I haven't done this in like almost a month, so here it is! One of my favorite fics (one that has been semi-abandoned, but my muse is activating again with what have been happening in the show, so next chapter is coming. Yeah, I know, I know I've been saying that for 2 years, but now it's true, because either this turns into the direct, even if slightly divergent, continuation of season 2 finale, or downright a fix it, depending on what happens next week)
So, here it is, my pride and joy!
Fandom: Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: CT-9904 | Crosshair, Hunter, Omega, Tech, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo, Wrecker, CT-7567 | Rex, OCs, Orys Kinall, I3-C0 | Leco
Additional Tags: Brotherly Love, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Whump, The bad batch rescues Crosshair, Blood and Injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Crosshair Needs a Hug (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Tech Needs a Hug (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), Hunter Needs A Hug (Star Wars: The Bad Batch), the entire bad batch needs a hug
Series: Part 2 of Good Soldiers Follow Orders, Good Brothers Disobey Them
Summary: The Batch finally rips Crosshair away from the Empire's clutches, but things don't go so smoothly once he's de-chipped.
Chapter 1: Fiery Anger, Cutting Guilt
It shouldn’t surprise Hunter the intensity of the pounding in his head; acute bouts of stress always make it harder for his enhanced senses to tolerate stimuli. The static hum from the lights embedded on the roof is getting on Hunter’s nerves; the sharp glow adds more to his discomfort. He shifts on the chair, the screeching of metal scraping against metal makes him flinch. Hunter leans the elbows on his knees and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes for a few seconds, hoping to relieve the ache behind them. Overstimulation is a distraction that he can’t afford right now.
In any other circumstances, Hunter would’ve allowed any of his brothers to take the guard duty. But he feels he has to be here. He’s the one who left Crosshair in Kamino to be easy prey for the Empire; he’s the one who captured his brainwashed brother tonight, so it’s his responsibility to make sure that Crosshair can’t escape and harm anyone in the ship once he wakes up—or hurt worse, he should say. Leaving Crosshair unsupervised, with the inhibitor chip still inside his head, is an invitation for tragedy.
It hurts watching Crosshair lying unconscious on his bunk in the Marauder. He’s both a brother and a stranger, which provokes in Hunter many conflicted feelings. Hunter’s just as glad as he is afraid of having snatched the sniper from the merciless clutches of the Empire.
Crosshair’s capture lifts no weight from Hunter’s shoulders; the relief of having his batchmate back is overshadowed by the burden of guilt and anger. At a conscious level, Hunter understands that all that Crosshair has done since Order 66 was issued is not his fault. He’s being controlled against his will. And yet, some part of Hunter boils in anger for all the times his brother tried to kill them. For kriff’ sake! He shot Tech in the chest this very night.
Right behind his fiery anger comes the cutting guilt. The fact that Hunter never found the way to rescue Crosshair, nothing more than saying some pleading words amid their tense encounters, which fell on deaf ears, is something he’ll have to live with the rest of his life. He’s angry at himself for leaving his brother behind. But what else could Hunter have done? Crosshair is lethal in his own right, and if you add to that the Imperial firepower that surrounded him, it would’ve been a suicide attempting the rescue.
Despite being a force to be reckoned with, Hunter knows that he and the boys couldn’t have defeated such an adversary without facing major risks, especially with a man less in the team. Much less when said man was working for the enemy, albeit against his will, who also knew their every weakness and was not afraid to use those against them. From a strategic standpoint, it wasn’t worth it. What good would’ve done trying to get Crosshair back if the rest of the Batch ended up dead? It’s his responsibility as a leader to guarantee the safety of his squad, of those who he has within his reach.
Crosshair stayed away from it for a very long time until tonight. Grateful at the unexpected boon, Hunter grabbed the opportunity to get his brother back.
