Post Plan 99 - Tumblr Posts
Whumpril Day 16: Guilt/"I'm So Sorry."
Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch
Warnings: Mentions of death and alcohol, and spoilers for the last episode of TBB
Summary: Wrecker and his thoughts after Tech's death and Omega's capture. Oh and a short conversation with the others.
Wrecker's mind was plagued with guilt. It wasn't something he could just slide down his throat with alcohol or something he could sleep off. It stayed there. It found the piece of your heart that was missing and used it place as it's home. It used the heart's veins and traveled to the brain to taint every memory it could.
He couldn't reach Tech. He should have. Tech was gone. He slept at the bottom of the damn cavern on Eriadu and it was Wrecker's fault. He saw him fall. He didn't want to imagine the pain he might have felt. Tech was his brother and now he was a memory.
Omega was also gone. Her capture could have been prevented. Maybe if he hadn't been so easy to capture, or maybe if Hunter hadn't come back for him, she would be safe.
It was Wrecker's fault. No matter how hard he thought, he always come to the same conclusion, it was his fault.
The remaining members of the batch had gone to Padu to plan. Hunter was against it but Echo knew they needed the rest. They would kill themselves if not and that was the last thing they needed.
They sat around a table with Phee. Hunter held Tech's googles gently. The pirate had already been informed of Tech's death. She tried to help them, she really did, but nothing got though to them.
"I'm so sorry." Wrecker talked softly.
The other three looked at each other confused.
"What are you apologizing for?" Echo asked hesitantly.
"I should have saved him. You should have left. I'm just, I'm sorry."
"Wrecker, it's not your fault. I wasn't just going to leave you behind, that's not how things work." 'Most of the time' ran through Hunter's head but he figured that would be better left unsaid.
"We'll get her back." Phee spoke.
"That doesn't change the fact that Tech's gone." Wrecker rested his arms on the table.
"Tech made his decision" Hunter sighed, "he did it for us and we have to live with it. We'll be okay." He held his hand out and rolled all but the pinky into a fist, "I promise."
Wrecker looked up at the hand and Hunter could have sworn he saw a small smile, "okay." The man took his brother's pinky and they promised.
Dinner would be quiet. Everything would be kinda quiet with the two main talkers gone.
Back on the Marauder the guilt slammed into Wrecker yet again. Seeing Tech's bunk empty pulled at his heart. He walked up to Omega's 'room' and grabbed Lula. After that he walked back to Tech's bunk and laid down. He felt safe and under attack all at the same time. Slowly he would drift off to sleep.
Whumpril Day 17: Cry For Help/Self Treatment/"I Can't Do This."
Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch
Warnings: Spoilers for the last episode of season two, character injuries.
Note: If you want more from this story I will write it! Don't hesitate to let me know! No beta reader we die like Mayday
Summary: Tech survives the fall and now he's gotta live past just the fall.
Tech had calculated the chances of surviving the well over 1,000 foot fall. They were less than 1% but he didn't care. There was no time and he needed his family to make it back alive. They all had bright futures ahead of them and they needed to bring Crosshair home. He didn't hesitate to shoot the remainder of the metal connecting the car. Then he fell. It took around 50 seconds.
Then he woke up. Tech was in agonizing pain but he was alive. He heard voices around him. Then they were gone. The clone felt like he couldn't move. The slightest movement was simply too much pain to bear. However he needed to.
Attempting to move his right arm he came to the conclusion he couldn't. The man moved his left fingers, then hand, then wrist. Screaming in pain he pushed himself slowly up to lean against the remainder of the rail car. If it had landed on him he would have been unrecognizable.
Tears flower down his face and cough in lacerations. The liquid mixed with blood. Tech forced his head up and looked at his body. His left leg was practically destroyed. His right was salvageable. The bones in his salvageable limbs had multiple breaks in them. Tech could already tell there were multiple breaks in his back as well. However they didn't affect his ability to move so none of them affected the spinal cord.
Looking at his torso he was overwhelmed. It was hard to see through the blood. He was covered in larger and smaller gashes.
'I can't do this.' the thought flashed through his head. 'I can't do this. It's too much.' Tech's breathing was shaky and uneven. His vision was blurry from a mix of his injuries and the lack of his goggles.
'You have to it. It is possible' the more logical thought took over his mind. Determination had to beat pain, it had to. His head and heart had to battle his body. 'For them.'
Tech tugged at the top of his right pouch and opened it. His hissed and grabbed the little medical supplies inside. Looking over at the other legs pouch he decided it was worth a try.
Nothing was usable from that side. All the supplies were demolished. That was the pouch that he kept little items to comfort his family with. A small, soft piece of fabric, as well as a pair of earplugs for Hunter, tooth picks for Crosshair, a small, 3-D puzzle for Wrecker, a pocket sized reg manual for Echo, and a small clone trooper doll for Omega. He also kept three hair ties; all black, just in case some one needed them.
Wrapping the largest and most threatening wound took a large amount of time and energy. By the end of it Tech was exhausted.
The sun was mostly gone at that point. He started to hear voices from somewhere around him. Unsure of what else to do Tech pushed himself to speak. "Help" he whispered, desperately.
No one heard him. "Help" Tech's voice broke as he spoke at his normal speaking level. He tried again and no real sound came out.
"Help!" He screamed. The voices grew closer. With all his strength Tech called out again, "help!"
A tall, blue Twi'lek walked over cautiously followed by a black Wookiee, a teenage, human boy, a; if Tech had to guess clone, and a rather short Rodian.
"Come on, we have to help him." The human child spoke. He walked beside the injured clone and kneeled down, "he'll die if we don't."
The Twi'lek looked over to the clone beside her, "do you recognize him? You look surprised."
