"AH! Officer, officer! Can you spare a minute and help us out, mon?!"

"Rolo, this isn't going to work."

Rolo ignored Lapis' statement, and smiled as a towering, muscular Hopkoblin dressed in black combat fatigues approached the pair. She straightened the stylish cap on her head and saluted dutifully.

"Morning, citizens! I take it you two are in need of assistance?"

"Indeed we are, ma'am! You see, a very dear friend of mine has been kidnapped, and he's going to die unless he gets help, and FAST!"

Lapis had heard this conversation enough times in the past forty minutes to perfectly predict how it would unfold. The police officer was about to say something along the lines of-

"No need to worry, sir! I'll get a squad assembled immediately! Now, do you happen to know exactly who the offending party is, or where your friend's being held?"

And now, Rolo was going to answer with-

"It was those awful Kazkani thugs! You see, they-"

Like clockwork the officer yawned, and popped her back as Rolo's confidence dissipated on the spot. The effect was almost like watching a balloon being deflated.

"Oh boy, this again." she sighed flippantly. "Another guy with an axe to grind against Val's boys. Let me guess, your friend loaned money and refused to pay it back, and is now having to suffer the consequences for trying to cheat an honest man?"

Rolo wheezed in disbelief. "Val, HONEST? You must be crazy, my friend!"

"Are you kidding me? Val's a pillar of the community: he pours so much money into our local businesses, he's helped us lock away some real scumbags, he's generous to a fault-"

"You would know that, now wouldn't you?" Rolo hissed spitefully, pointing at the ornate platinum necklace the cop was wearing. She tucked it under her tunic and growled threateningly as she reached for the thick iron baton holstered at her waist.

"You're pushing your luck, pal. You keep trying to push this whole "Val's a murderer!" line of hogwash, and I'll lock you up for defamation of character! Got it?!"

Rolo hissed, his tendrils writhing with electric power before storming off. Lapis locked eyes with the cop and shrugged before following him into a nearby alleyway.

"I don't know what you were expecting, Rolo. I really don't. This is what... the tenth, fifteenth officer you've talked to about Hurley? It's pretty clear they won't or can't do anything about it, so stop wasting your time!"

"Well if you've got any ideas on how to save him missy, I'd LOVE to hear them!" Rolo shot back. "In the meantime, I'm not giving up hope! Surely Val can't have EVERY officer in his pocket!"

"Even if he didn't, do you really think one or two officers are gonna make that big of a difference against five hundred guys?"

"Well... no."

While Rolo sulked and sighed, Lapis was seething now that the fate of her ship and "Ceedee Player" was up in the air. Not even an hour ago she was guaranteed to get them back one way or another, but no. Hurley just had to punch a bunch of mobsters in the face.

"UGH! That was such a stupid, selfish thing to do!" Lapis growled as the pair passed through another row of apartments, not paying attention to the pair of beady little eyes that poked out from a nearby trash container. "Picking a fight with the guys that control this town, who made it clear that crossing them was a terrible idea?! What a freaking idiot!"

"H-Ha, well that's Hurley for you, mon!" Rolo chuckled nervously, "Child abuse has always been a sore spot for him! When kids start crying, fists start flying! Ha ha ha ha..." Rolo's shaky laughter died down before he could no longer force it. "Oh, he's gonna die. He's gonna die horribly. These Hopkoblin mobsters, oh ho, they don't play around! Tomorrow afternoon, we'll probably start hearing reports of people finding his head in a trash container, an arm dangling down a sewer drain, his feet on someone's doorstep..."

"And I'm gonna lose my stuff!" Lapis huffed, only to yelp when Rolo grabbed her by the shoulder and gave her a gentle zap. "HEY!"

"Will you stop all this woe-is-me bellyaching?!" Rolo scolded, "Just listen to yourself: a good man, one who went out of his way to help you out is about to be killed, and you're whining like a spoiled little brat!"

"I'm not a brat! My stuff is important!" Lapis growled as she shoved Rolo, "I have a gift on my ship that I can't afford to lose! And-"

"Waaaaah. Wah waaaaaah..."

Rolo interrupted Lapis' rant with mock infantile crying, going as far as to mime wiping away tears like a baby. The Gem stared at him, her mouth hanging open as the mock-sobbing continued.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Wah wah waaaaaaaaah..."

"Oh that's mature, that's REALLY mature!"

"Wah wah waaaaaaah... wah waaaaaaah..."

Rolo sniffled for emphasis, and Lapis decided that she had more than enough of his attitude. With an intense sweeping motion, she launched Rolo into a wall with a jet of rainwater before storming off.

"Walking away, huh?! Go on, you do that mon! Meanwhile, I'M going to try to see if there's still a way out for him because unlike you, I care about my friends!"

That definitely struck a nerve. With a snarl of fury, Lapis whipped around and threw an enormous watery fist that went sailing towards Rolo-

"GUYS, STOOOOOOP!"

