Howzer stole our hearts when he appeared in TBB S1 E12, and I wanted to write a bit of a backstory for him. It begins with his newbie days during The Clone Wars and stretches to where we last see him in The Bad Batch. Enjoy his character arc and som...
"Sprint!" shouted Howzer, starting to run up the stairs, but the ground shook with a nearby explosion, throwing him to the side against the wall. The top of the building above the doorway broke in half, falling with a deafening crash and landing on the steps above Howzer. The next shell landed almost on top of them; a blast of heat rippled out with the shockwave as stones and beams tumbled down.
It felt like an eternity before the dust settled. There was nothing but chaos and flames, and Howzer couldn't hear anything past the ringing in his ears. Slowly rising to his feet and getting his bearings, he could see the outline of the stone that had fallen, framed by the orange glow of flames beyond it. It had landed with one end at the top of the steps and the other end smashed up against the building overhead, making a rudimentary roof over the subterranean doorway. If it had been tilted ten degrees in either direction, he would have been crushed instantly.
He took a shaky breath, placing a hand on the rock wall next to him, standing up straight with agonizing slowness, afraid that he might break in half at any moment. He blinked, shaking his head a little bit, and then turned to the doorway behind him, opening it a crack. The stairs continued downward into a basement room, where he heard the worried voices of the Twi'leks.
Suddenly, he remembered Sprint, kicking himself mentally for being so thrown off by the explosion. He shut the door and climbed up the stairs, finding a small opening at the side and squeezing through it. The scene that met his eyes made his stomach drop to his feet in shock and horror. The place had been leveled, with nothing but heaps of rubble remaining. Flames danced here and there, and the heat and smoke hit him like a wall.
A flash of motion caught Howzer's eye, and he turned to see a brother limping out from one of the demolished buildings that was still on fire. He ran to him, putting an arm around him for support and helping him away from the blaze. A fallen wooden beam made a makeshift bench, and Howzer gently helped the clone to sit, trying to ignore the yelp of pain. The man leaned back, head rolling in obvious discomfort.
"Did you see anyone else?" Howzer asked loudly, receiving only a shake of the head in return. "Okay -- wait here, I'll be back." He stood, casting a frantic glance around the clearing. The droids had gone, and the entire crater was lit with flames and devastation. There was no sight of the rest of his squad. He began to search, looking for any signs of white armor, any movement, anything.
This was the part of war that wasn't glorified in the tales told, the part that pierces the soul and separates bone from marrow with unfathomable horror as survival instinct takes over. He found two more brothers, bodies broken and crushed grotesquely, and checked their pulses regardless. He felt a growing sense of dread, continuing to call out amid the piles of rubble, straining to hear any signs of life.
His heart leapt as he spotted a white helmet up ahead, near a partially collapsed building, and he ran as quickly as he could. It felt as though he were underwater, but he pressed on with an urgency. Drawing near, his heart sunk once again at the sickening realization that the helmet had been painted teal green on the sides. He moved toward the building, which had broken down upon itself, and shouted into the darkness.
"Sprint!"
Nothing.
He stood, looking around on the ground for any blood or tracks to give any clue where the helmet's owner was. And then he could have sworn he heard a voice. He whirled around, eyes casting about frantically, checking all the spots he had already checked three times. He felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face. Then he heard it again.
It was coming from the side of the building. He discovered another set of stairs, leading down to a doorway much like the one that had protected him. It was covered in chunks of stone and wooden beams, but there were gaps. He bent down, listening intently, and now he was positive: a weak, feeble voice. Someone was under there.
"Help!" he shouted, without really thinking about it, "Anyone! Help!" He felt as though he were breaking apart, which came as a surprise considering how much he had loved to remind people how cool and collected he was in all of his training drills. He began to pull away at the stones, pressing his weight against the larger ones to shift them out of the way. He was simultaneously terrified at the possibility of making them all collapse while also feeling the sense of urgency to get to whoever was down there.
He moved a big beam aside, and the light from the fires streamed in, revealing a small green hand flailing through a criss-crossed beam beneath it. He pushed the beam aside and reached down, finding the little hand and grasping it firmly. Pulling it upward gently, he fished the Twi'lek boy out of the mess, setting him to the side. He was covered in dust and splotches of blood, from his lekku to his bare feet, and he trembled violently.
Howzer dropped to one knee in front of him, placing his hands on either shoulder and staring at him intently. "Where is Sprint?" he asked insistently, trying to get his point across with his hands. The boy shook his head, still crying in panic, and Howzer had to resist the urge to try to shake him out of it. "Where did he go?" he tried again.
The boy continued shaking his head, grimacing in an awful expression of despair, and pointed toward the rubble he had recently been pulled from. Howzer leapt to the beams, pushing with all his might to make a bigger opening. A large rock fell from the side, and half of the pile crumbled away with it. The sudden lack of resistance made Howzer fall to his side as the stairs below suddenly came into focus.
Sprint's body, unmistakable with the teal armor accents, was held in place by the wooden beam that had taken his life. He was frozen in a hunched position, arms out on either side, and the space beneath him was the perfect size and shape for a child. The building had collapsed on both of them, and his last effort had been to bend over the Twi'lek boy and brace against the wall. Howzer realized then that he was shaking uncontrollably, and as his eyes found the nauseating mess of what was left of Sprint's upper body, he felt as though he was going to be sick.
"Trooper!" came a voice from behind him, but Howzer didn't move. The same steps, the same doorway that had saved his life had killed Sprint. He felt as though he should be feeling so much more, but there was nothing but empty, immobilizing shock. A hand on his shoulder jostled him, and the voice repeated, "Trooper! You alright?"
Howzer finally turned to see a clone with maroon-accented armor -- General Windu's battalion. He shook his head, taking a moment to find his voice. "Sprint is dead under there. Two more back over there. There's one more alive, back in the clearing, and this kid's family is back there too." He recited the facts dully, as if they were rote historical facts.
"Scroller? With the broken leg? We got him. Let's get this kid back and we'll get you cleaned up."
Howzer straightened slowly, beckoning to the Twi'lek boy and moving as if in a trance. Picking up Sprint's helmet on the way, he led the child to the stairway, opening the door and showing him the family below, who screamed and cried in relief at the sight of the boy. Howzer returned to the scout, who led him to the LAAT in a nearby clearing. Scroller's leg had been immobilized, and a few helmets were gathered in the corner on the floor.
Howzer took his own helmet off then, placing both his and Sprint's in the pile and mustering all his strength to stand and grab hold of a strap instead of collapsing onto the ground as the ship took off.
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