The Path of a Jedi (The Bad Batch x Reader)

Chapter 36

You had not quite processed what happened, but the next minute Hunter was dragging you behind a crate. He held pressure to your right shoulder area, but blood was seeping between his fingers.

"Heads up," he shouted to the others, "Crosshair has eyes on us and he just shot the general."

After the initial shock wore off you locked eyes with Hunter, although he was a little blurry, "what..."

He rested his forehead against yours while still putting pressure on your wound, "you just jumped in front of me, why would you do that?" he asked desperately.

You smiled at him, "because I love you, did you really not know?"

He smiled at you, but he still looked concerned. "Tech, I need some medical supplies," Hunter shouted over his shoulder.

Tech tossed a bag to Cid and she crawled over to you and Hunter, staying out of Crosshair's view.

Cid took over and opened up the medical kit, "she's fine, it was above her heart," she said, pushing Hunter out of the way. Hunter did not go far, but watched as Cid injected a painkiller and quickly wrapped the wound. "Get out of here," she said, pushing him away, "I can fix her up, but the fire wall is slowing down, you need to be ready."

Hunter looked at you one last time, "I will be ok," you whispered, nodding for him to go, "I'll meet you back out there soon."

Hunter nodded and ran off to await the inevitable ranks of more troopers. "Any word from the girls?" you asked Cid.

Cid nodded but did not take her focus off your shoulder, "they sabotaged the landing crafts and are on their way back here."

Cid finished wrapping your shoulder and sat back on her heels, "this is going to be more difficult with your friend shooting from a better vantage point."

You nodded in understanding, "leave Crosshair to me."

Cid shook her head, "you know dark and broody will never let you go off on your own."

You chuckled, "keep him distracted then," you instructed.

Cid smiled and nodded, watching you sneak away from the main battle and up through the woods along the side of the clearing.

You stole small glances down to the battle that began to rage again as the troopers made it past the first wave. The clones were having a hard time keeping up with the onslaught of stormtroopers and keeping out of the way of Crosshair's barrage.

Within no time, you had reached the small cliff in which Crosshair was laying down, gun trained on the clones below.

You knew Crosshair's one weakness was his focus, if you could approach him silently enough, he would not even know you were there. You slowly broke through the protection of the trees and approached Crosshair, careful to make no sounds.

He had not even noticed you were there until you kicked his side and rolled him over, wrestling for the gun. He was surprised at first, which gave you a quick advantage and you tossed the gun over the side of the cliff, watching it clang to the ground, broken.

Crosshair howled in frustration, "traitor!"

You held your hands up in peace, still kneeling on the ground where he once lay. "I did not abandon my squad, that was you."

Crosshair pulled out a pistol from his side, but you used the force to throw it over the side as well. He threw his arms in frustration again, "you will have to kill me if you want to save the others, and killing me is not the jedi way," he spat.

"I am not a jedi, anymore," you whispered, it was more a realization for yourself than for his benefit, "and I cannot let you hurt them."

Crosshair, who knew he had no weapons left to defend himself, crossed his arms in anger. "The empire wants the girl, just hand her over and you can all walk away."

He knew you would never accept the offer, but he had to try. Deep down, although his loyalties still lay with the empire, he did not want to hurt his friends - did not want to hurt you.

"I can't, and you know it," you replied, still kneeling and showing no signs of aggression, "why do they want her so badly?" you asked, although you did not expect an answer.

Surprisingly, Crosshair sighed, "they know what she is," he answered.

You nodded, "then you know I can't let them take her."

Crosshair nodded in understanding, "but the empire won't let you keep her either."

"You were a good friend, Crosshair," you said standing up for the first time, "I am sorry it had to come to this, but I cannot let them win."

Crosshair had no time to think or react before you closed the distance between you and knocked him out cold.

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Hours of battle went by, endless waves of troopers all descending on you and your squad. You had made it back to the crates relatively quickly. Rafa, Trace and Omega had not yet returned, but you made them take the long way back to the ships to avoid any unwanted attention and expected them to take a while.

You were all bleeding and had many scars and bruises from the battle, but you were all still alive, which was more than any of you hoped for.

You had just fallen back to the last wave, resting in the silence as the troopers waited for the fire barrier to dissipate.

"There are still hundreds of troopers out there," Tech said, gesturing to his datapad.

"Hundreds?" Wrecker asked.

Tech nodded, "we have made a significant dent in their ranks, but not enough I am afraid."

Rex sighed and took off his helmet to take a drink of water, "so what do we do?"

"We keep fighting, for as long as we can," you responded.

The others nodded, but you could tell they were tired and hurting. Suddenly, you heard a buzz coming from behind the fire wall. "What is that?" you said, nodding your head in that direction.

The others stopped talking and listened, but before any of you could come to a conclusion, troopers fell from the skies above the fire and landed on the safety of the dirt on the closer side. "Jetpacks!" you shouted, bringing the others to action quickly.

Troopers now fell from the sky at rapid numbers, all equipped with jetpacks to cross the dangers. "We can't catch a break!" Echo shouted as he reloaded his gun.

A long time passed as you continued to make dents in the throngs of troopers, but there were still hundreds waiting to replace them. They were now closing in on the last wave and your only fall back was the ships.

"We're here," a small voice shouted from behind you. Rafa, Trace and Omega emerged from the trees and crouched behind the crates.

"Get inside the ship," you shouted to them.

"We can't," Trace shouted, "they have anti aircraft guns waiting for us to board, we will be blown away if they see us go in there."

You cursed under your breath, but then slumped your shoulders defeated. Hunter came next to you after he noticed your face and crouched behind the crates with you.

"It is time," you said to him sadly.