In a strawberry field, everything is calm, gentle breeze, no animals... just strawberries... Until, from a platform on the field, Steven and Fionna are warped there.
Steven slowly sets her on the ground and sits next to her, holding his shoulder tightly.
He pulls a joint of weed from his diamond and starts to smoke to calm his nerves.
Steven exhaled a cloud of smoke, his eyes squinting against the sun's rays. His shoulders were tense, a lingering reminder of the adrenaline-fueled escape. Fionna, still dazed from the sudden shift in location, watched him quietly, her gaze flicking between the calm surroundings and the injured man beside her.
"You're hurt." Fionna finally said, her voice soft but firm, her hand hovering just above his wounded shoulder. She could see the blood soaking through his jacket and dissolving it like sulfufic acid.
Steven nods. "I know… just… gimme a sec." He closes his eyes and grunts. Suddenly, the wound in his arm starts closing with a black light glow.
Fionna watched in awe as the black light surrounded Steven's wound, slowly knitting the skin together with an eerie, unnatural glow. It was the first time she had seen him heal in such a way, and it sent a shiver down her spine. The blood ceased to drip, and the gaping wound began to vanish as if it were never there. But even as his body healed, the tension in Steven's posture remained.
"You can heal?" Fionna asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Steven took another drag from his joint, exhaling slowly, before answering. "Sort of... it's not really healing. More like a... patch job." He winced slightly as the glow around his arm faded, the wound completely closed. "I can shape-shift enough to change my body into some stuff but not enough to change my anatomy, but I can force my body to close wounds instantly. Doesn't mean it won't hurt like hell later." He looks at his jacket which was dissolved on the shoulder. "Aaand my blood dissolves non-organic stuff for some reason."
Fionna stared at Steven, her brow furrowed, absorbing everything he'd just said. She glanced at his shoulder, now uninjured but still bare where his jacket had dissolved, leaving behind a faint, blackened residue.
"So... your blood is acid?" she asked cautiously, her voice tinged with disbelief.
Steven gave a dry chuckle, tapping the ash from his joint onto the ground. "Not quite acid. It only messes with non-organic materials. Metal, plastic, synthetic fibers… you name it. Organic stuff? Totally fine." He motioned to Fionna's arm, where his blood had accidentally smeared during the chaos earlier. Her sleeve was fine, and her skin was unscathed. "See? You're still in one piece."
Fionna inspected her arm, frowning. "That's... weirdly specific." She crossed her arms, sitting down beside him.
Steven takes another drag and offers the joint to her.
Fionna stared at the joint Steven casually extended toward her, the thin trail of smoke curling lazily into the air. For a moment, she just looked at it, then at him.
"You seriously think now's the time to get high?" She asked, one brow raised.
Steven smirked, the corner of his mouth twitching as he took another slow drag before exhaling. "After being shot at, hunted by a government agency, and teleporting to who-the-hell-knows-where? Yeah. Now feels like a perfect time."
Fionna hesitated, then snatched the joint from his hand. "Fine. But only because I'm trying to understand how you're not losing your mind right now."
Steven chuckled softly, leaning back on his elbows. "You get used to it."
Fionna took a tentative inhale, coughing almost immediately. Steven laughed, a raspy, genuine sound.
"Yeah, it hits hard." Steven muttered, flicking his eyes toward the vast strawberry field.
Fionna took a moment to recover from her coughing fit, her cheeks flushed, whether from the smoke or embarrassment, she wasn't sure. She handed the joint back to Steven, waving off his amused grin.
"I don't know how you do this." She muttered, her voice raspier than usual.
Steven smirked, taking another drag and exhaling slowly. "Practice makes perfect."
Fionna rolled her eyes and glanced out at the field of strawberries stretching endlessly around them. The gentle breeze rustled the leaves, and the sunlight glinted off the red berries like tiny jewels. It was peaceful, almost too peaceful, given the chaos they'd just escaped.
"Where are we, anyway?" She asked, hugging her knees to her chest. "This place… it doesn't feel real."
Steven tilted his head back, staring at the clear blue sky. "Well, according to google maps, we're in Scandinavia. I think this was a battlefield or something like that. There are a lotta big weapons scattered around this place, and I swear I saw floating pieces of ground in some places."
