Chapter Text
Hunter wasn’t sure when the kid joined the group.
One minute, he was trailing after General Kenobi, head swiveling as he watched the crowd of people milling through the marketplace. The next, he was trailing General Kenobi and a kid.
Hunter blinked once, then shook his head. He’d been listening to the conversations around them, rather than General Kenobi’s. Maybe the kid had just lost her parents and General Kenobi was helping her find them again.
Except several more minutes passed and the kid was still there, her fingers twined in General Kenobi’s. They were looking at each other, General Kenobi effortlessly winding them through the crowd in that Jedi way of his, with no indication that they were searching for anyone. Maybe he was taking the kid home?
Hunter looked at the kid. She was probably around twelve or so, thin, and rather dirty. Her skin was a patchwork of dirt smudges so it was hard to guess her complexion, and her hands left black smears on General Kenobi’s robes. Her blonde-ish hair was hacked short and her clothes were little more than rags.
Rubbing his jaw, Hunter said quietly into his comm. “Crosshair, how long has the kid been there?”
“Five minutes,” came the response. “She tried to pick his pocket.”
Street kid, Hunter realized. Knowing General Kenobi, the soft-hearted Jedi had offered her food or something as soon as he caught her. Except, they hadn’t stopped at any of the food vendors and they were headed…
Hunter again lifted his comm, making no attempt to mask the move this time. “Hey, Cody?”
Cody responded instantly, his tension clear even through the comm, “What happened?”
“Not much. But General Kenobi’s bringing a little friend back.”
“There we go. Not a perfect fit, but it’ll do.”
A little at a loss and wishing Echo had volunteered to bring General Kenobi the supplies, Hunter just nodded. General Kenobi was plenty proud for the both of them, anyway, smiling for the first time since the mission started.
Omega, funnily enough, looked just as awkward as Hunter. She was shifting from foot to foot beside the blanket General Kenobi had hung in his quarters to give the girl privacy to change, fiddling with the too-long sleeves of her new tunic. A ragged rope swung around her knees, an improvised belt for the pants Echo had said would fit a girl Omega’s age.
“Yes… very good, General,” Hunter said. “Echo’s looking for a guardian now.”
“No rush,” General Kenobi said with a shrug. He swept over to his pack and dug inside. “We still have half the day.”
Hunter nodded grudgingly and glanced at the girl. Omega blinked back at him before offering a crooked grin. Hunter smiled back briefly, his mind flashing back to Cody’s grim statement three days prior, delivered from behind the hands he had pressed against his face.
“He’s going to find a stray kid. I just know he’s going to find a stray kid, and you know who’s going to have to talk him out of bringing it home? Me. Me, Hunter.”
Hunter had thought Cody was joking at the time. Even after Ahsoka, Rex, and Plo Koon had said similar things, he’d been convinced that it was just a joke.
Hunter was starting to think it wasn’t a joke. He didn’t know how they were supposed to complete their objective when they were dragging a defenseless kid around.
Well. Maybe not defenseless. Living alone on the streets for five years took guts. Still, letting the kid hang around would only put her in danger, seeing as how they were pretty much just waiting around for someone to try and assassinate General Kenobi.
“What do you think, Hunter?”
General Kenbobi’s question dragged Hunter’s mind back to the present. General Kenobi was staring expectantly at him.
“No idea, sir,” Hunter said honestly.
General Kenobi looked fleetingly disappointed, then he shrugged and went back to his pack. Omega met Hunter’s eyes and grinned cheekily at him.
Hunter rolled his eyes. It was like dealing with Wrecker on a long trip. Which, apparently, made Hunter the perfect candidate to help General Kenobi watch the kid. He “had practice wrangling trouble,” as Cody had put it.
Cody was just hoping that Hunter would be the one to tell General Kenobi to let the kid go. Coward.
Maybe it was Wrecker’s turn to help watch the kid, Hunter mused to himself. Wrecker got along with kids really well…
No, abort that thought. If Wrecker spent more than an hour around the kid, it was Wrecker who’d be bringing the kid home like a stray tooka.
“Hunter.”
Hunter blinked, again lost in thought, and found General Kenobi watching him with a knowing smile.
