Chapter Text
Tech screwed up his closed eyes against an insistent beeping that sent pain spiking through his head, dragging him from sleep. Cracking them open, he pulled his goggles down from his forehead and sat forward in the pilot’s seat, where he’d insisted on running some system reboots before he took his nap. The sky outside had begun to lighten to a cold grey.
He blinked and frowned at the dash in front of him. Glancing out the front window, he spotted Omega working on some of the basic repairs he’d shown her. The pile of parts Wrecker had brought sat organised off to the side, the things they needed set aside from the rest. He tapped his comm to signal her to come inside, watching as she glanced up at the ship and hurried over.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she entered the cockpit.
“Firstly, I said I’d sleep for fifteen minutes. It has been considerably longer than that.”
Omega looked unashamed, crossing her arms. “You needed it! And I had it all handled anyway, just like you showed me.”
Moving swiftly on, Tech motioned for her to approach. She did so, peering over at the flashing point on the ship’s scanner. “Secondly, that is an approaching ship that has just entered the atmosphere. I cannot tell if it is Imperial or not, but we need to be ready.”
When he finished speaking, he rose to his feet, wincing when he automatically went to move his right arm. Omega watched with concern as his hand instinctively shot to it.
“Do you need another hypo?”
He briefly considered refusing before nodding. “A mild one. If an altercation is to occur, it would be best to be as manoeuvrable as possible.”
Omega disappeared into the back of the ship and returned shortly with a hypo in hand, almost colliding with Tech following her. He thanked her and administered it, relaxing slightly as the pain in his head and arm dulled to manageable throbs.
She smiled up at him, but the moment was cut short as they both turned to the open ramp at the roar of a ship approaching. Motioning for her to stay behind him, Tech put on his helmet and carefully moved down the ramp to assess the situation.
Landing in the space a fair distance away was an ominous-looking civilian light transport of some sort. It sat where it landed for a long moment before the ramp lowered.
A humanoid silhouette with a long duster and wide-brimmed hat exited the ship onto the dusty surface of Bracca, backlit by the first of the early morning’s rays. He made no move to soften the heavy click of metallic spurs as his boots kicked up dust that glowed in the low-angled sunlight. A small droid tailed closely behind him on twin boosters.
A knobby blue hand rose to the brim of his hat, tipping it back slightly to reveal large, narrowed red eyes and a triumphant smile, aimed directly at the two clones.
“Who’s that?” Omega breathed, shrinking back as Tech adjusted his sling and discreetly activated the comm on his forearm.
“Cad Bane. A top-class bounty hunter who survived multiple conflicts with both clones and Jedi during the war.”
“Very good,” the bounty hunter drawled with evident approval. “If you know who I am, then you know what’s good for you.”
He put his right hand on his hip, right above his blaster, and tapped his fingers casually. Tech’s eyes were drawn to them for a moment as he understood Bane’s intention.
“Survived” was an understatement for Bane’s involvement during the war. He went toe to toe with many accomplished Jedi on multiple occasions and not only survived, but often came out on top. In a direct fair fight, Tech was no match for him, even without injuries. He’d have to think quickly and make the most of this situation.
He tilted his face slightly toward Omega and whispered, “On my mark, run and comm the others.”
He couldn’t see her reaction as he focused his vision on their adversary, but her fear was palpable as she whispered back, “What about you?”
“Now, hand over the kid,” Bane commanded.
Tech’s left hand hovered in front of where Omega cowered, his mind focusing on where his left blaster was holstered. Cad Bane’s quick draw was legendary. Tech wasn’t about to let him catch him in a fair standoff.
“What do you want her for? Who hired you?”
“I’m afraid that’s none of your-”
Taking advantage of his distraction while talking, Tech drew and fired as quickly as he could, forcing Bane to dodge and return fire. As he crouched behind a ship component for partial cover, he heard hasty footsteps behind him fleeing the scene and was assured that Omega got the message.
