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It was hard to believe that it had only been a year since the fall of the Republic. Cody blamed part of that on the inhibitor chip and the other part on the mundanity of working for the Empire. Cody had only really started living again when he’d joined Rex’s clone resistance a few months ago.
When Cody had found out about the rebellion he had been so proud of his vod’ika. Only Rex would be crazy enough to resist Order 66 and then start freeing other brothers from under the Empire’s nose. Cody could tell that his little brother was still trying to make up for Fives’ death since they now knew that he’d been correct about Palpatine’s conspiracy. He could see Rex trying every day to work through the guilt he still had.
Cody knew that was what Rex was dealing with because he felt the same way. Cody hadn’t lost a brother in the same way but he’d lost enough on the front lines to get the feeling. He also felt guilty for the death of his general no matter how much Rex assured him that it wasn’t in his control he couldn’t help the feeling. However, working with the rebellion helped to relieve those feelings. With every brother they saved Cody could feel a weight lift off his shoulder. The joy of reuniting batchmates or squads was something that would never get old.
Today Rex had mentioned that Clone Force 99 was stopping by to let some brothers reunite. Cody didn’t know the specifics since as far as he knew the only reg in that squad was Echo and he’d already visited the base a few times. Either way Cody was glad to get to see the Bad Batch again. So there Cody was waiting by the landing pad with Rex watching the Marauder come into port.
“Hey Hunter! Echo!” Cody greeted as the two approached. “Good to see the galaxy hasn’t gotten you guys yet.”
“Cody, long time no see.” Echo smiled. “I thought you’d be stuck under the Empire's boot forever.”
“Ah you know even I have a limit to the shit I can put up with.” Cody returned the smile while he and Hunter clasped arms. “I see you’ve gotten a few new members since I last saw you.”
Cody nodded over to the two strangers he was referring to. One was a young girl with blonde hair. She was probably around fourteen and had an infectious smile on her face as she talked to Crosshair and the other new member. The second stranger was harder to identify since they were standing with their back to the rest of the group. They had scars covering almost all of the visible skin on their arms and streaks of grey in their long hair. There was no doubt that they had been through hell likely due to the war and its aftermath.
“Has it really been that long?” Hunter asked before turning to shout over his shoulder. “Hey Omega, Kit, come over here and introduce yourselves to Cody!”
“Coming!” The girl immediately perked up at the invitation and grabbed the other stranger’s hand.
“Can you please stop calling me that?” Groaned the other who spun to face Cody to avoid having the girl drag his arm in the wrong direction.
As the two approached Cody realized that he recognized the man with the grey streaks in his hair. While the grey hair was common enough in older clones or natborns the distinctive two bands on either side of the man’s forehead was unique to him since creation. If the hair wasn’t enough of a give away the long scar on the man’s right cheek was damning enough. This man, who really only looked around seventeen, was Cody’s old batchmate, Fox. Although he had more scars than last time Cody had seen him, including a nasty burn on his forehead that looked suspiciously like it had come from a blaster bolt. There was also a small bag on his waist that sported his old Coruscant Guard insignia if Cody had needed any other hints.
“Why so fussy, Kit?” Crosshair smirked as he followed the pair. “Did you miss your nap?”
“Oh Kit,” Rex let out a small laugh, “like a baby fox. That’s clever.”
“It’s really not.” Fox mumbled.
“Hi, I’m Omega.” The blonde girl held out her hand to shake Cody’s. “It’s nice to meet you, Cody. Echo and the rest of the batch have told me lots about you.”
“Pleasure’s all mine Omega.” Cody smiled back at the kid. “How’s a little thing like you end up traveling with the Bad Batch though?”
“They’re my brothers.” Omega answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“The long necks made her as a backup in case Prime’s genes got too distorted.” Hunter explained, cutting off Tech who looked to be about to launch into a lengthier explanation. “But she’s a 99 like the rest of us.”
“Most of us anyway.” Echo added, rolling his eyes.
“You and Kit are messed up enough to qualify.” Crosshair snarked as he placed a toothpick in his mouth.
“Don’t be rude, Crosshair.” Omega rounded an impressive scowl at the taller clone.
“Sorry.” He ground out, eyes darting to the side to avoid Omega’s glare.
“I didn’t know anyone could intimidate an apology out of Crosshair.” Cody chuckled, awe apparent in his voice.
“Well if Omega’s glare doesn’t get to you then her tooka eyes surely will.” Hunter smiled. There was a beat of silence before Hunter moved on with the introductions. “Fox is also a newer addition to our crew.”
