"You two alright up there?" Wrecker bellowed.
"Yeah!" Cal whooped.
Wrecker was balancing him and Caleb in his shoulders whilst Omega clung to his back like a baby monkey with its mother. Crosshair had remarked that Wrecker couldn't carry all three of them back to the ship and Wrecker gladly accepted the challenge. Omega didn't have much grip as Wrecker was so large and after a couple of minutes of her continuously slipping Hunter transferred her onto his shoulders.
"Hey! Whaddaya doing Hunter?" Wrecker complained.
"She would've fallen off if she'd stayed on," Hunter pointed out.
Groaning loudly, Wrecker stomped off towards the Marauder, still holding the boys. Peering backwards, Cal smiled at Omega, who was slightly lower than him. Looking past her, he saw Tech and Echo talking whilst Crosshair ambled behind them, his eyes fixed on the sky above. His wandering gaze briefly met Cal's. Crosshair quickly looked away, as if he would accidentally hurt Cal by merely glancing at him. Pity for the grey-haired clone crept into his stomach. Joining the Empire hadn't been his choice. He was lucky the Bad Batch had accepted him. So was Cal. Crosshair snagged his attention as he quickened his pace until he was next to Wrecker.
Taking his toothpick out, he muttered, "You owe me five credits."
"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Wrecker grumbled. "I'll pay you later."
~
The knot of worry in Hunter's stomach untangled itself when they all arrived safely back at the Marauder. He'd kept a watchful eye out for Scrappers or any of Bracca's creatures desperate for a substantial meal. Remembering how their previous visit to the planet had concluded, Hunter strained his senses, surveying the area for any threats. Relieved that he found none, but still cautious, Hunter lifted Omega off his shoulders and returned her to solid ground, keeping a firm grip on her hand. She didn't protest and instead placed her other hand on his, her two smaller ones bracketing his larger hand. Gazing up at him, Omega gave him a smile that erased all of his worries.
Rex's ship was already gone, him and Gregor having taken Wolffe somewhere he could recover from the shock of killing his general. Hunter had never been particularly close with any Jedi, but if he ever hurt or killed one of his brothers, one of the boys or Omega, Hunter knew he would never forgive himself.
Annoyance sparked inside him when Boba came over. He knelt down to Omega's eye level and removed his helmet.
"You father will be pleased to know that I'm not going with you," Boba announced. "Bossk just contacted me and he's coming to pick me up. I've given him a set of coordinates to meet me at."
With a little whimper, Omega dropped Hunter's hand and launched herself at her brother.
"Do you have to go? I just found you again." she whispered, her voice wobbling ever so slightly.
"It's for the best. Besides, you could always come with me," Boba suggested.
"No!" Hunter argued.
Sniffing noisily, Omega withdrew from the embrace. "It's a nice offer Bo, but I belong here."
Grinning sadly, Boba ruffled her hair and stood to his full height. "Yeah, the life of a bounty hunter is much more dangerous than being a mercenary on the run from the Empire."
"Very funny!" Omega cried, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. "Promise me you'll stay in contact."
"I promise Meg," Boba's gaze drifted upwards and locked onto Hunter's. "I don't think I need to remind you to take care of her and those two boys."
"They're safe with us." Hunter promised.
Seemingly satisfied, Boba tousled Omega's hair and muttered something to her that Hunter's exceptional hearing barely caught. "Take care of them Megs. They'd be lost without you."
Without another word or goodbye, Boba jetted off into the sky, leaving a white trail behind him. Omega watched her brother leave, her eyes welling up with tears. Feeling guilty that he and Boba never sorted out their differences, Hunter placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to make her feel better. Wordlessly, she whipped around and flung her arms around him, quiet sobs racking her body. For a moment, Hunter was extremely tempted to track down Boba and give him a piece of his mind for leaving his sister so abruptly. However, he knew Boba was doing the right thing by separating himself from the squad, decreasing the chances of another bounty hunter finding them.
"Omega!" Cal called from the steps of the Marauder. "Come on!"
Lightly squeezing his waist before removing her arms, Omega dashed towards their ship, weaving in between his brothers. He kept his eyes trained on her as she retreated inside the Marauder, no doubt ecstatic to give Cal a full tour of the spacecraft. Beaming to himself, Hunter strode towards the ramp, intent on getting off Bracca before their luck ran out, until his senses honed in on Crosshair standing a little way off. Turning back towards his newfound brother, who was seemingly lost in thought, Hunter confidently approached him, certain Crosshair wouldn't harm him now that he was no longer a puppet of the Empire.
