Chapter Text
How many Imps could one outpost hold? It was getting ridiculous. Echo knocked a blaster away with his scomp, bringing up his own to shoot the owner, before moving on to the next. He ducked a swing and hooked his arm around the attacker’s legs, pulling them out from under him. The trooper fell backwards, Echo blasting him before he could recover.
Purple bolts flashed across the neighbouring catwalk, Omega thinning the group while Batcher barrelled through. Crosshair held his own on the opposite end of Echo’s catwalk, grappling with a trooper. He swung his Firepuncher up, knocking him of balance when the butt connected with the helmet. A mirror puck was flicked onto the trooper as he fell back, and in the same movement, Crosshair raised his rifle and shot, the ricochet taking out four more.
All Echo had needed them for was to help infiltrate an Imperial outpost Rex suspected had information on some clones. They got the information, but something had tipped off the Imperials, and stormtroopers started swarming. He kind of wished he had asked Hunter or Wrecker to join, if only he knew how the mission would go. He honestly should have expected it, he didn’t know why he expected it to go smoothly.
The stormtroopers were finally beginning to thin, and Echo began the slow trek closer to Crosshair’s position to back him up. He glanced over to see how he was doing, but the joke he had prepared died on his tongue.
Crosshair staggered as he was shoved against the railing. He kicked the legs out from under the nearest trooper, sending their head slamming against the railing and leaving them unconscious. The next one fell with a burning hole in their chestplate. The only reason they got the upper hand was because they had numbers. One went for Crosshair’s blaster, Echo had no idea where his Firepuncher had gone, keeping that hand occupied. Another swung at his head, forcing him to duck awkwardly to the side, while another pulled his legs out from under him.
He tilted back dangerously over the railing. Echo fought with renewed vigour as he realised what was about to happen. In the end, he couldn’t do anything but shout Crosshair’s name as one final shove tipped him backwards and he disappeared over the railing. He heard Omega’s scream echo his own as their brother fell.
Echo fought with a new ferocity, wasting no time on fancy manoeuvres, taking each trooper down effectively and methodically. Purple bolts joined him as Omega and Batcher finished clearing the troopers on their catwalk. They fought together and finally, finally, the last trooper fell.
He almost didn’t want to look over the edge. The catwalks they were on were way above the main floor of the outpost, multiple stories high, meant for maintenance. That was why they took them for their escape.
“Crosshair!”
Omega’s shout made Echo look down. His breath caught when he saw Crosshair’s body, sprawled and unmoving on the floor far below. He couldn’t tell if he was even alive.
Batcher whimpered, snapping him back into action. “Omega! Get yourself and Batcher back to the ship and get ready to go. I’ll get Crosshair.”
Omega hesitated. “I have medical training. I can help move him safely.”
Echo hesitated for a moment, considering the options, before shaking his head. “Negative. Get back to the ship. I’ll comm you if I need help. We need the ship ready to go as soon as we get there.”
She hesitated before nodding and taking off. “Come on, Batcher.”
Echo made his way to the end of the catwalk, where a ladder led directly between the platform and the ground far below. He climbed down quickly, keeping an eye out for any more Imperials, though he’d be surprised if there were any more on the karking planet after that fight.
Crosshair didn’t move the entire time. The only time Echo had seen his brother so still was when they were paired up during one of Echo’s first missions with the Bad Batch. The control and patience Crosshair had to stay so still for so long just to take one shot still amazed Echo.
Right now, the stillness just terrified him. He couldn’t even tell if Crosshair was breathing, even as he fell to his knees at his side to check him over. He went to take out his med scanner, but swore when he realised he’d left it on the ship after using it to check out one of his prosthetics that had been bothering him.
He took a shaky breath and carefully felt under Crosshair’s helmet for a pulse.
“Come on, Crosshair. Come on! You didn’t survive everything just to die here.”
He adjusted his hand when he felt nothing, resting his scomp on Crosshair’s chest. He almost collapsed with relief when he felt a weak pulse beneath his fingers. With that confirmation of life, he turned his attention to his helmeted head.
