Omega thought she'd be in trouble for almost burning down the ship, but they were fine with it. Well not fine with it, but she wasn't in trouble. Soon she regretted it though when they started to run low on rations. But things worked out and things almost seemed like they might be getting better even if they were crazy. Even when the bounty hunter tried to catch her, Omega felt safe after she was back with the Bad Batch. She had a new doll now too and it felt like she was learning so much. She and Wrecker were as close as ever and had new traditions.
She felt like she really had found a family. And that her family would be okay now that they had their chips removed.
But then everything changed. She had been taken. Kidnapped by someone named Cad Bane. He was the worst and she hated him. He had locked her up on her ship and she had barely managed to escape. She would have been caught if Fennec Shand hadn't been there and distracted Bane by also trying to catch her.
Why was this happening to her? Yes, Hunter had told her after she had escaped, but it just wasn't fair.
Omega thought she would be okay. She was away from Cad Bane and the Kaminoans, but she was still so afraid. She had tried to sleep, but her whole body hurt from falling and being shoved against walls. But the pain wasn't even the worst thing. The horrible thing was she kept imagining being taken by the Kaminoans. They would do horrible experiments on her. Maybe they would even put her in a test tube where she would be stuck forever. Stuck in pain to rot except when they wanted to take something from her.
She imagined them poking her with needles and then it got worse. They would cut her open, trying to get as much from her as they could. There would be so much pain and she would be alone. She imagined they wouldn't even let Nala Se help or even see her. Omega would be all alone.
And then she would die all alone. No would be there. No one would even care about her body. She would be lost forever.
Alone.
Omega gave up on sleeping. What was the point? If she fell asleep, she'd just have nightmares and they'd be even worse. She could imagine what they'd be like.
And what made it worse was that it all could come true.
She stood up and left her little room. Even though she had her doll and Wrecker had let her borrow Lula, they just weren't enough to make her feel better no matter how tightly she held them. It didn't make a difference.
Instead she was going to see if anyone else was awake. She could talk to them. She didn't know if it would make her feel better, but at least then she wouldn't be alone with her thoughts.
She went in the direction of the cockpit. There she saw Tech fast asleep. She wished she could sleep like that. But she knew if she did, she'd just have nightmares.
Nightmares about being in a test tube like the ones she had seen. That could be her.
It made her feel so sick.
Omega was relieved when she saw Hunter was still awake. Now she wouldn't have to be alone. She took a seat on the passenger seat next to him.
"Can't sleep?" Hunter asked after pressing some buttons.
"I keep thinking about the Kaminoans. Seeing that place…" Omega hugged her knees. "I don't want to be an experiment in a test tube."
"That's not going to happen," Hunter said, sounding positive. How could he sound so sure?
"If I'm as valuable as you say, Lama Su will keep sending bounty hunters after me."
"He can send everyone in the Galaxy," Hunter said. "You have us."
Omega wanted to believe him. She really did, but when she tried, she would remember when Cad Bane hurt him. He could have killed Hunter. And Omega had been taken.
"You can't fight them all." Eventually she would be taken again. She didn't want to think about the things that would be done to her. It was so scary.
Hunter came over to her. "Omega, you don't have to worry. You're never going back to Kamino."
"Promise?" Omega asked. She could feel tears forming in her eyes. It was silly, but if he said yes, then maybe she would feel better. Hunter wouldn't lie to her.
Those words alone would make her feel better.
"I promise," Hunter said.
And for a moment she felt better. Just a moment.
"I mean it, Omega. Everything will be okay,"
Omega looked at him. She wanted to believe it so much and she was starting to.
Hunter leaned over and hugged her. She hugged him back, so glad that she was safe.
But then pain shot through her arm. She tried not to react. She hadn't felt as much pain before when Wrecker hugged her but now…
She couldn't help but wince even as she tried not to react. Hunter pulled away right away. His eyes were full of pain as if he had been the one who was hurt and not Omega. Omega felt bad. She should have acted like it was nothing. It didn't have to be a big deal.
"Omega, are you okay? You said you weren't hurt."
"I'm fine," Omega said, biting her lip. She would be. She was free now and that was all that mattered.
That and not being captured again and being taken back to Kamino.
"Omega, if Bane hurt you, you should tell me," Hunter said softly. He reached out and gently put his hands on her shoulders.
"I don't know," Omega said. "He didn't hurt me when I was captured." Omega hadn't been captured long, and some of the time she had been, she had been unconscious.
"But when you tried to escape?" Hunter said, somehow reading her mind.
