Ahem. YOU PICKED, AND YOU GOT… Damon, Trip, Cruz and Kiyoshi for the op team, Amethyst and Jewel on the ship and the ground team on the water. I do not own Steven Universe or its characters, ideas, ect. If you have a criticism or critique, please leave a review. I hope you enjoy the chapter, because this was a really tough one to write.
God Bless, JPLegends
CHAPTER THIRTY: Airship Down
The battle had begun. Steven and Connie were getting a lot of interference, covered by static. "Once we're inside the ship, you won't be able to use your communication devices," Soren says. "We're alone from this point forward." Steven replied with a tongue-in-cheek "okie dookie" which covered his nervousness he always had before a battle. Connie squeezed his hand, obviously nervous too. She was biting her lower lip. Anything could go wrong here and they had to be careful. Supporting them was the team: Damon Shay, Trip Bard, Cruz Davidi and Kiyoshi Riku. Damon was dressed in a black vest, combat clothing and an assault mask. He had an automatic rifle on his back, with Soren holding the rounds. He was calm, collected. He had second thoughts about bringing Steven and Connie along, but he didn't question McKreavey's authority. Trip was wearing a light indigo outfit with a backpack filled with gadgets and his sub-machine gun, which Soren also held the rounds. His face was bearing, showing close cropped blond hair, icy blue eyes and a croppy outline of a beard that covered his pale skin. Cruz meanwhile had much darker skin, with black oily hair and equally as dark eyes that glinted with determination. Cruz was wearing a dark uniform and a backpack with explosives with a large pistol. Kiyoshi did not show his face, and he held a small knapsack with who knows what and a silenced pistol, wearing dark navy clothing and armor. Soren had on the military gem gear to pass as a homeworld soldier.
Soren made it to the battleground and got to the gems. He found a Jasper commanding the field of chaos as they fired at the UN. The UN was backing up surely, leading them unwittingly to the river. The Jasper chilled Steven, looking steadfast and confident. She turned to Soren, with a grin on her face. "Is that the leader of the Rebellion, Spessartine," She asked, looking square at Steven. "Give me your ID."
"Soren Spessartine Facet-5A3L Cut-8NA." Soren replied, coming up with a random ID on the spot.
"Peridot," the Jasper yelled out. "Get this Spessartine to the ship. He is to hand these soldiers and Rose Quartz over to the Diamonds and then is to be made a Pearl. Go!" A Peridot runs up, not the Peridot Steven or anyone else know, and looks at the Jasper. She nods and the so-called captives run forward and get in a green orb that then hovers over the battlefield and into a ship. The pod opens and the Peridot exits, showing up with four gem soldiers.
"Right," the Peridot says in a shrill voice. "These humans and Rose Quartz are to be retained and given to Yellow Diamond." Soren takes off his helmet and summons his sword, running forward and swinging at the Peridot. The gem is poofed and Steven summons his shield, the soldiers lining up behind him. Soren, Amethyst and Jewel run forward and poof the other gems with a series of short attacks with their weapons. Jewel takes a final gem by the face plate and smashes it into the wall, creating a rip in the side of the ship as the soldier goes flying into the forest. Soren turns and gives the team their ammo.
"Great," Kiyoshi says in a deep voice. "They know we're here."
"We need to move ASAP," Damon says. "The ships were moving toward the battle when we got here. We need to deactivate the weapons and send these things crashing down."
"The ship's weapons are a diverse set of artillery controlled from the center of the ship by a Peridot," Soren says, showing a hologram of the design on his gauntlets. "We need to get to that room, destroy everything inside and get to the bridge. There's not enough time to do both separately. We need to split up."
"Amethyst and I will go for the weapon room," Jewel says. "You guys head for the bridge." Soren nods.
"Okay, the bridge is accessed through a series of halls through and elevator nearby," Soren says. "We lay low and fight our way to the bridge." They open the door and there is a platoon of gem soldiers aiming their weapons at the team. They fire their bullets at them, taking them by surprise. Steven summons his bubble shield, shielding him and Connie from the incoming wave of bullets. However, the others take cover behind the door and the op team rolls out of the way. Cruz, however, isn't so lucky. He is quickly riddled with bullets and falls to the floor, dead. Steven looks away from his team mate's corpse and tries to keep his breathing intact. It was so brutal, quick. He shakes the thought out of its head. The gunfire is so loud and confusing and there are so many soldiers that it's practically impossible to poke your head out without dying. He looks over at Cruz's knapsack, thinking.
