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Tales From the Constant: Clone Force 99

Chapter 1:

Relationships: Phee & Clone Force 99, Batcher & Clone Force 99 Omega & Tech & Wrecker

Content Warnings: Blood and Injury

Summary:

A Bad Batch x Don't Starve crossover

When the Batch find a strange archway, Omega, Tech, Wrecker and Batcher end up being dragged into the Constant. They struggle to adjust to the new world and its hostile environment, slowly learning more of how this separate dimension works.

Check out the amazing art @squad-724 made for this AU :D

Word count: 4,496

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Echo sighs. Even if Rex said he didn't need him, and as much as he enjoys going on missions as a squad with his siblings, Echo is plagued by the feeling that he isn't doing enough. There's so much still to be done, the fight being far from over. Like he can sense something's up, Hunter puts a hand on Echo's shoulder.

"It's good to have you back, if only for a bit." Hunter says. "Omega missed you." Hunter doesn't need to say that he did too. It's only been around three months since Tantiss, but Echo hasn't been on a mission with his siblings since then.

Echo smiles. It's not like he's missing out on anything important by being here, Rex not having a mission planned, so he tries to push those thoughts aside. "What did you say this place was, Phee?" Echo redirects the conversation, shining his flash light around the cave walls.

Phee grins. "The last known location of a group of pirates. They raided areas destroyed by the war, they're bound to have items belonging to refugees on Pabu."

"Pirates? Like you?" Crosshair ribs Phee. She laughs, elbowing the sniper as she passes him.

"Stow it."

Echo has to admit that she fits right in to their little dysfunctional family. Tech's started to grow closer to Phee as well, it's clear to see that they care for one another.

“Where is Tech anyway?” Echo thinks to himself. He, Wrecker and Omega, accompanied by Batcher, went a little ahead. They haven't been heard from in a while. Echo hopes they're not getting into trouble.

Just then, Omega comes running towards them. At first, Echo thinks he's jinxed them by thinking of the possibility of something going wrong, but he relaxes when he spots the wide smile plastered on Omega's face.

"We found something! It looks really old!" She grabs hold of Echo's hand with one of her own, and Phee's with her other, dragging them towards what's got her so excited.

"Slow down Omega." Echo says, unable to suppress a laugh. She reduces her pace slightly, but only stops dragging them when they enter a wider part of the cave. Hunter and Crosshair managed to keep up, Echo already able to hear the youngest member of the squad complaining about the unnecessary jog.

The cave is taller here too, Echo's flash light almost unable to penetrate the dark above them. In the middle of the seemingly naturally formed room Echo spots Tech and Wrecker, now joined by Omega again. All three of them are crowded around a structure of some kind, which Batcher is sniffing, wagging her short tail.

Omega's right, it does look old. The structure consists of two stone pillars, connected by a further carved stone beam. In the centre of the beam, the stone seems darker, and carved to look like a closed eye. Tattered red fabric hangs from the beam, and dark green, almost black, thorny vines twist around the pillars. Strangely enough, there are bright red flowers blooming along the vines.

Echo can hear how excited Tech is, even from meters away. He's rambling about the flowers, a type of rose according to him, and how they could have evolved to survive in complete darkness.

"Ever seen anything like this?" Hunter asks Phee.

She shakes her head. "Never." There's a fond smile on her face as she watches Tech show Wrecker and Omega something on his datapad.

The four of them walk across the room at a normal pace now Omega isn't rushing them. She does wave to them, urging them to come look at their find closer. Echo laughs quietly to himself at her enthusiasm.

Out of nowhere, Hunter inhales sharply.

"Get away from that thing!" He yells across the cave. No sooner than he's done that, something in the structure seems to awaken.

The carved eye flicks open, emerald iris staring around the room intensely. Black flames dark enough to blot out light in their close vicinity flare from the pillars, and the vines begin to writhe and undulate. A black mass starts to form in between the pillars, and a tremor runs through the cave.

Echo is knocked to the ground, his brothers and Phee suffering the same fate. Distantly, Echo's aware of screaming, but he can't place its origin.

Then, a silence falls over the room. Echo just catches the eye on the beam blinking once more, then all the abnormalities are gone, and so are Tech, Wrecker, Omega and Batcher.

Tech groans, rubbing a hand at his throbbing head. Pushing himself onto his knees, his attention is immediately drawn to the grass beneath his palms and the shift in light.

He'd thought he might have slipped or been hit by something related to the artefact they were inspecting. Tech hadn't expected to see entirely different scenery.

