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photogirl894 · 2 months

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"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 30

"A Tense Rescue"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: Well, here we are again! Though after how things went last time, I'd imagine y'all aren't too thrilled with me 😅 Haha well, that might be the same this time...so strap in and enjoy the ride you're about to take through episode 9 of Bad Batch season 1 😜 Love you all!

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @cole-kenxbi , @tech-aficionado , @ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettrose9901 , @thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider , @locitapurplepink , @l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49 , @avathebestx , @idoubleswearimawriter , @techs-stitches , @fantasyproductions , @sverdgeir , @totallyunidentified

《 Chapter 29

》 Chapter 31

All chapters (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: Tensions are high on the Marauder after Omega's capture and Kimber must answer to the Clones for her mistake. Will they forgive her easily or will their be division among them?

The Marauder zoomed through the sky, evading the gunfire of the Imperial shuttle tailing them. It didn’t take them long to realize that it was Crosshair’s shuttle chasing them and as predicted, he was not giving them an easy time.

Echo had taken care of Kimber’s wounded leg first--at Hunter’s surprising yet also not surprising insistence--and had carefully applied what bacta they had to the wound before bandaging it. Her whole armor set had been removed and she was just left in her blacks. Then Hunter was dealt with; Echo had him remove the top half of his armor and sit in one of the chairs so he could bandage Hunter’s chest where he’d been shot.

Just as Echo finished up with him, Hunter asked Tech, “Any sign of that bounty hunter?”

“The only vessel in our scanners is Crosshair’s and he’s right on top of us,” Tech replied as he continued to maneuver the ship.

“It’s getting hot back here!” Wrecker cried out from the tail gun.

Tech hit a couple of the buttons on the console and stated, “Prepping to jump.”

“Not without Omega,’ Hunter countered.

Echo turned back in his co-pilot’s chair and refuted, “The bounty hunter who took her is long gone. We’ll have no chance of finding them if Crosshair shoots us down.”

The Sergeant looked conflicted as to what to do. As Tech informed everyone that their rear deflector shields were failing, Kimber decided to speak up, even though she had a feeling her opinion wasn’t welcome at the moment.

“Hunter, we need to go,” she urged him. “If we're going to save Omega, then we need to save ourselves first.”

He heaved a heavy sigh in response before telling Tech, “Make the jump.”

Without hesitation, Tech pushed hard on the lever that made the ship jump into hyperspace. Seconds later, the familiar blue tunnel engulfed their ship and they were finally free from Crosshair’s pursuit.

Once they made the jump, Kimber sighed and let her head fall back against her chair, relieved that they had finally shaken off Crosshair. Her guilt at leading him to them was still eating away at her. Now that they were finally alone and away from the Empire’s sights for now, it was time to come clean about everything…if the boys even wanted to hear anything from her.

However, Tech beat her to it by saying as he turned his chair around, “Now, Kimber, I believe we are owed an explanation behind your actions regarding Crosshair.”

She let out a small scoff. “You waste no time, do you?” she asked back.

Hunter, however, wasn’t amused. “Tell us the truth,” he demanded. “Why would you tell Crosshair where we were? What possessed you to do such a thing?”

“More than that, why were you sending him secret transmissions in the first place?” then added Echo.

Her stomach churned nervously as she prepared herself to answer their questions. “Look, lads, I'm sorry--”

“Sorry isn't gonna cut it this time,” Hunter cut her off, his stern gaze never leaving hers. “You need to do better than that.”

“Did Crosshair reach out to you first?” asked Wrecker, though his tone wasn't nearly as hardened as the others’.

Kimber fiddled anxiously with her braid. “N--no,” she said. “I reached out on my own. But I never told him anything and I used the encrypted device Rina gave me so he couldn't trace the transmissions!”

“How many times did you do this?” inquired Echo.

For a second, she hesitated, looking down at the ground before answering, “Three times.”

“Three?” Hunter repeated, aghast.

“I cannot fathom as to why you would do this,” Tech stated.

“All I ever really said was I wanted him to come back; that I wanted to understand why he turned on us…and how much I missed him,” she told them, melancholy in her expression and voice. “Though, that was before we found out the truth about the inhibitor chips.”

Hunter heaved a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What changed this time?”

Her grip on her braid tightened. “I had thought to reach out to him about getting his chip removed like you guys did…but he actually contacted me instead. I had no idea he would.” She paused for a moment and Hunter raised his eyebrows expectantly, indicating for her to continue. She went on, “It was just after Rex left that Crosshair reached out to me and given the timing of it, I just…got too eager.”

“Oh, Kim…,” Echo sighed, exasperated.

“So you revealed our mission and location to him,” Tech concluded.

“It's not that simple,” she said back.

Standing up from his chair, Hunter responded, looking down at her, “It seems simple to me. We tried so hard to stay under Crosshair's radar and the first chance you got, you told him everything we didn't want him to know.”

“It was only because of why we were on Bracca to begin with,” Kimber said. “I thought we could get his chip out, too, and then--”

“That's the point, Kimber: he still has the chip,” Hunter interrupted, his voice raised, “and he's still serving the Empire. He wouldn't jump at the chance to remove it if he's been led to believe otherwise. You left yourself open and he took advantage of that, which put all of us at risk. Do you even realize that? We trusted you! I can’t believe you would do something so selfish!”

Kimber turned away, ashamed.

Then she felt a large hand on her shoulder followed by Wrecker's voice saying, “Come on, guys, cut her some slack. She didn't know this would happen.”

“Wrecker, she endangered all of us by bringing the Empire right to us,” Hunter tried to argue.

Finally, Kimber snapped and yelled, “Do you think I wanted this to happen? Do you think I asked for this? Crosshair lied to me and he used me! I know now what I did was wrong, but I was only doing what I thought was right at the time!”

“A bit hypocritical of you to be angry that Crosshair lied to you when that's exactly what you did to us, too,” Hunter fired back.

“Hunter…!” Echo said cautiously.

By this point, Kimber was not about to take anymore comments lying down. She forced herself to stand up by pushing on the arms of the chair and leaning her hand on the navicomputer next to her, clenching her teeth together as she pushed through the still lingering pain in her leg.

Facing Hunter and the others with a hurt and mad look in her eyes, she cried back, her tone turning icy, “Well, maybe if I felt I could talk to you or any of you about Crosshair, I wouldn't have felt the need to keep this from you to begin with!” As all the Clones’ eyes went wide at her comment, she kept going, getting even more heated, “You guys won't talk about Crosshair! You know how many times we've talked about him in all the time he's been gone? Once! And even then it was a short conversation. How else was I supposed to cope with him leaving us when I felt I couldn't come to any of you about him? I miss him terribly and I have felt all alone in dealing with that since Kamino. I did what I felt was right for me and I know it was an error in judgment. I admit that. I don’t need you all berating me about it, especially you, Hunter!” Then she kept her focus on Hunter, who was staying silent, as she continued on, her voice rising, “I already feel guilty for leading Crosshair to us in my desperation! I know I betrayed your trust! I’m angry at him for lying to me and manipulating me! I failed to protect Omega from the bounty hunter and more than everything else, I nearly lost all hope because I thought you were dead!”

The way she nearly screamed the word “dead” made Hunter rear back and Echo, Wrecker and Tech were surprised to hear her raise her voice in a way they’d never heard before.

“I thought not only had I lost Omega, but that I’d lost you, too!” she said as began to cry, her emotions spilling through like a broken dam. “I thought I was about to lose everything because of my mistakes! I’m sorry for all that I’ve done. I know you have every right to be angry, but please…understand that I never meant any harm to this squad. Never! I’m sorry!”

Finally, she couldn’t bear it any longer and fell back into her chair, turned away from everyone and wept bitterly, her guilt, anger and sorrow tearing her apart. Even though she knew she deserved all of this, it still didn’t make it hurt any less. She wished to take back everything she had done. She should’ve known better than to reach out to Crosshair in the first place. Better yet, she should’ve known him suddenly showing interest in reuniting was too good to be true. Her foolishness and hubris had almost cost them so much so quickly.

A few seconds later, Kimber felt someone’s arms slide under her and carefully pick her up off the chair. When she lifted her head, she found herself looking up at Wrecker, who said nothing to either her or the others and he simply turned and walked towards the back of the ship towards the bunk area. He activated the door to Hunter’s bunk and walked inside, closing the door behind him and then setting Kimber down carefully onto the bed.

She sniffled and brushed away her tears. “Thank you, Wrecker,” she told him shakily.

He knelt down in front of her, a sorrowful look on his face. “I miss Crosshair, too, you know,” he told her. “I’m sorry I never really talked about him and made you feel lonely.”

“Wrecker…,” she said sadly, feeling even more guilty about Wrecker apologizing to her.

“I get why you did what you did and I’m sorry things went wrong. You didn’t deserve any of it,” he then added.

“Why…why are you apologizing? Why aren’t you mad at me?” she asked, puzzled.

The gentle giant of a Clone shook his head. “I was confused at first about why you contacted him, but I get it now. You didn’t know what was going to happen and you were only trying to help. You wanted Crosshair back…I know how that feels.” He then laid a consoling hand on her shoulder. “I think you need to take some time alone. It’ll give you and the others all time to cool down. We’ve been through a lot today.”

After smoothing away a couple more stray tears, she declared, “We need to focus on finding Omega.”

“We will,” he promised, “but I don’t want any of us to kill each other before we find her.”

She gave a nod, understanding his point.

“It’ll be okay. Hunter, Echo and Tech won’t be mad forever,” he reassured her.

“I would deserve it, though,” she replied, downtrodden.

Wrecker wasn’t going to accept that answer. “Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself,” he said. “We’ve gotten through worse before. We’ll get through this. I promise.”

With a gentle grasp of her shoulder, he stood back up and left Kimber alone in the room. After he left, she held her face in her hands, inhaling and exhaling deeply to keep herself from crying some more. Her guilt over her actions weighed heavily on her heart and her mind, wondering how she would ever be able to atone for what she’d done. On top of that, she kept wondering and asking so many questions in her mind. What had happened to Crosshair back on Bracca? Who was the bounty hunter that had kidnapped Omega? Where had they gone? How were they ever going to find him? Was Omega still okay? Would Hunter ever forgive her for losing the kid they all had grown attached to?

They had to find her. Somehow, they had to. If anything happened to Omega, Kimber would never forgive herself.

Around half an hour or so later, Kimber decided she wanted to go back out into the main cabin. Sitting in her room alone with her thoughts wasn't doing her much good. Though, the main area of the ship maybe wouldn't be much better, if the boys were still angry at her, but she'd take her chances. Either way, she just didn't want to be alone. Luckily, one of the boys had brought her armor and weapons back to the room when Echo had been tending to her leg, so she took up her sniper rifle at the end of the cot, stood it upright with the barrel on the floor and used it to brace herself as she stood up. She positioned the back end underneath her arm and made her rifle into a makeshift crutch. Even though any of the Clones could easily carry her around, she didn't want them doing that. Especially since some of them maybe wouldn't want to right now, so she thought of a way to take care of herself. After that, she took a step forward, testing it out. The rifle seemed to suffice enough for her to walk. The bacta, luckily, was working its magic as the pain in her leg was beginning to dull. Not fully, but enough to where walking would be just tolerable enough. She opened up the door and, with a deep breath, hobbled out into the ship.

As she came out, she heard Echo ask, “What did the bounty hunter look like?”

Then Hunter's voice answered, “He was a Duros.”

“There are a few different Duros bounty hunters. Anything that can narrow it down?” Echo replied.

Kimber clarified as she entered the cabin, “He had a wide-brimmed hat, if that helps.”

She noticed Wrecker and Hunter were gathered around the navicomputer with Echo sitting in the seat in front of it. They all turned to face her once they heard her voice, looks of sad uncertainty in their eyes.

“Look, it doesn't matter how you boys feel about me right now,” she told them as she slowly made her way over to them. “What matters is finding Omega and we're going to have to work together to do that.”

For a moment, Hunter still appeared unsure, but then he lightly sighed and shook his head. “You’re right,” he relented. “We can figure everything else out later.”

Kimber gave him a grateful nod.

A few seconds later, after typing out some things on the computer, Echo pulled up an image and stated, “Your description of the bounty hunter is a match to one from the Republic's files.”

Sure enough, the image he’d pulled up was the Duros bounty hunter that both Hunter and Kimber had gone up against. His outfit was a little different with a long, brown overcoat and his hat had a much wider brim, but they both recognized him right away and confirmed it.

“Cad Bane,” Echo told them. “He had multiple run-ins with the Jedi and was responsible for attempting to abduct Chancellor Palpatine.”

“Well, now we can add child kidnapping to that list,” Kimber added, glaring up at the image of Cad Bane as she made sure to lock that name away.

“First the bounty hunter on Pantora and now this guy? Why are they after the kid?” Wrecker demanded in irritation.

Then Tech emerged from the cockpit with his datapad like usual and answered Wrecker’s question, saying, “Because she is more valuable than we realized.”

“What do you mean?” asked Hunter.

Tech clarified, “I further analyzed Omega's genetic profile and discovered she has pure, first-generation DNA.”

Everyone’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“Whoa! Wait. W-W-What does that mean?” Wrecker asked, puzzled.

“First-generation? Like Rex? How is that possible?” Kimber then questioned, looking at Hunter and then back to Tech.

Tech then went on to explain, “All clones were created from a host named Jango Fett. While our genetic structure was modified for growth acceleration and obedience, Omega is a pure genetic replication.”

“How many Clones like that exist?” Hunter inquired.

The answer Tech gave him was a curious one: there was only one other Clone in existence like Omega. It was another male Clone with the code-name of Alpha, but was later called Boba. Then Tech mentioned that Boba had disappeared near the start of the Clone Wars and that left Omega as the sole living source of Jango Fett’s raw genetic material…which could only mean one thing.

“The Kaminoans…!” Kimber deduced aloud.

Echo seemed to have come to the same conclusion as he said right after her to Hunter, “If she's vital to the Kaminoans' cloning operation, they must have put the bounty on her.”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” said Kimber.

Then Wrecker posed the question, “So how do we find this bounty hunter?”

Hunter told Tech to check with Cid and see if she had any contacts that could help while the rest of them could keep monitoring comms for any incoming signals. With that, he retreated into the cockpit and went over to the communications panel.

“I would ask the girls to help, but Irys told me that getting information on bounty hunters is one of the few things she can’t do. Anything within the bounty hunter’s guild is locked pretty tight, even for her,” Kimber told the others.

“That and most likely, they’re busy helping Rina by this point,” added Echo. “She and Kida should’ve made it back to Ord Mantell by now.”

“I’m sure they did,” said Kimber back, hobbling over to the chair on the opposite side of the cabin.

Just as she turned around and leaned on her rifle to carefully lower herself down into the seat, Echo suddenly appeared in front of her and took her free hand in his, bracing under her arm with his scomp. He gave her a kind smile that surprised her and he helped her sit down, letting her use his arm to lean on more than her rifle.

“Thanks,” she said timidly.

He sat back down in the seat across the aisle and said to her calmly, “Listen, Kim…I know dealing with Crosshair’s absence has been hard for you…but you should’ve come to us. You shouldn’t have kept secrets from us. We’re a squad; we look out for each other.”

She hung her head. “I know,” she said softly.

Then Tech put in his two credits by saying, “Echo is right. If all of us were to act on our own accord in all we do, then the synergy of our squad would be imbalanced. We all rely on each other, both in battle and in other matters. While loss is not something most of us are, indeed, too familiar with, it is still something we must now all endure together…and that includes you, Kimber.”

Kimber lifted her head and looked up at him, her eyes glistening slightly.

“I suppose it was a slight on our part to not have suspected your pain would be different than ours when Crosshair joined the Empire, seeing as you had a close connection to him…but we will no longer let you suffer alone,” Tech vowed.

“The point is: we should’ve been there for you more, from the beginning of all this,” said Echo. “Had we done that, maybe you wouldn’t have felt the need to resort to desperate measures.”

However, she shook her head. “It’s not your fault. Like Tech said, we’ve been dealing with things you guys aren’t entirely familiar with and therefore, I shouldn’t expect you to know how to handle it any better than me.”

Echo stood up from his chair and knelt down on a knee in front of Kimber, grasping her hand and saying her name to prompt her to look at him. When she met his soft gaze, he assured her, “We’re a squad and we help each other. All of us. Even if we don’t fully understand how to cope with some things, we’ll figure it out. That’s what we do.” He tightened his hold on her hand just a bit. “Don’t isolate your feelings just because you don’t think we’d understand. We do, more than you know. Please, don’t keep us in the dark or keep secrets from us again, okay?”

She stole a look up at Tech, as well, and he gave her a sincere nod. It astonished her how quickly Echo and Tech were to forgive her for this. Though, she wasn’t going to take it for granted. In response, she simply nodded and replied, “I won’t. I promise.”

Satisfied with that, Tech then declared, “Echo and I shall reach out to Cid.” After that, the two of them proceeded to start typing things out on the computer as well as the datapad.

