Destiny Steven Universe
Chapter 14
Earth, the Last City
The Crystal Gems had just woken up. They hadn't had much sleep recently so last night was some of the best sleep they'd had in a while. For breakfast, Cayde had taken them to his favorite ramen shop.
"That really was the best ramen" Steven said to Cayde, as they came back to the tower.
"It sure is" Cayde replied.
On the way, the Gems wanted to explore the tower. The Gems walked around to the lookout.
"This is beautiful view of the city" Connie said
"I didn't realize just how big the city was" Ruby said
The gems continued to explore. They noticed three flags above a stairway. One was black and white with a symbol on it that kind if looked like a pistol, another was red with a white triangle, and the other was purple with FWC written on it.
"What are those flags for?" Steven asked
"They are the three factions of the city. The black and white one is called 'Dead Orbit', the red one is called 'New Monarchy', and the purple one is 'Futute War Cult'. They're kind of like political parties. Well, New Monarchy is probably the most political." The Ghost explained. "You could go talk to them"
The Gems decided to do so. The closest was New Monarchy. A man in red was standing looking at a tablet.
"That is Exocutor Hideo." The ghost said as the Gems walked to him
"I haven't seen you before" Hideo said
"We're new here. So what's your faction all about?" Steven asked
"This city needs new leadership. Zavalah is an idiot. He just sits in the tower all day pretending to be a real leader" Hideo said
"Is that your flag?" Connie asked pointing to a red flag next to him
"Yes. The sign of New Monarchy should come to mean comfort, safety, and strength" Hideo explained
"Nice. Well we're going so what the other factions have to say" Steven replied
"Alright. Our choice us simple, find our strength or face extinction" Hideo said before the gems left.
The Ghost guided the gems to another faction. A pink A.I. was sitting behind a desk.
"That is Lakshmi-2, leader of Future War Cult" the ghost informed the gems
"Welcome to Future War Cult, Guardians. I am Lakshmi-2" the A.I. said. (FWC is short for Future War Cult).
"So what's your faction all about?" Steven asked
"War is our only option with all the aliens. We must accept war as a fundamental process, not a transient condition" Lakshmi said
"So you don't want to make peace with any of the aliens?" Connie said
"Why not? Not all of the Fallen are evil" the Ghost said
"Guardians, The future is now. When the last war comes, we will be the victors." Lakshmi replied
"Okay... well we've got one more faction to check out" Steven said
"Peace through chaos" Lakshmi said before they left
The Gems headed downstairs to see Dead Orbit.
"We are definitely not joining Future War Cult" Pearl said
The Gems made it to Dead Orbit. A grey man was standing in near their flag. He was an Awoken, like Zavalah.
"That is Arach Jalaal, leader of Dead Orbit." The Ghost said. "He has helped defend the city many times.
"So what's your faction all about?" Steven asked
We believe that the fate of the Earth is sealed and that the Traveler is not our only salvation. Our future lies among the stars" Arach explained
"I've heard that you haven't had an easy life compared to Hideo" the ghost said to Arach
"No I haven't. But I never regret choosing the path I did. I was Awoken to continue the search we started long ago. The quest for worlds worthy of our lives." Arach continued.
"I've heard that some people think you're a coward" the Ghost said.
"We were once deep space explorers seen as heroes. Now, for suggesting humanity should look beyond this system, some call us cowards" Arach explained
Pearl looked at the Gems "I think if we join any faction, it'll be Dead Orbit"
"You seem more peaceful than the other two, especially FWC" Sapphire said
"It was nice meeting you!" The Gems said
"Good luck Guardians" Arach said
The Gems headed upstairs to the command room.
"Good morning Guardians" Ikora said
Just then Caleb, Ratchet, and Vera came in too.
"Perfect timing" Zavalah said
"So, how'd your visit to Mercury go?" Cayde asked
"Well, we've got good news and bad news." Ratchet said
"Uh oh" Ruby said
"The good news is that we Osiris's followers were telling the truth. We got the Ghost of Osiris." Ratchet said and set the Ghost on the table. "The bad news is that we recorded this video of the Cabal."
Their Ghost flew to one of the computers, and played their video on it. The video showed the hologram they had seen the Cabal talking to. The ship shooting a star, and a Cabal leader talking.
"Hmm this doesn't look good. But it looks like threat isn't immediate. Let's see what Osiris's Ghost has to say. It may be more serious. Its name is Sagira" Zavalah explained
The Crystal Gems's Ghost scanned it, to awaken it. Sagira glowed a bit before it woke up.
"What? Where am I?" It said
"Your in the command of of the tower, in The Last City" Zavalah replied
"I remember you" Sagira said. "You were the one chosen to replace Osiris after he left." Sagira said and then looked at Ikora. "And you. You were one of the few that were friendly to Osiris. His favorite student."
