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Sharpshooter - Only the Strongest will Survive

Chapter 5

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: Hospital, injuries, blood

Everything hurts. The side of my face. My left eye.

It stings.

The knives digging into the side of my face, warm red liquid pouring out. My hand instinctively reaching for my knife, finding nothing.

I wake up with a gasp. Everything around me's white, it's so vibrant that it's almost blinding. I squint a little to calm the throbbing in my head. Still can't see anything out of my left eye. My hand moves to the side of my face, only to feel 3 deep gashes there. They're not bleeding anymore.

How long have I been out for?

Soldiers. Pointing guns at my head. Handcuffs clicking. Dragging someone away.

Mayday.

I scan my surroundings as the vision in my right eye starts to clear, and I can see weird machines around me. A tube is connected to my arm, the other end of the tube connected to a bag of clear liquid which I assume is water.

"Hello?" I call out, the hesitation in my voice is evident. A metal thing which I can only assume is a droid floats over and does some scans on me.

"Your vitals are stable and your wounds have healed, " the droid says.

I roll over to the side of the bed, using my arms to push myself up into a sitting position. My hand instinctively moves to the side of my face again as I try to stand up, my legs shaking slightly as my other hand moves to the side of my head to support myself. The droid just floats on my left, observing my efforts to walk out of the blinding white room, expressionless, but saying, "Hey! Wait! You're not discharged yet!" I ignore it.

I put my hand on the walls to support myself, staggering through the empty hallways and through the glowing blue door which opens up when I get near it, into what I expect to be the cool Antarctic air. Instead I'm met with a warm blast of air to my face as something whizzes past me, moving too fast for me to make out what it is. I stumble backwards, into the white wall. I look upwards, there's a sign saying "Antarctic Hospital" on top.

Sounds come from all directions, flooding my senses with images of a busy street, crowds, people brisk-walking across roads to rush to work, cars honking at each other as they wait impatiently for traffic lights to turn green.

Great. The exact place where I didn't want to be.

The hand on the side of my face moves to my temple, where it feels like fingers are knocking against it, just like how I tap the hilt of my knife when I'm bored.

Mayday.

I scan the surroundings for any visible signs to show directions on where my apartment is. From the sounds around me, I assume I'm in the central area of the city. Which means the big screen should be near.

I break into a run, my steps light although the legs under me feel like lead, following the direction of the pavements until I reach a large area devoid of buildings, and people. Which also means not much noise. I sit down in the clearing, and then rest my back against the floor so that I'm looking up at the black sky, the moon behind me. A sense of calm comes over me and my eyelids feel heavy, threatening to close again.

Got to find my house.

I decide to lie down in the clearing, just staring up at the sky for a bit longer. The vision in my left eye starts to clear up, and I find myself staring at information that's displayed in front of me. My heart rate, different commands like "show heat signatures" and "zoom in", are all in front of my eyes. The words are a light blue, contrasting against the dark night sky.

What the hell do these things do? What did they do to my eyes? What the fuck does "show heat signatures" mean?

As if on cue, the black sky turns blue, and the lights from the buildings at the corner of my eye turn red. Thermal vision. That's...actually not bad.

Switch back to normal vision.

My eye complies. The vision in my cybernetic eye is no better than that in my regular one. Standing up, I look for any sign of the big screen that's always so obvious from anywhere in the city.

Just buildings. They block my view. I gotta get up to higher ground to find the screen. From there I could possibly try to find my way home.

Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I flinch, whipping around as my fists clench, ready to give my attacker a punch to the face.

"Aris."

My vision is still slightly distorted from whatever the people in the hospital did to me, but I can recognize the voice, no matter how tired it sounds.

"M-Mayday?"

He nods, and I follow behind him as he walks away, giving me that small nod which I take as a "Come on. We're going home".

As we walk, I notice that the back of his black hoodie is darker in color than the sleeves. That's not right.

"Mayday?" I ask, my voice coming out softer than expected, and cracking slightly. It's only now that I notice that my throat is dry. Drier than the trees back home. I cough a little, and Mayday hands me one of those water packets. I nod, signaling a "thanks" as I take the water packet and put it in my mouth, biting down and letting the cold, sweet, refreshing liquid calm my senses and wet my throat as I swallow the water and spit out the packet.

My attention goes back to the back of Mayday's hoodie. I put my hand there, feeling Mayday flinch from the touch. I smirk. "Now you know how it feels."

"Don't. Touch. It," Mayday says through gritted teeth. I laugh slightly and remove my hand, only to see my hand stained crimson.

Blood.

I look up at Mayday again, who keeps walking, expressionless.

"What happened?" I asked, the concern in my voice obvious.

"It's fine," Mayday replies, staring forwards, still walking.

"You're bleeding. It's soaked through your hoodie. You're not fine. If you lose too much blood-"

"I said I'm fine," Mayday snaps, and I inhale sharply, surprised by the sudden annoyed tone in his voice.

He's not usually like this. Something's wrong.

We walk for a few more hours through the city, the streets slowly getting quieter and quieter as we reach the outskirts. We stay silent. I occasionally glance at him, but he doesn't return the gesture.

We reach my apartment. Mayday heads into his and shuts the door behind him. I stand there staring at the door for a few moments before heading into my own apartment. The door's unlocked. There's no one inside.

I call out my grandparents' names, they should be here, my parents are probably at work. I don't get a reply. I stare around the empty room, calling out my grandparents' names again, and get the same result. Nothing.

