Hunt For Gemkind-Part 2
(Time in the Big House)
Last time, the Crystal Gems were returning from their latest mission, but not long after coming back home, they come face to face with Deathwalker, an ancient and powerful mechanical being with a mysterious past, older than Gemkind itself alongside most life in the universe, and a fearsome bounty hunter to boot. He reveals he's been to Earth before and faced Rose Quartz, only to fail to collect her gem under unusual circumstances, and is back to finish what he started. Even with help from Peridot and Jasper, one by one, Deathwalker brings down the Gems with ease, even though Peridot escapes with Lion's help. Now, he brings them all aboard his massive ship and makes them prisoners, and the Gems are in for a painful time in the big house.
Steven slowly opens his eyes, he's got a huge headache from getting slammed into the ground, and he finds himself in a fairly big blue metal room, with nothing inside it with him except a flat metal bed sticking out of the wall, one that he's lying on, along with a light blue energy field blocking the huge opening for his cell. He even notices a strange black collar with small yellow lights on it strapped to his left forearm. Steven slowly gets up, and has a look at his surroundings until he gets startled by a loud bang from his right, followed by another one, and another one, until he starts hearing familiar voices.
"LET US OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!", yelled a furious female voice Steven recognized as Jasper, punching away at the wall of her cell, which seems to be located two spaces away from his right.
"Dude, forget it! You've been at it for hours, he's not gonna listen!", shouted Amethyst, who's cell seemed to be located just between Jasper and Steven.
"You got any better ideas?!", demanded Jasper.
"None of us do, Jasper, but punching away at the wall isn't going to accomplish anything", said Pearl.
"Pearl's right, it's best to save our strength. We don't know what he has planned for us", said Garnet, and as Steven listened in, he spots Lapis in a cell across from his own, sitting on her cell bench with her arms wrapped around her knees and with her eyes closed in sadness.
"Lapis?", asked Steven as he approached the energy barrier of his cell, then Lapis opens her eyes and turned to Steven with a surprised look on her eyes, and the others were too busy talking to notice right away.
"Steven? Steven! Hey guys, he's awake!", shouted Lapis as she got up from her bench, and the others stop arguing long enough to listen in and Steven could get a better look through the barrier. Apparently, Pearl's cell is located next to that of Lapis, followed by Garnet's cell. Steven could see those two as well, and then he could see that there's at least four or five floors of cells above, as it seems like that's all one huge corridor with a design that would match a classic Earth prison look, with one huge walkway, and five floors of cells above with gangways connecting them all. Steven and the other Gems appear to be on the first floor.
"Does it even matter? It's not like he can get us out of here", said Jasper.
"Aside from Jasper's rudeness, we're glad you're awake now Steven", said Pearl.
"Same here", said Garnet.
"Glad you're alright buddy", said Amethyst.
Nice to have you back with us", said Lapis.
"*scoffs* What they said", said Jasper.
"I'm glad you guys are alright too, but where are we?", asked Steven, and that gave the others an uneasy feeling again, which led to Lapis sitting back on her bench with her arms wrapped around her knees again, Pearl seems to have her back against the wall as she sits on the floor cross-legged, Garnet sits on her bench with her left knee perched onto the bench and lays her arm on top, but appears to be without her visor for some reason even though she could summon a new one in an instant, Jasper has her back against the wall but stands and has her arms crossed, and Amethyst just lies down on her bench.
"We're on Deathwalker's ship, this is one of his massive cell corridors", said Lapis.
"I regained consciousness on his escort ship for a brief moment, he mentioned to himself that there's at least three or four dozen of these massive prison corridors", said Garnet.
"How long have we been here?", asked Steven.
"About a whole day so far, the rest of us woke up eight hours ago", said Pearl.
"Gets real boring after the second hour", said Amethyst.
"You think this is a game runt?!", shouted Jasper.
"Well excuse me for being the kind of person to get bored being someone's prisoner!", shouted Amethyst.
"Join the club", said Lapis.
"Sorry", said Amethyst.
"Hey! Shut it down there!", yelled a random alien male voice from one of the other floors.
"Yeah! Some of us like to sleep! Didn't anyone ever teach you brats to mourn in silence?!", demanded another alien voice.
"I like to see any of you losers tell that to my face!", yelled Jasper.
"Calm down Jasper", said Garnet.
"It's no problem, I'll just slip through the barrier like I did back on that Gem Handship", said Steven as he stepped close to the barrier.
"No wait!", shouted Lapis before Steven attempted to pass his hand through, only to feel a painful shock.
"Ow! What was that?!", demanded Steven in surprise as he shook his hand to make the pain go away.
"I tried to tell you, it won't work, these fields are made to make sure no one could escape, not even hybrids from the looks of it", said Lapis.
"Take it from me, it didn't go the way I wanted when I tried it myself", said Jasper.
"Well then, we'll just smash the cells apart until these barriers shut down", said Steven as he attempted to summon his shield, but as it starts to materialize, it vanishes quickly. Confused, Steven tries summoning his sword, and that doesn't work either, "What's going on? I can't summon my weapons".
"We know, none of us can, not with THESE on us", said Pearl as she referred to the small collar around her neck, along with the ones on Garnet's right bicep area, Lapis' right ankle, Amethyst's left thigh, and Jasper's right forearm, and they all looked like the one Steven has on his left forearm.
"What are these anyway?", asked Steven as he studied his collar.
"They're special inhibitor collars, they can nullify a creature's special powers, keep them from getting out of line and are impossible to remove ourselves", said Garnet.
"They don't nullify our natural fighting skills, but against Deathwalker, that's not enough unfortunately", said Pearl.
"What about Peridot and Lion?", asked Steven.
"We heard those two escaped before Deathwalker rounded us up", said Lapis.
"Can't believe those two left us", said Amethyst in a minor annoyed tone.
"Believe it, they just left us here to rot away", said Jasper in anger.
