Chapter 21 – Like Nothing Ever Made

Author's Note: Ahhhh I can't believe we're almost done! Hunter finally tells his family everything. :D

~ Amina Gila

Tech has Crosshair and Wrecker transferred to the Marauder almost immediately. Echo helps them, as does Kix since he's a medic. Omega glues herself to Hunter's side, following him everywhere, and he's so relieved to have her here, just within arm's reach. The ship smells a little different now, and it's weird. More like Omega and Echo, and less like them. There's the scent of other, unfamiliar people in here, too, and he doesn't really like it. But then, they have been gone for several weeks.

Wrecker is operated on first, and Hunter ends up being kicked off the Marauder, left to pace outside, Omega sitting on the ramp, watching his every move as if he might disappear in front of her. He can't help or deny the fear that something could go wrong. It nearly happened last time – his vitals took a long time to stabilize, and Tech theorized it had to do with the way his chip was active, unlike the rest of them. Besides, brain surgeries are always very tricky. Reminding himself that Tech and Kix, a trained medic, are both there, does little to help.

But it goes well, and they do Crosshair next.

That… is much trickier. It turns out that because of Crosshair's enhanced eyesight, his brain structure is a little different, and they almost end up giving up, but AZI is finally able to perform a successful extraction. They ended up discussing it amongst themselves, trying to decide what Crosshair would want them to do, because going through with it, after they realized the problem, posed a very real risk of causing inadvertent damage to his occipital lobe – which would, by default, damage his eyesight.

They went through with it, and thankfully, it went well. Hunter went next, and the last thing he remembers feeling is Omega clinging to his hand as the anesthetic was injected into him.

When Hunter wakes up, an hour has passed. Wrecker has woken up already, and Omega is curled in his lap, his arms wrapped around her. They look so peaceful there, at his bedside. He pushes himself upright slowly, waiting as the wave of dizziness passes. In an instant, Omega perks up, smiling. It warms his heart to see her happiness, knowing how miserable she's been since she lost them.

"You're awake," she chirps brightly, and her voice brings Echo to the room. He offers Hunter a glass of water which he downs gratefully.

"How do you feel?" Echo queries, and he pauses to assess himself.

"I'm fine," he answers, glancing around. "The others?"

"Crosshair went out," Wrecker answers, something flickering across his face. "I – uh, I don't think he's handling it well." Yeah, no surprise there. He doubts any of them are. "Tech's not awake yet."

Hunter blows out a breath, running a hand over his face. "Where's Rex?"

"He's with Dogma," Echo replies, pausing. "The other clone who came with us. They're dealing with Howzer and the new recruits."

Omega brightens even further. "We rescued him from Zygerrian slavers," she tells Hunter, gesturing to her bow which is lying nearby on a crate. "That's where I got that."

He huffs out a laugh, despite himself. "I guess some things are meant to be," he says dryly. "You got one in my time, too. Just… differently."

"Rex wanted to talk to you when you woke up," Echo tells him. "I can take you to him now, if you want."

Probably best to get it over with. Hunter needs to thank him for watching over Omega when he couldn't. And once Tech is up, he needs to talk to his squad. They need to sort things out and figure out what to do. And… he owes them the truth. About everything.

It hardly feels real that the chip is truly gone, especially after it's affected him so deeply for weeks, but touching the side of his head reveals the bacta patch, and he can't doubt it anymore.

"Stay with Tech," Hunter tells Wrecker and Omega. "I'll be back soon."

He needs to talk to Crosshair, too. And Wrecker. He needs to make sure they're alright after everything they've just been through.

Rex approaches when he sees him, looking him over, and reaches out. They clasp each other's forearms in greeting. "Looks like you didn't manage to stay out of trouble after all," he teases.

Hunter chokes on a surprised laugh. "Apparently not." After a heartbeat, he continues, "Thank you for watching over Omega and Echo."

"Of course," Rex replies, nodding. "I… imagine it's not easy for you with everything that happened, and I want you to know that you can comm me anytime for anything, even if you just want to talk." He pauses. "Especially if you just want to talk. I get it. I know what it's like; it happened to me, and all the men there –" His expression falters for a millisecond, long enough for Hunter to see the anguish in his eyes. "– I lost a lot of good men then, men who were under my command, and I couldn't save them. I get what you're probably going through, Hunter."

