Hey guys! Here's another chapter! Rick will FINALLY be making an appearance in the next chapter, and things will really be starting to get serious! Unfortunately, Steven isn't going to get better for the next few chapters, but bear with it- there is a reason! Remember to leave a review if you like the chapter, thanks guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, or Rick and Morty

Bismuth groaned as she opened her eyes, and slowly sat up. To her surprise, she was now outside on the beach she had previously sparred with Garnet on. Looking around herself, she saw the two humans tending to the pink lion they had previously been riding. Frowning, she approached them and stood before them- a shadow casting due to her immense height.

"What happened?" Bismuth asked.

"Bill happened. That's what." Steven answered.

"What's a 'Bill'?" Bismuth asked in confusion. "And what's wrong with your pet?"

"I don't know, Bill did something to Lion after I made a deal with him." Steven answered, without looking up. "I made a deal to save your life."

"What?" Bismuth looked taken aback. "You're lying!"

"DON'T!" Steven suddenly shouted and glared up at Bismuth. "Don't ever say I lied about saving you! Not when I had to hurt Lion to do it! I was forced to hurt Lion to save you! Are you happy now?!"

Before Bismuth could say anything else, Mabel spoke up. "It's true. Bill was the one who started breaking apart your gem, and wasn't going to stop. Even though I told Steven it would only lead to bad things, he made a deal with Bill to stop you from being shattered. After they shook hands, Bill dropped you and took some of Lion's powers and left."

"...How'd we end up outside?" Bismuth asked.

"Bill thought we could use fresh air." Mabel scoffed. "This is so like him!"

"You know this Bill thing?" Bismuth asked.

"Yeah. He nearly destroyed Gravity Falls, and almost killed me and my family. My Grunkle Stan almost lost his mind when were trying to stop him- Grunkle Stan's sacrifice saved us all. He trapped Bill in his mind and then destroyed it- and... and... we nearly lost him!" Mabel started crying. "I don't understand how Bill can be alive! Grunkle Stan destroyed him! How-"

"Hey now..." Bismuth knelt down. "You need to start making sense again. So what is 'Bill' exactly?"

"I don't know exactly, but he's basically a demon who destroys worlds once he gets access to them." Mabel explained sadly. "He gains power and influence when you make deals with him- they always sound nice and simple- but he never tells you the whole truth when he makes them. So when Steven made a deal to save you, Bill never told him what he would want in return and even if he did say it had to do with Lion- he wouldn't have said exactly what it was or how much he needed."

"I don't really get it, but he's a bad guy right?" Bismuth clarified.

"Yeah." Mabel nodded and pet Lion's head. "Poor kitty hasn't woken up since Bill took his power."

Bismuth was quiet for a moment before speaking. "I wouldn't panic just yet. Rose Quartz... would get exhausted if she used too much of her organic based abilities or healing powders. So I'm sure whatever this is... it'll be fine."

"Really?" Steven looked up.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Bismuth stood back up, and rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "I'm not saying you and I are completely even but... we're good for now." After receiving silence, Bismuth continued. "Rose never would have sacrificed an organic based creation for her comrades. You're definitely not her."

"Thanks Bismuth." Steven sighed and looked down at his gem. "But you saying that doesn't convince me. Recently, I've been questioning everything about my mom and my existence- and I just don't know what to think anymore."

"There really isn't much to think." Bismuth shrugged and sat down beside Steven. "Rose was an amazing leader, she just didn't prioritize the right things."

"Yeah... hey Bismuth... do you know much about the Diamonds?" Steven asked.

"You mean the Diamond Matriarch thingy?" Mabel rose a brow.

"Of course I know them, I was assigned to build an underwater marina for Homeworld scholars when your mom met me." Bismuth frowned.

"Which Diamond was well... your Diamond?" Steven asked.

"Why are you asking?" Bismuth replied.

