Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"What are you doing, Tech?"

Wrecker's voice drew Tech from his work slowly, his brother's voice a dull buzz that he barely registered. Tech placed a hand over the datapad and his recording cylinder, which was connected to his datapad for a data transfer, shoving it closer to himself self-consciously as he cast Wrecker a quick glance.

His brother was staring at him too closely, his head tilted and expression curious. In the week since Tech had been assigned to Experimental Unit 99, he had quickly become aware of how out-of-depth and unprepared he was for living with other clones who actually liked him. Tech was far more used to the clones who disliked him for standing out as much as he did, or the clones who beat him up for talking too much. Being near three clones who displayed interest in Tech was… unusual.

He'd almost believe that they were only pretending to like him - he was loud and didn't know when to shut up, so they would be justified in growing irritated towards Tech - were it not for how their words and their body language matched. Tech struggled to understand the context of a conversation or words through voice alone, and he had to rely on observing the body language - which was nearly impossible to lie with for anyone untrained in the knowledge of their body's tells - of others to understand their feelings.

Of his new unit and brothers, Wrecker was the most expressive, and the most truthful, with his body language and his words. Tech knew that everything Wrecker said was honest, and he seemed incapable of lying. Evading the truth, maybe, but lying? Tech had no data to pull evidence from that could suggest that Wrecker was remotely capable of lying.

And Tech appreciated that, for it made Wrecker easier to predict. Hunter and Crosshair, on the other hand?

Tech had no idea what to make of his two older brothers, for he could pick up no hints of their real thoughts and feelings off their body language. Crosshair was always stiff and everything he said had the same sharp tone, and it seemed that Crosshair purposefully kept his body ramrod straight when Tech looked towards the sniper.

He had no idea what to make of Crosshair, who was more of a puzzle than Tech had expected. Crosshair had named him, but Crosshair had not been openly friendly to Tech since the day he had been reassigned to Experimental Unit 99. The best way Tech could describe Crosshair was mercurial, though he would have to obtain more data before he could fully reach a conclusion on his lanky brother.

Hunter was… tricky. He was friendly to Tech but he was nearly impossible to read. Hunter had a way of moving that was silent, both in his feelings and how he almost glided across the ground. Tech was certain that Hunter had trained himself to hide his emotions from his team in an effort to remain strong for his brothers. Hunter was the leader of Experimental Unit 99 and he could not afford to let emotion rule him, not with the responsibility of his brothers' lives on his shoulders.

Tech had much to learn about his brothers, so much he had to observe and analyze before he could allow himself to feel like he was really a member of their unit. Wrecker had hugged him and cried on Tech when he had walked into their barracks behind Crosshair, while Hunter had smiled in his direction and greeted Tech with a knowing smile. They had accepted him, but worry still gnawed at Tech's chest when he thought of his new unit.

Even if the three seemed to have accepted his intrusion into their unit, some wary, anxiety-driven part of Tech couldn't help but realize that he was an interloper to their family.

"Hello? Tech? Are you in there?"

Wrecker's voice pulled Tech from his dwelling thoughts, focusing his gaze on Wrecker, who was staring at him curiously with his left hand raised inches from Tech's shoulder. Wrecker noticed the shifting of Tech's gaze and smiled before he gestured to Tech's datapad, which Tech had been working on subconsciously the whole time he'd been thinking about his new brothers, then stared at Tech with wide eyes.

"What are you doing?"

Tech blinked quizzically at Wrecker's question, eyes shifting to appraise Wrecker suspiciously. Tech hated the immediate nervous suspicion that clawed into his chest as he pulled his datapad and recording cylinder closer to himself, but he couldn't help it. He had too many memories of other clones snatching up his projects and destroying them to get a reaction from Tech, for him to not worry about Wrecker's intentions.

His heart yearned to trust Wrecker, but Tech's memories and brain would not let him lower his guards. Not that much. Not yet.

Slowly, Tech removed his goggles and placed them on the table before he rubbed at his eyes - his eyes were hurting again - and shrugged. It would be harmless if he told Wrecker what his recorder was for. Tech didn't want Wrecker to touch his personal belongings, but he could concede acknowledging Wrecker's curiosity.

"I am attempting to reconfigure my recorder so that it downloads automatically to my datapad," Tech explained as he closed his eyes and fidgeted idly with his datapad. "At this current stage, the recorder can only hold one hundred hours of video before I have to download all of my data to the datapad. If I can make the recorder stream to my datapad constantly, then I will not have to plug my recorder in as often."

Wrecker let out a quiet grunt at Tech's explanation, his confusion clear even to Tech. But Wrecker seemed curious enough as Tech felt Wrecker's hand move near him, and his brother's presence became uncomfortably close to Tech's shoulder.

"You record things? Why?"

"So that I may have an extensive library of reference material to fall back upon, should I ever need it."

"What?" Wrecker was staring at Tech intently now, so intently that Tech had to jerk his head away and swallow down a surge of anxiety.

He let out a low, steadying breath before he nodded - still unable to look in Wrecker's direction. "It comes in handy for improving my skills. If I make a mistake in a simulation, I can review the footage and see where I went wrong."

Wrecker hummed agreement, his close presence finally shifting away from Tech enough that he felt his lungs relax. Tech liked Wrecker, but his language was far more… open than Tech was personally comfortable with. Tech was more accustomed to the standoffishness of his handler, Sullo Pria, or his former batchmates, much more so than Wrecker's loud physicality. Wrecker was a force of nature and strength that Tech would have to adapt to.

Tech rubbed at his eyes again, hoping to wipe the sleepiness from them, then reached for where he'd placed his goggles. His fingers brushed the cold aluminum of the work table and nothing more, a jolt of ice-cold panic slamming into his chest as he scrambled around for his goggles. The table and his datapad were blurred, undefined shapes without his goggles, the absence of which was making Tech's heart race.

He was vulnerable without his goggles, blind to everything and everyone, and Tech hated the crushing vice of panic that always took over his every sense when he could not find his goggles. His desperation had almost peaked when he heard Wrecker giggle and laugh, the abruptness of Wrecker's ill-timed amusement making Tech whirl on his oldest brother.

Wrecker was a massive blur to his poor vision, but Tech could tell that Wrecker was enjoying something a little too much.

Then, with a snort of breath that still sounded far too amused for Tech's taste, Wrecker moved his head down to Tech's height and grinned at him. Anger surged through Tech when he recognized the blurred shape of his goggles being worn by Wrecker.

"Whoa, Tech!" Wrecker roared as he made exaggerated movements of his head and peered around the barracks. "Did you realize your goggles make your vision swim? I don't know how you can stand wearing these all the time!"

"Give those back to me!" Tech snapped as he lunged for Wrecker, his swift movement catching Wrecker off guard enough that Tech was able to rip his goggles off Wrecker.

Tech scrambled away from his brother as he rubbed at the polycarbonate lenses with his shirt, anger bristling through his chest in hot flames as he shot Wrecker a glare once he placed his goggles safely in place over his eyes. He hadn't taken Wrecker to be the type to make fun of his poor sight, but he'd clearly misjudged Wrecker.

"Tech?" Wrecker wasn't moving as he stared at Tech, his shoulders hunched upwards with shock as he watched Tech. "Are you okay?"

No, I am not okay! Tech wanted to scream. He wanted Wrecker to see how much he'd hurt Tech with his thoughtless joke, but Tech was too afraid of Wrecker's reaction to let his true feelings be exposed.

So Tech straightened himself and took a deep breath. Tech tried to be calm when he spoke, but the venomous tremor in his voice carved past even his most solid defenses. "I cannot see without my goggles, Wrecker, and I have to wear them if I want to see anything past my nose clearly. They aren't a toy."

Wrecker flinched at the venom in Tech's voice, his expression turning downcast as Wrecker rubbed at his left arm self-consciously. "I… I'm sorry, Tech. I didn't mean to upset you, I was only… curious. I've never seen anyone, aside from you, wearing goggles to see. I didn't know…"

Guilt crashed into Tech as Wrecker hunched into himself, fingers threading against each other, and whispered his apology. Wrecker's right leg bounced as he cast furtive glances in Tech's direction, the large clone never able to hold his gaze for more than a few seconds on Tech.

Tech took a hesitant step towards Wrecker, more than perturbed by his brother's sudden change in attitude. He hadn't meant to upset Wrecker with his rebuke, and he hated the venom he'd spat towards his brother.

"I apologize for my manner, Wrecker," Tech said as he approached Wrecker slowly, stopping close enough to his brother so that Wrecker perked up slightly, before he shook his head firmly. "I should not have snapped at you-"

"Nah," Wrecker interrupted softly, his voice heavy with quiet hurt as he nudged Tech in the shoulder with his elbow, "I shouldn't have been messing with your stuff. Sorry about that, Tech."

Tech looked towards Wrecker, watching as his brother gave him a weak smile, then sighed. He did not want to annoy or irritate Wrecker, lest his brother grow tired of Tech, and, cautiously, Tech briefly touched Wrecker's arm.

"If you are ever interested in a project I am working on, you need only ask. I am not used to anyone being interested in my projects and, when they are, it is to plunder my work. I believed wrongly of you, and regret jumping to conclusions."

Wrecker let out a low chuckle before Tech felt his brother ruffle his hair, the strange sensation as unwelcome as it was surprising. There was no data Tech knew that referred to what Wrecker was intending with his touch, but he did not dare pull away - not even when his skin crawled at Wrecker's touch-, for the fact he feared Wrecker would become upset once more.

Tech wanted his new brothers to like him, even if it meant forging through his own personal discomforts to better suit Wrecker or Hunter or Crosshair's needs or interests, so he allowed Wrecker the chance to decide when he was satisfied with mussing with Tech's hair. Finally, Wrecker stopped ruffling Tech's hair and, with a telling smile tugging at Wrecker's mouth, Tech surmised that his allowance had brightened Wrecker's spirits.

Good.

"I can show you the recording of the simulation we did yesterday, if you wish, Wrecker?" Tech suggested as he sat down on the table again and resumed fiddling with his datapad and recorder.

He heard Wrecker let out an excited noise before his brother sat down right next to him and, oblivious in his excitement, leaned on Tech's right shoulder with all of Wrecker's weight as he peered down at Tech's datapad. Tech smiled slightly as he pulled up the file on the previous day's simulation and played it, much to Wrecker's amusement.

Wrecker was in the middle of laughing over the recording of Hunter being thrown into the fleet of practice droids by Wrecker when, with a hiss of air, the door to their barracks opened. Tech snatched up his datapad and silenced it in one swipe of a finger, his head snapping to the door as his heart raced with fear. He expected it to be his handler, Sullo Pria, who had become unusually vengeful ever since he'd been reassigned to Experimental Unit 99, but the truth of who had opened the door was no more unsettling than Tech's initial fear.

