Anyone Who Follows Me Knows I Have A Strange Obsession With Crosshair And Omega. I Want More Interactions

SOMEONE FAVORITE SIBLING DUO IN ALL OF STAR WARS!!!!! And Omega and Grogu are my favorite characters of ALL TIME!!!! I wish I could find more of ANYTHING Omega and Cross

(I know I won’t ever find anything Omega and Grogu unfortunately) SOMEONE NEEDS TO DRAW THIS &/OR FIC!!!!! PLEASE!!!!

Crosshair: I don't care who you are... Crosshair: If your little sister falls asleep on your lap... Crosshair: And even after thirty minutes when both of your legs go numb... Crosshair: Don't move! Crosshair: You kriffing stay there and appreciate the cute little thing in your lap!

Can we just,.,.accept that both Crosshair and Hunter had their reasons for doing what they did?? And honestly neither of them really did anything wrong??

Hunter left Crosshair because he tried to kill them. He didn’t understand anything about the chip, he really thought Crosshair had just lost his mind. And as soon as he learned about it and how to fix it, we immediately jumped to episode 8 where Crosshair tried to incinerate them with a jet engine. He tried to communicate that the chip was affecting him, and Crosshair didn’t care. Hunter couldn’t even get himself or Omega out of that situation unharmed. He had no way to snag Crosshair from his squadron of stormtroopers out for murder. After Bracca, Hunter was focused on getting Omega back because she’s just a kid; she isn’t with the empire, she hasn’t been chasing them down and almost killing them. From Hunter’s POV, the possibility of getting Crosshair to come with them willingly or even at all is looking bleak and even though he knows it’s not Crosshair’s fault, he’s been so overwhelmed with trying to keep the people relying on him safe and right now he doesn’t think Crosshair is relying on him. And honestly, how were they even supposed to know where Crosshair was half the time? He wasn’t on Kamino 24/7 and the Batch isn’t exactly swimming in imperial informants. But that aside, of course he was thinking about Crosshair; Hunter is loyal to a fault and you can just see the emotional pain that flashes across his face whenever Crosshair is mentioned because that’s his little brother and he couldn’t save him and he feels like he failed. Hunter never was and I don’t think ever can be indifferent when it comes to the people he loves. Whether you like it or not, Hunter was trying his best to keep everyone safe and stop running suicide missions because the galaxy was changing and he was trying to change too. He did nothing wrong.

Now Crosshair.

To all of you calling him a Nazi and saying that the animators and writers intentionally lightened his skin just to make a racist show of dominance, stop it. He was referring to their genetic enhancements being superior. That’s it. He’s always hated regs because let’s be fair the regs were never exactly good to him either (AFTERMATH). Now let’s just take a look at how the chip works shall we!! We know from Rex and Wrecker that clones know what they’re doing while under control of the chip and they’re powerless to stop themselves. So we know in Aftermath that the chip was strengthened to an insane degree, and Crosshair could still see himself taking head shots on his brothers and trying to murder them and he couldn’t stop no matter how badly he wanted to. He was powerless. And then the Batch left; at this point he probably understands that his brothers had to go. They’d regroup. They’d know this wasn’t his fault and they’d come back.

Months pass. Crosshair doesn’t know about the solemn looks the Batch exchange when he’s mentioned. Crosshair doesn’t know that they can barely get food for themselves. Crosshair doesn’t know that Wrecker has flat out said he misses him. Crosshair doesn’t know how Tech said “it doesn’t appear he’ll be needing it” with a twinge of sadness in his voice while giving Omega his comm. Crosshair doesn’t know how much Hunter hates himself for leaving and that Hunter was always planning on going back to him someday because someday he’d have the perfect plan and he could save everyone this time. How could Crosshair know?

More time passes. Crosshair probably still has his chip on but he’s still in there, watching himself become more and more important to the Empire. No rescue attempts. Not one. How awful does he have to feel?? They went to get Echo out of Skako with no backup and they didn’t even know Echo and they can’t go back for him? And here’s the Empire, giving him power and some semblance of control. Things are changing fast and now he has nobody but himself to adjust with, and besides, he’s always had an egotistical side so maybe being a commander and putting the regs in their place isn’t so bad to him after all. He’s alone. He adapts or he dies, that’s the job and that’s all he has now.

