Dooms

Doomsfall

"She wants us to go after the war chest," Wrecker explains.

"Hunter already turned it down." But this wouldn't be the first time they went against Hunter's orders. Crosshair still struggles with it sometimes. It's hard to follow him blindly again after spending an entire month without him, after having to spend a month fearing him. He'd been so, so scared that Hunter would actually hurt one of them irreparably, and they wouldn't be able to get over that.

He was supposed to take care of them, but in the end, there are some things even Hunter can't control.

"I know, but... she's got some points," Wrecker says sheepishly.

This is Cid, he has to grudgingly admit. That's often true. He doesn't exactly trust her, but she's their employer, and she's been good to them.

"You boys don't know what you're turnin' down," Cid scolds, "The contents of just one of those containers would be more than all the jobs you've pulled off combined!"

"Hunter already turned it down," Crosshair objects.

"Then, maybe you can get him to change his mind," she argues, "It's only gonna be so long I can keep this little operation running. It's only a matter of time before the Empire comes here, which means no more jobs for you. You wanna really be free? Then pull off this heist, and you can have a future."

"She does have a valid point," Tech admits grudgingly.

"Yeah," Echo says, "It'll be risky, but this is something I think we have to do."

"You don't make those choices anymore," Crosshair points out bluntly, "Hunter does."

Echo turns a half-scowl on him, and Crosshair's fairly certain he's in a mood about something. Won't press what. It happens. All the time, but Crosshair thinks he's still holding onto the time Hunter was gone. He has... an unreasonably hard time following Hunter's orders.

It sounds good and all, but... Hunter's the one good at judging risks. Who is he kidding? Omega got zapped unconscious on literally their first mission together. Because they didn't know what they were doing. That must have hurt. He doesn't know how to judge what they're able to handle or not until it's right in front of him.

He doesn't have Hunter's foresight, but – but if Cid is right about this giving them the chance they've been fighting for this entire time, how can they turn that down? Their primary mission ever since Hunter came back was settling down, and getting to live their life like civilians. That's... not something Crosshair exactly wants, but... at least he'll get to finally stop being terrified of losing one of his brothers again. It isn't something he ever really thought about until Hunter.

"Well..." Wrecker says finally, because all of them are waiting for his agreement now. Crosshair's guess is Wrecker's as uncertain of agreeing as Crosshair himself.

Which – fine. "I'll talk to Hunter," Crosshair offers finally, because if there's anyone Hunter will actually listen to, it's him. Always has been. Well, he'll listen to Tech if he thinks he's being reasonable, or Echo, but this isn't really about reasoning. It's about their future, and Hunter knows Hunter thinks about him and Wrecker just as much as their little sister.

"Talk to me about what?" Hunter asks, appearing beside him.

"Going after the war chest."

Hunter already looks... tired. Worn. That's become normal for him, though. (It hurt when they stumbled into that other reality and Crosshair saw other-Hunter, who had stayed with his brothers from the start. He might have been depressed and moody, but he still reacted like him. He didn't act like he was scared of getting angry. Didn't look like he could be nothing but exhausted.) "You want to go?"