Wrecker came up beside Kimber and said, laying a hand on her upper back, “See? I told you they’d come around.”

“Yeah…but there’s still Hunter,” she responded.

“Don’t worry. He might be mad right now, but…he loves you more than anything,” Wrecker told her gently. “I know you guys will work through it. You always do.”

“I hope so…I feel like I’ve disappointed him more than the rest of you,” she admitted.

He rubbed her back. “Love is stronger than disappointment.”

She snickered lightly and turned her gaze up to him. “It would seem love has also made you wiser,” she observed.

The big guy said nothing, but smiled encouragingly.

Then Kimber stole a look down the way to where she could see Hunter sitting in the cockpit, continuously pushing buttons on the console to monitor their comm channels. She could tell he was already determined to work himself to the bone until they found Omega, despite his injury. She knew she was going to have to keep an eye on him. Hopefully, once Omega was found, she'd have a chance to talk things over with him and make amends for what she'd done.

If he'd let her.

Not long later, Kimber decided to join Hunter in the cockpit. Not to try and apologize just yet; he was too distracted for that, but to see if she could help and perhaps keep him company…and possibly help him stay sane.

When she limped into the front of the ship, Hunter was sitting there, his arm propped up against the side console and his hand resting against his forehead. Then he flinched a little and his other hand came up to his bandaged chest, sharply sucking in air through his teeth. Kimber’s heart ached at seeing him in pain, both physically and emotionally.

“I can take over if you need a break,” she spoke up.

He glanced up briefly over his shoulder upon hearing her voice, but then turned back to the console, stating through a grunt, “I’m fine.”

“Darling…you’re still in pain,” she told him.

“I’ll worry about that after we find Omega,” he simply replied, not even looking back at her as he resumed tapping keys on the console.

She hobbled up next to him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, feeling his body instinctively relax a little at her touch. “Neglecting yourself isn’t going to help us find her any faster, Hunter, and we will find her… but you need to pace yourself. We still need you here, too, as much as she does.”

For a second, his head turned her way slightly and she thought he was going to try and argue some more, but instead, he let out a frustrated sigh, his head hanging low. Then he reached over and grasped her hand on his shoulder, his grip tight with need, and she curled her fingers around his. It seemed that, despite how angry he was at her, he still couldn’t deny the comfort she was offering him. Not when he desperately needed it in the moment.

Then he said, his voice low and despondent, “I just hope she’s okay.”

“I’m sure she is,” she responded. “If it’s the Kaminoans that want her, I have no doubt that they’ll want her unharmed. Besides, she’s a smart girl. I’m sure she’ll be able to look out for herself until we find her.” She wanted so much to lean down and kiss his brow, but decided against it as he might not welcome such a gesture just yet. Instead, she just tightened her grip on his hand, which he returned. Though, he still didn’t look back at her.

A few seconds later, Echo came into the room, declaring with irritation, “Yeah, Cid knows all about Bane, but not how to find him. She said we're on our own.”

“Of course,” replied Kimber, rolling her eyes. Cid was never useful when they needed her to be.

Just then, they heard a faint, tiny voice come in over their comm channel, “Come in. Come in. Anyone?”

Echo, Hunter and Kimber all exchanged looks of shock. It was Omega’s voice!

“Omega?” Wrecker cried out, running in from the back with Tech behind him.

“Omega, are you there? Omega!” Hunter cried out into the communication panel, but there was no reply.

“It’s long-range. I’ll try to boost the signal,” Echo declared, darting back to the front controls.

After putting in a few codes to boost the comm signal, they heard Omega’s voice come through, “Is anyone there?” Even though they could hear her, it was still staticy and hard to hear at first.

“Omega, do you copy?” Hunter asked.

They heard her gasp Hunter’s name with joy before saying, “I'm here. I got away, but you have to hurry!.”

“I knew you’d find a way! Where are you, Omega?” Kimber then asked.

There was a glitch in the signal for a second before they heard her answer, “I don’t know where I am.”

“Hang on, kid. We’re comin’ for ya!” Wrecker cried out.

Echo was trying to trace the signal, but he groaned aloud and stated, “The signal's too weak to establish a direct connection trace.”

Tech then came forward and began instructing Omega over the comm on how to give them a relay on her position, asking her to create a power surge where she was. They all waited in anticipation for Omega’s responses to Tech’s instructions and were relieved every time they could hear her voice. However, at one point, Tech gave her another set of instructions and there wasn’t a reply. Tech spoke her name to get her attention and there was nothing but static and the sounds of a struggle on the other end.

“What’s happening?” Kimber questioned.

“I still can’t get a good read,” Tech answered.

Then they all jumped slightly as they heard Omega’s fearful voice suddenly cry, “Hunter, I need you!”

Hunter shoved Tech aside to get to the comm panel, yelling Omega’s name in a panic. Then the signal was suddenly lost.

“No!” Kimber cried out, slamming a fist on the dash. “The bounty hunter must’ve found her and cut off her communications.”

“Can you find her signal again?” Hunter asked Tech, urgency in his voice.

Tech shook his head. “It was still too weak for me to pinpoint her exact location.”

“We need to get it back,” said Hunter.

“Calm down,” Kimber told him, grabbing his arm. When he looked at her, slightly irritated that she was stopping him, she continued, “Like I told you, she’s a smart girl. She already found a way to get a signal to us, she can do it again. All we can do for her right now is wait, continue monitoring our comm channels and be ready when we hear from her again.”

He clenched his teeth together impatiently. They had finally gotten word from Omega and just as soon as they’d heard from her, they lost her again. Where could she even be? But the steadfast look in Kimber’s eyes directed at him gave him pause. He knew Kimber was right and he had to remind himself that Omega was indeed an intelligent girl. She’d managed to get away from the bounty hunter long enough to get a message to them without their help. If she’d managed to do it once already, then she could surely do it again.

With a deep breath to calm his anxiety, Hunter gave her a nod of understanding.

Then, turning to Tech, Kimber inquired, “Were you able to get any sort of reading at all as to where she might possibly be?”

He turned to his datapad and answered, “There was nothing substantial, but it seemed as though it was coming from somewhere in a system not far from us.”

“Then why don’t we just head that way and get a headstart?” suggested Wrecker.

“There are still several planets in that part of the galaxy. If we bypass the correct one, that could prove detrimental to Omega’s rescue,” Tech pointed out.

The four of them continued to debate on different possible options they could do until a few minutes later, they heard beeping coming from the main computer and Echo declared from the co-pilot’s seat, “I think I've got her. She's in the Lido system.”

“Where in the Lido system?” Wrecker asked as they all rushed forward to the computer to see what it was displaying.

Echo pushed a few keys and stated, “I'm pinpointing the exact coordinates. Hang on!”

Within seconds, the Marauder was back in hyperspace, heading towards Omega’s location and all they could do was hope they’d be able to reach her in time. Not much time passed when they exited hyperspace and they soon ended up in an unknown planet’s red-orange and cloudy atmosphere. They were all searching out the viewport for any sign of Omega or any nearby civilization.

The ship’s proximity sensor began to chirp and Tech informed the others, “I’m picking up a nearby vessel, but it’s descending fast towards the surface.”

As they kept watch out the window, Kimber spotted what the proximity sensor had picked up: it was a round flight pod soaring downward through the sky.

“There!” she cried, pointing through the viewport. “It’s a flight pod. That must be her!”

“Tech, take over the controls,” said Echo. “I’ll prep the docking clamp.”

Echo and Tech seamlessly transitioned as Tech jumped into the pilot’s seat and took control of the ship, angling it down after the flight pod, while Echo ran to the back of the ship and started getting the docking clamp ready to catch the flight pod. Hunter and Wrecker ran after him with Kimber limping behind them on her rifle crutch. After a moment of quiet anticipation, they heard the clang on the underbelly of the ship as the flight pod was caught on the clamp and the Marauder docked on top of it. Echo opened the docking port, gas releasing from inside the pod as it opened, and Wrecker knelt down and peered inside.

“Omega! Are you in there?” he called down.

To everyone’s relief, they heard Omega’s small, trembling voice cry out Wrecker’s name from down below. They had found her!

Wrecker reached down and pulled her out of the pod, happy to have her back. Once she was safely inside the ship, Echo released the flight pod from the ship and Tech flew the ship back up into the sky, preparing to exit the planet’s atmosphere.

The poor girl had her hands in cuffs and she looked so scared, which made Kimber’s heart ache. She grew even sadder when Omega turned and leaned against Hunter, making him flinch in pain. Kimber knew Omega probably had shared the same fear as she did, thinking Hunter had died back on Bracca and now, she was relieved to see he was alive. Ignoring the pain from his injury, Hunter still smiled sweetly as he looked down at Omega, just happy to have her back.

He knelt down and asked her, taking her gently by the shoulders, “Are you okay, Omega? Are you hurt?”

She sniffled and asked tearfully, “Why is this happening? Why are the Kaminoans after me?”

With that one question, the squad’s suspicions were confirmed. It had been the Kaminoans who had sent Cad Bane after her and she’d found out about it.

“Hunter…you have to tell her,” Echo urged their Sergeant.

With a pained expression in his eyes and face, Hunter explained to Omega, “You're…valuable to them. More than all the other Clones, even more than us. You're…different.”

Apprehensively, she asked him, “Different? How?”

The conversation Hunter and the rest of the squad had with Omega following her rescue was not an easy one. Explaining to her that she was a vital key to the Cloning process wasn’t easy for her to hear, but she held herself together surprisingly well. For someone that had just been through a kidnapping, she was doing better than they expected. Hunter soon ordered that everyone get rest once Tech found a spot in space to just let the ship hover for a while.

However, as Kimber tried to rest, she found it hard to go to sleep. Hunter had elected to stay out in the cockpit for a while, saying he would keep watch. Though, Kimber wasn’t sure she bought that excuse. There really wasn’t any reason for him to keep watch for anything, especially now that their ship’s signature was scrambled and the Empire couldn’t track them. No…she had a feeling it was because he still wasn’t happy with her and didn’t want to share the room with her at the moment. Not having him beside her was making it hard for her to sleep, not to mention the dull aching in her injured leg. After determining she wasn’t going to get rest anytime soon, she decided she was going to go out and finally speak to Hunter. He would be alone and he was the last one she needed to make amends with. The others were quicker to forgive her for what she’d done, but she knew Hunter would need more convincing.

She took up her rifle again and made her way out of the bunk. Though, as she got to the cabin of the ship, she could hear voices from further in. She peeked around the corner and saw Hunter speaking to Omega in the cockpit.

“If I'm as valuable as you say, Lama Su will keep sending bounty hunters after me,” she heard Omega say.

Then Hunter responded with conviction, “He can send everyone in the galaxy. You have us.”

Kimber smiled to herself. Hunter’s determination to keep Omega safe honestly just made her fall even more in love with him. For someone who had never cared for a child before, he was doing rather well with Omega. Then she heard Omega tell him that he couldn’t fight everyone and she watched as Hunter got out of his chair, crouched in front of Omega, turned her chair to face him and lovingly told her she had nothing to worry about, vowing that she would never have to return to Kamino. Kimber could only pray deep down that he wasn’t making a promise he couldn’t keep. Of course, they all would do everything in their power to keep the kid safe…but would it prove to be enough?

Once Omega seemed calm enough, Hunter told her to go try and sleep, which she obeyed. As she walked towards the gunner’s mount, Omega caught sight of Kimber waiting near the back, jogged over to her and hugged her around the waist. Kimber lightly chuckled, touched by the young Clone’s affection, and softly smoothed her hair. When she pulled away, Omega simply smiled gratefully up at Kimber and then climbed up into her makeshift room in the gunner’s mount, pulling the curtain shut behind her.

When Kimber looked back towards the cockpit, Hunter was standing there staring at her. He looked a little startled to see her, but there was also still hurt in his eyes as well as yearning; yearning to just understand everything she had done.

“Hunter…,” she simply said, beginning her walk towards the front of the ship on her rifle.

Though, after she took a couple steps, he told her, “Put that down.” Then he walked towards her and said, holding out a hand to her, “Come here.”

Timidly, she listened and set her rifle against the wall, bracing herself on one of the chairs as she did so. Then she reached out and took Hunter’s hand and he proceeded to guide her arm over his head and across his shoulders, letting her put her weight on him as he walked her towards the cockpit. Once they got there, he carefully eased her down into the seat Omega had occupied not minutes prior before sitting back down in the other chair as she thanked him.

Still at least thinking he’d be cordial, he asked her, “How are you doing?”

Kimber wasn’t expecting him to be so at ease with her, but maybe getting Omega back had softened him up a bit, she supposed. With a light scoff, she replied, “Remember when we first met? I was so much worse than this. That and I’ve been shot and stabbed before, so this is nothing to me.” Then flashes of Hunter being shot by Cad Bane crossed her mind and tears began to fill her eyes at the memory.

Right away, Hunter noticed her tears and sensed her emotions were rising. “What's wrong?” he asked.

Her voice cracked as she answered tearfully, turning away from him, “The pain of my wound...and all other wounds I've suffered...was nothing compared to the pain that grew in my heart when I saw Bane shoot you.” She turned back to him. “I thought we'd lost you, Hunter...I thought I had lost you.”

He reassured her, “I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart.”

Even though hearing him call her “sweetheart” seemed like a good sign, her fears weren’t put at ease by his words. “ You can say that all you like...but think about it: we both got shot and Omega was taken from us in nothing flat,” she went on to tell him. “You may not go anywhere willingly, but that doesn't mean it won't happen in ways that we don't expect. We're not untouchable, Hunter, and it's unwise to think we are if we simply promise to be, not in the world we live in now. The galaxy is against us and we need to take better care. I know you were protecting Omega, as was I, and I would never tell you not to, but you were almost killed...and I couldn't bear it. It was my worst nightmares coming true. I can't watch that happen to you again. I can't lose you.” Then her head fell as she felt her tears threatening to seep out of her eyes, squeezing them shut tightly to keep herself from crying and remembering the devastation she’d felt momentarily at seeing Hunter being shot.

A few seconds passed and she suddenly felt Hunter take her hands in his. When she opened her eyes, he was kneeling in front of her, looking up at her with soft sympathy in his eyes. “Kimber, I'm here. Bane didn't kill me,” he consoled her. Then he brought her hand up to his chest and held her open palm over his heart. “Feel me...I'm here with you,” he said.

Kimber nearly cried some more at this gesture. Normally, that was her tactic to calm him down when anything had nearly happened to her. This was the first time he had used it to help her. Feeling his steady heartbeat thumping in his chest gave her the comforting reminder she needed. Her nightmares were still only dreams; they hadn’t come true and Hunter was still with her, alive and well. She let herself fall forward until her forehead gently made contact with his. There they stayed for a moment that she wished would last forever, relishing in each other’s presence, as if to remind themselves that neither of them were dead and that they were still together.

Then Kimber broke the silence by saying, “You’re here…and so is Omega. We got her back. All is well now.”

However, Hunter sighed quietly and responded, “Not quite.” Then he pulled away and sat himself back in the chair, a conflicted look on his face.

This was the moment Kimber had been dreading and she tensed up, anticipating whatever Hunter was about to throw at her.

He brought a hand up to his forehead and rubbed between his eyes in vexation. “Kimber…I just…I have so many questions,” he said with a sigh. Then he looked back at her and continued calmly yet still with a hint of disappointment, “Help me understand…why you reached out to Crosshair. Why did you do it?”

Ashamed, she turned away and hugged her arms tightly. “I…I missed him…and I didn’t know what else to do. It was the only thing I could think of doing to help cope with his absence,” she answered.

“Does anyone else know?” he then inquired.

“Only Irys,” she told him, “but it was only because she overheard me sending a message and quickly figured it out.”

There was silence briefly and then he asked next, “When did this start?”

She released a breath slowly, preparing her explanation and readying herself for however Hunter would react. “When we crashed on that moon some time ago…after the one singular time we talked about Crosshair. I was emotional thinking about him and when I went back to our bunk to be alone…I just acted impulsively and sent him a message, just pleading to understand why he left us and to come back. This was before we fully understood the significance of the inhibitor chips.” She paused for a moment, waiting for him to say anything, but he kept quiet, his sights focused outside the viewport. When he didn’t respond, she kept going, “Then I messaged him again when we were first going to Ord Mantell and then shortly before the Imperial gala. On that subject…he was there, Hunter.”

That was what made Hunter finally turn and look at her again. “What?”

Giving him an affirming nod, she said, “Crosshair was there at the gala. I saw him as we were escaping…and I found out he saw me when he contacted me on Bracca.”

Hunter ran his hand over his face, exasperated. He had no idea things with Kimber and Crosshair had gone so far. He was confused, trepidatious and concerned, unsure of just how to react to any of this information. Then he said, his tone still composed yet with no less bite to it, “Even though you knew he has the chip in his head, you still told him where we were. How could you do something so reckless?”

