A/N:
~ side note ~ In order for this chapter to happen, I took the episode ARC Troopers (Season 3, Episode 2) and put it into my own timeline, which is currently very early into 19 BBY, the last year of the Clone Wars. There were several people I wanted Talla to meet. But after this little hiccup in the timeline, it should be smooth sailing from here!
Chapter 17: Battle Within the Squad, and on Kamino
(Day 15 w/ the Bad Batch)
Talla couldn't decide if in this instance, getting a comm at 3 in the morning Coruscant time was a blessing or a curse. On the one hand, she had been peacefully sleeping and that was a very rude awakening. On the other hand, her bed was a cold, hard, dirty durasteel floor, thus giving her a crick in her neck, back, legs, basically everything. But that could be relieved with some stretching, and the general unclean feeling earned from the less than sterile conditions could also be easily wiped away.
Anyways, as soon as the comm on the console shrieked to life Talla shot up from the floor and snapped into a ready fighting position as best she could with the blanket refusing to untangle itself from her body, and it took a few seconds for the haze in her mind and eyes to clear up and see that there were no incoming clankers. It was just an incoming call.
Hunter didn't fare much better when the call came in either, but he made quick work of straightening his bandana and clothing when he saw the signal came from Kamino, Talla doing the same with herself. The female clone decided to stand behind the male one's chair as he answered the comm with faux calmness - inside, their hearts were simultaneously pounding in an irregular, anxiety induced beat.
Prime Minister Lama Su showed mild signs of irritation when he appeared on the holoprojector, the luminous blue figure ominously lighting up the room. "Prime Minister." Hunter greeted with forced respect as he and Talla curtly saluted, then he cleared his throat to get rid of the sleepy rasp still in his tone. "Is there a problem?"
"We have learned of a Separatist plot to invade Tipoca City." They both tensed up at this revelation. Kamino, or more specifically the Kaminoan labs and the species who ran them, were the very things of their nightmares. But it was still the only home they and all other clones had ever known. "I need you to return and aid in our defenses."
Talla began firing up the ship at record speed while Hunter swore, "We'll leave immediately sir."
"You will be protecting the Youngling Barracks, making sure that the Separatists do not kill the next generations of clone troopers." Lama Su flatly instructed. "Report there as soon as you arrive." He signed off.
Sergeant mode was activated, and orders were given - Talla was to go wake up Crosshair while Hunter got the others. A low move to sick on the new guy (girl) perhaps. But Hunter figured a woman with enhanced strength like Wrecker and impressive agility like him could fight off Crosshair's fists of fury better than he or anyone else in this squad ever could. Let's just say, Hunter's nose used to be more like all the regs, that was Tech's twelfth pair of goggles, Wrecker has permanent bruising on the right side of his ribcage... and leave it at that.
The man slept like a rock and could, and did, sleep through a hurricane. You had to, living on stormy Kamino. So pounding on the door wouldn't even make him flinch. You had to shove him very hard twice or five times, then have a split second to dodge the unpredictable attack from the beast being awakened from his peaceful slumber.
Now, Talla could have been considerate, shoved Crosshair and risked her perfectly shaped nose... But the more she thought about it as she finished powering up the Marauder, the more she wondered: Why should I be considerate to a man who purposely got me drunk and made me suffer a severe hangover? Or who humiliated me in front of an entire parlor? And back to the bar, how do I really know I didn't embarrass myself then either? Hunter could have lied to spare my feelings... You know, to be considerate to a jerk like him, that just doesn't seem fair.
Then another enlightening thought occurred to her: Why risk close combat when at a distance a perfectly flung projectile, or even better A LIQUID could finish the job much more safely and with equal efficiency? And the casualties would be a sniper who deserved to be humiliatingly soaked, not a cute nose that didn't deserve to be broken.
This was Talla's first documented prank, and it wasn't even much of a prank it was more of a statement, a statement that said: I'm fighting back now!
It wasn't elaborate by any means. In fact, the only hard part was choosing what vessel to hold the water she was going to fling at him.
Hmmmm. A cup or a bowl? She asked herself while standing in front of the open dish cabinet and tapped her chin thoughtfully.
But then she enthusiastically said to herself: Talla! Talla!
And she responded with a confused: What?
And her genius self didn't fail to step up to the plate: Why settle on such a small dish when you have the strength to easily carry something BIGGER?
So, in the end she chose an empty storage crate instead, because a large container meant a large amount of water that could soak Crosshair from despicable head to despicable toe, and he'd have to dry out his mattress with much difficulty before using it again, that or switch the soaked mattress out with the top bunk so he could sleep comfortably tonight.
Either way, it'd be an inconvenience, and she'd be a-okay with both scenarios.
With a spiteful air Talla strutted into Crosshair's room ten minutes later with a crate holding roughly twenty gallons worth or more of water that came from her shower and flung the huge vat of liquid onto the peaceful clone. And while he sprung to life, bashed his forehead in on the bottom of the metal bunk above him, then sputtered out water plus a string of Mando'a curse words she would have to look up later, her savage good morning was delivered with a dazzling smile of pure righteous mockery. "Rise and shine, cyar'ika! We've got a mission!"
Soaked to the bone, Crosshair's furious heaves made the water on the corners of his mouth bubble a little and, in a way, made him look like he was literally foaming at the mouth in anger. "YOU KRIFFING BI-"
Already out of his room, the door shut behind Talla before she caught the tail end of that furious name-calling. Didn't matter though. She only felt a small twinge of regret in her heart, but Crosshair hopefully learned a valuable lesson this fine early morning: Don't humiliate Agent Talla ever again.
It took Crosshair a while before he emerged from his drenched room, having to soak up all of the water he could with anything that he found in his room so there wouldn't be rust - clothes, blankets, and stray towels he hadn't thrown in the laundry bin yet. But even after all that effort he was certain that it had seeped into the frame of his bunk where he'd never be able to reach it and there would be rust anyways. And there'd be mold on his mattress and pillow. And every article of fabric he owned now needed to be laundered at the same time, leaving him nothing else to change out of his wet clothing with.
He was livid.
