Welp, here is another chapter because my life is full of nothing to do and I feel bad for being gone for so long.
Hope you enjoy though.
-=Steven's Private Quarters=-
-=Steven/Spinel=-
-=Five Hours Later=-
During the massage Spinel was giving her Diamond, he found himself physically unable to stay awake, so after he fell asleep, Spinel just locked the door and gently flipped him onto his back, resting his head in her lap, her back resting against a wall as she too fell asleep after about half an hour.
Maybe five hours later, he got a call from White Diamond, waking him up. The monarch gave a sigh as he got up, feeling much better than he did before but still pretty sore. Nevertheless, he answers the call. "Yes White?"
"Steven, how has the colonization been going? Have you finished getting rid of those rebels?" She asked her questions, glad to be able to get some kind of update on him after not hearing from him for so long...well so log compared to what she was used to.
"The colonization is coming along just fine last I checked, but the rebels continue to be an annoyance...I have everyone looking for them, but I've only managed to collect the Lazuli so far." He informs her slightly annoyed by his lack of control of this situation like he had back on Homeworld.
"So you got to fight the Lazuli hm? Did you have your fun then?" She asks, remembering how bad he wanted this fight.
"I guess, she decided to hold back so it definitely could've been more fun, but if she didn't, I'm not sure how much of a chance I would've stood, so there's that." The monarch concludes. "Anyways, there is something I need to discuss with you."
"Oh? Go right ahead, I have some time to spare." She gives a nod, having at least the rest of today to do as she pleased.
"It's about "your" Pearl." He spoke firmly, White's happy mood instantly shifting to one that was hard to read, proving his theory to be correct. "I know she isn't yours. In fact, she is my birthright. I'll allow you to explain yourself before I get upset with you though."
"Star shine, I know this may look bad, but I'm not the bad guy here, it's Pink's fault." She says, knowing that he'd side with her if she phrased it that way. "She was throwing a fit so she could have her colony, and in an outburst of power, she permanently broke the Pearl, so I had to replace her, and seeing as I needed a Pearl, and Pink needed a Pearl that would do its job and not just encourage her childish behavior, I just gave her the one that was meant for me and took her Pearl. Honestly, it was a mercy having her Pearl not he told that her Diamond wanted to replace her because she broke her."
"So you thought that the best idea would be to mind control her? Is that what I'm hearing?" Steven asked with a raised brow. "I'm coming back soon to gather the nutrient supplements that I had made for me, as it has become apparent that I cannot run on my gem's energy alone; when I get there, I am expecting my Pearl to be in no worse condition than you found her in and no longer under your control."
She was almost offended that he was demanding things of her until she reminded herself that they were equals. "Well I need a Pearl and you have four Gems, so you can see the issue here, right?"
"Hmmm...you said that the Pearl you gave to Pink was supposed to be yours correct?" He questioned, though he didn't bother to wait for her response. "I'll just have Spinel reset her and give you to her in turn for my Pearl. Sound fair?"
She seems to think it over for a moment. "Sure, that could work out." The Diamond agrees after a bit.
"Good, now as for the Pearl you have, I expect you not to bring any further harm to it, I don't need a Pearl that is more broken than she already is." He warns. "And I don't like sweeping issues under the rug, so don't reset her either."
"As you wish, I won't so much as order her to do anything." She promised, knowing that she could do without a Pearl for a day or two if it kept him happy with her.
"Good, I'll go and retrieve the rebel Pearl for you then." Steven agrees with a nod. "I'll be seeing you soon."
"Good luck Star Shine." She smiles and gives a wave before the call hangs up.
Once the call was done with, he looks down and nudged the sleeping Spinel with his foot. "Hey, get up, we have to go find the rebels." He ordered as she woke from her nap with a yawn, stretching. "Your scythe should be ready by now."
"Hm? Oh, my new scythe?" She gets up with an excited smile as she pulls out her little diamond that had the Diamond energy in it. "That means I can fight again?"
"I only want you to fight the Pearl, I'll keep the fusion busy and Freckles and Curls will deal with the others." He instructs, knowing he probably couldn't take them all on at once with his current low-energy state, not even sure if he could deal with Garnet by himself, but he sure as hell was going to try.
"Whatever ya say, my Diamond." Spinel gives a mock salute before following him into the main area where the others were waiting.
"Good to see you two again, I assume Spinel was giving her Diamond a prize for winning that fight?" Curls chuckles, having a bubbled Lapis next to her.
