Doomsday

Chapter 4 - Saleucami

Author's Note: In other words, what happens when the dad isn't around to babysit the million kids :D

I've got a few things to say about this chapter. Well actually, this is technically about the previous chapter. :P I was thinking about it, and someone mentioned it, so I thought I might as well explain a bit of why I made Hunter react exactly the way he did in the hangar. For one, I thought that he, as their Sergeant, would feel far more protective of them than Crosshair did in Canon, hence he'd be fighting harder, trying to get them to stand down so he didn't have to hurt them.

Secondly, he was going after Echo and Crosshair most because Crosshair's the sniper and therefore, the most dangerous, and Echo is the one who's been fighting their orders tooth and nail from the time it started. Hunter was hoping if he stopped Echo, the others might be more willing to listen to him. Which. Is obviously untrue, but he had a legitimate reason for thinking it. I suppose subconsciously, there might've been a teeny part of his mind more willing to hurt Echo than the others because he didn't grow up with him, especially since Echo's the oldest of them, and therefore, Hunter would feel... a little less protective of him. (Plus Wrecker and Crosshair hero-worship him, and he'd feel really, really bad about hurting them.)

And I wrote it with the intention of Hunter's chip behaving slightly different than Crosshair's, yes. It's less active, and Hunter has far more self-control whereas Crosshair is far more emotion-driven, and therefore, Hunter's much more self-aware that everything isn't entirely his own doing than Crosshair was. Not as though there's anything he can do about it, anyway though.

Third... well. I've decided to make Doomsday into a series. :D Doomsday itself covers the entire first season, and the entire main, initial plotline is closed up in here. The other books/parts are... bonus things I wanted to do in the universe anyway. Lol. So. If anyone has any suggestions/thoughts/scenes/whatnot they think would be cool to happen in the second season, let me know! :D I have the second season mostly planned, but I'd still like to know if anyone has anything to say about it. <3 I can still alter/fit things in rn.

PS: I know you don't know what happens in the first book yet, but still. ;-; xD And take your time, I won't be ready to start those parts for a while.

~ Rivana Rita

Omega spends the next hours crawling across the whole ship. Crosshair would've spent it trying to sleep if not for that. Not that he could've anyway. It's hard to think about anything except what just happened. His oldest – second oldest – brother is gone. When Echo joined them, Rex had said... Echo was somewhat codependent on his brother Fives, who... had died. Echo hadn't taken it well when he found out. Crosshair never really understood the meaning of that term until right now.

Everyone in Clone Force 99 is dependent solely on each other, but still, he just... wishes it had been someone other than Hunter, so they'd at least have some sort of purpose or destination, or something in mind. Right now? They have nothing.

But thinking about him at all hurts too much, so it's relieving when Tech tells them that they're arriving at Saleucami.

It's Omega's first time off Kamino. He hadn't realized that before, but from how she pauses when she steps off the ship, blinking at the sun and trees and dirt with a wide-eyed awe, it's obvious. She drops to her knees right after stepping off the ramp, running her hands through the dirt. "What is this?"

Crosshair just watches her, not entirely sure how to answer, not even knowing if he needs to. But she lived on Kamino her whole life, on a water planet – how could she know, if she's never been off it before?

"That would be dirt," Tech informs her bluntly.

Omega stands, jumping in it, giggling gleefully as she kicks it up around her. "It's amazing!"