Log Date 4-11-18
Chapter Seven
"You know Amethyst! When there is a big shiny red button that has a symbol that says 'danger' above it, you generally shouldn't touch it!" Steve hollered, tightening his grip on Amethyst's hand as his body lifted off the ground.
"It didn't say anything about danger!" Amethyst yelled, holding a tighter grip on his hand as she yanked him back down to the ground.
"Shattered gem shards, Amethyst!" Steven loudly announced , grunting with effort as he tried to combat the gusts of artificial wind that were making it very hard to stay on the floor. If Steven hadn't been busy at the moment, he would've probably face palmed. "There were depictions of gems being shattered all over the place! I don't read 'gem' but it clearly said-"
"What did you say?" Amethyst hollered, accidentally interrupting him. Her voice strained with effort as she barely held her grip on the side of the metal walls. Her fingers were slipping and it took all she had to hold on. The wind was howling, so loud and strong that it was hard for Steven to even see his friend let alone hear what she was saying. Red lights of alarms were screaming through the air and Steven gulped, a big hangar door was opening on the other side of the chamber. A dark gloom seemed to creep out of it and Steven got a very bad feeling from it. They needed to get as far away as possible from it.
"Warning," A metallic voice announced over the speaker, "Decontamination in T-minus twelve-"
He heard another noise and looked up in time to see another grouping of robonoids drop down from the the open hatch in the ceiling. Their sharp claws stretched and they beared a very clear resemblance to arachnids going after their prey. Steven didn't even have time to yell to Amethyst before he was bodily tossed in the air. Holding his arms out, he created a bubble as the harsh artificial air blowers sent him flying upward. His bubble bounced against the top and with a loud pop, Steven's bubble burst and he dropped back down to the floor.
"Looks like we have company!" Amethyst yelled, her body taking on a purple light before the famed Purple Puma of Beach City appeared in her place. The robots crawled from every direction, pouncing on Amethyst's back and crawling up into her hair. They didn't stay long as she wildly threw them off four or five at a time.
Steven yelped as another group dropped around him. Another pink bubble burst into being and he watched with morbid fascination as they began to pile up and around the bubble in an attempt to stab their way through it. So of course Steven did the only logical thing that made sense at the moment, run. Around and around Steven went, like a hamster in a ball. The robonoids were bounced or crushed under his bubble as they were thrown off of his shield.
Green goop littered the bottom of the chamber, exploding over Amethyst and Steven as more and more robonoids fell at their feet.
Rolling over to Amethyst, he allowed his bubble to dissipate before joining her in the fight. They worked in a familiar tag team. Taking up his shield, Steven batted the robonoids toward Amethyst, who would crush the robots under her large fists.
Diving out of the way of a pair of spiked claws, Steven fended off a particularly vicious robonoid before batting it down with his shield. Again and again the robonoids came and despite them not being hard to fight, the overwhelming numbers began to tire them out. Every scratch they took from the sharp claws only furthered to wear the two out.
"Warning, decontamination in T-minus ten minutes… Warning, decontamination in T-minus-"
The artificial wind began to pick up, spinning round and round the chamber in a strange motion. The robonoids began to be picked up in the gusts, their metallic orbs were sent flying back into the hatch on the other side of the room. But they refused to let their prize go.
"Hey!" The Purple Puma yelled as they took a tight hold into the back of her hair. The wind caught the robonoids and as they went flying back, so did she. Stumbling off balance, the purple gem stepped into a thick puddle of green slime and she slipped. A purple light overtook her as she lost total control of her body and she was once again Amethyst. Her smaller stature only made their grip that much tighter and she began to kick at the robonoids as she was being dragged. "Let go of me you little freaks!"
"Warning, decontamination in T-minus five minutes… Warning, decontam-"
"Amethyst!" Steven's voice wobbled as the hatch at the end opened wider and wider. There was a flash of ominous green light. The wind picked up louder and there was a faint buzz in the air. Batting away the metallic robots, Steven looked around for anything that could help them get back out of here. He couldn't help but wonder how they had possibly gotten to this point in the first place.
