Work Text:
Wrecker roughly plopped down in his seat on the Havoc Marauder. They had just finished yet another mission, and were now on their way to collect the payment from Cid. “So, Omega- did I ever tell you how I got this scar?” he said, gesturing towards the left side of his face.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so… but I’ve always been curious. How?”
Crosshair groaned and rubbed at his eyes. “Not again,” he muttered.
“Hey, shut up, Crosshair,” Wrecker grumbled, annoyed. “Let me tell the story.”
“Yeah, Crosshair. Let him tell the story,” Hunter said teasingly. “You know he likes to.”
The sniper let out a long sigh. “…Fine. But don’t expect me to join in on the conversation. I’m not saying anything about mine; I don’t care how much you plead.”
Omega’s eyes widened. “You have scars, too?”
“We all do,” Tech said matter-of-factly. “We’re soldiers. Echo and Hunter, in particular, have many.”
Echo averted his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it, either.”
“No one’s forcing you,” Crosshair said with a shrug, closing his eyes. “Probably better to keep it to ourselves, anyway.” He opened one eye. “Go ahead, Wrecker.”
“Finally!” Wrecker said with excitement, turning his head so that the others could get a better view of his facial scar. “I got this in a training accident a few years ago. I cut the wrong wire on a small explosive while trying to disarm it… and I was holding it up to my face.” He chuckled. “Left a pretty nasty wound, as you can see. And this eye don’t work no more,” he said, pointing at his left eye, which was milky white and unfocused.
“…Is that why you refused to let me train with live explosives? Even small ones?”
He grinned. “You got it! It’s not that bad, but… I don’t want ya gettin hurt, y’know?” He gently ruffled her hair, and she giggled.
“My death perception’s not too great anymore, but-“
“Depth perception,” Tech interrupted.
“…What?”
“It’s depth perception,” Tech said, adjusting his goggles, “Not death perception.”
Wrecker grunted. “Well, you knew what I meant, so why does it matter?”
Tech was about to protest, but Echo clamped his hand over the other man’s mouth, who glared at him. “Don’t bother,” he said lightheartedly. “You’ve told him so many times… if it hasn’t taken yet, I doubt it ever will.” He nodded, pulling his hand back. “Go on, Wrecker.”
“Thank you,” Wrecker said, sounding almost indignant. “As I was saying, my death perspective’s not too great no more. But I can still shoot good and set bombs, so I don’t really care.”
Tech’s eye twitched at the phrase ‘death perspective,’ which was even more incorrect than what the demolitionist had said previously. When Hunter glared at him, though, he kept his mouth shut.
“I’ve got some scars on my arm, too,” he said, rolling up his right sleeve, “also from explosives.”
“Woah,” Omega marveled. “That’s so cool!”
Wrecker grinned. “I know, right?” He turned to look at the other men. “Who’s next?”
Echo immediately looked down, and Crosshair did a moment later. Hunter and Tech stared at each other until, eventually, Tech conceded.
“All right, all right, fine. I’ll go next, I suppose,” he said begrudgingly. Sighing, Tech untucked his shirt from his pants and rolled it up slightly, revealing a nasty blaster burn scar. Wrecker and Omega both flinched simultaneously.
“I… I didn’t know that left a scar,” Wrecker said, much quieter than usual. “Why… Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There was no need to upset you,” Tech stated simply. “Besides, it’s just a scar; it does not impede my ability to function. It can’t even be seen, usually.”
“But- but it’s my fault,” Wrecker stammered.
Omega looked up at him quizzically. “What do you mean, it’s ‘your fault?’”
Wrecker hesitated and, in that moment of silence, Tech answered the question. “He says that, but it’s not, really. He was standing near me and his blaster misfired, hitting me in the gut. He didn’t mean to point it at me, and the weapon was set to safety. Therefore, it’s not his fault,” he finished, looking Wrecker directly in the eye.
Wrecker mumbled something under his breath, but didn’t protest.
Tech then cleared his throat. “Continuing,” he said, pulling his shirt down and pulling up the left leg of his pants, “This scar is from an improvised battlefield surgery done by Hunter. My leg had been impaled by a piece of shrapnel, and Hunter had to cut it out with his knife.”
Omega let out a small gasp. “Did it hurt a lot?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t all that bad, really. I had some local anesthetic in my backpack, so we used that. It didn’t negate the pain entirely, but it was reduced substantially.” Tech coughed. “Finally,” he said while turning his heavily scarred palms towards Omega, “these are from various experiments and accidents over the years; mostly due to my own recklessness and impatience.” He smirked. “I always tell myself I’ve learned my lesson, but I continue to injure myself nonetheless.”
