A sunny day. A nice day. A great day.

Steven Universe happily steps his way along the beach in his town of Beach City, Delmarva. It's been a relatively quiet couple of months and he's happy to see things being relatively peaceful around his quaint little town. Nothing much so far has changed within the city, except maybe a new house being built, but its outside of the city that he knows has changed.

But he doesn't know exactly what, just something that the others mentioned a few times. While the walk along the beach is relatively peaceful, the kid is still somewhat conflicted over recent events. From the fighting months back, the copying of so many vehicles and those robots Peridot had on her ship, the others haven't told him exactly what had happened when they all left and came back a few days later. He was thinking of asking them what happened, but the fact that Marcus actually gave him a gun, even though in the past he was absolutely careful in making sure Steven wouldn't accidentally get his hands on one, and the slight look of tired gloom on their faces, he decided not to bother them. Although he was worried when Marcus left again a couple days later and was gone for weeks at a time.

Still the others have reassured him everything is fine now. That he doesn't have to worry too much. Somehow he figures that their lying to him, but he thinks their just sparing him some grisly details, like how Marcus did when it came to that alternate monster form of his.

Still, for now he's just looking for a calm afternoon to be with his own thoughts. His walking however does eventually lead him to his fathers car wash. As he slowly makes his way to the place of business, he spots his father doing a little bit of washing on his van. "Hey dad." Steven casually calls out to his father with a smile and a hand wave.

Greg for his part turns around and smiles at his son. "Hey Shtuball. Just finished washing the old van here." He explains and takes a step back with his bucket of water and sponge.

"Nice. How dirty was it?"

"It was… well, none actually."

"Wait what?" Steven asks confused. Why would his father wash the van when it wasn't even dirty to begin with.

"Yeeaaaahh. Business at the car wash has been slow, as usual, but since I'm rich it doesn't really matter as much. I still want to run it but, really I was just bored. And I guess maybe if people saw me washing a car they might be tempted to bring their vehicles by." Greg looks around and sees the roads barren and empty for his lot. "Looks like it didn't work. Should probably do it when their actual people nearby." He mutters the last part to himself.

"Huh, you might be right."

"Things pretty boring with the gems too huh?" Greg guesses. "I haven't heard of you guys going on any missions recently. Guess nothings come up huh?" He asks.

Steven nods in confirmation. "Yeah. Things have been pretty quiet since… well, you know." Steven hesitantly says. Greg gets a slight grim look at the memory and stress of that time but it soon disappears as he nods in understanding.

"Yeah, I figured as much. Honestly, I'm glad. No more crazy adventures going on. Monsters attacking the city, evil military humans looking to kidnap us, while its boring now, I think I can live without the stress you know. Theirs only so much hair I can lose now." He adds with a chuckle and runs his hand through his long hair behind him.

Steven too lets out a laugh. "Yeah. That's true. I'm sure we'll figure something out to keep us occupied." They shar a small laugh at that, finding a bit of relief in the whole situation. As they delve back into silence with each other, there is something that Steven can't help but be curious about. "Hey uhhh, dad?" Steven hesitantly asks his father. "Where's your uhhh, you know?" He vaguely asks with some small hand gestures.

Greg smiles at what he means and nods towards his van. "In the glove compartment in the van. Marcus also went ahead and provided the papers needed to register it in my name. Don't know how he was able to do it in the first place but I think at this point I shouldn't really try to make sense of his… less savory actions huh?"

"Hehe, yeah. That sounds like him alright. Something he would do." Steven mutters with a good natured smile.

"And uhhh, what about… yours?" Greg asks his son hesitantly this time.

"Don't worry." Steven gives his dad a smile and a hand wave to ease his worries. "It's locked in a safe he built for me behind my dresser. Obviously he no matter how much paperwork he makes he can't exactly make me a legal owner of it, but its safely locked away and I haven't touched it since. He kept saying to be extremely careful, its not a toy, and only to use it in the direst of emergencies. More dire than if what ever reason I can't get to him, the gems, or even you. So it's in the safe for now since things have been quiet."

"That's good. That's good." Greg says with a small bit of relief. He decides to go ahead and sit in the open back of his van and take a moment to relax. He starts to relax though he looks unsure of something else. "He… is done with them, right?" Greg asks with skepticism.

Steven knows exactly who his dad is talking about. "Don't worry. From what I've seen on TV and what he and the others told me, they're done. We don't have to worry about them anymore. Marcus even said he's making double sure no one on earth gets the drop on us again." Steven is unsure exactly what Marcus meant by that but was promised nothing violent or dangerous, just small precautions. While Marcus has lied before, this time the way he said it with the amount of relief in his voice and how happy he was leads them to believe he's sure of them this time.

