The moon base mission was success. We got the coordinates for the Cluster but of course something else just had to happen. I just never thought it would have been me.

After my… episode back on the moon base and we headed back home in silence and it was starting to get to night time when we arrived. I told the others to gather around the fire while I has a small talk with Peridot.

After I talked to her, she looked like she was freaking out and tense about something but was on board with the idea of me telling them. She's still considered an outside basically so I don't think she cares about what persona issues I and the gems have with each other but she's the only other person to have seen it so I felt I needed to consult her.


The others are sitting around the campfire, waiting for me to talk but I pace around the fireplace. After a few seconds of battling my inner thoughts I finally stop and take in a deep breath between them and the fire."First off, I wish to apologize for my… attitude back on the moon base. I shouldn't have dropped all that on you at once and I'm sorry." They nod at my apology but I continue before they talk. "Second… there's something about me that's… dangerous. Something that I don't have control over."

They all look at each other in confusion at my odd statement to them. "What do you mean?" Pearl asks.

I take a moment to breathe before talking. "I… I'm not a hundred percent sure if this is true or not but… I think… I'm corrupted." I finally tell them. Since the first time I turned into that thing, I was always scared of what it might do after it came so close to attacking Lapis. After my escape from the Iron Kings compound, again, the slaughter that thing wrought on them was the stuff of nightmares. I cannot let that thing out again.

Surprise graces all their features before they look at me with disbelief. "Are you sure?" Amethyst asks.

"Well, Jasper said so right before she captured me when she first arrived."

"Jasper?" Amethyst says the gems name with a snarl before scoffing at the idea. "Pfff. She was just hung up on you being your mom. Just like she was with Steven and Rose. If she said so, I wouldn't worry about what she thinks. I'm not surprised if she tried some dirty moves to get inside your head."

I stare at Amethyst at her simple brush off of the info, but its not like they've seen it. "PERIDOT!"

"Gah!" A cry of surprise goes off from the barn before the green gem comes scrambling out and closes the door quickly. "I wasn't doing anything!" She quickly claims as she's pressed up against the barn doors, much to all our confusion. We stare for a second before she composes herself and walks closer to us. "What need do you have of I?"

"Tell them."

At my statement, she looks at my with surprise and goes to complain but a nod from me stops her. She stares before looking at the others and nods. She calmly walks up next to in front of the others and I walk to the side. "What he said, is correct." She confirms. Surprise and disbelief again they have but Peridot continues. "I'm not experienced in the field of these corrupted monsters I've heard about, I wasn't formed during the gem war here for earth and I have not encountered any of them during my time here. However, what I do know is that Jasper called this being right here," She specifies by pointing directly at me but continue to stare at them. "Corrupted. If that wasn't evident enough, then the… transformation surely was."

"Tranformation?" Garnet asks.

"Yes. Right before my eyes I saw him change into something different. Something big, powerful… horrifying. A monster is the simplest term. No offense." She quickly adds directed at me. I'm not mad at her for it being the truth.

"It's okay. That's all I need. You can go back to doing whatever it is you were doing." I dismiss her. At my advice she sweat drops for some reason but smiles and scampers off back into the barn. The others turn back to me since I retake my position but for some reason Steven keeps his focus on her a bit more than the others. I wait for him to turn back before I continue. "When they arrived, after you all were rendered unconscious or… sent to your gems," Garnet looks down at that part, "I tried to fight but Jasper beat me, bad. Bones broken and cuts to the point I couldn't get up. I wanted to fight and destroy her so bad that I just focused all my hatred on ending her. That was the trigger for the first time. It was strong enough to almost defeat Jasper but Peridot intervened at the right time to beat me, thankfully."

"Thankfully?" Steven asks in confusion. "If this monster was close to beating Jasper, isn't that a good thing?"

I run a hand through my hair and sigh. "Yeah, it almost shattered Jasper, Peridot… and Lapis." I say after a moment's hesitation.

"Lapis?!" Steven says in surprise. "But she's our friend!"

