Chapter Text
And he thought that Skywalker had been nuts.
The General had nothing on his four new brothers when it came to half-assed, spur of the moment, absolutely bonkers plans. And that was saying something since Skywalker had his own brand of reckless and crazy to claim to his name. Echo was beginning to understand why Rex looked so tired all the time now.
Sometimes they reminded him of Fives.
His life with the Batch was as he had predicted when he first chose to join up with them though. They had indeed proven that they were a lively bunch, and his new life was never boring. Even in their infrequent and fleeting moments between missions he found himself endlessly entertained by their antics, and it only made it easier to find himself feeling at home among them. Because he was one of them now. All earlier doubt he’d had about joining in with the tight-knit brothers had gone away after their first shared mission to Kijimi.
And Kijimi had been an absolute disaster.
But they survived and all come out closer because of it. Perhaps not the best example of a bonding experience, but it did the trick. He’d even found himself in the good graces of their resident sniper after that one, the hardest nut to crack in the Batch. Echo was still proud about that.
He was lucky. A few months ago lucky would not have been the word he would have used to describe himself at all. Maybe unfortunate, tragic, unlucky Echo. But no, he was lucky to be alive, and his luck continued in that he found a place that he still belonged after all that had happened to him. With brothers who cared about him, and ones that he loved in return. Even if they were kriffing insane half the time.
Being a little crazy must come with the territory of being able to do the impossible when it came to missions. No sane mind would come up with the things these boys got up to. It was a wonder that Tech seemed the most put together of them all, and yet ninety percent of their most ridiculous plans came from his brilliant, and apparently very twisted, mind.
Echo was used to being the voice of reason having been paired with Fives their whole lives, so it only came natural to him to take on that role again with his new brothers. Regulating crazy was his specialty now, and that was fine by him.
At least that’s what he told himself as he fixed the caf machine for what felt like the third time that week. He had to admit, Tech’s method of revenge among his brothers was ruthlessly effective. Be it locking access to the fresher in the middle of the night, playing monotone music through the ship’s p.a system that won’t shut off no matter what buttons you press, or just setting a random sequence of beeps to go off at increasing frequencies from different consoles making it nearly impossible to find and shut it the kriff up.
Yes. Very effective. Or at least it was when Echo wasn’t able to fix things himself. He didn’t blame Tech for punishing them for putting muddy boots up on the nav console again. Echo wasn’t happy to have to clean out dried dirt from the buttons either.
But a man needed his caf in the morning, and the others may have learned their lesson anyway after Echo had gone off on them the day before. And this was actually good practice for him. He’d gotten rather good at repairs in his short time with Clone Force 99. Maybe it was because he was so good at reading manuals that it was only natural that he picked up Tech’s engineering texts when he was bored. Maybe being almost half mechanical bits now gave him a new natural affinity for electronics. Maybe it was because he was spending so much time with Tech that his vod’ika’s skills were rubbing off on him.
Or maybe it was because they kept breaking kark and he just wanted stuff to work.
Either way, Echo was quickly becoming a skilled mechanic in his own right. Not something he’d ever think would apply to himself, but there you have it.
Tech had done a number on this caf machine though. Even Echo was struggling a bit to reverse engineer whatever his brother had done to it to deprive the others of their morning wake up call. It wasn’t easy to keep a sleep schedule in space, and even less so when they were always on call as a special ops squad, and caf was sometimes all that stood between Echo and kissing the floor.
Like today. They had a mission coming up in a few hours and Echo had only just barely been able to land on his cybernetic feet as he’d rolled out of Wrecker’s bunk half hour ago. He scowled over his shoulder to where he knew their vod’ika was sitting up in the cockpit finishing up his data download from the previous day’s radio chatter. Of course he had to crane his neck further than usual in order to look past Wrecker who had not made it past the first row of crash seats before falling into a snoring mass there.
The bruiser was not the only one desperately in need of some caf either it seemed. Echo sighed and turned his attention back to his first task of the day. He needed to get this thing back up and functional before Hunter’s sleep shift was up. He knew for a fact that their sergeant would need his dose more than the rest of them combined. He’d taken the fourth watch shift the night before. And they were due to land in three hours for their next mission.