Onto Bracca!! If Crosshair is telling the truth about getting his chip out, I firmly believe it had to have been after the events of Reunion. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise; “if I wanted you dead, you would be” sweetheart giving the order to have them incinerated and starting to walk away really seems like you wanted them dead and then going from ordering Omega to be executed to telling Hunter that if he cares about her he should let her go and be safe away from them??? You can’t tell me that Bracca!Crosshair wouldn’t have dragged Omega back into the training room and killed her right there just to keep them from choosing her over him. So let’s just assume for now that Crosshair wasn’t lied to and his chip is out (I’m still holding onto a scrap of hope to the contrary because A. there’s no scar B. HE’S STILL HOLDING HIS HEAD and C. my boy isn’t making any SENSE he just killed off a bunch of Imperial stormtroopers to convince the Batch to join his Empire that he cares so much about??) it had to have happened after Bracca I said what I said idc. If the chip is out, I’m sure his head is still an absolute foggy mess because lord only knows what cranking those chips up to full strength several times will do to you, but suddenly he’s realizing that he’s still angry with them. He’s still hurt. He’s still very much alone. Maybe they never cared about him at all.

And don’t get me started on any “if he did any of this willingly he is irredeemable” garbage. How many times did Kallus almost kill the Ghost crew?? I’m sorry, was it not Kallus who ordered the Lasat genocide?? Don’t take this the wrong way, I adore Kallus and his redemption arc was one of the most beautiful things about Rebels but the point is if he can do all of those horrible things for the Empire for years and is still allowed a redemption stemming from realizing everything he thought he was fighting for was a fiction, THEN SO IS CROSSHAIR. With that side note out of the way let’s think about how alone and betrayed Crosshair feels by the Batch and let’s realize that after they left Ryloth, after they left him again, what does he want?? He wants them. He doesn’t want to kill them, he doesn’t want them imprisoned and he doesn’t want to make them pay. He wants to fight side by side with them again, he wants his brothers back. And even though he’s so beyond hope that they still care about him, heck he literally said “don’t make the same mistake twice; don’t make me your enemy” he thinks they were enemies and he still cares about them so freaking much that he went through an entire elaborate scheme to get the whole Batch on Kamino and set up the stormtroopers’ deaths to prove his loyalty that they could have if they just gave him some of their loyalty too. “Loyalty means everything to the clones” is starting to get a really bitter taste innit??

The point of this longwinded rant my friends is to beg y’all to stop being so black and white about these two. They’re both human, they both have made mistakes and have regrets, they’re both trying their best to survive in a galaxy flipped upside down. Things played out how they had to and they’re both victims of the real villain of Star Wars, who has always been Palpatine. The fact that there is so much to unpack with these two characters shows how flipping amazing the writers are!! They’re so layered and complex it’s literally like they’re real!! So please. Stop hating on them so freaking loudly. They’re my boys and they both deserve a warm hug and a nap after the season they’ve had

That scene where Crosshair drew his rifle to save Omega and everyone drew their weapons on him because they thought he was going to kill Hunter absolutely gutted me, but I also loved it a lot. Because it showed us a lot about where Crosshair is going, and his relationship with the Bad Batch right now, by doing very little.

Firstly, it showed that Crosshair still cares about The Bad Batch. He knew it would destroy them if anything happened to her. It showed that, on some level, he cares about Omega. He didn’t want her to die. And, most importantly, I think it showed that he still has at least some small sliver of good left buried within him.

However, it also showed that, right now, The Bad Batch does not trust him. They obviously still care about him — you can tell by the way Hunter refused to leave him, the way Omega tried so hard to save his life, the way Wrecker and Tech were hurt that Crosshair never tried to find them just like they never tried to find him. And you can tell by the way they all turn to Crosshair and still offer to take him with them even after everything they’ve done to hurt each other.

….but.

They don’t trust him. And I don’t blame them. Up until Return to Kamino they could excuse Crosshair’s behavior as the inhibitor chip forcing him to do what he’s done. But after Crosshair reveals that his chip was taken out (whether it’s true or not), at this point in time they have to accept that Crosshair chose to attack them. To hurt them. To try and fry them alive in an proton engine. If what Crosshair said is true and his chip is gone, and they don’t know for how long, then that means Crosshair was actively choosing to work against them this whole time. And if Crosshair was choosing to do all of that before, why would he stop now? Especially once he reached safety at the surface of the ocean. It would be so easy for him to just shoot them all, let Omega drown, and take their ship. They see Crosshair draw his rifle on Hunter and have to assume the worst - that he’s going to kill Hunter. Because they have no reason to think he wouldn’t. Hell, in that moment, even my first thought was “what is shooting Hunter going to do” before I realized what he was doing. And I like Crosshair! I want him to be good! I believe that one day he’s going to realize he’s wrong and leave the Empire! But I also recognize that he’s an antagonist, and the Bad Batch has every reason to be wary of him based on what’s happened up to this point and what they know.

