Author's Note: This fic is for Ghost_Rin on ao3, based off a couple dreams we had about the third season. Do I think this will happen? I have no idea, but we DO have a looooot of theories about what might happen in the third season, so. I guess we'll have to wait and see. :) Enjoy! :D
This is for the square "Planet: Pabu" on the Bad Batch Bingo. :P
~ Amina Gila
Hunter thought finding Omega would be the end of fighting. That they could finally choose to live the lives they've wanted for so long. Until the Empire shows up on Pabu, ending their short stay, and something surfaces that will change their lives forever.
"I'll hold them off," Hunter calls over his shoulder. The Marauder is landed amidst a tree grove on the far side of the island. It was supposed to be the last time they ever flew it. Crosshair was recovering, and Omega didn't want to fight anymore. She'd seen a lot, and she might've wanted to help. She wanted to help, but they'd all been through so much, and they don't have the strength to do it anymore.
They were terrified of losing someone else.
Coming back to Pabu afterwards hadn't been the same. They might be together, but Hunter still feels completely empty.
Hunter thought they'd have time. That they could just... live for once, finally, but two weeks later, the Empire showed up.
Hunter has no idea how they knew to come here. It doesn't make sense to him.
Echo was getting whoever out that he could – there's too many, and he didn't want to leave the civilians behind. Hunter feels bad about it, but he wants to get his family safe. That's more important than anything – he can't lose anyone else.
"Hunter!" Omega yells in protest, jerking forwards, firing her bow at their pursuers a few more times.
"Go!" Hunter yells back. He knows what this could mean. He knows he could die here, but if she's okay, if Wrecker's okay, it doesn't matter.
He's not afraid to die.
(At least that way, everything would finally, finally stop hurting.)
He glances over his shoulder to see Crosshair pulling Omega back, to see her wide-eyed panicked expression. Wrecker is firring back still, covering for the other two as they fall back into the trees.
They kept the Marauder out of sight, meant to be put down forever. They weren't going to come back. They hoped they'd never have to, that... they could stay, and Hunter has no idea where they'll go, either, but getting out of here is what matters now.
Of all of them, Wrecker is the most reluctant to leave, and Hunter tries not to think about what him being left behind (left to die) could do to Wrecker. They've only ever had each other throughout this entire... everything.
(It hurts that Crosshair is willing to leave without looking back, but he isn't surprised.)
He dodges as a blaster shot nearly takes off his head.
He keeps seeing someone in black armor. Judging from the heavy electric field around him, Hunter suspects he's a cyborg. Doesn't have time to focus on that, though, until he comes forwards.
"I'll handle him," he says to the others – his voice is mechanicalized. The others lower their blasters and step back. They're going to circle around to go after Wrecker and Omega and – and Crosshair, and Echo if he's made it back by now. He can't let that happen.
It's fast. The fighting blurs together, but the figure shoots his blaster out of his hands, and Hunter pulls his knife, jumping him. He knows it's reckless. Dangerous. But really, he doesn't have much choice.
Hunter can feel it, the currents, the weak points, and he stabs at them. He's never stabbed a person before, and he feels a little sick at it, but he doesn't have time to think about that. All that matters is buying his family time.
It grabs his wrist, throwing him into a tree.
Hunter hits the ground hard, rolling to his feet, ignoring how badly he aches all over. Won't matter much, soon, anyway.
They stalk towards him, and Hunter throws his knife at the person's blaster, ripping it out again and stabbing at him. He's going for the neck, and he's not going to think about how it felt when Crosshair tried to slit his throat well over a year ago – a lifetime ago on Kamino when they fought.
They lean back, and Hunter's blade goes wild, slashing through part of the other's helmet.
Doesn't know if it hit him or not. Doesn't look, but they snarl outright, tackling him. Hunter hits the ground with a grunt, struggling to keep hold of his knife.
And that's when, even through the shadows, Hunter sees his face.
Actually sees it.
