Chapter Text
When Omega came to she had a lot of things to take in. She was laying on the ground in a clearing with the two pirates sitting at a fire a few feet away talking amongst themselves. Their ship was resting in the clearing, similar to how the Marauder was parked though this one was much smaller. When she cast her glance to the side she noticed the biggest change in her predicament. Fox was sprawled out in the dirt beside her, sticks and dirt littered his hair and face as well as a dark bruise to his temple. Omega also noticed that the binders from around her wrist had been shifted to just one of them with the other cuff resting around Fox’s arm. Apparently the pirates only had one set of binders.
Omega shifted over slightly and tried to rouse Fox by shaking his shoulder. The Jedi remained unresponsive despite Omega’s harsh prodding. Omega switched her attention to listening to what the pirates were talking about.
“Hando’s sure to take us back with a haul like this!” Morgo cheered.
“Even with a fifty percent split he won’t say no.” Casspis agreed. “The credits alone would put us in a solid bartering position to negotiate for a few promotions even.”
The two kept laughing and boasting back and forth but Omega’s attention was drawn to a groan at her side. She turned to see Fox finally stirring. His eyes scrunched before opening and meeting the girl’s. Omega was about to try whispering something to her brother when the chatter by the fire died down.
“Looks like nap time’s over.” Casspis chuckled as the pair walked over to the clones.
“Not so clever now eh, Jedi?” Morgo huffed as he roughly grabbed Fox by his braid. The motion dragged Fox to his knees and Omega was quick to jump to her feet to keep some slack on the binder holding them together. “It’s like you never heard of stealth before.”
“Ever heard of a shower before, di’kut?” Fox smirked in response.
That remark earned him a harsh fist to the face. Morgo reared back to hit the clone again but his wrist was grabbed by Casspis.
“Try not to damage his face too much, you brute.” The slimmer pirate chastised. “We need him to be recognizable to claim the bounty. Hit him in the stomach or something.”
Morgo grinned darkly as he slammed his fist into Fox’s gut. For his part Fox didn’t flinch.
“I’ve been hit harder by street tookas.” Fox sniped, only a bit out of breath.
“Why you!” Morgo moved to hit the Jedi again.
“Leave him alone!” Omega rushed in front of her brother.
Morgo didn’t notice his hit being intercepted and was still barreling towards where Omega now stood. The girl braced for the hit but was instead pulled into Fox’s body and quickly spun away from the hit. The pirate’s fist collided with Fox’s shoulder and the Jedi let out a small grunt at the impact.
“That’s enough Morgo.” Casspis interrupted before the bigger pirate could swing again. “The girl needs to be unharmed, or we don’t get her bounty.”
“Ugh fine.” Morgo grumbled and wandered back towards the fire.
Omega expected Casspis to follow but instead he moved closer to the clones and put a hand on the girl’s head.
“Not that I need the bounty as a reason to keep you safe.” The pirate sneered. “A pretty girl like you is hard to find in the galaxy.”
Omega was stunned by the words for a moment but Fox pulled her behind himself and away from the pirate.
“Don’t touch her.” Fox practically growled.
“Oh, did you already claim her, Jedi?” The pirate smirked. “I thought that was against your beliefs but I guess war changes things.”
Instead of responding Fox lunged and punched the man across the face. Casspis was caught off guard but quickly responded with a punch of his own followed by a kick to Fox’s leg. Normally Fox could dodge something like that, Omega had seen him spar with the Bad Batch enough to know, but with Omega tied to his dominant hand he was handicapped. The kick landed on the side of his kneecap and Fox’s leg suddenly buckled sending him to the ground. Omega falling along with him.
“I can’t wait to sell you scum. You’re almost more trouble than you’re worth.” Casspis sneered before spitting at Fox.
Seemingly satisfied with the taunting and beating the pirate walked back over to the fire, laughing to himself. Omega was quick to scoot over and check on Fox. He had a small bleeding gash and developing bruise under the eye that had been punched. Other than that he looked fine and waved off the girl’s worrying hand. Omega quit fussing since there wasn’t really much for her to do. Instead she leaned her head on Fox’s shoulder in an apology. In response Fox ran his free hand through her hair in the playful way she was used to. That sensation helped erase the lingering thought of Casspis petting her.
