The next day, after work from stark industries for the day, tony stark went into his personal laboratory at his home in his workshop to learn more about steven's half-human, half gem nature while he was iron man, tony's scanners had scanned steven's body when he didn't notice, and now he had time to investigate it personally
"Jarvis, are you on?" asked Tony, walking into a room in his workshop nearby. Tony's armor stood on display.
"at your service, sir," said Jarvis coming online.
"bring up our scans on steven universe on the screen." said tony
"yes, sir," said Jarvis, "bringing holographic scans of Mr universe online now."
A holographic screen came into view showing steven's whole body in front of tony. He then studied the rest of stevens body in the skin layer. One thing that struck tony, however, was the gem in steven's belly.
"Jarvis, zoom in on steven's belly," said Tony, as the screen zoomed in on the gem in steven's belly
"This is most peculiar, sir," said Jarvis
"is he truly human?" asked Tony, placing a hand on his chin in thought
"it appears that way, sir," said Jarvis, "switching to X-ray scans, sir."
Steven's holographic body then showed his skeleton. It looked like the average human skeleton, save for the gem on steven's belly.
"he looks totally human to me," said Tony,
"Indeed, sir," said Jarvis, "but my readings indicate there may still be life readings within the gem on Mr universe's belly button."
"Jarvis, are you saying steven's gem part of him?" asked Tony as he stared at the gem.
"yes, sir," said Jarvis. "biological scans show the gem within Mr universe's stomach is a vital part of him as the gem shows vital integration with the rest of his half-human biology."
"so, if anyone removes it, he'll die?" said tony
"Unfortunately, yes sir," said Jarvis, "and quite painfully slowly too."
tony dreaded the very thought of such a thing happening to steven as he places a hand on his formerly injured heart and where his life support arc reactor used to be
"I know exactly how that feels," said Tony, reminiscing the memories of being captured and becoming iron man
"bad memories, sir?" said Jarvis
"a little, but I feel like this may be a connection between us," said tony
"my apologies, sir," said Jarvis softly.
"that's alright, Jarvis," said Tony, "does steven have a medical record?"
"yes, Mr universe seems to have quite a medical record," said Jarvis "in fact, he had come back from his once every three months check-up when he sent that letter to you, sir."
"great to know his dad is being responsible, well trying to be anyways," said Tony "how is steven, by the way?"
"Mr universe seems to be doing quite well, sir," said Jarvis "he was quite enthusiastic after you and captain rogers appeared in beach city."
"he sure was," chuckled tony "now then, let's pull up some scans from the gems."
holograms of the other crystal gems then appeared behind steven, but only the gems of Amethyst, pearl, and garnet's two gems were visible
"wait a minute," said Tony "where are their skeletons?"
"apologies, sir," said Jarvis. "it seems that the gems' humanoid shapes are projections originating from their gemstones."
"humanoid holograms?" asked tony "are they solid?"
"prior scans of the gems yesterday shows they are capable of physical contact." said Jarvis, "most peculiar."
"I see," said tony but then noticed how garnet's project has two gemstones compared to Amethyst and pearl, who each only had one "how come garnet has two gems?"
"Perhaps she is a rare breed of her kind," said Jarvis "a fusion perhaps?"
"maybe," said Tony, "remind me to ask the gems for more on what we need to know about them if we're needed back at beach city."
"yes, sir," said Jarvis.
"Please keep steven company, by the way, Jarvis," said tony.
"very good, sir," said Jarvis.
"in the meantime, let's do a systems check on the armor," said tony.
"preparing suit for systems diagnostics now," said Jarvis,
tony then watched as his iron man armor began to warm up for its diagnostics check before turning in for the day
the next day, over at beach city, steven and Greg were hanging out on the couch, thinking about how iron man and Captain America are going to be a great help to the crystal gems,
"I still can't believe we met those two a few days ago," said steven
"I know," said Greg. "I can't believe they accepted either. They're gonna be a big help."
"I know! My two favorite heroes!" said Steven, "but I wonder how the gems will take it. They haven't even seen iron man in action yet."
"guess we'll find out soon, stchu ball," said Greg ruffling his son's hair
then pearl came up to the two with garnet and Amethyst to discuss something
"steven," said pearl, "may we talk to you for a minute?"
"sure," said Steven "what's up?"
"We got something set up in the ancient sky arena," said Amethyst, "for a test of some sorts."
"a test for who?" asked steven
"that's just what we're here for," said pearl "we would like you to contact iron man again ask him to come back to the temple"
"there's gonna be a test for iron man?" asked Greg
"But what about cap?" asked steven
"rogers will be asked to come another day for his refresher, steven," answered garnet "have patience."
"How will this test play out?" asked steven
"he will face a few tests," said pearl "first, he will face a holo pearl, many if necessary, then he will spar with each of us,"
"then he will face off with a corrupted gem," said garnet, finishing pearl's sentence "if he's going to join us, we need to see what he can do."
"I'm sure he won't let us down," said Steven "neither will cap."
"you sure sound confident in them, ste-man." said amethyst
"Thanks, amethyst!" said steven "alright, I'll contact Mr stark right away."
steven then picked up the communicator and began to call tony to come to the temple
at his personal office, tony stark was finishing up some work and was going to spend the next few hours off, until suddenly, he was getting a call
"Sir, we seem to be getting a call," said Jarvis
"a call?" asked Tony as he heard the beeping "who is from?"
