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They say everyone who looks into their family history will find a secret sooner or later. Omega Se - now Fett - didn't believe that when her best friend Hera Syndulla told her that, her eyes lit up as she explained to Omega that her parents had an old friend who was actually a Fett like Omega was. But there was no harm in looking, she decided, though her family was very complicated, as she only really cared about her three directly related brothers Hunter, Tech and Wrecker and her half-brother Echo, also a Fett, who she lived with.Her brothers were adults, with Omega having been born over 14 years after the triplets were born to Nala Se and Jango Fett. Omega was around eight years old when the police were called after a neighbor reported hearing a child screaming and crying for hours, and it was revealed that Nala Se had been experimenting on Omega for years, like she had been on Hunter, Tech and Wrecker before the police had been called ten years earlier, and they had been removed and placed in orphanages. Jango had left before the boys were born, and when he returned, he had only stayed for a few months to take Omega's twin brother, who she rarely saw but knew of as a jerk and didn't care about at all.There had been a court case, and Omega had been adopted by the three triplets and their half-brother Echo, who they met during a campaign when they joined the war, and adopted as a brother after he saved one of their lives - Omega had never been able to figure out whose. He had joined their squad after he was caught in an explosion and he was taken by a neutral camp, who decided to use him as an experiment to test making cyborgs - Echo hadn't given any details - but that was how he gained his three mechanical limbs before joining the Bad Batch.All of them had a policy of telling Omega about whatever she asked, though it may be rather vague due to not being suitable for children or just not wanting to tell her, and so though Omega had asked many times for stories from the triplets' childhood, she had been told relatively vague and boring stories, or sometimes Wrecker or Tech started a story and would get half way through one of their escapades before cutting themselves off and leaving suddenly, probably because they hated to think of memories with Nala Se. After that happened a few times, Omega stopped asking. She understood, Nala Se was her mother too and though she hadn't been with Nala as long as they had, she had plenty of bad memories she tried her hardest to block out, memories of overly harsh punishments and tests she hated.There was also the added problem that Nala Se had figured out how to use IVF to enhance Hunter, Tech and Wrecker, somehow adjusting DNA so that Hunter had enhanced senses, Tech had a brain that worked faster, and Wrecker was physically larger. The three boys were her little experiments as she worked on discovering the lengths of Hunter's enhanced sense, Tech's sped up brain and Wrecker's extra physical growth, and she had done more experiments on them that she'd ever done on Omega, as Omega wasn't enhanced in IVF like the three triplets were, as far as she knew.All three of them hated their enhancements and made sure that no one but Echo and Omega knew about them. Hunter's enhanced senses meant that, loud noises, bright lights, pungent smells, and sometimes objects that were too flavorful or too rough, gave him sensory overload or extreme discomfort and migraines. Wrecker's abnormal size made him clumsy and also made it hard to fit in smaller areas and it made him stand out, which he generally disliked. And Tech's brain worked so fast that he had frequent headaches, and somehow his enhancements backfired so he couldn't see very well and was extremely nearsighted, with was always a pain. But the three of them managed, escaping Nala Se aged 14, and then bouncing around foster homes until they were old enough to leave the system. Tech had gotten a scholarship to a prestigious university, but they didn't want to split up, so they joined the army so they could stay together, and it had worked for the most part.Echo was their half-brother, he had the same father, Jango Fett, as all other Fetts, but all of them had different mothers. He and his brothers had been adopted by Ninety-Nine, another Fett, some relative of Jango's – Omega never figured out how they were related exactly - when they were too young to remember and had a relatively happy childhood, though Ninety-Nine had little money to support five boys and they seemed to struggle through poverty a lot.Echo was always happy to tell her about his childhood with his twin and three little brothers with his dad Ninety-Nine. He always got more regretful with his stories when he told stories about them when they were older, as when the youngest got to be old enough, all five of them and Ninety-Nine all joined the army, and all were killed there except Echo. Fives was the last to die, and he died while Echo was still in the hands of the Techno Union, meaning that Fives never got to see him again.They all told her war stories, dulling down the gruesome part, though all of their stories started when Echo joined their squad as there were only three of them at that point, though they'd already been in the war for two years. They already knew Echo, Omega knew, through garbled stories of their first campaign with the 501st, with Echo, as Fives had been sent away from the 501st temporarily then and Echo was rather lonely without his twin. Omega often wondered how they managed as a squad of 3 when they were supposed to have four, or who their fourth member was. She assumed that he died, and they just didn't want to talk about him, but once, Wrecker insisted that there was no fourth member, so Omega wasn't sure what to think.They had a photo album, with a few precious photos from before they escaped Nala Se age 14 - mostly photos of experiments they went through - but Omega wasn't allowed to touch the album. Sometimes she had found one or more of her brothers looking through the photos, looking upset or wistful, and wondered what they were looking at, but she quickly forgot to ask them, as it didn't seem right to pry about in their bad memories. They never did it with her, choosing to leave her past with Nala Se as a distant memory, so she shouldn't make them think about that time either.Now, as she walked home from school, thinking on Hera's words and the missing years in her brothers' stories, she resolved to find that photo album, and look at it, and see what was in it. She knew what she'd likely find, more similarly disturbing pictures of the triplets as kids, and maybe some from the war with the man who died, the mysterious fourth member that they must have had, but still, she wanted to know.Maybe he had died saving their lives and they remembered him with honor and regret. Omega didn't know. If he had done that - or even if he hadn't - still, she wanted to know about him. She knew well that close bonds grew quickly in war, they might have known him as a brother, and she wanted to know about him, even if all they told her was his name, and a photo.---Less than a minute after Omega rang the doorbell, a grim man with his face twisted into a smile opened the door, letting Omega dart in and hug him. "Hunter! You're home." Hunter chucked softly as he shut the door, locking it and hugged the twelve-year-old back."Yeah, we're all home today." He smiled as Omega stepped back."Even Tech?" Omega asked, beaming."Yes, even Tech." Hunter reassured her, patting her on the head as she walked into the kitchen, seeing as she greeted Echo in the kitchen, Tech at the kitchen table and Wrecker by the tv, a sad smile on his face.She hadn't expected them to be home. It was true that both Hunter and Wrecker worked weird hours at Cid's bar, but it was the only job they could get, with their spotty education and bad reports. Tech worked day and nightshifts with a weird sleeping schedule at his company where he was the head mechanic for a computer company that worked 24/7, though he worked from home most days. Even Echo's boring job as a supervisor in a transport company meant he had long hours, though at least they were all during the day.But she didn't expect them to be home. Maybe he could ask Cid if they could take more daytime hours and let Bolo and Ketch do the night hours. Cid liked Omega, so maybe they could get away with it. Both Echo and Tech were stuck with their jobs and they couldn't risk endangering them, as they were most paying jobs they had in the family and they were already short on money.But he also couldn't let his little sister, who he adored and loved more than his life, come home not expecting her brothers to be home. That wasn't right. Omega had already had so many things go wrong in her life, and she didn't deserve this. He sighed, and looked up, flicking off the light and heading to the kitchen.He stepped into the kitchen as Omega skipped up the stairs to her room to put her bag down. Echo smiled at Hunter weakly, noting the sadness in his half-brother's eyes. "You okay, Hunter?" Tech, at the table, working on his online college courses, looked up from his typing too, glancing through his glasses at Hunter."Yeah, I'm fine." Hunter said, moving mostly on auto-pilot to the tv, where he sat next to Wrecker, who was watching the news, eating a bag of Cheetos he must have begged off Echo."Okay." Echo turned back to the spaghetti sauce he was stirring, and Tech looked back down at his computer, resuming the urgent typing he was doing. Wrecker grinned at his brother before resuming watching the national news report. Hunter glanced at the screen, then decided he'd rather be anywhere else. They were showing pictures of wars going on around the world, and the scenes depicted looked too familiar for Hunter's liking.And it reminded Hunter of him.Hunter sighed, standing and walking away from the tv, and out of the room, ignoring Tech, Echo and Wrecker's worried glances. He started up the stairs as Omega rocketed down them, full of energy after her day at school. She paused halfway, concern immediately on her face. "Are you okay? Hunter?""M' fine, kid. I'm taking a nap, I have a migraine." He mumbled, continuing up the stairs, and automatically turning for his room. Omega stared after him, concerned, but she continued down the stairs, slightly more subdued, into the kitchen.“Is Hunter okay?” Omega asked Tech as she settled down at the table next to him, holding a pencil and worksheet.“He is fine, Omega.” Tech said crisply. “He had a tiring day at work.” Echo nodded assent, scowling at the images on the tv with clear disgust. Omega nodded silently and then bowed her head to her math homework.---"It's time to eat." Echo declared, about an hour later, interrupting Wrecker and Omega who were both sat cross legged by the tv, holding controllers as they played Mario Kart, cheering and booing as they kept making decisive maneuvers in each other's way, and getting in the lead temporarily, before the other caught up. Tech had lost all of his flagging attention to his schoolwork and was frowning at the tv, likely coming up with another strategy to win easily - he always beat the others at any game after seeing it played at least once."Can we finish the game?" Omega asked, not turning around. "Please, Echo?"Echo sighed and consented. "This game, no more. Tech, would you help me set the table?" Tech nodded silently, closing his laptop after saving his work, and placing it back in the laptop bag which he then leant against the wall, to be taken upstairs after dinner. Then he washed his hands and joined Echo in setting the table as Omega and Wrecker turned onto the last lap.Echo rolled his eyes as Omega elbowed Wrecker, causing him to lose control of his car for a second, and he elbowed her back as she giggled, breaking out into hearty laughs as he broke a head, getting a lead as she recovered her controls. "Hey, no fair. You elbowed me!" She protested, laughing, as he maintained the lead, avoiding her tricks, and holding his remote out of her reach as she tried to attack it."So did you!" Wrecker chuckled as he crossed the finish line, throwing his hands up in the air in celebration. "Hooray!" He cheered loudly as Omega pouted."Good game." She sighed, setting her remote down. "Can we play again after dinner?""Sure thing, kid." Wrecker shrugged, throwing his remote beside hers as he stood. "What's for dinner, Echo? Smells good." He followed his nose to the table where Echo was serving the spaghetti."You say that every night." Echo sighed, but he was smiling. "Omega, could you go call Hunter to dinner please?" Omega nodded, beaming and rushed away, up the stairs as Tech took a seat at the table, Wrecker following suit opposite him. Echo took off the dark grey and red apron that he'd received for Christmas from Hunter in their squad colors, hanging it up, and taking the seat at the head of the table, as the eldest in the house.Omega came running back down the stairs, a sleepy looking Hunter walking behind her and she jumped into her seat next to Wrecker, looking excited. "It looks good, Echo." She praised it, and Echo nodded, smiling slightly, as Hunter took the seat facing him.As soon as Hunter was seated, they began to dig into the spaghetti, some with more enthusiasm than others. "Pass the Parmesean cheese." Tech asked, and Echo obliged, sliding it along past the empty seat between Tech and Echo. Even now, seeing the empty seat beside Tech hurt Hunter. He'd tried to get a five-person table when Omega moved in, but there hadn't been any for sale at a price Hunter could afford, so they'd had to get a six-person table, and now they were all stuck thinking of him, every time they saw that space that should be filled.Hunter sighed, taking a bite of the spaghetti. He chewed it and swallowed, appreciating the relative plainness of the spaghetti that Echo had ensured was in just about every meal that Hunter ate, preventing the flavor from bothering Hunter's taste senses. The others were adding salt and Parmesean, he noted as Tech handed the Parmesean off to Omega, and Echo added salt, and a touch of black pepper. Wrecker was eating his with gusto, not bothering to wait for any additions as he seemed to gulp down the spaghetti noodles."How was your day at school?" Hunter broke the silence, asking Omega, who looked up, looking slightly startled."It was good." She managed to say through a bite of noodles, even as Echo chided her."No speaking with your mouth full, Omega." Omega nodded and continued eating rather messily, and Echo sighed to himself as she placed an elbow on the table. She took it off quickly as soon as she noticed the tired look Echo was giving her, and smirked awkwardly and slightly apologetically as she noticed both of Wrecker's elbows were on the table and Echo was glaring at him with as much effort as he could muster, which wasn't much, he too was tired after a long day of work.Tech was eating his spaghetti calmly and in silence as Echo and Hunter talked about their jobs, Hunter complaining about Cid's bar and how he hated the dingy building, with Wrecker chipping in between gulps of spaghetti. Omega was listening, but she looked worried, and was picking at her food, and Tech frowned."Omega." He interrupted whoever was speaking, guessing that it was Hunter by the exasperated look Hunter gave him which Tech ignored. "What's wrong?" He asked, his voice seeming drier than usual, and noted how all the other three glanced at Omega, worried instantly. Then Hunter went pale, staring at Tech in surprise."Tech?" He half-whispered, leaning forward, dropping his fork with a clatter. Wrecker glanced at him, and froze, realizing what Tech had just said. Tech and Echo frowned, and Tech tilted his head slightly, thinking over what he had just said, when it came to him, the way his voice sounded, hoarser than usual, and the manner he'd said it in. Echo scowled, looking at the way the triplets all seemed stunned or frozen, as Omega bit her lip, glad of the distraction. It took him a bit longer to figure out what they were shocked by, but he hid his surprise, gulping awkwardly as he observed the scene."Well done for noticing." Echo interrupted the ensuing silence, pretending a callousness that he didn't feel at all. "Is that all?" Hunter hurriedly nodded, and Tech and Wrecker looked away awkwardly, Wrecker biting his lip."We can talk about this later. What's wrong, Omega?" Omega sighed, placing her fork down as she looked around at them, and noting that they all looked very serious, and worried."Can I see the photo album?" She asked, as calmly as she could manage. Hunter frowned slightly at Omega, who tried her hardest not to squirm under the other's gaze."Yeah, I can show it to you after dinner." Hunter answered, confused. "Why?""Can I look at all the pictures?” Omega asked, already knowing the answer, but she'd feel better if she'd asked. Hunter paused, startled.