*Honk*Honk*

"Yaaaaay!" Steven cheers loudly as the large semi-truck passing by blows its horn after he pumped his arm in the air. With a wide smile he watches the vehicle drive by before turning back to his dad and Garnet. "That was fun." He comments as he walks as his dad finishes securing the car wash brushes to the top of his van. He is about to pass Garnet but the questioning and puzzled look on her face stops him. "Something wrong, Garnet?"

"Hm?" She says confused brought out of her thoughts by the kid. Looking down at him, she shakes her head. "No. Everything's good, but…"

"But what?"

"That truck… I swear I saw it somewhere." She muses. Since the trip here to the Keystone state she has seen plenty of vehicles coming to and fro, but since her… debate, her visions both future and present have been mixed and matched all over the place so it'll take some time for her to be able to properly sort which is which.

That truck however may have been one of them.

"You think?" Steven asks her while looking back at the truck as it travels away from them.

"Hmmmmm… nah. I'm sure it's nothing." She says and both she and Steven walk over to the struggling Greg. "Almost done Greg?"

"Just… about… done!" Greg struggles a little with the last rope needed to secure his cargo but he finally tightens it down. "There. That should keep them from flying off." He says as he wipes away some sweat forming on forehead."

"Great work dad."

"Thanks stu-ball." He accepts his sons compliment as he tussles his curly hair. However the good-heartedness of the situation turns to confusion as he remembers someone missing. "This is weird though. Marcus should have gotten here last night." Greg muses as he stares at the brushes that were meant for the back of truck. He turns to the others and continues, "What do you think happened to have delayed him so much?"

"I don't know dad. Garnet?" Steven asks the fusion.

"… Mm-mm." She shrugs unsure.

"Steven can you try calling him again?"

"Way ahead of you." Steven says as he pushes the speed dial number associated with his brother. The phone rings a couple times before a voice is heard.

"The number you have dialed cannot be reached at this time. Please call again later."

"It's the same as last night. He's still not picking up." Steven says in a worried tone. He looks up at the adults with worry clear across his face. "Wha-wha' do you think happened to him? He's not hurt is he?"

"Aw come on Steven." His dad crouches to his level and looks him in the eyes. "That guy's too good to get hurt so easily. Right Garnet?" He asks the fusion, who smiles and places a hand on his shoulder.

"Steven," He looks as her, "That boy… he has more firepower, more skills and more wits than any kind of monster he fights. Heck, he went toe-to-toe with me remember?" She reminds him with a smirk.

"Oh yeah." He remembers the fight he and Garnet got into in defense of Lapis. "I miss Lapis."

"And I'm sure he does too." She pats his shoulder. "Chances are he just got caught up in traffic or had some engine trouble."

"Yeah, his truck has taken a beating." Steven recalls the times his truck has been put through its paces. What with flying through the air and helping pop that puffer fish monster, getting buried in the sand, crashing into that giant rock to avoid hitting him, nearly getting crushed by 'another' rock from Jasper, as well as when Peridot's ship crashed into Beach City and some pieces nearly tore through the engine.

"Oh yeah, it has." Greg agrees with a crossed arm smile. He then chuckles. "Remember the time when that… Lapis chick took the ocean and threw me and his truck into the air?"

"Then the engine fell out." Garnet adds.

"And he kissed Pearl." Steven adds as well, making the others flinch at the memory.

"That was still weird."

"Ditto." Greg agrees with the fusion.

"Anyway, getting off track." She shakes her head and talks to the kid. "He knows how to take care of himself so chances are, it's probably engine trouble and he's in an area where he can't get any phone reception. We'll pick him up on the way back. Okay?" She reassures him.

"Hm!" he nods firmly with a smile and gets into the truck. "Let's go then! We can't leave him stranded out there for too long!" He encourages them to go now rather than later and he jumps into the passenger seat of the van.

"Hehe, alright son. We have the brushes anyway so there's nothing left to do than head home. C'mon Garnet." Greg goes ahead and gets in the driver seat.

"Right." She says and just before she gets into the back of the van, she looks down the roadway, and gets in.


"What was that?!" The leader asks on the phone with the driver. He heard the truck honk his horn for some reason and wants to know what warranted it.

"A kid wanted me to honk my horn. So I did." The driver responds simply.

The leader stares at the wall of the trailer for a few seconds, trying to process the excuse. "We have… a very dangerous, highly volatile person in the BACK with us! And you want honk your horn BECAUSE OF A KID!" He screams into the phone, making all his men look worried at his outburst.

The phone is silent for a bit before he answers, "Yes." The benefits when the person you're supposed to listen to is in the trailer of the giant 18-wheeler truck you're driving.

