Shadows of the Force
Chapter 1
Warnings: swearing, star wars level warfare, injury.
Word Count: 4K
Summery: The Twins meet The Bad Batch, Captain Rex and the 501s for the first time and take on a new kind of mission.
Two pairs of eyes watched as a ship just about crash landed on the loading zone. They didn't seem impressed with the pilots flying skills, the twins leaning against a few crates as they watched the ship slide to a stop. They were on Anaxes, helping with the battle that had been going on for weeks now. Their armor showed the scraps, burn marks, and dents of war, the paint chipped but they didn't seem to care.
They watched as 4 clones in black and red armor walked off the ship, each one taller than the last. Then they saw Cody walk up to the one with longer hair, a face tattoo and a bandana around his head, grabbing arms in a handshake.
"So what suicide mission are you sending us on this time Cody?" The Sergeant asked Commander Cody. The Grand Marshall nodded his head as he went to answer the Clone.
"First you have 2 other members of this mission you need to meet." Cody told the group. Rex looked over at Jesse and Kix before looking back at Cody.
"Who else did you call Cody?" He asked as he ran a hand over his short blonde hair. Cody smirked and nodded his head at the two shadowy figures standing off in the distance. He raised his hands waving them over. They had their helmets on and right away they could tell they were no clones.
"Mandalorians?" Rex questioned.
"Not just Mandalorians." The one spoke up, a feminine voice speaking from under the helmet. She pulled her helmet off, her long black to platinum blonde hair falling from the helmet. It was braided into 2 double dutch braids that went back into one thick braid that hung down over her shoulder. Her hair fell down to her hips when lose. Her steel gray eyes looked unnatural, almost glowing. She had softly tanned skin, full lips and a softly shaped nose.
"Shadow Kline of Clan Rook." She said, extending her hand out to shake. Captain Rex shook her hand first and then Jesse and Kix. She then turned to the Bad Batch. "And you must be the Bad Batch. Heard some interesting stories about you boys." She said with a smirk.
The dark and broody one raised an eyebrow before shaking her hand.
"Sergeant Hunter. This here is Tech, Wrecker and Crosshair." He said pointing at each of his brothers.
"This over here is Captain Rex, Jesse and Medic Kix." Cody spoke up, pointing out the other clones standing behind himself. She nodded her head at each of the clones as she learned their names.
"This is my twin sister Scarlett." She waved to the other Mando standing behind her. She pulled off her helmet, showcasing black and red shoulder length hair that was a bit wavy. She had dark hazel eyes that seemed to cut right into your soul. A rifle was strapped to her back, a knife on her thigh. Shadow had two blasters, one on each hip and a knife on her chest plates. Their armor was black with dark purple and soft yellow accents adorning the armor. Their helmets had purple and yellow swirls and lines as well. They both wore black kama with a yellow and purple Vexis embroidered onto the right hip.
"Don't let them fool you boys. This is Lieutenants Shadow and Scarlett Kline, Special Ops Unit. These two are deadlier than they look." Cody said laced with pride. Shadow smiled at the Commander as he spoke.
"What makes you so special?" Crosshair snapped at them. Scarlett glared at the tall, linky clone and tilted her chin up.
"Cause we are clones." She hissed in a tone that matched his. The group looked around at each other, trying to wrap their minds around this news.
"Clones?" Rex spoke up, confusion written all over his face. Shadow wanted to slam a hand to her face but she kept her cool. She glared at her twin for a second before turning to the group.
"Yes, clones. But not from the same donor as you. Our mother was next in line as clan leader of Clan Rook. But our parents couldn't have a child. So our mother had herself cloned in order to have an Heir. She got twin girls who were also genetically modified. Meaning like the Bad Batch, we have enhanced abilities to become the next generation of Mandalorian soldiers."
Shadow looked at Hunter while she talked, seeming to feel the need to watch his expression as she spoke. His eyes seemed to hold questions only she could see. They way he stood, holding himself made it seem like nothing could phase him, but she knew better. She could feel the shift in his muscles, his breathing, the way his body reacted to her words.
"Now… the mission?" Scarlett spoke up. "I don't know about you boys, but I'm not looking to stand around for a chit chat." A roll of her eyes followed her statement.
"Let's get going. We'll brief you on the way." Cody said, pointing to the gunship that was waiting for them. The group of soldiers walked to the ship and hopped inside, grabbing the support straps that hung down for them. Shadow tucked her helmet under her arm standing next to Rex and her sister with Kix behind her. She saw Jesse and Crosshair glaring at each other, Crosshair moving his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other as he sent a death glare to the trooper.
"What are you looking at?" Jesse snapped at the snipper, a hint of anger in his eyes. Crosshair pulled the toothpick from his mouth and flicked it at the soldier.