"it's from Mr universe," answered Jarvis.
"from steven?" said Tony as he felt like he snapped awake "put him on screen."
"yes, sir," said Jarvis putting steven's call on-screen, "connection established."
"hi, Mr stark!" waved steven.
"hi steven!" greeted tony "how are you?"
"I'm doing pretty good!" said steven "hey, listen do you have time to come over to the temple?"
"I just finished up work as a matter of fact," said Tony. "I could fly over. What's the problem?"
"pearl and the others want you over for a test," said Steven "the gems want to know what you can do as iron man if they'll trust you to be a part of their team."
"I'm more than happy to indulge them, steven," said Tony. "I'll be right over."
"thank you, Mr stark!" smiled steven "see you soon!"
"see you at beach city, steven!" waved tony before the line cut off."
"I suppose we'll have a most interesting afternoon, sir?" chimed Jarvis.
"We sure will, Jarvis," said Tony as he pressed the bracelet, and the nanomachines contained within formed his armor.
tony then stepped into a secret room where a hatch roof then slid open as tony prepared for take-off
"hold the fort here, Jarvis," said Tony as he primed his thrusters, "and keep steven company."
"very good, sir," said Jarvis
iron man then blasted off out through the open roof and flew at top speed to beach city
45 minutes later, at beach city, Greg, steven, pearl, and garnet were waiting outside the temple for iron man to arrive
"I sure hope he comes, dad," said steven
"I'm sure he will, buddy," said Greg, patting his son's head
"Thanks, Dad," said steven
"if this iron man is going to be a big help as you say, we need to see what he can do," said pearl.
"he won't let us down, pearl," said garnet but then caught a glimpse at the sky in front of her "he's coming"
everyone looked up at the sky to see iron man flying towards them before touching down on the sands below on his knees before standing up and facing steve, his father, and the gems
"hi, guys!" waved iron man as he stood up.
"hi, Mr stark!" said steven. "I'm glad you made it!"
"I'm always happy to help steven," said iron man approaching them, "you said you guys wanted me here for a test?"
"yes, iron man," said pearl, "we would appreciate your help, but we need to know what you can do."
"I'd be more than happy to show you," said iron man "where do we start?"
"First, come with us to the warp pad," said garnet "we've prepared a training session somewhere."
"a warp pad?" asked iron man "what's that?"
"oh! warp pad is this thing you can step on that will take you somewhere." explained steven
"so it's like a teleporter?" said iron man
"yes, but only gems can use it," said pearl "you'll need us to activate the warp pad."
"got it," nodded iron man "lead the way, guys."
steven lead iron man and the others to the door and opened it to see Amethyst waiting for them on the warp pad
"yo tin man!" said amethyst "glad to see you could make it!"
"me too, amethyst," chuckled iron man as he and the others stood on the warp pad "so, how does this work exactly?"
"hold on," said garnet as the warp pad began to glow, and everyone was engulfed in a bright blue beam of light. Moments later, they had arrived at their destination.
"whoa," said iron man, "that was quite a ride, even for a teleporter."
"Yeah, they're pretty fun," said steven
"Alright, right this way, iron man," said pearl as the others followed her to what appeared to be an ancient floating arena, one for gladiators, but it looked almost destroyed, but there was a wide-open space for training.
"iron man," said pearl, "welcome to the sky arena, where we train for the upcoming battles. In fact, some of the earliest battles of a rebellion took place here."
"a rebellion?" asked iron man "against who?"
"our homeworld," said pearl, "but that's a story for another time. For now, let us begin our first test of skill."
steven and Greg stood back with Amethyst and watched iron man as garnet and pearl walked in front of him
"Alright, what's first?" asked iron man, priming his defenses
"First, we want to see how you fight with a weapon," said pearl "your own weapon first if you have one."
"I believe we have more than one, sir," said Jarvis from tony's suit
"We sure do, Jarvis," said iron man "where's the target, though?"
"I have a suitable candidate," said pearl, as a projection shot out of her gem, and then suddenly, a teal hologram duplicate of pearl appeared in front of iron man.
"a hologram?" said iron man "she looks just like you, pearl."
"and it appears the hologram of pearl seems to be tangible too, sir," chimed Jarvis.
"hologram pearl!" exclaimed Steven excitedly
[author's notes the events of steven the swordfighter played out differently than canon in this story, so pearl didn't get accidentally stabbed by her holo pearl]
"unregistered combatant detected," said the holo pearl. "do you wish to engage in combat?"
"now then, let's see your weapon," said pearl
"you got it," said iron man. He then raised up an open palm to fire a light blue repulsor blast at the holo pearl's head as the hologram then regenerated
"whoa! what was that?" asked amethyst
"it's my repulsors," said iron man showing his open hand, "one of my basic tools of the trade."
"Yeah, I remember a lot of times seeing him shoot lasers out of his hands!" said steven
"you sure must watch the news a lot, huh?" said iron man
"maybe," said steven
"you know, I really like you, kid," smiled tony underneath the faceplate.
"t-thanks Mr stark," said Steven, blushing a little bit
"you have weapons on your hands?" asked pearl in surprise.