"What happened to Osiris? What knocked you out and left you in the sand on Mercury." Zavalah asked
"Osiris was right all along. We know that the Vex are a real threat. Osiris's prophecy was true. We have been searching for a way to stop it but have been very unsuccessful." Sagira explained. "I lost him when we were attacked by some Vex. I was shot and he threw me through a portal he made. I don't know exactly where he is, but I may ne able to find him."
"So he was right." Ikora said
"Well then you'd better get to Mercury" Cayde said.
"Alright Guardians, time to save the world again" Zavalah said. "You can ask Banshee-44 for some weapons if you need any."
The Gems left with Sagira to help them. They went to Banshee-44 and asked him for advice on what weapons are great for fighting Vex.
"Well well well, I got something for you" Banshee said. "Here's one. It's called Cold Heart." He gave it to Sapphire. "And here's another one named Prometheus Lens." He gave it to Ruby. "Both of those are Beam rifles"
"Thanks!" Ruby and Sapphire said.
"Connie you can have this sub-machine called Riskrunner" Banshee-44 said. He handed more weapons to the Crystal Gems. "Pearl can have the Silicon Neuroma. My friend Asher Mir made it"
"That's a big sniper rifle" Pearl said she got it.
"Steven, you can have the Hammerhead machine gun. Smash through the veil." Banshee-44 said. "And here is a weapon called 'The Number' for you Amethyst"
Amethyst took the weapon. "Thanks. But which number? Why it and no others?"
The Gems thanked Banshee-44 and headed to the hangar area.
As the Gems went downstairs Amethyst asked "what does the 44 in Banshee's name stand for?"
"Yeah and what about Cayde-6"? Connie asked.
"They are both A.I. The number represents how many times they have been reset" the Ghost explained. "So Banshee-44 has been reset 44 times."
The Gems then entered the hangar and went to their ship.
"I got you a new sparrow Connie" Amanda Holiday said.
"Thanks" Connie said. "We're off to another mission so I'll try not to break it"
The Gems entered their ship. "Alright Guardians, let's defend the city" the Ghost said.
The ship took off and headed for Mercury.
"Alright, so you do you know where to find Osiris right?" The Ghost asked
Sagira answered "I know of a place we could find or one of his time remnants"
"What's a remnant of Osiris?" Pearl asked
"It's like a spirit of his that travels through time on Mercury." Sagira explained. "They, like Osiris are trying to stop the Vex. Their personality is exactly the same as the real Osiris."
"We're landing at the headquarters of Osiris's followers. That should be a safe place for our ship" the Ghost said. When the Gems landed, Sagira guided them to one of the pyramids.
"There's Vex guarding the Pyramid. We need to take them out first" Sagira said
"This won't be hard" Ruby said. Sapphire and Ruby used their beam rifles to fight the Vex.
A bigger Vex came towards them *woosh* it tried to hit Ruby and Sapphire.
*bang*...boom
Pearl used her sniper rifle and hit the center of the Vex, so it was easily destroyed. Sapphire threw her storm grenade at a cluster of Vex *zap zap*
"Good work Guardians" The Ghost said
Steven had noticed that whenever they killed a Vex, some white liquid came out. "Why do the Vex have this white liquid in them.
"I've always wondered that to" the Ghost said and scanned the liquid. "I know it's called Vex milk." The Ghost finished scanning. "Hmm that's strange. It appears that the Vex are slightly organic"
Sagira explained a little more "The Vex aren't the metal machines you fight. Their bodies are the white milk fluid inside their frames. They use the frames to move around and fight"
"Does the vex milk taste like real milk?" Amethyst asked
"Nope. Drinking this milk will make you go insane, like the now dead Titan Kabr" Sagira explained. "Alright, I'll open the portal." Sagira then scanned part of the pyramid until it glowed blue and white. "Let's go" she then went through the portal in the pyramid. The Gems followed and came out the other side and were in a strange world. Everything seemed to be floating. Alot of cement structures just floating in the air.
"What is this place?" Connie asked
"The Vex really changed Mercury" the Ghost said
As the Gems walked down the stairs they came to a cliff.
"Well, where do we go now?" Steven asked
"Press that button over there" Sagira said
Pearl went to some circular object and pressed a button on it. Suddenly a structure appeared in front of them.
"We can walk across this to the other pyramid. Just keep pressing those buttons when we get to the other side of each of these Vex structures."
The Gems went across the new structure until they came to the other side. They found another button and activated it.
"This is a strange world" Pearl said
"Yep. This is what will happen to earth if we don't stop the Vex." Sagira said
The next structure appeared, but this time there were Vex on it. *pew pew pew*
"Take this Vex!" Steven said and got out his Hammerhead machine gun. *bang bang bang bang bang bang* Steve mowed down the Vex.
"Wow, Steven made that look easy!" Amethyst said. She then activated the next button. A Vex hydra was in the middle of this platform.
"Here we go again" Sapphire said. The Gems went around to find a good spot but more Vex appeared.