Crosshair's blank eyes flicked over to him as Hunter halted a few feet in front of him, blocking his gaze.
"You okay Cross?"
Crosshair snorted. "Yeah, fantastic."
Sighing deeply, Hunter tried a different angle. "We'll get the kid back from the Empire, I promise."
At the mention of Ezra, Hunter could've sworn he saw a speck of regret in Crosshair's eyes before he closed them and moved his head away from Hunter.
"Look, Crosshair, I know it's going to take time for things to be back to the way they were, but we're all willing to try. Are you?"
Their eyes met again and, to Hunter's shock, his glimmered with tears. "How can things go back to the way they were? After everything I did, why do you still want me back? I did atrocious things for the Empire, horrible deeds that can never be undone. You'd be better off leaving me here, before I hurt any of you."
"We want you back because you're our brother Cross, and I refuse to leave you behind ever again." Hunter declared.
Startled by his words, Crosshair smiled genuinely before brushing his tears away.
"Come on brother." Hunter patted him on the shoulder before leading him back to the Marauder.
"You know we have limited space on the ship right? I don't think we can afford to take on any more kids Hunter," Crosshair joked. "I didn't think you were the fatherly type!"
He dodged Hunter's fist and strutted inside, obviously relieved to be home. The Bad Batch, reunited at last.
~
Hunter sat on one of the seats in the cockpit, sharpening his vibro-knife. Opposite him, Tech sat in the pilot's chair, showing Omega – who was sitting contently on his lap – some of the controls. To their right was Wrecker who was leaning back on his seat, his gigantic feet resting on the dashboard. Laughter caught Hunter's attention as his eyes darted over to the trio on the chair to his left. Echo occupied the seat, Caleb on his lap, Cal sitting by his feet, both boys hanging onto Echo's every word as he spun a tale of daring deeds, excitement and risks. Crosshair was curled up behind the three of them, trying to make it look like he wasn't listening to the story too by pretending to be cleaning his rifle. Omega hopped off Tech's lap and went and sat beside Cal, Echo's story apparently being more interesting than learning about the ship.
Out of the corner of his eye, Hunter spied Omega trying to obscure a yawn with her hand.
"Someone's tired," Hunter slid his knife into its scabbard on his gauntlet. "Bedtime 'Mega."
"I'm fine! I wanna help plan Ezra's rescue," she whined.
"You can strategize after you've slept," Hunter compromised, hoisting her into his arms, her hands gripping his chestplate.
"The boys get to stay up!" Omega complained.
"Hey, don't drag us into this!" Caleb protested.
"They're going to sleep too," Hunter demanded.
Huffing, Caleb rose from his position on the floor and walked over, Cal trailing after him.
"We don't need to go to sleep," Caleb waved his hand slowly at Hunter.
"Yes, you do," Hunter grasped his hand.
Echo burst out laughing from the co-pilot seat. "Nice try Caleb!"
"Say goodnight to everyone,"
A chorus of 'goodnights' were exchanged between the soldiers and the kids before Hunter led the three children into the back of the ship. Letting go of Caleb's hand, Hunter set Omega down at the base of the ladder that led to her room. Retracing his steps back a bit, Hunter set up one of the bunks attached to the wall.
"Two of you can sleep in the gunner's mount and one of you can go here."
"The boys can have my room. I don't mind the bunk," Omega declared, scrambling up onto the bed before anyone else protested. Neither of the boys argued with her and climbed the ladder into the gunner's mount.
"Sleep well boys," Hunter said as he drew the curtain across, concealing them from view.
"Night," they chorused.
He leant down and kissed the top of Omega's head. "Night Omega."
"G'night Dad," she mumbled, sleep already taking over her senses.
Smiling to himself, Hunter returned to the cockpit and closed the door behind him.
~
Hunter stared out at hyperspace, Echo and Tech snoring in the seats behind him. His mind kept returning to thoughts about Ezra. He recalled how panicked and desperate he'd been when Bane kidnapped Omega, unsure where she was and when she'd be back with them. He knew Ezra's parents would be terrified about their baby's fate.
'We'll get him back. He'll be with you again soon.' Hunter silently promised,
Light footfalls tapped through the ship and into the cockpit. Turning his head, Hunter saw Cal climb into the pilot chair, his cheeks glistening with tears. Still sobbing, Cal wiped his nose with the edge of his Jedi robes.
"You okay Cal?" Hunter asked, unsure what to do. It was easier when Omega woke up because he knew how to lull her back to sleep, but he barely knew their most recent member. "Nightmare?"
