(Thank you for all of the reviews. I am glad you all are liking the story. Leave a comment to tell me what you think is going to happen next)
Dagger woke up mid afternoon her head pounding. She decided the hangover she was feeling was trying to kill her. She really did not need this right now.
She didn't need it, but she sure as hell deserved it. She stuffed her head into her pillow in embarrassment. She remembered bits and pieces of everything that happened last night. Most of her time at the club she had forgotten, but she remembered the dancing and the fun.
The morning though, she remembered all of that and she would rather not think about any of it. The way that Rex had looked at her when she flinched away from him and he made her explain why. She couldn't quite tell what the emotion was that had been written over his face. Pity? Horror? Sadness?
Dagger shook her head as if to physically dislodge the thoughts. It didn't matter, she couldn't take back things that were already said. Her mind helpfully provided another memory to take her mind off of that one.
Too bad it was one that made her cheeks flair with embarrassment. She had taken off her helmet, risked everything. Just to feel his back. She had undressed her Captain and kissed his back. Had she lost her mind? She must have lost her mind.
She thumped her face repeatedly into the pillow. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! She remembered being so relieved that he didn't have scars covering his back. She had been relieved that he hadn't been punished like she had. He must have been a better learner than she was in training. She had just acted without thinking. She had risked everything, her secret, her position, her life.
And yet she hadn't been worried in the slightest when she took off her helmet. She trusted him to not turn around and he hadn't. She also trusted him fully when he had said that she wouldn't be hurt again.
She still didn't quite understand why Rex and Echo had reacted in the way that they had. Were they telling the truth when they said that no one was supposed to be beaten for mistakes? That was what she had been told and shown her whole life.
That would mean that she was lied to during her entire training. The first 12 years of her life she had been deceived. She understood why she had to be trained separately from her brothers. She was a mistake of the system, but if her brothers weren't punished for mistakes why was she?
She really needed to get her head off of this. So she decided to go work out, she had missed training today. So she put on her helmet and her workout clothes and headed out of her door. The hallway was empty and she couldn't hear anything from Captain Rex's room. He had to be out doing something, important officer business no doubt.
Dagger made her way to the elevator and went down a few floors to the gym. It wasn't as empty as it had been when she was there the other night. There were a number of troopers there who she didn't recognize. They must be from the other unit that was staying here while the 501st was.
She debated whether or not she should just leave and try and find some of her own unit to workout with. She was already here so she decided to just work out on her own, even if there were a whole bunch of strangers here.
What Dagger failed to realize is that the unit that was currently occupying the gym was the 104th. The Wolffe Pack noticed when there were outsiders around and they didn't just leave them alone.
She had barely even made it to the weights when she was approached. Dagger assumed that he was just going to use the dumbbells as well. The thought dissipated when he planted himself right in front of her, leaning against the rack.
"Hey shorty, what are you doing here?" he had two strips of red hair on his head.
"It's a gym, I'm here to work out. So I suggest you move out of my way," she was bristling now, she was not that short.
"What unit are you in? Cause I've never seen you before," he had a lazy grin, intentionally trying to get her agitated.
"Are you colorblind or does the blue not mean anything to you?" she growled, she did not want to play his stupid game.
"Ah so Torrent company, why the helmet in the gym?" he really would not let up with the questions.
She rolled her eyes and moved around him grabbing the weights she wanted and ignored his question. He would leave eventually. What she didn't notice was more of the Pack gathering behind her. They were also curious about the 501st trooper who was wearing his helmet in the gym.
"Boost, who is your new friend?" Wolffe called as he got off the bench press to see what his men were gathering for.
Dagger turned and he saw the blue stripe. Wolffe didn't even wait for Boost to respond, "ah you're the clone from the cafeteria. Still hiding under the helmet.
"Bold words coming from someone who pretends to be a dog," she snapped back, she did not like where any of this was going. She definitely should have left.
Wolffe growled and stepped up close to Dagger. To her credit she did not back down, in fact she puffed her chest and looked right up at his eyes, which was a few inches up. Was it the best idea to antagonize a Commander? No. Was she going to do it anyway? Hell yes.
Suddenly he grabbed the bottom of her helmet and pulled it closer to his face moving it up slightly. Dagger saw red, heart slamming with panic and anger. Before Wolffe could move to speak or even pull the helmet up she was swinging.
Her fist connected solidly with his cheek and it knocked him away from her. He stumbled with surprise, hand flying to his cheek. She hadn't been looking for a fight, but she sure was about to get one.
Dagger raised her fists, "don't touch the helmet."
The Commander straightened up and there was a gleam in his eyes. Oh he was going to enjoy this. The 104th backed away and formed a wide circle around the two. It was then that Dagger really realized what she was getting herself into. She was about to fight the Commander of a different battalion.