“You can look at most of the pictures.” He said, firmly, but his eyes darted to Echo at the other side of the table, who didn't look happy, betraying his unease.“Why not all of them?” Omega scowled, and Hunter sighed, running a hand through his long hair.“Because some of them are of experiments or of war scenes you shouldn't have to see-” He began, but Omega interrupted him.“I'm twelve. I'm old enough for most things now, and I went through similar experiments to yours.” Hunter sighed again, a heartfelt sigh, but Omega didn't relent, glaring at him with all the force she had. She missed the flicker of pain that washed over Tech's face, and the subconscious clenching of Wrecker's fork.“I think we should tell her.” Echo spoke before Hunter could speak, frowning deeply. “She's living with us, she's our sister, she should know.”“She's a kid.” Hunter turned to Echo as he snapped, glaring daggers at him. “She won't understand.” Echo shrugged.“She doesn't have to understand.” Echo answered firmly. “You made a mistake, and everyone is paying for it. She should know, she's in our family, and is your sister. She needs to know about her family.”“When she's older. She should know, yes, but now, she won't understand what we did.” Omega's brown furrowed in confusion as she tried to understand the conversation. There was quite clearly something that they weren't telling her, about her family, no less.She should know! Echo was right, she was in their family and deserved to know whatever it was that they were keeping from her. It wasn't fair.“She's known you for four years. That should have been the first thing you told her. It was the first thing you told me.” Echo was glaring right back at Hunter, being the only person in the room that could match Hunter's temper and give it back. Wrecker stared dismally at his empty bowl, hating the conversation, while Tech got out his i-pad and started typing, ignoring the fight, while Omega looked back and forth between Hunter and Echo, confused and annoyed.“You had to know! There was no possible way to keep it from you.” Their voices had now ascended into yelling, and Hunter half-stood, and slammed the table with his fist, causing the bowls to jump in fright.“Omega should know! Just because it's not required to tell her about-” Echo's replying shout was interrupted by Wrecker shoving his chair back as he stood.“Shut. Up.” He roared, causing everyone else at the table to wince at the volume. Hunter's hand went to his temple as he sat back down, and Omega blinked away tears. She'd never, ever seen Wrecker yell in anger before, and it scared her. And the fight had been her fault. Wrecker sat back down with a thud and pushed his bowl away.There instantly was silence. Then Hunter spoke, rubbing his head. "Echo, we can continue this later, okay." The unspoken message was that they would continue when Omega was asleep, and Echo bit his lip, nodding, deciding not to fight anymore."Can I please be excused?" Tech asked, his voice cold and inscrutable, and Hunter nodded once, staring at his food blankly, not touching it. Tech stood, taking his bowl, his eyes fixed on his ipad, and placing it in the sink, before turning and walking away, up the stairs to his room. Wrecker stood up a second later and followed Tech, leaving his bowl behind.Omega's lip wobbled, and she bit it hard, drawing blood, though she didn't realize it. She stood quickly, placing her bowl in the sink, before heading upstairs, in her haste forgetting to thank Echo. She hurried straight to her bedroom, brushing away tears as she heard the sound of Tech sobbing - a sound she'd never heard before, Tech never cried - and Wrecker gently comforting him. Downstairs, she heard Echo and Hunter speak, though she heard no venom in their voices. She hurried straight to her room, shutting her door louder than usual and jumped straight in her bed, burying her face in a pillow as she began to cry.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was near Omega's bedtime when her door slowly opened, and Omega stepped out, clad in pajamas. She'd remained in her room for an hour, feeling guilty, but eventually she had reasoned that it wasn't entirely her fault, as Hunter was annoyed over whatever Tech had said - Omega didn't understand why that was so distressing - and so got mad more easily. And that was probably why Tech cried. Hunter's coming up to speak to her and tell exactly what she'd already figured out made her more convinced of the fact that it wasn't her fault Wrecker and Tech got upset.But now that she was no longer upset, she was now actually quite annoyed. Hunter - and the rest of them - had kept something from her this whole time. They said they would tell her everything, but they didn't. They lied. Now Echo wanted to tell her, but Hunter didn't, and she couldn't really tell where the other two stood. And now she wanted to know.She had resolved that she would ask Echo the next morning about it, and then try to find the photo album, and look at it. She had to know, she wasn't eight years old and a baby anymore, it had been four years since she had left Nala Se. And there were plenty of gruesome war scenes on TV that she'd seen Wrecker watching, though she wasn't supposed to. How would they get any gruesome pictures anyway? They couldn't just take a camera onto the battlefield, so most of the photos had to be from after the conflict, and that wasn't very gruesome.She tiptoed across the hallway to the bathroom, glancing at the rooms as she passed them. Hunter's door was shut, she'd heard him go in after talking to her. Wrecker's and Tech's were both open, and she could hear them downstairs talking, and she was pretty sure they were playing something on the tv. Echo's door was just past the bathroom, but it was open and she hadn't heard him since she had entered her room, so she had no idea where he was.On a whim, Omega decided to glance into Echo's room, to see if he was there, and she peered around the door to find the room - empty. She glanced around once more, and sighed, and was about to turn away when she spotted a familiar looking red and black covered book lying on his bed.The photo album.She took a step closer, glancing back down the hallway, but no one was there. But on her next step, the floorboard creaked and she froze instantly, terrified that Hunter would hear and come investigate, and he would be angry.But there was nothing. She waited for over a minute, then gingerly took a step forwards, scooping up the book, and turning away. But as she turned away, she saw a note, a red sticky note, on his room dresser, and, filled with curiosity, she walked over to read it.It read 'Gone out for dinner. Will be back around 8:30. - E' Omega couldn't help smiling at her good luck, it was around 7:50, and that meant she had 40 minutes to look at the photo album and return it, though she'd be up past her bedtime. She hurried down back to her room, and stuffed the album under her rumpled sheets - anyway Echo was the only one who cared about how her bed looked and he wasn't around. She was about to shut the door when she realized that she hadn't gotten ready for bed yet, and if Hunter came to check on her, she'd be caught at once.In under five minutes, she got ready for bed, shutting her door softly and slipping under the covers, and having flicked her main light off and left her lamp, she pulled out the photo album, feeling the red and black velvet cover and stroking it softly. Should she do this?But just thinking of the fact that there was something her brothers hadn't told her, made her decide to take the leap, and open the cover of the book.The first page was only pictures that Omega recognized, Hunter, Wrecker, Tech and Echo in military uniform, and then one of them in armor, the first picture of Omega when she had first met her brothers, and a group photo right after they won the court case. Omega smiled, remembering those times, and turned the page slowly. There were more pictures she recognized, more of Tech, Hunter, Wrecker and Echo in the army, a few after they had just left, a few shots of them in the morning before Omega arrived, and then one after she arrived with her sitting at the table talking with Tech while the rest drank coffee.Omega's school photos, some of her with grades, grinning as she posed beside one of her brothers, some of her starting middle school last year, some of Gonky, their cat, and a few others taken throughout time. All of these she recognized, she'd seen them or been there when they were taken. She turned the page, and then froze.There were pages of blank sheets. The plastic casing where the photos were put was empty. Had they removed all the other photos? There used to be other photos, she'd noted that when Hunter had stopped her from flicking further than a certain page and taken the album away. Where had they gone? Had Echo removed them? Had he expected her to take the album and removed the photos they didn't want her to see? Was the note fake? Was he actually in the house? Was this a trap?
She froze, listening intently, trying to listen for where Echo was. He wasn't normally silent, or even quiet for long periods of time, he like to stay near his brothers and talk to them, and his prosthetics normally made noise. But there was nothing. Wrecker and Tech were seated downstairs talking, and she thought she heard Hunter's quiet snores in his room. Nothing from Echo. He must actually be out then, so the note was real.If the note was real, then Echo probably hadn't set this up as a trap. Omega frowned, flicking back through the photos. There was nothing she didn't recognize. There were no hidden photos. With a loud sigh, Omega closed the book with a thump, freezing again for a second at the loud sound, lying back on her bed. She still had around twenty-five minutes to return the book, so she was fine on time. Echo must have removed the photos, or maybe Hunter did it. She'd have to ask Echo then, maybe when he got back, or she could search their rooms when they were out, though she didn't want to go through her brothers' stuff.Though if that was the price of learning the truth, she would pay it, just to know whatever it was that they weren't telling her. It was clearly important and they weren't telling her anything. She deserved to know.With a groan, she opened the photo album. She had twenty minutes, she might as well look at the photos again without Hunter constantly over her shoulder. And then she paused, seeing something at the back of the album.There were photos at the end of the album, and she hadn't noticed. Those must be the photos they didn't want her seeing. She suddenly noted her heart was racing, and with shaky hands, she flipped to the page before the photos, feeling sudden apprehension that she hadn't felt earlier, maybe because she hadn't really expected to find them like that. But this had to be the photos she was looking for.And after she looked at them, there was no going back. She couldn't just forget this. This was the truth, and it was just on the next page. Should she do it? There was a reason that Hunter didn't want her to see it.She closed the book.She flicked the light off, noting she had nineteen minutes to get it back. She'd just ask Echo, and he could tell her. But now her insatiable curiosity was ignited, and as much as she didn't want to look at the photos in case she learned something she shouldn't know, she longed to look at them, to know the hidden truth.And the truth was right there! Echo might refuse to tell her, and hide the album, and then she'd never know. And she had to know, it was her family, and she should know, she couldn't just not know! Her curiosity would eat her up inside.So she reopened the photo album, flicking to the earlier page she'd been at, the page before the forbidden pictures. She had seventeen minutes. It was now or never.She flicked over the page and froze. These pictures - they were of her. Her during experiments. The scenes from her nightmares that she tried to forget. They just had the photos and never told her? Was this what Hunter didn't want to tell her? Hunter couldn't have gotten so mad about some pictures that Nala Se took and gave to her brothers.But why had they kept these? They knew she hated all her time with Nala Se. She glanced over them, noted that they were from when she was born, and there was one of when she was just a baby. If you ignored the wires and tubes or whatever the experiment was - she'd been experimented on as a baby? - there didn't seem to be any experiment in that one though - then you just saw pictures of young Omega. Was that why they kept it, they had no pictures of young Omega, so they kept everything they had?Omega bit her lip, and looked away, before flicking over the page. More disturbing pictures of her, scenes she remembered vividly in nightmares. She quickly turned another page. And paused, staring at the page in shock.There was a photo of her brothers in armor, but the fourth of them wasn't Echo. It was an unfamiliar man, tall