Some hours later, G.U.N is done with preparing for the giant hand.
Currently, Steven, Fionna and several high-armed agents are standing on the rooftop of the G.U.N building, looking at the hand on the sky. It is getting way too close to them.
From the command room, Colonel Andrew and Commander Graves watch in silence with the cameras. Andrew grips the table in front of him in anxiety while Ashley watches with wide eyes.
Steven exhales sharply, eyes fixed on the approaching anomaly. "Well, this is officially the weirdest thing I've ever seen."
Fionna doesn't respond. Her grip tightens around her bow, her analytical mind racing.
In a matter of minutes, the hand stops ahead from them and turn its palm to the sky. From the tip of the index finger, comes a green orb that retracts and reveals A tall, muscular woman with white wild hair, orange skin, and some kind of crystal where should be the nose, and a green woman with a green stone on her forehead.
The green woman looks at a screen on her hands. "It was from here where the energy pulse came." She glances at the agents. "It seems it was this group of humans who sent the pulse."
The tall woman narrowed her eyes. "Looks like another waste of my time."
One of the higher-ranking agents steps forward. "Stop right there. State your business on this planet."
The green woman barely spares the agent a glance before tapping on her screen. "We're not here to waste time with lower lifeforms." Her voice is sharp, efficient, almost dismissive.
The two of them hop off the hand and stare at the agents. The tall woman crosses her arms. "Are you sure it wasn't a gem who made the signal? What a shame. I hoped to meet her." She smirks. "I was looking forward to beating her into the ground." She sighs and turns away. "But it appears to be just human activity. You don't need me for this. Just blast them with the ship."
The green woman sighs. "Fine." She presses some buttons on her hand-screen, making the hand-like ship point its finger at the agents and emit a strong light.
The agents look in shock, most of them running away in fear. Fionna widens her eyes and stutters in fear.
Steven steps back and looks in shock. His eyes widened and he clenched his fists. He was about to run or hide or something… but he looked at Fionna and sighed. "Fuck…"
Steven pulls an axe and lunges towards the ship. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck!"
The ship blasts a huge energy blast, but Steve quickly parries it with awesome precision. "FUUUUUUCK!"
He grips his axe tight while parrying the attack, finally deflecting it to the sky and falling to his knees, breathing deeply.
The two women turn to Steven and stare at him in shock as they see his gem.
The green one quickly pulls her screen to blast them again, but the taller one stops her and grins at Steven. "Well, this was unexpected. It seems like it weren't simple humans, but a defective gem."
Steven raises to his feet and settles his axe at the woman and tries to grin in the middle of his shock. "Y-Yeah, I'm not a simple human."
"Good." She lunges at Steven.
He tries to attack but she quickly punches his chest with force, launching him back.
He coughs in pain, breathless. "Damn…"
Fionna watches in horror as Steven crashes onto the rooftop, skidding to a stop near her feet. He coughs, clutching his ribs, but quickly forces himself to stand. The tall woman smirks, cracking her knuckles as she steps forward.
"You're sturdy." She says, tilting her head. "For a defective gem, that is."
Steven groans, wiping his mouth. "Y'know, this 'defective' talk… It's getting really old way too fast."
Fionna snaps out of her shock, quickly drawing an arrow and aiming at the taller woman. "I don't know who you are, but if you think we're just going to stand here and let you attack us, you've got another thing coming."
The green woman huffs, adjusting her screen. "More resistance than expected. Jasper, let me just handle this—"
The taller woman, Jasper, raises a hand to stop her. "No. I want to see what this one can do first." She gestures toward Steven, grinning. "Come on, defective gem. Show me what you've got."
Steven grits his teeth, gripping his axe. "Fionna, stay back!" He yells at Fionna and sets his axe to battle.
Jasper grins at the sight and summons an attacking-helmet before lunging at Steven.
Jasper charges forward with alarming speed, her helmet gleaming as she closes the distance between herself and Steven. He barely has time to brace before she swings a powerful punch straight at him. Steven manages to block with his axe, but the sheer force sends him skidding backward, his boots scraping against the rooftop.
