Chapter 2 - Captivity

Crosshair comes to see them the next morning, or at least Hunter thinks it's the next morning. He's not really sure.

What's odd is that he's not alone. There's – someone else with him. A girl, maybe around nine, or nineteen, nat-born standards. Her hair is dark, her skin the same shade as Wrecker's, and she's wearing some kind of head-piece-glasses. It reminds him of Tech. She's dressed in a mindless gray.

But there's something about her...

Hunter recognizes that scent from somewhere – it's a little forest-y, evergreen-like, but softer. He shifts forwards in his cage, straining against the collar digging into his neck. Having an electric field right next to him is getting annoying.

Crosshair's hand is on his blaster, and his helmet hides his face. Hunter thinks he's still angry, and he deflates a little at that.

The girl looks across them assessingly, approaching Hunter first. She kneels, setting a tray down beside the cage that he eyes warily, backing away. Something is familiar about her. He thinks he knows her somehow, and his mind registers her as a confusing mix of threat and safety in unison.

"I'm just here for a blood sample," she tells him, actually looking at him and holding his eyes through the bars. "Can you come closer?"

"Yes, she's going to stab you with a needle," Crosshair announces. Wrecker backs as far from the cage edge as he can get. Hunter straightens, snarling quietly.

She sighs, looking back at him. Her hair is long, halfway down her back and pulled into a ponytail. "Crosshair, you are not helping."

"He wasn't trying to help," Hunter barks at her, even if she can't understand.

"That's true," his littlest brother agrees.

She looks back at Hunter, waiting. He doesn't move, eyeing the mechanisms warily. What does she need his blood for?

"What's his name, Crosshair?"

He sighs. "Hunter."

"Hunter," she repeats, "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you." She extends a hand, slipping it through the bars easily – she's much skinnier than he is. Hunter very, very slowly shifts forwards, carefully offering her a paw. He might as well be cooperative when it's not as though he'll get a chance to make choices as a prisoner. The girl takes it, her touch warm and gentle, and then...

He thinks one of his claws might've sliced a little too easily through her glove. He wasn't trying to scratch her, it just – happened.

And with the slightest prickle of contact, some sort of energy jolts down his leg, zapping his own and the energy in him twists, trying to forcibly rewrite himself into human.

Crosshair wasn't kidding about the collar. The electricity it sends down his neck is sharp and hot, and Hunter drops with a cry. He rolls away from her, pawing at the collar and trying to pry it away from him, but he can't get it off.

"What was that?" someone asks panickily. He's not sure who.

Hunter whines, eyes closed. His neck is on fire. His body aches. Head is burning. Everything is too loud.

Crosshair makes a noise, and he hears a click of the lock opening. He tenses again, shifting and trying to lift his head. Crosshair kneels beside him, gently touching his side and stabbing the needle into his leg. Hunter twitches – it stings a bit, but it's not hard.

Crosshair's touch on him hurts. Everything stings a little. He whines again at it. He wants to cry, to curl up in someone's arms, but not – not Crosshair's.

Hunter turns over once he can, rolling to his feet and crouching, pressing himself to the floor. Crosshair strokes his hand over Hunter's head, touching his fur. He tosses the blood vial to the girl, who catches it and sets it in her tray. She looks up at him again, wide-eyed.

Hunter doesn't think what happened was intentional. He doesn't think she meant to hurt him, but she still did.

"I – am sorry," she says awkwardly, "I don't know what happened."

Crosshair sighs. He doesn't say anything. His fingers work through Hunter's fur, stroking across his head and over the collar as if that was part of him, then down his back.

Hunter hates this collar. All he can think about is Bracca and his little brother's hands over his neck, crushing and crushing and all he could think of was how Wrecker was about to snap his neck and there was nothing but him and Wrecker and the dark walls around them, and he was gonna die there and Wrecker was going to have to live with having done it. And from there, Wrecker would – would – but then Omega had come, and she'd saved him. She saved all of them there.

It's not exactly – he doesn't want this. Hunter whines again, shoving at Crosshair with a paw to push him off. He doesn't want their little brother to hurt him again, but he's probably going to get angry or be hurt. And frankly, Hunter's scared to fight him. He's chained and his head is throbbing. His body aches everywhere.

"There is another sample we need to take from you," she adds, watching them.

"We need you human again. Just for a minute."

What?