-only for her to stop it short of hitting Tadd, who sprang out of a nearby trash container and leaped in front of Rolo. Lapis gasped as she lost her focus and let the watery fist collapse and harmlessly splash the tiny Tunnelkin, who sputtered and sneezed as he fruitlessly tried to shake the droplets from his fur.

"Good gravy!" Rolo hollered, while Lapis simply gasped, "Oh! You're that kid from earlier!"

"Please guys, stop it!" Tadd repeated after regaining his bearings. "Just stop fighting, okay? That super nice Queasian's gonna die, a-and the last thing he needs is for his friends to freak out like this! I mean... you are his friends, right?"

"I well... yeah..." Lapis answered, before she suddenly felt cagey. "How'd you know that? Were you stalking us this whole time?!"

Lapis could have sworn that she could see bright red blush creep into Tadd's fuzzy cheeks as he meekly nodded.

"Yep. Real sorry, you guys. I wanted to talk to you earlier! B-But I was... I was scared..."

Tadd subconsciously scratched at his neck, and Lapis had a sneaking suspicion it was related to those electric shocks he received earlier.

"You thought we were gonna turn you in?!" Rolo asked, to which Tadd nodded. "Bah, me?! Hand a slave over to his captors?! NEVER! Only a real scumbag would think to do so, right Miss?!"

Lapis felt absolutely sick to her stomach. It may not have been a serious, prominent thought in her mind, but if she had never seen Jowls abuse him... would she have turned him in for that reward money? It wasn't that big of a step up from just ignoring his plight, which she was more than happy to do before Hurley jumped in and started cracking skulls. And on second thought... didn't she actually feel annoyed that Jowls and her crew found him first?

'Wow. You've really hit a new low, haven't you? I can't believe Steven would ever want to be friends with someone like you...'

'Ey. 'Ey miss, are you okay? You look a little green around the gills!"

"I-I'm okay, Rolo." Lapis answered. "I'm just... I'm not really sure what you want us to do, Tadd. I mean, Val's the most powerful guy in Krapton, right? He's got 500 followers at his disposal, what are we supposed to do about that?!"

"Well, I know someone who might be able to help us!" Tadd answered, his eyes shining brightly. "Her name's Su, and she's super nice a-and pretty..."

Lapis grinned knowingly as Tadd averted his gaze and shyly twiddled his thumb-claws.

"And she's also Val's favorite sister! He likes her a lot so if we can get her to ask him to let that Queasian go, he might listen!"

Lapis crossed her arms and frowned. She didn't think that Tadd would lie considering the way the Kazkanis treated him... but would the words of one woman really be enough to convince Val to turn the other cheek and let Hurley go?

"Ah, Su! I can't believe I didn't think about her!" Rolo gasped hopefully, "Hey Missy, I think Tadd might be onto something! I've been fortunate enough to have Su as a customer at the Reef, and let me tell you! If she wasn't there to talk him down, Val would've gone and-" He grabbed his tendrils and gave them a good yank before crying out in faux-pain, "Torn these tendrils right outta my skull! She's a wonderful woman and brings out his soft spot, so I think it'd be worth our time to seek her out!"

That sounded promising. Lapis nodded and faced down towards Tadd, who was so short he barely came up to her waist. "Well, if you guys think it's worth it, then I'll give it a shot! Now, do you know where I can find this Suu lady at the moment?"

"She's actually at Val's casino, the Sinner's Pit!" Tadd answered, "She works in the kitchen, which you can get to through the back door! Just tell her that I sent you, and everything'll be okay!"

"Sinner's Pit..." Initially confused, Lapis spread her wings and took to the sky. And it only took a few seconds worth of looking around to zero in on the building that burned brighter than all of Krapton's other neon-lit buildings. The Sinner's Pit was a large jet-black building decorated with neon stripes that constantly shifted colors while a screen over the doorway broadcasted footage of a curvaceous, scantily clad Hopkoblin woman striking a series of seductive poses. All in all, it was a very hard building to miss.

"Alright, I see it! I'm flying over there right now: do you guys want to come too?"

Lapis lifted Rolo and Tadd into the air with watery platforms that emerged from under their feet, only for the anemone man to shake his head. "No thanks, miss! I'm taking little mister Tadd back home, and until you come back with Hurley in tow, NO ONE'S gonna put their paws on him! NO ONE!"

Hurley's body crackled blue for emphasis, and Lapis knew the kid would be in good hands. "Alright then, see you guys later! And please, stay safe until we come back!"

Lapis set the pair down and took off towards the Sinner's Pit, hoping she wasn't too late to save Hurley... or her ship for that matter.

"I can't believe this! Stuck on guard duty while Val teaches some schmuck a lesson. AGAIN! Man, I never get to play Wheel of Torture anymore..."

