Winter 2005
Inner City Projects of Angel City, California
7:09 AM
Footsteps crunched on loose, gray gravel from the potholes that flecked the street in the alleyway. They grew faster and faster by each heartbeat, and blended together in a frenzy. Just behind a metal trash can around a corner at the end crouched a huddled form with a long and thick trench coat. Judging by the big dark pouf of black hair exposed, it was a person. Their breath came in short, frightened gasps as anxiety crawled through them.
"Garnet," she heard someone mention her name in a hushed conversation. Garnet froze as the angry group began to approach her. She had a mission. It was a mission in which she was to rob the local bank and split the goods with her gang. At the time it happened, about a few years ago, she was just about to make off with the bulging suitcase full of green until she was caught red-handed by the police and was incarcerated. Even though she was a rather skilled thief, she was bound to make a mistake or two. And that mistake could cost her her form. She was able to regenerate but she did not want to stay confined and wait. So she was fleeing. The gang, which went by the name of "The Vixens," was a small, tight-knit group of three young women in their early twenties and of African and English ethnicities. Their motto was "What you see is what you get." In other words, they only participated in the act of stealing, looting, and the occasional arson. The turf covered an astonishing amount of Angel City; those areas were characterized by a long, vertical charred line, the name "Vix" on one side, and an abbreviation of the motto on the other. Garnet continued feeling fulfilled with this life. In the past, Garnet was often judged and unaccepted in her new home at the time, Angel City, planet Earth due to her appearance and demeanor. Everyone was scared of her and she could not be trusted, even though it was no fault of her own. She was often alone and learned to adapt eventually, but one day she had had enough and accepted an invitation to be a part of a new family of young women. It was a long time until they revealed their criminal ways. Garnet had been too blinded by their acceptance and camaraderie to see that she was stuck commiting crimes and hiding out for the rest of her life; she had been deceived. And due to Garnet being a valuable asset for her extraterrestrial strength, intimidating appearance and leadership skills, her new family would make her regret leaving them dearly. "If we can't have you then no one will!" One of them declared aggressively. Despite the possible consequences of leaving, the lonesome Gem just couldn't resist the companionship and sense of belonging. So she then began her life as the newest member of The Vixens.
As she sat and trembled behind the empty trash can, she started to regret her gang affiliations. Everything was going smoothly until she failed the mission all that time ago. And ever since then, she was hiding from the angry women that began to pursue her. Although it might have seemed that she lived happily alone without the burden of the demands or crimes, she was actually living in a silent hell. Like a dormant volcano, ready to erupt at any time. Garnet knew they could find her. Somewhere. And somehow. But she did not want to believe it. The fear of being found by them was accompanied by other fears. Her fear of failure, betrayal, and her fear of not being able to solve problems right away. Garnet's fears were so strong that she found herself evading them most of the time. But evading her fears only made the hiding out worse, much to her dismay. She closed her eyes as her thoughts muffled every sound, even the storm of the two women rushing at her. Before Garnet could see who they were, she felt herself being thrusted against the wall and pinned tightly with a pistol stuck underneath her chin. The woman with the stocky, muscular build similar to Garnet had the crestfallen woman held to the wall with one hand on her wrist, and the other holding the silver pistol; she had one leg bent towards the wall between Garnet's knees. The other one, with a smaller more petite frame, stood on one side of the two in case of escape; she had one hand on her hip, and the other playing with her long, tightly-curled red-brown hair. She narrowed her stoney, hazel gaze at Garnet and snapped her gum condescendingly. Garnet began to accept her fate; after all, she had failed her mission. But then she calmed down as she remembered that she was a Crystal Gem, and Crystal Gems were virtually indestructible and could regenerate! However, the gems on both of her palms were susceptible to damage, so she pressed her tan hands against the wall to protect them. The voluptuous Gem cracked a smirk.
"Honey...we meet again," Garnet choked out. She was impressed at that moment of gaining her trademark calm, collective composure. Well, this kind of thing reminded her of the thug life, too. Then so be it. It was nothing to her, after all.
"Hey sister, what's good these days?" Honey's name definitely did not fit her appearance. She cracked a wild, silver, grill-adorned grin that frightened everyone and anyone, except the members of her group. Her face was narrow and intimidating, and her hair was tied back in a tight bun with a purple bandana (The group's official color was purple.) Her leadership was clear then.
Garnet replied, "Nothing."
The other two women looked at each other, and Honey snickered. She turned back to Garnet and said,
"Listen, smart ass, you got yo-self three strikes. Used one of them now. Two more, then you're out."
"Yeah, enlighten us a bit," the shorter woman said.
Garnet took a short moment. "Let's come clean then. It's all I can do." Then she said,
"Yes. I failed. I am aware of that. So do what you will." Garnet spoke through her teeth.
The other two Vixens were somewhat impressed at their member's submission. She didn't usually do this. Garnet never went down without a fight.
Honey had just enough mercy to negotiate with the runaway member. So what Garnet did was a strike; two more, then she was out.
Honey said, "Listen here, Garney. We a team. No backing out, nothing like that, okay? That's the only time you be doin' that, get it?"
The Vixen leader thrusted the gun into Garnet's neck threateningly; Garnet grunted at the pressure and moved her head to the side.
"G-got it," Garnet replied evenly. The two disconnected and all three mingled about and made small talk for a short moment as if nothing happened. Garnet patted the petite woman's upper arm and said, "Yo Deedee. 'Sgoin on these days?"
"Nah, nuttin', just chillin' with Honey and doing shit like we always do."
Honey thrusted in between them and interrupted.
"Y'all good? Kay, we good. So Garnet..."