"I don't believe that, I'm sure those two will try to save us. But one thing bugs me though, and I know I shouldn't ask this, but why didn't Deathwalker just make us all retreat back into our gems and put us all in his trophy case", asked Steven, and probably expected an angry response from one of the other Gems, but given the situation they're all in, they're too depressed to be angry, except Jasper that is.
"We don't know, he must have something planned for us", said Pearl.
"Whatever it is, I know I don't like it already", said Garnet, and that's when a huge door close to Steven and Lapis' cells opens up and two of Deathwalker's soldiers step inside, followed by this getting the Gems' attention.
"Prepare yourselves Gems, the master wishes to speak with you", said both soldiers in unison, and then Deathwalker himself steps through that door with his smirk on that face of his as he looked to each one of the Gems in their cells, who remained the way they were before.
"Leave us", said Deathwalker.
"Yes master", said the two soldiers in unison as they saluted and left the corridor.
"Trouble in paradise kids?", asked Deathwalker as he leaned against the wall close to Lapis' cell and with his armed crossed.
"This dump is anything but paradise", said Jasper.
"Come on, don't be like that", said Deathwalker, followed by a minute of silence from the Gems, "Alright, have it your way".
"Hey! It's the bot that stuck us all in here!", shouted another alien voice.
"When we bust out of here, we're gonna turn you into wall decorations!", shouted yet another alien voice, resulting in a whole bunch of commotion from nearly every prisoner in that corridor, minus the Gems that is.
"Well, so much for your little paradise pal", said Amethyst, then Deathwalker's smile fades away for a minute as he looks up at all the other cells with annoyance. Then, the red light on his forehead lights up and the whole place suddenly goes silent.
"Audio distribution in Cell Corridor 9, excluding Cells 1-6, deactivated", announced that computer voice over some intercom, then Deathwalker resumes smiling and turns his attention back to the Gems.
"That's better, now we can chat in peace", said Deathwalker.
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it", said Pearl.
"I think you're confusing peace with quiet, kid. Speaking of which, you should be glad I stopped that racket going on just now", said Deathwalker.
"He got ya there, P", said Amethyst.
"Not helping", said Pearl before the energy fields for their cells suddenly deactivate, leaving them all curious and confused as almost everyone got up.
"What is this?", asked Jasper.
"I thought the cell corridor was too depressing to be the kind of place to chat, so you're all invited to come with me to the bridge where we can have our little chat", said Deathwalker with pride before he walks in front of Lapis' cell, hunches down a bit since he's much bigger than those cells and sticks his hand out for Lapis, "Come on, kid, you'll love the bridge. It's much more uplifting than here, I can tell you that much", said Deathwalker as he expected Lapis to grab his hand, but instead she stays there on her bench with her arms tightly wrapped around her knees and turns her head away from Deathwalker, which makes him lose his smile and then sighs. That's when Deathwalker quickly grabs Lapis by her right arm and holds her close so their face to face, as Lapis' eyes are instantly wide-open with terror.
"Hey! Let her go!", demanded Amethyst as she and the others were angry with Deathwalker but couldn't help Lapis, knowing that those collars are blocking their powers, and their natural fighting skills alone wouldn't be a match for him.
"Lapis!", shouted Steven as he was still in his cell, just a couple feet away from Deathwalker as the Gem Hunter had Lapis in his clutches.
"Maybe I was being too kind. I meant, you WILL follow me to the bridge", said Deathwalker in a calm yet menacing tone as he squeezed Lapis' cheeks together with his right hand, then a minute later he drops Lapis, who falls to her knees and looks up to Deathwalker, with that same scared look in her eyes, "Or I could just vaporize you all and stick you in my trophy case right now, starting with you, Lazuli", said Deathwalker as his right forearm shifts into a menacing pulse blaster and points it right at Lapis' face.
"If you hurt her, I swear I'll destroy you!", shouted Pearl as Lapis whimpered a bit with that blaster pointed right at her face.
"*chuckles* you Gems can't do zilch with those collars on, but you're right, maybe I shouldn't start with little miss barefoot Gem here. Maybe I'll start with you, or you", said Deathwalker mockingly as he pointed that blaster at the others one at a time, until he stops with Steven, and that really surprises the others, "Yeah, maybe I should start with you first instead, boy. You told me yourself: you're not sure if you can regenerate in your gem like all the others, being a hybrid and all, this'll be doing you a huge favor", said Deathwalker as he stepped a bit closer, forcing Steven to back up a bit because of that blaster, along with a nervous look on his face, and the same went with the others, but Lapis was the most scared for Steven, no surprise about that, after freeing her from that mirror a long time ago, Steven was the first friend Lapis ever made in a long time, considering she must've felt extremely sad being in there all alone, she cared about the other Gems just as much, but she wasn't going to risk possibly losing her best friend. The atmosphere grew very intense as Deathwalker charged up the pulse blaster and prepared to fire at Steven, but before any of the others could say or do anything in reaction to that, Lapis was the first.
"STOP! Alright, I'll come along too. Just, please, don't hurt Steven, please", pleaded Lapis as she slowly got off her knees and Deathwalker smirked as the blaster loses its charge and shifts back into his forearm and hand.
"Glad you saw things my way! By the way, I always find it adorable when kids like you beg for me! Come on, time's a wasting", said Deathwalker as he walked away from Steven and over to the door, with the others reluctantly following one at a time. Steven was about to exit his cell, when all of a sudden the energy barrier for his cell switched back on, much to his and the other Gems' surprise. The other Gems run over to his cell, and had a surprised look on their face along with Steven before turning back to Deathwalker.
"What's the big idea?!", demanded Jasper.
What are you doing?! Let Steven out of his cell, please!", shouted Lapis.
No dice kid. I've waited WAY too long to finally get my hands on my ultimate prize only to let it slip through my fingers because the rest of you give him the chance to escape somehow, Steven stays here. Besides, I've already talked with him enough back in Beach City, now I wanna have a word with the rest of you", said Deathwalker, and the rest of the Gems give him a glare, which he found a little annoying as his eyes lighted up, indicating he would threaten to use his laser eyes on them if they didn't get moving.
