After another home school lesson from Greg, steven was free for the rest of the day. He used his free time to spend some time in Funland, the local amusement park on beach city. He met the cool kids while he was there. Their names were buck Dewey, the son of the infamous and near incompetent mayor of beach city bill Dewey, jenny pizza, and sour cream. Steven enjoyed the time he spent with the three teenagers. He wished he could tell them about the day he met iron man and Captain America.

after the exciting day at Funland, steven returned to the crystal temple to see his father and amethyst there again

"Hi, dad! Hi, amethyst!" waved steven.

"yo! ste man!" waved amethyst.

"hey, scthu ball!" said Greg "how was fun land today?"

"it was great, actually!" replied steven. "I got to hang out with the cool kids at Funland."

"that's great to hear!" said Greg as he followed his son upstairs. "I'm glad you're making a lot of friends, steven."

"Thanks, dad!" said steven "where are the others?"

"oh, you know, the usual mission," said amethyst "they're probably done by now..."

"let's hope so...they're always out on missions..." sighed steven "we never even get to hang out together."

"let's hope they'll come around, steven," said Greg, placing a hand on his son's shoulder

"Thanks, Dad," said Steven, "though I kinda wished I got to talk with captain America more...when we met that day, I really would like to know how he's still alive today."

"hey, he'll come back one day, steven," assured Greg "he has his home to protect too, but I'm sure he'll visit."

"Thanks, Dad," said steven. Suddenly, his communicator began to vibrate. It was Jarvis. Steven grabbed the communicator out of his pocket and opened communications. "Jarvis! what's wrong?"

"no need for alarm, Mr universe," said Jarvis. "I would like to inform you that captain rogers is on his way."

"wait, really?" said steven "when will he be here!?"

"well, that was convenient!!" cried amethyst

"captain rogers will arrive in 45 minutes from now, Mr Universe," said Jarvis

"thank you, Jarvis! we'll be waiting for him!" said steven "please tell Mr stark we said hi, by the way!"

"I shall, Mr universe," said Jarvis

"we're going to see cap again, guys!!" cheered steven.

"we'll be waiting for him, scthu ball," said Greg as he hugged his son

After garnet and pearl had returned from their mission with the corrupted gem, they went outside the temple to wait for their old friend alongside amethyst, steven, and Greg. Soon enough, they saw a hovering sky-cycle carrying Captain America slicing through the seas and landed on the beach near the beach house, and the super-soldier stepped off his ride.

"cap! you came back!" cheered steven

"hi steven!" waved Captain America as he stepped off his sky-cycle and walked towards the crystal gems.

"we're glad to have you back, steve," said pearl

"I'm glad to be here too, pearl," said steve rogers

"honestly, I thought you'd still be busy fighting bad guys. So what happened?" asked Greg.

"don't worry, things are pretty quiet right now," assured captain America, pulling off his mask, showing the face of steve rogers and his blonde hair, "I asked if I could come here for a little while and catch up With the gems."

"I'm glad to hear it!" said steven. "I also have a lot of questions to ask!"

"I'll answer them one at a time, son," chuckled steve heartly "for now, let's talk more inside."

"you got it, cap!" said amethyst

opening the door to the crystal temple, the first avenger and the crystal gems enter the living room as cap sat down on the couch

"It seems you guys were busy," said steve rogers

"We have indeed been busy, rogers," nodded garnet.

"Yeah, a lot's happened since you were gone," said Greg

"It sure looks like it, Mr universe," said steve

"oh, um, just call me Greg if you don't mind." chuckled Greg

"Alright then, Greg," said Steve, "so tell me, any questions?"

"I have one," said pearl stepping forward "steve, what happened to you back then? when we saw the human war end, and we couldn't contact you....we thought you were dead, for years we thought what we saw on the television was just a publicity stunt, and when we finally saw you again, you said you were frozen how did you survive being frozen?"

