"Psst. Steven!"
"Ummmhuhhuh…"
"Steven! Wake up!"
"Just five more minutes, Pearl!"
"STEVEN THE DIAMONDS ARE BACK"
"Hu- wha- whoah!" – Steven jumped awake and fell over from the bed. He looked around. He was in an unlit closed-off room.
"You were pretty put out last night, huh." – Ben told him.
Ben! It slowly all came back to him. The road trip, the night club…
"Yeah. Well, I was driving for hours. And then went to the rave. Last night was crazy, though, right?" – Steven said as he got up. There was no need to put his clothes on, he had fallen asleep fully clothed.
"You're quite the party animal." – Spodumene said ironically. Oh, that's right. They met Spodumene and at the rave, and she was gonna take them to somewhere they could crash for the night. "You've been sleeping it off ever since."
"What time is it?" – Steven asked and looked at his phone. "11:27 AM?!" – he exclaimed in shock, almost dropping it. "Oh, no! My sleep schedule! My morning routine!" Steven gasped, realizing something even more horrifying. "I was supposed to check in with Connie!" – he scrambled to unlock his phone, almost dropping it the second time. But something was off.
Steven's phone's background was supposed to be a photo of him and Connie together, but for some reason, he was staring at a selfie Ben had taken with a sleeping Steven, who was slightly drooling.
"Don't worry about that. Connie was blowing up your phone with notifications so I answered for you." – Ben reassured him.
"What. Did you. Say." – Steven asked him, dead serious, as he checked his call history.
"Well, I told her about how we met on the road and then how the B&B host kicked us out because we were late and then about the Love Glove and then I sent her the…"
Ben didn't need to finish, as Steven saw that Ben had sent Connie the sleeping Steven selfie just a couple minutes ago.
"She said you look really cute in your sleep." – Ben commented. "And that it's good to have a friend along with you on that journey so you don't feel lonely." – he added. Steven tried calling her.
"She was just heading into her class." – Ben told her. It was true. She had her phone off. Steven would have to wait until her next break.
"Tough break, bro." – Spodumene tried to console him in her own clueless way.
"I can't believe I missed talking to her. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" – Steven asked them.
"Been trying to for a while, but you were just too partied out." – Spodumene explained. Steven wished that was the case – he was too tired to even enjoy the rave, as much as he wanted to. Ben was pretty worn out too, considering he fell asleep just like Steven, and Spodumene probably carried them both here…
Where was here exactly? Steven finally took a look at his surroundings. It was decorated extremely… weirdly. Sure, there was a bed and a table, but no chairs. In the corner was a laundry machine and next to it was a sink. Though, none of its pipes were connected to anything. A kitchen cupboard was hanging on top. The whole thing looked like it was set up by someone who had no idea what human houses were like.
"You don't seem impressed." – Spodumene commented, after she saw Steven look around.
"Wh- sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"It's okay. This was set up with humans in mind, but like, no one here really understood how humans live. But wait till you get a look at the outside!" – she said as she dramatically opened the door next to her. Ben and Steven marveled at the sight that met them.
It was an alien bazaar. Stalls, stores, stands, all filled with various products – groceries, clothing, parts, technology, even weapons. Everywhere they looked, the place was full of various aliens, just like at the Love Glove. However, this was not a nightclub. Neither was this a hotel. What it struck Ben as was…
"Undertown!" – he exclaimed. "This is just like Undertown back in Bellwood!"
"Well, yes and no. Welcome to Empire's Underbelly!" – she said flamboyantly. "It's smaller than Undertown, though. This is just the one warehouse. But Undertown also started with one store, so who knows how far this will go."
"All of this is inside one warehouse?" – Ben asked.
"Kinda. It started out like that, but we expanded underground a little bit since then. But it looks totally inconspicuous from the outside." – Spodumene explained.
Ben and Steven looked around. A lot of the aliens here they recognized from the Love Glove, but there was a whole lot of others too. The kinecelarans, the pripyatosian bartender, the chritchellites… Ben was relieved that the tetramand woman wasn't there, at least. Steven didn't seem to be excited about exploring the place, though. He was walking with his phone in his hand, refreshing constantly to see if Connie was online.
"Dude." – Ben tried to snap him out of it.
Steven didn't even notice him.
