Chapter Five: Arm-Wrestling and Burning Questions

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THIRD PERSON POV

"Double or nothing Hunter wins this round." Fern leaned in and muttered to Echo. The cyborg-clone 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?"

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

To Fern's surprise, Wired-Brain was holding his own with what seemed like minimal struggle. His lean face muscles were relaxed and his goggled 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 bets 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 their concentration...

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

Thence, Tech blinked. Without warning, Hunter slammed Tech's knuckles into the metal table in one fell swoop, declaring victory. Wrecker, Fern, and Omega hollered in cheer for the sargeant as Echo patted Tech on the shoulder, who was flexing his fingers.

"That, was impressive." Echo nodded. Tech then shrugged as if the lost was no big deal. Hunter was crushed in a celebrating hug from Wrecker. Once he was free, 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. "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 passed, smiling to himself. It was sort of nice having this down-time. He was so used to doing this sort of thing with the Bad Batch in their barracks back on Kamino. With Fern here, it reminded him when he and Fern 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.

Coincidentally, Fern was thinking the same thing as she laid on her stomach, gazing out in the empty void that was space. Omega joined her roommate and yawned.

"Sleepy there, Half-Pint?" Fern chuckled, and then made room for the little girl to lie down. She was getting tired herself and she relaxed down. It seemed like her eyes had just closed when Omega called her name.

FERN'S POV

"Fern?"

"Mmm..." My closed eyes squeezed tighter at the faint whispering of my name.

"Fern, are you awake?"

"Am now..." I yawned softly and rolled over to where my nose was a foot away from the young clone I slept next to in our brand-new room that was the gunner's mount. "What is it?"

"I, have a question."

"Now?" My mouth gaped as I sucked in air to relieve my lungs. Fluttering my eyelids to stay conscious, I asked, "Can't this wait until I've had at least a nap?"

"Well..." Omega's eyes wandered to the side, like she was really debating with herself on whether her question was important enough.

"Forget it," I rolled my tired eyes. "What's eating you?"

"What are parents?"

Suddenly, I was wide awake. "Why do you ask?"

"I suddenly remembered when I sat down to eat with the squad back on Kamino, that day the food fight started—"

"Yes, I recall."

"Well, when I first sat down, Hunter had asked me if I had a family. And where my parents were." Omega explained, her voice trailed off.

"Omega," I propped my head up with my elbow. "Parents are people who take care of children. A dad and a mom. Cut and Suu are parents to Shaeeah and Jek."

"So what do they do?" Omega questioned.

"Um...Well, they..." This seemed like not the best subject for someone who doesn't have parents herself, but Omega's eyes were glistening with curiousity. "Parents raise their children to become the best versions of themselves. Parents also have to scold children when they misbehave, but it's more of a teaching moment. They protect them with every fiber of their being. But most importantly, Omega..." As I spoke, our faces gradually grew closer, and Omega had smushed her cheeks with her fists, supporting herself on both elbows, her smile softened.

"Parents, love their children with all their hearts. No matter what, you could always count on your mother and father to come to your aid and hold you tightly in their arms when you're scared."

"Wow...And Cut and Suu do all that with Shaeeah and Jek?" Omega awed. I nodded. "Yep, that's why they had to leave Saluchemai. To protect Shaeeah and Jek. It was all for them. That's what parents do."

"Parents sound like the best."

I laughed a little too hard. "Well, we clones, defective or not, don't have parents. It's just the way it is."

"Yeah..." The young girl seemed to accept the fact pretty easily. She lied back down and curled up before her eyes fluttered close. She breathed in and out so calmly.

I watched over her for a moment, and suddenly I was viewing her in a different light...Like, Omega was an innocent soul in this galaxy that was sucked into the chaos of that is the Bad Batch, and I needed to protect her...I knew what being a soldier meant, and the occupational hazards that could follow. She was just a child. Even though it was her choice to stay with them, us, she deserved a better, safer life.

I blinked, and realized I had been stroking her soft hair while I zoned out. I stopped. Then, I sighed and tried to lay down comfortably to get some more sleep, but my eyes stared at her on their own.

"Getting in too deep, Fern." I muttered to myself, and eventually I fell asleep.

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THIRD PERSON POV

Hunter huffed through his nose. He had overheard every word from Fern when she interpreted parents to Omega...And something Fern had said back on Saluchemai repeated over and over in my mind...

"Hunter, you are a soldier. You are not a parent!"

His eyes closed. Fern was right. Omega deserved so much better. But...Hunter was determined to give her that life.

His way.

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