and pale, with silver hair and a defiant glare he was giving the camera. He had a retical tattoo over his right eye, and the same eyes at Tech, strangely. Maybe he was a Fett?But they all looked much younger.She couldn't get over that. Hunter had his tattoo then, and Tech wore clunky goggles, nothing like his glasses he wore currently. Wrecker had his scar and lost eye, but he had no wrinkles and was grinning cheerfully. It was so strange.She tore her eyes away and looked over the other three photos on the page, showing the four of them in armor, and in uniform once more, but this time, Tech looked tired and entirely out of patience, Hunter was rolling his eyes, Wrecker had his scar, and he looked actually tired of whatever was happening. And the other man stood a step away, not even looking at the camera, but smirking - actually smirking - at something to the right of the camera.The last picture on the page was just the three of them, Hunter, Tech and Wrecker, in armor, standing in their bunkroom, clearly an unofficial photo, with four bunks behind him, three with belongings on them, the fourth empty. "The day", Tech had written in his scrappy handwriting, and Omega froze, noticing that all three had clearly been crying, there were tear tracks on their face, their eyes were red-rimmed and Wrecker was very clearly crying as the picture was taken. They were just standing there, no salute, just a photo of them standing there, upset.The day that man had died.Omega bit her lip, then flicked over the page. This page was all of that man, with her brothers around the edges - Tech was taking the photo, she decided, as he was in none of them. The first was him, fast asleep, lying on his bunk with a broken arm and Lula lying next to him. The second was him glaring at the camera as he drank some liquid - likely coffee, though Omega couldn't rule out some alcoholic drink. Hunter was seated on the next bunk, looking just as grumpy, also drinking a brown liquid. The third was the man in full armor with a sniper rifle over his shoulder and his helmet on, expression unreadable, though he was posing for the camera. Wrecker stood behind him, making bunny ears above his helmet, and Omega nearly giggled, clapping her hand over her mouth to stop the noise. And the last photo was him, seated on his bunk in casual clothes, leaning against the wall with a lazy smirk and a toothpick in his mouth as he smirked at someone off screen.She flicked over the page and found the pictures were similar, though two of them were him sniping on the field, one was him in hospital and the last was him and Echo seated on a boulder, arguing. Omega looked on, sadly. He'd known Echo and the two had been close? friends, Omega wasn't sure.The next few pages were much the same, with quite of few of him and Echo together, chilling, or arguing, there was one of the five of them on a picnic blanket, grinning at the photo, though this time the man was doing bunny ears behind Tech's head and Echo was doing the same, so Tech had double bunny ears, and Omega grinned at that.She flicked over the page and paused. The first page was of a young Hunter, Tech and Wrecker standing in near soldier formation, facing the camera. At first glance, nothing looked wrong, but Tech's eyes were slightly glassy, Wrecker was slouching slightly, and Hunter had tears in his eyes. Omega gasped silently, horrified.They looked around six years old, and were wearing grey t-shirts and shorts, with bruises and IV marks on all three of them. She recognized the room, it was the attic of the house she had been raised in.Nala Se had been a horrible mother, she'd ignored Omega and used her as an experiment sometimes, but she'd never yelled at Omega, and other than the experiments, never laid a hand on her or made her cry. But Nala had clearly done that to them, and in that moment, Omega felt so bad for them.They'd suffered much more than she had, for six years longer. In that second, Omega hated Nala Se more than she had ever done, even when she was eight and had screamed so long that the police were call. How dare she hurt her brothers so much? She wished she'd punched Nala Se when she had the chance. She still would, but there was a restraining order, so she couldn't.She flicked over the page, unable to bear looking at the photo anymore, and then froze on the next page.There were four people in this photo. Ten-year-old Hunter, Tech and Wrecker, and another child, taller, with grey hair and the same angry glare. Grey hair, that defiant expression, Omega glanced over the page at the earlier picture of the man who died. He was very clearly the younger version of that man, and he looked ten years old. If he was with Nala Se, that meant...Hunter, Tech and Wrecker weren't triplets. They were quadruplets.And Omega had a fifth brother.She gasped, completely frozen. They had told her there were only three of them. They should have told her that she had a fifth brother. Who was he? What was his name? How did he die? The questions ran through her head as she stared at the picture.She had another brother, one she never knew, and one she would never get to know because he was dead. And they'd never told her.That's why they had reacted so badly. They didn't want to tell her or talk about their dead brother. That was why Tech was upset. It wasn't her fault. She wiped her eyes as she realized that she was actually crying, and then raised her pillow to her face as she began to silently sob into the pillow.It took her at least another two minutes to stop crying, and as she raised her tear-stained face from the pillow, she glanced at the clock and realized that she only had eleven minutes left before Echo got home. She scrubbed the tears away and looked back at the photos. The other three photos on the page were all of her brothers, alone, aged around six, eight and twelve in the photos. There were bruises and marks on him the same as the other three, though he seemed to have less than the others. There was no sign of her other brothers, and she realized the room the photos were taken in was her tiny room next to the lab. Why were most of his photos alone? Was he kept alone, away from his brothers?She didn't know the answers to those questions, so she just flicked over the page. There was a picture of the four of them as babies, and as toddlers, and one of them at about five years old - they all bore bruises, Omega silently fumed. She flicked over again and found the four of them as teenagers, wearing normal clothes, and their styles seemed to be much the same as they were now, and the other boy wore dark blue or black clothes in all the photos.Omega flipped over the last page and found two last photos, both group photos of Echo, Hunter, Tech, Wrecker and that man, all dressed warmly of the snow, holding skis, smiling or smirking at the camera with a snowy mountain in the background. One was a more serious, just smile at the camera picture, and the second the chaotic one, with Wrecker nearly head locking Tech and Hunter, Echo standing behind Hunter, doing bunny ears on him while the other man did bunny ears on Tech and Wrecker. Wrecker was the only one looking at the camera, grinning widely, Hunter, looking rather ruffled, was glaring at Wrecker, while Tech looked off to the side, adjusting his glasses. Echo and the other man were looking at each other, both smirking evilly, and Omega smiled sadly, blinking back tears.She slowly shut the book, wiping back tears as she sat up. Then she heard the sound of the front door opening, and she froze for a second as she heard Echo greeting Wrecker and Tech. She bolted out of bed, hurrying to her door, opening it quietly and hurrying down the hallway to Echo's room, just as she heard Echo coming up the stairs. She unceremoniously dumped the album on his bed and fled down the hallway in bare feet, sliding into her room, and pushing it nearly shut as Echo neared the top of the stairs.She froze as Echo entered his room and shut the door, timing the shutting of her door to match his, before rushing to bed, diving in and flicking the lamp out, trying her best to look fast asleep. But Echo never seemed to notice the position of the album was changed, and Omega fell asleep quickly.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Omega walked into the kitchen the next morning already in her school uniform, greeting Echo as he placed a bowl of cereal sans milk in her place. Echo smiled at her, and she smiled warmly back as she poured the milk onto her bowl and started eating carefully, not to pour milk on her blouse. “Sorry if you tried to find me last night, I went out.”"Where'd you go?" Omega asked curiously, tilting her head at him. Echo shrugged nonchalantly."Out for dinner." He said blankly, glancing at the clock."Again?" She frowned.Echo sighed. "We didn't really eat dinner last night." Omega nodded, conceding the point. She hadn't eaten much either, and had ended up rather hungry, though it was forgotten about in the shock of realizing she had another brother."So you ate alone?""It's not important what I did, Omega." Echo said, slightly chiding, glancing at the clock again. "You've got ten minutes then you need to go. I'll be leaving in a minute." He stood, placing his bowl in the sink, grabbing his hat, he began to head out of the room, but Omega caught his sleeve."Echo?" She asked quietly, and Echo turned to face her, smiling slightly."Yeah, Mega?" He asked softly, and Omega bit her lip.She took a deep breath and sighed. "Did I have another brother?" She asked. Echo frowned. \"You have Boba, right? He's your brother." He answered, not understanding the question."No, like Hunter, Wrecker and Tech's brother. They're quadruplets, right?" Echo froze, understanding instantly, looking - horrified."Oh." He said softly to himself. "Oh." He sighed, then spoke. "So, you know about Crosshair, then. Did you take the photo album last night?" Echo asked gently."Crosshair? That's his name?" Omega asked, stunned, and confused. Crosshair was an unusual name, but then so was Wrecker, Tech and Hunter, so it kind of made sense, especially with his tattoo. Echo nodded solemnly, and Omega sighed, staring at her hands. "I'm sorry." She apologized, embarrassed.Echo smiled briefly. "It's fine. I think you should have been told properly, better than just seeing him in the album and realizing that he exists. We'll explain tonight, okay?" Omega nodded, turning silently back to her cereal. Echo patted her shoulder and walked out of the room, biting his lip as soon as Omega couldn't see his face.---Her brother had a name now, Omega mused as she walked back home from school that night. He was called Crosshair. But she still was stuck on the fact that she had another brother, who like all of Echo's brothers was dead, and she'd never known him. She'd heard many stories about Fives, Hevy, Droidbait and Cutup, Echo's brothers, but though they were technically her half-brothers, she didn't really miss them as she'd never known them, just as she didn't miss all the other Fetts who's died seeing as most joined the service. She'd never known about them, and while she might have been sad that they were dead, she never got to meet them, so she didn't miss them at all.But though she'd only known of Crosshair for a day, she found herself missing him. He was her brother. He had gone through Nala Se's house, just like Hunter, Tech, Wrecker and herself, and understood the pain and nightmares all of them had faced and still faced today, and he'd fought in the war, Echo'd known him and seemed to think of him as a good man, but though they had a lot in common - they were siblings, after all - she'd never met him. She knew nothing of what he was like.He could have been mean, she reasoned. Not all siblings were nice, Boba was Omega's twin brother, and he wasn't nice to her or her brothers, who were his brothers too - had he known about Crosshair? - so Crosshair could have been like that, but somehow she found herself doubting it. He seemed to have been close with Echo, by the amount of photos the two had together, and his brothers missed him. If they hated him, they wouldn't miss him or preserve his memory or even leave his photos in the photo album.All of those things were true about Crosshair.But Echo had mentioned that there was a mistake that Hunter had made, and it had to do with Crosshair. Did Hunter blame himself for Crosshair's death, and that was why he hated talking about it? Hunter had told her and his brothers many times that the bad things that happened in war often weren't preventable, and when something bad happened, it wasn't just because of one person's actions, there were multiple factors that affected everything.Omega sighed, looking around her. Everything would be explained tonight, and Omega wasn't sure whether she was excited or not, but she knew that she was very apprehensive about the whole conversation. Hunter would be mad that she'd gone against him, though Echo might back her up, saying that they should have told her about their dead brother. Why hadn't they? Omega knew what death was, and had been to graveyards before, she wasn't the innocent eight-year-old she was when she had left Nala Se's house.But she would learn more about Crosshair, her dead brother, and she was excited for that. Had Nala Se enhanced Crosshair? What was his enhancement? How did he get his name? Was he talkative? Would he have liked Omega? She dearly wanted to learn everything she could about him. She knew he was a sniper from the photos - or at least she assumed so - but was he a good sniper? Did he like his job? Who was his favorite brother? Or did he like all of them?What was his favorite weapon? Omega knew literally nothing about him other than the fact he died in the war, his name, that he was a sniper, had silver hair and Tech's eyes, was tall and pale with sharp features, had a Crosshair tattoo over his right eye, chewed toothpicks, most likely liked coffee, and he was good friends with Echo.Everything else was a guess or an assumption about Crosshair.She'd been very quiet that day at school, Hera had noted, but Hera hadn't asked any questions, and Omega hadn't told her anything, saying that she'd tell her the next day. Omega wasn't exactly sure what she was going to tell Hera - that she actually had a dead brother no one ever told her about?Well, she'd figure that out tomorrow, she decided as she turned onto her street, seeing her house with their van the Marauder out front - that meant Hunter and Wrecker were home, though normally they weren't on Thursdays. Tech wasn't home as his car was missing from its spot. Echo took the bus, but he was always home before Omega anyway, so he was likely to be home too.Omega sighed as she walked up to the front door, steeling herself. With a deep breath, she rang the doorbell, and waited for it to be opened.Echo opened the door, a slight frown on his face, which disappeared as soon as he saw Omega. "Afternoon, Omega. How was school?" He opened the door