“Technically, he would be an older addition since he has been part of Clone Force 99 since we were cadets on Kamino.” Tech cut in. “Therefore he was part of our batch before Echo and Omega even though we only recently reunited after Order-66.”
“Not important right now, Tech.” Hunter groaned. “Have you two ever met Fox? He used to be a marshal commander so maybe you’ve crossed paths before.”
“Once or twice.” Rex drawled, clearly distracted by something since he kept glancing at Fox. “I wasn’t on Coruscant very often during the war.”
“Cody should be familiar with Fox.” Tech offered before Cody had a chance to think of an answer to Hunter’s question. “He and Fox are part of the same generation one command batch. Every member of that particular batch went on to hold the title of marshal commander after deployment. Fox was the last one to achieve the rank but his scores were the highest of the squad. He had a falling out with the rest of his batch after he was ordered to kill a fellow clone.”
“Tech!” Fox looked horrified at the information Tech had just freely offered.
“Tech where did you get that info?” Hunter questioned before turning back to Rex and Cody. “Can you two give us just a sec for a batch meeting?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Rex nodded before pulling Cody into a huddle of their own. He quickly looked over to see that the others were distracted with their conversation before whispering frantically in Mando’a. “Okay you can’t be mad but I forgot to tell you that Fox was alive.”
“How did that not come up in the week that you knew he was coming?” Cody shot at his vod’ika. “Why would that not be important enough to share before now?”
“I told you I forgot.” Rex whined. “Besides, how much would have changed if I told you before?”
“Well for starters I wouldn’t be fumbling for what to say to him.” Cody groaned. “Did you forget the last time we saw him was when Wolf threatened to kill him and then we disowned him for murdering Fives?”
“I didn’t forget.” Rex rolled his eyes. “It’s just… it’s been a long time since then. Echo vouches for him. Said he even apologized for Fives.”
“He didn’t apologize back then. What’s changed?”
“I don’t know. Echo didn’t give me many details but I think it might have had something to do with the chips.”
“He was talking a lot about orders.”
“Right.” Rex nodded. “Either way I figured with everything that’s happened maybe he deserved a second chance to explain. Maybe we could even take him back.”
“Dar’vod isn’t something you can just undo.” Cody massaged his temple, a habit he’d picked up from Obi Wan. “There are many steps, namely the apology for the disownment act and the agreement of the whole clan to bring them back in.”
“Not to be a downer but there’s not many of us left.”
Cody had to agree with that. They’d lost Ponds and Thorn to the war and Bly and Wolffe were still assumedly working for the Empire. As far as their clan was concerned it was just him and Rex.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hear him out.” Cody conceded.
“Even if you don’t want him back there are some clones here who want to see him.” Rex said with a distant smile. “You’re the one who’s always saying that reuniting brothers is the best part of the job.”
With that matter resolved Rex and Cody turned back to the Bad Batch who also seemed to be finishing their huddle. Hunter and Fox turned back to the pair while the rest of the group wandered back to their ship.
“We have a bit more to discuss but we don’t want to keep Fox from his brothers.” Hunter stated, giving Fox a pat to the shoulder. “We’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready to introduce us.”
Fox nodded and Hunter walked over to join the rest of his batch, leaving the three clones in silence.
“It’s good to see you’re okay Cody, Rex.” Fox gave the two a weak smile with the words. It made him look painfully young in Cody’s mind.
“You too.” Rex responded awkwardly.
“You guys are doing good work with this whole thing.” Fox gestured around vaguely.
“You could always join us.” Rex replied.
“I don’t think I’m really cut out for that kind of work anymore.” The younger clone’s eyes strayed to his hands which trembled slightly but consistently. “Plus I think a lot of brothers still have their reservations about me.”
“There are plenty of other guard members here.” Rex assured. “They all integrated well enough.”
“They aren’t vod kyramud.”
The words hung in the air and silence formed between the three. Despite Fox avoiding eye contact Cody could see the guilt in his brother’s eyes and the tight line of his lips. Rex had also looked off to the side, likely remembering when he’d shouted those words at Fox given the guilty wringing of his hands. Cody was sharing that same guilt as he saw how much their actions still affected Fox even a year later.
“Was that your choice though?” Cody finally broke the silence.
Fox looked shocked at the question and started fussing with a gold bracelet on his wrist. As Cody noticed the bracelet he noted that it was General Shaak Ti’s old padawan cord that Fox used to wear in his hair. Cody felt a little sad as the cord reminded him of Order-66 but he didn’t dwell on it for long.