Crosshair was carrying Hunter, who was slumped against Crosshair's shoulder, body wracked by shivers as Crosshair labored under their leader's weight. Tech stared, datapad falling from his hands as Wrecker let out a strangled gasp beside Tech.

"Hunter? What happened?" Wrecker hissed - Tech noted that Wrecker was whispering for once, though it was a pitch in his voice Tech had never heard before - as he leapt up and hurried to Crosshair's side.

Tech stood up from his work table slowly and watched as Wrecker took Hunter's shaking body from Crosshair, eyes narrowing slightly as he tried to read what was ailing Hunter. There were no visible marks of carbon scoring on his armor - Tech knew that Crosshair and Hunter had been working with simulation droids packing bolts that replicated the feeling and damage of a real blaster's affect - that Tech could see, and his behavior was unlike any Tech had seen from the leader of their unit so far.

Cautiously, Tech stepped towards his brothers as Wrecker carried Hunter to his bunk and carefully laid their brother down on the mattress. Crosshair stopped near Hunter's prone form, his touch gentle as the sniper placed the tiniest ounce of pressure on Hunter's shoulder.

"Easy there, Hunter," Crosshair breathed, his usual snarl muted by a quiet tremor of something that sounded like worry to Tech.

Hunter groaned and jerked away from Crosshair's touch, his fingers digging against his scalp as he turned his back on his brothers. Tech saw Wrecker shoot Crosshair a concerned glance before his oldest brother climbed up onto Wrecker's bed, whispering soft reassurances as he curled up next to Hunter.

Tech watched his brothers for a moment more than, slowly, approached Crosshair, who was watching Hunter closely, his eyes never once shifting away from their stricken brother. His brothers' odd behavior was making Tech worried, too worried, and he could not help the strained way his next words come out - too loud and too sharp in the quiet of the barracks.

"What's wrong? What happened? Is there anything I can do? I-"

A glare, made of pure, simmering rage, from Crosshair cut Tech off midramble, his heart shattering into pieces as his lanky brother rose to his full height and towered over Tech.

"You can start," Crosshair snapped as he shoved his right index finger against Tech's chest, "by shutting up. Hunter will not recover with you blathering about like a dolt! Shut up, make yourself useful, or make yourself scarce."

Tech stared, wide-eyed, at Crosshair, his brain frozen in place as Crosshair's snarl wormed into Tech's being. Shut up? Blathering about like a dolt? Make yourself scarce?

Tech's lungs constricted, stealing his breath as Crosshair's words ran in a loop inside his head. He'd made some kind of blunder, taken a misstep in his approach, and Crosshair had yelled at Tech for it.

Was it what I said? Am I missing something here? Am I not supposed to ask about Hunter? Ah, what did I do?

Crosshair was clearly very upset with Tech for speaking up, but what Tech had done wrong, his brain could not find an answer to. He backed away a step from his furious brother as a rush of nervous anxiety made Tech swallow. Crosshair watched Tech as he backed away from his brothers, a sneer too obviously tugging at his lips.

"Sorry!" Tech squeaked out - stars, how pathetic could he get!? - as he retreated to his bunk and burrowed under his covers. He didn't care for once that he hadn't changed into his nightclothes before crawling into his bunk, for hygiene was the last thing on his mind.

Whatever offense he had committed against Crosshair weighed on Tech, clawing at his insides and forcing him to relive everything he'd done prior to Crosshair snarling at him.

Seeing Hunter in such a disheveled, unsteady and tremulous state had worried Tech, and he had responded accordingly to that worry. Yet, Crosshair had barked at him nonetheless and hadn't even given Tech the chance to understand what was ailing Hunter. He had read Hunter's CT file days ago, but there had been no mention of his brother acting like he was now in any of his medical reports.

Tech wanted to help Hunter, but he could not if he did not understand what was affecting his leader. The idea of asking Crosshair for an explanation only increased Tech's growing anxiety and, with his hyperactive brain running scenarios and trying to problem solve whatever was hurting Hunter, he struggled to calm his mind down.

When Tech finally fell asleep that night, it was to sheer mental exhaustion, and opened his mind to a fitful sleep that rattled his chest and clawed at his eyes.

Tech woke from his sleep, riddled with all of his worst thoughts, early the next morning. He knew that he had only been able to sleep for two hours, and he could feel his body protesting with an exhausted anger when he crawled out of his bed. Even Hunter, who Tech now understood had suffered from a sensory overload thanks to researching his symptoms, had fallen asleep before Tech.

Tech had not been able to overhear Crosshair and Wrecker's conversation as they discussed what had caused Hunter's sensory overload, but it was obvious nonetheless that it had happened in the simulation. Hunter's senses were all enhanced to such a fine degree that he could hear an electrical surge from miles away - Tech had even seen Hunter predict a thunderstorm hours before it had struck Tipoca City three cycles before.

Hunter felt what everyone else did not even know existed, could hear the creak of the beams as the wind howled over Tipoca City, and could smell the oil on Crosshair's cleaning rag even hours after he'd cleaned up. Hunter was highly attuned to changes in his environment, and very susceptible to energy bolts and stun blasts…

Tech bent down beside Hunter's armor, fingers running across the carbon fiber plastoid carefully. An indent in Hunter's armor stopped Tech's searching, drawing his sharp gaze to the back right shoulder of Hunter's chestplate.

There was the unmistakable smell of carbon scoring where Hunter's armor had been burnt by the blaster bolt, and on closer inspection, Tech could tell that the shot had broken through almost a third of Hunter's armor. And the carbon scoring residue was not only where the blast had hit his brother's armor, but spread out from the shot over the back of his pauldron and across the back.

Hunter had been shot at close range, and from behind.

Such a close shot, and especially one with as much carbon scoring as was maring Hunter's armor, would have crippled Hunter. The shot's impact and the subsequent burn that always followed being struck by a blaster bolt could have easily overloaded Hunter's senses.

A quick scan from Tech's datapad revealed structural integrity loss in Hunter's armor, and noted that Hunter's armor had short-circuited and shocked him after he'd been shot. Tech looked towards his brothers' bunks cautiously as he slowly picked up Hunter's chestplate and carried it to his worktable, where he placed it carefully so that no noise could wake his three sleeping brothers.

There were modifications Tech could make to Hunter's armor that would protect his older brother from electrical surges, and Hunter's armor needed repairs. Crosshair had snapped at Tech the night before about making himself useful when he'd bothered Crosshair about Hunter's condition, but there had been nothing Tech could do to help Hunter before.

Now, though, Tech could put his engineering skills to use and prove himself to Crosshair. If Tech could earn Crosshair's full and complete trust, then and only then, would Tech feel like he was truly one with his brothers.

Tech buried himself in his repairs, aware of nothing but the armor before him - he collected the rest of Hunter's armor and had it spread out on the table near the chestplate - and the schematics in his head. He did not notice when Crosshair and Wrecker both woke up, nor their curious glances as he picked apart Hunter's armor with swift precision.

And Tech did not even realize that Hunter had woken up and was sitting beside him, watching Tech work, until he felt Hunter's hand brush his shoulder. Tech almost dropped the soldering tool he was using at the unexpected touch, but Hunter caught his shaking arm before the tool could slip from Tech's fingers.

"Easy," Hunter breathed as he finally released Tech's arm and gave him a slow, easy smile. "I can tell you are busy, Tech, but it's dinner time. Do you want to come with us to the cafeteria, or do you want me to sneak the food back to our barracks?"

Tech hesitated, his gaze shifting between Hunter, Hunter's armor, and Wrecker and Crosshair before he let out a low sigh and slumped his shoulders. "I would prefer finishing what I am working on, if that is alright with you?"

"It's no problem, Tech," Hunter reassured as he gathered himself to his feet, gave Tech's shoulder a slight squeeze, and left with Wrecker and Crosshair trailing behind him.

The door closed behind his brothers, leaving Tech to sheer quiet and Hunter's armor once more. He left his barracks only to retrieve needed supplies from the quartermaster's, and returned quickly, diving into his work with a feverish pitch. Only the sound of Wrecker's laugh, and Crosshair's following sneer, drew Tech from his work, though only just enough that he cast a glance towards his brothers as they entered the barracks.

Hunter approached Tech with a tray stocked with the night's rations and pushed it towards Tech. Tech thanked Hunter with a nod, but ignored the food as he turned back to Hunter's armor-

"Tech."

"Hmm?"

"Eat."

Hunter's command stopped Tech, pulling his attention to where his older brother was looking down at him with crossed arms. Hunter turned his head towards Tech's tray of food meaningfully, before he reached over Tech and picked up his chestplate and pulled it away from his worktable.

"Eat, please? My armor can wait."

Tech opened his mouth, wanting to protest or suggest that the upgrades to Hunter's armor were of utmost priority, but Hunter's expression - a raised eyebrow and the slightest curve of a frown - made Tech relent. He sighed tiredly as Tech turned to the tray and picked at the food with his fork, merely nibbling at his food as Hunter sat down beside him.

Tech shot Hunter a worried look, but all Hunter did was pull out his vibroblade and twirl it in his hands, gaze unfocused and distant. He relaxed as Hunter continued to mess with his vibroblade and even felt comfortable when Wrecker sat down across from him, his oldest brother letting out a yawn before he rested his head on the worktable and watched Hunter balance his vibroblade with one finger.

Only Crosshair seemed on edge, for he was bent down and looking over Hunter's armor - which had been moved by Hunter to rest near his bunk - the set of Crosshair's shoulders thick with tension and suspicion. Crosshair's head turned towards Tech, the sniper's eyes narrowed as his fingers ran across the chestplate of Hunter's armor.

Tech flinched at the look and jerked his head away, the grip on his fork tightening slightly as he felt Crosshair's gaze travel over his frame. He knew Crosshair was suspicious of Tech, even after Tech had upgraded his Firepuncher rifle, he knew it, but Tech could not stop the cold steel of anxiety that was tightening his lungs and breath.

The pressure of Crosshair's gaze was becoming too much for Tech, who had always quailed under stares from his handler after she had beaten him to an inch of death one time. He felt his leg start to bounce as his mind scrambled with words and thoughts and ideas and-

"I understand that Hunter suffered from sensory overload last night and I thought I could upgrade his armor to reduce electrical surges if he's shot again I thought it would help though Hunter would have to try it on and see if it's still comfortable and if it's not I apologize and-"

Tech froze when he realized that Hunter and Wrecker were both staring at him with wide eyes, and that they both looked surprised and… was that irritation sparking in Hunter's eyes? His heart stopped when Tech realized that he had openly rambled around his brothers, and rambled nonsensically.

