Chapter 13: Hide
Swimming echoes brushed in solid waves against Omega's ringing ears. Awareness crept back into her mind, and she pushed herself upright with bound hands.Laser fire exploded sporadically in the distance, but where it came from was almost impossible to tell, her head ached so badly.
She remembered Bane and his nasty little droid (who did look cute despite his uppity attitude) and rubbed her neck against her shoulder.
The site where Bane had inserted the needle was throbbing. The bounty hunter probably didn't calculate the right amount of sedative, most likely ignoring important factors such as Omega's size and weight. He had been hurrying. Why?
Omega stumbled dizzily to her feet. Hurrying because whoever he's fighting was close by - he knew someone was following us... She told herself.
She shook her head slowly and started off down the hall, away from the general point where the gun battle was still underway. An image inserted itself behind her eyes - Tech falling beneath a circular sheet of blue energy - and Omega willed her wobbling legs to move faster. Tech! She had to find him. Both of them had to get out of here, fast.
She prayed Tech's communicator wasn't broken as she rounded the corner and -
Tech was gone.
Omega crouched down near the ground as Hunter did so often and, reaching out carefully with her hands so as not to lose her balance, Omega brushed her fingers over the rough stone floor where Tech had been lying a short while ago - or had it been longer than that?
Omega looked grimly into the expanse of the corridor stretching out before her and started off. She trotted silently through several passages, stumbling tiredly through a partially opened door into another darker hall several long minutes later.
She gazed back in apprehensive wonderment at the door, noting that Tech's observation on the very Kamioan-like structures was even more true than she at first thought. The door was exactly the same design as all the main hallway doors in Tipoca City.
Omega wandered further in.
"Tech...?" she called, barely raising her voice above a whisper. "Tech, are you in here?"
An eerie green glow and heavy silence was all she received in reply.
Omega tiptoed all the way down and around the corner at the hall's end. She hurried into a large room at the hall's end and pulled back with a surprised gasp.
A cylindrical structure filled the center of the room, it's core surrounded by tanks emitting a sickly green glow. Bodies floated inside the tubes, their features indistinguishable behind the dingy glass. Omega walked slowly around the structure, eyes wide in disturbed sorrow. The poor things...
She placed her hands against one dirt-streaked tank and gazed up into the mishapen features of one unfortunate creature which was smashed against the interior of the front of the tube, it's features seeming to have partially grown into the glass. Omega shuddered, peering sadly into the glowing green, a soft sigh of pain almost audible from the unhappy being within...
Omega stepped back. The gasp came again.
She paced in apprehension to the next tube and jolted back with a cry. Tech's face was visible in the glass.
No - no!
Omega staggered back, tripping over her feet and sitting down hard. She blinked.
Tech's face apppeared bent, almost not there. Omega shivered, realization dawning and spreading momentary relief through her shaking limbs.
She turned and located the source of the reflection - Tech, propped up against the wall, his bound hands resting in his lap.
He looked tired. His forehead held a large bruise, and his goggles were gone. So was his pack. And his armor.
"Tech!" Omega staggered upright and stumbled over to him. "Tech, are you okay?"
Tech coughed lightly and opened his eyes partway. "Omega...?"
"Tech, what happened?" Omega reached out and gently gripped the side of Tech's hand, both of her's only just able to cover the full length from Tech's wrist to the tip of his forefinger.
"I cannot remember. Where is Bane?"
"He's shooting it out with someone. I think I lost him."
"Good... Have you tried calling the others again?"
Omega's face fell. "No," she admitted. "Bane smashed my comm device. Now I won't be able to give it back to Crosshair..."
Tech tipped his head towards her.
"Let's focus on getting out of here first," he said. Then, more softly, "Nevermind about the comm device. We'll make Crosshair another one."
"Really?" Omega gasped.
Tech nodded. "Really."
"Can you get up, Tech?" Omega shook away the happy thought of building a new communicator for Crosshair and began glancing over Tech, trying her best to assess his state as she had been taught by Nala Se.
Tech seemed to be forming his own diagnosis as well.
"I don't believe," he said thoughtfully, "that I shall be travelling anywhere in the near future. It seemes I am experiencing the after effects of a rather potent sedative. The symptoms are rather curious..."
His voice trailed off, and Tech turned his head to gaze fully into Omega's eyes. "Omega, where is my datapad?"
Omega blinked. "I don't know. Your pack and armor are gone."
Tech sighed. "They must be located. The communicator is of the utmost importance. How are you feeling, currently?"
"I'm okay," said Omega. "Bane knocked me out with an injection, too, and I'm feeling a bit tired, but..."
Omega glanced around. "Tech, we might not need a communicator! That's a control panel over there!"
