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Hunter flinched as the blaster bolt landed within a hair's breadth from his face. “Tech, are we set to go yet?”
Hunter pressed up more firmly against the tree, glancing backwards at the advancing clone troopers. He tried not to think about how he and his men would’ve been as obedient and robotic if they’d been regs.
Tech’s voice crackled across the comms. “We are still processing the acquired parts Wrecker and Omega brought back. If we are to use them - ”
“Three minutes!” Echo barked into the comms, cutting off Tech. “We’ll be ready in three, Hunter.”
Hunter tightened his grip on his blaster. “Acknowledged.” It hadn’t been their fault. When his crew had crashed onto Endor, they’d ruined their engine coil and shot the motivator, according to Tech. Wrecker and Omega had been so eager to see the town that Hunter had agreed to let them go on their own.
They hadn’t expected a small legion of clone troopers to be there, or to recognize something about Wrecker that caused them to follow the two back to their ship.
And now Wrecker and Omega were pinned down somewhere that Hunter couldn’t see, Tech and Echo were trying to use the replacement parts Wrecker’d brought back before jumping back into the fight, and Hunter couldn’t even shoot a single enemy.
Hunter exhaled, risking glancing out from behind the tree to shoot at the troopers. They deflected his blaster too easily; mindless in their fight.
He couldn’t suppress his sigh of relief when Wrecker burst out from the trees, tackling one of the clones head-on and throwing him against the others. One of them tried to shoot at Wrecker, but an electric arrow knocked him down before Wrecker could even notice. Hunter grinned, trying to spot Omega hidden in the foliage.
As Wrecker grabbed the armor of an unconscious clone, Hunter sprinted to another tree and took cover again. He found the clones easier targets now that Wrecker had scattered them, but the battle was far from over.
Hunter fired in tandem with Omega, still hidden, watching Wrecker throw a punch. His comms spoke again, Echo’s voice. “Less than two minutes, Hunter.”
Hunter ducked his head as another blaster shot just missed him. He could tell where it was coming from now, a sniper hidden farther back.
Wrecker was still shouting, Omega was firing, and Hunter couldn’t tell it was her or himself who was downing more enemies.
Echo called out another update through the comms as the sniper’s blaster found Hunter’s shoulder. He cursed, throwing himself behind the tree and sinking to the ground. Pressing one hand against the wound, he slammed the other on his comms. “Crosshair, get that sniper!”
It took him too long to realize what he’d said, and the comms went silent. It wasn’t until he heard Wrecker cry out in pain that Hunter leapt up, wincing, and charged at the clones.
There weren’t as many of them as there had previously been, thanks to Wrecker and Omega, but the sniper was still perched in one of the taller trees. Hunter took out the remaining clones before they could attack, then flung himself back under cover as the sniper fired.
Hunter risked a glance at Wrecker. He hadn’t been shot dead-on, but he was lying on the ground, groaning, with a dark injury in his lower chest. Hunter didn’t want to think about what had obviously been the cause of Wrecker’s distraction.
Before the sniper could finish off Wrecker, an arrow hit the trunk beside him. When he turned in Omega’s direction, whipping his blaster, it was all the distraction Hunter needed to dive forward, seize one of Wrecker’s grenades from his belt, and hurl it at the tree.
The explosion wasn’t enough to down the tree, but it shook it enough that the clone lost his footing on the branch with a yell. Hunter didn’t bother to watch him fall, bending down and sliding one of Wrecker’s arms over his shoulder. “Come on, Wrecker.”
“Cr - Crosshair?” Wrecker looked blearily backwards. “Did you - ”
“He’s not here.” Hunter focused on supporting Wrecker, Omega running up to help on his other side.
“Good job, kid.” Hunter ignored the question in her eyes as they led Wrecker to the ship.
When they climbed in, propping Wrecker up against the wall, Tech stepped up to give him a pain tranquilizer. “It is not fatal. He will be fine once I tend to this.”
Wrecker flashed a grin to Omega, hovering nervously behind Hunter. “We made a good team, Omega.”
She nodded at him, grinning back, but Hunter could feel Echo’s eyes on him. He turned away to the cockpit as Omega approached Tech, still tending to Wrecker.
Echo followed Hunter away from the rest of them. “Are you all right?”
Hunter gestured at his shoulder. “Just clipped me. I’m fine.”
“Are you?”
Hunter glanced up, but there wasn’t any malice in Echo’s voice or the way he folded his arms. “What?”