"Guys, I'll be fine, just go with him", said Steven in a reassuring voice.
"But, we're supposed to stick together, all of us", said Lapis with slightly teary eyes, and Steven had the same ones.
"I know, but go with him anyway, I don't want him having another reason to hurt any of you guys", said Steven as he and Lapis smiled at each other before they wiped their eyes.
"We'll be back soon, I promise", said Garnet on behalf of the others as she turned to Deathwalker, "Alright Deathwalker, lead on".
"Thank you very much. Let's go", said Deathwalker as he exits the corridor with the other Gems in tow, leaving Steven in that corridor with all the other prisoners he won't be able to talk to. Twenty five minutes of walking went by, but at last, they reach their destination, "Welcome to the bridge, kids! Hope you like it", said Deathwalker as those five Gems observed the whole place: it's mostly clear there, but on the far left is a control center run by six soldiers, the ones in charge of flying the ship and such, at the far end, after a few big steps, a fancy looking command chair, where Deathwalker could get the best view through his giant windshield that went on for both sides as well. The Gems were a bit impressed for a minute until they came back to reality, and asked their "host" a few questions about the vessel.
"Nice place you have, so where are we?", asked Pearl as she and the others could easily see a lot of jungle below and there's a massive storm with so much rain pouring down.
"Ah, we're in the Amazonian rainforest within the middle of a very large and very powerful thunderstorm that's hitting us strong but is completely harmless to this ship", said Deathwalker as he stood at the steps of his command chair, then Amethyst runs over to the little control center and tries to mock one of the soldiers.
"Hey! Copy-bot! Looks like you got a few screws loose!", shouted Amethyst right into one's audio receptor before it simply knocked her back toward the others.
"I don't think they noticed", said Lapis as she helped Amethyst up.
"My troops don't possess any real emotion kid, they're not gonna care much about your little insults", said Deathwalker as he approached his chair, and the right arm of the chair produced a silver chalice filled with oil, grabs it and takes a hearty gulp, "Sorry, I'd offer you kids a drink, but I don't allow prisoners any food or water unless they're in their cells or the courtyard", said Deathwalker as he takes a seat and turns to face the view he has of the thunderstorm, while the five Gems stood there irritated with him.
"Well, did you invite us down here to talk?", asked Garnet with a serious look in all three eyes.
"Yeah, or did you drag us over here just to watch you sit in your little chair drinking from your fancy sippy cup?", asked Jasper, and that definitely struck a nerve as Deathwalker finished up his drink, places the chalice back on the arm rest, and slams both hands on the arm rests getting up, while crushing the chalice in the manner of a soda can, while startling the Gems and his soldiers stop what they're doing to turn to their master. A minute goes by before Deathwalker finally speaks in a low yet menacing voice.
"I try to show my guests a good time, give them a tour of my bridge, and be the best host I can be. Do I get any gratitude? No I don't. Instead, all I get are a bunch of obnoxious brats and their incessant whining!", shouted Deathwalker as he knocks the crushed chalice to his right and ends up lodged in the windshield, startling the Gems once again before their angry looks come back. Then Deathwalker seems to have calmed down a bit as he takes a deep breath before he turns and faces the Gems, "Fine, you wanna cut straight to the point, then let's get down to business", said Deathwalker as he walked down the steps of his command chair, and as he did, he had to stretch out his neck, but as he did, the Gems didn't notice the red light on his forehead light up for a second; at that time, Steven, sitting on his bench, quickly noticed some sort of monitor appear across from him on the wall, and it appears to be a live feed of the bridge, indicating that there's something Deathwalker wants Steven to see while in his cell.
"Alright, answer us this: why DIDN'T you put us in your trophy case yet?", asked Garnet.
"Don't worry, I'm still gonna stick you all in there, where you all belong of course, I just thought it'd be better to save that for last, after I bring in the others that is", said Deathwalker, and with that, the Gems get a little worried.
"Yeah, I doubt it", said Amethyst fakingly.
"You must be mistaken, there aren't any other Gems on this planet", said Pearl with a bit of sweat trickling down the side of her face, hoping Deathwalker would buy it, but given his reputation, he's hardly ever gullible.
"Seriously? That's the way you're gonna play? *chuckles* it's funny how dumb you Gems can be sometimes. Like I'd fall for a lie like that. I know you five, Steven and Peridot weren't the only Gems on Earth. In fact, including you all, there's fourteen other Gems scattered across the globe", said Deathwalker, and the Gems hesitated and kept from demanding that he leaves them alone, but Steven tried that, and it was pointless.
"If you know where to find the others, why haven't you gone and captured them already?", asked Jasper.
"I will, you can count on it. But believe it or not, I'm actually exhausted from the little dust-up back in Beach City, so I decided to kick back for a few days, enjoys the sights considering I've hardly explored this planet since my last visit was brief, and then I'll round up the others", said Deathwalker as he walked over to the crushed chalice stuck in the windshield, pulls it out, allowing the windshield to repair itself, then throws the flattened piece of metal over to his chair, which snatches the metal piece in mid-air with an electro-magnet, has it hover over the right arm rest, and repairs the chalice, all in one piece.
"We have to know, did Rose really fight with you?", asked Pearl.
"Hmph, believe me kid, I did. I bet you'd like me to tell you how that went down exactly. But I don't like to talk for too long, so instead, I'll show you", said Deathwalker as the red light on his forehead lit up, and some kind of essence was being emitted from it, spreading all over the bridge, until the place looked like they were all transported to the desert, but the place looked to be surrounded by the ruins of some Egyptian settlement, and Steven could see it all through the monitor as well.
"I don't recognize this place", said Pearl as she studied the ruins.
"Hardly a surprise. Remember, there could be a dozen or more warp pads hidden around the planet", said Garnet, but then, just outside the settlement, a warp pad lit up, and standing there, was Rose Quartz, the great founder of the Crystal Gems, and the five Gems, including Steven, were stunned to see her, but she didn't see them.