"Well recently... my friend Connie and I defeated this Homeworld Gem Jasper." Steven began. "I initially thought she was apart of Yellow Diamond's fleet, since she arrived with Peridot and she was following orders from her. But after Connie and I fought her, and then Jasper became corrupted, she said she would never accept help from me because... Jasper said Mom shattered her diamond... Pink Diamond."

Mabel gasped, but then quieted herself down as the two continued.

"That's what I heard." Bismuth shrugged. "I wasn't there for it, but that story is what inspired me to join the Rebellion to begin with."

"Really?" Steven asked.

"Well yeah! She stood up to a Diamond! Rose shattered her own Diamond! Every Homeworld Gem was either inspired or terrified of that story. I was on Homeworld when it happened, and I didn't meet Rose Quartz for awhile. But when I met her, and when she asked all those questions about choice- I was hooked!" Bismuth explained.

"Which made the Breaking Point issue even worse, huh?" Steven asked.

"Well, yeah! I mean, it's okay to do it once and then you never do it again- it didn't make sense!" Bismuth complained.

"Yeah... I was wondering if Mom ever talked about it? Pink Diamond, I mean." Steven asked.

"Nope. As far as I know, the only other person who was actually there was Pearl- and she wasn't sayin' nothin'! And believe me- I asked." Bismuth explained.

"Wait Pearl was there?" Steven asked.

"Of course she was! She started the Rebellion with Rose! You didn't think Rose started it on her own do you?"

"I never really thought about it." Steven admitted. "I don't really know anything about the Rebellion, honestly."

"Well gather around then!" Bismuth smiled and beckoned Mabel and Steven closer. "We need something to do to pass the time!"

/

Bill examined the mass of power between his palms carefully, analyzing the sub-particles and quantum mechanics of the mass. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated for a moment before absorbing the power into his body. Feeling the power jolt back against him a little, Bill concentrated before finally forcing the foreign powder to submit inside him.

"Phew! Took a little more effort than I thought." Bill panted, trying to catch his breath. "Then again- free range dimension hopping isn't easy..." Concentrating again, Bill focused himself and then found himself at the very edges of the alternate space he set up. Rubbing his chin in thought, Bill sighed. "The jump length was decent, but it looks like I'll need to take the entire cat- oh well! Steven's gonna want to make the deal anyways!"

If Bill had a mouth, he'd be salivating! It had been too long since he had experienced true excitement, with his reign in Gravity Falls cut short and all. He had to hand it to the Pines, he underestimated them- but he wasn't going to make that mistake again. Bill knew it wouldn't be long before Dipper and the other Pines discovered their location, and then it would be killing a whole flock of birds with one stone. There was the issue of the Crystal Gems, but their weapons were nothing against his power.

Despite the glee he felt towards his fantasies of revenge, Bill was most excited for the reunion with his creator. That man dared had the audacity to make his own self-reflection of his potential, and he trapped him in a boring universe with nothing to do! Well he showed him! Bill remembered laughing as he blew up the universe his creator placed him in, but then sheer fury when all his creator responded with utter indifference.

"Great... you bit through your leash." Rick said, collecting Bill in a flask again. "Now let's see you get through this."

Rick had just tossed Bill into the many crevices of the Gravity Falls universe, and was severely limited in how he contacted the humans there! To make things even more embarrassing, the only reason he was released was because of a pre-teen stalker that reminded you the problems with mass religion.

Suffice to say, Bill was humiliated by the entire experience. Which was why he was so looking forward to tearing Gravity Falls and its entire world apart! Rick may have put those limiters around the town, but with that pink lion's power- Bill would remake everything!

/

Traveling through universes was exhausting- Ford had punched in several coordinates but none of them landed on the correct universe. The Crystal Gems and Gravity Falls crew had learned several things through this process- there are many different organic lifeforms aside from humans and all had more advanced technology.

While the Crystal Gems had been aware of other life beyond Homeworld for their entire existence, it was still amazing to witness the scope of other species that existed. Most of the Gravity Falls crew seemed to be no better off, as the boy and man with the eye-patch marveled at all the alien creatures.

