". . . All organic life?" Steven asked, staring up at the towering injector before him in disbelief.

Peridot nodded and looked away from her screens and over to Steven. "Yeah, like the animals, the plants, the insects. You know," Peridot looked back over to her screens and shrugged. "People."

Steven felt his breath get cought in his throat. "Oh no. . ." He turned towards the rest of Beack City and frowned, his eyes wide and filled with terror. "This is what that gem meant! 'Your human half won't stand a chance against my injector.' She — she brought this thing here to kill me!" Steven concluded as he placed his hand on his chest and frowned, looking almost. . . heartbroken? Betrayed, possibly?

"And now — now it's gonna kill everything else on Earth, too?!" Steven looked back over to the gems, a look of desperation in his eyes. "I've gotta do something!"

Steven clenched his fists and ran past the gems, towards the injectors drill. The gems' eyes all went wide and Bismuth took a step forward and reached her arm out to the hybrid teen, trying to stop him. "No, Steven, WAIT!" She called out to him along with Peridot, but their cries and pleads had all gone deaf to his ears.

Bismuth frowned, concerned, and rolled her hands into fists as Amethyst took a worried step forward. "Steven!" Bismuth called out again, followed by Amethyst. "Careful!" The purple gem said.

"What is that clod thinking?!" Peridot said through clenched teeth, frustrated yet also worried for Steven's well-being.

"Yeah! Lift with your legs!" Spinel encouraged, earning a few looks from the other gems, but she once again didn't seem to notice.

Steven wrapped his arms around the drill and dug his feet into the ground. With clenched teeth, he began to pull the drill out of the ground slowly (unaware of the impressed (E/c) eyes watching him, mind you), and it didn't take long for beads of sweat to form on his forehead.

Unknowing the the gem-diamond-hybrid, however, his gem had once again began to freak out. One second it was glowing, and then the next, its glow was gone. The process kept repeating for a while, until Steven's hands finally gave in and lost their grip on the drill; causing the metal machine to fall back into the ground, and making the Earth shake beneath Steven's feet.

The gems all began to tumble over, crying out in surprise as Steven fell backwards and landed on his back on the cracked floor of the Earth. The teenager grunted and opened his eyes slowly, his vision blurry. When he opened his eyes, however, he immediately noticed the pink, acid like substance falling towards him.

Quickly, Steven lifted his arms up in front of his face protectively, allowing the pink poison to land on his jacket.

When Steven heard a hissing sound, though, he immediately turned on his side in pain and held his arm; feeling some sort of burning sensation against his skin.

"Agh! Argh!" Steven hissed in pain as he turned his arm over. His eyes went wide once he saw the damage the liquid had done to him. It had managed to burn its way through his jacket and get to his skin, leaving bleeding cuts and marks.

Steven panted, the tiredness he had felt from before suddenly coming back to him. The boy closed his eyes for a second, but when he opened them again, the Earth below him was beginning to split in half.

Steven's eyes widened and he gasped. He stood up and began to lose his balance as the crack below him began to grow and grow, when a pink hand suddenly came out of nowhere and grabbed him by the back of his jacket before pulling him away and back onto the much safer part of the Earth.

"Well, look what I reeled in!" Spinel said teasingly as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Steven!" Peridot cried out, obviously growing concerned at the sight of his bleeding arm.

"Are you okay?" Amethyst asked, staring at his bleeding arm in worry.

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"My organic jacket!" He said, making the author face palm so hard that you could practically feel the ground shake.

Steven then frowned and lifted his shirt up, showing just how much his gem seemed to be glitching out. "I can't do anything with my powers like this!"

Steven looked over to Bismuth and Lapis, confusion, tiredness and desperation all shown in his eyes. "Bismuth, Lapis, can't you lift that thing?!" Steven turned his attention over to Peridot. "Peridot, what about your metal powers?!"

"You think we didn't try that?" Lapis questioned, spreading her arms out to her sides and frowning as Peridot walked up to Steven with her tablet.

"Disturbing the injector accelerates the poisons rate of release!" Peridot informed before cringing and adding on, "Also, it might explode."

Steven's eyes widened slightly and he looked down at Peridot's tablet with a frown as she continued. "We have to find a way to move it without touching it. Before it's too late." Peridot told as her and Steven stared up at the injector in horror/fear with the rest of the gems.

It was silent for a while.

Peridot sighed silently to herself and began to press a few things on her tablet when Spinel walked past Steven, who stared at her before blinking and letting out a gasp; a sudden realization dawning upon him.

"Spinel! She — She must have known who that gem was, and how she activated it!" Steven looked over to the pink gem, who was twirling around and giggling in front of the injector. "If we can return Spinel's memories, then maybe we can ask her how to deactivate the injector!" Steven said.