She rubbed her arms for self-comfort. “I was only trying to help him,” she said in a low voice. “I know now I wasn’t thinking clearly, I was just…desperate. I thought we could remove his chip and he would return to us. I was….” She was about to say something, but then a realization came to her mind and she stopped herself at first. Then, with a defeated sigh, she admitted, “I was thinking of the squad, at first…but now I see that I was only thinking of myself. In doing so, I put all of us at risk.”

“Why did you keep all this from me?”

“I just knew, after what he did, you wouldn’t react well to anything involving Crosshair. I felt alone and didn’t know what to do.”

“Kimber, you know you can talk to me about anything.”

“Not about this.” Kimber turned back to Hunter, melancholy written all over her face. “You shut down when Crosshair is brought up, which was what happened on that moon the first time.”

Somehow, Hunter hadn't fully recognized the way he'd handled Crosshair's absence and betrayal. Whenever he was reminded of it, he didn't want to think about it lest it make him more upset…but he never realized that avoiding that subject affected Kimber so much. A small wave of remorse washed over him as his gaze drifted away.

Kimber added, “Though…I can’t really blame you. This kind of loss is new for you; for all of us. He hurt you and he hurt me, too”

“Guess we both haven’t been coping with it very well…and all of us not talking about him didn’t help things,” he commented warily.

“Not really,” she affirmed.

There was another moment of awkward silence between the two of them. Both of them were experiencing guilt over the days’ circumstances and just weren’t sure of what to say to each other. The tension was heavy and uncomfortable, both of them waiting for the other to speak.

Then finally, Kimber said, her voice quiet yet resolute, “Listen…I’m sorry for what I did. I never should’ve reached out to Crosshair in the first place and I definitely shouldn’t have told him where we were. I only ever had good intentions…but I know that isn’t a good enough excuse. Even Omega getting captured was my fault because I failed to protect her. I put all of us in danger and I messed everything up. I broke the squad’s trust…I broke your trust. You have every right to not trust me right now, but please know I would never intentionally endanger this squad. I made a mistake, I know that. I’m so sorry and I hope you can forgive me eventually. I’ll do anything to earn your trust again.”

At first, Hunter didn’t reply. His head hung down and he appeared lost in thought. Kimber supposed he was probably thinking of how awful she was or maybe he didn’t fully believe her apology. So many worst-case scenarios ran through her head that filled her with fear; fear of how her actions were ultimately going to affect her greatest relationship. Then a few seconds later, he stood up from his seat, knelt down on one leg in front of her and grabbed hold of her hands again, running his thumbs over the back of her hands.

“Can you at least promise that you won’t do anything like that again?” he requested.

Immediately, she nodded. “I promise. Even though he still is being controlled by the chip…Crosshair still betrayed me a second time and I have no desire to try contacting him again. I've learned my lesson.”

The corners of his lips twitched up ever so slightly with satisfaction. His hand came up and cradled her cheek ever so gently, making her instinctively lean into his touch. “Then I forgive you,” he told her.

Her heart leapt for joy at hearing those words. Her hands came up and grasped his that held her face as she turned her head and pressed her lips gratefully into his palm. She’d believed it would’ve taken a lot to earn his trust again, but she was relieved that her Sergeant was quicker to forgive her this time.

Holding his hand against her cheek, she looked at him and said lastly, “I’m sorry I disappointed you.”

With a small shrug, he replied, “Well…love is stronger than disappointment.”

She blinked, taken aback at hearing those familiar words from earlier. “Wrecker said the exact same thing to me.”

“I know…I heard him,” he stated. Then he removed his hand and his expression turned sad and full of regret as he said, “And he was right. I reacted too harshly and in my anger, I said some hurtful things to you. What Wrecker said made me realize that that isn’t how I should treat the woman I love.”

“You had every right to be mad at me,” she said back.

Shaking his head, he countered, “But I accused you of being the reason Omega was kidnapped, even though Cad Bane being there had nothing to do with what you had done. That wasn’t fair to you and I shouldn’t have done that.” He heaved a loud sigh. “I hate it when we fight.”

She agreed, “So do I.”

He took hold of her hands again, brought them up to his lips and pressed a firm kiss to her knuckles on each hand. He then returned his apologetic gaze to her and said, “I’m sorry, Kimber. Can you forgive me?”

With a content smile of relief, she traced his cheek lightly and answered, “Of course, darling.”

Pleased that she too was willing to forgive him, he pressed a kiss to her palm. As her hand lowered back to her lap, he then said, “No more secrets?”

“No more secrets,” she repeated.

With that promise now between them, Hunter leaned forward until their foreheads met, his nose gently brushing hers. “I love you, sweetheart.”

Kimber smiled again, her gladness almost overpowering her now. “I love you, too.” After a short moment, she pulled back and went on to ask him, “Will you come to bed?”

He released a tiny scoff and relented, saying, “All right. I will…but you're not going back to the room using that.” Then he gestured with his head back to her rifle still propped against the wall.

“What? It was the best I could do, given the circumstances,” she replied with a grin.

“There's no need for a crutch when you have me,” he said back. Then without waiting for a response, he stood up and pulled her up with him, draping her arm over his shoulders and supporting her around the waist. “But hopefully, your leg will heal in no time.”

Nestling her head into his neck, she purred, “I'll still choose to lean on you even then, my darling.”

She felt him kiss her hair and with all being said and done, they retreated back to their bunk for some much-needed rest after a long and stressful day.

#star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #bad batch hunter #sergeant hunter #bad batch fanfic #hunter x oc fic #sun and rain fanfic

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yandere-writer-momo · 7 months

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Yandere Short Stories: The Sponser

Yandere Afab Vampire x Afab Vampire Hunter Reader

For my dear friend @corvlth

Eclectic. Odd. Bizarre. Out of the box. Those were all ways one would describe Duchess Evaline Bohéme. She was known to be an eccentric artist who’d much rather spend her time painting than socializing with other nobles.

There was no point socializing with humans in her mind. It didn’t matter how many centuries went by or how often she changed her name, human nobles remained the same. Greedy and selfish.

Which made issues arise. She didn’t want to marry nor did she want to date. Evaline lost herself in her oil paintings, dedicating every fiber in her being to the vibrant colors and the soft contours of a figment of her imagination.

But that was until she met her. (Your name), the vampire hunter. A gruff and tenacious woman who took the social world by storm by being out of the norm. A woman doing a man’s job? It was unheard of… and it fascinated the duchess.

People underestimated the huntress because of her gender but Evaline didn’t. She could feel it from her place in the shadows that the huntress was far more capable than the hunters before her. So how could Evaline obtain her?

Evaline would sell out her brethren. If (your name) hunted all the other vampires, then (your name) would trust her. Maybe she’d open her heart to Evaline? The thought made the Duchess giddy.

Evaline watched (your name) from her perch of her bedroom window. Her violet eyes memorizing every part of the scarred huntress’s face. In Evaline’s eyes, she was the most magnificent creature she’s ever seen.

Evaline swore if she had a heartbeat, it would have stopped when they locked eyes. That her cheeks would blush a cherry red under the huntress’s strong gaze. She was enamored.

(Your name) took the small bag of gold from the butler. The huntress tipped the brim of her hat down as a sign of respect.

Evaline sunk to her knees, the wood splintered under her hands from the force she fell with when (your name) climbed on top of her horse and rode off.

Evaline wanted her… and Evaline would have her. Whether in this life or the next.

#female reader #yandere fic #yandere imagine #yandere #yandere monster x reader #yandere monster #yandere lesbian #yandere wlw #yandere vampire #yandere vampire x reader #vampire #vampire hunter #lesbian #lesbian oc #sapphic #sapphism #yandere oc #yandere original character #yandere stories

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skellymom · 3 months

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"Sunset Over Pabu"

Hunter X OC/Reader One Shot

Word Count: 910

Background: An "Old Love" relationship. Nostalgia. Saying Goodbye. Using planet and star interchangeably. The celestial body in this fic is a Moon, similar to our planet Mars it reflects light so the appearance is a shining star.

The inspiration for this story came from @lightspringrain artwork. Including the link to her Etsy shop and image of "Hunter's Moon"

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1556715876/star-wars-the-bad-batch-omega-or-hunter?ref=yr_purchases

There are parallels to the first time Mad met Hunter in this fic. To read how they met, here is the link:

https://www.tumblr.com/skellymom/738467105361494016/vagabonds?source=share

Warning: Sadness.

(Credit: Cool moving star dividers by @4ngelic-wh1spers )

They snuggled close on that settee just as they did the first night meeting on Ord Mantell. In between trips off world, children, weddings, funerals, holidays, and all manner of life Hunter and Mad carved out while on Pabu to watch the sunset together. Approximately 10 standard cycles of building a bonfire on the beach and cuddling up together to watch the sky turn deep shades of crimson, purple, and eventually black. Gazing at the stars as they cycled by with the seasons in the night sky.

The broken settee was resurrected by Hunter’s own hands when they first settled. He built it strong enough for two. A solid foundation so it would never break again. Mad helped weatherproof it to withstand the ocean salt. Together, they performed maintenance when needed, so it would last for many years. A continuing project and labor of love.

In addition, a firepit was constructed to hold the burning heat kept within. Hunter and Mad collected stones on their travels around the galaxy. Bringing back chunks of memories to line into a continuing never-ending circle. Occasionally family and friends would add their own additions when returning to Pabu. Wrecker kept his eye out for oddly shaped or colored rocks while fishing and would surprise them with a new addition already stacked against the ring.

Tonight, Hunter had a bit of difficulty making his way down the stone steps to the beach. Mad took his hand, providing support. His long hair and beard had gotten greyer the last few months. She joked that he was almost as silver as her. The wrinkles and laugh-lines accumulated since being together, a happy long life for a clone prominent on his face. He smiled as she fussed about him being careful not to slip.

“Taking good care of me.”

“Of course, what else would I do.”

She winked, and he chuckled.

He told Mad tonight he’d forego their usual “Spotchka under the stars” and just do “The Stars” for tonight. The alcohol was wearing heavily on his system, making for extremely tiring mornings after...even with him cutting back considerably.

In the last few months, Hunter and Mad watched a vibrant moon make its transit across the heavens. It stood out amongst the other stars. Burning a brilliant red flicker that could be easily seen even though it was millions of light years away. The bright red star reached the zenith of its orbit and total brilliance tonight per Tech’s calculations.

“There’s YOUR moon, Hunky!” Mad pointed up above.

There was a number for this moon at one point. With millions of celestial bodies orbiting the galaxy, only numbers were given to keep track of them all. That wasn't good enough for Omega though. She named it “Hunter’s Moon” rotations ago before leaving on her own journey with Echo and Crosshair.

“Shame it’s the last night we’ll see it on Pabu.” Hunter mused.

Mad sighed. “Didn’t Tech say something about it being visible somewhere else?”

“Think he mentioned another planet not far from this one...” Hunter trailed off.

“Whattsamatter Hunky?”

He looked a little guilty “Not sure I’m up to traveling much any time soon.” He also sounded tired.

“Not in any hurry. We have a sky full of stars.”

“Mhmm, that’s my Mad... always thinking ahead.”

“It’s the wanderlust. Brain never shuts off.”

“I LOVE you, Maadienne.”

Mad smiled and squeezed his hand. “I LOVE you too, Hunky.”

They both gazed up at Hunter’s Moon.

“Make a wish, Mad!” Hunter said quietly.

They were both silent for a while. Then Hunter gently rested his head against hers.

She knew he wouldn’t come out and tell her his wish, that to tell it wouldn’t come true. Mad still liked to chide Hunter and try to playfully tease it out of him. It would end in tickling, laughter, hugs, kisses...and on less tiresome nights love making. On tiresome nights they fell asleep in each other's arms on the beach.

“Okay Hunky, spill the beans.” Mad hugged Hunter tighter. He didn’t reply.

“Hunky..?”

Mad brushed Hunter’s long locks away from his face. She gazed down at him, marveling at how the bonfire illuminated his hair, tattoo, dark skin. The face of a sleeping angel. A rhyme in time back on Ord Mantell all those years ago. The younger man who decided to buy her a drink in Cyd’s Parlor. A partner that travelled with her across the galaxy, helped care for her family, whose brothers adopted them all, and a partner that never left her side.

She caressed his face lovingly, immersing herself in the scent of his skin, hair, and...

...breath...?

Hunter’s chest had stilled. An expected, but heavy weight resting against her body, a bit heavier than his usual bodily presence.

“Oh...Hunter...Hun...” Mad suddenly hitched and exhaled, tears running down her face.

She knew this day would eventually come. And as the full rotations went on, she kept wishing on a certain red star that she could have another standard day with him. Every standard day she wished to have another.

But wishes only carry you so far...and there are only so many wishes granted.

And you must accept that the universe has other plans.

To believe in having just a moment of happiness instead of none.

Mad kissed Hunter’s forehead. “Aw, Hunky...we were REAL good... Weren’t we?

The red star above Pabu twinkled in reply to Mad’s words as she hugged Hunter for the last time.

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oceansssblue · 7 days

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*barges into your askbox, breaking down the door*

may i request a jedi fem!reader x tech where they are on a mission together after some time, and they get separated from the rest of the group. she fights very well against some opponents but ends up getting just a bit bloody and hurt, mostly due to an aggressive fighting style, that of a warrior. tech notices all the new scars n stuff on her face and forearms and is worried. she insists she's fine and tries to brush it off, even though she doesnt like them and makes her less of a jedi and more of a warrior. he comforts her telling her things like your a great general and you don't have to follow the code perfectly to still be a good jedi. so basically first kiss fluff and comfort, a bit of angst.

sorry it was so long! have a great day/night

I love Tech soo muchhhh 🥹 This was a cute idea, so here it is! Hope you like it.

Next request will feature Commander Mayday I think!

Stay tunned,

Xx,

Sky.

"JEDI WARRIOR"

TBB REQUESTS —TECH/F READER

WARNINGS: Blood, scars. A sprinkle of angst but mostly fluff and comfort 📩💔💖

"I'll distract them!" your voice shouts loud and clear through the batch's coms frequency.

Tech frowns, dodging a shot and quickly neutralising the droid responsible for it.

"General..." he begins, clearly not happy with the offer, but you cut him of quickly.

"That's an order" you almost bark back to him.

You don't mean to be mean or harsh. But you're in the middle of a battle, there's lifes on danger, and though you know Tech's worried about you, you can't let that distract you. You need to distract your enemies so the Batch can get to their base; so they can get the information needed. Information that will save hundreds of lifes and will be valuable to the Republic. You know Tech will probably have a list of the things that could go wrong with you getting separated from them in his mind; but it's your choice, ultimately. If you die, so be it. You'd do it honorably.

Tech clenches his jaw.

"Yes, General".

You run away, jumping over dozens of droids and never slowing down, your orange lightsaber dancing through their lines, a blur of light in the almost darkness of the arriving night. While you atract the majority of their troops and pull them far away, the Batch advances. You hope you can hold them off til they get what you need.

Time passes, and your enemies seem to close around you. Droids are not the main problem; the natives of Garsa are, riding big felines with sharp teeth that painfully closes around your arms and legs more than once. One of the predators catches your ankle and pulls, dragging you through the dirt; and you can't help the furious, painful scream that leaves your mouth, twisting around quickly and stabbing your lightsaber through his own open mouth. The animal screeches and dies.

When you hear Hunter's voice through your coms again, half an hour later, you're on the verge of falling unconscious. You can barely fight much longer; energy drained even with your extensive Jedi training. You feel blood all over you, mixing with the dirt of the ground you've been rolling in. It tingles painfully, all the open wounds on your body; specially the deep scratches on your face, that tugs with every facial expression and movement.

You must be quite the sight, because when the Batch comes near you, Tech suddenly halts upon seeing you. A second later, they're all standing around you, helping you to get rid of the last enemies and giving you cover while you start your hurried way back to the Marauder.

Once you're safely flying away on the ship, you collapse down onto the floor. Wrecker grabs you before you can really slam down onto it; lowering you gently. Your mind feels dizzy with exhaustion; and you've almost fallen asleep in place when Tech kneels besides you, route already established and on automatic pilot.

His fingers carefully brush your hair away; chocolate brown eyes studying you worriedly.

"Let's get you cleaned up and fixed, General" he whispers, putting your arm over his shoulders and tugging you up to a stand with him.

You grunt in pain and lean most of your weight against him.

"Don't know if I can stay up and conscious through a shower" you mumble tiredly.

Tech starts a slow, careful walk towards the bathroom. The rest of the Batch scatters throughout the ship, tending to their own wounds and exhaustion.

"That is okay" Tech answers, unbothered. "You could stay with your underware on and I could assist you with that, if you would be comfortable with such situation".

You glance at him and inevitably smile. His cheeks are slightly flushed, though he's trying to keep his voice and posture as professional as possible. You know it's a weird situation, and he doesn't want to make you uncomfortable.

Maybe you would be with Hunter or Wrecker or Cross. But you've always felt safe and at ease with Tech specially; and it would be just one soldier helping another. Of sorts.

" 'M okay with that" you give him your permission, and Tech nods quietly.