"No, I was just resting up after exerting all the energy I had to to heal up with." He brushes her content off, walking up next to Nephrite who was working on the ship's computer, giving orders to troops and such. "Have there been any sightings of the rebels?"
"No, sorry, they haven't really come out of hiding since we last heard from them." The green Gem informs him.
"Hmm...new orders for the soldiers: put all the humans they have collected from this area on the boardwalk and wait for me. Lazulies, Spinel, you're with me; Nephrite, watch the ship." He gives out his orders as the three he told to come with him came to his side, Nephrite giving a "yes, my Diamond" before they left.
-=Steven/Spinel/Curls/Freckles=-
-=The Boardwalk=-
-=Twenty Minuets Later=-
Steven stood on the wooden surface with Spinel by his side, the pink Gem sporting a new scythe, and a bunch of humans tied up on their knees right in front of them: Onion, Sour Cream, Jenny, Buck, Kiki, Fryman, Peedee, Ronaldo, Sadie, Barbra, Jamie, Namefua, Kofi, both of Lars' parents, Mr.Smiley, Yellowtail, and Bill Dewey- all of them complaining except the silent Onion child who was obviously worried.
The Diamond pulled a device from his suit and turned it on, pink, diamond-shaped screen being projected from the ship over Beach City, showing his face. "Rebels, haha, it almost feels good to be home you know...but unfortunately that means I'm on your turf, so I have to play dirty." He says, turning the camera to the hostages, Spinel standing by them with her scythe out, giving a wave and a smile, Lion just sitting in the background.
"Now, here's how this is going to work: for every ten minutes I have to wait before I see you, I'll kill one human. Now, you think I'm bluffing, don't you? How about we start this off with my least favorite here: Ronaldo. Spinel, kill the hefty boy with the weird hair and glasses." He says pointing to him.
"Steven no!" Fryman and Peedee shouted out as the pink Gem pulled him out of the crowd.
"Yes my Diamond." She gives a smile as she twirls her scythe, Ronaldo begging for his life. "Steven, please, I really don't know what I did to make you dislike me, or what I can do to make you forgive me, but I'm so sorry, just please let me make it up to you, I swear I'll do anyth-" With one clean slash, Spinel slices through his neck, decapitating him, his family and everyone else crying out in horror as the young adult's head rolled along the wooden boardwalk.
"Good, now just throw him to the lion." The monarch gave a dismissive wave before turning the camera back to himself. "Now, that was just a demonstration. Time is ticking rebels, tick tock." He gives a dark chuckle as the video ends, the human prisoners all freaking out or crying at this point.
-=With The Gems=-
-=After The Announcement=-
Connie remained unamused, just giving a glare as she marched back into the ship, Greg on the other hand looking like he was about to have a heart attack, and the other's all on edge.
"This can't be happening..." Greg says in disbelief, watching where the screens just were, seemingly trying to process what he just witnessed.
"Figured you'd be used to this after watching him kill Connie's parents..." Amethyst says, even though she was obviously upset about this as well, as she had a few people in there that she considered friends.
"If we manage to get him back...we're going to have to move somewhere else, especially after thi-" Pearl began, but was interrupted by Garnet. "Stop living in that fantasy...we aren't getting Steven back...the best we could get is locking him away in the temple and do our best to try and recruit newly made Homeworld Gems to our cause. And even then, I don't expect much of earth to be left intact after that..."
"No, I refuse to believe Steven is completely gone for good, it's just not possible!" Pearl insisted.
"I don't want to believe it either Pearl, but...there is only so far the benefit of a doubt will carry someone." Bismuth said uncomfortably, sort of feeling as if her opinion on the matter wouldn't be taken seriously as she would seem biased due to to fact that he killed her, which is something she would be able to forgive eventually if he just went back to normal.
"I think...we should go with Garnet's plan, but we shouldn't ever even think about giving up on him." Amethyst tried to creat a middle ground for everyone to agree on.
Peridot came to the other member of the shorty squad's side. "I agree with Amethyst, we won't be able to talk him into coming back while also trying to defend ourselves...but at the same time, we don't have any way to really restrain him unless...no, that doesn't even affect him...but I could reprogram it..."
"What are you thinking Peri?" Amethyst questioned, deciding anything could help at this point.
"If we could get our hands on a nullifier, I could remodel it to be able to contain a Diamond's power and change the destabilizer shock to an electric shock." Peridot went on, only confusing everyone more, causing the green Gem to sigh. "You archaic outdated-...look, a new thing was recently implemented into Gem society by one of the most elite Peridots on Homeworld, she goes by Ivy. Not only did she design the Diamond's ships, but she also made rejuvenators after helping make destabilizers."