"I asked myself that same question until I found out that it was the super-soldier serum that saved my life," answered Steve, the time-displaced super soldier having almost anticipated such a question.

"The serum saved your life?" asked Greg

"yeah! I thought humans couldn't live in cold temps!" cried amethyst.

"no human can survive in the cold for very long, without the proper equipment," said Steve as he then tuned his enhanced memory of his past, "but I was in a block of ice for decades, and when I was thawed out, I was told the super-soldier serum in my blood had created a cryoprotectant from excessive amounts of glucose as a result of my liver processing my glycogen stores."

"so you were in suspended animation?" asked pearl.

"I was," said Steve as he gently laid down his shield on his lap, "and I still remember the day when that happened, the day I was frozen..."

Captain America recalled the events of his memory of his final battle of world war II to the best of his ability, where he fought his great enemy, Johann Shmidt, the red skull, head of the ruthless HYDRA organization. Where the sentinel of liberty was frozen afterward...

Since Bucky Barnes's fall from his previous mission, steve rogers had fallen into a state of depression for the loss of his best friend, who felt like a brother to him. Rose quartz and other crystal gems had comforted him alongside Peggy carter. It took a while for Steve to recover, but finally, it was time for his final battle in world war II, in which he personally led an assault on the red skull and HYDRA's headquarters. Captain America fought the troops like a legion, but he was surrounded on all sides by firearms. Even the super-soldier serum that courses through his veins couldn't allow him to shield himself from all sides.

After getting captured and brought to the red skull personally, steve rogers followed the arch-villain across his final base during the war. He was heading towards the hangar where it laid one of the first of many super bomber planes, the valkyrie, where the red skull had planned to use the massive bomber aircraft to bombard and decimate every major capital in the world, save only the central country and capital of HYDRA so the red skull could rule over what would be left of the world after the dreadful war was won in his favor.

As the red skull himself was jump-starting the plane, captain America rushed into the hangar to find the US army forces and HYDRA troops were firing on one another. Among the crossfire, the super-soldier could see the valkyrie starting to take off as the massive propellers spun and the engines roared with flames bursting out of it.

In the ensuing battle, rose quartz led the crystal gems into battle, fighting the HYDRA soldiers, rose and the gems had agreed they would lend their assistance to steve rogers and the army one last time to end the threat of HYDRA and the war once and for all. Meanwhile, the super-soldier raced across the hangar bay, swinging across with a long chain and battling HYDRA troops along the way, he continued to run towards the bomber plane, but it was already starting to take off,

just then, colonel Phillips and Peggy carter came to captain America's aid in the red skull's highly customized hot rod, which they stole to help steve get aboard. They raced to the bomber plane as rose quartz watched one of her first true human friends board the valkyrie by holding on to one of the landing gear wheels as it took off. The other crystal gems could only watch and hope that their friend steve rogers, now Captain America, stops the red skull and his bomber plane once and for all,

along the way, the super-soldier came across multiple HYDRA parasits, which were flying atomic bombs, which the red skull would be using to carry out his plan for worldwide destruction. Steve knew he had to hurry before the skull unleashes them. He raced to the main cockpit room to find it empty. Captain America searched the main room cautiously as he stepped towards the pilot seat to find the red skull had disappeared, but then steve raised his shield when he heard a blue laser blast firing at him.

"you don't give up, do you!?" taunted the red skull.

"nope!" retorted steve rogers as he rushed to face his opponent, using his shield to black the next few laser blasts.

as captain America got in range of the red skull, he smacked the smoking laser rifle out of his hands with his shield, then punching his enemy in the stomach, and then tried to hit the skull with the shield, only for the red skull to narrowly dodge it and deliver his own punch to cap's stomach, and a punch to the cheek then dragged the super-soldier to the floor of the plane and then kicked him again he then went for another kick, but steve caught it just as he was getting up and then pushed back the red skull

"is that all you have, captain?" snarled the red skull.

"just getting started!" cried steve throwing another punch at his arch-enemy.