"Wonderful." Tech shifted, a twitch of his eyebrows wrinkling his bruised forehead briefly. "I..."
He cocked his head. Omega closed her eyes and listened as well.
The punching sound of gunfire was closing in on their position. Omega tensed and pulled at Tech's hand in a silent plea for him to rise.
"Agreed," was all Tech said and, leaning slightly on Omega's shoulder, he struggled upright, grunting with exertion and apparent pain.
Omega frowned. She was getting more drowsy, but the injection she recieved hadn't caused her pain - aside from the headache which was, mercifully, fading rapidly.
Tech exhaled with a huff and took a step forward. Omega did her best to support him, and together they lurched across the room and collapsed in a heap on the other side of a second doorway leading out of the tank room.
Tech was sweating, and Omega pulled at him, trying to shift his limp legs out of sight from where they lay across the exit. She settled for sitting down with her back against Tech's ankles and scooting backwards, shoving until Tech lay parallel to the wall.
"I apologize for my immobile state," said Tech. "Thank you, Omega."
"No problem." Omega huddled next to Tech, praying they wouldn't be found, as the sounds of a violent struggle exploded into the tank room, just beyond their hiding place.
Omega could hear the snarls of Cad Bane as well as the higher shouts of...Fennec? She recognized the voice from Pantora, instantly matching it to the name Hunter had told her after the Bad Batch had rescued Muchi from the slavers.
She scootched closer to Tech who grimaced and pulled himself to sit upright against the wall of the doorframe.
"Why is Fennec here?" Omega whispered, flinching as the sound of shattering glass and buckling metal splintered through the air.
Tech tilted his head towards the door. "Both appear to be fighting over you, Omega. Bounty hunters fighting for the credits, that's all."
More smashes sounded followed by several ominous creakes of metal. Pounding footsteps dashed from the room through the first entrance, and Omega sighed in relief.
"I wish I knew why they wanted me," she said, pushing her cuffed hands against her pounding heart.
"I might have a few ideas on that," said Tech. He pursed his lips and rolled onto his side, inching his way to the door.
"Ah, well," he huffed. "It appears the control panel is no longer an option. We will have to locate my communicator, it seems."
Omega peered into the room over Tech's shoulder. Shards of glass paved the floor in several areas, and multiple cut wires were sending sparks in multicolored showers to disappear into puddles of green goo which coated the floor in a slick mess.
One of the tanks had come loose from the main structure and had crushed the surface of the control panel. Glowing sludge leaked out of a large crack in the tank, a dark form pressing against the tubes interior.
"Oh, dear," said Tech and shoved himself back, dragging Omega with him just as the tank burst with a splintering crack. "Shall we go?" said Tech as if there wasn't a disgusting spray of the sickly-colored gell shooting past the doorway.
Omega blinked. A wet thud sounded from in the room and Omega turned to the door, but Tech snagged at her fingers.
"Don't...look," he said.
Omega shuddered. "Let's go."
Tech pulled at Omega's hands, guiding her to sit on the floor near him. She stared into his face, eyes wide.
"Omega, I believe I shall be unconscious momentarily. Now, now," he chided at her gasp and obvious fright. "There is no time to be afraid. I am depending on you to make contact with Hunter and the others."
Omega nodded slowly. "I don't want to be alone, Tech."
Tech blinked slowly, his head drooping somewhat. "You went after the Ordo Moon Dragon alone," he stated.
"Yeeees..."
"It is my hope to be present when you return, Omega. Present and conscious."
Tech twitched his lips into his characteristic ghost of a smile, his eyelids slidding from open to closed and back again.
"Keep to the vents. I do not see any evidence that wildlife of any kind inhabits this location. You should be safe. Find the communicator...and...stay hidden...do not show yourself for any reason, even if you find me...gone when you return...Omega?"
Omega stiffened as Tech slumped further into the corner of the wall. He jerked his head up and stared at her, eyes strangely bright.
Omega nodded hard. "Okay, Tech. I'll keep to the vents, I'll find your comm and your gear, and I won't show myself, even if I find you gone."
"Excellent," Tech breathed. His eyes flickered shut, and Omega wished her pounding heart would rouse Tech again. But with a mumbled, "I recognize these effects - if only I could place the name..." Tech slid to the floor, unconscious again.
Omega straightened, squeezed his bound hands between her own (more for her own comfort than anything - it didn't do Tech any good), and tripped off in search of an access hatch to the vents.
She located one further up the hall and removed its cover with a hard tug that sent her tumbling down.
Omega looked back only once, wishing with all her might that she had the ability to remove Tech's restraints at least, before she turned away from the limp black figure and straightened her shoulders.
"Okay, time to be brave, Omega," she whispered stoically to herself. And holding her breath, she slipped into the tunnel and crawled into its depths.