"Sorry," Tech gasped out as he fixed his gaze on his tray of unfinished food and wished that he could melt into the floor beneath him. At least if he did, his brothers would stop staring at him like he was some kind of weird, two-headed acklay.

He had thought his anxious rambling to be taken care of, or at least curbed to a degree that he had control over it, but clearly he had failed in that course. Tech made an effort to always be concise and proper in how he spoke, so the rare nonsensical ramble only dug into his head and made him worry about how stupid he sounded.

None of his brothers spoke as Tech continued to fidget and stare at his tray, aware of the fact that they were all still staring at him. Not only had he rambled but the nervous bouncing of his leg was too loud and- oh stars, they were gawking at him!

"Tech?" Hunter pried first, the sound of his voice strung through with some emotion Tech had no experience understanding, pulling Tech's head up towards Hunter. Hunter was staring at him with a furrowed brow that seemed to age Hunter beyond his accelerated years, and it made Tech wish that he could be anywhere but here in their barracks.

Tech gulped and forced his leg to stop bouncing, his mind focused solely on acting as normal as he could while his brothers were so focused on him. "Y-yes, Hunter?"

Hunter glanced towards Crosshair, who Tech realized was staring at him with an unreadable expression and had seemed to have forgotten about Hunter's armor, before Hunter turned and placed a hand on Tech's shoulder. Tech did not move when Hunter touched his shoulder, though if he had, Tech assumed he would only make his brothers even more distrubed by his strangeness.

"Is something wrong, Tech?" Hunter asked quietly, his left hand resting ever so softly against Tech's shoulder.

Tech stiffened at Hunter's question, but he knew refusing to answer would lead him nowhere with Hunter, so he relented and sighed. He couldn't refuse, but Tech did not have to tell Hunter the truth - and he didn't want to. "I am perfectly fine," Tech replied hastily, "why do you believe that something is wrong?"

Hunter's expression shifted slightly at Tech's response, the curve of his lips turning into a frown that carried disappointment as he sighed. "I can smell your anxiety, Tech. I know something is wrong, and I would prefer if you did not evade my questions when I am worried about you."

Tech looked away from Hunter as the truth in his older brother's words settled into the pit of his stomach. He could not lie to Hunter, not with his brother's deeply attuned senses, but Tech still did not enjoy the idea of explaining about what was bothering him. But Hunter's piercing worry was still too present, still watching him, and it made Tech relent.

"I am merely exhibiting anxiety over my recent placement into Experimental Unit 99," Tech stated matter-of-factly and without inflection, "that is all. I wish to prove to each of you that you can trust me, and rely on my abilities, and that desire has led to anxiety over whether I perform to the standards of the unit or not."

Hunter and Wrecker shared a glance between each other as Tech finished speaking, one that was too swift for Tech to decipher, before both turned their heads towards Crosshair. Crosshair stiffened at the sudden change in focus from Tech to himself, and rose to his feet quickly as he crossed his arms over his chest and matched his brothers' stern glares.

"What?" Crosshair growled, though there was a tremor to his voice that made even Tech stare at Crosshair.

Crosshair was always deliberate in how he spoke and what he said, and Tech had never heard anything resembling nervousness or worry in his brother's voice before. Anger? Yes. Worry or a tremor of anxiety? Never.

"You know full well what, Cross," Hunter rumbled coldly. Tech watched as Hunter slowly drew himself to his feet and met Crosshair's fierce gaze.

Crosshair glared at the unit's leader, and Tech knew he would have had some choice words for Hunter if a Kaminoan had not appeared suddenly at their door.

Wrecker almost fell over himself in his scramble to move into parade rest, and Tech's datapad went flying when he visibly jumped at the intrusion. Crosshair and Hunter turned away from each other without a word as they snapped into parade rest before the Kaminoan.

The Kaminoan, a messenger judging from the orange and white chevrons on his right sleeve, turned his focus onto Tech before he spoke. "CT-33-7641 has been requested by Ke Bril for an evaluation. Dawdling is not tolerated, please come with me."

Tech shot his brothers a glance as the Kaminoan messenger signaled for him to follow, then reluctantly paced after the Kaminoan. He was surprised that Ke Bril, the Kaminoan physiologist assigned specifically to him, would be seeking him out during night time, but Tech did not dare ask the Kaminoan striding ahead of him for any answers. He'd learned when he was younger to keep his questions to himself, and this time was no different.

Finally, Tech and the Kaminoan stopped in front of a small building that was too familiar to Tech. This was the door to his handler's room, not his psychologist. Tech turned to question the Kaminoan messenger when he heard a growl hiss from behind the door.

"Enter."

Tech swallowed and nodded as he walked into his handler's room, the fearful racing of his heart at the sight of both Kaminoans and their watchful, cold glares almost stealing Tech's breath from his lungs. He stopped in front of both Kaminoans, ducked his head and waited, expecting the worst from his handler.

Sullo Pria paced around Tech, her eyes glittering coldly as she stopped behind him and dug her fingers into his shoulder. "CT-33-7641, you have been a part of Experimental Unit 99 for a week now. We need to understand how you are dealing with your new unit, and if you are acclimating to your new environment."

Both Kaminoans peppered Tech with questions about his brothers, some of which were innocuous and others more prying than Tech liked. Ke Bril even raised an eyebrow when he hesitated on a question about how he was fitting in with Crosshair, and her focus on Tech became razor sharp as he explained Crosshair.

Crosshair was mercurial in his temperament towards Tech, both suspicious and distrustful of Tech as he was defensive and protective over his brothers. Tech knew that Crosshair was struggling to fully accept Tech into his heart and family, and Tech understood the sniper's reluctance.

Tech was new to the unit, and an interloper into a group as tightly woven as Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker were, would not be easily accepted. Crosshair loved Hunter and Wrecker, though he seemed to put as much effort into revealing the opposite while Tech watched the sniper interact with his brothers, and would do anything to protect them.

From all Tech had observed, Crosshair saw him as a potential danger to his family and was too wary from previous experiences to automatically accept Tech. Fixing Crosshair's Firepuncher rifle had only started to break through Crosshair's distrust, and Tech would have to fight through years of paranoid distrust before he knew Crosshair would accept him.

Finally, Ke Bril relented in her questioning, stowing her datapad into her pockets before she turned to Sullo Pria, who had hovered over Tech the entire time. "I have acquired what I needed. Thank you for your cooperation, CT-33-7641."

"Anytime, ma'am," Tech replied as Ke Bril left Sullo Pria's quarters, leaving him with his handler and whatever form of wrath she'd inflict upon him tonight.

Sullo Pria sighed as she moved away from Tech, stopping to gesture towards her desk and the chair she always made him sit at during their sessions, before she sat down across from that chair. Tech moved as quickly as he could, sitting down on the chair with as calm a manner as he could muster, even while his handler's gaze never left his own.

When he was seated, Sullo Pria extended her hand out to Tech and twitched her fingers towards herself. "Your recorder, please."

"Yes, ma'am," Tech breathed as he reached up to the cylinder on the right side of his goggles, and slid it out of its clasp. He fingered the metal cylinder for a moment, his mind racing with betrayal as he thought of every single second of his brothers' private lives he had recorded, then handed it to Sullo Pria reluctantly.

His handler took the cylinder from Tech with her left hand gently, her fingers brushing across the back of his hand in thanks. Tech watched nervously as Sullo Pria plugged his recording cylinder into her computer, her eyes shifting away from him as the files downloaded into her computer.

"Are you enjoying working with Experimental Unit 99 so far, CT-33-7641?" She asked Tech, her eyes shifting towards him briefly before moving back to the screen of her computer.

Tech straightened his spine and nodded, aware of how his fingers were digging into his thighs at the thought of betraying their trust. He'd explained to Hunter in private that he recorded everything and at all times of the day, without telling his older brother that everything he'd record would also be used by his handler to understand his brothers, and Tech almost hated how simply Hunter had agreed to allowing Tech to continue recording everything. If Hunter had said no, Tech would have had a viable excuse to give Sullo Pria for his lack of information that she desired. But Hunter had not, and Tech was not as brave as Wrecker or as fierce as Crosshair to stand up and deny his handler what she sought.

"I feel like I am doing better with a dedicated unit that does not judge me off my looks, and thus become distracted in simulations for their dislike for me. I know I am still new to Experimental Unit 99, but I believe that, given time, I will be fully accepted by all three and be trusted as one of their own."

Sullo Pria nodded distantly as she continued to flick through the hours of files on his cylinder, her attention only dimly focused on Tech. She did not ask Tech anymore personal questions that night and, only after she had downloaded and reviewed each minute of footage, did she allow Tech to leave.

Tech took his recorder from Sullo Pria and beat a hasty retreat to Unit 99's barracks, his stomach flipping with the anxiety and knowledge that Crosshair was right in not trusting Tech. He was a traitor to his brothers, spying on them because he was too afraid of being punished by Sullo Pria to refuse her request.

He didn't deserve any of his brothers' trust, not when he was revealing every piece of their innermost feelings and secrets to his handler. Tech wasn't even certain why Sullo Pria wanted the information on his brothers and, when he'd asked her two cycles before about her interest in his brothers, she had only waved off his question with a cold answer.

"Is it wrong for me to be curious about the clones with which you have been assigned to? Everything that concerns my little scientist," she'd whispered as she bent down beside him and gently brushed her fingers down his spine, "concerns me too. I only want what is best for you, CT-33-7641, and that is all I have ever wanted."

Fear and revulsion shuttered through Tech at the memory, and it took everything within him to withhold the sudden urge to retch as he hurried into his barracks and crawled under his covers. Hunter's greeting passed unheard as Tech covered himself with his sheets and struggled to breath. He was terrified of Sullo Pria, terrified of the messages her treatment of him sent him, and terrified of what she implied with the way she touched him.

He knew that the way Sullo Pria trained him was torture, using her vibrostaff to electrocute him and forcing him to run simulations for hours on end, and that the way she treated him was wrong. So why did his handler act protective over him around other Kaminoans? And why did his skin crawl so furiously whenever she brushed her fingers across his skin?

It wasn't the same as the revulsion he felt whenever one of his brothers touched him, but something much, much worse. He only flinched or wanted to jerk away when one of his brothers touched him, but he always felt like he wanted to claw his skin off wherever Sullo Pria touched him.

