Rex couldn't help but grin at the strangled yelp from the clone below him.

Just like old times, he thought as the wind rushed past him, deafening him. Only it's not me screaming this time.

Luckily, they only needed small adjustments with their jet packs to land neatly and quietly on one of the towers jutting up into the clouds.

"See? Not bad."

Rex couldn't see the glare coming from behind Howzer's helmet, but he could sure feel it.

They crept around the mist-shrouded tower's edge until they could see the stormtroopers' shuttle resting on the north landing pad.

"Must have already gone inside," Howzer said.

"There's another door over there," Rex said, pointing to an adjoining building. "We might be able to sneak in and see what they're up to from that direction."

The two clones crept like armored spiders around the dome, then dropped down to the main platform. The door Rex had indicated was slightly ajar, just enough for the clones to squeeze through.

Inside, Rex heard voices off to the left. He gestured for Howzer to follow him. He crouched down and crept forward, keeping to the darkest shadows, until he and Howzer were just inside a lab dotted with giant test tubes. Across from them, standing at the console, was a stormtrooper.

"This one appears to be nonfunctional as well, sir," the trooper said.

Rex felt goosebumps rise on his skin. A clone's voice, but one that was slightly higher pitched and somewhat clipped.

Sure sounds like Tech, Rex thought. He gave himself a mental shake. But it could just be your imagination. You need proof.

As he tried to come up with a way to rip the helmet off of the stormtrooper without anyone noticing, Howzer scanned the room they were in.

"There's a terminal," Howzer whispered, gesturing to their right, away from the stormtroopers. There, tucked into a recess, was a narrow data terminal. One of its standby lights winked an eerie green in the darkness. Its screen was cracked, but otherwise it seemed in decent condition. "We can download whatever data there is and analyze it once we get back to base."

Howzer took a few steps forward, then realized that Rex was heading in the opposite direction—towards the stormtroopers.

Howzer mashed his comlink. "What do you think you're doing? The terminal is this way!"

"Trying to get closer to hear what they're talking about."

"You're going to get yourself killed! Look, we can get whatever info Tarkin is after from this terminal, blow up the facility, and be on our way."

"We can't kill these stormtroopers."

Howzer stared at his captain, certain he'd misheard the man.

"Uh, say again? Not sure I heard that correctly."

Rex sighed into his comlink. "If I can get close enough to overhear them, we won't have to kill them."

"Rex, they're not worth saving. They've voluntarily pledged themselves to the Empire."

Rex's armored form hesitated in the shadow of a darkened tank, tubes and wires hanging down around him like vines.

"Get to the terminal and pull as much off it as you can," Rex said. "Let me handle this. If something happens to me, take the data and get back to base."

Howzer hesitated, wondering what had gotten into Rex. There was something different about these stormtroopers, or at least Rex seemed to think so.

"Fine." Howzer reluctantly hurried away from the captain.

CX-2 had his helmeted head and upper torso inside a console they'd run across. Kirgard heard him say something, but his voice was muffled by the mass of circuitry and wires.

"What was that?" the captain asked.

CX-2 pulled himself out of the console, a tangled fistful of wires in one hand. "I said that this console seems to have been the victim of some kind of rodent. I might be able to bypass the main board and splice enough wires to account for the rodent damage."

Kirgard kicked at a small crate, sending it skittering across the cluttered floor. "So it's salvageable?"

CX-2 dropped the wires and stood up straight. "Without an external power source, we have no way of knowing whether or not repairs will be successful. We would be better off taking any power source we find back to the first lab we entered earlier."

Kirgard ground his teeth, then clicked on his comlink. "Ferrus, find anything yet?"

"Negative, sir."

"Keep looking." Kirgard gestured down a hall they hadn't explored yet. "Let's keep moving."

Just then, something white jumped out of the shadows onto CX-2's back, dragging him to the floor. CX-2 flailed his arms, trying to grab at the thing on his back. The thing wrapped its arms around CX-2's helmet.

Kirgard could have sworn it was another stormtrooper. Shaking off his shock and uncertainty, he shot at the thing. Stormtrooper or not, it had attacked one of his men.

Kirgard's shot ricocheted off the floor right beside the stranger. He heard the man swear. It released CX-2's helmet and rolled away.

CX-2 scrambled to his feet and spun just in time to see the back of a white-armored clone dashing away.

"After him!" Kirgard shouted.

Howzer hit the power button on the terminal and was pleased to see the menu spring to life in front of him. He pulled a miniature data spike out of his pack and plugged it in.

He scrolled down the list of files. Most of the data had been wiped, presumably when the facility had been shut down. But strangely, there were a few files remaining. Howzer selected one.

Authorization Required.

Howzer rolled his eyes, then downloaded the locked files to the spike. Perhaps Echo could decode them later.

Suddenly, the terminal shut down.

"What the–"

Behind him, Howzer heard shouting. He looked over his shoulder and saw Rex sprinting away from two stormtroopers, leaping over fallen equipment. A power cord fizzled behind the captain, apparently snapped when Rex had tripped over it.

