Hevy loves being ARC.
Well, okay, so he's not really ARC. But it sure feels like he is, because even though Fives and Echo's training had been actual torture it was kriffing effective. Hevy moves just as silently as Rex and Fives do, shifting his weight in a way that even his heavy combat boots don't make a sound. It makes Hevy feel confident—like he can do anything, beat anyone, take on the galaxy.
Of course, at this point they actually are against the galaxy (or most of it, at least), so maybe not that last one, but it does give him a much-needed boost of adrenaline.
(He doesn't like to admit when he's scared. None of the clones do, because fear is seen as a weakness in men bred to die. But everything is moving so, so fast. Too fast. It feels like yesterday that Hevy woke up back in Kamino, and very soon, he'll have lived past the point he had died last time. He has no idea what to expect, and hasn't had very much time to adjust. He feels like he's justified in being just a little scared.)
Captain Rex is leading them up the narrow canyon path, towards the maintenance tunnel. Hevy has a very vivid memory of the man literally tearing a commando droid's head off. It's something he very much wants to see again.
He wonders if Rex has noticed anything different about them. ARCs don't move like ordinary men do, and they think differently as well. Both the Captain and the Commander seem to be taking everything in stride—understandable, as the fate of Kamino is at stake, and they can't afford to think about anything but the mission right now.
Still. Hevy doubts they haven't noticed that Domino is slightly overqualified for a simple outpost mission. The real question is whether or not they'll get flak for it later, after they're off of this cursed moon.
He shakes his head in an attempt to clear it of stray thoughts, casting a quick glance behind him as he follows Rex. Fives is behind them, watching their backs. He nods curtly to Hevy when he notices the other's gaze, and flashes a quick hand symbol at him with the fist not holding onto his weapon—pay attention. Hevy returns the nod and tightens his grip on the scavenged E-5 in his hands.
The maintenance tunnel is just up ahead. Hevy swallows when he sees it and is suddenly grateful that Cutup isn't with them. He glances up toward the eel's tunnel, but it fortunately doesn't appear. Once they assemble in front of the grate, Rex taps his wrist comlink.
"Cody. We're in position," he breathes out.
"Copy that," is the reply. "Green light us once you're inside."
"Will do," Rex whispers. He turns to Fives and Hevy. Jaig eyes stare into Hevy's soul, and he gazes at them in longing. What, exactly, had Rex done to earn them? Hevy really wants to know.
Get the cover of the tunnel off, Rex orders with a quick flash of hand signals. Hevy is already moving to obey when he realizes that the Captain had used ARC symbols—which none of them are supposed to know. He pauses, nervous anticipation tightening in his gut, but Rex doesn't react other than to wave them on.
Fives lets out a little sigh that's barely audible through his helmet and shrugs once before pulling at the grate covering the tunnel. It comes loose, and is deposited on the ground. It doesn't matter if Rex knows they've been taught ARC signs—not right now. And it's not worth the time to worry about. They've got much more pressing concerns.
Rex nods at them and waves a hand again. It's time to begin the operation. Fives goes in first, going down on his hands and knees to squeeze into the tight space. Hevy follows him, and Rex takes the rear this time as they crawl into the dark.
Hevy doesn't mind tight spaces, but this brings back a lot of bad memories. The last time he had crawled through this tunnel, they had just lost O'Niner, Nub, and Droidbait—and the moment they had emerged, they had lost Cutup as well.
The crawl takes an eternity and a mere minute at the same time. Every inch he advances is another inch towards the place that had become his grave. The confidence he had gathered earlier trickles out of his body faster than he can bolster it.
Keeping his armor from scraping across the metal sides of the tunnel is difficult. Even ARC training isn't quite enough to keep them completely silent, so the faint click-click of plastoid alloy tapping durasteel follows them through the passageway. It makes Hevy nervous.
The tunnel winds through several turns and slopes upward, taking them back up into the base. Finally, light becomes visible ahead, and in front of Hevy, Fives comes to a stop.
We're here, his hand flashes back to them, just visible in the dim light. Hevy takes a deep breath.
