"This is as close of a reading as I can get on all of the Homeworld technology that was lost on Earth during the rebellion," Peridot said, her finger screen floating in front of her and Steven. He reached out and plucked it away from her arm to look at curiously.
"Can you feel me holding your fingers?" He asked.
"Yes, my Diamond." She responded, slightly confused by his odd behavior.
"This isn't hard light," he observed. "Are these your actual hands?"
"No, my Diamond, these are my limb enhancers."
Steven narrowed his eyes at the screen, "It says that Pink Diamond's ship should still be here, is it another hand?"
"No, my Diamond." One of the Quartzes cut in, laughs ringing from the rowdy group.
"What is it then?"
"It's a set of legs." Jasper says, rolling her eyes in response to the group's humor.
"With high heels!" Another Quartz blurted out, delighted.
"And a giant pink butt!" Carnelian yelled, the Famethyst started laughing so hard that tears were forming in their eyes.
"You're joking?" Steven asked, looking towards Skinny and Jasper who only shook their heads.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he said, "Let's ignore that one for now, what's the hourglass?"
"It's a prototype time travel device." Peridot responded, eyeing the still laughing Quartzes.
"Not in a state of mind to be near that," the teen murmured, scrolling farther down the list and dragging lines through items he had seen bubbled.
"I'm going to need something I can take with me. I'm sure a natural technician like yourself would have no trouble coming up with something."
"I should be able to find you something, my Diamond."
"Great," he said, looking over to see her staring at him as if expecting something.
"You need to give her permission to leave your side, my Diamond." Skinny told him, noting his confusion.
"Of course I do. You can go." He dismissed Peridot and she saluted once more, turning and walking away. When she had left, he took a second to regather his thoughts.
"I like her." He noted turning towards the Amethysts.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go after those experiments!" They all cheered in response, a green sphere surrounding Steven and transporting him onto the large palm, followed soon after by the Quartzes.
"We need to try to get the gems before they form, I don't want a bunch of hurting gems running around the planet looking for their missing pieces," their leader instructed them, serious once again.
"Yes, my Diamond," they all said in unison and he let out a sigh.
"You can call me Steven, I'll explain the rest later, but that's what I will be called."
"Yes, my Steven."
"No 'my' Steven, just Steven."
"Yes, Steven." They all chorused back, not unlike a class of young students parroting their teacher.
"Better, now, you know where they are, get to it." He said, pointing out toward the land surrounding them. They split into groups of twos and threes and set out, leaving only him and the two Jaspers again.
"I should have them put a warp pad here." He noted to himself, glancing around at the bare ground. Steven followed after a group of Amethysts, his Jasper guards following after them.
Steven and the Amethysts rounded a corner, finding a large portion of the wall blown out.
"Looks like this one's emerged," he observed, squinting at the hole.
The Quartzes quickly surrounded him before he could move forward, as if to protect him. He lifted one of them up gently by the back of the neck, moving her, and causing a yelp to escape the surprised mauve Amethyst.
"Don't do that." He told her, setting her off to the side.
Before they could react, the ground started rumbling. Hearing movement, he turned around to see a multicolored amalgamation of gems coming towards them.
"Disgusting." He sneered as it roared at him, revealing a maw of razor sharp teeth with what, oddly, seemed to be scraps of cloth. The Quartzes' weapons materialized as they launched themselves towards the gem. Steven watched as it caught their weapons, and he quickly turned to the Jaspers.
"You want to help them?" They nodded, rushing into the fray. He jumped into the air, landing on the edge of the cliff face and followed the palm prints he saw farther up, finding torn apart tents and shattered equipment thrown around the area.
"Hello?" He called out.
"We're in here!" A strained voice yelled, and he followed it to a flipped over truck. Shrinking to his more human size, Steven rushed over to it and pulled the dented door off. Looking inside, he found a dark haired woman huddled against a red haired man, both were covered in blood, and their eyes widened as they took him in. The combination of his inhuman coloring and his eyes caused them to shift, trying to move away from him in fear. The woman screamed out in pain at the movement, and Steven's eyes were drawn to the crushed remains of what must have once been an arm with a belt pulled tight around it.
"I'm not like that other one, I won't hurt you." He said, holding his hand out and the girl stared at him cautiously before moving to look at his hand, tentatively taking it, and letting him help her out of the truck. He supported her weight and set her on a large rock, the man following after them.
"Where did it go?" She asked, frantically looking around.
"In the canyon, it's being handled,"
"Being handled?! It's a monster!" She shouted in panic.
"No, it's an alien." Steven said matter-of-factly, lifting the girl's crushed arm and pulling off the belt.
"What are you doing?!" The man yelled out in panic, moving to grab his arm. Steven pulled out of his grip, trying to remain calm.