It was too late to back out now and Dagger was too proud to try and talk her way out of it. She was able to defend herself and in doing so she would be able to defend the reputation of the 501st. Would she be able to win? Only time would tell.
If she were to bet she would say Commander Cody would be cheering her on. Captain Rex on the other hand, he would not be so pleased. He would definitely be dragging her by the collar out of that room. Well here goes nothing.
Dagger and Wolffe circled around each other, sizing each other up. The Pack had surrounded them and were slowly starting to chant. Dagger rolled her eyes, she was so glad that her battalion wasn't that cheesy. Sure they all watched when she fought Captain Rex, but at least they weren't chanting fight, fight, fight!
He lunged at her aiming a high kick towards her shoulder. She ducked underneath it and spun towards him landing a punch to his lower back. She felt her fist connect with solid muscle and he barely flinched at her blow. Holy shit this was not going to go well.
Wolffe used his momentum to spin and connected a backhand to Dagger's head sending her stumbling back. She regained her balance quickly and raised her fists in preparation for the next attack. Good thing too because he had a punch aimed right for her.
She ducked her head and blocked the blows that were aimed right for her chest. He hammered his fists into her arms with no intent on going easy on her. She backed up but he followed.
While he kept up his attack she noticed that he had left his own abdomen undefended. This was going to hurt. She dropped her arms and lowered her defense. Dagger aimed a hand punch right into the center of his ribs.
Her blow connected to his chest just as his did to her shoulder. Her arm throbbed and he wheezed out a breath as the air was driven out of him.
She jumped back out of range taking the moment of distraction to regroup. He straightened back up and looked at her with a smile true to his name, "not bad kid."
She didn't respond but with a speed that surprised even herself she lunged forward and landed a blow straight to his jaw. His eyes narrowed as his head snapped to the side, "that's it. Play time's over"
Her eyes widened as he renewed her attack on her. She could barely keep up with blocking, she had no time to even try and retaliate. Dagger, in plain terms, was losing terribly.
She could only block most of the hits, many of them did find their mark. He pummeled her sides with wide swinging punches. He had longer arms than she did, a lot more reach. Her skin and muscles ached, she would definitely be covered in bruises by the end of this.
Dagger tried to back away from him only to trip on her own feet just as he landed another central blow. She started to fall backwards and her heart hammered, full of panic. She could not go down here.
Ironically Wolffe is the one who saved her from falling. Unfortunately it was because he caught her by the neck. He pulled her in close till they were face to face. She clawed at his hands, nails raking across his skin in an attempt to get away.
Hand jammed up under her chin he was cutting off her air flow as he held her off the ground so they were eye level, "this has been fun, but you should have known better than to mess with the Wolffe Pack."
Her vision swam and she feared what he would do if she passed out. She felt bad about doing this in a spar but she brought her knee up and drove it into his groin.
Wolffe let out a pained groan, but his hand did not release from her neck. He fell forward and Dagger let out a concerned yelp as her back connected with the floor. He landed on top of her, nose slamming into her helmet.
He straddled her, hands still around her throat tightly, but there was enough room for her to be able to take gasping breaths. He groaned in pain and stayed curled up over her for a moment. She flinched as he sat up, still straddling her, and laughed.
She let out a nervous chuckle as he got off and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. He wrapped his arm over her shoulder, "nicely played Vod. Can't say I have had a spar quite like that in a while."
She had no idea what to make of what was going on, one minute they were fighting and the next he was laughing. He continued, "point taken little one. We won't mess with your helmet, I'd be proud to fight with someone as fierce as you on the battlefield."
She blushed at his praise, it seemed that she had earned the respect of the Commander and therefore the Wolffe pack. As she walked out of the gym, getting numerous fist bumps along the way, she wondered if this day would get any weirder.
Dagger stepped into the elevator and debated whether to go up to her room or to go see what her own unit was doing. She wasn't too sweaty so she figured it would be fine to go hang out for a bit with them. She pressed the floor button and headed down to the barracks.
It seemed like a pretty quiet afternoon for the 501st. She laughed to herself at the differences between 501st and 104th. She walked into the dorm room where most of her friends were staying. Everything was pretty abandoned, she saw Jesse and Hardcase both sitting in their bunks, leaning against the wall talking to each other.
With no sign of Echo or Fives she decided to hang out with them for a while. As she approached Hardcase slid over and patted the spot next to him, inviting her to sit in the middle of the two.
"Thank you for not being kidnapped, Dagger," he said.
She chuckled, "yeah no problem. I'm sorry for freaking everyone out."
Jesse tilted his head, "hey you got a little something on your neck there."
He gestured with his own hand to his neck to show where it was. Hardcase looked and nodded affirmation that there was in fact something there. Dagger couldn't see it so she just shrugged. The two troopers just let it go and they all lapsed into quiet conversation. It was nice to just relax with her friends.