There's an unsettling feeling in my stomach. I head out of my apartment and to Mayday's, knocking on the door. Mayday opens the door, his face showing the slightest hint of excitement, before it returns to its expressionless stare.

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice monotone. I look behind him and his apartment's empty as well.

Something's definitely not right.

"Have you seen my grandparents anywhere?" I ask, trying to sound casual.

"They went with my family to the central area, interrogations and stuff," Mayday says casually.

"What?! Why?!"

Mayday shrugs, but then winces slightly, which I notice. "About us going through the ray shield and stuff, breaking rules."

I look behind him again and see blood on the floor.

"You're not okay. I'm gonna go get bandages from my house and patch you up."

"I said I'm fine!" Mayday protests, but I've already run into my house to find some bandages, coming out a few moments later carrying a roll of the white gauze.

Mayday's eyes widen. "How did you get that?"

I shrug. "Just found it in my parents' drawer."

I head into Mayday's apartment and sit on the floor, motioning for him to come sit next to me. He does so, glaring at me every now and then. I know he's bleeding from the back.

"Take off your hoodie and your shirt," I say, an authoritative tone in my voice.

"Are you serious right now, Aris?"

"Yes. Now do it."

Mayday sighs and takes off his hoodie, and then his shirt. I look away, for obvious reasons.

"You can look now."

I look back at Mayday, who has his back facing me. I can see 5 deep gashes across his back, starting from his shoulder. Blood oozes out from the wounds, dripping down onto the floor.

"Holy shit. What happened?" I ask as I start putting the gauze across his back, passing it in front of his chest and then back to his back, tightening it slightly.

Mayday winces, but still stares forwards, remaining silent.

I finish patching up his back, the blood almost instantly soaking through the gauze.

"Done."

Mayday just sits there for a while, staring into space, not bothering to put his shirt back on.

"They arrested me after I brought you back in," Mayday says, his voice quiet. "They whipped me. But I handled it fine."

I sit down next to him. "I'm sorry."

Mayday glances at me. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault."

"Why haven't you been sent to the hospital? The bleeding's pretty bad, it's almost as bad as mine?" I ask.

"You seriously thought that they would give medical attention to a criminal?"

"They gave it to me."

"Because they don't think you're one."

I stare at Mayday, not expecting him to elaborate but still wondering what he means.

We sit there in silence for a bit and Mayday puts his bloodstained shirt back on.

"How's your face?" Mayday suddenly asks, and my hand instinctively moves to the 3 slice marks on my face, and to my left eye. A look of concern flashes over his face. "The medical droid said they replaced your eye with a cybernetic one, but it might take time to adjust."

I nod, staring out the door. "I know. So what do we do now?"

"I don't know. We just have to...hope for the best, I guess."

"We'll figure it out. Like we always do."

Layers

(Art is by my friend soap)

Chapter 1: The Waterfall

Warnings: None

Genre: Fantasy/Short Story

The limestone rocks dig into my already peeling fingers as I grasp another hold, hauling myself up to the edge of the cliff. I’m greeted by the sight of lush green trees looming over me, shielding me from the sun’s rays. I look behind me, reveling in the view of the sparkling blue ocean. 

“I’ll explore up here and abseil down in a bit!” I shout down at the person belaying me, taking a few steps into the cluster of trees before untying the rope from my harness. 

I set my bag down next to a tree, collapsing down onto a soft bed of leaves, inhaling that sweet familiar forest smell I recognise from home. I sigh as I lean back against the tree, staring out at the islands clustered together around the one I’m at. It’s so much better than being in the city. There, the constant need for caution strangles me, but here, the freedom comforts me.

It’s been 10 years since my parents divorced. I think I’m coping well. At least, I hope so. Climbing’s the only thing that makes me feel alive.

I wish I could stay here forever. 

I stuff my water bottle back into my bag, zipping it up and throwing it over my shoulders, before standing up and walking into the maze of trees that stands in front of me.

For a cliff, there’s a hefty number of trees up here. I keep walking for a few minutes, the thick canopy blocking most sunlight. Tree roots litter the ground, threatening to trip me every few steps. 

I hear birds singing. Perhaps there’s a nest nearby, with eggs inside. I wonder if they’d taste good. 

As I continue walking on, the singing of the birds starts to get drowned out by what sounds like a…waterfall? I don’t recall ever seeing a waterfall on the map. The leaves crunch under my footsteps. Until I realise they aren’t leaves anymore. They’re bones. Not human bones, but eerily similar. 

I should probably head back.

I turn around to walk back to the cliff, but a little voice in my head tells me to keep going.

What do you have to lose anyways?

Besides my life and my money?

Could be fun. Don’t be a wimp.

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I continue walking ahead. The bones staring from the ground sending shivers down my spine. The sound of the waterfall keeps getting louder. A few moments later, I stop in my tracks.

I’m greeted with a black frame with its interior glowing a dull blue. The waterfall sounds seem to be coming from inside. The frame is covered with vines which hang over the blue light of the portal. The pulsing portal seemed to emit a mysterious yet inviting aura, and I can’t help but unconsciously drift towards it. 

Excuse me, what?! Um…I should probably go now before I get sucked in and die.

As I turn around and take my first step away from the portal, I feel a sharp tug at my core and I find myself plummeting down a waterfall, water splashing into my eyes and mouth and nose, barely any time to scream as I hit a pool of water feet-first, plunging into the dark depths. Yet it’s surprisingly warm. 

I quickly swim up, hanging onto my bag as I break the surface, taking a gasp of air.

