Displacement

Author's Note: This idea popped into my head seemingly out of no where, but I loooove Bad Batch time travel ideas. Also, the Bad Batch as babies is too cute.

PS. Tiny Crosshair started trying to steal the show. I regret nothing. :)

I wrote this for a May 4th exchange on ao3. ^-^

~ Amina Gila

He failed her.

He was supposed to keep her safe, and instead, she's now in the hands of the Empire. And who even knows what they'll do to her? When they find her, she might not be the same person she once was.

Certainly, after Kamino, Hunter hasn't been the same person he once was. He might not have been tortured physically, like he'd expected, but he was still tortured in a whole other way. Losing Crosshair broke them all. And Hunter cannot even begin to fathom what tortures Omega might now endure while they look for her. They have no leads, no where to start, but like he told Wrecker and Echo – Tech is gone, dead, and that's his fault, too – they won't stop looking until they find her.

They'll get Omega back no matter what it takes.

Please, he silently begs the Force or whatever entity might be listening, please bring Omega back to me, to all of us.

He has never wanted anything more than he wants that. Never. Omega is – she is his little sister, and she is his daughter, if that is what these feelings truly are for that is what others, even Hemlock, seem to believe. And Hunter has promised to protect her. He can't break that promise. It would destroy him.

**w**

Omega curls in the corner of Nala Se's lab, staring miserably out the window at the ocean. It's so lonely here, so quiet. She doesn't like it. She never noticed it much before she met her brothers, Experimental Unit 99. She thought it was normal. Maybe it is, and maybe it's selfish of her to miss them, but she does. Terribly. It's been over a year since she last saw them, and they must be so much bigger than they last were.

They're still so young. Surely, it couldn't hurt for her to be allowed to see them again just once? They can't train yet, can they? They're still tiny. They won't be soldiers yet for a long, long time. It's not fair. She won't distract them just by seeing them again once.

Sniffing, Omega thinks back to the day when they were taken away. They were so tiny, clinging to her and crying, not understanding what was happening any more than she herself did. Nala Se had tried to explain it to her, that they needed to leave to be trained like the other clones, but Omega didn't care. Doesn't care, actually. She just… wants them. She wants her brothers back.

She remembers that Four said his first word then, loudly voicing his vehement refusal to leave with an ear-splitting, "no!". Three was crying, too, and One was just holding onto her, expression screwed up with discomfort from all the noise, probably feeling overstimulation – or whatever Nala Se said it was – but he still held tight, refusing to let go. Two had tried to hide behind her, dropping onto the floor and screaming when they took him.

Omega wants to see them again so badly.

Do they even remember her anymore? The thought is terrifying, and she shoves it away quickly, unwilling to indulge it. Please, she silently begs, even though she doubts anyone will listen, much less care, please bring them back to me.

**w**

Hunter isn't quite certain how it happened, but one moment, he was on the Marauder, trying valiantly to stay awake and go through more intel in a seemingly fruitless bid to find Omega, and the next, he's sitting on the floor of a Kaminoan lab feeling very, very confused.

… He's on Kamino.

Why is he on Kamino. How is he on Kamino? Kamino was destroyed. The cities were gone. He was there when it happened. Is this a dream? It… doesn't feel like a mere dream, not from the way his senses are picking up everything around him in far too much detail. He can hear the whir of machinery, smell the faint chemical scent of the lab, feel the electricity moving through the walls. As he focuses, his senses pick up something else: a heartbeat.

Which isn't unusual, but what stands out to him is the cadence of it. It's fast and steady, a little faster than he's used to, but… it's familiar. He turns, slowly, a mixture of dread and anticipation pooling within him as his eyes fall on a small figure curled in the corner. She's watching him with familiar brown eyes, visibly startled, and his heart aches when he sees her. So, this is what Omega was like as a child.

She's so… tiny that it terrifies him a little bit. She can't be older than five or so.

They regard one another for a few moments, Hunter feeling a little overwhelmed while she merely watches him with curiosity and maybe a little suspicion.

(How is he here? Does it even matter? Omega is here, even if she's not the one he was looking for. This is… in the past, isn't it? It has to be, for her to be so young. Where are the others? Are they here somewhere, too?)

But Hunter doesn't have answers for any of those questions, and right now, he doesn't have time to think about them. He has to focus on the young girl in front of him. His first instinct is to pick her up and hug her, but he doesn't, not only because she doesn't know him. He's been trained for years not to express his emotions lest they be used against him, and as the squad's leader, he's had to be even more reserved.

Still, that doesn't stop him from taking a few steps closer to her and crouching down so they're closer to eyelevel.

Omega's expression scrunches. "Who are you?" she asks.