“Why don’t you wear gloves, Tech?” Omega asked, tilting her head.
“I find that they hinder my movement too much, and make my work less precise, which is ultimately more dangerous.”
She blinked. “Oh.”
Tech looked directly at Hunter. “Well, you’re next- that is, unless Crosshair or Echo decide that they want to speak.”
As he said this, both men shook their heads no, Echo far more so than Crosshair, who was beginning to relax a bit.
“All right, I’ll go, then.” Hunter said nonchalantly. “I might as well… she’ll see eventually.” Taking a deep breath to steel himself, he pulled off his shirt, revealing a crisscrossed patchwork of scars all over his chest; many were blaster burns, but there were also a good amount of healed cuts and gashes. Barely a single inch of the skin on his chest was unscarred, and his stomach area wasn’t much better.
Omega was silent, and her expression was unreadable for a moment.
“Omega?” Hunter murmured. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, I-“
Omega darted over to Hunter, who was sitting on the floor, and immediately embraced him in a tight hug. He was caught off-guard at first, but soon reciprocated, gently wrapping his arms around her back.
It was several moments before she pulled back and, when she did, she looked right at the largest, nastiest scar on Hunter’s chest- the one right over his heart, from where he’d been shot in the chestplate by Cad Bane.
While protecting her.
Her eyes began to water, and she gently reached out and laid her hand on the large scar. Hunter flinched at the touch; the burn was still tender. Omega pulled her hand back immediately, and everyone in the room cringed at Hunter’s expression.
“Does it still hurt?” she asked quietly.
Hunter was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time. “…Yes,” he finally admitted. “It went pretty deep.”
Omega reached out again, this time much more hesitantly. Hunter gently grasped her wrist and guided her hand to the scar. “It’s okay,” he murmured gently. “It’s okay.”
“I’m the reason that happened, though,” she murmured. “If I had just been stronger-“
“No.” Hunter said forcefully. “Don’t you ever blame yourself for that! I…” He trailed off. “Omega, you’re my sister. I love you… there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you.”
“I love you too, Hunter,” Omega whispered, tearing up.
They embraced for an uncertain amount of time; Omega was the one to pull away eventually. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, Omega. I’m okay.” He smiled reassuringly. “I promise, I’m okay.”
She wiped her eyes, then smiled back. “So, how… how did you get all these scars?” she asked.
Hunter chuckled. “Mostly due to my own recklessness, like Tech. I end up taking the most bullets out of all of us, as you can see.”
“Yeah,” Echo teased, “you really gotta stop protecting us so much. We can take hits, too.”
“Not a chance,” Hunter said firmly. “Especially for you, Echo. You’ve been through enough already.”
Echo shifted uncomfortably, and Omega looked between her two eldest brothers. “What does he mean by that, Echo?”
He hesitated, and Crosshair jumped in. “I’ll go next,” he said quietly, and all heads turned towards him.
“No, Crosshair, you… you don’t have to,” Echo murmured.
“I want to,” he insisted. “Besides… maybe if I go first, it’ll be a bit easier for you.”
Echo nodded slowly. “Okay,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Crosshair looked towards Omega. “I’m sure you already know how I got this one, right?” he said, turning his head so she could see the burn scar on his scalp. The hair on the sides of his head had been cut close because of it; especially because the burn wasn’t fully healed yet.
Omega blinked. “I think so,” she said. “It was a burn from the ion engine, right?”
He flinched ever-so-slightly as his fingers brushed against the still-tender bit of flesh. “Yes,” he said. “That’s correct.” He sighed. “Most of my scars are because of that… incident, actually. I would… rather not show those… but there is another major one from a different injury.”
Omega perked up a bit, listening intently.
“It was on the planet Akiva,” he began. “We were on a mission to scout out the Separatist droid factories there. A group of rogue local Confed sympathizers was fighting against us and, by the time I spotted them, it was a bit too late. I was able to warn the squad via comm just before I was shot by an enemy sniper.”
“Where were you shot?”
Crosshair smirked. “Right above the heart.“ His tone darkening, he said, “I barely escaped with my life that day.” He traced the edges of the scar on his collarbone with one finger. “I’ve been a lot more cautious since then…”
Omega gently laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Crosshair. We’ll protect you. You’re our brother, after all.”
For just a moment, the snarky sniper looked like he was about to cry, but the expression was gone almost instantly. “…Th-thank you… Omega,” he murmured softly.