It's time.
He turns his head to watch as Rex taps a button on his wrist comm, and the little light turns green. Outside the tunnel, Cody's synced comm will have done the same. The signal has been sent.
They don't even have to wait long. Even from inside the base they can hear faint blaster fire.
"Sir. The sentries have been destroyed," a mechanical voice reports. "The surviving clones have opened fire from below, in the canyon."
Echo had really been the one to take out the sentries that stood on the ledge where the platform had once been. The droids aren't aware of him yet, which is good, but they do know about Cutup, Droidbait, and Cody down in the canyon below.
"Send out two squads to take care of them," a second mechanical voice replies. "Squad one, to the ledge. Fire on them from above. Squad two, into the canyon. We will wipe the survivors out."
Fat chance, Hevy thinks viciously.
"Roger roger."
Metal feet click on metal as the droids scatter. Fives crawls closer under the cover of their clanking, and peers through the grate as the commandos pass, oblivious to their presence. Hevy squeezes closer to his brother so he can look, too. The command center has mostly cleared out—there are only four commando droids still sitting at the desks.
O'Niner's body is abandoned on the floor. Hevy swallows away the lump in his throat at the sight. O'Niner had been a good man, loyal to the Republic and fully dedicated to keeping his men safe.
They had wanted to save him. Kriff, they had wanted to save him so bad. He and Nub hadn't deserved their fates, either time around.
A surge of rage rolls through his body. He's angry. His trigger finger twitches restlessly.
Rex taps his shoulder three times. Another signal, one that they had previously decided on. It's Hevy taps Fives' shoulder three times, passing the signal along. Fives nods once, and lifts a hand.
Three.
Hevy tightens his grip on his gun.
Two.
He exhales, braces himself. Tries not to think about how close it is to the time he'd died last time. The others have been lucky so far, no one's died when they had before… but their luck has to run out eventually, and Hevy's the last one.
One.
Fives twists and kicks the grate out, executing a neat roll and coming up on one knee with his blaster at the ready. Hevy is right behind him. The droids don't react in time to return fire. Hevy and Fives' first shots take out two droids, and as the other two rise, reaching for weapons, Rex emerges from the tunnel as well. His twin pistols fire one after the other, with the deadly accuracy the Captain is known for. The droids collapse.
Hevy lets out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Well, that was significantly easier than I had expected," Fives mutters, and then winces when Captain Rex shoots him a look.
"Don't jinx it, shiny. We've got the easy part. It's the others down in the canyon that are going to have a rough time."
"Sorry, sir," Fives says. Since Hevy is standing close to him, he hears Fives mutter, "I kriffin' knew you were going to say that," under his breath, and grins.
"Alright, let's move," Rex barks out. "To the armory, men. We're not finished yet."
"Wait," Hevy says. They turn to him. Hevy motions towards O'Niner's body. "We can't leave him like this, Captain. He deserves better than that."
Rex glances down at the body and nods slowly. "Your CO?" he asks quietly. Hevy nods. Rex sighs. "Go ahead, then. But keep it quick. The others are counting on us."
"Sir," Hevy acknowledges. Fives falls into step behind him as they kneel by O'Niner's side. Neither of them speak for a long moment.
"Sorry, sir," Hevy finally says, low enough so that Rex can't hear. "This wasn't supposed to happen. We were going to save you. We…" he trails off. Fives bows his head.
"Thank you, sir," the ARC contributes quietly, "for never questioning us, for letting us grow as we needed to. Sorry we couldn't do more."
There's no time to do anything else except for move his body partially under a desk, out of the way. It's not much, but it's better than nothing, especially in the short amount of time they have.
Afterwards they flank Rex as they run for the armory, allowing the Captain to take point. When the round a corner two commando droids are marching towards them, and it's only pure instinct that keeps Hevy from taking a blaster bolt to the head. He throws himself to the side as the droids fire. The bolts miss him by mere inches. Fives takes one down, and Rex literally rams his shoulder into the second to knock it off balance. The Captain has too much momentum to slow himself down, so he uses it to his advantage instead, and Hevy is given the incredible opportunity to watch Rex tear a commando droid's head off for the second time in his life.