Sitting up, he first notices how even and broad the terrain around him is, the sky seeming to go on endlessly. There's a strange look to it, both the world and the sky. Like nothing Tech's ever seen. The sun is larger then the one seen from Pabu, hanging close to the horizon at the moment, and the shade of the sky is strange, a slightly off colour.

A groan to Tech's left alerts him to the fact he isn't alone. Wrecker's slowly getting off the floor, rubbing at his neck. Then Batcher barks, followed by Omega trying to get her to quiet down.

There's confusion on both his siblings faces as they try and make sense of their new surroundings. Tech's yet to do so either.

Turning around, he spots the same archway they'd inspected in the cave. Only, it bares a few changes here. For a start, a loud noise emanates from it, sounding almost mechanical. The vines wrapped around it seem more active, pulsing and writhing, and black smoke or flames emit from the top of the pillars. The carved eye is open now and looking very alive. It moves and rolls, peering down at them and blinking from time to time. An involuntary shudder runs through Tech's body as he makes eye contact with the thing. He moves backwards a few steps. It can't possibly be alive, so it must be some mechanical device.

"Where are we?" Omega asks, eyes wide and one hand on Batcher's back.

Tech really wishes he had an answer. Simply due to the look of the sky and sun, this has to be a different planet. But that should be impossible. The only way something like this could have happened is teleportation and that's a science no one has mastered yet. Tech would know, he'd spent hours reading papers about its continuous failure.

But then, how did they get here? And why did this place bear the same ancient archway as the cave.

"I'm not certain. We are not on Pabu any more, that much is abundantly clear," Tech says, looking for his datapad. It's laying on the floor a few steps away.

"Where are the others?" Wrecker asks, looking around. Tech's seen no sign of them, even if they were right there in the cave.

Wrecker activates his comm, only getting static in return. Either they can't answer their comlinks, or they're out of range. Tech highly doubts it's the second, due to the fact that he's made sure that their comms can be connected over vast distances.

Tech's datapad switches on fine, but he's immediately baffled by the fact that is seems to be getting absolutely no signal. There's barely any places that that's the case. He says as much to his siblings, both of them looking confused.

Tech manages to find signal, no matter how bad, anywhere. This is getting stranger by the minute.

"Maybe we're just in a bad spot?" Wrecker suggests, voice hopeful despite the worry on his face. The alternative is that they've somehow managed to land on a planet so far from any technologically advanced societies or satellites, that it can't reach them, and that's a rather terrifying option.

Hesitantly, they decide to walk a little further in the strange terrain, looking for any form of signal to contact their siblings and Phee. The land only gets stranger. The two types of trees spread in this area, one deciduous, bearing orange leaves, the other coniferous make strange noises occasionally, and large pollinator insects fly between various colourful flowers. Occasional solitary bushes covered in bright red berries come into view and fungi of a similar shade of red dot the ground in some places.

“I really don't like this Tech,” Wrecker mutters out of earshot from Omega, “why aren't they answering their comms?”

Tech scans many of the plants they stumble upon, baffled by the readings his datapad spits out. Despite giving him a decent reading on the plants, it keeps bringing up errors, claiming it can't identify certain substances. That shouldn't be possible, so Tech concludes that this must have to do with the lack of signal as well.

Batcher chases after the black and red birds that land ever so often, wagging her tail. At least someone's having fun, Tech thinks to himself as his datapad fails to connect with anything yet again.

Red seems to be a common theme throughout this area, though Tech's sure he's just recognizing patterns in places there are none.

Tech shakes his head. He doesn't know, despite being the one who's supposed to know almost everything, who's supposed to solve issues like these.

They walk for hours, exhaustion and hunger beginning to set in. The grass eventually becomes darker and the trees denser, all bearing needles now. They block out a lot of the light, making the air seem cooler. It smells damp and of tree sap.

The more they try and contact the others, the more Tech scans things, the more the irritating thought that something is horribly wrong rattles around Tech's head. Things keep not adding up, the lack of signal, being unable to even set up a weak connection with their siblings, the bizarre error messages his datapad spits out.

Tech has a theory that may explain their situation, but it is even crazier than the prospect of teleportation. He doesn't share it immediately, thinking about it as they walk. He doesn't want to worry his siblings, but keeping things from them is hardly an option.

When the sky starts to turn red, dusk setting in, Tech decides he's thought about it long enough. They all need a short break anyway. Taking a moment to sit down, Batcher obviously immediately flopping her head into Omega's lap, Tech sits in front of his siblings.

