Monsters in the Glass City//[Concluded]

[Amber (Evol)]

Fwoop.



A Centipeetle screeched as an arrow stuck out of its body. It tried to bend backwards and snatch it with its powerful maws.



Fwoop.





The corrupted Gem hissed in rage and went to lunge forward, its maws snapping, acidic saliva drooling.



Fwoop.





The Centipeetle froze, going absolutely still. An arrow was stuck in its mouth, the arrowhead embedded in the monster's flesh rather too close to the gem it housed. A visible shiver ran along its body from head to tail-tip. The arrow in its mouth started glowing a very bright white before combustion, damaging the gem inside of the Centipeetle's mouth. The monster disappeared as well into a puff of smoke, and its Serpentine gem falling into the soft terrain of the bare dirt underfoot.



Amber approached it and picked up the poofed gem. She did not know how to bubble as of yet, so she kept the Gem close to her in her arms. She hummed to it gently, stroking it, trying to comfort it as if she were a mothering human and the Gem the mother's little pink hairless monkey -what did they call it again? A baby. She made her way to the nearest warp pad, which wasn't very hard to find. The vast desert was empty and no other thing could be in sight -making the warp pad easy to spot in the horizon's dying light. She stepped on it, keeping the Gem closer to her still, and disappeared in a flash of light.





She appeared, then, in an old Gem stronghold. A small Gem town that, if development were to continue, was to be made into a town. It was quite humble and adorable - small little shelters and spires-in-the-making. All the buildings were a glassy blue and green that reflected the sunlight just as well as any other mirror could. The most grand structure of this entire settlement was the most-completed building: a giant spire, twisting around with holes and hallows, bridges and arches extending from its skyscraper heights. It was beautiful; whenever the sun shone down on the spire, it reflected its light into beautiful sun ray beams onto all the other buildings, which also reflected that light with its glassy surfaces so that the rays may touch and kiss even the most darkest shadow of this to-be city.

Amber made her way towards the spire.  There were just as many holes and arches inside as there were out but each of these little rooms and chambers were barred off.  A bright rich yellow glow flickered in front of these holes, shielding whatever was in them from coming out.  A prison spire?  How interesting.  A dark thing in this city of glass -hide the suffering of captive gems by blanketing the settlement with its reflective beauty.  Genius, yet terrible, but effective.  Amber approached one of the dials that controlled the caging to one of the holes.  The light flickered away as she made her way into that room.  She placed the Centipeetle gem down and cautiously retreated back to the dial to reinforce the wall again.  She frowned sadly at the shield that separated her from Centipeetle.

Hisses and snarls were heard from another cell.  Amber turned around and approached it.  A Tongue Monster -a speedy corruption- was pacing around the room flicking its tongue everywhere.  Amber's frown deepened.  She knew she could not keep them poofed forever, not without bubbling them, but she did not have the knowledge to do so and as such as would just have to be content in keeping them holed up.  Soon she would get into contact with her friend Obsidian to help get these Gems transported, but she wasn't done yet.  Wasn't done searching for answers.  Wasn't done trying to help these... things.

Amber left the spire, left the town, and wandered.  She had made it her personal mission; help these Gems.  Homeworld would want to know about this, yes?  She needed as much information as possible, so when she can finally get into contact with her Diamond, she can relay all that she knows.

Her Diamond....

The smol Gem frowned.  Some day.  Some day she'll see her again.  Some day she'll be able to prove herself, too.

Off in the distance was another corrupted Gem.  Sighing, Amber made her way there, wondering if she and Obsidian were the only other Gems doing this....

[Morion]

The Smoky Quartz watched the city, the Spire in the form of a the big, black (alien) feline ( closer to a Thanator than an Earth panther, but close enough) ; hindig in the shadows
It was an interesting place... full of potential Gem technology to salvage
And sadly - or luckly, depending of the point of view - Corrupted Gem Monsters
Morion was concerned... lately more and more Monsters appeared. The Corruption was spreading
But how?
Maybe every Gem on Earth was infected, and it was just a matter of time. Or how strong a Gem was?
But their fate was... this?
Sooner or later succumbing to the Corruption
To become Monsters
The Assassin shivered
It was a very uncomfortable tought... even the voices in his head went silent.
But there was another Gem... not a Monster, a Gem... Morion never saw that one before
with silver eyes, he watched Amber from the darkness...

