Chapter 2 - Some People Ride 'til the End

Author's Note: Who doesn't want to bite their siblings? :)

Also, this is the first and last chapter from Crosshair's POV. I had so much fun writing his confusing thoughts, given that he still has his chip. ^-^

~ Amina Gila

Crosshair is waiting when the platform rises in the training room just like he'd predicted. Of course, Tech would choose this entrance, deeming it the most unlikely – which is why he positioned his new squad around it. Their blasters are raised the moment Tech and Echo come into sight.

Wait.

Where's Wrecker?

"And here we all are, together again," he drawls, as the two of them take in their situation. "You won't be needing your weapons."

Tech and Echo hesitate before dropping their blasters, albeit very reluctantly.

"See?" he says, smirking slightly, "Following orders isn't so difficult."

(His head hurts. What is he doing what is he doing why is he doing this? But he has to. It's the only way. "Turn them," Rampart had said, watching him coolly, "And we'll see how this little experiment works out. Or, I'll have them executed. You have your orders, Commander." And Crosshair had answered with a 'yes, sir' as always, his heart racing faster than normal, his head throbbing, everything inside him screaming and screaming and begging and demanding that he do something, because the execution that Rampart wants cannot happen. He can't let it. He has to save them, protect them, no matter what it takes, even if they hate him for it.

He hates what he is, what they've made him. He hates the urges, the cravings, the horrible sensitivity that his eyes have now. Night vision isn't worth it when normal daylight hurts enough to start up an instant headache. It's too soon, and he's not used to it, and he hates this all of this, and he wants them, his brothers, to stay far, far away. Please. Please don't come here not for him it's not worth it not worth it.)

"Where's your little sidekick? And where's Wrecker?" he demands. He'd been careful, very careful, so they wouldn't know that Hunter wasn't here with him. Surely, they couldn't have sent Wrecker to locate Hunter alone. That would be the height of stupidity. Unleashing a feral Hunter on the facility is a terrible idea. … Maybe he should have left more reinforcements there just to make sure.

"With Omega," Echo answers, which makes sense, even though Crosshair doesn't think it's the truth for some reason. "Where's Hunter?"

"Nowhere you will find him," he sneers. Hunter is his, and he's staying. He's staying, and he won't be leaving again. (He needs to leave. Hunter needs to get out of here and stay far, far away from Crosshair, so he won't be able to compel him to obey. He's broken enough. He doesn't need to break all his brothers and bring them down with him.)

Echo and Tech look at each other. "Are you planning to kill us?" Echo challenges.

"I could," Crosshair answers idly, his blaster level and steady, aimed at them. "It would be more than justified, after you betrayed everything we stood for. And for what? The Republic?" He scoffs. "The Republic gave you nothing that the Empire couldn't also."

(He would sooner slit his own throat than kill them what is he saying what is he saying?)

"We have always been loyal to each other," Tech snaps, a hardness to him that Crosshair has never seen in the past, "Never to the Republic or an empire."

"You weren't loyal to me," he says coldly. (I didn't want them to come back for me. It would have been too dangerous for them. I would never have wanted that from them. Running was best. I didn't want this, any of this, but they were safe, and that's all that's mattered to me.) His head is still throbbing. "I was one of you. You may have forgotten, but I haven't. That is why I am going to… correct that."

Tech shifts, looking at Echo again, and Crosshair can tell that they're both uneasy by his words. "If you think we'll ever go along with you, you're wrong," Echo says defiantly.

Crosshair chuckles darkly, ready to say something when the training room doors slide open. He spins around as the first blaster bolts echo through the room to see Wrecker running in, shooting, followed by Hunter… who has blood on his lips.

Oh.

Oh no.

He… failed. He was warned that the transformation normally makes individuals feral for the first rotation, their bodies demanding to be fed, but if they're starved through it and not given blood, they'll recover without the possibility of losing their sanity. According to records, feeding during the transformation can lead to increased aggression and feral behavior even afterwards. And, newly transforming vampires have an increased ability to turn others.

He can smell the blood on Wrecker, can feel the beginnings of the change in him, and he knows that they have a very big problem. A feral Hunter is bad enough. A feral Wrecker? Who isn't contained? That would be a nightmare.

Crosshair can do little about that, but he has to ensure that he turns Tech and Echo personally to rectify the situation. That way, whatever independence Hunter has won't be enough for him to leave. (He is… pleased. Not that Wrecker, of all people, is a vampire, but that Hunter turned him. That's how it should be. Hunter is their leader, and the Empire can't change that. It's too much of a fundamental part of them; they will always look to Hunter for directions.)

