First off, I lost track of who all commented on the last chapter but I think it was just one person saying thanks or something… My memory leaves something to be desired to be honest… Anyway! On to the epicness that is Chapter Seven! I'm going to take my readers' suggestions into play now and start getting into the heads of Rex and Kix! As always enjoy and let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to voice both! I may or may not continue this after Echo's and Fives' recoveries (though Fives doesn't have as much 'recovering' to do as Echo…) and put them both at Umbara, but I don't know; we'll see when I get there, okay?
Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher,
~Spitfire out
Rex's P.O.V:
After we got back to the shuttle we put our chest and arm armor back on. Kix didn't bother; he immediately got to work on Echo, grabbing what supplies he needed. We had a day or two until we caught up to the Resolute which we had ordered to flee so that it couldn't get shot down and we wouldn't be compromised by the presence of a Republic cruiser. Luckily Fives was smart enough to have the transport fully equipped for any medical emergencies. Though he might not admit it, Fives was quite the leader.
"Well, that went better than expected," Kix commented, lying Echo down on the floor of the ship.
"Did it now?" a disturbingly familiar voice came from behind us and we all looked towards the three cells to see the warden and three commando elites come out of hiding.
Fives and I drew our twin blasters and took aim, I took up two of the droids in the sights, I had the feeling Fives was aiming at the other droid and the warden.
He chuckled evilly, "Looks like we have a stalemate here," he said as the droids pulled their blasters and he drew his own DC-17.
"Not exactly," a weak, tired voice came from behind me and I saw Fives look back without taking his aim from the warden and droid.
He looked forward again with a cocky grin, "Drop your weapons and we'll consider letting you live," he threatened, eyeing the warden.
The warden paused, apparently thinking for a moment, "Kill them!" he shouted to the droids.
We shot first but one of the droids managed to get a shot off before going down. I could hear the overly familiar sound of a blaster shot connecting with plastoid armor and burning through into the body. It wasn't me that was hit; I didn't hear two bodies hitting the floor so it couldn't have been Kix or Echo. As a matter of fact, I didn't hear anyone fall. Fives had put a shot through the warden's leg, immobilizing him.
I looked to the side and saw him still aiming, breathing heavily and could feel shock reflected on my face as I saw the hole burned into his chest plate. I looked at Kix out of the corner of my eye and saw that he and Echo were giving Fives the same look, it must've gone all the way through; they couldn't see his chest. Even the warden was giving a shocked look at Fives. He noticed the looks and looked down at the hole in his chest. The pistols slipped from his hands as his body went limp and he crumpled to the ground.
"Fives!" Echo had called worriedly, shaking Kix off and running to his brother's side as he fell.
Kix pushed Echo to the side so he could get to Fives and remove the armor. He examined the wound and chuckled slightly.
"This is a little overly familiar, would be even more so if it were Rex that got hit," he said, apparently talking to himself.
"What?" I asked, wondering how it could be so familiar.
"Same thing that happened to you on Solucomi," Kix said without looking up from his work, "two inches to the left and it would've gone straight through his heart, and then there's the temporary nerve damage."
"Is he okay?" Echo asked.
"Yeah, he'll be fine; the only difference between this and what happened to Rex is that this was an assault, not a sniper," Kix explained, "not quite as bad but still bad enough for him to be out for a day."
I heard Echo sigh in what sounded like relief, "Good," he said quietly.
"You let me worry about this, get some rest," Kix looked up momentarily at me, "both of you."
I rolled my eyes at his over caution but did what Kix said and went to the crew quarters with Echo. We both lay down on one of the five bunks in the room. I had already restrained the warden and locked him in one of the cells. I fell asleep slowly.
Kix's P.O.V:
It was worse than what I had said. The blaster shot had burned all the way through Fives' body and out the back of his armor. No normal ammunition would be able to go through one clone and into another. I looked down at where the shot had barely burned into my gut. No time to worry about myself got to help Fives. No one had noticed that I had been hit. My wound was bleeding heavily but Fives' was worse off, I had to get him patched up first.