Lapis walked up next to Steven and placed her hands on her hips as she looked down at the teenager un-surely. "But what if she doesn't know what it is? And even if she does, then what makes you think that she knows how to control it when it was that Marriposa gem that brought it here in the first place?"

Steven's eyes widened. Not at Lapis's questions, but at the name he had heard in one of them.

Steven snapped his gaze over to Lapis, who jumped slightly at the sudden attention.

". . . Marriposa gem. . .?" Steven asked, slowly standing up.

Lapis blinked and nodded, her arms slowly slipping back down to her sides. "Yeah. While you were busy trying to, um, well, lift the injector out of the ground, Spinel began to tell me about the mysterious gem that you guys encountered before you got here." Lapis looked back down at Steven and tilted her head slightly. "Her gem was shaped like a butterfly, right?" Lapis asked.

Steven only nodded in reply.

Lapis smiled slightly and crossed her arms. "Well, then she's a Marriposa gem."

"Which is quite surprising, considering how rare they are." Peridot cut in, glancing over to Steven and Lapis from over her shoulder before returning her attention to her tablet.

Steven blinked. Even though he was tired, he for some reason felt some sort of excitement learning about this gem. Was it because he was finally gaining some more information on the enemy? He didn't have the slightest clue, but he was too interested in learning about this 'Marriposa' gem to even question anything.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about this gem?" Steven asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Lapis hummed and rubbed her chin in thought. "Well, they have the ability to fly, obviously." She began, and Steven nodded as a small memory of the mysterious gems' beautiful wings flashed through his mind.

"Marriposa gems also have the ability to summon any weapon of their choice, depending on whether they just want to or their mood. They are also known for having a sort of. . . maternal instincts when they find something that seems young to them."

Well, that last statement certainly caught Steven's attention. "Really?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

Lapis chuckled and nodded. "Yep. Which is why they were so precious on Homeworld. Not only were they rare, but they were also useful for raising and helping with young gems. They could even be used for combat and such, which also made them pretty high ranking soldiers because of how powerful they were." Lapis told.

Steven's eyes widened. That was some pretty shocking information, and it was certainly a lot to take in all at once. The gem hybrid shook his head and looked back over to Spinel, who was waving at him and doing some sort of derpy face to amuse him.

"You know," Bismuth began, catching Steven's attention and making him look over to her from over his shoulder. "You might have to change her back. . ." She told, gesturing to Spinel.

Steven's eyes went wide with horror and he immediately turned to her and the rest of the gems to protest. "NO WAY! She's cute and harmless now, but if we bring her back she could possibly want to kill us all like her. . ." Steven's arms fell to his sides and he looked down at the floor with a glare. "Like her companion." He spat, a sort of bitterness in his voice as he glanced over to Spinel with what seemed to be. . . jealousy(?!) in his eyes.

Peridot rolled her eyes. "You're going to die anyway if you don't get her to deactivate that thing!" The green gem told, acting as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. (Which, honestly, it kind of was.)

Amethyst took a step forwards and sent Steven an encouraging smile as she nodded in agreement with Peridot's statement. "She's right, Steven. You got me back. Whatever you did for me, just do it for her!" The purple gem said, gesturing over to Spinel.

Steven sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "That's different, I know you. I don't know anything about Spinel! None of us had ever even heard of her before!"

Steven's eyes widened.

If Pearl knew that myste— I mean Marriposa gem, then could she possibly know who Spinel was, too?

"Pearl! Pearl probably knew her!" Steven said before breaking out into a sprint down the mountain, heading to his dad's house.

Amethyst's eyes widened at Steven's sudden action for a split second, but she quickly snapped out of it and shook her head before following after him, Spinel soon following after her as well.

Okay, this is good. All I have to do is find Pearl, get her memories back, and then maybe, just maybe, she could tell us about Spinel and—

"Papa!"

Steven stopped in his tracks when he heard that.

A small, squeaky voice: one that could only belong to a small babe. He had heard a voice like that just now, and it seemed to have called him. . . papa?

The hybrid blinked and rubbed his eyes tiredly before looking up at the sky; confusion and the same longing from before flashing through his eyes.

Amethyst, who had run past him with Spinel, came a screeching halt and looked over to Steven in confusion.

"Steven? You okay, dude?" Amethyst asked with a raised brow.

Steven blinked and shook his head, snapping out of his weird daze.

"Y-Yeah." Steven chuckled nervously before running ahead of Amethyst and Spinel, not wanting them to ask him anymore questions.

What was that? Steven thought to himself as he looked back up at the sky.

The gem hybrid then sighed and shook his head. He could think about. . . whatever that was later. But for now. . .

Stay focused, Steven, Steven thought to himself as he quickened his pace.

And, suddenly, a brand new thought that popped up out of the back of his mind began to pester him.

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Focus on what, exactly?