Air is strangling him, and he can't breathe. Can't look away.
It – it can't be, but it's...
It's familiar. Too familiar. Hunter knows that face. Would know it in any shape or form or age.
"Plan 99," his mind whispers.
He hasn't cried in – since they got Omega back. Since he talked to Crosshair. It hasn't been that long, actually, but it still feels like forever. Wants to now, though.
"Tech?" Hunter whispers.
He knows that face. His eyes are dark, nearly the same, but lacking the gentle warmth he remembered. They look... dead somehow. Dying while living. His face is pale, and he – he looks as bad as Echo did when they found him on Skako Minor. Maybe more.
Stars.
What happened to him? What did they do to him? How is he here? How is he still alive? What –
Tech's eyes snap to his at the name, but there's no recognition in them, only a wild, untamed fury.
Hunter just tried to kill him. He just tried to kill his little brother.
Not the first time, is it?
Not the – he can't breathe.
Can't anything.
Tech rips his knife away, spinning the blade around, a millisecond short of stabbing him. Hunter shoves his arm aside with whatever little strength he finds in himself.
"Tech," Hunter breathes again. Can't think of anything else. This is his little brother, and Hunter thought he was gone, and –
Tech is trying to kill him, though. He doesn't remember him. Doesn't – what happened to him? What –
Hunter doesn't want to hurt him, but he doesn't have a choice. Still hates himself for it when he stabs the blade into the way-too-big mechanism that's supposed to be his hand – well, it is a hand, but it's mechanical, and it's – Hunter can't think about that right now, either.
It sparks, and he pulls back, hissing faintly. His voice sounds a little more like himself now, though. That's Tech's voice. Hunter would recognize it anywhere. It's haunted his dreams, his every waking moment.
It's him.
His arm is sparking, and Hunter feels the fluxing of the charges racing up and down his arm. It must hurt. Hunter didn't mean to hurt him.
Tech pulls his arm back, and something clicks, shifting.
Force. He's more mechanical than Hunter realized, he thinks with muted horror as some mechanism inside it clicks together, lighting up with electricity. Hunter has a split moment of warning before the mechanism slams onto his chest, the currents jolting through him. Hunter's grip on his knife slackens and he feels it drop. Doesn't know if Tech picked it up or not, but everything burns and he struggles against it, trying to push him off. He's been electrocuted before, but this is – Force –
A blaster shot rings out, burning a hole through Tech's arm and the electricity lets up.
Hunter leverages him off, rolling away and grabbing his knife with still shaking hands.
He looks up – Crosshair is standing there, rifle raised. Tech is making to his feet and Crosshair's shifting, about to shoot him.
"No," Hunter interjects sharply, "Don't." Crosshair already shot Wrecker. He nearly killed all of them. He's not going to let him kill Tech. He's already been – gone for so long but he's here and Hunter can't –
Crosshair's helmet turns towards him, and he darts forwards, grabbing Hunter's arm and hauling him upright. He's still shaky and exhausted, and everything is throbbing and burning, and his head is hammering, but Hunter can only think of how that's Tech and he's still here and –
Tech is getting up and Crosshair's pulling Hunter back, hissing something that sounds like a "what is wrong with you" but he can't even think about that right now.
"Tech," he rasps, fighting against Crosshair's grip, trying to get back, to – he can't leave –
"We have to go," Crosshair hisses, shoving him back and firing as Tech starts turning towards them. "Come on, don't tell me someone's knocked the fight out of you. I didn't come back for you to get us both killed."
Hunter stumbles a little, looking back, but Crosshair's right, they don't have long, and he – they need to go.
He hears the Marauder's engines. Feels it's approach.
Hunter barely remembers the trip there. Doesn't remember how they got aboard, only Crosshair shoving him into the seat behind Echo's. Echo's here now, and he and Omega are flying the way Echo and Tech always used to, were supposed to.
Tech always was the one to fly. Unless Hunter was. But that – usually, it was Tech.
