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The rough cold of a ship sealed up tightly prickles Crosshair’s skin as he begins to come to.
Shots of pain rip through his skin and bone as his body aches all over. His neck in particular stings and screams with the agony of the needle that interrogator droid had stuck into his neck so many times. Made to be efficient in every way possible, and it certainly was.
Every movement runs through him like hot pokers and he finds himself giving up on the idea of even trying to get up.
Instead the one thing he finds himself able to do, without unnecessary strain, is move his eyes.
As he does he finds the world around him coming into better focus.
The soft hum of hyperspace.
The beeping of buttons and screens.
The swivel of a– chair.
Not too long after catching that piece of sound a figure steps into the fluorescently lit room he was currently being housed in, and in an all too familiar tactical voice says, “Ah, you’re finally awake.”
Cross stares up at him, helpless in being able to reply due to being uncertain if his vocal cords would try to rip themselves to shredder if he tries to speak.
His eyes, on the other hand, move over Tech, studying what had become of the smallest of Clone Force 99 in his absence.
Any thoughts he’d had on the matter now lost in the haze of drugs and pain that he’d been under when they’d pulled him out of that hell hole.
The escape from the prison itself was more of a blur, but he deduced from Tech’s current state, that was for the best.
There were multiple scorch marks on his chest plate where blaster fire had almost made its way through. For such flimsy material Crosshair found himself thankful that it had at least held up when his vod’s life had depended on it.
Still though, he looked rough even for them.
“The pain I presume.” Tech says with a start. Pulling a needle out of a metal case that had been set near the opening. Crosshair cringes at the sight and another wave of pain hits him and he’s left totally frozen by it all.
Stopping in his tracks as this chain of events plays out he attempts to soothe the obvious concern his older brother was displaying, “It won’t take long.”
Ignoring his vod’s attempts at comfort Crosshair forces his body up and begins the agonizing process of sitting up. A desperate display that he didn’t need the concatail of soothing drugs that lay within that small needle in Tech’s hand. Yet as he opens his mouth to more obviously protest, Tech deciding that patiently waiting for him to finish would be for the best in this situation, he finds his throat as dry as the Tatooine desert. That is until the sensation of, what can best be described as, the stabbing of shards of glass ripping him apart comes through. Leaving him a gapping mess unable to produce any sound above a small, pained, squeak.
With a heavy sigh Tech walks over to his bunk and sits down on the floor.
Holding the needle out he motions to it and then Crosshair. “I understand your trepidation. I’m sure you were administered many drugs while under the care of Doctor Hemlock, but this will help you in the healing process that is to come.”
Glaring at the needle as Tech begins to offer it again he waits patiently for his brother to stop. Again trying to reason, “This will help with the pain, Crosshair. Our trust may be– strained now but we are still brothers. It’ll be quick, I’ll make sure of that much. This won’t cause you any more duress. I would never want to cause you any more pain than the Empire has already given you.” His eyes fall to the floor while his hand beings to hold the needle tighter, “No more pain should have to come to any of us now.”
Putting the needle down at his vod’s feet he stays waits patiently for Crosshair to coincide.
He’d been through enough forced injections for the rest of his life, so Tech would feel far better about all of this if he were given permission to do so.
Even if he wasn’t, he would find other ways to aid in Cross’s recovery.
There were always the pill form of the medication that flowed within the needle, though that could be more expensive to find depending on what he needed.
But, if it was what needed to be done it would be done. He was still holding out that Crosshair would accept what he could get his hand on now.
His suffering was enough to make Tech’s heart ache, and already being well versed on various means of torture that the Hemlock would have at his finger tips, even if it was positioned as experimentation, only added to this.
Because he knew the minutia of pain that could be inflicted on a victim if saw fit by those in power. How ever fiber of their being could warp and shift, or feel as such, if one person gave the order.
It was horrifying.
But their lives were horrifying now.
If just one of them were caught, captured, or tortured it could hold sway over the whole collective. As so aptly show by how far they’d gone to save Crosshair despite everything they’d already gone through with him.
Hunter may have protested at the idea of helping him at first but even he had to admit, Crosshair would always be one of them.
“Whatever you need, Cross,” Tech adds after a few minutes have passed, “We’ll take care of it. We are not looking to cause any further strain on you and only wish to help.”
Crosshair raises an eyebrow, surprisingly experiencing no negative affects while doing so, before Tech awkwardly coincides. “I am not looking to cause you any further pain. This whole situation is– difficult. Things have happened and we are not all on the same page in regards to how you fit into this group anymore, but you are still my brother. We’ve been through what would be put as ‘thick and thin’ together and that cannot be so easily brushed aside, at least by me.”
Meeting Crosshair’s eyes he follows them back down to the needle when his vod suddenly taps it with his foot.
A cringe and flinch follow, but that only adds to how quickly Tech grabs and prepares it for injection.
He had the means and consent now to alleviate his brother’s pain, and he was going to do just that.
“It’ll sting for a moment, but you know that by now.” He says as he stands up and delicately places his hand over Crosshair’s neck. It was the easiest current area to inject, but he still couldn’t help but feel trepidation creep in.
This area had to have been stuck multiple times by– well nothing good to be certain.
Looking back at Crosshair’s eyes he meets them staring up at him with calm patience. Blinking at him in annoyance, but also understanding support.
And he sticks it in and injects.
Stepping back to the bag immediately Tech easily catches the relieved sigh that follows after the mixture beings to pump through Cross’s veins.
“I’ll go inform Hunter that you are awake now.” He says, turning back around to see his vod already beginning to move his body more easily without fear of pain.
Smiling to himself as he begins to leave he hears from behind him a horse, “Thank you.”
Nodding his head words suddenly fail him as all he can do is walk out of the room grinning despite himself.
As Crosshair watches him go he slides back down onto the bunk until he is lying down once more.
This was going to be difficult.
The pain would return eventually and it would take sometime for it to go away properly.
But it would go away.
He just had to keep that in mind whenever it would reappear with a vengeance.
However, a small comfort was that he wouldn’t be alone though.
He would be fighting this alongside the rest of his former family.
Until maybe they could start calling each other such once more with real conviction.
Because they were all in this together now.
No matter what.