Greg looked over to Nick, curious. "Really?"

The teen nodded. "Yeah. I may not look it, but I'm a highly trained weapons master, and Ashlon is a weaponsmith. Although, she doesn't do it very often."

The girl shrugged. "Well, honestly, it's kind of boring. I'd rather have all the action like Nick." She karate chopped the air, and Nick chuckled.

"Yeah, well it's not all cracked up to what it seems. Lemme see here." He grabbed a large hammer from the wall.

"So, how comfortable are you with the mass shattering of a gem colony?"

Greg frowned. "Not very."

Nick nodded. "Good. This isn't going to be fun. I don't want any hesitation when we get out there. Those gems are trying to kill us. We are fighting back. Ashlon."

The girl turned. "Yeah?"

The boy grinned. "I have an idea."

The door to the weapons bay area opened slowly, much to the confusion of the surrounding Amethyst gems. They walked over to inspect it, and a guitar riff sounded out. The waves of energy slammed into the bodies of the quartz soldiers, and their forms destabilized. Quickly, Nick rushed out with the hammer, and began to mercilessly crush gems under it. Ashlon did the same, albiet much more reluctant. Once all the gems had been reduced to shards, Nick sighed deeply, and rest the hammer on his shoulder. Ashlon frowned.

"That felt way worse than I expected."

Nick nodded. "It's best not to think about it."

He turned to the other two. "This isn't my first rodeo. I've had to kill for the institution before."

Ashlon frowned, and Greg's face was a pale white. They were inturrupted when footsteps echoed throughout the hall way. Nick turned to Greg.

"Get ready!"

Greg rose his pick into the air, and prepared to strum a chord on the guitar that Ashlon had fashioned out of a computer monitor. Holly Blue Agate, as well as the rest of the Amethyst guard came rushing in, and they all froze at the sight of the shattered gems. Holly Blue was the first to speak.

"You...you didn't..."

She summoned her whip, and growled ferally. "Those were my amethysts! My subordinates! My...my friends...you'll pay for this!"

She rushed forward, and Greg turned away, strumming the chord fully, and letting the noise echo through the base. Once again, the gem's forms quivered, and they all dissipated into thin air. Holly Blue still stood, however. Nick rushed forward and engaged her in combat. She glared at him, as he swung the hammer around.

"What kind of savage beast would do this?"

Nick glared at the blue gem, and spoke, his voice cold and final.

"The same kind of savage beast that your kind slaughtered to ensure your survival. I'm simply returning the favor."

He brought the hammer down, crushing Holly Blue's form, and shattering her gem at the same time. He then began crushing Amethyst gems before they could reform, Greg and Ashlon flinching every time a sickening crunch echoed through the corridor. Once he was done, Nick threw the hammer down, and crashed to his knees, vomiting loudly. Ashlon went over to him, and gently put a hand on his back. Greg walked over as well, and frowned at the teen.

"Are you okay?"

He rose to his feet shakily. "Honestly? No. It never gets any easier. At least they're all together in whatever Heaven or Hell these things beleive in."

Ashlon shook her head. "But that's the last of them? What do we do now?"

Nick looked over to her. "There's a reinforcement team coming. Both Yellow and Blue Diamond are present on this base. We need to get any innocents out of the crossfire once they arrive. They'll be going for both of the diamonds. At that point, we make a break for it, drop the humans off in Beach City, and then we speed off somewhere remote, where we can't be tracked. Where we won't ever have to deal with the institution again."

The blonde girl frowned. "So now you're ready to run away?"

Nick gave her a questioning glance. "This is the most logical course of action. Earth will most likely be caught up in a huge war for the second time, and it very well may end up with Armegeddon as we know it. Hell, honestly, I wouldn't mind taking a few people along, Greg and Steven, and his little friend Connie, and maybe some of the humans from the zoo. But I can't let you get hurt."

Ashlon furrowed her eyebrows. "What it sounds like to me is that you don't trust me to handle myself!"

Nick looked over to her in surprise. "That's not what I meant at all! If I lost you because of some stupid war we have no buisiness being in, I don't know what I'd do! You know this!"

Ashlon growled in exasperation. "That's the most selfish thing! I can't leave behind all these people that have lives to live as well to just die! We made this our buisiness when we came here for the institution."

The teen boy yelled. "IT'S THE DAMN INSTITUTIONS FAULT THAT WE EXIST IN THE FIRST PLACE, DAMMIT! WE'RE THEIR TOOLS, ASHLON, THEY DON'T CARE! AND MAYBE IT IS SELFISH! BUT I NEED YOU."