The other squad members go down, injured and dying, and Crosshair only spares them a glance before he turns all of his focus on Hunter. He can see the haziness in his eyes, the feral gleam that will soon spur him into action, spur him to attack Tech and Echo so he can feed. Wrecker will no longer draw him in the same way, now that he's been infected. Hunter has absolutely no idea what he's doing, and Crosshair is the only one who can get him under control.

"Hunter," he says sharply, letting the command infuse his words, "Down." His fingers tighten on his blaster as he flips it to stun, ready to take him down if he has to.

Hunter meets his eyes, breathing uneven, snarling back at him wordlessly. Kriff. He's further gone than Crosshair thought, and it's a miracle he was even able to make it here on his own, much less being aware of what he was doing. It's a wonder he hasn't already tackled –

Hunter glances around the room, calculations flickering through his gaze, as he suddenly bolts across the floor with a supernatural speed, leaping on top of Tech before Crosshair can even shoot once.

Well, never mind that.

"Hunter!" cries Echo, alarmed, as Tech gasps out a startled wheeze as Hunter's fangs sink into his neck.

"Get off him," snarls Crosshair, and Hunter's body jerks, obeying his sire's orders, though he fights it tooth and nail, pulling back from Tech, lips bloody as he glares rebelliously at him, his hunger obvious. "Down." He points at the floor, and Hunter kneels, still glaring.

There's a pause, and no one moves, before Echo, foolishly, comes to Tech's side, dropping to his knees to check on him, looking between him, Crosshair, and Hunter with confusion and distrust. Crosshair sees the struggle on his older brother's face as his hunger wars against his sire's orders. Hunter's eyes flicker in the direction Echo is, even though he's facing his back to him, and Crosshair has one second to call out Echo's name in warning – and maybe a little alarm – before Hunter turns on him, moving fast enough that the stunbolt Crosshair fires misses spectacularly.

Echo doesn't even have a chance to brace himself as Hunter slams into him, knocking him onto the floor and pinning him in place with his body as he bites into his neck.

… This is getting ridiculous.

Crosshair aims his blaster again, as Echo growls and bites back, though it doesn't look as though he manages anything more than getting a mouthful or two of Hunter's hair as he braces himself, shoving his body against Hunter's to push him off. But the risk of stunning Echo instead is too great, so Crosshair slips his blaster back into its holster, tapping into his supernatural speed as he charges Hunter himself. He's too feral to listen to orders, so maybe he'll listen to being physically subdued. If nothing else, if Crosshair can pin him long enough to stun him, they can figure out how to handle the situation next.

Hunter yelps, half-surprise, half-frustration when Crosshair hits him, giving Echo the chance to roll away and put distance between them. They grapple on the floor, Hunter angry and feral and quite intent on feeding, no matter who it's from, and this is the reason that Crosshair kept him in the holding cell. Now that he's out, now that he's gotten a taste of blood, nothing will stop him until he's had his fill.

(Crosshair remembers what it was like, the blinding, burning pain, the aching desperation to feed to make it stop, that stripped him of reasoning and any sense of humanity. He'd struggled against the restraints keeping him strapped to the table in the lab and screamed and struggled until he was too worn out to do anything other than whine. It took a full rotation for the hunger to fade, and another for him to recover and regain his strength after the ordeal. That's why he put Hunter in the cell, because at least there, he could move. Not being able to move had, in many ways, been the worst part and the thing he'd fought against the most.)

But Hunter is stronger than Crosshair is, and he's being driven by instincts, no longer as worried about hurting them as he usually is, so he finally gets Crosshair pinned against the floor, going for his neck. Crosshair lets him, even though he doesn't understand it, because this is not supposed to happen. Newly turned vampires don't try to feed from their sires. They don't feed from their sires, period, unless they allow it, and he is definitely not allowing this.

He hisses out a breath as pain blossoms in his neck, Hunter latching onto him and not letting go as he pins him in place, feeding.

The others are watching, horrified and confused, and Crosshair glares at Wrecker when he steps forward, ready to intervene and pull Hunter off. What they need to do is stun him, not pull him off, since that will only prompt him to attack one of the others again. Crosshair shifts, slowly reaching for his blaster and slipping it out. Normally, Hunter would notice, but now, he's too intent on feeding from Crosshair's neck.

(It's not supposed to feel like this, is it? It feels… it hurts a little. It stings, but it's also soothing and comforting in a way Crosshair can't even put into words, and he feels like… purring? – … He can purr? – And maybe nuzzling closer, which is stupid because Hunter has no idea what he's doing, and he could kill one of them by accident without even meaning to.)

He twists his wrist, jamming the blaster at Hunter's side and pulling the trigger twice, just to be sure. Hunter's body spasms, going limp, and Crosshair heaves him off, sliding the blaster back into its holster and ignoring the warm, wet sensation trickling down his neck as he crouches to check on Hunter. He's out cold, and Crosshair can hear it in the way his heartbeat is slower now, but he doesn't know how far along the transformation is.