"No, but I know someone's gonna be missing him. Grawarr, grab him." The Wookiee walked over and gently picked up Tech. He screamed in pain as he was being picked up. Grawarr hummer softly, as if to apologize.
The six made their way back to the village that was around an hour away. The pain forced tears out of Tech's eyes. He slipped unconscious about ten minutes into the journey. He was safe for now. He would need to heal and then find his way back to them and he wouldn't stop until he did.
@whumpril
Merry Whumpmas Day 4: Chills
Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch
Summary: As Crosshair reunites with his family he notices that someone is not there.
Seeing his brothers again was a lot for Crosshair. He thought he had told them not to come, to leave him behind like they had before. Even if understood why now, it still hurt. The scar was still a scab.
But then he noticed, Tech was missing. His body shook with a chilling realization. It felt like his whole body went cold and he almost froze in place. It was the only reason he wouldn't be there. Tech had to be dead.
Fear gripped his heart and squeezed. It was almost painful. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe Crosshair was wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.
He wanted to ask but the fear and uncertainty left him speechless. Instead he put one foot in front of the other. He followed the rest of his family outside of this awful place that had broken him. They led him to the light he had long forgotten.
Hope.
Still, Crosshair couldn't be happy. As they walked he realized there was no way Tech could be with them. Was he hurt? Could he be with the Marauder? Why did they look so, nervous.
When they did get to the Marauder, Rex was waiting. Warm blood was replaced with ice water. He was gone. That's why they were nervous; why Omega hadn't said anything when he asked about them. She didn't know how to tell him.
The water froze him. He stood still, staring at the Marauder. He thought about every memory that he had with Tech in it. There was no way he was gone. Not without saying goodbye right?
But hadn't they already? Was their last encounter supposed to give him closer? Was he supposed to be okay? Could he move? Did moving mean excepting?
Hunter put a hand on Crosshair's shoulder and tried to move him along. "We need to go."
"He's not there, is he?"
An icicle plunged into the man's heart. "No. Tech's not there."
Crosshair wanted to cry. The only thing that stood in his way was dehydration.
"We have to go Crosshair" Hunter shook. He put slight pressure on his brother's back, trying to move forward.
Slowly Crosshair moved, Hunter's hand generating enough heat to move his frozen body forward. He was finally home.
Home was different than he remembered. First of all there was room for Omega. Then Tech's bunk had been left untouched. His blanket was still folded over.
Crosshair looked at his own. It had been made. He knew he hadn't made it. He moved the blanket to find a small letter. A chill went up his spine as he grabbed it.
It was from Tech. He gently opened it with shaky hands. He pulled the letter out of the envelope and unfolded it.
It read, "Dear Crosshair, I didn't know what would happen. In truth I didn't expect the mission to go well. But I knew we had to go. If not for anything, to make up for the damage we had done to you. That is not to say you didn't hurt us as well. I hope I will retrieve this letter once I am on the ship. If not, I was told it is best to not leave words unsaid. You were a good brother Crosshair. I was grateful to have you."
Crosshair held the letter to his chest. That was the most affection Tech had ever shown to him. He laid on his bed and let out a sigh. This was going to be hard.
Febuwhump Day 9: Bees
Fandom: The Bad Batch
Summary: Wrecker never liked bugs. But now that Tech's gone, he finds some beauty in his brother's favorite insect. Bees.
Bugs were not Wrecker's strong suit. Most of the time they weren't a problem, but sometimes they freaked him out. After being stormed by 'the hive' with Cid, he decided he simply was afraid of them.
This included bees. There were a lot of bugs on Padu. There were a lot of flowers on the island. It was one of the things that the clone liked. Their simple beauty was something most didn't expect a clone to love the way he did.
But he didn't like the bees. The small bugs freaked him out. Even so he would be around them often. The rest of the batch didn't share his distrust of the small insects.
Tech had loved bees. "Bees are extremely important to every ecosystem. Almost 90% of wild plants and 75% of the galaxy's crops depend on the insects's pollination."
"I don't care" Wrecker joked. He nudged his brother.
However Tech did. Trying to continue, Crosshair cut him off. "We don't care."
Now Wrecker wished he had listened. The clone watched the bees buzz around the sunflowers that were around him. What bothered him was the fact that they shut him up even though he was clearly excited about it.
The bees flew near him and unlike every time before, Wrecker let them. Instead of shoeing them away, he welcomed them. Tech's voice rang in his head, "Did you know that there is at least one species of bee on most every planet."
"Does he just do that?" Echo sighed.
"Yeah" Hunter answered. "Normal one of them tells him to shut up by now."
"Bumblebees technically shouldn't be able to fly because of-"
Tech was cut off by Crosshair. "Shut up" the clone growled. Despite being shut up, Tech didn't seem upset. Instead he continued what he had been doing previously.
"Seems kinda mean" Echo whispered to his brother.
"If they don't he'll talk for hours."
Now Wrecker was left wondering what he was going to say. What else had they left unsaid? What seemingly useless piece of information had they missed out on?
Wrecker would do anything to hear Tech info dump about bees again. Info dump about anything really. He wanted to know why bumblebees shouldn't be able to fly. More than anything he wanted his brother back.
"Watching the bees?" Phee asked, sitting next to Wrecker.
"Yeah" he sighed. "I never liked them before. Actually used to be scared of them. Up until now." A sort of sad smile flashed across his face. "They are actually pretty nice" he sobbed.
"It's gonna be okay big guy." Phee comforted him.
A bee landed on the clone's knee. Out of instinct, he screamed. Then he just watched it. Putting his finger by it the insect crawled onto his finger. It was smaller than his finger nail. "Hey Tech."