Chrome

**Chrome** is one of Stella's alien caretakers and the Metal Men counterpart to Amethyst. He appears as a tall man fully dressed in the biker gear with a head reminiscent of a metallic human skull that he usually hides under a motorcycle helmet. This design alludes both to T-800 from the Terminator franchise as well as Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider.

## Personality

As stated above, Chrome is the most easy-going of Stella's caretakers. He greatly values the freedom of himself and others, as such he oftentimes ends up butting heads with Iron and, to a lesser degree, Bronze. Despite this, he's still extremely loyal to Stella's household as well as Gold Leaf ideals, since he treats it as a conscious choice and an exercise of his autonomy. He's optimistic, eccentric and just a very easy person to be around in general. This has allowed him to form connections with lots of different people and even Gems, as he was created long after the war and has little recognition for the past grievances between their kinds. As such, he's the only one of Stella's "uncles" who actually gets along with his Crystal Gem equivalent, Amethyst (so well, in fact, that "getting along" might actually be somewhat of an understatement). But even his tolerance has its limits, as he gets easily annoyed with Pearl's nagging and overall dismissive behaviour on account of him being a Metal Man.

While the initial impression of Chrome might make it seem as if he's an absolute idiot, in reality he's the polar opposite: Chrome is easily one of the most intelligent of all characters in this AU, as his brain's sheer processing power makes him a walking supercomputer. This was the reason why Chrome became one of the leading researchers of the Chrome Collective project back on his homeworld. This intelligence, however, mostly applies to exact calculations and to little else (in particular, Chrome's memory is especially awful, as he's known to forget about things for literal decades), which is why he chooses to rather have Iron handle the general decision-making.

A relationship between Chrome and Stella has the most levity out of all those that she has with her "uncles". They treat each other as equals, which certainly helped Stella through during her upbringing post-incident. As such, despite his aloof nature, Chrome is usually the first person Stella turns for help whenever she has a problem. On a similar note, Chrome also shows quite a bit of affection for Alice and even helps her out whenever he doesn't have more pressing matters.

Chrome can also be commonly observed consuming large amounts of liquids that are lethal for human consumption, such as antifreeze. It is unclear whether or not this has any inebriating effects on him.

## Powers and Abilities

* Enhanced strength, speed and durability - While his power and agility are only somewhat above the average of Metal Men, Chrome possesses some remarkable durability, as it is the defining characteristic of his subspecies. This proves to be quite useful, as Chrome's antics usually put him in harm's way.
* Idiot Savant - Chrome's brainpower combined with his chaotic personality makes him a rather unpredictable opponent. On the battlefield he's a total wildcard, that can show up with a DIY plasma grenade strong enough to level a building to one fight and only bring a tire iron to the next. He also handicaps this part of him to a great extent, since the guilt he feels over Chrome Collective catastrophe has continuously dissuaded him from working on any "serious" projects.
* Limited mass/gravity manipulation.