#guess i'm posting the full thing on here

[stardustandash]

Through Darkness Unknown - The Bad Batch

Omega and Crosshair are just trying to survive Dr. Hemlock when it's revealed that their brother may not be as dead as initially thought.

Meanwhile Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo evaluate the cost of avoiding a war, and the lengths they will go to in order to get their own back.

Tags: Post s2, hurt/comfort, whump, medical procedures

Chapter 1 - Ground Rules (ao3 link)

“Omega?” the thin voice from behind her broke the spell that kept Omega staring at the other female clone.

Omega turned to the bed. Crosshair was still held down by several black restraints but his eyes were open and locked on her. Omega grabbed for his shoulders, both trying to offer and take comfort. Her brother was here, he recognized her.

“Omega, what are you doing here,” hissed Crosshair.

She didn’t know how to answer him. Instead her eyes drifted down towards the restraints.

“Tech’s gone,” was what she came up with, though it wasn’t the answer either of them were looking for.

“What?” said Crosshair. His eyes went wide. “What did you say?”

Emotions bubbled up in Omega’s chest. Everything from the last day was starting to sink in, from the infiltration attempt, to Tech’s sacrifice, to her capture. She didn’t know where the others had ended up, she could only hope AZ got to Echo in time to warn him. With several swallows around the thick lump in her throat Omega managed to keep the emotions from overwhelming her.

“Omega. It’s time to go,” said the other clone.

“Wait! Let me talk to him,” cried Omega. “I want to stay with Crosshair.”

The woman stepped closer, trapping Omega between herself and the exam bed Crosshair was strapped to. A hand clamped around Omega’s shoulder. The clone woman, while looking far daintier, had the strength of their brothers in her grip. Omega tried twisting herself out of the grip but stopped when her leg gave a sharp twinge of protest.

“Please, Doctor Hemlock has asked me to treat your wounds. You may have the chance to see Crosshair again later, if both of you behave,” said the clone. The words were a hollow promise and Omega didn’t believe them for a second.  

“Wounds? What did you do to her?” growled Crosshair.

“Try and rest, Crosshair, you’re recovering yourself,” replied the woman.

The hand on Omega’s shoulder forced her to move away. She tried to look back at Crosshair as she was guided away but couldn’t quite get her head to rotate that far without her neck seizing. She could hear him though. Growling and grunting and cursing as he struggled against the restraints.

Omega was silent while she was treated. The clone woman had taken her away from the large room holding Crosshair and the other clones to a smaller lab room and sat her up on an exam table. The room was bright, but the dark walls were a far cry from the bland white of the labs in Tipoca city. There were questions at first, but as it became apparent Omega wasn’t going to answer any of them the clone had stopped asking, instead only speaking to direct Omega. The red lenses of the clone’s glasses hid her eyes, and despite her revealing to Omega that they were sisters the clone’s actions could not be more clinical. The kindest thing she’d done so far was offer Omega a damp cloth to wipe the dirt from her face.

“This may hurt,” said the clone in a clipped tone as she pulled a large machine closer to the bed.

Omega recognized the machine as a bone knitter. She’d used the one on Kamino. It had been used on her, too. She’d cried then, though Nala Se had told her that she was being silly. She set her jaw as the clone brought the bone knitter over her leg where AZ had splinted it at Cid’s and prepared for the sensation of her bones being forced to grow back together.

The sensation was worse than Omega remembered. The bone was vibrating beneath her skin, and she could feel it slowly growing and fusing back together like a thousand needles stabbing her muscles from the inside out. She ground her teeth but refused to cry out. Her brothers wouldn’t cry if they were in her position and neither would she. It felt like it took forever, the stabbing sensations ceaseless as they healed her. By the time it did end, what felt like rotations later, Omega was panting through her nose and her fingernails had dug bloody crescents into her palms.

The clone woman sighed as she saw Omega’s hands and grabbed a couple bacta patches from a cupboard and placed them over the new cuts.