Fionna's eyes widened, her grip tightening around her knees. "Wait—Scandinavia? How did we get all the way here?"
Steven flicked the half-burned joint into the dirt, watching it sizzle out. "That platform back at City Hall. Some old teleportation tech I found a while ago. There are many of these around this world, and I cataloged some of them. Apparently, only I can use them."
Fionna stared at Steven, stunned. "Wait, you found ancient teleportation tech and didn't think to tell anyone?"
Steven leaned back on his elbows, smirking. "What was I supposed to say? 'Hey, Fionna, wanna check out some ancient sci-fi platforms I can magically use'? Sounds insane."
"Steven, you are insane." She shot back, exasperated. "Do you even know how this stuff works?"
Steven shrugged. "Not really. I just know if I stand on it and think of another one of these, it takes me there. Usually."
"Usually?" Fionna echoed, eyes wide. "Steven!"
He chuckled. "Relax. We're here, aren't we?"
Fionna rubbed her temples, muttering under her breath. "Unbelievable."
Steven's smirk faded as he stared out over the endless strawberry fields. The peaceful breeze rustled the leaves, a sharp contrast to the storm in his head. His shoulder still ached despite the "patch job," and the weight of G.U.N.'s pursuit hadn't lifted.
Fionna noticed the shift in his expression. Her frustration softened. "So… what now?"
Steven let out a slow breath. "We lay low. G.U.N. won't find us here, not for a while. But they will eventually." He picked at the torn edge of his ruined jacket. "They don't give up. Not on me."
Fionna hugged her knees tighter. "Why are they after you, Steven? Really."
He was quiet for a long moment. The wind carried the scent of strawberries between them.
"... I suppose it's because they think I'm dangerous." His voice was low, almost a whisper.
Fionna didn't look away. "You're dangerous because you're powerful. That doesn't mean you're the enemy."
Steven gave a bitter chuckle. "Try telling them that."
She frowned. "Then tell me. What are you?"
Steven's gaze darkened. His fingers unconsciously brushed the diamond on his forehead.
"I don't know." His voice was flat, almost hollow. "Not fully. I'm not human. Not completely. I bleed acid, I can bend steel, and I can survive things that should kill me. But I'm not... invincible. G.U.N. thinks I'm some kind of weapon. Or worse, a ticking time bomb."
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "And maybe they're right."
Fionna was silent, the breeze tugging at her hair. Then she shook her head.
"No. I don't buy that."
Steven blinked. "What?"
She pointed a finger at him. "You could've run. Left me behind. Hell, you probably should've. But you didn't. You carried me out of there. You're not a bomb, Steven. You're a person."
Steven stared at her for a long moment, then huffed a laugh. "You're stubborn."
"Yeah, well, so are you." Fionna smirked faintly.
Silence fell between them again, but it was lighter this time.
Steven broke it with a sigh. "Alright. We need a plan." He pulls a world map from the diamond and put it on the ground to take a better look. There are some marked spots around all the world. "Everything I marked is one of these 'warp pads'. There must be some more that I didn't discover yet. There are some which G.U.N already know and watch it 24/7, these are marked with a 'G'."
Fionna leaned over, studying the map as Steven spread it out. The small, carefully marked dots across the world seemed to pulse with potential danger or opportunity, depending on how they approached them. Her eyes narrowed at the 'G' marks, the ones Steven had highlighted as being under constant surveillance by G.U.N. The thought of being tracked by them made her stomach tighten.
"So, we're essentially playing hide and seek with G.U.N. now, huh?" Fionna asked, her voice tinged with disbelief. She ran her fingers over the map, tracing the lines that connected the pads.
"Pretty much," Steven replied, his tone more resigned than anything. "Except, they've got all the tools, and we're just two people with one teleportation system, a powerful diamond craved in my head, some bad luck, and a few informants."
Fionna frowned, studying the map. "Okay, but this isn't just about hiding. We need to do something. If we just run, G.U.N. will keep chasing us forever. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be on the run my whole life." She glanced over at Steven, who was staring at the map as if willing it to offer a solution.