[Amber (Evol)]

The Corrupted Gem that caught Amber's attention was all but impressive. The small, living, gem stuck out her tongue as she tried to focus on the thing ahead of her. It was small and bestial, with a razor-ridged back and multiple limbs; however, it lacked a great deal of intelligence, speed, strength, and even sight. It had a good sense of smell, though, but the monster was downwind of her, never knowing for a split second it was in danger.

Amber pulled back the string.

The monster was in focus, the arrow all lined up. All she had to do was let go.

It sat there, resting in the sun, collecting warmth and its crystalline ridges. Doing no harm whatsoever. But it'll do harm later, she reasoned with herself. Will it? Her friend hadn't taught her much about the Corruption, nor monsters; they were both so clueless about it. What if these monsters weren't really even monsters? Gems are a conquering race; what if taking this form was how they adapted to life on Earth? What if normal Gems like here were just defected and were compromising these "monster" Gems' missions? That monster could be just like her, struggling to prove her worth....

She lowered her bow, and watched it some more. She sighed, her gaze sad, her frown hard-pressed.

And then she raised her bow again.

Fwoop.

Poof.

She picked up the Gem and held it just as close as she had held Centipeetle's Gem. The small healing Gem turned to make her way back to the Glass City -something she liked to call it- to put this one into another cell.

But then she froze. She turned around. Something was... watching her. She tried using her aura-reading ability, but the Gem in her arms oddly enough overpowered that ability. Her eyes widened only slightly in fright, but after a moment or two she reasoned that it was just left-over guilt from her earlier thoughts and went on her merry way back to the settlement.

There was no one there, right? Wasn't she all alone?

...Right. All alone.

[Morion]

"Kill her..."

The Voice whispered in the Smoky Quartz head

"No one will know... just you. Just us"

The Voice giggled; Moiron tired to ignore the Voice's voice in his head
And watched the Gem from the shadows with his silver eyes
His last huntig trip was a disaster... well... not completly. He saved that poor chipped Gem, Fire Opal but the Corrupted Snake Monster wasn't a real challenge
The Assassin watched the other Gem... he nodded with satisfaction, when Amber froze and turned around
Good
Gooood!
He loved when his prey sensed its impending doom
Morion retreated back a little in the darkness in his hiding spot and shook his head
No, not a prey! She was a Gem!

"Aw C'mon darling... I know you want it! A little stalking... a little hunt... hide and pounce... maul and maim... rend and tear with claws and fangs, 'till her body poofs in screams and you can shatter her Gem in your maw..."

The Voice's voice was bearly a whisper in his head
It was... hard to ignore it
It was harder and harder... and all the other voices. The Beast. The Hunger. And many more...

"You are just fooling your self darling... you are a Monster! You belong here! Let it go Morion, just... let it go..! Sanity is overrated..."

Slowly the big black alien feline started to crawl, like the hunting cats; with strong paws and claws he climbed, watched Amber from above, from a dark shadow
Watched as she turned again, and continued her walk...
He was not a monster... well, he was, but a civilized one^^
Morion wacthed Amber, looking for a Diamond insignia... or the lack of it

[Deleted]

It was a peaceful day, Obsidian was relaxed. She normally would catch the metro but she decided to investigate the structure she had seen when she was out on a walk. It was little to disappoint, it seemed almost like a gem had made it. Suddenly, she heard noises from inside. She thought about triggering her powers but she decided she was stealthy enough to sneak in without them. Then, turning a corner he saw someone familiar. Amber! She wasn't alone, a giant feline monster was about to claw into her! It seemed like a powerful corrupted gem, it was almost as if it once was a quartz soldier. She knew that if she let Amber do it alone then she'd never be able to live with herself. She decided to sacrifice herself for her friend, if need be. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, summoning her shovel. She twirled it as she landed in front of the Smoky Quartz.

"If you wanna get Amber you're gonna have to get through me ya big lug!" She yelled at the creature.

[Amber (Evol)]

"Obsidian?!" Amber gasped as she caught sight of her friend. A part of her seemed relieved to have seen a familiar face. But what was she doing here? She turned around, confused, clutching the poofed corrupted Gem to her chest. "What are you doing?" she inquired. "Nobody's there-" oh, but wasn't there?

Somewhere in that darkness away from the city, somewhere in the blind depths of the shadows.... The feeling of being watched returned to her. Wasn't there something there? She tried to peer into the shadows, once again pushing out with her aura radar, but once again having no luck. She frowned. She trusted Obsidian; she may not have known her for long, but she trusted her enough to listen when her life's in danger.