“Hunter.” Echo sighed, looking out the window to the trees covering Endor. “I’ve been with Rex for years. You think he didn't ever call out to Hevy or Cutup when we were on a mission?”
“It was a mistake. I got distracted.” Hunter forced the name out of his mind. “He’s not a part of our team anymore.”
“But he was, long before I was here.” Hunter couldn’t tell who the pitiful look Echo was giving him was meant for. “Rex didn’t believe I was dead, Hunter. He went after me, came back for me when no one else did. Why aren’t we doing the same for Crosshair?”
Hunter couldn’t conceal his flinch at the sound of his name in calmer waters. “It’s not the same. He - ”
“Crosshair was chipped. The same as all of us. Do you think Grey meant to kill his Jedi?”
“We can’t risk it, Echo. You don’t understand.” Hunter shot a glance at the rest of his team -
No, not the rest.
“I don’t understand?” Echo’s voice went cold. “Maybe my chip never activated, but I know what it’s like to lose control of yourself. I had Rex when that happened. Crosshair has no one if we don’t act.”
“We can’t go back to Kamino. We don’t know how to save him. And we have the kid to think about.” Hunter found himself breaking Echo’s gaze as he listed the reasons he’d told himself night after night. They fell apart the more he said them.
“I left Rex for you.” Echo sighed. “That’s not it; I’m sorry. Not just you. This whole crew. Because you were different, like me, and I thought I’d find a place here.” He didn’t speak for a moment, and Hunter wondered distantly if he would lose another teammate.
“But what made us strong - what made us brothers - was our loyalty to one another, Hunter. Because it showed that we were more than just another weapon. We were men.” He paused. “Skywalker understood that. And now he’s dead because of his own troops.”
“We can’t risk everything for one clone.” Hunter spoke quickly, without thinking, before he realized what he’d said.
It would’ve been better if Echo had reacted in anger. Instead, his face fell in disappointment. “If you believe that, then you don’t deserve to be our commander.”
He wasn’t being cruel, just honest.
When Echo left and Hunter was alone in the cockpit, he glanced back at Omega, curled up and asleep at Wrecker’s side. Her comms device was flashing on her wrist. Crosshair’s device.
She’d taken to him somehow faster than anyone else, quietly believing that he wasn’t all bad. And maybe it had been easy for Hunter to take her in, make four into five again. But Omega couldn’t just replace Crosshair, and they all knew that.
Hunter thought back to the last time he’d seen Crosshair, the real last time. When he’d tried to fight the clones taking Crosshair away.
No, no, no. We stay together.
Crosshair, who’d been their brother as much as any of them, fought by their side for years and had once taken down an entire squadron of droids with only Wrecker and their combined strength.
They worked so well together, all five of them - how was Crosshair functioning now, with mindless regs as his allies?
Maybe he just didn’t want to think about it.
But Echo was right. All for one and one for all, even if Crosshair wasn’t himself anymore.
Hunter turned back to the cabin. Wrecker was lifting Omega in his arms, carrying her up to her room. Tech was watching Hunter carefully, but Echo, arms folded, wasn’t even looking at him.
Wrecker frowned when he returned, looking between them. “What’s goin’ on here?”
“I believe that Echo is feeling conflicted because Hunter has made no apparent effort to recover Crosshair since he tried to kill us,” Tech replied, replacing their med kit.
“It wasn’t him,” Echo snapped back. “He’s been chipped, and we’re all standing here doing nothing while Crosshair’s waiting for us - ”
“You’re right.”
All three of them turned to Hunter. “You’re right, Echo,” he repeated, meeting his eyes. “Crosshair wasn’t himself when he attacked us. And it’s not fair of us to leave him behind.”
Tech asked “What are you implying?” but Echo was already nodding, grinning for the first time in so long. Wrecker let out a shout louder than necessary. “Let’s do this!”
It surprised Hunter that it was Tech who was the last to realize. “This is not a reasonable plan.” He hesitated. “Although his absence has been strange. And it has been different without him here.”
“Then let’s do it. We’re clones, and we stick together.” Hunter faced them all, feeling a purpose for the first time since saving Omega. “We’re bringing Crosshair back.”
The Empire had taken enough from them already. They wouldn’t take anyone else.
They were going to save their brother, and no force would stop them.
Hunter exhaled, his mind already racing. “Let’s reunite the Bad Batch.”