The rest of the batchers were sitting around the dining table eating a hearty early breakfast in preparation for the battle ahead. "What's takin' Crosshair so long?" Wrecker happened to ask just as the sniper's door opened and he stalked out, seeing red. Wrecker's next question was why he looked wet while the other's picked up on his aggression. Hunter and Tech immediately became alarmed while Talla was the exact opposite: serene.
Normal people would be intimidated being towered over by such an aggressor, but Talla showed no signs of fear as he stomped up to her seat at the edge of the booth, which irked him more and made him slam his fists down on the table in front of her. "If you hadn't just made me 17,000 credits richer I'd jettison you into hyperspace!" He growled down at her.
Hunter would have intervened per usual, but Talla didn't even flinch, and her response was cool and irritatingly calm, "Well, I'm glad that you at least know something about restraint."
His lips drew back in a snarl at the snub and Tech shared a fearful glance with Hunter beside him, "Talla, so help me -"
Said woman crossed her arms haughtily, the deadly threats not frightening her the least bit, "This what happens when you purposely get me drunk, so now we're even."
By now the rest had gathered that Talla had woken Crosshair up by throwing water on him, and they couldn't decide whether she was courageous and awesome... or just plain stupid. Tech and Hunter were of course leaning towards the second, while Wrecker was obviously leaning towards the first at... first. Though as the argument progressed, he started seeing things his brother's way.
"We're so not even." Crosshair declared darkly, never meaning anything more in his life.
"Oh yes we are!" Talla shot back up at him with as much fire, "Because I've decided I'm not going to keep doing this same dance with you anymore, where you prey on my weaknesses to make me look bad while I'm trying my hardest to be the best soldier and person I can I be. From this moment forward I'm not going to let you manipulate me anymore. Or degrade me. Or get me drunk, high, basically whatever sick thing you think up for your twisted amusement!"
Oop... shot's fired. No one Crosshair tormented had ever been brave enough to call him out on his crap, and usually none of the other Batchers cared because it was basically just regs, and they didn't care about regs. Hunter had anticipated that sooner or later there'd be an argument between the sniper and agent because of her developing sharp wit of equal magnitude as him, coupled with her lashing out when she feels like she's being treated unfairly.
It was kind of funny, actually. The two were so similar. Which is why Hunter knew this argument was unavoidable.
Crosshair refused to be scolded by the new girl and blatantly dodged the calling out, "If you don't go in there and clean up your mess before it destroys everything I own -!"
"Don't get your panties in a twist."
Hunter would have snickered if it didn't mean getting caught in the Crossfire.
(Heh - Get it? CROSS... FIRE?)
(I'm obviously going to hell for this joke)
So like Wrecker and Tech, the Sergeant just silently watched this shit-show escalate.
By the peeved look Talla received, Hunter bet Crosshair was regretting teaching her how to be so verbally colorful. "You didn't think I planned for that?" Talla tsked disappointedly, "Give me some credit, Crossy." Flamboyantly, she pulled up a metal electric fan hidden under the table and plopped it in front of him with a CLANK! then gestured to it dramatically, "There. Problem solved."
Crosshair sneered at the tool and straightened to furiously point at it to emphasize his next sentence, "One little fan isn't going to dry up all that water soaked into my bunk!"
"There's four more in storage - go crazy." She retorted flatly.
"And what about my clothes?!"
The next solution to his problems was dramatically pulled up from under the table next - a pair of fresh blacks she had snatched from his dresser before turning his room into Kamino's clone. "And we're heading back to the motherland, so the rest of your clothes and blankets and whatever other articles of fabric you own can be laundered." Unexpectedly, a tube of healing bacta gel was pulled up next and placed onto the folded blacks with a genuine look of concern at the red mark smack dab right in the middle of his forehead steadily turning an ugly shade of purple, "And here's something to help that nasty forehead bruise you've got coming your way." Her final move planned was standing to be somewhat face to face with him - she was eight inches shorter than the tall sniper, so she was actually like at collarbone level. Reaching a friendly hand out, she indicated for him to shake it in agreement for the truce she happily offered, "Now how 'bout we take this a learning experience and start anew?"
Talla didn't plan for him to refuse the truce. Talla didn't expect him to have taken much more offense than what was considered a deserved amount for just being rudely awoken with a cold splash wave. Talla had gravely miscalculated his ability to hold a grudge with her. "I am going to make your life a living hell." He swore as boiling hot rage still pulsed through his veins.
She kept her hand out though, still trying to appear unfazed by his temper tantrum, "You did that already; I said I'm not going to take it anymore; therefore, we've established there's not anything else you can do -"
"There's so much more I can do." Crosshair seethed,so she dropped her hand and her complacent look switched to unexpected disbelief,"I'm going to dedicate my life to making you wish you'd never left that little lab - I'm going to make you wish you were never created - you haven't seen anything yet."
Her temper sparked to life, Hunter could see it in her eyes and he knew all hell, as Crosshair put it, was going to break loose because right now, the sniper was adding hypocrite to his list of undesirable behavioral tendencies. Apparently he could treat her this way, but she couldn't return the deserved favor. "For turning your room into an ocean then giving you the means to save your belongings?" Talla asked rhetorically, "With your attitude problems, who else would be that kind to you Crosshair?"
He found her use of the word 'kind' highly amusing, and not in the good way, "You call this kindness?"
"Yes, it is," She firmly claimed, "Because I'm genuinely sorry for doing this to you, but me being a doormat wasn't moving things along between us."
"'Being a doormat?'" Crosshair's chuckle was laced with ridicule, "Where'd you learn that nifty little phrase? Your holovids?"
Yes, as a matter of fact I did, but Talla did not confirm this mocking statement and continued as if he didn't say that. "You're still as rude and disrespectful since we first met, so I decided I've had enough and decided to fight back."
"Wow, a whole two weeks after we've met - your incredible patience could rival a Jedi." Crosshair dryly replied.