Once in the bathroom, you hold yourself with a hand against the wall and slowly pull your clothes of. Tech intently stares down at the floor; only risking a quick glance upwards when you let out a small whimper of pain. Your pant's are abandoned on the floor; but your bloody shirt is stuck to a wound on your stomach, and just touching the material of the shirt makes your wound burn.

"Let me" Tech asks, gently, and you push your hands over your head, staying as still as possible while he carefully separates the shirt from your skin and pulls it off of your body.

You sigh in relief and thank him before wobbling into the shower. Tech's hand stabilises you; and he makes sure to catch you whenever you stumble a bit too much for his comfort. You get rid of the dirt and blood, being specially carefull with your injuries; and then gently dry your skin with a towel.

Tech takes a step back –dropplets of water running down his still in place armour–, eyes glancing down at the floor again. You smile with his consideration of your privacy; though the smile dissapears from your face when you take a look at the small mirror in front of you.

The wounds are deep, and they will scar. One crosses over your nose, another cuts vertically through your left eyebrow, and two other big ones slashes your right cheek. Smaller ones go over your lip, though you think those will heal nicely. You open your towel and glance down, analysing. There's more across your body. You...

"Don't look like a jedi" you unconsciously mumble out loud. "More like a warrior".

Tech's eyes meet yours through the reflection of the mirror. He frowns, and you fake a smile while you pull yourself out of your thoughts. You hide under the towel.

"I'm fine".

It's obviously a lie; and Tech has always been intelligent.

His hands hesitantly land on your shoulders; thumbs caressing slowly.

"You're a great general" he tells you, gentle. "This was a suicide mission, and yet we all made it out fairly well, considering the circumstances. You don't have to follow the code perfectly to be a good Jedi. Jedi's use the Force to help people, to bring peace to the galaxy. Isn't that what you do everyday?"

His words make your heart ache. Your eyes fill with tears.

Yeah, you do. Maybe he's right. Maybe you don't have to follow the code literally step by step. Maybe what you're doing is enough. You're only human, after all.

Maybe...

You turn towards Tech. He's tall, and handsome, and polite and gentle, intelligent and caring. You've always liked him. Always felt something towards him, even if you've tried to burry it inside your soul.

Maybe... Your hands tremble as they make their way up to his face; carefully cupping his cheeks. Tech blushes, but he doesn't glance or move away. He's still, breathing heavier, eyes fixed on yours, waiting expectantly. His hands slowly travel down your back to your hips; his back curves down to close the distance between your lips.

You cling to his shoulders, stand on your tiptoes, and kiss him. Your eyes close with a relieved sigh, and you can feel him first tensing, then relaxing, into the kiss too. His lips are soft and his movements meassured and gentle; kissing you like you're the most important thing in the galaxy. You feel warm and safe. Excited and in peace at the same time.

When you separate in order to breathe, he caresses your cheek in wonder and presses his forehead against yours with a happy sigh.

Yeah. Maybe it is okay.

THE END.

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Yoooo I'm on fire everybody! Writing nonestop requests for yall!

Still got a few to go (another Tech, Mayday, Wolffe, Hunter, some non romantic ones...). Be patient, I will get there.

Think this one turned out well.

Stay tunned!

Sky.

Back to my general masterlist here:

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mirrorballhughes · 6 months

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I MISS YOU IM SORRY

LUKE HUGHES X ADELAIDE HUNTER

“though you'd hate me, but instead you called and said, "i miss you", i caught it.”

summary: in which a hughes and a hunter are childhood best friends that end up dating then suddenly break up out of the blue. but the magic of the summer and the hughes hunter lake house gets the couple together again. (bits and pieces will be taken from tsitp!)

fanfic masterlist! ☆= 18+ content!!

CHARACTER LIST

CHAPTERS

CHAPTER ONE

EDITS

I MISS YOU IM SORRY (video edit)

MINI PROMPTS

LUKE LEAVING UMICH

IN BETWEEN

EL MEETING THE TEAM

SO IT GOES ( EL & LUKES VERSION) ☆

HEADCANONS

first bunch

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hesthermay · 2 months

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 (𝐏𝐓 𝟏)

PAIRING: sergeant hunter x fem!oc reader

SUMMARY: the assignment of miri rocksled to clone force 99 brought an even higher success rate than the two groups presented on their own; in the times of the clone wars a well working and formidable team was necessary for the republic, but little did it know that the decision would become the biggest thorn in the empires side. master rocksled had never been like other jedi, and the bad batch had never been like other clones, and as they navigate the end of everything they had known and the beginning of something dark those traits are put to the test. rules no longer exist, lines are blurred, and forbidden waters are tread as the bad batch fight the great fight for everything they deserve.

WORD COUNT: 3.1k

RATINGS + WARNINGS: general audiences, mature themes, angst. female oc, use of she/her, mentions of death and order 66. eventual series. follows the bad batch timeline.

NOTES: bada bing bada boom another one?! what?! im just fuckin good like that (im really not this has taken me a bit but im done and now im ready for you all to see it)

STAR WARS MASTERLIST THE GREAT FIGHT MASTERLIST

The scene that Clone Force 99 and their General walked into was familiar to them at this point.

Chaos, in its entirety, had consumed Kaller as Republic forces fought off Separatist battle droids coming from every direction. The ground, covered with snow, was black with ash from the repeated firing of weapons; this battle had been long, and it was not over yet.

Depa Billaba had requested backup, and though these were not the fighters she had wanted, they were all she was going to get. The Republic was stretched thin, it had seemed they had reached the climax of the Clone Wars and though it was only an inkling, it felt as if something was just over the hill.

“Master Rocksled!” Someone called from the treeline. The young Caleb Dunne, sent to retrieve said backup, watched in awe as the stories he had heard came true right in front of him.

Miri Rocksled was not like other Jedi, and in very fitting fashion, her troopers were not like other clones. Master Billaba had told him that was why she was assigned to them, and together they were the odd ones out of the GAR.

Caleb’s words had been lost in the noise, but eventually the last droid had been smashed and all attention was on him. “Master Rocksled,” he repeated, breathing slightly heavy.

“Commander Dunne, it looks like we’re your reinforcements,” she replied, grinning slightly as she walked closer towards him, the clones following suit. “What’s it looking like down there?”

After a plan was devised, the padawan was sent back to his master with the promise that they were right behind him. There was doubt, and a lot of it, upon his return. It did not look promising, him showing up empty handed with talks of five clones and one Jedi, but he asked for trust anyways. And it was not in vain, as the giant boulder that had caught the attention of the droids came crashing into view, making for a grand entrance.

Clone Force 99 made quick work of things with detonators, blasters, their very skilled sniper, brute force, strategic maneuvers, and one orange bladed lightsaber.

“I don’t believe it,” Captain Grey started, lowering the binocs as he watched. “That’s Clone Force 99.”

The two Jedi turn their heads to glance at him, and then one another. “And that’s Miri Rocksled,” Caleb whispered to his master, eyes blown wide.

……..

“Master Billaba,” Miri greeted, sheathing her lightsaber and clipping it to her waist. For a split second she gave thought to the second saber she was set to receive soon and the excitement to have an addition to her signature handle.

“If you’re done hiding down there, I suggest you launch a counterattack,” Hunter interjected, helmet under his arm. “Another droid battalion’s approaching.”

Grey stepped forward, on attack mode in the presence of clones who regarded the protocol he was held to as merely a suggestion. It was even evident in the way they had just addressed a Jedi General, someone who outranked them all as an army. “The General is the one who gives the orders around here.”

Billaba held out her hand, an effort to ease the clone's frustrations as they were not needed, nor helpful.“He’s right, Captain. This is our chance,” she nodded her head slightly, sure of her words. “Launch the counterattack.”

With that, the men were sent on their way and Master and Padawan came out into the open. “There you are little Jedi,” Wrecker stated, pushing his way to the front. “You missed all the fun.”

Caleb, who pulled his hood off, grinned. “Watching your team in action was all the fun.” Miri was reminded of being a padawan and being in awe of some of the Masters when she watched them spar, or went on assignments with them.

Billaba stepped forward, placing a hand on the young boy's shoulder. “Care to introduce your new friends, Caleb?”

“Yes, Master. This is Wrecker,” he gestured to each one as he named them off. “Hunter, Echo, Tech, and Crosshair.” He turned back to her when there was only one left. “And, you know Master Rocksled, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do,” she affirmed with a slight smile before turning her head back to the rest. “While I’m not sure ‘fun’ is the sentiment I would express, I agree with my Padawan. Your exploits were quite impressive. The Council was right when we assigned you to them,” she directed at Miri, who only shrugged one shoulder.

“Exploits?” Wrecker questioned, confusion written all over him as he looked around.

Behind him, Crosshair walked by with his rifle propped on his shoulder. “Don’t overthink it, Wrecker,” he commented, as snide as ever. Crosshair had been an acquired taste, but his attitude was tolerable with some time.

“Thank you, General,” Echo stepped up, almost as straightlaced as ever. As a reg, Echo expressed different traits than that of the experimental unit when it came to working with others, but that was not a testament to his place within the Batch. Echo had found a home in Clone Force 99, one that he had not thought he would get a chance at after the Citadel.

Master Billaba’s inquisitive eyes were once again on her fellow Jedi. “Would you care to explain where my actual reinforcement are, Master Rocksled?”

Miri sighed ever so slightly, for her answer to that question was not a good one, nor a helpful one. “Rerouted to the capital. I’m afraid we’re all you’re getting, my friend,” she replied lowly.

“Ha! We’re all you need,” Wrecker boasted, hands on his hips. And for almost the first time since this interaction had started, Tech looked up from his device.

“Actually,” he held up a finger, a signature pose for the brainiac of the group. “If my intel is correct, the General will not need any of us. The Clone War may soon be over.”

Intrigue trickled down from the crown of Miri’s head at his words. Her feeling, the one that had been nagging and nagging, that something was to come entered the forefront of her mind. She did not hear the responses to Tech’s statement, but she did hear him begin once again, more information to unload. “I am referring to the encrypted comm chatter. Clone intelligence is reporting that Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi has found and engaged General Grievous on Utapau.”

“No way,” Miri whispered. This had been something her, Obi-Wan, and Anakin had been trying to chase for ages now, and it would seem one of her friends had finally reached their goal. General Grievous was the answer to ending the droid army that upheld the Separatist’s defenses.

“If he captures or kills Grievous, the Separatist command structure will collapse,” Echo affirmed her thoughts.

“And most likely the droid armies along with them.”

“A fascinating theory,” Master Billaba cut in, “yet unfortunately not something we can control from here. I suggest we focus on the task at hand.”

Hunter glanced at Miri before looking back at Billaba. With a shrug of his shoulders, he stepped forward. “Any orders? Or shall we do what we do?” Helmets were placed on heads, and Wrecker cheered, boisterous voice filling the space around them.

“Let’s blow something up. Yeah!”

Caleb had watched them this entire time with a smile on his face, and it made Miri feel giddy. She always got a kick out of impressing the younglings and padawans. “Well, Caleb, shall we let them do what they do?” Master Billaba questioned, as if she had seen the same thing. It was nice, to see her Padawan smile in these trying times he was forced to grow up in; a welcome change when circumstances permitted.

“Only if I can go with them,” he countered eagerly, looking up at his mentor.

She glanced over at Miri, who only nodded before the woman grinned. “Very well,” she conceded.

“Hey, kid, you ready for this? We move fast,” Hunter emphasized, deep voice coming out gravelly through the modulator.

“Good,” Caleb shot back with a quirked brow, “that’s the only way I know.” He earned a laugh from Wrecker before they started to dart off, but Miri remained where she was. It was Hunter who shot her a look over his shoulder, a silent question.

“I’m going to speak with Master Billaba for a second,” Miri answered, playing off the heaviness on her shoulders. “Go on, Sergeant. I’ll catch up,” she smiled, hoping it would be enough to send him off. She was his general, and technically she had given him an order that he could not go against, but things were different in the Batch.

Things were different between Miri and Hunter.

As inappropriate and forbidden as it was, the pair had found themselves harboring something of a romance. It was not spoken of, it couldn’t be spoken of; but it did not need to be. Miri knew she was special to Hunter, and he knew he was special to her. It was as simple as that, for the Jedi Order would only let it be so.

It had worked, however she knew she would be questioned later. The pause before he nodded told her he had picked up on whatever it was she was trying to keep at bay, and even though he ran off after one final salute she still felt his presence as she turned to her colleague.

“What is it, Master Rocksled?” Billaba questioned, eyes still trained on her padawan in the distance.

“Do—” she started, but had to rethink her wording once again. “Do you feel like something is about to happen?” She asked, sincerity written on her face because she was desperate to know why she had grown heavier by the minute. Billaba’s focus had now moved to her, squinted eyes watching the young woman as her question hung in the air. “Like…like we're at the top of the hill, but what’s on the other side isn’t what we’ve been expecting?”

“Miri…” She whispered, shaking her head ever so slightly as her mind registered and her thoughts raced. She never got to continue, however, as behind her Captain Grey received a message through the commlink in his helmet. As Miri’s eyes watched him turn away from them, she grew ominously cold. Dread poured over her body, and in her peripheral she saw Master Billaba cautiously look over her shoulder, as a hologram activated.

A cloaked figure, hunched over with a voice almost familiar to them, spoke directly to the clones. “Execute Order 66.”

Captain Grey did not respond verbally, but he did comply by putting the holo device back on his belt and staring at the Generals before him for a moment longer, before drawing his weapon and firing two shots off, both aimed at their heads. Lightsabers were drawn as the pair dodged the blaster fire, but more troopers were closing in.

Depa Billaba and Miri Rocksled found the same weapons their soldiers used against their enemies aimed at them instead. In the back of her mind, Miri knew this was it. The crest of the hill they’d been climbing for three years, the cause of the sick and twisted feeling in her stomach, and the ultimate demise of the Jedi Order as a whole.

In the distance, it would seem that the same feeling had reached Caleb; the dread had stretched through the air and clouded around him through the Force, and he slowed his pace until he was still. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he heard the sounds of saber blades deflecting blaster shots, and he slowly turned.

Troopers, his troopers, drawing in on the two Masters, shots aimed to kill. His ears began to ring and he sprinted toward them, drawing his own saber. “Master!” He shouted, a desperation in his voice he knew would raise brows, but he didn’t care. Horror filled his body Billaba and Rocksled were separated, and the distance between the troopers and the Jedi was growing smaller and smaller. He stopped in his tracks as his master risked a look at him.

“You must run!” She screamed, hand held out in a desperation she knew would be frowned upon, but she didn’t care. As his feet remained glued to the ground, her eyes remained on him. With her back exposed, a shot landed on her shoulder that rendered her arm almost useless as she tried to defend herself. “Run, Caleb!” She cried out, words echoing as her padawan turned and followed her orders.

Miri had been pushed far enough away that the Bad Batch couldn't see her when they turned and watched the kid run towards the brutal scene, but she was close enough to still see the fall of Jedi Master Depa Billaba, and every emotion that she had been warned about filled her to the brim. Fear, horror, anger, grief, they washed over her until her limbs felt like they were made of stone. Sweat covered her face despite the snowy climate of Kaller, and she felt every burn from a grazed blaster shot, every bruise from trying to fight them off, and when the first successful shot landed on her left thigh, she fell to the scarlett stained snow. As they drew in closer, like predator hunting prey, one hand reached out on instinct. The Force, a power not to be trifled with yet one she was not even sure one would come to her, pushed them back but did little to stop them.

One opportunity, that she was lucky enough to have given herself, to escape. To where, she did not know. With whom, well, she knew it would be nobody. She was on her own, and she deliberately pushed the existence of Clone Force 99 out of her mind. She could not afford to think of them participating in this betrayal, could not afford to feel the debilitating heartbreak of her boys turning on her. Instead, she grunted as she struggled to rise from the ground, the cold seeping through the gaps between the bits of armor she wore as she held a hand out towards where her friend lay. Depa’s lightsaber flew to her and smacked against her palm, and she grasped it with a tight fist as she retreated. Pain radiated from the wound on her leg, and her skin stung as it rubbed against the fabric of her clothes, but she used it to push her forward, to fuel her escape as she attempted to form a plan in her hazy mind.

The treeline was the obvious choice, more things to hide behind, more things to block their view as they aimed at her. She skirted through the woods, not caring for the prints she left behind; she was too weak to hide in the treetops to avoid the snow so she did the best she could to make up for the trail leading them right to her. Trickery.

They would find her, and they would shoot at her, and to them they would succeed. Miri Rocksled would fall at the hands of the Cone Army, and it would be logged somewhere for someone to keep track of.

But this would not be so, as the drop off before her filled in the gaps of her plan. She would need to pull out some theatrics, rather unconventional for a Jedi but she never claimed to follow the grain, and perhaps she could pull off this scheme.