“You don’t have to keep guarding me,” General Kenobi said. “With Cody and the rest of your squad on patrol, nobody is getting into the building without me knowing.”
“Or me,” Omega piped up brightly.
Hunter raised an eyebrow at Omega. Guts or not, a scrawny kid like her couldn’t fend off a cranky womp rat. Omega lifted her chin at the look.
“See? I’m well taken care of,” General Kenobi said indulgently. “I’ll let Cody know when I’m ready to head to the market.”
“Alright,” Hunter said slowly. “I’ll go check on Crosshair.” The Bad Batch’s resident sniper was holed up in a literal hole in the wall down the block. “But Cody might come check on you.”
“Yes, I expect he will sooner or later,” General Kenobi said. “You don’t have to tell him you left.”
“Cody would stick me on cleaning refreshers for a month,” Hunter said flatly. Catching himself, he added, “Sir.”
“If he tries, just tell him that it was a direct order from me.”
Hunter just stopped himself from face-palming. Yeah, he was never going to take Cody’s stories about General Kenobi’s lack of self-preservation as overly dramatic again. He almost protested further, but Omega was watching the conversation with interest, and he didn’t want to scare her.
Besides, Hunter reasoned to himself as he saluted and left the room, they had all the necessary precautions in place. General Kenobi’s room was in the center of the building, with no windows and only one door into a hall. The hall itself was slightly maze-like, but there were only two entrances. Both doors were being watched by Tech and Wrecker, while Cody and Echo patrolled the halls. Crosshair’s position gave him eyes on both doors. Nobody was getting into the building without getting seen.
Or felt. Hunter paused to put his hand on the wall, as he’d done every ten minutes all morning. Feeling for out of place vibrations was much easier away from the market, and Hunter knew within seconds that the only people in the building were those that belonged.
Thinking about where everyone belonged made Hunter turn around and head back for General Kenobi’s room. If Cody could try and rope Hunter into talking General Kenobi out of bringing home a stray, Hunter could get General Kenobi onto his side that it was entirely unnecessary for Cody to sleep outside General Kenobi’s door.
Hunter opened the door and strode inside, mouth open to greet General Kenobi, when he froze.
General Kenobi was just looking up from his datapad. His back was to Omega, so he didn’t see the blaster she currently had pointed at him. Omega’s head jerked toward him, eyes going wide.
“Where did she even get that?” was Hunter’s first thought, followed by, “She’s going to hurt someone!”
“Omega, be care-” Hunter saw Omega’s finger twitch, and his voice rose to shout, “Wait!”
Bam!
General Kenobi jerked and fell to one knee, one hand darting up to the burn on his shoulder. Hunter sprang toward Omega, who still hadn’t lowered the blaster.
“Are you crazy, you could’ve-”
Bam!
A second shot made Hunter lunge, snatching the blaster away from Omega before jerking his head around in time to see General Kenobi tumble onto his back. Hunter turned back to Omega, anger rising at her near mistake.
Omega, face twisted in anger, lunged for the blaster and grabbed it with both hands.
Surprise jolted through Hunter, then he yanked the blaster out of Omega’s hands and grabbed her arm with his other hand. Before he could speak again, Omega sank her teeth into his wrist!
“Ow! You-”
Surprise loosened Hunter’s grip and Omega almost slipped free. Throwing the blaster in General Kenobi’s direction, Hunter threw both arms around Omega, who thrashed and snarled like a wild animal.
“Stop it!” Hunter heaved the girl into the air, planting his feet when Omega’s feet clattered against his knees. “Omega!”
Omega threw her head back, almost catching Hunter’s chin with her skull. Hunter struggled to restrain the writhing girl, then Omega raised one fist and drove it hard into Hunter’s thigh. Burning pain shot down his leg, making Hunter’s leg crumple and he half-fell.
Omega shoved her arms up, breaking Hunter’s hold and tumbling free to the ground. She threw a darting glance at General Kenobi, then she dashed for the door.
Tech entered the doorway just as Omega reached it. She crashed into him, sending them both stumbling back.
“Grab her!” Hunter yelled. “Grab h- erk !”