Hunter felt the spike in her blood pressure, so apparently now it was Crosshair's turn to be irritatingly calm and cool while she became a seething cauldron of rage, "Hey, I've been more than gracious with my tolerance, but we need to set some boundaries because deliberately embarrassing me in front of our commanding officers, Jedi and clone, or whole parlors, and probably 79's I just can't remember all what happened," Her pointer finger shot up, "AND, also, making me sick as a dog with my ultra-sensitivity, none of that is okay. I don't like or deserve to be made a spectacle of."
His contradiction was illusive but confirmed that he did, in fact, hate her, and wasn't going to let up no matter what she said."You, of all people, deserve it."
Talla was growing furious and escalating into distress at an alarming rate. "Why?" She truly wondered with wide, hurt-filled eyes. "In the short two weeks we've known each other, what did I do to hurt you so bad?" The woman repeated his earlier phrasing but unlike him used it to show how sorry she was for whatever she had done to him, "Tell me and I swear I'll dedicate my life to making things right between us! I want to be friends, Crosshair!" She pleaded, "I want to see the Crosshair your brothers keep telling me about! I know he exists because I got a glimpse of him last night when you defended me from that sleemo -"
He remained cold-heartedly unmoved. "It's my job to protect the weak and helpless. You have proven to be nothing else, 'Agent.'"
His words cut deep, and she tried keeping the reigns on her temper, she really did, but he knew exactly what buttons to push to make her unravel and lose control, "Maybe if you helped me like everyone else, I'd learn how not to be a lot faster." She ground out, desperately trying to remain upbuilding in her speech.
"Why should I bother with a mistake like you?"
Her blood ran cold when he repeated the very exact word that reg used on him back on Kamino, and her face twisted into dejection from the emotional wounds he was inflicting. But that wasn't enough for him. His goal was to push her over the edge. He wanted her to be so broken by his words that's she left and never came back. Crosshair wanted her gone, and since he could not do that by his own physical means, verbally driving her away was the only solution... something he frustratingly excelled in. So much so in this instance that his brothers were stunned to silence and couldn't intervene even if they wanted to. They were frozen too.
"Why are you so shocked by my thinking that you're a waste of space?" Crosshair further taunted, taking a slow, intimidating step closer towards her, "Is that not what Nala Se really thinks you are too? Isn't that why she threatened you with execution before you even went out on your first assignment?" He had not witnessed the conversation between them on their Kamino departure a couple weeks ago, but he had guessed what was said based on all the veiled threats he himself had received during his cadet years.
And his deduction had appeared to be correct by her slackened jaw, her wounds having salt shoveled into them, and he gazed triumphantly down at her. "She sees it, I see it, and I'm positive that soon, everyone else will too."
Crosshair knew the next words he spoke would be so below the belt, so drastically heartless, and would forever label him as a hypocrite, just like with what went down at the tattoo parlor, but he could not stop himself when in his mind it felt cruelly justified. When he perceived himself as being treated unfairly, he could not control what came out of his mouth. Even if it meant that he sunk to the Kaminoan's level. He just wanted her gone. "And when that happens, you'll end up right where you belong - in a tube, with the rest of those failed experiments, wasting precious space."
On a completely related note to this conversation, Tech had mentally created a behavioral profile for him and all his brothers for fun.
Here is what it was in basic terms -
Hunter
taciturnly spoken
stoically mannered
morally upright
(side note: unhealthy
obsession with hair)
Wrecker
high-spirited
explosively reckless
physically confrontational
(side note: unhealthy obsession
with his tooka doll called Lula)
Crosshair
fiercely loyal
aura of superiority
frightfully severe and unyielding
(side note: unhealthy obsession with his Firepuncher rifle)
Tech
non-confrontational
eagerly communicative
expressive
observant
insightful
(side note: apparently is
also slightly oblivious)
(side note #2: apparently also has
a slight unhealthy obsession with
his datapad)
(side note #3: apparently also
has a slight tendency to be
passive aggressive)
(Side note #4: apparently also slightly sarcastic)
Even Talla had one now, and what he had learned was that she turned out to be a mixture of them all -
Talla
fiercely loyal
protective
communicative
dutiful to a point
emotionally intense,
thus making her:
unusually determined
easily confrontational
just as easily conscience-stricken
(side note: obsession unknown)
Of course, this didn't mean they were like this all the time. He and Hunter might be non-confrontational and taciturn/stoic respectively, but they had proven to have the ability to lose their temper if something went wrong that could have been easily prevented. Wrecker had proven to be disciplined by not blowing up Nala Se and the rest of the Kaminoan sithspawn despite everything they had cruelly put them through.
And in this instance, Crosshair showed no loyalty to a member of his own squadron and had actually gone beyond severe and unyielding, and crossed into the waters of heartlessness. He knew what she was suffering because of her trauma, what she had to go through to become even halfway mentally and emotionally stable, why she did make all these mistakes, and yet the hand placed on her quivering shoulder was not intended to offer comfort, and the tone he used was the same fake compassion he used on her at Nik's and 79's while he delivered the final blow that, with any luck, would send her packing. "Don't worry, nothing will really change, Talla, you'll still be doing what you're doing now, you just won't be burdening everyone with the responsibility of cleaning up the messes left in your wake from your stupid mistakes."
The universe seemed to stop.
Talla looked on the verge of breaking down. She was repulsed and furious and crushed and -
- and here is where Crosshair gravely miscalculated his own luck, because she did not just go pack her items and leave them forever. No, in Talla's mind, Crosshair's words and demeanor had made him morph into nightmarish Nala Se, and the clone agent had promised herself that if Nala Se ever tried hurting her again, physically verbally or mentally, she'd fight back.
But at the same time, he was still also a vile man who had degraded her, so her strike was more tailored towards that offense.
SLAP!
As soon as Talla's palm collided with Crosshair's cheek she instantly regretted it. The unexpected impact violently jerked him to the right and his upper body painfully splayed on the top of the hard dining table as he tried but failed to catch himself. Dishes went flying, food and water splattered, and Crosshair swore he saw The Light. And when his chin collided with the tabletop, he bit a chunk out of his tongue and his mouth flooded with the disgusting metallic taste.
