#because fuck tbb

[purgetrooperfox]

#14 maybe for Echo? post-TCW?

mmm this is so good ty

[ prompt list ]

prompt: “Can you just leave me alone? Can I have that at least?”

characters: ARC Trooper Echo, Clone Medic Nocte, ARC Trooper Fives (mentioned), Commander Fox (mentioned)

tags: physical therapy, rehabilitation, mood swings, everyone has trauma, corrie!Echo AU

ao3

Most of Echo's waking hours are spent in some degree of pain.

That's just the reality he lives with, after his stay on Skako Minor. His legs ache where flesh and bone and muscle meets machinery. His right hand cramps up - a phantom pain that he can't rub away, not without the requisite organic joints. His spinal implants itch and sting and burn. Excessive noise gives him a migraine. Proximity to scanners overwhelms his senses with static. Even sleeping, in all but very specific positions, has him waking throughout the night from ambient discomfort.

He isn't used to it, exactly, but he's acclimating. It's far less common for him to come unglued at slight provocations because of sleep-deprivation and various aches and pains. He's even managed to find a small group of brothers he can trust in the Guard and formed careful friendships, now that his temper doesn't push them all away.

Maybe if he wasn't personally handling Echo's physical rehabilitation, Nocte would be among those tentative friends.

The pain is never worse than his scheduled PT days.

And he ruminates on it as he holds his weight in a deep squat with his back pressed firmly to a wall. Atrophied muscles in his upper thighs scream protests against the abuse. His clothes are soaked through, sweaty and nasty and distracting. He lost track of how long he's held this position.

Nocte will presumably let him know. The medic is posted a few feet away, fidgeting with a stylus between the fingers of one hand and a holding datapad in the other. Silently, Echo begs the ground beneath Nocte's feet to open up and swallow him. Then he could indulge in the simple pleasure of laying down for just a kriffing second.

Of course, his luck has never been that good. His legs prove less stable than the floor mere seconds later and fold under his weight. Anger burns worse than any physical ailment as he glares at Nocte from the mat.

"Almost a minute," he remarks, logging Echo's results. "I know it doesn’t feel like much, but you’ve come a long way remarkably quickly. You ought to be proud.”

“Proud?” It almost feels like a mockery when Nocte offers him a hand up, as if he has the strength to pull himself up onto actively shaking legs. He scowls at the proffered limb and shakes his head. “I can barely balance enough to stand on my own. I can barely walk a few steps without needing a break. I can’t write legibly or hold a blaster properly. What is there to be proud of?”

“You survived, didn’t you?” For the umpteenth time since his arrival on Coruscant, Echo bites back an acidic comment about the worth of his survival. Nocte raises a brow at him all the same. “That carries more weight than you let yourself acknowledge.”

When Echo makes no further move to try to get up, Nocte drops into a crouch in front of him, planting his elbows on his knees. There’s no pity to be found in his tone or expression. Again, Echo wishes he could find a valid reason to lash out at him. He’s sick to death of patient understanding.

“Sure,” he grants. “I survived and they used me against the Republic. There are hundreds of deaths on my hands, troops who would’ve survived if not for me. That’s the weight– the cost of my life. Why would I take pride in that?”

They’ve been down this road before and they’ll traverse it again. It’s guilt versus platitudes. Remorse versus consolation. Regret versus speculation. Around and around and around. He can see his own exhaustion mirrored back at him in Nocte’s eyes, but they go through the motions anyway. Again.

“I’ve never denied that.”

“Then why bother?” Heat claws at the backs of his eyes, forces him to blink away tears of… another kind of pain. He hurts. All the way down to his bones, he hurts. “Can’t you just leave me alone? Can’t I have that, at least?”

Nocte drags a hand across his face and blows out a breath, settling cross-legged and handing a worn rag over for Echo to wipe the drying sweat from the back of his neck. “Your life isn’t worth any more or less than theirs, that’s why. I won’t hold the things you couldn’t control against you. Eventually, you’ll have to learn to give that same leniency to yourself. You didn’t have any choice. So no, I can’t just leave you alone.”

“It doesn’t matter. I was still in there somewhere. It doesn’t–”

“It does. It has to.”

“Doc, you can’t–”

A muscle jerks in Nocte’s jaw. “What if it was Fives?”

Echo blinks. Opens his mouth to snap a retort. Shuts it again.

“What if Fives miraculously returned from the dead? What if you found out that the Seps dug into his brain against his will, manipulated his consciousness, used him as a piece of equipment - a weapon - against his brothers?” There’s something raw in his voice, like impossibly intimate understanding. “Would you fault him for being saved?”

It’s not the same.

It's not the same.

"It's not the same."

"Isn't it?"

It isn't and it can't be and it doesn't matter.

Fives is gone. There's no miraculous recovery in his future because he was executed. He won't be killing his brothers because his brother killed him. Fox killed him and he's not coming back.

It's not the same and Nocte's too close to Fox to get it.

