WE ARE BACK BABY
AND WE GOIN FOR A RIDEEEEEE

Like a dingus I'm posting this before I actually know what happens in the later chapters. Trust Shattered of course, but other than that.
Y'all no body knows where this story is gonna go next. Not even me.
Honestly, aint that why y'all read it? Randomness?

At the bottom will be a copy/paste of the announcement I made on tumblr since I know y'all are dying to get into this story.
This chapter was worked on either really early or really late, and I have no filter during that so enjoy~~

Chapter Content Warnings:
Sexual references and foul language

You know the cliché of starting a story with a wake-up scene caused by a noise? Well, seems fate saw fit to pull that with me, because my awakening was anything but peaceful.

The sound of a loud crash, followed by yelling, woke me up and for a hot minute, I thought I was back in the Tintin fandom, the sailors fighting over some stupid shit and breaking something in the process.

It wasn't uncommon. They were always squabbling about something, even if they had each other's backs at the end of the day. They'd go for each other's throats without mercy yet if an outsider so much looked at one of them wrong, all Hell broke loose. Nevertheless, they certainly lived up to the stereotype of sailors getting into knife fights.

But bullshit this early... now that was new. Most times they were little more than zombies in the morning until they had their coffee. So why would they...

Catching Wrecker's voice followed by Hunter's, I realized that no, it wasn't sailors disrupting my sleep with shenanigans. It was commandos disrupting my sleep with shenanigans. Not just any commandos... the legendary Clone Force 99.

Many fans would be ecstatic to wake up to those boys but me?

Nah fam. Don't mess with my sleep.

I groaned, burying myself deeper into the sheets as I tried to become one with the mattress. Sleep was so damn close...

More yelling shattered the hope of falling back asleep.

Blindly feeling around, I tried to locate my watch. I could hear the compass rattle as I slapped the bed, but finding it...

There!

Snatching it, I pressed a button on the side to backlight the screen. A dim green glow flickered to life and an even deeper frown dug into the corners of my mouth. Five AM.

No. Nope. Nuh uh. No sir. Denied. It was too early to deal with this. Flinging the watch away, it hit a pillow and plopped back down into the sheets. Pressing even harder into the sheets, I muttered under my breath as uncertain footsteps approached my door.

Hoe, don't you even do it.

A knock sounded at the door. Soft and hesitant, I knew it had to be Tech. Wrecker would break the door, Hunter would probably just yell, and Crosshair... hell he'd probably reenact Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies before he came to ask for my help. With those anime looking stems he had for legs he'd probably be good at it.

"Shadow?"

I refused to answer. Maybe he'd go away. Leave me to hide back in dreamland. I'd take my chances with a nightmarish green and black mist leaching through my synapses than deal with whatever those idiots destroyed at O'Dark Thirty

He knocked harder. "Shadow, are you awake?"

"No."

Tech was silent for a moment, and I could hear the shuffle of his feet. "Wrecker broke a plate."

Fucks Sake... "I'll be out there in a minute... now piss off."

Footsteps rapidly scurried away and I heard a faint, "I think she's mad..."

You think? You're Sherlock Holmes meets Inspector Gadget, but it doesn't take a mastermind to figure out I'm pissed after you idiots wake me up at six am!

Grumbling a few choice words under my breath, I managed to haul myself out of bed and put on some different clothes to go out and confront the morons.

But the conversation I walked out to... I nearly turned right back around.

Tech's voice reached me first. "She said she'd be right out."

"Probably had to put a bra on. Women don't usually wear those to sleep," Hunter commented.

Did he... Did he just...? Oh, you've got to be kidding me... this is how we're starting?

"Studies show they don't," Tech chirped.

Who the hell studies that?!

Wrecker laughed and, judging from the dull thud, slapped Tech's back. "My experience says they don't!"

Of course Wrecker would say something like that...

"How would you know if they do or don't? You've never even been with a girl!" Tech retorted.

Shots fired.

"Neither have you!" Wrecker blustered.

Return fire.

"She probably doesn't even need one," Crosshair snorted. "She's flat enough."

Absolutely not.

I stepped into the room. "The next person who says anything about me being flat will be the one who's flat when I push them into oncomin' traffic and they get hit by a bus."

The men, or boys, froze. Tech looked mortified, Wrecker embarrassed, Crosshair stunned, and Hunter downright uncomfortable. "Er, how much of that did you hear?" Hunter asked.