Fionna watches with wide eyes, her grip on her bow tightening. Steven is strong, but this Jasper woman is a brute. Even with his strength, he's struggling to keep up.
Steven clenches his teeth and lunges forward, swinging his axe in a wide arc. Jasper effortlessly ducks under the strike, her movements precise despite her bulk. With a smirk, she slams her shoulder into his gut, sending him flying backward again. He barely manages to land on his feet, coughing.
"C'mon," Jasper taunts, rolling her shoulders. "You can do better than that, right?"
Steven spits to the side, gripping his axe tighter. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just warming up."
Fionna quickly assesses the situation. Jasper is overwhelming Steven with sheer strength, but she's fast too, too fast for Steven to get a clean hit. That means she needs to slow Jasper down.
Fionna quickly turns to the green one and shoots an arrow at her chest.
The green one gasps in surprise as the arrow pierce her chest and stammers a bit before poofing.
Jasper notices that and turns her head to Fionna. Steven tries to use the opportunity to attack Jasper, but she manages to dodge the attack and strike his face with a powerful punch.
Jasper's punch sends Steven sprawling backward, his vision blurring for a split second before he slams into the rooftop. He grits his teeth, struggling to push himself up. His jaw aches from the impact, and he can taste blood in his mouth.
Fionna stands her ground, quickly nocking another arrow. Her heart pounds in her chest, but she forces herself to focus. She had taken down the smaller one, at least temporarily, but Jasper was still a massive threat.
Jasper turns her full attention to Fionna now, cracking her knuckles as she steps forward. "That was a mistake." She says, her voice dangerously low.
Fionna narrows her eyes, pulling her bowstring back. "Yeah? Well, you're making one too if you think I'm just going to stand here and let you win."
Jasper smirks. "You've got guts, human. I respect that." Then, without warning, she charges.
Fionna barely has time to release her arrow before Jasper is upon her. The shot is fast, aimed straight for Jasper's shoulder, but the brute twists her body at the last second. The arrow grazes her arm, barely slowing her down.
Before Jasper can attack Fionna, a figure suddenly grab Jasper by her hair, throwing her back.
"TARGET SPOTTED." A metallic voice says.
Jasper crashes onto the rooftop, skidding to a halt. She shakes her head and snarls, looking up at the new arrival.
Standing between her and Fionna is a weird robot, that resembles the appearance of Steven. Its crimson eyes glow ominously, and his voice carries a robotic edge. It towers over both Fionna and Jasper, its movements precise and methodical.
Steven, still recovering from Jasper's last hit, blinks at the sight. "Oh, great… You."
The robot doesn't acknowledge him. Instead, it takes a step forward, analyzing Jasper. "THREAT LEVEL: HIGH. ENGAGING COMBAT PROTOCOL."
Jasper eyes the robotic Steven with a mix of intrigue and irritation, rolling her shoulders as she stands back up. "Oh, great. Another one. What is this, defective gem central?" She cracks her knuckles. "No matter. I'll shatter you just like the other one."
The robotic figure doesn't react to her taunts. Instead, his red eyes flicker as he calculates the situation. "TARGET IDENTIFIED: HOSTILE GEM ENTITY. DESIGNATION: JASPER. OBJECTIVE: NEUTRALIZATION."
Without another word, he dashes forward with mechanical precision. His movements are eerily smooth, faster than Steven's, more calculated. Jasper barely has time to react before the robot slams his knee into her gut, sending her skidding back.
Jasper grunts, but she quickly recovers, flipping backward and landing on her feet. Her eyes narrow. "Huh. Not bad. But let's see how well you handle a real fight!"
She charges at the robot, her fists glowing with energy. She swings a powerful punch, but the robot tilts his head slightly, dodging it with inhuman efficiency. Before Jasper can react, it counterattacks with a devastating uppercut, sending her airborne.
Steven and Fionna watch in shock as Jasper crashes into the rooftop, cracking the concrete beneath her. Steven rubs his jaw, still aching from her earlier hit. "I can't believe it… they actually kept… this thing."
Fionna widens her eyes and goes to help Steven to get up. "Steven, what is that thing?"