The blow threw the red skull back as captain America tackled his arch-nemesis and pushed him back to an edge of the room. The skull then sucker-punched the super-soldier to the floor, knocking himself with him in the process. Steve then wacked the red skull with a metal object and then held him in a hold and dragged him across the cockpit of the valkyrie, slamming himself on the floor near the containment unit holding the tesseract cube.

As the red skull rebounded from the floor, steve regained his shield only to be greeted by yet another punch to the stomach by the red skull, who then smacked the super-soldier with his own shield to the containment unit and tried to suffocate steve with his shield who then countered with a headbutt, regaining his shield the super-soldier rammed the red skull into the main controls of the valkyrie.

The super bomber plane then starts to lose altitude as Captain America and the red skull were sent flying to the roof of the cockpit room. In near weightlessness, they brawled for a little bit before the red skull sent Captain America back. The malevolent prototype super-soldier made a climb towards the controls regaining control of the valkyrie and restored flight pattern, as captain America fell to the floor as the red skull then pulled out a gun and walked a few steps to find captain America hiding behind a corner.

"you could have the power of the gods!" called the red skull as he fired a tesseract powered shot, only to miss steve rogers as he then rushed to the other edge of the cockpit area "yet you wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations!"

the red skull fired another shot at steve, only to miss again as he ducked

"I have seen the future captain," boasted the red skull as he fired a third shot and missed his target again. "There are no flags."

"NOT MY FUTURE!!" resolved Captain America as he dodged a fourth shot and rolled towards his shield, regaining it just in time to deflect a fifth shot and then hurled it towards the red skull, hitting him square in the chest and pushing him back towards the tesseract containment unit as blue energy bursted out of it.

slowly a slab of metal rose from the cylinder like container, revealing the dreaded tesseract as it slid off the metal circle as the red skull then recovered his footing

"what have you done!?" groaned the red skull as he then grabbed the cosmic cube inspecting it for damage and hoping to use it on the super soldier who stood before him.

suddenly, before the red skull could make his next move, he saw the tesseract glow brighter and brighter with power blue sparks surged out of the cube, and then a view of a distant galaxy appeared above the formerly nazi super-soldier, creating a portal neither Captain America nor the red skull could believe their eyes at the awesome power of the tesseract the very thing which gave HYDRA their weapons more sparks came into the tesseract cube as suddenly the red skull watched in horror as the skin of his hand and slowly his entire arm began to shed away and burn, turning into blue flames of energy as the rest of his body began to burn as well, eventually reaching his head as well the red skull could feel the agony of this come in, but it almost felt like he was being transported to another world as he felt himself being painfully converted into energy as he cried out in agony

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Finally, his whole body covered, the red skull, one of the greatest enemies of world war II, was turned into a massive pillar of blazing energy as it blasted through the galaxy into it's destination and seemingly out through the valkyrie. The cube then fell to the ship's floor, burning through both layers, and dropped downwards. Cap then recovered his shield again and made a dash for the controls.

But when he reached the controls, steve rogers realized that he couldn't land the valkyrie bomber craft without detonating the destructive weapons, as they would be powerful enough to destroy entire major cities. So he had one choice, to crash the valkyrie into the arctic as he got on the radio to give Peggy carter and the crystal gems a sorrowful farewell as he then crashed into the arctic, and the line went silent.

as the world celebrated the victory over world war II in the aftermath, many of steve rogers' friends and family mourned his supposed demise, including the crystal gems especially rose quartz, even though the crystal gems were not usually in favor of valuing humans as people, steve rogers had turned out to be one of the few humans the crystal gems actually respected as a person, he will be dearly missed,

but little did the world realize that captain America was alive, but frozen within the valkyrie for decades...

Until now....

Back at the present day, steven felt his heart sank that Captain America was frozen in the arctic for decades, and the crystal gems, and his mother, rose quartz, mourned for him as one of their own...

