you see, hidden in one of his socks was a single paperclip.

The piece of office equipment may not look like much to the world, but it made for a surprisingly effective pick for simple locks, like the ones found on most handcuffs. Ragnar kept on on him at all times, mostly for party tricks but now it would finally be useful.

He bent and bit the paperclip until he got it into the right shape. After a few seconds of poking around in the lock mechanism on the cuffs and he was free.

He stood up on weak legs and had to grab the sink to steady himself while his heart got the blood pumping properly again.

Now he just had to find the others and warn them about the maniac with the sword. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too late.

xxXXxx

Meanwhile…

”You’re a gem!” Doug exclaimed. Indeed, there could be no mistaking the giant orange brute in front of him as anything other than a gem. She looked almost identical to that grumpy Jasper Connie had pointed out during a visit to Little Homeworld. Although this one had more makeup and less horns.

The gem frowned.

”How do you know that?” she asked and leaned forward enough to look into his eyes.

Doug gulped nervously and took a few steps back. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to reveal he knew that. Oh well, if he was already in the hole he might as well keep digging.

”My daughter’s best friend is Steven Universe,” he said.

The gem’s eyes widened at that name and she actually flinched. Her gaze darted around for a second, searching the shadows as if Steven might be hiding there.

”Oh…” she said. ”That… makes things more complicated.”

”Y-yes it does,” Doug said and inched a few centimeters further away. ”Cause I’ve already called Steven and he’s on his way with the Crystal Gems to arrest you and uh… bring you to the space police or something.

The Jasper considered this.

”No…” she said finally. ”If you could contact Steven Universe, you wouldn’t have triggered the fire alarm. You’re on your own.” She cracked her knuckles and suddenly looked a lot angrier. ”Now…”

She lashed out, moving a lot more swiftly than you’d expect from someone of that size. She snatched up Doug like a kitten by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him into the air.

”…you’re gonna tell me what you’ve done with Ragnar,” she growled in his face. An actual growl. The face paint to make her look like a tiger wasn’t just for show it seemed.

”R-Ragnar?” Doug stammered. The new guy who was always late? What did he have to do with anything? ”W-what?”

”Don’t play dumb!” the Jasper yelled and shook him like he was little more than a doll. ”Ragnar isn’t answering his communicator! You did something to him! Where is he!?”

”I-I don’t know!” Doug yelled back. ”I had no idea he was involved in any of this! I’ve been up here the entire time!”

The large gem stared into his eyes and must have seen he was telling the truth, because she calmed down a little. Not enough to let him go, sadly.

”But then why…” she mumbled to herself. ”Unless… if there something else happened…” Her eyes flickered to the side as she fumbled with the communicator in her pocket.

It seemed like she had come to the same conclusion as Doug had; there was someone else unaccounted for in the building that had done something to Ragnar. And that someone was most likely Connie.

Doug used the distraction to grab the can of pepper spray from his belt. He knew his fists would be about as useful against the warrior gem as a bow and arrow against a tank. He had to get away quickly before the Jasper was able to radio the other robbers.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

”Wait, what are yo-`”

He emptied the can’s contents directly into her eyes. The Jasper recoiled and blinked with confusion in a short moment that seemed to take an eternity. Then she howled with pain as the potent potion of aerosolized capsaicin ate away at her sensitive eyes. She dropped both her communicator and Doug, who landed on unsteady feet. She brought both her hands to her face to try and wipe the irritant from her eyes.

That big a dose of pepper spray directly to the eyes would be enough to keep most grown men down for a few minutes, but Doug could sense that he only had a few seconds before the much sturdier gem recovered. He had to run or hide. Or run and hide, that worked too.

The stairwell wasn't an option, she’d catch up to him in no time. And according to what Connie had told him, the Jasper with the horns walked though buildings if she didn’t feel like walking around them. So trying to lock himself inside a room was right out as well.

He bolted over to the express elevator, wasting valuable seconds trying to scan his ID card to call for the elevator, but even the most express of elevators money could buy weren’t fast enough.

”You bastard!” the Jasper yelled, using one of the human curses she had learned from TV. ”That hurt!” She came running for Doug like a very angry freight train.

Doug yelped and ran for the only open door in sight, the kitchen door.

”Don’t think you’ll get away,” the gem grumbled as she squeezed through the door. She muttered something about humans and their tiny doors.

Doug realized a little too late that there’d be no escape through the kitchen. It was a dead end, the only door now blocked by a gem roughly three times his size. He spun around, searching for a weapon to defend himself with.

He grabbed a large cast iron pan with both hands. With a grunt, he slammed it as hard as he could right into the gems head.

She didn’t even flinch and just snatched the frying pan from his hands and crumpled it up like so much tinfoil.

Next, Doug grabbed a finely sharpened knife. With a yell, he stabbed it the alien in the chest, to little effect. The knife just bounced off her thick skin.

”Ow,” the Jasper said with the same monotone voice Dough might use if he accidentally pricked himself on a little too sharp pen.

She roughly shoved him away. Barely a love tap by her standards, but enough to send him stumbling into a counter, hitting his back against it. He nearly lost his balance and had to grab the countertop to keep from falling.

The knife clattered to the floor and the Jasper crushed it under her heavy boot for good measure.

”You’ve got some spirit, I’ll give you that,” she said with the smallest modicum of respect evident in her voice. ”Unlike those cowards upstairs who’ve never had to fight for anything in their lives. Only one of them had the stones to even try and fight back. Not that it did him much good.” She spat on the floor, her saliva colored a faint yellow from some of the pepper spray that had gotten in her mouth. Mr. Luthor’s private chef would’ve had a heart attack if he saw the way his poor kitchen was being treated. ”That said, if you know as much about us gems as you say you do, then you know there’s no way you’re gonna defeat me. You can’t even hurt me.”

”I dunno,” Doug said. ”I have been told my brownies are to die for.” He tentatively felt around the counter for something, anything to defend himself with. His eyes flickered to the side and he spotted a bottle of something that looked like it might work. ”We’re in a kitchen, so if you give like… an hour?”

The gem looked unamused.

”…forty minutes, tops, I promise.”

”I don’t have time to play around anymore,” she said and leaned down to look Doug square in the eyes again. Her own orbs were still red and running from the spray. ”And you’ve already got me in a bad mood.”