They hardly exchanged four or five shots before a burning pain assaulted Tech’s senses. He crashed backward against the edge of the Marauder’s unfolded wing, and he might have heard a crack. His vision went dark for a moment as he was engulfed by the pain between his left shoulder and collarbone.
He drew in desperate breaths and tried to regain his bearings. His head was craned awkwardly over his folded shoulder to rest on the ship wing, and it took everything in him to lift his head as the rest of his body sank heavily against the wing in a half-sitting position, too overwhelmed by pain to put up a fight. His blaster had fallen out of reach, not that he’d be able to raise it again, even if it were still in his hand.
Bane’s blaster was already holstered again, and he was walking past in the direction that Omega ran. He slowed briefly upon seeing Tech stir, his expression disgruntled, possibly at the lack of honour the clone displayed in initiating the combat.
“Stop…” The plea came out as a half-sob as Tech wheezed through the pain.
Bane tipped his hat, making his pupilless red eyes briefly disappear, and spoke in an understated tone. “Well played. I respect the attempt.”
He strode out of sight, and Tech’s head fell back against the wing again. He heard voices on his comm, but try as he might, he couldn’t respond anymore.
As soon as Tech opened fire, Omega turned and fled. She dived through the tight space under the unfolded wing of the Marauder, using it as cover for her escape. She had scarcely rounded the tail of the ship when she heard Tech cry out in pain. She continued to run, blinking back tears as she scanned the junkyard for places to hide.
She spoke into her wrist comm without breaking pace. “Hunter- Hunter, come in. I need you!”
“Omega, what’s the situation? Where are you?”
“West- west of the Marauder. I’m trying to run, but-”
“Where do you think you’re going?” A dramatic artificial voice swooped around her as the bounty hunter’s droid collided with her legs and made her trip. She cried out in surprise and struggled against it as it tried to drag her back. It wasn’t too hard to shove the lightweight droid away, and she took the opportunity to draw her energy bow, which she thankfully had the foresight to grab on her way out of the ship.
Right as she was about to release the shot, a blaster bolt struck the side of the bow and sent it flying, sending the bolt wide. She watched in dismay as the bow clattered out of reach, then turned to face the origin of the shot, suddenly utterly helpless.
“Sorry, little lady,” Bane drawled as he clicked a switch on his blaster and lackadaisically pointed it at her.
She instinctively put up her arms in a protective position. It did nothing to shield her from the stun bolt that promptly knocked her out.
Crosshair had slept for a couple more hours while everyone else had continued to nap in shifts. Upon waking up, Crosshair insisted on removing his eye cover to assess any change in his vision. After he came to a somewhat favourable conclusion and rested the cover loosely over his face, the medbay fell into contemplative silence again.
The silence was shattered by everyone’s communication devices pinging. Hunter raised his arm and almost moved to respond, but stopped as he processed the incoming audio. It was Tech’s voice, but nowhere near the mic and talking to someone else about Cad Bane? Hunter faintly recalled hearing about that name during the war, and judging by his expression, Echo knew exactly who that was and that they were bad news. A top-class bounty hunter, Tech said. Were they after Omega again?
Tech whispered something – the comm was too far away to pick it up clearly – and Omega whispered back. Tech then raised his voice at someone else.
“What do you want her for? Who hired you?”
The bounty hunter was after Omega, confirmed. Hunter winced away when blasterfire cut the conversation short. He lowered his hand from his comm and met Crosshair’s once again uncovered eyes briefly before addressing the room.
“Let’s move!”
That finally shocked everyone into action after that comm had left them all on edge. Helmets were replaced, blasters were drawn, and they were running through the ship. Crosshair stuck close to Wrecker, the easiest to keep track of and who did his best to keep him steady as they ran.
They heard Omega’s voice, directly in the comm this time. Hunter responded with clear urgency in his tone. When the conversation was once again cut short by an altercation, Hunter barked orders to the others as he continued to retrace their steps through the massive scrapped ship as quickly as he could.
“Echo, take Crosshair with you and find Tech. Wrecker and I will take care of whoever’s got Omega.”
He heard a “yes, sir” from Echo, and was a little surprised to hear no retort from Crosshair.