The tiny Hopkoblin sulked and pouted like a kid while his slightly taller buddy playfully elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hey, it could be worse! I mean, look what happened to the guys that went looking for Tadd! Warts, Razor, Mumbles, all of 'em have to go to the hospital now! I mean geez, even Jowls got her arm broken! Friggin Jowls! Then there was Zook earlier tonight..."

"Wait, Zook got hurt?!" the smaller one asked, his already wide eyes nearly popping out of his skull in curiosity, "Geez, no one tells me anything around here! What happened to him?"

"Well you see, this pretty Gem lady flew into town yesterday..."

"Pretty lady... oh no, don't tell me he-"

"Asked to see her feet? Yes. Yes he did."

Lapis snorted, laughing quietly from the safety of the adjacent rooftop as she remembered the way he went sailing over that apartment building.

"Oh come on, he's still doing that?! What is WRONG with that guy?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," the bigger guy answered with a shudder, "But that Gem lady? She just flicked him with this big watery hand, and that flick was powerful enough to launch him halfway across town! And according to the doctor he broke like, half his bones when he hit the ground."

"Geez! Can't say he didn't get what he deserved, but still! Remind me to never piss off a Gem."

"Or a Queasian for that matter," the taller mobster replied, "So next time you whine about not being able to play some dumb game, you should count your blessings and appreciate the fact that you didn't get manhandled today! Besides... I think petting Felits is a good trade off for guard duty, wouldn't you say?"

The smaller Hopkoblin looked upon the furry creature his taller compatriot was holding with large watery eyes. He scratched it under it's chin, and it's enormous ears drooped while it began purring happily. The mobster sniffled and nodded.

"Yes. Yes it is."

'So that's what a Felit is.' Lapis thought to herself as she too lovingly stared at the adorable, noodly-looking animal. 'It's so adorable! Buuuut this is no time fawn over cute animals. I've got a chef to find.'

And so Lapis stood up, and made a clutching motion with her hands which in turn caused enormous rainwater hands to suddenly sprout up from the ground and hoist the mobsters into the air. The Felit yowled as it jumped out of the taller mobster's arms and scampered away, and before they could scream the goons were knocked cold out when Lapis smashed their heads together. She gracefully fluttered down from her perch and opened up a waste container before neatly depositing them inside.

'Alright, Tadd said the kitchen was just beyond these doors. Let's see if Su can get Hurley out of this mess...'

Lapis pushed open the doors, and stepped into a well-kept kitchen with shiny floors, excellent lighting, and stoves and tables that were polished so nicely that she could see her reflection on them. And over at the end of one table was a pink-haired Hopkoblin chef chopping up a thick root vegetable on a cutting board.

'I'm guess she's Su.' Lapis observed, a bit giddy as she was wowed by her youthful freckles, punkish haircut, and athletic frame. 'Wow, Tadd wasn't kidding when he said she was pretty...'

"Uh... hey." Lapis announced as she let the doors close behind her. "You're Su, right?"

The chef looked up from the chopped vegetable and frowned slightly. "That's me. And you are...?"

"Lapis. Lapis Lazuli! Sorry to just barge in like this, but I really, really need your help! Your brother's about to kill a guy I know, and-"

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute," Su urged as she set her knife down and folded her arms. "You're friends with that Queasian Val hauled in?"

"Well... kind of?"

Su cringed and guiltily clasped her arms together. "Oh geez... I'm so sorry Ms. Lazuli. I-I don't even know what to say..."

"Well you can tell Val NOT to kill him, right?" Lapis asked, "I mean, aren't you his favorite sister?!"

To say that Lapis wasn't confident in the way Su cringed again would be an understatement. "I have no idea how an outsider would even know that, but... it's not that simple. Val likes me, sure. But he also likes most of his immediate family. And from what I've heard, that old Queasian brutalized nearly twenty of us before he got taken down. For better or for worse, Val's a family man and if you hurt his family then you're a dead man walking."

That was precisely the last thing Lapis needed to hear. She got right in Su's face and desperately tugged on the collar of her shirt. "Oh come on, would it hurt to at least try?! I messed up and got my ship towed, and Hurley was supposed to cover the fine! If you can't stop Val, then I'm gonna lose my ship! And more importantly than that... an important gift from a good friend of mine..."

"Ms. Lazuli, I'm sorry! I really am, but it's out of my hands! That Hurley guy screwed up by attacking my family, and unfortunately he's gonna have to pay the price! I don't like it, but there really is nothing I can do!"

Lapis let go of Su's collar, and caused the chef to back away due to the icy glare she shot her way. Her fist trembled, and the pipes could be heard faintly groaning and creaking within the walls. For a second Su had a feeling something horrible was about to happen, but Lapis simply turned away and headed for the back door. But not before dropping a line that really got her attention.

"Looks like Tadd was wrong about you."

