Percival sat bound to a table, medical instruments laid out on a table to his side. The room was only dimly lit, but on the ceiling, he could make out the shapes of metal arms with various things, from drills, scalpels, mirrors, to nozzles, and even an axe meant to swing like a pendulum. In front of him was a yellow gem, and it didn't look too pleased.
"What is your name?" it asked
"Fuck. You." Percival replied.
"Occupation on earth?"
"Kiss my ass."
"Relation to the stars?"
"Excuse me?"
The gem stopped, looking at the man with a bit of pity.
"Your charts show that you're clearly nothing like the other species we've logged. So, what is your relation to the stars?"
"I'm a human being, that's it"
The yellow being scoffed, pulling up his physical analysis data.
"Your blood samples show fibroblasts far evolved past other humans, your muscle tissue is far denser than even creatures on Nova 6, you even give off a strong energy signature on most ESS." The yellow gem closed the screen, leaning in closer to Percival's face. "What. Are. You?"
"A human." Percival growled back, a small shock running through his body. "Why do you care?"
"I believe we're done here." The Gem huffed as she left the room, locking the door behind her.
Percival continued to struggle against his restraints, being to no avail. He struggled with all his might, but could not break the bindings that held him tight. He was alone once again. The door may be locked, but it wasn't soundproof, as he heard more gem voices.
"You're back?"
"Yeah, it's been a while, freed by a Steven and two human boys."
Percival's interest was piqued at the "Two Human Boys" bit.
"The point?"
"They're with the Crystal Gems"
"They're still on Earth?"
"Yeah."
"That rock hasn't blown up yet?"
"Not while the Crystal Gems are there...They've managed to convince human beings to join them."
"They must be something if Rose Quartz was impressed by them."
"Send a recon ship down to check on the Cluster, and make sure those humans have no relation to the one we have here."
Percival had just a bit of hope. A bit of hope the "human boys" were his sons. It was a long shot, considering they were most likely dead, but he had to check...but first he had to get out of these chains...
A few minutes later a blond girl snuck into the room, slipping through the door silently. Her strange appendages floated away from her hands, glowing in the low light.
"E-excuse me?" She looked around, Percy could sense that she meant no harm.
"I need some information from you." She stammered "C-can you tell me what a family is?"
"What?"
"A family...I just heard about it, and...What is a family?" The girl asked. Percival thought for a moment before explaining, knowing the term was foreign to her.
"A family is the people who love you with all their heart. People who still care about you, no matter how upset they get with you. People who will never abandon you. People who you always love, no matter how mad they make you. People you never abandon.
People who will fight and die for you, and the people who you want to prosper..." he explained, thinking of his life back home with his wife and sons. A single tear formed in his eye, knowing he failed them.
"W-Well...C-Can you show me one?" She asked, scared he would become enraged. Rather, he looked sad. L6Y knew he couldn't show her if he was restrained, and used the control panel to undo the bindings.
"Don't laugh, but..." he said, pulling something out from under his shirt. He showed her a locket, and inside, he showed a photo of himself, his wife, and two sons. They looked so happy in the picture. "I keep a picture of my family beside me at all times. It used to motivate me to keep going, but...now it only reminds me how much I failed. I let them die in a housefire, all because I wasn't home..." he explained.
"Can't you find another one?" She asked.
"Families aren't something you can replace." Percy sighed. "My boys would've loved you, though..."
"I-I think I've seen humans like them before." L6Y said, inspecting the picture closely "On a scouting mission to Earth."
"My kids are really alive?" He asked, hope in his eyes.
"Y-Yeah, I think so..." L6Y replied. "I saw them near an old gem settlement, they seemed to be with rebel gems."
"Rebel gems?" He asked. "Are they gonna hurt by sons?"
"I'm not sure. I don't have much of a file on them. Just that they rebelled against the Diamond Authority." L6Y replied. "If we can just get on a ship, then--"
The door opened, revealing Blue Emerald next to the yellow gem who confronted him earlier.
"L6Y? What are you doing with the creature?" Blue Emerald snapped. "And I thought that cowardly Emerald was bad, here you are doing research unsupervised! And that's not even the-"
"Do we have a problem?" Percival asked, standing up. He stood taller than a Jasper in front of the blue gem, stepping closer.
"N-No, I just need my Peridot back, is all!" Blue Emerald stammered. L6Y never thought she would live to see fear in her commander's eyes. Percival frowned.
"You know, if you truly cared about 'er, she wouldn't be damn near starved an' bruised like that." he replied.
"I don't! She's just my Peridot, and she needs--"
"A good home is what she needs!" Percy snapped. "And if you ain't gonna treat 'er right, you don't deserve 'er!"
