Six days after the van returns home. Marcus is still in transport.
"Where could he be?!" Steven cries out in worry from the kitchen. After their return to Beach City, Pearl immediately was hoping that Marcus managed to convince Garnet to forgive them… but the new development quickly brought that thought completely careening elsewhere. After that, knowing just who it was that was after Marcus, everyone paled but had no idea what to do.
They waited patiently for almost a week in hopes that he will return to them. "I don't know Steven." Garnet grumbles from her place on the crouch. So far though, no luck has happened.
"We know who it is that took him. Why don't we go find them and mash them up already!" Amethyst says as she punches her fist to her palm. The other gems and Greg sigh.
"It's not that easy Amethyst." He tells her with a depressed sigh.
"Why not?!"
"Because Marcus was taken by one of the most infamous and secretive criminal group in the entire world!" Pearl angrily retorts. The purple gem goes from angry to surprise at the pale gems outburst. Pearl clenches her arms together in frustration at how useless she feels as she stares out the window. She pulls something out from under her arm, looks at the paper and sighs before turning around to the others. "After… meeting them back in the Kindergarten, I did some research on them to find out as much as I can and see how dangerous they are."
"What did you find?" Garnet asks, intrigued by the news. Things are still slightly rocky for them, but Garnet can learn to put her feelings aside to ensure their family member returns safely to them.
Pearl closes her eyes and takes a couple deep breaths before explaining. "They were originally a small time group of criminals that specializes in illegal heavy weapons and armaments distribution. After the first time he was taken, they've only increased in power and numbers and became an even more deadly power. From what he took from them, they are a lot bigger than what everyone really thinks." She tosses the papers in her hand onto the table, allowing the many pictures she found to scatter all along the table. Everyone scrambles and looks at the pictures more closely. "They do their own research too." She says grimly.
"Wait, this is me at the car wash?"
"Hey I remember this! I went to get some Fry bits that one time."
"This is us at the restaurant!"
"Pearl." The firm voice of Garnet causes everyone to stop picking at the pictures to look at the fusion. Her vision slowly moves over to the pale gem in question. "Why are these pictures from a distance?"
Pearl eyes clench at the question, and she remembers what Marcus told her back when they were finished at the Kindergarten. "We found… a board… filled with pictures of every human we've been in contact with. These," She waves her hand over the pictures, "Are the ones he removed before I could see."
Surprise and sacredness is apparent on everyone as they here this. "But… why would he…?" Steven questions in confusion.
"I found them in his jacket. He left it here before he went to follow you." She runs a hand on her head, "I was hoping I would find something that could help track him, and found out something much worse."
"Soooo, does this mean…?" Greg lets the question hang as he's scared to know what this means.
"He lied to me when I asked if the Iron Kings knew about us here at the temple." She crouches in front of the table and looks down sadly. "They know… about all of us."
"Ready to tell the truth?"
"…"
"... Fine."
*Smack*
It's been the same rinse repeat method for half a month now. One week it took Marcus to go from the Keystone state to another state entirely and a few days more to be transferred to some secret facility belonging to the Iron Kings. Now half a month has passed since his disappearance, and things aren't the best at all.
He is constantly being watched 24/7, and is chained up at every moment… except till now.
"You ready?" Johnson demands once he's finished his beating.
"I already told you. I don't know where he is."
"LIAR!"
*Smack*
It's the same every time he comes into the room and demands some answers. He asks one question: 'Where is my brother?' and Marcus replies the same: 'I don't know.' Naturally the leader of this cell of the Iron Kings won't have it and makes Marcus's life hell, both during, before and after the interrogations. Constant beatings every few days, only enough food to keep him alive, leaving him constantly starved, cuffed all the time and a constantly blinking and buzzing light bulb to both annoy and disturb his sleep patterns.
For Johnson, after his brother met that mysterious woman and ran off to be together he effectively lost all contact with him, his last and living relative basically. Fast forward many years later and when he tries to find his brother in hopes of joining him in the organization, maybe putting in a good word for him, he absolutely fails in locating the guy. Moving on from that he instead tries to look for his girlfriend but that was a bust too. Moving on from that, he grew increasingly angry over not knowing where his only brother is… then gets a message.
