Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe
(A/N: My apologies to Fangirlbecky13 and NCam42 who I forgot to thank in earlier chapters. I always appreciate my readers, but I only know your name if review, favorite, or follow. That said I've hit over 1000 views! Thank you to my apx 100 consistent readers. Also there's going to be a new Steven universe on tonight yay! Last interruption this will be my last chapter for a month as I will be taking some time off to work on my other story. With that out of the way enjoy my newest installment of Young and Fearless.
Storywriter2003: Thankyou
Dante Watterson: Thankyou
Niteowl18: Thank you, and yes they did)
Chapter 11: A Diamond In The Rough
After training the team gathered at the lighthouse with a new found feeling of euphoria and excitement, after all they had basically just become superheroes. Five figures gathered around Ronaldo's computer where the tech savvy teen typed rapidly. Turning away from the key board he pressed a few buttons on the PDA which he had plugged into the usb port on the console.
"And there we have it," he said triumphantly as a red dot lied completely still on a black map covered in a green grid.
"What is it?" Buck asked having been delusional during the (very typo ridden) explanation the night before.
"After Lilith or Lolite injured you, the rest of us finished the job. Upon destroying her physical form a gem beast codenamed Cthulu retrieved her gem before we could perform proper protocol,"
"You mean shove her in a rusty closet safe?" Sour asked sarcastically.
"Exactly, upon the beast's appearance Lars tagged it with a tracking device that I duct taped to one of his arrows. We had made this plan to find their base of operations."
"What now?" Sadie asked. At this Ron spun around in his chair.
"Ready for some solid snake business?" was his answer. Everyone present knew what he had in mind. Sadie contemplated this and weighed her options. On one hand this could be certain death on the other hand if they didn't figure out what Jersey's plan was they might not find out until it's too late. What were the odds that he would just keep on sending his pawns out one at a time until they were all gone? She knew the answer was zero.
This is bigger than us. She thought to herself. "Okay," She said, still not sure of herself. "But we'll need a plan. This will have to be strictly a recon mission. There's no way we're making it out of three hundred vs. six fights. We get in, stay in the shadows, and see what we can find and what you can hear," She said while pointing to Ron. "If one of those things finds us it's going to make a lot of noise. We're going to need a quick and quiet way to take them out." She said with a finger with a finger on her chin.
"On it," Buck said as he held his phone up to his ear, and walked to the other side of the room.
"If Jersey has a base where he pulls all of his pawns in during the day than its most likely a temple. We're going to need a way in,"
"I have an idea for that; I'll be right back" Ron got up from his chair and headed towards the exit.
"Last thing we're going to need is black close to blend in,"
"We're on the case!" Jenny chimed excitedly as she dragged Sour by the hand out the door.
"Anything else?" Lars asked with the intentions of leaving. Sadie stepped closer, looking into the much taller boy's eyes.
"Nope," She said softly while leaning in for a kiss. Lars' darted around for a second which went unnoticed by Sadie do to her eyes already being closed. Before it was too late her leaned down and met her lips with his. This kiss was awkward, distant, and lacked the passion that Lars had displayed previously. Sadie noticed this and broke away.
"Is there something wrong, Lars?" Sadie asked, worried that she might've done something wrong.
Well, Lars you knew this was coming. You might as well be up front about it. He took in a deep breath "Sadie, earlier today I got my chikara, a field of lightning that surrounds my skin," Sadie nodded, unsure of where this was going. "Pearl said that our chikara is our greatest strength, my shield isn't like Steven's; it doesn't cover you in the rain and you can't fit another person in it. You can only use it to keep people from touching you, or hurting them when they do, so…doesn't that mean that my greatest strength is pushing people away?" Sadie put a comforting hand on his upper arm. "I know I said that I wouldn't back out of this and I'm not going to, but-"He was interrupted by Sadie who threw herself on top of him. They both landed on the couch with Lars back on the couch and Sadie's stomach on Lars. He blushed at the close proximity before Sadie tightly wrapped her arms around him. There was a brief moment of silence.
"Lars?" Sadie said in a soft tone.
"Yeah," He replied in a similar volume.
"I don't believe a single word of what you just said," This was not what the orange skinned boy had been expecting. "Sure you could take your power as you pushing people away, but it could just as easily be a sign that you stuck a fork in an electrical outlet as a kid" She stared down directly into his eyes. "Even if you're right about that I'll just keep on forcing my way back in, seemed to work just fine before," she practically whispered as she lowered her lips to her boyfriend's for a second try at that kiss. As her soft lips met his slightly chapped ones he felt his muscles relax, his anxiety vanish, and gentle warmth spread over his body. He kissed back and wrapped his arms around her as she had done to him, and though you could not tell, he was smiling.
It was 11:30pm at the light house where the team had recently regrouped. Sour and Jenny showed up with white paper bags.
