Hey again! Parts of this chapter (i.e. Omega's thoughts about Kamino and her keeping her feelings to herself) were inspired by fanfics I have read by other creators, such as wwheeljack and Slimtech from AO3. Hope you enjoy!

And sorry for taking so long to update, I've been busy with school recently, so I made sure to make this chapter a bit longer. Hope that helps to make up for my inactivity!

The passageway echoed eerily around the group as they trudged through the darkness, amplifying every little sound. Gulping, Omega pulled herself even closer to Hunter's side, hoping that the small difference would leave her feeling safer. She saw Hunter glance down at her, having felt her move, and sucked in her breath with surprise as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and lift her up. Omega wrapped her arms around Hunter's neck and snuggled her head into the crook of it. All of her previous fear had dissipated, replaced by a blossoming comfort and content, one which she had rarely felt before her adventures with the enhanced clones.

Omega certainly had never felt this happy during her life on Kamino.

The Kaminoans had always discouraged her from doing anything for herself. Nala Se had looked out for her, but had always frowned upon any show of emotions. She always told Omega that her purpose was to help others, period. She could remember one such encounter as if it was yesterday:

"Omega, what are you doing?"

The girl smiled at the Kaminoan, oblivious to the latter's disapproval.

"I'm trying stand on one foot! It's fun!" She laughed.

"Omega, you were not made to have 'fun.' Your job is to help others as my medical assistant." Her face masked any emotion towards the young clone.

The girl stopped laughing, her grin disappearing as she dropped her foot back to the floor. Lowering her head as the feeling of defeat chorused though her, she dejectedly complied.

"Yes, Nala Se."

"Good." The Kaminoan slowly nodded as she watched her. "You will refrain from acting so immaturely again, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." Omega sighed.

Nala Se nodded at her submission and extended her hand to the girl. "Thank you. Now come along, we have a patient to see."

"Omega, are you okay?"

The voice whispering in her ear startled Omega from her thoughts. Shifting her head slightly, she could see Hunter watching her from his peripheral vision. The darkness of the hallways still surrounded them, but was less now due to the torches each batcher had pulled out.

He repeated his question. "You okay? You zoned out for a minute."

"I'm fine." She mumbled, even though she didn't feel fine. Omega had never been this close to Hunter before, and she didn't want to ruin it by overwhelming him with her emotions. Instead, she curled herself even more into Hunter's chest, and closed her eyes. Even though it was daytime outside, the black void of shadows had made her feel quite tired.

She didn't mean to drop off to sleep, but eventually drowsiness overtook her and she drifted off.

Hunter couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face upon hearing soft snoring next to his ear.

"What's funny?" Wrecker loudly asked him, breaking the silence. Hunter shot him a look and turned slightly towards him so the big clone could see why.

"Ohh." He not-too-quietly whispered, nodding furiously. "The kid's sleeping."

Hunter rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. Wrecker never quite seemed to understand the concept of being quiet. Turning back away from his brother, Hunter gently shifted his sister in his arms, careful not to wake her as he did so, and couldn't help smiling yet again when her arms tightened around his neck. Even though she had only been on the squad for a short while, he couldn't imagine it without her.

Crosshair was right. He was going soft.

"How much longer, Tech?" Hunter quietly asked, relieved when his voice didn't echo around the space much. He didn't have to worry about waking Omega, as she had woken earlier and now was quietly holding on to his neck, but he'd rather not give himself a headache from hearing his own voice.

Having enhanced senses had its disadvantages.

"Not much farther, the signal is coming from a room farther down this corridor. We shall be there shortly." Tech returned, immediately turning back to his datapad. Hunter made a mental note to hide it from him after the mission. He needed a break from it, no matter what he said.

After a while longer of trudging through the old halls, Tech, who had taken the lead, held up his arm to signal them to halt. They all did, and looked at the team genius expectantly. After glancing back down at his datapad once more, he turned around to face the rest of them.

"We have arrived." He bluntly stated.

"Any life signs inside?" Hunter questioned. Tech shook his head. "None. All that my scanner can pick up are a few electromagnetic signatures, but that is all. However, it would still be advisable to proceed with caution."