“There’s no need to hurt yourself, Omega.”

Omega glared in response.

“Fine. This is the last thing before you can go rest,” said the clone. She was holding up an injector half-full of a clear substance.

Omega’s breath hitched. Up until this point it had been simple reflex tests, bacta, bandages, and the bone knitter. Her mind conjured up moments in Nala Se’s private laboratory where new types of medicines and painkillers needed their first human test subject. Some of them had been harmless, working as intended. Some of them had not.

Omega scrambled backwards on the table until her back hit the wall. What would Hunter do? He’d look for a weapon first, then an escape. Omega scanned the small lab for anything that could be of use. Her eyes landed on a tray of tools left on the counter. The light glittered off something sharp, a scalpel blade. Perfect. Omega sprang forward, knocking the clone off balance and sending the injector clattering to the ground. Her fingers closed around the handle of the scalpel and she launched herself at the door. Thankfully the other clone hadn’t thought to lock it behind her.

Omega burst into the hallway and scanned left and right. Clear. She took the path to the right, trying to remember the path from the large room they were holding Crosshair to the smaller lab. She moved as her brothers had taught her: keeping low and favouring stealth over speed. She was small enough that she could tuck herself into the dark corners created by the metal halls and doors when a company of troopers marched by. Omega counted ten seconds after they passed before moving out of her hiding spot and continuing on.

She was almost back at the big lab. She could feel it. Omega’s heart hammered in her chest as she moved and she had to adjust her grip on the scalpel and wipe the sweat from her palm on her pants. Maybe she could grab Crosshair and find her way to the communications room she could get a message out to Echo, Wrecker, and Hunter, or even Rex. Someone.

The moment her attention to her surroundings lapsed was the moment it was over. She rounded a corner nearly straight into a squad of troopers.

“Hey! Stop right there!” One cried as they all raised their blasters.

Omega startled, but quickly refocussed. She tried to recall every single moment of the very few lessons Hunter had given her with his knife. Be sure of the grip, blade away from her body, pick the softest target. Simple observation of trooper armour, whether clone or these new storm troopers, had very noticeable gaps in the joints. So Omega raised her knife like she’d seen Hunter do a hundred times, and launched herself at the closest trooper. Her scalpel dug into the soft spot between pauldron and chest plate, right beneath the shoulder into the armpit. She knew it was a good spot to aim for, close to the lungs, and if the blade was long enough, potentially the heart.

Her blade was not very long, and while the trooper screamed and stumbled back, he was not knocked off his feet. Rough hands grabbed at Omega, pinning her arms back and lifting her off her feet. Her shoulders, already sore from the train crash, ached in protest though she hardly spared it a thought as she kicked out for all she was worth.

“This one is feisty,” one of the troopers said.

“What do we do with her? Take her to one of the cells or one of Doctor Hemlock’s rooms?” asked another.

Omega did not want to go to either place and managed to finally make contact with the armoured leg of the trooper that was holding her. The crack that echoed off the metal walls and the way her whole foot went numb made Omega think that she might have to re-evaluate kicking things as a strategy in hand to hand with anyone in armour.

“Troopers, thank you for catching Omega,” called a voice Omega had hoped she’d left behind.

The trooper holding Omega turned so she could see the other female clone coming down the hallway, looking perfectly unruffled. She nodded her thanks to the trooper.

“If you don’t mind, please escort Omega and I to Doctor Hemlock’s office,” said the clone before pointing at another two members of the squad. “And you two, fetch CT-9904, the Doctor would like both of them present.”

“Yes, Doctor Karr,” responded the troopers before marching off.

The trip through the base was long and seemed to take a disorganized path, going up a lift here, down a lift there, snaking left and right though hallways. Omega couldn’t help but think that perhaps the other clone, this Dr. Karr, was leading them on a purposefully confusing route to ensure what just happened wouldn’t happen again.

