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“We have a problem.” Echo spoke grimly into the comms as he knelt beside the limp Crosshair, finding the release for Crosshair’s helmet and pulling it off. “Crosshair?” He shook the sniper gently, and his eyes fluttered in response, not opening. “Crosshair?” Slowly, reluctantly, Crosshair’s eyes opened, narrowing at the bright light of the sky behind Echo.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” Echo held three fingers in the air, and Crosshair blinked tiredly at him, frowning.
“Four.” He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision fruitlessly. Echo sighed, flicking his comm on again.
"Crosshair has a concussion." He told the rest of the Bad Batch, and Hunter answered instantly
"Can he still shoot the turret?" He asked worriedly. Echo glanced over the edge of the cliff, spotting where Hunter, Tech and Wrecker were hunkered behind cover as the large turret fired at them, before looking back at Crosshair, who seemed to be attempting to get up. Echo frowned, Crosshair was shaking, and seemed to be rather dizzy seeing how his limbs seemed to not be coordinating themselves properly, and were getting in each other’s way.
"Yes." Crosshair spoke over comms, his voice slightly unsteady as he stumbled, nearly falling, Echo hurrying to his side. Crosshair pushed Echo off as he got to his feet, moving over to where he'd left his rifle when the super battle droid had found them. That same super battle droid now was in a jumble of metal parts along with Crosshair's vibroblade when he had charged the droid before it could fire at Echo, and he'd gotten thrown nine feet for his trouble. Echo had shot it, before checking on Crosshair, but he still glanced warily at it again, checking the area behind them for any more such droids looking to kill them.
Crosshair knelt beside his rifle, raising it to his eye, ignoring his helmet, and he fired at the turret, his hands shaking slighly as he pulled the trigger, but the bolt hit the turret in its weak spot, disabling it. Echo glanced behind them once more as he watched Crosshair carefully, noting his pupils were blown big and he was clearly incredibly dizzy. That wasn’t good.
"Thank you, Crosshair." Hunter spoke and they watched as the other three Bad Batch members rushed forwards, attacking the group of droids efficiently, making quick work of them. Crosshair switched his gaze to the building they were trying to get into, and fired once, Echo blinking as he saw a tiny guard fall out of a window in response. Wrecker placed a charge in front of the doors, and they backed away, as Crosshair picked off another two guards, before missing a third shot. Echo glanced at him worriedly.
Crosshair's hands were shaking more, and his vision seemed to be blurring badly as he was blinking quickly, his breathing noticably faster than normal. "Crosshair?" Echo asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"
"Yes." Crosshair rasped, firing again, but Echo didn't have to look at the base to see that Crosshair missed, his hands jerked violently before he made the shot. Echo glanced back, noting that Hunter, Wrecker and Tech were already in the base before turning back to the sniper.
"Crosshair, you're missing your shots. You're not fine." Echo checked he was muted before speaking, and his concern was clear in his voice.
"I am fine, reg." Crosshair hissed, glaring at Echo out of the corner of his eyes before he looked back on the base, cursing to himself. The guards had taken the missed shots as warning, and were staying away from windows, and he cursed once again when his vision blurred once more.
“Crosshair, I will tell Hunter if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.” Echo turned, and Crosshair turned to face him, glaring daggers at him. Echo knew Crosshair hated Hunter’s babying when one of them got hurt immensely, and had used that as a threat many time before, but it still worked, and Crosshair hated that Echo had a surefire way to get him to talk.
“You said it yourself.” Crosshair growled. “It’s a concussion. We’ve all fought with worse.” Echo noted how he was hunching over his rifle, he was breathing quickly and he looked incredibly lightheaded, and he was paler than normal. That must be a pretty bad concussion for him to look this bad.
Echo sighed, turning away, as Hunter’s voice came over the comms. “Echo, Crosshair, can you head back to the ship? We’ll need urgent pick up soon.”
“Copy that, Hunter.” Echo responded sharply, glancing at Crosshair who slowly stood up, slinging his rifle over his shoulder on its strap, turning away and heading towards the ship, walking slowly. Echo followed him, matching Crosshair’s pace. The concussion was clearly paining Crosshair badly, more than he let on, but he decided not to push it, Crosshair hated it when they bothered him over his injuries.
He got out his data pad, opening it to track the other’s positions, tapping into their comms as he did. “How long left, Tech?” Hunter asked, and Echo noted instantly the fire of blasters in the background.
“One second.” Tech mumbled, clearly preoccupied, as Echo checked again that he was muted. “47 seconds left, Hunter.” He responded, and then there was a loud clang, and Echo winced as the sound reverberated around his helmet.
“More droids incoming.” That was Wrecker. “Take this, ya dumb clankers.” A bang came over the comm a second later, and Echo smiled to himself. Typical Wrecker, Echo could just picture his grin at the explosion.
“Do you have another of those, Wrecker?” Hunter asked, sounding a bit harried – he'd always hated indoor fighting, apparently though his skill was in hand-to-hand, he found corridors too narrow for him. Walls tended to mess up sounds for him, and that made it harder to fight and concentrate, apparently. Wrecker loved fighting inside, he always said blowing stuff up inside was more fun as there was more destruction.
“Course I do! Want one?” Wrecker cheered as there was another bang, and Echo winced violently, scrabbling for the comm volume to turn it down.
“Thanks.” Hunter answered to something that presumably Wrecker did, most likely tossing or handing him a grenade. “That corri- no not that one, the one further on. Watch out!” Another loud bang, followed by two smaller ones, and then Tech’s voice interrupted the noise as Hunter muted himself.
“I’m done. Heading towards door.” He said clinically, and Echo heard no fighting from his side, thankfully, though he knew that the youngest member of the Bad Batch could handle it.
