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After snagging civilian clothes to disguise themselves, Crosshair and Omega attempted to find their way around the planet they had crashed onto.
Somehow, Omega had convinced Crosshair to let Batcher trail behind them. The sniper had grumbled and huffed, but (and he would refuse to ever admit) Omega’s wide, pleading eyes had been enough to push him to allow it, so long as the hound stayed quiet.
“Stop here.” Crosshair said sharply, stepping into a small alley between two buildings. Omega tucked in against him, Batcher standing protectively beside her newly acquired human. “We need to find another way off this planet.” He poked his head around the corner of the building.
Batcher sniffed the air, pushing against Omega’s side to prod her.
Omega looked at her hound for a moment before looking back at her brother. “I think it should be clear if we go down this way.” Crosshair raised an eyebrow.
“And then do what? We need a ship.”
Omega huffed, crossing her arms. “Well, what if that way is a shipyard? We could take a ship again and get going.” Apparently being done with the conversation, Omega moved to step out into the street, to follow the direction that Batcher urged her to go.
Before she could move further, however, a hand suddenly grabbed Omega’s shoulder, pulling her out of sight just before a group of troopers walked past their hiding spot. Both the girl and Crosshair immediately looked back, seeing a masked figure standing behind them, eyes watching to make sure the troopers were completely gone.
They looked down at Omega, then at Crosshair. “You do realize you’re out and about past curfew, yes?” At their confused looks, they sighed. “Listen, if you want to stay out of trouble, then you’ll have to come with me.” The voice was familiar, not because they recognized the person, but familiar in the way that Omega and Crosshair had both heard the voice coming from others thousands of times.
Omega’s face immediately brightened. “You’re a clone!”
The clone’s eyes, the only visible part of his face, crinked slightly, as if he was smiling. “That I am, ad’ika. My brothers and I have a place just a few streets away. It’s safe, out of sight, and a good place to get some rest and an explanation.”
Crosshair eyed the clone suspiciously, and weighed their options. It was either staying and most likely getting captured, and then being hauled back to Hemlock and his experimentation, or going with the clone that they knew nothing about.
Glancing down at Omega, he saw that the girl was already looking up at him with bright eyes, Batcher gazing up at him in her own hound way.
Force, as much as Crosshair had thought Hunter was a pushover when it came to the kid, he really couldn’t resist her hopeful gaze.
“We’ll go with you.” he said, and Omega leaned into him, looking up with happiness. Batcher trailed after them as the clone led them through alleys and back ways.
They reached a small apartment building, and the clone brought them towards a door on the first floor. He looked around for a moment, then opened the door and ushered Crosshair and Omega inside.
The home was lit warmly, with scattered scarves, boots, and cloaks making it a comforting space that was clearly lived in. In one corner, a trio of beds had been pushed together, creating one large sleeping space that was piled with blankets.
Crosshair bit back a rogue, fond smirk at the sight, remembering himself and his batchmates pushing their mattresses together when they were cadets to create a larger bed that they could curl up together on.
On the other side of the room was a kitchen area, where three other clones were milling around, a quiet conversation wafting between them as they cooked.
“We’ve got company, boys.” the clone who had brought Crosshair and Omega in said, making the trio turn around. He removed his face covering, revealing complex tattoos on either side of his jaw. “I’m Hevy. These are my brothers, Cutup, Droidbait, and Fives.”
One of the clones smiled brightly at Crosshair and Omega, the fuzz of a beard around his cheeks, and a criss-cross of scars around his face and leading down to his neck.
The second looked at Omega with wide-eyed curiosity, the sides of his head shaved to reveal crosshairs on either side of his head.
The third clone made Crosshair freeze as soon as he spotted the tattoo on his temple. This was a clone he knew, a clone he had seen in holos toted around by his beloved oldest brother.
A clone who should not, and could not, be alive.
“You’re supposed to be dead.” He couldn’t help but blurt out, reaching down to grab onto Omega’s shoulder, pulling her closer. Immediately, tension filled the air, and Omega looked at Crosshair in confusion. “You’re Echo’s twin.” The clone dropped the plate he was holding, and it shattered on the ground.
Hevy’s head snapped towards the duo, and his eyes narrowed. “How do you know that name?”