"wow...i...I'm really sorry, cap..." sighed steven sadly as he went to hug the time-displaced super soldier

"it's alright, steven," said cap softly to steven, returning the hug

"yeah, man..you were a real hero back then," said Greg as he joined his son on the hug

"thank you, Mr universe," said steve rogers. "but I'm just a kid from Brooklyn. I was only trying to do the right thing, to fight for what I believed in, liberty, freedom, and justice for all."

"that's real big of you, man..." said Greg

"we're all glad that you are alive and well, rogers," softly reassured garnet "we've missed you so,"

"We all did," added pearl.

"Yeah, man, we missed you," finished amethyst.

"thank you all so much..." smiled steve rogers

"by the way, cap?" said steven, raising his head "what did it feel like? Waking up? being thawed out?"

"...it felt like waking up from a long sleep..." said steve rogers "one I wasn't sure I would ever wake up from, but when I did...it felt like I woke up a new man in a new world and age."

"I'm so sorry, cap..." sighed steven "how long were you frozen away?"

"according to S.H.I.E.L.D, I was frozen for 70 years straight," answered captain America

"70 years!?" cried steven and the gems

"wait, did you say SHIELD?" asked Greg "as in the government organization?"

"yep, that's the one," said steve rogers

"We heard about them on the news," said Greg

"yeah, but I don't think it would be best if SHIELD got involved with uh...corrupted gem matters..." said steven nervously

"and not all humans are the best equipped to handle the things we deal with..." said pearl, the thoughts of what the crystal gems fought against ringing through her mind, "especially some human 'government'..."

"tell me about it," thought garnet, the thoughts of the oppressive government system on their homeworld during the rebellion flashing through her mind.

"I, I don't know if we want SHIELD to get involved with the corrupted gems or beach city," said steven nervously, already imagining what SHIELD could do if they get involved with the crystal gems or steven himself, being a hybrid of gem and human "please, cap, don't tell SHIELD about us."

Captain America thought about it for a moment. Steven and the gems have a point. On the other hand, who knows what SHIELD would do to the corrupted gems? Especially since he remembers rose quartz once telling him that the corrupted gems used to be like normal gems, except transformed into savage beasts, with no control over their actions. The super soldier then had another thought, what would SHIELD think of steven? A half-human half-gem child? Not to mention, he's 13 years old! The last thing steven would want is to be under constant surveillance. Pearl was bad enough. Heaven forbid SHIELD get involved! But steve rogers doesn't think he'll be able to hide this from director nick fury.

"... I can't promise that..." sighed steve rogers, but then thought of an alternative. "but I will tell SHIELD that tony and I are handling it alongside the crystal gems under the watch of the avengers."

"Are you sure cap?' asked steven

"I'm sure, steven," reassured the star-spangled super-soldier, "me and Tony will do all we can"

"thank you, cap!" smiled steven. "I hope it works out!"

"you're welcome, steven," smiled steve rogers, the young gem hybrid reminding him of when he was a kid.

"cap, I'm sorry you were frozen and missed out on 70 years..." sighed steven, lamenting his hero being frozen for decades and outliving his loved ones

"it's alright, steven," said cap, "if anything, I'm more than glad to still be here right now, though. My only regret is that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to your mother, rose quartz."

steven and pearl somberly nodded, sharing cap's regrets, but then steven got curious

"by the way, cap," said Steven, "I'm curious, what is the super-soldier serum?"

"The serum?" asked steve rogers "well, the super-soldier serum amplifies the human body to peak potential, and also your personality in general."

"whoa..." wowed Greg, "so, is the serum like a drug?"

"well, it's not addictive. It only amplifies your personality in general, and you only need to go through the process once," said steve rogers, "the super-soldier serum, for it to be activated, I had to be bombarded with vita radiation to stabilize it."

"vita radiation!?" gasped steven

"isn't that dangerous?" asked Greg

"vita radiation is electromagnetic radiation with a specific wavelength that has stabilizing properties," said Steve "at least, that's what dr Erskine told me."

