Happy Echo Day Guys!!! (14/09)

SOMEONE GIMME IDEAS ON HOW TO ROAST CROSSHAIR

Our Own Choices

Chapter 5

Captured! Returning from a perilous assignment in the Outer Rim, Jedi Master Even Piell's cruiser has fallen under attack and been boarded. Seeking vital information he carries about secret hyperspace lanes called the Nexus Route, Separatist forces have taken him alive. Now, the Jedi are preparing a stealth mission into the heart of Separatist space in an effort to rescue Master Piell from the deadly prison known as the Citadel.

I wait for Fives and Echo to come back to the barracks from their briefing of breaking into that maximum security prison which I am so hyped up to break into. I can't sneak into the venting system, because I remember someone trying that before and it didn't really go too well for them. I've grown like 10cm, so I've had to adjust my armor to fit my new height.

I receive a holo-transmission from Rex. He's somewhere on a jedi cruiser or probably on another mission, but I'm stuck here on Coruscant. 

I open the transmission and open the hologram on the floor. Rex's image appears in front of me, he's like half a head taller than me. 

"Hey kid," Rex takes off his helmet.

"Hey dad, please don't tell me this is something about the bad batch minifigures that I've been building."

"What bad batch minifigures?"

"Nevermind. I'm guessing this is something about the Citadel mission?"

Rex nods. "Look kid, I know you wanna go, but this isn't the place to get experience. There's a high chance that you'll get killed, and I can't be responsible for that. So-"

I groan, putting a hand to my forehead. "You said I was good enough to be an ARC trooper, why can't I go?"

"Kid, it's too dangerous, and I can't have you getting killed. You're not going. That's an order."

"Dad please-"

"You're not going, and that's final. Fives and Echo will make sure you stay here." 

The hologram turns off, and I lean against the wall, sighing.

Fives and Echo walk into the barracks.

Echo puts a hand on my shoulder. "Sorry kid, but you can't-"

I roll my eyes and put on my helmet. "Yea, I know, I know, I can't go on that prison break in that I've been wanting to go on for days now."

"Yea, sorry kid," Fives says. "Rex told us to make sure you wouldn't come."

I glare at him from under my helmet. "And you're gonna defy the bro code just because Rex said so?"

Fives and Echo look at each other. "Sorry kid, you ain't coming with us. On the bright side, Commander Tano isn't going either, so you can hangout with her while we're out."

I sigh and head to the hangar with them, and go up to Commander Tano, who's talking with another Jedi. My anxiety's rising, I hate talking to Jedi so much. So I just stand at the side and wait for my chance to speak up.

"Master Plo? May I speak with you?" Commander Tano asks the other Jedi.

"What is it, little 'Soka?" the older Jedi replies.

"It's about the mission. Master Skywalker doesn't want me to go."

"Rex doesn't want me to go either," I speak up.

"That is their choice," the Jedi says.

Commander Tano sits down on the wing of the ship that the other Jedi is fixing up and I sit down next to her.

"I know, but I think he's being overly protective. He's picking and choosing which assignments I can be a part of," Commander Tano says.

"I know right, Rex literally does the same thing to me, even though he says I'm good enough to be an ARC trooper along with Echo and Fives," I complain.

"He is your master," the other Jedi says.

"Yes...but it's not for him to decide when and how I should put my life in danger. That should be my choice." 

"So after the others get carbon-frozen, they won't know if we go with them, and we could just sneak onboard," I suggest, and the other Jedi nods at us.

After the others get carbon-frozen, we get in and get carbon-frozen ourselves. It is definitely not a pleasant experience.

Soon enough, we get unfrozen by the droids. I see Rex getting unfrozen next to me as well.

"Hey kid..." Rex groans as he gets unfrozen.

"Hey dad," I reply, cracking my neck slightly.

"What are you doing here?!" Rex folds his arms.

"Fives, do I have carbon sickness or is that Aris," Echo asks as he cracks his neck. I walk up to him and slap him in the face. "Does that seem like carbon sickness to you?"

Echo rubs the place where I slapped him, chuckling. "Good to see ya, kid."

Rex grabs my arm and turns me to face him. "I gave you a direct order not to come!"

