Past Few Days…
Things were looking up. For starters, Jason's new home was being built. Beyond that, the soldier now had access to modern gem tech. Of course, the robonoids still needed an extensive amount of data to move beyond repairing warp pads, so that's what he's been doing the last few days.
It's born fruit since most of the items he'd want worked on have been uploaded. Connie, upon seeing them, was amazed at the tech and offered her help on the spot. The soldier was quite impressed with her and Steven. Both were skilled, in different things, at such young ages.
Beach House: Evening…
Jason was taking a break from his current projects to partake in some fusion training. Granted, he was able to fuse with Pearl before, but that had been on the spot. In his opinion, getting fusion down was too important to ignore.
Both Jason and Steven took turns dancing with the gems. The latter had some problems while the former managed to adapt to their unique dance styles. It probably helps that Jason was roughly the same height as Pearl while Steven was shorter than Amethyst.
Jason and Pearl even ended up fusing into Variscite in hopes it'd spark something in Steven, but it didn't seem to help much. By the end of it, the gems were just moving about the house while Steven had gone off to play with Connie.
"After seeing Variscite, without being in pain, I admit I'm curious what fusing with you would be like." Garnet stated.
"It was actually a lot like you Garnet." Pearl informed. "Jason has a lot of power, so the feeling was quite comparable."
"I'm personally not sure how fusing with Pearl felt." Jason expressed as he thought about it. "Though, I do particularly like Variscite."
"It's only because they act like a huge nerd." Amethyst mocked. "Just like that night you two sword fought when Steven wanted to learn sword fighting."
Jason smirked. "Well, that huge nerd did beat Sugilite, so what does that make her?"
Amethyst crossed her arms. "They only got lucky."
"Hey guys!" A new voice drew everyone's attention.
A tall, dark-skinned womanlike figure, with a large amount of poofy, curly hair, had entered the house. They wore two different shirts and short shorts. Jason almost assumed this was someone random until he noticed Steven's gem in their belly.
"It's me!" The figure declared. "Steven and Connie! Pretty cool, right?"
"He fused with his friend Connie?" Pearl asked no one in particular.
Amethyst laughed before leaning over to Pearl and Jason. "Guys, look at Garnet."
Garnet was standing with her hands clasped in front of her face, which was in a wide smile. The gems aren't really surprised at her enthusiasm, but Jason didn't get it.
"This is unprecedented." Pearl began to examine the fusion. "A gem fusing with a human?" She examined the arms and legs before looking at them in a crouched position. "It's impossible!"
"Wow!" Amethyst voiced her excitement of the situation. "You two look great together! How does it feel Steven? Connie? Stevonnie?"
Since there isn't an actual gem name for them, Amethyst called them a name that's a mix of the two who fused.
"It feels amazing!" Stevonnie voiced.
"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves, but you should unfuse this instant." Pearl proposed, clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing.
"What?" Stevonnie was reluctant. "Pearl, you were worried Steven wouldn't be able to do this. Aren't you proud of him?"
"Of course, I just…" Pearl stammered before turning to their leader. "Garnet, help me out here."
"Stevonnie." Garnet walked up to the fusion. "Listen to me." She cupped Stevonnie's face. "You are not two people. and you are not one person. You are an experience. Make sure you are a good experience. Now, go have fun!"
"Yeah!" Stevonnie bound out the door. "Thanks Garnet!"
"They grow up so fast." Garnet sighed with a motherly look about her.
"Wait, we're just going to let them go out like that?" Jason questioned incredulously. "Without a care or word of warning?"
All the gems looked at each other before looking back at the soldier.
"Yeah, pretty much." Garnet stated.
"You guys!" Jason jumped to his feet. "You let them go without even a word of warning!"
"What?" Garnet asked nonchalantly.
"Who knows what sort of trouble they could get in!" Jason exclaimed.
"What are you talking about Jason?" Pearl asked confused.
"What am I talking about? Don't you get it!?" Jason questioned. "Stevonnie looks like a teenage girl; however, they are comprised of children with no knowledge on whatt being a teenager is like."
"Jason, you're a teenage boy." Amethyst reminded. "If other teenagers think like you, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."
"Firstly, I'm legally considered an adult by the law!" Jason moved towards the door. "Secondly, what about my life makes you think I'm the basis of what a normal teenager should be!?
Without waiting for a response, Jason bolted out the door and jumped over the railing before running to find some indication of where the fusion went.
Beach City
"Alright, where did they go?" Jason questioned.
He was running along the sand as he immediately found the footprints and took off after her. By the looks of it, Stevonnie really booked it after they left the house. The tracks moved in different directions, but there were also hand prints to accompany them.
"If I had to guess, they were doing some cartwheels in their excitement."