Trying to stand sent another bolt of pain up Hunter’s leg and it collapsed under him. He hit the ground hard, then pushed himself up in time to see Tech grab Omega, who responded by ducking low and sweeping one leg out. She hit the back of Tech’s knees, sending him down and clearing the way to run into the hall.
“What the-” Hunter broke off and jabbed his comlink. “Someone grab Omega!”
“Wha- why?” Wrecker asked.
“She’s the assassin!”
The overlapping responses of “what?” from everyone mirrored Hunter’s thoughts, but there wasn’t time to dwell on the absurdity of the situation. General Kenobi was shot, they’d come so close to failing-
General Kenobi rose without a problem and went to Hunter’s side, his face creased with concern. “Hunter, lay still until I can cover that up.”
“Cover what up?”
Tech sat up and said in a slightly dazed voice. “Your leg, Hunter.”
Hunter looked down at his aching leg. He blinked once, then twice. His leg was… fairly covered with blood, with more spilling from the gash in his leg. As if prompted by the sight, Hunter suddenly became aware of pain lancing through his bones. He hissed through his teeth and reflexively covered the gash.
“Ah.” Hunter tried to move his leg, then winced. “Where did she get a knife?”
General Kenobi pointed. Following his finger, Hunter realized his knife sheath was empty. Omega had stabbed him with his own knife.
“Don’t feel too bad, she surprised me as well,” General Kenobi said.
Which reminded Hunter. “You were shot, too. Tech, see to the general.”
General Kenobi didn’t even look up from tearing a corner off his robe. “I’m not hurt.”
Hunter raised an eyebrow. “General.”
General Kenobi rotated his shoulder, producing a clicking noise. When he leaned forward to wrap Hunter’s leg, a piece of carbon-scored plastoid fell to the floor.
“Cody insisted,” General Kenobi said, utterly nonchalant with the whole affair.
Hunter calling a literal kid an assassin was pretty high on the list of strange things he’d ever said. High enough that it gave Crosshair pause. He didn’t respond otherwise, though, listening to the chatter through his wrist-comm. He’d left his helmet on the Marauder for the mission, preferring to have all lines of vision fully clear for this mission.
“Repeat,” Cody barked.
“Omega’s the assassin.” Hunter broke off speaking to hiss, a sound of pain. “She almost got General Kenobi, but Tech and I surprised her and she ran. Cross, she’s probably headed your way.”
“No sign yet,” Crosshair murmured, scanning the crowd for the small blonde head.
“I’ll-” General Kenobi started.
“Stay put,” Cody cut in. “No way is the kid the only assassin here.”
Crosshair mentally disagreed. While unconventional, using a child assassin was very effective. The proof was in the fact that General Kenobi was on the Outer Rim planet in the first place.
A blur of motion caught the corner of Crosshair’s eye. He turned his head toward the cluster of barrels and crates spilling spoiled fruit in an alley diagonal from Crosshair’s position. Nothing moved, but Crosshair didn’t take his eyes off of it.
A minute later, Omega’s head poked into view. Crosshair smoothly swung his rifle around while he quietly reported.
“She’s outside. I have eyes on her.”
“Has she seen you?” Cody asked.
Crosshair huffed quietly. Did he really need to ask?
“Don’t engage,” Cody said, knowing exactly what the sound meant. “Follow her to whoever-” Cody faltered, probably searching for the right word, before finishing, “Whoever hired her.”
Crosshair murmured quiet acknowledgement and lowered his rifle. The kid was moving again, apparently confident that nobody had tracked her to the alley.
Crosshair slung his rifle over one shoulder and muted his commlink. He silently climbed up the broken wall to the roof. He paced quickly along the edge of the roof in a low crouch, in case the kid looked up.
She didn’t. Crosshair frowned slightly as she weaved quickly through the crowd, as if that would be enough to throw off anyone tracking her.
Loud voices caught Crosshair’s attention. Sounded like Wrecker was outside and venting his frustration at not seeing Omega.
Crosshair didn’t take his eyes off of Omega, correctly anticipating Wrecker’s noise would send her darting into an alley. Crosshair followed her to the end of the alley, where she squeezed through a narrow hole in a steep duracrete wall. She rolled into the second alley, where she paused for a few seconds. She was panting, already tired from the escape.