Amber stood beside Obsidian and placed a hand on her arm, "What is it?" she asked. "A Gem? A monster?" Hope still fluttered in her that she could help these damned things.

[Deleted]

Obsidian saw it from far away, but Amber apparently had not. This was bad, if Amber didn't know about the danger then she might not be able to escape in time! It seemed that the sacrifice she was prepared to make would be in vain. Her greatest fear was corruption, and now she was going to face it. Obsidian turned to her desperately. She thought about running with Amber, but the beast was too fast. She began sweating nervously, unsure of what to do.

"A-Amber! We're in danger! It's a corrupted gem! You've got to run, while you still can! It's too strong for both of us Amber! You've just got to trust me and run! Please!"

Obsidian stared, wide eyed into the darkness.

[Morion]

It was tempting to satisfy the request of the Obsidian

"She asking for it sweetheart..."

The Voice giggled in the Smoky Quartz head; he ignored it with a growl
Tho' the Gem with the shovel ruined his hunt (or recon mission) and "fun"... she was a loyal Gem, a rare and precious ally
The big feline watched Obsidian with his silver eyes a bit amused (like cats always do^^)
So, Obsidian would fight for this Gem... even she would die for her?
It was interesting

"Your bravery is admirable little one..."

The Smoky Quartz voice was dark, cold, but not sinister, more of a hiss in his feline form
Slowly he emerged from the darkness and shapeshifted; as the bit cat walked, shapeshifted back to his humanoid form; a cloaked, hooded tall ('Quartz tall but not bulky like a Jasper or an Amethyst, his kind was slender) humanoid, with long grey hair and silver eyes, in a mask; dressed in black, with his gem, a dark smoky quartz, a Morion in the middle of his chest. Under it a Blue Diamond insignia. His skin tone was a bit grey...ish, like the smoke, but he could pass as a caucasian man.
He looked down to Obsidian

"I guess you know this Gem Obsidian..."
"Shatter her! She ruined you fun! Our fun! Punish this insolent fool!!!"

The Voice urged and manifeste herself in a ghostly form that only Morion could see - after all, she was only his head^^



The Voice poked Obsidian's Gem with a long finger

"Rip it out! Crush it darling... shatter her! And her little friend..."

The Voice drifted to Amber and rested her head on Amber's shoulder, emberaced her with ghostly arms

"Tho' she is a cute one... let's play with her!"

The Voice giggled in his head, than the ghostly manifestation faded; Morion shook his head and turned to Amber

"I'm afraid we haven't had the pleasure to meet before... let me intorduce myself! I am a Smoky Quartz, from the Morion variant - Facet-7F2R Cut-8YQ; Her Majesty's Blue Diamond's loyal servant, I AM her eye... I am her Wrath! Currently lended for a few missions to Her Majesty, White Diamond..."

Morion bowed his head a little; tried to be friendly, greeted the other Gem with a Diamond salute

"...and I am now the Gem Lord and protector of Empire City. May I ask what are you doing here? I guess you two are hunting Corrupted Gems, am I right...?"

[Amber (Evol)]

Amber blinked. This Gem... this Smoky Quartz... he was just a cat was he not? Was he corrupted? Did he have control over- Nononono. Amber smirked to herself at her own forgetfulness. Shape-shifting! Form-changing. How could she have forgotten? It shouldn't have been this surprising to her. She smiled apologetically to Morion, placing a hand on her friend Obsidian's arm, "Facet 12F6LT Cut 7XH Ovoid Amber, from Her Majesty Pink Diamond's division. And this is my friend, Obsidian." She gave Obsidian a warm smile, her eyes sparking in excitement. Another Gem? And this one closest to the Diamonds! Perhaps he could have some information....

"We're collecting them, yeah," Amber answered the Smoky Quartz. "We desire to know more about this mysterious Corruption that's been going about. Corruption... I think that is what it's called? It would be helpful," the Healing Gem's smile turned from warm to meek, "so we can know how to combat the infection and help the Gems who've succumbed." And maybe find my crew-mates at last, so we can finally carry out our plan and I can finally be something more than a nothing for once, she thought. "Would you happen to know anything about this? Or..." A sad glimmer covered her eyes. "Anything about Homeworld and what's going on?" Amber seemed very hopeful about this, despite her currently-saddened demeanor.

[Deleted]

Obsidian went from an angry, fearful glare to a wide, almost fangirly grin.