"WHOA!" Su made it to the door in a flash and yanked Lapis back by her arm. The Gem's ensuing "HEY!" was quickly silenced by the chef's frantic questions. "How do you know about Tadd?! Is he okay?! Is he hurt?!"

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Lapis spat as she pulled her arm away from Su. "Hurley saved him from your stupid family, and a friend of his is looking after him! He said you'd be a big help in rescuing Hurley, but I guess he was wrong!" Lapis then chuckled bitterly. "Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like you protected Tadd from Val, now did you?"

For the briefest of seconds Su was rendered speechless in the face of Lapis' cutting remark. But color flooded into her face as she quickly found her bearings and shot back. "Well what do you expect me to do?! I've talked to him about treating Tadd nicer, but it goes in one ear and out the other! Thanks to our stupid parents, he just views slaves as property, not people! And the rest of my family is exactly the same! I'm the only one who actually cares about him!"

Lapis stared at Su in disgust. "So... what you're saying is that you definitely can't help me then. Thanks for nothing."

"Actually, I can!" Su insisted. Lapis relaxed her fist, and the water in the walls stopped convulsing. "Look... you need money to buy your ship back, right? And I know Razz and Pazz well enough to tell that you'll need a lot of it. Well, I may not be involved with our family's dirty businesses, but Val still dotes on me like crazy! I'll buy your ship back, and then... you can take Tadd and fly him somewhere. Anywhere! As long as it's far away from here. Please, promise me you'll get him out of here!"

Well, it looked like her financial problems had been solved. Lapis nodded, unable to stay angry at Su in the face of her generosity. "I will."

"Thank you so much!" Su gushed, catching Lapis off guard when she suddenly hugged her. It was offputting but... she didn't hate it. Lapis blushed as her lips formed a slight smile.

"You're welcome. Now uh... are we going to get that fee taken care of, or what?"

"We definitely can! I'll need to stop by the bank first, but I'll cover your fines and get you off-world within the hour!"

Su gleefully raced out the door, and Lapis followed her... only to stop short right at the exit. For whatever reason, the will to take that final step just... vanished. Lapis stood rooted to the spot, and that tiny smile of hers faded when she looked back at the door leading into the Sinner's Pit proper.

'Well... Hurley's doomed, isn't he? He's gonna die here, and after everything he did for me...'

'What, after blowing your chance at getting your ship back by picking a fight with Val's family? Serves him right for screwing you over! Now forget about him and GO.'

Yes, he may have jeopardized her ship and CD player, but the angry voice in Lapis' head failed to sway her.

'But... he was willing to help give me fuel. And even if it didn't work out, he TRIED to help get my ship back...'

'Well it didn't work out, so hurry up and leave already!'

'And even if it was stupid, he picked a fight to save Tadd! And that kid is such a sweetheart, who knows what would have happened to him if Hurley didn't intervene? He's so kind, generous, and warm, and... I'm just leaving him to die.'

Lapis briefly pressed her hand to the door, but was quick to retract it. She turned back to face the door to the casino.

'You know... now that I think about it... am I really so helpless against the Kazkanis? Sure, five hundred is a big number, but look what Hurley did to them! He's old and fat, but he tore through nearly twenty of them like they were paper! And if one guy could do all that with just his hands, imagine what I could do with water...'

Lapis took a step forward.

'With every single drop of water flowing through the pipes...'

She took another step, this one far bigger and bolder.

'With all the rain falling onto this planet!'

She moved quicker and with purpose, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye. She shoved the door open, and walked out with her hands balled into fists. But this time not in anger: her fists were steady with determination and purpose. The door slammed shut, and she stood proud as she left the kitchen behind and took her first proper steps into the Sinner's Pit. She stormed past so many abandoned monuments to greed and lust: slot machines, card tables, roulette wheels, tall poles and ceiling mounted cages set up around clusters of chairs, and posters advertising beautiful aliens who'd entertain the teeming crowds. She zeroed in on the far end of the room, where an open doorway led to a room helpfully labeled "The Arena", where she could hear plenty of hooting and hollering.

Lapis peeked through the doorway, and was met with a sight that could only be described as a twisted mix between Homeworld's gladiator battles and one of Earth's game shows. Hundreds of Kazkanis were seated at tables and standing around, cheering and whooping like crazy with drinks in hand while a bruised, battered Hurley was strapped to an enormous prize wheel. And pacing around him was Val Kazkani, whose hellish crimson eyes were burning with murderous intent as he repeatedly pounded a fist against the palm of his hand. A fist that was stained with an odd purple substance... a substance that was the same color as the liquid trickling down Hurley's nose. Needless to say, it wasn't hard for Lapis to put two and two together.

'Oh my god...'

"Well folks, consider me impressed!" Val announced to his crowd in a booming voice, "Seven punches straight to the face, and the old fart's nose still hasn't cracked! I know he's a Queasian and all but, sheesh! I've never met an old coot as durable as him!"