"Yes! Friend to us!" I tell him firmly before I look down saddened again. "But not it. He didn't care and if Peridot hadn't taken me down when my back was turned, then I don't even want to know what it would have done to everyone." I declare. We may have dealt with the stuff on the ship yes but I don't know how to get out when I change. All the times I've come back was through severe trauma and pain.

"You said the first time. When was the second?" Pearl asks, catching onto that bit with precision. The memories of what happened the second time haunt me and I can tell most of them.

"Steven," My brother perks up at my calling him, "Is there something you can go do? III… don't want you to hear this next part." I tell him uneasily as I rub my left arm with my right. He stares at me for a bit and I'm afraid he's going to fight to stay and listen, but after looking back at the barn then back to me, he nods. An immense relief washes over me. "Good. Please." I gesture to the barn. "I promise to tell you eventually but for now, thank you." I thank him. He gets up but before he goes, he walks over and hugs me. I return it and he gives me a comforting smile, which I return, and he goes to inside the barn. My smile falls as I continue. "The second time wasn't as reserved to gems. My most recent capture by the Iron Kings… forced my hand." I tell them grimly.

"But… if this thing was powerful enough to take on Jasper, then… to humans…" She leaves the statement unfinished but she doesn't need to finish.

My face becomes downtrodden with the fires highlighting the grim demeanor of my form. "…Their were no survivors… Including my uncle."

Looks of horror forms across all three of them. "Oh my."

"Woah."

"Is that why you said they won't be bothering us?" Garnet asks. I nod grimly at the truth. "Mmm." She looks down as she processes what I said.

"This… thing… inside of me wants out. It wants to fight…" I bring my hands up and stare at them. "It wants to fight those that are worthy or something like that it doesn't care whatsoever who gets in its way. That's why I was so forceful on myself back at the moon base because it wanted out again." As I remember what happened back at the moon base to trigger it, comparing the other times it came out; I think I can tell the correlation. "I… I think I know what triggers it." They look at me expectantly for the answer. "From what I can tell, it's anger I believe. The first time, Jasper beat me and I wanted to end her. Second time, my uncle said something that made my blood boil and the moon base… well, we know how that was."

They nod at what happened at the base. They may have involuntarily triggered it, but its not like I'm an expert on what it is either. "What did your uncle say to make you so angry?" Pearl asks.

I stare at her for a bit before I turn around and stare into the fire. Some people find a sense of calmness about them whenever they stare into the core of a burning fire. I can see why as I stare into the one in front of us. "You really want to know?" I ask with a sideways glance to them.

"We need to know everything, to make sure we don't accidentally trigger it." Garnet states firmly. Their all tense at this new development but nod nonetheless.

I continue to look before sighing and staring back at the fire. "… He said, 'Get some guys to the town. We're grabbing the kid. That'll make him talk.'" I tell them in a grim tone. I can almost feel the shift in emotions the others feel. Emotions from surprise, disbelief… and anger. I keep mine in check as I bring my right hand up and stare at it with the fire outlining it. "I regret letting it out and killing so many people, even if they were criminals," My hand closes tightly before turning back to look at them, "I don't regret ending him."

The second he decided to bring my brother into the my and his affair, it was the moment he signed his death warrant. It's a sad and bad thing to want, but family being based on blood alone means nothing to me. Family isn't who you're born with…

It's who you die for.

And Steven Universe and the Crystal gems are exactly who I'd die for.

After the discussion, we lulled into a foreboding silence but they expressed their wishes that after we finish up with the Cluster will we figure out how to deal with my demon. I thanked them for that and understood the priority on the Cluster. If we focused on me, then it wouldn't matter if the Cluster destroyed the planet we inhabit.

However after that, a new problem made itself known, as usual, but this time from a surprising source.

"She took a direct line to the Diamonds!" Pearl exclaims loudly in surprise. "From the moon base? What was she thinking?" Apparently, after the scene I made at the moon base Peridot decided to take the opportunity and take the diamond-looking device off the Diamonds chair which happens to be what Pearl says, a direct comm. line to the Diamonds. To say we are all a little ticked off would be an understatement.