It smells sweet. Like rainwater. Glowing blue flowers float on the surface of the pool, seemingly undisturbed by the cascade of water just a few meters away. In fact, the whole pool seems undisturbed. Bag in hand, I swim over to land and haul myself up, scanning my surroundings, still shaken from the fall.

What…was that…?

The terrain is vibrant. Too vibrant. Layers of red and white and teal and blue form the cliffside that the waterfall flows down from. 

Am I dreaming?

I pinch myself to check, my heart rate skyrocketing as I feel the pain. 

No no no... This isn’t good. I need to get back.

I run a few steps backwards, hoping to get a good view of whatever I just feel through, but all I see is an empty black frame. It would be too risky to free climb back up, especially since this is unknown territory.

The ground looks a somewhat like a staircase. Layer after layer of vibrant-coloured rocks lead down to a little village in the distance. Trying to calm my nerves and failing miserably, I sling my bag over my shoulders and head down the “stairs”, towards the village. 

The sky is painted yellow and orange and red, as if the sun is setting. But I see no sun. It will probably get dark soon. I start to pick up the pace as I worry about what may come out in the night, despite the seemingly peaceful surroundings. 

The colourful gravel crunches beneath my feet. But soon, the ground starts to even out. The layers start to disappear, leaving flat ground for me to walk smoothly on. Night has fallen, the sky now a dark blue spreading as far as I can see. 

The gravel slowly starts to turn into a tiled path. There are houses on both sides of the path, their lights giving off a warm yellow glow. I smell sugar donuts coming from a short building that has the words “Baked Stuff” on it.

My stomach growls.

I want donuts.

I head into the building, a little golden bell that’s connected to the door ringing as I walk in. 

“Welcome!” a…human-shaped mass of stone says. Its arms and legs look exactly like the cliff with the waterfall. I blink, pinching myself again to make sure I’m not dreaming.

“Um…hi,” I wave awkwardly at the stone person.

“Prices are stated here,” the stone person says, pointing to the little pieces of paper with a number written on them.

“I’m sorry…but what is the currency here, and how do I get some?” I ask.

The stone person narrows its eyes. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

It knows?!

I stand still, my eyes scanning the stone person up and down, looking out for any threats, body tensing up.

“...Yes…” I say with a strained voice.

The stone person bursts out laughing. “Look at your face!” It doubles over, clutching its abdomen, before regaining its composure and standing up straight. It’s slightly shorter than me with its short, stubby legs. It passes me a donut with some blue glowing cookie crumbs on it. 

“Here. It’s on the house. Made from Waterfall Flowers,” it says, and I take the donut, hesitantly taking a bite.

The sweet yet sour flavour explodes on my tongue, and it reminds me of lemon sorbet. 

“Good, isn’t it?” the stone person asks, the rocks on its face moving to form something resembling a smile. I nod, my mouth full.

“If you’re looking for a place to stay for the night, there’s an inn a few houses down. Tell the receptionist that you’re my friend and you should get a free room. Have a good night!” the stone person calls as I walk out of the shop, waving goodbye. “Thank you!”

I walk down the path, devouring the donut in a few bites, before reaching the inn. Another stone person stands at the reception, little blue glowing rocks embedded in its body. 

“Hi…uh…I'm friends with the person at the bakery…she said I could get a free room here?” I walk up to the counter, avoiding eye contact. 

“Oh? Sure! Yours is room 130,” the receptionist says, passing me a glowing blue flower.

I take the flower, unsure of what to do with it, but not daring to question the receptionist. Something feels off about these people. It probably doesn’t help that they’re made out of literal stone.

Soon, I reach room 130, finding a flower-shaped lock on the door. I press the flower into the lock, causing it to glow before the door swings open in front of me. 

The room is carpeted, a single bed in the middle and a toilet near the entrance. Without hesitation, I throw my bag to the floor and fall onto the bed, letting the softness hug me to sleep.

When I wake up, I’m no longer in the room. Layers of rock press against my back. Glowing blue vines immobilise me. I hear the waterfall.

What’s going on?!

I struggle futilely against the vines. It smells sweet. Almost too sweet. Panic starts to set deep in my gut, rendering me frozen.

Some of the rocks on the walls slide down next to me, clinging to the vines almost as if trying not to fall. A few move to box me in against the cliff, forming a large humanoid shape. Little blue lights decorate its surface. 

A collection of voices ring out simultaneously. I hear the shop owner and receptionist’s voice, along with a few others I don’t recognise.

“Hehe. You really are like the others.” 

i need more crosshair drowning scenes im just addicted to crosshair suffering atp

TBB SEASON 3 IS OUT WOOOOO

happy echo day guys!!! (14/09)

(ik this isnt echo but its his vod’ika from Our Own Choices saying happy echo day)

(im scared to mess up drawing echo so yea)

hiiii ive recently been writing more original stories but i (hopefully) remember my sw and tbb ocs

oldest: Aris (yes they mostly have the same name 😭)

-anakin skywalker’s twin sister

-uses 2 lightsabers

-obi wan’s padawan alongside anakin

-when she’s 15 she’s sent on a mission on her own as a padawan cause she proved herself to be capable

-she gets transported to ninjago cause force shenanigans 💀💀💀

-in season 5 of ninjago they find this thing called the realm crystal so she goes back to her universe and fights in the clone wars

-she eventually leaves the order for the ninja and anakin feels like she abandoned him and thats around the same time ahsoka leaves the order

-she rejoins the ninja and goes through ninjago seasons 8–16

-she senses order 66 happening in the force and anakin turning so she uses traveller’s tea to go help

-in short she almost dies to anakin so she goes on the run and gets mando armor cos yes :D

-also in short she and anakin defeat palpatine and yay :D

-istp/istj, arrogant, cocky, “violence is always the answer, fuck morals”

newest: Mayday (not the clone mayday)

-13 years old in the part of the book i am at so far

-protective of his best friend aris (not the one above)

-good with a knife

-istp, cold and detached to random people but a sweet puppy to aris :)

(mayday x aris art when theyre like 23)

-becomes a soldier in the future

-survivor of the 1-7th Population Games

Welcome back to another OC Sunday Spotlight!