He carefully straightened it from where it had rolled limply to the side. His breath caught when he saw the large cracks spidering across the side and back of the helmet. He’d wanted to take it off to check his breathing, but left it on, not wanting to mess with a clearly serious head injury in the middle of an Imperial outpost.
Instead, he inspected the rest of Crosshair for injury. With the armour on, it was difficult, but he needed to carry him, and couldn’t be carrying loose armour at the same time. And they were still in a dangerous position in the middle of the outpost floor. His left arm and leg were clearly broken, twisted in uncomfortably wrong positions. He didn’t feel or see anything wrong with his neck, but couldn’t be certain about the rest of his spine or back without moving him and removing his armour, or a med scanner.
As he finished his quick assessment, he felt for a pulse again. He let out another shaky breath when he finally found it. He lowered his ear to Crosshair’s face, trying to hear his breathing. He couldn’t hear anything, but did see the small, uneven rise and fall of his chest. His comm pinged as he sat back up.
“Echo, the ship’s ready to go.”
“Good work, Omega. I’m going to send you some coordinates for a med centre, have them plugged in and ready. I’m on my way.”
“Yes, sir.”
Echo sat back and quickly considered his options. He really didn’t want to move Crosshair, but he didn’t have anything to carry him on to keep him stable, or enough hands to reasonably move him that way. He sighed and did his best with what he had. The med centre he gave Omega the coordinates for was good, one that Senator Chuchi had set up specifically to help clones rescued from the Empire. It was ready for anything.
“Sorry, Cross.” He carefully got his arms under Crosshair’s back and knees, wincing at the feeling of the broken bones in his leg grinding as they hung limply against his arm. He kept him as still as possible as he made his way back to the ship. He didn’t hear or see any more stormtroopers, and raced out to see the ship rumbling where it idled, ramp lowered.
As soon as his feet hit the durasteel of the ramp, he ordered Omega to take off. The ship rumbled around him as it rose. He carefully made his way to the bunks and lowered Crosshair onto one.
“As soon as we’re in hyperspace, get back here.” He commed Omega, getting an affirmative. Batcher emerged from deeper in the ship and sat by Crosshair’s side with a whine as Echo searched for the med scanner. He found it on some crates serving as a side table by his bunk. Snatching it up, he cursed himself again for leaving it behind.
He was scanning Crosshair when Omega emerged from the cockpit, her face painted with open worry. “How is he?”
Echo watched the med scanner beep, flashing multiple red warnings, before reading them out. “His left wrist and tibia are broken, he’s got multiple broken ribs, dislocated left shoulder, severe concussion, internal bleeding, and a thoracic dislocation.”
Omega’s brows shot up at that. “He dislocated his spine?”
Echo sighed, shaking his head. “I couldn’t check while we were out there, but either way I had to move him. I had no choice. It doesn’t seem to have made it much worse than it would be.”
He handed the med scanner to Omega for her to look over. She nodded sympathetically as she took it. “I understand, Echo, it’s okay, and he will too. As long as we get him to a med centre, he’ll be fine.” Her brow furrowed as she read over the specifics of the injuries. She put down the scanner and leapt straight into action, taking the medkit Echo had pulled out as she read, and opening it to rummage through its contents. “We need to get his armour off and stabilise those breaks. Just his arm and leg though, his body armour is helping keep his back stable, and we’ll move him too much if we try to take it off anyway.”
Echo nodded and got to work, carefully removing the armour from Crosshair’s mangled limbs. He didn’t stir as he handled what he knew had to be excruciating injuries. As he worked, Omega inspected Crosshair’s helmet and carefully removed it. Echo couldn’t tear his eyes from the amount of blood that caked the side of his head from a large gash where it had slammed into broken plastoid on impact. The med scanner had revealed no skull fractures, a miracle now that he could see the extent of the damage.
He blinked back into focus, tearing his eyes away from the head wound when Omega nudged him gently, and removed the last of the leg armour. Omega checked Crosshair’s eyes as Echo moved the armour into a pile set out of the way. Crosshair groaned at the inspection, but didn’t wake up. She got him to help clean the area around the head injury before she carefully began stitching the long gash, her steady hands moving nimbly as she tied each stitch before placing a bacta patch over them.
