((AN: Sorry this was posted twice. I was having trouble with formatting and I ended up having to delete the chapter and repost it. Sorry again.))
Omega was going to sneak out of the medical wing. Yes, she knew that she wasn't supposed to, but right now Omega didn't care. She had heard the Bad Batch was around and she needed to see the people who she had heard so many stories about. Not just the people of the stories, but the people who Omega just knew were like her.
And Omega wanted to get to know them. She didn't want them to just live in stories. She didn't want to be one of those people who just stared at them. What she really wanted to do was to talk to them, but Nala Se had told her not to. She had told her not to bother people and that she should concentrate on her work.
Omega didn't want to do that.
And eventually Nala sighed and looked at Omega. "You have lots of questions today?"
Omega always had a lot of questions so she didn't know why this was any different than usual. There was so much that she wanted to know about the world and everything.
"I just want to know more." Omega bounced on the heels of her feet. "Please. I want to know more."
Nala shook her head and sighed as she looked at a clipboard. This made Omega even more antsy.
"You should go wait in my office and work on your studies," she said, not looking at Omega and still studying the paperwork.
"But I don't want to do that," Onega said.
Nala finally looked up and gave her a look.
"Please," Omega said hoping she would change her mind and then she could do something else.
But Nala didn't and Omega was forced to go to her office. She hated being in Nala's office. It was so boring. Sometimes Omega liked her studies but today… well, today she wanted to do other things.
Once she was sure that Nala was gone, she tried to open the door. It didn't budge. She sighed but it wasn't a surprise. Since she had snuck out once when she was supposed to be studying, she had been locked in.
It hadn't been the first or even second time she snuck out. Being locked in this office never stopped her.
She grabbed Nala's chair and pulled it to the other side of the room. The chair was taller than most so when Omega climbed on it she could almost reach the air vent. She grabbed some books and then climbed on them and jumped. Her hands knocked the lid of the air vent further and then when Omega jumped again she grabbed the edge and managed to pull herself up.
Perfect, now she could get out of the office. She would just have to be careful not to get caught.
Especially since today was special. She had heard the Bad Batch would actually be coming back today. They should already be back. She would be able to see them. Maybe she would even be able to speak to them.
Nala would have told her to leave them alone, even though she was like them. But now Nala didn't even know that she wasn't in the office. She wouldn't be able to stop Omega. She would finally be able to see them and maybe even meet them.
What was she going to say to them? She didn't want them to think she was annoying? Some of the other clones here thought she was annoying, but she would be devastated if they felt the same. She wanted to be their friend. She wanted to learn from them. Maybe one day she could be just like them.
She especially wanted to be like Hunter. She had heard all about him. He sounded nice, smart, and like an amazing leader. Omega wanted to be that kind of person also. But it would be hard to be that kind of person if she didn't get to meet him.
Nala might say something about how she should try and be more like her for now, but Omega didn't want to be like Nala, even though she liked her. She wanted to be exactly like Hunter and the rest of the Bad Batch.
As soon as she thought the coast was clear, she dropped from the air vent to the floor. She had done this plenty of times and climbed things just for fun, so she landed perfectly. She liked climbing around the air vent, even when she wasn't looking for anyone. It was fun to see what people were up to. She always heard all sorts of interesting things that she probably wasn't supposed to.
Nala wouldn't like it at all, so it was important that she didn't find out what she did. Then she would make it harder for Omega to sneak out.
Like Omega always did, when she dropped down, she made sure that no one had seen her, even though she had already checked. No one was around.
Perfect.
Now Omega just had to find them. They had to be around here somewhere, right? But Omega knew that wasn't necessarily true. This place was big. She sometimes loved to run around and find things to do, not that she got to do that as much as she wanted. Even now that she knew where most things were, part of her was tempted to explore.
But she had more important things to do.
So she went off to check where they might be. After eavesdropping on random Clone Troopers for awhile, she found out where their room was. Really she was lucky. And now was the perfect time to go there. Maybe they would be there and she… well, she would make up a reason to be there.
Actually she would just flat out tell them who she was.
When she got to their room, she tried to open the door and to her surprise it opened right away. If it hadn't, she would have tried to pick the lock. But Omega was no master of unlocking things. So it was lucky that she could just walk in.
Though she could have tried to get back in the air vent, but she would have had to find a place where she could reach it.
The room smelled bad. Ew. She almost gagged when she walked in it, but she wasn't going to let the nasty smell keep her from looking around. But why did it smell so horribly? She didn't get it. She was used to the antiseptic smell of the medical parts of the compound, not whatever this was.
In the stories Omega was told and read, she heard about roses and other flowers which smelled beautiful. This room… Omega didn't know how it smelled, but it wasn't roses. Even if she didn't know how those smelled.
One day she would smell roses and all the flowers in the galaxy.
When she finally sort of got used to the gross smell, she looked around the room. It looked like the other troopers' rooms in some ways and in others it was different. For one, on one of the walls were knife marks as if someone had been keeping track of something. Above some of the beds were other decorations like target marks.
And then Omega saw it. The cutest thing ever. It was a stuffed animal and instantly she loved it. It was sitting on one of the beds, staring at her almost as if it was begging for Omega to pick it up.