"Kriff," Howzer muttered under his breath. With another curse, he yanked out the data spike, then dashed after Rex and the stormtroopers.

The clone dodged through a doorway ahead of CX-2. From behind, Kirgard's shot zinged past him, sinking into the metal frame.

A shower of blaster bolts flew at the stormtroopers, making CX-2 and Kirgard duck behind a cloning tank. CX-2 peeked his head out, and was rewarded with another shower of blaster bolts.

"Ferrus," Kirgard said into his comlink, "we're pinned down. Couple of rogue clones, looks like. Can you cirlce around them and get at them from behind?"

"I can try, Captain," Ferrus replied. "These labs are a warren, though. Might take me some time to find my way back to you."

Kirgard reached out and fired off his blaster blindly.

"We are not going anywhere," CX-2 said.

Suddenly, one of the clones' blaster bolts hit a support beam overhead. The beam creaked, then groaned, then fell directly in front of the stormtroopers. As it fell, it crushed a cloning tank, sending stinking green fluid spraying in every direction.

CX-2 flinched as his armor and visor were coated in slime.

Kirgard tapped his comlink. His voice was somewhere between dejected and irritated. "Never mind, Ferrus. We lost them."

CX-2 stepped out of his hiding place and walked over to the wreckage. The entire ceiling had collapsed, leaving a gaping hole in the roof of the building. Fog from outside was already creeping in to mix with the dust-laden air.

"They're clever, I'll give them that," Kirgard said, standing beside CX-2.

"Why did they attack us?" CX-2 asked. "It appeared that one of the clones was trying to access that data terminal. Would it not have been safer for the second clone to guard his brother, and only attack if we noticed them?"

Kirgard nodded slowly. "It would. But it would also make more sense to shoot us instead of pouncing on us. He gave up the element of surprise. And didn't use a blaster."

"A clone clever enough to use the structural instability of the building to facilitate his escape, yet waste the element of surprise and the benefit of his blaster–which he clearly had–in attacking us." CX-2 cocked his head, thinking. "It does not make sense."

"No, it doesn't." Kirgard hefted his blaster. "I don't like people that don't make sense. Makes them unpredictable. Unpredictable people are dangerous."

Behind the privacy of his helmet, CX-2 frowned. Predictability was a death sentence to soldiers.

"Let's get back to Ferrus," Kirgard said. "I suddenly have a hankering for another blaster guarding my six."

Howzer and Rex finally stopped running when they'd put several large rooms and a couple of twisting hallways between them and the stormtroopers. They doubled over, panting, and yanked off their helmets. Rex gulped in dusty, rank air.

Once they'd caught their breath, Howzer turned on the blonde captain. "Alright, before we go any farther, you're answering some questions."

Rex waved a dismissive hand and began to walk away, towards another doorway. "Howzer, we can't do this right now. They might catch—"

Howzer grabbed Rex by the jetpack and spun the captain around to face him, then shoved the captain into the wall.

"No, you're answering them now," Howzer said through gritted teeth. "This is about more than Tarkin looking into cloning technology. There's something about this squad you're not telling me."

"It's not mission critical—"

"You made it mission critical when you took the hard option to keep them alive and then nearly got us both killed," Howzer growled. "Why don't you want Echo to know you're keeping tabs on this stormtrooper unit? Who are they to you?"

Rex slumped a little in defeat. He did owe Howzer an explanation. "Fine. Echo and I ran into this squad on our last trip to Coruscant. Echo thought one of them might be an old friend of his, a clone, but when Echo tried to talk to him, the trooper shot him and left Echo for dead."

"He shot Echo?" Howzer stared in shock at Rex. "So why are you still tracking this clone? It's obvious he's made his decision. As a matter of fact, that makes me want to shoot him more , not less."

"If it is who I think it might be, he supposedly died on Eriadu," Rex said. "You remember Hemlock? He's the one that supposedly found the body. I wouldn't put it past Hemlock to save the clone and brainwash him somehow."

"Ah. And you don't want Echo to get his hopes up because it's such a long shot."

"One of the longest," Rex admitted.

Howzer leaned heavily up against the wall.

"I'm sorry," Rex said. "I should have been upfront with you about this from the start."

"Yeah, you should have."

They stood in silence, Howzer processing the new information, Rex waiting for his brother's response. After a few minutes, Howzer tilted his head in thought.

"You already tried to get his helmet off," Howzer said. "We will not be trying that again. We don't have any medscanners…Too bad nothing around here actually works. But if we could get a sample of that stormtrooper's blood somehow, we could check it back at base to see if he really is a clone," Howzer said. "Wouldn't tell us if it's him, but maybe—"

"Actually, it would," Rex said, standing up straighter. "Echo's friend was a 99."

Howzer blinked. "You think it's Tech?"

Rex nodded. He should have known Echo would tell Howzer all about his adventures with the Bad Batch, including what had happened to Tech. Then his face fell. "How in the blazes are we going to get his blood? I couldn't get his helmet off without nearly getting killed by the other trooper; he's certainly not going to sit still while we take a blood sample."

