Chapter 5- The Capture
Steven Universe was worried. As he looked up into the sky, carefully avoiding looking directly into the sun (he idly wondered if the Gems could look into the sun without damaging their eyes), he saw the crack that had appeared above the planet Earth just a week ago.
Was this the ever-anticipated attack from Homeworld that the Gems always seem to be fearing? Steven hadn't the faintest idea. He sighed, then let himself into the house.
Pearl and Amethyst were there, talking in hushed tones. "Oh, Steven, you're back.", said Pearl, once she noticed he had entered.
Steven raised an eyebrow. "You guys talking about the crack in the sky?"
Pearl hesitated, but Amethyst went ahead and said, "It's all we can talk about, little dude. That… and Garnet."
Steven looked over at the prone figure of their leader, the perma-fusion of a Ruby and a Sapphire called Garnet. It had happened so fast. After the crack had ripped itself across the night sky of its first appearance, Garnet had gone into some kind of seizure. She fell to the ground, stiffened up, and began muttering non-stop.
When Steven, who had been closest to her, ran to her, Garnet had managed to briefly kiss him on the forehead. Immediately, Steven was hit by Garnet's future vision; images of the future dashed across his mind, at a speed and volume that made them impossible to decipher.
Steven had understood after that. The appearance of the cracks meant that there were millions of paths the future would take, and Garnet would just have to process them all.
Garnet had eventually stopped muttering, but she still remained as stiff as a board. The three of them had at least managed to move her off the floor and onto the couch, but there was little else they could do for her.
In the present, Steven walked over to his mentor, uselessly feeling her forehead, as if she had a fever. Pearl walked up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "There's been no change, Steven."
"I figured.", said Steven, smiling weakly. "I know she'll come back to us."
The sounds of heavy footsteps on the outside porch interrupted this tender moment, as Steven's father, Greg, burst through the screen door. "Guys, turn on the TV!"
"Uh, Greg? I thought the TV wasn't working because of the crack.", said Amethyst.
"The crack… shifted… away.", said Greg, his second wind leaving him and now struggling to catch his breath. "TV's… working now."
Steven ran up to his TV in his bedroom, followed by the rest of the gang. He flipped on the TV using the remote, flipped a few channels, and ended up at a news bulletin.
"The top story today, of course, is the mysterious crack in outer space shifting away from the planet, allowing radio, television, and internet signals to work once again.", said the female news anchor. "Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the end to mysterious goings on on the planet Earth. Mysterious signals claiming to be from Starfleet, Earthforce, and other unknown organizations have been picked up all around the world."
"What's Starfleet?", asked Steven, puzzled.
"I don't know.", said Pearl, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "It sounds like some kind of space navy, but only Gems have spacecraft that can manage that."
"We need to go into town!"
Steven jumped and slipped off his bed, while Pearl and Amethyst both summoned their weapons. Garnet was halfway up the stairs to Steven's bed, looking heavily distressed.
"Garnet!", said Steven, happily, as Pearl and Amethyst sighed in relief.
"What do you mean, 'go into town'?", asked Greg, having caught his breath.
"There's no time!", said Garnet, shocking the group. "We need to move… now!"
Seconds later, the group (minus a confused Greg) were racing along the beach towards town. Steven pushed himself further so that he was running besides Garnet. "Garnet? What's wrong? Is something attacking Beach City?"
Garnet didn't answer. As soon as they reached the Big Donut, Garnet shot into the air, using her superhuman strength.
Pearl jumped after her. Steven, still a little winded from the run, was picked up by Amethyst. "Hold on, Stu-ball.", she said, before jumping into the air.
XXXXX
Proper superheroes. Ace grinned to herself as she looked at the three women (and one little boy being carried by the short, purple one) brandishing weapons at Topaz.
She had dreamed of this her whole life. Sure, the Doctor was her personal hero, but these women seemed to have actual superpowers. "Leave this planet, now!", said the tallest of the women.
The smaller, blue alien that seemed to command Topaz scoffed from her vantage point on the fence. "You must be the remnants of those Crystal Gem rebels that my Diamond told me about. No matter, this won't last long." She pointed her wand at the slenderest of the super women, letting off a burst of blue energy.