She was predatory, vicious, mean and preying upon Tech as if he was her next course of dinner-

"Hey, hey, easy there, calm down, I'm here. Breathe, Tech. I'm here. You're okay."

The suddenness of a warm presence, curled around Tech with their arms pulling him to their chest, snapped Tech from the dark spiral of thoughts. His lungs were heaving and desperate for air as he realized that his eyes were stinging with tears and Hunter was hugging him.

Hunter continued to whisper reassurances to Tech as he pulled Tech closer to his chest, Hunter's warmth chasing Tech's dark thoughts into the furthest reaches of his mind. Tech took a deep breath and turned around, burying his head against Hunter's chest as he struggled to regain his composure.

"You're okay, Tech," Hunter reassured quietly, his arms unmoving from Tech's smaller frame as the older clone buried his head against Tech's head and held him close. "You're safe here. I will protect you, always."

Tech blinked at Hunter's promise, unaware of how his fingers were clutched in Hunter's nightshirt, then burrowed closer to Hunter. He believed Hunter completely. Trusted his older brother and leader, and Tech felt secure with Hunter's close presence.

If only Tech could provide the same security to his brothers, instead of betraying them every cycle by giving up their secrets to Sullo Pria. He was a traitor to them, unworthy of Hunter's concern or care, and he was too afraid to stand up for his brothers' trust.

You have to tell Hunter, a voice urged Tech, one with too much emotion and love strung through its words.

Tech scowled and buried himself against Hunter's chest, praying that Hunter did not recognize the turmoil storming through Tech.

I can't. I'm afraid of what she'll do to me. I… I'm scared.

The voice did not respond, though Tech felt a cold swell of disappointment and self-hatred slam against his chest as he thought of what he was doing. His brothers cared about him - even Crosshair cared about him, as grumpy and untrusting as he was of Tech - and Tech was betraying them for it. Tech did not deserve his brothers, and they deserved a better brother than himself.

If you tell them the truth, they will protect you, his inner voice reasoned coolly, they deserve to know what you are being forced to do. If you love them, you have to trust them - and have to let them trust you.

Tech swallowed, the skin under the collar of his shirt growing warm as he debated inwardly with himself. If he told Hunter about Sullo Pria's demands, Hunter would see Tech for what he really was - a traitor and an imposter. Tech did not want his brothers to hate him, but he knew they would if they found out about his spying and he didn't tell them before.

Tech's conflicting thoughts unsettled him, for they were ruled too fiercely by emotion. He was afraid of his brothers' reactions if he told them about Sullo Pria's demands, and afraid of what Sullo Pria would do to him if he didn't abide by her request.

I have to trust my brothers, Tech urged himself.

He did not want the thread of patience and affection Hunter had for him to be destroyed, but telling his brother now was better. If he waited to tell Hunter, then any chance for regaining his brother's trust would become irreparable. Tech did not desire either choice, but he knew which one was the right one.

Which option was the only one that let his brothers forgive him.

"Hunter?"

Tech felt Hunter stiffen slightly at Tech's quiet whisper, but Hunter said nothing, resolving instead to place a hand against Tech's back firmly. Hunter's strength was usually calming, even for Tech's overactive mind, but this time all Hunter's closeness did was make Tech even more aware of what his betrayal could mean to his brothers.

"I- I need to discuss a… situation with you, Hunter," Tech felt his mouth drying as he spoke into Hunter's chest, unable to even think of looking up at Hunter and seeing the betrayal he knew would appear on Hunter's face.

Again, Hunter did not answer, though he did not pull away or refuse Tech outright. Maybe Tech could risk facing his brother's anger? Hunter seemed in a pleasant enough mood for now, though Tech could only imagine how quickly that would change once Hunter knew the truth about Tech.

"I must apologize for my actions, Hunter, for I have committed an egregious sin against you and your brothers."

Not my brothers. I am not worthy of calling Hunter, Wrecker or Crosshair my brothers.

"I have lied to you, Hunter, and have not been wholly truthful in my purpose here in Unit 99," Tech tried to keep his words from stumbling from his mouth, but each word slammed over the other faster as he clung to Hunter's nightshirt, "I apologize forthright for not being truthful from the start-"

"Tech…" Hunter exhaled, "what are you talking about?"

"I was not truthful when I asked your permission to record this unit, for I omitted the fact that I have been requested to turn in every second of footage I record to my handler. I do not know why she desires this footage, but I have been… spying upon all three of you, and I apologize for my actions. I understand if you are upset with me, as I deserve nothing less for lying."

Hunter pushed away from Tech slowly, his rejection clear as the troubled sigh that hissed from his mouth. Tech pulled away from Hunter as if burned, retreating into himself as he felt Hunter shift away from him and sit up on his bunk.

When Hunter sucked in a breath, Tech expected to be yelled at - he'd deserve it, either way-, but all Hunter did was sigh. Then he felt Hunter's hand rest on his shoulder, the lightness of Hunter's touch pulling Tech's gaze towards his older brother. Hunter was sitting up on Tech's bunk, expression hurt and angry as he peered down at Tech.

"I apologize, Hunter," Tech stammered, "I did not want to-"

"Your handler has you spying on us?" Hunter interjected, his words sharp as the vibroblade he wielded in battle.

Tech nodded quickly as he hunched into himself, still expecting Hunter to lose his calm and yell at him. But Hunter did not, as his older brother ground his teeth together and then shifted himself so that he sidled up beside Tech.

Hunter looked towards Tech slowly, his eyes calculating, before he pointed to Tech's recorder and crossed his arms over his chest. "Your handler forced you to spy on us, correct?"

"Yes. I would never spy on my brothers otherwise, but… I…" Tech jerked away from Hunter's scrutinizing gaze, unwilling to admit to the sheer terror that choked him when he thought of how Sullo Pria would respond to knowing he'd told Hunter.

"Do not tell anyone of what you are giving me," she'd warned him five cycles ago, when she'd made him turn in his first recordings of Unit 99, "or there will be consequences for you - and your team."

Tech did not wish to see his team punished for his own actions, not when he knew how cruel Sullo Pria would be to Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker. He rubbed at his left arm as his chest constricted, heart slamming against his rib cage and his breathing hitched - rationality told him that he was having an anxiety attack and that he needed to calm down-

"Tech, breathe."

Hunter's voice. Hunter. Focus on Hunter.

"Easy, little brother. Just breathe, alright? You aren't in trouble, and I am not mad at you."

Hunter's arms wrapped around Tech, pulling him close to his chest as Hunter continued to mutter reassurances towards Tech. Only when Tech felt his breathing slow and his chest stop hurting did Tech feel alright enough to look up at Hunter.

His brother quirked a small smile in Tech's direction before he leaned down to Tech's level and pulled his chin up, so that he had to look Hunter in the eye. "Tell me exactly what your handler ordered you to do, Tech. I'm not mad at you, but I need to know everything."

Tech blinked and jerked out of Hunter's grasp before he nodded and, relenting, told Hunter everything Sullo Pria had made him give up. Hunter kept an impassive expression the whole time Tech explained about the simulations he'd recorded, or the private training sessions Tech and his brothers endured under the special trainers of Experimental Unit 99. Tech avoided mentioning Sullo Pria's punishments, for those were not related to Experimental Unit 99 and thus unimportant to the conversation.

When Tech finally finished answering every one of Hunter's questions, Hunter removed himself from Tech's bunk. His brother turned towards him and jerked a thumb towards the door, his shoulders rigid with anger.

"Go get freshed up and get some sleep, Tech. You're exhausted, and I know you only slept a few hours last night," Hunter ordered.

"Yes, Hunter," Tech whispered, defeated.

Tech gathered himself to his feet, trudging past Hunter and out of his barracks as his thoughts turned unhappily back towards his conversation with Hunter. Hunter had not exhibited anger directly towards Tech, but he could not help but worry that Hunter was upset with him. Tech knew he would if one of his brothers had lied to him.

Trust came slowly to the clones, and even more so to the three clones Tech had grown so attached to. He had lied to them and misled them. If they decided to spurn Tech, then that was the least he deserved.

"Crosshair and Tech, you are both being assigned to a dou simulation by Kleal Selri. You are tasked with completing the Kalarus' Stronghold Prison simulation together, and you will not pass until you can both show cooperation and companionship in battle. Blasters and rifles are the only weapons you will be allowed to bring, and you will be facing off against mock live-fire rounds. They won't kill you, but they will hurt like a rancor."

Tech scowled as he dodged another blaster bolt, back slamming against the durasteel cover as he tucked his limbs as close into himself as he could. The simulation was going brilliantly, and had been since the very start when Crosshair had pointedly ignored Tech's request for a battle plan.

Crosshair had bounded off to the nearest roost and left Tech on the ground to fend off the swarms of practice droids on his own. Tech had been pushed to the very edge of the simulation arena, and was struggling to hold off the three waves of droids that were swarming his position.

Tech peeked out and fired over his cover, taking down two droids with his DC-17s before he had to dive into cover after a bolt nearly slammed into his goggles. Far too close for his tastes.

"Crosshair! I need cover fire at our base now!" Tech snapped through the comms as he blasted down two more droids and dodged yet another near miss.

"I am preoccupied with the enemy's base. Assist yourself."

"Unbelievable," Tech growled to himself, rolling his eyes at Crosshair's snippy comment before he peeked over his cover once again.

The three waves of droids that were pushing to his base had the small, well fortified base surrounded, and Tech knew he would only last so long against the fifty droids trying their hardest to capture his base. Tech couldn't imagine the punishment that would be meted upon Crosshair and himself if they failed this simulation, least of all because he knew this was a test to see if they could work together.

A week had passed since the night Hunter had suffered from his sensory overload, and Crosshair had been unusually cold around Tech ever since. So cold that even Kleal Selri - the head Kaminoan who ran Experimental Unit 99 and decided the unit's training and simulations - had noticed. That was why Tech and Crosshair were stuck in a simulation together, and not with Hunter and Wrecker, who were both undergoing individual simulation training.

A shot slammed across Tech's pauldron as he swung out from cover, knocking him off balance enough that he crashed to the floor with a gasp of pain. Desperation set into his spine, forcing Tech to his feet as he returned fire towards the oncoming droids and tried to ignore the fire coursing through his shoulder.

Damn it, I need Crosshair's support!

"Droids at 38, mark 89, Crosshair!"

"Incorrect," Crosshair snapped testily, "those are your droids to handle. I have enough on my plate attempting to stave off the waves coming from the Stronghold."

