[SEASON 3]

A few time later, Steven is already awake, but still laid on the bed. He sighs. "C'mon, Finn. I can eat on my own."

Fionna, sitting right next to him, shakes her head while holding a plate of fruits. "No no no no no. You need to rest, and I'm doing my best to help you."

Steven stares at her, a smirk slowly growing on his face. "Tell me the truth."

Fionna narrows her eyes playfully, stabbing a piece of fruit with a fork and holding it up to Steven's mouth. "The truth?" She echoes innocently.

Steven raises an eyebrow, waiting.

She sighs dramatically. "Fine. Maybe I just like taking care of you. Maybe I think you're cute when you're all grumpy and helpless."

Steven chuckles, finally taking a bite. "Knew it."

Fionna huffs, but there's a hint of pink on her cheeks. "Yeah, yeah. Just eat your fruit."

Steven swallows, watching her with a fond smile. "You're too good to me, you know that?"

Fionna shrugs. "Someone's gotta be."

A comfortable silence settles between them for a moment before Steven reaches out, placing his hand over hers. "Love ya, Finn."

Fionna blinks, caught off guard, but then her smile softens. "Love you too, Steve."

Fionna squeezes his hand gently, her thumb brushing over his knuckles. For a moment, they just sit there, the quiet warmth between them speaking louder than any words could.

But interrupting their comfort, Andrew enters the room, glancing at Steven for a moment. "Oh, you're awake. Great. We need you in action as soon as possible."

Steven groans, letting his head fall back against the pillow. "Not even five minutes of peace, huh?"

Fionna shoots Andrew a glare. "He just woke up. Can't you give him a little time to recover?"

Andrew crosses his arms, unimpressed. "Time isn't a luxury we have right now. Things are moving fast, and we need everyone at full capacity."

Steven exhales sharply, rubbing his face. "Alright, alright. What's the situation?"

Andrew leans against the doorway. "We've got movement near the perimeter. Unfamiliar faces. We don't know if they're scouts, potential allies, or trouble, but we need to find out fast."

Steven swings his legs over the edge of the bed, testing his strength. He still feels a little sore, but nothing he can't handle. "And I assume you need me for recon?"

Andrew nods. "You're our best bet. If things go south, you can handle yourself."

Fionna frowns, clearly unhappy. "He just got out of bed."

Steven flashes her a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine, Finn. You know me."

She crosses her arms, unconvinced. "Yeah, and that's exactly why I'm worried."

Steven stands up, a little wobbly at first, but steadies himself. He reaches out, gently squeezing Fionna's shoulder. "I'll be careful." He looks at Andrew. "Where are Jasper and Peridot?"

Andrew shrugs. "Peridot began working for G.U.N, but she wanted a quieter area, so we had to make a whole base just for her. And Jasper…" He pauses. "She's outside the room."

Steven pauses and sighs. "I'll go talk with her." He kisses Fionna's cheek and walks outside the room.

He steps out and immediately sees the huge woman with bege hair and orange skin sitting on a bench silently, lost on her thoughts.

Steven grins. "Heya Jasp. Didn't peg you for the type to wait for me to get better."

Jasper looks up at Steven, her sharp yellow eyes narrowing slightly. "Don't flatter yourself," she grunts, arms crossed over her chest. "I just didn't have anything better to do."

Steven chuckles, stepping closer. "Right, sure. Not like you were worried or anything."

Jasper scoffs but doesn't argue. Instead, she studies him for a moment before standing up to her full height, towering over him. "You look like crap."

"Wow, thank you." Steven replies dryly, stretching his arms. "Nice to know you still have your way with words."

Jasper crosses her arms. "... I've heard yousomehowabsorbed all the Cluster's energy and didn't explode, and Peridot had told me you're half-human… I have no idea what kind of Gem you are, but you're very powerful."

He scoffs. "Don't tell me." He pauses and looks her in the eyes. "Jasp… There are other gems on Earth. Wanna investigate with me?"