It's just as awesome now as it was before.
Continuing onward, they don't encounter any more droids, but the armory is close to the main entrance, so they can hear other droids firing on their brothers below. It's good incentive to hurry up. Hevy relaxes quite a bit as he wraps his hands around a Z-6, hefting the comfortable weight and discarding the cursed E-5. Fives switches out his smaller DC-15S for the larger version, a DC-15A.
"Status, Cody?" Rex asks into his comm. There's a moment where the only reply is static, and Hevy starts to worry, but an instant later Cody responds.
"It's playing out just how Echo predicted," the Commander says. "They started firing on us from above, and a few minutes later more of them came down into the canyon. We're pinned down, but no one is hurt." A yet goes unsaid but is implied. Hevy grimaces.
"We're on our way to assist," Rex says. Where do you want us first, the ledge or the canyon?"
"Ledge," Cody replies instantly. "We—Droidbait, on your left—good shot! We could handle the ones on the ground much easier if we weren't having to duck our heads down every other shot. And Echo can't support us as much until the ledge is taken care of. If they manage to see him, they'll have a good angle to flush him out, and he can't move well enough to avoid them."
"On our way," Rex says. Hevy and Fives are already moving, anticipating Rex's next order.
They sprint down the ramp that had once led to the landing platform. The blast doors are wide open, revealing narrow ledge of metal that extends from the base—the only remnant of the platform that had survived. There are seven commando droids perched on it, firing down into the canyon where Cody and the others must be pinned.
Hevy lets his Z-6 act as their greeting. The Commandos aren't expecting an attack to come from behind. Three fall to Hevy's machine gun before they are able to turn around, and Hevy lurches into cover behind the corner to avoid their retaliation.
"Well, that's one way to get their attention!" Fives shouts from across the hall.
"It always works!" Hevy shouts back, grinning despite the blaster bolts whizzing past them. Rex snorts, but then shakes his head.
"Less chatter, more shooting, men!" he orders.
"Sir, yes, sir!" Hevy replies, and whips around the corner to get off a few shots.
The commando droids are confused. They're smarter and more efficient than ordinary battle droids, but that doesn't change the fact that they're droids. Their artificial minds don't handle an ambush well, especially with their commanders out of commission. Between Hevy, Fives, and Rex, they take the droids down with little difficulty. The last droid isn't even picked off by them—Echo finally has the ability to shoot without worrying if he's going to be seen. The final droid goes down from a sniper round to the head.
"Cody, the ledge is clear," Rex reports. Fives and Hevy pick their way through the droid parts to peer down into the canyon.
Cody, Droidbait, and Cutup have taken refuge among the wreckage of the fallen platform, far below. The twisted metal serves as excellent cover both from above and from the side, where a squad of commando droids are firing at them. It's a good defensive position, but it's far from perfect. Even as Hevy watches, a blaster bolt impacts with the metal far too close to Cutup's head for comfort. Fives lets out a wordless snarl at the sight.
"We should go help them—" he begins, but Rex puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Easy, soldier. They can take care of themselves. We've got our own job to do," the Captain reminds them. Fives huffs out a sigh that's a mixture of frustration and nerves.
The sound of a high-powered sniper rifle cuts through the night. Hevy's head snaps up just in time to watch as Echo opens fire on the commando droids below him. Echo has found the perfect sniping position on the ridge across from them, and is laying on his stomach to provide cover fire.
"They'll be fine," Rex emphasizes gently. "Let's go. We need to shut off the all-clear signal."
Fives reluctantly draws back, and they head back into the base.
When they return to the command center Rex sits down at a console and tries to deactivate the all-clear signal. Hevy exchanges a grim look with Fives. They both know what Rex is going to find, so it's not a surprise when Rex lets out an angry curse.
"They've hard-wired the all clear signal and sabotaged the transmitter. We won't be able to get any transmissions out, much less alert the Republic!"