She yelled right back. "WELL I DO CARE! THAT PLANET IS MY HOME, AND I WON'T ABANDON IT FOR MY OWN SAFETY. THOSE PEOPLE ARE SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN ME!"

Greg stepped forward. "Both of you stop! We don't have time for this! We need to get the humans and get off this base!"

Nick ran a hand through his hair, and threw his glasses down in anger. "Why did all of this have to get so damned complicated..."

No one responded, and they walked swiftly to the human zoo door. Nick kicked the panel, and the door creaked open. The humans stood there curiously. Nick frowned.

"Come on. We've got to go."

The assumed leader of the space humans stepped forward. "Go where."

Ashlon smiled gently to them. "We're taking you guys home."

They looked at each other, confused, but followed nontheless. Nick loaded them on the ship, and turned to Ashlon.

"Think you can fly this thing?"

Ashlon nodded, a frown on her face. "Yeah."

She turned, and headed towards the controls. Nick watched her, a conflicted expression on his face. He shook his head, and pulled out his device, and called to the head of the institution.

"Subject 01 and I have rescued a total of 31 humans, and will be returning to Earth shortly. The Diamonds remain on the base, but the other gems have been shattered accordingly."

The voice on the other end was different from before. The head must be on break.

"Very well. According to the GPS, the reinforcement team will arrive at the base in a total of 9 seconds. We will relay this information to them."

Nick nodded. "Thank you."

He hung the device up, and slid against the wall. Greg approached him.

"Hey, kiddo. You okay big guy."

Nick sighed angrily. "Everything has gone to shit. It was supposed to be a simple mission. Deal with the gems on Earth, and eliminate the threat of global conquering. The institution was greedy though. They wanted the damned diamonds gone as well. Then Ashlon did what she does, and the cover of the mission was blown. I fear that may have done a serious blow in our relationship."

Greg seemed surprised for a bit, before sitting down beside the teen.

"Well, I might not be the most well versed into whatever is going on around here, but I do know that if what you two have is truly love, then I think you'll be able to stick it out."

Nick nodded. "You know, I honestly had a good time hanging out with all of you. And I really don't want it to be the way it is. But I've got my own mission, and that's to keep her safe. She really is all that I have, and I know that she'll be scrapped if I screw up. They already wanted to. She's too empathetic, too friendly, too human. And maybe I'm the same way. Just better at hiding it."

Almost as if she knew she was being talked about, Ashlon looked back from the controls of the ship. Nick gave her a small, sad smile, and her eyes softened, and she gave a small smile back. Once she turned around, Nick frowned agian.

"That's why I can't let her fight this fight. We have to leave it all behind. And honestly, Mr. Universe, I want you, Steven, and Connie to come with us. But I know that Steven will want to stay and protect his friends, and I'm sure you'll stay with him, Connie as well. And it will be rough getting Ashlon to come."

Greg nodded. It felt strange to talk about it, Nick seemingly hinting at the essential end of the world. It gave Greg a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he knew he had to stay with Steven. The same reason Nick had to have Ashlon, really. He was all he had left.

"I know what you mean. If I lose Steven, I'll run fresh out of family."

Nick gave a short, sad chuckle, and the quiet atmosphere returned. Ashlon opened a hatch, and looked back.

"We're going into hyper speed, guys. Hold on."

And with the flick of a switch, Nick felt the pressure of going at faster than light speeds push against him. He felt as if he were being shred into thounsands of tiny peices, an then he blacked out.

When he awoke, the ship was floating freely several hundred miles above Earth. Looking around, he noticed people were beggining to stir, including Ashlon, whom he walked over to, and gently helped up.

"Thank you. That was rough, and my head is killing me." She groaned softly, and Nick rubbed her back.

"I'll land the ship. Don't worry."

She nodded, and mumbled a quick thank you, and Nick headed over to the controls. He studied them for a moment, before bringing the ship to a slow and steady decent to the surface of the planet. He landed on Beach City, and the bay door opened, with several of the zoo humans walking out in awe. Steven and the gems rushed out of the door, Steven greeting them warmly, while the gems stayed at a much more cautious distance, specifically from Nick and Ashlon. Steven grinned.

"Guys your back!"

Ashlon smiled. "Yeah! Isn't it great."

Nick nodded. "Unfortunately, it won't last long."

They looked over to the teen in confusion. He shook his head sadly.

"Steven. It's time you learned the truth about why we're here.