"Over here" Sapphire said and made a Warlock rift. It was blue, because she was a Stormcaller. Ruby, Amethyst, and Pearl got in. Their power was boosted from the rift. "The Gems used their new weapons and destroyed Vex. Ruby put up a Titan sheild to block some of the shots from the Hydra. Connie then jumped and activated her Dawnblade ability. Flying with her flaming wings she was above the Hydra's shields.
"Take this Vex!" Using her flaming sword, she threw fire down at the Hydra. Before the Hydra could fire at Connie, steven threw a grenade on the Vex. *boom*
It got the Hydra's attention. The Hydra began to glow as the other Gems fired at it.
*booommm*
The hydra had been destroyed. Connie glided safely to the ground after using her Dawnblade ability.
"You Guardians really know how to work together" Sagira said
The Gems continued to activate the next structures until they made it to the next pyramid.
"Man, those Vex really want us dead!" Ruby said
"The Vex don't really want to kill you" Sagira explained "It's just that one of the by-products conversion is death. Shame, huh? They want to turn you into data sets. Strip everything away about you that doesn't 'compute' for them. And a version of you would still be alive in a Vex simulation somewhere. So It's only sort of like death really. And Ghosts? I don't think they really understand what we are. Light is pretty hard to simulate. Paracasuality and all that. Gotta wonder what happened to make the Vex like this, right? I mean, the Vex couldn't have cone from nowhere."
Sagira then scanned part of the pyramid until it glowed blue and white. "Alright Guardians, on the other side we might find Osiris or one if his remnants"
The Gems went through the portal to the other side. This time they appeared on the inside of a building.
"This is one weird place" Steven said. They walked around until they came to a strange light. There was a huge beam coming from a floor far below going to the top of the building they were in. There was another button like the other ones but this was by the beam. Sagira went up to it and scanned it. The blue light changed. Now there were waves of light going down the beam.
"Jump in" Sagira said
"What?" Connie asked
"It'll take us down slowly" Sagira said "Watch". Sagira went into the beam and slowly flew down. Amethyst took a leap of faith and jumped into the portal. She too, flew down slowly.
"I can't see her" Ruby said
They then heard Amethyst over radio. "I'm safe, you can come down."
The Gems jumped into the beam of light and slowly flew down. They landed safely and the waves in the light stopped. Suddenly a strange figure flew towards them.
"Osiris?" The Ghost said
It was a man but he glowed a little and almost looked like a spirit.
"I am a remnant of Osiris. It's good to see you" the remnant said. "And it's especially good to see you" he pointed to Sagira
"We came to help you Osiris" Connie said
"Can you tell us what exactly is going on?" Steven asked
"Yes. Follow me" the remnant said. Suddenly a portal appeared and he went through it. The Gems followed and came out at a very different world.
"This was Mercury before the Vex changed it." The Remnant said
"Wow. This looks similar to Rose's room" Steven said.
"The Vex completely transformed Mercury and replaced its core with their own." Sagira explained
A few Vex started firings at the Gems. *pew pew pew*
Connie threw a solar grenade at them *boom*. "Those Vex looked different than the Vex we normally see." She said Their heads were a different shape. More triangular. White with and some yellow.
"Those are Vex from a different timeline." Osiris explained. "The Vex have been traveling throughout time for so long that they change a bit. Like evolution."
"Mercury was once a beautiful place" Sapphire said
"Follow me" the remnant said as another portal opened. The Gems went through and came out in a dark place. A building with a hole on one side.
"I've got a bad feeling about this" the Ghost said
"If we don't stop the Vex, this is what our future holds" the remnant said and pointed out the hole in the wall. The Gems went to it and were stunned.
"Is that the Sun? What happened to it?" Steven asked
The sun was more of a white and gray color. Not very bright.
"This is all because of the Vex" the remnant said. Suddenly a giant Vex flew into view, in front of the Sun.
"Whoa" Ruby said. This was the biggest Vex they had ever seen!
"That is Panoptes, the Infinite Mind" the remnant said
"Let's get out of here!" The Ghost said. Some Vex came into the room. The Gems fired away but it wasn't doing anything. These Vex were too powerful.
"Follow me" the remnant said as another portal opened. The Gems quickly went through. They appeared back where they at started. The first pyramid they went through on Mercury, at their timeline.
"That was crazy!" Ruby exclaimed
"We're in some serious trouble" Pearl said.
"What are we going to about this?" The Ghost asked
"We have to find the best time to fight the Vex Mind, before it's too late." The remnant said
"But how?" Ruby asked
"We could use the GateLord's eye that we got yesterday. Our Ghost could scan it and hopefully determine when and where is the best time to fight the Vex Mind." The Ghost said.
"But the GateLord's eye is back at the tower" Ruby replied.
"We could message the Vanguard and ask them to bring it to us." Pearl suggested
"I'll be back in an hour" the remnant said. "If you find the time and place when I get back, I will get the real Osiris. Good luck" the remnant went back into the pyramid.
Will the Gems find the Vex Mind? Will they save the world? Find out in the next chapter!
Okay I think I did better with this chapter. The Vex are my favorite Alien race, and I side with Dead Orbit.