aftermath: life debt | the bad batch

xxii. the waiting game

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xxii.

the waiting game

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•••

- pt. 1 -

"Kid," Tech said. "You got lucky." Tech removed both the IV and the breathing tube. "Go explore. When you explore, no one can find you anywhere. Let's use that to our advantage this time. Run. Hide. Stay safe."

"What about you?" Omega whispered, hopping off the bed.

"I can hold them off for a while. You just need to hide. Go, Omega. Don't come out until I come looking for you. Got it?"

Omega hesitated for a second, then nodded, understanding what she had to do. She took Lula, and ran out of the room.

•••

Omega didn't know where to go. After she had run out of the room, and had gotten far enough away from the medical bay, she had just started to wander aimlessly. In addition, she couldn't run anymore, physically. From the short amount of running that she had done, she could feel her lungs pounding, almost pleading her to stop exerting herself. But she needed to continue on.

She noticed almost right away that this ship was considerably smaller than the ship that they had been on last time. The hallway to get to the bridge from the medical bay wasn't too bad in terms of length, and it was pretty much one straight shot. Meaning she didn't have to take unnecessary turns, lowering her chance of getting lost, or of getting found by the empire when they arrived.

"Maybe all the stupid ship learning that Tech made me do came in useful after all," Omega said, stepping through the threshold of the bridge. She walked in, treading slowly towards the front of the bridge, making sure she wasn't seen. The windows were quite large, so she ducked a little, trying her best not to be seen, if she already hadn't been. Her lungs were in a lot of pain. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore it. She needed to find a place to sit down. She felt that if she continued any longer her lungs would give out, and she would pass out. And she didn't want Tech to know she still felt bad.

She climbed down to the lower parts of the bridge, and sat down in the corner of it, hoping it would be enough to keep her hidden. She coughed into her hand, and saw the tiniest speck of blood on her hand as a result of the cough. She almost gasped, but caught herself in time, so in case the imperial troopers were close, they wouldn't hear her. She wiped the blood on her shirt, ignoring it. She knew she wasn't much better. Maybe a little, but Tech was right. She needed a few more days of treatment before she could get off the medication. So she decided she was just going to tell Tech that she needed more treatment when the troopers left.

She was scared, though. She could tell that the squad's dynamic had been different. More tense. This wasn't any ordinary mission. Obviously, since they weren't working under Cid. This wasn't for money. This was for survival. But, it was more than that. None of the missions have ever been this tense. She could tell everyone was way more nervous than usual. She had never been more nervous.

"We're going to be fine," Omega said to Lula. "Right? Yeah. We're always fine in the end. We're always fine."

She started to hear the faint sound of footsteps of troopers from very far away. She brought her knees close to her chest, hugging Lula tighter, hoping to bring her good luck. She started to hear gunfire, and she knew Tech was in trouble. It was him against who knew how many. She wanted to go help, but she couldn't. Climbing up the ladder from where she was would take too much strength from her, which was something she had very little of.

Omega could feel herself slipping away. It was hard for her to breathe almost the entire time, and it didn't help that she had to avoid coughing at all. Because of this, her head started to hurt, to the point where it was pounding. Her vision started to become blurry, and she felt as though she was going to faint. She assessed herself, as a medic would do, and she knew her lungs were failing. She didn't know if she would make it. She tried her best to keep her eyes open, because she didn't know if these were her final moments or not.

But it was inevitable. She felt herself slipping away. She just wanted to close her eyes-

•••

- pt. 2 -

Tech fell to his knees, grabbing the side of his neck. He could already feel the poison taking effect. He didn't know how to fix it. He didn't create an anecdote for it, since it was never put to use by the republic. His best idea at that moment was to just ignore it, and keep Omega safe if any more troopers came.

He ignored the very thing that would cause his downfall.

•••

Tech knew he couldn't stay on his knees for very long. As much as his body was in pain, he had to find Omega, so he could make sure she was okay. It took him a while to stand up, but he was eventually able to, despite the tremendous amount of pain he was in. He leaned against the wall for a brief moment, catching his breath, before walking back into the medical bay. He passed the main area, then the hospital area, before entering the halls on the opposite end. He knew Omega probably went to the bridge. After all, that was the most interesting part of the bridge. He walked straight down the hallway, the one that led to the bridge. When he got there, he stood at the entrance, trying to see if he could find her.

"Omega?" he called out, to which there was no answer. "Omega?"

Then it hit him. She probably thought he was one of the imperial troopers. But that wouldn't make sense. He was the only clone with a different accent than the others. She would recognize his voice immediately. He then thought that maybe she went to one of the lower levels, so she could minimize her chances of being found.

"Omega..." he whispered, looking over the ledge of one of the lower levels. What he saw shocked him. He saw that Omega had fainted. Or worse.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sent you on your own," he continued, climbing down the ladder to where she was. Each step he took only increased the amount of pain he was in. He eventually reached the bottom of the ladder, and he kneeled down next to Omega.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have taken you off the treatment. I'm sorry."

He picked her up, and climbed back up the ladder, his body searing in pain. He left the bridge, continuing out into the hallways. Thankfully the medical bay wasn't too far, and it didn't take him long to get there. Once he did, he set Omega down on the hospital bed that she was on all these days, and put an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. She was still alive, thankfully, but under critical condition. In fact, probably worse than when they first arrived at Bracca, due to the fact her body wasn't used to being off the treatment.

"It's my fault," Tech said, a tear rolling off his cheek. Usually, he wouldn't jump to conclusions, but her lungs were failing. He knew she probably wasn't going to make it. "You didn't deserve this. You didn't deserve any of this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Tech didn't know what to do. He couldn't comm Hunter to notify him of what had happened. That could compromise the mission, endangering all of them. And for Omega, there was nothing he could do.

All he could do was wait.

Wait for Hunter to tell him if everything was okay on their part.

Wait to see if Omega would wake up.

This was the worst part.

This was the waiting game.