Rex's comlink suddenly beeps. "We're mopping up the last of the droids, but we've got a bigger problem on our hands," Cody reports grimly. "There's a Separatist Fleet coming out of hyperspace above us, and they're sending landing craft down."
"Kriffing—" Rex swears. "Get up here once you're done. The signal has been hijacked, we can't warn the fleet."
"Copy that," Cody says gruffly. Hevy frowns. Something… doesn't feel right. Things are playing out mostly as they had before, with a few minor differences on the clone's part, but not much variation by the droids. Their next step is to hold the droids off while they set up the explosives to blow the base, but Hevy can't shake the feeling that something's off. He takes his helmet off and glances at Fives.
"You alright, brother?" the ARC asks him in a low voice. Hevy shrugs.
"Dunno," he replies. "Got a bad feeling about this."
Fives takes his own helmet off and frowns.
"More so than usual?" he questions, and Hevy knows that's his nice way of saying, "Is there really something wrong or are you just nervous because you died here last time?"
"I'm not sure," Hevy replies quietly. "It's just… everything's happening pretty similar to last time. That's… kind of strange, isn't it? We've changed things, so shouldn't the droids change, too? Didn't Echo have a theory about this? Butterfly effect, or something like that? Things are supposed to be different."
Fives frowns.
"I… you're right," he says. "That is strange. But we haven't changed things that much, have we? Apart from all of us surviving."
"The carrier's getting closer," Rex reports, startling them out of their hushed conversation. "It'll be here soon. Cody, are you guys finished yet?"
"Just barely," Cody reports. He sounds slightly winded. "We're on the move."
Hevy wracks his brain. There has to be some reason why he's feeling uneasy. He runs the rest of the plan through his head. The droids land, they attack, but the clones set up explosives and get out before they…
Wait a moment.
Hevy jerks around and grabs Fives' shoulder.
"Fives, the landing platform doesn't exist anymore," he says urgently. "It's gone, remember? The droids won't be able to land."
Fives blinks.
"You're right," he says. "Well, that's good then, isn't it? Less work for us."
"Maybe," Hevy says. "Or, maybe they'll look for somewhere else to land. They want this base badly, remember? And there's only one other spot stable enough for them to deploy troops."
Fives' eyes go wide.
"The ridge," he breathes out. He grabs for his communicator.
"Echo, come in," he orders sharply. There's a hint of fear in his voice that Hevy has never heard before. "Echo, can you hear me? You have to get out of there, now."
"Fives? What are you talking about?" Echo responds. "I'm fine. They're not even going to know I'm here."
"Not if they land right on top of you!" Fives snaps. "You have to move!"
Echo lets out a gasp of realization. Through the comm they hear shifting gravel, as if Echo is trying to stand, before their brother hisses in pain.
"I can't move fast enough to be gone before they see me," he says, and even though he's in the worst position possible his voice is still calm. "I might just have to hunker down and hope they don't land a cruiser on me."
"Forget that. I'm coming to you," Fives snarls. "I knew this was a bad idea, I told you—"
"Don't even think about it, Fives," Echo responds sharply. "I'm going to be fine. You're needed. Domino needs you in command. I'm not worth—oh, kriff."
His voice drops out and is lost in static. There's a clatter of boots as Droidbait, Cody, and Cutup storm into the command center.
"Guys, the Separatist ship just landed on Echo's ridge!" Droidbait gasps out. "What are we going to do, we can't—!"
"I'm going out there," Fives growls. "We're not losing him. We're not."
"You won't lose him," Cody says suddenly. "Echo is more than capable of taking care of himself. Have a little faith, boys. He's injured, but he's far from helpless."
"He's against an entire battalion," Cutup whispers worriedly. "Not even an ARC can do that alone…"
"Every moment we spend standing here talking about it is another moment Echo is on his own," Rex finally cuts in.
"I'm going," Fives insists angrily, and shoulders his gun—but Rex holds up a hand to stop him.
"Fives. If you go to him now, Domino squad will lose two members."