Aka the time in which every Sunday I'll come up with a prompt and anyone and everyone has the opportunity to answer with as many OCs as they wish!

You can reblog this post, answer in the comments, or come up with your own post to answer the prompts! And feel free to submit prompts as well!

It's an excuse to yap about your OCs so feel free to do so! Add pictures, links, or anything else regarding the OC in the spotlight if you'd like! And in addition, feel free to tag any mutuals to hop on the stage :D

Let's get this show started!

SPOTLIGHT ON: Oldest and/or most recent OC(s)!

Here are mine :D

OLDEST: KHEA NULTEZ

🌟 aaaa those doodles are when I first came up with the concept of her at the beginning of last year 🌟 she was the first like,, fully-fledged Star Wars oc I've ever had actually - i'd doodled ocs for star wars before but they were all only headshots and nameless :/ 🌟 she's been through a handful of changes and I keep giving her more and more trauma (whoops-) 🌟 find out more about her here!

NEWEST: HUIHANA 'HANA' YUN

🪷 recently came up with a BUNCH of new ocs but Hana is the most recent one of them all 🪷 she's the adopted mirialan/human daughter of Hunter and Jung (another OC)! 🪷 she's part of the group of fan kids I have for the bad batch and I initially had it so that Hunter and Jung were only raising Omega but then I was like - "nah, they'd adopt so many kids" - and came up with her :D 🪷 her name means "lily/lotus" in Maori while 'hana' means "one" in Korean 🪷 find out more about her here!

💫 Check out last week's prompt! 💫 Join the tag list here!

happy bad batch eve-

WAIT NOOOOOOO

im still not over tbb :(

Our Own Choices

Chapter 8

I hate Rex so much. He hasn't let me on any missions for a few weeks now, and I'm somehow getting bored of writing stories and playing call of duty. Actually no, its just writing stories. Haven't been playing much of call of duty since that happened. Reminds me of him too much. 

I also practice throwing knives sometimes. I've made a compartment in my armor to house about 20 or so knives, I always hit my mark when I throw them. At least if I'm in close or mid range. 

Besides, I usually don't follow Rex's orders anyways, so I've snuck on about 19 missions without his permission.

Fives' death has definitely affected me in worse ways than it should have. I can barely sleep at night, having nightmares of both Fives and Echo's deaths. It's not like Rex notices the dark circles under my eyes anyways, he's been on Anaxes for a while now with the 501st. I wanna go there so badly, just to get some action for once, waiting in the hangar as reinforcements are being sent to Anaxes for a ship that I can get on.

I've been calculating my chances of being spotted getting on a cargo transport that's headed for Anaxes that aren't being checked, and my odds are pretty good. 

So when I check that none of the troopers are looking, I run aboard the cargo transport just as the ship door closes and I get ready for a long trip to Anaxes.

In the cargo ship, I check my gear, making sure that some of the modifications that I made to it in my free time were working. My helmet's visor has a setting which allows me to see the heat signatures of people in my line of sight, which is also orange in color and makes my visor orange when using, which I think is really cool. I added an extra grappling hook that's attached to the armor on my wrist as well, because the only way I could sneak onto missions while I was grounded is if I clipped myself to the outside of the republic gunships and went along for the ride. 

When I arrive on Anaxes, the door opens and I see some troopers unloading the cargo. It's easy to blend into the darkness of the ship with my armor painted black and all, and when the troopers turn away from a moment I slip out of the ship and see Rex, Jesse, Cody and Kix talking to group of some really tall ass clones. Well at least 75% of them are tall. One of them has dog shit for hair and is almost as short as I am.

I see them getting onto a republic gunship and I run to it, using my grappling hook to attach myself to the side of the gunship where the door is closed, and I enjoy the ride as the ship takes off. 

We fly across the reddish terrain that kinda looks like trees but also not really, I can feel the wind against my body, not in my hair cause my helmet's on. I don't even know why I'm coming along for this one, it's literally just instinctive now that when I see a republic gunship with Rex inside I just clip myself to the outside and ride along. Sometimes Rex finds out and happily lets me come along. Yea. Happily. Totally.

It's quite nice out here. Fresh air's so much better than in my room on Coruscant, it doesn't reek of blood that I've had to clean off from my knife a lot, when I accidentally cut myself with it. It's kind of satisfying, sometimes, to just get a small slit on my arm, and watch the blood slowly flow out.

I know, something's definitely wrong with me.

Fives would have really liked this view. Bet he would invite me to get a drink with him after this mission and then play a few rounds of Call of Duty Battle Royale. 

And then as I'm lost in my thoughts, quietly pacing back and forth on the side of the ship, the door opens, and I'm hanging in front of the open door, with Rex folding his arms and staring at me.

"Hi," I wave awkwardly at everyone inside the gunship. 

"I don't think you wanna be out there if we get shot down. " Rex doesn't sound happy. I roll my eyes from under my helmet and curse under my breath, before swinging into the gunship and retracting my grappling hook. The door closes behind me and the inside of the gunship turns dark with a dim red glow.