wider, smiling as she entered, and Omega found herself smiling back as she walked into the familiar house.She removed her shoes and was about to enter the kitchen when Echo laid his hand on her shoulder. "Hunter said I had to ask you, do you want to talk now or later tonight? Tech's on the nightshift, but Hunter and Wrecker got the evening off, so it's just Hunter, Wrecker and me talking."Omega blinked, considering her choice, but then she smiled weakly at Echo. "Now. I think it's best to talk about it and get over it." Echo nodded assent and followed Omega into the kitchen. Hunter and Wrecker were seated at the table, still dressed in their uniforms from their jobs, talking quietly, but they paused that when Echo and Omega approached."We're talking now." Echo said, taking his seat, and Omega hesitantly followed. Hunter had moved into Tech's normal seat, so they could talk better, and everyone else sat in their normal places. Omega noted the black and red album was on the table, along with a black book that looked like a sketchbook, and a third, smaller book with a cover that looked homemade. There were four glasses of milk on the table, and Omega hesitantly took one, noting that Echo followed suit, but Wrecker and Hunter ignored theirs for the time being.Everyone looked nervous, Wrecker was staring at the floor, Hunter at the table, and Echo was biting his tongue, hoping the others wouldn't notice, though Hunter looked up when the taste of blood entered Echo's mouth, and he hurriedly relieved the pressure from his teeth. Omega glanced around at everyone, apprehensive and worried.Echo eventually broke the awkward silence. "Hunter, I think you should start."Hunter nodded, sighing to himself, and taking a deep breath before starting. "Echo said you know we had a brother, named Crosshair." Omega nodded silently, and Hunter continued, reaching over to the photo album, flicking it open to the back, and turned to the page Omega had seen the night before, the one with the pictures of young Crosshair staring defiantly at the camera. "We were quadruplets, not triplets, me, Tech, Wrecker and Crosshair. I am still the oldest, but Crosshair was the second oldest, then Wrecker and Tech." Hunter pushed the album over to Omega, who glanced at the photos as Hunter pointed to the picture of the four of them as kids."Like us, Crosshair was enhanced, but he was enhanced with better vision, incredibly good vision, which meant he got headaches like I do often. That was the reason he became a sniper after they identified he had extraordinary vision - and he was incredibly good with rifles." Hunter showed Omega the picture of Crosshair in armor, then picked up the homemade book, which Omega hadn't seen, flipping a few pages in, and opening to a page with eight pictures on it, small pictures, but they were all showing Crosshair in his armor, some with him the helmet on, some with his rifle, one with him smirking, and the rest with him either glaring or looking seriously at the camera.Wrecker cleared his throat, glancing at the album, leaning over to turn to the front, showing more pictures of a young Crosshair while they were still with Nala Se, before slowly flicking on, and showing photos of teenage Crosshair, the glare still apparent most of the time, and a tattoo. "Crosshair was an amazing older brother. He was very protective, and he loved us, and would do anything for us. He rarely got mad with us over nothing, and though he got annoyed a lot, it was never pointless. He would listen to Tech for hours - Tech talked a lot more as a kid - and didn't complain about it, and he'd tickle fight me and didn't care that he lost every match, and he'd help Hunter when his enhanced senses acted up.""He loved to draw, and did a lot of it." Wrecker picked up the third, book the sketch book, and handed it to Omega, who gently opened it, and froze as she saw a lifelike picture of Hunter, aged around eight, she guessed, sketched lightly in pencil ink on paper that had subsequently been stuck into the sketch book. The realisticness of the photo took her breath away, and she stared at it, shocked that someone could capture the happiness of Hunter's grin so well. The next picture was of Wrecker, clutching Lula, sitting in a chair too big for him. She flicked on to see little Tech, sitting with Hunter, fiddling with his goggles.The pictures were all greyscale, but they were so full of life it was stunning. There was slightly older Wrecker and Hunter having an arm-wrestle, Tech looking at Hunter in the background, while explaining something, Wrecker frowning at Tech and Hunter as they talked, none of them looking in the artist's direction."They're really good, aren't they?" Wrecker smiled slowly. "Crosshair loved to draw, and we were often his subjects." Omega kept flicking onwards, watching as Hunter, Tech and Wrecker grew older, and they changed from being kids, into teenagers. There was one drawing that was clearly when they weren't in Nala Se's house, as they all wore pajamas, and that drawing was lightly colored. After that, the photos all gained more color until Omega flicked over one page and saw a picture that took her breath away."That's Hunter just after he got his tattoo." The picture was an incredible picture of Hunter with his tattoo, looking young, and happy, drawn in watercolors. He looked around fifteen years old, and his brown hair was lighter than Omega was used to. Omega couldn't help looking up at Hunter, seeing the similarities, and differences - the tattoo seemed to have faded slightly over the years, as it wasn't the sharp black that it was in the drawing."Crosshair got a tattoo - it's a crosshair tattoo, if you couldn't tell - just to convince me it would be fine." Hunter whispered, staring at that photo. "We were only fifteen, and both of us got into a lot of trouble, but somehow it was worth it." Wrecker patted Hunter on the shoulder, and Omega reluctantly flicked on, staring at the drawings in awe. Most of them from that point on were in watercolor, and the quality improved rapidly. Omega watched as Hunter grew his hair out and wore a bandana, Tech got glasses and seemed to be constantly glued to some electronic device, and Wrecker grew larger.Then there was their first army photo, which Crosshair had recreated, sketches of his brothers in uniform, sketches of fights on the battlefield, a sketch of a helicopter, and then a sketch of Wrecker with his scar. There was a sketch of Echo, younger Echo, and sketches of him in armor, and uniform. Omega flicked the last page to see a half-finished color sketch of Echo, and a man who looked identical to him plus a tattoo - Fives - standing together grinning at the camera.After that the pages were blank. Wrecker cleared his throat and reluctantly continued. "Crosshair was definitely the bravest of us, he was the one who dared to stand up to Nala Se, and he wasn't afraid of punishment. He disliked listening to music, so he always said, but I'm pretty sure that was just because it annoyed Hunter. He was always very good at reading people, and realizing intentions, and he had a poker face that was nearly unbeatable. He was always sarcastic, loved joking around and making fun of people, though he did it mostly playfully, to pretend to be annoying, to amuse us. He liked long hair like Hunter's but he never grew his out because it got in his eyes and blocked his vision." Wrecker was rambling now, just listing off things about his older brother that Omega'd never meet but deserved to know."Crosshair made Lula for me, when we were very young, he got some material from Nala Se's lab and sewed Lula from a picture that was in the lab. He was very good at sewing, though he hated it. He was very patient, and caring, and while he said a million times that he'd never forgive us for things we did to annoy him, he did. Crosshair often acted the older brother, taking care of Hunter too. He didn't talk much, preferring to watch us and stay in the background, and he always the first to notice when something was wrong." Wrecker's voice had gotten more husky the longer he spoke, and then he finally dissolved into tears, and Hunter swiftly hugged him, Wrecker burying his head in Hunter's shoulder."Yesterday, when Tech said 'What's wrong?', he said it in exactly the way Crosshair used to." Echo spoke quietly, slowly, with regret in his voice. "Crosshair was very perceptive, and though he could be callous, he cared. I didn't know him as long as the others, but we were very close, and he was the reason I met the Bad Batch, after I saved Crosshair's life." He paused for a second, blinking away tears, then continued. "He saved mine, and after that we stuck together for the rest of that campaign, and we became rather close surprisingly quickly." Echo used his knuckle to wipe away the tears forming in his eyes. "He was like my adoptive brother, before I was adopted into the Bad Batch."The sound of Wrecker's sobs had decreased, and slowly, Hunter released him, and Wrecker wiped tears away from his red eyes. Awkwardly, Omega looked down, feeling her vision blurring again, but she bit her lip hard, and avoided crying, she'd gotten years of practice holding back tears with Nala Se. Echo patted her on the shoulder, and smiled at her comfortingly, and Omega gave him a watery smile back."I suppose I should tell you about Crosshair's life." Hunter spoke, looking at Omega, who nodded slowly, and Hunter took a deep breath before starting. "We were all raised in Nala Se's home, and - well, most of what we told you of our lives is the truth - we were tested with the abilities she had experimented on us to create for years, and we spent most of our time together, doing our schoolwork and so on in our attic bedroom. That all was true, just we had Crosshair." Hunter paused, frowning slightly."But what we never told you was that changed what we were around six years old and the experiments started to get harder, and they began to hurt us more, and we started to hate them. I told you when we were six we started to try to fight back, but Nala Se punished us for that." Hunter grimaced. "Then she realized that the worse punishment was separating us and keeping us apart." Omega froze. She already knew how badly they all dealt with being separated - Nala Se, that witch."Crosshair was already Nala's favorite with his aloof and brave attitude, though she didn't like his protectiveness of the rest of us or his defiance, which he had a lot of. So, she decided to separate us, putting Crosshair in the room beside the lab - your old room - and keeping us apart. It was meant to be a temporary punishment, but it became permanent, and we only saw Crosshair when Nala Se was out shopping or working, as he would sneak in and we'd talk for hours. He and Tech figured out some way around the cameras and Crosshair stole Nala's spare keys so he'd come talk to us whenever she left. Surprisingly, Crosshair was only caught once sneaking out and he blamed it on her not locking his door when she left as he'd been caught in the corridor, not in our room, luckily." He smiled sadly. "He was an amazing brother.""This continued until we got out of there - you know how that happened - and entered the foster system. We were kept together in every house except one, when Crosshair was separated as they judged him to be the one to best deal with separation, which was true." Hunter sighed, the tears in his eyes annoying him, and he paused to wipe them away. "Everything after that was really just the same as we've told you, except that Crosshair was there. Both Crosshair and Tech got scholarships to different universities, but both turned theirs down, and we joined the army." Hunter paused, taking a long drink from his milk as Wrecker patted him on his shoulder, squeezing gently."We stayed together there too, and he was the fourth member in our squad, he befriended Echo, and -" Hunter cut himself off, wiping his eyes again, and Wrecker took the opportunity to wrap him in a hug. Echo glanced at the clock and Omega flicked over a page in the homemade book, looking at teenage Crosshair - he always seemed to be seen in dark clothing, she noted. He looked much the same, and always seemed to have grey hair - probably he was born with it. He was always tall, and rather lanky, and seemed to have a glare as his default look.The silence was interrupted by Hunter's quiet sobs, and Echo curled his fist, resisting the temptation to just walk out of the room. Echo never dealt well with emotions, especially when it came to Crosshair. Hunter knew that nearly every time Crosshair was mentioned, Echo would go out with his friends, he'd said once that he went out with his cousin Rex or Cody or others from the 501st or 212th who left the army.Eventually, Hunter stopped crying, and emerged from Wrecker's hug, red-faced and embarrassed. After a few seconds, Omega opened her mouth to speak. She didn't want to ask this, but she needed to know the answer"How did Crosshair die?" Omega asked cautiously, frowning as Hunter and Wrecker's heads instantly snapped to face her. Echo froze."Crosshair died?" Wrecker gasped, shocked. Omega blinked, confused, as they gaped at her, horrified."Crosshair's not dead." Echo spoke firmly, not leaving the fact up for discussion."He's alive?" Omega repeated, confused. "But why are you talking of him in the past tense if he's alive? If he's alive, why haven't I heard of him? Why haven't I met him? And how do you not know if he's alive or dead?"Wrecker, Hunter and Echo shared a look. "It's hard to explain." Echo spoke, again biting his tongue, ignoring the fresh wave of pain from his already sore tongue."Crosshair isn't our brother anymore." Wrecker said slowly, staring at the table."He disowned us." Hunter spoke flatly, no emotion, just stating the truth, though his eyes glistened with tears. Wrecker winced, and Echo renewed the pressure on his tongue.Omega blinked in sheer horror. "What? Why?" She looked horrified and felt utterly shocked. What on earth could have happened to Crosshair to make him disown his own brothers and family? She'd never thought that something like that could be the truth, not in a thousand years. She was sure she wouldn't do something like that, and she was pretty sure her other brothers wouldn't also, but Crosshair had. He had left their family."It's a long story, kid." Hunter sighed. "And it was entirely our fault."