No.

He backs away from Crosshair, closer to the side of the cage up on the wall. He wants to disappear.

He is not going to do this. He's not gonna completely take away any defense he has when – stars. No.

Crosshair sighs again. He's annoyed. Hunter feels the whisper in his mind. Smells it all over him. "Stop being stubborn." His little brother collects another vial from the girl and renters the cage.

Hunter snarls at him, pressed as far back as he can get. The chain keeps him away from the back wall, too.

"Come on," Crosshair says, still annoyed, "It will only be for a minute and it's not going to hurt you."

He'd like to know what their taking blood samples from them is for. Probably doesn't matter half as much as the fact that his little brother is keeping them chained here like animals to begin with.

Hunter growls lowly at him.

"I... won't watch," the girl offers, as though that's going to help somehow.

"Your stubbornness isn't going to change this," Crosshair grumbles.

Which is true, much as he loathes to admit it. He's a prisoner and the Empire will find some way of getting what they want, no matter how much he fights against it. He knows Crosshair can force him into this, and it's not like they haven't done much, much weirder things before – Hunter bit Tech's tail once – and they snuggle in these forms all the time, but it's different Crosshair's fully armored and when he's fighting them.

He doesn't want this.

Crosshair kneels in front of him, touching the collar's lock and deactivating it with a firm "don't try anything."

As if he's really in the state for that right now. Until Wrecker is healed, they don't stand much chance of making it through a breakout successfully.

He can't feel much relief at having the chain off, considering the circumstances and how short lived this is going to be, anyway. He's still in a cage, after all.

Crosshair takes the blood sample from his arm as soon as he's back in his human form. Hunter shifts back to being a wolf the moment he's finally done. Crosshair touches his head again. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" he asks.

Hunter ignores him entirely, curling up in a miserable fur-ball.

He wants to cry. To get out of here. Something.

He's not Crosshair's pet.

What is the Empire studying them for? Is that what they're doing?

Wrecker lets the girl stab his neck with the needle without fighting over it – it's the easiest place to get through his scales, though from how he backs away and rubs his neck, Hunter thinks it hurt. It won't be hard to heal from, but trying to work something under his scales must be agonizing.

Crosshair goes in to get the other sample. His hand is way too close to his blaster for Hunter's liking.

Tech doesn't fight it, either, though he disappears himself back into the sand the moment he can.

Crosshair leaves the room without looking back.

Hunter tries not to think too hard about how the girl, whoever she is, does. She's watching them all with something weighted. If she weren't Imperial and a nat-born, Hunter thinks he might like her.

"There's something different about her," he conveys quietly when the door is safely shut.

"Yes, I felt it as well," Tech confirms. "Her mind was blank to me. I was not aware that was possible."

Tech can influence anyone, even Jedi – not that he's tried that. Everyone, except this girl, apparently.

Whoever she is.

And he wasn't forgotten how weird it was when he touched her, like she was – He doesn't even know. There's something about her and he can't figure out what it is.

"What're we gonna do now?" Wrecker asks miserably.

"We have to wait until you're healed," Hunter reminds. But since the wing was treated properly, it shouldn't be much longer. Hopefully.

**w**

No one comes in to check on them the rest of the day, except very briefly to give them food. It's sometime in the night cycle when they finally decide to make their move.

"There's four people nearby," Hunter reports in as low of a growl as he can manage. He can feel their heartbeats, moving not far away. "Can you handle all of them, Tech?"

"Of course, I can," he replies, even if it is a very legitimate question, considering how Tech can't breathe out of water in his fish form very well. His human form still has gills, and his fish form still has, well, a nose, but neither work well in his opposite form.

On the positive side, it's also not too many for them to have to fight off if it comes down to it. The odds seem almost too good. But he doesn't know if they're going to get a better chance. Sneaking through the halls is probably going to be a lot harder than getting out of the room from the start.

"Then do it," Hunter tells him, because they need to act before Crosshair comes back.

He still doesn't know what to do about getting him back. After everything he's just done to them, Hunter doesn't even know how to try and help them, at least not when they're still prisoners and chained. They have to get his chip out, but somehow, Hunter needs to get through to him. He doesn't know how when that girl was with him – he didn't want to risk Crosshair or endanger him somehow. Not that she would be able to understand him the same way their brother can.