"So anyways, who's the old man?" I ask, pointing at the dude I landed next to, receiving a death glare from him. I can see Jesse, Kix and even Rex trying to hold in their laughter, because they know I have a point. The dude's hair is literally grey, and there are FUCKING WRINKLES on his face. Or maybe he's just so thin that his skull decided to become really clear.

"That's...Crosshair," the dude with the dog shit for hair says. "Yea, and I'm betting you're Shithair." I receive an elbow in the side by Rex, and I take that as a warning to stop speaking facts. 

Rex pulls me into a corner in the gunship and half-whispers half-demands, "What are you doing here?! I gave you a specific order not to come!" The dude with a receding hairline that's next to me looks at me and then back at his datapad.

"Oh cmon Rex, when have I ever followed orders?" I try to shrug it off. "I'm here now, so it's not like you can throw me off."

"I would very much like to," Rex mumbles under his breath and I hear it, but I don't really care. I move away from Rex and head over to Kix. "Care to give me some introductions on the new guys?"

"That one's Hunter," Kix points at Shithair. "That one's Tech," he points at the dude with the receding hairline. "And that one's Wrecker." He points towards the buff guy. "You ever heard of Clone Force 99, genetically altered clones? Well, here they are."

I think I remember seeing Clone Force 99 back on Kamino, I've tried to sit with them in the cafeteria a few times but I wasn't very successful. 

I stand next to Jesse now, he's receiving a really weird look from Crosshair. Ayo, is the old guy simping? I mean, that could be incest-

Anyways.

"What are you looking at?" Jesse asks.

"We don't usually work with rEgS," Crosshair says, flicking a toothpick at Jesse, which bounces off his armor. Crosshair's voice sounds so (Imperial) weird, not like the normal clones. Then again, I can't really blame him. Is that what clones sound like when they grow old? Or was his voice always like that?

"Regs?!" Jesse takes a step towards Crosshair, but is stopped by Hunter (Shithair). "He's talking about regular clones," Hunter explains. "But don't take it personal."

"Well, I guess we know what's his genetic alteration," I say to Kix, doing a head tilt towards Crosshair. "He's a master at being an asshole."

Kix snickers slightly, nodding. "Yea, that's true."

"We're all on the same team, so cut the attitude and listen up," Cody says, and we all turn to him. Toothpick boi crosses his arms as he turns to Cody. I can almost imagine what's going through his mind right now.

Attitude? I'll show you attitude. *Crosses arms like an irritated child*

"Here's the mission. Our target is this Cyber Center," Cody says, showing a hologram of our target. "It's the brains of this entire Separatist campaign here on Anaxes."

"I can demolish that with one hand! Yeah!" Wrecker says, and I cringe, putting a hand to my helmet and shaking my head. Force, help me.

"This isn't a demo job, Wrecker," Cody says, and I silently thank him. "It's strictly a retrieval operation."

Retrieval means I get to slice up less droids but still some, as long as Clone Force 99 aka the Bad Batch doesn't steal all the kills. 

"Incoming fire," I hear the pilot of the gunship say, and the gunship shakes a bit, we struggle to keep our balance. And then I hear some hits landing on the gunship, and we're starting to decend, and fast.

"We're going down!" Wrecker laughs like an absolute psychopath, and I'm starting to wonder if he's okay.

I feel the side of the gunship crash against a wall, and I instinctively hold onto Rex for balance, but immediately let go when I realize what I'm doing.

It's not a nice landing. We crash on the side of the gunship and some of us are thrown off balance and get up, coughing at the smoke from the flames of the engine. We quickly get out of the gunship and onto the ground, which looks a bit like blue-stained glass.

"We always get shot down when we travel with regs," Wrecker complains, and I shoot a sideways glance at him. "Stop complaining," I roll my eyes. I hate it when they say we're regs, because not all of us are. At least, not me. But I don't wanna reveal it to them yet, or ever, because so far my impression of them is that Crosshair's an asshole and Wrecker's a psychopath.

I hear Kix calling out for someone to help Cody who's trapped under the gunship debris. I wonder what happened to the pilot though. Probably dead.

"I'll get him," Rex runs forward, but is stopped by Hunter.

"Woah woah woah, easy captain. Wrecker, get him out," he says as he moves Rex to the side and we all watch.

"Get back," Wrecker warns, stepping forward.

"This is ridiculous! He's gonna need help to get Cody outta there," Kix says. Crosshair chuckles at bit, smirking. "He's gonna get the gunship outta there, not Cody."

I stare at him for a moment, before turning back to Wrecker, who literally lifts the whole ass thing up and turns it on the other side, freeing Cody. Wrecker carries Cody on his back and walks away from the debris.

"Boom."

Boom indeed. The gunship explodes and I flinch and step back a bit, because I have no interest in getting paralyzed today. Wrecker sets Cody down on the ground as Kix checks on him. Definitely not good. Cody looks like he just got kicked in the balls, really hard.

"He has internal damage," Kix reports. "I can cut the pain, but he needs help fast."

"We all need help," Crosshair says as he looks ahead, and for a moment I think he's saying that we all need mental help, which isn't exactly wrong, but then I look in the direction that he's looking and see a bunch of droids headed towards us.

"That blast gave away our position," Crosshair says.

"I thought getting shot down gave away our position," Hunter argues.

"I think both did," I cross my arms and say from behind.

"Everyone, find cover. We'll hold this position and let them come to us," Rex says. 