"It looks like this facility has an automated defense system," Howzer said, pointing at a limp autoturret bolted to the ceiling. "If we got that up and running, it could do most of the work for us."

"We need his blood, not his head."

"We could dial back the power to half. If he's really a 99, he'll be fine."

Rex gave the other clone a sidelong look. "You really want to shoot him for shooting Echo, don't you?"

Howzer shrugged, hands out, palms up. "It's a win-win situation for both of us, sir."

Rex sighed. "We'll keep it at full power, and sneak up behind them while they're distracted by the turrets. Non-lethal cut only. Make sure you don't contaminate the sample with your own blood."

It was Howzer's turn to sigh dramatically. "Yes, sir."

Rex took hold of Howzer's arm and turned the other clone to look at him. "You're okay with this?"

Howzer shrugged. "After you saved me? What kind of hypocrite would I be if I didn't help out a brother?"

"We're risking our lives on the vague hope that it's a brother," Rex pointed out. "If you'd rather go with IR-2, I'll have him swing by and pick you up right now."

Howzer responded by sliding his green-painted helmet on and locking it in place.

"Let's get to work, Captain."

"Ferrus should be just one more room over," Kirgard said, looking down at the scanner in his hand.

They rounded a corner and stepped into a room stuffed with darkened computer equipment. A room with no other doors.

Kirgard swore. "Where's a map when you need one?" he grumbled.

"That intel is usually provided by probe droids," CX-2 said.

"Kriffin' monster," Kirgard growled. "What sort of creature eats droids?"

CX-2 was about to respond when he caught sight of the blinking light of a working command console shining in the darkness. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sir, there's a working console over there," he said, pointing.

"Finally. This mission was beginning to feel cursed." Kirgard took up a guard position, blaster trained on the only way in or out of this room. "Get to work. I don't know how much time we have before those clones find us."

CX-2 hurried over and activated the console. Lights flickered, then blazed strongly. Another switch brought the display to life.

"What am I looking for?"

"Anything related to Hemlock," Kirgard said, "and Project Necromancer."

As CX-2 navigated through the files, his heart sank. "The Kaminoans must have purged the system before abandoning the facility," he said. "There appears to be nothing left."

Kirgard swore. "All this for nothing? Maybe this console isn't hooked up properly to their database."

"No, it most definitely is. There does not—" CX-2 navigated to another auxiliary storage. There he found a single file: 99. "Wait. I found something."

He selected the file and a list of subdirectories presented itself.

Hunter. CT-9901. Defective clone. Clon—Enhanced sen—Electroma—Data corrupted—

—-. CT—-02. Defective clone. Technology expert. —Data corrupted—

Wrec—. CT-990-.—Data corrupted—Clone Force 99–Data corrupted—

Crosshair. CT-9904–Data corrupted—Clone Force 99: Sniper.

CX-2's jaw dropped.

Crosshair .

Rex cursed as a shower of sparks scattered across his hands. With a frustrated growl, he shoved the wires aside and tried again.

"This would be a lot easier if Echo were here," Howzer grumbled.

Rex didn't bother to answer. He had his reasons for leaving Echo behind, and nothing Howzer had said in the past half hour had changed his opinion that he was doing the right thing by keeping this from the cyborg clone.

Rex twisted the wires together carefully and was rewarded by a soft hum, followed by a squeal. He looked up—straight up the barrel of the awakened autoturret.

The clone dove out of the way as a torrent of blaster bolts lanced towards him, then ducked behind a crumbling wall.

"Got it," Rex said.

"I noticed," Howzer said from behind a crate.

CX-2 stared at the name.

Crosshair. CT-9904. Clone Force 99: Sniper.

CX-2 couldn't breathe. His heart was beating too fast, his fingers trembling as he reached forward to select the file.

A blaster bolt sank into the console, sending up a burst of sparks and blackening the metal.

"No!" CX-2 shouted.

His gloved fingers scrambled across the controls, desperately trying to salvage it. But it was dead. He slammed his fist down.

Kirgard yanked CX-2 out of the way just as another blaster bolt sizzled through the air and hit the console where the clone had just been standing. The captain pulled CX-2 behind a pile of crates.

"The facility's automated defenses have been activated," Kirgard said, gesturing at the autoturret in the ceiling that had just slagged the console.

CX-2 didn't respond. He was shaking, staring at the smoking console.

Crosshair. CT-9904. Clone Force 99: Sniper.

The words echoed in his mind. He'd been so close. He'd nearly had the information he needed about Crosshair.

About my past, CX-2 corrected.

"Hey, trooper," Kirgard said, smacking the side of CX-2's helmet. "You there?"

CX-2 turned to look at the captain. Kirgard stared straight into the clone's visor as though he could see through the black transparisteel.

"CX-2, I order you to destroy those two clones. Use any means necessary."

A switch flicked over in CX-2's brain. His heart rate shot up as anticipation for the hunt surged through his veins. He straightened, his mind clearing and fixating on a single goal.

Destroy the clones.