"Mom", said Steven in wonder, as he watched it all in his cell.
"What is this?", asked Lapis.
"This is a manifestation of my memory of this particular day, the day I finally tracked down my biggest prize, and that prize as you know, was Rose Quartz", said Deathwalker as Rose stepped down from the warp pad and entered the settlement. Rose spent a few minutes looking around, until she started calling out for someone.
"Hello?! Are you there?! Don't worry, I'm a Gem too! My name is Rose Quartz, I sensed a Gem life presence here, and came to offer any help if I can! You don't have to hide from me!", shouted Rose as she still searched for any signs of life, but then, she hears faint groaning sounds. Rose then rushes to the source, which was behind a crumbling wall missing a majority of it, and there was a Gem, on the ground as if she was in pain. She appeared to be Pearl's height, with dark orange skin, black gloves that reached just past the elbow, black boots that ended just above her knees, a black one piece suit where the bottom of the suit acted like a pair of shorts, a pink sleeveless vest with a small opening on the back of it, some short pink skirt focusing more on the back, small yellow shoulder pads, and very dark orange short hair with a small three part upward-facing pony tail. Her orange gem is located on her forehead, thin and positioned vertically. Rose then helps the Gem to her feet and checked her for any serious injuries.
"*groans* wait, YOU'RE Rose Quartz?! Oh my goodness, it's a huge honor to meet you! I've heard about the Gem Wars that went down on this planet! I've always wanted to work with you, so I tried everything I could to get here and ow!", said the Gem until she clutched to her side, obviously still in agony.
"Don't put too much strain on yourself young one, what's your name?", asked Rose, before the Gem got into a soldier position to present herself.
"Creedite, ma'am! I've trained myself in the fine ways of Gem combat on Homeworld, and also happen to be a fan on different furniture. I've read about all your exploits in the archives, I've always wanted to serve your cause, even if it meant betraying Yellow Diamond", said Creedite.
"Thank you very much Creedite, ours numbers are few, but we're strong, and we wouldn't mind welcoming an additional member to our group", said Rose, and that bit of news was enough to make her eyes shine with excitement.
"I…don't know what to say, thank you ma'am! I promise you won't be disappointed!", said Creedite, knowing she's been given this chance to work with her hero, and this got to Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl a bit. Even Steven, Jasper and Lapis were just as surprised Rose was going to bring in a new recruit. They could've wondered why haven't they seen her, but then they would get the answer they hoped not to get.
"*chuckles* I'm sure you won't young one, you'll make a great Crystal Gem. But I must ask: how did you end up here anyway?", asked Rose, and for a moment, Creedite remembered what was it that dragged her there of all places, and was very, very shocked.
"Oh no, Miss Quartz, I'm so so sorry! I was about halfway to this planet, something attacked me, I had to go back into my gem, next thing I remember, and I regenerated HERE! Miss Quartz, it's a trap!", shouted Creedite as the sound of two metal objects hitting each other caught Rose and Creedite by surprise, and eight feet away, across from them, stepping out from another rather huge crumbled wall, was Deathwalker, pulling off a slow clap with a grin, obviously as he appeared now, but he was missing his double scar over his left eye. Again, other than that, he seemed exactly the same ruthless yet charming bounty hunter he is today.
"My my my, kid's quite the detective, huh? I did an amazing job, if I do say so myself, and I always do", said Deathwalker as he leans against the wall he walked out from behind, and Rose and Creedite meet him with a glare.
"You must be Deathwalker, the legendary Gem Hunter", said Rose.
"The one and only. And since you were obviously able to deduce my identity, you must already know why I'm here", said Deathwalker.
"You want my Gem", said Rose.
"Exactly, but you see, you're a lot more different than the hundreds of Gems I've hunted down over the years. You're the crown jewel of my collection, my greatest prize ever. Tracking you to this fine planet was way too easy, and luring you out into the open, even easier. By the way, I have to say, from what I've seen and learned so far, this planet isn't as bad as some species out there think of it. I can see why you love this place so much enough to start a war against your own kind to keep it safe. Don't looked so surprised, I've read everything on you Gems, you catch your prey, first you have to know your prey", said Deathwalker.
"Deathwalker, you know you don't have to do this, we can work things out so there doesn't have to be any violence of the sort", said Rose as she pleaded with the Gem Hunter to leave peacefully, but Deathwalker stopped grinning a few minutes later before speaking again.
"You know, for someone many claim to be, in every way, the greatest Gem in all of history, you're unbearably naïve", said Deathwalker in slight annoyance before he fires an energy blast from his right hand fingers and knocks Rose away a few feet.
"It's bad enough to use me as bait, but to lay so much as a scratch on Miss Quartz is twisted! You'll pay for this!", shouted Creedite as she summoned her weapons, which were dual fancy golden old-looking all metal hammers, and readied herself.
"*chuckles* I'm not carrying any cash on me, but I do have this blade with your name on it", said Deathwalker as his right arm shield extends into his long blade. Creedite strikes first by leaping high into the air and swinging both hammers down on Deathwalker, who intercepts the attack by blocking it off with that arm shield of his and then pushes her back, Creedite charges in again, but is forced to avoid a slash from Deathwalker's long blade by sliding right underneath it, both fighters turn quickly and their weapons clash hard. Those two appear to be in a standoff, but Creedite notices too late that Deathwalker uses his free arm to sneak in a strong laser blast from his left fingers and knocks Creedite into a stone column. Deathwalker walks over to an injured Creedite, looks down on her like he does with everything and everyone else, "Just so you know kid, an up-close blast can vaporize any target, but I wanted to hold back a bit. Because I wanted Quartz to see this herself", said Deathwalker as he turns to Rose, who regains consciousness just in time, and sees Deathwalker looking right at her with those cold, soul-less eyes of his.
"Deathwalker, please don't", pleaded Rose.
