Chapter Text
The mission had started well.
The Bad Batch’s mission was to explore a supposedly deserted Separatist base that had recently shown signs of activity. The planet’s government had, of course, denied any involvement, but that didn’t mean much.
That’s where Clone Force 99 came in. With a small, high-performance team equally adept at scouting and fighting, they were the perfect group to infiltrate this planet and do their little research.
The moon they were going to explore had a tropical climate, so perhaps a little hotter and more humid than comfortable, but nothing too unbearable. Obviously, the Separatist base was high up on a mountain, above the canopy, so their air transport wouldn’t be disturbed by the thick jungle.
“There are landing platforms at the base, but if it’s as deserted as we assume, I don’t need to tell you that landing there is out of the question.” Hunter exposed during the briefing.
“So where do we land?” Echo asked.
“A few dozen kilometers away, there’s a clearing in the jungle that’s big enough to let the Marauder land, but there’s not much margin, so we’ll have to be careful when landing.” Hunter pointed out, glancing pointedly at Tech, who looked up from his datapad.
“May I ask what do you imply? All the landings I do are realized with extreme caution.” The team’s resident pilot defended himself.
“Yeah, and General Skywalker’s always careful too.” Echo chuckled.
Tech chose not to answer, and Hunter dropped the subject as well. “Anyway. Once we’ve landed, we’ll have a few hours’ walk before reaching the foot of the mountain at the top of which our target is. There are paths that were laid out by the people who lived here before the war started. Given that we’re dealing with humanoids averaging two meters in height, there’s a chance that the path won’t be very suitable for us, but we’ll have to manage.”
“Speak for yourself, Sarge! I’m going to make mincemeat out of that path!” Wrecker exclaimed.
“I know, Wrecker.” Hunter agreed. “But remember, others have smaller legs than yours.”
Wrecker nodded seriously and watched the others before making up his mind. He grabbed Omega with one arm and Echo with the other, carrying them like potato sacks. Omega burst our laughing as Echo began to struggle.
“I can carry the little ones!” He exclaimed.
“Omega I understand but why me? Hunter’s smaller than me!” Echo defended himself.
“Because he’d never be able to grab Hunter like that and come out alive.” Crosshair sneered, shifting his toothpick to the other side.
To make Wrecker let him go, Echo planted his scomp in his side, causing the taller one to drop him. Wrecker agreed to put him back down, but before he could do the same to Omega, the latter had climbed onto him and was sitting on his shoulders, her elbows resting on his head.
“I don’t mind you carrying me.” The little girl accepted with a big smile.
Hunter had watched the whole scene with a small smile, but it was time to refocus. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, we can continue. The path should lead us to a side entrance of the base, which will probably be less heavily guarded than the main entrance. Crosshair, you find a hiding place to keep an eye on the area around the entrance. Echo, you and I will infiltrate to scout, retrieve data and sabotage. Wrecker, you guard the entrance. Tech, I’d like you to stay aboard the Marauder as backup if necessary and maybe to pick us up when we’re done.”
“What about me?” Omega asked, still sitting on Wrecker’s shoulders.
Hunter turned his gaze to the girl but didn’t answer immediately. He wanted to tell her to stay with Tech, aboard their ship, where she’d be safe, but he knew he had no right to overprotect her like that, even if it was what he would prefer to do. Now, where was he going to send her? He couldn’t send her with Crosshair; the paths he sometimes took to hide out weren’t always accessible to a ten-year-old. So, he could either take her with him and Echo or leave her with Wrecker.
Understanding his big brother’s uncertainty, Wrecker stepped in. “I’ll keep her with me. Don’t worry Hunter, I’ll look after her.” He promises.
Hunter hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Yippee!” Omega exclaimed.
“You stay with Wrecker, listen to him and do what he tells you to.” Hunter warned.
“Yes, Dad.” The young girl replied, rolling her eyes.
The rest of the trip went smoothly, and Tech managed to land them without a hitch, and without breaking a single branch in the vicinity. Sure, he wasn’t the happiest about having to stay aboard the Marauder while his brothers and sister infiltrated an enemy base, but he knew it was necessary. And this way, he could tinker in peace on the ship.