"Man, after everything we've gone through, she's still out to get us!" Amethyst angrily states. "Ohh, I'm takin' back all my cool nicknames for her! So long, Peri and P-dot, hello… uhh… ah… Ahhhhh, I'm too mad! I'll think of something later."

*Honk*Honk*

Repeated horn honks can be heard from the barn. "I see she knows what a horn is now." Steven states annoyed before tying his jackets hood tighter over his face.

"You locked her in the truck?" I ask. He nods still angry towards the barn. "Huh, nice."

"You offered her a lot of your trust." Garnet tells Steven, who turns to look at the fusion.

"I did! And it blew up in my face." He states annoyed. "You guys have been protecting Earth for thousands of years. She could've destroyed all of that. A whole earth, why did I think I could change her mind?" He asks himself sadly.

"Ugh, I know right? But I guess you can't like go into peoples heads and change how they think. Maybe we can?" I look at Amethyst weirdly at her suggestion. "Yeaaah if we just shrink down really little—"

"No no no," Thankfully Steven puts a stop to that plan. "I don't want to tell her what to do. She should just know. Shouldn't she?" He asks as he looks at the barn again.

Staring at the barn too, I'm angry at how Peridot took the opportunity to snag something in which she could talk directly to the Diamonds and didn't bother telling us about it. The fact that she didn't states that she wanted to contact them without our knowledge, if her sketchy and tense attitudes earlier ago were of any indication. I walk up to Steven and place a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me and I smile comfortingly at him. "Your good Steven. You tend to see the good in everyone and try to help them. That's a good thing to have."

"He's right." Garnet backs me up too, making us look back to her. "It's 'cause you believe in everyone Steven. Like your mother, you seem to have a little more patience than the rest of us. But the truth is, not everyone deserves that patience." She explains to him with a smile.

"And she's right too." I pipe up with arms crossed. "You gave her plenty of opportunities and it was her decision to squander them. There wasn't anything wrong in you giving her a chance. It was her fault on her decision." I try to make him feel better and shift his depressed attitude.

"I guess."

"Look on the bright side." Pearl chimes in, still holding the comm. device. "At least you got this thing away from her before she did any real damage."

For a moment, Steven looks alright with that. "… Yeah."

We smile at that at least.

*CRASH*

For a second. The entire side of the barn suddenly explodes in a large cloud of dust and debris.

"Ohhhhhh nooooo!" Steven moans as we stare at what emerges from the cloud.

To my horror and dismay, the familiar green robot belonging to Peridot that Pearl and I took on in our respective mechs waddles out, along with Peridot in the cockpit laughing maniacally. "Free, freeeee! Ahahaha!" She declares with a laugh.

"Oh maaaan." I moan as somehow she was able to get that thing working after the beat down Vindicator gave it. 'All I have on me is my swords and my pistols. My rifle is in the barn! Oh crap! I hope she didn't step on it!'

"How did she escape?" Steven asks and I'm curious too. Sure it was an old truck that she was locked in but I'm sure with a bit of thinking she could—

"Ah!"

"Woah!" Pearl gasps and I jump to the side as a car door suddenly embeds itself into the ground where I was just standing with the window removed.

"Fools! Your invisible rotary shield was no match for me… once I applied logic!" She declares loudly in her boisterous attitude. Steven grunts in frustration at the news while the rest of us charge her. The other go straight towards her while I start to circle around. I get ready to pull out my pistols as we get closer to her but she suddenly reaches into the barn and pulls out the truck she was trapped in. "Now I'm going to do this right." And chucks it at the others.

"Scatter!" I quickly order to them and they do so. They all jump back just as the truck crashes to where they were standing. "Oh crap."

"Get away from me!" Stomping vibrations and Peridot's voice forces me to look back at her as she starts bolting towards them in their dazed state. Before I can do anything, she aims her arm towards me as she goes past. My experiences in our robot battle reminds me that having her arm aimed at me is not a good idea. My instincts prove true as the second I jump back does her clawed arm shoot straight towards where I was standing. The crash sends me stumbling back but it gives Peridot enough distance to head to the others. She plucks the communicator from Pearl and Amethyst's hands. "See? None of you know what you doing!" She tells us all before she runs away with the communicator in her robots claws.