"No point in pleading for me to let this kid go Quartz, you should know better of my reputation; besides, she's served her purpose", said Deathwalker in a very menacing tone as he turns his gaze back to Creedite, who turns to Rose herself with tears in her eyes.
"Miss Quartz, I'm sorry…forgive me" said Creedite grimly as Deathwalker unleashes an up-close blast at full power, enough to vaporize Creedite's physical form and force her back into her gem. Even as Deathwalker recovered the gem and stuck it in that sash of his, Rose was still frozen in shock and regret. Rose had studied all that Gems know of Deathwalker, but had hoped she'd never witness the slaying of a Gem at the hands of Deathwalker with her own eyes. That's when Rose gets back on her feet and faces Deathwalker with a very serious look, while getting one herself from the Gem Hunter.
"I hope you can forgive ME, Creedite. If you want me Deathwalker, then come", said Rose as she summoned her sword and shield, the very same weapons Steven would inherit. Deathwalker chuckles in response and activates both arm blades, and charges in. Deathwalker swings both blades at Rose, who blocks them off with her shield jumps and spin kicks Deathwalker in the face hard enough to almost make him lose balance, though the kick didn't seem to bother Rose, despite her being barefooted. The Gem Hunter looks to Rose with a small surprised look on his face for a brief moment, before he smirks, cracks his neck and speaks again.
"Finally, a real challenge", said Deathwalker as Rose leaps away, across the ruins with Deathwalker flying right after her. Rose leaps around the ruins with Deathwalker firing blast after blast from his laser fingers, Rose deflects some back to Deathwalker only for him to evade them, while others vaporize the ruins. The ruins were looking more ruined until Deathwalker decides to quit messing around and flies in on Rose at full speed, fast enough for him to catch Rose, fly around with her for a bit before he throws her far across the ruins, through two stone columns, and she rolls across the ground. Luckily, Rose gets back on her feet in time before Deathwalker closes in, he punches at Rose and hits the ground instead when Rose leaps back, but then Deathwalker, with his fist still in the sand, turns fast and kicks Rose across the ruins and into another crumbling wall, honestly it's like that place wasn't already enough of a mess. Rose was able to regain her balance this time, as Deathwalker activates his left arm blade and takes a swing at Rose, but that's when Rose jumps over the swing, and as Deathwalker turns back around to face her, Rose seems to channel a lot of her power into both sword and shield, crouches close to the ground, leaps up and swings both weapons at Deathwalker's face. This was very painful, but Deathwalker was able to stay focused and right punch Rose and lands her seven feet across from him while he finds himself taking a knee and clutching that part of his face. Rose looks back to Deathwalker, and ends up with a surprised look on her face, and Deathwalker seems confused about this, "What…What did you do to me?", asked Deathwalker in desperation, before he looks to the sand, fires a laser blast from his left fingers, which was hot enough to turn a patch of sand into glass, acting as an improvised mirror. Deathwalker looks down at the piece of glass, and was very shocked to see what appeared to be a double scar made over his left eye, this surprised him greatly, no being, especially a Gem, even any of the extremely powerful ones he's hunted over the years, has ever been able to land a single scratch on him. This shocking moment was brief as the shock made way for rage as Deathwalker slams his left fist down on the piece of glass with great force, shattering it entirely before he looks back to Rose with a very, very, very, very, VERY furious looks in his eyes. The scene pulls back from that and turns to the five Gems and our present day Deathwalker, who was tracing the double scar slowly with his fingers, seeing the whole thing from the secret monitor set in his cell, Steven was just as surprised as the others.
"Mom", said Steven to himself in awe.
"I bet that must've really stung ya when Rose messed with that ugly mug of yours", said Amethyst, yet Deathwalker kept his eyes on the flashback projection.
"Yeah, I think about that moment, every day, for the last thirteen years", said Deathwalker grimly, then the scene turns back to the flashback, there, Deathwalker still giving Rose that furious stare for a full minute, but then he seems to calm down and puts a smirk back on his face as he stands back up, while Rose remains ready for anything he might throw at her, "I have to admit, I'm far more impressed than I thought I'd be. It's been, by my estimates, at least eight minutes since we got started, add this little mark you gave me, no other Gem's ever made it this far, even when THEY gave it their all. But you Quartz, you're definitely special, and I look forward to bringing you in", said Deathwalker.
"I'm sorry to say you'll leave disappointed", said Rose as she tightened her grip on her sword.
"I'm not asking for your permission", said Deathwalker as his smirk fades away, followed by a compartment opening on both of his bicep areas of his arms, each revealing a metal rod. Deathwalker pulls both out as the compartments close up, and both rods shift into large dual battle axes, each with a blade of pure energy. Then Deathwalker charges straight for Rose, who does the same, finally the two fighters clash weapons with great force as the shockwave blows away any sand and rubble around them. Then Deathwalker pushes Rose away, swing his right ax at her, but Rose knocks his attack with her shield and quickly flip kicks Deathwalker right in the chin and lands back on her feet swiftly. Deathwalker shakes it off and swings both axes at Rose, but Rose moves to her right, swings her sword at him, only for Deathwalker to block it with his left arm shield, he swings his ax again, but Rose dodges and pulls off a backhand swing with her shield at Deathwalker right in the face again, why is it always the face? Deathwalker stumbles back a bit, then as Rose was about to come in for another attack, Deathwalker quickly fires a concentrated blast of heat vision, which Rose blocks with her shield, but the blast was strong enough to send Rose flying backwards into yet another stone column. Rose gets back on her feet, and moves out of the way as Deathwalker comes flying in and lands on the ground where she stood, leaving a small crater in the sand. Rose and Deathwalker continue their intense duel, trading various blows, until Deathwalker stores away his axes and switches to his forearms shifting into dual pulse blasters, like the one he threatened to use on Lapis back in the cell corridor, Deathwalker starts to fire away at Rose, who gracefully dodges and deflects every shot he's fired, until a few shots got her and sent her flying straight into the side of one of the few nearly intact structures in the area.