Omega shrugged, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. It didn't matter that much. She was here now and that was what was important. "I'm okay, Hunter."
And she was okay. It couldn't be that bad, but her arm did hurt, as did her leg. She remembered when she had got to flight pod. She had to limp her way there. But she had made it and that was what was most important.
If she hadn't… Maybe Bane or Shand would have caught her.
Hunter gave her a look.
"They pushed me against the walls a few times and I fell, but I'm okay," Omega said, trying to sound optimistic. "I'm okay."
"Really?" Hunter said. "If you're hurt then you should tell me."
But that even sounded scary. She trusted Hunter and the Bad Batch, but after what happened, she wanted nothing to do with any kind of medical situation. She didn't want to be hocked up to anything. She didn't want to be poked with needles or put in a bacta tube or anything. It was scary and it reminded her of what her future might be.
But they might not even care about making sure Omega wasn't in pain. Yes, she knew that Nala Se wouldn't want her to be hurt, but most of the Kaminoans wouldn't care about her. They probably always thought that she was a brat who needed to learn to follow orders. Really they probably didn't even think she was that. They probably thought she was just someone to experiment on later.
But Omega was a real person with her own hopes, dreams, and feelings.
"Omega, I'm not going to hurt you," Hunter said.
She sniffled and wiped her eyes. That was when she realized that she was crying. She didn't want to cry. She wanted to be strong like the others in the Bad Batch. Instead she was being weak.
She wasn't like them. She had thought for so long that she was different because she was like them, but now she knew that wasn't even the case. She was a freak.
"Omega…" Hunter said.
"I don't know. They shoved me and I fell and it hurt but I don't know!" Omega wiped at her brown eyes. Why did all of this have to be happening? She always thought things would be better when she was with Clone Force 99. And she loved being with them, but things were also harder than she thought.
"I don't know," Omega said. "I haven't checked." And she hadn't. She hadn't thought that it would matter.
And she had been too afraid to.
Hunter took her hands. "It's going to be okay."
"I don't want…"
"You're not going to have to be any tube or have any shots," Hunter said. "It's going to be okay, but if you got hurt, I need to know, so I can help you."
Omega bit her lip. She used to be a medical assistant so she knew that he was right, but she was still afraid.
"I… Really?" Omega asked. She bit her lip harder. "I…" She pulled her hand away from him and hugged her knees again.
"Yes, really."
Omega sighed and let go of her knees. She rolled her sleeves up, not sure what she would see. She was sort of afraid of what she would see.
But once she saw it, it was even worse. Bruises were already forming. They were brown and angry. And she knew that there would be more later. More that would be worse. This wasn't good. Not at all. As soon as she saw them, her whole body hurt more too.
What made it worse was that Hunter cringed as soon as he saw it. Even he thought it was bad and he was a soldier.
Omega started to cry. She didn't want to, but she couldn't help it.
He picked her up and hugged her. "It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay, I promise."
"I don't…" Omega tried to say. "I don't wanna wake Tech." She looked over at him and saw that he was still asleep. She needed to be quiet or he would wake up and then this would be even worse. "And I don't want needles."
"We'll just get some bacta spray," Hunter said, putting her down next to him. "It's going to be okay."
She followed him out of the room in the direction of the med bay, but that was when Wrecker came out of his room with sleep in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and then noticed Omega's bruises.
"What… where… how? Someone hurt you?" he asked.
Omega couldn't get anything out.
"When she was trying to escape, they did," Hunter said.
"Those… They can't hurt you, Omega," Wrecker said. "I'll… I'll…"
Omega knew that he would want to make them regret it. Both Shand and Cad, but right now Omega didn't care about that. She just didn't want to be taken again. She wanted to stay with the Bad Batch and she wanted them all to be safe and happy.
"You don't… you don't need…"
"We just need to make sure that she is safe," Hunter said. "She—"
"Someone hurt her. No one can hurt Omega and get away with it."
"I… I don't want you to…" She didn't want him to try and go after Shand or Bane because then he might get hurt and Omega didn't want that to happen. She wanted them all to be okay.
And she was going to be okay.
"Let's just protect Omega. The best we can. We can't let something like this happen to her again," Hunter said.
Wrecker stared at Hunter for what felt like a long time, but then he nodded. "We'll protect you, Omega."
She stared at him and wiped at her eyes. "Promise?" she asked, knowing she had asked Hunter the same thing. She still wanted to hear it from Wrecker too.
"I promise."
Omega forced herself to smile and then she hugged him. He hugged her back softly as if he was worried that she might break.
And for a moment, Omega did feel safe. She just hoped it would last.