Okay, here we go, chapter two. :D Now we get to see a little bit more of the BB characters as I actually think of them when not joking around.

Just going to put the meaning here since you'll need it for later. GNU = Geographical Navigation Unit. Basically Star wars GPS.

Later...

It didn't take long once the countdown was sequenced. Hunter took one glance at the timer in his HUD, then pumped harder, dashing for the exit.

''Move it!'' he bellowed, shoving Tech in front of him in effort to get them moving. If they weren't out of there within the next couple of seconds...No, no, they had to make it. They needed to make it. There wasn't much choice...

They had just managed to burst from the door when the air flashed white...and everything went dark...

Hours earlier...

Time: 0207

Region: Unspecified.

Location: Havoc Marauder

''Why are we doing this again?''

Wrecker sat with his chin propped up on a fist, staring dully out the cockpit into hyperspace. ''Why can't we take a 'non-sneaky' job for once? I've been getting bored.''

Tapping the console, Tech calmly replied, ''Commander Cody has asked us to scout out a new Separatist laboratory that he believes might be where some of his captured men were possibly have been taken.''

''But can't we do something were I get to blow stuff up? Something important?''

Pausing mid-press of yet another button, Tech cast a sideways glance at him.

''You do not believe possibly rescuing people is important?''

''Well...I mean, yeah..'' Wrecker stuttered, ''Just..''

''They're just regs,'' a slick voice hissed from behind them.

Wrecker jumped in his chair, barking in surprise to suddenly see the tall slim figure of the Bad Batch's resident sniper standing right beside him, lip curled in an amused smirk. Wrecker didn't find it quite as amusing though; but before he could say as much, Hunter's voice snapped, ''They may be regs, but if they're 212th and Cody says he wants them back, we're going to do our darnedest to get them back. Got it?''

Crosshair was silent for a moment, then tilted his head questioning, dark eyes glinting in challenge.

''And what if they weren't...and he didn't?''

Not backing down from the gaze, Hunter lifted his chin, eyes narrowing as he took a step forward and growled, ''We'll see when we get there.''

Without another word, he disappeared back into the main cabin.

Lip curling in a sneer, the sniper clipped his rifle to his back mag harness, the faint 'click' drowned out by the din of control buttons.

''That's assuming we get there first.''

Time: 0427

Region: Outer Rim, Cademimu sector

Location: Ajan Kloss

Mission: Scout Separatist biolaboratory and investigate disappearances of military personnel.

At the edge of the clearing where they had landed the Marauder, the air was chilled. Dark. Nothing moved in the curtain of the tangled jungle save for the four commando's stepping into the thresh-hold of nature's nightmare. A dense early morning fog hung heavy in the air about them, weighing on their shoulders in the dark as the system's sun had yet to rise. The air itself was thick with an overly sweet taint like overripe fruit pods decaying by a corpse despite the helmet filters.

Doing what he could to ignore it, Hunter gave the hand signals to form up.

''Alright, Bad Batch, move it. Crosshair, scout. Wrecker, flank. Tech, to my left.''

Three green lights flickered in acknowledgement on his HUD; without so much as a nod and as silent as ghosts, the squad formed up, spreading out though they kept in sight - which was made difficult with the flora but not impossible.

Finally, Hunter held up a fist, pausing, head cocked.

Tugging off his helmet, the sergeant ignored the nauseating overkill of scents and closed his eyes, dropping to one knee as he bowed his head. Lightly as a lover, he brushed his fingers over the rich soil, feeling the soft brush of decay and dew wet his fingers as he reached out, searching for the energy pulses he knew were there. Then...there.

In the back of his conscious, there was a tingle of recognition, like a spark glowing on the end of a dry blade of grass. He teased it lightly, than snapped at it, cornering the pulse as a wolf does prey; his hand stabbed deeper into the soil as if bleeding the info out for the labs exact location, brows knitting in concentration, his fingers locking with strain. He tracked the pulse as far he could, then opened his eyes - now grey from the concentration...and stood without a word.

''Joan,'' he whispered into the com after slipping his helmet back on, ''how much farther? I'm sensing the pulse; given the data that I'm imputing, can you determine it's location?''

''Yes, and its not far, sir.'' the AI's voice intoned, ''another couple of miles heading due south. ETA is two hours and forty minutes including possible setbacks from the jungle terrain.''

''Good. You have the course mapped?''

There was a slight pause...

''Yes, sir. Using the commander's intel of the planet surface to overlay on the map. Syncing route now.''

On his HUD, Hunter glanced at the map to his lower left-hand side, nothing more than a circle with three dots and one arrow smack-dab in the center along with a compass at the moment. He blinked at it once, accepted the sync with a wink, and a red trail along with the topography of the jungle appeared on the map. Hefting his DC17 again, he peered through the mist down the unforged path he and the others were supposed to follow, then waved a hand.

''Let's move.''

It wasn't long before Hunter knew they were very close. The strength of the buzzing of electro-magnetic particles despite his pulse-dampening helmet was a rather obvious giveaway; he could tell because of the headache throbbing behind his eyes. When it hard started off - or rather, once he had noticed it - it hadn't been too bad except for the fact that it was annoying. Now that it had been an hour or so though, what had started as an annoyance was growing worse than all the particle storms the Kaminoans had forced him to endure unsheltered during training, lulling and crashing waves of pain through his central nervous system - to test his endurance, they had said.

Endurance or breaking point of insanity, though, he couldn't tell.

Silently growling to himself, he forced himself to ignore it and push on.