Deathwalker was about to fly over to check on Rose, make sure she was still intact so he could pull a finishing move like he did with Creedite, but something strange was happening, a bright pink light was coming from within the structure, and a few seconds later, Rose came leaping out of the structure and safely landed a few feet across from Deathwalker, but something was off about her. Rose was giving off a low pink glowing aura around her whole body, her eyes were doing the same, believing this was just some trick to try to scare him, Deathwalker shrugs it off and fires a couple of blasts at Rose, but she dodges those quickly, rushes at Deathwalker, knocks him in the gut with a shield bash, knocks his left pulse blaster aside with her sword, flip kicks him high into the air, leaps after him, and kicks him across the skies and he falls back to the ground hard before Rose lands safely back on the ground. The Gem Hunter quickly recovers, and is a little stunned to have taken that kind of a beating so easily from a Gem, but he was nothing if not persistent at times, "You think you're the only Gem who's tried to take me down with their full power?! That you'll have much better luck than all the others who ended up falling at my hand?! THINK AGAIN!", yelled Deathwalker with so much fury that could've been heard for miles around, then he has his forearms shift from pulse blasters, to dual rapid fire lasers, each with a mini rocket launcher, and fires away at his newly powerful target. It proved to be pointless as Rose effortlessly evaded every last laser and rocket from Deathwalker, he even opened up compartments on his shoulders as they each revealed a real rocket launcher, and fired away as well. Then Rose quickly closed in on Deathwalker, then started to knock him all over the place, slashing and bashing at him with her sword and shield, even firing some projectile beams from her sword, kicking him around, Rose basically unleashed a flurry of attacks at the Gem Hunter, none of them were able to leave any signs of damage on him, not counting the scar over his left eye, but despite appearing to be intact, his was still going through a catastrophic amount of pain. At last, Rose knocks Deathwalker up into the air, then slams him back hard with a mighty shield bash before the strange glow around her body and the one in her eyes faded away, and there she was, standing over the Gem Hunter, who, judging the look on his face, was hurting all over. The five Gems, including Steven in his cell, were absolutely stunned by that massive feat of power and skill Rose was able to pull off.
"Incredible", said Jasper in awe.
"Totally", said Amethyst.
"My mom really was the best", said Steven to himself, then the scene turns back to the flashback, with Rose standing over Deathwalker, who seemed beaten, despite his armor being indestructible excluding the scar over his left eye.
"*pants* I'll admit, you're definitely more than what you appeared to be, I'll give you that much", said Deathwalker.
"I'm sorry for this Deathwalker, I wish this could've gone differently, but you must be stopped", said Rose grimly as she readied her sword for a final strike, in which the Gem Hunter chuckles in response to this.
"You honestly think you can penetrate my armor? Sister, you're tougher than you look but not that tough. But before you waste your time on this pointless intention of yours, have you ever seen a flash grenade before? If not, let me give you a peek, don't blink", said Deathwalker as a compartment on his left thigh opens up and quickly pulls out a grenade and sets it off, but as he said, this wasn't a typical grenade, this one unleashed an immensely strong flash of light that blinded Rose for a minute, she tried to open her eyes, but it felt like she was trying to make direct eye contact with the sun, up-close that is. Rose stumbles back a bit, but by then, it was too late. Deathwalker took advantage of this to get back on his feet, and but Rose through the same beating he received times a thousand. Deathwalker grabs Rose by the leg, flies her across the ruins and slams her straight into the ground, then he seemingly flies off away from the ruins. Rose struggles to get back on her feet, but when she does, Deathwalker flies right back at blinding speeds, and lands a strong punch on Rose as he flies by. She's still standing, but that punch was excruciating for Rose since the Gem Hunter flew in that fast to make sure it really hurt. If that wasn't bad enough, Deathwalker flies by and lands another punch, and repeats this over and over again, landing a huge number of punches and even a few heavy kicks on Rose. Despite this event being a memory from the past manifested, the Gems can't stand seeing the great founder of the Crystal Gems being put through such a brutal beating, even Pearl was rapidly tearing up with her hands covering her mouth. A few minutes passed before Deathwalker lands one more punch, turns and fires a seriously concentrated blast from both of his hands at Rose, and sends her flying way across the ruins and slams right into a giant slab of stone.
"ROSE!", yelled Pearl, deeply shocked and saddened to see something like this happen to her old mentor, mother figure and leader. Rose was badly hurt, part of her dress's lower half was burnt off, right up to the knee area with the rest of it littered in scorch marks and tears, and her hair was slightly burnt around the bottom, her face, arms and legs were covered in bruises, scratches and burnt marks. Rose was in too much pain to move, but she had to, she knew she wouldn't stand a chance against Deathwalker now, not after what he's put her through. But she was unfortunate as Deathwalker landed right by her, then picks her up by her arm as she dangled there, helpless and hurt while the Gem Hunter smirked.
"Well done Quartz, you've proven to be quite the handful. Again, you TRULY are the crown jewel of my collection! Now it's time to be put in your place. Good show Quartz, Good show", said Deathwalker as he activated his left arm blade and readied it for the final blow, while Rose got a little teary-eyed, not having any means of escaping her fate at the hands of Deathwalker.
"Everyone…forgive me", said Rose softly, no doubt this meant Greg, her husband, along with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, as she truly believed at that moment she would never see them again. But suddenly, as Deathwalker was about to make his move, he and Rose heard a faint noise, what sounded like a roar, and that's when, from his left, Deathwalker was blown away from a mighty sonic attack, and sent flying right into a few stone columns that collapsed on him, and Rose fell back to the ground. When she wakes up again, she was incredibly relieved to see her big and pink feline companion, Lion.