Omega rummaged in the medkit again and waved Echo over. “I need your help stabilising his arm and leg. We’re going to a med centre, so I don’t want to try to reset them if there’s experts about to do it, especially with his spine, but we need to keep them stable so they don’t get worse.”
Echo nodded, returning to her side. “Just tell me what to do.”
They started with his leg. Echo remained ready to hold Crosshair still if he moved, keeping his hand on his thigh to keep him steady while Omega carefully lifted his leg and began firmly wrapping it. They felt Crosshair flinch under their grips, but he didn’t fight them.
When she was done, Omega gently rested the leg on the bunk again before shuffling over to his arm. They repeated the process as she carefully wrapped his wrist, making sure it was firm but not too tight. Then, with Echo’s help, she carefully got the arm into a sling to keep the shoulder stable. Echo grimaced at the way his shoulder hung too low as they moved it.
Crosshair let out a low groan as Omega tied the sling in place. When they stepped back, he was blinking blearily towards them. His eyes sluggishly tracked Echo as he approached. “You with us, Cross?”
All he got was a long stare, as if Crosshair was trying to decipher what exactly he was looking at, before his eyes slid closed again.
“It’s alright.” Omega said before he could say anything, putting a hand on his arm. “He’s going to be tired. We’ll keep an eye on him and try again when he wakes up later.”
Echo looked down at her and gave her a nod, taking a steadying breath. “What’s next?”
Omega frowned and looked back between Crosshair and the med scanner. “There’s not much more we can do here. He’ll need a hypo for the pain. We’ll need to keep an eye on him in case he needs a transfusion for the internal bleeding, but since neither of us can give much, we’ll need to be careful about it.”
It was Echo’s turn to rummage through the medkit. He pulled out a hypo and carefully injected it into Crosshair’s neck. He watched as, even unconscious, he relaxed slightly as the pain meds got to work.
Echo glanced down when he felt a nose nudge his hand and saw Batcher looking up at him with a whine. He patted her head with a small smile. “He’ll be fine, girl. We’ll see if we can get you into the med centre when we get there. Think you’d make a passable therapy hound?”
Batcher haruffed up at him, leaning into his hand. Echo chuckled and kept patting her. Omega had packed away the medkit, but kept it close by. She put the med scanner on top of it and pulled some crates over, sitting on one and patting the other. Echo joined her, Batcher curling up at their feet.
They sat in silence for a long while. Omega leaned into Echo, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.
“He’ll be alright.” He wasn’t sure if Omega was saying it to him or herself. Either way, he nodded.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine.”
He heard Omega sniffle and squeezed her shoulders. She had really filled the role of medic there, but now that the immediate danger was over, she got to remind them both that she’s still just a kid. Just a kid whose brother was hurt.
Omega was just beginning to drift off against him when Crosshair stirred again. She woke at the sound of his long groan, and sat up as Echo got up to move closer.
Crosshair’s eyes blinked slowly open, sluggish and dazed. He clearly wasn’t taking in much of what he saw and made no indication he knew his brother was there. Echo waved his hand in front of his face and called out, drawing his attention. When his eyes finally locked onto him, Echo could see how blown and uneven his pupils were as he squinted against the light.
Echo called quietly over his shoulder. “Omega, the lights.” He heard her get up and move, and soon the lights dimmed, Crosshair’s eyes blinking open more as they did. They had drifted away from Echo, distracted by the changing environment, and Echo waved again to draw his gaze back.
When he had his attention, he spoke softly. “Hey, do you know where you are?”
Crosshair blinked, eyes drifting around the room. Echo waited patiently for him to get his bearings, drawing his attention back when he seemed to get distracted, forgetting what he was doing.
He tried again with something easier. “Do you know your name?”
Crosshair muttered something that didn’t sound close to his own name as his eyes slowly slid closed again. Echo let him fall back to sleep and stepped back with a sigh. He looked back over at Omega who had been watching them closely with a look of sadness and concern. “I’m going to check the course and try to contact the med centre. Maybe comm Hunter and Wrecker. Will you be alright here?”