Doug smashed a bottle of chili sauce in her face. The glass bottle shattered on her forehead and red hot sauce spilled into her eyes.

If she had read the label, she’d know this was Super Ghost Reaper Mega Murder Death Fire Lava Sauce, the hottest chili sauce on the planet. It was actually gaining a bit of popularity in Little Homeworld, particularly among Rubies. Some of them would chug entire bottles of the stuff in front of horrified onlookers to establish dominance over taller gems. Cue then Bismuth, who’d scoff and say she could do that too. You know, if she wanted to.

As things were, the gem didn’t have time to read the label. She was busy reeling in pain.

The Jasper let out a shrill shriek that would’ve made her the laughingstock among all the other Jaspers back on Homeworld for the next century if they heard it . She clawed at her face which only made things worse when she accidentally rubbed a small glass shard into her left eye. When she blinked, it got stuck, lodged between her eye and eyelid, causing even more pain.

She was even angrier now! She thrashed violently, obliterating a cabinet of precious white porcelain.

”You just had to keep digging the hole deeper, huh?” Doug muttered to himself. He grabbed a flask of olive oil and smashed it on the floor just as the Jasper lunged for him.

The large gem slipped on the puddle of oil and careened into a large gas stove.

”Enough!” she screamed and brought her fists down on the innocent stove, smashing it to scrap metal. She stood up, skidding a little on her boots still slathered in olive oil. She blinked, just barely able to keep her right eye open. ”Surrender now before I-urgh!”

Doug interrupted her threats with a spray of cold water from a hose over by the dishwasher.

”Oh, I’m sorry, let me help you wash that off,” Doug said

The Jasper spat and sputtered, her curses drowned out by the cold high-pressure water hitting her in the face. She roared and charged forward.

Doug dove out of the way with a terrified cry. The giant warrior gem’s fist collided with the wall, breaking through it like it was made of paper. Her entire forearm was buried in the wall… right among some high-voltage electrical wires.

White hot electric sparks flew from the hole as energy coursed through her arm. Small lightning bolts arched over her body like glowing snakes sinking their fangs into her skin. Her body rippled, flickered, and glitched like a broken graphical asset in a video game. She screamed, her voice turning into a disturbing echo of electric distortion.

Doug let out a sigh of relief. It looked like she was paralyzed for the moment.

His respite didn’t last for long though. When he took a deep breath, he noticed a smell in the air. A pungent stench of rotting vegetation.

The gas stove the Jasper smashed was hissing angrily. And the gem was sparking like fireworks.

You know the saying about going from the frying pan into the fire?

Yeah.

Doug turned around, looking for cover. The door was too far away and he’d have to run right through the gas cloud. He could hide behind the counter, but that might not be enough. So the walk-in cooler it was.

He heaved open the massive door and squeezed in. He didn’t even have time to fully close the door before a trail of combustible gas reached the sparking gem and ignited.

KA-BOOM!

The force of the explosion slammed the door shut and sent Doug flying into a shelf. He collapsed on the floor while fresh vegetables rained down on him.

The loud sound left him temporarily deaf, but he still felt the need to make some clever quip.

”I’m beginning to think this is above my pay grade,” he mumbled.

xxXXxx

At the same time…

Navy was having a lot of fun watching the events unfolding in the kitchen. She oohed and cooed at every twist and turn. Everyone in the room, enemy and ally alike wanted to ask her what was going on, but no one dared to.

This was all very entertaining to Navy and why shouldn’t it be? Sure, it hurt her that her pride perfect plan had been made less perfect by some security guard who was not supposed to be there, but so what? J was a gem warrior and more than capable of handling some leftover guard. That made watching his attempts to fight back hilarious in their uselessness. Once J stopped fooling around and got serious there’d be nothing he could do against her. Even if he did knock out Ragnar.

Although… now that she thought about it…

Ragnar was supposed to put on his mask, change out of his uniform and then head up to help Fire Opal. He had been instructed to call when he was in the elevator. Since he hadn’t done that, it must mean the security guard had gotten to him before that. But… if that was the case, what was he doing up on floor forty-nine?

Navy tapped around experimentally on the tablet. She found human technology unintuitive and obtuse, their languages meandering and complicated. Doc had made this program herself though, so it was a lot closer to standard gem tech. After a little while of poking around, Navy figured out how to minimize the window showing the camera feed from the kitchen. She kept an eye on that one while scrolling through the feeds from floor forty-seven.

She swiped through feeds, most of them useless in the dark. She found Charlie walking around the dim corridors searching for Fire Opal. A few seconds later, Navy found Fire Opal too… as well as a human holding a sword to her throat.

Navy’s eyes widened.

”There’s another one!?”

xxXXxx

Concurrently…

”You’re a gem!” Connie exclaimed, hardly able to believe the words she was saying even as they passed over her lips. Yet the indisputable truth was that right before her stood a gem in disguise.

”No I’m not!” Number Four said quickly before she had time to come up with a better lie. ”Or, uh… I mean… I have no idea what you’re talking about!” She raised her arm to correct her scarf, but Connie slapped her hand away with the flat of her sword. ”I, um… have a skin condition?”

”You’re a gem,” Connie said more confidently this time. ”A polymorphic sentient rock. A child of the light. Your kind came to Earth six thousand years ago lead by Pink Diamond of the Diamond Authority, who later became Rose Quartz and founded the Crystal Gems to defend the Earth against extraterrestrial threats. Do I need to go on?”

Number Four’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

”How’d you know all that?” she asked, stupefied by this strange human that appeared out of nowhere and knew all their secrets.

Connie smiled.

”Steven Universe is my boyfriend,” she said.

”Oh. Ooooooh…” Number Four said slowly as the realization of what those words meant exactly fully hit her. She became a few shades paler, going from sunset orange to dandelion yellow. It looked a little funny but Connie didn’t have time to have fun right now. The fact that gems were involved in this robbery made an already complex situation positively convoluted. What was this gem doing here, robbing a human skyscraper? And if there was one gem involved, then did that mean…?

”Of course,” Connie muttered. The big guy down in the lobby wasn’t just as tall as a Jasper; she was a Jasper. And their leader? Wasn’t there a certain someone Connie knew with a shrill voice who had recently been busted out of jail and had a penchant for complicated plans set around Christmas? It was obvious, really. ”Your leader is Navy the Winter Shadow, isn’t it?”