The only one who seemed to even remotely be in their element was Ford, who seemed to be getting increasingly frustrated over the lack of control he had over universe-hopping device. Ford was eventually forced to pause in their journey, landing them in some kind of spaceship hosting a barrage of different species. He stated he was running low on battery, and had to be certain of Rick's coordinates before making another jump.

While some of them relished this experience: Amethyst, Peridot, Dipper, and Stan- Pearl, Lapis, and Ford seemed to be much more tentative of their situation. Garnet remained neutral, which gave Pearl some relief- if the gem didn't see any troubling foresight, then they were most likely going to land in Rick's place soon.

Lapis sighed and walked over to Garnet, as Peridot and the more adventurous members of their group continued looking at the window overlooking space. "Hey, are you sure we're on the right track? Cause this Ford human, seems like he doesn't know what he's doing."

"We will get to vicinity of Rick Sanchez soon," Garnet nodded. "Most likely before we run out of battery."

"Most likely?" Lapis rose a brow.

"Garnet's visions aren't as specific as Sapphire's- they see multiple outcomes." Pearl said from her seat beside Garnet. "But you're certain we won't run out of battery first, right?"

"I can hear you, you realize?" Ford spoke up, not taking his eyes off his homing device.

"No. We will meet Sanchez soon, and hopefully get some answers." Garnet affirmed.

"Good." Pearl nodded, but frowned when Ford suddenly stopped working and stood up. "What is it? Are you ready?"

"No, but we might want to be." Ford straightened himself as several insect-like creatures in military uniforms approached them.

The Crystal Gems weren't surprised by other sentient lifeforms anymore- but what did surrpise them was that the creatures seemed to recognize Ford, and that there was a human female in the same uniform with them. She had rather attractive features, and was walking with another human-like creature with giant avian wings.

"You there!" The girl seemed to be in charge of the group, as she approached the group with her presumed comrades. "You are Stanford Fillbrick Pines from the universe containing one- Gravity Falls, yes?"

"Yes. Who are you?" Ford asked hesitantly.

"Don't play dumb. You recognize our uniforms and you've worked with Sanchez in the past- you know who we are." Tammy bluntly stated.

"And who are you, exactly?" Lapis spoke up.

"Apologies." The bird humanoid creature spoke up. "Phoenix Person and comrades are members of the Galactic Federation. An organization dedicated to the protection and order of the universe. In exchange for joining the federation, we offer endless protection and resources to-"

"They get it Phoenix Person! They don't need a wikipedia article." Tammy scoffed. "What might you be doing in this region of existence, Pines?"

"We're looking for my niece and their son." Ford simplified it the best he could.

"Son?" Lapis piped in confusion, but retracted once she was ribbed by Garnet. "I mean yes! He was kidnapped with this Mabel human."

"Both of whom were abducted by this Rick Sanchez." Pearl finished.

"Hmmm..." Tammy analyzed the Crystal Gems. "Odd- I don't recognize your species. Stand still please." Taking out a scanner, she quickly scanned Pearl and looked on the data pad. "Interesting- living rocks. Not the weirdest thing out here though- can see why the federation hasn't approached you though. Your universe is more than orderly enough, with nothing to offer."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lapis frowned.

"You know? The Diamonds depleting resources left and right and not giving two shits back- so yeah. Not very beneficial to us." Tammy shrugged. "Anyways, you're going to see Sanchez?"

"...Perhaps. We don't know the entire situation." Ford rubbed the back of head, awkwardly.

"HEY FORD! Whose the highschooler?!" Ford had never been so relieved to see his brother in his life, as he and the remaining members of their group walked up to the conversation.

Amethyst was the first to speak. "Hey, whose the human and how's she here?"

"I am Galactic Federation agent Tammy Gueterman, and I was lucky enough to be born in a parallel universe of Earth the Federation had jurisdiction in. Now before an entirely pointless reiteration of the Galactic Federation- tell me where Sanchez is." Tammy got out her gun.

