Chapter 8 - The Nightmare Was Me
Tech's head is pounding as he tries to shift his position enough to watch what is happening. He does not know the extent of the electric damage to his brain, but he is aware that it could become serious if it continues. He can still function right now, though, so he will worry about long-term later. Even if his entire body is aching and he is well aware that he is not in a fighting condition right now.
He can hear the blaster shots down below and see it as Emerie darts over to controls on his machine, trying to get him free.
But then the black-helmeted assassin starts moving toward her. She looks up sharply, hand slamming down on the controls and the cuffs snap off his wrists, but the assassin grabs her arm before she can back away. She tries – and fails – to jerk away from him.
Hemlock strides back into view, approaching her. The way Emerie stiffens, drawing back about as much as she can the moment she sees him makes Tech's desire to end him along with Tantiss even stronger.
"I see you're intending to betray me again," Hemlock says coolly. "You will fail." He turns away, approaching the controls and pushing a button.
Tech can only watch as green gas floods the room below. He can hear the clones start coughing. It's a toxin, and he has no idea if it is intended to kill them, or merely to incapacitate them, but Echo is down there, and they have to shut it off before it is too late.
The door opens, a stormtrooper running inside to tell Hemlock there was an explosion in the main lab and it has been completely destroyed. That means he is failing already. His data is gone.
Tech sees Wrecker moving suddenly, ripping himself the rest of the way free from the machine and throwing the top half of it across the room, knocking down the stormtroopers who are trying to shoot at him. It hits the control panel on the far side of the room, and the gas pouring down below abruptly stops.
The cuffs on the rest of them come free and Tech clamors to his feet. His head is pounding, and his entire body aches the moment he tries to move. He does not know how he would be able to fight with his right arm at all, but he will have to find a way.
The black-helmeted assassin goes for Wrecker again. The red and green ones are still down below but they will have to stop all of them to win here. But Tech already fought them enough to know that this will not work. They have to find another way.
He was mostly out of it when he was brought in here, but he has seen enough of the room to know that there is a door in here that appears to lead to where the assassins keep their supplies. He does not know if there is anything that will combat their armor, but it is worth checking, especially when he is not in ideal fighting condition regardless.
Tech takes off for the doorway, right as Wrecker tackles the black-helmeted assassin out the window, and they fall down to the space before. Crosshair is shooting at the other stormtroopers with Hemlock, and Emerie is still attempting to pick up a weapon. They should be fine until he is back.
There are... many supplies in here when he opens the door, but what Tech is not expecting to find is another set of assassin armor in here. There is green on this one as well and the weapons include a rifle. Was this intended for Crosshair?
Or... someone else?
But it does not matter. This is the moment he has been waiting for. The armor has been reinforced with Zillo beast scales like the others. Any armor – that is not stormtrooper armor – would be ideal to have right now. Tech dons it as quickly as he can before heading back out into the room.
The green and red assassins have it made up onto the upper level when Tech gets back out there. Hunter is fighting off the red one with an electrostaff, since his vibroblade was taken before. It is a clumsy way of fighting, and he is not standing stably, but Tech cannot intervene from this distance.
The green one and Crosshair are exchanging fire, but the green one is moving closer – Crosshair's shots do nothing to him. Tech starts firing back at him, and the green one spins toward him, posture shifting a bit as he appears to realize that this is not an assassin who is on his side. He fires back at him and Tech ducks just in case, but a shot glances off his arm armor, and it doesn't even spark.
The armor is like the others, then.
This is what he needed.
He tackles the green assassin without waiting, ignoring the blast shots hitting him in the chest. They don't penetrate. He feels the force of it, but nothing more. He is able to gain the advantage against the green assassin quickly since the other is already injured. Tech is injured as well, however, and fighting him is not easy. He knocks the green one's helmet off before the assassin is able to shove him off. Crosshair fires again, shooting the assassin through the head.
One down, two left aside from all the stormtroopers.