He swallows, looking away. He hardly even knows what he's going through himself. Still, he appreciates the sentiment more than he can ever say. "I – I'll call you," he answers finally. "I just – I need to talk to my squad. We… need to talk. I – I need to tell them everything."

"You do," Rex agrees. "I told Echo I wouldn't need him right now. Thanks to what you told me, we got Howzer and his squad out, and the network is growing faster than I thought. Go, find somewhere safe, and look after yourselves." There's a fondness in his brown eyes that Hunter rarely ever sees regs show them, and he finds that he's smiling faintly in return.

"We'll be fine," he says, though he doesn't know if it's more to reassure Rex or himself, "We always are."

Well, maybe not always, but… The point still stands. They're strong. Resilient. And they have each other. They don't need anything more than that. Hunter doesn't look back at Rex as he returns to the Marauder, back to his squad, his family. It's time for them to talk.

It doesn't happen immediately, of course, because Tech is just waking up, and Kix is scanning all of them from head to toe at least twice to assure himself they're in proper health before he leaves. It's nighttime now, the moons of Ryloth lighting the surface of the planet when they finally settle down in the Marauder, all together for the first time since they were captured. Hunter looks between his brothers and sister, studying Crosshair the longest of all, but his body language is closed off.

He fights down his nerves and anxiety as he sits on his rack, Omega curling against his side immediately, reattaching herself to him. Wrecker drops onto the floor, and she reaches out, letting him take her hand, his arm draped across her lap as she half cuddles it close to her. It's adorable. Tech perches on the edge of a crate, while Crosshair and Echo sit on the rack opposite Hunter.

For a moment, everything is quiet. Hunter is not ready for this. He's not ready for this at all, but he owes them the truth. They deserve to know what could have happened, if only so they can understand what did happen, and figure out where to go from here.

But he doesn't know how to put that into words.

"I –" he hesitates, looking between them again. They're all watching him attentively, waiting for him to speak. "I'll start at the beginning, I guess," he settles on, leaning back against the wall, and wrapping an arm around Omega. "I – just save your questions for when I'm done. This… isn't going to be easy."

Omega snuggles closer, and Wrecker reaches over to pat Hunter's thigh with his hand. He doesn't know who he surprises more when he lays his free hand over Wrecker's, taking a deep breath to bolster himself before beginning.

"On – on Kaller, we got the order," he begins, letting his mind drift back to the beginning, to how it all started. "Crosshair's chip activated then, but it was very… mild. I let the padawan get away after the regs killed the General, and Crosshair knew it. I guess that started it all. He was… upset. Unusually irritable. I didn't really understand, at the time, why he was so… insistent on following orders, even though we all knew it was wrong. Tech theorized that the regs were programmed, which would explain their… odd behavior."

"We first met Omega the same way, after Palpatine's speech, and we – well, we got into a fight with the regs in the mess hall," he remembers. The memory makes him smile wistfully for a moment. It's been so long since they've had fun like that, especially together. "Tarkin put us through the training simulation, sent us to Onderon. We… didn't go through with it, of course. Crosshair was… angry."

Angry might actually be an understatement.

"If you don't have the stomach to do what needs to be done, then you're not fit to lead this squad."

The words have haunted Hunter for a long, long time, echoing in his mind at the times when he was questioning his abilities. "We fought about it, because he – well, he was under the influence of the chip. He couldn't help it, the desire to follow orders." Hunter understands that all too well now because he went through it himself. Disconnected from his emotions, the things he'd been taught all his life began to take over. Good soldiers follow orders. And that was it. Was Crosshair scared? Did he even realize what was happening?

"When we returned to Kamino to get Omega, we were arrested for treason."

"Disobeying orders again over a kid? Bad play, Hunter."

Did Crosshair know what would happen, on some inner level, if they went back? Did he sense they'd lose each other?