"did it hurt?" asked steven

"a lot," answered steve rogers, still remembering the pain he went through during the process of receiving the super-soldier serum when vita radiation was racked up to 100%, "but it was worth it."

"I'm glad it was, cap," asked Steven, "but I'm also wondering, when did you first meet iron man?"

"That was a couple of years ago, as a matter of fact." answered cap, as he began to explain his story of how he first met iron man and, subsequently, the avengers first assembly.

It was not long after cap was thawed from the ice. There was trouble from SHIELD. resurgents of HYDRA were running amok at various points at new work, captain America himself was raiding most of the facilities until at one site, the super-soldier discovered not only iron man but also the reason why iron man was there, HYDRA had been smuggling stark tech in an attempt to create weapons to reignite the war that would almost devastate the planet earth, realizing they have a common enemy, the golden gladiator, and the star-spangled super-soldier teamed up to destroy the central nerve of HYDRA's stark tech storage facility in which they had planned to implement the stolen technology, in which the two heroes succeeded,

but that wasn't the end. Eventually, more and more hero team-ups occurred. Ultimately, the Avengers were born, with iron man and captain America being two of their biggest leaders.

"Wow...you guys must have been the best!" cheered steven

"Yeah, we've heard a lot about the avengers on the news," said Greg, "though to be fair, it was mostly you and iron man."

"thank you, steven," chuckled steve rogers "we've been hard at work ever since, and even when I learned at that point, tony was my good friend Howard stark's son after learning that he is iron man."

"wow really?" asked steven

"definitely," nodded steve rogers, "and since then, I took care of tony as if I was honoring his father's last wish."

"I really respect that cap," said Greg softly.

"that's great to hear, steve," chimed garnet, "but if you don't mind me asking, we would like to spar with you."

"we'd like to see if you can still fight," explained pearl.

"Alright, I'm up for it," said Captain America "where will we fight, though?"

"out on the beach is fine," said amethyst

"very well then, I'm always up for a warm-up," said steve rogers

as captain America walks out of the temple with the crystal gems in the lead, steven and Greg were getting excited they were going to see the star-spangled super-soldier in action before their eyes

once they reached the edge of the beach near the ocean, the crystal gems drew their weapons while captain America brought out his vibranium shield

"Alright, for old time's sake..." sighed cap "let's do it!"

Amethyst was the first to strike and lashed her whip at Captain America, who blocked the whip with his shield and then dashed towards the gems. Amethyst ran towards and threw a few punches at the super-soldier. She got a few hits in, but cap nearly tanked the blows as he threw a counter-attack at amethyst with a few punches of his own and then tossed her to the side. The purple gem groaned as pearl was the next to strike at cap with her spear cap again used his shield to block the blows from the spear, subsequently absorbing the kinetic energy due to the unique metal within the shield.

"wow! look at him, go!" cried steven

"I know, right!" cried amethyst, not feeling the least bit ashamed of losing due to it only being a warm-up for their friend. She usually didn't like losing, but she decided to let this slide.

"you still got it, rogers?" asked pearl as she clashed her spear with the red, white, and blue shield.

"I sure do, pearl!" cried steve rogers as he bashed the spear aside with his shield and sent a punch to pearl's gut.

Pearl was sent back a few feet, as steve rogers anticipated another move from any of the gems. But, instead, the next move came when amethyst spun in a ball towards the super-soldier, who quickly reacted with his shield and struggled to push back amethyst and slid back a few inches struggling, Captain America was able to knock back amethyst in her ball form away, releasing the huge amounts of kinetic energy. Still, Steve had no time to relax just yet as garnet came rushing in with her gauntlets and bashed them against Captain America's shield.

"whoa, cap's kicking butt over there!" cried Greg

"he sure is, dad!" cried steven "go get 'em cap!!"

"Are you tired yet, rogers?" asked garnet struggling to overtake her opponent.