I was starting to feel dizzy from the blood loss and my normally quick, precise movements were slow and weak. Have to stay awake, have to get him patched up, I told myself, wiping a bead of sweat from my brow with my sleeve. I managed to patch Fives up and he was waking up as I fell over and passed out.
I woke up where I had passed out with a groan, realizing I was on my back rather than my side. I noticed Rex leaning over me.
I groaned again, "Shoulda put my armor on," I said, sitting myself up.
"Very funny, Kix," Rex said sarcastically.
I looked around the room to notice that Rex and I were the only ones here, "Where're Echo and Fives?" I asked.
"Both asleep," Rex answered, helping me to my feet, "Fives is the one that got me up, told me you were out cold, Echo hasn't woken up since he fell asleep in the crew quarters and it took some doing to get Fives to not come back here to check on you himself."
"How long till we get to the Resolute?" I asked, Echo needed a bacta tank, he wouldn't make it without one and there was still a good chance he wouldn't make it even with it.
"We're almost there, just a few more hours until we dock," he answered, supporting me as I almost fell trying to stand on my own, "you're in bad shape, what happened?"
"The shot that took Fives down burned all the way through him and hit me," I answered, placing my hand over the now treated injury, "need to check on the both of them."
"No, you need to rest," Rex said, helping me towards the crew quarters, "the medics on the Resolute can take care of them and you."
"I'm fine, Rex," I protested as he put me down on an empty bunk, Echo and Fives both asleep across from me.
"And I thought I was stubborn," Rex muttered, pushing me to lie down, "get some sleep."
Rex was right, I needed to rest but I also needed to check on Echo, he'd been having trouble breathing and I wanted to see that he was still okay. I looked to the left and saw Echo on his side facing me. The burns were visible on half his face and I could see the rise and fall of his sides as he breathed steadily, good he was breathing normally but I still needed to check his other vitals. Not that I could get up and stay up on my own. I sighed in defeat, nothing I could do if his vitals were off anyway. I fell asleep slowly.
I woke up back aboard the Resolute with another medic tending to my wound. I didn't let him know that I was awake; he'd just ask me a bunch of questions that I really didn't feel like answering.
"How long was I out?" I asked when the medic noticed that I was awake.
"Depends on when you passed out," he answered, helping me sit up.
"What are you talking about, Coric? I fell asleep, I didn't pass out," I said pointedly.
"Then you must've passed out in your sleep, otherwise you would've woken up the second we moved you.
"Great," I said sarcastically, "What about Echo and Fives?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Fives will be fine, Echo, we're not sure yet, he's in a bacta tank though," Coric answered, "How'd you get hit anyway? Take a shot for a brother?"
"Not exactly," I said, looking down at my injury, "The shot that got Fives went all the way through as you saw. I should've been wearing armor but I didn't bother putting it on, I was more concerned with helping Echo. When Fives got hit no one noticed my injury, I didn't let them in on it, had Rex and Echo go rest. Passed out from blood loss after helping Fives," I explained.
"Right, well, you're fine, just take it easy," Coric said, helping me to my feet, "should probably just go back to the barracks and lie down. Don't even think about doing PT, you can hardly stand as is."
"I wasn't thinking about doing PT, Coric," I said pointedly.
"Then what were you thinking about?" he asked skeptically.
"Echo," I answered simply, "Fives is convinced he'll make it but those burns are almost fifth degree. On the ship, while I was treating the burns, he made some remark to Rex about not being the last of the dominos just waiting for his turn to fall. Those two trained together and have fought together all their lives."
"I noticed, can't get Fives to go back to the barracks, he just sits by the tank," Coric cut me off before I could keep ranting about the two.
Coric helped me to the barracks and set me down on my bunk, "Don't do anything stupid, you stubborn di'kut," he warned as he left.