“Echo, Crosshair, are you at the ship yet?” Hunter asked, another loud cheer from Wrecker half-drowning out his voice.
Echo looked up, and spotted the Marauder in the distance, behind the next hill, then glanced at Crosshair. They were walking much slower than they had earlier, he realized, glancing at Crosshair, who had heard Hunter too, as he glanced at Echo. He was wearing his helmet – Echo must have forgotten he handed it to Crosshair – so his expression was unreadable, but his posture wasn’t good, he was slightly hunched over, pressing a hand to his side, and he seemed to be struggling.
“Go, they need pick up.” Crosshair’s voice came over the comms, and if it sounded thinner than usual, Echo said nothing. “Pick me up afterwards. It’s just a concussion.” Echo glanced at him, then the distance to the Marauder, before reluctantly making his choice.
“Fine.” Echo attached his datapad to his belt, taking a moment to secure his pack, before he started running towards the Marauder.
“I can pick you up in a minute.” He told Hunter, before muting himself so it wasn’t obvious he was running.
“Good, thanks, Echo.” Hunter replied.
“I’m at the door.” Tech spoke a second later. “Wrecker, Hunter, what’s your ETA?”
“Two minutes.” Hunter spoke, before yelling to Wrecker. “Leave it, come on!”
“Comin’ Sarge!”
Echo darted up the ramp, heading straight to the cockpit and firing the ship up as he tossed his pack aside in the hold. The Marauder lifted up as deftly as usual, and Echo steered it, heading for the base. He was halfway there, when Hunter spoke next. “We’re at the door, land outside and we’re out of here.” Echo nodded to himself, before unmuting.
“Nearly there.” He answered, skimming closer to the ground as the base came into view. He could see the three figures in familiar red and grey armor, who started to head over as Echo landed, hitting the button to lower the ramp.
He heard the rush of boots heading up the ramp before he saw them walk into the cockpit. “Thanks, Echo, let's go.” Hunter walked up to the control panel as Echo lifted the ship off the ground.
“We have to pick up Crosshair first.” Echo told him, steering the Marauder back towards the place where he’d left Crosshair. Hunter’s head snapped up, looking at Echo, startled.
“You left him?” He stared at Echo, who ignored him, feeling guilty. “There are droids out there, hunting him.” Echo froze, but recovered. If anything happened, Crosshair could deal with it – right?
“He had a concussion.” Echo explained, staring out the window as he pushed the throttle faster. Tech dropped into the seat beside him, already opening Crosshair’s tracker on his datapad as he frowned intently at the screen.
“He’s there.” Tech looked up, tapping the Marauder’s map, and Echo nodded, nudging the throttle a little bit harder. Hunter gripped the back of Echo’s seat.
“I sense droids.” He spoke, frowning intensely out the window. “They’re near him.” He said suddenly, urgently. Echo pushed the throttle faster, ignoring Tech as he protested. The place he’d left Crosshair came into view and Echo landed as fast as possible, ignoring the violent jolt as they hit the ground. Wrecker opened the ramp, and instantly, Tech, Echo and Hunter were on the move, rushing out of the cockpit.
“Wrecker, you get Crosshair to the ship.” Hunter ordered as they ran to where Crosshair was lying face down on the ground, blood staining the earth around him. Panic flared in Hunter’s heart as Wrecker gathered up the unconscious Crosshair carefully, rushing back towards the ship. Hunter could still hear a heartbeat, that was steadily growing fainter, and that reassured him as he drew his vibroblades, turning to face the approaching droids.
“Don’t let them hit the ship!” Tech called as the droids opened fire, and the three clones still on the ground threw themselves behind cover, Echo and Tech behind a boulder, and Hunter behind a tree. Echo and Tech started to fire back, but Hunter waited till they got closer before leaping at them with his vibroblades, slicing them when they tried to approach.
Between the three of them, the last twenty droids was a piece of cake – the simulations were much harder – and they found themselves hurrying back to the ship as soon as the last droid had its head cut off by Hunter.
Crosshair was still unconscious, he lay on the metal table, his bloody armor stacked nearby, and Echo cursed as he saw how pale Crosshair’d gotten. Tech hurried over, setting up a blood bag for a transfusion as Echo helped Wrecker to wrap the wound.
“What was it?” Tech asked as he stuck a needle in Crosshair’s arm. Wrecker looked up, eyes wide and worried.
“A knife, I think.” Wrecker answered. “He was holding his vibroblade in his other hand and it was covered in blood, and I’m pretty sure it’s his blood.” Hunter gagged quietly, turning away, heading for the cockpit, and no one stopped him.
Echo stared. “The droid must have stabbed him with his own knife when he charged at it.” Wrecker and Tech blinked at him in shock, Tech paused halfway through hanging the blood bag up.
Wrecker asked what they were both thinking. “Did you say Crosshair charged at a droid?” He asked, incredulous and horrified. Droids could make mincemeat out of slender individuals such as Crosshair. “Crosshair, a sniper, charged at a droid?”
Echo nodded, staring at Crosshair’s pale face. “He did it to save me.” He sighed. “The droid got the jump on us, it was about to fire at me, and Crosshair stabbed it because his rifle was too hot.” Tech nodded, understanding, and Wrecker patted Echo on the shoulder.
“Crosshair will be fine, Echo.” Tech told Echo as he adjusted a few things. “Don’t worry.” Echo nodded as Wrecker hugged him, laughing at his startled cry.
Tech was right. Crosshair woke up and insisted on leaving the ship’s medbay as soon as possible, and when Echo tried to apologize, he entirely waved it off, muttering something to himself that Echo couldn’t hear, but sounded suspiciously like “you’d have done the same for us.”