Cal nodded, his eyes fixed on the blue and white streaks of hyperspace.
"Was it about your master?" Hunter queried, hoping he hadn't stepped too far.
"Yeah. Master Tapal was shot. I saw the explosion again. It's nothing new, I often dreamt it back on Bracca."
Coldness crept into Hunter. Cal suffered so much and he'd had no-one there to comfort him.
"I'm sorry."
Cal shrugged. "Can't change the past, no matter how much it hurts,"
"Yeah. Lot of stuff I wish I could change."
"Like what?" Cal asked, tearing his eyes away from hyperspace and focusing them on him.
"The way the other cadets treated us because of our enhancements. 99's fate during the attack on Kamino. The inhibitor chip that took Cross from us. The way the Kaminoans treated Omega."
"What did they do to her?"
Hunter hesitated, debating whether or not to tell him. "As you know, she's different to other clones. The Kaminoans saw her as nothing more than a project, an experiment. They ran tests on her, hooked her up to machines, kept her away from the other clones. We took her with us when we fled Kamino."
Stunned, Cal stared at his feet. "I-I had no idea. Omega's so positive and cheerful, I can't imagine her having a hard childhood."
"She's been through a lot, but so have you and Caleb. The boys and I will do everything we can to look after you, including giving you a chance to be a proper kid,"
Cal glanced back at him. "A proper kid?"
"I doubt the Jedi Order gave you much time to act your age,"
Cal hesitated in replying. "No, not really. It was always training, meditating, studying."
"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of fun with Omega and Caleb," Hunter smiled.
Cal grinned back, his tears disappearing. The pair sat in silence for a while, simply grateful for the other's presence.
"Hunter?"
"Yeah?"
"Is it true you guys never lost a mission?"
Hunter cracked a grin. Omega had been telling him stories about them. "Yep. Our enhancements made us more effective than the regs."
"Regs?"
"It's what we call regular clones," Hunter explained.
"Oh. But, Crosshair called Echo that earlier,"
"Echo was a reg until he went on a mission to the Citadel, a Separatist prison," Hunter paused, unsure if he should let Echo tell his own story. He quickly decided to carry on. "He...was caught in an explosion and was assumed dead, but the Seppies captured him. That's why he has metal limbs."
Horror spread across the boy's face. He looked over at Echo, who was sleeping peacefully on a chair.
"That's...awful," Cal whispered.
"War tends to be," Hunter muttered, remembering several incidents from dangerous missions. Noticing the horrified expression on Cal face, Hunter became eager to change the subject. "Want to hear how he joined the squad?"
Cal's shock was rapidly replaced by curiosity. He nodded his head enthusiastically.
Chuckling at his resemblance to Omega when she got excited, Hunter began the tale. "We'd been called to the planet Anaxes by Commander Cody..."
~
A rapid beeping startled Hunter awake. He had a nasty crick in his neck and there was something heavy lying on his chest. Expecting to see Omega, he was slightly taken aback when he saw Cal's ginger locks. The kid was curled up against his chest, his hands loosely holding his arm. Hunter couldn't resist a small smile at the sight. He quickly shut off the alarm that let him know they were coming out of hyperspace.
Sitting up slowly, Hunter gently nudged Cal. "Cal, wake up. We're here."
Moaning in protest, Cal released Hunter's arm and sat up properly, rubbing his eyes.
"Morning kid,"
Groggily, Cal stared at Hunter blankly until the memories of a few hours ago resurfaced.
"Sorry, I should've gone back to the gunner's mount."
"It's okay. I'm just glad you got a decent amount of sleep."
"That was extremely adorable."
Feeling a twinge of embarrassment in his chest, Hunter slowly turned to see his brothers, Omega and Caleb staring at them. Tech was aiming his datapad at the pair, which Hunter assumed he'd used to take plenty of holos.
Grinning with satisfaction, Tech strolled over to the pilot's seat, flicked a few switches and the ship dropped out of hyperspace, revealing the grey and green planet. White clouds swirled around in its atmosphere.
"We're here!" Omega squealed excitedly.
*Author Note*
Hey guys! I hope this chapter was okay, it turned out to be a lot longer than I planned. I wanted to thank you all for over 200 views, I really appreciate it! My goal for the end of Reunion is to have 400 views and 60 votes. Baby Ezra will appear in the next chapter and I hope my fellow Rebels fans will be happy with how I write him! Side note: what colour lightsaber do you think Omega would have? May the Force be with you!