Emerie's yelp catches Tech's attention and he spins around to see Hemlock taking off out of the room. The commando is behind him, dragging Emerie after them. It is as a way to lure them out, no doubt. There is no tactical advantage in doing so, short of using her as a bait, but Tech will not let her be taken.
He does not know if it's merely for leverage or if he actually intends to do something with her, but he will not let that happen.
The red-visored assassin jumps into their way, throwing a vibroblade at Hunter before any of them can attempt to give chase. Tech shoves him out of the way, and the blade harmlessly clangs off his armor. He can handle him, but this is slowing them down and they do not have time for it.
His right arm is burning badly. Something must be strained again, or perhaps torn. It is growing increasingly difficult to use it.
Hunter tackles the virbosword one again, and Tech joins him, attempting to help while fighting primarily with his left arm. It is not easy when he scarcely move in a coordinated fashion after the electrocution. Hunter is having the same problem. The only advantage Tech has is his armor and that the red-visored assassin's vibroblades are unable to penetrate it, but he is gaining the upper hand, and they cannot wait.
Hemlock will be gone with Emerie if they are not able to give chase. They have to go.
Tech tries to reach for his helmet to knock it off, but the assassin shoves Hunter aside, catching Tech's right arm and twisting it sharply. He sucks in a sharp breath as he rips away from him, ignoring the way he feels as though he is about to collapse. Rest is not a luxury they can afford right now, and injuries are something they were trained to deal with extensively.
Hunter uses the moment to stab one of the assassin's own vibroblades in between a joint on his armor. He rolls away, ripping the blade back out, but Tech fires at him several times before he can make an effort to stand. The blasts will not penetrate his armor but the force of them is still enough to throw him over the edge, into the room below where the others are still fighting. They should be able to handle it.
Right now, they need to go.
Tech, Hunter, and Crosshair give chase together, following Hemlock outside to what must be a back landing platform.
It is lightning outside when they finally arrive. Hemlock and the commando who is dragging Emerie are at the far end of the platform. There's a ship circling in from above and Crosshair shoots it down right off.
Hemlock and the commando spin around. The commando fires at them, and Tech steps in the front, letting his armor absorb the blasts so his brothers can shoot back. His right arm will not cooperate enough to hold a blaster anymore, but he can still shield the others. They hit the commando several times through the chest, and he staggers back, falling over the railing.
Hemlock grabs Emerie's arm before she can run, leveling a blaster at her head. "That's far enough," he yells warningly.
Emerie freezes. She does not show emotion on her face much, but he can still see the betrayal. She still cares for him, and now she will see with certainty that he never returned it.
The three of them freeze, hands on their blasters. There is nothing they can do without him shooting her.
Tech meets Emerie's gaze, willing her to understand the silent communication. She returns the look. She is the only one who can do anything to stop to get them out of this now.
After a moment, she nods the slightest bit and Tech shifts his position, watches the way Hunter and Crosshair do the same. They're ready.
Emerie stomps on Hemlock's foot and he jerks back with a near-yelp. Hunter and Crosshair both start shooting before Hemlock can fire. He stumbles back, going over the railing.
Tech stands watching as his body falls into the darkness far below.
He... is gone.
It is over. At last. Hemlock is dead.
The relief and satisfaction he feels is extreme. This has been their objective all this time and finally they achieved it. Without Hemlock, Tantiss will be entirely destroyed. Omega will be safe. All of them will be able to have a chance to live away from the Empire.
Emerie is still standing by the railing where Hemlock fell, unmoving.
Tech approaches her slowly, his brothers behind him.
"He can no longer harm any of us. Or you," Tech says.
"I know." She sounds almost lifeless. She is definitely not relieved in the slightest.
She is grieving him. Tech may not understand it, but he will still respect that she is. Hearing relief that he is gone will not help her right now.
Initiating hugs is not something Tech has done frequently but now is a time it seems appropriate. He steps closer, wrapping his arms around her.
Emerie starts slightly, in surprise or perhaps confusion. Her arms hover awkwardly at her side before she shifts, touching his back with one of her hands. "What are we doing?"