“Kriffing pits, Tech. What did you even do to this poor thing?” he muttered to himself as he found yet another wire that seemingly had no port to plug it into. For the life of him he couldn’t even figure out what that wire was doing in there in the first place. He was no electrical engineer, but he knew enough about currents and circuit boards now that this just seemed unnecessary. Echo was beginning to think that Tech had put extra parts in here just to mess with him and prevent him from fixing the damned thing. His brother was devious enough that he may just do that.
With that in mind, Echo yanked out the suspicious wire and tossed it aside. All the while side-eying Tech who was still sitting up in the cockpit, probably smirking at them from where he sat. With the wire gone, he plugged in the remaining bits where it seemed like they belonged and slammed the lid shut on it. If he had both hands of fingers he would have had them all crossed as plugged the thing back in and waited for it to start up.
It made one grimace worthy sound, but then started to bubble and chug away like it should. Echo sighed out in relief and let himself wander away from the pot for a moment. It would take a few minutes before it would be done anyway and he was still far too tired for all this.
Wrecker was still snoring loudly, so Echo walked right past him. Hunter and Crosshair were still on their sleep shift for another thirty minutes, so he wouldn’t bother them just yet.
That left the one responsible for his morning’s rough start.
He didn’t bother hiding his annoyance on his face as he slumped heavily in the co-pilot’s chair beside Tech, continuing his side-eye glare as he took in his brother’s chipper energy as he flicked through his data pad, seemingly without a care in the world.
Echo knew the batch had a very strict rule about allowing Tech access to caf, but he was finding himself tempted to break that rule and get their vod’ika addicted like the rest of them. Then he could get his own revenge someday for this. He’d keep the thought in his back pocket for now. He didn’t think the benefits would outweigh Crosshair’s rage if he ended up going through with it though. Not yet anyway.
Tech didn’t bother glancing up at him, still focused on his research even as he started to speak to Echo, “You’re getting better. It only took you fifteen minutes to realize that wire was redundant.”
Echo’s scowl deepened, “Gee, thanks. So glad that we had this mental exercise. It was the perfect way to wake up my brain after four hours of sleep.”
“I completely agree. However, I may have to devise alternative methods of punishment for the others since you keep fixing things.”
Echo was still learning that sarcasm was not recognized by Tech unless he was the one serving it, but he decided it was still too damn early to correct his brother. At least not until the caf machine finished the first brew. Instead he just slouched low in his chair to narrow his eyes at the hyperspace view ahead. The stars had no right to be so bright this early.
“Anything come in about the mission last night?” Echo asked once his withdrawal induced rage had simmered down with the growing smell of caf in the ship.
Tech hummed and reached across the dash to pull up a short message that looked like it came from Captain Archer. It was simple enough, just the latest coordinates that they would be dropping into later that morning. Nothing else really, and that was just fine by him.
“No changes that will affect our aspect of the mission. The captain, Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker, along with a small squad will accompany us to the remote base and clear the path for us to get in while we pull the plans we need for their new falcon droid models, and then lay the cover fire for all of us to get back to the evac shuttle,” Tech shrugged, eyes not even shifting from whatever it was he was reading. Echo had to wonder how he was able to hold a conversation and read at the same time. Was he even able to retain everything he read like that?
Echo shook his head, he probably didn’t need to know. It would just make him feel inadequate or something. He slumped back in his seat and crossed his arms behind his neck, “Should be quick in and out type job then. Sweet and simple. No need to overcomplicate a simple mission, right?”
“If you say so.”
“What did I say about overcomplicated?”
“I believe that went out the window the moment Wrecker smashed through it,” Tech shouted over the din of blaster fire and the loud whooping cries of Wrecker as he smashed his way through the latest hoard of droids, “Just keep at it, we’re almost through.”
Echo growled but focused back in on the control table before them. He used to be a front lines soldier, so being the one who did the fancy work while the others laid down cover fire was a somewhat new concept to him. Tech was used to it, and was able to easily tune out the battle behind them as they spliced and diced their way through this Seppie base computer.
“There’s too many of them inbound. Hunter, you and your team will need to fall back!” The captain’s near frantic warning was noted by Echo, but he didn’t react outwardly and neither did Tech.