"I don't think so, Captain. That's not our style. We prefer going to them. Bad Batch, plan 82, "shockwave"," Hunter says, and I'm starting to like these guys already. So I just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Wrecker grabs a piece of metal from the gunship that's literally big enough to cover the 4 of them and they run into the blaster fire, the piece of metal blocking them from getting shot. Then I see one of them throwing a stun grenade and then Crosshair fucking shoots it mid-air, which I gotta admit IS FUCKING AWESOME, and they do it a few more times before splitting up and dealing with the remaining droids.

I run over to Wrecker, Tech and Crosshair. "THAT WAS SO FUCKING COOL BRO," I look at Crosshair, and he just puts a toothpick into his mouth and turns away.

"Aren't you a little short to be a reg?" Tech asks. 

"That's none of your business," I say, shooting a glare at him. I still haven't warmed up to them yet, but I wouldn't mind warming up to Crosshair, he's so fucking cool and maybe I could get him to teach me how to shoot a sniper sometime, I'll probably have to bribe him with toothpicks though.

So anyways, Rex and the others start walking ahead and we follow them, I stay at the back and Crosshair seems to be the one who wants to walk behind everyone else, including me. 

And here I was thinking that I was gonna be at the back.

We walk for a while, and we decide to set up camp in the forest, it's turning night now. Hunter goes to eat dirt or smth and I sit next to Kix and Jesse.

"So I get what makes the other Batchers unique, but what's so special about Hunter?" Jesse asks.

"He can put up with the other three," Kix replies, and all of us smirk slightly.

"He was engineered with heightened senses. A place like the Cyber Center, Hunter can feel the electromagnetic frequencies from anywhere on the planet," Tech says. 

"And here I was thinking we were smart just using a holomap," Jesse nudges me and Kix with his elbow.

"Well, maps can be wrong. Hunter never is."

"So is he eating the dirt or something?" I ask, and Kix and Jesse burst out laughing, I try to keep a straight face under my helmet. 

"He is feeling the dirt, not eating it," Tech says, and I roll my eyes. I hear Cody groaning in the corner, he doesn't look so good, and Rex is beside him, telling him to hang in there. Then he stands up. "Listen up. We have to move out."

Crosshair stands up and walks towards Rex. "Commander Cody's in no position to move."

"Already called in evac. Kix will stay with Cody until it arrives. I'm in charge now. And I've got a plan to get into that Cyber Center."

Crosshair takes his toothpick out from his mouth and points it at Rex. "If your plans are so good, why did Commander Cody have to call us in?" 

Wrecker stands up as well and walks over. And so does Jesse. "You can't talk to Captain Rex like that!" 

I roll my eyes from under my helmet, sighing. Can we not do this right now? 

"Says who?" Wrecker growls, picking Jesse up by the neck. Rex tries to get Wrecker to put him down while Crosshair puts Kix in a choke hold, and I give him a punch to the face and a kick in the balls for that. Crosshair's definitely not happy as he stumbles back a bit, and he kicks me in the chest, sending me down to the floor, and my helmet falls off. 

"Uh guys-" Tech tries to get everyone to calm down.

"Wrecker, drop him. Now," Hunter commands, and we all turn to him as Wrecker drops Jesse onto the ground. "Fellas, cmon! We're all fighting for the same thing, right?"

I take out my vibro-knife and move behind Crosshair, holding the knife to his neck and him in a choke hold from behind.

Hunter sighs. "All right then. Let's cut the chatter and finish what we started. We'll do it your way, Captain. For Commander Cody."

I let go of Crosshair as Rex gives me that "don't make this worse" look, and toothpick boi dusts himself off.

"Okay. Let's gear up and move out," Rex says.

Now that the batch know that I'm a female, there's no point putting on my helmet until we're in battle, so I just carry it under my arm for now. Crosshair and I stay at the back of the group, and he glares down at me, he's like a whole head taller than me, and I glare up at him.

"Didn't expect you to be a female," he says as he puts a toothpick into his mouth. 

"Didn't expect you to be addicted to toothpicks. Why not try chewing gum or something? You could get splinters if you chew the toothpicks too hard." I'm being slightly nicer now.

Crosshair rolls his eyes. "Gum's too soft. Just like you." 

I glare at him again before moving in front of him, but not before I knock my shoulder into his, showing my annoyance.

Soon, we all put our helmets on and scan the area, making our way closer to the cyber center, blasters drawn. Hunter raises his hand, motioning for us to stop. I see an outpost over the others' heads, we're probably either gonna take it or go around.

"Not our primary target," Hunter says. "It's an outpost. Should we take it?"

"Probably easier than going around," Rex replies.

"Alright, what're your orders? We pick them off from the tree line one by one?"

"Actually, I was thinking we take a page from your book. Rush them head on."

HELL YEA.

"Heh. I like your style."

So we take some shots at the droids and then we run out from where we were hiding, blasting at the droids. I stab one in the head just before Hunter can, and I smirk at him from under my helmet as we run into the lift, I can feel his annoyance at me stealing his kill.

"Too slow?" I ask, as the lift ascends, and we each face different directions, shooting the droids. I go for melee this time, drawing my sword in one hand and my knife in the other, and I slice up a few droids. Crosshair throws one against the wall and I throw my knife at it, it hits the middle of the droid's head. As Tech blasts the last droid, Wrecker comes up through the lift.

He looks around, blaster ready, but all the droids are already dead. He takes off his helmet. "Is it over already? Aw man!"

We all take off our helmets. "Not bad," Hunter says to Rex. "For a reg."