She does not know? But she has never known any of her siblings so it should not be a surprise. It is not as if she would ever have been shown any such care from Hemlock. Or the Kaminoans before that.
"It is called an embrace," Tech informs her. "It is a form of physical contact intended to be comforting."
"Oh," Emerie supplies, lowering her head to his shoulder.
He glances at Hunter and Crosshair. Hunter approaches them, laying his hand on Tech's back. He's as awkward about it as Tech is, but wraps his arms around them both. He knows little of Emerie, but he has already accepted her, and after seeing how alone she has been and how deeply she wants them, it is... relieving.
Hunter still remembers exactly how Tech likes being hugged – it's not near Wrecker's bone-crushing ones, with much more distance, but still close enough to be present and let him feel it.
"We gotta get back," Hunter tells them, "Some of the assassins were still up."
Echo and Wrecker are still fighting the last assassin standing.
Crosshair takes for the door, the others close behind.
Wrecker and the black assassin are beating each other up, and Wrecker manages to knock his helmet off. One of the others shoots him down. That was the last one. It means they really have won.
"Where's Omega?" Hunter asks, glancing around.
"She took the other children in the vault on a shuttle off-world," Echo replies.
So, she is safe, then.
"We need to leave before Imperial reinforcements arrive," Tech says. He has no doubt there are some already en route, and they do not need to wait around for them. With the action finally over, the exhaustion is finally catching up to him. Emerie looks as though she is about to drop from exhaustion, as well.
It is time to leave and... return to Pabu.
**w**
When Tech wakes, there's a telltale and easily recognizable hand in his own. He squeezes it lightly, and Omega gasps next to him. "He's awake!" she perks up, shifting but not quite sitting up.
Emerie is at his other side, Hunter's lying curled somewhat around Omega. Wrecker's arm is draped over Emerie, holding Tech's other hand. Crosshair is out of his light of sight, though Tech has no doubt he and Echo are somewhere in the immediate vicinity. He is aboard a shuttle, though they must have made it safely off Tantiss.
"Where are we?" he asks tiredly. His mind is still a little hazy, though the calm and lack of threat is definitely offering some form of relaxation.
"Back on Pabu," Hunter replies. He's not quite smiling, though he looks far more peaceful than Tech had seen on him since Crosshair left.
Emerie shifts a little at Tech's side, but no one moves to get up. He is exhausted. AZI should check all of them over, though.
He's used to sleeping on the Marauder, but their ship is gone forever. Perhaps he can go through the debris and see what he can rebuild from its pieces, and from those of the destroyed shuttle he and Emerie escaped in. There should be enough to construct –
"Tech," Hunter says, firm but gentle. "It's okay. We just got you. You can rest."
"Now isn't the time to talk about it," Omega pipes up, her head resting on Tech's shoulder – it's a welcome relief to the constant throbbing in it, and it is still sore, but the contact is still oddly soothing. "But... what's gonna happen now? To all of us?"
"I already talked to Rex and Senator Chuchi," Echo speaks up – he's somewhere below Tech's line of sight as well, probably sleeping in a slightly more off-to-the-side, more reasonable position. "Some of the clones are settling down on Pantora. She would like to talk to all of us about what happened on Tantiss. If... that's something we're comfortable with."
"We have the information of what occurred there," Tech agrees, "Though it will do little to the Empire long term."
"There are many clone sympathizers in the public," Echo replies, "If they knew what was happening, he wouldn't be able to get away with it."
"Rex is looking into the families of the other children," Emerie interjects quietly. "Until then, they will be cared for safely on Pabu."
"But for now, we stay here," Hunter interjects, "We've all... been through a lot. Our fight is over. We won. We've had enough war for one lifetime. Now, we get to choose who we want to be."
"Our lives have never been our own." Emerie's voice is soft.
"Until now," Echo agrees. "With Hemlock gone, Omega and all of us are free."