"Dude!"
"Hr- what?" – Steven flinched.
"Come on, when are you gonna get the chance to explore a place like this again? Isn't this exactly what the road trip is about? Seeing all these cool places in the world? Like, isn't this the point of Little Homeworld, too, humans and aliens coexisting together?"
"To be honest, I don't see any humans here doing the coexisting besides us." – Steven pointed out. It was true – unlike the Love Glove or Undertown, there was no human to be seen besides them.
"Okay, that's beside my point. But you can't just be hung up about Connie, now, can you? Her class doesn't end for another hour anyway, so why don't you put that thing away and try to enjoy yourself until then?" – Ben advised him. "Come on. Let's go to the tiffin stand."
Ben dragged Steven over to what looked like an ice-cream stand, though with a purple alien with many weird, disjointed limbs manning it. Spodumene followed them.
"We'll have three." – Ben said as he got the taydens out of his wallet.
"Flavor?" – the alien asked.
"There's flavors to tiffin now?!" – Ben replied, surprised. "Okay, so what flavors do you got?"
"Delicacies from around the cosmos! There's mealworm, gloppenbeef, torforrho guts and…"
"Alright, I don't even want to hear it anymore." – Ben stopped him. "We'll have three of… whichever one you didn't mention."
"So, what exactly is this tiffin?" – Steven asked Ben as the alien muttered "suit yourself" prepared their order. They watched as the multitude of limbs bent every which way so that the alien could work efficiently.
"There's this alien race called Lewodans, and their babies are like these super-cute marshmallow-like fuzzballs." – Ben explained as he grabbed the three tiffin cones.
"What does that have to do with this?" – Steven cluelessly as he took a spoonful. It looked like ice-cream, but was weirdly warm and marshmallowy, but as he put it in his mouth…
"Oh my gosh, this is DELICIOUS!" – he exclaimed. Spodumene nodded in approval as she ate.
"Their babies are supposed to be like the most delicious thing in the entire universe, apparently. Highly sought out on the interplanetary black market. And THAT's what the tiffin is." – Ben explained completely casually.
Steven spit everything out. "WHAT?! YOU HAVE ME EATING MARSHMALLOW BABIES?!" – Steven yelled in distress as he grabbed Ben's shoulders. "THIS IS HOW YOU WANNA GET MY MIND OFF OF CONNIE?! BEN, I'M SUPPOSED TO BE A VEGETARIAN!"
"Relax, dude!" – Ben said as he tried to get Steven off of him and calm him down. "It's just tiffin-flavored. They're not actual babies! And besides, there's not enough tiffin on Lewoda to make the amount of ice-cream these guys are making!"
"Correction. Tiffin is the title of the royal prince of Lewoda." – the vendor interjected.
"Yeah, whatever. My point is, I've saved the Tiffin myself, like, twice. I know what I'm talking about here." – Ben went on.
"Wait, prince? You mean, these lewodans are like, actual people? And their babies get…"
"Yep." – Ben said darkly and slightly nodded. "Saw that happen with my own eyes."
"Well, what'd you do?"
"Don't worry, I rescued the Tiffin. And also made sure the guy drank through a straw for the rest of his life." – Ben said off-handedly.
"That's it?" – Steven asked, concerned.
"What do you mean, that's it?"
"Didn't you like, send him to Plumber jail or anything like that?"
"Well, what was I supposed to do? He was the king of a planet! The Plumbers don't have the power to… just overthrow monarchies like that! It'd cause chaos and war on a planetary and potentially galactic scale!" – Ben defended himself. Steven listened, as Ben described a familiar situation. "Civil wars! Attackers hoping to carve their own territory out! That'd be way more death and destruction, so, admittedly, he got to escape justice that time. The best I could do was that tell him that if he ever tried anything like that again, I'd rearrange his intestines and knit them into a sweater."
"Gnarly." – Spodumene commented with a smile.
"Yeesh, you told him what?" – Steven laughed.
"Well, it was Rath talking, not me. But my point still stands."
"Oh, yeah, I remember Rath. Rath is… pretty intense. Remember the time he and Bismuth-"
"The hell is this?" – someone approaching them interrupted. "You're bringing MORE humans in here?"