"I got orders from General Plo Koon and Commander Tano to come anyways," I fold my arms, smirking, putting my helmet on before any other troopers can see me. Rex rolls his eyes.

"Welcome aboard, kid," Fives and Echo clap me on the back and I smile slightly.

We walk to a ledge which overlooks the lava. Definitely don't wanna fall into that. General Skywalker takes out some binoculars and scans the building.

"I see the entry point," he reports.

"You were right," Cody says. "The wind conditions are too strong for jetpacks."

"Yes, we'll have to do it the old fashioned way. With ascension cables and a steel grip," General Kenobi says.

I already don't like this idea. Burning in lava seems like a painful way to go down, and I already had a problem with climbing that ledge back on the Rishi outpost, I'm starting to regret my decision of coming along.

"I don't think so," General Skywalker says.

"What do you mean?"

He looks through his binoculars again. "Electro-mines. There's nowhere to put a grappling hook at that height. And we hit one of those, the mission's over. They'll know we're here."

"I suppose that means we free-climb it," Rex says, and I look at him.

Echo puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, kid, if you fall, I'll catch you."

We continue walking along the ledge and manage to make our way to the bottom of whatever shit we need to climb.

I'm climbing behind Rex, and Echo and Fives are below me. Rex constantly looks down to check if I'm still alive. 

I really hope Echo actually meant what he said because my arms are burning and I'm losing my grip on the rocks.

The electro-mines are sparking with electricity, and I really hope that doesn't hit me or I'm definitely gonna die. My speed of climbing starts to slow down, and Echo and Fives are almost overtaking me, Rex is really far ahead.

"Cmon kid, we're right behind you, don't worry," Echo says below me. I'm breathing heavily inside my helmet, my hair's wet with sweat, it's so warm in there. The wind isn't helping either.

And then I lose my grip and I slip off the rock, and I'm thinking "Oh shit" until Echo catches me and helps me up.

"Thanks..." I'm breathing heavily, I think my heart rate just spiked up after that. I'm shaking from the adrenaline rush, and it takes me a few moments to get back to climbing.

I see everyone stop, and I stop as well. I look up and see a few droids on the platform above me, and I cling to the rock as close as I can, holding my breath, hoping that they won't hear any of us.

And then everyone starts climbing again, and I finally take a breath, pushing myself up to the next grip I can find, I'm below Commander Tano now, don't worry I'm not looking up her skirt, although I would really like to, I heard General Skywalker and General Kenobi say they told her that space underwear wasn't a thing so every time you looked up her skirt you could see her orange-

Anyways.

I hear General Kenobi saying they locked the door, and that it's ray shielded, and General Skywalker's kinda freaking about how it wasn't part of the plan.

Commander Tano climbs up and sees an opening up there and reports it to us.

"We know, they're ventilation ducts, but they're far too small for us to gain access," General Skywalker says.

"Too small for you maybe, but I think I can squeeze through," Commander Tano says.

"I could as well," I speak up.

Rex nudges me in the side and gives me the "don't you dare do it or I'll kill you" head tilt. 

"He can come along as well," Commander Tano points to me. 

General Skywalker nods at us and we climb to the ventilation duct. Commander Tano reaches up there in no time, opening the cover to the vent duct, while I'm struggling to climb up there.

When I reach the platform where the vent duct is, she helps me up. 

"Thanks," I'm panting, breathing heavily. Then Ahsoka slips inside the vent duct and I follow behind her. She looks down from the cramped space to check if there are any droids, before jumping down. I follow her, keeping my pistols drawn to cover her if there are any droids as she opens the ray shield.

I see the others climb up and I help Fives and Echo up. 

"Good job kid," Echo's breathing heavily as well.

"See Rex? I can handle myself," I fold my arms and look at him. I don't call him "dad" here for obvious reasons.

I see the last trooper reaching the platform, but then he slips, and starts to fall. I extend my grappling hook out to him, hoping that he can grab it in time, but he can't, and gets absolutely destroyed by an electro-mine.

The alarm starts to sound.

"They know we're here," General Kenobi says.

So we start running along the hallways, checking the corners to see if there are any droids.

"Take out their surveillance," General Skywalker says, and I shoot one of the security cameras with my pistol. And then some stuff from the ceiling start shooting down at us, but the boys and I take them out quite quickly.