Before long, he found himself standing at the edge of a cliff. With the trail ending here, it was easy to assume the fusion had jumped into the water. That meant heading for the nearby beach to look for more tracks was his best bet.
It didn't take long until he found some more. Considering the water on the prints, and the droplets of water around said prints, chances were high this was Stevonnie. He followed the bits of wet sand along the concrete which led to the Big Donut.
"Oh! H-hey Jason. What's going…"
"Sadie, quiet." Jason declared as he observed the wet puddle in front of the counter. "They had to have come here." He noticed the blushes on Sadie and Lars' faces. "Have you guys seen a woman like figure come by here? Tall, dark skinned, poofy long hair, wearing two shirts, red and blue, shorts, and no shoes?"
"What do you want with her!?" Lars exclaimed sternly.
While Jason would normally ignore Lars or be short with him, this time he was being kept from his friend and family. The soldier grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in before giving a ruthless look.
"Lars, I'm not in the mood." Jason declared firmly. "Where are they?"
"Th-they bought two donuts and left." Sadie managed. "Went to the right out the door."
"Thanks Sadie." Jason let go of Lars.
Without another word, he left the store and took off in the direction Sadie indicated. At this point, he couldn't track them anymore because they'd lost all the sand and water. With nothing else to go on, he sat down on a bench to think about his next action.
"Their trail ran cold after leaving the donut shop." Jason contemplated. "Where could they have gone after getting food? They might have been a little winded and tired after all the running. Plus, their excitement might have waned, so…"
He saw a slightly wet bag from the Big Donut on the ground. "They were here. If they were here, then there must be something of interest nearby to grab Stevonnie's interest." He spotted a discarded paper and collected it. "A rave at a warehouse. Of course."
He memorized the location before booking it towards the rave.
Warehouse
Jason found the party which was booming loudly with epileptic inducing lights and loud music. He investigated the crowd from a hole in the wall. There were people he recognized along with people who were shady and seemed to be having a little too much fun.
There was Ronaldo, Jenny, and Buck having fun on the dance floor while Sour Cream DJed on the elevated area. His stomach immediately dropped upon seeing Stevonnie pressed up against a wall with another guy next to them.
The guy immediately put a bad taste in the soldier's mouth with how he's leaning in and the carefree look he has about him. That alone didn't look good, but with how uncomfortable the fusion looked, it was enough to prompt Jason into action before he even thought about it.
"No, this is not happening." Jason muttered, storming through the crowd with his focus squarely on Stevonnie and that guy.
"No one is crazy." Stevonnie declared firmly. "I just don't like feeling alone here!"
"If you're so lonely, then dance with me!" The guy proposed.
"Stevonnie!" Jason yelled.
"Hey buddy!" The guy exclaimed. "I was the one…"
"Ugh! Fine." Stevonnie spoke up. "You want to dance? Let's go." They grabbed the guy's hand before looking back at the soldier. "Stay here. I'll only be a sec."
"Stevonnie…be careful." Jason was watching them like a hawk. "They were probably talking before I got here. Whatever that guy said, it must've hit a nerve with them."
"Jason, hey!"
"'Sup bro."
Jason turned to see Jenny and Buck approach him. "Oh, hey guys."
"I'm so glad you could make it." Jenny declared. "I tried to find you and give you an invite. Seems that wasn't necessary. How's it going so far?"
"Honestly, this isn't my type of place." Jason responded. "I'm not really for these types of settings. Still, my friend over there wanted to come, so I had to watch over them."
"Oh, which friend?" Buck asked before Jason nodded to the fusion. "That's your friend?"
"They're a close family friend, so I offered to bring them. Make sure everything is alright." He took a quick glance at their unique dance style and shook his head. "Evidently, They're starting to come out of they're shell."
"Oh! That's good!" Jenny stated, with enthusiasm.
The gem Stevonnie had started to glow before they disappeared in a flash, leaving behind Connie and Steven.
"Guys!" Jason sprinted over to them and ended pushing past a guy a little rougher than intended. "Are you okay?"
"We're back." Steven stated as he sat up.
He nor Connie acknowledged the soldier at first. Connie began to laugh nervously before it turned hysterical. Before Jason could question why she's laughing, Steven started laughing as well.
The two of them stood and continued to laugh as Sour Cream threw glow sticks. Jason smiled, relieved at their enthusiasm while the crowd stared. The two of them ignored everyone and just danced, completely lost in their euphoria.
Jason laughed. "Looks like you guys are having fun."
"Jason!" The two of them finally took note of and lunged at him.
"Okay, okay." Jason chuckled as he hugged them. "Yes, it's me."
"Jason, this was so much fun! The feeling was awesome, and I felt free. Oh, thank you for letting us go out and have fun." Connie declared enthusiastically.