And so, when the shots started firing in her direction once again, she did not dodge them. She ran towards the drop off, feeling the heat from the blaster fire as it got closer and closer, and once the edge was in sight she drew Depa’s saber, turning as if she was cornered and this was her last chance to fight. Convincing, as the troopers took her bait and opened fire directly on her, and she only put up as much of a fight as she needed before the real test began. Her focus drifted from the men before her, and the outside noise drowned itself out. The Force, as present as ever, was all around. It was one with her, and it was always with her.

Her heart slowed in her chest, and it seemed as if things moved in slow motion as she let Captain Grey shoot her in the abdomen, the pain harsh but dulled with the rest of her senses as she used the Force to put her body in a state of comatose. She dropped the lightsaber, using the momentum from the shot to send herself over the edge. She let herself plummet towards the snowy abyss below, slowing herself slightly. When her body collided with the ground, clouds of powdery snow erupted around her, almost shrouding her as the clones looked over the edge.

Her eyes weren’t quite shut, lashes touching as she lay with her head rolled to the side, arms splayed out. Her heart was barely beating, her body mimicking all signs of death in the very name of preservation. In her mind, she thought of her own clones as the ones above confirmed that they had taken out both Jedi Generals. They scooped up the lightsaber before retreating, the presumed dead woman left to freeze on Kaller only a small blip in their minds.

Memories of her squad replayed in her mind as time passed, the coast long since clear as she remained stuck in the icy hold of the world around her. Memories of Hunter, of how beautiful he really was to her, how much he wanted to protect her.

If you don’t move, you’ll die.

His voice, just a whisper of him, echoed in her ears when all noises had been blocked out by the ringing silence.

You are going to freeze. You are bleeding out.

Wake up, Miri. Wake up.

It was with the last snap of his words that all her senses rushed back to her at once, jolting her from her stupor. She gasped, eyes wide as her body worked to resume its normal functions after such a pause. Pain seeped in as much as the cold, and she reminded herself that she was fighting the great fight; she did not have time to dwell on such things. Escape was imperative, and time was dwindling. She had been trained for this, her whole life had been learning how to survive against all odds with the gift she had been given, and this was not going to stop her.

all works on this blog belong to hesthermay.tumblr.com: do not copy, repost onto other sites, or claim my content as your own.

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fandom-friday · 1 month

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Hello friend Karrde!

I hope that all here have been well and prosperous, or at least not buried in snow like me. I have more offerings again for the rec list! I apologize because this is gonna be a whopper of a list too, totally understand if it doesn't make it in this week.

On the Art side of things:

@pinkiemme has been rocking our world with both Commanders Wolffe and Mayday... such scrumptiousness. But then I saw this panel of Captain Rex and... (crying).

@rexxdjarin again with the thick and healthy series latest Echo and Gregor... the study of muscular anatomy is so on point!

@sunshinesdaydream has given us the adorable duo of Hardcase and Sparks

@spicyclones79s has gifted us Omega & Hunter, Commander Wolffe, and a very sweet Foxio

@ladykagewaki always has my heart with the Bebe batch snuggles But also Ms. Fangirl has shared how to summon Echo (May contain spoilers!)

@cloned-eyes made me smile with Wrecker and his little friends but then sob when I saw Jenot.

Comic Recs!:

@paperback-rascal is back with mercy and co with an interesting neurologic finding on Major 40

Fic Recs!:

@pickleprickle 's Newest fic features an injured Mace Windu in the wake of the Empire's rise in Shattered Sunrise. When I say I binged the first two chapters... go read!

if anyone is in need of a Howzer Fic after @the-rain-on-kamino has just reposted their Exigency series. I didn't get a chance to read it the first time and am making my way through it now and let me tell ya... the love, the longing, the CAPTAIN! oh and the build up to the SMUT!

Hopefully I'll have the other comic pieces gathered together for next week and a few more recs. Till then happy reading!

This is one HECK of a list that's got a little something for every TCW/TBB fan out there! I love all of the artwork, and the fics are phenomenal!!!

(Quick correction: the art of Hardcase and Sparks was a commission done by @cloned-eyes)

As always, THANK YOU for taking the time to pull all these together!!

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

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thedwarventradesman · 21 days

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Hollow — Tech x GN!Reader Batcher

Description: Tech x GN!Reader Batcher, established relationship; POV is 1st person so there's no use of gendered pronouns (: Warnings: Angst, major character death, grief, very vague allusion to suicidal thoughts and self-destructive tendencies Word Count: 916

A/N: This is the first time I've really written any fandom content since high school. Or at least, with the intention of letting others read it. Tried to balance the mix of recounting the past while also shifting to how reader/oc is in the present which can be tricky so I hope it reads well.

Image Credit: @ilcuoreardendo-fic

Everything happened so fast.

It was like any other mission gone bad — shots from grounded enemies, shots from the sky, and having to problem-solve on the fly amidst the chaos. Then… it was very different.

There was a violent shake as the rail cars were hit and then I was looking down at my husband hanging far below the car. Momentarily, all sound became an indistinguishable noise, garbled voices of distress mixed with ringing and roaring in my ears, as you struggled to climb up to the car.

As I moved to help you, the car creaked and, snapping back to reality, I heard you shout up, “Whoa! Don't! Any shift in weight could send both of these cars over. You must sever the connection hinge. Now!” Wrecker and I immediately exclaimed our rejection of that idea. I could feel my panic rising, my desperation increasing. There must be something. There HAS to be something. Anything to fix this mess and save you.

Your next words, spoken so calmly and matter-of-fact, slammed into me. “There is no time, cyare. Plan 99.” “Don’t. You. Dare, Tech.” My voice cracked on your name. Gently, desperately, I repeated my words, punctuating them with “please”. Your eyes locked with mine — soft, sad, and full of love. “I love you, cyar’ika, but when have we ever followed orders?”

When you shot the connection and began to fall, a deafening scream ripped out of me. “NO!” My body automatically lunged for the side with my hand outstretched before Wrecker grabbed me and held me firmly. Thrashing to escape his grasp as the car began to move, I screamed, “TECH! No! No no no! Go back!”

As the car got further and further away, the shock of the situation overtook me — numb, unseeing, unmoving with that same mix of indistinguishable sounds in my ears. My body went into a survival autopilot – moving as prompted but I wasn’t there – and the team had to help drag me back to the Marauder through the attacks.

Once aboard the Marauder, standing in the middle of our quarters, my knees gave out as I crumbled. Ripping off my helmet and goggles, my agonized sobs finally broke free and echoed through the ship. So full of grief, my body shaking, I leaned forward on my hands for support, fingers digging into the metal floor. One hand reached up, taking my chained wedding ring from underneath my undershirt and I clutched it so hard a mark was left in my hand.

At some point, I had stopped crying and left my body. I didn’t even know the ship stopped. Feeling a gentle hand on my shoulder, the only acknowledgment of awareness I could give was a hoarse, emotionless mumble, “You should have let me go with him.”

From there, I don’t truly remember much of anything. There’s a blur of being dragged to my feet and out of the ship, and of having wet hair and clean clothes while AZ checked me over with no memory of cleaning up or changing. I’m ashamed to say that I don’t even truly remember Omega being taken. All I truly remember from the past month and a half is waves of soul-crushing pain surrounded by numbness as I attempted to lose myself in my work. I keep crying and feeling flashes of disbelief and anger. I’ve lost my appetite… and my desire for self-preservation. All this while moving on autopilot to complete my tasks and finish the mission. Find and save Omega. That is all that matters right now.

Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo are concerned for me, often pushing food on me and otherwise fussing. Up until now, there were eyes on me almost all the time, it felt like, and I hated it, but I understood why they hovered. Echo left a couple of weeks after the events to rejoin Rex, but I still hear him comm Hunter every so often to check in on me and find out how the search for Omega is going.

The days are often easier than the nights since I’ve taken on most of Tech’s tasks alongside my own. Hunter and Wrecker have tried to take some of them, wishing to lighten my load, but I adamantly refuse. I need them. I need the memory of helping with and hearing about them from him by doing them. They’ve let the situation be, but still intervene to make me sleep.

That’s when it gets unbearable.

The emptiness beside me screams, his scent got fainter with each passing day until it disappeared, remembering the quiet moments we shared in this space, and hearing his final words on a loop in the silence. Once the exhaustion finally takes me… I often watch Tech fall and wake with tears streaming down my face or stinging eyes and a heavy heart. Some nights, I think Hunter has been slipping me medicine in my food ‘cause those are the only nights I get any decent sleep.

Despite all this, I have, believe it or not, been getting better. Slowly, I began to reengage with the boys and be open with them. They stopped having to watch me as close or force me to take care of myself. Now, it’s reminders and intervention as necessary along with occasional check-ins when I seem particularly off one day. I’m still far from okay and I won’t ever be the same but, thanks to our brothers, I become a little less hollow each day.

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crosshairssniper · 16 days

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Gonna try to start up a Bad Batch fic but i have no idea how to promote it in any way when I get it written

It’s gonna be a Hunter x OC and it’s gonna hopefully cover all 3 seasons

Any tips?

#the bad batch #tbb hunter #tbb crosshair #tbb tech #tbb wrecker #tbb echo #tbb hunter x oc #tbb fic