Crosshair took advantage of her break to jump to the next roof. He stayed low, keeping just the top of Omega’s head in his eyeline.
Omega shifted suddenly and left the alley into another marketplace. This one was less crowded, making it easy for Crosshair to keep an eye on her. He continued to stay in a low crouch, though it was proving pointless.
Omega hadn’t checked the roofs once. Did she really think General Kenobi was only guarded by those she’d left in the building? Whoever had trained her had done a poor job, Crosshair mused. Or they simply hadn’t cared about Omega’s escape.
Whatever the reason, Crosshair didn’t particularly care. It just made his job that much easier.
Omega left the marketplace and crawled through a few more broken walls, arriving at a rundown section of town. The people here were few and far between, and shadows were thick in the claustrophobic alleys and leaning buildings.
Crosshair had to climb another level to the roof. He narrowed his eyes as he moved back in sight of Omega. Shadows and distance wouldn’t affect his ability to see Omega, but the angled roofs made him more visible from below.
Omega ducked into an alley and stopped. Crosshair watched while she stood still, panting. A minute passed, then she dug into her pocket and pulled out a commlink.
Crosshair scowled as she spoke quietly into it. Being out of earshot was another disadvantage. He wondered how far the rest of the Bad Batch were behind him. They’d probably had to take multiple detours to get around the walls Omega had gone through. Although Hunter should have caught up by now…
Omega put the commlink away and left the alley to keep walking. She seemed edgier now, pausing at corners to peer cautiously around. More than once, she backtracked on herself to take another street.
Eventually, Omega came to a stop in a dirty alley. She knelt beside a hatch on the ground and keyed in a code. The hatch opened halfway, then stopped with a grinding noise. Omega grunted, then climbed into the hatch. After some poking around and tugging on the edge of the hatch, Omega scowled, then kept climbing out of sight.
Crosshair frowned. Of course she’d go underground.
Crosshair slipped to the ground, head tilted to listen. Quiet splashing came from below, then faded into silence.
He had two options. Go underground, where he’d lose his height advantage and Omega would probably be more familiar with the underground.mOr, he could wait in the alley for everyone else to catch up so he wasn’t going into unfamiliar territory without backup. Which meant Omega getting a head start and probably being long gone.
Crosshair started climbing. He paused once he was under the hatch to look around.
At the base of the slick metal ladder was a duracrete tunnel. Murky water ran knee-high through the tunnel, filling it from wall to wall. After a dozen meters, a narrow platform rose from the water in both directions, rounding a bend shortly after. On the platform behind Crosshair, wet footprints led out of sight.
Crosshair lowered his feet silently into the water. Trash floated around his legs and down the tunnel, but he decided against thinking too hard about what was in the water. He stepped forward, holding onto the ladder for balance in the flowing water.
Shkk-
Crosshair froze at the nearly imperceptible sound from behind. He twisted sharply and brought his rifle off his shoulder in one move.
Someone -not Omega, they were around Hunter’s size- stood on the platform, hidden beneath armor streaked with dirt to hide the gleam underneath. They were raising something over the water as Crosshair moved, prompting him to flick up his rifle. They moved as he fired, the high whine of his rifle echoing along the tunnel. The stranger jerked, the filtered gasp coming from their mask almost covered when Omega suddenly screamed from behind.
“Epsilon!”
Crosshair leaped onto the ladder, ignoring the pair in favor of getting out of the water. The object splashed into the water.
Snap!
For a split-second, lightning shot across Crosshair’s vision, searing white light that illuminated the tunnel in blinding detail. Electricity arcing from water to metal to his soaked armor. Flimsi and wrappers withering into burnt wads. The stranger, dropping to one knee, red bubbling from burnt flesh on their shoulder.
Then he felt it.
Fire coursed up his legs and through his spine, through his arms. His hands clenched involuntarily and his arm jerked convulsively inward, slamming his face into the ladder. Red flared across his eyes.
The next thing he knew, his body was twisting, numb fingers slipping, and he fell face-first into the water.