I think that moment may have been a big part in Crosshair’s decision to stay behind. Because Hunter and Wrecker and Omega can talk big game about how Crosshair is family and they are willing to take him back and be brothers and sister again. But Crosshair knows they’re afraid of him. He knows they don’t trust him. He knows that if he goes with them, things will never be how they were before. They’ll be looking over their shoulder every time Crosshair sneezes and Crosshair will be walking on eggshells constantly trying to prove to them that he doesn’t want to hurt them. Ultimately, I think choosing not to go with them at this point was the right call. Crosshair needs to redeem himself and prove himself a little for that to happen, and for that to happen he needs to realize that the Empire is wrong. That Crosshair is wrong. And do something about it.

It doesn’t mean that they won’t ever be reunited. It doesn’t mean that they’ll never trust Crisshair again. It doesn’t mean that Crosshair will never realize his mistakes and go back to them. I firmly believe this episode was meant to set up a long-game redemption arc for Crosshair. I think Hunter pointing out that the Empire left him for dead, his interactions to Tech and Wrecker in the tube, and his conversation with Omega in Nala Se’s lab did get through to him enough that the seeds of doubt are planted. You can see the conflict on his face as they’re leaving at the end of the episode. Hopefully with that, combined with how much he obviously still cares for his brothers, he’ll start to realize throughout season 2 that everything he believes about the Empire is wrong. Then hopefully he’ll start the process of making amends and doing the right thing. This episode actually ended up giving me a lot of hope for the future of Crosshair and The Bad Batch.

Could not NOT share this as I love both these and I do the Stitch voice for others lol. Plus, Crosshair and Omega are my favorite characters in tbb

*The Bad Batch watching Lilo and Stitch*

"Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind... or forgotten."

Crosshair: *glares at Hunter*

Hunter: It happened one time-

Crosshair: Three kriffing times.

Hunter: Well, you're here now, aren't you?

Crosshair:

Crosshair: Stitch would be fucking disappointed in you.

Hunter: Stop swearing in front of Omega.

Breaking down Hunter and Omega’s relationship.

It’s about time I finally got around to making this post, and what better time to do so then the first Friday without a new TBB episode (I’m heartbroken yall 😞 what am I supposed to do with my timeeee)

I’m going to do this by going through each episode individually. Over the past week I’ve rewatched them all, and these are my favourite details between the iconic Clone Force 99 Sergeant and his chaotic space daughter/little but also older sister.

I’m going to separate this into a little series- covering each episode in a separate post, which I’ll have tagged as the series progresses. Once I’ve tackled these two, as they’re my favourites, I’m going to move on to each individual Batcher and perhaps a few other dynamics such and Hunter and Crosshair, or Wrecker and Omega! Let me know what you guys would like to see!

Aftermath: S1/E1

Okay! Kicking it off with the ‘official meeting’! Around the 20 minute mark in episode 1, ‘Aftermath’.

We first see Omega scanning each squadron of clones alongside the Kaminoans, on the look out for her (unbeknownst) brothers. Her little excited gasp when she finally makes eye contact with Hunter is so endearing, and definitely very sweet. It is noticeable that she is very quick to disappear, most likely out of pure excitement, and the knowledge that this would be the only time Nala Se couldn’t put a hand out to stop her from leaving. Hunter’s face, on the other hand, is a little more neutral, he doesn’t know this little girl yet, he’s never met her before, it’s a strange image and certainly something he isn’t use too, but he’s clearly endeared by her! Little does he know this is the start of something beautiful.

I know the reasoning behind this is due to his enhanced senses, but I think it’s a nice touch that Hunter is the one to recognise Omega’s lingering presence in the corridor. His lack of involvement in the conversation between the other Batchers, who were discussing the difference between the Republic and the Empire, shows that he was very concentrated on assessing her sudden appearance. He took to her quite well.

This little sweetheart was just “😇” behind them for a good minute. She was so ready to follow them and finally reunite with her brothers. Goodness I love her. She isn’t shy or apprehensive, as we’ve seen she can be around new people, she’s very forward and excited to meet them. Now, while Wrecker and Tech give a very sceptical response to her appearance, Hunter seems much more curious, rather than alarmed. He willingly smiles at her, he starts to crouch to her level, he’s almost gentle with her, he asks her a very kind question too- not a “who are you?” or “what do you want?”, instead it’s just a “what are you doing on Kamino, kid?” He knows it’s no place for a sweet little girl like her. He has no reason to be rude to her, so he isn’t.

When Nala Se announces Omega is a medical assistant- and a disobedient one at that -Hunter pulls a face of confusion and almost pity, he can’t quite make sense of her involvement in such a way, and as we see later, he doesn’t actually believe this to be true. Yet he never seems to take this out on her directly, it’s a very mature and tactical trait of his.