"Whoa- hey!" Stan pushed Dipper behind him, while the other Crystal Gems got on the defensive.

"Wait a minute, please! Who are you?! Why do you think we're helping Sanchez?!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Tammy Gueterman. I was assigned observatory duty to the daughter of Rick Sanchez, should he ever return to his planet. We weren't disappointed." Tammy answered. "We've been observing Sanchez's movements for years, and have taken note of your Uncle's participation with his research."

"Yeah, but Uncle Ford completely regrets it! Sanchez made an evil one-eyed triangle demon that almost destroyed our home! We wouldn't be allies with him, in any way!" Dipper argued. "Besides! He kidnapped my sister and a kid named Steven, we're just going to rescue them!"

"I see." Tammy put rested her weapon, and signaled the others to do the same. "Then perhaps we can be of use to each other."

"I'm sorry, but we can't help you." Ford immediately rejected.

"WHAT?!" Everyone else yelled.

"Ford! Why?!" Stan demanded.

"Because the moment we walk into his house with ANY Galactic Federation equipment or signals, he'll destroy us before we even each the front gate." Ford sighed. "I said maximizing our chances was to make ourselves was to give him the power in the situation, which means not making deals with one of the groups Rick hates the most."

"Perhaps..." Peridot spoke up, Lapis noted Peridot hadn't taken her eyes off the human's gun. "It may be wise to make contingency plans against such a dangerous adversary, and it's possible if we were to have equivalent technology. What is your proposal?"

Smiling, Tammy spoke: "Several months ago we managed to gain the rust of Rick Sanchez, through the guise of his granddaughter's friend and lover to the former Bird Person. Whom is now the nicely obedient Phoenix Person, you see before you. While we did capture Sanchez temporarily, he ultimately broke out and destroyed a significant portion of our organization."

"I thought so." Ford sighed. "I thought I recognized Bird Person. You people might as well be animated corpses."

"You're afraid of Sanchez?" Tammy laughed.

"Yes. We should all be." Ford sighed. "Even if we don't work with you, we're all potentially walking into our deaths."

"Then why not maximize your chances for survival between you and your comrades?" The human girl pointed out, and then snapped her fingers. One of the insects came forward, and presented a tracking radar with an antenna attached. "Based on what we were observing earlier, we can assume your teleportation device is running low on battery. This little homing device can interfere Sanchez's homing scrambler, but it kind of puts us on his radar the moment we enter the universe."

"And if we were to enter?" Pearl spoke up.

"Ever since Rick Sanchez escaped and reclaimed Earth as his home, he has implemented a signal scrambler preventing any oncoming lifeforms from parallel Earths or otherwise." Phoenix Person explained.

'Reclaimed Earth?' Dipper thought.

"What does that mean?" Amethyst asked.

"It means we will be unable to enter the universe where this Rick Sanchez resides." Peridot concluded. "As I understand the proposal, you will give us a device that will directly take us there and provide us with weapons in case we need them?"

"That is correct? Pretty great, right?" Tammy smiled.

"What's the catch?" Stan asked suspiciously. "As an astute business man, I know a con when I see one."

"There's no catch- we just want you to distract Sanchez long enough for us to enter the universe and set up capture." Tammy explained. "You don't even have to do anything beyond what you were originally going to do. You wanted to rescue your sister and son? Fine- we don't care. All we want is Sanchez, and we'd be more than happy to collaborate."

"Seems to good to be true." Amethyst said.

"That's cause it is." Garnet spoke up, and suddenly summoned her gloves. "Apologies, but Ford's right. Any outcome involving you is shown to result in disaster. You'll have to move along."

"Oh really? That's too bad." Tammy raised her gun, with her four insect subordinates and resurrected husband doing the same. "You'll have to come with us, then. The Galactic Federation could always use more research subjects, and Ford- you're family's already here, so the hostage thing is pretty straightforward."

