Summary: "The faults of their differences are ticking time bombs, waiting for the right moment for the fuse to light." Tech fears the health issues that may befall him and his brothers when they're older. One-shot.

The Guarantee Of Collapse

The main body of clone troopers has been engineered so, so tediously. They all look exactly alike, with exceptions to their personal modifications, such as tattoos and dyed hair. Their bodies combat nearly every illness that the Kaminoans are aware of. They are healthy, they are strong, they are perfect.

The Bad Batch is not.

They are different than the other clones. The only traits that they share with them are eye color and accelerated aging. And the fact that they are soldiers, of course- at least for now, until they are decommissioned for the defects that will inevitably replace their enhancements, when the time comes, when they're older. Their greatest assets will be each of their downfalls.

Hunter's heightened senses- sometimes Tech fears that the sergeant will fall deaf or become a victim to paralysis, unable to aid the others in the way that he always has.

Wrecker's hulking, muscled bulk- perhaps he will experience extreme muscle weakness or suffer cardiac arrest, his large heart too small to accumulate for his sizable mass.

Crosshair's keen eyes- one day, they will have seen too much of the galaxy, will begin to deteriorate, and he will go blind.

And Tech's expanded memory- one day, even his head will be full of too many memories, and perhaps he will suffer from amnesia, slowly forgetting who his own brothers are. One day, he will go blind, and there will be no fix.

It's something that Tech realizes young.

The first real scare is after a rough training simulation in which his head is so unforgivingly slammed into the ground. He wakes up in the infirmary, Hunter and Wrecker at his side- Crosshair hadn't yet joined them- and the memory of what had happened absent.

It takes hours of research to assure himself that memory loss after such an event is normal, that he's not losing what few precious memories he already has.

When Echo joins them, and that fear only grows stronger- Echo is made up of nearly more metal than flesh. If he lives long enough, his downfall will be at the cause of his cybernetics. One electrocution too many, and even his head implant will not keep his brain from being fried. One wrong wire in his legs, and a droid will dispatch him when he's unable to run for cover.

The faults of their differences are ticking time bombs, waiting for the right moment for the fuse to light. Because if there's one thing guaranteed by their differences- excluding the ill treatment- it's that they will collapse, if they live long enough to see the day.