(Amazing art by the equally amazing @ndekvart)
Well, I'm back on my original bullshit again with a Fennter fic that I'm so excited for! @gar-romance-month really is the gift that keeps on giving. These prompts are amazing!
This takes place in The Bad Batch Season 3 where Wrecker and Hunter go on a mission with Fennec Shand. Bigger implications ahead in this story and some canon divergence, obviously. I’m so excited to write this one!
Hunter let out a sigh as he and his brother left the Outcast, breathing in the stale, but somehow more pleasant air, of the space station. He turned around and noticed Fennec Shand lingering at the top of the ramp.
“Pleasure doing business with you.” She said firmly.
“Hang on. You promised us information.” Hunter said, feeling a familiar growl in his voice.
“I didn’t say I had it on me. But I’ll get it. After I deliver Syler to my client.”
“That’s not what we agreed to.” Hunter replied, feeling his hackles rise. After all this aggravation and work he felt his temper, which was already so close to the surface these days, fray.
“You can either fight me or trust me. Take your pick” Shand said with a scowl.
Hunter and Wrecker exchanged a look. His brother’s brow was deeply furrowed. He could feel the anger radiating off him.
“Good choice.” Shand said when they didn’t say anything, “I’ll be in touch.”
Shand hit the retraction button for the ramp. And something in Hunter snapped.
“Hunt…” Wrecker’s voice warned but Hunter was already running up the retreating ramp and slammed into Shand as the door closed with a clang. He landed on top of her, his knife to her throat as she dug the barrel of her blaster into his side, making sure to dig under his armor for a better shot.
“Figured you’d be the one to keep things interesting, tracker.” Shand purred.
“I’m not in the kriffin mood for this, Shand. I need that intel now.” He growled through his teeth.
What he wouldn’t give to watch the light fade out of her eyes. He wasn’t a murderer, not in that sense. He’d always been able to draw the line, always hesitated when it was a being instead of droids, always stunned first, because once you took a life, you couldn’t give it back.
But this women…this woman who had tormented and terrified his kid. This woman who had tired to kill him, tried to take her. Omega had come a long way since her time with Shand and had suffered greatly in brand new ways. Ways he would never be able to forgive himself for. But Hunter could still hear the screams that wrenched her from her nightmares on the Marauder. He saw her innocent face, twisted in anguish, at the thought that maybe she wouldn’t find her way back to them next time.
He felt the knife push deeper into Shand’s neck involuntarily and tightened the muscles in his upper arm to hold himself back. The tip of the knife nicked her ever so slightly, a tiny droplet of blood seeping out and cascading over her shoulder and into her dark hair.
“I. Don’t. Have. It.” Shand’s ground out. “But I will get it.”
Hunter noticed her dark eyes were blown wide with fear, and he chastised himself internally for liking it. He’d often felt on the back foot with Shand. She had the intel, the resources they could only dream about. He wondered if she would have been able to find Tantis where he and Wrecker had failed.
He pushed the thought out of his mind and huffed out a breath. “Fine. But until you do, Syler stays with us.” He said, risking a look at the carbonite frozen bounty hunter behind him.
Shand’s eyes flicked to the slab hanging on the winch and grinned. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Tracker.” Hunter nodded and peeled himself offer her, sheathing his knife and brushing himself off as she stowed her blaster. “There aren’t many that can get the jump on me.” She said, and Hunter couldn’t help but be confused as her thin lips spread into a smile.
Hunter watched her wearily as she removed Syler from her storage and put the carbonite slab into a hover cart. When the ramp opened, he noticed Wrecker squared up and ready for a fight. Hunter could smell his spike of adrenalin and knew his brother would have come for him, had he thought he was in danger.
“What’s this?” he asked with a shovel sized hand gesturing at the slab.
“Insurance.” Hunter said with a sigh.
“Oh, Tracker?” Shand called from the ship. Hunter rolled his eyes at his brother and turned to face her. “Here,” she said, holding out something.
Hunter reluctantly returned to the ship as Wrecker hovered below, messing with the settings on the cart.
“You’ll know where I am at all times. Perhaps now you’ll trust I’m good for the intel.” Hunter took the tracker and put it in a pouch on his belt. “And one more thing…” Shand grabbed the front of his chest plate and yanked him forward, so her lips connected with his hungrily. Every warning signal his senses had fired at once as he wrenched away. “See you soon.” She said in a sing song voice as she turned around and headed up to the cockpit.
“Did she…” Wrecker started as Hunter got to the bottom of the ramp.
He waved his hand to shut down the question before it started. “Not a word. To anyone. Got it?”
Wrecker smirked and looked back at the ship. “You got it, Boss.”