"They took Crosshair from us, and when we broke out of the holding cell, we were gonna go back to get him, but then… he came to us. I – He was trying to kill us. He shot Wrecker, and nearly got Echo before we were able to get out."

Hunter pauses, sighing, looking between his siblings, seeing the multitude of emotions on their faces. Omega looks sad, and so does Wrecker. Echo is disbelieving, incredulous. Tech is… It's harder to tell, but he's upset – Hunter can tell from the way his lips are pressed together. Crosshair's expression is entirely blank, so he can't get a read on him, or maybe it's that they've been apart for so long, these last few weeks notwithstanding.

"It… was hard. I – we don't leave our own behind, but we'd left him, and I – I guess… I don't think I ever really stopped blaming myself for that." He swallows, turning his gaze to the floor for a moment after admitting something so emotional. "We went to Ord Mantell, started doing mercenary work for Cid – she used to be a Jedi informant – and met Rex. He confirmed about the chips and how dangerous they are and directed us to Bracca so we could get them out. It… went badly. Wrecker… His chip activated there, possibly from multiple head injuries and from hearing us talking about the order and the Jedi. He nearly killed us."

The memory of Wrecker's hands wrapping around his neck and crushing doesn't haunt him anymore the way it did for the first couple weeks, but it's still something that bothers Hunter, especially when Wrecker's angry. He'd been so cold then, so emotionless. Hunter had never been afraid of Wrecker before then, but he'd been unable to stop the very real terror that had gripped him when Wrecker attacked him.

"And then, the Empire came. They sent Crosshair, of course. He… We were in the cruiser, trying to find a way off. He was predicting our moves so well. I – we should have known he would. We tried to get out through the ion engine, and…"

"Crosshair wouldn't do that, would he?"

It's hard to talk about this, so hard, even if they're all here, together. "… He activated the engine," Hunter continues quietly. If he hadn't glanced at Crosshair as he said it, he might have missed the way he flinched, his jaw tensing. "We got out, but – I think that's when he got his injuries. I – he had scarring on his head. It was pretty bad." He remembers when he first saw it up close, when he'd stopped to look at it, just to see if there was a surgery scar, after he'd stunned him.

"Rex called us in on a job, asked us to pick up a contact of his," Hunter tells them. "I didn't think it was safe to break into a well-fortified military installment, but… well, Echo had a point about how we did it for him. We went in, got him out, but during our escape, I… fell off the edge of the mountain. Fell over a thousand feet. The Empire got me. Crosshair came, took me to Kamino to lure the others into a trap. They came, of course, and he… was trying to convince us to join the Empire. I tried to get through to him. I tried, but… he wasn't listening, and then, he told us he'd taken his chip out. He said it was him, all that time, and I –"

Even thinking about it again hurts, no matter that he already told most of them this. "– I believed him. I didn't want to, but then, the Empire destroyed Kamino. We barely survived it, and I asked him to come with us. He… refused. I – it was easier to believe him after that, but now… I wonder." It's worse, knowing that they might have left him behind when it's not what he truly wanted. They left him again.

He pulls himself out of his thoughts, blowing out a shaky breath. "We repainted our armor, went back to work for Cid, took care of Omega, had a lot of adventures… and misadventures. It was the only purpose we had anymore, and we – well, I guess we all changed a lot. Then, Rex called us to Coruscant, needed us to get proof that Rampart ordered the destruction of Kamino. Echo left us then to join Rex. It was a little rough, but we pulled through. We discovered, by accident, that the Empire cloned a Zillo beast which was being transported to an unknown location. We transmitted the information to Rex and Echo to see what they could find out. I guess… that was probably the beginning of the end." He huffs out a dry, mirthless laugh.

If this was earlier, Hunter would be on the verge of a meltdown, but now, it's been long enough that he's been able to wrap his mind around everything that happened and on what he lost… and what he gained. He has his family back, even if they aren't exactly the same as the ones he lost, and that will be enough. It is enough.

"Through Cid, we'd met a pirate –" he pauses, "Sorry, she called herself a 'liberator of ancient wonders', and she invited us to a safe haven where she lived. It… was nice there. We were thinking about staying, settling down, putting our past behind us entirely."