Did he... not sense me coming? Wasn't this man supposed to be part bloodhound?

"Enough to know y'all ain't as professional as you give on first impression." I focused on Tech as I said that. "Strange, you know I'm havin' a deja vu moment. Almost like some nerd told me yesterday that first impressions are often wrong. Now I wonder which nerd that could be."

Tech's fairer skin was not doing him any favors as red crept up his cheeks. "Well... ah..."

"Save it. Now, can someone please explain to me what kind of fuckery this is?" I asked, gesturing with a stiff arm and hand towards the broken plate on the floor. "It's five AM, too. What in the Nine Corellian Hells were you idiots doing? Explain to me why the fuck there's a plate more shattered than my mental state. It's been a day, no, not even a day, and I'm already done with you four! Y'all as bad as the sailors and I was stuck with 'em for near two weeks! There were thirty of them! I've seen some shit! How none of them died on that ship is beyond me, yet here I am with four men, no, frat boys, who somehow manage to break a plate at five am! Why are you even up at five? And why in my apartment? Y'all have your own!"

Hunter stepped forward. "Shadow-"

"Hush up, Fabio! I'm not done!" I hissed, pointing a stiff finger at him.

His brows raised in surprise. "Who the hells is Fabio?"

I groaned loudly before answering, "It's a model with really majestic hair."

Brows furrowed, Hunter looked me up and down. "You are strange when you're up early."

"I wouldn't be strange if I were asleep!" I glared at the four men. "As I was saying before Hunter decided his sentence began in the middle of mine, how did you four idiots manage this?! Somebody better start explain' or Imma start throwin' hands!

"It was him!" Wrecker shouted, pointing to Crosshair.

The sniper shot him a look of surprise which quickly turned sour. "Most certainly was not! Your clumsy hands dropped it."

"I ain't about to play a convoluted game of Who Dun It!" I snapped, startling the men. "Sergeant Hunter, which one is tellin' the truth?"

Hunter raised an eyebrow but nodded towards the largest Bad Batch member. "Wrecker dropped it."

"Sarge!" the demolition expert protested, betrayal all over his face.

"Wrecker," I demanded, crossing my arms and drumming my fingers against my arm.

"Er... I was tryin' to get one out and it... slipped. But I wouldn't have dropped it if Crosshair hadn't hit me!" Wrecker protested, shooting an accusatory look towards Crosshair.

I glared up at the sniper, who stood not too far from me. "Ok, Mister Twiggs, why'd you hit him?"

Crosshair looked me up and down and snorted dismissively. "Tch, I don't have to answer to y-"

I marched forward, grabbed the front of his blacks, and yanked him down to eye level. "Listen up, Fuck Face, thanks to you I got a max of four hours of sleep. I need at least six to function. My insomniac ass has no patience for your bullshit right now so you better start yappin' before I kick your nuts, assumin' you have them, into your throat."

Dark brown eyes, inches from mine, stretched wide. "You wouldn't."

"Oh bitch, yes I would. Try me," I said, voice almost a purr as I dragged him in until our noses were almost touching.

We remained locked in a staring contest before Hunter suddenly sneezed. I glanced down and quickly realized why.

Really? It's gonna be one of those self-inserts? Well, fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen. The fun has begun, and we're goin' for a ride. "You know," I commented, looking back up at Crosshair slowly. "I expected Tech to be the submissive one, not you."

As Crosshair jerked away, visibly bristling at my comment, Tech gasped indignantly. "What?! I'll have you know, I'm not submissive! I am a commando soldier and member of the most elite clone squadron in the Grand Army of the Republic!" he sputtered, trying to puff out his chest and make himself appear more intimidating.

Unfortunately for the nerd, I found him to be as scary as a kitten. "Yeah so's Cross, and his dick just made a surprise appearance because I told him off."

As Wrecker burst out laughing, gripping the side of the counter and leaving a dent in the granite, Crosshair hissed at me, "You claim to be asexual yet you have one filthy mouth, brat."

"I'm not the 'brat' in this scenario, Twiggy," I snorted. "Besides, I may be ace-slash-grey, but my mind and mouth certainly ain't."

"If it's a power play you want, I'll show you just who the dominant one really is, sweetheart," Crosshair growled, stepping closer to me.

