The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

Febuwhump Day Five: Rope Burns

Author's Note: Enjooooy. :D

~ Amina Gila

Omega's brothers attend to her injuries after Fennec nearly kidnaps her.

Her side and shoulders and actually, just about everything, is still throbbing when they make it back to the Marauder. Maybe they're safe now, but it certainly doesn't feel like it.

Her hands are burning, but she's way more worried about what just happened than anything else.

Hunter shrugs off his backpack, setting it on the floor and sitting down. "She has to be a bounty hunter."

"A what?" Omega asks.

"Someone hired to retrieve targets," Echo says – she's standing in the center of the four of them now.

"And you appear to be the target," Tech replies, pointing to her.

"Me?" Omega squeaks, backing away. Why would someone want to find her? What do they want with her?

"Hey, don't scare the kid," Wrecker scolds, immediately jumping to her defense.

"We have to find out who she is and who hired her," Hunter says, "We're going to need a contact. Someone who could give us this information."

"I might know a person," Echo replies, "We'll have to head for Ord Mantell."

Any other day, she might ask what that is, what kind of planet it is and what it's like, but right now, she's just so tired and everything hurts. Her hands are still throbbing. The person had come so close to taking her, and Omega tried everything she could to get away, but there was nothing she could do.

It was so close.

"Are you hurt?" Hunter asks her.

Everything hurts. She doesn't really know what's just bruises or not, though. "I – I think so." Her hands hurt the worse. She was hanging from the edge of the tower thing in the middle of the city by her hands for a while, and... that strap on the speeder. Her brothers do things like that all the time, though.

Omega hesitantly looks at her hands – the lighting's dim, but they look red and... no wonder they hurt so much. "I think I skinned my hands," she supplies.

"Wrecker, can you get the bacta?" Hunter requests.

"Sure," he grunts, taking off for the back.

She's still cold. It wasn't cold on Pantora. Omega trusted her. She thought the woman was trying to help her, but she tried to kill Hunter and she hurt her, and – she fought Wrecker, but he fell behind. Was he hurt?

"Is Wrecker okay?" Omega asks as she watches him disappear, "I think he might've hit his head again."

"He'll be fine," Hunter promises. Wrecker just got shot not long ago. Crosshair shot him not long ago. Omega's worried about him.

Someone's after her. There are people after her, and Omega has no idea who or why, but she's scared. Her brothers were there, but it still came so close. She was just starting to think that maybe she'd finally be safe here, that she could adjust and live with her brothers, that they'd... be fine. Hunter just promised her she's one of them now, and Omega thought she could stop being afraid.

Now, she thinks this is just the beginning, and she's terrified.

She doesn't want to be alone again.

Her hands are still stinging and burning. She doesn't know if they're raw or... if they're just sore.

Wrecker comes back with a medkit a minute later, dropping it at Hunter's feet.

Hunter flips it open and reaches for her wrist, taking it gently. Omega's had bacta on a couple times before, and it settles over her palm in its usual strange, itchy coolness.

"You 'kay, kid?" Wrecker asks, hovering nearby. His hand still feels jarringly enormous on her shoulder. The touch stings a little, though.

"Yeah," Omega promises, anyway. Bruises don't hurt for more than a couple days, anyway. Bacta takes a lot longer to heal non-open wounds, anyhow.

"I would suggest getting Omega a comm," Tech says from the pilot's seat.

"I really thought she was trying to help," Omega mumbles.

"I know," Hunter replies, stroking his thumb over her arm. His hands feel calloused now. They used to be soft, but that was many years ago. "Many people in the galaxy might seem nice, but there are very few we can trust. Whatever happens, stay beside one of us."

If she hadn't gone off after the toy, she might never have run into the bounty hunter in the first place.

"I'll try," she promises, feeling small. And stupid.

"I found your toy," Hunter adds, nodding to his backpack.

"Toy?" Wrecker asks, lighting up so instantly she has to smile back at him. He's still so – him. She missed all of that, but he's here now.

"Yep!" Omega answers a little more cheerfully, grateful for the destruction. She still aches everywhere, but her hands are burning a little less now. "It's a toy trooper. I picked her up at the shop we went to before Hunter sold Echo."

"Hunter what?" Wrecker yelps.

"We needed the credits," he protests, "And it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Echo makes an irritated sound. "Well, it wasn't," he promises fiercely.

Considering Omega got distracted while Hunter was preoccupied, she agrees. She isn't going to comment on that, though. That was another stupid mistake she made. She understands so little about their life, it's hard.

Hunter... promised her, though. She does belong here, even if it's not as easy as she envisioned.

"I'm sorry I wondered off," Omega tells him a little sheepishly, because she really, really needs to say that. It was so stupid.

Hunter and Wrecker share a look over her head. "It's okay," Wrecker offers, patting her shoulder, "Next time, just let me come with you."

She tries to smile back at him. Isn't fully sure she managed. She's still scared.

"Hopefully Echo's contact will know who's after us," Hunter says, "At least then, we'll have something to work with. In the meantime, Tech will work on getting you a comm."

"Can you show me what to do about falls?" Omega asks. It sounds silly to be put like that, but if she knew how to handle that, she wouldn't have been hurt. She could have... been faster, actually done something to stop the bounty hunter.

"Well, I guess we'll have to get to training," Hunter replies, "How about we show you when we land?"

That sounds fun at least. All she's ever wanted to do was train to be like her brothers. That was the life she actually cared about, even if Omega isn't fully sure she was ready for everything it came with.

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