Crosshair shook his head, unable to stop thinking of Echo’s haunting stories of the ways each of his batchmates died. Shot. Blown up. Eaten. The last Domino standing. “This is a trick. You’re all supposed to be dead.”
“Echo’s the one who’s dead.” Fives, who had recovered from his moment of shock, said, shaking his head. A heavy grief was in his eyes, and his voice shook as he spoke. “Died at the Citadel. I was there.”
“And I was there when we rescued Echo.” Crosshair snapped back sharply, and Omega’s hand reached up to hold onto his own, clinging to him. She never heard the story of what happened to Echo, but she knew it was something painful and terrible. In a rare moment, Crosshair gripped her hand back tightly, squeezing as he shifted slightly, putting her just behind him. “I was there when he dropped out of the stasis chamber, asking for you, and shouting that you all had to get to the shuttle.”
Fives’ face drained of color, and he stumbled back, hitting the counter as a wounded noise left him. Immediately, Cutup and Droidbait were on either side of him, holding his arms.
Hevy looked absolutely stricken, holding onto the chair beside him. “He’s alive? Actually alive?”
“No thanks to you all.” Crosshair couldn’t help but sneer, falling back into the tactics he used when he would protect his brothers from the regs on Kamino. Even if they were Echo’s batchmates, he had been the one talking Echo through his moments of panic in the dead of night. Hunter had been the one shaking Echo awake from nightmares. Tech had been the one modifying Echo’s cybernetic parts to be less uncomfortable. Wrecker had been the one training with Echo to get his strength back up. “If you were alive, you would have rescued him instead of leaving him to be tortured by the Techno Union. So where were you all?”
“We were stuck on Rishi.” Cutup spoke up, a quiet voice that managed not to shake at all. He had an arm wrapped around Fives’ shoulders, supporting his brother, and looked to be the most composed out of all of them. “Believe me, if we could have left earlier, we would have.”
“I was the only one who could walk after everything.” Droidbait said. “I mean, I had a good amount of blaster shots, and no idea how I was able to move after the explosion, but I pulled myself to the medbay and hid out there. Once I got myself patched up, and could stand, I went out looking to see if there was anyone else around. I found Hevy, and dragged him to safety, but Hev was unconscious.”
Hevy breathed deeply, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “I had a nasty head injury that affected me for months, even with bacta helping with the healing process. I had some minor amnesia when I woke up, and I still have struggles with memory.”
Droidbait continued. “When Hevy woke up, and we both could move a bit better, the two of us went off to find the eel that had eaten Cutup. We found it, killed it, but by that time, we weren’t even sure if Cut would survive.”
“Rishi eels have a nasty stomach acid.” Cutup said with a dark humor in his voice, gesturing to the scars on his face. “Those were a kriffing bitch to get over. Messed up my pretty face.” This earned him a small snort of laughter from Fives, who had moved to rest his head against his brother’s shoulder.
“By the time all of us had recovered, the moon was completely abandoned, and everybody had forgotten about the station.” Hevy continued. “We were able to piece together one of the ships that had the least damage, and we got off. The first thing we tried to do was contact Captain Rex or the Commander, but we didn’t know how. So, we tried finding Fives and Echo, but the only information we could find was that Echo had…” He trailed off, looking down at the floor.
Droidbait left Fives’ side, and approached his other brother, wrapping around him in a hug. “By the time we figured out how to search for Fives, we just saw that he had been KIA.”
Crosshair’s anger ceased slightly at their story. He could understand their feelings of loss. Left behind, assumed dead, so of course they would have no way to get into contact with Echo. He still, however, couldn’t shake how pained Echo was when he was reminded of his twin, so his sharp eyes turned to Fives, who seemed to have reverted back to a state of shock.
“And you?” Fives’ eyes snapped to him, and Crosshair’s scowl deepened. “Echo could talk about the rest of them. He could barely stand the thought of anything that reminded him of you. So if you weren’t shot, what happened to you?”
Cutup rubbed Fives’ shoulder, and he leaned into his brother.
“When Fox shot me, I genuinely did die, for a good few minutes.” Fives began, voice quiet. “I think one of the medics patched up my wound, thinking that I was dead for good, and just thought to do something nice. When I woke up in the morgue on Coruscant, I knew I couldn’t go back to the 501st, as much as I wanted to.” He lifted a hand, rubbing at the thin scar from the surgery Crosshair knew far too well. “I knew too much. If I tried to go back, if they knew I wasn’t dead… they’d do even worse, I just know it. If not to me, then to the others in my battalion. So, I left. I went to some small little planet, stayed with a brother and his family there, and then moved on. I spent time just trying to get by, then, when I heard the war was over, I started working to help deserting brothers.”