Bad move, Cross. A quick tiger mouth to the throat brought the man back to eye level. "Treat me like a game, Crosshair..." I tightened my grip around his throat, making him wheeze slightly. "And I'll show you how it's played."

I felt him swallow hard under my hand. "Let go of me," he growled, trying to back out of my grip and pulling at my wrist when my hand tightened.

"And why should I do that?"

"You can go back to sleep?" Tech offered hesitantly, eyes darting between Crosshair and I. Right, the nerd hated conflict.

I thought that over for a minute. "That's a fair point, Techie," I said, shoving Crosshair away.

The sniper grunted and massaged his throat, glaring at me. "You're a feral little brat, aren't you?"

"And proud of it. But if you think that's feral, then you my friend have seen nothing yet. We Alphians may look human, but we've got animal entwined deep within our DNA. Piss us off, and you'll learn the hard way how we keep our spot as top dog on our planet."

"We're the Bad Batch, kitten. Challenges are our specialty," he sneered.

"You really askin' for Rotation Seventeen, ain'tcha, Twiggy?" I growled, shifting my weight to my toes.

"And what's that, kitten? You threatenin' to kick me again?"

I laughed. "Oh no, Crosshair dear. I don't kick you." I stopped laughing, smile vanishing in an instant. "I rip it off."

Leaving him to ponder that, I moved to the sink and dug around underneath it before finding a dustpan and brush. Pulling it out, I shoved it into Wrecker's chest. "You broke it, big guy, you get to clean it up. If I walk out here and get glass in my foot, I'm holdin' you personally accountable? Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," he chuckled nervously, clutching the dustpan close to his chest.

"Then, gents, and Crosshair, I'll be headin' back to dreamland and so help me, if any of you wake me up within the next hour, you will get flyin' lessons off the balcony."

"That a threat?" Crosshair sneered. "And I don't believe you can really rip a dick off."

Hunter cleared his throat. "She's not joking. She showed us the move last night."

Crosshair looked mildly surprised as he turned his eyes towards his brother. "When?"

"You were showerin'! Missed a great demonstration! Haran'ika is a lethal little fighter!" Wrecker laughed, sending a grin my way. He still looked a little guilty, however, and I figured he was trying to get back on my good side.

You're lucky you're my favorite. "Like Wrecker said. I'm lethal and when I'm tired, I don't pull my punches. You really want to test that right now?"

Hunter quickly stepped in. "He doesn't."

Crosshair's head jerked towards him. "When did I say tha-"

"I'm saying you don't because Shadow needs more sleep if she's going to lead us through the mountains without trouble."

"Huh, I like your thinkin', Sergeant." I looked around at the men. "I meant it when I said if you wake me up before seven I'm sendin' you flyin'. Try me."

Heading back to my room, I slipped inside and went to change back into my sleep clothes. With any luck, I could get some more sleep before we had to leave.

But, of course, the moment I laid my head down on the pillow...

"Shadow, time to go."

WHEEEEEE
I said it was gonna be a wild ride.
Also Crosshair ain't entirely wrong. I get mistaken for a guy when I wear a tank top. Gotta love being athletic...

Copy/Paste announcement!

I'm here to say that the chapters in this book (aside from a segment that some of you are already dreading) will be shorter, choppier, and less polished.
I'm starting college back soon and have three sciencey classes plus two labs so... all my time gonna be spent on that. It's online too so that's gonna be fun to figure out.

Not only that, I'm admittedly losing interest in fanfictions since my interest in my original content has spiked again and I'm wanting to rework a bunch of old stories and start finalizing worldbuilding details again.

Fanfics are just my side hobby, something I do to release steam and mess about with fandom characters. Yet I basically abandoned my original works for fanfics and that was not good. Towards the end of OtaGS, I noticed the chapter quality began to diminish but I was honestly just ready to finish the book that I forced myself through it.
Bad move, for various reasons. I will not be doing that in this next book, which means yes there will be plot holes, yes chapters will be shorter, yes it will be a bit more sporadic, and yes... it will probably be crazier because I won't put as much care into "is this plausible?". I'm taking a concept and running with it. This isn't gonna be a smooth story, but I hope you guys enjoy it nevertheless!

See y'all later! Comments fuel me! 3
I also adore when y'all send me asks and such on tumblr about it because interaction fuels me as well!