'You're an uncle.' And a picture of the kid. Those were the only means of communication he got from him and it drove him crazy, erratic. He tried tracing it and constantly calling back but nothing worked. So close yet so far for him he was going crazy figuring out why. After awhile, he heard mysterious reports and feeds of crazy things happening all over the country. Remembering how freaky the girlfriend was, and how odd she looked, that was his next clue: his nephew. He never cared for the kid since he never saw him with his own eyes in person. Seeing as how his brothers son is the last means of contact with his brother, it was just a matter of keeping an eye out for anyone with Jade gems on their arms. His constant moving hampered his ability to locate him… but he slipped up in Beach City.
Staying in one place for too long allowed Johnson to finally find him. From there it was just a matter of waiting for the right opportunity. When it finally came and he got the call they got him. A massive burden was lifted off his shoulders at finally getting answers.
Or… so he thought.
Not even a week later he gets a call from one of us subordinates about how one of their facility's was destroyed, caught on fire, and was raided by the police as well. Seeing that the facility destroyed just so happen to be the one that was supposed to hand off the kid to him, there was no way it was a coincidence that he never showed up. Resumed surveillance showed he returned back to his home in Beach city with close to a million dollars worth of supplies, gear and equipment that belonged to the organization or was meant for someone else.
And the commander came down on him hard for that blunder… and again for the failed kidnapping. Surveillance showed that he had some people he cared about so he had tails put on the others as well for future leverage. When he followed a train out of his town for some reason, it was then that he organized as many people as he can to find and capture him, alive.
To not hear back from anyone at all, all communications cut off, was concerning to say the least.
Johnson thought up of everything he could do to try to get this kid but nothing came up that could work. Without any other choice, he turned to Yuri, another of the same rank as he but was well decorated and commanded a more… experienced group of people.
Now, he has him in his grip and all his nephew has been doing for over half the month is deny it. He has to admit, the kid knows how hold his ground because despite everything he's done, he still hasn't cracked at all. He shows some surprising and scary healing as the injuries that appear soon disappear when he goes to do anther interrogation. Everytime I open the door I have a bunch of guys with guns ready to fire in case he attacks and I have four people on the door at all times.
Johnson breathes heavily as flexes his fingers before sitting down in another chair and sighing. "Why?" Even through his injuries, Marcus looks up at the question. "Why won't you just tell me where he is? That's all I want to know. It's just that simple." He practically pleads to the kid to tell him. For years he's been in the dark and now while its literally in arms reach, he's still not getting it. He wants something at this point, anything.
"…" Marcus stares at his uncle before his head dips and he sighs. "I already told you, and have told you time and time again… I… don't… KNOOOWW!" He screams right in front of his uncles face with pure anger. Having treated like hell almost a month has started to take a toll, despite the healing, and Marcus is getting really sick and tired of it all.
"…"
"…"
"… Alright then." Johnson gets up and walks out the door, leaving Marcus to be bound in his chair for another six hours until his food arrives.
Three weeks later. Marcus is interrogated.
"Well, that was a close one." Steven says in relief. The Crystal Gems return to the temple via the warp pad after dealing with Peridot. While Marcus is still missing, efforts to try to locate the green gem were still ongoing since they had no idea what it is that she wanted to do.
In the weeks after his disappearance, some small things have happened around town, such as Steven getting a new outlook on the lives of Onion and Amethyst, and the play he got to help make.
A play was performed on the beach as a means to help invigorate the town on the history of Beach City. While Mayor Dewey almost wrecked the whole thing with his horrible means reenacting it, Pearl's historical accuracy and Steven and Jaime the mailman's actions kept things relatively under control.
Now though, they broke ground in locating Peridot and acted on it post haste. Unfortunately Pearl's eagerness to finally capture Peridot led her and Garnet to being trapped and very nearly getting crushed. Finally reconciling, the two of them managed to fuse into Sardonyx and escape before going after Peridot.
"Yeah it was." Garnet agrees as they go into the living area.
"Still, what do we do with this?" Amethyst asks holding up Peridot's leg. She may have escaped but she had to detach her leg, somehow, in order to do so.
"Hm, I'll hold onto it." Steven says as he grabs the leg from her and walks over to his bed. "I'll keep it as a souvenir."
"Weird souvenir." Amethyst grumbles before walking over to the fridge for a snack.