“Yeah back then you said that you were following orders.” Cody urged with an encouraging smile. “Were you under the chip?”
“I- it’s- my chip is faulty like my growth.” Fox admitted, he paused as if waiting for Rex and Cody’s response.
“Echo said that you apologized to him.” Rex stated, more levelheaded than the last time this conversation had happened. “He mentioned something about your family being threatened. Is that true?”
“Yes.” Fox chewed his lip before continuing. “I’m sorry Rex, it was selfish of me. I chose the guard over my batch.”
“What was the threat?” Cody asked, completely caught off guard by this information.
“He, the Chancellor I mean, he said if I didn’t eliminate CT-5…Fives then my command squad would be reconditioned.” Fox sounded close to tears but he held both their eyes as he spoke. “I made the choice of my own free will and I can live with the consequences.”
“Fox-” Cody started but was quickly cut off by Rex.
“That’s not a choice di’kut (idiot)!” Rex fumed. “That’s coercion!"
Fox flinched visibly at the shout.
“While Rex is a bit aggressive he’s not wrong.” Cody said in a much calmer tone. He put a hand on Rex’s shoulder to rein him in. “That would be like blaming a brother under the chip’s control for their actions.”
“No, I told you this was different from the chip.” Fox repeated, confusion evident on his face. “Of course I wouldn’t blame anyone under the chip. But I had a choice and I decided to shoot Fives.”
“And if you hadn’t done that all three of your commanders, including Thorn, would have been reconditioned?” Cody asked, hoping that if he rephrased the situation Fox would understand the flaw in his logic.
“Yes. Them and my CMO.” Fox nodded.
“Vod that’s four lives against one! Even CT training covers loss mitigation." Rex implored. “Given our protocols, that's hardly a choice.”
“No it was one life against none.” Fox responded, confusion knitting his brows. “Reconditioning is not death.”
“It might as well be!” Rex retorted. “You know the Jedi outlawed reconditioning because of how inhumane it was, right?”
“Why are you arguing with me?!” Fox’s confusion had evolved into the familiar anger that Cody knew meant his former brother was trying to deflect. “I killed your vod’ika so that I could keep my vode safe! It’s not like it matters why anymore I’m already dar’vod!”
“We’re trying to forgive you shebs (ass)!” Rex shouted back.
“Both of you take a kirffing breath!” Cody interrupted, stepping between Rex and Fox. Once the pair seemed a bit calmer Cody continued. “It’s been over a year since we’ve seen each other and it hasn’t exactly been a pleasant time. Given everything that’s happened it seems harsh to hold what little family we still have at arms length.”
“If Echo can forgive you for Fives then it feels pointless to hold a grudge.” Rex shrugged.
“I don’t understand.” Fox sighed as he tugged a hand through his hair, undoing the braid. He started redoing the style as he spoke to avoid eye contact. “You disowned me. If you want to reintegrate me you need everyone’s approval.”
“That’s true but Bly and Wolffe are force only knows where thanks to the Empire and Ponds and Thorn gone. It's really just me and Rex who have to agree.” Cody gave Fox a reassuring smile.
“Thorn didn’t have to forgive me, you disowned him too.” Fox kept his eyes on his hands as he fussed with the end of the now finished braid. “I didn’t know if you saw the casualties on Scipio Minor. It was only guard troopers.”
“Of course I saw.” Cody felt his throat get tight. “I never took his number off my priority alerts, yours either.”
“Oh.” Fox seemed surprised by Cody’s confession. “I didn’t either, even after the Republic. I spliced into the Empire’s network to check casualty reports. When you were marked MIA I assumed the worst.”
“Wait, you still kept tabs on us?” Rex asked.
“Of course I did. You disowned us, that doesn’t mean we stopped caring about you.” Fox finally looked back up at the two. “Thorn used to say I was wasting my time with it but he’d always ask for updates.”
Cody was trying to find the words to start unpacking all of that when there was a shout from behind him.
“Ori’Fox!” Two voices called out in unison.
Cody turned around to get a look at the brothers the voices belonged to. There were actually three men but one hadn’t spoken and was attempting to hide behind one of the two at the front while also holding his hand. The clone who was blocking the other had a half shaved head while the half with hair rested around the top of their ear, with a small braid at the front. He was also carrying a bag with a medic aliik. The other brother at the front had much longer hair that was tied up into a braided bun. He also had mirrored tattoos on both sides of his mouth that looked like fangs and was accompanied by a massiff. All three of the clones had matching bes’mabur (shoulder armor) with the symbol of the Coruscant Guard.
