27The Elsewhere Saga: Brotherhood of Glass
Episode Two: Devotion
Chapter One: Impact
March 14, 2015. Keystone Motel, Keystone.
In the small town, the night was dark and quiet, aside from the sound of crickets. All the tenants of the motel, the few that there were, had long since fallen asleep. Only in one of the rooms were the lights and television still on, its lone occupant lazily watching the screen. However, the late-night news story that had just come on caught his attention.
A female newscaster on the local news station reported on a relatively recent happening. "Residents of the nearby Beach City area were shocked by an as-of-yet unidentified phenomenon arriving from the skies. Claimed by many to be a U.F.O., the object, pictured here by an ameteur photographer, caused enough panic for Mayor William Dewey to call for a city-wide evacuation."
A picture appeared in the top right corner of the screen. Though quite blurry, it appeared to be of a green object resembling a hand. This picture made the man sit bolt upright, as though he recognized it.
"As the arrival of the object does coincide with a sonic boom heard around the same time, experts say something did breach our atmosphere. However, many believe it to simply be a meteorite, with the green color being caused by high levels of copper, and the hand-like shape to simply be a case of pareidolia. Either way, nobody was injured in the impact, and Beach City was relatively undamaged. After the break, we are joined by Doctor-"
The man flipped the T.V. off. He wore an expression of shock, his face flushed white. Slowly, he stood up from his spot on the bed, strolling over to the closet. Gradually, his eyes lit up, and a smile spread across his face. Once the initial surprise from hearing the report wore off, all that remained was elation.
He began giggling in his excitement as he removed a suitcase from the closet. "It's finally time!" he said quietly through his laughter. Rifling through his belongings, he pulled a bundle of navy-blue fabric from the bottom of the bag.
He stood up, hugging the cloth tight to his breast. "They haven't forgotten about us! They're back to save us all!"
The man, practically bouncing with joy, contained himself enough to wrap the cloth around himself, which turned out to be a hooded robe. To complete the garb, he produced a mask from the bag; the same color as the robe, the mask was featureless aside from a black diamond in the middle.
He placed the mask over his face, his quickened breathing seeming to be made louder by its presence. "Our prayers have finally been answered!" he said. "The Diamonds have returned!"
The Next Morning. Beach City, Delmarva.
Much of the town continued on its merry way once the sun had risen on the beachside town. The main thing that separated this morning from all others, however, was the scattering of spaceship pieces scattered all across the beach. While the arrival of the ship itself warranted a citywide evacuation, it was business as usual now that it was destroyed, literally. The inhabitants of Beach City were used to these sort of happenings, what with the Crystal Gems living nearby.
Speaking of the Crystal Gems, the three of them, four counting their young protege, had volunteered to clean up the pieces. During this, the town carried on as usual. However, mere hours after the ship had crashed, something happened that was certainly out of the ordinary. A fleet of eighteen-wheelers, accompanied by an equally large number of black cars, pulled into town.
Among the numerous workers that spilled out of these vehicles, there were also a pair of gentlemen in suits. One of them, a tall strawberry blond, the other a stocky black man with shaved black hair. When asked, the former would say that he was Agent Svartign, and his compatriot here was Agent Rook. The two of them worked for the government-specifically, waste management. All the debris from this meteor, it could be radioactive. So, they had been sent here to collect it.
Aside from their names and mission, this had been a cover story. See, these people were actually from an agency known as BAINE-the Bureau of Alien Investigation, Neutralization, and Experimentation. Their job was to respond to matters far too classified for normal law enforcement to handle. At the current moment, the only alien species they had dealt with were Gems. While they had protected humanity against corrupted Gems, they had never had to fight against actual Gems before. But now that Homeworld was returning, that seemed like it would rapidly be changing.
As the workers loaded chunks of the broken vessel into the backs of the semi-trucks, the one of them named Agent Svartign spoke with the leader of the Crystal Gems. From his casualty, one would get the impression they had met before. And they had.
"So, none of your weapons could even scratch it?" he asked.
"None," Garnet replied. "Not Rose's cannons, not Opal's bow...whatever it was made of, I've never seen anything like it."
"Neither have I," the human said. "I think we can wager that this stuff doesn't exist on Earth. Which means that it's all the more valuable to us. Thank you again for letting us have it."
Garnet shrugged. "We weren't using it."
The other man, Agent Rook, walked over from the back of one of the trucks. "Alright, we've loaded all that we can," he said. His accent indicated that he was British. "We should leave now and come back for the rest later."
Svartign turned to his partner. "First, we should decide to do with the stuff we've already got," he said. "Oh, right, you haven't met the newest recruit yet. Garnet, this is Agent James Rook. He's new here, and I've been asked to show him the ropes."
"I'm not new, I just transferred to the States," he said. "And that was only a few months ago, Luke."
"Anyway, I'm sure we'll see each other again soon," Svartign said to Garnet. "We'll keep an eye out for this Peridot character, and keep combing the seas for Malachite. Anything else?"
"Watch the skies," said Garnet. "Homeworld is back. They know that Earth is still a threat, enough to have sent one of their best soldiers. They'll clearly be back."
Both agents took this advice to heart. Svartign said goodbye to Garnet, wished her and the other Gems the best, and with that, BAINE backed up and left. Before long, any evidence of their presence was gone.
Luke sat behind the wheel of a black SUV, with James sitting shotgun. "This is some bad business," said the former. "I mean, I always knew they'd be back to finish the job. But I think we've severely underestimated what they're capable of."
"So what are we supposed to do now?" asked James.
"The only thing we can do is focus on getting this alien tech back to base," said Luke. "The last thing we need is Gem tech falling into the hands of these local yokels. Remember what happened in Ocean Town?"
"I have heard the stories," James said. "So, what are they doing with all of this tech once we deliver it?"
"Well, most of it, they'll try and study it," Luke answered. "Try and figure out what it's made of, find a way to replicate it, that sort of thing. That type of thing's Eddie's job, so don't ask me exactly how it's done. But the stuff we don't need, we'll probably sell to Polaris."
"Seems irresponsible if you ask me," said James. "Just giving all this stuff to a civilian corporation. Who knows what they're doing with it?"
"Well, if their interests ever go against ours, we'll intervene. But in the meantime, Polaris Industries has been a big part of our funding for some time. Their C.E.O. seems just as interested in progress as we do."
"Eh, I still don't trust the guy," James said. "Just because he puts on a good show doesn't mean he's not a smarmy little weasel in a tacky suit."
The convoy carried the wrecked ship, or rather, the pieces of it, all across Delmarva, and over to BAINE headquarters, the exact location kept highly classified. Luke and James stepped out of the car once they were inside.
"Think we should tell Captain Bridge about the whole Homeworld situation?" asked James.
"Oh, trust me, he already knows," said Luke. "If there's one thing you should know about Bridge, it's that he's always on top of things." The pair walked over to the trucks, preparing to assist in unloading the precious cargo.