"We don't usually work with "regs." He hissed in a cold tone.
"Regs?!" Jesse growled.
"He's talking about regular clones. But don't take it personal." Hunter stepped in, trying to keep the peace between the clones. Shadow felt the energy swirling and racing around the men, their anger on full display to her. She took a deep breath pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Males." She thought to herself.
"We're all on the same team, so cut the attitude and listen up." She snapped at the men, her voice holding a bite to it. The group fell silent so Rex cleared his voice and spoke up.
"Here's the mission. Our target is this Cyber Center. It's the "brains" of the entire Separatist campaign here on Anaxes." He said pulling up a Holo map. He pointed to the building that showed up. The group took a good hard look at it, then Wrecker spoke up.
"I could demolish that with one hand! Yeah!"
Shadow smiled at the large man, finding his love of blowing things up amusing.
"This isn't a demo job, Wrecker. It's strictly a retrieval operation." pointed out Rex, much to Wrecker's disappointment. Shadow looked up to find Hunter watching her. She stood up a bit straighter. His eyes seemed to be searching her as if he was trying to read her mind. She raised an eyebrow at him watching him duck his head to the side having been caught staring. She smiled lightly to herself before she felt a boot tab her on the leg. She turned her head and saw Scarlett giving her a look. Shadow just shrugged and faced forward again.
Boom!
"What the Kriff?!" Shadow screeched as her body slammed back Into the wall of the ship.
"Incoming fire! We're going down!" The pilot's voice fills the ship as it launches forward again, sending Rex, Cody, Scarlett and Shadow into each other and Jesse and Kix fall to the floor behind them.
Boom!
Another explosion tore through the ship as it spun before smacking into the ground below. Shadow was thrown from the ship, her back and right side smacking onto the stony ground, the air being forced from her body. Her head felt lightheaded as she tried to take a deep breath. Her ears were ringing loudly, her heart pounding under her ribs. She rolled into her side, feeling pain slowly fill her body but nothing felt broken.
"We always get shot down when we travel with regs!" Crosshair's voice filled the air as he stood up, dusting himself off. She looked around, seeing Wrecker helping her sister stand up. She felt a hand on her arm and saw Tech standing above her.
"Are you alright Miss?" His voice still sounded far away due to the ringing in her ears. She groaned and let him help her up. She put a hand to her head and looked over to the right, seeing Rex running to the gunship.
"Cody! Help!" His scared voice filled the air around them as he tried to get to his vod.
"He's trapped! We have to do something."
"I'll get him. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Wrecker said, placing a hand on Rex, pushing him back towards Hunter as he walked to the ship.
"Easy, Captain. Wrecker, get him out." But Hunter's words fell on deaf ears as he tried to hold the Captain back.
"Get back! This is ridiculous! He's gonna need help to get Cody out of there."
Crosshair stepped up and looked at Rex as he spoke. "He's gonna get the gunship out of there. Not Cody."
Now this confused Shadow. What in the world did that mean? She leaned against Tech still as he helped her move closer to her sister. She nodded to Scarlett when she saw her raise an eyebrow, letting her know she would be fine. They watched as Wrecker picked up the gunship and literally flipped in off Cody. The ship rocked back and forth as he picked up the Clone Commander.
"Boom." Wrecker said as he started walking away from the ship with Cody in hand. The ship then exploded, the flames reaching high into the night air. Shadow turned away a bit, shielding her eyes from the bright flames. Wrecker laid Cody onto the ground and Rex and Kix raced to his side as he groaned and whined in pain. Kix ran a device over his body looking for damage.
"He has internal damage." Kix said reaching into his medpack from a shot as he spoke. "I can cut the pain. But he needs help fast." He looked to Rex before giving Cody a shot of pain meds.
"We all need help. That blast gave away our position." Hunter said as he looked around at the group, his eyes finding Shadow's before looking back to Rex.
"I thought getting shot down gave away our position." Sassed Scarlett. Hunter gave her a look that did nothing to make her lose her attitude.
"Everyone, Find cover!" Shadow cut in, pointing to a group of battle droids walking their way.
Rex stood up and looked over at the large group marching their way. "We'll hold this position and let them come to us." He said as he looked to Jesse and Kix to help get Cody to the other side of the ship for some cover. Shadow reached for a blaster, itching to blow something up after all that.
Hunter raised a hand as he turned to look at his brothers. "I don't think so, Captain. That's not our style." He then looked back at the droids.
"We prefer going to them."
"Bad Batch! Plan 82, "Shockwave!"' Hunter called out as they pulled on their helmets. Wrecker picked up a large chuck of the gunship that was lying on the ground and stepped in front of his brothers. Shadow took a step forward, trying to figure out what exactly they had planned.