Freedom is still a strange concept. Tech had spent so long on Tantiss, but it was always with the mission of escaping and finding his way home lingering over him. He still does not fully understand what civilian life is. Phee had attempted to show him, though Tech did not understand most of what she was trying to tell him. He still is not certain he does. He always believed it was something they could learn together.
"What... do we do now?" Omega asks. "What do we... be?"
"Whatever we want, kid." Hunter smiles down at her a little, squeezing her shoulder, and she leans closer to him. "But for now, let's get some rest."
"I think I'll stick around a bit," Echo interjects, "There's still battles to fight, and I want to help our brothers settle down, but we've been trying so hard to get Tantiss down. So, I think I'll stay. Just for a little while."
"Really?!" Omega is visibly excited.
"Hey," he says, "I said I'd be back. Besides, we're all together for the first time. I'd hate to break it up so soon."
And that's how they sleep that night – curled around each other, free for the first time.
**w**
Nala Se came as well. Emerie was not fully aware of it until the following day when they're milling about, and she oversees her sister speaking to the Kaminoan.
"I will be leaving with the clones," she says, kneeling, "I will testify against the Empire."
"You're not a soldier," Omega protests with a shake of her head, "You can't fight the Empire alone. You'll need our help."
"This is my fight. Yours is done. Stay here with your brothers. That is where your place is."
Omega had meant something to her, the same as she wished she had meant to Hemlock, though Emerie has never had that chance. She is free now, but that is only with the knowledge of everything she's done to her family.
"Something wrong?" Hunter asks – he's with her, as is Tech. Wrecker and Crosshair had wandered off somewhere Emerie did not notice.
"I had always wanted a place to belong." She is not upset to see how Nala Se cares for her sister, only that the same was not directed at her, and that she was willing to hand her off to Hemlock. Everything that happened to her family was because of Nala Se, though Emerie understands and respects the Kaminoan had no way of realizing how bad it would be.
She is also the one who helped Emerie break away from him.
There are things about her childhood she still does not understand. This is her chance to ask.
Nala Se stands, turning around. "You made your choice."
"I found my family," Emerie answers, "Like I should have years ago. Why did you send me off Kamino?" Away from her brothers and sister, where she always belonged? "What was different about me?" Why couldn't she have grown up with her brothers, have had the life and companionship with them she always dreamed of? Emerie always knew something was missing. She always knew she had a family somewhere, one she could never be a part of, because she grew alone and forgotten on a planet far away, a way of life she only shared with her sister, and that was just the first seven years.
"When you were cloned, your genome mutated, and your embryo was split in half. Due to your mutation, you were unable to be a soldier as the rest of your batch. Your mutation was shared by CT-9902."
"His name is Tech."
"The enhancements we made on his mutation altered him from yours, sacrificing his sight for his intelligence."
Emerie has wondered why he and Tech had the same... issue with their sight. She is uncertain as to what caused it, and Nala Se had told her it was a detailed genetic mutation even she could not rectify, and it was significant enough to interfere with her performance. Tech's are significantly worse than her own. They must have sacrificed his sight for his intelligence. Not a choice anyone should have made for him, either. "I never knew we were twins."
Nala Se made her, and all of her brothers. They don't have parents in the way nat-borns do, but Emerie thinks that would be close to what Nala Se is – she made them, shaped and formed them from the start of their existence, before birth and watched them shortly after. Tech had told her Omega knew them when they were babies. She wonders if the same is true for herself.
"Your place is with the clones," she says, "It always has been."
A thousand words linger in her mind, demanding to be said, but Emerie knows there is nothing else anyone can offer, because her life has already been lived, and the pain she felt was the past, the loneliness and emptiness that has defined her life is over.
Emerie nods to her, and watches as Nala Se walks away.
Omega grabs Emerie's hand, squeezing it tightly and smiling brightly up at her. She is happy here. Emerie can scarcely remember the times she saw Omega smile. There were times on Tantiss, distant and wistful, when she spoke of her brothers, but it was never free and cheerful.
