A/N: Written for prompt no. 2: "I'll call out your name, but you won't call back."
Thermometer Delirium "They don't care about you."
Crosshair wasn't sure whether the hallucinations were the result of being awake for more than seventy two hours or dehydration or something else. Maybe it was the heat. For a planet that rained for ninety-nine percent of the year, the last two days had been uncharacteristically cloudless.
Either way, he was hallucinating. The only reason he knew that was because there was no way for his brothers to be here. They had left him - Hunter had made his position clear. Even if they weren't enemies, they certainly weren't on the same side. It was better for all of them to part ways.
He couldn't hear what Tech was saying, but he could see the way the light reflected off his goggles and how he moved his hands as he spoke, something he only did when he was rambling. Wrecker was laughing and clapping Tech on the shoulder.
Crosshair opened his mouth to call out to them, trying to force the sound through his parched throat.
"Tech. Wrecker."
They didn't look at him. At the sound of their names they pointedly turned away.
"What did you expect?" a voice behind him said. He turned around to see Echo, arms crossed and scowling. "After everything you did?"
"I didn't have a choice," he whispered.
"Oh really?" Hunter was standing next to Echo now. Despite their physical differences, Hunter's scowl was identical to Echo's.
Yes. No. He didn't know anymore. Didn't know what was him and what was his chip anymore. Was there even a difference to begin with?
"I didn't want to hurt you."
That much he was sure of. Every other order he had been given under the influence of the chip had felt natural. Thoughts that he knew now had been implanted, had felt like his own. But turning on his squad - his family - never had.
"So what? You were trying to protect us?"
"Yes."
"Good job," Hunter said dryly.