Chapter 12 - We're Everywhere You Go (1:8)
Author's Note: This is. One of the chapters I've been waiting for from the start. 😈
~ Rivana Rita
I'm just starting to think maybe we'll have some hope of getting out of here when we realize the opening on the auxiliary deck is over five hundred feet off the ground. Wrecker freaks out, and considering the circumstances, I'm not in the mood for joking. Crosshair's chasing us, and we have to get out, for everyone's sakes.
"There they are," a reg says, and we whirl around, gathering together in the center of the room as the regs swarm out around us, blasters raised.
"Stand down," one of the dark-armored ones says icily – they're dressed similarly to Crosshair. Did he get a new squad like we didn't even matter?
I bite my lip, trying not to think about how much that hurts.
The door slides open, and Crosshair himself steps into view. "Tapping our comms to track our movements?" he asks scornfully, "So predictable."
Times like these are when I wish my vision abilities were more useful. Tension is burning under my skin, and I have to do something though I don't know what. I'm good at this, though. I'm good at distractions, at talking.
Wrecker scoffs, and that's the first time I realize he's as angry as he is hurt, even if he knows what's happening. "Nice to see you too, Crosshair."
I remember a time where it was just the three of us, even if I missed 'mega with every shred of my being. I remember a time where we were together and we'd just... do stupid stuff. Seeing him in this armor for the first time, seeing the dead and emotionless blackness of it – I can't.
I've been there, felt that emptiness and anger and loneliness. It would've hurt at the time if someone tried to stop me, but I know Crosshair, and I know it's what he would want. My hand drifts closer to my blaster, and I step forwards from where I am beside Hunter.
Tech and Echo are quietly discussing a plan beside us, which means we need to buy time.
"Look at you all, scavenging like rats," Crosshair continues, "How pathetic."
"Why come after us?" Hunter demands, blaster raised in Crosshair's direction. Probably, I should trust Hunter to do it, but I just... I don't know. I don't want to. It feels like he should have someone willing to protect him, too, which I am.
"You're traitors." He says it so shortly, simply, scornfully, and I know it isn't his fault, though that makes it no less difficult to see. And my anger is perfectly capable of matching his, thanks.
"You betrayed us too, Crosshair," I throw back. My hand is on my blaster, though I don't risk pulling it, because I know he'll fire if I do.
There's a faint beeping, and Hunter takes the moment to start talking again. "Crosshair, wake up. You're being controlled by an inhibitor chip."
Bad call. I nearly gutted Omega for telling me that. Not that Hunter would even know since he wasn't there.
"He's telling the truth," Omega pipes up, stepping forwards fearlessly. I'd admire her for it if I weren't so afraid of her stupidity. He could kill her right off just for saying that, though it – it might be different, less emotion driven, since he doesn't know her as well. "The Kaminoans put chips in all the clones. Remember what I told you in the brig? You can't help it."
"Aim for the kid," Crosshair says, voice sharp and angry.
I jolt forwards as instinctively as Hunter does, sidestepping to shield her the same moment Hunter pulls her behind him. "You might think you have us," I throw back furiously, body tensed as the air around us picks up staticky, the same way it did back before Wrecker's chip activated. That brings bad memories, but I don't have time to think about it. "But you don't." My hands are tingling.
"There's no way out," he says, icily. "I suggest you drop your weapons."
"Do you even know us?" I snap back, "You grew up with them. I'd think you'd know them better than I would. You're not gonna catch us, so go on and chase us if that really –"
I See it before it happens, See Crosshair raising his rifle – apparently getting bored of my blabbering – and the energy pooling in my hands explodes outwards.
He's thrown back, smacking against the door behind him.
The weapons on the ship start firing, and the part of the deck up above starts collapsing.
"Go!" Hunter yells, and everyone starts shooting. I whip out my blaster and fire at one of the regs nearby. It's on stun, because I always keep it on stun now – my brothers do, and I don't feel comfortable killing them – though Hunter's... isn't. Omega draws her bow and starts firing next to me.
The deck above is caving in, debris falling, and Wrecker darts forwards to yank me out of the way as it starts crashing down on us. I stumble back, steadying myself as he charges some of the remaining regs. Hunter's tackled Omega out of the way, and I find the sense of mind to be grateful he shielded her, first, like I asked.
(I am also going to ignore the stupid, childish part of my mind wondering if it had anything to do with that, or if it's because he's angry at me for hurting her. But this is Hunter. He's not like that.)