And then, as I stand behind Rex, I hear someone shouting that the walls are electrified, and we run towards cover. I see one clone left behind, and I extend out my hand to grab him, but the wall gets him first and I get an electric shock in my hand. I shake it away, it feels like it's burning but I don't care, and I run towards the trooper who got caught in the electric wall and check for a pulse. There's nothing.

"We must keep moving," General Kenobi says, and I reluctantly leave the trooper behind and follow the others.

Soon, we reach the room where the dude we're supposed to rescue is kept, and we start blasting the droids inside the moment we open the door.

Some of us stand around the room while the others guard the door, and I hear the Jedi dude that we just saved talk shit with the Generals about how we gotta rescue his captain for some reason.

So we continue running through the hallways, checking to see if there are any droids. Suddenly, 3 commando droids appear at one end of the hallway, and a few more at the other end. I stay close to Rex, Fives and Echo as the Jedi draw their lightsabers. I draw my sword and hold my pistol in my other hand.

The droids start firing at us, the Jedi are blocking the blaster bolts with their lightsabers as the droids start jumping off the walls, they're getting closer, and one of them gets close enough and pins a trooper to the wall, and before I can reach him he's getting stabbed. 

I throw my knife at the commando droid who's still stabbing the trooper, and it hits the droid in the head, and I slice it in half with my sword to make sure it's dead. I see another commando droid behind Echo, so I shoot it with my pistol.

The Jedi slice the remaining droids with their lightsabers and Fives gently punches me in the shoulder. "You stole my kill."

I chuckle a bit. "Too slow?"

"We need to keep moving," General Kenobi says, and we start walking through the hallway again.

Suddenly, I hear some high-pitched noise, it's hurting my ears, so I cover them, even through the helmet I can still hear the sound, and all our weapons get attracted up to the ceiling, including the sword on my back and my hidden knife, carrying me up to the ceiling as well. Anakin's up there with me as well, attracted to the ceiling by his hand.

And then some electricity goes through the ceiling, going to both me and General Skywalker, it feels like my body is burning, it's shaking so much, and then it stops, and I'm trying my best not to black out, everything's spinning, everything sounds muffled...

I reach for my knife and General Skywalker reaches for his lightsaber, and I'm about to throw it at the place where the electricity comes out of, and then electricity comes out of it again. The burning feeling comes back, I'm losing the feeling in my legs, and my body...

I throw the knife at the electricity generator as General Skywalker cuts it with his lightsaber, and we fall to the ground, I'm trying so hard not to black out right now, everything's blurry...

The rest of the action happens in a blur until Echo and Rex help me up. "You good kid?" I can hear the concern in their voices. The feeling in my legs starts to come back and I nod.

"Yea I'm fine."

And then we start running through the hallways again, reaching the place where the other prisoners are kept. The Jedi handle the droids and General Kenobi suggests we split up.

Fives, Echo, Rex, some others and I follow General Skywalker and Commander Tano.

General Skywalker's looking at the holo-map, and then suddenly plunges his lightsaber into a wall, cutting a circle through it.

"Everybody in," he says.

Echo, Fives and I push through the circle that General Skywalker cut through the wall, and we find ourselves in one of the old fortress tunnels.

Commander Tano goes off to check the tunnels.

"The tunnel's clear," she reports.

"Looks like Obi-Wan's distraction worked," General Skywalker says. "Things seem to be going as planned."

"Don't jinx it," I tell him.

"It's when things do not go as planned that concerns me," the captain dude says. "What then?"

I go over to Echo and Fives and stand around with them for a bit. There's still a slight tingling feeling in my arm from the electricity just now. I can still hear my heart pounding in my chest, I gotta calm down.

Echo seems to notice this, and he puts a hand on my shoulder. I flinch slightly, but relax after a moment. "Thanks," I tell him.

Then we put the piece of metal that we pushed through just now back into the wall and head off.

We walk along the narrow sides of the tunnel which overlook the lava, making sure to be careful not to fall in. General Skywalker goes to guard the flank while I walk in between Fives and Echo.

"So uh, what are yall gonna do when we get back?" I ask them, to break the silence a bit.