"Here are the clothes," Sour said as he and Jenny started handing them out. They had bought them with the company card that Dewy had given them. "Sorry if they're too small or too big, we weren't sure on some of your sizes so there was a bunch of guess work to be done.
"Thanks guys," Sadie chimed as she took her set of pitch black clothes. "Ronaldo, what did you find in terms of a key?" The blonde male reached into his rucksack and pulled out a small pyramid with a familiar white gem sticking out of the side.
"I've got Abaddon's gem here in some sort of containment device. When we hold it up to the door it should open for us," he responded.
"Great, Buck?-" she turned to see him watching the road leading to the light house, where a black van was following the pavement.
"Here he is," Buck said as the van backed up to the group of super humans. The van's ignition turned off and the slight sound of metal shuffling was followed by Dewy throwing the back doors to the van open.
"Nice night huh?" The mayor said as he hopped on to the ground.
"Did you find it?" Buck asked as his da pulled a large suitcase to the back of the van.
"I've got just the thing you're looking for," He said as he undid the latches and opened the case to reveal six pistols and twelve loaded magazines. With a gasp Ronaldo was in front of the case.
"These are Russian PSS silent pistols! There's only ever been four reported on U.S soil!" He gawked as he picked one up, letting his trigger finger fall on the trigger guard.
"Well I guess the count is ten now," He said as he drank in the team's impressed expressions.
"How did you get these!?" Ron asked in disbelief. Dewy rubbed his right arm and looked to his feet for a brief moment.
"I have some old connections, an old friend that helps me get things I need. Maybe you'll meet him one day," he laughed nervously before snapping to a serious state. "Now as an adult I feel it my responsibility to ask, do you know how to use these safely?" He knew Buck did and so did Ronaldo by the looks of it, but any he wasn't sure about any of the others. Jenny nodded as she reached for her gun, carefully avoiding pointing it at anybody in the process.
"My dad taught us how when he started keeping a pistol under the counter at the restaurant," Sour grabbed his and slammed the magazine into the opening at the bottom.
"Had a pellet gun once. Same rules don't point it at anybody, keep the safety on until you're ready to shoot, button on the side drops the mag.
"I think I've got the gist of it," Sadie said while being sure to mimic her friend's actions.
"I'm more comfortable with my bow anyways," Lars said while double checking the safety and sticking the barrel into his waist band as he had seen on TV.
"If everything's taken care of I guess I'll be on my way, happy hunting" Dewy said as he started to walk away leaving the van behind. Sadie tapped on Buck's shoulder.
"Buck, what is he doing?" she said quietly.
"Walking," He replied stating the obvious.
"I know that, why is her walking?"
"Because I asked for the van, I figured it would be an improvement over a yellow jeep." Sadie understood now.
"Good thinking," She said while walking off to change into her black sweatshirt and pants.
Once everyone had their stealth clothes on they loaded into the van and followed the map displayed on Ron's PDA to a wooded area where few treaded as was made apparent by a distinct lack of trails. They had to leave the van behind on the side of the road. And everyone walked as a group to the center of the giant culmination of trees. Once they were right on top of the red dot they noticed a rock formation in the exact shape of Jersey's head. The roof of his mouth made a cave where as sharp stalactites represented his teeth and hung from the ceiling.
"Guess this is the place," Sadie said as she stepped over a stalagmite and into the cave.
"Dude needs to check his ego," Sour commented as he did the same. At the back of the cave there was a stone door with gems of various cuts and colors decorated the door in an organized grid except for in the center where there was one gem and eight empty spaces surrounding it. This was assumed to be the Obsidian gem. Ron pulled the white gemstone out of his bag and the corresponding gem started glowing in the first quadrant of the door before it split open in a saw pattern. As usual the final wave of anxiety came over the young heroes before the silently slid under the lintel. The room right inside the door was large and bathed and an eerie red light that seemed to come from nowhere. At first glance the room appeared to be void of life which was a lucky break for team YAF because there was nothing to hide behind. The room was completely empty with the exception of a giant pitch black heart that suspended itself in the center of the room from two large black pillars.
"That's the temple's heart; Garnet said that it leads to every room. We should use it to get around; if it's anything the one in the other temple the veins will stick close the ceilings," Sadie said as she started towards the heart and leaped on top of it. Clinging to the vein she noticed two things, one that it felt similar to glass, and two that it was ice cold as if it had been long dead. She scaled the vein through the ceiling of the room and into a sort of ventilation system. Though she knew this couldn't have been the real purpose of these tunnels as the gems didn't breathe. After a few minutes of climbing straight up the sloping vein Sadie heard heavy footsteps through the small openings in the rock. She looked behind her to see Ron and whispered just loud enough so the he could hear her. "There are some guys outside; what are they thinking?" Ron closed his eyes to find an answer.
"They're just gem beasts, mindless drones. I can only hear the directive that Obsidian gave them. He said guard the door and make sure no one disturbs us," He said now opening his eyes.