She gently wrapped her arm around his shoulder. “You’re welcome,” she said softly. Then, she looked at Echo. “Listen… you don’t have to-”
“No,” he interjected stiffly. “You have to know. I can’t keep hiding it forever.” He took in a deep, shuddering breath. “Omega, can we… talk in private? It… it’s easier when there’s less people.”
“Sure.” She walked over to him as he stood, and together they went to the little room that had been made for her. Omega sat down on her cot and motioned for her brother to sit next to her; he did so gratefully.
“So, Omega… I…” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “How much do you know about my cybernetics?”
“Um…” Omega thought for a moment. “Well, I know that your arm lets you interact with computers,” she said, gently placing her hand on his prosthetic, “and the thing on your head helps you process that information, right?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s right.” He looked away from her. “And do you know how I… how I lost my arm?…”
“It was an accident, right? An explosion?”
Echo nodded, gripping the edge of the cot tightly. “Yes.” He drew in a shaky breath. “But I… I lost more than just my arm.”
She looked up at him, concerned. “What do you mean?”
“I…” He shook his head suddenly, looking at her with fear in his eyes. “No. I can’t do it. I can’t tell you, I-”
“Calm down, Echo, please,” Omega said, placing her hand on his shoulder- where he could feel her touch- and squeezing gently. It seemed to ground him a bit, and some of the tension in his body dissipated. “You’re worried that whatever you‘re going to tell me will change my opinion of you. But I promise it won’t, okay?” She threw her other arm around his neck and hugged him. “You’re my brother, my vod. I love you no matter what.”
As she spoke, he relaxed more and more. By the time she had finished, the stiffness in his body had melted away. He placed his hand on her back for a moment, then gently pushed her away a bit. “Alright,” he murmured. “Okay.” He sighed. “I should have told you sooner, I just… I was… scared. I admit it, I was scared to tell you.”
Omega patted his shoulder. “You don’t have to be scared to tell me these things,” she assured. “I would never judge someone for things that are out of their control.”
“…Thank you.” Echo straightened slightly. “Well, I’ve delayed long enough. Here goes nothin’…”
Omega watched as Echo bent over and pulled off one of his boots, revealing a metallic foot. She inhaled a bit more sharply in surprise, but he didn’t stop there, removing the second boot as well to show the other foot, which was also made entirely of metal.
“Oh, Echo…” she murmured, trailing off. He refused to meet her gaze for a moment- until she gently tilted his chin up, effectively forcing him to look at her. “Listen to me, okay? I’m not judging you; I’m just concerned for your health, okay?” She waited for him to nod, then cautiously asked, “How high up are the amputations?”
“Um… about right here,” he said, tracing a line about halfway down his thigh with one finger, “on both sides…”
“Well… that’s not ideal, but it could definitely be much worse,” she said, keeping her tone light so as to avoid upsetting her brother.
He chuckled nervously. “I guess you’re right.”
“Does walking hurt?” she asked suddenly.
Echo looked down at her, a bit puzzled. “No. Why?”
“I just… I’ve noticed that you walk differently than the others, and I thought maybe you were in pain. But I never knew why until now.”
“Ahh.” He shook his head. “No, it doesn’t hurt. My… my limbs healed pretty well, actually.”
“Oh, that’s good, then! I was just a bit worried that maybe you were hurting.”
“Well…” he trailed off. “Every now and then I have some pretty bad phantom pains. But usually, I’m fine.”
Omega’s eyebrows furrowed. “I remember reading that the intensity of phantom pains is affected by how much the patient was hurting before surgery…”
Echo didn’t say anything; his eyes darted around anxiously.
“I… If you don’t mind me asking,” she started slowly, “how did you lose-”
“It was the same explosion,” he blurted before she could finish her sentence. Sighing, he rolled up the leg of his pants, exposing more of the prosthetic, and then the flesh of his thigh, which was a twisted mess of burn scars. “It was, uh… pretty bad.”
Omega inhaled sharply when she saw this and gently placed her hand on the disfigured skin. She looked up at him, on the verge of tears.
“I’m so sorry,” she murmured.
“Sorry for what?”
“Sorry that you had to go through this.” She pulled her hand back, sniffling a bit. “I can’t even imagine…”
He let out a breath that he’d been holding in without realizing. “It’s alright. I… I do miss feeling whole, though… I’m just… I’ve lost so much.” He sighed. “If it was only my arm, I wouldn’t mind as much, but… my legs, too?…” He looked down at his one intact limb, flexing his fingers. “I try to tell myself that I’m lucky. That I could have lost this arm, too, or died. But I don’t feel very lucky. You’d think I would be used to it by now, but I’m not, and I don’t know if I ever will be. It’s just this feeling of being… less than human. I-”
“Don’t say that,” she interrupted. “Please, don’t say that. You’re just as much of a human as any of us.”