"I'm probably gonna go get a drink at the cantina," Fives says. "And maybe Echo would come along as well."

"Can I come?" I ask.

"Nah kid, you're too young to be drinking alcoholic stuff, you're not 18 yet," Echo says.

"Aw cmon," I protest. "Please???? I'm like 16 years old biologically, I can handle it."

"Sorry kid, can't go till you're 18," Fives says. "I heard you're working on writing that story of yours about our missions and stuff, maybe you could do that after the mission."

"But I wanna hangout with yall," I protest again.

Echo chuckles. "Maybe we could go to the arcade or something after we go to the cantina, how does that sound?"

My eyes light up. "I'll definitely have to carry yall in battle royale today, maybe we could play some hardpoint, but we can't play ranked cause I'm legendary rank and yall are like pro rank-"

"Yea kid, we get it, you're a lot more pro than us," Echo sounds slightly annoyed.

"What's wrong?" I nudge him playfully in the side. "Jealous?"

"...No..."

Fives and I laugh, clapping him on the back. "Don't worry, you'll get better in about 30 years."

Our laughter's cut short when I hear Rex say we hit a dead end.

Fives, Echo and I stay at the back to defend the flank, and I hear the faint sound of footsteps behind us. Fives turns around the corner, checking to see what's there, and almost gets headshotted by a droid.

Fives and I manage to get some shots on the droid, knocking it off the tunnel and into the lava, and General Skywalker slices the other 2 in half.

Then some commando droids jump in from the walls with shields, and start shooting at us again. I see Commander Tano put grenades to the wall and roll some at the commando droids as Fives and I try to blast them, and the grenades on both sides explode, clearing out the commando droids and causing a whole lotta dust. At least the dead end's not a dead end anymore, and we continue walking through the tunnel.

We reach the pipe.

"This pipe leads to the top of the ridge," General Skywalker says. "Where R2 will pick us up and get us out of here. There's the hatch."

He goes to open it, and the rest of us walk towards it.

"Let's go, everyone in," General Skywalker says. "Don't use your lights, and make sure your weapons are locked. The slightest electronic pulse could ignite this whole tube." Rex and the rest of us nod, checking that our weapons are locked and our lights are turned off. Echo and I are the last ones to climb into the pipe.

We climb up the ladder in the pipe, it's kinda dark in here, and it smells terrible. Smells worse than Fives's socks, and that's saying something. Commander Tano's flexing by climbing on the outside of the ladder, swinging herself up to the high ground.

"How much longer are we going to wander through this tunnel in the dark?" Captain Tarkin asks.

"Stop complaining," I say from the back. Tarkin and General Skywalker start discussing stuff I can't quite hear, until Commander Tano says, "I think I found a way out." She points at a hatch above us, and goes to check if the area's clear.

"What do you see, Snips?" General Skywalker asks.

"The coast is clear," she reports.

"Any sign of Obi-Wan and the shuttle?"

"No, I don't see him or R2 anywhere," Commander Tano says as she opens the hatch and starts to climb out, but stops. I can hear the sound of the droids from down here, but a severed metal hand falls into the pipe and I assume that she's taken care of things.

"We've gotta go," she shouts into the pipe, I can hear the sound of blaster fire now. We all start climbing up the pipe, hoping that no blaster bolts hit us in the head and kill us. We slide down the pipe and take cover behind a rock.

General Skywalker throws a charge into the pipe and we all take cover behind the rock, bracing ourselves for the explosion. The ground shakes, and a droid lands in front of us. We get up from our positions on the floor and General Skywalker says we're gonna do plan b: meet R2 at General Kenobi's position. We start walking over the droid and head off.

We reach their position in a short while where the blaster fight has already started. I shoot one of the droids manning a turret, and we run over to where General Kenobi and the others are, taking cover behind some containers.

"We gotta take out those turrets," I say to Fives and Echo. 

"I think we have a bigger problem," Echo says, as some droids on flying thingies fly over, shooting at us. One of the turrets shoot at our position, hitting the containers and sending some of us to the floor. I instantly get up, trying to clear my vision, holding my head with one hand and my pistol in the other.

The Jedi and taking care of the flying droids, there are some 4-legged ones advancing to where Fives and Echo are hiding, and I run over to them.