Jasper widens her eyes. "Other gems? In this planet?"

Steven nods. "That's what Andrew told me. Wanna follow?"

Jasper's expression shifts from surprise to something more thoughtful. She crosses her arms, glancing to the side. "Tch. If there really are other Gems here, I'm not about to sit around and let you handle it alone."

Steven smirks. "Didn't think you would."

Jasper rolls her shoulders. "Fine. I'll go. But if this turns out to be a waste of time, you owe me a fight."

Steven chuckles. "Deal."

Before they can say more, Andrew steps out of the doorway, looking impatient. "Are you two done bonding? We need to move."

Steven stretches, still feeling a bit sore but pushing past it. "Alright, alright. Where to?"

Andrew gestures toward the main hall. "We'll meet with the others and go over the plan. Let's move."

They warp to the Galaxy Warp, where the cameras saw the Gems.

Steven stretches and Jasper huffes.

He touches his ear-com. "So, which of the Warp Pads were used by these Gems?"

Andrew's voice crackles through the earpiece. "The easternmost Warp Pad. The activity we got says it was activated from the state of Delmarva, in the very east of the country."

Steven glances at Jasper, who rolls her shoulders, already on edge. "Alright, we'll check it out." He replies, stepping off the Warp Pad and moving toward the designated Pad.

As they step on it and activates the Warp Pad, wrapping them in a beam of light.

The light fades, and in an instant, Steven and Jasper find themselves in a completely different environment. The air is salty and there is the sound of the sea on the background. They're standing in what appears to be a small cavern with a few rocks. Behind them, stood a door with five different dots, a pink, a light-bege, a purple, a red one and a blue one.

Steven looks around in curiosity. "Huh… This is interesting."

Jasper steps forward cautiously, her eyes narrowing at the door. "Looks like some kind of old Gem structure."

Steven approaches the door, inspecting the five dots. Each one seems to correspond to a different Gem. He brushes his fingers over the pink dot, but nothing happens. "Think this is some kind of lock?"

Jasper grunts, crossing her arms. "Probably. I remember to see doors like those for high-ranking gems in Homeworld, but it doesn't make any sense to be in an Earth's cave. It would require a good team of Bismuth builders to do something like that."

Steven looks back at Jasper. "Well, then how does it work?"

Jasper rolls her eyes. "These doors are made for specific gems, in this case, five gems. The gems have to light their gem to open the door. They work like the 'fingerprints' humans have, but with energy instead of the disgusting meaty-fingers you have."

Steven nods. "I get it… But we're none of those gems, so we can't open that door." He turns to the exit of the cavern.

As Steven turns toward the exit of the cavern, Jasper follows closely behind, still eyeing the mysterious door with suspicion.

"Well, that's just great." She mutters. "We come all this way and hit a dead end."

Steven exhales sharply. "For now, yeah. But if this door needs five specific Gems to open, that means those Gems are out there somewhere. And if they're using the Warps, they'll probably come back."

Jasper huffs. "Or they'll realize someone's snooping around and stop using them altogether."

Steven smirks. "Then we just gotta be faster."

Jasper grins slightly at that.

As they were about to leave the cavern, they hear two voices talking.

Steven and Jasper freeze, their instincts immediately sharpening. The voices echo faintly through the cavern, distorted slightly by the rock walls, but they're getting closer.

Steven quickly gestures for Jasper to follow him behind a cluster of boulders near the cavern's entrance. They press themselves against the rough stone, listening carefully.

The first voice is an irritated, almost goofy female one. "FINE, then can we at least spy onPearlspying onRosespying on her new human?"

Jasper widens her eyes at the mention of the name 'Rose', muttering to herselfWhat?

The second one is a deeper, contained voice. "Nope."

The first voice approaches, revealing to be belonging to a small, purple woman with a white hair. "Why NOT?!"

The second voice belonged to a taller, buffer woman with a square-shaped hair and visors. "I know I saw something at the temple. Look for anything suspicious."