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Hunter was lying on his back in the bunkroom, arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. The Bad Batch had just returned from leave over the summer to start their third year in the military, having just returned from Switzerland the day before, where they'd spent their four weeks off skiing, the four of them plus their friend Echo from their deployment with the 501st, and they'd had an amazing time.Echo and Crosshair were still very close, as they had been since Echo had saved Crosshair's life, and Crosshair'd later saved his in return. Echo had to return to the 501st, as even if he wanted to change squads, the Bad Batch was full since squads were capped at four members, and there was nothing that they could do about it except hope they got deployed with the 501st, who were stationed on a different military base, and apparently had gotten deployed today, though Hunter didn't know the mission.Crosshair and Echo's friendship had hit the rest of his brothers with surprise. Yes, Echo had saved Crosshair's life, but their resident sniper and sarcastic annoyance made friends with no one outside of his brothers and had never tried to in all the twenty years he'd been alive. Why Echo was different, Hunter wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to ask Crosshair, since that would likely end up with something of his going mysteriously missing. But Echo? Echo was rather nice, though he had a temper to match Crosshair's - to Hunter's surprise - a protective streak a mile wide - like Crosshair's - and a decent grasp on the use of sarcasm unlike Hunter, Tech and Wrecker.Well, Hunter could use sarcasm, but it made his head hurt, and both Tech and Wrecker took everything too literally, leading to them being absolutely hopeless with sarcasm. But where Echo was nice, Crosshair was mean and cutting, where Crosshair picked fights, Echo did his best to stop them - except when he and Crosshair got into one of their sarcastic battles, those lasted for hours and quite often got physical - and where Echo hated annoying people, Crosshair acted like it was his job to be the most annoying person in the world.Somehow, after one campaign - that lasted quite a long time, to be fair - and a holiday spent skiing, Echo had been adopted into their band of brothers, though he had a twin of his own who he hadn't seen in a long time, though apparently Fives was on the mission Echo was going on, according to Crosshair, and Echo was very excited.Crosshair was at the firing range, and he'd told them not to disturb him under any circumstances, even if they got their deployment orders. They weren't set to deploy until tomorrow anyway, so though Crosshair would be informed rather late, he would still learn about it in time to deploy. He was focusing on getting his standard of marksmanship back, he was certain it had dropped in the summer spent skiing, and as the best sniper currently in the army he couldn't afford to let that continue.And Tech and Wrecker were somewhere on the military base, Hunter wasn't sure where and in the rush of other soldiers, he struggled to track them by their heartbeats and he didn't want to give himself a migraine right before they deployed. Tech had dragged Wrecker with him to go somewhere to help with one of Tech's projects, Hunter hadn't been listening when Tech babbled on about it at breakfast, though Wrecker had. Crosshair had been nowhere to be seen, since he'd been at the firing range since they first stepped onto the base early that morning.Hunter had chosen to stay in the barracks, waiting to get the deployment orders, so he and Tech could go over them when Tech and Wrecker returned from their errand. And as they would likely arrive at their mission in their helicopter, called the Marauder, tomorrow afternoon, Hunter needed to go over the full mission brief, and create a plan for then. But everything depended on the mission brief, how detailed it was and what their goal was.Their missions varied greatly, seeing as they were a special operations team, meaning they were supposed to be versatile, and they were. They had an 100% success rate, and were the best team on the field, though they had to keep their enhancements secret, as they didn't want their success put down to their enhancements since the GAR might think it a good idea to try to do more of Nala Se's experiments, and they wanted no one else to suffer how they'd suffered.Hunter boredly stared at the ceiling, yawning as he waited silently, and then shutting his eyes. He didn't have Crosshair's patience, or even Tech's ability to easily amuse himself, though he didn't get bored as easily as Wrecker did, which often lead to Crosshair and Wrecker getting up to some sort of mischief. He half wished he'd gone with Tech and Wrecker, but he wanted to spend as much time as possible planning, he didn't want anything to go wrong on their mission, as he was the leader, he'd be blamed for it. Tech had said that he would return as soon as they were notified, but so far, Hunter's communication watch hadn't buzzed, and he was alone and bored.All of the four brothers hated being alone, mostly due to the fact that they had grown up together and suffered together, and were close, with a promise to stay together holding them. Crosshair did the best with separation, as he had mostly been alone since Nala Se separated him from his brothers when he was younger, but he hated it a lot, even if he barely showed it. He was also incredibly protective of his brothers, more so than Hunter though Crosshair was only the second oldest, and anyone hurting them was in serious trouble - that attitude had gotten him into a lot of trouble in foster homes and with Nala Se. Both Wrecker and Tech detested being alone, Wrecker more so than Tech, as Wrecker got upset when he was left alone, and though it'd gotten better as he got older, their childhood of knowing that when they were with their brothers they were safe and otherwise they weren't had left Hunter, Tech and Wrecker with autophobia, and Crosshair with more minor abandonment fears. Tech got really fidgety and anxious being alone, tending to talk to himself or be incredibly strung up when none of his brothers was nearby. He also was getting better with it, and showing his anxiety less, but being alone also brought up bad memories for him as well, as when he was alone around Nala Se he was likely being tested or experimented on, and when he was alone in the orphanage, foster homes or school, he was being bullied by others.Like Crosshair, Hunter hated being alone, though he showed it less. He could manage being alone for some time, though his anxiety flared when he did, but being alone for more than a few hours made his anxiety worse, and often led to panic attacks. He was also exceedingly protective of his younger brothers - though Crosshair always pushed off his worry and care - and hated to see them suffer, though he wasn't as interested in revenge as Crosshair and sometimes Wrecker was.Hunter was alone in the bunk room, but in familiar surroundings, and with a secure knowledge that no one bar his brothers could enter the room, he was relaxed, and not anxious, even if he was rather bored. He half considered getting his ipad out, but he was enjoying having his eyes shut, with little stimuli disturbing his senses. He didn't really want to practice, though he probably should, seeing as they were about to go on a mission.With a sigh, Hunter got himself off his bed, walking softly across the room and picking up his knives. He shrugged off his uniform jacket, tossing it on his bunk and dropped into a starting position, gripping his knives firmly as he practiced his knife work, slashing at an invisible foe. He didn't really want to go to the practice hall, and the amount of stares he'd get from his face tattoo, if not also his skill, would trigger his anxiety, which wouldn't be good at all.He was holding a knife to his enemy's neck when he felt more than heard the buzz of his commwatch alerting him of the incoming notification, and the beep of the computer. He threw his knives on his bunk gently, ignoring the way he was sweating, and walked over to the computer, opening the communication channel where he received orders, fully expecting to see a new note from Command titled Mission Brief, like it always was.And so, it came as a surprise when the message he received was titled The Empire Program. Hesitantly, he clicked on the message opening it.He'd heard of the Empire, they all had. The Empire Program was a program to train Special Operations Agents much like the Bad Batch, but with much more stealth and less explosions. They mostly did assassinations and infiltration, Hunter knew, but there were times they did proper missions to stop kidnappings, rescue hostages, destroy smuggling rings and so on, like the Bad Batch, but the Bad Batch were much more military focused, doing their missions around the wars that the GAR were involved in. The Empire worked on the outskirts of the military, and wasn't under the GAR.It had been funded by a man named Sheev Palpatine, an elderly but rich Senator. Why he'd done that, Hunter had no idea, but there were many rumors that there were plenty of bribes going around there, and the Empire not being an entirely solid organization - who exactly their leader was wasn't entirely clear. And, even more disturbingly, there were other rumors of blackmail using small chips of information filled with information on their agents pasts to keep them there for fear of the information becoming public.Reluctantly, Hunter sat in the chair in front of the table, not noticing how his khaki uniform shirt stuck to his damp skin annoyingly, and began to read it. As he read, his eyes slowly began to grow wider, and his horror began to grow, as his breathing quickened slightly. He was near the end of the long message when the door opened behind him, and Tech and Wrecker entered, talking."Is that our mission?" Tech asked, placing his gathered mechanical parts on his bunk as Wrecker coolly tossed a grenade in the air, catching it. It was armed, but Tech didn't even flinch, entirely unafraid, as he walked past, heading to the computer."No." Hunter dragged his eyes away, his pupils dilated in his shock, as he stood up abruptly, walking over to his bunk, and sitting down with a soft thud, carefully avoiding his knives. "Just read it." Both Wrecker and Tech frowned, but they both headed over to the computer, Tech taking the chair and Wrecker kneeling beside him."That's a whole load of words." Wrecker complained, but Hunter was too stunned to speak and Tech too absorbed to talk. Wrecker was silently glad Crosshair wasn't there as he'd have a mocking remark to make over that statement at the expense of Wrecker's dyslexia. Nevertheless, Wrecker joined Tech in reading as Hunter sank his head in his hands.Wrecker was still on the first, albeit the longest paragraph when Tech looked away, finished, blinking as if to process what he'd just read. "That can't be true. It must be some sort of joke.""Command doesn't joke, Tech." Hunter spoke, mumbling slightly as a slight migraine began forming behind his eyes."It might be like April Fools. Or maybe it's a test, so they scare us all and see how we respond." Tech answered, his eyes narrowed as he scowled at the floor, looking shocked and annoyed. Wrecker glanced at him in surprise, he hadn't seen Tech look startled, even mildly, for years, ever since Tech had gotten access to the internet and had devoured every source of information possible whenever he could, and Tech had always been good at reading people, so it was hard to scare him unless you sneaked up on him, as he wasn't spatially aware at all times, and his observance needed some work most days."What does it say?" Wrecker asked, having given up on reading the message, looking at his brothers.Tech sighed, but answered in as few words as possible. "The Empire Program needs more recruits. So apparently, the GAR have made a rule saying that each squad must have one member join the Empire, and the empty space will be filled with a member of the 501st. They call it 'Order 66'." Wrecker blinked, confused and shocked, and Hunter looked up."They want us to give up a member of our squad." Hunter simplified with a scowl, and Wrecker's eyes widened in understanding and horror."They can't do that." Tech snapped. "It's illogical. Splitting up perfectly good spec ops squads - it's absurd. It makes no sense.""They can do it. We work for them, and we have to follow their orders, so they can do it if they want to." Hunter groaned, tossing his knives aside as he lay back on his bunk."They can't split us up." Tech retorted. "If this is true - and only if - then we should leave, and not let us get split up." He looked furious, Wrecker noted, as he stood to move to his bunk, and Hunter sat back up suddenly, exhaustion gone, furious eyes meeting Tech's glare."We can't leave." Hunter snapped, and Wrecker nearly flinched at the anger in his brother's voice. "Where would we go? We don't get paid much, we have no schooling past high school and no time in which to teach ourselves something. Crosshair has a criminal record, and even though you and Crosshair got into fancy schools and might be able to pick up something quickly and get a better job, Wrecker and I can't.""No one cares about a few records of fighting in high schools." Tech fired back. "And they did rule that they were mostly self-defense or defense of others though he still went to juvie. And we can figure something out if we leave, but the important thing is that we stay together.""And if we stay, we're all at least in the GAR together." Hunter responded. "Why are you arguing if you think that this is a joke anyway?""I'm reasoning for the worst possible scenario." Tech spat, actually angry. "Even if this is a stupid joke, we still have to put someone down, and if this is real, we can send in resignation letters and leave.""Fine." Hunter relented. "If they actually try to take away whoever we put down, we will leave." Tech nodded assent, looking away, still frowning. "But still, we need to put a name down."Wrecker was frowning as he followed the conversation and decided to speak. "Can't we just put anyone's name down? Cause if we leave it doesn't matter who it is as we're leaving?" Hunter began to nod, but Tech cut him off."No, we should think about it, as just in case it takes a few weeks to settle leaving reports, that person will be stuck there for a few weeks." Tech said firmly. "Any suggestions?" He had already come to a conclusion of who it should be, but he wanted to talk about it with the others first."Shouldn't we get Crosshair, then?" Wrecker asked, uncertain. Tech shrugged it off, with pretend nonchalance as Hunter shrugged."If you want to disturb him for something that's most likely a joke, be my guest." Tech huffed, suddenly tense, though Hunter didn't notice anything, with his building migraine. Wrecker nodded, conceding the point, he didn't really want to go disturb his already annoyed older brother who was actually pretty scary when he was mad.Tech blinked, thinking on what'd realized as he was reading the document. The whole thing was most likely a joke, Tech figured, but even if it wasn't Crosshair should be the one to go - he dealt the best with separation, and it wasn't going to be for long anyway. But Tech didn't want Crosshair called in as what if he was being selfish and refused to go? Everyone else dealt really badly with separation, so it should be Crosshair, but Crosshair might not