Garnet shrugged the trenchcoat off her shoulders; she exposed a stylish denim waist jacket with a dark green tank underneath, a golden garnet pendant, enormous gold hoop earrings, black, curve-hugging jeggings, and glamorous, nude studded high heels.
Deedee chuckled approvingly and commented on her outfit.
"Looking fresh, girl."
Even Honey nodded and smirked in agreement. But she straightened her playful expression to the crazy, intimidating one shown before. Garnet put her coat back on.
"Kay, kay, no playin', no playin'. Garnet...Look"
A shady-looking metal taco truck drove right past the three women. Honey broke away quickly and examined the spot where it pulled over at. Then she went back to the two Vixens and said, "Perrrrfect. A brand new mission for you, hon."
Garnet put her hands on her hips and said, "Well? What's up?"
Honey laid down the plan...
"Garnet...See that truck there?"
She nodded. "Go on..." she urged.
"Loot it. Take as much as you can. Got your gun?"
Garnet reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a pistol discreetly. The Gem didn't summon her gauntlets around the group in fear of them growing even more dependent on her. Then she put it back.
"Cool. Now wait for it..."
The inner city group plastered themselves just around the corner in the alleyway, and waited for the right moment. Being the slightly younger, more impulsive Garnet, she didn't hesitate, and shot out from her hiding place. The stocky woman ran across the crumbled sidewalk, heels and all, and climbed effortlessly up into the open taco truck. It rocked and swayed as she grabbed the collar of the driver's tacky, grease-stained shirt and held him for a moment. He could do nothing but gasp with shock at her surprisingly fluid movements and massive stature.
"Honey! Deedee! One of you! Get in here!"
Honey appeared from around the corner and she quickly took her place. Honey pulled out her pistol and held the frightened driver hostage; he threw his arms up obediently.
"You know what's goin' down, Garney..."
Garnet nodded once briskly and shoved past them to the cash register near the serving window. She pushed the eject button to open the register, but it wouldn't budge. After taking her fist and pounding it, it still wouldn't open, so her once-fiery temper got the better of her. The Crystal Gem pulled out her pistol, and aimed it at the button. Her precision was eventually no match for the piece of junk, and she fired; by now Garnet had completely regained her signature quiet, stoic demeanor. The cash register exploded into pieces, except for the tray that held the goods. She placed the gun back into her pocket. She went to town. She then flipped up the cash clips and swiped the money into the palm of her crimson-jeweled hand. When every bit of the paper money was cleared out, she dived into the coin holders and scooped out as much as she could. Much to her satisfaction, she was able to store everything in every single pocket of her jacket. Deep pockets. Brilliant. The ebony lady thought to herself. Very certain that the loot wasn't too obvious, she grabbed her pistol, concealed it in the inside pocket, and took a step... Something didn't quite feel right. Garnet's equilibrium was off, but the truck appeared to be undisturbed. But then she was finally convinced as everything slid slowly to the side; the first things to go down were the smallest things, such as condiments, then the larger items fell with a cacophonous bang onto the thin metal floor, one after the other. The truck tipped farther and farther, and the sticky mess of disturbed food items grew worse and worse. The dark woman found nothing else to do than to hide under the driver's seat, since it was the most promising. She fell to her knees and attempted to crawl from the back side to the front side of the tacky vehicle. But then, it was too late...The truck fell completely to the side, and Garnet flew from the floor to the bottom side. She landed heavily onto her back. The roaring of the contents being tossed simultaneously stopped altogether. Silence. There was silence and filth, as Garnet was just covered in hot sauce, sour cream, and guacamole from head to toe. It matted a good part of her dark afro and flecked her trademark bright yellow shades. Trying very hard not to slip, she managed to get on her hands and knees and crawl towards the front of the now disheveled truck. Fortunately, the side where the door was faced up, so eventually Garnet hauled herself up and out of the filthy vehicle. Like she had always done, she did not feel the need to hesitate; with the loot wadded up inside her jacket and pant pockets, she charged towards Deedee, who stood and watched, anticipating the results of the heist.
"Move it!" she hollered to the oblivious Deedee. Then Honey crawled the fell out of the toppled vehicle, shaken but not seriously hurt fortunately. Garnet went over and picked her up out of the mess. The soreness made Honey toss her ego aside, and she grunted in pain as Garnet carried her. Then the two able-bodied female gang bangers booked it down the street, leaving the food truck owner knocked out cold.
Summer, Present Day
Beach City
She couldn't quite figure out why she had kept all her gang-affiliated rifles to this day. The leader of the Crystal Gems cradled a rifle in her arms, staring into it as if it were an engrossing TV show. But the only things that she was saw were her memories of The Vixens. These weapons were definitely things that Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven should never see. And Garnet's past life was a thing they should never know about. Although the gang life was inevitably rough, pleasant memories broke through to her. She remembered Honey as the one who accepted her for who she was, and one of the people who needed her help the most. Garnet was without a family, and had no place to go, but thanks to her crew, she never had to worry about food, shelter, or companionship. Until one day the two vanished, never to be seen again. She thought it acceptable to think they were shot dead by a rival gang, as that too, was inevitable. Looking back on her time spent with them, she continued to honor the two of them for seeing what they saw in her. Although Garnet would have wanted to share her story of finding love and being resilient, she wanted more than anything to keep this a secret because of her fear of being judged. Despite the harshness of their former lifestyle, they each will have a piece of her heart. Garnet was jarred back into reality when she heard a knock at the door. Telling by the sound of it, it was Steven. She got up to place the assault weapon into its rightful place: A six-foot tall safe in the closet of her bedroom. She quickly made sure the clip was detached and the safety was on before closing it up and locking it. Then, with all lingering melancholy whisked away, she went out to see what Steven wanted.