The three of them turned around. It was another alien, the species of which Ben hadn't seen before. He was big and thick, and looked extremely strong. His green skin was covered in armor plates on his limbs, though leaving the entire abdomen area exposed, as that's where his face was located. The expression on it didn't seem happy.
"This is the only area we have where humans can't nose in, and you're not gonna rest until you make it known to this entire crumby town?" – the alien grunted angrily. A couple of passersby lingered their looks on them.
"Cool your jets, Dundul. These humans are in the know." – Spodumene told him coldly. Steven noticed it was the first time he's ever heard her speak with an irritated tone.
"They may be in the know with you gems, but that doesn't speak for the rest of us. The last guy you revealed this place to, also "in the know", was walking around with his eyes popped out of his sockets, putting himself into everyone's business. It's enough that you're here, stop bringing these damn apes!"
"Apes?" – Steven repeated.
"We're not actually humans, you know. We're hybrids." – Ben interjected.
"Hybrids? Well, you're human passing. Could have fooled me." – Dundul groaned and stomped off, muttering something about "human apes" and "disgusting hybrids."
"Hybrids?" – Steven then asked Ben.
"Well, we both technically are. My grandma's an anodite, and you…"
"Okay, but even so, he has no right to say that humans can't belong here. What is that guy even doing here on Earth if he hates humans so much, anyway?"
"Dundul hates everything." – Spodumene commented. "Though, some people here share some of his views…"
They finished their second order of Tiffins in silence, though the taste was good to cheer everyone up. Then, Ben noticed someone big in the alien crowd.
"Oh, hey, Steven, here's someone I want you to meet." – Ben said as he looked into the distance.
They all approached a big, bipedal dinosaur-like alien – the same species as Ben's humongosaur. Only big difference is, this one was wearing glasses.
"Hey, Hugh!" – Ben got his attention.
"Whoahey, Ben, I didn't expect to s-see you this soon!" – Hugh responded.
"These are my friends, Steven and Spodumene. Guys, meet Hugh." – Ben introduced them to each other.
"Hugh the Humongosaur?" – Steven asked.
"Rad." – Spodumene said.
"So, my friend Hugh here is an actor." – Ben told them.
"I-i-it's true!" – Hugh nodded. "I met Ben when I was p-portraying him on Ben 10 Live. It didn't really work out back then, but now I'm at Empire, a-and ready to star on Broadway!" – Hugh exclaimed with ambition.
"Well, how's that going?" – Steven asked. He wanted to know more about how non-gem aliens fit into human culture.
"To be honest, it's hard not to get typecast, but I've really grown into the role. And there are so many g-giant monster attacks on this planet that there's always new material for me to perform! And there's one director that appreciates my passion for the art. Hu-he's a swell dude. We're doing a play ri-right now about the giant pink monster that appeared in his hometown a couple months back. You really should c-come see it if you're in Empire." – Hugh told them eagerly.
Steven pieced together what Hugh was talking about, and realized why Ben wanted him to meet Hugh.
Ben looked at him with a smirk that he was barely able to contain. Steven was unimpressed by this.
"I'm sorry, Hugh, but me and Ben getting back on the road today. Right, Ben?" – Steven said.
"I mean, we could stick around for a couple days if you-"
"Right, Ben?"
"Yeah, yeah, no, sorry, Hugh. Spodumene can watch it, though."
"Absolutely." – Spodumene confirmed. "Looking forward to it. I bet SC is gonna love it!"
"You think she realized it?" – Ben asked Steven while Hugh told Spodumene the address.
"She's got to, right? I mean, at least she will when her and Sour Cream go to see it. Aw, they're gonna go on a date together! That's cute." – Steven told him, but then he realized something. He got his phone back out of his pocket. 12:31 PM. Ben shook his head disapprovingly and gestured him to put the phone down.
"You gotta help me out here, Spodumene. What else is here that can take Steven's mind off Connie?" – Ben asked.
"Hmm… I know just the thing." – Spodumene responded. "Come on. Let's get up to level one."
As Ben and Steven followed her up a staircase to the ground floor, another new world opened up to them. Though, admittedly, this one was more confined to the warehouse interior. Ben looked around. Among all the aliens, he saw an Argistix Security robot in the crowd, talking to Dundul of all people. That couldn't have been good. As they passed by, Dundul noticed that they were now up here too.