“You have two minutes before we’re overrun,” came Crosshair’s bored tone over their shared comms. While an announcement like that would be a dire situation for most squads, these boys found it coming off as a more casual ‘five minutes to bedtime’ reminder. Echo was horrified with himself that he’d also come to regard Crosshair’s news with little more than an eyeroll. Because he knew by now that being overrun just meant that Wrecker and Crosshair would start up their little game of who can take down the most droids, giving Hunter time to find them an alternative evac route.
There were a few alarmed squawks over the comm line they shared with the captain and his team, but they were solid enough in their own experience to not lose focus. Echo couldn’t see them, but he knew they would be closing in ranks instinctively by now. Because that’s what he would have done before.
Now though he was crouched beside Tech at the control table. His brother was wreaking his own havoc taking over the small base’s controls, causing just enough mayhem and chaos to keep the heat away from them as long as possible, while Echo worked his way through their database looking for the plans they needed.
And just as two minutes went by, the two of them heard the sounds of Wrecker getting louder and the rapid fire from Crosshair streaking closer.
“Hmm, it sounds like we are running a bit low on time. Any progress?” Tech asked absently, like if he was seeing if Echo wanted to go for a walk.
Echo grunted and adjusted his scomp arm where it was starting to get a bit sore, “Close enough. Through the firewalls at least. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“You are welcome. I had an extra moment. Thought I’d help a bit.”
Tech was sometimes a bit of a showoff, but Echo found that he didn’t really care out in the field. His brother was exceedingly skilled and he deserved a little arrogance.
“Tech, see if you can open the northern back bay door. I’ve got an evac team that thinks they can do a fly by for us there if we can meet up with them.”
Tech didn’t glance up from his work as he tapped the side of his helmet, “Roger that, Sarge. Give me thirty seconds to open.”
“Thanks, Tech. You hear that everyone? Fall back to northern bay door if you want out of here,” Hunter shouted over the comms, and Echo took it as his own last minute reminder that he now had thirty seconds to pull the necessary data to complete the mission. It was a good thing he’d just found the file then.
“Got it, sent it to your data pad. Let’s get out of here,” Echo said and yanked his scomp arm back and pulling out his blaster with his hand. Beside him Tech put away his tools, unplugged his pad and drew his twin blasters swiftly.
By now the party had moved into the corridor outside of the control room, and they could see Hunter and Crosshair sending volleyed of shots in the opposite direction while the squad of regs shifted anxiously behind them. Wrecker’s joyous shouts could be heard coming up on them fast, and within a few seconds his large body was filling the doorway.
If he weren’t wearing his helmet they knew he would be grinning madly, “Come on, guys! Let’s get moving. The regs are getting nervous,” he laughed and swung out his arm gesturing for Echo and Tech to join them.
Once they were all in the hallway Echo found himself easily transitioning back into his previous ARC trooper mode, focusing on keeping their enemy at bay, and keeping his brothers safe while they completed the mission. It was familiar, even if it was filled with painted armor that were new and different.
They all began to retreat towards the bay door, and Echo was about to take up their six when two of the regs from the squad stepped in place there instead, and then the other ones flanked in close around Tech on the other side. While Tech did not seem at all confused or bothered by this, Echo raised a brow questioningly for a moment. They were all used to closing ranks around Tech since he was the one who usually had to work while the others covered for him, or because he’d be the one carrying the data, or he’d be the one trying to come up with some sort of plan when things went south. Tech was the specialist, and all troopers knew that they had certain jobs in the field that didn’t always require a blaster. Echo had learned that even before joining the batch, it was just how missions went. You guarded your asset.
What was weird and startling here was that Echo was also being corralled in the center next to Tech, and it took him a moment before it dawned on him. They were treating Echo like an asset too.
He blinked behind his helmet in surprise, and he almost stumbled as he tried to keep himself from instinctively trying to move to the edges of their unit. His feet seemed to want to move him back where he could have the best shot without risking friendly fire, but he was corralled between the regs and the rest of Clone Force 99. Even they had closed ranks around him.
Crosshair didn’t even glance at them as he took the left point position, knowing that if anyone could avoid blasting out friendly fire it would be him.
Echo’s confusion had to wait though, they were still in the middle of an evac and he could assess this new life change later. He moved in closer to Tech, matching his strides easily and following his mark since his brother was more used to this position than Echo was.
“Evac just commed in. They’ll be pulling up in the next forty-five seconds,” Hunter called out, his voice coming from somewhere up ahead.