Droidbait brightened. “That’s how we found each other!”
Heavy rubbed his knuckles on his brother’s head fondly, grinning as Droidbait yelped and attempted to escape from him. The two sat at the small table, and Hevy motioned for Crosshair and Omega to join them.
They sat, and Hevy continued their story.
“After finding out about Echo and Fives, we came here. It’s a planet that was out of the way enough that we didn’t attract attention, so long as we covered our faces. Seeing as that’s one of the norms around here, it worked.” he said as Fives and Cutup came to join them. “We were here for a few months before ‘Bait stumbled into Fives.”
“Literally.” Fives muttered as Cutup snickered. “Smacked right into my head, which was still healing!”
“I apologized!” Droidbait shot back, though his voice was filled with laughter that he made no attempt to stifle.
Hevy rolled his eyes fondly, and continued. “They recognized each other, and ‘Bait dragged Fives back here. I thought my old injury was acting up when I saw him.”
“And you’ve been here since?” Omega asked softly.
Cutup nodded. “We didn’t really have anywhere else to go. By the time Fives showed up, the war was ending, and we heard about the order. It became more dangerous for us to travel.” He glanced at Crosshair. “But… if we had known Echo was alive…”
“We probably would have stormed that facility by ourselves to get him back.” Fives finished, his voice firm.
Crosshair didn’t doubt him at all.
After their conversation, Cutup and Fives returned to the kitchen to finish cooking their dinner. Omega followed after them, hopping up to sit on the counter beside Fives, who had turned back to the food he was preparing.
“I recognize you, you know?” he remarked, glancing at her with a kind smile. He had the same smile as Echo, Omega realized, and that made her heart ache even more for her older brother.
“Really?”
Fives nodded. “I remember seeing you poking around in Nala Se’s lab the last time I was on Kamino. I didn’t get to say anything to you, but I remember being excited about the fact that I had a little sister.”
“I bet Echo was over the moon.” Cutup commented from where he was stirring the pot on the stove. “He always loved spending time with the little cadets while we were still on Kamino.”
“I’m just glad that I’m not the youngest anymore.” Droidbait said happily, leaning into Hevy’s side at the table.
Omega giggled. “Technically, Crosshair’s the youngest out of all of us here. I’m an unaltered clone, so I don’t have rapid aging. I remember when Cross was decanted!” She looked over at the sniper. “You were tiny, even smaller than Tech!”
Crosshair narrowed his eyes at his sister, though there was no heat behind his glare. “I should have left you behind.”
She gave him a sparkling smile.
“You know, I think I remember seeing your batch around Kamino.” Hevy remarked, handing a glass to Crosshair. “Five of you, right?”
“That’s right.” Crosshair replied, an eyebrow raised slightly in surprise.
“You’re right, Hev!” Cutup exclaimed. “We started a food fight in the mess hall one day, I remember seeing you guys joining in!”
Even Crosshair couldn’t hold back the small, genuine smile that appeared on his face. He had spoken about that day fondly with Echo, and it had served as the way in for the two of them to bond with each other.
“You all would have gotten along well as cadets.” Omega said softly, jumping off the counter to go to the table and sit beside Crosshair, pushing her chair closer to his so that she could curl into his side. The sniper startled slightly, but slowly moved his arm to wrap around her shoulders, making Omega’s smile grow. Batcher rested her head on Omega’s lap, snuggling close to the girl.
Fives had a wistful smile on his face as he and Cutup brought the food to the table, sitting down. “You know, when we were cadets, Echo and I got into quite a bit of trouble.” Omega stared at him with wide eyes, and Crosshair’s jaw dropped slightly. He knew Echo had a dry humor and a streak of mischief, but had never known him to willingly get into trouble just for the fun of it. “We had a medical test one morning, and neither of us wanted to do it, so we just snuck onto Nala Se’s lab the night before, and disabled the droid that always tested us.”
Hevy groaned at the memory. “You two came back to the bunkroom laughing like lunatics. You’re lucky you weren’t found out.”