Val then leaned in dangerously close towards Hurley and bared his fangs.

"Good thing I'm a pro at breaking stuff."

He stepped away from the battered alien, and Lapis winced as she truly got a good look at him. Hurley's nose was not only horribly swollen, but looked as if it were slightly bent at the wrong angle. Similarly, his right eye was horribly bruised, and as his chest and stomach heaved with every labored breath, Lapis cringed when she noticed a large green stain splattered against his jumpsuit that definitely wasn't blood...

"Get-" Hurley coughed harshly before continuing, barely keeping his voice steady, "Get me down from here... let's see how cocky you are... when you've got to fight me man-to-man..."

Booming laughter echoed through the arena, with every Hopkoblin in attendance cracking up while Val smugly "tsk-tsked" the older alien. "Oh I'd LOVE to, Grandpa. But I'm not stupid: you put a bunch of my family in the hospital! And my aunt over here's gotta have her arm up in a sling for crying out loud!"

He gestured towards Jowls, whose arm was in a sling as he had said. She quickly waved at her nephew with her good hand, before turning to Hurley and baring her teeth. She growled in a way that was similar to her hounds... only to squeal and fall over when Hurley rattled the wheel in a vain attempt at lunging towards her. She fell right on top of her broken arm, and howled in pain while the audience cracked up and her hounds looked on silently as they laid on the ground together.

"Sheesh, keep it together, auntie! The old fart can't hurt you!"

"I'm not scared of him!" Jowls hissed through gritted teeth as she clumsily got up. "I... I just lost my balance. That's all!"

Val rolled his eyes, but let it slide as he turned back around towards Hurley. "Anyway, I'm really sorry pal! But I'm not lookin' to get my arms ripped off 'cause I got cocky fighting one'a you Queasians. Besides..." He grabbed the wheel and began tilting it up and down, "When it comes to guys who disrespect my family, it's the wheel's job to decide the punishment!"

"Oh no, not again!"

With a flourish of his arm, Val sent the wheel spinning at incredibly high speed, causing Hurley to cry out fearfully as he span right along with it.

"NONONO STOooooOOOOoooOOP! Doooon't-"

Hurley's protests were cut off by a truly putrid belch, resulting in another round of laughter from the Kazkanis.

"Yo, Spritz!" Val hollered at a random Hopkoblin, "Get that mop ready, 'cause I think we're due for another Queasian Eruption!"

At this point, Lapis had seen enough. Without stopping to think of a careful approach, she stormed her way into the "Arena" and bellowed loudly at Val.

"Leave him ALONE!"

And just like that, the arena went from bustling and cheerful to dead quiet in half a second. Slowly, all the Kazkanis turned to face Lapis, with Bones whistling while Val grinned smugly at the Gem.

"Whoa... ha ha, Bluuuuue..." Hurley groaned, the wheel slowly coming to a stop as he swallowed down some vomit.

"Well, we just keep running into each other, now don't we?!" Val greeted with a scoff, "How's it hanging, gorgeous?"

Almost five hundred pairs of eyes all trained on her, including those of Hurley and the hounds. Lapis would be lying if she said that she wasn't starting to regret her lack of a stealthier approach. But now wasn't the time to falter: the minute she stormed in she painted a target on her back, and she couldn't afford to fumble the metaphorical ball. So she continued her approach, and stopped short of the stage's steps.

"Leave. Him. Alone." Lapis hissed, not even bothering to acknowledge Val's flirting. The don in turn glanced over at Hurley and chuckled as he dismissively shook his head.

"Oh yeah, you're friends with the old coot, aren't ya?" Val asked. Lapis simply continued glaring at him in cold silence. "Well girly, I'm sorry to say that your friend crossed a major line earlier. He hurt my family so in return? I'm gonna hurt him real bad."

Lapis read the wheel Hurley was strapped to, and winced upon noticing runes spelling out words such as "Firebomb", "Feed the hounds", and "Go For a Swim" on its many colorful wedges. Noticing her discomfort, Val threw back his head and let out more booming laughter.

"Look, I know you've gotta be feeling a bit nervous reading these. Sick, even! But the fat guy over here? He's getting what he deserves: he mauled a whole bunch of my guys nearly to death for no friggin' reason! None at all! I've got... what, sixteen, seventeen guys in the hospital? I mean, do you have any idea how much they charge you for treating just one guy?! Sheesh, even with insurance those doctors are gonna eat holes through my bank account..."

Jowls cackled grimly while Val grumbled to himself. "Doctors, I tell ya! At their core, they're just mobsters in white coats!"