Omega’s little wave, Part One. She’s just so happy to finally meet her brothers again, and I love that for her.

Omega’s little wave, Part Two. Finally mustering the courage to sit with them in the mess hall, she’s trying her best to remake her connections, and although they all seem extremely surprised by her presence, Hunter is the first to fully address her, while the others seem much more reserved. Can we also address how panicked she became when she thought they didn’t recognise her? She can’t relive that trauma again, and I truly pity her for it.

Omega tries her best to make conversation with them, stating they don’t fit in like she doesn’t, and here’s where we see Hunter’s own patience begin to falter, and I don’t think either of them are to blame for this. Omega just wants to befriend them, she’s been waiting her entire life to meet with them again. But to Hunter, he is being suddenly reminded of the whole reason the regs hate him and his squad. “They don’t fit in.”

However- this is all forgotten when this exact situation falls into place, the regs don’t run to coddle Omega- “oh sweetie don’t sit with them, they’re defective.”, instead they taunt her, claiming she’s another member of the Bad (‘sad’) Batch, I think this is the first incident where Hunter sees Omega as one of them. She’s getting picked on for her new associations, and he’s going to stop it from happening.

This child straight up throws food at the other clones because they insulted her brothers. I absolutely love her lmao. Immediately, we notice it’s Hunter who runs to her rescue when the reg prepares to throw hands with a literal ten year old-. Another instance of him being her primary protector, he wants to diffuse the situation, even if he’s also angry that the regs treat both him and his squad terribly on the daily.

Now for this next point I really think Hunter put two-and-two together. When chatting in the corridor, everybody left Omega alone, while sitting with them in the mess hall, she was picked on and quite literally almost punched by a fully grown adult. He also knows exactly what Lama Su is capable of, and even has a rough idea in regards to Tarkin and his tactics. He knows that he and the boys have already caused enough trouble for this kid, and they don’t want her to endure anything else. He’s already began to put her best interest forward, perhaps not as lightly spoken as one would think, but it’s certainly a start, especially in comparison with the other batchers.

This can be seen later on when she catches them in the hanger and Hunter rolls his eyes upon her arrival. I must say, Omega’s poor little face when she is inevitably left behind once again…I understand Hunter doesn’t know they’ve already left her once before, but I can’t imagine what must be going through her mind at that moment. People often forget this is a child.

Next I bring us to Omega listening in on Nala Se, Lama Su and Tarkin discussing her brothers. She knows immediately they are being set up for failure, and she needs to do something about it. And who does she approach? That’s right, the sergeant himself! He seems quite sceptical at first, but as soon as she says she needs to speak to him, he softens. He crouches to her level, his eyes ease and he becomes less rigid. He takes her concerns gently, almost like a parent easing their child’s irrational fear of the dark, he’s reassuring but assertive. This continues as she insists she should come along, he isn’t rude to her, but he is insistent. He doesn’t want her getting hurt. But from Omega’s point of view, she’s being left behind (again.) she knows things are different now and she is no longer safe wherever she is, but the boys don’t see it that way, and you can see it breaks her heart, despite Hunter’s attempts to offer reassurance. The way he turns back to her after she calls out again, he’s still not ready to dismiss her, and I bet my life she wanted to tell him of their relations there and then, but she hesitated.

“Something about her I can’t figure out.” His mind is on her, she’s caught his interest, he feels this need to protect her, he just doesn’t know why yet. When he looks back, their eyes don’t leave one another until Hunter boards the ship, and Omega anxiously rings her hands as she watches them go. They’ve already established a connection that warrants both of them holding second thoughts when assessing one another. “Kids aren’t your area of expertise.” maybe not, Crosshair, but he’s definitely established a base with Omega, one that they’ve both settled in on.

As soon as Hunter realises the Empire is spying on them, his immediate reaction is to think of the little girl who warned him of that very situation. It doesn’t cross his mind that she’s just a kid, like it does with Crosshair (“we’re taking the word of a child now?”), but instead he immediately takes heed of her word and begins to consult his own thoughts on what to do. When Tech is explaining Omega’s origin, Hunter looks off in the direction they had just come from, as if remembering the children they had almost been forced to kill, and linking them to the very same child he had left on a planet soon-to-be riddled with imperials. Confirming she is one of them, Hunter’s first reaction is that they need to go back for her, that she needs them. He doesn’t even react to Crosshair’s jab negatively, instead he makes it clear that this is NOT a negotiation, he is going back for her and that is that.