I really regret not stocking up on grenades before I came, because I only have one grenade left, and I through it at the 4-legged droid, where it explodes and kills it.

"How do we take out those turrets?! If we try anything, they'll blow up our ship," I shout.

And then a bunch of commando droids with shields come out, shooting at us. I hide behind the boxes, breathing heavily, the odds aren't good, we might not survive this, and I'm telling my brain to shut up right now because Fives just threw a grenade which knocks some of them back.

"General Skywalker, a droid is manning one of those turrets. They're going to blow up the shuttle, sir," Echo says into his comlink, and I check to see which turret it is, almost taking a blaster shot to the face. 

I see the turret shooting at the incoming General Skywalker and that other short dude that kinda looks like Yoda but with human skin tones, and they crash-land near the turret.

"This is our only chance, we've gotta stop him," Echo says, before running out and grabbing a shield, running towards the shuttle. Fives shoots from behind, keeping his distance from the turret. I see the turret firing at him, and I run to pull him away from the shuttle which the turret is going to fire at...

I see flames. I'm knocked backwards, I land on my back, I can't move, pieces of shrapnel are digging into my skin, I can feel myself burning, my gloves are on fire, and I can't do anything...

Where's Echo?

I can't see his body anywhere, only his helmet at the side. I see the Jedi running back to the shuttle, and I want to shout at them, to tell them that I'm still alive, but I can't.

And then Rex looks back at the explosion site and see me lying there, my vision gets blurry as he runs over and picks me up and carries me. His voice is muffled.

"You're gonna be okay ad'ika...you're gonna be okay..."

And everything fades into black.

Sharpshooter - Only the Strongest will Survive

Chapter 8

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Murder, child death, violence, profanity, blood

The inside of the transport lights up with a faint red glow. Welp. I can actually see shit now. I'm crammed alongside at least a thousand people. I tower over the younger kids. The older ones are as tall as Mayday. Those are the dangerous ones. They'll do anything to survive and keep their family alive.

The people up on Mars are lucky, I think. None of them have to go through this.

Out there, in the "transantarctic" mountains and valleys, we'll be exposed to the storms. Out in the open, there's not a high chance that any of us will survive the them. That is, if the mines in the ground don't kill me first.

I try to laugh it off as I have an argument with myself. "Stay positive, at least there's no more ice." If Antarctica was just like the stories my parents told me, it would be a lot worse. "Positive? We're going to die! Haha..."

As I push past a group of tall teenagers, I hear a girl shout, "Hey! Watch it. Fucking bitch...". I ignore her. In a few minutes she'll probably be dead.

Stupid Mayday. What was he thinking, volunteering for his family? I'm the only child. I've got no choice. But Mayday? He's got five brothers to enter the Games. But no, he had to be all heroic and volunteer.

I glance at the wristband displaying my information. My age, name, birth country...all to be a "player" in this "survival competition". The man in the suit said it was for "population control". Killing children for population control?! Sending their families back to North America to burn to death while they're still grieving over their dead child?! Eh, who cares. As long as it isn't me. Or Mayday...

The transport shakes as it lands. The door opens and troopers force everyone out. A few more transports land alongside us; children and teenagers streaming out, some of their faces frozen in fear, others trying to calm themselves, and then there's those like me, with a deadpan expression on my face, prepared to die.

All I need to do is find a knife, pistol or a blaster. Maybe I'll survive. Remember what Mayday said about how to detect the mines. The smell, the slight depression in the ground where they're buried.

The transports take off and we're left standing on the gravel surface of the ground. Be positive, I think. Be thankful it's pleasantly cool here in Antarctica.

The disgustingly smooth voice of the man in the suit booms over the speakers somewhere buried in the ground.

"Welcome to this year's Control. Good luck, and remember: Only the strongest survive."

The countdown on our watches starts. I assume we're not supposed to do anything until it hits zero, because it's a fucking countdown.