Steven groans as he stands up with her help. "It is an old foe of mine. G.U.N made it when they were hunting me. Its name is 'Serial 73 V3-Nemesis', but I suppose its nickname is Metal Steven."
Jasper quickly stands up, getting her fists ready. "Oh, so you're a machine, huh? Doesn't matter. I'll destroy you before—"
Metal Steven lunges at her, grabbing her neck and launching her to the sky. It sets fly with a black energy that comes from its back and goes to attack Jasper.
It grabs Jasper by her hair and propels them against the floor.
As soon as they land on the ground, a big dust screen covers the site, but when the dust sets, Metal Steven is standing in front of Jasper's gemstone. He managed to poof her. "TARGET NEUTRALIZED. OBJECTIVE COMPLETED."
Steven glances at Metal Steven and chuckles. "Well, it seems like you're good in other stuff but hunting me—"
It suddenly lunges at Steven, grabbing his throat. "RETURNING TO PRIMARY FUNCTION: ELIMINATE STEVEN WIMBLETON."
Steven widens his eyes and chokes. Before Metal Steven actually hurts him, he's deactivated and releases Steven.
Steven falls on his back and coughs. "Dammit…"
As Steven looks up, he sees Colonel Andrew walking up to him. "Okay… sorry for this. Serial 73 still has his old, bugged programmation and we didn't have time to fix it." He hands the gemstones to Steven. "Now bubble them before they reform."
He stares at Andrew but sighs. He grabs the gemstones and bubbles them with a swift move.
Steven slowly stands up and glances at Andrew. "I thought you guys had discarded this big piece of junk."
Andrew crosses his arms, his expression unreadable. "We considered it. But in the end, we realized we might still have a use for it." He glances at Metal Steven, now completely inactive, standing motionless like a statue. "Despite its… flaws, it's an asset in combat."
Steven rubs his sore throat, shaking his head. "Yeah, well, it almost asset-ed me to death." He glares at Andrew. "You didn't think to, I don't know, warn me before letting your murder-bot loose? I thought the 'Gem Understanding Nations' wanted to understand me, not destroy me.
Andrew exhales sharply. "We had no choice. That gem woman was too strong, and you weren't keeping up. If we hadn't activated Serial 73, you'd be down for good."
Steven clenches his fists, but before he can argue further, Fionna steps forward. "Okay, can we take a second to process what just happened?" She gestures at the deactivated Metal Steven and the bubbles floating in the air. "We just fought some crazy alien warrior, then this thing shows up and takes her down in seconds, just to turn on Steven right after?" She looks at Andrew. "Why the hell do you guys even have this thing if you can't control it properly?"
Andrew sighs. "I told you, it still has its old programming. We didn't have time to fix it before deployment."
Ashley's voice suddenly crackles through their earpieces. "Enough arguing. The battle is over and now we can focus on other stuff."
Steven and Fionna exchange glances in curiosity. Andrew taps his earpiece. "What is it, Commander?"
Ashley's voice is calm. "The Hand Spaceship is still there, y'know?"
Steven and Fionna snap their heads up to the sky. Sure enough, the massive ship hasn't moved an inch.
"Huh… that's curious." Steven says in curiosity.
"Maybe there were only the two of them inside the ship?" Fionna responds.
Andrew takes a minute to think. He touches his earpiece. "Commander, call the engineers and the scientists. We're going to disassemble it piece by piece."
Ashley responds over the earpiece, "Understood. I'll have them on-site within the hour."
Steven exhales, still rubbing his sore throat. "Fine by me. Just make sure that thing doesn't start blasting again."
Fionna lowers her bow, glancing warily at the motionless Metal Steven. "And maybe make sure this thing stays deactivated, too?"
Andrew nods. "We'll secure Serial 73 and contain the ship. Let's move."
As the agents mobilize, Steven watches the floating bubbles holding the gems. He sighs. "I've got a bad feeling this isn't over."
Fionna crosses her arms. "Yeah… me too."
[TO BE CONTINUED]
[Seriously, if you're reading this part, review it. It would be very appreciated :D]