Back on Kamino, Omega is just pleased to be scanning through her brothers room, this is most likely the closest she’s been to them since she was a toddler and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s Hunter’s bunk she takes to first, after examining Lula of course (as any child would. Even I want a Lula and I’m 18 lmao)

Moving along to the reunited brig scene, we see once again that Hunter crouches to Omega’s level, he is continuously very gentle with her, he is never rough or brash, he is calm and collected. Everybody steps aside to let him by because it’s clearly established that he is most likely the one to talk to her properly, the others have seen them interact multiple times now, it’s evident. Upon Omega’s insistence that they shouldn’t have come back, Hunter merely makes light of it (for her sake), stating they had come back for her. She’s suddenly all hyper and smiles, she’s ecstatic over the fact they came back for her, and she lets them know, and Hunter continues to make light of it, still for her sake. That’s what a father does

When the argument between Crosshair and Echo breaks out, Omega’s worried eyes immediately trail to Hunter, and they stay on him until Crosshair’s head begins hurting, and she changes her approach to the situation, but in her moment of panic and confusion, it’s Hunter she seeks out. Upon the arrival of the regs (who are ready to retrieve Cross,) we see the poor kid leap back in surprise as Hunter is hit, covering her mouth and squeezing her knees together. She has seen brutality before, heck she lives on Kamino, but to see it against her brother directly, it’s a new level for her, one her childlike emotions can’t conceal very well.

Skipping ahead slightly, we’re moving on to my second favourite interaction of this episode, the mimicking. Omega has a blatant connection with Hunter, she wants to be just like him because she adores and looks up to him. She copies every little movement he makes, even the indifferent ones such as shifting his forearm or moving his fingers. Hunter immediately picks up on this, and he too is endeared by her curiosity, he moves around a lot to see if he can catch her doing it; and when he does, he’s attentive towards it. We see this habit never quite stops later on in the series. She continues to do this for at least five minutes, both when they’re forming the wall, when they’re telling Wrecker to quieten down, when Tech is explaining the plan, she never stops no matter where her main attention lies.

There isn’t much to say about Omega’s escape through the wall, but it’s nice to see Hunter offer reassurance and direction for her. And her clear excitement to follow his orders and finally be apart of the squad offer an extra connection between them. It’s very sweet.

Finally when they’ve suited up in the hanger, it is Hunter she finds comfort in. She’s clearly afraid, so she falls to him, simultaneously he drops to her after the first shot is fired, this could be because it was an easier position to fall to, but I also like to think it’s because his first priority was protecting her, she’s not a soldier, she needs him. Alongside this, he immediately pulls her to safety when she reaches out for Wrecker, he does his best to reassure her that Wrecker will be alright and they must stay put, as they’re only using Wrecker to get to them. Although they are both suffering in the predicament, Hunter takes charge in a military fashion, while still managing to approach Omega appropriately.

Alongside this, he makes sure Omega has the plan in her head before ordering the rest of the crew into action. He does well to ensure her safety first, knowing full well she isn’t a trained soldier and will need extra instructions on exactly what she should be doing.

However, Omega, seeing the danger, disobeys orders briefly to rescue her brothers in their time of need. She follows Hunter’s lead and manages to knock the gun from Crosshair’s hands, and just for a moment everybody is still, even she, because nobody can quite believe she just did something so…daring! (And when they’re on the Marauder, it’s very clear Hunter is very impressed with her skill, and he lets her know!)

When finally aboard the Marauder, Hunter is the first and only one to notice Omega’s juvenile enjoyment when looking out at the stars (although I don’t blame the others, as they were busy helping Wrecker). He makes a pleasant little conversation with her, with a gentle smile on his face, and the tone of his voice is everything in this scene, “where’d you learn to do that?”, this is VERY similar to how Cut speaks to her in episode 2, Hunter is clearly parental material, it couldn’t be more conspicuous!

When Tech asks the leader of their squad for a plan, Hunter leaves no hesitation in taking Omega’s childlike advice, no questions asked. She suggests friends, he thinks of Cut, and off they go. They’re already a team and she’s been on the ship for five minutes lmao-

Taking into consideration that he knows she’s never seen hyperspace before, Hunter crouches down to her again (I LOVE it when he does that), smiles and insists she straps in so she won’t miss her very first hyperspace view, and we see from the absolutely beautiful look in her eye as she watches the stars that it’s all so damn worth it, and Hunter was the one who made that happen for her. Not only that, but he stands aside her and watches for a reaction; he finds her so incredibly cute, her reactions to things, her entire aura is just the personalisation of the word “wow!”, and I don’t think this man can get enough of it!

Just look at his smile!

Okay now THAT turned out to be much longer than I expected! I told the discord server yesterday that I had a tendency to analytically rant but I didn’t think I was this bad haha. I will have the other posts prepped and ready for posting for tomorow, and I’ll be linking them here once they’re up! I hope you guys have enjoyed my analysis on my new favourite Star Wars parental-child duo! These two are honestly admirable in so many different ways! They have some amazing qualities and beautiful development between them! So much love for our ‘Megs and Hunter!