The small group landed at an unmarked door that seemed no different from the many that had preceded it. Dr. Karr raised her hand and rapped two short knocks. The door slid open with a soft whoosh and Omega was pushed inside by the trooper still holding her arm.

Omega hadn’t seen much of Dr. Hemlock on the flight from Ord Mantell. That had been due to the fact that she had been unconscious for most of it from the stun bolt and kept shackled to a jump seat in the back of the transport away from everyone else, but in the little interaction she’d had with him he had made her skin crawl with uneasiness. It was no different now as she was frog marched into his office and shoved into a waiting chair. Dr. Hemlock regarded her with a face that said disinterest and too-blue eyes that said otherwise. He was seated at a desk that was empty aside from a small stack of data pads and a thin, economical lamp. In fact, as Omega took in the room, the whole thing seemed very stark. There was nothing on the walls or shelves to indicate anything of the character of the man who spent his time in it. Just a simple set up of desk, shelves with nothing but a few flimsy books, and two chairs facing the desk. Turning her attention back to Dr. Hemlock Omega shivered to find his eyes still studying her like she was the most fascinating thing to ever walk through the doors of his lair.

The stare was only broken when the door whooshed again and Crosshair was shoved into the chair beside Omega. She glanced over at him, but he was glaring straight ahead at Dr. Hemlock. Omega slowly turned back as well, dread pooling in her stomach.

For a moment Dr. Hemlock made them stew in the silence. His gaze passed between the two of them as he absently rubbed at his glove covered hand. He took a deep breath in and out, lacing his hands together and placing them on the desk in front of him.

“I must say, I am very disappointed in you, Omega. I asked that you be taken care of here in this facility, your hurts healed, and you turned around and attacked my men. I can see the similarities between you and your brother,” began Dr. Hemlock in a voice that was soft as the falling of twilight.

Omega said nothing. The look on the doctor’s face had left her mouth dry and her palms began to sweat again. She resisted the temptation to wipe them on her pants again.

“I didn’t think we would need to set rules in place so early, but you have forced my hand.”

One of the troopers that had brought in Crosshair stepped up beside him and gripped his arm. Crosshair struggled, but the other pinned him against the chair.

“When you defy me, and the rules of my facility, the consequences you face are not just yours, Omega. Know that if you try what you did again, if you attack anyone in this facility, if you resist tests, this will pale in comparison to what is in store,” said Dr. Hemlock, voice unwavering from its smooth cadence.

He raised a finger at the trooper holding Crosshair’s arm. The trooper nodded and in a flash of movement and crunch of bone broke Crosshair’s pinky finger. Crosshair let out a choked hiss.

“No!” yelled Omega.

“I am afraid that there are consequences to your actions. The sooner you learn this, the better things will be, for everyone.”

“You bastard,” growled Crosshair. The trooper released his arm and he drew it up to his chest protectively.

“That reminds me, Crosshair. Your little escapade does not need to be repeated, and I think we can really drive that lesson home now, don’t you think?”

“Don’t you dare!”

Omega had only half a second to realize what was about to happen before it did. The trooper behind her chair had a bruising hold on her arm and wrapped his hand around her pinky finger. Omega felt the bone snap in a flare of sharp fire. She couldn’t hold back the undignified yelp that tore from her throat, nor the tears that sprang to her eyes. She folded herself over her injured hand, the other coming up to tenderly probe the break. Her finger rested at an odd angle and Omega knew it would need to be set before it could begin healing.

“Sir, I think-“ began Dr. Karr.

“I know what you think, Emerie,” said Dr. Hemlock. “Don’t treat those injuries. Let them have the pain as a reminder. You may put them together in cell 6855 for now. But know if there continues to be trouble, you will be separated.”

Dr. Hemlock looked down in a clear dismissal. He reached for a data pad and powered it up, no longer paying any attention to what was happening in front of him. Omega and Crosshair were both shoved to their feet and marched out of the office. The door whooshed closed behind them, and for the first time since leaving Kamino with her brothers Omega felt the crushing weight of helplessness settle over her shoulders.