As they exited the Venator, Hunter slowed. He could feel the electromagnetic signal of another ship, and something smaller. A droid, maybe. Creeping further along until the ship came into view, he quickly spotted Tech slumped against the side of the Marauder, unmoving. Echo and Crosshair broke off to approach him, keeping low.
What drew his attention was the figure approaching the other ship, a small droid trailing after him and what was unmistakably Omega slung over his shoulder. She was also eerily still. Hunter quickly considered his options. If they engaged, they wouldn’t reach the Duros before he could escape onto his ship, and if they shot, the chances of hitting Omega were way too high.
Momentarily frozen in his indecision, he caught a hushed conversation far to his right. He was snapped out of it when a blue blaster bolt hit the side of the bounty hunter’s ship, just inches away from him. He instinctively ducked another bolt before turning to face the source of the shots.
Hunter heard Echo hiss something to Crosshair, but ignored it. With the enemy now turned around, Hunter had a clear shot, and he took it as he and Wrecker broke from their cover. Cad Bane growled in frustration as he raised his own blaster, firing toward where the initial shot had come from before dropping Omega to the ground to engage Hunter and Wrecker. The droid stayed hovering by her unconscious body.
“You clones always did work in packs.”
Just before they got within reach of him, boosters in Bane’s boots started, sending him to hover in the sky above them. With a yell, Wrecker took a running leap, catching one of his ankles and pulling him back to the ground. He let go with a yelp when a sudden stream of fire burst forth from Bane’s wrist, singing his helmet.
With Omega completely out of the way, Hunter fired twice more at Bane before lunging, drawing his vibroblade. Attention snapping from Wrecker, Bane dove to avoid the blaster bolts and ducked to the side when Hunter slashed at him. He grabbed Hunter’s wrist as he passed, using his momentum to throw him to the ground, pinning him and pressing a hand to his shoulder.
Hunter drew up his knife to slash at him with his unrestrained hands. Before he could land it, his body seized. A choked cry escaped him as his senses went haywire under the sudden overwhelming surge of electricity. He distantly registered the weight on top of him shifting before it was suddenly thrown off him as a large shape passed, the electric current leaving with it.
He lay there for a moment, chest stuttering for breath as the world pressed in around him. His shoulder burned where the hand had sat, and his muscles ached from the contractions. A shout to his left drew his attention, forcing himself to sit up and look over.
When his vision cleared, he spotted Wrecker holding a hand to his bad shoulder, Bane slipping away. Before Wrecker could close the distance, Bane activated his rocket boots again. Vaulting over Wrecker, he reached into his jacket to pull out bolas. He landed neatly behind Wrecker, who suddenly found his feet tied together, falling to the ground when he tried to move. A pained cry escaped him when he landed heavily on his side.
Ignoring the chance to take him out, Bane took the opportunity instead to leave, hustling back toward Omega. The small droid had been slowly trying to drag her toward the ship, stopping once Bane approached.
“Oh, thank goodness. I did not want to be the one to-”
He was cut off by a blaster bolt. He went tumbling to the ground, one of his rocket feet landing beside him where it had been blasted off.
“My foot!”
Hunter pushed himself to his feet, jaw clenched against the pain in his chest and shoulder. He kept his blaster level with Bane.
“Don’t touch her.”
Cad Bane levelled his own blaster right back at him.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with, clone,” he warned, his tone as relaxed and careless as ever.
Their standoff was cut short by another blue blaster bolt flying dangerously close by Bane. Without looking back, Hunter shot in tandem. The bounty hunter ducked toward Omega and yanked her up against himself, holding his blaster to her temple.
He caught Echo freezing in his periphery from where he’d been running over, blaster levelled at Bane. Bane smirked at the new situation.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got money to make. Move it, Todo.” He began to back towards the still-lowered ramp to his ship. The droid picked up his leg and began awkwardly hovering along on the one booster.