The countdown seems to take an eternity. I can feel the tension in the air. When the countdown hits one, a kid right next to me, looking around 9 years old, her skin chocolate brown, loses her balance and stumbles forwards. I don't know what to expect. Maybe nothing happens. Then sound of an explosion causes my ears to ring before everything goes silent. I feel warm liquid splatter onto my face. A bloodied leg hits my face and I flinch, taking a step back. The countdown is over by now, and I quickly start to shove my way through the mass of people, keeping an eye on the ground while frantically wiping the blood out of my eyes.

So that's what happens when you step before zero. No time to mourn. Where's Mayday?

I start to hear explosions in the distance, and the sound of blasters firing. Some people have already gotten their hands on weapons. The younger kids are screaming and crying whilst the older ones are desperately trying to keep it together like me. I run in a different direction than the majority of panicked children; uphill to the mountains. Well, not really running. More like a cautious dance. The smell of mines is so strong but I have no choice except to breathe it in. I avoid the small depressions in the ground as best as I can so as to not trigger them. I try to ignore the force of explosions behind me. I can feel the blood splattering against my back and into my hair. 

My cybernetic eye scans the area, and sees a small cave carved out into the rock. The wind starts to pick up.

Another storm. No time to find Mayday. Shelter is the priority.

Everyone starts to spread out, trying to find shelter from the storms. In the distance, my cybernetic eye spots a girl, looking a few years older than me, stabbing a child struggling to even walk. The child was almost a baby, probably a few years old.

I look away as I continue the careful dance across the mines. That's when I look back and see the girl heading towards me.

My eyes widen as panic flares up in my gut. I look around desperately for any weapon, my cybernetic eye scanning the area. It zooms into the barrel of a blaster just sticking out of the gravel. I carefully make my way to the blaster as fast as I can, trying not to let panic overtake my senses.

Just as I reach the blaster, I'm tackled to the ground by the girl, the antique metal hairpin in her hand threateningly hovering just above my neck as I struggle to hold her arm up. My leg kicks up against her shin and she grunts in pain, her grip loosening for a second. I flip her over and grab the hairpin from her hands. Without thinking, I step on the girl's stomach, stabbing the hairpin into her throat, blood spraying out of the wound and into my face. I keep stabbing even as her body goes limp, my breathing heavy and shaking.

As I finally calm down, I drop the hairpin to the ground and fall to my knees right next to her, the blood on my hands staining the gravel. The adrenaline rush starts to fade as I glance at the body of the girl. Her eyes are open, the fear in them frozen in time.

I...I just killed her.

I hear the first crash of thunder in the distance. I'll have time to break down later. I grab the hairpin and carefully head to the barrel of the gun sticking out of the ground, digging through the gravel to reveal its shape.

A sniper. I've never handled one before, but at least I won't have to go up close and stab people in the neck and risk dying. There's a few ration bars and packets of water in a small bag.

I grab the bag and drag along the gun, barely able to lift it as I clamber and force my way up into the small cave at the base of the mountain. By the time the lightning starts striking the ground, at least ten times a minute, I'm in the cave, soaking wet from the rain but alive. At least some of the blood from my face is gone. But not from my clothes...and definitely not from my mind...

I put my supplies as deep as I can into the cave and curl up into a ball in the corner, trying to keep myself together.

I'm alive. I'm alive!

I try to focus on my current situation. How many people are left? Is Mayday still alive?

Tears well up in my eyes at the thought of Mayday dying. No. He can handle himself. I just need to survive until the end. I have to.

we’re in the endgame now

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."

hiii here is my OC

CT-9905 “Aris”

(the one between echo and wrecker)

her number is just coincidental she wasnt made with the batch

She’s a female clone, and she was 14 when the Clone Wars started. The Kaminoans wanted to terminate her but they thought she could be of use for cleaning and stuff, they did give her a bit if training anyways tho. She escaped through Jango Fett’s ship, and found herself of Geonosis. Then she took a Separatist ship during the battle of Geonosis and piloted it to a random planet, living on the streets for a while until the Separatists came to invade the planet. She was cornered by battle droids when Rex saved her and adopted her into the 501st cause *dad rex goated*!!! Rex personally trained her but didn’t allow her to go on missions because protective, she sneaks aboard anyways onto the rookies mission, experienced actual combat for the first time and is super scared, echo and fives comfort her. She’s also a little scared of heights. During the Battle of Kamino, she fought alongside Echo and Fives and Rex and Cody and 99, and 99 was her best friend back on Kamino, so shes super sad when he dies. Rex wants to promote her to ARC trooper alongside Echo and Fives but she refuses, not wanting more expectations to be put on her. She plays call of duty with fives and exho, and theyre like her best friends and big brothers :)