Before the Gems could start questioning her, she continued. "But anyways, these new nullifiers are meant to stop Gems from using their abilities, making them much slower and weaker, but as per Homeworld's technology rules, they are supposed to be unable to do much of anything to a Diamond, the power of a Diamond would just destroy it, but we aren't limited by their laws, so maybe if I could manage to get my hands on a few, I could take them apart, figure out how they work, and I could upgrade it to a point where it would keep him from using his powers, making him basically human...but I cannot promise anything...Ivy doesn't make stuff that Gems could just modify without her consent."
"Well it's the best choice we have...but before we do anything, we have to go save those humans." Garnet decided. "Greg, stay here with Connie, we are taking the van."
"Don't gotta tell me twice." He says, tossing her the keys to the vehicle. "Just please...save those people."
"We'll do our best, I promise." The fusion gives a nod as she grabs them out of the air and goes to the driver's seat, Amethyst getting in the passenger's seat, and Pearl getting in the back, noticing that the other door to the back was open, giving a sigh and muttering about how she didn't know how Greg ever lived in here.
The van sped off as Greg and Peridot walked back into the ship, seeing Bismuth sitting by herself. "Hey, where's Connie?" The human asked, looking around while Peridot took a seat.
"She went back into a cargo room, I think she just wants to be alone right now cause she closed the door." Bismuth informed him, now sitting there with Peridot, giving a shrug as she motioned to a closed door.
"Yeah...I get that, she lost her parents and an arm to someone she was close to...just give her a little space for now." He says with a sigh as he sits down.
-=The Boardwalk=-
-=Steven/Spinel/Hostages=-
It had been a good twenty minutes and they still weren't there, and by that point, Steven had already ordered Spinel to kill two more people: Bill Dewy, and Kofi, both corpses being mauled by Lion.
"Honestly, I'm beginning to think that they are just going to let me kill all of the humans here." He says with a sigh, growing inpatient, only for Lars and the off colors to make an entrance with their stolen ship. "Great..."
After a few seconds, they all left the ship, each looking ready to fight, and Lars in his little space pirate uniform once again. "Steven, you need to stop this! Let my parents and Sadie go!"
"Hm...rebels, yes, but not the ones I wanted. Spinel, take care of the Gems, I'll deal with the organic myself." Steven ordered as he started approaching Lars.
"Rhodonite, Fluorite, you two deal with that Gem, Padparadscha, you and the Rutile Twins take care of untying the humans, leave Steven to me." Lars ordered, pulling out a makeshift shield and an iron pipe, planning on just knocking Steven out.
The Gems all started doing as told, though the rescuers were stopped from saving the humans by a dome, while Fluorite thought that stopping Spinel would be as easy as just grabbing her and squeezing, but she was proven wrong when Spinel's scythe went yellow, the Gem swinging it and cutting the fusion's palm, making her retract her arm, Rhodonite going in to take her out while she was distracted with her team mate, only to find out about Spinel's stretchy powers the hard way, by having Spinel stretch out her leg and push kick the other fusion a good seven feet away before going back to the larger of the two.
With Steven and Lars, it was much more simple. "Steven, I don't want to hurt you...surrender now and I won't have to." The human warned as he approached.
Lars had more physical strength, speed, and durability than normal humans, and even was on par with many Gems, so he found himself to be very confident that he would overpower Steven...he really didn't know much about the power of the Diamonds, and didn't even think about Steven being one, so of course this confidence was founded on assumptions.
Steven on the other hand, just wanted to get rid of the abomination that he brought back to life. "I gave you life, and you defy me, so now I'll take back what I have given." The Diamond said simply as he summoned a gauntlet.
Lars wasn't going to let him get far with this, so he swung his pipe right for the monarch's jaw. Steven, of course, wasn't even going to humor this, using his forearm that was covered with his gauntlet to block the attack before thrusting his bare fist into the organic's gut, which would've sent him flying if Steven hadn't summoned a shield behind him to crash into, breaking most of his rib cage, and destroying a few organs.
Now Lars was on the ground, his parents calling out to him in worry, but he was in too much pain to even register their voices. He found himself with the hybrid's foot on his throat, said hybrid now having his sword out. "This was just pathetic...oh well, you weren't the fight I was waiting for anyways." Steven spoke before slicing Lars in half by his stomach, his intestines and other already ruined organs falling out of him as the life slowly left his eyes.