"and there's more where that came from," said iron man, as his arms suddenly turned into repulsor cannons and his back deployed displacer sentries and blasted the holo pearl, vaporizing her almost entirely as a vast blue beam shot through the open air of the arena
"oh my stars!" cried pearl as she saw her hologram vaporize in front of her.
"very impressive," awed garnet as she watched calmly.
"where did that come from!?" asked Amethyst, pearl, Greg, and steven
"it's nanotech," explained iron man turning to face steven, Greg, Amethyst, and pearl, reverting his armor to normal "you like it?"
"boy, do I!" cheered steven. "wait, what's nanotech?"
"microscopic machines, small enough to fit inside your bloodstream." explained iron man, "and uh, sorry about your hologram pearl."
"oh! we can fix that," said Pearl as she materialized another holo pearl
"unregistered combatant detected," repeated the holo pearl. "do you wish to engage in combat?"
"now, iron man," said pearl, holding out a rapier sword and tossed it to him, "this time, we want to see how you use a handheld weapon."
"I'm down for that," said iron man catching the rapier sword in his hand
"iron man using a handheld sword, quite a rare yet welcoming sight," said Jarvis
"Yeah, it is kinda rare," said iron man holding the sword in his hand. He usually would use nanotech, but he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, "but I'm willing to make an exception. Let's make this one count!"
"perfect, ready yourself now," nodded pearl then turned to her holographic duplicate "initiate training mode."
"oh boy, here we go," said Greg as he watched with his son
"training mode initiated, level 1," said holo pearl as she took her stance. "you've already made a mistake by challenging me!"
"made a mistake? we haven't even started yet!" said iron man, reading his handheld sword, "but let's see how this turns out, shall we?"
as both combatants watched their stances, the other gems watched in intent as iron man's appearance suddenly changed as the nanomachines that from his armor reconfigure his appearance into samurai mode
"wow! he looks like a samurai now!" said Greg.
"whoa! you can shapeshift like we can?" said amethyst "are you a gem like us?"
"it is actually another perk of the nanotechnology of Mr stark's armor," explained Jarvis from steven's communicator.
"The nanotech let's him do that?" asked Amethyst, curious
"correct, ms amethyst," said Jarvis, "the hexagonal surface scales and nanomachines that from his armor are connected to Mr stark's brain synapses that can be commanded to separate and reconfigure into any form, weapon, or color scheme."
"whoa..." awed Amethyst. "he's almost like us in a way!"
"he sure does, amethyst," smiled Greg "he's gonna be a big help!"
"yeah! I'm really looking forward to having iron man on our team!" cheered steven.
"If he succeeds first, steven," said Pearl, "which I somehow doubt."
"hey! I haven't even started yet!" called iron man from a distance.
"do not judge a book by its cover, ms pearl," replied Jarvis
"he's right, pearl," said garnet adjusting her visor. "I see many possibilities of how this will play out for iron man, one of them begins now!"
"commencing duel!" said the holo pearl, her eyes turning red, forming a scowl, then dashed to iron man, her sword clashing with his,
"ho boy! Here we go!" said iron man, struggling with his sword. He broke away from the holo pearl as she charged to attack again.
"Parry! Parry! thrust!" announced holo pearl as she tried to stab her sword at iron man
"for a training hologram, you sure are stating the obvious!" quipped iron man counter-attacking with his sword with holo pearl's
"heheheh! I'm going to like him!" chuckled Greg
Their steel blades clashed again and again as sparks flew from them. Steven and the others watched in awe as they saw iron man's sword fight like never before. Even if it was a rare sight, iron man then swung his sword again from the side, the holo pearl then jumping to dodge the blow and clashed her sword again with her armored opponent. They swung again and again until iron man got locked into a defensive stance.
"defense rank A," said holo pearl, "you've drawn your sword in vain!"
"Yeah, I'm not good with a sword," said iron man, forcing holo pearl back with a push of his sword, "but I might as well give everyone the benefit of the doubt."
holo pearl then stepped back and then swung again, this time barely knocking iron man's stance out of balance
"opening detected." said holo pearl preparing to swipe her sword at iron man
"iron man! watch out!" cried steven, worried about one of his heroes
but before holo pearl could slash the armored hero, iron man dashed upwards away from holo pearl's slice, landing behind her as holo pearl then prepared to strike again
"whoa!" called Greg.
"I won't go easy on your this time!" said holo pearl charging towards iron man again
"bring it then!" said iron man, dashing towards holo pearl for another strike
they clashed swords once again until iron man saw an opening and slashed at holo pearl as she caught the slash, and then iron man knocked the sword out of holo pearl, finishing her off with a final slash and a quickfire repulsor blast sending the holographic pearl flying across the arena landing on the ground hard
"Match set, challenger wins!" said holo pearl, her eyes returning to normal and was glitching "continue?"
"I think that will be enough for now, thank you," panted iron man "how was that?"
"That was great!" called Greg.
"That was awesome!" cried steven
"impressive!" said pearl. "I didn't expect you to be so good at this"
"well, to be fair, I had fought a swordsman before," said iron man
"a swordsman?" asked steven curiously. "Who was it?"
"It was my old nemesis, the mandarin." said iron man
"the mandarin?" asked steven "who was he?"