For Hunter, Crosshair, Omega, Echo and Wrecker, a long walk began. Luckily, they didn’t have to worry about the planet’s fauna and flora, which presented no major danger.
When they finally reached the foot of the mountain, it took them a few more minutes to find the path up. And it was Omega who found it.
“There it is!” She exclaimed, pointing to a large piece of moss.
Crosshair raised an eyebrow. “That’s moss, kid.”
Omega replied by sticking her tongue out before lifting the moss curtain, revealing a hole just over a meter high.
“I’ll never get through there.” Wrecker lamented. “I tough the natives were really big!”
“The path widens afterwards; it’s just the entrance that’s small.” Omega reassured him, diving in headfirst.
But Hunter had been quick enough to see it coming. “Not so fast, miss.” He said, grabbing the girl by the arm and forcing her out of the hole.
“What now?” The blonde complained.
“I’ll go first.” Hunter corrected. “Wrecker, behind me, Omega you follow, Echo behind her and Cross you’re at the end.”
There were no further protests, and the little group set off.
The climb went off without a hitch, and Omega didn’t even need Wrecker’s help to get up the biggest steps, managing to climb them on her own.
Echo, on the other hand, had to accept Crosshair’s help on several occasions to get over those same steps. Because even if his cybernetic legs were state-of-the-art, and Tech had made every conceivable modification to them, he still couldn’t get over obstacles a certain height on his own – he simply didn’t have enough leg muscle left to do that. Usually, he managed to get over such obstacles by holding on with his left hand and pulling himself up, but there was nothing there for him to hold on to. So, on this day, Crosshair was the thing he hold on to.
At the first big step, Echo had stopped for a moment when he realized he wouldn’t be able to make it alone. And while he was looking for something to lean on to help himself, Crosshair went around him, climbed the step and turned around to help Echo do the same, without ever saying a word.
Echo wasn’t proud enough to refuse his brother’s help, but didn’t thank him verbally either, knowing that Crosshair didn’t expect anything and didn’t necessarily appreciate being thanked for such things.
Eventually, they arrived not far from the door, and Crosshair noted with annoyance that, given the way the door was positioned and the environment they were in, he wouldn’t be able to find a suitable perch.
“Hunter, there’s nowhere for me to perch.” He pointed out to his brother as soon as he realized this.
Hunter swore under his breath but didn’t try to push. If Crosshair told him he had nowhere to go, he believed him.
“Okay, change of plan!” He called, drawing the attention of the other three. “Crosshair can’t go sniping, so he’ll go in with Echo and I’ll stay with Wrecker and Omega.”
No one protested, and they continued on to the door. The door was guarded by two droids on the outside, and Crosshair quickly took care of them, firing right in their heads before they had time to react.
“Clear.” He simply said, tucking his sniper rifle behind his back and grabbing one of his blasters instead.
Echo stepped up to the door and connected with his scomp, granting them access and causing the door to open after a few seconds. “No one noticed our arrival, and these droids haven’t had time to give the alarm, so unless we’re noticed, no one know we’re here.”
“Well, let’s try not to be noticed.” Crosshair said as he stepped through the door.
“Let us know is you need backup.” Hunter instructed, leaning against the doorframe with his gaze directed outwards, Wrecker positioned opposite him and Omega between them.
Echo and Crosshair then entered the base, advancing side by side without making a sound. “How the hell do you manage to have even quieter footsteps than me with your prostheses?” Crosshair muttered, using their internal communication.
“No idea. Ask Tech.”
“Those are your legs, and you don’t even know how they work?”
“Do you know how your advanced binoculars work?” Echo retorted.
Crosshair had nothing to say to that, and Echo smirked.
The two batchers managed to reach a control room without a hitch, simply avoiding two patrols of two droids each.
“Finally. Guard the door while I see what they’re hiding.” Echo said, heading for the mainframe.
“Yeah, yeah. Hurry up, Reg.”
Echo logged on and began a quick search of the base’s files. Without much success, because like all Separatist databases, the files were intentionally misplaced. Echo therefore decided to copy everything onto his internal hard drive, deciding to deal with it later, when he had more time. While the files were being downloaded, Echo continued to rummage through the computer, looking in particular for patrol records and patterns.
“Kriff it.” He swore.