Some idiot tries attacking us with a flamethrower when we're making for the exit – I hope Crosshair's alright behind us, wherever he is – and Wrecker knocks them out with a proton torpedo. (It's big and hard, not small, soft, and snuggly like Lula, so I have no idea why he was hugging it.)
"What was that?!" Omega asks as we run through the halls. I don't know where Tech's taking us, and I won't ask, either. They'll figure it out, and I don't want to think about it. All I know is that it'll be close.
"What?" I query as she grabs my hand, bow on her back again.
"On the deck," Omega answers as we move.
"I – I don't know," I reply, honestly. "I didn't know I could do that. I don't even know what I did." I feel worse for throwing him than I am upset about the fact that he was about to shoot me. I know that's going to hurt, and I want to talk to him again. I want to tell him I didn't mean to, that it was an accident, that I – I –
"It is unsurprising," Tech interjects, and I stare at him. "We knew you were Force-sensitive."
"You mean I can do Jedi stuff?" I knew I was Force-sensitive, but I guess I never really thought about exactly what it means. "I thought it took some kind of special stuff to use?"
"It takes extensive training," Echo replies, "But even people who have it can use it, even without." Huh. Didn't know that. I have a million more questions to ask him about later.
My questions fade to the back of my mind as we finally reach the ion engine chambe that Tech decided it would be a brilliant idea to escape out of. Dunno what else I expected. This is Tech. Of course, he has no issue with the risk of being fried.
"The ion engine chamber? Why'd you bring us here?" Wrecker asks, pausing in the doorway.
"Because this is our alternate egress off the cruiser," Tech explains flippantly, turning back to us.
"I don't even know what that means!" Wrecker whines.
Tech reaches up to help Omega down the drop, and I swing myself down after. Tech moves off, and with another glance at me, so does Omega. I start following, pausing when I hear Wrecker grumbling behind me. We're on a marrow ledge – small enough for Omega and me without problem – but he's big, and I know how he is about heights.
"C'mon," I say, reaching up to grab his hand, tugging him along.
I try not to think about how Crosshair doesn't have anyone to help him.
Wrecker follows, edging along sideways, grumbling. "Vision?" he asks finally, and I pause, looking up at him. It's dark, and he's wearing his helmet, but I know him enough that I can tell from his voice. "About earlier, I tried to make it stop."
I squeeze his hand. "I know," I tell him. It hurts, but I was no better, and I know it wasn't his fault. "It's not like I was any better."
We reach the end, and I have to slide down.
Wrecker comes after, yowling. He pats my head the moment I'm in range again, and I shift closer to his leg. We should probably save the snuggly-ness for later, though.
"Whoa, I've never been inside an ion engine before," Omega breathes, awed. It's big, and admittedly, nothing like I ever thought they'd look. Not that I ever thought about it, period.
"It'd be weirder if you had," Wrecker assures immediately.
Tech, ever being the absolute idiot he is, decides right now is a good time to start giving us a long, detailed speech about how amazing ion engines are, like someone even cares.
"No one cares!" Wrecker snaps, shoving him off the ledge he's on, ignoring his yelp when he hits the ground below. "Keep movin'."
"Maybe give us the lecture when there's time," I offer, feeling a bit bad about cutting him off, but I still agree with Wrecker. Maybe minus the shoving. How he's even able to do that after what happened earlier, I have no idea. I'm drowning in guilt from what I nearly did to Omega.
Hunter climbs up to the top, flashlight in hand. It's a distance up, and I think it's probably overlooking yet another massive drop. Even if Wrecker doesn't like it, I don't think there's a way out of here short of falling.
Tech climbs up after, moving past Hunter.
A blaster shot rings out, and my heart skips a beat, freezing me inside out when I hear Tech's yelp and see him start falling.
I don't know why I'm struck by a sudden sense of déjà vu, like this is something – something important. Not like I've seen it before, though, more like... I'll see it again, and I don't care for that thought.
Hunter dives forwards, grabbing Tech's arm and yanking him back inside, shoving him behind him to shield him.
"Try again, Hunter," Crosshair's voice yells, and my gut flips while my anger kicks back in full force. "I told you before, you're surrounded."
I freeze where I was, halfway climbed up after Hunter and Tech. Our only way out won't work, and I have no idea what we'll do now. I can't hold it against him, but that makes me no less hurt or – or any of what I feel. "That was Tech, you idiot!" I yell back, "Are you blind, or can you not tell the difference anymore? That's what's really pathetic."