"Damn." I groan as I stand straight and watch as she runs away. 'We can't let her get that thing working. If she does, she could call for backup and I am NOT in the mood to deal with anymore of Homeworlds crap!' I look around for something that may be able to help us in catching up to her and take down that behemoth and my eyes lock on. "Perfect." I mutter with a smile and take off.

"Marcus!"

"Go! I'll catch up!" I call back with a wave and focus more on running.


"What is he—"

"Forget him!" Amethyst interrupts Pearl as she gets a toothy smile on her face as her gem begins to glow. "I've been ready for this!" She says and per her love of shapeshifting does she turns herself into a giant purple helicopter. "Get in." She demands for the others to do.

Pearl and Garnet get in without question. "Where's Steven?" Pearl asks over the fluttering of the helicopter blades above them. They look out to see Steven nearby sulking.

"Stupid Peridot, stupid giant robot! Oh why, oh why did I have to encourage her?" He grumbles to himself angrily. Not wanting to leave him alone, Garnet shapeshifts her arm longer and stretches it to grab him and bring him between her and Pearl.

"There's no time for feeling horrible. We have to catch Peridot before she contacts Yellow Diamond." Garnet tells him as they firmly set themselves in and start lifting off.

"That's right. You can feel horrible all you want back at the temple." Pearl tries to make him feel better by also patting his head but she just makes him feel even worse at the statement. Probably not intentionally but still.

Regardless though, Amethyst begins flying through the air overhead and heading straight for where Peridot took off with their objective. Peridot meanwhile uses her robot claws to fiddle with the communicator to try and turn it on. Unfortunately her focus on the device doesn't allow her to spot the shadow looming over her. She looks up to see the purple helicopter looking at her. "What's up, Perisnot?!"

"Good one, Amethyst!" Steven compliments their purple ride. As Pearl and Garnet summon their weapons, the green gem yelps in shock at the weapons aimed at her.

She grunts as Garnet launches her gauntlets likes missiles directly at the gems robot. She's thrown off the main road and teeters precariously close to landing on the power lines but rights herself up before she can hit. "Graaaaa! You'll pay for—" Peridot begins to aim her claws at the purple helicopter but the roar of an engine gets her attention just enough for her to hesitate.

That hesitation costs her as Marcus comes speeding down the road in his Falcon muscle car and rams straight into her robot's legs. Normally, muscle car or no, a human car would crumple like a tissue paper against the homeworld designed robot but Marcus's cars not normal. During his construction of Vindicator, he had a couple robonoids line his vehicles with material taken from the hull of Peridot's ship to make it even more powerful. Now any other cars in the future that try to ram him, will instead get their cars crumpled. Now though, the only damage that was caused was some dents into the frame of the Falcon, and Peridot's robot sent flying through the air. She squeals at the sudden change of direction she feels as her robot gets sent into the air but she has no chance of orienting herself as she falls onto the power lines, sending a large electrical burst through the robots systems and rendering it unable to move as it lays on the ground in a heap. Marcus meanwhile turns his car to the side and he goes into a large drift before speeding back to the green robot but the pole carrying the power lines falls onto his car before he can get back. "Arh! Damn!" He curses as the large piece of wood stops his car cold, momentarily lifting the back of it into the air before landing roughly. No additional damage is done to the frame but the window cracks and power cables start sparking uncomfortably close.

"Uhhh…" Meanwhile Peridot groans after the tumble she took and looks up through what little she can see through the opening in her cockpit. "Ohh! She gasps and smiles as she spots the communicator barely a foot away from her.

*Shink*

Too bad for her Pearl launches her spear directly at the device. Not on point that she pierces it but in order to send it tumbling away from her. With the others still flying through the air, Amethyst transforms back to normal. "Dog pile!" She shouts as she, Pearl and Garnet fall to the ground directly on top of Peridot. After Garnet puts the Steven down do she and the others start pounding and trying to tear apart the machine housing the green gem.

Peridot however manages to find a way out from the onslaught through the arms of her robot. She slides and crawls through the robots arm until she pops out without getting spotted by the attacking gems and grabs the communicator.