"So where's the…"
"Over there!" – Spodumene shouted when she saw someone far away. She grabbed Ben and Steven's hands and pushed through the crowd, dragging them along with her. They went to an alien seafood-themed food truck inside the warehouse that had a crab-like alien with a giant crab claw instead of one of their hands (piscciss premann, from the same planet as Ripjaws) manning it. Instead of approaching it from the front, though, Spodumene led them inside, and all three of them got crammed in there with the vendor, with barely any space to move. The inside of the truck smelled of weird alien ingridients.
"Spodumene! I told you not to come in in broad daylight like that!" – the vendor said as she closed the food truck's window so they'd be able to talk in private.
"Oh, come on, Bix, it's not like anyone will notice." – Spodumene responded.
"They will notice, and they will care, too." – "Bix" said. "Hey, Steven." – she added.
"Um… I'm sorry, but do I know you?" – Steven awkwardly asked.
The piscciss premann grabbed her face with her hand (the one that wasn't a giant claw) and took it off. Turns out, she was wearing an ID mask, and as the hologram faded away, a familiar image appeared in her place.
"OH! BIXBITE!" – Steven exclaimed as he recognized her. "She was calling you Bix! I should have expected that, yeah."
"What, and the giant claw didn't give it away, dude?" – Spodumene chuckled. Since her eye was obstructed by her "hair", her smirk was her only visible facial feature.
"Hey, Steven." – Bixbite sighed. "I mean, I said goodbye to you yesterday in Beach City as you were leaving, but I didn't really expect to see you this soon. And Spodumene, I've told you a million times already…"
"Chillax, brah." – Spodumene told her. "Don't mind her, she's always this crabby." – she then told Ben and visibly blinked. If she had had two eyes, that would have been a wink.
"I don't get it. What are you doing here? And why were you wearing that mask thing?" – Steven asked Bixbite in confusion.
"Every gem needs a job. But, well, here, people don't really like gems."
"What do you mean exactly, don't like gems?" – Steven repeated with concern.
"That's exactly what it means. There's a… stigma here."
"Really?" – Steven turned to Spodumene. "I mean, you seem like you get along well here."
"Yeah, well, you might have noticed, not with everyone. But I keep telling you, brah, you shouldn't just hide in your shell like that! I'm not!"
"Well, I'm not you, am I? And if they found out there were more of us here…"
"Hold on. Why are you even working here if people hate the gems like you say? Can't you work a human job?" – Ben piped up.
"Well, I wanna get off-world, for that I need taydens, so it's either this or Undertown." – Bixbite sighed.
"Oh. Didn't know you wanted to get off-world." – Steven said.
"Well, what's wrong with Earth?" – Ben protested.
"Nothing, it's just that after being trapped here for millenia, I wanna see what else is out there." – Bixbite explained. "Especially after the Diamonds halted their operations and we're free to do whatever we want." – she added.
"And for that she needs the coinage." – Spodumene concluded.
"Hey, yeah, that's what I've been doing." – Ben brought up. "Space road trip. Except I don't have a spaceship on me anymore so…"
"I still don't get why do the aliens here not like gems. Is there anything you did or…" – Steven asked, but Spodumene interrupted him after listening to the first half of the sentence.
"Whoa, Bix, imagine if they found out I brought a Diamond in here. They'd, like, totally flip out, right?"
"WHAT?!" – someone from the outside yelled.
There was a loud noise. Bixbite flinched, but then she saw the food truck window cover get forcibly ripped off, and a cold shiver ran over her entire body – she'd been found out.
Dundul, who was apparently eavesdropping from the outside, threw the window cover away as he grabbed Spodumene's entire head with his massive hand.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" – he demanded with fury, though Spodumene couldn't speak, as her face was covered by Dundul's hand.
"YOU BROUGHT A DIAMOND HERE?!" – he then yelled at Bixbite.
"Leave them alone!" – Steven rushed to help as he got out of the food truck's window hole and summoned his shield. Ben followed, with the Omnitrix dial activated and ready to transform.
