Chapter 11: First Day of the Rest of Their Lives Together

(Day 11 w/ the Bad Batch)

With a content, sleepy sigh Talla awoke in her hospital bed... wait, HOSPITAL BED?!

She shot up from the mattress and whipped her head around in confusion, seeing the same four white walls that had been her prison since the accident. Wasn't I in a taxi?! When did I get here?! How did I get here?! Her armor and boots were sitting in messy piles on the counter across the room, and she was just in her blacks now.

As if he was creepily standing by and waiting for her to wake up, the medic walked in at that moment. "Good morning, Talla! How's the leg?" He bid too cheerfully, leaning on the edge of his desk and crossing his arms.

Blinking, she tried to get her bearings from this drastic change in scenery. "Uhhh, fine." Upon moving though, an acute burning sensation making her suck in a sharp breath through her teeth. "Okay, maybe a little bit sore."

That triumphant smirk on his face made her want to punch him, the look giving her the same effect as the Chief Medical Scientists victorious demeanor did, "I'd think so - you WAY overdid it yesterday, and now you'll suffer the consequences of that." His tone was irritatingly condescending because he had no tolerance for clones who made more trouble for themselves even after his helpful suggestions that would minimize suffering.

"I just need some painkillers and I'll be fine." She stated defensively, not complaining anymore so he wouldn't have any more opportunities to talk down on her, then swung her legs off the bed, pressing her mouth in a grim line to stop another wince from come out of her mouth as the affected foot touched the ground. She decided to blatantly change the subject when she saw his almost jubilant look grow even more if it was possible. "Do you know how I got here? I don't remember coming back last night."

He hated what she tried to do but decided to humor her - he hopefully wouldn't have to deal with her childish defiance for much longer. "I guess you fell asleep in the taxi, and the Sergeant decided to carry you back up here instead of waking you up." The doctor enlightened the female clone, reaching behind him to pick up the bioscanner.

Talla felt her cheeks heat up as he approached her for an examination. "Oh." She recalled being really tired, but she actually fell asleep?! And the Sergeant had to stoop so low as to carry her back here?!

She'd never be able to look him in the eye again.

With a florescent blue light her leg was scanned, and the results shocked the medic, but also made him sigh in relief. "Well, surprisingly you're not experiencing any repercussions from overdoing it, so you can leave today as scheduled."

She perked up, forgetting the embarrassment. "Really?"

The doctor went to the cupboard and pulled out her tunic and pants that Tech had brought yesterday in preparation for her departure and plopped them in her expectant outstretched hands. "Get dressed, then we'll discuss the terms of your release." He promptly left the room to give her privacy, locking the door behind him.

Talla felt her heart flutter in anticipation as she pulled on her clothes, almost toppling over when she tried to shove her leg down into the leg hole with too much enthusiasm. She was being released! And would still be able to keep fighting! Just shy of a week ago, she thought that she was going to be returned to Kamino, but thanks to her cybernetics she wouldn't be decommissioned!

With a bright smile, she let the doctor back in after she finished changing, too excited to even care about the fact she was back in the itchy robes all clones were forced to wear, but a tiny part of her envious that her team was able to wear regular, comfortable clothes they called 'civvies.'

The medic was quick to make things serious though and put his hands on hips and towered over her so he gave off a superior air that she would hopefully respect and heed his commands. "Remember: just because you're leaving, doesn't mean you're fully healed. Take it easy for another three days or so to get used to your cybernetics." The doctor instructed her, handing the new cyborg a small care kit for the robot leg and jabbing a finger in her face to show his seriousness. "Don't repeat your mistakes yesterday and the day before yesterday by overdoing it."

Talla rolled her eyes impatiently. "Understood. Anything else?"

He huffed in frustration, "Well, since I know that you'll still walk more than recommended for someone in your condition, I'm giving you prescription strength symoxin for the pain you'll undoubtedly have." He pressed the bottle into her hand, and she was ashamed of her inability to remain idle for long, but he wasn't about to give her sympathy. "But absolutely no missions until you can walk without any side effects, do I make myself clear?"