"Connie, I'm dropping the bubble." Steven says, summoning his shield and extending it to the size of his body. She nods and gets behind Steven, grabbing onto his shoulder. He drops the bubble and the bullets begin stressing on his shield. His muscles ache and he sweats. The pressure is a lot to handle, but Steven has to get it done. Steven walks over to Cruz's dead body, blood draining from his body. He takes the knapsack and looks inside. An assortment of explosives such as grenades, bombs and Molotov Cocktails. He pulls a Molotov and throws it at the gem soldiers. There is a loud shatter and fwoosh, as the hall fills with fire and the area fills with fire. The soldiers stop firing and Steven takes away his shield, exhaling heavily. The pressure put on his shield drained him. 'Focus,' Steven reminds himself. 'Act immediately.' He throws the bag to Damon, who grabs it and wraps it around his shoulder. "Amethyst!" Steven yells, punching his fist into his hand. Amethyst summons her whip and Steven summons his bubble, fitting it with spikes. He has to thank Pearl for training them to do this. Amethyst wraps her whip around the spiked bubble and throws him over the fire and into the platoon of gems, scattering them and poofing a few. The rest of the gems and op team pop in through the fire and Connie steps in next to Steven, preparing to fight.
Connie jumps forward and swings her sword at a gem, poofing it. The gems surround them and one aims a gun at them, about to shoot. Connie notices another gem about to do the same, in a matter of seconds, nearly every gem is aiming. They have to act fast. Steven jumps in front of the first one who fires their gun and it is deflected by Steven's shield. Steven raises his shield for Connie, who lands on it and uses it as momentum for the gem to poof. Two more gems about to fire. Connie slides under Steven's legs, sprinting at one gem, spinning and swinging. This poofs the gem. Steven, meanwhile, throws his shield at the other gem and stuns him allowing him to catch the shield, run forward and swing the shield, decapitating the gem and poofing it. Now the rest of the gems aim and fire at once, Steven summons his bubble and Connie slides in behind, taking over from the fire. "Hey batter batter swing!" Steven yells. Connie swings and hits the bubble, sending it forward and flattening three gems, the rest scattering. Steven lowers the bubble and brings his shield crashing down on the gem below him, Connie stabbing at the gem next to him. The third gem, meanwhile, gets up and trips, trying to get away. Steven notices another gem aiming at him and throws his shield, smacking him and making him drop his gun. Two more get on their flank, aiming.
Steven and Connie make eye contact, nodding. Steven ducks and Connie vaults over him, poofing the surprised gem. Steven throws his shield and breaks the gem's neck, poofing it. Steven catches it and takes another look around. One nearby, another in close proximity to Connie. Connie swings and poof that gem. The other one runs away out of fear. Steven throws his shield, and it ricochets from the floor to the gem's legs to the ceiling back to Steven. The gem falls and Steven throws at the ceiling, ricochets to the head, shattering it and back to him. Steven smiles satisfied. He looks around, the entire platoon is down, the op team reloading. "When Captain America throws his mighty shield!" Trip sings. Steven grins and laughs. The Australian's voice is like butter. Amethyst and Jewel are gone, on their way to the weapon room. The team makes their way to the elevator.
"I don't like this," Kiyoshi says, looking around. "There is likely going to be more gems than we can handle."
"What do you suggest?" Damon asks. Soren pulls his holographic interface and looks at the map of the ship.
"Not much we can do here," Soren says. "A series of hallways pretty much take us straight to the bridge from here."
"Anything we can use to sneak under them," Kiyoshi asks. "Like air ducts? Service tunnels?" Soren adjusts his map to show the duct interfaces.
"A coolant tunnel to keep the tech on the ships cool," the gem says. "It heads to the bridge."
"We can sneak past them by using the tunnels," Trip suggests. "I've got turrets to hold the illusion and we can use a smoke bomb engineered for extra effect." Kiyoshi nods. Trips sets down three turrets and a motion-trigger smoke bomb and tear gas dispenser. Meanwhile, Kiyoshi takes apart the hatch on the floor and set a signal. "Looks like we're sneaking through the carpal tunnels." Trip jokes. Connie laughs. Steven meanwhile is completely lost. It probably has something to do with the anatomy of hands. There is a faint boom that they hear. Must be Amethyst and Jewel's handy work. They're causing tons of damage. The elevator stops and Kiyoshi opens the hatch. They drop into the tunnels and close the hatch as the elevator opens. There is the sound of gunfire and smoke. Their ploy worked. They sneak through the ducts and listen for what's going on up top.
"Nothing," A gem says. "Turn the entire ship over and find them! They will not rip our chance of victory away from us." The pompous, angry voice sounded like Blue Diamond.