"*laughs* Lion, glad to have you here, you big goofball", said Rose with a smile as Lion rubbed his head against Rose's. But then the fallen columns far from them were slowly shifting, meaning that Deathwalker was starting to wake up, and Lion faced that direction and softly growled, determined to tear that bot apart for hurting his friend and master, but Rose begged to differ, "Lion don't, he'll kill you, we have to get out of here while we still can", said Rose as Lion held himself back and helped Rose onto his back and they now both faced the direction Deathwalker was in where he was briefly buried, "From what I've learned about him, there's a chance he won't be bothering us again for a really long time. Besides, I have a family to get back to", said Rose before she loses consciousness and Lion turns and opens up a portal, and Deathwalker frees himself from that mess and makes eye contact with Lion before that big cat jumps through the portal with Rose in tow. Deathwalker punched the ground hard with great fury, and for good reason. The Gem Hunter had his ultimate prize within his grasp, only for it to slip away because a pink cat caught him off guard.
"That cat has some nerve, seems Quartz has a pet as well, lady's full of surprises. But this is simply delaying the inevitable, I'll find them, and take them out", said Deathwalker as he got back on his feet and started walking, but he was stopped in his tracks by a call coming in, and not wanting this to bother him any longer, he answers.
"Boss, I apologize for this untimely contact. I understand you didn't want for there to be any interference, but we've just received a new contract for you that must be accepted right away", said Deathwalker's female voiced artificial intelligence named Nebula. This news was interesting, yet it was obviously at a bad time for the Gem Hunter.
"You're sure this can't wait?", asked Deathwalker impatiently.
"I'm afraid not, and it seems like we'll probably be getting a few more after that, and one of them might take five or six years, and they're all paying extremely well, just like you always take your jobs", said Nebula.
*grunts* FINE! Nebula, get the ship ready to travel to the first set of coordinates where that contract came from! I'll be right there", said Deathwalker reluctantly.
"Of course", said Nebula, then Deathwalker gets off his comm, and stares out at the openness and what's left of the ruins with that grim look on his face for a couple minutes before he speaks again.
"I don't have the time right now to finish with you Quartz, but I swear to you, the first chance I get, no matter how long it takes until I get plenty of free time from taking in bounties, I WILL find you again, and next time, it's personal", said Deathwalker in a menacing tone as he touched his double scar and flies off, and that concludes the flashback as the whole scene vanishes, and everyone is back in the bridge.
"Wait, Nebula?", asked Amethyst before a strange form of computer data manifests itself out of nowhere, appearing purplish red, in the shape of a weird large orb the size of a door.
"That's my name, don't wear it out kid", said Nebula, making herself known.
"Pure data this one, helps me out around here, runs my whole operation, surprisingly better than me. The ship, my additional vehicles, my soldiers, my money, my extra weapons, everything. I couldn't do it without her", said Deathwalker, as it seems like he's sorta flirting with her. Which is creeping out the others.
"*chuckles* Boss you're too much. Well, I can see you're still busy, so I'll get back to work", said Nebula before her data form vanishes.
"Ha, you do that champ, you do that", said Deathwalker before turning back to the Gems.
"You two try going steady?", asked Lapis.
"Don't be ridiculous kid, she's a good program, but we don't date. Now let's focus on other matters", said Deathwalker.
"Like how you nearly took Rose from us?!", shouted Pearl.
"Hey, be lucky she got away from me when she could, otherwise she'd be in my trophy-case already, as you know, very few Gems manage to escape me, she should've been honored. But anyway, now I finally got the prize I've sought for thirteen years, and soon, your other friends will join you and Quartz's kid", said Deathwalker, and as he was about to turn and look out the windshield, Lapis spoke out.
"You'll lose", said Lapis, and that was enough to get the Gem Hunter's attention once again, and slowly, as he walks up to them, forcing them to slowly back up to the door, he made himself very clear.
"'I'll lose'? *scoffs* Alright kid, since you're too dense to be able to process this whole thing, let me make myself 'crystal' clear. I'm thirteen billion years old, a billion younger than the universe itself, meaning I've watched the birth of nearly all life in the universe, even Gemkind, I'm practically the most powerful being there is, I've earned myself a reputation as the greatest and most successful bounty hunter who's ever lived, I command one of the very few most powerful star-ships that's ever been built, I've gathered up a fortune that easily surpasses any other in the history of the universe, I've got an impressive arsenal at my disposal along with superb combat skills, I command an endless and mighty army that's basically an extension of me along with the ship, all the technology I possess, including that which I'm made of, is obviously extremely ancient, yet so incredibly advanced that very few of the greatest mind of past, present and future are able to understand and master any of it , I've earned myself the title of Gem Hunter, by hunting down hundreds of Gems with great power and skill, and stuck them all in my trophy case, where they're never seen or heard from again, basically removing them from existence! So tell me kiddies, what makes you think I'll lose, to the likes of you?", asked Deathwalker after making himself VERY clear there, as the five Gems are backed against the door while Deathwalker kneels in front of them, and a minute passes by before Garnet steps up to speak on behalf of her teammates and friends, and speaks one single thing.
"You lack conviction", said Garnet menacingly, and for another minute, after putting on a brief surprised look on his face, Deathwalker and Garnet exchange a furious glare at each other, until Garnet quickly finds herself impaled by Deathwalker's right arm long blade, which caught the others including Steven by surprise.
"Convict that", said Deathwalker as Garnet slowly turns to the others with wide open eyes.
"GARNET!", yelled the others in unison as Garnet "poofed" right in front of them, and two dark red and blue gems fall to the ground, along with the collar Garnet was wearing.
"That'll teach her", said Deathwalker as he picked up the two gems, but as he did, the two started to regenerate sooner than expected before he could stick them in his sash, and he stumbles back a little, making some space between him and the others, and standing before them were the two Gems that make up Garnet: Ruby and Sapphire.
"Ruby and Sapphire!", shouted Amethyst in joy, but those two were a little busy to say hello.
"Oh my gosh! It's them! It's really them again!", shouted Steven, since he hasn't seen Ruby and Sapphire since what happened on the Gem Handship a while back.
"Figures you two would give me some trouble. No matter, I'll soon correct that mistake", said Deathwalker.