Wanting to ease the tension, Talla grinned playfully and pocketed the drugs and care kit while teasingly saying. "Sir, yes, sir!" And he rolled his eyes, prompting her to say soberly. "And thank you... for everything."

The doctor gave a snide chuckle and snatched up the sack by the door that now held her armor. "I think I've gotten more grey hairs from helping you this last week than in my entire medical career since the War started." Was his stiff 'You're welcome', but then amiably patted her on the shoulder and led her out of the room to where the rest of the Bad Batch had arrived and were waiting in the hallway to escort her back to the Marauder. "Keep her out of trouble, boys." Were his parting words as he tossed Wrecker the bag then marched off to handle his next patient who would hopefully be less stressful and more compliant.

Talla was right in thinking she'd be unable to meet Hunter's gaze in embarrassment, and by the looks of it he was experiencing the same unease, so she just focused on the momentous occasion. "Let's get out of here, I'm tired of this place." She declared with a bright smile and equally gleaming eyes.


It felt weird being back at the Havoc Marauder II. This ship, in the short time she'd been on it held only bad memories for Talla, and it was hard to try and suppress what had transpired in the brief time her squadron hated her. The feelings of anger, frustration, hopelessness, and fear that tore her apart. The arguments, the total disdain for her existence, and the consequences for the mistakes she had made.

Talla shuffled into her quarters, and the figurative cloud over her head became more pronounced and cast more doom and gloom over her overall psyche when she was reminded how she had not even allowed herself to unpack, all her worldly possessions still in the crates neatly stacked in the front corner of the room.

The Talla - or rather, SAC-1 - before the accident was a clone soldier with no hope it seemed... and a small, insecure part of her still feared rejection despite her proven worthiness.

Amongst her scan of the empty, impersonalized space something on her bed that hadn't been there before caught her eye, and with a burning curiosity she hobbled over, leaned on her crutch and took it in her hands. The strange item was a rolled-up tube of paper, and its contents revealed itself to be a large white portrait of the symbol for Clone Force 99.

She had no idea who had given this to her or why until Wrecker shambled into her room and asked timidly. "Ya like it?"

Her confusion was now made known to him. "What is this?"

He bashfully shed light on about the object, rubbing the back of his neck apprehensively as he hoped she liked the gift, "It's a poster. It's one I had back on Kamino, but I thought maybe you could hang it up in your room... thought it'd help ya settle in better."

Because of the bad memories that had come back full force, she was briefly astonished that he did something so nice for her, her mentality reverting back to a week ago, but when she recalled how he treated during her hospital days and even before the mission - with nary a cross word - she felt a surge of happiness and beamed in appreciation.

"I love it!" His bashfulness was completely forgotten and he grinned from ear to ear, mentally giving himself a high-five. "This will definitely help me settle in." She held it out for him. "Will you help me hang it up?"

She instructed him to hang it over her bed, and while she didn't appreciate the dirty boot prints on her comforter since he didn't take them off, and despite being the invalid in the pair had to stand by in case lest he fall from the unsteady foundation, Talla still admired the art with shining eyes once he finished, and felt a wave of warmth explode in her chest. She was a part of this squad, and he wanted to make sure she knew that.

"This poster has inspired me; I need to get more stuff for my room! Like, a poster of a droid so I can practice my shooting and knife skills over there, and a new mirror obviously for over there. Maybe a bedside table..."

Wrecker could hardly contain his excited feelings of going out to buy stuff, and was ecstatic at her getting excited about going out to buy stuff. "Maybe we can convince Hunter to hit the market district!"

The both of them rushed to Hunter in the computer room, but he immediately shot them down.

"Absolutely not! The doctor told us to keep you out of trouble." He reminded Talla.

"You promised to show me the city after I recovered!" She threw back at him.

"You're not fully recovered yet." He tried saying with great patience. "You saw what happened yesterday - Ahsoka practically had to carry you out of the Temple." He conveniently left out the part where he did carry her, much to her thankfulness.