By the time Crosshair had recovered Talla had fled to the cargo hold, too overwhelmed with rage and guilt to stick around and here him call her every foul name in every language he knew while he caught his bearings. After recovering from their harsh flinches and shock afterwards, Wrecker and Tech quickly fled as well, scurrying in the opposite direction to check the ETA for Kamino on the nav-computer, leaving the squad's designated mediator with the testier-than-usual sniper.
As Hunter cursed himself for letting things get out of hand, Crosshair winced as he touched his red, stinging cheek that had a smallish hand-shaped swell rising. "Damn harpy's psychotic."
Apparently, he had one more name.
Hunter didn't expect for things to escalate to violence. He originally thought once Talla grew a backbone Crosshair would finally accept her, and not be so negative about her. Instead, it had the drastically opposite effect. He needed to get to the bottom of whatever this was, so he scooched down the lounge and settled at the end, to be nearer to Crosshair while they had a heart-to-heart. "Is she psychotic, or did you purposely drive her to it?" Hunter queried knowingly.
Crosshair dodged that accusation like it was incoming Seppie blaster fire and tried shifting the blame onto her. "You all say she's nice, but then she goes and slaps me."
It didn't work because Hunter wasn't an idiot. He may not type up elaborate portfolios on the human psyche like Tech but he was not an idiot. "Even nice people have their breaking points."
"It's only been two weeks - that's a major red flag." Crosshair tried.
Hunter sighed in discontent and raised a hand to rub his temple that was starting to throb. "Okay, what's really bothering you?" He asked tiredly, "Usually the defense for your sociopathic tendencies has actual validity to it, but Talla isn't a reg or a Kaminoan." Hunter pointed out, hoping Crosshair was sane enough to see the differences because if he wasn't, that would take his concern to the next level, "She is a woman who is trying very hard to be okay after what the long-necks put her through, which you know exactly what that is, and to my knowledge she hasn't purposely done anything to deserve the bitch switch after every little thing she says or does."
Crosshair absolutely despised being referred to by that derogatory name his brothers saved just for him, no matter how accurately it described his behavior sometimes... not that'd he'd ever admit it. "Don't call me that." Crosshair snapped.
The hand dropped from Hunter's head as he gave him a sharp look right back, "Then stop acting like that."
Ohhhh, Crosshair was now unraveling all over again, imagining completely untrue things. "Now you're siding with her, over me?"
Fourteen days ago, Hunter wouldn't have thought twice about someone laying a malicious hand on his brothers, and would have let Wrecker pay them back without batting an eye. Maybe it was the infatuation influencing him, but he doubted Wrecker and Tech felt the same, because that'd be very awkward. No, it was because he had made the mistake once of judging Talla as a person when the destructive behavior displayed was actually out of her control, and not who she was or wanted to be, and the others obviously saw the drastic consequences of that. And they just witnessed it again.
This made Hunter double his mediator efforts and he was not taking any of their sides until he found out the facts. "I'm on the side of fixing whatever is going on between you two because I swear Wrecker was close to crying and Tech nearly fainted while you were basically telling Talla to go off herself." He gave Crosshair the rare, 'Older-Brother' look. It was like the 'Sergeant' look, but less authoritative and more inviting for his brothers to open up when something is bothering them. He was trying to perfect it, wanting it to have the same comforting effect that 99's gave them all. Though he still teased to ease the tension, "Now, do you wanna tell me what happened, or do I have to drop you both off on an uninhabited planet and just let you two duel to the death?"
Crosshair raised his throbbing chin to proudly display his willing attitude, "I'd happily do so right here on the ship, no inconvenience needed."
"It would be an inconvenience because I don't want to mop up blood." Hunter retorted, not specifying who's so as not to give away who he'd thought would win, then gestured to the seat across from him, "So just tell me what's going on, Cross." He implored softly.
Crosshair had been keeping the reason he hated Talla his own bitter secret because he figured no one would share in his opinion. They just saw her bright smiles and infectious laughs as genuine and not the facade it had to be. They didn't see the bigger picture. The one that made his blood boil.
It was only because he didn't want to put his brothers through terrible confrontations like this again that he did sit down and disclose his theory - no, this certain fact! "She's our replacement, Hunter."Crosshai rinsinuated with a voice laced in disdain for her.
That was not what Hunter was expecting to hear. He figured it had to be something bad but also something she was probably not aware was offensive yet. Fault on both sides. He would have never thought up something so... odd like this, and because he couldn't fathom this line of seemingly out there reasoning, this earned Crosshair a flabbergasted blink and an unsure, "What?"
The sniper was dead serious though. "Think about it - Why would the Kaminoans need to pop out one clone with all the enhancements combined if it wasn't to replace the four original ones each created with separate abilities?"
Yeah it was a surprise, but the Kaminoans are constantly trying to prove what unparalleled scientists they are, Hunter immediately thought but didn't speak, not wanting to discourage Crosshair's almost vulnerable state.
"It's like when ship dealers create newer, sleeker, more high-tech models and the old ones get scrapped for parts."
Hunter started to catch onto his meaning, and the next-level concern started to flow in. Okay, ummm -
"She's here to learn all our ways, all our skills, all our successful plans only to make us yesterday's news!" Hunter forced his eyebrows to stay where they were and not raise up to the roof as the next-level concern for his brother's sanity flooded his entire system now, "She's going to get all the glory while we fade from existence! She's already gotten a Chancellors Service Medal, for kark's sake! The stupid one you got is nowhere near that prestigious!"
In truth, this all sounded like a crazed conspiracy theory with zero sound facts backing it up, but Hunter tried to not shut down Crosshair on the spot. It was a rare occurrence when he opened up about what was going on inside that head of his, even rarer that he lost his cool when things were going wrong around him, and Hunter was not going to shame him for it. He had to be encouraging while being attentive. Sensitive, like he said he was trying out. "I thought we didn't care about medals and ceremonies?" He replied calmly.
"We don't, but it just proves my point, Hunter." Crosshair clarified tersely, eyes ablaze with fury over this theory he firmly believed.
Hunter tried to choose his words very carefully, "Cross, I'm not so sure I can believe her sudden appearance can be that... sinister."