She nodded, and he ruffled her hair and gave Batcher another pat as he made his way into the cockpit.
Omega lay on the crates she’d pulled over to Crosshair’s bedside, watching him sleep. One arm cushioned her head while the other dangled down to run her hand along Batcher’s side. She hoped they reached the med centre soon, she hadn’t paid much attention to the travel time when she’d plugged in the coordinates and set the autopilot.
She wondered if Echo had commed Hunter and Wrecker yet. Both of them would be beating themselves up for not being there as soon as they heard what had happened, she knew it. Part of her wanted to go straight back to Pabu, where it was safe and things like this never happened, but she knew they didn’t have the resources to treat something so serious there. She trusted that Echo’s med centre would come through.
She pushed herself up when Crosshair stirred again. Batcher’s head perked up when Omega stood and approached him. Like before, he didn’t seem to notice her, and that unnerved her more than anything else. Crosshair noticed everything. She and Wrecker had made it their life’s mission to try to scare him, and so far, they had been unsuccessful. He saw everything coming, thanks to both his enhancements and general paranoia.
“Crosshair.” She called out, waving her hand like she’d seen Echo do. That drew his hazy gaze. He didn’t seem to recognise her when he finally looked at her, just simply stared. “Hey, vod’ika. You with me?”
Crosshair tensed with a groan when he went to move his arm. She carefully put a hand on an uninjured part of his arm, holding it there.
“You need to stay still, you’re really hurt.” She let out a breath when he obeyed. A small whimper escaped him as his body settled again. She gave him a reassuring smile. “I know, I’m sorry. We can’t give you any more meds yet. We’ll get you help soon, though. Don’t worry.”
She was sure he didn’t get most of that, but when she ran her hand gently up and down his arm, he relaxed. Since he seemed to be at least somewhat hearing her, unlike when Echo had tried to talk to him earlier, she tried to ask him some questions. He still didn’t seem very with it, but she had to try.
She reached over and grabbed his good hand, carefully pulling it to his chest and squeezing it once. “Do you feel that?” There was a long pause. She squeezed again, trying to school her grin into a pleased smile when he squeezed back.
“Yeah, good job. Do you remember what happened?”
She watched Crosshair slowly process the question, gaze drifting slightly from her face as he thought. When he finally spoke, it all came out as an incoherent slur.
“How about you squeeze my hand once for yes, twice for no?” She asked, hoping he was with it enough to follow those simple instructions. This was already the longest he’d been awake, and the most responsive he’d been.
He squeezed once.
“Alright, good. Do you remember what happened?” A long pause. He squeezed twice. She nodded. “That’s okay. Do you know where you are?”
Another long pause. Another negative.
She was about to ask the next question, when he took in a sharp inhale. She felt his hand go limp in her grasp as his eyes rolled back slightly, eyelids flickering. She had a feeling she knew what this was, quickly scooping up the med scanner, and feeling tears in her eyes when it confirmed her suspicion.
Not knowing how conscious he was, she took his hand again and squeezed, giving him quiet reassurances. After about thirty seconds, his eyes refocused, as much as they’d been focused in the first place, and Omega was able to draw his attention to her again. He didn’t seem to notice it had even happened, and after a short examination, she went back to asking her questions.
During her questioning, she had to repeatedly draw his attention back to her when he got distracted. Multiple times it was from Batcher moving or making a sound, forcing her to send her out to Echo. She had to repeat the instructions to squeeze her hand as he tried to slur out incomprehensible answers every other question.
He didn’t answer a single question right, or very comprehensively. That concerned her, but didn’t surprise her. The med scanner had already told them the concussion was severe, Omega just hated being faced with the reality of it.
Crosshair slowly drifted off again, and she let him. Not long after he fell back asleep, Echo ducked in to tell her they were approaching the med centre. Within the next ten minutes, medics were getting Crosshair onto a backboard, placing it on a stretcher, and whisking him away into the depths of the med centre.