Tech swims toward the top of the tank and starts making the sound he firmly insists is not singing even if it certainly sounds like something close to Hunter. He doesn't care to get smacked in the face with a fish tail for saying so again, though.

It's maddening. Whatever it is he does, it makes all of them want to get all up-close and snuggly, and Wrecker growls at his cage bars in effort to pry the collar off again. Hunter can relate. This is maddening.

Thankfully, it doesn't take long before Hunter can sense the nearby people moving closer.

The door to their room snaps open moments later, and it's Crosshair's squad. Even seeing them is upsetting considering that they're his new squad, but he didn't realize it was them who were close by. Hopefully that doesn't mean Crosshair is nearby, too.

All four of them are clearly entranced by Tech because they slowly approach the tank. Once one of them is close enough, they reach up to pull the cover off it.

Finally.

Hunter is relatively certain they must be fairly untrained, considering how fast Tech as a fish smacks them all unconscious. More like slaps. He almost feels bad – being hit with a tail does really hurt. Tech hit him in the snout for biting him once. It nearly gave him a black eye.

He wriggles his way across the floor – he's gotten good at moving like that over the years – reaching up enough to unlock Hunter's cage. He wriggles his way inside after that, and Hunter ducks his head down so Tech can reach the lock on his neck enough to get it off. He's impressed Tech was even able to do that much. Usually, he can't really move around in his fish form. It's hard for him. He doesn't do more than lay almost perfectly still and breathe.

It's relieving to have one of his brothers touching him again after how long he's been stuck in the cage – someone other than Crosshair, even if he feels awful about thinking that.

And it's even more relieving to finally be free of the chain. He trots out of the cage, and Tech goes over to get Wrecker out next. Now how they're going to get through the halls in these forms is a different matter entirely.

"I'll scout for our armor," Hunter offers, nosing the door. It's risky, but it's less dangerous than all of them going at once.

He peaks into the hall, but the guards are gone. Crosshair did keep Tech's armor here somewhere. It's probably a nearby storage closet. They're clear, and he motions them forward.

Sincerely, though – seeing Tech wriggle is hilarious. Hunter has to try his best not to laugh at seeing his little brother flop like a fish out of water. It's really not that funny, considering he can't breathe well like that, but still.

There's a closet right around the corner they squeeze inside – Crosshair's been here. Hunter can feel it. He also suspects he's not too far from finding and murdering them. hopefully not literally. Their armor is in here – he feels the charge in their weapons and Tech's datapad.

Good.

"Problem," Tech observes as they look over their things. "Only my body glove is still intact."

Yes, that's going to be a big problem. Hunter figured it would be a problem, but they didn't have much other choice.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Wrecker asks, uncertainly.

Hunter scans the shelves, gaze landing on the other normal clothes for the regs stored here. "I should fit one of those," he points out, "But we'll have to go get something for Wrecker." Because nothing here is going to be big enough.

He and Tech shift again and scramble into their armor – it's nice to be human again. To be free.

He pieces his armor on, fastening it and moving for the door.

Someone's coming. He feels their blaster charge, and their heartbeat. This isn't going to end well – they have to get all the way to the hangar and off-world somehow, and not to mention somehow talking to Crosshair again. He doesn't even know where to start.

They can't wait in here though.

Hunter pushes the door open, firing a stunblast at the trooper right on the other side. They go down with a thump, but their comm promptly starts beeping. Hopefully they weren't sent to scout out the disturbance – there shouldn't have been a disturbance noticed already, but maybe there was.

Wrecker doesn't look too enthusiastic about having to stay behind, but they don't have any other choice. They can't take a dragon with them on a stealth mission. Not when they're sneaking through small halls.

Hunter motions for Tech to follow and they take off through the halls, dodging around corners and avoiding the troops moving around. There's hardly any around, oddly enough. Is something happening?

Having to sneak around on Kamino a second time reminds him too much of last time. He doesn't want to think last time, considering that they're almost guaranteed to have to confront Crosshair a second time over before they make it out of here.

Hunter senses people approaching suddenly. He can feel their heartbeats and hear them moving closer. They aren't going to be able to avoid them all.

A group of stormtroopers round the corner, instantly raising their blasters. The same girl from earlier is standing with them.

"Hunter," she starts, stepping forward before anyone can start shooting, "Stand down. No one needs to get hurt." She doesn't seem surprised to see them. The stormtroopers must have already been looking for them.