"Ehhhhhh," He lets out a breath of air and rubs his temple. "Just… just… don't do it again. We don't need any unwanted attention when we make the hand-off." He tells the driver tiredly.

"Roger." And with that the phone call ends.

"Everything good?" One of the others asks.

"Yeah, yeah." He waves off the question and focuses the attention back on their charge. "So, how's he doin'?"

"Well," The only one of them who was a former army field medic begins, "His vitals are stable, the medication isn't having any adverse effects on him and he's not reacting to any outside stimulus." He finishes his diagnosis before looking at his boss, "Besides the fact that for some reason he has god damn Jade crystal gems EMBEDDED in his flesh and looks like it's meant to be there instead of surgically implanted, I'd say he's fine."

"What's the deal with this kid anyway?" Another annoyed voice pipes up. "I didn't leave the marines to kidnap kids! And WHY did we have to get him in the first place?"

"Because it's our jobs alright." Another counters. "We knew the risks and responsibilities of joining this group and we can't pick and choose 'exactly' what we have to do."

"But what did he do to piss off the captain so much?"

"He didn't." All eyes look toward their lieutenant. "We're on loan to capture this guy for someone else since his men did a horrible job of it."

"Wait, you don't mean…?"

"Yep."

"Jeez." One of them groans as he remembers a specific group of their organization. "Them. God I don't know what the hell the commander was thinking when he let those kinds of people join the cause."

"They may not be trained like we are but we were low on bodies and they were willing."

"And look what they got us doing." The first guy spats as he waves his hand at their unconscious prisoner.

"Stow it." The leader lieutenant stops their complaining before looking at his watch. "We were given an order by 'our' captain and we're here to complete it. Besides we only have a dozen hours before we have to make the hand-off and wipe our hands of this. Just bear with it."

The rest of his men groan before they nod and give 'yes sir's to him. With a nod, some of them get ready to go to sleep as due with their shift change in keeping an eye on the prisoner but still rested enough should something happen. Once half his team turns in, the lieutenant stares down at the unconscious boy. He lifts his shirt and stares at the gem before letting it drop and sitting down. "Who are you?"


"Man where is he? We should have at least seen him by now." Greg says as they continue to drive down the road towards home.

"Yes, this starting to be odd." Garnet says from between the front seats. She then looks at Steve with his phone at his ear. "Anything?"

He pulls the phone from his ear and taps the screen. "—you have dialed cannot be reached at this time. Please call again later." He looks at her and weakly shakes his head no.

"Mmm." Garnet groans and presses her finger to her chin in thought.

"This is really weird." Steven moans as he puts his phone away and looks out the window. "He always has his phone with him and always answer it. I'm really starting to get worried here."

"Like we said Steven, these backwoods areas have terrible cell phone reception. If he's stranded then there's no way he could contact us if he's in a dead zone. We still have a ways to go before we get home so we just—"

"STOOOP!"

*TIRES SCREECHING!*

Greg slams on the brakes as hard as he can at the loud voice. The stop really tests the strength of their seatbelts as Greg and Steven are pushed forward roughly and harshly against the straps. Everything not battened down travels forward and collides with whatever's in front of it, even the brushes on top strain as well. Once the van jostles to a stop and the tires stop dragging on the pavement.

A low silence hangs over the occupants with Steven slightly out of breath from the seatbelt pushing against his chest, Greg has his teeth gritted and his hands deathly grip the steering wheel, and Garnet's hands clutch the side of the sides of the seats, leaving impressions in them.

"Garnet!" Steven looks at the fusion with surprise and confusions, "What's wrong?"

"Yeah! Why'd you have me stop?!" Greg asks in the same tone while looking at her.

Both of them don't get an immediate answer and for some reason she remains staring out the windshield. Very slowly, she brings her right hand up and points forward to the side. They look at her confused until they follow her pointing finger and a strange sight ahead of them.

Tire tracks across the road in front of them, broken glass… and a destroyed guard rail.

"That wasn't like that when we passed it." She tells them grimly.

"Yeah…" Greg agrees as well, remembering not seeing anything that significant on their way to Keystone. "What do you think Steven?"

"…"

"Steven?" Both Greg and Garnet look to the passenger seat to see that its empty. Rapid footsteps can be heard and looking forward again, Steven is seen running straight towards the broken guard rail. "Steven" Both adults yell and after Greg turns off the van, they both jump off and run after the kid but he already jumped down off the road and is heading deeper into the woods. "Steven, wait!" Garnet calls out to the kid as he jogs through the woods. She easily jumps past the broken barrier and doesn't stop as she hits the ground.

"Steven wait up— Oof!" Greg however isn't as dexterous and falls flat on his face on the forest floor, not noticing just how high up they were.