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mrpldiddles · 18 days

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boy that i found | t.blyth

a/n: the amount of screenshots of louis partridge being spotted at the guts tour that i took so that i could make this... ANYWAYS here's another tom x remi insta au because tom was seen at the guts tour so obviously i got ideas :) ENJOY!!!!

~~~

tomremi posted:

tomremi tom spotted at remi's calgary show last night!!

comments:

user1 he's the most supportive bf omg

user2 they're so iconic

user3 i was standing near him and any time i looked over at him he had the biggest smile on his face it was so cute🥹

-> user4 omg do you have any pictures of him there??

-> user3 i'll dm you!!

user5 tom really said "remi you're doing great sweetie!!"

user6 he's so so in love with her i can't

user7 how many pictures do you think he has of her just from last night???

-> user8 probably so many they haven't seen each other in awhile

-> user7 how do you know??

-> user8 tom's been filming billy the kid in calgary and remi's been on tour which is why she said at the show that it was so special for her

-> user7 ohhhh ok thank you!!

-> user9 tom release the pictures!!!!!

user10 i'm so jealous of her but so happy for her at the same time😩

-> tomremi ugh same girl but with both of them

-> user11 right??? they're both so lucky!!

tomremi posted:

tomremi remi played a new song at her calgary show last night and released it at midnight!!

"calgary you've been hosting something very near and dear to my heart these past couple months while i've been touring, and he seems to still be doing pretty good so thank you so much for taking care of him for me. i still have a few songs to play for you tonight, but in honour of how special this show is for me, do you mind if i play an extra one for you? a little extra thank you from me to you, if you will...alright amazing, thank you. i wrote this song back in 2021 when me and my boyfriend weren't dating just yet, but there was something there y'know?...my boyfriend does happen to be here with us tonight, which is what makes this show so special for me, and even he hasn't heard this song yet so without further ado, this is "let light be light," which is out tonight at midnight!"

comments:

user1 what is she doing to us OMG

user2 SHE'S INSANE

user3 ITS A SONG ABOUT TOM OMG

user4 THE SONG IS LITERALLY SO SWEET AND WHOLESOME OMG OMG OMG

user5 "i think that he's good for me this boy that i found" REMI OMG

-> user6 SHES GONNA MAKE ME SOB

-> user8 they’re so in love i can’t😩😩😩

user7 i can't do this anymore omg😭😭

remi.alaric posted:

remi.alaric calgary you were so so special thank you for being so incredible and bringing me back to my home away from home🩵🩵🩵this show will forever hold such a special place in my heart and to commemorate it my new song "let light be light" is out now wherever you stream your music🩵

x remi

comments:

user1 GIRL LET US BREATHE

user2 THE LAST PICTURE HELLO

-> user3 LETS TALK ABOUT IT CAUSE OMG REMI

user4 GIRL ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE US A HEART ATTACK

rachelzegler INSANE

rachelzegler streaming party happening right now‼️‼️

stevie_alaric um does mom know about the third picture🤨

-> remi.alaric 🤫🤫🤫

joshandresrivera it's on repeat!!!

hunterschafer the new song is so so good so so proud of you!!💞💞

-> remi.alaric i absolutely adore you🥹🥹

stevie_alaric i'm expecting a full album to be released at the BC shows just so ya know

-> rachelzegler i'm flying out if she does so remi tell us now

-> remi.alaric check your texts!!!!

-> user5 GIRL WHAT

-> user6 HEY. HEY REMI. HEY REMI WHAT DO YOU MEAN.

-> user7 remi what do you mean😀what do you mean😀what do you mean remi😀

user8 it really is remi's world and we're all just living in it

tomblyth you releasing a new song at my show is gonna go to my head

-> stevie_alaric but did you get a whole album released at your concert HMM

-> user9 STEVIE😭😭

-> rachelzegler AND getting a whole speech about you at the SAME show what did you do to deserve all this😩

-> tomblyth i sold my soul to remi

-> remi.alaric i'm praying for your costars for how much you'll be talking about this

-> tomblyth all i do is talk about you so they're used to it

-> rachelzegler EWWWWWW

-> stevie_alaric YOU'RE SICK

-> tomblyth looooooovvvvveeeesick

tomblyth posted:

tomblyth pov: your favourite artist plays and releases a new song just because you're at the concert

@remi.alaric i'm your #1 fan!!!!!!!!!

comments:

user9 get yourself someone who is a total dork for you like tom is for remi

-> remi.alaric so true girl

-> user9 OMG WHAT REMI HI

rachelzegler you're such a fool in love y'all are adorable

stevie_alaric um actually I'M her biggest fan you fool

-> tomblyth "the fool jingled miserably across the floor"

-> stevie_alaric is that a british reference that i'm too cool to understand

-> user10 IM CACKLING AT TOM AND STEVIES INTERACTIONS I CANT WITH THEM

joshandresrivera @remi.alaric when do i get a song about me????

-> remi.alaric check your streaming platforms at midnight!!!!!!

-> user11 GIRL YOU CANT KEEP DOING THIS

-> user12 REMI WHAT PLEASE

remi.alaric anything for my biggest (and dorkiest) fan🥰🫶

-> stevie_alaric @tomblyth HA she called you a dork

-> tomblyth AND her biggest fan😌

-> stevie_alaric probably because you're a giant.

-> user13 i'm crying tom and stevie act like such siblings💀💀

-> user14 so basically when is tom proposing so we can get stevie's maid of honour speech

-> rachelzegler i second that!!!

user1 no cause tom is actually so her biggest fan like the videos of him at the concert his smile is always so big🥹🥹

-> user3 i know they're so adorable🥺

user5 the last picture of them in her dressing room🥹🥹🥹

-> user6 whoever took it is a godsend

remi.alaric i looooooovveeeee you so much🩵

-> tomblyth i loooooooovvvveeeee you even more🩵

-> stevie_alaric get a rooooooooommmm

-> rachelzegler i’m sick because of how in love y’all are😷🥰

#tom blyth #tom blyth fic #tom blyth x oc #tom blyth imagine #tom blyth fanfiction #rachel zegler #josh andres rivera #hunter schafer #coriolanus snow #oc #original character fanfiction #the hunger games #thg #ig edit #mrpldiddles #mrpldiddles fic

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freesia-writes · 1 month

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OFFICIAL COVER ART FOR THE HUNTER FIC!

eeeeeee I'm so excited to share this! It's a literal dream come true. I spent a long time trying to decide which fanartist's style would be most fitting for the story vibes, and holy cow, it could not be more perfect! so, without further ado, may I please present the incredible work of @pinkiemme with the banner for my upcoming Hunter fic! 😍

I could go on about it forever but I really had a certain feeling that I hoped it would portray, from the characters to the details to the overall atmosphere... And Maria knocked it out of the park! 😭

I've been so overwhelmed and grateful with ALL the incredible fanart for this story, and I really can't wait to share the full thing with you all. I have to constantly fight the temptation to start posting it before I'm finished, but I want to make it the best it can be, so I wanna complete it and make sure everything connects/flows/ties up neatly. Plus, I'm hoping to keep it canon-compliant as a happily-ever-after for Hunter... with a few twists and turns along the way. 😏

Also... I've been inspired by @wrenkenstein's world of JunTech, and there's a wealth of fanart, mood boards, and fun stuff for this story, so if there's interest, and a way that I could highlight, showcase, and promote additional artists and writers... Perhaps we could create a zine?! 🫢 Maybe once the story releases, if there are scenes to draw or ways for writers to have fun in that world... Let me know if you'd like to be notified of any opportunity for that in the future!

Now I just need the right acronym for the story, cause BSD sounds like some kind of medical issue and BTSOAD sounds like a swamp creature? 😜

Tag List: @lightwise @sweetcream-coldfoam @clonethirstingisreal @have-a-hiddles @sverdgeir @roam-rs @littlemissmanga @dystopicjumpsuit @523rdrebel @solstraalaa @skellymom @internm0thb0y @sunshinesdaydream @dyolferb3 @photogirl894 @reader6898 @jedi-hawkins

Master List of Fic Goodies/Teasers and tag list sign up

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photogirl894 · 3 months

Text

"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 28

"Fear and Understanding"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: I am on a roll, you guys! 😆 No joke, I spent, like, most of the day writing this chapter yesterday, which felt amazing! That hasn't happened in so long! I left y'all on a pretty hefty cliffhanger last time, but you don't have to wait long to keep going 😁We'll finally be getting through the rest of episode 7 of "Bad Batch!" Have fun with this one!!

《 Chapter 27

》 Chapter 29

All chapters (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: With Wrecker's chip activated and all their safety as well as a friend's life in jeopardy, the Bad Batch must subdue him quickly before his mind is lost forever.

The floor was cold.

Her whole body was numb, weak and throbbing with sharp pain simultaneously.

Her head hurt and she couldn’t move.

She could feel her consciousness slipping and the world around her was blurring.

A few feet away from her, she could still see Wrecker donning his helmet and grabbing his blaster rifle, getting ready to attack the others. The chip had taken a hold of him and there was nothing she could do now to stop him. She’d tried and thought the love they shared would be enough to help him break free, but the chip’s influence on his brain was more powerful than she’d imagined and it was what got her into the predicament she was in right now.

She had lost.

As she felt her will to stay awake and her body weakening, she could only hope that he wouldn’t hurt anyone else and that her friends would be able to subdue him and get the chip out of his head. It was up to them to save him before it was too late and he was lost forever.

“It’s okay, big guy,” Rina thought, her vision going hazy. “I know…it wasn’t you.”

A long breath escaped her, her strength disappeared and she gave up the fight, everything around her fading into nothingness.

In a matter of seconds, Wrecker went from being himself in pain to going on a complete rampage.

When Rex tried to grab his blaster to stun him, Wrecker had knocked the blaster away and sent it through the wall. He was now a man on a mission…a mission to eliminate all of them.

Kimber whipped around to get Omega, but Hunter had already grabbed her in his arms, which made her glad that he was two steps ahead of her. There was a toppled table right behind them that the Clones, Kimber and Kida all managed to duck behind as Wrecker started firing at them.

“He’ll destroy the equipment if we don’t get him out of here,” Echo warned them as they kept low behind the table to avoid the blasterfire.

“What are we going to do? We need to get Tech…and Rina!” Kida cried, tears running down her face.

“You’re all traitors!” Wrecker yelled behind them.

Another shot hit the edge of the table and everyone ducked down to avoid the sparks that were flying. They had to do something and fast or else they would be sitting ducks in that room.

Then Hunter stated, “We’ll draw him out. Omega, stay with Tech. Kida, you get Rina.”

After he gave his orders, Hunter grabbed a gas tank from the pile of tanks in front of them, stood up and hurled it at Wrecker to distract him. One of Wrecker’s blaster shots hit the tank, causing it to burst open and foggy white gas expelled out of it. Wrecker turned away, coughing as the gas got into his helmet, and that gave the others just enough cover for Hunter, Kimber, Rex and Echo to dart out of the room and back into the dark corridors of the Venator. Other than Rex, the rest of them had left their weapons in the med room and there had been no time to retrieve them, so they were going to have to improvise a way to overpower Wrecker enough to get him back on the surgical table. Lucky for them, there were more gas tanks like the ones in the med room spread about the hallway, so they could use those if they needed to. They each ducked either around a corner or behind a wall, waiting for Wrecker to follow them. A few shots rang through the hall, which showed them Wrecker was coming.

Kimber pressed back up against a wall across from Rex, her heart pounding like mad in her chest. Even though she knew Wrecker was a sweet, gentle and loveable giant, he was absolutely terrifying in that moment. She wasn’t afraid of him, but more of what he’d be capable of doing in his current state. His mind was set on terminating them for being in violation of Order 66 thanks to the chip. Because of that, he’d already taken Tech out of commission…and she feared the worst when it came to Rina. If an awful fate had just befallen her, Kimber would be heartbroken.

More than that, Wrecker would be completely devastated.

They heard him coming around the corner and Rex was the first to advance. He jumped out from behind his cover and fired a stunning blast at Wrecker, but unfortunately missed. Wrecker then started firing a barrage of shots at Rex, making him duck back behind the wall, until Hunter emerged and threw his knife at Wrecker’s blaster rifle. The vibroblade hit the rifle out of Wrecker’s hands and sent it clattering to the floor. Then Kimber dashed out from her spot, jumped into a tuck and roll across the floor and grabbed a large, flat piece of metal on the ground as she rolled to her knees. Then she twisted her torso and, as she pushed herself up to her feet, threw the metal like a disc towards Wrecker, hitting him right in the center of his helmet and sending him staggering backwards a couple steps.

“Wrecker, please, wake up!” she begged.

Right after that, Echo attempted to come up behind Wrecker and hit him over the head with a gas tank, but Wrecker heard him coming and blocked Echo’s blow with his hand. Then, quicker than any of them expected, his hand grabbed Echo by the face and Wrecker threw him right by Kimber and towards Rex, who had come out from behind the wall again. Unfortunately, Rex had fired another stun blast just as Echo came flying at him, so it hit Echo instead and his unconscious body slammed right into Rex, sending them both crashing hard into the wall.

Kimber growled in frustration and then yelled, “That's enough!” before running at Wrecker, jumping up and doing a spinning kick, her foot making contact with his chest and pushing him back.

“Kimber Sallaros…,” said Wrecker, an angry rumble in his voice. Then he taunted her, “You should’ve taken Admiral Tarkin’s offer to join the Empire.”

That made her grit her teeth both in anger and sorrow and her clenched fists shook at her sides. He was sounding a lot like how Crosshair did back in the hangar on Kamino when he’d said almost the same thing to her, trying to convince her to stay with him. That and she didn’t like being reminded of Tarkin and the deal he’d tried to make with her.

“No! Stop it!” she cried, throwing a punch at him.

Wrecker caught her fist in his hand and bent her arm backwards away from him, eliciting a yelp of pain from her. He reared his other arm back to strike her, but then all of a sudden, he was struck in the helmet by Hunter wielding a gas tank. Wrecker released his hold on Kimber’s arm and she faltered back slightly. She caught sight of Hunter’s blade on the ground beside her and she quickly picked it up. She then watched as Hunter repeatedly kept swinging the tank up at his brother’s head until Wrecker’s helmet flew off. Then Wrecker withdrew his large vibroblade and whipped around to stab Hunter, but Hunter held the tank in front of him, so the blade pierced the side of the tank and released another small plume of gas, which hit both of them. Hunter cried out and dropped the tank and Wrecker dropped the knife. However, Wrecker stooped back down and picked his blade back up while Hunter held his face, fighting off the effects of the gas. Wrecker lifted his knife to attack Hunter, but Kimber jumped between them and blocked Wrecker’s blade with Hunter’s knife. The force behind Wrecker’s attack was powerful and even though she managed to stop it, it drove Hunter’s vibroblade out of her hands and she fell to her knees. Just then, Hunter ran forward with a yell at Wrecker, driving his shoulder into Wrecker’s chest and forcing him back away from Kimber, making the larger Clone drop his knife. Wrecker placed a foot behind him and put his weight on it to stop his movement. He grabbed Hunter by the shoulder and pulled him off of him, sending him to the ground with a loud grunt.

“All Clones in violation of Order 66 shall be terminated,” he stated, looking down with dark eyes at Hunter.

“No!” Kimber cried and she sprinted towards Wrecker, jumping onto his back and wrapping her arms around his thick neck. As he struggled and pulled against her grip, which she was losing fast, she yelled, “Hunter, run!”

“No, Kimber!” Hunter cried out.

By then, it was too late. Wrecker broke Kimber’s hold on his neck and grabbed her arm with both hands, throwing her towards the nearest wall. As she flew through the air, she heard Hunter yell her name in fear…along with another voice crying out for her.

Omega’s voice.

Just as the panic at suddenly hearing Omega there rose up within her, Kimber’s body met the wall with great impact, her head smacking hard against it. Her breath was knocked out of her and everything went dark immediately as she dropped to the ground, Hunter’s voice calling for her again being the last thing she heard.

The world around her was hazy as Kimber’s eyes fluttered open. There was a ceiling light shining right into her eyes and she blinked a couple times to adjust. Was she back in the med room? The light above her looked like one of the ones from there. The back of her head and neck hurt and the rest of her body was sore. She had a feeling there was definitely gonna be some bruising on her back, but luckily she was wearing her armor, so that helped with the brunt of the damage she’d taken. She let out a groan as she moved to sit up.

Just then, someone was at her side and they took her hand and also pressed up on her back, helping ease her up. She could hear their familiar voice speaking to her, but in her grogginess of coming back to consciousness, she didn’t fully register the voice at first. She rubbed at her eyes and ran a hand over her face, now fully waking up. When she looked up, she saw that she was indeed back in the med room, lying on the floor on the side of the room. Her head turned and she found Echo kneeling at her side, a glad look on his face.

“I’m relieved you’re okay,” he said through a sigh.

“Echo…,” she said, realizing it was him next to her. She looked him over briefly and he seemed to be okay, too.

There was movement out of the corner of her eye and she looked up to see Rex walking up to them, saying as he saw her, “Welcome back, soldier.” He too also seemed relatively unharmed.

“I’m glad you’re both all right,” she said. “You guys took quite a hit. Where’s Wrecker? Is everyone else okay?”

“Everyone’s fine,” Echo answered. “Rex managed to get the jump on Wrecker and stunned him. We brought him back here and his chip’s been removed…but he hasn’t woken up yet and it’s been over at least a couple hours.” He looked back over his shoulder and leaned back so Kimber could see the rest of the room.

She peered around him and saw Wrecker was lying on his back on the surgical table. Tech and Hunter were asleep in chairs at the foot of the table next to the surgical console and Omega was seated at the side of the table, her head and arms resting on Wrecker’s arm as she too slept. However, there was no sign of Kida or Rina.

“Where are the girls? What happened to Rina?” she asked, her anxiety building at them not being there.

Rex then informed her, “They’re in another room. Kida’s fine, but...we’re not sure of Rina's condition. She’s alive, but barely. Kida got her out and she’s doing everything she can for her. She said she’ll update us as soon as possible.”

“Oh stars…!” she gasped, bringing her hands up to her face. “Wrecker’s going to be so heartbroken if we lose her.”

“Rina’s strong. I’m sure she’ll pull through,” Rex reassured her. “She knows as well as the rest of us that it wasn’t Wrecker’s fault.”

Then all three of them heard stirring close by and, to their relief, they saw Wrecker moving on the table, patting Omega’s head of blonde hair on his arm. She shifted, waking up at his touch.

“Hey, kid. Why…why the long face?” he asked as she lifted her head.

“He’s awake!” she exclaimed to wake the other two up.

Hunter sat up and Tech bolted up from his sleeping position and then just replied nonchalantly as the two of them stood up, “Oh. You made it.”

Echo and Rex helped Kimber up to her feet and she quickly went over to Hunter, grabbing his hand right away. He flinched slightly at the unexpected contact, but when he turned and realized it was her, his expression softened with ease. He reached up with his other hand to cup the back of her head and he brought his head down until their foreheads touched, no words needed between them to express how glad they both were to see each other safe and sound.

Then Kimber looked to Wrecker and said, giving him a light pat on the shoulder, “Welcome back.”

He chuckled at seeing her and then groaned slightly from the lingering pain in his head from the surgery. “W--where’s Rina?” he then asked, looking around.

Everyone all exchanged sad, apprehensive looks, unsure how to respond to his question, which only made him even more worried.

Finally, Kimber answered, “We don’t know her condition yet, Wrecker. Kida’s with her now and should hopefully update us soon.”

His expression fell right away, guilt and melancholy shadowing his whole face as he recalled exactly what he had done. He’d been conscious of his actions the entire time, but he couldn’t stop himself. He had thrown Rina into the wall; he’d heard the sounds of her body impacting against the metal wall and he’d wanted to rip his own heart out for harming her. In his head, his thoughts had been solely on killing her because she was a Jedi, even though he would never hurt her ever in his life. Now…if he had indeed killed her…he would be forever lost and he would never forgive himself as long as he lived.