Omega did just that and picked up the stuffed animal. It was softer than she thought it would be and right away, she couldn't resist hugging it. She had always wanted a toy or a stuffed animal. In the stories, she knew that other kids had them, but here, she hadn't gotten anything. It wasn't fair.
But this wasn't hers so she sighed and placed it back.
At least for a moment, but then she decided that she should hug it one more time. It was just clear that the stuffed animal wanted another hug from her.
And that was when the doors to their room flung open. Omega's heart beat hard against her chest. She wanted to meet Hunter and the others more than anything, but if they caught her in here, they might think she was spying on them. And that wasn't what she was doing. She just wanted to know more about them. It wasn't anything bad.
But it wasn't Hunter or any of the Bad Batch.
It might have even been worse.
It was Nala Se.
At first Omega wasn't sure what to say or do, but then she smiled sheepishly. A few times before, she had gotten close to getting caught, but she had always managed to escape at the last minute.
Now she didn't have any chance of that.
"Omega…" Nala said, staring at her as if she could read her mind just by looking at her. Like the Jedi could or so Omega thought. But Nala didn't care for the Jedi and she wasn't one of them.
"Uh… hi," Omega said, not sure what to say. She smiled again, since she was worried. She even let out a nervous laugh.
Nala kept looking at her, which caused Omega to flinch.
"You're not supposed to be here," Nala said, giving her a look.
"I'm… I'm sorry." Omega hugged the stuffed animal even tighter. "I just… I just wanted to look around."
"Put that back, Omega," Nala said.
Omega sighed. She wondered who it belonged to. Probably Wrecker. He seemed like he would like stuffed animals, which made Omega want to meet him even more. It wasn't fair that now she wasn't going to get to today.
There was no way that Nala would let her. It was almost as if she wanted to keep Omega away from them, and it wasn't fair.
"But I… I'm going to put it back." And Omega did just then. She pretty much threw it back on the bed, even though it felt wrong. It should be put nicely back on the bed. "I was just looking around."
"I know what you were doing," Nala said. "And I put you in my office for a reason, Omega. You should still be there."
Omega bit her lip and tried not to react. "I just wanted to meet Hunter and—"
But she didn't get a chance to finish.
"Omega, you need to listen to me. I'm the adult and I know what's best."
But she didn't understand Omega. Not really. She didn't know how much Omega wanted to be with people like her. Nala didn't even want to understand her, even if she was the one who had been teaching Omega… well, everything.
"But I… I want—"
"You don't need to meet them," Nala said as she pulled Omega out of the room. It sort of hurt but Omega didn't pull away. It just wasn't fair.
"But I want to meet them," Omega said. She knew that she was whining, but she didn't care. She wanted to meet them. No, that wasn't true. Omega needed to meet them. She just did. They were like her, and she admired them so much. And it was almost like she was meant to meet them.
"Omega…"
"Please," Omega said, her voice breaking. For a moment, it sounded like she might cry. Omega even felt like she would, but there was no way that she would allow that. She didn't want to act like a child, even if she was one. She needed to act mature.
"They have a new member," Nala said.
"What?" Omega asked.
"His name is Echo and—"
"I want to know about him." Omega said. She had never heard of someone named Echo, but she wanted to. She wanted to know all about him. She would be a new member eventually if she able to.
Sometimes, she felt that Nala Se would never let her stay. That she was saving her for something else that Omega didn't even know about. And that Omega just knew that she wouldn't like.
Nala sighed. "You don't need to."
"But…" Omega bit her lip and sighed. "Please…"
But she didn't tell Omega and just pulled her away. It almost hurt her arm. It just wasn't fair. Didn't most kids get to be around people who they were similar to? Didn't most kids get to have friends? Whenever Omega tried to have friends they rejected her.
And it hurt… it hurt so much. She just wanted to have a friend or a family. People or even just one person who would understand her. But she didn't have that. Even Nala didn't understand her.
It made Omega feel like she was all alone. That she would always be. It might not sound like a big deal, but it was. Sometimes, she would lay in her bed and wish that she had a real friend. Even one real friend would make a difference. Someone who would understand her and who she could talk to.
But Omega didn't have that. Nala didn't understand her. Not really.
Omega knew that she would be grateful to Nala. She cared about Nala. But sometimes she wondered if Nala cared about her. Thinking about that even made Omega feel bad.
But she couldn't help it. She really couldn't.
"What is Echo like?" Omega asked because she wanted to know more about him.
Nala looked at Omega and for a long time, or rather a few seconds, Omega thought that she wouldn't tell her anything and Omega would continue to be in the dark.
"He was a normal clone but…"
"But what?" Omega asked, wanting to know as much as she could.
"Omega, this doesn't concern you."
"But I…"
"Omega…" Nala said slowly.
Omega bit her lip. She wanted to know anything she could about them, including Echo. Even the smallest bit of information would mean the world—no- the galaxy to her, but Nala didn't tell her.
She pulled her away.
It wasn't fair and it wasn't right, but Omega knew that eventually she would get to know Hunter, Wrecker, and everyone in the Bad Batch. She just had to be patient.
But why was it so hard?
((AN: Thank you for reading. I appreciate all comments.))