Am I still sore about that comment? Yes.
"Double back," Hunter orders urgently, and he and Tech start climbing down from the opening of the engine. Right on cue, before we can make it more than a few steps, a rumbling starts up.
"What is that?" Omega queries, freaked out.
"Sounds like the engine's coming online." Hunter can sense it, no doubt, as much as hear it. And I have a very, very bad feeling about this.
"But that's not possible, right?" Echo objects.
"Technically, it is," Tech replies, instantly referring to his datapad. "I restored the ship's main power core when I accessed the central system, which means the engines can be activated."
"Crosshair wouldn't do that," Omega says quietly, eyes wide and terrified. "Would he?"
I hook an arm around her waist, squeezing tightly. "It's like you said," I remind gently, "It's not his fault." He can't stop this more than I could, and I don't really feel... anything about the fact that it's Crosshair about to fry us here. Don't know why, but that's good.
"How much time do we have?" Echo asks.
"I estimate less than two minutes." One thing I'll give Tech is that his calculations are rarely wrong, which means we have to be fast.
"Vision, anything?" Hutner asks urgently, turning to me.
With tension still burning in my veins, I don't have an easy time, but it's what I hafta do. I See something exploding, feel it falling. "Only one way out," I tell him, leaning against Omega a little and looking up at Hunter. "Down."
"Down?" Echo asks incredulously.
"Yep. Down. What's a better way out of stuck-y situations than falling? We used explosives. I think."
"That may be a feasible choice," Tech interjects, "If we place a series of charges around this cone –" He's shining his flashlight at it, and the center part is lighting up with blue gaseous something, and I don't like it. "We may be able to break away from the cylinder while destabilizing the core."
"Break away?" Omega asks, freaked out. "You mean fall? All the way down?"
"It's that, or be incinerated," Echo points out.
"Everyone, take an explosive," Hunter orders, and we spur into motion.
He and Tech take Omega, and Wrecker takes me. The engine is coming on, and I can feel the vibration. It's not exactly hot, but something in the air still stings a bit – the exhaust, I think, and we need to get out of here. Fast. The thing's going to burn us to ash, and I don't care for that thought.
It's about to fire by the time the explosives are set, and we're back on the ground floor. It's vibrating enough that I couldn't stand if I tried, which I'm not.
"Everybody, get down!" Wrecker yells, and Hunter instantly shields Omega. I dart in by Wrecker, and he shields me, hitting the trigger.
My eyes are shielded, so the light doesn't hurt, but the explosions are deafening.
And I feel us start falling.
Just this once, it's as terrifying as it is thrilling.
We're being thrown around, and the most I can do is get a desperate grip on the metal, clinging until I slip free. It's Tech, oddly enough, who grabs me before I can fall. Wrecker is holding onto Echo to keep him from going splat, and I don't have time to look for Hunter and Omega, but he'd do anything to protect her. They're fine.
When we finally hit the ground, it's with me sprawled on top of him. That's the closest I've ever been with Tech. I roll off into my back, panting. My headband feels a little messed up, but I can't take it out to fix it right now. I drag myself to my feet, and Echo's already picking himself up.
"That was fun," I supply, rolling my shoulders. I'm admittedly a bit sore from hitting the metal walls so many times, but I'll live. I glance upwards towards where the light of the ion engine is still shining like a flashlight. Just a very, very big one, and it's lighting up the darkness of night. It's spooky. Crosshair's still up here. We better scram before he sees us.
Tech is standing now, looking at me with a 'my calculations cannot express my incredulity' look, and now I just heard that in his voice and will never get it out of my head.
"Can we do it again?"
Wrecker shudders.
Maybe not.
"Hunter, we landed on the port side," Echo calls into his comm, "What's your status?"
"We're by the engine, and we've got company," Hunter replies, and I wince when I hear blaster shots in the distance. This is bad. Hunter's there alone with Omega, and I suddenly have the very bad but certain feeling that something with them is about to go terribly wrong. "Meet back at the Marauder."
"Be careful?" I request, desperately. I know he'll try, but I'm still scared. I know it the same way I can See things, and he needs to be careful.
"You too," he sends back, and the transmission cuts.
I have a very bad feeling about this, but we take off running together, anyway.
I try my best not to think about Omega's glaring absence, or the way something inside me is determinedly whispering that this isn't the last time I'll be without her.