"I can do this all day!" said steve rogers with determination, as he then pushed back garnet and stepped to the side

Steve engaged in hand-to-hand combat with garnet, matching her fists blow for blow. Then, the super-soldier went for a different tactic. He swept kicked garnet and punched her in the gut, sending her flying. Suddenly, a spear came flying towards him, cap quickly flung his shield towards the spear, knocking it to the ground, and then hit pearl square in the stomach, and the shield then returned to its owner,

steve then rushed in to take pearl on. As she tried to fight without her spear, the super-soldier could easily catch on to her moves and nearly overpowered her and eventually knocked her to the ground with a kick.

"behind ya!!" cried amethyst, having transformed into her purple puma form, and held steve rogers in a binding hold,

"cap!" cried steven, watching his star-spangled hero struggle with all of his might.

As steve rogers struggled, he then started to hurl amethyst away yet again and charged at her. Having recovered his shield, the super-sized purple gem intercepts the cap with a wrestler's move, but the cap barely dodged it and threw a combo with a kick and five punches. Amethyst countered with a punch of her own, hitting cap in the left cheek. Still, the super-soldier then rebounded with a counter-attack, dodging a few of amethyst's moves, and then threw a final few punches before ending the combo with a shield bash, but cap was careful not to hit her gemstone.

"hey! don't forget about me!" cried garnet as she rushed in with her gauntlets

as captain America faced the last gem standing on the field, he readied his shield, blocking the first few blows from garnet, and now it was steve's turn, he threw a punch of his own, square into garnet's stomach, then steve unleashed a combo, landing a few punches every once in a while, while garnet did get a few hits in, cap countered attacked with a kick, and then caught garnet's next blow with shield and then bashed her with it, and then ended the combo by flinging his shield at garnet's stomach, knocking her down, ending the battle spar,

"whooo..." sighed steve rogers "that was quite a workout."

"It sure was!" cried amethyst getting back up.

"That was amazing!" called pearl.

"it looks like you still got fight left in you, steve," smiled garnet, adjusting her visor

"thank you, garnet," smiled Steve rogers

"way to go, cap!!" cheered steven

"yeah! you go, man!!" cheered Greg, joining his son

"here you go," said cap as he helped the other gems back up on they're feet "looks like I still got it, huh?"

"you sure do, steve," said pearl.

"it's incredible how a human could still have that level of talent even after being locked away for decades," said garnet

"though, to be fair, I had some training and warming up," said steve rogers, showing humility.

"I see," said pearl. "I believe that would do it for the spar, but..."

"We would like another favor from you, cap," said garnet "we were also wondering if you would like to join us on a mission."

"a mission?" asked Captain America.

"a corrupted gem was wreaking havoc on another part of the planet. We were hoping to intercept it with you once we've all caught up," explained garnet

"I'd be more than happy to join you guys." nodded steve rogers

"Oh! oh!" said Steven, "I'd like to come!"

"oh! steven! Um..." thought pearl, "we're not sure if you should come. It could be very dangerous."

"oh...if you don't want me to come with you then..." sighed steven. "I mean, I barely spend any real time with you guys-"

"I'll take care of him," said Captain America, placing a red glove on steven's shoulder

"huh?" gasped pearl "steve, are you sure?"

"I'm sure, from what I can tell, he's sued to being alone by himself at home sadly," said Captain America "and even though it's dangerous if he wants to come, that's fine by me, and we'll take care of him, rest assured."

"cap..." said steven

"well, whatever happens, cap," said Greg, "please take care of my little boy."

"I will, Mr universe" smiled steve rogers

"thank you, cap!" cheered steven, hugging his hero

"anytime, steven," smiled cap, hugging steven back.

"well, if it's steve rogers, then I trust him," relented pearl.

"then. it's settled," said garnet "let's warp."

"good luck, sthuball!" waved Greg as they walked into the temple.

"Thanks, dad!" said steven, waving to his father Greg universe

Captain America escorted steven to the warp pad alongside the other crystal gems as garnet activated the warp pad, and they were transported to another location. It was a forest-like area, but there could be rivers rushing sounds nearby.

