Summer of Bad Batch 2024

Battle Scars

Week 6 Main Prompt: Battle Scars

Enjoy!!

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"You okay there vod'ika?" Hexx asked.

Veetch pulled at his armor. It wasn't fitting just right and it bothered him. "Mhm." The absent minded answer was followed by more tugging. "The chest plate doesn't fit." he grumbled, frustrated and close to throwing the thing across the room. Hexx chuckled.

"Might've had a mini growth spurt." The way Veetch's head tilted like a tooka's made Hexx smile fondly. "You were a shiny when you joined, most clones get a final growth spurt a few months after being deployed."

Veetch looked down at his armor. He noticed it wasn't just the chest plate that wasn't fitting. The shin guards stopped well above his ankle now, the vambrace not covering his full forearm. Maybe Hexx was right.

"But, how do I fix it? It's not like we have extra armor-." He stopped. In every technicality, they did have extra armor 'laying about'. In all but one. It was their fallen squad mate's armor. And that wouldn't be right, to take their armor and wear it as his own. The markings had no sentiment to him. If he painted over the designs, it would kill him inside. No, that couldn't be-no, would never be- an option.

Ever.

"Well," Hexx started, pulling Veetch from his thoughts, "I have an extra set. Was supposed to be if we ever get off this rock but it doesn't seem to be any time soon. Plus, it's not like I can't just get another one if I need it. We're not really dealing with battle droids, but you still need protection from the laser fire." Hexx pulled over a crate, one that had sat in the corner collecting dust since they arrived on Barton IV. Inside was a pristine set of phase two clone armor.

"Woah." was all Veetch could think to say. The older clone chuckled.

"You'll be a shiny again, but you'll have more experience than last time, eh?" Hexx clapped him on the back, the back armor shifting in its ill fitting state. Veetch chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess." Veetch reached in, grabbing the chest and back plate, snapping them into place. "Fits perfectly."

"Good. Was a little worried you'd end up like me on my first mission." Hexx said laughed.

Veetch looked quizzically at the older clone, head tilted to the side. "What happened on your first mission?"

"Well," Hexx sat down on another crate as Veetch continued to kit up, "Let's see. It was the battle of Geonosis. The second one, mind you. I wasn't there for the first one. I was a shiny, like you." Hexx bumped vambraces with the younger clone. "It was a few rotations into the battle when I suddenly hit that final growth spurt. I didn't have any extra gear back then so I just put it on best I could and marched back out onto the battlefield." Removing his right vambrace, he pulled the sleeve of his blacks up, exposing a scar. It had a pink center, round with jagged lines reaching out like a morbid flower. "Got nailed in the arm by a clanker. Didn't hurt as much in the moment, the adrenaline pumping from the battle, but I'll tell ya, I damn near passed out from the pain."

Veetch's eyes widened. He had, by now, paused in his dawning of armor and was fully enraptured by Hexx's story, leaned against the crate.

"So, don't think that that armor won't protect you." Hexx pointed towards the shoulder bell. "Put it on so we can go patrol."

"Oh, right, got it." Veetch scrambled, grabbing the shoulder bell and snapping it into place along with all the other armor pieces. "Okay, how's it look?" He turned in a circle, striking a pose at the end. Hexx chuckled, knocking vambraces with a smile.

"Well, it's not matching with the rest of us, but it's not like we have a set design scheme going on. Unless, you call whatever Mayday's got going on with the bandages holding together his armor." Hexx said, pulling on his helmet. Veetch laughed, pulling on his original helmet too and grabbing his blaster. "Alright, let's go."

"Oh! Can we throw snowballs when we get back?" Veetch asked, following as they walked into the cold. Hexx just smiled and shook his head. Veetch didn't a clear answer so there may or may not have been a snowball aimed at the older clone's helmet later...

... that ended up hitting Mayday in the face.