"That they are, auntie!" Val cackled, quickly getting over his money-related angst. "Anyway girly, as much as it sucks to be charged that much, it isn't about the money. It's about sending a message! Y'see, my family? We're not like the other big crime families around Dizmol. We're nice, we're fair, all we ask is for people to follow two rules: when you owe us money, pay us back! Don't mess with the family, and we won't mess with you! Pretty simple stuff, yeah?" Val snorted and shook his head again. "And yet, you got plenty of morons who can't take a hint, like grandpa over here! And if we just let stuff like that slide, it doesn't reflect well on us, yeah? All it takes is for one old timer to start laying out my guys, or one kid to start disobeying us, and suddenly you've got all kinds of lowlives and peons taking one of the most powerful families in Dizmol for granted!"

At this point, Val's boasts stopped registering to Lapis as words as she started getting antsy. She could feel water calling out to her from all around: the rain outside the nightclub, the water coursing through the pipes in the walls, the bucket of soapy water Spritz was carrying...

"Ya see, Ma always told me growing up that if people start takin' you for granted, then you've gotta be quick to slap 'em down and make them know their place! You've gotta bring back the respect, bring back the fear. And to do that... well, you might have to break a few fingers, light a guy on fire, tie him up and throw him in the ocean..."

Lapis' fists were trembling out of annoyance, and she grit her teeth.

"Point is, a bag of ashes or a couple'a dismembered body parts are a pretty good remind-

"Oh my god, SHUT UP!"

Lapis' yelling was punctuated by a meaty, painful *THWACK!* as an enormous fist of water burst from the walls and decked Val across the face. He was launched across the stage and crashed face first through the adjacent wall, leaving an arena full of petrified Kazkanis in his wake.

"BOSS!"

"Holy-"

"What the-?!"

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, YOU MORONS!" Jowls snarled, reinvigorating the dumbfounded Kazkanis as she whipped out a plasma pistol and took a few shots at Lapis, "WASTE HER!"

And with that, the arena broke out into utter anarchy as all the Kazkanis in attendance opened fire on Lapis. Crying out in fear, Lapis summoned more water from the walls and formed an icy barrier that took the brunt of their firepower. The superheated plasma hitting the icy wall resulted in it melting almost immediately, with the peculiar side effect of generating a thick green mist in the process. For a second Lapis panicked since she lost visibility... until she realized that if she couldn't see the Kazkanis? Chances are they couldn't see her.

'Oh, I hope this works!'

Lapis soared up to the ceiling and perched on a large chandelier, breathing a sigh of relief as the Kazkanis continued firing at her previous location. And now that she had some breathing room, it was time to crush some Kazkanis.

"Wha- Where'd she go?!" Bones growled as he and several mobsters frantically looked around, only to be met with a taunting whistle from directly above. They looked up, and screamed in horror as Lapis cut the chandelier free with a water blade and sent it crashing down on their heads. She skillfully weaved past the ensuing volley of plasma bolts, gracefully ducking and fluttering about before making a pass above the mob. She spread out her arm and sent gangsters flying with a column of water that followed her lead, and cut a distinct figure eight through the gang before hastily retreating.

"You've gotta be kidding me, look at all the guys she's wasted!" one of the men screamed while a frazzled woman counted off all the fallen Kazkanis.

"Fifty one, fifty two, fifty three-!"

"THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF YOU AND ONLY ONE OF HER!" Jowls bawled, frantically waving her good arm around, "Shoot her down, NOW!"

Lapis smirked as she readied another blob of water, but was interrupted by a sudden flying kick to her face that sent her crashing back to Earth. Crying out in shock as she hit the ground, Lapis was kicked again as the attacker landed gracefully in front of her: the eerie looking Dollface from the diner.

"NICE ONE, DOLLFACE!" one of the women cheered.

"Not bad for such a dainty little thing," Dollface admitted, her voice a breathy hiss as her right hand collapsed on itself and transformed into a small plasma blade, "You could've been a good asset if you weren't suicidally stupid!"

Feeling showy, Dollface cartwheeled behind Lapis before flipping into the air and lunging towards her back. Unimpressed, Lapis crossed her arms and grinned at the remaining Kazkanis as one of her wings materialized as a fist that Dollface crashed into face-first, shattering her porcelain visage before she collapsed onto the ground. Jowls roared with frustration as Lapis took off again and fluttered up in the air.

"SHE'S MAKING YOU ALL LOOK STUPID! WHY?! WON'T?! YOU?! HIT HER?!"

Unimpressed with her underlings' efforts, Jowls turned to her hounds and snapped her fingers threateningly.

"Scareface! Gambino! Get her! Come on you useless mutts, bring her down already!"

As befitting of the apex predators of Dizmol's fungal forests, obsidian hounds were capable of all kinds of insane aerial stunts: they could climb up and bounce off walls, jump deceptively high... yet they weren't focused on Lapis. They were transfixed on all the water Lapis was throwing around, and they were horrified. Their backs were arched, their long tails drooped straight to the ground, and they were actually whimpering fearfully.