"wow...it's beautiful," wowed steven

"It sure is," said Captain America surveying the area

"Alright, everyone, keep your eyes open. The corrupted gem should be up ahead," chimed garnet.

"understood," said steve rogers as he slipped on his captain America mask and escorted steven "stay close, steven."

"you go it cap!" nodded steven

As they walked through the forest, they saw many rivers and a few waterfalls. Steven stayed close to captain America like he instructed. It was odd, steven felt a lot better being with captain America than the crystal gems, and it's only been a day too, he was getting a little worried about the corrupted gem, though, but then steven got curious,

"hey, cap, I'm curious," said Steven "what's your shield made of? the gems could barely make a dent on it."

"I'm glad you asked steven," answered captain America as he showed his shield "the metals used to create this are called vibranium, a steel alloy and a third ingredient that was never replicated, called proto adamantium."

"vibranium? adamantium?" said steven in awe "what are those?"

"vibranium and adamantium are two of the most powerful metal alloys known to man," explained Captain America "vibranium is not only much stronger than steel, but it can also absorb vibrations and also absorb, store and release large amounts of kinetic energy."

"Amazing!!" awed steven, "and what about adamantium?"

"adamantium is virtually indestructible," said Captain America, explaining the powerful metal alloy. "adamantium seems to be invulnerable to all forms of physical damage, including ranged weapons. There are only a select few forces that can damage adamantium, including vibranium."

"Wow...that's strong!!" said steven

"They sure are," answered captain America "although, the proto adamantium used to make my shield alongside the vibranium and steel alloy was never replicated."

"I see," said Steven, but then he heard something "whoa! what was that!?"

Captain America's winged ears perked as he recognized the sound. It was the roar of a corrupted gem!

"it's over there! The corrupted gem!" shouted the super-soldier "steven! stay close!!"

"right!!" nodded steven as he ran with Captain America, the other crystal gems the following suit. They soon saw the corrupted gem at a large clearing near a circular river. It was a giant white beast with horns at the front, and it's gem was located on top of it's head. This was what the crystal gems were looking for!

"there's the monster!" cried steven, the large white corrupted gem giving out a monstrous howl

"Alright, everyone! let's go get it!" cried garnet

"you got it!" said amethyst "cap! what's the plan?"

"amethyst, circle the corrupted gem and try to find a weak point!" ordered Captain America "pearl, garnet! You're with me! Steven! if you see anything, please let us know!"

"you got it, cap! good luck!!" nodded steven

Captain America nodded, and as instructed, amethyst rolled down to get the corrupted gem's attention and cracked her whip. While getting a few hits in, the gem monster roared as it turned to face amethyst, as she unleashed her whip yet again, and then, like a red, white and blue blur, Captain America rushed down with pearl and garnet with their weapons ready and faced the corrupted gem, garnet made the first move by throwing a punch with her gauntlet to the gut, knocking the corrupted gem back, sending a howl

"go get 'em, guys!!" cheered steven from the corner of the bushes.

"Thanks, steven!" called Captain America.

Pearl then attacked with her spear and slashed at the corrupted gem as the monster attempted to counter-attack. As pearl then gracefully dodged to the side, avoiding the giant claw, pearl decided to use her new technique suggested by iron man and unleashed two holo pearls. As they both unleashed their holographic spears, pearl had gone through updating the holo pearl's programming to be able to summon spears of their own just like their master,

"double holo pearls!!" cried steven

After a few minutes, the corrupted gem charged towards garnet and Captain America after it knocked away the holo pearls. Both the fusion gem and the super-soldier dodged out of the way. Garnet fired her gauntlets at the corrupted gem, hitting it in the face, then after getting back up, it tried to slash garnet, but then, steven noticed a pattern with the corrupted gem. it seemed to be trying to fighting blindly, and its back looked vulnerable

"cap! amethyst!" cried steven to the combatants, "the gem doesn't seem to see well! And its back looks vulnerable! try hitting from there!"