The woman skillfully dodged the blast, pulling off moves that would put a ballerina to shame. Meanwhile, Topaz advanced on the taller one and the shorter one. "Don't hurt the humans.", said the tall one, nodding to the people fused into Topaz's body. The short one nodded, then the two-faced Topaz.
"Are you two, OK?" The small, round boy with the three women had moved over to Ace and the Doctor.
"I'm all right, but the Doctor's badly hurt.", said Ace.
"Don't worry, I can heal him.", said the boy. He then proceeded to lick his hand, pull up the Doctor's pants leg, and spread his spit on the Doctor's leg.
"What the hell are you doing?", said Ace in disgust. But, to her astonishment, the Doctor's leg seemed to set itself back into place.
"You… you healed me.", said the Doctor, uncharacteristically in awe.
"Yeah, I have healing spit.", said the boy. "I'm like them." He jerked a thumb back at the super women. "Well, half like them." He pulled up his shirt to reveal a gemstone where his belly button should be. "I'm Steven by the way."
"Professor.", said Ace, but the Doctor was just staring in thought at Steven's gem.
Meanwhile, Topaz threw the tall and short Gems past them. Topaz advanced on the duo, as Steven jumped in front of them. As Topaz's mallet swung down, Steven conjured a pink shield from mid-air. The mallet hit the shield with a bang.
"That… that shield.", said the other bad Gem. She had frozen in her battle with the slender one to stare at Steven. Even the until now stoic Topaz looked shocked.
Before Steven could react, the small one had hit him with her wand, conjuring the blue prison once again. As Steven hit futilely against the blue sphere, the small one flew up out of anyone's reach. "Topaz, just grab My Dad. We've got more than we came for on this miserable planet." She shot a wicked grin at Steven, before flying off to a distant boardwalk.
Topaz switched directions, now heading to the Doctor. As she neared, her body became like fluid light. She reached out for the Doctor, and…
"Professor, no!", said Ace, who pushed the Doctor out of the way. She herself was grabbed by the fluid light. Before she knew it, she was trapped in Topaz's now solid body.
"Let me go, you big oaf!", said Ace, beating against Topaz' body with her one free hand. It did no good, as next second Topaz had jumped into the sky.
"Ace? Ace!", said the Doctor, jumping up from where his companion had pushed him.
"No!", said the tall Gem, beating the ground. "I saw this might happen, but I tried to stop it." She stood up. "Gems, let's go." She jumped into the air, no doubt in pursuit of the baddies.
The slender one was about to follow, when the Doctor, with reflexes that surprised even him, looped his umbrella handle around the woman's arm. "Wait, you can't just leave me here. That alien has got my friend."
"This is no fight for humans.", said the slender one. "Stay here, and we'll save your friend."
"Yeah, you could get really hurt if you come with us.", said the short one, before smiling apologetically. "Again."
They both jumped into the air, leaving the Doctor to huff out his nostrils.
XXXXX
The Aquamarine and the Topaz fusion had hidden their spaceship among the rides of Funland boardwalk. The Crystal Gems watched as they activated the ramp leading into the ship.
"What are they doing here?", said Pearl, idly to herself. "Why are they kidnapping random humans?"
"I don't know.", said Garnet, also looking out from their hiding place near Aquamarine's ship. "But we're going to stop them."
As Aquamarine seemed to continue taunting a still captured Steven, a new voice whispered, "Quite right."
The Gems jumped as they realized the Doctor had covertly joined them. "What are you doing here?", hissed Pearl, agitated.
"I've come to get my companion.", said the Doctor, pulling out a pair of binoculars from his jacket and peering at the bad guys. "Looks like some kind of spaceship." Pearl was about to say something else, before the Doctor effectively silenced her by correctly reciting the ship's form of FTL travel, along with other of its functions. He then gave a smug look to a shocked Pearl.
"Who are you?", said Garnet.
"I'm the Doctor."
"Uh, doctor who?", said Amethyst.
"Exactly.", said the Doctor, rather unhelpfully.
"Well, even if you seem somewhat more well-informed than an average human, this still isn't the place for…", began Pearl.
"I'm not a human.", said the Doctor, without removing the binoculars.
"Well, you look like one.", said Amethyst, snorting.
"No, humans look like me. My species came first."
The Gems all gave each other looks. The Doctor, still not looking the Gems, reached out and grabbed Pearl's hand. He then moved her hand across his chest.