''Saaaaarge,'' Joan's voice scolded warningly over the privy com, ''Your biosigns are skyrocketing. Heart rate is up thirty-two percent.''

''I'll live.''

''True. Assuming your own blood pressure won't turn you into a living pinata...or had been living pinata.''

''He won't,'' Crosshair droned, sounding faintly amused, ''He'd have to put up with us dragging him out of hell; he knows its not worth the trouble.''

Eyes flashing to the com status, Hunter groaned.

''Joan, did you seriously switch from privy to team com?''

''Given the situation, sir, I'd imagine so.'' she chirped cheerfully, ignoring the death-glare the sergeant was shooting her avatar on his HUD. ''By the way, either my systems and calculations are flunking my system, or you're not far from your target.''

Her voice changed from the quirky AI to automatic GNU tone, ''Take the next left for three feet. Your destination will be on the left.''

On the left it was...if that was it. On the outside, it didn't look like much - just a tiny metal shed surrounded by shrubs and trees - but if all the traps and hidden security they had had to bypass for the passed mile and a half were any indication, that shed was it.

Hunter signaled for the sniper to move ahead as he slowed his pace to allow the other to pass. The sniper paused, glanced at him, and shrugged quizzically. Hunter responded silently by opening and closing his hand twice before blinking five twice. Ten minutes. Nodding, Crosshair turned and vanished into the shrubs while the others hunkered down to wait.

Keeping to the cover of the brush, Crosshair skirted around the edge of the lab, noting anything that might help them get in before he returned to the others, who had been keeping an eye out for any additional death traps.

''There's not much to go on,'' he growled, crouching next to the sergeant. ''From what I could gather, it's just a metal shed. Unless the people are microscopic or that is just a turbolift to a complex-''

''There are indications to believe it is,'' Tech broke in, typing something on his bracer. ''As a matter of fact, there are reasons to believe the complex is at least a mile in diameter...and we're sitting right on top of it.''

All eyes turned to glare at him.

''And you didn't think to tell us this sooner?'' Crosshair hissed.

''Actually, there was nothing we could have told you anyway until we reached the center,'' Joan's voice sniffed. The AI's avatar popped up on their HUD's and she seemed annoyed.

''It was either the jungle or the cloaking relay signals that kept me from finding this out sooner, but that either way, I was blocked until we sat down right on top of it. All I had gotten were static bursts of energy - which would account for Hunter's ability to detect it...and his headache, but nothing really definite that could track how large the place was.''

''Anyway to get in?''

''On the outskirts? Sure. If you don't mind walking back a couple hundred feet only to get underground and have to walk those couple hundred feet back once you're underground. Other than that, no problem...That is, unless you'd like to simply go through their front door and politely ask to have a look around; I'm sure they'd be more than pleased to let you do so after they've vivisected your organs for spare parts.''

''Not today, Joan.''

''Okay, just checking.''

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves and get himself under control again out from under the pain, he squeezed his eyes shut. He had to think. How could they do this? He peered around at the others...happened to glance at Wrecker's backpack for a moment...Ah, there was the answer.

Distraction.

Hunter gave the signals, telling Joan what he wanted. Standing, he winced.

''Do you want your aromatherapy kit?'' Joan snickered, ''I happened to bring it along just for such an occasion.''

The sergeant rolled his eyes. ''No.''

''Okay. Dispensing anyway. You'll thank me later.''

At once, the filtered air inside his helmet freshened from the scented med-sprays. He took a quick inhale...''Later.'' he responded, a snarky grin on his face.

While it hadn't taken the headache away completely, the effect was almost immediate and it had subsided enough.

Joan huffed, muttering to Tech, ''Told you it would work.''

To their surprise, finding an entrance (or rather, entry points, for their purposes) wasn't hard. It seemed almost too easy. Once Joan had gotten a basic lock on the energy pulses and signals, they were able to locate the different wings of the lab simply by following the pulses. It took time, but if a mission started sloppy, it would end sloppy...and sloppy typically meant getting killed.

The plan for getting in was simple. Wrecker would set detonations at each of the entry points, race back, blow the dets, and the Bad Batch would slip in an - what seemed to be if the energy readings were any indication - unused wing of the laboratory virtually undetected.

Skidding to a halt beside the others, Wrecker peered over his shoulder at them.

''Entrance point located?''

''Yep,'' Joan answered. She paused, then her avatar smirked at them through the HUDs, voice dripping with satisfied sarcasm.

''Tech, I'm receiving an encryption code and it's asking for our credentials to enter this facility...Should we give it to them?'' she asked, purring the last words tauntingly.

''Sarge?''

''Go ahead,'' Hunter nodded, crouching behind a large tree root, keeping his DC17m's sights locked on the shed for any enemy surprises, ''We need to show them we brought all our entry passes.''

He tilted his head questioningly at the demo specialist.

''Wrecker?''

''Coming through.'' he grinned.

The countdown had begun. A few more seconds and they would be going in. Hard part would be getting out alive though. But the Bad Batch planned on doing just that.

Three...Two...One...

Just as the air cracked with the first contained blasts, Wrecker detonated the one they would be using to get in. Before the smoke could clear, Hunter motioned for the boys to jump in, jumping in after them and hoping to the Maker this would be another successful mission they would be walking away from...

Okay, a note on Hunter's eyes turning grey. In the first BB episode, when the camera moves in as he says, 'Plan Eighty-two, shockwave!'' his eyes are grey. Next scene were it's close to a close up, they're brown again. I don't think that was an accident on the animator's part.

Anyway, here we go to kick off the action. :D Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and I will be back soon!