All around, explosions are heard as the Bad Batch runs through the city. "Go, go!" An explosion goes off behind them as they scramble up.
"We need to find cover." Genesis yells as an explosion happens right in front of them and they get thrown back a bit, a ringing filling their ears. They get up slowly as Tech and Echo help a weakened Genesis up as they help her stand.
The building suddenly slides as explosions go off as they start sliding down the ruined corridor. Crosshair gets trapped under rubble as Omega crashes into a pile as the others slide down and she yells Hunter and Genesis's name as electricity activates and the doors between them closes, splitting them up.
"Hunter, Genesis, do you copy? Tech? Echo? Is anyone there? Wrecker?"
They all slowly wake up as Genesis rips her helmet off as she lays back on the ground, easing the pain that consumed her whole body.
"Yeah, kid. Are you okay?"
"Not really. The room is flooding. And Crosshair's stuck."
"Get the door open, Tech." Hunter orders as Tech is already on it. "All compromised compartments are sealed to contain the flooding. I cannot override the protocols from here." He explains.
"I can." Wrecker pulls out his knife and he stabs it into the door as water slowly leaks through. Tech tries helping him as Hunter goes to check on Genesis and helps her up.
More water starts leaking through the doorway as the two slowly get it open.
"Almost got it!" Water starts spraying out as the door opens enough to let Omega, Crosshair, and AZI flow through. Wrecker catches Omega and places her down as he and Tech shut the door.
Crosshair slides down the floor until he stops right in front of Hunter supporting Genesis.
"Hi." Genesis says as he scrambles up facing the two. "What have you done?"
"The Empire opened fire on the city. We weren't gonna leave you behind." Hunter states as Tech joins the conversation. "We don't have time for this. We need to get topside before this entire structure submerges."
"If you want to stay here and die, that's your call." Genesis mentions as she picks up her helmet and they run, leaving Crosshair who eventually catches up with them.
✦✧✦✧
Explosions ring out all around them as they run through the glass corridor that hangs over the cloning section. Almost every explosion makes them stumble along as Omega stops to look outside as the lab fills with water.
She's joined by Wrecker, Hunter and Gen as they too look out of the glass as they watch the lab get consumed by the ocean water.
"Come on, Omega. We have to go!"
They reach another corridor as water drips around them. The corridor begins to tilt violently as they start sliding down. Omega gasps as she covers her head as debris falls from the ceiling.
"Hold on to something!"
They start sliding as Wrecker grabs onto a piece of metal as does Hunter who grasps Genesis's wrist as Crosshair lands on a piece of metal below them. The building rumbles as Echo loses his grip and he grabs onto the same piece of metal holding Crosshair and all they had to do was wait until the building became even again.
The building finally settles as they drop onto the ground as the room levels out.
"How much do you wanna bet we hit the bottom?" Genesis asks as Hunter helps her up.
Omega goes straight to AZI as he turns on and tells Omega to watch out and AZI looks around. "Oh, you are okay."
"I believe we have landed on the ocean floor." Tech concludes. "There is no way to accurately calculate the damage. Most of the facility must be-" He's cut off by an explosion that shakes the whole building and water starts pouring through. "...compromised."
"We need to get to a space that's more secure."
"Follow me." They all follow Tech as Omega glances at Crosshair who gave her a hard look and she follows the others.
Wrecker pulls open a door and they all walk in to recognize it's their barracks.
"Ironically, our old barracks is one of the few compartments habitable, albeit temporarily." Tech says as everyone flashes their flashlights around the room.
"This is our room?" Wrecker groans "What happened to it?"
"At least the smell's gone." Echo adds as Wrecker notices the board from all their missions is still there.
"All those missions together and you threw it away." Crosshair says and Hunter and Gen quickly turn around.
"We made a choice, and so did you." Hunter argues back.
"Soldiers follow orders." Crosshair repeats and Genesis just shakes her head. "If that's your argument for everything now, it's pretty lame." She remarks as Crosshair just gives her an almost disgusted look.
