The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

No Wonder It's Missing

Author's Note: I'm gonna be honest when I say I did this because I just needed something to deal with the horror of what it means to be Hunter, aka being a clone, a sergeant, the former oldest sibling, the acting oldest, the most responsible, and a dad all at once when he's only nine years old. :)

Warning: Depression, suicidal thoughts

~ Rivana Rita

Everything fell after Kamino. After Tech goes racing, Hunter finally calls his little brother out on his recklessness – Crosshair hurt all of them, but Tech is going to hurt them even more if he doesn't start taking care of himself. Tech, it turns out, is worried about the same. About Hunter.

Omega's crestfallen look and Wrecker's warning glare are nearly enough to make him stop talking before he even starts.

This happened before on Raxus. The only difference is that what Omega did then wasn't nearly as dangerous, and this was Tech.

He could have died.

And Hunter couldn't live with that. He doesn't – he can't live with one of his brothers dying. He already failed them once. He can't do it again.

"I told you to stay here," he says evenly.

The frustrated hurt on Omega's face guts him, but he's their leader and he can't – can't let them do things like this.

"You know what you should work on? Explaining when you went soft."

Shut up. It doesn't matter what Crosshair thought. He abandoned you.

Wrecker's already riled up enough that Hunter's fairly certain it'll start a full-blown argument if he mentions it again. Which he has to. He's seen what Tech is doing, and he can't let him get himself killed.

Crosshair's loss destroyed them all in its own way.

Echo is darker, angrier, and that's showing up more and more.

Wrecker is empty, and he tries to hide it, but it's too visible to Hunter, who's known him his entire life. He's dark and so... much less playful.

Tech is sharper and much less playful himself, and he's – he's reckless. There's really no other way to say it. It's not the way they once and always were. He was hurt, which was why Hunter left him behind with Wrecker and Omega in the first place. They were supposed to be careful. They were supposed to be safe.

And no one was hurt, which is what matters most, but they could have been.

He's seen how Tech is about injuries. Hunter has seen how he shrugs them off, if not ignoring them entirely, and it's hurting all of them. Or, it would hurt if they noticed at least, because Hunter can't say that anyone else has. They haven't mentioned it.

They can chalk it up to having limited supplies and whatnot but it doesn't change how it's hurting them. It's hurting him, and Hunter can't ignore that.

He has to talk to Tech about it, and they don't... leave each other out of things. It's just not something they do, but this isn't really a conversation he can have with the others here. It's too... emotional, too something, and Hunter doesn't think it'd go anywhere here. Might not, anyway. Not like Tech'll listen to him now any more than he has the past one million times Hunter told him something he didn't want to do.

"Can I... talk to you?" Hunter asks, turning to Tech.

"You already are," he replies with genuine confusion.