Thirty Three Minutes Prior…
"You would think that Pearl would've been the one going to the control room." Amethyst grumbled. She flicked her hair back and kept a steady crawl through the ducts. "I really wanted to kick some butt!"
"It was Garnet who assigned the teams," Steven placated, following right behind Amethyst, "And our job is just as important as-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard Pearl's speech too." Amethyst rolled her eyes, breaking through a grouping of wiring that blocked their path, "And Garnet of course doesn't care that it was my turn to go on a mission with her." Immediately when Garnet had called all the gems together, Amethyst had known exactly what she wanted to do. She had been so ready to go in, whips flailing to rescue Peridot. But Garnet had turned to Amethyst said that she didn't have the 'proper discretion for a mission of this profile'. Amethyst didn't really know exactly what that meant, it sounded a too much like Sapphire but whatever it was- Pearl had thought it was funny. With a hand up to her mouth, Pearl had given a ghost of a smile that almost went unnoticed before she had been briefed with what she would be doing with Garnet. Of course her attitude had immediately changed when she found out that Steven would be braving the dark air ducts without her. Then she had protested right alongside Amethyst until Garnet had silenced them both with four words.
'Pearl, you can't fit.'
Amethyst had howled in laughter at Pearl's sputtering and beamed with Steven as the 'shortie squad' seemed to be back in action. The idea that Pearl's stick-like legs would get crunched in the vents only made her laugh harder. But despite her good cheer that always came to poking fun at Pearl, Garnet's words still made her pause and her heart skipped a beat at the insinuation.
And Amethyst did get it, she knew she had some weakness and could very well admit that Pearl was much more seasoned than she was in a few areas. And the purple gem had come to accept and admire the fact that Pearl literally had over like a hundred centuries or more to perfect her craft in the art of war. She was an old warrior and even more so of an old, cranky scarecrow that was fun to get riled up. And that was her own way of showing she cared, but it was times like this that she resented the small smug smiles that appeared from time to time. It was that moment that she had made this mission into a competition and had loudly announced as such. And she knew it's wasn't a game that Dot had been kidnapped, she knew how serious it was but she had still sunk underneath Pearl's admonishing look.
'Amethyst! You need to take the this more seriously- I mean really! This isn't-'
It was the same words she had heard time and time again. She knew that it wasn't a game and this wasn't just like any other mission. She wasn't childish and resented such sentiment. But Amethyst wanted to prove that she could do any mission that Garnet needed her for, she could do anything Pearl could do and a competition would be perfect for that.
She'd had about half a century, to work on her own battle skills and she felt more than ready to be up to where Pearl and Garnet were. She felt underestimated. Just because they had a thousand years or so on her didn't mean that she wasn't just as good.l
Amethyst's knees banged against the metal in her trudging, uncaring as the sound echoed through the dark tunnels. She'd so rather be kicking butt and beating up bad guys than crawling through tunnels "Pearl better get a good kick in for me…" Steven didn't bother to pay attention to Amethyst's grumbling and instead pulled out the makeshift map that Pearl had made.
Staring at it for a few moment, he pulled a flashlight of from the open flap in his backpack and flipped it on. Holding it in his mouth, he rotated the map a few times and stared pointedly at the path they were supposed to take and the dark duct they were trudging through.
'Now remember Steven, follow the blue circuitry all the way through the ship. The blue lights will flash in sequences of three. The faster they flash-'
"-the closer you are to the control room." Steven spoke, remembering Pearl's words. With a frown he stared at the pathway and back at the map again, "Uh Amethyst?" He called, his voice echoing down the long maze of metal. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" He asked, scooting as fast as he could to catch up to his teammate. "We're supposed to be following the blue tubes. And I don't see any flashing lights…"
"Blue tubes?" She asked, "Oh! You mean this?" She spoke, turning around to show fistfuls of sparking blue wiring and elongated tubes. "It was in the way so I just ripped it all down."