“They wouldn’t have done anything, Hev. Echo and I were special.” Fives snarked back, turning his nose up playfully. At Crosshair and Omega’s questioning glances, he elaborated. “Echo and I are same-tube twins. We were decanted with no issues, no lasting effects.”
Omega gasped quietly. “That’s rare.”
Fives nodded. “The long-necks thought so too, so we got to be poked and prodded for a good chunk of time as cadets.” He pointed to the rest of his brothers. “The three of them used to get into a ton of trouble keeping us away from them.”
Cutup beamed at the memory. “It was our little way of making all that easier. The three of us started a competition, whoever could keep the twins away from the long-necks the longest won.” His smile turned to a pout. “Hevy won every kriffing time.”
“That’s because I’m the big brother.” Hevy shot back with a cheeky grin.
“We used to do the same.” Crosshair said quietly, drawing the attention to him. His eyes were on his hands, and the ghost of a smile was on his face. “The five of us were in the medbay almost every day, so we were able to make it so us hiding from the Kaminoans was part of our ‘training’.” The last part was said with air quotations. “We used to pick different spots every day. Once, Tech got us into the air vents, and we managed to hide from them for the entire day.” A small laugh left the sniper, and his smile grew. “We thought we were so clever, until Nala Se found us, and Tech got stuck getting out of the vent because he was scared of heights.” The others burst into laughter.
For the first time in months, Crosshair felt warm, the laughter of brothers and his little sister surrounding him like the best hug he had ever experienced. Listening to the Dominos tell stories, pulling giggles out of Omega, Crosshair could see exactly what parts of his brother Echo had adopted.
The way Hevy kept a close eye on Crosshair and Omega, subtly slipping extra food on their plates.
The way Cutup smoothed over any stories that touched on sensitive topics, and brought the conversation back to laughter and lightness.
The way Droidbait excitedly elaborated on small moments and answered every question Omega asked with enthusiasm.
The way Fives smiled at his brothers and looked at them like they were his entire world, and the expression extended to Crosshair and Omega as the night went on.
Crosshair found himself growing more and more at ease amongst the group, and he could tell Omega felt the same way, the heaviness that had been set on her small shoulders for the past five months disappearing, and the gleam of the excitable young clone he had met on Kamino returning to her eyes.
As it grew later, Omega’s questions began to be peppered with small yawns, and her weight leaned more and more onto Crosshair, until her head tilted against his shoulder, and she grew quiet.
“Looks like she wore herself out.” Hevy remarked fondly. Crosshair huffed out a laugh. “We’ve got a few extra cots for when deserters come join us if you want to lay her down?”
The sniper nodded, and slowly stood, hesitantly lifting Omega into his arms. She let out a sleepy, happy sound, and Batcher trailed behind them as Crosshair walked her towards a cot that was set up against the wall. He carefully set her down, and Hevy handed him a blanket to pull over her shoulders. Batcher curled up beside the cot, a protective presence, and Crosshair patted the hound’s head.
Turning away from the sleeping child, Crosshair looked at the four still sitting at the table.
Cutup gave him a small smile. “We’ve got a comm if you want to try reaching your batch?”
“I don’t know if they’d want to hear from me.” Crosshair replied honestly. He approached the table and sat down. “It’d probably be smarter to wait until the kid is awake so she can call them.”
Fives hummed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “Has Echo told you about Dogma?” Crosshair’s eyebrows furrowed, so he continued. “He was young, probably the same age as you and your batch. There was a Jedi named Krell who took over our battalion while General Skywalker had to go off somewhere. Dogma was kind of like Echo, but the way he followed the regs was even stricter. He believed in what Krell was telling us to do, which made a lot of brothers angry.” There was a quiet fierceness in Fives’ eyes, an old anger that hadn’t seemed to die. Crosshair again found himself remembering that same fire in Echo. “We figured out that Krell was purposefully trying to get the 501st and the 212th to kill each other. Me and a few other brothers went against Krell’s orders, and he wanted to have us executed. Dogma was one of the brothers on the firing squad, but he ended up killing Krell. He ended up getting arrested, but to my knowledge, a lot of brothers were visiting him while we were heading back to Coruscant.”
“Is this supposed to make me feel better?” Crosshair drawled, raising an eyebrow.