"Morion! Thank goodness it's you! And uh...what were you doing exactly? I mean, I don't judge but it looked like you were stalking this gem!" She said. "Oh, well, it's good you didn't eh... eat my friend..." Obsidian gave a nervous laugh.

"I've been working at Morion's tower recently, he's been giving me a whole lot of help! Maybe he can help you with your memory! I'm sure he'd be interested with your problem here, I mean, you didn't exactly get kicked out of the corps in homeworld." Obsidian laughed but it was obvious that the joke was not very funny to her.

"Nice seeing you by the way Morion!" She said smiling.

[Morion]

"I was stalking this Gem..."

The Smoky Quartz silver eyes, like his voice was cold, cold like the deep, dark space between the stars, cold, like a dead penguin on a block of ice...

"...so you two know each other. Obsidian dear, you forgot to mention, you know other Gems. One might think, it was... intentional, to protect her from the mean old Loyalists like me..."

The Assassin looked down to the Obsidian, with inquisitive look in his silver eyes
Then turned to Amber, his voice was warmer, friendlier... a bit

"BUT I guess Obsidian was just forgetful. It is a pleasure Ovoid Amber. About the Corruption... I have theories, yes. About the situation? I know quite a lot! And I am always happy to help another Gem, as Obsidian said"

Morion nodded

"By the way my dear Obsidian! One of my Lieutenants, Fire Opal came up with a briliant idea! If you are up to another mission..."

He smiled politely

"Rich men, powerful men, crafty men, wise men, witty men, handsome men, and cunning men. Without water, they are all dead men... The mission is simple. Choose a Human city, preferably not protected by a Loyal Gem, like me, but one under the Crystal Gems "protection". And poison their water supplies... and plant some evidence! To blame the Crystal Gems! Cut off the right arm and the left will be wholly occupied trying to stop the flow of blood!

Morion patted Obsidian on the soulder

"Fire Opal's idea was not just use the Humans against our enemies... no... lets make the humans hate the Crystal Gems! Turn their beloved Humanity against the Rebels! I must say I am quite proud of my Apprentice!

The Smoky Quartz turned back to Amber

"But first things first! You have a problem, if I heard correctly..."

[Deleted]

Obsidian was confused by what Morion meant. Did he think she was a crystal gem? That would make sense, but does that mean he would hunt gems anyway if she didn't intervene? Then Morion mentioned another mission being available.

"Oh that's great Morion! Y'know I kind of have that Mexico mission still, but if you'd want me to do that one first then that's okay! What is it?"

As Morion described the mission Obsidian's blood ran cold. She was being sent to murder humans, simply to turn them against the crystal gems. She shivered a bit.

"O-oh... well th-that's a good idea Morion... Well, d-do we have to kill them? C-can't we just make them sick or something? I-I think it would be effective enough to just give them some sort of disease...right?"

[Amber (Evol)]

(i thought we were going in posting order ^^; ah well)

Amber smiled at Morion, though soon that smile turned into blinks of confusion. "Crystal Gems?" her voice held and inquisitive tone. She wasn't exactly well-aware of what was going on upon the planet Earth. All she knew about were Corrupted Gems. But what were the Crystal Gems? Were they a form of Corrupted Gem? And what was this about harming humans?

Does it matter? she asked herself. They're humans, right? It's our purpose, our mission, to stomp them out anyway.

Yet why did she feel so opposed to it?

No, no. It doesn't matter. Just serve your purpose and be useful. Be a something out of nothing. Somehow.

"I guess I'm a lot more clueless than I thought," Amber giggled. She then tilted her head though with a questioning look in her eyes. "But what are the Crystal Gems? And why are we attacking them and humans, too? And... yes," she then moved on to answer Morion's question. "We do have a bit of a problem, I suppose."

She looked at Obsidian and shrugged.

[Morion]

(I tought the post order is Amber-Morion-Obsidian ^^')

The Smoky Quartz slowly nodded
Tho' it was evident Obsidian was aeger to prove herself... it was not clear to Morion she wasn't the bigest fan of the idea of killing humans

"I supose... it is not necessary"

The Assassin admited

"It is up to you Obsidian... use posion, plague or anything else. The mission's goal is to turn the Humans against the Crystal Gems... or at least alienate them. Do what you must. I have confidence in you. After all, every successful mission will be a bonus point in the eyes of Her Majesty's, White Diamond's Grand Inquisitor, his excellency, the exalted Opalite when he return to us!"