"the most dangerous evil genius in the orient," said iron man as he held up his hands, but the repulsor was not powering up "he had five rings on each finger."
"ten rings on all fingers?" asked pearl.
"geez, his fingers oughta hurt from wearing them all the time!" said Greg
"yep, and each ring had a different ability and weapon," said iron man, "but I think that's a story for another time."
"Indeed, for the next part of the test comes up now," said Pearl as she made multiple holo pearls surrounding iron man "we will now see how you handle multiple opponents."
"seriously! how many holograms can you make?" asked iron man.
"I have been able to project as many holo pearls as possible," said pearl
"whoa," said Greg
"that seems pretty fair," said iron man, "but hey! when this is over, could I offer some suggestions for your holographic pearls?"
"if you want to, then I'll permit it," said pearl
"thank you," said iron man. "Jarvis?"
"setting up a reminder now, sir," chimed Jarvis.
"thank you, Jarvis," said iron man "now then, any rules?"
"you are free to use either sword or your weapons," said pearl "either way to see how you can handle multiple opponents."
"sounds reasonable," said iron man, then focusing his attention on the holo pearls "alright, let's do this!"
"do you wish to engage in combat?" asked the holo pearl clone army.
"you bet, let's go!" said iron man, gripping his rapier sword and priming his repulsors
"I won't go so easy on you this time!" said the holo pearl clone army in unison as they raised their swords and one by one dashed at iron man
"well, neither am I!" said iron man, slashing his rapier sword through a holo pearl and then blasting a repulsor at another holo pearl
"go! iron man!" cheered steven as he watched his armored hero tear through the holo pearls
"geez! he's plowing through them!" said Greg
steel and holographic blades clashed again and again on the field iron man blocked on a blade with his metal arm and then used his rapier sword to block multiple blades from the holo pearls, then iron man's shoulders began to materialize micro missile pods and fired a barrage on the holo pearls making them disappear in small explosions iron man then dashed away from the holo pearls to regroup
"let's what we can do with this blade," said iron man as suddenly, the nanotechnology began to surround the rapier sword and began to upgrade the structure, and the blade itself began to glow blue with repulsor technology.
"What is he doing!?" asked pearl as she watched one of her swords being reconstructed in seconds before her eyes.
"just giving one of your swords a little upgrade," replied iron man as the sword had finished reconstructing into its new form.
"you have drawn your sword in vain!" said a holo pearl as he sword collided with iron man's
"I think that would be you actually!" said iron man as a massive jolt of sparks blasted from the reconstructed sword blasting the holo pearls back as some of them dissipated
"Woah! that's some shock and awe!" said amethyst
"he's made that sword a lightning rod!" said Greg
"That was quite the upgrade," commented garnet
"keep going, iron man!" cried steven
iron man then focused his attention on the holo pearl clone army and continued to slice through the holograms, using multiple repulsor blasts on the other holo pearls, then iron man used a rocket-powered pile driver to plow through the holo pearls again, then iron man finished off the remaining holo pearls with his upgraded sword
"defeat accepted," the holo pearls all said as they disappeared.
"now that was quite a workout," said iron man as the nanomachines then rearranged his samurai mode into his primary appearance
"Indeed, sir," said Jarvis, "it must be quite a warm-up for the model prime's systems."
"It sure is Jarvis," said iron man
"for a guy who doesn't usually use swords, he did pretty well!" said Greg
"that was most impressive," said pearl "you may have a chance of joining the crystal gems yet!"
"Thanks, pearl!" said iron man "is there anything else we need to do?"
"yes, you will now spar with each of us," said pearl
"Alright, who's going to go first?" asked iron man
"I will!" called Amethyst as she rushed to face iron man "so anything you need to know before we get started?"
"yeah," said iron man, "I meant to ask earlier. Is there anything I need to know about gems and fighting them? I don't wanna do something I'll regret for a long time."
"if a gem were to suffer a fatal injury or significant physical damage, they will poof and retreat to their gemstone in order to create a new undamaged form," explained garnet
"reminds me of how I go through my armors nearly like copy paper, I swear," thought iron man, the concept of gems poofing almost being familiar to him "anything else I need to know?"
"The only permanent forms of damage are shattering the gem, corruption, or cracks in them," said garnet explaining more about the potential consequences of fighting gems
"...then let's avoid that, shall we?" said iron man unnerved, as were steven pearl and Amethyst
"definitely," said pearl.
"no arguments here," said Greg
"Alright, amethyst, let's do it!" said iron man tossing aside his sword
"let's go then!" cried Amethyst as she summoned her whip and charged at iron man.
The purple dragon gem cracked her whip at iron man, who stepped to the side to dodge her whip and then countered with a punch which sent Amethyst back a few feet. She then cracked her whip repeatedly, trying to hit iron man, but then the armored Avenger caught the whip with his arm yanked Amethyst towards him sending her flying overhead.
"GET OVER HERE!" shouted iron man as Amethyst flew over him once she landed. She then curled into a ball and rolled towards him.
Iron man's nanomachines then materialized a shield on his arm, which he used to block Amethyst's ball roll and eventually knocked her back. The two then traded blows with each other for a little bit before Amethyst stepped back for a little bit.