I LOVE THIS!!!! I AM OBSESSED WITH GROGU!!!!

why din is a good dad: a thread - part two

1) he encourages grogu to practice walking whenever it is safe to do so (and he’s secretly proud of him too)

2) will literally stand off against a private to-hire army to keep his adopted son safe

3) he uses cute lil nicknames when no one is looking

4) he is always positive with his sons crazy voodoo powers even though he doesn’t understand it, he just wants grogu to learn the way of his people like he himself had (he does get a lil wee bit excited when grogu levitates shit but won’t admit it)

5) takes him out on cool and totally not dangerous essential trips in the air with his jet pack… cause it’s fun.

6) this. din is a fierce mandalorian warrior softie

7) he makes sure that before anything his son is ok and in good health

8) he teaches him good table manners

9) he includes him in his conversations so grogu can begin to learn other languages and experience other races and species

10) he would go against everything he has ever lived by just to let his son see his face, and so that he can look upon grogu with his own eyes

din is a good dad not through his words alone, but through his actions. he scoured half of the galaxy just so his son could find his people again and get the life and education he knows is best for him.

he could have kept him. he could have done nothing and left him.

but no.

din is a good parent because he is willing to travel across the galaxy for his son and his son alone.

his love is unconditional.

thread masterlist

Shameless self-promotion!

I wrote this little fic a while back and for a long time I thought something like this would never happen in canon but with how season 2 has developed... who knows 👀

Anyway here's some Crosshair and Omega sibling cuteness.

___

There were more troopers on patrol that night. More than they’d expected Crosshair decided as he peered through his scope at the hangar and the few small portholes carved into the rock. At least they were following schedule so it shouldn’t be a problem.

He paused to tap a quick message to Hunter’s comm, just to be safe. His brothers could take on some extra security but it was always better to err on the side of caution if they could afford it. His attention shifted back to the base. The darkness next to him remained quiet though he could hear the occasional shuffling and soft breathing noises. It made him want to roll his eyes.

How Hunter had thought this was a good idea was beyond him. Though in this particular case he had Echo to thank, because of course the brat needed more field experience and of course that experience had to be the kind she had the least of. Like manning a sniper nest.

Karking reg and his military conscience. Maybe next time he was cleaning his legs one of them would ‘accidentally’ get lost and stomped on by Wrecker.

Now, he could look on the bright side. The brat hadn’t deemed it necessary to talk to him yet-

“Hey, how do you do that?”

And there it was. Yeah. Right there.

Crosshair briefly regretted all his life choices as he felt himself bristle. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to the kid’s presence by this point but her timing was still garbage. Echo was definitely going to miss that leg. He’d make sure of it.

“How do I do what?” he snapped back, chomping down on the toothpick he was currently abusing. He could see her blink at him through the darkness and an image of Tech flashed through his mind as she leapt at to the opportunity to talk:

“Usually when you have a toothpick in your mouth you make a ‘tsk’ sound when you wriggle it around. Like this:”

She leaned back on her haunches and the edge of her mouth curled as her tongue made a sharp clicking sound. Crosshair felt his whole face spasm. Kriffing brat, why was that so accurate??

Oblivious to his mortification, Omega pressed on: “But you’re not doing it now. How do you stop yourself from doing it?”

Really? They were doing this now?

“In case you haven’t noticed,” he bit out, “we’re in the middle of a mission.”

“Yeah, I know. But how do you stop yourself? I thought it was a nervous tic.”

“A nervous ti-?!” His eye actually left the scope and he sputtered before he had the chance to realize what he was doing. When he did, he felt like digging a hole into the gravel and burying his head in it. He was pretty sure Tech had told him of some animal somewhere that did that.

He gritted his teeth and willed himself to calm down. He was not going to lose his temper in front of the brat.

“You ever heard of the word ‘creepy’, kid?” he shot back and glued his eye back to the scope. They were lucky the guards hadn’t moved much in the meantime. If they had and Crosshair hadn’t noticed it he was fully committed to blaming it on Echo. Or Hunter.

As time went by the tension in his shoulders began to unwind. The kid was quiet but didn’t seem discouraged if the air of anticipation was anything to go by. Crosshair on the other hand could feel something chipping away at his resolve under that glittering brown gaze.

He fidgeted for a bit. Then fidgeted some more and knew he was doomed as soon as the thought entered his brain and wiped its feet on the welcome mat.

“You compartmentalize.” She instantly perked up next to him. “You take specific habits and teach your body to associate them with a physical state.”

“A physical state?”

He glared out of the corner of his eye. He was getting there.