We head over to the window of the outpost, and look out.

"Well, there it is. The Cyber Center," Rex says.

"It looks like the Cyber Center itself has minimal guards, about 30 droids," Tech says as he does some stuff with the control panels. "Oh, wait, wait. I got a massive signal coming in. A whole platoon of droids is headed this way."

"Someone's noticed our handiwork back at the crash site," Hunter says.

"Yeah. Make sure you keep an eye on those incoming Separatist forces. I wanna know when they reach this outpost. We gotta move swiftly."

"We'll grab some speeder bikes and flank them from the back," Hunter says.

I follow Jesse and Rex and we sneak behind 2 battle droids, tackling them from behind and shooting them down.

We hide behind a tree and look out at the battle droids guarding the cyber center.

"Is everyone in position?" Rex asks.

"Affirmative," I hear Hunter say through the comms, and then Crosshair says the same thing.

"Cap, you wanted to know when those Separatist forces breached the outpost. Well, they're getting there just about now," Tech says through the comms.

Rex, Jesse and I get ready to shoot the droids guarding the entrance. Rex aims and shoots the head off the yellow-headed one, and we all run in, blasting droids left and right. Rex throws a stun grenade at the group of droids, knocking them down, and we take cover behind some crates.

We move forwards, still taking cover and blasting the droids. I can feel the adrenaline rush that I missed so much. 

Hunter and Wrecker come out of the doors behind the droids that we're blasting at, taking care of them quickly. We run over to them as a transport comes into view. Definitely carrying more droids.

"Better get in there, Cap," Wrecker says as him, Hunter, Jesse and I wait to blast the droids that will be coming out any second now.

Beams carrying dozens of b2 super battle droids extend out, and the droids drop to the ground and start firing at us. We move to the side a bit, avoiding their blaster fire and firing back. In most cases, I could sneak behind and cut them all in half, but there's too many of them, and I don't feel like dying today.

The battle droids advance and we take cover behind some crates.

"Crosshair, we're gonna need a lift," Hunter says into the comms as the rest of us continue blasting the droids.

"Not gonna be a problem," Crosshair replies through the comms, and suddenly I'm thinking about how he's gonna solo the entire group of battle droids like how those pro snipers do in Call of Duty. Having one on your team is useful, but having one on the opposing team is an absolute nightmare.

The battle droids are getting closer and we retreat into the Cyber Center, still shooting as many droids as we can, and then we reach the room where Rex is in and tell him to go. We run through the hallway and out through the back door, where we're surrounded by a bunch of droids, but we're still blasting at them.

Then a vehicle descends behind us and Crosshair is driving it. We all get in and he drives us outta there.

I climb to the seat behind Crosshair.

"Didn't know you could fly," I say to him as I take off my helmet. "You got any of those toothpicks that I can chew?"

Crosshair rolls his eyes. "No. Go chew your gum." I roll my eyes back at him and sit behind him, turning to Rex.

"Hey Captain, what intel did you get?" I ask him.

"Transmission from Skako Minor. I asked them who it was. They said CT-1409," Rex says, and my eyes widen, but I try to keep my composure.

"Echo..." 

"Yea kid. Echo's alive."

Sharpshooter - Only the Strongest will Survive

Chapter 6

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: Blood, violence, injuries (cleaning wounds)

I can't move.

The creature's advancing fast, claw raised to strike the other side of my face. My legs aren't listening to my brain. They're rooted to the ground. My hand reaches for the hilt of my knife but it's nowhere to be found. Blood's still dripping from my eye.

I see the glint of its claws under the moonlight, poised to strike. Sharp knives digging into the other side of my face. And then my chest, blood spilling out from the wounds and dripping to the ground as my legs give out under me. I can barely breathe, the blood from my face flowing into my mouth and down my throat as I try to cough it up, but only more blood comes out.

Everything's blurry now, my vision a red haze of pain. I blink the blood out of my eyes, only to be met with the creature standing above me, claws to my throat. I can't even squirm under the weight of the animal.

My vision slowly starts to fade as the pain at the side of my face intensifies.

I'm gonna die. That's totally fine.

Humor isn't exactly working out right now. I feel the sharp claws press against my throat, and the intensity of my coughs increase as I try desperately to breathe and calm my nerves.

The creature raises its claws to strike, and all I can do is watch as its claws descend to my throat and slice through it like a knife through butter. I want to scream, but it's muffled by the blood in my mouth.

That's when I wake up on the bed of my empty apartment, coughing violently, my hand instinctively shooting up to the left side of my face where I still feel the claw marks indented into my skin. My heart pounds wildly in my chest as I frantically scan the area for signs of any movement in the darkness of my apartment. My chest rises and falls rapidly as I try to regain control of my breathing. My hands now grip the bed tightly, almost as if it could protect me from any danger.

Bed is safe.

My breathing steadies slightly so that I'm not gasping for air anymore, but my hands are trembling, clutching onto the sheets of the bed for dear life.

I press a hand to my forehead. It's sticky and warm. My breath hitches in my throat as I remove my hand from my forehead and put it to eye level. My eye scans for any signs of the sticky red liquid that makes my stomach sick, but there's no trace of it. I lay my head back against the pillow again, and stare up at the ceiling, its white paint coat slowly peeling off of it.

It reminds me of how the skin on Mayday's back was peeling off after he got whipped. I feel a lump start to rise in my throat when I think about it.

It's unfair. He got punished and I didn't. When he told me about it, I could tell that he did something to get me out of punishment. I've known him long enough to know.

