Steven Universe fic

pt 7 Chapter Six: Weapon of Corruption

The bright red ship hovered above the sands, displacing it in ripples before landing gently on the beach.

Steven stepped out, followed by Connie as she grabbed his hand, nuzzling his cheek gently. He laughed, all was well. For now.

"We should probably take this to Bismuth, maybe she can see what Obsidian did to it?" Steven held up the scythe, twisting it in his hands before heading toward his home.

The rest of the gems followed after, Spinel hesitated at the door, glancing up at the beach house. She was happy to return, but didn't feel as though she belonged.

Steven and Connie headed up toward the warp room, Connie setting her sword against the wall before following Steven to the pad.

She had missed him, for the few weeks she was with her aunt, but she couldn't exactly pass up family time to galavant in space on a regular basis. She took her opportunities to be around and with him when they came.

"So, why do you want Bismuth to look at that? Didn't she make it?" She asked, nodding toward the scythe Steven held. He rocked it in his hands for a moment, inspecting it closely. It didn't seem to look any different.

"I think Obsidian did something to it, and when Spinel got it back, it affected her too." He answered just before the two dissapated into the light.

"The gems said she was being corrupted, and if that's what this does, we can't let the Diamonds make any more of them." He continued as they made their way to Bismuth's forge.

The colorful gem stepped out, greating the two with a hefty embrace.

"You're back! Glad to see you got my scythe back too!" She grinned, gleefully taking the weapon from his grasp. Her smile quickly dropped as she inspected the weapon.

"They changed it." She grimaced, noticing the minuscule weld marks just behind the star in the blade. "My weapon, and they screwed around with it."

"Of all the inconsiderate-" the gem turned, grumbling as she took the device inside, tearing out circuitry in the star and throwing it on the table.

Steven followed her inside, trying to hear her muttered words.

"Just as I thought." She turned around looking incredibly displeased at her discovery. In her pliers she held a small sound chip and what looked to be a speaker. "They put this, and that other thing in MY weapon."

Steven inched closer, plucking the chip from the pliers and turning it over in his hands.

"This is the same as the one in the rejuvenator- does it work?" He handed the chip back to the gem, Connie leaned in close to see her turn it on.
Bismuth pressed the switch on the shaft of the scythe, and the chip let out a high pitched squealing noise, vibrating intensely in her fingers.

The gem's eyes widened, recognizing the noise, she immediately flipped it off.

Her face gave away the capabilities before anything else and she set the chip on her table, turning her hand into a hammer and smashing it into pieces.

"Why did you do that?!" Steven yelled, grabbing his head in confusion and frustration. Bismuth stared at the peices of the chip that scattered themselves on her table.

"That's the corruption song." She replied, causing Steven to lower his hands, he glanced at Connie, who seemed entirely new to the concept.

"What does it do?" She questioned, reaching to finger a shard on the table.

"It corrupts gems, fills your head with noise until you're just a mindless monster." Bismuth replied, glancing back at her friends. Steven wore a horrified look as realization dawned on him.
The diamonds weaponized their greatest attack and put it in the hands of their soldiers.
They could destroy any gem without even lifting a finger themselves.

Bismuth fiddled with the scythe, ripping out the save drive as well and inspecting it closely.

"This has something in it." She mumbled, looking at Steven who seemed too lost in thought to reply. Connie grabbed the card, twisting it in her fingers.

"It looks like a flash drive." She handed it back to the gem. Bismuth stared at it, watching a blue light blink slowly.

"I don't know how to work with stuff like that, we'll have to get Peridot." She sighed, setting the small vestibule down. She searched the area for the short green gem, finding her screeching as she tried to move a large metal dumpster to make way for an aqueduct Lapis had built.

"Peridot! Come take a look a this!" Bismuth hollered, catching the gem's attention, she glanced back at Lapis, before setting down the dumpster and running over.

"What is it?" She asked, Bismuth pointed at the chip. The tiny green gem plucked it from the table and held it close to her face, turning it over as she worked through what it was.

"That's easy, it one of those information storage and retrieval devices, where did it come from?" She posed, Bismuth pointed at the scythe in response, causing the gem to squeal with excitement.

"From that?! How cool!" The gem grabbed the scythe looking it over with her hand to her chin. "If it came from this, it was probably used to store gem information. I can whip something up to see what's on the chip if you want?"

Steven was pulled from his thoughts, he grabbed the gem, frantically shaking her.

"Please?!" He pleaded, not wanting to imagine what other monstrous technology lay dormant inside the Diamonds new weapon. Peridot blinked, pushing the boy away and holding the scythe and chip as high as she could, though it wasn't out of his reach.

"Okay, okay! I'll see what I can do!" The gem replied, "besides, what harm could it do? It's just a chip."

Peridot walked away, the drive in hand while she levitated the scythe in the air, spinning it rythmically as she entered her and Lapis's home.

Steven turned back to Connie, she could see the worry written on his face, she smiled gently, grabbing his hands.

"It's going to be fine, I bet it's just the drive that holds the corruption song." She attempted to reassure him, but the thought of having duplicate corruption songs in every single weapon the diamonds had made made the boy sick to his stomach.