“You and Dogma are a lot alike, Crosshair.” Fives said. “You need to realize that yeah, you fucked up, but now’s the time for you to make it up. Reach out to your brothers, be honest with them. It may take a bit of time, but they’ll listen.”
Crosshair stared at the comm on the table, soaking in Fives’ words, and the presence of four older brothers who believed in him.
He hoped their faith wasn’t misplaced.
A few days of waiting passed, and Domino had decided to join Crosshair and Omega in journeying to reunite with the Batch. Crosshair’s message had simply received a short and concise response of “Affirmative”, and that was that. No other words, nothing that would clue him on what his brothers’ feelings were. After liberating a few caged animals and commandeering a cargo ship on the small little planet where they had crashed, the group of clones made their way to a moon near the planet of Ryloth, where Omega had said that the Batch had been before, so it was a familiar, safe location.
The Marauder had been there when they arrived, and Omega hadn’t waited a second before bolting from the cockpit, and racing down the ramp to leap into Wrecker’s arms, her delighted giggles mixed with tears. Crosshair watched, a bittersweet emotion in his chest.
“HUNTER!”
The blonde-haired human torpedo shot away from Wrecker and straight into Hunter’s arms. The sergeant fell to his knees, gathering her up into his arms, and kissing her temple. Tears fell down both their cheeks as they reunited, Omega burrowing as close to Hunter as possible.
“I’ve got you, ad’ika.” Hunter whispered as she shook.
“I was so scared.” she replied, voice barely audible.
The rest of the Batch joined the hug, Omega releasing Hunter only to latch onto Tech with another sob. Wrecker held both of them tight in his arms, and looked at her with a beaming smile. “How’d you get out, kid?”
Omega looked up at him excitedly, then looked at Hunter. “I had help!”
“It’s now or never, vod’ika.” Hevy said, placing a reassuring hand on the sniper’s shoulder.
Omega was bundled back up in Hunter’s embrace by the time Crosshair managed to gather his courage and get off the ship. Domino followed behind him, like silent shadows, and their presence made him feel more reassured.
Their attention was returned to the ship as they heard footsteps, and Hunter nearly fell back on his behind as Crosshair stepped into view. His younger brother looked exhausted, but there was less of a weight in his eyes than the last time Hunter had seen him.
The sniper looked completely uncomfortable, not meeting any of his brothers’ eyes as he stepped off the ship. Batcher followed him, sniffing his hand and whining slightly before bounding over to Omega’s side, curling up in her arms as she watched Crosshair hopefully.
Hunter slowly stood, walking towards his brother slowly.
“Crosshair.” Tech remarked, face somehow even more blank and difficult to read than it usually was.
Omega wriggled away from Hunter, and darted to Crosshair’s side, reaching up to hold onto his arm. “He helped me escape, and he’s the one who figured out how to get the ship here.”
Crosshair couldn’t help the fondness that flickered over his face as he looked down at his younger sister. “We had other help, Omega.”
“Who’re you?” Wrecker asked, narrowing his eyes at the quartet standing behind Omega and Crosshair, looking very much like stoic sentries.
“They’re Echo’s batchmates!” Omega replied brightly. “Hevy helped us get away from a patrol group of troopers, and brought us to meet the rest of them!” Hunter’s eyebrows raised towards his hairline, and Tech frowned.
“His batchmates are dead.”
Omega sprang forward, bouncing on her feet. “That’s what we thought! I thought Cross was going to shoot them when we met!”
“So did I.” Cutup remarked with a wry smile.
“They’re telling the truth.” Crosshair said, looking at Hunter and begging him, at least one more time, to trust him. “They’re Domino.”
Hunter studied his brother’s face, and seemed to find whatever he wanted written there. He nodded. “Then you can come with us. We’re meeting up with Echo and Rex in a few rotations.”
Omega’s beaming smile became even brighter, and she hugged Hunter around the waist with all her might. He gave her a warm smile just before she ran back to where Crosshair and the others were standing, grabbing onto Fives’ arm and pulling him towards the Marauder.
“Come on! I’ll show you the ship!” Her excitement was contagious, and Fives laughed as he followed after her. Hevy, Cutup, and Droidbait walked alongside Crosshair, eying Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker as they came closer.
Hunter reached out, touching Crosshair’s shoulder. “Stay out here for a few minutes, Cross.”