Hunter ignores her comment entirely – being here at all is obviously going to lead them to being hurt. He doesn't understand why the girl is acting almost concerned about them. She's Imperial.

"Tech," Hunter urges, the meaning obvious. The simplest way to get through this would be to deal with them the same way they did with Crosshair's squad.

"I can't," Tech replies tersely.

He – ?

Oh.

Because of the girl?

What is it about her? Tech can't use his siren song to deal with the stormtroopers because of whatever she's doing to them and that means –

Hunter doesn't wait, firing at them. They start shooting back – stunblasts. The Empire obviously still wants them alive.

The girl scrambles for cover as they exchange shots.

They could have made it past them if another group of stormtroopers hadn't circled around behind them, cornering them.

They don't have a choice but to surrender, setting their weapons on the floor and letting the stormtroopers put them in binders, leading them back the way they came. So much for that. Wrecker might be able to get them out still, maybe. But Hunter already has the sinking feeling that they aren't going to be that fortunate, especially not when he senses even more people up ahead, right near where they left Wrecker.

When they reach that spot in the hall, it's to see Wrecker's out in the hallway now, surrounded by stormtroopers, and – Crosshair is here, too.

Hunter freezes, heart rate spiking. This is bad. He can clearly see his little brother's fury, see the anger burning in his eyes, and he's not ready to face this again. Not remembering Crosshair caging them.

Wrecker catches Hunter's gaze for a moment, wings pressed close to him. He looks distinctly miserable – Crosshair probably compelled him into submission.

"Leaving again?" Crosshair snaps, stepping forward.

He knows how this looks to Crosshair, and he doesn't know how to begin – making any of this right. He can't even get Wrecker and Tech out of this. How is he going to get Crosshair's chip out?

"We didn't have a choice, Crosshair," he replies. He has no idea what's about to happen now, what the Empire will do them, what – what they'll have Crosshair do to them. He's come so close to hurting them already. And Hunter's terrified to know if it's going to get even worse.

Because it's not really an if, is it?

He can't stop remembering the feel of the chain pressed against his neck.

"Well, you won't be getting one anymore," Crosshair snaps back, motioning for the stormtroopers to move forward.

With blasters trained on them from all sides, they don't stand much chance at trying to run again, not even with Wrecker as a dragon. At least not when the girl is still here too.

But where are they taking them? They aren't being led back to the room with the cage which has him a mix of relieved and even more on edge because where are they going instead?

He rather doubts Crosshair will be very likely to answer any questions right now, either, so Hunter just stays quiet, watching carefully for a chance to escape. The emptiness of the halls hits him back.

"Where are all the regs?" he asks finally.

"When did you start caring about them?" Crosshair bites back, as though that even has anything to do with his question.

His mind is whirling with the – what this probably means. "Why is the facility being decommissioned?" He doesn't even understand. Kamino's always been their home on some level.

"It served its purpose."

The way Crosshair says it puts Hunter on edge. It feels like it has a double meaning on some level, and he doesn't want to think about it.

**w**

At least they aren't in a cage again, but being trapped inside a ray shielded cell in the back of a transport shuttle isn't all that much better. Hunter's just glad that he's human right now, so they can't outright treat him like – like an animal. but he has no idea where they're being taken now.

Tech and Wrecker are in different cells opposite his. He can still somewhat see them both, but they aren't with each other, and he loathes it. Especially when he has no idea how they're going to get out of this. He wants to be with them again, to curl up together and let each other's presences soothe them all the way they always used to.

The door to the back of the shuttle opens suddenly, and he senses Crosshair's familiar heartbeat before he steps into view in front of Hunter's cell.

He can't help the way he curls in on himself a little instinctively, bracing for – whatever's about to happen. This is one million kinds of messed up. He shouldn't have to be afraid of his little brother hurting them.

"Don't try anything," Crosshair says, sounding distinctly disgruntled. He pushes the button to deactivate the cell's ray shield, stepping inside.

"What're you doing?" Hunter queries. He doesn't think he needs to be on edge, but he's not really sure, either. It's instinctive by now. He doesn't want to think about how long it'll take them all to be around Crosshair again after they finally get him out.

"Feeding," he answers shortly.