Seeing the operation had proved successful, Rex then stepped up with Tech’s brain scanner, declaring that they had one chip down and three more to go and asking who was next to go. Wrecker got up from the table and Echo stated he would go next. As he got himself situated on the table, Kimber gave him a firm kiss on the cheek for luck and then he laid down as Tech prepared the surgical pod for round two of the brain surgeries.

As the procedure started, she noticed Wrecker sitting by himself in the back corner of the room and her heart hurt at seeing him so downtrodden. No doubt he was harboring a lot of guilt not only for attacking his brothers and her, but for hurting Rina, too. All she could do was hope with all her might that Rina would be okay and her survival would alleviate some of Wrecker’s guilt.

She went over, knelt beside him and just threw her arms around Wrecker’s neck, hugging him tightly. “It wasn’t your fault,” she whispered.

Then she felt his head fall into her shoulder as he responded, his voice cracking, “I tried so hard…to fight it…and I couldn’t. Now…Rina might be dead because of me.”

“Don’t say that, Wrecker,” she responded, tightening her arms around him. “We can’t lose hope right now. We can’t give up on her.”

His arms came up around her, holding onto her desperately for comfort in that moment when he was trying so hard not to break down. The thought of losing Rina was tearing him apart inside. If Rina was dead, he didn’t think he could bear it and would likely die himself. His life would no longer have any meaning, not without her. She had changed his life so much since the day he’d met her and now, he couldn’t imagine not having her with him anymore. Even though he still had Kimber, his brothers and his little sister, there would forever be something missing in his life; a ray of light in the darkness, a shred of joy, a piece of his heart…forever gone.

In the midst of his mental lamentations, he recalled words Hunter had once told him a while back when Wrecker had gone to him, asking what it really meant…to be in love.

“Hunter…you and Kimber are in love, right?” Wrecker had asked him.

“Yeah, we are,” Hunter answered.

Shyly, Wrecker admitted to him, “Well…I think I love Rina.”

“I’ve heard you say so to her before, but why do you seem unsure?” his brother asked.

“Well…I know you and Kimber are happy together and I’m happy with Rina…but I just don’t really know what it means to be in love, so I don’t know if it’s really what I feel.” He looked Hunter in the eyes and went on to ask, “What does it really mean to be in love, Hunter?”

Hunter grinned softly at him, touched that Wrecker had come to him for such advice. “Being in love is more than just physical attraction, intimacy of any kind or being happy around someone. Being in love is…when you don’t feel complete anymore without the person you care for most and your heart is no longer your own,” he began. “Their happiness becomes your happiness and you always want to do everything you can to see them smile. You both support each other and do things for each other without ever expecting anything back. Any time apart from them feels like an eternity and all you can think about is when they’ll be back in your arms again. They’re your last thought before going to sleep and your first thought when you wake up. Your own safety and wellbeing doesn’t matter; theirs will always come first in your mind. Any thought of being without them or not having them in your life anymore…feels like it’ll rip even your very soul apart. As long as they’re with you, then you know you can do anything, alone or together.” Hunter then went up to Wrecker and laid a hand on his shoulder. “If you can’t picture a life without Rina; if you can see yourself being with her and only her without any hesitation...then I’d say you are in love with her.”

In that moment, Wrecker felt as though he’d been hit by a gunship as the realization of his true, deep feelings for Rina came to him.

Though, before he could fully process it all, there were footsteps coming from outside. Kimber released his hug on him and they both stood up to see Kida running into the room. Everyone else turned around as she came in, looking at her expectantly. The room was dead silent, save for the light whirring of the surgical pod, as they all awaited Kida’s report.

Kimber clutched onto Wrecker’s arm, both for his comfort and for her own. There were tears falling down Kida’s face as she looked around at everyone, still catching her breath. That wasn't a good sign. Kimber lightly shook her head at what she saw.

“No…no, this can’t be true. Rina can’t be….”

Finally, Kida blurted out with a choked voice, “Rina’s alive.”

Audible sighs of relief sounded from everyone, especially Kimber and Wrecker.

Then right away, Kida went on to explain, “She’s alive, but not in good shape. Her back was injured pretty badly and she’ll definitely have bruising and possibly other injuries, too. I don’t have the proper medical supplies with me to help her enough and she’d have a better chance at fully recovering if we had the bacta tank on the Aurora.”

“So what do we do then?” asked Rex.

“I have a contact who owes me a favor on Kerkoidia, the next planet over in this system,” she replied. “He can be here in a couple of hours--or sooner, if he remembered to upgrade his ship’s hyperdrive--and he can take us back to Ord Mantell. I should be able to at least keep Rina stabilized enough to get her back there all right.”

Hunter then spoke, “Do it. If it’s what will help Rina, then call your contact and get her back to Ord Mantell as soon as you can.”

Kida gave a nod in understanding. Then she looked at Wrecker and told him, “She woke up and immediately asked for you.”

Wrecker looked shocked to hear that, given what he had done to Rina. He looked uncertain of what to do for a minute, but then Kimber grasped his hand. When he looked down at her, she was smiling up at him and her eyes were glistening with tears.

“Go to her, Wrecker,” she encouraged him. “Rina needs you.”

Now no longer needing any further urging, Wrecker turned back to Kida and asked, “Where is she?”

Once Kida gave him directions of where to go, he dashed from the medical bay immediately, knowing he had to get to Rina right away. She was alive and that was all that mattered to him. He had to see her; he had to see for himself that she was okay…and he had to tell her the truth of how he felt about her, now that he finally seemed to understand his own heart. He’d thought for a moment that he’d lost his chance to ever tell her, but now knowing he hadn’t, he wasn’t going to waste it.

Before long, he came to the room she was in, which was an additional med room with beds. She was lying on one of the beds, which had been raised up a bit in the back so she was more comfortable, and she turned and looked at him as he stood in the doorway. Seeing the worried look in his eyes, she sensed right away that his chip was gone and that he was back to normal.

The first thing she said upon spotting him was, in a hoarse voice, “Wrecker…thank the Force you're okay.”

His jaw dropped. “After everything I did…you were worried about how I was?”

She grunted. “This isn't the worst state I've been in,” she said, “but of course, I was worried about you. How's your head?”

“It's…just fine now,” he said.

He was still somewhat shocked. She had been worried more about him than herself…she'd been more concerned with his well-being than her own, just like what Hunter had said when describing being in love. Was it possible that she was in love with him, too?

“Rina…I…I'm so sorry,” he said in a low voice as he walked over and knelt at her bedside. “I tried as hard as I could to fight the chip, especially when all I could think about was killing you…but I wasn't strong enough. It wouldn't stop, I couldn't--”

“It's okay, big guy,” she soothed him, reaching over to lay her hand on the back of his.

He didn't accept that. “But it's not okay,” he said back. “I badly hurt you. I almost killed you!”

“But you didn't…and I know it wasn't you,” she told him. “The chip made you do it. I'd never blame you.”

“But why though?”

“It's just like I said before: I know you'd never hurt me. The inhibitor chip was what hurt me.”

That didn't seem good enough to Wrecker, but he also knew there'd be no arguing with Rina about this. He didn't understand how she could forgive him so easily after what he'd done. He glanced up at her, her bright blue eyes piercing him to the core. Those eyes that brought butterflies to his stomach every time they looked at him; eyes he'd dreaded that he'd closed forever and was grateful he could see them now. He turned his hand over to grasp hers and he held it firmly. He felt as though his chest was about to burst with everything he wanted to say.

Holding her hand with both of his, he raised it up and touched her hand to his forehead. “The thought of losing you…hurt more than any of the head pains I've had combined or any blaster wound I've ever gotten.”

“Wrecker…,” she started to say.

“No…please, there are things I gotta say,” he insisted. Then everything came spilling out of him like a broken dam. “I realize now how I really feel about you. I didn't understand it until I nearly lost you. You mean so much to me and I'm the happiest not when I'm blowing something up anymore, but when I'm with you.”

Rina gasped.

“You're someone special, Rina, and I want to make you as happy as you make me. Your smile is the brightest thing that lights up my life. I don't want to live without you…because I love you.”

Her mouth fell open even more.

“I know I've said it before because I thought that was how I felt, but now, I know that wasn't true,” he went on. “I understand now what love really is and I know it's what I feel. I love you…I really love you. I can't picture my life without you anymore. Your happiness is my happiness now. I don't feel complete without you. I love you, Ri--”

Wrecker's confession was cut off as Rina took his face in her hands, pulled him forward and crashed their lips together in a hard, passionate kiss. She ignored the pain in her back from holding onto him. It didn't matter at all. Her darling Wrecker had said just about everything she'd ever wanted to hear from him, including being serious about loving her. She normally wasn't all about sappy stuff, but this was Wrecker, the man who'd somehow worked his way into her stoic heart more than anyone ever had before. He could say anything and she'd melt like a block of ice in the twin Tatooine suns. There was no going back for her now, not ever.

When she pulled back, she told him through her heavy breaths, gazing up into his eyes and keeping her hands on his cheeks, “I love you, too, Wrecker. I've been so into you since the day we met a year ago. I've never met anyone like you and you make me feel things no one has ever made me feel before. I thought I was going to have to talk to you about whether or not you actually loved me, but now, it looks like I don't have to. You figured it out all on your own because you're smarter than you sometimes think. I only care about a handful of people and you're the one I care about the most. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, big guy…and…I don't wanna live without you either.”

If Rina hadn't been injured, Wrecker would've swept her up off the bed in an instant in his arms in a crushing hug, but he knew he couldn't do that. Instead, he kissed her again and then pressed his forehead tenderly to hers, taking both her hands in his and holding onto them tightly.

“Kida's gonna get you back to Ord Mantell so you can heal properly in the Aurora's bacta tank,” he told her, “but I promise, when the rest of us get back and you're all better, I'm giving you the biggest hug and I'm gonna hold you for hours until you can't breathe anymore.”

With a light chuckle followed by a small groan--since it apparently hurt to laugh, too--she replied, “I'm holding you to that, babe. I'm looking forward to it.”

Fortunately, Echo's chip removal also proved successful. By the time it was done and he woke up, Kida announced that her contact had arrived to take her and Rina back to Ord Mantell. All of the Clones helped carefully transfer Rina to a stretcher Kida's friend had brought to get her into the ship. Everyone bade farewell to the two women and gave Rina their well wishes on her hopefully speedy recovery before retreating back inside the Venator.

Though, before they left, Kida ran up to Rex, looking solemn. “I get the feeling…I won't be seeing you again for a while, will I?” she asked.

“I'm afraid it's true,” he told her. “There are people I need to find and meet up with soon…and I still need to keep under the Empire's radar.”

“I figured as much,” she said. Then she held out to him a black holopad. “This is an encrypted holopad device similar to one Rina gave Kimber a while ago. I thought if maybe you had this, you'd be able to keep in touch more often without fear of being found.”

Rex took the holopad in his hand and glanced down at it for a brief moment. Knowing he'd be able to still see Kida and Kori and not have to worry about his location being compromised gave him a sense of happiness he hadn't known in a long time.

As he pocketed the device, he replied with a small grin, “I'll certainly do my best. I need to make sure my son and his beautiful mother are doing well in my absence.” He stepped closer to her, cupped the back of her neck and pressed his lips to her forehead reverently.

She closed her eyes and smiled, committing the feel of his kiss on her skin to memory so she had something to hold onto of her Captain until she saw him again.

He wished her safe travels and she quickly got onto her friend’s ship. Within minutes, the ship left the planet with Kida and Rina and was on its way to Ord Mantell.

A few more hours went by as then Hunter and Tech went through the surgery and got their chips removed, as well. After long waits for both of them, the last of the chips were taken out and the Bad Batch were finally free of them.

Of course, during this time, Wrecker apologized to everyone for his actions from before. Naturally, no one blamed him for what he'd done and forgave him. Omega had even snuck some Mantell Mix in her pocket for her and Wrecker to share, which was her way of showing her forgiveness, which made him happy.

After a bit of time, Kimber happened to notice that Hunter and Rex were missing, so she went looking for them. After wandering a couple hallways, she eventually found a man-made exit in a side wall and saw both Hunter and Rex standing on a platform outside, conversing. She made her way down the hall to see them. Night had now fallen and the skies were dark outside, a veil of mist covering a lot of the land. She stopped near the entrance, listening to their conversation.

“Things aren't like before. Our priorities have shifted,” she heard Hunter tell Rex.

“So I've noticed,” Rex replied.

Hunter went on to tell him, “Omega needs us and I have to do what's best for my squad.”

Kimber smiled. Hunter was continuing to put Omega's safety first and that made her glad. He really was becoming a great father-figure for the kid.

“Which is what?” Rex asked.

“I'm still figuring that out,” Hunter replied, his voice filled with lingering doubt.

“I guess we all are. When you sort things out, let me know where you land. Tell the boys I'll see them around,” Rex told him.

As they grasped arms in farewell, Hunter said, “Stay out of trouble.”

Through a light chuckle, Rex responded, “Funny. I was gonna say the same to you.”

It was then Kimber decided to jump in and said, “You know staying out of trouble is impossible for these lads.”

The two Clones turned in her direction as she emerged from the shadows.

“And you're definitely not leaving without saying goodbye to me, at least,” she stated to Rex.

“I should've known you'd catch me before I could sneak away,” Rex responded, amused.

She gave him a quick hug and said in his ear, “Thank you…for taking me to see Jesse…and for saving my boys.”

“No need to thank me. I look out for you as much as I do all my brothers,” he said as he pulled away.

“Be safe, Rex. I hope we'll see you soon,” she said.

“I hope the same,” he said back. He looked between Kimber and Hunter for a moment one last time before saying, “Well...take care, troopers.” He placed his helmet over his head and made his way down a set of stairs off to the right that led down into the mist.

However, Hunter called out to him once more and told him before he went away, “If you're ever in a bind, you know how to reach us.”

Rex gave him a grateful nod and seconds later, he disappeared from their view into the mist.

After Rex left, Kimber looked at Hunter, catching sight of the corner of the bandage he had over his head wound under his bandana. “How are you feeling?” she asked him.

“I'm doing fine,” he answered. “And you?”

“I'm all right. I'm just glad this whole thing with the chips is over now,” she said.

“Me too,” he agreed.

She took his hand in hers. “By the way, I wanted to thank you for keeping your promise.”

Curious about what she was referring to, he asked, “What promise?”

“The one you made to me after we left Saleucami when you promised to protect Omega before me,” she clarified. “Back in the med room, you could’ve chosen to protect me from Wrecker's rage, but you didn't. You didn't hesitate to take Omega out of harm's way. For that, I'm grateful.”

His expression faltered slightly. “I almost failed to keep that promise, though. After he knocked you out, Omega came and he knocked me unconscious shortly after. I was afraid for her and when I came to, I feared the worst might’ve happened and there was nothing I could've done. Luckily, Rex was able to help keep her safe.”

“Nevertheless, you did as I had asked of you and I'm glad for that. Everyone is safe and well,” she assured him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Should we go back inside?” he inquired.

Kimber looked out at the foggy, trashed landscape before them and up at the gray-blue night sky. “You go ahead,” she told him. “I think I'll stay out here a little longer and get some air.”

Hunter nodded at her, gave her hand a quick squeeze and then left her alone in the night.

Gazing out at the horizon, she inhaled deeply, taking in the cool night air and letting it fill her lungs. It wasn’t the freshest air in comparison to other planets she’d been on, but it wasn’t terrible either. At least, in the evening, it wasn’t. Then she exhaled long and slowly. The day was finally over. The Clones’ chips were all gone and would no longer pose a threat to any of them. They were free from ever being put under the Empire’s influence. It was such a comfort knowing her family would be safe from that danger. No more head pains, no accidental triggering of the chips, none of them accidentally hurting one another…it would never happen again.

Except…for Crosshair.

Even in the midst of her reprieve, her mind could still only wander back to him. He was the only one left of them to still have his chip and rectifying that would be much more difficult. They couldn’t go back for him, not with the Empire completely surrounding him. If only she could convince him of the truth and get him to come to them, it would be so much easier. With the chip out, he’d be free, too, and he’d return to them. They’d all be a proper squad once again. The hole in her heart from his absence pained her so as she continued to think about him, wondering if he was okay and where he was at that moment.

“Oh brother…where are you?” she whispered aloud to the wind.

Just then, she heard chirping coming from one of her pouches. It was her regular holopad comm going off. She wondered if maybe it was one of the Koriena Force trying to make contact because otherwise, she wasn’t sure who it could possibly be contacting her. She answered the transmission and was astounded at the familiar holographic figure that appeared before her.

“Crosshair?”

Sure enough, there he was: his head of silver hair, the normal toothpick between his lips, his same stoic expression on his face and still adorned in the black Imperial armor she’d last seen him in, his helmet tucked under his arm.

“It’s been some time,” he said back. “Not since…the masquerade.”

She inhaled sharply, remembering that she’d spotted him during their escape from the Imperial gala a while back. Though, she hadn’t been sure if he’d seen her, too…but that proved that he had. She was still too in shock at suddenly seeing him now and was struggling to think of what she should do or say. This was completely unexpected.

After a brief moment of silence, Crosshair went on to say, “You know, for someone who’s been very talkative in all her transmissions, you’re suddenly very quiet.”

“So he has seen all my messages,” she thought to herself. Then she shook her head and responded aloud, “Sorry, I just…I wasn’t expecting to actually hear from you.”

This was it. The timing of his call couldn’t have been more impeccable. Surely, this was a sign that he was wanting to come back; that she could convince him to let them help him. Even though it seemed too good to be true, she didn’t want to lose this opportunity. This was her chance to make everything right.

“Honestly…your timing couldn’t be more perfect,” she said to him. “Listen, we’ve learned something important that pertains to you, as well. Please, I’m begging you to hear me out.”

He repositioned his toothpick to the other side of his mouth with his tongue before replying, “I’m listening.”

Kimber honestly had been bracing herself to argue with him over this, but was surprised he was being so willing. It seemed too simple…but maybe that was a good thing.

She informed him, “We’ve learned that all of the Clones had inhibitor chips put into their heads and the Empire is using those chips to control the Clones. Order 66 was what triggered the chips and made everyone kill the Jedi and join the Empire. I believe that’s what’s happening to you, too.”

Crosshair remained silent, watching her intently.

“However, we’ve found a way to safely remove the chips,” she then said. “If you’ll allow us, Crosshair…we can do the same for you. We want to help you.” Her voice began to crack slightly as her emotions were building. “I want to help you. Please, I implore you…meet with us and we can free you from the Empire. We don’t have to be apart anymore. Please…I miss you.”

She paused, waiting for him to respond,

Then finally, after glancing down briefly, he looked back to her and asked, “Where are you?”

Kimber smiled gladly.

The transmission soon ended and Crosshair pocketed his holopad device as he stood in the brightly-lit hallways of Kamino. He’d had a hunch he had chosen to act on and it had proven to be right.

It had been entirely too easy…just as he’d predicted.