”Yeah,” Number Four mumbled. While Connie was thinking, she had tried to figure out a way out of this situation. Her eyes wandered around the laboratory, which had tons of useful stuff, but all of it was locked away in cabinets or drawers. Her stun gun was stuffed deep in her coat pocket, no way she’d get that out before Connie put a blade through her. She glanced at the charge she had just placed. It was a simple, hastily cobbled-together explosive she had made in Ragnar’s kitchen using a plastic bottle.

Connie caught her looking down.

”Hey! Step away from the bomb!” she commanded and pressed the blade a little harder against the gem’s throat. She could afford to be a little rougher with her than she could with a human, on account of the fact that gems don’t die when you stab them.

”Y-you -know, I-I really don’t like that word,” Number Four stammered and shuffled a few steps away. ”A bomb is something you use on people. This is an explosive charge. Really, it’s not even that dangerous, it’s just here to make some noise and smoke while we escape and I’m just giving away our entire plan right now, aren’t I?”

”No, no, keep talking,” Connie said. ”I want you tell me everything. Who you are, what you want and what your plan is.”

Number Four shivered and for a moment, her eyes flickered to the door before she adopted a more steely expression.

”No!” she said loudly even as she shivered. ”I won’t betray my friends!”

Connie frowned.

”You’re friends with Navy?”

”No, we just broke her out of prison to help us make the pla-” Number Four slammed both of her hands over her mouth to stop  herself form talking.

”Keep going,” Connie urged and prodded away the gem’s hands with her sword. ”If you don’t do as I say then I’m gonna have to poof you. So let’s go over the basics. Who are you? I’m not sure what kind of gem you’re supposed to be.”

”F-fine,” the gem said. Her eyes darted around, looking at the open door behind Connie again. She probably considered her chances of escaping and wisely made the right decision of not even bothering to try. ”I’m a Fire Opal, but my friends call me Fire Opal,” the gem named Fire Opal said. ”I’m an explosives expert. I used to work with demolition and mining.” She kept glancing at the door with every other word.

At this point, Connie realized something was going on. She looked at the window behind Fire Opal and at their reflections. They were faint, but she could make out the rough rectangular shape of the door… and something moving.

Connie spun around, just as the second robber that had snuck up on them pulled the trigger. The electric bolt flew past Connie with only a few centimeters to spare. It hit Fire Opal, who shrieked in shock. A few yellow lines beneath her skin lit up for a brief moment, though her physical form remained intact.

Connie ducked for cover, diving behind a large workbench in stainless steel. A locked tool cabinet provided adequate protection from enemy fire, for the moment. She snuck a quick peek, only half a second, but enough to get a better look at the newest assailant. She was a human woman, average height and build, shoulder length blonde hair. Based on her clothes, Connie guessed she was supposed to be doing catering right now.

More electric bolts came flying her way, and she ducked back down again.

”C-Charlie!” Fire Opal yelled and dashed over to her fellow robber. She grabbed her by the shoulders. ”She knows!”

”What?” the new robber, Charlie said, confused. ”Knows what? And don’t use my name!”

Connie used the brief moment of distraction to pull out the gun she took from Ragnar down in the lobby. She fiddled with the safety for what felt like an eternity even though it was less than a second.

”Nono, she knows!” Fire Opal said, talking too fast for Charlie to understand. ”She-she’s-!”

Connie popped up from behind the bench and opened fire. The first two bolts hit the doorframe, singing the wall and producing a bunch of sparks.

The third managed to hit the roughly two-centimeter wide gap between Fire Opal and Charlie. At that point, Charlie yelled in surprise and stumbled backward. Fire Opal was still holding on to her, which threw her off balance and she fell over.

The fourth bolt hit Fire Opal. She screamed as the lightning lit up her skin again and she froze briefly.

”R-run!” she managed to hiss to Charlie. ”T-tell the oth-”

Connie shot her again and grabbed her sword with her left hand. Charlie was struggling back up on her feet. Connie shot at her, letting loose bolt after bolt after bolt. The human shrieked and was forced to take cover behind a door.

Connie jumped over the workbench and rushed forward. She drove her sword through Fire Opal’s back. The gem let out one more yell of pain before she poofed into a large cloud of smoke.

”NO!” Charlie yelled. She fumbled with her gun, but Connie was faster. She dove forward, slapped away Charlie’s gun hand with her sword hand and pressed the gun against Charlie’s chest.

”Don’t move,” Connie growled. ”Drop your gun.”

Charlie looked into Connie’s eyes through her thick glasses, a steely will evident behind the fear and confusion.

”You’ll regret that,” she hissed.

What was supposed to happen then was that Connie would use her sword to disarm Charlie before either restraining or knocking her out. She wasn’t planning on actually using the gun since she still wasn’t sure just what effect one of those bolts would have on a human. Fire Opal had been fine, sure, but gems were built different from humans.

However, that’s not what came to pass. For you see, it was at that exact moment the kitchen on the floor above exploded.

BOOM!

There was a loud, thunderous roar and the building shook as if there was an earthquake. Connie reeled backward, a combination of surprise and the shaking floor throwing her off balance.

Charlie was taken by surprise too, but she recovered faster by just a fraction of a second. She raised her gun again and fired, Connie just barely able to dodge by throwing herself to the floor, back inside the laboratory.

Connie rolled and took cover beside the doorframe before Charlie could blast her.

Weighing her chances, Charlie took the option that was less likely to net her a cut-off hand and booked it out of there.

Connie heard the running footsteps and cursed to herself. She could not let Charlie escape! She would undoubtedly warn the others and at this point, the element of surprise was the only thing Connie had on her side.

She followed the fading footsteps through the winding dark corridors, narrowly avoiding crashing into doors that Fire Opal had left open. She was more athletic than Charlie by a fairly wide margin. Let’s just say Charlie didn’t choose a life of crime because she enjoyed the exercise. Connie would easily catch up to the fleeing crook.

Charlie could sense that fact. Finely tuned instincts deep down in her brain honed by evolution over millions of years told her that. They told her the dangerous predator would catch up to her any second now.

The communicator she had stuffed in her breast pocket sparked to life, Navy’s voice coming through it.

”Number One!” she yelled. Her voice was panicky, but still commanding. ”The next room to your left!”

