The Bad Batch: The Twitch Factor

You and Me, We're Not the Same

Author's note: Thank you all so much for reading! If anyone is curious, Twitch's voice claim is Ellie from TLOU Pt2

Edit: I drew a comic panel of Cross' and Twitch's argument later in the chapter! 

The blaring sound of the alarm rang out over Twitch's small room and the lights flicked on. Shooting out of bed, she slipped into her standard white armor, devoid of any color or personality. Since she wasn't in a squad or a battalion, she had no designated color scheme and she wasn't allowed to paint it however she wanted. Shame. Soon, that would change. Twitch checked the time on the chrono on her gauntlet. 0610.

"Shit," she cursed to herself, grabbed a hair tie, and pulled her hair into a loose ponytail. She grabbed her helmet and raced out of her barracks, running down to the mess hall for a quick meal before her mission. The last thing she needed was to be starving on the first impressions mission. Quickly, she grabbed a ration bar, a slice of bread, and a meat stick. She scarfed it down before running out of the mess hall and to the Northwest side of Topica City.

The place was a maze for those who weren't familiar with the facility. Thankfully, Twitch had her fair share of sneaking around and exploring as a cadet to know the shortest ways to get to where.

Finally, she reached the briefing room. She took a deep breath and stepped in. The first person she saw was Hunter, who was looking over a hologram of a building. He turned to her as she walked through the doors, as did the rest of the batch.

"I figured this was about you." He said with a smirk.

"Ah, what can I say?" She shrugged and reached the table. The building seemed to be some Separatist outpost. "So, where are we going?"

"This is a Separatist listening outpost on Ronov Lerth in the mid-rim," Tech stepped forward as he spoke, "they have been hacking into Republic comms and we are being sent to take it out."

Twitch nodded, studying the hologram in front of her, "Is Ronov Lerth a Separatist-occupied planet?"

"Yes," Tech replied, pulling out a datapad, "the outpost is heavily guarded with B2-series super battle droids and the newly created BX-series commando droid, which, as you know we fought yesterday."

"It's a stealth operation. We'll land here," Hunter zoomed out from the outpost to view the landscape and pointed to a rocky area, "and set off on foot from there. We'll take the West side and split up once we reach the outpost. Are you good at stealth?" He asked Twitch. She nodded. "Good. You and Crosshair will take this side," he gestured to a point on the map, "and Tech, Wrecker, and I will take this side."

She couldn't help but notice Crosshair's low grumble and the way he folded his arms over his chest when Hunter said they were teamed up. His eyes narrowed as he glared at her. She made eye contact, raised a brow, and frowned at him, trying to convey 'what's your problem?' with her eyes.

"From here, we'll pick off the droids on the outside and Tech will open the doors."

"Sounds good, Sarge. When do we leave?"

"Now." He turned off the hologram and took out the data stick supplying the information.

"Lead the way," she held her helmet as she followed them out of the room. The batch headed to the hangar where their ship was stationed. Thunder rolled overhead as they reached the open hangar. The cool atmosphere lingered over the hangar, the chill of the rain creeping in. Their ship seemed to be a modified version of an Omicron attack shuttle if she remembered her ships correctly.

"Welcome to the Havoc Maurader," Wrecker said, falling in step beside her as they walked to their ship. The doors hissed open and Tech was the first to step inside, followed by Crosshair, Hunter, and finally, Wrecker and Twitch. The ship was dimly lit, with red and blue lights being the primary source of light. Sheets of magazines had been torn out and placed on the walls, mainly consisting of gun ads and Republic news. For a ship, it felt very homey. It almost had a personality. It reflected the members who inhabited it. Following everyone into the cockpit, she admired the red and black details that had been painted throughout the inside. On the wall to the left, right where you first walk into the cockpit, she saw letters painted on with red paint.