"Emerie." She turns at Crosshair's voice. He is refraining from eye-contact, but Emerie has found that makes her more uncomfortable than anything, even if Hemlock has always insisted she do it.
"Yes?" she asks. There is still so much she could – should – say to him, but she doesn't know where she would begin or how to go about it. Nothing she says could change that she helped torture him.
"We still have your crossbow," he says, looking somewhere at the ground near her feet, "Or Omega's crossbow, if you want to learn to use it."
Emerie wishes she could say it is unlikely the Empire will come for them again, but she cannot be certain the danger in their lives is truly over. She has always wanted to be like her brothers. "If you would be alright with it."
She is not fully certain if her knowing how to use a weapon would put him at ease or make his tension worse. But this is a chance she has to actually get to know the brothers that Tech and Omega talked about for so long and, as long as Crosshair is alright with it, it is a chance she's going to take.
**w**
"I never mentioned it before," Hunter says, a couple of days into their final stay. "But we picked up Echo's armor. And... we have yours, too."
"My armor?" Tech repeats.
"Yeah," Wrecker agrees, "Hemlock had it kept near the training room."
"Or, what was left of it," Crosshair mutters.
On second thought, he should not even be surprised about that. Of course, Hemlock would keep his armor as a mockery of what had happened to all of them, but in the end, Tech and his squad survived, and Hemlock did not.
"It's pretty beat up," Echo agrees, "But if you ever want it back, we have it."
"I do not believe there is any need for it," Tech informs, "Tantiss has been dealt with. Hemlock is gone. We have no need to fight any longer."
"I second that," Crosshair mutters. It is good to see he has adapted well into their new life, despite the struggles he may be having. He is still one of them, and he always has been, just as Emerie is.
"I was gonna leave Lula and Tech's broken goggles in the Archium," Omega pipes up. "I was thinking we could leave our armor there. We can take it if we ever need it again, but for now, we're living a normal life. Phee said that's where she keeps the things she finds of the cultures of the people who live here. This is all that's gonna be left of the clones, with our home gone."
Hunter glances at each of them in turn, the way he always would have, and Tech nods to him – it would be ideal to have it all in one place if something were ever to require their presence again.
There is little room, so they leave most of their armor in crates beneath the shelf.
All there is room for atop the shelf is their helmets. Hunter sets his down first, and Wrecker beside him – it is an unusual placement for them, but after all they have endured together, it is fitting.
Tech sets his own next to Wrecker – it is strange to hold his old armor again. It is still covered with the soot and dirt from Eriadu, the left half nearly smashed in, having taken a blow to his head that could have killed him. Tech had known his time with it was up when he took the shot. It had been hard to part with, and will be hard to adapt to being without, but this is the path they have chosen and fought for.
The black helmet that could have been his own, he sets behind it. They are both his. One was the one he made, and another given to him by the Empire, though it served Tech's purpose instead of the one Hemlock created it for.
Crosshair sets his on the other side of Hunter's. It fits to be there, despite everything that has happened between them all.
Emerie stands, watching, and for a minute, Tech believes she will continue to watch, but she takes her glasses off and sets it beside Tech's. She may not be able to see as well without it, but he can make her another pair, something suited and designed solely for her, something that will be the first of her choices to own and wear.
Omega's helmet is by Emerie, and she props their crossbow against the wall in the shared, joint space behind them both. Tech had believed Omega lost her pendant from Kamino long ago, until she sets it down as well.
Echo is last, beside Crosshair, a little twisted and off-centered, as if he means to take it up again, though Tech does not fully believe he intends to leave.
This is their home, the place where they will never be forgotten, and Tech is not fully certain what that means, but with his brothers and sisters beside him, he knows they will learn it together.
BLOOPERS:
"When you were cloned, your genome mutated, and your embryo was split in half. SO YOU COULDN'T BE A SOLDIER BECAUSE YOU WERE A GIRL. =)"
"EXCUSE YOU I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO DID ANYTHIGN USEFUL ON TANTISS –"
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