"Has anyone seen Jasper in awhile," Steven asked from his lofted bed. Peridot was busy working in the kitchen on one of her inventions, while Lapis sat on the couch reading a magazine about clothes.

"I think I saw her using the warp pad a few days ago," Lapis responded thoughtfully.

Steven leaned over the side and looked down at her. "You don't think she went on a mission by herself do you," he asked with a twinge of worry in his voice.

"Not like it would be the first time," Peridot muttered to herself. A spark of electricity jumped from her invention onto her arm and she yelped in surprise.

Lapis ignored Peridot's misfortune to comfort Steven. Her watery wings lifted her up to him. "Don't worry Steven," she said, taking his face in her hands. "Jasper is more than capable of taking care of herself. Did you forget how she single handedly bubbled that group of corrupted gems that attacked us last month? Or when Peridot's giant robonoid ran wild into the city, she held it back long enough for us to stop it?"

Steven playfully swatted Lapis' hands away. "Yeah, I guess your right. It's just, I guess I'm a little worried she didn't even tell us where she was going."

"Trust us Steven, you don't know Jasper like we do," Peridot said, leaving her work on the table. "This is well within her usual operating procedures."
"So, does that mean this is normal for her?"

Peridot groaned as she prepared to explain. "It means that sometimes Jasper gets some kind of crazy idea lodged in her thick skull and she feels the need to go run off on her own to accomplish it. Most of the time it's some foolish, or outright dangerous, stunt to improve her combat prowess." Peridot paced back and forth as she ranted.

She was so engrossed in her explanation that she didn't notice the warp pad activate, and deposit a weary and battered Jasper on the crystalline teleporter.

"Jas-" was all Steven could say before Lapis clasped a hand over his mouth. He looked up at her to see her giving him the shush signal in front of a mischievous grin. Steven wanted to pull her hand away and rush to his friend, but he kept quiet. Peridot continued speaking uninterrupted.

"Furthermore, it wouldn't take that massive clod more than a few minutes to just tell us what she was doing. Instead, she has to go running off and making you worry like that Steven. I promise you, when she gets back, I'm going to show her that she can't just do whatever she wants." Peridot used her ferrokinesis to float her invention into her hand.

"With this targeted electron blaster, I'll be able to get my point across nicely."

Unbeknownst to Peridot, Jasper had slowly made her way over to the tiny green gem. She stopped directly behind her, towering over her fellow Crystal Gem.

Steven couldn't help himself and let out a loud gasp. Peridot turned to look at Steven, her blaster carefully cradled in her arm like a new born baby.

"Oh calm down Steven, it's not like I would actually hurt Jasper. I'd just set it to a low…." Peridot thought for a second. "A medium level. Not enough to really hurt her, but enough to show she can't just do as she pleases."

Peridot felt very proud of herself for both her weapon and plan to stand up to Jasper. The two had the tendency to bicker, and more often than Peridot would like to admit, Jasper put her superior size to great use. But no longer! With her new weapon primed she was ready for the hulking quartz warrior.

She felt so good in fact, it was like she was floating. What she quickly realized was that the floating sensation was caused by Jasper holding her up by her head.

"You'll do what now Dot," Jasper asked. Her voice was raspier than usual, and it was obvious that she was exhausted, but that didn't make her any less intimidating.

"Ahh," Peridot screeched, throwing her hands up to her face in fear. Her blaster fell to the ground and snapped into two separate pieces.

The two gems looked at the weapon, then back at one another. Jasper's half lidded gaze bore into Peridot's wide eyed fright. "J-J-Jasper! What a pleasant surprise! W-we were just talking about you! When did you arrive?"

"Long enough to know that, when I wake up, you and I will have a nice, private, chat together." Jasper dropped Peridot back on the ground and wandered over to the couch. Before she laid down though, she gave Steven a knowing smirk. "I've got something special for you later kid."

And with that, she crashed on the couch and began to snore. While Lapis sat beside Steven laughing loudly, Peridot ran around in circles panicking at what Jasper might do. With the other two occupied, Steven was left to wonder what Jasper could have prepared for him.