Tech ground his teeth but decided not to argue. Crosshair had become even frostier around Tech once Hunter had told Wrecker and Crosshair about Tech giving his recordings to Sullo Pria, and Tech knew that Crosshair was trying to punish Tech for his actions by leaving himself to fend off the droids on his own. Crosshair had even made a snappy comment to Hunter about the armor upgrades and repairs Tech had done, going so far as to suggest that Tech had sabotaged Hunter's armor.

Hunter had promptly yelled at Crosshair for suggesting that Tech would ever intentionally harm one of their own, and he and Crosshair had not spoken a word since that day. It was all Tech's fault, in the end, and he accepted that fact but it was stupid of Crosshair to be so spiteful during a simulation.

Another shot struck Tech in the side, the force of the bolt slamming Tech into the ground and knocking all of the air from his lungs. Pain splintered through his body as Tech struggled onto his elbows and pointed his blaster towards the droids pushing their way through the base's fortifications.

Crosshair's rifle barked in the distance, the sharp report turned away from Tech's position and only further solidifying their inability to work together. A third shot hit Tech directly in the cuirass, stunning him from the impact of the blaster bolt for critical seconds.

Desperate, Tech shook off the stars plaguing his head and scrambled backwards, covering behind the last piece of durasteel plating that protected his base. Already droids were swarming into the base's lines, and they were close enough that they would be able to capture the flag once they officially stopped Tech.

Tech needed Crosshair or they were going to fail.

"Crosshair, I need backup immediately!" Tech shouted through their comms, the pitch of his voice breaking as he dodged another shot that would have taken him down for the rest of the simulation. "Kriff it all, we are going to fail! I need your help, please!"

Crosshair sneered a chuckle over their comms that dug into Tech and clawed him open. "Wrecker can pass this sim completely on his own. If you want to be taken seriously, spy, then you should be able to take out a few waves of droids on your own."

Anger blazed through Tech as he took down droid after droid, only for each fallen droid to be replaced by yet another. He shot down another droid then turned to shoot Crosshair, who was halfway across the arena, a furious glare. "I am NOT Wrecker! I cannot destroy droids with just my fists, for stars sake, Crosshair!"

"Well, you are no Wrecker and no Hunter, and definitely not a member of my unit," Crosshair's words were cold, his tone no longer loud as he hissed through the comms with a hateful sneer.

"How many times do I have to apologize?" Tech snapped as a shot struck the durasteel siding next to him. "I never wanted to spy on my brothers, but my hand was forced to do as such. And, like it or not, we are assigned together and that means we will fail together if you cannot forgive me for what I did."

"I'd rather not," Crosshair yawned.

Tech scowled at Crosshair's response, the sheer rage that simmered in Tech's chest shocking him. He was trained to control his emotions, to think with logic and reasoning rather than the folly of emotion and heart. This… fury was new and altogether unsettling for Tech. He was supposed to be a man in complete control and emotion had been all but burned out of him by his handler.

This was ridiculous.

He should not be desperate to scream at Crosshair, to vent his frustrations and anger towards the sniper, least of all during a simulation. He needed to be in control of the burning in his chest that was so clearly emotion, but Tech wasn't.

"You really aren't that good at simulations, are you? Where's that so-called intelligence you brag about all the time? Or is that only useful for annoying all of us with your incessant blathering?"

Any semblance of strained control Tech had snapped at Crosshair's taunt, the jab burrowing far too deep into Tech's insecurities for him to not react. Tech fired at the rush of droids blindly, only distantly aware of how out-of-control his emotions were before he turned to his comms and snarled at Crosshair.

"Do you get something out of making fun of me, Crosshair, because if you are desiring a reaction from me, you have gotten what you were looking for! I do 'suck' at simulations, how astute of you to notice that! Really takes keen eyesight to notice that, doesn't it?

"Too bad you are so short-sighted you can't even see the point of this simulation. We are supposed to be working together, not against each other! Oh wait, I forgot! You only want help if it is from Wrecker or Hunter, since they aren't traitorous little spies, isn't that right? Well, guess what, Crosshair? You are stuck with me, whether you like it or not!"

Tech felt his anger burst out of him as he roared over the comms, the uncharacteristic outburst shocking Tech as much as it seemed to shock Crosshair. Crosshair didn't reply to Tech's outburst, though the total silence from his side of the comms was more telling than any snappy comment would have been.

A sudden wave of exhaustion struck Tech, a symptom he could only theorize came from his emotional outburst, and it was strong enough to make him slump to the ground behind the durasteel plating he had been using as cover. With his anger dissipated and his energy depleted, Tech could do little more than pop out from behind cover and fire at the droids that were overtaking his base.

He had just popped out from his cover and had his pistols aimed towards two droids when he felt a blaster bolt tear into his back. Agony ripped through Tech's body as the blaster bolt struck the armor over his spine, the force of the close range shot slamming him, helmet first, into the durasteel plating of the floor.

The heavy weight of the droid's foot pressed down on Tech's spine, crushing the wind from his lungs and leaving him immobile. Tech tried to wiggle out from under the droid's foot, but he could not move a muscle. His body was aching, sore from the many times he had been shot, and he would not have been able to shove the droid off of himself even if he hadn't been shot.

They were going to fail, and it was all Tech's fault. He was the reason Crosshair was so irritated and acting so irascible about cooperating with Tech, and he was the one who had to hold the base. He was unable to hold off the droids and their failure would be-

The scream of a blaster bolt ripped through the air above Tech, the sound of it impacting against the droid pinning Tech a loud snap. Air rushed into Tech's lungs as he felt the droid's weight vanish from his back, filling him with determination as he scrambled to his feet and fired at the nearest droid. And, judging from the hail of blaster bolts tearing from Crosshair's perch towards Tech's location, he was not the only one fighting the droids at their base.

With Crosshair's support, Tech was able to fight his way away from the base, the pair tearing through droids with their new found support. Tech called out coordinates for Crosshair, who responded with a retort of his rifle and a curt "thanks" each time. They worked with the seamless fire of a sniper and his spotter until Crosshair gunned down the last droid and Tech was able to capture the Stronghold's flag.

"Good work, both of you. Report to the armory."

Tech glanced up at Crosshair, who was sliding down from his roost of a former gun turret, and waited for his brother patiently. Crosshair stopped beside Tech, his body language a mess of emotions Tech could not decipher at the moment, then he jerked his head in a nod.

"Good job, Tech."

"You did well, also," Tech said coolly, as he trudged towards the lift that led down to the armory. "Thanks for the support, I needed it."

Crosshair let out a low growl of acknowledgement at Tech's words, one without any emotion but cool contemplation. As the two clones reached the lift, Crosshair stopped Tech in his tracks with a gentle hand on his arm.

Tech turned to face Crosshair slowly, confusion hissing through him as Crosshair looked away from Tech sheepishly.

"I… I apologize for being so rude to you, Tech," Crosshair finally breathed out, his mouth and shoulders set with worry as he spoke. "My behavior these last two weeks has been uncalled for, and I… I'm sorry.

"I didn't think you would stand up for yourself against me, but I am glad I was wrong. You impressed me, little brother, and I'm sorry for what I said."

Tech mulled over Crosshair's apology for a few minutes then smiled, his chest lightening from the worry that had resided inside him for cycles. He understood where Crosshair's behavior was coming from, for the sniper was a secluded, suspicious man who loved his brothers and only them. Crosshair wanted the best for his family, and he was always the first to chase off anyone Crosshair deemed dangerous to his family. And Tech had been that, but now?

Maybe now, Crosshair would start to trust Tech and, eventually, consider Tech his family too.

"And I apologize for spying on all three of you," Tech sighed miserably, "I never wanted to betray your trust like that."

Crosshair shook his head at Tech's apology, then shot Tech a smile before he nudged Tech with his elbow. "I understand that now. I had convinced myself that you might have been different from the other clones the longnecks forced us to work with, that's why I was so… upset when Hunter told us about your handler forcing you to give up your recordings of us."

"You were in the right, being upset with my actions," Tech shrugged. "I would have been the same, if our paths were switched."

Crosshair hummed to himself, seeming to contemplate something before his sharp gaze turned back to Tech. "What is your handler like? My old handler couldn't handle my 'attitude', as he claimed it, and he had me moved to Kleal. Kleal's alright in comparison, but he's still a longneck."

Tech felt his chest tighten at Crosshair's question, the nervous bounce of his right leg becoming obvious as he rubbed at his arms nervously and shrugged. He could not stomach the thought of telling Crosshair just how cruel and violent Sullo Pria was to Tech, not when he imagined the disgust with which Crosshair would regard him for letting a "longneck" control so much of his life.

"She is… alright," Tech said with a forced lightness to his words, "she wants the best from me, that is all."

Crosshair raised an eyebrow, then snorted coldly to himself. "So she thinks spying on us is best for you?"

"Well…" Tech could not help but fidget under his brother's gaze, and he was not unaware of the heat that prickled along his skin as Crosshair continued to stare at him. "She wants to ensure that my skills match those of my brothers, all she wants-"

Before Tech could finish his hasty half-truth, the sharp voice of Kleal Selri interrupted him. Tech stiffened and watched as Crosshair's gaze slowly shifted away from Tech, focusing fully upon Kleal as the Kaminoan debriefed them on their simulation. When he finished the debrief, Tech hurried out of the armory before Crosshair, leaving his brother and the conversation on his handler for a different time.

See me in my quarters, immediately. We have important developments we need to discuss.

Tech could not stop glancing at his datapad, where Sullo Pria's urgent message glowed in her stern handwriting. He'd been in the middle of his starship engineering class when her message had come through, and the specter of seeing his handler again made him unfocused for the remainder of the class. The moment he and the rest of the class had been dismissed, Tech had scrambled out the door and hurried towards his handler's quarters.

He had not seen her in two weeks, though no explanation had been given for her absence, and he had never felt better than those two weeks without her violent nature hanging over his head. Now, though, Tech was struggling to hold back the fear, revulsion and anxiety that had filled his chest since her message had come through.

Sullo Pria was unpredictable and Tech was never certain what mood she'd be in, though he had a sinking feeling that she was going to be furious with him when he arrived. Her fury meant that Tech would likely be heading back to the barracks with bruises covering every inch of his body that was hidden by his blacks. Tech shuddered involuntarily as he imagined what form of punishment would be inflicted upon him this cycle.

At least Raze and his pack of followers were clear in their hatred for Tech. Sullo Pria was anything but clear in her feelings for Tech. Some days, she seemed proud of Tech and praised him for his growing litany of skills and knowledge, and other days she would spew taunts and jabs at him, mocking him for his perceived intelligence.

