Chapter Text
‘These just might be the humble beginnings for something totally awesome and great.’
Wilco was having a really, really bad dream.
He was falling, his arms and legs flailing without any purchase to be found. Nothing there to grab a hold of. And then, his body hit the ground. Crashing into it, really hard. The darkness soon consuming him totally and completely…
… a flash of light? A voice? Someone calling for him?
Wilco almost jumped up and out of his dream, not literally as his body wasn’t cooperating.
But the sentiment of the shock was there. The cold sweat, the heavy body, the beeping sounds of machines around him and then… something sounding so totally familiar calling out to him?
“Whoa! Easy there fella!”
“Wha?.. Where?…”
“It’s alright! You are safe now."
Wilco could easily identify the familiar face right in front of him.
The one talking to him soothingly. Assuring him he was, what? Safe?
“You. You are a…”
“Yes. That I am. And the name is Gregor.”
The clone trooper in front of him chuckled. Sounding a tad, well, guess different was the word from the vod’e Wilco usually was surrounded by.
And these, clones, weren’t the ones from his squad. Nor anyone else Wilco had met. The name certainly did not ring a bell for Wilco at this time. Then again, his brain felt a tad mushy still. Must’ve been from the… fall?
“And I am Rex.”
The other clone came to view for Wilco just then.
“Rex…” Wilco’s memory was jogged this time around. “Captain Rex?”
“Yes. The very same.”
Wilco was at a loss.
The memories of the last happenings still somewhat fuzzy in his mind.
But then, he was reminded of being shot, by… Rampart!? No, couldn’t be right? Why would his commanding officer shoot him? But, he was wounded? So? WTF?
Wilco also remembered having woken up somewhere with, maybe two troopers and a youngling? Their names… Their names were right on the top of his mind… Echo, Tech and… yes, Omega.
They had tried to explain the situation to Wilco the best they could to him, still, it was all a big blur, having woken up and then nothing?
But, they had taken care of his wounds after apparently finding him in a forest on… Serenno? His last mission? Yes that was it! So, where was he now and with, well the famous Clone Captain Rex?
Wilco felt like his mind was about to blow up. He felt, heavy. And not jus the body, but his brain too. Must’ve been the medicines he was clearly being pumped into with.
Then again, the fall? Well, guess it was all good?
These were clones after all, so, he was alright and safe? Just like, this, Gregor had told him.
The two others in the room were staring at him though, with rather worried looks on their faces too.
Wilco tried so hard to remember, the bits and pieces rattling around in his brain. A nugget here and another there. A lot of useless information to process as he had lost all frame of reference, it seemed.
But out of the blue, a piece fell forward as Wild was reminded of the one claiming to be, Rex.
“But you were listed as, well, dead?”
Wilco was asking as he could not be sure.
“Well, I’m afraid the news of my demise are greatly exaggerated.”
Rex just had to laugh, but the cover had been a good one and apparently still working rather nicely.
Wilco could only stare at Rex. So, he was alive. Okay. What did it mean for Wilco?
“Where am I?”
“In our medical bay. I know its not much, but if is nice and clean and sufficient, for now.”
Rex assured Wilco then.
“When you say our, what does it mean, exactly?”
Wilco might have been in a bad shape, a lot of pain and his mind, well not in the best of shapes. But, something just struck odd to him.
And he hadn’t advanced in rank so fast if it wasn’t for his quick thinking mind, no matter how drugged up or half dead he might just have been.
“Well, this, is our base of operations.”
Rex simply told him. A rather coy answer if any.
“Your base of…”
Wilco was at a loss, again.
But his head was throbbing something bad. So guess this wasn’t really the time for twenty questions after all.
There was a moment of silence hanging there, the beeping machines making the only noise in the room.
“We removed your chip.”
The one calling himself Gregor broke the silence suddenly.
“Chip?”
“Yeah, the control chip. The Kaminoans put them in all of us.”
Gregor clarified. Not that it did, clarify anything, not really.
“You know, to control, us.”
Gregor chuckled again, something he seemed to do, repeatedly.
Wilco simply glared at Gregor for a while there, but then again, a piece of something fell into the front to his brain. And.
“So, the rumours were true.”
Wilco had heard of them. That he was now sure of.
The inhibitor chips.
Something spoken in hushed tones in the quiet corners of the imperial bases among the clones. But Wilco had never really put much weight into the rumours. As he surely had not felt, well, controlled?
Had he?
No, that much he was sure of. Wilco had simply been doing his very duty. Being the proper soldier. Until…
Well, he had been shot for doing his duty, doing the right thing. Guess, no good dead really never went unpunished?
And so, that memory had unravelled itself.
Because Wilco remembered it quite clearly now. Being shot by Rampart.
Huh?
That was a, revelation for sure.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, yours wasn’t working.”
Rex elaborated to Wilco then.
Wilco’s eyes flew wide.
Feeling, well something. Good?
Because he had been himself even if most likely so many others around him had been affected by those, chips. Well, at the moment, Wilco could not really tell, as most of his troopers had been doing nothing short of great service while serving under him.
“So, what happens now?”
Wilco wasn’t still sure as to what really had transpired, not trusting his memory, not fully.
And where he even was and if he should trust these two, clones.
Then again, the other two back on Serenno? As Wilco had to assume they were no longer there, right? The two, or three? had saved him. Most likely his very life.
So, Wilco was grateful for that. Even if they had also been, well, part of the team trying to steal the war chest.
At the moment, this was all too much and Wilco wasn’t feeling it. He felt the fatigue. And guess, he needed to heal still. So, glancing at the other two, he simply waited for their response.
“You, will have to rest so you can heal.”
Rex’s response was simple enough.
“We’ll leave you to it.”
And with that, the two clones were off, leaving Wilco alone.
Well, not exactly, as he had spotted the two guards outside the medical room, when the Captain and Gregor had left.
Wilco closed his eyes, letting sleep gain him once more. Guess the rest of the questions would simply have to wait, even if he had so many of them remaining.
And then, Wilco fell into a restless slumber.
*
“He did not even know who I was.”
Gregor was sulking, well, most likely mock-sulking.
With the two of them back in Rex’s office, discussing the matter of, Captain Wilco.
After all, Rex Wilco had recognised, for sure.
But not Gregor, the great Clone Commando!
“Oh, I am sorry sweetie, did that hurt your feelings?”
Rex teased his friend, just a tad.
“Well, I was dead and all too. So.”
“Yeah, the infamous Clone Captain Gregor, who only yearns for a little bit of recognition.”
“Well, you my dear, are a legend, apparently.”
Gregor played the forgotten clone card for a moment longer. Even if he hadn’t really been all that offended. Of the very fact of Rex being apparently the famous one of the two.
“Hey, it’s all good. To be covert and all, you know. Nobody knowing who you really are.”
Rex reminded Gregor then.
“Yeah, I am sure it is. As not all of us can be the Most Famous Clone.”
Gregor glared menacingly at Rex for a moment longer, before he broke to laughter as did Rex.
“Oh, Gregor, what would I do without you.”
Rex wasn’t really asking. Was he.
“Well, not much apparently.”
They both broke into another bout of laughter.
As sometimes, it was so good to simply let it all hang out. For a moment at least.