“What?” Crosshair asked, glancing at him.
“I’ve just been spotted. In 35 seconds, the computer will self-destruct, and the alarm will sound throughout the base.”
“Kark. How long until you finish copying the data?”
“30 seconds.”
“And how long to go back to the door?”
“5 minutes. But there’s another exit further up the mountain we can get to in just 2 minutes.”
“So, we’ve got enough time for you to log off before it explodes, but not much chance of getting out of here unnoticed.”
“That’s it.”
“How many droids are garrisoned here?”
“Nearly a hundred B1s and just under 50 droidekas. So, there’s no chance of victory if we go into battle, even with Hunter, Wrecker and Omega as reinforcements.”
A decision had to be made quickly, but fortunately Crosshair and Echo were both trained to think under pressure, and Crosshair made his decision in less than 3 seconds. “We tell the others to clear off and we go out the other door, hoping to reach it.” He declared.
“I’ll let you tell Hunter.” Echo agreed, remaining focused on downloading the data, ready to disconnect as soon as he’d finished.
Crosshair nodded and opened his private communication channel with hunter. “Hunter, we’ve been spotted. The alarm will go off in less than 15 seconds, and there’ll be a hundred clankers and nearly fifty rollies looking for us. You have to get out of here as quickly as possible and go back to the Marauder. If you can blow up the door on your way out, that would be great.”
“What about you?” Hunter asked simply.
“Echo has found another door we can use. We’ll blow that one too and joined you by another route.”
“Copy that. Don’t dawdle and you’d better keep me updated, even if you’re in trouble.”
“Promise, ori’vod.”
Seconds later, Echo swiftly withdrew his scomp from the computer, barely 3 seconds before it burst into flames, a shrill alarm resounding throughout the base.
Echo stood up. “And now we’re out of here.”
“I’m right behind you.”
The two clones hurried out of the room as they heard droid noises in all directions.
Echo then led them through the base, heading for the exit he’d spotted on the plans. And this time they were lucky, as they only came across two patrols of less than 10 droids each, quickly exterminating them.
“We’re out and safe.” Hunter said into Crosshair’s earpiece. “Where are you?”
“Going out.” Crosshair replied, sticking another bomb on a wall.
All the bombs he planted were interconnected and remotely activated. Once they were out of the base and a good distance away, he’d detonate them all, hopefully reducing the base to dust.
But to do that, they had to get out first.
Fortunately, Echo had memorized the route, and they arrived at a back door in just under 2 minutes. When they reached the door, Echo entered the code, but instead of turning green, the LED remained red. “Kriff, they must have changed the codes when they realized we were here. I don’t know how long it’ll take me to crack the new code.” Echo muttered, going to plug himself.
“Get out of the way.” Crosshair countered, grabbing him by the arm and pulling Echo back, while cocking his rifle.
With a few blaster blasts, the door came off of its hinges and Crosshair and Echo had no trouble opening it.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” The sniper said, tossing a few bombs in and around the door.
The door they’d just come through opened to another path that ran the length of the mountain, alternately ascending and descending.
“We’re far enough away, we need to blow off the bombs, so they don’t follow us too far.” Crosshair said.
At the same moment, an explosion sounded behind them and, turning, the two men saw that it was the base.
“Looks like Wrecker had the same idea.” Echo laughed. “Do you see any clankers chasing us?”
Crosshair took a quick look around before replying. “No. The mountain is too steep for them to follow.”
“Perfect. Serves them right, those metal boxes.”
The two of them then continued forward, and it was at this point, just when they thought they were safely away from the Separatists, that tragedy struck.
The path had widened a little and Crosshair and Echo were walking on was looked like a small platform just under 2 meters wide. Echo was advancing towards the precipice when, as he put his foot down, he felt vibrations.
He immediately understood what was going on and reacted before even making the conscious decision to, pushing Crosshair back against the mountain wall.
As he did so, the stones he was standing on gave way under his weight, knocking him down with them. Echo had the reflexes to throw his left hand into the cliff and managed to grab hold of the ledge. Problem was, there was nothing sticking out of the cliff, so he had nothing to rest his feet on. Perhaps if he’d been barefoot with real feet, he’d have managed to cling onto the tiny reliefs, but here, with his prosthetic feet, it was all doom and gloom. No, the only thing holding him back was his left hand.