“But I’m more machine than flesh,” he murmured.
“Your body doesn’t determine your worth, Echo,” Omega said firmly. “Being human isn’t defined by the amount of limbs you have, or whatever. It’s about our genetics. Nothing can take away your humanity. Or your value as a person.” She gently wrapped her arms around him, burying her face against his chest. “You mean the world to me,” she said, slightly muffled now. “You all do.”
Echo was speechless for a moment. After a few seconds, he tentatively wrapped his arms around her back, returning the hug. “Tell me if my prosthetic is poking you,” he said softly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
She shook her head. “It’s not.” Then, she mumbled, “I’m very glad that you’re alive. I don’t know if anyone has told you that recently. But I’m glad that you survived, even if that means that parts of you are missing.”
“I’m glad, too,” he said after a moment’s pause. “I really am. It’s just… frustrating that I have to live with this.”
“I understand,” Omega said. “But you’re still here, and that’s what really matters.”
He smiled slightly. “I guess you’re right. I should make the best of my situation.”
“I mean… being disabled isn’t always bad, right? You make Crosshair get things for you all the time,” she giggled. “And, again… you’re still alive, and relatively healthy, too. You are lucky, you really are, even though you may not always feel like it. And don’t you ever say that you’re worth less than anyone else, because that’s not true,” she said fiercely.
His smile widened. “Thanks, ‘Mega,” he said, ruffling her hair with his hand. “You’re the best. You really are.”
“I know,” she said cheerfully, without even a hint of sarcasm.
Echo grinned, then his expression went serious again. “I, um… there’s still some things I haven’t told you. I wasn’t even going to at all, but… I feel like I should.”
Omega nodded. “I’m listening.”
“So… ugh, how do I say this?…” He gulped. “Have you ever heard of the Techno Union?”
“Um… vaguely?” she shrugged. “All I really know is that they’re kinda like a business with its own government.”
“Yeah, basically.” He sighed. “To make a long story short, I was sold to the Techno Union following my injury in the explosion. I was left behind because the General and the Commander thought I had died, and… and because of that, I was sold like property. I was told that the medical staff at Citadel stabilized my condition before I was transported to Skako Minor, but I don’t remember any of that. All I know is that one minute, I’m at the Citadel, and the next, I’m in an operating room…”
Omega slowly looked up at him, still keeping her arms wrapped around his shoulder. “I… that… that’s horrible.”
He snorted. “Yeah, you can say that again. But they, uh…” he let out a long sigh which turned into a groan of frustration. “I really didn’t want to tell you this, but you’ll find out eventually anyway.” Gently pushing her out of his lap, he turned his back to her and pulled his shirt over his head.
Omega muttered a swear word under her breath at the sight of his heavily scarred back, and Echo whipped his head around to glare at her, but he couldn’t stay angry. His gaze softened almost immediately when he saw that her eyes were brimming with tears. “Ah, shit. I mean- Omega, please don’t cry, I-”
She cut him off by gently placing a hand on one of his spinal implants. He flinched slightly at the touch, even as soft as it was. Her hand then moved to touch one of the many, many surgery scars around the cybernetics- made both during the initial implantation, as well as the eventual removal of the unnecessary parts after his rescue.
“I… I understand why you have the prosthetics, but… why? Why would they have to do this?” she murmured, barely audible.
“They didn’t have to,” he said, his voice halting. “They did it because they could. And now, it… it can’t be undone.” He buried his face in his hand. “These implants are too close to my central nervous system to remove without risking my life. And… if they get damaged…” He let out a shuddering breath. “I try not to think about that.”
“They… did it because they could…” she repeated slowly.
“Yeah.” He sighed and turned around so that she could see the implants in his chest as well. “And these regulate my breathing… they were entirely unnecessary at the time but, again, it’d be dangerous to take these out… not to mention that my body has become reliant on them.”
“Because they could…” she said again, this time softer, and looked down, clutching her head.
“…’Mega?” Echo said gently. When she didn’t respond, he tried again. “You alright, sis?”
When there was still no response from the girl, he reached out and tilted her head up with his hand. She was crying silently, tears flooding down her cheeks.