Fives freezes, and Hevy winces. It's a low blow, but a necessary one. Rex's gaze is a complicated mixture of sympathy and steel.
"We're wasting time," Cody says. "Listen, we need to—"
"Blow the base," Hevy interrupts. "We need to blow the base, and the faster we do it faster we can help Echo. I haven't heard blaster fire yet. He's laying low, waiting for us. The mission comes first."
"Blast it," Fives hisses. "Blast it, fine." He whirls and fixes Droidbait and Cutup with a terrifying look. "The liquid tabanna. Now, boys. We don't have much time."
Droidbait and Cutup turn on their heels and disappear into the base. Rex and Cody appear slightly startled by Fives' sudden orders, but neither of them protest.
"Hevy. Go pick out some heavy artillery from the armory. We're gonna need it if we're going to save Echo."
Hevy spares a glance at the officers. Rex gives him a very tiny, tense, nod, so Hevy obeys.
He's worried. The officers aren't blind, or stupid. They know something's up, and the only reason they haven't confronted Domino about it yet is because there are much bigger problems at hand. Eventually that won't be the case, and Hevy isn't looking forward to that conversation once they're safe.
Despite his brother's panic, Hevy isn't too worried for Echo. If any of them are capable of hiding from a droid battalion with a broken leg, it's him. Echo is smart, and resourceful. He'll keep his head down, and he'll have a backup plan if he's found out.
Fives' war-long bond with Echo is a strength, but it's also a weakness. Their dependence and devotion toward each other is a distraction, and sure way to get killed if they aren't careful.
That being said, Hevy does understand. All of Domino does. That's why he obeys.
He leaves the armory with a two rocket launchers in his hands and several extra rockets tucked under his arms. Fives nods in approval when Hevy returns, barely glancing up from the complicated set of wires he has in front of him.
Droidbait and Cutup bring in the liquid tabanna. They move it over to Fives, who wires the containers into his contraption with such ease that Hevy knows Fives has done it before—either had learned it sometime out of necessity during the war, or had learned after the failure that resulted in Hevy's own death.
Whatever he does, it's fast, and it works. The datapad detonator syncs up with the explosives flawlessly.
"It's time to clear out," Fives says. "The explosives are live. As soon as I touch the button they'll go off."
"Alright, everybody out," Rex orders. "Down the maintenance tunnel, men. Move."
Just like that, the officers are back in charge. They go out the tunnel, dragging heavy weaponry behind them.
When they emerge on the other side, Hevy can hear the clatter of dozens of clankers starting their slow march toward the base. Five's hand is shaking on the detonator, and he reaches for the button—
"Not yet," Cody says. "Wait for the droids to get inside. Then we'll blow it."
Fives lets out a deep breath. Cutup puts a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to steady him, and to some extent, it works.
Then, Fives' comm goes off, and a voice fills the air.
It's not Echo's voice.
"—we do with him?" a droid is saying. "He claims to be the only one left alive. But we know that isn't true. Should we contact the general?"
Hevy stiffens, and ice shoots through his veins.
Echo's been found out. He'd no doubt activated his comm to alert them to that fact.
"I don't know," a second droid replies. "Do we even take prisoners?"
Hevy's breath hitches. It's not quite the last thing he'd heard in his past life, but it's close enough to make his heart skip a beat.
"Who knows," the first droid answers. "Maybe he knows where the others are hiding. Tell us something useful, clone!" There's a meaty thud—like one of the droids has struck Echo across the face.
"You clankers won't get a thing out of me," Echo says coldly, and his voice breaks their group out of their shocked stupor.
"We need to get him out of there, now," Droidbait says numbly. "They'll kill him."
"Agreed," Rex says. "We split up. I'll stay here with the detonator. You five go get Echo."
They don't argue with him. Fives hands the detonator off to Rex.
"Listen, if you can help it try to wait to rescue him until some of the droids go into the base," Rex tells them. "Once you start firing, they'll turn around if they're not already inside, and then we'll be in for a real firefight."
Fives nods tightly. Hevy wonders if he'll listen or not.