understand that. He might be bit annoyed, but if they told him tonight, just in case they needed to change it, it would be fine.Now, to get everyone else to realize that. "I think we should rule out Wrecker." Tech spoke flatly, glancing at Wrecker, who looked startled. "Wrecker, we all know you hate being alone, and I couldn't bear thinking that we just sent you away on your own." Hunter nodded emphatically, and Wrecker shrugged, conceding as he solemnly stroked Lula, his teddy bear."And you, Tech." Hunter spoke, and Tech frowned. "And Crosshair. I should go, I'm the oldest." Hunter said firmly, but Tech's eyes narrowed. Hunter was only older than Crosshair by exactly two minutes, older than Wrecker by 4 minutes 6 seconds and older than Tech by 6 minutes 15 seconds. Six minutes was nothing and made no difference."Oldest means nothing, Hunter. You're older by six minutes." Tech said flatly. "It shouldn't be you either."Hunter's eyes narrowed. "And why is that, exactly?" Hunter asked carefully, watching Tech."Hunter, you have panic attacks if you're alone for more than a few hours." Tech said reasonably, trying to convince him. "If something goes wrong, you might be stuck there for weeks. It can't be you.""And what would we do without a leader?" Wrecker said softly, but both heard him."What would we do while we're missing any of our brothers?" Hunter threw up his hands, annoyed, but knowing Tech was right. "Who should it be, Tech?""It should be me." Hunter glared at him, about to interrupt, but Tech continued on heedless. "I don't react very badly to being alone like you and Wrecker, and I'm not actively hostile and likely to pick fights like Crosshair." Tech waited to see if Hunter would call him out like he hoped he would, cause otherwise he'd have a hard time saying that it should be Crosshair.Hunter's eyes narrowed again. "You react badly to being alone too, Tech, don't think I've forgotten. Just because it doesn't show doesn't mean it doesn't hurt you badly." Tech remained silent, waiting for Hunter to make the jump in logic, but then Wrecker figured it out."That leaves Crosshair."Tech nodded and stayed quiet, letting Hunter figure it out for himself. "Yeah, it does. Crosshair is the obvious choice but leaving him alone again will hurt him badly." Hunter said slowly. "But he reacts the least to being alone, and he'll probably understand." He turned to Tech. "Should we call and ask him?"Tech shrugged. "If you like. We could just tell him when he returns to the barracks tonight though." Wrecker nodded, agreeing, but Hunter shook his head."The form's due in by lunchtime.""Yes, but changing who it is fine until tomorrow lunch, so if he doesn't like it, we can reconsider. Though I should think that Crosshair will understand, he understood last time." Last time being the time their foster home could only take three of them, and Crosshair had volunteered to stay at the orphanage rather than split his brothers up. Hunter nodded slowly, rubbing his head."Fine. Wrecker, you agree?" Wrecker half-shrugged, and Tech took that as consent, seeing the confused and pained look on Wrecker's face and realizing that he likely wouldn't want to voice his thoughts. Tech could guess what he was thinking about - the times when Crosshair was separated from them before. They all hated it when they were missing their middle oldest brother.---They received the mission brief not ten minutes later, and Hunter, Wrecker and Tech were discussing it - it was a normal sort of mission, attack the base and retrieve the info from the computer on the enemy's actions - when all three of their commwatches buzzed. The computer didn't buzz, so it wasn't a message from Command, and all three of them paused their conversation to tap their watches.The message was on their comm chat, and it was from Crosshair, they noted, seeing the notification. They opened the chat quickly, reading the same terse message their brother had sent.Crosshair - Will come back late tonight. Echo caught in explosion on field. Is assumed alive by Fives.Wrecker froze, stunned. Echo - he'd heard that he was on a mission today from Crosshair - was caught in an explosion. And they didn't know if he was alive. If that explosion was anything like the one that gave Wrecker his scars, there would be serious damage since explosions sometimes were able to remove your helmet with the force of the blast. That had happened to Wrecker, and he'd lost an eye and the hearing in one ear. And with Wrecker's injury, he wasn't in danger of dying - though he nearly got kicked out of the army - it just looked rather nasty. If they didn't know whether he was dead...Hunter instantly typed a response to the message, fingers flying over the watch's tiny keypad.Hunter - What do you mean they don't know if he's alive?He sent; eyes wide as stared at his message. Echo could be dead - they'd seen him yesterday and had flown home with him and he was healthy and active, laughing with Wrecker and poking gentle fun at Crosshair - cheerful banter - and now, he could be dead. They'd only just started to call him brother. Hunter blinked away tears.Crosshair - They left him.That made all three freeze instantly, shocked and horrified. If Echo had been left in a retreat with the Separatists - well he was as good as dead. Wrecker wiped away tears, he hadn't noticed them till they started to flow down his cheeks, and blurred his vision, just as there was another message from Crosshair. If he was picked up by the Separatists, well, Tech hoped he died in the explosion, as it would hurt infinitely less.Crosshair - We think he was picked up by the Techno Union who are neutral.There was a universal sigh of relief, and Wrecker smiled slightly, wiping his eyes.Hunter - So not the Separatists? Good. Did they say anything about returning him?There was a pause in which the three waited with bated breath, not daring to lift their eyes off their comms.Crosshair - I don't know. I am talking to Fives. He and his captain are waiting for contact from them.Hunter frowned. Fives. Fives, Echo's twin? He'd been there at the battle, Hunter thought. How on earth did Crosshair firstly get Fives' number, and secondly, agree to talk to Fives? The Crosshair Hunter knew wouldn't talk to anyone other than his brothers except to insult them. Echo had changed Crosshair a lot, Hunter noted, still trying to comprehend what he'd just heard.Tech - Which captain?Tech picked up his ipad to research the Techno Union, fingers flying as he scanned the information the internet gave him. They were a technology company who produced droids like that ones the Separatists used, and were known for terrible experiments on cybogs, but surely they couldn't experiment on a potential POW they rescued, right?Crosshair - Captain Rex Fett. The only captain of the 501st.Tech searched him up. He was an important captain who'd served in many places, the leader of the 501st, which was about to be dissolved. Echo'd once said he was his cousin.Hunter - When will you be back?Crosshair - Past curfew.Hunter - We have a mission, and we'll be shipping out on the Marauder at 8 am. I will send you a description of the brief soon, and we can explain the plan while on the way.Crosshair - Understood.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Over a week later, they were in temporary barracks of some random country, Wrecker couldn't remember which, and they were relaxing around their bunkroom. They had received word that Echo was with the Techno Union, and they had agreed to release him when he was ready to travel, and Crosshair seemed to be constantly on his comm, talking to Fives - Wrecker was pretty sure that half the time Crosshair was comforting Fives, and that was something that Crosshair nearly never did. He normally let Hunter or Wrecker do it - or Echo, more recently, but Echo's capture had brought out a softer side in Crosshair, especially with Echo's twin who was apparently on campaign today.Crosshair was fast asleep, Wrecker noted with a soft smile. Crosshair had stayed up late talking to Fives half the night, and had waved it off as nothing, drinking extra coffee, but somehow he'd fallen asleep in his bunk, his face looking rather peaceful comparted to the harder-than-usual scowl he'd perpetually had for the last few days. Hunter caught Wrecker looking at Crosshair and smirked, while Wrecker rolled his eyes at him. Tech had his nose buried in his ipad, not looking up at all as he typed. Hunter was lying on his back on his bunk, reading the printout of their next mission brief. And Wrecker - well he had been attempting to repair Lula after he'd torn her earlier, but he'd gotten lost in his thoughts so the needle lay in his hands, half-forgotten.There was a crackle in the static, then a voice came over the intercom, startling Crosshair awake. "Force 99 and Swift Squad report to briefing room eight now." Hunter sighed, setting the report down while Tech slid his ipad in the pocket he'd manufactured. Wrecker stood as Cross sat up, brushing his hair into a decent position with his hand while rubbing his eyes tiredly, yawning. After a second, he too stood, grabbing his hat and jacket, and following his brothers out of the room.They nearly bumped into the other squad rushing to the same location, looking considerably more rumpled and tired - they seemed to have been in the gym when they got the summons, and their shirts were sweat-stained. Their leader, Spotter, as Crosshair had once heard him called, was at the head of the squad, next to his twin, and though normally Crosshair would have an insult to throw at them, he didn't, seeing a tension among them that he'd never seen before. Swift Squad had never mocked them for their incredible skill or accused them of being traitors like most other soldiers did. They seemed to be decent men, Hunter had said once, but he found it hard to believe, since nearly everyone he had met hated him instantly. It didn't help that he was reminded uncomfortably of Fives and Echo, also identical twins, like Snake and Spotter, and his own brothers.And as they filed into the briefing room, Crosshair frowned at the slight tremor in Spotter's hands - unacceptable for a fellow sniper, especially one with Spotter's skill. Snake seemed to have more skill hiding his apprehension, though the rigidity of his posture gave it away, as well as his clenched jaw. And the other two, Bogey, the second sniper on the team, and Merlin, the demolition expert, weren't trying exactly hard to hide their emotions, Bogey was glowering at the floor and Mystic had tension in every part of him, looking more like a mannequin than a human.But Crosshair had no idea why Swift Squad was so tense, though he stopped thinking about it as a commanding officer - he didn't know his name - stepped into the room, and the eight soldiers saluted instantly."Force 99 and Swift Squad. I assume you know of the drafting for the Empire program," a frown crossed Crosshair's face, he'd never heard of this, "and I also assume that you have chosen your member to join." He glanced at his brothers and noticed the instant panic that flashed onto Hunter's face, the actual horror on Tech and Wrecker's faces. Then he froze, realizing just what that meant. It couldn't be...It was real. That was the only coherent thought in Hunter's head. He'd thought it wasn't real, and when he'd forgotten to tell Crosshair about it, he hadn't really cared, assuming it was a joke like Tech'd said, and being considerably more worried by the real problem, namely Echo's near death. But it was true, and Crosshair had no idea about it."I have orders for the chosen soldiers to be sent straight to the Empire Program, and the others to return to the Kamino station to await their replacements." The officer continued, lifting a note that looked suspiciously like a bright pink sticky note to glance at it. Crosshair was completely frozen, his brain barely comprehending what was being said. "So I would like the chosen soldiers to stand forth, Lieutenant Kazimir Se from Force 99 and - I think this is the whole of Swift Squad - Sergeant Kazimir Rush, Lieutenant Kalen Rush, Brennan Green, and Ryan Jameson." Numbly, Crosshair stepped forward with all four members of Swift Squad, shocked. "The aforementioned soldiers will report to the hangar in twenty minutes."With that, the officer walked out, and instantly they all dropped their salutes. Crosshair turned to face his brothers instantly, his horror replaced by pure anger, and only his faint hope that they hadn't chosen him kept him from attacking them. They couldn't have... They were his brothers, right? "Who decided it should be me?" He turned to them, hoping against all hope that they would say that Command chose - though why they hadn't chosen the whole of Force 99 like they had for Swift Squad was beyond Crosshair's current thinking range.Crosshair stared at his brothers, their silence saying more than words could as the hope failed him, the fiery anger appearing instead. They had chosen him to get rid of him - they didn't want him. They didn't want their own brother. His breathing began to speed up, all his training being overruled in his panic, and the staring he knew he was receiving from Swift Squad - who'd identified the tension and fallen silent, watching worriedly - made him even more tense.They didn't want him. And they hadn't cared enough to tell him. "You chose me, right?" He spoke, crushing the silence with the pointed words. Tech looked much like a deer caught in headlights, showing the stunned look that Crosshair knew well from when he'd been mocked by other kids and had his glasses broken, and a small part of him felt instantly bad, but the rest of him was filled with horror - and anger and he felt no sorrow as any part that felt sorry for his brothers was destroyed by the consuming anger."You deal the best with being separated." Hunter spoke, clenching his jaw hard, desperately holding back tears. He hated to see his brothers angry at him, and while Crosshair never got unreasonably angry, his rage was the fiercest of them all."You don't want me, do you?" Crosshair spat, furious. "You don't care enough to at least tell me you chose me. You don't care enough to put the whole squad down, like those idiots did." He gestured angrily at Swift Squad, and Tech flinched, Wrecker having been dissolved to tears as Crosshair yelled at them, though Crosshair didn't notice."We didn't think-"Crosshair cut him off. "You didn't think of that. With Tech, the smartest karking brain here in the whole talyc army, you didn't think of that. That's a lie, Hunter." Tech was frozen in horror - he actually hadn't thought of that. He hadn't thought of that. He opened his mouth, tears pooling in his eyes as he watched his brother's rage and knew it was entirely justified."Crosshair, we were planning -" Tech tried to explain their plan of leaving desperately, but Crosshair interrupted him, the outrage too strong to even listen to Tech, no longer the voice of reason."I don't kriffing care." He hissed at his brothers. "You don't want me, then fine, you won't get me. I hate you, you hear me." He might regret this later, but he didn't care, the flaming hatred and resentment that had grown in five minutes too strong. "I never want to see you again. I disown you. I'll file a karking restraining order if I have to, but I never want to see your osi'yaim faces again. You're skanah, osik'la vode, arutiise, bal dar'vode." Crosshair was speaking Mando'a, but he didn't care that he resorted to the tongue that he'd learned as a kid, when he was alone without his brothers. "Ni or'parguur gar. Ni copad at kyr'amur gar." As he said the last statement, he leapt at Hunter, intending to punch him, if not to kill him, to make him pay, but he found two strong pairs of hands holding him back, the identical twins seemingly appearing out of nowhere as they always did.Crosshair fought their hold for a few seconds, then stopped struggling, completely restrained. "I never want to see you again, and if I do, I don't promise you'll be safe." He spat bitterly, turning away as much as Snake and Spotter would let him. "Slana'pir."And to his slight surprise, they obeyed, turning away to the door and walking out, looking horrified. Wrecker had been crying, Crosshair noted proudly, feeling nothing but hatred for those he'd once called brothers. Traitors. Dar'vode. They deserved everything they got, and they didn't deserve him, the ori'dush aruetiise. They'd doomed him, whether they knew it or not - no one escaped the Empire"Let go of me." He hissed as the door shut behind Hunter, ignoring the pleading look Hunter'd sent him. At once, Snake and Spotter released him, stepping away. Without a word, Crosshair stepped away, sending a venomous look at them, noting how none of them seemed afraid of him, as angry as he was. Well, three of them were also well trained in hand to hand, so he posed no physical threat to anyone but Merlin. The snipers and Snake regarded him with a calm, expressionless look, and Merlin shifted awkwardly, half-standing behind Bogey.He turned away, walking out, and letting the door slam behind him as he walked away.