Spinel had just finished off the fusions and now had Padparadscha held in the air by her neck and the Rutile Twins pinned to the ground with her foot on their gem and her scythe's blade held against their neck. "He Steven, do shatter these two just like the fusions?"
"Hm...the Rutile Twins have no use outside of looking weird, but I'm curious to see if I could on day do anything with the Padparadscha's foresight through experiments and tests, so bubble her." He orders as he goes back to his spot.
"Sir yes sir." She nodded before swinging her scythe through the Padparadscha and stomping on the Rutile Twins' gemstone at the same time, bubbling the former before walking over to her Diamond's side.
Now it had been thirty minutes, the hybrid instructing his Gem to go and kill Feynman, many protests coming from Peedee but they of course went ignored, the adult getting struck down by the smaller Gem.
Steven had to wait maybe another five minutes before they got here, but he still didn't know if he was completely up to the task on beating the fusion after summoning his dome, proving to him that his Gem was constantly working to give him what his body needed to function, giving him every reason to get back to Homeworld and collect his supplements.
Nevertheless, the rebels were here now, and they weren't leaving. Garnet was of course the first to speak up from the group. "We're here, now let the humans go."
"Sorry, no can do...until we have you bubbled of course, that is." Steven informed her before both of his Lazuli's came out of hiding from within the ocean, a few weapons made of the water below them and waiting to attack, while a hidden battalion of Gems came out from the various booths and buildings, the three rebels now surrounded.
The Gems had expected him to come at them alone just like he had with them before and Lapis, so this was a surprise, but not one they didn't at least think of, the three holding hands now, and before Steven could even stop them, Alexandrite was made.
Immediately, the fusion started taking out the solders with ease before they could even find same-Gem partners to fuse with. Despite this, Steven merely gave a sigh. "This changes nothing in the end."
Before the fusion could even question his words, water shot up through the boardwalk, turning into shackles that immediately restrained the fusions arms to her body, and around her neck to keep her from looking down and breathing fire on the water to get rid of it like she did with Malachite.
Next he picked Spinel up. "Ummm...Steven?" She asked wit a raised brow, obviously not in on the plan he had here.
"I'm going to throw you, all you have to do is hit them with the destabilizer." He ordered, and before she could even question him, the Diamond -yeeted- threw her at the fusion.
Alexandrite heard the plan and unfused at the last second, allowing the Gems who made her to be free from the shackles, but unfortunately for Pearl, Spinel decided to tackle her out of the air seeing as she was already flying her way.
Garnet and Amethyst went to go help their friend but found themselves shackled up by water next, the two Lazulies going and standing by their prisoners.
Spinel turned her scythe pink, pinning the struggling pearl to the ground with her foot on her chest before swinging her scythe through the soon to be servant.
It all happened so fast that Garnet and Amethyst didn't even get the chance to react before Freckles was poofed.
Everyone was confused for a moment as a small person with a blanket wrapped around themself stood where Freckles once was, Spinel giving a confused look before watching her other friend meet the same fate by the hands of the same person, but not before the Lazuli ripped the blanket away, showing an angered Connie, wielding her sword that was given to her by Bismuth, the human then ran away from the now freed Garnet and Amethyst, rushing right for Spinel who gave a smile.
Right when Connie launched herself at the Gem to attack her, aiming right for the gemstone, a pink, diamond-shaped shield popped up, the flat side facing down, resulting in the girl jumping into the shield, pointed side first into her stomach, only for Spinel to kick her side of the shield, only making it hit her again with more force than it did when she jumped into it.
The shield dissipated and Spinel got ready to finish her off before Amethyst wrapped a whip around the pink Gem's wrist, spin-dashing past her, resulting in her flying back, Steven watching this all go down mildly annoyed before summing his sword. "Fine, I'll do it myself." He says as he starts approaching them, walking through the crowd of humans and cutting down anyone who happened to be in his way.
Unaware that if they worked together, they stood a chance against him, Garnet grabbed Amethyst and Connie, the former freaking out after Steven decapitated Vidalia. Once she had them, she went to go collect Pearl, but just as she turned to do so, she could see Spinel sending her off in a bubble as some of the soldiers began to reform.
She knew when she didn't stand a chance when they were this out numbered and too mentally distressed to create a stable fusion, and while she nearly unfused at the idea of leaving Pearl to them, she also knew they couldn't exactly er her back at this very moment, so she ran with her allies deciding that they couldn't come out to confront him again no matter what, as every time they did so, they lost far more than they gained.