“Oh no. No, no, no, please don’t cry…” he bit his lip. “Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have shown you my back and chest too, I’m sorry, I-”
“It’s not that,” she managed to choke out through her tears. “I just… remembered a bad memory when you said that…”
His heart sank. “What… what do you mean?”
Omega laughed softly, wiping her tears on her sleeve. “Well, you’ve shown me your scars… I might as well show you mine,”
she said, turning away from him and unzipping the back of her tunic.
Echo recoiled in shock at what he saw. The base of her neck had several implants of some kind attached to it, most of which lay right over or very near her spine. They looked unsettlingly similar to the ports on his head- which were there for the sole purpose of hooking him up to a computer.
“Omega,” he breathed, “who did this to you?”
“It… It was the Kaminoans.” She shuddered, gripping her upper arms. “I was kept in some kind of test tube for a while while they decided what to do with me. I was originally made for Jango Fett, but… but since they were able to create Alpha… Boba… I wasn’t ‘needed.’ So they never told him about me.”
“…Why did they put in these implants?” he asked as gently as he could.
“They never fully explained that to me, but my best guess is that it was so they could better monitor my vitals and brain activity.”
She sighed. “So I understand to some extent what you’re going through. It’s that feeling of… like your body isn’t your own.”
Echo shuddered, possibly reliving unpleasant memories. Gently, he said, “I… I’m so sorry that happened. I had no idea.”
“No, it’s okay. You had no way of knowing.” She wiped her tears again, calming down a bit. “And it’s nothing compared to what you went through.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to be upset about it, though,” he said, then looked at the time. “Oh, god, it’s getting late. Almost midnight… we should go to bed.” Echo pulled his shirt back on and stood up. Omega, though, remained seated. “…You coming?” he asked gently.
“Can I sleep with you tonight?” Omega said softly as she stood, reaching for his hand.
Echo hesitated for a moment, realizing that she would see him without his prosthetics if he said ‘yes.’ He didn’t want her to pity him, or even be disgusted by him… but that look in her eyes…
“Yes,” he said after a few seconds. “Of course.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully, though she sensed his hesitation.
The pair walked together towards the sleep area; Wrecker was already fast asleep, while Tech and Hunter both sat awake on their cots with their datapads.
“Everything alright?” Hunter asked, concern flooding his features.
“Yes,” Omega and Echo said simultaneously. They looked at each other for a moment before Omega elaborated. “I’m sleeping in Echo’s bed tonight. I hope that’s okay.”
Hunter raised an eyebrow, surprised. “As long as it’s alright with him.”
Echo nodded at the Sergeant, letting him know that it was alright. Then, he led Omega over to his cot, which had some kind of mechanical apparatus lying on the ground beside it. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing.
“It’s the charging station for my cybernetics,” he explained. “Though one charge can get me through several days, I still plug everything in at night. Besides… they’re hard to sleep in. Uncomfortable, I mean.”
“Ah, okay. Is that why you hesitated?”
“…What?”
“When I asked if I could sleep in your bed tonight, you hesitated. Did you… not want me to see you like that?”
Echo sighed. “Not much gets past you, huh?”
“I’m not going to judge you for having scars or being disabled,” she said, slightly confused. “Why would I?”
“…Not everyone is as nice as you,” he muttered. “I overheard some of my brothers on Kamino saying that I… that I should have died. That I’m a waste of parts. That I’m less than human.” He gripped his upper arm tightly. “It definitely doesn’t help you feel loved or accepted. The other Batchers, Rex, and Cody are pretty much the only clones who treat me like they would anyone else.”
“Well, they’re wrong,” Omega said firmly. “About all of those things. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Echo smiled, chuckling. “You know what? You’re right.” He pulled back the bedsheets on the cot, waiting for Omega to sit down before he did. She talked to him quietly while he carefully took off his armor, then the apparatus on his head, and, finally, his prosthetics. After carefully setting them in the charging dock, he crawled under the sheets with Omega, pulling the blanket over both of them.
Omega cuddled up against his chest and threw her arms around his shoulders almost immediately, catching Echo slightly off-guard. A few moments later, he hugged her back as best he could, wrapping his own arm around his sister.
For a short while, they lay there in silence, simply enjoying the warmth of each others’ body heat and the gentle touch of a loving sibling. Then, Omega spoke. “You know,” she said softly, “I’m very glad you’re here. I know you weren’t part of the same batch as the others, but… I think… this is where you belong.”
“Thank you,” Echo murmured. “That… that means a lot to me.”
As the both of them drifted off to sleep, Echo realized that he hadn’t felt this at peace in years.