"He's here! I just know it!" Steven yells back as he crawls over a broken tree and continues on ahead.

"Steven!" Garnet calls out again as she deafly moves through the foliage behind him. "Please slow down! We don't know what happened! We don't know for sure it has anything to do… with… him." Her argument peters off as she comes upon the scene before her.

Steven is standing in front of the burned husk of a wrecked truck. The machine is severely charred, pieces of metal are melted onto the forest floor, cracked black glass litters around the upturned vehicle with the same coloring on the grass and floor around it as well. Garnet slowly walks over till she's standing next to the kid, both of their mouths agape at the destruction that is before them. What makes things look even grimmer and worrisome is the fact that the back half of the truck is almost completely blown and torn apart, barely leaving the seats section of the truck intact. Neither one of them says anything because of a horrible realization they notice about the burned up vehicle.

Despite it being nearly completely destroyed, they can still recognize the very same truck that belongs to the person that came into their lives so long ago.

"Stay here." Garnet taps his shoulder as she slowly walks forward. Steven remains rooted to the spot in fear of losing his brother. She slowly walks around the vehicle, carefully inspecting it from all angles for any sign of a… she gulps, body. So far there's nothing but there is only one clear and only spot he could be in that involves this wreckage. With hesitant steps around the front, she stops in front of the driver side door which hangs lazily in front of the seat. With a few shaky breaths, she closes her eyes and grips the edge of the door. Her fear of seeing him… like this grips her with shakable worry and her grip slightly bends the chapped metal. 'Three… two…!' "Ngh!" With a strangled cry, she pulls it open. Unfortunately, her feelings right now and her strength combined, she accidentally tears the door clean off its hinges and sends it soaring through the tree line behind her.

Steven flinches at her action and waits expectantly for her to answer. "Garnet… is… is he…?" He leaves the question in fear of the answer being yes. He stares at her face as she in turn stares at the driver seat. For a second, her face remains impassive and neutral as she stares at the driver seat, until very slowly the corner of her mouth curls upwards. It stays like that as she walks around the truck and away from the wreckage to Steven.

"He's not here." Steven lets out a breath of relief at knowing that he's not gone. "But this still looks weird." His expression turns to confusion. He should have been coming in the opposite direction of us right now. But the tire tracks on the road show he was coming straight the other direction, and was going very fast before trying to stop."

"So, it was an accident?" Steven offers but she shakes her head no.

"I'm not sure. How this looks, who he is and the state of his truck just don't add up." She states and places one of her hands under her chin in thought.

"Uhhh, guys?" They look away from each other to see Greg coming up behind them. He looks a little haggard from trying to catch up to them and falling repeatedly, but its what's in his hand that has them more than a little worried. "Is this… what I think it is?" He holds up a black rectangular object. "Whoa. What happened here?" He asks looking at the wreckage and he goes to hand it to Garnet but Steven swipes it from his hands before they can trade and stares at.

"This… this is… his phone." He breathes out in horror at the device. "This shouldn't be here! Not without him! He never leaves this anywhere! He always carries this everywhere!" Steven starts to get hysterical at seeing the phone he's seen dozens of times used by Marcus. The very same device he uses to get alerts, hack devices, and control just about any and everything he owns. Carefully, Garnet reaches down and picks the broken phone from his hands. He stares worried at her as she examines it from all angles. It's when she sees the screen does she stare hard at it. "What do you think Garnet?"

She doesn't reply as she stares the part that's interested her so much. The screen is broken completely with the internal components visible behind it. What has her worried however, is the boot imprint on the glass. "I think he's in trouble."


*Smack!*

"Wake up!"

Slowly, the gem/human hybrid named Marcus opens his eyes from the punch. After being knocked out for so long, his vision is severely blurry from not seeing anything for over a week. He blinks his eyes as he tries to make sense of the shape in front of him.

*Smack*

Unfortunately the shape is impatient and delivers another punch to him. After getting the sense knocked into him, so to say, his vision returns and he spits out a glob of blood and saliva as a trail of it goes down the corner of his mouth. He also notices that his hands are bound behind his back with some sort of steel and so are his legs to the steel chair under him.

"Good your awake." The man tells him angrily. "After all this time, I finally have you here and I can finally get some god damn answers." He sneers at Marcus and grips his face. A look of realization comes across Marcus's face. "Now… tell me where—"

*RingRing*RingRing*

"Garh!" He groans in anger and impatience at getting a call now of all times. He pushes the kids face roughly to the side and steps back before pulling out his phone and putting it to his ear. "What?!"

"Is that anyway to treat your friend who did you a favor?" A russian accented man on the other line replies in a smug tone.