"I met him, you know?" Echo snaps his attention back up from his fists clenched on his lap. "When he was here," Nocte treads carefully around the critical context of Fives' being here. "I was at the bar with Kix, the 501st had just gotten in. We were going to try to get him in touch with Rex and Skywalker. I tried– they didn't want to come back to base. Didn't trust that we would keep him safe.

"He was out of it, talking nonsense, but not like the reports say." Echo's read those reports enough to have them memorized. They detail incoherence, bursts of indiscriminate violence, lack of control. "He was confused, but he knew what he needed. His goals were clear. His fear– not anger, fear, was clear.

"Kix shooed me off, a squad of shock troopers showed up, and Fives left. I came back to base and when Fox left…" he trails off, furrowing his brow. "I told him it didn't seem right, but sometimes choices are made for us."

A tangled mess of emotion gets lodged in Echo's throat and he can't quite seem to swallow it down. "There's always a choice," he can't raise his voice above a whisper.

"Is there?"

It's hard to discern boiling anger from fear from hate from grief. "Why are you telling me this?"

Nocte tilts his head and Echo realizes that he can't read his face worth a damn. He might as well have on a bucket. "Because you're here. You survived. You have a choice now."

"And what choice is that?"

"Come on, Echo, I wasn't decanted yesterday," he scoffs and makes to stand. "I'm not asking you to confirm or deny anything, but if your reasons for requesting a transfer are what I think they are? We're all after the same thing. Answers. Choices of our own."

For a second time, he extends a hand to help Echo stand. This time he takes it. Questions rise to his mind and trip over each other before he manages to voice any of them.

"So," Nocte flashes a sharp-edged smile and claps him on his good shoulder, "you need to let me help you get steady on these new kicks, then you can do whatever you came here to do."

"Wait, Nocte–"

"I hope it goes without saying that I'll deny relaying any of that information."

"But–"

"Great progress today, vod'ika, we're all real proud."

"What–"

Abruptly, Nocte nudges him just hard enough that he staggers onto a cot. Just surprising enough that he catches himself without thinking. "Duty calls," he says as he turns on his heel and flashes a civilian hand sign over his shoulder. "I'll have someone bring food over."

And he leaves.

Echo's legs are killing him and his head feels stuffed full of cotton and he hurts and he's tired. His life would be immeasurably easier if Nocte wouldn't make it so difficult to hate him. Or so confusing to enjoy his company, despite everything.

Things seemed so much simpler with the 501st. At least Kix was direct.

writing tags and taglist form, dm to be removed

@willowworkswithwords @saradika @catboy-kenobi @dikut @voidika @mandoposting @certified-anakinfucker @milf-plokoon @secretlyatimelady @spaceydragons @tayylie @moonstrider9904 @thelove-ablepenguin @maulpunk @frietiemeloen @spacerocksarethebestrocks @zinzinina @quinnqueens @thefact0rygirl @misogirl828 @amyroswell

[papanowo]

no amount of canon is going to stop me from believing the batch were delta squad fanboys when they were kids

[lovelytech9902]

We’re roughly 76 hrs away from the final episode of The Bad Batch - how we doin?

[enigmaticexplorer]

Please stop taking away the clones’ agency.

They are HUMANS.

They fuck up.

They make mistakes.

They make bad decisions and choices.

Because they are HUMAN.

One of the best parts of TBB is that we get to follow different perspectives of the clones: those who want to fight the Empire (Rex and his rebels), those who want to settle down (CF99), and those who WILLINGLY serve the Empire (formerly Crosshair, formerly Cody, currently Wolffe).

What makes these characters interesting—and HUMAN—is that they fuck up. They are not perfect. And they make decisions we do not agree with. Because they are HUMAN.

Crosshair served the Empire willingly.

Wolffe is serving the Empire willingly.

They are both complex characters who chose/choose to serve the Empire based on their own decision-making.

Stop taking away their humanity just because you don’t agree with their decisions.

[probadbatch]

Thinking about Hunter's nearly black armor in that one trailer... the boys are really going through it, aren't they? Hunter's not taking care of himself at all when he's worried about Omega. Makes me really worried about him. Well, all of them, really.

This season better end with everyone safe and in one piece happily repainting their armor somewhere peaceful or I'm gonna riot.

[stars-n-spice]

Thinking about clones either makes me:

Super giddy and happy

Absolutely and utterly devastated and broken hearted, full on sobbing on the floor, shaking and trembling

Horny as fuck

[alabyte]

Tech: Given the fact that I'm older and more experienced, I'd take my advice if I were you.

Crosshair: We are literally the same age.

Tech: That's correct. However, I'm still older.

Crosshair:

Crosshair: THE KAMINOANS TOOK YOU OUT OF THE TUBE SIX AND A HALF MINUTES BEFORE ME YOU KRIFFIN'-

[niobiumao3]

I keep thinking about how there is a delicate balance of the emotional behaviors of the Batch and you can see it best in what a lot of people complained was a filler episode, that being The Crossing, and to an extent also Aftermath.