**w**
We're being pursued the entire way, and predictably, picked up Imperials somewhere. I fire back on random occasions, but mostly, we keep moving. We're faster and know the way ahead. Tech scans the fastest way, and he leads.
"The ship's up ahead," Echo tells us.
"Finally," I grumble, sprinting forwards. The way is long, and my legs are shaky from running so far straight, but we need to get out of here. That matters more than me grumbling about, well, nothing.
And that's the moment the area we landed on comes into view.
There are regs around, dead, but that's not what catches my attention.
"Hunter!" I scream, running to him. There's a charred black spot on his chest plate. Omega's energy bow is lying right beside him, but she's nowhere in sight. Was it – the Empire? Crosshair? Did he do this? How could he do this? But with how I was feeling back then, with what I was willing to do, I can't be sure. Taking Omega and leaving Hunter here to die sounds like the kind of thing he'd do, especially to lure the rest of us out after her.
Unless, the hysterical part of my mind supplies, he just wants his comm back.
"Hunter," I call again, desperately, shaking his shoulder. He's just lying there and he's so terrifyingly still I can't –
This is Hunter, our brother our leader our everything and we can't lose him not –
"Hunter, wake up," Echo urges, crouching on his other side. I See it more with my Sight than my eyes. I See how the tendrils of green smokey-earthy-ness flicker back bright, hear it as Hunter sucks in a ragged breath.
"What happened?" Wrecker asks, appearing at our sides, panicking. "Where's Omega?"
Tech is here, too, his worry either as hidden as ever or I can't think about anything short of the fact that Hunter's just laying here, breathing like he can't really breathe at all, and the strangled half-gasp, half-groan that he makes aren't – stars – this is Hunter and he's not supposed to get hurt.
"He was shot in the chest plate," Echo says, and I immediately have great respect for him for even being able to form a single coherent word right now.
"We have to get him on board," Tech replies urgently after one quick glance at the wound.
"Incoming!" Wrecker yells, backing up and firing back. I whirl around, hissing furiously.
Echo struggles to get Hunter to his feet – he's virtually incapable of moving, so it's hard – and Wrecker starts firing back. It's hard when he only has one hand – the other is holding Omega's bow, and as always, it's the sheer desperation of the situation that spurs me into motion. I sprint over to him, snatching her bow and firing.
Now's not the time to be picky.
"Got him. Tech, fly us out of here!" Echo's yelling in the background, and Wrecker and I retreat for the door. Now isn't the time to think about how every shot I'm making is hitting dead-center, either.
"Vision, go!" Wrecker yells, and I back up after a few more shots before darting up the ramp. Wrecker's right behind, and Echo's helping cover now, so I slam the button to shut the ramp.
The fight's over, but it doesn't feel like it.
Echo drops Hunter into his seat before moving to the front to help Tech fly.
Hunter's still struggling to breathe.
The bow slides from my hand clattering onto the floor. I back away from it, even if it's 'mega's and not the one I nearly killed her with. I could've, and I came so close. Some scars will never really fade, I guess, and I – I don't want to use it again. I'm half expecting to feel Omega's small but warm and gentle hand on my shoulder, to hear her telling me it's okay, but she's not here. She should be, but I have no idea where she is.
I look up, feeling her absence every bit as strong as I did that month back when I was without her.
I don't want to go through that again.
Echo and Tech are flying, and Wrecker's already by Hunter. He has actually important things to worry about, not my stupid paranoia, and I really should get over myself and be useful, too.
Hunter's panting, and he has a hole in his chest and stars, I've never dealt with an injury before. What am I supposed to do?! You'd think being raised with a medical assistant would answer those questions. It does not.
Wrecker pulls Hunter's helmet off, and I move to Hunter's side, grabbing his hand.
(It – he – smells like something burning, and I don't want to think about whether that's his armor or – yeah.)
"He – he took Omega," Hunter rasps out, expression tensed with pain.
Wrecker jerks back, and I can practically feel his panic. "Who? Crosshair?"
"No. A bounty hunter," Hunter answers immediately, wincing again. Does it hurt him to talk? Probably, it's just the very nature of his existence right now, and I squeeze his hand tighter. His other hand is pressed on Wrecker's chestplate, somewhat curling in on himself. "We have to find her."
'mega.
The bounty hunters – the bounty – I was so caught up with Crosshair, I almost forgot about my worries of her being alone. Didn't have much choice either, but it still –
Tears are stinging my eyes, and I don't even bother trying to stop them. What's the point?