Next Chapter 

[cozylittleartblog]

worst way to start my new year, thanks. i have a lot of things to say about these companies but i'm tired and just keeping it focused to the pin side of things for this one. do not ever buy pins from these companies, literally ALL of them are stolen from small artists like me. if you want to buy enamel pins, check out etsy, and artist's personal websites and shops! (though even Etsy has some bootleg pins that ship straight from china, so tread carefully…)

Every pin I've designed is, thus far, EXCLUSIVE to my etsy. if you find it anywhere else, it's been ripped off! and once these stupid bootlegs pop up, it's basically a never ending game of whack-a-mole trying to get them all taken down...

[slurpyboii]

That ended exactly how I expected it to and, as expected, I am entirely neutral on it. Wasn't a satisfying ending or a super hype ending or anything like that, literally just the ending that may as well have happened. Not a single thing surprised me that whole conclusion, it felt unfortunately predictable. You can tell he's excited for it's end though so I'm happy for Horikoshi regardless, hope he can get proper rest now.

[quarks-pussy]

[Images description: Twelve pictures of Star Trek actors. The phrase "thank you for being both amazing actors and amazing people" is written across most of the images one word at a time, except for the two images in the middle. The middle images are of William Shatner, reading "not you!" and Robert Beltran, reading "or you for that matter". The actors in the other images are George Takei, René Auberjonois, DeForest Kelley, Gates McFadden, Wil Wheaton, Kate Mulgrew, Patrick Stewart, Siddig El Fadil (aka Alexander Siddig), Nichelle Nichols and Leonard Nimoy. End image description.]

Non exhaustive list of course. Many more such cases, in fact feel free to add

(insp)

[sysig]

Nice healthy obsession you got there (Patreon)

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

To be honest the dialogue in twd is absolute ass sometimes but the actors deliver their lines with so much conviction that it kinda slips by. You yell that convoluted sentence with your whole cunt, girl.

[brutalmasks]

currently thinking about how, since bunny mask's head / sort of by extension her neck ( yeahhh, i'd say that, because she is NOT immune to decapitation ) are basically her achilles heel in the way that they heal muchhh slower than the rest of her body does + there have even been times where she didn't heal properly at all in those areas... that most of the scars bunny has are concentrated around there.

thus, if your muse is intimate with her in any way, then they'll most certainly be seeing those on her skin and i just 😭 it kind of hits me RIGHT in the feels — and i say this because there has to be a lot of trust there for bunny to feel safe enough to expose what is literally the most vulnerable spot of her body to them, you know? so yeah. that is one surefire way of knowing that bunny mask trusts your muse with her life ❤️

[unproduciblesmackdown]

oh yeah the way mass effect made me think of portal which is surely what youtube was doing too in sliding me a portal related video which made me think of like ah yes that little harmonizing thing want you gone credits song does, another banger. then i was like wait speaking of secret losersongs filmed rehearsal videos just the other day was reexperiencing like code monkey's really a banger as well, the way that part of the chorus could have one line end on One Pitch then the next line end a half step up but Doesn't & that pwns actually. then going hang on and they're both jonathan coulton. they're All jonathan coulton (adding in: wow just like will putting still alive on his off the shits jared kleinman a.m. pump up playlist)

[cliffordbradshawcharleykringas]

in honor of good ol robbie mc c’s last day down on skid row i present to you: a small sampling from the plethora of what i like to call “robseymours” that i’ve drawn over the past few months  🌱

[lisbonsteresa]

oh it's horrible; i love it

[st4rstudent]

ramble ramble boo boo tomato tomato🍅🍅. but anyways sometimes i think i draw those freaks a little too much but also at the same time i like drawing them . i don't think i have been this motivated to draw for a whiiile (if ever) , its nice. its fun! giant shirt that says "I HEART DRAWING"

[einaudis]

.