"Well, that's something I guess." Greg takes what he can get as he leans back a little.

Steven nods at that before turning and spotting something new. "Hey, when did that house get there?"

Greg leans out of the van and stares where his son is pointing at. A new house has been added to the block of houses nearest to the car wash with a large cargo truck sits on the curb in front of the house with several men unloading various furniture, boxes, a large flat screen tv and a bunch of computers. "Oh yeah. That house started being built weeks ago. I think they finally finished it and now some new people are moving in. Hehe." Greg can't help but let out a small chuckle. "I can only imagine their surprise when crazier gem stuff happens here. Let's be honest son. It may be quiet now but theirs going to be more."

"Yeah, your probably right." Steven nods in agreement with his father. After a few more moments of silence he comes to a decision. "I'm gonna go say hi and welcome them to the town."

"Alright then. Just be careful. If you need me, I'll be here." Greg says as he leans back in the van, laying down and letting his legs dangle out the back.

"Thanks!" Steven replies before walking to the house. Upon closer inspection, it's a large two story house with looks like a wide attic roof, it's red brick, black screen windows, freshly planted grass with a cemented driveway into a two car garage and a sidewalk heading down from the front door to the streets sidewalk. The movers make short work of the majority of the stuff with only a few more being careful with what look like wooden crates.

"Careful with that! You don't want those going off." A lady calls out, standing in the middle of the lawn and directing the men where to go and what to do. One of them nods as they carefully move the boxes into the house. "Can't believe we have this. Seems like almost a distant dream." She glances to the side a little and smiles warmly before staring forward again.

A few steps away from her stands a small child fiddling with a rubik's cube, not at all focused on the moving and just on his puzzle toy as he slowly methodically flips it all around and maneuvers it.

"Hi." Steven walks up and gives a small simple greeting to the kid. He stops twisting the cube around and slowly looks up at Steven, an impassive neutral look on his face. "My names Steven. I noticed you and your family moved here. I wanna be the first to go ahead and welcome you to Beach City!" Steven loudly proclaims with a smile and outstretched arms. "What's your name?" He asks.

"…" The kid in front of him doesn't immediately answer. Instead he simply stares at Steven, even titling his head curiously at the boisterous loud kid he just met.

Steven sweatdrops at the awkwardness at the silence and chuckles nervously. "Aaaallrighty then. Well I'll go ahead and say I think you'll love it here in Beach City. We have plenty of houses where people live in," Steven gestures to the residential area of the city, "We have a car wash, run by my dad," He points to said building, "And over there is the boardwalk which is where you'll most likely be hanging out when in town. Theirs a lot of places to eat with some of the best food you can possibly ask for! We got the Frymans serving frys, don't ask for anything pizza; Fish stew Pizza providing us with delicious pizza and fish, don't ask them for frys, and all kinds of other awesome restaurants. Then we got the Funland Arcade where can eat, have fun and play some cool arcade games. We have the Beach City Funland amusement park. Lots of amusement park food, awesome rides and games you can play and have fun! Beach City may be small compared to like Empire City but I can assure you you'll love this place in no time!"

"…" He stares at Steven still in silence. He doesn't really look as enthusiastic as Steven is, just not reacting. Soon, he turns around and begins heading into the house with his toy held in hand. Steven looks on confused as he departs.

"Oh, okay then. See you later!" He calls out to the kid with a hand wave as he disappears through the door. When he's gone, Steven looks on as he idly scratches his head, not angry or miffed or anything like that but just mostly confused at the lack of anything from the new arrival. "… Huh." He mutters.

"Ohhh don't mind him. He doesn't really talk all that much, nor is he very sociable. Just give him some time." The lady standing there finally makes her presence known to Steven as she greets him. She stands there in a purple T-shirt, tan slacks, with her dark hair tied up in a ponytail. "Hello. My names Katherine." She greets him as she kneels down to be at his eyelevel. "Though most people and my friends simply call me Kat. That's my son you were just having a one-sided conversation with, Kyle. He's nice but he prefers to keep to himself most of the time."

"Oh okay. That's cool." Steven leaves it at that as they continue to stare at the house, marveling at the newly constructed house. Steven also notes just how sturdy it is than other houses in the area. Most of them are your typical wood house but this one's brick all over and will take a lot more abuse. That does remind Steven of a tendency that Beach City has. "Also uhhh, just so you know, this town has a pretty bad habit of things getting really weird, and really blow upey, at times. So don't be surprised if you see explosions, giant monsters, maybe a little gunfire." Steven warns her. The lady though doesn't seem perturbed by the information but simply smiles and nods.

"Ooohh don't worry about that. I've handled some weird stuff before. And besides, I'm not alone here."

