Chapter 16: Months Later
Things were starting to go a little bit more smoothly ever since Aquamarine and Eyeball ambushed the graduation party. Since Steven got those upgrades on his house he wasn't worried about his house being destroyed again. The picture of his mom wasn't damaged suprisingly.
He could say he got the occasional visits by the Avengers including Spinel and Rocket. Mainly since they all fought the same war a month or two ago.
Today he got a call from Tony and the others if he could come over to their earth and bring Bismuth and Peridot.
"Yeah I'm sure they aren't busy right now.", Steven answered over the transmission. "Good we're having an important meeting today and we need you here.", Capt added.
The call ended and Steven left out his house to retrieve Bismuth and Peridot. Bismuth had moved on from Lapis vanishing awhile ago, but Peridot and Lapis were really close. Steven could tell as he grew up being around those two.
He didn't have to worry about transportation since Tony had previously lended him one of those ships capable of space travel. Steven could of easily got one of those from the diamonds or just used Lion. At least now he has his own spaceship.
Steven made sure to perfectly land the ship on the helipad of Stark towers. Once they landed Steven, Bismuth, and Peridot were greeted by Tony and Steve Rogers. Steven noticed Rogers had shaved his beard.
"Glad to see you came.", Tony said shaking Steven's hand.
"We wouldn't miss this. After all you said it was important.", Bismuth said. Rogers and Tony led the three inside. Once inside Tony brought his guests into a conference room. Inside was a circle shaped table surrounded by chairs with an "A" icon in the middle.
"Where's Thor?", Steven asked. "Out drinking again. We wanted him to be here too, but he's drunk off his ass and don't feel like dealing with his bs right now.", Tony stated.
Everyone took a seat while Tony pulled up a holographic computer. "Hey, Where's Natasha?", Peridot pointed out. "That's...The thing we wanted to talk to you all about.", Tony said. "Natasha's dead.", Capt sorrowfully announced.
"WHAT!!!", The trio shouted in disbelief. How was it even possible for someone as strong, skilled, level headed, and caring like Natasha Romanoff die. She was sure able to prove that theory plenty of times.
"Do you know how she died?", Bismuth asked. "I do.", I mystery voice said from the shadows.
The remaining Crystal gems turned their attention to where the voice came from. There stood was a man wearing black armor clothing wearing a crossbow over his shoulder.
Next to him was someone Steven hadn't seen in months. Tears began to build up in his eyelids.
"RUBY!!!", He shouted with joy swooping her up giving her a hug. Ruby started shedding tears of joy herself. Bismuth and Peridot joined the hug crying with happiness. The Avengers just awed at the heartwarming scene.
"I feel really bad for leaving you all for such a long time. I was just so upset and in denial about what happened that lost control of myself and who I was. I'll never do something like this again.", Ruby said with regret. "Oh this is Clint he's been helping me get around."
Steven shook Clints hand. "Thanks for protecting her.", Steven said from the bottom of his heart. "You said you knew what happened to Natasha?", Bismuth brought back up. "Oh yeah.", Clint sadly said before clearing his throat.
"Natasha sacrificed herself for us. She didn't deserve to go out the way she did.", Ruby added. "All because of her.", Clint spat in disgust. Who were they talking about.
"All because of who?", Steven asked.
"Jasper.", Ruby stated in anger.
"JASPER!!!???", Steven, Bismuth, and Peridot asked in unison. "Who's that?", Tony as feeling just as clueless as the other Avengers.
"She's one of the most flawless, scary, and formidable quartz that was ever made.", Peridot answered in a panic.
"Jasper is one of the most dangerous gems we've ever encountered. She used to serve my mom Pink Diamond. I never expected her to do something like this.", Steven shared in anger his body starting to shift to a pink hue. "Just when I thought she was coming around."
Bismuth put a hand on Steven's shoulder giving him a reasurring look. He took a calming breathe and the pink went away. "She must be working for Thanos.", Capt wondered.
"That definitely seems like a thing Jasper would do.", Bismuth agreed rolling her eyes. "Luckily for us she told us where Thanos was and dared us to find her. For some reason.", Clint announced.
"Where is that?", Tony asked. "Some place called Planet Titan.", Ruby answered.
Capt brought a hand to his chin lost in thought. "Why would she tell us where they are?", He asked. "Come on it's pretty obvious they're planning something.", Peridot grunted in annoyance.
"Well we should probably take her word for it, but before we head out we need to get some extra help just in case.", Steven warned. "Yeah the kids right we can't go guns blazing especially without any knowledge of what the hell were running into out their. We'll need help.", Cap agreed.
"There's one person Fury told me about that could help.", Tony brought up.