The words send a stab through Hunter, even though they shouldn't, because of course, she doesn't recognize him. At this point in time, he and his brothers are probably still around her age. And here he is, as an adult; she won't know him when he's fully grown, not yet. "I'm Hunter," he answers, and then, because she won't know that name, he adds, "CT-9901."

Her eyes widen in recognition and then narrow. "That's not possible," she insists. "You're big. You're not supposed to be so big right now."

It doesn't even seem to have occurred to her – yet – that Hunter shouldn't even be in here. "I'm… from the future," he explains awkwardly. "I'm not sure how I ended up here."

"Do you… know who I am?" she queries, her voice wavering with a surprising, or not, show of vulnerability and very real fear. His own heart aches when he hears it, because while he doesn't know much of what it was like for Omega, he does know that she knew them when they were little, though he knows no details.

"Yes," he assures her. "Of course. You're our sister, Omega."

She beams, and he has only a second to brace himself before she's barreling into his arms, clinging to him tightly. He wraps his arms around her, holding her close and feeling an overwhelming sense of relief at feeling her here, her familiar scent washing over him. She's here. She's safe. Maybe he failed her in the future, but right here and now, he hasn't. (Not yet.) Hunter will protect her this time, no matter what.

"Where are the others?" she asks, peering around hopefully.

I don't know, is his instinctive answer. Crosshair is with the Empire. Tech is – is –

And Echo. He isn't one of them yet. Possibly, he never will be, either, and that hurts, a sharp, cutting pain. Echo might have been a reg, but he was just as much a part of them as Omega became. He was their ori'vod, their family. And now…

Hunter firmly pushes that train of thought away, cradling Omega against him and trying not to think about what he's undoubtedly lost. He doesn't know if he'll ever see his brothers again, his brothers. He can find… the young Clone Force 99, but he may never see the older ones again, and he can only breathe through the aching, overwhelming grief that steals the breath from his lungs, choking him.

But Hunter doesn't know if Omega truly understands what he meant, about being from the future. It's possible she does, but it's also possible that she doesn't yet realize that there are two of him out there. That is a strange thought, but it's not too strange. All of them are clones, after all, and having another version of them… it would be more of a gift than something to be unsettled by.

"We can find them," he offers before he even realizes the implications of that.

He can't stay here. He can't let Omega stay here, either. She'll be safer away from Kamino, especially while she's so young that the Kaminoans don't realize her long-term value. He can take her and run. He can hide with her, his sister and daughter both, protecting her from the burgeoning Empire – he can't even hope that he'll be able to stop its rise.

"Now?" she questions hopefully. "Please?"

Hunter struggled to say no to Omega in the past when she said please, but now? When she's so tiny and – and adorable? He doesn't even stand a chance. "Okay," he agrees after a mere three seconds, "But we have to be quiet, understand? No talking."

Omega bobs her head up and down. "Okay," she whispers, eyes bright and eager.

He shifts her to one side, still holding her, unwilling to put her down, as he approaches a console, on alert for the possible imminent approach of someone. Now that he's looking, he recognizes the room. It's… familiar. Too familiar. Maybe it's not quite the same as he remembers it having been, but it's close enough. This is Nala Se's private lab, the last place their squad was together. Grief over Crosshair's loss strangles him, stabbing him with a vicious suddenness, and he swallows back the tears that want to escape. He misses him acutely. Him and – and Tech. He could use Tech now more than ever right now, but he attempts to get into the system on his own to find out where the young Clone Force 99 is at this point in time.

It takes longer than it would have if it was Tech or Echo, but Hunter still pinpoints their location as well as the best route to them. It's not until he sneaks from the lab, Omega tightly held in his arms, that the reality of what he's doing crashes into him. It's – it's insane is what it is. He's sneaking around Kamino with Omega, and he's planning to, essentially, from the Kaminoans' perspectives, kidnap her and his little brothers – of course they're coming too; he'll never leave them here either. If he had a choice, he'd take every single clone here with him – and run away.

It… is very much not a plan, but Hunter doesn't have nearly enough intel right now to form a more viable plan. He should. He needs time to sit down and think about the best strategy, especially since he's completely alone. He doesn't have any allies right now. It's just him against the Kaminoans, but he'll never stop standing between his family and any threat that could harm them.

Omega is quiet, enthralled with their surroundings, but she thankfully stays quiet as they traverse the halls, staying close to the walls and ducking around corners to avoid anyone. It helps that there are no expected threats from anyone, so the Kaminoans aren't on alert. And Hunter's senses let him know when – and if – someone is approaching.

By some miracle, they make it to the place where the young Clone Force 99 are being kept – which just so happens to be the same room they had later – and Hunter is not at all ready to see their old barracks again.