"I'm glad to hear that." Jason stated sincerely.
"Now I know why the gems wanted us to fuse in the first place." Steven added.
"I guess, from what you told me, it was a good experience." Jason frowned as he remembered the situation they were in when he arrived. "So, it was all good?"
They both looked at each other for a second before smiling.
"Well, there were some problems…" Steven began.
"…but it was still so much fun." Connie finished.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that." The soldier stood. "Anyways, I think that's enough excitement for one night. We should probably head back." He grinned. "Then again, the night's young, and we are at a party." The kid's nodded. "Sour Cream, turn…"
The super soldier suddenly turned and caught a guy by the wrist, preventing a fist from nailing him in the face.
"Jason!" The kids exclaimed worried.
The punch thrown Jason's way came from the guy he'd accidentally pushed. There wasn't anything outstanding about him, aside from what looked like a black leather jacket. The kind which usually has a symbol on the back, making him either a biker or gang member.
"You think you can push me and get away with it?"
"Look, I'm sorry I pushed you." Jason voiced sincerely. "What's say we don't make a scene of it?"
"No, you got a scene." The guy nodded to a couple of friends. "Rough him up."
Two guys, wearing the same jacket, arrived while the first attempted to throw a punch with his free hand. Jason caught that hand by the wrist before lifting and smashing the first guy into the ground. One of the other guys punched his face while the other nailed him in the stomach.
While by no means enough to knock him out, Jason felt those blows. Granted, he hasn't tested his new durability's limits, but it's not like he couldn't remember the strength most humans struck with. Unlike with Frank, he didn't see a physical gem on these guys.
"Are these guys with Humanity's Defense?" Jason contemplated.
"That's for messing with our friend!"
Just as Jason was about to strike back, the original guy got his second wind. He lept at Jason, tackling him to the ground before proceeding to pound on him repeatedly.
"No, not the right demeanor." Jason rationalized. "It doesn't seem like they're specifically after me either, so perhaps they flunked out of whatever testing that group puts their people through."
"Leave him alone!" Connie exclaimed.
"This isn't cool." Buck voiced. "Gah!"
"Buck!/Connie!" Jenny/Steven called out.
Jason managed to spot one of the guys push Connie to the ground while the other back handed Buck, both presumably having tried to help him.
"You want a piece of this!? I'll do to you a lot…"
"Enough!" Jason yelled, planting both his feet squarely into the guy over top of him.
The super soldier put enough force behind it to launch that man out the hole in the warehouse, where he came crashing down hard on the rocks outside.
Jason then stood and snatched the guy who backhanded Buck by his throat. "Come here!"
The soldier picked him up before smashing him through a nearby table, shattering it.
"Why you…!"
The guy who pushed Connie rushed at the soldier, only to be met with a strong fist to the gut. With the guy winded, Jason kicked him hard enough that he hit a wall of the warehouse, back first, before sliding to the ground.
With the three men rendered unconscious, Jason took a deep breath. "On second thought, come on you two." He'd walked up to Steven and Connie. "This isn't a place for you."
Both Connie and Steven slowly nodded, with wide mouthed stares. Jason then looked at Buck, Jenny, and Sour Cream, only to see them with the same looks as Connie and Steven. The super soldier stared Buck in the eyes and gave him a nod of respect before leaving with the kids.
Beach City
As they walked, Connie eventually spoke. "Jason, are you okay?"
"My body will be fine after some rest." Jason responded. "It's my pride as a soldier that took the real hit. Even though those guys were strong for humans, I was a bit too lax regardless."
While his pride was wounded, it would recover with time and training. As for those guys, he wasn't certain they ever met Humanity's Defense; however, the only conclusion he could draw was that they had at one point started the processes of joining that group.
After all, he couldn't recall people like that within the army, and he was certain the gems hadn't trained humans. Given the fact they didn't seem to know who they were messing with; it was likely those three had flunked out early. He was fine letting them off with a beating.
TripleSweet (Ch.1): When it comes to any story, the one behind it does pick what is important. To Rebecca, the earth aspect, in truly mattering to the gem aspect, just wasn't important. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I for one do love Steven Universe as it is. By proxy of me introducing the human element, it does require a change to that formula. When you reach this chapter, I assure you the human element is only just starting.
dindagangleader14: I mean maybe the Robonoids could record things; however, that doesn't seem to be a function they inherently have given Peridot would have just used that to see who had broken her one Robonoid. Generally, recording things isn't necessary since every time Jason has missed out on something, the others tend to catch him up on it.
Da Lone Ranger: It's all thanks to the boon he got back in chapter 8, which has been slowly ruminating this entire time. By now running into modern gem tech, it can really start to flourish.