“I do not believe we are in our universe any more,” Tech states, interrupting Wrecker saying something about a different type of mushroom he spotted, green this time apparently. “And I doubt the others are here with us.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Wrecker asks, leaning forwards. Even if his voice doesn't betray it, deep worry lines his expression. Omega strokes a hand over Batcher's head as she nods along to Wrecker's question.

Tech explains the data he's collected on his odd findings, showing his siblings the error messages and mentioning the strange look of the sky. “As outlandish as it sounds, I believe we are in an entirely different dimension.”

Silence descends on the group, only the forest around them breaking it. Something moves among the trees and Tech turns to check, hand going to the blaster at his hip. When nothing moves again, Tech turns back to his vode.

“How are we going to find the others?” Omega asks, voice small.

“I don't know,” Tech says, wringing his hands. “Perhaps the gateway that brought us here can be reactivated.”

Wrecker nods, putting a hand on Omega's shoulder. “Yeah! If anyone can get that thing running, it's Tech! We'll be out of here in no time!”

Tech admires Wrecker's optimism and trust in his abilities, though Tech isn't quite as sure. At least it gets a smile out of Omega.

“For now, we will have to prioritize survival. Finding a source of food as well as water clean enough to be safe to drink after being cooked.” Tech says.

“And supplies for a fire. I can handle that,” Wrecker adds, Tech nodding in response.

Wrecker stands up, cracking his back before pulling Omega up next. He reaches for his knife but comes back empty. Confusion pinches Wrecker's expression. “Could have sworn I packed my knife this morning,” Wrecker mutters, annoyance clear in his tone. “Did anyone see it?”

Tech shakes his head. He'd have noticed if Wrecker dropped it and he doubts Wrecker would ever be so careless as to not realize if he lost his knife. He'd need it to collect wood, that much is clear. Despite all the trees, there are next to no branches on the floor. There are small bushes made of twigs, but they'll hardly fuel a fire long.

Looking around, Tech's eyes land on a piece of stone on the floor. For some reason, he's certain it's flint. They're laying about in many places and it's giving Tech an idea. He gets to his feet, picking up the piece of flint. It's edges are already quite sharp.

“I may have a solution for your problem.” Tech holds the flint out to show it to his vode.

“An axe, that's a good idea!” Omega says. How she'd managed to tell exactly what Tech was thinking is a little strange, but he pushes the thought aside.

The tool ends up looking very primitive, handle made from a thick stick Wrecker got from one of the dry bushes. It doesn't look particularly stable, but it will have to do.

As Wrecker finds a suitably small tree to fell for their purposes, Tech and Omega scan the area for anything edible looking. After informing Wrecker, they trace their steps back a little to the edge of the forest.

It doesn't take long for them to spot a pond surrounded by berry bushes. The water is stagnant, so Tech's hesitant to use it, but it's the only thing they've found so far. It look surprisingly clean. After carefully inspecting the berries on the bushes, scanning them multiple times, Tech has to admit that they seem edible. Omega begins collecting them whilst Tech saves an image of the fruits on his datapad, logging the information on them. Batcher looks like she wants to help, though all she does is sniff around the bush and take a drink from the pond.

After aiding Omega in her efforts for a while, Tech wanders a little further. He's spotted more berry bushes and something that looks like an orange root growing close to the ground. The orange root seems edible as well, so Tech collects it too.

They've amassed quite a bit of food by the time Wrecker steps out of the forest, carrying wood. The sun has almost set by the point Wrecker lifts and arm to wave at them as he smiles. He deposits the wood next to Tech.

“We should set up camp near trees, they will act as shelter against the elements,” Tech says. Omega helps him move the wood Wrecker's collected, whilst their demolitions expert wanders off to find some suitable kindling. Thankfully, there seems to be a lot of dry tufts of tall grass about.

“Woah, s'kriffing dark out here!” Wrecker exclaims, making Tech roll his eyes.

"Have you ever made a fire?" Tech asks Omega as he arranges wood in preparation for a fire. Wrecker's still taking his time with the kindling, but they may as well get ready.

Omega shakes her head, so Tech makes running commentary whilst he works. He shows her the fire starting tool he carries. It's little more than two pieces of stone, but that makes it good. It doesn't need fuel or charge to work.

As the light keeps getting dimmer, Tech turns his flash light on and so does Omega. Looking up, Tech spots Wrecker still halfway across the clearing, staring into the nearby forest.

"Wrecker!" Tech shouts, waving him to come to them when he looks up. Wrecker jogs a little to close the gap between them but slows when he's in shouting distance.

"Saw something moving," he says, "it looked furry."