He adjusts Omega on his hip, carefully sliding his vibroblade out to take out the droid that he can sense inside once the door opens. It happens in a flash. He opens the door the throws the knife. It sinks into the droid, the one that was in charge of caring for them when they were young, and it falls to the floor, sparking, as the door closes behind him.

There's a moment of dead silence as Hunter pulls his vibroblade free, slipping it back into its sheath and looks at the four children in the room. They're even younger than Omega is, which is saying something. It must really be quite far into the past, then. Eight years, at least.

Omega squirms in his arms, and he reluctantly lets her go. She takes a few steps before waving. "Hi," she says, though she's fidgeting, a sure sign that she's nervous.

The young Hunter – oh Force, they don't even have their names yet – steps forward, protectively, frowning. "Who're you?"

Hunter doesn't need to see Omega's face to know that her smile falters. "I'm Omega," she tells them. "I'm your sister. But… you probably don't remember me." She sounds so disappointed, and Hunter reaches out to her, touching her shoulder comfortingly before sitting on the floor so he's at their level and doesn't tower over them so much.

"I'm Hunter," he introduces, and it is such a strange feeling to introduce himself to his vod'ike. They grew up together; they always knew each other.

Tech steps forward, studying Omega curiously. "You knew us?"

She nods. "I took care of you when you were babies."

… she did? Hunter tries – and fails – not to be weirded out by that, especially since, in his memories, he was the one taking care of and protecting her.

"Really?" asks Wrecker, enthralled. "I don't 'member that."

"Of course not," Tech answers. "You were a baby."

It's such a Tech thing to say that Hunter can't breathe, his fists clenching as he fights off the grief. Some moments, it doesn't seem real that they really lost Tech, and the loss of him and Omega both, in such a short time, is crippling. He misses Tech with an unbridled fierceness, everything about him, even the silliest, and most annoying habits. This Tech isn't his. This Tech is still a child, hardly older than a toddler.

"What's wrong?"

He blinks, jolting in surprise at the tiny hand on his arm and opening his eyes – when did he close them? Did he really zone out that much? – to see Crosshair peering up at him with a tiny frown. Crosshair. Hunter feels entirely frozen for a long moment; it's been so long since he's seen his youngest brother, and he's almost forgotten how… open Crosshair used to be when they were much younger. They all changed as they grew.

But this Crosshair isn't his, and even if he is, sort of, he's still a child. Hunter offers him a small, weak smile that Crosshair sees right through if his narrowing eyes are anything to go by. "You all remind me of my own brothers," he answers. "I… miss them." And he probably always will – unless by some miracle, they're here too.

Crosshair thinks about that for a few moments. "Oh," he says finally. His eyes are so expressive, and there's genuine warmth, sympathy, and worry reflected in them. It's almost too much for Hunter to handle, but he still reaches out to touch the child's shoulder fleetingly before looking back to Omega.

The young Hunter is standing next to her, studying her curiously, a slight furrow in his brow, his head tilted slightly. "… You do seem familiar," he's telling her. "I know you, but I don't remember you."

"It is possible that we all have some memories that we don't remember of her," Tech theorizes.

"Uh… what's that mean?" Wrecker frowns.

"Subconscious memories," Hunter offers when Tech seems at a loss of how to explain. He still can't get over the surrealness of all this. "It means that you can't actually remember, but your brain does."

"Exactly," Tech says cheerfully.

"Huh. Makes sense," Wrecker decides.

"I can show you around," young Hunter offers, grabbing Omega's hand and tugging her into the room.

"Don't touch my things," Crosshair interjects, dropping himself onto the floor next to Hunter and just watching the rest of his siblings.

"What things?" child Hunter replies, looking at him. "You don't have any things, Four."

Crosshair just hums, an amused glint of mischief in his eyes that Hunter doesn't like one bit.

… Maybe he's getting way too far ahead of himself when he thinks he can take all of them out of here. Sure, he might be able to find a safe place, but could he really handle it all alone? It… is something he'll need to think about. Omega isn't in any immediate danger right now anyway, and he can probably hide out here for a short time, at least until he decides on a proper extraction plan and has some idea of what to do with them after that.

What he needs is help and allies, neither of which he can readily find. Maybe he'll just need to get very creative, since he's all alone here in this. But he doesn't need to worry about that right now. Right now, he can just watch Omega get to know their brothers and let the ache of her loss be soothed. If he hadn't come here, he doesn't know what would have happened, but he chooses to believe that he would have found her eventually. He always will. She's his responsibility, and he cannot – and will not – imagine a universe where he truly and completely fails her.