"Amethyst! What are you doing?!" Steven gasped, frantically scooting forward to grasp the ends of the wire that laid dying on the floor.
"Chill, little man." Amethyst gave a laugh, "I'm just making it easier to get through. The small wires were getting stuck in my hair and those big tubes were squishing under my knees."
"But, but!" Steven sputtered, tapping pointedly at the map, "We need to follow the flashing light to get to the control room."
"Oh…" Amethyst spoke, dropping on fistful of it on the floor as she sheepishly scratched the back of her head, "My bad."
"Well we can follow the rest of it." Steven spoke, pulling out his flashlight once again before flipping it on. His eyes scanned the multicolored lines. "If we go through this hatch here!" Steven exclaimed, tracing his finger up along the detour, "-and take a couple turns, we should make it to another blue section of wire. The map shows that it flows all the way to the control room. That's what Pearl said we should- hey!"
"Let me see the map!" Amethyst spoke, grabbing at the paper. Blue coolant liquid oozed out of the tubes in her fist, causing the metal to hiss as the subzero temperatures dropped against it. As soon as the liquid touched the map, the paper shriveled up beneath it. Neither had a chance to do anything to even attempt to save it before it became nothing but a freeze dried ball of frozen liquid.
"The map..." Steven gaped in horror, his voice going low with disbelief, "But… But that had the direction on how to work the stuff in the control room!" Steven looked at the blue pulsing that was fading in the wall. "Hurry!" Steven exclaimed, grabbing Amethyst's wrist, "We gotta follow the light before it fades completely!"
The pair went scampering down the duct as fast as they could with Steven dragging his open backpack behind them. But it seemed of no use, only after a few turns had the light faded to almost nonexistent until it finally stopped glowing at all.
"What're we going to do now!" Steven panted, frantically pulling at the map, "Pearl said we were supposed to follow the blue and-"
"Pfft! Forget about the map, dude!" Amethyst spoke, slapping Steven on the back, "We don't need one, especially from the likes of Pearl!" She continued, ignoring Steven's plight.
Steven looked up with a frown, "But if we don't have the map, how are we going to find it?!"
"Leave that to me." Amethyst boasted, buffing her nails against her chest, "You said follow the blue light right? Well watch this!" Taking the wiring that was on the wall, Amethyst grabbed the tubing wrapped under and ripped it open with her teeth.
"Amethyst!" Steven loudly complained, throwing himself back as the subzero coolant splashed against the metal plates under them. He wrinkled his nose at the strong chemical smell, "That's what the problem was in the first place, we can't rip down wire-"
"Cool your jets, Steve-man!" Amethyst returned, unfazed by his panicked expression. Taking the end of the tubes, she tipped up the hose and sent the remaining coolant liquid tapering down the wires. "Steven, you have water in your bag right?" She asked, holding a hand out as she watched the liquid slowly drop down the tube.
"I think so, let me check," Dragging his backpack from behind him, Steven began to dig through it. Sadly it wasn't his cheeseburger backpack this time, that had been too big to fit for this mission. But luckily the bag had also come with mini condiment satchels which were the perfect size. Digging through the mustard bag, he finally found what he was looking for. "Here you go Amethyst, but don't drink it all." He warned, "It might be handy to save some for later."
Screwing off the top of the water, Amethyst poured about half the contents into the wiring tubes before violently shaking it up and down like a wave. "We wanna beat Pearl and Garnet's team right?" Amethyst continued, grinning as the water sloshed around, "Well I'm making a shortcut." Steven watched and his eyes lit of as the water, now mixed with the residue coolant, quickly ran down the tubes. It slowly started but the blue lighting began to flicker before powering up.
"Woah!" Steven's eyes lit up, "You made more coolant! Now we can follow the blue tubes. You're a genius Amethyst!"
The purple gem beamed at his praise, "I have my moments. Now let's go! I wanna shove it in Pearl's face when we get to the control room before she and Garnet get to the bay. I don't care what Garnet says, this is totally a race." Crudely tying the broken coolant tubes into a knot. She and Steven began to crawl forward.
