Bad Batch Oneshots

Not This Time

     Crosshair's heart stopped. His shaking hands let loose the sniper rifle that was held so desperately tight. Nothing could have prepared him to see an unconscious Omega hanging limply in the arms of his former opponent—the one who nearly drowned him back on Teth. The assassin halted, sensing the sniper's eyes digging into his back. Omega's captor tossed a cursory glance over his shoulder as if to mock the marksman and his failure to keep the girl safe. Crosshair watched helplessly as a group of troopers surrounded the assassin clone with blasters at the ready. Bright white lights burst through Pabu's dark sky as an imperial transport ship landed, doors open wide.

"Crosshair! What's going on over there!?" Hunter's voice sparked through the sniper's helmeted comm channel.

With a wobbly breath, Crosshair reported back, "It's too late, Hunter. He has her."

Static.

Seconds of silence go by before Crosshair hears his brother's voice again.

"I'm going after her."

The sergeant's tone was fiercely determined. Crosshair groaned. It wasn't that he didn't want to go after the kid. He did. Omega meant more to him than he would ever dare say aloud. The chances of successfully reaching her at this point were slim to none. The sniper hopped down from his perch, ignoring his better judgment as he maneuvered through the packed streets toward Pabu's upper level, spotting familiar armor amongst the roaring chaos of villagers bolting for safety like prey trying to outrun its predator.

"Do you have a death wish? Hunter, there's too many troopers!"

"I'm not going to let Omega become another one of Hemlock's experiments!" His words were drenched in desperation. "They're not leaving here with her."

The comm chatter cut out.

Crosshair sighed, picking up his weapon once more. He almost felt bad for the troopers that would have the misfortune of crossing paths with the sergeant.

~~~

      As soon as the comm's cut off, Hunter immediately darted towards the action. Omega was supposed to be safe with Shep and Lyana, far away from any possibility of being seen by the enemy. He loathed the Empire for invading the only actual location the batch was able to call home. Pabu was their safe haven. A place where they could try and pretend to be normal for once. A place where Hunter could raise Omega with a sense of a normal childhood. All of that was taken away the second the Empire decided to target his kid. Hunter secretly envied all the other islander families. They didn't have to worry about their children being snatched every waiting second of the day. Stars, even just sleeping on the Marauder wasn't safe enough for the leader of Clone Force 99. He constantly found himself waking up periodically throughout the night just to be sure Omega hadn't disappeared from right under their noses.

Now, his worst fears had come true.

Again.

Hunter pressed himself against a stack of cargo crates, catching sight of Crosshair who gave him a sharp nod as their gazes met. The sniper gestured with his head to the transport that Clone X-2 had boarded with the kid. Hunter snuck closer, peering out from behind an abandoned fruit stand, blaster at the ready as he watched the imperials prepare to depart.

Hunter's vision fell on a sight he only saw in his nightmares. Before the doors to the transport slid shut, he captured a quick glance of Omega, eyes closed and breaths shallow as the assassin held her without remorse.

"NO!" Hunter shouted, charging toward the series of ships.

One by one the transports took off, the one containing Omega included, until only one remained. Hunter barely noticed the blaster fire exchange between his brothers and the excess troopers arranging to leave on the last ship.

Hunter set his gaze on the ride.

His last chance.

The doors were held open as the troopers boarded to ensure a quicker escape as well as to continue defense against the rogue clones.

Just as the transport lifted off the cobblestone ground, the sergeant latched onto the ledge of the metal floor, gripping on for dear life.

"Hunter!" Wrecker bellowed from below, a slight hint of surprise and awe mixed into his voice.

The stormtrooper closest to the edge leaned over, not prepared for the stowaway hanging from the side of the ship.

"What the—"

Hunter didn't spare him the courtesy to finish his sentence as he wrapped a firm hand around the trooper's ankle, pulling him down and ripping him off the ship to suffer the fate of gravity.

"Hey!"

The sergeant pulled himself up, finally on two feet, dodging the red blaster fire, reaching for the blaster and turning it against its holder. Everything went by in a blur. Hunter's vision was hot the entire time. These troopers were standing in his way of reaching Omega.

"Hunter! What's going on up there!" Echo shouted over the transmission.

Sucking in a short breath from the action, Hunter spoke, breathing slightly heavy, "I'm alone aside from the pilot. Hopefully he wasn't alerted from all that blaster fire."

"What are you gonna do now, Sarge?" Wrecker asked.

The question hung in the air.

Hunter looked down, watching as his brothers, as Pabu grew smaller and smaller by the second.

This was it.

"Hunter, don't do anything else stupid," Crosshair drawled out, a clear warning in his tone.

With a slight chuckle, Hunter responded, gripping onto one of the leather handles protruding from the transport's ceiling. "I guess I'm going to pay Hemlock a visit."

Omega wasn't going to be alone.

Not this time.

Happy Sunday y'all!
Decided to make a quick update after seeing some inspiration from Twitter. I am SO ready for Hunter's Joel Miller arc🥵

Hope everyone has a great week!! TBB is the only thing keeping me motivated as I finish up my school year , the senioritise is so real it's not even funny🥲😀