"You wish!", shouted Ruby as she summoned her weapon, an oversized red hammer with two slightly pointed ends. As for Sapphire, instead of a real weapon, she seemed to unleash a sonic yell, in a manner of song, loud and strong enough to bother almost everyone in the room, and much more for Deathwalker, and while he's distracted, Ruby leaps up to him and pulls off a hard left swing with her hammer, right in the kisser! But Deathwalker could focus enough to knock Ruby across the room where she lands far aside the command chair, while the Gem Hunter puts an end to the screeching by quickly reaching for Sapphire and pressing her against the windshield with great force.
"Sapphire! Let her go!", shouted Ruby as she was about to charge at Deathwalker for another attack, but then he slightly tightened his grip on Sapphire, of course that was very painful. The other four Gems were gonna try to get him to stop, but the six drones that were running that little control center moved in on them crazy fast and blocked their way, ready to open fire should they try anything foolish, and of course Steven was sill watching all of this in his cell, so he and the other four could do nothing but watch. That's when a collar was tossed out and landed close to Ruby's feet, "What is this?"
"You know exactly what that is runt, you want me to ease up on your partner? Then put that on, so that you're of no further trouble", said Deathwalker
"Ruby, please don't!", shouted Sapphire, but then Deathwalker tightens his grip yet again. Sure Sapphire will just retreat to her gem, but that doesn't mean Ruby likes seeing this kind of thing happen to her partner anyways.
"How do I know you'll keep your promise?!", demanded Ruby as she tightened the grip on her hammer, while Deathwalker does it again with Sapphire.
"Even I can keep my promises kid, I promised I'd come back here to get Quartz's gem, despite it being inherited by her son, and that's exactly what I did. Now put the collar on", said Deathwalker as he tightened his grip yet again, and this time Sapphire couldn't help but yell in pain. This pushed Ruby to the edge, to do what she wished she didn't have to do.
"Alright fine! You win, just let her go", said Ruby as her hammer vanished and she placed the collar on her left forearm. At the same time, Deathwalker stuck the same collar on Sapphire's left forearm before releasing his hold on her and she fell to the ground, followed by Ruby running towards Sapphire and the two of them hugged each other tightly.
"It's okay, I'm fine now really", said Sapphire to reassure Ruby.
"*chuckles* Doubt it", said Ruby mockingly.
"Alright, we're done here. Soon I'll head out and round up the other Gems on this planet, and I'll leave satisfied. Get these brats back to their cells at once", said Deathwalker as the Gems there gave him one more glare before three of the drones escort them back to the cells, while Deathwalker sits himself back in his command chair, and at the same time, the discreet broadcast in Steven's cell cuts out as the monitor hides itself once again. Meanwhile, the Gems were all back in their cells, Ruby and Sapphire were lucky they were both sent back in the same cell they had as Garnet, and the drones leave to return to their posts back at the bridge.
"Can't believe we're stuck in here again", said Amethyst.
"The way I see it, we're better off in here than over there with that creep", said Jasper.
"Good point", said Amethyst, that's when Lapis looked at Steven in his cell, and could tell he was feeling worse than she was, and had felt best to ask.
"Steven, are you alright?", asked Lapis.
"Yeah", said Steven sadly.
"You're not gonna ask us what happened back there? Like how Ruby and Sapphire got here?", asked Lapis, and a few minutes of silence went by with Steven keeping everyone waiting in suspense until he spoke at last.
"I saw it", said Steven, and this got the others curious.
"What did you see?", asked Pearl.
"Everything", said Steven, and it didn't take too long for the others to figure out what that meant.
"What?", asked Jasper.
"Deathwalker had this weird TV start up in my cell when you guys left earlier. It was showing you guys all together on the bridge", said Steven.
"A live broadcast?", asked Pearl.
"Yeah, so I saw everything, you guys talking to him, that weird flashback he showed you…", said Steven before he paused for a moment.
"Even what he did to Garnet?", asked Pearl, referring to Ruby and Sapphire.
"Yeah", said Steven grimly.
"AHH! *punches the wall* the nerve of that guy! He made you watch the whole thing, just to make you feel sad, to mess with your head!", shouted Ruby, and she was about to punch the wall again until Sapphire calms her down.
"Easy Ruby, Deathwalker's trying to mess with all our heads, so that we don't have any fight left in us at all", said Sapphire.
"Yeah, well it seems like it's working", said Amethyst.
"We can't let him get to us Amethyst, we still have Peridot and Lion to rely on", said Pearl.
"*scoffs* You still expect THEM to come to our rescue, after they abandoned us back in Beach City? Give it a rest, they're not coming", said Jasper, but as Pearl was about to put up an argument, she holds herself back, believing in what Jasper said, and with that, everyone just sits there, feeling more down than when they arrived, with the potential loss of their hope looming over them. Meanwhile, the scene shifts over to the bridge, with Deathwalker just sitting there in his command chair, simply watching the thunderstorm rage on, with a whole lot of rain coming down hard on the windshield.
"I'd say this would be the calm before the storm, but I believe it's well underway. Those Gems were still clinging on to hope even when they ended up on my ship, but that's the whole reason I said what I said and did what I did, while making sure that boy saw the whole thing: I wanted to take away their hope first", said Deathwalker to himself. Now, things were looking far bleaker for the Crystal Gems, they were prisoners aboard Deathwalker's ship, the Gem Hunter had messed with their heads, to drain them of their hope, but despite all this, Steven was the one who still wouldn't stop hoping.
"Peridot, Lion, I hope you two get here soon", said Steven to himself.
Well, that was dramatic, wasn't it? Never thought things were THAT intense for Rose Quartz did you? Well it was, and believe me, it really was that cruel of Deathwalker to mess with the Gems the way he did. Impressive, but cruel. Well I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter of this incredible story, when part three comes, be ready to have Big Hero 6 make a comeback! Remember, if you want to check out more on Deathwalker, go to my Tumblr blog called "Awesomeness", under my user name Superman365-Awesome! Farewell
-MarioDeleon59