"heh, you're doing pretty good so far," said amethyst
"So are you," said iron man, "you're putting up quite the fight so far."
"Thanks! in fact..." sai amethyst before shapeshifting into her muscular wrestling persona, the purple puma "how about taking on the purple puma for a little while."
"purple puma!" called steven, seeing Amethyst's alter ego return to the arena.
"are we doing wresting here or something?" asked Greg.
"ho boy," said iron man backing up a little bit
"so, got another trick up your sleeve, tin man?" said Amethyst
"yep," said iron man as his nanomachines began to reconfigure his armor's appearance into its Hulkbuster mode, "purple puma, meet hulkbuster!"
"whoa!" called Amethyst, just now seeing iron man in hulkbuster mode.
"whoa! is that what I think it is?" asked Greg
"hulkbuster!" called steven.
"Alright, purple puma," said iron man pounding his fists together, "let's do this!"
"you got it! purple puma commin at ya!" cried Amethyst, charging at iron man
iron man and Amethyst traded blows with each other for a little while, the wrestling techniques for amethysts being unfamiliar to iron man, but still, he fought the purple gem will all of his might, as the two then gripped each other and struggled to overtake the other
"Geez, you must've been quite the wrestler." said iron man as he struggled in hulkbuster mode. "won a lot of competitions, I'll bet!"
"won against a few actually," said amethyst "you're not doing bad yourself."
"Thanks!" said iron man as he then tossed Amethyst to the side, and then air dashed towards her to deal a jackhammer punch.
Amethyst caught the blow with a punch with her own, which knocked the two combatants back. Iron man then counter-attacked with another point to the stomach. He then unleashed a jackhammer punch on Amethyst's side. She then lifted the iron man and tossed him only for the golden gladiator to regain control by activating his thrusters and dashed towards Amethyst, the purple puma jumping grab iron man sending the two crashing to the ground scraping the grounds of the arena, and flew off of each other.
"whew..." said Amethyst catching her breath. "I think that was enough, don't you think?"
"definitely," said iron man, gathering his bearings, "you sure gave me quite a workout even in hulkbuster mode."
"What IS a hulkbuster anyways?" asked amethyst
"it's a long story," said iron man rubbing the back of his head
"well, you can tell us anytime after this," said Amethyst shapeshifting into her normal form
"very good iron man," said Pearl stepping into the arena, "most impressive now it's my turn."
"oh boy..." said Greg as he watched pearl step into the arena
"good luck, man," said Amethyst, "kick her butt for me."
"I'll do my best," said iron man, the nanomachines reverting his armor mode to normal
"so, just so you know, I am not like amethyst," said pearl summoning a spear from her forehead gemstone.
"I'll take your word for it," said iron man as he primed his repulsors and prepared to fight
pearl made the first move by dashing to iron man and tried to stab him with her spear, only for the armored hero to step to the side as pearl kept swinging her spear at him until iron man grabbed the pole of the spear and kicked it away from pearl
"you do pretty good with spear pearl," said iron man before snapping the spear in two
"Thankfully, I can always make another one!" said pearl, pulling out a new spear from her forehead gem and moved to attack iron man once again
Iron man's arm nanomachines began to create a long arm-mounted blade that flashed with blue repulsor energy. He then used it to block pearl's spear by the tip and pushed it away, knocking pearl back once more. Their bladed weapons clashed.
"kick her butt, iron man!" cheered Amethyst, Greg, and steven, also watching.
"hey!" called pearl, allowing iron man to kick her back with her distracted.
"don't let yourself get distracted now!" said iron man "we still got a battle ahead of us."
"We certainly do," said pearl twirling her spear around
"then let's finish it!" said iron man boosting his jets towards pearl while created a wrist-mounted nano energy shield on his right arm
Pearl's spear clashed with the energy shield but was knocked away as this kind of shield was materialized by hard light. Iron man then thrust his arm-mounted blade towards pearl, clashing with her spear, again and again, pushing pearl back as she tried to stab iron man again but was blocked by the nano shield. Taking this opportunity, iron man sliced the spear in half again with his wrist blade pearl in shock. Iron man retracted his wrist blade and shield and dealt a combo with a few punches ending the combo with a final kick sending pearl flying a few feet.
"you did it, iron man!" cheered steven, Greg patting his son's head
"Thanks, steven!" waved iron man.
"I can't believe it..." said pearl. "I've lost..."
"how's that amethyst?" asked iron man
"That was awesome!" cheered amethyst "great job!"
Garnet then stood up and stepped into the ring in front of iron man.
"My turn," said garnet, summoning her gauntlets and taking her stance
"garnet, are you sure?" stuttered pearl nervously.
"positive pearl," said garnet, "this is the final part of this first test."
"if you say so garnet," said pearl as she ran to join Steven, Greg, and Amethyst.
"are you ready?" asked garnet.
"make your move." said iron man. "I'll also try not to hit your shades."
"don't worry, I have spares," smirked garnet.
"Alright then, let's do this," said iron man as he and garnet dashed towards each other
Iron man and garnet's fists collided with each other sending them both reeling back before garnet moved in with another punch of her own in which iron man took the hit in the stomach. The armored Avenger caught the next hit from garnet before he countered with a punch to garnet's stomach sending back before iron man attacked again with a rocket-powered punch.