"Blind allegiance makes you a pawn. A real leader protects his squad." Hunter explains to Crosshair.
"Look where that's gotten you. They're all going to die here because of your failed leadership." Crosshair challenges as Genesis moves herself away from Hunter as she limps to the table and sits on it.
"No, we're not. Look." Omega suddenly says as everyone turns to the window where it leans in front of a tunnel."We landed on the underwater tunnel. If we use it to reach the base post, we could get back to the Marauder."
"Accessing the tube will be... challenging." Tech says.
"Better than staying here." Echo adds.
"We have to try." Omega insists as Crosshair walks up to the group from behind.
"She's calling the shots now?"
"You have a better idea?" Hunter questions as he walks past Crosshair along with everyone.
They walk towards the tunnel as Genesis tells them to stop as she motions for Hunter to step back. "I think I can walk." She slowly walks forward and her legs don't give out, only a tiny spike of pain when she puts weight on them.
"Your healing factor seems to be working again." Tech says as Genesis spins around. "Which is great, meaning my suffering will end soon." She says cheering as they continue down the corridor.
They arrive at the spot Tech's scans report it's under them and AZI starts cutting the flooring as Tech explains the plan.
AZI cuts through the flooring as the piece falls onto the tube as AZI sticks it's head under and floats down as they all wait for the droid's all clear.
"The tunnel is clear!" AZI cheers as they all give each other a relieved look. One by one everyone climbs down and they carefully and slowly walk across the track.
"We need to go back. There must be another way." Crosshair suggests as AZI turns around and tells him that would be an unwise decision.
"You done complaining?" Wrecker suddenly says as he suddenly vents which everyone wasn't expecting. "You know, if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be in this mess."
"Something on your tiny mind, Wrecker?"
"All that time, you didn't even try to come back." He sighs before he continues. "We still would have taken ya."
Tech steps up as he tells Wrecker to let it go and explains Crosshair's behavior to him.
"Why are you defending me?"
"I am not. Understanding you does not mean that I agree with you."
They continue down the tunnel which as time has gone on, it seems to become more damaged, the smell of seawater plagued the tunnel and there were some serious looking cracks on the glass.
"AZI this doesn't look very safe." Omega says with a worried tone in her voice as she scans the tunnel with her flashlight.
"Barring any further complications, this enclosure remains a viable means of transport."
"Can we keep moving?" Genesis says, "I don't know how long I can stand for and I'd really like to be on a less damaged foundation to find out." Omega nods as she continues forward.
Not even a mile in they hear the sound of a roar in the distance and they stop to look out of the tunnel for the source.
"Uh, I think we got a problem." Hunter says as the roaring continued to grow louder as the source got closer to the tunnel.
"AZI, these tunnels are protected, right?" Omega asks in a whisper.
"Only when the power is operational, which it is not."
They continue to look out into the murky ocean as the roaring seems to stop, then suddenly a roar louder edmits from the source as the creature swims towards the tunnel and everyone begins to run as the creature follows them.
The creature bangs into the tunnel as everyone stumbles off the railing onto the unstable glass as Genesis and Omega slowly get up and notice the glass cracking below them.
"Restoring power should deter the creature. Try to stay alive!" AZI yells worriedly as he flies to the other side of the tunnel to bring back the power.
The creature roars loudly once again causing Genesis to wince from the sound as everyone gets up and follows AZI.
The creature swims ahead as it starts biting on the upper tunnel and water starts pouring in as everyone starts to climb up.
The creature bites the tunnel again as sparks fly around and the tunnel shakes as more water sprays through.
AZI manages to power up the upper level as the lights come on and the creature gets shocked from the protection around the tunnel and swims away.
The water starts flooding up as the door closes beneath them and they all drop down to sit and rest on the door.
"It appears I have caused this structure's remaining power to short out." AZI reports. "But you have survived the transit. This outcome is satisfactory."