They start to climb the ridge. Near the top they have to keep their heads down as a massive squadron of droids pass overhead, moving for the base. Hevy tightens his grip on his rocket launcher as they wait and listens as the droids continue to argue over what to do with Echo. They try to make him stand, and, upon his uncooperative response, force him to. Echo bites down on a cry of pain that makes all of Domino shake with fury.
The instant the droids pass they're moving again, and to speed up their ascent they turn to their grappling hooks. They scale the last segment of the cliff to reach the top of the ridge in record time and peer over the edge at the landing craft.
There's only a few droids milling about, left behind to guard the ship while the rest go check out the base. As such, it's easy to locate Echo. He's standing stiffly at the edge of the ridge, all of his weight on his uninjured leg, with a gun at his head and a gun at his chest. His helmet is discarded on the ground at his feet.
They're still not quite close enough to hear the conversation with their own ears, but the words are still coming quietly through Fives' comm.
"Walk, Republic dog."
"I can't," Echo answers through gritted teeth. The droid holding the gun to his head presses it into his temple.
"Walk," the droid repeats.
"I'm injured," Echo hisses back. "I can't move, you rustbucket. My leg's broken."
"The clone is broken?" the second droid repeats. "It's not worth keeping, then. Too much trouble."
Hevy tenses. Next to him, Cody raises his own comm.
"Status, Rex?" he whispers.
"Not yet," Rex replies in frustration. "Not yet, just a little longer…"
"You're probably right. We'll find the rest of the clones soon, anyway, we don't need this one."
"Rex," Cody says again, more urgently. "We're running out of time!"
"I know!" Rex responds sharply. "Almost… almost…!"
"Good point, Sergeant. Get rid of it, then."
"Kriffing—!" Fives snarls, and makes as if to heave himself up onto the ridge. Cody stops him.
"Wait," he says, but his voice is tense.
"If we wait any longer, they're going to shoot him!"
The droids take a step back and angle their weapons at Echo's face. Echo's eyes go wide, and his breathing picks up, audible through his comm.
"We have to do something!" Droidbait protests. "Commander, please—he's going to die! We can't lose him so soon!"
"You're clear!" Rex suddenly shouts. "You're clear, go, I'm blowing the station!"
Domino doesn't need to be told twice.
The base explodes behind them, and they charge in, blasters firing even as their hearing goes out from the explosion. It feels like the whole moon shakes. The droids are startled by the explosion. They turn just in time to watch the blaster bolts streak towards them—more than are necessary, by a lot, but Domino doesn't care.
The other droids start to raise the alarm. Fives raises a hand and flashes out a handful of signals. The team splits on his orders smoothly, just as they'd practiced. Cutup streaks off towards Echo, while Droidbait and Fives hang back with Cody to pick off the droid stragglers. Hevy shoulders his rocket launcher and aims it inside the open door of the the landing craft.
"This is for O'Niner and Nub," he says, and fires. The rocket streaks into the ship and explodes. It isn't enough to destroy the landing craft, but it is enough to destroy any remaining droids inside. Hevy lights it up once more just to be safe, baring his teeth in satisfaction as flames begin to devour the ship.
He watches as Cody, Droidbait, and Fives take care of the rest of the droids. They're standard battle droids, with poor processing skills and even poorer aim. They go down fast, especially since most of them are still reeling from the double explosions—gyros thrown out of order from first the base, and then their ship, detonating spectacularly.
When the final droid falls, Hevy doesn't waste any time standing around. He heads straight for Echo, picking his way through the sparking droid parts. Cutup has forced their injured brother to lie back down, and Echo appears too exhausted to protest. Hevy drops to his knees next to his brothers and tugs off his helmet, dropping it down into the dirt.
Other than the bruise across Echo's face and the way his leg must be throbbing, he's unharmed. Cutup is checking him over anyway, muttering angrily under his breath and cursing the Separatists with curse words in various languages (mostly picked up from Fives). Droidbait and Fives join them a moment later, clustering around their wounded brother and peering at him with wide eyes.