Hunter and the others glanced at each other, then prepared to enter the space. Hunter gently lowered his sister to the ground, since he would need to be ready in case there was a threat, and handed Omega her bow. She wobbled as she stood in front of him, having been carried for so long that she needed to readjust, and he set a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

Upon seeing that the rest of the squad was ready, Hunter signaled Tech to proceed with opening the door.

Tech, however, was unable to make the door budge even a fraction of an inch. Shoulders slumped with defeat, he turned back to the others.

"It seems that the door is not responding. I doubt even Echo could fix it quickly. The door's inability to respond could be due to any number of things, including-"

"Move over Tech!" Wrecker suddenly grinned, pushing the smaller clone out of his way as he barged past him. "I'll make it move!"

Omega covered her ears and winced from the loud reverberations of Wrecker hitting the metal doors with his fists. After a few punches, though, Wrecker was able to shove his hands in between them and pry them apart, which caused an even louder screech. Omega bit her lip as the sounds echoed around, relieved when they faded away after a moment. She couldn't imagine Hunter was faring any better, with his enhanced hearing. A glance up at the wince on his face confirmed her suspicions.

"You doing okay, Sargent?"

Omega turned at the sudden voice, and saw that Echo had placed his hand on Hunter's shoulder, and was regarding him with concern. Hunter, however, shook the look off of his own face and responded, saying, "Yeah, I'm good."

The cyborg frowned at his superior's attempt to hide his state of being, but didn't say anything else on the matter, instead stepping to the side and motioning to the now-open door with his scomp arm. "Well then, after you."

Hunter advanced into the room at that, and the others followed him, warily glancing around as they did so. They trusted that Hunter could sense anything before it became a real threat to them, but they all knew it was better to err on the side of caution.

Omega's eyes jumped around the room they advanced into, taking in the many half-finished experiments littering almost every surface; they most likely were the cause of the signatures Tech had been receiving on his datapad's scan of the area. The room's cluttered state reminded Omega of the mess that often would exist in the Marauder after Tech had been working. He additionally often forgot to clean up before he fell asleep, which the batch promptly reprimanded him on as soon as he awoke.

Even though they knew he would forget again soon, and that Tech would likely get distracted about halfway through cleaning up the disarray he had created, and would start tinkering again with one of his many inventions.

Omega was pulled from her thoughts as Tech approached a particular object resting on a table in the middle of the space. She watched as Tech inspected it, and saw him grin slightly, something that her techy brother rarely did, as he identified it as the object they had been sent to retrieve.

"Hunter." Tech called his brother over from where he had been examining some of the other projects, and motioned to the invention in front of him. "It appears this is what we have been sent to collect."

"Huh. That was easier than normal." Hunter observed as he stood next to Tech. "Normally something goes drastically wrong, but I guess this time we were lucky."

"Yeah we were!" Wrecker shouted. Omega was glad that his voice echoed less inside the space they currently occupied. "Cid's gonna be paying us lots this time!"

"Indeed. However, it appears that the object is active. Not knowing what its purpose is, it would be advisable to move it carefully." Tech stated, and turned to the rest of Omega's brothers, and placing his back to the object. Hunter did so as well, and the two walked over to their other two brothers. "We should at least figure out the general function of it before we attempt to move it, lest we activate.. whatever it is."

At this the four quietly conversed with each other, leaving Omega to stare at the invention, a nagging curiosity growing in her head. She wanted to help figure out what it was, and was determined to do so.

As his brothers talked, Hunter noticed a growing unease in his stomach. He often experienced this sensation whenever something bad was about to happen, due to his mutation. Tuning out his brothers, he swept his gaze around the room, stopping on the small figure reaching towards the experiment that they had been sent to retrieve.

The distress exploded to an almost painful degree as he practically screamed her name. "OMEGA!"

All of his companions eyes snapped to look at him, Omega's included. However, he hadn't been able to act in time, as her fingertips brushed the side of the device.

As soon as her skin made contact with it, all of them were thrown back as electricity exploded from the object, the painfully charged tendrils reaching out and engulfing each of them.

The last thing Hunter heard as he drifted from consciousness was the painfully heartbreaking sound of his sister screaming.