---"And that was it? He just left you because of that?" Omega spoke, confusedly staring at them in shock. Hunter sighed, shaking his head."You don't understand, Omega. We entirely betrayed him, leaving him to the Empire on his own." Hunter said slowly."The Empire's not a good place." Echo spoke quietly. "My cousins escaped from the Empire and - they've told me stories about how bad the Empire was, though not the sort of stories you should hear. Crosshair would be very lucky to escape alive." He said grimly. Omega's eyes clouded in concern."And Swift Squad had all of them join the Empire, though it was hard, they stuck together, like we should have done." Hunter's voice was full of bitter regret and self-loathing as he stared at the floor. "Snake and Spotter were twins, but the other two weren't even related and they stayed together. We were brothers, and we didn't.""And you don't even know if he's out of the Empire?" Omega asked slowly, staring at the photo album. Hunter opened his mouth to speak, but found he couldn't and shut it, so Wrecker spoke for him, noting Hunter wiping tears out of his eyes."We have no idea." Wrecker answered sadly. Hunter was staring at the floor, when he looked up suddenly, hearing Echo's breathing quicken. He glanced at Echo, and noted instantly he was shaking."Excuse me." Echo mumbled, standing and walking quickly for the door, heading straight for his room, which he shut the door of rather loudly. Omega looked after him in shock, nearly standing to go after him, but Hunter shook his head, so she stayed."He doesn't exactly like talking about Crosshair." Hunter sighed. "He kind of blames himself for this, though it's not his fault, just because we forgot to tell him about the Empire because Echo was injured. Also, he knows quite a lot more than we do about the Empire." Hunter sighed. "Is there anything else you want to know?" Omega paused for a second. There was more she wanted to know, Crosshair was her brother and she didn't know much about him. Maybe Tech had recordings of him. But, Omega looked at Wrecker and Hunter, who both were upset and had cried, and decided to save her curiosity for later."No, thanks, Hunter, I think I'll start some homework." Omega said with a brave smile, standing, ignoring the sudden urge to cry. She didn't know what to think. Hunter, Tech and Wrecker had driven her brother away, and he was probably going to die, on his own, in the Empire. She didn't blame them, they hadn't meant to do that, not at all, but it had ended up that way. Tears pricked her eyes harder. She hurriedly stood. "Can I take these to look at?" Hunter nodded sadly, and Omega picked up the three books, and hurried away.---Hunter knocked on the door of Omega's room about a half hour later. "You okay, kid?" He asked, and Omega jumped. Surely he couldn't have heard her crying, he was talking downstairs with Wrecker?"Yeah, I'm fine." Omega answered, wiping her eyes quickly. She was lying on her bed, looking at the homemade book, which was filled with pictures of Crosshair, and she had stopped crying only five minutes earlier. She'd heard Echo leaving the house, not ten minutes earlier."Can I come in?" Omega hesitated, but relented."Sure." Hunter gently opened the door, stepping in, seeing Omega, he walked over and sat on the edge of her bed. "I came to apologize kid. We should have told you about Crosshair before, he's your brother too and you deserved to know." Omega didn't look up, well aware her red-rimmed eyes were rather obvious."It's fine, Hunter, I understand that it'd be hard to talk about that." Hunter sighed."It's not that it's hard to talk about Crosshair - I mean it is hard to talk about him - but we didn't want to tell you about him, cause well, we wanted you to have a good impression of us. We should have just told you the truth, and I'm sorry." Hunter looked so upset, so hurt, that Omega sat up and crawled over, hugging him."It's fine, Hunter." She mumbled as he hugged her back. "And I forgive you.""Thanks, kid." Hunter rested his chin on her head with a sad smile.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
About a week later, Hunter and Wrecker were working late and Tech was at the library studying, so Echo decided to take Omega out to a pizza place, and Omega had excitedly agreed as long as they brought their brothers some pizza home. Echo had agreed, so they were driving down to the nearest pizza place, using Tech's car, as he'd taken the bus.They were driving in silence, listening to some classical music on the radio, when Echo turned the music off suddenly. Omega, who sat next to him in the passenger seat, looked up at him, scowling slightly."I was just starting to like it." She pouted slightly, and Echo smiled sadly, shaking his head."Sorry, kid, I just wanted to tell you something." Omega instantly looked up, interested."What is it?" She asked, her eyes bright as she smiled cheerfully at her half-brother.Echo sighed, concentrating on the road. "You've got to promise that you won't tell anyone about this." At Omega's confused look, Echo continued. "It's very important you don't tell anyone, okay.""Okay?" Omega said, confused."You promise?" Echo prompted, and Omega nodded."I promise." She said solemnly.Echo was silent for a minute. "I'm not sure how exactly to say this Omega, I'm sorry." He paused for another second, then he decided to jump straight in. "So, what would you think about meeting Crosshair?"Omega froze. "I'm sorry?" She asked, wondering if she heard him right, fixing him with a stunned look."Would you like to meet Crosshair?"Omega blinked, shocked. "Crosshair's with the Empire, you said so yourself." She spoke, confused.Echo sighed. "Not anymore. Well, it's kinda hard to explain. You know my cousin Rex?" Omega nodded, she'd liked meeting her cousin, who had blonde hair like hers and was very nice to her. "Well, he was with the Empire." Echo said slowly. "When the 501st was dissolved, most of them had to join the Empire, Rex included. Well, some time later there was a crash, and Rex was the only survivor. The Empire declared him dead, and he escaped. Since then he's been trying to rescue as many people from the Empire as possible." He sighed. Omega was staring at him in surprise, clearly shocked."I'm helping Rex. Don't tell Hunter that, he'll probably get annoyed at me since we’re supposed to be lying low, but I'm not going to stop fighting the Empire." Echo said firmly. "Crosshair tried to escape the Empire, but he was caught and taken to a camp." Echo wasn't planning to telling Omega that it was an experimentation camp, run by a deranged scientist, that wasn't something a twelve-year-old needed to know. He was also not going to mention that Crosshair only tried to leave the Empire after a friend of his, Mayday Fett, died. "Rex and his boys rescued him, along with some others and destroying the camp. Crosshair left and well, let's just say, Cross and I talk a lot." You could also say that Echo spent most of his leisure time out of the house with Crosshair, because that was also true, Echo and Crosshair were still good friends even after Crosshair disowned his brothers."But I thought he disowned us?" Omega asked, shocked. "He doesn't want to talk to us, right?" Echo shook his head, shrugging slightly"That was Hunter, Tech and Wrecker. You and I didn't practically kick him out of his family, so he doesn't hate us." Echo said awkwardly. "We talk a lot." He shrugged again. "Crosshair's working on becoming an air traffic controller, I don't know why, but he decided to do that. He was always good at math and angles anyway." He smirked slightlyOmega was staring at Echo in surprise. "I can meet Crosshair?" She asked, shocked. Echo nodded calmly."Yeah. I asked him, and he agreed to meet you once. Just once, mind you." Echo hurriedly said as Omega sounded like she was about to celebrate. "If he likes you then well you might meet him more often. But you mustn't tell Hunter." Omega nodded eagerly."When?" She asked, bouncing in her seat excitedly."Next Tuesday dinner. We can say you're going to meet Rex again." Echo shrugged, faking nonchalance. "He works in a restaurant as a chef as well as going to the academy, so he's gotten us a spot there." Omega grinned happily."Thank you, Echo! That's so amazing!""It's okay, kid. You deserve to meet your brother at least once." He smiled gently at Omega as he pulled into the parking lot of the pizza place. "Shall we go eat pizza?""Yeah!" Omega cheered excitedly.---They were driving back from the pizza place, filled with warm, greasy pizza with another two pizzas cooling in the trunk, when Omega decided to ask a question that had been bugging her for a long time. "Echo?""Yeah, kid?""In Hunter's story about Crosshair, he said Crosshair's name was Kazimir Se, but wouldn't he have been Crosshair Fett?" She tilted her head as she asked him, looking so much like Tech that Echo smiled fondly."Well, remember when the police were sorting our your birth certificate, and they realized you had no name, so they named you Annabelle Se, right?" Omega nodded."Yeah and Hunter got it changed to Omega Fett later on." She answered, tilting her head slightly."Well, that happened to the quadruplets. They named them and gave them the last name Se because they didn't like their nicknames. Hunter's name was Edmund, Crosshair's was Kazimir, Wrecker's was Angus, and Tech's was Reginald." Omega laughed, unable to stop herself from imagining Tech as Reginald. "I mean Edmund is a decent name, so is Angus, but Reginald or Kazimir? They all hated their names, and Tech, Wrecker and Hunter got their changed to Hunter, Tech and Wrecker Fett when they left the army. I got mine changed from Eric Fett, which they named me before Ninety-Nine adopted me and my brothers, to Echo Fett before I joined the army, so they actually don't know that my birth certificate says Eric Fett." Echo smirked, and Omega laughed again, grinning widely at Echo."Crosshair got his changed to Crosshair Fett when he escaped the Empire, sadly." Echo shrugged. "It was very fun to tease him about that." Omega nodded. "And I actually didn't know that Spotter and Crosshair were both called Kazimir. That was an interesting fact to learn." Echo smirked the smirk that Rex knew as the Domino twins mischievous smirk, the smirk that meant trouble. "And did you know Snake and Spotter are Fetts, and Merlin and Bogey are close friends of theirs so they're honorary Fetts?" Omega frowned, confused."You knew Swift Squad?"Echo nodded. "Still do, actually. Swift Squad also escaped the Empire, and they're working with Rex to get more people out of the Empire like Crosshair and I do, though Swift Squad are doing most of the literal fighting, Crosshair doesn't do much anymore and neither do I.""Is that what you're doing when you say you're going to stay at Rex's house for a few weeks sometimes?" Omega asked, curious, and Echo paused."Wait what?" He paused, glancing at her, shocked and alarmed, eyes wide. "Does Hunter know then?""No." Omega hurriedly shook her head. "I was just guessing. I won't tell him, I promise. But you took your gun, so I guessed you might be..." Omega trailed off and Echo sighed, wondering why he had thought that no one would guess. It was impressive Tech hadn't realized yet - or maybe he had actually and never said anything. It wouldn’t be a surprise."Well, you're actually correct." Echo nodded. "Crosshair and I often do it together, and we go and help Swift Squad and everyone else who's working for Rex against the Empire." Omega nodded, understanding."I won't tell Hunter, I promise." She said once more, smiling at Echo."Thanks, kid."