He noddes then listened to Amber

"You are new here I guess... I am sorry you crashed here... or woke up on a world like this!"

Morion felt sorry for the poor Gem

"The is a War on Earth. A four sided war, but most of the Gems don't really want to admit it... Rose Quartz started a Rebellion here and her ilk, the Crystal Gem killers sabotaged and destroyed most of what our Home accomplished here. Thank to them now the Lunar Sea Spire is in ruins, dangerous monsters are all around, and we have lost contact with the Gem Empire.

He shook his head

"The "rebellion" started a bit more than a three Earth's years ago. Give or take a few Earth months. Rose Quartz and her rebels sabotaged and destroyed several Homeworld facilities, temples and most importantly, the Kindergartens, the Communication Hub and the Galaxy Warp. So we are stranded here without the hope to communicate with our Empire. Still... Rose Quartz found a way to send a message to Earth. Or a rallying cry. She explained in her message her reasons, one of them was the destructive nature of the Kindergartens and the Colonzation, and asked the Gems on Earth to join her, to protect Earth and Humanity."

The Assassin frowned

"So there are us, the Loyals, The Rebels, called Crystal Gems... and surprisingly a second group of "rebels", the Independents. They are not Crystal Gems... but they are no longer loyal to the Gem Empire... But I think they are just confused. They are traitors but not without the hope of redemption... The best would be to shatter them naturally, not risk another betrayal, but now we don't really have the manpower to hunt them down. Most of them afraid to join the Rebelion, deep in their heart they know on which side they should be... Maybe the isolation the problem. We are cut from the Empire, the Communication Hub is offline, we can't reach our superiors, our friends... our people. So we need to adapt. Gems are naturally adaptable race. We are conquerors . Instruments of War. But without order, we are just wandering aimlessly. A few of us strong enough to take maters to our own hands, the rest of us? Useless and lost.
And there is a fourth side. The Monsters. You know when Rose Quartz sabotaged the Kindergartens... and other Homeworld facilities something was released! Something terrible. I don't know for sure, what is it, actually. Something from beyond the stars? An Experiment or even a malevolent entity that escaped from imprisonment, we don't have enough information to be sure. Something that the Gems found on Earth then studied? It was an artifical creation? A biological weapon? Hard to say. But this thing is like a disease! We are callig it: "Corruption". Who knows, maybe an unfinished biological weapon... as far as we know it, it could be Alien in origin, like us, or maybe the Human's secret weapon against US... I have noticed the Corruption only affects Gems. Not Humans. Or plants. Or anything from Earth...!

He sighed

"My best theory is, it was Yellow Diamond's pet project, a weapon or modification. The Corruption is transforming the Gems... in to Monsters. Slowly, consuming both the mind, the soul, if we even have one, and the projected body. Transforming them. As far as we know, there are stages of this Corruption, but nothing certain. We even don't know how its spread! Airborn? By touch? With liquid light fluids? Kissing an infected could doom you? We. Do. Not. Know. I have vivisected some but still... we aren't closer to know the truth about the Corruption than at the first day"

The Assassin shook his head

"And on the top of it, not every monster have claws and fangs, spikes and tallons... Earth have several insane experiments here. Experimental Gems... so... in nutshell this is the situation M'lady."

The Smoky Quartz smiled a bit behind his mask

"But the situation is not that grim anymore Ovoid Amber... tho' Gem ships are falling off the sky - it think thanks to some Crystal Gem weapon - there were several survivors. A Black Star Diopside was sent here to help us, sadly her ship is almost useless. But not long ago Gaspeite arrived... crashed to be honest. That... Fusion's arrival - his eye twitched, but remained calm - who is Her Majesty's, Pink Diamond's Herald was the biggest thing since the past three years! She told us about Pink Diamond! She is on the way to Earth to re-claim her domain! And save us... sooner or later.

[Deleted]

(Aw I wasn't paying attention! >_< sorry guys! I think it was me that messed it up! I think it's Amber,Morion,Me?)

When Morion decided that it wasn't necessary to kill the humans Obsidian was relieved. She decided that after her mission in Mexico she would get straight to the job.

"Alright! I`ll give them some sort of Disease! I`ll do that after my mission in Mexico... by the way what are the details on that one?"

She looked at Amber and smiled. She put her arm around Amber and hugged her tightly.

"Hey Morion could I take Amber?!" she asked excitedly. "Well, also Amber do you want to go? I'm sure it`ll make your diamond proud when she gets here!"