Hevy looked at his younger brother, but it seemed that the use of his nickname had eased whatever tension had been between the members of the Bad Batch.
“We’ll head in for Omega’s tour.” Droidbait said with a smile towards Crosshair, and Cutup looped his arm around his brothers’ shoulders, and pulled them to follow their other siblings into the ship.
Inside, Omega was pointing out every small detail to Fives, whose smile had only grown as he listened to their sister.
“And this is my room! It’s the gunner’s mount, but on Kamino, I never got to decorate my own room, and I didn’t have a good view.” she said, pulling Fives towards the gunner’s mount of the ship, where a curtain was hanging. She pulled it to the side, and her beaming smile somehow, impossibly, became wider when she saw the soft blankets and pillows. “Wrecker and Echo were the two who put it together, and Hunter and Tech got the lights hung up!”
Hevy stood behind the two, looking at the warmly-lit space. “Looks like the best spot on the ship, vod’ika.”
Omega nodded happily. She turned around towards the other bunks, and pointed to one that looked sparser than the others. “That’s Echo’s bunk there.” Her face dropped slightly. “He hasn’t used it in a while, since he’s off with Rex.”
Immediately, the four Domino members converged on their brother’s bunk, inspecting what belongings that Echo had left, marking the bunk as his over the months he was with the Bad Batch.
Droidbait peeked beneath the bunk, and made a noise of interest, pulling out a small, dusty box. He stood, brushing it off. “What’s this?”
“I don’t know.” Omega said, cocking her head. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Fives reached over, opening up the box with the excitement that anyone would have getting to snoop in their siblings’ belongings. As soon as he spotted the contents within, any sense of mischievousness disappeared, leaving behind nothing but warm love for his twin, and his face grew soft. “Oh…”
Cutup and Hevy looked over his shoulder, and small sounds left them. Fives lifted out the four medals that lay within the box, holding them carefully in his hands. The four brothers stood quietly as they looked at the medals, reaching out and brushing them gently.
“Yours isn’t in here, Hev.” Droidbait noticed.
“That’s because it’s over here.” Crosshair said from the entrance to the ship. His shoulders were relaxed, and his arm was pressed against Hunter’s. Obviously, whatever talk the Batch had with each other had been beneficial. Crosshair pointed to the entrance to the cockpit, where another identical medal was carefully hung up. “Ninety-Nine gave it to us before we were sent off for our first mission.”
Hevy fell back, sitting on Echo’s bunk, and Cutup placed a hand on his older brother’s arm.
“We didn’t know why the medal was so important until Echo saw it the first time he came on the ship after we rescued him.” Hunter said. “He looked like he’d seen a ghost.”
Fives stepped forward, approaching the cockpit and looking at the medal with a bittersweet smile. “When Ninety-Nine died, we thought all his belongings were destroyed as well.” He reached out, touching the metal. “Echo and I were devastated because we thought that we also lost our only connection to Hevy.”
“I never knew he kept the rest of your medals.” Hunter remarked quietly, sitting down next to the console. Immediately, Omega hopped up to sit with him, curling up in his lap happily.
“We left them on Kamino, though. We said we’d only take them with us when we all returned and became ARCs.” Cutup remarked with a confused frown.
“Vod’ika, when you told us about how you all went back to Kamino, you said Echo separated from your group for a bit, right?” Fives asked Omega, who nodded. His smile grew as he looked back at his brothers. “We put the medals in the vents near our bunks, remember? He must have gone back and grabbed them before leaving.”
Droidbait sat beside Hevy, leaning into him with a look of disbelief on his face. “I can’t believe he’d do that.”
Crosshair snorted. “I can.”
Rex sent the Bad Batch coordinates to a planet called Lothal. It was out of the way enough that the Empire hadn’t totally gotten a hold of it yet, and with enough fields and abandoned buildings that it was easy to land without being spotted.
Hunter hadn’t told Rex much, just that Omega and Crosshair were both back safe with them, and that they were bringing in a few clones who had helped with their rescue.
A Togruta was standing with Rex, Echo, Gregor, and Wolffe when the ship landed, and Fives let out a wounded noise. “Ahsoka.”
The young former Jedi had her arm looped through Echo’s, leaning into him with a comfort that told of a strong bond of trust and friendship between the two.