Connie heard Navy shouting something to Charlie on a communicator, but she couldn’t make out what it was she was saying over the sound of her own breaths. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good news. So Connie put more coal on the fire inside her and pushed her body harder. She had to catch Charlie!

The thief took a hard left, very nearly loosing her foothold and falling over. She ran into another room.

Connie slowed down, coming almost to a complete stop. She had to be careful, this’d be a perfect opportunity to set up an ambush.

She pressed herself up against the wall and peeked inside the room. As with everything else, it was dark and hard to make out much of anything, only some light spilling in from a few small windows to illuminate the room. She saw what looked like a small server room with a couple of desks and chairs.

She was still panting heavily from the sprint, but she forced herself to hold her breath for a few seconds, listening for any activity inside the room. She heard Navy talking, her voice hushed but talking rapidly about something she still couldn’t make out. She had a hard time pinpointing exactly where the sound was coming from, but it was not immediately inside the room.

With that, Connie snuck inside the room. It was a lot bigger than she had first expected. In fact, it was actually two rooms that had been connected during the construction process with a slightly narrower passage between them. The part that Connie was currently in held several servers, computer desks and chairs. But no Charlie.

Following the sound of Navy’s voice, Connie deduced she must’ve ran into the second part of the room, so she approached carefully, wary of any traps.

She once again pressed herself against the wall and checked around the corner. This room was even darker, without any windows to let in light from outside. She saw something move at the other side of the room though, the white blob of Charlie’s shirt making her slightly more visible. Her position was confirmed by the sound of Navy on the communicator coming from there.

”…I think she missed you,” said Navy. ”I can’t see her on the cameras anymore. Just stay where you are, I’m sending down reinforcements.”

It didn’t seem like she had noticed her position yet, so Connie quickly stuffed the gun back in her pocket. She inched forward towards the closest computer desk and grabbed the chair. Not the most optimal ranged weapon, but it would have to do.

With a grunt, Connie heaved the chair into the air and towards Charlie. Even before the chair hit the target, Connie started moving, jumping over the desk and rushing towards Charlie, ready to disarm her during the moment of confusion.

Crash!

There was a moment of confusion, not on Charlie’s part, but on Connie’s as the chair hit a pane of glass that shattered into a hundred pieces.

Connie had less than a second to figure out what had happened. What she had attacked wasn’t Charlie at all, but a reflection in the one-way mirrored glass of a small security booth in the server room. Charlie had tossed the communicator over there too to mislead her and now…

Connie spun around to see Charlie in her real hiding spot just a few meters from the doorway between the rooms.

Charlie pulled the trigger on her gun.

To Connie’s credit, she was able to raise her sword just in time to catch the bolt. With a physical projectile, it might’ve saved her. But this was an electric bolt and Connie’s sword was a lightning rod. It sent the shock into her arm and then into the rest of her body.

Connie yelped as her muscles spasmed for a brief moment before everything went black.

xxXXxx

Two floors above…

Navy was staring at her tablet, squeezing it so hard in her hands that she risked breaking it. She hoped that her plan had worked and that the human with the sword was neutralized. It was too dark inside the server room for her to actually see anything on the cameras. The only reason she had been able to come up with the plan on the spot was because she had memorized the layout of floor forty-seven in its entirety.

The communicator sparked to life.

”Holy shit, that actually worked,” Charlie said with a relieved sigh. ”I can’t believe that actually worked. How do you even come up with this stuff?”

Navy scoffed.

”Haven’t you listened to a thing I’ve said?” she asked rhetorically, hiding the relief she too felt that her plan had worked. ”I am the Winter Shadow! My machinations lay undetected for years for I am a master of deception! Now, go get Fir-Uh, I mean, go get Number Four’s… stuff. Wait until she… feels better, then bring the interloper up here. Tie her up with something in the meantime.”

”Right…” Charlie said. ”Go get… Number Four’s ’stuff.’ Are you sure she’s okay?”

”Of course, she’s a tough rock… person! She’s tough as a rock that person, she’ll be fine in a few minutes,” Navy reassured Charlie. Humans always seemed to make such a fuss about gems poofing. ”Now get to it, I have other problems to take care of.”

Said problem was the little incident in the kitchen. The security guard had, somehow, managed to blow up the entire room, knocking out the camera within. The explosion had also set off the fire alarm again, though Navy was able to turn it off before it started sounding in the entire building this time.

The blast had blown a hole in the wall and in the floor, as well as ruptured the sprinkler system. Several dozen liters of water per minute was gushing out of the broken pipes and would continue doing so for a few hours until the leak was stopped. This would lead to flooding and extensive water damage not just in the kitchen, but on the floor below as well where water leaked through the newly added hole.

None of that bothered Navy. As far as she was concerned, more damage to that idiot Luthor’s property was a welcome bonus. No, the thing that bothered her was that she lost visual on J and the security guard she was supposed to have dealt with in a less explosive manner. The camera inside the kitchen had been blown to so much plastic dust and frayed metal wiring. The closest camera outside the kitchen showed her nothing of the inside, only the door itself hanging on to a single hinge, nearly blown straight off from the blast.

Unbeknownst to Navy, while she was distracted by the situation on floor forty-seven, some stuff had happened in the kitchen while she wasn’t looking.

The express elevator dinged cheerfully, bringing everyone’s attention to it, including a few electric gun barrels pointing at it.

The doors opened, revealing the passenger inside.

Ragnar yelped and threw his hands into the air.

”Don’t shoot!” he yelled. ”It’s just me!”

There were three sighs of relief; Ragnar was alright after all, though there was an addition of a large red bruise on his forehead.

”Oh, Number Two, how nice of you to join us,” Navy said dryly and turned her attention back to her tablet. Where was J, the dunce? She should’ve been able to handle an explosion of that size.

”There’s a crazy girl with a sword!” Ragnar interrupted her thoughts. He ran over to her. ”She knocked me out and stole my gun and communicator! I think she’s planning to go after Fir-I mean Number Two! I mean, Number Four!”

”We know, she already did,” Navy said. ”Number One dealt with her already.”

”Oh… okay,” Ragnar said a bit awkwardly. He rubbed his stiff neck.

”Also, there was another person in the building who wasn’t supposed to be here,” Navy said, her voice colder now. ”A security guard.”