"So is rejecting your offer." Ford glared.

"And so will be defeating you- Crystal Gems Go!" Garnet ordered. Pearl and Amethyst suddenly went to either sides of Garnet, and retrieved their weapons. Meanwhile, Lapis and Peridot stood close to the Pines men to keep them away from the fight.

Dipper stared in awe as Pearl summoned a spear-like weapon from the gem on her head, and attacked the insects with the precision of a ballet dancer. Amethyst was as ferocious as a hurricane, knocking into Tammy and using her whip to snap at each the weapons.

When Peridot noticed the enemies were distracted, she focused all of her energy into the homing device in Tammy's hands and started lifting it.

"What?!" Tammy yelled, feeling the device get pulled away. "Let go, you little shit!"

"Grrr! Lazuli! Some assistance- please!" Peridot gritted.

Lapis glared and used her water wing to swipe at the woman to drop the device. Peridot managed to levitate the device to them, and then shouted. "FORD PINES!" The old man looked up as the Crystal Gem threw him the portal device. "Tap in the coordinates!"

"R-Right!" Ford hastily began to analyze the device and began his configuration. "Cover me!"

"Of course!" Peridot grabbed Dipper and Ford's hands while Lapis grabbed Stan's, and had them jump behind some of the tables of waiting area of the terminal. Peridot's eyes widened when she noticed something hazardous though- the terminal they were in was primarily made of glass and metal, and their fight was causing cracks.

As Crystal Gems, they had no problem surviving in different atmosphere and she was certain that Tammy human was donned in appropriate survival technology- but she knew the Gravity Falls humans were not!

"Lazuli!" Perdiot got her attention and pointed at the glass. The others looked too, and their eyes widened.

"Ford- hurry up!" Stan yelled.

"I'm trying- this technology is far beyond what I'm used to." Ford huffed.

"You better figure it out quick, Uncle Ford cause the cracks are getting bigger." Dipper said. It was then he noticed various alarms in the space terminal were going off, with all the aliens around them evacuating into escape pods and what not.

Luckily, Garnet noticed this too and yelled: "Amherst! Pearl! We need Opal! I'll cover you! Peridot- keep the metal constricted around the glass until then!"

Biting her lip, Peridot tried to focus on the metal beams and rivets holding the structure of the glass in place and tried to prevent it from loosening any further. "Hurry!"

Meanwhile, Tammy smirked and shouted: "Phoenix Person! Fire!"

"Yes Tammy." His eyes suddenly became redder, with a red energy beam firing out not long after. Pearl and Amethyst managed to dodge, and ran to hide behind a pillar.

"Was the Gem War this intense?" Amethyst huffed.

"Different enemies, same intensity." Pearl responded. "Shall we?"

"Yeah." Bowing to each other, both gems began their respective dances and quickly merged with each other to make Opal. It only took them a moment to realize their plan could have been disastrous- she was almost as tall as the terminal's ceiling.

Quickly making her arrows appear, Opal shot them all at the cracks before turning her attention to Tammy and Phoenix Person. Taking aim, Opal was about to fire when Phoenix Person shot an eye-beam- straight at her gem!

Not expecting the beam to be quite so accurate, Opal quickly unfused leaving Amethyst and Pearl barely able to stand.

"No!" Dipper yelled. "Ford hurry!"

"IT'S DONE! Quickly! Everyone!" Ford yelled.

"Coming!" Garnet jumped forward to grab Amethyst and Pearl, before rushing over to the others. "Take us out of here!"

"And away we go!" Ford yelled pushing the enter button- and in a flash they were gone.

It was silent for a brief moment, before Tammy took in her surroundings and unconscious insect subordinates. "Interesting. Maybe we should examine this 'Homeworld' a little closer."

"What would the point of the excursion be?" Phoenix Person asked.

"You're kidding right?" Tammy scoffed. "They're inorganic sentient beings that adhere to absolute order, which don't need to eat, sleep, or drink- they're the perfect super soldiers."