Omega is gone, and I promised to protect her, but I failed, and Hunter could die or maybe is dying, I have no idea, but I can't remember the last time I felt this lost and lonely and helpless.
"We gotta treat this first," Wrecker points out, even if he's still visibly panicking. "Vision?"
"Here," I choke out, but Wrecker's already working on unfastening Hunter's armor.
"We gotta get his armor off," Wrecker says.
"Working on it," I reply, eyes narrowing as I try to unfasten it. I have no idea what I'm doing, and I've only seen them do it a handful of times, and my hands are shaking hard enough that they keep slipping. Wrecker's already getting his vambrace off, and I'm still stuck on the first piece. Hunter's breathing in shaky gasps, and I'm gonna just ignore the sporadic, burning pain in my own chest that has no right or reason to exist, thanks.
I'm not the one who got shot.
"Who thought armor in this many pieces was a good idea?" I gripe, finally getting off the first piece and setting it on the floor. One thing I'm good at is talking, and we could use that right now. Hunter could use the distraction, at least. "It's not supposed to take fifty minutes a day to get dressed. This is ridiculous."
"That's why we don't usually take it off," Hunter says, or at least some semi-discombobulated something I think has the same meaning.
"That sounds lonely. And boring. And uncomfortable. And hard! Don't you get sore from it?!"
The sound he makes in response to that I can best translate as an 'I'm incapable of speaking normal Basic right now' and decide to leave it at that.
The Marauder shakes violently as a laser shot explodes past it. Uh oh. The Empire's onto us. Just what we need when Hunter's dying.
"Why can't we just give him whatever Echo gave you when you got shot?" I ask, throwing a panicked glance at Wrecker.
"The damage is far more centralized," Tech calls from the pilot-seat. Why is he talking about Hunter like he's a droid or something? That's creepy.
"Gotta speed this up," Echo says, swinging out of his seat and moving to the back, digging out the medkit.
Hunter's being mostly cooperative at least. Don't know how we could speed it up past that.
I step back so Wrecker can finish taking off the top half of Hunter's armor and loosens his belt enough to pull up his bodyglove.
I'm attempting to arrange Hunter's armor in a semi-reasonable order, but Tech's wild dive throws me off balance and I nearly smack into Wrecker's legs. The shooting is getting worse, and we need to get out of here.
There's a way-too-large burn hole through his armor, and I can't resist poking it, just to see what would happen. It's still warm, and my hand comes off coated with ash. Ugh. Um. Ew. I'm gonna just hope that was all armor, not part Hunter.
I circle around to grab his hand again, and he squeezes it back uncomfortably tight, but I don't say anything.
Wrecker gently pushes him against the back of his seat, hand lifting to his head. Whether Wrecker used to do this or learned it from me and Omega who snuggle almost constantly I have no idea. Either way, it's a very effective way of distracting him. It's very hard to pay attention to anything but when someone touches you that intimately. Hunter's still breathing unevenly though, and we need to get going.
"You ready, kid?" Wrecker asks worriedly, glancing at me, his other hand still on Hunter's hair.
I nod, even if I'm not and really don't want to see it, but we need to. Wrecker pulls up his side of Hunter's bodyglove, and I take the other. It's tight, even if it's really stretchy, and I cannot imagine having to wear something like that. Probably a good thing I won't.
Wrecker growls when he sees him, and this is the first time he's successfully sounded scary, though I know he's just scared.
My gut flips violently when I see it. This is the first real time I've seen an injury before, and it's – it's bad. (It's also the first time I've seen Hunter, period, which is weird.) There's a black scorch mark parallel to what was on his armor, and the area around it is red and inflamed, and the entire area around looks like it's turning into a single, solid, very ow-y looking bruise. That's not to mention the extent of the burn, or that a good half of what I can see is –
I got a two inch long cut once, fell on the floor screaming dramatically, and I have no idea how Hunter's even capable of speaking right now.
"Vision," Echo says, calling me away from him, "Get on the guns. We could use some cover fire."
"On it," I answer automatically, because there's nothing more I can do for him. I run for the back, sprinting up the steps and swinging myself into the seat. I've never done this before, but I know how to. Wrecker obsessively taught me about it, and I start shooting back. I'm not going to think about how I'm shooting at Crosshair right now, either. Not going to – okay. That's not true. I am definitely thinking about it, and I wish I wasn't, but I know he'll understand. He loves us, and nothing else matters. He wouldn't be angry with us defending ourselves, even if it hurt.
That's not who Crosshair is.
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