During the citadel rescue, echo “dies” and she tries to help him but shes also severely hurt, rex literally CARRIES her all the way and she makes it back to base alive, but really beaten up and she’s paralyzed cause explosion. Rex and Fives help her walk again, and shes super happy, but since rex is super protective he doesnt allow her to go on missions again, so she clips herself to the outside of the gunship and sneaks onto a bunch of missions. When Fives dies she almost kills Fox but rex stops her. Then during TBB clone wars arc, she joins and the bad batch take interest in her because shes a defective too, and shes also good with a sword and knife + pistols and has *common sense weeee*!!! When they rescue echo shes really happy and she joins the bad batch with echo but hugs rex before she goes cos 😭😭😭

Thats where im at rn shes with the bad batch and her closest friend is gonky in tbb

Relationships:

rex: dad

fives: big brother/best friend

echo: big brother/best friend

kix: good friend

jesse: friend

cody: cool uncle

hunter: “sir”

crosshair: frenemy

wrecker: a little annoying but hes got a good heart

tech: “shut up tech”

gonky: *friendly head pats*

soon to be omega: she sees her old self in omega and doesnt want her to he corrupted

Looks:

Short black hair in a pixie cut, black armor with orange highlights, sword on back (rex gave it to her), 2 pistols on belt, knife on forearm armor, normal helmet but with orange visor, has tbb markings but also rex’s helmet markings, the aurebesh 5, echo’s handprint, the 501st symbol. She also tattoos all the people shes lost on her arm, so theres echo which is canceled on her arm lmfao

im planning on making her depressed after tech dies and crosshair joins the empire and has violent outbursts, especially at omega and hunter, but when crosshair rejoins the batch she calms down

personality: istp, a little reserved but really good homies with the clones, gamer, likes music, likes violence and blood, can kill and will kill if you hurt anyone she loves, and she doesnt usually show it often but she cares about tbb

yea um there we go :)

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: WIP OC(s)!

Here are mine!

The beginnings of what I'm calling...

♠️♥️ Deck Squad! ♦️♣️

🃏 All based off of cards in a deck (plus Uno and Wild Card)

🃏 But I have no idea what their armor color is going to be yet :( or how it'll be designed (Suggestions are VERY welcomed!!)

🃏I do want to do something with the number "52" though (like 52nd Battalion or something) since that's how many cards are in a deck

🃏I want them to do cool undercover stuff, like in casinos or whatever - something like that - to match that Ocean's 11 type aesthetic

🃏More info about them individually can be found here! Or just ask me questions about them if you'd like :D

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

HELP I JUST REALISED

Why does bro have a bottle cap as a hand?

Into the Dark

Chapter 2: The Darkness Comes

(casual reminder that this story won't be finished unless someone really really wants me to)

Word count: 1.1k

Warnings: War, violence

As I walk out of the office, I can feel many eyes on me. The enemy are not the only ones who have heard of the Demon of The Other Realm. They admire me for my tactics, for not holding back when faced with a choice to kill. That's something most of the others don't have.

It's become instinct now to survive, alone if I have to. Most of the other mech pilots would give their lives up for their brothers in arms. That's weakness. And the Demon of The Other Realm shows no weakness. I will not give my life for anyone on the frontline.

I am called to my next battle in a few hours. I arrive there in a matter of minutes with my mech, which I call Eclipse's Fury. It's shield is now repaired from the previous battle. My mech always gets first dibs when it comes to repairs.

I always feel slightly uneasy when I look down from Eclipse's cockpit down at the battle below, wondering if there are any people who are like me with their metal limbs fighting for their lives down there. But today there is no uneasiness, it almost feels like something is coming home to me.

The enemy mechs are already gathered there, their guns ready to fire. I dive, shield raised to block some of the incoming fire. I get my sword out, soaring upwards to stab one mech from below.

The enemy mechs scatter and fire from far away. I chase after the one with the heavy gun.