”Oh…” Ragnar said. No ”okay” this time because it wasn’t okay. There shouldn’t have been anyone else in the building aside from the guests and the guards in the security room in the lobby. Ragnar had checked tonight’s schedule himself, everyone else should’ve gone home already. Unless… did Doug work today? Ragnar seemed to recall he had read his name on the list. And some of the night guards liked to make him go their rounds before he went home…

The cogs in Ragnar’s head turned slowly until everything snapped into place. Doug had a daughter, he knew that, the guy never shut up about her. She was a real super hero, he had said, really into fencing. With that in mind, the girl he had encountered in the lobby started to seem a bit familiar.

While he was thinking, Navy was trying to contact J.

”Report status Number Six!” Navy said. No answer. ”Answer me, you big dumb brute!” she spat into the communicator, not that it helped any.

”Um… Shadow?” Ragnar said, trying to get her attention.

”Not now,” she hissed back at him. ”I’m busy dealing with the consequences of your mistake.”

”I think I know who the girl is,” Ragnar said.

Navy scoffed.

”Yeah, she’s the one who beat you up,” she replied before going back to shouting at J through the communicator.

Ragnar got in closer and lowered his volume so none of the guests would hear what he was saying.

”I’m serious. I think the guard who got left behind is Doug. He has a daughter he’s told me about. She’s supposed to be some crazy-badass with a sword.”

”Right, I could tell,” Navy hissed, also in a lower volume. ”She managed to poof Fire Opal before Charlie stopped her. And that Doug guy blew up the kitchen and now J isn’t answering!”

Ragnar could hear in Navy’s voice, for the first time since they met, that she was nervous. Her brilliant plan was beginning to fall apart.

The communicator in Navy’s hand sparked to life, but it wasn’t J that answered. It was Charlie.

”Um… Shadow, I think we have problem…”

xxXXxx

On floor forty-seven…

Doc’s stun guns had been calibrated very precisely to ensure they didn’t actually hurt someone. However, Doc hadn’t anticipated that a maniac with a sword might try and block the bolt. And even if that thought had ever entered her mind, she would’ve dismissed it as utterly ridiculous. After all, in order to actually block an electric bolt, said human would need almost superhuman reflexes. Of course, purely hypothetically speaking, if a person was able to block the bolt with a metal sword,  even one made form a good conductor like aluminium, the shock would be drastically reduced.

This is all to say that Connie woke up within three minutes of being stunned, as opposed to the usual thirty minutes to an hour that was the norm.

Connie’s eyes opened slowly. Her head was sluggish, every thought a struggle, her neurons firing uphill. She took several deep breaths, like if she had just resurfaced from underwater. Her sword arm was numb.

Then, without warning, her entire body spasmed violently. Her hands were tied behind her back and pulled so hard on the restraints that it hurt. She bent her head back, hitting it on something hard. Her legs kicked, thrashed, and flopped around on the floor like fish on land.

As soon as it started, it stopped and she was left sitting there, panting with a dull, throbbing pain at the back of hr head where she had hit it.

”The charge from the stun gun disables conscious muscle function,” said a voice.

It was first then that Connie started to really become aware of her surroundings again. She was sitting on the floor, still in the server room. The lamps were turned on, banishing the shadows and illuminating the plastic and metal with their cold white light.

She was sitting on the floor, against the metal leg of a table. Charlie had removed her sweater and tied her hands around the table leg with it.

”Temporary muscle paralysis. It’s like falling asleep.” Charlie herself was sitting on a chair, looking down on Connie. She was holding a lit cigar in a hand trembling ever so slightly. Fire Opal’s clothes lay in a pile next to her, the brilliant gemstone nested atop it like a Fabergé egg waiting to hatch. Connie’s sword was leaning against the chair.

Charlie took a deep drag on her cigar and exhaled, the foul fumes tickling Connie’s nose.

”Of course, your brain doesn’t realize it’s harmless, it thinks you’re dying,” she continued. ”Those spasms are its way of making sure everything still works. Other side effects include numbness, mild redness, and irritation. And hair loss.” Charlie made a grimace, stretching the mask covering her face. ”J made sure we tried out the guns on each other. I think it was some kind of military thing. One of the guys had to shoot me. His aim was a bit and, well… I’m not a fan of the asymmetry, but at least I only have to shave one leg now.”

”One of the guys,” Connie echoed. Her words came out more slurred than she intended them to as her finer muscle control was still returning to her. ”Was it Ragnar? He seemed pretty shaky when he pulled the gun on me.”

Charlie’s eyes widened and she stood up abruptly.

”That was you! What did you do to him!? I swear, if you hurt him. I’ll…!”

”R-relax,” Connie said quickly before Charlie did something stupid. ”He’s fine, just knocked out. I gave him a bop on the head, he’ll be alright.”

It seemed to work. Charlie relaxed and sat back down, taking another long drag on her cigar.

”He better be alright, for your sake,” she said. ”You’ll have to excuse me for not taking your words at face value though, considering what you did to my other friend.”

”What, Fire Opal?” Connie asked rhetorically and nodded at the gemstone. ”Yeah, I did stab her. I prefer not to, but we were fighting and I didn’t know your guns were just stun guns. As far as I was aware, my life was in danger. I know it looks grisly, but she’ll be alright. Just give her a little time to reform. She’ll be back soon, good as new.”

Charlie froze, her cigar threatening to fall from her fingers.

”W-what did you say?” she stammered forth.

Despite her situation, Connie couldn’t help but find the reaction a little funny.

”I said that your friend, the gem Fire Opal, will be fine. When a gem’s body is damaged, it poofs. She’s inside her gemstone right now, working on generating a new body.”

Charlie looked at her, stunned.

”How do you know that?” was all that she could think to say.

Connie smiled.

”Oh, I know everything there is to know about gems,” she said, smirking. While keeping Charlie distracted, she struggled against her restraints a little. Her spasms earlier had loosened them a bit. ”I know about the Diamonds and Homeworld, the Gem Empire, the invasion of Earth six thousand years ago… I know about Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gem rebellion … I know about Era 3 and Little Homeworld. I even know who the Winter Shadow is. She is a Ruby called Navy. And while I’m not entirely sure, I’d venture to guess that this ’J’ person you mentioned is the Jasper I saw in the lobby.”

”Okay, okay, I get it!” Charlie interrupted her. ”You know everything. But how? Who are you, some kind of government agent?”