Steven sighed, leaning back slightly. "I've lived my whole life running. What can I do instead?"
Fionna glanced at Steven, her eyes sharp and determined. "You can fight back." She said, her voice firm. "If G.U.N. have been hunting you for years because they fear you for your power. Don't you think that it means something? Have you ever tried to fight back?"
Steven stared at Fionna, the corners of his mouth pulling into a thin line. Her words echoed in his head, louder than the gentle rustling of strawberry leaves around them.
"Fight back?" He repeated, voice low.
Fionna didn't flinch. "Yeah. You've been running, hiding, barely surviving. But if they're this scared of you, maybe it's time they had a reason to be."
Steven's eyes narrowed, a flicker of something dangerous behind them. He wasn't sure if it was anger, fear, or curiosity. Maybe all three.
"You think I should just... go to war with them?" He asked, almost incredulous.
"I think," Fionna said, leaning closer, "you need to stop letting them decide who you are. You said it yourself, they see you as a weapon or a bomb. But what if you chose to be something else? Something they can't control or predict?"
Steven stared at the map between them, his mind racing. He traced his finger along the connected warp pad locations, thinking.
"If I hit G.U.N. directly, they'll hit back harder. They've got resources, armies, and tech I've never even seen before. It's not like I can storm their headquarters and tell them to back off."
Fionna leaned in, her eyes sharp. "No, but you don't have to storm their gates. You're thinking too big. Start small. Hit them where it hurts, where they don't expect. Supply lines, surveillance stations, data hubs. Chip away at their power, bit by bit."
Steven stared at her, considering. "Guerrilla tactics…"
"Exactly," Fionna nodded. "They have an army. We need to be ghosts. Hit and vanish. And with those warp pads, we can be anywhere before they know what happened."
Steven leaned back, exhaling slowly. The idea had weight, more than he expected. He'd been running so long, the thought of standing his ground—or better yet, fighting back—felt alien. But it also felt… right.
"They won't stop until I'm dead or in a cage," Steven muttered, his eyes darkening. "So maybe it's time they learned I'm not the one to hunt."
Fionna smirked. "Now you're getting it."
Steven tapped the map, his finger landing on a pad far from any marked G.U.N. surveillance. "There's one here. Middle of nowhere. If G.U.N. has a weak point, it's their remote outposts. Less security, fewer eyes."
Fionna studied the spot. "So, we go there, figure out what they're doing, and tear it apart?"
Steven's smirk mirrored hers. "Something like that."
A breeze stirred the strawberry plants, and for a moment, the world felt still.
Steven folded the map with deliberate care, the paper crinkling beneath his fingers. The plan, however thin and reckless, had solidified. No more running. No more hiding.
"We move at dusk," Steven said, his voice low and steady. "Less chance of satellites spotting us, and it gives us time to prepare."
Fionna gave a sharp nod. "Good. We'll need supplies, weapons if we can find any. Information too. We can't just walk in blind."
Steven smirked faintly. "Lucky for us, G.U.N. has plenty of both. We'll just borrow some."
Fionna chuckled, shaking her head. "Yeah, 'borrow.'"
The air grew heavier as the sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the strawberry fields. The distant hum of wind whispered through the leaves, but otherwise, the world was still.
Steven's eyes hardened. "If we're doing this, we do it smart. I'm not losing anyone else because I was careless."
Fionna caught the edge in his tone. "Then we make sure we don't. We strike first, and we strike hard."
Steven stood up, stretching his limbs, the soreness in his shoulder a dull throb beneath his skin. He glanced down at the remains of his jacket, tattered and eaten away.
"I'll need new clothes." He muttered.
Fionna snorted. "Yeah, because that's the biggest problem right now."
Steven chuckled, but it didn't reach his eyes. He stared at the horizon, the last sliver of sun bleeding into the sky.
"They've spent years hunting me," Steven said quietly. "It's about time they realize I'm not prey."
Fionna stood beside him, crossing her arms. "Then let's make them regret it."
The wind shifted, carrying the scent of strawberries and the distant promise of war.
And for the first time in a long while, Steven felt ready.
[TO BE CONTINUED]