“Oh, Mr. Bane, I would so dearly appreciate it if you could lend me a hand…”
Hunter searched desperately for a clear shot. Only Tech or Crosshair could make that shot confidently without hitting Omega, and neither of them were in any condition to do so. He knew that Bane surely wouldn’t kill Omega; he needed her alive. If he didn’t, he would have shot her when he first ambushed her and Tech. Even so, he didn’t want to risk it, especially while his body still protested from the last scrap they’d had without Omega caught in the middle.
A sudden blaster shot from behind him had Bane crying out, dropping Omega as his blaster clattered to the ground beside him. He clasped his shooting arm and stumbled backward as he glared at the clones. Wrecker took the opportunity to rush forward and scoop Omega up. Bane moved to retaliate, but Hunter and Echo fired warning shots, earning a furious growl as he was forced to freeze, allowing Wrecker to carry the kid away from the ship.
Bane eyed the group closely, calculating the risk and weighing it against the potential reward.
“Take your ship and leave,” Hunter warned, still poised to shoot at him.
Bane inched backward and, seemingly without looking, picked up his blaster from the ground with his off hand. The clones watched to see if he’d start shooting again, but he didn’t. With a final scowl, he holstered his blaster and turned away to walk back onto the ship.
“Let’s just hope we never meet again, clones. For your sake,” he warned before the ramp slid closed behind him. They all stayed where they were until the ship roared to life, then rose and took off through Bracca’s atmosphere.
Hunter finally let himself relax, slumping where he stood. He holstered his blaster, then turned and quickly headed over to Wrecker.
Omega was still unconscious in his arms. He wasn’t sure what exactly had knocked her out, but hopefully it was just a stun bolt; at least she seemed unharmed. Because she was so small, stun bolts always affected her for longer than her brothers, so once he was satisfied, he let Wrecker watch over her.
He looked over to Echo next, giving him a nod which he returned.
“Good shot,” Hunter complimented.
Echo frowned. “Wasn’t me.”
He tilted his head back toward the Marauder. Hunter followed the motion to see Crosshair crouched by Tech with a blaster in his hand. From the way his eyes wandered, he knew his brother couldn’t see him properly, but that didn’t stop him from shaking his head with a displeased sigh. Before Echo could stop him, he was marching over.
As he got closer, Crosshair’s eyes tracked him more closely, and he placed the blaster on the ground and rose to his feet to put them on the same level. He donned a defensive frown, crossing his arms even before Hunter had said a word.
“What were you thinking?” Hunter demanded.
Crosshair’s eyes narrowed. “That you were doing a poor job of keeping the kid safe.”
“You could have shot her, Crosshair! You can’t see!”
Crosshair just scowled. “Take the shot next time, then, and it won’t be a problem.”
Hunter could hear Echo and Wrecker’s approaching footsteps. He let out a heavy sigh, reining himself in before Echo felt the need to step in again. He took his helmet off to look Crosshair in the eye.
“I… Thank you, Crosshair. I mean it.”
That seemed to catch him off guard, and he blinked at Hunter before scoffing and looking away. He grumbled something along the lines of “kriff off,” turning his attention back down to Tech, who still sat slumped against the wing of the ship, unconscious. A new blaster burn marred his shoulder right between the armour plates.
Hunter’s anxiety spiked again when he realized that depending on the entry angle, that blaster bolt could have hit more than just his shoulder. He crouched down and tried to make sense of the burn, placing his hands on Tech, but too afraid to jostle him.
“Tech, can you hear me?”
At least his breathing sounded stable. Even Crosshair’s sounded worse.
Echo interrupted his momentary lapse in focus. “We need to get him inside. Help me out here.”
Hunter returned to his senses with a nod and assisted Echo in carefully picking up their brother. To avoid jostling his arms too much, they shifted him so Echo could take his legs while Hunter took careful hold of his shoulders.
Hunter heard Tech’s breath catch as getting moved brought him closer to consciousness. He snapped awake with a sudden pained noise and blinked harshly as his fight-or-flight reactivated.
“Easy. You’re okay,” Hunter tried to reassure him.
“Omega,” he gasped.