"YOU COWARDS!" Jowls screamed as she stomped over to them and slapped Scarface across the muzzle. "DO AS I SAY AND GRAB!"

She smacked him again.

"THAT!"

Another smack!"

"GEM!"

Jowls delivered the mightiest smack of all, kicking Scarface in gear. He roared deeply, threateningly... and lunged at Jowls in a panic-induced rage. He closed his scary teeth around her throat and threw her to the ground, once again causing her to land on her broken arm. As she unleashed a vulgar tirade, Scarface roared in her face, this time in an uncharacteristically high pitch before he and Gambino turned tail and ran for their lives. And unfortunately for her, things went from bad to worse when a watery tendril grabbed her and slammed her right through the ceiling, leaving her unconscious and precariously dangling from the hole like a forgotten streamer after a wild party. And now that he had time to recover from his motion sickness and Val's brutal beatings, Hurley smiled widely and guffawed uproariously as he beheld Lapis' amazing power.

"YOU GOT THIS, BLUE! KICK THEIR SORRY BUTTS!"

Lapis formed more water hands, punched holes through the ceiling, and allowed torrential rains to pour into the casino. The rainwater splashed up, enveloping her in an enormous watery column that quickly reshaped itself into a giant, furious octopus with incredibly long tentacles. They squirmed ferociously, and many of the Kazkanis were losing their nerve in the face of the ferocious sea monster.

"Aw, screw it!" One of the men blubbered as he ran for the door, "I don't get paid enough for this!"

Plenty of other Kazkanis followed suit, resulting in an uncomfortably packed doorway where they were too busy fighting each other to take heed of Lapis, who merely grinned as she stomped the mobsters brave enough to continue the fight. The Octopus would thrash about, sending Kazkanis flying while grabbing others and slamming them into each other. And after making short work of them, Lapis dismissed it before propelling all the water soaking the ground forward, creating a decently-sized wave that splashed through the door and bought back almost all the fleeing Kazkanis. Caught in the tide, they hollered and screamed as they were pulled back into the room, where Lapis sicced an army of Earth's sea creatures on them. Watery dolphins and flying fish would leap out of the water and slap them around, while squids and sharks would grab onto them before slamming them into the ground or into another mobster. Then the crabs and lobsters would painfully clamp onto their long ears, throats, and in one case tongue, and cause them to run around like headless chickens while screaming in agony.

And amidst all the chaos, confusion, and cacophony, Lapis was grinning like a madwoman as she orchestrated it from the sky. After putting up with so much trauma and stress, after getting jerked around and jerked around and jerked around again, it felt good to finally vent her frustrations on someone, let alone nearly five hundred seedy mobsters. Their screams of pain and terror were music to her ears, and every single knockout felt utterly blissful. She felt like she was on top of the world, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing to spoil it.

"BLUE, WATCH OUT!"

Caught off guard by Hurley's warning, Lapis turned around and barely managed to dodge the plasma bolt aimed squarely at her back and gasped as it grazed her belly. She grabbed her side and glared furiously at the stage where Val was now standing, looking absolutely miserable due to his black eye, missing fang, and soaked suit that was lightly coated in plaster. Having missed his shot, he cried out as Lapis lunged towards him and quickly pointed his gun right at Hurley's head.

"B-Back off, Girly!" He warned, his shaky voice cracking as the Gem stopped in place while his gun hand trembled violently, "B-Back off, or I'll melt his head into goo! I swear it!"

His good eye was twitching wildly, his chest was heaving like mad... he was like a deer in the headlights, so fixated on Lapis that he wasn't paying attention to anything else. So she made sure to keep her finger motions subtle as she quickly engineered a plan to disarm the brute.

"Okay, okay! I'm backing off!" Lapis replied, stiffling a smirk as she landed and stepped back. Val cackled loopily, completely ignorant of the mass of water pooling underneath him.

"GOOD! GOOD! Now if you'll kindly get your little butt outta here-"

Lapis wasn't sure what he was going to say, because Val suddenly squealed like a girl as a watery fist sprung up and punched him right between the legs. He dropped his gun and fell to the ground, curling into a fetal position where he was reduced to a choking, sobbing mess as he rocked and teetered clumsily on the ground. It was satisfying to watch, but Lapis wasn't done with him yet. She needed to REALLY put the fear of god in him. Shaping her biggest construct yet, Lapis enveloped herself in a pillar of water once again, and that pillar grew taller and taller... until it punched an enormous hole through the already damaged ceiling and kept growing until it was as big as the neighboring apartments. Excess water fell away, leaving a mortified, battered Val to stare helplessly at an enormous, furious Lapis Lazuli that glared down at him with watery eyes.

"Aw sh-"

"THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!" Lapis bellowed in a voice that seemed to shake the foundation of the Sinner's Pit itself. She extended an arm, and a large watery spear materialized in her hand. "LET! HURLEY! GO!"