"You're not getting away with it!" Steven was able to spot her and runs after her before grabbing her. "I trusted you! I spend all that time bonding and hoping and caring about you!" He struggles with her.

"Steven!" Marcus calls out his brother's name and having enough of being trapped, kicks out the passenger window and jumps through the new opening.

"You don't get it either! This is your whole prooobleeem! Your emotions rule out reason! I will do what has to be done!" She replies back defiantly to him and with a twist, the communicator activates.

"Wh—" Steven mutters in surprise at the device activating.

"Steven." Marcus warns as he comes up next to the kid and they both stare at the rapidly floating device. "We need to go." He quickly reaches down and picks his brother up and they go back to the others who now spot the scene.

"She'll sort this out." Peridot giggles at the idea of finally being able to speak to her Diamond. Not wanting to be found out, the Crystal gems all hide behind the remains of Peridot's robot as the communicator opens up a hologram as Peridot gets manically excited.

Another pearl appears on the screen in a firm, dignified and professional manner. "This is the Yellow Diamond control room." She declares.

"Is that another pearl?" Amethyst asks.

"Who is she?" Steven asks their pearl right next to him.

"Ugh, not all pearls know each other Steven." She grumbles, insulted to having be placed with someone who looks so… animatronic.

"Shhh. I wanna listen." Marcus shuts them up to focus on the conversation.

"Who authorized you to make this call?" The Yellow Pearl requests firmly of Peridot.

"No one, b-b-but it's an emergency!"

"That's no excuse to use the direct diamond communication channel."

"Pearl." A new voice sounds from off the communicators screen.

Yellow Pearl tenses up at being called by this other gem considerably. 'Whoever she is, she must be important.' Marcus thinks from the pearls reaction. "Yes, my Diamond?" She quietly asks.

"Why is there someone on the Diamond line?" The new voice, now a diamond, asks of her.

"I don't know." She answers and gestures to our screen. "I was just about to tell her that—"

"I'll take it from here." She lazily says and grabs the screen on her end and brings it up to her face.

For the first time in a long time, the veteran Crystal gems see the face of a long forgotten to them Yellow Diamond. To Steven and Marcus, this is the first time they've seen a real Diamond, with the latter shaking a little.

"Is that…"

"Yellow…"

"Diamond." Amethyst, then Pearl, and finally Garnet finish the sentence, confirming the tall presigous gems identity.

"Oh my god." Marcus breathes in awe. Even from just a screen, from far away, and just barely meeting her, but he can still feel the power that radiates from her. The fact that she had to pick the device up so high shows just how tall and powerful her normal state is, even sitting.

"My diamond! Peridot, reporting in." Peridot says and crosses her arms into the diamond formation as some sort of salute.

"… Which peridot?" Yellow Diamond lazily asks, not bothering to turn fully to Peridot and only glancing at her from the side while fiddling with another console out of the screens view.

She hesitates for a second before composing herself. "F- Facet-2-F-5-L, Cut-5-X-G. I'm sorry to contact you this way, but all other forms of communication have been destroyed and—"

A simple hand gesture from Yellow Diamond interrupts her. "This says you're behind schedule on your mission to…" She closely at the other screen before what looks like a special interest. "How is… the Earth?" She asks.

"It's… full of life."

"Organic life… and where is the Jasper I assigned you? And why aren't you calling from the ship?" She demands.

"The ship was destroyed." Peridot answers.

"By whom?" At the question, the gems all tense up at the idea of being told directly to a Diamond scares them.

"I-I-I-It was destroyed by…" Peridot begins to say but hesitates as she gazes back to Steven, then Marcus. "No one!" This surprises everyone. "There was… an accident… while we were… landing?" She finishes saying her answer but it ends in more of an unsure question. Marcus can't help but shake his head at how bad that line was.

Yellow Diamond sighs at the news. "I'll inform your manager of your incompetence." Peridot deflates at the answer. "And what is the status of The Cluster?"

"The Cluster… will emerge shortly."