So, he's not even gonna ask? Well, no shock there. He's usually a bit... pushy, though never this much so. Not that Hunter exactly minds – he's desperate to feel someone again. He's hardly been touched in forever. He wishes Crosshair wasn't the only one to do it anymore.

He tries not to stiffen instinctively when Crosshair comes over, kneeling on the floor next to him. Crosshair's fed on all of them countless times over the years and there's nothing unusual about it. Hunter almost missed it in the time they were separated – but nothing is the same anymore.

Crosshair scoots closer so he's half in Hunter's lap, reaching up to tug down the neckline of his body glove a little.

He tries not to think about the feel of the collar around his neck again. Or that Crosshair was the one to do it. It's enough to make him tense instinctively at having him touching him this personally, though.

He still automatically tilts his head a little to give Crosshair the room he needs, though. His little brother leans closer, head nuzzled against his neck. He would've just held him without question any other time before, but now –

He feels the familiar sting as Crosshair's fangs sink into his neck, but it quickly fades away to the contended sensation being fed on always brings. It's always relaxing and he finds the tension draining him out of him instinctively, reaching up a hand to lightly lay on Crosshair's back and hold him until he's finished.

It's some minutes before he can feel the blood flow starting to slow, but Crosshair doesn't move, head still resting on his shoulder. As though nothing's changed at all when everything is so different.

He almost wants to say something to him, something about this whole mess but –

"Where are we going?" Hunter asks finally.

Crosshair stiffens a little, sitting back. Hunter's hand drops back to his side. "You'll see when we get there," he replies tersely, the same he said for when they were being brought to Kamino. But wherever it is, it can't be anything they're familiar with this time and that's not going to be good. How are they going to get out of here?

Crosshair slides the rest of the way off Hunter's lap, standing and leaving the cell without another word.

He's still angry. Not that Hunter expected anything less.

But he still has no idea what to do about it.

**w**

The girl from earlier comes to the back of the shuttle only minutes after Crosshair leaves. She's pacing back and forth between their cells, not really doing anything.

Hunter can feel the way his werewolf form is reacting to her presence again, almost shying away from it if that were even possible. What is she? No one should be able to affect them like that, right?

But maybe he can try to get some answers. Why does she seem so familiar?

"Who are you?" Hunter tries finally, shifting a little closer to the ray shield.

The girl stops, looking at him but not exactly making eye contact. It reminds him jarringly of Tech for a moment.

"I'm Emerie Karr," she replies.

Her name doesn't tell him much about who she is, though.

"You work for the Empire?" he presses, mostly testing the waters.

"I do," she responds, "Like the majority of the clones do."

Wait –

Why is she saying it as though she's including herself in that?"

"You are a clone?" Tech asks. He does not sound surprised. Did he already guess?

"I am."

She's a clone.

They have another sister. Omega isn't their only sister. All Hunter can do for a moment is just stare at her. He had no idea Emerie was one of them. But it explains just a little of why she was being so strangely gentle with him before. He's her brother.

Why does she have a last name, though? That's only something nat-borns have but... Her role is very different from the rest of theirs, to be fair.

"Wha... How's that possible?" Wrecker splutters, his dragon-form moving up to the edge of the ray shield.

Hunter doesn't think Emerie understands what he's saying, though.

"How many other sisters do we have?" he asks a little dryly, because he's really wondering.

"Only one other, as far as I am aware," she replies.

Only Omega, then. He shouldn't be surprised that she's evidently already heard of her.

"How can you neutralize our abilities?" Tech demands, "That should not be possible."

Emerie hesitates. "I... do not know. My mutations were unusual."

That much is obvious.

"Our abilities are a part of us," Tech objects, "Something from outside should not be able to interfere.'

"You also have a connection to the elements. I believe it is connected with that," she replies.

"Where are you taking us?" Hunter presses, hoping they can at least get a little bit of something out of her. "Why are you here?"

"I was sent to bring you to a... research facility," she replies, this time avoiding his gaze.

"They're gonna study us?" Wrecker growls, his wings twitching in a clear display of his fear.

Hunter's stomach drops instantly at her answer. As if they haven't dealt with that enough. They need to get out of here. Doesn't Crosshair realize how badly this can end? He knows it's not his fault really, but –

"Cooperate, and you will not be harmed," Emerie tells them, as though that's at all comforting. She sounds genuinely apologetic, even more so than Crosshair did, and Hunter doesn't really know what to think of that.

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