SCREEEEEEE
Steven and Amethyst both jumped as the metal under them began to groan. Jolting back, the pair immediately went back to back.
"What was that?!" Amethyst hissed, her hand automatically reaching up to her chest to ready her whips. "Enemies? I don't see any from my direction."
Steven stayed silent for a moment, his eyes scanning the darkness as they adjusted to the low lighting. "Nothing coming from my direction either."
After a log tense moment, the two relaxed and Steven began to pull his stuff back into his backpack. Zipping it up, he gave a nod. "Let's go Amethyst! Follow that blue flashing!" Turning forward, both began to confidently move forward before a loud, low sounding groan screeched out. Again they paused, and this time, the metal beneath them began to wobble. Steven touched his hands down but yelped back as his hands burned from the cold. In fact, it wasn't just his hand that was cold, it was his whole body. His teeth began to chatter but it didn't look like Amethyst was affected much at all.
Each movement forward caused another groan in the metal and another wave of nervousness to go through him. Something did not feel right. "Amethyst!" He hissed, cautiously looking behind him, "Stop moving!" She turned around to give him a perplexed look and it wasn't until he heard the familiar hissing that he realized what was going on with sudden horror. "Amethyst you need to stop moving." His tone caught her attention and she finally did.
"What? What's wrong Steven?" She asked, looking around once again to scan for enemies. Steven stared down at the residue coolant liquid that was spreading across the metal like a disease.
"Amethyst, "Can't you hear that?!" Steven hissed out, looking at Amethyst's bored expression with an alarmed of his own.
"You mean the noises? Pssh! Come on Steven!" Amethyst flashed him a confidant smirk, "For the record, Steven." Amethyet started, unfazed by the noises, "We're crawling in a weird Homeworld ship. Who knows?! Maybe they just like to make them creaky, I don't really see that the problem is. You can't be afraid of every-"
"Do you remember watching Fantastic Four," Steven abruptly interrupted, his voice coming out low as he cautiously listened to the chours of sounds.
Amethyst's forehead wrinkled "Yeah I've seen it." Amethyst murmured, raising a brow, "But I'm not really sure how this is relevant-"
"Do you remember that scene when Dr. Doom is defeated by the Fantastic Four?" Steven interrupted again, earning an annoyed huff from Amethyst as he carefully tested the metal with his sandaled feet. "Do you remember what happens when you rapidly cool metal?" Steven asked, watching the substance hiss as the metal plates began to crack as they turned a darker hue.
"I don't know what happened," Amethyst shrugged, stretching out her arms, I didn't bother to watch the end, I fell asleep." She cracked her neck and gestured for him to follow, "Steven, come on let's go! We're wasting time little man! We can watch it when we get home- after we rescue Peridot of course!"
"Amethyst this is important-"
There was a loud ominous moan and a loud rumble that clearly sounded like something gone wrong in metal structuring. It shook Steven to his core and he could see that the coolant had eaten through the corners of the duct and was pooling out onto the metal outside of where they were situated… It was only a matter of time now.
Amethyst herself looked shaken by the sound and her focus rested on Steven. "Why?" She spoke, her voice a little hurried as her grip on the wiring tightened, "What happens at the end?"
Steven took a small breath, listening carefully as a deep guttural groan sounded out from the metal. "It-"
CRACK!
The rest of his sentence was lost as the duct came out from under them. With a scream, both Amethyst and Steven went crashing down into the dark, leaving the flashing blue wires far behind.
Author's Note: Thank you for the favorites, follows and reviews as always! And just to note, when I say 'one' chapter, I probably mean like three. I started writing and I realized that if I didn't stop, I'd have a 13000 word chapter. So Amethyst and Steven's POV is here to stay for a little while longer. Hope you guys don't mind! And! If you haven't seen the latest Steven Bomb- Wanted, it was amazing. I can link anyone who hasn't seen them to the full episodes so feel free to message me if you want the link, or even just to talk about them. I love discussing episodes.
Disclaimer(have I done one yet?): All Rights belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network.