Hevy's shaking again, and he's not the only one.
That had been too close.
Echo grins at them weakly.
"Nice of you all to finally show up," he says. His voice echoes around them. Hevy's confused by it until he realizes that both Echo and Fives' comms are still on. Fives flicks his off and smacks Echo's shoulder. It's a weak hit, not meant to hurt, but Echo groans theatrically anyway. Hevy can feel much of the tension in his shoulders uncoil at the banter.
"You kriffing moron," Fives says, voice thick with relief. "I told you it was a bad idea. But you didn't listen."
"Sorry," Echo apologizes weakly. "But it was necessary, you know. The ground team wouldn't have been able to get indoors in time, and—"
"Force, Echo, we know," Cutup interrupts. "You don't have to apologize. We're just glad you're alright."
Commander Cody joins them, speaking quietly into his comm as he approaches.
"Men, I have good news," he says. "Captain Rex is unscathed by the explosion, and is making his way to our position as we speak. The battalion was wiped out, along with the base, and the Republic fleet is entering the system." He offers them a proud smile. "The mission is a success."
Suddenly, Hevy's throat clogs up. He turns his head and stares at the flaming remains of the Rishi base, and tries not to remember the sensation of flames eating through his armor and tearing him apart.
"I always did hate that place," he manages to choke out. It's almost like a dream. He watches the base burn in the distance and clenches his fists. Last time, that had been him. But not this time. This time, they're all alive, and Hevy is half expecting the image in front of him to fall apart at any moment, disappear, fade to black and take his brothers away again.
But it doesn't. It's real. He leans back and closes his eyes.
He's alive.
Droidbait laughs. It's a light sound, lighter than Hevy's heard in a long time.
"We did it!" their brother cries, and tosses his helmet to the ground. "We did it, we're alive!"
A rebuke is on the tip of Hevy's tongue, because Cody is right there—but the Commander has already seen most of Domino's secrets, even if he doesn't understand them. Hevy decides that there's not much more they can do to condemn themselves, so he joins in, and Force it feels good to laugh.
"Good work, Domino," Fives says. He sounds exhausted, and Hevy doesn't blame him.
They've succeeded. It's been their singular goal for so long now that Hevy almost can't believe it just happened. He raises his head towards the sky and takes a moment to just breathe.
He's alive. They all are, and if Hevy has anything to say about it they're all going to stay alive.
Dimly he's aware of Captain Rex joining them, and quietly reporting on the movements of the Republic fleet as they chase the Separatists out of orbit. Hevy's never heard this part of the story before—Echo and Fives like to skip over the aftermath of Rishi, and Hevy doesn't blame them. He sits at Echo's side with his brothers around him and a stupid half-grin on his face, stunned by his own relief.
The Republic sends gunships to search for survivors a few minutes later. As the ships descend, and Rex and Cody stand to wave and shout.
The joy and thrill of success and life is almost enough to make Hevy forget about all of the other problems that have just become relevant in the wake of their survival.
Almost.
But not quite.
This is just the beginning, after all.
A/N: GUESS WHO'S DONE WITH MIDTERMS? *celebrates by hiding in my dorm and writing for like 7 hours straight*
Fives is protective. So is Echo, but he's not quite as bad as Fives is. Also, just because Echo and Fives are ARC and have plenty of experience doesn't mean they won't make mistakes.
This… did not go at all like I'd planned, but I kind of like it. It's really different, instead just of being a carbon copy of this part of the episode except for the fact that Droidbait and Cutup are alive. It didn't go in the direction I wanted, but I think this way is better, anyway.
Liquid tabanna (LT) is a fuel in the star wars universe, and it's highly explosive.
Also can we talk about how freaking awesome the new star wars trailer was? I was crying. My roommate was so concerned. I forced her to watch it with me and literally started shrieking when Finn appeared bc he's my fav. Just. Ugh. I'm so ready for December.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it! With any luck I'll be able to work on the next installment pretty quick, but that also depends on how much homework I get. Cross your fingers, friends. Thanks for reading!