~B~
Rex stood in the meeting room with General Skywalker and General Plo Koon. They were just waiting for Commander Wolffe to begin. Skywalker and Rex were leaving in the morning and someone would need to look after his boys.
Plo Koon had generously offered to help and he had volunteered his Commander as well. Rex smiled, Wolffe was going to love babysitting duty. Soon enough the doors slid open and the Commander entered.
Rex raised an eyebrow at his appearance, Wolffe had quite the shiner on his cheek and a gash on the bridge of his bloody nose which he had obviously been in a hurry to clean. Plo Koon was the first to say something, "Commander Wolffe, I trust you have had an eventful morning?"
"Yes sir, just a little rough housing with one of the 501st. I will say that you trained that boy well."
Rex stood with his arms over his chest smiling like an idiot. This was very amusing, one of his troopers had given the commander a good fight. He cleared his throat, "we will talk about that later, but for now we need to get this meeting underway. General Skywalker?"
"Ah yes, thank you Rex. So I have asked you both here today because I will be leaving for Kamino in the morning. The council has approved of my journey and I am taking Ahsoka and Rex with me. Even though I know the 501st will be fine on their own I would appreciate it if you could look after them Master Plo Koon in case of any emergencies."
The Jedi nodded, "of course. May I ask why the sudden trip to Kamino?"
Skywalker's hands fisted and Rex stood just a little bit straighter, a little more tense. The Jedi responded, "we have found evidence that an official in the cloning facility on Kamino has been mistreating the trainees. Captain Rex found out from one of his men and he brought the case to me. The council agrees that it is best to go find the individual and bring them to Coruscant for a trial."
Wolffe had latched onto the statement, "mistreating?"
"Abuse," Rex answered, "beating the trainees for not completing tasks well enough or for minor infractions."
The scarred Commander bristled, "you better get 'em. If you don't I won't ever babysit your unit again Rex."
Rex nodded, there was no doubt in his mind that they would get the bastard. He would make sure of it. No one hurt his brothers. That is why he always fought so hard in battles, the more enemies he could take out the less that could hurt his troops.
The rest of the meeting passed without incident. Details of how they would get to Kamino and strategies for finding whoever was responsible. Then they talked about the necessary training that Wolffe would have to instruct the 501st with. They decided that it would be best if both units trained together.
Rex would go talk to the 501st after this, they agreed to keep their mission discreet. He would of course tell them that he was leaving, but they did not need to know why they were leaving. The Captain would tell Dagger to inform him that they would find the person who had beaten him.
The clones were dismissed and they left together. As they walked through the halls Rex could not contain his curiosity any longer, "so who did you spar with that gave you that messed up face?"
Wolffe thought for a moment, "I actually don't remember his name."
"Probably Fives or Hardcase if I were to guess. Did he have a tattoo on his face?"
"Don't think so, sorry Vod. You'll just have to ask around your unit. Got a little wolf in your ranks though, he sure was a fighter."
Rex puffed his chest with pride, his boys were fighters. It was good that the Commander recognized that. He knew it was quite the praise for him to call an outsider a wolf. A type of honorary acceptance to the Wolffe pack that the soldier led.
They parted ways and Rex decided to check up on Dagger. He wanted to talk to him about the mission that he was leaving on. With all that had happened it was almost crazy that he still hadn't seen Dagger since early that morning. He wondered how he would be able to explain it while still being delicate about the subject.
The kid didn't even seem to realize that the abuse he had endured was wrong. He had thought that it was normal or even worse he thought that he had deserved it. Rex would have to show him that his treatment was wrong.
He knocked on Dagger's door and waited for him to answer. When there was no response he called through the door. Still no answer. He opened the door and felt a mild panic run up his spine when he realized the room was empty.
Rex took a breath, he wouldn't have gone anywhere. Probably just in the barracks hanging out with the others. He tried to calm his nerves as he took the elevator down to the barracks the 501st were staying in.
He did in fact find Dagger lounging on Hardcase's bed talking with him and Jesse. Dagger looked up and saw the Captain approaching. He got up and met Rex in the middle of the room. Rex's stride stuttered before stopping completely.
Why? Why the fuck were there bruises blooming bright red and purples along his arms? He could clearly see hand marks wrapped around the soldier's slender neck. Those marks had certainly not been there this morning. What could have possibly happened? How much trouble did this trooper even get into?
"Captain, I wanted to talk to you. So about last night. I know that what I did was wrong and I'm sorry for making you worry. I know it is weird to tell you this, but nothing happened between me and Astra. We just became friends and that is it. I am so sorry for freaking everyone out when I didn't show up for training this mo-"
He stopped Dagger's rambling by grabbing her shoulders, "I don't care about last night right now. What the hell happened to your neck?"