"Don't grab me," he warned him, eyes flashing, turning back towards the injured girl.
"I don't get many chances to work with human flesh, so bear with me."
His hands glowed pink as he pressed them against the torn limb, all three watching as it was overtaken by a bright, pink glow, taking on a color similar to Steven's own, and the torn pieces knit together in light pink scars.
The humans stared at her arm in shock as the pink teen hummed, "It worked."
"W-what are you?" She asked, staring at her arm.
"As of this morning, I'm the new owner of Earth," he deadpanned, standing up and wiping his bloody hands on his pants. He turned back towards the cliff in time to see an orange hand place itself over the edge, Jasper pulling herself up, followed by Skinny.
"And those are my babysitters." Steven muttered, turning away from them and striding over to their truck, flipping the frame that creaked as it was righted. His hands glowed pink and the same glow as before encompassed the metal as it straightened itself out, sans the door.
"You should go now. That one was the first of 49, call any of the others in the Kindergarten and they'll make them leave." The man walked over to the truck, inspecting it in awe, and the girl came to stand in front of Steven.
"What's your name?"
"Steven Universe." He answered, becoming surprised when she hugged him, suddenly burying her head into his chest.
"Thank you so much," his shirt suddenly felt wet. "I thought I was going to die friendless and alone." She cried harder onto his shirt.
"Sounds like you need to change something then." He suggested, patting her back.
"You're right," she pulled away, wiping her eyes. "How can I find you?"
"Go to Beach City and ask anyone, I'm not hard to spot," Steven lightly joked.
"Thank you." She told him again, running towards the truck and getting in as the engine turned over.
"It sounds better than when I bought it…" the man noted in surprise, shifting it into gear and speeding away. Steven turned, meeting the Jaspers and seeing an amalgamation of gem shards in the big one's palm.
She held it out to him, looking uncomfortable, "My Steven."
"Any shatterings?" He asked, reaching out and taking the gem. She shook her head gravely to signal a no.
"I'd try to heal you, but I might just make things worse." He said to it and to himself softly, bubbling the gem and sending it away. He looked over to see the Amethysts he had followed nearing them.
"You two, move on to the next emergence site and bubble the gems to bring to me. I don't want these gems getting misplaced."
"Yes, my Steven." They say, saluting and rushing off. Steven's phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket, reading the screen.
"Someone's at the temple," he opened up an app, pulling up a video that showed the residents of Beach City gathered at the opening.
"Great, well Jaspers, let's go greet my neighbors." He said unenthusiastically, heading back towards the cliff, walking over, and jumping down.
"We're taking the ship, Skinny can fly us back." The half-Diamond said, and they walked in silence, the big Jasper glaring out of the corner of her eyes at Skinny who just grinned back.
The ship touched down outside of the temple, the door opened and Steven walked out to see all of Beach City, as small as it was, gathered.
"Why are you here?" He asked while crossing his arms, already knowing the answer.
"The giant hands, Universe. Pointing fingers makes me very nervous," Dewey replied while tugging on his shirt collar, stepping forward. The Jaspers walked past Steven, standing between the two.
"My aunts came to visit, is that illegal now?" He challenged, all sass.
"Your aunts? Like the tall one, the purple one, and the pretty one?"
"No, like my mother's actual older sisters,"
"But you can't land spaceships on the beach!" He yelled, exasperated by Steven's blunt answers.
"Watch your tone." Jasper warned him gruffly and he gulped, suddenly taking in her tall form and stepping back.
"I am the Mayor, Universe, and this beach is part of Beach City."
"This temple is far older than Beach City, this is gem business so butt out." The teen bit out, moving to walk past, only for all of the citizens to rush in front of him.
"What's going on, Steven?" Nanafue asked him, peering up at his tall figure in concern.
"I'm trying to keep intergalactic queens from killing the planet, but Mayor Dewey's upset about some ships on his beach and how it'll hurt his reputation," he spat out, rolling his eyes in annoyance at the audacity of the older man.
"We all know that the only reason he's Mayor is because no one else is willing to run a town that is constantly attacked by aliens." He stated, murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the crowd, with Steven pointedly ignoring one shout of "SNEEPLE!" from Ronaldo.
"That's not true, I was elected fair and square by the great people of this city." Dewey said defensively, only to shrink when Jasper glared at him.
"As the only person on the ballot and in a town of 15, half of which can't even vote yet," Steven said, scoffing. "I'm going inside now, and I'm leaving the Jaspers at the door. The ships won't be back today, so I suggest going back to your homes."
He walked past the crowd, the temple door opening and slamming shut behind him, and the Jaspers each coming to stand on the sides of the doors.