”Nothing that cool, I’m afraid,” Connie said. ”Did the gems ever tell you about someone named Steven Universe?”

”Yeah, they won’t shut up about the guy,” Charlie said. ”They had this big song and dance number about him, it was crazy. He’s like some kind of superhero saint to gems. Why, do yo-”

She stopped in the middle of her sentence as the truth started to dawn on her. She frowned and took a phone out of her pocket.

It was a phone with a phone jacket Connie recognized very well, as it had been custom-made for her by Jenny. The young knight realized something herself; her pockets felt very empty.

”H-hey! Did you take my phone!?” she exclaimed, dumbfounded. ”And my wallet?”

”Yeah, sorry,” Charlie said absentmindedly. ”You know what they say, once a thief, always a thief. It’s a reflex at this point.” She examined the lock screen wallpaper. It was a photo Connie and Steven had taken together while visiting Jayhawks University a few months back. Charlie looked closely at Steven. Then she looked back at Connie. You could practically see her mind trying to fight against the realization, trying to find some way to not draw the obvious conclusion.

”Steven Universe…” Charlie said slowly. ”…is your friend?”

”You could say that,” Connie said nonchalantly. While the criminal was busy, she had been working on loosening her restraints. It was going slowly, any big movement would tip off Charlie.

”Aw, fuck,” Charlie mumbled and fumbled for her communicator. ”Um… Shadow, I think we have a problem…” she said into it.

”What now?” came the angry reply. ”I’m busy! In case you didn’t notice, the stray security guard a certain someone didn’t account for caused an explosion, and now Number Six isn’t answering!”

Between the brief fight and getting shot, Connie had completely forgotten about the loud explosion that had rocked the skyscraper. Now that came crashing back right into her conscious thought. Someone they mad missed… that could only be her dad. Had her dad really caused an explosion? And if Number Six, whoever that was, wasn’t answering then… it must’ve been a big explosion. Big enough to be deadly.

”The girl with the sword,” Charlie hissed into the communicator. ”She… she knows.”

”…knows what?” Navy’s voice was hushed now, hiding the conversation from anyone else that might be listening in the party room two floors above.

”Everything,” Charlie said. ”About gems. And you. She… she knows Steven Universe.”

There was silence. One second. Two seconds. Five, ten, twenty. Each one an eternity as they waited for the Winter Shadow’s response. A whole minute passed by before the communicator sparked to life again.

”I’m coming down,” Navy said. ”Do not let her escape.”

The communicator fell silent again. The next few minutes were spent in tense silence. Charlie kept her eyes on Connie and her finger on the trigger of her gun. Connie didn’t dare struggle too much against her restraints, lest Charlie notice. Her chances at getting out of this were substantially higher if her hands were free, true. But at the same time, those chances of escaping would take a deep plunge if she was unconscious.

”Why are you doing this?” she asked the thief, hoping that a little conversation would distract her.

”Money,” Charlie said simply.

”I should’ve figured,” Connie said. Charlie was not distracted.  ”But why are the gems in on this? What do they want?”

”Money,” Charlie repeated.

”Of course,” Connie muttered. ”And what exactly do they need human money for?”

”Money can be exchanged for services and goods.” Charlie took a long drag on her cigar.

”And what about Navy, what does she get out of this?” Connie continued her so far fruitless interrogation. ”I can’t imagine she’s very interested in the quick cash.”

”She wasn’t,” Charlie confirmed. ”She wants to be the most famous criminal mastermind on both Homeworld and Earth. So we made a deal; she comes up with a plan, we help her act it out. We get the cash and she gets the credit.”

”I see…” Connie mumbled. This all fit with what she knew of these criminals. None of it would really help her get out of this situation though. The only thing that might be on her side was the fundamental divide between Navy and the rest of the gang. Despite everything, none of the gems and humans she had met seemed particularly violent. It was a different story with Navy. That gem was no mere thief, she was a straight-up villain with a history of violence.

A muffled thud came from the corridor outside. Neither Charlie nor Connie knew this, but Navy had decided that waiting for an elevator took too long, so she had just jumped down the shaft and was now prying the doors open with her bare hands.

The Winter Shadow came stalking into the small server room, her hood up and face obscured.

”So…” she said slowly. ”You’ve been causing me some problems. And now my… underling here say you know about me and… a certain Steven Universe.”

”Sup Navy,” Connie said casually. ”You can ditch the disguise, I know what you look like already.”

Navy aggressively pulled down her hood, staring daggers at Connie.

”How on Homeworld…” she mumbled, examining Connie closely. Her eyes widened as she finally recognized the human. ”Oh, wait, I know you!” she exclaimed. ”You’re that girl, whatsyourface… Ronnie!”

”…it’s ’Connie.’”

”Connie Mayshawarma,” Navy said without missing a beat. ”Steven Universe’s close good friend. I bet he tells you all about his secret crushes.”

”…you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” Connie asked, only to be ignored.

”This complicates things a great deal,” Navy said to Charlie. ”This girl knows too much. Best-case scenarios, Homeworld police come after you. Now, those clods aren’t really that much of a problem, but the Crystal Gems are a whole other question. And since the easy solution is right out… we’ll have to find some other way.”

”The easy way,” Connie realized, was to kill her. There was something uniquely horrifying about listening to someone calmly dismissing the alternative of killing you so casually, as if that should ever be an option.

”Or, well… I don’t really care what happens you guys once we’re done here,” Navy added after thinking for a few seconds. ”Once we get out of this building, you are on your own and I am on my own. My only loyalty is to my own plan. So in order to keep it intact… for now, we’ll bring her back upstairs.”

She approached Connie.

”Shoot her if she makes a move,” she instructed Charlie. ”I’ll undo the restraints and gag her so she don’t babble too much until we can get out of here.” She turned to Connie. ”If you try to attack me, I’ll superheat my skin and burn your hands off. Got it?”

Connie stared at the small red gem, her eyes saying more than words could.

Navy started undoing the now quite loose restraints.

”Good job at watching her, she almost got free,” she commented, making Charlie look surprised and mumble something.

Navy tied one arm of Connie’s sweater around her mouth as a gag.

”Hands behind your back so I can tie them together,” Navy commanded.