Jasper grips Steven's arm tightly, her breathing sharp and tense. Steven turns to her with a questioning glance, but her eyes are locked onto the two figures now stepping fully into the cavern. He's never seen Jasper react like this before, her usual bravado replaced with something closer to shock.

The two Gems continue moving toward the door, their conversation still going.

"Garnet, c'mon! You can check for suspicious stuff later." the smaller one groans, throwing her arms up dramatically. "Let's just go bother Pearl already."

The taller one, Garnet, doesn't even glance down. "Amethyst, focus. We're not alone."

Steven stiffens. Jasper clenches her fists.

Garnet turns her head slightly, her visor gleaming in the dim light. "Come out."

Steven exhales sharply, stepping forward from behind the boulder with his hands raised in a casual, non-threatening way. "Alright, alright, you got us."

Jasper follows, but unlike Steven, she's coiled tight like a spring, ready to attack at any moment.

Amethyst squints at Steven, then sniffs the air dramatically. "What the—who the heck are you?"

Garnet tenses up. "Homeworld Gems!" She summons her battle-gauntlets.

Steven raises an eyebrow, his stance remaining relaxed. "Homeworld Gems? That's cute." He gestures toward Jasper. "I don't know about her, but I've never even been there."

But Garnet didn't listen. She lunges towards Steven, readying for an attack, but as she was about to hit him, Jasper summons her helmet and headbutts against Garnet's gauntlet.

Meanwhile, Amethyst pulls out her whip at Steven. "Alright, bud, we're getting answers right now!"

Steven grins, pulling his axes from his gem. "Funny, I was going to say the same."

Amethyst cracks her whip, the sharp snap echoing through the cavern. "You've got some nerve, buddy."

Steven just smirks, flipping one of his axes in his hand. "Oh, I've got more than nerve."

She lunges at him, her whip extending like a serpent, aiming to wrap around his legs. Steven reacts quickly, sidestepping and bringing his axe down, severing the whip's tip before it could reach him. The purple energy fizzles before reforming.

Meanwhile, Jasper and Garnet are locked in a brutal struggle, fists clashing with thunderous force. Jasper grits her teeth, pushing against Garnet's gauntlets. "Tch. You're strong," Jasper mutters, eyes burning with recognition. "Fusion, huh? Thought your kind only did that for war."

Garnet remains silent, her focus unshaken. She suddenly twists, using Jasper's own momentum against her, flipping the larger warrior onto her back. But Jasper recovers instantly, rolling back to her feet, her helmet shimmering.

"Not bad." Jasper smirks. "But I'm not losing to some Earth fusion." She charges again.

Steven, meanwhile, clashes against Amethyst in a fast-paced exchange. Unlike Jasper and Garnet's raw power struggle, theirs is all about speed. Amethyst flips and rolls, her whip striking from unpredictable angles, while Steven counters with swift, calculated axe swings.

"Who even are you?!" Amethyst shouts mid-fight.

Steven ducks under a strike, grinning. "Steven." He swings his axe, forcing Amethyst to backflip away. "And you?"

She scoffs. "Like I'd tell you, jerk!"

Steven shrugs. "Fair enough." He feints a swing with one axe before throwing his other one. Amethyst barely dodges, her whip grabbing the airborne axe before flinging it back at him.

Steven catches it effortlessly, twirling both axes. "Alright, you're good." He smirks. "But I'm better."

Before Amethyst can respond, a deep, commanding voice suddenly cuts through the chaos.

"STOP!"

Everyone freezes.

Steven, Jasper, Garnet, and Amethyst all turn toward the cavern entrance.

Standing there, bathed in the dim cavern light, is a tall, imposing figure. Her white dress flows elegantly, her curly hair cascading around her shoulders, and her striking eyes shimmer with a mix of authority and confusion.

She gazes at the scene before her, Steven and Amethyst in mid-battle, Jasper and Garnet locked in a fight, all tense and ready to strike again.

Her voice is soft but firm. "What is happening here?"

[TO BE CONTINUED]