Bad Batch Oneshots

Talk To Me

     The Marauder sat on the stone ground of Pabu's landing area, basking in the warm sun. It had taken around a month before everyone—well almost everyone— filled the ship in their rightful places. No one dared mention Tech's absence. Any talk of him was always in the present tense, as if he didn't sacrifice his life for all of them a month ago.

Omega sat lazily on the outstretched ramp of the Havoc, staring out at the paradise island in deep thought, listening to the bustling of its villagers go about their normal day. But this wasn't just a normal day to Omega. No, this was the eighth day of her rescue from that wretched mountain. Though she was free from Tantiss, she still could feel the cold lonely grasp it still had over her mind. She hated it with a burning passion. The feeling of being free yet at the same time feeling beyond trapped made her nauseous. However, she made a promise to herself hat she wouldn't dare mention these thoughts to her brothers. They didn't need to worry about her; not again.

"Omega?" Hunter called out, emerging from the cockpit. Omega quickly dropped the tormenting thoughts, turning to face him with a smile. "Can you ask Shep if he needs help with the docks?"

Omega nodded, slowly rising to her feet. Lately Hunter had been keeping her extra busy with one errand after the other. She knew why he insisted on giving her these tasks. He could have easily commed the mayor, which would have been the logical option, but here she was going to deliver the message in person. Just like yesterday, and the day before and the day before that...

~~~

     Hunter stood on the ramp, arms crossed as he watched Omega disappear down into the refugee community. Ever since their return from Tanitss, he observed the drastic difference in his once energetic child. She no longer smiled as often, only when she needed to. She preferred solitude over spending time with the rest of them. He usually found her sitting on the sandy shore or the gunner's mound, staring off, trapped in her imagination. Wrecker had also pointed out her lack of appetite, setting off alarms in all of them since she was still a growing kid. Omega refused to admit to any of these accusations. Everytime someone brought it up she would storm away with a sour expression of irritation.

"I'm worried about her," Echo's voice said from behind the sergeant. Hunter turned around, looking at the ARC. "I know you are too."

Hunter sighed heavily, a saddened expression taking over his face. "It's been a little over a week," he said weakly, running a hand through his hair in frustration of his clear uncertainty on how to handle the situation. "I'm not saying she should bounce right back to normal after everything she's been through, but..."

He thought back to the day they finally made it to the mountain. He tore through every single cell in that facility, only to be told his kid wasn't just a prisoner, but a human bargaining chip for the Empire. He had never felt such raw rage and true fear until he found her beaten, broken, and restrained to a cold slab in a white laboratory. It caused him emotional pain to watch her withered in agony as he pulled the tubes from her tiny, malnourished body. Her tormentors obviously hadn't cared about the amount of discomfort she was in, nor her extremely distressing medical state. Hunter had to carry her out of that base, as she no longer had the strength to walk on her own. He felt helpless then—having no idea how to comfort her— and just as helpless now. What was he supposed to do when she would barely talk to them?

To him.

Echo clasped his shoulder, bringing the sergeant away from that joyful, but most horrific memory. "Have you asked Crosshair about any of it? He was with her during that time. Surely he has insight into why she's been...not herself."

"Yeah, you've got a point," Hunter concurred. "I'm going to find him. It's what I should have done in the first place."

"I think he's on the beach. He's been going there frequently." Echo wondered how Crosshair was fairing. He knew better than to press the sniper into talking about feelings, but he went through the same, dare he say worse on Tantiss. He had been there far longer than Omega. Only the Maker knew what the Empire must have performed on him. It was times like these that the ARC desperately wished Tech was alive. Crosshair may have been closed off toward everyone, but Tech was different. Echo acknowledged their closeness. Crosshair would open up to Tech more than anyone else in the batch. Their sibling bond could have rivaled that of a general and commander duo he once knew.