"Is that smart?!" She called out as they took off running for the droids. She watched as they got closer before Wrecker slammed the hunk of metal upright into the ground, making a wall for them to hide behind. Crosshair started shooting at the droids as Hunter threw a Droid Popper into the air. Crosshair snapped up his gun, hitting the popper making a wave of droids fall to the ground. Shadow was impressed at this. She had never seen something like this before. She took another step closer, coming up to stand with Rex as they watched Clone Force 99 do what they were famous for.
"Have you ever seen a group work like that before?" She asked as she watched Hunter slashing and cutting down droids with his knife. The way he moved, jumping and swirling around them as if it was some sort of dance to him. Her body felt a rash of energy as she watched him, as if something was pulling at her trying to show her something. She never felt anything like it before. Never felt a pull towards someone like this before. Soon all the droids were destroyed and the batch walked back towards the group, Hunter spinning his knife between his fingers before sliding it back into the holder on his arm.
"That was some show you put on just now."
"Just doing our job, Captain." Hunter answered. He looked over at Shadow and frowned a bit. "You alright? You're bleeding." He said taking a step closer to her. She reached up and felt blood on her face and realized that her lip was bleeding and she had a small cut in her forehead. She waved a hand and looked up at him.
"I'm fine. I've had worse than this." She hummed before looking over at Wrecker picking on Crosshair with a Droid head.
"Hey, look, Crosshair, this little clanker likes you." He said, pushing the droid into his face. Crosshair pushed the droid away and sneered up at his larger brother.
"Grow up Wrecker." He said bitterly.
Shadow smiled and chuckled, finding Wrecker annoying the snipper funny. She looked over at her twin only to find Scarlett staring at Crosshair, a slight blush to her cheeks. That was new. Her sister never showed interest in a man before. She never saw her blush before now that she thought about it. What brought this on?
"We should move out before reinforcements arrive. Our position has been compromised." Rex's voice cut through her thoughts, making her jump slightly. She turned to look at the blonde haired Captain and nodded. She made sure Jesse and Kix had Cody before falling into step behind Rex as he led the group away from the battle behind them. They started making their way into the hills, trying to find a place to lay low for a bit till someone could come for Cody.
As they walked on Shadow realized Hunter fell into step with her, matching her pace. He seemed to be deep in thought as he looked ahead. "You seem lost in thought there, Sergeant." She said in a hushed voice. She watched as his dark honey eyes found hers and it was like the air in her lungs rushed from her body. This was something she never felt before. That pull she felt earlier started tugging at her mind again and she tried to ignore it. She didn't know what it meant.
"Hmmm. Just… thinking about what you said earlier. About how you are like… me.. my brothers. Different I guess." He shrugged his shoulders after he spoke, looking forward again. Shadow thought over his words for a moment before speaking up.
"I can manipulate shadows and darkness, making myself blend in better, making it as if I wasn't even there. My senses are enhanced, like yourself. I can feel everything around me. Hear, smell, taste every small detail. It's like a wave, a river of energy floating and swirling around me, telling me what's going on or what's happened before I even see it." She paused for a moment to take a breath. Hunter was hanging onto her words, soaking them in as if they were water and he was a dying man.
She looked at him and smiled softly before going on. "I have enhanced flexibility and hand to eye, making me very hard to beat in hand to hand." Hunter smiled at this, seeming to find it appealing that she was good at hand to hand. She likes seeing him smile, the way his tattoo moved with his muscles in his face.
"What about your sister? What can she do?" He asked curiously.
"Ahhhhh. Well. She has enhanced eyesight, speed, and reflexes. She has an enhanced mind, specifically in military strategy and weapons. She can have a bomb or gun apart and back together in under a minute with how fast she thinks. She is honestly one of the best snipers I know. She has a perfect aim." She boosted about her twin. She was proud about who they were and what they could do in service to the Republic and the honor it bright her clan.
"Remind me to never be on the other end of a fight with you two then." He joked lightly to her. Shadow smiled and shook her head. She looked back at her sister who seemed to strike up a conversation with Crosshair about his rifle. Hunter looked over his shoulder at the pair and raised an eyebrow as he saw Crosshair actually talking. "Huh."
Shadow turned her eyes to look at the broody clone. "What?"
Hunter looked back at her and seemed like he was still surprised at what he saw behind him. "I've never seen Crosshair actually look happy to be speaking to someone before. It's… weird."
Shadow hummed and nodded her head. "Scarlett is not that most… approachable person either. Though people seem to think I'm the colder of the two, just from… well my eyes, my hair, the way I hold myself."
