The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

Febuwhump Day Eighteen: Too Weak To Move

Author's Note: As a disclaimer, I hate this one! =D Should probably have done it when it first popped into my head instead of waiting for me to hate it...

~ Rivana Rita

Being a medical assistant means being witness to many things. Omega just never thought it would mean seeing one of her brothers hurt.

Finding her way to her brother's quarters is a nightmare. It takes forever. Maybe it's just that it's the night cycle, she's not supposed to be here, and she's panicking. Not that Omega had any other choice, though.

She knows she's being childish, but she's so, so angry. (So scared. She's terrified she'll find out one of them was – that they're gone, and she'll never see them again.) She doesn't understand how Nala Se could have hurt him and not even care. He's her brother this is her brother and he's hurt. What did they do to him?

He's six.

He's so little.

They shouldn't – he shouldn't be hurt.

Omega knocks on the door, heart pounding irrationally fast, and just... waits.

It's opened a minute later, by – that's 9902, isn't it?

All her brothers look so different now. Not too much for her to tell them apart, but still. From the sharp calculating-ness in his eyes, it's definitely the second oldest. She remembers him from bits and pieces, vague images and voices. She remembers he would always stare, and he'd always be inspecting everything.

"Hi," Omega says, nervousness crawling up and down her spine. She doesn't even know how to tell them this. "I'm Omega. I'm here about – uh –" Do they have names yet? Omega heard some of the clones do, but she doesn't know if her brothers do. "CT-9901"

She'd seen him, and he wasn't moving, and he was so pale, and she tried talking to him even though Nala Se told her to go. He couldn't even focus on her. She thinks he was trying, even if he didn't know her. Nala Se was saying something about his senses and needing to learn to control them, but Omega doesn't believe her. That doesn't mean they have to hurt him! She doesn't care if they were being careful not to damage him. They were hurting him, and he's her brother, and she doesn't care of Nala Se insisted he said he was fine. What was he supposed to say?

She's still angry enough she wants to cry. She knew her brothers were part of an experimental unit, but she didn't realize everything that apparently came with it.

"His name is Hunter," one of the others says. It's the youngest – the gray curls falling messily across his forehead make that clear enough.

Omega had wanted to know what it was. Didn't think she'd hear for much longer, though. "I'm here about Hunter, then," she says, hands twisting together anxiously, "He – he needs your help." She's not supposed to be here. Nala Se told her to go back to the lab, but she couldn't just leave.

The others exchange worried looks. "What happened to him?" Three asks – Omega needs to ask for the rest of their names. She wants to know them by name instead of number. She always wanted them to have names.

"I don't know," Omega admits, tears stinging her eyes, "But they hurt him, and I had to come get you to get him out. I don't think he can walk." She doesn't think he can stand, actually.

"Who are you?" Two asks, "And why are you helping us?"

"Hunter needed help," Omega replies, because there's really no more of a reason than that. She doesn't know what more she could offer, at least.