“She’s fine. We’ve got her, and the bounty hunter’s gone.”
Tech deflated like a popped balloon. As they continued carrying him in, he squeezed out another query in a whisper.
“What is… Crosshair’s condition?”
“He’s fine, too. Don’t worry.”
“I want to see him.”
“You can barely even keep your eyes open,” Echo remarked with a touch of humour. “Just sit still for a minute.”
Hunter caught a glimpse of Crosshair slinking out of his field of view, appearing almost as if he was shy to be seen by the half-delirious man. Something inside of Hunter started to unwind at the sight. If some vestiges of banter were already starting to return, perhaps this reunion wouldn’t be so hard after all.
Tech fell silent again as they got him on board the ship and carefully lowered him onto one of the bottom bunks. A small groan escaped him, but he otherwise didn’t protest. Hunter began pulling his armour off while Echo dug around for the medkit, pulling out anything they’d need.
Behind them, Wrecker hovered by the other bunk with Omega before glancing over to where Hunter assumed Crosshair lingered. Instead of laying Omega down on the bunk, he went over to put her up in her room in the gunner’s mount, keeping the curtain open to keep an eye on her. He returned to stand by the bunk, motioning towards it.
“Come on, Cross, you gotta lie down.”
Hunter could imagine his brother’s scowl as he remained focused on Tech. “I’m fine.”
Despite that, Hunter caught him approaching Wrecker out of the corner of his eye. He sat on the bunk, but didn’t lie down yet. He didn’t seem comfortable, avoiding looking at any of them in favour of glaring half-heartedly into the ground. At least he was sticking around.
Hunter’s focus was drawn back to Tech trying to roll his head over to look for Crosshair, which pulled on the blaster burn and earned another pained noise. Echo was quick to stop him, appearing on Hunter’s other side. He exposed Tech’s neck enough to inject a hypo, then settled him down properly.
“Quit moving, di’kut, unless you want to end up needing stitches too.” Echo reprimanded.
Tech grumbled, but began to relax as the painkillers took effect. Hunter had cut away his blacks enough to get a good look at the injury to his shoulder. It was in an awkward spot, but it didn’t appear to have hit anything vital. The worst part about it was going to be getting Tech to keep both arms still long enough to let them heal.
Echo seemed to agree, peering over at the injury himself. “Looks like you’re stuck with us a little longer, soldier. Bit of bacta and rest and you’ll be fine.”
“Great,” Tech muttered drowsily, the combination of painkillers and his injuries getting to him. Hunter couldn’t help but huff a quiet chuckle at his brother.
He shuffled down a little so Echo could reach the burn to begin cleaning it. Tech let out a small cry at the sudden pain, but quickly settled. Before long, Echo had a bacta patch over the site. After checking all his other injuries hadn’t been aggravated, he gave Tech a pat and rose to his feet.
“Looking good; now just rest.”
“M’fine.” Tech muttered, eyes stubbornly half open. “Crosshair?”
“Is fine.” Hunter said. “He’s a little banged up, but he’s not going anywhere.” He caught himself a little by surprise voicing that sentiment so easily, but found that he didn’t want to correct it. Their brother was back, and he wasn’t going anywhere, so long as he wanted to stay.
Echo pushed Tech back down when he tried to get up, quietly telling him to stay down. Hunter let him watch over Tech while he moved over to the other bunk.
Wrecker had gotten Crosshair to lie back against the pillows, letting him stay somewhat upright to help his still terrible-sounding breathing. He kept blinking rapidly as if his eyes were bothering him, and he’d begun rubbing one with the heel of his palm. Hunter pulled the medkit over with him, pulling out a cloth and some bacta gel, handing them to Wrecker.
“Get this soaked.”
Wrecker nodded and took them, focusing on his new job. Hunter settled down next to Crosshair and sat the medkit beside him. He dug out an oxygen mask, one of the few they had left that was still any good. Crosshair didn’t look over, but he didn’t let that deter him.
“You going to keep this on? Your breathing sounds like osik.”