Force knew what her temper would be like this time…

Tech swallowed back the paralyzing fear that was trying to overtake him when he reached the door to Sullo Pria's quarters, then knocked. The door creaked open to reveal Sullo Pria's towering, unreadable form, her eyes boring into him as she waved him inside her quarters.

The moment Tech stepped through the threshold of her quarters, Sullo Pria closed the door behind him and locked it. Tech glanced towards the locked door then looked up at Sullo Pria, just in time to watch as she slammed her hand into his chest, throwing his back against the wall with enough force that the wind was knocked from his lungs.

Sullo Pria clutched his throat with her left hand as she lowered herself to his eye level and glared hatefully into his eyes. "When did you tell Kleal about the recordings?"

"What?" Tech gasped out as he clawed at his handler's iron grip on his throat.

He had no idea what Sullo Pria was talking about, for Tech had never spoken personally with Kleal Selri, least of all about his obsession with recording everything. What was she implying?

Then it struck Tech.

Hunter. Hunter had told Kleal Selri about Tech's recordings and, judging from Sullo Pria's enraged reaction, Hunter had also told Kleal about Tech having to give his recordings up to his handler. But it seemed that Sullo Pria did not know that Hunter was the one who had told Kleal, and Tech was going to keep it that way.

Anything to protect his brother.

Anything.

Tech knew he was a terrible liar, but he could evade and deflect better than most clones he knew. He'd taught himself how to deflect when Sullo Pria had started her "emotion therapy" sessions with him, as he had never been perfect enough for his handler's tastes.

But, for Hunter and his brothers, Tech would deflect Sullo Pria's wrath onto himself happily.

"Kleal Selri asked to see what I had recorded after a simulation battle, and I mentioned that you had shown interest in my recordings too. I did not know that it was wrong-"

"You knew full well that I ordered you to never tell anyone about your recordings!" Sullo Pria snarled as her grip on Tech's throat tightened, completely cutting off all of his air before she threw Tech to the ground.

Pain shot through Tech's body as he hit the durasteel flooring, stars dancing in his vision as he tried to catch his breath. He heard Sullo Pria ranting above him and felt the unmistakable agony of her boot striking into his ribs. Tech curled into himself as his handler continued to beat him, stopping only to yank him to his feet and throw Tech across the room, towards her desk.

Tech stumbled and caught himself precariously on the lip of Sullo Pria's desk, each breath that hissed from his lungs short and pained as he turned to face Sullo Pria. She stalked up to him, eyes burning with fury and hatred as she moved uncomfortably close to Tech's chest. Tech tried to squirm away from his handler, but she pinned him to her desk with one hand - he had never realized just how strong Sullo Pria was, or how frail his body was compared to the towering Kaminoan.

Sullo Pria leaned down, her teeth bared in a snarl that steamed Tech's goggles, then, suddenly, she brushed her fingers down Tech's cheek. The wave of revulsion that slammed through Tech's chest at Sullo Pria's unwarranted touch almost made Tech throw up, his spine stiffening as she pulled away from him with a mix of rage and… something he could not read blazing through Sullo Pria's eyes.

"I told you to never speak of your recordings, and you refused to listen. Clearly, I have failed in my training," Sullo Pria rumbled, "and we need to rectify that, don't we, Tech?"

The sound of Tech's name coming from his handler made him freeze, horror, fear and revulsion battling within him as her mocking tone. Tech's name was for his brothers, the first step towards acceptance within Experimental Unit 99, and hearing the scorn with which Sullo Pria said his name made him feel insignificant and lesser than even the tiniest microbial germ.

Sullo Pria noticed Tech's nervousness and smirked, clearly enjoying his discomfort as she slowly stepped away from him and gave Tech the space to straighten up and watch his handler suspiciously. "As a special operatives commando, you will need to be trained how to resist torture, should you ever be captured by the enemy. You do understand what this training entails, do you not?"

"Yes, I do," Tech answered.

He had seen Hunter and Wrecker return from their own torture resistance training sessions, both jumpier than normal and far more closed off and snappy than any other time he'd seen them. Naturally, Tech had researched the methods used in torture resistance training, and understood from a logical point of mind the purpose of the training.

Tech had been far too curious for his own good and had peppered Hunter with questions about what his resistance training had been like, only for Hunter to pointedly ignore him. Tech had wanted to understand so that he could log the data from his brother's emotions and thoughts on the training, but that did not mean that Tech actually wanted to undergo torture resistance training himself.

It wasn't that Tech was afraid of the resistance training itself, but that he knew Sullo Pria would take something as dangerous and stress-inducing as torture resistance training and double-down on the "torture" aspect. But Tech knew that he could not refuse his handler's orders and, with defeat sagging his shoulders, Tech submitted to his handler's cruelty.

In the hours that ekked by, each hour interspersed with a new method of torture, Tech came to realize that he had never understood pain before today. The emotion therapy he'd been besieged by for years was laughable in its scale of agony, a mere pinched nerve compared to the fire that blazed through his body like serrated blades, digging all the way into Tech.

The agony of electrocution, waterboarding, the breaking of his arm and ribs, and the use of high pitched frequencies and blinding lights only a small sample of what Sullo Pria had in store for him. Tech passed out after Sullo Pria snapped his right knee, his body incapable of withstanding the torture any longer.

"Get up."

Sullo Pria's voice broke through the dam of unconsciousness in Tech's mind, pulling him out of the black fog that had overtaken his mind and to the sneering cold of his handler's face. Sullo Pria grabbed Tech by the collar of his shirt and yanked him to his feet, his knee protesting sharply as his feet scrambled to righten himself.

"We will continue this tomorrow," she snapped as she shoved Tech outside of her quarters, "do not be late."

Tech nodded weakly to Sullo Pria's comment then, weakly, trudged towards his barracks. He slumped against the wall as he walked, using it as support as his knee started to waver underneath his weight. Finally, Tech made it to his barracks, though he almost collapsed when he stumbled on the steps that led down into the room.

He knew it was late - about 0247 - and he hoped that his brothers were asleep. He did not wish to bother them with his injuries, and Tech did not feel like explaining how he'd come about such injuries and bruising. Hs brothers didn't need to know about Sullo Pria and his torture resistance training. It was, after all, exactly what Hunter and Wrecker endured, wasn't it?

Tech had almost reached his bunk when he felt his twisted knee give out from underneath him, the sudden loss of functionality from his leg throwing Tech to the ground with a loud thwack. Tech bit back the hiss of pain that tried to claw its way out from his throat, and tried to scramble to his feet before his brothers woke up.

He didn't hear Hunter move and, relieved at the thought that his brothers were still asleep, Tech pulled himself up to his feet and limped to his bunk. He collapsed onto his bunk, back falling against the mattress before he picked up his right leg up, swung it onto his bed and-

Brushed against a distinctly warm body.

Tech froze, his right leg hanging as he turned his head to his right, the red glow of his recorder giving off just enough light to illuminate the piercing gaze of Crosshair watching him.

Tech let out a cry of shock and scrambled off his bunk, his body slamming to the floor as he tried to get as much distance between himself and Crosshair as he could. He felt his right knee buckle, the crack of bone obvious in the still air, and fell to his back, hands clenched into fists as he tried to fight the urge to scream.

Then he felt Crosshair's arm snake under his back, the sniper's touch surprisingly gentle as he helped Tech up. Tech leaned into Crosshair's shoulder - with a muttered apology aimed towards his brother - as Crosshair helped Tech back to his bunk.

Tech heard Crosshair call for Hunter, the sniper's voice unusually strained, as his consciousness started to fade. Crosshair whispered reassurances to Tech as Hunter and Wrecker's voices became stark in the back of Tech's mind, Wrecker's fury booming through the barracks as Hunter placed a reassuring hand on Tech's good shoulder.

"Who did this?"

"Was it regs?" Wrecker snarled, though it sounded like his brother was speaking from underwater by the muffled reverberations of his deep rumble.

"I'll kill them if so," Crosshair snapped.

"Not…" Tech coughed, his lungs straining from the water that had been forced down his throat by Sullo Pria, "not 'regs'... did it… to myself…"

Before Tech could hear his brothers' response, he fell into an unsteady state of unconsciousness, rendering him completely unaware of the concerned looks Crosshair and Hunter shared. Or how Wrecker paced around the barracks, gnawing on his hand anxiously as Hunter ran to find the nearest medical droid to assist Tech.

"-and, much like the Geonosian hivemind, the lylek of Ryloth's equatorial forests, are run by a queen hive mind. Though, from what I have read, the lylek are far more cannibalistic than the Geonosians, as the largest lyleks will eat the smallest members of their hivemind.

"The lylek have an armored exoskeleton that protects the species from blaster bolts, making them near impossible to kill. Because of their large size and hive qualities, lyleks have become the apex predators of Ryloth's jungles, though there are subsets of Twi'leks that have adapted to living in the forest who have made it tradition to kill lyleks for spiritual ceremonies…"

Tech rambled on as he worked on the cuirass that he was making to be his own unique armor, much like his brothers, though different altogether. He'd been given the base katarn-class armor a week ago by Kleal Selri, and he had been modifying and adapting his armor to fit his unique skills for the last week.

Crosshair, who was the only other member of his unit in the barracks that day, was cleaning his rifle beside Tech, listening quietly to his rambling. Tech appreciated Crosshair's wordless show of support, even though he assumed Crosshair really wasn't interested in Tech's hundreds of hours of factoids.

But Crosshair had never once complained about Tech's rambling and, ever since the first night of Tech's torture resistance training when he'd had to be carted off to the medical bay, Crosshair had become extremely protective of Tech. Crosshair seemed to hover over Tech's shoulder whenever they ate in the cafeteria, or whenever Tech and his brothers would walk the hallways of Kamino - and the clones who had once bullied Tech seemed to have picked up on Crosshair's sudden change in attitude towards Tech, and all avoided Tech as if he was plague-ridden.

The Crosshair who had been wary and distrustful of Tech had vanished that night, and Tech vastly preferred this Crosshair. Crosshair didn't talk to Tech much, but his presence and willingness to listen to Tech was more than enough for him.

"I bet Wrecker could defeat a lylek," Crosshair snorted as Tech rambled on about the armored exoskeletons of the insectoid creature.

Tech blinked and turned towards Crosshair, surprised by his brother's interruption and obvious interest in the topic, then smiled. "I imagine that, should Wrecker use his strength to wrestle a lylek onto its back, he could expose its more vulnerable belly scales and use his vibroblade to possibly cut into a lylek's skin. I still would not recommend it though, as lyleks are poisonous, and I would rather not have to make the antidote for Wrecker should he be poisoned by one."