Steven happily hums as he walks up the stairs and sets it down on his bed. As he goes back down, he sees Pearl looking down. "Pearl, you alright?" He asks her. She looks up at him and sighs.
"He's still not back… is he?"
The mood in the room plummets as they realize what she means. Amethyst puts the sandwich she was going to eat back into the fridge, not feeling hungry anymore.
"No… he's not."
Pearl looks depressed at the news still being the same it has been for nearly a month now. "This is… different… isn't it?" She asks as she sits down.
The others nod and look at the jacket hanging on the rack. When they found out about the pictures, they were all angry at the idea that he kept this piece of information a secret from them all this time, however as days turned to weeks and now it's getting dangerously close to a month that their anger turned to worry. True they were angry but every single one of the crystal gems can tell you for a fact that they would not wish permanent harm on him at all.
"Garnet?" Steven gets the attention of the fusion, "Are you sure we can't go out and look for him?" He asks her, hope in his eyes that she'll lift the rule.
See, since a hostile criminal organization knows about the gems and what they do and who they are, the idea of going out to look for the hybrid was an option, at least until Garnet instigated the rule that they can't venture out of Beach City. They already took him and things will get even worse if for some reason and somehow they were able to get anyone else as well. While after work, Greg has taken to parking his van outside of the temple as a precaution. A precaution that no one is complaining about. "We can't Steven. They work best out of this town. We go looking for him, they'll know…" She states firmly, then looks down, "And… we can't take the risk of them getting anyone else too. I'm sorry." She calmly but sadly explains to him. By this point, Garnet is feeling down as well when she remembers how she treated him. Now things are looking like she may possibly never be able to forgive him.
Feeling even downer more than usual, he gets off the couch and goes over to the front door. He opens it and walks outside just as the sun starts to set. The gems look at each other before walking outside with him. He lays his head against the top of the railing, staring out the sea. "Steven?"
"I miss him. I hope he comes back." He replies, saddened. "I don't want to lose… my… brother." Steven and Marcus have been tip-toeing in a way about calling each other that. It was never officially established but after the fight with Jasper when she first arrived was when it started happening. Now though, after being gone for so long, Steven can't help but miss him so much and remember all the times he's helped them, helped him. All the times he's been there to support and help him with anything he needed help. The times he's felt down and depressed. Whenever he would have a problem and Marcus would move in to help when he could… exactly how a big brother would help. He did a great job of playing one with Connie's parents at the dinner date.
He feels arms wrap around him. Amethyst from his right, Pearl to his left, and Garnet encompasses all of them. "We miss him too Steven." Pearl tells him and the others agree.
"He did a good job in getting us to like him." Garnet says with a smile.
"Yeah, you'll see. I'm sure he'll come back." Amethyst tries to help as well with her words.
"You think so?" Steven asks hopeful but still staring at the sun.
"He's like you Steven." He looks up at Garnet's words. "He's always surprising us. He can do it again."
Realizing what she's said, it's true that Marcus has done a lot to surprise them at plenty of opportunities. Whether it's the first time he met them, his skills, his knowledge and just what he can come up with given enough time, he comes out on top.
For the first time in a long while, Steven smiles and hugs the arms that are wrapped around him. "Yeah, your right."
*Smack*
"Puh!" I grunt as the punch lands me on my right side, still bound to my chair. He's been at it slightly longer this time and I can tell he's really getting tired of this song and dance we have been doing for a month.
I think. The lack of windows and no knowledge of time indication has left me barely able to figure out exactly how long I've been down here. Even though I am bruised immensely, he still feels the need to roughly grab me by the hair and bring my face close to him. "I'm getting really tired of all of this. Why are you being so stubborn and just tell me what I want to know?" He growls in my face.
*Pff*
I spit in his face, along with blood, making him recoil and quickly wipe it away before glaring at me. "Because it would be a lie." I tiredly tell him. I'm in pain right now and at this point I'm used to it, but I'm also really tired of him. 'I can't believe I'm related to this ass.' I think and slightly crane my head up to look at him better. "If I tell you what you want to know, it would be a lie because I don't know. Why bother because you won't believe a thing you hear from me." I let my head lay on the ground.