Didn't mean she was gonna back down though, "Hence the reason he prescribed me strong painkillers." Talla retaliated. "So I could exert myself and then take away the pain later."

"That technically is not how it is supposed to work!" Tech piped up from the work desk across the way, this being the one time he was aware of what was going on around him during his tinkering.

Talla huffed in disappointment and annoyance, making Hunter feel slightly bad because he saw and hated being cooped up like this - but his will to keep her away from unnecessary pain was stronger. "Look, just take it easy today and tomorrow we'll see where you're at." He compromised. "Enjoy the downtime because once you're fully recovered it's back to work and I'm sure we won't have time off for a while." Though truth be told he wanted to lock her up in a padded room so she wouldn't get hurt again.

At the flash of guilt in his dies, Ahsoka's words ran through her head, reminding Talla that he was suffering just as much as she was, just in a different way. "Sir, yes sir." So she conceded, albeit bitterly, when it was clear he wouldn't yield, and found herself plopping down on the lounge, completely bored out of her mind for a minute while the rest of the crew found ways to entertain themselves - Crosshair was spot checking his gear in his room since they'd be on a mission soon enough, Tech was fiddling away at the workbench on some project, and Hunter merely went to his room to lie down and enjoy the quiet before it was back to their blaster fire and explosion filled lives.

Wrecker on the other hand mimicked her actions but instead of complaining like she was mentally doing, he clicked a button on the holotable and a 3D-colored projection appeared, but to her bemusement it wasn't a communication... it looked to be prerecorded and had a melodious background noise and scenery and people who weren't acknowledging them, rather conversing amongst themselves.

Her question from earlier was repeated as colorful lights from the recording danced over every surface in the vicinity. "What is this?"

"Holovids - or more specifically, Holodramas or Holomovies - which are forms of fictional entertainment." Tech informed her, walking over to (shockingly) take a break from whatever his next project was. "You can view them on holoprojectors, holoscreens, or in this case holo-entertainment tables."

Wrecker began pressing buttons on his end, ones that flipped the channels. "Now let's see what's playing."

"What's the point of holovids?" Talla wondered.

"Fun!" Wrecker alleged. "It'll definitely help with being bored!"

Talla watched with interest as Wrecker flipped the channels to find something interesting, stopping on a holodrama that portrayed an apparent murder. "Oh, this looks good!"


Hunter was enjoying the blissful silence, being a very rare occurrence with this squad. Crosshair wasn't kidding when he told Talla that they didn't get time off often, they were honestly lucky to get downtime once every month or sometimes every other month. The small breaks in between missions, spanning from mere hours to sometimes a full week or two, they didn't count because it was filled with anticipation for their next mission that could be given at any moment, so you couldn't truly relax. Being the army's top squadron definitely had its sacrifices.

Hunter wouldn't be lying if he said he enjoyed having nothing to do this last week while Talla recovered. It recharged his batteries, and gave his enhanced senses a break. But there was still some undertones of stress, because of everything he had brought upon their newest squadmate, and sprinkle in a little interest for her even though he had no right, well, he felt like the galaxy's biggest jerk and worst Sergeant in the history of Sergeants.

The tension of the week had taken its toll on his body and mind though, and he'd been drifting off into a light slumber when loud shouting came from the common area made him alert and ready to spring into action.

"NO, THE MURDERER IS OBVIOUSLY THE BUTLER! HE'S CREEPY!" Wrecker clamored, then Hunter heard Tech shriek back. "NO NO NO, YOU'RE WRONG! IT'S THE MAID - SHE DOES NOT HAVE A GOOD ALIBI!"

"BOTH OF YOU ARE WRONG!" Talla roared, "THE MURDERER IS CLEARLY THE COOK! HE PUT POISON IN THE FOOD!"

"OH YEAH? WANNA BET FIVE CREDITS ON IT?" Wrecker boomingly challenged.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, BUT YOU'RE ON!" Talla loudly agreed.