“Wraps? Hound?” Fox looked like he was seeing ghosts as he glanced between the brothers.
“Don’t forget Grizzer!” Smiled the vod with tattoos, Hound apparently.
The two lead brothers rushed over and wrapped Fox in a crushing hug. Even the massiff seemed excited to see the former commander barking excitedly and wagging its whole body. The third clone hung back from the group letting Cody get a better look at him. He had short but curly hair that had two braids framing his face. The most distinct feature on the brother’s face was two matching tattoos on either cheek that looked like a simpler version of Thorn’s old helmet markings. He seemed nervous to approach but he was clearly a member of the guard and knew at least Wraps and Hound.
“We’re so glad you’re alright ori’vod.” The medic, Wraps, smiled. “After what happened on Coruscant we thought you were dead.”
“Judging by that scar it looks like he almost was.” Hound chimed, running a hand through Fox’s hair above said mark.
“Come on, you really think a little thing like that would keep me down.” Fox laughed, bending down to pet the eager massiff. “I’m just glad you three are okay. I- do you… is Thire…?”
“Yeah he’s fine, Ori'Fox.” Wraps’ eyes took on a sadder glint. “He just doesn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“Does he really think I blame him?” Fox questioned, looking up at the two others from where he was kneeling. “I know about the chips vode.”
“We figured that but Thire has this crazy idea that you’d still be mad at him.” Hound shrugged before shouting over his shoulder at the third clone. “Even though we’ve told him about a million times that wasn’t true.”
That drew everyone's attention to the lone figure who now had nothing to hide behind. The tension was palpable as Thire and Fox made eye contact for the first time. Cody was confused by the atmosphere since last he’d heard from Fox Thire was one of his favorite vod’ike but that had been a while ago so maybe something had changed. It might have something to do with the ‘incident’ that the other two had been talking about.
“Thire…” Fox broke the silence as he stood up. Then he simply spread his arms in invitation. “Get over here vod’ika.”
“Ori’Fox!” Thire cried as he rushed to accept his older brother’s hug. He sobbed an apology into Fox's chest. “I’m so sorry ori’vod. I didn’t mean to- You know I would never-”
“It’s okay Thi’ika.” Fox soothed, tears of his own finally falling. “I never blamed you for a second.”
Wraps and Hound also joined the hug, Wraps from behind and Hound resting a hand on Fox’s shoulder. Seeing the four reunited after so long did make Cody smile as well. He always loved a good reunion. At his side Rex also seemed happy for the brothers but there was a slight furrow to his brow that meant he was trying to solve a puzzle of some kind. Cody had an idea of what that might be since it was the same question that was occupying his mind; what had Thire done to feel like he needed Fox to forgive him?
Wraps had mentioned that something had happened on Coruscant that made the group assume Fox was dead. On top of that Hound had called out the blaster scar on Fox’s forehead as evidence that he almost had died. And Fox said he didn’t blame Thire for something because of the chips. The evidence was starting to form a horrifying conclusion the more Cody thought about it.
“What’s there to forgive?” Rex asked once the guards had fallen into silently enjoying each other’s company. “Last I heard you Corries were thick as thieves.”
“It’s not important.” Fox huffed, clearly annoyed by Rex’s questioning. “It’s in the past and no one’s to blame.”
“Humor me.” Rex leveled a firm stare at the group and crossed his arms.
“If Ori’Fox doesn’t want to discuss it he doesn't have to.” Wraps met Rex’s stare with an impressive glare of his own.
“Not even in the guard anymore and they’re still keeping secrets.” Rex sighed, looking to Cody for back up. “We’re all on the same squad here.”
“We don’t have to tell you everything.” Hound joined in glaring as well.
“How do I know it’s not anything important though?” Rex shot back. “What if this affects a mission in the future?”
“Because it has to do with the chip, which has been removed.” Wraps sneered.
Cody could tell the group was headed towards a full-blown argument but for the life of him he couldn’t think of what to say. If he agreed with the very sound points the Corries were making then Rex would think he was taking their side. On the other hand if he took Rex’s side of pushing for information then that would undoubtedly make the Corries feel isolated and put up even more defense. Before Cody could make a choice either way Fox spoke up.