The fusion jumped off over some buildings and before Steven even went to follow her, he saw Greg's van pull out from an alleyway, driving off at full speed.
"This is gettin old..." He gives a glare. "Whatever, we have what we came for...this wasn't a complete waste of time." He decided, looking over to the remaining humans who had yet to calm down even a little. "Spinel, finish the rodents off, I'll see you in the ship." He orders as he collects the Lazulies and starts walking off.
"No problem, you can count on me." She waves as he leaves before looking to the humans who were now begging for their lives, not that she really cared. "So, who wants to play a dangerous game of duck, duck, goose?"
-=Greg's Van=-
-=Ten Minuets Later=-
-=Garnet/Amethyst/Connie=-
"Connie, what were you thinking running out there like that, you could've gotten yourself killed!" Garnet scolded, having pulled over when out of town.
"But I didn't, in fact, yet again I saved you guys! And if you would've stayed, we could've saved Pearl too!" The human argued back. "In fact, our problems could've been dealt with by now if you wouldn't have gotten yourselves caught, cause I could've killed Steven instead!"
Amethyst was next to start shouting. "I'm with Connie like half way on that! You grabbed us instead of going for Pearl, and now they got her in a bubble stars knows where! And as for you Connie, you're not aloud to go on these missions anymore, you're not only missing an arm now, but you're trying to kill Steven, which is bad enough if you were even able to, but all doing that is going to accomplish for you is you dying instead!"
Connie just looked away, obviously angry at the two for...saving her? Maybe more so because she didn't get to make an attempt to kill Steven, but who knows.
The rest of the ride home was relatively quiet, Garnet deciding against trying to convince Amethyst that she did all she could to save Pearl, just for the time being, as it would only lead to more arguments and right now, all she wanted to do was go lay down in a hole and just stop existing for a little bit.
Once they returned to the ship, the trio entered without a word, Bismuth being the first to greet them. "Connie?...Wait, where is Pearl?"
"Those cowards ran away while that pink slut that's always with Steven bubbled her and sent her off somewhere, Garnet forcing me to come along with them." Connie remarked, surprising everyone with her...colorful language, but she stormed off deeper into the ship before they could say anything about it.
"Could one of you two explain this? She means that Spinel Gem that Pear told me about, right? And about Pearl, was...was she really taken away by them?..." Bismuth questioned hesitantly.
"Yes...the Lazulies he keeps around restrained us while Spinel hit Pearl with what I can only assume is a rejuvenator by the color of the blade...but...yeah. Before I could get to her, she sent Pearl off somewhere in a bubble. We have no way of getting her back as of now..." Garnet said with her head down.
"I have a simple plan...well it's highly dependent on my ability to alter the nullifiers, but if I can make one to hold him and you can get it on him, we won't only get Pearl back, but we'll get him back too." Peridot spoke after a bit, obviously having been coming up with a plan.
"Well we don't have many options right now...I'm all ears." Amethyst sighs as she sits down, hoping this wasn't completely hopeless.
-=Steven's Leg Ship=-
-=Steven/Spinel/Nephrite=-
Steven entered the ship, blood splattered on him and Spinel, the latter of the two now holding the gemstones of Freckles and Curls, which Nephrite quickly took note of. "My Diamond, I saw you managed to retrieve their Pearl," she says, motioning to the dark pink bubble that held it. "so what happened to those two?"
"The organic child cane running out of nowhere again and the fusion took off with her and the runt of an Amethyst before I could attack." He informed her as he sat down. "Not that it matters in the end, I got what I wanted this time, and now there down two Gems. Just have the ship go off to Homeworld, I need to bathe and rest a bit before I take my supplements and come back here to finish the rebels off."
"As you wish, right away my Diamond." Nephrite nodded before she sent the ship off towards their home planet, Spinel just taking a seat in his lap, which he still allowed to let her feel special; she was his favorite of his toys after all.
-=End of Chapter=-
So, there, Steven had all the remaining townies killed and he's going off to get his mother's pearl that he has claimed to be rightfully his, in turn for the rebel pearl, so we're getting Volley soon (though he of course won't call her Volley cause why would he?) so that'll be fun.
Just a fyi, I don't really ship Spinball so don't really expect much of that from me here unless I somehow come to naturally like my Spinel and Volley together.
Anyways, as always-
Good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.