"My Diamond," The voice of Obsidian says. "With the incident in the Target Room, we're stretched thin. We cannot do this much longer. We need to lose the ship before anything drastic happens." Blue Diamond laughs.
"I like the cut of your gem," the Diamond says. "No wonder Yellow Diamond likes you so much. Fine then. Send an execution order to the other ships. This is to be destroyed, let's get out of here." Damon swears silently.
"Don't lose your luster," Soren jokes. "We're nearly finished. It sounds like Amethyst and Jewel are causing all kinds of chaos. That's a bonus." After another minute, they find themselves in the bridge. Kiyoshi pops out of the vent and wraps his legs around the neck of a gem. Twisting, the gem falls and Kiyoshi pulls his pistol, firing at the other gems in the room. Soren pops out and splits into multiple copies, using fire to pop, burn and scorch everything and every gem in the room. With the room cleared, Damon, Trip and Kiyoshi run to the door and take point. Trip places down a turret and Soren swears. "They're coming. And Blue Diamond doesn't care about friendly casualties. We need to hurry." Steven stands sentry at the door and the gems set up at the end of the hall. There is a massive fire fight and the humans seem to be holding their own. Steven turns around to see Soren at the head of the ship, his eyes enthralled with data. "One ship in front of us, priming to fire. Another below, doing the same." In front, Steven sees a ship shaped like a hand and it fires a green beam of energy. Multiple explosions and the ship shakes. Soren bites his lip and Steven sees the ship ahead of them hit with a beam in the finger joints. Then again in the palm. And finally in the center. The ship below them is firing relentlessly as the one in front explodes. One down, two to go.
Soren unfortunately caught on that the ship already took too much damage and will not last soon. So he backs behind the ship below them and takes a nose dive. The ships collide, finders to back of hand and a massive crash takes place, explosions everywhere. "Bleeders, come in," Soren says. "Plan is botched. Meet up ASAP." They run out of the bridge door and see that the gems ran away. No one could blame them, explosions were going off left and right and the ship is in critical condition. The same reason why the escape pods won't work. Around them, the ship goes dark and the halls are on fire. Eventually, they find Amethyst and Jewel and they reunite. In the middle of a hallway, the ships are about to explode. Soren grabs Amethyst's hands and yells "Fuse with me!"
"What?!" Amethyst asks, her cheeks dark violet.
"We can escape this here and now," Soren says. "All we have to do is fuse!" Amethyst nods and the two merge in light, growing taller until Steven sees the familiar look of a massive coat, tank top, sweat pants and combat boots. Four arms, violet eyes on fire with the sensation of excitement and shoulder length hair deep purple. Agate is back and she is cramped in the small hall way.
"Oh jeez," Agate says, looking around. "Erm…I've got this!" She pulls out her riding crop weapon and makes it catch on fire. "Steven, bubble the team!" Steven summons the bubble around him and the others as Agate slams the crop into the floor, causing a massive and loud explosion. Steven's ears ring and when the smoke clears, Agate grabs the bubble and grasps it firmly in her front two limbs, dropping onto the other ship. She looks around as the ships fall down to the forest. Steven looks at the trees hurtling toward them, and the fire behind them about to make the ships explode. "I need a propellant," Agate says. "Damon, give me the bag!" Damon looks at Cruz's bag wrapped around his waist.
"Everyone grab onto one another!" Steven yells. They form a chain to one another and Steven lowers the bubble, grabbing onto Agate's coat. Damon throws the bag to Agate, who catches it easily. Steven brings them in closer and reforms the bubble. That's safest for them to be right now. Agate chucks the bag of grenades, C4 and Molotov Cocktails back into the ship and summons a fireball after it. Then, she jumps off of the ship. And behind them, one massive explosion engulfs the air as Agate enters a free fall. Steven hears the radio slowly coming back into recognition and Agate free falls into the jungle. She lands, creating a small crater and sending dust up into the air. She lets the bubble to the dirt land and Steven releases the bubble, immediately threating any broken limbs from the landing. After half an hour, everyone is in well condition Agate lays there, asleep.
"This is SAV Operative Damon Shay," Damon says. "We have resulted in one casualty, but our op is a success. What is your progress, over?"
"Land Op success," A soldier says on the other line. "Whatever hasn't been killed retreated once their command gave the order. We have thirty casualties, thank God it wasn't higher. You're plan to put the battle in the marshes worked really well. Wait…patching Captain McKreavey in."
"Mr. Universe, we're in your debt," McKreavey says. "An escort is on their way to pick you up. Whatever you need next, it's yours."
"This is Steven Universe," Steven calls in. "We need your help taking out the big one."
I'm sorry this took forever! I really am! It's just school and band and work! I can never get any work done!