"Come here," I smirk. For most people, travelling at this speed would cause them to feel unfocused, but I'm as alert as ever.

I increase my thrusters to max, and catch up with the mech with the heavy gun. It gets out its sword, and clashes with mine.

Under my sword arm, the laser gatling gun there fire, piercing the enemy's cockpit and the light fades from its mech and it falls.

Suddenly, I feel a mech ram into me from behind. I elbow it in the back, one of its hands lets go, but the other is still holding on tight to one of my thrusters, crushing it.

My mech is unstable. Red lights flash in my cockpit showing the damage. I switch my sword to reverse grip and stab the enemy mech holding onto me in the side, while holding my shield up the block the fire from the others.

The enemy mech lets go of my thrusters and falls. My own mech twists to the side where the thruster was destroyed, so now I'm at an awkward angle and a part of my mech is vulnerable to attack.

I get out my gatling guns and fire at the rest, managing to hit around half of them before spiraling in the air and crashing to the ground.

My cockpit is cracked. Wiring from the cockpit digs into my skin, and my metal arm is disabled. I hear gunfire around me, explosions and the sound of flames.

Show no weakness.

My anger at myself numbs the pain. It fuels me. I cannot fail. I must survive. That's all I've ever done.

The enemy mechs land on the ground as I push Eclipse up. I calculate my odds. My shield's still intact, my swords are still sharp, my guns are out of ammo, and it's 5 enemy mechs against 1.

I like these odds.

Their guns are pointed at me, but they're hesitating, giving me enough time to use one of my thrusters to crash into one of the mechs, stabbing it in the cockpit with my sword and I get to my feet.

Suddenly, I feel a rumbling in the ground below me. The air is moving unusually, I can somehow sense it.

It feels...almost welcoming. Like I'm returning to some of my brothers in arms after a hard-fought battle. The enemy mechs are also distracted by the disturbance.

I activate my sword as I charge towards them, slicing 2 of them in half before the other mechs regain their senses.

They fire at me again. I raise my shield, blocking their attacks. Their guns show no sign of low ammo. My shield is glitching out, it's taking too much damage. Their laser bullets get a few hits on Eclipse. One of them pierces my cockpit, hitting me in the stomach.

I wince as the cauterized wound makes me feel breathless. My legs give way and Eclipse falls to the ground. I grit my teeth as I stick my sword into the ground, trying to help myself get up. Pain courses through my body. Not something I haven't felt before. I see one of the enemy mechs raise their sword and ready to stab it at my cockpit. 

Remember the guy who took your arm?

This memory always haunts me. It drives me to fight harder.

As the sword comes down to my cockpit, I block it with my sword, straining to keep it away from my cockpit, as I fight through the haze of pain of wires digging into my skin.

I push the sword of the mech away before swiftly stabbing it in the cockpit. The other mech now starts firing at me again. Most of the lasers hit Eclipse's armour, but a few pierce my cockpit and now I have 3 holes in my chest.

I still fight on. I won't die like this.

Suddenly, a cloud of darkness envelops the enemy mechs and the battlefield. Black clouds...on the ground? Is the pain making me hallucinate or something...

I run away from the darkness as the enemy mechs disappear from view. I feel breathless from my wounds, but they seem to be healing faster than usual. At least, fast enough for me to survive.

I just keep running as I see the Darkness rise over soldiers from both realms, slamming down on them like a giant wave.

I see some lights in the Darkness, I can sense smoke and fire in the cloud. I keep hearing screaming, from I don't know where, and it's driving me insane.

I can feel burning. It's not Eclipse's wires. It feels like a flamethrower burning me. 

I don't look back. I just keep flying away. Tendrils of darkness reach out from the cloud itself and try to hook onto Eclipse. 

My remaining thruster is overheating, it won't be able to hold out for much longer. I feel something grab onto one of Eclipse's legs, weighing me down, pulling me into the Darkness.

I activate my sword and try to cut the Darkness from my leg, but it just moves around my sword and keeps its grip.

For the first time in a while, I feel that choking sensation of fear as I am pulled into the Darkness.

THE WAY HE SAYS HER NAME HES SO WORRIED FOR HER

"this is our chance."

TBB SEASON 3 IS OUT WOOOOO