Crosshair merely humped, shut down, and made to leave the table. "I knew you wouldn't see the bigger picture - you never do."
Hunter knew the lack of action after being physically attacked by someone who was not their brother was unheard of within their squad, so this must have looked like a betrayal in Crosshair's eyes. The Sergeant thrust a hand out to stop him from getting up, wanting to explain his (hopefully) righteous point of view. "I know that you don't like doing this, being so cruel to others." This made the younger man slowly turn back towards the older one, which was hopefully a sign that he was willing to listen to reason, "I know it makes you hate yourself."
A whirl of emotions - sadness, guilt, self-hatred - flashed through Crosshairs eyes, but he quickly extinguished the momentary weakness so he wouldn't become a blubbering crybaby, though crossed his arms as if to physically keep himself put together and not fall apart.
"But you really don't feel like there's any other way to make sure no one messes with you." Hunter continued, then shot him a thoughtful look, "Want to know how I know all this?"
Crosshair's brow raised, indicating for him to go on because he already knew that they were brothers, and they have never lived a moment apart since he was placed with the group of older cadet children once he was old enough, so there must have been a deeper meaning to his rhetorical question.
"I looked beyond the bad first impression - you punching Wrecker in the stomach when he got excited over his new little brother and came in for a big bear hug - and I decided to find out the reason why you acted the way you did." Now the sniper's eyes rolled as the angle Hunter was using was brought to light, but Hunter felt he needed to hear this and recited what he had read in Tech's profile because it explained it better than he ever could, "Your cruel ways aren't because you're a heartless piece of trash you let the rest of the galaxy believe, it's actually a defense mechanism that developed because of how badly the Kaminoans and regs treated you when we were cadets, because they saw you as the weakest link."
Crosshair had been treated the worst. Out of all three, he lacked the most bulk, so when the other cadets did manage to get a firm hold on him he couldn't break free, and they'd do to him whatever their twisted minds came up with. Several scars littered his body that were from cuts and burns, and he had also suffered some broken bones too.
Hunter knew this of course and wanted to remind Crosshair, so he could see that maybe he should try to get to know Talla before assuming all these terrible things about her because frankly, despite joking about it, he really didn't want to mop up anyone's blood. "Very early in life you vowed one day no one would ever hurt you again, so now you try to take down everyone you see as a threat before they even have a chance to hurt you. I didn't assume based on a bad first impression, and I grew to understand why you act out."
"Very moving speech." Crosshair drawled sarcastically.
Hunter let this slide and got to the point, this whole speech thing not really his thing either. "You see Talla as a threat to your way of life, so you're trying to drive her away before she has the power to hurt you." He disclosed point blank. "But honestly Crosshair, do you have any solid proof of her being hostile -" Crosshair opened his mouth to speak, but Hunter's pointer finger shot up to silence him, "That doesn't involve you driving her to it?" He tried to speak again, "Or hostile regs?" Crosshair's mouth snapped shut and he averted his conflicted gaze from the piercing one of the Sergeant, who thought maybe he had gotten through to him. "I know the person you are with me, Tech, and Wrecker is the real Crosshair." An anxious presence appeared behind Crosshair's booth, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other and wringing her shaky hands, "And I think Talla still believes he exists too, which is why she's standing behind you, waiting to apologize despite everything you've put her through. What do you say to that?"
Tech had shown Talla some ways to manage the temper flares, but said it didn't always work and there'd still be times she'd still lash out. That didn't make the instances any easier to deal the consequences of, or ease the guilt that was currently gnawing away at her insides. Talla had never felt so sorry in her whole life. And she had never hoped for something so much - her teammates forgiveness.
Hunter felt a flutter of hope within himself when Crosshair adopted a thoughtful expression on his face. Hunter was right, she was waiting for the green light to come in and beseech Crosshair for his forgiveness, he could sense her pleading gaze burning two holes on the back of his head.
But just as soon as the thoughtfulness was there, it vanished. "Tell her to go kark herself." Crosshair coolly instructed.
Hunters face fell, as did Talla's.
And after Crosshair made sure to roughly bump her rigid shoulder as he passed her, Talla's face became thunderous. "Oh - oh yeah?" She angrily sputtered to herself, then turned sharply to face-palming Hunter and yelled so Crosshair could obviously hear, "Well, TELL THAT PRICKLY STRINGBEAN TO GO JUMP IN A NEST OF GUNDARKS!"
If either of them had regular bedroom doors, they would have been slammed shut. Instead, both opted to kick the first thing they came across - Crosshair his metal rifle case and Talla the wall to her refresher of similar material. As a result, Talla made a dent, and Crosshair's slew of pain-filled curses could be heard from the cockpit because he wasn't wearing shoes.
"Do we have to protect the reg kids?" Crosshair complained while they disembarked the Marauder, having arrived in the designated landing bay on Tipoca.
"There are more important things to be mad about, Cross." Hunter tiredly responded over his shoulder, and the day had not even truly begun yet. He feared there'd never be a peaceful day again as long as the two youngest squadmates wanted to gouge each other's eyes out.
"Such as the Seppies invading our home." Tech avouched bluntly.
Crosshair moodily huffed. "Fine. Just don't come crying to me when you're the brunt end of the little rats' jokes."
"Gee, I wonder why that happens." Talla jeered next to him, then had an exaggerated 'Aha!' moment, "Oh right - because you're as friendly as blaster-happy Tusken Raider!"
This complete ignorance at the real reason why he acted that way, let's just say Crosshair's helmet didn't need to be off to feel the heat from his glare thrown her way, "And you're as slippery as a greased Dug." (means untrustworthy, btw... found it on the internet lol)
Before Talla could ask what the heck he meant by that, Hunter sharply turned and jabbed a finger from one to the other as he snapped, "Both of you: cut the crap. I need you focused on this mission, otherwise we're going to have a repeat of Silva - got it?"
They hung their heads, not liking the chastising, especially with all the regs milling about. "Sir, yes sir." Were their begrudging mumbles.
But if they were going to act like kids, Hunter was going to treat them like kids.