"Is it now?" Genesis pants as she slides down even further as she lays on the floor.
✦✧✦✧
They climb up the tunnel again and the trapdoor above them opens as Omega climbs up first followed by the others.
Omega looks around at the empty pods that fully take up a wall as everyone does the same, especially Hunter and Genesis as they remove their helmets to get a better look at the lab.
"What is this place?" The two ask.
"Nala Se's private lab." Tech explains, "Omega says this is where our mutations were manipulated and enhanced."
"Enhanced my ass..." Genesis murmurs but it didn't go unheard by Hunter as he gave her a sympathetic look she didn't notice.
"How would she know?" Crosshair questioned.
"Because she was there. "Omega was created before us. Technically, she is older than we are." Tech explains and Genesis's mouth is agap at this information. "Wait, she's a clone?" she asks and the others turn to Tech and he just shrugs.
"Let me guess, you all knew?" Gen asks and everyone nods. "Why am I not surprised you didn't tell me." She shakes her head.
"We wanted too but-"
"We didn't know how you'd react." Hunter explains and Genesis shrugs. "I mean, I have a sister now so... I call it a win." She walks to the other side of the room with the others behind her where they see that the other pipe was destroyed probably by the collapse of the city.
"That's gonna be a problem."
"That tunnel was the only way to the marauder." Omega sadly says.
"It would seem that, once again, we are trapped."
✦✧✦✧
They search around the lab for anything they can use as Omega notices AZI is slowing down drastically as she asks if he's okay.
"My battery cells are depleting. I apologize for the inconvenience." AZI's voice slurs a tiny bit as his eyes flicker.
"Long-range comms are down, and our oxygen levels will be critical in a few hours." Echo reports.
"This is what happens when you let a kid call the shots." Crosshair speaks up from his spot against the wall as he gives Omega a deadly look.
"That kid saved your life, unlike the Empire who left you for dead." Genesis argues as she crosses her arms.
"That's your problem, Genesis. You take things too personally." Crosshair steps up and Genesis scoffs as she laughs. "Well I'm sorry that I'm actually considering someone's life unlike you who sent me to die in a lab. You know, if you want I can just kill you here like those soldiers who were gonna kill me." She says leaning towards him as she continues. "Plus look around us, they destroyed an entire city."
"They did what needed to be done. Kamino, regs, the Republic... that time is over. The Empire will control the entire galaxy, and I am going to be a part of it. Hunter, Genesis, you made the wrong choices." Crosshair states as he walks past the group.
"Don't fool yourself. All you'll ever be to them is a number." Hunter adds as they watch him go towards the window and sits against it as Omega goes up to Crosshair and the two talk as the others observe the tubes that survived the crash.
Wrecker lifts up one of the tubes that was discarded on the floor.
"These medical capsules are our way out of here." Echo explains as Genesis gently knocks on the glass.
"If our mass is evenly distributed, the buoyancy of these watertight chambers will bring us to the surface." Tech adds as AZI speaks up in his slow state.
"Medical capsules have not been tested for such capabilities."
"We won't have directional control. How do we avoid the debris field out there?" Hunter asks as Genesis spins around and she opens her mouth as Crosshair speaks up. "The droid." They turn to see him walking towards them. "He can do it."
"AZI, can you guide us to the surface?" Hunter asks the droid.
"Barring any extraneous complications, I should be able to complete the task."
"Won't that be dangerous?" Omega asks as AZI turns to her.
"Your safety and well-being is my primary mission objective."
Hunter turns to Genesis and she just nods as the two leaders know that even though they had to worry about the dangers of the debris and deep down they knew and everyone else knew, this was the only way out.
✦✧✦✧
Everyone gathers the tubes they need for this plan to work and once they get the tubes required they get in their tubes as Wrecker has his own, Echo and Tech in one, Hunter and Crosshair in another and Omega and Genesis in the final one.