“Posture, breathing, heartbeat,” His trigger finger flexed and the chalk-powdered skin caught on the glove’s fabric. “Tactile sensations. Once your body starts recognizing the signs, it puts you in the right mindset.”

Omega had gone completely still by the time he finished and he recognized that dark blotch on her face as her mouth hanging open. Her voice was hushed with awe when she spoke next.

“That is so cool.”

“You know what’s not cool?”

“What?”

“The fact that you’re not compartmentalizing right now.”

There. That should keep her quiet for a while.

A group of guards changed shifts shortly after and Crosshair watched them chatter with each other, helmets bobbing, while the stars marched on overhead. His brothers were still making their way through the base, it seemed. And they’d managed to stay under the radar for once.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, a light appeared in his peripheral vision, somewhere off to the left. He froze as he stopped to evaluate the situation. He couldn’t afford to be unprepared if a shootout broke out so removing his scope from the hangar was out of the question. This meant that his best course of action was to try and judge the light’s position on his own for now.

He pulled away from his rifle and trained his gaze on a suitable section of the rock, a small distance off to the right of the light. Omega’s reaction was slower.

“There’s a light!”

He saw her point her binoculars at it.

“I know.”

“But it’s over there.” She tugged at his pauldron urgently and he resisted the urge to grumble. If she yanked off his rifle support he would have Hunter solder it back on personally.

“I can see it,” he bit out, trying to do his job despite the literal child attached to his armor.

“But you’re not looking at it!”

Crosshair sent a pleading look up at the heavens. Dank farrik, what was wrong with him? He was better than this, he should be able to ignore her.

“Will you stay quiet if I tell you why?”

Her blond curls bobbed with her nod, reminding him of an overenthusiastic cleaning droid with a duster. He glared at her through the darkness.

Then made a show of turning the other way and ignoring her.

“Hunter,” he commed his brother. “There’s an extension of the base that’s not on the holomaps. Direction northwest, into the rock. Careful, there may be more troops there.”

“Roger that.” Hunter’s voice crackled through the connection before everything went quiet again. The Firepuncher was cool as Crosshair adjusted his grip on her. Sometimes he wished his rifle could talk so it could shut up when other people couldn’t. Did that make sense? It made no kriffing sense. Point in case, he could already feel Omega scooch closer to him in the dark and he knew he couldn’t avoid his way out of this one.

“Your peripheral vision is more sensitive to light,” he said, “That’s why you see some things better in the dark when you’re not looking directly at them. Same goes for motion.”

Well, technically most people didn’t have any use for it since their peripheral vision was shit, unlike his, but she didn’t need to know that. It was a hollow victory though. She was practically vibrating with excitement now that she’d learned something new again.

There was a tell-tale shuffle and he all but whined when he realized she was about to ask him more questions.

“What is it now?”

“I have another question” Obviously. “When we were about to head out you put your helmet on before the others. Why did you do that when we were still on the Marauder?”

This time he actually drew away from his scope to press his forehead to the dirt. The pebbles under his chest plate crunched as he heaved a deep breath. “Night vision peaks after 30 minutes of being in darkness. I have a shader function in my helmet-”

___

Twenty minutes later they were still in the same place they’d started.

“If your night vision is better, does that mean your eyes are more light sensitive in general?”

“Yes.”

“So you not only see objects more clearly but everything looks brighter.”

“Yes.”

“Does that make it harder to sleep?”

A pause.

“…Yes.”

A surprised gasp. He was at the end of his tether.

“Are you done?” he asked not even bothering to hide the long suffering tone in his voice. Thankfully, thankfully, she was and just in time as the next moment an explosion reached their ears and the troopers inside the hangar started to scurry around like ants. The familiar sound of a siren followed soon after.

It seemed his brothers had finally gotten to the meat of the mission.

Crosshair smirked as he zeroed in on the guard that seemed closest to the hangar bay door. It was time to play whack a trooper.

___

The mission wrapped up without a hitch. His brothers had commed to report a cleared mission objective and a successful retreat which had prompted their leave of the sniper nest. The base personnel hadn’t bothered to try and find them. They were too busy putting out fires.

He and the brat made it back to the Marauder in blessed silence though Crosshair hadn’t failed to notice the bounce in her step. The rest of the batch were already preparing for takeoff — quite leisurely so, they must have shaken off their pursuers — and Omega skipped to Hunter’s side as soon as he was in sight. Crosshair would have made fun of the mushy look that crawled on his face if he hadn’t done it a thousand times already.

“Well, you look excited.” Crosshair heard him say to Omega as he caught up.

“Did you know that your peripheral vision is more light sensitive than your central vision?” she blurted back, shuffling from foot to foot and barely keeping herself from flailing her arms.

