STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

C H A P T E R T W E L V E

THIRD PERSON POV

"Double or nothing Hunter wins this round." Fern leaned in and whispered to Echo. The latter raised a brow at his female counterpart, and shrugged. "Why not?"

"Alright, you hear that, Hunter?" Fern cheeked a grin. "Don't you fail me. Do you hear me?"

"Kind of...Busy...At the moment." the sergeant grunted, concentrating rigorously on his opponent in front of him. Tech. In an arm-wrestling match. And neither of them have moved a muscle for over fifteen minutes. Their clasped hands straining in utter stillness in the center.

To Fern's surprise, the spectacled clone was holding his own with what seemed like minimal struggle. His lean face muscles were relaxed and his light-brown eyes were fixed on Hunter's narrowed ones. Fern assumed it was a rouge though—Hunter was the second strongest member of the Bad Batch, under Wrecker of course, so he had to be biting his tongue not to show any form of weakness, or he might break. Was he even breathing?

Another ten minutes passed and now the wagers were getting serious. Echo and Fern were at quadruple to nothing. Wrecker was squealing he couldn't contain his excitement. Omega's round eyes were growing, her jaw gradually gaping, with every second the silent brawl proceeded...

Forty-five minutes in total have clocked, and this was it: Whoever twitched would lose the match. Fern had seen Hunter's determined side in battle, but she had never seen him this focused on something so silly as an arm-wrestling contest. All six members of Clone Force 99 were dead silent: not one eye averted from the now-death-gripping hands, afraid to miss the ending by a blink. One mindless sigh from anyone could throw off one of the clones' concentration...

Fern and Echo upped the jackpot to septuple to nothing with a fist-bump when the time reached one hour.

Then, Tech blinked. 

Abruptly, Hunter slammed his opponent's knuckles into the metal table in one fell swoop, declaring victory. Wrecker, Fern, and Omega hollered in utter stupefaction for the sergeant as Echo patted Tech on the shoulder, who was flexing his fingers.

"That, was impressive." the cyborg clone nodded with consideration in his voice. Tech then shrugged, as if the lost was no big deal. Hunter was nearly knocked over by the celebratory slap on the back from Wrecker. Once he recovered, he ruffled Omega's blonde hair as she pumped her fists with excitement.

"Me next! Me next!" Wrecker challenged, plopping himself down where Hunter sat, but Tech immediately left the table and everyone else backed away.

"Maybe another time, Big Guy." Hunter scoffed, rolling out his shoulder. Before he could move, he was stopped by an outstretched hand from Fern. Confused, he grasped it and she shoot his hand firmly with her nose scrunched. "Thank you, for making me the richest member of this squad."

"You're...welcome?"

"It's a good thing you won," Fern sighed dramatically. "I would not have let it go if you had lost to Wired-Brain."

"Ah," Hunter rolled his eyes.

"Mhmm," Fern hummed proudly, and she marched past him to relax in her and Omega's nest. Hunter's eyes followed her as she walked away with a swing in her step, smiling to himself. It was sort of nice having this down-time. He was used to doing this sort of thing with the boys in their barracks back on Kamino. With Fern here, it reminded him when they would have their competitions whenever they went on missions years ago, such as who could destroy the most droids or who could take down the biggest weapon. Then, once they returned on Kamino, the victor would be treated to a drink (or two) by the loser...