"right! Thank you, Steven!" said Captain America, listening to the young boy's suggestion, and then he turned to amethyst "amethyst! let's hit it together!"

"you got it, cap!" cried amethyst as she spun towards the super-soldier. Raising his shield, he deflected amethyst towards the corrupted gem, hitting her in the back, knocking down the corrupted gem, and stunning her.

"pearl! now!" cried steven

Pearl nodded and unleashed another duo holo pearls, and the trio performed a triple spear slash at the beast, causing it to howl as she tried to get back up. Garnet acted fast. She fired her gauntlets again, sending the corrupted gem flying a few feet Captain America then finished off the beast with a shield throw, living out one last painful roar before poofing and the gem landing on the ground. Captain America then rushed over and grabbed the gem in his red glove.

"who would like to do the honors?" he asked.

"oh! I will!" cried steven, running over to the super-soldier

"here you go, steven," smiled Captain America as he handed the gem to steven. He was confused but decided to give the young boy a chance.

steven grasped the white gem in his hands, and suddenly a pink bubble materialized over it, and after touching it, it disappeared

"Woah! how did you do that?" asked Captain America "wait, do you have your mother's abilities?"

"Yeah, I do," said Steven. "I guess in a way, that makes me like her, huh?"

"not at all, steven," said steve rogers as he placed a red glove on steven's hair, ruffling it "you're your own person, you are steven universe."

"gee, thanks, cap!" giggled steven as the star-spangled hero of world war II ruffled his hair

"whoo! that was fun!" chuckled amethyst

"well done, everyone, mission complete," nodded garnet.

"yes, thanks to steven and rogers, we now have another corrupted gem bubbled away." nodded pearl.

"aw, shucks guys!" chuckled steven

"she's not wrong, you know," smiled steve rogers "alright, everyone, let's go home!"

The crystal gems and their old friend went back to the warp pad to the crystal temple after a greeting between father and son. It was soon time for Captain America to go back to new york. He walked outside towards his sky-cycle waiting for him outside the temple, steven and garnet were walking with the super-soldier as he prepared to leave.

"hey, cap! it was great to see you again!" said steven

"thank you steven, I'm glad to have caught up with you and the crystal gems!" smiled steve rogers

"We appreciate your company too, rogers," smiled garnet, adjusting her visor

"thank you garnet" replied steve rogers

"oh! cap, will you come back?" said steven

"If I'm ever needed or feel like visiting, sure," answered steve rogers "remember, me and tony still have our troubles in new york."

"I understand, cap," said Steven, "but please tell me, what do I need to do to be a great crystal gem?"

"why do you ask?" asked steve rogers

"well, it's just the others keep leaving most of the time to hunt down the corrupted gems, and I sometimes feel like I get in the way, despite the fact I have powers from my mom," said Steven. "I wish I was like you and Mr stark."

"steven, you won't have to worry about being like me or tony," said steve rogers, placing a hand on steven's shoulder "you don't have to be like your mother, rose quartz, or the crystal gems. You just have to be yourself, you are your own person, you're steven universe."

"Wow...thanks, cap..." smiled steven

"you're welcome, steven," smiled steve rogers "remember if you ever need someone to talk to, JARVIS, tony, and I are here for you."

"thank you, steve," said steven

"you're welcome again," nodded steve rogers, and then he started up his sky-cycle"well, I must be off now."

"goodbye, rogers," waved garnet.

"bye cap!!" waved steven "please come back soon!"

"I will!! Thank you!!" waved Captain America as he sped off into the setting sun with his sky cycle.

Garnet placed a hand on steven's shoulder as she and the young boy watch their star-spangled hero ride away. While Captain America is a great help to the crystal gems, they understand that he has his own problems to deal with in new york alongside tony and the other avengers. Steven then watched his hero as he hoped that one day, they will meet again...