"Hey Kat!" A guy calls out from inside the house. She glances back, not turning fully, and sees someone poking his head out towards her.

"What is it Carlos?" She asks.

"Where do we out the computers?!"

"Second Floor, largest room!"

"Hardware?!"

"Attic!"

"Wouldn't the basement be better?!"

"Okay you know what!" The lady turns around, now named Kat, stares angrily at the Caucasian Mexican-descent individual, a very clear annoyed look on her face at the yelling going on and the overall specifics he is asking for. "There's a reason why we have the attic with a bunch of windows!"

Steven can't help but look up and take not of the windows adorning the attic roof area, with two windows being on each side of the roof, totaling eight windows around the houses roof. "Ohh, right." Carlos retreats back inside to save himself further embarrassment.

"Geez that guy." She rubs her face in annoyance and lets her hand drop before turning to Steven. "Listen, I'm gonna go make sure they setup everything the right way. It was nice talking to you Steven. Thank you for the greeting!" She calls out to him as she heads into the house, giving Steven one last wave.

"Your welcome! Take care! Welcome to the neighborhood!" He replies and waves to her back. Once she's gone, Steven smiles at how semi-well that greeting went with the new people in town. While Kyle didn't exactly give him any indication he was happy or sad to be there, his mother was good to meet, Without much else for him to do there, he turns back to his father and is about to go back to him but notices the man laying down in the back of his van. He seems to have fallen asleep. "Oh, eh alright. I'll let him sleep." Steven waves him off and walks off back home. Well close to home. While its on his way, he decides to go to someone else's home to see if they're back.

'It's been awhile since brother was in Beach City. I hope everything is okay.' He thinks as he walks. His brother has been gone for so long on some important mission. He's still sure its just a fake name for what he's doing that the others just told him but it has to be important if he alone has to be the one to gone for so long. Usually it's a gem related mission if at least one other of the Crystal Gems went with him but because they haven't, Steven feels this is human related. He sighs a little in annoyance at the whole secrecy going on, but he does still kind of understand since he has a firearm in his safe, something he never thought he would have when his brother showed him them but swore never to let him handle one. 'Things change I guess.' Steven sighs in frustration but ultimately relents and continues his trek to the hill. Soon he has eyes on the house on the top of the hill and he has a look of elation as he stares at the truck next to his brothers house. The very same truck he owns and left with.

"Yay! He's back!" Steven loudly proclaims and runs with renewed gusto, arms in the air and a smile on his face. The fact that the house he's running to is on a higher elevation doesn't deter or tire him as he easily bounds up towards the house. He quickly makes it to the door and throws it open with a smile. "Hey Ma- Oof!" He's about to call out until when he bounds through the door, he slams into someone's legs. Both people grunt at the sudden contact. Steven takes a few steps back and waves his arms around to try to steady his balance and prevent himself from falling over. He manages to force himself back onto his own two feet with both his arms held out to steady himself. After he's done, he looks up and stares in surprise and confusion at the person in front of him.

A significantly older gentleman than his brother who he was hoping to meet. They both stare at each other in awkward silence, unsure of exactly what to make of the new person in front of them.

"Oh… hi." The old man awkwardly greets.

"Uhhh, hello. Who are you?" Steven greets and asks him.

"The names Bill. I'm just hear meeting a friend of mine."

"Oh! You know Marcus?"

"Marcus? Wait, are you Steven?" Bill asks as he kneels down, making himself smaller and closer to Steven in eye height.

"Yeah, that's me… How do you know me?" Steven replies before immediately putting himself on edge. His right foot slides back a little, putting him into a stance as he brings his left arms forward in front of him, ready to pull out his shield.

What he does get however is Bill giving him some small light chuckles as he closes his eyes and smiles. "So your Steven then. Hm, he talks highly of you." Bill pushes himself up and steps around Steven towards the door. "Anyway, I need to get going and see how the house is doing, and if the others are settling in okay. He's upstairs. Take care." He gives Steven a small wave and a smirk before heading out the door.

"O…kay, bye then." Steven waves back a little confused until he's gone. He stays staring at the door for a few seconds before shaking his head and walking deeper into the house. "Marcus? You back?"

"Upstairs last door on your left!" A voice replies. Steven smiles and jogs up the stairs and down the hallway. When he makes it to the door he knocks on it.

"Marcus?"

"Come in." Carefully Steven opens the door peaks in.