He stares at me with a mix of fury and confusion, before realization dawns his face. His face adorns a neutral look as he shakes his head. "Fine. I guess I have no choice. I didn't want it to come to this." Very quickly, he kicks my chest and I feel something break. I cough out specks of blood as one of my ribs snaps, sending a veritable amount of pain through me and making it hard to breathe. My blurry vision and uneasy hearing manages to make out him walking out the door and close the door. "Get some guys to the town. We're grabbing the kid. That'll make him talk."
Apparently the son of a bitch left it slightly ajar because just before I lose consciousness, I hear the worst news in my life.
Black.
The entire world I black around me, save for the pale light behind me.
I sit on the ground cross-legged with my hands lying on my knees. My eyes may be closed, but I know the ground and everything else is all the same shade of absolute black except for the light my body is blocking. The news I heard, was not meant for me to hear… but I heard it.
Unbridled anger races through my mind and body but it's anger that I've never felt before. It's anger that I doesn't make me rage.
Its anger that doesn't make me scream bloody murder and curse them to hell.
It's anger… that makes me think. Plan… contemplate everything.
My choices are limited. They have been since I was brought to that room. I can't get out. Not when I am monitored how I am.
I can't get out… at least, not alone.
"Grrrrrrrr." A low growl pierces the silence around me. Slowly, my eyes open and I see it.
The monster I became when Homeworld arrived. The monster I became and almost killed… Lapis.
'Lapis… ohhhh Lapis.' She's still out there. She's still trapped by Jasper whether she's holding her or the other way around, she's still trapped. 'I have to get out. I have to find her.'
The monster crouches low to the ground and very menacingly crawls closer and closer to me. Out of the black void around us, the red eyes are a shining beacon of this place and its features become more and more defined until it's right up against my face. Now instead of seeing from its eyes, I can see why she was so scared of this monster.
It lets out a series of growls as it examines my face from all angles from the front, still baring its teeth. "Grrrrrr… Grrrrrrrrrr… GrrrrRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" It lets out a fierce roar right in front of me, opening its razor sharp teeth-filled maw, spittle flying around me as it roars. I don't flinch as my hair blows back from the force of it and just stare. Soon, its roar dissipates and turns back to a low growl, then silence. "…"
"…" We stare at each other.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"… Do it."
A teeth-filled grin spreads across it's muzzle before it stands tall and side-steps me. Its stomps start to get quieter and quieter until it disappears into the light behind me.
"… Huuuuuuu." With a tired sigh, I close my eyes and dip my head. 'I have to get out… and save her.'
Now all I have to do is wait.
Wait… for it to finish.
M. That's the rating I'm going to switch the story to just before I upload the next chapter. I've been dancing around that idea for awhile now and I think it's long overdue.
I'm going to be honest with you all, I have no idea how exactly I'm going to go about the next chapter, but if you all remember how deadly the monster was when it fought Jasper, remember these aren't gems. They are human… and they angered the beast.
I don't know if I'm going to go crazy or anything but I'll do what I can to keep it tame. Don't expect highly descriptive tears or anything like that on the people, but I feel it is about time I make it M.
Still everyone, I don't want to leave this on a grim sad note so now let's talk about some serious issues that came up: Wanted.
Seriously, holy crap was that 1-hour awesome. I have no idea if I've ever been so anxious to see what comes next because the implications of what might happen next are so unknown to me. I won't spoil anything but man that was amazing and while I am excited to see what comes next for Steven, the new set of episodes has forced me heavily revise future ideas. That being said, I also came up with a ton of other ideas as well and I have no idea what to chose to do at specific moments. There are so many theories I have read, seen, watched and come up with and it makes my really excited for the next set of episodes they'll show. It's also safe to say that I no longer hate Lars. He's really stepped up and he's gone from being a jerk, to being awesome. Definitely want to see how they get out of this.
I went overtime hard in getting this chapter completed after the 1-hour premiere because I just had to tell you all that I did see it only fueled my want to continue writing this story. That being said, it's because of that that I decided to forgo my next RWBY chapter and get this done as well. For awhile, I'm going to be working on Marcus's adventures more prominently now because I am just hyped up for this series since watching the new episodes. For those of you who read my other stories, sorry for that but I hope working on A Tale of A Jade makes up for it.
Thank you all for listening to my rant. Have a great day everyone, and as always, have fun reading.
