The Runaway {Hunter} (WATTYS 2022)

Chapter 62

Gregor placed her down and held her shoulders. "Kriff." He mumbled with a smirk. "Am I glad to see you."

"Rex sent us." Cora beamed with joy.

Gregor chuckled, his laugh always brought joy to Cora's heart. "In that case, let's move out." He stood before the three men who was with Cora. "The names Gregor." He greeted them.

Gregor smiled one more time to Cora before running down the hall, the group following. "How do you know him?" Tech asked in a low whisper.

"I did a mission with his group of Commando's." She told him, putting her helmet back on. "I helped him recover after his accident."

"Accident?" Tech mumbled before the group came to a stop.

They walked for a group of clones to walk down the hall, before quickly but quietly running past them. They waited again, turning down a corridor before waiting one more time for the group of clones to move past. The group came to a corner as Hunter and Gregor looked out to the group at the end of the hall, but they weren't moving.

"They're gathered for inspection." Gregor rubbed his chin. "There's no way past 'em."

"If we can't reach the lifts, we can't get out of here." Echo huffed.

"I can redirect them." Tech said before running back down the hall they came from.

He found a main panel and and started to click a few buttons, the group standing watch as Tech did his thing.

"Armour like that, I take it you're CC's like me?" Gregor asked Hunter as they waited for Tech.

"CT-99s." Hunter told Gregor.

"Defective clones?" Gregor chuckled. "You have an odd choice in squads, Senator."

"Didn't really have a choice." Cora shrugged with a chuckle.

"If you ask me, it's the ones who want to stay here who are really defective." Gregor said.

"What was your assignment?" Echo asked.

I was an instructor—"

Before he could continue, an alarm went off above their heads.

"What's going on, Tech?" Hunter turned to his brother who lifted his visor.

"I keyed a Code-16 to redirect their forces." Tech told them. "I don't know what happened."

"Clone codes don't work here." Gregor groaned. "You just triggered a security alert."

A blaster fire came from behind them as they all scrambled to find safety. Tech threw a smoke bomb and Cora pulled out her blasters, set to stun. The smoke filled their vision as Hunter rushed forward, taking the lead Commando with his bare hands. He grabbed her arm around his neck and subdued him quickly. Gregor took down a trooper who got too close to Hunter, the two turning to each other as their enemies fell to their feet. Hunter bent down and picked up the key card on the Commando.

"Is there another way off this base?" He asked Gregor.

"Only one way out. Up." Gregor pointed with his thumb.

Cora looked to the troopers they had just taken down. Her eyes fell on one whose helmet had been knocked off. "Look." She said kneeling down to to him. "He's not a clone." Cora rolled him over and saw a normal human face, he had blonde hair and a pale complexion.

Gregor scuffed. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. These are our replacements. If you can believe that."

The group ran down further down the hall. Blaster fire came from every way as they tried too escape the base. They stunned those who came in their path as they ran down many different hallways.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Tech asked as they ran down another hall.

"Heh, I'm the one who escaped here before." Gregor turned to him.

"And you were captured." Tech rolled his eyes.

"After I made it out." Gregor told him, sternly.

They stunned some more troopers before coming to a stop at the end of the corridor. "I thought you said you trained these guys?" Hunter asked.

"I didn't teach them everything. That wouldn't be very smart, would it?" Gregor chuckled again, giving the group a smirk.

Gregor looked over the hall and watched the lift come down to their floor. They waited for the door to open, blasters ready. Once the door hissed open, two TK troopers got stunned by Cora. The men pulled the troopers from the lift so Tech could get to the panel in the lift. They piled in as Tech turned to Gregor.

"We need an authorization code." He looked to the group.

"Got it." Hunter pulled the card and threw it to Tech.

Tech pressed the lift and it finally closed the doors, sending them up to freedom.

"These new troopers," Echo hesitated with his questions. "What do you mean they're our replacements?"

"Well, we clones are soldiers of a Republic that doesn't exist." Gregor looked around to the group before him. "These recruits come from all over the galaxy. They swear loyalty to the Empire." He shook his head. "They're not as skilled but there's an endless supply of 'em."

"Numbers aren't everything." Hunter said.

The sinking feeling of the clones being fazed away to nothing seemed to cloud Cora's consciousness. She never really agreed with the clones being under the control of the Republic, being made only for war. But having actually people join something that was filled with hate and malice, felt extremely worrisome for Cora.

The door hissed open and the group was greeted by a whole squad of TK troopers, and the Commando. The troopers looked to them, as Hunter and Gregor looked to each other. They kicked their legs out and knocked the Commando back into some of the troopers as they started shooting. Hunter and Gregor got out of the way of the door. Hunter pressed his body to Cora as he avoided getting shot, pinning her to the wall. Her cheeks became bright red under her helmet as Hunter's hands were above him, his helmet only inches from hers.

He mumbled a sorry as he pulled himself up. The lift doors closed as Gregor pulled his hands over his hair.

"You we're saying?" Tech turned to Gregor.

"We'll... uhh, take a detour." Gregor said softly.

Hunter turned to Cora. "Is this normally how all your recon missions went?"

She chuckled. "Not even close." Cora shrugged.