Crosshair raised an eyebrow as he turned to Tech, rifle forgotten in his hands, a curious, calculating look in his eyes. "How do you know about the antidote? That doesn't seem like it would be something the general Twi'lek population would know about, let alone you, if these lyleks live in the jungles only."

"It's not common knowledge among outsiders, but I did purchase a field guide that a former member of the jungle colonies of Twi'leks wrote. I still have it, if you want to read through it, Cross? It is actually quite informative, and not just on lyleks! Apparently there is a tree, native to the southernmost sections of the equator, called the Ch'sei Shar, that can strangle trespassers with these massive vines! They even have a-"

Tech's datapad, which was laid out to the left of the cuirass he was working on, pinged, interrupting him as it relayed that a message had come through to him. Crosshair stiffened suspiciously as Tech placed his soldering iron next to his cuirass and grabbed his datapad.

"Who is it?" Crosshair growled as Tech pulled up the message and read through it, his older brother shifting so that he could peer over Tech's shoulder to look at his datapad.

Tech shot Crosshair a look as he stashed his datapad out of Crosshair's view and gave a mild shrug. "My handler. It's just my weekly check-in with her, so that she knows how I am faring in Unit 99. It's nothing to worry about, Cross."

Crosshair did not respond as Tech started to pack away his armor and tools in their respective boxes near his bunk, though Tech knew that Crosshair quite implicitly did not trust Sullo Pria. Crosshair had never met her, and Tech avoided ever talking about his handler, but Crosshair didn't need to know much more than that she had made Tech spy on him to make the sniper hate Sullo Pria. Tech knew that Crosshair didn't believe that his injuries after torture resistance training came from individual simulations, as Tech had reassured his brothers, but Crosshair didn't know the truth - yet.

Tech had not dared tell his brothers about Sullo Pria, not when he knew how poorly his brothers would react and how Sullo Pria herself would respond. Tech wanted to keep his brothers safe from his handler, even if it meant lying to them about the source of his injuries.

"Be careful, little brother," Crosshair warned as Tech moved towards the door of their barracks, the warning in his words obvious even to Tech.

"I will be fine," Tech reassured before he gave a wave to Crosshair and headed out of his barracks.

Tech reached Sullo Pria's quarters to see that her door was cracked open and, after a peek inside, that she was nowhere to be found. Curiosity pricked along Tech's spine as he peeked around the hallway, and then back into her quarters.

She wasn't around and, judging from the stark blue glow emanating through the room, she'd left her computer on. Tech took one last glance down the hallway and snuck into her quarters, moving to her computer cautiously before he woke the computer with a touch of his fingers.

The first words he saw on the screen were "Experimental Unit 99" and, as he flicked through the numerous files, a sense of worry and horror clawed into his chest. Kleal Selri had told him that his handler did not have the clearance for the data on his brothers, and could only access some of Tech's files from his simulations and commando training sessions, so why did she have all of their files?

The sound of cold voices snapped Tech's attention away from his handler's computer, the unmistakable anger of Sullo Pria's voice causing Tech to scramble away from her computer and to the chair across from her desk. Tech's left leg bounced nervously as Sullo Pria and a younger Kaminoan entered her quarters, their conversation cutting off mid-sentence when Sullo Pria noticed Tech.

Her mouth twitched with irritation before Sullo Pria greeted Tech coolly, her gaze shifting towards her Kaminoan companion before she waved off the Kaminoan. The Kaminoan hissed something to Sullo Pria before they grabbed Sullo Pria's arm and drug her towards her door.

Sullo Pria shot Tech a glare as she marched over to her computer and logged out of it, and pointed angrily towards where he was sitting. "Do not move a muscle from that chair, understand? I will be right back."

Tech nodded curtly in response, though he could not tear his thoughts away from the file Sullo Pria had on his brothers and himself. He had never been able to access the Experimental Unit 99 files himself, not even when he'd attempted to hack Kleal Selri's computer, and Tech knew that Sullo Pria wasn't supposed to access their files either.

Tech watched as Sullo Pria argued with the younger Kaminoan, then snapped his gaze to his handler's computer. This was his only chance to access the files he'd stumbled upon, and finally understand the Kaminoans intent in creating Experimental Unit 99.

He practically leapt to her computer, fingers flying over the screen as he inputted Sullo Pria's password into the computer. Files and files appeared before his eyes, labeled in the Kaminoan language with code phrases and names. Tech shot a look towards his handler as he searched for the file on Experimental Unit 99, eyes and brain logging each file he opened and closed, even as they opened for a mere second or two.

Then, buried behind a line of code that seemed to be hardwired into Sullo Pria's mainframe, and not the general Kaminoan cyber center, Tech found the file. The file was massive, packed with pictures, video, audio-recording and hundreds of subfiles.

He recognized protocol numbers like his own - Enhanced Clone Protocol 8 - along with an array of clone numbers, none of which he'd ever heard of or seen reference to before. The sheer scale of clone numbers inside the file made Tech pause, though he shook his head and continued to shift through file after file.

Hunter's file flashed past quickly, along with Crosshair's and Wrecker's. All with their medical records, lab results and simulation reports. Hunter's most recent simulation report had a scrawling, lilting set of notes that were in a language Tech could not immediately determine-

The sudden slam of Sullo Pria's door refocused Tech, and it was then when Tech found the file he was looking for. The file had extra firewalls that Tech crawled through as quickly as he could, and then opened to a clinical statement.

Experimental Unit 99.

Created to ensure Kamino's lasting presence and alliance with Lord Tyranus, Experimental Unit 99 were created with enhanced senses, strength and eyesight and intelligence - these four clones are the only enhanced subjects to survive past their first year.

In the six months that all four clones have worked together as Experimental Unit 99, they have shown remarkable adaptability to situations and cooperate well together. With further training and experience, they will serve their purpose as Kaminoa's insurance policy for clone production once our employer has executed his plan.

Experimental Unit 99's inhibitor chips were affected by their mutations in gestation and, after thorough testing of their inhibitor chips, it can be concluded that all four clones of Experimental Unit 99 could be immune to the effects of the chips. Should this be true, then it will ensure Experimental Unit 99's loyalty to Kamino, and cement their role as Kamino's only means of defense against Lord Tyranus and his plans-

"What are you doing?"

Tech never saw the strike coming, not even with Sullo Pria's enraged shout, and stars swam in his vision when his head slammed against the desk. Tech felt Sullo Pria pin him to the desk, her words running over themselves as she screamed down at him, the weight of the Kaminoan making it impossible for Tech to move.

Tech's vision swam as Sullo Pria struck him across the back of his head again, stars dancing as his hearing and senses wavered with each successive strike.

"He will tell Kleal about your files," the other Kaminoan's voice hissed from directly behind Tech's shoulders, "what do we do?"

Sullo Pria struck Tech again, this time nearly blacking his vision and knocking him unconscious before he heard her voice waver in his head. "He saw… -thing… reconditioning… ineffective. … mind wipe is our only guarantee…"

Tech's heart stopped at Sullo Pria's snarl, the terrifying thought of a mind wipe clearing Tech's senses enough that he could hear everything his handler said clearly.

"Are you certain?"

"A mind wipe is the only way for us to be safe."

"But Kleal and the other members of Experimental Unit 99 will notice if we do a complete mind wipe on CT-33-7641…"

Sullo Pria scowled, her voice rumbling and deep as she dug her fingers into Tech's scalp and shoved him against her desk. "We will only wipe the most pertinent information from his mind. Prepare your medical bay and your droids, Kizoh, we cannot let anyone know of what we are doing. They will kill us if they learn about what I have been doing to him, and who knows how Nala Se and the others will react if they learned that I hacked their files for the information on Experimental Unit 99?

"Wiping his mind is the only option we have."

Tech felt Sullo Pria's grip tighten on his throat as she pulled him to his feet and gave him a heavy shove towards the door. He stumbled, feet catching underneath himself as his handler snarled at him and stalked up behind him. Fear shuddered through Tech's small frame as Sullo Pria leaned down over his shoulder and dug her fingers against his shoulder, drawing blood as she breathed down his neck.

"If you make any indication of what we are doing, I will kill you. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Tech breathed weakly as defeat clawed through his chest.

He'd always feared having his mind wiped, having the only part of himself that he valued taken away, and he had led himself to believe that he'd never have to endure losing his mind. Sullo Pria had never dared to wipe Tech's mind before as punishment, the most she had ever risked was reconditioning him.

But it was obvious that she would risk anything to keep what she had secret. And Tech could understand why, though his brain was still attempting to process what he'd read.

He had always assumed that the clones were programmed to a degree - they had to be, to guarantee a mass of obedient soldiers-, but he'd never seen his suspicions confirmed. And what did the statement mean in suggesting that Tech and his brothers would stay loyal to Kamino? And who was Lord Tyranus?

That wasn't the name of the Jedi who had commissioned the creation of the clones, and it did not sound like the Jedi names Tech had read about. So who was Lord Tyranus… and who was the employer the statement mentioned?

Tech tried to think of anything but where he was going, but his thoughts were becoming more and more troubled as Sullo Pria shoved him into a small medical bay. The Kaminoan Sullo Pria had been speaking with, by her quarters, turned to face them as Sullo Pria shoved Tech towards the operating table, their eyes glittering coldly as they caught Tech's arm and forced him onto the operating table.

"Strap him down," Sullo Pria hissed as Tech attempted to squirm out of the Kaminoan's grip, "he's feistier than he looks."

"Understood," Kizoh nodded serenely, unbothered by Tech's desperate pleas as they strapped Tech down to the operating table.

Sullo Pria folded her arms across her chest and watched impassively as the medical droids approached Tech, arms extending to reveal large needles that they positioned at each side of Tech's temples. Tech stiffened under the restraints and thrashed as he heard Kizoh's voice fade into the terror of what was happening to him-

Excruciating pain tore through Tech's body as he felt the needles pierce through his skull, the whir of machinery a dull buzz in his head-

Tech shuddered awake, his eyes opening to the durasteel ceiling of his barracks. He could feel a headache pounding in his skull, slamming against his temple like a jackhammer.

Tech winced as he slowly gathered himself to his feet and swung off his bunk, though he felt a wave of dizziness the moment his feet touched the floor. Tech steadied himself on the side of his bunk as his lungs drew in air and he tried to remember why his head hurt so much.

Headaches were not uncommon for Tech, but this one felt much different than normal. He remembered that he had been working on his new armor, but nothing after that. There were gaps in his impeccable memory, and that fact scared Tech.