“Rex, if I tell you, will you promise not to judge anyone?” Fox had his ‘negotiating with senators’ voice. “Everything that happened was Palpatine’s fault and no one else’s okay?”
Rex nodded. The guard members reassured Fox that he didn’t have to talk about it but Fox waved them off saying it was easier this way.
“As you know I am a Jedi knight. That means that I was under threat from Order 66.” Fox started, holding Thire and Wraps’ hands. “At the time I was in the Coruscant Guard HQ doing paperwork with Thire. I had just gotten off shift at the Jedi Temple and since I didn’t have patrol for the guard that day I was still wearing my Jedi robes. Palpatine sent the order to Thire, not me. Thine was only following orders under the chip but the next thing I knew he’d drawn his blaster on me and fired. It grazed my forehead pretty deep but I managed to deflect it before it could be fatal. I used the momentum and threw myself out a window and fled into the lower levels to hide. Then I stole a ship and escaped to a small planet in the mid-rim.”
“He shot you?!” Rex shouted in surprise.
Cody couldn’t say he shared the surprise since that was what he had already concluded. It was still surprising to hear Fox explain it so simply though. It reminded Cody of how cold he’d described his murder of Fives. Maybe it was a defense mechanism to separate the facts from the emotions.
“I did and again I’m so sorry ori’vod.” Thire confessed, wrapping Fox in a hug again.
“It wasn’t your fault vod’ika. Stop apologizing.” Fox reassured, running a hand through Thire’s hair.
The other two had moved to the side, still close but clearly giving Fox and Thire space.
“He almost killed you!” Rex seemed to be trying to explain the situation to Fox like he didn’t understand. “Cody please tell me I’m not the crazy one here! This is a very important detail I was not aware of!”
“Rex, calm down.” Cody sighed. “What did you think he was apologizing for?”
“I don’t know ori’vod maybe he broke Fox’s favorite pad or something?!” Rex continued to rant. “I didn’t think he almost killed a brother!”
“Rex you tried to kill Ashoka before she kicked some sense back into your shebs.” Cody put both hands on his younger brother’s shoulders to try to calm him. “I had General Kenobi shot down. We all did things we regret under the chip’s influence.”
“But why would he shoot a brother?!”
“Because he’s a Jedi, di’kut!”
Cody’s words were clearly having no effect on the spiral that Rex was in. When he looked to the others for some help he noticed that Fox was curled into a ball with his breathing being audible from where Cody was standing. All three of the Corries were crouched beside him offering gentle reassurance and minimal touch. When the medic of the group locked eyes with Cody he walked over to the pair.
“Can you please get him to stop yelling?” Wraps asked, crossing his arms. “He’s freaking Fox out.”
“I’ve tried but I think he’s having a minor flashback, kind of.” Cody expressed, looking at Rex who had stopped shouting for the moment but had a lack of focus to his eyes.
“Well then you just have to shock him back to the present.” Wraps said before digging around in his bag. He frowned as his search didn’t seem to find what he was looking for. “Looks like I’m out of smelling salts. That’s okay though I have a backup remedy.”
Without a second of hesitation Wraps raised their hand and slapped Rex across the face. Cody was torn between shock and laughter at the pained sound from his brother as he rubbed his cheek.
“What the kirff was that for?” Rex groaned.
“I was snapping you back to the present. You seemed to be experiencing a flashback and refused to see reason.” Wraps explained plainly.
“Isn’t that what smelling salts are for?” Rex glared at the medic.
“I was out of them in my kit and the solution required immediate resolution.” The smile the medic sent Rex’s way was a bit more satisfied than it had a right to be. “It worked didn’t it?”
“No arguing there.” Cody agreed with a small smile.
With that Wraps turned and went back to sitting with Fox. For the most part the other two seemed to have calmed Fox down since his breathing wasn’t as loud as before. He’d also uncurled from the tight ball and was sitting down with the massiff laying on his lap. When Wraps got back he said something softly to Fox causing him to smile softly.
Every older brotherly instinct in Cody’s body wanted him to go over and help comfort his little brother. Then he remembered that Fox was still nervous around them. Fox still thought he was dar’vod to him and Rex. He realized that if he and Rex tried to help Fox would probably just put on a front to get them to leave or worse they would freak him out again.
So with a heavy heart Cody threw an arm around Rex’s shoulders and started to lead him away. As they were leaving Cody saw the Bad Batch come over and also start to smoother Fox. He smiled at the sight. Even if their little brother didn’t trust them right now it was something they could work on. In the meantime he’d have plenty of brothers to protect him.