Chapter Eleven: Getting Ahead

"So, you're really starting to come into your own with that thing, huh, Adora?" said Bow.

Adora grinned as she glanced down at the blade in her hand. After successfully defending the village from Horde Prime's assault the heroes returned to Brightmoon with their spoils. Garnet, Bismuth, and Adora herself carried the massive cannon that used to be the cybertank's head over their shoulders. "Yeah, I guess I am," she said. "But hey, I'm not the only one trying to figure these things out." She looked over at Steven when she said this.

"Oh, it's nothing, really," said Steven, rubbing the back of his head. "Birds of a feather, you know?"

"Er...no, I don't," said Adora. "Is that an Earth saying?"

"What Steven means is, both of you are going through something similar," said Garnet. "Both of you were given powers that you have little understanding of, and little time to master them in order to save your worlds." She adjusted her glasses with her free hand. "I don't believe in destiny, but I can't deny that you two are two of a kind."

"I guess so," said Adora. "I may not be half-Gem, but the more I think about it, Steven is sort of like a younger, gentler version of me."

"Sure. Except he's a boy," added Glimmer.

"Eh, who's counting?" said Bismuth.

The rest of the walk to Brightmoon was uneventful. It wasn't until the team made it back to just outside the castle that things started to seem out of the ordinary. For starters, the whole area was littered with destroyed cybertroops.

Pearl rushed to the front of the group to get a better look. "What happened here?" she said, the concern in her voice clear.

"Looks like they were attacked while we were gone," said Bismuth, setting the head down. "Hello? Anyone there?" she called.

"Well, look who's back." The voice came from above them. Looking up, everyone saw the form of Lapis hovering above them. With a wave of her water wings, the blue Gem descended down to their level. "You missed all the action!"

"Trust me, we had plenty of action on our end!" said Amethyst.

"Speaking of action, where's Peridot?" said Bow. "We brought her a gift."

"Here I am!" The Gem in question emerged from just behind some shrubbery. "You should have seen this Gem!" she said, patting Lapis on the back. "These primitive robonoids tried to storm the castle, and Lazuli completely demolished them! It was a bath!"

"Uh, you mean bloodbath?" asked Glimmer.

"No, just a regular bath," Peridot clarified. "Because of all the water. Plus, robots don't have blood. Usually."

"It's a good thing Brightmoon has a lake nearby," Lapis said.

"Yes, good thing," said Peridot. "It would also have been a good thing if someone had left enough of them intact so that I had something to study."

Lapis shrugged. "I don't really do subtle."

"Well, at least nobody was hurt," said Pearl.

"Yeah, except those robots!" said Peridot. "Now, where's this gift you said you had?"

Garnet and Bismuth stepped aside to reveal the cybertank's head. Peridot's jaw nearly hit the floor.

Several hours later, after Peridot had had some time to properly study the central processes of Horde Prime's troops, she had called for a meeting to discuss a plan she had. Present were all the Crystal Gems, and most of the Princess Alliance. Only Spinnerella was absent, off defending her kingdom from Horde attacks. Several new chairs had been added to the war table out of necessity, most of them much less fancy than the normal ones.

Queen Angella sat at her usual spot at the table. "I hope your friend knows what she's doing," she said to Steven.

"Oh, Peridot's the best," he said. "She really knows her way around machines. And she's so helpful! Sure, she's tried to kill me a few times, but that was before we were friends!"

Angella raised an eyebrow at this, but otherwise said nothing. After all, the Rebellion had taken in Adora. Who's to say this wasn't something similar?

Although Peridot wasn't an ancient warrior, prophesied to protect the planet. As far as Angella knew, anyway.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the hallway just outside the room as a loud unpleasant scraping noise filled the air. The doors opened to reveal Peridot, dragging the severed head of the cybertank all on her own. Even with her powers over magnetism, this still took quite a bit of effort.

"Um, Peridot? Do you need some help?" asked Connie.

"No! Stay there, I've got it!" she said, straining. Everybody sat in an awkward silence, aside from the sounds of scraping metal and Peridot's grunts of exertion. By the time she had dragged the cannon-shaped head to the front of the room, she looked ready to pass out.

"Okay, can somebody fill me in on what's happening here?" said Swift Wind. "Why did she just drag a huge gun in here? I mean, I know huge guns are cool, but wouldn't it make more sense for that to be outside the castle?"

"Hold your horses," said Steven, with a barely-suppressed grin. "She'll explain everything in a minute."