There was a moment of confusion as Hunter processed the information. Then his face slowly split into a shit-eating grin that made Crosshair’s blood go cold.

“Zip it,” Crosshair growled in warning, only making Hunter’s smile grow wider, before shoving past them.

Karma really was a bitch.

Hunter was brave enough to show him that same knowing grin a few more times before the day was over and it made Crosshair wonder if he could finish the skull on the other half of his face using just bruises. Tech would have been proud of how close he came to putting his hypothesis to the test.

Life on the Marauder went on after that. The brat was still annoying but moderately so, just as she’d been from the very beginning. Hardly anything had changed except that she and Wrecker had found a new hobby to entertain them and though he didn’t know what it was, he knew it entailed a lot of yelping and rubbing at sore fingertips.

And Echo? Echo had a new leg. Funny how that worked.

It was only a couple of weeks later that their little stakeout would come back to bite him in the ass. He was getting ready to turn in early, drained after listening to his brothers bicker for what was probably a few hours (no, Tech, Wrecker would not stop eating Mantell Mix for dinner no matter how many times you tried to impart the virtues of the food pyramid to him).

Sometimes one had to wonder if Tech wasn’t an idiot under all that intellect. And if that was the smartest person in their group, then Maker help them all.

His armor came off without much fuss as he stripped down to his blacks. A strap on his left vambrace tried to give him trouble but he had just about gotten it off when the curtain to Omega’s room swished open violently.

Her eyes found him standing next to his bunk and she gave him a brilliant smile. One of those beaming ones that promised an annoyance.

“Crosshair! Are you going to bed?”

He answered her with a scowl. “Why do you care?”

As usual she didn’t seem the least bit perturbed and he watched her dive back into the little room, making a ruckus as she rummaged around for something. “Wait, I think it’s pretty much finished-”

There was a triumphant cheer and she seemed to have found what she was looking for as she was soon climbing down the little stairs, running over to him and pushing something into his hands. He stared at her and then the thing he was holding.

It was a piece of cloth. A small piece of cloth.

He couldn’t be sure and he frowned at the way it felt between his fingers, all roughly sewn stitches and errant threads. At least now he knew what she and Wrecker were up to when the latter shoved half his body through the curtain and they spent hours yelping and whispering to each other.

The puzzle started to make sense when he turned the thing over to look at it proper.

It was shaped like a visor or goggles of some sort, made out of shiny black fabric with biased edges and an elastic string attached to either end. The right side of the mask – because it was a mask, a sleep mask – was decorated with a few shaky strokes of white paint that formed a reticle, which, if he wore the thing, would align perfectly with his tattoo.

Crosshair felt something lodge in his throat.

“Here!” Omega said proudly. “For your eyes – you said they bothered you when you sleep.”

He swallowed as he looked at the mask in his hands.

“Thanks.” His voice was hoarse.

“Do you like it?”

He blinked, determined not to let his voice crack.

“It’s fine.”

“Great! I hope you wear it.” With that she leaned in to squeeze him in a hug before skipping off and disappearing into her room. He was left there standing awkwardly by his bunk.

Part of him knew what was coming. No, scratch that, all of him knew what was coming.

Taking a slow breath, he turned around to face the direction of the cockpit. Every single one of his brothers was looking at him with a variation of Hunter’s shit-eating grin form that day. Wrecker looked about ready to crack up. Echo looked like he wanted to be punched.

Crosshair took another breath and steeled himself as he pointed a single threatening finger:

“Not. A. Word.”

It was said it as quickly as his pride allowed and he hurried to tug the mask over his eyes so he wouldn’t have to watch their stupid faces as they burst into giggles. The chortling didn’t stop after he’d settled into his bunk and he relished the rush of satisfaction when he kicked out his leg and it connected with Echo’s midriff, sending him sprawling to the floor with an ‘oof’. That’s what the bastard got for trying to take a holo.

Now, at least, he could finally go to sleep… and the mask did feel nice. Even with all those crooked stitches.

Yeah, Crosshair could finally sleep now.

“Guys,” Echo wheezed from the floor. “I think I got it.”

“Oh karking hell- ”

___

There’s an actual game of whack a trooper online, go look it up I beg of you.

fall back into place - Chapter 4: Hunter pt. 2

Read on AO3 ⚘ ❀

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Summary: Hunter and Omega come to terms with multiple truths following the removal of the inhibitor chips. Watch episode 7 before reading.

Part 4 of 5 times the bad batch learns something from Omega and the one time Omega learns from them. (Can be read as a stand alone)

Warnings: very emotional? thoughts about death

Rating: T

Word Count: 2315

Hunter almost died today. 

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