I can almost see the blood oozing out of Mayday's wounds, the angry red skin surrounding the deep gashes in his back, the way he winced when I put the bandages there. It must've hurt.

I am grateful to Mayday for getting me out of punishment, who wouldn't? No one wants to get whipped on the back like that. But maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if I was right beside him, taking the same punishment. Maybe he wouldn't have that dead look in his eyes that I saw yesterday.

I just want to hug him, to comfort him, to tell him that everything is going to be okay. He doesn't deserve what he got.

After a few minutes of overthinking, I snap back to reality and get out of bed. There's some noise coming from the streets below, but not a lot. I assume it's about 6 or 7 in the morning from the amount of people downstairs.

I head over to Mayday's apartment with a roll of fresh bandages. I knock on the door.

"The door's unlocked." I hear a muffled voice from inside. I open the door to see Mayday lying on the couch on his stomach. When he hears my footsteps, he looks up at me with those eyes that have been haunting me all night.

I sit down next to him.

"Sit up," I pat his shoulder gently.

Mayday shakes his head, his face pressed against the sofa.

"I said sit up." I pull him by the shoulders and force him to sit up. "Now take off your goddamn shirt so I can rebandage those fucking wounds."

Mayday groans. "Fine." He takes off his shirt, his back facing me so that the bandages that I put on him yesterday are visible. They're soaked through with blood, staining them a dark crimson.

I inhale sharply through my teeth.

"What?" Mayday asks, annoyed.

"It doesn't look good," I reply as I start unravelling the bandages around his torso, revealing the cuts on his back.

I cringe at the sight of it. There's some patches of dried blood clumped together, but there's blood all over his back. There's some bruising at the areas where his skin isn't cut open, and his back is swelling slightly. I always hated the sight of wounds. I can deal with death, sure, but not injuries. Those make me sick.

I hear Mayday wince as the wounds hit fresh air. Not really fresh, considering the air in the apartment isn't that well-ventilated.

"I...might have to wash that..." I tell him.

"WHAT?!" Mayday shouts, turning around to face me, but winces again at the pain in his back. It's the reaction I expected.

"If you want it to get infected, swell up even more, have pus in it, have to be taken to the hospital and pay more for treatment and maybe even surgery, go ahead," I say with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

I head to the toilet where there's an old cloth on the sink, I assume it's one of Mayday's brothers'. I quickly wash it with water, trying to clean it as well as I can, getting most of the dirt off of it.

With the cloth still dripping wet, I head over to Mayday.

"Lie on your stomach and stay still, or I'm going to press this cloth onto your back even harder," I order. Mayday rolls his eyes but reluctantly complies with the order. I then place the wet cloth onto his back, the blood almost soaking through it immediately.

Mayday inhales sharply as a shudder runs through his back. He presses his face into the sofa to muffle his shouts of pain, but I can still hear them. I gently press the cloth down onto his back, and he starts shaking. I can hear him breathing heavily, and almost what sounds like crying, muffled by the sofa.

"Sit up," I tell him after I finish cleaning his wounds, and wrap fresh bandages around his torso to cover the cuts, which are still bleeding, but slower. I catch a glimpse of Mayday wiping a few tears from his eyes but I don't mention it to make sure he doesn't die of embarrassment.

"There. Done." I look up at him. Mayday grits his teeth. "Thanks," he says. I can hear the sarcasm in his voice. I roll my eyes and bring the cloth back to the toilet, soaking it with water and trying to squeeze the blood out from it. By the time I'm done, most of the blood from the cloth is gone and I return it to its original position on the sink.

For the next few days, I help Mayday with his wounds. They've become scabs by now and he's no longer staining the chair in his apartment with his blood. This is the fourth day I've cleaned the area around Mayday's back. It's still bruised but slightly less now, and I make sure to be careful and avoid accidentally peeling the scabs off and reopening the wounds.

As usual, Mayday takes off his shirt and lays down on the couch, his bruised back facing up. That's when I hear a knock on the door. Mayday and I both stand up and open the door ever so slightly to see who's outside. Then five bodies come crashing down on us, and we all fall to the floor in one massive pile.

It's Mayday's brothers. Great. Mayday sighs and lets himself get tackled to the floor by his brothers while I squirm my way out of the pile and head to my apartment to find my own family.

When I open the door, I see my parents and grandparents waiting at the door for me. I immediately run into their arms and hug them as tightly as I can.

"I missed you," I mumble, my arms tightening around them.

My grandfather pats my head, and my father replies, "Missed you too Potato." It's the nickname he gave me when I was younger.

After a moment, I let go of them, but they don't let go of me.

They're not usually this clingy. Something's wrong.

"What happened?" I ask.

They have a solemn look on their faces, my mother and grandparents seem to be holding back tears. While their faces may not show it, I know them too well. My father's got no tears to cry. His tear ducts were damaged from the heat on a trip outside the ray shield in the early days back in North America.

They remain silent.

I hear sobbing and crying from the apartment next to us. Mayday's apartment. It's either tears of joy, or the same tears that my family's holding back.

I've got a feeling it's not tears of joy.

“yknow what makes us different from battle droids? we make our own decisions. our own choices. and we have to live with them too.”

Our Own Choices is an ongoing bad batch fanfiction about a female clone written by me (TBNR_Dream_BMGO) and if yall are interested yall can go read it on wattpad

gonna include a bit of war crimes, OBVIOUSLY ROASTING OF CROSSHAIR, REX BEING LIKE THE FEMALE CLONES DAD-

ok anywaya yea :)