"man, he's even going toe to toe with garnet!" said Amethyst
"barely," said Steven, "I'd say they're almost matching each other!"
"almost? they're neck to neck with each other!" said Greg
"but garnet should be able to use her future vision, right?" said pearl
"we'll see pearl," said Steven as he watched the battle unfold. "I'd sure like iron man to be on our team, though!"
Garnet kept throwing punches at iron man, the armored hero countering every punch each time, garnet occasionally got a hit in until garnet punched a pillar, and it started to fall down on iron man. He then caught it with his bare metal hands and then tossed the broken pillar to the side, and then barely blocked garnet's oncoming punch with a nano shield.
"don't let your guard down," said garnet
"the same to you!" said iron man, pushing garnet back. "I'm not done yet!"
"Neither am I," smirked garnet, going towards iron man again
catching garnet's punch with his left arm, iron man then fired a repulsor blast at her stomach, knocking her back then iron man sent a kick in which garnet dodged, and then she intercepted with a combo in which iron man did his best to keep up with his own combo seeing an opening the armored hero leg swept garnet off her feet, and then sent a rocket-propelled punch, before finishing off garnet with a final combo of kicks and punches, sending garnet a few feet back, ending the battle
"well done, iron man," smiled garnet, "you've won."
"Thanks, garnet," said iron man "whew...that was quite a workout."
"same here," said garnet. "with this, the first part of the tests is complete."
"Good to hear," said iron man "what's next?"
"now, we will be pitting you against a corrupted gem," said garnet
"you mean those monsters you've been fighting?" asked iron man.
"yes," nodded garnet, "onto the warp pad."
"one moment, please," said iron man as he waved an open hand to activate it's magnets to magnetize his prior handheld sword to him and placed it into storage
"whoa, does he have the force?" asked Greg
"magnetic power, actually, Mr universe," chimed Jarvis.
"oh, that makes sense," said Greg
"warp master steven!" cheered steven
"wait, is he really okay with this?" asked iron man, concerned "this sounds pretty dangerous."
"don't worry, Mr stark! I'll be fine," said Steven "let's go!"
"we'll take care of him, Mr stark," said Greg as he joined his son on the space bridge
"let's hope you know what you're getting yourself into, kid," said iron man
"I will be more than happy to monitor him, sir," chimed Jarvis.
"Please do, Jarvis," said iron man as he went to join the others on the warp pad and teleported out of the floating arena
The warp pad glowed with power as the crystal gems arrived at their destination. It was the strawberry battlefield. It looked like a vast green field, except there was wreckage everywhere, weapons layed on the ground, and there were floating rocks everywhere. Even entire pillars of land floated, but one thing that stood out was the giant strawberries the layed amongst the field.
"whoa, what in the world happened here?" asked iron man surveying the destruction
"This is the strawberry battlefield," said garnet "this is the location of a historic gem battle that occurred during a rebellion against our homeworld 5,000 years ago..."
"a battle?" said iron man "what happened?"
"countless gems were broken, shattered, and poofed here," said garnet "it was a maelstrom of destruction and death."
"but we won!" cheered pearl, having enjoyed the tragic war.
"but at what cost?" asked iron man as he looked down, the description of what happened on the gem battlefield reminding him of his former life as a weapons manufacturer.
"is something wrong, Mr stark?" asked steven
"it's just, the battle here reminds me of what I used to be," said iron man as he turned to steven, "a weapons manufacturer."
"you made weapons for humans?" asked amethyst
"yeah, his company, stark industries used to make weapons," said Greg, having read about tony stark the day after they met him
"yeah, and let's just say I'm not proud of it, even now..." said iron man. "I'll tell you more once we're done here."
"I'd like to hear it," said steven
"you might not like it, but I'll tell you the story when we get back," said iron man, then turned to garnet.
"we've scoured the area before calling you," said garnet as she pointed towards an open field "the corrupted gem is over there. You know what to do."
"I'm on it!" said iron man as he flew over to where garnet had pointed while the other crystal gems, Greg and steven, followed him on the ground
As the armored hero flew overhead of the giant strawberries, he saw the Corrupted gem down below. The former gem looked like a snarling beast and almost resembled a large bear but with more fur and had horns The gemstone was located on her forehead. It let out a mighty roar as she ravaged the field.
"whoa, now that's a corrupted gem!" said iron man as he hovered above
"Indeed," said Jarvis, "my readings indicate this gem used to be almost like the crystal gems, except more common among her kind."
"well, that's disturbing," said iron man "let's hope there's a way to reverse it somehow."
"Indeed, sir," said Jarvis, "now then, shall we begin?"
"you bet Jarvis!" said iron man as he swooped down to face the corrupted gem
The corrupted gem heard the roars of jet engines in the sky and looked up to see iron man flying towards it. The creature roared as she jumped up to swipe at the armored hero, only to receive a punch in the stomach knocking the monster down to the ground as iron man then jumped off and landed in front of the corrupted gem.
"whoa! be careful, iron man!" called steven as Greg and the other crystal gems soon joined him as he watched his armored hero.