Crosshair let out a wheezy huff, eyes sliding over to look in Hunter’s general direction. He studied him for a long moment before he held out his hand. The mask was snatched from his grasp as soon as he handed it over, and he let his brother put it on himself. He took a slightly deeper breath with the new flow of oxygen, mask fogging with it.
Hunter frowned when Crosshair blinked hard with a frustrated growl.
“What’s wrong?”
Despite everything, Crosshair still seemed to hesitate before answering the question. Of course, it had only been a few hours since they’d reached some sort of mutual understanding in the Venator, and Hunter wasn’t even sure it could be called that. But his brother had helped save Omega, and he hadn’t tried to leave since the chip was removed, so he held onto the hope that maybe they could have him back.
It seemed like Crosshair was going to refuse to answer until he let out another noise of frustration, pressing the heels of both palms into his eyes. After a brief hesitation, Hunter reached out to stop him. Crosshair only tensed briefly before letting him pull his hands away from his face.
Crosshair scowled. “They hurt,” he gritted out.
Hunter glanced over when Wrecker held up the now bacta-soaked cloth.
“Got another wrap for your eyes,” Wrecker offered. He smiled when Crosshair begrudgingly took it, placing it over his eyes with a barely contained sigh of relief as the bacta got to work and his eyes were allowed to rest.
Hunter wanted to let him rest, but his eyes wandered over his still only half-treated injuries, lingering on the expansive burns.
“Can we look you over again? Now that we’ve got more supplies.”
Crosshair thought about it briefly before agreeing again. “Fine.”
Hunter and Wrecker worked together. They made sure to announce every action so that the blind Crosshair was never caught by surprise. They were able to deduce for sure that his shoulder was sprained and applied bacta to the area. The burns were the worst part, requiring proper cleaning and debriding before applying a thick layer of bacta and rewrapping them.
Crosshair grumbled as they worked, but never shoved them away or told them to stop. He seemed exhausted and in pain, but refused the hypo when they offered it. Soon, they had him settled.
Stepping away, Hunter looked over all his siblings, three resting and recovering, the rest sore and exhausted, but determined to keep working and help them.
“We need to get the ship up and running before the Empire comes back.”
Tech stirred and mumbled something. Echo pushed him down before he could attempt something again. Despite their exhaustion, Hunter slipped back into his role as leader, organising shifts to work and rest. They would pick up where Tech and Omega left off and get them in the air once more.
This wasn’t the first time they’d fix the ship without Tech. They’d be fine, and they all knew that.
Tech listened to the quiet breathing of his siblings as they lay in the dark bunks. Omega’s deep, steady breathing indicated she was still soundly asleep. Crosshair’s shallow breaths were only emphasised by the mask over his face, nothing to hide it behind in the silence.
For a long time, Tech drifted along the tide of the painkillers, never quite letting sleep pull him under. Content to just drift and rest with the fact that his family was together again.
Remembering what he and Omega had spoken about hours ago, Tech turned his head to watch Crosshair, ignoring the pull on his shoulder. His brother couldn’t see him, but he didn’t care. He was glad to see that he seemed at least somewhat relaxed considering the circumstances, and that he hadn’t made a move to claw his way out from the healing wrappings that covered his head and upper body.
“Missed you,” he whispered earnestly.
That seemed to catch Crosshair off-guard before he huffed. “You’re high.”
Tech hummed, letting his heavy eyes close. “Still missed you.”
He didn’t expect a response and didn’t get one. Instead, they both lay there in the quiet of the bunks, listening to the hum of various machines as their brothers ran component tests down below.
It seemed Crosshair still wanted to have the last word, however, because his quiet voice eventually broke through the comfortable silence. “Just go to sleep, Tech.”
“But… they’re… doing things… to my ship.”
“And you staying awake is helping?”
Tech fell silent again. Arguing was much harder when he was on… whatever he was on.
“Are you…” he started, struggling to form a coherent sentence.
“What?”
“...confirmed to stay?”
“No.”
Tech opened his eyes again to look across at his little brother, crestfallen.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Crosshair snapped, despite not being able to see that Tech was looking over.