“First door on the left!” Tech called out as they turned down a new corridor, and they could all see the single bay door opened there.
All of them picked up the pace now that they saw they were almost there.
A sharp cry sounded behind them, and Echo recognized it to be the voice of one of the regs. The kid must have gotten hit somehow, and Echo was slowing down to turn and go collect him but Tech’s hand on his arm stopped him. He glanced over his shoulder at Tech who shook his head slightly and tugged on him to keep moving.
“Wrecker’s got him. We need to stay in formation,” Tech reminded him softly.
Echo spared one glance back to see that Tech was right, Wrecker had already hauled the kid onto his shoulder and was barreling forward into the bay hangar. Echo was just wasting time stopping, so he let Tech finally pull him forwards.
In the distance he could just make out the glint of the evac shuttle gliding in. It was a model he was familiar with, where they would have to jump inside the open side compartment and try not to roll out the other end. Easy enough. Especially now that he had legs that never got tired.
“You two get in the front and be ready,” the captain said as he ushered him and Tech forward. Hunter stayed silent, either because he agreed or because it didn’t matter to him who went first, Echo didn’t know. They just knew that in the Bad Batch, Hunter went last. That was the only standard Echo had seen anyway.
Well, Echo and Tech were hardly rescued politicians, or civilian hostages, so they really didn’t need the regs behind them shouting for then they should leap. It didn’t matter though, because he and Tech were able to time it just fine and made it without any issue. They didn’t even half stumble upon landing.
Echo smirked under his helmet, even though no one would see it.
The others lept after them, all of them making it on smoothly. Even Wrecker who still had the trooper over his shoulder made it without a hitch, followed immediately by Hunter.
“That’s everyone, move out!” the captain shouted at the pilot and then they were off like a rocket.
The adrenaline always wore off for Echo the moment that they cleared atmo, and this time was no different. He let himself slide down the side of the wall until his shebs hit the floor. It seemed to hit most of the others too, the regs falling like rocks along the outer edge of the floor of the transport. Some let their heads fall back against the wall with a thunk, not even bothering to take off their helmets first. Other fell against one another for support, something Echo remembered doing with Fives too many times to count.
It was why it almost didn’t register with him when he felt a weight fall against his own shoulder to glance over and see Crosshair nodding off to his left. The sniper’s head was leaning dangerously close to Echo’s pauldron, but he didn’t seem to care really. Not with his eyes half lidded as they were. And then he saw Tech take the other side of Crosshair, and even though his youthful eyes didn’t show any weariness, his movements still seemed heavier somehow.
He glanced across the transport to where Hunter was talking with Captain Archer, the two of them seemingly at ease now that their men had cleared the danger zone with another successful mission in the books. Wrecker was hovering close to their sergeant, but it seemed he had gotten his fill of violence and destruction for the day given how calmly he stood there.
The injured trooper from before seemed fine now too and was propped up between two of his brothers with his bandaged leg propped up on a spare kit. He looked content enough, which was enough for Echo. And Tech too, seeing how their team medic did not seem the least bit concerned at the haphazard patch job the regs had made. There was as real medical tent back at camp anyway that would be able to handle it all in a few hours.
For some shiny troopers, it was still sometimes a little jarring going from blaster fire and mere breaths away from death to sitting down in a quiet and almost boring shuttle ride minutes later, but Echo once again found this familiar territory too. You slept when you could, and you were safe as long as your brothers were close. Probably the only reason why Crosshair was dozing like he was, bracketed on both sides by Tech and Echo. Even with regs sitting only a few feet away.
“Looks like it’s all here. Good job pulling the data,” he heard Tech say softly, just barely loud enough to be heard over the ship’s engine.
Echo grunted, it was just another day's work to him now. Nothing to get excited about. It had been long enough now that he had gotten used to his new appendages and hooking his brain into computers. It would always be a little weird to look down and see a scomp handle where his hand should be, but it was beginning to be natural to use it for his every day work now. It didn’t startle him to see upon waking anymore at least. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d accidentally hit himself in the face with it.
Actually, now that he was thinking about it he really didn’t remember, and he glanced down at the arm in question as if he’d find the answer scratched on the metal there. He spun it a few times absently, growing slightly bored now that things were calming down.
He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and looked over to see three of the reg troopers staring at him. Or more specifically, his scomp.