"Ehhh," He groans as he pinches the bridge of his nose at hearing from this guy and sighs. "Yes, you did Yuri. Thank you and I appreciate you doing this but I need—"

"You don't get it do you Johnson?" Yuri tells him threateningly. Johnson stops talking from the interruption and listens to one of his fellow captains words. "You're on thin ice from the stuff you've done before and this shit you've done with this… kid? The amount of material, gear and people you lost?" He asks the last part in disbelief before continuing, "The commanders starting to doubt you and the fact you called ME to do your work… people are starting to talk."

"Yuri… you better choose your next wor—"

"Or you'll do what? Hurt me? Kill me?" He challenges his fellow captain with a smug grin on his side. "In case you haven't noticed, the commander didn't exactly sanction me helping you with this personal vendetta you have. You. Owe. Me… Understand?"

"Crystal." Johnson's phone strains as his knuckles turn white from the near crushing force he exhibits on the device as he sneers.

"Good. Now, since my men had already reported that they handed him off and are on their way back, and the fact that your really anxious to stop talking to me and get back to doing whatever it is your going to do to him. Have fun."

*Click*

Johnson stares at the wall in front of him as he slowly brings the phone away from his ear and slips it back into his pocket. There is an aura of slowly unabated rage welling up inside him at the incompetence of his men and how he had to rely on one of the others men in order to get this guy. He turns around and looks at the kid.

The smile he gives him sets off the powder keg of anger that plagues Johnson.

The next couple of minutes straight are filled with the repeated sounds and tell-tale noises of beatings and punches over and over again, making the men outside flinch at how brutal everything sound behind the door they are guarding.

"Aaahhh." Johnson hisses as his knuckles ache from the punches and the slight tiredness he feels. He flexes his fingers to stave off the pain before staring at the kid. Small parts of his face support bruises and slightly swell up from the beating, his chest and stomach, under his shirt, show a plethora bruises forming as well. He stares at the kid as he walks back up to him and stares at the head that's aimed towards the ground. "You know why I want you." He begins talking. The kid doesn't say anything at first, but a few seconds pass before with agonizing slowness, he starts bringing his head up. "You were the only person to have last seen him." His eyes are on level ahead but continue to pick up. "I have been waiting for years to find you and get some answers. Now, here's my chance." Marcus's face finally aims upwards and the two of them stare into each other's eyes. "I'm going to ask you once, and if you know what's good for you, you'll tell me what I want to know." He leans closer and with a firm grip in his voice, he asks, "WHERE. IS. MY. BROTHEEEEER!?"

"…"

"…"

"…" Marcus doesn't say anything. Even through the pain of sporting multiple cuts, even through the dizzy feeling of his mind and body being put into a shutdown state for over a week, even with the knowledge of knowing that he's finally been captured… "He he."

He laughs.

"Hehehe… ah hehehehe he haha haaaa." He weakly laughs. He drops his head and shakes it from side to side before he lets out a sigh. He takes a moment to fix his composure with closed eyes towards the floor. When he's ready, he stares up at the angry face of his captor with a tooth-filled smile.

"Hello… Uncle."

Things are starting to pick up people. A piece of his past has finally come back to haunt him and those puzzle pieces are starting to come together. In just three chapters people, will answers and revelations be brought out into the open for everyone to see.

To be honest, not many of you made the connection back on Watermelon Steven and I was kind of surprised. Even so, things are gonna get crazy for everyone involved and I hope I make things exciting and mind-blowing for you all.

Alright, with that bit of informational rant on Marcus given to you all, now it's time for me, the author, to rant.

New content came out for For Honor and it… is… amazing. I have absolutely fallen in love with the Shinobi and I bought the season pass so I can play him early.

Totally worth the $40 bucks. Some might consider that a little expensive just to play a character a week early. I call bull. In opinion it was worth it and I don't think I can go back to other classes on a regular basis. The way he moves, jumps, dodges, the mix-ups, his feats, and his Weapons!... Man this is awesome. I've also tried the Centurian a couple times too. Not the absolute best I like playing, but I'm getting there. With college classes over and nothing for the summer besides RTX, I have almost my complete entire free-time to both be a badass Shinobi ninja in For Honor, and work on my stories for everyone to read.

Speaking of Steven Universe, because of the new Steven Bomb that happened, already I had to change up some future plans to work with what happened, and come up with new ideas as well. With the next episode coming real soon, this next set of episodes for Steven Universe are going to be off the chain and I am super excited for them.

Is it also wrong that I reeeeeealllly want to smack some sense into Lars? Please?

Anyway, thank you all for your continued support and I really hope I don't disappoint in the future.

As always, have a great day everyone, and have fun reading.