At first, Pearl didn't know what she was feeling, then she gasped. "You have… two hearts!? You're some kind of alien."
The Doctor didn't respond at first, then he put down his binoculars. "Yes, this calls for some of my trademark deceptions.", he muttered to himself, before turning to the Gems. "You three stay here for now. Don't come out until I give the OK."
Before they could stop him, the Doctor sprang out from the hiding place, yelling out, "Hello there!"
Pearl and Amethyst made to follow him, only for Garnet to stop them. "No, I think we have to trust them.", she said.
Aquamarine turned, just as she and Topaz were ascending the ramp. "Well, well, well, if it isn't My Dad.", said the small, blue Gem. "You humans truly are dolts if you keep following us, ready for capture."
"Yep, that's me.", said the Doctor, gesturing with his binoculars to himself. "Now, come and get me."
"No, professor, don't!", said Ace, from her place fused to Topaz. Steven, still trapped in his bubble, was gesturing at the Doctor to run away.
"Topaz, you know what to do.", said Aquamarine. Topaz nodded silently, reached the Doctor in a matter of minutes, and prepared to fuse him to her body.
The Doctor, raising the binoculars high, suddenly threw it to the ground. A sharp, trilling sound echoed throughout the abandoned boardwalk. Topaz jerked and twisted in seeming pain, her body switching between solidity and fluid light. Then, with a pop, Topaz split into two more Topazes, smaller than the previous one.
"What?", said Aquamarine, shocked.
"Just a simple sonic device, my dear.", said the Doctor, picking up the shattered remains of the binoculars. "Took me no less than two minutes to craft one on my way here. Used to use them all the time."
The humans who had been fused to Topaz' body got up and began scattering like chickens. One tall, teenage boy with a red mohawk yelled, "I'm getting out of here!"
"No!", said Aquamarine. "My mission! Topaz!"
Her call to her minion did little good however, as one of the Topazes tried to get up, then dizzily fell down again.
"Useless!", said Aquamarine, before giving a wild, feral look at Steven, still captured. "Well, at least I'll be able to deliver the infamous Rose Quartz to justice." She then flew into the ship, trailing Steven behind.
"Steven, no!", yelled a brown-skinned girl who had been among the ones fused to Topaz.
"I've got him.", said Ace, running to the ship's ramp and pulling out her aluminum bat.
"Ace, wait!", said the Doctor, but it was too late. Ace had run into the ship, and the ramp was being pulled up. The sounds of the ship's engines coming on occurred.
"Now!", said the Doctor to his previous hiding place, but he needn't have bothered. The Crystal Gems had jumped from the hideout, and landed on the top of the ship, their weapons brandished.
This was in vain, however, as electricity pulsed along the surface of the ship. The Gems were hit, writhing in pain for a second before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Four gemstones fell to the ground.
The ship picked itself off the top of the ride it was hiding on and began rising into the sky. The Doctor and the brown-skinned girl looked on in horror.
Suddenly, a jet of green light struck the hull of the ship. The ship, which had been in the midst of using its FTL warp engines, twisted and writhed while spewing smoke, before zooming off into outer space.
A vessel of green light flew out of the clouds, presumably the progenitor of the blast of green light that damaged Aquamarine's ship, and landed on the board walk.
For a full minute, the Doctor, the Crystal Gems, and the brown-skinned girl stood staring at the place where the green vessel had landed, smoke obscuring it. Then, the Doctor began to march up to it. "What do you think you were doing?", he said, rage filling his every syllable. "You hit the ship right when it was jumping to lightspeed. Now, it could be anywhere in the multiverse, considering those breaches in time and space. My companion and that young boy are now missing, thanks to…"
As the Doctor neared the area where the smoke was finally dissipating, a hand, gloved in a green jumpsuit, reached out to stop the Doctor from coming any closer.
The smoke finally cleared to reveal no sign of a vessel, just an African-American human man dressed in the green jumpsuit, staring seriously down at the Doctor. "Who do you think you are?", said the Doctor, still angry.
"Green Lantern.", said the man, scowling at the Doctor, before looking up sadly at the place where Aquamarine's ship was.
Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter finished. I've actually been debating whether or not to continue this fic, but I've tentatively decided to continue it.