The Prime Minister and his Clone Trooper bodyguards suddenly appeared before them, and the Bad Batch all gave him a respectful salute while each silently saying customized choice words for the kriffing long-neck. "All of the younglings are in the barracks, awaiting your squadron's protection." Lama Su informed the clone Sergeant.
Hunter gave a firm nod, then obviously had to ask, "When is this attack supposed to happen?"
"Sometime before the days end." Was the Prime Minister's vague response, unsure himself.
Hunter could only nod again, then sharply gestured with his head for his squad to follow and they jogged to the barracks, double time.
Halfway there though, the lads ran into their squad's inspiration, walking out of a weapons vault. "Hey, it's 99!" Wrecker exclaimed happily as the group couldn't help but stop their hurried journey and say hi. It was justified!
The short, hunched figure of 99 beamed up at Wrecker. "Good to see you, Wrecker." He happily accepted the big bear hug given to him, and returned the other's warm smiles they sported after taking off their helmets and circled their beloved caretaker and mentor. Even Crosshair, which shocked Talla to her core. She had never seen him smile unless it was after causing her misery, and it wasn't soft and dare she say it, endearing like this one. The agent wondered what 99 had to do to earn this callous man's endearment, never hearing stories about the two. Whatever it was, it was obvious she'd have to work a hundred times harder. And the agent was starting to wonder if she should even bother.
"How's it going, vod?" Hunter asked affectionately, heartily clapping his older brother on the shoulder.
"I wish things were better." 99 sighed regretfully, insinuating the coming Seppie invasion to their home.
"Don't worry, 99!" Wrecker soothed cheerfully, putting his large hand on his shoulder in comfort. "We'll take down those clankers no problem!"
99 chuckled, knowing his brothers would be more than capable in defending their home. Though, he worried about them working alongside with the regular troopers - that never ended well. "Bring lots of explosives, did you?"
Wrecker laughed maniacally, but refrained from excitedly punching his slightly frail caretaker. "You know me!"
Finally given an opportunity to acknowledge the woman standing off to the side, 99 looked up at Talla now with a wide smile. "You must be that fancy new agent everyone's talking about."
Talla decided to remove her helmet and tilted her head after, the corners of her lips turning upwards as she finally got to meet the beloved 99 the three non-hostile members of the Bad Batch had told her infinite stories about. "And you must be the inspiration behind my squad's name - I've been dying to meet you!" She enthusiastically stuck out her left hand in greeting. "I'm Special Agent Clone-1, but I go by Talla now." They grasped each other's forearms good-naturedly. "I've heard lots of great things about you, 99!"
While Hunter felt a warm fuzzy feeling at seeing Talla meet such an important figure in his life, 99 chuckled, "I've heard things about you too Talla... though the stories are pretty mixed." He was referring to a particular brother's concussion and broken nose. It was crooked now.
Tala's smile grew smug, though she knew the consequences of those actions, but didn't reveal her unease. Hunter sensed it though. "Yeah, I may have pummeled some of your brothers... but it was righteously deserved."
99's shoulders shook as he chuckled again. "I'm sure it was. Some of the boys can get pretty rowdy." He swept a hand in the Bad Batch boy's direction. "These four especially - I trust you can keep them in line for me?"
It was Talla's turn to titter in amusement as the Bad Batch boys became embarrassed. "I'll do my best, but I think it's more like they'll have to keep me in line."
"Ain't that the truth." Crosshair muttered dryly, and she threw him a glare.
Tech held up a pointer finger, diffusing another potential smack down. "I hate to break up a touching reunion, but we must report to our post. We don't know when the Seppies will attack."
"He's right." Hunter concurred, then smiled down at 99 again. "We'll catch up after the battle is won."
99 nodded in affirmation. "Knock 'em dead, boys," He looked up at Tala and winked, "And girls."
Talla put on her helmet like the rest of the boys and clapped the maintenance clone on the shoulder in parting. "I look forward to getting to know you, 99!"
An excited gleam in 99's eyes backed up his words, "And I you, Talla."
As promised, the barracks were filled with the thousands of adolescent and teenage cadets that currently inhabited Tipoca City, and the Bad Batch scoped out the three hallways leading to the Youngling Barracks before huddling in front of the large entrance doors.
"What's the plan?" Talla inquired.
"We can't let the clankers cross those doors, so we have to use all we got." Hunter replied.
"Ah yeah!" Wrecker cheered excitedly. "I love hearin' those words!"
"Me and Crosshair will take the left hallway; Wrecker, you take the middle; Talla and Tech, you'll take the right -" His tone became mischievous, " and use your imagination."
After Wrecker's maniacal laugh echoed in the vicinity again and everyone gave their affirmations after, they broke off and went arm up their assigned posts, only to freeze when the doors to the Barracks unexpectedly opened, and out came two teen cadets who had no business being out here in the potential battle zone.
Sergeant mode activated. "What are you doing out here, cadets?" Hunter demanded, furiously taking off his helmet, and shoving his finger to door behind them he barked the order, "Get back inside and lock the doors!"
The clone to the left stepped forward and said with childlike innocence that sounded fake in the Bad Batchers ears. "We just wanted to see if it was true."
"If what was true?" Hunter asked shrewdly, knowing there'd be a crude punchline coming next.
The clone looked back at his counterpart with an amused grin before saying. "That the freak circus squad was sent here to protect us."
Here we go again. The Bad Batch boys thought with mental rolls of their eyes as the teens high-fived each other as if he had said something so incredibly brilliant, it made them the Gods of Humor.
"Freak circus squad?" Tech couldn't help but repeat slowly, like he couldn't understand what they said.
"Yup." The instigator confirmed proudly, puffing out his chest.
He stared at him long enough that it made everyone uncomfortable. "That's... not even clever."
But still hurtful. Talla thought, feeling a spark of ire in her chest that quickly turned into a raging fire as the degrading speech continued.
"Hey, neither is Jumbo over there." The teen declared, indicating to Wrecker, who's shoulders sagged slightly at the name and insinuation that he was dumb. If he was an actual reg soldier, he'd have his facial features reconstructed, but this was a kid, and Wrecker liked kids! And kids usually liked him! So it just made him sad.