After a few minutes their captors had turned their backs to the two tied up clones. Seeing the lapse in their attention Fox managed to slip his hand free of the binders linking them together. Omega looked at him with surprise and in response Fox held up his hand and demonstrated how he could shift his thumb in a way that made his hand thin enough to slip through. When Omega tried to copy the movement it got too painful to do.
Omega looked back over to see Fox had already managed to sneak from where they were laying to behind a crate by the pirates. She briefly caught his eyes and he made a ‘quiet’ motion with his hand.
Omega watched as Fox snuck up behind Morgo and lifted one of the blasters off of his belt. In a blink Fox had stunned both the pirates before either could move. He’d begun tying the two together with some cargo straps by the time Omega had gotten to her feet.
“That was amazing.” The girl awed as she walked over to the Jedi.
“It’s a pretty standard stealth technique.” Fox replied, not looking up from his task. “It helps that they were stupid.”
“Yeah they kinda were.” Omega agreed. “I mean how did they think one pair of binders was a good idea? We could have just run off into the woods.”
“Either it was the only thing they had or they’re used to working in a bigger group.”
“I feel a little bad for them. They said they got kicked out of their old band but that capturing us would have gotten them back in.”
“They’re pirates Omega. The only thing capturing us would have done is gotten them rich or dead.” Fox sighed as he finished tying the two up. “We should head back to the Marauder.”
“Do you know how to get back?”
“Yeah my lightsabers are on the ship.”
Omega fixed Fox with a confused look at his response. Fox either didn’t notice or care as he walked past her and began heading in the direction of the ship, presumably.
“What do your lightsabers have to do with knowing where the ship is?” Omega asked as she followed behind.
“It’s a force thing. It’s kinda hard to explain.”
“Can you try? I want to know more about the force.”
Fox was silent for a minute and Omega was worried that he wasn’t going to tell her.
“Basically there are certain objects and people that I have formed deep bonds with. Through the force those bonds manifest as strong feelings or a physical pull towards those things. For another example I found you and the pirate’s camp because you have my gold bracelet in your pocket.”
“That makes sense.” Omega nodded to herself. Then the second part of Fox’s explanation hit her. “Wait, you found the pirate camp and then they captured you?!”
“I let them capture me but yeah.” Fox shrugged. “I could tell that you were in trouble and after I lost the goon chasing me I went to look for you. After I found the camp I figured the pirates would be quicker to let down their guard if they thought I failed a rescue mission. I was right.”
“Oh. Well thank you for saving me.” Omega switched from looking at Fox to watching the grass as she walked. It was quiet for a bit before the girl spoke again. “I’m sorry I made you mad earlier. I should have left you alone.”
“Don’t apologize for that Omega.” Fox sighed as he stopped walking and faced Omega. “I should be the one apologizing. I hurt you when I should have just walked away.”
“No it’s my fault that I kept pushing you.”
“How about we both accept each other’s apology and move on, huh?” Fox stuck out his hand in a gesture of peace. “After all they were both accidents.”
“Agreed.” Omega nodded and shook his hand.
The silence that fell over the pair was much more comfortable and they continued walking. Once the Marauder came slightly into view over the trees Omega spoke again.
“How did you do that thing with your thumb to get out of the cuffs?” Finally asking the question that had been bothering her for a while. “Is it a Force ability too?”
“That?” Fox shook his head. “No Force involved, vod’ika.”
“So then did you train to do it? I’ve never seen another clone that could do that.”
“No, I just dislocated my thumb when I punched Wrecker. It was still out of socket when I let them grab me and I used it to my advantage.”
“Didn’t that hurt?!” Omega gasped.
“Eh, I’ve had worse.” Fox shrugged.
“I worry about you ori’vod.” Omega shook her head.
The two walked in silence for a bit before Fox spoke.
“Hey, Omega, can you do me a favor?”
“After today I think I owe you one.” Omega smiled back.
“Don’t tell Hunter about anything with the pirates, okay?” Fox shivered, presumably at the thought of Hunter’s lecture about safety.
Omega was quick to nod in agreement. Hunter definitely didn’t need to know about today.