Connie’s mind was racing, trying to figure out how to get out of this, mostly drawing blanks. She was stuck between a rock and a crook with a gun. Her sword was almost within reach. She could duck or weave and maybe avoid getting shot, but what about Navy? Even if she wasn’t touching her, Navy could still breathe fire.

She looked up at Charlie, trying to find some weakness or opening for her to use. She didn’t find anything… but she did seem something else. A figure sneaking through the other room. She tried to keep her poker face, but Connie couldn’t help it. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

Charlie noticed the young knight’s reaction and spun around. And who did she find standing there, having snuck up behind her while she and Navy were both distracted?

”Leave my daughter alone,” Doug growled and punched Charlie right in the face.

Indeed, it was none other than Doug Maheswaran! Alive and mostly well, though his uniform was covered in bits and smears of food.

Charlie dropped the gun and stumbled away, cursing and clutching her face. A small stream of blood ran from her nose.

Navy fumbled with her gun, trying to grab it from a pocket within her robe, but before she could get it out, Doug kicked her in the face so hard she was sent flying. She let out a violent gem curse.

Connie tore off the gag from her face. She went to grab her sword, but Charlie tackled her. They fell on the floor, right on top of the shattered glass Connie had broken earlier.

”Gah!” Connie gasped when several shards dug into her skin, some of them drawing blood. She tried to push Charlie off her, but the other woman straddled her and grabbed her wrists. Connie was stronger than Charlie, but Charlie had the force of gravity and adrenaline on her side.

When Doug punted Navy across the room, the gun in her pocket fell out and landed on the floor with a clatter. She dove after it, with Doug doing the same. Navy was stronger and tougher than most humans, including Doug, but he did have one distinct advantage over her: reach.

He got ahold of the gun, wrapped his finger around the trigger, and fired. The electric bolt hit Navy in the chest. She yelped and shivered, momentarily paralyzed, her skin glitching and sparking.

With the red gem momentarily incapacitated, Doug turned his attention to Charlie and Connie on the floor. Doug hurried over and wrapped one arm around the thief. At the same time, Connie pushed back against Charlie. Together, they managed to throw the crook to the floor.

Doug aimed the gun at her.

”Freeze,” he said. Charlie, for once in her life, did the wise thing and stayed still.

Connie got back up on her feet and grabbed her sword.

By now, Navy had recovered. She screamed in frustration and inhaled deeply. She let out a large plume of fire through her mouth.

Connie ducked and rolled under the jet fire, just barely avoiding getting scorched. She grabbed a chair and chucked it as hard as she could at the gem. This time she hit the target and not mirrored glass.

The improvised projectile knocked Navy off balance, and while it took her less than a second to recover, that was all Connie needed to close the distance. She kicked Navy with her heavy winter boot, the momentum spinning the gem around on her feet.

Connie maneuvered herself behind the discombobulated Navy and placed her sword against her throat.

”Stay still,” she said commandingly. ”Or else I’ll cut you in half before you can so much as blink.”

There is a brief stand-still as it appears that the bad guys have lost. Charlie is on the floor, a stun gun aimed squarely at her. One wrong move and she’ll be out cold so fast it wouldn’t even be funny. And all Connie had to do was place a bit more force behind her blade to cut right through Navy’s physical form.

”I’ll give you this…” Navy said slowly, panting. Her eyes wandered around the room, taking in every detail. ”You two… have certainly caused a lot of problems. I underestimated you. And now I pay the price for my arrogance.” She shook her head slowly from side to side. ”I lost… NOT!” Without warning, she spat a fireball. Not at Connie or Doug, or even Charlie. No, she spat it to the side, at one of the computer servers in the room… a computer server with one of Fire Opal’s bombs atop it.

BOOM!

The power of the blast threw everyone in the room to the floor. In an instant, the room was filled with black smoke and fumes. The lamps were destroyed and the smoke made it almost impossible to see anything or to breathe.

The explosion set off the sprinklers, which began raining down fire-suppression liquid.

Connie was thrown away from Navy by the explosion. It pushed the air out of her lungs and when she tried to take another breath, she inhaled some smoke. She was left coughing and teary-eyed.

”D-dad?” she managed to say between coughs ”Run!”

From the smoke, Navy came flying. Connie was disoriented and deafened by the blast, unable to see from smoke and tears. She couldn’t react to the sudden attack.

Navy delivered a flying kick right to Connie’s ribs, sending her reeling back.

”Now you stay still,” she said, though Connie couldn’t hear her. She exhaled some fire, the force and light from the flames briefly illuminating the room enough for her to find Charlie. She ran over to the human who laid coughing and wheezing on the floor. She took the precious time to grab Fire Opal’s gem and the gun Doug dropped before she picked up Charlie.

Charlie was nearly unconscious, so Navy had to half carry, half drag her out of the room. In most other situations, it would’ve looked funny, someone so much smaller dragging around a full-grown woman like nothing. But there was little fun to be had at the moment.

Connie was still lying on the floor, unable to move. The explosion, the smoke, the kick… all of that atop of being stunned just a few minutes ago was too much.

Doug was faring slightly better. He crawled along the floor, taking shallow breaths and searching with his hands as much as looking with his eyes. He found Connie close to the door. She was barely conscious, yet her fingers were still reflexively gripping her sword tightly.

Seeing his daughter in danger-filled Doug with a great paternal strength. He took a deep breath and stood up in the smoke. He lifted Connie up and carried her out of the room and back out to the relative safety of the corridor.

xxXXxx

Upstairs…

The express elevator dinged on the fiftieth floor, prompting everyone in the party room to look that direction.

Two figures stormed out of the elevator. The Winter Shadow with her hood pulled up and the thief called Number One looking far worse for wear.

”Are you insane!?” she yelled at the Winter Shadow. ”You could have gotten us all killed, you maniac!”

”Shut up!” the Winter Shadow yelled back. ”And be thankful I dragged your sorry behind out of there instead of leaving you to die! Amy!” she yelled, making the gem in disguise jump a little.

”W-who?” she stuttered. ”Me? I’m Numbe-”

”It’s too late for that!” Navy interrupted her. ”Connie Maheswaran knows everything!”

”Conni-oh…” Amy said. She remembered hearing that name in a documentary about Steven Universe she’d seen once. ”That’s not good.”

”Duh! Of course it’s not good!” Navy exclaimed. She hurried over to her office chair, grabbing the tablet. ”Have you heard anything from J?”

”No,” Amy said.