"don't worry about me, steven!" reassured iron man as he primed his repulsors as the corrupted beast got back up and roared.
the corrupted gem charged at iron man, who stepped to the side to dodge the ram, the creature turning around and charged towards iron man again, but this time iron man intercepted her with a punch to the jaw, which sent her reeling in pain as the creature roared again, iron man changed tactics and fired his repulsor blasts at her as the corrupted gem charged blindly and then sent a claw to iron man scratching his armor a little bit
"iron man!" called Greg but then found himself and the gems bewildered as the scratches in iron man's armor began to disappear, and the armored looked as if nothing happened to it.
the armored hero then caught the next claw with his arm and then sent a punch to the stomach, followed by a kick and a twin repulsor blast which sent the corrupted gem back, but she didn't have time to react as iron man dashed over to her and with all his strength tossed the creature a few feet, making the crystal gems cheer
"whoo! go, iron man!" cheered amethyst
"finish her off! iron man!" cheered steven
as the corrupted gem got back up, iron man launched a shoulder barrage of repulsor lasers, sending the creature reeling in pain, and then iron man's arc reactor began to glow with power and fired an Unibeam towards the corrupted gem, the former gem roaring one last time before finally poofing in a huge white cloud
"you got 'em! you got 'em!" cheered steven as he ran up to iron man
"Thanks, steven!" said iron man as he walked over towards where the gem was and picked it up in his hand "so, what do we with this?"
"here, I'll bubble it!" said steven holding out his hands for the gem
"can you really do that?" asked iron man.
"yeah, hand me the gem, and you'll see!" said steven eagerly
"if you say so," said iron man, handing the gem to steven, who, upon grasping it, a pink bubble surrounded the gem.
"whoa, you can make bubbles?" asked iron man, amazed.
"yeah! to bubble these gems!" said Steven as he tapped on the bubble, and it disappeared, and so did the gem within it.
"where did it go?" asked iron man.
"it is back in the temple," said garnet, "in a chamber deep within where all the corrupted gems reside."
"so you guys like collect them after you beat them?" asked iron man.
"yes," said garnet
"Geez, how long have you guys been at this?" asked iron man.
"for thousands of years since the rebellion ended," said garnet
"and for 14 years since I met them," said Greg, having met the crystal gems before his son Steven was born.
"dang," said iron man, "anyways, is there anything else we need to do?"
"There is one final test," said garnet, "an obstacle course, if you win, you will join the crystal gems," explained garnet
"I think we can handle that," nodded iron man "let's go!"
"let's warp!" cried steven excited
"forward!" commanded Greg enthusiastically as he and the crystal gems rushed back to the warp pad.
the warp pad transported iron man and the crystal gems arrived back at the crystal temple
"wait a minute, what are we doing back here?" asked iron man, confused.
"we're just going to set up your final test. Give us a minute," said garnet as she, pearl, and Amethyst went through the central door of the temple and went inside
"I guess we wait, right?" said iron man
"yep, we wait," said Steven "they're usually gone all the time."
"Really?" asked iron man "are you usually alone here?"
"When they're out on missions, yeah," said Steven "dad usually keeps me company, though."
"yeah, the gems usually leave a lot on missions to take care of these corrupted gems," said Greg
"for a couple of defenders of earth, the crystal gems really aren't good caretakers, are they?" said iron man
"yeah, but they mean well," said steven
"let's hope so..." said iron man, having seen past well-meaning facades before
"we're back," said garnet, as she and the other crystal gems emerged from the temple door "we just finished designing this obstacle course for you, iron man."
"Alright, what do I need to do?" asked iron man, preparing himself.
"step inside, please, and you'll see," said pearl as she and the others walked into the room to see iron man's obstacle course
"we've augmented this obstacle course through the dungeon of trials section in the temple," explained garnet as she then explained the objective "your mission is to locate a wailing stone at the end of this obstacle course, you'll need to fly through some parts, and you may need to destroy some walls to reach the stone, once you acquire the wailing stone, you must return here with it."
"sounds simple enough," said iron man "when do we start?"
"in 3 seconds," said garnet, "to the starting line now."
"you got it," said iron man as he stepped towards the starting line.
"good luck, iron man!" cheered Amethyst and steven "you'll need it!"
"Thanks, amethyst! steven!" said iron man as he got ready
"3...2...1...GO!" clapped garnet as she signaled the countdown
Iron man dashed across the course as he saw boulders rolling on the sides of a bridge he saw in front of him while running towards the door. He timed his moments to pass through the boulders. He dashed past 2 of them, then destroyed the last one with a repulsor blast, and then continued through the door.
"Sir, be cautious. There is a nearby large stream of lava in this next room," advised Jarvis "the exit is 8 meters away from this stream of lava, sir."
"Thanks for the warning, Jarvis," said iron man as he reached the ledge and blasted off to fly over the lave below him, avoiding ceiling rock pillars and blasting a few of them with micro missiles when there was no way around them
The armored Avenger reached the door to the next room of the obstacle course. He ran along the floor to come across a couple of stone walls. He had Jarvis scan which ones were the best ones to destroy that would lead him to the wailing stone and destroyed the wall along with a couple of other walls as he passed through to get to the next room.