"Good. We'll finally get some use out of that miserable planet… Thank you for your report, Peridot. There'll be a ship heading to your location to take you to your next assignment." She lazily answers and goes to terminate the call.

"Wait!" She stops at the green gems voice. "I-I wouldn't have called to waste your time with a report."

"You already have." Yellow Diamond states, clearly annoyed.

"No, I mean… the reason I called… the real reason is… I believe we should terminate The Cluster."

"… Why?" She's still not even looking at Peridot directly, only keeping one eye on her.

"The organic ecosystem creates resources unique to this world, we can't sacrifice all that potential just for one geo-weapon!" Peridot tries to reason. "I'd like to tell you some plans I came up with to utilize the planet without disrupting the local—"

"I've heard enough! I don't care about potential and resources." Yellow Diamonds states firmly without a care.

"What?!" Peridot is shocked at the news.

"I want my Cluster, and I want that planet to die. Just make that happen."

"No!"

Yellow Pearl gasps at the defiance that Peridot shows her Diamond. Said Diamond doesn't look happy at all about being denied. "Are you questioning my authority?!" She finally looks at Peridot directly finally but you know it's bad when she does.

"I'm... questioning your objectivity! My Diamond." Peridot quickly tries to salvage her unintentional insult but fails.

"Well!" Yellow blanches at the green gem, acting like she just spit in her face.

"You are out of line." Yellow Diamond shouts, her voice starting to get higher as the conversation starts to draw on.

"I just think—"

"I'm not interested in the puny thoughts of a Peridot –"

"But—"

"You have disrespected this channel and my time with your presence and you would do well to—

"But—"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Peridot tenses and cowers at the command but does so. Yellow Diamond stands up from her chair and it accentuates just how tall and powerful she is. "You have failed at every stage of this mission. Your only chance to redeem yourself is to obey this simple order. You are to leave the Cluster to grow. It will tear apart the Earth, and I will take immense satisfaction in erasing that hideous rock off of our star maps. Is that clear?!" She demands with such fevor and willingness to let it happen so firmly. The demand itself makes Marcus's hand clench and mentally curse her to oblivion.

"I won't do it!" Peridot outright defies her, much to the delight, surprise and smiles from the ones behind the broken Peribot. "I can tell you with certainty that there are things on this planet worth protecting!" She states firmly and with such conviction that surprises them.

"What do you know about the Earth?" Yellow Diamonds asks her loudly.

"Apparently more than YOU! You... CLOD!" And the final nail in Peridot's coffin is set. Yellow Diamond for her part in being insulted so much by, to her, a subordinate scrunches her face hard in anger as she glares at Peridot through the screen. "Uuh! Peridot, out!" With one final Diamond salute, she quickly takes the initiative and shuts off the communicator before anymore can be said.

Everyone comes out from behind the broken robot and runs up to congratulate the green gem, who at this point looks like she's about to throw up and pass out.

"That was AMAZING!" Steven yells excitedly.

"Hoooollllly crap." Marcus says in awe at the defiance she exhibited.

"I can't believe I just did that…" Peridot groans.

"I was so wrong about being so wrong about you!"

"I can't believe I just did that…" She repeats.

"You thought you could change her mind." Garnet points out her action, which obviously failed.

"Yellow D got torn down by the 'Peri-dactyl'!" Amethyst excitedly yells while giving Peridot a new nickname.

She doesn't respond to the compliment and instead sighs before handing the communicator to Pearl. "Can one of you take this?"

"Why?" Pearl asks as she takes it.

"Because it can be remotely detonated." Peridot explains simply.

Just as she says that, the device starts to glow red and everyone starts freaking out and panicking, except Peridot who lies on the ground and curls up into a ball.

"How do we stop it?!"

"Just get rid of it!"

"Here Amethyst." Pearl quickly passes the ticking explosive to the purple gem.

"What am I supposed to do with it?!" She asks loudly and very confused before passing it to Marcus. "Here!"

"Wha- What can I do?!" He asks loudly and in a panic.

"I don't know! Disable it or something!"