“You should stay.”
“Why?”
This was bullying. Crosshair should know he wouldn’t be able to form a sensible argument.
“...You should.”
“You’re high. Go to sleep.”
Tech disagreed with that notion, but his body certainly agreed. He let his eyes fall shut again and refocused on the muffled sounds of his brothers’ tinkering, at first trying to nitpick at their work based on what he could hear, but that was, of course, an impossible task.
He figured that Crosshair would stick around for a while, at least until he was feeling better. They could figure out what to do about him staying later. For now, they just had to enjoy the fact that he was here right now.
The fact that, despite everything, they were all still here right now.
In time, they managed to fix the ship, get off of Bracca, and fix the ship again under Tech’s orders. They took time off from working for Cid, using their injuries as an excuse, though everyone was incrementally feeling better, which in turn meant it was getting harder to prevent Crosshair and Tech from straining themselves.
Crosshair stayed silent for the most part and avoided the others, but still had yet to attempt to leave. Wrecker took it as a good sign and coerced him into various leisure activities of increasing stupidity in Ord Mantell City, ranging from buying Mantell Mix to traipsing through a junkyard to teaming up against Omega in dejarik.
Of course, Wrecker was aware of how the others viewed his antics. Crosshair repeatedly called it a mark of low intelligence, as if he hoped that the insult would convince him to stop pestering him. Wrecker didn’t mind, though. He was secure in the fact that the real reason for all this had nothing to do with his intelligence or lack thereof. He was just trying to keep his family together.
The days of dancing around the question had to come to an end eventually. As the money they scraped up from Bracca ran dry after a month or so, they had to turn back to Cid. And now that they had a mission to embark on, they had to figure out whether Crosshair was coming with them on it.
Hunter explained the mission and asked the question. Crosshair was silent for a long moment before replying with a non-answer.
“Rescuing a Separatist senator?” he sneered.
They all knew at this point that Crosshair didn’t care about the politics and sides of the war. Never had. He was just grasping for something to jeer at.
“Are you in or not?”
“...With what gear?” he stalled again.
“We still have your old stuff,” Wrecker piped up. “I’ll get it.”
“I haven’t agreed to anything-” But Wrecker was already pulling the box out from its safe spot. He returned shortly and plopped it down in front of Crosshair.
“Here. Try it on; see if it still fits. Go on!”
At Wrecker’s insistent badgering, Crosshair grumbled something to himself and dragged the box toward the back of the ship to change away from prying eyes.
“Some welcome-back mission,” Echo pouted, clearly still hung up on the fact that the client was a Separatist.
Tech launched into a diatribe about how the Separatists were now technically on the same side as the Bad Batch and former Republic factions like Onderon were, since they were all trying to separate from the Empire. It kind of blew Wrecker’s mind – he’d never thought of it like that before – but he was surprised to find that neither Hunter nor Echo cut Tech off. They just sat there and let him talk about politics until Crosshair emerged from the back again, tugging at the edges of the old armour he was now wearing.
“Hey hey, it does still fit!” Wrecker cheered.
Well, it fitted enough to be functional. He hadn’t missed the fact that Crosshair’s appetite was smaller when he first came back to them, and that he didn’t seem to notice the change himself. It took a great deal of nudging and harassing to get his appetite back up again. Wrecker didn’t understand how such a skinny guy could exist, honestly, and it always worried him a bit, especially now.
Crosshair just sighed. The audio filter of the helmet always made his sighs sound more petulant.
“Back on topic: are you coming?” Hunter pushed. They all knew what Crosshair coming on this mission would symbolize. It would be a confirmation, one they all sorely needed, that he’d truly be staying with his family again.
Crosshair’s helmet angled toward each expectant face before he sighed again.
“...Fine.”
Wrecker cheered loudly and patted Crosshair on the back so hard he almost fell over. The others were more reserved, of course, but it was obvious at a glance that they were all relieved.
They were a squad again. There would be a lot of work ahead to build up their new normal, but their family was now whole.