"that must be it," said iron man as he pointed towards the wailing stone he needed to grab, which was just on the other side of the room,
iron man dashed towards the wailing stones as he destroyed falling rocks that came raining down his way as he struggled to stay on the narrow bridge overlooking the lava below. Once he reached the end of the bridge, he blasted off towards the wailing stone, dodging more rock pillars until he touched down on the other side of the room and picked up the wailing stone.
"I've got it! heading back to the others now!" said iron man as he flew towards the exit with the wailing stone in his arms
"setting waypoint now, sir," said Jarvis guiding his creator to the beginning of the course
Suddenly the whole arena started to crumble on top of iron man. Realizing he has to make it back as fast as possible, iron man materialized back thrusters and placed his main thrusters' afterburners while still carrying the wailing stone in his arms. As he flew back to the start, the golden gladiator blasted falling debris with shoulder repulsor lasers until he finally made it back to the beginning of the obstacle course, having landed and ran back to the starting line after seeing the door from which he came from collapse from debris.
"WOAH!" cried Greg and steven.
"whew...that was quite the ride..." said iron man as he set the wailing stone down, "did somebody order a wailing stone?"
"ha! we sure did!" said Amethyst as she went to iron man "that was awesome, man!"
"incredible..." gasped pearl with her mouth covered with her hands "that was only in a few minutes..."
"most impressive," said garnet and then walked towards iron man, "you have recovered the wailing stone while also battling through those obstacles in under a few minutes."
"So does this mean he's on the team!?" cried steven with stars in his eyes.
"yes, steven," smiled garnet as he placed a hand on iron man's shoulder, "welcome to the crystal gems, iron man."
"I'm glad to be here, garnet," said iron man
"I share the same feeling, ms garnet," chimed Jarvis.
"congratulations, iron man," smiled garnet.
"you did it, iron man! you made it!" cried steven as he rushed over and hugged iron man's leg
"thank you so much, Steven!" chuckled iron man as he patted steven's head and ruffled his hair a little bit.
"I'm seriously gonna like him!" said Amethyst
"Thanks, amethyst," chuckled iron man, then turned to pearl "by the way, pearl, I still owe you those suggestions on those holo pearls."
"oh! yes, we can talk more in the living room!" nodded pearl
"Thanks," said iron man, "and steven, I still owe you that story too."
"oh! yeah Mr stark, I'm more than happy to hear about it," said steven
"then lets all head inside," said iron man as they all went to the living room of the temple
After succeeding in the final test, iron man went to pearl about his suggestions on the holo pearls. He suggested the holo pearl tweaked to fight alongside the crystal gems in numbers and be more suited for live combat rather than holographic sparring partners. Pearl agreed to do so when she had free time to modify the holo pearls to assist the crystal gems in their battles for the earth.
afterward, iron man kept his word on telling steven about his former life as a weapons manufacturer until a terrorist attack changed his life forever, as he saw young Americans killed by the very weapons his company designed to protect them from threats, and while kidnapped tony stark had a chance encounter with professor ho yinsen
"so they kiddnaped you and had professor yinsen heal you?" asked steven
"Yeah, if it weren't for him, the shrapnel in my heart would have killed me. Those terrorists wanted me to make weapons," said iron man.
"did you do it?" asked Greg
"of course not," said iron man, "and while me and yinsen were working behind their backs, he taught me, that I have much more to offer this world than making weapons,"
"whish is where this suit came from, right?" asked Amethyst
"from a box of scraps, yes, the first model anyways," said iron man, "but the terrorists discovered our plans and were closing in on us just as the suit was powering up. Yinsen went to buy me time while the armor powered up."
"yinsen...sacrificed himself?" asked steven in shock, his father sharing his feelings
"yes..." sighed iron man "after the suit powered up, I battled my way through the terrorists and just made it to yinsen, who, before he died he told me not to waste my life. a lesson I still hold on to this day..."
"I'm so sorry Mr stark..." said steven
"it's alright, steven," said iron man as he wrapped an arm around steven
"man..." sighed Greg. "was that why you stopped making weapons?"
"yeah" said iron man "stark industries since then have turned to making technology for the benefit of mankind"
"wait, the shrapnel in your heart," said Steven "is it still there?"
"don't worry, the shrapnel's gone, and with it, the arc reactor that kept it at bay," said iron man, placing a hand on his chest.
"When did you decide to get your heart treated?" asked Greg
"It was because my friends were so worried about me and how the shrapnel and arc reactor was taking atoll on me," said iron man "that's when I decided enough was enough"
"I'm glad you were able to get your heart fixed, Mr stark," said steven. "I'm sorry that yinsen sacrificed his life for you."
"don't worry about it, steven," said iron man "if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be who I am today, and I couldn't be more grateful for that."
"me neither, Mr stark," said Steven "well, I guess you need to go now, right?"
"yep, but I'll be back when you guys need me," said iron man as he stood up and walked towards the door
"hey!" said steven "if we want to see Captain America are you sure he can come?"
"I'm sure cap can have something arranged," said iron man "please take care of steven Jarvis."
"I shall, sir," said Jarvis from the communicator
"bye, iron man!" waved steven.
"bye, steven!" smiled iron man as he blasted off and returned to new york
Steven went back to the living room and sat on the couch with his father, Greg, feeling overjoyed that iron man was accepted into the crystal gems and hoping that he would see Captain America again, for he and the crystal gems have some catching up to do...