Under her helmet, Talla's eyes turned to icy daggers.
"Wrecker can disarm a bomb in under five seconds with his eyes closed." Tech said matter-of-factly, coming to the aid of his brother. "He's smart in his own way."
"They were right about four-eyes - what a mirsh'kyramud." The first clone remarked, busting out the fancy new Mando'a terms their cool new crooked-nosed friend made sure to teach them once he heard the 'freak circus squad' would be returning.
"Not as bad as vaar'ika over there." The second clone snickered, pointing to Hunter, who's eyes darkened but he said nothing.
The teen then turned to Crosshair, who when his brothers were called a 'brain killer' and a 'runt' tore off his helmet so that the teen could see his warning glare. "You better watch your mouth, kid." He warned.
"What are you going to do about it, Mr. Bevik?" The first teen taunted, and Crosshair's lip curled at being called a 'stick.'
Talla finally broke her silence, having already had enough of this child's attitude. "He's right - you better watch your mouth." The teen was surprised to hear a woman's voice and whipped towards Talla, who whipped off her helmet to reveal her own hardened eyes.
The Bad Batch boys knew what was coming next, and suddenly felt very concerned for the teens.
"Who are you?" The instigator asked with a raised brow of confusion.
"Someone who doesn't tolerate harassment." She stated darkly.
The teens face turned haughty and he scoffed. "We're just joking around."
"Oh, joking around is fine, I love a good joke. But when your 'jokes' put down someone's existence, it's not funny, it's called harassment." She jerked a finger to each of her teammates as she listed off their incredible abilities and insinuated their real, respectable names. "Wrecker can lift whole gunships and as stated earlier disarm a bomb in under five seconds! Tech can make calculations faster than any tactical droid, even if he's half asleep! Hunter can sense eletromagentic frequencies, which makes him more reliable than any holomap!" There was a hesitant pause, but she figured the sniper should be included too, so he wouldn't have another reason to hate her, and surprise flashed through his eyes as she said proudly, "And Crosshair can hit a precise target ten klicks away, rain or shine."
If Crosshair was touched by her including him even after what went down this morning, he didn't show it.
Talla expected cadets to be blindly obedient, just as she had been, but she instead saw firsthand why the Bad Batch boys had disdainfully referred to regular clone troopers as 'regs,' and why they had developed the anti-social tendencies. It was made perfectly clear that the brother code among clone troopers didn't include these four enhanced ones. "Why don't you just stay out of this, cyar'ika." The irritating teen snidely suggested.
Indignation sparked in her eyes as that stupid name that was meant to be a term of affection had proven to just be something that made her want to puke, and she menacingly stepped up to him, Hunter saying her name in a warning tone but she ignored him. "You'd best follow orders, cadet." She also suggested, but low and threatening instead.
Unafraid by the shorter woman the teen stepped up so that they were almost nose to nose and sized her up. "Why don't you make me?" He stupidly challenged.
Talla's jaw set, and she cursed the fact she was an inch shorter than him, thus appearing less intimidating than she needed to be. But what she lacked in size, her sharp mind and now tongue made up for, thanks to a particular prickly stringbean. And she even took a page out of Crosshair's book, but to effectively scare the cadet into obedience instead of a breaking point. "Need I remind you of the punishment for clones when they have bouts of disrespect and rebellion, cadet?" The teens' eyes lost their spark, and she adopted a superior aura. "Now, I could report you to the Kaminoans -"
The teen looked like he was going to pee his pants, and he recoiled away so he could comically fall to his knees and plead, "No no, please don't!" His brother followed suite, both really not wanting to go to the isolation tanks!
While the Bad Batch had to keep their jaws from dropping, Talla's eyes bored down into the teen for a moment to make him squirm, then fakely conceded because she wasn't really going to report him. She wasn't that cruel. "But you're lucky I'm a nice person... so I won't report you." He gave a shaky laugh of relief, only to not get off the hook so easily. "If, you apologize to your superiors and mean it."
The two teen clones glanced fearfully at each other, then scrambled to the boys and tensely saluted to them. "We're sorry, sirs!" They apologized unanimously with a frightened pitch in their already squeaky voices.
The boys couldn't contain their shocked glances at each other, then Hunter just nodded at the pair to let them know that their apology was accepted. "Now get back inside and don't come out until we give the all clear." He ordered.
"Sir, yes sir!" They proceeded to dash back into their assigned quarters and locked the door behind them, leaving the Bad Batch boys to be in awe over smirking Talla.
"What?" The agent confusedly asked once she became aware of their staring.
"We have been 'harassed' as you call it by the regs ever since we were young cadets, and never once have we been apologized to." Tech informed her with slightly widened eyes.
That was just unfair. "Well, it's about time they started." Talla strongly declared. "Just because you look and act differently than the rest of the clone troopers doesn't mean you should be treated like the dirt under their boots." Yes, even Crosshair was included. His cruel behavior was understandable now. If he had to live with this all day, everyday, through his formative years all the way to his vulnerable teen ones, she would have become cruel as a defense mechanism too. But just because she understood him, doesn't mean she agreed with him. She wasn't going to be a doormat anymore. Perhaps with the regs it was deserved and excusable (to a degree), but she had done nothing to deserve to be treated so harshly.
"Why do ya always defend us?" Wrecker had to ask, lifting up his helmet so it was sitting on top of his head like a hat. "I mean, we've only known each other for, like, two weeks, right?" Tech nodded once, telling him he had calculated right.
"Isn't that what friends do? Have each other's backs?" Talla had hoped she'd learned that right.
Wrecker's eyes gleamed at this. It was the first time she had referred to them as friends, and she still said so even after what Crosshair said to her earlier! This earned her a bone crushing side-ways hug with a gleeful laugh. "Aw! I'm glad you're here!"
While Crosshair's heart was torn in half by the warmth from her seemingly tender actions and the ice that tried to frantically stop it because he still, despite everything, believed she was there to destroy them, Talla returned the hug with as much fervor. She was about to half-heartedly say she was glad to be here too when the floor violently quaked, the lights in the hallway went from blinding white to menacing red, and alarms started blaring.