"That means that we're near Obsidian," She looked ahead and saw an opening not far away. "Come on its just a little further," she whisper yelled as she kept moving forward. Such a feat would've been impossible before Pearl's training. The vein stretched the center of the ceiling where it split off into five slightly smaller veins that lead back into different tunnels. The ceiling in this room was extremely high up. One could compare it to that of a super market. There against the wall Jersey sat in a throne of gold with Lilith kneeling before him.
"I'm sorry, Obsidian. I underestimated them and as a result I was defeated. I have no excuse and take full responsibility," The enemy gem's voice echoed throughout the hall.
"I do not blame you, Lolite. Though your defeat was a surprise I now believe that to be a result of my judgment. They put up a decent fight before they even knew what caine was, and with it they will be a much more substantial obstacle. Are you sure they've learned how to harness their energy?" Lolite looked up and nodded.
"I could sense it in their movements. Their skill is below average but their numbers serve them well," Obsidian arose from his throne and knelt in front of the gray gem. He took her chin with his thumb and forefinger and lead her to look him in the eye.
"Lolite," He said in a sultry voice. The team could no longer hear them due to their softer tones.
"What are they thinking, Ron?" Lars asked with curiosity.
"You don't want to know," He whispered back while trying to shake the thoughts out of his head. "We should keep moving," He strongly urged his leader. Who complied and kept shimmying along the vein. As they did so Ron heard someone calling out to him. He saw no one around and took this as his telepathy working in the background. With this voice in mind he lead Sadie to the exit second from the left. Once they were surrounded by rock once more the vein turned into a straight shot down. The teens slid down the vein firemen's style. There seemed to be an opening at every floor on the way down, just large enough for Ron (the biggest of the group) to fit through. "Stop at the next opening," Ron continued to direct. Sadie didn't know where he was leading them, but he was the one who could read minds so she didn't question him. She slid to a stop as did the others and threw herself off the vein and through the opening into an empty hallway. Once the other five did the same Ron kept on leading them; as he got closer and the voice became clearer he realized one, that the voice sounded childish, and two, that it was in great pain. The action of crushing came to mind when he thought about it. They turned right at a fork and were met with two Abaddon sized monsters standing on either side of a bid wooden door. Once had three foot long sword like claws and green skin where the other had spikes jutting out from in between its scales. They quickly retreated before either beast could see them. They all hurriedly readied their pistols except for Lars who drew his bow and an arrow. They all nodded to one another before sprinting out from behind cover and letting loose. Two bullets immediately imbedded themselves in both monsters' skulls before one of Lars' charge shots destroyed the clawed monster. The teens noticed that when they pulled the trigger there was no muzzle flash of bang, only the click of the chamber releasing empty shells. Two more bullets penetrated the spiked monster only this time one of them missed and shattered its sternum. Just before it could roar for help Jenny leapt on top of it in between its shoulder blades. She wrapped her chain around its neck and sent the message to her weapon and with that the spikes dug into its jugulars and ended the fight.
Obsidian looked up from what he was occupying himself with, having felt a tingle in the back of his neck.
"What wrong, Obsidian?" Lolite said in a rather disappointed tone. The demonic looking creature stood up.
"Someone just destroyed two of my pawns," He said in an anger filled voice.
"So?" She asked not seeing the big deal.
"They were inside the temple!" He yelled as he sprinted out of his court room
They left the gems behind having nowhere to put them at the moment and resolved to simply do what needed to be done quickly.
"It's in here," Ron said as he approached the doors.
"What is it?" Sadie finally asked as Ron pushed the heavy doors open. There constantly surrounded in a shroud of white light and dust lied a round purple gem inside a tiny cage. It would appear that Jersey had the same idea as the team and used a small confinement to crush gems as they reformed; though this gem seemed to start reforming almost instantly.
"The one who was calling me," Ron answered.
"Quick, Buck get it open!" Sadie half yelled as she now realized how much pain this gem must be in. Buck rushed up the steel cage and lined up his axe carefully; if he missed he could accidently break the gem. With one strong swing Buck sliced the top half of the cages clean through. This time when the white light came it grew into a humanoid figure though something seemed a bit off about it. The figure fell to the ground on its hands and knees. When the light faded it was revealed that the gem they had saved was corrupted and had taken the form of an anthropomorphic wolf with gray fur protruding from under the hood that was attached to his clothing which resembled a gi except it was black with red trim and had a hood. The scared gem looked up to the six humans in front of him and smiled widely.
"Thank you," He spoke in the most tired voice that any of them had ever heard.
(A/N: Now this is the longest chapter I've ever written! 7 pages in word, and 3,225 words! Also this took a long time to type so sorry if by the end of it I got so tired of looking at it that it started sucking. Hoped you all enjoyed and don't hate me for leaving it off on a cliff hanger The Walking Dead does it all the time. Also excuse the suggestive themes between Jersey and Lilith it's important for later on.)