The blood on his brother's face might have made him worry once, but now, he's just annoyed. (Which isn't fair, because this is not Hunter's fault, and it's not his fault that he's too far gone to listen to orders from anyone. Why did the Empire ever think this was a good idea, much less that Hunter would listen to him? Whatever. It's not his problem.)

Crosshair pulls open Hunter's jaw, turning his head to check on the size of his growing fangs. They're distinct – and also very bloody – but not as large as they will be when the transformation is complete. But he does seem to be progressing faster than Crosshair himself did, which… is strange, but he shrugs it off.

"Want to explain what that was all about?" Echo asks sharply, and Crosshair lets go of Hunter, idly reaching up to touch the bite on his neck. It's still bleeding, and after a brief pause, he curiously licks his own blood off his fingers, ignoring the strangled, possibly-freaked-out sound Tech makes. It's not really bitter anymore, which is weird. It's more… sweetish, with an underlying favor that's unique to the person.

(Hunter's was so… Hunter that it made Crosshair want to feed just to be closer to him. He's missed him horribly, even if he tries to deny it to himself since it's easier, and the idea of being close to Hunter filled him with a desperate longing… which still hasn't faded. He knows that feeding makes vampires go feral over time, but – but – this is Hunter, his brother, and despite himself, he wonders what it would be like to bite the others.)

"I'm a vampire," Crosshair answers matter-of-factly, because really, is there any better way of explaining? "Hunter is in the middle of his own transformation, hence his craving for blood. Now that he's bitten all of you… you'll end up transforming as well." As he speaks, he pulls out the tube of bacta and smears it on his neck, putting pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding.

"… What?" splutters Echo, overlapping with Tech's, "vampires are mythical creatures. They are not real."

"They are real," Crosshair assures him dryly. He has not imagined every day of his new existence for the past three weeks, and nor did he imagine turning Hunter… or Hunter feeding from him just now. "Here," he continues, tossing the tube of bacta at Tech who catches it instinctively. "Put it on. Stop the bleeding. All of you. When Hunter wakes up, he won't react well if he can still smell the blood."

He chooses not to add that his own hunger is rising from the scent of blood, as well. It's always hard for him to ignore his own need to feed while he can smell blood now, and he wonders how Hunter always managed in the past, his enhanced sense of smell letting him pick up the scent of blood from injuries. Even without being a vampire, it must have been overwhelming.

Though he can tell that they don't believe him, Tech still follows his instructions and starts tending to all of their bite marks. This has got be some sort of new record for Hunter though. Crosshair eyes his unconscious brother, feeling a strange mixture of annoyance, exasperation, and fondness. Hunter, when they were young, was prone to biting when he got too overexcited sometimes, but he's never bitten all of them. One of them, yes. Sometimes even two of them at once. But all three? No. And four people? Definitely not.

"Where's the kid?" he asks finally as Tech applies bacta to Wrecker.

It's not lost on him that at least one of them is always keeping their eyes on him. It stings a little. (Of course, they don't trust him, and why should they? He's with the Empire now.)

"She's not here," Wrecker says after a far too long pause.

Crosshair rolls his eyes. "Go get her," he says, "Unless you were planning to leave her behind here like you did me."

"She's safe," Echo argues defensively.

"We had no choice but to leave you," Tech adds, glancing at him with a small frown. "It is not as if we wanted to. You gave us no choice."

"Hm." He conveys all of his disbelief and disgust in that one sound, looking down at Hunter again, carefully listening to his heartrate to make sure he's not waking up yet. He's not.

The silence is awkward, and Crosshair finally breaks it when he goes to pick up his helmet – which was unceremoniously dropped on the floor – and pulls it back on. "Unless you are planning to leave the kid somewhere, you might as well get her," he says finally, because he knows that she's here. They would never leave her alone; they're too protective. "She should understand what's happening to you also."

They don't respond though, remaining stubborn and silent. Oh well. If harm comes to her, it's not on him anymore. He tried.

Tech's datapad beeps right as he finishes applying bacta to Echo. "Three Venators are descending on the city. We need to leave now," he reports, glancing at Hunter's unconscious body. "Wrecker, get Hunter. Crosshair, are you coming with us?"

"It's not like I have a choice," he drawls, "None of you know how to handle the transformation alone, and you'll hurt the kid."

Tech throws him a look, and Wrecker pauses, expression worried as he glances at Crosshair, before he picks up Hunter, throwing him over his shoulder. Crosshair stops to pick up Hunter's helmet – the rest of his weapons are in Crosshair's pack – while Echo goes down the lift to get the kid, who they apparently left right below. And then, they take off running. They need to get out, and it seems that the Empire doesn't care whether or not Crosshair's mission was successful. They're going to destroy Kamino with them on it.

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