"Hey Marcus! I'm so glad- Whoa!" He begins to say until he takes in the state of the office room. Before the place used to be bare bones with only a few things here and there. To say its been overhauled would be an understatement. The window in the room is thicker than before which has now been replaced with actual bullet proof glass. In a small corner of the room there are several filing cabinets set up to take and catalogue documents. Next to them, theirs a massive large dark green steel cage with perforated diamond holes along the front door of it. This is basically Marcus's weapons locker with several of his weapons locked inside it. Before the wooden desk was in the middle of the room, now its pressed right up against the wall with a few small stacks of paper documents and folders ready to be read and catalogued. What really has this place overhauled is the fact that almost the entire wall that the desk is against has been covered in multiple monitors displaying various walls of text that Steven can barely keep track of. At the desk, Marcus sits there with his hands placed into the liquified nanobot control terminal, allowing him to use the PC's and monitors he has with only his mind to use the commands instead of a simple keyboard and mouse.

Steven notices the barest hint of green in his brothers eyes as he gets around to his front but that soon changes back to normal as he disengages himself from the terminal. "Ah, okay. Weird feeling still, but useful." Marcus comments as he rubs his eyes before turning around. When they both look at each other, he smiles. "Steven…" He says as he stands up.

Steven wastes no time in launching himself at his brother. They let out small laughs as they embrace each other in a hug. "… I missed you."

"Yeah, I know brother." Marcus replies as they continue to hug. "Sorry for being gone those few months. I just had to finish some things."

"Like what?" Steven asks as they let go. For a second Steven is assuming that Marcus is going to go ahead and just tell him not to worry about it, to simply just not tell him about what he did and just say everything is going to be okay now.

"The Iron Kings are finished, completely now." Marcus bluntly tells him.

To say the small gem hybrid is a little surprised would be a fair assumption. "Wait really? Did you… have to…?" Steven leaves the question hanging, allowing Marcus to dictate that Steven assumes Marcus went to some extreme measures to end them.

"Not all of them. Most of them after I exposed some corruption in their ranks, they threw down their weapons and actually helped me subdue the rest. Point being, lives were spared and a lot of them will get to live different lives." Marcus explains before stepping back and sitting in his chair, letting out a sigh of tiredness. "I did think about just wiping them all out, but then I also realized, maybe I can do something different." He smiles at his brother. "You always try to see the good in people Steven, to not give up on anyone and make things alright for everyone. I'm gonna do what I can to not take the… direct approach all the time."

"I'm glad to hear that. What kept you busy for so long?"

At that, Marcus smiles as he leans back in his chair as he stares at his brother. "Well, some things happened, I talked to a few people, made some calls, organized some stuff; point being, we now have some allies, help in case we have to deal with more of Homeworlds efforts against us. And I now have some income that doesn't involve me stealing from people."

"Wow really?!" Steven gladly asks with a smile of his own, then it turns to puzzlement. "Wait, who?"

"Some people who helped me out when I was vulnerable, then I helped them, and others who I helped clean up their act a little. Their willing to help and I have the knowledge, they have the manpower and resources. All in all Steven," He turns a bit and stares out his window, giving him a clear view of Beach City in all its glory. "I think we'll be just a bit better off than before when it comes to Homeworld."

"That's good." Steven comments as he stands next to his brother, staring out the window as well. "Although to be honest, I'm just glad your back."

Marcus turns to Steven, looking at him quizzically. "Really?"

"Yeah!" He proclaims as stare back at him. "I missed you. It wasn't the same here without you."

With the words that Steven says, Marcus begins to feel joy at the what he's saying. He smiles again to his brother and pats his shoulder comfortingly. "I missed you too man. And don't you worry…

"I'm not going anywhere."

What do you all think? Like the story sentence break that represents both me and Marcus not going anywhere? I liked it. Thought it up on the spot.

As for this new story, I figured I think it was time to give the first part of my story a bit of a break with how large it was and make this sequel. With the word count over 700k I decided I needed to separate it a little in order to give people a break. Not to mention this part of the story won't exactly contain the mature bloody elements that the last one had so I think its safe to say that this sequel can be given the T rating, which is something I debated with a few times between T and M on the first part. Now, with what I have planned I feel confident this story can be T. Of course, I thought the same with the first part but that eventually changed. Here's hoping I manage to keep this tame compared to the last one.

Anyway, not much to say here. Marcus has got his own army now, he has his own people to work with, has backup now to work with should Homeworld come to intervene and we all know they will. Only this time, Earth will have a bit of a bigger retaliatory force than just the Crystal Gems and a few people of Beach City.

I hope you all like this. Some of you are returning readers, others just may have seen this first before seeing the other story first. This is the SEQUEL so if you haven't read it, go check out my first story A Tale of a Jade.

Thank you all for your support, your new support and your continued support in my future endeavors. Hope this story series of mine continues to meet everyone's expectations and keeps all your attention on it as it grows. Thanks again, have fun reading, but most of all, have a great day and take care everyone.