"Uhh- wha- bu- I don't- Crap!" He stumbles over his words over and over again as he looks at the bomb in his hands and back to the others who are just as clueless as he is. He steps a little away from them as he starts trying to press buttons and twist parts to somehow get it open or disable the detonation function. As the beeping gets faster, higher levels of panic and sweat starts to accumulate on the hybrid. "Uhhhhhh… Ahhhh!" He screams as it gets really close now. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO—"

*Wump*

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… Oh… Apparently the… explosive countdown… halts when aaaaa… call is… um… activated." He hesitantly stutters while glancing from the others to his side, and to Yellow Diamond right in front of him. True to what he is saying, the right twist of the device was able to activate it, resulting in him now staring at Yellow Diamond and she back to him with a surprise look on her face.

"What is this?! Who are you?! Where is the Peridot that was using that communicator before?!" Yellow Diamond demands and yells. Marcus looks at her before glancing at the others who all have some tense and scared looks about them. Yellow Diamond in her still angry state glares angrily at him before realizing what he is. "Oh, I see now. You're a human. Ugh! Of course you must be the organic life she was talking about. Still can't believe you actually thrived. Just look…" As Yellow Diamond proceeds to insult his species, Marcus's confused stare turns to that of annoyance and then anger as she basically insults him right to his face. His teeth grit and his free hand clenches tightly before he's had enough.

"Shut… up." He orders in a deep voice.

That shuts her up as she looks taken back by the order from a lowly being to her. "Wha… how dare—"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He yells now. Pearl takes the initiative and covers Steven's ears before he can hear the worst of it. Everyone looks at him surprised, even Peridot who's now come out of her depressed state after hearing Yellow Diamond talk again. "…You sit there… talking and insulting me and my species, and you expect me to stand here and take the crap that comes from your mouth? No. You have no power over me and my kind and will not speak about my species like that." He threatens in a deep dark voice.

Yellow Pearl's mouth is agape in surprise and horror at the words he tells her without a care. Yellow Diamond is absolutely livid at the lack of respect he shows her and glares angrily at him. "Do you know who I am?" She slowly asks as she stands to her full height. The action is meant to be an intimidation factor but he doesn't show being scared in the least bit.

Marcus stands straighter at the question as he stares at her before giving a straight face. "You are Yellow Diamond. The highest level of authority in the gem hierarchy with the Great Diamond Authority. You command many gems and soldiers at your disposal… and I don't care." He states firmly and fiercely at her. She looks taken back by that information he has about her but turns back to anger.

"I could destroy your planet with a simple command! You don't want to anger me you insignificant being." She growls at him.

"He he he." His chuckling angers her further along with the smile. "You already I have." He answers before clenching his hands tightly. "You threaten my species… threaten my friends, my family, the people I care about, MY PLAAAANET!" He yells at her through the screen and then closes his eyes as he hunches over. "No one does that. Especially not someone who hides behind a screen and sends others to do her dirty work and didn't bother to send help unless they felt the need to report back." He spits out the last sentence as his eyes clench shut even tighter. His head and body begins shaking with silent building hatred at how casual and at ease the gem in front of him wishes his planet gone. After a few seconds, the shaking stops and his body goes at ease. He relaxes finally and stands straight up with his eyes still closed. He takes in a deep breath before letting it out in one long breath. He looks back directly at the screen and opens his eyes.

Yellow Pearl shakes in fear at the red eyes staring and Yellow Diamond is surprised at the change.

'You will not leave… I'm in control.' Marcus thinks as he death glares at the Diamond. "Everyone has their demons Yellow Diamond… and it looks like you just made one today." He says with a sinister smile on his face. "This is Earth… signing off… You clod." He shuts off the communicator as Yellow Diamond is about to retort.

The beeping resumes at an incredibly high rate. "Marcus!"

*Bo—*

*Woomp*

Just as the device detonates, Marcus manages to bubble the device before it can kill them all. The flash of light goes off for maybe a millisecond but the harmful blast becomes contained within the bubble the hybrid makes. The others who were crouched and ready to take the force of the explosion get back up to notice him holding a green bubble in-between his hands. The gems start walking closer to Marcus as he sounds like he's struggling with the ball shaking. In the center of the bubble the communicator is completely gone, replaced by what looks like a bright star in the center. "Marcus?" Garnet asks as she steps up to him.

