The creatures combined turn out to be harder to fight than
anticipated – not that Jasper minds. In fact, the discovery
is a delight. It’s not often that Jasper has a true challenge
anymore, after all; a war gem doesn’t have many uses
when there’s not an active war going on, after all, and
these recon missions she’s been reduced to don’t often
have any worthy opponents to speak of. Even in the event
they have a real bounty to hunt down, like today, even the
hardest criminals Home World has to offer are often quick
to crumble when faced with Jasper’s imposing demeanor.
This creature, though – this fusion of sorts, a fusion of
dozens of very small, weak creatures – turns out to be a
worthy opponent, and it takes Jasper a long time to pummel
it into submission, and even longer to take down the several
that follow. Eventually, though, the creatures back off and
surrender, survivors fleeing into the dense foliage they had
emerged from, leaving Jasper with the short task of peering
a silent apology to the creatures she’d ended up smashing –
honestly mostly accidental, as she’d initially thought that
they’d simply regrow into even smaller beasts if she broke
them apart, but apparently even these things had a smallest
singular form. Pity, honestly; there was something sort of cute
about them, even if they were sort of pathetic. But, well –
their life-spans were too short to truly waste time mourning
over anyway, really.
Letting her weapon disappear, Jasper turned on her heel
and headed in the direction she’d seen Peridot go, hoping
that the smaller Gem really was being careful. Annoying as
Peridot often was, she was also the only tech gem that
Jasper had successfully managed to work with without said
tech gem becoming a bumbling mess of fear and fluster every
time Jasper so much as pushed them over. It’d be a pity if
Peridot ended up out of commission, especially over someone
so pathetic as a thief like Tanzanite.
The mansion had been beautiful on the outside; its
cream-colored columns towered over the city and
supported the sculpted roof like the shoulders of
Atlas supported the sky. But now that Peridot has
made her way inside, she finds its interior to be less
than lackluster. Everything is in ruin; couches are
overflowing with stuffing, picture frames are shattered,
and the walls are peeling with paint.
But the wreckage is new. Peridot can tell from the lack
of dust in the air. Narrowing her eyes, she comes to
the conclusion that Tanzanite had been the cause of
this mess. The thief had probably been looking for the
treasure hidden in this mansion, and had torn the place
up in the process.
When Peridot walks over to the stairs, her sensors
beep. Tanzanite is up there, they say. Peridot
unsheathes her weapon from her gem and then creeps
up the stairs. She doesn’t know how long it will take
Jasper to deal with the towns people, but she does know
Jasper, and she also knows how much she loves beating
things into submission. Which is just fine and dandy, but
it takes a while. So, jumping the gun, Peridot steps onto
the second floor.
Tanzanite is waiting for her there. The rogue gem hisses
before throwing a knife at Peridot. Peridot’s eyes widen,
and she ducks to the side. The knife buries itself in the
wall behind her.
“Surrender now,” Peridot says, “and your punishment
will be minimal!”
But Tanzanite doesn’t listen. Curling around her stolen
treasure--a space warping necklace--she chucks another
knife at Peridot. But this time, Peridot doesn’t move away
in time. The knife slams into her shoulder, and she
crumples to her knees. Summoning an arrow from out of
thin air, Peridot readies her bow. And after taking aim, she
shoots it at Tanzanite’s forehead.