The Separatists were here.
The battle itself proved to be very anticlimactic, at least where the Bad Batch were located. They heard massive explosions in the distance, and Tech managed to find out that the main targets for the attack were the DNA Chamber and the Barracks, but the Separatist forces were spread so thin that the 501st, which had been stationed on Kamino for the incoming attack, vastly outnumbered the droids for once. Only a few clankers managed to get down here so far through Hunter and Crosshairs hallway, and they easily snuffed them out, not even breaking a sweat.
Still, Talla was alert and keeping a sharp eye on their assigned hallway now, which was lined with reflective disks that would make it easy for her to take down as many clankers as possible with just one shot. She was kneeled behind a protrusion from the wall while next to her Tech had his knees drawn up, and was intently listening to comm chatter and keeping track of the Republic Army and Separatists Forces movements.
Talla heard Wrecker groan over their comm channel, "I thought this would be more fun! I haven't even gotten one clanker!"
"Focus Wrecker." Hunter calmly responded, though he himself was feeling the boredom too.
"Focus on what?" Wrecker retorted. "There's nothing to focus on!"
Talla sighed, and decided to be honest too, pressing her own comlink. "I agree with Wrecker, I expected our first mission after my recovery to be more... exciting. Not of the gruesome, losing a limb variety but at least several hundred clankers worth. Even one assassin or a Sith Lord would be worth it!"
"Cut the chatter and focus." Hunter ordered more sternly despite being very underwhelmed. Beside him, even Crosshair was fighting back a yawn.
"I'm just saying, this assignment is a complete waste of our squad's capabilities!" Talla finished quickly. "Okay, I'm done complaining now."
Another couple of minutes of tedious silence wore on before Tech heard something interesting and spoke up, pressing the comm button on his helmet. "General Grievous has been intercepted at the Cadet Barracks by Jedi General... Obi-Wan Kenobi?" Tech shockingly looked up at Talla, who whipped her head towards him.
"General Kenobi?!" She couldn't believe that - the agent's first ever attended funeral was HIS! "You must have heard that wrong."
"I have perfect hearing, so I doubt it." Tech responded flatly before turning back towards his transmitting datapad.
Talla's head shook slowly in disbelief, but before this revelation could be fully processed the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she peeked around the wall, seeing thirty B1 droids about fifty feet away. She didn't start blasting though, and instead pressed the commlink on her helmet. "Wrecker, I got thirty clankers incoming - how'd you like to do the honors?" She graciously offered in a lighthearted tone.
Wrecker gasped with childlike excitement. "Oh? Seriously?! You'd do that for me?!"
"I'll even allow an explosion, my friend." She put forth with a smirk.
Wrecker gave a crazed laugh that never failed to concern her. "I won't need one!"
Her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?... Wrecker?" He didn't offer an explanation, but five seconds later Talla received her answer as she watched him dash around the corner into her hallway as the droids closed in.
"TIME TO UNLEASH THE WRECKING BALL!" He yelled maniacally as the droids began blasting, and she watched him rush the clankers head on - without his blaster, mind you - and merely used his hands to punch and rip droids apart as they screamed in fear while he laughed like a mad man and somehow dodged all of their blasts effortlessly. Mouth agape under her helmet, she glanced at Tech in disbelief only to see him completely unfazed by his crazy brother's antics, typing away nonchalantly on his datapad.
In less than twenty seconds all the droids were down, their metal carnage strewn about in sparky piles.
Talla emerged from her hiding spot after he gave the all clear and strutted back down the hallway. "You're-you're insane!" She sputtered. "Taking on droids without a weapon - do you realize that you could have been killed?!"
Wrecker shoved her shoulder with another mad man laugh. "You got that right!" He rolled his head, cracking his stiff neck. "Man, what a rush! Thanks for that!" He then left a bewildered Talla behind and jogged back to his assigned hallway.
Nala Se really should have mentioned how crazy this squadron really was, Talla thought, not being so optimistic that she could ever match that crazy, even with her best efforts.
Not too long after that, Tech informed them that General Grievous had retreated and the invasion was over, which of course disappointed everyone. They were so eager to get back in the action after being on vacation for so long. Hunter gave the all clear to the younglings, and then the Bad Batchers started hurrying their way back to the Maurader, wanting to make a hasty retreat themselves.
"We shoulda been assigned to protect the DNA Chamber, that woulda been so much more fun!" Wrecker claimed as they stiffly marched through the post-battle damage.
"I wholeheartedly agree." Tech concurred. "This assignment was not a sufficient use of our prowess and valor."
"Tech took the words outta my mouth... and made them big and confusing." Wrecker teased, earning a half-hearted glare back.
"Quit complaining." Crosshair snapped, swiping off his helmet.
Talla raised a brow challengingly at the sniper. "You're telling me that you were okay sitting around doing nothing while the regs got all the action?" She simpered when he opened his mouth but couldn't think of a good comeback, and had to settle with a scowl before pulled out a toothpick from his pouch attached to his belt. "The reason why we weren't allowed to guard the DNA Chamber or even the Embryo Room was probably because of this squad's reputation for liking explosives - you obviously can't use bombs in a such a fragile environment." Tech made a noise of interest at this theory while Crosshair rolled his eyes in annoyance, "That blaster-happy description doesn't exactly showcase your capability to also be stealthy."
"Look, the important thing is that the kids are safe." Hunter proclaimed, diffusing the argument before it escalated to bloodshed.
Just as they successfully entered the Hangar without any altercations from regs, they were flagged down by Nala Se's Kaminoan assistant, and she focused on Talla. "SAC-1, Mistress Nala Se requests your presence in her office."
For the second time that day, the Clone Agent's blood ran as cold as the icy planet of Hoth.
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Thanks for reading!
- Ella
P.S: I know that in my story I have portrayed the regs as terrible people, but I'm merely doing what I feel like the Bad Batches lives were like. In all the episodes with the Bad Batch interactions with regs, they've been teased and treated badly. Soo... Yea