Of course, it never lasted. It probably wouldn't have, anyway, because he doesn't know how long they would have been able to live as civilians, without any action or fighting whatsoever. He would have done it for Omega, but… it would have been hard.

"We were there for only a few days before Echo came to us, needing help decrypting some information. That is when Tech found out about the Advanced Science Division and Hemlock, though we could not find a location, and that clone prisoners were being transferred to him for an unknown purpose. And… Crosshair was one of them." The words hang there for a few moments as he collects himself to go on. "Tech checked our old comm channels and found a recent distress signal from him. Plan 88. I assume he was warning us. I… do not think he was trying to set a trap for us."

Probably, he was being tortured.

"We found what we could about Hemlock, tracked him to a summit from which we could possibly locate his base and Crosshair," Hunter continues. "It… would have been a huge risk." This is something he told them before, though Tech wasn't there, so he can probably skim over most of the details. "I wasn't sure if it was worth the risk, but Tech… well, he had his arguments all lined up, and truthfully, we all wanted to do it too badly to stop. We went. I – I guess the worst part is that we nearly made it. Omega planted the beacon, and if not for – for Saw Gerrera, we'd have figured it out. He – he was trying to kill Tarkin and the other Imperials, and I – I tried to convince him to stop, but he wouldn't."

It takes a moment for him to make his voice stop shaking. "He set off the explosives that took out the hangar and our only chance of tracking Hemlock. It damaged the rail line we were on, too, and that… Tech went to reboot it, but the Empire knew we were there, and they came after us. The car was damaged, and Tech – he – he… shot out the connection between the cars so we would get out, and he… fell. Plan 99." He can't quite look at Tech as he says it; it feels too much like he failed him.

"We were injured, went back to Cid to get AZI, and then, Wrecker and I were going to go back to Pabu, to the safe haven we'd found, because we – after that, we knew we had to put our lives as soldiers behind us for good. We were done." He closes his eyes, tightening his grip on Omega. Wrecker squeezes his leg. He couldn't let himself think about Crosshair then because it would have destroyed him. He'd felt hope, for the first time since Kamino, that they could be whole again, and having it crushed so mercilessly was – it was devastating.

"Cid betrayed us to the Empire, and Hemlock followed us. He got Omega. Echo, Wrecker, and I – we promised each other that we would find her no matter what, that we'd search until we found her. And that… was it." He shrugs. "And then, I woke up here."

Silence settles over them, as they all process his story. It feels good to have it out there instead of festering inside of him. He feels… better. Lighter. As if a burden has been lifted from him.

"That's why you killed Gerrera," Tech states finally, as if everything is making sense to him at long last. It probably is. "I wondered how far gone you were, when you had us do that, but it – makes sense now."

"Yeah," Hunter agrees, a little bitterly, "I know he's not responsible for what happened, that it never happened here, but I can't – he could still have hurt you, and I… even without the chip, I might still have done it," he adds quietly. "I don't regret it, either."

"You shouldn't regret it," Crosshair says, his voice hard, "I wouldn't." He won't meet Hunter's eyes when he looks at him, though, pushing to his feet and heading for the door.

"Crosshair –" he starts, ready to stand and go after him.

"I need some time," comes the reply, and he leaves without looking back. Though Hunter doubts he'll go far, it still stings to see him walk away again. But he can understand it. Hearing everything that happened, that could have happened, would be overwhelming for any of them, but Crosshair especially, given how it all played out.

He looks at the others, helplessly.

"Give him time," Tech recommends. "I am aware that the future you lived has not happened here, and so is he, but he will need time to process what he could have done."

"It's not your fault," Omega tells him firmly. "None of it. You did your best."

It's an echo of what Crosshair said not that long ago: "I know you'd have done your best, given whatever the circumstances were."

"The kid's right," Wrecker agrees solemnly, patting Hunter's leg before standing up and going to his other side, pulling him into a tight hug.

"We'll need time," Echo says, crossing his arms. "All of us. A lot has happened, and we'll need to adjust and recover, but it'll work out. We're gonna be fine." He sounds so certain, so confident, and for the first time since – since everything started spiraling so long ago, Hunter accepts it.

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