Hunter sighed deeply, a regular occurrence with him, and grudgingly heaved himself upright in bed to go diffuse the argument, but paused when there appeared to be no more shouting, only low voices.

He relaxed back onto his mattress, and his eyelids fluttered shut -

"WHAT?!" Wrecker exclaimed dramatically. "NOOO -"

"HA! I TOLD YOU IT WAS THE COOK!" Talla whooped triumphantly. "PAY UP!"

"HOW COULD YOU FIGURE THAT OUT WHILE I COULD NOT?!" Tech yelled madly.

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!?" Crosshair screeched from his barrack door.

As they continued shouting, Hunter was on the fence about going to break up the fight, thinking he should let them sort it out for themselves for once, but when he heard a crash his eyelids popped wide open and he shot out of bed.

He darted into the common room and found Wrecker in fisticuffs with Talla on the floor, Tech to the side shouting at them to stop, and Crosshair at the door of his room furiously shouting at them all to stop shouting!

"Wrecker, let her go!" Hunter bellowed, completely misunderstanding the situation.

Wrecker dodged a punch from Talla. "SHE ATTACKED ME!"

"YOU WON'T TO GIVE ME THE CREDITS YOU OWE ME!" She launched herself at him, and he grunted when his back slammed against the floor, and she raised her fist again.

He caught her punch. "YOU CHEATED!" Then shoved her off of him with such force that she landed several feet away and slammed against the base of the holotable with a grunt.

She blinked several times as black dots clouded her vision before catching her bearings again. "DID NOT!" She roared, and was about to tackle his legs but Tech and Hunter caught her by the arms mid-attack.

"Both of you, STOP!" Hunter commanded as they pulled a struggling Talla onto the couch, still gripping her arms to try and keep her from ripping Wrecker limb from limb amber and somehow was miraculously able to keep her leg from becoming a casualty in the assault.

"Tell him to pay me!" Talla demanded, glaring piercing daggers at Wrecker, wrenching her arms free and crossing her arms expectantly.

Hunter looked pointedly at his brother and used his Sergeant voice. "Wrecker -"

"She cheated!" Wrecker claimed. "How could she know who the killer was? She'd never even seen a holovid until five minutes ago!"

"How could I possibly cheat?" Talla asked incredulously - it was not if at she could predict the future!

"You were on your datapad during the show! You coulda looked up who it was!"

"That's preposterous!" Talla spat, "I didn't know you could look up these Holodramas on the Net!"

"Would you both quit shouting?" Crosshair hissed, rubbing his throbbing temples.

"Then how'd ya know?!" Wrecker continued in the same blaring tone he had been using, ignoring Crosshair's growl of warning.

"I've been created with a superior mind and been trained to pick up on even the smallest details!"

"But Tech is too, and even he couldn't figure it out!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Hunter cut in, his own head starting to ache from the yelling. "Tech, I want you to disable the holotable - no more holovids for anyone."

Wrecker and Talla gaped at him with pleading eyes. "That's not necessary!" Talla insisted.

"I say it is." Hunter retorted.

"Aw come on Sarge!" Wrecker groaned. "We were just having a little fun, right Talla?"

Talla nodded enthusiastically. "I've never had more fun in my whole life!"

Crosshair looked between them with his mouth agape. "You were just trying to kill each other!"

Tech held up his pointer finger. "Playfully, I might add."

"Really Tech? You enjoyed this?" He asked incredulously.

Tech shrugged. "Entertainment is entertainment."

Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just... next time try to be quieter. Some of us still enjoy that."

"Not as much as I like having someone strong enough to fight back!" Wrecker claimed, walking up to Talla and playfully punching her shoulder, which only succeeded in flinging her back onto the ground with an 'Oof!' And sending Hunter into a frenzy alongside his clumsy little/big brother.

"There's never going to be a moment's peace ever again." Crosshair lamented in despair as he trudged back into his room wished he had a door that he could slam shut to further convey his exasperation for his squad apparently made up of kriffing children.