Omega and AZI place sticky grenades all over the window. "The explosives are set." Omega reports as she gets into her pod with Genesis.
"All right. Seal 'em up." Hunter nods as everyone presses the button inside their tubes, sealing them shut as AZI nods to Omega and Gen, prepared to guide them.
AZI gives the thumbs up and everyone turns to Omega and Gen as Omega looks up at Genesis and she nods to the young clone and she presses the button. Detonating the bombs as water raipdly floods through the lab, consuming the tubes as the current flows them out into the open ocean and AZI's job begins. He begins to one by one, guide the tubes away from either floating debris or sneaking to the bottom of the ocean.
AZI floats down to the tube with Genesis and Omega and he guides them up. As soon as they're caught up with the others AZI one by one quickly checks the other tubes as he quickly pushes Wrecker's tube away.
Anxiety plagues Genesis's mind as their tube floats through the sea and she could tell Omega was nervous also.
"It's gonna be okay. You know that right?" Gen reassures and Omega nods. "AZI won't let anything happen to us."
AZI comes down to their tube and Omega tells him he's doing a great job before a piece of metal crashes into their tube, weighing them down as it makes a surprisingly large crack into the glass.
AZI quickly swims back down to get the two girls as he tries to pull the piece off of them so the only option becomes for him to cut through it which'll drain his power faster.
The others reach the surface as they open their tubes and they look around first at all the destruction around them as the smell of smoke mixed with sea water permeates the air. While the fire from the city makes the water a fiery orange that was mixed with blackness.
They divert their attention to the ocean as Omega and Gen's pod had not reached the surface yet.
"Omega? Gen?"
AZI manages to cut through the piece of scrap and he begins to guide them up to the surface once more.
"Omega? Gen? What's happening?"
"We got caught on some debris. It's okay. AZI's got us." Omega reports as the two females watch AZI as his head twitches for a split second as his eyes start flashing.
"Don't give up. We're nearly there." Omega reassures a dying AZI.
"Your path is clear." AZI slurrs. "I have completed my objective." His voice becomes distorted as he finally shuts down and starts floating down to the bottom of the ocean with the city.
"No!" Omega shouts as the females watch him fade into the darkness. "I'm going after AZI!" Omega comments "Omega don't!" Hunter and Genesis yell as Omega opens the door to the pod and Genesis doesn't get enough time to gasp for air as water quickly fills the tube, consuming it as Omega swims down to get AZI. Genesis looks up towards the surface which was so close but if Omega didn't make it. She wouldn't forgive herself. So she does the only other thing she can do.
Swim after her.
Genesis takes off her helmet to get somewhat better vision underwater as her helmet floats up to the surface as she swims after Omega and the droid.
They desperately search for any signs of the girls but no signs of them surfaced except the helmet that Genesis wears that managed to float its way to the surface.
Hunter grabs it as he looks down back at the murky water and he makes up his mind. "I'm going in." He declares as Crosshair quickly pulls out his sniper, pointed at Hunter. Hunter expects the shot at him but instead, he shoots a grappling hook down into the water, for the girls. The grappling hook attaches to AZI and it pulls the two girls slowly losing their consciousness.
The grappling hook finally reaches the surface as Hunter pulls Omega up then Genesis as the two girls have coughing fits as they cough out the salt water.
Genesis looks up to realize Crosshair was the one who saved them as everyone else had their blasters pointed directly at Crosshair. After a moment Crosshair throws his sniper to Wrecker who catches it.
"Can we please go back to the ship now." Genesis groans as she coughs more water.
"I have a visual on the Marauder." Tech reports. "I suggest we start paddling." And they do just that as they make they're way back to the ship.
✦✧✦✧
It was early morning when they reached the ship and the smoke had cleared up in the sky as the smell of smoke and fire mixed with sea water still lingered.
Once they reach the top of the landing pad everyone takes off their helmets and turns to face the destruction of the city. Their home that was now covered in smoke and at the bottom of the darkness filled ocean.