”Of course not!” Navy muttered, more to herself than anyone else. ”Where are you, you big dumb brute…?”

She scanned the camera feeds from floor forty-seven. Steven’s girlfriend and Steven’s girlfriend’s dad had recovered and were sitting in the main corridor.

”Amy!” Navy commanded. ”Cut off every elevator to this floor except for the express one! And barricade the stairs.”

The bigger gem just nodded and ran out of the party room. Only the express elevator was visible from the party room, so the guests couldn’t see what happened next. But they could hear loud crashes, metal groaning, and screeching in pain as it was torn apart.

The doors to the main staircase were visible from the party room however and the guests could soon see Amy come walking carrying several elevator doors that no one human should be able to carry on their own. She placed them in front of the door leading to the staircase, stopping anyone from coming in that way.

Meanwhile, Navy took a communicator and pressed the button on it.

”J,” she said into it, addressing the missing gem. ”I don’t know if you can hear this, but if you can: The security guard you failed to deal with had some back-up. Dangerous back-up.” She saw the two humans downstairs perk up on her tablet. Connie grabbed a communicator from her pocket and they listened in to the broadcast. Navy continued, ”Fire Opal is out of commission for the time being and she’s taking her sweet time recovering. We’ve had to cut off every elevator except the express one and we’ve barricaded the stairs. Come back up here as soon as you can. Do not go after interlopers on your own. There is nothing they can do at this point.”

xxXXxx

Downstairs…

Connie and Doug were licking their wounds. Not literally, that only worked for Steven.

The smoke had eventually dissipated in the server room and Doug had ventured in there to grab a first-aid kit kept in the security booth inside. He was now cleaning and patching up the cuts Connie had gotten on her back when Charlie tackled her.

His own body hurt in all sorts of places. Surviving two explosions in one day will do that to a person. Without any magical healing courtesy of his daughter’s magical best friend, he had several weeks to a couple of months of pain to look forward to. For the moment though he just had to be happy that there was nothing bleeding or any broken bones.

Connie was slightly less lucky. In addition to the cuts on her back, Navy had kicked her pretty hard in the chest. She raised her left arm experimentally and winced a little, though she tried to hide it from Doug.

”I don’t think it’s broken,” she said.

”How do you know that?” Doug asked, applying the last band-aid to her back.

”It doesn’t feel like the last time I broke a rib,” Connie said. She realized a little too late that she hadn’t told her parents about that incident. It was her own fault really, she had seriously flubbed a Vault Strike during a fight against one of Pyrope’s light constructs. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, Steven had been there to patch her right back up.

”Connie,” Doug said sternly. ”When did you break a rib? I don’t remember you telling us about that.”

”I, uh…” Connie started to say, but she was mercifully interrupted by the communicator in her pocket coming to life. Navy was informing the missing J (the Jasper her dad had blown up in the kitchen) of the new situation.

”There is nothing they can do at this point.” she ended her report.

Connie and Doug looked each other in the eyes for a moment before Connie pressed the button to respond.

”I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you,” she said. ”Despite your best efforts, we’re still alive and well.”

”Excuse me, this was a private conversation,” Navy said with pretend annoyance. ”And for your information, I knew that already. I can see you.”

Connie and Doug both looked up, scanning the walls and ceiling. They quickly found the small camera.

”That’s right, there I am,” Navy said. They couldn’t see her, but you could hear the smug grin on her voice. ”I can see everything. And you don’t look so ’well’ to me.”

Doug took aim with the gun he’d taken from Charlie and shot at the camera. The sensitive electronics inside were fried to death in a second.

”Looks like someone is a sore loooooser,” Navy teased.

”That was at best a draw,” Doug bit back. ”And remind me again who it was that had to run away?”

”I only did that because you put my friend in danger!” Navy hissed. ”Or, uh, I mean… you put my underling in danger.”

”Excuse me, you were the one who blew up a bomb!” Doug said, aghast at Navy’s accusatory tone. ”You were the one who put her in danger!”

”Stop trying to reason with a crazy person!” Navy yelled back. ”I am very volatile you know, prone to angry outbursts and violence. Be glad that I was merciful and didn’t kill you two when I had the chance. Now, if you just play nice, stay where you are, and don’t cause me any more problems, I might just be merciful enough to let you get out of this in one piece.”

Doug and Connie exchanged another look with each other. Connie had already made up her mind. She knew what she had to do. She didn’t want to put her dad in any more danger… but that was not her decision. Just how it wasn’t his decision whether she get to put her life in danger anymore.

By the looks of it, he had come to the same conclusion. He nodded slightly.

Doug stood back up with that classic dad groan. He scanned the corridor, looking for more cameras as he moved slowly through it. He spotted one in the distance and took it out with the stun gun.

Connie pressed the button on the communicator.

”I’m afraid we can’t do that,” she said as she slowly followed her dad through the corridor toward Doctor Pearson’s laboratory. ”I don’t know exactly what it is you’re trying to do here, but this isn’t a game. You’re putting people, real people in danger. We can’t let you continue with this. We will stop you.”

”No you won’t,” Navy said confidently. "You are two beat-up humans. I have, um…” There was a short pause before she continued. ”Five! I have five people up here and all of them have guns. Once Fire Opal wakes up, we’ll be, uh…” She trailed off. ”…what comes after five again?”

”…six?”

”We’ll be that many once Fire Opal wakes up again,” Navy said, sounding less confident now. ”And once J gets her sorry self up here we’ll be… I dunno, five and two.”

”D-do you now know how to count to seven?” Doug asked before Connie could respond herself. They had reached the laboratory now and he disabled the camera in there as well.

”I was never taught to count to more than five, okay!?” Navy exploded. Not literally, thank the stars. ”I’m doing my best here! The point is, I have three natural warriors and a bunch of guns! You don’t have that! You caused some problems, but there is nothing you can do to stop my plan now! The communication barrier is still up. You are alone and cut off from the outside world. You are alone and there is no help coming!”

During Navy’s rant, Doug had been trying to look for anything useful in the laboratory. He noticed something through the window and beckoned Connie over. She walked over and looked down at the ground, where lights were flashing.

”Oh no, I think help has already arrived…” she said to Navy. Forty-seven stories below, several police cars and a fire engine were fast approaching the LexCorp Tower, emergency lights on and sirens blaring.