Chapter 1. Not the only one

Beach City was a fairly quiet place, so long as you ignored the various hijinks that the Crystal Gems got up to. In their temple, the four main gems relaxed and enjoyed an easy day. Pearl was busy playing her violin, with even Amethyst able to appreciate its tune. Garnet was reading, though what was anyone's guess. Amethyst was snacking away, though it was up for debate whether what she was eating was meant for consumption. And finally Steven, the young Gem hybrid, was watching Pearl play. He enjoyed the music while she enjoyed the attention. In all it seemed like a fairly casual day, until Garnet's head snapped up.

"Oh no." she said, her attention moving towards the door. Every Gem shifted into combat mode, drawing their weapons and preparing for whatever Garnet had detected. Thank you future sight.

The four went outside and leapt to the beach, only to look at Garnet again when her expression became one of slight confusion. The fusion was normally very hard to read, made even more difficult by her large shades, but whatever happened had been major enough for even her impassive façade to crumble. Steven was about to ask what was wrong when everyone's ears picked up the sounds of fighting from the cliff above. Looking up they had just enough time to spot a body falling towards them.

The figure impacted the sand hard, but fortunately there wasn't enough dust kicked up to obscure the figure from view. It was a quartz soldier, but one that was fairly injured. Her eyes opened slightly, just enough to make a pained grimace. The Crystal Gems, so focused on the quartz in front of them, didn't notice that her eyes widened as she spotted an incoming threat. But they did see the black clad figure landing hard into the quartz's stomach, driving his boots into her with ungodly force. The soldier poofed out of existence, her gem landing in the sand. This new figure rose, and shifted its attention to them.

Even Garnet felt a bit intimidated by the calculating stare she felt directed her way. The figure's face was concealed by a black helmet, four red scope-like lenses decorated the front of it, two where eyes should rightly be and two more over the cheekbone area. Where the mouth should be was some kind of breathing apparatus, a number of small holes allowing for ventilation. In all the helmet had an insectoid look to it, which only made it more disturbing with the rest of the equipment.

A simplistic, yet tactical, plate armor protected the figure's torso. Various pouches and ammunition pockets dotted the waistline and underarms. The rest of the attire was a simple black body suit complete with boots and gloves. In his hands was an assault rifle, but the Gems couldn't identify it beyond that, and under his left armpit was a holstered handgun.

A number of other quartz soldiers, almost dozen strong, landing around him cut the examination short, but the same could be said about the soldiers themselves. Tossing his rifle up he reached behind him and drew a kukri blade, which promptly had its blade buried hilt deep in the gut of the nearest quartz. In a blinding display of grapples mixed with knife fighting the quartz soldiers were poofed in a matter of moments, the last one disappearing in time for the figure to catch his falling rifle.

The Crystal Gems were suitably worried, as anyone capable of doing that so easily was not someone to take lightly.

This figure, who slung his rifle over his shoulder, had fixed his attention onto Steven. The young hybrid gulped as he felt the weight of this being's gaze. The other Crystal Gems, seeing this, moved to serve as interceptors should Steven come under attack. But then, in a voice that was made quite threatening by the depth as well as the muffling from the helmet, the figure spoke.

"Are you Steven Universe?"

"Why do you want to know?" Amethyst demanded.

"Relax Gem, If I wanted him dead I would have simply sniped him earlier." The figure said, a chill gripping each of the Crystal Gems as they realized that it would be best not to annoy someone who might be able to seriously harm them from a distance.

"Yeah, I'm Steven. Why are you here?" Steven asked, getting right to the point.

"You're a Gem Hybrid right, son of the Gem known as Rose Quartz?" The figure continued to ask, ignoring the question directed towards him.

"Yes, now what are you here for?" Pearl demanded, her spear leveled at the figure.

He didn't move for a moment, silently regarding the four in front of him. Then he reached up, his fingers unlocking some kind of clasp, and pulled the helmet from his head. The face beneath was fairly regular with areas of dark facial hair. His eyes were simple brown but rested above dark under eye bags. His hair was short to the point of near baldness. With the helmet tucked under his left arm he began to unfasten the armor plates on his chest and undo the jacket collar beneath. The Gems watched in confusion, but Pearl, being the quickest of the group, was the first to spot a gleam on the figure's chest. The rest were quietly shocked when they saw, embedded in this figure's chest, a blood red diamond shaped gem.

"My name is Mike. I'm the son of Red Diamond."

Author's note

So, this is my little fanfiction of Steven Universe. At this point the story has not revealed the plot twist of Season 5, so if you have watched the show up until now you know what I'm talking about.

The next chapter will focus more on the Crystal Gems learning about this new comer as well as the clashing cultures of the two hybrids.