It's good that Wrecker's keeping an eye on their surroundings, but Tech wishes he'd do so later. It's already getting cold and they're all hungry.

Then, when Wrecker's still a couple meters away, the sun sets and complete darkness descends upon them. The only thing Tech can see is the small area his and Omega's flash light are illuminating.

“You have a flash light, don't you?” He shouts, turning back to the stack of wood he and Omega have created.

Out of nowhere, Batcher starts to whine. Then Tech hears it, an unfamiliar noise in the darkness. At first, Tech thinks it's a loud rush of air, but a moment of consideration places the sound more in the realms of breathing or perhaps a snarl. Tech's immediately on high alert.

“Tech?” Wrecker calls, breathing hard and shaky. Then he screams.

Omega gasps. “Wrecker!” She yells into the darkness, trying to run in the direction of the noise before Tech grabs her. Barking into the darkness, Batcher refuses to step into it.

Fear grips Tech as he pulls Omega close, using his light to look for their brother. Tech's certain he can hear him, heaving for breath, but the beam of light from his flash light doesn't land on Wrecker. Heart thundering in his chest, an eternity seems to pass.

The snarl echoes through the pitch black again, just moments before Wrecker stumbles into the light, falling to his knees.

He doesn't stay on the edge of the light long, scrambling to his feet and running towards them, glancing behind himself as he moves. Wrecker drops to his knees next to Tech and Omega, panting hard. In an instant, Batcher is at his side, pressing herself against Wrecker.

Tech scans the area around them, but nothing moves. Nothing snarls or breaths again either. He still draws his blaster. There's few things worse than an enemy you don't have eyes on. He glances at Wrecker, but despite his scream, Wrecker doesn't look hurt. Hunched over and breathing irregularly, but not visibly bleeding. Tech decides to deal with him later, trying to spot their stalker instead.

Except, Omega starts frantically tapping Tech's arm. “Tech, Tech!” she says, voice cracking in fear.

Tech whips around, expecting her to be staring into the dark and at some vicious beast. Instead, her eyes are focused down, on Wrecker.

He's spitting on the floor as he struggles to breath deeply. Something gray and translucent drops from his lips, almost like that strange gray fire they saw on the archway. It starts to dissolve when Tech points his light at it.

Tech crouches down to his brother's level, manoeuvring him to be sitting down on the ground. Wrecker looks paler than usual.

“What is that stuff?” Tech hisses to himself as he watches more of the smoke-like substance drip from Wrecker's lips and disappear. Wrecker coughs weakly, shaking his head.

“Something bit me,” Wrecker forces through clenched teeth, clutching his chest, “then it burst into my chest and out of my mouth.”

“What?” Omega sounds both horrified and confused.

“I- I couldn't grab it,” Wrecker mutters, “it was like smoke. Or a shadow.”

Tech tries to push most of the assault of information aside in favour of dealing with what seems most pressing. “It bit you?” Tech asks.

Wrecker nods. “Chest- Chest hurts,” he gasps. Omega's eyes are wide as she puts a hand on Wrecker's shoulder.

“Show me,” Tech says before handing Omega one of his blasters. “Watch the darkness. If you sense any motion of a threatening nature, eliminate it without hesitation, understood?” Omega nods, taking the blaster in one hand, grip on it and her flash light tight enough to make her knuckles lighten. Batcher stands at her side, watching the darkness just as intently.

Wrecker's only wearing his light armor, but even it shows no damage. But the clothes underneath it bare signs of the injury Wrecker spoke of. It's soaked in blood. Tech swears under his breath as he notices it, making Omega look over briefly.

Getting the relatively tight shirt off Wrecker is stressful, Wrecker groaning at the movement and fresh blood spilling across Tech's hands as he works. Once Wrecker's chest is bare, Tech swears again.

Deep gouges, arranged in a semi circle span across Wrecker's chest. The same strange gray substance seems to leak from the injury. Tech keeps his light focused on it to make the stuff vanish faster. The bite looks to be from an enormous set of teeth, jagged and sharp.

“Think it got my back too,” Wrecker groans, hunching in on himself. Omega turns around again, inhaling sharply.

“He's right, it did,” she mutters, pointing at Wrecker's back.

Wrecker leans forwards for Tech and he spots it too. An almost matching set of wounds mar Wrecker's back. When Tech helps Wrecker sit upright again, he exhales shakily.

“Omega, keep watch while I treat Wrecker,” Tech orders, getting a nod from Omega. He feels bad putting that responsibility on her, she's just a kid. But he needs to deal with Wrecker and do so fast.