"The look of a leader who has seen more than her share in life." His words stunned her. She never heard someone say it like that before. Like he understood just how much her life twisted and turned since a young age, that it never slowed down and she had to make choices that changed her life in many ways. It was like he looked right into her soul and knew everything that she went through to keep herself and her sister alive to fight another day in this war.
"Yeah… eyes that have seen so much inna short amount of time I guess." She said softly before looking ahead to Rex, Jesse and Kix trying to keep Cody moving. The two soldiers soon fell quiet but it was a nice and calming type. They walked side by side for a while following the Captain as he looked for a place to rest. They walked for another hour or so till they found a small grove of trees at the base of a hill. Jesse soon for a fire going as Wrecker grabbed logs to place around the fire for them to sit on. Jesse, Kix, Shadow and Scarlett sat on one side of the fire as the batch sat on the other side. Cody was laying off to the side, holding his chest in pain as Rex tried to keep him calm as he called in for a rescue crue. Hunter got up and walked past Shadow as he made his way into the darkest, bending down now and again, feeling the dirt and looking around him.
Jesse was eating as he looked out at Hunter. He took a bite of food before elbowing Kix. "So, I get what makes the other Batchers unique, but what's so special about Hunter?" He asked his vod. Kix shrugged his shoulders before saying
"He can put up with the other three."
Jesse and Kix laughed and Shadow shook her head at them, a soft smile playing on her face.
"He was engineered with heightened senses. A place like the Cyber Center, Hunter can feel the electromagnetic frequencies from anywhere on the planet." Tech spoke up looking up from his Holopad for the first time in hours. Shadow looked back over at Hunter and knew he was trying to find a clue, a sign of which way they were supposed to be going.
"And here I thought we were smart just using a holomap." Jesse said with a roll of his eyes.
"Well, maps can be wrong. Hunter never is." Tech said, seeming to miss the sarcasm in Jesse's voice. Scarlett rolled her eyes beside Shadow and leaned forward a bit.
"Shadow is never wrong either. If she says something is gonna happen or we need to move I don't question it. She is never wrong when it comes to her enhancements." The colder of the two Mandalorians said as she looked into the fire blazing in front of her. "So if she doesn't agree with Hunter I will follow her without question." She said looking Tech as she spoke the last part.
Rex was off to the side, bearing everything that was being said. "Hang in there Cody." He said with a pat to his vod's shoulder.
"Listen up. We have to move out. Commander Cody's in no position to move. Already called in Evac. Kix will stay with Cody until it arrives. I'm in charge now. And I've got a plan to get into that Cyber Center." He addressed the group as he moved closer to the fire, looking them each in the eye as he spoke.
"If your plans are so good, why did Commander Cody have to call us in?" Sneared Crosshair as he mouthed off to Rex.
"You can't talk to Captain Rex like that!" Jesse said standing up and pushing Crossaid in his chest plates, sending the tall Clone stumbling backwards. Shadow gasped as Wrecker picked up Jesse and held him up in the air. Kix tried to push his way forward, only to be pushed back by Tech. Scarlett jumped up and so did Shadow, a hand flying to her blaster. She watched as Rex tried to get Wrecker to drop Jesse but failed. Hunter came rushing over and grabbed Wrecker's arm. Jesse soon dropped to the ground and Kix helped him up.
"Fellas, come on! We're all fighting for the same thing, right?" Hunter snapped at his brothers trying to regain some control. They soon nodded and Jesse and Kix nodded their heads too. Shadow saw Rex letting out a breath of air. She felt sorry for the Captain.
"All right then. Let's cut the chatter and finish what we started." Hunter then turned to Rex and said "We'll do it your way, Captain. For Commander Cody."
Shadow saw Rex give Hunter a look of gratitude before speaking to the others once more. "Okay. Let's gear up and move out."
Shadow reached for her pack and felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up she met the eyes of her twin. "One way or another these guys are gonna need to learn to get along…. Or we are all going to end up like Cody or worse."
Shadow nodded her head and cast a glance around the men grabbing their gear. "I agree. The Bad Batch doesn't seem to play well with normal Clones. Though Hunter seems to be the only one open minded about working with them. Or us for that matter." She stated as she pulled on her pack. "I just hope they get their shit together before we have to get involved." The twins smiled at each other before sharing a chuckle. She glanced over at Hunter who was already looking her way. She felt the pull at her mind and body again and a shiver rolled up her spine.
"Something tells me this mission is going to go differently than any of us have planned for." She sighed before walking away from the fire with the others, leaving Kix and Cody to wait for pick up back to base. She looked over her shoulder one last time at the fire slowly growing smaller behind her and placed a hand on her blaster. "Let's go kill some droids." She said look at her twin before walking off after the others again.
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