"Wait a second. Now I recognize you. Both of you. You're the wearer of the Omnitrix, aren't you? 'eard about you." – Dundul finally noticed. At the same time, aliens all around them were noticing the confrontation, and had gathered into a crowd around them. Hugh was among them, though he looked nervous and tried to shrink his 12 feet tall figure into the crowd, which obviously didn't work.
"Took you long enough to realize." – Ben said smugly.
"All you apes look the same to me. And you…" – Dundul turned towards Steven. "Should have known when you called yourselves hybrids. I recognize you too. You're what the Diamond spawned with the ape. And you dare set your foot here?! All of you gems?"
"I said, let her go." – Steven repeated firmly.
"Iwm owkky!" – Spodumene muffled through Dundul's grip.
"What do you even have against gems, dude? Did they shoot your dog or something?" – Ben asked him sarcastically.
"I have every right to hate the gems!" – Dundul roared. "They colonized and terraformed my planet! My people were scattered across the galaxy as they drained the life out of my mother soil! Why else do you think would I even set foot on this vulpimancer's excrement of a planet? And you rocks won't even leave me be, not even here!"
"Relax, dude! Nobody's out to get you here!" – Ben tried to talk him down. He looked at Steven, hoping for verbal backup, as this was a gem related matter after all, but Steven momentarily stopped and lowered his shield.
"I understand that your world suffered because of what the Diamonds did. This world did too. But you don't have the right to take it out on these two!" – he pointed at Bixbite, who was huddled up in a corner of the food truck, covering her face with her hand and claw, and Spodumene, whose face was still in Dundul's grip, but stopped struggling and was just dangling there waiting for the situation to deescalate. "They suffered the most! They were turned into feral creatures, trapped in a world that didn't understand them, for thousands of years! They had nothing to DO with what happened to your homeworld!"
"Hm. Yeah?" – Dundul grunted. "Then who did?"
"The-" – Steven started, but Dundul cut him off.
"The Diamonds. Maybe not you personally, but the other ones. So let me ask you this, Steven Quartz Half-breed Universe… WHAT COMEUPPANCE DID THE DIAMONDS GET FOR THEIR ACTIONS?" – he roared. Steven was at a loss for words.
"WHAT RETRIBUTION DID THEY GET FOR THE COUNTLESS WORLDS THEY'VE RUINED, INCLUDING YOURS? Last I heard, they sit in their castle, not troubled by even an ounce of justice." – he continued. Each of Dundul's words seemed like they were cutting into Steven's heart, weighing down on it.
"And what did you do about it? Absolutely nothing, that's what. The wielder of the Omnitrix is also fine with letting them go free, apparently. Still, you wonder what is it that I could possibly have against the gems. Or you."
"Owkay we'we lwke at an ewght rwght nww wnd I nwwd ywu to twke it dwn to a thwee." – Spodumene said, her face still being gripped in Dundul's hand.
Steven mumbled something. Ben was watching the situation unfold, hand still intensely on the Omnitrix, ready to control the situation the moment a fight broke out.
"What was that, oh great Diamond?" – Dundul asked condescendingly.
"ENOUGH!" – Steven yelled as he landed a punch on Dundul that knocked him back and made him let go of Spodumene, who got up with her head spinning.
"You have no right to come here and tell me what I should and shouldn't have done with the Diamonds!" – Steven yelled as Dundul charged at him.
"Alright, it's time." – Ben had decided and slammed the dial, but immediately, his form had shrunk down to Walkatrout. "Seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY?!" – he whined as he flip-flapped towards the battle.
"Don't you think that I did everything in my power to stop the injustices that the Diamonds had committed?" – Steven continued as he blocked Dundul's punches and delivered one himself using the bubble knuckle. "I dedicated my whole life to making sure the Diamonds never hurt anyone ever again! And yes, they didn't get what was coming to them, but what do you expect me to do? Send them to Plumber jail? Even if I did try, they'd overpower me. And even if I succeeded, I'd throw the planet into a civil war! And you, instead of moving on with the better life that was given to all of us, choose to wallow in your rage!" – Steven told him while blocking another hit. "And my question to you is, why don't you try and get the Diamonds sent to jail, or shatterd, or whatever your idea of justice is?" – he spat at Dundul, having lost his cool completely.
"Me?!" – Dundul repeated as he finally managed to hit Steven to his side and knock him down.