Her hand came up to touch the skin there, flinching slightly when she felt the tender spot, "oh no did it bruise?"
He could swear that Dagger could hear the sound of misfire in his brain. He had just promised Dagger this morning that no one would hurt him again and not even an hour later he was sporting a fresh set of bruises. He growled out a question, "who did this to you?"
"Please don't be upset Captain, it was just sparring that got carried away," she knew that look, angry Rex was not a good Rex.
"Wait sparring? No. You didn't," he scanned Dagger quickly, "you didn't fight Commander Wolffe did you?"
"Would you like me to say no?" she tried to joke.
He smacked his hand into his forehead, "you are lucky you are tough because you sure are dumb. I never thought one trooper could get into this many crazy situations."
"Sorry Rex."
"C'mon Dagger, I need to talk to you for a minute," he nodded to the door, "just you."
She surveyed him carefully but agreed. They walked out of the barracks just as Kix was walking back in. She saw that his eyes were red and the skin surrounding them was puffy.
Dagger stopped, putting a hand on Kix's shoulder, "hey are you ok?"
The medic just looked at her, sorrow shining in his eyes. He looked ready to burst into tears at any second. What he did instead surprised her. He wrapped her in a hug. His arms pinned hers to her side so she had to bend her elbows to hug him back at all. She rubbed his back and looked over his shoulder at Rex for an explanation. The Captain just shook his head.
She whispered soothing words to the medic. With no idea what was wrong she could only give general assurances. Dagger felt awful that her brother was hurting, she wished she could help him.
Eventually Jesse came and gently pulled the medic off of her. He obviously was not going to be letting go of his own accord. Kix gave her one final look before he allowed Jesse to pull him away and Rex continued leading Dagger out of the barracks.
"Rex what happened to him? Is Kix ok?" she asked.
"He's just upset, he will be ok. I promise," he responded. They took the elevator back up to their floor. Instead of walking to her door he ushered her inside of his own room.
Rex sat on the chair and Dagger sat on the edge of his bed. She thought she was in trouble again, "look Captain, if this is about last night I just want to say I'm sorry. I was really stupid and I get that now. I am so sorry, I won't ever go out on my own again."
"This isn't about last night. I understand that. I wanted to ask about Kamino."
Oh, that is definitely not where she thought this had been going, "what about Kamino?"
"Who was your training supervisor?"
"The Madam, a Kaminoan, she trained me."
"What squad were you in?"
"I- I didn't have a squad. Captain, I wear my helmet for a reason. She taught me to hide my face. I am a mistake of the system so she kept me away from everyone else to train. She said I was lucky to even be let out into the field at all."
Rex balked at the statement, "how could you be a mistake? You are one of the best soldiers I have ever seen. I think that we are the lucky ones to have you assigned to the 501st."
She just nodded, not replying to his statement. How could she even think of words to respond to the statement that went against everything she had been told her entire life?
"Dagger, the one who trained you, the Madam. Do you know her name?"
She shook her head this time, "she never told me. She said that clones are unworthy to speak her birth given name."
Rex grimaced, what an awful thing to say. He didn't want to ask, but he knew that he had to hear it before they could leave, "did she, for any reason, hurt you?"
"Only when I wasn't good enough," Dagger admitted, "I was not a good trainee. I would always try my hardest but I was never good enough. So really it was my own fault, I guess I deser-"
Rex cut off her sentence by standing and holding the sides of her helmet angling her face up towards him, "don't- don't say that. You did not deserve to be hurt, you were a trainee."
She saw his jaw clench and his eyes strain as if he were trying to get her to believe him. As if her understanding what he was trying to tell her would save him, "Rex what is going on?"
"You didn't deserve to be beaten by that monster. She was wrong about you and I'm going to prove it."
He shifted his hand to the back of her helmet and rested his forehead against the helmet. She pressed into the touch slightly, wishing for nothing more than to feel the warmth of his face on hers. Wishing for something she couldn't have.
"General Skywalker and I are going to Kamino. We will find the Madam and she is going to pay for what she did to you. She had no right to beat you the way that she did. I am so sorry that no one was there to protect you. I know it doesn't help and I know you might not understand, but what she did was wrong. We are here now to stand by your side. I will be here to protect you."
"Thank you Rex."
He released her helmet and sat back down in his chair, "so what is it with you and fighting officers you just met? First you fight me when you join the 501st. Now you fight Commander Wolffe. Should I be worried?"
She let out a small laugh and rubbed the back of her neck, "oh you know, just what I do."
The corner of his mouth turned up in a smile as he stood and placed a hand on her helmet before starting to walk away, "Wolffe said it was a good fight. I'm proud of you kid. He is going to be in charge while I am gone, so don't give him too much trouble. And promise me you will stay safe."
"I'll do my best sir."
"You always do."