"I still can't believe they went this length..." Genesis murmurs as the whole group shared the same remorse for the destruction of there once home.
"It's..." Omega tries to find the right words for witnessing the destruction of her home. "...All gone."
"We should leave before the Empire's scouts show up." Tech says and everyone agrees as they face Crosshair, giving him one last chance.
"You coming with us?" Wrecker asks Crosshair.
"None of this changes anything."
"You offered us a chance, Crosshair." Hunter reminds. "This is yours."
"I made my decision."
Genesis sighs as she steps up. "We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies." Crosshair just shrugs and turns away from the group as they each head onto the ship. Hunter telling Omega it's time to go.
Once everyone is on the ship the Marauder takes off. Once it's out of Kamino's Atmosphere Genesis leans back in the chair and pulls out the disc from earlier and she plays with it as so many thoughts cloud her mind from everything she learned about herself to the destruction her home. But there was one question that plagued her mind the most.
Is she worth anything?
That question now plagued her mind like a virus that needed an antidote but there was no antidote for this. And she knew deep down. This was changing her. All of it was and that scared her.
"What's that?" Omega asks, shaking Genesis put of her thoughts.
"That's..." Genesis tosses the disc and catches it in her hand. "What I wanted to talk about with you guys." Everyone turns to face her as she brings up her legs to her armored chest and she takes a breath before beginning.
"When... I was in that lab. There was a console that had... everything. Files, from the regs, you guys, Omega, and... myself." Genesis explains.
"What were in the files?" Tech asked, adjusting his glasses.
Genesis just hums as she rests her chin between her knees. "Normal stuff, DNA, Mutations... Omega being a clone, the normal." She shrugs as everyone gives her a look.
"I noticed I had my own file which, at the time where I nearly died, seemed weird so I clicked on it." She explains. "And I found files... videos of... my mutations." She looks up and everyone gives each other a look. "And there was one.. That said, I was never supposed to be a female." At those words everyone cringed.
"You all knew?"
"Gen," Hunter looks at his sister. "We knew from the very beginning. We wanted to tell you but we weren't told not too."
Genesis shakes her head as she sits back, rubbing a hand over her face. "So then I guess you knew about the implant in my head?" Everyone gave her a confused look as she furrowed her eyebrows.
"What implant?" Echo asks.
"The one that makes me copy anybody's fighting style? Like the slave trader, Fennec Shand's." She goes on.
"Gen, we never knew about the implant." Tech states.
"Wonder what else the Kamino's were hiding from us." Wrecker adds as Gen shrugs as she looks at the Disc.
"What's on the disc?" Hunter asks and Genesis' face darkens as she licks her lips and tosses it to him before she sighs and brings her legs back down onto the solid flooring.
"You guys aren't gonna believe me but... in the lab. You would think I would've been hooked up to machines right? The only thing I was hooked up on was an IV. Before you ask, yes it was empty. They were draining my blood."
"For what?"
Genesis leans over and stares at the ground. "You guys know how the Empire is slowly stopping the cloning?" Everyone nods as she continues. "After some digging, I found that there was a hidden file on mine. After some hacking, I pulled it up and..."
"And?" Everyone asks.
"The Empire is still stopping the cloning but... they aren't."
"What do you mean?"
Genesis closes her eyes. "There, using my blood. My blood for this... this program, the Empire is doing." She states and the cockpit becomes silent for a few moments before Hunter, asking the question that was in everyone's mind.
"What program?"
"The Ghost Protocol."
✦✧✦✧
That Is officially the end of Ruins for now, until season 2! Thank you all for the support! I think its also like to announce something pretty big....
The Astro Era
It is basically the Star Wars cinematic universe. Me and Peyton have at least 8 books planned for now in the prequel era, originals era, and sequel era! We're so excited for it and we hope you guys will stick around for the growth of the Astro Era!
But until next time!
Rose-