"Oh, what do you know, you're just a big oaf with above average blood and muscle tissue!" Blue Emerald snapped. "And if you don't give her to--"
She was cut off when Percival swiftly decked her across the room with a left hook, sending her crashing into a wall, her form dissipating on impact.
"Enough of this" The yellow gem growled, pushing a button on her bracelet.
Cords came down from the ceiling, trying to wrap around Percival. He simply pulled them out of the ceiling compartment and tied down the yellow gem with them as she cursed and screamed.
"Why don't you stay there awhile." he muttered, as he took a peek outside the room, hoping nobody would notice him.
"What'd you say about a ship?" Percy asked calmly, as he knew the gems were unconscious.
"I-if I could g-g-get a sh-ship then m-may-maybe find t-the boys." Lily trembled in his presence, backing away. "P-please don't hurt me."
Percival took pity on the poor girl.
"How'd you like to be a part my family?" He asked. "I can be your dad, and you'll have a loving mother, and two brothers...Does that sound good? I'll never hurt you, I promise."
L6Y looked up at him. "Y-You mean it?" she asked, hope in her eyes. "I can be a part of this 'Family' unit?"
Percival opened his arms. "C'mere!" he said, offering a hug.
L6Y flinched, thinking it was an attack. She was unsure of what to do after Percival wrapped his arms around her, stuck in place as she tried to figure out the proper response.
He released, and asked "So what's your name?"
"L6Y Facet-74" she replied.
Percival took a minute to process that.
"Would it be okay if I called you Lily?" He asked.
"Of course-." Lily paused for a moment "Your clarity?"
"How about you just call me Dad?" Percy said
"Okay, your 'Dad', allow me to guide you too the escape pods." Lily left with the strange creature, showing the probably high-ranking human the ship area.
"I can get into most of these without an officer." Lily stated "But most I can get into are missing most basic defense mechanisms."
"So in layman's terms?"
"We can get off this ship, but we're screwed in a combat situation."
"Hmm.." Percy stood thinking for a moment, the tiny blond girl copying his pose. "Well, I guess we'll have to get out without anyone noticing, unless the doors to an actual ship aren't too thick."
Lily looked nervous, as the attack ships were on the lowest level of the ship.
"W-Well, at least we won't go down without a fight!" Lily replied, nervously. He hoped Percival had some experience being a gunner as he led him to the lowest level. Few stood in their way, believing Lily was escorting him at the request of Blue Emerald, none the wiser that she was poofed in the interrogation chamber above.
She led him to the parking garage. Percival forced the door open with brute force, knowing Lily isn't able to open it on her own. She looked to find the fastest ship. Fortunately, a Roaming Eye sat relatively close, loosely guarded. Lily was about to step right on, when Percy stopped her.
"Loosely guarded, close to the exit...this has got to be a trap." he whispered. He took a rock and threw it inside the ship's open door. He waited and listened closely for footsteps, traps, alert systems, etc. but there was nothing. The two carefully boarded the ship, and looked for any security measures before making it to the cockpit. They realized one crucial thing they forgot: The keys. Lily looked ashamed and scared at the same time, and began panicking.
"I am so sorry, Dad! I didn't mean to--"
"It's okay, Lily, calm down." Percy replied, opening a hatch. "Watch: Me an' my buddies used to do this all the time when we wanted to go on a joyride!"
Lily watched closely as he managed to hotwire the ship to start up, as well as disabling any security measures, as they took it out of the hangar and into space.
"This is one of the most high tech ships we have! How did you do that?!" Lily asked, thinking this human wasn't as much of an earthling as he was letting on.
Percy looked confused. "Well, if this is so high tech, how come its wiring ain't no different than a '72 Ford Bronco?" he asked, partially laughing, standing up.
"Bronco-?" Lily asked, her fingers floating into their places on the command panel.
"It's an old truck from back in the day." he said, making his way to the radar. He didn't touch anything, just tried to piece together what everything was, making sure the coast was clear. "I get the feeling you'd love the cars we have on Earth." he said, making sure nobody was stowing away on the ship.
"Hostile ships incoming!" Lily announced, the vehicle lurching as lily tried to out maneuver them from the cockpit. Percival took control of the rear-facing cannons and shot them out of the sky with the precision only he cold muster.
Percival found the cloaking device and the tracking beacon. As he turned on the tracking beacon, he flushed the tracking beacon using its waste disposal mechanism.
"That ought to do it for a while." he said, dusting off his hands. "We didn't even need to use missiles"
"I hope so, Dad..." Lily sighed, putting the ship in Auto-pilot towards Earth. "And...I hope your sons like me..."
"I think they will." Percival replied confidently.