In Aftermath we have the infamous food fight scene, which is preceded by Tech and Wrecker's continuing argument about programmed behavior. This will not be the first time Tech and Wrecker argue if they're left to freely interact; it comes up numerous times in the series, and (IMO anyways) stems from the fact that Wrecker is outwardly emotional and Tech is almost 100% inwardly emotional. Tech doesn't process externally like Wrecker does, and has a certain amount of trouble communicating with Wrecker, and Wrecker with him, as a result. So who steps in most of the time?

Crosshair and Echo, and by The Crossing, both of them are gone.

Crosshair is the one who tries to diffuse their argument in the mess hall, placating Wrecker while giving Tech a blatant look of 'stop antagonizing him and eat goddamnit'. He also serves as an added focus for Wrecker's Wreckerness, which means he's less likely to collide with Tech and have an argument ensue. We can see Wrecker variously joshing with the two of them in the TCW episodes and in Aftermath.

Once Cross is missing from the group, it's Echo who acts as the buffer, standing firm against Tech's chaotic nature and Wrecker's emotional reactions. Hunter wrangles them, but Echo actually manages them. It's a very different approach and we see first hand how necessary it was the second Echo is gone. Wrecker and Tech are bickering nonstop and Hunter barely has a handle on them. For the most part he seems prepared to let them sort it out, and I don't know he can be blamed for that.

This is almost the entire point of The Crossing as an episode: to demonstrate how important the group was as a complete team. Not in the sense of 'omg everyone brings one important thing/skill to the table' way but in an emotional, supportive way. Echo was the co-lead Hunter probably needed the entire time, gelled with him perfectly in that roll and tempered Hunter's hesitation with decisiveness while keeping the other three from setting the Galaxy on fire. Cross, Tech, and Wrecker formed a sort of balanced triangle between themselves which kept things at an even keel. With Cross gone, Echo fell into this role, somewhat naturally. This is all on display in The Crossing when we finally see what happens when that triangle is broken and Tech and Wrecker have to directly interact on a consistent basis. It gets messy.

And yet people complain about it being 'filler' and not advancing the plot.

[kaydear]

on one hand, I get why circumstances would change his behavior, but I really miss Clone Wars Hunter's characterization. In Bad Batch he's so straight man all the time, no bad words for anyone, and then you rewatch the Batch's arc in season 7 and you get hit with Mr. Don't-Worry-Wrecker (🤡)-I'll-Hooold-Your-Haaaaand

[starwarjotta]

okay so after Tales of the Jedi we're getting Tales of the Empire and on a complete non-squitur, in TBB episode 3x10 Hemlock says the other operatives aren't ready yet, which means there're more clone assassins in the making my bet is still on clone x (or the current assassin clone or whatever you call him) being Tech, because him being Cody just wouldn't be the same, it wouldn't be as emotionally devastating for Omega and the Bad Batch as the clone being Tech would be and I saw a theory that maybe Cody is one of the other operatives whose brainwashing just isn't done yet instead so hear me out, hear me out after Tales of the Empire, we could get Tales of the Clones, right? and in Tales of the Clones we could get the story of what happened to Cody, that maybe Cody tried to escape the Empire in TBB 2x03, but he was caught and sent to Hemlock's sick assassin clone program, but the badass he is he's resisting the brainwashing and he maybe escapes??? MAYBE WE COULD GET THAT STORY OR SOMETHING??? WHERE HE ENDS UP ON TATOOINE LIKE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO IN THE OG KENOBI SHOW SCRIPT???? I'D BE SO UP FOR IT OKAY???

[doodlingfoolishness]

TS-12B examined the clone carefully. He was a defective specimen of the old 99 designation, but that alone did not account for the clone’s gaunt appearance and overgrown hair and beard. The clone sat on the exam table, wavering from side to side, deeply weakened by long starvation. He gripped the table’s edge with both hands, struggling to stay upright, though the droid had informed him that he could enter recumbency.

“State the duration of the time on Kamino prior to your rescue.”

“Thirty-two rotations,” the clone supplied, voice rasping, eyes deadened.

TS-12B made its calculations, based on the laboratory findings and condition of the clone before it. It had never had occasion to treat a starved patient before. Refeeding syndrome would be a significant concern moving forward, but there were protocols in place to prevent such an occurrence. At least Kamino’s frequent rainstorms had allowed the patient to stay hydrated.

“Recovery is expected to take a minimum of sixty rotations,” the droid announced. “I will inform your superiors of the prognosis. Future service to the Empire may not be possible —”

The clone stared up at the droid through unfocused eyes, and gritted, “Oh, I’ll be ready.”

[sanshinexx]

Here's part two of drawing my family pictures as the Bad Batch because I can and you can't stop me

[zealfruity]

Yall,,,,,, the clone insurgents and their slutty thigh holsters,,,,,,,,, i am feral for them rn

[weregonnabecoolbeans]

This week’s episode brought me more joy than you can possibly imagine

[zeb-z]

change is a fundamental part of life

we must carry on

[stars-n-spice]

So no wet hair Hunter?