Reunion - A Bad Batch Fanfic

Chapter 8

"Come on!" Omega grabbed Cal's hand, yanking him onto his feet and dragged the two boys down the corridor.

"Who's Wolffe?" Cal asked.

"Commander Wolffe of the 104th Battalion's Wolfpack," Hunter replied. "Rex managed to track him down and we removed his and Crosshair's chips."

"Chips?" Cal asked, confused. What was he on about?

Omega answered him. "All clones had inhibitor chips implanted in their heads. It's what made them attack the Jedi. Once it's activated, they turn into mindless droids. No emotions, no personality, no control. Wrecker's activated when we last came here and he was terrifying." Omega shuddered at the memory.

"They didn't betray us willingly?" Cal whispered. All this time he assumed that the clones had fired on them out of their own will, but they didn't. They were forced to. They had as much say in their actions as he did. "They didn't kill Master Tapal by choice."

"You okay Kestis?" Caleb placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll be alright." Cal took a deep breath, processing this new information.

"Who's the new kid?" the clone in white armour enquired.

"Gregor, this is Cal. Cal, this is Gregor, a clone commando," Hunter explained.

"Nice to meet you kid," Gregor grinned, glancing at Hunter. "You're gonna have to stop adopting Padawans you find,"

"Shut up Gregor," Hunter grumbled, leading the three of them into a wrecked medical bay. It was disgusting and unhygienic. Cal couldn't believe they'd successfully performed surgery in this hovel. A massive clone in black armour was sitting beside a medical pod, staring at his brother on the bed. Beside him, a clone in white armour with red accents was typing on a datapad and another in Hunter's black and red armour was slumped against a wall, his face extremely pale. Shockingly, both of his legs and one of his arms were metallic replacements. He was also wearing a black kama, a sign of the ARC trooper status.

The giant noticed them come in and a wide smile spread across his face. "Omega!"

"Wrecker!" Omega shrieked, dashing towards the huge clone. Laughing noisily, he swung her around and hugged her tightly. Cal saw that one of his eyes was white, the result of a nasty looking scar on the side of his bald head. His other eye sparkled with delight at seeing his niece again.

The clone in white and red pocketed his datapad and swiftly took Omega into his own arms.

"I'm relieved to see you alive Omega," he grinned.

Omega giggled and cuddled him. "It's good to see you too Tech."

"Hey 'Mega," the cyborg clone smiled sleepily.

"Echo!"

Dropping down from Tech's arms, Omega hugged the ARC trooper, seemingly unaffected by his metal limbs.

"Glad to see you kiddo," Echo murmured, ruffling her hair with his biological hand.

A blond clone in the white and blue armour of the 501st Battalion approached them. He knelt down in front of Cal and beamed at him.

"Who might you be?" he asked gently, his tone assuring Cal that he could trust him.

"Cal Kestis, General Tapal's Padawan,"

His eyes widened. "I never met your master, but I knew he was a compassionate and selfless general. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. Who are you?"