The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

Febuwhump Day Seven: Suffering in Silence

Author's Note: Hunter's abilities are cool to explore. Also he needs a hug so, SO BAD.

~ Amina Gila

Hunter has struggled with heights since Kamino. His fall on Daro marked the beginning of when their family fell apart, and it's been engrained into his mind forever. Normally, that isn't a problem, and it might not be enough to stop him like it is Wrecker, but that doesn't mean it's not hard.

Hunter can feel the constant pulsing and flowing of electric currents, no matter how small or near invisible. That's not something he's ever been able to explain to anyone. It's the same as all his other senses.

He can taste the metallic-ness, feel the flickering currents buzzing in his skin, can smell the wave imprints hours after the currents moved by. He's never been able to estimate time because it fades at different rates on every planet or ship.

He's been tracking Omega ever since she walked out on them. (Crosshair walked out on them. Echo walked out on them. Now Omega – she's not gone gone but Hunter's still so, so afraid to know what it will take for her to leave, too. He knows he's probably being dramatic now, but he's so, so scared.)

He's been tracking Tech, too, feeling the way their heartbeats mingle with the currents of the planet, flowing outwards, seeping even through the rocky walls separating them.

And Hunter felt it the moment Omega's heartbeat skyrocketed with fear, a telltale, instant sign that something went wrong. He felt them drifting away, fading out from where he'd cornered them to, even as he and Wrecker worked.

Wrecker, of course, catches on the moment he freezes. Many things have changed since Kamino, but Wrecker is still just as... emotionally inclined as he used to be. "What is it, Hunter?" he asks worriedly.

Hunter pulls his comm out, trying both Tech and Omega, but there's nothing. They feel even more distant than they were a minute ago. Their heartbeats are muted, radiating like they're everywhere and nowhere at once, and he can't pinpoint anything. "Something's wrong," he says, pushing himself to his feet.

Wrecker stands wordlessly, and they make for the last place he sensed them.

Tech finally answers his comm before Hunter finishes tracking them. "We took an unforeseen detour, but we are alive," Tech supplies with way too much flippancy.

"Where are you?" Hunter asks.

"That is a good question. Stand by."

That's never a good sign.

Of course, the moment Hunter left the two of them alone, they got in trouble. It seems to happen every time. Wrecker and Crosshair used to get in trouble like this when they were little. Every time Hunter and Tech looked away, it was something else. Now, that... Wrecker doesn't do that anymore.

He's so quiet.

Hunter misses who he used to be.

Doesn't think he'll ever get that brother back. He can't be who he once was anymore, either.

By the time Tech finally calls back to tell them that he found an alternate means out, Hunter's already tracked them to the edge of a cliff drop. There's water below it. The electric currents on this planet are... high, loud enough that they grate on him, but they flicker and flow outwards, and he can hear the distant rushing of water.

That's why it's been so hard to track them. Water is practically the only thing that dulls or mutes his senses, the only thing that makes it quieter. He should've guessed that from the start.