Tech is far from prepared to do first aid. He wasn't wearing his pack, and the only supplies he has on hand are things stashed in his satchels. Some disinfectant, bandages and a meagre amount of bacta.

Wanting to free Omega from her horrible job as soon as possible, Tech hurries as much as he can. He does his best to be careful, but Wrecker still suffers under the hasty treatment, hissing or whimpering at everything Tech does. Tech sincerely hopes he's got all of that bizarre substance out of Wrecker's injuries by the time he moves on from cleaning the wound. He'll be monitoring their large brother closely, fearful of what the substance might do.

Not that noticing it's toxic and harming Wrecker would do them any good, Tech thinks. It's not like they have the supplies to deal with something like that.

Tech's never put such a thing layer of bacta on such a nasty injury before, but they'll need enough for Wrecker's continuous recovery. He curses himself for not preparing better for their mission. Now Wrecker's not just gravely injured and in a lot of pain, but he doesn't even have a decent amount of bacta to get him comfortable and encourage healing.

Despite the pain and his hatred of medical situations, Wrecker holds remarkably still. Tech uses as little of the bandages as he can, the fabric staining red immediately. Wrecker looks very uncomfortable holding his arms above his head, so Tech is relieved when he can tell his brother to drop them.

With Wrecker taken care of best as possible, watching the darkness becomes a group project. Tech has them all move under a nearby tree, tall and covered in thick needles, making for good cover. When Wrecker's leaned against the trunk, Omega sitting at his side, Tech lights the fire with the kindling Wrecker collected. Hands shaking with adrenalin, it takes him a few attempts.

With the flames going, Tech tries his best to cook the food they collected. It isn't much and it's somewhat burned, but the berries are sweet at least.

Wrecker tries to refuse food, complaining of a foul taste the beast left in his mouth, but Omega gets him to eat easily enough. She's remarkably good at being convincing and getting her way.

Tech is hesitant to risk venturing into the darkness, so water will have to wait until the sun is up.

Despite claiming to be unable to ever sleep again, Omega does so almost instantly.

The beast that attacked Wrecker, that can apparently phase through clothing and disappear in an instant, doesn't show its self again. After a lot of pestering from her brothers, Omega eventually gives in and tries to sleep curled up next to Wrecker, back pressed against his leg. Tech doesn't question when Omega takes Lula from her jacket pocket, assuming she must have taken her for the trip with Phee, even if it was intended to be short. No matter the reason, Tech's glad she has the stuffed toy. If there's ever a time she'd need it, it would be the time they get dragged into another dimension with no certainty of ever getting back to their family.

They've been gone for about a day now. Tech can't imagine any of them are handling their disappearance well.

Batcher dropped her head in Wrecker's lap at some point and hasn't moved since. She seems convinced that whining sympathetically every few minutes will help Wrecker. Though there is little medical value to her “help”, Wrecker seems endeared by the hounds worry so at the least it aids his mood.

Tech adds more twigs to the fire, then returns to staring into the darkness. He keeps expecting something to jump at them. They've only been here a day and the place has already proven its self to be a nightmare. A nightmare Tech needs to save them from. Only, he hasn't got a single clue how he'll actually get that archway working and if that is even how they got here in the first place.

“Tech,” Wrecker mutters, leaning forwards to stroke Omega's hair, then lean close to Batcher. He tries to hide the way the movement pains him. Without his shirt, Wrecker's been shivering almost constantly, so he must be glad for the close proximity to the lurca hound. “Thanks for looking out for us.”

Tech sighs. “That is hardly worth mentioning, Wrecker.”

“It is, Tech. You figured out where we might be. You found us food. You're keeping me alive,” Wrecker laughs weakly.

Tech glares at his little brother. “You are not dying, do not joke about that kind of thing.” He's worried enough about Wrecker without him talking about death. Tech's worried about both of his siblings and their hound. They're all his responsibility as the oldest and if anything happens to them, it's Tech's fault.

“Sorry,” Wrecker laughs, rubbing at his chest with a pinched expression. The night is near silent here, very few noises in the world around them. Wrecker looks upwards. “You were right bout the sky looking strange. Look at the stars.”

Tech's eyes flick upwards. Try as he might, not a single cluster of stars looks even vaguely familiar. The unfamiliarity is terrifying.

“Hey, Tech,” Wrecker says after a pause, “we'll get home, I know we will. Give it a few days and we'll probably be back on Pabu, being told off by Echo for our little adventure.” Wrecker laughs so warm and sincere, Tech has no choice but to almost believe his words.

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