[misskamelie]

I think if I ever see this person irl again I'll just. Confess and then combust on the spot

[sureuncertainty]

okay guess we won't be going in to work tomorrow either, since we've been fighting off a panic attack all evening and cannot breathe

[kowabungadoodles]

How to spot a (heart wrenching sad cat) Charity Scam

So I've been get a lot of requests for money in my askbox lately, from users I have never seen before! Usually sad cats, sometimes gender affirming medical bills, a queer person being made homeless etc etc... and guess what? None of them are real! It's scammers who have learned how to work tumblr's userbase and prey on our general sense of community and charity.

Here it is, so sad! So tragic! But let's note a few things:

It's generic. They don't know me, I don't know them. it's addressed to 'friend', no use of nicknames or usernames.

Even the cat and the problem are generic 'little kitty' who has 'urgent needs'. This is not how real people talk, this is because this scam is being used over and over with different accounts a different 'cats'.

Praying (uh huh.)

Asking you to reply privately- This is so people don't spot the scam and point it out the mark and because if too many people posted replies to the same message it would beome really obvious that this is a scam. If they're looking for 'boosts' so badly, then why do they need you to reply privately?

Now that I'm suspicious, let's investigate.

Sent me an ask and then followed me! Sounds like they're just hitting up anyone and everyone, but even more likely they have a list they're working from.

(I get so many, I'm probably on a mail-out list a mile long, just being hit up for cash. Likely I fell for one of these once and got my name added to every scam list for miles, but oh well.)

So let's see if they're a bot or a real person!

The blog looks genuine enough, they've got a bio, a fandom etc. And it says they're an artist!

And of course there's that sad cat post, pinned right to the top, so I don't have to look any further through the blog for verification... Looks super legit, pics of the cat, pics of the bill... of course anyone can print out a bill and take a picture of it...

As I do scroll futher, it's full of reblogs making this look like an active user. So how can I tell it's not genuine?

Well, if they're an artist they probably post right? Doodles? Pictures? Let's have a look at their origional posts.

The fastest way to do this is by using an outside tool like Original Post Finder.

just type in the suspicious username and go...

Voila! As suspected, the only post this bot account has ever made is Sad Cat Post.

Confirmed: Scam. Do not give your money to these guys, it looks so real but they're just here to make you feel like a bad person for not handing over everything you can. Charity is wonderful, supporting friends is wonderful, but tbh save it for people you actually know irl/ mutuals you have an actual relationship with. Don't believe any rando who comes knocking!

Love and kisses, stay safe out there.

[lilybug-02]

Final Bug Fact:

The world NEEDS bugs. They keep the soil healthy, pollinate, control pests, and contribute to the worlds' ecosystem. By the end of the century, it is estimated 40% of insect species may go extinct due to habitat loss. Yes, that is very scary. But with even one beetle spared, one caterpillar rescued, and one Hollow Knight comic of all things, things will change. Because I know there's a lot more Dewi's out there than most people realize. Stay curious.

Thanks for going on this adventure with me. ♥︎

First || Prev // END

Masterpost

Comic Thoughts and Pictures Below!

I wanted to put here how amazing and sweet everyone has been with this comic. I finished a 75 page comic in 3 MONTHS. I am at a loss for words. That sounds crazy and it IS crazy. But man was it fun. Even on days were I wasn't able to draw due to fatigue or business, I loved working on it from start to finish. And guess what!? This is my first ever FINISHED comic :D I'm so proud of myself. I know there's some things I want to change and the art is wonky in most places...... but I'm content to let it be. What an amazing summer adventure!

I'm hoping to post the full comic on another Comic website. I may or may not edit some of the art ^w^ So I'll let y'all know when I release it.

Interested in learning what you could do to help your local insects? This is the basic stuff. Maybe make some Insect Hotels if you have the time!!! And never forget to spread the word about bugs. They need our help just as any animal on earth.

Still Here? Well you can look in the tags for little lore dumps if ur looking for stuff like that ;)