---"Are we there yet?" Omega was bouncing in her seat, wriggling like a fish under her seatbelt, and Echo couldn't resist smirking as he glanced at her when he was stopped at the stop light. Omega had always been rather mature for her age, so it was always good to see her act younger and mature, especially with the bombshell that had been dropped on her about Crosshair not two weeks ago."As I've said six times already, we'll be there soon." Echo said calmly. The restaurant was only about a five-minute drive from the stop light they were out. Omega had already asked why Echo didn't use a GPS, and Echo's only answer was that he didn't need one, he'd been this way many times, even if he went to Crosshair's apartment more often than the restaurant he worked at."Fine." Omega leaned back, but her feet drummed against the foot space of Tech's car. Echo had said that they were going out for a meal with Rex, and Tech had willingly given them his car for the evening, saying that he, Hunter and Wrecker were taking the truck to go somewhere, but he hadn't specified where. Echo had made sure to make Tech promise to not spy on any meetings between Echo and any of his friends and especially not this one, and Tech had reluctantly agreed after Echo brought in a few threats and slight blackmail.It was very important though, so Echo felt no remorse on blackmailing Tech. The stop light flashed green and Echo turned left across the intersection, Omega peering out the window at the shops they were passing.In under five minutes, Echo found himself pulling into the small parking lot, while Omega stared at the restaurant in surprise. "What's the name?" She scanned the building, looking for a sign. Echo sighed, staring at the dark brick building."Well, it doesn't have one. It's not - let's just say - the most legal place ever. We won't get in trouble for being here as customers, but this place serves as a way to raise money for Rex's cause. Hunter will murder me for bringing you here, but he'll never know if you don't tell him." Echo glanced away, trying not to look at the glass windows were he already could see a certain sharpshooter staring at him, lipreading their conversation. "Last chance to back out." Omega bravely shook her head, smiling."I'm a Fett, Echo, and Hunter always says Fetts don't back down.""An unresistable force meets an immovable object." Echo muttered under his breath, and Omega frowned at him."Sorry?" She asked, confused, and Echo sighed."Just something someone always says about a few certain Fetts." And one of them is twenty feet away, he didn't add, though it was true."Are we going?" Omega asked. The bouncing was gone, but the brightness in her eyes showed how excited she was."Yeah, kid." Echo opened his door, suddenly not wanting to do this. Crosshair had promised he wasn't going to be mean to the kid, but with Crosshair, you could never be sure. Omega opened hers and jumped out, rushing around to Echo after shutting her door so he could lock the car. Slipping the keys in his pocket, Echo led the way down the stone path to the restaurant, Omega trying her hardest to keep a grin off her face.Even now, she was worried, but she tried her hardest not to show it, raising her chin and looking around with an inquisitive look as Echo pushed open the door.The restaurant was small, with ten benches, though evening rush had filled up most tables, with groups of families or adults eating. The food smelt good, Omega noted, but she tamped down that excitement. She was here to meet her brother, not to eat the food, though she'd be eating too, she hoped. Echo was leading her to the far corner of the restaurant, to a corner booth, and as Omega saw the man sitting there, with the silver hair, tattoo and scowl Omega now considered familiar from the hours of poring over the photo album and the black covered homemade book.Omega's steps faltered as Crosshair - her brother! -'s eyes landed her with a searching gaze. Seeing her hesitation, his lips curled upward in a small smirk, and Omega scowled defiantly, hurriedly following Echo over, and sliding in next to him."Hello, I'm Omega." She said bravely, holding her hand out to shake. Echo smirked beside her, though only Crosshair noticed it, and slowly, Crosshair lifted his hand to shake hers, the long, calloused and cold fingers engulfing her warm hand as he shook, watching her carefully."Crosshair." He said noncommittally. "Echo." He acknowledged his brother with a nod, and Echo struggled to hold back his smile."Do you actually work to fight the Empire?" Omega blurted out before she could stop herself, and Echo's eyes widened warningly, but Crosshair only smirked at the girl."Yeah I do, kid." He responded calmly."You're really good at drawing." Omega said the first thing she thought of, nearly biting her lip as she realized what she'd said - Crosshair might not want her to see the sketchbook, but Crosshair's smirk only grew."So I've been told." He regarded her carefully, and Omega held her chin higher, only a small amount, but Crosshair noticed, giving her a silent nod of approval - he could easily tell how nervous she was, and he'd never say it, but Crosshair was slightly impressed with her bravery. "I guess you saw the sketchbook I left?" Omega nodded."It's impressive." Omega smiled slightly, and Echo shook his head, smiling."He used to spend hours on those drawings. Waste of time if you ask me." Crosshair's eyes narrowed into a glare, and Omega froze for a second, thinking Crosshair was angry."Says the person who likes cheesy pop music." Crosshair retorted, and Omega relaxed, realizing he was only joking. Echo's mouth fell open."I thought we weren't going to discuss that!" Echo was flushing slightly. "Don't you dare tell anyone this, Omega." A grin appeared over Omega's face, but she nodded. Crosshair smirked."You want to know how I learned that?" Crosshair offered, and Echo flushed an even deeper pink, shaking his head violently."Crosshair if you tell her about that, I'll tell her about when you got really upset when you lost your rifle." Echo returned, and Crosshair's smirk disappeared instantly, his eyes slightly wide."Never mind, kid." Crosshair shrugged, glaring at his half-brother, and Omega stared at the two of them in surprise. "How old are you?""I'm twelve." Omega said proudly. Crosshair raised an eyebrow, but a glare from Echo made him lower it, and Crosshair just nodded as response.Omega jumped slightly as a waiter, dressed in the full black uniform, appeared beside them, though neither of the other two flinched, both used to Snake's ability to sneak up on people entirely unnoticed. "Didn't think I'd see you here, Snake." Echo remarked, and the blond-haired man smirked."Crosshair took the day off, and so did Stretch, so Rex gave us the day off to help out down here." Snake smirked. "And actually, I'm Spotter." Echo blinked, shocked, as Snake materialized on Spotter's right."Wait what?" Omega jumped as Echo tilted his head. Crosshair smirked, but Omega just stared. "Crosshair?" She asked hesitantly, wanting an explanation. Were her eyes playing tricks on her, or were there actually two of them?"The first one is Spotter, and the second one is Snake." Crosshair sighed. The twins stared at him, surprised."How?" Spotter asked, and Crosshair sighed again."I saw Spotter coming, but didn't see Snake and Snake's better at stealth." He told them calmly, and both twins scowled at him."I told you I was better at stealth!" Snake laughed, and Spotter scowled at his twin. Crosshair rolled his eyes good-naturedly"Snake, Spotter, switch around again, you're confusing Omega." Omega was very literally staring bug eyed at them as the twins reluctantly switched back around so Spotter was on the right and Snake on the left again."When did you switch?" Omega asked, absolutely confused."When you blinked." Spotter responded - or at least, Omega thought it was Spotter, she wasn't sure at all anymore. "So, you're Echo and Crosshair's little sister. Good to meet ya, kid." He grinned."No time to stand around chatting!" A voice interrupted whatever Echo was going to say next, and, without a word, Snake disappeared, while Spotter turned around to glance at the man standing behind the counter a few feet away."Yeah, yeah, Bogey, in a minute." Spotter sighed. "So, what would you like to order, Omega?" Omega blinked, picking up the menu she'd entirely forgotten was there, and opening it. She glanced at the burgers, and picked the first one she saw, pointing at it."That one." Spotter nodded. "Okay, thanks, kid." With a smirk, Spotter turned and walked away, and Echo called after him."What if I wanted something other than my usual, Spot?""Then shame you aren't getting it." Spotter called over his shoulder, and Omega couldn't keep the grin off her face. Crosshair rolled his eyes, but he was smirking, and Echo had his face curled into a fake angry scowl."In all seriousness, how are you, Crosshair?" Echo smiled with fake formality."Dead." Echo scowled at him."Crosshair...""Not dead." Echo regarded him with an exasperated look, and Crosshair smirked defiantly. Omega hid her grin."Crosshair, I'll tell Rex about -" Echo started threateningly, and Crosshair scowled, interrupting him."Fine. I'm fine." Crosshair hurriedly answered Echo’s question."Good." Echo smirked, and Crosshair narrowed his eyes at him, but Echo continued smirking, unfazed. They remained in this stand off for sometime, and Spotter - or Snake - passing the table, smirked at Omega, seeing the two."Crosshair?" Omega asked hesitantly as the silence dragged on, and both brothers instantly stopped their fake war, looking at the girl."What, kid?" Omega fiddled with her fingers, nervous, but she spoke."Can you tell me stories about you guys? Like, as kids? Hunter won't tell me anything." Crosshair froze, startled. After a few seconds, he spoke, hesitantly."Sorry, kid, but I won't." Crosshair said slowly. "Ask Echo, maybe, he's probably heard many stories over the years." His attitude had switched from the playful, semi-serious attitude he had earlier, to sullen, and closed off, and Echo's had become grim. Omega frowned, confused, at the change."Maybe later, kid." Echo said calmly. "Maybe you could tell us about school?" Omega's eyes lit up, and she instantly started talking. "So, my best friend is Hera Syndulla." Crosshair raised an eyebrow, after a momentary pause which only Echo noticed, but Omega continued. "And my other friend is Lyana Hazard. They're both twelve, and in my grade..."---By the time the meal had come and been eaten, dark had fallen, though Echo had already noticed Crosshair had long since grown tired of Omega's talking, he made no move to stop her, but when the hour struck and the restaurant started to pack up, Echo gently interrupted her, saying it was getting late and they should go home."Okay." Omega said, her face falling, and Echo shrugged sadly."Maybe we can meet again some other time, what do you think, Crosshair?" Crosshair nodded absently, he was watching the twins clean up the room, but he looked over."Sure. It was nice to meet you, kid." Crosshair nodded to Omega, and she had smiled back, now more relaxed around him. "Echo, are you meeting us at Rex's place, or what?" Echo frowned, looking at Crosshair."For what?""We're going over to Rex's today. You took time off, remember?" Crosshair prompted, and Echo froze."That's today?""Yeah." Spotter had appeared at the table, and both Echo and Omega jumped, very startled. "You forgot?" Echo sighed, nodding. "Well if you go home and drop the kid we can swing by and pick you up in half an hour." Echo nodded hastily, and stood, Omega standing next to him."Sorry, Omega, we need to go." Omega obediently shuffled out of the bench, Echo following, as Spotter gathered the plates, heading to the kitchen. Crosshair stayed seated, watching them. "Bye, Crosshair." Echo headed straight for the door at Echo's nod of goodbye, but Omega hesitated, looking at her brother."Crosshair?" She asked, and he looked up at her as she fiddled with her fingers awkwardly"What, kid?" Crosshair's patience was wearing slightly thin. "You'd better be quick, Echo's leaving.""Why did you leave?" Crosshair's scowl developed, and Omega hurried on. This was the question she'd wanted to ask above the rest of them and she wanted an answer. "They didn't mean to kick you out. They were planning to leave to stay together and you just left." She said, slightly bitterly. Because of their actions, she'd grown up without one of her brothers, and though she didn’t entirely blame Hunter, Tech and Wrecker, she still thought they could have dealt with that much better than they did.Crosshair's face curled into a bitter smile. "You don't just leave the Empire, kid. They knew how bad it could be, and yet they signed me up for it. Why should I call them brothers when they left me?" He hissed, and Snake, coming to fetch the last plate, turned around and walked away, heading away from the conversation quickly."They didn't know anything more than rumors!" Omega protested. "How could they know what they were signing you up for?" Crosshair's eyes darkened."Tech's not dumb, Omega." Crosshair said coldly, cruelly. "He would have researched it, and not told anyone. And Hunter's not naive. He believed the rumors. Even Wrecker would have known that. They did this to me and didn't even ask me." Crosshair's voice dropped to a whisper that Omega strained to hear. "And if they'd asked me, I'd have said yes." To Crosshair, that felt like an admittal of a fault, blindly loving his brothers, but Omega's eyes widened, realizing how much he did care for his brothers, he would have suffered and died for them.And they’d left him.Omega's eyes filled with tears, and she couldn't stop them. "Thanks, Crosshair." She whispered, before turning and running over to the door, where Echo waited.---Omega was quiet again at school the next day, Hera noticed, and at break, she cornered Omega to ask her about it. "Omega, what's wrong?" She sat beside her friend, who was slowly eating her sandwich, lost in thought.Omega looked up. "You know how you said everyone who looks into their family history will find a secret? You were right." Hera's eyes lit up, and she grinned."What did you learn?" She asked, excited, and Omega bit her lip."I'm not supposed to tell you, sorry, Hera." She said quietly, Echo had indeed told her to tell no one about Crosshair before he left last night, mostly to avoid him being found by the Empire, but partially for Crosshair's sake, he hated being discussed. And the fact that Omega Fett had a fifth brother - well that would spread quickly, and that wouldn't be good for anyone. Especially, since Crosshair didn't consider Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Boba his brothers and Omega wasn't sure where she stood after last night. "But I can tell you that well, my brothers made a mistake, and it's affecting us all now. And I'm not sure what to think of them after that, they're good people, but they made a horrible choice." Omega shrugged tiredly.Hera's eyes widened, instantly intrigued. "Did one of them have a kid?" She asked, and Omega hurriedly shook her head."Nothing that big." Omega said hurriedly - though that wasn't too much of a far-fetched possibility, seeing as Tech and Phee were considering marriage already. "Fetts are complicated - it's also not that interesting." She added quickly.Hera nodded, interest lost. She knew how complicated the Fett's family was first hand, and she'd heard Omega attempt to explain how someone was related to her too many times. "Well, aren't you glad that you know whatever it is now?"Omega nodded. "Mostly. I'm not exactly sure." After last night, she was going to say, but she knew Hera would pester her about it, so she didn't. She – she didn’t know what to think. But dwelling on it would change nothing, and though she regretted what she’d said, she was glad that Crosshair had answered, honestly, even if the answer hurt. It was the truth, and he deserved for it to be known. Still, she might as well enjoy being at school for now, and think about all that later."Good. Now, are you going to join us in our game?" Omega smiled, putting her sandwich back in her bag."Course I am." Omega smiled.