“Who is she?” Omega asked, peeking around her taller brothers.
“She was General Skywalker’s Padawan, and our commander.” Fives’ voice was nothing but fond as he looked at her. “We all saw her as our little sister, though I have no idea how she’s still alive.”
Tech looked at Fives. “From my understanding, Captain Rex was in her presence when Order 66 was activated, but she helped him in removing his chip, and they were able to escape together.”
Fives’ face grew slightly pained as the ship landed.
Omega raced off the ship as soon as she was able, and Echo’s face lit up as soon as he saw her. He crouched, opening his arms to her, and she flew into his embrace, burying her face in his shoulder as they clung to each other.
“It’s good to have you back, vod’ika.” Echo said softly, lifting Omega off the ground. He felt her smile, and he pressed a soft kiss to her temple before setting her back down. To his amusement, Omega then flung her arms around Rex, who looked startled for all of two seconds before he returned the hug tightly.
Echo looked back to the ship, heart lightening when he saw Crosshair walking beside the rest of the Bad Batch, looking completely at ease back with his brothers.
Crosshair gave him a sharp smile. “Looking like hell, Reg.”
“Looking like shit, Cross.” Echo shot back with a grin of his own.
Rex placed a hand on Omega’s shoulder as they separated from their hug, gesturing to Ahsoka. “Omega, I’d like you to meet Ahsoka.”
Omega gave the Togruta a sparkling smile. “You were their commander, right?”
Echo’s eyes widened comically, and Rex looked up at his brother.
“How… do you know that?” Echo asked. “I didn’t talk about Ahsoka.”
“They told me!” Omega replied brightly, pointing back to the ship, where the rest of the occupants were now standing.
Rex let out a sound like he had been punched, and Echo froze.
It was impossible.
Echo knew the four men that stood in front of him like the back of his hand. Even if they were amongst shinies in unmarked armor, he would be able to pick them out just by the smallest differences in their voices or the way that they stood.
They were his best friends, his closest confidants, his older brothers, his twin, his little brother. They were the ones he spent nights awake whispering secrets to, listening to their voices, their bickering, their teasing. They were the ones he had grown up with, fought beside, graduated with.
They were his batchmates, and they were supposed to be dead.
“Echo?” Ahsoka asked quietly, touching his arm lightly.
He glanced at her, and could see, behind her, Rex looked identically shocked. Echo grabbed onto his arm, trying to ground himself while supporting his older brother who had held his twin in his arms as he died.
Rex looked at Echo, then to Ahsoka. “How do we know?”
How do we know it’s real?
“Let me.” Ahsoka said, her voice always so kind and fond despite her own surprise. He couldn’t do anything but nod his head, holding onto Rex’s arm in a death grip.
Slowly, Ahsoka moved forward, and Fives went to meet her. When they were close enough, she lifted her hands, waited a moment for him to nod with a warm smile, and she pressed her fingertips to the sides of his head. Both of them closed their eyes.
A few minutes passed, with Echo unable to take his eyes off the other three clones, feeling like he was sent adrift into space.
The former ARC felt his legs go weak, and he reached out blindly. “Cross… Crosshair.” His younger brother was at his side in an instant. “Here.”
“Is it actually them?” Echo whispered, clinging to Crosshair’s arm. His eyes never left his brothers’ faces, staring and drinking in the sight of them. Force above, they were in front of him, and in one piece.
Crosshair gave him a look, the exasperated, slightly fond look that Echo had come to love receiving from his vod’ika. “Omega and I interrogated them ourselves when we met. It’s them.”
A sob left Ahsoka, and she stepped back, dropping her hands from Fives’ head. He gave her a small, sad smile.
“I missed you, vod’ika.” he said, and Ahsoka let out a watery laugh as she stepped back closer to hug him tightly.
Echo watched as Fives quietly introduced Ahsoka to the others with him, and it finally began to process in his head that it was his batchmates, that his batchmates were actually alive.
Holding on tighter to Crosshair, Echo took a step towards his brothers, his Domino squad. They all looked towards him, and as soon as his eyes locked onto Fives, Echo released Crosshair, stumbling towards them with outstretched arms.