To make sure she got her point across, Lapis swung her spear and leveled half the building in the process. The walls crumbled and the ceiling collapsed, exposing the interior of the arena to the rest of the world, which included thousands of passerby too interested in the chaos that unfolded to get to work. While they gawked in wide-eyed shock, Val looked like he was seconds away from dying from fright as he whimpered out a pitiful "M-M-My casino..."

"I CAN DO WORSE THAN THAT."

Lapis thrust the spear's tip right up to Val's face, causing him to squeal and clumsily stumble away. "NO, NO! Please, I'll do anything! I promise!"

Val struggled up to his feet and undid the straps pinning Hurley to the Wheel of Torture, allowing the Queasian to plop onto the ground before getting back on his feet. "S-See?! I let him go just like you wanted!"

"GOOD," Lapis boomed, "NOW GO AWAY!"

She slammed her spear threateningly on the ground, prompting Val to squeal even louder. At this point the fear and pain were too much to bear, and instead of fleeing the mobster simply fainted and fell flat on his back. Satisfied with the outcome all the same, Lapis allowed her enormous watery form to collapse, splashing Hurley and the unconscious Kazkanis with the ensuing waves and leaving them absolutely soaked. She landed gracefully on the ground, but barely had any time to breathe before Hurley set upon her with surprising speed.

"BLUE! Oh Blue, thank you so much for saving me!" he laughed as he scooped up Lapis in a Gem-crunching hug. "I thought I was a goner for sure!"

"Hurley-" Lapis wheezed as her body was being crushed between fat and surprisingly dense muscle, "Too hard-!"

Hurley realized his error, and let Lapis go with a nervous little chuckle. "Whoops! Ha ha, sorry about that! Didn't mean to get carried away, it's just... what you did was incredible! I mean, look at what you did!" Hurley cried out enthusiastically as he looked all around the ruins of the arena. "Gosh Blue, leveling a building?! Wiping out most of a 500 man gang by yourself?! And the way you controlled that water, it was like, ha! It was like something out of a story about the gods of old!" Hurley then looked Lapis dead in the eye, his expression masterfully blending awe and fear. "Y-You aren't a goddess, are you?"

"Nope, just an ordinary terraformer." Lapis replied, a bit embarrassed by all the praise being heaped onto her.

"Well, even if you aren't a goddess you ARE a hero! You saved me, you saved this city, and you ultimately saved Tadd! This is just crazy, Blue!"

"I mean, it wasn't right to just leave you to die..." Lapis replied bashfully, blushing a furious indigo in the process.

"Aw, no need to be so humble, Blue! You saved Krapton, you deserve to be a little full of yourself!"

"Saved?" A nasally voice cut in. "SAVED?!" Lapis and Hurley turned towards the crowd gathered outside the fallen walls, where one Hopkoblin was practically foaming at the mouth. "I WORKED THERE! VAL WAS MY BOSS! I worked the tables at the casino, but you've destroyed the building and killed my boss! Now I'm gonna be unemployed, thanks a lot!"

"Whoa!" Lapis cried out defensively, "There's still half a building, and Val's not dead, I... think?"

"So?! I still can't get paid, and I've got a wife and eleven kids to feed!" The man yelled.

"I've also got a family to feed!" A curvaceous Hopkoblin bellowed, "And I could keep a roof over their heads by dancing, at least until you BLEW IT UP!"

"I was a janitor!"

"I mixed drinks!"

"THANKS FOR DESTROYING OUR LIVELIHOODS, YA JACKASS!"

Lapis backed away as the angry mob grew more and more intense, and elbowed Hurley in the ribs. "I'm not getting the reception you said I was! Don't you think it's time we took off?"

Before Hurley could reply, he was interrupted by a scream of horror from behind. He and Lapis turned around, and saw a mortified Su scared stiff by the the loss of half the casino.

"Wha- what the- what did you-?!"

She shakily pointed from Lapis to the ruins to all the fallen Kazkanis before following her big brother's example and fainting.

"...yeah, maybe we should leave." Hurley replied awkwardly. Happy to leave the Pit behind, Lapis engulfed both Hurley and the unconscious Su in a large bubble before lifting them into the sky. She spread her wings and flew off with her new friends in tow, leaving destruction and plenty of angry denizens in her wake...

"ATTA GIRL, BLUE LADY!"

"THANK YOU!"

"THAT CREEP HAD IT COMING!"

And plenty of grateful ones too. Lapis turned, and smiled as she saw plenty of happy Hopkoblins among the angry mob waving at and saluting her, happy that the man who thoroughly terrorized them had been utterly humiliated and defeated once and for all. She waved back, and soared towards Rolo's apartment, genuinely elated and hopeful. This was the happiest she'd felt ever since leaving Earth, and she only hoped that things would get better from there...