Wrecker's in the back, on the guns, firing back at their pursuers until they streak into hyperspace.
His heart is still hammering. His hands are freezing, almost numb.
"Tech," he whispers again, voice barely audible. He doesn't know what or –
None of this –
Omega jumps up and runs back to him, grabbing his hand, eyes bright and worried. Crosshair's still hovering beside him. Wrecker climbs down from the gunner's mount, practically scooping him into a hug.
They're here. He's safe. Safe. He can breathe now. Calm down.
"Are you okay?" Omega asks, squeezing his hand.
He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.
Crosshair pulls Hunter's helmet off, slamming it down in the seat next to him hard enough to make him wince. Everything's loud. Electrocution aftermath – yeah, Hunter knows that. Everything's too bright. Too loud. He feels too much, hears too much. His head is throbbing.
Hunter's about to snap at him for it, but the look on his face stops him. "Don't you ever do that again," Crosshair snarls. "I already lost you once." He looks like he wants to cry.
Hunter certainly does.
He should apologize. Probably. Doesn't have the mind to.
Omega's hand is small and warm in his. She's here. She's safe. He doesn't –
Tech.
They left him behind.
He tried to kill them.
He's still alive.
"What's wrong, Hunter?" Wrecker asks, and he sounds so worried.
Somewhere, in the back of his mind, it registers that Wrecker would've been hurt if he hadn't made it back. That Crosshair came back for him. That he still cares. It could've been anyone else. That's something Omega would've done. Doesn't think now's the right time to talk about it, though.
Tech's still out there, and – they have to – they can't...
"What if he's hurt, he needs us –"
"That was Tech," he says finally, blinking a few times, and Echo's slightly blurry image comes into view in front of him.
"What was?" Wrecker demands, confused.
"Hunter," Omega says softly, grip tightening to the point of near-painful. "He's – he's gone."
"I saw him," Hunter insists, shaking his head. He looks up at Wrecker, who's just staring at him, expression a mix of gutted and confused. Omega just looks worried. Maybe a few seconds short of crying herself. "It was him. I – I saw his face." He can't describe the way he feels people – a mix of scent and the way the soft beat of their heart flickers an electric field around them. Tech's was muted, shifted, but in the depth, it was the same.
"Hunter," Omega repeats shakily, "It can't be."
"I know what you're saying, but it's just not possible," Echo insists, "I know why you want to believe, but –"
"I saw him," Hunter repeats again. "It was. I know it."
"He's right," Crosshair interjects, "Though I didn't stop to look."
Hunter looks up at him, sighing slightly, relief coursing through him. He doesn't know why it's Crosshair who's supporting him, but he won't ask, either.
"So... what do we do?" Wrecker asks finally. He sounds as lost and helpless as Hunter feels.
He wishes he had something to say to that. He doesn't. He's – they've all been in difficult situations before, but Hunter thinks this is going to lead them straight back to where they don't want to go. "He knows everything about us," Hunter realizes finally.
"That's how the Empire knew where to find us!" Omega exclaims, "He told them!"
"That also means there isn't anywhere safe for us to go," Echo agrees.
Everywhere they go, Tech will follow them. He's hunting them now, and Hunter already knows where that will lead them.
They'll run into him again, and...
He doesn't want to leave him. They've already lost... everyone. He thought they could get their family back together, but he's too afraid to hope.
"But why is he after us?" Omega asks, "What did they do to him? He wouldn't try to kill us."
"I'm not sure he remembered us." It hurts to say. To think about. He saw the look on his little brother's face (he left him behind a second time, why do they keep doing this, what is wrong with him), and he didn't see recognition. Didn't see the worry he should have. Only anger, so much like with Crosshair, only somehow, Hunter thinks this is something far worse. Doesn't know if it's something they could even imagine the extent of.
There would be answers on Tantiss. They could have gotten them if they'd looked deeper. If they'd know to look.