Kimber’s desperation to have him back had shown prominently in all the messages she’d sent him, so he knew that the minute he decided to reach out to her in return, she would be willing to do or say almost anything to get him to return to the squad. It was an asset he’d managed to manipulate and utilize effortlessly to his advantage.

Then the Clone Commander turned around and entered the room he was standing outside of, which was the Prime Minister’s office. Inside the office, surrounded by multiple, colorful holographic projections, were both Prime Minister Lama Su and Admiral Rampart, discussing things with each other. They both ceased talking and looked his way as he walked into the room and stopped just a few feet away from them.

“I know where to find Clone Force 99.”

#star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #bad batch hunter #bad batch fanfic #hunter x oc fic #sun and rain fanfic

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arctrooperechy · 2 months

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KINDRED - A BAD BATCH STORY

Series Synopsis: The Bad Batch accepts an extraction mission to rescue a member of the Galactic Senate’s daughter.

Series Rating: Mature (though that will likely change as the story progresses)

Prologue

19 BBY - OPEN SPACE

It was so...quiet. Uncharacteristically quiet for a ship full of four men and one child. Everyone was keeping to their own tasks on the ship as Hunter stood in the cockpit behind Tech in his pilot's seat.

Usually, a quiet moment such as this would be one Hunter would have savored. His enhanced senses meant feeling everything a bit more than everyone else.

And that was putting it mildly.

The sergeant learned how to quiet his mind years ago; it had been critical for his sanity and well-being. So no, of course it wasn’t the Kaminoans who taught him. And it wasn’t a member of the cuy’val dar, either.

Hunter had gotten the idea from his squad’s only friend: a gentle clone named 99. Hunter had struggled, hiding in corners when no one was watching and banging his little hands against his temples begging for silence. He thought no one noticed; but 99 did, approaching him quietly.

When trying to explain the problem, all he’d been able to say was, “it’s too loud, it’s too loud.”

99 had consoled him, stating that when things were too loud for him—when there was simply too much noise to think—he should choose a single thing and focus on it.

One thing. Focusing every heightened sense and every bit of his attention on one thing and allowing the sensation to wash over him wholly until it didn’t feel like he was really focusing on anything at all.

It took time to master the skill, through patience and seemingly endless practice. Wrecker had called it “Hunter’s quiet time” once, when they were still small. Tech had rolled his eyes and started to give the definition of “meditation” and Wrecker had covered his eyes with a groan.

Crosshair, the stoic sniper that he was, had joined Hunter for the practice numerous times over the years. It seemed to Hunter that they sought silence for very different reasons. But the pursuit to find that silence was altruistic on both their parts.Tech and Wrecker tried but it was simply in their nature to…well, not be quiet.

But tonight’s quiet was a different story. In the few hours since the squad had left Crosshair alone on Kamino, Hunter's mind had been a prison of memories and guilt. What if the Empire never sends a scout team back to Kamino? What if Crosshair was never found? What if he…

The scenario had to be in the back of everyone else’s head as well. He knew that as the squad's sergeant, it was his duty to speak up and offer guidance, hope, for his teammates.

But he had nothing. He stood in silence, hoping for someone to speak up and distract him from the gnawing insecurity clouding everything.

He stood in silence wondering if they’d made the right choice.

Finally, Wrecker spoke up behind him, ever in keeping with his optimistic and empathetic nature. "'Mega, how about we play some sabaac when we get back to Cid's?"

Omega snapped out of her trance and grinned as she replied, "oh, you're soooo on. Loser buys the Mantell mix for our last mission!"

Wrecker chuckled as he whispered to the girl, "you know Hunter covers that anyway." Omega giggled jovially as she and Wrecker continued their banter. Up front, Echo and Tech began discussing necessary maintenance for the hyperdrive once they were on land again.

Thankful for the chatter, Hunter began selfishly longing for the moment they touched down on Ord Mantell. Maybe the squad would have a chance to relax (for once) and take their minds off of the last several rotations’ events.

As wrong as the notion felt, Hunter thought that perhaps the more distance the squad put between themselves and Crosshair...the better.

CARIDA

Merritt Belaena couldn’t wipe the frown off her face. She wouldn’t wipe the frown off her face. One act of defiance, one thing she could control, was this frown. She would wear it until the day she died. If only to prove a point.

The previous evening had been typical. A beautiful gala in a beautiful gown. A lot of conversation she couldn’t remember. A bit too much to drink. An unwelcome wave of emotions hitting her once she retired to her bedchambers. A fit of tossing and turning before sleep set her free.

This morning had been anything but typical.

She had been jolted awake by one of the handmaidens, imploring her to follow. After a moment of back and forth, Merritt relented and was led to the study.

Senator Belaena’s study, that is.

The Senator being her mother; the study being a room no one was typically permitted access while she worked.

The handmaiden ushered Merritt inside and was away with a final thud of the door closing. She looked around the room and saw no servants, no troopers, and no onlookers; only her parents gathered near a corner talking hushedly to each other.

“Mother? Father?”

The pair turned to face their daughter with wild looks in their eyes. Merritt felt her stomach lurch as she realized whatever this was, it was not a good thing.

“Darling,” her father began as he walked over towards her. “We have some news that might seem a bit strange.”

Her mother sighed and walked to meet Merritt before her father had even reached her.

“You must go.”

“Go?” She was dumbfounded.

“Yes. You must leave Carida,” her mother responded sharply. Merritt noted a hint of emotion in her mother’s voice, something she’d only heard a few times in her lifetime.

“I don’t…what?” A small wave of panic began creeping over her, but she pushed it away with every bit of force she could muster.

“You must leave. And it must be tonight.”

Merritt could not for any reason begin to grasp what was happening here. Of all the things she expected to happen…this was not one of them. “Do I have no say in this?”

“You do not,” her father replied. “This is urgent and non-negotiable.”

“We’ve arranged passage for you off-world. You’ll need to be ready in the next few hours. We don’t have much time.”

“Stop.” Merritt took a deep breath before continuing. It was always so nerve-racking to speak to her parents, but it seemed even more daunting now. “What is going on?”

“Something’s happened with the Galactic Se—“ her father began until he realized he was being met with a harsh glare from the Senator.

“It doesn’t matter what’s going on. All you need to know is you’re leaving and your father will pass instructions to you later in the day.”

“Mother, I’m sure I can handle—“

“You. Are. LEAVING. There will be no discussion. That is final.” Her mother’s face had turned wholly red, the veins showing in her forehead and neck.

Merritt had learned a long time ago not to argue with the Senator. The outburst seemed callous at first, but she soon realized that hidden within the vitriol in her mother’s words, there was fear.

That fear did not soften Merritt’s feelings towards her mother at all. It was so characteristic of her to make demands with no discussion. Once, after a particularly difficult situation arose involving the family’s reputation, Merritt asked if she could be of any help. Her mother had not replied; but she’d overheard her later ranting that Merritt was “not capable” of bearing such heavy burdens.

Perhaps she was right.

And yet, here Merritt stood with what felt like the heaviest burden of all—the unknown. Her only ally, it appeared, was the frown on her face. She was on her own, she and that frown, now just as she had always been.

ORD MANTELL

Before the Batch could even settle in at Cid's, the Trandoshan was beckoning for Hunter to join her in the back.

The dimly-lit room was anything but welcoming on a good day. But now, when Hunter was desperate for a moment of downtime? It was even worse.

"Heard you almost died," Cid said nonchalantly. Hunter wasn't sure she was feigning the lack of sympathy.

"Been through worse. Nice of you to worry, though," he responded curtly as she took her usual seat.

"Well, I'm not quite ready to lose part of my top source of revenue yet," she shrugged, sifting through the items on her desk. "Besides, I've got a job for you."

Hunter sighed loudly as he started, "I think the squad needs to lay low for a bit."

Cid continued as if she didn't hear him. "Carida, planet that's been getting quite a bit of Imperial attention lately.” She activated a diagram from her holopad at the desk, showing the planet’s location in the Inner Rim. “The planet’s the site of a clone training facility that's been converted into an Imperial officer and trooper academy."

Hunter nodded quietly; he was familiar with Carida and the soldiers they produced. Why it was relevant to him, he hadn’t the slightest idea.

"Someone needs to be transported off-world, ASAP. Willing to pay a fortune," she grinned.

"Cid...the team's been through a lot lately. I'm not sure we're ready to engage in conflict with the Empire again just yet."

"Bandana, this is a quick extraction, easy score for you boys," she scoffed. "Details are on here," she explained as she tossed him a holodisc.

"No," Hunter said as he tossed the disc back towards her desk. "Not happening."

Before Cid could respond, a tiny voice piped up from the office's entrance. "What's not happening?"

Omega stepped in and sat on the arm of Hunter's chair.

“Tiny! Finally, someone with some sense. Dark and broody here’s rejecting a simple rescue mission I had for you all,” Cid said with a devious smirk. Hunter glared at her, knowing she’d used the right words.

“Rescue mission? Someone’s in trouble?” Omega’s eyes lit up; she looked to Hunter excitedly.

Before he could say anything, Cid made matters even worse by adding it was someone on an Imperial-occupied planet.

“Hunter, we have to go!” Omega exclaimed, beginning to tug on his arm.

“Omega,” he started slowly, “I just don’t know that the squad is ready for another mission just yet. There’s been…a lot that’s happened these last few days,” he finished.

She looked at him with a fierceness in her eyes, and he knew that was it. The kid was very persuasive and usually right…usually. “Hunter, we help people. Isn’t that what we do?” she asked firmly.

After a long pause and without looking away from Omega, Hunter spoke to Cid. “Just an extraction? This person is going to be ready for us…in and out, without any intense maneuvering?”

“Yup. And then we both reap a ton of credits. What could go wrong?” Cid smiled back with greed in her eyes.

Hunter sighed with a look back at Omega. He resolved to himself that this would be their last mission for a while, no matter what Cid bribed, or Omega pleaded. It wasn’t just that they needed rest; he was concerned his squad had been making far too much noise lately and needed to lay low for a while.

Perhaps one simple low-risk mission to provide them enough credits to relax for a long while wasn’t such a terrible plan.

“Alright, kid. Go round up the boys. Let’s make this quick.”

A/N: thank you for reading! After months of reworking, I am finally ready to begin sharing this TBB story. This is my first fic, so any tips or comments would be so helpful ❣️ I don’t know how to do a tag-list but if that’s something you’re interested in, please let me know!

-CC

#the bad batch #tbb #hunter x female oc #bad batch #sw fanfic #kindred fic #tbb fanfiction #OC Merritt

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skellymom · 2 months

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"Vagabonds" Chapter 11

Ongoing fanfic Hunter x Reader/Fem Reader/OC

ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜰɪᴄ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀɪɴꜱ ɴꜱꜰᴡ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ 18+ ᴅɴɪ

To read Chapter 10:

https://www.tumblr.com/skellymom/743633412345282560/vagabonds-chapter-10?source=share

Word Count: 1.4K

Background: Echo, Tech, and Wrecker help the crew of the Beldame. Will Hunter have regrets? Two flashback sequences.

Warning: Star Wars swears, Earth swears, fear, physical pain, fainting, blood, hypothermia, dog bites human, human bites human, human takes knee to balls, human takes fist to nose, canon-typical violence, medical trauma.

(Credit: Cool moving star dividers by @4ngelic-wh1spers )

Recap: Echo broke the silence, “DEFINITELY BSC! The message keeps repeating. Don’t know what the other part is...”

Tech interrupted excitedly. “Notes on the musical scale!”

Tech repeated the Basic Alphabet that corresponded with the notes to Echo.

“With the Basic Standard Code...” Echo started the sentence...

...and Tech finished it, “They’re coordinates!”

They both spun their seats around and immediately engaged the Marauder.

Wrecker stopped humming and tapping. “YOU’RE WELCOME!”

"In The Depths Of Darkness"

It took some doing, Echo and Tech finally found the Beldame floating aimlessly out in space.

The hulking ship was dark.

“Are they...?” Wrecker was even afraid to finish his sentence.

“I certainly hope NOT.” Tech was EVEN MORE worried now.

Wrecker replied. “But...What HAPPENED??? Where’s the Venator???”

“I cannot answer that question. It... seemed to have...vanished.” Tech was baffled.

“We can dock topside on the Beldame.” Echo pointed to the top hatch. “Allow access while keeping an oxygenated seal between the two ships. Then haul the crew up into the Marauder...whatever their status is.” Echo’s large amber eyes tried to hide his deep concern.

“We should wear our helmets with oxygen gear, and each carry a light source. I am unsure how long it’s been since their power failed” Tech added.

“I'm on it!” Wrecker started gathering equipment.

Tech and Echo landed the Marauder on the Beldame’s back and secured the seal between the ships.

When they were finally able to open the hatch and enter, the scene surprised them.

The whole interior of the ‘Dame was covered in a very thin sheen of frost. Wrecker, Tech, and Echo could see their breath with each exhale...when their flashlights caught it. Otherwise, the cabin was completely DARK.

To add difficulty: everything not tied down was floating around the interior of the ship. The gravity had failed as well. Luckily the crew of the ‘Dame was tied together for warmth and moored to one of the bunks.

Wrecker floated in first and clamped a heat lamp to the interior of the ship and aimed it at the crew. Echo, then Tech slid in.

Muffled barking commenced, and Tiggy excitedly scrambled out from the mass of bodies. She doggy paddled in zero G towards Tech still barking.

Tech floated over, embracing her, then tucked the pup into a pocket on his utility belt. He immediately started to scan the crew for vitals.

“They are ALL alive, however, severely hypothermic. Wrecker, help me get them immediately to the Marauder!” Tech started to untie the binds to grab the first crew mate to take to the Marauder. Wrecker followed suit.

Echo assessed the interior of the ship, pushing floating objects out of Tech’s and Wrecker’s path. He brought his hand back and found it slick with spots of fresh blood.

“SOMEONE is actively bleeding!”

Wrecker grabbed Hunter and...” Love has dried blood all over their face! What IS GOING ON???” He started to pull them with him out of the group.

Tech immediately spotted the source. “It’s not Love’s blood. Mad is hemorrhaging!” He noticed the area around the top of her inner thighs soaked through considerably. She was horribly pale.

Tech grabbed Mad and sailed back through the opening towards the Marauder. Tiggy whimpered concerningly. Wrecker followed with Hunter and Love in tow.

Echo grabbed hold of Sil, who even though passed out, was still tightly hugging Omega and brought them back to the Marauder.

Cold black space remaining...black...darkness...

Mad... treading through darkness...

...voices echoing...touches brushing against her skin...

...stabbing her arm...under the skin...searching for a vessel...

Didn’t she escape this once before? A long, long time ago? How was she here again?

Mad screamed and darkness filled her mouth, threatening to choke her into silence.

Wires and medical lines flowed and coiled around her like seaweed, brushing her skin, threatening to tangle Mad’s limbs.

Up above...a tiny light penetrating the darkness...she swam furiously towards it. As she ascended the light grew larger, the voices louder...but the quality was distorted.

Something from the deep blackness gripped her leg.

Elongated white arms, hands with long fingers...like the bloodless corpses of snakes...

Milky eyes peering up from the dark depths...whispering...where are you going, experimental subject number...

She fought and kicked, gasping for air, swallowing some of the darkness...retching...

...then kicked harder breaking free. Treading water like her life depended on it. Floating up...up...up...

...breaking the surface, her retch turned into a terrified scream.

Awakened from one nightmare into another. Mad, bolted upright from a bunk in a foreign environment. Cold steel and lighted mechanical panels surrounded her, no longer in the warm, comfortable environment of her own ship...

...there was a mechanical scomp in her face.

Echo, assisting Tech to place an IV catheter was the victim of bad timing. Poor Echo NEVER saw it coming. Mad powerfully kicked out, catching him full in the chest. He sailed back and slammed into the wall. Tech, concerned with Mad tearing out her catheter, grabbed her arm. Mad sucker punched him in the face while screaming hysterically. Poor Tech never saw that coming. He fell to the floor holding his nose.

Mad ripped out the catheter and sprang from the bunk.

Echo ALMOST recovered...but Tiggy intervened. The puppy, suddenly driven by her owner’s behavior viciously attacked him. He managed to stave her off with his scomp. But she kept coming for him, snapping and growling.

“WHAT THE FUCK???” Echo yelled out.

Hunter DID sense this coming. The second Mad awoke, he did too. He bolted from the front of the Marauder to the back.

Mad didn’t get very far, as he grabbed and held her fast. Both arms pinned to her sides in a secure bear hug. She screamed obscenities and growled at him. Clearly, she didn’t recognize Hunter at that moment.

“Mad... ” She was clearly delirious. "We're not going to hurt you!"

Struggling did no good against Hunter’s strength. Mad kneed him hard in the crotch. Hunter gasped and went down on both knees but didn’t let go.

Mad screamed like a banshee. Her anger rising.

In the next room Sil had a full-blown panic attack. Omega held his hand, trying to talk him through it.

Wrecker ran in and grabbed up Tiggy. The pup acted as if she didn’t recognize him at all. She bared her teeth and actively tried to attack him too. Wrecker tossed her from hand to hand like a hot potato to avoid being viciously bitten.

Mad’s anger hit her limit. She slammed her face down into the crook of Hunter’s neck and sunk her teeth deeply into the flesh...

...at the same time Tiggy bit Wrecker.

Both men simultaneously cried out from the pain.

Hunter released one hand from Mad, attempting to get her teeth out of him. Her free hand scratched at his face viciously.

Tiggy slashed Wrecker with her nails.

STOP! Love placed both hands on Mad’s head. She immediately went limp, released her bite, eyes rolling back in her head...

...as Tiggy immediately went limp and did the same.

Tech got up from the floor, nose bleeding. “I...managed to record EVERYTHING!”

“Fantastic! Could’ve used some help there.” Echo full of adrenaline. “Good thing the kid knocked her out.” Nodding to Love.

Echo and Tech grabbed Mad and put her back up on the bunk, then resumed replacing her IV catheter.

Wrecker sat Tiggy on the bunk and offered his good hand to Hunter.

Hunter shook his head and groaned, cupping his injured manhood, actively bleeding from his shoulder and face.

Wrecker understood completely. “I’ll get the bacta patches.”

Down...down...in darkness again....

...Mad drifted down landing on her back...A heaviness on her abdomen...

...nightfall on Dathomir. The stars shining above, heat of a bonfire, surrounded by Night Sisters.

They tended to Mad’s every need during labor. Empathetic, sweet, and powerful women helping to usher a new life into the world.

Mother Talzin present and chanting over the fire. Mad’s breaths corresponding with Mother’s chants and the contractions of her uterus. Night Sisters breathing in unison as well. Wiping the sweat from her brow and tending to her labor pains.

It was the least the Sisterhood of Dathomir could do. Mother Talzin’s son refused to be present for the birth of his own child. Leaving the planet to live his own separate life as he pleased. Talzin did her due diligence to be present for her grandbaby’s arrival.

Mad was sorrowful, as the Nomaadi Community attempted to contact Mad on Dathomir to also attend to baby’s birth. Mad eventually discovered she was purposely being kept isolated from her own family.

Two ships: the Dread Beldame and the Vardo covertly hovered out of sight in the sky, ready to take Mad and her child away at a moment’s notice. Mad’s clone sister “SHE” rallied the few Nomaadi warriors who were able to help.

Mother Talzin was none the wiser of this.

Several Night Sisters understood and respected Mad’s choice. And, disagreed with Mother Talzin’s methods. They helped plot secretly to assist with the intervention...some planning to leave with the Nomaadi as well.

...because Mad knew beyond a shadow of a doubt Mother Talzin was only playing at being accommodating. Mad could see the omen of celestial bodies in the sky above her. A baby born under these conditions signaled to Mother Talzin this child would have some sort of significance. She would keep the baby and NEVER let Mad’s child leave this planet.

And she would NEVER let Mad leave alive, either.

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