What had he done? What was he missing? What-

Wrecker's laughter slammed into Tech, shuddering through his aching head just as the door to his barracks opened. The hiss of hydraulics did not normally bother Tech, but the sound made Tech almost buckle, his fists clenching at his sides as his brothers strolled into their barracks.

"Did you see that regs' face? He couldn't handle being outshot by a defect," Crosshair sneered, though there was a lilt of laughter that rumbled at the edges of his venomous tone.

"It was great-"

Wrecker cut himself off as Hunter stiffened beside him, and then all three of Tech's brothers turned to stare at him.

"Tech?" Hunter was at his side immediately, arms wrapping around Tech's torso for support as Wrecker and Crosshair hurried to Tech's side.

"What's wrong with him?" Wrecker asked, his voice wavering as Tech's headache continued to pound away at his skull.

"I don't know," Hunter breathed as he moved Tech to his bunk and, gently, brushed the back of his hand against Tech's temple. "I can feel his agony and hear his headache, but… I don't know what's wrong. It doesn't… feel normal."

Crosshair bristled beside Tech - Tech realized distantly that Crosshair was pressed against his left side, his hand on Tech's shoulder with a firm yet comforting grip - before Tech felt Crosshair's hands rifle through his pockets. Tech tried to push Crosshair away from his pockets, but his body refused to move by the time Crosshair had found what he was looking for, and Tech could do nothing more than sigh in defeat as Crosshair let out a deep growl.

"He said that he was meeting his handler," Crosshair hissed - Tech was struggling to stay awake, and his brothers' voices were becoming more and more muffled-, "she must have done something to him. She's the one who broke his arm and knee, Hunter. She's torturing him."

Wrecker said something in response but Tech couldn't make sense of anything more his brothers said for, with a pained hiss of air, he collapsed against Hunter. He heard his brothers shout his name before Tech lost his battle with consciousness, unaware of the worried looks his brothers shared amongst themselves.

Tech stared past his datapad, unaware of the words scrawling across his datapad as he stared out the window of his barracks. His head still ached from his mind wipe, though it was nowhere near as painful as it had been the first day.

His brothers had carried him to the medical bay after he'd fallen unconscious, and they had not left his side until he'd woken up a day later. From what Tech understood, Hunter had confronted Kleal Selri about Sullo Pria, though Hunter had not given Tech any information on how their unit's lead had reacted. Tech assumed that Kleal was furious and it did not seem to be a coincidence that Tech and his brothers had not been deployed on simulations or in training in the three days since Tech's mind had been wiped.

There were gaps in his memories and a deeply ingrained sense of loss that Tech had been struggling with for days. All Tech valued about himself had been stripped from him, and he didn't even remember why. Panic clawed at Tech's throat, and he could not help but cast a nervous glance around his barracks to where his brothers were sitting.

Wrecker was perched beside him on Tech's bunk, legs thrown out over Tech's own as Wrecker thumbed boredly at the stuffed tooka, Lula, Tech had made him four months ago. Crosshair was across the room, cleaning his rifle as always, though the sniper kept glancing towards Tech with an expression that was impossible to read.

And Hunter, his protective, fierce older brother, was pacing back and forth near the door, his vibroblade held tightly in his left hand. They were worried about Tech, and he almost couldn't stomach it.

Tech never wanted his brothers to worry about him, not like this. He wanted to assist them, to aid them as best he could. Tech didn't want to burden his brothers when they had far more important things to worry about… worries that were not whether their youngest brother was strong enough to be considered one of their own.

"Hey," Wrecker nudged Tech in the side, drawing him from his thoughts and to his brother's worried gaze. "You doin' alright, buddy?"

"I…" Tech looked away from Wrecker and let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping as he shook his head in answer. "No, I am not alright."

Wrecker tried to laugh, but it turned into a crackle of hurt as Tech's oldest brother gently ruffled Tech's hair. "I know… but we are all here for you, you know that, right?"

Tech nodded miserably and clawed at his left arm, uncomfortable with how much he understood that his brothers loved him. Tech loved Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker even more than he loved learning new knowledge, and he had assumed for months that his brothers did not feel the same way over him.

… No. Not assumed…. Tried to argue with himself that they didn't love him as much. If his brothers loved Tech as much as he did they, he would have to accept the fact that he was worth their time and that he was more than just their mechanic and engineer. He'd never felt worthy of affection or love before, and it was an all too new and strange feeling knowing that his brothers did love him.

"I know, Wrecker. I-"

The door to their barracks hissed open suddenly, cutting Tech off as he heard the unmistakable stomp of Sullo Pria's feet. Tech scrambled to the corner of his bed, his heart racing as his handler's gaze turned sharp, hate-filled daggers in his direction.

Wrecker stood up from Tech's bunk, his large frame shifted purposefully to cover Tech as Wrecker let out a low snarl that rippled through the air dangerously. "You aren't welcome here."

"I am welcome anywhere I please," Sullo Pria snapped as she took a step towards Tech, only for Hunter to block her advance.

Across the room, Tech saw Crosshair stiffen at Sullo Pria's intrusion, his lanky frame uncurling from his seat as he shot the Kaminoan a murderous glare. Sullo Pria did not notice as Crosshair stalked up beside Hunter, his teeth bared in a snarl as he leveled his Firepuncher in her direction.

"Lower your rifle, CT-9904," she snarled, hatred - and fear - blazing in her eyes.

Tech peeked around Wrecker's arm as Crosshair continued to tighten his grip on his rifle, the hatred Crosshair felt for Sullo Pria making the air hot. Wrecker continued to stiffen his stance, angry growls hissing from his lungs as he shot murderous glares in Sullo Pria's direction.

"No," Crosshair spat as he angled himself in front of Sullo Pria and braced his legs for a fight, "I am not letting you harm my little brother ever again."

Hunter stepped to Crosshair's side, left hand signaling for Wrecker to stay beside Tech, before he tensed into a preparatory stance beside the sniper. "You do not have permission to be here, Sullo Pria. Kleal Selri banned you from ever talking to our brother or us, and I would recommend you leave now."

Tech was glad he was recording when he actually saw Sullo Pria flinch, fear flashing across her face as she took stock of the rage spiking off of Tech's brothers. He could tell that Crosshair was moments from leveling his rifle on the Kaminoan and firing, a situation that would lead indefinitely to Crosshair's death.

Wrecker was itching for a fight, though he did not dare move away from Tech's bunk as he stared Sullo Pria down.

And Hunter, who was always much more rational and cool-headed than Crosshair and Wrecker, looked like he was seconds away from murdering the Kaminoan. Hunter's spine was stiff and he had twisted his vibroblade into its usual reverse grip and, from the way Hunter was shifting on his feet, he was struggling with his desire to protect Tech and to not harm a Kaminoan.

They all knew what would happen if a clone attacked a Kaminoan, even for clones as "special" as Tech and his brothers were. Tech glanced between his three brothers and Sullo Pria as an unwelcome feeling of worry and fear started to gnaw away at his chest.

He could not allow his brothers to attack Sullo Pria, though some uncharacteristically vengeful side of Tech wanted to let his brothers kill her. But he couldn't let them risk their lives for something as… petty as revenge.

Tech took a deep breath as he stepped off his bunk, pushed past Wrecker - who tried to grab for him as he hissed a worried "Tech!" after him-, then pushed in between Hunter and Crosshair. Sullo Pria raised an eyebrow as Tech glared up at his former handler and, with an edge to his normally monotone voice, snarled.

"You heard my brothers. Leave."

Sullo Pria snorted bemusedly at Tech's snarl, then sneered down at him. "I am still your handler, CT-33-7641, and you will listen to me-"

"No."

Sullo Pria jerked backwards at Tech's response, her eyes widening as Tech crossed his arms over his chest, and glared directly into his former handler's soulless eyes.

"You have no power over me any longer, nor am I weak enough to let you continue to use me for your own personal gain and pleasure," Tech said levelly, a smile pulling at his lips as he watched the rage on Sullo Pria's face shift into shock.

Tech had rarely ever stood up for himself against Sullo Pria, had never been brave enough to tell her no before, and he could not help but feel immensely proud of himself at how utterly shocked she was that he was actually defending himself. He wasn't afraid of her any longer, not when he thought of how protective his brothers were over him or how much they loved him.

So long as he had his brothers, Tech could be just as strong as Wrecker, just as fierce as Crosshair, and just as protective and caring as Hunter.

Sullo Pria backed away from Tech and his brothers, her eyes widening as Crosshair took one step closer to her. Finally, she backed up all the way to their door and, with a final glare in Tech's direction, she stormed away. The door hissed closed behind her and, with her gone, Tech let out a breath he did not realize he'd been holding.

He felt Hunter pat him on the shoulder as Crosshair smiled down at Tech, the sniper's proud smile making Tech flush and duck his head. Wrecker came up from behind Tech and whacked him on the shoulder gently with a raucous laugh that dissipated the tension in their barracks.

"I'm proud of you, Tech," Hunter said as he, to Tech's surprise, considering how rare it was for Hunter to exhibit his pride in physical affection, gently ruffled Tech's hair, "that took a lot of bravery to stand up to her."

Crosshair nodded along with Hunter's comment then, with that proud smile still visible, reached out and gave Tech a gentle squeeze on his shoulder. Crosshair didn't need to say anything to Tech, for all of his pride and surprise was written all over his shoulders and face. Tech returned Crosshair's smile just as Wrecker's arms wrapped around all three of his brothers and snapped them into a tight hug, Wrecker's face burying against Tech's shoulder as he ruffled Tech's hair with his left hand.

Tech felt his ears burn at his brothers' closeness, not with embarrassment or revulsion, but with a feeling of pride he usually reserved for his intelligence. He'd never thought of himself as the type to stand up for himself, least of all with authoritative figures like Sullo Pria, but his brothers had given him the strength to.

Crosshair had once distrusted him for his newness and spying, but the sniper had forgiven him and become Tech's quietest but staunchest defender. Wrecker was the first one to accept Tech, and it had been unconditional, as if Wrecker had believed in Tech from the start. And Hunter, their leader and bravest brother, had always been the one to comfort Tech at night, when his brain would not let him move on from his nightmares.

Though his brothers may not say it outright, Tech understood that his brothers loved him, just as much as he loved all three of them. He felt tears sting his eyes as Tech buried himself into his brothers' hugs and finally allowed himself to cry - though these tears were not ones of hurt or pain, but freeing tears. He may be emotionally distant, but he was also free, free from Sullo Pria, and free from the worry that his brothers could never love him as much as they did each other.

He understood now that Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker would always be there for Tech, and he vowed to do the same for his brothers. For they were a family, and family stood up for each other, no matter what.