“Shit! Echo!” Crosshair shouted, crawling to the edge of the precipice. “Give me your hand!” He asked, holding out his right hand.
Echo had slid too far low for Crosshair to grab him on the shoulders, but if the cyborg gave him his hand, he could hoist him up.
But the only problem…
“I don’t have a hand to give you, di’kut!” Echo replied.
“Damn it.” Crosshair muttered. “How much weight can your scomp hold?” He asked immediately.
Echo opened his mouth to reply, but a piercing scream resonated in the valley. “ECHO!” Shouted a voice far too high-pitched to belong to one of his brothers.
“Kriff.” Echo let out, recognizing the voice. “Can Omega see us?” He asked Crosshair, not daring to move to look.
It only took Crosshair a glance to spot Omega, further down the path they had taken to climb, Wrecker and Hunter with her. The three had their eyes fixed on them, or rather on Echo, who was dangling above the void, held up only by his left hand.
“Yes.” Crosshair responded. “So can Hunter and Wrecker.”
“Kriff.” Echo repeated, activating his internal comm, grateful to be able to do so without mechanical or external action. “Hunter, get her out of here.”
“Echo-”
“No time to argue!” The cyborg cut off. “I don’t want her to see this.”
Echo didn’t give Hunter time to reply and cut the connection. He didn’t want Omega to see him like this, because even though he had no desire to let himself fall, he didn’t see how he could get back up. Crosshair was too far away and he had nothing to hold on to, so short of a miracle, he couldn’t see a way out of here.
“Echo, give me your scomp!” Crosshair asked again.
“I can’t! My right shoulder is karked, you’d rip my arm off before you could pull me up!” Echo replied.
“Then find something else. I’m not going to stand here and watch you fall!”
“I’m trying!” Echo shouted.
And it was true. He was trying to find a solution, but time was against him. His hand and left arm were getting tired, and he wouldn’t be able to hold on like this for much longer. A glance down told him that just below him, perhaps 20 meters down, was another platform. His best bet was to let himself fall and hope he didn’t kill himself on impact. It wasn’t his best plan, but he couldn’t see any other.
“Cross, I’m going to let myself fall down.”
“No.” The sniper denied right away. His voice came from a little further away, and when Echo glanced up, he could no longer see Crosshair’s head protruding from the cliff. But he had no time to wonder what he was doing.
“I can’t go back up and you can’t reach me. There’s another platform just below me. It’s the best option.”
“And if you fall 20 meters and land on your legs, they’re going to go through your pelvis or worse. Find something else.”
“There’s no other way, Crosshair.”
“Are you really going to let Omega watch you fall like that?”
“I asked Hunter to-”
“And you thought that would be enough? You have an audience, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Wrecker was in communication with Tech to find a solution. So, you stay here.”
Echo wanted to, really, but it was easier said than done. His hand was really getting tired. “My hand can’t hold me much longer, Cross.”
“Shut up. Hang in there.” The sniper replied dryly.
Echo sighed but said nothing more. He didn’t know what Crosshair was up to, but he could try to hold on a little longer.
30 seconds later, his hand began to cramp, and Echo knew he wouldn’t last another 20 seconds. “Cross.” He simply called.
“Shut up!” Crosshair snapped, appearing above Echo again.
“I’ll manage to catch myself on the platform below.”
“Out of the question.” The sniper retorqued, stepping forward the cliff, making Echo panic.
“Crosshair, back up!”
“I’m attached, it’s okay.” Crosshair simply dismissed, continuing to advance slowly.
Echo opened his mouth to say something else, but his left hand gave up at that moment, even though Crosshair’s outstretched hand was only a few centimeters away from his own.
Echo had barely time to realize he was falling before his entire weight was caught by his left arm, shaking his whole body. Looking up, the cyborg saw that Crosshair had caught him, his two hands firmly gripping his left forearm.
“I said: you stay here.” He almost growled.
To catch Echo, Crosshair had not hesitated to throw himself down the cliff, and the only part of his body that was still on the platform was his legs.
“Did you tie your feet together or what?” The cyborg asked.
“Something like that.” The sniper confirmed.