Fives’ face broke into a beaming smile, and he met Echo in the middle. The twins fell into each other’s arms immediately, knees hitting the ground as they wrapped around each other, Echo sobbing as he grabbed onto Fives’ shirt and clung to him desperately. Fives’ tears immediately soaked Echo’s shirt as he buried his face in his shoulder, fingers almost bruising in the tightness of their grip.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Fives gasped out, and Echo shook his head firmly, biting back more sobs.
“Not your fault. I should have watched where I was going.” he replied, and was rewarded by a wet laugh from his twin.
After giving the twins a generous thirty seconds to have a hug to themselves, the rest of Domino slammed into them, nearly knocking them all the way on their backs. Hevy wrapped his arms around them both and pressed his forehead against Echo’s, the pressure a familiar, comforting motion as Cutup curled around Fives, and Droidbait burrowed into Echo’s side.
“We’ve got you, vod’ika.” Hevy said softly.
Echo sobbed more, arms stretching out to attempt to embrace all four of his brothers at once. “How are you all alive?”
Cutup’s hand reached out to rub his knuckles against Echo’s head. “Long story, vod’ika. The important thing is that the kriffing Rishi eels ruined my pretty face.”
“The eels did you a favor, Cut.” he snarked back, relishing in the laughter that answered him. Slowly, the five brothers stood, Echo happily tucked between Hevy and Fives, unable to fully separate himself from his brothers just yet.
Fives glanced over Echo’s shoulder, and met Rex’s eyes. The captain narrowed his gaze, and he immediately shifted so that Droidbait was between their lines of sight, cowering closer to Echo. His twin let out a bark of laughter, realizing what was happening, and deliberately moved away from him.
Hevy sighed. “Fives…”
“Hide me, ori’vod.” Fives pleaded, reaching towards his older brother. “I don’t want to die a second time because Rex is mad at me.”
A warm, familiar feeling flowed over Echo as he, Droidbait, and Cutup laughed at his twin’s antics. The memory of Fives doing something similar on Kamino when they were children, hiding behind one of them to avoid Hevy’s ire over a prank gone wrong, it was one of their favorites to think back on from their younger days.
Rex rolled his eyes, approaching the group. “Don’t worry, vod’ika. I’ll be made once I get over being happy you’re alive.” He opened his arms, and a beat passed before Fives beamed, moving into Rex’s hug and clinging to him tightly. Echo didn’t hesitate to join the hug as well, sandwiching Fives between him and Rex.
The blonde captain let out a happy sigh as he embraced the Domino twins, holding his boys as close to his chest as he possibly could.
The trio yelped as another weight hit them, and Ahsoka’s laughter had them shifting, bringing the Togruta into the center as she happily held onto them all. It felt, for just a moment, that they were back amongst the rest of the 501st, curled up together after a long mission.
“I’m happy you’re okay.” Ahsoka said softly, looking up at Fives, who gave her a beaming smile.
“Ditto, vod’ika.”
Echo sniffed, moving back from the embrace and wiping his eyes before he turned back to Crosshair and yanked his vod’ika into a tight hug. Crosshair made a surprised noise, but he quickly melted into the embrace. “Thank you.”
“We didn’t do much, Echo.” Crosshair attempted to protest.
Echo pulled back, resting his hand on his shoulder and looking at him intently. “You brought them back to me, and you brought yourself and Omega home, vod’ika.” He pressed their foreheads together firmly. “You did so much.” A small figure wrapped around his waist, and Echo beamed as he looked down at Omega’s bright, happy face. “You too, ‘Megs.”
“Anything for our favorite ori’vod!” she replied happily.
Hevy wrapped an arm around Echo’s shoulders with a proud glint in his eyes. “Awww, vod’ika, you’ve gone and turned into a stuffy ori’vod without us around?”
Echo rolled his eyes, but leaned into the hug. “Someone had to be the rational voice for the Batch.”
“I’d say I resent that, but it’s true.” Hunter laughed.
In a few hours, the group would make a plan to return back to Hemlock’s base, to free the rest of their brothers who were trapped in the mountain. They would destroy the laboratory, and return to Pabu, where the clones who wished for a fresh, peaceful start would find homes, and those who wished to help the budding rebellion would go all over the galaxy to provide assistance.
They were content, however, to spend time sitting in the field of Lothal, catching up, telling stories, and simply reuniting with each other. The time they lost was nothing compared to the time they never thought they would be able to have.