He sighed and let it drop heavily beside him, out of sight. He really hated how they stared sometimes. It was no wonder now why Crosshair usually hissed and snarled at regs when they stared a little too long. Echo just didn’t have the energy to deal with it. Tech didn’t want to waste the energy to deal with it. Wrecker just stared back harder. Hunter was somehow able to ignore it entirely, something Echo hoped to achieve some day.
Seeing how they looked at him like that…it just made Echo wonder if he’d ever be able to fit in with the regs ever again.
“Something is on your mind.”
Echo rolled his eyes and lazily turned his head over to where Tech had relaxed a little more, leaning a little more heavily into his ori’vod’s side while the sniper appeared to have fallen into a deeper doze. The data pad sat in his lax fingers.
“There’s always something on my mind.”
“Something that is causing you to frown even more deeply than usual then?”
Echo allowed himself a small quirk of the lips. It was nice to have someone actually caring about his mental well-being. Even if every single one of the batchers was a complete hypocrite about it. “I’m fine. Just thinking about earlier a bit. How they formed ranks back in the facility.”
“You mean how they flanked us using asset protection protocols?”
Echo nodded, careful not to move too much and disturb Crosshair who was still seemingly asleep on his shoulder, “It was just a little weird. They treated us like we weren’t real soldiers almost. I know how to protect myself. I wasn't even the one carrying the data.”
Tech hummed gently and shrugged, “That happens sometimes. You get used to it. Comes with the territory of being skilled in anything other than weapons and combat,” Tech said while rolling his eyes in the direction of their brothers. Echo had to smirk a bit more at that. The others were all notoriously protective of Tech given that he was the youngest of their batch, and it served them well since Tech usually had to rely on that protectiveness in the field when he was too busy working to watch his own back. It worked for them, and Tech tolerated it.
And the more Echo thought back on it, he’d treated a few specialists and assets the same way. Heck, even he was guilty of hovering a bit too close to Tech on some missions that required his specialty skillset more than his combat ones…and maybe also a few of the combat ones too.
For him though it was new, and almost felt like an insult. Or maybe just a blow to his ego a bit. Were they watching him because he didn’t look capable as a soldier anymore, or because he was now more than just an ARC trooper? Or even a reg trooper?
He sighed and leaned back against the wall of the ship, letting his weariness show more now that he could see the glow of hyperspace drifting across the walls by the cockpit.
“No one thinks less of you, Echo. We all know how capable you are. You’re just…even more than what you were before. And they noticed, that’s all. It’s not a bad thing,” Tech hedged as he leaned forward a bit, like he was trying to catch Echo’s eye. There was a pleading look on his face, begging Echo to understand, even if Echo himself was reluctant.
To Echo, he was still the same man from before. Maybe more damaged, but not…more. Maybe even less. It made him avoid meeting Tech’s gaze, guiltily keeping it focused on the floor where his two cybernetic feet were planted.
“Listen to Tech, reg. He knows all about being special. He’s a specialist, after all.”
Echo startled at Crosshair’s voice making a sudden appearance, and when he looked down at the sniper’s face he saw that his eyes were still firmly shut. Still looking like he was sleeping soundly to anyone who wasn’t within earshot.
“I think we all know something about standing out, not just myself,” Tech added quietly.
Echo grumbled a bit and slouched further down, making sure to jostle his shoulder a bit this time so Crosshair’s pillow shifted. Of course the sniper just shifted with it easily and settle right back down.
“I just don’t see what the fuss is about. I’m nothing special. I don’t even want to be special. Nothing good comes of it. Just a lot of trouble,” he muttered darkly, “I’m not like you guys, and now I’m not like them either. Why would I want to draw attention to that?” Perhaps he knew he was wrong saying all this, but it was what he believed. He didn’t want to be special, or go through what he did to earn that title. At least he didn’t think he did. He liked where he was now, and he loved his new brothers…Echo shook his head, now more confused than ever.
Going off of Tech’s sad expression at his words…maybe they never wanted to be special either. They never got a choice in the matter. They just had to live with it. And be proud of it…
Maybe Tech and Crosshair had a point, but Echo wasn’t in a place to admit that just yet.
In his mind, he was a soldier and that was all there was to it. It was all he’d ever been and all he wanted to be. Surely the others could understand that.