Crosshair then started to move backwards, trying to pull them both up, but he only managed to move back far enough to put part of his abdomen back on the platform. After that, he didn’t have enough strength to pull Echo up without legging go.
“For fuck’s sake.” He swore, dropping his head against the cliff to try and catch his breath.
“Cross-” Echo began.
“If you’re going to tell me to drop you, save your breath.” Crosshair retorted.
Echo remained silent for a few minutes before resuming. “I’m too heavy.” He stated. “You’ll never be able to pull me up like this.”
“Shut. The fuck. Up.” Crosshair gritted out.
A new voice came in both their earpieces “Echo, you have to pull your legs out.”
“Tech?” The cyborg wondered.
“Yes, it’s me. Wrecker contacted me and explained the situation you’re both in. For Crosshair to pull you up, we need to lighten you, Echo. Removing your legs would reduce your mass by 26.7%, allowing Crosshair to hoist you over the cliff.” The engineer explained.
“I don’t think they’ll survive that fall.” Echo remarked.
“This plan does not include for them to be retrieved.” Tech corrected. “However, I’ll be able to make new ones quite rapidly. I just had some new design ideas that could-”
“Tech, we’ll get to that later.” Echo cut him off, just as Crosshair opened his mouth to make a much sharper remark.
“Yes, that’s true. Right now, the priority is to get you out of this situation, Echo. You should be able to remove your legs with just your scomp.”
“That’s all I’ve got anyway.” Echo muttered. “I’ll try to move as little as possible.” He said to Crosshair, still holding him by his left arm.
“Take off your legs.” The sniper simply asked.
Echo nodded and lowered his head, spotting where he had to tap with his scomp to remove his legs.
Luckily, it took him just under a minute to remove both legs. It made his heart ache a bit to see his legs detach from his body and smash into the platform 20 meters below. He winced as his first leg hit the stone platform, bouncing once before shattering in two.
“And you wanted to jump and land on those legs?” Crosshair asked with a smirk.
“Oh, shut up.” Echo mumbled, concentrating on removing the other leg.
The second unhooked easily enough too, and Echo thanked Tech for insisting on release buttons on either side of each leg.
Once his second leg had been removed, Crosshair wasted no time in continuing to pull Echo up. “Can I grab you by your right shoulder or not?” Crosshair asked before doing so.
“By the straps, yes.” Echo allowed.
Crosshair nodded and grabbed the cyborg by his shoulder straps, rather than pulling exclusively on his left arm. And like that, when he got close to the platform, Echo was also able to hold on with his left hand, helping Crosshair to pull him up.
Finally, almost 5 minutes after falling, Echo was back on the platform, rolling onto his side with Crosshair, both out of breath.
“I said…” Crosshair gasped, looking the other clone in the eye, very serious. “You stay here.”
Echo didn’t answer immediately but took the time to observe the other man. And beneath a mask of annoyance and irritation, Echo detected fear and concern. So, he simply nodded and placed his left hand on the younger man’s shoulder, squeezing firmly.
“I’m staying here.” He promised. “Thank you, Cross.”
“Tch, don’t do that again.” The sniper muttered as he straightened up.
Echo also rolled on his side, straightening up to at least sit on the ground, and observed the way Crosshair had harnessed himself before throwing himself off the cliff to catch him. In fact, the sniper simply used the cable from his winder to tie his legs to a large tree protruding from the cliff.
“Now, how do we get down there?” Echo asked. “I don’t have legs to walk on anymore and I don’t really want to crawl all the way down.”
Crosshair didn’t reply, but once he finished putting his winder away, he rearranged his equipment, including putting his rifle in front of him, not on his back. He then approached Echo and crouched down in front of him, offering him his back. “Climb on.” He then ordered.
“You sure?” Echo asked, even though he didn’t really see any other solution.
“Hurry up before I change my mind.” The sniper threatened.
Echo held back a smile but straightened up as much as possible on his stumps, then looped his left arm over Crosshair’s shoulders, also swinging his right arm as he could.
“And now how did we-” Echo began speaking but he didn’t have time to finish his sentence that Crosshair had already risen to his feet, tucking his arms under Echo’s thighs to keep him on his back.
“Now we keep going and hope to find a way down that doesn’t involve jumping.