"Man, so this is what it looks like to hold a literal explosion in your hands." He strains to say as beads of sweat start rolling down his form. The sole act of trying to keep the explosive in one strains himself to his absolute limits. Very carefully he turns to the side and looks at her, his eyes having already returned back to normal and giving her a strained smile. "You mind?"

"Not at all." Garnet answers with a smile and forms her gauntlets. Holding his arms out, he gives Garnet the room to hit. With a fierce cry, she punches the green bubble right out of hands and straight into the sky.

For his part the hybrid keeps his hands pointed to the bubble as it sails away straight into the sky, hoping to keep it in one piece as long as possible to avoid whatever damage the explosion might cause to the landscape. It takes what little energy he can muster as it gets farther and farther away until it finally ruptures.

In a massive explosion that lights up the entire sky in what some could claim to be a mini-nova. With the strain no longer a part of him, Marcus sits down and takes deep breaths. "Uhhh, uhhh, uhhh… oh man, that sucked." He grunts and wipes his forehead with his forearm. "Please don't make me do that again."

"No problem." Pearl reassures him with a pat on his shoulders before glancing to the side. "So long as Peridot doesn't bring anymore remotely exploding devices, you're good." He has a look of relief on his face.

"Uhhhhhh." Peridot groans as she lays on the ground, depressed again at being reminded of how this happened. "I thought I could reason with her…" She moans as she stares into the sky.

"Yeah. You really made her mad." Amethyst says since it really was her that made Yellow Diamond angry in the first place. When Marcus was talking it was more so threatening to him rather than unbridled anger.

"And then you insulted her to her face." Pearl adds with a smirk.

"Do you know what this means?!" Steven excitedly says as he comes up to her.

At the thought, Peridot curls up on her side with a thousand yard stare. "That I'm a traitor to my home world?" She asks to confirm.

"You're a Crystal Gem!" Steven opts to say instead and hugs her. Technically what she said was true but that's not what their focusing on.

"Whether you like it or not." With that last statement from Garnet, Peridot falls into an even deeper depressed state, moaning all the while over and over again.

As the others crowd around her to congratulate her more on her standing up to Yellow Diamond, Marcus stares at the sad gem with a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmmm."

"You okay?" Pearl asks, still next to him to make sure he's alright after his near collapse.

"Yeah, yea I'm good. Just…" He pauses as he looks at the gem that could have ratted them all out to the Diamond Authority and rendered their existence a living hell but instead didn't. Even going as far as to insult their leadership and ending her loyalty to Homeworld. "Thinking about something." He answers.

'I can't let her sacrifice go unrewarded.' Marcus thinks as he goes to stand.


Okay I'd say this was alright. It looks like Marcus may have just made Yellow Diamond angry along with Peridot. Guess we'll see how that pans out in the future for him. It looks like that despite having plenty of misgivings with his kind, having someone else be such at ease with wiping out an entire planet for a statement or her own pleasure still irks the hell out of him.

Anyway, think I am going to do a train of chapters again but keep in mind that school is starting again so my time may be hindered just a bit as I work on my classes. However there is another bit of information that I want you all to know for certain. For my RWBY story 'A Grimm's Handler' I have a poll set up at the top of my profile page on who the love interest should be for my OC in that story if any of you all didn't know and would like to contribute in the choosing. Guests would have to choose by leaving a review on that story, not this one, and members could choose in the poll. I at first thought anyone could choose but I guess I was wrong. Go figure. There's also something else I've decided that I want to tell you all.

I've decided to go ahead and start a new story: A Star Wars: The Clone Wars OC story.

That's right. For those of you not following me directly and haven't gotten the notification, if you go to my stories list you'll find that the story is already up and ready to read the prologue. There's not much more than the prologue chapter right now but I already have plenty of ideas on how to go about the series and for right now just want to see how people take to it.

Also if some of you are curious as to the pairing option for Marcus, don't worry. I got that covered.

Thank you all for reading, have a great day everyone and as always, have fun reading.