Swift Wind glared at him. "You've been waiting to say that since we met, haven't you?"

Peridot soon got her composure, climbing atop the cannon. "Now...I suppose all of you are wondering what my plan is. Correct?"

"Yes, indeed," said Pefuma. "Especially considering you just told us to sit down, because it was important. And explained nothing beyond that."

"Well, it is important!" Peridot said. "Okay: Horde Prime. What do we do about it?"

"I thought you said you had a plan," said Angella. "I'm sure you worked very hard on this presentation, but can we please cut to the chase?"

"Right, right, will do," Peridot said. "So, in my research, I found that Horde Prime does not use any sort of central intelligence unit. So, no leader," she said. "It is equal parts every single one of it's machines. There will be no way to destroy it, so long as one cybertroop exists."

"Okay, so let's just smash 'em all!" said Frosta.

"As if it would be that easy. If what I found from studying this destroyed unit's cranial processor is true, Horde Prime does exist. Just not as hardware. It is an entity of pure software."

"So, an A.I., then," said Connie.

"I'm not aware what the official Earth term is, but okay," Peridot said. "Regardless, the only way to stop an entity like this is to create something that can attack it on its home turf. A virus, for instance."

"And you think you can make one strong enough to take it down?" asked Bismuth.

"Of course I can," said Peridot. "This technology is ancient, but it is actually very similar to Gem tech. If I have enough time, I believe I can find a way to program a virus to attack its programming. Then all we need to do is upload it to an active robot, and shut Horde Prime down for good!"

"Excellent," said Angella. "Horde Prime has taken too many territories already. It must be stopped before it can take any more."

"It has?" said Glimmer. "That's the first I've heard of this. I thought it was still being held back."

"It is, from the major kingdoms," said Angella. "But smaller villages are being overrun, especially because Horde Prime has allied itself with the Horde."

"Big surprise there," said Mermista.

"In that case, I should get started," said Peridot, hopping off of her perch. "Meeting adjourned. You may be excused."

"That was it?" said Amethyst. "You could've just told us all that!"

"Don't question my methods," said Peridot. Once more, she began trying to pull the head with her metal powers. More scraping sounds filled the room, much to everyone's irritation. Peridot hadn't even gotten a quarter of the way to the door when it suddenly lifted itself up off the ground. Peridot looked down at her hands, seemingly questioning her own strength.

Netossa, however, recognized the winds keeping the gigantic hunk of steel aloft. "Took you long enough!" she said, turning to their source.

"Hello, everyone!" said the previously unseen Spinnerella. "Sorry I took so long to get here, but the Etherian Highlands were under attack. I couldn't just leave my kingdom unguarded!"

"Nor would we expect you to," said Angella. "I take it you fought them off?"

"Yes, but not alone," she said. "I'm not sure who it was, but someone else destroyed many of the robots. Oh, and there's someone who I think the Crystal Gems would like to see!"

Cued by the princess' words, a second person entered the room. "Uh...hey guys!" said Lars.

"Lars!" Steven said, jumping up from his seat. He ran over to give him a hug, which was returned.

"Woah, slow down there!" said Lars. "I think somebody missed me!"

"Yeah, but I'm not the only one," said Steven. "Lars, we need to get you to Mystacor, stat!"

"Um...Mysta-what?"

"That's where the off-colors are staying," said Connie.

"Well, how soon can we leave?" said Lars, excited to see his old crew after all this time.

"Whenever, I guess," Steven said. "I don't think we had any plans. Right guys?"

Meanwhile, Spinnerella was regaling Angella and Netossa with what had happened up in the Highlands. Glimmer leaned over, intrigued by the mention of this unknown figure.

"What did they look like?" she asked. "It might be someone we know."

"I couldn't make them out from far away," Spinnerella said. "All I could see was that they were dressed in a red cloak.

Immediately, Adora's mind lit up with thoughts of her mother figure-slash-mentor. Some of them good, but many more, especially recently, not so much. "Shadow Weaver," she said darkly. "It has to be."

"They did seem to have control of the shadows," Spinnerella said. "That's the most likely."

Adora looked at Glimmer. "What could she want? Why would she lay low for all this time, but resurface now?"

Glimmer didn't really have an answer. "Maybe she's just trying to fight Horde Prime. It's not like she's still with the Horde."

"We shouldn't take that chance," said Adora. "Even if she isn't working for Hordak anymore, Shadow Weaver's still dangerous. We'll have to keep an eye out from now on."