Because his brothers are being cared for by a droid – which he'll have to fix or replace somehow, if he's not going to be extracting them immediately – it means that no actual person will be coming to check up on them. Omega isn't as fortunate, however, and somehow, Hunter will have to get her back to the lab without being seen. He can worry about that later. Or maybe he can keep Omega with him and stay hiding here – maybe even in this very room – until he figures out what to do. But that is also something he doesn't need to deal with right now. He can just… take a moment to relax, even if it only lasts for a few hours.

He watches with fond amusement as the young Hunter and Wrecker pull Omega around the room, excitedly showing her where they sleep and what they do each day, while Tech trails after, happily interjecting with details comments that no one asked for, but everyone is willing to listen to. "Are you going to join them?" Hunter finally queries, looking at Crosshair who is still just sitting there, watching.

Crosshair purses his lips. "Are you?"

That throws him for a moment, seeing the way that his youngest brother is, and it reminds him of how everything went down, and all the questions he had. He still doesn't understand why Crosshair left him, and why he turned on the Empire later. He had wanted to get him back so badly, that he hadn't put up more than a cursory protest when they brought up the idea of staging a rescue. And they lost Tech because of it – a lesson which reminded him brutally how important it is for him to be disconnected from his emotions, so he doesn't let them influence his decisions; he's their leader. He needs to protect them, especially now when they're all children.

"Good point," he agrees dryly, and Crosshair grins at him, the look so childlike and happy – smug even – but so Crosshair that it's like a gut punch.

"I used to live here," Hunter says, making a decision. He needs them to trust him, and as much as it hurts to think about, they don't know him. Not yet. He needs them to know that he can be trusted as much as Omega. Also, he's trying to distract them from Wrecker's attempts to convince Omega to climb onto the table and jump off it onto the nearest bunk. She's enthusiastic about it, despite young Hunter's fruitless efforts to dissuade her.

All five children still, turning to him with expressions ranging from curious to confused to uncertain. In Omega's eyes, though, he sees the understanding. Maybe she doesn't understand the meaning of what he told her exactly, but she does seem to understand that he's Hunter… just as an adult.

"Really?" asks Wrecker, jumping off the bench.

"Yes," he answers. "It was… a long time ago." Maybe not that long, but it's been a year for him, almost, since he was actually living on Kamino still, before they left.

"What do you do?" That's from Tech, his mind undoubtedly eager for more information as always.

… Should he tell them the truth? Or would that be too weird? Would they even understand? While he hesitates, trying to figure out how to answer, Omega beats him to it. "He's like you," she chirps, "An experimental clone. He's one of us."

Young Hunter frowns. "But he's… big. None of the others are big yet."

"He's… special?" she offers, though it sounds more like a question.

"What can you do?" inquires Crosshair, turning to stare at him. Even though he's a child, his gaze somehow manages to be just as intense and almost unnerving – it would be if Hunter hadn't grown up alongside him and his moods.

"I'm like –" he catches himself before saying his name, remembering that they don't have names yet, "– Like your oldest," he finishes.

Young Hunter perks up. "Like me?"

"That's cool!" Wrecker exclaims.

Hunter checks the chrono quickly before making a strategic decision. "I'm not supposed to be here," he tells them all seriously. "I'll be in trouble if I'm found. Do you understand?"

Wide-eyed, all the children nod. (Why can't his own brothers listen to him that attentively?)

"Omega isn't supposed to be here, either," he adds, "So you all need to keep this a secret. Do not tell anyone." Not like they would, but he still needs to impress it on them. He'll find a way to get them all out. He will.

"And Omega…" He meets her trusting, brown eyes, and a wave of affection washes over him as he looks at her. She's so small, so fragile and breakable, but she's his sister, and he'll do anything to keep her safe. "You'll stay with me until I find a safe place for us."

"R-really?" she asks, a tentative hope in her voice.

"I promise," he says, almost regretting the words a moment later, because he's promised her things before, promises that ended up broken, but then, the look of elation and joy in Omega's eyes makes it all worth it.

With a squeal, she jumps at him, and he catches her in his arms, hugging her tightly and silently thanking the Force – for that must have been what it was – for giving him this chance. You're here, he whispers silently to Omega. You're safe. That's all I could have asked for.

The other children crowd closer, happy to join in the hugs and cuddles, and Hunter finds that he's smiling. He feels happy, content, and he can't remember the last time he actually felt like this. Sure, there's the lingering ache of the loss of his brothers, but right now, it doesn't seem nearly as acute as it did before he came here.

With the warm, comforting weight of Omega in his arms, and the other four children crowding in close, gleefully snuggling as close as possible, Hunter feels hope. Hope for a better future, a future where they're safe and happy and together, a future where they're all a family.

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