Steven groaned as he got back up. "Yeah, you! Since it's supposedly so easy!" – he yelled at him.
"I…" – it was Dundul's turn to be at a loss for words this time. "THEN I'M GONNA START WITH YOU!" – he roared as he furiously charged towards Steven. Steven charged right back at him.
At that moment, someone broke through the crowd, knocking a couple of cerebrocrustaceans, ran right into the middle of the fight and grabbed both Dundul's and Steven's fists before they clashed. Ben couldn't believe his eyes – it was the bouncer from the Love Glove. Suit and everything. What? What was he doing here? I thought humans weren't accepted here? How was he strong enough to get in the middle of Steven and Dundul's fight? As he stared, the bouncer looked at him and winked, at him specifically. Ben didn't know what to make of this.
"What is going on here?" – the bouncer asked harshly. "I just got back and was about to sleep before my night shift, but it seems that you can't control yourself. Dundul. I see you're being hospitable to our guests."
Dundul groaned and mumbled something while backing away. The bouncer let go of Steven's hand as well.
"Who are you?" – Ben asked him right after detransforming. The bouncer gave him a smirk, grabbed his face just like Bixbite did earlier, and as he took off his ID mask, a familiar figure took its place. Ben's first thought was of Vulkanus, but that couldn't be possible. Vulkanus didn't have a fully developed body and had to use a power suit, while this detrovite was very obviously developed. If not Vulkanus, then… no, it couldn't possibly be…
"TECHNORG?!" – Ben yelled, flabbergasted.
Technorg gave Ben another smirk. "Glad you remember me. So, what's all this about?" – he asked as he looked around the wrecked area.
"It was Dundul being Dundul. Finally managed to blow his gasket." – Spodumene commented.
"Actually… I was the one that threw the first punch." – Steven admitted in shame.
"He totally had it coming, though." – Ben encouraged him.
"And all of you watched it unfold?" – Technorg turned to the crowd. All of them shrank as his attention was now turned to them.
"Yeah, well, Dundul had a good point!" – someone from the crowd yelled, but it wasn't clear who.
"I don't know. He lost me at the whole "half-breed" thing." – Ben commented.
"No one got hurt, at least. I'm taking my nap. If I hear any sort of trouble from you…" – he turned specifically towards Dundul, who was trying to back away through the crowd. "…or anyone else, you'll have me to answer to." – Technorg declared.
Ben ran up to him. "I thought I'd never see you again! How did you even get back to Earth from Slix's battledrome in the first place? What are you doing here?!" – Ben asked several questions one after the other eagerly. Meanwhile, Steven turned back to Spodumene and Bixbite.
"You guys alright?" – he asked them. Bixbite nodded meekly while Spodumene gave him a thumb up.
"So much for my disguise…" – Bixbite said to herself.
"I've been telling you, brah, you don't need no disguise! Didn't you hear what the big guy said?"
"Yeah, maybe."
Steven felt a vibration in his pocket. Suddenly, his phone felt like it was weighing a thousand pounds and was burning red-hot as he remembered he'd been waiting for Connie's call all morning. He immediately took it out, but when he looked at the screen, he got a nasty surprise – the phone's screen had shattered during the fight. It was still active, but no matter how much he tried to press it, he couldn't answer the call. Not even the healing spit worked – phones must be too complex for it.
And so, Steven missed yet another chance to talk to Connie.
Author's notes:
I was hoping to have this chapter out about a week earlier than I actually did, but so long as it was still published within the month, I'm fine with being late a little bit.
So originally this was supposed to be the second half of Chapter 2, they'd first go to the Love Glove and Spodumene would take them to the "second Undertown" that had started to form in Empire City. Though, I realized that I'd be cramming too much in and splitting the story into two allowed me to explore both areas properly. Hell, even the Technorg reveal had to be moved to this chapter.
By the way, in Steven Universe "Empire City" is straight up the replacement for New York, so I decided to simply rename New York to Empire City as well and keep it how it is in the show. This means that stuff like Ben's first meeting with Kevin happened in Empire City, not New York. I'm gonna lean into some of Steven Universe's... questionable geography choices, but not all of them.
And lastly, the "stigma" against gems and other related topics are an aspect I kinda wanna focus on throughout the story, so you'll see that and other stuff like it pop up.
#HughSweep