Echo honestly had no objections to this plan, and so they kept moving, all the while paying close attention to the state of the ground they were walking on. They didn’t want what had just happened to happen again, after all.
And then, after a few minutes’ walk, Hunter contacted them. “How are you guys doing?”
“The cyborg’s a bit heavy, but we’re making do.” Crosshair replied.
“If you can make it down the mountain, Wrecker can take over. We’re at the entrance of the path we took on the way up.”
Echo opened his mouth to answer, but at the same moment he saw a new path, one that seemed to lead down the mountain. “We’ve just found the way down.” He said, pointing the way to Crosshair.
“Perfect. We’re waiting for you.”
“See you soon.”
Crosshair and Echo made their way down in silence, exchanging three words from time to time.
In all, it took them maybe 20 minutes to get back down, and when they reached the bottom of the mountain, the welcoming committee was there. Wrecker was sitting with his back against a tree, Omega slumped against him, while Hunter was pacing back and forth, constantly checking their surroundings.
It was obviously the tracker who spotted them first. “Ah, there you are.” He said, advancing towards them, helping Echo off Crosshair’s back, sitting him on a log on the ground, Crosshair sitting next to the cyborg.
“Even without his legs, the bugger’s heavy.” The sniper smirked, punching Echo in the shoulder.
Echo wanted to reply, but didn’t have time before something struck him and Crosshair head-on, sending them reeling backwards and landing in the moss on the ground.
But hey, they couldn’t be angry, because it was Omega who had just literally thrown herself at them.
“Never do that again.” The young woman demanded, her voice tight.
“Hey, I didn’t do anything, it’s-”
“Never again!” Omega repeated forcefully.
Crosshair and echo exchanged a quick glance over the girl’s blond head and nodded.
“I promise. No more.” Echo promised.
Omega didn’t reply immediately but straightened up, looking them both in the face, and Echo noted with horror that her eyes were shining with tears.
“You are my brothers, and I don’t want to lose any of you.”
“And you won’t lose any of us, Omega, that’s a promise.” Crosshair assured.
Omega nodded and went back for one last hug before standing up.
“Come on, let’s get back to the ship and leave this planet.” Hunter said, helping Crosshair up.
As for Echo, he barely had time to wonder what he would do before Wrecker grabbed him under the arms, carried him and placed him on his shoulders.
“It’s… a way to carry me back to the ship, I guess.” Echo said, finding his balance.
“And I still have both my hands free!” Wrecker exclaimed as he set off again, the others also moving.
“You’re lucky, Echo.” Omega sighed, walking alongside Wrecker.
“Why? Did you want a ride on Wrecker’s shoulders too?” The cyborg asked, smiling wryly.
“No, it’s just that now he’s used to carrying someone on his shoulders so he’s careful about his height.”
“Hey, I’ve always been careful while carrying you on my shoulders.” The demolition expert defended.
“Tell that to the dozens of branches I ate!” Omega countered.
Wrecker just laughed loud and clear, and Echo couldn’t help but laugh along with him. Yes, the day had almost become tragic, but all was well that ended well. They’d managed to infiltrate the base, retrieve all the data and blow it up, so they’d accomplished their mission. Well, he’d lost two legs in the process, but hey, they were just bionic legs that Tech could rebuild in no time. And speaking of which…
“How long do you think it will take Tech to start building me new legs?” He asked the others.
“20 minutes ago.” Crosshair replied from behind him.
Echo rolled his eyes. “No, but seriously.”
“Seriously, I think he started as soon as he knew you’d need new legs.” The sniper affirmed.
Echo glanced at Hunter, who was walking beside Wrecker.
“I can’t deny it.” The tracker shrugged.
“But he doesn’t even have any plans!” Echo explained.
“You’re very naïve if you think that.” Crosshair smirked.
“What, seriously? Tech, tell me you haven’t already started making me new legs?” Echo asked, opening his communication channel with the engineer.
There was a great silence and Echo realized that it was true.
“Oh, it’s impossible, you’re all crazy.” The cyborg sighed, dropping his head in his hand.
His retort only made the others laugh, and once again, he ended up laughing with them. Yes, they were crazy, but they were his family, and he wouldn’t change it for the galaxy.