Hunter isn't about to suggest going back there. They took too many risks. Too much fire. Too much – everything. Maybe...
Force.
He has no idea.
This is probably the first time in his life that he's genuinely had no idea what to do, and that fact terrifies him. He's always supposed to know.
"Then, we have to get him back," Omega supplies.
"How, exactly, would you intend we do that?" Crosshair asks, "Without all of us dying?"
Omega turns towards him, nearly glaring. She's adorable, but it still makes his heart ache. "He's our brother! He would do the same for any of us."
"Omega," Hunter interjects, even if it kills him to, "Tech wouldn't want us to get hurt trying to get him back." He knows what she's saying, and he doesn't want to go, but he's terrified to know what might happen if they – if they go after him.
"He's hurt!" she argues fiercely, "I'm going to help him. Even if I have to do it alone."
They might've gotten her back, but Hunter still feels farther from her than he ever has been. Just like Crosshair. There's so... He's so angry all the time, and Omega is so closed off now. She's glad to be back, but it still feels...
Like it's not real.
Like their squad is being held together through sheer will, through him fighting to the end to keep them.
It hurts.
It really, really hurts.
He just wants her to be safe. All of them to be safe. It doesn't feel possible anymore.
"You're an idiot," Crosshair hisses at her fiercely. He's angry. He's always angry. He's so volatile now. Hunter keeps wanting to tell him that being angry, that pushing them away isn't going to work, because they're not going to leave, but who would even believe that? It isn't as though he's not at fault himself, too.
Wrecker shoves him lightly. "Don't talk to the kid like that," he scolds.
"It's true!" Crosshair spits back, "What good will getting him back do if it kills all five of us? How do you think he would handle that?"
"We have to try," Omega argues, "He needs us. We can't leave him."
"I would have preferred living as I was, knowing you were out there, then being free and knowing you were dead!" Crosshair yells back. "I didn't let them hurt me so you could get the rest of our brothers killed!"
"That wasn't Omega's fault," Hunter cuts in sharply.
"Why not?" he snaps back, "Because it was yours?"
Yes.
Yes, but Hunter doesn't say that. He can't admit to that aloud. Can't – everyone knows it was his fault, just like everything was, and he hardly knows how they let him lead them, knowing everything he's done and is. He's failed them so many times.
Tries to tell himself no one could do it better. He used to believe that. Doesn't anymore.
"Stop trying to push us away," Hunter says instead. "We're still here. We're not going anywhere. It's worse to be far from someone who's still alive than close to them when they're dead." Or so he can say for Tech, anyway. Letting go of Crosshair was impossible. For Tech it was – it gutted him for every millisecond of his entire life, but at least he knew Tech cared about them.
Crosshair sighs. He turns away, heading deeper into the ship.
Hunter looks back at Omega. She still looks sullen. Hurt.
"I don't know," he says finally, and he hates how he feels so helpless. "Going after him would be dangerous."
"Everything about our lives is dangerous now," Echo points out finally.
Hunter wishes he didn't have to put it like that. Echo's always there to point out the obvious that Hunter himself always overlooks or never wants to consider. "I know," he sighs, "But right now, with him on our tail, we need to keep a low profile until we figure out what to do."
Omega already knows what she wants. She's not going to stop fighting for it, and he can see that in her eyes. He doesn't know if he'll like where it takes them, though. But in the end...
Their paths always lead back to each other's, whether they like it or not. Crosshair is proof of that.
Even so, Hunter's not going to risk hoping they work this out. They've been through enough. He's not going to hurt his siblings just on some off-chance they might make this work.
Knowing Omega, though, she won't stop trying.
Wrecker, no doubt, will stick with him through it either way, no matter what he chooses. Probably, they all will, but that doesn't shake the responsibility.
He wishes there was someone here, someone to tell him what choice to make.
That's not something he's ever had.
Probably, he never will.
And Omega... has been alone for long enough. He won't let her be alone in this, too, no matter where that leads them, even if it's to nothing good.
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